Valheru's legacy A Ranma 1/2 & Riftwar/Serpentwar saga crossover By Dragon Lord. Author's foreword: I had to try this! Warning: Minor spoilers for Mr. Feist works. Thanks to Chi Lord, Zaxxon and Hawk for their kind words and their even sparce time. Really great guys! C&C: valheru@mixmail.com or valheru_2002@yahoo.es Usual disclaimer: Ranma and friends to Rumiko Takahashi. the Valheru concept along with Pug, Tomas, Arutha and the Midkemia world is of Mr Feist. Anyway on with the show! ------------------------------------------------- Prologue: Of several people in several times. ------------------------------------------------- In a place away from the normal space continuum. The man was kneeling to a unseen being, his gaze lowered as was his head. He was clothed in dark brown robes, tied at his waist by a simple piece of rope, a staff made of solid dark wood at his side. His dark hair along with his neatly trimmed beard was as dark as coal. He raised his head, his dark eyes vacant, as if something or someone had taken all of his attention, making his normal senses useless. "Yes master," spoke the dark haired man in a voice filled with respect. "All is in place and the players are ready as you have foreordained, yet I wonder if all of this is going to be enough to resist the coming darkness. This is a future hidden to me Master." He then remained silent as if listening to a silent voice. "Free him? Is it wise Master? His power is great, the mightiest of his race but I have thought that with the other one we would have enough." Again silence. The man nodded. "As you wish Master. But it is going to be very dangerous. We may unleash a greater danger than the one that they will be facing. And who would be the vessel? We can't use the same means as with the other one, he is simply too powerful. We would need is own acceptance to do so as he would notice our tampering..." If the man was shocked by what he heard he showed little, the only change in his features was those dark eyes slightly widening. "Him?" the man paused as if considering a plan. Or several of them with quickness of thought that marked him different from other human beings. After some moments he nodded. "It can be done. It will be done." He once again hung his head in sign of submission. "Very well. I will proceed." ------------------------------------------------- Some years later. Or before? Ranma Saotome was walking alone as was his habit since the wedding disaster nearly four months ago. He was just enjoying a sunny afternoon walking on top of a fence as was usual for him. He had just returned from his last training trip, two weeks away from Nerima recreating and digesting new skills with a sword that was currently strapped to his backpack. He was happy of the results of his trip, his special project now finished. But what was making him happy was that he had finally decided to put an end to a charade that had lasted way too long. As he had so many times done in the past five months he was pondering things, trying to see if he had any future with the actual status quo. He sighed as his mind recalled that passed time and the pains it at brought to him. Those last four months after the battle with Saffron had been taxing in a lot of ways and, if things seemed "easy" before, after the failed wedding they became another kind of challenge for the young Saotome. The total recall ability of his mind brought him crystal clear memories. Sometimes it wasn't a so useful ability, pain being almost always present in his mind. Way back, after the epic battle with Saffron and the aborted "wedding" Ranma's view of life was dramatically changed. Not of life itself but more of _his_ life, now more serious and dark. Since the wedding he was starting to loathe part of his life, truth is there were only few things that he could think of them as good. Ranma stopped as a breeze surrounded him, the cold air caressed his skin. Why wouldn't his life be as simple as that moment? FLASHBACK Three weeks ago, short time before the last training trip. In the Tendo dojo a lone figure was moving with a grace that was beyond anything seen on that place since its founding. The young man, his chest bare, was as if dancing his eyes closed but still performing a flawless kata that he was making on the spot following his instincts to make his movements more precise, more deadly. Yet Ranma Saotome don't kill. Well he had but only once. That time he had no choice, he had been too hard pressed to find another way to deal with the last battle of his life. Between blows, kicks, twists, spins, jumps he returned to that last moment in Mt Phoenix while in the middle of that Hiryu Shoten Ha made of fire he had looked to the golden eyes of the Phoenix King. That name alone sent shivers running through his spine and almost made him loose his rhythm. He had used more power in that fight than in any previous one to be able to slew the Phoenix. He had killed a god but it wasn't without its consequences. He had used too much power on that fight and as a side effect his body, as if on his own, was producing more ki than was usual. And safe. It was as if he had taped into a well of bio energy that kept flowing unto him and anything that he could do would stop the constant flow of energy. Asleep or awake, it was challenging his auto control; taunting him to drink again from that never ending flow of power. But he was used to challenges and following the events of the wedding he had to augment his control, things simply demanded it. If he wasn't able to rule the power... Well that was somehting that he hoped to never happen. With a sigh he stopped his deadly dance. He looked to the clock on the wall. Six hours. He was barely sweating, check that he wasn't sweating, not even breathing hard. He had been a full speed and even so... nothing. Another side effect of this constant rush of power, his body was becoming stronger, healed faster and was more difficult to tire. He sighed. More taking in count the last months after the wedding. He snorted, his face darkening. Things went smooth after the disaster, and for once Ranma allowed himself to relax his defenses and tried to enjoy life a little, his concern about the power lesser due to the unusual tranquility in Nerima But that peace wasn't destined to last very long. A week, no more. Ranma could have grown used to those days. But a simple week was all the time his fiancees gave him in the hopes to make him forget their acts in the wedding, thus everybody to the warpath. Again. Shampoo, Ukyou and Kodachi returned to their way of being; that is trying to make him recognize something that was only an illusion in their minds; that somwehow, he could love them. As if after the wedding, and not to say Mt Phoenix, things could be as they were before. After their betrayal! After the wedding, love was the last thing he was feeling for the three girls. >From Shampoo and Kodachi he could have expected something like that and still he was angry with them. But Ukyou... That had hurt. What really made Ranma mad about all that mess was the explosive food. People could have been hurt or worst! His mom and Kasumi where there! Why couldn't the girls in his life be... normal? But no; it was one of those damned Murphy's laws that if Ranma had a some girl near she was an expert in fighting with less control over their tempers than him upon his mouth. Anyway things were normal, as far as thing go when you are cursed to turn into a girl when dosed with cold water, for a little time. And he was really enjoying those days! Then it happened. Just when he was starting to think that for once life was smiling to him, Akane had started to cook again. ------------------------------------------------- Ranma sighed as he put his Chinese shirt on. If only Akane could realized that she couldn't cook! But noooo! She had to try and she had to make him eat it. Since then "Hell on Earth" was a good way to call his life. ------------------------------------------------- That was what was running in Ranma Saotome that fateful day. She swore to himself to shut up the fucking mouth and eat that. But it wasn't as easy. Akane had tried too hard as usual and when she presented him what she called "food", Ranma had been tempted to use the Saotome final attack. But looking to her smile he knew that he was doomed. He forced himself to try and eat it. He had done it! Until that moment in which Ranma shallowed Akane's cooking his luck lasted. Unfortunately his stomach wasn't of the same mind and decided to not waiting until reaching the bathroom to throw up. Akane wasn't very happy after that, and every time Akane wasn't happy her mallet was. That was the re-opening of the "hunting for Ranma" season. In the following days he had used more than one of the Umisenken technique, the thief cloak, than his father had done in all his coward life. Each time that he was with one of his four prospective fiancees the damages to the surroundings were so heavy that even the reparation companies in the area had sent him a letter asking him to see if he could stop a little the rampaging chaos and destruction that was his presence in Nerima. They needed to re-stock the materials as they were depleted. And if his fiancees weren't enough the first opening salvos from the female members of the Nerima Wrecking Crew drew to the struggle the male half. Each day Ranma had to run, fight, run again and hope for some dark spot to hide. Usually there weren't any in sight. ------------------------------------------------- Ranma sighed as he exited the dojo towards the kitchen. It was in the afternoon and since it was a Sunday everybody had something to do so the hole house was deserted but Ranma wasn't sure if he could feel relieved by it. Last he heard Akane, Ukyou, Shampoo and Kodachi were still in a fight along with Ryoga, Mousse and Kuno. From what he had seen when he decided to check them cloaked by the Umisenken they would be at it for the rest of the day, trying to decide in a totally Nerimian fashion who was going to marry or kill him. That meaning that parts of the city would be leveled by tomorrow. Nabiki was collecting money, his mom and Kasumi were doing what they usually made together (and he had no idea of what was going on with those two), Happosai was on a panties collecting trip and his pop and Soun were probably trying to come with another half baked scheme to get him to marry Akane. As if it was going to happen! He entered the kitchen, once again memories following. ------------------------------------------------- After the first month he was near mental breakdown and it was starting to show. Everybody with some common sense as Kasumi, Nabiki and even his mother ducked each time a fight was about to erupt. The signal that things were starting to be too much for the pig-tailed youth was when Ranma's battle aura, already enormous after the battle with Saffron, started to manifest itself with a deep dark red glow. Day after day things were becoming more dangerous, making the three women to share looks full of concern. They didn't know how near Ranma was to madness those days. He had been so near turning insane and doing something that he wasn't ready to face (as was level half of Nerima with a ki-burst) that it actually scared him. But he wasn't of those that surrounded to depression or murdering rage so easily, those days before the failed wedding and those after that proved that if nothing he was incredibly adaptable, beyond even the adaptability that was Musabetsu Kakuto true strength. But each passing day it was worse. He needed to regain the edge, the control of his sanity and he worked hard to achieve it. He started to train even harder than before in the control of the energies with in, energies that were still growing inside of his body and soul. Luckily both Cologne and Happosai (after a talk with Nodoka) had taken in hand his training and for two months he had followed their instructions. Neither of them wanted something like a berserker Ranma running free in Nerima but even if their training proved effective they couldn't do anything about his problems with his fiancees. And neither of them had a death wish. Even Shampoo payed barely no heed to what the Old Ghoul would say to her and Mousse... Well it wasn't as if he had any respect for the "dried up mummy" to start with. And things were far from being resolved when Ranma started to prepare another training trip. He had since long come to the conclusion that it was way safer to pass as much time as he could outside of Nerima. Previously all those trips, until now had helped to calm the raging water that was Nerima. Finally it turned worst than what Ranma had believed possible. ------------------------------------------------- Ranma groaned as he remembered the consequences of that particular trip. As he diced a sandwich in triangles he look back in time ------------------------------------------------- With Nabiki's help he was able to escape the loon squad and entered the wilderness of Japan to perfect the focus he gained after the training with Cologne and the Old Pervert. But most of all that trip was to gain some insight of his life. It wasn't pretty and the things that he came with left him with enough depression to fuel a Perfect Shi Shi Hokodan. One his curse wasn't so bad. It was now a part of him, of his life. And after the destruction of Jusenkyou he didn't believe in some way to cure him of his "affliction". That done he started to train his female body and came to the realization that what at first had been a motive of shame and disgust was in reality a boon, some thing were more easy in his cursed form. But that left him with the more than correct idea that most of the things that he had done in order to get rid of that "curse" were in great part responsible for the mayhem that was his life. Not easy to face that he had been a fool. Two and more important: those days of tranquility breathing nature's beauty helped him to come to a decision about his "love" life. He never really loved Akane, nor any of the other girls. He realized that he had been infatuated with Akane the first time when he arrived to the Tendo dojo. Her smile and her offer of a friendship were more than anybody had offered him since a long time. That's until she discovered the curse. Another thing that he blamed to Jusenkyo before understanding that the problem wasn't with him but with her. Looking back to the almost two years of relationship, the shattering truth that what he felt for her wasn't love left him hollow. He tried to think that if he had been more kind, more ready to indulge Akane from his constant verbal abuse things could have been different. But the fault wasn't his alone. Love was trust and comprehension, freedom and caring about the other as much as you care about yourself, and there was no trust in his relationship with Akane. He had never been unfaithful in their engagement even with all the other girls that practically threw themselves to him. Never. But Akane never saw it in that light. All his acts, even saving her life time and time again and... Only pain to him because he was socially handicapped. Another thing those days taught him was that martial arts, even being a great part of his life couldn't be all of his life. He had defeated Saffron. How further could he go from that point? Already power was in his veins, the source of unknown power he had taped during their battle was flooding the totality of his being. His blood was ki and after the training given to him by Cologne and Happosai along with his own he had a more or less clear idea of what he could do with such power. But power was not an excuse for a life such as the one he was living. He had defeated a god and was more powerful than beings way older than him but what good could that bring to him if his personal life, his inner self, was a total disaster? Power didn't love him; to Ranma this was only a tool but that wasn't very useful in everyday's life. Sure he had more personal power than most countries but then what? Nothing. It wasn't as if he had any plan for global dominion as had that jerk Pantyhose. So during those days he came to realize that he wanted more to his life than martial arts or power. He was ready to fill his life with other things, not limiting it to other people expectations. His return showed him that things weren't as simple as he believed. It had never been only himself. Once he reached civilization he was greeted with the unpleasant surprise to see that his "friends" had nearly torn apart huge parts of Nerima in their quest to find him. Nabiki had tried to give them wrong leads towards him with the hope of stopping the destruction. It almost worked. In a moment of insight, Kuno, of all people, had "deduced" that if Ranma wanted to hide from his deserved wrath, the Sorcerous Saotome could have bought Nabiki's help (aka the vile mercenary Tendo) and ordered her to give him (the Heavenly Sword of Furinkan High) or them (rest of the Wrecking Crew) false information. Thus (still following Kuno's rationing) if the "Evil One" wanted them to believe that he was far away then, naturally he was hiding near, more probably seducing some young maiden as were his lecherous ways. This seemed to have given the rest of Ranma hunters, in some desperate moment when they were being less than mentally bright, some ill-conceived ideas and started to put Nerima upside down. So Ranma was greeted by the sight of a Nerima looking like an atomized city with a carefree hour, people naturally blaming him, ready to call to the army to stop the massive destruction. But as Ranma wasn't ready to back off from the resolution he had came across he decided to live without waiting to listen to the others'disillusions. So each time some of his rivals appeared he quickly dispatched them with a well placed blow. In the case of his inazukes he simply used some nerve point and blocked their muscles for the following hour. Fortunately his presence had helped to tune down the destruction and in little time the city had regained again some semblance of tranquility. In the following weeks he started to take his life more seriously, beginning to take in hand his education and, surprising everybody, started to have good notes in his exams. Even miss Hinako was surprised and was almost actually begging him to be a truant, it would be better for her mental health. Anyway he started to expand his interest beyond martial arts, making good use of his mental capabilities that until now were used almost exclusively in fighting. His eidetic memory and fast learning, coupled with a extremely high metabolism, allowing him to reduce the hours of sleep needed helped him in learning things that until now he had discarded as unuseful in a record time. He had still some problems but with the help of Nabiki, Kasumi and his own mother he slowly recovered lost time from his ten years long training trip. In part following their advice, in part because he wanted to he started to study music and discovered an hidden talent in several instruments like flute, piano and violin all given to him by is mother in his house where Genma and the rest of his fiancees were forbidden to come or even approximate it. He discovered a love for the flute, as the soft tunes that would exit from a silvery tool his mother gave him helped to relax. He would play for his mother and sometimes to Nabiki and Kasumi and, of all possible people, to Cologne that with a bamboo flute would sometimes play with him. To other persons that would remain a secret, specially Genma but people would often wonder from where were coming those soft and perfect melodies that would expand to the whole Nerimian ward thanks to some subtle ki manipulation. He also started to enjoy history both from his country and from the rest of the world, this coupled with an interest in foreign cultures beyond Asia helped him to expand his interest to other languages. That particular interest came from the time he passed with Nabiki. The middle Tendo daughter would help him with his homework and frequently tutored him in the subjects he had the most problems with like maths and others that bored the young Saotome. Nabiki particularly insisted in him learning properly English. When he asked her why she bothered so much on that particular subject she snapped at him in a way that he would never forget. "I have too much time and money invested on you Ranma-kun to let you slack on something as vital as English. You want to be a dumb jock for the rest of your life? Fine for you but not to me! You are going to learn it and that's final!" She said with a look that promised pain if he didn't acted as she ordered so he started learning with her help. With Nabiki, Kasumi, Nodoka and Cologne he continued to put efforts on learning. Once started he had little choice than to continue with it. with four women he had no other option as to learn as they saw fit. And they were bossy! Sometimes he wondered if fighting Saffron wasn't easier than facing those four women. Time passed and life regained some normality yet Shampoo, Ukyou and Kodachi grew more bold in their quest to capture him. Kuno, Ryoga and Mousse simply continued trying to defeat/kill him, unable to do so. With those six ones he could manage. But still his biggest source of pain was Akane. He couldn't bring himself to tell her that he loved her no more. Any love he could have left had been crushed by the constant anger in the younger Tendo girl, the smile that had smitten him at the beginning now a rarer thing. Now only looking to Ranma, Akane attacked, blaming him of things that were only on her mind. She restrained herself when his mother was present or was Nabiki or Kasumi Any other time only his reflexes saved him from a beating. And even then he couldn't bring himself to fight her. He may have decided that he didn't want to marry her and that he doesn't love her but still he could not harm that girl in particular. He had already caused her too much pain with his senseless insults to her and her lacking skills. He had been such a jerk but that was to finish. ----------------------------------------------- Ranma sat in the living room and turned on the TV set, while he munched slowly the sandwich he had prepared. He wasn't even looking at the TV as his mind was wondering how he could end definitively his dead relationship with Akane. There should be a way to make things easier but he wasn't able to find it. With each passing day he started to figure that there was no way to stop that foolish parade that was his life without hurting several people. A no win situation and if Ranma hated something is was to loose. He shallowed the food, his eyes looking to the room as if searching something. And something caught his eyes. He moved to take it. As soon as he looked at it his suspicions turned true. A manga. The covert showed a man in samurai garbs fighting a tall man in what seemed some kind of blueuniform both of them holding katanas. But what really surprised Ranma was the kind of sword the red headed man was holding. A sakabato. He had seen some of them in a museum once and wondered how someone could fight with a sword like that. It was difficult to kill with a blade like that, so then why? He looked at the title. "Rurouni Kenshin." He opened it and started reading. END OF THE FLASHBACK So here he was returning to Nerima to put an end to that madness that was his life. He jumped from the fence and started to hum a song he had learned long ago. So he was ill prepared when his danger sense flared like hell. In what was now an instinct his hand went to the handle of the sword that was strapped to his backpack, his body blending into a defensive stance. Soon he could see the source of the disturbance. A man clothed in dark brown robes, a hood preventing Ranma to see his face was just a few meters from him. Ranma was sure that he would have felt him approach but yet, if Ranma wasn't wrong, he had appeared from thin air. The man (Ranma supposed that it was a man) was standing silent without moving but the martial artist could feel the power the man was emitting and it was like nothing he had encountered before. "Such raging spirit! Such power! Yes, you will do nicely." Ranma gripped the hilt of his still strapped katana harder. He wasn't very thrilled by what he had heard. "What's your beef with me?" He shouted his eyes gleaming. The dark man started to mutter something that even listening clearly Ranma was unable to understand. The cantic continued growing in speed until Ranma couldn't separate a word from another. As his danger sense increased the pig-tailed youth reacted. Those words were sending shivers through his spine and he instinctively knew that he was going to regret if he didn't do something. Time to use his sakabato. Ranma ran towards the man. In a burst of his aura he was moving faster than the eye could follow giving the illusion of disappearing from reality. He was going to unsheath the blade when the man gestured with a hand without even interrupting his cantrip. Next thing Ranma saw was a distortion in the air that slammed him as if it was a wall but with the strengh of a speeding truck. He was sent flying, his hand still gripping the unsheathed sword, dazed by the power wave when the words of the mysterious man grew in strengh as a red and gold aura appeared around him. The last thing that Ranma perceived were bands of light coming directly towards him, as a web made of golden light and of cold and hot energy that seared his skin and mind upon contact. The pain was barely unbearable. Through the veil of pain the last thing that he was aware before darkness consummated him were some soft words. "You may even be grateful at the end." ------------------------------------------------- At the same time, in three different places in Tokyo, three different people reacted from those events. The first one was an aged woman beyond years normally allowed to a mortal race. She was preparing some of the excellent Chinese food for one of the various commands to the Nekohanten when she stopped as the energies used reached her. Those energies were of magical origin, that she was sure but of a magnitude that in her long life she had never felt. It was powerful but at the same time so diverse that it was as if several spells of the highest level had been unleashed. In Cologne's mind that could only mean that something important had happened but the feeling of those energies was so short lived that she had no time to get a clear image of which were the effects of such magical discharge. For some brief moments she remained there as if expecting more magical display but none came to her senses. After a few moments more she sighed and returned to her work and other ideas, but still that display of power, that she could only qualify as otherworldly, dominated. Anyway had those displays been something more she would soon know about it. After all something of such magnitude couldn't be without some effect. But what effects would those be? She had only one thing clear: Ranma would be at the center of the storm as he always was. She had even believed to have felt his ki flaring before the release but now there weren't any more signs of the pig-tailed youth. She would have to wait and if Cologne was used to do something it was to wait. She returned to her frying rice. Time would tell. ------------------------------------------------- The second person to feel the manifestation was a diminutive troll that was in the moment of the release doing his favorite "hobby". The image was so much a daily aspect of the Nerimian fauna that nobody bothered to look at it anymore. In fact the only people interested in that activity were the people taking part on it. The activity was the following: You take a three foot tall, three hundred years old perverted martial arts master, shouting "What a haul, what a haul!" and carrying a bag three times the size of said "troll" full of women undergarments previously stolen. Add a mob of righteously enraged women of ages going from fourteen to twenty screaming for the blood of the troll, running after him as an incoming stampede armed with any kind of weapons going from giant mallets to brooms, frying pan, etc. In short the usual weapons of the scorned woman. Put both together and you have what was just to be promoted as touristic attraction by the council of the city. Maybe that way they would gathered enough money to: A/ Pay all those (re)construction companies that thought of Nerima as the new El Dorado due to the constant demands coming from the neighborhoods. B/ Pay some of the still unpaid interest rates owed to the person of one Tendo Nabiki. Sigh, poor guys... -Ahem- Returning to our story and to the show of "Women persecuting with homicidal intentions dried old pervert" (soon in theaters world wide!). That day, unfortunately for Happosai (the so-called pervert master) and fortunately for the angry women running after him, the waves of power sent by the magic spell unleashed previously had the effect of stopping him dead in his tracks. He had already felt that kind of manifestation before while opening a way to some minor demons to fight Ranma. Nothing too serious but he loved to see Ranma fight and simply with human, mortal adversaries it was just a waste of time to see him fight. So from time to time he had released some of those life-eaters to see how the boy would fare against them and until now he had never been disappointed by the boy's performance. But those energies that he was feeling were way more powerful than a controlled rift towards the demon's circle in the lower planes of reality. For one thing it was way more powerful and had been coupled by some strong spell instants before being unleashed. The only thing that prevented Happosai to run like hell in case of a demon invasion (possible case) was that there was no evil trace in the spell casting. One thing was clear for the old pervert, a powerful entity had transported something or someone towards another dimension or plane, the power he had felt before... Happosai gulped. The power that he had felt before... The power that he had felt before was NOTHING compared to the one surrounding him. He slowly opened his eyes that he had closed while reading the patterns of the spell. Opened them to see himself surrounded by a mob of women, all of them burning enough battle aura to light Tokyo for years. "Please ladies... let's stay civilized, shall we?" He was pleading with an enthusiasm that would have put to shame Genma's Crouch of the Wild Tiger technique. Usually it worked as no one could stand something as pathetic. Usually. The old master had the "impression" that it had _no_ effect on the mob of women surrounding him. "Please... It was all a game... A joke... Hehehehe... uh... MAMA! HELP!!!" The following scene is so violent that the writer simply refuses to describe it. Let's say that Happosai was not a major concern to anybody for the following days as the rightfully angry women showed to the world, once again, that Hell is a pale thing compared with a scorned woman. ------------------------------------------------- The third person to feel it wasn't a martial artist with more than three hundred years behind of experience, nor a Joketsuzoku matriarch that had to deal with magic as a common basis. The third and last person to feel that event was Nodoka Saotome. She was humming a soft song while cleaning the dishes of a meal at her home with her part time (baka) panda husband. With Genma it was always a lot of dishes to clean. But the Saotome matriarch was happy. During more than a decade she had lived lonely between the walls of her house, not a home due to the absence of her husband and her son. Finally even with all those problems her son was with her! For another following minute it was all perfect in Nodoka's world. Then she felt that gut wrenching pain as she dropped to her knees and the dish that she was cleaning smashed into a thousand pieces when it landed against the floor of her kitchen. She clenched the fabric of her kimono as the pain grew for some eternal moments. But as soon as it came it passed, leaving Nodoka trying to regain her breath. Soon she was standing upon shaking knees, disoriented, not knowing what to do. But one thing was sure. Something had happened to her son, something far more drastic than any training Genma could think of. "Ranma..." she silently whispered as tears flowed from her eyes and the void that she had lived with during more than ten years entered again in her soul moments before she fainted. ------------------------------------------------- Midkemia. Time unknown. Two young boys, one brown haired in contrast to his taller friend who was blond were looking to where minutes ago the strange clad warrior from the alien ship stumbled in the sand of the beach. Prince Arutha and his guard company were near them and, to the two young boys, it seemed to be the reason why the powerfully build warrior had tried to escape. Tomas and Pug, still under the shock of the strange encounter and their exploration of the wrecked ship, were both standing there stunned. Both had their mind swarming with thoughts, much of them unpleasant. Pug was concerned by the rolled parchment tucked near his heart, by the power that it emanated; strange but at the same time comforting to his now opening mind to the wonders of magic. Also for the short boy it was another proof along with the feat with the trolls that he was not a so wasted prospect of magician. He could feel the power contained on the scroll and knew that it was something important even if alien. Maybe Kulgan could discover the hidden proprieties of the parchment? Tomas for his part was more concerned by the problems he would have soon as his presence here was discovered. He was still doubtful of the authority of Pug as a noble of Duke Borric's court but that wasn't the only thing that had him concerned. Apart from the fact that Swordmaster Fannon was going to eat his liver for losing a sword the presence of the mysterious ship and of that strange clad and armed warrior was in his young mind the first winds of upcoming problems for the Kingdom. Next time he would hear his instinct; next time that he would have an "ill feeling" he would run in the other direction. Pug's mind was still swarming by his discovery and was more than relieved to see Arutha arrive when his magical senses, already reacting to the power of the scroll exploded making him to wheel towards the sea. Tomas' reaction to his friend's sudden move was to spun, following his foster brother towards the sea as if expecting another danger to materialize, but apart from the sea and a clear, even if cold day, there was nothing. "Pug what's the problem?" He asked to his (almost) brother. If the smaller boy had felt something (it could be magical) he was ready to help as he could even if he was without his sword. Again he swore Ruthia's bad luck. Pug senses were making him to look to the clear blue sky. At first glance there was nothing there but he was sure to feel something powerful. But to his eyes there was nothing. Arutha was soon near them and with the skill he showed in almost anything where he put his mind to, descended from his horse with a grace that was more than learned. He quickly approached the young pair. Even if some years older than them he was more than friendly, in his obscure fashion that is, to the strange pair. Also was the fact that he was forever in debt with Pug for saving his sister Carline from those trolls. Yet now something seemed to be disturbing the pair more than the already far away remainings of the crashed ship that he had come to see following the orders of his father. He was silently glad that someone had been there before him and more if it was those two. After his men had dealt with the strange man the younger boys should have felt more relaxed but it wasn't the case. None of them were giving the slightest attention to the alien warrior. The two boys were nervous. Or more accurately Pug was looking towards the clear sky and his troubled demeanor was influencing Tomas. "Squire Pug is there something wrong?" He asked softly. Pug seemed startled by Arutha's presence and fought for some moments with his surprise but with his characteristic wit speed recovered. "There is something Highness..." He started to say when some disturbance made them look up again, this time clearly felt by the three of them. A couple of hundred meters _above_ the water a disturbance, a blue grey nothingness appeared like a scar in the blue skies. It was pure energy and Pug's senses were overwhelmed by the power coming from it. So much that it was painfully forcing him to bring his hands at his head clutching it, dropping to his knees. Before Arutha or Tomas had time to react to what was wrong with Pug a scream could be heard from above and a red-dark shape could be seen ejected towards the sea at high speed. It impacted before anyone could move their eyes from the rift but almost immediatly it closed and the men looking to it reacted to the shout. But not before prince Arutha and Tomas had, leaving their boots on the beach starting to swim towards where they could see the unmoving shape. The scream, human, forced both young men to try their utmost to save whoever it could be. Both were good swimmers as was anyone living at Crydee and soon they reached the shape. Tomas took a slender, definitively feminine shape as Arutha took what seemed a huge pack made of leather and one of her arms helping the blonde boy. Soon they were moving the woman towards the shore where some of the prince's men were waiting for them to lend whatever help was needed. In some moments they reached the shore and soon the coldness that characterized Arutha when dealing with stressful situation came to the fore. Before allowing himself to rest he was shouting orders about the ship, the unconscious alien soldier and the young girl. Then, after being sure that his orders were being followed and some men returned to Castle Crydee asking for Father Tully and his father presence, he turned towards the girl he helped to save. He was more than surprised by what he saw when his men made place for her. Fair skin, soft features that gave her an undoubted beauty and blood red hair, red like none of the presents had ever seen, was braided in a short tail. She wore a red, sleeveless shirt made of silk with black loose pants made of some strong but soft material that was tied to her ankles. Her clothing was finished by a pair of ebony slippers. Her forearms were strapped also in a black material. And all of it was soaked by the sea water pressing to her body like a second skin displaying her body, unwillingly making more than one of the men present to blush. Soon, even before anybody had time to move she groaned and stirred slowly opening her eyes. Deep blue eyes, that looked to the people gathered around her without recognition. She mumbled some words that none understood, started to move but soon, as if the effort as been too much, she fainted. "Your Highness!" Arutha looked back where one of his men, one of those that moved the pack once he and Tomas reached the shore, was examining it. "Yes?" "Look at this!" He pointed to a sword hilt that was emerging for one side of the pack. For the first time the young ConDoin could see the pack that, presumably was the red headed's possession and he was impressed by the sheer size of it. So astonished he was that he said his present thoughts aloud. "By all the gods how can a girl so frail-looking move something like that?" One of the soldiers, that was near the pack, shook his head. "Aye sir! But it's worse." Arutha gave him a puzzled look while the other men, Pug (that had soon recovered after the rift closed) and Tomas looked at each other and to the unconscious girl. "Me and a couple of lads took the pack when you arrived to the shore... Highness please try to move that _thing_" he said while pointing to the pack and its sword. Arutha approached it and looked at it. The pack seemed to be made of a worn leather and apart from its size and a strange hilt for a sword coming out of it seemed to be normal. Arutha took one of the grips of the backpack and pulled it to try to lift the pack. "Try" being the key word as the young prince discovered that the pack seemed to be far more heavy that what he could lift. He looked the man that had spoke with an incredulous gaze. The soldier and a couple of his comrades nodded as if reading the thoughts of their liege. "Aye sir. I tried first to move it as soon as we could stand upon the shore but I wasn't able to move the bloody thing. I needed the help of two more men to move it and even then..." Arutha swallowed hard and looked to the girl. It simply couldn't be human to move that kind of weight. He looked more closely to the pack and decided to removed the strange hilt. He suspected it to be more heavy than a normal sword so he braced himself to the struggle but soon could feel that the sword was, in fact, way more light than even his rapier or the sword used in instruction by Fannon. He slowly pulled it free from the place it had been trapped with in the pack and found it to be a slightly curved sword. Arutha pulled the blade free from its scabbard, that barely registered a resistance, and with a slight "click" was free. The men' eyes, as well as Pug's, Tomas' and Arutha's widened as they found that the blade was reversed. In the place where the edge should have been the blunt side replaced it and vice-versa. The blade that was shining, sending reflections, seemed to be made of a metal similar to silver but without being it. Arutha moved it several times to test its weight and found it to be nearly perfect. A detail took his gaze: what seemed to be some kind of dragon was in one side of the blade while in the other a strange, magestic, bird was. And under each were ingraved some strange signs. He slowly re-sheathed the blade in its black scabbard, and put it at his side while giving his own sword to one of the men near him. He looked to the presents and, looking to the direction of the castle, he could notice more people coming in their way. "Four of you will guard the warrior and the young girl. Help Father Tully once he arrives in taking care of the... prisoners. I want four of you to take the pack to the castle and start to unload it. Take also the things that could be saved from the wrecking of the ship. If Master Kulgan has returned ask him to assist to the study of the objects. The rest of you be silent until my father has taken in consideration this matter. It's an order!" "Yes, your highness!" roared the men and even Pug and Tomas stood firm; Even that young Arutha's voice was commanding. The men, like the unit they were, started to move to follow the orders of the young prince. After looking that all was done, Arutha turned to Pug and Tomas more serious than both boys had ever seen the prince. "We need to speak." Both boys nodded. ------------------------------------------------- Midkemia, glades of Elvandar 70 years later. In a glade, between the eternal giant trees of Elvandar a couple of elven boys were sparring under the strict gaze of a man they both called "sensei". Following the advice of Calis they had started to learn what the sensei called "Aikido". Graceful in the ways of their people they started to learn what in the birth world of their master was an art for the harmony between yourself, your opponent and the universe. To the elven ways this was one of the arts of battle more attuned to them, or the Spellwavers 'work. The man watching them, correcting their stances and movement from time to time was a towering figure of more than six feet, powerfully build but without being bulky. Usually he was clad from head to toe in black, but today had clothed himself with the usual white of martial arts masters, without using the black hakama that went with the status of Aikido master, instead a simple black belt at his waist. Powerful muscles were relaxed, crossed upon his massive chest while his black hair was free with the breeze that always transported the unique sent of Elvandar. His eyes, so pale that they were nearly white were looking to the young boys that seemed to be lost with in the complexities of the alien martial art. Yet as everybody near him they could feel his power raging even if contained in the powerful frame. The man was smiling, smiling because of the place where he was, a place that like his brother Tomas relaxed him and softened the harsher facets of his personality. He was smiling because he was at peace knowing that what he had done, what he was doing and what he was going to do was something _good_. And what was be more strange to that man was that he was loved by someone that once he believed to hate and for this and other things his heart was happy. Also he was happy because one of his few friends, one that he had himself trained was about to appear in the glade he used for practice and teaching. He didn't needed to expand his senses to know how it was. Valheru blood called to Valheru blood, sang to it with a song that was as older than time. "Hope that I don't intrude." The tall man smiled. "Never that , my friend." He clapped his hands twice signaling to the twin boys to stop. "Topac, Chapac! Get some moments of rest. Go to see your mother and look if she needs some help." Both boys smiled twin smiles and dashed out of the training area, bowing before exiting the area. It was tradition, and their sensei was very strict with tradition. "They are good boys. You're lucky." Said the man to the newcomer. "Yes they are, and yes you're right Ranma." Ranma turned with a swiftness that wasn't human and smiled a youthful grin to Calis. This one also smiled back to his own sensei resting little importance to the displays of the Valheru's natural ability in Ranma. He himself had some of that blood, due to his father duality with Ashen-Shugar the last of the Dragon Lords to remain in Midkemia. But Ranma was something more, a Valheru engendered by another Valheru, introduced into a matrix of power years ago that allowed more than a change as it was with Tomas. With Ranma it was a recreation of a being he had been before into the being he was now. "Well what is my old student doing here? I would have guessed that you were with your wife." Calis laughed. "I wish it was so but Mother and Father want you and Ranko to share our meal. They believe that you spend too much time training the boys and any other that wish to learn." It was Ranma's turn to laugh. "I am what I am now because I was to be a master to your father and Pug. Now this is what I want to do: travel, learn and teach to those that want to learn. It makes me happy." Calis smiled and, with could be called a sly smile, asked. "And what of Ranko? Don't tell me that you only train with her?" Ranma had the decency to blush. "Why you!" Faster that what Calis could see, Ranma grabbed him by the tunic, pulled and sent him flying. As strong as Calis was his strength was small compared to his father's or Ranma's. But this toss wasn't so unforseen as it was expected. So while laughing he started to spin and landed swiftly on the ground and turned around facing the Valheru. "Now, now, now... That's not a way to treat your nephew." He said while grinning. "Umph! You young pup! Your mother should have taught you some manners." Ranma answered while trying to sound molest, which only caused Calis to laugh harder. Suddenly Calis' laugh was joined by a silvery one but no one could be seen. Then a sweet voice sounded surrounding them. "Oh please Ranma, Calis only wants to have some fun. You remember what's fun like right?" Ranma simply muttered a word in a language that Calis couldn't understand, but knew to be the Valheru's tongue and suddenly he could feel the power stirring with in Ranma. He waved a hand and the whole area reaped. Ranma smirked as Ranko appeared head down hanging from one tree above himself and Calis. He looked up and with a grin answered. "Yes I remember very well what fun is," he paused. "As I believe you remember yourself... After all we had some "fun" yesterday night. Didnt'we?" Ranko blushed and muttering "jerk" released herself from the tree's branch falling. Ranma swiftly caught her as if she weighed nothing and laughed as Ranko threw her arms around his neck and kissed him passionately. "Calm down woman!" tried to say Ranma once she released him and trying to sound reprimanding and failing miserably. Ranko pouted as she tried to appear sad but her eyes were happy. "Don't you love me anymore?" Ranma laughed along with Calis and suddenly he threw her up. Ranko simply muttered some words, stopped in the air and she returned floating towards him resting there, levitating, as she hugged him from behind. "Tell your parents that we will eat with them with pleasure." Said Ranma to the smiling Calis. Calis looked to Ranko who nodded while signaling Ranma with the thumb "Yeah what the big guy said." Ranma looked at her while smiling to his lover. "You still make fun of me." "As I will always handsome." She purred seductively. "You have no shame!" Ranko grinned and it was a definitely wicked grin. "As it should be Ranma-kun." They all laughed. Then Calis seemed to grew serious the good mood put apart. "There is something more." Both Ranma & Ranko looked at him seriously. They both knew that tone in Calis's voice. The same that he used when talking of his incursions to Novindus and Jakan's invasion. "Pug sent news. It's nothing as serious as with Fadawa but he said that he had found your world in the Hall. Pug as finally located your world Ranma." ------------------------------------------------- Earth Five months later. Ranma was walking in the streets of Nerima a place where he hadn't been since almost sixty years. He was looking at his surrounding now too alien for him to understand anymore so all was new to him. He had his memories of Nerima but they were tarnished with his perceptions as a Valheru. The rage he felt when remembering how he was abused was only restrained by his own code of honor and his love for the people that helped him while living in the Tendo dojo. Not that they were much. His face was pensive and he, almost automatically, brushed a strand of hair that the wind had blew away yet his eyes were vacant, looking to the past. Ranko was near him also looking to Nerima, the place she had knew while being a part of Ranma while he was cursed and knew how troubled his heart was. She had been a silent witness to his adventures while living in Nerima. She wasn't bothered by the thought of him finding his once love interest, not that she feared the feelings he could still have. She wasn't afraid because she knew that what was between them was way more solid than anything he had felt for any of his so-called "fiancees". They loved each other and that was enough for her. But she knew that Ranma had to lay down the ghosts from his birth world. Seventy years had passed since Ranma arrived to Midkemia and she knew that he needed to find what had passed to all the people he had met while living in the Nerima ward. She closed her cloak from the cold wind while her pigtail waved with it. She looked again to her companion his face an alien mask. It was in those moment, when he was deep in his feelings, than in any other that his face showed more the changes he had passed while becoming Valheru. It was more deeply integrated in him than in Tomas the only other being to pass for such a metamorphosis. One of the reasons why he had changed so little when the Valheru race departed forever from the cosmos to be one with the Ultimate or when Calis unlocked the Lifestone. He would forever be a remaining of what had been, a piece of the past from before the genesis of the very Time. She hugged herself. The Valheru. Dragon Lords for the sentient creatures of Midkemia. Ancient Ones. More than ten names to design the mightiest race to ever live in the cosmos ravaging it from one side to the other and what is more during millennias Ranma, or the being that he had been, lead them while they destroyed races and cultures centuries older than themselves, being the people of Aal the only survivors. Across the cosmos the Valheru were supreme. Until the Chaos Wars when they battled the Younger Gods and that war changed the cosmos forever. She shivered despite the hot clothes she was wearing. Ranma was wearing black boots and black pants along with a white shirt unbuttoned by his neck, the whole covered by a black long duster, his hands covered by fingerless gloves while his short boots marked silently his rhythm; a so inhumane rhythm. His hair was unbound; free of the once pig tail, there where some practical reasons for this along with the shades he brought. His ears were slightly pointed and his eyes, once of the deepest blue, were now almost colorless. Anyone looking at them would feel that what he was facing wasn't human. She for her part was wearing under a blue cloak the usual pants and slippers that she had grown to like while being one with Ranma along with a blue sleeveless shirt matching the cloak and hood that she had now giving shade to her face. She pulled the hood back and let her short pigtail hang free and put a hand upon the shoulder of her lover. "Ranma... care to talk of it?" Without looking he spoke in his soft voice. "Not really. This is more to let things clear than anything else." Ranko sighed in disappointement. Even with all they shared Ranma had still hidden reserves about his feelings, a remnant of the Valheru persona. most of the human feelings or ethics were unknown to the Valheru's race which was ruled by powerful emotions like rage or lust. To them power was all; their reason to be. But she needed to know. "Are you planning to go and see any of your ex-fiancees?" There. She had said it. She knew that Ranma loved her but even things being so there was a slight possibility that he had still strong feelings for those girls even if now they surely were married and way older. Ranma stopped his inhumane rhythm, interrupted it so swiftly that Ranko continued walking for some moments. She turned and could see that he had removed his shades and was looking at her, a strange glint in his eyes. Still silently he approached the smaller girl and gently lifted her chin, his fingers as soft as feathers, the strange warm that Ranma's body produced spreading upon her body, his eyes locked with hers. "I love you Ranko. There is no other than you in any time-space or world. I came here to put things right before we return to Midkemia. Nothing more." Ranko's beautiful face showed surprise. "Return? But since you arrived to Midkemia you had always the hope to return here. You said so." She separated from him and gestured to their surroundings. Ranma sighed. "That was a long time ago. I have seen so much, done so much... I have only come here to put an end to a part of my existence that was torn away from me so long ago. Also I think that you would have wanted to come here in flesh if only once." Ranko's face showed once more surprise. "Me? Why?" Ranma moved and even before the pig tailed girl could notice he had gathered her between his powerful arms. "You never had a chance to enjoy this world Sui-Lao..." He whispered her secret name and Ranko shivered but not from her memories of her first life as an adopted amazon or of the pain she endured in Jusenkyou. But because through their link she could feel his pain for her imprisonment in the void that was the pool of the drowned young girl. She could feel all his love and gentle nature that was so abused that it was short of a miracle that he could still love and feel joy even with the Valerhu madness that held him so much time. Again his voice sounded and it warped around her soul, threatening to make her weep as she smiled. "You died so young... I just want you to enjoy what this world never gave you... Because you deserve it." Then he was smiling and to Ranko that smile was like the shining of the sun, warming her with its strength. The she felt his fingers brush her unshed tears. "No tears today beautiful. Only smiles." She nodded and on impulse she grabbed his head and on tiptoes kissed him passionately like if all the universe rotated upon that single moment, upon that single, simple act. But she could feel his arms holding her closer while his heart beating at the same rhythm as hers. ------------------------------------------------- Time after they were closing towards the Saotome home, hands together, Ranma again with his shades, hiding his colorless eyes once again even if he doubted that someone would bother in looking him in the eye. Yet he could feel how people would stop, even if only some moments, to look at them, or more accurately to him. Like Tomas' people would feel, even if in a deeper level of consciousness, they would feel that something wasn't "right" with them. With the Eledehl it was worst because of the memories ingraved as deep as in their genetic code. It would make them feel fear or in the better of cases some deep respect that bordered that unwanted fear. With the rest of the mortal races it was a lesser felling because they were of a time after the Valerhu's dominion of the cosmos. They never were slaves of his race, never had to live beyond the whims of their Valheru lords. Fortunately. But there would be ever the feeling of difference, as if they recognized the Valheru power that cursed through his veins and Tomas's. To those lesser mortals it was only a weak signal that told them to be wary, but that was, as Ranma stated time and time again, easily overrode by other matters and rational thoughts. Ranma shook his head, a part of him somehow offended that those mortals wouldn't be kneeling by any of his slightly offensive gestures, while another part was grateful that the time of dominion and fear was gone. "Augh!" Ranko's elbow on his ribs brought him back from those thoughts. Was the now dominant thought that cursed trough his mind. The unique link they shared gave her some of his Valheru's strengths and magical abilities, not enough to harm him but yet enough to make him feel grateful that she doesn't have a mallet. Yet with her fist she managed perfectly well. "Yes dear?" He managed to say while rubbing his ribs. Ranko snorted and pointed towards the big traditional-like house in front of him. "I said that we have arrived to your mother's house." Ranma looked to the house that had been his home for such a short time and immediatly noticed that something was... Weird. As was his surroundings now that he observed. His confusion was big enough to be felt by the red head. "Ranma what's wrong?" She now looked concerned instead of frustrated by Ranma's lack of attention. "Nothing changed!" his voice sounded puzzled. "Huh?" She answered in a typical Ranma way. He gestured around him to the houses, the streets and everything in general. "Everything is like when I was sent to Midkemia! Nothing changed the slightest." Ranko started to look around and noticed that Ranma was right. "You're right! But how can this be?" she was now looking to her surrounding with her blue eyes troubled. Ranma pointed to the house. "Only a way to know." They approached the house and after a moment of doubt Ranma pressed the bell. After some moments of waiting they could hear steps coming from a stairway and approaching the door. It was open and an elegant clad woman in a violet kimono answered. Her hair, perfectly kept was of an dark red shade and her blue eyes looked to the pair with wonder. "Yes?" she started speaking before looking to the couple in front of her. There was a tall man in a dark coat with a dark hair that flowed like waves framing his face, shades hiding his eyes. He was familiar but there was something... disturbing. Then she looked to his companion and she paled. A petite red head in a dark blue cloak was behind the tall dark haired man but there was no doubt about who was the red headed beauty even if she seemed to be somehow older. "Ranma? RANMA!!" she rushed pushing the man aside and hugged her disappeared son in female form with a glomp that would have put in shame an amazon. "Ranma! where have you been? I was so worried! My baby is home!" Then she pushed back the red head and looked at her son in female form. "My! You have grown in that time! You look now to be in your... twenties!? But why are you still in your cursed form?" She said as some tears flowed from her eyes. Ranko was blushing furiously. That was something they had never expected. She looked to Ranma that was looking at her with what she guessed, by the feeling coming from their bond, to be confusion and surprise. Ranko sighed and took Nodoka's hands from her cloak as delicately as she could. Then looking her eyes in the ones of Nodoka she slowly spoke. "I... I am sorry madam, but you are mistaken. I'm not your son. I'm not Ranma. I'm... Ranko." Nodoka looked at her without understanding. The red head with surprising strength and gentleness turned the older woman towards the towering figure of Ranma "He is Ranma." Nodoka looked to the towering man before her and suddenly his hair was moving by itself as if alive breading itself in a style she knew very well. Slowly he removed his shades, that disappeared, and with a smile opened his arms as to hug his mother. Things may have been different as what he believed it was going to be but his mother was there. And above everything else his love for his mother had never disappeared. Nodoka looked to those nearly colorless eyes, noticed the slightly pointed ears but most of all she recognized the smile, that smile that her son gave to her several times before and after the wedding debacle. She threw herself to his arms and hugged him, her shoulders shagging as soft tears and sobs were released. Ranma simply hugged his mother back. Soon Nodoka was looking to her strange son and without thinking asked. "My son... What happened to you in the last three months?" Ranma, still hugging his mother, looked to Ranko the same expression of surprise across her face. Softly he repeated. "Three months?" A same thought crossed their minds "Oh crap!" ------------------------------------------------- Author's words. Well here is the second of my fics, I hope that you have liked the prologue. As for the people that don't know much of Mr Feist's works this fic will have enought info to allow them to follow it, so don' t worry. Yet it would be better to have some knowledge of the story. Believe me it's worth the reading. I know that a lot of people is waiting for the fifth chapter of Star of war. Unfortunatelly a good number of problems related to real life and computer emergencies have delayed me in finshing it, the major one is that in a computer crash I lost some thirty pages of it Also right now I have moved to another country (Belgium) to start college after being more than a month in South America (Argentina and Uruguay) so I don't know when I will have it ready. What I can say is that it will be huge, split in two parts and that part A is soon to be finished. So please be pacient. Anyway any question or C&C will be answered. To the people that I have still not answered their kind e-mails sharing with me their views of my story, I can't excuse myself BUT I have read them all and I'm very touched by all the support my little story has. As for the e-mails I had really little time so I couldn't answer them. Sorry again. To that I can only say that with luck I will answer them as soon as I can. This said, thank you again. Lu aka Dragonlord.