"You smash that column and I will put you in solitary confinement." Washu snapped at the still-growling Firia.
Firia blinked in surprise. "W-what?"
"I spent a lot of time getting him back in balance, and I'm not about to let you ruin that work." Rezo gently held onto Washu's shoulders when it looked like she was about to slap Firia silly. She continued to speak, not looking at Rezo. "I had to re-construct him from the ground up, to give a body to all that energy before he could go insane."
Washu looked aside, almost as if ashamed. "I had to use my own DNA to reconstruct his body. And that of the Mass." She gave Firia a rather lopsided, insecure smile. "I've never had a son before."
"He may not be one you would want to claim." Zel spoke solemnly, even as his hand slid somewhere out of sight that made Lina give out a stifled shriek and squirm. He wrapped a wing about them both, completely hiding her from sight. Well, almost completely. Lina's tail thrashed and flipped about, poking out from under the skin of his wing. And her giggling was clearly heard. "Quit tickling."
Washu smiled faintly, watching them. "Actually he told me that himself."
Silence, complete, and utter, silence.
"Yes, I've been aware all this time. Unable to act, most of it, but aware." The voice was synthetic, free of emotion, and coming from Xeros's column. He opened his eyes and wiggled the fingers of his right hand at them mockingly. A small keyboard was attached to the inside of his column, and as they watched, he typed out something on it. "Quite a shock, neh?" The voice emulation program mangled the last word, making it sound ne-ah.
"Not quite perfect, is it?" This synthetic voice had a decidedly female flavor to it, and was coming from the column next to Xeros's. "But then, a living mind has complexities beyond a simple program." Firia stomped over to the column, peering suspiciously into it. Young, female, long hair, possibly purple. Strong resemblance to Xeros. "Who are you?"
"Zeris. Xeros's twin sister. Though admittably, this is the first time I've had a body of my own ... not that stupid red stone."
"Wait a minute ... you were in that staff he carried around?" Lina poked her head out around the edge of Zel's wing to stare at Zeris.
"Mm-hmm."
"Why?"
"I was an unexpected ... side effect ... of his creation. Zelas had no use for me, so she sealed me up in the stone before I could generate a body from Xeran's flesh."
"She needed me as an adult, and to allow Zeris flesh would have made it impossible for me to be so." Xeros butted in, grinning fiercely at his sister. She stuck out her tongue at him.
"Anyways, to control Xeros, she linked our souls and bound me within the staff, where she would be able to influence him through me." Zeris tapped her cheek thoughtfully for a few seconds, then typed in something else. "That is, until he hit puberty. Then he didn't listen to either of us for a few centuries."
Gourry scratched his head, looking confused. "Wait a minute, how could Xeros go through puberty if he was born in an adult form? And who's this Xeran guy?"
"My 'puberty' stage was the final development of my body and mind. Before I still had a lot of 'baby fat', so to speak. Xeran was the original trickster priest."