Written by BHart
September 22, 2008

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Act XC
Five Separate Paths, Journeys across the World

Sailor Rosalind was standing before some senior members of the council of princesses. "You summoned me?"

"We have a new task for you."

"Do you want me to capture the sailor senshi, succeeding where Sailor Calypso failed?" asked Rosalind.

"No. Their numbers are growing and ours are falling. It will be better for the rest of us to stay here and greet them. It will only be a matter of time until they come looking for their three missing companions. We want you to release Sailor Magellan, Marina and Titan from the capsules and put them each in isolated chambers. We'll have something prepared for them soon enough."

The five different groups split off from each other.

Vlaad and Mittens were in the Grand Palace of Hu'xzoi. "This is like old times. Reminds me of when you helped me get my artifact armor," mentioned Mittens.

"Wow, how long ago was that? Five years ago?"

"Something like that," replied Mittens.

Vlaad escorted Mittens to a teleporter near the Mithra section, handing her a stone. "This is a seer stone. It will allow you to see your path once I get by the teleporter dedicated to Galka. Once you see your path, follow it as quickly as you can. We will only have a short time to reach our goal. Understood?"

Vlaad had a seer stone of his own.

"Yeah, I got it."

When they were in position, a shimmering light traveled quickly before them. The seer stones allowed them to see the light.

On her way following the path, an Eo'aern began pursuing her. It used its wing thrust ability, slowing her down.

She slashed it with her ninja blade when it got too close; deeply cutting one of its wings. Mittens stopped when the light ended. She waited patiently for Vlaad.

The Eo'aern was still following her.

Vlaad ran up towards Mittens from another direction, panting.

"You finally made it."

"This armor really slows me down." Vlaad prepared to fight the Eo'aern alongside Mittens.

Doors appeared around Mittens and Vlaad, surrounding them from every side. Nothing could go through it. The Eo'aern ran into the doors with a large thud. "That sounded like it hurt," remarked Mittens.

A teleporter appeared behind them. "This is our exit," informed Vlaad.

It took them to the Garden of Ru'Hmet. "I recognize this place. Why didn't we take the normal way to get here?" asked Mittens.

Vlaad pointed to a Buddhist temple in the distance.

"I don't remember that being here," commented Mittens.

"That's because you never had the seer stones, and never took the path of enlightenment to get here," responded Vlaad.

Erewan, Rakuah and Chirimu were walking through the Beaucedine Glacier. Rakuah was shivering, wrapping her arms around herself.

"Come on now, it's not that cold," said Chirimu.

"Speak for yourself. I wasn't down in the deep, dark abyss like you. I'm not used to it."

"We'll get through here fast," assured Erewan.

"My legs are getting stiff."

"Okay, let's stop for now and warm up." Erewan had some fire crystals in his bag.

They sat down on some rocks, sitting around the fire.

Rakuah closed her eyes, grinning.

"What are you so happy about?" asked Chirimu.

"This warmth reminds me of when I was in a sauna with one of the members of my high school football team."

"You always did go for the athletic types, didn't you? I prefer the skinny, nerdy type. It's easier to take control and show them what a woman wants."

Erewan, feeling awkward about the conversation, suggested they head onward as soon as possible. They headed into Pso'xja.

Erewan drew a circle on the ground with a piece of chalk, while chanting a spell. The circle turned into a hole. "Follow me, before anyone sees us."

They jumped through it. They arrived in a dark, spacious room filled with monsters. "Where are we?" asked Chirimu.

"We're in a secret area. There's a level 10 cap here, and the enemies are around level 50. Our goal is across the room, just west of us. Run like hell to the other side," instructed Erewan.

They ran across the room, getting aggro'd from enemies everywhere.

There was a jar with many colored lights swarming around inside, resting on a pedestal. Erewan grabbed it.

He created another magic hole to jump through. They made it out just in time. They found themselves on the first floor of Pso'xja.

Oona, Omatase and Kousagi were traveling through Mamook. "How's your sister, Tameria doing?" asked Kousagi.

"She's doing great. She's getting pretty serious with a guy she met a few weeks ago," replied Oona.

"When this is all over, we need to have a party," suggested Omatase.

"Can we rest for a bit?" asked Kousagi.

"I think we could all use a break," agreed Oona. She had a large piece of broken glass from an archaic mirror they defeated. She summoned carbuncle.

Its ruby light shined into the broken mirror piece. Three images appeared in the mirror. They were a frog, bird and a demonic looking flying creature. "What is that?" asked Kousagi.

"They are three, unpurified creatures that we must kill and offer as a sacrifice. It's the only way of getting our piece of the puzzle to find the final sailor senshi. We must hurry and kill them before tomorrow, or the sacrificial requirements will change," explained Oona.

"Look, there's a frog," pointed out Kousagi. Oona ordered Carbuncle to attack it.

Kousagi found a puk. It was the flying demon creature. Omatase joined Kousagi in fighting it.

A pink colored colibri flew by, noticing them fighting the puk and poroggo. It swooped down to snatch a morsel from them.

"Oh no you don't!" said Omatase. He cast thundaga III, striking the colibri and puk.

The puk used its zephyr mantle ability, making it nearly impossible to strike.

The colibri used it's reflect magic ability, returning any other spell back at them afterwards.

The poroggo finally managed to lose carbuncle after taking extensive damage. The poroggo used its magic hammer ability, targeting carbuncle. Carbuncle leapt out of the way, jumping over the puk. The magic hammer struck the puk, knocking it to the ground.

"Don't cast any magic on that stupid, pink bird," warned Omatase.

Omatase cast blizzard IV on the poroggo while Oona, Carbuncle and Kousagi were dealing with the puk and colibri. They disposed of the puk and poroggo.

They fought the colibri for a while, only being able to attack it physically.

"Those are tough little buggers," said Omatase, after killing it.

Oona put the dead creature's bodies in a bag. "Time to make the sacrifices," informed Oona.

Parne, Tokamo and Rykel were in the Bhaflau Thickets, fighting some Mamool Ja. They slaughtered a few, scaring off the others.

"What's the body count?" asked Parne.

"Five," replied Rykel.

"That should be enough."

They carried the dead Mamool Ja bodies to a remote area near a dense growth of moving, stained red thickets.

"What's up with these thickets?" asked Tokamo.

"These are carnivorous thickets. There's something lying in them that we need."

"So we throw these dead bodies into the thickets while searching?" asked Rykel.

"Exactly."

The thickets began devouring the bodies. "We must hurry, it won't be long until their attention is directed at us," warned Parne.

"What is it we're looking for?" asked Tokamo.

"A broken crown and some cracked jewels," replied Parne.

The thickets gathered around the bodies, leaving a wide open area that sunlight reached.

Something glimmered in the corner of Tokamo's eyes. "Found it." Tokamo handed Parne the broken crown and jewels.

They went to Halvung.

"Where'd that crown and jewels come from? Seems like a strange thing to hide in deadly thickets," asked Tokamo.

"They belong to an old, overthrown kingdom. You'll see why we need them."

They turned a corner, bumping into a moblin. After recovering from the collision, Rykel and Tokamo prepared to attack.

"No, wait!" Parne ran up to them. "This is a good moblin. He's actually who I've been looking for."

"Are you sure?" asked Tokamo.

Parne introduced them. "This is Manoqam. We were on our way to meet you."

"You've got great timing. I'm done working for the day. I see you've got the royal items we need. Come with me."

Suhya, Rie and Maybel were at Talacca Cove. Suhya was gutting out a giant orobon they killed.

"Is this our dinner?" asked Maybel.

"Are you kidding me? These things have as vile a taste as their smell. Their blood has strange, magic properties we need." She put as much blood from the orobon in a container as she could.

"Well that's good news. I hate seafood. Or anything from water for that matter," mentioned Rie.

They went to Ilrusi Atoll.

"Watch out for the cursed chests around here," warned Suhya.

They walked quietly around the area until reaching a rune. Suhya poured orobon blood on it.

"What is that?" asked Maybel.

"This is the rune of release. This orobon blood, mixed with heat, will give us something we'll need," explained Suhya. She asked Rie to engulf it in flames.

The flames seared the rune, causing the blood to sink deep within it. After glowing with intense heat, another rune of release appeared next to the original. Suhya picked it up.

"Another one? Why didn't you just use the one that's already there?" asked Rie.

"The original can't be removed. It's needed here for adventurers. Now that we have this duplicate, we've got to get moving," ordered Suhya.

..to be continued..