The King in White
Prologue
Doldrums
Somebody shoot my muse it's running amuck. Well, I've been reading a few fanfics that deal with the slayers (mainly Lina and Zel) living way past normal human lifespans. It has spawned a want to play with the idea as well. Here is my attempt.
He sat at his work bench and slowly place another gear into the machine. This is what his life had turned to, this was one of the few things he still enjoyed doing. He looked at the simple music box he had been working on for days and let a small smile play at his face. It was only here in his workroom that he felt truly at peace, only here could he feel at rest. What had it been a hundred, a hundred and fifty years since he had last seen anyone from the old group. "I guess time has a way of passing you by," he said lowly as he picked up another small tool.
His rough hands went about their task with the greatest of agility and grace. His fingers, fingers that had once been used for illegal acts, now turned to a life of creation and craft. He pulled a small, glowing gem from its pouch and placed it into the music box as its power source. Once the gem was connected he placed the wood base board over the bottom and flipped the box over. He opened the top of the box to have a figure of a woman begin to dance to the music that played. The woman was slender and pale as any small statue would be, but this statue had one attribute that made it different. Its hair was a bright and fiery red that stood out from the rest of the figure to anyone that saw it. "Do you prefer red-heads or do you just like the color red," came a feminine voice from behind him.
He turned his head slightly to see that she had found him. Her name was Shaya and she was to closest thing to a companion he had. She stood at his height with long, wavy red hair that was held back by a white and gold headband. Her skin was slightly tanned but very fair. Her green eyes looked at him with interest as she stood in the doorway. She was dressed in what looked like a white priestess robe that hung off of her shoulders and stop just before dragging the floor. The robe was accentuated by an ornate pattern of gold thread that had been woven into the shoulder and went down the center of the robe. The final aspect to Shaya was the pointed ears that appeared on either side of her head signifying that there was some elfin blood in her. Shaya entered the room before stopping next to him. She looked down at the music box before saying, "Another red-head. I'm starting to think you picked me because of the color of my hair more than anything."
He smiled, a sad one, but a smile nonetheless as he looked down at his creation. He shut the lid before saying, "Red brings back some good memories that is all."
He stood from his seat before walking to the closest window. He looked down from his tower perch that was on top of a mountain. Down into the village that he now watched over. He frowned as he saw the village preparing for a festival. It was then that Shaya spoke up, "The governor request that you come to the harvest festival. He says it will give a whole new meaning to the villages traditional festival."
He turned and looked at Shaya; his sapphire eyes narrowing slightly before he replied, "Haven't I told them they should try to get along without me. I'm not their ruler, I don't want to be their ruler and yet I'm constantly doing the rulers work."
Shaya smiled as she looked at her master and long time companion. She knew the man just wanted to be left to his solitude but was constantly pulled into the lives of the villagers. She knew it was good for him to go to the festival. 'It keeps him attached to reality a bit longer,' she thought.
The man standing in front of Shaya was old, no one knew how old, but he predated the existence of even herself she was sure. And, the only way anyone knew was the air about him. He looked young, he did not look a day over twenty-five, but if you watched and listened you could see the mannerisms of a man that had seen a lot of the world. The other part that was different about him was his appearance. The villagers had never seen his face and it was the topic of wild stories, but Shaya knew the secret. The man before her was a chimera; a creature made out of different pieces of other creatures. His skin was blue with stones embedded in it, he hair was like that of silver wire, and his eyes were the eyes of a demon that hid behind blue sapphire stone. The man's true name was Zelgadis Greywords but the villagers had long since named him, 'The King in White,' for the outfit he wore when he traveled outside his tower. "So when must I make my appearance," he asked as his eyes did not stray from the village.
'Well, it's not really a village anymore,' he thought to himself.
It was true though to Zelgadis it would always be the village it had grown into a large city that was prospering each day. Under his watchful eye the city had grown into a boomtown of wealth and prosperity. He was its protector and advisor even though he had never wanted the job in the first place. "Tomorrow afternoon at sunset when the true festival begins," Shaya responded as she looked down on the town as well.
Shaya looked at Zelgadis before asking, "Why don't you want to be a part of their lives? Most of the town sees you as the reason the town does so well."
Zelgadis looked away before saying, "Once you've lived long enough you'll know the answer to that question."
"I guess I should go get your robes ready. The people will want to see the King in White looking his best," Shaya replied before walking out of the room.
Zelgadis watched her go as he thought, 'You would understand if you have lived long enough to see people grow old and die while you do not change. You're a elf Shaya and you are beginning to experience that. But, even you will wither one day, and I will have to be the one to give you a proper resting place...at least you will last long than a human.'
Zelgadis looked back at the town and could not help but smirk bitterly. 'I built this tower in the middle of nowhere to be alone...I had had enough of watching the world change while I didn't. But, the founders of the village decided to build in this area. I can still remember when they first sent a team of men to explore...I thing I over reacted a bit.'
Zelgadis recalled launching the time out of the tower with a bomdi wind. 'Nonetheless they came back to try and take me on. Again, I knocked them out of the tower, but the lead founder had enough sense to talk. And, from that day on I became the King in White.'
He turned back to his music box. Zelgadis ran a rough finger over the woman as he thought back to someone he had not heard about in ages, 'Where have you gone wild one? Where has the bandit killer disappeared to? If only you would show up her...I'm sure it would provide me with some entertainment. The stories forgot to say that another price of immortality is extreme boredom.'
Zelgadis shut the top to the music box and turned to head to his bed chamber. He felt like a nap and knew he would need his rest to properly deal with the public appearance he was about to make. 'Goodnight my fiery one...if nothing else we will meet in the world of dreams.'
Disclaimer: Any characters or ideas from The Slayers do not belong to me. I am not selling this material, just writing for the heck of it as I go.
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