Zhara lay on the silk upholstered fainting couch in her bedroom and tried to unravel the tangled threads of her day. Heavy, dark blue velvet curtains shut out the sunlight, making the room as dark as night, which suited Zhara just fine. She was exhausted, right down to her very spirit, and had the makings of a slight headache. Her headaches were few and far between and were usually remedied fairly easily by lying down in a dark room, as she was doing now. Her sons and Sylph were napping in their rooms, and their bizarre guest Naga was snoring down the hall in hers. It was times like this that Zhara wished her hearing was worse, and her house guests slept more quietly. Not only did Naga have a laugh like a natural disaster, she had no taste in clothes, was a lush and snored. Loudly. It sounded like a pack of angry warthogs. What a disgusting woman, and how terribly cruel of Lina to send her to help Ullan and Zellan. Expert or no expert, Naga’s very existence was a deterrent to her sons’ confidence in their new lifestyle. Poor Ullan fainted dead away at the very thought of her paying attention to him. Maybe if they only worked with her in Sons of Chaos mode…
        How had she and Lei Magnus produced such gentle, sensitive boys? She the half-dragon daughter of Beast Master’s General/Priest, he the bearer of a piece of Shabranigdo. And both of their sons were…sweet, charming even. One wanted to be a businessman, the other a hairdresser. The grandsons of Xellos Metallium. Hairdresser. Legitimate businessman. She sighed and draped her forearm over her eyes. At least they were good at it. Well, she knew Ullan was a good hairdresser, at any rate. She hadn’t seen Zellan’s business acumen yet. A little smile crept onto her face as she realized she actually wanted their hot springs business venture to succeed.
        "A tourist attraction within spitting distance of the biggest mortal deathtrap in the world," she chuckled to herself, "I never would’ve imagined…" She got a vision of her father sharing a hot spring with Naga and her day improved enormously.
        What was her father up to now? He could have killed them all that morning, but didn’t. Of course, the collective power of his opponents should have been enough to smoke him, especially with Firedrake in use. That is, if they hadn’t known Beast Master would just make another one of him, one they didn’t know or understand and couldn’t predict. Furthermore, Zhara knew how fond Beast Master was of Xellos, so if they killed him, she’d come after them for it. Better to fight her servant than the Dark Lord herself if she had a mind bent on vengeance. The boys had fought well this morning, she thought with a proud little smile. Well, she’d always thought the best offense was a good defense. Maybe the lads got their natures from her.
        Zhara laughed at herself for even thinking it. The woman who made a city full of terrifying creatures for the sole purpose of entrapping mortals and making them suffer, like bugs in a Flytrap plant? Gentle? Sweet? A hairdresser? At least she could be reasonably sure Zellan had her to thank for whatever business instincts he had. Then again, she was pretty good at doing hair and had bang-up fashion sense… Maybe the boys did get their natures from her, without her dark side, or Lei’s.
        She felt the familiar sting of tears when she thought about her dead husband. He’d moved on from her to the Lord of Nightmares, siring a child that would get Xellos into no end of trouble, trouble that followed him even now. Zhara wished as she had so many times before that things had turned out differently, or that he hadn’t carried that piece of Shabranigdo that had destroyed him. Gods, what a deja vu it had been when she’d heard about Rezo’s fate. Even making a copy of himself hadn’t saved him because the copy had had a mind of his own.
        She vowed never to make a copy of herself, no matter what. So far, everybody she’d known or heard of who’d made a copy of themselves had had nothing but trouble come of it. Even Zelgadis’ copy had come out wrong, thanks to Xellos. She hadn’t believe Xellos for a second when he’d claimed he’d only done it on a lark. He never did anything for no reason, but she couldn’t understand why he still wanted Zelgadis. So the guy was a powerful shamanist sorcerer. Ok, fine. Mazoku collected those kinds of people like Urlich collected cravats. Was that Xellos’ only reason for putting his own genetic material into Zelgadis, to bring him into Beast Master’s service? What was Zelgadis to her father? From the way Zelgadis and his friends talked, Zel and Xellos had an unfriendly rivalry that went back a few years. She guessed Xellos’ other motivation was the pure joy of making Zel’s life a little more miserable, which would be just typical.
        But what was their connection to the tomb in Seyruun that had L-Sama’s creation spell painted on its walls? Gourry said Xellos couldn’t seem to get into the mausoleum, but he didn’t know why. Obviously there was spell keeping him out, but only the Lord of Nightmares, an Ancient Dragon (now extinct) or the other Mazoku Lords could cast a spell strong enough to keep Xellos out if he was really determined. And the Mazoku Lords’ ability to keep him out for long was iffy. That left the Lord of Nightmares, but why not let Xellos see that spell? He’d probably seen parts of it before, and it was entirely possible that Zellas had seen the whole thing. In theory, monsters couldn’t cast the creation spell, but they’d been making minions from scratch for thousands of years, so Zhara personally thought the more powerful Lords were able to use it.
        If it wasn’t the spell, then there had to be something else in that tomb that L-Sama didn’t want Xellos to see. Hm. She didn’t know what else was in there, aside from the spell, a very scary rendition of the greatest battle between Shabranigdo and Seifeid, and, presumably, a dead human in a container of some kind. Either there was something important about the painting, or there was something important about the container and/or the dead human it held. Better try to get in touch with Lina again.
        Zhara reluctantly left her couch with a great, big yawn and stretch and crossed her room to the tall, walnut cabinet in which she kept her favorite magical tools. She canceled the sealing spell, opened the carved doors and considered a shelf of crystal balls in a variety of sizes. After a few moments thought, she chose a small one that fit nicely into the palm of her hand, then closed and resealed the cabinet and returned to the fainting couch to call Lina.

        Jessica knelt before a crumbling stone altar in a deteriorating temple on the other side of the world from Seyruun and cast an invocation spell to ask the Lord of Nightmares to meet with her. She hadn’t done this in more than a thousand years. In fact, judging by the condition of the temple, neither had anybody else. Was she the last Priestess of L-Sama? Hadn’t her own people carried on her duties in her absence? The place was a wreck! Holes in the ceiling, walls falling down, mosaic floor missing dozens of tiles (semi-precious stones, each one), vines on every wall. The altar was hardly recognizable as anything but a pile of broken stone. Long ago, the place had been full of gold, jewels, candle light and the sweet smell of incense. Priestesses had offered sacrifices on this very altar. She could just pick out the groove through which the sacrificial blood flowed into a bejeweled gold collection bowl that had once stood beneath the altar. She could still smell the stench of fresh blood and burning meat, hear the chanted prayers of her sisters in the holy order. Now there was just dust and broken stone and memories. And silence. Yes, too much silence, she thought. This place wasn’t just abandoned by sentient creatures, even wild things stayed away.
        "Tch! Look at this place!" The Lord of Nightmares complained. She was just a voice at first, then the smell of tobacco smoke filled the air, then the woman, herself, appeared, floating above the altar with a sour expression on her face. "After all you did for those girls, you’d think one of them could have kept the place up while you were away! Shameful. If any of them were still alive, I’d—what’s wrong?"
        Jessica wiped a tear from her eye and tried to smile. "Sylph’s still alive, but she stayed in Marrigan to watch over me. I’m so sorry, My Lady! I can’t bear to see your temple abandoned and deteriorating like this! And robbed! All the beautiful things…" She looked around her at the ruin that once was a glittering temple to the supreme creator deity, then put her face in her hands and cried.
        L-Sama disappeared then reappeared at Jessica’s side and put a gentle hand on her trembling shoulder. "It’s only a building," she said in a soothing voice. "My temple is everywhere, the whole world and everything and everyone in it. I have no use for stone or gold or jewels, or even worship. I am who I am whether or not anyone prays to me or builds pretty temples in my honor. Don’t be upset because this one fell apart." She looked around with a sigh and added: "Though I must admit, you people really outdid yourselves with this one. I used to love coming here when you invoked me—in spirit, of course. Hm. Maybe if I’d revealed myself more often, this wouldn’t have happened. Ah well. What’s done is done. What brings you to this ruin, Jessica? Nostalgia?" She took a drag off her cigarette and watched the smoke curl around the tumble down altar. It had once been plated with gold and studded with jewels. Damn disrespectful mortals, stealing from her temple. If she’d been paying attention at the time, they’d be dead meat. Wait a minute. They were mortal, so they probably already were dead meat. She made a note to herself to review the rolls of the dead and see if she could find the thieves and transfer them to eternal damnation for desecrating her temple. Despite what she’d just told Jessica, her temples mattered to her, they added glamour to her image (and she really did like being worshipped).
        Jessica wiped her eyes and took a deep breath to master her emotions. It was painful being here again and not finding it just as she’d left it. Well, it was about bloody time she had a talk with the elders about restoring the temples and the old orders! If this had gone to hell, what else had? Damn kits, no respect for anything important!
       "I need to talk to you about Lara Sorez’ tomb in Seyruun, My Lady," she said at last. "Your creation spell is painted on the walls, as is a terrifyingly realistic fresco depicting the moment Shabranigdo began to split into seven pieces. There’s a sarcophagus that’s sealed shut by stone vines, as well. Prince Phileonel buried Dr. Lara Sorez there a few weeks ago, and he’s positive none of that was in the tomb at the time."
        "It wasn’t," L-Sama told her matter of factly. "I put it there. The spell, the fresco and the vine work. I used a very talented trance painter. Would you believe I can’t draw? I can create a world and everything in it, but I can’t draw worth anything. It’s very embarrassing."
        Jessica hadn’t expected a straight answer, so it took her a few moments to collect her thoughts and ask another question. "Why did you put those things there? And what’s in the sarcophagus?"
        The Lord of Nightmares smiled and crushed out her cigarette on a nearby stone. "That is a secret."
        Cringe. How dare she do a Xellos impersonation at a time like this? "My Lady…"
        She giggled. "Sorry. I just ruined his day, so I guess I have Xellos on the brain!"
        "How painful."
        "Quite," L-Sama sobered up and lit another cigarette. "Everything in that tomb is part of Zelgadis’ cure…but only a part. The clues to the location of the other pieces are somewhere in that mausoleum—not in the sarcophagus. Leave that alone." She sucked smoke and let it out slowly. "That’s all I’ll tell you about that, Jessica, so let it drop and be glad I’m in such a generous mood."
        Jessica nodded, having gotten a lot more information than she thought she would, then another question nagged at her brain and she had to ask: "Why Lara Sorez’ tomb? What does she have to do with it?"
        "I said—" L-Sama started to scold her priestess, then decided that was harmless information and answered the question. "I knew Zelgadis would visit her grave, so it was the logical place to put the clues and the spell.
        "But if what Lita told us is true, she painted it before Xellos took Lara’s form to use against Zelgadis.
        L-Sama smirked. "If what she told you is true. If anything she told you is true. Go back to Seyruun, Jessica. Lita isn’t herself."
        "Isn’t herself?" Jessica repeated in puzzlement. "What do you mean? Is she sick?"
        "That’s one way to put it," L-Sama chuckled. "It was good seeing you here again, Jessica, but I have work to do. God things, you know how it is. I’m sure we’ll talk again."
        With that, she was gone, leaving Jessica alone in the broken temple wondering if she’d gotten answers or just more questions. Then she disappeared, as well, back to Seyruun to find out what L-Sama had meant by Lita not being herself.

        "Lina’s sleeping," Amelia whispered into the crystal ball. She took it into the farthest corner of the room and hunched over it, so as not to awaken her sleeping friend. "She caught cold when she fell into a fountain, fighting Url over his cravat. We made Url heal her, and she’s sleeping it off. What’s up?"
        "Where’s Urlich now?" Zhara asked instead of answering Amelia’s question.
        "He’s in the Royal Wardrobe, picking out a loaner cravat."
        Zhara rolled her eyes with a sigh. "Where’s Jessica?"
        "She’s gone to talk to the Lord of Nightmares about the paintings in Lara’s tomb."
        "Hm. That’s what I wanted to talk to Lina about, actually," she told Amelia, wearily. "Alright, have Jessica call me when she returns. I have a very bad feeling about that tomb."
        Amelia nodded. "You’re not the only one!"
        Zelgadis opened the door with enough force to make it hit the wall behind it. The noise awakened Lina with a startled yelp and almost made Amelia drop her crystal ball. "Zelgadis! Miss Lina was sleeping!"
        "I’m sorry," he said unapologetically, "but I think Lina wants to hear this latest development. Who’s in the crystal, Amelia?" He moved to take it away from her, but Amelia jerked it out of his reach.
        "It’s Zhara," she snapped. "What’s going on?"
        "Lita’s Lara."
        Three female voices said: "Say that again?"
        Zelgadis sat on the windowsill and told them what happened in the mausoleum. "Apparently, that creepy painting that made Amelia faint, blew Lita right into a different personality. That, or Lita was Lara’s alternate personality, and Lara’s the real personality. If so, I wanna know who Phil buried in that tomb last month."
        "Where is Daddy?" Amelia asked. "I thought he was with you!"
        "Mortals are slow," Zel yawned, "I ran here."
        Lina rubbed her eyes and snorted: "That was thoughtful of you, Zel. You don’t really expect us to believe you, though, do you? She sees a scary painting and BOOM, she’s somebody else? Come on!"
        Zel shrugged. "You’ll see for yourself when she gets here. I’ll warn you now that she’s nothing like Lita."
        "Oh what joy for you," Lina continued to taunt him, "Lara Sorez lives!"
        Zelgadis gave her a very dirty look. "She’s a bitch on wheels," he growled, "bit like a certain flat-chested sorceress I know."
        Lina choked, and Amelia tucked the crystal ball closer to her body and started edging toward the open door. Zelgadis just glared at Lina and looked smug. "You guys," Amelia stammered timidly, "this really isn’t a good time for—"
        "MISS LINA! SOMETHING HAS HAPPENED THAT—" Phil aborted his bellow as soon as he saw the stand off between Lina and Zelgadis and the terrified look on his daughter’s face.
        Gourry pushed him into the room, so he and Lara could get in. Zelgadis right away asked Lara: "Tell the ladies who you are."
        She shot him a look of death, then introduced herself. "I’m Dr. Lara Sorez," then bowed to Amelia and added, "it’s a pleasure to see you again, Your Highness. I hope you’re well?"
        Not especially, but Amelia didn’t really want to talk about it just then. She held up the crystal ball and introduced Zhara, then Lina.
        "Not Zhara Metallium?" Lara asked and stepped closer to Amelia to see the face inside the crystal. "The daughter of Xellos and the gold dragon? Is your twin Urlich there, too?"
        Zhara frowned. "How do you know about my family?"
        She smiled. "I’ve studied your father. Even his secrets can be found out if one knows where to look or who to ask."
        "And who did you ask, Doctor?"
        Lara’s expression lost its amusement abruptly, and she seemed very uncomfortable. "I don’t reveal my sources."
        Zhara grinned. "You’ll reveal whatever I want to know when we meet, Doctor. I don’t know who you think you are, but to me you’re just a fragile mortal with an unstable mind. What do you think will happen if I put pressure on you? Will you become Lita again, or are there other personalities living in your head, dying to come out and play?"
        Gulp. Lara stepped away from the crystal ball in Amelia’s hands. She looked to the window, only to find Zelgadis there, then cast her eyes to the floor. "I fear the one who gave me the information more than I fear you."
        Now Zhara really had to know who was giving out information about her father’s past but she knew she wouldn’t get too far through a crystal ball. Unfortunately, she also didn’t want to leave her sons alone in Marrigan with Naga and just Sylph to help them keep their sanity. When in distress, they wanted their mother, not their uncle’s ex-lover. That meant she needed to get Url to have a chat with Doctor Sorez, be she Lita or Lara or whoever. Wasn’t this the scientist who had been summoning Mazoku before her death? What monsters had she summoned? Urlich would be a good interrogator, and now that he was getting a new cravat, he might just be in a cooperative mood.
        "Very well, Doctor," she said at last, in a tone that sent chills down every spine in the room but Zelgadis’, "I’ll let you talk to my brother about this. Princess? Have Jessica call me when she gets back."
        The crystal went dark, and Amelia put it back into her pouch. She looked up into Lara’s angry eyes and asked quietly: "Who are you really?"
        "Yeah," Lina chimed in pointedly. "For two days, you’re Lita, then you see a scary painting and suddenly you’re Lara. Lara’s dead. It was in all the papers. Phil buried her. Who are you?"
        Lara started to move on Lina, then hesitated. This was Lina Inverse, the sorceress responsible for the destruction of a piece of Shabranigdo, as well as Hellmaster Phibrizzo. Best to proceed with care. "I don’t know why I thought I was Lita then, but I’m not her. She was a copy I created to confuse the people who wanted to kill me. My plan worked: They killed the copy instead of me. Prince Phileonel buried a copy." She turned to Phil with an embarrassed bow and said: "I apologize for my rudeness in the mausoleum, Your Highness. I should have thanked you for your kindness in constructing a tomb for my remains."
        Phil smiled. "It was the decent thing to do."
        Lina gave her a keen look and asked: "Who wanted to kill you? Not Mazoku. They don’t try to hide their kills. Whoever killed—whoever they killed, Lara or a copy—threw the body into a river. Also, the victim was strangled, not slain by magic or a weapon, which are the usual Mazoku methods. Though strangling might provide them with the pleasure of their victim’s terror." She looked up at Zelgadis suddenly and added jokingly: "Don’t get any funny ideas, Zel."
        He gave her a teasing pout and snapped his fingers. "Darn! That was my next plan, too! You’re such a party pooper, Lina!"
        He just gets weirder and weirder, she thought in dismay, and regretted every single time she’d given Zel a hard time for being so depressed and serious. "So, Lara, or whoever you really are, answer my question: Who wanted to kill you?"
        Lara looked away and hugged herself. "Nobody you would have heard of."
        "Try me," Lina said at the same time Phil said:
        "If we know the identity of your—of Lita’s killer, we can bring them to justice!"
        Zelgadis chuckled. "Aren’t you forgetting something, Phil? Lita was only a copy, not a person, so her killers didn’t commit a crime."
        Lara’s shoulders tensed, but she said nothing.
        Amelia and Lina sensed Zelgadis’ jibe was part of an argument that had begun in the mausoleum, and it was pretty clear who took what position. Lara didn’t think copy’s were real people, and Zelgadis did. Lina and Amelia were on Zel’s side of that issue, though Lina could understand why there was debate. She’d heard it before, and it hinged around the existence of souls. Before Zelgadis’ trip to the afterlife, Lina had been on the fence about souls, now she was positive they existed. Whether or not they existed in copies was another issue. Regardless, Lina had treated the few copies she’d met in the same way as she treated non-copy people. If they wanted to fight, she fought them, if they wanted to be an ally, she was friendly. It was as simple as that.
        Amelia’s face fell. "Now I know you’re really Lara," she whispered. Tears sprang into her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. "Lara and I had an argument once about whether copies were real people. I couldn’t make her understand that they are, but—" she sniffled and wiped away the tears, "I didn’t think you’d make copies of yourself just to set them up to get killed! Lita was a brilliant artist," she accused, looking up at Lara’s stiff back with eyes shining with tears, "and I’ll bet she didn’t want to die! She said—I mean, when you were her, you said Lara sent a monster after her to kill her. I’ll bet that monster was really Lara! It was you! You’re a monster and a murderer, and I’m sorry I ever wanted to be your friend and ever sent Zelgadis to see you! If I hadn’t done that, none of this would be happening! And Zel wouldn’t be part Xellos!"
        No one could find anything to say to that, not even Zelgadis. He swallowed the lump in his throat and stared stubbornly at the floor stones. If Amelia hadn’t sent him to Dr. Sorez, he wouldn’t be in the predicament he was in now, or would he? He would still have almost blossomed into the world’s worst Dark Lord, and L-Sama would still have killed him. He would still have haggled with her for his life and might very well have come up with the same solution. Xellos might not have been involved, though, which was the critical bit. If Xellos hadn’t gotten involved, he wouldn’t have a piece of the Trickster Priest riding around inside him, turning him into a full-blown monster. Much to his surprise he heard himself say: "It’s not your fault, Amelia. It’s Xellos’ fault. Everything else would have happened, whether you sent me to her, or not. Don’t blame yourself. You didn’t know she was Xellos."
        Their eyes met, and Amelia knew in that instant that there was still hope.