Sword and Sorcery Chapter 6 by D.Fire phongb9@idt.net Ranma snapped awake as his flashback came to an end. Sitting up, with sweat dripping from his forehead, he lurched to his knees, startling Azure to wakefulness with his movement. "Guardian ... guardian ..., " he mumbled as he stumbled over to the table where he had left the Orippa Prophecy. He muttered, "Mirus", conjuring a small globe of light that bobbed over his shoulder. Wiping his eyes clear from the blurriness of sleep, he paged through the book. "I know I saw something about that guy in here somewhere." Then he found the reference he sought. He read aloud, "When the Companions number One less than a full company, They shall must seek The Protector from the Void. Trapped at the end of the path of Light, Seek out he that holds the answers. The Guide shall lead the way." 'Well, at least he's legit.' Ranma closed the book, saying aloud, "It looks like the first task to find my friends." Turning to Azure, he stated, "We leave in the morning." *** Ranma had spent the rest of the night packing his belongings away. Sorting through the wall of books, he selected the most relevant ones and placed them on the table. Even though Master Hariule had a huge collection of books, most of them had nothing to do with magic. Soon, he had a small stack of books on the table. Scanning the bookcase once more, Ranma picked out books with non-magical subjects he thought he might need in his journey. One taught woodland survival skills. Several others described various creatures that roamed the land. Although he had read most of these books, having them along would not hurt. When he finished his selection, he made ready to put the volumes away. Reaching down to his pouch, he opened it up and shoved everything in it, neatly storing them in a pocket dimension. "We're gonna need some supplies, so remind me to stop at that village to the south," he told Azure as he bustled around the room. Aside from the books, there wasn't much else he needed to ready. He knew that he would appear suspicious to others if he traveled without luggage, so he also prepared a modest pack. The pack was a sturdily-made leather affair, seeming to bulge with pockets. Deciding to put the pack to good use, he loaded it with large and blunt rocks. He thought, 'Since I'll be traveling anyway, I might as well use the pack to train.' All of the magical paraphernalia would be left safely tucked away in this basement lab. When he left, the dimensional seal he had placed over the entranceway would hide this place from world. With a sigh, he realized that he didn't know how long it would be until he returned, or if he would return at all. The final preparation for the journey consisted of enchanting a guidestone. Reaching behind a hollow in the wall, he pulled out a small pouch and a larger sack. The pouch contained a wealth of gems while the sack contained small disks of various metals. Spilling the contents of the larger sack onto the table, he separated out a modest sum of money and three solid discs of platinum. Scooping the rest of the metal back into the sack, he stored the entire sack in his pocket dimension. After picking out a small but flawless sapphire from the pouch, he also placed the pouch of gems safely away in his pocket of subspace. Then he brought the gem and the small discs of platinum over to the table and popped the gem into a glass vial. Suspending the vial over a small flame, Ranma pulled out dagger and lightly pricked his finger. Holding his finger over the glass tube, he squeezed it lightly with the other hand. Soon, a drop of blood formed and hung there suspended over the vial. Ranma watched as the small globule of blood freed itself from his hand and slowly dropped into the vial, settling at the bottom. Closing his eyes and concentrating, he chanted, "Spirits of fire, Spirits of life." The tiny flame beneath the vial flared into a miniature bonfire. "Spirits of prophecy, Let this stone be your vessel." The blood was slowly drawn into the jewel. Eyes still closed, he reached over and unerringly dropped the platinum discs into the vial. "From this gloss, Twine to form a cord." The metal liquefied and began to bubble. Ranma opened his eyes. "To guide this poor soul. JAENIR MIRUS MORIBUS!" At the end of the spell, the contents of vial exploded into a shimmering cloud. Ranma made sure to not inhale any of the cloud. Seconds later, the cloud was pulled back into the vial. The vapor, with an audible pop, solidified into ... something. Excited, Ranma reached over to dump the contents of the vial out onto the table. When he touched the vial, he sucked in his breath in pain as he burned himself on the hot glass. In his haste to release the vial, he knocked it over sending it and its content to the floor. "Damn! I always do that," he mumbled as he soothed his fingers by sucking on them. commented Azure from his bed on the floor. Wounded to the core, Ranma glared at Azure. He sniffed, "Not true. I just wanna make sure it worked." Bending down low, he muttered, "Kirus", forming a small softly-glowing ball of light on his palm. Blowing gently, he directed the light to where the vial had landed. The light softly settled on the broken remains of the glass, covering the fragments and the necklace found within with a light layer of frost. "That should do it," continued Ranma as he gingerly picked up the revealed necklace from the ground. Bringing the string of platinum up to eye level, he examined his handiwork. The stone, previously a clear, sapphire blue, now shone a brilliant violet in color. Around the stone, a setting of platinum showed simple beauty with a delicate leaf design. The necklace itself was a simple affair, a miniature rope of platinum. Ranma undid the clasp as he placed the piece of jewelry around his neck. After fastening it securely, he left the basement, heading for ground level. Standing quietly, he let his concentration roam free, emptying his mind. Soon enough, he felt a light tugging from the southwest. Smiling, he opened his eyes, saying, "And so the journey begins." OMAKE Chibi-Azure (pre-panther) rushes onto stage. CHIBI-AZURE: U-SA-GI-CHAN. U-SA-GI-CHAN. Wake up, Usagi-chan. CHIBI-RAENI: [pops out of nowhere and whaps Azure on the head] Luna! This isn't Sailor Moon. CHIBI-AZURE: A-heh-heh. I lost track of which fanfic I was doing. CHIBI-RAENI: Ahem. Aren't you forgetting something? You can't talk in this one. CHIBI-AZURE: Oops [looks very embarrassed]. [voice reverberates through scene, shaking the camera and causing cracks to appear, changing to a slightly lower-key, male voice] CHIBI-RAENI: [yelling and clutching her ears] EGADS! TURN THAT DOWN. CHIBI-AZURE: [turns down a dial on a little box by her side] CHIBI-RAENI: [turns to camera] Now to the business at hand. Suddenly a giant lobster chased by Chibi-Ranma run on stage, breezing by, or rather, over the two already there. CHIBI-RANMA: [puffing hard] Hey, come back here! CHIBI-MALQUAT: [in a fearful voice] No way! Are you nuts? I didn't do anything to you. CHIBI-RANMA: But the producers promised me lunch. [starts slavering] I haven't had lobster for ten years. I'm hungry. CHIBI-MALQUAT: [still running] AEIEIII! That's it. I'm outta here. Maybe I'll work as a youma for Sailor Moon. At least they won't EAT me there! The two run off stage. CHIBI-RAENI: [crushed flat as a pancake] Uhh ... Mommy? CHIBI-AZURE: [also crushed flat] Curtain draws closed and the screen darkens. Words appear on the screen. "WE'RE SORRY. WE ARE UNABLE TO CONTINUE DUE TO TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES."