Jadeite sat cleaning his sword as he thought on the events of recent weeks. Since Princess Serena's return to the moon, his prince had begun to immerse the kingdom further and further in the other realm's rising political discord. In the last month alone, the two royal families had exchanged almost a dozen messages. Nearly all of the messages sent from the prince had been sent in the early morning hours; today's message included.

The general worried about his prince. He seemed to be getting less and less sleep lately. That lack of sleep was affecting his performance during his ongoing sword training. The generals had suggested that perhaps the sessions should be put on hold until the prince was in better shape for them. Prince Darien had insisted that a lack of sleep was no reason for him to cease his lessons from them, however. In fact, he had doubled the number of sessions and added lessons from Nephrite to learn more about the mystic arts.

To Jadeite, his prince appeared to have become driven by some unseen force. So much so that it concerned him. Maybe those within the kingdom who had suggested that they should cut off all relations with the Silver Moon Kingdom were right. The rumors of a civil war between the queen and her sister and the factions who have joined her have increased and he'd hate to see his own people suffer because the two women had somehow drawn the people of Earth into their internal squabble.

Jadeite had come close to saying as much to his prince but held his tongue so far. Despite his own personal feelings, he knew that it was not his place to question the decisions of his liege. If the king and queen had agreed to the prince's course of action, then he was duty-bound to follow their lead.

Returning his sword to his side, Jadeite stood to leave the small armory since it was late, and he was due to train with the prince early in the morning. As he began to walk along the deserted halls, he was surprised when he came across the kingdom's oracle. The last time she had emerged from her chambers had been the day that the Moon Kingdom's princess returned home from her visit to Earth. She was roughly Malachite's age (and he had heard that the two had even grown up together) but for some reason she had always appeared to him as something of a mystery. The king was known to visit her from time to time; even when she was only a small child, the daughter of a chambermaid. He also knew that the queen has never gone to see the young oracle; despite her husband's insistence on consulting her in important matters.

Knowing that the dark-haired woman rarely left her rooms deep in the recesses of the palace for no reason, he stepped closer to her before boldly acknowledging her presence.

"Oracle, is there something that I can do for you?"

"I need to speak with you, but not here." With that, the mystic turned on her heels and led the general back toward the magically protected rooms, magic that she herself had reinforced recently. Only once the two were in the heart of her rooms where she lived and worked did she once more speak.

"You must find the prince and get him away from here. He is in danger but is too focused on the goings on of the moon to see what is happening here on Earth."

"What kind of danger? If there is a threat to the prince, then of course the other generals and I wi-"

"No! Just you." The oracle walked over to her divining basin and poured fresh water into it before reaching for a potion bottle and pouring it into the water as well. "The other generals have been killed. The men that you trained with today were not them; only replacements that Beryl is using to get close to Prince Darien. She is obsessed with him and will stop at nothing to get exactly what she wants. You must go to the prince tonight and take him to the mainland and hide him there."

"First, you know very well that our prince does not hide; ever. Second, what do you mean that the others have been killed? How could someone, especially this Beryl, kill our greatest warriors right under our nos-"

"Beryl has joined forces with Metalia, the dark queen of the Negaverse."

"Metalia is dead, Oracle. Her magic was destroyed nearly a centu-"

"Not destroyed, imprisoned. They are not the same thing. Beryl used her limited magic to free Metalia from her prison and that has granted her the position of ruling over her demons; demons that she has used to attack many within the kingdoms already and replacing those who have fallen to her warriors."

"Why didn't you tell us of this before now? Why wait?" Jadeite watched the woman's eyes take on a look of annoyance at the question.

"I didn't know until tonight," the woman defended herself as she wove her hand over the basin of liquid, causing small ripples to cast across the surface of the divining bowl. "This is what will happen if you do not hurry. Much of the kingdom is falling under Beryl's influence. Many of the guards have already aligned themselves with the fallen Lunan. She is preparing for her strikes; first here to seize the prince, then she will take her war to the moon."

Jadeite's eyes went wide as he witnessed scene after scene unfold before him. He even saw his comrades shown in the vision; at least they appeared to be his comrades. Their appearances sent shivers down his spine as they laughed maniacally at the deaths of those before them. That was when he saw his own face among them; he, too, looked as if killing those both on Earth and on its moon gave him great pleasure.

"How?" Finding his voice, Jadeite didn't want to believe that he, himself, was capable of such brutality. The image before him couldn't be real. "How… How can I stop this?"

"As I've said, get the prince away from here. It will alter the course of events. He won't like it since it will still mean the destruction of the moon, but it should change things just enough so that our kingdom can survive."

"The others… Why did Beryl take them but leave me? I don't understand."

"You are among the youngest, Jadeite. You should be used to others underestimating you based on that fact by now." The oracle grieved for the other generals just as much as he would (for one especially) but she could not bear to see anything happen to either him or most especially their prince. "Now go! Beryl has learned how to disable the magic around the Royal Chambers. It won't be long before she strikes."

Sparing only a moment to glance at the divining basin once more, Jadeite turned on his heels and quickly went searching for his prince. He had no idea just how he'll be able to convince the other man to leave with him, but he knew that he must do just that. Running through the nearly deserted halls, Jadeite neared the Royal Wing but fell short as he heard the king's voice along with the other generals. He wanted to believe that all that the oracle had told him was wrong but when he heard them telling the king that he had betrayed the kingdom and had already joined Beryl and her forces, he knew that he'd been told the truth. As Jadeite ducked into another hall, he heard the king call out for his guards to bring the young general to him personally.

Knowing that his time was short, he raced to the chamber that belonged to the prince as swiftly as he could. When he found the man in question, Jadeite pushed him back into his room while glancing behind him to see if the imposter generals had followed him.

"Jadeite, what are you doing? What's the meaning of this?"

"I apologize, my prince, but I had to make sure that no one else saw me." Jadeite stalked over toward the window and gazed over the courtyard and saw that the palace guards were all being assembled, no doubt to locate him. "I just came from the oracle, she has warned that I have to get you away from the palace tonight."

"Wait a minute! Why should I leave the palace? Why-"

"Beryl. She has already set a plan into motion to seize control of the kingdom and she seems especially interested in you. Please, I'll answer any questions that you have but first we have to hurry."

"What about the other generals?" Prince Darien had known his general long enough that for him to be acting like he was; there had to be a true threat to him and the kingdom. The prince checked his sword before walking over to the window to join Jadeite.

"They're dead."

Jadeite knew that he should have been more tactful but right now he didn't have that luxury. As he watched the other man's eyes widen at the statement, Jadeite began to explain that Beryl had killed the other men along with various people within the court and the Royal Guard and replaced them with monsters. A truth that he himself had denied until he heard that the men whom he'd thought were his comrades informing the king that he'd betrayed the kingdom. The prince and the general made their way to the hidden tunnels that ran within the walls of the royal chambers as Jadeite explained as much as he could.

"I must get you to the mainland. Once there, it should be harder for Beryl to find you. After things have died down, we should be able to-"

"If Beryl has begun to set her plans in motion, we should contact Serenity immediately."

"Sire, it is my job to keep you as safe as possible. If we were to go to the moon, I can't guarantee that you'd be safe there."

"I understand that, my friend, but I'm not about to just stand by and not do anything. Please, help me."

Jadeite breathed in heavily before nodding in resignation. At least he would be getting his prince out of the castle. That was the first thing that he had to worry about it. Once away, after warning the Lunans, Jadeite could only hope that his prince would then be reasonable when it comes to getting himself to safety. Jadeite led the other man down the passageway toward the magical transport area that would allow them to escape. As the two raced toward the transport area, the sound of approaching guards could be heard and Jadeite knew that they would not be the only ones sent here to the most logical location for a fugitive to flee. Knowledge that was confirmed as he and Prince Darien arrived at their destination only moments before the other generals filed out of another corridor that led to the chamber.

Prince Darien's eyes went wide as he looked back and forth between the men that looked like his long-time friends and generals and the man who had told him of Beryl's deception. He couldn't see any indication that they were really monsters as Jadeite claimed. A part of him didn't want to believe that his friends were dead but if he believed that then he would then have to question why the general who had sought him out to bring him to the transport area would tell him something like that if it wasn't true.

"Your Highness," Malachite drew his sword and eyed the general who now stood between himself and the prince. "Please, you must trust me. Move away from Jadeite, now. He is a traitor and must be dealt with."

Jadeite narrowed his eyes at the man posing to be the eldest of the generals. He could only hope that the prince recognized these imposters for what they were. Surely, he knew that none of them would ever draw their weapons on one another, nor would they use their prince as a pawn to be used against the others. Still, he couldn't risk Beryl's minions seizing control of the other man. As the Royal Heir began to respond to the leader of his generals Jadeite muttered an apology, begging for his prince to forgive him, before swiftly shoving the man into the magical transport; effectively sending him to safety.

Hearing the curses of the other men in the room, Jadeite smiled as he lifted his sword in challenge. He knew that he would die this night and be replaced just as the others had been. He could only hope now that his prince would find protection and asylum on the Earth's moon. In any case, the prince's safety was now in his own hands.

Watching the events unfold while peering into the basin of water before her, the oracle bowed her head in grief. Her prince had chosen to go to the moon to try to warn his princess of the pending danger and had paid a very high price for that choice. Finally, when nothing was left of the kingdom of the moon but rubble, the young woman turned away and heaved a mournful sigh.

The following days filled the earthly palace with sorrow as knowledge of the deaths of its prince and his generals spread. The entire kingdom went into mourning for the lost men taken by Beryl, but no one had taken the deaths harder than the queen. Evidence of that came when the woman went to the oracle's inner sanctum for the first time since her husband had declared that the child of the chambermaid had been moved into the old royal chambers.

At first, the queen had refused to believe her husband's claims that the girl had the gift of sight. Even now, she wasn't sure if she fully trusted her ability to see across time and space. If this woman had the gift of being able to peer into the future, then why hadn't she prevented this enormous tragedy?

As Queen Yori approached the heavy door that separated the oldest part of the palace from the rest it opened of its own accord. She then heard a voice that she had chosen to never hear before calling to her from inside the chamber. Grimacing, the queen stepped through the threshold strangely annoyed by the impertinence of the oracle.

"You knew that I would come?" She asked the woman wearing a black feathered cloak that could rival that of a royal.

"Yes. But I'm not certain for what reason, Your Highness."

"I want to know why you didn't stop any of this. If you saw what Beryl planned to do, then why didn't you prevent her from taking my son away from me?"

"Seeing into the future isn't always that easy, My Queen." The younger woman turned away from the queen and led her further into the room toward the small sitting area of her rooms. "Sometimes, the visions don't manifest until it is too late to prevent them from being providential. By the time I saw the Lunan's plan, she had already put it in motion and there was only enough time to do what I did to try to save your son."

"You did nothing. You let him go to the moon and give his life for a cause that wasn't his. His place was to remain here and defend his people; not to rush off to protect the Moon Princess. After everything that you've taken that should have been his, the least you could have done is watch over him to keep him from harm."

"It was a cause that he believed in. Perhaps the first one that he's ever really had. And as for the rest, I did my best. I even-" the dark-haired oracle was interrupted as the entire palace rocked on its foundation.

"What was that?" The queen asked from the stone floor after she fell into a heap on the floor.

The oracle raced over to her basin of water and wove her hand over it as she called forth her power. "I was afraid of this. We're under attack."

"Attack?! By who?"

"The Benu."

"The Benu! But they haven't attacked Earth in over a century! Why would they suddenly attack now?"

"Because now we are vulnerable. The planetary defenses are down, and we are now alone in the system." The oracle was reluctant to admit that it had been the Imperial Silver Moon Kingdom that had kept the Benu at bay for over a century. With Serenity and her kingdom destroyed by Beryl and her forces, Earth was now left to defend itself. The ground shook again, this time with much more force and caused both women to fall to the ground. "What I can't tell is why they are here or what they want."