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Letters From Serenity
~By Tokyo Rabbit
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Chapter One: Ruins
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Elated, I reached out and took the object from his fingers. Awed by it's ancient beauty I turned it over and around in my tiny hands.
"It's from the Neo-Queen Serenity's Dynasty...." His kind brown eyes watched me with warmth.
The ancient ring's silver band sparkled even though it had been underneath the dirt for centuries. Encrusted in it was a precious stone that had been carefully cut and shaped into a heart; it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.
My heart swelled with pride, as I felt so special because this ring was an actual artifact and my favorite person in the whole entire world was giving it to me. This trust, love, and responsibility made me feel like a young woman, even though I was only four.
"Daddy!" I cried and threw my little arms around his neck as he scooped me up into his embrace.
Breaking the precious moment, a tall man ran into our quarters. "Dr. Lumiera! Come quick! One of the obelisks," he gasped for air, "It's collapsing!"
My father sat me down quickly and lightly touched my nose, "Stay here Serene. We'll take care of this!"
Worried and frightened, I helplessly watched my strong father run outside with the other archeologist. A voice in my tiny heart was telling me that something wasn't right....
The memory of that day, sixteen years ago, was still so fresh in my mind that it seemed like yesterday. Every one of the diggers held onto their cables very tightly to keep the ancient crystal obelisk from falling but it was no good. Everyone got away except for my father, who was crushed to death underneath its awesome weight. Often I thought it unfair that Nicholas Lumiera, my father, was the only soul claimed on that sad day.
In his memory, I became an archeologist like him. Some people think that strange because I'm the youngest person in my field but never let age fool you for I'm one of the best. I had somewhat struggled through all nine years of school and flew through college. Now I did what I loved best, however, something that had been called to my attention one of my last years at the university, something that stayed with me throughout my career was that for some reason, my kind was slowly dying out; no one wanted to know of our past it seemed. At first this revelation had bothered me, but now I silently delighted in it for I was in charge of one of the most controversial digs that had been shrouded in mystery for over three thousand years. Give or take.
"No, Adela. That's Mercurial...." I pointed to an old slab of crystal where an almost obsolete language was etched into it. "That slab was found near the Vieux-Princess Mercury's chambers."
"Oh, that's right. For some reason I was thinking that it was Vieux-Mars'," one of my interns said while picking the fragile slab up.
Watching her walk back to her workspace, I winced when she nearly tripped over a weathered rock.
The year was now 5085 S.C., making it almost four thousand years after the Shige Wars. To catch you up to speed, let me give you a quick history lesson....
Sometime in the thirtieth century, AD, Neo-Queen Serenity had reawakened the world from its icy sleep history books call the Freeze. Of course you must know that much of our history or you wouldn't be listening to my story. Under the rule of the fair Vieux-Queen, a name given the first wave of rulers, all the planets in our system and others that had been unable to support life began to grow into utopias, like Earth.
You must also know about the Sailor Soldiers, right? Yes, you must. Everyone knows about them. Well, when all planets grew whole again like they had been in the Silver Millennium, their respective princess took to their thrones while still under the rule of Neo-Queen Serenity and King Endymion. However, after the Shige Wars everything changed; for some reason the Vieux-King and Queen disappeared without a trace, taking their Imperial crystals with them, leaving the Vieux-Queens of the past to rule the court. As a result of all of that, Earth plummeted to a savage and undeveloped world where only the most technological structures could keep standing.
A sudden wind began to kick up dirt, violently disturbing everything around me, ripping me from my calculations. A few of the tarps we had laid over fragile objects began to curl up under their weights as I went sprinting around waving my arms frantically, yelling at the inanimate object responsible, "No, no, what are you doing?!"
A plane was making its decent down to the earth below it, and while it came closer for its vertical landing its jet-like brakes were sending strong winds down to us. Even a few of the long-weathered pillars began to shift in the ancient sand. They would ruin everything!
Panicked, I began to shout out orders to all of my interns and diggers, "Ah! Tie those down now! Someone get a cable on that before it sinks too far!"
In all the mass confusion and panic, we all rushed around, quickly tying and securing everything we could with our laser-like cables. It's the future, what did you expect?
The sleek object made its landing and then took off again, depositing four or five human beings and a large amount of luggage. I instantly rushed over to the new comers, fire in my veins, "What do you think you're doing?! Air travel is not permitted here! Only my crew has authorization to descend to Earth from the Silver Counsel! And besides, what idiot would even attempt to land this close to the ruins?!"
They turned to me all giving me degrading looks as if they were higher than I, making me feel like a child. That of course made me even more so angry.
"Are you listening?! You have some explaining to do before I make a report on you!" One of my most flattering qualities: my irritable temper. But this was a serious offense.
The one who seemed to be in charge handed me a compilot nonchalantly. Furiously I read the document that gave 'Dr. Conway and his colleges' clearance to fly to Earth and land-- Dr. Conway?! I looked up and sure enough, there stood the tall, handsome, inconsiderate man who also so happened to be an archeologist AND my rival. What the hell was he doing here?! I had no inkling of the answer to that question, so I asked him, "What the hell are you doing here?!"
"My, my, Dr. Lumiera. Such language." He spoke coolly, making me glare at him. "The Silver Counsel is unhappy with your progress of finding evidence leading towards the Silver Imperium Crystal. So they asked my team and I to help you along."
"I don't need any help!" People began to gather around to see whom the idiot was. Which idiot that was, the one yelling or the one who landed, I didn't know.
Dr. Conway smirked, "Come now, Rena, be reasonable."
"I am being reasonable, Darren," I added an extra bite to his name, "You're presence here is unnecessary."
"Apparently not," the handsome JERK turned to his team, "Start setting up. We'll be here for at least a couple of weeks."
That was the last straw. Brashly, I stomped to my quarters and picked up a communication compilot that was among many on my cluttered desk. As if something I had been working on for years would just happen for him in a few weeks! THE NERVE! My finger pounded on speed dial. A face blipped onto the screen, "Kyosusumu, capital palace of the Silver Court. This is Sana speaking, how my I help you?"
You may have noticed the constant mention of the Silver Counsel or Court. As there is no true head of the Silver Court we have today, the ruling monarchs from each planet have created a counsel. It may seem to you a good way to rule but without the one who controls the Silver and Gold Crystals, our ways are slowly deteriorating. With such a gathering of people we had to have a central place for everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) to delegate, so one of Jupiter's moons was transformed into the capital, Kyosusumu.
As far as how the ambassadors were chosen, just as the Vieux-Sailor Soldiers had discovered their destinies, so had the current ones. They were reincarnations of their past selves who, unfortunately for us, did not remember the Shige Wars. The one thing that would unlock why Neo-Queen Serenity and her family have not been reborn yet into our world, they didn't have: memory.
"This is Dr. Rena Lumiera. Please direct me to the Topaz-Queen of Uranus. Thank you."
Another technicality of our court system; each of the ambassadors of the Milky Way (all but Earth) oversaw a certain field of something or another that needed overseeing. Topaz-Queen Adrastea was the head of Travel Affairs, especially forbidden areas of the universe like undeveloped galaxies or planets not quite ready to join the Counsel, prison stars, and other such things.
Another face blipped upon the screen, replacing the last, "Dr. Lumiera, good to see you."
Pish! Good to see you my- "Ambassador Adrastea, Dr. Conway and his crew have just arrived on Earth."
"Yes, I do remember authorizing that. Is there a problem?"
Problem?! "Well, I do remember the Counsel appointing me the head of the archeological investigation of the Crystal Tokyo Ruins. I had no idea that the Counsel felt I needed any help." Despite my rage, I kept my composure in front of an old friend and superior of mine.
"Rena, take no ill will towards the Counsel or Dr. Conway. It was unanimous throughout all the Universe's delegates that this mystery must be solved as soon as possible. We need all the help we can get."
"Okay, thank you for your time," I sighed and turned off the communicator.
"So you see, I am needed here," a deep voice came from behind.
Surprised, I jumped two feet into the air and turned to see Darren Conway inside of my quarters, smirking. I felt my rage build up again instantaneously and through gritted teeth I admitted my defeat, "Perhaps, but we're not going to solve anything bickering at each other."
"You're coming to terms."
I winced, "So, we need to cooperate. Deal?"
"Deal."
For some unknown reason, the man got under my skin. It was always the same-- he'd be one step ahead of me and I would be nipping at his heals with all my hard work and him looking so cool and smug. That might be the reason behind his huge ego and also for my dislike.
I looked at my watch, sighed, and then stepped outside into the fading day, "Okay everyone! It's time to start tying everything down!"
Earth was an unpredictable place now so sudden storms would appear out of nowhere and beat down on my team. It happened at night more than day, giving us a somewhat awkward pattern to go by, so as the sun begins to set, we close everything down. There were temporary buildings placed up over certain parts of the ruins so we could work on through the night, but everything else had to be protected from the savage weather. I of course didn't have to explain that to Dr. Conway and his colleges. He knew everything, or so it seemed....
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Restless, I stepped out into the cool evening from viewing over some slabs in my quarters. A storm was definitely coming; a nice sized one at that. Something that I had begun to notice about the abrupt storms was that they all seemed to be centered on the tall, almost eerie, palace-the closer to the crystal construction, the stronger the deadly storm. The thought had crossed my mind that it was another one of the secrets and mysteries of Crystal Tokyo Palace. It was not an impossible conclusion.
As my thoughts deepened on the storm, the winds picked up and began to howl. Not a soul was outside, no one but me. But something seemed to be calling my attention and through the blinding wind my eyes traced along the crystal towers of the palace. Then, a strange thing happened- a dim light, barely even visible due to the night's shade and my blonde tresses blowing into my face, flashed on and off. It was a steady beat, like a beacon. But that was impossible! No one would even dare to go in the palace at night; it was too dangerous and there was a ghostly feeling to it. Some of my interns have even had some strange 'sightings.' But my feet seemed to ignore all of that because I had begun to walk towards the mysterious light and had only paused due to the beacon turning off. What was going on? Finally I found myself in front of the towering front doors. Well, it seemed that I had gotten myself into a pickle because it took at least four people or special equipment to open the massive doors. Neither of which I had.
"Ug..." In frustration, I leaned up against the doors and instead of being firm and unmovable, they flew open with feather-like ease. Caught off guard, I fell onto the dirt covered marble floor, sliding back a little ways from the force I had exerted.
"Ouch." Wincing, I stood and brushed myself off. What just happened?
Looking at the doors swinging in the strong winds outside, my curiosity grew. They reached unreachable heights and were hundreds of pounds each, so why had they opened by the slightest of touch? I began to walk over to the entrance to investigate but as soon as I reached out to touch one, they swung shut with such ferocity that they surely would have crushed anyone standing in the way and a powerful wind blew back towards me, making me stagger. Rubbing my ears, trying to make the ringing stop from the deafening boom, realization began to sink in: I was trapped.
Heart racing, I ran to the doors and pushed, pulled, and leaned against them. Nothing even seemed to contemplate moving for me as they had just done. So it was final, I was trapped in the haunting castle of Crystal Tokyo. A shiver rippled through me. It seemed that I was going to be spending the night there, so I began to look for some sort of something to sleep on.
The palace was really a beautiful place constructed mostly out of crystal and marble. Glittering chandeliers hung high over my head and ivy grew all over the ancient walls. Almost all of the artifacts found among the ruins had been removed for study or museums. Still, I knew deep in my heart that the palace used to be one of magnificence that no one could even dream of. Sure there were some pictures in history books, but none too many inside of the palace.
A lingering thought came back into focus as to why I was here in the first place. The beacon! Taking a small item from one of my many pant pockets, I clicked it on to begin my investigation. With my flashlight showing the way in the pitch-black corridors, I thought about where I had seen it. It had seemed to be in the highest tower, so that was where I headed.
Getting deeper into the structure, the air grew colder and the atmosphere grew more disturbed. A soft moaning sigh reached my ear, sending shivers up and down my spine. I quickly turned in the direction it had come from. My light shone into an empty chamber that must have been a room. Nothing.
"It was just the storm," I told myself, trying to calm down.
Resuming my trek, I wondered if this was a good idea. If I had an accident and hit my head on a piece of marble scattered across the floor, who would find me? It could be days before I was rescued and then it might be too late. Or what if I did see a ghost? A ghost¼. That was enough reason to turn around and wait by the entrance like I had originally thought to do. But just as I was turning to head back, a flash of light caught my eye. Another came, and then another. It was the beacon!
I turned the corner and came to a pair of double doors. The light was shinning from underneath the doors, blinking consecutively. This was a portion of the palace we had not explored yet for it was impossible to open the doors. We tried everything humanly possible including a large work force, machinery, and small explosives but they remained undisturbed. Not even scorch marks had been left.
"Hello, is someone there?" I called through the doors, but no response came- just the light.
I looked around for something to maybe try to help pry the doors open, but found nothing. Then a thought crossed my mind about earlier. Walking up to the doors, I reached out a slightly shaky hand and pressed gently. They began to swing open and the light grew to a steady, blinding force. Having to shield my eyes, I took a cautioned step forward. The light faded and I dropped my hands to have a look around. It was another hallway and there was no trace of what had caused the light. So what was-unfortunately, my question was answered before I could even finish it.
A woman dressed in glowing white came from a room to my left in a hurry and turned, looking about her as if expecting someone to jump out of the shadows. I thought for a moment she saw me but made no gesture to confirm it; she had looked right through me. On her neck and wrists sparkled what I assumed to be jewels galore and she had yards and yards of flowing, luminous pink hair. But this didn't bother me, nor was it the reason for my heart slamming against my chest or the reason as to my shaking like a leaf. The young woman--I could see right through her slightly glowing body! It was a ghost!
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End
1-21-03
First Edit 9-18-03