Eternal Light

1.  At Time Before The Beginning

            I won’t come to you pretending I know everything.  That would be far from the truth.  I come to you to tell you what I know of the past and the future.  I want it to be known, the truth of the beginning.  I don’t know how it all started but I do know that there were originally five races created in this universe.  The Mystics were the first; I don’t know the order after that of Evil, Hunters, Bounties, and Strangers.  The Bounties shared our planet for a while.  This knowledge of the other groups was never told to me, it was just something I knew deep inside.  Iris was the first Mystic; she had the unique gift of the rainbow.  I was her daughter born soon after her creation.  After my birth other Mystics appeared. 

            So what am I, what is a Mystic?  I am daughter of Iris.  A Mystic is usually one of two things, a unicorn or a pegasus to use the figure of myth.  I am a mix of the two.  We all have a gift of nature.  We have been honored with the gift of healing with the trust that we will not harm others.  Many of us only have one but I have many.  I was born into the rank of princess with all the gifts of my mother; I look like an identical copy.  The unicorn is one with a golden horn.  The pegasus has wings of silver.  I have a horn of platinum.  A few interesting traits we have include two complete hearts, a life span that could almost be considered infinite, and even though we have lungs we do not need air to live.  We were created first as the guardians of light and time because without these two elements life could not exist in the universe.

            Evil are dark creatures that kill everything they come in contact with.  Hunters kill solely for the sport of the hunt.  The Strangers I don’t know much about I only know they exist.  Bounties have a human form and can change face.  Space and the planets were here before me and I was given an explanation.  I think I have given you enough here for me to start my story.

2.  A Start Without Time

“Wicked prophets kill for speaking his name…

In the glory of an innocent age

A king is born to a house filled with rage

One man’s fear is another mans truth, one fear

The blind suffer at the hands of sin

Lines are drawn where the boundaries begin

Ten thousand broken by the madness within, broken

One more cry in the night

One more who won’t live to fight, one more

One life cut down by fire

One child’s angry desire

Hearts of stone run without shame

Wicked prophets kill for speaking his name

As the heavens fall from the sky for them

Brother to brother blood on their hands

Desolation in the kingdom of man

Holy vengeance is a justice of hell, mercy, mercy

One more cry in the night

One more who won’t live to fight

One life cut down by fire

One child’s angry desire

One more

Wings of fire

Drums of thunder

No more, no more

One more cry in the night

One more who won’t live to fight

One life cut down by fire

One child’s angry desire” ~Journey “One More”

            I looked up into the eyes of Iris.  I looked like her; wings of platinum, mane that cycled through the colors of the rainbow, blue eyes, and a white coat.  Others came too slowly through the day.  None of them looked exactly like my mom or me.  At dusk a new race appeared.  At first the Bounties stayed away from us, trying to build up a civilization away from the Mystics.  We built ours too with nature’s help.  With our gifts we could ask of the soil what we needed and ask of the sky for the rain our crops needed.  We flourished and offered help to the Bounties but they refused our help and wanted to keep their own.  I was given my name, Aurora.  Time is a human measure and was not yet in existence here so I can’t tell you how long we had been there. 

            Then came the attack.  We never saw it coming I guess we were just still too naive about war and evil.  It was not an attack to kill but to conquer.  We went into slavery to feed them and work for them.  They figured out that Iris was the leader of our little group within a short time.  I guess it shows that they didn’t know much about us either.  They took Iris from us.  To make a public example of what an outburst would be punishable by they tried to kill Iris.  Her control over water, soil, and air made a few of their attempts an embarrassment.  I was kept hidden and safe during all of this.  The elders decided that I must be protected to help the rest of us to a new home when the time was right.  I knew one thing they didn’t, at this time Iris and Aurora were one in the same, we shared one life.  Bounties then tried a burning.  They torched Iris.  In the safety I was ablaze.  Our lives divided just before she died.  I wasn’t in much better shape.  The elders took me away so that I might recover.  They took me to the first planet they found, Earth.  It was all for nothing, I died soon after.

            Apparently there was a greater plan for my life than there was for Iris.  I was given back my life and a mastering of the force that took it.  There was a catch, I was given the job of guardian of the soul, innocence, and to reunite the original five souls come Armageddon.  I was never given a choice on whether I wanted this job it was forced upon me.  I find it ironic that the defender of innocence is no longer an innocent.  I rose from the Earth a new person.  I was no longer a mirror of Iris.  I now had wings of flame, a mane of red sprinkled with rubies, and my coat  was now not only white but also shimmered with diamonds.  At the base of my horn I now had a mark, the mark of light.  It was a light purple flare.  Around my neck was a pendant; a tear of moonstone with a silver chain and casing an oval amethyst was in the silver, it was a beautiful mark of a memory and of my new duty.  I now stood on the Earth full grown in size.  My wings had a ten-meter span and I stood about one and a half meters tall.  I left Earth promising to thank it for its kindness in my time near death and now after it.

            I began my search for a new home.  I found a place distant from the Bounties.  I returned home to find it just as I left it.  The chaos sickened me.  As darkness fell we gathered.  We took flight that night for our new home.  I stayed until the last of us took flight.  We were discovered but it was too late.  The last thing I heard on that planet was the threat of revenge on me for the destruction that was to come on their civilization that would be directly related to our absence.  I looked back to see it was a small child that had made these vows.  I would forever remember his little face, it has been burned into my mind.

            We made it to our new home without problems.  It was a beautiful planet of waterfalls and rainforests.  This place without name was everything.  In the meadows we played without a care.  Only a few of the Mystics knew my fate but they would all learn soon.  This was a time for us to play.  Sorrow had no place here.  It thought it was something out of a dream but it was better than anything I ever dreamed of.  I left this paradise for a destiny.  Sadly, I would never feel at home here again.  I wasn’t satisfied with just staying.  I guess it was the curse of the mission.  I left again promising never to leave them in danger.  I didn’t know where to go but there was a longing inside me to find out who was a friend and who was another Bounty of the original races.  I left this paradise for a path I wasn’t sure of.

I found Evil first.  On a planet that was dark and moist.  It was a planet of rainforest thicker than anything I had ever dreamed.  I could feel them all around me but I couldn’t see them.  They were fast I could sense it.  I wandered around for a little while unbothered.  All at once they attacked huge dark masses, swift, and deadly.  My bright violet blood spilled on the ground.  I sensed their language and tried to communicate with no success.  I took flight, injured.  I noticed the increase in my healing ability since my death.  I left disheartened by my new knowledge. 

            Never give up I guess.  I continued my quest farther away from the Earth my mission was on.  I found the Hunters.  It strangely felt like my encounter with Evil.  The planet was again heavily forested but not quiet the same way.  I didn’t have the sense of being watched as I did there either.  You tend to feel a little vulnerable looking like I do with light filtering in through the trees setting off the diamond bits.  I saw one of them through the trees.  I can’t explain it but it’s like a memory distant.  I saw the form and knew it was what I was searching for.  It stood in the distance I could tell he was judging me.  Taking in how I moved and how I could be dangerous or not to him.  I knew I was in for trouble already; the horn could be taken as a weapon of defense.  He slowly approached; he walked carefully through the underbrush.  I stood there still, watching him approach.  He stood just out of reach of me and drew out a blade.  I backed up not wanting to go through another attack.  He sliced at me ad I kept dodging.  I could tell he was waiting for me to use my horn.  I sensed others around us now, yet they remained unseen.  He continued his attempts to stab me.  I then saw another of them in the woods.  He was behind me.  I saw him pull out something like a gun.  The one with the knife slashed across my shoulder.  The one behind me fired, I dodged the shot but the knife clad Hunter was hit.  It fired a beam of energy that looked as if it would rip through anything it hit.  The one with the gun continued to fire on me.  He didn’t have very good aim but he did get a few good shots on me.  I hobbled over to the wounded Hunter.  I knelt down and placed the tip of my horn on the injury to heal it.  I then collapsed on the forest floor.

            When I awoke I was a little hazy still but I knew I was now inside.  The room was small and dark with metallic walls.  I was on a medical table.  The one I healed entered the room.  He started to talk and it took me a few minutes to understand the language.  He told me of a legend they were left with at creation that a Mystic would come to make alliances to save their future.  This Mystic would be the leader of her race and would know the way to safety.  He apologized for trying to kill me, he saw the horn as a weapon and thought I would defend myself with it accordingly.  He never dreamed I would be the Mystic legend foretold.  Like me he didn’t know what the other looked like only that they existed.  He also knew about Evil, Bounties, and the Strangers but nothing more than I did.  I didn’t know the way to safety then but I did make an alliance with them.       It was time to return to Earth.  Life had started there and the souls I was to guard would come soon. 

3.  A New Earth

            My life stood dormant through the times of the dinosaurs and before.  I watched ice roll across the land and I watched it melt away.  Then came humans and my five souls.  Humans seem to be a combination of the five original races from what I’ve seen.  With their appearance I was branded with a symbol of each.  An opal for the pure, kind soul; onyx for the dark, lonely soul; emerald for the dedicated, serious soul; sapphire for the quite, truthful soul; and ruby for the soul torn between happiness and death.  This was the beginning and this was the start of my end.  Humans have the form of the Bounties yet their actions seem governed by the feeling of all of the races.  People can be driven by sport; capable of love, hate, and indifference; in this I also see something that I now assume to be part of the Strangers for I have never seem it in any of the races I have had contact with.

            My job had not really started yet.  This first round through was a learning experience of sorts.  I learned what they were all like and what they tried to hide.  They all lived out their natural lives with their own faults, flaws, and decisions.  I found out a few things about the human race in this lifetime too.  Humans are blind to most of the world.  They also tend to like the safety of this dimness.  This same blindness allowed me to be hidden in plain sight without hiding.  A double take was the end of them seeing me.  If a person believed their eyes they would know who I was and what they saw.  I pale face in the crowds is what I tried to be, as invisible as possible until I was needed.  I could heal the sick and could bring back the dead.  This power over life has a high price.  In the return to life I take over the pain of coming back.  This pain is what keeps them from coming back.  It is a pain worse than burning alive it never gets any easier no matter how often I help others back.  The act of healing can sometimes drain me to a state like illness.  I found that I am immune to disease in these early years.  I settled near what is now know as China.  I had two good friends I could depend on and they also came to Earth to help me.  Halo was a guardian of innocence; her true form was a pegasus of silver wing and white coat.  Torrent was a guardian of power; his true form was a unicorn of black coat and blood red mane.  I was now in a quiet time when none of them surfaced.  I wanted to stay unnoticed for as long as possible but that was not to be.  In my true form I am often seen incorrectly by people, I have been seen as a horse and sometimes not seen at all.  Innocence is not as blind as it seems, children were the first to see me in true form.  And with this the legends began.  It didn’t take long for some of the adults to trust their heart and not their eyes.  We were portrayed as beautiful peaceful creatures that roamed the country trying to help where we could.  Sure I did have the power to help and I did help the people who needed it.

4.  The Age Of Light

            The knowledge of our existence was still relatively small when we left China.  Our new home on Earth was to be Antarctica; our presence warmed the mass of land to be spring year round.  It was our Utopia here a place where we could be free of what we felt coming.  A great deal of evil was growing here and we didn’t know what to do other than the most cowardice of answers.  We shielded ourselves in from the darkness.  I called forth my protectors, Drago and Dracul of Dragos.  Drago was a dragon of forest and Dracul a dragon of fire.  I see now that this decision too was not of best judgment.  Explorers found this land and were greeted by my dragons.  Those armed met their end; those that came in peace entered freely and most made a new home here.  They named it Atlantis.  Everyone knew of this home in only a few years.  This paradise at the end of the earth was like the home I left.  It was nice while it lasted.  I came at this point to start to believe that people might not yet be capable of living in peace here or anywhere.  The people soon left to defend their homelands.  Wars were spreading across the earth.  It was time to leave and we all knew it.  After all the people had left so did we.  What was the point of staying in a place that had no reason to exist any longer?  This cold home was the only place I ever took as my home and I never would forget what lasted if not only for a few years of pure light.

5.  The Beginning Of Darkness

            Halo and Torrent left to the Americas to keep safe.  I went to the warfront, there was something familiar I had to face.  I noticed the green gem had a glow to it now.  I finally used my strongest of powers.  I never wanted to deceive anything in this way but what must be done must be.  I changed form for the first time.  I found myself in for a little surprise in my human form.  I stood looking at my reflection.  Blue eyes shone back at me from the lake, my hair was Scottish red, and my skin was almost white.  I still had the violet starburst on my forehead, but my hair fell over it keeping it discreet.  The jewels now had homes.  On my left hand the opal on a ring, the emerald on another ring, and a compass on my wrist.  On my right I had a bracelet of onyx and one of sapphire and a ring with the ruby.  This last ring also held my symbol of peace and my most destructive form I could take, the phoenix.  The pendant still bounced around my neck.  The emerald now had a more definite glow to it.  I could feel it now.  I found him again.  I could see his future life ahead of him.  He was to be a great fighter and would be the one to end this war.  I tried to watch over him as he grew up.  I found that I had many weaknesses just because of my appearance.  I had no voice here, because I was female.  From a distance I protected him.  I was always by his side when he was older.  I was an advisor, some thought us closer but they were wrong.  He gained great military rank and finally brought an end to these meaningless fights.  He was assassinated and I found the tragic weakness in my abilities.  Apparently I can bring any life back but not theirs. 

            Kings fought over land for centuries.  I had seen each of the souls a couple of times by now but the white soul had yet to appear from the first time.  Power and land changed owners so many times I can’t keep track.  I tried for a few lifetimes to try to settle a peace by talking with the nobles, but reason was clouded by their need for power.  The time of knights came.  This is the age I still fear.  I still preferred to wander the Earth in my true form when possible.  People needed something to believe in and our myth had started to get around. 

            The elders still held true to the promise to watch me.  I find it funny that someone younger than I can be an elder.  Mercurius came to check on my safety.  I tried to tell him I was fine.  Halo and Torrent were still here.  Drago and Dracul were already watching over me.  This didn’t set his mind at ease and so he stayed with me.  I thought to my self, “Just what I needed, another protector." 

            A king had called for a horn of a unicorn hearing that they held the power to purify water and heal the sick.  He sent out his best knights to retrieve this item.  These knights were met with a terrible force.  Drago and Dracul surrounded me; Mercurius was left to defend himself.  I tried to get past my dragons but they were stubborn.  I got past them in time to see that the knights had succeeded in their mission.  Mercurius lay dead without his horn.  He deserved much better.  He was noble one and yet now it meant nothing to anyone here, but us.  In the mist I sometime can almost see him.  Watching over me always.

            This time was not over.  My dragons were now hunted too.  Together they were an almost invincible force.  It didn’t take long for the warriors to figure out they needed to be separated to be defeated.  Slowly they fell to the hunts of man.

            In a sense they had the ultimate revenge.  Disease ravaged Earth.  They called it the Black Plague.  Immunity is a blessed thing but it does cause questions.  I once walked the streets in human form trying to help as many as I could but my kindness was witchcraft.  In a sense this was to be my second time to be burned at the stake, this time I would not die.  When they caught me I went willingly.  My goal in when I try to be one of the people in a town is not to stand out.

            I was tried and found guilty.  What did I expect?  Explaining my gift was out of the question.  The day came; I was tied to the stake and burned.  That is what the witnesses thought they saw.  In truth I became part of the flame, when the embers died I stayed with them until it was safe to reform.  Yet another tragic end to a girl know as Aurora Hunter.

6.  Waiting For Forgetfulness

            I guess a blessing of having such a long life is that people forget.  I laugh when I hear the stories of my past.  The oldest ones I hear about as often as the new ones that are fresh in people’s minds.  The dark times in history I have been merged in with hundreds of others like the witchcraft trials.  The truth to it all is that they become just stories and the name I always use is just thought coincidence at most.  I have been learning so much in the short time humans have existed.  It is now the Victorian Era and I am back to help where I can.  The times are great for the rich but the poor are starving.

            I found my way into high society.  I sacrificed all chances of comfort to dress like the rich.  I didn’t look like them so I was able to convince a few people that I was from another country.  I was a guest of royalty.  I hated to think of the pampering they were bestowing on me when outside people were starving.  I have never needed food to live; it is only a luxury to take in the tastes and textures of food.  I took all that they served to my room and went out at night.  I helped who I could.  I found this time so bleak, I almost felt that the time was soon for the end but I was wrong.  I never was very good at keeping friends.  I was found out and a disgrace to the family that took me in.  A revolution was starting and this was not a battle I was to fight.

            I decided to go back into dormancy until this race had figured out they were one.  This battle was not mine and I was not going to fall to it.  I had given so many lives that were not mine to the other plane.  I found my new home for about the next two hundred years.  It was a dark, deep lake in Scotland.  It was isolated and beautiful.  I slept at the bottom of the lake undisturbed until I felt my past return.  It came to me suffocating like a flood on my mind.  I awoke from my deepwater shelter.  I started to swim to the top.  I lifted my head above the water level.

7.  Revenge

            I resurfaced in the late nineteen hundreds to find out that the race still stood even after so many bloody wars and new weapons.  I take that back I did have a few looks around at the world between my hibernation and now but a lifetime here and there is so short.  The onyx was active again.  I now had a goal to ease my mind from an old fear. 

            He wanted the truth to all myth.  I could help him to see it but I could not show him it yet.  He knew that I knew more than what I would tell him.  This truth gave him strength to keep searching for what I couldn’t tell him.  I lead him down the path to truth but he couldn’t see most of it.  He could only see the science still; if he ever could get past it he would have been able to see what I was.  I did get him to see enough to give him recognition for finding the origin of some of the myths he searched for.

            I was not left unnoticed either.  I was surprised it took people this long to notice.  My name was on record in both his books and in history.  The question came up on how could this name and this face show up so many times in history?  The answer they came up with was as close to the truth as they could ever guess… it was somehow the same person.  The government wanted me, not in public.  They wanted to study me secretly.  They still thought I was human and wanted to know how I had defied time.  The hunt was on; a price was put on my head for capture. 

            The first attempt on my capture was unexpected.  I knew I would be discovered someday but not this early.  My attacker also got a little surprise.  My defense was to almost electrocute him.  One of my defense mechanisms is if I am grabbed I tend to release a large amount of electric current in all directions.  I now knew I was to be careful for as long as I stayed.  I wandered the streets for a while.  Don’t know why I didn’t just leave then but something unsettled made me stay. 

            I loved to walk the peace of the streets in the early morning.  It reminded me of when I first came here.  When people weren’t so crowded in their cities.  I walked the streets with no real goal other than to sort my thoughts.  I could see the faces of the souls in the final round I saw both ends and cringed.  My concentration was shattered by the sound of a gunshot near by.  I turned behind me to see a face I had seen only so long ago.  One of the Bounties had found me.  I had seen them in this government but I had stayed my distance.  I read his thoughts and ran.  I was not going to go with him without a fight.  My past had found me and I was not going to face it yet.  He fired again hitting me in the leg.  I had never faced steel before and the bullet caused its damage.  I had not time to recover; I just got back up and tried again to loose him in the streets.  He was not going to let me get away.  He fired at me again this time it hit my side.  I stopped; I couldn’t afford any more injuries until I could heal myself.  The hole in my side was loosing a lot of blood.  It oozed out violet instead of the red people expect.  He took it in stride he expected it.  I was loosing too much blood and I was starting to fade.

            I woke up in a dark room.  I didn’t know where I was but my bullet holes were stitched up.  I cleaned up what was left of the injury and pulled out the stitches.  I was still a little light headed but I got over it.  They took some of my blood; I knew I was in for more trouble. 

            An older man entered the room.  He asked me who I was.  I answered him with the name I kept, Aurora Hunter.  I would never tell him my true form.  He asked how old I was.  I told him that I was nineteen.  I have been that age in appearance for most of the human existence but I could make myself look younger but never older.  He soon came to his real questions.  He wanted to know why my blood was purple and why I healed so fast.  I kept silent for a while, thinking.  I had never had to come up with an answer to this question before.  In older times I was just considered a witch, end of story.  That defense would not hold now.  I finally told him I didn’t know I’ve always been this way.  He tried to question me for a few more hours but I dodged or just didn’t answer his questions.  He finally left and I was alone again in the dark room. 

            I knew my blood held all the answers he was looking for but I didn’t care.  I didn’t want to be here anymore.  Outside three of my souls were roaming out there now.  I knew they would find each other on their own but onyx was older than the other two and time was against this being the time.  There were still two souls yet to appear for this to be the time.  It was time to leave.  I didn’t want to draw that attention to myself but it had to be done. 

            I looked at the walls.  They were steal, good a metal I knew how to manipulate it now.  I touched the wall and concentrated on getting the steal to bend away.  It didn’t take long for my to make a hole big enough to squeeze through.  I walked the halls ready to disappear into air but it was abandoned.  I felt the way out was close I also felt my past.  I could see the exit.  I walked to it to find my good friend the Bounty guarding the doorway.  He again drew his gun at me.  He fired but this time I was ready for the bullets.  The impact cut my flesh a little but the bullet had no effect otherwise.  He saw his failure and tried a new approach.  He had done his duty to bring me to them now it was a time to get revenge on leading the Mystics from their planet.  He pulled out a knife and tried to kill me in a way he would know I was dead.  The struggle ended in his end.  I had to leave, time was against me.  Three souls were here and only the opal and the ruby to go if this were to be the time.  I thought of onyx, he was not a warrior at least not in the path he chose this time around.  The light would die for sure if this were to be the coming of Armageddon.  

8.  The Strangers

            I looked for emerald and sapphire.  I found them in loving homes to which I would try to remain a stranger to.  Four years passed quickly.  I kept track of the three to make sure that their lives went as smooth as possible for as long as I could.  One summer evening I was lying in a field of wildflowers lit by the moonlight staring at the stars I felt a twinge deep in my heart.  I looked to find the opal had finally ignited in light.  It was so unfamiliar to me; it had not been lit since the first time.  He was not here though.  I looked into my compass.  It didn’t know where but it knew the direction I should head.  I changed back into my true form and started my journey into space.

            I flew at full speed for so long.  The light of the opal got brighter the farther into space I went.  I had never been out this far.  I had nothing to worry about my compass would lead me back and time had mo meaning to me but to find the soul lost out this far time is important.  I saw something glowing in the distance.  It was not a planet like I expected to find the soul on it was a ship.

            It was huge.  It appeared to have a city on the top half and the mechanical portion supporting it from beneath.  When I finally reached it I found the top half to have a film like surface that I could pass through.  Inside there was air and heat but there was almost no light.  I landed in an abandoned area and changed back into my human form.  I wandered the streets looking for the opal.  I wanted to know what this was out here so far away from Earth but I couldn’t find the answers.  It was midnight and the world stopped.  Everyone fell asleep where they stood.  I was left alone on the streets.  I heard someone coming and hid.  They looked human from the outside but their auras gave them away as different.  I could see that they had a mission in this timeless void in between human comprehension.  Something deep within said that who I was seeing was in actuality a Stranger.  I thought on that urge for a moment.  If that were true it would explain so much of what I was seeing before me.  They can control time like I can; the aura is different from anything I have ever seen before.  Even humans don’t have an original aura it mimics parts of the original five.  My five souls however had the pure light of a Mystic in their aura. 

            They disappeared just as quick.  The clock finished its count of twelve and life continued here as if nothing happened.  The people they touched were now different.  They spoke different and moved different; it was like they were a new person.  I continued to look for the soul and I pushed this occurrence to the back of my mind.  Twelve hours later the world stopped again.  This time I was noticed.  Not because I didn’t hide again but because they noticed my searching.

            I was walking a catwalk when they surrounded me.  They could fly I found.  The first one appeared in front of me.  I backed up into two waiting.  I jumped forward centering the distance between the two sides.  Two more came one to each side.  They started to close in on me.  One fell through the floor and was entangled in the ropes underneath.  The tallest one grabbed me by the neck pinning me to the billboard.  He demanded to know why I was here.  I tried to answer him but the hold was too tight.  The little one came in and jabbed his three-pronged dagger into my side.  I winced in pain.  The tall one dropped me.  I landed hard on the catwalk.  I slipped under it quickly to try to help the one caught in the ropes.  I grabbed one rope and pulled myself down.  When I got to him I was greeted by another hit by the same kind of dagger.  I let go of the rope I was holding which caused a part of the billboard to collapse, which killed one of them.  I ran leaving a trail of my purple blood behind.  They looked for me for a few minutes then resolved to find me next time the clock stopped.  They left behind the dead one for next time too.  A story was on the news to look out for an injured girl.  Her attacker was caught but she still needs medical attention.  Her blood is still purple from a radioactive iodine test she had only hours prior.  I thought it was a pretty good excuse for the limited time they had to come up with it.

            I hid in the attic of a seemingly nice old woman’s house.  I healed up my cuts.  I figured the metal they used was Gundanium it was strong and light but in my case deadly since it was so rare that I had never dealt with it before.  I rested until eleven.  I was about to leave when the old woman saw me.  She asked me to stay still while she called the ambulance.  She left to call and so did I.  I went back to the catwalk.  Nobody should ever die as a result of my presence.  I placed my hand on his broken head.  I first healed the breaks in the skull.  I then gave him back his life.  I took the pain of coming back and I died as he lived.

            He awoke to find my body slumped lifeless next to his.  He checked me for signs of life and found none.  He knew he was dead but not how he came back.  He took me underground to the mechanics of the city.  About halfway down life shot back into me, I jerked and took a deep breath.  It was not time for me to regain consciousness yet just life. 

            It seems that anywhere I go I will always stand out.  This difference is always wondered about.  This time was no different.  I should have a great tolerance to being locked in small rooms or tied to a table because I was thought dangerous, but I don’t.  I awoke to find myself strapped to a table.  This wasn’t going to be for long though.  I broke myself free relatively quickly and started to try to find my way back to finding the opal soul.  I sat back on the table for a second a little dizzy.  Something inside me seemed to click into place.  There was something familiar in them.  They must be the Strangers I knew of.  Why did they have this little city out here?  Is there anything I can learn from them?  I also realized that the soul I came here for was now over thirty years old. 

            A Stranger entered the room.  The entrance seemed to form out of the wall.  It was the tall one that had me in a choke hold.  His voice was raspy when he spoke.  He asked me where I came from.  My answer was Earth.  He seemed satisfied with the answer, but I could tell that there was something further wrong here.  People don’t seem to know that they are not on Earth or even that there is such a thing, only the city.  He then asked, “Who are you?”

            “A Mystic.”

            “They do not exist anymore, their home was destroyed long ago.”

            “We still do, the home that was destroyed was where we originally lived.  We left to evade Bounties.  What are you doing here?”

            I was surprised when he actually answered.  “We are trying to find the soul.  Our people are dying and the soul is the answer.”

            “The soul can’t be the answer.  The soul you are looking for would do you no good.  I have brought one of you back and I can see that the soul you search for won’t help.”  I saw inside of the one I saved.  They thought that they did not possess a soul.  If they were soulless beings they wouldn’t have the aura I still see around him.

            “Prove that you are the Mystic you say you are.”

            “What have you heard of us first, so that I can live up to your expectations?  I have brought back life what more do you need to see me in true light?  I can see you now behind the mask,” I said with a smile.

            “They are a horse with a single horn from their forehead.  I never heard of them changing shape or bringing back the dead like what you did.”

            “What you have heard is partially true.  We can be unicorns but not always.  I can bring back the dead and change shape but not the others.”  I then changed back into my true form.  I felt wings of fire might be a bit too much so I kept them at the ruby flecked red.  He stepped back towards the wall he came from.  I think he was satisfied.  The doorway reformed in the wall and he stepped out.

            I changed back to a person; I felt it was the best shape to be in right now this room was small after all.  I sat back on the table and did all that I could at the time I waited.  I had more time than they did apparently.  A dish of food was slid in through another door from nowhere.  I didn’t need any of it but I ate some to keep everyone nice and happy.  About an hour later the one I saved came into the room.  I could see he expected me to have eaten more from the dish.  I spoke first, “Now that I’ve shown my true form and a few of my tricks would you mind telling me what you can do?”

            He looked at me like I was asking the impossible.  He finally spoke, a raspy voice like the tall one had, “We can change other’s thoughts with our minds.”

            I offered a trade of knowledge to him.  I wanted to learn how to change things with my mind and I offered him and the others the soul they sought after for so long.  He knew of the conversation I had with the tall one.  He knew the soul wasn’t worth much to them.  I thought for a while on what I could offer that they could use.  I could teach them how to control an aspect of nature.  They wouldn’t need that if they could manipulate what was already there.  From what I could tell from when I brought him back the body he was in was not always his.  The Strangers were, in a sense a parasite.  No, that track wasn’t going to lead me anywhere.  Wait, exposure to light seemed to hurt them.  I offered to kill the sun that still filtered a little light to their current location.  I couldn’t think of any way to make it so that they could live longer other than giving them the chance to live in perfect darkness.  This offer he thought about.  He agreed to teach me his skill.  I told him I could keep my part if I could get out to extinguish the sun.  He led me out.  When I reached the surface I changed into true form again and flew off.  This sun was far enough away from everywhere else that its death wouldn’t affect anything else.  I flew into the sun.  I absorbed as much of its pure energy as I could and scattered the rest.  The sun was now dead.  I flew back wondering how trustworthy the Stranger was.  He did teach me how to manipulate others with my mind like how they did.  A stipulation was brought up after the teachings: I must leave.  They saw me as a threat to them having their powers as well as my own.  Opal was still to be found.  I didn’t leave right away; I had to find him first.  Opal had also developed their powers.  I stayed in shadows and watched him slowly cut away at the lie he had been told all his life.  He found out about the Strangers.  With the development of their power it kept him from sleeping at midnight so he could see the truth.  He brought light back and killed all but one of the Strangers.  He could not bring himself to destroying a whole race.  I knew there was no way to bring him back to Earth and left him to the city he could now change at his will.

            Legend tells us of the frailty of our races.  I’ve known it for so long.  Disbelief of the original knowledge was the true downfall of the Strangers.  My part in this little play would not have changed their outcome.  The Bounties also learned this truth the hard way.  They are all but gone now; those who still exist stay clear of the Mystics for fear of the past.  Evil and Hunters worked to eliminate each other for centuries this battle is nearing an end but the Hunters have asked us for help and yet we still wonder which battles we are to fight.

9.  The Beginning of the End

“Close the door, put out the light

No they won’t be home tonight

Snow falls hard and don’t you know

Winds of Thor are blowing cold. 

There’re wearing steal that’s bright and true

They carry news that must get through

They choose the path where no one goes

They hold no quarter

They hold no quarter

Walking side by side with death

Devil mocks their every step

Snow drives back the foot that’s slow

Dogs of doom that howl and moan

They carry news that must get through

To build a dream for me and you

They choose that path where no one goes

They hold no quarter

They ask no quarter

They hold no quarter

They ask no quarter

Without quarter” ~Led Zeppelin “No Quarter”

            I went back to Earth to wait until the coming end.  Peace came and went many times before I became active again.  I went to the Artic Circle to find Halo and Torrent.  I found comfort in the deserted lands of the north.  I was finally comfortable in the cold all around me.  We lived in the snow for a long time.  The souls had not resurfaced since opal had died so far from Earth.  It was another time to wait. 

            It took time but people finally freed themselves from their home for so long.  Space colonies were developed.  I could feel Armageddon coming fast.  Halo sensed my unease and tried to comfort me that we would keep the path clear for the future.  Halo had been so isolated in her time on Earth I knew the evil and the troubles that were developing.  The past repeats itself over and over, the players are different but the story is still the same.  I sat down away from the others and closed my eyes.  I wanted to see the path to the future.  I saw the new players in a coming war.  I saw all five souls together but it was faint, if I did nothing this future would never be. 

            I started back into action around AC 150.  I sent Halo off to get three of the elders to come to Earth to finalize our plans.  Stratus, Cumulus, and Hermes came back with Halo.  The people of earth were making weapons of quick destruction.  The colonies although in a state of peace would soon start to develop their own weapons.  Halo, Torrent, Stratus, Cumulus, and Hermes were to go to the colonies as engineers to develop the perfect weapon.  I gave them all the illusion of human form.  There they met Howard.  I also went hidden in the shadows as I tended to do more and more often I realize now.  Howard would be a helpful ally.  Tallgeese was a beautiful creation but it was too good for the normal pilot.  Leo suits were based on Tallgeese, a downsized version. 

10.  Five Souls Named

“Night falls down the road

Skin chill me to the bone

You turned and you ran

Slipped right from my hand

Blue on black, tears on a river, push on a shove, it don’t mean much

Joker on jack, match on a fire, cold on ice, it’s a dead man’s touch

Whisper on a scream doesn’t change a thing, doesn’t bring you back

Blue on black

Blind, now I see

Truth, lies, and in-between

Wrong can’t be undone

Slipped from the tip of your tongue

Blue on black, tears on a river, push on a shove, it don’t mean much

Joker on jack, match on a fire, cold on ice, it’s a dead man’s touch

Whisper on a scream doesn’t change a thing, doesn’t bring you back

Blue on black

Blue on black, tears on a river, push on a shove, it don’t mean much

Joker on jack, match on a fire, cold on ice, it’s a dead man’s touch  

Whisper on a scream doesn’t change a thing, doesn’t bring you back

Blue on black

Blue on black, tears on a river, push on a shove, it don’t mean much

Joker on jack, match on a fire, cold on ice, it’s a dead man’s touch

Whisper on a scream doesn’t change a thing, doesn’t bring you back

Blue on black” ~Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band “Blue on Black”

            This time was important, events would move quickly now.  I will now refer to the souls by the names they took in this life not because the names weren’t important in lives before but because this is the final time I will look after them.  Emerald became Heero Yuy.  Ruby became Duo Maxwell.  Sapphire became Trowa Barton.  Opal became Quatre Raberba Winner.  Onyx became Chang Wufei.  Their lives would be filled with death and destruction.  I could only shield them from a little of this destiny but the one gift I gave them was a shared pain.  Any injury they were ever to bear I would take the blunt end of.  

            I’m jumping ahead again.  They have not yet come back to this plane.  I am still at this point at a loss to find out where they’ll be or the conditions they will be brought into.  I still had ten years to prepare for their coming. 

            Intervention always seems to lead to trouble.  I saw in this incident that my intervention was the only way to survive this battle.  I thought about backing out and aborting the task that was set for me so long ago.  I played with a spark in my hands tossing it back and forth.  The light helped to settle my mind.  My time would come.  Their time would come.  My soul would go on and their souls would finally be free.  How I longer for this time but if I was to leave early all would be ended.  The games of the powers that be are so cruel. 

11.  And It Begins

“Remember me

Remember me

Find myself all alone in darkness without you

Now I can’t turn away from what I must do

You know I’d give my life four you more than words can say

I’ll show you how to love someone I know you’ll find a way

Say good-bye close your eyes, remember me

Walk away the sun remains remember me

I live far somewhere in your heart you must believe, remember me

No way I could change my mind I don’t have the answers

If you could see through my eyes you’d let go of your fears

And though I have to leave you now we’re a part of each other

I miss your touch; you call my name I am with you forever

Say goodbye close your eyes, remember me

Walk away the sun remain, remember me

Winds of change we can’t explain, remember me

I live far somewhere in your heart, you must believe, remember me

You know I’d give my life for you more than words can say

I’ll show you how to love someone I know you’ll find the way

Say goodbye, close your eyes remember me

Walk away the sun remain remember me

Be there too how chose in you remember me (?)

Feel I’m gone my heart lives on, remember me

Don’t you think of this as the end I’ll come in though your chains remember me

Close your eyes, say goodbye remember me

Say you will

Say you will

Say you will

Close your eyes remember me” ~Journey “Remember Me”

            AC 182 all the souls are in place.  My duties are clear now.  The floodgates are open wide and there is not choice but to finish the duties I have been given.  Trowa will be the first to need my help.  I found him lost in the woods, a child at the hands of nature.  I stepped out finally ready to be seen again.  It didn’t matter to me that he was only about three at the time.  I showed him how to survive on his own.  I could not stay with him long.  At this point they are not to know who I was.  I was to be a stranger to their lives only helping when they needed it.  Helping Trowa was one of my easier saves.  I doubted that he would remember me.

            I went to Duo in a time of need.  His whole group of orphans were starving and sick.  Duo was hungry but not yet sick.  I joined up with them as another orphan of the colony looking about six years old.  I found what I needed from the few green areas of the colony.  The elixir was made.  I gave a little of it to each even Duo for good measure.  Give it time to work and you will be healthy again I vowed.  I went out that night and stole what I could to feed our group.  I won’t say I’m a good cook but I can make a few things.  That morning we had bread and vegetables enough for everyone.  The health had returned to the group.  I was not going to steal again.  What little money I had I bought seeds.  I grew a little garden of corn, beans, apples, and tomatoes.  With a little help from the soil and from the seeds themselves I had a good garden within a few days.  Duo worried about me.  I never ate until everyone else was fed.  I tended the garden and made what was ready.  My life was spent this way for almost six months.  I wasn’t here because of sickness or starvation; I was here because I was waiting for an event.  Duo was about to get in over his head. 

            I was actually happy to be part of a family for a time in my life.  One night I told one of my best stories to the smaller children.  As I started the older ones came to see the magic in my stories.  Tonight I told the story of the Earth, as I had known it.  In front of me were three small dishes.  In one I had soil, another water, and in the last I had seeds.  A candle was also lit next to the three dishes.  I touched the flame with my left hand.  I then dipped my right hand into the soil.  In the palm of my hand I made a ball of the soil around the flame.  It was about the size of a baseball.  I next cupped my empty left hand a dipped it into the water.  I slowly poured the water over the sphere of soil.  It was now softball size.  I had the attention of everyone and I hadn’t even started my story yet.  I was ready to start.  “Earth was once a sphere of water with a soil base far below.  After many years change started.”  The flame now burst from the center of the sphere disturbing the wet surface.  “The lava started to flow up from the center.”  The water looked like it was receding and some of the soil came to the surface.  “Land masses formed and the oceans became deeper to hold the water and support the land.”  The continents had formed.  “Then came life as if by some divine force.”  I sprinkled the seeds over the exposed soil.  The little landmasses almost immediately wear covered by a green moss like covering.  “As life progressed the continents drifted into place and reformed.”  This little Earth now looked like the current one but with the lack of clearing, smog, and human intervention.  “I can stop now and leave this sphere in pristine condition or continue with the story it is your choice.”  They all wanted to see more.  “Human intervention has been a plague from the start.”  Fires tore at the land.  Little explosions and land clearing started.  The air around the sphere started to thicken with soot.  “Earth as of now.”  A silence filled the small dark room.  One of the small children reached for the sphere.  “If anyone can lift my sphere they may keep it.”  It still floated gingerly above my right hand.  The explosions had ceased and I had returned it to the beautiful pre-human state.  Each took their turn but could not lift it.  Duo tried last and with difficulty lifted it from my hand.  “You can handle the weight of the world.”  He handed the toy to the one who originally tried to touch it.  The sphere crumbled as the dirt and water it was.  I by this time was back outside looking at the stars.  I knew them all.  I searched them all by this time, but I would never tell anyone that. 

            Duo stepped out to talk to me, “How did you do that with the floating orb?”

            “I’m a Mystic,” I came right out and said it to him, knowing that he would not understand its real meaning.

            “I figured you knew magic but how did you do that trick?”

            He wouldn’t get it so I sidestepped.  I smiled, “It’s a professional secret.”

            “Aurora the mystic, can you see my future?”

            I thought to myself that he did have it half right.  “Do you really want to know your future?  If I tell you it I will not sugar coat it like other fortune tellers.”

            “That bad huh?”

            “Mine is worse if that helps.”

            “I still want to hear it.”

            “I can’t tell you much, a fog rolls in on your path a few years down the road.  In other words, when you are about fifteen nobody will be able to tell you what is going to happen or anything past that.  You soul has been one destine to die young and lonely.  You are part of a whole that has only been in its whole once.  You will be whole once again in this life.  You are the split between life and death.  Life currently has you but death still knows you too well.  You have a protector that you are not aware of yet.”  I broke off, “Well that’s about it.”

            “You talk like a fortune teller.  There are so many holes and improvable thoughts in that prediction.”

            I know he was thinking of former lives and the destiny of his soul.  Ignorance is bliss.  “Believe what you want but you can hold me to my prediction.”

            “So what makes you future so much darker?”

            “Mine is one of old age and sorrow.  I am a princess that refuses to rule.  One day I will be forced back to my real standing, but until I am found again I am happy where I am.  In death my real future lies but as I said mine is of old age and sorrow so death is still a long time away.  I don’t want to say anything more.”  I could tell he understood that whatever was going to happen in my life was too sad for me to say whether it was real or all in my head.  We parted ways for the night.

            Duo broke into an OZ base that night.  I don’t know what possessed him to try to beat their security system but he didn’t.  He was caught but he didn’t know it yet.  OZ had really no clue what he looked like; they just knew they were after a about my height that was fast.  Apparently the security that caught Duo wasn’t quiet advanced enough to take night images.  OZ came looking for him.  I was not going to stand for him to be publicly executed for crimes against OZ.  Apparently they thought he might have seen something in the base.  I gave the youngest girl a book of all the plants on the colony and how to use them to keep them all healthy.  She didn’t understand why I was giving up my garden to her too.  The soldiers came trying to find kid from the security shots.  Duo was with me at the time I was trying to keep him safe by avoiding the soldiers.  They would not give up until they found someone to blame.  “Duo, the god of death wants you but the guardian of light will not let him take you.  Goodbye Duo, remember me” 

            I ran out into the street in front of them.  They told me to stay still.  I ran down the street and one of them shot me in the side.  The impact caused a little blood loss but I had no wound.  I stopped.  They forced me up against a building and searched me for weapons.  The one with gun still drawn had thought he had missed until his partner came across the blood.  Their eyes were not opened and they saw it as red, I was lucky.  As they took me away I looked back at Duo.  I know the star on my forehead lit up for a minute and that he saw it.  That was the only time I gave him a hint to who I was.  They took me to a maximum-security area of the base to be held until my pubic execution.  They hadn’t even gotten any pictures of me out before I decided to vanish into air and leave.  Duo thought me dead.  This was what I wanted.

            Heero was an easy one to save.  I just had to perform a sniper attack on a man he trusted that was going to kill him.  Heero saw me and tried to catch me.  His shots were true but they had the same effect as the OZ soldier’s try to shoot me.  I jumped from the skyscraper to what should have been a death.  Heero saw me falling and walked away.  I landed safely on the ground below; I used the wind to slow me down to a safe speed. 

            Quatre lead such a safe life all I had to do was try to save him from himself.  He had internal turmoil.  I found a way to one of his family’s parties.  I walked up to him at this crowded party.  I whispered in his ear, “You must know the truth of yourself.”  He turned to see who had spoke but I had already disappeared back into the crowd.  I didn’t know what else to do to help him.  This was something he had to get through.  I knew he had a mother and that she died for him but I could not show him this.  He had to find it himself.  I walked back into the crowd and was again gone from his life.  The party reminded me of a time so long past.  The Victorian parties were much like this.  I thought again of the time they were in.  I felt some hope knowing that the Winner family was not the evil aristocrats of the past.

            Wufei I didn’t help directly.  I set him up for a fall that would put him on the right path.  The guardian had lost all of what she was guarding.  Innocence lost never to regain.  This is also the only time I have ever gone under a different name.  I came to his colony under the name Mephistopheles, the name of the trickster.  I came to get stronger to fight.  I also came to visit Cumulus under the mirage of Master O.  I practiced with Cumulus and waited for his apprentice to challenge me.  Wufei would not fight me, a mere girl.  I fought clean I fought honorably.  Those who could get past tradition challenged me.  I was undefeated.  I also would tell the fighter the flaw in their fighting that lead to their downfall.  Meiran, Wufei’s future wife was the only woman to challenge me.  She also fell but she wanted to learn from me and I was willing to teach her.  She learned well what I had to teach but she still could never beat me.  She finally asked me what her weakness was.  I told her truthfully that her fighting was flawless but her strength was her downfall.  I told her she was a strong person but that strength would kill her and destroy everyone who loved her.  Wufei finally came around to face me but this time I refused to fight him.  I told him his weakness though.  I didn’t need to fight him to tell what it was.  His weakness was that he had too strong of a need for justice.  It was time to leave again.  This time I just left; I had no attachments to part with honorably.

            Halo went to start building Sandrock.  Hermes started to build Wing.  Torrent started on Deathscythe.  Stratus started to construct Heavyarms.  Cumulus started on Shen-Long.  I made plans on how to unite the five pilots.  I first had to gain their trust.

12.  The Gundams Completed

            With the Gundams completed my job had just gotten harder.  I had to get close to these five boys and they were now armed and dedicated to protect their secrets.  They had already completed a great battle in space and thought their jobs were over.  I went to Quatre first.  I figured I should try to talk to the easiest to sway first.  Quatre was not alone I first had to get by the bodyguards.  I managed to get to him without being detected.  I came right out and asked if he would trust me and join me.  I was surprised when he agreed so quickly.  He said he could trust the kindness in my eyes.

            With Quatre on my side I hoped he could convince Trowa to join too.  I next went to Duo.  This had disastrous results.  He tried to get rid of me for seeing his Gundam.  Duo took a few swipes at me with Deathscythe’s scythe he thought he missed.  He thought his scythe could kill me.  I am energy.  When that didn’t work he tried the cowardice way of stepping on me would work.  He left thinking me a stain.  I left it be for now knowing that Heero would be much harder to approach.

            Heero was the same way but he didn’t under estimate me like Duo did.  He heard me out after all his attempts at crushing me and vaporizing me failed.  He finally agreed after I pulled out the memory that I had saved his life so long ago.  That memory brought out anger but after explanation he clamed down.  Heero will always repay a favor it seems.

            I made myself a handsome blade to duel with Wufei if it came to it.  I planned on the worst.  I found Wufei in nature with Nataku.  He told me that if my way were the right way I would win in this fight.  I unsheathed my blade as he pulled his from Nataku.  He was a good fighter, smarter and faster than when I had last seen him fight.  I had to fight a little harder than I expected I would to beat him.  The duel ended with my blade at his throat.  He was much stronger than the last time I fought him.  “You have finally fought me.  Did you expect to win this battle easily?  Master O taught you all he knew about the battle but he learned it all from me.  Do you remember me Wufei?”  He was lost for answers.  I told him he was needed and could not die here.  He agreed, but he would not stay if he did not want to.  I gave him my sword; I had no use for it.  I could tell he admired it when I first unsheathed it.  What surprised me was that he accepted it from me after his defeat. 

            Quatre informed me that Trowa would join but he had to meet me first.  I had no problems with that.  I never changed age when I helped Trowa so he might recognize me.  I had adjusted my age in my other encounters with them.  Trowa was trying to figure out who I was by the way I moved and how much I talked.  I could tell that somewhere deep inside he felt I was familiar.  I kept relatively silent.  I asked him only what Quatre had told him.  He knew more about me than I had expected him to, but he did not remember me from what I could tell.  He joined us too.  Only Duo was still to unite with us.

            Approaching Duo straight on didn’t work.  I had to do a little thinking.  I thought of Midnight, my dog.  She enjoyed our immortality too thanks to love.  She would be guidance enough if I was to go through with my plan.  Duo was currently on Earth.  The layer of filth in the upper atmosphere could cause temporary blindness.  I would risk that to get close enough to talk to him.  Midnight was now with me.  I shielded her as I entered the thick filth.  I was now in a world of darkness.  Midnight was my guide in this darkness, always by my side.  Duo was on the end of a pier looking out at his Gundam on the ship.  I walked up to the start of the pier.  Midnight ran towards Duo barking wildly.  I yelled after her.  Duo remained silent; he scooped up the dog and held her quiet.  He threw something into the water below.  I acted as if he threw Midnight over the pier and I ran after her.  He threw out his other arm to stop me.  I hit it and fell back hitting my head on the concrete.  I blacked out for a few minutes over that.  I awoke to find Duo had washed away the film from my eyes.  I started to get up.  Duo quickly put his hand on my shoulder, “Slow down you hit your head pretty hard there.”

            “Where’s Midnight?” was all I could think about at the time.  I then felt her lye down next to me.

            “Why were you out here?”

            “I wanted to ask you something.  Will you help us?”

            “Who is us?”

            “Everyone.  The guardian of light needs your help.”

            “Where did you hear that?”

            “Duo, I am Aurora, I am the guardian of light.”

            “No, Aurora’s dead.”

            “I’m glad you didn’t forget me in all these years but I can assure you I am far from dead.”  I lifted my hair exposing the spark, “Will you join me?”

            “Aurora?  I will for her.”

            We were now together.  We had a chance now to set us all free.  If we lost so did all of humanity.  They had to feel in some sense complete.  In every life they looked for each other and now they were together again.  The first battle was one I would help in full force after that I could only help as the battle progressed.

13.  The Battles

            Space was a battleground.  This was a new battlefield to me.  In the past all of my fights where based on land and in rare occurrences, water.  We all gathered on Earth.  It seemed the safest place for now for us to group.  I was to attack first.  I insisted on clearing the field before the real battles. 

            This was the time for me to use my most violent deplorable form.  Even a Gundam couldn’t withstand the power of Phoenix.  I stepped away from the pilots.  I first had to change into my Mystic form.  I spread my wings of inferno and left the flames spread.  I felt the warmth of the fire as it spread.  The flames jumped from my body and started to take the shape of the Phoenix.  I was no longer in the fire; I was the fire.  I took flight towards space. 

            In space I found a dead battle.  There was no human face here; mobile dolls were the only fighters left on the field.  I sensed their controllers but they were distant.  I no longer had remorse over using a form that meant death to all who dared to approach.  I flew through the battle, dolls dissolved on both sides of me.  This battle was over after a few passes of the battlefield.  It was a meaningless battle but the true war was only starting.

            I went back to Earth as soon as the field was cleared.  I couldn’t control Phoenix any longer.  As I entered the atmosphere it fell apart.  I landed exhausted in human form.  I kept Phoenix too long, I had to lie down for a minute and regain my strength.  I got back up.  “The battle is now up to you.  I have cleared away the diversions and the toys.  I can help but I can’t win the battles for you.  For now all I can say to you is good luck.”

            They left to fight the war.  With the mechanical side cleared away they fought the real enemy, the ones who wanted to fight, the true evil that would destroy all of humanity if left.  This battle was not about Earth and Colonies like how it started.  Normally a battle stays at face value.  I wished this time would never come.  I would live in my prison forever to avoid this massacre.  It wouldn’t be fair though.  The Gundam pilots deserved to be free.  The risk is this, if even one of the Gundam pilots die the battle is lost and the human race is doomed.  If they all can survive this battle they will know all truth.  They will win the battle either way.  If we win the prize is that all of humanity will be able to see the truth.  The truth would be being able to see the aura around others like I can see.  The truth would unveil their eyes to see my true form.  This same veil keeps them from seeing their own future and the thoughts of others.  This veil was once a way to keep sanity.  This will hit a few people hard.  The veil will not be removed.  This war will allow it to be left, lowered, or removed.  My Gundam pilots have already started to see through the veil.  I can see them looking into an enemy’s thoughts, sensing presences, and they learned how to master the Gundams so quickly from my friends.  If you must only know one thing in life it is this: all myth is reality.  I’ve met people who could see my wings through my transformation and they thought me an angel.

            I knew they could handle the war.  All the fighters have been dealt with.  I felt the chains of the mission fall from all around me.  I was free again.  It saddened me to think the last time I was free I had so much, now I had no family and didn’t know my home.  We all gathered together again the five pilots and my five messengers.  They were all still in their human form.  I was glad to see that they didn’t have to abandon it to safety.   I was a time to drop the lies.  They all knew me but Halo, Torrent, Stratus, Cumulus, and Hermes were yet to drop their disguise.  Halo dropped her camouflage first, she looks like a child compared to me.  I’ve known her so long she was not one of the original creations; she has a mother like I had.  She bowed before Quatre she also congratulated him on all he had become.  Torrent snapped back into his original personality.  He hit Duo in the gut before he showed his form.  I guess this would be the last chance he had to do that.  Torrent gave the explanation as for all the stress Duo caused him.  Torrent is a good-natured joker.  His name comes from the force he has behind his goals.  Cumulus only gave his goodbye with the words “to justice” he changed back and took off headed home.  Cumulus is one of the elders like Stratus and Hermes.  He is wise and strong.  I trust him completely.  Stratus told Trowa to trust his heart and his eyes would learn to see it too.  Stratus is very thin and unkempt looking.  He can sneak into anywhere he wants undetected to anyone other than his fellow Mystics.  He was the first to teach me how to vanish into the air.  Hermes was the last to say his goodbyes.  Hermes was the most truthful in appearance.  His true form is one of braces.  His wings have almost been completely shielded with metal.  Underneath all the metal he was too fragile to move.  His armor makes him almost as strong and as fast as I am.  He told Heero to keep trying to regain his humanity for in the end it is all he will ever have.  Stratus and Hermes then started back.  I stayed here with Halo and Torrent.  They now had duties and I had an obligation to return home and take my position.  They went back north.  Halo now was to watch over the innocent.  Torrent was the keeper of time, he always had been but now he had a place to practice his ability.  I gave Quatre the job of looking after Midnight while I was away.  I then went home.

14.  Armageddon: The Aftermath

            Home was not what I expected.  The paradise I had left so long ago was fading.  Snow now fell in the north and the south was barren and desolate.  The paradise still existed but not as what I remembered.  The planet was dying without a leader here.  I felt no hurry to return.  Although this planet was dying it still had life within.  My presence for only a few days caused life to return to the south.  I will not forsake my race but I will also not be caged by it.  I was not an unknown here like I was on Earth.  Here I was followed.  There was an order here that I was trying to fit back into.  I was followed everywhere, I had no time to myself.  The pampered life is not the one I had gotten used to.  I found an excuse to leave again.  They really didn’t need me there; the elders had everything under control after all.  My excuse was that I had left Halo and Torrent unprotected.  That was true.  I also had not finished my obligations to the Gundam pilots.  The stones no longer glowed because the souls were not mine anymore.  They were now a part of me now.  Duo’s stone was etched with the Phoenix it was a symbol of fire, Quatre’s was my symbol of air, Heero’s had the symbol of the soil, Trowa’s was a symbol of water, and Wufei’s had become my marking of life.

            I was back to Earth within a few hours.  I went to Duo first.  I told them I would show them the world without the veil and I intended to keep my word.  Before I entered Duo’s life again I went to the woods near his new home.  Drago, my friend, return to me.  I set my hand upon the soil.  Drago, dragon of forest, formed slowly from the mound before me, he lived.  He set his flaming breath at me and I basked in its warmth.  He knew now that I was the one who called him.  He walked next to me as we headed back towards Duo’s home.  My leg lost all of its strength, pain shot through me.  I could tell that Duo just fell from Deathscythe and landed hard, he would have broken his knee if not for my attachment to his heath.  I faltered; Drago put his head down to catch me.  I sat on his head the rest of the way to Duo’s while nursing my knee back.

            I fell asleep in the warm spring light.  Drago stopped in sight of my destination.  Duo saw me atop Drago and ran out to greet me; he didn’t seem to care about my companion.  Drago gave him a warning shot.  I knew what Drago saw; Duo had his knife on him.  “Duo drop your knife before you get any closer,” to told him.  He gave me a funny look but threw his weapon to the side.  Drago would now allow him to approach.  I told him, “Drago is my protector, and he will attack anything armed.”

            Duo touched my marking in Drago’s side, the phoenix.  Drago lay in the grass.  Duo had learned how to get back to me.  Drago and Dracul would never allow anyone to get close enough to ask for help if they needed to be armed.  I put my hand over Duo’s eyes, “What do you see?”

            “Nothing”

            “What can you feel?”

            “I feel your hand over my eyes.”

            “No, Duo you must try to feel the deeper things.  Drago could feel your knife.  I can feel the entire world move around me as I stand in this one spot.  Seeing is not only your eyes.  True sight is everything.  All of your senses are really one.  The veil covers enough to make them seem separate.”

            “I still see nothing.”

            I took my hand from his eyes.  This wasn’t working.  I had never tried to remove the veil from anyone.  Well, he could see me when I was in my true form I guess that is a start.  “Look at me now what am I?”

            “A girl.”

            “You know the truth of me, why won’t you see it?”  I was desperate to make him see.  I touched my star with one hand and his forehead with my other.  My star ignited with a white light.  This light was now coming from his eyes.  I sat down and leaned into Drago’s side.  I had to think, if that didn’t work I didn’t know what would.  Duo blinked then looked at me.  He was squinting.  He could see my aura.  He had never seen it before.

            “Aurora what is that white light around you?”

            He did see it.  He could see through the lies and deception.  He saw his own red light as well as my white.  I assured him that his eyes would adjust to this new light and I let him see the best path.  Eyes are the windows to the soul.  My eyes are different; instead of a reflection of the viewer it shows a reflection of their future.  Duo saw his best life would be one with Hilde.  I have no control over what they see but I can see the images too.  It is like the mist of a dream that glides between the present and me.  I gave Drago a little shove to signal him it was time to go.  I didn’t want to put all the effort into changing back completely so I just formed the wings.  We took to the sky.

            Wufei I found was the farthest along with destroying the veil on his own.  He could feel me coming to him and sensed Drago.  I landed first.  Drago was still a few miles behind me.  Wufei greeted me with a nod.  I didn’t expect much more from him.  I could already see he was waiting for Drago.  I didn’t feel the need to warn him about Drago.  I already had told Drago Wufei was a friend whether he acted that way or not.  Wufei must have thought I was running from Drago because as Drago landed Wufei stood between my dragon and me.  He had the sword I gave him drawn and ready to battle.  I must have made a satisfactory blade for him too keep it with him.  Drago shot fire towards Wufei’s feet.  He didn’t flinch; he went in for the attack.  Wufei dodged Drago’s breath with little difficulty.  I could see Wufei was seeing the next move.  When Wufei was close enough to strike Drago pulled a move that Wufei did not see.  Drago hit Wufei hard with his tail sending him back past me.  It was a good hit to say the least.  The strike to Wufei’s side tipped me over in pain too; again Drago was there to catch me as I started to loose consciousness following Wufei.  Drago took this time to take a little nap too.  Wufei regained consciousness first to see me sleeping on Drago’s back where he had placed me.  Wufei had lost his sword in the fight and approached Drago seemingly dangerously unarmed.  Drago woke up and watched him come close; he made no move to stop Wufei.  Wufei tried to wake me without disturbing Drago.  I woke up to Wufei trying to get me away from Drago.  I stopped him in his tracks.  I told him, “Drago is my protector, and you were the one who had to show himself as a threat to my safety.”  I could tell Wufei was a little embarrassed of his rashness and his moment of cowardice.  I walked back to Drago with him and gave proper introductions.  Wufei looked into my eyes to tell me I was nuts to trust my life to this monster but his gaze was caught.  He was standing close enough to me so that he could see that the image in my eyes was not him.  He saw a future but not the one he should live by.  He saw his future alone and empty.  I told him to change his path, fight for peace not only justice then his life would have meaning.  He looked in my eyes again and saw this path.  The fight for peace is a never-ending one.  He saw a companion in this vision too.  I told him I always keep my promises and I removed his veil.  He saw his black aura in comparison to my white one and frowned.  I told him my true feelings on his aura.  I have always believed his the most beautiful, a black light that is just as bright as the other four with shards of colors throughout it.  He knew I was leaving him to continue my journeys.  Before I left I stepped into the woods and found the blade.  “Remember me always,” I said as I left Drago trailing.

            I had to catch Trowa before the circus went back to the colonies again.  Trowa was settling into the life of a circus performer as I expected he would.  I decided to settle in the woods by the circus grounds.  Drago landed beside me.  He was just like a puppy how he followed but come a threat he suddenly turns guard dog.  I told Drago to wait for me while I talked with Trowa.  I hoped that Catherine would not be threatened by me; I knew Drago would scare most.  I entered the tent and was greeted by the manager very gruffly.  He wanted to know what I was doing there the show wasn’t until tomorrow.  I smiled and said that I came to see Trowa.  I knew he confirmed in his mind then that I would be trouble.  He indicated the direction I could find him and I left him.  He was sitting at a fire with Cathy.  I felt the urge to play a little joke.  I asked the fire to grow momentarily.  It jumped five feet and settled back down.  Cathy fell backwards taking Trowa with her.  I realized then that about a third of that height would have accomplished my goal of getting his attention.  I stepped up to the fire and warmed my hands.  Trowa looked at me from his new seat on the ground and remarked that he should have known it was me that did that.  I was getting better at removing the shroud I just had to focus on it now.  Trowa saw its absence when he looked back at Cathy then he saw his own aura then mine.  I wished him a goodnight and left into the darkness.  I found myself a place to sleep that night under the tent.  I was in the ropes of the high center stake.  I was discovered in the morning be the manager.  He yelled up at me to get down from there.  So I did.  I jumped from my roost did a few flips in midair and landed on my feet.  He was stunned.  It was an average reaction to someone jumping about one hundred feet fro the air landing perfectly and uninjured.  I looked him in the eyes and walked away.  Trowa heard from the manager about me.  He wanted my name and to know what else I could do.  Trowa only told him to talk to me.  Now the chain had come back to me.  He asked my name and I gave it to him.  He also asked what I could do if he asked me to perform tonight.  I told him I was fire but I could only stay for a short time.  I told him to set up an inferno and I would walk through it unharmed while tossing my own fireballs.  He thought I was nuts but he started preparations.  I went off to ask Trowa if I could borrow a little room from either him or Cathy for a few nights.  He could tell that Cathy was already strained with my presence so he lent me a corner of his home.  I thanked him for a place to stay.  He asked me where I went last night and I told him.  He smiled I could tell he was picturing the manager’s face after my leap of faith.

            My performance was in less than an hour.  Cathy asked me how I could be so calm and why I hadn’t gotten ready yet.  I told her I was ready.  I have always been ready.  I left her to change.  Trowa knew my tricks so I went to change there.  I thought for a second on how I wanted to look tonight.  For me a change of clothing is the same is a change in form.  I came out in a black dress that was tight like what Cathy wears to a performance on the top with the same see through ideas too.  The bottom skirt part was solid but the closer it got to the ground the more transparent it became until it ended about ankle length.  The top half was edged in gold and the bottom ended in a silver ribbon.  I was satisfied with my creation.  I walked with Cathy and Trowa to where I had to wait for my introduction.  I startled Cathy when I started to play with a flame.  She then thought it was a fake when she saw that I was not hurt by it.  She tried to touch it but I stopped her and assured her of its truth.  This little spark was going to be what I would break into the orbs of fire I would be juggling during my journey through the inferno.  Cathy and Trowa were called out.  As they preformed my fire pit was being set up.  The crew was placing bets on my life inside I was laughing.  If I had need for money I would have placed a bet for my life too.  The fire was lit under the tent now.  The flames rose to a height that could consume a person halfway through the walk.  I stepped into the spotlight.  I tossed my spark and started to juggle it first three parts than six then twelve.  I then stepped into the fire making sure my little fireballs where each tossed high enough for the whole audience to see.  I walked slowly through the fire.  People were seated all around so they knew it was not a fake in any way.  I stepped out as I had entered.  There was no sign of the fire on my clothes or on my flesh.  I combined the flames I was juggling into one and extinguished it in my hands.  I took my bow and left the spotlight.  Trowa was the only one there that believed what just happened.  Trowa could now even see why my clothing didn’t burn, it was part of my illusion it was as real as me being human. 

            Cathy was so giddy about my performance.  I took her energy in step with everyone else asking how I did it.  I told them that my secrets were many but they were mine.  I sat by Trowa and Cathy and started to build a rope of gold, sliver, and platinum.  Cathy asked where I got the stuff for my current project.  I could tell she almost expected my secrets explanation but I told her straight-faced and truthfully that I got them for the soil around here.  I worked on my braided rope for a few hours to get it the length I needed it.  Trowa asked me why I needed such a heavy thing and I told him he would find out tomorrow and Cathy could come too if she wanted. 

            That morning I went into the woods to find Drago.  Trowa offered to help me with the rope but found that it was a lot heavier than I had let him think it was so I went alone.  I had fashioned the rope into a harness and lead for Drago.  I put it on him and started towards the circus with him.  I told him to stay here at the edge of the woods.  I went to get Trowa.  I found him and told him it was time to meet my friend.  They were already getting ready for the next show.  They followed me I told them to stay put while I went into the woods.  I had the end of the rope in my hand; I drooped down and disappeared in the woods after a short distance.  I took a few steps forward and now it was visible that the rope didn’t go back it went up.  Drago came out of the woods in full sight of my two friends now.  Trowa came right up to Drago and patted him.  Cathy gained the courage and started towards Drago.  I saw the look in his eyes.  I shouted to Cathy to set down her throwing knives accenting the now part of it.  She asked why as Drago snorted a little fire.  She set them down and Drago let her approach.  I patted Drago on the head and told him to be off to Halo and Torrent.  He left straight in course to them.  I left before the show.  The manager was a little disappointed that I was leaving after one show.  Most of the crowd that came today was here to see me.  I reminded him that I warned him I was not staying only visiting, maybe next time.  I said goodbye to Trowa and Cathy.  Trowa didn’t see his future in my eyes, he only saw Cathy.  I knew that this was his future.  I dropped my disguise again and Cathy saw me for the first time.  I flew off after Drago.

            Heero had noticed the green patch in the Artic Circle and flew down in Zero for a closer look.  He landed to find Halo and Torrent.  Drago was also there.  He attacked Heero in his Gundam.  Heero fought back thinking Drago was a threat to Halo and Torrent.  They were trying to get Heero’s attention so that he would learn the truth about Drago.  It was too late.  Drago was dead.  I felt it half way across the world; I flew back to find the damage that had been done.  I asked Heero to guard my friends until Drago or Dracul would return but to guard them from a distance.  He agreed.  I know his promises and upped my odds.  I hid Zero in plain sight.  As it stands Trowa, Wufei, and Duo would have been able to see it plainly. 

            I flew off to continue my goal.  I went to find Quatre in a sandy part of the world.  His palace was well guarded but I didn’t care.  I walked right up to one of the Maganacs and asked to see Quatre.  It surprised him but he did take me to Rasid.  I found talking to him was not the fastest way to see my friend but I was not in the mood to make a scene.  I looked him in the eyes and asked him directly why I couldn’t see Quatre.  He had no real answer to that.  I walked past him outside.  The sun was marvelous out here.  I decided it was time to run, so run I did.  I ran towards Quatre’s palace in the sand.  The Maganacs did have a few direct hits of me but the energy shots had not effect on me.  They stopped firing when I was close to the palace.  Now I was in a trouble-making mood.  I decided to hide for a while inside until they let Quatre in on their little intruder.  I loved the description of me that was passed through the Maganac corps I was to be considered dangerous.  I had red hair, short, and quick.  Other than the red hair I’d say that would have fit Quatre too.  I found Quatre before the news of my arrival did.  I showed myself again.  He greeted me warmly and apologized for the security.  Midnight ran to me from somewhere down the hall.  I asked Quatre if she behaved while I was gone with a smile.  Rasid entered finally alerting Quatre of my arrival.  I waved from behind Quatre holding Midnight in my other arm.  I went down to the lake later that day.  It was time to get Dracul back.  I walked into the water up to my knees.  The water started to swirl around me.  I raised my arms above my head and the water spinning rose up around me.  I center grew wider around me.  The water before me started to bubble and surge.  Dracul raised her head from the lake.  She stepped out through the wall of my circle and it came crashing down around us.  Dracul turned to face me like how Drago did.  It would still be a while before I could call back Drago again.  Dracul followed me back to see Quatre.  She allowed Quatre to walk right up to her she knew his heart.  Quatre could see now too.  I was getting better at this.  The only one I knew how to do from the start is how to unveil everyone.  I don’t want to do that.  So many would die or go insane.  Part of it is the flight of Phoenix over the entire Earth.  Phoenix is too risky now.  I sent Dracul to guard Halo and Torrent.  Heero would just have to wait until I was finished here.  Midnight was sent with Dracul she would be safe and happy with old friends.  Quatre had always been able to see past the veil but not always clearly.  The fog was lifting away now and he could see what he had always known to exist.  I wouldn’t let him look in my eyes yet.  I had not clue what he would see and I wasn’t ready for another surprise yet.

            I stayed with Quatre for a few weeks waiting for the time I could call Drago back.  I had not forgotten about Heero waiting for me or that I was probably missed back home.  I was sitting on the highest dome of Quatre’s palace thinking and staring out at the sand surrounding it.  I looked at Sandrock by the oasis and part of me wanted to stay.  Everyone else seemed to have a girl; Duo had Hilde, Trowa and Cathy, Heero and Relena, Zechs and Noin, the fallen Treize had Lady Une, and Wufei had a connection with Sally.  Quatre was alone unless Dorothy was to be considered like him.  His followers were all older than him, which gave him nobody to confide in.  I crushed that thought right then.  I was not the one to be with him.  He would die old and gray, he would never loose his companion but I would not have aged.  I could never do that to him he would find someone someday.  My trains of runaway thought were derailed when Rasid yelled up to me to get down.  He thought it wasn’t safe for me to be up there apparently.  I took a running start down the dome and jumped off the still high end.  I started out into the field of sand.  It was worth a try to see if Drago was ready yet.  Nothing.  My wait would continue. 

            Quatre was looking for me again.  He was scared I left without saying goodbye.  I assured him that I would never do that.  I have never left anyone without parting properly.  I looked at Quatre and realized his future as what would be shown to him.  It saddened me that I now knew he would be alone through out his life.  He would be admired and retain his kind heart but it wouldn’t ever do much good.  I let him look in my eyes.  They showed him a life of teaching others forgiveness, peace, and love.  Halo would be proud to help him if he ever asked. 

            I woke up early the next morning.  The time felt right again so I was out to the oasis to see the water for one last time.  I now didn’t want to call Drago.  Calling him back would be the close of my help; it would be the beginning of my other life.  I thought of that other life.  The real Mephistopheles went out to find me after Iris died never to return.  He was the true match for my life and the next search I would have to go on.  This time it would be for my race and not for the greater power.  I remember Mephistopheles; he was a kind strong spirit despite his name.  I felt my destiny with him so long ago.  I had almost forgotten that now.  Trowa would think me sad, I could not cry.  Rain clouds formed above me.  The shower helped sooth my feelings again.  How strange it must have looked for it to be raining in such a small area in the middle of the desert.  Quatre had started to look for me again.  I don’t know why he was so concerned for my safety and location.  He found me sitting on the beach with feet in the water.  He could tell my thoughts were heavy.  He sat next to me and asked what happened.  I told him my time here was almost over and my next search was already started eons ago.  Quatre asked, “What search?”

            “It started as the search for me.  I left before Iris was killed.  He went to find me but never returned.  It is now a search for my other half in a sense.  I want to find him again but I don’t want to find that life.  I can’t even tell if he is still alive or where he is.  I had almost forgotten about him when I went home I remembered that he was the one destined to be with me.  Forever autumn and I had gotten used to it.”

            “Do you have to stay on that path?”

            I thought for a second and knew that I was rash.  I could make my own decisions.  I could find him and remain alone in my life.  I thanked Quatre and told him to stay there.  I went out into the desert to call Drago.  He was finally ready to come back to me.  Again I went through the dance with him.  I called Quatre once Drago was satisfied that I was Aurora.  Quatre again had no problems approaching a dragon.  I told Quatre goodbye and told him I was going to my home on Earth.  I left with Drago back to the waiting Heero.  Rasid later asked Quatre, “Where did your girlfriend go?”  Quatre answered, “She left.  She was never mine to begin with.”

            I could tell Heero was getting very impatient with me.  I removed his fog and almost went after me for hiding his Gundam so close to him.  He didn’t need to look in my eyes to see his future, Zero had already told him.  He flew off in Zero.  I hoped he would follow the path Zero showed him.  I sent word to all of then that I would return for them.

            Quatre was not satisfied with the answers I left him.  He knew that I was not going to stay in the Artic Circle like my words might have lead anyone else to believe.  He gathered the other four and they together headed to Antarctica.  Quatre knew my home here would always be Atlantis.  It is a perfect home for me in its current state.  White on white, I could always hide my wings and hair.  They headed for my light it could be seen for miles in this wasteland.  When they found me I had to laugh at the huge jackets they were all wearing to keep warm.  It they were going to stay for a while the least I could do is warm it up a little.  I let the ice melt from the land.  We started to sink down to the empire hidden under miles of ice.  This empire had not been disturbed since I left hundreds of years ago.  They were all a little stunned to see a myth appear before their own eyes.  I told them I was not done here quite yet.  I still had to make my flight.  I again became Phoenix.  This was its last flight on Earth.  I could at least live with fact this was a flight of peace and not destruction.  Earth now had a new glow.  I went back to Atlantis and told them they should leave before the ice reformed.  It was time for me to go.  My mission was finally completed.

15.  The Search for Mephistopheles

“The summer sun is fading as the year

Grows old and darker days are drawing near

The winter winds will be much colder now you’re not here

I watched the birds fly south across the autumn sky and one by one they disappeared

I wish that I was flying with them now you’re not here

Like the sun through the trees you came to love me

Like a leaf on a breeze you blew away

Through autumn’s golden gown we used to kick our way

You always loved this time of year

Those fallen leaves lie undisturbed now ‘cause you’re not here

‘Cause you’re not here

‘Cause you’re not here

Like the sun through the tress you came to love me

Like a leaf on a breeze you blew away

A gentle rain falls softly on my weary eyes

As if to hide a lonely tear

My life will be forever autumn ‘cause you’re not here

‘Cause you’re not here” ~Moody Blues “Forever Autumn”

            Mephistopheles was now my next mission.  I went home to ask what direction he started in to find me.  I found he went totally opposite of Earth.  I trumped Torrent and stopped time so that I might have a chance to catch up with Mephistopheles, if he was still moving farther away.  There was noting out in that direction as far as life if we were told right from the beginning.  I looked ahead of me.  Space was vast and empty as a whole.  I looked for his light in the darkness.  If I remembered right he had a blue hue to his aura.  Blue on black, he had to make this easy.  I looked at my compass.  Ii might have a map or a signal that I can follow.  There was something out there.  It caught another compass far off.  Of course it had no maps to guide me to it or even a distance only a general direction to head.

            I followed the signal for what would have been about ten years if time were still moving.  I wished I could send it back in motion but my promises are important to me and I planned to keep them no matter what.  I felt like I was chasing a phantom.  I wondered why he never trusted his compass to guide him to me. 

            Time passed fast for me in its absence.  I now know why no one ever went after him.  It would now have been over one hundred years and I am only now able to locate his signal on the farthest settings on my compass.  I hope I can get back home still.  He probably had only gotten this far in his journey in the time since I had left.  He was not the fastest or the smartest of us but he was dedicated to me.  I found him finally. 

            Over two hundred years would have passed by the time we got back.  I took him back because I couldn’t risk holding time for all but us.  He didn’t know the home I brought him to.  Time was in motion again.  I left again.  I couldn’t stand my position.  If Mephistopheles wanted to follow me he could I didn’t care.  I watched over the peace of the Earth for another fifty years before I directly intervened again.

16.  Time: The Ender Of All Things

            It was time to say goodbye again.  This time it was the end.  My five friends for longer than they could remember were getting old and death would finally have them fairly soon.  I looked at myself too.  Time would one day claim my life too, as it stands nothing but time can kill me.  Time is the one thing I can control that can still hurt me.  They would see all their past lives in death.  They now would have the option to come back with all their past knowledge or to stay in the other plane for as long as they wanted.  I had been to the other plane.  It is what you want it to be.  Iris is waiting.  All in death still exist there.  I keep getting glimpses of it only to be ripped back through the walls to this world again.  The pain of death is nothing compared to the pain of coming back to life.  This pain is far worse than being burnt alive or any slow death.  I looked at the sunset this would be one of the last I would ever see here as myself.

            I went to see Duo tonight.  One of the worst hardships he would ever face would be tonight.  Hilde was dieing.  I know he wanted me to help her but there was nothing I could do, if she was sick I could help but time was quickly claiming her.  I could only be there for him.  I know he was thrown when I came and was still the same age as when I left.  I knew what was really happening here.  Duo was one of the lucky ones.  Relena was assassinated years ago and Quatre never met anyone.  Hilde passed on that night.  Her aura faded away slowly.  Duo was now alone again like Heero.

            I tried to save Sally.  She was sick and her science could do nothing for it.  I cured her but time again claimed another close to me.  Cathy also fell victim to time.  I was with Trowa when he needed me.  I wanted to see them all again together.  I needed to tell them all what I knew before it was too late.

            By now they were all over the shock of the seemingly absent affect of time on me.  I told them of the cruel joke of the greater powers.  We were all pawns in the long run.  They were to wander this world unsettled and alone.  They found each other and someone to care about.  I was surprised it lasted as long as it did.  They story had always been the same through history.  Live hard and die young and alone.  I was set up to only long for sweet death.  If my live is reflected anyway in this human form then I have so much longer to live.  If Earth is twenty trillion years old and I was alive long before Earth was here which I’ve guessed to be about one hundred eighty trillion years that would leave me another good eight hundred trillion years left on my life.  I don’t want to live that long anymore.  I want the chance to be reborn into something new.  I knew I was going on too long but I felt better saying it.

            I was with each of them as they passed on.  I wished I could follow them but I knew that was impossible.  Earth didn’t need me and my debt to it was repaid long ago.  I looked for meaning other than the life my peers wanted me to live.  The Bounties were gone, so were the Strangers.  The Hunters long ago with our help destroyed Evil.  The Hunters later died out, time claimed another.  We were the last of the original creations. 

17.  My End

            As I said time was the only thing now that could kill me.  Also note that this tale is entirely in past tense.  I was my own force and I found a way to go on.  I tried to find a way to join my past.  I searched for answers and all that I came up with is that a child will be born foretelling the death of the Mystic’s leader.  I was the child foretelling Iris’s death.  I looked to my future; I saw neither child nor death down my path.  I called to the heavens, “I did what you asked now grant me my only desire.”

            I never got a reply.  I learned that I was so well gifted with life because I was the sole holder of light, with my death and no replacement the light would die.  I found a way to die after some time.  The trick was to make the illusion real.  Time would still be the one to kill me but I would just accelerate it a little.  I disappeared from all that was Mystic.  I said goodbye to Halo, Torrent, and my Midnight.  I gave my necklace to Midnight.  It was a beautiful collar on her black fur.  Midnight was still connected to me, but now my life was not that of a near immortal.  I lived my new life alone.  I found that you are as real as what is seen.  I gave up everything to be human.  I no longer had the power to see the future or to see my past.  I no longer had a past.  I still stood out in a crowd because my aura was still very bright, but my form no longer showed though it.  The child was born I felt it deep inside me that she now existed somewhere.  I even knew her name.  She was named to complete the circle; her name was Aqua.  The years past quickly for me now, I once said I had no need for money.  I said it for two reasons.  The first reason would be that I never needed anything it could get me.  The other reason was that I had enough of it.  Eternal life and a little change goes far.  I set up this account long ago.  The rules of it were simple.  A girl would come to the bank and ask for money.  She would have no identification, red hair, and claim to be Aurora Hunter.  I never gave an age I did however say that she would have these fingerprints and gave them mine.

            Time claimed me.  I did live about one hundred twenty years after the transformation but I was glad to be home.  Aqua is doing a good job as ruler, and I knew Mephistopheles was never meant for me.  Aqua and him make are a great pair.  I’m glad I could spare her the pain of coming back though the wall between death and life when I passed.  I am where I have wanted to be for so long.  Iris is here along with my five friends of so much time.  Before it was longer than they could remember but here they know all of their other pasts.  Midnight followed right after me.  The end of my life ended her hold on time too.  Sure I go back once in a while in one form or another so does Heero, Duo, Trowa, Quatre, and Wufei.  We have paid our debts many times over for this privilege.  Going back is almost like being a spirit, I can come and go as I please at any age and any form, then slip back through the curtain that separates us from life and death.  Halo and Torrent both lived their full lives and happy in them.  Time has no meaning on this plane and I met with all my friends in a seemingly short time.  Time forever, ageless and seamless.  This was worth my life mission to the five Gundam pilots.  Sometimes I think about my choice and how unhappy I was with the life I had once escaped from.  I still think that my choice of death is the best one.  Humanity can now see but it didn’t change inner strife and now the wars are much fewer but much harsher.  I sometimes float back to the thought that if I stayed a Mystic I would still be alive to suffer through these harsh battles.