Zelgadis moaned and sat up, rubbing the back of his head. Why did he feel so sore? The last thing he remembered was talking to Amelia. He jerked back a bit when he noticed that a serpent was right beside him. He sighed with relief, realizing that it was only Deis. He pushed himself against the rock wall behind him. "You're really scary you know that? By the way, what happened?" he asked stretching his legs out in front of himself and looking at his shoes.

She frowned at him, placing her hands on her hips, she didn't know whether that was meant as an insult or not. She decided to ignore the comment since he was having such bad luck lately, and spare him a bump on the head. In her opinion Zel and Magus weren't all that different. Deis hadn't known the Chimera for very long, but she had already gathered that he was impatient, short-tempered, and too powerful for his own good. "Hmmmm . . . what happened ehh, guess you wouldn't remember. To sum it all up, your girl friend wouldn't leave, Magus turned her to stone and started acting like a pain in the ass. Then to top it all of you went berserk and killed Doan. That clear it up for yah?"

Zelgadis sighed and frowned, everything was pouring into his mind now. He didn't know what to say so he just didn't speak.

"Do you know where you are Zelgadis?" she asked calmly, now clutching her scepter close to her breast.

Zel raised an eyebrow, then proceeded to look around himself. He saw the stone well, the two paths that led through the ravine, one back to Seyruun, the other leading deeper into the labyrinth of rock. If he was thinking correctly he'd say that he was still at the meeting place of the seven. But, it was different in a few ways. First of all everything seem to have a red tint to it, with exception of the sky, which was as black as pitch. If it had been possible, he'd say it was even darker than that. He recalled reading about this place in Rezo's library, but he hadn't imagined anything quite like this. " This is someone's dream?" he guessed aloud, looking to Deis. She nodded.

"You are correct. To be exact we are in Diont's dream." she said offering him her hand. "You and I are the only ones able to travel here, the others are still at the meeting place guarding our physical bodies." He took her had and stood. As he began to dust himself off she continued,"Since you were already unconscious it was much easier to bring you here."

Zelgadis stretched his arms high above his head, yawning,"Where is Gaspard, is he with the others?" he said, looking at the snake woman.

Deis looked up ward and put a finger to her lip,"He is, yet he isn't. He would have liked to come with us but he's a little busy now." she said looking back down at Zel, who was now giving her an extremely confused look. "Okay, I'll explain. Gaspard's way of communicating with the Gods is through slumber. This way he can receive any instructions needed, whether they be a insignificant as washing the dishes or as dramatic as saving the world from a destructive force. So you see, where as his body is with the others, he really isn't there at all." she lectured.

"Ah, I think I get it now, but there's one thing I don't understand, if Gaspard is a servant of the Gods, then why doesn't he just do all of this himself? Why does he need me?" he questioned.

"Hmmm, Gaspard already told you why the other five and I cannot harm Diont, so I guess I should explain why he too is powerless." she said, now resting on a rock,"Gaspard was once a very powerful Magi, referred to as the Guru of Time. His ideas and theories were beyond anyone's comprehension, in fact, he knew how space and time worked before he came to serve the Gods. His knowledge and wisdom were what made the Gods choose him as the Guardian of the end of time. In order for him to take on such a task they had to change him in two ways. First they gave him the ability to talk to them, something that no mortal had done before. Second they rendered his physical being useless, he was unable to do harm to anyone and no one can do any harm to him." she stated.

"So you're saying that his purpose is to communicate the Gods orders to the mortals?" he said stroking his chin.

"Exactly, Gaspard is nothing but a messenger." she replied simply.

He nodded and looked to the well,"What are we here to do?"

She smiled at him and stood,"We're going to find out the enemy's battle plan." she said.


Tae Grif pace back and forth between the wall and the well in the center, he tried to avoid looking at the body of his dead friend. It was laid down peacefully in the sand at Gaspard's feet. Deis and Vorimoth had cleaned him up as much as possible but didn't feel that it would be right to bury him here. "He wouldn't be at home here." Tae had said. Janus on the edge by the well watching Vorimoth sharpen his blade at the path entrance nearest to him. Occasionally Janus would cast glance at Tae, which was met with an unforgiving growl followed by Janus' turning away.

Janus knew now that his solution hadn't been the best, of course, he would never admit this aloud. He really didn't feel all that sorry, after all, that fool Doan should have seen that he was no match for the Chimera. He watched Tae now, how was sitting by the sleeping bodies of Deis and Zel. The wolf looked so sad. " Magus, Deis, it is good to see you again . . . I trust you are both well . . ." Janus muttered to himself, " Had he really cared?" he sighed shaking his head. "It was good to see you again Doan." He shook the feeling off, what was he thinking? This was no time to go soft.

Vorimoth, still sharpening his sword, glared at Janus. He knew the wizard couldn't be trusted. His ancestor Ayla had passed down stories of this man. He did things only for his own benefit. If the choice was his this man would die now!