The four travelers stood there for a long moment, looking at the door. Somehow, they knew that if courage failed and they knocked upon it, it would open and they could return to the light and bliss they had just been surrounded in. But, as they stood there they knew their mission was before, not behind, them, and slowly, the needed resolve grew in each of them. Finally they turned and faced down the dark path that decended into the pit itself...

"Well, no time like the present, I guess." said a hesitant Lina.

"You are right, of course." replied Xellos. "Come, it is up to me to be the guide, I will go first." He walked forward into the gloom. "I do wish we had some light, though..."

Suddenly there was a clatter, and Xellos pitched onto the ground. "Owwwwwwww..." he moaned.

"Are-are you okay Xellos?" asked Lina coming forward. "Oh, if only I dared use Lightning..."

"What's this?" asked Xellos in a surprised tone as he felt the thing he had tripped over. "Why, it's, it's my staff..." He held up the familiar crooked stick and was amazed. "Beastmaster broke this and tore the jewel out..." he muttered.

But, there it was, as good as new, and now it was a real stick, not a creation made of his own energy, like before. He stood up and looked at it closely. Suddenly, he started to laugh. He showed it to Lina. She stared in amazement, then a smile came to her face and she started to giggle too.

"And the joke is?" asked Zel, and a puzzled Filia nodded.

"Look at the jewel." said Lina quietly.

"It used to be a ruby." added Xellos.

Now there was a clear glass sphere, and inside it, as if alive, swirled two tear drop shapes. They were just like the black and white ones that the Silver Lord had shown them, chasing each other around on the floor, only, these were three dimensional, and they were silver and gold...

"So," said Filia quietly. "even here, they are here with us..."

"Yes, they are..." replied an awestruck Zelgadiss.

"May we have some light?" said Xellos to the staff. The silver tear glowed, and a glow like moonlight on the night of a clear full moon filled the chamber.

"Holy gods..." said Lina in a whisper. The others turned and looked at her. "I just got it! The moon and the sun! The sun shining steadily with a golden light in the chaos of the blackness, like, like a pure mind. And the moon, circling us protectively like a parent's loving heart, now shining brightly with its love full on us, now shrouded in darkness to remind us how empty life is without the heart, without love...". She explained. "They made those things as symbols to remind us they are there. The truth has been shining upon us all the time, and we forgot..." She sank to her knees for a minute. "Thank you..." she whispered.

Then she got up, a new resolve in her eyes. "Right. Lina's gotten over her fear of this mission. Let's go!"

"YES!" assented the others.

Xellos, staff, and light, in hand, walked forward, leading the way. Lina went beside him, and they were followed by a very thoughtfull Filia. Zelgadiss brought up the rear. At first the path was easy enough, but it began to become steeper, rockier, and more difficult. They had to pick their way along in places. But the path lead on clearly enough. "It will be a single path until we reach the river." commented Xellos.

"River?" asked Lina.

"Yes, the river Styx. It's waters are bitterly cold, too cold to swim or drink, and any who try are trapped there in such pain that there is no help for it. It is to provide a barrier to stop anyone entering, or more importantly,leaving, that it was made, and it works the same for the living or the dead. A rare combination effort by Dynast and Dolphin. So be careful."

"The cold and the water, figures. Never heard of it before. How does anyone cross?" said Lina.

"The boatman will take you, if you can pay his price." replied Xellos.

"What price?"

"Well, usually it's a good meal, which being he's a mazoku means a lot of terror on the part of the ferry passengers. He tells them the horrors that await them, and most of them are in tears by the time they get to the far side. And we are talking screaming in terror kind of tears. The worst part is, he usually just tells the truth..."

Lina gulped.

More hard scrambling, but eventually, or all too soon perhaps, they made it. There before them flowed a river. Where the light of the staff fell on it the river looked an icy silver, otherwise it was a cold black flow, barely distinguishable from the black landscape that it ran through. Lina shivered just looking at it.

The path lead to a rickity looking dock that stuck out into the river. The travelers walked out onto this and stood there looking around at the bleak and forboding scene. "Boy, you mazoku guys went all out on this didn't you?" asked Zel, trying to make a joke to keep their spirits up.

"Actually, we did." replied Xellos, matter of factly. "We wanted maximum extraction of fear and teror, our most important power sources, and designed accordingly. Truth to tell, this place even wierded me out as a mazoku, now it gives me the willies to the point of a screaming fit! And we are still on this side of the river..."

"Not that I want to know, but, where's this boatman?" asked Lina.

"Oh, he's probably out in the darkness watching us." replied Xellos. He suddenly raised his voice and shouted "Right Charon?"

Silence, then, a ripple. Finally a boat, old and leaky, poled by a hideous creature that seemed little more than an animated skeleton moved into the light. "Well, well..." it rasped in a dry, horrible voice. "Xellos. Ha, ha, ha, Xellos the dead! I never dreamed I'd have the honour! And who is with you, traitor? Do my eyes deceive me or is that the bane of all monsters, the ever annoying, flat chested wonder of the age, Lina Inverse, at your side? Bringing her along are you? Well, the more the merrier! Oh, and a real prize! That has to be a golden dragon! With a prize like that, they almost might go easy on you! And finally, a genuine Chimera. Well, he should be tougher than most, good sport in him I doubt not!"

Lina frowned. It had been a long time since anyone made fun of her breasts, and yet it still hurt, much to her surprise. But before she could reply Xellos did.

"Well, as for that, you have spent too long on the river, Charon, if you can't smell blood anymore. No one here is dead."

The boat slowed as the ferry man hesitated. "I thought you were..." it hissed.

"Well, as a mazoku I am quite dead." replied Xellos. "But I am now a human, and as alive as the rest of us standing here are. BUt enough pleasant chatter, land your craft, boatman, we need to cross over."

"Impossible!" yelled the boatman with suspicion and fear in his voice. "Lord Beastmaster wouldn't have made that mistake and left you alive! You lie! You must be lying!"

"It wasn't my mother who saved me, Charon. It was my father, my true father. And yours." responded Xellos calmly. "Now, please land the boat."

"What... father... you... ?" The figure was perplexed. "This is some sort of a trick. Ha, I'll fix you for it, you can all stay and rot! Then when you are hell bound ghosts, then I'll take you across..."

The others bristled, but Xellos stayed calm. He even smiled. "Charon my old friend, you aren't thinking. Who's temple did she impale me outside of? I, and those with me, have all been with the true father of all, even of the mazoku. I've danced with the Silver Lord and the Golden Lady, Charon. He made me human, and he sent me to the mazoku to remind you that we are all bound for humanity if we want to go beyond. Right now we cling to the underside of the Astral plane like flies, but he reminds us that only through humanity can we ever ascend the stairs to the top side, the side that not even the gods or the monsters of this world know anything about. Rememeber Chaoron, you know I am right."

Impossibly, the skeleton looked thoughtfull, as if remembering...

"I remember what you say." it said eventually, in a quiet voice, as the boat finally drifted to the dock. The little group seemed to relax.

Suddenly the skeleton leapt from the boat onto the dock shouting "BUT I'M NOT READY TO DIE YET!" It swung it's oar as if it were a viscious axe. No doubt the blade of the oar would be lethal. The group ducked and scattered back down the dock.

Instinctively, Zel started to call up a Ra Tilt. Lina shrieked "No Zel don't! Trust them! It's our only hope!" Zel hesitated and the spell faltered and went out. Charon swung his oar again, straight at Zelgadiss. The chimera tried to back out of the way but in the narrowness of the dock he fell over Filia who was moving in to use her mace. They went down in a heap, all tangled up. Charon laughed and moved in for the kill.

He was stopped by Xellos clubbing him on the head with his staff and then shouting in a commanding tone "By the Golden Lord of Nightmares! Stop!" Xellos didn't hurt the old boatman that much, but what did cause him grief was the golden tear on the staff now bursting into light, filling the whole area with light like the sun at high noon on a clear day at summer solstice.

To everyone's amazement, well, except maybe Xellos, their adversary turned into a pale ball with dark spots on its surface. "Oh, his true form..." Lina said.

Indeed it was. Not every one knew the real form of a mazoku was its Astral body, usually a simple geometrical shape. Mazoku Xellos, for example, had been an upside down spinning black cone. His human form had been a deception which he created to allow himself to mingle among humans by extending his power. It was the sign of his being a high level mazoku that he could look exactly like a human, most mazoku, no matter how powerful, were a caricature on the human shape, usually an ugly one...

"Turn it out, turn it out!" yelled the ball as if in pain. "It burns, the golden light, it's too much, turn it out! I'll behave..."

The light gentled back to silver.

The skeletal form now lay on the dock, then slowly got up. It contemplated Xellos for along while, then said, simply, "Get in the boat."

The little party did, and the oarsman stepped into the back and began sculling across the river. It was a tense crossing, in silence. Lina looked once at the monster Charon, and the glare in it's eyes was hatred, and was it maybe, fear? Anyway, whatever it was, it killed any thought of conversation. After an eternity they docked at the other side. "Get out." the horror commanded with hate in its voice. Xellos stood up and smiled at it, innocently shaking the staff. The mazoku cowered. The gang was on the far side now, and the boat shot off and was swallowed in the dark.

"Well, and he used to be such a talkative fellow too..." said Xellos with a sigh.

They surveyed the path in front of them. It forked off right away into two paths. Xellos responded to their unspoken question. "They are both bad, and they both bring you to the edge of the pit... we call this the "Damned if you do, damned if you don't." point.

"How did you know to call on the Lord of Nighmares?" asked Filia.

"I didn't, it just came to me when I needed it." replied Xellos, very thoughtfully.

"He said he'd answer in the way that was best..." added Zel.

"Which way is less worse?" asked Lina, drawing their attention back to the paths before them.

"We take the right hand path." replied Xellos. It's not better, but for living things it's the only possibly passable one. The left ends in a sheer cliff that only a ghost could manage, or someone still using Levitation. But the drop off is straight into the pit itself.

Lina nodded, she understood.

They stood there for a bit, knowing they had to start, but needing a moment to prepare themselves. Finally, without a word, they stepped forward and began the journey to the pit.

Xellos warned them "Remember, you are supposed to be frightened, if you can control your fear most of what is here has no power over you."

They trudged on down into a steep pit that ended in unspeakable muck. The group quailed at the idea of crossing it, no raw sewer smelled so foul. Ideas were put forward about how to walk around it, but there was no way to do that. Eventually it came to the point where they had to admit that the only way was through. They gulped, feeling ill at the prospect.

"I hope we don't choke to death before we get to the other side." said Lina, with a cough.

Then Filia said "I can still use my power, I'll change, and fly us over."

Xellos said "Yes you can, but remember when you get to the other side that the breathable air only goes up about 12 feet, after that the deadly gasses coming off the pit have poisoned the air. This is so any ghost trying to fly out would run into a chokingly painful, unpassable barrier. One good lungfull and you'll join them, dear Filia, so be careful."

Filia gulped, and nodded. "Uh, just turn around okay?" she asked timidly.

"It's cute that you are still shy, Miss Filia." chuckled Xellos as he turned his back.

"I still have my cute mace too..." muttered Filia.

There was the familiar glow and surge of power, and then dragon form Filia told them to climb aboard. "How far across is this thing?" she asked Xellos.

About a league." he replied. "And there are soul devouring monsters that live in the muck, I'm afraid, watch out and don't go too close to it."Filia sighed, and took off, carefully.

Lina asked "If the monsters devour the soul, how to they make it to the pit?"

"Er, ha, well, being as the monsters were my idea, I guess I can answer that." replied Xellos, looking sheepish. You are already dead, so you can't die, you are digested after a fashion, a painfull one of course, and then, well, passed out of the monster. If you are lucky, it is near the other side, otherwise you run the risk of being eaten all over again. See, we do want you to arrive at the pit eventually, but we want you weakened and unable to resist as well when you arrive. so, the paths are passable, at least while moving forward towards the pit, but not nice..."

They crossed almost all of the muck field without incident, but, as they reached the far shore, and began to rise to crest the other side of the pit, a great tentacle whipped out of the ooze and caught Filia a slap in the chest. She reacted instinctively and swooped up as fast as she could, and flew into a low lying section of the unbreathable air. She promptly crashed to earth with her eyes watering and her lungs stinging. The others, who had instinctively held their breath and closed their eyes, were lucky not to join in her suffering. They promptly scrambled off and tried to help as she threatened to cough up her tail.

Xellos looked at the crystal and said "Can you help, please?" Suddenly a beam of pure silver light shot from the crystal and bathed Filia, calming her cough and soothing her eyes. As soon as that was done the beam turned gold and, without anything embarasing happening, Filia regained her human form.

"Th-thank you..." she said to the two gods in gratitude. Then her eyes, still filled with tears, fixed on Xellos, and for a minute the old hatred flashed. "Evil!" she yelled. "Surely there must be a way to do this climb to eternity without it. Without YOU!" she yelled at Xellos. She stomped her foot and turned away from him, then said with a cry "Oh gods! That hurt so badly, I really was afraid I'd die!"

Lina came up to her and said soothingly "Easy Filia, this is hell, it couldn't be helped, but, you still live. And they healed you. It isn't your time, you still have a choice to make remember?"

Filia nodded, still sniffling. She tried to glare at Xellos again, but now a stab of guilt shot through her and she couldn't hold it. "Well, let's get going then..." she gulped.

They trudged on some more. Soon the rock gave way to sand. Shifing, hard to walk in sand. Hot, dry, thirsty sand. Sand parched beyond anything any desert on the top of the world had ever known. The trail dissappeared in the sand and they could only march on. Fortunately, or not, they could see the glow on the horizon that marked the pit, it wasn't like they could get lost, though they might have wished to try...

They trudged along in silence, the air was too dry to talk much, just opening your mouth sucked the moisture out of it and left it feeling bone dry. Finally Zel said "What do we do for water here?"

Xellos replied "Our best bet is to just keep going, there is no water here. The pit is no more than five mile distance from the edge of the muck pit. Actually, this sand only goes a couple of miles and we are about half way there."

With that they trudged painfully on. Lina commented, dryly of course, "And I thought the cold was bad..."

Finally they came to a rise in the ground and crumpled rock, looking like shale, appeared. And, wonder of wonders, plants! Horrid nasty things with thorns like spikes, but still plants.

"Carefull here." said Xellos. "Those plants will tear a strip off of you with their razor sharp and poison tipped thorns. And there are usually stinging and biting things that live in and under them. But the worst part is that they don't just poison the body, they pierce your concience, they sting you with regret, and they bite you with guilt. Of course they are meant to prey on the ghosts who stumble into them blindly in the dark, it may be that the light will keep them away, but be careful..."

The others nodded, hating the place more and more with each step. "You guys must be awash in more power than you can use..." muttered Lina.

"Well, alas, we find new uses for it." replied Xellos. "But it really has to end now, we are getting to be too powerful. The Sliver Lord is right."

"Hmph. I never thought I'd hear a mazoku say that." snapped a still grumpy Filia.

"You didn't!" replied an unusually stern sounding Zel.

Filia looked shocked, then cast her eyes down as she realised the truth. "I forgot, I'm sorry. Xellos, Zelgadiss, Lina, I'm sorry. I'm just so upset being here that I act before I think... Of course Xellos is human now."

"We're all scared Filia, even me. And I do understand. Plus, we do have history..." said Xellos with a sad smile. "Let's just go, be careful everyone."

They stumbled on, for a short walk that would have taken a couple of hours, tops, on earth, this trek seemed forever, and they were tiring. But then, that was the nature of hell.

They were careful, but even so, at one point Lina slipped on the loose stones and went down, pricking her hand on a thorn. Immediately she started to cry. Wail actually, with grief unconsolable. "Lina! Are you hurt? What's wrong?" asked a worried Zel as he knelt down to comfort her.

But Lina wouldn't be comforted. "Luna! Gourry! I-I'm sorry! I'm so sorry, for everything!" she cried out in great racking sobs of grief. "Please, please forgive me, it's my fault. All my fault..."

Xellos sighed. "It's the thorn's evil magic I'm afraid. It's making her remember something she regrets and is amplifying her guilt to the point where she is disabled by it."

"What do we do?" asked Zel.

"What we've done all along here, pray." This from Filia, surprisingly.

"Here, you do it!" said Xellos with a smile to Zel.

"Huh? Me? Uh, oh..." He collected himself and held the still quivering Lina in his arms. "S-silver... no," he stammered, then went on "Father. Mother. Lina is hurt and we are unable to help her. Please, you have been so protective of us in hell so far, help us again, we need you..." He couldn't help blushing as he said that, the whole thing made him self concious.

Still it had the desired effect. A soft golden light shone down from the staff and bathed Lina. "M-mommy?" she said softly as she seemed to respond to an invisible hug. She calmed down and her breathing slowed. Finally she shook herself as if waking up. She took a deep breath and relaxed. "Thanks" she whispered, though if it was to the gang or the Golden Lord wasn't quite clear. "I was reliving old hurts I had given to others. It didn't help that I had already been forgiven."

"Have you forgiven yourself?" asked Zelgadiss, gently.

"Hmm, yeah, that's likely it..." said Lina, looking into his eyes. They were soft eyes, full of concern. She softened under their tender gaze. She smiled. "Zel, I think I see how Amilia knew you were human, you have the most human eyes I've ever seen on anyone, even my own mother."

Zel blushed again, then replied with a shy smile of his own "Well, you have pretty eyes too, you know..."

"All better?" interjected Xellos. "Come, we can't stop here for long, I'm sorry."

The others got up and they resumed their trek, being extra careful of their footing. They were carefull, but they were still set upon, as a biting insect like thing of some sort scuttled out and bit Zelgadiss, only to draw back in confusion, then get stomped on for it's efforts. "Looks like a chimera's body comes in handy sometimes." smiled Lina. The thing hadn't been able to pierce Zel's blue demon hide.

Filia had a turn too as a snake thing crawled out and buzzed at her. However, she handled it in true dragon fashion and glared so fiercely at it that it backed off. A short time later a bolder brother actually bit her, but all that did was make Filia so mad she grabbed the thing and tossed it into the nearest thorn bush, which she promptly incinerated with a blast of dragon fire. It seemed a reptile nature had its advantages too.

"Now, why didn't I think of that?" said Xellos, with an admiring tone to his voice.

Filia frowned at him, then realised he wasn't starting something, and slowly smiled. "I don't know if I could burn a path all the way we have come." she said, actually sounding a bit shy. "I'm hungry and thirsty and my reserves are getting down..."

"Ah yes." said Lina. "Tea and cookies."

"Huh?" said Filia, as Zel broke out in a laugh.

"When we first met, well, no, that's when you beaned Gourry with your mace, when we met you in the, to us, "new world" and you gave me Luna's letter. Remember? The one I over reacted to? You set out a spread with tea and said we needed cookies."

Filia slapped her forehead with her palm and said "How could I forget? Ha, ha, that was so long ago now. Oh, and I thought that THAT incident was big trouble." She sighed. "Of course, that's how I ended up being here today, isn't it? I guess the adventure isn't really over yet, is it..."

They walked on for awhile in silence. Somehow it seemed easier now, as if their resistance had caused the wierdness to back off, though whether for safety, or to reform for a new assault wasn't clear. Not that it was much relief, after all, they just drew closer to the pit that much faster...

"Take this how you will, but that light is a godsend." said Zel at one point as they were drawing near their goal. "I could see a blind soul staggering around in this stuff, being stung to death, except they can't die any more."

"Yes." replied Xellos. "We'd have doubtless been dead by now without it." Even as he spoke the ground gave way at his feet.

"Xellos!" the other three yelled in unison as they were plunged into blinding darkness except for the glow from the hole, which suddenly brightened. In a second Xellos floated back out, the staff lit up like a beacon. He gently landed.

"Well, that's an adventure..." he said heaving a sigh of relief. "Look..." he added, holding the staff over the hole. It was deep and dark, but enough light got through to show jagged, razor sharp spikes of rock sticking up from the ground to impale a victim. "Tricky." he said. "That's a trap for the living. I don't remember us setting any of those, this place is learning, and it's out to get us."

"He looked around. "But it's too late. Look." There was a rise in front of them, and the glow of the pit was just beyond it! They had reached the rim...