Sylph was dying, and there was nothing Zelgadis could do about it. His magic was gone, as was most of his strength. What little he had left after his battle with Xellos had gotten him back into the pit with the heartbreakingly silent kitsune. He wasn’t going to let her die alone. Zel had his knees tucked up to his chest and rested his head on his folded arms, his eyes leaking tears from under their closed lids. His pants burned in a heap between himself and Sylph, the last things he was willing to sacrifice to the immesurable comfort of light in a strange place in which terrible things had just happened. To cheer himself a little, he imagined how Sylph would react if she could see him sulking in his underwear. She’d probably say something lewd about his masculinity or maybe make some tacky comment about setting his pants on fire. Or maybe she’d make that stupid "always hard" joke everybody else made about him. The thought of her biting sense of humor only made Zelgadis cry more.
        Xellos had murdered Sylph’s son for no more profound reason than that the boy had gotten in his way. Well, maybe he hadn’t been a "boy" at all, Zelgadis mused sadly. Sylph hadn’t given an indication of her son’s age. For all Zel knew, the kid could’ve been a full-grown man who hadn’t physically gotten in Xellos’ way, which was how Zel had taken it, but had done so figuratively, had messed with the Trickster’s plans. That didn’t diminish a mother’s grief over her son’s murder, even if it had been in combat of some kind, be it magical or physical or both. And Zhara had been forced to hide her children. Zelgadis sniffled and checked Sylph’s situation with a glance: She appeared to still be breathing, though only just. If Sylph died, Zelgadis knew he’d never forgive himself. However long it took, he’d kill Xellos for it, even though it was, technically, his own fault for not slowing down when she’d begged him to. Zelgadis lay his head against the rock behind him and wiped the tears from his face and throat. Because of him, Dr. Sorez was dead and Sylph probably would be soon. Two women whose blood was on his hands because of Xellos. And then there was Xellos’ son Urlich, whom Zel had damn near killed that morning. Sylph had claimed Urlich was alright, but Zel wondered if maybe she’d just said that to take the guilt off of him. If anything had happened to Lina, Amelia and Gourry in Marrigan, Zel knew he would blame himself for that, too.
        And Zhara. He closed his eyes and tried to remember what she looked like. Not much like Xellos, a thought which made him smile a little. Lucky for her Urlich got his looks from their dad’s side of the family. Dragon’s daughter, the most skillful illusionist Zel had ever met, before or since. He’d wanted to find her again ever since she’d left him in Rezo’s hands. He couldn’t hate her for that, though: If only she’d known what the Red Priest would do to him one day, Zel was sure Zhara would have kidnapped him, if she’d had to, to get him out of Rezo’s reach. Somehow, Zelgadis thought Zhara could’ve protected him even from someone as powerful as Rezo. He wondered about the children Zhara had hidden from her father. How many kids did she have? She hadn’t talked about her family, only herself, and that only when pushed. She was a bandit boss who made her headquarters in the most dangerous and deadly city in the world, surrounded by vampires, ghosts and scarier things, and feeling right at home. Well, it looked like he’d finally get to visit Zhara in Marrigan, though he only wished it could be under happier circomstances. Zel didn’t relish the idea of showing up on Zhara’s doorstep with her dead friend in his arms, a friend that would still be alive if he hadn’t been so stubborn and selfish.
        "I’m sorry..." he whispered to his bloodied compaion. "This is my fault. It’s all my fault," Zelgadis lay his head back down on his arms with a ragged sigh. "I’ll kill him for you, Sylph, for you and your son and for Lara. I swear it on my soul! He’ll pay for every drop of blood."

        Zellas Metallium scratched her head in frustration and flipped back to the index of her Make Your Own Minion™ companion guide. "…recovery from severe beatings…recovery from severe—" She slammed the book shut with an irritated snort. "Don’t they realize the sort of danger minions can get into?! What’s with these people, anyway? Don’t their minions ever get the snot beat out of them by an enraged, pre-metamorphosed Dark Lord ?! Hmph! They probably didn’t do any market research when they made this thing! ‘Make your own evil minion’ the package says! ‘It’s easy’ the package says! DO A LITTLE RESEARCH NEXT TIME!" Zellas threw the guidebook across the room where it slammed into the wall with a gratifying thump and flutter of pages. Stalking to the bookshelf that covered an entire wall of her workshop, she grabbed a guidebook that had been written by someone other than the manufacturer and went straight to the index. "Not all attacks are magical," she grumbled as she ran a finger down page after index page until, with a triumphant squeal, she found what she was looking for and excitedly flipped to the appropriate section.
        "Don’t worry, Xellos my pet," she cooed to her unconscious chief General/Priest, "I’ll get you fixed right up." Xellos hovered at Zellas’ waist-level, encased in a golden light that made it harder to see the horrible damage Zelgadis had done. In fact, Xellos’ body had been so unrecognizable when Zellas had summoned him out of the fight, that she’d had to check his life force to make sure it was really him. She just couldn’t believe anyone, even a guy like Zelgadis Greywers, who was on the verge of becoming the next big Dark Lord, could do so much damage without Xellos being able to get in a single lick. Not even one attack spell. And Zelgadis had been without magic at the time. Most puzzling.

        In a tucked away luxurious little corner of the place between worlds, the Lord of Nightmares felt a tremor in The Force, just a ripple, or perhaps it was more like blinking. At any rate, it was the most powerful thing she’d felt in millennia and it was supremely troubling. As if that wasn’t bad enough, she’d also felt that freak Xellos’ lifeforce dip dangerously low in the midst of an encounter with the source of the "trembling". If not for Beast Master’s quick maneuvering, her precious servant would be dead at the hands of what could turn out to be a new Dark Lord. L-Sama sat on her throne, her chin cupped in one hand and a cup of sake pinched between the thumb and forefinger of the other, and considered her options. Who was this potential Dark Lord? And what effect would his, her or its appearance have on the balance of the world? Priority One was obviously to discover the identity of this person. L-Sama smiled: "Easily done." She took her chin out of her hand, held out her palm and summoned one of her demons. A tiny green dragon, no longer from nose to tail tip than L-Sama’s arm, appeared and landed gracefully on its master’s shoulder. L-Sama put into the creature’s mind the information she was looking for, then magically sent it to the Real World on its mission.

        Having overcome his wardrobe problems and successfully fended off Amelia’s determination to kill him before he killed Zelgadis, Urlich stood by his sister at the entrance to the cavern, ready to start the rescue mission as soon as Zhara figured out why the cavern felt funny.
        "It’s as if it’s filled with something…gooey," she explained and scratched behind one horn thoughtfully. "I know that sounds weird, but whatever is in there, it’s tangible, and when I try to reach into it with magic, the magic fizzles out just a few yards past the gateway." The dragon bandit turned a curious look on the others and asked: "What about you guys?"
        Urlich tried to send a light spell into the cavern, but, as Zhara had said, it only got so far before it "fizzled". Lina and Amelia had no more luck with their attempts to make light. Gourry came up with the obvious answer to the illumination problem: "Do you have any torches around here? We could use those for light, couldn’t we?"
        Lina smacked him hard in the back of the head. "That’s not the point! The point is, our magic won’t work in the cavern,"
        "And it probably has something to do with Zelgadis," Zhara finished.
        Amelia moaned sadly. "My poor Zel," she whispered so none of the others would hear her and take the opportunity to remind her once again that Zelgadis didn’t want her. She hoped Zhara and Lina were wrong about what was going on, and Zelgadis wasn’t turning into a Dark Lord at all but into a being who would use his newfound power for goodness and justice, not to kill people or destroy the world, like Xellos and his kind did. No, Amelia was sure Zelgadis would always fight on the side of justice! No matter what he said or thought about himself, Amelia knew in her heart of hearts that he was one of the good guys—he just had a lot of bad things happening to him, that’s all. "I hope they’re alright," she said aloud with a sidelong glance at Urlich, who grunted in reply.
        "She better be, or you precious Zelgadis is gravel!"
        "Hey!" Amelia spun on Urlich, roughly shrugging off the hand Lina put on her shoulder to keep her from doing anything rash. "If your girlfriend is hurt, I’m sure it’s not Zelgadis’ fault! Something else hurt her—and I’ll bet Zelgadis tried to protect her from it! That’s just how he is! You’ll see," she finished in a quieter but no less stubborn voice, unfazed by Urlich’s withering glare that held the promise of a rematch of the duel he’d had with Zelgadis that morning. "He’d never hurt somebody who was trying help him."
        "Of course he wouldn’t," Urlich grumbled.
        "Um, I can go get some torches…" Gourry cut in in a small voice, hoping to stave off another wrestling match between Amelia and Urlich by changing the subject.
        Zhara shrugged, her face taught with worry. "I guess we have no choice," she said. "I keep torches in that trunk over there behind that cat statue." She pointed behind Gourry and to the left at what looked more like a coffin, set on the floor behind the biggest, ugliest cat statue Gourry had ever seen. "And no comments about my taste," Zhara warned him, accurately reading his expression as he beheld the statue, "I’m not in the mood. Just bring the torches over here, and I’ll light them."
        As Gourry went to fetch the torches, giggling under his breath and shaking his head despite Zhara’s warning, Lina took a few steps into the cavern, took off one of her gloves and stretched out her hand to get a good feel of the "tangible thing" that was keeping them from using magic outside of Zhara’s house. Zhara was right: It had substance, almost like…a thick fog, or a cloud, perhaps. Definitely weird and definitely a threat. Although skilled with a sword and good with her fists, Lina didn’t like being deprived of her magic. It made her feel naked and vulnerable—too exposed.
        She was startled by Zhara’s voice almost right in her ear. "Your assessment?"
        Lina’s eyes fluttered open and she withdrew her hand. As she slipped her glove back on, she shook her head and shrugged. "I’ve never come across anything like it before. I don’t like it."
        "How good are you with that sword?" She asked, almost off-handedly. Like Lina’s, Zhara’s eyes remained fixed on the thick darkness through the cave mouth.
        "I can take care of myself," Lina replied tersely as Gourry returned with a torch for each of them and began passing them out. "And anybody else," Lina added pointedly, then nodded to Gourry. "So can he. Don’t worry about us."
        They held their torches together to allow Zhara to cast a firespell to light them. As light spilled into the cavern, forcing back the dark, Urlich smirked at Amelia. "What about her? How ‘bout it, Princess, can you do anything but make trouble and get under foot?"
        Zhara rolled her eyes. "Give it a rest, Url," she snapped before Amelia could do more than turn red and glare. "Lina told me she’s a white magician, a healer—rather like someone else I know…" she added with a meaningful stare at her brother, who just growled at her and looked away in disgust. She stepped past Lina to the front of the pack, then turn to address them. "Alright, this is it. We don’t know what’s interfering with our magic and we don’t know what condition Sylph and Zelgadis are in, or where they are in the cavern. Let’s get in there, find them, and get back out before this…thing…decides to shut down my wards again—"
        "I thought you said Zelgadis did that," Gourry wondered. "If we bring him back to your house, won’t your wards disappear again?"
        Lina rubbed the bridge of her nose and resisted the desire to bop Gourry on the head with her torch. "We didn’t say it was definitely Zelgadis," she snarled through clenched teeth, "we just said it might have something to do with him. Which means it could be the work of someone, or something in the cavern with him, not necessarily Zelgadis, himself."
        Amelia did hit him, on the butt. "It doesn’t matter, anyway! We have to get him out of there now!"
        "We have to get Sylph out of there now," Urlich snorted hatefully. "If Zelgadis really didn’t have anything to do with her loss of magic, I might be persuaded to forgive him and graciously spare his pathetic life."
        "Urlich…" Zhara warned.
        Amelia seethed, but was determined to show this cad Urlich by her example that the group had priorities and those priorities included more than just his girlfriend, or whatever Sylph was to him. If she was so precious to a creep like Urlich, Amelia reasoned, she was probably rude, pompous and selfish. "Serves her right to lose her magic!" The Princess didn’t even feel a twinge of conscience at such an unjust assessment of a woman she’d never met, instead she felt sorry for Zelgadis for having to put up with such a cretin. "C’mon, let’s go!" Amelia bowed politely to Zhara to indicate the bandit should lead on, then followed with her head held high when Zhara turned and started off into the cavern. Lina rolled her eyes as she passed Urlich, who was looking like he’d just swallowed a bug. Gourry gulped and followed Lina and Urlich into the cave; he had a very bad feeling about this.

        Zelgadis’ pants were now nothing more than glowing bits of cloth, but looking at those last, valiant embers was comforting. Zel had a horrible, morbid feeling that when the fire burnt out, the last of Sylph’s life force would do the same, then he’d be alone. Odd, he usually preferred his own company, not often feeling lonely in the absence of people. In fact, now that he thought about it, he hadn’t felt really lonely until Rezo took away his humanity and left him a monster. He’d grown even more prone to loneliness since taking up with Lina and Gourry—even Amelia, irritating little stalker that she was, she did make him feel want-able. Just as Lara—no, Xellos pretending to be Dr. Sorez—had. He wondered again what the real Dr. Lara Sorez had been like. Did Xellos portray her accurately, or did he invent a personality to go with her body, one painstakingly designed to appeal to Zelgadis? She’d been a friend of Amelia’s, so she probably wasn’t a crook (though Lina was a friend of Amelia’s, too, and her motivations were often questionable). Did she really like to travel? Was she as outspoken as Xellos had made her seem? As girlish? As…good in bed…
        The tears flowed anew as Zel reluctantly remembered that morning. For sanity’s sake, he tried hard to divorce Xellos from Lara, his enemy from the woman he’d given his virginity to. Her skin had been so soft, like the most expensive silk, covering surprisingly strong, sinewy muscles. Touching her hair had been like running moonlight through fingers. Her scent of musk and spice had intertwined with the fragrant incense to turn over control of his body and emotions to his hormones, and his body was more than happy to obey: His hands had caressed every inch of her flesh, his fingers, lips and tongue exploring places that were wonderfully warm and wet and smelled sweetly of the irresistible urgency building inside him. But her touch…the way she’d touched him…the places she’d touched, tugged, stroked, kissed…
        "Oh, gods!" Zelgadis sobbed, his whole body remembering the ecstasy that had rampaged from his groin to his heart when she’d taken him in her mouth, bringing tears to his eyes, his fingers twining in her hair, forcing her head in the directions he ached for it to go. When he was finished, she’d lay back on the bed and gently pulled his head between her legs to return the favor. "Why did you have to kill her?!" He choked to the absent Trickster Priest. "Damn you, you evil little worm! I almost had you!" Zel punched the rock floor, the force of his rage sending up a shower of dust and shattered bits of rock. "I almost…had…"
        "Z—zel…?"
        Sylph’s voice was so quiet and weak, even sitting right next to her and with his supernatural ears, Zelgadis almost didn’t hear her. He stroked her head with a careful, light touch. "Shhh…save your strength."
        She coughed once but at least she was no longer spitting up blood; Zel took that as a good sign. "Did you…get him?"
        Zelgadis sighed and moved a stray lock away from her eyes. "Almost, but he disappeared," he told her bitterly. "I think Zellas Metallium took him. She’ll probably put him back together and send him after me again in a few days. I’m sorry—"
        "For what?" She whispered. "If you’d killed him, she’d have resurrected him. She…can do that, you know. Over and over again. That’s--*cough*--that’s why we don’t kill him." Sylph paused to take a breath that burbled and rattled with the blood she hadn’t coughed up before. Zel felt his eyes begin to sting again, as again he berated himself for bringing this on her. "We just…ruin his plans…make him miserable."
        Zelgadis didn’t want to tax her strength but he couldn’t help but ask: "Who’s ‘we’? Zhara and Urlich?"
        Another breath, as alarming as the last. "Yes. And others. You, too…I hope."
        One corner of his mouth lifted in a smile in spite of him, and Zelgadis promised her she could add him to the list. "Add Lina Inverse, Gourry Gabriev and Princess Amelia of Seyruun, as well. We have no love for the Trickster Priest."
        She was quiet for such a long time, Zel wondered if she’d fainted again (he didn’t let himself think she’d died), then she said: "Thanks." Another long pause, then: "Don’t stop doing that."
        "Doing what?"
        "Playing…with my…hair," he thought she said, but her voice was even quieter now, "I like that. Urlich used to…"
        "Shhh…" Zel scolded and tried to sound as positive as he could when he assured her: "Urlich’ll be here soon. Zhara has to be getting worried about us by now and she’ll come looking for us. Just rest. They’ll be here before you know it, and you can tell me all about your son when we get to Zhara’s house. Promise?"
        Sylph’s lips moved, but now Zel couldn’t hear what came out of them. He told himself she’d said "promise" back to him. He reached down to touch her jugular and sighed with relief when he could still find a pulse there. Then he went back to petting her blood-snarled hair…and remembering the feelings and sensations of that morning with a woman he’d been convinced he could spend eternity with. Or maybe that had just been his hormones talking; sex, he’d been told, had a dreadful way of shutting down a man’s powers of reason and logical thought. He closed his eyes and let go of reason and his usual self-control, wanting to have at least a little joy in what he was now convinced were his last hours—certainly Sylph’s last. For a while, he put aside the fact that Sylph’s condition really was his fault, and that Lara Sorez had been murdered as part of a plot against him, and Princess Amelia would probably pine away forever because he wouldn’t love her, and everybody else who tried to love him either ended up dead or worse. Ah well, one comfort through it all was knowing Lina Inverse was a match for anything Marrigan could throw at her, if only through sheer force of bad attitude alone. And if it could die by the sword—be it mundane or made of pure energy—Gourry could lick it. No worries about his friends’ safety, no. Even little Amelia could hold her own long enough for a rescue to arrive. He just never thought he’d be the one needing a rescue.
        "She was…a genius…" Sylph sighed, not opening her eyes. "Dr. Sorez. Read her papers…when we get out. I have them all. Good stuff."
        Zel nodded and worked at the matted blood in her hair. "I will." Sylph tried to move, but Zel discouraged her with the slightest pressure on her head. "Don’t, Sylph—"
        "We have to go," she whimpered. "Cavern…unstable. This pit shouldn’t…be here. Could disappear…or something…You have to carry me."
        No shit he had to carry her, but he couldn’t even carry himself right then, much less jump out of the pit with a kitsune in his arms. He explained this to Sylph, but she wouldn’t take no for an answer. "We don’t have a choice!" She panted for a few moments, then added: "Try! I have a bad feeling…this pit…we have to get out…"
        "I’m sorry," Zel moaned, frustrated tears streaming down his face with renewed vigor, "I can barely move."
        Sylph made a lame attempt at morale-boosting humor: "Some hero you turned out to be."
        And unwittingly hit upon Zelgadis’ weakest spot: His self-confidence. Her gambit only made his misery worse. "…a joke…" she managed, "just…joke…Hell, Zel…*cough*…lighten up. It helps."
        He shook his head sadly. "Sylph…you need to rest! Please? Just stop talking."
        She did, sending his frantic fingers south again to check for a pulse on her throat. He sat back with relief when once again he found one. "Please let them be coming," he prayed to whatever gods cared to listen. "I don’t care what happens to me—I don’t want to live anymore—just please don’t let Sylph die. I can’t live with her blood on my hands."
        The gods were smiling upon him that evening, it seemed. Was that light just over the top of the pit, or was he seeing things? Zelgadis watched the glow until it was too bright for its existence to be doubted. His heart leaped with hope, then crashed: What if it was Beast Master or one of her other servants come to finish Xellos’ botched job? Then the light started moving away, and that made up Zel’s mind. "HELLO! WE’RE DOWN HERE!"
        Zelgadis almost fainted with joy when Lina’s familiar soprano called his name in return, and the light came closer again. "Zelgadis! Keep talking!"
        "We’re over here!" Zel shouted and wept all at once. Beside him, Sylph stirred again and tried to sit up. Zelgadis held her down. "Sylph’s hurt pretty bad! Can you still work magic?"
        Tantalizingly closer now, Lina called back: "No! None of us can—Amelia, Zhara, Urlich and me, I mean! How bad is she?"
        "She better not be dead, asshole!" Urlich added with a snarl and was shut up by Zhara again. He ignored her. "I’ll kill your ass if this is your fault, you—"
        SMACK! "Put a sock in it, Url!"
        "That must be Zhara," Zelgadis thought and tried to put a face with her voice but found himself visualizing Dr. Sorez with ram’s horns.
        "And if you so much as touch him, I’ll kill YOU!"
        Amelia! "Is Gourry with you, too?!" Zelgadis shouted.
        Just then the man himself appeared at the lip of the pit, torch aloft, boyish face devastated by what he saw below him. "Zel! What happened to you guys? Is she alive?"
        Lina joined Gourry, then Amelia and Urlich appeared, along with a horned woman Zel instantly recognized as Zhara. They all held torches, which shone more light into the pit than his eyes were equipped to deal with. With his eyes averted, Zel said: "She’s not dead but she will be soon if we don’t get her out of here and someplace where she can be healed!" Before Urlich could even open his mouth, Zel added sourly: "You can kill me later, just—help her now!"
        Urlich and Amelia were the first into the pit. Urlich began to examine Sylph, reassuring her in gentle voice that everything was going to be alright now that he was there and to please just lie still and keep quiet. Zelgadis pushed Amelia away, refusing her ministrations with a growl and a meaningful look at Sylph. He called to Gourry to come down and help Urlich lift the injured kitsune out of the pit. While Gourry and Urlich were doing that, Zelgadis considered his own options for getting out the hole, only to find Amelia crouched by the wall with her back to him. "What are you doing?"
        "You can stand on my shoulders," Amelia explained in a voice that said he should’ve known that, "and crawl out of the pit. It’s ok, you won’t hurt me!" When he still hesitated, she turned around and stomped her foot at him. "Come ON, Zelgadis! Do you want to get out of here, or not?!"
        "Zel?" Lina questioned. "I can send Gourry back down—"
        "No, it’s ok," Zel told her. Amelia crouched down again, and Zel climbed onto her shoulders, got his elbows over the top of the pit enough for Gourry to get hold of him and pull him free.
        "You look awful," Lina said pointedly.
        Zel smirked. "I’ve had better days."
        "Enjoy them while you can," Urlich muttered, and if he hadn’t been carrying Sylph, Zhara would have punched him. Instead, she lead the way back to her house, where their magic would hopefully function once again, and Sylph could be healed.