I do not get what is going on with this site. Third try at submitting this and getting my changes to stick. Jeez. Sorry for breaking my three-day rule again. Had a bad week. I will try to be more prompt in the near future.
Klutz82 - What's going on with Amelia indeed...all is now revealed! Well...some, at least.
Hoshi-chan1 - Isn't Dynast a fun puzzle? I like him. Most days.
And sorry about being so slow, I will e-mail you my DA site link. Just
remember that my names comes up as "Miroku." ;)
Xoni Newcomer - Is just calling you Xoni from now on too familiar? And thank you for your comments. I really appreciate your honesty.
Gerao-A - I'm on it, I'm on it!
HoushiLover - Take as long as you need. I'll really write you back very very soon!
Wup.
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Part VII- Omkeer (Transformation)
"I am not
what I am."
-Othello
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Who am I?
No, it's not who...What am I?
I'm not what I was before...what have I become?
A girl sat up in a bed, rubbing at her eyes, questions blaring from every place inside her. She shivered and looked down, then grabbed the covers with a yelp, pulling them up over her chest. Someone had taken her clothes.
Clutching the black sheets against her, she looked around the room. It was unfamiliar. While the walls and huge window were remarkably similar to a room she'd been in before, there were more blue torches here, and directly across the room from her was a dresser with a mirror placed on it.
Wrapping herself in the bedclothes, she stepped onto the floor and moved effortlessly across it, recalling that it had, at one point, been very slick. Shrugging that notion off, she sat down in front of the mirror, studying the face there.
I am Amelia...No...I was Amelia...
Amelia had blue eyes, she remembered, nothing like the silver orbs that gazed back at her. And Amelia hadn't had this feeling about her, this strangeness that couldn't really be described.
"Amedyn."
Amelia, or the body that had been Amelia, turned to see a woman with black hair standing in the doorway. She carried a pile of neatly folded garments and held them out as she stepped forward.
"Repeat that."Amelia's old voice said.
"You're Amedyn now."Grau stopped before her and handed the clothing over. "Master gave you his name. Welcome to the service of the Supreme King."
"Amedyn."she tested the name as she ran her fingers along the fabric of her new vestments. "Then I'm Mazoku."
"You are." the priestess smiled a little. "How does it feel?"
"Different." The girl turned back to the mirror, meeting the gray eyes again. "I know that I...that Amelia...would never have stood for this, but I feel alright. I...I can't explain it."
"You don't have to. Get dressed, and then I'll take you to Master. He'll be very pleased."
Nodding, the girl in front of her held up the top piece of clothing- a blue coat. Underneath it was a pair of white leggings, white fingerless gloves, and a black sword belt.
"Your boots are by the bed."
"This isn't like what you're wearing."
"That's because you're the general. These were Sherra's, but now they belong to you."
"I'm the general."she said it softly, not quite believing.
"Yes. Now that we've established that, put the clothes on and let's get going. Master hates to be kept waiting." Seeing she was still unmoved, Grau pulled her up by the arm and pushed her behind an ornamental screen. She went obediently, and once behind it, dropped the sheets and started to pull on her new clothes. The leggings seemed familiar, and she distinctly recalled some powerful connection to the color white. But it didn't feel important anymore. Indeed, the time that had occurred before she had awakened seemed clouded in fog. It was unreal. Amelia had lost all meaning,
The coat came next, and she felt the blue material enfold her being, seeming to reach past her skin and become a force reaffirming her change. As each button closed it around her, an image flashed within that was quickly eradicated.
A city called Seyruun; it was nothing.
A magic called white; it was pathetic.
A concept called Justice, companion to Honor and Kindness; only fools believed in that.
A woman named Lina; a whining bitch of a girl.
A man named Gourry; an idiot masquerading as a skilled swordsman.
A man named Zelgadis... a weakling transformed, a creature who deserved to be hated, deserved to hate himself.
Amelia and her friends were as good as dead. Amedyn finished the final button, pulled on the gloves, and fastened the sword belt around her waist, then stepped out. Grau stared at her a moment, almost as if she wasn't seeing her.
"I look that different?"
"You look...like you were always meant to be here."
Bending down, she grabbed the black boots sitting in the shadows of the bed and handed them over. Amedyn pulled them on, admiring how they completed her new caparison, and then stood tall.
"Let's go."
"One more thing..."Grau reached into the folds of her robe and pulled out a blue stone hanging from a black cord. Stepping behind the shorter girl, she tied it around her neck, then studied the placement. "There."
Amedyn paced back a few steps to see herself in the mirror. Her gray eyes didn't seem so foreign anymore, and she appreciated the way they were set off by the dark jewel that now hung between the indentation of her collar bones.
"All right." the priestess opened the door, "Now we can go."
Grou met them out in the hallway.
"Grau, you take forever."he grumbled, arms folded across his chest. "What is it with girls?"
She scowled at him and pushed Amedyn forward.
"She was moving slowly, don't blame me."
Grou's eyes widened at the site of the newly-transformed girl.
"A-amedyn."he stammered.
"Grou."she said, and bowed a little. "A pleasure to see you."
He looked from her to his partner, then broke into a grin.
"I like this much better than before."
Amedyn straightened, and began to walk down the hall.
"I thought we were late."she called back to them. "What are you standing around for?"
The other two immediately faded in beside her, each taking an arm.
"There's a faster way."Grau said, and in a moment, Amedyn felt her world spin, and the boundaries between space and time seemed to blur and stretch thin. She closed her eyes and clenched her teeth to fight back a sickening feeling in her stomach, but found it gone as quickly as it had come.
Opening her eyes, she once more met the image of the great hall, but this time, there was no fear within her. Grau and Grou dropped to their knees behind her, but, spurred by an inner motive, she walked forward, stopping to kneel as well at the very foot of the stairs to the throne.
"My lord."
A wind rose, and she was dimly aware that something in front of her was changing, but that too passed with the blink of an eye, and she was being raised to her feet. Looking into her master's face without fear, she recognized where the gray eyes had come from, and saw the barest beginnings of a smile twitch at the ends of his mouth.
"Perfect."
Amedyn swallowed and nodded, then took a step back as he reached to his side. As she watched, he unhooked a very familiar scabbard and sword, and held it out to her.
"I suspect that you won't refuse this now."
"No."she replied quietly, and reached for it. The weight in her hands didn't seem so fierce and dangerous now. Indeed, now the sword seemed to call to her, and with hands that shook from the barest amount of excitement, she fastened it to her belt.
Dynast did finally smile at her now, and this time she felt nothing like the terror. Instead there was a rush of adrenaline, a pounding of pride within her that told her she would sacrifice everything for her master.
"You'll need some training with the sword."he said finally. "I couldn't give you that. Luckily, we have two people who will be perfectly willing to teach you."he raised his eyes to look past her at his priests. "Don't we?"
"Ah, Grau's much better at it than I am, so maybe-"
"Oh, come now, you and Sherra used to spar together, so-"
"BOTH of you will do it." Dynast's tone silenced the two instantly. Turning Amedyn around, he gave her a little push towards them. "And teach her to transport while you're at it."
"Yes Master."they nodded together.
"Wonderful."he started to revert to shadow form, then stopped, remembering something. "Amedyn, come back."
As she obeyed, he held something out to her- a diamond ring.
"This is yours, and I think you should keep it. You might find it useful in some battle in the future."
With a small movement of her head, she reached for the it, starting to slide it over her the second to last finger of her right hand.
"No. The other hand."
Amedyn blinked up at him, then pulled it off and placed it on her left hand where a wedding ring might have gone.
"Now go."he said, evaporating into shadow.
Rotating once more, Amedyn faced the priests -both of whom looked very sulky- and grinned.
"Teach me."
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CLANG! SLAM! THUD!
"AGAIN!"
"But I-"
"No buts! Do it AGAIN!"
CLANG! BONK!
"OUCH!"
"It'll heal in a second. AGAIN!"
"No!"
"Whaddaya mean, 'no?!' I said AGAIN, and that means do it AGAIN! And you'll keep doing it AGAIN until you get it right!"
"Grau, calm down."Grou lowed his sword.
"Is it so wrong of me to want her to get it right? You aren't even trying and she's missing!"
"Give her a break, it's only been a few days."
"No I will not give her a break!" The dark-haired priestess declared loudly, stomping over to her companion. "Master wants her trained as soon as possible, and we can't just take it easy on her!"
"Yeah, but if she dies, he's not going to be very pleased."he pointed behind her and she twisted to see Amedyn kneeling and breathing heavily, hands clenched in fists against the floor.
Grau sighed raggedly, then threw up her hands.
"Alright! Fine! Take a break, see if I care."
She faded out, and Amedyn raised her head and spoke between deep gasps of air.
"I'm sorry I made her upset."
"Ah, don't worry about it."the priest walked over and crouched down beside her. "She's just a perfectionist and she wants you to be killing things with one stroke already."
"And what about you?"she eyed him as she sat back against one of the room's pillars.
He shrugged. "I think you're going to be an amazing general, but it's not going to happen overnight. Sure, you aren't Sherra, but you have a lot of potential. I mean, I'll admit that neither Grau nor I thought much of Master's choice at first, but I see his reasoning now."
"I hope I can live up to your expectations. I...don't really know."
"It's alright."he folded his long legs underneath himself in a pretzel. "You're just going to have to keep working, and don't worry about Grau. She knows you can do it, she just wants to prove it."
Amedyn sighed.
"I wish I'd learned some more powerful spells. Like the Dragon Slave, or-"
"Don't worry about it. We'll teach you everything you need to know. Hell, I'll bet we can even make you forget that you ever were a princess of white..."he trailed off suddenly, realizing he was stepping into forbidden territory.
To his surprise, she laughed a little.
"I'd already forgotten. It seems like that was just a strange dream. I look back at that...and I can't... Shapes and people come back but they don't mean anything. Well...all except one. One of them means something."
"Oh?" Grou was immediately on guard. Soul Shatter should have destroyed every ounce of feeling she had for her previous life, but if it hadn't worked...
"There's a man I used to know. I want to kill him."
He let out a sigh of relief.
"Yeah, we know about him."
"I'd like to train to beat him, if that's alright." She traced the intricate carvings around Dolgofar's hilt. "If Dynast-sama wouldn't mind. I'd..." Her eyes hardened as she stared at the sword. "I'd like to watch him die. I want him to see that the person he knew is gone now, and I want to get back from him the feelings she wasted. I want to taste his agony." Amedyn froze, the slowly gripped the hilt once more. "I've never wanted to hurt anyone so badly."
Grou grinned darkly.
"This is what I meant. You are the right one for this job. Now,"he stood up and offered his hand. "If you'd like, we could try again."
Amedyn took his hand without a thought, and once standing, whipped her black sword up into a ready position.
"Let's do it."
They commenced practice again, and from her place in a shadowy corner of the room, Grau surveyed the fight. It was true that her partner was much more easy going than she, but she'd never seen that as a way to get things done. The practical, obvious approach - that was how she went about her work. But watching Grou talk with Amedyn made it clear that sometimes being less demanding was a better way to achieve the goal.
Pushing her glasses further up her nose, she focused on Amedyn with a growing sense of pride. The ranks of Dynast Grausherra, Supreme King, were complete again, and this girl would certainly prove to have been a worthy gamble. They would teach her everything Sherra had known and more. They would make her into the greatest of the Mazoku generals if she had anything to say about it. And if they did a good job...perhaps Dynast would reward them for it.
Back in practice, Amedyn rubbed her sweaty face against her arm quickly before countering Grou's down-strike. Dolgofar seemed to be singing to her; she could feel the power within it coursing through her, claiming her as it's owner, it's driving force.
A brief sparkle of light danced across the hands that had once belonged to Amelia. She beamed at her ring and the newly added meaning therein; she was Amedyn, married to the darkness.