Journeys of Time 33: The Untold Principles
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Back in Grobuz, Violetta had arrived with her sister Maria and the Blood Court members as Violetta had made her way to the Blood Council, pushing the doors open just as they had taken their seats, all except for Maria who walked over to her seat and slammed the open palms onto the table, calling all attention to her, "I am speaking for the queen. The goddess of justice have been the target of an assassination attempt and they have done something that has left her in a critical condition."

Grand Duchess Bloodfang stood up from her seat, "You brought us here to tell that? What is it you bring us here for exactly?" Maria looked over to Violetta, who was carrying Tenchi into the room like she was weighing nothing at all and put her down on the table, "We are gonna perform the Crimson Luna ritual on her." The council members looked at Violetta in pure shock as Bloodfang spoke, "My queen, are you sure she can handle this? No one have been able to handle it since Lord Simon Sanguin!"

Maria looked at her, "I know Tenchi well enough. She has gone through a lot of things that have left her able to handle even the most dangerous things. I am sure that she can handle the Crimson Luna ritual." The other council members nodded before one of them asked, "Can someone explain the Crimson Luna ritual to me?"

Meanwhile, over in the Mezian capital city of Pegostra, Elua's voice resonated through the palace before the doors opened and when Janch turned around, she was watching in shock as a werewolf amazon wielding a massive axe came walking closer until she kneeled in front of Elua, "You called for me, my princess?" Elua nodded to her, "Yes, Khrystal. Emir Kizme may have allied himself with some nasty violators from Tenchi's past. You remember her, right?"

The werewolf nodded, "Red dragoness who didn't even seem scared of me when I spoke to her. I remember her for sure." Elua nodded, "She was the victim of an assassination attempt." Khrystal's expression grew more serious, "What? Is there any evidence?" Janch spoke up, "It is still unclear, but a jackal attacked her in Bastilia."

Khrystal growled before punching the floor, leaving cracks outwards from her, "And here I thought they were finally calming down. But seems I was wrong. What do you need of me, my queen? Want me to go there and bury my blade up their puppy makers?" Janch looked at Khrystal and felt that she was growing more scared by the minute, but Elua seemed really calm, "I want you to grant permission for an invasion of Virizah desert." Khrystal growled out loudly, "Permission granted."

Janch heard the granted permission and soon saw Elua pull out a parchment and using magic to imprint the entire permission to it before rolling it up and handing to her, Janch bowing before she ran out to get herself back home as fast as her husband's wings could take her.

Around the same time, in Morgova, the laboratory was filled with the sound of experimenting as Sas'Ha was preparing a syringe containing a blood sample before drawing the liquid in a vial and looked over at the female werewolf sitting calmly and waiting before noticing her approaching, laying her head on the side and whimpering when the needle punctured her skin and the mixture was injected, "I am sorry that it hurts, but you will feel better soon enough."

The werewolf nodded before feeling how it was like something inside of her was spreading like tentacles underneath her skin, the feeling a bit euphoric before she could feel it arriving at her heart and how all went into it and spread out through her bloodstream, making her howl out before looking at Sas'Ha, who leaned down to hold up a finger in front of her face and slowly moving it, seeing the eyes tracing it well, until Sas'Ha gave her a command, "Speak."

The werewolf looked at her before confusion spread through her mind, "Why are you asking me... wait, I... I can talk normally again! You did it. You glorious shadow woman, you actually did it!" Sas'Ha smiled and shook her head, "No, Pamelah. I didn't do this. We did this." Sas'Ha suddenly looked around and then smiled, "And seems we got a witness that I need to eliminate now."

A scared screech was heard as the bat from the Blood Court landed near them, "No, please! I come carrying a message and request!" Sas'Ha saw the vial and quickly took it before only taking a single second to look at it, "What happened to Tenchi?" The bat filled her in on the details, rendering Sas'Ha and Pamelah shocked, "Wait, so she was a victim of an assassination attempt and I was requested to figure out the toxin used?" The bat nodded before Sas'Ha pulled out a small vial and added just a drop from a syringe into the blood sample, the vial suddenly having white flakes crashing out of the sample, confirming her suspicion, "Argentia Haematoxii. Silverblood toxin."

Pamelah looked confused, "What is that?" Sas'Ha looked at her, "A common toxin found in spiritbloom. And it is refined too. Whoever it was that did this knew how to make the toxin more potent. The only treatment is a blood transfusion, but it must be done within 15 minutes of it entering the body. So there is nothing I can do about it."

Pamelah looked a bit shocked and sad at hearing it, "Oh, that's not good." Sas'Ha nodded before the bat asked her, "Then who would have done it?" Sas'Ha looked at the bat, "However, applied by a blade, that leaves two organizations using it. First is the Blood Court, but under strictly controlled doses. The second is the priesthood of the Virizah desert." The bat spoke up, "The attacker was apparently a jackal." Sas'Ha nodded, "Then it is the priesthood of the Virizah desert."

Suddenly her mind was invaded by a voice, "Mom! Ainohi and Kari have disappeared! I can not find them anywhere." Sas'Ha sighed before replying back in mind to her, "Peridot, they may be going to the Virizah desert. They are after blood for what happened to Tenchi." Peridot's scream of fear could have awakened the dead as she shouted, "Mom! Stop them, Läkare and Bjorn are back!" Sas'Ha's heart sunk, "I'll talk to you later, Peridot. Mommy has some work to do." She then turned to Pamelah, "I need to borrow your blood."

Back in Grobuz, it was the perfect night for the ritual to take place as the Blood Council had taken their places on each symbol for their moon phase, the normal act of performing the ritual without any outsiders having been broken as Peridot, Hildegaard, Kichiro, Janch, and Azula stood witness to the ritual about to begin as the five nobles soon raised their arms and began to chant in a loud choir, the Blood Moon slowly appearing from behind the clouds while the various symbols marking the ritual circle began to lift Tenchi up and wrap around her, her body slowly beginning to float in midair before the circle spun around and a sudden beam from the Blood Moon bathed her in its crimson light, leaving the family members to cover their eyes while the chanting got even louder.

Noticing the light slowly dying down, Peridot and Hildegaard uncovered their eyes to witness how Tenchi seemed to be at peace before Kichiro suddenly cut open a wound on his arm and held it out, showing the blood slowly being dragged out, Janch finding it to be pretty neat and following the others with doing the same as their blood slowly formed a sphere of blood that began to enter Tenchi's body.

The only sound they could hear as the chanting died down was the beating heart before Tenchi landed on the floor and the Blood Council looked at her before Maria collapsed onto the floor, her eyes having gone red before the others grabbed onto her and quickly pulled her out, making each member of the family look confused before looking back at where Tenchi was laying before they suddenly fell asleep.

Turns out that on top of the room's roof sat a black jackal and waited for their moment to slide into the room and finish Tenchi off, carefully applying another dose of the same toxin as before onto their blade, having thrown a small gas bomb into the room through a little window without anyone noticing.

As the ritual had ended, Maria had quickly been fed blood as her body had taken a lot of lacerations from the ritual, but they had healed up just in time for her and Violetta to meet the new arrival to the castle, a beautiful pegasus mare named Lapis Lazuli, who had been brought with the help of Lauranne and Natt to them for Elvira to protect and help acclimate to the new society she would now live in.

The meeting had sadly been disturbed when the jackal heard a loud growl and saw a powerful light forewarning them, but it wasn't enough time as the roof suddenly shattered from the intense pressure when a powerful energy beam enveloped their body and disintegrated them in barely any time at all, along with the glass and parts of the blade, that slowly hit the floor next to Tenchi.

“What in the gaja'ca was that?!”, Violetta called out before running to the room and pushed the door open to see how everyone was waking up, and also witness how Tenchi was sitting up slowly and how there was now a big open hole in the ceiling that was letting the sunlight in as Tenchi tried to stand up slowly, only for Hildegaard and Maria to tackle her down onto the floor, "Tenchi! You are alright!"

Tenchi looked at the two of them and wasn't even knowing what was going on, "Wait... MarMar? Hildegaard? What are you two doing in Bastilia?" Maria looked at Tenchi and then at Violetta before calmly speaking to her, "Tenchi, you are in Grobuz. It will take a while to explain what is going on." Tenchi nodded before a loud growl was heard and she blushed, "Could someone make a meal for me? I got an odd craving for black pudding right now." Maria knew she had to tell her soon enough about it.

But suddenly Peridot sat down next to Tenchi and cried, leaning in to give her a kiss before Tenchi looked at her and smiled, "Hi Peri." She then looked down her body and noticed that Peridot was holding something and when Peridot sat up and laid a bundle on Tenchi's chest, Tenchi felt her eyes watering as she saw Ryuka for the first time, "Awww, she is lovely. What's her name?" Peridot smiled after drying her eyes, "Ryuka, Dragon's Song. We thought you weren't going to survive, so she was named after the thing that gave us strength. Your singing." Tenchi looked at Peridot and blushed, covering her face and also Ryuka with her wings, "No, not that." The family laughed at Tenchi's shyness.

Janch handed over the permission to Peridot with a smile, "Here. A permit to enter Virizah desert and bring those mongrels down." Tenchi looked up at it, "Oh? We are having a fight?" Maria suddenly placed a hand on Tenchi's forehead, "By the Blood Moon, no! You just recovered from an assassination attempt and we performed an ancient ritual on you, so you are gonna relax and be a guest here in Grobuz. Big sister MarMar is gonna take care of you now after all you have done for the planet."

Tenchi was about to speak, but Maria's eyes were like a fear-inducing hypnosis, "If you dare to move without my consent, I will put you into a blood crystal." Tenchi looked at her with a growl, "How dare you hinder me like you have authority over me? I am justice itself!" Maria screeched loudly enough to make Tenchi actually fear her even more, "I don't give a Blood Moon's dark side if you are even Faarg, I won't let you leave until you are back to full health again."

Tenchi grabbed onto Maria's arm before gasping as Maria showed a power she had mastered after becoming a vampire, "Crimson Gravity!" The gravity grew intense enough that Tenchi felt like all of her blood was hitting the bottom of her body before she finally gasped out, "Okay, I give." Maria nodded and undid the spell of hers, "Good, I am pleased that you understand the situation well enough to surrender in a honorable way."

The others watched the two having their face-off before Peridot looked at Janch, "Thank you, but you got another job ahead of you. Ainohi and Kari have disappeared and we've got no idea where they went, but according to mom, they may be heading towards Virizah desert." Janch gasped out in shock, "You mean they are planning to take revenge for what they did to Tenchi?" Peridot nodded before Tenchi looked over at them, "What did you say about someone taking revenge on some people for what they did to me?"

Without answering the question, Janch was quickly running out of the castle and jumping onto her husband's back to get back home to Tepehi and organize the wyverns for a search and rescue mission of Ainohi and Kari, but what they didn't know was that Kari had already figured out everything ahead of time and managed to bring Ainohi with her to seek vengeance, and while Janch still organized the team, they had already arrived to the Virizah desert, the home of the jackal Mezians, and with barely any time to spare, they had growled to their wyverns before feeling them diving and right before the ground, they flew back up to circle around, while Ainohi and Kari jumped off and ran for the temple.

But like true daughters of Tenchi, they didn't enter unannounced as Ainohi spun her staff around and hit the sand to summon up a sandstorm that slowly began to tear at the jackal guards outside before one by one they fell to either vines wrapping around and crushing them, or well-placed bolts hitting their bodies, their every footstep leaving a trail of corpses behind them until they arrived at the entrance to the temple and both called out loudly in union, "Knock knock, you worthless sacks of black fur! Here comes the laws of justice!"

The End.