The first thing Xena became aware of was that she was surrounded by darkness. She wondered for a few moments where she was. The last thing she remembered was some red-skinned creature attacking her. It had managed to pin her to the ground. Some kind of red glow had enveloped them and she had been knocked unconscious.
Now she found herself alone in the dark. The creature had probably kidnapped her for some purpose she surely wouldn't like. Most likely it had something to do with her new spirit state or something like that. Xena knew that she wasn't well versed in the nature of the afterlife in these lands, but she was fairly sure that getting jumped by some red demon wasn't standard fare. And since she still existed and was in possession of all her faculties, the demon or some other entity wanted something from her. She was pretty sure that it wouldn't be in her best interest to give them that something. Otherwise, they would just have asked kindly. In the end, she reasoned she had a simple mission ahead of her: she needed to figure out a way to escape and get back to Gabrielle.
Xena began examining her pitch-black surroundings with her hands. The floor felt cold and a lot like smooth stone, much more the floors in a great hall of a castle than some sort of dungeon. Slowly, to avoid hitting her head against any obstacles she might find, Xena crawled forward to search for some kind of wall and possibly a door.
Light suddenly filled the room. Xena blinked at the sudden glare and looked around. The floor was a beautiful combination of white marble inset with red ceramics tiles. She looked up and realized that she was in the middle of a huge throne room complete with columns that were so large, they disappeared into the sky. High above, there was no roof but a starry night sky and the walls were of the same beautiful white marble as the rest. Not far in front of her, a majestic throne seemed to have sprouted from the floor.
A tall man with four arms and really majestic clothes sat there looking at her with his coal black eyes. At the foot of the throne, the red demon that had kidnapped her sat and picked his nose. "Come closer," the god commanded, and motioned for her to walk towards him.
This place wasn't fooling her at all. No matter the attention put into making the place look like a palace of some benevolent ruler, the god's personal aura of arrogance had already told her everything she needed to know about him. Still, she approached him, taking care to show no emotion. It might be helpful later if she acted like she went along with any plans he might have for her.
"Xena, I am so pleased to finally meet a butcher of your caliber," the god said in greeting. "I am Amatsu Mikaboshi. The god you now serve," he said as if stating fact.
Xena quirked one of her eyebrows, but she chose not to speak. This god didn't waste a lot of time.
"I am offering you the chance to redeem yourself in my eyes. You have destroyed one of my tools and I need a replacement. You're it woman, whether you like it or not," the god explained as if this was a small matter, one in which Xena had no choice and her acceptance was already a foregone conclusion.
"I'd like to see you try and make me," she said, and prepared to fight even against the heavy odds. She had fought gods before and while she was no longer a god slayer, that didn't mean she wouldn't fight. What he proposed would threaten her very soul. If she was ensnared to do this, then maybe one day Gabrielle would be forced to come to the shores of Japan to defeat her, much like she had come to kill Yodoshi. She would never disappoint her bard like that.
"I have ways of making you serve me, woman," Mikaboshi said, his voice nearly a hiss and his narrowed black eyes seemed to slowly illuminate with a red light from deep within.
"Gods never change, do they? You always want what you can't have," Xena said, and jumped out of the way as a red flash of lightning flew her way. But as she was about to evade the second one, her body seemed to freeze up and she was struck head on by the blast. Searing pain ran throughout her body or spirit and she fell to the cold stone floor.
"You're in my world, you fool. Here I rule. You have chosen to defy my decision for your future. I do not accept that. I think we'll have to change your mind. I am sure that somewhere in it there is a monster I can still revive," he said and made a dismissing wave in her direction. Everything blurred to her eyes and she found herself in what looked like a wet dungeon room much like the one she had been in when she had gone to murder the Green Dragon and failed.
Hours passed as her shivers grew to a teeth clattering exercise. Her hands and feet felt numb and she forced herself to move around in the cold water just to feel a little warmth. But it didn't help much. Maybe the fact that her heart, body and everything else around her was spiritual matter rather than material was the reason she felt like she was really alive. Once again, Xena glanced around the room. The only openings she could see were small slits in the ceiling that let in a ghostly white blue light. Rubbing her hands against her shoulders to gain some measure of warmth and her mind racing in searching of possibilities, she almost failed to notice the appearance of a blurry image in the exact middle of the dungeon. Her eyes widened in recognition as she looked at it.
A blurry image of her bard clad in her royal red leathers appeared before her. Xena hobbled towards her. Before she could reach her, the image began to fade again. But just as it disappeared, the whisper of her bard's voice reached her ears. "Persevere," it said. And she swore to herself that she would.
Sleep had been impossible in the cold of the room. Xena felt worn as she tried to keep her shivering body from shutting down, when suddenly the entire room became bathed in blistering heat coming from above. The water began hissing and suddenly she found herself in the biggest sauna she had seen in her entire life or whatever she could call it.
A massive hole was suddenly smashed in the roof. Stone and dust rained on her as the water disappeared in the searing heat that should have burned her, but didn't. The muscled red demon dressed only in a black leather loincloth appeared on the now dry floor. "I have been given the task of guiding you back to your true self. I will be so happy to have the inner you as a friend, once we've worn all this civilization and morals of your soul," it said, and laughed in its deep rasping voice.
Xena saw her chance and charged towards the creature.
"Yes, come on then you ridiculous mortal fool, attack me. Oh, wait you can't," it said and snapped its fingers. Xena was unable to move. The demon began circling her. "Let's begin," it hissed into her ear. It put a massive clawed hand on her forehead.
The room fell into darkness, and then there was bright light. The smell of blood, sweat and soot filled her nose and the sound of war resounded in her ears. Xena found herself standing in her armor on a battlefield. She was fighting a man with her broad bladed sword in one hand and the Chakram held in another. He was dressed like a Greek or Roman farmer. The fight was unfair. She tried to stop fighting, but she could only look on as whomever controlled her body toyed with him, batting his hammer aside as he made clumsy attacks. Finally, she seemed to tire of the game, and kicked him to the ground. She stepped behind him and put her sword against his throat. With agony, Xena felt how she slit his throat and felt his warm blood run over her hand. She remembered this. This was her past. This battle had taken place only a few months before she had met Iolaus and Hercules.
"You were an inspired warrior," the voice of the demon said in her mind as she re-experienced her dark self swagger over to her celebrating army with a cocky smile, barely acknowledging Darphus as he showed her the treasure chest of dinars his warriors had pillaged from the surrounding lands.
"I was a hollow shell that knew neither love nor loyalty," she retorted.
"Those emotions are your weakness; look what they have given you," the demon said with anger in his voice.
Suddenly Xena's mind was flooded with images and her body remembered. She saw the birth of her son and how she gave him away. She felt the icy cold in her heart as Gabrielle demanded to be taught how to kill so she could avenge her husband. She felt the legionnaire break her legs with a hammer, and it just kept on coming as an avalanche of memories old as well as new battered at her. And she felt it all like it was happening again and again. But in a small corner of privacy remaining, she kept the many wise words of her bard continued to echo and so she persevered.
Time passed for Xena as she relived all the horrendous and angering moments of her life and she was boiling with rage, when she suddenly found herself back in the dry baked dungeon room with the demon. "Chew on that for some time," the demon said, and broke into a thundering laughter as Xena's eyes reflected the emotions seething in her paralyzed body. Just as suddenly as he had appeared, the demon leapt up through the hole in the ceiling. When he was out of sight and the hole had repaired itself, Xena could once again move. She fell to her knees and screamed. She screamed with rage, she screamed in anguish and she screamed for her poor tortured soul. For a while all she could do was lay on the ground in a catatonic heap.
Then, after another dimming of the light which seemed to signify night, the voice of her bard returned to her, seemingly coming from a far. "Remember the happy times," it whispered. And like prayer beads on a string, Xena forced herself to recount all the happy times in her life. She remembered the unbridled joy of her youth, the great times with her brothers and friends as she grew into a teenager. She remembered the many happy times that Gabrielle had given her as they had gotten to know one another and become best friends, as she had gotten the warm experience of watching another person grow under her tutelage from an innocent yet wise farmer girl into her wonderful and skilled partner. Again and again, she reminded herself of each of the important lessons she had been taught during her adventuring life with the bard.
Far away in another place, Benten leaned back. For weeks now, the demon of Mikaboshi had tortured Xena without relenting. The bond of love shared between the dark warrior woman and her partner had allowed her to reach deep into Mikaboshi's realm of the underworld and awaken the memories of love and good that the evil god was trying to bury under an avalanche of pure rage. By now, she realized that even if she continued to help the warrior sooner or later, either Mikaboshi would find out and block her, or the bond would be broken and then the warrior woman would become the worst plague this nation had ever seen. As long as there was no way for Xena to escape on her own, there was nothing she could do but put off the inevitable. Benten thought long and hard. She then decided on another path just as dangerous, but it might have a chance of succeeding.
Xena had completely lost track of time. Every time she had gotten even a short amount of rest, the red demon returned to her cell and the torture started again. The creature showed her all the gory scenes of her warlord past and forced her to glory in them. And when she resisted even a little, he showed how her way had damaged her. Today it had chosen a particular painful memory to regurgitateā¦
Xena charged into the amazon village, her soul filled to the brim with anger and vengeance. Only Gabrielle's blood could satisfy her burning need to avenge her son's demise. No amazon warrior or friend could stand in her way. Neither Ephiny nor Joxer mattered as she relentlessly and methodically pursued her prey, the weak creature that had cost her the beautiful child she had never told that he was her son. She smiled icily as the rope snagged the bard from her feet. She forced the horse under her to charge forward. Behind her, the bard was brutally dragged through fire, wood and plants. Her body was battered bloody by the rough rocks as they headed towards a cliff. Here Xena planned to toss the corpse of her former friend away and go back to live her life one day of war at a time.
"But that wasn't what happened," she thought, and remembered what had happened after. She even recalled the many months of careful dancing around the issue that had followed, and only been resolved when they had watched Hope die at the hands of her spawn. Her bard would carry those inner wounds forever and they were her fault.
"Why won't you understand?" The demon screamed and slapped her, sending her thin paralyzed body across the room. "Remember the pain," he commanded and left the woman writhing at memories of all her battle injuries and their cause. Then he willed himself before his master.
"She still resists. The love between her and the other warrior is unbreakable. I haven't seen anything like it before," the demon bemoaned.
"Of course, they're soul mates. That bond is unbreakable as long as she hangs on to her path in life⦠Maybe we can use it against her," Mikaboshi said, and his eyes narrowed in thought. "Here is what I want you to do," Mikaboshi went on to explain his cunning plan.
Xena slowly opened an eye. The painful memories had barely faded, but she realized that not only was she able to move but she was also alone. The demon had made a mistake and now she had the chance to escape. Quickly she wobbled over to the gigantic hole in the ceiling and forced her muscles to carry her up into a massive jump. She landed in another room obviously meant to allow an easy view of her as she lay exposed in the dungeon below. Even the light she had hoped was some indication of day or night turned out to be strange blue torches instead. Hurrying forward, her eyes sought a way out; a path out of this hellhole and back to that place she recalled somewhere in her jumbled memories was important to her.
As she slowly regained her bearing, Xena continued to search for some window or opening that would take her closer to freedom. She wandered the cold dank halls until she heard two voices behind a heavy door. Slowly, she slipped up next to the door and listened intently to the conversation.
"Why hasn't she broken down yet? Why can't you break that ridiculous bond between her and that blonde weakling?" A very familiar voice cursed. Xena's memories, still jumbled from the unrelenting torture that she had suffered for so long, still managed to conjure up the face of the owner of the voice. Akemi's image appeared in her mind and suddenly she remembered the conversation they had before setting off after Yodoshi. Akemi had hinted at her fear of her soul becoming doomed if Yodoshi was defeated. She had indirectly convinced her that it was right for her to stay dead; to finally find rest and maybe resolution for what she now knew had been her greatest sin. Akemi, who now appeared to be on the side of her captors, was in the next room. Xena's eyes narrowed and flashed with anger.
"Don't order me around, girl. We took your suggestion of your father's replacement for good advice and freed you from the confines of Emma-o and his justice. But not even your good services in getting us this warrior have given you the right to command me. Why don't you just admit the real reason you wanted that woman to remain dead and come here amongst us damned," the voice of the demon said and the sound of a weak slap followed. The demon laughed a little and Xena assumed Akemi had tried to impress it with an outburst of anger. Anger that she was feeling as well.
"I serve Mikaboshi like you, and I am interested if my old friend will be joining forces with us," Akemi said.
"Really why then do I smell lies, jealousy and maybe unrequited love all over you?" the demon asked in a taunting voice.
"Damn you. Yes, I love Xena, but that bitch wasn't faithful to me. Not only did she go out and find a new lover, but she had to out do me in every way. She was beautiful, damn it! And Xena treasured her higher than her own life. She changed Xena. I want my Xena back. I want the Xena that is my puppet. I want the bitch that will kill if you glance at her wrong. And then I want her to kill that insolent little bitch that thinks she is a poet," Akemi ranted, but Xena didn't care. She was seeing only red.
With something sounding almost like a growl, she kicked the door off its hinges and charged into the room looking for a weapon. On a table beside the two surprised occupants of the room was a katana. Xena grabbed it and expertly drew a deep and long wound across the chest of her surprised torturer seemingly killing it, before turning on the bitch that had cost her the life with her partner.
Not noticing that the demon behind her was mumbling magic words and tendrils of evil energy was infusing her with power with each step she took before the cowering Japanese poet.
Xena's eyes became red and glowing as she drew up her katana. In her mind, all the memories of slaughters of times past flashed by and she relished them. "You're going to die piece by piece. You are welcome to scream," Xena hissed and drew up the katana to cut of the head of her betrayer.
"Please, Xena. I can love you better than that blonde. Please, Xena, I can make your new existence so pleasurable," the girl said and tried desperately to arrange herself to seem alluring.
"At least die again with some honor, you lying cow," Xena said and swung the katana towards Akemi's exposed neck.
