Prologue

A young maid scurried through the halls quickly and quietly, her tray loaded with bottles and herbs for her mistress. Empress Sapphire, her mistress, had always been kind and fair in her duties. The maid, Esmerelda, had always admired her mistress for her ability to remain forbearing and conscientious despite the heavy burden on her shoulders.

After the creation of the realms, the gods departed for the godly realm where they maintained their immortality and power for all time. The gods created 11 beings to serve them in 11 of the 13 realms during their absence, choosing to maintain the godly and demon realms themselves. The Jewel Empresses were created with immense power and tasked by the gods to maintain order and balance in the realms on their behalf. Each Empress was given a realm to maintain and a tribe of beings to watch over. Each tribe was given a galaxy to occupy. Empress Sapphire was the originally the guardian of the Canine tribe but was currently protecting the Human tribe as well.

A terrible sadness overcame the young maid's body as she thought back to the past before the Realm War began. There once was at time that all the realms were at peace and her mistress was happy. Gatherings such as the one happening tonight were a time of joy between the Empresses. She had not seen her mistress smile now in a millennium. She had prayed to the gods to bring happiness to the sisters once more, but her prayers had thus far gone unanswered.

One thousand years ago, the vile manticore tribe used ancient, forbidden magic to open a portal and entered other realms. The manticore convinced many of the to fight in their war to overtake the Empresses, falsely believing they could take their powers from them and rule over all the realms. The war cost the lives of 3 Empresses before the manticores could be stopped. After the death of 3 of their precious Jewel Empresses, the gods stepped in and gave the Empresses a solution and the powers to implement it.

To end the war, the remaining Empresses gathered as directed by their gods and used their combined power to create the Champions. These Champions each hold a powerful form such as dragon, phoenix, thunderbird, griffin, sphynx, gargoyle and many more. Each Champion wields great power given to them by the Empresses they serve.

For the last 950 years, the Empress champions have carried out their mistresses' vengeance for the loss of their sisters. Each champion is sworn to destroy every manticore in all of the realms as a punishment for their rebellion to avenge the fallen sisters. Their task is now complete having exterminated the entire race of manticores. Not a single manticore remains throughout the realms.

Tonight, a great gathering will take place in the Great Stone Chamber deep beneath the castle. The remaining 8 Jewel Empresses will arrive shortly to carry out the final stage of the gods' plan. The maid hastened her steps. Her mistress needed these final items to complete the magic that would bring this all to its end. The Champions would be retired to Valhalla having served the mistresses well, deserving their honor. As Esmerelda stepped into the chamber room, she saw the sisters take their places in a circle around the large marble stone in the center of the room. She knelt to the floor to honor her mistress and waited for the command to rise and step forward with her burden. Her mistress turned towards Esmerelda and gave the command. Suddenly, a flash of light appeared in the center of the room startling the occupants and halting Esmerelda in her tracks.

A handsome man with winged feet, stood where the fading circle of light. "Greetings, Jewel Empresses. I bring a message from the godly realm." Her mistress turned to the man and gently inclined her head in acknowledgement. "Welcome, Hermes. What news do you have for us this evening?"

"Empresses, it appears you will need to amend your plans. The Champions are still needed in the realms for some time to come. There have been some unfortunate developments from the demon realm that will require their particular skillset." Hermes extended a scroll to Empress Ruby. "Read the message and make your plans with your sisters. I will return at sunrise for your answer. His Majesty will want a complete battle plan prepared before then and will want his daughter's concern addressed as well." "Thank you, Hermes. We will be prepared." Hermes nodded his head in a polite goodbye and disappeared in a flash of light. Ruby opened the scroll. With a wave of her hand, the scroll floated to the center of the room, its words intoned in a loud voice for all to hear.

Proclamation:

Blood freely given from each realm opened the door.

A price must be paid for opening the Portal.

Justice must be upheld to bring honor.

The Champions time draws near but the need is great.

War brings hate opening the demonic door.

That which has escaped must be returned.

A sacrifice to restore the bonds of Love.

Alpha, Beta and Omega united as one.

Balance must be restored to bring peace.

"Well, doesn't that just sound like fun. Just once, I wish they would just say what they mean in one of these little messages," came the exasperated response from Empress Emerald. "Calm down. We all know that is never going to happen," replied Empress Diamond.

A shrill whistle from Empress Pearl brought the grumbling to a halt. "Let's get started on a way to fix this, ladies. It isn't going to translate itself. Rumi, where do you think we should begin?"

"I agree. It sounds like we got more than we usually do, so I say it's a win. It sounds like there were more traitors than we realized. The manticores have been eliminated, but the tribe leaders who freely gave their blood must also be punished. Those who are responsible for the deaths of our sisters Opal, Amethyst and Topaz must pay for their crimes. Justice must be upheld. Obsidian, have you any plans for our next steps?"

Empress Obsidian had always been able to get to the heart of the matter quickly. Today was no exception. "We must extend the lives of our Champions to punish the tribe leaders, return the escaped, and find a way to restore Love to the world. After 1,000 years of war and countless lives lost, the hate across the realms is powerful enough to open the demonic portal. Ares must be about to implode from the power rush. Aphrodite is right to be concerned. She wouldn't want to see her brother explode nor will she want to waste away herself. To restore that kind of imbalance will take a massive sacrifice."

Empress Jade listened carefully to her sisters as her mind turned over the remainder of the proclamation. Sacrifice, bonds, united as one, balance. As the words bounced around in the air in front of her, a plan began to form in her mind. "I believe I have a solution that will solve several problems. The manticore realm is now empty. As the largest realm with the most space, it can support the inhabitants of many other realms over time. Unfortunately, the power it takes to maintain the realm is more than I can support. Topaz was much stronger than I am after the magic we expended to create the Champions. Sapphire, Ruby and I cannot continue maintaining two realms each. Even now, the magic in those realms is perilously close to running out and the worlds are breaking down. There are millions more humans than any other beings. However, the humans have destroyed their own world. If we are to save the race, we must bond them with the spirits of the beings in the failing realms. The gods want a sacrifice and a bond to restore balance. Those inhabitants of the Canine, Human, Magic, Bear and Feline realms who are worthy of our help can be soul bonded and relocated to the Manticore realm. Each being will sacrifice their own body to share an existence with the bonded soul. The new race will be able to shift between their human form and their soul bonded form. If the 3 of us combine our realms into the Manitcore realm, we can combine our magic to support the realm together."

Empress Rumi stood. "I like this idea. The new race will be called Shifters. I will join you. My Kitsune realm's inhabitants have suffered greatly through the war. My magic is nearly spent trying to protect them. With all 4 of us working together, our magic should support the realm until our magic can rebuild, provided we use our power sparingly."

Pearl and Diamond stood beside Rumi. Pearl added her voice, "We have the same problem. We will join you as well. After all the magic of 6 is better than 4, right?"

Diamond turned toward her sisters, "I have some concerns about the humans that need to be addressed. Their tendency to ostracize and discriminate against one another has become a part of the fabric of their being. We must correct this flaw during the soul bond if the Shifters are to thrive in their new world."

Always the planner, Obsidian brought forth a concern. "This power required to bring about this kind of change will be immense. We must prepare to rest after bringing about the transformation. We will need a being capable of guiding the transition and maintaining the balance while we rest to restore our power."

"Good point Obsidian," said Emerald. "I suggest a race of beings who wield a small portion of our power who will be born into existence among the humans to be bonded. These humans will be great mages and will be neither male nor female, but both. They will be the Omegas of the Shifter realm and will act as our voice among the Shifters. Each shifter will have fated mates. The presence of an Alpha, Beta and an Omega will be required in the bonded mates to bring a balance to the beings."

Sapphire spoke up, "We should send a message through Hermes to the Fates with our request in the morning. I am confident they will agree to our plan." Sapphire felt the return of hope to her heart. Turning toward her maid, Sapphire issued her command. "Esmerelda dear, please bring us some tea. We have some planning to do. It seems there are going to be some changes needed in the realms." For the first time in 1,000 years, Esmerelda saw her mistress smile.