gcordova@uanl.mx (Gustavo Cordova Avila)


	Greetings! The Eternal Wanderer is an invention of mine
from other stories, and when I watched the "Ohh! My Goddess"
anime series, I wanted to see what happened if I mixed them.
After much procrastination, I wrote this little story. If
you like it, or if you didn't, if you have any kind of
comment please don't hesitate to email me. The address I'm
currently using is:

	gcordova@ccr.dsi.uanl.mx

	OBVIOUSLY... the creator of this wonderful universe is
Kosuke Fujishima. (** thank goodness, I got that off my
chest ** :)


	The Eternal Wanderer.


Part 1.
The Escape.

Monterrey, Mexico. Nighttime.
=============================

	It was a dark night, without a moon or stars to
brighten it. Creepy. It's the kind of night when, if you get
sent out to buy something your mind promptly forgets it and
finds something more interesting to think about. It's the
kind of night when even dogs keep quiet, who knows who --or
what-- may listen to them barking.
	There's someone walking down the street, a man, alone,
with a slow and measured step, firm. He carries a long
bundle hanging on his back, secured with a strap to his
torso. He also wears thick clothing, not "thick" as in
winter clothes, but "thick" as in "clothes meant to last
through a lot of hardship", traveling clothes effectively.
	He's walking down to the ugly side of the city, where
nobody goes without a damn good reason. He seems to know
what he's doing, since he's walking silently. He moved
closer to the walls, seeking the cover of shadows against
the --few-- remaining lights. He walks past a gang and they
don't even feel his trespass; after that he turns down a
corner, and continues without looking back.
	He seems deep in thought, cockroaches and rats
sometimes scuttle close to his feet and he doesn't pay them
any notice.
	<<Jean-Pierre, Norman, Fernando, Kaneda-san... my
agents... my friends>> he was thinking, <<and now Sarah...
Damn him, damn him to the deepest hell. Killing wouldn't be
enough, living hell is what he deserves...>>

	At last, German arrived at a warehouse. Nearing the
main entrance, he saw that the lock and chains on the door
were just like he left them a while back. Taking out a key
from his pocket he opened the lock, unwound the chains and
left them there, on the floor; he wouldn't need them again.
	Inside the warehouse everything was dark and quiet. He
walked up to a few crates that were lying around; there was
a bright spark and then the soft light of an old oil lamp;
after adjusting the flame, he covered it with it's glass
shield.
	There was a large carpet thrown on the floor; German
slowly walked around it, observing it, checking for anything
that could be out of place. After being sure that all was as
it should, he walked to a corner and took from under a crate
a large backpack and pulled it on. He picked the long bundle
from where he'd left it, and walked to where the carpet was.
There were runes written on the floor, not with ink but
carved into the concrete; they made three concentric
circles, about two yards in diameter, enough for him and the
belongings he brought.

	German sat down in the center of said three circles,
and not resisting the urge he made a slow turn, examining
one last time the runes, checking that there were no mistakes
in their ordering and writing. His curiosity sated, he decided
to wait for his visit. He closed his eyes and waited...


Meanwhile, somewhere else...
============================

	<<I hate these problems!>> thought a young man, about
21, brown unruly hair, thin. He picked himself up from the
floor, there were some books and notes he was working on,
and s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d...
	"Are you done yet, Keiichi-san?" asked a pretty girl
from the door. She had white skin, light brown hair done in
a long braid. She was peeking from the hall, not wanting to
interrupt him; when she saw him stretch she decided it was a
good time to ask.
	"I don't think I'll ever be done with this... I think
I'll stay up a little late to finish everything, I don't
want to leave it half-through."
	"OK. Skuld, Urd and I are going to sleep now. Good
night!" she said, smiling beautifully.
[you know that smile :) -elf]
	"Good night!" he said. <<damn. I hope I have time left
to sleep tonight>> he thought.

	The three girls were preparing to sleep. They extended
the futons on the floor, slipped into some PJs those who
wore them, those who didn't, well, didn't.

[hey! I don't know what they wear to bed! :) -elf]


Meanwhile, back in Monterrey...
===============================

	"You really think you can escape, don't you?" said
rough a voice coming from the darkened entry.
	German recognized the voice. The visitor he was waiting
for was here. It was the same federal agent that had been
hounding him for some time now. "Do you really think you
can stop me, agent Lopez?"
	Lopez entered, letting the lamp's feeble light
illuminate him. He was well built, muscular, hard, but not
too overt. He had an ugly scar starting from his right ear -
-which caused it to look a little flopped-- down through his
cheek, crossing through the mouth and ending on his chin. A
really ugly thing, caused by some weird business he never
wanted to talk about. He was carrying a standard-edition AK-47
machine gun slung over his shoulder, almost carelessly one
would think, if it wasn't for the crazy gleam of his eyes.
	"You can't escape, you know. The building's surrounded
with my best men. I came alone because I want to talk with
you."
	German assessed all this and there wasn't any threat
to his escape. "What makes you think I want to talk with
you?" he asked. Slowly, he took our a smallish silver chisel
and a matching hammer, and he placed the chisel on the one
incomplete rune in all the three circles. Just one tap,
completing it, and he was as good as gone.
	"Well, for one, you should want to. I know you can't
die, so I can make it quite painful if you don't. I need
some things you have."
	"And that would be....?"
	"I want to know how you do it. I want the books." The
gleam in his eye was getting weirder, he looked... crazier.
The chase had taken it's toll on him. Many of his best
friends were dead now, killed by this strange guy who
couldn't die. But he'd given as good as he'd got: It's
friends were dead now, even his girlfriend, his so-called
'soulmate', whatever that was.
	"You're crazy, you know that? I'll tell you a secret.
You want the books? You want to be like me?" German said,
goading him to come closer.
	Lopez, expecting some trap, unslung his machine gun and
loaded it. "If it's some trap I'm gonna put you in a world of pain,
and I know how to, remember that." he said, while coming closer.
	*clink*
	German stored the chisel and hammer away. "Yes, I have
something important to tell you. Come closer, I don't want
anybody to listen..."
	Lopez was eating it up. His hunger for knowledge, for
knowledge that wasn't rightfully his, was getting the better
of him. He walked closer, slowly. Suddenly, he couldn't take
another step. There was a wall in front of him. Invisible,
but as solid as if it were made of concrete.
	"The hell are you doing?!" he said, and aimed at
German. Then, he started to notice a very soft light that
was coming from below, and he saw the rings of runes around
him.
	"The thing I have to tell you is... there aren't any
books. You've been had, pal. You've been chasing ghosts, not
even ghosts because those are real, the books aren't."
	"What??? You crazy s.o.b. !!! You can't go away just
like that!! Hell, I'll kill you first!!!" and he started
firing at German, but the invisible wall just reflected the
bullets elsewhere.
	"Good Bye, Agent Lopez." German said.

	Right there, Lopez lost it. He started shouting
incoherently, just yelling and shooting at the departing
figure. The invisible wall started to shine, increasing it's
brilliance until it was solid white, unbearable to look at.
And suddenly, it was gone. Everything that was inside the
circles was gone. Not a trace.


And back in "somewhere else"...
===============================

	It's a fresh night. A slight breeze is blowing through
the air, charged with the aromas of spring: new grass,
flowers, green buds. The day was actually quite hot, so
everybody is sleeping with their windows open.
	It was an old temple, now turned into a home for 4,
sometimes more. Peeking into Keiichi's room, we see he's quite
asleep, his previous cares thrown into the fresh spring
breeze.
	In another room sleep three goddesses, both in the
euphemistic and in the literal sense of the word. The three
girls sleep separately, each in her own futon. Belldandy
peacefully rests the days work away, her braid pulled over
her shoulder so it wouldn't tangle or bother her, breathing
quietly, barely making any noise. She has a beatific smile
upon her innocent face, dreaming... nice dreams. :)
	Skuld was softly mumbling something about square roots
and other incomprehensible engineering mumbo-jumbo, surely
trying to solve some mysterious problem that might have
troubled her waking hours, but now she was resting
peacefully for what it was worth.
	On the other hand, Urd was having a not-so-good
night's rest. Her shining white hair in disarray; she shook
her head from side to side, she opens her mouth, apparently
trying to say something important. Then she extends her arms,
intent on grabbing something that's escaping her grasp...

		It's daytime, quite sunny although a little
	windy. In the backyard, Urd, Belldandy and Skuld are
	in front of an imposing man. He's over seven feet tall,
	with white skin, shiny black hair cut short in the
	classical "Prince Valiant" style --actually an old Roman
	style--, thin, and looking straight at Urd.
		Belldandy and Skuld are on both sides of Urd,
	trying to convince her of something apparently, and
	Urd has a defiance written all over her face.
	Belldandy and Skuld tell her something, we can't
	hear the words because they're lost in the wind,
	but Urd shakes her head vehemently.
		"Well, Urd. It seems you've reached your
	decision." says the man.
		"Yes, I have. I won't go back, at least while
	my two sisters are here" she says.
		"Very well. I'm sorry, but you brought this on
	yourself." the man says, and he extends his arm
	towards Urd, with his palm, which starts shining,
	facing her.

	"Nooo...." she moans in her sleep, and she turns and
tosses in her futon.

		Suddenly, Belldandy and Skuld horrified see a
	purple aura that materializes around Urd, at first
	keeping very close to her, but after a moment, it
	starts flowing towards the man as if pulled by a
	powerful will.
		Urd doubles over in pain, like if someone had
	punched her in the stomach. Her eyes are wide open
	from the pain and the surprise. She tries to breath for
	a few moments, but soon she passes out. The purple aura
	concentrates in the man's hand, and he closes it,
	making it disappear.
		"What are you doing?!?!?" Skuld shouts, and
	she goes quickly to her older sister; Belldandy is
	kneeling by her side, holding her hands to her
	face, crying.
		"Her license is canceled until further notice.
	I was given authorization to take whatever steps
	were necessary to make our point known. She'll just
	have to grow accustomed to being human for a while."
	he said, with a slight grin on his face.
		Belldandy turns her teary face to the man,
	"You didn't have to do this, Lamriel. This has never been
	done, except in the most extreme cases. Why Urd?"
		"Because she doesn't know how to follow orders.
	When she learns her lesson, then will her powers be restored."
		Then he turns around. A shiny column of voilet light
	envelopes him; a pair of wings materialize on his back,
	and he starts to rise...

	"Nooo!!" Urd shouts, and she sits up in her futon,
sweating. Again the same nightmare. "Awwww..." she murmurs,
and she puts her hands to her face and quietly sobs; if it
wasn't for her shaking shoulders, nobody would know.
	"Oneesama, the same nightmare?" Belldandy asks her; she
slowly moves toward her and puts her arms around her. Urd,
feeling her close, clings to her, feeling she's the only
sane person in a world gone crazy.
	"You shouldn't have talked that way to Lamriel, Urd. He
may not be the nicest person around, but he is Kami-sama's
personal messenger.
	"I know" she says in a teary voice, "but... how could I
return if you two were going to stay?" she asks, "besides,
I'd never thought something like this would happen."
	"Me neither. But there's hope that they'll lift your
penalty one of these days, that you'll have your license
back" she says, trying to cheer her up.
	"Right, Bell-sama" Urd says, with some sarcasm in her
voice; <<Who knows when I'll get them back, if I know that
blasted bureaucrat...>>
	"Oneesama, don't say that" Belldandy says, with a
little sadness in her voice; "I'm still your little sister
you know."
	"Yeah, I know... I'm sorry, Bell-chan. Let's go back to
sleep, OK? It's pretty late already." and she turns to look
at Skuld with a little envy, who during the whole episode
didn't even bat an eyelash.
	"Yes, it's late." <<I hope Keiichi-san didn't awaken
with all the noise>>; "Good night, Urd."
	"Good night, Belldandy" Urd answered, and turns in for
the night.

	>>> Metallica's "Through the Never" <<<

	It's a dark night, in the lower side of some city.
Strangely, the night's very quiet, but it's not the restful
quiet that comes after a hard day's work. It's a little
weird, the traffic ended somewhat early, there weren't any
taxis on the streets, nobody on the sidewalks either. It was
like there was a curfue, nobody on the streets...
	In a dark alley there are some beggars, about ten
of them, dirty, stinking of days without touching water.
Their clothes smell even worse, loaded with dust, refuse and
worse. They're just sitting on the ground, leaning against
each other or the wall, talking about this and that or not
at all. Some try to sleep, other try not to. Some, whom the
others watch with envy, are passing around a bottle of some
cheap liquor, from hand to hand, and from lips to lips.
	They were just lying around, when the started hearing a
sound, not unlike that of a strong wind only somewhat far
away, which slowly starts climbing in volume. Then a light
shone in the alley, very soft at first; they wondered when
was the helicopter going to make itself known, somebody
yelling at them to go away like innumerable times before.
	After a few seconds they note that there's a small ball
of fire in the air, about three meters above the ground, and
they can feel the heat coming from it; everybody tries to
get up at the same time, rushing to the street, some yelling
for help and others just yelling. Some wake up those that
were asleep, be it because of sleepiness or any other
reason. Moments later, it's every man for himself.
	The fiery ball started to grow, increasing it's size
with each passing instant. Only four people remain standing
at the alleys entry, watching stupified. The noise kept
increasing, it's no longer the sound of a strong wind, but
the crash of immense waves against a shore's cliff, to the
point that even thoughts are almost impossible to grasp; and
the sphere kept growing... Two of the observers had the
mental presence to shield their faces from the intense light
and heat that was coming from the small sun, which had grown
to a diameter of two meters and was floating over the
pavement.
	It seemed like it wasn't going to move anymore, when
suddenly it exploded. It's the only was to describe it.
In less that a fraction of a second it's brightness
multiplied a hundred-fold, and the silent observers felt
a heatwave that felt many times hotter than anything they'd
felt up until now. Together with the heat came the shockwave,
like falling into a pool from a five story building, on your
back, and they were thrown clear into the street; as quickly
as everything happened, the fireball disappeared, the light,
the heat, the noise... nothing left.

	Hours later, after the police had picked up any
witnesses, interrogated and placed them under medical
supervision because of second and third degree burns over
all unprotected areas (face, arms, hands, feet...), and two
of them for blindness caused by retina burns, they arrived
at the conclusion that indeed, something extraordinary had
happened that night; simple drunkards couldn't have come up
with many of the details, and there was the matter of the
physical evidence.
	The statements spoke of an intense light that grew,
of a deafening noise --that strangely wasn't heard at a house
that was a block away--, intense heat, an explosion. One of
the witnesses declared that after the explosion he heard a
noise like somebody falling from a second floor, of a hard
*splat* against the pavement, and a loud moan, as if the
person was in intense pain.
	The physical evidence found at the place was even more
decisive: a spherical depression in the ground at the place
the fireball was said to be, caused probably by a super-
heated sphere touching the pavement, vaporizing it, leaving
a spherical impression of black glass; and about three
meters from the site, a trail of burnt blood began that
became fresher as it moved further away, and then
disappeared.
	There were no conclusions, but this never got to the
newspapers: there was no need to alarm the populace with
news of alien attacks, or foreign terrorists. The vagabonds
were instructed that it was in their "best interests" that
they should remain in the hospital until they recovered, and
that they should receive the monetary incentive not to talk
about it, with anybody. Two weeks later, the alley was still
closed for "Water Supply Repairs".


	<<pain, much pain>> was the only sensation he received
from his body. He felt such pain that it seemed all his
bones were broken, that his muscles were ripped to shreds,
each and every one of them... He felt fire in his mind; he
was still blinded by the re-entry reaction; to tell the
truth German was quite scared, because if anybody saw him
he'd be a very easy victim to dispatch, he needed a place to
lay down and lick his wounds.
	The fall really disoriented him, the other wounds he'd
been expecting, but he thought he'd arrive at ground level.
Nonetheless, he left as fast as he could from the site,
crawling, bleeding through his multiple wounds, burning on
the blistering ground. He didn't let anything stop him,
because the main thing now was to find somewhere to hide,
all these wounds would close and heal with a little time.
	He felt he was leaving in the right direction, he
couldn't hear any people in front of him, and behind him he
heard screams for help, of pain, ambulances, patrol cars...
he kept dragging himself until something stopped him. At
first he thought somebody was here, but after paying
attention he was relieved to know it was only a bunch of
cardboard boxes and similar refuse. After thinking about it,
he felt around for any exposed wounds, anything that would
leave a blood trail; feeling none, and hearing nobody
around, he crawled into the boxes, clutched his belongings
to him, moved into a fetal position, and started drifting
into a healing sleep. The last thing he heard was a
beautiful voice that asked him: "Where are you from?", and
he showed her from where he was, planeshifting included,
"From very far away..."

======================================================

	OK, this is the end of part 1. I'd really like any
feedback you could give me. This is the first fanfiction
I've ever written, and I really want to know how it was.

	Thanks to all the guys out there that were my
inspiration. Thanks also to my friends: Ricardo, Pepe and
Memo, who were among the first to tell me it was no good :)
("This German is too dark, I tell you!!", that was Pepe :)
and also thanks to Raider, who gave me a ton of corrections
(hey! I didn't ask for *such* a rigorous test!!) :)

	Thank you all for you attention. I'm working on the
second part, and if you liked this one, or if you didn't,
anything you'd like to say... just email me at:

	gcordova@ccr.dsi.uanl.mx
		- or -
	    gcordova@uanl.mx

	I can't stress enough how much I need the feedback!
Like I said, this is my first fanfic. FLAME ME!!! (There!
flamebait :)

	Thanks again!!

		Gustavo Cordova Avila
			 aka
		      RangerElf

============================================================
Pop:	I mean it! Those books are going to get you in trouble!
	They're going to give you strange ideas or something!

Me:	Hey! I'm not "Don Quixote de la Mancha"! Sheesh...
	Lets get out of here, Sancho.
--
Gustavo Cordova Avila | gcordova@ccr.dsi.uanl.mx | CyberBrain BBS
a.k.a. RangerElf      | gcordova@uanl.mx	 | irc@cyberbrain.dsi.uanl.mx
Computer Sciences     | finger for PGP262i key   | login: invitado
U.A.N.L.	      | RangerElf @ irc :)	 | cmd. Join to get acct.