Wow, over fifty reviews now! I'm so glad this story is so well liked.
Lauren-sama, I'm afraid that replying to your very nice review would require giving several spoilers for this chapter. I am very interested in knowing how your theory is after the events in this chapter, though.
Kioku, no, you may not kill Adrian.
Phizzy-chan, I'm glad you liked the chapter. I'm surprised that you're thanking me for Adrian's cheating, though.
Claudia, what makes you think he's in a dream, no less going to wake up? (BTW, chibi Zel's blissfully ignorant of what's happening to him in this story. But he's always happy when he gets cinnamon buns.)
blue lady, I'm happy you enjoyed how I dealt with Amelia's death. I've always been told, 'Show, don't tell,' and sometimes that's quite good advice. (Other times, it's not that good.)
Those who gave cinnamon buns to the chibis, they thank you...and I thank those who gave dark chocolate.

Slayers is the creation of Hajime Kanzaka and Rui Araizumi. I don't own it; they and a lot of other people do. I'm not making any profit off of this story.

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Idylls
+=== A Slayers Fanfic by Ryo Hoshi
10 +===+ Illusory Me

Zelgadiss didn't even realize that he'd fallen asleep until he was woken up by the feeling of rough hands attaching chains to his wrists. The guards didn't bother waiting for him to wake up and instead dragged him onto a board. There were two quiet clicks as they attached the chain connecting his wrists to the board, and then they dragged him out into the prison's courtyard.
He wasn't sure how he managed to stay conscious while he was dragged by a horse to the place where he was going to die. Adrian had chosen somewhere outside of the city's walls, and apparently his main requirement was that the journey there from the prison would require going over the most bumpy roads possible. It did not help that people were all too often willing to add to the jarring he was being subjected to.
It was something of a relief when they finally reached the makeshift execution grounds, and he finally fainted.

When he came to, he had already been tied to the X-shaped frame that they'd leave his body on to rot. He knew because, even though he couldn't feel his wrists or ankles, he could feel the frame being lifted into a vertical position on the platform, so that the crowd could see that he died.
He knew exactly what would follow. Somehow the knowledge seemed distant and impersonal, though, just as dry as it had been when Rezo had told him about what had happed all those years ago to the last person who had commited the crime he was accused of and had lived long enough to be executed. Somehow, the idea of his own murder, with Adrian's lies being told as truth, boring young students in the future seemed funny.
It wasn't, really. He knew that.
The first spear was unexpected, and he vaguely noted that the person handling it didn't seem to be very good. He could tell that, while the spearman had managed to stick the blade into his guts, the blade most certainly missed anything vital. It was funny, how it didn't hurt. The scream he had heard as it went in couldn't have been his.
The second one hurt, though. The person holding it dropped the point as it went it, ripping open a hole in Zel's side. He screamed, and tasted a frothy, coppery liquid on his tounge.
As the blades were slowly pulled out of his body, he surrendered to the vastly less painful darkness again.

He knew that he was hallucinating. They would never have cut him down, no less put him in a soft bed. This must be the afterlife, he decided. If he was still alive, he would be in pain, and the world would be a much more clearly defined place. He relaxed and let himself slip back out of awareness.

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I know, I know, this is a short chapter. I don't care. It's just the length I wanted it to be. I'm inclined to let it be the last chapter...
The method of execution used is based off of second-hand research of a method of execution used in feudal Japan. If anybody has any idea where I might find more information, I'd be really happy if they'd share that idea with me.
Reviews, particularly ones with dark chocolate for me and cinnamon buns for the chibis, will influence me a lot.