Oracle of Dreams Death’s Silver Crown By Iruka 4:50 PM 8/25/2001 Updated: Website: www.angelfire.com/anime2/iruka/fanfiction.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Chapter five, new and improved although you guys didn't see the original! I would have had it up sooner but ..... *yells at everything that gave her writer’s block* *giggles* Anyway... this was the hardest chapter to write, for various reasons. I think I've rewritten this chapter six, seven times now? Anyway... I was just about to post it when I realized that I had completely forgotten to add anything about a couple of key people I added in chapter six.. yes chapter six was finished before chapter 5, but I’m going to hold on to it for a week :) I’m just a big meanie I guess! Well... on to the story! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The winds howled against their fragile tent walls, but Daenara and Aurora were far to tired to worry about such trivial things. The blizzard raged on, but the warmth of their magic kept them at a reasonable temperature, untouched by the raging storm outside. They sat across from each other on furs and linens, their legs crossed and hands held. Aurora wore her blue hair up as always, and Daenara’s gold was down, but besides that they looked identical. Then their signs began to blaze on their foreheads. Daenara’s face was enveloped in a blaze of golden-red light, cast forth by a strange sign that looked like an X with a vertical line through the center. Aurora’s face was shadowed by the bright yellow of a Y sign with two lines crossing the ‘staff’ bar. Both’s hair began to dance across their faces, but they ignored it, diving into a deeper concentration as they struggled to reach their last hope: Serenity Solene. "Serenity" They whispered as one, their words ominously hollow and echoes of one another. "Serenity hear us, hear our plea before the dark one comes." Both the twins were transported to the dream world violently, their spirit selves the only thing visible in the black as ink field. Hinoiri* shivered, but Hinode remained cool and strong, her aura shuddering as streaks of purple became visible. The two turned around, trying to find the distant light of Serenity, but seeing only the damned blackness, the evil that had infested their system even with their deepest struggles. "I can’t find her." Hinode said softly, her face turning from cold granite to soft with fear. "I can’t find her Nara!" Her eyes began to widen and look frantically around her, but Hinoiri was beside her in a second, her aura calm and magnificently golden-red. "Sister," She whispered, holding her sister’s face with both hands, faint smile on her aura’s face. "Sister, there is always hope when the two of us are together. Behold, our niece." She turned from her sister and pointed to the small diamond in the black sky. Hinode shuddered as she fought for control, again resuming her mask of ice to cover her loss of control and ‘humiliation’ that Hinoiri failed to notice as she was concentrating on the speck. "Serenity... we come." Hinoiri blazed brightly as she expelled her power, transporting the startled Hinode and the trio of survivors they had found to the Moon Palace. Before she fainted from the extreme energy loss, Hinoiri saw the cool gray marble of the lower Planetary Ambassador’s Hall, and a startled looking face of a Prince she faintly remembered as the young Prince Hermeleus. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "What?!" Serenity cried out, standing off of her throne in shock. The foreign dignitaries around her stepped back, unused to the blazing crescent that appeared on Serenity’s forehead. The woman who stood before her swalled a moment before repeating what she had just said to the Queen. "Your aunts have arrived, and Daenara is very weak. She transported her sister and three others all the way from the Nemeitte moon with barely a fourth of her normal energy. If she had been any other Senshi, I believe she would have died." Her medical advisor said calmly, her blue hair held sharply behind her head and her emerald eyes wide with concern, not for herself but for her sudden charges. "She is injured? How is Aurora? And the three others? I presume they are survivors?" Concern weighed on Serenity’s tone as she looked about the sea of faces, weighing her duty as Queen with her duty of family. Her pledge the week before decided the manner even before Advisory Aqual could respond to the questions the Queen had laid down before her. "My good people, I must find out what my aunts have learned on their secrete mission. I will resume my duties and hear your cases tomorrow." She shook her head at the instant groans and complaints. "I am deeply sorry, but this mission was vital to the survival of our Kingdom. Until tomorrow." She said as she departed in a train of silver material, her medical advisor quickly following, while a man in the shadows, hidden within the folds of a shimmering black cloak, quickly departed, his lips, the only part visible from within the folds of his hood, pressed into a thin line. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Alishandra walked slowly up the massive staircase towards the Queen’s chambers, not because she was afraid but because she was unused to the confines of such a dress. On Europa, all maidens had worn short skirts to escape the heat, but here on the Moon such a thing would be unthinkable. Alishandra wasn’t stupid, and she knew that the only reason she was here was because some of the Lords had decided to take matters into their own hands and allow her into the Senshi position of Europa, as if they had any say in the matter. Still... She thought to herself, nearing the top, staring in amazement at the grandeur around her, awe on her pretty face, it was nice to know that she had allies here. When she saw one of them waving at her she couldn’t help but blush. Baal Hathar was a magnetic person, extremely... well... beautiful, but apparently was kind as well. He also was standing with Hermeleus, the Prince of Mercury, and a girl Alishandra had never seen before. At first glance, the girl had to be from some noble stock, for she was contained that inner grace that all the noble houses should have. She had honest, clear blue eyes that danced with a strange combination of mirth and wisdom, which was strange indeed for the girl looked at least a year younger then Alishandra herself. She was clothed in a rather old fashion yellow dress that seemed to draw the eye to its wearer, a trick of the old fashion makers Alishandra decided as she neared the trio, not some magical force of the girl herself. Still, the girl contained a rare presence, and was fairly tall for a girl as well, nearly as tall as the "gigantic" Alishandra herself. But what was astonishing was the fact that this girl wore sandals in the Moon Palace! The girl looked at Alishandra and grinned easily. "Greetings, Lady Alishandra. I trust that the powers of Europa are well with you today?" Her eyes were dancing with knowledge again, and Alishandra was astonished when she realized that this girl had a stronger magical presence then any she had ever encountered, even stronger then that of her half sister Athene. Smiling at Alishandra’s discomfort, the girl easily held out her hand. When Alishandra went to shake it, the girl reached up and clasped Alishandra’s forearm, the greeting of a Senshi. At such a close contact, Alishandra was able to discern the girl’s aura, a brilliant gold, like the sun rising on a gorgeous day. There was so much power in the girl that Alishandra was almost giddy standing so close to her, and yet it was a power of antiquity. "Who are you?" She marveled, letting the contact between them slide away. She girl tilted her head to the side and sighed, her smile growing shadowed. "Even after the Senshi greeting you do not know who am I? Surely you have been taught the ways of discovery by now." She shook her head, her long, golden hair falling in waves to her side, dancing with an inner light. "Alas, our teachers of the Old ways are failing. Hermeleus and Hathor have been the only Senshi to discover who I am, and both did without contact!" The girl shook her head again, a small smile still dwelling on her lips but a shadow in her eyes still, a look of worry that just didn’t suit her beauty. Alishandra looked at the two men who flanked the girl for support, but found none. Hathor was still staring at the girl as if she were some sort of Messiah, and Hermeleus looked on with a guarded adoration strange for his studious, absentminded demeanor. Who was this girl to elicit such a response from these two powerful males? She wondered, her brow furling. The girl sighed after a moment, and then folded her hands together before her waist. "I am Princess Daenara de’Taiyou, aunt to the present Queen of the Moon Kingdom." "The Aunt?" Alishandra gapped, staring at the girl who was younger then herself. "But, but, but Serenity Solene is far older then you, and, and the Solaris Princesses are just a myth, and...." A look of delight fell across the girl’s face, but most astonishing was the sign of Hinoiri, one of the Guardians of the Sun, and the fabled Senshi of the Setting Sun, who have been the stuff of legend on Europa. Apparently, though, the fables were true, for here walked the Princess herself. "But how could you survive this long? I mean, you are the daughter of Queen Solana, and she died almost a millennia ago!" Alishandra was in such a shock she couldn’t even come up with an educated thing to say, just stared at the girl before her. Before the girl, Daenara, could respond, the door to the Queen’s audience chamber opened. Turning to them with eyes full of cold worry, no humor in their silvery-blue depths, Daenara closed her eyes for a moment, and her sign disappeared. "I will explain later. The Queen has called a High Council Meeting, canciling all other meetings today, and I must attend with information about the Nemesis Moon Akara." Before she turned to leave, she turned completely to Alishandra, her eyes burning inhumanly bright. "I must talk with you later especially. If you expect to survive the coming times, the education of the Senshi must begin anew." With that, the ancient and yet eternally youthful Daenara stepped into the Queen’s audience chamber, the doors closing behind her, leaving Hathor, Hermeleus, and Alishandra alone. "Our education?" Alishandra put forth mildly, as if unsure of how to respond after meeting the highly unusual girl. Hermeleus tore his eyes from the door and turned to Alishandra, a faint smile on his lips. "Yes, we will be taking first steps on the path of enlightenment by the hands of Hinoiri and Hinode themselves." Hathor laughed, his voice golden in the silver palace. "What our bookish friend here means is that we’re going to learn how to be real Senshi from the best." "I highly doubt that." A sarcastic voice said behind them, and all turned to see a girl who looked exceptionally similar to Daenara, but with far different coloring. She had bright, blue hair held back from her face rather sharply, and strange, bewitching golden eyes. A faint smiled was on her lips, but somehow she didn’t seem as powerful a presence as Daenara. Almost, but not quite. "Alishandra, this is Princess Aurora," "She is well aware of who I am. It’s Daenara everyone has a hard time getting used to.'' Strangely, although the words on paper sound full of jealousness and the like, there was no spite in them when uttered, just clear acceptance, and an odd humor. "But don’t tempt fate, Hathor, for Eris is always watching. Rid your hybris from your mind. The best Senshi, such as the Legendary Elemental Zodiac Senshi from my mother’s time, or the Galas Senshi of the Golden Era, are long dead. The two of us are hardly up to their powers." With that, the sister walked to the door and let herself in, her back upright and tense, as if she too was worried about something. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Notes: *They changed into their Senshi auras in that instant when they were transported to 'walk the dream road'. I savagely hate this chapter because my writing is absolutely abhorrent! I can't believe the tone of this and how I messed up the intro. But, it was felt by my editor that I had to start up like that, so that the transition to the dream road wouldn't be too strange. Expect to see a re-done version in a week or two...