Date: Thu, 9 Nov 2000 23:57:52 EST
From: Morbddream@aol.com
Subject: Crimson Tears - 22

Disclaimer: This is a work of complete fiction. It is not meant to imply
anything about the real life sexuality's of any of the people involved. If
you are too young, or if it is illegal to view documents containing scenes
of a sexual nature, you're safe here, but I have to tell you to go away,
cause you're not supposed to be at this site.

Note: I couldn't find a good place to start putting the last paragraph into
the reminder thing, so if you have forgotten what's happening ... you'll
have to read number 21 again ... sorry. One more thing before I start. I'm
looking at one of the shelves in this room, and I found out where
Scheharazade came from! He's an awful lot like the Tormentor.  Since he is,
I don't wanna get in trouble, so all of his copyrights belong to Farlane. I
think that's how it's spelled, anyway. Since he won't be in this chapter,
and there's nothing I can do about taking him out of the others, I'll leave
the copyright notice like that for now. I'll find out all of the companies
involved before he's in another chapter.

*****************************************************
Chapter 22:
	I looked around frantically, hoping the creatures were only too
fast for me to see. If they were what I thought they were, we wouldn't
stand a chance. I still didn't know what earth's view of a demon was, only
that it was associated with some place called hell. Ours must have been
much worse, since Chris compared one of his best friends to such a
creature. Their mangled claws, twisting into what seemed to be daggers.
Their teeth so big, they couldn't close their mouths.  The black tempered
steel of their armor so thick, there was never a mace created that could so
much as crack it. The most fearsome of all their traits, the ability to
hide themselves from the sight of all creatures, other than extremely
powerful mages, and Gods. The only person here that could see them was
Justin, only because he summoned them. He kept his eyes locked on Vincent,
making sure he didn't reveal the positions of his demons. He turned to me
and sneered.  "Leave this one alone. Malak wants him alive."

*****

	Rosey lifted into the air, and flew toward her own small
encampment. She passed The few Legion that lived. She landed at her camp,
and looked around. She saw the army that once was, nearly wiped out. Luke,
Alexander, and Gail stood dumbfounded. Ryu was going back to help the
legion. Luke saw Rosey, and ran toward her. "What happened?" He was trying
to stay calm. "I don't know. Some woman showed up, and everybody dropped
dead!" Luke's eyes shot open. "Bianca. I knew we would meet again. Damn
her." He turned to Alexander. "There's only one thing to do. If you think
it's best that I don't, though..." Alexander stopped him by holding up a
hand. He nodded slowly, and put his hand on a sword he had strapped around
his waist. Luke nodded, and dropped to his knees. He slowly drew a pentacle
in the soft dirt, and began chanting softly. He surrounded the pentacle
with various arcane symbols, connecting each with a point on the star.  The
symbols began glowing and seemed to harden. They separated from the ground
and lifted into the air. Luke stayed on his knees, chanting softly. The
symbols shot into the sky, and expanded.  The light from them touched
everything. An untamed sadness almost overcame Gail. Alexander noticed, and
quickly grabbed her. His wings burst into view, and he flew toward the
mountains.


	The bodies of the deceased soldiers began to stir. Flowing lights
seemed to drip from the sky, and fill the bodies. They rose, and looked
toward Luke. Something started moving around in the distance. An army
seemed to be advancing on them. On closer inspection, one could see that
most of the enemy soldiers had melting shards of ice through their
bodies. The rest had skin as black as ash, baked from the intensity of the
Dragons flames. The dragons could then be seen, soaring toward Luke's
position. Dragon's bodies decompose faster than any other creature, due to
the acids in their bodies used to create the flames, so most of them had
little flesh left on their bones. Luke stood as the dragons landed. "This
is just disgusting!" Screeched Rosey. "It always is, Rosey." Luke
sighed. "Now our army is significantly larger. This should be enough to
clear the castle, and help out in any other battles we may be in." Rosey
nodded, and flapped her wings. "Where are you going?" She looked toward the
castle. "I'm going to get Ryu.  It's been too long. Something's wrong."
Luke sighed again, and nodded. "We'll be there soon. If you need any help,
use your ice to signal for it." Rosey nodded, and jumped into the air. She
flew toward Ryu, and seemed to only look at him as she passed. Ryu lifted
into the air, and flew toward the castle as well.

*****

	I stared at Justin, waiting for him to move. I slowly used the wall
to get to my feet, not taking my eyes off of him. I heard what sounded like
another body hitting the wall, and struggled not to see who it was. Justin
cocked his head to the side, staring intently at my eyes.  "Oh how pretty!
I just love that color! I've always loved yellow!" Since I couldn't see my
own eyes, I believe that they were showing my fear, and not my anger. I saw
a glimmer behind him, and a gnarled claw touch his shoulder. He spun, and
growled. "What do you want?" Demons are not smart creatures, so they didn't
understand what he was trying to do. The creature pointed to me, and
muttered something. "Pink." Justin slapped it, and growled again. "I know
that, you idiot!  He doesn't! Get back to work." The demon began to vanish
again when he suddenly shot forward, knocking Justin to the floor. Anthony
stood against the far wall, holding his stomach. A trickle of blood leaked
through his fingers, smoke trailing from his other hand. I looked at the
demon.  A deep burn had penetrated his armor, leaving him
vulnerable. Vincent saw this, and jumped. He landed on the demon, holding
his sword in the air. He plunged it into the creatures back. Blood spilled
from the scorched skin. The blood was a deep purple. It hissed as it
touched the floor.  Vincent pulled his sword out of the creatures
back. "Let's hope the demons were family. That'll make this battle a lot
easier."

	Vincent's wish was granted. The other two Demons showed themselves,
running to their fallen brother. They roared, and turned to Vincent. "You
think you can get another one of those fireballs out, Anthony?" He asked
nervously. A muffled cry was heard in response. I looked at Anthony. I saw
a tear fall over Justin's hand as he held it over Anthony's mouth. I could
see by his movements that he was twisting a dagger in Anthony's back. His
body slumped, and Justin dropped him. He fell to the floor, the dagger
still protruding from his back.  "No! Anthony!  Dammit!" Vincent's body
flashed, blinding the Demons momentarily. His body burst, sending flame in
every direction. He was burning hot, swinging at the two demons in front of
him. He drew his arm back, and push forward with all his might. The flame
on his body gathered at his hand for a second before exploding toward the
demons.

	Lance had taken this distraction as a chance to help Anthony. He
ran over to him, and placed his hands around the dagger. A soft, blue light
engulfed Anthony's body. It flowed into his wound, pushing the dagger
out. His wound slowly closed, leaving only a hole in his robe as evidence
that he had been stabbed. Lance slipped his hand into the robe, and rubbed
the skin that used to be a vicious wound softly. He moved Anthony's still
limp body to a pillar, and sat him up. He stood there, guarding him. I
turned my attention back to Vincent's onslaught.

	The demons lay lifeless on the outside of the castle. I wasn't sure
if the intense heat of the flames had burned through the solid marble, or
if the weight behind the bodies pushed them through. Vincent collapsed,
exhausted. I looked over to Justin, but didn't see him. Instead, I saw a
creature that couldn't have been taller than three feet. "What the fuck is
that?" I screamed. Vincent stepped up next to me, and put his hand on my
shoulder. "That, Jacob, is an Imp. He was probably drawing his power from
those Demons. That's why he lost that form he was using to trick you." The
imp crawled into the wall, trying to get away from me. I walked up to it,
my jaw clenched. I grabbed it by it's throat, and held it up. "Where is
he?" I almost growled. It shook it's head. It was shivering with fear. "If
you don't tell me where he is, I'll rip off your legs." It quickly jumped
out of my grasp, and motioned for me to follow. I followed it into the
throne room. It began pushing on the throne, but couldn't move it. I walked
over, and kicked it out of the way. It wobbled to it's feet, and rubbed
it's side.

	The throne slid to one side, revealing a small hole in the
wall. Justin was shackled to the wall a gag tightly tied around his head. I
grabbed the chains, and pulled. They snapped, letting his body fall. I
caught him, and removed the gag. I carried him out of the secret hole, and
into the hall. "Lance, can you heal him?" Lance walked over, and placed his
hands on Justin's chest. "He couldn't hurt him. They couldn't touch each
other. There was something protecting Justin, and his power wasn't strong
enough to hurt Scheharazade. So he was locked behind the throne, and an imp
was summoned to take on his form. He's sleeping. He exhausted himself
trying to escape. He'll be fine." He stood, and smiled. "Pink. I knew it."
He giggled, and walked toward Anthony. I blushed, and struggled to think of
a come back that had to do with his apparent attraction to Anthony. "The
age difference doesn't bother you?" I asked, with a grin. "What are you
talking about?" Lance asked, turning back to me. I pointed to Anthony, and
he blushed.

	"It's only a few years." He said shyly. "More like a few hundred
years." I snickered.  "You're telling me this teenager is a few hundred
years old?" I sat down next to Justin, and smiled. "In this world he's a
teenager. In yours he would be close to five hundred years old."  Lance
almost gasped. "What? How?" I laughed. "Different dimensions, Lance. Time
is a very tricky woman!" I smiled at his questioning glance.

	The doors to the hall opened, and a small version of Rosey ran
through followed by Ryu.  "What the hell are you doing? You're all sitting
on your asses while we're out there fighting a war!" I stood, and went to
Ryu. "A war? How bad is it?" Ryu made a clicking noise, and ruffled his
feathers. "Just about everybody's dead! Some crazy woman cast a spell that
killed everybody, including the enemy! Luke brought 'em all back to life,
and they're sweeping the castle.  Alexander took off with Gail. Toward the
mountains." Luke walked through the doors, followed by two living
soldiers. "There you all are! We've been looking everywhere for you! We've
cleared the castle. Most of the soldiers are on our side, now. They decided
that since they have no king, or army they can go with a little treason."
He smiled, and walked toward us. "Why did Alexander fly off with Gail?"
Asked Rosey. "My guess would be that she had a reaction to my
spell. Certain beings bodies can't handle a spell like that. They're
probably looking for us, now."

	"Very good. I wasn't sure if you would all make it through that."
The familiar flowing light drifted through the ceiling. It reached the
floor, and flashed. Celeste stood, shining slightly. An emerald green cloth
was suspended next to her. It folded in on itself, and flashed.  "Can't you
not look so much like me?" Lance asked jokingly. Isaiah grinned. "Well,
you're just so pretty I can't help but look like you." Celeste gently
tapped him on the shoulder. "I know MY mother doesn't hit like a girl!" I
said. She smiled, and looked at Isaiah. "Of course not! I just don't feel
like being turned into a pile of ash." Isaiah cleared his throat. "That's
enough of that. We're very proud of you. We're very thankful that Bianca
made such a mistake, and forced her brother to leave. You would've died if
not for her. Not to worry, though. She's not against you. She just searches
the world for any mortal worthy of a battle with her." Luke sighed. "Yeah,
that sounds like mega-bitch, Bianca."

	"Now that you have a castle, and a little protection for it, you'll
need to start looking for an army. A living one. The revolutionary armies
that didn't assist you in your diversion weren't affected by the spell, so
they should be able to help." Isaiah was thinking of as many locations that
we could find our army easily. "There's a small port town north of
here. You can stop there on your way to the Kingdom of Fortuna, and see if
you can find anything there. In fact, you may even be able to get a ride to
Fortuna. That would be a lot quicker." I looked at him. "Fortuna? Why are
we going there? They're well known peacekeepers." Isaiah nodded. "Unless
there is an unavoidable conflict. They become fierce warriors when they
need to be." I sighed.  "They don't need to be! This war isn't even going
to take place on their continent!" I protested.  "Think about the
importance of this war, Jacob! 'The War of Souls' will determine the fate
of this entire dimension!" The sudden realization hit me like a full grown
charging Behemoth. "Dimension?"  I asked. I slid back down the
wall. "Dimension?"

	"Where are they?" Asked Gail. Alexander shrugged, and continued
looking in the various rooms of the castle. He suddenly heard footsteps in
the hall ahead of him. He drew his sword, expecting the worst. A zombie
rounded the corner, walking especially well for rotting flesh.
"Eeeeeeeeeewwwwwwww!" Screeched Gail. "That's too disgusting!" Alexander
smiled, and nodded.  They continued through the halls until they heard
voices. They ran to the door the sounds were coming from.

	I looked toward the door as it swung open. Gail burst into the
room, and ran straight to Rosey. Wrapping her arms around her neck. "Rosey!
I'm so glad to see you!" She looked over at me.  In a flash I was standing,
having the life squeezed out of me. "::cough:: I love you, too." Her
attention then turned to Anthony. Worry dominated her face. Before anything
knew she had moved, she had Anthony in her arms. She was rocking him
gently. She looked up, fear present on her face.  "What happened?" Lance
sighed, and kneeled beside her, telling her the whole story. A smile graced
her lips when he ended the story. "How long do you think he'll be asleep?"
She asked.  "Not too much longer." He smiled, and ran his fingers through
Anthony's hair. Gail looked at him, smiling. "Lance. You take him. It's
time for me to leave it up to someone else." A questioning look on Lance's
face caused her to giggle. He took Anthony in his arms and sat. "I've been
protecting Anthony for a very long time. It's time for me to pass on the
... privilege." Lance smiled, and looked at the boy in his arms. He brushed
a strand of hair from his face, and gently kissed him on the forehead. He
looked at me, and smiled. "I think it's your turn." He turned back to
Anthony. I smiled to myself and looked at Justin. I stood and walked to
him. I gently picked him up from the floor, and walked toward on of the
doors. I motioned for Lance to follow. He, along with everyone else,
followed me into the room.

	The room was decorated with various royal tapestries, and
paintings. Most were of a beautiful woman in various flowing gowns. I
noticed one in particular. She was wearing a red gown, embroidered with
beautiful emeralds. The artist captured the shine of the jewels perfectly.
It was as if I was looking through a window. Her hair was being blown
around by the wind. Her back was arched slightly. Her eyes shimmered, but
not with happiness, or love. Sadness filled her eyes, like she foresaw some
terrible event. Her hand grasped a golden necklace. At the end of the chain
was a small gold key. I turned from the picture, and looked around the room
more.  There were two beds, one smaller than the other. Lance had placed
Anthony in the smaller bed, so I placed Justin in the other. I turned my
attention back to the painting. I ran my hand over chain and key. I could
feel the chill trapped in the metal. I stared into the eyes of the woman.
I could feel the sadness she held inside her body. The artist captured
everything so perfectly, I could almost see what was causing this
sadness. "What are you looking at?" Gail asked. I turned and looked at
her. "You don't see it? She's so sad. Who is she?" I turned back to the
painting.  I staggered back when I saw nothing but the marble wall. "Where
did it go?! It was just here!"  I screamed. "What are you talking about?
You've been staring at that wall for hours!" I looked around the
room. Justin was awake, and sitting on the edge of the bed, looking at
me. So was Anthony. Everyone was looking at me. "None of you saw it? None
of you saw her?" They all shook their heads, worry evident on their
faces. "Jacob, are you OK? If there was magic at work here, we would know."
Celeste looked extremely worried. "No. It wasn't magic. It was... It was
real!  I know it was!" Isaiah stepped toward me, but was pushed back by an
unseen force.

	"The mighty Isaiah can be fooled!" A dark rift is what it looked
like. It shifted, flashing a dim light. Malak stood between me, and
Isaiah. "How dare you! You know how easily I could kill you!" Malak
grinned. "I also know you won't." Celeste stepped in front of Isaiah.  "I
will!" She gritted her teeth, and stood ready to attack. "Calm down. I'm
only here to offer a little relief." He grinned, and turned to me. "The
painting you saw was a piece of a very elaborate puzzle. A puzzle you will
never solve. I've come here to offer advice. Give up!" I looked at the wall
behind me, then turned back to Malak. "The fate of this dimension is in my
hands. I will never give up." Malak grimaced. "Very well. One more thing
before I go. That piece was given to you by none other than the big man
himself." Celeste's nostrils flared. "Dammit! How many times have I told
you! There is no proof that the creator is a man! Men don't understand many
of the things of this world. She is a woman!" Malak turned, and spat. "I
don't have time for this." He vanished, leaving a powerful trail
behind. "Jacob, I offer you freedom! Accept this power! We, together, can
rule everything!" I walked toward the black cloud in the middle of the
room. I lifted a hand, and let my fingertip touch the center. "Jacob! No!
You will lose all sense of humanity!" A bright light flashed from the
center of the cloud. The cloud exploded, sending a wave of power in every
direction. "I will not submit!" I yelled. Celeste smiled. "It's time for
you to leave. We will see you again soon." With that said, she
vanished. Isaiah nodded, and flashed a bright emerald green. "Well, I guess
that means it's time." Sighed Vincent. I heard a few groans come from
around the room. I heard something else, but couldn't place it. I searched
the room. My eyes stopped on the smaller bed in the room. I heard it again,
but this time I knew it was a moan. "Hey! Now's not the best time for
that!" I yelled across the room.

	Lance jumped, and broke the kiss. Anthony sighed. "Thank you so
much." He rolled his eyes. I smiled and walked over to the bed. I picked
Anthony up by his arms, and stood him up.  "You get to walk in the
front. Gail, you keep Lance busy way back behind everybody. We have to move
fast." I smiled again, and pushed Anthony toward the door. I heard him
mutter something under his breath.


	We all walked out of the room, out of the castle, out of the
town. We headed north until we came to the small port town Isaiah
mentioned. I recognized it immediately. "Luna." I whispered.

TBC...
******************************************************************************
Well... That's it. Sorry about that HUGE delay... I'll try to get the next
one out quicker...  PLEASE e-mail me at Morbddream@AOL.com, or IM me. ICQ,
too! 91084755. Please! :) Well... That's all... Bye-bye.

LilAlfie