Slayers: Alive
Episode 113: Tainted! The Nameless Beast
Deep underground behind a strong magical shield of astral properties, a seed with roots linked to the cavern around it glowed ominously. A silvery mist faded into existence next to it, not bothering to take on any other shape aside from that. Suspended in the mist, there was a necklace with a black cone shaped jewel, which contained powerful monster energy locked inside it.
"It is too early for you, but the cycle has already been pushed forward for better or for worse," Lamentation's voiceless message reached the Void.
Replying in the same way, the Void approached with the jewel. "It might have seemed for the better, then for the worse and now for the better again. Yet such concepts, they should matter not to us. They are both something, and only nothing is perfection, only nothing is absolute for not the greatest evil or the greatest good of this chaotic world is pure. Let us use this power in our favor and show the foolish beast that the Stillness is absolute!"
The silvery mist floated closer to the seed and faded into it, merging with it. The two fragments, Lamentation and the Void became one along with the remains of the Green Alchemist. The black cone gem floated in the astral space contained inside the seed. "Awaken," the incomplete Stillness called out to it. "Awaken monster power, break free of the seal and become one with the Stillness!"
Xellos' power began to react as the seal placed on the gem by Beast Master was slowly broken. The gem was surrounded by a violet light as the power desperately searched for its owner, but Xellos was not there. As an involuntary defense mechanism, the monster energy assumed that Xellos' projected body had been completely destroyed and in an automatic motion of survival it began to try to recreate Xellos.
"You shall not be allowed to become linked to him..." The golden scales and energy that had been stolen from Filia some time ago, in the encounter with the Dragon Slayers, floated in the astral space closer to the cone gem. "With this, a sample of the power and the body of a golden dragon, you shall become tainted, monster energy. You shall not answer to your previous owner for this energy and him are different now, further imperfect variations. Die will of Xellos! Become consumed by your opposite and leave your power behind for the Stillness to claim!"
A silhouette similar to Xellos had begun to form, generated by the monster energy that once was his. The golden scales and laser energy were fused with the shadowy figure, its blackness becoming tainted with swirls of gold. The copy cried out as if in pain and reverted to a more basic form, a black cone. The golden swirls continued to spread, overtaking the black cone and separating the second Xellos from the main one. Finally, the cone turned golden and once again began to take on the shape of a man. This was not Xellos; this was a different being.
The being materialized itself dressed similarly to Xellos, wearing a white shirt instead of yellow. He didn't have the cloak and staff; instead he carried a mace strapped on his belt beside him. His hair was purple with two golden lines that fell on the sides of his face, outside the low ponytail that held the rest of his hair. His deep violet eyes examined the area around him. Coming into existence had been painful, as if someone attempted to take his life before it could finish being established. "Who am I?" That was the first question that came out of his mouth. It was only natural for a newly created monster to have the necessity to establish an identity to become truly whole.
'The golden dragon sample was not enough to stop the defense mechanism of the monster energy. A being came into existence after all,' the two fused fragments of the Stillness mused quietly. 'It matters not if I do not absorb this energy. This creature can still be of use in taking the life of Beast Master's general priest,' the incomplete Stillness concluded. "You have no need for an identity, Nameless Beast. You only need to think of your mission..."
xoxox xox xoxox
There were hardly any clouds in the sky, a chilly breeze blew and the temperature seemed to drop a degree lower by the hour. The path was desolate in more ways than one. Not only were those two the only people making their way through the rural road, but there was also a general lack of vegetation all around. The trees' brown falling leaves had left them completely and the bare bark looked gray and sickly. There was no grass, no bushes, not even the remains of the fallen leaves of autumn could be seen, as if the earth has swallowed them up in desperate starvation.
As Xellos and Filia made their way to the town where Jillas, Elena and Palou were with Val, Xellos stopped suddenly. He felt as if he was being ripped apart. He found himself strangely wondering if Zelas felt any pain when she removed a portion of her own essence to create him, or if this pain was a side-effect of his human state. This was different though, the other half was still him.
"Xellos? What's wrong?" Filia inquired with concern.
"It's happening..." It was the strangest sensation, like being in two places at the exact same time. His second body, a purely astral one, was still forming and his senses were still blurry. "I can almost see it, astral space, there's strong energy all around." A sharper pain coursed through him, which made Xellos almost collapse.
"Xellos!" Filia didn't know what to do. He had no physical wounds, so recovery wouldn't be of much help. "What's happening?"
"I'm... I'm losing it... my copy." Xellos spoke with difficulty, holding on to Filia, his eyes closed, the pain almost consuming him. Then there was nothing but the numb aftershock of it all. He breathed slowly and tried to sense it again. "It's gone... my copy is no longer connected to me. Just as Beast Master predicted when the seal on my power was broken, a copy was created, but I can't sense it anymore!"
"Was it destroyed?" Filia asked with worry, at least the pain that assaulted Xellos seemed to be gone. What did it mean that he couldn't sense his power? Was it resealed or had the enemy somehow absorbed it?
"I don't think so," the more Xellos thought about it, the more a particular possibility made sense. "It became its own being separate from me. It's not just a copy, it's another monster."
Filia stared at Xellos in shock. "Another Xellos? Is he on our side? Does he answer to Beast Master?"
"If he's on our side and the Stillness realizes it, he'll be swiftly destroyed and if not, we'll have a new enemy." Xellos tried not to show too much of his frustration with the situation. This was Beast Master's plan and she had expressed that she had no intentions of throwing him away. She wouldn't allow his power to be permanently destroyed and if it was, she could perhaps spare some of her energy to turn him back into a monster later. None the less, it bothered him that his power was being used like this, left in the hands of the enemy.
"What should we do?" Filia asked unsure.
"I'll send a report about this as planned," Xellos decided. The action did not take too long with the usual monster courier bird communication method through the astral side.
Beast Master's reply came swiftly, instructing the group to continue with the plan as previously discussed. The order wasn't particularly reassuring, but it was all that could be done. Infiltrating the enemy stronghold was impossible at the moment.
xoxox xox xoxox
At Amor Resort, the rebuilding process continued. The wooden clock tower had been recreated just as it was before, with its falling apart appearance and rickety structure. Far below it, in another of its secret basements, Celo was taking a moment to tinker with some odd little machines. The basement was lit with magic, creating enough light to work on small details comfortably on the large table that was cluttered with tools, bolts and small metal parts. "Look, they spin!" He held up an assortment of gears in a little platform that seemed to grow in size, the smaller ones spinning much faster than the larger ones. "One gear powers another and their speed varies, I can reproduce this model at a larger scale and use it for my secret project for Beast Master!" Celo paused, waiting for his wife's reaction. "Honey, they spin!" He repeated excitedly.
Tiffany sighed and humored Celo with a glance, looking away for a moment from her editing work on the latest chapter Onyx had sent her for review. "Yes, dear, they do spin, endlessly and meaninglessly until it's time to wind it up again." With blatant disregard, she turned her attention back to her papers, reading over the same paragraph for the third time, before giving up and accepting the fact that she simply could not concentrate. She let out an annoyed breath and put the papers away on a folder.
"Are you angry at me?" Celo inquired, his excitement over his latest gadget was gone, his mouth going from a smile to a pout.
"No," Tiffany snapped, it wasn't like her to snap. "I'm just stressed with life in general, okay? I'm going up to the top of the clock tower to get some fresh air."
Celo still couldn't figure out what the problem with Tiffany was. She had been acting strange ever since her private conversation with Beast Master, the topic of which she still refused to reveal. She just kept saying it was girl stuff that he wouldn't understand, but it had to be something serious. "Getting some fresh air sounds like a splendid idea."
"I'm going alone," Tiffany firmly stated. "Do not follow me, I need to take a breather now and then, understand that!" She left the basement, hurrying up the stairs and towards the top of the rickety clock tower.
xoxox xox xoxox
Tiffany remembered her conversation with Beast Master and the request that the monster lord refused to grant. "Please Lord Beast Master, seal me away and the End within me. It might help at the very least delay the Stillness' plans!"
"That will not work," Zelas refused. "Lamentation weakens the body, the Void weakens the mind and the End, I would assume, is a sort of reaper that finishes off those who have already fallen. Yet the End is mysterious, is it the ultimate enemy or a mercy? Does it actually contribute to the death of the world, or is it merely there to dispose of the corpse after the world is already dead? Either way, by the time the End is truly awakened, the war would have been lost. Furthermore, for the Stillness to be defeated it is very likely, almost certain that all three fragments must be destroyed at once. If I seal the End and it continues to exist tainted by your chaos, then the Lord of Lamentation and the Void, even if they are purified into nothing, will continue to exist because of their link with the End and will eventually return to oppose chaos. Continue to carry your secret burden and let it become manifest when the time is right. This is an enemy that must be faced, or else chaos will not be able to truly overcome the Stillness."
"That's too dangerous!" Tiffany insisted. "The End is a horrifying thing, it is so empty. It's different from pain, it's nothing, forgotten, none-existent, absolute nothingness. It's worse than dying. I can feel it inside me, it wants to come out. I know it cannot be defeated, it's too late, the cycle of the Stillness has already awakened and the End is inevitable. It's just as it has been warned, the world would be destroyed by the effects of the spell that called upon the Lord of Nightmares. Even if it was not a direct effect, her shield was removed and the death blow has been struck. Please Lord Beast Master, I beg of you, seal me away! We cannot win; all that can be done is delay the inevitable. If everyone unites against this, the world might still survive for a few more years to come. Please allow Celo to live a little longer, I'm sure he doesn't want to disappear without finishing his machine projects. Maybe then another alternative will come up to prolong chaos even more. There's still so much that everyone needs to do. Give them that chance, even if it is so that you can take the opportunity to cruelly ruin it all for your own enjoyment. Please, Lord Beast Master, I beg of you!" Tiffany had fallen to her knees, abundant tears streaming down her face.
"That's enough, foolish dragon! Stop your useless begging." Zelas scolded angrily. "I do not intend to lose this fight. I will be victorious. Leave now."
Thinking back on it, it was ironic that a monster lord would have more hope for the future than a golden dragon. Yet it was Tiffany who felt the End within her. It was she who felt that the cycle was impossible to stop.
xoxox xox xoxox
Far away from the other groups, Zelgadis and Amelia followed their own traveling route. The scenery was cold and depressing, devoid of life. The ground was starting to feel sandy beneath their boots, as if its nutrients had been drained terribly. "It looks like the earth will take a long time to recover from this."
"Yes, the terrible famine is going stronger than ever. I thought things would get better after Narcissus was defeated, but he was only one of the many that are hidden from us." Amelia recalled. She tried to stay optimistic as she always did. "We can't give up! Justice always triumphs! The more evil they are the harder they fall!" She loudly exclaimed, quickening her pace down the desolate gloomy path.
"Isn't it the bigger they are, the harder they fall?" Zelgadis pointed out.
"That too, but when it comes to justice, the most evil ones always fall the hardest!" Amelia cheered. "This evil is indeed the most evil of all!" Although in truth the Stillness wasn't good or evil, it was simply nothing, while good and evil were concepts that helped fuel motion, chaos.
"Why do you sound so cheerful when you say that?" Zelgadis answered his own question in thinking that Amelia sounded cheerful when she said almost anything. He remembered her cheerfully throwing out dramatic accusations, such as the time when she launched a psychological warfare attack on Xellos after regretting that one of her comrades had turned to the darkness. Of course, Xellos pointed out that he had been a monster all along, but Amelia wasn't listening to him, instead focusing on going on and on about how wonderful life was.
"It's true that the fact that our enemy is strong means it will be more trouble for us," Amelia acknowledged. "But let's look on the bright side! This means that when we finally emerge victorious, because justice always wins, our triumph will be all the greater!" The energetic princess cheered. "Just think of the way things are, if even a monster lord such as Zelas has labeled the Stillness as her enemy, then that means it must be really bad, even by her standards."
"Right..." Zelgadis didn't think that was anything to be happy about. A force worse than a monster lord, worse than even Shabranigdu, was not something anyone in their right mind would look forward to facing. Yet he knew that he had to stay strong and cheerful or else it would mean certain defeat. Even so, could such a thing that was an enemy to both good and evil, truly be overcome?
Not too far away from Amelia and Zelgadis, the sound of grunts and complaints were heard, as a group of bandits hurried to take refuge in a cave up ahead. A tall black bearded human man, walking in front of the band held up a shiny black cone shaped jewel. "Jewelry, nothing but jewelry, that's all the loot we got." He complained in disappointment.
"Isn't it ironic, boss?" A leopard-like beastman, with a slimmer bone structure and a more agile constitution than the muscular yet bony from hunger leader, commented from next to him. "Some months ago we would have been more than happy with a haul like this."
"Some months ago the world wasn't so close to dying," the leader reminded. "But we can't eat jewels and there's hardly any food left to steal. Even if we tried to trade with pirates from another land, a mountain of gold is of little value in comparison to a bit of food. Oh to be a monster and not need any food, I bet they're feasting on our pain!"
"I wouldn't be so sure anymore, boss," the leopard replied. "It looked like the monsters were having a party at first, but now it looks like something's eating them up from the astral side. I know because I saw a monster the other day while looting that village, it looked like it was in pain. You think that what's affecting the monsters is the same thing that's eating the planet itself? You think it's the return of Shabranigdu or something worse? Cause it makes no sense that Shabranigdu would kill off the monsters too. But what could be worse than him?"
"Who knows?" The leader shook his head hopelessly. "We might not even live long enough to find out. It's better not to think about it."
Unknown to the distracted and hungry bandits, the pair of travelers of justice were watching them. "Did you see that jewel the leader had?" Amelia pointed at it excitedly, too far from the bandits to hear their conversation.
"Wait, this could be a trap," Zelgadis cautioned, soon adding the inevitable, "but we can't ignore it. They might be more minions of the Stillness tricked by the story that the Green Alchemist is Gaia," just like the Dragon Slayers were.
"Right, let's march right over to that group of bandits and demand an explanation," said and done, Amelia rushed in. "Hold it right there bandits! We're here to reclaim the black cone gem that you stole! You must also reveal all that you know about the Stillness that calls itself the Green Alchemist and Gaia!"
"What's that girl talking about, boss?" The leopard pointed a confused clawed finger at Amelia, adding something else in a whisper. "By the way boss, doesn't she look delicious? I mean healthy? She might know where we can find food!"
"Delicious... yes, yes... I mean healthy," The leader wiped his mouth and beard with his sleeve.
Zelgadis glared fiercely and didn't waste another second before drawing his sword. He did not like the hungry looks those bandits were giving Amelia. He wasn't sure if they were perverts or cannibals, but both possibilities were terrible and he would not allow them. "You better stay back, surrender the black cone gem and tell us everything you know!" The chimera protectively threatened.
"This?" The bandit leader lifted the jewel, wondering what set it apart from the rest of the stolen jewelry in his gang's sacks. The seemingly well fed travelers were specifically looking for it, so it had to be important. "I don't know what you're babbling about that Green Alchemist and Gaia, but if you want this, then it must be good enough to fight for!" The bandit lifted the gem enclosing his fist tightly around it in a challenging motion.
To be Continued