Something like raw tar seeped over the floor to where Colanthus lay, wheezing in his pained sleep. The formless thing hissed at its creator, bringing consciousness to the dark wizard. It then conveyed the images from its mind into its masters, showing the scene of two purple haired men descending to a level not all that far above from where the old man lay. The mage absorbed the images, dismissing the blind man in front as a mere guide. His focus went to the second man, a creature he had seen the likes of only once before.

" . . . chimera." Colanthus gurgled the words out. There was no strength to his voice after the long fit he had thrown today. His shoulder was still wrenched out of socket. The pain he barely felt. Dead flesh feels little after all. The disgusting figure began to pull itself off of the slimy, rotten floor. The formless thing oozed its way out of the area, heading back to the place it normally lived, the place where it had slept peacefully for many years until Zelgadis’ stray touch awakened it.

Now Colanthus had time to prepare. He would not be taken unaware.

If anyone had cared to pay attention, the shadow blinked, unnoticed by all. A deadly mistake.

* * *

" . . . and we should be prepared for resistance nonetheless, Xellos. Just because we have met nothing so far does not mean there aren’t any rather unpleasant things waiting for us the further down we go." Zelgadis was, as usual, trying to get the mazoku to listen to reason. And, as usual, Zelgadis’ form of reason did not mesh well with the mazoku mind set. Xellos continued on down the pathway, humming to himself, finding the rotten air rather unpleasant despite himself, taking careful note to avoid all the areas that Xellas-sama had given him knowledge of. It would have been easier for Xellos to simply tell Zelgadis that yes, there were Big Dangerous Creatures down here, but that indeed, he knew where they were and how to avoid them.

But where was the fun in that?

"If you keep this up, Zel-kun, this Colanthus will indeed know we are here by the sound of your griping." The flare of temper from the chimera made the mazoku smile. He licked his lips in delight, rather satisfied with his meal. For now.

"All I’m saying is" Xellos quickly cut him off.

"I know what you are saying Zelgadis. And I am aware of the dangers here, perhaps even more so than you are. That is why I am leading you." The mazoku turned left after seeing the inverted triangle that Xellas had warned him of. "We have already avoided much more than you would care to know. Now," With that said, Xellos felt Zelgadis’ indignation rise slightly. "If we can continue, quietly?" Zelgadis nodded mutely, even though there was no way for Xellos to see the movement. Xellos sensed the chimera’s resignation and the two continued their descent into the darkness.

* * *

" chimera . . . . chimera . . . . chimera . . . ." the wheezing whisper rasped over the inner chamber. Colanthus was rapidly gouging into piles of papers, gems, vials, books, intestines, mummified organs and slime coated parchment. Many of the books and parchments would have been considered priceless in their former glory. Now they were desecrated, made vile by the hands that had dared to profane their power and worth, warping their intentions and reasons for existing. Corrupted magicks are often the most dangerous of useless things.

An arm hung uselessly from its socket. It seemed to take Colanthus more time than one would think to realize he had only one functioning arm. When it somehow finally managed to come to his attention, he stared at the limb stupidly before tracing a figure in the air. The arm slid back into its accustomed place. Colanthus began anew at his excavating search.

Several creatures had begun to gather together in the darkness. They could not offer comfort to each other, or even warmth for the most part. But there is something to be said for the powers of lesser creatures. They can often sense danger before any of the higher creatures of the world. If these things had any sense of self worth, had any reason to continue their existence, they would have fled. Instead, through some miracle perhaps, several of these most wretched failed experiments retained a sense of the things they had once been, and waited for the pain to finally end.

Nothing touched the shadow. Some of the higher life forms in the chamber began to notice a difference in it though. Perhaps it was reacting to Colanthus’ state of heightened agitation. Perhaps it was reacting to the endless hissing of "chimera" that continued to fill the area. Whatever the reason, several rats and every bat in the cavern fled as the shadow grew impossibly black.

* * *

". . . Do you hear that?" Zelgadis’ ears twitched. It sounded like rustling velvet and scattering diamonds onto a tiled floor.

" Hear wha-" That was as far as Xellos got before a living wall of bats exploded from the darkness, knocking into the mazoku before continuing on their way to freedom, daylight be damned. Xellos disappeared. Zelgadis threw himself onto the floor, arms over his head. It seemed there was an endless stream of the tiny winged creatures flowing over him. Zelgadis hardly dared to breathe as the furry things stirred up eons of dirt and decay, spreading it around the small passageway. Grabbing his cowl, Zelgadis pulled it over his face to risk breathing again. And as quickly as they appeared, the bats ceased to be. One or two stragglers fluttered past as Zelgadis regained his feet, totally lost, relatively confused, and wondering what Xellos had gotten up to. No sooner had he thought of that then Xellos reappeared in the exact same spot as before. "Oh. You mean that?"

Zelgadis didn’t have enough time to curse when the floor shifted from dirty rock into living flesh. The rats followed their winged brethren at a slightly slower, but no less determined pace. Zelgadis jumped up and clawed his fingers into the rock on either side of the passageway, braced his weight with his feet and looked below to wait for the flow of vermin to be over. He was quite pissed, however, when he noticed Xellos standing calmly in the middle of the passageway, a circle around him entirely free of rats. Zelgadis decided he would rather wait up here. Knowing Xellos, the second the chimera’s feet hit the floor, the mazoku would smile, disappear, and Zelgadis would have to make the mad scramble up the walls again to avoid getting rats in his pants. Which would have been much to the amusement of Xellos, of course.

What would have been funny to Zelgadis, would have been if Xellos had a morbid fear of rats. In a strange sort of way, he had to admit. But it would be amusing until the mazoku started to use his magic.

When the tide of rats ebbed, Zelgadis dropped silently to the floor. He blinked twice before starting off down the passageway ahead of Xellos.

"Hey, wait. You don’t know the way." Xellos hurried up to the chimera.

"I do now, Xellos." Zelgadis pointed down as he continued to walk. "The rats scraped the floor clear. Anyone could find their way down now." Xellos stopped to examine the floor for a moment before appearing beside the chimera again.

"And just how do you know they came from the place we want to go?" Xellos did so love playing Devil’s Advocate.

Zelgadis sighed his annoyance. "That many rats? And exactly what do they do to sinking ships? Which means?" Xellos frowned at the chimera before quickly responding.

"We are expected."

* * *

"Make tea for guests. Cannot stop the immortal invincible chimeric creature. I will destroy them how dare they come to my home uninvited rude guests. No students no longer no one wanted me to teach them then so no teaching them now. That’s right my chimera time to play with the little blind guide and his chimera two of them oh two of them. Two perfect immortal bodies to share my time in not just the black and white one anymore now the colored one too. So pretty in the candlelight colors can be they hurt my eyes nasty nasty colors how I hate them. No match for me no match for me no force in the world to deal with me." The restless prattling of a broken mind continued unabated as the old wizard kept gouging at piles of items that surrounded him, picking pieces and papers and parchments to stuff into the front pocket of his robe. He hadn’t noticed the departure of the bats, the rats, the gathering of his deformed creations into the cavern of their rebirth to a hellish existence. Contented to the search, he remained unaware that his location had been betrayed, and that there was one pissed off chimera heading his way. And there wasn’t much he could do, even if he hd known.

He continued shifting and raping piles of formerly priceless and once cherished magical items. An errant, and particularly vigorous, clawing sent as green gem skidding to the clawed feet of the shadow. It was a delicate gem, wrapped in carefully wrought silver. Ornamental to be sure. A woman’s brooch. Soiled by years of abuse and neglect, some inner light still shone through. Elvish design.

* * *

Zelgadis and Xellos continued on their way to the inevitable. Silent, deadly, serious, the two did not look like a force to be messed with. Even Xellas-sama, watching things unfold far away on Wolf Pack Island, found the sight impressive. She had to wonder though, if Xellos would actually be able to pull off the plan he had run by her earlier. It would be marvellously entertaining nonetheless.

Stopping dead in front of an ornate entrance way, the doors long fallen to the side, the path of the rats vanished into the darkness beyond. Both Xellos and Zelgadis were taking the time to sort through their own thought, trying to figure out what they would do. Both knew they could figure nothing until they saw the state of the chimera and the wizard. Either way, Xellos sensed that something was going to die. He didn’t plan on it being him or his mate.

"Do you have any idea what we are up against?" Zelgadis whispered.

"The same as you, Zel-kun. What do you expect from a mad black mage and a natural born chimera that is half mazoku, a quarter black dragon and a quarter elvish?" Xellos whispered back. "Come to think of it, we don’t know what species of elf it is. Reuben’s story never mentioned it. Maybe it’s Golden elf blood? Or Moon elf? Those are rather rare these days. Perhaps it has Drow elf blood. I couldn’t think of a more thrice damned creature than that."

"He didn’t ask to be like that!" Zelgadis hissed with such violence that Xellos jumped. The anger radiating from the chimera was intoxicating and heady. Xellos needed to back away to sort his thoughts. Shaking his head, he looked sheepishly at Zelgadis, raising his hands palm out in way of apology.

"Relax, Zelgadis. In case you didn’t notice, we are at the door of the dragon’s den. It’s hungry, and its waiting for us. We don’t need to let it know that we’re early now, do we?" Xellos voice whispered gently, reminded Zelgadis that there was much at stake here, not the least of which was their own lives. Reigning his temper in, Zelgadis took a few quiet breaths before focusing at the task at hand.

"So." He turned to Xellos, "What are we waiting for? After you." He gestured to the entrance with a mock bow. Xellos pinched Zelgadis on the nose as he passed. Xellos strode into the blackness. Zelgadis entered rubbing his nose.

The darkness surrounded all.