"Rest enough for the individual man, too much and too soon, and we
call it death.  But for man, no rest and no ending.  He must go on,
conquest beyond conquest.  First this little planet and all it's winds
and ways, and then all the laws of mind and matter that restrain him. 
Then the planets about him, and, at last, out across immensities to the
stars.  And when he has conquered all the deep space, and all the
mysteries of time, still he will be beginning."
- H.G. Wells "Things To Come", Pub. 1936. [Who knows, maybe Herbert's
Time Machine worked.]

                         * * * * * * * * * * * *

	"We need a new strategy," Katsuhiko Jinnai said, holding his hands
behind his back.  He was standing over the ruins of the old city of the
ancient ones next to Diva and what remained of their Bugrom followers. 
"Makoto is obviously too intelligent to be defeated in a direct
attack."

	He paced around the cliff that jutted out over the ruins of the old
city.  "We had the ultimate weapon in our hands and Makoto still
managed to have a trump card up his sleeve.  We can't expect to win
with any form of direct attack, no matter how powerful we may think we
are.  Thus, subterfuge is our only option."

	"What do you have in mind?" Diva said in a slightly sultry manner as
she moved over to her Bugrom driven cart and sat down.

	Jinnai turned around and placed his hands on his hips in a dominant
manner.  "We can't jump to conclusions," he said forcefully.   "If we
are to succeed it will be though powerful pushes and nudges that will
overall lead to victory."  He turned to face the ruins again.  "These
old people of El-Hazard had a problem," he turned back to face Diva,
"as did we.  The ultimate weapon attacked and they had no defense, not
even a way to preserve their way of life."

	"Ifurita can destroy everything," Diva said.  "And now we watch for
the Eye of God.  What defense could we employ?"

	"Remember," Jinnai said raising a finger and shutting his eyes.  "Many
pushes and nudges that will lead to victory.  First, we need a new base
of operations.  It is obvious that these people," he motioned with his
arm behind him.  "They had no place to turn when the apocalypse came. 
So we need a base that is mobile, constantly moving, and nearly
impossible to locate."

	"What are you getting at, Jinnai?" Diva said, slightly impatient.

	"It's simple really," Jinnai turned and looked over the city again. 
After surveying for a few seconds he pointed to a raised platform,
partially covered with broken rock.  "Before these people were
destroyed, they were building something big.  They were building a
fortress, one unbound by the limitations of being stationary.  They
were building a moving fortress, a floating fortress!  And we will
finish their plans and make it OURS!"

	Jinnai rose his fist in the air and let out a cackle that sent an
electrifying shiver down Diva's spine.  She loved it.

                                  -*-

                       Tempest Creations Presents

                     The End of the Full Circle Saga

                             ENDLESS NIGHTS

                        By Adam Christopher Leigh

                           Based On "El-Hazard"
               Created by Hiroki Hayashi and Ryoe Tsukimura

                                PART I

                                  -*-

	Fujisawa-Sensei stood on one of the balconies of the palace of
Floristica watching the sunrise over the distant mountains.  In his
hand he was loosely holding what closely resembled a burning cigarette,
allowing the thin trail of smoke to drift upwards and gently caress his
cheek before traveling forever upwards.  On the railing beside him was
an empty goblet which had, several hours prior, contained a wine-like
alcohol.

	A gentle breeze brushed against him, causing his light jacket to
flutter around him.  He stuck his cigarette into his mouth and placed
his hands on the railing and leaned against them.  As the sound from
his jacket died down with the wind, he heard footsteps behind him.

	They approached at a somewhat cautious pace which, at this hour in the
morning, could be from only one person.  As she got near she wrapped
her arms around his belly and leaned her head against his back.

	"Good Morning, Priestess Miz," Fujisawa-sensei said, taking his
cigarette out of his mouth and flicking it over the railing.  "You
really shouldn't be so close with Nanami and Makoto around, they might
get the wrong idea."

	"Oohh," Miz complained as she moved around in front of Fujisawa.  "Let
them get the wrong idea, it isn't a bad thing!"

	"I'm a very well respected teacher," he began.  "That means that my
actions are a role model for all my students. I have a responsibility
to them as if they all were my very own, and I must show them the best
there is out there... or here."

	"There is nothing wrong with being with me," Miz countered.  She
grabbed his shoulders and held his eyes to her own.  "Marry me, dear
Masamichi!  Proceed with the arrangements I have planned!"

	"I," Fujisawa-sensei started but found himself unable to continue. 
Miz's fascination with him, however misplaced, was incredible and, as
far as he could see, genuine.  He only wished that he were the type of
person to return her emotions.  The thought of marriage was unsettling
to him and even if he was willing, he was sure that he would buckle
during the ceremony.

	Miz got a frightened look in her eyes when he didn't respond.  She
pulled away from him and turned her head away.  "Don't you like me?"
she said cautiously.

	"Yes, but I..." he started before Miz glomped back onto him, cutting
off his sentence.

	"Then marry me!" she exclaimed then followed with a stare from her
hopeful eyes.

	"I *can't* marry you," Fujisawa-sensei blurted.  He sighed and rubbed
the back of his head.  "It's... improper!" he struggled.

	"But it must be our destiny!" Miz said.  "There's no one else in the
universe but you."

	Fujisawa-sensei hung his head and reached for his goblet.  "I need a
drink," he murmured as tried to get himself free of Miz's grasp.

                                  -*-

	"Are you *CRAZY*?" Fatora screamed at Makoto from her slightly
elevated sitting pillow.  "Nothing good EVER comes from that thing! 
Even when you think it's doing you good, it's secretly about to kill
everything on the planet!"

	"Calm down, sister," Rune Venus said slightly lowing her head over her
sisters rage.  When Fatora had regained her posture, she continued. 
"Makoto, it is obvious from its last use that one can never truly
control the Eye Of God, and from a political standpoint I cannot let
you study it without the rest of the Alliance thinking I'm crazy."

	"Or a vicious impostor," Fatora grumbled.  Fatora and Makoto shot her
a nasty look before turning to each other and continuing.  From the
large archway behind the two princesses, the sun could be seen rising
higher in the sky.  Fatora's shadow was painted across the ground and
over Makoto, but seemed to shorten as the sun rose.

	"The Eye Of God is the only thing that is capable of crossing the
dimensional boundary," Makoto explained.  "The Phantom Tribe is proof
of it's power, and if Ifurita was able to use it to get to Earth, then
we should be able to follow."

	Rune Venus nodded slowly, "I understand and agree with your
interpretation of events--"

	"Sister!" Fatora interrupted as she jerked her head to face her
sister.  Rune Venus continued as if Fatora had said nothing.

	"--but the fragile state of Alliance is maintained by both our
possession and now our seal on the Eye Of God.  It was voted
unanimously that the Eye Of God shouldn't even be considered a last
resort and should never be used if at all possible to prevent."  Rune
Venus sighed and shook her head.  "I'm sorry, we can't remove the seal
without civil war.  Or unless you can convince the representatives in
the Alliance to let you use it."

	"I understand," Makoto said longingly.  "Perhaps I can find some other
way to study the Eye Of God.  Perhaps in one of the books in Afura
Mann's or Doctor Schtalubaugh's libraries."

	"Very well," Rune Venus said.  "Good luck, Makoto, and, if there is
anything else I can do, just ask."

	"Thank you, Princess," Makoto said standing and bowing to Rune Venus. 
He then turned to Fatora and repeated the procedure.  "Princess," he
said as he bowed.  She merely looked away and said nothing as Makoto
turned and left the room.

	"How dare you treat him like that?" Rune Venus said immediately after
she was sure Makoto was gone.  "He sacrificed a lot for us and our
people."

	"He's just a commoner," Fatora said with a wave of her hand.  "He
doesn't understand anything we do."

	"He is NOT a commoner!" Rune Venus contested.  "And he certainly
understands us, he had to be YOU for four days."

	"Just because he had to act like one of us, doesn't mean he understood
it," said Fatora.  "You said it yourself, you just picked him up in the
middle of the forest.  Just because he comes from another world doesn't
make him any better than us.  That infernal Phantom Tribe didn't
understand a thing, all they knew was the right words to seduce YOU."

	Rune Venus closed her eyes painfully and stood.  "You better watch
your mouth," she said quietly.  "They may still be around."  She walked
through the archway behind them and out onto the balcony.  Fatora
watched her leave but did nothing but continue sitting on her pillow.

	Rune Venus managed to find a spot on the balcony where she couldn't be
seen by her sister and leaned on the edge.  She looked up at the sky to
where the Eye Of God was floating, a metallic device shaped like a
sphere slightly reflecting the light of the sun towards the castle.

	Galus, her mind echoed.  Had could she have been so naive about him?
Schtalubaugh, Mister Fujisawa, Londs, they all knew something was wrong
with him and they couldn't even see his blue skin.  It was ironic that
Nanami could see though all their disguises and she knew the least of
all.

	But Rune Venus has been engaged to marry Galus, surely she should have
seen something wrong?  The pain in her heart told her that she didn't
want to see anything wrong.  She wasn't head over heels in love with
Galus, but she did care about him and she thought she felt his
affection.  Her feelings proved to be wrong and he ripped her heart out
when she least expected it.

	Could she risk it happening again?

                                  -*-

	Makoto walked through the halls of the castle aimlessly. After talking
with Princesses Rune Venus and Fatora, he felt even less able to carry
out his promise to go after Ifurita.  Without the ability to actually
touch the Eye Of God, he couldn't possibly learn anymore than the
elders had learned already, which was virtually nothing.

	He would continue relentlessly after Ifurita if he didn't feel so weak
inside.  To break the control Jinnai had on Ifurita, he had to explore
her soul, get her to understand what it meant to be cared about.  He
had given her his memories as a parting gift as she descended into the
Eye Of God.  He had given so much to her, cared so much about her.

	But when she was gone, what was left was an empty hole inside of him. 
She had plenty to console her for the next ten thousand years, but he
had nothing of her but a few images from her reckless past.  Could he
continue on searching for her for ten millennia or longer?  How long
would it be before he'd forget her touch, the feel of his hand on hers,
the magic when their eyes met?

	He was alone now.  He had to fight by himself or he would never see
her again.  Never hear her voice--

	"Makoto! Makoto!" a small voice chirped from his feet.  Makoto looked
down to see Ura sitting by his shoes.

	"Hello Ura," Makoto said as cheerful as he could considering his mood.
 He bent down next to Ura.  "What's up?"

	Ura leapt aside and moved towards an hallway before looking back. 
"Come!" he said running down the hall.

	Makoto came to the corner and ran down the hallway after Ura.  Every
now and then he could see Ura looking back to make sure Makoto was
still behind.  Turning a final corner, Makoto came across a group of
people looking out the large windows towards the forest.  Noticing
Shayla-Shayla and Nanami, he moved over to them and quickly looked out
the window.

	"What's going on?" he asked looking down at the forest and the edge. 
Everything looked okay to him as he turned to look at Shayla.  "Hey!"
he said nudging her shoulder.  She suddenly turned to face him with a
shocked face.  "What is everyone looking at?"

	"It's the strangest thing," Nanami said from behind Makoto.

	"I've never seen anything like it," Shayla said pointing into the sky.
 "Look at it," she said.

	A bit of a ways into the forest there was a black tornado that seemed
to be originating from a greenish disc of light above it.  It was
moving in an erratic pattern, around a seemingly small piece of forest.
 It was tearing up the trees and throwing rocks all over the forest.

	"Woah," Makoto mused as he watched.  The black cyclone quickened and
suddenly exploded in a blinding flash of light causing Makoto to cover
his eyes.  When the flash died down, in place of the tornado was a
large black misshapen monolith.  For several seconds everyone in the
hall simply stared at where the spectacle had just occurred.

	"So that's not a regular occurrence, huh?" Nanami said, breaking the
silence.  Shayla shook her head and turned around.

	"You better inform the Princesses," she said to a man Makoto
recognized as Lons.  "This needs to be investigated."

                                  -*-

	Jinnai stood at the top of the jutting cliff face over the old ruined
city.  Below him, the Bugrom were completing the massive fortress that
had been abandoned by the ancient dwellers of El-Hazard.  It had been
his ingenious mind that had discovered the original blueprints buried
within the fortress, without which they could never have begun to
complete it.

	Now it would be mere days before it was ready to be launched on the
Holy River of God, from which he would be able to launch an attack to
any place on El-Hazard.

	He clenched his fist and grinned at how well his plan was progressing.
 "Mere days, Makoto Mizuhara," he growled.  "Until I extract my
vengeance upon you.  You'll wish you never heard of Katsuhiko Jinnai!
HA! Ha ha! Ha-ha-ha!"  He laughed loudly, causing it to echo throughout
the caverns.

	He was pulled from his cackle when Margaret tapped him on the
shoulder, startling him enough to cause him to almost fall of the
cliff.  "Hey!" Jinnai squawked as he clung to the rock.  "What do you
think you're doing?  You trying to get me killed?"

	Margaret grumbled in Jinnai's ear as he pulled himself up onto the
jutting rock face.  "Huh?" he questioned.  Margaret answered him with a
set of noises in Bugrom.  "Unnatural occurrence, huh?  Let's go check
it out." 

                                  -*-

	"I'll go," Makoto said almost immediately after Rune Venus asked who
should investigate the scene earlier today.  "It might be something
related to old El-Hazard technology."

	Rune nodded and readjusted herself on her pillow next to Fatora. 
Looking at the rest of the people in the room she questioned, "Would
anyone else like to volunteer?"

	"I will," Shayla-Shayla said as she was staring out of the room and
into the horizon.  Turning to face the center of the ring of people in
the room her gracefully flew about her with a mild ferocity that looked
as if she had captured the essence of fire on her head.  "Those Phantom
punks won't even dream of getting near the area when I'm around."

	"That's assuming there are any of the Phantom Tribe remaining," Rune
Venus said.  "But it is an adequate precaution."

	"I better to too then," Fujisawa-sensei said as he downed a class of
wine.  "Better safe than sorry."

	"Fine, it's settled," Rune Venus proclaimed.  "Makoto, Shayla, and
Fujisawa-sensei will investigate and report back as soon as possible. 
I will see what the other members of the Alliance know about it.  The
rest of you will have to wait and see what this develops into."

	Everyone stood with Rune and Fatora and either filed out of the room
or began conversations with other people in close proximity.  As Makoto
discussed a plan with Fujisawa-sensei, which promptly resulted in a
heavy sigh by Makoto, Nanami moved quietly behind Shayla-Shayla.

	"You wouldn't have an ulterior motive for going with them," Nanami
whispered into Shayla's ear.  "Would you?"

	Shayla turned towards Nanami with a bored look on her face.  "They
need adequate protection any time they get that near to Bugrom land,"
she said as if she were reading it from a textbook.  "No ulterior
motives.  I *am* quite aware of who he chose."

	"Just making sure," Nanami said raising a finger.  "I wouldn't want
Makoto to be badgered his entire trip by some lovesick honey."

	"Oh, don't worry," Shayla scoffed as she moved to leave the room. 
"I'll make sure you don't bother him."

	Nanami clutched her fist as she watched Shayla walk out.


                     TO BE CONTINUED...