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Zodiac's Burden
Original Story Created By: Naoko Takeuchi
Story By: Berk' Watkins
Prologue +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
It had been years since anyone had come out to Olympus Mons to the
Elder's observatory... She'd been up there, lost in her meditations as
long as anyone could really remember clearly. Waiting for something
perhaps?
Who really knew...?
The Elder wasn't human, that much was known.. She was some sort
of energy-feeding creature that had been derived from humanity by
magical experiments. She lived off of the powerful manna energy from
the smouldering heart of the dozing volcano.
The man climbing the mountain's name was Erin; a student at
Olympus City several hundred miles away. A plain fellow really, mousy
brown hair and a reddish beard, glasses perched on his nose because he
lacked the patience to have his eyes reshaped by a life-mage. His
clothes were the unkept sort you'd expect on someone more concerned with
his studies than the rest of the world.
He wasn't very happy with his situation. He had a doctoral thesis
to write on Zodiac-derived magic... and who better to ask about theory
than the mother of the metascience? A pity the Elder had forbidden any
vehicles on the face of the mountain should anyone come visit her.
Erin had been climbing for hours, and it was slowly beginning to
dawn on him why cars were forbidden. First, the Martian plant-life,
which had been sparse when the Elder had first established the
observatory, were fragile in the lessened gravity. Second, the view
from the mountain, especially of the stars, was incredible...
At length he arrived at the observatory, formed out of Martian
basalt pulled up from the volcano. Powerful wards ensured that, in the
event of an eruption, the structure would be safe. Despite the
materials that went into it's construction, the building seemed rather
mundane otherwise... like a simple astronomer's observatory, dome and
all.
He was about to ring the ancient-looking doorbell when a young
woman with brilliant violet hair opened the door and smiled a bit,
revealing small fangs.
"Ah, do come in.." she said with a chuckle. "I hope you enjoyed
the walk..."
The student blink-blinked and came inside...
The woman was dressed in a black jacket and slacks with a gray
blouse. Which was about right in the chilly stone building. Her hair
framed a somewhat plain but well-animated face and a pair of elongated
ears that stretched out several inches aft of where they attached to her
head.
Could this be?
She'd had many names, and even many faces, over the years...
Hakumei.
Phobos.
Ninsun.
And others...
"Elder?" he asked in a hushed voice.
The woman grinned a bit and glanced over at him as she led him
deeper into the observatory. "You say that as if I'm a holy relic.."
she mused. "You're the only person who's bothered to come visit this
old woman in a long time.. Please, call me 'Aki'..."
Erin nodded, still with glazed-over eyes.
Aki oyed softly and rolled her eyes. "For a well-educated man it
seems rather easy for you to stop thinking," she jabbed with a wink.
"It's a long climb, I have a few things tucked away, care for a drink?"
He nodded again and snapped out of his rather glaring worship of
her. "Uh, yes ma'am, if it isn't too much of a problem for you..."
"Aki," Aki reminded.
"A-Aki..."
"Might make a magi out of you yet..." she noted, rounding a bend
into the kitchen. She lived in a section of the observatory immediately
off to the side of the main observation room. Not large, but homey...
It had been lived in for a very long time.
It had become almost an extension of her.
She led the student on a tour around the observatory which ended
in the central chamber, where the main telescope lived. She smiled as
she patted the side of the device, lurking inside the dome until sunset
came. "It's coming soon..." she murmured.
Erin huhed?
"I've been waiting a very long time for something to happen... and
I can see it coming...." she mused, tracing a finger along a ward placed
on the side of the telescope to help focus the light more efficiently.
She turned and faced Erin, leaning against the side of the instrument.
"Tell me, Erin, have you ever been in love?" she asked.
The student chuckled. "I have a wife and two daughters at home,
twins," he replied. "They mean the world to me."
The violet-haired woman nodded and closed her smouldering, red
eyes. "I loved once... But we didn't really know what love meant at
the time. The prices it exacts and the demands it makes. We grew apart
over the years...."
"And you outlived him?" he asked.
"Something like that..." she replied... "We didn't know how much
we really needed each other... Until a century had gone by. By then we
were so rooted in our behaviors that.. there was no room anymore.."
"He was like you? Youma?"
She shook her head. "A sorcerer of a sort.. Kept alive by the
power.. It happens to especially strong mages, it changes them into
something not unlike what I am..." All that really was left of what
was... was her memory....
Prelude ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The world of Terra is a world not unlike our own, in fact the
continental structure is quite similar to our own from a few hundred
million years ago.
It has two small moons in orbit around it, each about a third of
our own Luna in size. One, Marduk, is a dark orb, with little in the
way of surface albedo, most of it being covered in old, dark lava flows.
The other moon, Ishtar, is a bright light in the evening sky, its
surface not unlike our own moon, covered in dust.
Terra is ruled by a single monarchy at it's head and four fiefdoms
under that central figure.
The undisputed mistress of Terra is the Witch-Queen, Beryl.
Her Four Generals each oversee a section of Terra in her name.
Jadeite, the Bender.
Nephrite, the Seer.
Zoicite, the Mad (but never to his face).
Kunzite, the Dark Star.
Each of these four, and their Queen, controlled the planet and
focused its resources to one, ultimate goal: Revenge.
Terra was itself not a bad place to live, but the leaders of it
could care less. They had been kicked off their rightful world by some
idiot pacifist with a magic wand.
Revenge was the order of the day, week, moth, year and millennium.
The average person on the street wasn't aware of this. They only
knew there was a presumed evil force out there that had trapped them on
this world, and that their rulers, who had their best interests in mind,
were going to stop it.
The average person on the street isn't evil either.
From these humans, some lucky people were chosen to become youma,
the mystically empowered warriors of the world. They were the warriors
that would halt the schemes of the Senshi once and for all.
These were Type-One Youma, called: The Transformed.
Then, to these youma were born Type-Two Youma: The Born.
Youma born to other youma are inherently more powerful than their
transformed brethren.
This story follows the life of one of the Born, as she traces her
roots.
Chapter 1 - Education of the Demon +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Nephrite looked down from the balcony overlooking the inner
sanctum of his keep. A young child sat cross-legged in the center of a
complicated pattern inscribed on the black, marble floor.
She was one of his, he knew that.
Her hair was a rich, violet color and her eyes were a piercing
gold. She was only wearing a pair of pants, leaving herself
bare-chested because of a pair of bat-like wings jutting from her back.
The ever-so-slight points of her canine teeth showed from under her
upper lip and her hair was held back from her face by ears that came to
noticeable points.
He recalled the vision that had directed his attention to her.
A vision of her standing on the steps of a temple he could only
dimly recall.
Wingless.
Grown.
Wearing a uniform like his, with a cloak about her shoulders,
pinned in the front by a six-pointed star within a circle.
A weapon clutched in her hands that he had not seen in a very,
very long time.
The image had been one of triumph.
For who?
It didn't matter... Prophecy was an unstoppable force.
"What is your name?" the Dark General asked in a booming voice.
The girl started, looking around with caution. She couldn't tell
where the voice had come from because of the acoustics of the hall.
"Shar," she replied.
"Shar," the General murmured his voice carrying. The word meant
'Dusk' in their tongue. "And how are you feeling, Shar?" he asked. She
was merely a child, still not completely adjusted to life in the Dark
Kingdom. What would one day surely become a killer instinct was still
only a natural suspicion and distrust of everything.
"I-I don't know?" she murmured, completely off balance.
Nephrite smiled slightly. Her mind was completely unformed, she
had no goals yet, no understanding of how the world worked.
That would change.
"I will tell you how you feel... You feel honored... You are my
daughter, Shar, and I claim you as my own. And I give you a new name,
because today you are to be reborn." He commanded the lights to come up
in the room, revealing his position to the small, winged child.
"Who am I, Father?" she asked in a worshipful voice.
The lines on the floor flared. "First, I know you are a
shapeshifter. Please draw in your wings... They are a weakness to
you..." he commanded. "I want to see how close to human you can appear
to be."
Shar nodded and concentrated, her wings pulling into her body
until the only trace of them were a pair of brownish scars on her back.
The lines on the floor flared again, created a column of light around
her. She screamed as lightning danced around her, searing her skin in
patterns of mystical importance.
The light faded, the preliminary Wards on her body did not.
She collapsed, looking up at Nephrite slack-jawed, her small fangs
prominent. It wasn't a look of shocked betrayal; it was if she was
expecting it to happen.
"Those Wards are a symbol of your status. You are to be my
apprentice. Your body fights changes to it that you do not enact
yourself, I will devise a different warding method soon." Nephrite
teleported to the ground and picked up the child, holding her close like
a precious treasure.
She was a treasure, a youma born to magic.
"I name you, I claim you: Chrysolite," the General intoned. "Your
new life begins tomorrow, when you have regained your strength."
Chrysolite nodded weakly.
Zoicite appeared in the midst of Nephrite's study in a whirl of
flower petals. "So, how did you enjoy the child you had brought to you
last night?" the effeminate General wondered.
The brown hared General glared at the newly arrived irritant. "I
have no interest in her in that manner, Zoicite," he growled. "She is
far more than a simple distraction."
As if right on cue, Chrysolite entered the study, the fading Ward
runes visible on her neck. She was dressed in gray pants and a lilac
tunic; similar to the ones Nephrite favored. She was, however,
barefoot.
Zoicite peered at the wingless girl dumbfounded.
"I am here for my first lesson, Father," the girl said solemnly,
her head bowed. "I seek to gain knowledge from your studies and to
ultimately seek my path as your humble disciple."
Her, in a General's uniform, a Lemurian saber in her hands.
Nephrite smiled ever so slightly. "Excellent. Go to the room we
were in yesterday. I must restore your Wards, then we will begin."
Chrysolite nodded and walked out.
Zoicite was furious, she hadn't even noticed he was there! "That
little bitch!" he roared, power rippling around him as he stalked after
her.
"Harm a single hair on my daughter's head and I will show you what
I am capable of here, in my castle, where my powers are at their
greatest..." Nephrite muttered darkly. "I have plans for her, and you
are not a part of those plans."
Zoicite glared daggers at his fellow General and vanished.
Chrysolite stood in the center of the room, looking around at her
surroundings. The whole room was made of black marble. She entertained
herself by following the veins in the polished stone with her eyes,
seeing how far she could trace any given vein.
Nephrite appeared next to her, with a box made of red marble in
his hands. "I must restore your wards. Remove your clothing," he
commanded. "To properly learn how to use your true birthright, I must
seal away the powers that Metallia granted you from birth. It is too
confusing to try and learn two different principles at the same time."
Chrysolite complied.
The General nodded and placed the box on the floor, opening its
seemingly seamless surface and removing a dagger, a chalice, an inkwell
and a brush from within. "This dagger is yours," he said. "It is a
part of you."
Chrysolite nodded.
"For this spell I will require some of your blood. You will heal
quickly, because I am not warding your more complex powers. Your
healing will remain unchanged."
The girl looked at her father strangely.
"You will know how I know what I know soon, child." In a smooth
motion he lashed out, gripped her arm and drove the dagger through her
forearm's twin bones before she could cry out of fight back.
She watched in shocked fascination as the green blood in her veins
flowed into the chalice from the marble box.
Nephrite wiped the blade clean and placed it with her clothing.
He did not apologize for his actions; there was no need to do so. He
quickly added the ink to the chalice and activated an enchantment to
prevent the blood from combusting. He wiped the blood from his
daughter's arm and pointed to the healing wound. "See?" he remarked.
"You heal very quickly."
Chrysolite nodded, refusing to show her pain or weak knees.
Nephrite took the chalice and got down on one knee to look the
child in the eye. "There are many who do not understand me. I have
been called the softest among the Generals... They see what I allow
them to see." He muttered something to the chalice, the runes carved
into the metal glowing. "I am not concerned with the petty politics of
the Dark Kingdom, my only concern is knowledge." He murmured to the
chalice again, the runes pulsing as if alive.
"Why are you a seeker of knowledge, Father?"
"Because the Generals and Beryl have forgotten something
important," he said with a dark grin. "Knowledge is the only true
power." He took the brush from the floor and dipped it into the
ink-blood mixture, coating the bristles properly and carefully. "They
have sat in that dank castle for millennia, sniping at each other and
waiting for a chance to lash out at the humans again. They have learned
nothing in that time." He looked up from his work. "I have gone far,
far beyond my original calling as a Zodiac Mage, with the help of the
library I took from Earth before we were exiled."
He gestured around him. "I am a practitioner of Necromancy,
Zodiac Divination, Mana Weave Sorcery, Runecasting and our own
home-grown Crystal Magic. As far as anyone beyond this room is
concerned, I dabble with the stars, and occasionally crystals. They do
not know that I have made myself the single, greatest authority
remaining on the subject of the arcane arts. My skills in divination
have shown me that you are the one and only person capable of learning
what I have to teach. Do you understand this burden I am going to place
on you?"
Chrysolite thought about it, her heart beating wildly in the right
side of her chest. "To see you as you?" she asked.
Nephrite nodded.
"You are my Father. I want to know you," she said simply.
"Then let us begin..." he murmured, raising the brush. He calmly
began to pain various symbols on her skin, murmuring under his breath as
he went along in a language Chrysolite could not understand. She tried
hard not to fidget as he brushed around various sensitive areas.
"I have finished," he murmured at length. "This will not be
comfortable." He set the chalice down on the ground and spoke a single
word.
The remaining ink within burst into flames.
As did the ink on his daughter's body, searing the runes into her
skin.
She let out a choked gasp as the lines on her skin burst into
flames. She gritted her teeth against the pain, her ever-so-slight
fangs left by her shift in form rather obvious.
The flames soon guttered out, leaving black runes on her skin that
showed the promise of not breaking up by normal means.
"Metallia's gifts to you have been sealed away. I can now begin
your training," her father said softly. He summoned servants to attend
to her and withdrew to his own residence within his keep.
Nephrite sat brooding in his study, his mind churning as he sipped
at his wine. The 'gift' Metallia had given him, of prophecy, was
running at full power. He was barely aware of his surroundings as his
mind whirled from potential to potential.
A violet-haired woman stabbing him in the chest with a Lemurian
saber. She was caked in blood, his own, green blood, from head to toe
and her wards were gone. Her fangs bared as she snickered at his
shocked expression. "It's only fitting, Father Dear. You made me who I
am...." She cackled as his body combusted.
A violet-haired woman pulling a dagger out of her leg. She was
caked in blood, her own, blue blood, from head to toe. The back of a
gray jacket of unfamiliar cut was torn open, and the black shirt
beneath. She had no wards on her skin.
The General groaned and pulled away from the visions, looking out
at the three moons outside his window. The smallest, dark moon was just
beginning to set. The larger white and blue ones were still up. "What
am I to do?" he wondered as he forced the power aside with a sharp
curse.
Chrysolite.. murderous...
Chrysolite.. alone...
He snarled and tossed his wineglass across the room, where it
landed in the fireplace and the contents ignited in the flames. "Damned
visions are useless.... I can only see the consequences of my actions
after I have made my move!" he roared.
Somewhere.. Metallia was laughing.
Chrysolite, in the privacy of the huge living quarters her father
had given her, wept softly. The runes burned into her skin stung
severely and made her feel sick. Her body's natural impulse to heal the
injuries was being disrupted and channeled away. She stared at a hand,
covered in a network of black runes that had already formed, a stylized
eye on the back. She tightened up into a painfully small ball in the
center of the huge bed and whimpered in pain.
She twitched slightly at the sound of a knock at the door to her
bedroom.
"Chrysolite... May I come in?" the General said from the other
side.
The General.. no.. her Father was asking permission? Couldn't he
just go wherever he pleased? "Y-yes..... Father..." she said softly,
trying hard not to let her pain show in her voice.
Nephrite walked in, dressed in a loose violet tunic and pants,
more suited to him than the ill-fitting uniform she'd seen him before.
He looked.. more like a father and less like a youma and a Dark General
on top of that. "I.. I wanted to apologize for what I did..."
WHAAAT?!?!?
He sat down on the bed and looked at the pained bundle of
youma-child. "Your father has a.. problem..." he murmured. He bent
closer to her. "This is Secret Number One, My Daughter..." he
whispered. "I see the future.. sometimes... and I feel compelled to
act on it..."
Chrysolite looked up at him, uncurling a bit.
"I often forget that the people I see in those visions *are*
people..." he whispered. He opened a drawer on the nightstand and
pulled out a jar of ointment. "Let me see those burns. I promise you
this: I will never forget you are a person ever again..."
Chrysolite blinked in surprise and finally allowed a tear or two
to escape as she wrapped her arms around her father's neck and pulled
him close.
A monster millennia in the making smiled slightly and felt the
real world come closer to him again.
"I miss my wings..." she murmured tiredly.
"I'll make sure you can get them back as soon as you've learned
what I have to teach you..."
Chrysolite.. in gray and black and covered in blue blood.
Triumphant against an unseen foe...
He smiled slightly and eased the girl's pain before returning to
sleep. For the first time in a long time, he slept a sleep undisturbed
by visions of what could yet be.
Peace.
/*To Be Continued*/