prologue

                   Two hundred years before the destruction of the Moon Kingdom, a great rebellion erupted on Earth. For a long time several ancient noble houses lived under the rule of the king of the earth kingdom; the house of Aesir, the house of Olympus, and the house of Ennead. They were all quite content and prospered under the kings rule. Near the end of the silver millineum, however, the leaders of these three houses- Odin, Zeus, and Ra, died of a mysterious illness. Afterwards, their succesors became increasingly more suspicious of the King of Elysion and Queen Serenity of the Moon Kingdom. Rumors of a plot by the courts of the two kingdoms to destroy the ancient houses spread. The new heads of the houses became increasingly paranoid and shut themselves away. They began to conspire among themselves to come up with a way to be rid of their rulers. Loki of Aesir, always the trickster, began to spread accusations of coruption, and Ares of Olympus started training an army. Set of Ennead incited his people to riot.
                    After several years, the three decided all was ready to strike. They swayed a young noblemen in the court of Prince Endymion to lead an army in an attack on the royal palace on Earth. Under the leadership of the new general, they launched their attack. The armies broke through all the way to the throne room of the King, and took him hostage. The kingdoms of the Earth and Moon had no standing armies, so they were in no condition to retake the palace.
                    It was decided that this crisis was dire enough to call forth a fighting force that had not been needed since the formative days of the Silver Millinium. Queen Serenity sent out her Senshi, and Prince Endymion led his four guardians to assault the palace themselves.
                    With a small army of volunteers, Prince Endymion and his guardians marched on the occupied palace and laid seige. With the help of the Sailor Senshi, the walls of the palace didn't take long to fall. But that was the easy part. As soon as the wall was breached, the armies of Niflheim and Olympus poured out of the edifice and charged the small force of the Twin Kingdoms. At first Endymion's forces held steady, but the pressure on the front line became to much, and it broke. Within half an hour units were scattered about the battlefield with no order. Eventually the seperated units pulled together under the guardian or Senshi nearest them, and forced their way back to the breach, but not before nearly half of their numbers were killed or wounded. The army finally broke through the gates, but their were still a good deal of defenses to be overcome. The rebel army still lay behind them as well, blocking off thier retreat. It was decided that a small group led by Endymion and his guardians would continue on to the throne room and rescue the King before the rebels could do anything to him. The remaining forces as well as the senshi would stay behind and hold off the enemy.
                       Endymion ran through the palace, followed closely by his four guardians. They made quick time, and were soon coming upon the throne room. Just as the guardians were about to bust down the door, it swung open, to reveal a young man weilding a katana. "Benkei?!" Endymion cried out, shocked. "What are you doing here? Have you joined these rebels?" The young man was indeed Benkei, greatest swordsman of the Twin Kingdoms, and a dear friend of the royal family of Earth.
                     "Join them? Ha! I lead them! Who do you think orchestrated this whole plot? Those simple minded lords of the three houses? Even Loki was pathetically easy to manipulate! I'm the one who poisoned the former lords! I used thier petty jealousies to drive them to rebel, and set myself up to lead them! They are under my control now! Join me, Endymion! Have you not looked upon the thrones of the two kingdoms in envy, as have I?"
                      Endymion, still in shock from the betrayal, found speech hard. Had this man he had considered a friend really orchestrated this rebellion that had already caused so much death? This was not the loyal knight he thought he knew! He looked into the man's eyes, trying to disern what had changed him so... but as he looked, he saw that the answer lay not in his eyes, but in his hands- that katana... it was the Masamune! The terrible sword, stained red with bloodshed, who's curse drove all who wielded it to chaos and death!