Outlands

Part 6

By Mieren

---

Mieren looked up fearfully, flinching as ten identical stone formations came further into view. She had been watching them for some time, further dreading reaching the unholy site in the astral plane the nearer she drew. The ten sphinxes. The ten pinnacles of power in the astral plane that would determine whether or not they were to be allowed access to Zairian's Ledge.

She paused where she stood, trying to ignore Sage's and Dais's simultaneous flinching and jerking as they tried to find whatever was playing in their peripheral vision. Their visions were coming more and more frequently, proving to her that the elementals were finally emerging from their nonexistent forms into something tangible. Cale and Rowen had taken up flinching in unison as well, complaining bitterly of blinding flashes of light that seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere at once. During some of their worse visions, Touma joined them in their rabid cursing. Fighting down the urge to begin swearing rabidly at the elementals again, she tried to look on the bright side of things.

Now that Ryo had appeared, the temperature around them had increased to something bearable as fire elementals began to cluster around them. Both Anubis and Sehkmet seemed to be recovering, the former from his unceremonious summoning and the latter from the fierce cold. She could sense that Kento had appeared in the distance, and with his help, they theoretically should be able to match the ten unmovable sphinxes. If she survived the passing of the barriers, she could act as the focal point for their union of powers, opening the gates to eternity. She could only pray that the others had reached their positions on the other side. If the youko had followed Anubis's request to help them, they should have either reached their destination or be incredibly close to doing so.

That brought her to another line of thought. The youko, despite their loyalty to Anubis's line, were dangerous. No matter what they claimed or what oaths they gave, they were treacherous, refusing to choose a side until they knew who was going to win and what they could get out of each side's victory or defeat. Even without their devious natures, they were intolerably irritating.

Rowen and Cale flinched and swore, once again in unison. Mieren spared them a sideways glance, gaze settling on her husband. For what must have been the millionth time, she wondered if her efforts, her life's work, had been in vain. Len and Vera were both incredibly strong, though in different aspects, but they were both so young. She couldn't stand the thought of what they were to face, assuming that they managed to defeat her darker half. Her gaze settled once more on the ten sphinxes. She shuddered, fears reawakened. What if she wasn't allowed to pass? She clenched her fists and forced herself to continue moving, vowing that her life would not have been meaningless.

She was so tense and unnerved that she nearly took off Ryo's arm when he tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention. Luckily, he jerked back just in time to avoid her reflexive slash. He apparently understood, though, how upset she was and didn't seem too upset about nearly losing his left arm and half his face. He was perfectly calm when he asked his question.

"So what are those things?" he asked, nodding towards the huge stone formations they were slowly but steadily approaching.

"The decorations around Zairian's Ledge," Mieren muttered, refusing to look away from the statues on the horizon. Even from that distance, she could easily see how intricately formed they had been.

"Bull," Sage growled, resisting the urge to spin wildly to see what was still moving in his peripheral vision.

Mieren paused, eyes roving to the endless emptiness above her where there should have been a sky. Not even the fogs dared cloud the emptiness above, not this close to the pinnacles. She supposed that she should be grateful for the diminishing presence of the mists as she drew nearer to the sphinxes, but she wasn't. The absence only reminded her of the greater danger she approached. She paused again where she stood, gaze skimming past her husband to land on Dais and Anubis. The former's secret she knew, but the latter didn't know even himself. So many secrets and tidbits of information she knew about them, had learned and gathered over the years only to keep so much from them.

"They are the ten apogees of power in the astral plane," she conceded.

"Apogee?" Sehkmet repeated slowly. Mieren threw him a weary look.

"Apex, summit, ultimate point of strength," she murmured, shoulders drooping slightly. She looked to her reformed feet and arm, guilt flashing across her features for a mere moment. For so many years she had denied the true strength behind her apparent immortality, praying that the day would come when she could truly die. She had been waiting for over three millennia for another option to no avail.

"What do they do?" Rowen asked softly, jerking her out of her morbid pondering.

"They allow a gathering of the proper powers to open a gateway to anywhere within the limit any dimension touched by the might of the elements." She had to force herself to start moving towards the pinnacles again before she continued her explanation. "They judge a person by their soul and by their past before determining whether or not they will be allowed to pass. Any corrupt souls will be destroyed by the ten elemental apparitions that inhabit the eternal sphinxes." The faintest hint of a smile caressed her lips when she saw the Warlords stiffen nervously. Dais and Cale even forgot to twitch at the elementals' continued taunting.

"Are we there yet?" Kento asked suddenly, emerging from the stone just in front of them. Mieren was the only one not to leap sideways with a choked off yelp.

"You move a lot quicker than I expected."

"I know a few shortcuts."

"When did you get here?" Ryo spluttered.

"Is everyone else okay?" Sage asked quickly. Kento shrugged.

"They were fine when I left a few minutes ago," he answered lightly. "And they should have an easier time now that the youko have joined them."

"Youko?" Anubis breathed, aghast. "Tell me that's not what I called."

Mieren glanced in his direction with a considering look, debating on what she should tell him. Of the entire group, he had the least reason to fear them.

"They're not as bad as you think," she murmured, pushing past Kento as she resumed moving. The others followed almost reluctantly. "They did, after all, protect your ancestor. You of all people should know that they're not all that dangerous. Not all of them."

"Sure," he muttered sarcastically.

"Hey Kento," Rowen asked over his shoulder. "You mentioned something about shortcuts. Any chance of showing us a few of them? We've been walking forever."

Kento was already shaking his head before he finished. "I can't."

"Why not?" Touma demanded angrily. "I'm tired of walking."

"There are rules," he answered evasively. Mieren's nod of agreement kept anyone else from questioning him further, though it did not get her off the hook.

"Exactly how much do you know?" Cale queried, appearing at her side.

"I know that in every dimension, there are rules, such as the laws of physics that you are familiar with. I doubt that Kento can crack through some of the barriers here, elemental or no." When he flinched, she didn't continue on that line of argument. "And just because the elementals can move around so freely does not mean that they can help us to do so. You're lucky that they've been protecting us from the fogs thus far."

"What fogs?" Anubis asked slowly, squinting into the surrounding darkness as he suddenly realized that they hadn't had to dodge a fogbank in some time.

"They will not come this close to the oracles," she murmured. She glanced sideways at Anubis, amusement slowly creeping onto her face. "How could you tell, anyway? Aren't you blind here?" He shrugged, baffled.

"It's getting brighter. Every now and then, I think that I can almost see the land around us."

"Not much of a view, is it?" Cale laughed bleakly. "Just cold, lifeless stone as far as the eye can see."

"Stone?" Anubis repeated numbly. He turned away from the group for a moment, reaching towards an empty area of air with eyes closed tightly. His hands stopped in midair, closing around something that they couldn't see. When he pulled back his clenched fist, leaves trailed from his sap-covered fingers. He held up the largish leaves to their disbelieving eyes. "Does this look like stone?"

"How did you…" Dais began, trailing off when he saw something shift in his peripheral vision. His eyes narrowed speculatively when he saw Sage flinch again.

"There are life elementals here," Mieren interjected impatiently. "Of course there would be plant life."

"Then why is it so dark and cold and lifeless?" Cale demanded. For the first time since arriving, Mieren grinned.

"I think we should ask Ryo and Sage about that," she chuckled. "After all, they're not shielded."

All attention instantly shifted to the two named men, both of whom began to squirm uncomfortably. Sage earned himself a small reprieve in their upcoming wrath by nearly jumping out of his skin once more, again in unison with a more than slightly unnerved Dais, who scowled darkly.

"Hey Sage," he said softly. When Sage glanced in his direction, he quickly ducked his head to shield his face fully with his longish purple tinted hair. "Could you tell me what's out there before I go insane? You're a master of illusion too and you're not shielded."

"Even if I was, how would you know that?" he countered.

"That's not important," Dais muttered. He did his best to ignore Mieren's knowing, and more than slightly amused, look.

Irritated, Sage held out one hand, palm upwards, and conjured a small globe of light, causing Cale and Rowen to yelp and cover their eyes and everyone else to flinch. Touma threw him an inappropriate gesture and a dark look. Dais tried to turn away from the light but wasn't quite fast enough to avoid Sage's sharp eyes. The blond froze at what he saw, striding forward rapidly and forcefully pulling Dais around to face him. Knowing that he had finally been caught, Dais looked up at the taller man defiantly, allowing his hair to fall away from his face and two good eyes. Sage's jaw dropped and he jerked away as though burnt.

"You… you're… a woman?" he hissed.

Sehkmet's head snapped towards his best friend instantly, the expression on his face shifting between disbelief and betrayal. Dais only dropped her slouching posture and threw her shoulders back self-righteously, revealing her more than ample breasts that were pressed tightly against her otherwise loose martial arts uniform. Touma degenerated into a fit of sniggering, earning himself a foul look. Out of the rest of the group, Cale was the first to recover from his shock.

"How did you manage to hide those?" he asked, moving as to poke one to make sure he wasn't seeing things. Dais slapped his hand away irritably, glaring at Mieren when she choked off a giggle and whispered something to Touma, who nearly collapsed in his bubbling laughter.

"I'm a master of illusion," Dais said angrily. "Don't you think that hiding what I looked like would be pathetically easy? This is the first time I've been shielded from my elemental abilities, in case you haven't realized."

"But why didn't you tell us?" Sehkmet asked, looking extremely hurt.

"I hid for my own protection from you idiots when we were under Talpa's control," she grumped. "By the time we were loose, you all knew me as a man, so I kept up the illusion."

"But you were flirting with other women!" Cale protested.

"And you never suspected anything, did you?"

"That would explain why you were always so concerned about your appearance," Anubis muttered, shaking his head wearily.

"I wouldn't talk if I were you, you scrawny little brat," she snapped. "I've seen what you look like, you freak!"

Anubis reddened instantly, suddenly realizing just how many times Dais had seen them all naked while changing, bathing or taunting. He mumbled something about fairness, or lack thereof, before falling completely silent. Dais sniffed loudly and turned back to Sage, making a note to herself to kill Mieren if she kept snickering.

"Now Sage, would you please tell me what's out there?"

Still more than slightly shaken, Sage turned to do as asked. A wisp of green flame licked his rigid form as he concentrated on the illusion around him, sending a small shock wave through the otherwise still air. Teasingly soft echoes and phantom images appeared out of the darkness for instants only, resolving into nothingness almost immediately. Knowing that she shared a neighboring ability and was not shielded either, Kayura joined him, watching incredulously as the ripples in the illusion took longer to mend themselves. Sage threw her a grateful look, knowing full well that he was already straining his meager abilities in that power.

Kento watched him nervously, his gaze ultimately settling on the ground as he decided that it would be best if he didn't try to help. There were no rules about people cracking the illusion in the astral plane, but as for the elementals… He was jerked suddenly out of his contemplation when the final shock wave emanating from Sage didn't fade back into nothingness.

As though an explosion had been set off at Sage's feet, the ground began to erupt in light and color in a steadily growing ripple. Greenery and light came into view as the ring expanded, shooting outwards at an incredible pace. Forests and mountain ranges came into view in the distance, shining innocently under a starry sky that seemed horrendously bright after the absolute darkness. Only paces from them stood an enormous winged horse beside a slowly trickling stream, his thickly feathered wings shimmering like crystal in the stars' gentle light. Noticing them, the magnificent beast turned and trotted lightly into the dense shoulder-high emerald grasses of the endless plains surrounding them, disappearing quickly. Streaks of gold and rose shot across the sky behind the rolling mountains, announcing the setting of the sun.

"My god," Ryo breathed. "It's beautiful."

"Is this real?" Kayura asked, visibly shaken. "Is the astral plane truly a utopia?"

Mieren smiled gently. "Untouched by the ravaging wars of demons and sorcerers, these lands have had eternity to reach this beauty." Sighing forlornly, she turned once again towards the glimmering sphinxes. "We need to continue moving. The others will reach Zairian's Ledge anytime now."

Having been reminded so bluntly of what they do desperately needed to do, the others fell in behind Mieren. Dais quickly moved towards the front to avoid the questioning eyes of her friends.

---

"Are we there yet?" Akira whined, earning himself another thump from Ella. "We've been walking all day! Where is it?"

"Would you be quiet?" she snapped.

"Would you be quiet?" an echo came from the early evening shadows.

"Quiet! Quiet!" voices chanted, degenerating into wild laughter.

No longer afraid of their shadows after having traveled with them for half of the previous night and all day, Gau threw a largish rock into the shadows angrily, completely fed up with the mocking voices of the youko. Instantly, a hail of rocks flew back at him from all directions, forcing him to slip into a large golden wolf to gain the speed he needed to dodge the multitudes of projectiles. He was immediately tackled by almost a dozen youko, some of them sporting five or six tails. After they had pinned him to the ground for several seconds, they disappeared into the evening once more.

"Fucking youko," he snarled, regaining his feet and brushing himself off roughly.

"Such requests he makes," a soft voice came from his left.

"How strange of him," another commented. "You don't suppose he wants to watch, do you?"

"As long as he doesn't want to join in," a third said bleakly.

"Hopefully not," the first answered. "We'll go blind."

Wild resounding laughter filled the oncoming darkness, nearly causing Gau to lob another rock at them. After a moment of silent debate, he seemed to think better of it and decided to sulk in silence. The thought of dealing with the five and six tailed youko again was not overly appealing.

They had learned quickly from watching the small foxes unweave various spells set as traps for them that the more tails they had, the more they had powered up. Their leader, Terru, had actually been forced to push himself to his full strength to unravel one of the more vicious snares of fog. Nine long silvery tails had appeared as he worked on an intricate lacework of mist crossing the path they were following, extending for miles in either direction. On the rare occasions when he walked beside them for a few minutes, they could see a sort of knowing confidence on his angular face that led them to believe that he hadn't yet exposed the true bulk of his power.

Mana and Mia lagged slightly behind the group, keeping silent and out of the way. They knew full well that they were too weak to participate in this battle. Mouri often walked beside them, trying to chat amiably with his descendent and long time friend, but neither seemed to be in the mood to talk. No one could really blame them. In less than two days, Mana had lost her husband and oldest son, not knowing if she would ever see either of them again. Now she watched as her ten-year-old son fought in the front ranks against a demon with strength surpassing anything she would have ever believed possible. Mia was only slightly better off. Though her only daughter fought as well, she was older and more prepared against a foe she had seen before. Her husband had been unharmed and unshielded when he was sent to the astral plane, leading her to believe that there was still a chance that he may be alive. As they lagged slightly behind the group, a small escort of seven and eight-tailed youko stayed with them at all times. Currently, they were the only ones in the group that had yet to be tortured by the increasingly annoying youko.

Without warning, Terru appeared beside them in his almost human form, silver ears twitching and tail swishing minimally, looking at the two women with a slightly worried expression.

"We are being followed and closely watched," he muttered quietly. His eyes flicked across a blatantly nervous Mouri and towards the two women. "I expect an attack to be staged at any moment and I want you three out of the way and out of sight. An escort of ten will remain with you." Before they had time to respond, he had resumed the form of a nine-tailed fox and had disappeared into the gathering groups of knee high shadows that were accumulating with stunning speed. It did not escape Mouri's notice that every group was comprised of exactly ten youko.

Rune darted by them suddenly with a scythe in either hand, the long connecting chain wrapped strangely around his forearms. Arcane scrawling could be seen running along the lengths of the blades, glowing a pale coppery color as he powered up. Recognizing some of the symbols, Mouri gasped.

"So they still know the spells that they pilfered from the Starlight Clan and the Tower of the Guardians," he growled, paying no heed to the fiendish giggling and whooping coming from the ten youko surrounding them.

"I don't suppose it's surprising considering how long they live," Ritsuko murmured, purposefully herding them away from where the rest of the group were readying themselves. "There are virtually no generations for them to have to pass information along. A strong youko can live a few millennia. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the older ones here were around to have seen the Demon War."

Deciding that they were sufficiently out of the way, she threw turned and headed back to where the ten-year-olds were still trying to instruct Akira, Nasuti and Gau how to summon their full suits of armor. Ella was having no luck in summoning her armor at all, despite Vera's frustrated efforts. Knowing that they couldn't do much without the suits of armor that the others had, Katari and Ryoko had consented to stay with out of the battle entirely. Len arched his eyebrows at them demandingly and Rune winked as they left, causing Ritsuko's face to screw up in irritation. They were up to something.

Making a note to kill them later, she moved to the back of the assembled group to act as support in case something went wrong. She would lend whatever help she could if they needed her, but she was unsure of what she could do if it truly came down to it. The powers of her armor and elemental ability were only designed to block magic, nothing more. In an elemental battle, she was all but useless and defenseless.

"Why is she giving us so much time to prepare ourselves?" Ritsuko asked softly, glancing at the cluster of youko swarming around her.

"She's not," a sooty colored youko off to her side answered quietly out of the corner of his short muzzle. "It's a bluff on our part. She's going to think we're up to something and come to stop us."

"You mean that we're picking a fight?" she hissed.

"Why not?"

"Are you insane?" Ritsuko breathed, abandoning all pretense of calmness. "Do you have any idea what you're up against?" The dark gray muzzle twisted into something that was unmistakably a grin.

"Her, maybe?" he offered, looking at something directly behind Ritsuko. She paled and spun to view the beginning of a staring contest.

Lanfear was pacing in front of the armor bearers, eyes narrowing further and further as she passed the tensed warriors and small clusters of youko. An occasional strand of mist would rise and die around her as a youko pawed the ground tauntingly. No one, however, seemed eager to make the first move, putting Ritsuko more at ease. If Lanfear was so nervous and the youko so calm, then that meant that they stood a chance of surviving the encounter.

Without warning, Len leapt forward, no-dachi of crystalline flames appearing in his hands. Shin and Vera followed suit immediately, each dropping to the sides to create a three-way attack. Gau and Nasuti looked to each other and nodded as the first blows were exchanged, backing off slowly with Akira and Ella in tow, the latter still struggling with her armor. Ritsuko sprinted lightly over to them, almost spitting in her fury.

"Why aren't you helping them?"

Gau flinched. "Len said to stay out of his way," he murmured thickly, eyes glued to the raging battle. All three of the children were flashing in and out of existence as they forced their armors into elemental forms. The fact that none of them had been hit didn't calm Ritsuko.

"Then why aren't you helping?" she demanded, scowling at a forming triangle of ten youko. The six-tailed golden bronze female organizing the group glanced at her condescendingly.

"We are," she growled softly. Her tails stiffened, signaling the other nine youko beside her to tighten their formation, each moving forward to touch the fox in front of them, muzzle to tail.

The triangle complete, each youko began to glow with an eerie luminescence that intensified as it concentrated towards the female in the front. Black and red threads of lightning shot outwards in increasing spheres of power, disappearing in a crack of thunder that shook the earth. The lead female stepped away from the group, tiny streamers of mist rising from her fur as she ran towards the battle.

"Impossible," Akira breathed, eyes flicking to the nine panting youko beside them before turning back to the battle. The golden bronze female leapt into the air at the last moment, waiting until the children in her path had vanished before lashing out with a whip of fog nearly blinding in its intensity. Akira's jaw had barely begun to drop before a frantic looking Rune bowled them roughly to the ground.

"Shield yourselves!"

The words had only left the man's mouth before the aftershock of the collision of twin sources of fog collided. The following ripple in the dimension itself passed easily through their shields, throwing them a good distance from the battle. Rune rebounded off a tree and rolled to his feet almost immediately, glaring angrily at the masses of youko, none of which had been touched by the blast.

Gau had only barely pushed Akira off of himself before a second blast toppled them again, immediately followed by a third, Nasuti and Ella landing atop the heap from where they had just removed themselves. Ritsuko settled on drumming her fingers from where she was still firmly pinned to the ground. She managed to shift enough to look up to a scene of chaos.

Shin had collapsed just beyond the battle, struggling futilely with the flames rising from his watery armor. Even past the semisolid armor, it was apparent that his skin was melting from the intense heat that neither he nor his armor could counter. Len jerked and twitched a short distance from him, sections of his armor infused into his partially detached skin. One of his arms and both of his legs were missing, trapped in a shadow somewhere beyond his ability to reach past the blinding light that seemed to follow him in his thrashing. Only the distraction of the ever-advancing youko and Vera kept Lanfear from finishing them off as they lay helpless, the former preventing her from focusing her attacks and the latter deflecting anything that managed to pass though. Vera's eyes pulsing to an increasingly deep shade of blue as she forcibly pushed waves of fog away from herself, her brother and her nephew. Her twisted scowl suddenly turned into something feral.

"I call upon the shadow's past, the first of darkness and the last. I call upon an ancient skill, within the mage's darkest will," she chanted in something less than a whisper. The youko howled in fear and retreated, their readied cords and whips of fog dissipating as they ran. Lanfear froze where she stood, eyes rolling away from the youko to rest on her in blatant disbelief. Vera didn't look up, concentrating only on the words she was speaking and the pulsing power building around her. "The dragon's child and vampire's son, the shattered soul shall be as one."

Looking frantic, Lanfear lashed out at her, turning on Len when the cords of fog vanished into nothingness before ever nearing her. Her first blow landed fully across his neck and back, ricocheting instantly towards her with tremendous force.

Len was oblivious to her attacks, eyes locked on the shadows that had emerged around him, allowing him to reform his limbs out of the darkness. His eyes rose to lock on his sister's rigid form when he realized what she was doing, a mixture of fear and hope appearing on his young face as she finished.

"Repair the damage long since past, make the first of the shadow's last."

Len's scream rang through the dimension.

---

To Be Continued…