Prisoners of Our Dreams 
I - Fear the Night

1 - Knights into Dreams

	The flames surrounded her.
	Panic gripped her. How she had arrived here, she had no idea. And
yet, here she was. Around her, stately walls of stone, marble, and
various substances she could not readily identify bore cracks and
dark, blackened scars left by flames. 
	The flames surrounded her. 
	The ceiling above, vaulted over columns of purest marble, groaned
ominously as the intense heat of the flames began to wear upon the
pillars. 
	Armor surrounded her.
	She looked down to confirm this fact. Indeed, the jade and
emerald-hued armor she had not seen in quite some time hugged her
slim frame snugly. The emerald jewel embedded in the glove on her
left hand was the final piece of data she needed to determine her
location. Cephiro.
	And the flames surrounded her.
	Hououji Fuu, the legendary Wind Knight of Cephiro, quickly sized up
the situation and, using her Winds of Reprimand spell, attempted to
bind the spreading fires. A pathway cleared through the flames, she
ran. 
	It seemed like she ran forever, searching for a break in the flames,
searching for a doorway which was not blocked by tongues of searing
fire. 
	The flames surrounded her.
	Amid the sea of fire, Fuu at last discovered one door which the
blazes seemed not to have reached yet. Putting all her power into her
magic, she erected a wind barrier to push back the flames, and bolted
for the door. She heaved against it until it gave way, and she
sprawled into the chamber beyond.
	And there he lay. 
	Fuu gasped as she saw the still form lying slumped in the corner of
the room. Crimson stains tarnished the pristine white garments of the
young man, whose scarred face was blackened with soot. Angry,
blistering burns covered his arms. The stench of burned flesh and
cloth filled the air. His left trouser leg sported sickening
crimson-black stains around the place where the blade of his heavy
scimitar lay upon his thigh. The sword's blade glowed with a dull red
sheen. 
	Gasping, Fuu ran over and grasped the hilt of the massive sword,
grimacing at the heat which could be felt even in the scimitar's
grip. Hauling the sword off him, she flung it to the other side of
the room. Turning back to examine his injuries, she nearly retched as
the stench of cooked flesh overwhelmed her. 
	Fortunately, the heat of the sword had cauterized his thigh
instantly. He would not bleed too severely from the wound left behind
as a chunk of flesh which had fused to the red-hot metal was ripped
away. 
	Fighting her tears, forcing down her panic and the gag reflex
triggered by the horrid odor of charred muscle and cloth, she
whispered, "Imashime no kaze." She had used up most of her power
repelling the flames outside, and thus nearly collapsed herself as
she poured everything left in her heart into the healing spell.
	The horrible wound on his thigh stopped smoldering, becoming a dark,
ugly, pitted scar. The crimson stains on his tunic stopped spreading,
the wounds from which his lifeblood flowed sealing. 
	Slumping beside him, Fuu reached out and pulled him towards her,
cradling his head in her lap. As she ran a hand through his
forest-green hair, he groaned softly. Amber-hued eyes blinked open,
squinting. He immediatly gritted his teeth in pain. 
	"Ferio," Fuu said softly, stroking his cheek. The young man looked
up into her soft, forest-green eyes, and smiled despite the pain.
	"Fuu..." he rasped. "I'm...glad...to see you..."
	"Ferio," she said, "what happened?"
	Ferio closed his eyes for a moment, then looked far off into the
distance. "Darkness...evil. A nightmare..." he trailed off, grimacing
in pain from his injuries. After a moment, he opened his eyes.
"Protect...protect Hikaru. It wants her." Intense emotion, intense
longing burned in his golden gaze as he stared into Fuu's eyes.
"Fuu...I...love..." 
	His head rolled to the side. His eyes stared emptily into space. 
	"Ferio...?" Fuu questioned, shaking him gently. "Ferio..." Gazing
into his lifeless eyes, Fuu began to cry. "Ferio...why...?" 

	The flames breached the small chamber. Fuu continued to cradle the
body of her love, even as the blaze seared her flesh.

	*****

	She sat upon the back of the huge griffon with the two other girls
which had appeared with her in this strange place. As she turned to
view the hostile, leather-clad woman approaching, she felt a strange
sense of deja vu.
	She turned to the other girls, and a spark of recognition flashed
through her mind. Although she had just met them, the blond girl with
the glasses and the pigtailed redhead seemed like...old friends. Dear
friends.
	The kind of friends she would lay her life down for.
	But she didn't have any friends like that...did she?
	The witch behind them began flinging arrows of ice, and the deja vu
became stronger. She had been here before. She knew it. But when...?
	She suddenly felt herself rise from the back of the griffon. The
other girls called out to her, but she would not...could
not...respond. Over the head of the leather-clad sorceress she flew,
covering the distance to the origin point of the griffon's flight in
a heartbeat. 
	Upon the rocky ledge from which they had departed, she saw the
diminuitive, childlike sage...what were these strange feelings
towards this runt she had just met?...preparing a spell. Behind him,
a dark figure loomed ominously. She tried to cry out to the small
sage, even as he turned around, too late to stop the powerful bolt of
magic which ripped into him. He was thrown from the cliff, his body
slowly turning to stone as he fell. The scream of surprise and pain
was etched on his face as the transformation completed. 
	She watched in shock and horror as the once-living statue collided
with the rocky ground at the base of the cliff. The sound of
shattering rock filled her very being as the statue was reduced to so
much rubble. Unable to scream, unable to do anything, she began to
silently cry as the dark figure upon the mountain laughed. The
laughter rumbled across the sky like evil thunder, and she recoiled
in terror. 

	*****

	She flew effortlessly above the ground, wishing that she was
anyplace but here, seeing anything but this, feeling anything but
this.
	Below her, as far as the eye could see, the earth was scorched
black. Wherever it wasn't completely blackened, it was still burning.
Charred corpses littered the landscape, along with the rubble of
demolished buildings. 
	In the distance, she could see the floating islands in the sky. The
giant crystal mountains they bore were blackened and shattered. She
shuddered at the eery sight. 
	She continued to fly over the ravaged landscape, towards the sea.
When she arrived, she gasped. The once beautiful, clear blue,
tranquil sea now boiled, its waters tinted crimson. 
	Or was it even a sea of water anymore? A narrow stream of bile fell
from her mouth into the boiling crimson sea as she contemplated this.

	Onward she flew, gathering her resolve. The devastation of the land
rent at her soul, but she fought back the scream that wanted to rip
free from her throat, fought back the stinging tears gathering in her
eyes. Grim determination filled her being. She would find the cause
of this destruction, and then there would be hell to pay.
	As she reached land again, something below caused her to gasp in
shock. There, upon the ground, three large robots lay motionless.
They were broken, battered, and seemingly beyond repair. A part of
her felt cold and hollow as she gazed upon the red mech, noting the
cold, nonfunctional jets upon its back.
*Rayearth...Windam...Selece...what happened here?* 
	She received no response, not from her own Mashin, nor from the
other two. 
	In the near distance, she saw the palace rising above the blackened
earth. It was engulfed in flames. On the ground nearby, a lone figure
stood, gouts of dark fire erupting from it in all directions.
Maniacal laughter reached her ears. She shivered at the familiar tone
of the voice.
	As she neared, the slim, small, feminine figure turned to face her.
It raised a dark crimson eyebrow. She shivered as she looked into the
glowing, red eyes staring from the face she saw in the mirror every
day. 
	"So," the cruel parody of Shidou Hikaru said, "You are the soul of
this world." 
	Hikaru scowled at the doppelganger, summoning her sword. "Who are
you? Why have you done this?"
	The clone laughed. "Foolish girl...you cannot hope to stand against
me. I own this world now...but I crave your soul." Those eyes began
to glow brighter, hotter. The doppelganger's voice deepened, its
demonic tones echoing across the scorched plain. "Come to me. Bring
me your soul, that I may feast upon it."
	Rumbling, thunderous laughter filled her mind, and she shuddered.

	*****

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Into daring dreams
go the bold
conquering their fear...

--
The Eternal Lost Lurker
EternalLostLurker@worldnet.att.net
http://www.geocities.com/~etlostlurker

Lurker's Phone Answering Message:
"Haro! You leach Noboyuki House of Sushi. 
We gualantee derivery in thirty minute, or you get
NO sushi!" 
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