Author's Notes: This is it; or should I say... This is the very beginning; I have written a very large tale that encompasses a great deal and have dubbed it Chrysalis. The story is what I consider to be my ultimate masterpiece, it spans not only through the Xenaverse, but into such favorites of mine as Star Trek, Star Wars, Marvel, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and a small smattering of others. And here it is; the very first chapter of the very first section... I have posted a few of the later sections up in the Marvel area of the Comics section here at but if you haven't read those already you really shouldn't... It'll spoil what happens in this story.
My tale is quite grandiose; and some readers may not enjoy all of it, let alone any of it perhaps... Unfortunately I can't post the ultimate conclusion of this grand tale because it's completely original as opposed to the rest of the "Crossovers" involved in the story from beginning to near conclusion. But that is not so bad; if you enjoy the tale a great deal and have an interest in reading the conclusion if you go through all the other sections of course... Then by all means let me know and I'll see what I can do.

I do suppose I've said quite enough about my ultimate work; I have spent two full years working on the rough draft/final draftof this piece de resistance, so kindly read and review to your hearts content... Disclaimer: I make no claims to ownership of any of the characters from Xena: Warrior Princess or Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. (In a sense this is a grand crossover of both shows and my OC, but I put it in the Xena section because that's the title I'm using.)
Alain Desrochers and Jennifer McMahon are characters of my own creation; they belong to no one else, so please no thievery... Ah yes one final note: This story does not take place during any one particular episode of the series; it's sort of an in-betweener set during Season Twos' Here She Comes...Miss Amphipolis and Destiny. Well that's all I have to say now please RR and let me know what you think...

Prologue

I hung up the phone in a rage; my emotions were being sorely tested apparently. I had just phoned Jennifer McMahon in an attempt at getting in touch with one of my old high school friends; more specifically I had every intention of phoning up more to invite them over to my house. I wanted to share some of what was going on in my life, particularly a certain story I'd written, I wanted their opinions on it.
Unfortunately due to her response I opted not to phone any more, why bother going through that torment again? I stormed into my tiny little bedroom; well it wasn't that tiny, just looked that way because of the large assortment of films I own and the crowded nature of the room in general. Still it was one of the smaller rooms in the house, gently climbing onto the bed so as not to wind up breaking it as I had my previous bed due to my constant flopping onto the mattress I reached over for the remote and flipped on the television.

"She wouldn't want to visit me even if she was paid three million dollars." I grumbled. "Pah, with friends like that who needs enemies?" I recited flipping through my usual channels. Nothing good was on, it was Sunday and as usual the television stations chose not to show any stimulating programs.
Switching the offending appliance off; I flipped over onto my right side and reached for one of the many books I still hadn't gotten around to reading yet… But a sudden chill ran down my spine and I glanced over my shoulder wondering if I'd left the window open. Not a smart move considering this September was much colder than usual, instead much to my surprise; I found a small hole in my wall.
Right before my eyes the hole tore itself open wider becoming something I couldn't begin to describe; it appeared to be a swirling vortex, for lack of a better term, and it stole my breath away with its' beauty for it was magnificent to behold. A rich auburn in color with blue intermixed along side silver, gold and a deep obsidian that looked like it belonged to a bottomless pit. Before I could so much as utter a cry the slight wind became a colossal funnel pulling at me with an irresistible force, I tried to scream perhaps in terror, perhaps in sheer surprise, but my cry was swallowed up by the vortex just as I was, soon my room was empty and I… Well I was off on the wildest ride of my life…

In a time of ancient gods, warlords and kings, a world in turmoil cried out for a hero… She was Xena a mighty princess forged in the heart of battle…

The power…

The passion…

The danger…

Xena: Warrior Princess
Of Gods and Women, Part One

The land was rich in its youth, there was no pollutants, the air was cleaner, the life flourished. The race of man were ruled by their beliefs, ancient gods petty and cruel by nature amused themselves by plaguing mankind with suffering. It is here in this rich and wondrous land that our true tale has its' beginning, here where the life of one man began its' journey towards a new and exciting destiny.

The two women whirled to face the giant vortex that burst open behind them on the road; it pulsated faster and faster, with each passing moment, until the two were forced to look away. A cry escaped from it before a man flew out and slammed into the woman on horseback with enough momentum to knock her to the ground hitting his head on her armor in the process and losing all consciousness.
She flipped back up to her feet and pulled the sword resting in the scabbard on her back free, leveling it at his neck even as the vortex closed behind the three of them. Her companion on foot leveled a staff on the man and both shared a look as they realized he would be unable to answer any of their questions just yet.

"What now?" The horseback rider asked.

"We wait for him to regain consciousness and then question him I guess." Her companion replied.

"Just what I was thinking actually, still we'd better find some cover no telling what else might happen." The rider stated flipping her sword around and placing it back in the sheath before bending down to heft the unconscious man. "He's heavy, give me a hand." She exclaimed with a grunt. Her companion nodded, placed her quarterstaff down and moved around to heft the man from his legs.

"This one could use a long time working out." She grunted as the two moved off the side of the road and towards a conveniently placed nearby cave.

I regained consciousness with a start; my last memories were jumbled, incoherent. I examined my surroundings, big mistake my glasses weren't on; fumbling around for a few moments in the almost complete darkness of my surroundings I managed to locate the familiar oval frames.
Something stirred nearby, I couldn't tell what because a fire had leapt into being blinding me, the next thing I knew a very odd sensation met me just beneath my chin. Blinking away the last tears I found myself in a cavern of some kind, a tall woman with dark black hair and wearing an outfit composed mostly of leather and armor was holding a very real sword to my throat. A second slightly shorter dirty blonde haired woman in a green, halter top, for lack of a better term and a short brownish skirt…or was it beige? Climbed to her feet and held a quarterstaff defensively, she eyed me and the other woman first.

"Who are you and why did you attack me?" The sword wielder demanded, my mind reeled I couldn't even begin to comprehend what this woman had said to me it was like she spoke an alien tongue.

"What?" I asked in my own alien tongue; both women eyed me warily and slightly fearful. "Speak English will you." I continued as I rubbed at my head and winced when I felt the slight bump near the back of my head. The woman with the sword pressed the blade in a little deeper causing my pulse to quicken in fear and looked at her companion for answers; she was obviously deep in thought.

"He came through that weird portal remember, maybe he's from some other plane of existence and doesn't understand our language." She mused, I still couldn't understand her, but I wasn't really paying much attention to her or her words considering her friends' sword was still pressed up against me.

"Terrific; I can't kill him if he arrived here by accident and didn't mean to attack me, but I can't find that out because he doesn't speak our language." The sword wielder grumbled lowering her sword blade. I was completely lost as I couldn't understand a word these two women were speaking and now realized I couldn't remember a damn thing except what had happened before I woke up in this cave. That beauteous portal must have brought me here, but where was here and for that matter who was I?
I tentatively climbed to my feet; both women raised their weapons unaware of my intentions they were cautious. I at least knew how to handle this without words; after all I'd seen it done before, somewhere… Spreading my arms out wide hands facing palm forward to show I meant no harm and had no weapons I broke into a smile.

"He seems harmless enough." The sword wielder admitted sheathing it at last. "But how can we question him if he doesn't understand a word we're saying?" She asked of her companion.

"Perhaps I can teach him, I mean sure he wouldn't understand what I was trying to do at first. But I think he could catch on." She replied moving closer to me and lowering her weapon. She raised one hand and waved hello, for lack of anything better to do I repeated; then she pointed at herself, more importantly her throat and then at my own throat.

"Great either their vampires and are going to suck my blood or she's trying to tell me she wants me to neck her." I muttered. "Or a thousand other possible things." I lamented crossing my arms in front of my chest and looking even more confused than before.

"Can you repeat what I'm saying?" She asked.

"Gabrielle." Her companion reminded.

"Oh right, heh, heh." Gabrielle sighed and looked around for other possibilities, her eyes fell on a scroll and pen and smiled; she moved over to the saddlebags and took up the writing implements and began to jot down the alphabet. I scratched my head; if I couldn't understand her spoken language what made her think I'd understand her… Hey that first symbol looked familiar wasn't it the Greek letter known as Alpha?

"Oh she's trying to teach me her language, well it's a good thing I at least recognize that, but how?" I wondered as I managed to place names for the other letters. Beta, Gamma, Epsilon and… Well I didn't know the rest of the names except Omega, but at least I knew that she was writing down her alphabet.
"This could take a while." I sighed in frustration as I moved to stand beside the woman. I pointed at the parchment and smiled then waited hoping she'd understand I was eager to begin the lesson.

"Alpha, this is Alpha." Gabrielle said slowly hoping this man would catch on.

"A…" I tried to pronounce it as she had, but couldn't quite get the tone correct. "God I hate learning other languages." I muttered my frustration clearly showing in my face judging by her pitying look.

"Don't worry, you'll get it. Come on try again. Alpha." She repeated the last word three more times and I struggled to grasp it, I could learn nothing if I couldn't speak their language.

"Aphja." I finally managed to get out, Gabrielle and her friend shared a look before they both burst out laughing, I grumbled underneath my breath and grabbed the parchment staring at it, willing my brain to grasp the pronunciation. "Alpha!" I screamed in perfect mimicry of the tone.

"I think we hurt his feelings." Gabrielle mused with pursed lips.

"Hey it got him to say Alpha." Her friend indicated with a wave of her hand wishing Gabrielle to continue. Gabrielle smiled at me and I smiled back, I'd gotten it, she sat down on the cave floor and indicated that I should join her. I smiled again and tentatively sat beside her.

"Now we'll try Beta, can you say Beta?" Gabrielle asked and repeated the word slower this time. I scrunched up my forehead in concentration and attempted to mimic the second letter, it came a little easier than the first.

Watching from his personal sanctuary; Ares god of war chuckled at this ridiculous display of teaching, he understood every word the man had spoken being a god he possessed intricate knowledge of many things.

"You aren't going to question him?" A voice asked from the abyss, it was Hera his mother.

"Of course not, let him learn their language first. Besides mother he is with Xena for a purpose, which will be made all too clear in a few more days time." Ares responded; Hera wondered just exactly how that could be possible, but chose to allow her son his time.

"I just hope you know what you're doing, this one has a master of his own and I want to know if he's been sent to eliminate us." Hera stated her tone indicative of extreme anger and a hint of fear.

"This... Obese; oddly dressed man pose a threat to us?" Ares asked with a chuckle. "Hardly, no, he's here for something else, something important to his master… Still I'll keep an eye on him." He stated crossing his arms and laughing aloud at this mans horrible pronunciation of Epsilon.

To Be Continued... And yes I am aware I haven't given a very good description of the main character at the moment...Just you wait, you'll get to see what he looks like soon enough.