Eternity

Part 1

By Mieren

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Mouri sat resting against a massive oak, occasionally fingering the bands around his wrists or the thin metal collar around his slender throat. In three pouches, several pockets and one largish bag, he had collected everything he was familiar with, praying that he would never need use some of the items in his possession. However, the elfin armory had proved to be all but worthless to his friends, the rune inscriptions etching the weapons acting as a barrier to their attempts to use the finely crafted implements of war. Mana had proved able to wield a few of the simpler items and weapons, as well as Shin, in forcing the energies in the runes to activate. The delicate engravings had shown themselves to be impervious to any bloodline that was distinctly not elfin, Shin's demonic heritage almost dooming his attempts as surely as the others. Strangely, Mana was powerless to use more than her son, causing the revived elf to wonder about her heritage. Something must have gone wrong somewhere. The what was beyond him. Mia could hold and use the weapons, but the runes would not activate since she held no true power. To her, they were simply weapons like any other.

Shifting uncomfortably, Mouri glanced around the group, disheartened by the bleak looks and slumping shoulders encompassing his friends. Four days had passed since Lanfear and her children had escaped into the outlands, abducting Cye as a final insult as they left. Four days since Mieren had died and Rowen had left. Four days since they had abandoned all hope. Mouri knew as well as the others that soon they would die. Almost everyone was injured, many mortally, and they were essentially unarmed and easily outclassed.

Sage in particular seemed stressed, his pale eyes locked on the ground under his trailing fingers. He looked up on occasion when one of his children or his wife prodded him, but he never responded with more than a bleak word or two. He often glanced at Shin before redirecting a heated glare towards the earth, his frustration mounting as the familiar visage furthered the possibility for an impending explosion. Logically, he knew that Shin was not responsible for anything that had happened to any of them, but his distinct resemblance to Mieren, Lanfear and many of her children had nearly unhinged him. It was a constant reminder of what they were facing and how badly they believed they were going to lose. Sighing softly, he glanced around as though praying that something, anything had changed. His eyes lingered on Kenji and Cale longer than any of the others, their dark blue locks tearing at his mind. Rowen's disappearance had affected him deeply, seeming to disturb him more than the thought he and the others were soon going to be killed.

Anubis seemed to be equally despairing. Now that his life was no longer in imminent danger, he had begun distressing and had taken up fidgeting almost constantly. He fingered his ever-quivering fox ears almost continuously, flinching every time he caught sight of his long bushy tail. The very sight of Rune seemed to send him into fits, provoking him to relocate himself quite often. No matter how the youko pressed him, struggling to convince him to allow them to train him in his powers, he only grew further agitated. No matter what their claims to his heritage, even with his obvious appearance, he flatly refused to admit that he was a youko and maintained his distance. After a few hours, Cale could take no more and forcibly pinned him, patiently waiting for his terrified friend to calm down enough to see reason. Anubis, however, was on the verge of a nervous breakdown and couldn't even bring himself to admit what he was, despite the grip the blue-haired man had on his tail, shaking it almost accusatorily. When the redhead finally broke down into ragged sobbing, Cale began warding off the youko, forcibly if necessary, in a frantic attempt to preserve his best friend's sanity. The foxes only reluctantly backed down when the blue-haired warlord lost his patience and transformed, whipping any youko that dared approach with a cord of darkness. Mieren had been right in one thing, they were stronger than they had originally known, proven easily by Cale's continual defeat of the youko, no matter that he was taking them on one at a time.

For a short while, Kenji had taken up fiddling with the armor orbs in his wrists. He abandoned his efforts when he somehow managed to set himself on fire three times in so many minutes, despite the fact that the orbs were distinctly for the elements of darkness and air. Firmly convincing himself that he would figure out the wretched armor later, he diverted his attention to his surroundings. In his own time, he had been a brilliant tactician, almost as good as Date's ancestor, Hideaki, had been. The sheer impossibility of what they were facing disheartened him further and he turned to the armor orbs once more, for whatever good they might be. His toying ended within moments when, once again, his forearms erupted in flame. Once again, the area around him cleared, escaping the stench of burned hair from his forearms. Kenji's eye twitched.

For a short while, Dais had resumed her illusion, once again appearing as the male Warlord they were all familiar with. After a few hours of traveling like that on the first day, she had decided that her energies were wasted on people who knew her secret and had unraveled the deception. Now, she and Sehkmet tried half-heartedly to begin a conversation, neither really in the mood to talk but both desperate to alleviate the deathly silence that had descended upon the group. That didn't stop the green-haired pervert from attempting to sneak peeks down his friend's shirt, certain that it couldn't possibly be real, refusing to believe that his best friend had deceived him for so long. After the seventh left hook from the incensed woman, he decided to believe the gender change.

Most of the others had clustered with their families, huddling miserably in what they were sure would be their last chance to be together. Mouri couldn't blame them, even envying their closeness in these dark times. He had tried speaking with Mana earlier, but the woman had no interest in anything anymore and sat closed to the world. Seeing that she, along with most everyone in the group, was avoiding Shin, Mouri motioned for the boy to sit beside him, which he gladly did. The boy's translucent jade eyes showed that he understood why he was being avoided, but also clearly reflected that he hardly thought the treatment fair. Even the youko, who had long awaited the ability to ally themselves with a dragon, were shunning him.

"This is how you prepare?" a cold voice rang through the silence.

Flashes of summoned armors and prepared spells blanketed the chill air as almost everyone scrambled to combat their attacker. Several gasps and soft oaths spread through the group when the speaker was recognized, though barely. Standing at barely five feet tall was a battered elf, looking to be in his fifties by human standards. Though elves were naturally thin, he appeared to be starved, eyes sunken and cheeks hollow. Every bone was clearly protruding from beneath his pale, taught skin. Lank russet hair, streaked with black and the occasional strand of silver or white, hung to the bottom of his shoulder blades. Scars adorned almost every inch of exposed skin and dried blood matted the old shredded clothes he wore. Some of the pale streaks across his face indicated that he had nearly lost his lifeless obsidian eyes to wicked blows on several occasions. Five great cats stood behind him, all fully grown and looking decidedly more rather dangerous than they remembered the beasts to be.

"Cye?" Mouri asked tentatively, holding Shin back when he tried to move forward to embrace his older brother. His much older brother, who had appeared to be in his thirties only four days ago. Wherever he had been and whatever he had been doing, he had been doing it for a very long time. Mana looked up, her eyes hopeful. Seeing him, she flinched and looked away, terrified by the look in his eyes and feeling that she had just lost one of her sons as surely as her husband.

"Jeez man, where have you been?" Kento asked, breaking the returning silence. "I mean, what happened?"

"I escaped three days ago," he said, trailing off. His left eye ticked in concentration. "I only disappeared four days ago from your perspective. I've been… training elsewhere."

Mouri's eyes narrowed, his sharp mind catching the meaning behind his descendant's harshly spoken words. Training elsewhere. He growled darkly in sudden realization of how Cye had aged so brutally in such a short time from their vantage points. He had a dark suspicion of where he had been as well, which, if he was correct, was not a comforting thought. Before he could press his heavily scarred and clearly irritated descendant, Cye continued.

"Most of you should not be fighting," he muttered, his rough voice carrying clearly. The heavy scarring on his throat suggested damage to his vocal cords. Several irritated and wary looks were thrown in his direction along with a few glares. Seeming blind to their doubts, he went on. "I found a place where you will not be disturbed and I want you to stay there." His cold black eyes roved across the group. "Mia, Mana, Ritsuko, Kayura, Katari, Ryoko, Ella, Nasuti and Dais will leave."

Kayura's legendary temper flared, causing Sage to flinch. Her heated glare even managed to catch Cye's attention.

"You chauvinistic bastard!" she spat. "You're only leaving behind the women!"

Cye chuckled, a harsh grating noise that stood almost everyone's hair on end. The half smile he turned on Kayura caused her to back away several steps.

"Sehkmet, Akira, and Gau are to leave as well, along with the great cats," he murmured, motioning behind him to White Blaze, Chimera and their three grown cubs. At the renewed protests, he snapped at them fiercely. "I will not have you here just so I can baby-sit you! The weak and injured will leave!" His eyes trailed to Ryo, narrowing angrily at the sight of his crushed arm. "You will go as well, as shall anyone injured in the battle. I will not waste my time with the wounded and dying."

"I notice you're not sending your brother away," Akira spat. Something about this new Cye seemed to ignite his temper just by looking at him.

"He is stronger than anyone here save myself," Cye growled, sharp black eyes defying anyone to argue the point. "Shin will stay."

"What about the armor and the sphinxes?" Ryo retorted, not pleased that he had been selected to leave. Cye shrugged.

"The armor, though powerful enough to open the gateway to the astral plane, is powerless compared to anything you might find in the outlands. As for the sphinxes, the odds against you learning their powers before you die are astronomical." For the first time, Cye looked around thoughtfully. His obsidian eyes narrowed worriedly, showing the first emotion other than rage that he had displayed since his return. "Where are Rowen and Mieren?"

"The traitor died and Rowen disappeared," Sehkmet spat. Scowling, Cye rounded on the green-haired man.

"From what I understand, she saved my life and sacrificed her own to protect all of you," he murmured, a dangerous note entering his voice. "I assume that she's the one who told you to use the armors and the powers of the sphinxes? Pitiful. She of all people should have known better."

"Oh, she knew better," Mouri said dryly. "She was only pointing out our possible strengths in case you didn't return. She said that you would, but I could tell that she wasn't sure. So tell me," he chuckled darkly, changing subjects suddenly. "You've obviously known what's been going on for some time now. Why did you help them open the path to the outlands? You sent several of the others to the astral plane and guided the rest of us to Zairian's Ledge, appearing in several forms along the way to hide your presence and your knowledge. Did you think we wouldn't recognize you as the great cat? As the youko or the elemental? Why did you help them then, only to fight back now?"

Throughout his raving interrogation, he noticed Cye's already bitter expression slowly darkening into something murderous. At the look in his eyes, Mouri felt sure he had overstepped his bounds and that Cye would strike him down. Many others apparently shared that thought, for everyone except Shin retreated. The youth only stepped in front of the elfin sorcerer protectively. Seeing him calmed Cye considerably, but his piercing gaze did not falter.

"I believed then that I could reach the outlands and the powers there first. I thought that I could end this. After what's happened… after what I've learned," he corrected bitterly. "I know that nothing I could have done could have stopped them." He began some of the basic weaves for a gateway, his shoulders drooping slightly before he caught himself and snapped his muscles rigid once more. "You should also know that nothing you do in the next month will be able to harm Lanfear in any way. Though she alone of the group was unable to reach the powers or form of the outlanders, I know that she cannot be killed for at least one month."

"One month?" Kenji whispered to himself, already piecing together what Cye was talking about. More than anyone, he was familiar with Lanfear and her powers. Only one thing could have insured that she would survive that long, Cye having seen the results himself even without knowing the events that would occur. He nodded slowly, a wave of sympathy flooding his thoughts. Cye glared at his knowing look, his dark eyes promising a variety of exquisite pains if he should let on to the others what he knew. Noticing that look, Kenji decided to remain silent.

"Also, you should know that Menderren and Cehir are especially strong, more so than the others. I believe that Lanfear was blinded by the intensity of the powers of her children as they worked, so I'm not sure if she saw what I did." At the inquisitive looks he was receiving, he continued. "They, like Len and Vera, managed to achieve the form of the outlanders before the others ever broke through the warding."

Cye glared at Kenji again, who had nodded, certain now that he was correct in his earlier thoughts. He knew better than to say anything though, since he didn't feel that it was overly important for the others to know. At least not yet.

"Those who I've named, say your farewells now," he muttered, snapping the gateway open with strangely twisted weavings. Mouri nodded approvingly, knowing that the tangled weave could never be deciphered, let alone followed, by anyone who hadn't a hand in creating it. The training the hybrid had put himself through seemed almost unnecessarily fierce. Cye's lips suddenly twisted upwards in a vicious sort of smile. "Oh, and Dais," he said mirthfully, causing the woman to tense. "I'll be sure to keep your son in one piece."

Every eye immediately snapped to Dais, who had reddened and attempted to hide her face in her hands. Before anyone could ask her what Cye had been talking about, she started for the portal, only to be stopped by Mouri's slender arm.

"Son?" he queried softly, obviously curious. Dais pushed him away and again started for the shimmering gateway. Cye stopped her.

"Aren't you even going to hug him before you leave?" he asked, smiling maliciously and earning himself a foul look.

"Who is it?" Kento asked casually, his wide grin returning for the first time in days. Dais refused to answer or look up. When she wouldn't say anything, he looked to Cye instead. "Well?"

"Think carefully," Cye smirked. "Who has a daughter with white hair and a light purple aura?"

Every eye shifted from Dais to Sage instantly, the blond paling and shaking his head immediately. Several speculative glances were thrown at Katari's platinum locks.

"No way," Sage spat, setting his jaw. "That's not funny, Cye."

"Are you sure about this? 'The son born to trickery's might holds the powers I must fight. The true appearance revealed at last holds the key to the master's past.' Wasn't that what the sphinx of light said?" Cye asked innocently, crossing his arms. "Wasn't mother dearest revealed as a woman in the astral plane?" He hadn't been present, making several of the others wonder just how much he knew and how.

Sage looked helplessly from Cye to Dais, his already light complexion becoming more pallid by the second. Grinding his teeth audibly, he snarled at Cye.

"And why exactly are you bringing this up now, of all times?" he hissed.

Cye's amusement deteriorated almost instantly. "Because," he retorted logically. "You are the only remaining master of illusion, and so you shall be the one to fight Koxanama. If left unchecked, his illusions can be fatal. As you are all, for the most part, unaware of their abilities, I shall tell you this. An illusion can draw blood."

Snarling in the face of logic, Sage stormed off into the trees, past the darting youko that wished to avoid his temper. None of them had the wish to be barbequed by a stray bolt of lightening. Cye shook his head.

"Great," Gau muttered, his soft voice clearly audible in the ensuing silence. "My grandmother is a cross dresser."

"And a pervert," Ella added.

Finally escaping Cye's attention when he smirked at the two of Sage's children, Dais darted blindly through the gateway and disappeared. At Cye's imperious gesture, those named followed more slowly. Though not delighted at the prospect of abandoning their friends and family, they knew Cye's course of action to be the proper one. If they were truly as helpless as he claimed, they would only be in the way. Cye waited until they had all gone before slipping through himself and allowing the gateway to collapse behind him. He tossed something behind him as he vanished.

Kento picked up the mystery item and eyed it quizzically, his brain taking a moment to kick in and identify the complex technology. It was an artificial heart of metal and electronics. Ancient black marks that were clearly once blood streaked the metal, clearly proving that it had been used in the past, perhaps future. The future froze his blood. Why would Cye give them something that hadn't yet happened?

"The hell?" he muttered, as baffled as the rest of the remaining group. Uncertain of the significance of the strange contraption, he didn't object when Mouri pulled it out of his hands, teal eyes studying the object intently with worried eyes before it vanished into one of his pockets.

Light save us, Mouri thought, his heart constricting as he stared blankly at the ground. I know who Mieren is. His eyes hardened. He couldn't say a word without severe consequences. He glanced at the remainders of the group. What had they done?

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TBC…

It only gets weirder from here. Please R&R!