Disclaimer: I don't own Slayers or the characters in it. Leave me alone, lawyers!
Author's Note: Rating raised for the general dismalness of life in the story. I'm running out of written chapters to type. Luckily, though, I had a burst of inspiration last night. You'll love the next chapter. I also had a dream that a kopii-sized "Mini-Me" from Austin Powers 2 (which I've never seen) was at my high school. I caught him and Dr. Evil started chasing me. Scary. But anyway, thanks for the reviews and keep them coming! I feed on reviews, especially praise, like Mazoku feed on negative emotions. Yum! And PLEASE send suggestions just in case I can't think of anything else! I'm trying to do one chapter a day and stay one ahead of the posting, but it'll be hard work.
Ramblings of the Doomed
Chapter 9: Training and Fresh Blood
The next day, Eris dragged Kopii back to the painter's house. "I want one more life-sized portrait," she told him eagerly. Kopii had flatly refused to change into Rezo's robes again. In fact, he had burned all the spare robes in Rezo's closet so that Eris couldn't make him wear them again. So Eris had grudgingly consented to letting him wear his own robes for the portrait. But she made him stand with his eyes closed as usual. After this, Kopii knew she would bring him around town to heal more people than he had the strength for again. He sighed and tried to stand still.
* * *
Unknown to Eris, Rezo was hard at work in his hidden, sealed laboratory in the ruins of the old city of Sairaag. Of course, Kopii knew about this place, but Rezo hoped and prayed that he wouldn't mention it to Eris. This work was far too dangerous to have her nearby. He didn't want her getting hurt. Resurrecting and killing Shabranigdu was not a task to be taken lightly. He would have to do it in the tower where he was keeping Zelgadis. The entire top floor was a super-powerful magic circle.
Ah yes, Zelgadis. The boy was getting much stronger and more skilled. This was his backup plan, in case Shabranigdu took complete control. Zelgadis already hated him beyond all else. Rezo hoped that by the time he had completely lost control, the boy might be strong enough to defeat him. Then hopefully, Zelgadis could drive the Dark Lord out for good. But realistically, that was unlikely. So Rezo was counting on Zelgadis to have enough hate and power to kill him when the time came.
In preparation for this, he and his servants were teaching Zelgadis everything they could. Rodimus was improving his swordsmanship with the help of Dilgear and the other animal-chimeras. Zolf was teaching him black magic. Rezo, when he had the time, was teaching the boy shamanistic magic, and a bit of white magic also. He learned very quickly, and was coming to trust and respect Rezo's servants. Rezo made sure that he never made himself seem trustworthy or reasonable, though. And Zelgadis hated him. This infinitely saddened the red priest, but it was as it should be.
* * *
Zelgadis put away his practice blade and shook out his tense hands. Finally, the day was over! He had been able to defeat each one of the animal-men who came at him. Even when they came in small groups, they were no match for him. He was almost beginning to appreciate the hard skin and heightened reflexes Rezo had given him. 'No!' he mentally chastised himself. 'Even if it's useful, how can I be grateful after all he's done to me?' Not only had the red priest turned him into a monster, but he had also proven himself indescribably cruel in his treatment of Zelgadis. He didn't even want to think about it.
After he got over the fact that he didn't want to be here in the first place, Zelgadis was very pleased with his quickly-growing power. Rodimus was very skilled with a sword, and Zelgadis was learning a lot from the older man's vast experience. He was just as excited about learning magic from Zolf. Before this, he had been trying to learn some magic, but he couldn't find anyone to teach him. Zolf had told him that the greater the spell in black magic, the more likely it was to either go out of control or become addictive and take control of the user. So while Zelgadis would practice bigger spells like the awesome Dragon Slave, he vowed never to cast them outside of a controlled environment like the tower's top floor.
Then there was his other magic training. Rezo was teaching him white and shamanistic magic. He was especially interested in the shamanistic magic, but he dreaded the lessons. Just being around Rezo filled him with fear and loathing.
But Zelgadis had a plan. In a year or so, when he had learned all he could and gotten very strong, he would betray Rezo, who seemed to think he had the chimera under his complete control. Someday when Rezo deemed him strong enough to go out on a mission to get something important for him, Zelgadis would obey and get that thing, which would, no doubt, be very powerful. Then he would come back and kill Rezo when his guard was down. If the priest was too strong he might have to flee for a while, but he would kill Rezo. He was biding his time for now, but the day would come…
Zelgadis sighed and walked over to his little alcove under the staircase. Oh yes, his time would come. But how soon? Zelgadis was afraid of what Rezo might do to him before then. Then there was the problem of trying to undo what had already been done. He was already trying to find a way to change his body back to that of a normal human. He probably wouldn't actually do it until after he had killed Rezo, but he wanted to find a cure now nonetheless. So the little bit of spare time he had was spent searching through old books for something, anything that might help! He lay down on the two benches pulled together to form his bed. They might seem hard to a normal person, but Zelgadis found that his new body was too hard and heavy for most normal beds. So the benches suited him just fine. He fell asleep, ready to resume his search for a cure early the next morning before his magic lessons started.
* * *
Eris was in the Sairaag Memorial Library stalking sorcerers. They swarmed to this place like gnats, and most were just about as powerful. She was pretty sure she had perfected her control gems. They worked flawlessly on the little kopiis. And the one on Kopii, though an older type, worked as well. But she needed to test the newer ones on a full-sized kopii. She had tried to make kopiis of Kopii, but they fizzled out and disappeared immediately. She could have made a kopii of herself, but she was afraid to cut herself as Rezo-sama had. And she'd be damned if she gave Kopii a chance to hurt her like that.
So her best bet was to lure some random sorcerer to the lab and trap him there to be her permanent guinea pig. Now that Rezo-sama was gone, she would have to help herself, since Kopii obviously wasn't good enough to become Rezo-sama for her.
Rezo had taught her to sense a person's magical power and general aura, so Eris was scooping out each sorcerer's powers as she saw them. 'Too strong… Too weak… That's… Is that a man or a woman? Never mind, I don't want to know! Ack, that one's perverted. Too stubborn… Too stupid… Oh, that one can't be human. Mmm, that one's kinda cute. He looks like… Rezo-sama…. No! Definitely not that one! Hmm…'
Then Eris saw one over in a corner trying to avoid the crowd. He was tall, and cloaked in robes from head to toe. 'Ah ha… Not too strong or too weak. Seems like he's especially good at ice magic, and maybe a couple of other types too. He doesn't look like Rezo-sama, that's good. Seems suspicious, though…' The tall man didn't seem to be finding the book he was looking for. Eris saw her chance and grabbed it.
"Excuse me, you don't seem to be finding what you're looking for," Eris said smoothly, walking over to him. The sorcerer looked up quickly, with his eyes narrowed. He was younger than she had expected. He had light brown hair that hung down around his face and naturally narrow bluish green eyes. He didn't speak, so Eris went on.
"Would you be interested in looking through the library of the great aka houshi Rezo? The first visit is free of charge," Eris said enticingly. She wouldn't mind getting some money from this suspicious mage, but she could tell by the drab, worn robes he wore that he probably wasn't very well-off financially. And what she really needed was a test subject, not a donation.
The young mage's eyebrows rose slightly. Then they lowered again. And who are you, who claims to give out free visits to the library of a great wise man?" he asked in a monotone voice.
"Oh, I'm his lab assistant," Eris said. The man looked doubtful, so she pulled a piece of paper out of her dress and showed it to him. It was a formal statement signed by Rezo long ago. He had given it to her in case she needed to speak for him or pick up something for him.
The sorcerer still looked hesitant, but he was obviously itching to look through Rezo-sama's books. "Very well," he said reluctantly.
"Wonderful!" Eris exclaimed. It had worked! "Just follow me." So the unfortunate young sorcerer followed Eris back to Rezo's house.
* * *
"If you'll just sign this, please," Eris said, handing him a slip of paper and a pen. "So if you cause any damage to the materials, we know who to look for." All part of the ruse… Luckily, he signed without so much as a suspicious glance. She took the paper and looked at the name. "V… Varoomagin?" she said, trying to pronounce the strange name. She didn't even attempt to say his family name.
"Vrumugun," he said, drawing out all the 'u's.
"Uh… all right. Right this way," Eris said, laying the paper on the table and leading him towards the basement.
Vrumugun took note of his surroundings. His suspicions were renewed when they passed by a room that was obviously a library and a study without stopping. But nothing prepared him for the sight that met his eyes when he got down to the basement. There was aka houshi Rezo, sitting in a cage, looking at him with both eyes open! This man who was apparently Rezo stared at him with wide eyes and violently shook his head. He looked repeatedly from Vrumugun to the stairs and mouthed 'Get out now! It's a trap!' But it was too late. Eris pushed him into a cage much like Rezo's with her magic and locked him in with both a key and magic.
"That should do for now. I may put you in one of those big chimera tanks with some tubes for you later, since I only need your blood. Kopii, don't talk to him. Practice acting like Rezo and I'll let you out later," Eris said as she went back upstairs.
"Are you all right?" Kopii asked the new arrival.
"Are you truly aka houshi Rezo?" the young mage asked. "How did that woman imprison you? You should be far stronger than she is."
"No, I'm not Rezo," Kopii said. "Don't let her fool you into thinking I am. I'm his k – copy. I'm just called Kopii. I was made to experiment on, but I guess Eris thinks she needs more. Who are you?"
"I am Vrumugun, merely a sorcerer," Vrumugun said. "What does being Rezo's copy entail, exactly?"
"Well, I have all of his memories," said Kopii. "And all of his powers. But I can't do very many big spells in a day."
By this time, all the little kopiis in the area had come out of hiding and gathered around Vrumugun's cage to gawk. "More copies?" Vrumugun asked. "But they are so small."
The kopiis muttered amongst themselves for a moment. Then one climbed up the cage to stare eye to eye with Vrumugun. "Kopiis," he said importantly. The other kopiis chattered in agreement. Vrumugun looked questioningly at Kopii.
"Oh, um… yes," Kopii said, slightly embarrassed. "We're all called kopiis. They made it up themselves. I think they just misheard Rezo calling them copies, though."
"Ah, I see," said Vrumugun. He sat down against the back of the cage, pulling his knees up to his chest and resting his head in his arms on them. He closed his eyes, obviously not wanting to talk anymore.
Kopii looked at him for a minute and then shrugged. He would want to talk more later, Kopii was sure. He was sorry that Eris had imprisoned another innocent victim, but it would be nice to have another person to talk to. The little kopiis were all meeting in the kitchen for a late-night game of tag, so Kopii slept alone tonight.
No Japanese lessons for you today, children. Go review, tell me what to write about next, then go make your own kopiis. And send one to me!
Author's Note: Rating raised for the general dismalness of life in the story. I'm running out of written chapters to type. Luckily, though, I had a burst of inspiration last night. You'll love the next chapter. I also had a dream that a kopii-sized "Mini-Me" from Austin Powers 2 (which I've never seen) was at my high school. I caught him and Dr. Evil started chasing me. Scary. But anyway, thanks for the reviews and keep them coming! I feed on reviews, especially praise, like Mazoku feed on negative emotions. Yum! And PLEASE send suggestions just in case I can't think of anything else! I'm trying to do one chapter a day and stay one ahead of the posting, but it'll be hard work.
Ramblings of the Doomed
Chapter 9: Training and Fresh Blood
The next day, Eris dragged Kopii back to the painter's house. "I want one more life-sized portrait," she told him eagerly. Kopii had flatly refused to change into Rezo's robes again. In fact, he had burned all the spare robes in Rezo's closet so that Eris couldn't make him wear them again. So Eris had grudgingly consented to letting him wear his own robes for the portrait. But she made him stand with his eyes closed as usual. After this, Kopii knew she would bring him around town to heal more people than he had the strength for again. He sighed and tried to stand still.
* * *
Unknown to Eris, Rezo was hard at work in his hidden, sealed laboratory in the ruins of the old city of Sairaag. Of course, Kopii knew about this place, but Rezo hoped and prayed that he wouldn't mention it to Eris. This work was far too dangerous to have her nearby. He didn't want her getting hurt. Resurrecting and killing Shabranigdu was not a task to be taken lightly. He would have to do it in the tower where he was keeping Zelgadis. The entire top floor was a super-powerful magic circle.
Ah yes, Zelgadis. The boy was getting much stronger and more skilled. This was his backup plan, in case Shabranigdu took complete control. Zelgadis already hated him beyond all else. Rezo hoped that by the time he had completely lost control, the boy might be strong enough to defeat him. Then hopefully, Zelgadis could drive the Dark Lord out for good. But realistically, that was unlikely. So Rezo was counting on Zelgadis to have enough hate and power to kill him when the time came.
In preparation for this, he and his servants were teaching Zelgadis everything they could. Rodimus was improving his swordsmanship with the help of Dilgear and the other animal-chimeras. Zolf was teaching him black magic. Rezo, when he had the time, was teaching the boy shamanistic magic, and a bit of white magic also. He learned very quickly, and was coming to trust and respect Rezo's servants. Rezo made sure that he never made himself seem trustworthy or reasonable, though. And Zelgadis hated him. This infinitely saddened the red priest, but it was as it should be.
* * *
Zelgadis put away his practice blade and shook out his tense hands. Finally, the day was over! He had been able to defeat each one of the animal-men who came at him. Even when they came in small groups, they were no match for him. He was almost beginning to appreciate the hard skin and heightened reflexes Rezo had given him. 'No!' he mentally chastised himself. 'Even if it's useful, how can I be grateful after all he's done to me?' Not only had the red priest turned him into a monster, but he had also proven himself indescribably cruel in his treatment of Zelgadis. He didn't even want to think about it.
After he got over the fact that he didn't want to be here in the first place, Zelgadis was very pleased with his quickly-growing power. Rodimus was very skilled with a sword, and Zelgadis was learning a lot from the older man's vast experience. He was just as excited about learning magic from Zolf. Before this, he had been trying to learn some magic, but he couldn't find anyone to teach him. Zolf had told him that the greater the spell in black magic, the more likely it was to either go out of control or become addictive and take control of the user. So while Zelgadis would practice bigger spells like the awesome Dragon Slave, he vowed never to cast them outside of a controlled environment like the tower's top floor.
Then there was his other magic training. Rezo was teaching him white and shamanistic magic. He was especially interested in the shamanistic magic, but he dreaded the lessons. Just being around Rezo filled him with fear and loathing.
But Zelgadis had a plan. In a year or so, when he had learned all he could and gotten very strong, he would betray Rezo, who seemed to think he had the chimera under his complete control. Someday when Rezo deemed him strong enough to go out on a mission to get something important for him, Zelgadis would obey and get that thing, which would, no doubt, be very powerful. Then he would come back and kill Rezo when his guard was down. If the priest was too strong he might have to flee for a while, but he would kill Rezo. He was biding his time for now, but the day would come…
Zelgadis sighed and walked over to his little alcove under the staircase. Oh yes, his time would come. But how soon? Zelgadis was afraid of what Rezo might do to him before then. Then there was the problem of trying to undo what had already been done. He was already trying to find a way to change his body back to that of a normal human. He probably wouldn't actually do it until after he had killed Rezo, but he wanted to find a cure now nonetheless. So the little bit of spare time he had was spent searching through old books for something, anything that might help! He lay down on the two benches pulled together to form his bed. They might seem hard to a normal person, but Zelgadis found that his new body was too hard and heavy for most normal beds. So the benches suited him just fine. He fell asleep, ready to resume his search for a cure early the next morning before his magic lessons started.
* * *
Eris was in the Sairaag Memorial Library stalking sorcerers. They swarmed to this place like gnats, and most were just about as powerful. She was pretty sure she had perfected her control gems. They worked flawlessly on the little kopiis. And the one on Kopii, though an older type, worked as well. But she needed to test the newer ones on a full-sized kopii. She had tried to make kopiis of Kopii, but they fizzled out and disappeared immediately. She could have made a kopii of herself, but she was afraid to cut herself as Rezo-sama had. And she'd be damned if she gave Kopii a chance to hurt her like that.
So her best bet was to lure some random sorcerer to the lab and trap him there to be her permanent guinea pig. Now that Rezo-sama was gone, she would have to help herself, since Kopii obviously wasn't good enough to become Rezo-sama for her.
Rezo had taught her to sense a person's magical power and general aura, so Eris was scooping out each sorcerer's powers as she saw them. 'Too strong… Too weak… That's… Is that a man or a woman? Never mind, I don't want to know! Ack, that one's perverted. Too stubborn… Too stupid… Oh, that one can't be human. Mmm, that one's kinda cute. He looks like… Rezo-sama…. No! Definitely not that one! Hmm…'
Then Eris saw one over in a corner trying to avoid the crowd. He was tall, and cloaked in robes from head to toe. 'Ah ha… Not too strong or too weak. Seems like he's especially good at ice magic, and maybe a couple of other types too. He doesn't look like Rezo-sama, that's good. Seems suspicious, though…' The tall man didn't seem to be finding the book he was looking for. Eris saw her chance and grabbed it.
"Excuse me, you don't seem to be finding what you're looking for," Eris said smoothly, walking over to him. The sorcerer looked up quickly, with his eyes narrowed. He was younger than she had expected. He had light brown hair that hung down around his face and naturally narrow bluish green eyes. He didn't speak, so Eris went on.
"Would you be interested in looking through the library of the great aka houshi Rezo? The first visit is free of charge," Eris said enticingly. She wouldn't mind getting some money from this suspicious mage, but she could tell by the drab, worn robes he wore that he probably wasn't very well-off financially. And what she really needed was a test subject, not a donation.
The young mage's eyebrows rose slightly. Then they lowered again. And who are you, who claims to give out free visits to the library of a great wise man?" he asked in a monotone voice.
"Oh, I'm his lab assistant," Eris said. The man looked doubtful, so she pulled a piece of paper out of her dress and showed it to him. It was a formal statement signed by Rezo long ago. He had given it to her in case she needed to speak for him or pick up something for him.
The sorcerer still looked hesitant, but he was obviously itching to look through Rezo-sama's books. "Very well," he said reluctantly.
"Wonderful!" Eris exclaimed. It had worked! "Just follow me." So the unfortunate young sorcerer followed Eris back to Rezo's house.
* * *
"If you'll just sign this, please," Eris said, handing him a slip of paper and a pen. "So if you cause any damage to the materials, we know who to look for." All part of the ruse… Luckily, he signed without so much as a suspicious glance. She took the paper and looked at the name. "V… Varoomagin?" she said, trying to pronounce the strange name. She didn't even attempt to say his family name.
"Vrumugun," he said, drawing out all the 'u's.
"Uh… all right. Right this way," Eris said, laying the paper on the table and leading him towards the basement.
Vrumugun took note of his surroundings. His suspicions were renewed when they passed by a room that was obviously a library and a study without stopping. But nothing prepared him for the sight that met his eyes when he got down to the basement. There was aka houshi Rezo, sitting in a cage, looking at him with both eyes open! This man who was apparently Rezo stared at him with wide eyes and violently shook his head. He looked repeatedly from Vrumugun to the stairs and mouthed 'Get out now! It's a trap!' But it was too late. Eris pushed him into a cage much like Rezo's with her magic and locked him in with both a key and magic.
"That should do for now. I may put you in one of those big chimera tanks with some tubes for you later, since I only need your blood. Kopii, don't talk to him. Practice acting like Rezo and I'll let you out later," Eris said as she went back upstairs.
"Are you all right?" Kopii asked the new arrival.
"Are you truly aka houshi Rezo?" the young mage asked. "How did that woman imprison you? You should be far stronger than she is."
"No, I'm not Rezo," Kopii said. "Don't let her fool you into thinking I am. I'm his k – copy. I'm just called Kopii. I was made to experiment on, but I guess Eris thinks she needs more. Who are you?"
"I am Vrumugun, merely a sorcerer," Vrumugun said. "What does being Rezo's copy entail, exactly?"
"Well, I have all of his memories," said Kopii. "And all of his powers. But I can't do very many big spells in a day."
By this time, all the little kopiis in the area had come out of hiding and gathered around Vrumugun's cage to gawk. "More copies?" Vrumugun asked. "But they are so small."
The kopiis muttered amongst themselves for a moment. Then one climbed up the cage to stare eye to eye with Vrumugun. "Kopiis," he said importantly. The other kopiis chattered in agreement. Vrumugun looked questioningly at Kopii.
"Oh, um… yes," Kopii said, slightly embarrassed. "We're all called kopiis. They made it up themselves. I think they just misheard Rezo calling them copies, though."
"Ah, I see," said Vrumugun. He sat down against the back of the cage, pulling his knees up to his chest and resting his head in his arms on them. He closed his eyes, obviously not wanting to talk anymore.
Kopii looked at him for a minute and then shrugged. He would want to talk more later, Kopii was sure. He was sorry that Eris had imprisoned another innocent victim, but it would be nice to have another person to talk to. The little kopiis were all meeting in the kitchen for a late-night game of tag, so Kopii slept alone tonight.
No Japanese lessons for you today, children. Go review, tell me what to write about next, then go make your own kopiis. And send one to me!