The Rose Plague, an introduction: She watched him approach through her window. It was dark out but the lamps outside allowed Serena to see him. He walked through the open portcullis and looked up into her window with eyes that seemed to pierce through the night time air, through her window, and into her heart. His cape billowed in the wind that carried rose petals from the nearby rose bush. He eyed the dying rose bush and picked a frail-looking bud from the bush. Upon his touch, the flower blossomed to life. Serena watched as he leapt through the air and soared to her window with rose in hand, a feat that was made possible by their location, the middle of the Moon Kingdom. "A rose for you, my sweet Serena." he said as she opened the window for him to come in. "Oh, how nice of you, Darian," said Serena. She placed the rose in her hair near her ear, "It is very beautiful." The bush seemed fine earlier today but something had hurt it during the day and it had steadily gotten worse. It was rotting from the inside out. Chapter 1 Queen Serenity walked with grace and poise through the palace garden. She especially loved to walk through the rose garden, the smell of the petals soothed her nerves after matters of the Millennium had frayed them so. She would not be able to visit them today because she had to attend a meeting of immense importance. She was meeting with the Ka'shar. The Ka'shar were a race that lived beyond the ninth planet in the Silver Millennium. Their home world was suspected to be a planet held in the smallest of grips by the gravitational pull of the sun. They were important because of the potential threat they posed to the Moon Kingdom. As it was,. the Ka'shar had remained neutral ever since Queen Serenity could remember. Their neutrality was the threat, for if the negaverse was to attack the Moon Kingdom, the Ka'shar would be their first targets and thus have a firm threshold of power near the Moon Kingdom. The Ka'shar had no chance against the negaverse, they must join the Moon Kingdom or be taken by force by the it to eliminate the threat. But first diplomacy would have to be used in order to win over the Ka'shar. Serenity must accomplish this task by using her expertise in diplomacy, after all, she was queen. She was walking out of the royal gardens toward the reception hall, toward the Ka'shar, when she heard a scream farther over in the gardens. "Someone...someone help...the roses, my beautiful roses!" cried Loraine as she ran towards Serenity. Loraine was the head of gardening at the royal palace, and took special pride in her rose garden, she started it after the last great war when she was very young. It was a personal tribute to her father who had perished in battle against the enemy. Every rose in that garden was very special to her. "Loraine, please calm down. What's the matter?" asked Queen Serenity. "The rose garden has been taken by a sickness overnight. They all appear to be dead, my Queen." Loraine said to Queen Serenity between curtsies. "I fear it may be too late for them." She said through a little whimper. "Do not worry Loraine. I will see to this immediately." replied Serenity, "In the meantime, will you please inform General Edwards that I will be a little late in my meeting with the Ka'shar representatives." "But my Queen," Loraine said, "that meeting is very important to the future of the moon kingdom. The roses can wait until after the meeting." "You are correct about the importance of the meeting, but I have a strange gut feeling about the sickness in the roses. It must be seen to immediately. There is something that just doesn't meet the eye with this." said the Queen. "I am on my way to report to General Edwards." said Loraine. The task she was given seemed to lighten her spirits, at least. "Very well, then." Serenity replied. Queen Serenity was about to walk in the direction of the wise woman, Amanda's, workshop when she noticed something peculiar. There was laughter coming from the garden. Not the laughter of joy, of friends, of children, but the laughter of someone sinister. She turned, but no one was there. Chapter 2 "Queen Serenity, Queen Serenity," called one of Amanda's attendants as he maneuvered through the busy hall, "Amanda asks for you in her workshop. Also, she asks you to accompany Serena. This is very urgent." "Yes at once." replied Serenity as she took her leave and rounded a corner. Queen Serenity knew not to ignore an urgent summons from Amanda. Not only was Amanda a very wise woman, she was also a Seer. Serenity had spent years in the palace before her ascendancy to queen. In those years her mother, the late Queen Lumina, had showed Princess Serenity the wonders of the palace...and the secrets. A few false walls, hidden corridors, and revolving murals, along with a very powerful illusionary magic connected together to form a quick means of travel to get anywhere in the palace. Within minutes Serenity had traveled to Serena's room and soon they were on their way to Amanda's workshop. "...But why are we going to Amanda's workshop this early in the morning?" asked Serena with a small yawn. "Dear, it's nearly three o'clock in the afternoon. It is no where near to being too early. Besides, this must be a matter of great importance for Amanda to summon us in such a manner." replied Serenity. "She summoned us!! That has never happened before...I thought you were just making me go for another check-up." said Serena. "As for your sleeping late, are you feeling all right, Serena?" Serenity asked. "I feel...fine, mother." said Serena, when what she really meant to say was that she felt tired. It was really more than exhaustion Serena was feeling, somehow this was more fatal than that. Not only that, but Serena couldn't even remember going to sleep the night before. She remembered Darian leaving, then everything went black. "Amanda, how are you?" asked Serenity when they entered the room. Serenity's words startled Serena, she had totally forgotten about the summons from Amanda while she was trying to remember the rest of the previous night. "Oh, you're here. Good. Not everything is well, my Queen." said Amanda as she turned away from her bookshelf. "I have bad news." "I have had a vision." said Amanda. From time to time, Amanda had visions of possible futures. Seers could not alter what they see in a direct manner or even control which possible future they get a glimpse of. But if seen in time to act on it, a seer could prevent the eventualities by countering key events. Unfortunately, seers rarely knew what the key events were until it is too late. Although the power of a Seer was limited, they were immensely useful...but never more useful than a prophet. A seers magic was much like prophecy, but a true prophet would be able to see events that were years, maybe even centuries into the future. What is even more astounding about a prophet's power is that they could affect the future. Prophecy was a very powerful and dangerous magic. One prophet alone could easily rule worlds simply by manipulating events to get what he wanted. That was the premise of the war that caused their destruction. "My vision was of the royal family. I do not understand the specifics of the vision, but I really feel you should know what I have seen...and...I am very sorry my Queen, to bring you such news...." said Amanda with a very worried look. "Yes, please tell us of your vision Amanda." implored Queen Serenity. Serena, who had not been listening to Amanda's words, had finally given up on trying to remember last night and had begun to wonder why she hadn't drawn a breath in the last three minutes. "...I saw the end of the Silver Millennium dynasty." uttered Amanda. With that, Princess Serena crumpled to the floor, unconscious and burning with fever. Amanda, who had been looking into a painting on the wall while telling Queen Serenity of her startling vision into the near future, quickly turned as Serena slumped to the floor. With a waving motion, Amanda cast a tendril of magic that coiled around the princess to form a net that stopped her fall. "Serena, are you alright?" cried Serenity as she bent to lift Serena from the magic web. When she didn't reply, Serenity knew that this was no ordinary swoon. Besides, Serena was never the type of person to faint at the mention of bad news. Serenity was nervous, Serena seemed fine that morning...just a little tired. That was when she noticed the rose. It was one of Loraine's roses. The ones that were dead now. But instead of that brownish red hue the other roses had, this one had an inky blackness to it that, in truth went beyond black. It was the signature of death, the absence of life. "Will Serena be alright?" asked Serenity. The lines of worry were showing again. "She may if we correct what has been done wrong." replied Amanda. "We need to get the royal healer here now. I will send Kana to his offices immediately." "I do not understand...what is going on?" asked Serenity. Her patience was wearing thin. "What exactly did you mean by 'the end of the Moon Kingdom'?" asked Serenity. "I will explain as much as I can. As you know, a seer's power is very limited when it comes to anything specific, but I will try my best." Amanda said after sending Kana, one of her assistants, to the office of the royal healer. "Strength to the Queen." said Kana to Serenity as she curtsied and ran from Amanda's workshop. "I will need it." replied Serenity under her breath. THE ROSE PLAGUE: CHAPTER THREE Kana walked into the offices of the royal healer. She was about to ring the bell on the empty receptionist's desk when she heard something. "All is in readiness, Master." said a cold voice from an examination room at the back of the front office "Amanda has sent one of her attendants, Kana, to this office to get you to help the princess." "As was expected. You do good work. The queen will never suspect a thing." replied a familiar voice not far from the other "As for this attendant, will she be any trouble?" She does posses healing magic and some destructive magic, though it is very weak." said the other voice. "Are you sure she presents no threat to us?" asked the familiar voice. "I am quite confident that I will be able to handle her if need be and I ask you to have confidence in my magic sifting abilities as well." said the cold voice,"They have never been wrong before." "Oh, I suppose. When this Kana arrives, we will send her on some unimportant errand, telling her that it is necessary for Princess Serena's survival. That should keep her busy long enough." "When I begin to treat the princess, I will give her a very powerful sedative that should completely stop her heart. Considering that she is already in a very deep sleep, it should not take more than a few drops to accomplish this." "Then I will give my condolences to the queen, say that I did all that I could, then call it a day." Kana was hearing this all and was very shocked at all of the things that were just said. She felt numb, but soon realized that she could do something to stop this...if she could only leave without being spotted. She began to back away from the examination room door, making sure that no one came out of it. That was when she backed into something...someone. She turned with just enough time to brace herself for the blow. Kana hit the floor hard, but began to stand up to defend herself. As she began to regain clear vision, a boot to her face brought her back down to the floor. Dazed and confused, she reached for anything that could help her. That only thing was her magic. With the rest of her waning strength, she summoned lightning from within herself and discharged it through her fingertips. This was a very simple, but dangerous attack for her situation. She could easily have misfired and even further injure herself. Lightning arched across the space between Kana and her assailant, illuminating the office in a white glow. With cat-like reflexes, he jumped away from the bolt just in time to only be singed by it. In the same jump, he delivered another kick to Kana's head. This time, Kana lost consciousness. The last thing that she could remember were his eyes, they were a piercing blue. "What should we do with her, Master?" said the servant. "Well, you almost killed...let's get the business with the princess over with, then you can finish the job. As for your arm there. It was barely nicked by the lightning, so I will just put a poultice on it. If anyone asks, say it was a fencing accident." said Healer Gorran. "Let's hurry and finish this job, these inner-sun dwellers give me hives" said Gorran's servant. Darian sat across from the viewing bay. He had always liked to look at the stars since he was a child...he never had thought that the stars that seemed so distant could possibly feel so close. But there, in orbit around earth, Darian felt as though he could reach out and grasp those stars. The technology and the magic were all there for use...all he had to do was to go, just leave the worlds he loved behind. Then he thought of Serena. There had been times when they both wanted to leave their responsibilities behind and live just like the normal people of the Moon Kingdom. It seemed a wonderful idea at first, but their sense of duty to the people was just too strong...there lives together would have to wait, but wait for what? Or, more importantly, for how long? Darian did not know when he would be able to see Serena again. Both of them were required to stay in their kingdom to handle affairs regarding preperations for the winter season, the most brutal season in Prince Darian's kingdom. "Entering the earth's outer thermosphere, initiating heat shields." chimed the ship's computerized voice "Do you wish to remain in orbit?" "Um, give me a second, ship." Darian said. Then it hit him like a flood. In an instant, his world of senses had turned to a molten, white-hot sea of pain. He tried to overcome it, somehow lessen it. That did no good. When he tried to think, he could only hear one sentence pounding into his mind, threatening to drive him insane. Then it all ended. "Do you wish to remain in orbit?" repeated the ship's computer. "No," replied Prince Darian "we are not going to remain in orbit." "Ship, make a full stop and then set a course to the royal palace on the moon." "Very well, Prince Darian." replied the ship, but Darian was not listening. The pain in his head was gone, but the message was still strong: "Help me, Prince Darian. I may not live through this new threat, what is worse is that I do not believe that the Moon Kingdom will either. "Serena, I am on my way. Do not give up the fight just yet." Darian whispered to himself as the ship accelerated towards the moon.