Zodiac Reckoning Nephrite’s Return
ACT 9
I closed my eyes. This place, open and evocative, began to work its magic on me. The smell of the fertile earth assailed my nostrils. An ancient memory had attached itself to the scent, the sweet scent of earth. Grasses and an assortment of trees and other plant life made me feel alive -- so soothing.
Suddenly, the scene had changed, I stood on a battlefield looking out across the barren landscape. On either side, like myself, men dressed in grey uniforms with white gloves -- stoic expressions on their faces, looking out onto the planes as darkness descended upon our armies. The advancing horror, a dark cloud gliding across the parched land, silent and ominous moved inexorably towards us.
I could see the light gathering about us, colors of brilliance forming spheres of power were about to assault the oncoming nemesis. Strange faces appearing and disappearing, these were ghosts or something else, I didn’t know.
I looked down to find a sword fashioned from honey-colored crystal covered in elaborate motifs featuring the constellations in my hand. I could feel the weight of its ornate hilt. I fought things no man should ever have to lay eyes on, creatures from the abyss, shapeless, some almost parodies of the human form with reptilian plating, or sharp spikes protruding from their heads and bodies, and others like giant leeches.
~*~
The redheaded queen laughed, a woman of unspeakable beauty, but with eyes dark as a black hole, sucking my soul into herself. She consumed me, also taking my mind and body. Aphrodite in black, a blood-red vixen with a malevolent spirit calling itself – Metallia – turned me into a slave to her whims. I slay my friends, even my own family, by the gods, what unspeakable nightmares had I unleashed. What kind of monster had I become, I shuddered to think. The procession of my wicked deeds read like a damning account rendered by a vengeful judge also doubling as all-powerful executioner.
I had betrayed my liege. The noble shitennou were noble no more. I wept as I relived my past. But the memories, at least for the moment began to recede, but not the guilt.
I then saw those ocean-blue eyes –as if they were cutting through me like electric-blue swords piercing my soul, turning me inside out -- Endymion. I also understood what I had done. He felt the pain of my betrayal. The agony in his heart stabbing mine as a girl’s face swam into view.
Naru, I remembered her name. She stood beside him crying as I witnessed a man with long snow-white hair carrying her limp child’s body with long auburn hair. She was a little princess, a child for crying out loud, she was only nine years old, not much more than that. This innocent, struck down by something fierce, a sphere of fire, an orb of death coming from my hand -- but why!
I stood there, stupefied, not understanding why I was seeing all this, but then, the name…on the tip of my tongue. What was it?
The trees were riving under the night winds of high summer that had stirred up as the memories subsided, as if carried away upon their gentle wings. I inhaled the fecund air as my salty tears streamed down my face. I then took comfort in the vault of the sky, as I looked skyward at the constellations. These celestial watchers unmoved by the tempest that combed the forest as it did my heart, jewels winking at me as if they understood the deeper pain, the secret guilt to which I could give a name, Beryl! The witch whom had haunted my nightmares, the ancient memory and that more recently, she was the scourge of my being, but thankfully, maidens of light, power and goodness had vanquished her. I could see their silhouettes, beautiful and powerful. We weren’t strangers to one another, one in particular, lady of oak, lady of thunder with the power to command the element from storm-laden skies – Jupiter!
Winking at me as if they held the answers and were holding out on me, as if at any moment they would scatter and reform to give me a clue, if only I could puzzle it out – the stars beckoned, offering a hint of what had once been so long ago, of times long since forgotten, and of dreams lost.
I would seek to rediscover those things once held dear, destroyed by a force more dark and forbidding than bore thinking about . What did all this mean. I hung my head and cried tears of pure frustration.
But the clammy sense of contamination ruined for me the charms of the scenic groves that ran the length of the central promenade. The crickets sung a symphonic lament that kept pace with my leaden footfalls upon cold unyielding flagstone. Then a name, one so ancient and commanding fell like a blade upon the silent Austrian night -- Nephrite
ACT 10
Endymion’s Reign
I am flying over a vast delta, majestic water birds flock to a pristine lake of crystal, moving back and forth across its mirror-like surface. Suddenly, a powerful surge of water rises in a fountainhead of steam and fire into the sky, sending the terrified birds skyward. The ground starts to shake, followed by a violent explosion annunciating the earsplitting sound of the Earth’s crust ripping apart as a series of molten blobs of magma enclosed within clouds of water vapor, shot miles into the air resulting in a series of earsplitting explosions annunciated the Great Mother’s lamentations and rage.
I trembled under the awesome display and felt the immense reverence for the world to which my liege, King Endymion was so attuned. He was the fury child and life force of Earth. His power was vast and majestic, as that mighty power ascended from the bosom of the Great Mother, Demeter, so long ago.
Endymion had fallen in love, not with just a woman, but also with the silvery sphere from which she had come. You see they had sojourned together through many lifetimes, as man and wife, lover and confidant. As forbidden lovers and from different borders, each time they fell together, it diminished their power. This I knew had dragged us down.
But on reflection, it was not a fault of either my liege, or his soul mate. But as they descended together, they were fated to gestate within the fabric of dream along with those who loved them. And yes, the fall countered under a new millennium and new dispensation.
Senshi, Shitennou and their powerful monarchs -- Endymion and Serenity would stand upon the verdant frontier. A rejuvenated world, and upon the timeless sphere they would rule with love, wisdom and with power provided by the Ginzuishou and Kinzuishou, a new dispensation governing all space and time would emerge. I bore witness to this primordial power in my vision.
I understood what the vision meant. As for the fire that ripped through the crust of the Earth, I could see the necessity for the sacred and profane to be offered by the King and Queen of Earth and Moon. Purifying and transforming the ancient and embattled surface of the tarnished blue pearl, casting aside the shell of past degradations to reveal through the upsurge of magma -- that inevitably cooled -- a virgin Earth under a smiling moon.
The legacy bequeathed to the children of the Crystal Kingdom as its inheritors.
ACT 11
Mannequins of Norok
Behind them, the panoramic windows shattered. Waxen figures fell through the windows into the boardroom, like wind-up dolls, but these deadly crazed automatons controlled by a force unknown, served only darkness. Staring in disbelief, the businessmen and women jumped back, shocked and terrified as they rushed from the conference room as the strange creatures lurched towards them. It seemed a powerful force had plunged them into a grotesque play.
The guardian of the night, Tuxedo Kamen, flew from the rooftops and landed lightly on his feet. He crouched low to the ground, his power staff held aloft -- the curse he knew was working its deadly intent as if a black python was slithering through the streets of downtown Tokyo.
After discussing their discovery and the events that followed with Mars earlier that same night after puzzling through the dusty ancient Codex that lay buried deep beneath the shattered ruins of a haunted burial ground, he knew something in the atmosphere had changed dramatically. As soon as the power of the Kinzuishou inadvertently roused the ancient powers to life, the archaic forces held in check for millennia were unleashed upon an unsuspecting metropolis as it slept. He lifted his cane and it threw off waves of golden force that dissolved a swarm of giant bats, their razor-sharp teeth had cut through power cables, some of these roasted alive as thousands of volts of electricity incinerated these denizens of darkness. Others damaged buildings, cars and light fixtures.
As Kamen summoned his power once more, a wave of golden light swept over the streets of downtown Tokyo, the surviving streetlamps seemed to hang their heads almost in shame at their failure to provide the customary security its citizens had come to know and trust. But now, a dark nemesis had laid claim to their dominion and the air hushed. Tendrils of evil sought out the innocent bystander, arrested the late night sojourner seeking a karaoke bar, or the lady of the night in a lesser known, talked about quarter of the city, and drew the souls of the despairing into its ranks.
The mage stood with his army of wax-like creatures and a smirk appeared on his face. He was dressed like a noble samurai, but there was nothing noble about the figure standing defiantly before him as his hands wove a net of dark energy and slung it over those caught within his ever-spreading net.
“I won’t allow you to sully the tranquility of the night, for I am Tuxedo Kamen, defender of the innocent, the thorn of the rose and the blade of the Earth’s mother, come out and face me dark one!”
“Oh foolish prince, I know you well, pity you don’t remember me. For last time we met, you enjoyed great power and had imprisoned me, but I have you at a disadvantage do I not? I am Norok, mage of the dark arts, the wizard of the shogun and emperor of darkness and leader of the shadow Ninjitsu…ring any bells now Endymion!”
That name, it stung, like a viper’s tongue, the flashbacks were upon him. Yes, the stone monsters that freed themselves from the husks of the haunted mountain, the armies that threatened to overrun the house of light and the honorable Shitennou who guarded the King’s palace. He remembered well, the wars and the strife as the power struggles underwritten by powerful magic -- that of the dark and of the light competed for dominance. This was an embodiment Usagi and the girls hadn’t remembered either, but now it all came back. The black clad figures and their magical orbs of fire.
Yes, he knew Norok and his power and they had fought before the Edo period and further back, for they had battled in many lands. Now, they clearly had unfinished business to attend to, but this time he hadn’t had the power of both crystals at his disposal.
In that moment, his beloved Sailor Moon appeared along with the formidable Senshi.
“I am Sailor Moon, and in the name of the moon…”
She launched her attacks against the creatures and the wax figures and en masse, these fell to the ground and Norok cursed and threw fiery spurs at the Senshi and they countered these with their own barrage of force.
“Mars Fire Bird Attack!”
Norok once more launched his next wave of attacks. Then, as he laughed like a crazed madman, a dragon-like creature burst forth from a nearby office tower, sending a shower of masonry, glass and chunks of steel plummeting to the street below. The monster was six stories high. Norok laughed as the Senshi of fire engaged the creature.
“Mars Celestial Fire Ignite!”
This slowed the creature down and it was Jupiter’s turn, ”Jupiter thunder dragon!”
Kamen could have honestly kissed the auburn haired Senshi of thunder, that was, if he wasn’t attached so to his beloved Usako and grinned at the thought. She had had luck with dragon creatures before, recalling the battle where she had taken down Emerald in Crystal Tokyo. The creature groaned in pain. Its massive tail twitching like a cat and nine tails as it swatted a bus and several cars and tossed these high into the air and into a row of large windows sending huge plates of shattered glass raining down once more. Car alarms rang out into the night, mingling with the sounds of approaching emergency and police sirens. Two choppers hovered high above. Irritated by these, the monster ripped a steel pole from the pavement and hurled it at one of the craft and it exploded. The girls screamed as the spinning aircraft, its searchlights, spun in a carnivalesque spiral as the chopper crashed, setting off more fires. The creature roared and staggered towards them, causing fire hydrants to burst, as the streetlights winked out running the length of one side of the street.
Sailor Moon then summoned the Ginzuishou. “Moon Cosmic Affinity Power Surge Attack!”
The Senshi of love and justice directed a blazing silver stream of force into the dragon’s chest, striking its heart, it fell back into the gaping hole it had left on its entry into the fray, and it burst into flame.
Norok was furious. But before he could respond, Sailor Moon lifted the Ginzuishou and chanted her cosmic power affinity attack once more as the ancient mage of darkness unleashed his own powerful attack. The two waves of power clashed, destroying more of the surrounding buildings within the central business district.
Kamen directed a sphere of golden energy that struck and sent the huge Toshiba sign, aglow with golden light tumbling towards the dark mage, destroying him. He vanished in a blast of silvery-gold light and the only hint of his remains was a piece of haiku scorched onto the pavement.
As the wax creatures returned to their human forms after Sailor Moon’s healing activation, Mercury and Venus guided these people to safety as police and ambulances arrived on the scene. Paramilitary troops were cordoning off the street and asking Kamen, Moon and their Senshi for a report on the battle.
Meanwhile, Artemis and Luna drew Neptune and Jupiter to where the haiku lay scrolled across the cement and read. ‘Darkness rides the night…We will meet again, rest assured!’
