Story

Somewhere, in a part of the galaxy far from our own, are the ghostly remains of a solar system long forgotten. Frozen in time, the system's dark sun and dead planets hang quietly, waiting for something to free them.

Intergalactic travelers know this mysterious solar system to be very dangerous, and those who pass through it claim that a great and evil presence infests every inch of space there. Even the strongest warriors have tried to cleanse the evil from the ancient solar system, but none can get close enough to the evil’s heart—a planet once renown as the home of the largest army of sailor soldiers in the galaxy.

After many conquests, the planet-consuming plague, Rage, had gained sentience. Powered by its hunger for life and strengthened by newfound intelligence, Rage ravaged the galaxy, coming to rest at the planet Mythos.

Mythos was a happy and blessed planet with many sailor soldiers who both guarded the planet and lived as mostly-normal people with the rest of society. With such a massive battalion of warriors, the planet need not fear outside attack.

For Rage, this planet was both a golden opportunity and an immense challenge. Having an army of sailor soldiers at its disposal, Rage could easily devour multiple galaxies, feeding its hunger. At the same time, gaining control of the army would prove almost impossible—Rage would have to infiltrate the planet without attacking outright. It would have to bury itself deep within the planet’s core and infest the hearts and minds of the planet’s soldiers one by one.

So, Rage waited for the first opportunity to present itself. This opportunity eventually came in the form of a young woman.
"Accept me, take me into you, and you will gain power beyond your wildest dreams--you will become even more powerful than the Light of Hope herself." Said Rage to the weak sailor soldier, "Once this is done, together, we will create an ultimate paradise on your planet--one free of pain and suffering."
The weak-willed soldier accepted and allowed Rage to use her as a gateway into the planet. Now under Rage’s control, the sailor soldier had changed, most notably in her appearance, but now she had also become obsessed with telling other soldiers of the coming Paradise, as per Rage’s suggestion.
Many soldiers converted, each changing slightly more than the last one had. Rage’s paradise was making itself more evident every day: the planet was sick, everything was dying, and those who had converted had become strange and obsessive.

Those who had not yet converted now adamantly resisted Rage's minions, and their defiance was met with violence. Many died. Those who had joined Rage began to steal the crystals from the lockets of casualties, and when Rage infested these crystals, a zombie-like shade of the soldier’s former self was created.
In an effort to save other allies from a similar fate, unconverted soldiers began hoarding the transformation lockets of fallen allies. Some soldiers, on the brink of defeat, would remove their lockets and throw them to an ally, detransforming and suffering a far more painful death than they would have transformed.
A stalemate was reached when the death toll has risen to an insane number, but Rage had become unable to acquire new crystals. Only a handful of the strongest soldiers remained--plus one: Sailor Geras.

Details of what follows are unknown, even to Sailor Geras, who only remembers that Rage was stalled and she was locked away from her power.

Sailor Geras left her home planet, now frozen in the throws of death, to follow the sailor crystals, which had, for some reason, fled together, a mass exodus from their home to places unknown.

After many long years of travel, Geras arrived on the planet Earth. Rather than resting briefly on the green planet as they had done with so many others, the crystals took root and were reborn. The fallen soldiers had been given a new chance at life.

Assuming the crystals were safe to grow and lead normal lives on a secure new home planet, Sailor Geras sought respite for herself and attempted to live as a normal Earthling. What she didn’t realize, however, was that Rage and its minions had followed her trail, and were about to finish what they had started many years ago.

***

Five years ago, a nineteen-year-old freshman at the Ohio State University disappeared only days after moving into his dorm. His face, plastered all over the news, attracted the attention of Sailor Geras.
Two weeks later the boy reappeared, claiming to be saved by the Alpha Mu Omega organization and preaching about the righteous paradise it seeks to create.

The recently formed Alpha Mu Omega organization at first took credit for rescuing the boy from certain doom (though just what kind of doom that was they always fail to mention), but after the idea of a “righteous paradise” was met with ridicule and accusations of the organization being a suicidal cult, they suggested that the young man had lost his mind before the organization had saved him, and his claims of Paradise were simply delusions.

***

A girl, a senior at The Ohio State University, gets a letter in the mail. Assuming it's junk, she tosses it, but another letter comes. She tosses that one, and the next one, and the next one, until she's so frustrated to find one in the back of her mailbox that she just opens it on the spot.

"CONGRATULATIONS!" is written on the top of the paper, just below the greek letters Mu, Upsilon, Theta, Omicron and Sigma. "You have been accepted into the prestigious MYTHOS organization! Please take the enclosed locket and..." an address follows, but the girl is too caught up in the fact that the letter mentions a locket, yet it was obviously far too small to contain anything like that. A small phrase is written at the bottom, she mumbles it aloud to herself and feels a rush of wind and power. A locket manifests in her hands.
Completely confused, the girl examines the address--an on-campus location.

She folds the letter up and sticks it into the back pocket of her jeans and stares at the locket that appeared from nowhere. She tries to convince herself that the locket, which was surprisingly large and heavy, simply slid out of the envelope, but she can't shake the feeling that she needs to visit that place--that MYTHOS organization.

As she decides, a man appears, seemingly out of nowhere. "Hello," he says with a charismatic smile, "I'm with Alpha Mu Omega, a co-educational fraternity dedicated to service and betterment of the world."

"Sorry," She interrupts. "I'm not into that whole religious cult thing." and walks away from him, headed for the MYTHOS organization to find out just what is going on.

"Shit." Mumbles the man, and he disappears in a puff of smoke.


The Ohio State University is one of the largest campuses in the United States, offering a wide variety of majors to suit any confused and unsure college student’s wants and needs. It's known for being a big football school, a big party school, and a shining example of diversity in America, what it isn't known for is its team of sailor suited super heroines and their brass-armored buddies, the Hoplites. That's about to change, though.