The chambers of the Lord God Gai of Earth weren't nearly as large and 
ostentatious as one would have thought.  True, they were still large 
enough to house a small army, and the value of the decorations and 
furniture was more than that of a continent, but people generally 
expected more from the god of their entire world.
   But if one was to look closer, a certain... something could be seen 
about the god's private residence.  There was no absolutely NO sense 
of waste, and there was a common motif of forces in balance, and 
another force doing the balancing.
   For this was the task of Gai - to keep the world balanced.  
Traditionally, his task had been to balance the four forces of the 
world - Earth, Water, Wind, and Fire.  If just one of these forces 
were to become too strong, then the world would quickly become an 
inhospitable rock, no better than any other dead world.
   But there was another balance - the one between Light and Dark.  
The god that had been responsible for keeping the balance between Nyx 
and Sol had been sealed away millennia ago.  As Gai already had 
experience in keeping forces balanced, the task had fallen to him.
   As the force that kept the two balances, it was fitting that Gai 
sat in the dead-center of his chambers.  Thus situated, he was the 
first thing people saw when they entered came through his door.
   Hansa, a minor god of lakes, stepped through his Lord's door.  He 
could immediately see that off in the distance, Gai's chair was facing 
backwards, which was unusual.  It wasn't as if any details could be 
made out at this distance, even considering that everybody here had 
supernatural sight and hearing.
   Maybe Gai being turned away and seemingly trying to hide himself 
was a habit he had picked up from the humans.  He was becoming odder 
each passing century...  Hansa sighed and willed himself over to his 
Lord's side.
   Gai was already straightening up and turning his chair around as 
Hansa reappeared by the throne.  In keeping with the spirit of the 
rest of Gai's rooms, the throne was understated yet complex.
   "Yes, Hansa?  What do you wish to speak to me about?"
   Behind the throne was a scrying crystal, showing a familiar party 
of five people in the depths of the Jihrasen Mountains.  Hansa sighed, 
again.
   "I suspect you know already, sir.  The Dark Wind Fumu have the 
Stone of Forever."
   "Indeed," rumbled the god.  But apart from that one word, he was 
not forthcoming.
   There was a heavy pause.
   "Do you not wish to do something, sir?" asked Hansa, his voice 
panicked - and there might have been a hint of accusation as well in 
his tone.  "The *Fumu* have the Stone of Forever!  The power they now 
possess is immense!  And I doubt that they will use Stone for its 
intended purpose!"
   "This... was not unexpected," said Gai.
   Hansa narrowed his eyes, and then exploded with rage.  "Sir!  The 
time for schemes and plans is past!  You must intervene!  The Balance 
is too important for mind games with a band of unlikely travellers!"
   "I cannot," said Gai.
   The words took a moment to sink in.
   "You... can't intervene?" repeated the minor god, stunned.  Gai was 
one of the most powerful gods of the world.  The thought that there 
was something he could not do was sobering, to say the least.
   "Correct.  My son's origin as a half-lunar partially supernatural 
being put him outside my direct influence.  It is my one failing, and 
one that I do not try to advertise.  You have forced my hand however, 
Hansa."  The God of Earth made a slight gesture and the scrying 
crystal floated around his throne to in front of him.  He looked at 
the image in its depths and sighed.  "All I can do is hope that all 
the... nudges I've been able to give to him over the years will be 
enough to preserve the Balance of Light and Dark when the time 
comes.""
   "But Lord Gai, all these... 'nudges'...  You brought and kept the 
Otherworldly demons to this world!  You sacrificed one of the 
Representative Dragons!  Your turned your own son into a -"
   The Lord God Gai of Earth turned and fixed a steely gaze on the 
minor god.  "That will be enough, Hansa.  It is all to keep the 
Balances.  They MUST be kept - the alternative is to see the world 
come to ruin, just like the Otherworld.  None of us want to see that."


-------------------------------------------------------------
                     Vampire Legend R
              Chapter 20 - Glimmers of a Future

                    By Steven Scougall
          VLR originally created by Ben Overmyer
-------------------------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------------------------
 Warning - contains this silly warning.  Also contains some
 questionable humour.
    ...
    Oh, alright, because this a serious psychological horror
 drama type thing, there may be some graphic violence in the
 following chapter.  There may also be clowns crying.  The
 odds are against that last possibility, though.  See what I
 meant about the questionable humour?
-------------------------------------------------------------


Renaku was still groggy from the battle with the Dark Water Fumu.  It 
was all a blur.  He could remember the crystal shield being shattered, 
and another Fumu appearing from the shadows, but not much else.  He'd 
simply been too weakened by that strange red sword.
   But... how had he survived?
   Memory started to fill in, but there were still many gaps.  There 
had been... a diabolical plan - but he couldn't remember anything of 
it.  Maybe that would come in time.  Then there had been mad laughter, 
his despair... and screaming?  Shouting?
   Memory came and offered him a name.
   "WHAT?" he shouted, sitting bolt upright in shock.
   "Don't startle us like that, Renaku," said Aiger.
   "What is it?" asked Thiesra.
   "Scita!  That Dark Wind Fumu!  I'm SURE I killed him!  He's still 
alive?"
   "He seems to be," said Leandra.  "And allied with another of 
Thiesra's race."  She turned to Thiesra.  "'Kraiyz', wasn't he?"
   All attention turned to Thiesra.  "Yes..." she said.  "He's one of 
the oldest of the demons, like Zeorx."
   "And Makath as well," mused Renaku.
   "Not exactly."
   He looked at her, puzzled.  She caught his look and shrugged.
   "It'll take forever to explain," she said.  
   "Which is time that we do not have," said Manganese.  "We must 
retrieve the Stone of Forever.  Scita took off with it just a few 
minutes ago."
   "He WHAT?"  Not waiting for an answer Renaku bolted to his feet.  
"We have to get it back before the Fumu use it!"
   "Exactly," said the dragon-in-a-human-host, with a smug look.
   "However," said Leandra.  The tone she used easily deflated the 
growing let's-go-kick-some-Fumu-behind attitude.  "There is a problem.  
A few problems, in fact."  She started counting on her fingers.  
"First, Thiesra says the last known location of Kraiyz is Lhyresgate, 
which is a flying citadel.  We need to find out where it is right now, 
and it could be anywhere.  Second, we need to actually *get* to 
Lhyresgate.  Third, considering that you are the only one of us that 
can fly, we need to work out how to get up there.  And finally, 
there's no telling that Kraiyz and the Fumu are still in Lhyresgate."
   "Thiesra?" asked Renaku, turning to face her.  "Can you use your 
awareness sense to locate them?"
   The demon shook her head.  "Unfortunately not.  I've extended it as 
much as possible and couldn't pick up any sense of Kraiyz or people in 
the sky."
   "I can answer some of those points," said Manganese.  "The floating 
citadel Lhyresgate has always been the haven of the Dark Wind Fumu, 
and it was last seen over the city of Qharakhi, a few weeks ago, by a 
scout of the Steel Dragons."
   Renaku groaned.  Qharakhi was the major city of the desert country 
Khafkamakh, which was easily a third of the way around the world from 
the Jihrasen mountains.  And in the time since the citadel had been 
seen it would definitely have moved on.  It would take them forever to 
find the place and he said as much.
   "However," said Leandra.  This time the interjection bred hope in 
the members of the party.  "If the Dark Wind Fumu truly do want to use 
the Stone of Forever to travel back to their original world, then we 
still have time.  It should take several days for them to prepare the 
spells to achieve that, and that's if everything goes well for them.  
The Fumu are likely to be fighting amongst each other, which may slow 
them down."
   "But how'll we get there?" asked Thiesra.  She turned to Aiger and 
Manganese.  "Is there any hope of us getting a dragon to help out and 
fly us over there?"
   Manganese snorted in derision.
   In contrast Aiger rubbed his chin, looking thoughtful, for just a 
moment.  Then he shook his head.  "It's possible," he said, "but 
unlikely.  Since the... ah... 'reduction' of Manganese, they're 
unlikely to associate with us.  We might be considered... 'unlucky'."  
He paused.  "And besides, the negotiations would take too much time."
   "That leaves magical transportation," said Leandra, and started 
flipping through the spellbook.  "I hope there's a suitable transport 
spell in here."
   Renaku caught a glimpse of a few pages as she flicked through them.  
He was no magical expert, but he could tell when an extremely complex 
spell was followed by a ridiculously simple one.  It didn't seem like 
a normal spellbook that a human mage would use.  "Leandra... where'd 
you get that?"
   She looked up, annoyance on her face.  "What?"
   "That spellbook.  I'm not a magical expert but it seems odd."
   "Oh, this?"
   "It showed up in my belongings a short while ago," said Thiesra.  
"I have NO idea how or whose it is or anything.  Leandra's been 
looking through it."
   "And yes, it is odd," continued Leandra.  "Here we have a spell for 
shrinking elephants, followed immediately by a spell for raining black 
lightning on a village, which in turn is followed by... ah, here it 
is."
   The non-sequitur threw Renaku for a loop.  "What is?"
   "A spell for magical transportation within a world," said Leandra 
with satisfaction.  "Just what we need."
   "But still, we're going a third of the way around the world..." 
said Aiger.  "That would have to be a powerful spell."
   "I can easily help with that," said Thiesra.

It was if a theme was set for the rest of the day.  The group of 
unlikely travellers didn't rush anywhere and they didn't panic.  The 
situation - the Fumu possessing the Stone of Forever - was too 
desperate for that.  They simply talked, devising a plan.  And if one 
of them ever looked like they were about to forget the gravity of the 
situation, Manganese was ready to remind them.  So they continued in 
this way, trying to work out the best way to find the Dark Wind Fumu 
and retrieve the Stone of Forever.
   A plan emerged.  Leandra would transport them via magic to 
Qharakhi, with Thiesra providing the magical power needed.  After 
that, the two would be in bad shape so they would rest, while the 
others searched for information about Lhyresgate and where it could 
be.  And once suitable leads had been found, they'd repeat the 
process.
   It was a remarkably flimsy plan, and was unlikely to work.  But it 
was about the only thing that had a chance of working in the time they 
had.

Thiesra sat back against the wall.  She relaxed as much as she could, 
given the circumstances.  As a human body required too much 
maintenance, she reverted to her natural demon form.  And then she 
started to feed - that is, she collected the natural magic of the area 
into herself, as quickly as she could.
   She sighed.  She was being a magical sponge again.  Normally she 
hardly ever had to do this and suddenly it seemed she was doing it 
every few days.  It just went to show how much she'd been exerting 
herself lately, for normally her own magic regenerated itself.  But if 
she exerted herself too much - as she was about to - then her magic 
became dangerously low, below the point at which it could regenerate.
   One time, after a particularly tough battle with a horde of 
Makath's demons, her magic had become dangerously close to the lowest 
it could go - down to the point where it was spent on keeping her 
shape and her 'soul' together.  Those had been an extremely harrowing 
few days.  And that had been after she'd separated from Renaku, and 
there hadn't been anyone to back her up.
   That would have been an amusing twist, if they'd still been 
together.  In a reversal of the roles, she would have rested, while he 
watched over her...  She smiled at the thought.  Renaku...
   She clamped down on the thoughts fiercely.  Yes, they were happy 
thoughts, but they were also confusing, she wasn't sure she could deal 
with them right now, and she needed to be alert.
   She went back to thinking about the problem of magic.  She'd done 
some mental calculation, and, if all went well, this effort wouldn't 
deplete her magic that much.  She'd still be worryingly low, though.
   She turned her thoughts to something much more deserving of 
concern.
   Namely, Kraiyz.
   Thiesra was trying not to show it to the rest of the group, but she 
was getting extremely worried.  Before, the world had been a simpler 
place.  True, it had been a lot harder, and she was constantly on the 
run, but at least she knew how things how were supposed to work and 
where she fitted in.
   But now...
   Kraiyz was another of the ancient demons, older beyond belief.  
He'd always been seen with Makath and Zeorx.  He was probably one of 
the original demons, even.  If there was any demon loyal to the future 
of their race, then he should be one of them.
   But he seemed to be working with the Fumu.
   What was happening to her race?  They'd traditionally been 
isolationist, not needing to make deals with others because they were 
safe in the knowledge that they WERE the toughest creatures around.  
Making deals with the Fumu, just for more power didn't make sense, 
unless they were fighting each other.
   By the First, could they be fighting each other?
   She'd just thought 'by the First', even though she knew the 
traditional phrase was a lie.  She sighed.  Habits were hard to break.
   She resumed thinking about the implications of demons seeking more 
power.
   Zeorx had said he'd tell the other demons the truth about their 
origins.  If he had, then it would have been sure to divide them and 
create civil war.  And, generally speaking, the only things the demons 
weren't tougher than were themselves.
   Could that be why some were now allying themselves with the Fumu?  
To gain power so they could defeat each other?
   If they were...
   Zeorx was right - she should be happy that the demons were off her 
back.  But this was HER race too, dammit.  Their anti-human feeling 
might have disgusted her, but that was Makath's goading, wasn't it?  
They might have ostracised her but that was Makath's order, wasn't it?  
And to think of them fighting amongst each other repelled her.
   She didn't like the way her thoughts were going.
   She was devoting almost no magic to her awareness sense, and so 
she'd barely detected Renaku walking towards her before he sat down 
and spoke.
   "What's on your mind, Thiesra?" he asked.
   "Wondering if you're wanting me to tell you about Makath," she 
replied, without opening her eyes.
   "Good guess," he replied with a chuckle.  "Am I that obvious?"
   "Only sometimes," she replied with a giggle.  She sensed him 
starting to move.  "I'm sorry, Ren-chan, but please don't.  I need to 
concentrate on what I'm doing as much as possible.  Nice as it is when 
you hug me, I'd be a bit too distracted."
   She felt him move back, and sigh in disappointment.  The sound 
wrenched at her, but there was no other way.
   "So tell me about Makath," he said.  "Why didn't you include him 
when you were talking about old demons, before?"
   "It's a long story," she said, "but I think we have time, now, 
while I'm collecting magic."  So she told him what Zeorx had told her.  
It took some time.
   "I... see," said Renaku, when Thiesra had finally finished.  "So 
Makath wasn't a demon after all.  Just a mad human who created your 
race as a tool of his revenge against the humans that left him to 
die."
   "Yes..."
   He sat there for a while.  Probably collecting his thoughts, for it 
was quite a story.
   "Interesting," he said at last.  "But it was Zeorx who told you 
this.  Are you sure you can trust him?"
   "Not much," she admitted.  "About as far as I could spit.  There's 
too much bad history between us.  But... you should have been there, 
Renaku.  You should have seen how he acted and felt the... 'feeling' 
he was giving off."
   "I can't do that, remember."
   "Vampires are known for a *little* bit of mind reading," she said.  
"It probably would have been enough to feel his earnestness."
   "It's not something I've worked on," said Renaku.  "Invading 
someone's thoughts seems... bad.  Like something the Fumu or a dark 
wizard would do.  It's not something a knight or champion should be 
doing."
   Thiesra wasn't sure what to think about that.  For the 200 years 
she'd been alive she'd been automatically sensing the surface and 
shape of others' thoughts.  Since turning rogue she'd tried to not do 
so, but it was hard to break the habits of centuries.  "Anyway, it 
just felt as if he really was baring everything."
   There was another pause.  Thiesra wondered what her friend thought 
about all this.  She wondered why she'd just thought the word 'friend' 
and not something along the lines of 'potential lover'.
   She hurriedly quashed those thoughts and thanked all the gods that 
she didn't blush in her natural demon form.
   "Interesting," said Renaku at last.  "How are you taking it?"
   "I've been trying not to think about it, but...  It's a shock.  But 
I think I'm starting to cope.  Or maybe I'm just putting off the worry 
until later.  But I'm more worried about how the other demons are 
taking it."
   "What?" he said, in what was almost an incredulous shout.
   "Zeorx said he was going to tell them all this, too.  I think he 
already has, and with the way some of us are joining forces with the 
Fumu, I think it's divided them into civil war..."
   "No, not that, I'm just amazed you're worried about those that were 
trying to kill you, non-stop, for several years."
   "I am too..." she said.  "I don't know why I'm worried, I just 
am..."
   He left it at that for a while, just sitting there beside her.  She 
had the constant urge to reach over and put her arm around him and 
lean on his side, but she couldn't afford the distraction.
   "So..." he finally said.  "How does Kraiyz fit into things?  Does 
he at all?"
   "Not sure," she said.  "He's one of the older demons.  Perhaps he 
knows all this stuff already, perhaps he doesn't.  Perhaps he's 
working with the Dark Wind Fumu to gain an advantage over the other 
demons.  We'll find out more once we find him, I hope."

Unable to resist, Contoyune followed the call of the shadows.  He 
stepped reluctantly forwards, step after unsure step, until he was 
standing in their darkest depths.
   A moment of disorientation, and his surroundings had abruptly 
changed.  No longer was he in the eerily empty throne room of the 
demon's home in the Rylor Mountains.  Instead, he now found himself in 
a dark, almost completely black, shadowy room.
   The lack of light meant nothing to his demon awareness sense and to 
his newly obtained 'shadow-sight.'  He could easily see that there was 
a tall gaunt figure in the middle of the room, entirely shadowed.
   It was Shien, lord of the Dark Shadow Fumu, and his new master...
   Around him, there were a few other figures.  With a start, he 
realised that they were other Otherworldly Demons that bore the marks 
of Fumu possession.  There was one that bore the same dark shadows and 
thinner body that he had obtained.  There was a couple with the dark 
stone mottling of the Dark Stone Fumu.  There was the greenish lichen 
look of Dark Water possession.
   He wasn't the only one?
   More Demon Fumu appeared from the shadows in short order.  
Contoyune couldn't help noticing that most bore the marks of Dark 
Shadow possession.  Shien must have converted them personally, like 
Shien had done with him.
   "My subjects," said the figure in the middle of the room.  It had 
been barely any more than a low murmur, but it commanded their entire 
attention.  The twelve possessed demons turned to face Shien, their 
talk dying down.
   "The coalition of the four Fumu clans is falling apart.  Tonight, 
Lord Scita of the Dark Wind had the gall to defy me.  Plans that have 
been laid for thousands of years have been thrown into chaos by his 
actions."
   The single Dark Wind Demon Fumu present hung her head in shame.
   "Hopefully it shall be no reflection upon you, Alvaoe," said Shien 
to the demon.  With, Contoyune noticed, the same tone Shien had used 
upon him when encouraging him to accept Shien's offer.  His 
uncertainty grew.
   "No, Shien-sama," said the demon.  "I shall bring Scita's head to 
you."
   There was a disturbing noise that turned out to be Shien chuckling.  
"Admirable enthusiasm, Alvaoe.  Indeed, I want you twelve to bring me 
Scita's head, and the Stone of Forever that he stole from me."
   And... that was that.  His lord had spoken his will and Contoyune 
could feel it weighing heavily upon his consciousness.  It was less a 
command than a statement of how things would be.  There was another 
flicker of resentment in Contoyune's mind, joining those already 
there.
   Shien looked at him, and Contoyune knew that the Fumu could see 
into his mind, and knew he was questioning things.  He had barely 
realised this before all the resentment in his mind was burned away by 
a suddenly heightened patriotic fervour towards Shien and Shien only.
   Contoyune was confused.  What had he been thinking before?  He 
couldn't remember and it was only a few moments ago.
   But if he couldn't remember, obviously it wasn't all that 
important.  He thought no further about it.
   And another part of Contoyune's self died...
   "Where shall we find him?" asked another.
   "Scita and the Dark Wind Fumu are based in Lhyresgate, which is a 
floating citadel.  It is currently just a short distance from the city 
of Qharakhi.  You shall start this mission from there.
   "There is another thing - there is a likely chance that the vampire 
and his band of travellers will show up.  If they do, then bring the 
vampire, alive, to me also."
   "What of the other four?"
   "You may kill them."
   Contoyune smiled.  He'd be able to destroy the traitor Thiesra.  No 
doubt the other demons had similar thoughts...
   "But do not be reckless!  The vast majority of the Dark Wind Fumu 
Clan is at Lhyresgate.  There are also likely to be some of your kind 
there as well.  You twelve, working together, are powerful beyond 
imagination.  Even so, taking an entire clan of Fumu head-on is likely 
to get you killed.  Keep this in mind."  Shien then waved a hand.  
"Now you may go."
   The shadows seemed to twist and become yet darker around the 
possessed demons, there was another moment of disorientation, and 
Contoyune found himself back in the empty throne room of the Rylor 
Mountains.
   Contoyune frowned.  Why was he back here?  He thought that Shien 
would have transported the twelve of them directly to Qharakhi.
   Maybe it was some sort of test.  But for the life of him, Contoyune 
wasn't sure what sort of test it could be.  Getting to Qharakhi under 
his own power was laughably easy, even more so since his power had 
received a boost.
   The thought of not going never even entered his mind.

Leandra stood at the center of a carefully inscribed magical circle, 
chanting softly in a mystic, eerie sounding language.  The sound of 
chanting was interspersed with the crackling of ancient paper, and all 
around her there was the faint light of magical fallout.  
   Next to her was Thiesra.  The demon was crouching, with one hand on 
the ground, her form barely visible through the intense light and huge 
amounts of magical fallout that surrounded her.  The power leakage 
alone was enough to crack the rock she was standing on and cause 
strange wind currents.  But it was nothing compared to the sheer 
amounts of magical energy that she was pouring into the circle and the 
spell.
   She'd been channelling power like this for several minutes already.
   Renaku had only ever caught infrequent glimpses of the sheer amount 
of power his friend possessed, usually during extremely tough battles.  
To get firsthand experience of it like this was sobering.
   "If you stay with her you'll certainly never be in danger," said 
Aiger in a low voice.
   Manganese glared at the two, reminding them to stay silent and not 
distract Leandra.
   The spell continued on like this for a good few minutes.  Renaku 
was growing worried.  Thiesra might have incredibly large amounts of 
magical power, but she wasn't inexhaustible.  And Leandra was starting 
to sound hoarse and exhausted.  He was sure he heard her voice stumble 
once or twice.
   Then the magic took hold.
   There was disorientation around them.  For a long tense moment, the 
scenery wavered between the insides of the Jihrasen mountains and the 
sandy outskirts of a desert city.  For a split second it was nothing 
but void.
   Thiesra flared even brighter than before, and then the scenery 
stabilised to the outskirts of Qharakhi.
   Thiesra and Leandra fell to their hands and knees, gasping from the 
sheer amount of effort they'd put into casting the spell.  Renaku was 
kneeling beside Thiesra in a heartbeat.  She looked up at him, her 
face contorted in pain and effort.
   "That... took a... bit more... out of me... than... I thought..."
   "At least you've enough to stay together," he said, ruffling her 
hair affectionately.  She smiled back, enough to assure him that she 
was alright.
   He moved over to Leandra, to see how she was.  The human woman 
looked as if she was about to lose consciousness and was in no shape 
to gasp out even a few words.  Renaku quickly checked her vital signs, 
and saw that they were all fine and stable.  He breathed a sigh of 
relief.
   He was unsure what to do next, it didn't feel quite right to 
reassure her in the same way he had done with Thiesra.  But at least 
she was fine and not about to die.  He looked up at the sky, as if in 
search of inspiration.
   Thankfully, it was still night.  Renaku had heard that time wasn't 
constant around the world - that while it was noon in Mesa, it was 
night in Melagan.  He'd never worried about that too much, never 
figuring that he could travel fast enough for it to be a problem, but 
he realised that it might have been so, tonight.
   There was a hint of dawn on the horizon.  They'd have to check into 
an inn or at least find shade somewhere.
   And then he saw it.  A bright flash of metal far off in the night 
sky, as it caught the sunlight he couldn't quite yet see.
   "Did you see that?" asked Aiger.
   "That was undoubtedly Lhyresgate," said Manganese.  He looked at 
Leandra and Thiesra, who were still on the ground, worn out and in no 
shape to be doing anything other than sleep for several hours.  "We 
shall head there after the woman and the demon have recovered."  He 
looked at Renaku and the horizon on which there was a hint of a 
glimmer.  "And after the vampire has hidden from Sol's rays.  In the 
meantime Aiger and I can scout around the city, and keep an eye on 
Lhyresgate in case it flies off somewhere else."
   "Sounds like a plan," said Aiger.  "Let's do it."

"The vampire and his group have arrived, Lord Scita," said the large 
redskinned demon that was his second in command.
   "They were commendably fast," said the Dark Wind Fumu.  "It's only 
been several hours since I fought with Shien and Gieb."
   "I do not think we should fight them."
   "They are our enemies, Kraiyz.  Explain your thoughts."
   "It is true that they have been our enemies, Lord Scita, but times 
change," said the Otherworldly demon.  "Neither of us want to see the 
vampire become the Lord of Darkness.  I should be able to convince 
Thiesra to be an ally, and the others may follow her.  We all have 
common enemies in the form of the Dark Shadow Fumu and the remnants of 
the Dark Water and Dark Stone Fumu.  All this suggests that we put 
aside our differences and work together."
   The Master of the Dark Wind Fumu tapped his fingers irritably on 
the armrest of his chair.  "You speak the truth," he said at last.  
"However, the vampire thinks he has killed me and may wish to complete 
the job.  Kraiyz, it shall be your job to meet them."
   "Yes sir."

Aiger and Manganese were walking through the dusty streets of 
Qharakhi.  Aiger was both cursing and blessing the extensive robes his 
half-human half-draconic form required as a disguise.  They meant he 
blended in somewhat with the locals.  They also meant, along with his 
inherited frost dragon's low tolerance for heat, that he was 
unbearably hot.
   Manganese was doing his best to hide his glowing eyes, which was 
difficult because the glow was pretty much automatic.  There had been 
some tense and embarrassed moments, and then they'd found some odd 
darkened glasses in the markets.  The vendor said they were used to 
reduce the glare of the sun, which was often a problem when traversing 
the desert.  But the two had been able to instantly see another 
possible use for the glasses.
   After all, drawing comments for wearing desert glasses inside the 
city was a lot better than drawing shouts and suspicion because of 
weirdly glowing eyes.
   And they scouted around, trying to find out about Lhyresgate.
   The situation was odd.  The floating citadel had arrived near the 
city several weeks ago.  After a few days hovering almost over the 
city (and sending the population into a near panic), it had moved off 
to approximately where it was now - a couple of hundred seguael away, 
and the population barely gave it a second thought.
   Practically anything, commented Aiger, no matter how unusual, can 
become the usual after a while.  Manganese, thinking of the Fumu at 
the time, disagreed.
   And separate from the other three, the two were free to discuss 
dragon matters.
   "Renaku isn't suspecting anything, is he?"
   Aiger shook his head.  "No.  My acting seems to be good enough."  
He paused.  "Though it's hardly acting, anyway," he said in a plainly 
accusing voice.  "I don't know half of what's going on myself."
   "For your protection, Aiger," retorted Manganese.  "And also 
because this is extremely sensitive information."
   "And also because I'm only half-draconic?"
   Manganese didn't reply immediately.
   "I see," said Aiger sourly.
   "It is something only the heads of the dragon clans should know 
about," said Manganese.  "However, as the dragon clans meet each other 
primarily through the Representatives, they had to know of the 
situation as well, so that they could carry on proper discussion.  As 
a sort-of Representative yourself, you had to know some of the 
situation as well."
   "I suppose," grumbled Aiger.  "However, I dislike lying to one of 
my closest friends."
   "He cannot be TOLD the situation, for that would defeat the 
purpose.  He has to come to understand it through first hand 
experience himself."
   "It took Gai and the dragons a while, I understand," said Aiger 
pointedly.  "A few years, I believe."
   "Renaku shall have less.  He will just have to do the best he can.  
And Aiger?" said Manganese in a voice that was now sharp.  "I grow 
tired of these veiled insults.  You are only half a dragon.  You 
should be happy with what privileges the dragons grant you."
   "I suppose," said Aiger grumpily, but said no more on the subject.

Dusk fell.  The two partially draconic men returned to the inn in 
which the rest of their party was staying.
   Renaku was up and about along with Thiesra, who was fully 
recovered.  They were by the door and speaking in low voices, so as 
not to disturb Leandra.  Aiger and Manganese looked over at the bed in 
which their sole human of the group was resting.
   "Leandra's been out like a light all day," said Thiesra.  "That 
spell really took it out of her."
   "I thought it really took it out of you too," said Renaku.
   "Yes," said Thiesra, waving a hand dismissively, "but I can recover 
pretty quickly.  My species is known for its toughness."
   "I'd never heard of it until this mad quest," mumbled Aiger.  
Seeing as everyone present had enhanced hearing, they heard him as 
clear as a bell.
   "But not known for its overwhelming numbers," admitted Thiesra.
   "In any case," said Manganese, "it is time.  Lhyresgate has 
remained in its position.  Someone awake Leandra and we shall have her 
transport us to the citadel."
   "No," said Thiesra.
   "What?"
   The demon woman was lifting Leandra gently from the bed.  "We 
should let her rest as much as possible.  We need her to be as rested 
as possible so she can transport us to the surface of the citadel, and 
the shorter the distance the less it shall take out of her."
   "Makes sense, I suppose," said Aiger.
   "WALK to the citadel?"  Manganese snorted in response.  "This is 
going to slow us down drastically."
   "According to Leandra's calculations," said Thiesra, "we still have 
a few days before the Fumu could possibly be ready to use the Stone of 
Forever.  And a short walk in the cool night air of the desert will be 
fun."
   "They'll detect us long before we get there," grumbled Manganese.
   "I detected Kraiyz shortly after recovering to full strength.  I'd 
say he detected us the moment we arrived."
   "WHAT?"
   Leandra stirred and murmured in Thiesra's arms.  Thiesra looked 
down at her, concerned, and then back at Manganese.  "Please don't 
shout so loud, you might wake her.  And anyway, we haven't been killed 
yet.  This is a good sign."

They hadn't covered much of the distance to the citadel yet, only 
about ten seguael in about half a night.  By now, Leandra was awake 
and walking with them, and it was looking increasingly more likely 
that they would end up hopping their way to the citadel, as they had 
before when crossing the Ni'aps plain.
   Thiesra sensed a figure approaching from up ahead, and tensed.  
"Something's coming," she said to the others, and shifted to a 
fighting stance.  Everyone else did so as well.
   Thiesra reached further out with her awareness, trying to fathom 
what this was and if it was a threat.  The sense of the approaching 
figure was familiar...
   "Kraiyz?" she asked.  Why had he come to meet them, only a short 
distance from Qharakhi?
   The huge figure loomed out of the darkness in front of them.
   "The very same, little Thiesra."
   "Don't call me little," she said, half out of instinct.
   "You're a couple of centuries old," Kraiyz said amiably.  "I've 
been around for millennia, ever since our race was born.  I think that 
lets me call you 'little'."
   "Then you know that Makath is not truly the First," she said 
defiantly.
   "So you DO know about that.  I was wondering.  I thought Zeorx 
would have told you before telling everyone else."
   "What are you two talking about?" asked Leandra.
   "Something we'd prefer to stay private," said Kraiyz.  "Come with 
me for a moment Thiesra."
   "No.  Tell me in the demon language if you want it to stay 
private."
   The demon's eyes flashed in annoyance.  "I would prefer being 
separate.  If you want, we'll go just a short distance this way, so 
you can see them and they can see us, but far enough away for them not 
to hear."
   "What you want to tell me probably concerns them too."
   "Possibly not," said the demon.  "If it does you can tell them when 
I'm finished."
   "But-"
   "Go ahead Thiesra," said Renaku, "I'll watch your back."  His hand 
fell oh so casually to the hilt of his demon-slayer sword, and shifted 
halfway into a combat stance.
   "Whatever," rumbled the huge demon, irritation clear in his voice.  
"Let's go, Thiesra."

The two Otherworldly demons walked a short distance away from the 
group.  As soon as she thought they had gone far enough, Thiesra spun 
on Kraiyz in anger, ready for anything he might try.
   "What is it Kraiyz?  What is so important you have to tell me 
alone?"
   "Zeorx is probably dead," was his response.
   "...what?"  She hadn't been expecting *that*.
   "I was due to hear from him a couple of days ago, yet I've heard 
nothing from him.  And he was always one for being punctual.  I also 
have a couple of spies in the Rylor Mountains and they haven't seen a 
trace of him around there.  He could just be somewhere else, but I 
doubt it, especially considering that things are heating up.  Seeing 
as he's the only one that could have told you the truth about Makath, 
I thought this was something you should know."
   And she'd just been starting to think of Zeorx as almost a 
friend...
   To her surprise, she felt moisture on her face.
   She was crying?
   "Hey, hey, hey!" he protested.  "Stop that!  It... it... it's 
undemonly!"
   "I spent years renouncing demon ways," she said through the tears.  
"I'm standing here in the body of a human.  I can be as human as I 
want..."
   "Well, *I'm* not going to be human and hug you and say 'there, 
there'," he grumbled.  "Your vampire loverboy can do that."
   "He's not my-"
   "There've been a couple of moments when it sure looked like it."
   He'd been watching them?  She felt her face growing hot.
   "Sheesh, that human form betrays your feelings really easily.  It's 
amazing you stay in it all the time."  She started to protest, but he 
held up a hand to cut her complaints short.  "Don't bother, I'm not 
interested in hearing why you do."
   "Is that all you wanted to tell me?" she asked, annoyed.
   "It's a pretty big all," he responded.  "But no, it isn't.  In any 
case, that's the demon-specific news I wished to impart."  He nodded 
towards the rest of the group.  "Time to rejoin your little group."
   "Just that?  You took me aside just to tell me THAT?  You could 
have told me back there.  Nobody there speaks our language."
   "I had no idea how you were going to react," said the demon.  "It 
seemed like the right thing to do.  It was a good call, too.  If you 
burst into tears like that while with them they'd know for sure that 
something really strange was going on."
   They headed back to the group of four, slowly, so as to give 
Thiesra time to recompose her feelings.
   "What was it about?" asked Renaku as she came back.
   "I'll tell you later," she said.  "But Kraiyz seems halfway 
trustworthy."
   "SO glad of the vote of confidence," said the other demon.  
"Anyway.  Do you wish to complete your journey to Lhyresgate or stand 
around here in the middle of the desert talking?  I'd advise the first 
course of action, considering that there's no way you can walk back to 
the shade of Qharakhi in the amount of night left."
   "I could get Leandra to transport us back to Qharakhi," said 
Renaku.  "It's not the only choice, demon."
   "I'd prefer not to become a ferry service," said Leandra, 
irritably.
   "How about because it would be a good idea?" asked Kraiyz.  "I 
promise we won't immediately take you prisoner.  We just want to 
talk."
   Thiesra saw the others' looking at her questioningly.  "I trust his 
promise," she said.
   The eyes on Trevant's face seemed to be both Trevant's and 
Manganese's at the same time, and they seemed to be saying "We'll 
remember you said that, demon."  But he did not outwardly protest.
   Kraiyz waited a few moments for protests and received none.  He 
chanted a couple of words, held up a hand -
   - and they were in a small room, with stone walls and a wooden 
door.  There wasn't even a moment of disorientation, it had been 
instantaneous.
   "Such control and power..." murmured Leandra.
   The demon opened the door and barked a few words in the harsh demon 
language to someone outside.
   "What did he say?" murmured Renaku.
   "'I'm back, go get some refreshments for two demons, a vampire, a 
half human half dragon, and two humans, okay?'" translated Thiesra.
   "...oh."
   A moment later they were seated as comfortably as they could 
manage, considering that they were in what could be enemy territory 
and they had no way out.  At least their host was being nice and 
hospitable.
   "So," started Kraiyz, "I guess you know I'm with Scita, Master of 
the Dark Wind Fumu."
   "We couldn't help but notice," said Thiesra.  "Why?  Hanging around 
with someone who's supposed to be dead makes you look suspicious."
   "You might notice a complete lack of Fumu possession upon my body," 
said Kraiyz.  "This is not a master-slave relationship but one between 
like minded equals.  Mostly.  In any case, he dislikes the goal the 
Fumu were working towards, which would have seen the vampire as the 
Lord of Darkness."
   "WHAT?" shouted Renaku.
   "It was the Fumu's master plan.  Still is, probably," said the 
demon.  "I don't know the full details, however, it was something like 
being drawn into you via your sword and influencing you that way."
   Thiesra thought back to the way the possessed Asgani had stepped 
into Renaku's sword when fighting against him, and choked back a sob.
   "I and a lot of other demons disliked this goal as well.  Our 
interests coincided in other ways.  A primary one is moving on from 
this world."
   "WHAT?  You're just going to up and leave?"
   "This world is rapidly going the way the Otherworld did, Thiesra.  
Having gone through the death of a world once before, we older demons 
don't want to be around for another one."
   "But you can't just leave," said Aiger.  "This world is still alive 
and has a chance."
   "You won't leave," said Manganese.  "To do that, you need the Stone 
of Forever, and we won't let you keep it."
   "I see," said the demon, his voice hardening.  "Give me one good 
reason to stay when it would be much easier to go."
   Manganese looked like he was about ready to reply, long and 
bitterly, but he never got the chance.  There was the sound of 
explosions, followed closely by a few dark spindly forms and a 
redskinned one dashing in through the door.  Any further attempts at 
conversation were cut off.
   "Sir!" one of them shouted.
   "Yes, Zjixen?"
   "We're under attack!  By twelve Demon Fumu!"
   "By all the first," muttered the demon under his breath.  He turned 
to the five.  "I must go."
   Something irrational made Thiesra say "We'll help."
   "WHAT?" shouted the rest of her party.
   "Are you out of your MIND?" roared Aiger.
   "We're here anyway," said Renaku.  "And will attack us if they come 
across us, if I'm any judge."
   "Fighting against danger and seeking it out are two different 
things, Renaku" said Leandra.  "And not all of us are nigh-
unkillable."
   Kraiyz looked at them for a moment and then shrugged.  "Help or 
not, that's your problem.  You're only five.  We can survive without 
your help."
   He left.
   "Quick!  While they're distracted!  We can grab the stone from 
right under their noses!" yelled Manganese.
   "That seems... wrong.  Like something an evil villain would do," 
said Thiesra, sharing a half smile with Renaku.
   "Dammit, demon, this is no time for childish platitudes!  This is 
the WORLD we're talking about!"
   "I agree with Thiesra," said Renaku.  "Kraiyz seems reasonable, and 
Thiesra vouches for his sincerity.  I'm sure we can work something 
out."
   And he and Thiesra stepped out the door into the middle of a 
warzone.


(To be continued)


 Author's quick afterword (aka Author's Apology)
-------------------------------------------------
Not the best this time.  This chapter was a bit dry in places.  The 
best excuse I can provide is that I had a case of writer's block the 
size of Ayers Rock at about the time VLR#19 came in, and had NO idea 
what to write, apart from some very vague ideas about Lord Gai and the 
Otherworldly Demons.  While scrounging around for ideas, I came up 
with the thought that Renaku's group had to get to Lhyresgate and 
decided to devote the chapter to that journey.
   It's not exactly what I wanted to do with my last chapter of VLR, 
but it was fun, nevertheless.  Here's to the two Aarons and John can 
manage to end the series on a high note.
   Thanks must go to Coyote (coyote@tomserver.phys.ttu.edu) for 
prereading.
   Thanks must also go to Winamp and .mp3s in general for providing 
background music while I was writing.  Listening to Escaflowne music 
while writing Lhyresgate scenes seemed strangely appropriate.  ^_^