Note: This takes place after the failed wedding attempt and the battle with Saffron. This series borrows heavily from the Lovecraftian Mythos and the Titus Crow novels by Brian Lumley. If there are any questions concerning the situations or characters you can e-mail me at vze2jcwc@verizon.net. Thank you. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "And as I writhe in my guilty agony, frantic to save the city whose peril every moment grows, and vainly striving to shake off this unnatural dream of a house of stone and brick south of a sinister swamp and cemetery on a low hillock, the Pole Star, evil and monstrous, leers down from the black vault, winking hideously like an insane watching eye which strives to convey some message, yet recalls nothing save that it once had a message to convey." H.P. Lovecraft, "Polaris" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Destiny Lost, Destinies Found Chapter 2-Polaris Kaiton vze2jcwc@verizon.net -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I felt the wind whip by my feet vainly attempting to pull my clothes. I saw the lightning flash far in the distance accompanied by a raging typhoon. I heard the roll of thunder as it clashed with the heavens. I was a lost and miserable youth that had now come face to face with the specter of his past, Akane was standing before me! At last rational thought became possible and my mind came back on-line. It can't be her she's dead! But then again who else could it be? I had seen Akane die, had seen her last breath and the agony within her eyes as the life was cruelly stamped from them. I had gone into a blind rage and killed Kodachi Kuno, the one responsible. Was I going mad? Was I dreaming? Soon again I heard Cologne's words echo through my subconscious mind ripping through the barriers of rational thought: "You are already fulfilling the prophecy." "Who are you?" I questioned the stark character that seemed a pale human reflection of a most _inhuman_ thing. I prepared a ki ball in my fist. "I am Ranma Saotome of the Saotome school of Musubetsu Kakuto Ryuu, state your name!" "H,hot...water..." The figure collapsed into a crumpled heap on the linoleum floor. Try as I might, however, I could not help the mysterious visitor, for her appearance opened the floodgates of my soul to weep once again for my love, Akane. I cried as the prophecy came back to me, of how I was to awaken through this tragedy and rise from the blood of my love. If I had already begun the fulfillment, why not complete it? Looking back at the female sprawled across the floor I couldn't help but wonder who she was and how she had appeared. I gingerly lifted the outsider and carried her to my room. The walk past Akane's room was difficult especially considering the appearance of my guest, an uncanny resemblance to Akane, right down to the small scars on her fingers from cooking. Holding back my tears I sped past the room and entered my own chambers. The chill of the wind and rain blew through the drafty room so I adjusted the heater and put the kettle on. As the iron contraption emanated it's heat I sat back and draped the guest in a blanket. Using uncommon foresight I had undressed the visitor and allowed her clothes (or more aptly "tunic") to dry, as she warmed herself under the comforter. The kettle was nearing boiling when the girl rolled over in her daze and I noticed something rather strange, twin bruises on her shoulder blades. Bringing my mind back to the present I poured the tea just as the girl woke up. "R-Ranma?" She asked in an almost sing-song melodious soprano. "Ranma you're alright!" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- By Dr. Suekeichi Kaiton vze2jcwc@verizon.net -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Needless to say I was unprepared for the crushing embrace from the girl upon her awakening. Her eyes were damp with almost shed tears and there was a longing in her motions, as if she desperately needed me. I loosely hung my arms around her slim frame as she sobbed into my shoulder. "I...I thought you were dead, we saw the energy from your awakening and feared you had consumed yourself!" I pulled away from the sobbing girl. "Who are you and why do you look like Akane?" She straightened up and her face held a royal seriousness to it, an air of superiority. She motioned to the heater. When I didn't react she reached for the cup of tea before me and poured it over her head, upending the hot liquid to trigger the Jusenkyo curse. "I am Kima, Ranma. And I think we both know why I look like Akane." The phoenix woman spoke in the familiar sing-song way of her tribe. Somehow a dramatic change had occurred in the woman, no girl, that had left her with little of her usual air. Her wings were bruised and a bit scraped which explained the bruising on her cursed form. "Oh, the wings? It started to rain as I arrived and I fell, landing in your yard on my wings." She blushed and pulled the comforter up as she realized how defenseless she was at the moment. Kima was beautiful, with cream colored feathers and a stately manner. Her face looked much older than her true age, I thought her to be around my age, not the age of twenty that she displayed. I noticed in a particular hentai thought that her breasts were bare of feathers, her nipples a rosy red. Her hands were human with longer nails and some scaling to the end. "I put your clothes in the dryer, they'll be done in a few minutes." I drew my hand back from her tear stained face, in amazement at how soft her feathers were, like satin human skin. I briefly wondered how it would feel to touch her nether plumage but quickly derailed that line of thinking. "Why did you come for me?" Kima fidgeted a bit as the uncomfortable question came up. "We saw the power of your awakening in our pools and the elders and king thought it would be proper to find out if you had been destroyed. You know, you are quite a scourge at the mountain, men are afraid of you and the women and young girls idolize you." She blushed. At that time and that place I too would have blushed, but not now, not after what was happening to the fragile grasp I had on reality. The buzzing came again, a noiseless rumbling at the base of my skull, a waiting ground for the forces that I held which even I did not understand. I reeled back and screamed but no sound came out as I writhed in agony on the floor. Kima was alert and upon me as the twitching fetal ball that used to be Ranma Saotome lay sobbing on the floor. A burst of insight, and I opened my eyes to the dismal truth of the situation, in sacrificing my threshold of pain, I gained acute awareness and powers of sight. Gazing across lonely seas of black chaos until I came and focused on a ball of the brightest light, the protective shell of the Elder Gods, defenders of sanity for the cosmos at large. I screamed as the holy light pervaded every cell in my body and was shaken back to awareness by the fallen visitor. "Ranma? Ranma! Wake up!" She was pulling my shoulders and slapping my face, her white satiny skin soft against the heated roughness of my own. Her eyes betrayed her innermost desire and that was for...something that I could not give, at least not then and there. "I...I'm alright just a little...shaken." I managed to stutter out upon awakening. The room was still blotted by the dark ghost image of the unimaginable light, one which when gazed at for too long drives even the gods insane with blind and impotent fury. I looked out to the window, the room a plane of darkness with lightning it's only illumination, and gazed at the foul abomination of creation that stalked across the tumescent winds and howled in the face of the gods. It was tall and walked upon the winds, its bloated face bubbling with insane delight as it continued on its murderous rampage, the eyes deep set pits of hatred glowing strangely crimson in the night. I raised a hand without thought but with instinctive knowledge that I may assist in the voiding of a creature such as that. A beam of purest light shot forth from my hand and engulfed the monstrosity, it's face twisting in pain, shock and rage. As it looked out I saw an amazing thing occur, something which was a boon from Kami-sama. From a temple in the Nekomi prefecture, a ball of holy power came crashing _through_ the beast driving its foul essence to the dawns of time and its origin. It gave one look back, presumably at me, then walked _up_ into the heavens and was gone. I retracted my power of sight and sunk to the cushioned floor and the waiting arms of the phoenix warrior-woman. "It's over...for now." I sat back and drank my cup of tepid tea, a rapid dry spell overcoming my body. Kima reached for her own and we talked far off into the night and through the better part of the following morning, all with a mirthless tone and sorrowful looks. I knew what she had come for, but I could not deliver her from her need or desire, I had to remain a casual observer to my own fate. --- It was that afternoon while Kima slept that I was privy to things that would chill the blood of some and drive others to madness. I received an interesting caller at the midday bell, one who would bring me face to face with the powers at my command. Kasumi was the only member of the household that knew of Kima's intrusion last night and wisely kept quiet. At midday she was shaken from her normal thoughts by a caller at the door, a girl of no more than thirteen years of age, who had the oddest facial markings of rounded triangles. "Moshi-moshi? Is this the Tendo residence?" The young girl asked while flipping through a notebook. "Yes it is." Kasumi smiled as I walked into view behind her. "I'd like to know if-RANMA!" The girl pushed past a startled Kasumi and thrust herself between my arms, hugging me gently. "I was so afraid I wouldn't find you!" I was frankly mystified at the sudden turn of events and was so taken aback by the girls actions that I was barely able to answer. "Uh...who are you?" The girl pulled away. "Greetings brother, my name is Skuld and I was sent by my big-sister to bring you home!" I was dumbfounded! Me? Her brother? A big sister waiting at home? I briefly wondered if the entire shift in reality had bled through to my hearing but I quickly took control of the situation. "What is it you wanted?" "Uh...well...I'm sorry about your loss, and well...Belldandy thought it would be better if you came to visit us. Urd really wants to meet you y' know." The little girl pulled out a thermos of hot water from her tunic and poured it into a nearby cup. "So I'm here to take you there!" We disappeared. It is an odd sensation, atomization, the feeling of all your memories and feelings being split and divided and copied, each one having an identical mind. I felt the power of the blast and the heat of the water as I slipped through our dimension and into another, one where shape had no meaning and the soul ruled all. I could vaguely _feel_ Skuld ahead of me, guiding me to a goal of bright light and steam... *Splash!* I fell countless times into a vat of warming water, I saw the scene repeated over and over and over again. I slowly felt all my myriad parts return and the feeling of completeness was final as I stood in a furo of an unknown house. The room was steamy and the anteroom door was ajar, presumably to allow passengers such as myself to leave in an orderly fashion. I gave my surroundings a cursory glance them motioned towards the door. Skuld was in the living room sitting at a kotatsu and eating a slice of cake. The cool autumn breeze came wafting through the rice paper windows and chimes played in the distance. There was a fragrance of roses, or perhaps honeysuckle that played or more aptly toyed with your senses until flowing back to the source. The steady wind and a blinding aura of power filled the room with eldritch light. For there, seated at the table were three of the most gorgeous women I have ever laid eyes on before or after. Skuld having already been mentioned, black hair, blue eyes; I will go into further detail on the nature of the other two. One was wearing a low-cut sultry black dress patched up with broad strips of leather and metallic rings dangling off the nipples. The white hair came down as a cascading ocean of silver to the small of her back, where it tapered off to perfect ends. The third was almost ethereal in the form of a glowing halo that surrounded and washed through her, her motions were slight and her eyes were deep pools of sympathy and kindness and caring. It was not simply because of this that she reminded me of Kasumi. She had golden brown hair that fell to her hips, a few stray locks jutting from her temples; her movements were unerringly feminine and almost _perfectly_ female, her smile and her lips gave off the color of her soul. "Greetings Ranma-oniichan. My name is Belldandy, Goddess first class." She motioned to the sultry young wench beside her. "This is Urd my sister, Goddess second class. I'm so happy to see you here!" She rose from her crouched position to the rear of the room and walked forward to embrace me. Before she knew what had happened I had swiftly moved across the room. Urd raised an eyebrow at my sudden movement. "I think he's already awakened oneechan, that blast you gave the wind walker was more powerful than my own thunder strikes. I think...if you wanted to...you could take on the ultimate force." Urd slinked over to me and pressed her supple flesh into my back eliciting the most curious reactions from Skuld and Belldandy. From long standing experience with bone-crushing embraces from the likes of Shampoo I utilized those movements to pull out of Urd's, her disappointed face gradually giving way to a startling epiphany. "He knows the flow of power all right! Are you a martial artist?" She began to prod me. "Yeah! I'm the best in the world!" I declared with an arrogant gesture. The days of martial arts for fun, however, I knew were drawing to a close. Somewhere, out in the vastness of the cosmos, I knew that soon I would be fighting for my life, and the lives of those I love. Looking back on it, I hoped I would grow to love Urd and Skuld and Belldandy as well. For the faintest of instants I forgot Akane, Kima, and Cologne that were waiting for me at home, all reminders of lives lived and lives lost. Before I knew it, a blur of creamy white and the rustle of wings brought Kima down on the deck of the house, her leather boots eliciting a muted thump. She turned to face the sisters then looked at me. "Ranma don't you dare run off like that again! We need to discuss your trip back to Phoenix Mountain with me." She turned as I sat before the goddesses. "Kima-san? I believe that Ranma needs our help right now, I believe that we can provide him with more answers." Belldandy rose from her seat and gestured for Kima to take a seat. Her eyes were flints as this was more of a duty for her now. "Ranma, you are descended from Heaven, a child of the white light. As goddesses it is our honorable duty to protect and assist children of Eld, so we must help you reach Kami-sama, he will provide you with your answers." The diamond on her forehead began to glow a bright gold as a holy light etched the room in shadows, Kima and I cringed and turned away from the burst while Urd and Skuld looked impassively on. --- "Ranma Saotome?" The gentle voice echoed through my skull. "What?" "Kami-sama will see you now." I awoke to a hall of pearl and glass. Strange beams that looked like the circuits in a computer composed the ceiling, and glass windows thousands of feet high were the walls. A young woman wearing a short cut skirt and white flowing robes helped me from the floor, her smile glittering and her eyes appraising me. "Where am I?" "You are in the hall of reception. You _are_ Ranma Saotome aren't you?" The woman showed me the great colored doors at the far end of the chamber. "Yes." "Kami-sama is waiting for you in his audience chamber. I'm Merac, Goddess third class, secretarial. You are in the hall of pearl and crystal, your first stop in your journey to Kami-sama. Your companion, Kima was it? Has already awakened and is waiting for you in the next room." She smiled sweetly at me and slinked back to the heavily arabesque hall. For a moment, a fleeting insight struck the cords of my heart, that perhaps Akane's death was for the best. But no. No, that cruel to forget her so easily, to cast her memory to the preverbal hounds. Never think that again. Even as I write this, I don't know why that idea struck me, it just seemed that if Akane had not perished, I wouldn't have known such wonders.