Prologue: Transformation

Anya was going over the day's receipts when Xander walked through the Magic Box's front door, jingling the shop bell. Behind him strode a figure in a featureless blue mask.

Willow looked up from the tome she'd been reading, but her welcoming smile at Xander faltered when she saw he had company. Anya frowned. Masked people tend to be bad news in Sunnydale. Not that businesses anywhere welcomed the arrival of people in masks. On any day but Halloween.

Xander looked a little stressed, but didn't act like he was afraid of the guy, so Anya decided not to go for the crossbow under the counter. Besides the weird mask the guy was wearing ordinary enough street clothes. A grey hooded sweatshirt (with the hood up), bluejeans, gloves and sneakers. He didn't have a single piece of exposed skin. Which made his clothes probably the only ordinary thing about him.

"Hey, Wil, Ahn. I was hoping you could help me out. Have you heard of something called the Binding of Bricks?" Xander asked in an overly casual tone.

"Styx," the masked man corrected him in an obviously distorted voice. It kind of reverberated without sounding threatening.

"Whatever. Anyway, have either of you guys heard of it?" Xander asked.

Anya exchanged confused looks with Willow.

"Yeah..."Anya finally replied. "It's a sort of oath binding spell that makes supernatural beings keep thier agreements. Kind like a contract in blood, only verbal." She immediately looked to the masked man, but it was impossible to read his reactions. Duh. Masked man.

"Okay, could it be used to make someone tell the truth? Would it work for that?" Xander asked with his faux-casual tone beginning to slip.

This was smelling like a mystic bargain in the making to Anya.

"Yes, if the one being bound promised to be honest the spell would make 'em." Willow answered.

"Um, Xander, why are we talking about this in front of a strange person in a mask I've never seen before? I haven't seen the mask anyway. I can't tell if I've seen the person because of the mask which is probably the point, and I think I'll just stop talking now," Willow wound down.

"You can call me Walker," the masked figure offered. His mask was a featureless blue expanse with no visible eye holes. He should have drawn a smiley face on it or something. It was irritating looking at that blankness. Not that the view was the only irritating thing about this situation.

"Okay, what's going on here?" Anya demanded.

"The Texas Ranger here told me some things and I need to know if he was being straight with me. I don't suppose you could put that binding thing on him could you?" inquired Xander with his typical style.

"You don't cast the Binding of Styx on someone. They have to invoke it themselves. We could make sure he did it right I guess." Anya shook her head, setting that issue aside.

"What is this all about anyway? What did he tell you?"

"Yeah, I think it would be better to make sure he was being straight before going into detail," Xander evaded.

He clapped his hands and rubbed them together. "So what do we need to get started?" He inquired brightly.

"I think you ladies likely have a copy of the ritual in your shop. May I borrow it for a moment?" Walker asked in what was barely recognizable as a polite tone over the distortion of his mask.

"This isn't a lending library," Anya replied with knee jerk mercenary reflex. "It's traditional for customers to pay for merchandise." The capitalist philosophy is the only correct one for a patriotic American after all.

"I think we can overlook that just this once, Ahn. If he tries to leave with the book, I promise to break his legs, okay?" Xander placated her.

She grudgingly produced the necessary tome. It was true that he wasn't likely to try to steal it. He seemed to have some other plan in the works and wouldn't leave without carrying it through. With reluctance she handed the book over to Walker.

He leafed through it for a few moments before finding the proper page. His gloved fingers never actually touched the text as he found his starting place.

"Alright. Here we are." As he began to read the Ancient Greek invocation a faint glow coalesced around him. When it was finished, he seemed to stand in a sourceless beam of sunlight. It shivered with expectation.

"I hereby swear by the River Styx that for the next hour I will speak only the truth," he intoned. At this the light that had gathered around him flowed down his body and disappeared with a startling suddenness.

" That was quick," Xander commented. She'd noticed he was pretty blase about magic, lately. "So did he do it right?"

"Yes, that's how it's supposed to look," Anya replied absently. "Hey, Walker, why did you set an hour time limit?"

"I'm not stupid enough to put myself under a long term truth spell. Haven't you seen that movie Liar, Liar?" he shot back.

"No. Is it any good?" she asked. She hadn't gotten to see it when it was in theaters.

"If you like Jim Carey you'd probably like that movie."

Good to know and guaranteed to be his honest opinion. But the on to more important questions.

"Who exactly are you?" she asked.

"You'll note that I didn't promise to answer any question you asked me. I only promised that everything I said would be the truth. That being so: Who I am isn't terrible relevant at the moment. Revealing that would only confuse you and lead to a bunch of other questions. I will say that I don't mean any harm to you, your friends, humanity in general, or this world." He let that statement hang for a moment before continuing.

"You now have less than fifty-nine minutes until the terms of my oath are met. I think Xander has some questions he wants to ask?" Walker prompted.

"Yeah. Where the things you told me earlier true?" Xander asked straight out.

"Everything I told you is true to the best of my knowledge. If I left anything out it was accidental. Do you have any other questions?" The care with which he was choosing his words made him sound like a lawyer. An evil robot lawyer with that weird voice. Not that she'd ever met an evil robot lawyer. Unless he was one. But she didn't think robots could use magic.

"How long would it take?" Xander asked.

"Three to six hours," the masked man answered without hesitation.

"Do you really think it would be enough?" Xander asked with an almost pleading edge.

"Absolutely." Walker answered.

"How soon could it be done?" Xander asked.

"At what point are you going to tell us what you two are talking about?" Anya demanded. This was looking like a deal closing moment to her and she wanted to be clear on the terms before Xander went and did something dumb. Or self-sacrificing. If there's even a difference between the two.

"Immediately, if that's what you want."

Xander let his gaze linger on Willow's face for a moment. Then he looked at Anya. He took a deep breath, visibly gathering his resolve, and nodded.

"Do it."

"Guys, what are you talking about?" Willow asked with concern bordering on fear.

"This is really going to hurt," Walker told Xander, ignoring the question. "Sorry."

Xander shrugged with resignation, "What else is new?"

With that the masked man drew out a squirming insectile looking thing from his pocket and tossed it into Xander's face. It clung for a moment and then flowed down his throat like living quicksilver.

He screamed wordlessly, clutching his head, before collapsing to the ground. His body convulsed a half dozen times and then went still. So did everyone else in the room. Anya found herself so shocked she couldn't speak.

"What did you do to him?" Willow demanded in a dangerously quiet voice. A voice seething with the implicit threat of death. If this guy didn't start making with the answers, Anya was willing to add in some explicit threats of death.

"Nothing he didn't agree to," Walker answered. "He'll be back on his feet in three to six hours, just like I told him. He'll look a little different, but he'll still be the same Xander. In mind, heart, memory and soul anyway."

"In what way will he not be the same Xander?" Anya asked sharply. As a former wish granting demon she had a good ear for evasions and loopholes.

"Species. The Xander you knew was a human being. The new Xander will be a Demi-Fiend. A human with the body of a demon."

"You said he agreed to that? Why?" Anya asked again. She felt calmer about it than Willow seemed. Perhaps because she didn't regard demonic transformations with the same horror.

"You guys had no reasonable chance against Glory. And if you fail, its not just your world that will be destroyed. As a Demi-Fiend he will probably be able to stop her by himself. He decided that he was willing to live in a demonic body if that's what it took to save the world. To save multiple worlds," he corrected himself.

"Why Xander? Why couldn't it have been someone else?" Willow asked with a catch in her voice.

"Excellent question. If you had this bug thing that can save the world, why didn't you eat it yourself?" Anya demanded. Hopefully he had a reason beyond the obvious grossness of the action.

"There are a number of people who could have hosted a Magatama," he admitted. "I'm not one of them, and there are very few I would trust with the power of Masakadus. Of the available candidates, I felt he was the most appropriate choice. In part because I trust him."

"Then that bug thing you threw at him is a Magatama?" Anya asked, her nose wrinkling in distaste.

"The demonic symbiont, yes. There are twenty-four others that I know about. Each is different. The particular magatama I gave Xander is called Masukadus, the magatama of Ultimate Power. It's unique. He'll need to make a few preparations to reach his full strength. I told him all about that. He'll probably need a few days practice with his new abilities before he's ready to face Glory."

"Is there anyway to reverse this?" Willow asked desperately.

Walker answered with gentle firmness, "It can't be reversed by anything short of major divine intervention. Unless someone on the order of the Old Testament God steps in, what is done, is done. The only way to stop the process is to kill him now. He knew that too."

"Why did you do this? Who are you?" Anya asked curiously.

"I don't want Glory to destroy this world or any other. I don't want any of you to die. Also, I think Xander is going to have fun with his new body once he gets used to it. As for who I am: Not very important right now. Also confusing. I mean you all nothing but the best but I think I should go now." With that rapid, nearly incoherent speech, he drew out something small from his sleeve. He looked at it a moment and then disappeared in a rainbow colored blur.

Well, Anya thought while gazing at her soon-to-be ex-human boyfriend, at least he isn't throwing up. She didn't say it out loud though. There is such a thing as tact.