The waves lapped lazily against the sides of the boat, drawing the attention of the youth standing at the side of the boat. He looked at his reflection. He'd looked at it for years now and he still couldn't get used to it.
He closed his eyes and looked away, pulling the hood and mask up farther to cover more of his face. It didn't matter that most of the sailors had already noticed his blue fingers and a few loose strands of blue-silver hair. He still couldn't bring himself to be seen completely by the crew.
He'd seperated from Lina and the rest of her crew a year ago, and had gotten back to searching for a cure. However, he was starting to give up hope. He was following this last rumor more out of habit than out of hope. He was sure that it wouldn't lead him to anything, like all the other times, but he still couldn't stop himself from looking.
He stood there looking at the horizon, watching the clouds in the distance. They seemed to be getting darker. A sure sign of a storm ahead, a few flashes of light in the clouds confirming it. However, it didn't look to be any different than the other storms they had been through. So, Zelgadiss gave it no more attention than was necessary and went down below to get some rest.
Zelgadiss woke up with the crashing of thunder. He sighed lightly, getting up. Once he was awake in this weather, the less likely he was going to get any more sleep. He casually walked up the steps, easily compensating for the rocking boat, barely noticing the thunder. He stepped out on the deck and looked at the dark sky. It was filled with pitch black clouds and the usual white lightening glowed an unworldly gold.
As Zelgadiss walked onto the deck, a bolt suddenly hit the deck sending splinters and men flying into the sea, including Zelgadiss. The force of the watery impact knocked the wind out of Zelgadiss, and for a moment he couldn't consentrate on anything. However, that moment was long enough to allow him to sink deep into the ocean, without even an attempt at a spell. He continued to sink, his mind in a panic as he slowly lost oxygen. He felt a thump as he hit the ocean bottom and he gasped, sucking water into his lungs and losing any hope of having the oxygen to get out of the water.
He laid there for what seemed an eternity, as he slowly lost consciousness. His eyes slowly drifting closed. But, just as everything went black, he saw a woman walking along the ocean floor. She stared at him with her blue, slitted eyes and her blue hair floated behind her.
She bent over and smiled. He saw her mouth move, seeming to say, "Thank you."
Zelgadiss slowly opened his eyes. He was laying in the middle of a bed covered in furs and pillows. He scrambled to get up, argueing with the physics of a heavy body in the middle of very soft material. Once he was up, he realized that he wasn't wearing anything and he grabbed a fur to wrap around himself.
He slowly looked around. He appeared to be in a cave. The cave glowed from the light reflecting off the pool in the middle of it. He got up, holding the fur around his waist, looking around the cave. He found a window that peereed onto the ocean floor. A beautiful pink corral reef could be seen in the distance with many kinds of underwater life circling in and around it. The thing that got his most attention was the carcasses of ships scattered across it. Obviously, this corral reef went all the way up close to the surface, where many ships would run aground and sink. He had a feeling it went all the way around this underwater compound and was meant to keep trespassers away.
"Ooo, I see your awake!"
Zel spun around to see the blue hair mazuku, staring at him.
"Where am I? What do you want with me? and where is my clothes?" Zelgadiss demanded.
"I burned them."
"What?!"
"I burned them...your clothes."
"Why?!"
"I didn't like them."
"You didn't like them!!!" he growled, through gritted teeth.
"Here's some other clothes. You can wear them around here."
"Fine, that comes to other questions. Where..."
"You are in my underwater home in this mortal plane, AND I want to teach you....AND once you learn everything I want you to learn, I'll give you your freedom."
"Why would you want to do that?"
"I have my reasons, THAT you'll learn later."
"What makes you think I won't just try to escape, instead of staying and...."
"Because, we are very deep in the ocean. You would have to cast a Ray Wing bubble and the air in it wouldn't last long enough to reach the surface. Then, if you did reach the surface, I don't think you'd have enough strength to fly to the closest land, which is 200 miles away. So, you might as well stay and learn, something you seem to like to do anyway."
"Then, you'll give me my freedom."
"Yes, I will"
Zelgadiss sighed, "Very well. It seems I have no choice."
The blue haired mozoku jumped up in delight, "Wonderful, we'll start immediately. By the way, I'm Deep Sea Dolphin, and I was told your name is Zelgadiss Greywards. You can call me Dolph."
Zelgadiss sighed. He wanted to get his education done as fast as possible. However, Dolph wasn't always up to teaching. She tended to get incredibly eccentric at times. Right now, she was organizing her lower mozuku alphabetically by name. However, she couldn't make up her mind whether to go by first or last name. She would put one in place based on last name, another one by first name. Then, go back and find they weren't in order based on whatever name she chose that time. So, this had been going on for five hours now and she only had 20 lower mozuku to work with.
So, during these times, when Dolph could not concentrate on his education, Zel would busy himself by reading from her exstensive library, at least untill she became lucid enough to continue with teaching. So, at this moment, Zel was laying on the sofa wearing black slacks and a white shirt, when he heard the explosion. He sat up to see Dolph walk in covered in fine ash.
"I'VE HAD IT," she screamed, "THEY CANNOT LISTEN TO SIMPLE INSTRUCTIONS."
"Don't tell me," Zel asked drolly, " you incinerated another group."
"WELL, IT'S NOT MY FAULT THEY ARE SUCH IDIOTS," she yelled as she turned to him, "oooo, Zelgadiss, you look good lying there. Wait, don't move. Let me get my paint"
She then scurried off, leaving Zel to wonder if this mozoku, who could switch moods at the drop of a hat, was related to Lina. He sighed, and went back to reading his book, ignoring the racket as Dolph brought her painting gear in. He continued to try to ignore her as she ran up, unbuttoned his shirt, and pulled it open, to let it hang off his shoulders. He learned long time ago that it was no good to argue.
"Perfect, don't move!"
Zel continued to read in thankful silence and Dolph painted happily.
"MASTER!! There's a boat on the rocks," yelled a minion, who had somehow missed being incinerated.
Zelgadiss jumped at the sudden noise, nearly falling off the sofa.
"EEEK, YOU MADE HIM MOVE!!!!" and once again, there was another incinerated minion.
Zel sighed as he looked at the infuriated Dolph.
"IDIOT, BAKA, DON'T THEY PAY ATTENTION, I CAN'T BEL......" pausing, "a boat, OOOOOO, DINNER."
Then ran off to leave Zel to read again.
Zel sighed as he lay in bed reading again. He couldn't sleep. He had to much information in his head, too many questions. The last week, Dolph had been incredibly lucid and had taken the chance to stuff his brain full of information. He couldn't understand why she was teaching him what she was teaching him.
She was teaching stuff that he could never use. Spells that only a mazuku could use, more specificly, only a mazokun lord could use. They were very powerful spells. She taught him everything from Mazokun history to how to pick and make minions, something he doubted he would ever need to know. However, she insisted and he didn't want to disappoint, since he did want his freedom eventually.
"Well, since I can't sleep, I might as well see if Dolph is up to answering some questions." he mumbled to himself.
He walked down the hallway to Dolph's bedroom. He stopped and knocked, and when she didn't respond he looked in. She was sitting on the bed, her knees to her chest and rocking. Zel walked quietly in and looked down at her.
"Dolph, can I talk to you?"
She just sat there and continued to rock.
Zel sat on the edge of the bed and reached out to touch her. She continued to just stare out at nothing, her eyes unfocused. Zel pulled himself on the bed to sit facing her.
"I heard rumors that you were mentally ill, but I didn't realize it was this bad." he whispered, reaching out to touch her face.
"My freedom," she whispered, still unfocused, like she was dreaming.
"What?"
"I want my freedom."
Zel leaned forward, cupping her face and staring into her vacant eyes, trying to see a clue to what was going on inside.
"Freedom, from what?"
"L-sama won't let me..... too many Dark Lords already lost"
"Dolph, I don't understand, freedom from what."
"I will have my freedom soon," and with that she closed her eyes, curled up into Zelgadiss' arms, and fell asleep.
Zel stared at the room. Dolph had decided to take him to a cave in another part of the ocean. Zel sat on the floor in the pentagram, facing Dolph, as instructed, watching as she removed a dagger and put it on the floor.
"What is this place and what are we doing here?"
"You could call this a lab, a place to do more dangerous magic that I don't want done in our regular home."
"Ours, you mean yours"
"No, I mean ours and eventually yours."
Zel glared at her, "What do you mean? You said you'd give me my freedom, once I completed the training you wanted to give me, and you say I have learned everything."
She smiled lovingly, stroking his cheek, "Yes, we will both have our freedom."
Zel sat a moment considering what she had said, "Do you mean freedom from your madness?"
She smiled again, "Yes, I've looked a long time for a way out of this madness. I could only find one way. However, L-sama wouldn't let me do that." She sighed, "She says too many Mazokun Lords have been lost, there would be a lack of balance in her chaos. So, I had to make a deal with her and she helped me, by sending you."
Zel stared at her. " I don't understand."
She smiled, tears running down her face, "I have only one option, but I had to have someone to keep the balance and that's you."
"What are you..."
Zel suddenly jerked back as Dolph grabbed the dagger and plunged it into her chest.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!!"
"This is my only way out" as she coughed midnight blood. "I've searched so long, and I'm tired, I want to rest."
"BUT WHAT DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH ME?!!!
She smiled, pulling the dagger from her chest, " I need a replacement...." and she grabbed Zel behind the neck, pulling him towards her, quickly plunging the blood coated blade into Zelgadiss' chest, "to keep the balance for L-sama."
Zel sputtered and coughed, trying to pull away from her. However, even dying, Dolph was stronger.
I pass on my blood and with it my power.
Black energy began to encircle Dolph and wrap around the blade and flow into Zel's chest. He screamed as he felt the energy enter every cell, changing and shifting, causing them to all burn.
I pass on my breathe and with it my title.
Dolph slowly leaned forward, pulling Zelgadiss' closer and spread her mouth over his mouth, kissing him deeply and forcing her breathe and power into his lungs. Zel would have screamed again from the power burning in his lungs, if he could have let air out with the force of her breathe.
She continued to hold him, feeling his struggles weaken. She closed her eyes, feeling his heart beating rapidly in a panic, then suddenly....stop. She continued to hold him, until she crumbled to the ground, dropping Zel's inert body. She lay there for a moment, feeling her body die.
She smiled happily, "Freedom," then her body slowly crumbled to dust and blew away by a wind that shouldn't have been there.
The room was quiet, not a sound echoed through the room. All that was left was Zelgadiss' body, the dagger still protruding from his chest.
Suddenly, a heartbeat could be heard, faint at first, then got steadily louder. Suddenly, Zelgadiss' sucked in air, gasping for air. He screamed and sat up, ripping the dagger from his chest. His body was still in excrutiating pain, filled with a new power he wasn't used to.
Suddenly, with an almost animal like roar, he released the power. It incinerated everything, smashed through walls, and brought the ocean in, encircling Zel.
Xellas suddenly lurched forward as the new Mazokun Lord was born with a release of power. She kneeled on the floor, holding her head, as her General/Priest kneeled beside her, holding his head, also from the unleashed power. She looked up at him, and seeing the concern on his face, pushed herself up to stand over him.
"GO, FIND OUT ABOUT THIS!"
"Yes, master!" he bowed and phased out.
On the ocean bottom, the young mazokun lord, scanned the destruction. He stood in the middle of what was left of the lab. Everything was either crumbled or incinerated. He chuckled.
"I guess I go home for now."
Then proceeded to walk across the floor, everything, no matter what size, scattering out of his way.