"What have you to report?"
"The Inverse girl and her friends, including the mazoku lord, left the inn mere hours ago Master." The chubby man replied nervously from the receiving end of a communications mirror. His upper lip was dotted with sweat, and the aristocratic man holding the reflective glass, was sure that were he actually in the room with the pig, the smell would be unbearable. Ah well, such was why he had invented this particular thing. It made traveling, and the inconvenience of the peasantry unnecessary to deal with in person.
"That is well. You will receive the agreed upon amount of payment within the day. Do not attempt to contact me again, unless ordered to by one of my minions, or the persons you were to observe return." He cut the spell off without waiting for the customary sniveling and groveling that usually ended such reports from men of this type, and turned to the silent butler in pristine clothing standing unobtrusively exactly three steps behind and to the left of him. This was the sort of servant he enjoyed, alas that they couldn't all be like Marcus.
A raised eyebrow from the seated lord indicated for the elderly man to begin his report. Smoothing a non-existent wrinkle from the knife-edge pleats of his uniform, he cleared his throat and began, "Master, the rooms you requested prepared have been completed and await only the arrival of their occupants. The assassin was sent out earlier this morning with the money for your guest and his instructions were flawless. He should be delivering the money, and then the knife to the back of the inn keeper within the day."
"Perfect. The man had outlived his usefulness. Anything else I should know of?"
"As you know Milord, our world is at its closest to theirs and will remain here for several more days. Precautions have been made so that no unwanted mages stumble through the veil. I did this without your orders, and you may kill me for my impetuousness if you like."
A cruel smile twisted the lord's lips, "that will not be necessary, you had the best interest of myself, and Tertus in mind I am sure." Besides, it would be a shame to lose such a valuably loyal man. Certain liberties could be allowed from one such as he. It made the lord's own job much easier.
"Thank you Milord." The butler bowed flawlessly at the waist until his back was perfectly parallel to the floor. Quite a feat from an elderly gentleman. Marcus was the best.
"You are dismissed Marcus."
"Of course Milord."
It would be difficult to replace the man when he grew too old to fulfill his duties, perhaps the chimera could be broken and trained to take his place? He seemed to have the necessary logic and intelligence for the position, and once he got his hands on his Lina and bent her to his will, the others would be as nothing. He chuckled, yes, he would look into the chimera's placement in the staff once the rest of his plans had fallen into place.
"So Xel, tell us about this Tertus place. How come I've never heard of it before, and why hadn't anyone else beaten us to it?" Lina asked with a sleepy yawn. She was reclining on the ground near the mazoku, and staring up at the puffy white clouds floating lazily past.
Zelgadis finished up his coffee from lunch and carefully wiped out the cup before packing it away. Amelia was similarly positioned as the sorceress, and looked to be half asleep.
"Well Lina-chan," Xel started, but paused, trying to think of a good way to explain it. The whole history was rather complicated. He settled himself a bit more comfortably against the tree at his back and laid his staff across his legs. "You've heard the story of how L-sama created the universes, ne?"
"Of course, everyone knows that story, and we've dealt with Darkstar!"
"Well, everyone but Gourry-san Lina-san, he's probably forgotten by now."
"He doesn't count."
Xel cleared his throat to regain the attention of the group, "Well, when L-sama first created life in her worlds, they were very inquisitive and well...bored."
"BORED?! They were the first people alive and they were bored?! They hadn't done anything yet!"
"Er, well I don't know Lina-chan..." Xel hadn't really thought about that particular point before, but he chose to ponder it later, "can I go on now?"
"I guess, but I mean jeeze! They musta been really uncreative or something!"
Xel blinked, "Yes, well...after a few generations of wondering around boredly, some of these people stumbled across a place where the walls between the worlds hadn't quite solidified yet, and a whole group of them decided to see what lie on the other side."
"Wait a minute, were these beings mazoku, ryuzoku, or humans?" Zel asked, joining into the conversation for the first time. Lina noted that he had been rather quiet lately, and was kind of worried about him. She was glad he was finally taking an interest in the group again.
"Well that's just it Zel-kun -- "
"DON'T call me Zel-kun fruitcake."
"Aww, but Zel-KUN!"
"Xelloss, stop tormenting Zel."
The Trickster Priest sighed, "But Lina-chan..." She gave him a Look™ and he decided that arguing the point wouldn't be conducive to living a long and productive life, so he answered the chimera's question.
"No one knows for sure what they were. It was a long time ago. All we know, is that they were the first."
"Anyway, when they broke through one side of the veil, only to discover that the other wall was formed better than the one they came through. The place they found themselves in seemed to be something like an extension of the Sea of Chaos from which L-sama formed all the worlds. It was filled with golden mist that would hold any form the mind put to it, but only as long as your attention was kept there."
"Wow! They could have dreamt up all sorts of treasure, and food and stuff!"
"Well yes, but what good is that sort of thing if it goes back to being mist as soon as your back is turned?"
"..."
"My point exactly; however by the time they figured that out the wall they had come through had become to 'real' for them to pass back to their own world and they were trapped. They realized that there must be a way to make things stay permanently real even there between the realms, or how would the wall have solidified behind them? It took generations, but eventually they found the trick, and pushed back the mist from a small island type area of the void. They named their new land "Tertus' which means, "highest achievement' in their own language."
"So you are saying that they managed, through necessity, to strengthen their wills to the point where they could change the nature, or keep the nature of things permanently as they wanted them?" Zel asked, his mind whirling with the possibilities for a cure that sort of discipline offered.
"Yes, well at least their ancestor's had achieved it. The resulting generations didn't have to have that kind of talent as the 'real' space was already there for them to do with whatever they wanted. The inhabitants of the realm can still do some pretty amazing things though, including simpler manifestations, but nothing to the scale of creating a country out of the void between the worlds."
"Wait a minute...how do you know all this stuff about them if they've been trapped between the realms since the beginning of time?" Zelgadis's eyes narrowed suspiciously at his rival.
"Ah, well they weren't about to stay trapped with the kind of power they have, now were they?" Xel put on his trademark grin. "You see, Tertus drifts about between the realms like a floating island on the Sea of Chaos. Every now and then, it bumps into a 'wall' of one of the worlds, so to speak, and then anyone with the power and knowledge can waltz right in or out."
"How kewl is that?!" Lina genki-ed, manifested treasures running through her mind on SD legs. "If we could get in and learn how they do it, I'd be the most powerful sorceress in all the worlds! We'd never get tossed out of a restaurant again!" she yelled happily.
"And think of the Justice we could dispense!!" Amelia shouted as she stood to give her trademarked pose.
"I'd finally have a cure..." Zelgadis whispered to softly for any but Xelloss to hear. "and maybe then I could show Lina how much more I love her than the mazoku..."
Xel's clenched fingers made bloody half-moon marks in his palm, though his mask never slipped. At least one good thing would come of this nightmarish journey. He wouldn't have to deal with the chimera again...
He felt his heart break at the sight of Lina's happiness about this venture. He had gotten her happy about this trip. Happy about being led to some proverbial altar like a sacred virgin.
He needed to go kill something, hearing the dieing screams of some defenseless creature echoing through his mind for hours before stopping would surely make him feel better.
Hours later as he washed blood off his hands, he didn't feel any better, he felt sick to his stomach.
He curled up on the deep indigo satin of his sheets on Wolf Pack Island and wept. It was becoming a far to familiar experience to the mazoku, who had never tasted tears before this whole experience.
Of course, he had never tasted love before either.
Was it worth it?...was this horrible rending pain worth the explosive warmth and europium of just seeing his Lina-chan smile and knowing her lips curved just so, only for him?
He didn't know.
It didn't matter.
He had orders, and a mazoku had no choice when it came to orders.
He realized it than, something that he didn't think any other mazoku had ever really understood before, though all of them had certainly experienced it.
All mazoku loved. They all loved their masters. They were created with that undying emotion beating frantically at their breasts and none of them had ever even thought about it. Why was that? Was it something in their nature's that told them not to question the authority, and where the loyalty they felt to strongly came from?
Or was it merely because none of them had ever had anything else to compare it to as he had? He knew he loved his Lina-chan, and with that knowledge, he had been able to put a name to the similar feeling he had for Zelas-sama. It wasn't exactly the same of course, not the hot burning emotion that so deliciously seared at his black heart. This was a slow burning all encompassing sensation that lurked always in the back of his being, unobtrusive, but always there.
Could this epiphany be correct?
Could it be simple love and not some cryptic magical formula that made mazoku undyingly devoted?
Is that why Valgarv had been so totally bent on revenge for his Master? Val had been mortal. He had known love before he joined their ranks. Had he realized what it was that bound him, and therefore fought so courageously when he lost it?
He had known?
Funny, how it all made sense just when the knowledge could do you no particular good. Funny how well you could sympathize with your enemies once you understood what motivated them. Funny how something so simple could rip apart your world.
He loved Lina-chan.
He loved Zelas-sama.
...Did that mean he ultimately had a choice?...
Part 7 | Fanfiction