The great hall of Seyruun castle was lined with soldiers, nobles, and royal guests. They all stood in formation facing inwards to the long red carpet that was laid on the floor. The carpet ran all the way from the gigantic oaken doors connecting to the antechamber to the throne. Upon the throne sat a crown decorated with jewels as well as the royal crest of Seyruun. The soon to be Queen Amelia Wil Tesla Seyruun walked slowly on the red carpet towards the throne and towards her new duty as monarch of the entire surrounding area. All was quiet as the onlookers beheld their new queen in her glory. She wore a dress of white silk and a pendant with a pentagram on the end.

"What the hell is this?" Toshi asked. Everything had changed so suddenly and yet it seemed as though he had been standing there on the balcony for ages.

"This is one of my memories. The coronation of Queen Amelia Wil Tesla Seyruun. . .this was a very joyous occasion for the kingdom of Seyruun,"

Toshi looked to his right to see Rekos standing a few feet away from him on the balcony.

". . .but the joy and hopes of the people were shattered," Rekos said suddenly, "The new queen was assassinated only a few years after her coronation. The kingdom fell into disarray and the forces of those who shun the law grew."

"Queen Amelia. . ." Toshi pondered, ". . .killed by an assault from bandits. The whole nation was overrun."

"Wrong," Rekos said unemotionally, Toshi looked at him as if asking explanation, "Queen Seyruun was indeed killed when her nation was overrun, but it was not as your history books say. She was not killed by bandits."

Toshi digested Rekos's words as he scanned the crowd of onlookers. Amongst them he noticed Zelgadis and the man who was identified to him as Gourry Gabriev. He also saw a young woman with long red hair. He decided from her appearance that she must have been the fabled sorceress Lina Inverse.

"The 'bandits' who overran Seyruun were actually Mazoku. The power of illusion magic hid their true appearances,"

"Why?" Toshi simply asked.

"Because their leader wanted revenge and didn't want identification. It was unfortunate. I'm the one who brought about the downfall of Seyruun,"

"You?"

"Yes," Rekos said as he turned his head away is if shamed, "Upon the resurrection of the seventh piece of Shabranigdo I set out to find warriors who might be able to stand up to the Mazoku Lord. I came across Lina and Gourry, and eventually Zelgadis and Amelia. They agreed to help me, and we fought against the Mazoku.

"The Ruby-Eye had two high Mazoku who guarded him. They were the Beastmaster Zelas Metallium and her priest Xellos. In the battle that ensued the Beastmaster was slain, and I managed to prevent her eventual rebirth by completely erasing her existence. Her priest wasn't thrilled by the fact that his 'mother' was completely destroyed and apparently he took a grudge to the five of us.

"As the battle continued the Swordsman of Light fell against Xellos and the Ruby-Eye. Things were not going well: I was mortally wounded; Zelgadis and Amelia were injured as well. As a last ditch effort to defeat the Mazoku, the sorceress Lina summoned the Giga Slave. The summoning did indeed managed to shatter Shabranigdo, but Xellos escaped and the Lord of Nightmares possessed Lina. Without her husband to bring her back, Lina Inverse today remains in a symbiotic joining with the Lord of Nightmares.

"Zelgadis and Amelia survived the battle and eventually returned to reasonably normal lives. However, Amelia was eventually murdered by Xellos's minions in his lust for revenge against those who destroyed his master."

"And what about yourself?" Toshi interrupted to ask.

"Me?" Rekos questioned with a raised eyebrow, "Well, why not? You deserve to know the truth. I was dying from my combat with Xellos. I fled to a small human community far to the east. I took the physical form of a human because they would have feared me if they saw me as a Ryuzoku. They people treated me for my wounds, but they could not possibly save me from my death.

"I did two last things before I died. I first gave them a shard of the staff that supports this world. That shard was what remained of the Ruby-Eye after he was shattered. I gave it to them because I hoped that they could protect it from those would seek to resurrect the Mazoku Lord."

"And the other thing you did was?" Toshi prompted Rekos.

"Allow me to explain why you don't exist, Toshi Yokutsu. . ." Rekos began.

"Why?" Toshi asked boldly, even though he was afraid of the answer.

"My specialty is illusion sorcery," Rekos explained, "I knew that if I was to enact my promise to Lina and protect her child and grandchildren I mustn't die. However, that wasn't an option, so I did the next best thing. I created an illusion that was so realistic that it had its own consciousness. It could affect reality event though it didn't actually exist. And most importantly, my astral body could borrow the illusion's body and temporality become real for the period of time that I inhabited its body.

"Things didn't quite work the way I expected them to, however. The illusion I created was too great. Not only did it have its own consciousness, it accidentally developed a sense of personal awareness. That sense of awareness erased any memory that the illusion had of its mission as my marionette. It began to think that it was actually a human and so it lived a human's life with the exceptions of the times I borrowed its body, but it had no memory of the events that occurred when I used its body. Upon the completion of its life cycle, the illusion died and was again born as a human child. That child grew and today it takes the appearance of a 21-year-old human male.

Rekos turned to face Toshi. "That illusion is--"

". . .me. Isn't it?" Toshi interrupted.

Rekos simply nodded his head.

"You mean. . .I'm not real?" Toshi asked.

Rekos nodded again.

"What about that memory I had of Sierra that only came back to me recently?"

"I thought it would be too dangerous for you to have that memory, so I sealed it. However, it appears that the memory's seal broke and you remembered," Rekos said.

Toshi sighed heavily. He sat down heavily upon a nearby chair. In the great hall below a cheer broke out amongst the people as the crown was placed upon Queen Amelia's head by her father. Rekos turned his head to watch the spectacle, but he turned back as he heard Toshi burst out in laughter.

"This. . .this. . ." Toshi stammered looking for the words to express what he thought. Not being able to express what he meant, he decided to settle for the slightly less meaningful words: "This is complete bullshit!"

"Such colorful description. . ." Rekos commented distastefully.

"You lie! I am a real human!" Toshi shouted, "YOU LIE!"

"Do I?" Rekos asked angrily, "Then why is it that we look so similar? Why is it that we both bear the serpent and wolf symbols? Why is it that you have no memory of the time when you fought Xellos in the Tower of Rezo?"

"I. . .I. . ." Toshi stammered.

"You shouldn't be so disrespectful to your creator, stupid puppet. I only keep you because I need you to be my hands and eyes. If not for that I would've smitten you out of your pathetic existence long ago!"

Toshi said nothing, but his fists clenched. His eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Do you intend to kill me?" Rekos asked, "Go ahead. . .go right ahead!"

Toshi drew his katana and slashed at Rekos. The Ryuzoku made no attempt whatsoever to dodge or to defend himself. The blade of the sword passed right through Rekos's torso and went out the other side. . .but Rekos himself was completely uninjured.

"Idiot," Rekos said with clear scorn in his voice, "You can't possibly harm me. What you see before you is the physical projection of my astral body. The only way I can be killed is when I'm possessing your body."

"I don't believe this. . .I don't believe any of this!" Toshi shouted, "Until a few weeks ago my life was perfectly happy, but now it's worse than hell! You say I don't exist? That I'm merely a marionette whose strings you get to pull as you wish? Why? Why in hell was I chosen for this fate?"

"Fate is cruel. Someone had to fill the position. You are that someone,"

"I DON'T WANT TO BE THAT SOMEONE, DAMMIT!!!"

Rekos paused for a moment as the grimace on his face showed his displeasure at the rather loud shouting. Toshi stopped his rant and seemed to calm down for a moment.

"Isn't there anything that can be done? Isn't there anyway I can be a real human?"

"How odd. You actually want to be a human. Why? They are disgusting creatures. They steal from each other. This hurt each other. They kill each other purely out of spite. They live amazingly short lives. I suppose they occasionally have their uses, but why would you want to be such a pathetic and worthless species?"

Toshi's sorrowful face turned away from his creator to the coronation below them.

"Why do I want to be human? I don't know. A human's life is all I've ever known. You're right. Humans are stupid worthless beings. They steal, hurt, kill, destroy everything. . .but. . .their short lives allow them to live everything to the fullest. They take nothing for granted,"

Rekos didn't seem too taken with Toshi's dramatic speech.

"You truly are a fool," he said while shaking his head back and forth.

"Can you do it? Can you make me a human?" Toshi pleaded.

"No," Rekos simply replied.

"Then how? How do I do it?"

"How does an elf turn into a fishman? Simple: it doesn't,"

"No. . ." Toshi whispered, "There must be some way,"

"I tire of this," Rekos informed Toshi, "It's time that I end this whole situation. I will find the Ruby-Eye and terminate it once and for all. And as for you. . ."

Toshi looked straight into Rekos's eyes.

". . .you are going to be dormant. . .permanently,"

"You mean you're going to be using my body? So you can hunt down Shabranigdo?"

"Exactly,"

Toshi looked down at his feet. There was nothing he could do now.

"Sierra. . .I'm sorry. . ." Toshi whispered as everything was growing dark and clouded.