"It's said that during the Age of Dreams, my people stood on the edge
of extinction," a young woman noted to an unseen person standing next to
her.  "For years our ruler had struggled to claw out a new dominion to save
us, and incurred the wrath of the gods for his transgressions."  She was a
rather pretty girl, actually, in a somewhat exotic way.  Her ears came to a
slight point and her hair was a startling hue of green, contrasting sharply
with golden eyes and faintly elongated canine teeth.  "The champions of our
world were destroyed by a single representative of the people we tried to
conquer, merely assisted by two allies.  She stole the power of our ruler
and became a god herself."
     The observer came into view then, a more normal young woman of the
same age, wearing a school uniform that, like her slightly feral friend's
seems a bit worse for the wear.  "A god?"
     "Real gods exist.  As odd as that sounds to you."
     "What happened next?"
     "She could have obliterated us.  Sealed the breaches we had made
between worlds and cast us into the void to be consumed as our old world
died.  Instead she led us to a new world."
     "Why are you telling me this?  Nobody's ever heard something like
that before from any of your people..."
     The green-haired girl smiled faintly and raised her friend's arm,
murmuring a single phrase that produced a flare of light and caused the
bandage on her friend's arm to ripple and become overlapped by a violet,
armored bracer with a red gem set into it at the projection that guarded
her elbow.  "Because, the goddess we call the Shining Lady carried a sword,
Reda.  The sword that appeared in your hand only shortly before you started
wearing this."


             The Dead Deckers' Society Presents:


     "The purpose of a sword is simple."
     "Simple?"
     "Simple."
     "What is it then?"
     "To cut."
     "Are you telling me I'm supposed to be killing people?"
     "You were expecting waving a cute magic wand to cure people of evil?"

    An Everything That Was Old Is New Again Production...


     As the warrior skimmed across the battlefield like a whirlwind of
controlled fury, the voice of her teacher echoed in her ears with a sense
of urgency behind it, "One who wields the Valis must keep their spirit in
balance.  Fury is a horse which can be rode many places, but you must never
allow it to place bit and bridle on you."  An enemy battlemover, driven by
a fusion of expert sorcery and technology loomed closer as she evaded a
frantic shot by an enemy soldier.
     She pivoted on one foot, dragging the blade across a current of
imperceptible force that her eyes could pick out with a minimum of
concentration and delicately nicked a faint trace of the power off.  To
more mundane sight the blade cast a green stream of energy towards the
battlemover, slamming a hole straight through its knee as she carved the
opposing arm off at the vaguely humanoid shoulder with the blade's edge. 
As she landed, her impact sent a sudden tremor through the ground that
knocked enemies off their feet for yards in several directions.
     "You are Justice's own hand."
     A bolt of lightning arced down from a clear blue sky to send the
whole mecha into convulsions as it tried to climb back to its feet.
     The warrior was dressed in a fashion that no regular army warrior
would be caught dead in, knee-high leather boots with a slightly raised
heel to them, the vaguest suggestion of spurs at the ankles.  The rest of
her wasn't dressed in a great deal, a simple, grey tunic and skirt with a
pair of violet armguards on each forearm.  Around her waist was a violet
band of metal with a wide buckle on the front, ornamented with strange
runes around a red gemstone.  Over her shoulders and chest were paldrons,
as well as a breast and back plate the same color as the rest of her armor,
a red gem pulsing with light in time to her accelerated heartbeat over her
left breast.  The final collapse of the battlemover grabbed the long trails
of a blue scarf around her neck and whipped them around over her shoulder.
     "You're the Chosen of Valis, Reda Sorsen.  The new Phantom Solider."


                    Phantom Soldier Valis:
                 Page of the Limitless Blade
                               
                               
        Mugen Senshi Valis Developed By: Telenet Japan
                  A Fanfic By: Berk Watkins
                               
                               
    Coming to a Fanfic Mailing List Near You: Fall of 2005
                               
                               
     Reda stared, astonished, as the sounds of the city fell away around
her.  As far as the eye could see on all sides of her, suddenly, there was
only the cliff she was standing on and the sea.  The smell of civilization
had fallen away with the sounds of the city, making her feel as if she were
the only human anywhere all around her for leagues.  Embedded into the
stone ahead of her was a blade of the West Laurasian style, sharpened on
each edge and balanced and gripped to accommodate either one or two hands
as circumstances required.  The entire hilt of the weapon was golden and
ornamented with three, small blue gems, two smaller on either side of one
slightly larger.
     "Her name is Valis, Reda..." came a voice behind her.
     The girl whirled round to gaze upon an ageless creature with blue-
black hair and kind, blue eyes the same hue as the sunlit sea around them.
     "Cast aside your confusion and trust in the power of the sword."

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