PROLOGUE - Prelude to Shadows

It was raining outside. A light, persistent drizzle that did little to lessen the late summer heat. Inside the cavern, however, it was perpetually cool and damp. A man sat, half sprawled across a couch, eyes closed, dozing off as he waited for…nothing.

He had stood guard like this before, many times. Once a week for — how many years now? Almost fifty. He sighed. The decades had flown by again. Even the centuries seemed to be ticking by at a good clip. He couldn’t even remember how old he was; it had been long time since that number had meant anything to him. Perhaps if he had known that near-immortality would be like this, he’d never have gotten involved in the first place. Certainly he wouldn’t have had he known he’d be spending a good portion of his time on such a foolish task.

It was ridiculous that he even needed to stand guard at all, really. The small room, hidden deep inside a cave system in the mountains, was protected by so many wards that there was no way that even the most lost of explorers would ever stumble across it. But Emeleth had enforced the guard rotations, and even he knew better than to cross her.

He sat up and let his gaze travel across the smooth-walled room; across numerous shelves of magical texts and ancient artifacts, the spoils of hundreds of years of existence. His gaze paused on the amazingly life-like statue of a woman, standing, eyes closed, in the middle of the room. The man smiled. Their greatest achievement, the pinnacle of their labors — for the last fifty years they had stood guard over that statue, and that statue alone.

He was too busy settling back down on the couch, too lost in the memories of victories past to react to what would happen next. He never noticed the subtle change in the statue, never saw those eyes — closed for fifty long years — open.

He was dead before he even knew he was in danger.

*     *     *

The spacious office, high up in a skyscraper of glass and steel, seemed a world and a half away from the chill, damp cave. Yet, leaning back in her chair and gazing out through the floor to ceiling windows, Kawamoto Kuromi could see, in the distance, that very mountain. True, it was mostly hidden behind the tall forms of the rest of Nagoya’s skyscrapers, but it was the thought that counted. After all, there were so many treasure’s hidden there, that she felt she needed to keep an eye on them, if only from a distance.

A sharp cough brought her attention back to the room, and the speaker-phone sitting on her desk. She stifled a sigh. These weekly phone conferences were tedious to say the least, and the caller didn’t seem to have anything new to say to her today, it seemed.

“As I’ve already said, Chairman, everything in on schedule to begin filming the new show. There are only a few casting decisions yet to be made-”

“Ms. Kawamoto! I don’t think you understand the severity of the problem you have here. You haven’t cast any of the parts for the Wings Squadron girls. I don’t see how you can be so blasé about this. We need to start filming next week if we are going to make the fall line-up. A delay would be disastrous for this station!”

“Like I’ve already told you, I want to make sure that I cast the best possible ladies for the role. And, and-” she raised her voice slightly, cutting off the Chairman’s objections. “I have everything under control. Trust me.”

The call box on her desk buzzed sharply. Kuromi glared at it. “I apologize, Mr. Chairman, but I have to put you on hold for a moment.” She hit the hold button quickly, not giving him a chance to respond. She took a deep breath; then pushed the speaker button in on the call box, connecting her through to her secretary. “Mariko, I’m on a conference call with the Chairman. This better be important.”

“Yes, Ms. Kawamoto. I tried to tell her you were busy, but she wouldn’t listen to me. She kept saying it was an emergency, and-”

“Who is calling, Mariko?” It was a struggle to keep the annoyance out of her voice. She didn’t think she had succeeded.

“It’s a Ms. Ngyuen, ma’am.” Kuromi tensed slightly. That was one name she had not ever expected to hear here at her office. After a short pause, her secretary cleared her throat. “Should I tell her that you will call her back?”

“No.” Another pause; then, “No. Put her through to the second office line.”

“Yes ma’am.” A light started blinking on her phone, next to the solid light of the conference call on hold. She picked up the reciever and switched to that line.

“You should know better than to call me here, Thi Mai.”

“Emeleth, Xanti’s dead.” Kuromi paused; then sent her thought winging towards the mountain, searching. She couldn’t feel the distinctive patterns of the Order member that was supposed to be guarding that cavern. And what she did feel…She broke off contact with the cavern, and sat back in her chair, trembling.

“Em?”

“She’s awake.”

“Who? Oh- shit!”

“Get in contact with the others. Find where the girls are. We are going to need to bring them together if we are going to protect them.”

“I’ll try my best. Where are we going to bring them, Em?”

“Bring them here.” Yes, that will work quite nicely. “Get me the addresses when you find them. I have an idea.”

“Right.” The line clicked, and was silent. Kuromi smiled, and switched back over to the conference call.

“I am sorry to keep you waiting, Mr. Chairman. But I’m happy to say, I have good news for you…” she paused, just a beat, for effect.

“I’ve found our stars.”

“All of them? That’s wonderful! When will they be here?”

“Soon, Mr. Chairman. Very soon.”

*     *     *

She stood in the ruins of the cavern room. Large cracks criss-crossed the floor and walls, centering on the pedestal where the statue once stood. Dark hair fluttered lightly in a breeze that seemed to come from nowhere, and her eyes glowed brightly. Almost nothing in the room was intact anymore, least of all the body of the man that until a few minutes before had been standing guard.

He was only the first. She was awake. She was free.

And she would have her revenge.