People were apt to exaggerate, and they had to separate fact from fiction, as these wild lands were rife with folkloric tales based on the supernatural. Reports of some of the dead becoming youma were spreading across the valley and though no official accounts of these sightings had been confirmed, they weren’t ruling these out just yet. But inevitably, evidence of atrocities committed by riding parties of these youma had come in from all over the valley and the mountains to the west. It was bad. Common beliefs were shattered in the face of the youma onslaught and it seemed no one could stop them.
Long ago, the Atlantari Ruling Council had vowed to protect and guide the simpler peoples of the underworld, or Helios’s continents, as these were euphemistically known, and do this through their cultural and technological evolution without interfering above a bare minimum. Nevertheless, situations like this were occasions where the crystal gliders and stellar craft were a common sight over the planes and mountains of the region.
Terra: Somewhere in northern Mongolia, Atlantean epoch circa 15000 BCE (Six years earlier)
Miyako Otoriiia was summoned from his enclosure, the wind biting cold, the sleet like countless silver needles punching the soft earth at his feet. If not for the warm skin boots, his ceremonial clothing, cloak and hood, he would have suffered the harsh elemental tempest unprotected in his usual robes and sandals. The towering anvils of cloud unforgiving as the snow fell upon the nearby hills.
The sandy soil made it easier in these conditions to move about as opposed to the mud flats of Kioshoczi. One had to watch their step lest they find themselves in a trench up to their waste in some cases, sodden wet.
“Come, she is dying lord,” Hoshiko said in a rush. Hoshiko Ayasha, his shamanic counterpart, a recent initiate to the Temple of the Blue Pearl, entreated, the young woman in similar attire but for her underskirt and top beneath the thick warm cloak. He nodded, and followed the gazelle-like gate of the young woman leading the way. Visibility was down to a few feet, so avoiding the pitfalls and puddles was essential under these harsh conditions.
He was sure they could help this child. But on first glance, he had to recant. For the state of the patient’s body was something neither he nor any of his people had ever seen before. If the power of the Terran Hearth could not save a child, it boded not well for his village and the peoples of the valley and for that matter, his world.
He rarely used the power of the Kinzuishou but this child was a Terran Princess, a warrior known as a Senshi. She was one of the few female heirs to the Terran throne who had chosen to live here in these lands as part of her training. She had to be saved. There was no other option, for the lineage of Terra was not as plentiful as it once was due to the scourge of infertile members of the houses of Myola and Solaris. Using the stone of Lord Helios was the only way.
“You brought the child here? Have you sealed the circumference?” he said, pulling up the heavy curtain of colorful animal skins upon the threshold that led into the makeshift temple and healing clinic. He smiled at the blazing fire in the granite hearth and began preparations.
“Yes, and also she bears the mark of darkness. Behold, upon her chest, a black-red rose, symbol of discord!” Hoshiko declared, her aquamarine eyes ablaze.
“Bring the crystal staff and the musicians!” he commanded, frowning. Something wasn’t right about this situation. Miyako felt it more than relied on any solid evidence. But he would find the source of this new threat and do all in his power to neutralize it.
The pestilence had begun on the last moonrise, the shadows cloaking the hills to the east, and then the attacks on the newborns, human and animal it seemed had begun in earnest. At first, this was put down to marauding wolves, wildcats or boar. But after examining the wounds, the strange substance, a residue that ate at the flesh of the victims, both dead and alive, and the telltale signature of crystallization, he knew a new darkness had entered the lands of Terra. He ordered that only the senior most Shamans be told of this.
A security cordon was put in place around the first besieged settlement to the northeast across the Mokovana River while the urgent communiqué went out to the Atlantari Federation Governing Council in the capital on the other side of the planet.
All those infected thus far had died because of their injuries. The toxin, whatever it was, crystallized the bodies. The dark magic came off the stone corpses in waves. They had to put the village under quarantine by order of the king. The dreaded blood red to black crystal, a stone much like piceous, so deadly that their most powerful containment spells had to be used to hold the evil locked therein. Those survivors, not exposed were unable to speak of the horrors of which they'd seen during the siege. Within a week, the settlement was destroyed with the use of a pulse weapon on lone from King Solaris of Atlantari. He and his wife, the queen, Arjirea had taken a direct interest in the incident because a similar outbreak was reported in the northern most provinces of the Myolan continent and of Kiro-Beijii to the east. But now, it had come to his village and he was determined to save the lives of those he had grown up with having seen them all thrive and conjoin and raise fine children, as had he and his wife.
Miyako, a Saturnean, having migrated to Terra with his parents as a child, knew he was destined to become a shaman from boyhood. He longed to conjoin with the girl of his dreams, Kerkira. They had enjoyed a short time together and they had one daughter, Hotaru. But now he had to raise the little girl alone. Some day, he would find a new wife. His beloved Kerkira had died during an incursion into their lands by mercenaries thought connected to a warlike race on the other side of the mountains to the north-west two solar rotations ago. He was devastated. His daughter, was Senshi, but he knew she was much safer with Queen Serenity on the Moon right now. Miyako was relieved his parents were exploring the lands to the southeast, but hoped this pestilence would not reach them. So there was no question of it; they had to nip this plague in the bud and fast.
The musicians were beating the drums, these imbued with power, as were the percussive stones, rattles, and the wind instruments as he and Hoshiko began their dance, slipping into an altered state of consciousness. He looked like a Kami, and Hoshiko, his consort. But in that moment, their focus was not on the countenance of the other, but their patient.
When the room was filled with golden light, they stopped. Miyako brought his palms together. “I call upon the Kinzuishou to grant me the power to free your child from this new plague. Oh Terran world of endless dreaming that lies beneath our feet, I call upon you to open your gates and bring forth a remedy!”
Then Hoshiko began her invocation in song, “Oh Lord Helios, grant me and my fellow petitioner access to your healing power, please hear us!” she cried, the rich texture of her voice saturating the chamber, her golden hair ablaze as was her glistening body with the light of the Kinzuishou.
Miyako felt the Terran fire engulf him also. The golden light began to build in his hands. The sphere grew and hovered between them. Hoshiko gasped in awe and love, her body bathed in sweat, her blond tresses in disarray. She sank into a sitting position, not far from the semi-conscious girl. Hoshiko began to sing a different incantation this time to the redheaded child. Her eyes closed and a figure rose from her physical form. The beautiful spirit or yami, moved towards the princess whose little hands began to tremble. The golden silhouette paused, bowed to Miyako before moving closer to the unconscious child. Fiery gold light moved over the delicate feet and lower legs of the sleeping innocent that had crystallized into translucent gemstone. The girl’s eyes shot open, aglow with red light, her mouth foaming, glistening fangs distorting her otherwise young and gentle features. The princess was only nine solar cycles.
The golden flash cleared and the girl was healed, all traces of the scourge gone, the mark of Terra upon her brow returning, the sight delighting the shaman.
Hoshiko emerged from her trance and smiled upon the sleeping princess. “It is done, she is free. But we must get her out of this land for the darkness still lurks.”
“We have a glider on standby not ten minutes walk from here, but let her sleep and we’ll move at daybreak,” he said, as the tribal elders filed into the tent and stared at the wonder that was the Terran Princess restored, still in her indigo shift.
“Let us rest Hoshiko,” he said, leading the way out of the tent. The ice storm had stopped. The night sky was now filled with ribbons of stars. She moved closer to him. He placed his arm about her shoulder. Then, he nuzzled her neck, kissing her soft skin, inhaling the sweet scent of her floral oils and sweat. He combed her long blond locks with splayed fingers. She sighed with the pleasure of his touch. They stood like that for a time just taking in the array of celestial glory overhead, not speaking a word.
Hoshiko then broke the silence, “Share my tent this night?” she said, smiling up at him, “I am in need for tenderness this hour.”
“Yes, I feel a need matching your own.” He smiled down at her, cupping her face and kissing her upon ruby-red lips.
“Come.” Hoshiko took his hand and led him to her tent.
She looked fit to burst. Her cloak and boots discarded, only her golden skirt that fell to mid-thigh remained as she tossed the gemstone encrusted top and her solid rose gold girdle aside to reveal her bountiful splendor. He took in her beauty and shed his own garments. Hoshiko unclipped her skirt and stepped daintily out of the ring of glittering fabric. She felt her heated blood racing through her trembling body as she moved towards him. Miyako felt the power of the Kinzuishou buzzing upon her soft flesh and knew he too was charged with its magic. The aftereffects would dissipate through the ritual of making love. It certainly wasn’t rare for a male and female shaman to couple this way after performing a ceremony to ground one another.
Miyako was lonely and Hoshiko was comely. He had loved her for several months now, and respected her. The feeling was mutual. He caressed her breasts, running his hands through her hair once again. He loved its softness.
Hoshiko pulled him to the sleeping skins, leaning back as he kissed her neck, shoulders and face, feasting upon her sweet mouth. She knelt down and sat on her heels. He gazed upon her resplendent form, gasped in pleasure, and soon joined her. Hoshiko pulled his hands into her lap, leaned forward and kissed him. He reciprocated in kind and cradled her head in his large but gentle hands as she ran her fingertips over every inch of his muscular chest and to the core of his manhood. He sighed in pleasure as she brought him to the brink, losing himself in her sumptuous hip-length hair as his body shuddered in response to her full lips upon him.
Hoshiko lay back and he began the seduction rite in earnest. Love magic was now performed as they assumed all manner of postures to pleasure the other and drink from the well of glorious lust. Miyako gave herself to him. They kissed once more before losing themselves in one another.
The lone figure rose from her bed, eyes glazed, naked and not feeling the cold. The young Terran princess walked in a somnambulistic trance out into the cold air. Her flaming red hair her only garment as she moved towards the hooded figure in the public square and summoned the child. As she stopped before Wiseman, she began to convulse and collapsed at his feet. The golden light fled her quivering body, foul substances leaving every orifice because of the darkness returning.
“You are ours, Beryl, no hand of Helios shall keep you from my mistress,” the fiery red eyes flashed and a horde of youma began to move in on the settlement. “Destroy them little one, it is your destiny! Behold!”
Defiled and soiled by the dark poisons now vying for control of the girl, a bright red flash restored her dignity, she was wearing a black shift and black tiara and her Senshi nature had been neutralized.
“Destroy them?” she said in a lifeless monotone, and thus began her plunge into darkness as Wiseman laughed and took the little girl’s hand, “Come here. Now, starting with the barracks, burn the village to the ground!”
She walked with the creature of the dark, feeling the ice-cold bony hand of the evil master, part of her screaming inside the shell of her body, no longer her own.
‘Forgive me Endymion, Serenity, Solaris and Arjirea, but I am unable to save you!’
“I will kill them all. Youma, I command you,” the girl’s shrill voice cried out, lifting her arms skyward, her vermilion tresses whipped upon the wind as the slim child stood gaunt and lifeless. Beryl, a marionette of doom standing before the sleeping community unaware most would die at her hands that morning. The creatures heard and obeyed. They would come to feast on the dead.
---
“Hoshiko, wake up, there is great danger coming!” Miyako whispered, and pulled his sleepy lover to her feet. “I feel it, I must cast a protective shield around the settlement. But I fear we might be too late to save them all. Help me!”
“Oh Miyako!”
The light of the Kinzuishou had fled her heart the moment the little girl raised her arms as a wave of black lightning struck the barracks. Most of its occupants dying before they knew what hit them.
“Teleport the women and children to the glider, move!” Miyako shouted and Yoshiko complied.
“Celestial Teleport!” they shouted in unison. Soon the glider was airborne. A few men, Women, children and a handful of Shitennou and Senshi cadets sat in stunned silence as the fireball left a wasteland where once their homes and families had lived, now reduced to a cinder.
---
“You have done well child. Now sleep. They will find you and rescue you. Poor little princess. My sister Lady Metalia shall take you under her wing, quite literally I might add. Upon puberty child, she shall recall you. Until then, sleep…” Wiseman vanished.
Beryl’s memory was wiped clean. She sat in the fetal position whimpering as the rain pelted her little body, her red hair clinging to her cold skin as was the threadbare shift, and the tiara was gone. She lifted her eyes to the bleak sky stretching out before her and screamed. The scorched terrain, charred bodies and smoldering ruins looked back at her in the gunmetal gray dawn, the macabre tableaux chilling her to the core. Beryl wailed as youma tore apart the corpses of the dead and fed. Now and then squabbling over a limb or other carrion.
Moon Palace (six years later)
“So Arjirea is younger than I Lord Solaris? I look forward to meeting your-“
“Serenity! Majesty!” Solaris cried, rushing to the beautiful monarch of the moon, her sky-blue gown with white floral motifs fanning out around her, her hair in a pool of gold about her head.
“Send for Lady Avonlea, and make it fast!” Luna cried, assuming her human form, “And bring the princess!”
---
“Mother! What happened!” Serenity took in the dim light within the bedchamber. The curtains drawn, the silver stars decorating these sparkling in the candlelight. On any other occasion, she would find the setting spellbinding and beautiful. But as she stood there, her body stiff with fear, sweat running down her back, she found it confining and suffocating.
Serenity’s eyes drifted ever so reluctantly towards her mother’s bed. The queen was frowning, her head tilted at a slight angle as she regarded her daughter. The Lunarian Queen sat upright, supported by several large fluffed-up pillows.
“Luna, Artemis, leave us…”
“Yes Lady Serenity,” Luna said, and Artemis nodded and the courtiers left as had the healer after gathering her potions and placing these on a tray and followed the Mauans from the room.
“The Ginzuishou sees all, my child. Have you something to tell me or must I consult Lady Pluto?”
Bunny was scared now, but bit her lip. She knew it had to be her encounter with Diamond. But what she didn’t understand was why and how her mother had known.
‘She cannot know, we were so careful! How could our night of intimacy impact on mother’s health like this?’
But as upset and worried as she was for her mother’s well-being, she had to come up with something and fast. “I don’t understand, mother?”
Serenity took her daughter’s feeble answer and pale expression for acquiescence and scowled. “Have you done something to tax yourself, have you… tried to use your powers before they were ready to blossom naturally child, or…?”
“Y-yes, that is true-“ It was a lifeline, but she grabbed it with a guilt-ridden desperation not lost on her mother.
“Child?” she arched an eyebrow, folding her arms over her chest, heaving a heavy sigh, “You are not ready to use the Ginzuishou, hadn’t Luna and Artemis told you that? But I think something else is at issue here child. There is a lot I need to tell you and I was hoping to have this talk with you before you had come of age. But now, you force my hand.”
“Mother?” she wasn’t so sure she’d succeeded in saving her little backside as her mother smiled and patted the bed.
“Come, sit…” she smiled, a kind motherly smile that melted Bunny’s heart and to some extent ameliorated her fears. But she still felt uncomfortable. “Now, I know you’re lying to me child and it can only be for one reason,” Serenity lowered her head and waited for the tirade that surely would follow. But her mother’s words both shocked and relieved her. “You’ve been exploring your body and found it pleasurable. Now please don’t be ashamed dear, you’re becoming a young woman and you need to understand these things. I am not angry because you did this, but disappointed that you couldn’t tell the truth. Your first sexual experience should have been wonderful, not shrouded in guilt and fear child. Without understanding the consequences of masturbation for Lunarian girls born to rule, you are at a disadvantage.”
Serenity went beat red as her mother told her about the many ways of pleasuring one’s self and when it ought to be done. As hard as it was to take, she felt as if her face were on fire. Folding her hands in her lap, she felt like a little girl all over again. Her mother called for Luna to bring a Lunarian calendar and sketched in the dates when it was safe for a Lunarian female monarch to indulge in self-stimulation. The blushing princess involuntarily clamped her thighs together and her mother patted her hand as tears trickled down her daughter’s face.
“Don’t cry child, it’s perfectly natural. I have been so preoccupied with matters of state at home and throughout the Alliance, I neglected to perform my duty to my own daughter. I should apologize to you Serenity. I should have been here for you to prepare you for womanhood and equip you with the knowledge you needed. I love you, and am most proud. I know you will make a fine leader one day. So chin up.”
“Oh mother, you really think so?” she looked up with adorable wide eyes.
Serenity winked, “Of course, you take after me don’t you?”
“I suppose so,” she winked back and relaxed.
“Now, I hope you will not feel embarrassed about this subject. Be mindful of your cycles and when you come of age, you can start your training with me, Luna and Artemis on how to use the Ginzuishou and how to communicate with her, all right?”
“Yes mother, and thank you for explaining…you know,” she blushed again, then continued, “And understanding,” she said, feeling the pain of guilt burning with a fury that almost consumed her.
She hadn’t known about her sexuality and how it worked, and knew that her actions had somehow drawn power from the Ginzuishou. She had to tell Diamond so whenever they had sex it was in harmony with her Lunarian cycles.
Serenity tied a silver ribbon around the calendar, handed it to Bunny, and smiled. “Now, go to class, Lady Naru will be there and I want you to enjoy yourself for the rest of the day, am I understood?”
“Yes mother, and thank you, I am glad we cleared the air,” she smiled and leaned forward to hug her mother, ”Will you be all right?”
“Yes, I only need to rest for a day or so and I’ll be fine, now child, off with you.” Serenity kissed her daughter’s cheek and Bunny almost skipped out of the room, Serenity smiling as she went.
Lay Me Down in Moon Petals
The dream had been so lovely. Serenity and Diamond had snuck away and spent plenty of quality time together. It had been several glorious months.
“I am so happy Diamond, and with the calendar, we can be together and no-one will know of it.”
“You know, I must leave here soon to go back to Nemesis, will you come with me?” he asked, waiting with anxious anticipation at her answer, “the flowers are beautiful this time of year.”
“Oh yes, I would love to visit Nemesis. I will keep the portal open as Pluto has agreed to help us.”
“You told Pluto?” he frowned.
“Yes, for she has a secret love too and asked for my advice and I told her to do as we are doing. He lives on Terra and is a prince, but they have so many I didn’t bother asking his name. But she tells me she is happy and with child.”
“Oh, won’t she show and the queen, I mean, your mother and the new Senshi Guardian Force know of it?”
“She is the Senshi of time silly. She plans to travel to another time and have her baby.”
“Clever, I wish we had that luxury, I mean, to travel back and forth in time. Imagine the possibilities. Pluto is most fortunate.”
“By the way, Pluto told me she has already found the perfect wet-nurse; Naru. I am so proud of Naru, she will keep me up to date on the baby’s progress and still spend time, funny that, and plenty of it with no-one any the wiser. Lady Pluto will visit her child and return to her duty at the Time Gate when it counts.”
“You know… We should visit her. I have an idea. If Nemesis is cut off from the Silver Alliance, I need a way to reach you,” he breathed, pulling her to him.
“Oh yes, I will arrange it, now shut up and make love to me!” she said, untying her plaits once more as he cupped her breasts cradled within the soft mesh of her silver bodice.
Bunny blew him a kiss as he pealed the garment from her upper torso and paid her homage with his lips.
She lifted the frilly hem to reveal sugar-pink limbs beneath the sumptuous colorful skirts. “You are so lovely, Sere, my Bunny!”
She slipped one shapely leg over his shoulder as he worked his way along the inside of her tender thigh. She sat back and drew him to her flower like a honeybee. “Take me, my Diamond, my love!”
---
“I shouldn’t agree to this Bunny, but you both have me at a disadvantage. I thank you for your loyalty and you have mine. I know the risks are high and Kamis know I will put things to rights somehow. Destiny even impacts on the Guardian of Time,” she offered the young couple a wry smile, “I will help you both, and Sere, thank you. I will guide you through. I will fashion time keys for each of you and one for Naru, an extra one in case of trouble.”
“Thank you, Lady Pluto,” Diamond said, his voice laced with gratitude and reverence for the Senshi of time.
One year later
Diamond had to leave her and return home. She was devastated because she wouldn’t see him for a month due to a royal tour of the Alliance kingdoms she was obliged to perform as part of her duties as Crown Princess of the Moon Kingdom and something about a suitor by the name of Endymion. There was no getting out of it either. It would be boring and stately. But Bunny was determined to have some fun. She did like two of the new Senshi: Mars and Mercury. She was shy around Venus, as it seemed the blonde could almost see through her. The Venusian kept grinning and winking at her and waved whenever she saw her with Diamond. That didn’t bother her so much, rather she seemed to know of their relationship in spite of their platonic demeanor in public that worried her most. Bunny didn’t know how she knew, but she was convinced Venus did and strangest thing of all, approved of the tryst. Jupiter, Bunny was yet to meet.
One morning, months later, after becoming violently ill, she summoned Naru and swore her friend to absolute secrecy. “Oh Naru, it has all gone horribly wrong, I will never see him again!”
“Bunny, what is wrong?”
“I’m with child, and I am supposed to be formerly engaged to the prince of Earth just after I give birth. What a mess!” she broke down and Naru cradled her friend in her arms. “Just after my birthday, I’ll be too sick to meet him. What am I to do!”
“Can’t you go to your mother? Surely she can ascent to the marriage between yourself and Diamond now?”
“I’m afraid it’s not that simple Naru. I have been told I will be receiving new guardians upon my birthday and they’re powerful warriors from the other planets as part of the new era as mother calls it to consolidate the alliance. I’m afraid for my baby, and myself.”
“But you cannot think for one moment your mother would harm your child. She might get mad, all right, furious and banish you, but to where?”
“Nemesis!”
“But I thought you’d be happy about that?”
“I thought so too. But you see, Naru, Diamond has warned me of a dark mage who has visited his family and has thrust an obsidian staff of powerful dark magic into the ground and it has apparently contaminated the Planet Seed of Nemesis. I, Diamond and our child and all of us would turn to the darkness and my Ginzuishou, already corrupted as I had only just learned of this, would make me a Dark Senshi. I cannot risk it and my baby would likely lead armies against mother and all those I love. Hell, I would probably stand side by side with my husband and daughter and destroy everything and everyone I love! I can’t do that! Most of the royal family is safe on Calypso but for his brother Sapphire and himself of course. But his parents are enslaved. Diamond must comply with the dark mage’s demands or he shall kill his parents and execute his subjects.”
“Oh Bunny! That is awful!” Naru exclaimed, her face pale.
“We managed to evacuate half the population. But we didn’t have much time. I had to leave, that was when the Garnet Rod vanished. Diamond has forbidden me to intervene. I don't know what to do, Naru," she broke down in her friend's arms. "The dark mage calling himself the Wiseman has stolen Sailor Pluto’s time staff.”
“What!”
“Its all my fault. Pluto was talking with me about the baby. Diamond had been granted permission to visit me through the time gate as Nemesis is slipping out of our universe. The Garnet Rod was the only bridge between Nemesis and the Moon Kingdom. But the dark mage stole the Time Staff and I have to help Pluto get it back and this means I have to give her up,” she sobbed.
“Your child?”
“Yes, Pluto will take her to a kingdom called Crystal Tokyo. She would not say where this kingdom was, for I have not heard of it before. But our child will be safe. She will die if she stays here with me. Pluto all but tied me down when she explained her reasons why I had to let Diamond and our child go. I can’t see either of them again, although I will have a year with Acura before Pluto will take my little girl to the future.
“So you need help?”
“Yes, but Naru, you can’t,” she cried, gripping her friend’s hand.
“I can and I will, you’re in need and I have help, too, a young Shitennou by the name of Umino will help us.”
