Date: Fri, 30 Jun 2000 02:29:57 EDT
From: Morbddream@aol.com
Subject: Crimson Tears - 11

Disclaimer: Too young, click the X. Illegal, Click it! If you think you
might be offended any time soon, click it so hard the site will never show
up on your computer again, and all your problems with the site are
over... This story is a complete work of fiction, and is not meant to imply
anything about the sexuality of any of the members of Nsync.

Note: OK! It's about 98 degrees in here so I won't be writing too much when
I do come in here.  If writing this before I even start the story is a
premature decision, I might finish it tonight. Ya never know... Enjoy!

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From 10:

	Lets get back to the library, and see if we can find anything about
this prophecy." He nodded, and followed me out the door.

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Chapter 11:

	We walked down the hall, examining a few of the paintings that
caught our eyes. The only one that I found strange was the picture of a
fallen angel. I would have to ask someone about that later. We reached the
doors of the library, and again the gargoyles seemed to be watching me. I
saw Gail coming toward us from down the hall. "Hey guys!" She said
enthusiastically. "Hey.  What are you so happy about?" I asked. She
smiled. "Nothin' in particular. Just glad to be home!"  She glanced up at
the two gargoyles. "Funny. I never noticed those..." I thought about what
she said for a minute. "They look a lot like my guardians from the
academy." I stated. She shook her head. "You weren't there long enough for
them to have any real ties to you. Besides, the guardians that followed me
around died after the attack. For no reason. They do seem to be watching
you, though." I looked closer at the statues, as they looked at me. Their
eyes followed me, it wasn't an illusion. "Come down from there." I
commanded. Their stone form melted into a green tinted skin. Their tails
whipped through the air as the flew down to me. They rested on my
shoulders. "Thats amazing! They not only tied themselves to you, they draw
there power from you, so when the power source at the academy was
destroyed, they lived. Maybe..." She suddenly gasped.  She looked around,
running her hands along the walls. She stopped on a slight discoloration
below a painting. "You're alive! Why did you do that to me? Come out of
there!" The discoloration of the wall bulged slightly, as a small white
dragon emerged from the emerald marble. She kissed the creature on the top
of it's head. "I'm so glad you're OK!" The weight of my guardians began to
get to me.

	"Hey, Gail." I said, as her pet crawled up her figure, to her
shoulders. "What?"  She looked at me. "Is there any way I can get these
guys to lose a little weight?" I asked, as I reached up stroking the one on
my left's chin. "Yeah. They have to merge. You get a creature that reflects
the desire for a certain kind of pet. I've always wanted a dragon, and I
got my own little baby. When they merge they turn into a baby of whatever
creature you've always wanted.  Although extremely powerful, they have to
learn how to protect themselves, like a real baby." I nodded, pretending to
understand. "Yeah, uhh, how do they merge?" She smiled. "Should I tell him,
Rosey?" The creature made a clicking noise with it's throat. "She says she
likes you." Said Gail, walking to me. "Heres what you do." She looked like
she was thinking hard. I was expecting a long lecture on how to do
this. "You tell them to merge!" She said. "Well, you obviously hate long
talks." She walked into the library. I followed her in, Justin followed
me. We sat around the table Lance had reclaimed. "Oh yeah, you have to give
them names, first." Said Gail, looking at my friends. "What are those?"
Asked Lance, looking at the gargoyles. "Guardians. They followed me from
the academy." I said, turning my attention to my friends. "Hey, guys. Could
you get down for a little while?" The creatures nodded, and jumped off my
shoulders to the table. I rubbed my shoulders where they had been
perched. "Ryu, and Brin." Said Gail. "What?" I asked.  "They want to be
named Ryu, and Brin." "Oh. OK." She looked at Ryu. "They both agree the
merged form should be Ryu." I was confused. "I'm confused. How do you know
all this?" She smiled. "You learn to understand them after a while. You'll
learn a lot from each other. Merging doesn't have any bright flashes, or
anything. So go ahead! I wanna see what you've always wanted!" I looked at
them, and sighed. "Her goes nothin' ... Ryu, Brin. Merge." I said.

	The two creatures looked at each other, and walked into each
other. There forms liquefied, and bubbled on the table. The bubbling puddle
on the table began to take shape, slowly reaching toward the sky. The
metallic look the form had slowly drained off of it's body.  When the form
took shape there was a small griffin. The white feathers changing into
thick fur at the shoulders. The eyes looked like molten gold, flowing in
circles around the silver pupils.  The claws scraped the stained oak table,
leaving gashes. It looked down at the gashes it made, and flashed an
apologetic look at me. It retracted it's claws to prevent further damage,
and swished it's tail over the gashes. Gold flowed from the tip of it's
tail, and hardened in the gashes. "Not bad." Said Gail. "Rosey could kick
his ass anytime, but still not bad." She said, smiling. I looked at
Ryu. "Ryu, show her what you can do. Careful, now. Don't hurt anyone, or
anything." Ryu nodded, and spread his tiny wings. It lifted into the
air. The smell of hot brass filled the air as it's wings flapped. The air
caught by the wings was warm. He flew to the ceiling, and suspended in air
for a few seconds. Suddenly he dove to the ground. When he hit the ground,
the floor seemed like water. He dove into the earth, and emerged behind
Gail, and Rosey. His mouth filled with flame that died down just as he was
going to breathe it. He glided back down to the table, and sat, looking at
me. I stroked the feathers on his neck. "Good boy.  I'll get you something
from the kitchen later." Gail was shocked. "Griffins can't do that!  They
aren't earth elementals, they're fire!" I shrugged. "My boy is just
amazing." I winked at her. Rosey made a few squeaks, and clicking
noises. "You don't mean that! Apologize!" Said Gail.  Rosey looked down,
and clicked softly. "Thats better. Are you hungry?" Vincent was right. If
you treat them like your best friends, and not servants, they're very
loyal. Rosey clicked, and squeaked loudly. This caused the librarian to
rush over to our table.

	The orcish woman looked infuriated. "I have tolerated the noise
from this table for too long! If I have anymore trouble from you, you are
banned from the library. Look at that! Your dog scratched my table!" This
upset both Ryu, and Rosey. "Ma'am. He is not a dog, and when you call a
griffin a dog that upsets them. Extremely. It also upsets any other
creatures who hear that insult." Gail stated flatly. The librarian shot a
look of anger toward Gail. "Who do you think you are? This is MY library,
and you will not disrespect me here!" She screeched. "Gladus!  What are you
doing? Those are my friends!" Said Anthony, as he walked into the
library. Gladus' eyes shot open. She turned quickly to face Anthony. "I'm
sorry, sire. It's just these animals scratched the table, and they were
making noise!" Anthony laughed, and looked at us. "She is a wave orc. As
you know, they hate noise. That is why she wanted to work in here. She's
small, but vicious when angry. Be careful." He sat down next to
Lance. "Rosey!" The dragon crawled off of Gail, and over to Anthony,
rubbing against him much like a cat would. "Where'd she come from?" He
asked. "She was hiding in the walls." Replied Gail. Anthony noticed Ryu. "I
didn't think you were there long enough for them to tie themselves to you."
I shook my head. "I wasn't. I don't really know why they followed me. I'm
not one to contest a free griffin, though!" I stroked the fur below the
shoulders. Ryu seemed to purr when I touched him.

	Vincent was the last to show up. JC, followed by Chris, and Joey
arrived shortly after Anthony. An hour later, Vincent walked in, saying he
forgot. I answered all the questions about Ryu, and Gail all about
Rosey. "OK. Me, Ryu, and Justin will take this side." I started.  "Vincent,
and JC take that side. Gail, and..." She cut me off, knowing I was going to
suggest Anthony. "Chris. We'll take the front. Anthony, and Lance take the
back. Joey, you get the middle to yourself." I finished. "Anything you find
about any prophecy, bring to this table. When we've combed through every
book here, come back to the table, and start reading." We all got up, and
headed to our respective parts of the library. I made it a point to ask
Gail about her interruption later.

	Justin, and I found one book each. I found 'The call of the five
powers.' Justin found 'Prophecies - Myth, or truth?' Ryu, when instructed
to do so, found five. Two were fairytale books, but the other three were
legitimate. When we finished searching the area, we returned to the table,
and set our books down. I flipped through the one I had found. After a few
pages I flipped the cover closed, and examined it. "Whats wrong?" Asked
Justin. "This author. He's famous for his fake prophecies, and other
hoaxes. This one is useless. The prophecy he's talking about is true, but
his description of the five is wrong." Justin scooted closer to me. "How
so?" He said, acting innocent toward the closeness. "I'll read this part."


	'The five great powers will come to be. They will appear on the day
of destruction, and will be found by the prodigy. In my studies I have
learned that the five will be of five different races. One troll, one
natural sorcerer, one Zebwa, one king, and finally, one elemental.'

	"Since there is more than one elemental, and you are all human,
this is a real prophecy twisted into a hoax." I put the book aside, and
grabbed another one. I flipped through, and found the same passage. "This
one says the same thing." Justin looked at the book. "So does this one."  I
sighed. "I think these authors couldn't figure out what you guys would be,
so they copied the initial idea. Oh, well. Look for anything useful." He
nodded, and continued to flip through the book he was holding. Everyone
eventually returned to the table carrying books. We finished reading
through the books, writing notes on paper we asked Gladus to bring
somewhere during our 'study session.' Finally, when the last of us finished
looking through books, Vincent started. "All of the books I went through
said the same thing about the races. We'll disregard that for now, since
thats an obvious lie. Other than that, I found these:

	'The five powers will come for the life of Derux. The five powers
will fight with the prodigy. The outcome is not certain. The enemy is
great. A war of souls is immanent.'

	Kinda foggy, if you ask me.

	'The power of the five will continue to grow. If the war ends in
the favor of good, the creator will appear.'

	Everything else is just mindless rambling." Everyone else had the
same passages. "Well, that doesn't help." I said. "We have no idea where to
go from here." They all nodded. "I guess we can just go from town to town
and look for clues. If we're lucky we'll find a seer." Said Vincent.  Just
then, the King walked through the doors.

	"Anthony, come here." He had a stern look, and tone. Anthony stood,
and walked to his father. They seemed to be having a heated
conversation. Anthony, frustrated, stomped back to the table. "Whats
wrong?" Asked Gail. "Father banned me from leaving Camelot. He says going
on a pointless quest like this one is unacceptable." Gail shook her head,
and sighed. "I'll talk to him. Why don't you go to your room, and rest a
while?" He nodded, and walked out of the library.  "I think I'm gonna head
to the room, too." I said. Everyone wound up going to their rooms.

***Anthony's Room***

	Gail burst into the room. "Your father is hopeless! He doesn't care
about the people of this world. He only cares about his Castle. He said if
the enemy does come here, his elite army of morons will defend the
castle. He doesn't understand anything!" Anthony nodded. "I know."  Gail
looked at Anthony, huddled on the bed. "Whats wrong?" She rushed to his
side. "I didn't tell them everything. I was right; he does want me to marry
her." Gail's face twisted. She looked madder than an ancient dragon
protecting it's children. Thats a force not even super powers want to run
into. "Gail, don't. He is a king, you know." She looked at Anthony. "I
won't hurt him. I am going to get you out of here, though." He smiled at
the thought of being free from his father.  "Come on. Lets get the rest of
the testosterone."

******

	Gail came into our room, leading Anthony. "Come on. We're
leaving. Don't worry about King Dick, I have a plan." With that she walked
toward the other rooms. The look on her face told us not to question
anything she said, so we started packing as soon as she left.

	We all met at the gates. Anthony, and Gail were being escorted by a
palace guard. "They think we're gonna try to kidnap Anthony!" Gail said,
laughing. We all joined in. We walked through the gates. The guard thought
we were going to find a horse for Anthony. A birthday present. The guard
led us to a field full of wild horses. "There they are. Good luck." Said
the guard. We all looked at him. Gail stepped in front of us all. "If we
let you live; you tell the king. We can't have that." My eyes flashed red,
as Gail created a ball of energy. Lance spread his wings, and created a
spear of pure light. Justin changed into a bear, and growled. JC burst into
flame, while Joey melted into the earth and emerged as a titan. Rosey was
screeching at the guard, turning deep purple with icy breath flowing from
her mouth. Chris had taken the form of a djinn, a water/air creature. Ryu's
form grew to the size of a small horse, as he scraped the ground with his
huge claws. Vincent's form melted, and scorched the ground as he moved. He
then changed into a phoenix, and hovered above us. Anthony did not yet have
his powers, so he stood to one side with a book of magic. "You think your
measly powers can defeat the elite guard of Camelot?" The guard fell to the
ground in hysterics.

	The guards armor flashed. It was now covered in runes. He drew his
sword. The sword caught fire as he pulled it from it's sheath. A helmet
created itself over his head. "Now you will all die, and Anthony will be
returned safely." The guard rushed forward, knocking Gail to the ground. He
slashed at me, but I jumped out of the way. He punched Lance as he was
coming up behind him, knocking him out. He knocked the rest of the guys
out, leaving only me, and Vincent. Vincent flapped his wings. The air
around his burst into flame, and flew toward the guard. The guard turned,
and caught the fire with his sword, and threw it back as ice at Vincent.
Only myself, and Ryu were left. The guards armor melted away, revealing a
middle aged man wearing a black robe. His appearance changed. His eyes were
as black as coal, as well as his hair. His complexion was dark. Not
tanned. He laughed maniacally. "I knew I would find you. At the academy I
could not, but finally I can end this ridiculous prophecy!" I gasped. "You
are the super power that attacked the academy?" I managed to say. He
laughed again. "That would be me.  It was fun ripping that young mans soul
out of his body. What was his name, again? Ah, yes.  Ryan." The fear
drained from my body, and was replaced by anger. "The only way to free a
trapped soul is to kill the one who consumed it. You will die, Malak!" The
man looked surprised. "How did you know my name?" He screamed. "I know more
than you think. I am more than you think."  "Damn it! Why are you here? Let
the boy fight his own battles!" The being possessing my body looked at the
super power. "He is not ready to face you. I, however, am ready to kill
you."  "Damn you, Celeste! Get out of that boy's body! Let me kill him!"
Celeste cocked my head to one side. "Now, why would I want to do that? You
sent your demons to kill my son that night. The memories of what happened
were too much for him. We had to block them until he is ready. Thanks to
you, and your minions his full power cannot be reached until he faces those
dreadful memories. For this, I must kill you." The being jumped out of my
body as a flowing light. The light flowed out of my body, along with my
energy, putting me to sleep. It began to take form.  The white clothes she
was wearing glowed in the sun light. The cape that hung from her shoulders
seemed to be the sunlight itself. I thought it was a dream at first.

	"Malak, how can you kill your own son?" He snorted. "He is your
son. We never should have been together to create this." He pointed at
me. "Damn you, Malak! He is your son! Even pure evil must care for their
offspring!" Malak spat in my direction. "He is a being of balance. I have
no use for such a thing." Celeste looked at my sleeping form. "How dare you
say such a thing!  Leave now, and forget about him. If you attack them
again, I will destroy you." Malak's face twisted into darkness. He vanished
into a dark light. Celeste looked at me, as her form evaporated into the
light-form she first showed herself as. I heard one last thing before she
was gone.

	"I'm sorry."

TBC...

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What did you think? E-mail at TruAmricanBadAss@AOL.com. IM there or at
Morbddream. ICQ #'s should be somewhere int he last chapter. I gotta get to
bed, and ICQ 2000a seems to want to take forever to open. See ya next time!