According to an ancient legend, ravens haven't always displayed the form
they have today. In the old times of myths and magic, their bodies were
bigger, sturdier, and their feathers were as white as the purest
alabaster. They were still every bit as proud as their modern day
descendants are today, however, and that pride was responsible for their
eventual downfall.

And maybe ours as well.

***********************************************************************
Wings of Fate Chapter 32 Together We Fall

Series created by John Evans and Ardweden
***********************************************************************

The darkness was surrounding her on all sides, threatening her sanity
with each passing second. Time seemed to have stretched to the point of
losing meaning altogether.

Shreeeeeek...

A slow, excruciatingly annoying sound resonated in the middle of the
room, as her long, hardened fingernails grated against her bed's
metallic base. They had transferred her to this cold, barren cell after
she tried to escape, and nearly throttled a guard to death. Her brow
frowned deeply. They? Who were "they" again?

Shreeeeeek...

Again, the sound invaded her mind, dampening her frustration at her
ever-more-muddled brain. It didn't matter much now. Not anymore. This
human vermin was going to die anyway. Nobody could treat her that way
and survive. She was one of the greatest spirits the world had ever
known, sister to Hugin and Munin...The warrior people would fear to meet
on the battlefield, her song of joy and hatred the last thing they would
ever hear. She was...She was...

Shreeeeeek...

She opened her mouth tentatively, and shook her head. Why was it so hard
to remember? She could almost feel the blood of her enemies on her
hands, hear their dying cries in her ears. Surely she could not have
forgotten her name...? Anger started rising in her body, making it
stronger than ever. They would never be able to break her like this.
Never.

Shreeeeeek...

"My name...is..." she said slowly, as if she was wondering aloud. "My
name...is...M...Macha? No...Mo..." A mere whisper at the beginning, her
voice was now raised in anger, a challenge to those who were trying to
bind her, to destroy her will. "My name is Morrigan! I am Morrigan!"

The blackness around her remained still, unfazed by her raging voice. If
her jailers were listening, they obviously considered that it was only
another sign of the apparent madness consuming their prisoner.

Satisfied by her own little victory, Macha let a small, knowing smirk
appear on her lips. Her anger was fueling her powers, making her body
stronger by the minute. And the spell she had cast on Judou should have
taken effect by now...making him...different. All she had to do now was
wait for him to remember. Then, she would kill him.

Shreeeeeek...

And she would be free.

***********************************************************************

One day, Raven decided to invite his fellow Spirits to a great feast
made in order to celebrate the creation of mankind. It was a happy
occasion, a time of pleasure and rejoicing, of friendly jokes and
banter. At the beginning at least. But the Spirits eventually became
satiated enough to stop eating, and then started bragging to each other.
"These humans are really amusing creatures, and I don't regret having
created them," cawed Raven. "I am most certainly Mother Earth's favorite
child now." Snake raised his head almost instantly and narrowed his eyes
at his host. "What kind of bragging is this, Brother Raven?" he hissed,
his forked tongue licking the last scraps of his dinner. "Are you
forgetting that I gave the gift of cold-blooded thinking to these humans
of yours?" "I taught them how to play and how to learn from their
mistakes," Monkey chimed in softly, gazing at Raven with a frustrated
look on his face. "Thanks to me, they learned the virtues of patience
and forgiveness," remarked Bear, who was shaking his head in
disappointement. Away from the circle of Spirits, Wolf bared his teeth
in anger. "You're pathetic! Humans would have never survived had it not
been for the hunting skills I taught them..." Snake returned his
unblinking gaze toward his white-feathered brother. "You only gave
mankind the gift of life, without caring or looking for them
afterwards," he hissed again. "They wouldn't have thrived to this extent
without our help." "The humans are not yours only, they are our shared
creation," piped Monkey with a grin. Raven's feathers bristled with
barely contained anger, because deep down he knew that his brothers were
right. But there was still no room for doubt in his conceited mind; he
had to solve this somehow, and prove that he was the greatest of Earth's
children.

***********************************************************************

A cold, uncaring wind was blowing around him, making the branches of the
pine trees near him whisper softly. Not that he was noticing the noise,
or even the coldness creeping inside his bones, of course.The only
reason why he was smiling was because this sudden wind showed that his
ritual was almost completed. The moonlight was casting eerie, contorting
shadows all around the clearing in which he was kneeling, strange
figures which seemed to slowly beckon to him before vanishing
altogether.

It was almost midnight; the assault on the prison where Judou and his
friends were being held would begin with the completion of his spell.
The Man in Beige named Rukeo, once a mere human being, threw his arms to
the sky and screamed an incantion in an ancient and harsh language,
triggering the last steps of the spell taught to him by his masters. The
surrounding woods started to tremble slightly, as if nature itself was
cowering from this blaphemous magick. Rukeo barely contained his yelp of
pain as a powerful, otherworldly energy began to enter his body, warping
his thoughts as well as his appearance. As the dark colors of the forest
were fading all around him to a soft, insubtantial grey, a small smirk
appeared on the face of the Man in Beige. These little upstarts would
never know what hit them.

As he stood up slowly, flexing his muscles, he still didn't notice a
sleek, black figure hiding behind a tree trunk.

***********************************************************************

Amano quickly pressed his feathered body against a nearby trunk, cursing
softly. Deep inside he knew that his former friend had gained tremendous
powers from the human-shaped Demons he was now working for, but it was
the first time he was really impressed by them. Impressed, and more than
a little scared.

This particular ritual, which was now attaining completion, would
momentarily sever this area from Mother Earth's tending hands, warping
the laws of time and space, and preventing anyone coming from the
outside from interfering. It would also keep its victims in until the
end of the spell. Judou's father shivered slightly, though the wind had
stopped blowing now, its influence banned from this newly-created pocket
dimension.

He had to use all his energy to keep himself from being pushed away from
the reality bubble when the ritual began, and now he wasn't sure of
having made the right decision. Even if Rukeo had access to tremendous
spells like this one, it was highly dubious that he was foolish enough
to take on a whole complex occupied by armed guards all by himself. His
masters must have decided to send some kind of help too. He could feel
it more than hear it, a soft moan reverberating all around him, a sound
of agony...and hate.

Shadowy forms began to rise all around him, their features hidden behind
a thin curtain of mist. As they began to follow Rukeo's retreating
figure in a slow, blind advance, Amano realized that the Man in Beige
would not need to face any actual resistance himself.

And if these things, these ghostly apparitions, found his son and his
friends first...

The Tengu repressed another shudder when he heard the apparitions groan
softly while floating toward their future victims. Maybe he wasn't the
best of fathers, and maybe he wasn't powerful enough to counter his
former friend's new trick, but now he knew that he had to do something.
He flew to the highest branches of the trees, trying to follow the eerie
horde and its leader without being seen.

He wasn't going to let Rukeo kill his only son too. Not without a fight.

***********************************************************************

Raven spent a long time thinking after the feast, pondering on how he
could establish without any doubt his position as the best Spirit. But
he couldn't imagine something to do which hadn't already been tried by
his brothers, anything they couldn't do better than him. Almost ready to
give up, he looked up at the horizon, and watched the sun rising in the
sky, as it did every morning since the birth of the world. And he
finally discovered what he could do to help his children and awe his
fellow Spirits. Full of pride before this new idea, Raven decided to
visit his brothers one at a time. He wanted to tell them that he had
decided to steal a piece of the sun. More than anything else, however,
he wanted them to watch him and envy his daring action.

***********************************************************************

Dr. Ichida Soujiro was beginning to feel really nervous about his
current situation.Now that he had accepted Soshi's offer, he was, in a
sense, feeling relieved. Somehow, he sensed that he had been given
another chance, the opportunity of changing his destiny, and of course
saving the life of his family.

But knowing that his newfound ally was now pushing him, at gunpoint,
toward the cell where this woman named Macha, was retained...Well, it
was rather unsettling, to say the least.

***********************************************************************

Inside her darkened cell, Morrigan suddenly stopped moving altogether,
her head cocked to her left as if hearing a noise that only she could
perceive. She could barely refrain herself from chuckling. Her knight
had changed his mind at last and was now coming to serve her, to free
her...

She could feel him coming closer with each passing moment, his presence
holding the key to her eventual freedom.

***********************************************************************

"Maybe I'm repeating myself," said Dr. Ichida with a voice tightened
with anxiety, "But was this really necessary?"

"And may I know how could we have achieved my demand otherwise, Doctor?"
Soshi whispered quickly to Ichida's ears, obviously annoyed.

The Doctor stiffened ever so slightly at Soshi's mocking tone. "Well, I
could have invented an excuse, go find your friend, and ask for her help
in order to free you afterward..." he hissed angrily.

Soshi slowly shook his head. "Doctor Ichida...Do you really think that
I'm as gullible as Judou, or as trusting as Akari?" he said in genuine
disbelief. "No, until you have proven to me that I can truly believe
your words, I prefer keeping your life in my hands," he nudged him
forward with the muzzle of his gun.

"I...see," said Ichida with a shuddering sigh. He had thought, after
having freed Soshi, that his allegiances would be clearly known. Such a
gesture would surely condemn his wife and his son, and most probably him
too, to a most excrutiating death by the hands of his employers if they
ever found out about it. But he couldn't really blame Soshi for being
cautious, or even being a little caustic about this situation. After
all, Ichida was partially responsible for his friend's current
condition.

Still he couldn't help shivering at the memory of how brutally Soshi had
beaten the guard he had called over after the end of their meeting. It
was not so much the brutality that had disturbed Ichida, than the fact
that he had reacted only when the young man had tried to kill the guard
with his own weapon. There had been a definite hatred visible in Soshi's
eyes then, as if some sort of primal energy, long kept hidden inside his
wiry frame, was now bursting to the surface of his mind. For a short
moment, he had thought that Soshi was ready to kill him too. Then, with
a long, strained sigh, the young man had regained his composure, dragged
the unconscious guard in his cell and locked it behind him, to finally
point his gun at the Doctor, asking him to lead him to Macha's cell.

Despite his anxiety, Ichida was quite surprised at how easily they were
progressing inside the base. It was purely a stroke of luck that Soshi's
cell was situated close to the area where problematic prisoners like
Macha were being held, but still...The lack of patrols or checkpoints
was rather strange.

An emergency status, maybe...?

Ichida quickly chased this possibility out of his mind. He would have
been notified by his personal pager if such a thing had ever happened.
Moreover, warning sirens would have been blaring then, and people would
be running in all directions. Instead, a eerie silence reigned all
around the area, as if some sort of gauze shroud had been wrapped around
the entire base. There was definitely something amiss here.

But it was only when he saw the door of Macha's cell without any guard
standing next to it, that he realized how queer their situation really
was. As a basic security protocol, it was deemed mandatory to always
leave someone guarding cells in which were held dangerous creatures.
Especially during an emergency status. There was no sign of struggle
around...In fact there was no proof that someone had ever been here
whatsoever. Ichida could feel his anguish swelling inside his stomach,
an insidious tumour now growing unbidden.

"Wait," he whispered to his companion, though in truth he wondered who
else could hear his voice in the desolate complex. "There is something
weird going on here..."

Soshi's voice rose above the stillness of the corridor, startling
Ichida. "Of course there is something weird going on, Doctor Ichida.
Frankly, I'm surprised you haven't realized it yet." The young man
chuckled softly, but there was no malice in his laughter, only a immense
weariness.

Then he poked Ichida's spine with the muzzle of his gun. "We don't have
much time left."

Ichida couldn't help gasping as they walked next to Macha's cell, his
astonished face slightly turned toward Soshi. "You mean that you're..."
he began.

Soshi let another short, weary chuckle escape from his lips. "Me? I'm
flattered that you're giving so much credit to me, Doctor. But though I
can guess what is happening here, I would have a hard time influencing
the laws of time and space." With a quick flick of his wrist he motioned
his companion to open the door of the cell.

***********************************************************************

As he had expected, Raven received nothing but bewildered answers and
mocking signs of denial from his brothers when he tried to explain his
plan to them. "Who do you think you are, for trying to banish the
night," each one of them told him. "Don't you realize where your true
duty lies?" Though he felt somewhat mournful after having faced such a
reaction from his brothers, Raven was too proud to give up so easily. He
spent the last night before his flight for the Sun's lair standing next
to a starlit pond, praying Mother-Earth for advice. But no matter how
hard he strove to reach her with his prayers, his Mother remained
silent. Misinterpreting this lack of answer as an aknowledgement, Raven
decided to go on with his plan. Before flying off to see the Sun, he
filled a flask with some of the pond's water and put it under one of his
wings, next to a small bowl of clay. Flying to the Sun's abode was not a
little feat in itself however, for the Great Spirit did like his privacy
and lived far above Mother-Earth's skin, out of reach for most of her
children. Raven, knowing there would be no way for him to rest along the
way, flew in a straight line toward his goal, without trying to stop or
even to look back at the face of his Mother. After a long, tiring
flight, he arrived in what he believed to be the area where the Sun
lived. Looking around him, the bird spirit noticed almost immediately a
small shack in the distance. Thin slivers of light could be seen going
through the planks used to build the house's walls, and Raven almost
uttered a cry of triumph. This was not the time for being uneasy though,
for finding the Sun's retreat was only the first step of Raven's plan.
He knew that the Great Spirit was too powerful, too stubborn, and too
shy to be convinced of coming closer to Mother-Earth. But there was
another way... With a knowing smile, he walked next to the shack's door,
and knocked on it strongly. Raven caught a glimpse of something moving
amidst the surrounding light behind the door, and quickly filled the
clay bowl he carried with his flask's water. The door opened suddenly,
and Raven placed one of his wings before his eyes in order to protect
them from the searing heat, all doubts vanishing from his mind. This
radiance proved that he had indeed entered the realm of the Sun. The
Great Spirit was now standing before him, both surprised and annoyed by
this unexpected visitor. "What are you doing here, little bird," he
asked Raven with a deep, booming voice. "Don't you know that I don't
like to receive guests?" Trying to stay as calm as possible before the
golden face of the irate Spirit, Raven wordlessly presented the bowl to
him. Now filled to the brim with water, it reflected perfectly the Sun's
image, much to the surprise of the Great Spirit. The Sun, who had never
seen such a thing before, smiled brightly, and started to play with his
reflection, making faces at it, and laughing like a delighted child. He
seemed to have forgotten the presence of Raven altogether. The bird
spirit, who was secretly glad that the stories depicting the Sun as
being somewhat childish were true, prepared himself to make his move...

***********************************************************************

Ichida fumbled with the ring of keys they had acquired from the guard
Soshi had attacked earlier. There were so many keys in it that he didn't
really know which one to choose.

"What do you mean, the laws of time and space?" he asked Soshi sharply,
forgetting the weapon still pressed against his back. "What exactly
happened to us?"

Soshi smiled almost absentmindedly, focusing his eyes on the locked
door. "Haven't you felt it while we were walking to this place? A weird,
tingling sensation in your guts?" After several long seconds of silence,
the young man sighed in frustration. Ichida was apparently too busy
looking for the correct key to answer him.

"We have traveled to a place far removed from the time/space continuum,
though it was not with our consent. Someone obviously wanted me and my
friends to end up here," Soshi finally said.

Ichida turned slightly to gape at him in shock, his fingers still
blindly searching for the right key. Soshi caught his gaze and smiled
mirthlessly at him, his gun's muzzle lowering a bit.

"I don't know who might be behind such a thing," he said quickly,
preventing the Doctor from speaking his thoughts out loud. "But I
suspect it could be the Man in Beige named Rukeo...The one who tried to
kill me and my friends not so long ago. Though I would never have
imagined that he was this powerful..."

Turning his attention back to his ring of keys, Ichida Soujirou's mind
was busy once more, working feverishly in order to make some sense of
what Soshi had declared. Now that the Doctor was thinking about it, he
clearly remembered having felt tired and dizzy shortly after he had
freed Soshi. But he had shrugged it off at that time, considering it as
a momentary symptom of his anxiety. But now...

Such a power was clearly beyond his own beliefs.Cutting the flow of
time? Ichida shook his head slowly, almost desperately, choosing a small
silver key from the ring. It was hard for him to admit that such a thing
could be possible, even with his previous job experiences. He couldn't
deny what he was seeing, though. This wasn't a nightmare, or an
illusion. He could feel it in his bones, a silent and blasphemous song
of sorcery, which had ripped him apart from his universe.

A faint sentiment of regret seeped through the Doctor's mind as he was
trying the silver key on the door's lock. Did he take the right decision
by casting his lot with Soshi and his friends? He wanted to protect his
family, of course, but on the other hand, what could he do for them if
he was dead? The lock clicked in a satisfactory manner, but Ichida's
mind was still working, shame replaced by incomprehension, then by a
slow tide of anger.

Soshi looked at Ichida's now slumped shoulders, his brow furrowed in
mild annoyance. "Is there a problem, Doctor?" he said quietly.

Deciding not to hide his feelings anymore, Ichida turned to his
companion, glaring at him. "You said that the intent of whoever has done
this, was to affect you and your friends," he remarked with an icy edge
in his voice. "That would explain why we haven't met anyone while we
were walking around. My coworkers are still in the REAL base, oblivious
to what happened to us, right?"

Soshi looked at his companion calmly, amusement shining in his eyes.
"You're right, though they will eventually find out about our
dissapearance," he said with a slightly mocking voice.

Ichida could now feel bile welling up in his stomach as he shook his
fist at the man standing before him. "Then why am I still here with
you?" he hissed, already guessing what Soshi's answer would be.

Behind them, in a slow, deliberate motion, the door knob began to turn
silently. With a barely audible click, the door opened a little, a thin
sliver of darkness still hiding the person standing on the other side.

"I already told you this before, Doctor Ichida," declared Soshi, all
traces of amusement vanishing from his face. "Since you have decided to
help me, to help us, it's only fair that you stick with us until the
end." He raised his gun at him again in order to make his point clear.

"I don't think this will be necessary, my pet, for his end is near..."

Soshi raised his head in alarm, and Ichida whirled to face the door, but
it was already too late. The door was now opened widely, gaping darkness
lying beyond. A long, gangly arm shot out of the threshold, grasping the
poor Doctor's throat, who yelped in surprise. Two reddish orbs flared in
the shadowy cell.

"For Morrigan knows not the meaning of the word 'mercy'," the being who
had once been called Macha said with a shrill giggle.

***********************************************************************

Raven looked at the crumbling bowl of clay, and knew he had to act
before the Sun's terrible radiance would destroy the item altogether,
ruining his chances of realizing his plan. The Great Spirit, enraptured
by Raven's gift, was still playing with his reflection, seemingly
oblivious to his surroundings. The bird- spirit bowed deeply in what
might have been considered as a revering gesture. Then, quickly removing
one of his pinion feathers, Raven cast a spell on it in order to make it
as sharp as the purest diamond.  Without any hesitation, he swiped it at
the Sun's hand, cutting one of his fingers cleanly. The Great Spirit,
crying in surprised pain, let the bowl fall to the floor, spilling the
water and thus breaking the enchantment. Raven picked the Sun's finger
up as fast as he could and flew away to safety. Growling in barely
restrained anger, the Sun hurled bolts of searing light after the
invader, charring his flesh and burning his feathers. Raven's flight was
rather dull and awkward at first, for he was busy  dodging the rays
thrown at him by the furious Great Spirit. Tied down to his realm by
laws even beyond Raven's comprehension, the Sun was soon unable to
follow the bird-spirit, however, or even to continue firing lightning
bolts at him. Raven was badly burnt, but he was still alive. And he had
succeeded in his daring mission. Now that he had a piece of the Sun with
him, he would be able to banish the night from his Mother's face.

***********************************************************************

Shuukou was wandering in a dark, silent forest, making her way through
spindly, strangely contorted trees. There was little doubt in her mind
that she was dreaming this gloomy landscape. She could still remember
herself lying down on her cell's bed a few hours ago.In fact, she had
remained awake for a long time then, her unmoving body and the neutral
expression on her face hiding her inner turmoil.

While moving around a patch of dessicated bushes, Shuukou wondered
briefly if this desolated landscape wasn't somehow the reflection of her
current state of mind. How could she lie to herself about her impending
fate after all? She and her friends were going to die, one after the
other, only in order for their jailers to learn Judou's secrets. And
Judou's father, who had promised to free them, hadn't helped them yet.
What if he had been killed, or had decided to change his mind...?

The young woman frowned slightly, noticing a faint fragrance around her.
It was as if the forest was surrounded by an invisible, sweet-smelling
mist.The trees around her were strangely silent, their dark trunks still
shining from humidity. No insistent whispers, no shouts, no advices, no
signs of dissapproval...It was rather unsettling, now that she was
thinking about it. Shuukou had always been able to perceive the presence
of the tree spirits, and she had learned over the time that the plane of
dreams was no barrier to them. The only way for her not to notice their
presence was refusing to aknowledge it in the first place, something she
hadn't done in a long time.

She clenched her right fist, her frown growing deeper. Was her despair
so deep, her resentment toward her jailers so terrible, that she was
afraid of facing the judgment of those that her heart held dearest?

Shuukou walked to the nearest tree, avoiding carefully its contorted
roots. Now that she was standing next to it, she could almost
distinguish warped features on its gnarled bark, as if this tree had a
grotesquely contorted face. She stayed there for a long moment, biting
slightly her lower lip. Even if this was nothing more than a dream, she
was now convinced that there was something unnatural to this tree, no,
to this whole forest.

This was not an ordinary dream. And she knew what she had to do in order
to confirm it. Without waiting any further, she put the palm of her left
hand on the branch hanging over her head.

She removed it a minute later, her eyes wide with shock. Shuukou had
focused all her thoughts into breaking a possible barrier existing in
this dream, almost eager for the reassuring presence of the
tree-spirits.But there had been nothing inside the tree she had touched,
nothing but total, utter emptiness. This was definitely worse than
having no reaction from it at all...The sound of something dripping
slowly from her outstretched hand abruptly broke her train of thoughts.

Bringing her left hand before her face, the young woman gasped softly at
the sight of the warm, red colored liquid which was covering it now.
Blood.

Looking around her quickly, Shuukou realized that it was the reason why
all the trees surrounding her had this glossy color. It was as if the
entire forest had been bathed in blood. A violent shiver ran through her
spine, and she started running in a random direction, wishing desperatly
for this nightmare to end.

She tripped and fell to the ground after a few meters only, the bushes
scratching at her legs like hungry specters. Refusing to let her fear
push her into screaming and sobbing, Shuukou stayed immobile, her face
pressed against the wet soil.

Until the sound of footsteps made her raise her head in surprise.
"J-Judou..." she said, only mildly surprised by the sudden appearance of
her friend. "What are you doing here?"

Judou stayed silent, looking at her with sullen eyes. He seemed
different, somehow. His face was pale and gaunt, his eyes bloodshot as
if the young Tengu had spent a whole month without eating nor sleeping.
He continued watching her dispassionately, his eyes expressionless.

"What am I doing here, indeed?" he finally observed, obviously talking
to himself. "Who am I?WHAT am I...?" He raised his eyes, as if he was
looking at something beyond Shuukou's reach.

"Judou..." she began, before gasping softly. Judou's form was changing
quickly as he started walking toward her, his traits melding in a blur
of darkness. He was becoming larger, and more monstrous-looking with
each step, his eyes flaring to life, his hands raised to grasp the
stars. Soon he was as a large as a mountain, his foot hovering above a
stunned Shuukou.

Ready to crush her like the unimportant bug she was.

***********************************************************************

Her eyes opened suddenly, and Shuukou woke up with a start, her heart
pounding in her chest. Shaking her head, she noticed hands slowly
swaying over her and prepared to pounce on this potential threat.

The "threatening" figure gasped in surprise at her reaction, and stepped
backwards hastily."S-Shuukou?! It's me, Akari!" cried her friend, her
hands placed before her in a defensive gesture.

Recognizing her friend's face, Shuukou let out a sigh of relief.
"Akari...? What are you doing in my cell?" she asked her, mainly in
order to hide her embarrassment at her own excessive reaction.

Now that her fear was slowly disappearing along with the memory of her
nightmare, Shuukou found herself strangely calm and composed, as if she
had been expecting, or rather, hoping this would happen.

Akari, a trembling smile now visible on her face, helped her friend to
stand up."I-I've come here to see if I could free you," she declared,
before looking at Shuukou worriedly. "When I found your cell, I saw you
tossing and turning in your bed. I tried to wake you up since you seemed
to be having a really horrible nightmare...Are you feeling better now?"

"Yes, thank you," Shuukou said quickly, the fleeting memory of her
recent dream clouding her face. She pointed her finger at the now-opened
door leading to the corridor outside. "What I really want to know is how
you managed to escape yourself," she said, slightly annoyed.

Shuukou gasped softly in surprise when, instead of answering her
question, Akari sat on the bed and hugged her tightly. Her friend was
trembling in her arms, much like a frightened fawn. Shuukou bit her
lower lip, regretting instantly having raised her voice like that.

Akari stayed silent for a few seconds, struggling with herself in order
not to cry on her friend's shoulder. "I don't understand myself," she
said softly. "I woke up from a short nap a few minutes ago, to find the
door to my cell opened wide, with nobody standing behind it. And the
weirdest thing is that there really IS nobody around. As if this place
had been abandoned. I wandered around, not knowing what to expect, until
I found your cell, its door open just like mine..."

Despite the fact that Akari had been recently possessed by a terrible
netherworld creature, Shuukou knew deep inside her that she still
trusted her friend implicitly. Such was the power hidden behind Akari's
brown eyes, a power having more to do with kinship than with magic. She
patted her friend's shoulder reassuringly.

"Well, in that case, we don't have any time to waste," Shuukou said
firmly. "We'll ask ourselves the reasons of all this later. Our priority
for the time being, is to find the others and escape from this base."
She turned to look at Akari, her gaze stern and solemn.

Going away slowly from Shuukou's arms, Akari wiped her moistened eyes
and nodded firmly. "You're right," she agreed while standing up. "We
have to hurry and find the others. I'm really worried about Kenchi."

Shuukou stood up too, and nodded briskly at her friend. "He desperately
needs your help," she said, looking at the door before her. Strangely,
though, she found that her thoughts were turned toward Judou. She knew
it had something to do with her recent nightmare, but the more she tried
to understand why, the harder it was for her to remember. The young girl
was sure that they had to act quickly though. The stillness of this
place made her think of a period of calm weather just before a storm. It
made her skin shiver in fear and expectation.

"I found your cell almost immediately," declared Akari, who was now
standing in the door's threshold. "I guess we're all held in the same
area...If we're persistent enough, I'm sure we'll free the others in no
time!"

Shuukou couldn't help smiling softly at her friend. Akari was probably
more frightened than her, and yet she tried to lighten her worries. She
rejoined her outside of the room, and looked around slowly. The
featureless corridor stretching endlessly both before and behind her
didn't really surprise her. What was unsettling, however, was that they
were the only sign of life in it.

This place seemed to have been abandoned for ages.

***********************************************************************

Raven had managed to escape the Sun's anger, but he soon discovered that
his rage had been transfered to the glowing finger he was carrying. The
piece of sheer radiance was becoming heavier and hotter by the minute,
tiring the bird- spirit, and eventually threatening to burn his wings.
For a long time, he ignored this increasingly painful burden, but, as he
was at last seeing the Earth's landscape spreading beneath his claws,
the Sun's piece litteraly exploded in his hand. Reacting on intinct,
Raven threw it away as far as he could, before being himself burnt to
ashes. Then, shaking his head in defeat before his loss, he returned to
his Mother's realm, and decided to hide his shame as well as his
injuries from his brothers. During the following night, mankind
discovered that a huge, silver star had appeared in the sky. This star,
which helped them afterwards to find their way in the dark as well as to
avoid predating beasts, was the piece of the Sun that Raven had tried to
bring back with him. It was the moon. The bird-spirit hadn't entirely
failed; he hadn't managed to banish the night from his Mother's face,
but by creating the moon, he had definitely helped his children to
survive. He had paid a terrible price for this half-success, though: his
white feathers had been burnt black by the Sun's fires, and his eyes had
become shrunken and full of moisture because of the Great Spirit's
painful light. Despite all this, he never said to mankind that he was
responsible for the Moon's appearance. His brothers, the animal-
spirits, respecting his decision, decided to let the birth of the Moon
be shrouded with mystery. For despite all his injuries, Raven had
discovered something after this adventure. He had realized that there
was always a price to be paid for everything.

I can already imagine what you're thinking: How could this legend exist,
if Raven never told anyone about his ordeal?I asked the same question to
my mother. She smiled at me then, and said: "You're on the right path."

***********************************************************************

Somewhere inside the base, Judou was tossing in his bed, his skin
covered with sweat. A series of whispering moans started drifting inside
his cell, carried by a ghostly breeze.As the chilly draught continued
his way along the endless corridor, a single, mumbled sentence passed
his lips.

"Who...am I?"

***********************************************************************


Newbie's notes:

Wouhou...My first Impro part! I sincerely hope I won't dissapoint all
the authors that wrote before me for this wonderful story. Well. I did
my best. I hope. ^_^;; My sincerest thanks go to Ardweden, for not
giving up hope on writing a fitting end to the adventures of Judou and
Co; and Lirazel and Maleski-sama for their invaluable prereading help.
Without you, I don't know if I would have been able to write as much as
I did.

Now, for the nitpicky questions that the authors in the queue might
have: -Macha/Morrigan: That's just something that had to happen, with
Rukeo tampering with the Spirit realms like that... Please bear in mind
that Macha hasn't reverted to her "goddess" status yet. She just became
more powerful. And uglier. ^_^;; -Ichida's fate: Don't think that poor
Doctor Ichida's fate is sealed after what you just read in my part. I
wouldn't mind seeing him survive in fact. -Soshi's plan: I don't think
that, as Macha likes to believe, Soshi has become her loyal servant. My
take is that he was thiking about freeing her in exchange for her help.
(Remember he's as surprised as Ichida by Macha's
reaction/transformation) Even devious bastards can't predict everything.
^_^ -Shuukou has an intuitive knowledge of what has happened to the
base, but that's all. As for her dream, who said that it wasn't
influenced by outside forces? Like Rukeo's ritual, or Judou's
"awakening"... -Finally, I tried using the Legend as a way of linking
all events together, hinting at the end that Judou might be dreaming
about it, and be the Storyteller. But don't hesitate to change it if you
want in future parts.

Well, I guess that's all. Thank you for reading! ^_^