Starlit Ruins

by Simon Woodington

Silk tresses of pale violet nightgown shifted in a faint wave against her lithe body, the billowing sleeves concealing smooth shoulders and slight arms. While blue edged, hollow manifestations of mana trailed meltingly from the practised movement of hand and arm, another sensed the ascension of energy, and awoke.

  'Iye,' she muttered in Japanese, her breathing steep. 'Wait Yalen.'

  The elemental creature yawned and stretched, then sauntered over to her pink bunny slippered feet, and curled up closely enough that his flame warmed her ever so subtly. She crooned softly, enjoying the gentle waft of warmth.

  'Void of Whispering,' she intoned, clapping her hands together as the aspects of the weaving took final form. A curious rumble rooted itself within the core of the flame lion's billowing chest for a moment, before fading.

  The long-legged black haired botanist drew to a halt, hands buried to the wrists in rich multi-toned soil within the gaze of the Pool of Seeing.

  Who are you? Would you mind getting out of my head?

  I expressly apologize, Yanei offered, know the futility of the gesture. Your guest, however, and I have dealings. I must borrow your mind for a while.

  Then get… uhh…, Professor Tamara Lillin found herself suspended in an expanse of black, even while remotely viewing the actions of her commandeered body. Yanei, an inexperienced body thief sifted through her host's recent memory.

  Endless shores of knowledge, but nothing I desire is here! She sneered, noting that even while the cross pollination of exquisite flowers did, indeed, under Tamara's talented guidance yield awe-inspiring results, she had no time for admiration. An image of a black clothed man smiling at her while her heart pounded in her chest caught her brief attention.

  Her uncle. Nothing more, Yanei thought. Busily, the image sped on, drawing her to the appearance of a long haired young woman and a blonde, metal winged child.

  "Lady Tamara!" the little one had cried, even as the botanist approached the two.

  Lady Tamara? Yanei wondered briefly.

  Apparently she had encountered a number of strangers who were interested in her mother, and the two with whom they had escaped, none of whom she actually placed any trust in. After a brief verbal altercation with an oddly hair styled blonde woman and a human formed dragon (a clear shock thus delivered to Yanei), she had teleported her unconscious "mother" here. It seemed that Sarah, as she called herself, was asleep, sunning herself at present, next to a partially redirected springwater pool.

  The blonde was Tsukino Usagi, Sailor Moon, and the other… hmm, Hino. Hino Rei, Sailor Mars. But this, this is Mizuno Ami? The pretty Sailor Mercury? I don't believe it.

  The brightly shimmering pool offered a clear, springwater tinge against the young woman's left side, which betrayed a slight discolouration. Ah, the benefits of the Northern continents. Tamara neared her, seeming somewhat uneasy, and the alert blue haired girl sat up sharply.

  "Huh?" she coughed, one fist to her mouth while the opposing hand grasped a partially full glass of orange juice. "What's up hon?"

  "Just checking on you," she responded, her face surprisingly bright. Upon gleaning that Tamara was more the deadpan sort, she altered her borrowed expression accordingly. Not cold quite, yet distinctly lacking warmth.

  "I'm fine," she echoed in expression. "Where's m'baby?"

  Astonished by the sense of lordship - or in this case ladyship - that washed through her host, she risked a more through telepathic probe. Flickers of of intimate symbiotic communions with humans to the point of sharing their innermost desires, fighting to protect them, and receiving life sustaining energy from each individual. Never more than one at once, yet each all-encompassing, mystically inseparable, until the point of death, or termination of agreement. The former far more prominent then the latter.

  "Lady?" inquired a soft, somewhat ethereal voice.

  "Yes little one?" Yanei felt herself reply.

  What manner of being is she? She is so domineering! Yanei balked, staggering back onto a nearby chair.

  I am so much more than that, fledgling, pale child, angrily rebuked Lady Tamara with teeming, raw confidence. Yanei lurched forward, landing jarringly upon her hands and knees with a sharp cry.

  "Get out of my mind!! Akaaaaaarrriiiiiieeeeeeee!!"

  Sarah gave a start, scrambling to her feet at the abrupt metamorphosis of her generous and gracious host.

  "Lady?!" Shyanne cried faintly.

  'Calm yourself, little one,' she issued in a foreign tongue. 'Your mother-false be safe.'

  "What's she sayin' Shy?" Sarah questioned, tempering her anxiety sternly.

  "You're safe, mama," she loosely translated.

  "Safe?!" she blurted, grasping a denim vest, which she slowly slipped over her shoulders as she walked over to her daughter. "Are you sayin' I was in danger, hon?"

  A firm nod.

  "A young mage foolishly attempted to possess me," Lady Tamara stated coldly. "I will handle her in due time. Until then, you might consider Morcanis' advice."

  "Tam, ah wanna know."

  "Does 'Yanei' sound familiar?" she offered.

  "No, but then I don' seem t' remember much o' anybody," she replied, mouth twisted in a frown. "Shyanne? You wanna go back home darlin'?"

  Her face scrunched uncertainly, then she nodded.

  "Not without you," she squeaked, pouncing upon her mother and grasping her thighs with her little arms.

  "Nah, we're goin' togethah," she smiled faintly.

  @~%~~~

  "Who are you?" demanded harsh male tones, protective in the extreme. He rose from the limp female figure upon their bed, and regarded the strange winged woman with a feral snarl.

  "Your mate has threatened one of mine," declared the creature, nearing him with a flare of light upon each hand. "I have come to see she pays the consequences."

  "Over my corpse," Akari swore, his mind balking at the reason for her approach. What had Yanei done?

  "Yours or hers, makes no difference to me."

  Dimly, as Akari responded to her affront by drawing his energy inward and assuming a defensive stance, he thought to ask of her reasoning.

  "What has she done to you?" he gritted, indicating that even should he find her reason acceptable, he would not allow her to come to harm.

  "Odd that you should not be aware, soul-bonded as you are," she observed, half to herself. "Matter it does not, for you cannot halt my hastening of her death."

  Akari's brutish face reddened. "Try it," he dared her, gesturing in such a fashion as to invite the onslaught. "I mean it. Attack."

  She leapt at him with a banshee screech, the fingertips of her hands formed to metal points, which slashed at his tunic, flicking bits of grey cloth as he dodged nimbly aside. One hand rose, catching her neck, and he held her for a moment.

  "Trifling demon," he growled darkly. "You will leave my beloved alone, or I will destroy you. Understand?"

  She hissed at him, a high, whining thing with tore at his ears. His grip tightened, and something small creaked in her neck.

  "Don't waste your time trying to change. I am stronger still than even that pitiful form."

  Her face became a defeated grimace, during which she forced herself to relax.

  "I understand," she replied, voice restrained, but not by breath.

  With a quick, almost robotic snap, his hand opened, allowing the demon to collapse upon the grey carpeted floor. She glared up at him angrily as she rose, rubbing her neck and growling.

  "If even so much as a hair prematurely leaves her head," he whispered, his temper quite well restrained for its mass. "I will kill you."

  As she turned away, an insulting glare upon her fair regard, his left hand caught her upper arm while the right gripped her shoulder. There was a wrenching, and a high scream. Akari flipped the severed limb aside, several thin laces of crimson arcing with the motion, and held his eyes upon her prone figure, hating that she had dared threaten his sole desire.

  "I could have easily done that to your na
tural form, demon," Akari stated. She knew that well by the ease of his action. Trembling with agony, her blood spattered torso shimmered out of their reality with the rest of her.

  @~%~~~

  Her voice tore through the temple as only one can when it is propelled in abject terror, betrayal, and soul-scored agony. In the place where a powerful example of his kind once stood, and the man who's glowing robe mirrored his anger as he glared at the steaming ashes. The stone structure, in observation, failed to react this time, for recently, these sort of occurrences had become quite common. If ever so unpleasantly that word may be attributed to death on any level.

  He's going to alienate her, was the thought. This, of course, Uraki-Ayo knew.

  'This cost, dear Yanei, was forewarned. Even as you feared me, you did not fear consequence,' he snarled cruelly in viscous Japanese. 'This is your error. Take it and learn, for I am at least gracious enough to offer you the opportunity of repentance.'

  Flaccid of being, wit, and emotion, she gazed at him, soul-stricken as the crystal shimmering of tears flew over her flushed cheeks. She withdrew internally. To attend the tears would be to admit weakness, and beyond desiring to, and wishing her soulmate back, she knew he would strike her down should just a hint of this desire slip.

  'This has come to exceed my want,' he said, his voice gaining unsettling respite. 'Yet I still trust you enough to ask of you a mission.'

  The bowed her head, and did not raise it.

  'You will find Makoto, and once you have learned the nature of this… Resistance…and its leader, you will kill her. I have no tolerance for this potential source of interference.'

  In observation, he was certain she would gesture in the slightest, and betray her more honest nature, yet, she did not, so he spoke further: 'You will leave now, and not return until Makoto's demise.'

  As her childishly attractive form faded in a wash of springwater and lilies, another introduced itself. Her form was generous, and purple adango atama, unmistakable.

  'Report your success.'

  She merely nodded. 'As you predicted, she was vulnerable. I marked her.'

  'The second part?' he requested, unsuccessfully attempting to conceal his anxiousness. The response was as elaborate as the sealed vial she handed him. 'Ah wonderful, Jisuruka!' he smiled, seeming to examine the contents more than the container. 'Yanei will soon be joining Makoto. You may continue the remainder of the collection, I will send your senshi as we can fabricate them.'

  'You enhance my honor, Uraki-sama,' she replied, the motion of bowing in the gentle closing of her eyes.

  'Hai, I do. Now go, I have other matters of greater importance to settle.'

  He turned upon a bound woman in green and white, regarding her scarred figure bound and lax upon the bloodied white table. He had shattered the bones in her arms recently, and she had spoken only what he was sure were lies, saying she knew nothing, while her screams had professed his effectiveness.

  For the moment, she had earned the respite, suffering the presence of piercing nails within various parts of her tender anatomy. He genuinely wondered why it was he could not infiltrate the source of her power. Perhaps he had merely sought it in the incorrect manner. Her groaning voice, raw and weak, indicated her state of awareness.

  'Good morrow, Xalia,' he grinned, taking the crimson matted bow pinned to the front of her uniform and straightening it. 'I trust you slept well?'

  The confusion in her face brought a measure of a smile to Uraki-Ayo's expression, which he did not hide.

  'Are you still sore?'

  She moved slightly, feeling the spires of agony were the nails resided, and attempting futilely to restrain the cries that followed.

  'Are you hungry?'

  Her eyes widened, her befuddlement furthered by his apparent kindness after the previous nights' torture. A week before that had passed, countless unnameable acts performed upon the young woman. As such, reality was a blur, and made little sense. Uraki retrieved a fine looking sandwich from his cloak, and held it temptingly above the girl's red, swollen face. She tried to swallow, her throat working harshly as she stared with glazing eyes at the morsel.

  Even if I could eat, she thought, mind blurred, I couldn't swallow. My throat's too…

  The glass of crystal water hovering above her in his other hand brought her world to a halt.

  'There is a stipulation, however,' he advised her, drawing away the life sustaining items. 'This is very much a co-operative, trust earning matter. If you give me what I want…'

  Her bleary eyes grew wide once again.

  'Then you shall receive what it is you most desire.'

  This was part of the routine, she knew. Thought what he wanted precisely, she still wasn't quite sure.

  How can I tell him what I don't know?! Nasura didn't tell me anything! she thought, the fear of further pain rising in her stomach, doubling the effect of that which already existed. Maybe this is why… she didn't trust me?

  He placed the water at her side, and took a bite out of the sandwich.

  'I consider perhaps that you are afraid of the pain,' he mused, to which Xalia nodded as vigorously as the collar and her tense, sore neck would allow. 'And that perhaps you are indeed telling me the truth. That a woman, who metamorphosed from a cat, entrusted you with crystal empowering you to battle my forces. What was her name again?'

  'Nasura,' Xalia croaked. What Harm Is There In a Name?

  'Ah, now I recall. You did mention that last night,' he replied, as if participating in a casual conversation. 'As Sailor Ether you vanquished over thirty of my best warriors. I must admit, your speed, mystic prowess, and power over the element of wind is most impressive. None of the previous Sailor Senshi exhibited such powers. You even modified your uniform to support armour when the situation warranted it. Not that it was difficult to eliminate…'

  Xalia shuddered. With a welcoming, slight smile, he allowed her a generous gulp of the unbelievably refreshing water. She gasped loudly, struggling for breath after swallowing so much of the substance.

  'Now this is ingenuity which I find highly agreeable!' he noted, half-smiling. 'I also find it remarkable that you, alone, were strong enough to combat my warriors, best them, and avoid capture until I interceded personally. Draw comfort from the knowledge that you were hopelessly outmatched. Only your champion Princess Usagi would have stood a chance, even if it was a slight one. Do not feel badly. You put forth your best effort. For that, I reward you.'

  For the next ten minutes, he assisted her as she consumed the proffered food item, and then healed her arms. As he completed that, he faced her, and asked: 'So this I must know, are you being truthful? I am fairly certain of the answer, but your response would settle my personal doubt.'

  Despite his shocking kindness, she felt suddenly as if she had been slapped, even though he had removed any devices of torture from her body.

  He nearly killed me because he wasn't sure?! With stammering tones, she nodded, and answered: 'H-huh-hai.'

  He closed his eyes and stood, as if she had erred. Her heart leapt, thudding loudly against her rib cage. 'W-what?'

  'Nothing,' he replied pleasantly. 'I believe you. There is the matter of your alliance, however.'

  He summoned formal uniform which represented the finest of elite warriors, and snapped his fingers, altering the blue lining to green, to the most accurate shade of her favorite colour. With a motion, it appeared upon her body, masking the scabs upon the flesh of her arms, legs, and torso.

  'I would have you know that I did not enjoy a single moment of your interrogation. Surplus agony services no one. I merely had to be certain you would answer me honestly.' He regarded her seriously, as an equal. 'Yet now I am pressed to know if you would join the core of my forces elite, and lead us to victory. Before you speak, let me offer you my side of the story with which you are already familiar.

  'Our struggle for survival is no different than yours. You understand very well the need for freedom? To stay up as lat
e as you like, to spend time unhindered with your friends, to experience the joys of the world given you? Of course you do. For us, it is really no different. We wish to live, spend time with those we love, and to share our joy with others. Our joy is the joining of power. To do this, we need to establish order. Our order, as there is no other manner in which our joy can be spread properly.

  'What good is the ability to watch falling cherry blossoms if you do it alone? In that manner, we offer any to join us, to share in the falling of the blossoms and in our strength. There are those, however, who would wish to steal trees, and plant them in their own yard, and enjoy them in solitude. How can anyone else possibly enjoy the beauty the blossoms offer? I say you cannot. To them, who selfishly hoard that beauty, we must explain to them why they must share. And if they refuse to listen, they must be destroyed. It is all for the greater good, as such ignorance creates disharmony among the blossoms of our world.

  'In joining us your strength would be as mine. No other senshi in this kingdom would match you, but you would have access to powers unimaginable! There are many who need our direction, who need to listen to be able to join us in our field of blossoms. You could be a great warrior, leading many in championing our cause.'

  It was for quite a while she lay stunned by the fountain of logic which had he had spouted. It made so much sense! She just wanted to be normal, when Nasura had foisted this strange cause upon her. They only wanted peace too! If she could just get them to understand…

  'Hai, Uraki-Ayo-sama.'

  His smile was grand as he released the metal bonds about her wrists and ankles. As she sat up, she touched the collar warily, looking at Uraki questioningly. 'I must apologize, dear Xalia, but that must remain until you have proved your loyalty. You understand, correct?'

  She nodded, massaging her wrists. 'What do I do first?'

  'There is the little matter of this Resistance they are forming. I understand Nasura is making plans to replace you…'

  Chapter 30

  Significantly Askew