{Dark One.} [Translated from Riok, language of Darkness.]

{Yazan, do you know of Rhiannon, an acolyte of evil?} questioned the Edgar symbiont.

{I know all, see all. I kill all, eat all.}

Edgar grinned. {Very good. Rhiannon is strong, though. I must give you part of the flow.}

Yazan grinned, hundreds of tiny needle-like teeth flashing. He felt the force suffuse into his body, and felt his strength grow. He felt his speed double, and, testing it, saw he had reactions faster than any human.

{Any injury you receive will heal within fifteen seconds. You can only be killed by decapitation. Any severed limb regrows as two. Any lost blood becomes a fume toxic to all life, but you. Bring my Rhiannon, alive or dead.}

Yazan laughed, and shimmered, his body refracting light and making him invisible.

***

"Do you smell something?" questioned one of the Marandan guards. The other one sniffed the air.

"Yeah, something smells like... a monster?" he seemed surprised.

"It's all Edgar's fault." The other one nodded. In fact, they were right. But despite their warning, they could do nothing.

"Hey, it's getting worse!" shouted the second, drawing his sword. Yazan became visible.

"Ulk iman yatrusa!" he shouted. {Now I feed.}

Yazan grabbed the guard and lifted him up, unlatching his jaw. He shoved the guard's head into his mouth, and slammed his jaw shut. Blood streamed out, covering the street.

"Holy f_ck!" shouted the other, drawing his sword. Yazan hissed, an attempt to laugh. He lunged at the guard and bored through his chest, into his right lung.

He shoved his face into the hole. And chewed into the guard's heart, swallowing it whole. The guard thrashed about, and fell motionless.

{And now, Rhiannon, it is you turn.} And he entered the dead forest of Rhiannon, prepared to kill.

"Rhiannon. I know of your ambitions." he hissed softly. A frail, withered hand reached out, grasping a piece of dried fruit. Brittle teeth crunched the fruit even as the image in the scrying pool before the figure showed Rhiannon climbing wearily to his feet.

The figure waved its hand in a brief, almost dismissive gesture. A word of magic... of power echoed throughout the chamber. There. Both Rhiannon and the creature had been deprived of any magic until one or the other was slain.

The Master spoke once again, voice dripping with venomous disdain. "Remember who is your master, Rhiannon... and what task I have set for you."

With that, the Master leaned back to watch the ensuing battle.

Nothing happened. Rhiannon paused, stunned, then summoned his magic again. "GEMINI." He waited for the mirror images to wink into existence. "LIBRA. DRACO. ENTROPY!" Each time he felt the magic stir within him, but without any apparent effect. His powers were still there, but something was preventing him from releasing them. "Who is responsible for this?" he shouted, outraged.

A dark figure materialized before him. "Master?" Rhiannon said, too surprised to kneel.

"You have displeased me, Rhiannon. Destroy the creature tracking you. Neither of you will be able to employ magic, so you will have a chance. Then we will discuss your fate." The figure shimmered and disappeared with a sound like mournful wails.

"How could he have known?" Rhiannon said. "I was careful to shield myself from scrying. That could only mean -" His words trailed off as the reptilian creature entered the clearing created by his Soul Flower spell. It was grotesque almost beyond belief. Its arms extended past its knees, and the long bony claws on its hands scraped against the ground. Its dark scaled armor would surely turn aside most weapons. The spikes arrayed on its shoulders, elbows, and knees would be most painful in close combat. It grinned at Rhiannon with its distended jaws, then hissed a few words.

He could not understand them without his magic to translate, but their meaning was clear. "You are Yazan. And you have come to kill me. However, you will not find that to be an easy task. I am a master swordsman with many lifetimes of experience." He drew Razor and held the blade before him. "If you are fool enough to fight me... then go ahead and try!" Razor responded to his words, burning with brilliant white flames that illuminated the clearing almost as brightly as the sun. At least Razor's magic still functioned. He might even be able to use the sword to cast spells, but in the absence of his powers the energy would have to be drawn from his own life force.

Yazan hissed, shielding his glowing red eyes from the light. Then he vanished. Rhiannon sensed the attack at the last moment and struck upwards, meeting Yazan's claws in a spray of sparks. He dove to the ground and rolled as the reptile landed, narrowly avoiding the wicked knee spikes, then knocked aside the whiplike tail as it flicked towards his throat. He brought Razor up to attack, but Yazan was just too fast. The humanoid slashed Rhiannon across the chest and in the shoulder before leaping to safety at the other side of the clearing.

Rhiannon grimaced and brought one hand up to examine the wounds. He studied Yazan as the latter licked the bright red blood off his claws. They were incredibly sharp, easily piercing through Rhiannon's fine chain armor. "My sword against all your attacks. It doesn't seem fair, does it?" Rhiannon held out Razor and watched as the blade and hilt shortened enough to be wielded one-handed. The air before his other hand shimmered and an identical sword appeared. "Now," he said, assuming a fighting stance, "We fight on more equal terms." A flick of the blades sent a line of white fire racing towards Yazan.

"AHHHH!" screamed Rhiannon. He had never felt pain like this before. "Oh, Master! Sagittarius!" An arrow shot through Yazan's head, sending him flying into a tree.

Where his arms were, he now had two, totalling five arms now. Rhiannon ate the last petal on the flower. {Takar will be pleased when I bring you to him.}

"Takar! He's behind this!" Rhiannon stood shocked.

{Thwart a God, and feel his wrath.} Yazan shrugged. {Watch. Livouf Takar, send me might!} Yazan glowed, and his claws grew longer, his muscles larger, and faster.

"Damn." Yazan leapt, faster than Rhiannon could parry. He managed to dull the blow, but blood oozed from his ribs. Yazan attack again, three arms grabbing Rhiannon into a bear hug, and the others clawing at his face.

"SunFlare!" screamed Rhiannon. His last hope. Brilliant white light surrounded them, and the smell of burning flesh filled the air. Reptilian screams of agony rang through the woods, and Rhiannon felt the Demon's grip lighten.

The light faded, but Rhiannon's eyes were still filled by flashing stars. He look dazed at the scorched body of Yazan. "Heh. Not so tough after all." Rhiannon felt dizzy, and slumped back onto a tree. His limbs were numb, and he was bleeding profusely from his ribs.

Out of the corner of his eye, something caught his attention. Yazan was moving. The demon crawled towards his feet, disappeared, and the stench of Demon slowly faded away.

"Oh Goddesses!" Rhiannon fell back onto the tree, unconscious.

Iron shackles clamped shut around his wrists and ankles. Rhiannon looked down to where the chains vanished into a dark void. Glowing green eyes appeared in the darkness, frightening in their intensity. "You belong to me," a voice hissed. The chains drew taut and began to drag Rhiannon down, into the depths of the darkness.

"NO!" he shouted, desperately trying to free himself from the restraints, knowing all the while that his feeble efforts were hopeless. The stark blackness of the void surrounded him, then all he could see and hear were the burning green eyes and hollow, mocking laughter.

********************

He was lying on a cold, hard stone floor, too weak to move, barely capable of speech. He couldn't see in the darkness, but he knew that before him floated a dark, hooded figure.

"Let me die," he said.

"No."

"I have served you for many years. Each time I thought myself free, you have brought me back. Have I not done enough? The killing, the destruction, the deceit...all these things have worn away my spirit, eaten at my soul. I am no longer of value to you. Let me pass away, in peace."

"On the contrary. Your powers are stronger than ever. I still require your abilities. You will die only when *I* determine that you are no longer of use. Until then, you will serve me, carrying out my will."

"I will fight you."

"I think not." The figure raised one withered hand, and made the slightest gesture. Rhiannon screamed, the sound echoing in the darkness. "I apologize for the pain, but some reconditioning is required to ensure your loyalty." The figure gestured again, and Rhiannon's screams continued.

**********************

Rhiannon regained consciouness in the incinerated clearing. His wounds were fully healed, and even his clothing and armor were repaired. He retrieved Razor and replaced the sword in its sheath at his belt. A dark figure materialized behind him as he finished.

"Master," he said, turning and dropping to one knee.

"I trust you are feeling better, Rhiannon."

"Of course, Master. Forgive me for my weakness. I exist only to serve you. What are your orders?"

"Carry out your assigned task. I have arranged for Livouf Takar to believe you dead. He will not be able to detect you unless you give him reason to think otherwise. You are not to interfere with him or his plans unless I give the order."

"Understood, Master."

"Go to Maranda. There is one there that could prove helpful to your project. That is all." The figure melted into the shadows and disappeared.

Rhiannon rose to his feet and turned towards the east. "So, someone that could release more energy from the flowers. How interesting. To Maranda, then." He walked into the shadows of the forest, then melded with them and disappeared.

All was going smoothly, yet the full enchantment would still take a considerable amount of time to complete. The magics for increasing strength and agility were quite simple, but the healing and alteration magics were too alien to Rhiannon to be easily imbued. Unless he found a way to either increase the efficiency of the life energy transfer or find a more potent source of energy, the task could take as long as several months.

Yet there was a solution within his grasp. That woman, Lola, possessed the ability to heal plants by drawing power from the earth. If he could somehow find a way to harness that power and channel it into himself, he would have more than enough life energy to finish his project. Perhaps he might even be able to turn her into a weapon to serve his Master.

He suddenly sensed a small disturbance within the laboratory. Rhiannon calmly brought both his hands in front of him. An orb of white fire appeared between them. "STARGLOW," he said, as he clapped his hands together. Bright white light filled the room, exploding outwards from Rhiannon's hands, outlining the dark figure attempting to shield himself in the corner. Rhiannon grimly strode over to the figure and brought Razor up to the figure's throat.

"You dare to spy on me, Kharazz?"

Kharazz remained cloaked in shadow despite the brilliant light illuminating the rest of the room. He met Rhiannon's gaze, smug and unrepentant. "I heard you tried to betray our Master again," he hissed. "I thought it might be wise to keep you under observation."

Rhiannon's eyes narrowed. "I am completely loyal to our Master. You, on the other hand, might want to consider your ambitions carefully. One day, he will assign me to track you down and destroy you. And we both know your powers of shadow are no match for my Zodiac magic."

Kharazz laughed mockingly. "Perhaps. But I still fail to see why our Master continues to keep you. Humans are so feeble and so much trouble."

"He 'keeps' me because I am superior to you or any of the other fiends. You are limited by your element. I, on the other hand, am far more versatile." Rhiannon withdrew Razor and sheathed the blade. "You are interrupting my work. Leave."

"As you command, 'Master'," Kharazz said. His shadowy form coalesced into a swirling ball which dwindled away to nothing. Rhiannon walked back to the table and dispelled the Starglow spell with a wave of his hand. He sensed another familiar disturbance as it entered the laboratory. "Report," he said.

"Lord Meylith," the wraith said. "We have detected another demon leaving Figaro. It appears to be after your target. It can take the form of any other being, and its power greatly exceeds your own."

"So Livouf Takar wants her dead. Why? Her abilities are hardly a threat to one as powerful as himself."

"Lord Meylith?"

"I will deal with this personally. Continue to observe, and ask Jardek to meet with me shortly."

"Very well, Lord Meylith." The wraith floated out the doorway and sped down the corridor.

"You may have great power, Livouf Takar, but it is only of use when employed wisely," Rhiannon said. "The enemies you have created by your actions will prove to be your downfall." He turned back to the table and began to trace glowing red runes on the leather with the tip of his finger.