Title: Through the Gate of Prophecy
Author: Estela, Teri
Date: Tue, 18 May 1999 01:07:12 EDT

"May it indeed," answered the Dreamer. "So, since it is
decided everyone is
going, let us begin. I will remain here........all of you
must find the way
to the gate."

"How do we find it? You have a map or something?" quipped
Stana.

"No. You must envision the gate in your mind, and all of
you, walk foward to
it."

"Let's go then," Shinji said grimly. The others nodded. The
three girls stood
in the center, Stana, then Estela, then Teri, left to
right, the Guardians
flanking their Chosen.

Estela blinked a little as they started to move foward,
then started singing
softly under her breath, "follow the yellow brick
road.........follow the
yellow brick road......follow, follow, follow, follow,
follow the yellow
brick road....."

Teri smacked her on the arm, "That'll be stuck in my head,
now.." Estela
grinned, about to continue singing, and Teri sighed.

Then she grabbed Estela and Shinji by the arms, lacing
elbows. "We're off to
see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of Oz......"

Estela grabbed Stana's arm too, and she, laughing, put her
hand on the
unicorn's back......just as a wide, yellow brick path
suddenly appeared in
front of them and under their feet. They all stopped short,
blinking.

"I guess I should be more careful what I sing......." said
Estela quietly.

"If all of you would focus so much on the GATE, you'd be
there by now,"
offered Oraiyas, slightly annoyed by the general silliness.

"Well at least we have a road to it now...." said Stana.

"The gate is just over the next little rise." The others
all looked at
Estela, surprised at the confidence of her words. Oriayas
nodded, and
suddenly looks of understanding came into the others' eyes.
Estela started
foward, and the others quickly began moving again as well.
With the thought
firmly in their minds, the gate indeed appeared before them
just over the
rise.

"This is the Gate of Prophecy." It was about three meters
wide, and more
tall. To Estela's eyes, because she was thinking about the
Wizard of Oz
still, it seemed to be made of emerald.....until she
realized that nothing
but darkness was beyond it. All at once the Aethyr around
them seemed to dim,
the Gate becoming a strange, coldly glittering bronze. A
shiver, visible
because of the long wings, passed through her. The others
looked just as
troubled. "Past here," continued the Dreamer, "I cannot go.
You are on your
own. If the road turns, follow it, but otherwise, just keep
going straight
and you will find your destination. More than that, there
is none alive who
knows."

"How do we open the gate?" asked Teri, gaze fixed on the
crossing bands of
dark metal spanning the width of the gate.

"I am not certain....but a final warning: if you are
injured or die in the
Dream, it is so in the real world as well.....and it is the
same if not worse
so in the Realm of Prophecy."

"Worse?" Estela mouthed at Teri, who shrugged nervously.

Stana drew her eyes from the gate and looked around at the
group. "Well?
Ideas?"

No one spoke. Teri narrowed her eyes, and leaned closer to
Shinji. "You've
been unusually quiet," she whispered. "What's wrong?"

Shinji turned blank eyes on her, and Teri drew back.
Suddenly she noticed how
cold Shinji was, how chilly she sensed him to be. Drawing a
breath, she
touched his arm lightly, then gasped as she saw him encased
in dark shadow--
at her touch, the shadow seemed to flicker.  Shinji shook
himself visably.
"N..nothing," he said, his voice distant. "Let's just get
through that gate."

Teri frowned, but nodded. "Hey," she said, squeezing his
hand, "tell me
later?"

SHinji looked at her, confused, and then brusquely let go
of her hand. "I
said there's nothing wrong. We're wasting time."

"Well, then.. let's just try to push it open or something,"
Stana was saying.
Teri hid the confusion in her eyes and turned attention
back to the group.
She'd remember to talk to Shinji later. In the meantime,
she kept the thought
of him in the back of her head, and let rosey warmth drift
invisibly around
him. A shadow seemed to pool around his feet-- in a blink,
gone.. in another,
there...

"All right," Estela said, after a moment. "We may as well
go...." Teri
nodded, casting a final glance at Shinji, whose jaw was set
and whose eyes
vacantly stared at the gate.  Estela pushed past Clip and
Stana, and
aproached the gate.

At an attempt of humor, Teri mumbled to Stana, "To pass the
Southern Oracle,
you must believe in your own true worth.."

Estela set her hand to the lock of the Gate. "Light help
me...." she
whispered. Blue white glowed under her hand, shimmered
along the Gate's bars.
A wind arose.

Stana and Teri looked at Estela, then the Dreamer, then
each other......and
set their hands on hers. Red and green, grown from their
minds and hearts
shone from them, spanning the surface of the Gate. The gate
shudderred, gave
a low moan that sent shivers down Teri's spine.

And nothing.

Stana frowned, and looked over her shoulder at Clip and the
Dreamer. "Well?
you know the most about this place. What do we do now?"

Clip whickered and pranced closer to Stana. Sliding between
Stana and Teri,
whose face tightened as she moved closer to Estela, Clip
bent his alicorn and
touched it lightly to the folds of hands.

Nothing. Teri sighed, frustrated, and looked over her
shoulder. Her eyes
softened with worry, as she saw Shinji standing, rigidly
staring at the gate.

"Shinji?" she whispered, sending another wave of concern at
him. He strode
forward, to her eyes it was as if he waded through pools of
shadow, his aura
uncharacteristically cold.

and then the lights combined into one light, purest white.
All of them were
forced to narrow their eyes at the glare as the Gate opened
outwards upon the
darkness beyond in a flare of brilliance. Light still shone
as well from
where they held their hands, still together. The wind rose
to a deafening
howl, swept around them, darkness flowing out into the
white mists of the
dreamworld. The golden path under their feet, the
shimmering mists,
shattered, ripped to shreds by darkness like a thousand
knives. The Guardians
pressed close to them, Shinji setting his hand on Teri's
shoulder, Clip
touching the side of his horn to Stana's side. The five of
them were
surrounded in a white light, so brilliant that though they
closed their eyes,
they could still see it.......but also the darkness that
reached out to
devour the Aethyr......

Oriayas stumbled back, blinded, clutching his head against
the shattering of
the Dream, and then suddenly found himself on his knees in
the room of the
Testing. The bodies of the five who were entering the Gate
were still
motionless, their breathing slow, steadier than that of
normal sleep...only
Wataru tossed and mumbled in the grip of nightmare.
**********
The five were unaware of his disappearance. There was
nothing but the burning
light, the screaming wind of the darkness, having devoured
now, it seemed,
even the gate that every one of them could see the last
scraps of in their
minds' eyes, through their physical ones were closed.

*Why aren't we passing through? What's wrong?* thought
Estela, somehow
feeling the others echo her thoughts.

"Shinji!" Teri screamed as the darkness of the Aethyr
swirled around a
different darkness emanating from her friend. Shinji's eyes
flared blue
against the buffeting storm around them, his muscles corded
and strained as
he let out a tearing roar..