Poison Chapter 12

Author: Tsutsuji Title: Poison

Poison

Chapter
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [Alternate Chapter 10]

Title: Poison (*chapter 12 of 13*)
Author: Tsutsuji
Date written: June-August 2005
Fandom: Slayers
Rating: R for suggestiveness and violence
Pairings: Zelgadis/Xelloss
Type: yaoi/slash, adventure
Warnings: hurt/comfort, angst, char-torture
Disclaimer: I do not own the copyright to these characters and I'm making no profit from this fic and intend no copyright infringement.
Summary: Zelgadis reaches the Shrine and makes a surprising discovery, and a decision...
Notes: Thanks so much for the reviews and encouragement. This chapter gets long and dark, and even more painful than the previous chapter... just so you know.
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Poison, chapter 12
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Zelgadis stumbled through the guilt doors from the Great Hall into darkness lit only by a single, fluttering torch. Beside him, Deputy Shrine Keeper Marcus took a second torch from the wall and lit it from the first, then stepped in front of Zelgadis to lead the way. Two Soldiers of Shimer followed them through the doors with their plain steel swords sheathed.
Even with his enhanced senses, the torchlight seemed dim after the blaze and glitter of the Great Hall. It took Zel a minute to realize they were in a natural cave that wound away out of sight between rough stone walls. He remembered that the Hall was built into the hillside, and realized that the shrine must be underground. The Great Hall was just an entryway.
Another choked-off scream followed them into the darkness. Zelgadis shuddered. Without conscious thought, power gathered in his fingertips; he could blow them all away with one quick spell. He paused, and Marcus turned back to check on him. His kindly face creased with concern when he saw Zelgadis' pained expression.
"I can imagine what a shock this must be for you, Zelgadis-san," he said, shaking his head sympathetically. "It must be horrible to realize what kind of creature you've been traveling with all this time. We were so concerned for you! Chief Shrine Keeper Zuller-sama hoped that it would soothe your soul to enter the Shrine as soon as you discovered the truth."
Zelgadis clenched his fists, grasping the power that he'd conjured like hot coals.
"Yes, I'm sure it will do that," he said. His voice sounded strained in his own ears. "Let us hurry to the Shrine."
"Of course," the Keeper said quickly, anxious to please. "Right this way! You'll soon be fully human again, Zelgadis-san!"
Zelgadis started forward with the Keeper in front, carrying the torch, and the two Soldiers some distance behind. Another gasping moan was cut off when the doors swung shut behind them.
It was silent then, except for their footsteps and the flutter of the torches, but he thought he also heard the faint drip of water on stone. The walls glittered in the torchlight, damp in places but veined with gems in others. The passage wound among pillars of stone that rose up from the floor or spiked down from above, and smaller caves branched off into utter darkness on either side.
Human again.... the Keeper's words echoed in his mind with a hollow sound. His hope was numb, but his rage settled like a banked fire. He still had no idea what the Shrine would be when he got there, so he had no clear idea what he would have to do. Hearing the footsteps behind him, he wondered if they were suspicious of him already.
"Why are there Soldiers coming with us?" he wondered aloud.
"Oh, simply ceremonial," Marcus shrugged. "It used to be quite a bit more elaborate than this whenever someone came to the shrine, with an honor guard and a ceremony that lasted for some time. Of course, before the Hall was built and the Relics were made, people just poured in and out all the time without any proper dignity at all..."
He rambled on about the history of the Great Hall and its past glories. Apparently he thought it would do Zelgadis good to get his mind off what he'd just witnessed, but he soon stopped listening. Xelloss' screams still rang in his ears, and all he could see was the lavender eyes that had gleamed so hotly in the dark the night before growing pale and colorless.
"...A true Follower of Shimer!" the Deputy Shrine Keeper had worked himself up to crow the words aloud, and then he cringed nervously when they echoed off the walls. He regained his composure and turned to glance back at Zelgadis.
"If you wish, you might even consider training as a Shrine Keeper yourself. I'm sure Zuller-sama would approve of it. Of course, after what you've been through, you might well wish to become a Soldier of Shimer. I certainly wouldn't blame you."
Zelgadis stared at the Deputy Keeper's back; his lip curled in a snarl that the timid Marcus would have trembled to see. The thought of himself as one of those mindless, grinning soldiers made him want to retch. But then, in the middle of his horror, another thought came to him. He stopped so suddenly the Soldiers nearly ran into him.
"Could I do that?" he said eagerly. "Could I become a Soldier of Shimer here, today?"
The Keeper turned to him with a puzzled look.
"Today? Now?" Marcus turned to give him a puzzled look.
Zelgadis smiled, a gleaming, eager smile. "Today. After I'm human again, of course. Would I be able to wield one of those blessed weapons right away?"
Marcus' eyes grew wide and his smile grew wider. "Oh, I see! You want to have your revenge on that creature, don't you?"
"What better way to begin my new, human life in the Great Cause of Shimer?" Zelgadis said with a grin that rivaled those of the Soldiers.
Marcus nodded, rubbing his hands together thoughtfully. "Well, I can't appoint you as a Soldier without Zuller-sama's permission, but I'm sure that can be arranged."
Zelgadis frowned. "I only hope Zuller-sama doesn't kill the creature before I have the chance to do it," he said anxiously.
"Oh, of course!" Marcus gestured to one of the grinning Soldiers. "Run back quickly and tell the Chief Shrine Keeper of Zelgadis-san's request. If he agrees, bring a weapon back with you, and I'll do the dedication at the Shrine as soon as he's cured!"
The Soldier gave Zelgadis a comrade's grin and a thumbs-up before dashing back up the corridor. Zelgadis gritted his teeth in his false smile so hard that his jaw ached.
"Let's hurry on, then!" the Keeper said with an excited smile.
Zelgadis quickened his steps. He had no way of knowing if the request would reach Zuller in time, or if he would agree to it, but it was the best he think of to do to try to keep Xelloss alive until he figured out what he had to do.
---
"You were doomed as soon as you set foot in the Valley of Shimeria, Mazoku!" Zuller said cheerfully. "And you sealed your fate when you entered the Hall of the Shrine. You know that now, don't you?"
Xelloss peered at the Chief Shrine Keeper through a haze of pain and weariness. Zuller's pale eyes gleamed happily as he watched the play of light on the blade of a sword he held. The question didn't really seem to require an answer, so Xelloss said nothing.
However, it was truer than Zuller realized. He'd been dead the moment he was wounded back at Demonend. Knowing the reason only proved that beyond doubt. No matter what Zelgadis or Lina Inverse herself might say, the fact that Shimer had already defeated him was painfully obvious.
Zuller's Deputy Shrine Keepers stood behind Zuller, beaming with admiration at their leader. Xelloss had shown them his most demonic glare but it didn't make as much of an impression as he would have liked. It was no wonder, really, considering his position. No human hands held him in place against the pillar now; shimmering spikes pinned his arms and legs to this stone pillar that somehow bound him to the physical plane.
He hadn't expected that final trick of the Shimer's, the anchor formed by this gold-flecked stone and the cursed blades. That trap had been sprung just when he was ready to release an attack far greater than any mere flock of humans should deserve. He wondered if any other Mazoku had been captured here in this hall like a fly on paper, or like a butterfly with black wings pinned to a board soaked with poison.
After a while Xelloss realized that his silence seemed to please Zuller, so he decided it was worth the effort to make some remark after all.
"If you knew about me all along, why didn't you bring out your illustrious Soldiers the moment you saw me, Zuller-sama?" he asked, fighting to keep the weariness out of his voice. "I would think a public execution would have suited you better than this -- or were you concerned about the bad publicity if word got out that Mazoku were in the neighborhood?"
"Oh, not really," Zuller said with a shrug. "But it wasn't worth the risk of innocent lives. I could see you still had much of your power then, but I knew that would change as you moved deeper into the valley. As for publicity, rest assured that the tale of your defeat right here at the Shrine of Shimer will be known by everyone in this valley and beyond before many more days have passed."
"Ah," Xelloss said softly. "And poor Zelgadis-san thought he was the object of your publicity campaign. Is it possible, then, that you only insisted he come to the Shrine in order to lure me here as well? Is the power of Shimer a fraud as he believed, after all?"
"In your position, you can still doubt the Power of Shimer?" Zuller laughed. Then his lip curled in disgust. "Poor Zelgadis-san!" he echoed.
He lifted the sword, still watching its strange, liquid gleam as he placed the blade against Xelloss' cheek. "Poor Zelgadis-san, you say? You make me regret that I didn't kill you the moment I saw you, 'priest.' I would have, no matter the risk, if I'd known you would do more than feed on his hopes and doubts. Unfortunately, I didn't realize the depths of your depravity, demon. It never occurred to us until you walked in this place together that you would go so far as to seduce him."
He sliced Xelloss' face with a flick of his wrist, and then drew back to plunge the sword into Xelloss' groin.
The scream escaped before he could stop it. He managed to open his eyes a few seconds later, still gasping, to find Zuller smiling proudly right in his face. The Shrine Keeper narrowed his eyes and studied him.
"You are much more powerful than I expected. More than any other Mazoku I've yet faced and killed. Just how high is your rank among your kind, Xelloss? Who is your master?"
Even through his pain, Xelloss managed to grin at him. This was one of the odd advantages to being an undercover agent among humans as he was. His name was famous among both Dragons and Mazoku, but nearly unknown among mortals, even sorcerers. His own kind and his greatest enemies knew whom he served, but he would not dishonor Zelas-sama's name by speaking it in the presence of the Followers of Shimer.
He pushed past the pain to keep his tone as polite as possible. "I am sorry, Shrine Keeper-sama...but that is a secret."
With a benign smile Zuller twisted the blade in his gut. Thinking of his Mistress, Xelloss managed to stare him in the eye without wincing, even though his spirit screamed with despair that he had failed her.
After a few seconds, Zuller stepped back and withdrew the sword slowly. The insane gleam in his eyes had only grown brighter. He stood back between his admiring Deputies. The straight-laced, bureacratic Daria and the soft, old general Neldo each wore the same glaring smile, and each held a silver-tipped spear ready to strike.
Xelloss regarded them all with what malevolent energy he had left. It wasn't much. His reserves were nearly gone, despite the face of strength he tried to show to them. At least with Zelgadis out of the room, he no longer had to endure the sweet, poisonous potion of dark emotions that bled his power from him so quickly. It had taken more effort than he'd expected to drive Zelgadis away. The foolish mortal should have expected a Mazoku to deceive him by now, after all. But even without that drain on his power, he only remained in this shell of a body now through the magic of Shimer's curse.
The Deputy Shrine Keepers placed the tips of their spears at his breast, while Zuller laid the point of the sword at the base of his throat.
"I'm glad you're so powerful, monster," Zuller said conversationally. His assistants nodded in agreement. "It gives us more time to enjoy watching you die."
Xelloss leered at him. "You would have made a good Mazoku, Zuller," he said.
With one movement, the three Shrine Keepers drew back their blades to strike all at once. Concentrating all his will on keeping his weakness hidden, Xelloss didn't comprehend the interruption that held them back until he heard the painfully joyful voice of a Soldier of Shimer.
"He has requested the honor of joining us as soon as possible, Chief Shrine Keeper-sama," the Soldier said excitedly. "He asks to be given one of our demon-killing weapons as soon as he is human again, so that he can kill this thing with his own hand."
"Excellent!" Zuller crowed. The Deputies turned to each other and nodded gleefully, and a murmur of approval ran through the hall, mingled with the familiar mantra of the Soldiers.
Zuller turned back to Xelloss. His smile was as blindingly painful as the cursed blades that pierced what was left of his spirit.
"What a fitting end to your evil! You see, Mazoku, it will be Zelgadis-san himself who will make your defeat known throughout the land!"
Somehow, Xelloss managed to keep the leering grin on his face even as Zuller's words sank in. It was indeed fitting, he supposed. His ploy to deceive them all had worked a little too well. Zuller's face fell when he saw Xelloss' apparent lack of reaction to this news.
"Of course, it doesn't really matter to you who kills you, does it?" he said with a shake of his head. "A shame, really, that you won't feel more of the anguish you have undoubtedly brought to thousands of humans. A shame that you won't feel the remorse that a human soul might feel in having a lover he'd deceived turn and take his life."
He pushed Xelloss' chin up with the tip of his blade, keeping them eye-to-eye. "After all," he continued, "it's not as if you actually cared for 'poor Zelgadis-san,' is it?"
Xelloss stared into Zuller's eyes and curled his lip in a grin. "Of course not," he said in his mildest, deadliest voice.
With a snort of disgust, Zuller drew his sword back to strike. Xelloss dropped his head to hide his eyes. He wasn't quite sure, but he thought that might have been the biggest lie he'd ever told.
---
Marcus' torch fluttered in a gust of cool air. He stopped and stood aside, and the remaining Soldier stepped to the other side. Zelgadis found that they were standing before a low arch in the passage. The air was cool and damp, and the trickling sound of water echoed from all directions. Ahead through the arch the light was brighter, eye-dazzling after the darkness of the cave.
Marcus and the Soldier bowed their heads with their inevitable smiles. Zelgadis ducked under the low arch and stepped through into a blaze of dancing blue-green light.
"Welcome at last, Zelgadis-san, to the Shrine of Shimer!" Marcus said. His hushed voice echoed clearly off the stone walls of the chamber, and off the still surface of the pool in its depths.
Stone steps, rough and wide, spread out from the narrow entryway to create a natural shelf around the little lake. On the far side of it water slid down over a smooth, gleaming wall, and shafts of green light cut down through the air from someplace far above. All around the chamber, veins of gold and crystal glinted in the walls. The pool was as still as glass and nearly as clear. Zelgadis could see the shelf-like steps of dark rock descending toward the center of it.
"This is the cure for all ills?" he asked, hoping he sounded suitably awed. In fact he was trying not to laugh out loud. He should have guessed it would be this simple. He could just imagine what Lina Inverse would have to say about such an obvious clichˇ as an enchanted pool! Shimer might have been clever about weaving spells together, but he was certainly not creative.
"The spring that was blessed by Shimer, into which he also placed the Curse of Power over the Mazoku, as well as much of his healing power," Marcus continued in the same hushed tone of respect. "Here, Humanity prevails and all other magic fails. That is how your curse shall be broken, and you will be human again. Then you will be able to become a Soldier of Shimer!"
"All other magic fails?"
"The White and the Dark, the magic of the demons and the gods, will both cease to affect you once you've entered the spring. You will be blessed only with the magical power of Shimer, which will enable you to resist all Mazoku. You will be made fully human, and as a human, you will share in the joy of serving the Great Cause of Shimer," the keeper said with a final flourish.
The heartfelt speech coming from the timid Marcus sounded as unnatural as the ghastly grins worn by the Soldiers.
"The Great Cause of Humanity," Zelgadis said softly.
He sensed the power in the spring reaching out to him, as if tendrils of cold steam were rising from the water to surround him. He felt them seeking for a way inside him, trying to penetrate his skin to find his soul. The power whispered to him, calling him to enter the water and join with it. It was like the magic in the Relics, only stronger and more refined.
He stooped at the water's edge, bowing his head as if in reverence. He was aware of the Keeper standing a few feet away, and of the Soldier standing behind him near the entrance to the chamber. They waited silently without giving him any instruction. He could only guess that he was expected to enter the pool itself in a baptism of magic.
He reached out tentative fingers to touch the water. The cold of it shot up his arm and through his body. This was where all the power came from. There was strong healing magic in it, but also power that bent the will of anyone who touched it to Shimer's cause, and power of joy and despair that was killing Mazoku. The water was imbued with it, but he sensed that the source and the seal of power were far beneath the pool itself, in a deep spring that welled up through the rocks.
It could cure him. It was beginning already, prodding thin fingers between the three parts of his being, and drawing off the spirit energy of the demon side. He was shocked to realize how much that part of him had been subdued already. He hadn't even noticed that his magical capacity had shrunk by nearly a third in the time he'd been in the Valley. He narrowed his eyes, concentrating on it until he could sense the slow, steady drain on his power. Even though it was of a different nature, his magical energy was being sealed away just as Xelloss' had been.
If he immersed himself in the water, Shimer's pure power would draw all of his demon spirit out of him in seconds. Once that was gone, that same power would be able to dissolve his golem body as well. He would be Human, just an ordinary man with no special powers at all, ready to live an ordinary life. Shimer's magic could give him all that he'd wanted for so long.
But if he let it take away his rock body and his demon magic, there would be no one left who could destroy the Shrine.
As he leaned over the pool to study it, Zelgadis saw his own reflection in the mirror-like surface: wire hair glinting like the veins of ore in the cave walls, skin like stone, face and body disfigured with chips of rock, and the blue, crystalline glitter of his own eyes. A body only a monster could desire, he thought with a grim smile.
He bowed his head and called power from his spirit and from the earth into his fingertips. He told himself it was to save the Dragon Race and to free Shimer's Followers from their mindless fanaticism, but he heard Xelloss' parting words in his mind. The face reflected in the pool wore a twisted smile. Against all logic, he chose to honor what might have been Xelloss' dying wish that he remain a chimera.
Praying that the others standing behind him wouldn't notice, he let the power build, entwining through his three-part nature. It would take a unique spell more powerful than any he had ever cast to destroy the source of Shimer's power. He thought of Lina and her ability to invent new spells, and he also thought of Shimer's peculiar talent of weaving spells together. He wove his own magic into a new form, combining Earth and Spirit and Fire and Water into a tight beam, an arrow that could pass through rock and pierce a magical barrier and then explode....
He sensed movement behind him just as he silently breathed the final words of his spell and touched stone under water. There was a shout and glint of light behind him. In the pool he saw a reflection like a sliver of the new moon above his head -- a silver sword blade flashed behind him. He ignored it and released the power he'd gathered. It burst from his fingertips into the water and through the stone beneath it.
Zelgadis felt the shockwave as it plunged deep into the earth. For a second, he sensed the black, icy depth that was the source of the spring. He thrust his spell-spear into it and pierced the heart of Shimer's power, and then let it explode. He felt the magic shatter.
The fragments of Shimer's broken power came screaming back at him, tearing through the astral plane into his spirit. Pierced in a thousand places by their dying energy and with his senses still focused on his spell, he hardly felt the blade strike his back. The sword couldn't cut into his stone flesh, but the force of the blow knocked him forward. He only realized he'd been struck when he hit the water.
Shards of ice pierced him like knives. Shimer's power was concentrated within the pool, and as it crumbled, it screamed in his ears and engulfed his senses. He flailed in the water, trying to bring himself back into his body and out of the astral realm that power had pulled him into. A second later he broke the surface of the water and gasped with the shock of being himself again, back in his chimera body.
Before he could catch his breath, something hit him from the side. One of the Soldiers had tackled him and now was pulling him up by the arm, while another grabbed him around the throat. The one on his arm swung his sword with his free hand. The plain steel blade clanged against the rocks on Zel's chest.
Zelgadis roared and shook himself free of them to stand up in the middle of the pool. Amid the shouts and the flash of weapons he realized the whole chamber was shaking. Wisps of steam rose from the surface of the water, which was rapidly being heated to boiling hot by the fire and molten earth he'd released into the spring. The Soldiers yelled with surprise when it started to scald them.
The stone steps cracked as he scrambled up them. Water rushed around his feet, drawn into the fissures opening in the rock only to boil up from the depths again. The rocks themselves had begun to glow a dull red and the chamber was filling up with steam.
To his dismay, he realized that the destruction of the source of power had not released the Soldiers from their fanaticism. They still smiled their insane smiles as they struggled toward him with their weapons held in steady hands even though the scalding water blistered their skin. It was just as Xelloss had feared, he thought with a sinking heart. Breaking Shimer's power didn't reverse the effect of the Curse after all.
But destroying the Shrine would prevent more weapons and relics from being touched with Shimer's curse and keep more humans from being "cured" into the ranks of the Followers. At least he'd accomplished that much, he told himself as he struggled with the Soldiers. The stone floor cracked under their feet, but their immense strength didn't give way.
His magical capacity was drained from casting the spell. He'd poured all of his power into it to make sure the spring was utterly destroyed. He was sure he'd broken the Seal, but even so the stolen part of his magical power was returning very slowly. He had nothing left to cast even a shield around himself, and he had no sword. But he still had his stone skin, his supernatural speed and his demonic strength to fight them with, and he still had his anger.
He tossed the man with the ordinary sword across the pool with a grunt. The Soldier hit the gleaming wall hard and fell in a limp heap at the edge of the pool, his sword clattering away into one of the widening fissures in the rock.
He found himself face to face with the Soldier who had run back to the Great Hall. The blade of the sword in his hand still shimmered like moonlight on water. Zelgadis realized it was the sword he was to have been given so he could kill Xelloss. Snarling, he grabbed the arm of the Soldier and felt his wrist snap, then yanked the cursed weapon from his hand.
The soldier screamed, holding his broken wrist to his chest and dancing on the red-hot stones. His face was contorted with hatred.
"Die, demon!" he screeched. His feet slipped out from under him. He fell with his face in the bubbling water and didn't move again.
Zel hardly heard his last scream. The shimmering blade had suddenly vanished like a whiff of steam. Zel stared at the hilt in his hand.
"It worked," he sighed, limp with relief. "Shimer's Curse is broken!"
"Not quite!"
Pain exploded through the middle of his body. Too shocked even to scream, he looked down to see the bloody point of a spear jutting from his chest. Its diamond-studded edge glowed with layer upon layer of magic, folded over on itself like the layers of steel and diamond that strengthened the blade. Strong enough to pierce his stone skin, nearly as bright with power as the Sword of Light itself, the blade had barely missed his heart.
The pain increased a hundredfold as the spear was yanked back out of him. This time he screamed until his breath gave out. He was hardly aware of falling backward on to the stones. He squinted up to see Zuller standing over him, grinning, with the dripping spear in his hand.
"Traitor to the human race! You don't deserve to be human, monster!"
Zelgadis tried to raise his hand to the cover wound but he was already too weak; his limbs were numb. He didn't have enough magical energy left to even begin a recovery spell, anyway, and the wound was more than physical. The magic in the blade seared like acid inside him, preventing even his golem body's own natural healing from taking hold. Even so, he smiled up at Zuller, although he tasted blood when he spoke.
"Doesn't matter... Shimer's power... is gone..."
Zuller laughed and shook his head. He leered at his enchanted spear with its golem-piercing blade.
"I feared from the start that your soul was already beyond saving, although I hoped for the best after seeing your righteous anger and your true desire to be human again. But we were prepared in case you did turn out to be beyond our reach. I see that the demon's seduction of you was complete, after all, even more than it realized. The spring you've destroyed could have cured you, chimera, but you chose to die as a demon with your soul enslaved to the race of evil."
Zelgadis stared up at Zuller's watery, pale blue eyes and the insane grin twisting his face.
"You're the slave, Zuller," he said between shallow, gasping breaths. "A mindless slave to the will of Shimer. Even now.... I'm far more human than you are."
His breath failed him. He couldn't move; he couldn't do anything at all but stare up as Zuller raised the spear over his heart. Shock darkened his senses. He never saw the blade fall.
----
Xelloss fought to hold on to his existence, straining to keep the last of his power from slipping away before Zelgadis could return and finish him as he'd said he would. It was the least he could do, he supposed, to honor the chimera's request. Better to be finally destroyed by Zelgadis than by the cursed Soldiers of Shimer, at any rate. He probably wouldn't need one of their weapons. One last blast of Zelgadis' hatred would surely drain the last of his life away, but if that was the last thing he ever felt, he could almost die content.
He ignored the taunts and proddings of the Shrine Keepers by trying to imagine what Zelgadis was going to look like as a human, even though he really didn't care to know. Sadly, he began to realize that he might not find out, either. He'd made too convincing a show of strength and the Keepers didn't realize how close to death he really was. Zelgadis might not make it back in time, and he didn't think Zuller really cared one way or the other.
Xelloss raised his head, determined to stare the Chief Shrine Keeper down to the final second, but Zuller was not in sight. Neldo and Daria stood watching him curiously. Most likely they'd never seen a Mazoku die before. Xelloss wondered where Zuller had gone and when he'd left. He found he didn't have the strength to be curious about it, or about the faint flutter of power he felt on the edge of his astral senses.
The blades pinning him to the stone vanished, leaving their shafts to clatter to the floor. He crumpled to the floor as well, gasping in surprise. The pain had stopped, but he was still too weak to stand on his own. When he raised his head he saw the Keepers and the Soldiers staring at the bladeless shafts of their spears and swords in shock.
Xelloss smiled. There was a crack in the seal, and the first tendrils of his returning power bled through it to join with his human form. He was becoming whole again. And knowing that,
He pushed himself up to his knees and faced the Keepers. Their eyes went wide when his staff appeared in his hands, but he waited in vain for true horror to appear on their faces. They glanced at each other uncertainly for a second, and then, as one, they grinned again and raised their useless weapons.
"Die, Mazoku!" they said in unison.
It was absurd, but they were going to rush him as they were. He would have been amused, but there were a lot of them and he didn't have his full strength back yet. He swung his staff as he climbed to his feet and knocked Deputy Shrine Keeper Neldo into the air. Arms and legs flailing, he landed on the heads of a knot of Soldiers who all went down like bowling pins. A kick sent Deputy Shrine Keeper Daria into the pillar across the aisle. He heard bones crack before she flopped onto the floor, her days as a bustling bureaucrat apparently ended.
The ranks of Soldiers closed in on him, muttering their familiar refrain even though they had to know their weapons were useless. Normally he'd enjoy fighting them, but his strength was returning much more slowly than he would have liked through the crack in the seal. He wasn't quite confident enough yet to retreat to his spirit form, fearing that the seal might close again and trap him there to die. The Soldiers weren't helping at all; they were as cheerful as ever and didn't even seem to register pain. It was mildly satisfying to hear the crunching sound when he smashed his staff into one of their faces, but that didn't help his progress out of the Hall. And he was getting damn tired of hearing their endless chant.
When he was halfway across the room, a scream echoed up the through the hallways from somewhere below. The force of it stopped him in mid-swing. Xelloss knew that voice, but he'd never heard it raised in so much pain before.
The aura from that pain was enough to give him the burst of strength he needed, even at this distance. Xelloss drew himself up and raised his staff as he sprinted forward. Shattering glass and splintering rock filled the Great Hall as he blasted through the doors. There was a little panic in them, finally, as the great stone pillars fell and the crystal ceiling came pelting down on them. He didn't stay to enjoy it but sprinted through the dark cavern, satisfied that none of them would follow.
He didn't yet dare risk using the astral plane to move faster. Destroying the Great Hall had drained away nearly all that he had gained and most of his power remained out of reach beyond the Seal. He raced along on foot faster than any mortal could move, and soon found the arched entrance leading down into a smaller chamber. He knew Zelgadis was down there, and suddenly he realized where Zuller must have gone as well.
Xelloss leaped from the bottom of the stone steps and smashed headlong into Zuller. The Chief Shrine Keeper crashed into the nearly empty pool, and the spear he'd held raised over Zelgadis flew from his hand to clatter on the rocks behind him. Xelloss landed on his feet lightly and aimed a kick at the Shrine Keeper's head, but Zuller recovered quickly from his fall and twisted out of the way. He crouched on his hands and knees and leered up at Xelloss with a death's head grin. He didn't seem to notice his own flesh blistering from the searing heat of the rocks.
Xelloss spared a glance at Zelgadis and remembered what he'd said two days before: if the Shrine didn't cure him, he'd destroy it himself. He turned his stare on Zuller.
"So," he said conversationally, "It seems we both deceived the chimera, to our peril! Zelgadis-san was right after all. The Power of Shimer to cure him was all a lie. What a pity for you, Zuller-sama!"
"It was no lie!" Zuller hissed. "Shimer's power could have saved him, but your pitiful pawn chose to deny his humanity and remain a monster. I should have seen that his soul was too tainted by you for him to recover, even within the very heart of Shimer's Shrine. But it's too late for him now, anyway."
Xelloss' eyes widened. He glanced around at the chamber. Even as it faded, the evaporating wisps of Shimer's magic still retained some of their power. They still whispered to him that his own cause was lost and that Humanity would prevail, although it was so faint now that he could easily ignore it. But he knew that, when it had been whole, power that great would have been strong enough to break Rezzo's old curse and restore the chimera to human form. With his shamanist senses, Zelgadis must have known it, but he didn't let it work....
Xelloss rarely felt hatred for humans. They simply weren't worth that much notice most of the time, but at that moment, he despised Zuller with all his soul. He watched with narrowed eyes as the Shrine Keeper climbed slowly to his blistered feet.
"It doesn't matter, anyway," Zuller said lightly. To Xelloss' surprise he advanced toward him, step by step, watching his face carefully.
He felt it when Zuller was still several feet away. It wasn't only the wisps of steam that whispered alluring words of defeat at his spirit. The beaded collar Zuller wore still held a great deal of Shimer's true power, hidden under layers of ordinary magic. Breaking the Shrine had destroyed the Cursed weapons and broken the seal on his power, but it had not affected the Shrine Keepers' Relics at all.
"Yes," Zuller said, nodding. "You can feel it, can't you? It's true that your pawn destroyed the Shrine where Shimer sealed his great magic long ago, but not all of Shimer's power is lost! For generations the Shrine Keepers have studied his magic so that we could recreate it and improve upon it. We've placed all that we know into the Relics. That knowledge and power will survive the destruction of the Shrine and spread through the thousands of Relics that already exist, each one a tiny spear of light to pierce your darkness."
Zuller took another step forward and rattled his beads. Echoing in the cavern, the sound was more irritating than ever.
"Even without the Shrine, we can make more," he said, leering at Xelloss. "Through the power of the Shrine Keepers and the gift of the Relics, all of Humanity will soon join the Great Cause of Shimer! It may take longer without our blessed weapons, but the Mazoku and the Dragons will eventually be destroyed and Humanity will prevail!"
"I see," Xelloss said thoughtfully. "You couldn't recreate the spell that forges those cursed blades, could you? The Keepers weren't powerful enough to do that, so you stole a little of Shimer's power to make the Relics instead. Every Human exposed to them even now will become a cheerful but mindless slave to your cause. In fact, even if the chimera had been made human, he would have become one of your Followers whether he chose to or not?"
"Of course. But he forfeited that right, anyway."
Xelloss glanced aside at Zel's still form. He shook his head and sighed.
"So, in order to save Humanity, you would destroy the will and strength of spirit, and all those wonderful, dark emotions that make them human! My, my, but that would be a very dull world! However, I think you underestimate your own race, Zuller. I've observed the human spirit for over a thousand years, and I'm quite certain that more people than you imagine have the will to resist your strongest magic."
He grinned back at the Shrine Keeper, thinking of people like Lina Inverse and Amelia, and even the bargeman and the old Duglas at the inn. They would never allow themselves to become puppets in some great army under Zuller's command.
"But even so," he continued, "even a single valley full of your cheerful but single-minded Followers would give us Mazoku some headaches. And if I'm not mistaken, only the Shrine Keepers know the secret of making the Relics now. Isn't that true? And besides yourself, there are only a few Keepers left. In fact you, Zuller-sama, are the only one left alive here in the Crystal City. I'm sure I can find the others without too much trouble."
Xelloss cocked his head to peer at Zuller with one eye. He flexed his fingers and gripped his staff. More slowly than the steamy wisps of Shimer's power had evaporated into the air, his power was trickling back from beyond the seal. It was almost enough now.
Zuller beamed at him.
"It won't matter if you kill us all. Even with only the Relics that already exist, there will always be more Followers. Inevitably the Great Cause of Shimer will spread across the earth! Humanity will win in the end, monster!"
"I doubt it, but anyway, I think the end is a long way off from today," Xelloss said mildly. He drew himself up and raised his staff, smiling at Zuller with his eyes fully opened. "Shall I give you a choice, then, Chief Shrine Keeper-sama? Do you wish to die swiftly or slowly?"
Zuller's face twisted, his grin became a snarl of mindless glee, and he leapt toward Xelloss.
"Oh well, then," Xelloss said with a shrug. "Die, 'Human'!"
Zuller's face contorted as his heart burst into flame. He stood and screamed as it consumed his body from the inside out. For a few seconds his face appeared as a fiery grinning skull, and then it dissolved into nothing.
Zuller's collar burst and scattered beads to every corner of the chamber. They rattled and glittered on the rocks and then burst from the heat. Xelloss waved his hand in front of his face. Weakened as he still was, those last drops of the Keeper's power were a chokingly sweet perfume to his senses. Even that would dissipate quickly, however, leaving nothing of the Shrine Keepers' spell but the relics already in existence. The other Keepers who knew how to make them could be dealt with later.
He shook his head regretfully. He hated leaving loose ends like that, but it was the best he could do at the moment. After indulging so much of his slowly returning power to destroy Zuller, he wasn't even quite strong enough to escape the chamber.
He stepped across the chamber to squat down next to Zelgadis. Blood flowed from the gaping wound in the middle of the chimera's body and dripped from his stone flesh to smoke on the heated floor of the chamber. If Zel had been human, he would have been in agony from the searing heat of the rocks. Even the fact that he wasn't human didn't matter much after the blow he'd received, Xelloss realized.
He sat cross-legged on the floor next to the chimera. The miasma from Zelgadis' pain had a bitter taste, but it was almost too faint for him to detect and it was fading rapidly. He lifted Zel's head onto his lap and put his hand over the wound where he could feel the life leaving his body. Zelgadis wasn't even fighting to stay alive, Xelloss sensed. He had given up at last, resigned to dying as a chimera. Xelloss' strength had barely begun to return. He was too weak to do anything else now but sit here and wait for Zelgadis to die in his arms.
---
Zelgadis sank into inky darkness so heavy it crushed his chest, so thick he couldn't breathe it in. In a moment, he would let go and let himself be carried away on that ink-black river into whatever lay beyond. There was no reason to hold on and nothing to hold onto, but for a moment longer he would hold on anyway. Then he would let go forever.
But before that moment passed, lights appeared in the darkness, glittering amethyst jewels that held shadows of their own. He blinked, and found he was looking into slitted, purple-shaded eyes.
"Zelgadis-san, are you the one who's dying now?" whispered a voice that sounded surprisingly sad.
The question brought a flash of pain back to his numb body. Calm acceptance shattered; despair at living clashed with rage against dying. He shuddered. The amethyst points of light grew brighter as his own strength slipped away.
"Damn you, Xelloss," he rasped, choking on blood. "Damn you and all of your kind to everlasting hell."
A finger touched his lips. His vision went dark, but he thought he felt breath on his cheek, and he thought he heard Xelloss' voice whispering.
"That's perfect, Zel-san. Thank you."
---
to be continued!!!
Next: the final chapter........
(important author's note: the scenes at the Shrine were written back in June, long before July 16, so any resemblance between Shimer's enchanted spring and any other magical underground pool or lake you may have read about recently are purely coincidental!)

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