Five days had passed since the companions' costly encounter with the forces of Adam. Though they had finally found the last of Lilith's Chosen as well as the Earth Armor, the ensuing battle had taken its toll on the group.

Even Rei had been favoring her left arm, though she tried not to show it. Everyone had known but said nothing, leaving the elf her pride. Still, Shinji wished she would at least show her wounds to Mayumi. But considering the reckless way he'd sustained his own hurts, he guessed he didn't have anything to say to the elf.

Shinji opened and closed his hand as the glow of Mayumi's healing magic faded. He noted the condition of his forearm with satisfaction. The scars were barely visible now, and would probably fade to nearly nothing with the passage of time.

"How does it feel?" Mayumi asked through her labored breathing. Shinji kept his face neutral as guilt spiked through him. Mayumi was still recovering from whatever it was she had done to save the princess, as well the head wound she herself had received in the last fight. On top of all that, she was taking care of Asuka and trying a number of things to awaken the girl, all to no avail. For him to place this additional strain upon her...

"A bit stiff, but I don't feel any pain. A bit of exercise and it'll be good as new. I should be able to ride a horse safely in a day or two. Thank you, Mayumi."

The priestess smiled, with a hint of a smug twist to her lips.

"Glad I could help. Rei did what she could, but the muscle was pretty badly cut up. I think I got all of it, though."

Shinji nodded, waving his fingers to test for numbness. Mayumi had been speaking out more these past few days. It was... weird... to see her with such confidence in herself. Weird but good.

He rose to his feet and a sudden wave of vertigo passed over him and he stood there, swaying. Mayumi shot to her feet as well, firmly grabbing him by the arm. She opened her mouth and despite her fatigue, gave wings to a soft melody.

Shinji felt the tune flow into his head, then with a jolt felt as if he'd been dropped in an icy lake, the vertigo and exhaustion blasted from his body with a single clear note. He was totally, utterly, and almost painfully awake. Everything tingled. "Whoa," he said as Mayumi stopped humming and released his arm. "Healing's never felt like that before."

"I think I have a better understanding of Lilith's love and what she wants from me now. And as such she's graced me with more power." The priestess smiled. "And that's something I want to share with my friends."

"Do you think that power might be able to do something for Asuka?" Shinji asked, looking towards the cart where she lay unconscious. Touji had scrounged up the old and beaten, but still reliable, cart for the companions to use. Though small and uncomfortable, it was big enough for Asuka to lie in it, while Shinji and Mari could ride it as well. Hikari had been getting better with surprising speed, and told everyone she was well enough to ride Asuka's horse.

"I wanted to try," Mayumi admitted, "But Princess Hikari said we need to know what's wrong with her before we attempt anything drastic. It's just... I don't like feeling so helpless."

Shinji nodded in understanding.

"We should hurry and eat breakfast then. We can't afford to delay too long."

"You're right," Mayumi nodded. "We have to get her to Tokyo as soon as possible. For now I can use my powers to sustain Asuka's body, but once we know what it is that's happened to her, I know I can make it right."

---

CHOSEN

An Evangelion inspired fantasy elsewhere story
Based on characters created by and copyright GAINAX

Co-written and Directed by Alain Gravel and Darren Demaine

Proof-readers and Gaffers: Jeremy Mullin & Alex Churchill
Muse and Costume Designer: Myssa Elaine Santos Rei

CHAPTER 17 - Fear Itself

---

Rei was on edge. There was something about this journey that was getting under her skin and making her restless. She'd greeted the leaving of the village feeling agitated and fretful, and the sensations had not abated in the following days. In fact, it may have gotten worse. It made no sense; no matter how far she extended her senses she couldn't detect anything that suggested the presence of an enemy. Yet, no matter how much she trusted her senses, her emotional mind could not shake the feeling that someone was observing them, stalking them, waiting to strike.

Rationally, though, this assumption seemed foolish. True, the Fire Chosen was still unconscious and Rei herself still didn't have good use of her own right arm, but their progress had been swift and Shinji and the others were getting closer to full health with each passing hour. The time they were most vulnerable had already past. Every moment they weren't attacked worked to the Chosen's advantage. Stalking them made no sense.

Unless it was HER. Rei's good hand clenched at the thought of the half-dark elf. Rei had vowed to make her pay for her treachery.

Taking a slow breath to calm herself, Rei brought her logical mind to the forefront. It was impossible for Myssa to be cause of her rising anxiety. Rei knew the half-breed to be skilled in survival and tracking -- that had been proven in the Northern Wastes. But this was not the half dark-elf's normal hunting grounds. Here, Rei was in her natural element. Here, Rei was the master. Myssa could easily follow the tracks left by the horses and cart from hours behind, but to actually get close, to actually present a danger... Rei was confident that Myssa was not that good.

Yet, Rei simply couldn't manage to calm her fears. What was this feeling? Was it this so called "woman's intuition" Misato often rambled about?

The elf shook her head. This was foolishness.

Rei suddenly snapped her attention forward. Something was approaching the group, approaching fast!

This aura! Kagenoshi!

Before she could give any warning, the sensation she'd detected slammed over her. Her heart skipped a beat, then painfully jumped into her throat. Fear and terror. She felt it as purely and as sharply as if hit by a ballista bolt. There was no time to think however, as the moment she felt this her horse dropped out from under her. It took all her dexterity and skill to pull her wounded body from the saddle and land on her feet. Around her she could hear her companions crying out in surprise and shock as they too found their mounts falling to the ground.

Her heart was racing, while it felt as if a cold and clammy hand was gripping at her very soul. What was this fear? Unlike what some might have believed, Rei knew fear. She kept her emotions tightly reined in, under control, but that didn't mean she never experienced them. Anyone who stepped onto a battlefield would know fear at one moment or another. But this... this was nothing like she had ever faced. The sheer intensity...

Focusing, Rei tried to find her center, squash the terror running through her like ice. Looking around, she quickly assessed the situation. Her mount was down, its body immobile and its eyes wide and staring in death. It had died, Rei realized, from fright. Her riding companions were all on the ground, their mounts having suffered a similar fate. Touji was trying to pick himself up, while Hikari, Mayumi, and Kensuke had been knocked breathless. The cart seemed intact, despite having collided with the two horses leading it. For a moment she wondered about Shinji, she couldn't see him, but guessed he had fallen into the back. Before she could do anything more, however, the fearful sensation hit her again, even stronger this time. It was a howling wall of terror that rolled up through her body... and darkness claimed her.

o x o

He was cold. He was cold because it was raining.

Kensuke's mind made this discovery after an unknown amount of empty time had passed. He couldn't remember why he was out in the rain. He couldn't remember why he was here.

Heck, he couldn't even remember where here was.

His eyes were closed but he could hear the thick downfall of the rain all around him, feel the drops slamming against his skin. He was cold and vaguely aware he was physically miserable, but in his mind this seemed like unimportant information. He felt he should just ignore it. In some way ignoring the discomfort was a good thing, the right thing to do.

Just him here in the rain... no thoughts... no worries...

And painful truths... forgotten...

It was not to be. The cold served as an anchor, dragging his spirit back into the flesh from where it had floated. And as it returned, the spirit brought back awareness and memory.

Reluctantly Kensuke cracked an eye open. His glasses were blurred from the falling rainwater but he could see well enough to recognize that he was lying in an alley. He turned his head and saw that his bed tonight had been a pile of garbage. Again.

Looking down at his hands he saw one still clutched his lute, the old instrument worn and faded, the strings stretched out and now getting wet. He really should protect the delicate strings. At one time he would have.

But more important to him was what lay in his other hand. He was relieved to see that the mostly empty bottle was still there. Bringing it up to his lips he tipped it back and greedily sucked in a mouthful of the harsh golden liquid.

It burned as it went down, it always did. But he liked that fire, made him feel warm, made him feel good. It made him feel like... like he was somebody again.

After taking his mouthful he sagged back into the refuse, looking through one cracked lens into the rain falling on him. He felt exhausted, felt empty. Thinking was a chore, he didn't want to do it. He had no idea how long he'd been here in this alley. He had no idea how many alleys he'd passed out in. He had no idea how much time had passed since...

Since they'd won.

Oh, it had been a magnificent triumph. Through his blurry mind's eye, he could see the Chosen fighting their way through darkness and flame to strike at Adam's black soul. Working as a team, all four Chosen had called forth their elements with angelic-like skill, bringing down the foul beast in a display of teamwork that had been thrilling to observe.

And that's what he had done: for the whole fight, while the others had put their lives on the line, had risked all to strike down the dark fiend... he had stood back and watched.

No one had mentioned anything: they'd all been polite and friendly. But he was sure he could feel the pity from them, the condescending tone hidden in their words of thanks to the simple bard who had stayed in the background...

With the Chosen's victory, an almost palpable sense of euphoria had swept over the land. People's hearts were light, their days filled with hope and promise. It was a great time to be alive.

But he quickly discovered that with victory the newly joyful peoples of the land did not need inspiring songs and stories. Their lives were filled with happiness, their days bright, the future eagerly embraced. His songs, his stories... weren't needed. Kensuke took another swig from his bottle, that horrible hollowness rising up inside of him again.

He... wasn't needed.

His friends had been needed. Touji had become the Prince Consort and was busy running the nation with Hikari. Those two just didn't have time for him anymore. Always busy, always making changes for the better. Everybody could see they were deliriously happy with each other.

Shinji had gone off to right more wrongs and have more adventures. Rei and Asuka had followed in his wake, the three of them inseparable and in some kind of bizarre mating dance that everyone but them seemed to recognize. But the paths they traveled, the dangers they triumphed over, it was too dangerous for one such as him to attempt. Where they went... he could not follow.

And so, he'd had a few drinks to ease his loneliness.

A few here, a few there: nothing too bad. But he felt so much better when drinking that it became easier to face the day with a drink to start things off. A couple more at lunch helped out too.

He didn't realize how bad it had gotten until he'd started to slur his songs. Worse, he couldn't keep his stories straight in his mind. They all started to flow together, become a jumble.

What did it matter? Kensuke took another gulp from his bottle. No one listened to his stories anymore anyway. His songs weren't being played.

He was fine with that. The bottle was his best friend, the only friend he needed. It wouldn't betray him, wouldn't leave him. Would never make him feel-

A flash of pure white caught his eye and with effort he levered his head up from the refuse pile he was lying on. Out there on the main road he could just see a slim figure in white. A priestess.

Mayumi?!

Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't. He couldn't tell, the distance too far, the rain on his glasses too thick. And his view was blocked by a man, a man standing beside the priestess and who sheltered her from the rain with his cloak. The two were walking very close to each other.

As he had once done, before she'd left a worthless drunk like him.

Suddenly fat, painful tears burst out of Kensuke's eyes. Before he could stop himself, he was sobbing brokenly. He knew what he was, knew what he had become. He was a miserable drunk, alone in an alley, sleeping on garbage. All he had in the world was a half-empty bottle and a lute he hadn't taken proper care of. No one listened to him, no one heard his songs. He could die now and no one would know, no one would care.

Everyone else had made something of their lives. Everyone else... had somebody.

He had... nothing. His whole world consisted of a bottle and a useless instrument.

And a dagger.

Still bawling, he dropped the lute. It fell onto the refuse heap, becoming nothing more than another piece of trash. But his shaking fingers searched along the back of the item's neck, freeing the small stiletto hidden there. Holding up before his face he saw the steel of the blade looked cold and professional.

Sucking in gasps of air through his crying he took another swallow from the bottle. He was so scared, so frightened. Not of what he was contemplating, but afraid of what he had become. How easy it had been to fall. Anything, anything at all was better than this, better than the worthless life he was living.

Anything, including the embrace of nothingness...

o x o

Walking back through the forest to his village with two juicy, fat hares, Touji couldn't help but grin. And why not? The afternoon sun was hot, but filtered through the canopy of leaves above him into an agreeable warmth, and the scent of the forest trees filled his nostrils with the smell of life. Even better than that, for the first time he could remember, he actually felt content with himself and the world.

Touji scratched his right arm just above the bracer he wore. Darn thing had been itching all day and it was starting to annoy him. Still, if a little unscratchable itch was the price the Goddess inflicted on him for his current state of affairs, he was willing to put up with it.

Who knew that fighting alongside his fellow Chosen and defeating Adam would have worked out so well? The darkness was destroyed, the lands cleared of monsters. But that stuff affected other people, he had his own reasons to be pleased with the results. The disease that had been plaguing his village was nowhere in sight, Mari was getting better, and Hikari had come to live with him.

His grin got a little stupid as he continued to scratch with his free arm. Yeah, maybe Hikari shouldn't have renounced her claim to the throne, but it had been her idea. She said she wanted to leave politics and responsibilities behind and just enjoy some time with Mari and him. Not that he'd minded, being a country type at heart. During the time she'd been in his village he thought she looked happier than he could ever remember, and Mari simply adored the ex-princess.

Still, maybe it would be good for them all if he moved them to a bigger settlement: maybe Kyoto or one of the other secondary cities. Mari would be completely cured soon and she'd need kids her own age to play with, something the village was unfortunately lacking. Get her into a good school, give her some opportunities she'd never have out here in the wilds. She was a smart kid, she deserved the best.

And he felt that no matter what she said, Hikari would enjoy a return to civilization. She was a city girl, and though she took to running things around the village like she was born to it (mostly 'cause she was), he was certain she'd appreciate the hustle and flow of having more people around. After his time with the Chosen, even Touji was thinking that expanding his horizons and seeing more of the world wouldn't be as bad as he once-

Without warning Touji tripped, sprawling down into the dirt of the road. Coughing out of mouthful of dust he looked around for his dropped hares, his gaze quickly coming to rest on what had caused him to fall.

Daisuke.

He was a member of the village. One of Touji's old gang, to be precise, a young man about Touji's age. Always been kind of chubby, a bit of dreamer, but a loyal man in a fight. He'd watched Touji's back on several raids before things had gotten better.

And now he was lying in the middle of the road... dead.

Touji couldn't move for a moment, his chest feeling tight. Slowly he leaned in and began examining his frien... the corpse. The body was whole, no blood, no signs of violence. He looked healthy, normal, but simply... dead. What then, had killed him?

No wait! There at his collar! Touji pulled the man's tunic back, revealing a chest inundated with large, grotesque black spots. It looked like some sickening mold had started to feed upon the man's body, the flesh around those spots red and angry.

In a terror, Touji scrambled away. Disease! Some kind of plague! He felt his heart being to thunder. Diseases scared him. You couldn't fight them with muscle, couldn't punch them, couldn't lay traps for them. They came and ate your body out around you while you died inch by painful inch. And you passed them to those who were closest to you.

The villagers.

Touji bounded to his feet, his legs carrying him in a punishing run towards the village. His chest was clenched painfully and the itching on his arm was like fire now, but it didn't matter. He had to make it back home. Had to spread the word, make sure everyone was safe...

He bust from the forest to arrive at the village, the heat from the sun slamming into him and making sweat cascade from his skin. It hadn't been this hot when he'd left, but now it felt like he was burning up. He paused for a moment to get his breath back, taking a swallow to try and coat his dry mouth, then stopped, listening intently. He could not hear anything. No movement, no voices, no sound of work from the village.

He looked down the hill towards town. He could see people, lots of people, nearly the whole village in fact... but they were all lying on the ground. No one was moving, no one was making a sound. It was deathly silent.

"No!" He screamed, pushing himself though the burning sun towards his house. He'd always lived a short distance from everyone else... maybe there was a chance that... a chance that...

He burst into his house, not even bothering to take off his boots. "Mari! Hikari!" he yelled. He needed to get the girls away from here. If they hadn't caught it yet then there was a good chance they could flee before... No! Both girls were strong, had held out against worse than this. But they had to get out, had to leave now...

He quickly checked Hikari's room, but she wasn't there. Without wasting any time he bounded up the stairs and threw the door open to Mari's room. "Mari!" he shouted, "Get your things together! We have to... have to..."

No...

Mari was there, on her bed, bent over double. It was a position that would be painful for anyone to lie in for any amount of time. But that didn't seem to matter. What mattered was her face. Her lovely face that was usually filled with childlike wonder and a kind of determination that secretly amazed her big brother was now covered with a legion of horrible black dots.

No...

Her mouth was open and her tongue protruded out, swollen and a horrible violet colour.

No...

Touji took a trembling step towards his sister's... Mari's... body. After the first step however, his foot caught on something. Numbly he looked down, then jumped back.

No...

Hikari was lying on the cold floor, her cute face scrunched into a grimace of pain. One of her pony-tails had come loose, making her look disheveled. Worse, he couldn't see any freckles on her face. No freckles, only a mass of horrible, black dots.

No...

Touji fell to his knees, the heat from the blazing sun seaming to reach even here. Sweat drenched him as tears started to run down his cheeks. Slowly he reached a trembling hand towards Hikari's hair, filled with the need to fix it. She hated looking unkempt.

As he reached for her the itching along his bracer got worse. Numbly he looked down at his arm not really seeing. Then he blinked through his tears and felt himself go absolutely cold.

There, just above the line his bracer made against his skin were a number of small, black spots. As he watched, more began to appear, slowly creeping up his arm. And the itching got worse.

No... no... no...no! no! no! no!no!no!no!no!nononononononono-

o x o

The moon hung high in the sky.

It was late enough, Mayumi decided.

Hastily she got dressed, then discreetly left the temple barracks for the cold streets of Tokyo with one destination in mind. The Great Cathedral.

The paladins at the gate didn't stop her as she strode into the main hall. Why would they? She was a priestess, she was supposed to be here. And, she thought with a touch of satisfaction, she was high enough in rank now that those who impeded her would regret it. The Church was finally recognizing her abilities and what she could bring to the organization. Now that she was no longer afraid of her birthright, now that she could control it, doors she had always thought beyond her were opening.

She'd always lived her life in fear of who she was, what she could do. Always felt out of place, awkward in her own skin. But now, with the song accompanying her, obeying her, she was becoming the woman and the priestess she always knew she could be.

Success, pride, confidence. It was all hers. It felt... exhilarating.

She found the Fire Chosen in one of the long-term convalescent chambers. Everything in the room was pristine white: the walls, the floor, even the linens for the bed the girl laid on. It contrasted sharply with the girl's fiery mane. Although, Mayumi sadly noted, without the girl moving her hair appeared to lose its vibrant colour.

A junior priestess had been standing watch over Asuka; Mayumi brusquely dismissed the girl. The raven-haired priestess felt sadness well up in her as as she watched Asuka lie there unmoving. Months had past since the quest had been completed. Adam was defeated, the land healed. Good had triumphed, and Mayumi was glad to have played an important role in the downfall of the dark god. All was right in the world... except for this one lonely soul who lay here, only a step removed from death.

Sages and healers had tried many things to heal the girl. Lady Ayanami herself had come but failed to return the princess back to the land of the living. No one appeared able to bring about the miracle needed to restore this hero to those who loved her.

Mayumi's patience had run out. If the greatest minds of the Church and kingdom couldn't heal Asuka, then it was time for her to do it. No one else was a songstress, no one else had the kind of power she had. She could bring life back to this small shell. She was absolutely confident about it.

Mayumi took one of Asuka's hands in her own. It was so frail and cold!

Parting her lips, she called the power that was her birthright. The power that she had been blessed with by Lilith herself.

All of its own, the song came forth.

Mayumi felt euphoria as the clear, crystal sounds left her mouth, blessing her and Asuka with warmth and love. She felt herself connected with the Germanian girl, as the song reached her soul and probed within.

And then... life returned to the body.

Mayumi watched as Asuka's body jerked sharply, then again, and again. She poured more power into the song, reached deeper into the power. It filled her, it felt good, felt comforting, soothing. It would solve all her problems...

Suddenly Asuka's flesh bubbled and twisted. The limbs flailed widely and bulged. Asuka's body ceased to be human as bones, organs, and blood all reshaped themselves to the power of the song. A new creature, a monstrosity born of the instruction of a songstress rose from the bed. From base building blocks of human flesh, the song had created... life.

The music was pleased, was thrilled with creation. This was what it had been instructed to do: to alter, to change, to shape, to create. It wanted to do it again, experience what new wonders awaited it.

Mayumi, who had empowered the music, recoiled in horror from the abomination that rose from the sick bed. This thing was hideous! And... and she couldn't feel Asuka's soul in that flesh anywhere! She'd reshaped flesh and at the same time she'd reshaped the girl's soul as well!

She'd killed Asuka! Killed her! No, worse... she'd utterly perverted what made Asuka human! What had happened?! What had gone wrong?!

Mayumi was unaware the watch priestess had returned, only realizing it as the woman screamed upon seeing the twisted mockery of life that stood by the bed.

"By Lilith's mercy! What is that?!"

Mayumi tried to explain herself, tried to come up with some excuse... Asuka had been a friend, a companion. A human being. She hadn't meant to hurt anyone!

But she no more opened her mouth than the song took control. It promised to make it right, promised that she would need no excuses. And so her voice gave power to the music. A soft, enchanting melody flowed out from her lips and embraced the other priestess' ears with gentle notes.

And with horrible suddenness, the priestess' body inverted.

Blood splattered the otherwise pristine white room as the girl become something new. The song experimented, making the clump of flesh into a new masterpiece, something unique and special. And, almost as an afterthought, it twisted the thing's soul as it did so, extinguishing what made the girl who she was.

No! No! NO! NOT AGAIN!

In dread, Mayumi tried to scream, but it only made the song stronger, made it reverberate and propagate itself through the pure and pristine walls of the Cathedral. All around her, Mayumi felt the music touch bodies, touch souls... and felt the song's joy as it followed its instructions to bring life... and experiment.

Desperately Mayumi tried to close her mouth, tried to stop singing, but found this impossible. The song was happy, the song was powerful, the song was soothing. Horrified, she realized that at some level she wanted to feel the song, wanted it to be with her. She wanted the power, thrilled to it, enjoyed the feeling of confidence and importance it gave to her.

With the song, she was not just Mayumi, the quiet, mousey priestess no one noticed... with the song, she was important.

In a panic, Mayumi ran. She had to leave the Cathedral before everyone died. Guards tried to block her path, secure in their armor and their magic protections. But a songstress' music followed no know rules of magic, her power the base elements that creation and destruction obeyed. The guards were twisted and remade even as she ran past.

It was only out in the open air that Mayumi realized her terrible mistake. Within the Great Cathedral the song had been somewhat contained, but now the whole world was her audience...

The song rose in volume, reaching a point no normal human could possibly have reached. But the song was beyond magic; perhaps it even transcended the divine. Mayumi was only its host, its vessel to the world. The music spread within every street, entered every house... Mayumi fell to her knees in despair, wept silently as she felt, one after another, bodies and souls being broken and remade into new and horrific mockeries of what they had once been.

And still she kept on singing.

"Mayumi! What's going on?!"

The priestess' horror grew as she heard Shinij's voice, getting closer. Frantically she turned in his direction, saw him and Rei running towards her. Perhaps being the Chosen of Lilith had protected them, maybe something about them had kept them safe.

But whatever it was, it didn't last.

No sooner had she turned eyes upon them then their forms broke apart under the gentle touch of her song. She'd always known those two would probably get together someday. Now, because the song wanted it... because she wanted it... Shinji and Rei would be one collection of flesh, one creature, one remade soul, for all time.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!

She had to stop it... had to stop it...

Her hands reached for her throat, her nails scratching the skin.

Blindly, Mayumi began to dig her nails into her skin. Ignoring the pain that blossomed at her neck, ignoring the blood that slickened her hands, Mayumi frantically began to claw her own throat open.

If she could rip her vocal cords out, the song would stop.

Right?

o x o

Unnatural silence reigned over the small stretch of road where the Chosen had been traveling. It was as if all wildlife in the surrounding forests had fled... or been brutally silenced.

Against this oppressive silence were the labored breathing of a small group of humanoids, loud and pitiful. These feeble sounds were soon joined by the slow cadence of measured footsteps approaching.

The footsteps were produced by an old, feeble-looking man weighted down by his ancient years. With only a tattered and stained robe wrapped around his skeletal frame, it seemed he would be easy prey for monsters or the elements.

But like many facades, this one concealed something else entirely. This creature would not be easy prey for anything that existed in this world. It was this thing that had choked away all wildlife nearby. It was this that had brought heroes to their knees. It was a Kagenoshi.

When it reached the mess of prone figures, the emaciated creature took a slow look around the scene of carnage. All besides it were unconscious, the majority in very uneasy slumber. They drew ragged breaths while their limbs spasmed and twitched as cold sweat drenched their sallow flesh.

Leliel was intrigued. These things had presented him with quite the challenge holding on as they did. The Kagenoshi had expected the majority to simply die in the initial wave of his attack, like the horses or the insects in the air. But to his surprise it appeared as if all had survived. Odd that.

Approaching the cart where most of the group was huddled around, Leliel frowned. He felt resistance. That itself was unusual, but the... the taste... of those who had not fallen was most unsettling.

He looked in and saw two females, one just mature and one still juvenile. Both were unconscious, but he could not taste their terrors like he could the others. Leliel reached forth a bony hand and placed a single gaunt finger against the child's forehead.

Ah... that explained it. The little girl had been sick most of her life, her days mostly spent secluded in her room. The girl was untouched by the horrors of living, while at the same time she had existed teetering on the edge of death. While bathed with her brother's unconditional love, she acknowledged her mortality at an early age and had accepted it. This girl had been prepared to die and did not fear it. She was not ignorant of the dread of the living world, but instead chose to remain hopeful: thus, an innocent. That made her immune to Leliel's power.

No matter. It would be easy to snap her neck once the others were dead, even if Leliel disliked such crude methods. His orders were absolute, however. The Chosen and their companions had to die.

The Fire Chosen was a more puzzling case. Surely, the girl couldn't be fearless! Even the more stoic high elf was now plagued by her own nightmares. Yet... Leliel felt nothing at all from the girl. It was almost as if her very soul had been sealed away within the confines of her heart, behind a shield even his own power couldn't penetrate. This was very strange. But again, it mattered little.

Isfafel showed teeth in something that on anyone else would have been called a smile. Their breathing worsened. Some curled up in fetal positions, while other were starting to shake. The Kagenoshi smelled blood as he saw the Wind Chosen tighten his fists so hard his nails bit into the skin of his palms. Even the elf was whimpering now. And was that... tears on her cheeks? Leliel smiled.

Yes... it wouldn't be long now.

o x o

"I must go now, your Majesty. The battle awaits."

Hikari nodded as White Knight Misato rose from her kneeling position and placed the helmet to her armor on her head. Drawing Murasame from its sheath the White Knight turned and headed out of the throne room, the huge doors rolling closed behind her with a shuddering bang.

Finally alone, Hikari slumped forward in her throne. One shaky hand came up to wipe the sweat off her brow. She'd had to keep the brave face up before her Knight Captain and the guards. It was the job of royalty to provide strength to those they were responsible for. "Give your people someone they can believe in," her mother had told her. "A ruler who will strengthen them when they have doubts. Give them courage and people will do wonders."

And so she'd kept a brave face before her vassals, buttressing their courage like a good queen should. Helping hold the line against fear and doubt as their world collapsed around them.

It had started when they had returned to Tokyo. Upon arriving she had discovered that her parents had been assassinated by Lord Shazal. Everyone had thought her dead and Shazal had claimed the throne and called her an imposter.

The army had been divided, with several legions supporting the usurper. The conflict over the succession had been bloody and long but in the end Shazal had been cast down and she declared Queen.

But not without cost. The Great Cathedral and the Sentinel Towers had been destroyed when the enemy resorted to artillery magic in attempts to hold ground. The city had been turned into a war zone and wrecked beyond anyone's comprehension. No one knew how many civilians had died in the fighting. It was useless to count, since no sooner had she ascended the throne than an orcish horde swept out of hills and falling like the end of the world upon the still reeling nation.

She had rallied what remained of the army and ordered them into battle after battle. While no military leader, she had brought focus and drive back to the exhausted troops. They had marched off to war with fire in their eyes so that their nation and their families would survive.

They had died at her command. And the orcs had kept coming.

Hikari rubbed her face, hearing sounds of fighting outside the throne room. The orcs had been an unstoppable wave. Swords, soldiers, holy prayers, magic... nothing had stopped them. They had overrun her forces, legions of men dying at her orders. Old men, women, even children had been armed at her command and sent to stem the tide, but all had fallen. It seemed as if nothing could hold the orcs back.

They had battered their way to the Holy City and then through the gates and walls. Tokyo had once again become a battleground with piles of dead choking the streets.

And still they came. She had sent the Chosen, her friends, into battle. Lilith's select had fought furiously, but even they had fallen, one by one, to an enemy that seemed endless.

Only Touji had survived, she noted with relief. Despite it all the Earth Chosen had proven too stubborn to die. He had cut down, crushed, or slain uncountable numbers of the foul beasts, but even he could not keep them from the castle. Even now there was a furious battle in the lower levels as the last of the royal knights attempted to keep her safe, keep the horde away. Misato had gone off to lead the defenses once again.

Hikari knew she would never see the woman again; would never see Touji again. The orcs were unstoppable, unrelenting. Her nation, her people... she had sent them into a fight they couldn't hope to survive. It was her responsibility. She had killed them. Just like she had killed Kodama...

There was a rumble at the doors to the throne room making Hikari look up. Brining herself under control, she took a deep breath and tried to make herself as regal as she could. Appearances... maybe appearances were all she had left, all she could give to the few who remained. But for their sake she would hold on, take their doubts and fears upon herself.

The doors rolled open, and to her horror she watched a line of horrible green creatures thunder in. They were covered in red blood and their drawn weapons dripped with filth and gore. Along with them came the terrible scent of blood and death.

And then she saw it. The leader, a creature of terrible scars and jutting tusks, was carrying a huge boar spear, tip up. Ten feet long, it had been run through one of her defenders, the body impaled there nine feet off the ground and dripping blood. His head rolled sickeningly to one side, the still open eyes seeming to accuse her. She choked as tears blurred her vision.

"Touji..."

She had failed them... failed them all...

All around her was the jeering of the conquering masses. The beast with Touji on his pike glared hard at Hikari, appearing to study her intently. "I kill you before," he grunted, bringing Hikari's gaze sharply back as she stared at the thing. "Back in mountains, I tear you from carriage and kill you. After I have my fun..."

Hikari's throat locked tight as her eyes widened and she began to tremble uncontrollably. This thing... it had... Kodama...

Then it grinned. "Guess I get to do it again."

Hikari's screams were lost in the triumphant yelling of the orcish horde.

o x o

Rei jolted awake. What had happened? Disorientated and shaking she raised a hand to wipe the sweat off her brow... and found she couldn't. Cold terror blasted through her as she struggled to move her arm, not making any headway but instead hearing the rattle of chains as she did so. Frantically looking around she saw an open archway and what might have been a single torch burning feebly a long way away. Even with elven eyes there was barely enough illumination to see anything.

As her eyes darted around she saw she was in a small, barren, dank stone room. The noise of chains was from the shackles she wore on every limb, the hard metal biting into her flesh and keeping her pinned down and spread eagle. The manacles allowed only a sliver of movement from her body, and felt strangely wet. A moment later her mind recognized the smell of blood laying heavily in the air.

The physical pain of her wrists and ankles was strangely calming, the hurts of the body providing a measure of familiarity to her that allowed her to grasp her scattered thoughts. Bringing her mind into focus she strove to analyze the situation. Firstly she noted that all her clothes had been removed, leaving her naked. The chill and dampness of the room made the sweat that covered her body feel like daggers of ice. Her back was resting uncomfortably against a stone-hard surface, uneven and painfully rough; but too high to be on the floor. A slab perhaps.

Racing, her mind tried to understand the situation she was in. Her last memories... It was too hazy to fully remember. All she could remember was... fear. Then darkness.

Had Adam's minions captured her? But why detain her in such manner? Why not just kill her?

A sacrifice perhaps? It would explain the smell of blood, as well as the stone slab. Perhaps it was a sacrificial altar.

Or maybe the enemy had something else in mind. Perhaps it didn't consider that killing her was enough. Maybe they intended to torture her, abuse her and humiliate her, until they felt satisfied. Or maybe they simply intended on letting her suffering an agonizing death, leave her in in the dark and cold until she died from starvation. Many scenarios filled the elf's mind, none of them pleasant.

Certainly, she would not remain idle until she knew what was intended for her.

Closing her eyes, Rei tried to focus her senses. Even stripped of all that she possessed, she was still one of Lilith's Chosen. Without the Water Crest her powers were greatly diminished, but not completely extinguished. It would take much time and a great amount of effort, but the tools to free her existed even here: the humidity in the air, the sweat on her body, even the blood in her veins if necessary. The metal in the chains was strong, but water was relentless, unyielding. Patience, and a whole lot of expended magical energy, would see her free.

The elf focused... concentrated... and felt nothing.

Panic filled her. This... this wasn't possible! Her powers... they were gone! Try as she might, she could not feel anything! No connection with the spirits of water, nor with the light of Lilith. Nothing. It was as if everything had been stripped from her.

How?! How was this possible? Something about the room? Was someone blocking her powers? Or had the enemy found a way to cut out a part of her, cut out and remove a very part of herself? Magic was a part of every elf's life, and she had been touched as Lilith's Chosen even before she understood what that meant. Her whole life Rei had felt the ebb and flow of magic throughout her body, but now there was nothing. She could not act physically, and now was stripped of the protection and confidence magic endowed. A horrible sense of sheer terror and vulnerability crashed down upon her. Magic, her constant companion, protector and guide was no longer with her. She was alone. She was a small, naked little girl trapped all alone in a dark place.

Rei froze as she heard slow, measured, heavy steps in the distance. Steps that were coming closer. Desperate, she jammed her eyes shut and tried to control her breathing. Maybe, just maybe it would ignore her if she was unconscious. Please go away, she thought. Please go away, please go away-

rei ayanami, child of lilith.

Rei gasped as she heard those words in her mind. Her eyes opened and her stomach fell away as her limbs went cold. Before her was a from made from shadows and night terrors. Humanoid, but certainly not anything human or elven. It was the darkness that gave children crying fits and left brave men awake, pondering the tightness in their throats they couldn't conquer. It had no face, no form, merely two sparks of purple light for eyes. Eyes filled with hate and pain, anger and malice. Rei had never seen him, not in this life, but he existed in all terror that stalked the living and she knew his name.

The dark god, Adam.

chosen of water. you have defied us in the past. but now you will be ours. and through you, we will be reborn.

"NO!"

In a frenzy of mindless terror, Rei struggled to tear herself free. There was no thought, no plan, merely the need to flee lest pain and death and worse come upon her. She tried to kick, tried to rip her arms free from the shackles, but all her efforts only made the chains rattle a little. The dark god took a step towards her and she screamed, redoubling her efforts at freedom. The cold metal broke her skin as she thrashed, red blood slowly oozing out of the fresh wounds. But this pain was nothing, not even considered. Nothing was too great a sacrifice to escape the dark god, nothing!

But for all her struggles she could not turn away, could not break eye contact with the god. She wanted to look away, wanted to block out the horrible thing before her, but she couldn't. She had to watch it, had to know where it was! To lose sight of HIM was death.

The presence in the room took one more measured step towards the thrashing elf, then another. It loomed over her, drinking in her vulnerability and terror. There was a brief moment where Rei sucked in a breath to scream again, and in that flicker of time, it engulfed her.

Her screams choked into nothingness as the darkness filled her mouth and throat, entered her through every orifice, every open wound, every pore of her body. There was no place of her that was private, no part it didn't defile and force its way into. Everything was pain: the essence of the dark god seemed like thick syrup as it pushed its way through her, bringing unimaginable torture, humiliation, and shame. It entered her, violated her, took possession of her, made her nothing more than its pliable, defenseless object. So much pain entered her that she eventually became numb to it, but nothing numbed her mind from knowing how polluted she had become.

Rei had no idea how much time had passed, but one moment there was numbness and shame, the next sensation was flooding back into her limbs and she was gasping for breath. Tears flowed freely from her eyes and she couldn't stop shaking. She could feel it inside her, completely part of her, existing everywhere within her. But then it moved, it slid through her body, through her soul, coalescing, gathering in one single spot within her body. Rei felt a new wave of terror rise as she realized where.

It had gathered inside her womb.

Then she heard it. A sound, too soft for anyone to hear, yet almost as loud as the sound of thunder in her ears.

A heartbeat.

"Lilith, no..."

Then another. And another. And with each heartbeat, Rei felt a change. Adam's intangible darkness was taking shape. Gaining mass.

Within her, Adam was being reborn to the world. With each heartbeat it grew. In front of the elf's horrified eyes she watched her own belly begin to grow. From an almost imperceptible bulge, the girl's previously flat belly expanded in a grotesque parody of nurturing a life.

Rei screamed. She screamed and screamed until she was hoarse. Then she felt Adam testing his developing claws and she started to scream again.

o x o

Pain wracked Shinij's body as he clawed back to consciousness. Everything was confused and jumbled in his head.What had happened? Try has he might, he couldn't focus his mind to bring back what had happened before the black spot in his memory. He felt fatigued, as if he had just awoken from unfulfilled sleep. Opening his eyes, Shinji peered around, a thick fog shrouding the land from his vision. Groping aimlessly, he stumbled along the ground, his hand quickly grasping something solid in this realm of mists... and his heart went cold.

Raising the newfound object before his eyes, Shinji screamed as he realized it was a messily severed woman's arm.

A zephyr briefly blew across the field and removed the mist, revealing a scene of horror to him. His friends! They were dead. All dead. Some were mostly whole, their bodies torn and marked with a dozen mortal wounds. Their broken eyes were empty, their faces twisted in grimaces of horrific pain. They had not died easily.

But others... others he could only recognize by their clothes. Their faces had been reduced to bloody pulp. And the ground was soaked with their blood.

What... what had happened to them? How could they have... died? And why was he still alive? Why?

Cold terror shot through Shinji as a possibility ran through his mind. A terrible, frightening possibility.

What if he had...

NO! He couldn't have done it!

Right?

Right?!

But the way they had died; it hadn't been through forged weapons. No, it looked as if some great beast had taken it upon itself to mutilate as it killed. This had not been a war, but a bloodlust of slaughter...

Dear Lilith, no!

Yet, the truth laid there before him in its horrific finality. His friends were dead. Asuka. Mayumi. Kensuke. Hikari. Touji. Misato. Lady Ayanami. Mana. Queen Yui. His world, everyone he cared about... their bodies lay around him in a grotesque circle. And beyond them lay more corpses, bodies enough to carpet the ground. Corpses of elves, humans, dark elves, orcs, giants, dragons, and... things and pieces of meat he couldn't recognize. The mist itself was tinted red with the stench of fresh blood.

In his despair, Shinji found a glimmer of hope to grasp. Rei! Her corpse wasn't here! She might be alive! Alive! She would be able to tell him what had happened!

As his mind made this realization, Shinji suddenly caught a glimpse of a figure moving through the mists. Maybe it was Rei! Heedless of his footing, he raced over the corpses of his friends and others. There was nowhere to put a foot down that didn't desecrate the dead. The figure in the mists continued on, seemingly unaware of Shinji, but the Wind Chosen stumbled on over broken limbs and bloated bodies. He could not let this figure vanish into the mists. Could not lose sight of the one thing living in this horror...

Finally he burst free from the mist and staggered up to the back of the figure. Slowly the person turned to face him, and Shinji froze as his heart ground to a pain-filled halt.

It was a young male, his own age. His clothes were nothing more than ragged strips hanging from his thin frame. Whatever color they might have been could not be determined, as their fabric was soaked in half-dried blood.

The man's skin was the same, covered in reddish blood. From head to toe he was drenched in crimson, some of it oozing fresh from his numerous wounds, but most of it having splattered the boy from the weapons he held. In each hand the figure held a single thin blade, slightly curved in an almost graceful manner. Each one covered with filth and ichor. Each one dripping red. Each one Shinji knew intimately.

His own blades.

It made sense of course... after all, the figure he had been chasing had been his own.

Shinji stared at himself in horror, frozen in fear as his eyes were drawn by the gaze of his other self. In his own eyes he saw anger, hatred, rage. Madness. It was horrifying. He had fought Kagenoshi, had stood and faced down beasts of mythic evil that sought the death of thousands. But now... he was staring at a thing that was nothing but pure malicious intent... and he was staring into a mirror.

"HOW DOES IT FEEL SHINJI!" the thing that was him roared. "HOW DOES KILLING YOUR FRIENDS FEEL?!"

"I didn't! I didn't kill them!"

"BUT YOU'VE DONE IT!! YOU'VE DONE IT!! YOU KNOW IT! AND YOU WANTED IT! ADMIT IT! YOU WANTED TO KILL THEM ALL! YOU KNEW YOU WERE A MONSTER!" That Shinji raised his blood stained hands, still clutching the gore-covered swords. "ALL THIS BLOOD, ALL THEIR BLOOD... IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!!"

Shinji looked down at his hands and indeed, they were drenched in blood. Cold, partially dried blood. The blood of his friends.

"No... No!"

"AND YOU LIKED IT! YOU LIKED KILLING YOUR FRIENDS! LIKED CRUSHING THEIR LIVES! IT WAS ALL WE COULD HAVE WISHED IT TO BE!"

Images suddenly hit Shinji. A vision or a memory... he couldn't tell...

Her chest was softly rising and falling, her breathing quiet and even. If he hadn't known any better he might have thought Asuka was simply asleep.

Without warning he was suddenly straddling her prone figure. In a flash his hands were around her neck, his thumbs pressed against her windpipe. He could feel the thump of her pulse beneath his palms. And then be began to squeeze.

For a moment there was no reaction, and he increased the pressure. Her blue eyes fluttered open and she looked up at him, he increased the pressure. Her right hand came up and gently touched his cheek, caressing the side of his face.

With a sickening crack the girl's neck broke. Her arm limply fell from his face. He twisted her head to a grotesque and unnatural angle.

"BITCH DESERVED THAT! DESERVED IT! HOW MANY TIMES DID WE WANT TO SHUT HER UP!?"

Mayumi was screaming, pained screams so loud Shinji thought it would break his eardrums. Yet, he ignored her screams as he kept pulling... kept drawing out of her body her warm and bloodied intestines.

"WHO KNEW THE MOUSY PRIESTESS WAS SUCH A SCREAMER?! SHE JUST NEEDED PROPER MOTIVATION!"

Kensuke's rant suddenly stopped as his lower jaw was ripped off his face. He did try to scream, but it wasn't easy with half of his mouth gone.

So shocked, he never saw his lute come and crash unto his head, exploding in splinter of woods. Out cold, he probably never felt its remains stab him in the back and through the heart.

"THAT SHOWED THAT LOSER THE PROPER WAY TO USE A MUSIC INSTRUMENT!"

Hikari, the always prim and proper princess. She seemed to have difficulties maintaining proper appearances right now, as she tried, unsuccessfully, to stop the flow from her punctured jugular and carotid, her own blood turning her dress crimson while she grew paler and paler.

"NOT BLUE BLOOD! RED! RED BLOOD! ROYALTY AND COMMONERS DIE ALIKE!"

Touji tried to fight back, he really did. But a man needed hands to hold a sword, and with his bloodily torn from his arms he just embarrassed himself.

He did look rather pathetic as his own sword pinned him to the ground. At least, unlike the others, he wouldn't need a grave marker.

"FOR SOMEONE WHO ACTED SO TOUGH, HE TURNED OUT TO BE WEAK! WEAK! LIKE EVERYONE ELSE!"

"What... what about Rei... What about Rei?! What did you do to her?!"

There had been rage and hate in the thing's gaze before, but now there was something else. Something equally as dark, but horribly more personal.

"YOU ARE TOO WEAK FOR HER!"

Shinji did not see him move. Only a flicker before his eyes, and suddenly Shinji was rolling back among the dead, his arms heavily bleeding from the wounds he'd just taken.

"SHE IS MINE! AND I WILL DO WHAT I WANT WITH HER!"

New visions hit Shinji's mind. Before it had been of bloodlust and violence, but now it was of just violence and slating lust. Animalistic, inhuman lust that took and gave nothing in return. What HE intended to do to Rei...

"No! You can't-"

Shinji's protests were cut short as a boot crashed into his face, crushing his nose and sending him sprawling back. He painfully rolled for a moment, his motion coming to an abrupt halt as he rolled into Mayumi's gutted corpse. Trembling and bleeding, he tried to get up but found that his shaking limbs would not respond. He could only stare past the broken lenses into Mayumi's dead and accusing eyes.

The other Shinji grabbed him by the hair and with inhuman strength flung him. He crashed down to the ground, laying over Asuka's corpse. Looking into those terror-filled blue eyes -- now so completely empty of life -- he could only whimper as the horror of his own actions overwhelmed him.

"YOU'RE WEAK! WEAK! WE KNOW IT! WE KNOW IT! ONLY THE STRONG SURVIVE! IF YOU'RE NOT STRONG ENOUGH TO BEAT ME, THEN DIE!!"

Shinji watched through his tears as his other self raised his own gore-stained blades. He didn't move. Couldn't move. He was right. If he couldn't stop this thing he would become, couldn't protect everybody, then he deserved to die.

He HAD to die!

The blades moved... then suddenly stopped, inches from Shinji's neck. Screams had stopped the blades. Shinji had heard many screams as he had killed and killed. But these...

It was different. They weren't screams of physical pain. No, the agony that Shinji felt from it was wholly different. They were the screams of souls suffering unbearable torment.

Kensuke.

Touji.

Mayumi.

Hikari.

And Rei. This one was even worse than the others. Rei, the stoic elf, who never let her emotions show... was vocally expressing her pain, and it cut right at Shinji's very own soul.

In front of him, the other Shinji howled in rage. Rage not directed at him, but towards... someone... something else. "YOU WILL NOT HAVE HER! SHE IS MINE TO TAKE!!"

Throwing the blades aside, berserker Shinji grabbed Shinji by the head. He felt horrific pain burn across his nerves and then everything became red. For a moment he knew what it was to HATE... then his consciousness faded.

But just before that, Shinji heard parting words from his other self.

"NEXT TIME, YOU DIE."

o x o

Leliel took note of the humans' tortured screams. It was very close now...

The Kagenoshi's satisfied smile turned into a frown as he saw the Wind Chosen slowly get up. Impossible! No one could escape his powers! Even if the human was a Chosen of Lilith, all mortals had dark fears. He should be smothering in a prison of his mind's own making!

Calming himself, Leliel turned to study this new phenomena. The human's eyes were tightly closed and his movements slow and sluggish. Was the body acting on its own while the mind howled in torment? Perhaps this was some unique kind of survival instinct. What did the boy's mind have to say about this situation?

But there was nothing. The boy's mind was... no longer connected to Leliel's link?! Impossible! Somehow the link that allowed him in was broken, the invisible thread of magic lying discarded and torn. What was going on? The child was understandable. The Fire Chosen... her case was odd, but not cause for alarm. This however...

Suddenly the human's eyes opened and the Kagenoshi experienced something it had only known from reading the minds of its victims: fear. A horrible chill ran down his spine as he gazed into the black pits that were the boy's wild eyes. They were bloodshot, the whites of the eyes almost totally red while there was nothing to be seen of the irises, only two dark circles of nothingness. Slowly his mouth opened, drool falling unnoticed down his chin while all the muscles of his body suddenly bulged out in size and forcing the veins to protrude out along his skin most unnaturally. The boy broke eye contact and lifted his head up to the heavens... and screamed. Only it wasn't a scream, it was beastly howl. Filled with rage, hatred, and madness. Again terror bloomed in the Kagenoshi's belly, the sensation made worse a moment later as the boy's head came down and he once again pinned the Kagenoshi with his inhuman eyes.

The boy leapt at him with inhuman strength and speed. For all his vaulted powers, Leliel barely evaded the strike, a sudden pain flaring in his arm telling him that he hadn't been completely successful. Glancing down at the burning there he was shocked to see four lines of blood dug into his skin, like... claw marks?

Impossible! A human had physically harmed him with bare hands?!

Leliel could not contemplate this further as sudden and horrific pain burst up through its guts. Through pain and disbelief he saw that the Wind Chosen had propelled himself right up to Leliel's airborne position and thrust his right arm clear though the Kagenoshi's abdomen. Mad with agony, Leliel grabbed the Chosen's arm and ripped it from the wound. Holding onto the other he started to furiously spin, before letting go and allowing gravity and centrifugal force to do its work. The Wind Chosen slammed into the hard earth with enough force to leave a small crater.

The Kagenoshi let loose a breath of relief as he let himself float down. Already his seemingly mortal injury was healing, the agony of past prey trapped within his mind being converted into dark healing. Tabris had told him the Wind One could be unpredictable, but what had just occurred was unbelievable!

The Kagenoshi's eyes widened in disbelief as he saw a form emerge from the crater. Impossible!

While he had been clad in light silvery scale armor, the metal around him had now taken on a deep purple tint and fused together into a suit of full plate armor. Only the boy's head was unprotected, his short hair ruffling in the chaotic breeze. Leliel could not get a really good look for there was a flicker of motion from the Wind Chosen and suddenly he was right up in the Kagenoshi's face. Such speed, in heavy armor! He barely saw the fist coming and almost failed to get a double-arm block in place. The force of the impact rang up through his arms and even pushed Leliel off his feet, throwing him into the forest behind him.

The Kagenoshi's body broke through tree trunks as he was hurtled into the woods. Finally coming to rest at the end of the flight, he glared at his opponent. Maddening! Not only had the boy survived a landing that should have crushed his spine and organs, now he was faster and stronger than before!

Quickly Leliel made a decision. He cut his mental connection to the others, freeing himself from expending power to keep their nightmares alive. Even if free they were still mortal, still subject to terror and fear. The memory of terror itself was enough to weaken a soul, and none of them could recover enough to contribute to this fight.

Instead he took that power and focused it inwards, preparing himself for a physical battle. The dark energy flowed around him, causing his flesh to bubble and twist as if possessed by horrific growth. Shiny black chitin armor broke up from his skin, hardening around him as his form grew in both size and mass. He felt strength flow into his limbs and knew this battle would end with a body broken by his own hands.

There was another blur of motion, but this time he was able to block the Wind Chosen's fist with a single chitin covered hand. The force of the impact did move him back a foot leaving a divot in the soft earth, but no more. Howling in rage, the Wind Chosen rained a fury of blows against Leliel's armored body. The strikes hurt, but did no lasting damage. The Kagenoshi threw a punch of his own and it crashed into the Wind Chosen's breastplate with jarring force. The blow blasted the Wind Chosen airborne and back towards the road. As he flew away in an uncontrolled tumble, Leliel's eyes flashed a horrific violet. Rays of unholy energy lanced out and struck the human's body as it fell back to earth. A massive explosion detonated at the fool's location.

He had to be dead this time. No matter how good his magical armor, surely it couldn't have taken a hit from his power at this range.

Leliel grinned coldly.

But that grin died as he once again saw the human lift himself to his feet. He was growling in obvious, terrible pain, but was still alive! Unbelievable! Impossible! And then the Wind Chosen surprised him again. The air around the human began to churn and swirl, almost as caught in a miniature tornado, before it seemed to be sucked into the Wind Chosen's open hands!

Fragments of half remembered images came to the Kagenoshi's mind. Battles of the Black Wars... tattered memories of thirty centuries ago. But it could recall seeing the Chosen of that time and their Holy Armors... binding. Joining. Becoming one.

The power and majesty of a Holy Armor joined with the fury and passion of a living host. The power of it would rend the human to small bloody chunks in due time, but until then...

Gathering his energies, Leliel released a massive blast that gouged a deep scar into the earth leading up to the Wind Chosen. The fool attempted to withstand the blast, but only for a moment. Then he was lifted up and bodily flung back into the forest on the other side. The Kagenoshi felt a rush of confidence and joy. It didn't really matter what sort of armor the boy was wearing: if he could not control it then it would not become the weapon it might have been. And not even Holy Armor could stand getting hit by his dark powers for long. After all, hadn't he and his brethren been created specifically to hurt those who venerated Lilith...

To his surprise he saw the human stumble out of the shattered woods, his eyes still filled with rage. The Kagenoshi frowned: everything about this was unusual behavior for humans. Surely he was in terrible pain, but the fool didn't even appear to take note of it. There was no way a mortal could do that, unless...

A berserker! Some of them had actually survived the Black Wars and managed to propagate their genes to this very day!

Leliel acted instantly. Summoning up two swords made of dark matter, it got them up just in time as the creature before it did one of its fast movements and slammed a fist into the Kagenoshi's swords. Leliel retreated, giving ground before the human's relentless and all-out attacks. Berserkers were horrific beasts of destruction, but not clever nor careful. Nothing short of a mortal wound or letting the Holy Armor consume the host would stop the beast, but time was on Leliel's side. And the angrier the human got, the more frantic his strikes, the more wild his swings, and the more spots he left open. No normal opponent could have lasted long enough against a berserker to utilize this flaw, but Leliel was one of the few powerful enough to wait until an opening presented itself.

Like that one. The Kagenoshi grinned evilly as took advantage of the beast's carelessness and slammed a dark saber into the Wind Chosen's armor. There was the familiar crack of bone breaking and the human was once more violently thrown into the sky. The hit was so palpable that the human shot away and crashed into his companions' cart, shattering it into fist-sized pieces.

Following the Wind Chosen, Leliel smiled in grim satisfaction as he saw that the body of the Wind Chosen was not getting up this time. He lay immobile, surrounded by the debris of the cart and the bodies of his traveling companions. A horrific and bloody gash was visible on his chest, the result of the Kagenoshi's final strike. The smell of blood was heavy in the air.

Good.

Leliel had underestimated the human before, but it would not now. Thrusting himself into the air the Kagenoshi hovered a dozen meters off the ground, gathering his dark energies together before him into a sphere of dark purple the size of pumpkin. He would eliminate them all by reducing their flesh to ash. With a tossing motion by both hands he hurled the dark sphere to the ground below where it exploded in a massive cascade of violence and flame.

"Impossible!"

In disbelief Leliel watched as the Wind Chosen stood once more, his arms crossed in an X pattern in front of his face, a strong wind barrier erected right in front of him.

The wind barrier then shifted, the magic keeping it in place being suddenly absorbed by the Wind Chosen, twisted by his instinctive will. Leliel watched as the absorbed power seemed to heal the berserker's wounds and repair his armor. No, not repair, but alter and shift. A helmet formed itself around the human's head, a massive spike of a single horn thrusting up from his forehead. Now nothing of boy could be seen, save his eyes which were filled with the same rage and hate that had filled them throughout the battle. Small spikes grew over his spaulders, vambraces, gauntlets and greaves. Black, leather-like wings burst from his back, the metal armor twisting to accommodate them then sealing hard behind them.

The Wind Chosen extended his wings, then with a sharp downward flap, threw himself into the air right beside Leliel.

The Kagenoshi tried to summon his swords again, but this time the Wind Chosen was too fast. He caught one of the dark creature's arms in a single hand, and with inhuman strength, crushed the chitin armor there as well as the flesh and bone beneath. Leliel screamed in horrific pain as the berserker tore the shattered arm free from its opponent. Holding the stump where his shattered arm had once been, Leliel could not block as the Wind Chosen rammed his other arm into the Kagenoshi, just at the point where throat met body. Leliel's eyes went wide as he felt the Chosen's fingers curl around the single dark shard that was animating him.

Knowing annihilation was a heartbeat away, Leliel played his final card. He let go of his physical form, becoming a featureless sphere of utter darkness which ballooned out to swallow the Wind Chosen whole. If the human could not be beaten physically, he could still be smothered and crushed underneath unending darkness.

o x o

Free from the Kagenohi's powers, consciousness slowly began to force away the dark dreams that had enslaved Shinji's friends. Rei was the first to fully awaken.

It was not pleasant.

With the return of consciousness came a fully aware mind to grasp the nightmares it had been subjected to. The horrors of it shattered years of emotional control and the elf was overcome by a wave of nausea. Rolling over she vomited on the dirty ground, her body shaking with sympathetic pain. For long, painful moments she heaved up what lay in her belly, her mouth and nose stinging as acid and half-digested food burning their way up her throat. Finally nothing remained and a few dry heaves and wracking coughs cleared her passages. Trembling, she forced herself to put the horrors from the nightmare away. It was hard, but she had a lifetime of repression to draw upon. And she could still feel the dark energy of a real, live Kagenoshi right here. She could scream her lungs out later, but only after the Kagenoshi was dead.

Raising her head she looked around through her bleary, tear-filled eyes. Though it had previously avoided damage, their cart was now a pile of kindling, their supplies scattered about. No one of their group appeared injured, although all were deathly pale and shaking uncontrollably. The harsh smell of vomit, more than just her own, filled the air around her.

And her companions' eyes... she could see the haunted look in them, the mind-crushing fear. Whatever had touched her had touched them as well. Touji was moving the most out of all of them, but even that was a trembling crawl. Still, it was more than what she could accomplish right now. Where did he get the strength, Rei wondered.

"M...M...M-Mari...?"

Ah.

Trying to bring her mind under control, Rei focused her thoughts on the tactical situation, driving out other distractions such as her terror. A psychic attack. That was the most likely explanation for what had occurred. A massive telepathic assault on the group's mental barriers. It had blown through their psychic shielding and subjected them to their own darkest nightmares. Most likely this was the same creature responsible for Asuka's condition. The Fire Chosen must have been a test, a way to evaluate the strengths of Lilith's Chosen. And, she noted grimly, they had all failed.

Her limbs still shaking, she forced herself up to one knee. But if the attack was so overwhelmingly successful, why release them? A few more minutes and either death or madness would be the result. Had something changed in the local environment? Had the Kagenoshi lost control? Had something disturbed it?

With a sudden coldness Rei realized she couldn't see Shinji. Where was he?! Normally the sensation of fear she felt would have been forced down, smothered beneath decades of icy control. But now, with her mental armor barely hanging on should could feel her heart thundering in her chest and a new wave of terror break out all over. Where was Shinji?! Her mind raced, trying to focus enough to find his aura. Was he the reason the Kagenoshi had stopped? Had Shinji somehow resisted? Was he fighting it, even now? Where were they?!

Crawling painfully over to his sister's side, Touji looked down at the young girl. He reached out a trembling hand and lightly touched her forehead. The skin was warm, the flesh soft. He saw her chest rising and falling in the even, small breaths of regular sleep. A tremendous sense of relief poured through the boy's body and he collapsed bonelessly down on his back, eyes staring into the sky without sight.

Mari was fine.

Then he blinked. There was a black and white striped ball hanging in the sky above their heads.

"What in da Goddess' name is dat?" he demanded.

Rei ignored him. Still weak she forced herself to her feet, her hand grasping the Water Crest at her throat. Tsunami was still injured from the last fight. Could she face the Kagenoshi in her condition? And where was Shinji?

An answer come to her mind, and with it a rage that felt as welcome as water to a thirsty woman. Myssa! The dark elf bitch had attacked him while they had been unconscious! Her hand tightened over the Water Crest, its edges biting her fingers.

Hate brought power and strength to Rei's mind, and she was about to open the gates and summon forth the Water Armor. But just before she could, the spherical body of the Kagenoshi suddenly cracked loudly. A terrible and jagged crack appeared in the body of the sphere, red blood seeping from the unnatural wound. A moment later armored hands appeared at the edge of the crack, reaching out from the inside to bodily tear the Kagenoshi apart.

With a mix of fascination and dread Rei watched as with a final lunge, the sphere shattered and a bloody, winged armored figure crashed down like a fallen angel, pieces of the shattered Kagenoshi still in its grip. When its feet hit the ground it lifted its head up high and screamed, a chilling howl of blood lust as yet undiminished.

"Oh shi-" was all Touji could say as he struggled to rise to his feet, reaching for his huge sword. With a gesture of her hand, Rei motioned for him to be still, her eyes never leaving the bloody figure. Touji paused, then lowered his still shaky arm. He didn't know what the hell was going on here, but the elf seemed to have some idea.

Going against her own warnings, Rei took a careful step towards the gore-soaked figure standing before them. This aura... it was twisted, warped by anger and rage, but it was familiar. Shinji. This was Shinji! The Kagenoshi's telepathic attack must have triggered his berserker impulses, sending him into a crazed frenzy of bloodlust and violence. In this state he had slain the dark beast.

And now... they might be in even more danger than when the Kagenoshi had been alive.

She took another step.

Shinji's head turned towards her, so fast she could hear the vertebra crack. His gaze bore into her: wild, animalistic, deadly. Not human. Not elven. White, hot, death.

His blood covered hands clenched and unclenched furiously. His body posture and movements all indicated he was about to jump her and rend her to pieces.

"What are ya doing, ya crazy elf? He's gonna attack ya!"

Shinji's head snapped toward Touji and the Earth Chosen felt a chill run down his spine. Instinctively he reached for his sword.

"DON'T MOVE!"

Touji twitched. Her command had been loud, absolute, laced with steel. And choked with emotion.

Shinji's eyes focused on Rei again. Very slowly she took another step.

A sudden change in his snarl was the only warning. In an instant, he had moved from where he had been to just in front of her. His right arm was already pulled back, his body ready to smash her face in with his spiked gauntlet. And then he threw the punch.

The hit never landed. His fist stopped but a hair's breath from her face, a single knuckle spike pricking Rei's cheek. There was silence for a moment, then suddenly Shinji had grabbed the elf by her upper arms. His grip was like a vice, the sharpened claws on his gauntlets easily slicing through fabric and the flesh beneath. The elf just stood still, her gaze locked on the helmet's visor, not betraying a whisper of pain.

The helmet of Shinij's armor cracked open and retracted into the breastplate in an unnaturally organic fashion. It exposed a disheveled head covered in grotesque dark reddish blood as well as blood of a more natural color.

Only then did one sound escaped Rei's lips.

"Shinji..."

As if breaking a trance, this single call of his name brought the Wind Chosen up from the depths. Though they remained bloodshot, his irises returned to normal, and his face returned to being something a human might recognize. Anger faded, leaving behind worry and guilt.

"Rei..." Shinji croaked, his voice sounding wrecked. Slowly he released her, his eyes widening again as he looked down at his metal-shod hands. The elf's blood on them was in stark contrast to the unnatural dark of the Kagenoshi's blood that also stained his hands. Multiple feeling slammed into Shinji's mind and his body, having been pushed beyond its limits, simply crashed. His knees folded up on him and he fainted. A heartbeat later his metal armor turned into mist and blew away, leaving his bloody and naked body behind.

"Shinji!" Rei was kneeling by his unconscious body the very next instant. Frantically she scanned him for injuries. She was stunned to see there was nothing. The fresh-looking scar that ran the length of his chest was new, but it appeared to already have been healed. So too did the multitude of smaller wounds she could see him having taken. It didn't make sense. Surely he hadn't gone toe-to-toe with a Kagenoshi without being injured, not while in the berserker state! And yet, the more she looked the more she was forced to admit there appeared to be nothing wrong with him. Even the injuries on his right arm were perfectly healed now. No, the only thing was that his body was drained of all spirit, but aside from that all appeared well.

"By Lilith!" said Touji, as he rushed by their side. "Dat thing was Shinji?! It looked like something out of the Abyss!"

For a moment Rei didn't move. Then she removed her cape and covered Shinji with it, wincing as she did so. Now both her arms were hurt.

"I will explain later," Rei said. "For now, we must check on the others and ascertain their injuries."

"Ye're bleeding," pointed out Touji.

"It will not kill me," said Rei matter-of-factly. "You might want to check on Hikari," she added.

It had the desired effect. Touji was gone, before Rei could blink.

All immediate worries taken care of for the moment, Rei's control broke. Her body shaking she fell to her knees, her good hand clutching at her belly, hoping, wishing, praying it had only been a nightmare created by the Kagenoshi. That it had only been her darkest fears.

Another wave of bile rose up in her throat.

That it hadn't been a prophetic vision.

o x o

Shinji stared at the fire in silence, sitting closer to the crackling flames than perhaps was wise. But no matter the heat on his skin, it didn't chase away the cold numbness he felt within himself. Illusion, vision, nightmare, delusion, prophecy... whatever it was the Kagenoshi had forced him to face deep within the depths of its spell it was something that terrified the young man. There was a painful, bitter truth in the lies the dark creature had spun. If he ever lost control of this beast that existed inside him, then those illusions of his friends dead would become horrifically true. Of that the Wind Chosen was certain.

Just today... he had been so close to killing Rei!

This was another reason why Shinji just stared at the fire. Somehow, without him really paying attention, he had been paired with the high elf for the first watch. Though he could feel her presence close to him, he could not bring himself to look at her. Not after what he had come so close to doing...

Ignoring the elf didn't remain an option for long however. He didn't hear her but suddenly she was at his side, bending down to sit beside him. Startled at this, Shinji turned to look at her. Immediately he flinched and turned away as he saw the bandages wrapped around her upper arms; testaments of the injuries he had inflicted upon her. Wounds the group had been unable to heal.

Mayumi had been left a trembling wreck from whatever visions had haunted her, so distraught that she had been unable to even attempt any magic at all. None of them had been willing to talk about the terrors they had experienced, but in her case she refused to even speak. She kept rubbing her neck and shivering, her eyes wide with fright. She had tried to heal Rei's wounds, but after a moment had pulled back, a soft whisper of "I'm sorry" being the most they'd gotten out of her the whole night. It had taken two mugs of strong wine to even get her to lie down for sleep.

Thus it was a relief to Shinji when Rei's wounds were hidden behind her cape as the elf wrapped herself up in it to ward off the night's chill.

Except the fact the night and the fire were both quite warm.

Actually, Rei's whole demeanor seemed... odd. She was usually more distant, something he couldn't blame after what had happened earlier.

"Shinji," the elf said simply as she turned to face him. The sound of her voice made him turn towards her, his eyes getting caught up in her own red ones. That piercing, flat gaze seemed so emotional, so vulnerable tonight...

"Rei..."

Both turned away to examine the crackling fire after this brief exchange. An awkward, uncomfortable stiffness lay heavy in the air, and Shinji felt crushed under the weight of his own guilt and failure.

"I... I'm sorry," he finally managed to whisper. An apology that didn't even begin to make up for what he had done. Weak. Pathetic.

"Why are you sorry?"

"I... I hurt you."

Rei didn't turn away from the fire. "You were not yourself. The dark one's spell brought your berserk nature forth from the depths. Unfortunate, but had you not unchained the beast inside then we would all have died."

Shinji shook his head. "No. I don't want to think that we were saved by that... thing... I'm sure you would have eventually broken free from the Kagenoshi's spell and freed us all."

The words seemed to surprise Rei... though what worried Shinji more was the flash of hurt that followed her surprise. Uncharacteristically the elven woman looked frail and vulnerable, an image at odds with the self-confident elf Shinji was used to. A memory suddenly came to Shinji, of a night that now felt ages ago where Rei had sat by him like this, back when they had been waiting for the Fire Chosen. She had been shaken by horrible nightmares that night...

Nightmares... Something suddenly clicked in Shinji's mind.

"Rei? What's wrong?"

"I would not have broken the Kagenoshi's spell," admitted Rei. "I... the darkness..." Shinji was stunned as the girl seemed to shake, shivers wracking her delicate frame. "The darkness would have consumed me whole without your intervention. I can still feel its cold presence surrounding me... swallowing me... entering me... defiling me..."

Shinji barely made out the last word, as Rei's voice dropped to a mere breath and she wrapped her limbs up tight against her body. Then with horror he saw a single tear slide down her cheek, her jaw trembling.

The elf gasped as Shinji suddenly threw his cloak wide and wrapped it around her body as well. For a second Shinji didn't really know what he'd done, then gaped in surprise as with a fierce suddenness Rei grabbed onto him, holding tight.

"Thank you," whispered the elf as she laid her forehead against his shoulder. "I... I... thank you."

In other circumstances, Shinji might have reveled in the embrace. But now, holding her like this brought back the memory of the last time he had touched her... and how his armored hands had cut through unresisting flesh. Then came the images his berserker self had shown him... what he had planned to do to her. What he might do to her. Shinji felt ill all of a sudden. It took all his willpower not to push the elf away in an attempt to keep her safe. Clenching teeth and fists, Shinji cursed himself.

"I'll protect you," he promised in a harsh whisper.

"Thank you," the elf said again... though he doubted she understood what he really wanted to protect her from.

Himself.

o x o

Though he was supposed to be asleep, Touji just couldn't. There was a kind of ache behind his eyes that held restfulness at bay and made him... reluctant... to close his eyes. That damn Kagenoshi and its damn magic... he could accept that it had been some kind of illusion, but this knowledge didn't override emotion. In fact, people were always telling him he let emotion override thought. Usually he liked living like that, but tonight...

He glanced over at Mari, that ache in his head easing somewhat as he saw she was sleeping peacefully. That blissful innocence about her face soothed a lot of his worries, but still not enough to let him sleep.

Touji clenched his fist. That bastard Kagenoshi. Messing with all their minds was low. He really wished that he had been given a chance to smack it with his fist, but Shinji had really done a number on it. While the others had said something about him going berserk, he could hardly believe what had been the results. Could a human body really do that? Not that the Kagenoshi hadn't deserved a beating like that and more...

The illusions he'd been subjected too... or had they been dreams? Whatever it was... It wasn't exactly the first time Touji had such dreams. But never had they been so intense. Raising his hand, not for the fist time, Touji gave it a long, deep look. Nothing. The skin tone was normal. No sign of illness. He sighed. Then, he glanced at Mari. She was still sleeping. And more importantly, she was safe.

Damn that Kagenoshi!

But fear for Mari wasn't just what was keeping Touji awake. There was something else in the back of his mind. Almost like... another sort of anxiety that wasn't his own. Not just anxiety. Pain. And regret too. Was that a side effect of what the Kagenoshi had done?

Touji flinched as suddenly he heard the sound of soft footsteps approaching. Reflexively he grabbed his sword and rolled into a crouching position, weapon in a guard position. He let loose a relaxing sigh as he saw it was just Hikari, then almost broke out in a grin at the stunned look on the princess' face. That urge faded quickly however, as he saw the surprise on her face drop back into a nervous, worried expression. After the attack, he'd been concerned about the defenseless Mari and more-or-less ignored Hikari. Not that it looked like she needed concern, the princess recovering quickly and giving orders to the shaky group with an air of command that had helped jaded nerves. Under her direction the companions had carried the still comatose Fire Chosen, Mari, and all the supplies to a more fortifiable glade where they had collapsed for the night.

But now, looking at her, Touji suddenly felt a horrible sense of shame. He hadn't realized that she'd been affected as much as the rest of them, but had been under the even greater pressure of putting on a brave face. She felt she had to take care of them. With a flash of empathy, he suddenly realized the other things he felt were indeed not his own emotions, but rather Hikari's feelings.

How had Mayumi put it again? "She'll be in your head and you'll be in hers?" He hadn't really understood her warning, but now got an inkling of what really was going to happen because of his decision.

"Hey," he said, letting go of his sword and sitting down. He gestured for Hikari to sit down beside him and took a deep breath. Reaching down deep inside, he brought forth all his courage to do the hardest thing a man could possibly do. "Wanna talk about it?"

There was a long, uncomfortable moment of silence. Touji cursed silently. "Nasty shi-... er... stuff dat Kagenoshi pulled on us," Touji said, breaking the impasse. Damn it, girls were the ones who were suppose to talk about feelings and crap. Why couldn't she just scrunch it down into a seething ball and lock it away in the depths of her soul like any man worthy of his name would? "Made me think I was back in Darnk and dat everyone was again dying from another illness. I saw... Mari... dying... then... you... Heck, I almost died from it myself. Well, at least it felt like it."

But no, that damn ache in his head, and that weird pressure in his chest he felt when he looked at her, was making him take the first step so she'd feel comfortable enough to actually open up. Damn women and their feelings...

"It... it showed me things too..." she hesitantly began. With halting, broken words, she started to describe what she had seen, her words becoming more emotional the further into her story she got. In the end she was curled up against his chest, trembling and crying softly.

Damn emotions coming through this damn link, Touji thought as he felt his eyes burn slightly. Forcing a man to almost cry... was there no end to the shame? Next he'd be taking up knitting. Women were no end of trouble. Nevertheless, he made sure to keep his arms wrapped around her protectively.

Not that anyone would notice them. Kensuke was over by himself, silent and brooding. He'd tried to keep Mayumi from her silent hysterics, tried with a kind of desperation born of some pressing need. But the girl had been inconsolable and the bard had nearly cried with desperation. Now she was wrapped in her blankets, each involuntary whimper she let loose making her shiver anew while the bard sat wallowing in depression. Touji could see that Shinji had his own hands full wit the other Chosen right now. What do ya know? That elf was human after all... er... ya know what I mean.

Damn that Kagenoshi. Though no one had been seriously injured, it sure felt as though this Kagenoshi had messed them up worse than the last one had. Raising his right arm, Touji looked over Hikari's head at the bracer that covered his forearm.

His mother had really left him one messed up legacy.

TO BE CONTINUED...

---

Author's notes:

The changes to Shinji's armors during the fight may look to some of you similar to the berserker armor in the Berserk manga. While I'll also agree, at the same time, I have to say that this fight is something I've envisioned long before the berserker armor came out in Berserk. Right from the start, I wanted to have a form of armor evolution (like the armor in the first Rayearth season) but not quite the same. I wanted it to be something triggered by a big threat to Shinji's life. The final idea came from a fan art picture showing a wild berserk Shinji in a Unit-01 type armor. So I figured that the fight with the fear inducing Kagenoshi would be the ideal setting to make Shinji's armor change. The process of the change, however, was more inspired by the Bastard!! manga, where in the last volumes, DS is using the Judas Pearls to change the shape of his body into demonic form.

In the same way, Shinji's confrontation with Berserker Shinji was planned for a while too, though now that it's written, I have to admit it bears similarities with Ichigo's confrontation with Hollow Ichigo in Bleach. Except that here, Shinji pretty much got his ass kicked.