*Disclaimer: The title "A Million Doors to
Eternity" is a quote from Sting's song, A
Thousand Years.

(CP pops up from nowhere bouncing)
The men in white suits let us out of the asylum
cause they said that the copyright laws have
nothing to do with us anymore since we aren't
writing the story anything...but...(coughs) did
we mention we lied in the previous chapter? 

Kii: MUHAHAHA!! WE LIED! And STOP SENDING THE
MEAN EMAILS! ::sniffles:: you hurt my feelings!
::cries on cp's shoulder::

CP: (glares at minna) look what you have done!
Tsk tsk!  *men in white suits (sidenote: which
minna has thrown at us in many emails) show up
out of nowhere*  

White Suit Man 1: What is this about a
continuation?  

White Suit Man 2(though still slightly tinted
pink): A second book...?.. .. .. 

(the two mad authors have disappeared before
answering any questions). 


Desert Mirage-A Million Doors to Eternity
Prologue
By: The Rose Society and Eternal Angel
Rating: R
Email: EtrlSlrMn@aol.com
	stargazing12@hotmail.com
http://www.geocities.com/the_rose_society/
http://www.steelpenguin.com/~fromangeltofoes/

	"But Endymion never returned, forever
lost in the desert sand..."

	Serenity closed the book with a sigh,
tears wearily rolling down her cheeks. The
story was so sad, embracing her in the deepest
part of her soul with an aching loneliness she
couldn’t define. She lay back upon her pillow,
her silver hair fanning out beneath her head.
Closing her silvery blue eyes, she reveled in
the sadness and angst she felt for the former
sultan and his beloved. It was such a sad
legend about how Sultan Endymion fell in love
with the beautiful nomadic dancer, Serenity.

	Frowning, Serenity wondered how true
the story really was. Could a Sultan, the ruler
of this great kingdom, truly fall in love with
a common girl? Her parents believed in this
story, this sad tale of star-crossed lovers.
They believed it so much that they went as far
as to name her after the beautiful Serenity of
legend. The one that disappeared into the vast
desert with the young Sultan’s heart. But unlike
her predecessor, Serenity was not a commoner.
She was a member of the royal family. Her uncle
was the current sultan of the kingdom. After
Endymion died, his royal advisor controlled the
kingdom until his passing, when a nobleman was
chosen as the new sultan. She was a descendant
of the new royal line.

	Of course, she wasn't the next in line
to inherit the throne. As a noblewoman, she
had her freedom, thank God, to choose the
course of her own life. Unlike Endymion, her
future was not written out for her, every
detailed planned like a morbid play of constant
sorrow.

	However, there was a slight possibility
that this freedom that she possessed would
change. Her uncle and his wife were childless.
There was no true heir to the throne. Amongst
her uncle's nieces and nephews, his clear
favorite was Serenity. She was intelligent and
extremely sharp witted in the matters of state.
There was a male cousin, far removed from
Serenity, that might inherit the throne. But he
was a black-hearted, slow-witted, selfish thing
that would most likely bring the kingdom to ruin
if left as Sultan.

	Biting her lower lip, Serenity sat up,
a furrow between her brows. She despised the
mere thought of her freedom might be
taken from her.  She did not want to be locked
up in a golden cage, even if it was the palace.
She loved going out into the marketplace, to
interact with the ordinary citizens, to learn
about their lives. They viewed her not as a
rich young woman of a higher station, they saw
and knew Serenity as a friend. If she were to
become the crown princess...

	Shuddering, Serenity leapt to her
balcony door and threw them open, stepping out
into the night air.  The soft coolness dried the
remaining tears. She stared out into the dark
night sky, the shimmer of moonlight calming her
unsettled soul.
	

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

	He knelt, his knees upon the
cold sand of the desert, his eyes rooted to
a particular spot on the ground. This was
what he did every night for the past eighty
years. The night temperature of the desert
was bitingly cold, but he did not feel
anything.

	After all, he was dead. That would
technically imply that he did not feel.
Period.

	But that wasn't correct either. He
DID feel. Emotions, memories, they were all
intact. He just didn't have a body. A minor
inconvenience in his present state of mind.
After all, what did having a body or not
matter, when the love of your life, the
mate to your soul, was gone?

	And you were the one who killed her?

	That, more than anything, was the
one force that kept him tied to this plane
of existence. The torment that he felt, for
having let Serenity die, pushed him to stay
in the last place he had seen her beautiful
face, heard her gentle voice.

	No, he did not wish to leave the
reality where his love was last alive, her
eyes shining brilliantly. He loathed even
the mere thought of leaving this place for
the afterlife. After all, after his actions
in his mortal life, he was most likely not
going to see Serenity in the after life.

	As the sun slowly rose over the
horizon, the first rays gently caressed the
cool desert sand, warming it within its
embrace. The light steadily enveloped his
ethereal form, until, when the sun finally
appeared in the early morning sky, Endymion
flickered and disappeared, another mirage
in the empty desert.

RS: ::frowns:: We got so many emails
complaining about the ending of DM1. They
usually were along the lines of "YOU SUCK"
and demanding epilogues or rewrites. While
I can respect the fact that a lot of people
want a happy ending, the point of the
matter is that it is OUR fic. Even though I
didn't quite agree with CP's ending, I
supported her cuz it was her vision of DM1
and this is not just my fic or her fic.
Again, I emphasize that we write for the joy
of writing. We share because we think you
guys will get a kick out of it. Insulting
us because an ending did not agree with your
private hopes does not mean that we have no
artistic license to do as we please. If you
think we have no talent as writers, please,
stop reading. Don't flame us for not doing
as you wanted.

I was seriously reconsidering even writing
fiction anymore because a lot of the emails
that I and CP received really hurt my
feelings. But then, I was reminded of the
fact that I don't write for feedback,
although it is nice to be appreciated. I
write because I enjoy writing. So while I
will probably get more complaints because of
this note, please remember one thing:

DELETE button!

For all those who did write nice comments,
they were very much appreciated. Please don't
believe that this rant is directed at you
guys, because it is not. And no, this book is
NOT for those who were complaining, demanding,
etc. It is for those who were kind, if just a
little disappointed, as well as for us, since
we originally intended to make DM a multiparter.

CP: Well, this is my little rant and rave
section just because I think I have all right
to say what I wish to say.  Some of the emails
that we had received in response to DM1 have
been very insulting and hurtful.  I'm not
saying that all of them were, but a large
majority of them were and it made us wonder
what was really wrong with the ending.  I know
it was brief, but truthfully, everything we did
had a reason.  We ended the previous book the
way it was on purpose.  If someone had emailed
us and asked us 'why' instead of biting our
heads off we might have told you our reasons of
doing things the way it was.  Or at least we
might have hinted it to you.

This part of the book, DM2, is not due to all
the 'requests' (if you can call it that) that
we were sent, but because this is how DM was
suppose to go.  We planned this out for over a
year.  Some of the emails that we have received
made us just want to quit writing it in general,
but still, we write for ourselves.  Thus,
instead of thinking we're whining people, just
try to be opened minded instead of insulting.