End of the Millennium
A Xian Shade Production

Author's Notes: Welcome to book 2 of the “End of the Millennium”
series. If you’ve come this far, congratulations! Book 2, entitled
‘The Path of Finding Destiny’, depicts the troubled past of the Silver
Millennium, and just how this eternal group of four fought for the
rights of the solar system. This is in fact a prequel, but should be
read AFTER book one. If it doesn’t make sense at first, don’t worry!
All will be explained. The story itself takes place from the
viewpoints of the four children of destiny: Noah, Ares, Chronos, and
Thanatos, in the days of the Silver Millennium.

These events take place several thousand years after the sealing of
the Profound Darkness.  For more backstory, see Ami's flashbacks in
the later chapters of book 1. This section of the story will explain,
in my story, exactly what contributed to the fall of the Silver
Millennium.  A story of family, love, betrayal, and corruption.
Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own any aspects of Sailor Moon or Phantasy Star.
If I did, this would be an anime, or manga, or both. Thanatos, Ares,
Chronos, Aljus, King Marcus, and the worthless one are © Xian Shade
and may not be used without my permission. People failing to follow
this rule have broken Xian's Law #849, paragraph 3, line 2: Don't fuck
with my shit.


The Path of Finding Destiny, Chapter 1:

Thanatos phased in at the library, where the young princess of Mercury
had told him to meet her.  This 'library' was new to him. A room full
of shredded trees pressed into a sheet with markings all over it,
closed inside dried animal skins, and sometimes just bound inside more
of those sheets of shredded tree. He floated down to a table where she
sat, amidst the vast amounts of dried tree remains, her head tilted
downward.

"What's wrong, Amilia?" he asked, touching her shoulder. She seized up
at his ghostly touch, but relaxed immediately.

"Nothing's wrong, Thanatos.  I'm just reading.  You startled me." she
said, looking back at him for a moment before returning to the
markings on the object she was looking at.

"Sorry about that, but... Reeee-ding?" he asked, his hooded head
tilting.

"Yes, it's been around for many centuries. You don't know how to
read?"

"What exactly is it?"

"It can be many things. This is called a book." she said, holding the
medium-sized tome up. "In the book, you take in the language on the
paper to tell a story, or it can teach you something new, it can keep
records, it can be almost anything you need!"

"So, it can help you remember, if you forget?"

"That's right!  It might even help us learn other languages that
develop."

"Your people are truly amazing, Amilia.  I MUST let Chronos and Noah
know of this 'image language'."

"Oh, we didn't develop it, Thanatos... but who are they?"

"Oh, I'm sorry.  They're two of my brothers.  My third brother could
probably care less."

"You have three brothers? That's nice. I have an older sister, but she
left. I have to read these things in order to learn how to be the next
queen."

"I see... Your sister was supposed to be queen, but she left... and
since you were not taught from birth, there isn't time enough for
someone to teach you. So you learn faster through reading?"

"Well, I think I do. I learn some lessons from the books, and some
from being instructed."

"You have a very busy life ahead of you. Being queen will be lonely,
I imagine."

"Yes, it probably will." she mumbled sadly, then looked up from the
book once more, to his hooded face. "Thanatos?"

"Hmm?"

"...could you be my friend for a little while?  So I'm not lonely?"
she asked, her smaller hand touching his own.

"Certainly. An intelligent and pretty young lady like yourself should
have friends just like anybody. Perhaps we can learn together."
Thanatos wasn't all that keen on learning how to be queen, but
learning to read was something he hadn't considered before. If you put
what you wanted to say in books, you'd never have to repeat yourself.
Also, people wouldn't think you said one thing when you meant another.
How intelligent, to have a language with no speech!

She held a bashful blush at his words, and tried to make it disappear,
with little success. "So, can I meet your brothers one day?"

"I'm not sure." he said with just as much uncertainty as his statement
implied. "The one that could care less lives three planets away, and
Chronos lives eight planets away."

"On Mars, and Pluto?"

"That's right. My brother on Mars, Ares, keeps their princess company.
He's very hotheaded and impulsive, and I think it's rubbed off on the
people. You can ask her about him someday, when you meet. If we can
ever unify the inner kingdom with the outer four planets, you might be
able to meet Chronos, on Pluto.  He's generally very peaceful and
knowledgable, but he doesn't get out and about much."

"I'll be sure to try to unite them once I'm queen. It doesn't make
sense that people would fear Saturn. Better to have Saturn's power on
our side, rather than one day having to face it ourselves. I just hope
my vote will count as enough."

"Indeed..." he dared not tell her why the planet was deemed one of
death. It was his homeworld, in a sense. His existence was well-known
on Saturn. "You never told anyone about me, did you?"

"I told my father I had a friend. He just accepts it, because he's
very busy running our kingdom. Nobody else knows."

"I see." he said, before looking up to notice they weren't alone. Her
father stood there, observing her.

"Amilia, who are you talking to?"

Thanatos breathed a sigh of relief that went unheard. The king
couldn't see or hear him.

"I'm talking to Thanatos, father. I told you about him before."

Thanatos mentally slapped himself. She was going to be deemed crazy,
or he'd be found out, or...

"An imaginary friend? Amilia, I'm certain we can find you someone to
be your real friend."

"But father..." she made to explain, but Thanatos touched her shoulder
to interrupt her.

"Amilia, listen." Thanatos said, seeing where this might go. "Go along
with it. I will still be your friend, but he doesn't see or hear me.
If you talk to me, make sure you're alone. I don't want them to think
you're crazy for talking to someone that isn't there."

Amilia nodded. "Okay. Thank you, father. I just wish there were others
around more often."

"Well, I can help with that. Our scientists were working on small
planetary communication devices, and we planned on giving some out to
the other kingdoms at the next planetary meeting, which we'll be
having tomorrow." he pulled his left arm out from behind him and
handed over a small communicator. "Just be careful with it. These are
only prototypes, so eventually we'll build better, more compact ones,
but I figured you'd want to test them out with the future leaders of
the other planets who are far away, so you don't seem so lonely. Do
you need me to show you how it works?"

"No thank you, but I do thank you for the gift, father." she said,
already examining it. "I'll be able to figure it out in no time.  But
right now I need to get back to my studies."

The king gave a wan smile. "You'll grow up to be a very intelligent
and beautiful queen one day, my daughter. When that day comes, I hope
to watch you with your mother, smiling at your success."

Thanatos knew such thoughts were merely mortal beliefs of the
afterlife. Nobody truly knew except himself what lay beyond the veil
of darkness when one closed their eyes for the last time. There was no
'eternal spiritual rest'. No 'eternal spiritual damnation'. The
universe's chaos factor was a sorting and cleaning process: The good
people were sent for reincarnation to recycle the chaos back into the
universe (as their souls were woven from the very chaos into a form of
order), then reincarnated over a period of time through the system's
galaxy cauldron. The bad people however, were sent to the dimension of
darkness, the dark cauldron (or more commonly known as the Negaverse),
with the possibility of release after the thousand-year cycle. If they
had repented, they were allowed to be born again. But sometimes,
judgement would let them go anyway.

Never had he known where judgement came from. Was judgement a child of
the Guardian Of Destiny, like himself and his brothers? Was it simply
a process of the dimension's properties? Perhaps he would look into it
one day. His attention snapped-to when he felt the warm, smaller hand
grasp at his own. The king had left while he was thinking, and he
hadn't been aware of the events occurring outside.

"Thanatos, are you okay?"

He looked down at the blue-haired princess and gave her small hand a
squeeze, smiling behind his hood, though there was no chance she could
see it. "Yes, I was just thinking."

"So what about your third brother?"

"Hm? Oh! His name is Noah. He lives very, very far away. So far, in
fact, that I haven't heard from him since I moved to this solar
system."

"Do you miss him?"

"My brothers and I aren't all that close... we need each others' help
now and again, but we hardly speak. We're all too different, and our
beliefs are too different as well."

"I guess we are alike, if you consider how we're not very close to our
siblings." she pulled him down to sit next to her, near the book. "How
are you different from each other?"

"Chronos, Ares, and I decided we wanted someone special in our lives,
and Noah didn't. He was even mad about it, but that's because
something happened to the one he loved. I think that's why he's far
away, to meet her when she comes back when the time comes."

"Noah must have really loved her."

"He did." Thanatos mumbled, then continued. "Anyhow, Ares wanted a
companion, Chronos wanted a family of his own, and..." he paused,
wondering how to properly put his situation. "...and I wanted a
friend. Being death itself, nobody's happy to see me. You were the
only one who's ever treated me fairly, and I'm very grateful for that.
Asking for a friend was all I dared, for none could keep me as a
permanent companion."

"You're pretty hard on yourself, Thanatos."

"Am I? Even the people of Saturn turned me away, and I'm their-" he
quickly silenced himself, realizing too late that he'd revealed his
secret.

"You're the source of the power that the other kingdoms fear." She
finished for him. He said nothing and simply nodded in affirmation.
"I've known that, Thanatos. The entity of death obviously comes from
the planet of silence and death."

"...and yet you would still remain friends?"

"Well, let's just say that being my friend will help influence our
decision to add Saturn to the union of our solar system." She stated
flatly. He stared blankly at her, and she began giggling.

"Hmph... seems your 'reading' is working." he grumbled, moving to get
up from behind her chair, before her hand claimed his own again.

"Thanatos..." she tried to ease the anger she'd started in him,
because it was only a joke to begin with. "I didn't mean it like that.
Atop being my friend, it WOULD help unite the kingdoms in peace, and
you would be more socially accepted once that happens, since someone
would know you for who you are, not what you represent. So, in a
sense, your wish for a permanent companion isn't so far-fetched."

He leaned down and pulled her into a hug, his tattered black cloak
ghosting over her smaller frame. "Thank you. That would mean a great
deal, since my own people despise me. But even if I do not expend my
power, there is one upon the planet of silence that received my
blessing... and if it ever came down to it, she would bring an end to
whatever planet she stood upon."

"That would be most troubling.  Perhaps if we made friends, instead of
holding fear, she would be less likely to harm us?"

"Couldn't hurt. I'll contact them myself, soon. But for now, could you
show me this 'reading'?" He asked, thinking as he learned from the
girl. 'Could she care for the one behind this shroud? She's still
young. A few more years, and I might be able to ask... she may be
mature mentally, but I dare not attach myself to someone who is still
so young. The one I blessed with my power was much younger still, and
she hates me now. I must bide my time. That which I want is superceded
by morals. I dare not accept my darker half.'

"...atos?  Thanatos, are you listening?"

"Sorry... I am, but I'm just having a little trouble comprehending
it." he half-lied. He WAS able to think and learn at the same time,
but what she was teaching wasn't exactly occupying his mind.

"It's all right.  You see..."

------------------------------------------------------------


And so it begins.

How did Thanatos come to know the young princess of Mercury?
How can she see him when no other can?  This and more will
be answered in future chapters of 'End of the Millennium:
The Path of Finding Destiny'!