Chapter Fifteen: Orders
"Whoa! These people are serious!" Gourry took out his own sword.
"Why can't we go to the Temple?" Lina demanded.
The man replied, "Because the Temple is the holiest of holy grounds, not meant for any mortal nor any god not
welcomed and called for by the Death Angels. If we let you pass, not only would your souls be doomed but our souls as
well. Our peaceful island would become a private torture chamber! We can not ALLOW THIS!" The people charged forward.
"Miss Lina! They'll kill us! Do something!" Amelia trembled and put her arms around Zel, who strangely, pushed
her away. "Master Zelgadis? What are you doing?" Zel looked at her and then the crowd. Turning, he ran towards the area
outside the entrance of the cemetery. "Master Zelgadis! Come back here!"
Zelgadis pointed his finger at the graveyard and said in a hollow voice,
"#I, who come to bring you here,
Thus, now, I bring you out
Show these fools who you truly serve
Enter again these ranshackled corpses
Live again and yet be dead for my purpose
Obey me! You serve only me!
I am your Master!
I am your Master!
I AM YOUR MASTER!#"
Lightning struck against the darkening sky. A great moan was heard from the graveyard. Hundreds of voices with
skeletal throats spoke perhaps for the first time in centuries. The skeletal arms pushed themselves out of the
ground. The stench was overpowering, many children began to cry from the smell.
"My gods! What is that?" The man trying to strike down Gourry observed. Amelia screamed.
"Oh my GODS! The corpses have come to life! Look!" Amelia shaking to fear. The grayed skin of death hung
loosely on most of the forms but some had not been dead for long and still had most of their flesh clinging on. These
were the most frightening of the undead.
The women and men alike screamed. Some recognized their recently deceased, lost wives, husbands and children,
limping towards the small boy who had summoned them.
"Lina," Gourry ran over to an awe-struck Lina, "do you notice something?"
"What? You mean you just noticed the dead coming out of the graves?!"
"No, look at their eyes," Gourry turned Lina's head so she would see his line of vision, "They're not just re-
animated puppets, they're not just decayed dolls. They're alive! They're have souls. They're living people in decayed
bodies. He just resurrected the entire cemetery but not their bodies!"
"Oh my Gods! How is he doing this?!"
Amelia could not move from her spot beside Zel. She just shivered and wanted to scream but none came out.
Everything inside had simply vanished.
When most of the corpses had escaped their coffins, Zel pointed at where the crowd was heavier, "#Kill the people of
this village. They stand in my way.#" He pointed to Lina, Gourry, and Amelia, "#Do not harm those three in any way.#
The undead lurched forward, the recently deceased with a sad look in their eyes.
A man in a cleric's robe moved to the front, waving his arms and screamed, "Bow, you fools! Bow if you want to live!
Bow! Bow! Bow!" All the people, including Lina, Gourry and Amelia, got to the ground as fast as they could. Even the
children did not squirm.
As the front line of the undead reached Zel's back, he sharply put his arms out, blocking them, "#Stop.#" And they
did.
He turned to the bowed Amelia, "#Lady, ask them if they will let us pass.#"
Amelia repeated the question and cleric screamed, "Yes! Go! You are obviously allowed to go! Just don't make our
dead loved ones kill us! We are deeply sorry!"
Zel smiled in the cutest little boy way imaginable, unbecoming of someone who had just resurrected a bunch of
decayed people to do his bidding, and ordered the dead to return to their graves and their souls to the AfterLife.
The sky brightened up and the people rose cautiously. Zel took Amelia's hand and said cheerfully, "#Let us go
now!#" and pulled on her arm. The people did not try to stop their journey into the forest leading up to the Death Angel
Temple, which was called Last Run Forest.
*** ***
After the town was out of sight and a few nerves were allowed to calm down, Lina turned on Zel and demanded, "Just
where and when did you learn such a scary spell like that?!"
"#I do not know. The words just came to me. I can not even remembered them now.#"
Amelia repeated this to which Lina replied, "You just don't suddenly do a spell about messing around with corpses
and their souls just out of thin air."
"#I said, 'I do not know'! I wish I did but I do not!#"
"Look, Lina," Gourry said, "he doesn't know. Maybe he made it up. Someone had to make up those spells you cast
right?"
"That's not exactly the same thing, Gourry!"
"I think it is. One day, this guy is walking around and he sees a dragon and the dragon sees him so he's about to be
eaten. He thinks to himself, 'Hm, I wish I could kill this dragon so I don't get eaten. Shabawhatshisface could defeat
this thing. I know! I'll just describe him and then the dragon will blow up!' So, he makes a nice poem about
Shabawhoever and boom! The Dragon-Slave!"
Lina turned red and grabbed Gourry's shirt, "Do you realize just how STUPID you sounded?! 'Oh, some guy just
wrote a poem and that's the Dragon-Slave'! Give me a break! Magic spells were not written by a guy who just bored one
day..."
"I didn't say he was bored..."
"Who cares! That's not the point! Magic spells are created by using and understanding the magical properties of
words!"
"So, words are magical?"
"Yes, Gourry, words are magical."
"So, cake's magical? 'Oh, cake! Grant me power, oh magnificent cake!'" Gourry held his arms in the air and
brought them down, locked his arms in front of him, palms out, and screamed, "CAKE!" Birds flew off overhead. Gourry
turned to Lina, "That didn't work. I thought words were magical."
Lina turned beet-red and locked Gourry in a choke-hold, "GOURRY! First off, that's not even a spell! Secondly, you
don't have any magical abilities! And THIRDLY, YOU CAN'T JUST USE ANY OLD WORD!!!!"
"Well, how do you tell the difference?!"
"Look, Gourry, I am NOT going to waste MY TIME explaining the basic fundamentals of magic and YOU WOULDN'T
GET IT ANYWAY!"
"Your journey ends here."
"Huh?" Lina and Gourry said at the same time.
Before them were five faint spirits and among them were...
"Worf! Raistlin!" Gourry pointed at the pair.
"You mean Zolf and Rodimus," Lina corrected.
"I was close."
"Where did you get 'Raistlin' from 'Rodimus'?"
"They both begin with R's, right?"
The spirits looked unsure but the leader again repeated, with uncertainty in his voice, "Your journey ends
here."
"Where did these things come from?"
"I was shouting and screaming as loud as I could about them but nobody was listening to me," Amelia sighed.
"You could've at least tapped me or something," Lina replied.
"What? And be hit and still be ignored?"
"I said, your journey ends here!" The spirit leader repeated.
"Yeah, we heard you the first time," Lina said, dropping Gourry.
"Actually, that's the fifth time he's said that," Amelia said.
"Fine! We heard you the third, fourth and fifth time! Happy?"
"Your journey ends here!"
"You've said that! We know! Is that all you can say?!" Lina stamped her foot.
"That's the sixth time," Amelia said.
"I don't care!" Lina barked back at her.
The spirit leader looked near tears, "Look! I don't like this anymore than you do but I have to say that until
you ask what we want of you!" He sighed, "Let's try this again. Your journey ends here."
"Oh, Great Wandering Spirits, why do you stay in our path? What do you want of us?" Lina said monotone and
stiffly, "Geez, such red tape!"
The leader spirit put on a deep, booming undead voice, "We are the damned souls who sinned in our mortal doings!
Now we are cursed to guard this pass from mortals such as yourselves. Fear us! No sword can stop our step and we enjoy
the smell of your draining blood!"
"Ew!" Amelia protested.
"What corny lines! You think if you had the rest of your AfterLife, you'd write some better lines."
The leader moaned, "Look, we don't write this stuff. We're just required to say it. It's part of the job."
"Do you really enjoy the stench of draining blood?" Amelia asked.
"It's alright. It's not bad, but there's better smells."
"Look, is there something else we got to say to get through? Do we have to cut you up or what?" Gourry asked.
"Well, first, I have to tell you what you have to do or..." he switched back to the booming voice, "face our
wraiths!" He switched to his normal voice, "You know. The drill."
"Let's hear it then."
"You must give the child to us and leave this place!" The leader boomed.
"Then...?"
"That's it. Give us the kid and you go free," the leader shrugged.
"Well, we just can't do that. He's our friend and we've busted our butts getting here. Sorry, looks like we'll have
to fight," Lina smiled, "but we're keeping Zel no matter what."
"I'm afraid that's not in your hands," three animalistic voices growled. Two trees fell away from each
other revealing a three-headed black giant dog.
"What-what-what is that?" Amelia shrieked.
"I am Cerberus, watchdog of the gates to the AfterLife," The middle head informed them. The left head
answered, "The boy is coming with me."
"You can't just do that!" Amelia screamed.
"Ha! You have no idea what I can do!" The right head laughed. The dog lunged at Zel and showed him the pearly
white teeth.
"#Where are you going to take me?#" Zel asked.
"To the Temple of the Death Angels. The left head responded.
"#But they have to go with me!#"
"Ha! They are no longer needed! They can get to the Temple, of course, but they must defeat all these guardsmen
to be allowed to continue." The middle head replied and all the heads laughed.
"#ALL of them?#"
"Every last one," the right head growled.
"#But, they can not do that!#" The little boy ran to the spirits and directed his attention at Zolf and Rodimus,
"#I do not know how I know you but I know I owe you a great deal for something I can not recall. I know you mean a great
deal to me, but I do not know the exact reasons.#" He turned to the guard-dog, who was very close behind him, "#Please,
free these two men. Do not let them be killed by my other friends. I will come willingly if you promise.#"
The heads laughed, the middle head spoke, "It does not matter to me whether you come peacefully or not! No, I will
not grant your wish because there is no purpose to it!"
"Oh, come now," a woman's voice echoed but its source was unseen, "I think that is a splendid wish. Grant it,
Cerberus, it will do us no harm."
"That voice!" Lina said, "It's the voice of the blonde woman at the inn!"
Cerberus scoffed but granted Zolf and Rodimus new life.
"We're alive! Zolf, we're alive!" Rodimus said, shaking his living comrade.
"Oh, Master Zelgadis! Thank you! We will repay you!" Zolf said.
The middle head grabbed Zel by the collar and flipped him on to his back and ran off, Zel screaming the entire
time.
The voice came again, "Spirits. Let these mortals pass. They suit my purposes." The spirits nodded and dissipated.
"What the...?"
"They're still here," Zolf explained, "they just took a less solid form."
"Oh, what a tragedy that has fallen upon our Master," Rodimus whimpered, "we must help you. We know the way."
*** ***
"Just up this path," Zolf pointed right in front of them, "do you see the temple in the distance?"
"Yeah, I see it," Lina said, "do we just keep going until we hit the temple?"
"No, there's a river in the way."
"So what? I can swim just fine. A river isn't an obstacle."
"This one is," Rodimus interrupted, "It may look like a normal river but it's the River of Guilt. The minute you
step in it, it fills your mind with altered memories. You believe you killed people that are very much alive or caused
the death of someone whose blood wasn't on your hands."
"Does this last forever?" Gourry asked.
"No," Zolf answered, "as soon as you step out, your memories return to normal. But most don't get that far. If
the guilty memories don't get you, the zombies will."
"Zombies?" Amelia squeaked.
"Oh yes. All the people that have drowned there are trapped in there. They claw at you and try to drown you as
well. The river makes them look like your loved ones but only they're decaying and rotting."
"Look! On that rock! Isn't that Zel?" Gourry shouted.
Indeed, Zel was calmly sitting on a rock just off the road. They ran to it and Zel turned and smiled. Zolf and
Rodimus got closest to him, "Are you alright, Master Zelgadis?"
"#I am fine!#" Zel smiled again, "#I managed to escape that dog. Now we can keep going!#" But before anyone could
respond, still smiling, Zel took out a knife and stabbed Zolf in the heart. He turned on Rodimus and cut his head off
with the ax hanging on Rodimus' belt.
The trio were horrified at the carnage that the little kid had caused. Zel stood up on the rock and his voice
changed to the voice of the woman, "Ah! Aren't I merciful? I granted these two a chance at new life. Now they will
happily go to the AfterLife and live their deaths in peace and comfort!" She laughed, "Zelgadis will be mine and I will
take him where he belongs! No one will stop me!" The image of Zel faded away.
"What are we going to do now?" Lina asked herself.
To be continued...
Author's Notes: This was easier. The problem was finding a good ending point. I hope you enjoyed it but why don't you
tell me about how you feel at destinyplot@lycos.com! See you later!
"Whoa! These people are serious!" Gourry took out his own sword.
"Why can't we go to the Temple?" Lina demanded.
The man replied, "Because the Temple is the holiest of holy grounds, not meant for any mortal nor any god not
welcomed and called for by the Death Angels. If we let you pass, not only would your souls be doomed but our souls as
well. Our peaceful island would become a private torture chamber! We can not ALLOW THIS!" The people charged forward.
"Miss Lina! They'll kill us! Do something!" Amelia trembled and put her arms around Zel, who strangely, pushed
her away. "Master Zelgadis? What are you doing?" Zel looked at her and then the crowd. Turning, he ran towards the area
outside the entrance of the cemetery. "Master Zelgadis! Come back here!"
Zelgadis pointed his finger at the graveyard and said in a hollow voice,
"#I, who come to bring you here,
Thus, now, I bring you out
Show these fools who you truly serve
Enter again these ranshackled corpses
Live again and yet be dead for my purpose
Obey me! You serve only me!
I am your Master!
I am your Master!
I AM YOUR MASTER!#"
Lightning struck against the darkening sky. A great moan was heard from the graveyard. Hundreds of voices with
skeletal throats spoke perhaps for the first time in centuries. The skeletal arms pushed themselves out of the
ground. The stench was overpowering, many children began to cry from the smell.
"My gods! What is that?" The man trying to strike down Gourry observed. Amelia screamed.
"Oh my GODS! The corpses have come to life! Look!" Amelia shaking to fear. The grayed skin of death hung
loosely on most of the forms but some had not been dead for long and still had most of their flesh clinging on. These
were the most frightening of the undead.
The women and men alike screamed. Some recognized their recently deceased, lost wives, husbands and children,
limping towards the small boy who had summoned them.
"Lina," Gourry ran over to an awe-struck Lina, "do you notice something?"
"What? You mean you just noticed the dead coming out of the graves?!"
"No, look at their eyes," Gourry turned Lina's head so she would see his line of vision, "They're not just re-
animated puppets, they're not just decayed dolls. They're alive! They're have souls. They're living people in decayed
bodies. He just resurrected the entire cemetery but not their bodies!"
"Oh my Gods! How is he doing this?!"
Amelia could not move from her spot beside Zel. She just shivered and wanted to scream but none came out.
Everything inside had simply vanished.
When most of the corpses had escaped their coffins, Zel pointed at where the crowd was heavier, "#Kill the people of
this village. They stand in my way.#" He pointed to Lina, Gourry, and Amelia, "#Do not harm those three in any way.#
The undead lurched forward, the recently deceased with a sad look in their eyes.
A man in a cleric's robe moved to the front, waving his arms and screamed, "Bow, you fools! Bow if you want to live!
Bow! Bow! Bow!" All the people, including Lina, Gourry and Amelia, got to the ground as fast as they could. Even the
children did not squirm.
As the front line of the undead reached Zel's back, he sharply put his arms out, blocking them, "#Stop.#" And they
did.
He turned to the bowed Amelia, "#Lady, ask them if they will let us pass.#"
Amelia repeated the question and cleric screamed, "Yes! Go! You are obviously allowed to go! Just don't make our
dead loved ones kill us! We are deeply sorry!"
Zel smiled in the cutest little boy way imaginable, unbecoming of someone who had just resurrected a bunch of
decayed people to do his bidding, and ordered the dead to return to their graves and their souls to the AfterLife.
The sky brightened up and the people rose cautiously. Zel took Amelia's hand and said cheerfully, "#Let us go
now!#" and pulled on her arm. The people did not try to stop their journey into the forest leading up to the Death Angel
Temple, which was called Last Run Forest.
*** ***
After the town was out of sight and a few nerves were allowed to calm down, Lina turned on Zel and demanded, "Just
where and when did you learn such a scary spell like that?!"
"#I do not know. The words just came to me. I can not even remembered them now.#"
Amelia repeated this to which Lina replied, "You just don't suddenly do a spell about messing around with corpses
and their souls just out of thin air."
"#I said, 'I do not know'! I wish I did but I do not!#"
"Look, Lina," Gourry said, "he doesn't know. Maybe he made it up. Someone had to make up those spells you cast
right?"
"That's not exactly the same thing, Gourry!"
"I think it is. One day, this guy is walking around and he sees a dragon and the dragon sees him so he's about to be
eaten. He thinks to himself, 'Hm, I wish I could kill this dragon so I don't get eaten. Shabawhatshisface could defeat
this thing. I know! I'll just describe him and then the dragon will blow up!' So, he makes a nice poem about
Shabawhoever and boom! The Dragon-Slave!"
Lina turned red and grabbed Gourry's shirt, "Do you realize just how STUPID you sounded?! 'Oh, some guy just
wrote a poem and that's the Dragon-Slave'! Give me a break! Magic spells were not written by a guy who just bored one
day..."
"I didn't say he was bored..."
"Who cares! That's not the point! Magic spells are created by using and understanding the magical properties of
words!"
"So, words are magical?"
"Yes, Gourry, words are magical."
"So, cake's magical? 'Oh, cake! Grant me power, oh magnificent cake!'" Gourry held his arms in the air and
brought them down, locked his arms in front of him, palms out, and screamed, "CAKE!" Birds flew off overhead. Gourry
turned to Lina, "That didn't work. I thought words were magical."
Lina turned beet-red and locked Gourry in a choke-hold, "GOURRY! First off, that's not even a spell! Secondly, you
don't have any magical abilities! And THIRDLY, YOU CAN'T JUST USE ANY OLD WORD!!!!"
"Well, how do you tell the difference?!"
"Look, Gourry, I am NOT going to waste MY TIME explaining the basic fundamentals of magic and YOU WOULDN'T
GET IT ANYWAY!"
"Your journey ends here."
"Huh?" Lina and Gourry said at the same time.
Before them were five faint spirits and among them were...
"Worf! Raistlin!" Gourry pointed at the pair.
"You mean Zolf and Rodimus," Lina corrected.
"I was close."
"Where did you get 'Raistlin' from 'Rodimus'?"
"They both begin with R's, right?"
The spirits looked unsure but the leader again repeated, with uncertainty in his voice, "Your journey ends
here."
"Where did these things come from?"
"I was shouting and screaming as loud as I could about them but nobody was listening to me," Amelia sighed.
"You could've at least tapped me or something," Lina replied.
"What? And be hit and still be ignored?"
"I said, your journey ends here!" The spirit leader repeated.
"Yeah, we heard you the first time," Lina said, dropping Gourry.
"Actually, that's the fifth time he's said that," Amelia said.
"Fine! We heard you the third, fourth and fifth time! Happy?"
"Your journey ends here!"
"You've said that! We know! Is that all you can say?!" Lina stamped her foot.
"That's the sixth time," Amelia said.
"I don't care!" Lina barked back at her.
The spirit leader looked near tears, "Look! I don't like this anymore than you do but I have to say that until
you ask what we want of you!" He sighed, "Let's try this again. Your journey ends here."
"Oh, Great Wandering Spirits, why do you stay in our path? What do you want of us?" Lina said monotone and
stiffly, "Geez, such red tape!"
The leader spirit put on a deep, booming undead voice, "We are the damned souls who sinned in our mortal doings!
Now we are cursed to guard this pass from mortals such as yourselves. Fear us! No sword can stop our step and we enjoy
the smell of your draining blood!"
"Ew!" Amelia protested.
"What corny lines! You think if you had the rest of your AfterLife, you'd write some better lines."
The leader moaned, "Look, we don't write this stuff. We're just required to say it. It's part of the job."
"Do you really enjoy the stench of draining blood?" Amelia asked.
"It's alright. It's not bad, but there's better smells."
"Look, is there something else we got to say to get through? Do we have to cut you up or what?" Gourry asked.
"Well, first, I have to tell you what you have to do or..." he switched back to the booming voice, "face our
wraiths!" He switched to his normal voice, "You know. The drill."
"Let's hear it then."
"You must give the child to us and leave this place!" The leader boomed.
"Then...?"
"That's it. Give us the kid and you go free," the leader shrugged.
"Well, we just can't do that. He's our friend and we've busted our butts getting here. Sorry, looks like we'll have
to fight," Lina smiled, "but we're keeping Zel no matter what."
"I'm afraid that's not in your hands," three animalistic voices growled. Two trees fell away from each
other revealing a three-headed black giant dog.
"What-what-what is that?" Amelia shrieked.
"I am Cerberus, watchdog of the gates to the AfterLife," The middle head informed them. The left head
answered, "The boy is coming with me."
"You can't just do that!" Amelia screamed.
"Ha! You have no idea what I can do!" The right head laughed. The dog lunged at Zel and showed him the pearly
white teeth.
"#Where are you going to take me?#" Zel asked.
"To the Temple of the Death Angels. The left head responded.
"#But they have to go with me!#"
"Ha! They are no longer needed! They can get to the Temple, of course, but they must defeat all these guardsmen
to be allowed to continue." The middle head replied and all the heads laughed.
"#ALL of them?#"
"Every last one," the right head growled.
"#But, they can not do that!#" The little boy ran to the spirits and directed his attention at Zolf and Rodimus,
"#I do not know how I know you but I know I owe you a great deal for something I can not recall. I know you mean a great
deal to me, but I do not know the exact reasons.#" He turned to the guard-dog, who was very close behind him, "#Please,
free these two men. Do not let them be killed by my other friends. I will come willingly if you promise.#"
The heads laughed, the middle head spoke, "It does not matter to me whether you come peacefully or not! No, I will
not grant your wish because there is no purpose to it!"
"Oh, come now," a woman's voice echoed but its source was unseen, "I think that is a splendid wish. Grant it,
Cerberus, it will do us no harm."
"That voice!" Lina said, "It's the voice of the blonde woman at the inn!"
Cerberus scoffed but granted Zolf and Rodimus new life.
"We're alive! Zolf, we're alive!" Rodimus said, shaking his living comrade.
"Oh, Master Zelgadis! Thank you! We will repay you!" Zolf said.
The middle head grabbed Zel by the collar and flipped him on to his back and ran off, Zel screaming the entire
time.
The voice came again, "Spirits. Let these mortals pass. They suit my purposes." The spirits nodded and dissipated.
"What the...?"
"They're still here," Zolf explained, "they just took a less solid form."
"Oh, what a tragedy that has fallen upon our Master," Rodimus whimpered, "we must help you. We know the way."
*** ***
"Just up this path," Zolf pointed right in front of them, "do you see the temple in the distance?"
"Yeah, I see it," Lina said, "do we just keep going until we hit the temple?"
"No, there's a river in the way."
"So what? I can swim just fine. A river isn't an obstacle."
"This one is," Rodimus interrupted, "It may look like a normal river but it's the River of Guilt. The minute you
step in it, it fills your mind with altered memories. You believe you killed people that are very much alive or caused
the death of someone whose blood wasn't on your hands."
"Does this last forever?" Gourry asked.
"No," Zolf answered, "as soon as you step out, your memories return to normal. But most don't get that far. If
the guilty memories don't get you, the zombies will."
"Zombies?" Amelia squeaked.
"Oh yes. All the people that have drowned there are trapped in there. They claw at you and try to drown you as
well. The river makes them look like your loved ones but only they're decaying and rotting."
"Look! On that rock! Isn't that Zel?" Gourry shouted.
Indeed, Zel was calmly sitting on a rock just off the road. They ran to it and Zel turned and smiled. Zolf and
Rodimus got closest to him, "Are you alright, Master Zelgadis?"
"#I am fine!#" Zel smiled again, "#I managed to escape that dog. Now we can keep going!#" But before anyone could
respond, still smiling, Zel took out a knife and stabbed Zolf in the heart. He turned on Rodimus and cut his head off
with the ax hanging on Rodimus' belt.
The trio were horrified at the carnage that the little kid had caused. Zel stood up on the rock and his voice
changed to the voice of the woman, "Ah! Aren't I merciful? I granted these two a chance at new life. Now they will
happily go to the AfterLife and live their deaths in peace and comfort!" She laughed, "Zelgadis will be mine and I will
take him where he belongs! No one will stop me!" The image of Zel faded away.
"What are we going to do now?" Lina asked herself.
To be continued...
Author's Notes: This was easier. The problem was finding a good ending point. I hope you enjoyed it but why don't you
tell me about how you feel at destinyplot@lycos.com! See you later!