Prologue
The Tower*
Crystal Memories
The world was ending slowly, but it was noticeable to all that lived upon it. Villages were turning to dust, the people were screaming as demons and monsters alike tore their bodies apart, and the planet and nature itself had gone completely mad, earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, and eruptions running rampant in places they had never tormented before.
Saillune was a ruined city, the once bright and peaceful White Magic capital nothing more than ruins, bodies strewn about being picked and gnawed at by the animals that raged throughout the blood caked streets. No city was safe, it didn't matter how holy or passive or ridiculous a town was, nothing and no one had been spared the Lord of Nightmares wrath this glorious day, storms and flames licking across the dim afternoon sky.
No one except two straggling men, two she couldn't touch no matter how hard she tried or how her lonely temper flared. One of the two wouldn't let the other one be harmed, and he could not be harmed himself. He had been touched by a god from another world, with no hope of dying or growing old. His friend was eternally youthful as well, but not because of a god. The young looking man was the last of the ancient dragons, Val ul Copt, his aqua hair looking as if it had had better days, his clothes tattered and stained with the blood of monsters and Mazuko alike.
His protector, Hiero Greywords, the eternal one L-sama couldn't hope to kill, had blood stained sapphire-blue hair and the same color eyes, shaped like the slit-eyes of the Mazuko race. His black clothing and cap were also badly damaged, either by the burnt holes in them or the clawed out shreds on his back and limbs. He showed no sign of injury, his pale and slender body untouched by bloody wounds. He was always protecting the other one, even after his parents had been taken from him, he never left his friend's side. She had to admire his dedication to a pointless cause, he wouldn't be able to protect the aqua-haired boy forever, and she was eternal in this universe.
All she had to do was wait and she could kill them, keeping the sapphire–haired immortal for herself, to be her eternal plaything. True enough Xellas and Deep Sea Dolphin had robbed her of keeping his mother, Lina Inverse, and father, Zelgadis Greywords, for herself, but she'd get their son as compensation. She had all the time in the world, after all, being the creator of this and her other three worlds. She could wait just as long as he could for the end of this world. He'd never escape her now.
~
"Come on, we're almost there, Val….we'll make it. If we can make it past Dimos dragons, we can make it to the Crystal shrine. Just keep moving." Hiero said, his voice pained. He was terribly hungry and tired, he hadn't eaten anything for days except a few berries he'd grabbed as he and Val had sprinted through the last forest. He hadn't used any spells since the Kaatart Mountains, a well placed Dragu Slave sending dozen of irate Dimos dragons to the other side. Hiero hated not having very little in his stomach, it made it harder to concentrate.
Still, keeping Val from being killed was a better motivator to keep going on than food was. They were practically the only sane and intact people left in the world, running for their lives for the shrine Hiero had sought out centuries back, just in case L-sama ever succeeded in hurting the world so badly that nothing could save it. He had been planning on leaving with his entire family, Lina and Zelgadis, the best parents he could have hoped for, but they didn't make it. He still blamed himself for their deaths, for not being there when the Mazuko bitches started a battle in the town his parents were in, killing them in the process before he even knew something was wrong. Val told him it wasn't his fault, but Hiero felt otherwise regardless.
'All this power I have in my body and I couldn't even save two lives, two lives that were so important to me. They loved me like a real son, like I was from their world. Those Mazuko trash queens had no right in taking them from me….and Val's mother, poor Aunt Filia. After I killed Deep Sea, I came back to find Xellas and her new general priest blowing her home up. I was lucky I got there when I did or Val would have been killed too. I couldn't save them….I could only save Val. At least I can still save him, I won't let L-sama hurt him. Friends forever, just like we promised when we were kids….' He thought, his head jerking to the side suddenly as Val collapsed.
Hiero ran back to him quickly, supporting Val's weakened body against his chest. "Val, are you ok? Is anything broken?" Hiero asked, his velvety voice full of worry and concern. Val looked up, his golden slit eyes blinking slowly from being so tired, but he managed a weak smile. "No, I'm just so….I can't run anymore, my legs are killing me. We've been running non-stop for almost a week. I can barely catch my breath. If I keep running like this, I'm going to croak from exhaustion before L-sama gets her grubby paws on me. Go on without me, I can't go anymore….I'm too tired….I'll only slow you down, Hiero."
Hiero shook his head vehemently and quickly picked Val up in his arms and started running again, Val protesting weakly for Hiero to leave him behind. "Not a chance, Val. You're like a brother to me, friends forever, I took that vow we made very seriously. You're not dying….EVER! I won't let L-sama take you away from me. You're the only friend I have left. I don't care how much I hurt, you're going to live, even if it kills me a dozen times over." Hiero gasped out, his own legs getting multiple spasms as he pushed his inherited chimera speeds to the utmost limits.
Hours passed, Hiero refusing to listen to Val's reasoning, pushing his body harder and harder to reach the shrine. It was their only hope to get away from L-sama, for now anyway. He saw the cave that led to it in the distance after a few more hours passed, blood leaking from his mouth and his legs simply alive with pain, as if a million daggers were being shoved in them at once and repeatedly. He'd been subjected to a lot of pain and death in his endless lifetime, but nothing compared to the bone-crunching agony he was going through now, the fear infecting his mind.
It wasn't for himself, he knew that, it was all for Val. Val wasn't immortal in the same sense that Hiero was, just young forever. He didn't want L-sama to take him away, then keep him like a living doll to keep her company. He hated L-sama, he had grown to hate her more than the god trapped inside his own body. As kind as he felt he had been to her, as chaotic his nature was that he thought delighted her, she grew disgustingly fond of him and his mother, wanting to keep them both for herself and forsake their world.
She was an obsessive and conniving horror to him, her way of thinking more along the lines of a great and sick psychotic, keeping people frozen in blocks of ice or ethereal planes where she could venture and have them entertain and keep her company. She was a selfish one, and Hiero detested that. She'd let Xellas and Deep Sea murder his and Val's parents so she could have Hiero all alone, and therefore in her sick mind, all to herself. He knew she'd planned on getting Val killed along with Filia, he felt it, but he'd gotten there in time to prevent it.
After that, he and Val had hidden and gone on the lamb from L-sama's justice. He smirked slightly at the memory, the fact that L-sama could never get inside his head had been the reason she kept failing at killing them, she had no idea he'd found a Crystal gate, a means of traveling to another world far from L-sama's insane grasp. She wouldn't know what he was doing until it was too late, far too late to get her monsters to the shrine to destroy it. That in itself was satisfying, and soon and Val could make mischief elsewhere, fighting side by side and taking advantage of the next world as much as they could.
Hiero carried his friend into the cavern, the darkness lasting a long time before they reached the actual shrine. He felt Val's body tighten against his as they entered the Crystal Gate shrine, the light from the natural fluorescence within the crystal walls making the both of them shield their eyes. It had been a long time since either of them had seen the sunlight, ever since L-sama cursed the world all anyone could see in the sky were dark clouds, murderous lightening, and firestorms. Plants died slowly, nocturnal animals thrived on human and inhuman flesh alike 24 hours a day, and the seas became filthy without the sun to keep the life cycle going strong.
Even though the light of the cave hurt, it wasn't eternal. After a few moment, Hiero was moving through the shrine at a quick and even pace. The soreness in his muscles was starting to show, his arms growing weak with Val's weight pushing them down. He was starting to slowly regret having done all the work solo for so many hours, but he knew he couldn't stop now, no when they were only minutes away from their new lives.
When he reached the center of the shrine, he carried Val across the crystalline floor and over to the single crystal spike before them. "Cut you hand on it then hold onto it. The crystal needs your blood and permission to send you. This isn't like….well, you wouldn't remember Valgaav's antics very well, not now anyway." Hiero proclaimed holding his friend again him now with his left arm, holding his right hand by the crystal. Val nodded and lifted his left hand to the crystal, a lovely flow of dark crimson flowing down his pale fingers then down the clear and shimmering spike. Hiero did the same with his hand on the right side, the crystal beginning to vibrate and glow brighter than before.
Hiero shut his eyes gently and began to chant loudly words he had memorized when he discovered this place so long ago. "Ancient spirits of this world, grant us passage to another free. By the right of the Cephied and the worlds that have no names, we implore upon this plane. By the flame of Tyros' Spire, the eternal breath of the holy Genas' Tomb, the earthy grasp of Rusha's Pyre, and by the Sea of Chaos in the Lord of Nightmares' Womb, grant our souls passage beyond the gate of crystal pain. Open the doorway, by blood and will and sacrifice of self, I beseech thee. Open the gate!"
Val held on tightly to the toiling crystal that was near blinding him and Hiero with its blessed light, making him shut his eyes as Hiero had. Both felt a tugging on their souls, as if they were being ripped out of their bodies by some unknown force. Hiero let out a blood-curdling scream a few seconds later as the tugging became suddenly violent, yanking them both forward with tremendous strength. Val joined him with his own screams, the pain taking him down. After a while, the pain subsided gradually. Val couldn't hear the vibration of the crystal, or the howls or monsters outside the shrine. All he could hear was the air rushing past him, his hands bleeding freely with his blood spattering across his face like rainfall.
'Time for a new life, Val….see you….on the other side….wherever it may be.' Hiero telepathed to Val, his voice a little weaker than usual, the velvety tone distorting with each word.
'I know, Hiero, my friend. Let's hope….we can live a life without the pains of the past to haunt us. Let us pray for….a good destiny.' Val thought back.
'Yes….a good destiny, to help people….and not lose them. To have a family again….love….and……." Hiero was thinking back, but then he was suddenly silenced, the tugging hitting them again. Val didn't bother to try and think anymore, the howling winds of the gateway raging over them and drowning their thoughts out in its flow. He only hoped Hiero was right, that where they were going wouldn't have the same misery the old one had given them in the end.
*The Tower card represents the separation of Val and Hiero from the Slayers' world and from each other.
