Most of the notes I sent with the prologue, so there isn't much to say
here, except that this is an El-Hazard fic based on stuff that I don't
own. Oh, and any C&C welcome. ~ are used around thoughts and
telepathic conversations (don't give me that look, it's necessary) are
done script style inside ~s. If there's a whole in this, it means I missed a
set of arrows (what I originally used as the thought marks) so e-mail me and
I'll fix them and/or send you a text copy of this chapter.
A Thousand Nights of Dreams
Chapter 1
~Finally.~
~This is it, the moment of truth.~
~Yep, no turning back.~
~ One way or the other, this is over.~
~Yep, Makoto my boy, time to go for broke.~
~The final stroke.~
~End of the line.~
~Last gunfight at...~
"Well?" a voice suddenly interrupted Makoto's internal
monologue. "Are you going in or what? We're not going to stand out
here all day, you know."
Nanami.
She had insisted on coming along with Makoto on the last leg of
his journey. After all, if she was going to have to live with being
dumped for a demon, she was going to make damn well sure that he
actually went through with his plans.
Makoto gulped one last time and gripped the Power Key Staff even
tighter. With a visible effort, he freed one hand to wipe his brow and
then shield his eyes from the scorching sun so that he could see the
inky blackness of the hole in space created by the Eye of God.
"I'm ah... I'm just trying to do some last minute
calculations... and ahh..." Makoto stammered.
"No, you're stalling! Now either walk into that portal or be
carried." Nanami had a fierce resolve in her voice. Makoto was afraid
that she really meant it. Time to be noble.
"Ah... okay! I'm going!" With a final look back at his
companions arrayed on the sand barge behind him, Makoto dropped from the
deck onto the sand of the Desert of Bleached White Bones and began to
make his way slowly toward the portal opened by the Eye of God.
The swirling black gateway seemed to wink at him, beckoning him
on into the unknown.
~Oh, what have I gotten myself into this time?~
Makoto looked down at the Staff and remembered. ~I'm doing this
for Ifurita.~ A wave of calm washed across him and he began to stride
steadily over the burning sand to the hole in the world. He closed his
eyes tightly and fixed his first memory of his love in his mind. Ragged
though she was from her ordeals, at the moment he had first seen her in
the basement of Shinonome High School, she had been the most beautiful
thing in existence.
A slight smile touched his lips as he remembered her look of
total love. He almost didn't realize that he was falling until he was
through the rift.
***
There was silence on the deck of the skimmer as Makoto vanished
from view. After a few minutes and a faint sniffle, Nanami stepped back
from the railing and turned to the others.
She gave the captain of the skimmer a brief nod before walking
slowly back into the shade offered by a canopy over the passenger area.
One way or the other, she had truly lost him for good.
The captain, for his part, signaled one of his crew members to
send up a flare indicating that the mission was completed. A short
while later, after the message had been relayed half a dozen times to
reach the Stairway to the Sky, the portal began to swirl in the opposite
direction and soon vanished from view.
An audible sigh of relief went through the crew as the hole in
reality closed.
Mr. Masamichi Fujisawa swirled a half-full bottle of wine in his
hand and gazed into it's murky depths.
"Well," he murmured, "here's looking at you, kid." He took a
long pull from the bottle and sighed. ~My favorite pupil's gone. I
should have gone with him, dammit! He gonna need me if he finds trouble
on the other side of that thing.~
Just then, Miz Mishtal-Fujisawa slipped her arms around him from
behind and he remembered that his wife and children were here, in
El-Hazard. He couldn't just go adventuring whenever he wanted, and
definitely not on what was probably a one way trip.
Miz held him close to her for a moment then whispered into his
ear, "He'll be all right, he IS your student, after all."
Masamichi smiled a little. "Yeah, he is. Best damn student
I've ever had, too. He'll do just fine." He turned to face his wife
and hugged her tightly, trying to figure out exactly who he was
reassuring.
Together they walked slowly away from the railing to the canopy
and the cooling shadows.
The sand skimmer slowly lurched into motion, and within seconds,
the last footprints of Makoto Mizuhara were left behind them.
***
As soon as he realized that he was falling, Makoto begin to
think feverishly.
~Makoto: Staff, begin capture mode.~
~Staff: Capture mode active.~
A faint humming emanated from the Staff as sensors sparked to
life.
~Staff: What is the index for the current attack?~
He was through the gateway. Makoto opened his eyes again, but
it did little good. He was almost blinded by the rush of stars and
planets that were flying past him.
~Makoto: Index... Index Gateway.~
Suddenly, the area ahead of him was empty of everything except
blinding white light. And he was through into a new land.
***
Makoto lay on the soft grass and thought of nothing but getting
the world to stop moving around so much.
With a start, he remembered where he was. He opened his eyes
and smiled.
"Wooooooooohhhhhoooooooo!!!" he shouted and immediately
regretted it as a wave of vertigo hit him. He stifled a groan and
rolled over to a sitting position. After a moment of gazing at his
surroundings, Makoto knew he wasn't on earth or El-Hazard.
For the first time in almost a week, he smiled. Actually
smiled. His gamble had paid off, the Staff now had the technique he
needed to get back home. Most important of all, though, he was still
ALIVE!
The grass under him suddenly became more real as he adjusted to
being in a real world again. As the surroundings began to settle down,
he let his mind wander to the Staff he held in his hands. Ifurita had
once told him that it was an extension of her, but she didn't tell him
how much a part of her it was. The thing was an exact copy of most of
the circuits and data
that where contained in Ifurita herself.
That meant it contained all the necessary systems to absorb and
direct attacks, as well as a rudimentary artificial intelligence. It
was nothing compared to Ifurita herself, but it was still very
powerful. The staff, however, could do little more than activate
commands and functions on request. Though it did have some useful
information at times.
~Makoto: Staff, activate function indexed Gateway, target it to
the image I'm holding in my mind.~
Makoto concentrated with all his might on the sports field
outside Shinonome High School. No need to land somewhere with a hard
floor, after all.
~Staff: Unable to comply.~
The smile was gone.
~Makoto: State the reason for your inability to activate the
requested function.~
~Staff: Insufficient power to activate function designated
Gateway.~
Makoto almost choked. This was NOT an expected snag in his
plans. He had pretty much figured that if he survived being shot
through dimensions and the staff recorded the process, he would be able
to get home easily.
"Hey! Why didn't you tell me about this earlier?" Makoto
exclaimed.
~Staff: No query concerning power requirements of function
activation had been made. All queries from user have been in relation
to function acquisition.~
~My fault,~ thought Makoto. ~Dammit, now I'm trapped here...
unless...~
~Makoto: Is there anything that I can use to fuel the Gateway?~
~Staff: There are seven thousand and forty-nine power sources
that might provide utilizable energy for the function. The list
follows: the light storm attack, a pulse field, shatter wall attack,
flame...~
~Makoto: Hold. Is there anything on this world that would
power the requested function?~
~Staff: Insufficient data to compile list.~
Makoto groaned. "Okay, enough of this. Looks like I'm going to
get a chance to find out where I am, after all."
For the first time, he studied his surroundings. The trees
looked normal enough. Well, he assumed they were trees, the leafy bits
were on top and there were rough, rounded bits holding up the leaves,
even if they were a deep orange color. There was a strange chirping
sound that was probably caused by the local equivalent of birds. The
grass was normal, though a bit more purple than usual.
"Um... Any idea as to which way I should go?'
~Staff: Scanning range is limited by dense flora to a range of
three meters. Insufficient data to plot course.~
"Ah, so that's your way of saying that you have no idea?"
The Staff didn't reply. It either knew a rhetorical question
when it heard one or didn't realize that it was a question at all.
It was a narrow trail, the kind that deer make through a
forest. At least, Makoto hoped that it was something as harmless as
deer. Dense foliage lined both sides, leaving barely enough room for
him to walk at all, much less comfortably.
He had been following it for almost an hour, and the trees
weren't letting up. Every now and then, he would ask a question of the
Staff.
~Makoto: Staff, how much energy is required to activate
function designated Gateway? In simple terms, please.~
~Staff: Power requirements for function Gateway are
approximately three times those currently available.~
~Makoto: What are some simple, primitive, energy sources
acceptable?~
~Staff: Power may be solar, heat, electrical, spiritual...~
~Makoto: Hold. How much solar energy is required?~
~Staff: Solar energy requirement is approximately four hundred
solar hours.~
~Makoto: Let me guess, that's an hour in the sun?~
~Staff: Affirmative.~
Makoto sighed. He wasn't sure he could survive more than a few
days on this alien world, much less a month. Even if no locals showed
up.
The forest gave way to scrubby plains sometime in the
mid-afternoon and Makoto found the first trail not more than an hour
after that. It was rutted, probably used by wagons, and ran pretty much
east/west. East/west if one assumed that the sun rose in the east, that
is.
~A coin to flip would be nice,~ thought Makoto. With a final
sign, he turned west and started walking.
After not more than an hour or so of walking, Makoto noticed a
faint line of smoke coming from farther along the road. With a loud
rumble, his stomach reminded him that he hadn't eaten since early that
morning.
"Oh, I hope that's somebody cooking, I'm starving!"
Fifteen minutes after the sinking feeling began, it had
blossomed into full-blown dread. It had started when he found the hoof
prints. There were two lines, each file looked to contain several
horses (well, he hoped they were horses). They lead from the open plain
on the right onto the path and continued to the west.
As he walked, the wind began to carry faint shouts and screams
toward him, and the plume of smoke grew steadily. Now it blotted out
most of the sky ahead.
Makoto stepped off the road and began to make his way toward a
gentle rise that was dotted with scrub to the north of the trail and
would hopefully provide some cover. As he approached the ridgeline, he
dropped to his hands and knees and crawled the last few meters hoping
that the brush would conceal his approach.
Below, the road lead through a small village of the kind he had
seen many times, set up along trading routes in El-Hazard and even back
in Japan. Of course, very few of those villages had been in flames.
Men on horseback were rounding up the few villagers that still
tried to flee and herding them toward a crowd of others near the base of
the hill. Perhaps forty or more men and women were there, cowering in
fear of their captors. Some of the women clutched babes to their
breasts, attempting to shield them from the rough hands of the invaders.
One villager tried to flee toward Makoto's hiding place but was
cut off by one of the horsemen. The bandit, (well, that's what he
looked like, anyway) dealt the man a hard blow with a club like object
and forced him back down the hill toward his fellows. Unshaven,
unwashed, and wearing clothes that would probably have been used as rags
in even the poorest homes in Roshtaria, he certainly didn't give Makoto
the impression of being civilized. Only the rifle-like objects they
held gave any clue that these men were above the iron age.
One of the riders was doing nothing but staring at the
captives. He had no obvious weapon, and by his apparel, though only
slightly better than the other men, he was probably the leader.
As the last of the captives joined the group, the leader began
to speak, but the steady roar of the flaming village drowned out much of
what he was saying. With a lot of effort, Makoto could just make out a
few words here and there. He caught the words "slave" and "burn" but
not much else. The "slave" bit made more sense when he noticed the
shackles around the ankles and wrists of the captives standing in the group.
~Well, the bandits are taking them as slaves and destroying
their village so they have nothing to run away to. I wish Mr. Fujisawa
were here, he could stop this.~ Fujisawa, however, wasn't there. There
was just Makoto. Well, Makoto and the Power Key Staff.
~Makoto: Staff, can you scan one of those weapons? I need to
know what I'm up against.~
~Makoto: Um, can you protect me if they are "light pulse
weapons"?~
~Staff: This device is capable of collecting the radiation from
most types of energy weapons. Energy gathered in this way may either be
stored or released as heat or light.~
Makoto smiled. This might prove to be a very beneficial
encounter after all.
~Makoto: List non-lethal attack functions. They need to have a
range of... umm... 30 meters or better, and if they affect a big area,
that'd be nice, too.~
~Staff: Processing. . . List follows: Fire Storm, Shockwave,
Imperial C...~
Makoto realized something.
~Makoto: Hold, list only functions that we have enough power to
use.~
~Staff: Processing. . . List follows: Stunner Dome, Mindlash.~
Makoto waited for a few seconds before realizing that the Staff
was done. ~Ouch, I guess we need a lot more power than I thought.~
~Makoto: Ah... Okay, Stunner Dome sounds good, describe it,
would you?~
~Staff: Function designation: Stunner Dome. Effect: Causes
unconsciousness in most life forms in a 30 meter radius with lessening
degrees of success at greater ranges. Energy Requirements:…~
~Makoto: Okay, hold. I'm just going to charge in there. You're
going to have to keep me from dying when they shoot at me. When all the
bandits are in range, activate the Stunner Dome. Got it?~
~Staff: Affirmative. Absorption mode active. Stunner Dome
ready.~
Makoto felt a faint tingle in his hands as the staff began to
leech heat from them. Well, that explained how that function was going
to work, at least. With one last deep breath, he stood up and shouted.
What he shouted isn't really important, but if you must know, it was,
"I'm going to die! I'm going to die!" Old habits die hard, after all.
Of course, the bandits didn't understand a word of it. What
they saw was a single man standing on top of the of a small hill waving
a staff around and shouting. The bandits were in no mood to deal with
lone intruders who were obviously insane.
The leader barked an order and one of the men hefted his rifle
and fired at Makoto. The sizzling beam of energy arced slightly and
grounded itself in the Staff.
~Staff: Internal charge at 22%, last attack provide 4%.~
~Ah, well, I don't think I want to stand here and find out how
much it takes to get a full charge.~ Makoto started walking down the
hill, holding the Staff in front of him as a shield.
More bandits raised their rifles and fired. The Staff hummed
louder as it absorbed each blasts. The bandits kept firing until Makoto
was almost at the bottom of the hill.
~Staff: Targets in range. Stunner Dome activating.~
Makoto stared in awe, a wall of brilliant white light appeared
about a foot from his face. With a loud boom, it flashed and covered
most of the village. When the light faded away, Makoto found himself
looking at a field of slumped bodies.
~Ah, okay, what do I do now?~ Makoto began to lament having to knock out
all the villagers too. ~Might as well disarm the thugs.~
After a few minutes work, he had arranged a neat pile of
firearms in the middle of the unconscious villagers. While he was
searching the leader for a weapon, he found the key to the restraints,
which he used to free the villagers. The hinges weren't exactly well
oiled, so by the time he was done with his rescuing, some of the forms
were beginning to stir.
~Aww, what have I gotten myself into?~ Makoto leaned on the
staff and watched the forms laying on the ground. Some of the bandits
were going to be in real pain when they woke up, their unconscious
horses having fallen on top of them.
~Makoto: Hey, what was that you said about an internal charge a
while ago?~
~Staff: This device possessed a rechargeable power unit that may
be used to contain the energy of attacks directed at it.~
~Makoto: And this battery can be used to power attacks?~
~Staff: Affirmative. The power unit of this device may be
drained to power functions as long as the function would not drain the
reserves below 10%.~
~Makoto: Ah, a fail-safe. How much power do you have now? Is
it enough to use the Gateway function?~
~Staff: Affirmative. Power reserves at 79%.~
Makoto let out a sigh of relief. Finally, a way back to
Ifurita. Or El-Hazard.
~I'm so tired. I just want to go back to bed and sleep for a
few weeks.~ Well, why not? It's not like he wasn't using time travel,
after all. He would get to Ifurita at the same time if he left now or
if he went back to El-Hazard for another year. Well, he couldn't take
another year, but a night with some time for a hot bath and change of clothes... that would
be nice. His stomach growled again. ~Oh, and dinner.~
~Oh, wait a minute, I almost forgot about the village.~ Makoto
looked up to see that some of the nearest huts where already too far
gone. Many of the others could still be saved, however.
~Makoto: Can you absorb heat from fires?~
~Staff: Affirmative.~
~ Again the staff started to chill his fingers.
Just then, one of the villagers began to stir. Makoto didn't
notice as he was busy touching the staff to the heart of each fire that
he saw. It would die almost instantly and the staff would hum a bit
louder. Soon he had extinguished the fires and found a surprising
number of the homes to still be intact..
Several huts were okay except for the collapsed ceilings.
Fortunately the roofing was mostly wood frame with some strangely thin
and light stone used as shingles, not the pitch that one would expect to
find on such dwellings..
Makoto looked around at the captives and noticed that many of them were
already getting groggily to their feet, apparently they had been
shielded from some of the blast by their fellows. He decided that they
could probably handle the bandits better on their own.
~Makoto: Okay, activate function Gateway, target the royal
palace in Floristica, um... make it about 10 hours after we left. Oh,
and only transport me. Leave these people here.~
~Staff: Affirmative.~
***
The first of the villagers to awaken witnessed something that
would change his life forever.. The angel who had been immune to
weapons and felled their foes had walked into the burning village, and
with one touch from his mighty staff had quenched the flames on each
home. Then, when his work was done, he raised the staff above his head,
and the ground seemed to grow
tendrils of light that wrapped around him.
Their savior was gone, but his legend would live on.
***
Night 1001
Who would have thought that I'd spend one more night here? One
more night in this bed, dreaming of Ifurita. Alone. Okay, so I'm being
a bit melodramatic, but I'm still getting sick of all this waiting.
Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to be alive, but I really need to get to
Ifurita.
It's going to be hard to get away tomorrow, but I'll do it.
Rune Venus has declared that tomorrow will be a day of feasting and
celebration in honor of my safe return. If I didn't know better, I'd
have thought that she was having a hard time keeping herself from
embracing me when she first saw me. In public, no less.
Mr. Fujisawa was happy beyond belief. He actually offered me a
drink! I mean, you know how his is with that ‘you're underage' thing of
his, and I'm only 20. No other praise could be higher from him. Miz
saved me by breaking in and asking him to check in on the children. She
told me that he was really worried about me. I never really thought
that he was such a
sentimental guy, but when I see the two of them together, it's obvious
that there's a lot about Mr. Masamichi Fujisawa that his students never
got to see.
Somewhere during that conversation, Nanami showed up. She
leaped on top of me and gave me a rather passionate kiss. I don't know
what's gotten into her, but I think that she was really upset about
threatening to throw me into the rift. She looked like she had been
crying. After that, she wouldn't let me out of her sight for the rest
of the day. I almost had to have the guards drag her away from me so
that I could take a bath.
Fatora... well, Fatora is Fatora, after all. She always gives
me the impression that she has some sort of game planned that's going to
end with me being really embarrassed and her laughing. Alielle only
showed up briefly, and Fatora demanded most of her attention, but she
gave me a
sweet smile and a quick hug before she left again. She is still tending
to Shayla-Shayla, I'm told.
The priestesses are all exhausted from unsealing and then
resealing the Eye in the same day. The doctors wouldn't let them get
out of bed to attend the feast tonight, but I promised that I'd visit
them before I leave again. Though I'm not really looking forward to it
too much. Things
between Shayla and I have been uncomfortable for quite a while now and
the others I wasn't alll that close to.
It's getting late and I've got a full day tomorrow. One more
night of dreams, it seems.
Oh, well.
Tim Williams
twillia4@utk.edu
badly designed web page at:
https://www.angelfire.com/tn/twillia/
