Slayers: Clouds!

by Incantrix

The novel continues after more than a year! A friend betrays, so what's Lina going to do? The secrets of the Cloudminders revealed... The continuing grand adventure...

11. Chapter 11: Secrets! Destiny Strikes Aga...

---o--o--o---

-

[Xelas] {Quietly files her nails, just painted a nice shade of black}

[Author] You're my guest for today? What happened to Lina?

[Xelas] What do I look like? Your secretary?

[Author] {sweat drops} Errr, I'll have to check my calendar. Can I get back to you on that?

[Xelas] Baka. Where's that aperitif I ordered? Waiter!

-

---o--o--o---

-

Slayers: Clouds!

Chapter 11:

Secrets! Destiny Strikes Again!

-

---o--o--o---

-

She lounged in her throne, positively bored to death.

Of course, it was quite impossible for a Mazoku lord to be approaching death since they didn't know the difference -- they either existed or were gone and forgotten. Nevertheless, the act of being bored so close to the state of death that it was death to them, at least...

Looking up at her glass ceiling gave her no added pleasure. Even her transparent shield against the bottom of the ocean was past its prime. Her lordly accommodations were modest at best; she preferred to rule over her Mazoku kingdom with little regard for the rest of the world.

Recently, however, something had stirred the drifting senses of the astral plane. With the fall of Philbrizzo and recent battles with off worlders, the world was again ripe for conquest.

Thus, exactly the reason why she decided that it was safer to stay in her cocoon of power. She much preferred to avoid contact at all costs.

So instead of going out and venturing, Deep Sea Dolphin had sent of her favorite minions to fetch her companion in arms, the greater beast Xelas. She was surprised to find that Xelas was not at home on Wolf Pack island; her forwarding calling card not available. Something...was dreadfully afoot. It alarmed the Mazoku lord to no end.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of heavy footsteps entering her little underground chamber. Oh, how she detested company, especially entertaining. Even though she had invited Xelas into her chambers, it was all her other guest's presence that Dolphin could stand. Xelas' shoes gave off an distinctive clicks and these were definitely not the sounds of high heels. Everything else...was an abomination.

She heard a plop next to the doorway, already knowing that it was energy carcass of one of her guards, struck down by her unsightly intruder. Her visitor had absolutely no tact whatsoever. She decided not to greet the stranger at the doorway, preferring to let them come to her.

After a long pause, her intruder stepped forward. "Well...well...aren't you a reclusive one."

The Mazoku lord yawned.

"I would have hoped for a tour of the place, starting perhaps with the foyer." The deep voice was foreboding, its undertones reminding her of death.

Dolphin refused to be chided with insults. "Turn around and leave, if you know what's good for you."

"Ahhh, a welcome. Thank you. You must know then why I'm here?"

"No, and I don't care." Realizing that her visitor was not going to leave, Dolphin stirred from her chair, stepping forward into the center of the room. She looked over at the inert form of her former minion, recognizing it as the one she had sent in search of Xelas. "Such a dishonor. He has some real potential. A shame that you snuffed out his existence-"

"I don't very well care..."

Dolphin looked up with a defiant stare. "I really don't prefer entanglements with other Mazoku. So, I suggest..."

"Tough. Because you are personally involved, as of right now."

The Mazoku lord stared back. "And if I decide to become 'uninvolved?''

Her uninvited guest chuckled. "We can do this the easy way or the hard way. If you don't want to play the game, then I can't be responsible for what happens."

Dolphin frowned. She felt pressured to do what was necessary. Whether that was to do something to exeunt her gatecrasher...well, she would see about that. Just...not today.

"This mess... Philbrezzo's mess." She turned around and started her stroll back to the comfy throne chair. "I want no part, so leave me be."

The stranger murmured something that Dolphin could just barely make out. The words themselves eluded her, but the tone startled her mind.

She turned around, never hearing the blade drawing a few seconds before. Because the next sound was of metal swinging thought the air right past her ears.

Dolphin didn't have the time to protect herself... or to do, literally anything. All she could do was watch her body fall away from the opposite angle of her sight.

Her head was dismembered, rolling lazily around on the floor.

"Weak..." said the stranger. "Alive when split in half. Just like the worm you are."

Dolphin wanted to say something, her human form trying to use vocal cords that were suddenly missing. She realized she was barely a Mazoku and how inhuman she actually was. And how useless her fight was...

"There is no reason to keep your title." The stranger picked up the tip of his blade, getting ready to split Dolphin's head like a ripe cantaloupe. "Those who rule the dead are nothing but rulers to themselves....and nothing else."

-

---o--o--o---

-

Em timidly picked up the few intact pieces of lumber. The wood beams once made up one of the many outside workbenches her father's men had built long ago. Shattered and thrown around in their battle with Turnip, there were only a couple of good pieces left to make new ones.

"Ummm... Miss?"

She turned around and faced one of Turnip's former slaves. She could see that without Mazoku's spell, the giant of a man was as gentle as a lamb. Eyes, she reminded herself, tell a lot about a person. And the gaze on this man's face was as soft as a queen's pillow.

"What's you're name?"

"Tiny, miss...." His raven hair was trimmed much too short for such a large, irregular head.

To the scientist, it reminded her of a big dorky kid. "I'm Em..." She ducked a little lower, seeing through a little of his shyness. "This was once my home a long time ago. Before Turnip came here...and did his horrible deeds..."

"Oh...is he coming back?" asked Tiny, scratching his chin nervously.

Em looked up at the big guy. "No, he's done..." She picked up a couple of broken pieces of wood next to her feet, getting back to work.

Her new friend emulated her work, picking up assorted debris and gathering it within his enormous grasp. She could see Turnip's other slaves were following his lead, cleaning up the mess around them. She was taken aback by the friendliness of Tiny and his companions. They were kind and willing to help. Under such a spell for so long, they didn't know any life except this one.

"Morning..." said Gourry, equally carrying timbers.

"Hey..." She started to lift up drawings of blueprints, at the same time organizing them on a table.

"What is that?"

"Oh these? They're the master designs to the airship. Cepheid knows if the thing will ever fly. By the way, how's Zel doing?"

"Amelia's watching him now," answered the blond, looking at the table of blueprints in awe. "She said something about needing your help. I think they're up in the house... "

"Gotcha..." She looked out to Turnip's men as they continued to clean up the mess. "I'll be back down here later. Watch them, especially that big one... "

Em saw Tiny cringe within an earshot of her voice. She took notice and smiled, turning away as she walked up the hill.

Gourry waved her on. "I think they're in the main room..."

The hillside was muddy and damp from the previous night's antics. Not much about the walk made her feel better about the situation. With shrubbery torn away, there wasn't much left of the hill to patch back up. It would take a long time for the greenery to grow back. "It...could have been a lot worse," she surmised, continuing with her ascent. "Or better."

Em spotted at the glass sliding door, seeing everything for the first time in dawn's light. It had been dark when they retreated back to her home after their fierce battle with Turnip. The dawn's light could not hide her tired reflection in the glass. It was faint, broken up by the very dirty and smudgy glass. But something in her eye reminded her...of not her father, but of someone else. A warm feeling, if for only a moment.

Age...that's what it was. She saw...for the very first time lines around her chin and in the hollows of her eyes. She didn't notice it before, but the portrait of her dad reminded her of her other family...

She shook her head, the memories coming back to her. No...it was last night! Her battle with...Turnip! It had been her revenge...for everything. Defeating Turnip had suddenly softened the pain from losing her father, only for that pain to be replaced by grief....

"Em..." Amelia had opened the sliding glass door to the scientist.

The redhead was startled from her thought, if just for a second, "Oh, I didn't see you there." She took in the worried expression on the shrine maiden's face. "Is something wrong?"

"Come on..," The brunette grabbed the scientist's hand and dragged her into the main foyer. "Zelgadis isn't doing well...He's still changing."

The two girls rushed over to a broken couch in front of the mantle place when the picture of Em's father was hung. The chimera was laid out with his entire body the length of the couch, sweating while covered with an abundant amount of blankets. Em had found some half-decent blankets in the pantry the night before; the two of them able to make Zel a simple bed for the night.

But the chimera didn't look like he was conformable at all. The scientist could see that Zel had been rapidly turning and tossing like a madman trying to break bondage. His skin's surface was so rocky that it acted like razor blades. Zel's body had split open the dirty-white sheets; exposing the underneath moldy couch in a couple of strange places. But most frightening of all was his condition, as he shook like a scared little child...

"Zel... Em's here..." Amelia was nearly in tears. She had desperately tried but had been unable to comfort her fallen hero.

The chimera managed to get a half smile before rocking his head back in a little squeal of pain. He growled, opening his angry eyes...towards the portrait of Em's father.

The scientist shuddered. In all his stubbornness, the chimera was determined to drive his mind insane at the same time as his body was killing him. He continued to look down at the cause of his problems...by staring at the chaos box. Not a real one, but the portrait's lit chaos box, delicately held by Em's proud father.

"Easy there..." Em touched the chest of the chimera, finding it has hard as marble. "It's only a painting, you can't do anything about it..."

"Chaos must die..." The upset chimera tugged the sheets tightly around his body. The canvas robe that once covered the front of his body was equally ripped in several places by an odd shape or two of stone. The ripped sheets fluttered again, uncovering his right torso and shoulder splattered with copious amounts of dried blood. Finally, the lower part of his right arm was missing entirely, snapped off like a dead twig just below the elbow, ending in a stubby knob of rock and flesh.

Amelia couldn't bear to watch... "This is...too horrible..."

Em turned to the princess of Saillune. "Where's the chaos blade? The one I brought back from last night?"

The brunette barely had the strength to point over to the opposite side of the room. "Over there, on the table. Exactly where you told Gourry to drop it..." She had the look of confusion on her face. "Is there any reason I can't touch it?"

The scientist raced over and picked up the blade in her hands. She was surprised to find the sword warmed to the touch. "Let's just say this thing packs a wallop to magic users. If you had held it, then I doubt you'd be standing here..."

The chimera looked up at the scientist, noticing the gleam of metal in Em's hands. "So...you're going through with it..." A sudden smile crept across the chimera's face, the thoughts of everlasting peace coming to his mind...

"I said I would..." Em raised the blade until it was just over the chimera's body, perpendicular to a point only an inch away from his body. She was getting ready by positioning a blow directly to the rib cage. "You're going to feel something and its not going to be pretty. You ready?"

Amelia blinked for a second, alarm bells ringing off in her mind. "Em! What are you doing!" Racing over as fast as she could, she realized that the scientist was going to skewer the chimera, quite possibility killing him. "Are you crazy! Why are you killing him!"

But the princess of Saillune was much too late, finally understanding that the blow...would kill him!

"AAAAGHHH!"

The scientist drove the sword down into Zel's midsection, forcing the blade directly clean through his body. The chimera shook like a rag doll, shaking out a horrible scream. He howled, offering no resistance to Em's dissecting strike.

"No!!!" shouted Amelia. "How could you!" As it twisted, Em could hear the sickening thud of crushing bones and insides. It made her stomach turn over.

Em twisted at the blade's handle, spinning it a half turn before it locked again into place.

At last, the blade...the chaos...awoke. Hungry chaos consumed at Zel's body, pushing a wave of energy though his fallen frame. He thrust his chest again into the air, accepting the fate that had been given to him.

He threw his body upward towards the sea of chaos, touching the feeling of his passing. There, the instance of death was almost like a picked flower...

Zelgadis reached out, trying to embrace the death that he so desired. But he only caught the outer edges as it escaped though the fingers. It was never meant to be held! He had failed! It...was eluding him! It was taking...his force without killing him! No!

The chaos blades feasted on the chimera's unbalanced energy. Amelia was silent as she saw the drain on Zel's body, scared to do anything else.

"I'm...alive..." The chimera's rocky skin shaded more blue every second that ticked on by. Grayish rock disappeared and melted away, his body returning back to its normal self.

It was if Zel's inner self was being peeled away like onion, the layers of tough skin coming off his body. He felt...a little bit of his body leave him, if only for a second. He clenched his teeth, trying to gain control of his carcass as it stiffened like a tree trunk in the wind.

Em mind raced, watching the chimera's dullness fade back into his body. She could see his cheeks get more flexible, the stone's hardness fading away little by little.

Amelia watched with her eyes fully dilated. Zelgadis...was glowing with the power of chaos...just like before, the flame of his soul coming undone. The chaos box had transformed him before, the chaos blades were changing him back.

His body breathed again, the blood circulating around his stone-like skin. And thoughts of his human self...returned...

Em cursed at the sight of the human. Too long! she told herself. She tugged at the handle of the blade, but it wouldn't budge right away. Something was... blocking...

"Amelia! Help me!"

The brunette raced over; new fear in her eyes even if the rest of her body told her to come. "What...can I do?"

"Help me pull it out! We got to do it...before its too late!" Tightening her grip, Em took another hard thrust of the blade on her own, pulling the blade up an inch out of his body but not far enough.

The princess of Saillune was right behind her, gripping the bottom of the handle just underneath the scientist's grip. With one last heave, the chaos blade slid out of the chimera's body; the two of them flying backwards so hard that they both landed on their rear ends.

The blue-skinned human shook for a second, the huge gash in his chest bleeding profusely. His instinct told him to curl up like a baby, cringing at the pain from being dissected like a mad doctor's laboratory experiment.

"Zel..." Both the girls rushed to his side, trying to comfort the chimera as quickly as possible. Amelia tried to apply a healing spell just as quickly, but the magic had no effect.

"Wha...what's going on? Why isn't he..."

"The chaos is still in his body, resisting the power of magic. You need to give his body a chance to react. After all, the chimera in him...it will grow again and heal." The two of them watched intensely as his stony skin solidified right before their eyes like a cold spell freezing water. As his blue skin froze up and faded to its blue-grayish tone, his wound patched with an ugly swatch of stone.

Amelia sighed. "Wow...I didn't think that will work. She tapped his skin playfully, finding it the same to her as before the start of their grand adventure. "So...did it work? Is he cured?"

Em held her head low, watching the skin of the chimera stiffen up. He was still missing one arm. And she could see the chimera curse swim like it was alive within the veins. It made her turn her head down in shame...

"I...I..." She desperately wanted to tell Amelia that he would be fine. That he would live a full and normal life, even without his hand and arm... But the chaos blade had only been a temporary effect. For within a day or maybe less...

"...It helped," said Em, turning away from the both of them. "But in a couple of days..."

Amelia's hopeful mood crumbled seconds after the news hit her ears. Life without Zelgadis was starting to look like reality.

"I'm sorry..." cried Em, walking away from the two of them. Her heart couldn't take any more damage control. She had to leave.

The brunette leaned her head down against the chimera's midsection. She was surprised to find the chimera's rough body a perfect gentle cup against the side of her neck.

She thought about the her journeys...and how, it might soon be over. For the first time, she thought about how her life would be without a chimera.

Amelia shook, feeling the rough movement underneath her neck. She felt hands on top of her head, and then the gentle sweeping of her hair. It was her love, brushing back her locks away form the back of her neck.

"You...shouldn't be here," muttered the stirring chimera.

Amelia turned her head over, still leaning her body onto Zelgadis. She could face him now, but couldn't fight back the tears while looking into his eyes. "I don't care anymore..."

"Stop that..."

She turned her head, again to get closer to Zel's face. "I won't, Zel. I'm going to try everything I can to stop this from happening to you..."

The chimera turned his back to her. "Silly girls. You should have let me die. It would have been better than this..."

"What did you say..." She got up off her pillow, her expressions in her face were filled with angry undertones. "We saved your life more than once these last few weeks and all you want to do is throw it away?"

"Yes..."

Amelia stood up, the resentment encircling her eyes. She wordlessly paused to herself before turning her back to the chimera.

Zel could swear that the brunette was sniffling a little as she walked away on her own. Something in his mind commanded him to take the words back, but his body would not listen. Instead, all he could do was put his head back and look at the skylight shining through the torn-out roof.

She took a couple of more steps of sorrow and turned around. "You...don't know the meaning of life, Zelgadis. And that's why you will never learn. Maybe the reason...that no one will ever love you."

And she was gone.

The chimera sighed. Maybe that was for the best. Baka, there's no reason to love someone who's going to die...

-

---o--o--o---

-

Thoth pondered what the next moves would be. So far, hiding on the little ship of Em's father seemed like the best idea yet. He had taken the rowboat from their previous travels and purposely sunk it into the deeper water just outside the little entrance of the cavern.

Biru yawned especially loud, his mouth quite wide. "So...tired..."

Thoth took the piece of fruit and stuck it in his mouth. "Be quiet! We're supposed to be hiding down here."

"From who?"

"Turnip's former slaves." The old man was almost going to have a heart attack. He didn't want to repeat the story of what had happened last night, so he told the fool the short version. "Turnip's dead. The chimera and his friends killed him."

"Oh really?" Biru got his back off the deck of the ship, finally stirring around to a sitting position. "What about the zombies? Are they dead too?"

Thoth cringed, recalling the fairy tale he had relayed to the mad cook last night. "No, they're still up there. The others are keeping alive by trading their time for the brain's of Turnip's slaves. It's really a gruesome sight up there. Lots of blood..."

Biru's face turned ashen, "Blood? You mean dead bodies..."

"Yea. Bodies stacked up like logs with their head hollowed out like an orange rind. Oh, and the little piles of gore-"

The innkeeper was completely done in. "OK! That's enough of that!" He leaned over the railing of the little ship, knowing he was going to be sick.

"Shhh..."

"Is that why we're hiding out on this 'ship' instead of the rowboat?" echoed Biru's strained voice. "Uuugh...'

Thoth groaned. In his mind, he only had a day or two at best. If he didn't get a hold of the chaos blade, then getting in time to the City of the Clouds would be impossible. "Stay here. I'm going back topside."

He heard Biru keel over the railing, answering back with a couple of painful moans. So much for feeling better.

-

---o--o--o---

-

Em circled around her home, looking around for the clues to her former life. It was really sad. Once priceless paintings hung from the wall, now torn and blackened from the rain and moisture. Most of the house had been ransacked of its valuable possessions, with a few of the larger items like sofas and chairs still remaining because they were too difficult to steal.

She looked up to the left at the wide set of stairs that climbed up to the upper floor. She walked up a couple of steps before realizing the footing was about to give way. Skipping as lightly as she could, Em managed to get up to the balcony level before the entire staircase collapsed.

Sighing, the redhead looked around some more. The open-aired roof had let in the elements, turning the once plush carpet into a pile of covered mush topped with green luscious moss. Vines and other greenery lined the walls as they encircled small pictures and windows. A few of the hanging vines had even flowered as she could hear the chirping of birds as they fluttered around. Compared to downstairs, the upstairs areas as a bustle of activity. The sun's rays had given life to where it had once been, and indeed, it had become quite beautiful.

Em looked at everything as she continued down the open-aired hallway. The scientist ducked for a second as a bird swooped down and back up to the rafters. She smiled back at the wildlife, determined to keep going.

And she saw the tower thought the open roof. It was stained black from all the flaming lightning strikes. Something of a memory moved within the back of her mind. And she knew, she had to go there because something was drawing her closer.

Em ran down the hallways, looking up at the tower as she got closer to its base. The corridor finally led to a stone antechamber within the tower itself, to a winding stone staircase that ascended up to its top level. She didn't stop for one second, racing up the stairs as she carefully stepped on slippery moss-covered steps. Her heart beat faster at the feel...of destiny was upon her.

Something very special was waiting for her...waiting a long, long, time.

She came to a heavyset wooden door, its moisture-soaked paneling showing of age. In the center of the door was an engraving. She had half expected to find the inlet of a cloud but was amazed that it was something...else.

With both of her hands, the scientist brushed away moss and time, exposing the secrets of her past memories. Her father had done many things in his time, many that she didn't truly know about. She took a step backwards to see what she had uncovered... A tip, no...It was a spear... Then an answer shouted in mind, as she knew what it was.

A bolt of lightning.

The redhead rushed forward, the door swinging open for her...

Em was surprised how clean the inner chamber was to the rest of her former. Besides the vinery crawling in from the tower windows, the place looked like it had been recently swept clean. The circular room was totally bare, save for a small trunk to the far side of the door. Another engraving of a bolt of lightning decorated the wooden cover the trunk, this time embellished in brilliant silver.

She reached instinctive for the lid, giving it a tug. It at first refused to budge, but after a second effort it swung open as if expecting to be opened after a try.

The wooden trunk gave off an immediate stench of rotting age, causing Em to turn away. Looking back, her eyes caught the gleam of a delicate silver tiara, finely decorated with freshwater pearls. It was well worn, with a couple of spots that once held pearls now missing their natural jewels. Still, it was quite stunning.

Leaning next to the ornate tiara was a simple silver bracelet, lined heavily with the same matching freshwater pearls. Em picked it up and was surprised how warm the bracelet was in her hands, like it was...calling her. She looked at in the light if only for a second, before slipping it on her right arm. It felt perfect as it naturally tightened around her wrist.

Is that all, she thought, as she began to close the trunk's lid. But a small warming sensation in her wrist had her look down one last time..

She spotted a scroll attached to the top lid of the trunk. Swearing that it wasn't there before, the new addition seemed to fall right into her hands as if waiting for Em. She tugged open the scroll and started reading it...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dearest Em,

For a long time, I had wanted to tell you this story of your past. It was never the right time, especially with my work... But I thought it was necessary to keep it a secret. I did it for you, my child...

I am a proud man who wanted so much for my life. I worked hard, starting as a simple laborer when I was younger. Later, I was able to take a position here as the head servant to a merchant husband and wife. This place was their home, their retirement away from the land where they lost all their children to a tragic fire.

As time and years moved on, I became the grown son they never had. They eventually passed on to a happier place, leaving me their modest fortune. And I became a merchant as well, quite skilled in the art of trade, and wealthy. And I was content, but like my former employers not complete...

And all that changed on one special day. From out of nowhere a strange ship came down from the highest reaches in the sky, crashing on the very beach that overlooks this castle. My intelligent mind could see that the ship had indeed been designed to fly -- made to ride the high winds in the sky. There was no doubt...that it had been flying in the air just minutes before, its very secrets unknown to me nor anyone else.

I searched the wreckage for survivors, moving wood and timber alike with my bare hands. I was amazed. After uncovering a heavy roof, I found a beautiful redheaded young woman, her locks of hair spilled across the rocks by the sea. She was unconscious, a small bruise on the forehead the only sign of injury. And within her delicate arms, safely tucked across her chest, she cradled...you.



Your mother...she never did stir and wake up from her slumber. Her body...just shut down like it had been turned off. She didn't make it. I tried to the best of my wisdom, to revive her, but I could not. No doubt, the way that she held you safely in her arms...no doubt that her sacrifice had saved your life.

Yes, this is the first time, Em, that I'd ever told you... that I'm not your natural father.

You were as normal as could be, a healthy baby girl full of life. The resemblance of your deceased mother to you as you grew up before my eyes...was uncanny.

That first night, however, when I was changing your diaper, I found something else. Something that you should have, so you don't just know some of the truth, but all of it. Something...that I decided share with you one day.

And if you're reading this, then please know...that you are my daughter. You are and always shall be my life, and the reason for my inspiration.

The reason...for the chaos boxes. The chaos blade. And the bracelet and the tiara your mother wore.

No matter what, the truth shall always be behind.

- Dad

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Em could barely hold onto the scroll as she tugged at her father's writings. It was an old scroll yellowed by time, the writings at least a decade or two old. Yet, their meanings were the freshest things in her mind. Perhaps as recent as a year ago, she might have requested it as pure speculation, but now...

Her father had always told her that the truth was the revealing secret. Now it was behind her. How could truth be secret behind...

Truth.. Behind.

She flicked at the corner of the scroll, making it bend in ever so slightly. Like a blooming flower, the layers of the paper slowly opened up. Like the thin sheets of a pastry, this scroll's paper felt...layered with history, all by it being in her hands.

Turning the scroll over, Em saw the other side was even more browned than the front. If her father's writing looked old, then the back of this scroll looked incredibly ancient. Being ever so careful, Em carefully picked on the corner. She managed to peel back a layer of the scrolled paper, uncovering a second set of writing on the inside of the backing. Sure enough, a second message was hidden behind the first, a hidden truth for her.

Her eyes could no longer hold back the tears as she read the words attached to her past. As she interpreted every morsel, the color from her face drained, her expressions a mix with anticipation, fright, and pain. And as she finally read the last line, Em threw the paper sheet aside in sadness...realizing that everything she knew was a lie...

-

---o--o--o---

-

"Give me a hand here?" Tiny had both of his hands under a large table, ready to lift it up.

"Coming!" The cheery brunette maneuvered into a helpful position, but her strength was no match for giant bench. "It's a little big for me..." moaned Amelia. "I think we need some help."

"I'm here!" Gourry much obliged, grabbing the same end of the table next to the brunette. With a little signal, the men tossed up the bench until it wobbled into place.

"Thanks a bunch," mentioned Tiny as he wiped away the dirt from the corners of the bench. "We're going to get this place cleaned up real quick."

Amelia scratched her head. "You're not leaving to go back to Monte Darlo?"

"No way. Some of us criminals would rather not return at all. Since we have no other place to go, we thought about staying here for just a little while."

"Well, someone should try to figure out what this ship is for," The chimera still had his cloak wrapping on, but looked no less for wear as he stumbled forward. He used a simple wooden staff as a temporary balancing tool, his body still looking rather weak from Em's earlier 'surgery.'

"You shouldn't be walking around right now!" Amelia could see his human self had somewhat returned, but the huge patch of rock was growing across his open chest like a second scab. It looked like an infected wound, trying to re-heal itself unsuccessfully.

She instinctively ran over to the side of chimera, supporting him as best as she could. She was surprised when he pushed her off with a turn of his body.

"I'm fine." The chimera was harsh with his words, preferring to keep his words as brief as possible. "Please, forget about earlier," he grumbled, finally sitting down on a nearby bench.

Amelia's soured face threatened to break down into a full-borne cry. "But...Zel..."

"I said--"

The brunette sulked. A whole lot. "Well, fine. I've got...some laundry to do." Before the chimera could catch her by the arm, she had already turned her back towards them.

The blond swordsman coughed as he busily wiped his hands clean on a rag of clothing. "We're almost finished cleaning up. And then...we're finally done."

"All right!" shouted Tiny, raising his hands in a sign of encouragement.

The chimera was unmoved by the showing. "Well, its about time..." Amelia refused to look at his squarely in the eyes. Knowing his manners, he spotted Em out by the edge of the beach, throwing rocks into the sea. Takes one to know one...

"Excuse me. I need to talk to someone."

"Zel..." whispered Amelia looking back around. "I tried..."

-

---o--o--o---

-

Em was keeping herself isolated from the rest of them, her posture a clear sign that she wanted to be left alone. She thought that keeping her back to the rest of them while throwing rocks into the sea would help ease her mind. It wasn't helping, however -- she'd needed advanced help. Hopefully--

"So, how many skips?"

The chimera saw the scientist twitch a little on hearing his words. But instinct told him that both of them needed each other at the moment as he leaned up next to tree depressing himself.

The scientist looked over at Zelgadis, rather dumbfounded. "Excuse me?"

"I said, how many skips have you managed to get on your best throw?"

"Ahhh. I think two. I wasn't exactly keeping track-"

"Try using your elbow," suggested the chimera. "You need to put a little more spin on your throws."

Em took a large step backwards for her windup, unleashing a furious throw that sent the stone scampering a half dozen times across the smooth waters. "I see..."

Screw the small talk, thought Em, as she turned around to the chimera. "Remember when everything you knew was a perfect world? When you knew who you are...and who you're going to be?"

He took a step back, startled by the new line of questioning. "Now wait just a minute--I was the one who came over here--"

"Damn it Zel, I'm not the fool like Amelia. If you think for one second I'm going to spend an hour talking about tossing stones into the ocean--"

The chimera was amazed at Em's forwardness. "Well, excuse me, but I'm being added to the world's largest rock garden in a couple of days. You have to have some idea what I'm doing next week."

Em wasn't finished, however. "Oh yeah? Well, at least you have friends. I lost everything that is dear to me. Not once, but twice. I don't know if I can handle your moody times, plus all these strangers, let alone any more of this Cloudminders business."

Zel cringed, hearing the scientist's words.

"Actually, I can't handle it anymore. I'm sick and tired of it! I could care less about their stupid secrets-"

"You...can't possibility mean that!"

"Yes, I do! I wish I had never met Amelia, Gourry, nor your stupid, problems. I...don't care anymore!" With a hiss, she turned and stood away from the dumbfounded chimera.

Zelgadis didn't know what do say. He looked down at his stone hand, trying to come up with an explanation.

He thought about his own life. Long ago, he had once been a foolish, young boy. He never did want to become a chimera. Did he ask to become a monster slave to Rezo and his ways?

Yet, he felt his crime...had been paid. This body...was never his choosing. He never chose this destiny. And now, instead of a chimera, he was turning into a statue.

He watched Em look into the setting sun against the ocean, and realized that she as well was being forced into the game. Pawns... he thought. We're nothing but someone else's playing pieces, moved and played without a whim of resistance.

He who had never cared for someone...suddenly cared for more than himself.

"I know...what you're feeling." He walked slowly up to Em, her sniffling barely evident at the moment. Placing his rough hand on her shoulder, all he could do was share his pain.

She didn't push it away.

"Do you remember saying how you were going to save me? How if you did that, then nothing else would matter."

"Yes..."

"A story goes...both ways, you know..."

The redhead turned around, facing the chimera and the truth at the same time. "You knew all along." She rested her hand on the chimera's chest, her way of replying with a sign of respect.

"Maybe," nodded Zelgadis, before turning his head lower. "I just needed someone to show me..." He looked at Em and at her smiling face, her curls of hair blowing in the wind.

His throat tightened as he tried to swallow his own words. He was in a fog, staring at Em's jeweled glowing bracelet as it glowed like an ember of fire on her wrist...

...bracelet? What the Cepheid?!

The chimera pointed to the glowing row of pearls, to the centered pattern that ran down the length of the exquisite bracelet. "What...is that thing doing?!"

"Aaagh!" She turned her arm over, looking at the underside of the wrist.

"Aaagh?"

She shook her wrist. "This isn't supposed to happening so soon!"

"What the?" blinded the chimera as a ray of light blinded him for just a second.

Em was flabbergasted as she poured out information "It's my...detector! Something's affecting it!"

Zelgadis looked dumbfounded. "Wha?"

Sure enough, as if cued for an entrance, a column of billowing smoke formed right behind them. Their darkness could only signify the Mazoku. So thick was the barrier that it cut the two of them off from Gourry, Amelia, and the rest of the crew.

"They have no sense of timing-"

"Hardly ever," bluntly grizzled the chimera, drawing his sword with his good hand. He half expected Xellos to pop in and out with one of his antidotes -- thusly the reason that a one handed weapon was better than none. "Let's see what they're made of, shall we?"

Em blinked, taking a couple of steps back, unsure on what to expect. "You know, they're not idiots." She reached around her back, pulling out the chaos blade, which had been comfortably tucked in a ready-made sleeve.

The smoke faded away, uncovering a dozen faceless winged Mazoku-like creatures. They reminded Zelgadis of giant stingrays. They flew instead of swimming, their color entirely black as coal save for their beady red eyes.

"Come and get it!" Em pointed her sword at the approaching line of Mazoku, the blade just starting to ignite its powers of chaos. The foolish creatures refused to be intimidated as they flew in for a closer look.

"Why would they even think about attacking us when I have the chaos blade?" said Em, protecting themselves from the low-level creatures.

"A waste of time," finished the chimera. "Unless-"

They both looked at each other, bleeping out the answer at the same time. "Someone wants to destroy the airship!"

-

---o--o--o---

-

"Help!"

Amelia fluttered her arms helplessly like a grounded bird, all while running away from the hideous black stingrays. One by itself didn't seem all that threatening, but the stingrays had already started to conglomerate together. A pack of four of them conveniently gathered together for a mass attack against the brunette, thinking their sheer numbers odds would scare more than anything.

"Iyeeya!" charged Gourry, slicing behind Amelia with his attacking charge. The weak stingrays fell apart like dominoes out of the sky, three disintegrating from a sword slash by Gourry's frightful charge. The other one was so dumb that it circled around and nose-dived into the ground next to the swordsman, splattering into a puddle of goo. Gourry immediately slid on the leftover carcass of the creature, head first into some bushes.

Amelia blinked. "Well, that was easy..." She looked over at the blond swordsman, his head stuck in a bush. He poked his head back out, bringing some nature up. Because wrapped perfectly around his head was a bushel of twigs, a nest, and a family of birds, which only made the princess laugh out loud.

"Hey! Watch out!" pointed Tiny, running towards Amelia as fast as he could. Another creature of the dark, a small one, had snuck up on the princess, attacking her backside. "I see it!

The brunette turned around, ready for the worst -- and the creature was gone. "Wha...Where...is it?"

Tiny stopped right next to the brunette and frowned. "Wait...stay still for a sec."

Amelia didn't understand Tiny's directions as his giant hand pushed past her left ear. She heard a squeal as Tiny dislodged the baby stingray from her tussle of hair. "Awwwee... it's a little baby Mazoku. Isn't it kawaii?"

"Yea, sure..." answered Gourry.

Tiny took the creature and threw it like a rag doll to the ground, followed by some heavyset stomping.

"Waaaaiii! You didn't have to flatten the baby!"

-

---o--o--o---

-

Joe nodded as he levitated past a couple of Turnip's former security guards. He had easily slain the poor fellow with a swipe of his quarterstaff. Easy work.

"Nice..." he commented, blowing the front doors open. His shadows had easily kept everyone else at bay at the moment -- buying him precious time to search the inner workings of his former apprentice's airship.

"Now...where is it?" he mumbled, carefully entering into the hallway of the airship's lower decks. His short body was easily about to check the floor for clues and hidden doorways. Not that he thought that the trinkets would be sticking out with a 'please steal me' sign; it wasn't like Turnip was that naïve.

Still, he peeked his head into unfinished rooms, finding them surprisingly bare of anything including necessary supplies. "Nothing of value stuck on this piece of grounded flotsam. No pearl items that the master talked about." He grazed his eyes everywhere, surprised the rooms were so threadbare. "How is anyone expected to hide anything here?"

"You're not looking in the right place," whispered a hidden voice behind the Mazoku. The old man leaned his body carefully on an edge of a corner wall, careful to stay away from Joe's view. In his hand, the miniature chaos box glowed with the softness of a firefly; positioned against the old man's hip like a loaded weapon.

"What is Turnip's little playmate up to?" Thoth garbled, trying to also figure out where he had seen the Mazoku before. A little realization came as he turned back around, recognizing the shadowy figure from before. "Monte Darlo...he's been watching Turnip for awhile."

Joe continued to look around the airship's pantries, poking and overturning anything around that was not nailed down. He walked into the pantry, the first stocked area he had seen in the airship. A set of increasingly sized metallic canisters made themselves at home on a counter. Food for the baka Mazoku, he thought, before taking a closer look. Even though his kind didn't need human stuffs, when they did dine on food it was always of darkly absurd ingredients: eye of serpent, dried monkey's rib, fermented fish livers. When reading the labels, however, Joe was astounded to read off several different types of sugars and candies.

Using his quarterstaff, the diminutive Mazoku shoved the canisters off the counters until they clanged open, scattering sweets randomly across the floor. He stepped forward, mashing the cadies with his weight into a powder. Damn Turnip, cursed the Mazoku, and his human weaknesses...

Joe heard the pitter-patter of feet above his head. "Ahhh...I have you," he said, instantly transporting up a level to the top deck of the ship. Unlike the other airship he had seen designed by the scientist and the redheaded daughter, this one was threatening. Using his connections, Turnip had imported the powder guns from the western lands. He mounted the unholy beasts in every possible position, from bow to stern. He looked above the desk and knew there was no balloon meant to fly over their heads, for this was purely a craft meant to run on the power of the Cloudminders.

Something in the corner of his eye caught the Mazoku's attention. The motion of movement on the ground, just past the port side of the craft. He moved like lightning across the flat deck.

Joe looked over the railing, trying to spot what had splashed into the calm ocean -- and felt something sharp embed itself into his back. It exploded into a kaleidoscope of colors, throwing him forward. Nothing could stop his forward motion, his whole body tensing up like an icicle. He fell forward like a sack of potatoes, off the stern of the airship, splattering his body on the rocky shore below, cursing because of his arrogance.

From behind one of the gunpowder cannons, Thoth leaned bent-ass forward in an exhausted pose. He winced a little grin of accomplishment followed by pain; his body not used to playing hide-in-seek with a Mazoku. Still, the advantage lay in his hands, the small chaos box smoldering chaos energy...

"Yes..." he said, as if speaking to his chaos box with his real voice. "Bastard..."

-

---o--o--o---

-

Em slashed the chaos blade at a small grouping of the flying stingrays, their scream for existence haunting as they faded away like shadows. They had grown from a nuisance quickly into a chore, their numbers increasing by every minute.

She looked over at Zel, who had taken the other way around the grounded airship. He was having trouble of his own, the stingrays so outnumbering the chimera that he could no longer slash them down fast enough. She gasped as one of the creatures smacked into his stony body -- only to watch the dark creature bounce off and fall onto the ground quite defeated.

She sighed, realizing that the stingrays were gathering into even larger formations. Three or four was tough already, but a mass of twenty or thirty might be impossible to defeat. Em didn't waste time as she adjusted the hilt on the sword, turning the sleeve a quarter clockwise.

Her bracelet started to glow, along with the chaos blade in her hand. So...they are in tune...

The connection is there. She was right.

Everything that her father had shown her before... was all half-based truths built on lies. Finding secrets within her past had left mind unsettled-- now it was tempered with the desire to fulfill... what it had told her...

She didn't have time ponder on her discovery...

Em swung the chaos blade forward, its glowing presence arching out like an invisible soap bubble. The flying serpents didn't have a chance, their bodies falling out of the sky like popped balloons. A wave of invisible power continued to flow outward, dropping dozens of flying stingrays out of the darkening sky.

"Nice trick," commented Zel from behind. "Got a dragon slave in there as well?"

"I swear, I'm good for it."

Her senses told her to charge around the perimeter of the airship as a few more of the stingrays came down on her backside, coming unexpectedly from out of the sky. With a turn of the chaos blade, they stopped their flying right in their tracks, falling to the ground like liquid tar.

Em left the chimera as she ran along to the rocky shoal of the ocean, spotting little out of the ordinary. "Where...is it..." she said to herself, starting the circle her position with the chaos blade in her hands...

She stopped halfway turned, the point of her blade pointed towards a tar stain heavily strayed against the rocks. She wouldn't of noticed the aberration except for glowing indications from her bracelet, alerting her again of danger, of energy that even she couldn't keep hidden.

Em raised her wrist towards the tar, holding the blade of chaos a mere inch away from the stained rocks. Strangely enough, a set of eyes popped out from the blackness, quickly blinking at her.

"Come on out, traitorous Mazoku," said the scientist, threatening the mass with her stern voice. "Even you can't resist it..."

She waited as the tar melted off the rocks, reforming on the ground into a waxy ball. The way it flowed was just enough to make her skin goosebump. It tightened upon itself and exploded upwards into the diminutive shape of a familiar cloaked Mazoku, the one that Em had seen before.

"I know you..." said the scientist. She moved the chaos blade until it lay against the base of the Mazoku's skull, next to his head like a guillotine.

The darkened creature didn't move, preferring to let the scientist take the next step.

"You're Turnip's master, aren't you?" she asked, letting the blade rest on Joe's shoulder. It sharpness gently slid into the Mazoku's flesh, causing his body to steam off a bleed of chaotic energy.

Unlike Turnip, this Mazoku didn't let the cut bother him. What had caught the Mazoku's eyes, however, was the glowing ring of pearls around Em's wrist. Identify the holder, his own master had said...and here she was...

Em pleaded her case, interrogating the uncooperative Mazoku. "So...you used him like everyone else. His ego, his manipulation, his drive... Turnip said he was using the Mazoku...but now I see the shoe is on the other foot."

Joe finally spoke, hoping his words would loosen the scientist's grasp of the sword on his neck. "The baka wanted to directly attack the Cloudminders. We let his little mission go on fruitlessly, for an indirect approach is the way with us."

The scientist noticed a surge in power as Joe's words delightfully ran off his tongue like the finest wine of the land. "That still doesn't explain your reasons..."

The Mazoku nodded as best as he could. "Oh? Killing him? No, I'm afraid that's your work. We just left him by the curbside, without a protection in the world. You can't possibility think that we would ever want a human among our kind. The thought disgusts me."

Em continued Joe's words with the harshness of a Mazoku. "So...you took him in and disposed of him just as quickly. Then...why?"

The diminutive one nodded. "Very good. Now...keep going..."

Em slid the chaos blade another inch, embedding the blade squarely into the Mazoku's neck. The result was an instantaneous combustion of chaotic energy. There was a sudden wind-swept force of energy escaping, circling and spewing out of Joe's neck like an open water spigot.

Indeed, the smell of death was in the air.

Em removed it just a quickly, opening a gaping wound of skin that seemed to flap like a flag. "Tell me!"

The Mazoku could not easily hold its concentration while it clamped both of his hand instinctively around the wound. His body shivered darkening lines energy as it tried to keeps its very identity intact.

Em moved the flat of the sword on the opposite shoulder of the Mazoku, threatening to slice diagonally across its body in one more swoop of defiance. "Nothing you've told me explains why you used my father's assistant as a guinea pig, even if he was a disgusting fool."

"Ahhh...but think about it. His claim was that he the only person that even knew a little about your father's secrets. Never about your father, it was always...about the secrets..."

Em was floored. "What did you say?"

The Mazoku stammered back an answer just as fast. "Come on. Do you think he was about the crack to secrets of the Cloudminders so easily?"

Joe saw his words were chilling to Em's ears. He noticed her eyes roll back and gaze into space, the truth haunting her mind. He knew the shadow of doubt was creeping into the back of her mind, for it was only a matter of time. So he pressed on....

"Your father bamboozled you the whole time. He was lucky enough to discover the secret of the chaos boxes. To this day we wondered how."

I did that! screamed Em in her mind. All of his findings were duo...to her intuition. The letter...from her father, spoke of lies that he hid, because he knew the truth was too hard to bear. No wonder her father had never told her about her past, for she would have linked his success to her Mother's secrets.

Joe could see the scientist's hands loosen on the handle of the chaos blade. Indeed, the spoken truth was enough to push mere humans into distraught. "Remember, little one. He was a fake. A pawn as well. We didn't know...the first time..."

Lies upon lies, thought the scientist. They didn't just add to the list of transgressions, but they acted like a wildfire out of control.

The Mazoku paused, drawing himself closer to the scientist. "It was never him...." With a motion that even Em could not explain, Joe reached down and held her by the very wrist of her glowing wrist. "But now that we know, we will never let any of you survive!"

Em's eyes grew wide. "...No..."

The Mazoku let his rising emotions fuel is own energies. At last, he let his true powers grow and erupt like a sleeping volcano, throwing the standing redhead backwards several steps in a wave of energy.

"No!"

Em remembered like the times before. Her father, his life, his existence flashing before her very eyes. She had lost everything once in her lifetime, only to start from scratch and rebuild the happiness. Her father's plans for an airship. Chaos stones bargained for over blood and sweat. And then her crew, her new...family.

Only to lose it again.

Her mind blazed with determination, swearing that she would never allow it to happen a third time. Here she was with her new friends. Gourry. Zelgadis. And...even Amelia. She cursed, already knowing that she cared deeply for them...

"You will not!..."

She refused to obey. She had played the helpless role before -- in look and in feeling to anyone that met her casually. Normal by any stretch of the imagination, she appeared average in every way.

Yet...she commanded the power. Never would anyone think that she held the highest power of chaos within her hands. She knew of its capabilities and its travesties. And most of all, she knew of its truths, and therefore its very secret...

"...Take our lives..."

The chaos blade shone like it had never shine before. It obeyed, all due to Em, her commandments, and her energies.

"...For granted!"

Em thrust the ignited chaos blade forward with all of her strength. She charged so quickly that the weapon seemed to move faster than light itself. So forward was the scientist that when her charge finally stopped, she was surprised how far she had penetrated behind Mazoku. She blinked, her blade lodged into the rock.

At first, Em thought she had totally missed the target. But a second later there was mighty howl of protest from all around her. She spotted the outline of the Mazoku, his form fading against the rocks. She could immediately spot the injured shoulder and neck from before, still steaming with the slight reflection of chaos. But the other wound...where was it?

And then, as she watched the Mazoku turn his head ever so slightly as it appeared as if a triangle slice had been neatly chopped off the frontal lobe. Another inch or two, and the blade strike would had been critical...

The scientist gasp, positioning her blade for a second strike. "Got you..."

Joe's shadow was fading fast as he tried to draw the rest of himself back into the astral plane. "Not quite..." The intruder faded away, leaving no clues to his existence save for his laughing voice. "You do not have me yet...not by any stretch of the imagination..."

And he was gone.

"Damn..."

The scientist scanned around in every direction, trying to track down why her Mazoku friend had left so quickly. It was when she looked out onto the crashing sea that her gut reaction told her why.

Still miles and miles away from land, a strange low-lying cloud hugged close to the ocean's surface, its lack of reflection was as dark as night. The mass of blackness was too large, too short, and growing much too quickly to be a form of precipitation. For all along the ocean's horizon, what was once a black line of haze was starting to crest into a wave. And it was converging onto one point -- to exactly where she was standing.

"Get up here!" yelled the hysterical chimera from the top of the ridge. He waved frantically with a flair that Em had rarely seen from the stoic Zelgadis. "We've got the get out of here!"

Em dashed up the rocks, jumping the last bit. She nearly pawned over the chimera, quite out of breath. He had already taken out his telescoping lens, adjusting its sights towards the black clouds.

"Company?"

Zel passed off the lens, urging the scientist to take a look.

Her heart stopped on sight. "Oh...damn! How many are there..."

"All of them," retorted Zelgadis. "We've got ten minutes, tops. The first wave of them was a walk in the woods."

She turned back towards the chimera, startled by all the developments. "Its Turnip's master, the Mazoku we saw with him yesterday."

Zelgadis clenched his sword tighter. "Where is he? What did he want with you?"

Em stopped. No...there was some things that she could not explain at the moment. If...she told Zelgadis or any of the others of her discovery, the consequences would be severe. For the short term...there had to be a way out of this mess.

If the Mazoku attacked from another front, she wasn't sure if she could stop them. The next time, her peninsula home would be swarming with so many flying stingrays that they'd surely threaten to block out the sun and the rest of the sky...

"Em?"

The scientist ignored the chimera, trying to feel her passion. It was as if something...was trying to speak to her. She felt her wrist warm against her skin, signaling its sanity to the redhead. Power unspoken, something for her to control. It told her mind a truth....that suddenly made everything seem understood. A saying, a play on words. She knew it when only a child, when once leaning against her mother's chest. Words that had a meaning to unlocking the very secrets to her existence...

"Em!" repeated the chimera, "is something wrong?"

She needed...to save them. An answered presented itself, a painful course where no other path seemed possible. If she told the chimera its very secret, he might never forgive her...

So she lied.

"The Mazoku are massing for an attack. The stingrays are just a diversion." She swallowed her breath, hoping for believability. "Turnip's master...Joe. He has a chaos box."

Zel's eyes widened. "How..."

"I...just know. He tipped it off to me, but I don't think he knows that I'm aware of his slip of the tongue." She paused, seeing the chimera was buying her story lock, stock and barrel. "But...it's huge. At least six feet high."

The chimera stirred quite nervously. Even if one of those things could help him, one that size seemed too tall an order. "If that thing detonates when we're still on the island..." Too painful were his words that he gulped before continuing. "So...what are we going to do? We've got to get out of the way of that thing."

Em started her run, the chimera close behind her. "There is...a way."

She stopped and reached out with her hand, waiting for the chimera to catch up. Zelgadis stopped, looked at Em's face, taking up her kind invitation. "Come on! Let's go!"

-

---o--o--o---

-

Thoth gingerly avoided a couple of the flying creatures by taking the side route around the edge of the island. He stepped off to the side into a puddle of black tar, pooh-poohing at the surprise mess. He cursed as he wiped away the ugly tar from his ragtag shoes. Most probably the remnants of one of the latest creatures.

Oh, how he so wished to be back at Turnip's casino, getting handout of free food. Even sleeping in the hallways on the warm plush carpets was heavenly when compared to road travel. Or a time before, overlooking the view of the world high in the clouds. Anything better than this--

Finished with his cleaning job as well as trying to keep out of sight was by no means an easy tasks. He took his time and once again surveyed in every direction. This time, he stared out into the ocean, scratching his jaw at the sight.

More like anyone could have imagined..

The old man ran, tripping and falling along the way of the path. He finally was close enough to the mouth of the cave, that when he finally did trip, he slid down the descent and onto the pier where he had left Biru a little earlier.

The dock was empty.

Where is that crazy fool now, thought Thoth. What he couldn't do was find the baka--

And from the ceiling, a heavy tarp fell on him. Darkness.

"I caught a crazy brain-eating zombie!" Biru was yelling like he had received the greatest reward of all time. He took up a plank and pounded the covered lump a couple of times. "Die! Die! Die!"

Thoth loudly moaned, more from the shock treatment than from the beating. "...Get this thing off of me!"

"Oh, don't think I can't come up for a recipe for the flesh of a zombie. No matter what it is, if you stew anything for 48 hours, it drains the poison out." He whapped the covered lump again for good measure. "Oh, Thoth? Is that you...I have dinner ready!"

"Biru! What do you think you're doing!" The old man was having quite a bit of trouble removing the tarp from over his head. "I want out of here!"

"Ahhh! My master's voice! His brain has been sucked whole by this zombie beast!" Biru took his butcher's knife out, sharpening it with a small file in his hands. Whatever intimidation he had before was suddenly gone, only to be replaced by his bout of madness. "Don't worry old man, I'll give you a quick burial-"

"Cut that out!" Thoth finally managed to uncover his head from underneath the tarps, throwing them furiously aside. "I'm a human!"

"Oh...damn..."

"Why, I outta..." cursed Thoth. But he quickly cut off his anger as a stampede of feet rattled from the ground above their heads. No doubt, a group of people were running down towards the mouth of the cave.

"Quick! It's the zombie's revenge!" said Thoth as he prodded the innkeeper onto the small ship. Each time that he saw the craft, it seemed smaller and smaller. He highly doubted that its width was more than 10 feet wide, even if its length was a long 30 feet or more.

"Hey...where are we going?' Biru was quite alarmed from Thoth's earlier descriptions. For a lazy, bald man, he moved quite swiftly over the railing of the watercraft.

The old man blinked. Wow, he can really move...

The two of them immediately ran for the door to the lower decks of the personal craft. One couldn't really call it a full lower deck -- more like a crawl space than anything. Still, it was a place to hide, but it was locked shut.

"Well I-know-it-all, where to now?"

Thoth cursed, moving with his body along the edge walkway to the bow of the ship. Luck was with him as he spotted a small open hatch towards the bow of the ship. "Up there," he said, waving his traveling companion on. "Quick!"

"You sure this is safe?" asked the innkeeper.

Thoth got to the squarish hatch, loosened a bolt and swung the top open. The path down was surprisingly circular and rather tight.

"Are you nuts? I can't squeeze down there!"

The old man looked over Biru's shoulder for a second. "Here come the zombies!"

Biru muttered something rather unintelligent as he swung his legs over the edge of the ledge. "Well, here goes nothing..." He dropped like a brick but only until he was stick fast by his waist. "Hey! Why am I not falling?" He waved his arms around like a fish out of water. "Help!"



Thoth smeared his hand against the side of his face in frustration. "Hold still...I'm going to push you down. Like...THIS!" The old man took his foot and stepped on the top of Biru's head. The result was not exactly how the old man had planned it, dropping Biru's plump body like a bowling ball.

"Ow!"

*thunk* *CRASH!*

Thoth stuck his head down thought the hatch, not to see if his companion was all right, but to see what he had broken. Sure enough, Biru was red-faced, holding onto the pieces of a something delicate. The fine inlay on its squarish surface could only mean one thing. A chaos box.

The old man maneuvered his way thought the hatch and down into the lower deck of the craft. "How did you do that?" he exclaimed, looking that the broken pieces. A downward look of the head, had Thoth seeing Biru's chef's knife laying on its side, neatly embedded in the wooden floor. "Oh."

"Oops... Can it patch it up later?" the innkeeper moaned, trying at the side time to piece the sides of the chaos box together. "Thoth? Why is your face red?"

-

---o--o--o---

-

The darkness was coming, quicker than any of them imagined. Soon, an incalculable amount of stingrays would converge on their position, swarming upon the humans and the chimera like a giant tsunami.

Em and Zelgadis nearly collided on their way to the dock with Amelia and Gourry. Everyone knew what going on, it didn't take very long to convince the other two of them that escape was probably a good idea.

"A chaos box! No way!" screamed Amelia upon hearing Em's white lie. "If we don't get out of here and safely away with Zel-"

"Yea, I know," interrupted the scientist. "But our only chance is to use my father's ship." At the same time she said the words, her eyes focused on the drawn chaos blade in her hand. "Let's just hope its still running-"

"And if it isn't?" said Amelia.

Em gulped. "Let's...figure that out later."

They ran down the path toward the cavern, not stopping to turn around for a second. As the four of them ran in tight formations, a few of Turnip's ex-guards blocked their way.

"Hey! What's going on!"

The chimera was first to direct them. "Do you guys know how to swim?"

"Ummm..."

The scientist gently pushed the chimera in the back, trying to get him going. "Come on! We can't be dillydallying here--"

"Hey Em!" waved Tiny as he stomped right in front of the redhead's path. "What's going on? What's with that blackness coming?"

The scientist paused to choose her words carefully, not really saying anything helpful at all. "Oh that...Ugggh..."

"Oh, its just enough stingrays to block out the sky," said Amelia. "There's nothing that we can do, so we're getting out of here--"

"Wait a minute!" yelled Tiny.

Em raised her hand just long enough to stop the gentle giant in his tracks. "I'll be right back. Swear."

Tiny nodded and motioned his men to let them pass. As the group left, Em looked beck for one second before charging back up to the running Zelgadis.

This puzzled the chimera to no end. He turned his head over at the redheaded scientist and was about to say something harsh but caught himself at the last minute. "What's all this about?"

Em looked over, into Zelgadis eyes for a couple of second longer than necessary. "I...don't want to..."

"That's right! Because if you go back for them--"

Something warmed in her hand. A direction -- no, a spirit, a guide of life. It was as if trying to tell her, almost blurting it out with such a rush that it was necessary to no end.

She understood. Sacrifice. Her destiny...was no longer hers to control....

"Zel..."

They finally made in around the turn and down toward the landing. Father Em's ship was still there, looking perfectly untouched from the day before. As Em loosened and threw the tying lines into the ocean, the rest of them jumped the gap onto the small deck. In comparison to the airships or even other sailing and water ships they had been on, this one was tiny with a length barely over 35 feet.

As they took survey of the craft, Em safely jumped the widening gap between the dock and the deck, just making it. She produced a key, unlocking the door to the lower desks and a second one to a hatch by the stern of the craft.

"Those look almost like the same controls for your old airship," said Zel, looking over Em's shoulder.

Amelia also poked around Zel's stony body, trying to get a closer look. "You mean, this thing flies too?"

Em coughed. "Errr...not exactly. But then, I'm not actually sure, since I've never seen my father use this vessel..." She tapped into a couple of the controls, trying to tug the stiff levers. Nothing would budge however, not even an inch.

"Damn! It's not working-" she said, startled about something. She was about to give a sigh of frustration when something in the controls pointed to a memory in the back of her mind. "Oh, silly me!"

Reaching behind her back, she tugged the chaos blade into the air. "Now...where does it..." Looking carefully around the controls of the ship, she finally spotted it -- a slot, no bigger than the width for her blade. "Now....time to light the puppy." Locking her elbows, the scientist carefully guided her sword into the slot by the controls. The blade eagerly accepted the perfect fit, snapping into place.

The ship, feeling the chaos erupt within its bowels like a awaking volcano, happily responded to its new source of energy. It purred alive as internal energies lit the console controls like a Christmas tree, its levers suddenly unlocking from their fixed positions.

Zel caught Em's wrist jewelry glow in response to her ignited chaos blade shimmering quite boldly from within the ship's grasp. It took only a second to realize...

"You're powering the ship...with the blade?" pointed Zel. He looked back at Em, mystified.

"The chaos blade. You realize by now that it's also a chaos box. A very special one where crystal and box itself are intertwined like a vine around a pole." She looked over at the glowing upright sword handle, nodding her answer.

Zel was enlightened. "The crystal...of course! But what are chaos stones, then? How did the Cloudminders create the stones, the very power--"

"All abroad!" yelled the blond swordsman.

Em sighed. "I've got to go..." She scientist looked dazed for a second before turning back to the rest of them. "Bon voyage!" she said, jumping onto the stern railing of the ship.

The chimera didn't even blinked..

Before anyone else could answer, the scientist had already flipped herself off the ship, jumping safely back onto the dock landing. "Go get them!"

"Em!" cried Amelia, "Come back! Where are you going?"

The princess' pleading was just enough to get Em's attention one last time. "I've got to help Tiny and his friends! Don't worry about me, I'll catch up!" The scientist did a quick wave, turned her back towards them.

Amelia sniffed back at Zel. "I guess she's not coming with us. How come?"

The chimera nodded his head, watching Em disappear up the trail. His intuition had been right after all. "Because...one person is greater than all of us. I'm not sure if I could do the same thing."

The brunette nodded. "Hai..."

-

---o--o--o---

-

Em ran like the wind.

Behind her, a nasty group of flying stingrays was gathering up in small clusters. Knowing they were too weak to attack, they kept massing for an attack that was to come. Their friends, so many of them, would be here sooner than later. They numbered so many that a full sky of them would surely block the sun--

She no longer had the chaos blade by her side.

The redhead ducked around the very table where she stood up to Turnip the day before. Behind her, a diving stingray hit the corner of the table in a feeble attempt as it lost control it steamrolled into the dirt by Em's feet.

The scientist stepped back, just managing to get splashed with a little mud. She was too busy concentrating on her past life -- how much simpler her life was without secrets, without a destiny. She believe so much in her future was awash with new ideas, new places.

And now she was going to sacrifice everything she believed in -- once again.

Third times a charm, she told herself.

Em finally reached the area where she had left Tiny and the other former slaves of Turnip. The tables they had fixed before were littered with pieces of dead stingray. She spotted a scattering of footprints in the sand, but the humans who made them were nowhere in sight.

The scientist scanned around, looking for clues where Tiny and his group had gone. At first, she thought maybe they had fled to the mansion where she grew up, but there were too many of them for all of them to trudge up the hill and already be out of sight. The cave was behind her, so that too was impossible.

She spotted a little puff of white smoke, easily coming from a window from within the grounded airship. Perhaps a cooking fire or something else, whatever it was it was a sign. She ran up to the door of the airship and knocked.

"Sashimi Palace. We grill you perfectly!" chimed Tiny's baritone voice.

Em turned around and swatted a couple of more waylaid stingrays that had flown just a little too close. Even the slapping action of the back of her hand was enough firepower to kill the detestable creatures.

"Get away from me!" Scared enough, she kicked the door. "Just let me in, damn it!"

Tiny opened the entrance just a crack. "Who's there?"

Before the big guy could act, Em shoved the tip of the door past Tiny's chin. She didn't spare one second as she slid right into the airship, closing the entrance door upon the pounding of stingrays.

"Oh wow, you certainly had company!" he said, leveling his hand near his neck.

Em tried not to think about swimming her body through a massive pile of seafood guts. "Let's just say I buy dinner next time,"

"Grilled stingray?" said Tiny, holding out a stick of steaming, rubbery fish. "It's got the perfect amount of chewyness."

"Uhh, thank you." She was taken back how spiced the seafood flesh was prepared. It gave the grilled item an aroma that smelled like a sooty fire. Nevertheless, she took one of the kabobs that Tiny held out with his hands.

"Is that all you want?" said the large man. He took the other grilled sticks and brought them back up to his eye level. "Hey guys, more stingray for me!"

Em followed her savior down the hallways of the grounded airship, tossing her untouched stingray bite down one of the open hallways. "Ahhh...that was so good!"

"You like? How about some more!"

"No thank you! That...errr...was perfect!"

"Suit yourself..."

As they traveled down the center passage of the ship, Em became more observant of her internal surroundings. She was surprised how close Turnip had been to completing the airship. If only the interior was almost completed. How...strange.

She stopped, looking at a trap door hatch onto the ceiling. Her father's assistants had always been quite precise with details, which was exactly why she was very surprised to find an engraving here. Something she knew about already, only too well.

Not the sign of the Cloudminders. But...of a bolt of lightning.

The scientist tugged on the nearby rope that ran down next to the ceiling hatch. Her curiosity released a trap door as was swung open by gravity. From above and inside, a heavyset rope ladder unfurled itself as its length dropped to the floor, giving her an invitation of passage up several stories.

Her guide turned around, watching as the redhead was already climbing the rope ladder. "Em?" But she had already pulled herself up, crossing into darkness at the same time.

As she reached pulled herself up, she found herself standing up in a sunlit octagonal room. Next to her a set of controls and levers looked quite familiar. But she didn't look at them carefully, because it was the high view that stole her attention. What was impressive with the cavernous windows was the sheer amount of light and view they showed. Sure, glass had been around for wine stems and such, but never had she seen such large windows in her lifetime.

So high she was the she was actually above the deck of the ship. The ground was patch marked with so many of the stingray creatures that they threatened to cover all the green of the land. She watched as a few stingrays ventured higher onto the bow of the ship, racing around the deck while looking for a way to get into the airship.

"Zel..." Em spotted her father's ship listing in the middle of the ocean, drifting away as fast as it could. No matter what, the chimera and his friends had to make it to the City of the Clouds. Any more delays could have them missing their appointed time.

And then from the opposite side of the peninsula, the stingrays were strangely advancing as if pushed by the gods themselves. The ocean below them...was on fire. It was a sign of powerful magic, pushing the advancing stingrays to sweep over the seas faster than inhumanly possible. If the stingrays didn't catch her friends, the unnatural-

"No..."

She spotted it the middle of the flames. The thought of him, here, was unbelievable. Never in her dreams...

Her bracelet around her wrist glowed with the intensity equal to the anger in her heart. Her mind...was scared. The awakened spirit within ignited with anger. This was a battle fought from decisions that time had long since forgotten, because it was the victors of war that write history, not the ones who are defeated.

"Wait up..." Poor Tiny was having a difficult time climbing the rope ladder since it caused his large body to wildly swaying back and forth. With a little strength and time however, he was able to get up and finally make it to the top.

Em leaned her nose onto the glass window, noticing the lever by the bottom of the window at the same time. She instinctively reached down and tugged on the handle, tilting the window open.

"Hey! You can't go out there! Those stingrays will see that you're up here and attack!"

The scientist turned around and winked at the huge man. "Trust me on this. They'll never know what hit them."

-

---o--o--o---

-

The blond swordsman let the wind blow his blond hair wild. He took a standing position on the bow of the little craft, delighting himself quite nicely in the wind. He slowly extended his arms ever so slightly-

"Gourry," interrupted the chimera, "you're suppose to be our look out, not the femme fatal!"

"Really?" said the blond, turning back around towards the stern of the ship. The chimera was neatly sitting in the corner of the stern, with his only hand on the ship's rudder. He also spotted Amelia, with her head leaning over the side of the craft-

"Seasick again?" asked Gourry.

Zelgadis chuckled. "She thought that a smaller craft wouldn't get her so badly. You should have seen her turn green when I mentioned that its smaller ships where you can feel it more..."

"Oh..."

They both heard it from where they came from. An earsplitting explosion, overwhelming their talk...

"What...was that!" pointed the swordsman.

Zel did a swift turn of his head, pulling out his telescope at the same time.

The peninsula was totally surrounded in blackness. From a distance, the chimera thought that a strange cloud had descended on their former position. But the closer look with his lens told him the air so choked with flying stingrays that it had turned light to darkness.

But that wasn't all the blackness...no, something else was stirring up the air. He pointed the telescoping lens down and was he surprised to see the redness of flames. A fire among the darkness. And in the middle of it all, was an outlined humanoid figure, enveloped in a sea of light...

And it was coming this way.

-

---o--o--o---

-

Em gently balanced herself along the window's edge, using her strong arms to boost herself up to the canopy's rooftop. In the path of increasing winds, the octagonal roof was not easy to maneuver around with its steep angles. Still, she was finally able to climb to a central small platform, hugging the spire as she stayed close to it, all for fear of being blown off her heavenly perch.

"Em! I can't help if you're all the way up there!" Tiny was having a difficult time balancing himself against the window's ledge. If he wasn't careful, his colossal body would fall out.

The scientist waved her guide away. "Go back inside! You can't help me out here!" A gust blew the scientist around a bit as she hung onto the spire, refusing to let the furious air win.

"Aiigghh!" bellowing the large man, as Tiny fell back safely into through the window.

Now, said Em to herself. A moment that could never forget.

It was time.

The tiara, from before. Em looked down at the mystical piece of jewelry, knowing that where it was taking her...was a one-way trip. She put it on, carefully centering it among her locks of auburn hair. Like a glove, the tiara wrapped itself safely among her curls of red hair, making a flower among the grouping by her ear.

A day before, she swore never to open and reveal its secrets. Yet, the letter from her mother had sworn to fulfill her destiny of time...

...and to the Cloudminders.

'I ran down the passages of their kingdom. I was scared for my life, for they wanted to take it from me. Next to my feet, lay the decaying body of my friend. And I could not stay and give him proper burial, for their guards with their terrible weapons would be upon me in mere minutes.'

'I was running away from them. I had to. There was no escape from their terrible lust for power. It was never a good thing, nor an evil thing. But more like...the wrong thing.'

'That is why, dearest daughter, I escaped with you. If they are able to track me down, and most defiantly they will, then I will need someone to carry on legacy. That is the gift I leave for you, dearest little one. For within the very palm of their tiny hands the Cloudminders...had the power to smash gods...'

'Bless them all....make sure that price is never paid...'

Her bracelet, her chaos partner, began to glow again...

"I...understand..." Em raised her hand into the air, letting the wind envelope around her body. It took instant hold as power erupted all around...

And she suddenly found herself floating in the sky...like a feather adrift in the wild...

"I...can't live anymore, as I was. I can't let them win, no matter the cost--"

The air turned deadly still, as if waiting and watching for the final crescendo.

A light.

No, a flame of hope.

And where something floated before was only energy that lit the sky as bright as the sun itself.

And silence.

-

---o--o--o---

-

"Why are we down here again?" asked Biru as he squinted through the port window. "I know! I'll sneak up there at night, and take the chaos blade from Lina's friend. Then we can get all the powers you mentioned before."

Thoth sighed. "For the last time, we can't just go topside and steal the chaos sword. Stone boy and his friends aren't just going to 'disappear' into thin air."

"But..."

"We'll wait," replied the old man. "for the moment. And then-"

Biru was too distracted with something outside the window to care. "That thing...its sure big," chimed the innkeeper, with his nose totally pressed down against the glass. Whatever was holding his attention was surely some sight.

"What are you blabbering about now?" responded Thoth, leaning over disheveled from all of Biru's troublemaking. So uncomfortable was the strain in Biru's voice that to gave to something definitely up.

The old man managed to get on his feet, nudging his partner out of the way. "Let me see..." Whatever irritated look he had on his face before immediately drained away as the small porthole filled with the light of heaven. "Oh... That is not a pretty sight..."

-

---o--o--o---

-

Amelia watched in awe at the bright reflection in the chimera's eyes. Light like a feather from a newborn dove. Light that could not even compare with the powers of Mazoku nor a Dragon.

So reflective were the chimera's eyes that Amelia was caught just in the power of the reflection...and the first tear she even seen from the chimera.

It was beautiful...

"Em..." Zel kneeled, almost begging for forgiveness. "Why didn't I see it..."

"...Cepheid," blessed the princess, "have mercy on all our souls..."

-

---o--o--o---

-

Another chapter done. Yippee! Next one...very soon. Have it written, just putting the final bits together...

A little dedication of this chapter to my non-ff.net friend Erika. Thank you, for keeping me on the side away from the blues... Don't you dare be blue now, my friend.

- Incantrix

incantrix @ dreamclouds.com

-

---o--o--o---