Prologue: Two Sets of Three

	"I'm through playing games," Kristen growled.  It was rare to see the woman in 
anything but a good mood, so the few students still in the halls at this early hour were 
more than happy to let the raging brunette pass and avoid her wrath.  Even the boys 
steered clear of her after one look at her face, a phenomenon of biblical proportions.  Her 
mind was so consumed with rage that she barely noticed it when she exited the dorms at 
last.  Her shoulder-length brown hair whipped past her face as the wind buffeted her.  
Still, she made her way steadily towards the mechanic shed, where that no good slut 
usually received her 'clients'.  It seemed almost appropriate that the weather was 
mimicking her mood tonight.  How dare she!  And bringing her family into it!!  Her 
usually laughing brown eyes flashed at the thought of that... that woman interfering in her 
life.  In her family's life.

	"Things are bad enough right now without that manipulative bitch throwing her 
money into the middle of it."


	The woman walking close behind her - the only soul in the area willing to brave 
her temper at the moment - nodded gravely.  There was nothing Diane could say to this 
situation; the girl was known as an anarchist.  She was very good at reeking havoc in the 
lives of those around her for no other reason than to watch what happened.  Why any of 
them still hung around her was anyone's guess.  But as upsetting as this latest action was, 
she didn't think that a fight would solve anything.  And as upset as Kristen was right now, 
there would certainly be a fight.  Diane pushed her glasses up, rubbing her eyes tiredly.  It 
was late and it was cold outside, but this would not wait until morning.  Her usually tidy 
charcoal black hair was wild in the wind.  That was weird.  Where had this wind come 
from anyway?  Diane watched the news religiously and there had been no mention of this 
sudden storm.  It was as if-

	"Where are you, Asenia?  I told you to stay out of my business!  How dare- What 
the hell?"

	This question grabbed Diane's attention; that and the massively unpleasant smell 
in the air.  Her dark brown eyes focused on the darkened shed at once, sensing that 
something was very wrong.  The usual musty smell of the place had been replaced.  
There was blood in the air, blood, sweat, and something else.  And at the center of it 
stood the woman they had come here to see.




	Asenia's naked body glistened with sweat from her efforts, making her shimmer 
in the flickering candlelight from her makeshift altar.  Beneath this moisture lie a strange 
array of markings and enchantments written in some dark, dried liquid.  In one hand she 
held a fistful of burning incense, its smoke filling the room with an ancient, indescribably 
unpleasant smell.  In her other hand, she held a deadly looking hunting knife.  It was 
about a foot long with nasty side blades above the hand guard.  The razor-sharp main 
blade dripped with the blood of the crow she'd sacrificed to gain knowledge of 
dimensional barriers.  The dove still slowly bleeding to death on her crude altar would 
afford her the power of creation needed to complete her task.

	The woman was almost finished now.  Her usually dark eyes shone pitch black as 
she called upon the powers of her Master to carry out his deed, her dark flesh already 
trembling with anticipation.  Lord Talpa was awaiting her signal, all of the preparations 
had been made, and now that arrogant Ronin was going to pay for rejecting her advances.  
Her mouth worked soundlessly, words coming forth from the bowels of the Netherworld.  
It was here that her strong, rich voice rolled out of her, searching, searching...

	The slam of the door against an old bench was enough to snap her out of her 
trance, however.  "What the..."  This room was supposed to be empty; she'd made sure of 
it.   Her clientele had all been warned away, and as soon as she was done here, she had 
plans to disembowel each of those sorry bitches she'd been forced to put up with to stay 
close to her prey.  But right now she could sense the presence of two of them, and she 
shivered from the power they themselves wielded.  If it were any of the others, she would 
have simply resumed her work, but these two...  If they managed to upset the delicate 
balance of power she'd been slaving for an hour to establish...  She shook her head, 
refusing to acknowledge that this could happen.  In truth, she didn't have a clue what 
would happen if they tried to stop her.

	It didn't matter though.  They'd both be dead in a minute.

	"I'd love to chat, but Lord Talpa is waiting for me and I'm on a schedule.  Are you 
ready to die?"  A small smile found its way to her full lips as she turned to face her foes.  
Talpa's sweet energy crackled through her veins, reassuring her of his love and support of 
her.  She was his instrument; an instrument of her god; and it was time to smite all those 
that would dare oppose him.  


	"She's working for Talpa," Kristen blinked, obviously stunned to stillness.  Diane 
could not blame her friend for her immobility, she was in a similar state of shock, staring 
slack-jawed at the evil woman.  This was beyond anything she would have expected of 
Asenia, even after everything the woman had done already.  It did not seem possible that 
anyone would side with Talpa's evil after everything he'd done to try and destroy this 
world, but here she was freely admitting it.  Not only that, but she'd already proclaimed 
that she was going to kill the two of them.  

	There wasn't time to call the others.  This ritual of hers felt dangerously close to 
completion.  If they waited, it would be too late.  So she did the only thing she could 
think of, move to stop her enemy.  The darkness around the sorceress reacted before she 
could step over the threshold, however, lashing at her like a whip and knocking her 
against a tree outside of the open door.

	"Don't worry, bitch," the sorceress growled.  She was sick of these two already.  It 
was time to end this and move on.  "My real mission is to destroy the Ronins.  Killin' 
your punk-asses is a bonus!"

 
	Kristen stood up from checking her fallen friend, trying to get a look at the room. 
But it was hard to see anything around the evil shrouding the sorceress.  Looking at her 
was like seeing a mirage through a series of heat waves.  She shimmered and blurred 
disconcertingly, but at the same time was deathly tangible to the woman and her 
companion. 

	Her nerves were jangling; it dawned on her that those strange tremblings she'd 
been having over the last week were from this woman.  How could she have missed it?  
Now it just might be too late...

	"You won't win," she said, stretching her hand out to touch the barrier that had 
suddenly sprung up to prevent her entrance.  She moved by instinct, knowing that 
whatever she was about to do would work.  Diane was suddenly at her side, mimicking 
her actions.  Slowly, two hands penetrated the spell holding them at bay.

	Their adversary took a shocked step back.  Each of the intruders was now 
glowing, one ghostly lilac and the other an ethereal plum, and now a single kanji glowed 
brightly in the center of each of their foreheads.

	Kristen, her stormy brown eyes determined, was the first to notice that the incense 
in the sorceress' hand was necessary to show her the exact position of the power point she 
was using to enhance her spell.  With so much power working to her advantage alone, the 
woman was sure to win.  In a sudden flash, her eyes cleared and she grasped the 
unconscious understanding behind her actions.  If they could gain access to the neutral 
magic flowing from the power point, then their combined effort would easily thwart 
Asenia's spell.

	"You can't come in here," the sorceress screamed frantically, dropping her incense 
and knife so that she could devote her full energy to repelling them.  The younger of the 
two trespassers seemed to have figured something out.  "Damnit!  You can't come in 
here!!!"  The two pushed their way in nonetheless, watching as the point faded into 
visibility with every centimeter they gained.  It soon began to pulse with the strain of 
magic warring around it.


	The pain of the hit Diane took died away, as did her previous anger.  Her deep 
brown eyes regained their inquisitive glint as well as their calm.  She broke through the 
spell at the same time as her friend.  And in that instant the point exploded.

***********************************************************************

	Three women laughed, unaware of the grave goings on of their dimensional 
counterparts.  "...and she tripped, right in the middle of the presentation," Diane Sunhill 
laughed, holding her sides as she mentally re-played the scene in her mind.  Her two 
companions laughed along with her, although the oldest tried her best not to.

	"Did you HAVE to tell her that one," Asenia McAllister grumped, feigning anger.  
"Why are you even here, man?  _We're_ doing my hair!" Her soulful brown eyes were 
shining with mirth despite her obvious disapproval of her friend's choice of story.

	"_We're_ done with your hair, hon," Kristen Weaver retorted smartly, still 
recovering from the story.  "We've been done for an hour now."  She grinned at their 
Resident Advisor, who was still laughing hysterically.  It had been awhile since any of 
them had truly let loose.  With mid-terms over at last, it made sense to relax on a Friday 
night.  Her brown eyes were shut tight as she fought to stop laughing so hard.  Her sides 
ached, but even so this was a great night.

	"Et tu, Kristen," the oldest of the trio growled, still working hard to sound stern.  
But the ridiculous amount of Wild Cherry Pepsi would not allow her to stop shaking long 
enough to sound remotely serious.  The youngest of the three often wondered about the 
strange effects of caffeine on her friend's system.  She'd laughingly suggested doing a 
study on the subject a week ago and had earned a good laugh from her usually sour 
psychology teacher.  "Someone really ought to study you and your caffeine, girl.  You're 
a mess."  This resulted in even more laughter from the two juniors.

	With a laugh of her own she stood, finding herself towering over her two 
companions, who were stretched out on the floor trying to catch their breath.  The woman 
was roughly 5 feet 3 inches, but she suddenly felt a lot taller standing over the two like 
she was.  The vertigo caused her to stumble back a step as her friends laughed and tried 
to catch her.  Just as she was about to suggest that she should head back to her own room 
for some hard-earned sleep, all three froze mid-laugh.  They blinked; all traces of 
amusement gone in an instant.  For a second, it had felt as if the entire room had blinked 
out of existence.


	"Um, guys," Diane blinked.  "Did you just-"

	Then it did.  A terrifying flash of pure white light filled the relatively small space 
without warning.  All three shielded their eyes, instinctively moving away from the 
center of the room.  Then there was no room, only the sickening lurch of free-fall.  

	Asenia, or Senie as she was called by most people who knew her, uncovered her 
eyes and gasped as she found herself suddenly face to face with... herself.  This person 
was completely naked, prompting the other dark-skinned woman's ears to burn.  She rose 
through the same light that Senie and her friends were tumbling down into.  The two 
identical women passed one another after what seemed like an eternity of floating face to 
face, and Senie was left shivering from the encounter.  Never before had she encountered 
such blind fury.  And the fact that it had seemed directed at her made her cringe.

	She couldn't forget the woman's eyes.  Eyes that held no light.  Eyes as shadowy 
as they were sinister.  Or the alien symbols that had been all over her body, written in 
blood...