Ari quickly realized that he wasn't home. The world he in was a mirror image of his own.
"So Delilah was wrong," he muttered. "It's not a mirror image of the Shadow Lands; it's whatever world you happen to be from."
Nothing moved in this strange world. There were no birds, no insects. Even in winter there was something or someone on the road in Ari's world. Here, there weren't even ghosts. Ari recognized the area, though, and started walking in what he thought was the direction of Tenel. He knew he was going the right way when passed the circus tent, even though it was on the wrong side of the road.
Someone was at the tent. Ari waved and shouted a greeting, but the person, one of the acrobats, ignored him. Ari called a little louder, but he finally gave up and kept walking. He was a bit worried, however. He hadn't been completely ignored like that in a long time. People still tended to forget he was in a room and things like that, but they hadn't outright ignored him since before Beiloune had fallen, and Classification with him. Ari decided not to pursue that train of thought; if this world was a reflection of his, thinking about being one of the Ignored could be dangerous.
He didn't really expect to see Tenel intact, but afterward, he had to mentally kick himself. Of course, it would be intact; that's how he remembered it best. The same went for his house. As he walked up the steps, his feeling of intense nervousness increased about tenfold. The fountain was there, of course, but the water was frozen in place. Not ice, either. It was just stopped. Annie stood in front of it. Ari noticed right away that she didn't have a shadow; it was kind of hard to miss something so brightly colored.
"Annie?" Ari ventured. He didn't know what to expect, but he was surprised when she turned her head toward him. There was no life her eyes.
"Annie!" Ari said louder. The image of Annie merely continued to stare at him. It seemed to want to tell him something very important, but it said nothing. Ari moved into the house. The image of his father was standing in the foyer. Like Annie, his father said nothing, but merely stared. Ari walked past and up the stairs towards his and Stan's rooms.
His mother was standing outside the door to Stan's room. She turned as Ari approached; her eyes, though lifeless as the others' had been, seemed to be willing him to understand something. Although Ari was chilled to the bone, he knew where he needed to be.
"Let me in," he said hesitantly.
The Image blinked slowly and shook its head. It will be one of us, it whispered into his mind.
Ari drew his sword, which seemed to startle the Image. "No!" he said vehemently. "I won't let you!"
It shuddered and took a step away. Ari raised his sword and rushed it, scaring it away completely. He sheathed his sword and put his hand on the doorknob.
Stan was looking out the window. He had been here for so long he no longer cared how long. Being in the false world of the Simulacrum was taking its toll; he was becoming less real. His shadow was very faint, and he was beginning to lose his voice.
The first sound he had heard in eternity almost didn't register. He turned as the door finally opened.
"Stan!" Ari exclaimed.
Stan cringed slightly and blinked. "You…talk?"
"Stan, it's me!" Ari pronounced excitedly. "The real me."
Stan shook his head. He seemed to be having trouble comprehending. "Ari?"
"Yeah! Your slave! Ari! Me! Are you okay?"
Stan sighed and sank to the floor. "Get…me…out of here," he said slowly. His voice was raspy and weak from disuse; he hadn't spoken in months. He was very pale, but his color and some of his old vitality came back when he realized Ari was really there.
"Come on, Stan," Ari said. He held out a hand, but Stan brushed him away.
"I'm not an invalid," Stan rasped. "I'm just not feeling well. You're carrying me out of here because I don't feel like walking." Ari smiled and held still while Stan shifted into his shadow form and took over Ari's shadow. "Now, slave!" Stan yelled as loud as his voice would let him. "Get me out of here!"
"Right away, master," Ari said with complete sincerity. Just this once, he was more than happy to play the willing servant for Stan.
Rosalyn sighed and walked around. It was well after midnight, and she was dead on her feet. If she sat down, she'd fall asleep; but if she didn't sit, she'd fall. She couldn't go to sleep. Something could come out of there at any moment.
Out of the corner of her eye, she thought she saw the black flashing of the Stone Circle grow brighter as though something had come through. She whirled around, all senses alert, but there was nothing there. She relaxed unwillingly back into her sleep-deprived, dead-tired mode.
"Come on, Rosalyn," she muttered. "Get with it here."
"Yes, Rosalyn, get with it," someone whispered.
Rosalyn whirled around, but there was no one there. "Great, now I'm hearing things."
"Yes, hearing things, that's all," whispered the voice. "You should just ignore the ramblings of your puny, mortal mind."
Rosalyn started to nod agreement, then stopped dead. Most of that, she could agree with, but she certainly wouldn't have thought "puny, mortal".
"Oh, no," she groaned. Something had come through the portal. She yanked her rapier out of its sheath. "Show yourself, you coward!" she called into the empty night air.
"A coward, are we?" whispered Legion. "Do mortals truly consider us so fearful of them? No matter." The air shimmered and a pink blob full of glowing red eyes and gaping, tooth-lined mouths appeared directly in front of Rosalyn. She screamed and jumped backward, then tripped on a rock and fell. That was probably what saved her life.
Legion shot out a tentacle that passed centimeters above Rosalyn's head as she fell. She rolled to the side and jumped to her feet while simultaneously swinging her sword toward the tentacle. She connected, but its hide was so yielding that her sword did no damage. She backed away and cautiously circled it, looking for some kind of an opening. Legion chuckled nastily, then opened its mouths and screamed. Rosalyn couldn't even think to move; all she could do was watch helplessly as Legion descended upon her.
"You will be one of us," it whispered.
"Rosalyn!" yelled Ari's voice. Somehow, that broke the spell on Rosalyn, and she was able to get away. Her body was shaking uncontrollably with fear reaction, but at least she could move again. She looked and saw Ari standing just outside the Stone Circle with Stan, in solid form, right behind him.
"Get out of here, Legion," Stan demanded. His voice was a lot better now.
"Shadow King!" it exclaimed, surprised and angered.
"That's right!" Stan agreed. "And if you know what's good for you, you'll march all yourselves right back through that portal." He smirked. "Go ahead. I won't stop you."
Legion screamed, but Stan was completely unimpressed. "Please," Stan said. "I'm in a very bad mood. Give me a reason."
It did. Legion threw itself toward Stan and Ari. Ari got out of the way, but Stan stood his ground and was engulfed. Both Ari and Rosalyn shouted, but they may as well not have. Legion's entire body convulsed and blew into hundreds of tiny shadow creatures, leaving Stan completely unscathed and looking very happy indeed. Legion swarmed around him, fleeing back into the Diablerie. Once the last of it had gone, Stan put his hands on the stone. It flashed brightly for an instant; the sound of rock breaking under tremendous pressure echoed across the hills, and the top half of the stone slid to the ground. The door was closed again.
Rosalyn sank to the ground. "What was that?"
"Legion," Stan answered nonchalantly as he brushed dust off his hands.. "It doesn't like humans very much."
"I'll say." She was still shaking, but she stood up again.
Stan noticed this and chuckled. "Don't worry; it's a perfectly normal reaction. For a weak, human female."
"Weak!" Rosalyn yelled. She wasn't shaking anymore, nor was she falling asleep. "I'll show you weak!" She still had her rapier in her hand, so she pointed it at Stan's throat. He didn't react except to smirk. "You're flesh this time," Rosalyn pointed out. "I can run you through now!"
"Then who'll fix your shadow?" Stan asked reasonably. Before Rosalyn could react to his logic, something thumped. Ari had fainted.
Rosalyn rushed to his side, Stan a heartbeat behind. "Ari!" Rosalyn exclaimed. "What's wrong?"
"These look like Shadowle bites," Stan said. "Damn it! He even told me he'd gotten bit, too! Help me get him to the village."
The Highlands village was a quiet little place. They had never had anything to do with Evil Kings and such until Beiloune created the Vampire Evil King and placed him there to stop Stan from getting to the World Library. After his defeat there, the simple villagers resumed their normal, boring lives. Nothing ever happened there, which is why two people running frantically toward the inn carrying a third, obviously injured person almost didn't register.
Rosalyn beat on the door of the inn; it was getting close to dawn, but it was still too early for the inn to open. She hammered on the door and shouted, but it seemed the innkeeper was ignoring them. The few people out and about this early, or possibly this late, watched them with a dulled expression of mild confusion.
"Stand back," said Stan as he readied an energy bolt.
"You can't just blow up the door!" Rosalyn protested.
"Watch me!"
Luckily for the inn, the owner took that moment to open the door. Stan recalled his shot and banished it, although he regretted doing so very quickly.
"The inn is closed!" the man gruffly.
"Please! Our friend is injured!" Rosalyn explained.
"The inn is closed," he said. "You'll have to take him somewhere else."
"But, sir-"
"Out of the way, geezer!" Stan said, hoisting Ari over his shoulder and shoving his way into the door. He kicked open the first door he came to and shouted, "Clear out!" A very confused and frightened couple rushed out the door wearing nothing but a sheet between them.
Rosalyn muttered something, torn between respect for Stan for just getting the job done and annoyance at the manner in which he was doing it. "I'm really sorry about this," she told the couple. "Our friend is injured and poisoned, and Stan is being extremely overzealous, not that I blame him, I mean Ari could die any minute…" She knew she was babbling, but the couple seemed to calm down, and the woman even offered her sympathies.
"Get in here, woman!" Stan roared.
"Oh, all right, already!" Rosalyn yelled back. "I'm really, really sorry about this," she said one last time to everyone who had opened their doors and peaked out to see what was going on. She backed through the door still apologizing. Once she had gotten through and shut it, she whirled on Stan. "You know, there are other ways to get things done."
"None that would have been fast enough," Stan countered. "Now get over here and help me."
"What do I have to do?"
"Just heal him while I burn out the poison."
Rosalyn raised her eyebrows. "Come again?"
Stan had, up to this point, been checking the worst of the bites and watching Ari's breathing to make sure the poison hadn't made it to his lungs yet. Now, he looked up at Rosalyn with a strange mixture of expressions, not the least of which was extreme annoyance. "You're the Great Hero. Don't you know how to use your power?"
"Of course, I do!"
"Then get over here and help me!" He jerked her parasol away and grabbed her hands.
Rosalyn nearly yanked them back, but she knew Stan was only trying to save Ari for whatever reason was going through his head. She cleared her throat and said, "Okay, now what?"
"Just hold them here," he answered, placing both her hands over Ari's chest. "And concentrate on him being well. Close your eyes, if it helps."
She did as she was told. Although she was very leery to trust Stan, he seemed relatively sincere. She felt Stan's power mingle with hers, then, and an involuntary shiver went down her spine. It was very dark, very cold, and very old.
She didn't have time to think much after that, but she couldn't help but wonder why someone so evil and uncaring would go to these lengths to save a mere servant.
Ari burned from the inside out. He felt like his head would explode any second. Sickening shades of green, red, and yellow swirled behind his closed eyelids. He knew he had fallen when fire suddenly overwhelmed him. From there, the pain grew gradually worse.
The colors were replaced by a chilling darkness that made him want to run away, but he couldn't move. He watched helplessly as Legion reared up before him and engulfed him, and then he was spiraling downwards into an endless void. His throat burned as he tried to shout, but no sound came. Demons laughed as he struggled to do something, anything. They mocked his attempts to break free.
The colors came back, then, but they were all around him, spinning faster and faster. He wanted to scream, to cry, to laugh, anything. Anything to make noise; anything to move, even if it was only a finger.
Suddenly, he felt himself engulfed in a warm, white light. The color gave way to darkness; the demons screamed their anger, but were forced to fall silent. The burning subsided to a bearable level, then it was gone.
Ari opened his eyes ever so slightly to see both Stan and Rosalyn hovering over him. Stan was holding Rosalyn's hands, and a grayish glow was surrounding them. Rosalyn's eyes were closed, and she didn't move; Stan, however, had his eyes open, and he tilted his head slightly to give Ari a look of warning that said as plainly as if he had spoken, "Not a word!"
Ari smiled slightly and closed his eyes again. This time, he fell asleep.
Rosalyn had a feeling. She couldn't really describe it, it was just this really creepy feeling, and she knew it had something to do with Stan. Even once it had left her, she felt very cold. Somehow, she knew this was a feeling that would never leave her.
She opened her eyes and looked around. Her head hurt when she moved it, and several joints pooped. "How long have we been here?" she asked. It hadn't seemed that long.
"About an hour, I'd say," Stan said casually. He stood and stretched.
"Are you kidding?" Rosalyn said dubiously as she followed suit. Despite her muscles chorusing agreement to this statement, she didn't want to believe it.
"You were in a trance." Stan chuckled malevolently. "You're just lucky I was more interested in keeping my slave alive than killing you. I could have done it, and you wouldn't have known a thing."
"Oh, shut up!" Rosalyn said.
Stan shushed her. "He needs to rest," he said, gesturing towards Ari. "He can't do that with you running your big mouth."
Rosalyn opened her mouth to say something, but she choked it back with some difficulty. Much as she hated to admit it, Stan was right; Ari needed to sleep. In a much quieter tone, she said, "Not that I'm not grateful for your help…"
"Which you're not," Stan muttered.
Rosalyn took a deep breath and continued. "But why did you want to save Ari?"
"What? You think I'm completely heartless? Don't answer that. If you must know, he's the only slave I've got left. Unless you'd like the position…?"
Rosalyn just scoffed at him.
Stan shrugged. "Good, because I wouldn't have accepted. Who wants an inept, sorry excuse for a pink porker Hero as his slave, anyway?"
Rosalyn got about halfway through the word "why" before she managed to silence herself. Stan was baiting her simply so that he could tell her off again, and she wasn't going to let him. Instead, she turned her back to look out the window, and resolved not to listen to another word he had to say.
Her resolve lasted until his next comment.
Several people had gathered outside the room Stan had claimed. A few of them were nice enough to donate some clothing to the evicted newlyweds, and now, everybody was talking to them. They all wanted to know what was going on, and the poor couple had no answers, except to say that someone was hurt.
Suddenly, they heard a shout and just managed to get out of the way as something came crashing through the door, was flung against the wall, and fell to the floor amid a chorus of screams and moans. Stan slowly picked himself up and rubbed the back of his head before looking back through the door. Rosalyn was standing with her arms folded, her feet slightly apart, and wearing a very satisfied expression. Ari slept through the whole thing.