Hunger Stalks the Land

Mina’s Tale – Part 12

Sadness fills my soul every time that I look at the nightly news. I can’t get those pictures beamed from North America out of my mind and I dwell upon them in my sleep. The richest nation under the sun and its people are surely starving to death by slow measures. Nova holds me tight in his arms every night while I cry as I watch the continuing crisis unfolding before me on the television. It struck with a fury that surprised us that Nova was caught unprepared for this avatar.

No, we aren’t going hungry and unlike most of the world we are surviving in this crisis. Nova would never let that happen to his family but we are receiving a large amount of our daily meals from the gardens in the Fortress. It is producing as much surplus food that it can but we just can’t give to the populace like we want or they require. We can barely keep Japan’s fed, in fact, Amy said that most of the people within sight of our building goes to bed without meeting the daily requirements to keep them healthy. Sickness and disease accompanied hunger and Amy is coping as best she can with our limited resources. She, with the help of Erica and Michelle, has established hospitals and clinics to help those unfortunate victims of this creature. They would die without the aid that they receive from Amy’s clinics. Nova is using these centers of health as the modern day ‘soup kitchens’ for the masses. Even Sailor War had little influence over the first food riot in Hiroshima and Edo. Thousands stormed the warehouses that the government was using to store food for the equal distribution of sustenance to the citizens of the country. Some people believed that the government was holding back reserves and took the matter in their own hands. Over a hundred died in the fires that burned the meager amount of food that was available. Then, the plagues struck with such ferocity that it run through the city on the constant march of the rats that carry the fleas that spread the diseases.

The conditions were worse in the rest of the world. The largest plague to strike Europe since the Middle Ages was running rampant in all the major cities. Towns and villages that held cheerful people just months ago were now just empty houses. Hundred of thousands were dying every day and only the most extreme measures prevented the depopulation of all of Europe. Paris constructed a wall around itself and refuses all entry into the city. This action has not lessened the effects of the hunger but the city remains plague free.

America, the once proud country, lies in ruins. The racial wars of last years combined with the starvation riots have left all the cities in tatters. Communities are being formed out of the ragged masses in the heartland to wrench what can be gleamed from the land. America’s military is still strong but it is scattered in all the states and only by their sheer wills allow the soldiers and their leaders to maintain a loose command structure.

Asia and Africa has fared the worst. Tribal warfare decimated most of Africa’s population and only a few groups of survivors are earning a meager existence on the seacoasts. Nova is making arrangements to move them to India and Australia. Africa as a community is dead, it just hasn’t heard of its own demise. Asia has been struck hard by the plagues. The population of China now numbers in the hundreds of millions instead of billions. They first started using mass graves to bury the victims but soon they were so few that were left that it was easier for them to move than try to bury all the dead. Most of the plague survivors moved to the area around Hong Kong but it can’t provide food for its entire populace. All together, the entire human race amounted to a little over three billion souls. I don’t know if I can take any more sorrow nor can Darien.

Darien is the physical embodiment of the Earth and every death affects him slightly but with the mass death tolls he just sits in his room in pain. Serena tries to comfort him but all she can do is hold him close to her and cry with him. We all can feel the pain that is infecting the Earth, an infection that started with Battle and continued with Rogue. I asked Nova, “Love, could we be dealing with two avatars this time?” Nova leaned back in his chair, “It could be but if it is so the second hasn’t made an appearance but something more than Hunger seems to be working in the world.” He didn’t say anything else but he grabbed me around my waist and pulled me to him. I sat in his lap and gradually forgot about all our trouble. He makes me feel so special when he holds me but I can feel his sorrow and pain not only for the world but also for his friend and his wife in the next room. I slowly fell asleep with his strong arms wrapped around me.

I awoke with the morning sun shining in my eyes and the smell of Lita’s cooking in the air. I gently lifted myself off Nova and quietly walked across the room. She was dressed in a pale blue blouse and jeans; her usual attire for the early summer season. She never saw her life’s dream materialized because of all the trouble but she’s still happy. She once dreamed of becoming a chef of her own restaurant but she does cook for over twenty people and with the current situation, she does a fantastic job of keeping a variety of foods on the table. She is the mother figure to all of us. We learn from her about cooking, cleaning, and taking care of a household. I sat down at the table in the kitchen and started kneading the bread dough that I found in the bowl under the towel.

“Just a year ago you wouldn’t know what to do with that dough.” She looked at me and pointed to the dough in my hand. I looked at her smiling face, “You’re right. You have taught me much in the past months. I would never try to make bread from scratch until you took the time to teach me. Now, I can make Nova a home-cook meal and even Serena can make something without endangering everyone.” Lita looked at me and started to laugh. She hugged me and gave me a small kiss on my cheek. I felt another set of arms around me. I looked over my shoulder and saw Serena, “Serena, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it.” She laughed with Lita, “Why … should I be mad, when it’s true. I don’t know how Darien ever ate any of my cooking except for the curry.” She hugged us both, “At least I could always make a decent curry, even if it didn’t look edible.”

After we laughed and giggled like schoolgirls the conservation made an abrupt turn. Lita turned to her cooking, “Mina, do you know what is happening? Nova’s been so secretive in the past days.” I gazed at one of my best friends, “I don’t know what’s he thinking. Sometimes I think that we are all just window dressing for him to admire. He’s my husband and I love him with all my heart but now and then I can’t even reach his mind especially that one corner of it.” Serena took that moment to start setting the table and looked up as I spoke, “Mina, what one corner?” I know that I was trapped but maybe it’s time to get it off my chest. “I am closer to him than anyone other than … maybe Chibi and I can see into his visions and his thoughts. So close that I almost believe that we are thinking the same things at the same time but he has this … block in his mind, so powerful that I can’t even get past it. It’s a solid wall of thoughts keeping me out and sometimes it hurts to think that he isn’t telling me everything.” Serena gave me a hug, “Well, maybe it’s not a wall to keep you out but something in. You have to remember that Nova still has the Dark Queen’s persona in his mind. That barrier is what you maybe feeling.” Holding back the Dark Queen, I never thought about that possibility but it could be true. He must hold her powers in check somehow and that wall could be his protection against it. Serena was probably right, it made sense and for her, well, that was an accomplishment.

The conversation turned to a new topic with Lita’s next question, “When will it all end? We seem to be always in a war of some type since we came together.” I looked up at my tallest friend, “Lita, hearing Nova’s tales, the universe has been at war for over a million years and he can’t even see the end. It’s hurts to think about what he has seen. We just fought against pale imitations of the creatures that he fought in the past. Not only the Shadow Demon but also the Unstoppable. I don’t know how long this war will continue but I know that as long as he is by our side, we will win in the end. He just won’t let it finish in any different fashion but with our victory.”

I sat quietly thinking about what I had said about Nova. He fought against the most powerful creatures that the Negaverse could throw at him. He survived through the use of massive, unexplained powers that I could only feel their immense magic. Our powers drew their energy from his reserves but do we have powers ourselves or we just parasites bleeding power from him to sustain our image of ourselves? No, we must possess internal power because we fought the Negaverse and all the others before he appeared from the past. I don’t think that we could hold our own against the avatars. Not even Serena’s most powerful attack seem to hurt them but each seem to possess one weakness that we can destroy and its destruction disturbs them sufficiently that Nova can get past their defense for the kill.

I felt a hand on my shoulder, “Mina, is everything all right?” I glanced over my shoulder and saw the blue eyes and blonde hair of my best friend, “It’s ok, Serena, just daydreaming and thinking about the past.” Serena didn’t press anymore and soon our conversation turned to our daily lives. We still have to live in this world and we will defend it against all foes. We have adopted the Earth as our home but we knew that we truly belong in space with Nova leading us. I pray every night that the war will end but then I look in Nova’s mind and realize that until one side or the other prevails, the war will never end but I can still pray.

It wasn’t hard to find Hunger, in fact she found us. We heard her shouting her chant in the streets below our building. Erica attacked her first with Michelle close behind. Soon, all the Sailors was throwing their forces toward her but she just used the scale she held to absorb our powers. None of our magic worked against her but we fought with everything we had in our bag of tricks. Nova transformed into Sailor War and drew us back from the fight. She was prepared for battle, “Mina, pull everyone back. She’s mine.” With those words he summoned the black sword from its sheath, “Hunger, you have laid waste to all the lands, you have brought disease to every house and for that you shall be punished.” Nova struck a blow that staggered the avatar but soon she regained her feet and sent a wave of energy towards Nova. Nova raised the fiendish blade and the energy from the attack danced along its length but none of it reached Nova.

The battle raged on for what seemed like hours but it was probably just minutes. Neither could gain an upper hand but they still fought, one fought to destroy all and the other fought to protect his own. “He will always fight for the ones that he loves.” “You’re right, … wait”, I looked to the person that spoke and saw Nephrite behind me. “Nephrite, I’m so glad to see you.” He looked at me with those eyes that showed his sorrow, “I can’t stay long, Princess. Remember the law of supply and demand.” He disappeared from sight as he gave me his message. The law of supply and demand, what does that mean?

I saw Amy trying to work her way around the battle to attack Hunger from behind and ran to her. “Amy, Nephrite just appeared and told me that we need to remember the law of supply and demand. What’ that?” Amy looked at me as if I did something wrong but soon smiled at me, “Mina, the law of supply and demand simply states that as the price of a good increases, the demand for the good decreases and the reverse happens when the price for the good decreases.” I thought on what Amy said, when the price increases, the demand for the good decreases. It didn’t make any sense to me but then it hit me, if the amount of a good increase then it follows that the price decreases. How to increase the good? Then I saw the answer, it was right in front of me all the time but what would make it increase, who had the power that I needed?

I looked over the field of battle and my eyes fell upon Lita. I sent a thought to her, “Lita, cast Oak Evolution at the stalk of wheat.” Lita didn’t question my words, “Oak Evolution”, and sent her magic towards the wheat lying upon Hunger’s scale. When it struck, the wheat increased in size and suddenly the gold coin flew from her scale. She looked at the coin falling and then to her chest where the Cosmic Bane had struck her. She looked at Nova, “The last one is already here. He has been here from the beginning.” She spoke as her dead body slipped from the sword and glimmered out of existence.

I rushed to Nova’s side as he transformed. He reached down and picked up the coin from the ground, “All the suffering for metal that you can’t eat or drink. So much pain and death for a trinket that means so little when compared to one’s health or family.” I saw tears form in his eyes and I held him close to me, “Maybe one day everyone will come to realize that worldly goods mean little if they can’t enjoy them.” He kissed me and ran a hand down my back, “I don’t know, my love, it took me a couple years to figure that one out myself so it may take others longer.” I looked at him and started to laugh and soon everyone joined in. Nova called everyone together and we hugged in the street. Hunger was defeated but it would be a while before anything got back to normal. It did worry Nova and me that Hunger said that the fourth avatar was already here and he hadn’t received a vision of its coming.

Everyday life began to settle down. Chibi was able to start going back to school and the rest of us started our college years or our careers. Amy will start her first year of pre-med, Darien will be finishing his senior year, and Lita has apprenticed herself to a famous chef in the Tokyo area. The rest of us went to work for Nova and Susan. Silver Kingdom Inc. placed itself as the number one company in the world or rather what’s left of the world. Entire countries had disappeared off the face of the Earth but they will be remembered. It’s also not hard to find just one member of a family left alive. The suffering over the entire face of the Earth was great and I don’t know how we, as mankind, will continue to thrive. We are still waiting for the final avatar; the one that Hunger said was already on the Earth and causing problems. We search every night to try and find this being but so far we hadn’t found success in our venture.

Life settled down into standard routines. Nova is more loving than ever with Chibi and myself but I can tell that he’s still worried. Raye was a great help last week when she agreed to take care of Chibi for a week so Nova and me could have a second honeymoon. It took all my womanly devices but I ‘convinced’ Nova that a small vacation away from everything was just what we needed to help us get closer together. Time apart from friends or responsibilities is what we need in our life. I really want to get him alone with me so we could try to have a child together. I don’t want you to get me wrong, I love Chibi with all my heart but I want to have Nova’s child growing under my heart again. In this body I never had that experience but I still had the memories that Nova gave me and I thought long about my feelings when I had Chibi in my body. Now, my whole body cries out for his children. I remember that he told me, in the past, that I could have hundreds of fertile years and I want to fill those years with his children.

We settled in a small country home that one of Nova’s business partners owned near Edo. Nova wanted to go to the Tanabata festival at the Asakusa temple; the official temple of Japan’s first Shoguns. Even though Nova is strictly not Japanese, he still thinks of himself as such because of his intimate connection to the others and me. Japan is Nova’s homeland now and Sailor War is its protector. I don’t know what would have happened to Japan if Nova and through him, Sailor War, was not there for this country. Nova held the country together by providing the necessary ingredients for life and Sailor War kept their spirits high when it would have been easy for people to slip into despair. Japan responded to Nova’s sacrifice and he is welcome anywhere on the islands as a true friend. School children from every town writes him to thank him for so many things and he tries to answer every one that he can by either letters, calls, or visits. It’s almost like we were on the Moon again because of the number of ‘state’ visits that he tries to fill every week but this week I have him all to myself.

We snuggled close to each other on the sofa looking towards the bay, “Nova, do you sometimes wish that we could have a simpler life?” He held me close and pressed a hand on my breast, “My dear wife, I pray everyday that the war will end so I can spend all my time just exploring your body. I don’t need wealth, fame, or power when I have the most precious thing in the universe at my side.” He leaned over and kissed me on the neck. Soon I grabbed his hand and slowly walked to our bedroom. I was going to show him the best time that he ever had since the first day we that we were married. I pray each day for the same thing, maybe one day we will have our prayers come true. Tomorrow is July 7^th and we will travel to the temple and write our prayers for our marriage and hang them on the bamboo branches.

We walked through the Gate of Thunder with its large red lantern hanging above our heads. This gate separates the earthly world from the divine or so the legend states. We continue to the main temple where we lit incense sticks so the rising smoke will cure us of all illness and grant us luck in our lives. It was a beautiful morning and we were dressed in matching blue kimonos marking us as a couple. I think that we could be dresses in any fashion and everyone would see us as a couple; they could see the love that flowed between us. Soon we were in front of the bamboo branches prepared for the ceremony, we each pulled a piece of colored paper from the holder and with pens marked our wishes on the paper. I wrote what was in my heart. I wanted to be closer to Nova, to be able to help him in the upcoming months, to be his best friend and companion. As I finished, I looked at Nova’s. He wrote that he wanted to make me the happiest wife that ever walked the face of the Earth. How precious, he wanted to make me happy but I don’t think he realized that the best way to make me happy is for him to be happy. He reached up and drew one of the branches down to me and I tied both of our paper on the branch and tied them together. Our prayer and wish was the same and they should reach to the heavens together.

We spent the rest of the day in bed enjoying ourselves. It was midnight and I was snuggled against Nova’s chest thinking about the day when suddenly he bolted up. “He has come forward, the last avatar. He has been with us from the first day.” I grabbed Nova, “What’s he like, who is he?” Nova leaned back against me and I placed his head on my breasts, “He rides a pale horse and the demons of the Negaverse follow on his heels. He has been given dominion over the beasts of the fields, the warriors of valor, and the all the disease that existed. He is the cause of all the deaths that plagued us and all the ones that he will cause through the use of his power. He is the right hand of the great dragon, the pawn of the Unstoppable, and will come to Earth with a loud noise. His name is the Death Phantom.” Nova collapsed against me and as I held him close to me as I called Susan to send a helicopter to bring us home. The final avatar has shown himself to Nova and he caused me to tremble and drew to me the most important person in my life. Even with Nova by my side, I knew the fear that plagued normal wives. The final battle against the Unstoppable has come but he is bringing Death with him.

The Death Phantom has come and with him, the Unstoppable. How can the Sailor Warriors defeat a creature that caused the death of over half the world? Stay tuned for the next part, “End Game and Rebirth”, Mina’s Tale II Part 13.