N   O   T   H   I   N   G     E   V   E   R     B   E   G   I   N   S

    There is no first moment; no single word or phrase from which this or 
any other story springs.
    The threads can always be traced back to some other tale, and to the 
tales that proceded that; though as the narrator's voice receds the 
connections will seem to grow tenuous, for each age will want the tale 
told as if it were of its own making.

    It must be arbitrary then, the place at which we choose to embark.

    This place, for instance.

                             from Clive Barker's *Weaveworld*.

Sailor Moon:  Panorama
DAWN:  A PROLOGUE

    The young woman, not much older than sixteen, rocked the baby, and 
sang an old song.  She was alone.  Her man, such as he was, had left her 
when the child, which was not his, had been born.

    How he knew the child was not his was not clear to him.  But such is 
the way of things.

    The sun was slowly beginning to break across the horizon when the baby 
vanished into thin air with a popping noise.  The young woman let out a 
shriek.

    A few minutes later, her crying and wailing was drowned out by the 
opening of a large gate outside her hovel.  A group of five black-armored 
men stepped through, and burst through her door.

    "Where is the child?" the leader of the men demanded.

    "She's ... she's gone!" she shouted.

    The answer did not satisfy them.

    By noon, the hovel had been reduced to a crater two feet deep, and the 
young woman's bones were drying in the sun.  The men satisfied themselves 
that there was no chance that any child of the age they were hunting could 
be hiding anywhere within a certain range, then stepped back into the 
gate, which closed behind them.  They had many more interviews to conduct.

    At precisely noon, the child reappeared in the position she had 
occupied when she vanished, which might have meant a short, dangerous fall 
had she not been caught by the green haired woman who appeared at the same 
moment she did.

    Cradling the infant to herself, Pluto began to whisper.

    "This is the only way to balance it.  I allowed Ourannos' men access 
to the gates to hunt down the child that he believes will destroy the 
empire of his dreams ... so I must save the child myself.  If only there 
were a way to save your "brothers and sisters" who will die this day."

    She sighed.

    "But this is how it has always been.  There will be many families 
willing to take in an orphaned child this night.  Any will suffice.  Come, 
little Beryl.  We have a long journey, both of us."

                                 The End
                                (For Now)

    Sailor Moon was created by Takeuchi Naoko, and brought to North 
America by DIC.

    Nobody sue me, okay?