Darkness Before the Dawn
Chapter 12
"What did I miss," Xellos asks as he appears with Filia between Lina and Zelgadis who are plastered against the ground. One quick glance at Ralnker is all Xellos needs to see before he understands the situation. "Ah, so does our madman friend have a name."
Filia screams as she begins to witness the power of chaos first hand.
"He's Ralnker," Lina says in annoyance as Filia's scream dies out. "Ralnker the Gold, and he is being a real pain!"
"hmm," Xellos puts a finger to his chin. "I think I've heard of him."
"Why didn't you say anything sooner you stupid Mazoku," Lina cries.
"Hold on! I want to know how long Xellos has known what I've looked like in my astral form!" Zelgadis shouts at Xellos.
"Oh goody, you're talking with that annoying mouth of yours," Xellos says as Zelgadis shakes him by the collar. "Well if you must know, you've always been like that."
Zelgadis drops the Mazoku priest and tries not to cry.
"Xellos how could you hold back valuable information from Lina and Zelgadis?" Filia reprimands.
"Now hold on you guys," Xellos says as the light begins to grow around the being in front of them. "Just because I've heard of him doesn't mean I've actually ever seen him. And I didn't think it was important to Zelgadis about his strange astral appearance. It's not like any normal human can see it. He only cares what humans think of him."
"That's not the only reason I wanted . . . oh why should I bother," Zelgadis says as his sarcasm reawakens inside him. He may have just escaped the gates on misery, but his sarcasm is somehow getting through just fine.
"It's great to hear your voice again, by the way," Filia says sincerely, trying to help her friend in any small way she can. "It must be wonderful, how do you feel?"
"Alright I guess," Zelgadis says, trying to sound appreciative of Filia's concern. She wasn't kidding when she promised to help in anyway should could. Even if it is small comfort.
"This man is quite old," Xellos says, ignoring the formalities taking place between Filia and Zelgadis. "He was once an important member of the magic guild and saved the world using a modified version of the Giga Slave."
In horror the group watches as Ralnker begins to chant something none of them want to hear.
"Darkness beyond blackest pitch, deeper than the deepest night!" Ralnker begins to say as insanity lights up behind his eyes.
"Is-is he casting the GIGA SLAVE!" Filia says as horror strikes across her face.
"Isn't Lina the only one who can cast it," Pokota says from his position on the dirty floor.
"He learned the spell from a fragment of the Clair Bible, before I could get my hands on it and destroy it." Xellos continues as if nothing is wrong. Meanwhile, Zelgadis shuts his eyes and begins to focus on casting a spell, completely tuning out Filia and Xellos, as the monster priest continues to chatter on.
"Over the years," Xellos says. "The Giga Slave spell began to eat through Ralnker's mind, using magic from our Mother can do that to a person if not used properly."
"Lord of Darkness, shining like gold upon the Sea of Chaos," Ralnker continues.
"With the passage of time he began to hate the Lord of Nightmares," Xellos sighs. "He was looking forward to seeing Rezo reawaken the monster within him, but when Rezo redeemed himself Ralnker snapped. His dream was to see the Lord of Nightmares destroy herself."
"I call upon thee, swear myself to thee!" Ralnker begins to near the end of the incantation.
"We don't have time for this," Lina says scrambling to her feet.
"This isn't right," Filia says.
"It's already too late," Xellos says happily. "Whether he succeeds or fails the world will be destroyed anyway." At this point, Xellos is content with the world being smashed apart. Although he might be a smidge concerned about this man's desire to destroy L-sama.
"Let the fools who stand before us . . ."
Zelgadis finishes his own incantation and fires a Raw Tilt at Ralnker causing the sorcerer to casually drop his hands and fail to complete the spell.
For a few moments, no one in the room is about to breath.
"Zelgadis, you have just helped destroy the world," Ralnker smiles. "I will now summon the Lord of Nightmares."
The sorcerer magically disappears in a flash of blue and white.
And all is still.
Somewhere between the four worlds created by the Lord of Nightmares, an explosion, as large as a world, detonates in the outer reaches of space where the Lord of Nightmare happily watches. No one else can witness Ralnker the Gold's final demise, but the Lord of Nightmares is certainly amused momentarily by his display.
Meanwhile, after the flash of blue fades, the slayers are left in the dark lab room.
Zelgadis begins to fall to the ground as his hair turns white, but Xellos casually catches him. Using so much magic in one day has finally taken its toll on Zelgadis. First he fought Xellos, than three monsters and final Ralnker.
"Oh well, guess I won't be meeting my maker today." Xellos says happily. "Perhaps some other time."
On cue, the already crippled lab begins to collapse around them, the Slayers frantically attempt to escape before they are buried alive. Run for life, run for food, and run for the sake of running through rupturing halls.
Miraculously, the group manages to break into the light of day again. The shadows of Ralnker, and the horrifying spell, swallow up the last remnants of what once was his evil lab.
Xellos unceremoniously drops Zelgadis, allowing the exhausted man to collapse onto the dying grass. Staring up at the sky as the sun begins to fade over the horizon Zelgadis lets out a sigh of relief. It is the first time Zelgadis has seen the sky in so long, and it doesn't look the same. The sky looks ten times better to him now, than it ever did before. Unfortunately, his observation is ruined when Xellos blocks his view.
Filia comes to Zelgadis's side and begins to demand whether or not he is alright, while Amelia begins to demand the same.
He cannot hear them, not because he's deaf, but because he is trying to enjoy being alive at the moment. Eventually, they wake him from his happy daydream and he reassures them that he is doing fine. Besides his nearly white hair, Zelgadis is in good shape. The nightmare is finally over and a new life is just beginning.
Over the next couple of weeks Zelgadis spends as much time as he can in Seyruun, helping the kingdom regain the support of the other nations. Since it is Zelgadis's fault for the near war the nation has been experiencing for the last couple of months, he sees to it that his blunder is undone. Even Wizer shows his face in time to see the case tied up, but Zelgadis only see's him as a necessary nuisance.
When the most pressing matters are dealt with, Zelgadis prepares to make a much needed visit. After promising Amelia that he will return in time for her mission to visit a Governor Thretle, Zelgadis set's out. He still has a constant itch to travel, but he will try to show his friend a little more considerate. With a little help, Zelgadis manages to travel to the southernmost country on the continent.
Taking a deep breath Zelgadis stops in front of a door on a quaint looking porch. "I made a promise," Zelgadis says to himself as he knocks on the door. With his astral vision he see's two forms head towards the door. The smaller person is bouncing up and down behind her mother.
The door opens and Zelgadis smiles as the woman stares at him in shock.
"Thank you," Zelgadis says.
"Mommy, Mommy," the little girl says. "It's Mister Clay."
"That's what you called me?" Zelgadis says with a smirk on his mouth.
"Well we didn't know what else to call you," the woman says with a laugh as she takes Zelgadis's arm and leads him inside. "Honey," she shouts across the house. "It's Mister Clay, He's back. Honey get over here."
"Welcome back!" the girl says.
"It's good to be back," Zelgadis says as a large man rushes into the room and slams into him. Giving a hug only he can.
Outside, a quiet Xellos watches intently. As payment, Zelgadis is offering Xellos information. The monster doesn't need the information necessarily, but he likes keeping the Slayers guessing. In the end, Xellos is amazed that Zelgadis's spell did the trick in disrupting the Giga Slave. Looking back, Xellos thought for sure that the Lord of Nightmares would show up and let lose her wrath. But apparently Ralnker didn't have the power necessary to cast a successful Giga Slave. Even without Zelgadis's interference, the spell probably wouldn't have worked. No way to tell now. What's done is done.
When the happiness in the house in front of Xellos begins to gush out, the monster decides that his presence here is no longer necessary. Zelgadis can find his own way home.
"Well, I guess that's my cue to leave," Xellos says aloud as the happiness starts to get to him. With a wavering smile Xellos silently disappears from view.
"Until next time Zelgadis."
The end
Author's Note: There is another version for the ending of this story that I wrote for my sister. I will post it soon.
This fanfic was a challenge when Zelgadis first goes blind, mute, and deaf. When I was able to use the 'magic sense' for descriptions it got a lot easier, but trying to explain an invisible world is different. I had fun though and learned a lot, but I would not call it a success.
I also realize that the Slayers are out of character in portions of this story, but they're older so I tried to take that into consideration. That and something like this would never actually happen in the series. I am writing a sequel for this, which I personally believe is much more interesting than this story.
If you actually read this, thank you, I appreciate it!