Heart of Darkness

Chapter 23

 

            No power in the Four Worlds could have made Xellos return to Jedah without attempting to gain some proof of this knowledge. Not even an angry Lina Inverse Greywords threatening him with the sublime power of the Lord of Nightmares Herself. It just wasn’t going to happen. This wasn’t something that one could allow to be driven by simple hearsay.

            Shooting a dark violet glare to Cassandra and her pathetic servant, Xellos faded from the normal plane of existence and casually reached for Zelgadis.

            Silence answered.

            There was nothing to locate; nothing to center on and move towards. It was as it Zelgadis no longer existed. No Astral trail glittered with the Shaman’s touch. It felt, to all intents and purposes, as if any and all traces of Zelgadis had been wiped from the world and its Astral memory. There wasn’t a great many ways that could happen… even Xellos had left some tint of mortal Astral memory when he had made the Pact. But of Zelgadis, there was nothing.

            Suddenly, beyond all rational reason, Xellos had a very human reaction: he grew very cold. If Shabranigdo had an Avatar after so long... then Zelas would have to serve him. Likewise, Xellos would have to as well. And Xellos preferred to do things the way that he wanted to do them, not the way that someone wanted him to. It wasn't against his nature, no. His very nature longed for the violence and terror that he was conscripted to by virtue of being Mazoku. It would just be against his... lifestyle. Not to mention more than a little bit awkward being subservient to Zelgadis. If he even was still Zelgadis. There were appearances to uphold and all that, after all.

            Xellos was a Mazoku, yes, but he was also a creature of the finer things in life. As a mortal, he hadn't had the luxury of every whim being easily fulfilled at the flick of a wrist by servants dedicated to his most transient of desires. He'd found that he rather liked it, once he had it. And while Jedah's Pact had made him oh so very powerful, Xellos had never once been called by it to do anything. In fact, until recent events, the Trickster Priest had conveniently managed to forget all about it. To have been reminded and then have it potentially utilized... well, that made Xellos' purple blood run cold.

            It damn near terrified him to go back to Jedah and report what he'd been told... but go back to Jedah he would.

            He wasn't looking forward to it.

 

            The scene on the beach was that of frantically controlled chaos. Food was flying and random arguments were erupting over one thing, to be quelled and redirected by another. So it was that when Xellos first returned, Lina didn't notice him.

            She was still too busy to notice Jedah rise to his feet and walk over to Xellos, instead turning to argue with Gourry over a bit of pickle that was closer to her hand than his. By Lina's point of view, that made it hers for the eating, and no amount of rebuttal would convince her otherwise.

            Amelia, however, nudged Naga, who in turn pointed to Xellos and Jedah and nodded. Something was transpiring, and neither sister could hear the hushed but somehow violent exchange that took place between who they thought were just Mazoku and brother to the missing member of the group. Of the two who were having the hushed discussion, neither were giving any indication of emotion. Hands were deceptively still, faces calm and composed as words were quickly exchanged, lips shadowed so that someone watching wouldn’t be able to read the words spoken… not that they were spoken between Xellos and Jedah in a language that could be understood by those nearby. No, it was a language so old as to be dead in the world that they used for maximum security… until Jedah was shocked into absolute silence by two words:

            Shabranigdo’s Avatar.

            When Jedah’s face went completely white at Xellos’ sotto-voiced words, Gourry dropped both the argument and the pickle to look fully over at them. It was sufficient enough to derail Lina, and she turned, her own designs on the pickle quickly forgotten when she saw Xellos… and Jedah.

            Jedah looked pale and shaken. He was, surprisingly, the human image of distressed. His head was bowed, the first finger and thumb of his left hand pinching at the bridge of his nose. His shoulders dropped as Lina stood, and as she approached, he lifted his head to look to her, reaching both hands to her.

            Worried instinct took her hands to meet his and Jedah gripped her fingers lightly as he stepped forwards to whisper in her ear. The Four Worlds came to a near-stop for a moment, and then Lina crumpled under the weight of what Jedah had just told her.

            Sylphiel and Amelia leapt to their feet, food forgotten as they ran to offer what they could, and Naga and Gourry looked across the picnic at each other. It was the look of two who knew Lina the longest, and each knew that sort of reaction from the redheaded sorceress meant the worst.

            It was a grim-faced Jedah that caught Lina, a silent look towards Amelia and Sylphiel as they ran to aid the suddenly fragile mortal in his arms. Naga saw it first, the edge of light that glinted in those blue eyes, eerily reminiscent of the one she’d seen in Zelgadis’ eyes when he was going after Xellos in her family home. As she watched Jedah stand with Lina in his arms, she could have sworn that Jedah was the older brother, not Zelgadis. He seemed older, stronger, jaded and yet somehow determined. He was an enigma, even more so than Xellos, and as Naga looked to him, Jedah’s eyes met hers.

            The sharp despair that glinted in those suddenly brilliant eyes caught her soul and Naga felt for a moment as if she couldn’t catch her own breath. She was spinning, lost in the face of a world so very much larger than she was. And it didn’t care that two she loved were caught up in the chaos.

            She blinked, and Jedah turned away, carrying Lina, moving with Sylphiel and Amelia back towards the town, leaving Naga and Gourry to gather the remnants of the picnic, Naga in stunned silence, Gourry seemingly blithely unaware that something big had just happened.