Crystal Points
Emania, Land of Infinite Gods
Prologue- Two Worlds, Colliding Sharply
The stars shone down upon the valley, and upon the slope of the fiery
mountain above, nine figures stood in circle, waiting. One of these was much
younger, and still her duties the most difficult. So ancient, this place
where she stood, her hood of violet lined velvet protecting her face from
the night's chill. The cold was not what caused the shaking in her hands.
No, that was from fear and anticipation. Their safer attempts failed, she
and her sorceresses were forced to fall back to nothing more than an obscure
incantation. Lore was trusted in this place, whispered stories. They came
true here, heard by the countless gods that existed. This sorceress, the
youngest, if she heard the whispers of her elders, would have been afraid
that their uncertainty would upset the balance of power within her. But the
elders held up a united front, knowing the importance of their leader's
confidence. So they remained silent.
Each figure stood in robes of black, simple and plain, loose to their
bodies. Around them, stones circled, high pillars of granite. Etched into
these were markers, symbols whose meanings had become lost to the thousand's
thousand years since their last use. Only one thing of knowledge remained of
these four stones. One for each direction, and the Element they represented.
One North, the way of the first Element, the way of Life. One South, it's
opposite, the Mountain of Fire that even now glowed hotly in the air above
them. To the East the way of the Earth, deep chasms showing the timeless
layering of silt and soil, millions of years of dead creatures embedded in
the layers of rock. Treacherous to any who dared pass. And to the West lay
the opposite of the Earth, the high reaches of the barren mountains reaching
into the air with their peaks.
This was all they knew. That, and the happenings of the last half century
were building to this. What was only guessed before was now certainty. The
demons were coming into the land again, and destruction trailed in their
wake.
The ancient legends and prophesies Emania spoke of these times. The Seal
must be replaced, and the wards that protected against darkness must be
renewed. Awaken the Crystal Points, so that once again they may prevent the
coming of the Silence. Chaos must not break into their realm, where there
had been peace for longer than mind could remember. Only the dusty books on
the shelves knew of the darkness of Emania's birth.
The youngest held the fiercest power of her eight older sisters. It was the
power of knowledge. A burden for one untried. The stars held in their
courses, and her eyes saw two of the moons of the land, the others still not
reborn, hinding in the planet's shadow. The stars were set, as described in
her book. Wordlessly, she took position at the pillar of the direction of
the earth, and the others stood quietly, waiting for her to begin.
How they had prayed. No torches lit the empty yard, only slanting shadows.
Fasting and purifying themselves, they did all in their power to prepare for
this unknown casting. Magic was their realm, yet this magic was so old it
seemed new and untried.
Then the youngest witch spoke, and the words were a chant, taken up by her
sisters.
"Fire, Lightest of Elements,
We ask for your strength.
Air, Breath of Life,
We pray for your protection.
Earth, Mother of us All,
Defend your Children.
Water, First of Elements,
Wash away the Darkness.
Fire, Water, Earth, Air,
Soldier yet Princess, we summon you.
Minds who hold Beautiful Dreams,
We beg you.
Come to us.
In the Land of Infinite Gods."
"Late, late, late!" The priestess shouted, pacing the room. "You would
think, for once, just once, that she could make it on time, at least once in
her odango brained life! She doesn't even have detention! It's the arcade!
That girl is addicted to video games! Brainless...."
The friends of the untransformed senshi Mars sat at the table in Rei's
room, textbooks out, though not looked at, except in the case of the blue
haired one, who was reading hers undistracted. The two who were paying
attention were watching Rei pace with practiced interest, though both were
ready to shake their heads in despair. It wasn't that they were unused to
Rei's storming around, but the fact she had been going on for about eight
minutes solid was edging on a new record. Eight minutes may not seem very
long, but in reality, if you try to talk about the exact same thing, without
variation, for exactly eight minutes, it becomes very difficult. Minako kept
track. Thirty more seconds....
"Minna," the studious one said softly, shaking her head. "we really do need
to study...."
"Ami-chan," Mako whispered, motioning for her to be quiet. She gestured at
Minako and then an imaginary watch on her wrist. Ami sighed. She knew about
the record, and Rei was beginning to turn red in the face. She shook her
head, and returned to her text, taking notes as her eyes flew along the
page.
"...will never ammount to a Queen if she acts like a complete baka all...."
Minako had five fingers up. Four. Three. Two.... "Record!" Minako shouted,
an arm punched up into the air. "New record!"
That was enough to break Rei's furious storming. "Record? What rec-" It
dawned on her while Minako and Makoto fell over laughing, Ami only putting a
hand to her temple in disgrace. "Minako-chan! I can't believe you keep track
of...of...." Rei's red face turned purple as she stomped over to her friend,
who could only wipe tears of laughter from her eyes.
"Lighten up, Rei-chan," Minako giggled, shaking her head. "Ami-chan's
right. We need to get to work. Picking on Usagi-chan isn't going to get us
anywhere on our test tomorrow."
"I don't go to the same school as you, Minako-chan," Rei reminded her
irritably as she settled down on a pillow. "Humph. Fine. What are we looking
at?"
"Biology," Ami replied instantly, not even looking up. "Here," she leaned
over to help Rei. "Page two forty-three...."
"Ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod, Rei-chan is gonna roast me alive....!" Usagi
sped like a blond comet up the steps of the temple, dreading the screaming
and tongue-sticking-out arguement that was coming. "Rei-chan!" Usagi wailed
loudly as she burst though the unlocked door, bolting past Grandpa, who was
left only to stare. "I'm...."
Standing in the doorway, the future Moon Princess stared.
Because the room was completely empty.
************************************************************************
Welcome, minna, to another new story! As always, Sailormoon does not belong
to me, but to Naoko-hime, even though I would adore owning such a thing.
Person. Princess. Whoever. All of it.
However, Emania, and all characters living within it, DO belong to me, so
do not steal them...or you will have both myself and some very angry friends
of mine ready and raring to beat you down. If, for some bizarre reason you
want to borrow them...ask. Why you would though, who knows? Anything's
possible in the world of fanfiction....
That said.
Here's the fun part of the notes. (Hey, there have to be a few of you who
like reading these...for some reason, I do. Anyway.) And just so you know,
this fic isn't centered exclusively around Ami-chan. It will be all four
Inner Senshi, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Venus- minus Moon. Usagi
makes...um, what is in the fic already....not that much of an appearance. I
wanted to give the 4 of them the spotlight for awhile. ^_~ Unlike most of my
fics, this will tend to be more anime based than manga, though it probably
won't make that much of a difference. This is set sometime after Stars....
That nebulous non-time fics can take place in.
I'm just going to have fun with this one. It's not AU in the traditional
way- this is my world, out of my head, just for fun- so if you're looking
for something strongly based in the Realm Of Sailormoon, this probably isn't
for you. But if you like magic, sorcerery and fantasy novels, kick back and
relax. So I hope you're comfy in that chair of yours. It's going to be a
bumpy ride....
Oh, and by the way...welcome to Emania.
-Queen
(
geocities.com/tokyo/shrine) (
geocities.com/tokyo)