Disclaimer: I don't own Baten Kaitos, or anything related to it. If I did, I wouldn't have to wait for BKII now would I? Oh well, I just got to wait just like everyone else...

Chapter IX: Secret Left Untold

The blue haired man looked up at the room he had been thrown in, and the people there with him. He was in the cockpit of the airship. The pilot and the copilot sat in a pair of seats on the far side of the cockpit, looking out the window at the landscape beyond. In front of the pilot and copilot were more levers, buttons, and gages than the blue haired man cared to count. They must have been flying in the middle of a storm, though the airship was flying very smoothly, because it was impossible to see what was outside, it looked like they might be flying in the middle of a blizzard. A dark grey sky and swirling flecks of snow made it hard to see beyond the glass of the cockpit. Standing between the two pilots and the blue haired man, was Morjidza, wearing his black fur cloak, making it impossible for the blue haired man to know if he had a weapon at hand or not. He felt hate burn inside him, like a fire. He wanted to snap Morjidza like a dry twig, kill him if he got the chance…

"You want to kill me don't you?" said Morjidza calmly, "I'm not surprised. Though I would have thought our last encounter would have made you a little more cautious."

"Shut up!" snapped the blue haired man, venomously, "What have you done with the others?"

"Nothing," said Morjidza, sounding like he was telling the honest truth, "They're all someplace safe, very much alive." He smiled at the blue haired man, "They are valuable to me only if they are alive, and I shall make sure they stay that way. I won't let them escape, but I shall not lead them to their deaths… yet. You're the only one I'm going to kill. You're too much of a threat." Morjidza smiled at his prone victim, who was glaring at Morjidza with a look of absolute hate, "There will be no honorable death for Kalas, I can assure you," he said, sounding like he was enjoying every minute of this, "There will be no fight to the death. I shall make sure that you die slowly, cold, alone, and lost in your own misery."

"I'm going to-" started the blue haired man, trying to stand up. The sudden motion sent a spike of pain through his injured leg as if he had been sliced again. He fell back with a yell, curling up in pain.

Morjidza laughed, "What are you going to do?" he asked tauntingly, walking to where the blue haired man lay, curled up in a little ball of agony, "You can barely stand. What can you possibly do to stop me?" He kicked viciously at the blue haired man, who could do little more than try to block out the pain, as he was unarmed, alone, and could not even stand on his own…

That night, as Allyr slept as soundly as a log, and somewhere far away, Morjidza was in the throws of another nightmare, Kalas floated just above the roof of Allyr's home, staring at the distant sky. Allyr lived on the outskirts of the city, so the lights from the city dimmed out many of the stars. This was unsettling to Kalas, as far as he knew, the only place in his world were light pollution was a problem was in Mintaka, the Imperial Capital. There was something disquieting about not being able to see all the stars because humans had so many lights on. Still, there were a few stars still shining in the sky, and there was the moon, a waning gibbous, hanging bright and swollen in the night sky.

Kalas had been floating there, completely immobile, ever since Allyr had fallen asleep. Looking up at the distant sky, completely silent. He had been trying to forget the vision he had, he wanted nothing more than to forget. He had been trying to forget everything ever since he came to this world. Forget about his world. Forget about his home. Forget about his friends. Forget about his wife, Xelha. Forget about…

Kalas looked down at the dark gray tiles of the roof, thinking about forgetting did help at all. He still wanted to forget, he wanted nothing more than to forget, but he could not. In his mind's eye he kept seeing that vision, the one that the illusion monster had shown him, over, and over, and over, and over, and over…

Some part of him wanted to not believe what he saw. Wanted it to just be an illusion, a trick, and nothing more. Some other part, maybe the part of him that had fought against death, had a faint hope that it could be true, that it could still happen, wanted to believe that there was still hope. And yet another part of him, maybe the only bit of him that had become indifferent to the pain, just thought that the vision was just what might have been, and could never be. And still yet another part of him just wanted to let himself fall apart, forget about self-control and just mourn all the things he could never have again. But he could not even do that. Spirits could not cry. It was strange, now that he could not cry, it occurred to him just what a power it was. It was like letting a poison out of the soul, and now he was denied even that simple act.

He looked back up at the sky, taking some comfort in the only thing here that was familiar to him: the night sky. He had debated for a long time whether or not to tell Allyr about that he had seen. There was no real reason to hide it from her. Except… there came that part of him that wanted to forget. It doesn't have anything to do with Allyr, he though, So why should I let her in on it? It's just so… personal. Maybe it is just better to forget. I can never go back home, maybe I should just try not to think about it, and everything I'll never be a part of. He gazed up at the sky, and the stars that suddenly seemed very cold. It's strange how much this is bothering me, thought Kalas, thinking about the vision again, How long ago did I find out? A month maybe, at the very most, before Wazn was attacked anyway. I've barely known about this thing for a month and already the thought of loosing it is driving me insane.

He looked back down at the tiles of the roof, feeling strangely empty. At least he was not alone here. Allyr was here, and she was probably the only thing that kept him from loosing his mind, the only anchor that kept him from falling apart. He took some comfort in that. Even so, he still felt like he was on a battered raft in the middle of the Ocean, with nothing but endless water from horizon to horizon. Sure, Allyr was on the raft with him, and he was grateful for it, but he would still die of thirst while surrounded by endless water.

He looked back up at the sky, it's swollen moon, and the few stars scattered across the sky like diamonds on black velvet. Am I being punished? Thought Kalas, for the thousandth time since he had died, Is this happening to me because I'm being punished for the things I did in life?

He stared at the moon, almost as if expecting an answer to his silent plea. He began to wonder vaguely, if he ever were offered a chance to come back to life, would he take it? He did not know. The illusion monster seemed to have taken his hope when it showed him his heart's desire. Or maybe his hope had died with his body. It was just… hell he could not even die properly, was there any hope at all? Maybe it just did not matter any more.

He was already in Hell.

"Vivian please, you're going to hurt yourself." Said a tired Allyr.

"YOU ALMOST GOT YOURSELF KILLED!" shouted Vivian in a panic, waving her arms around, "AGAIN!"

"I know, I know," said Allyr, calmly, trying to calm her friend down, "But it wasn't a big deal. We killed the evil monster, saved the damsel in distress, and went on our way."

"Takei's going to KILL you if he hears you call him that!" Said Vivian looking worried and on the edge of hysteria.

It was the next day and Allyr had been leaving school to be ambushed by Vivian, whom Allyr suspected as having been waiting for her near her car. Vivian had heard on the radio about the strange animal corpse that had been found yesterday in a public basketball court, and wanted to know if it had anything to do with Allyr and Kalas. Allyr quickly summarized what had happened, which resulted in Vivian exploding with worry.

"Vivian, please calm down," said Allyr opening the driver side door to her car, "Here, I'll take you home and we can talk about this on the way." And then people will stop staring at us thinking Vivi's nuts. She thought, giving a hard stare to a freshman boy who had been looking at Vivian as if she were nuts. The freshman looked at Allyr nervously, as she glared at him, just daring him to make a joke. He took off when Allyr did not stop staring at him. As soon as he took off Allyr's attention returned to her friend.

"No," said Vivian, who had not noticed Allyr glaring at the unfortunate freshman, "You're going to just tell me to not worry about this. I'm going to worry! Some nut job is trying to kill you! How can I not worry?"

"Vivian," whispered Allyr so no one else could hear her, "Kalas and I are perfectly capable of taking care of ourselves. We'll stay on our toes, but worrying about won't make it any easier. When you worry it's infectious and makes us worry. So cheer up, okay?"

"Now you're referring to yourself in the plural," said Vivian, looking like she was going to have a breakdown of some kind, "The world's ending…"

Allyr sighed, "Vivi," she started. She forgot what she was going to say when Allyr noticed that her friend had gone white and was looking at something behind Allyr. "What?" said Allyr. She turned around to see what Vivian was staring at. Behind her was a long stretch of grass the doubled as the soccer field and track course. It was to the left of the school building and at the back of the parking lot. It was not particularly big, but it was still a pretty good sized field. There was no one and nothing there.

Except for a little girl. She stood about thirty feet away from Allyr and Vivian on the field. Her skin, hair, and simple dress were white. Her hair braided and beaded hung around her face. Her eyes that were nothing but black looked at them, their owner's intent hidden. Something about that gaze fixed Allyr in place, as if they made her forget how to move. Some deep instinct inside Allyr screamed at her to get away. This is no place to be! It seemed to shout at her. The little girl, completely calm, turned around and started to walk away, as if bored. Allyr, despite her strong, and probably more intelligent, instincts, ran in off in the direction of the little girl.

"What are you doing Allyr!" shouted Vivian after Allyr. Allyr did not seem to hear her friend. She covered the few feet the separated her from the little girl, but as soon as she was within ten feet of the little girl, she vanished. Allyr slowed from a sprint to a walk. She stopped and looked at where the little girl had vanished. She had just faded away, as if she had just been a hallucination. It would be just my luck if I'm starting to have hallucinations. Thought Allyr glumly as she looked at where the little girl had vanished. She walked over to where the girl had been standing and kneeled down to examine the grass, when she noticed something odd about it.

Vivian was standing behind Allyr five seconds later. She was not exactly in shape, and was panting for breath after that short sprint, "What… were you… thinking?" panted Vivian, "Do you… want someone… to kill you?"

"Take a look at this," said Allyr, still looking at the grass.

"It's grass Allyr," said Vivian, "What's so special…" she trailed off when she noticed what was abnormal about it. Where the little girl had stood the grass was brown and decayed, looking very dead. The grass around the patch looked as green and healthy as ever. But there were what appeared to be tracks in the grass, where the grass had died, marking where the little girl had stood.

"What'd you know…" said Allyr to herself, thinking.

"Great!" said Vivian, throwing her arms into the air, "Now you're being stalked by something that can kill grass with a touch. A touch! Just a touch, that's all it takes!"

"You don't know that she's stalking me," Argued Allyr. She sensed Kalas's discomfort, as if he was trying to hide something. She had only vaguely noticed him, like a thought that does not really form in the mind, or a memory that is only half-remembered. "Kalas," she said warningly, "What are you hiding? And don't say nothing!" added Allyr before Kalas could say anything, "When you say it's nothing it's always a big deal." Something clicked in Allyr's brain, "Did you see this girl before Kalas?" she asked.

"Was it that obvious?" said Kalas surprised.

"Yeah," said Allyr looking over her shoulder up at him, "It was pretty easy to guess. Where'd you see her before?"

"You're not about to give me any breaks are you?" said Kalas. Allyr gave him a look that clearly told him to tell her now or she would give him hell. "Fine! I'll tell you!" he said giving in, "I've… I've seen her twice before."

"Twice!" said Allyr, alarmed, "And you never told me about this?"

"The first time I thought I was hallucinating," he said shortly, "I saw her just before I died. I saw her again right before the Sabre dragon attacked us."

"Wait, you saw her back in your own world?" asked Allyr.

"Yeah," said Kalas, his tone saying that he thought that this should be obvious, "I died in Wazn. And that's back home."

"How exactly did you die then?" asked Ally. She had wanted to know this for a long time, and regretted asking Kalas to not relieve his death for her before.

"What does that have to do with this?" asked Kalas.

So much for catching him off-guard. Thought Allyr, who had been hoping that Kalas would tell her without thinking about it.

"Are you feeling all right?" asked someone to Allyr's right. She and Vivian looked over at one of the teachers who had apparently been walking out to his car when he saw Allyr and Vivian looking at a patch of dead grass and talking to thin air.

"Oh… yeah… uh… we're fine." Said Allyr standing up, "Nothing's up."

"Are you sure?" asked the teacher.

"Yes!" Said Vivian, grabbing Allyr by the arm, "We were just leaving. Right Allyr?"

"Uh… right." Said Allyr as she allowed herself to be led away by Vivian. Before she really processed the thought, she was in the car, Vivian in the passenger seat, driving her energetic friend home.

"Vivi," said Allyr five minutes later after she got her bearings back, looking at Vivian out of the corner of her eye, "You're fidgeting with your hair again, that means you're worried. What's up?"

"Its…" started Vivian, "That girl we saw…"

"It's just a little girl!" said Allyr laughing.

"She vanished right in front of our eyes!" argued Vivian, "And the grass died where she stood. And she's stalking you."

"There's no proof that she's stalking me," said Allyr.

"You're not bothered by this at all are you?" asked Vivian.

"Nope," said Allyr shrugging, "Not really. I mean," she added, "This girl hadn't done anything other than stare at me and Kalas. What's there to worry about?"

"What if she was sent by what's-his-face, this guy that wants you dead?" asked Vivian.

"Then we're in trouble." Said Kalas dully.

"Don't be pessimistic Kalas!" said Allyr, "She hasn't done anything to either of us, other than freak us out a bit. What's she gonna do, seriously? Stare at us?"

"Since when did you join the optimist club?" said Kalas glumly, "She hasn't done anything yet. What if she's just waiting for the right moment?"

"Sure she is," said Allyr.

"Why are you so happy Allyr?" said Vivian, "You've basically got the threat of death hanging you're your head, and you're doing just fine."

"Well," started Allyr, "There's nothing to seriously worry about. We've been able to take care of everything Morjidza's thrown at us, so why worry? What could be possibly do that could be a serious threat?"

Oh damn, thought Kalas, Which of the thousand ways is this going to go wrong?

Morjidza's summoning ritual was complete. He was standing in a pentagram, outlined with curly runes, made with fresh human blood. In front of his was a second pentagram similar, though not identical to his own. He was standing in a cold room, made entirely from ice. The furniture had been removed. White wax candles littered the floor, each burning silently as bubbling wax dripped down the side, which miraculously did not melt the ice of the floor. Morjidza wore his fur cloak to keep the cold off, hoping that would allow him to concentrate better. Maybe I should have picked a place other than Wazn, he thought, Too bad. If only someplace like Anuenue had been vulnerable. He shook his head to bring his thoughts back to the present. He looked up at the second pentagram and at the woman staring at him from inside it.

She was easily as tall as he was. Her spiky black hair fell down to her waist. Her high-heeled black boots gave her additional height, though she did not need the extra inch to seem imposing. Her pants were made of black leather, and her shirt was a form-fitting dark red V-neck. She had her arms crossed across her chest as if she was waiting for something to happen, her nails a little longer and pointier than would be considered normal. Her eyes were red, the bright red of fresh blood, and the pupils were slits like the eyes of a cat.

"What do you want?" asked the woman, her voice impatient and hard.

"I seek something that only you can give." Said Morjidza, starting the command properly.

The woman snorted, "What is it?" she asked impatiently, "Do you want gold? Then you should have summoned Greed. Do you want beauty of some sort? Then I'm sure Vanity would have loved to help you. Do you want a woman to fall in love with you? Then you should have bothered to get Love herself."

"I do not seek gold, beauty or love," said Morjidza, becoming impatient himself, "I want an enemy to fall."

"Typical," said the woman rolling her unnatural eyes, "An assassination. I should have guessed."

"Stop complaining!" snapped Morjidza, "You are bound to my will! You will do my bidding whether you will to or not!"

"Do not think to highly of yourself mortal," said the woman scathingly, "I do not cater to the will of insects because I want to." Her voice became deadly quiet, thought still loud enough to hear, "If you make one, just one, mistake. I swear I shall take every advantage of it."

Morjidza smiled, "I would expect nothing less."

The woman smiled at him, and her incisors were noticeably longer than normal. "Good," she said. "I'm glad that we have been able to straighten this out. Now, who is it you want me to take care of then?"

"Better," said Morjidza, clapping his hands together as if a dog had just preformed an amazing trick, "I think you are finally getting the hang of this."

The woman scowled, "Just tell me who it is, where they are and get this over with."

"She is a woman from another world," started Morjidza, "Find her and kill her."

The woman in the pentagram blinked, "What?" she said, "Not even a name? What can I go on then?" she snapped, clearly fuming, "And she's even in another world. How the hell do you expect me to find her, if I have nothing to go on?"

"I shall show you," said Morjidza. He reached into his cloak, rifled around for a minute, the pulled out a small mirror. It's not quite my Looking glass, he thought, But it should work all the same. He breathed on it, his breath fogging the mirror. He turned it so the woman could look into it. An image swam into view in the mirror. It was of a woman of about nineteen with long brown hair. She was with another woman about her age with long blonde hair. Though there was no sound, it was clear that the blonde was panicking about something. "The one with the brown hair," said Morjidza, tapping the glass with a finger, "That's her."

"She seems plain to me," said the woman in the pentagram, as if looking at something not particularly interesting or stimulating under a microscope, "What's so special about her?"

"She's bound to a Guardian Spirit," said Morjidza flatly, "And a fairly powerful one. They have already slain two of the monsters I have sent after them. With little effort."

"Impatient aren't you?" said the woman in the pentagram, still looking at the mirror, "Two monsters and you give up. Interesting."

"Just find her and kill her!" snapped Morjidza, "Return to me when you have completed this task!"

"You yourself are interesting," started the woman, looking up at Morjidza with blood red eyes, "You could almost pass for human. I imagine you were human at some point." Her eyes seemed to sparkle with amusement, "But you forfeited that, didn't you? I'm curious… how?"

"That has nothing to do with this task!" snapped Morjidza. Now came the point where the Immortal would say things he did not want to hear.

The woman laughed, "I'm merely curious," she said, "Humanity is not something merely tossed away like an unwanted Magnus. Though I have heard somewhere down the line… that you are a servant of Malpercio? I wouldn't be surprised if that has something to do with it."

"SILENCE!" shouted Morjidza, "You will hold your tongue and go on with your task!"

"For a servant of Malpercio, you're rather careless," said the woman, drowning out Morjidza, "I'm surprised that you've let this…" she paused, as if trying to think of the right word, "… This thing go unnoticed."

Morjidza stared at the woman, curious. Immortals had a strange way of knowing things that they could not, or should not know. Immortals could not lie, so his skepticism was minimal. She could just be referring to something completely irrelevant or minor however. She could be doing this to waste his time and purposely annoy him. "And what makes you think I'm 'careless' exactly?" he asked, giving her a look that clearly demanded an answer.

"That boy you killed," she started, "The one with the blue hair? Remember him?"

"Spirited little bastard," muttered Morjidza, "Yes, I remember him." When the woman smiled at him, the blood drained from his face, "He didn't-" Morjidza started, his voice failing to conceal his fear.

"He did not survive," said the woman, clearly having fun. When Morjidza visibly relaxed a little, she continued, "He has been forever lost to the Ice. But he left a little something behind, something of which you should have long since known about. Something which just might hamper your ambitions."

"What is it then?" asked Morjidza impatiently, "You are bound to my will, tell me what it is he left behind that seems to carry such a threat?"

She told him, a broad smile on her face, clearly enjoying bringing Morjidza this news.

Morjidza gave her a mildly surprised look. Only mildly. "You would probably want to know," said the woman, who looked like she could do this for many hours, many times, "That this threat is… say… unborn? This is merely something in the making, that will come."

Morjidza relaxed visibly, and then he laughed. A sharp laugh that was almost like the bark of a large dog, "That is supposed to be a threat?" he laughed again, looking as if he had just been told the funniest joke he had ever heard, "That is hardly a danger! I thought he had really had left behind something that could pose a threat to me!"

The woman's smile did not falter, "Sure, it might not be a threat now," she said, completely undaunted by Morjidza's complete lack of concern, "But what about in say… twenty years? Surely you hope to keep your little empire going for more than two decades. I thought you had more ambition then that." She added shrugging.

He laughed again, "That's no guarantee!" he said, "It would not take long to eliminate that threat, if it ever showed any signs of becoming a problem."

"You're afraid," said the woman bluntly, "Just face it, and don't try to hide it, I can even smell your fear. That blue haired boy is dead but you will die by his hand, one way or another."

Morjidza was immediately thrown into a rage to shake mountains, "SILENCE!" he shouted at the woman who seemed to be enjoying the reaction she had goaded out of Morjidza, "GO AND COMPLETE YOUR TASK!"

"Fine, fine," said the woman, sounding almost bored, "It's time to get this over with." Morjidza snapped his fingers, and the woman vanished.

She's a bitch, that Immortal, thought Morjidza bitterly as he stepped out of his pentagram, But as long as she gets the damn job done, I don't care. He walked to the door to the room and walked out. He walked out to the balcony that looked down upon the rest of the palace. He was at the top of the Grand Staircase that ran from the ground floor all the way here, to the topmost floor of the Wazn palace. It was like the spine of some giant animal, reaching down seemingly for miles and miles. Morjidza could see people walking to and fro, up and down the Staircase. Some got off to corridors or rooms that lead off the Staircase. It was like a giant machine of humans and ice, constantly at work, and the gears never needed greasing.

Everything he had aspired to was finally becoming his. This island was his. Its people were his. And soon, everything else would be his, and through him his beloved master Malpercio would have his vengeance.

And yet…

Morjidza leaned on the rails of the balcony, silently cursing the cold. What about the Immortal's warning? It seemed so… insignificant. The big threat was dead, and all the other big ones were locked up in cells in the deepest dungeons of the palace. He had nothing to fear. He had already been promised victory, so should he even worry about this… thing that seemed to carry such a weight? What if this thing that Kalas left behind did lead to his fall? Why did it bother him so much to begin with? Even if it did ever present a threat, it would only become so many years from now. If it ever shows signs of becoming a problem, as he had told the Immortal, it would not be hard to eliminate that threat. Still, just the thought of such a thing existing made him feel strangely insecure. Morjidza looked down unblinkingly at the scene below him, as the Immortal's words continued to ring in his ears:

"He has a daughter."

Three guesses what the 'Secret Left Untold' is.

As I have not the faintest clue how people are going to react to this, I'll go and hide in my bomb shelter again...