El-Hazard is the property of Pioneer/AIC. This fanfic and all original 
characters are property of dooky. Oh, and the excerpt from "Smash" is 
courtesy of the Offspring. Yep. dooky likes punk. Get used to it.

EL-HAZARD: THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME

The Shape of Things So Far-

As the only person now capable of producing a new generation of 
Roshtarian princesses, Fatora reluctantly decides she must do her duty. 
Mari is working in Nanami's restaurant, and has attracted the unwelcome 
attentions of Parnasse. Makoto and the priestesses reveal the text of the 
Heretic Prophecy- unfortunately, it is completely meaningless, and has 
obviously been carefully encrypted. Qawoor and Makoto set out to 
translate it. Doctor Amiri approaches Alielle and Fatora with a plan- to use 
her advanced medical technology to allow them to have a child together. 
Makoto tries to investigate the link between Ifurita and Qawoor, and finds 
a strange man present in Ifurita's thoughts. Mari is reluctant to speak to 
Mr Fujisawa, having apparently fallen out with him in the past. When the 
time comes to implant Fatora's child, Amiri decides she is under too much 
stress, and Alielle opts to take the baby instead. Investigating a remote 
outpost, Jinnai finds Sakura Tamaro- who, on transportation to El-Hazard, 
has somehow become fused with a Demon God...

THE FOURTH MONTH: "TAMARO NEVER DIES"

Day 97

Although she would never have admitted it, Diva's new guest was really 
starting to piss her off.
She knew little about this 'Tamaro' character. Jinnai, on the other hand, 
seemed to be very familiar with her, and held her in extraordinarily high 
esteem. Precisely what this woman had done to deserve the admiration the 
commander of the Bugrom forces himself was far from apparent.
The information that Diva had managed to extract told her very little. 
Tamaro was an 'idol'. When she had asked for a definition of this term, 
Jinnai and Tamaro answered with blank expressions. Apparently neither 
could offer a sufficient description of an idol's function, except that it 
involved singing, and then writing one's name over and over again in 
order to satisfy admirers. Neither of these abilities were of real use in any 
conventional battle strategy, so Diva was puzzled by Jinnai's excitement.
True, she had arrived in this world in the form of a Demon God. But so 
far, she still hadn't shown any real power- apart from accidentally freezing 
five hundred Bugrom to death, and she couldn't remember doing that. In 
the past week, all she'd done was slouch around the hive, complaining 
about lower back pain and how she couldn't understand the stupid bugs.

But what worried Diva more than anything was the effect Tamaro was 
having on Jinnai. Fair enough, perhaps he wasn't always right. But Diva 
and the Bugrom accepted that his word was Not To Be Questioned. 
Tamaro was, apparently, unaware of this rule. She answered back. 
Unbelievable. She was unashamedly critical of Jinnai, questioning his 
every decision in a most disrespectful way. But, even more incredibly, 
Jinnai simply accepted it.
This was not the leader she knew.

Jinnai vaguely recalled reading something along the lines of: "never meet 
your idols- you'll only be disappointed."
Sakura was not at all what he had expected. She certainly came across 
better on TV than she did in real life. She was, he now realised, a 
complete bitch. Of course, this didn't change the fact that he really, really 
liked her.
He was instructing (well, yelling at) some junior bugs when Sakura 
strolled in.
"I still can't figure out how you did it," she said casually.
"Did what?"
"How you managed to convince all these bugs that you were a messenger 
from God." She chuckled quietly at the absurdity of the idea.
Jinnai gulped and looked desperately between Sakura and the bugs. 
"That's... that's because it's true!" he said unconvincingly. "You get out 
of here!" he screamed at the bugs, who quickly complied.
"What the hell are you doing?" he hissed at Sakura.
"Oh, come on now, Katsuhiko," she smiled. "You've got to admit it's 
amusing. You, a messenger from God? These guys must have had low 
expectations."
"I AM a messenger from God!" Jinnai snorted, indignant.
Sakura greeted this remark with an expression somewhere between 
incredulity and pity- albeit the sort of pity one feels for a wasp repeatedly 
headbutting a window, too stupid to comprehend the concept of glass.
"Oh my God... you mean to say you actually believe it? What are you, 
insane?"
Had anybody else said this, Jinnai would have had them tossed down the 
nearest dark pit without hesitation. But, well, this was Sakura.
"Just don't embarrass me in front of the bugs, okay?"
"I'm bored!" Sakura complained. "This place sucks. And what are you 
gonna do about this hole in my back?"
"That's Mizuhara's fault, not mine. And the sooner you figure out how to 
use your Demon powers, the sooner we can kick his ass."
Sakura still wasn't sure precisely how this Mizuhara was responsible for 
her current situation. "Who is he, anyway? A scientist, something like 
that?"
Jinnai nodded. "A diabolical scientific genius of the first order."
"I hate scientists," Sakura said, a statement which to her mind justified 
itself. "But you're the sort of person I like."
"Uh... really?" Jinnai blushed for the first time in five years.
"Yeah. Underachievers make me feel superior."
"WHAT?"

Day 101

Mari was not having a good day, even by her life's recent low standards.
The restaurant was full, which meant lots of work and talking to people, 
neither of which she particularly enjoyed. Plus, most of the customers 
were regulars, meaning she had to listen to their incessant talking and 
pretend to be interested. Parnasse was here too- infuriatingly chirpy, but 
that was hardly unusual.
Worst of all, Nanami was away at the palace, organising the catering for 
some conference or other. So her deputy, Mycea, had been left in charge.

Dutifully she took down the orders of Makoto, Ifurita and the three 
priestesses. Mari didn't know the priestesses personally, but had seen 
enough of them to have worked out the basics.
The blue haired, depressingly cute and unerringly polite one was Qawoor. 
The confident academic who kept one eye semi-permanently hidden under 
a surprisingly intimidating hairstyle was Afura. And the loud, abrasive 
redhead was, of course, Shayla.
"Why the long face?" Shayla quipped.
"What?" Mari responded, confused. Great. Now everyone on the table was 
looking at her.
"Cheer up," Shayla smiled. "It might never happen."
"It already has done," Mari said quietly, and walked away.
"Hey, what's her problem?" Shayla turned back to the others.
Makoto shook his head. "She's complicated. And I can't help feeling 
responsible. It's my fault she ended up here..."
"Master Makoto, you couldn't have known," Qawoor reassured.
Ifurita nodded in agreement. "You told me Mari was sad before she came 
to El-Hazard. If she couldn't find happiness on Earth, perhaps she'll find it 
here."

"Ow!"
"Look out," Mycea warned casually. "That's hot."
"Yeah, thanks," Mari snarled, clutching her hand. "I don't think I'd have 
noticed otherwise."
"Have you served table four yet?"
"No."
Mycea tutted quietly.
"What? Hey, I'm doing my best. I can't do everything at once!" Mari 
objected.
"They've been waiting nearly fifteen minutes, Mari."
"Well, they'll appreciate it more when they get it. Give me a break."
Mycea frowned. "You won't get very far in this job with an attitude like 
that."
"Oh, don't," Mari replied, her voice filled with venom. "Since birth I've 
dreamed of being a waitress. Please, don't shatter that dream."
Mari picked up a tray and walked back out to the customers.

"So," Afura probed, "How is the translation of the prophecy coming?"
"Not good," sighed Makoto. "We've looked into every language and 
encryption system we could find, and nothing fits. We're no closer now 
than when we started."
"I'm sure we'll find a way," Qawoor smiled, ever the optimist.
"I wonder what it really says," Afura pondered. "Our future could be 
written out on that thing, waiting for us to translate it."
"I don't know if I want to know the future," Ifurita replied. "Isn't life 
supposed to be about uncertainty?"
Makoto nodded. "I'm with Ifurita. To know the future, and not be able to 
change it... I wouldn't want that."
"You did see the future," Shayla said. "Remember? You predicted the 
attack on Princess Rune."
"Oh, I'm pretty sure that was just a coincidence," Makoto lied. He knew 
that something weird was happening. The premonition, and the strange 
connection between Ifurita, Qawoor and himself. And despite having 
mastered the finer points of dimensional transfer, he had no clue as to 
what was going on now.

Alielle tiptoed gingerly along the corridor, accompanied by Fatora.
"You know," Fatora said, "I think it's safe for you to walk normally."
"You think?" Alielle replied. "I just don't want to hurt the baby. I had no 
idea pregnancy was so stressful."
"Alielle," Fatora sighed. "You've only been pregnant for seventeen days. 
At this stage, most people don't even realise they ARE pregnant. Just 
relax, will you?"
Alielle's extreme caution wasn't totally unexpected. She had been 
interested in this idea from the start, so naturally she was taking it very 
seriously. Of course, she was still new to this, never having given 
motherhood much thought in the past for one or two fairly obvious 
reasons. Alielle had the potential to be a great mother, Fatora had decided- 
although she still had no such confidence in her own maternal abilities.
Still, the prospect of a miniature Fatora was nothing if not appealing. The 
child would undoubtedly be female- a quirk of the royal family's 
inheritance pattern, designed in ancient times to facilitate the efficient 
passage of the spiritual gene across the generations. To Fatora, this was 
just 'one of those things', but Amiri seemed to have figured out the 
mechanics of the whole system in detail. The doctor was seeing Alielle 
regularly, primarily to check her condition, but also, Fatora suspected, out 
of scientific curiosity.
"Fatora! Alielle! Good morning!"
Fatora looked up in surprise upon hearing the voice. "Rune?"
Princess Rune was, albeit with some considerable effort, walking slowly 
along the corridor. To Fatora's knowledge, this was the first time Rune 
had walked unaided since the attack. She instinctively lurched forward to 
offer assistance to her sister.
"Please, I'm fine," Rune objected, politely but firmly.
"Well, um, okay," Fatora replied, reluctantly deciding to leave Rune be for 
now.
"I said I'd be well for the summit, didn't I, Alielle?" Rune smiled. "And 
what about you? How are you feeling?"
"Oh, well, I'm okay right now, but I'm not sure I'm getting enough 
protein in my diet. Also I'm worried that..."
"She's doing great. Really," Fatora interrupted. Two and a half weeks of 
Alielle's hypochondria was beginning to take its toll.
"I have a surprise for you, Fatora," Rune said, making her way to the 
entrance of the conference hall. "Guess who's here?"
Fatora peered into the room.
"Ooh! Fatora! There you are!"
A familiar redhead, taller and more strikingly attractive than should really 
have been permitted, quickly came to greet Fatora.
"Hello, Princess Formyka," Fatora sighed, resigning herself to the fact that 
things were probably about to get much worse for the foreseeable future.
"You're looking great, Fatora," Formyka grinned. "Not a day over twenty 
five."
"I'm twenty one!" hissed Fatora.
"Well, I know what good friends the two of you are," Rune said, 
apparently oblivious to the blatant display of animosity before her. "I'll 
leave you to catch up on things."
Formyka watched Rune walk away. "I like your sister," she said after a 
while. "In fact, I like her so much, I may just have to seduce her."
Fatora nearly collapsed with fury. "You... you stay away from my sister, 
you... deviant!"
"Hmm..." Alielle pondered. "You know, something seems missing from 
this picture."
"Oh, I know!" Formyka said, snapping her fingers twice. Apparently from 
nowhere, her two servants and constant companions emerged, and stood 
proudly next to their princess.
"That's better," Alielle nodded, satisfied.
"So Fatora, what's it like being married?" Formyka enquired. "Is it really 
as unspeakably excruciating as they say it is?"
"Actually, I find it most enjoyable."
"So the lack of sexual freedom doesn't bother you? Interesting."
Fatora laughed mockingly, until she realised that, because of the recent 
upheaval, she hadn't had extra-marital sex since... well, since her 
honeymoon.
"Marrying Fatora is the best thing I ever did," Alielle said. "Especially 
now that I'm pregnant."
"Pregnant? Whoa!" Formyka gasped. "Wha... I mean... who's responsible 
for THAT?"
"I am," Fatora smiled.
Formyka looked from Alielle to Fatora, then back to Alielle, then finally 
back to Fatora.
"Fatora, honey... you are FULL of surprises."

It was early evening by the time Nanami finished overseeing the 
preparations for the royal summit's vast catering requirements, but she 
noticed that the sun was still high in the sky. And it was warm too, she 
thought as she crossed the central square, now almost deserted.
By her reckoning, it was early June. A year in El-Hazard was the same 
length as an Earth year, although the preferred calendar here- the Zubian 
system- was rather elaborate and difficult to get to grips with.
She flicked through the lists of supplies she still needed to order in. That 
was a lot of food. The summit lasted a week, and, as she had discovered at 
the royal wedding, royalty had notoriously large appetites.
The last sheet she came to was something very different. Having 
witnessed the futility of Makoto and Qawoor's daily efforts to decipher 
the Heretic Prophecy, she had decided to lend a hand. Not that she knew 
the first thing about decoding, but it couldn't hurt to try. So she'd copied 
down the text of the prophecy- although her Ancient Roshtarian wasn't 
that great, so she'd written it in good old Japanese instead. The prophecy 
was, at least technically, an official secret, but as it was effectively 
meaningless at the moment, the priestesses didn't mind Nanami making a 
copy.
As she got closer to the restaurant, she heard the sound of a child crying. 
Really crying. Upon closer observation, she spotted Miz outside the 
restaurant, trying to control Mika, who was in the midst of a tantrum of 
truly spectacular proportions. 
'And that's why I don't have children,' Nanami thought to herself.

"Mika, come on! That's enough!" Miz said, attempting to reason with the 
unreasonable.
Mika continued unabated. "I want ice cream!"
"No, Mika. They're closed, look!"
"Energetic, isn't she?" Nanami approached the scene, trying to look 
sympathetic.
Miz looked up. "Oh, Nanami. I don't know what's got into her. She's 
usually so well behaved."
"All kids do it," Nanami said. "She isn't old enough to understand. Why 
don't you come inside? Let her wear herself out."

Nanami led Miz and the still hysterical Mika into the empty restaurant.
"If she really wants an ice cream so bad, she can have one."
Miz shook her head. "No, no. She has to learn that she won't get what she 
wants just by kicking and screaming."
"That's, uh... a brave decision," Nanami said, observing Mika as she 
continued to tug angrily at Miz's arm.
And that's when they heard the singing.

"Smash is the way you feel all alone,
Like an outcast, you're out on your own..."

Nanami and Miz looked up, curious as to the source of the voice.

"Smash is the way you deal with your life,
Like an outcast, you're smashing your strife..."

It was a female voice, coming from the kitchen. And the voice was 
startlingly beautiful, so much so that Mika actually stopped crying in order 
to listen.

"Head over heels, I've fit in before,
Now I don't want to do it no more..."

Nanami leaned into the kitchen and saw Mari, quite unaware that she was 
being watched, casually singing as she put the dishes away.

"I just want to be who I want to be,
Guess that's hard for others to see..."

"Mari?"
Taken completely by surprise, Mari span round on the spot. 
"Oh! Hi! I was just..."
"Incredible!" Miz entered the kitchen, accompanied by Mika, who was 
now staring intently at Mari. "Usually when Mika starts crying, she 
doesn't stop until she's asleep. Thankyou, Mari"!
"Wha... what did I do?"
"Your singing," Nanami pointed out. "It seems to have calmed Mika 
down."
"Oh, right. Well, um... you're welcome, Mrs Fujisawa."
Mika trotted over to Mari and smiled up at her, and expression completely 
at odds with the rest of her face, still red from her earlier tantrum.
"Hi! I'm Mika!"
"Um, hi, Mika," Mari replied, bending down to the child's level. "I'm 
Mari. I'm glad to see you enjoy the classics."
Mika didn't really understand this, but decided it was probably a good 
thing. Satisfied, she went back to her mother.
"Well, we should be going," Miz smiled. "It was lovely seeing you again, 
Mari."
Nanami led Miz and Mika to the exit. "Okay, come back soon!"
She walked back to the kitchen.
"Mari, I didn't know you could sing."
"I can't really," Mari replied. "But, you know, I like to try."
"I'm serious!" Nanami reaffirmed. "I can't believe no one's ever told you 
before. You have a beautiful voice."
"You... um... really think so?"
Nanami witnessed Mari smile for the first time since she arrived in 
Florestica.

"She wants me to... WHAT?"
Sakura sat up suddenly, then got dizzy and almost slid off the oblong 
block of honeycomb she'd been using as a convenient slouching pedestal.
This reaction was rather puzzling to Jinnai. Surely, it wasn't much to ask.
"Diva wants you to sing," he repeated testily.
"But... why?"
"Well, duh, because you're a singer. That's what you do. And, since 
you're apparently incapable of causing the mass destruction we were all 
rather hoping for, Diva suggested you try something you're actually good 
at."
"Sing to who, exactly? Just her?" Sakura was, for some reason, noticeably 
nervous.
Jinnai nodded. "And the bugs. Make an event of it. Something from your 
third album, perhaps." He paused, then added, as courteously as he could: 
"But not track eight. I don't know WHAT you were thinking when you 
came up with that one."
"Well, I don't want to sing," Sakura said decisively. "Not for her, not for 
you, not for anyone." She folded her arms in a defiant gesture.
Jinnai sighed inwardly. Part of him felt he should have expected this, but 
unfortunately his judgement of Sakura was still clouded by the 
accumulation of positive media images he'd absorbed during his years as a 
Sakura devotee back on Earth. Sakura the great, Sakura the caring, Sakura 
the flawless idol.
"Aw, come on, why not?" he pleaded.
"It's my prerogative. As a professional bitch."
"Look," Jinnai frowned, "if you don't sing, that'll make me look like an 
idiot in front of Diva."
"Why should that bother me?"
"Because" Jinnai sighed, "I don't have total control over the Bugrom. 
Diva does. And if, for any reason, she happened to get... suspicious, or 
pissed off, or just plain bored with me, she could quite easily kick me out 
on the spot. Or worse. That applies to you as well. So on the whole, I think 
it's best if we do as she says. Clear?"
Sakura suddenly looked uncharacteristically small. "There's a... problem," 
she said feebly. "You see, I, uh, can't actually sing. Not as such."
"But... what about your shows? Your albums?" Jinnai asked, incredulous.
"They put my voice through an effects machine," she admitted. "Hey, if 
you mention this to anyone, you're dead."
'This is all I need,' Jinnai thought. It was at times like this he felt like 
banging his head against the wall. Just as an experiment, he decided to try 
it to see if it made any difference.
After a few knocks, he reassessed the situation. Sakura was still there. The 
problem was still there. The only discernible difference was that his 
tension headache had become slightly worse. Jinnai made a mental note 
not to bother with this particular stress relief measure in the future.
"Sakura," he said calmly, "you are going to sing. I don't know how, but 
you are going to sing."

Sakura looked out upon the disturbingly large number of Bugrom sat 
expectantly in neat little rows before her. The picture was somehow 
reminiscent of a school assembly, albeit in a school populated by a lot of 
large, ugly children.
In all fairness, the average Bugrom's capacity for appreciation of the arts 
was somewhat limited, partially because of their uninspiring social 
environment, and partially due to sheer stupidity. But to the Bugrom, this 
was still an exciting prospect. As they understood it, Sakura originated 
from the same higher dimension from which their leader had been sent. 
Jinnai had already pointed out that she was the greatest singer in his 
world, so to hear her sing was clearly an honour of unparalleled 
proportions.
Jinnai stood apprehensively next to Diva. Maybe it was him, but the 
already got the impression that she didn't like Sakura one bit.

"Good evening," Sakura began nervously. "Tonight I'd like to perform 
some songs from my third album, 'Sakura Loves You.' And I'll begin 
with one of my favourites, a song called 'Ooh Baby Baby Yeah.'"
As much as Jinnai could have prepared himself for the sonic nightmare 
that followed, it would never have been enough.

"Hey baby, when we met, ooh yeah, that very first time,
Underneath the mooooon..."

Truly, an acoustic assault on the ears of such horrific magnitude that even 
a vengeful Old Testament God might have considered it a bit on the 
extreme side. Jinnai's leg muscles began to tense up. He was busted for 
sure.
Diva turned to him. This was it.
"How curious," she remarked casually. "The aesthetic qualities considered 
desirable in music must be quite different in your dimension."
Here was a viewpoint Jinnai had simply not foreseen.
"I... huh?"
"Yes. We were always under the impression that hitting notes and keeping 
in time were the most important factors. Obviously we were mistaken. I 
look forward to learning more about your music.
Jinnai couldn't believe his luck. She was serious.
Then he realised, to his immense disappointment, that now he would have 
to endure this hideous performance in full.

By the time Sakura had finished her fourth song, half of the Bugrom in the 
front row appeared to have gone into shock, and it really came as quite a 
relief to everyone when the attack started.

Somebody was shooting at them, but it wasn't at all obvious who, or even 
where they were shooting from. Bugrom fled in all directions, but as they 
didn't know where to flee to, the ensuing scenes made for as fine a 
definition of chaos as one could ever wish for.
Sakura dived underneath her makeshift stage. Surely she hadn't been 
THAT bad.
A blue bolt of energy whizzed dangerously close to her face. She was 
going to die! The thought hit her like a ton of bricks. No, this wasn't fair 
at all.
A strange phrase popped into her head. 'Find Power Key Unit.'
That's odd, she thought. She didn't even know what a Power Key Unit 
was.

"Idiots! Morons! Imbeciles!" Jinnai screamed at the bugs as they ran in 
aimless circles. Eventually he ran out of synonyms and had to stop.
"Isn't anyone going to protect me?"
Immediately, fifteen bugs leapt on top of him. Any further commands, 
complaints or swear words were rendered inaudible.
Sakura found herself pushing through the frenzied crowd of bugs. 
Precisely why she was doing this was beyond her. Her instincts were 
telling her to hide, but something was driving her, forcing her to move.
Something caught her eye. Lying next to where Jinnai and Diva had been 
was the strange object that Jinnai had used to wake her. This was the 
Power Key Unit. Somehow she just knew.
She picked it up and aimed it at the source of the shots. There was a 
deafening noise, followed by quite a lot of blackness.

Ifurita opened her eyes, unsure for a few brief moments as to where she 
was. She turned to Makoto, fast asleep next to her, and prodded him until 
he woke up.
"What? What is it?"
"What was that?"
Makoto lay still for a moment. "What was what?"
"I don't know, I was asking you."
"Oh, go to sleep." Makoto turned over and went back to sleep, only to 
experience the strangest dream he'd ever had.

Day 102

Nanami ran as fast as she could towards Makoto's house. He wasn't going 
to believe this.

Makoto and Ifurita were sat up in bed. One way or another, last night had 
been very odd.
"That was one hell of a weird dream," said Makoto.
"Hmm..." Ifurita replied. "Could it have been another premonition?"
"This? No way! Too weird, way too weird."
"Tell me what happened," she urged.
Makoto laughed. "Forget it. It's too stupid."
"Oh, come on. Please?"
"Well, okay. But you have to promise not to tell anyone else. They'll only 
laugh..."

In her hurry, Nanami forgot to knock. A minor lapse of protocol, but 
under these circumstances, it was one she'd live to regret.
"Hey! Makoto, guess what? I think I've..."
It took her brain a few seconds to register that Makoto was sitting naked in 
bed with an equally naked Ifurita. Both of them were, justifiably, quite 
surprised.
"Oops."
Nanami hurried back outside, and tried to make the image go away. It 
didn't.

"It's really alright, Nanami," Ifurita assured. "You just took us by surprise, 
that's all."
Makoto and Ifurita were by now fully clothed, but for some reason 
Nanami still had difficulty looking directly at them, like somebody 
viewing a socially awkward solar eclipse.
"What is it you wanted, anyway?" Makoto asked.
She put a piece of paper on the table. "I translated part of your prophecy."
To Nanami, it no longer seemed quite as important as it did before. 
Makoto, however, did not share this view.
"What? How? What did you do?" He grabbed the sheet in excitement.
"Well," Nanami began, "It was strange. I had it written in Japanese, and I 
found that if I wrote out all of it in hiragana, then read down instead of 
across, it started to make some sense."
"But that's impossible... I mean, before we came to this world, nobody 
had ever even heard of the Japanese language."
Nanami nodded. "I know. But check it out." She pointed to the part she'd 
decoded.
Makoto read the section aloud. "It says: 'Bear witness to the shape of 
things to come...' Nanami, you're right! I think this is it!"
Nanami brightened a little upon witnessing Makoto's elation. "Yeah, I 
kind of got mixed up after the first line, but I'm sure I was on the right 
track."
Makoto read the first line over and over. Finally, it seemed, the Heretic 
Prophecy was within their grasp.

Doctor Amiri placed four jars of tablets in front of Alielle.
"Now, princess. Take two of the green every morning. Take one red in the 
morning and another before you go to bed. Take a yellow after meals, and 
three black each evening."
Alielle blinked. "Wait... let me write this down."
"What is all of this?" Fatora asked the doctor. "A cure for hypochondria?"
Amiri smiled. "I thought it best to give the princess something to stabilise 
her hormone levels over the critical period. It should only be for a few 
weeks. Plus, having some medication to take might calm her down a 
little."
"Okay," nodded Fatora. "There aren't any side effects, are there?"
"Well, curiously enough there is sometimes one mild side effect. But it's, 
uh, nothing you won't be able to deal with princess."
She winked at Fatora. Fatora stared back.
"Huh?"
"I have to get to the clinic now," Amiri said. "See you next week, 
princess."
She got up and left. Fatora frowned.
"Damn it. I hate it when people wink at me and I don't know what it 
means."

Jinnai looked down upon the cleanup operation in effect after the previous 
night's unfortunate incident. Sakura stood beside him, grinning broadly.
"Pretty good, wasn't I?"
"Yeah," Jinnai sighed. "Once you stopped singing and started shooting. I 
still don't get it. I thought you didn't know how to use your powers."
"It just came to me, I guess."
Jinnai shook his head. It was beyond him. One minute there had been 
chaos; the next, Sakura was firing huge black somethings into the air, each 
time scoring direct hits on Phantom Tribe gunmen.
Diva approached, looking a little perturbed.
"Mr Jinnai, the prisoners have regained consciousness."
"What? Prisoners?" Jinnai echoed. "I thought they were dead..."
"So did I. But it would seem not. However, they do appear to be suffering 
from a paralysis of some sort."
"Sakura, what did you do to them?" Jinnai asked.
Sakura shrugged. "Dunno. Just shot them."
"Allow me to explain," a voice said from nowhere in particular.
Jinnai, Diva and Sakura looked over their respective shoulders to see a 
Phantom Tribe boy, in his early teens at the oldest, standing alone with a 
bizarre grin on his face.
"Ack!" Sakura cried. "One of those blue guys!" She picked up her Power 
Key Unit, then accidentally dropped it again.
"Now, come along," the boy said. "You wouldn't shoot an unarmed man."
"I'll have you know I've made a career out of shooting unarmed men!" 
Jinnai screamed. "I'll... just who the hell are you anyway, kid?"
The boy's expression changed markedly to one of resentment.
"I'm no kid. I am Nahato. The leader of the Phantom Tribe."
"Hmm," Jinnai nodded. "Times hard, are they?"
"I can still have you killed, Katsuhiko Jinnai," Nahato said calmly. "The 
only reason my soldiers missed you last night was the mental torture of 
having to listen to your singing Demon God."
"Hey!" Sakura objected. "I'm a celebrity!"
"You're an Absolute Zero Class Demon God," Nahato corrected. "One of 
a kind, I believe."
"How do you know this?" Diva challenged.
"The Phantom Tribe are the most technologically advanced culture in El-
Hazard. We know a lot of things."
"So... how did I end up turning into a Demon God?" Sakura asked.
Nahato raised an eyebrow. "Good question, Miss Tamaro. From what we 
can make out, the Absolute Zero project was abandoned towards the end 
of the Holy Wars for one reason or another, you know how wars can be. 
The unfinished prototype was sealed away. But this model had a number 
of unique features, one of which was the ability to assimilate organic and 
inorganic matter to repair itself. When you were sent here, you apparently 
activated that system and became part of the Demon God."
"Okay," Jinnai frowned. "Why are you dispensing free information to 
people you were trying to kill last night?"
"That was a test," Nahato smiled. "We were curious to learn how 
effectively the Bugrom could defend themselves. And your Demon God 
was most impressive. Which is why I'm here to propose a strategic 
alliance."
Jinnai laughed. "An alliance? With YOU? Why would we even want to 
consider it?"
"Because our projections indicate your puny army would last 
approximately four days in a war with the Allied forces. We can help fix 
that."
"We're just not up to full strength yet!" replied a rather hurt Jinnai.
"I know," Nahato said. "Would you like to know when our projections tell 
us you will be up to full strength?"
"Yes! No! Um... maybe we can work something out..."
Nahato smiled a decidedly sinister smile. "Of course we can. We're here 
to help."

"Good morning, Mari!" Parnasse called to his favourite waitress as he 
entered the restaurant. "What a great day! Hey, Mari, where are you?"
"Not here," called Mycea from behind the counter. "Nanami's got her. 
The royal summit starts today. They're in charge of the food. So can I get 
you anything?"
"Oh... uh... no, I don't think so," Parnasse said dejectedly. 
Mycea shook her head. "I don't know what you see in that girl."
"What do you mean?"
"She never smiles. She rarely speaks, and when she does speak it's to tell 
you to go away."
Parnasse sighed. "Yeah, but she's so beautiful."
"You can do better than her, Parnasse," Mycea said. "She's nothing 
special. Think about it."

Mari did her best to keep up with Nanami as she darted from table to 
table, checking the final arrangements for the summit's catering.
"Hey, um, Nanami, is there something bothering you? Because you seem 
kind of distant, and, well, I know it's not much, but if you want you can 
talk to me..."
Nanami looked up. "Promise not to tell anybody?"
"Hey, am I likely to?"
"Well," Nanami sighed, "this morning I accidentally walked in on Makoto 
and Ifurita when they were in bed together."
"Cool," Mari smiled. "Did you see 'em naked?"
"What? Yes... I mean, that's not the point. The thing is... seeing them 
together... like that..."
"What did you expect?" Mari said. "They're in love. They've been living 
under the same roof for months. Ifurita ain't Belldandy, you know."
A smile crossed Nanami's lips. "You read Oh My Goddess? I used to read 
that."
"Yeah," Mari sighed, remembering. "What about Sailor Moon? Did you 
watch that?"
Nanami nodded. "Let me guess. You're a Hotaru fan."
Mari giggled. "You can tell? How?"
Nanami laughed too. Mari seemed satisfied.
"That's better. I don't like it when you're sad, Nanami."
"I'm not sad. I'm just... I was so sure I was over Makoto. Now it looks 
like I'm not..."
"Know what I think?" Mari offered. "I think you ARE over Makoto. But 
he's still your friend. And it can be hard to accept that someone you're so 
close to is, uh, intimate with someone else." She paused. "At least, that's 
what they say on TV."
Mari was suddenly grabbed around the waist by an excited blue-haired 
princess.
"Mmm!" Alielle squealed. "Hi! Who are you?"
Mari looked down in confusion. "I'm... asphyxiating. Could you loosen 
your grip a little?"
Fatora finally caught up. "Alielle, try to cool it, will you?"
"Fatora," Nanami challenged. "What's going on? Why is Alielle feeling 
up my waitress?"
"I think," Fatora sighed, "it's a side effect. Yeah, she's a little... 
affectionate today." Her voice trailed away as she appeared to notice 
something in the distance. "Oh my God... it's him."
"Who?" Nanami, Alielle and Mari asked in unison.
"Fran," said Fatora.
Alielle jumped. Nanami gasped. Mari just looked confused.
"That's bad, right?"
"Fran was once my fiance," Fatora explained.
"I was his servant," Alielle added.
Nanami continued. "But Fatora dumped Fran and chose Alielle instead."
"Wow," Mari said. "I bet he was pissed off."
"There's more," said Fatora. "He tried to defraud the royal house, and to 
frame Alielle. Don't worry though. I kicked him in the nuts."
"I wonder why he's here?" Alielle whispered. "Usually he sends 
somebody else in his place."
"We should tell Rune," Fatora said decisively. "Come on. That guy gives 
me the creeps."
"Okay," Alielle nodded. She grabbed Mari's arm again. "Nice meeting 
you!"
Fatora steered Alielle away.
"Sorry about that," Nanami smiled in apology.
"Hey, don't bother," Mari replied. "I'm actually quite flattered."

Rune, Fatora and Alielle sat at the head of the crowded conference hall. 
Alielle was happily rubbing her face up and down Fatora's arm.
"Alielle, will you knock that off?" Fatora hissed. "We're starting!"
Rune began her opening speech.
"Thankyou for coming so far. The purpose of this summit is to review the 
past year's events and to plan future strategy."
Something in Rune's voice caught Fatora's attention. Yes, something was 
ever so slightly different. So slightly, in fact, that it may have been 
nothing at all.
Rune continued. "To begin with, I would like to draw your attention to 
several areas which we believe are of particular importance."
There it was again, thought Fatora. A sort of unevenness in her voice, the 
kind of thing perhaps only a sister would notice. There was something 
wrong.
"Firstly, the priestesses of Muldoon have, as you are no doubt aware, 
discovered evidence that the Bugrom are rebuilding their forces."
Suddenly, it struck Fatora. Rune was in pain. Damn it, she was always 
pushing herself too hard. This was positively dangerous.
"Secondly, we will seek to resolve the dispute between Perallia and 
Stidiland..."
There was a mild commotion from somewhere near the back. A very tall, 
reasonably annoyed looking man stood up.
"What about the Opaques?" he demanded.
Rune narrowed her eyes. "Thankyou, King Fran," she said, in a more 
civilised manner than either Fatora or Alielle could have managed. "I was 
coming to that."
"Allowing them within Allied lands is a blatant security risk, as we have 
already discovered," Fran continued to anyone who would listen.
"King Fran," Rune said in her most commanding voice, "if you have any 
further points to make, might I suggest you make them at the proper time."
Fran reluctantly sat back down.
That told him, Rune thought to herself. Then suddenly she started to feel 
most unpleasant.
"F... Fatora?" she managed to say. "I'm awfully sorry, but I think you 
might have to take over for a short while."
Rune quietly fell forwards. Fatora didn't take over though. She was too 
busy screaming at people to do something.

"In order to best use your power, you must first understand how it works."
Nahato looked with mild despair at Sakura's blank, distant expression. 
This wasn't going to be easy.
"As I mentioned, you are an Absolute Zero Class Demon God. The phrase 
'absolute zero' refers to the lowest possible temperature, that is to say, a 
complete absence of energy. Are you following?"
"Wow!" Sakura said patronisingly. "You're really clever for a little kid!"
Nahato didn't suffer fools gladly. In fact, didn't suffer fools at all. He had 
them shot instead. But Sakura made him curious.
It had come as rather a surprise to everybody when one of the Phantom 
Tribe's technicians had discovered a horde of information about the 
Absolute Zero Class prototype in their databanks, especially as no-one 
could remember putting it there. Now, Nahato had the opportunity to find 
out just how accurate the information was.
"By interacting with the Power Key Unit," he continued patiently, "you 
are able to create temporary dimensional vortices which contain precisely 
no energy at all."
"Oh..." she said apologetically. "Is that bad?"
"No, no," he sighed. "That's the point. A zero energy bubble acts as an 
energy sink, drawing in all of the energy from its surroundings. Which is 
why you are able to induce temporary paralysis, or, with more effort, 
freeze an enemy completely."
Sakura was now humming quietly to herself (out of tune, naturally). 
Evidently, Nahato thought, she'd never studied physics. And he was right- 
Sakura hadn't studied physics, at least not beyond the playing-with-
magnets-and-iron-filings stage.

Diva emerged from the egg chamber feeling slightly odd. That last batch 
of eggs seemed rather easier to lay than usual. She shook her head, 
deciding that this was all probably related to the after-effects of Sakura's 
singing.
By now, Nahato had given up on Sakura and had moved on to Jinnai.
"This plan is GREAT," Jinnai objected. "What could possibly be wrong 
with it?"
"It's stupid," Nahato said matter-of-factly. "Your main attack party is too 
small. They'd be open to counterattack from here, here and here." He 
pointed to three areas on the map, then waited smugly for Jinnai's 
response.
"Well... yeah, so it's a risk," Jinnai admitted. "But I'm a risk taker. You 
can't win wars without guts."
Nahato frowned impatiently. In his own very special way, Jinnai was just 
as stupid as Sakura.
"Do you know what's been happening in Roshtaria recently?" Nahato 
challenged. "The Demon God Ifurita has returned. They have her on their 
side. Plus they've had significantly more success in rebuilding their armies 
than you have. Then there's the small matter of the Eye of God..."
Jinnai growled. "Yeah, yeah, I get the picture, they're great, we suck. Now 
are you gonna stand there and criticise all day or do you have a solution?"
"But of course," Nahato smiled. "That's why we're here."

The conference hall was in mild disarray now that the Roshtarian 
princesses had left. The rumour was that Rune had been taken to surgery 
after a rather important internal organ (debate was still raging as to which 
one) had decided to stop working. Fatora and Alielle had rushed away 
with her, so the assembled royalty now found themselves with nothing to 
do. And some royalty, for example Princess Formyka of Styrenia, got 
bored very quickly.
She saw King Fran of Dorusland walk to the front of the hall and glance 
around self consciously, as people usually do when they're about to start 
talking and are wondering how many people will listen, or indeed care.
This should be interesting, she thought.
Dorusland was a proud and respected nation without a doubt, but its ruler 
had absolutely no credibility whatsoever. That incident with Fatora, back 
when he was still a prince, was now legendary. Which made it all the 
more remarkable that he'd dared to show his face in Roshtaria again.
"Your majesties," Fran started. "I hereby propose an emergency defence 
bill."
"You can't," someone said casually. "The summit's not in session. Hadn't 
you noticed?"
"I beg to differ," smiled Fran. "Princess Rune did not dismiss the opening 
session."
Formyka was joined by her two servants. "What IS he doing?" she found 
herself wondering aloud.
"Now that I have your attention," Fran continued, "I shall explain the 
content of the bill I am proposing. I move that we ban all Opaques from 
Allied lands immediately."
Formyka almost laughed out loud. He couldn't be serious.
One of the rulers nearer the front put Formyka's sentiments into legal 
terminology. "The Opaques are a matter for local government and local 
policy. Some want them, some don't. Each nation is free to decide for 
itself."
"No!" Fran objected. "Their very presence compromises our security. And 
when the security of one Ally is breached, the others are all at risk. 
Nations like Roshtaria, Styrenia and Vandalia are not considering the rest 
of us, who live in constant fear of a Phantom Tribe attack facilitated by 
these so-called refugees!"
This got Formyka a little angry. She had invited the Opaques into her 
country for two reasons- firstly, it seemed more civilised than putting up 
border guards and electric fences to keep out anyone who was the wrong 
shade of blue; and secondly, she knew it would annoy her most recent ex-
boyfriend, a prince from a neighbouring country who didn't like the 
Opaques at all.
Her mind raced. How did a defence bill work? Didn't they need the 
approval of the Roshtarian royal house? Rune Venus would never let this 
bill pass.
Hang on, though...
This was an emergency bill. Formyka recalled that, under the Allied 
constitution, there were special rules governing this sort of thing. The 
Rostaraian monarchs had the ultimate power of veto- however, if no 
representatives of the royal house were present...
The bill could pass with a simple majority.

Oh God, this was awful. As a supporter of the Opaques, Formyka was 
very much in the minority. She had to do something...
She turned to her servants, whom she affectionately referred to as Number 
One and Number Two.
"Listen, you two, Find Fatora and bring her here. Do it quickly!"
"Okay, Lady Formyka!" replied Number One, the female member of the 
duo. "It'll be my absolute pleasure as always!"
"Hey," objected Number Two. "It'll be MY pleasure too!"
"We don't have time for this!" Formyka urged. "Just go! Go!"
In the meantime, Formyka would have to do her best to block the bill 
herself.

Formyka was not a political animal. She was much too nice, she'd always 
told herself. However, despite this apparent handicap, she was managing- 
just- to prevent the bill from passing.
Mind you, she'd been talking non-stop for twenty minutes now, and was 
running out of things to say.
"So, anyway, the barman says to the junior priestess, 'Do you come here 
often?' And... oh, this bit's good... the junior priestess says..."
"Princess Formyka," Fran growled impatiently, "this is completely 
irrelevant!"
"It's allegorical!" she insisted. "And if you'll let me finish..."
"It is not allegorical, it is an obscene and extremely juvenile joke which 
you have told twice already. I think we should move on quickly. All those 
in favour of the bill..."
"Bit I didn't get to finish..." Formyka started.
"Princess Formyka, will you please shut up?" Fran hissed. "Now, all those 
in favour of the bill, raise their hands."
There was hesitation. While the majority of leaders would have liked to 
support it, some disapproved of the way Fran had twisted Rune's 
unfortunate absence to his advantage. It was going to be close.
Fran looked out upon the show of hands. A slim majority, but a slim 
majority was all he needed.
He smiled a triumphant smile. "In that case, I make no hesitation in..."
"Bill overruled!" a small voice shouted.
Alielle walked quickly towards the centre of the hall, followed by 
Formyka's servants, both of whom looked exhausted. Seeing their 
princess, they staggered over towards her.
"Couldn't... find... Fatora..." Number Two gasped.
"Brought... Alielle... instead..." Number One finished.
Alielle addressed the crowd. "As a representative of the royal house, and 
third sovereign of Roshtaria, I hereby reject this bill on the grounds that it 
is..." She paused as she ran out of the flowery legalese she'd been learning 
from Rune, but decided to plough on anyway: "...sneaky and not very 
nice."
Fran looked as if he was about to explode, which, to Alielle at least, 
wouldn't have been at all unwelcome.
"How dare you! I won't accept this! I won't! You have no right to do this! 
You aren't even proper royalty!" This wasn't really true, but saying it 
made him feel better. "I remember," he fumed, "when you used to be my 
servant!"
"I got promoted," Alielle replied.
"You haven't heard the last of this," he continued. "You all support me, 
don't you?"
He turned to the leaders, who looked rather shifty all of a sudden. Nobody 
said a thing in response.
Fran muttered something extremely rude and stormed out.

The sense of relief was palpable as Fatora, Mari and the (largely 
unnecessary) surgical team filtered out of the palace surgery.
"I think that went a lot better than last time," Mari said. "I made a more 
professional job of the scar, anyway. She'll be able to wear a bikini now."
Fatora took Mari's arm in a gesture which was mostly friendly, but just a 
little over-friendly at the same time. "I had no idea you were the healing 
girl. I didn't get the chance to thank you last time."
"You're welcome, your majesty," Mari replied.
"So you've ended up working in a restaurant?" Fatora sighed in 
disapproval. "How does one gain satisfaction from such monotonous 
work?"
Mari shrugged. "I haven't been able to work that one out either."
"That's no job for a hero." Fatora continued, as a thought struck her. She 
smiled an evil smile. "Come to think of it, Miss Kurai, I might have the 
ideal job for you. A job full of excitement, action, and highly competitive 
rates of pay."
"Sounds cool," Mari replied hopefully.
Perfect, Fatora thought. She doesn't suspect a thing.

The Fujisawas surveyed the five foot high racist graffiti on the school 
wall, neither sure what was the correct thing to say under these 
circumstances.
"I first saw it this morning," Fujisawa said. "Fortunately it's not in full 
view, so I don't think any of the kids have seen it yet."
"Shouldn't they have removed it by now?" Miz asked.
Fujisawa scratched his head. "The cleaner says it's the wrong type of 
paint. It'll be gone by tomorrow, I'm sure. Hey... who did you leave Mika 
with?"
"Oh," said Miz, brightening, "that nice young girl from the restaurant 
agreed to look after her. You know, Mari."
"Mari Kurai?" Fujisawa replied, despite knowing full well that there were 
no other Maris in Florestica. "I don't think... oh, never mind."
"What?" Miz probed, a little annoyed. "You don't approve, do you? Just 
what do you have against her?"
"Nothing! We just don't see eye to eye. I've told you."
"Well," Miz continued, "I think she's a delightful girl, and..."
She paused nervously. Cerev was approaching.
"Hello, Mr and Mrs Fujisawa," the boy said politely.
Miz elbowed Fujisawa in the stomach. That was unnecessary, he thought 
to himself. When Miz elbowed him a second time, he realised why she 
was doing it, and immediately backed up against the wall, doing his best 
to cover up the graffiti.
"I'm just going to wait for my mother over there," Cerev said quietly.
"Tha... that's great, Cerev," Fujisawa smiled uncomfortably. "I'll see you 
tomorrow."
Cerev turned and began to walk away. Then, looking back over his 
shoulder, he said:
"Don't worry, Mr Fujisawa. I saw it earlier."

Day 110

"It's been nice working here, Nanami," Mari said. They both knew she 
was lying, but it still seemed like the right thing to say.
"Well, I... um... I just want you to be careful, okay?" Nanami replied.
Mari had accepted Fatora's offer. As of today, she was officially Personal 
Assistant to Princess Fatora and Princess Alielle. Nanami knew very well 
that this was a hazardous line of work, and had done her best to make this 
clear to Mari.
"You have no idea what those two can be like," Nanami continued.
"They seem very friendly," Mari commented.
Nanami nodded. "You don't know the half of it."

Priestess Afura Mann maintained a steady position in the air over the 
centre of Roshtaria's second city, Jagdhastica. Below her was a rally, its 
leaders endeavouring to keep it just the right side of respectable.
She glanced at the streets around her. There were no Opaques out today. 
But then there wouldn't be, would there?
At the centre of the rally was its organiser- the Roshtarian Sun's Voice of 
Reason, Jennown Doht.
Afura did not like this man. Partially because of her general disdain for all 
those who start sentences with the phrase- "I'm not a racist, but..." and 
also because he was one of the public faces of the Holy Order, and frankly 
gave people like her a bad name.
There was suddenly a commotion. For a few seconds, Afura wondered 
whether some of the more intoxicated participants had lashed out at some 
of their fellow protestors, having deemed them to be just that bit too blue 
for their tastes. But no, somebody rather unexpected had joined the 
protest.
Afura recognised the man immediately.
"King Fran," she whispered to herself.

Sakura was flying.
Heh. This was easy.
The little blue kid had taught her how to do it. He'd taught her a lot of 
things these past few days. He was really quite knowledgeable when it 
came to this whole Demon God thing.
The night sky was dotted with a few clouds. Not many, but enough for her 
purposes.
The city below her- Florestica, was it?- looked very pretty. It reminded her 
of a theme park she'd once visited. Maybe, after they'd conquered the 
Alliance, Jinnai would let her have this one.
She flew vertically into one of the clouds. For a second, she felt cold, but 
the sensation soon wore off as she adjusted to her new environment. This 
was nothing.
It was about to get one hell of a lot colder.

Mari took a few tentative steps into the bedroom.
"So, can I get you anything?"
Fatora was sat up in bed, trying to keep the giggling Alielle off her, for the 
next few minutes at least. Alielle had just had another dose of her 
medication, and was apparently experiencing the side effects in all their 
glory.
"We're okay, I think," Fatora replied.
"Hey, Mari," Alielle grinned. "Why don't you come closer?"
"Okay."
Mari stepped up to the bed.
"That's better," Alielle said. "Now, why don't you join us?"
So much for subtlety, thought Fatora. Damn. Alielle may have blown this 
one completely.
In Fatora's experience, women confronted with a direct proposition of this 
kind invariably reacted in one of two ways, which she had mentally 
categorised as 'a' and 'b':

(a) They would run a mile.
(b) They wouldn't understand the question.

All women fell into one of these categories. Shayla-Shayla was an 'a', 
while Qawoor Towles was a typical 'b'. Fatora preferred type 'b'- it gave 
her something to build on. So she waited with interest for Mari's response.

"Okay," Mari replied calmly.

There are some occasions on which the brain is presented with a concept 
so thoroughly alien to it that reactions of shock and surprise are bypassed 
completely, and all one can do is stare vacantly at the problem, in the 
manner of any one of the more stupid kinds of aquatic life.

"Alielle," Fatora whispered, "has this ever happened before?"
Alielle said nothing, but gave a gesture to indicate that it hadn't. They 
both looked back at Mari, who was enjoying the moment enormously.
"I'm not an idiot, you know," she smiled. "I know all about you. The only 
reason you hired me was that you wanted to have sex with me, because 
that's the only reason you ever hire anybody. That's why I decided to 
accept. I thought it was about time I had some fun."
Alielle and Fatora blinked at each other, mouths wide open.
Eventually, Fatora turned back to Mari to offer her verdict.
"You are really, really twisted."
Mari assumed this was meant as a compliment, and, as it happened, she 
was correct. Maybe, just maybe, this universe wasn't so bad after all.

Holding the Power Key Unit aloft, Sakura fired a jet of blackness into the 
cloud. She turned. She span. She fired in all directions, until all around her 
was darkness- a layer of purest nothing.
She ejected herself from the cloud and moved on to the next one.

"That's it," Makoto sighed. "I've hit a dead end. I can't translate any 
more."
The task of decoding the prophecy was rather more complicated than ha 
had anticipated after Nanami's early breakthrough. The core of the 
problem lay in the fact that the base text was more or less meaningless. 
This made translation into Japanese very difficult, as many words had 
multiple meanings, all of which had to be considered in turn.
"I wish Afura was here," Qawoor said solemnly. "She has a head for this 
sort of thing."
Shayla nodded in agreement.
The reason for the gloomy atmosphere was that, with over half of the 
prophecy now translated, things weren't looking good. Shayla studied the 
text again.
'Bear witness to the shape of things to come. When the time of the Holy 
Apocalypse is past, the Shadow Nation will become two, and the inert 
Shadows will make formidable enemy. Though the land be strong, rebuilt 
after war's ravages, it will fall. All shall be nothing, and nothing shall be 
all.'
Not only was it predicting some kind of apocalyptic, or at least very 
unpleasant, event- it also seemed to implicate the Opaques as part of this. 
'Inert Shadows was as good a description of the Opaques as one could 
have expected from a millennia-old manuscript. Shayla could not believe 
this. After some initial doubts, she had come to rather like the Opaques. 
They were a tough, principled people who had taken on some of the 
nastiest leaders conceivable in order to claim the freedom they deserved. 
But they weren't aggressive, and they certainly weren't enemies. 
The trouble was, Shayla was a priestess. And if there's one thing 
priestesses were meant to take seriously, it was prophecy. 
Things were making less and less sense.

Qawoor stood up suddenly and ran to the window.
"What is it, Qawoor?" Makoto asked.
"I thought I saw... look !"
Makoto and Shayla joined her at the window. None of them could believe 
what they were seeing.
"It's... snowing," Makoto gasped.
"Snow?" Shayla echoed. "In... the middle of summer?"

TO BE CONTINUED

(What? You didn't seriously think she'd end up with Parnasse, did you?)

"Tamaro Never Dies" featured-
Makoto Mizuhara, Mari Kurai, Katsuhiko Jinnai, Nanami Jinnai, Princess 
Fatora, Sakura Tamaro, Nahato, Princess Alielle, Princess Formyka, King 
Fran, Princess Rune Venus, Miz Fujisawa, Ifurita, Mycea, Shayla-Shayla, 
Queen Diva, Masamichi Fujisawa, Qawoor Towles, Doctor Amiri, 
Parnasse Ralielle, Afura Mann, Cerev, Mika Fujisawa, Number One and 
Number Two.

dooky
14th July 2001 

Proofreading courtesy of the magnificent Firebird... nice one!