"The sun has crested the monolith, my Queen."
	"Excellent, Reo.  Come to the window, please."
	Reo smiled and approached his mistress' side.  He followed
her gaze out over the temple grounds and into the city.  He watched
as the sun's rays caught the flecks of gold that laced through
every stone block incorperated into each building.  It was
like watching a vast ocean of dancing lights.
	"Isn't it beautiful?" She murmured softly.
	"Mmmmm." He nodded slightly and turned towards her, "How 
soon?"
	"Very.." She smiled slightly, "All that remains is for the
moon to impale itself on the monolith's peak."
	She turned away from the window and faced her priest, "Then,
by the time of the next dawn, it will be *my* light that shines down
upon these people."

	Reo smiled and turned away from the window and approached
the tapestry hanging on the far wall.  He moved it aside and reached
into a now revealed niche.  He withdrew his hand and a rectangular
shape formed in the floor as a section began to sink.  Xyo turned 
around and watched in silence as a set of stairs, leading into the 
heart of the temple, began to make themselves apparent.
	She then clapped her hands and a young serving boy arrived, 
dressed in the traditional flax reed skirt and sandals.  He bowed low
and in silence.
	"Bring me my Summoner's Cloak," she commanded softly.  
	The boy nodded and walked out of the room.
	Reokoansenin approached her, "Are you sure about this?" he 
asked with genuine concern in his voice.
	"I have never been so sure about anything in my life." She
breathed.
	Absently, her hand went to the large, clear crystal embedded 
in her chest and touched it gingerly.  She smiled, her entire life
had built her up to this day, nothing was going to change her mind.
	"I will miss my queen." Reo said softly, "I will be at a loss
without being able to serve you directly."
	Xyo glanced at him and walked back over to the terrace window.
She held up her hand to the sunlight.  A single ray shone through
the clear crystal buried there, smaller than the one in her chest.
	"See how the light touches me?"
	Reo nodded in numb assent.
	"So shall I be with you and all my people. You need not fear."
	She held up her other hand to study it idly; it too had a 
crystal impaled through it.  One could look through the stones and see
the other side, like a window.
	Reo looked away from her and towards the serving boy that had 
returned, a mound of black cloth and feathers in his arms.  Reo took 
the cloak gingerly and shook it out.  It was woven from the finest
cotton, and it was adorned with amethysts, black raven feathers, and
bleached bone fragments.  He brought the cloak over to where Xyo was
standing.  Murmuring words of arcane blessing and magic, he placed the
cloak on her bare shoulders.  He then lifted the feathered cowl and 
placed it gingerly over her lavender hair.  She turned around to face
him and he smiled in approval.  He reached up and adjusted the hood so
that the center point was in line with another clear crystal, this one
implanted in her forehead. 
	She walked over to the polished metal mirror and admired
herself for a moment and chuckled softly.
	"I want you to check up on those seven who have dared made
attempts to oppose me, see to it that they do not interfere tonight.
Take whatever means you need, I want to see their bones as offerings
to me when I rise tomorrow."
	A smile drew across the young wizard-priest's palor face.  
His long, black hair whipped about his shoulders as he turned and
headed out the room.  Xyo smiled; it was a nice touch that he had the
aprearence of something that had just been laid to rest in it's grave.
It put the fear of the dead in all of her disciples.  
	She watched him leave the temple from the terrace, he had 
no one with him.  She knew that he never required the aid of others
in his work.  She saw him pause for a moment and turn to look back
at her.  In his own private salute, he shot his hand into the air 
above him and a large scythe coalesced into being from the air around 
him.  He lowered the weapon slowly and turned way from the temple.
Then, taking a few more paces his body shimmered and vanished.
	Xyo turned and walked back inside, standing for a moment at
the now revealed stairs.  After a moment of careful consideration, she
took a deep breath and began the descent.   Each step she took, she 
felt colder and colder.  She also began to feel a force growing 
stronger and stronger, pulling her ever so gently toward her 
destination.
	After what seemed like minutes, the stairs ended.  The room
before her was made out of polished ebony.  The reflection was near
mirror-like as the candles flickered and danced in each of the stone
faces.  On the far end of the wall was an empty archway.  The
wall inside the arch was carved with intricate patterns and runes. 
As she got closer, the crystals embedded in her hands, feet, chest and
head all began to throb painfully.
	She stood before the archway and began to prepare herself for 
the spell.  She spread her arms out wide and then planted each foot
exactly three feet apart from each other.  She shivered for a moment
in uneasiness and the dark wall stared back at her.  She knew that the
moment had come, and it was time for her to call forth her destiny.
	"Isal ner-tatra, dianeeche dol methan."
	As the first words were uttered, the archway began to shimmer
in a dark purple light.
	She stopped for a moment as a wave of fear struck her. The 
light in the archway died away.
	"I cannot turn coward now." She muttered to the archway, 
"This is my destiny, there is no turning back now."
	The Archway didn't reply to this afirmation.
	"I will conquer this fear!" She shouted, "I will pass this
test of mentalics!"
	She fixed her eyes directly on the center of the archway's 
wall and began the chant again.  This time, she put all her strength
of will behind it.
	"ISAL NER-TATRA, DIANEECHE DOL METHAN!"
	The archway shuddered in response as the shimmery dark light
showed itself again.  But, Xyo would not let the fear get to her, she
let it wash through her body like an icy wind blast.
	"TEKTON, NEBAL WATARAN, GENKAL METHAN-MA!"
	At this command a bright sliver of blue-white light burst 
through the central point of the archway's wall. Xyo smiled in 
satisfaction and felt her strength of will fill her body once more.
	"NELAN URSALL QUATANA JERANA, KETAL METHAN-RA!"
	The sliver of light was joined by several other similar 
slivers.  The runes and etchings began to pulsate in an ugly green
color, and the earth began to shake and tremble.
	Xyo smiled triumphantly, only one more phrase of calling and
the gate would be open.
	"FORMALLA ASPHODEL, NI CHELLARA VERSATTA METHAN-THOTH!"
	The Archway exploded in a blinding array of dark and bright 
lights, blinding Xyo temporarily.  A moderate wind and rancid fumes 
began to pour from the archway, blowing the cowl of her cloak away 
from her head.  As she opened her eyes again and the light began
to dim, the archway's wall was now replaced with a swirling mist of 
grays, blacks, and purples.
	Xyo laughed triumphantly as she saw a solitary pair of 
glowing black eyes formed in the mist.  She grinned evilly, 
"Welcome..Zorbatan." She murmured in mock reverence.
	"You, who call me to this plane." A deep whispery voice echoed
in the room, "I have long awaited this moment."
	"I have come as the prophecy states.  I ask that you join
with this body, in that I may harness your strength directly, instead
of just harvesting in you wise observations." Xyo stated calmly.
	"I am pleased in your progress, you have taken my advice... 
well."  The eyes lingered on the crystals, "I will give you my
power, mortal.  You.... deserve it." the tone in the whispery voice
altered a bit, but Xyo could not place it.
	The gateway glowed in a dark light as the eyes coalesced into
a dark mist and headed straight for the crystal in her chest.  Xyo 
screamed in shock as piercing pain shot through her entire system.
She herself began to glow and pulse in that same dark light as she 
collapsed to her knees.  Her body began to convulse irregularly and 
her pupils began to dilate.  Her entire physique and appearance was
changing.
	She sat there for a moment, silent.  The portal in the 
archway was gone once again.   The convulsions, and the pain, had 
dissipated.  Slowly, she pulled herself up from the cold ebony floor.
She moved towards one of the candles and raised her head up to look
in the reflection of the wall's surface.
	Her height and muscles had increased, she was almost seven
feet tall and looked like a seasoned warrior.  Her skin was darker, as
if tanned, but there was a discolored tone of ash there as well.  Her 
hair was now a dark purple color and her eyes... she saw that the 
pupils had dilated so far that even the whites around the iris 
were gone, they looked like a pair of dark obsidian balls.
	She smiled evilly and she looked at her hands, chest, feet
and head.  Each of the five crystals had turned dark and opaque and 
each pulsed with a dark light, to the rhythm of her heart.
	- Now -  The whispery voice spoke in her mind - We are one -
	With that Xyo began erupt in uproarious, maniacal, laughter..

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

	Xyo awoke with a start.  She felt the cold, damp, cave floor
press against her face.  The open journal was still in her hand.  
She must have fallen asleep; the translating of the book had proven
difficult and had worn out her mind. 
	Sighing, she eased herself up into a sitting position and 
glanced around.  Everything was still as she left it.  Her hands and 
chest throbbed mildly.  But she shrugged it off, nightmares tended 
to harbor psychosomatic reactions.  But, that nightmare was one 
she had not had in along time.  Why would she have it now?  Was
it because of her quest?  She shuddered and went back to translating
the book.  It felt better to not think about it.