The morning sun was midway through its journey when Lina, Gourry and Amelia arrived at the castle of ebony walls. They stood before the immense black doors, briefly admiring the ornate carvings of lithe dragons that seemed to flow across the gateway, but only Lina noticed that each dragon's crimson eyes were upon them.
"Well, this is it." She took a deep breath. "This is the legendary Heart of Darkness."
"Lina-san, I don't want to go in!" Amelia wailed. "There could be all sorts of monsters inside!"
"Relax." Gourry shook his head. "It's nothing we can't handle. Remember, this one's for Zel."
Amelia seemed to steady her nerves after that, but the sudden opening of the great black gates caused her to cry out in fear.
For a brief moment, they all saw a boy standing in the dark hallway. At first he seemed to be part of the shadows themselves, for his hair, skin, and clothes were all as black as night. As the sunlight hit him, though, his gleaming crimson eyes shone like rubies. His ebony robes and pants were trimmed with scarlet ribbons, and wide strips of ruby-red silk were wrapped around his forearms.
"You came," a voice, presumably the youth's echoed through the tremendous chamber. His exhausted tone was saturated with relief, however, and even as he faded back into the darkness, his voice reached out to them again, "I knew you would."
"Lina-san, what was that?!" Amelia wailed, tears filling her eyes.
"I think..." The sorceress blinked and swallowed her surprise. "I think that was the Heart of Kokoro no Yami. That was the soul of the castle, and to some extent, the valley."
"Okay, wait a minute," Gourry groaned and leaned on his sword. "I may not be the smartest guy here, but even I know that castles don't have souls."
"If the legends are true, then this castle is almost like a living being." Lina chose her words carefully. "He probably doesn't want to be destroyed if Zeruphim dies. It's almost like a survival instinct."
"Why do you think Zeruphim gave his castle sentience?" Amelia asked, studying the black hallways.
"I don't know!" The red-head threw her hands in the air. "I'm not a mind reader."
"Please, come in." The dark-skinned boy reappeared beside her, then leaned closer to whisper in her ear. "The vengeance demon is here. Be careful." The sorceress opened her mouth to speak, but Kokoro no Yami was already ‘gone'.
"Is he going to keep doing that?" The princess whimpered.
"How should I know?" Lina shrugged. "Crazy castle."
"You didn't really think a simple prayer would do you any good, did you?" The shadowy figure that floated in front of Zelgadis chuckled. "Did you expect to be saved?"
"No." The chimera shook his head. "I'm not worried about me."
"You're concerned for her." The other being nodded. "Very noble of you, all things considering."
"Surely you see it too, don't you?" Zelgadis crossed to the window and leaned on the sill, gazing moodily at Kokoro no Yami in the distance. "You of all people must be able to see how beautiful she is..."
"I see." A smirk twisted the other's mouth. "Like you, I have always seen."
"It's been a beautiful journey, watching who she has become." The shaman sighed. "Exhausting, but beautiful."
"Painful, I think, would suit your statement better."
Zelgadis remained silent.
"What's the matter? It's the truth, isn't it?"
"There have been some uncomfortable instances." Zelgadis growled. "Most of them involving you."
"Why Zelgadis, I'm hurt..." Xellos chuckled as stepped from the shadows.
"I wish you were..." The blue-eyed youth scowled.
"How much longer do you think you'll have before your body ‘shuts down'?" The Mazoku asked seriously.
"Until midnight, at most." The chimera turned away from the window and sat down on the bed. "I can't help but think that maybe, if I had found the cure, I would have a little longer - "
Xellos grabbed him as the shaman pitched forward, clutching his chest in agony.
"Don't lie to yourself," the violet-haired Mazoku purred. "And most certainly don't lie to me."
Despite Zelgadis' sudden relapse, the chimera still stiffened at Xellos' words. His cerulean eyes filled with tears as the trickster grabbed him by the chin and forced him to look deep into the slit-pupil amethyst-eyes. Zelgadis struggled weakly, but his ‘illness' paralyzed him.
"What do you... mean?" Zelgadis gasped. "I don't..."
"You know exactly what I'm talking about." The trickster growled.
"No... I don't..." The chimera winced as Xellos tightened his grip on the stone jaw.
"I know what you are." The purple-haired demon leaned in closer. "And I know who you really are."
Sapphire blue eyes widened in horror.
"You... know?" All pain in his eyes instantly intensified. "Know what?"
"Drop the act." The Mazoku hissed. "You can't fool me and you're a horrible actor."
"I - !" Xellos switched his grasp to the younger man's throat, effectively silencing him.
"I know who you are." The trickster said more forcefully. "Stop lying."
"Ahhgh... Rrrghhah..."
"Oh, beg pardon." The Mazoku dropped the rock-skinned youth unceremoniously, electing a harsh glare from said youth as he knelt on the floor, rubbing his sore throat. Zelgadis glared angrily at him.
"You think you know what I am?" His glacial eyes narrowed to infuriated slits. "Who I am? Damn fruitcake, you don't know anything. Let the past stay dead."
"I know that you'll be dead tonight, but not for the reason you told Lina-chan." The purple-eyed man smirked. "How do you think they'd react if I told them the truth?"
"No!" The chimera's eyes widened substantially as he snatched his companion by the collar. "If you tell them, I swear I will destroy you. I don't care if I have to overthrow Shabranigdo himself, but I will have your head on a platter should you tell them."
"Maa, maa." Xellos smiled broadly. "You certainly have changed. A temper suits you."
"They don't need to know!" Zelgadis snarled. "It really doesn't concern them!"
"Who are you trying to convince?" The trickster laughed. "Me, or yourself?"
The shaman opened his mouth to reply, but no sound came out so his jaw snapped shut. Pain flashed across his face as another ‘attack' hit him hard. He crumpled to his knees, willing himself not to cry out.
"You really shouldn't get yourself so worked up." The priest chided him. "You'll only make it worse, not better. If you keep straining yourself, you might not make it to nightfall after all. What a shame that would be."
Zelgadis growled weakly, pain paralyzing his voice.
"You've been a lot of fun in the few short years I've known you," Xellos chuckled, lifting the chimera's chin. "I will miss you, as, I'm sure, Lina-chan will too."
"Fruitcake..." The blue0eyed youth managed to grind out.
"I'm sure that Lina will pull out that nasty sword." The Mazoku commented in an off hand manner, rapping his knuckles against Zelgadis' chest. "Would you like me to transport you to the castle, should they do that?"
"They don't - " Electric blue eyes hardened.
" - Need to know." Xellos rolled his eyes and finished for him. "Yare, yare, you said that before, Zel-kun."
"How did you find out?" The shaman fumed.
"Sore wa himitsu desu!" The trickster priest chirped.
"Fruitcake..." The rock-skinned mage shook his head and shoved past Xellos to sit on the bed with a sigh.
"You never answered me, Zel-kun." The violet haired man purred. Zelgadis shot him a disgusted glare.
"No." He spat with as much venom as possible. "They don't need to know."
"You're no fun, Zel." Xellos sighed melodramatically. "Just think of how much longer you'd live if - "
"I said no." He reiterated. "And if you do it anyway, which, knowing you, is highly likely, just remember that I'd be able to destroy you if you are successful."
The Mazoku sweat-dropped.
"Definitely no fun," The servant of the Beast Master mock pouted, but disappeared to catch up with Lina. "Ja ne, Zeru-kun!"
Zelgadis stiffened.
Lina was rather annoyed. She, Amelia, and Gourry spent four unsuccessful hours of searching Kokoro no Yami, occasionally catching a glimpse of the castle's wayward "soul" bearing the same name. So far, all they found was a vast armory that put Zel's hidden arsenal to shame and a large library that was extremely out of order, much to the enchanted boy's chagrin. The remaining rooms had been more or less void of furniture and ornamentation. A few tables were scattered in different chambers; kitchen, dining hall, and some kind of reception room. Aside from the armory and library, the kitchen was the only other room they had discovered that looked like it was ever inhabited. It was a rather well equipped kitchen, despite the fact that there was no food in it. The castle's "spirit" apologized quite profusely for the lack of lunch, but eloquently explained that he couldn't cook to save his pseudo-life, so Lina and company forgave him.
Currently, though, Lina was searching one of the upstairs halls, and had only found barren rooms that Kokoro no Yami told her were extra bedrooms that used to balance out the upper levels.
Then, at the end of the hall, she stumbled across the jackpot. This room, unlike the others, had furniture, albeit rather simple. A large bed, made up neatly with black sheets, was against the far wall. A small black night-stand stood beside the pallet, adorned only with a silver brush and a faded blue ribbon.
"This was his room." Kokoro no Yami said quietly, mysteriously forming out of the shadows beside her. "Master used to stay in here a lot, especially once Rynia came. He never did use much of the castle."
"Whoa." Lina took notice of the huge, yet almost hidden mirror on the wall beside her. The reflective panel was broken, but the pieces were still in the frame. There was no dust on the shattered fragments, no imperfection of any kind, save for the fissures. "What happened here?"
"Rynia." The dark boy shook his head, then vanished once more. Lina shrugged and reached out to touch the broken mirror, but a small shock passed through her as her fingertips connected with the glass.
She blinked as red light flashed across her vision, but did not realize her environment changed until the doors beside her were flung open angrily.
"My memories..." Kokoro no Yami's voice whispered distantly, then she realized she was seeing a vision of the past through the castle's "eyes".
A blur of silver and white stormed past her, almost glowing against the dark atmosphere of the room. The hazy form became more focused and defined as it neared the bed. Quickly she saw that it was the legendary sorcerer Zeruphim who sat on the pallet and put his head in his hands. The silver-haired mage sighed deeply, then began to talk aloud, addressing an unseen being.
"I don't know what to do." Zeruphim admitted. "That girl is destroying me. She told me I was hideous today. You heard it, I know. Not just ugly, but hideous. I've never been told that before. I never cared before, either, but this is Rynia." He sighed and united the blue silk ribbon that earlier confined his long metallic tresses.
"Master..." Kokoro no Yami's human form emerged from the darkness.
"Rynia is the one with the beautiful soul. Wouldn't she know who was beautiful and who was... not?"
"Master, why does it even matter?" Kokoro took the ribbon from the frustrated man and placed it on the night-stand. "It never mattered before."
"I want to believe that it doesn't make a difference." Zeruphim muttered. "I want to believe that her words have no credibility, because her heart is not yet fully matured... but her words still hurt me. I don't remember ever feeling this kind of pain before."
"Is it pain in your heart? It is love." The castle's "soul" informed him. "Love has strange effects on people."
"Kokoro..." The sorcerer groaned.
"You never groaned before she came." The red-eyed boy poked his master, causing the pale man to glare at him. "You glared plenty, though!"
"Kokoro..." Zeruphim frowned.
"Master?" The castle responded.
"Create a mirror here for me." The pale sorcerer gently touched the undecorated wall.
"Master?!" Kokoro fell off the bed in surprise.
"It doesn't have to be anything ornate." The blue-eyed man shook his head. "I want to see what it is that Rynia sees."
The red-eyed youth regarded his master silently, concern marring his otherwise emotionless face.
"Father, in the five hundred years that I have served you, you have never once asked me to create a mirror for you." The boy merged with the shadows as his voice echoed throughout the chamber. "I will obey, of course, but let me say that you should not let Rynia's words harm you until her heart is matured and the beauty of her own soul outshines her cruelty." The wall in front of Zeruphim rippled as a huge mirror emerged from seemingly nothing. The frame was carved in the form of a graceful dragon, twisting around the reflective panel. The dragon's great scarlet eyes stared down at whoever stood before the mirror with an air of mourning.
Zeruphim regarded his reflection with moody silence.
"Father?" Kokoro no Yami's voice childish voice was quiet and scared.
The sorcerer suddenly cried out in rage and slammed his fist into the mirror spreading a web of cracks up the glassy surface.
Kokoro gasped and the dragon's eyes widened.
"Sorry." Zeruphim apologized quietly, turning away. "I... I didn't mean to hurt you."
"It's okay, father." The castle said weakly.
"She was right." The sorcerer said softly. "I am hideous."
"Father!" The dragon began to slither free of the frame, sending the looking glass back into the wall as it moved forward.
"No." The pale man's cold voice halted the serpent's movements. "Leave the mirror."
"Master?" Kokoro whimpered.
"Go keep Rynia company for a while." Zeruphim waved his servant away.
"But - "
"Just go."
"... Yes, Master..." Kokoro's voice faded out, and the sorcerer fell onto the bed in silence, once more alone.
The vision faded into flash of red light identical to the one at the beginning, and Lina found herself standing in the empty room as alone as Zeruphim had been . She blinked slowly, adjusting to the quick return to the present.
"She told him he was hideous..." Lina whispered aloud, somewhat still amazed by what had just occurred. "But I was her, and I don't think he's hideous at all."
"Your heart wasn't ready to accept him in any way, even as pleasing to the eyes." Kokoro's voice echoed in the room, but the boy did not show up. "It is now, when your heart is equal of your soul, that you can see my master as he really is. Hate no longer obscures your vision."
Lina shot a glare randomly into the room, hoping that the spirit boy would sense her displeasure of his flower and completely unnecessary speech.
"Sorry," Kokoro grumbled.
She meandered over to the table, carefully inspecting the intricate carvings of the five elements, earth, air, fire, water, and spirit, that adorned the back of the silver brush.
"Kokoro?" She asked aloud. "Was Zeruphim really as cold as the legends say he was?"
"I don't know what your legends say." The boy walked out of the wall, shaking his head sadly. "I only know that my master didn't care about anything as long as the valley was safe. Nothing else mattered to him until he met Rynia. I believe there were several times before she came that he forgot he was a person, like the valley dwellers."
Lina's fingertips grazed the brush, and her mind was suddenly the recipient of an image of a more or less comatose Zeruphim laying on the black bed. His long silver hair was pooled around him, but his expression was apathetic, even though Kokoro's human form sat beside him and reverently brushed out any tangles from his master's metal-hued hair.
She drew back at once with a startled gasp.
"Why does that keep happening?" She glared at Kokoro. "What did you do?"
"Me?" The crimson-eyed boy blinked.
"Every time I touch something of Zeruphim's, I get these damn flashbacks!" She yelled. "Why?"
"Maybe your connection to Zeruphim runs deeper than it appears to." The castle's "spirit" gave her a quick once over, studying her intently as he did. "My master contacted you through dreams, didn't he?"
"Yes, how'd you - " Lina paused as the youth leaned against the wall with a flat expression. " - know? The dreams took place inside the castle. Is that how you know?" The boy smiled, sadly and briefly.
"Although my master no longer has the strength to contact you, the shadows of the past you have been seeing are caused by the remnants of the connection that he made with you."
"You know, almost everyone with any knowledge of the ‘Sorcerer's Folly' legend has referred to the ‘shadows of the past'." Lina scowled. "It's getting really annoying."
"Sorry."
A sudden scream echoed through the castle's empty halls, causing Lina to jump and the youth to cover his pointed ears and grimace.
"Amelia." Lina gasped and darted off to find the young princess. The dark-skinned boy scowled, but merged with the floor and was no more.
Lina found Amelia rather quickly; the princess was standing in plain view in the inner courtyard, pressed up against a large black building.
"Amelia!" Gourry yelled as he approached from the side opposite of Lina. "What's wrong?"
"It's him!" The dark haired princess hissed to her nearing companions. "The sorcerer, he's in there!"
"Zeruphim's in there?" The red-head inspected the building that the younger girl was leaning against. High black walls hid the structure's contents from their view, and the tall crimson windows rested on the ebony surface above even Gourry's head. Amelia was leaning heavily against two immense black doors that were intricately carved into the image of a black dragon circled around a valley formed by five mountains. The dragon's jet black wings were spread like a great shield to protect the valley, and it's ruby eyes gazed serenely upon it's ward.
Amelia nodded frantically, shoulders heaving as she tried to recover from her fright.
"Step aside." Lina commanded, raw determination saturating her voice and eyes. "I'm going in there."