"Hey! Sierra! How's it going?" Stein happily greeted her at the gates of the Shrine of Rekos.

"I'm okay, I guess," she replied. Consider what she had been through she was actually very well, but the incredible pain that remained in her arms despite the fact that they had been healed prevented her from lifting heavy objects.

"You've got another friend?" Stein questioned, referring to the man behind her. He was about her height, wore pretty much a standard sorcerer's outfit, and had silver hair and eyes.

"Yeah, his name is--"

"Toshi Yokutsu," Rekos interrupted Sierra.

"I see. Pleased to meet you Toshi. Any friend of Sierra's is a friend of ours," Stein happily commented, "By the way Sierra, what happened to the other person you were with earlier?"

"Oh. . .she. . .parted with us at another path," Sierra lied.

Sierra and Rekos walked towards the entrance to the city. Stein followed them. He was his usual cheery self and he peppered Sierra with questions about her mission, which she tried to answer without being too revealing of what really happened. Rekos stared at the statues of the serpent and wolf for a minute before interrupting the conversation.

"What makes you think he wanted to be remembered this way?"

"Huh? What do you mean?" Stein asked.

"The Ryuzoku Rekos. How do you know that he wanted to be remembered as a great hero to your people?"

"I-I don't. . ."

"I don't think he wanted to be held is such high regards," Rekos commented, "I think the kindness he showed your people in the past was a fluke of his personality. If he hadn't been dying at the time, he never would have showed such kindness to humans."

"Sir, what makes you think this?" Stein asked politely, but he narrowed his eyes in anger as a reaction to this person insulting the memory of Rekos.

"It's just a hunch," Rekos replied.

"Anyway. . ." Stein tried to steer the conversation in a different direction, "Have you seen Terra?"

"No, I haven't seen her since you last asked," Sierra reported.

"Oh. . ." Stein said disappointedly.

"Though something tells me she's not far away," Sierra whispered more to herself than to anyone else.

"Did you say something?"

"No, nothing. . ."

The three walked past the oasis in the center of the city. Stein attempted to lead them in the direction of the High Priest's chambers so Sierra could report, but she explained that she was tired and would rather just go straight to her quarters.

"But Sierra, you're the first of the Blade Dancers to come back. I'm sure that the High Priest wants to know what happened,"

"Then just don't tell him that I'm here, dammit!" Sierra snapped.

Stein backed off in surprise at her response. There was an awkward pause and Stein regarded Sierra curiously, Sierra stood staring in shame at her feet, and Rekos stood by watching amusedly.

"I'm sorry, Stein. I'm just really tired, that's all. Please, I'll report to the High Priest later,"

"Alright. . ." Stein replied after taking a long breath, "But you must be sure that you do it, alright?"

"Yes, I'll be sure,"

"Okay then. I guess I'll see you later," Stein walked off in another direction as Sierra and Rekos moved on towards the dorms.

"That was amusing," Rekos chuckled.

"Shut the hell up," Sierra coldly commanded.

"Oh? You don't hold such high respect for me anymore? How sad," Rekos sarcastically whined.

"You're right, it was just a fluke of your personality that lead you to show kindness to my people," Sierra informed him, "From my experiences with you in the past few days I've grow to know that you're a cold-hearted killer."

Sierra was referring to the incident upon the path to the Shrine of Rekos where they had encountered a small gang of bandits. Sierra's position on dealing with criminals was to try to be civil until they acted aggressively, then you punish them. Rekos, on the other hand, had single-handedly slaughtered the entire gang without even waiting to see whether or not they were hostile. To Sierra, a woman who fought out of need, not desire, the worst part was that Rekos was laughing the whole time and seemed to enjoy the experience.

"At last someone believes me,"

"I swear, you act more like a Mazoku than anything else. . ."

"Yeah, I guess I'm just a ambivalent contradiction is the eyes of others. I'm even an ambivalent contradiction in my own eyes," Rekos muttered between chuckles.

There was a knock at the door. It was a gentle rapping that paused for a few moments and then knocked again when there was no response. Kleo sat up on the bed loaned to her. She had previously been lying down, staring at the ceiling in wonder of an uncertain future.

"Who is it?" she politely asked.

"Me. Zelgadis," the voice behind the door replied, "May I come in?"

"Sure, hold on a sec," Kleo granted as she stood and walked to the door.

She opened the door to see Zelgadis standing in the dorm's hallway. He gave a slight bow, but his normally straight face gave no hint of friendship.

"Come in," Kleo stepped back and let the chimera enter, "Something I can help you with?"

Zelgadis walked into the middle of the room and gazed out the tiny room's only window. It was dark out, but despite it being nighttime in a desert region, it still felt incredibly hot instead of the normal cold felt in desert nights. He turned around and searched the room with his eyes for a chair to sit in. The room contained only the bed and a small dresser, so he decided to stay standing.

"Kleo, what do you think comes next?" Zelgadis asked.

"Next? I don't know. I suppose we'll find out once Toshi and Sierra arrive,"

Zelgadis nodded his head sagely, "Sierra. . .yes. Now that I've briefly met her I must confess that she does look quite a bit like her grandparents. Her face is like Lina's, her long straight hair is like Gourry's, and her height seems to be a moderation of the two."

"I wouldn't know," Kleo responded.

"Toshi's not coming," Zelgadis suddenly said.

"What?"

"Another person is in his place. A person I haven't seen in many, many years. A person I'm not overly eager to meet again,"

"What do you mean?"

"You told me at the Tower of Rezo Toshi seemed to become another person and that person had silver hair and eyes. He is now that person, and this time I believe the change is permanent,"

"How?" Kleo asked worriedly.

"I don't know how exactly, but he is now Rekos,"

"Rekos?! Dammit. . .how do you know this?"

"Rekos and Sierra are here. They arrived just a few hours ago. But I wouldn't recommend trying to visit. Sierra was injured during the journey and even though Rekos healed her she is very tired and is currently resting. As far as Rekos goes, well, he's locked himself in his dorm room and refuses to speak with anyone,"

"I see," Kleo commented unhappily, "Is there anything else you want to tell me?"

"No, but there is something I want to ask you," Zelgadis replied.

"What is it?"

"I was walking past the main prayer hall on my way to the dorms, and stopped in for a minute to take a look around. I must say, the prayer hall here is almost as impressive as the hall in Seyruun was. But anyway, I overheard the conversation between you and your brother,"

"You. . .heard that?" Kleo blushed slightly.

"It's nothing to be ashamed of," Zelgadis told her, "But I was wondering about your family. You said things about how you hated your father, but he used to be a very kind man. Can you tell me about it? I want to help if possible."

Kleo sighed and sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Why not?" she asked, "I suppose it won't do any harm to have you know more. My family used to live together in the Northern Tundras."

"That would explain that language you two were using. I don't know any of it, but I've studied enough to recognize it when spoken," Zelgadis commented, "I'm sorry, please excuse my rambling, Kleo. Continue,"

"The earliest I can remember is when I was five and Stein was three. We were a very happy family at the time. Mother was a caring and courteous woman and Father was a hard-working devoted man who worked as a guard in the duke's palace. We lived very happily for quite some time until Father just seemed to change one day. He came home from work drunk. Before that I couldn't recall him ever drinking at all. He was incredibly moody and aggressive when anyone tried to talk to him.

"This was when I was about twelve. Anyway, this continued on for some time and got constantly worse. He would snap at anyone who talked to him and he never told us anything about what he did during the day anymore. When I was fifteen I met a young man named Azgin, and we sorta became boy and girlfriends. One day when Father came home pretty late at night he discovered Azgin and me kissing. He threw Azgin out shouting in a drunken rage that if he ever saw Azgin again he would kill him.

"I watched the whole thing terrified and heartbroken from the window in my room. After Father had chased off Azgin he came into my room. He was strangely silent but I could tell that he was incredibly angry. He ordered me to turn around and take my shirt off. . ."

Kleo stopped her narrative. She buried her face in her hands and her shoulders began throbbing. Zelgadis didn't say anything. He only watched with pity at the poor young woman who was sobbing at such memories. Kleo eventually lifted her face. She attempted to wipe away the tears that streaked her cheeks.

"I did as he told me to. I was so scared; I didn't know what he was going to do. He used a rope. . .and beat me across my back with it,"

Kleo stood up and walked a pace away from the bed. She turned to face the opposite direction Zelgadis was in and lifted her shirt off. Again, Zelgadis was silent, but this time he frowned at the sight he beheld. Kleo's entire back was riddled with scars. One particularly gruesome looking scar ran all the way from her right shoulder to the lower left part of her back. After a few more seconds Kleo put her shirt on again and resumed her position on the edge of the bed.

"Mother and Stein saw it. They saw it all. They were just as scared as I was. Over the next year Father beat me multiple more times, but none were as bad as the first time. He also beat Mother and Stein a few times. That's why when he died not long after from alcohol poisoning, no one mourned for him,"

"I'm sorry I made you tell me that," Zelgadis apologized.

"No, it's alright. I actually feels sort of good to tell someone," Kleo replied, "The part that hurts me the most is that he used to be such a good man. I don't know why he changed or what caused him to change so suddenly. . .but I'm sure that if he had been so cruel his entire life his abuse wouldn't have hurt so much."

"I'm sorry," Zelgadis apologized again, "If there is anything you need me to do for you, please don't hesitate to ask."

"That's alright, Zelgadis-san. I don't need anything,"

"Are you afraid that Stein will end up like your father?'

"Yes. He gambles, drinks, steals, vandalizes. . .I'm afraid for him. But when I found out about what he's doing here. . .when I learned he was training as a priest, I became a little more confident that he's going to be alright," Kleo said while smiling sorrowfully.

"It's getting late. We should be getting to bed," Zelgadis said as he walked to the door, "Good night, Kleo."

"Good night, Zelgadis-san,"

Midnight. The night sky was alight with the gentile radiance of the stars. The heat of the desert flowed into Sierra's room making it uncomfortably warm, but Sierra was used to it by now. She lay on her bed wide-awake, wearing her thin nightgown, pondering about what tomorrow might bring. She hadn't seen Terra since arriving at the shrine, but there was no doubt in her mind that she was here somewhere. As if to confirm her suspicions there was suddenly a violent knocking at the door followed by a voice.

"Sierra! Sierra, open up! Let me in, please, hurry!" it was Terra's voice.

Sierra got up and hurriedly ran to the door. She opened it to see her adopted sister crouching and holding her head as if in pain.

"He's. . .he's eating my mind!" Terra said desperately, "The Ruby-Eye is eating my sanity! Please, we have to do the procedure to banish him from my body right now! If not, I don't know what will happen. Please, Sierra! Help me with the ritual!"

"Alright! What do I need to do?" Sierra asked as she supported Terra into a standing position.

"We need to go to the relic vault. There's something there that we need to banish the Ruby-Eye. Please, hurry!"

Sierra supported Terra with her shoulder as Terra hobbled down the hallway out of the dorms and into the desert night. The two headed for the relic vault, an area sealed off to all but the highest of priests.

Neither one noticed the shadow that was following them from a distance.