Chapter 3

Lexshez

Amidst the ruins of Eshdinzia, Lexshez's Citadel was a golden yet dark structure. Colored glass, giant pillars with faces that seemed almost to cry out in anguish. It was easily four or fives stories tall, with a pair of giant stone lions roaring at the sky, as if to scream 'let me live!' as we entered through the giant doors of ivory. Immediately after I enter the hall I see relics of the past, lining the walls in stacks of 10. From wakazashi's and katana's to 44 colts and 50 cal rifles. From statuettes and pillars to animal pelts and plants. "Lezshez is amazing isn't he? He's got one of practically everything. About twenty yards ahead and to the right there's a display case of gems from around the world. He has rubies, diamonds, pearls, emeralds and a lot more. To you're left…"

I lean over in Shyana's ear, "Man this Lexshez is a bloody nut case eh? And this guy," I say while pointing to Ziek, "just keeps droning on about how great he is. I'm about to puke!"

"There's a garbage can to your left. The maids don't like cleaning much."

I jump and stare at Ziek as he glances back and smirks. He looks ahead and says, "Ah here we are. Lexshez's quarters, the Throne Room." As we enter through the old oak doors, the light inside blinds me for a moment. When my eyes finally adjust to the light I stand in awe at the shear beauty of it all. Pure white roses lined in rows around the edge of the room, an old willow tree stood in the middle surrounded by grass at least 2 feet tall. As I move towards the center of the room a large number of F.E.P.'s fly out of the tree. I reach for my sword ready to fight them off. As I poise, ready to strike, a man walks into the center of the room and says, "Please don't. Those are my pets. Butterflies are one of the many wonders of the old world."

"Butterflies? Don't you mean flesh eating pixies?"

He cocks his head to the side, "flesh eating what?"

"You mean to tell me you've never seen Flesh Eating Pixies?" I asked incredulously.

"You mean to tell me you have never heard of butterflies?" He asked back.

"I asked you first, Old Man!" I retorted.

"Fair enough, I suppose. No I haven't ever heard of flesh eating pixies. Unless of course you are referring to the Sheknir, in which case I'm afraid I unleashed the poor creatures myself." He sighed, weariness enhancing every wrinkle on his face. If I didn't know any better I would have said he was about 80 years old. But he was the youngest of the 7, only 15 at the time The Rock was discovered, which makes him only around 35 years old.

"Sheknir?" I asked.

He turned and walked down a hallway full of pictures, motioning for us to follow him. "Sheknir," he confirmed, "the true name of one of the ten deadly Zenricks. The others are the Kagemar, Kanum, Incorpulous, Aragnaria, Ghozshara, Deimonus, Aviatanare, Drougeira, and Faolenix." he told us, almost admiringly as he pointed to each Daimon in turn, the Shadow Stalkers, the Hell Hounds, the Husks, the Red Widows, the Ebonic Wraiths, the Fiends, the Harpies, the Draigons and Phaylinx's.

"I didn't know these things had names." I said contemptuously.

"Oh yes, the common names for these creatures does not show true justice to them, they are noble creatures, even if they are deadly. They must be shown the utmost respect, anything less will result in an attack. Each Zenrick has their own social status, just like we humans do. The Drougeira show this the most evidently, as there can only be three alive at a time. The Sheknir are harder to tell as they aren't lead by the leader, rather the leader is protected in the middle of the swarm. The leader is the only one that can kill the meal, the others can only cause harm. If one of the others kill the prey, it means a challenge has been issued to the leader, in which case one or the other will die." he explained getting even more excited with ever word he spoke.

"You've studied them quite extensively haven't you mister Lexshez?" Shyana asked him.

"Oh yes, quite interesting, the Sheknir are. By far the most interesting of all the Zenricks." he replied, suddenly reverting to his almost feeble old self.

I felt a breeze and saw Shyana shiver, I took of my leather jacket and handed it to her. She thanked me and we continued down the hall. Soon we came to the dining hall.

"what would you like for dinner?" Lexshez asked us as he handed us a list of foods that we could choose from. "I have the most exquisite foods from all around the world."