"Once there was a very strange Mazoku, different from the rest. Oh, he
was
evil, all right, and he loved to scheme and plot and generally cause
chaos,
but to his great dismay and chagrin, he had discovered that he had
feelings.
Now, feelings in and of themselves were not what was so unusual…most
Mazoku felt anger, lust, fear, and amusement…but he was feeling other
things; softer things; happiness, pleasure, care, concern…and although
there
was nothing and no one in the dim recesses where he lived to love, he
knew
he was capable of love as well.
"Now, he might have been different, but this Mazoku was far from
unintelligent. He knew he could never let on to other Mazoku that he
had
this ability, so he buried his feelings deep, and hid them well. But
the
life of a Mazoku is a long one, and generally a fairly solitary one.
For a
being capable of love, this is a very lonely existence, as the strange
Mazoku discovered. He thought and he thought about the dilemma of his
loneliness, and then he thought some more. Finally, late one night as
he
was torturing a particularly nasty rapist, an idea came to him. If he
could
create a child of his own essence, perhaps that child might inherit his
abnormalities… Yes, he decided, it would be the perfect solution. His
master had been pressuring him to increase her power by bringing her
more
minions, so he was even following her orders…in his own fashion, for
let it
not be said that this strange one was lacking in that all-important
trait of
ambition.
"So the Mazoku plotted and schemed and planned and prepared. He knew
that
in order to attain the most perfect human-like form, a new Mazoku must
gestate in the womb of a human. Knowing this, he was determined to
find a
beautiful and kind woman to carry his child; one who was already
pregnant,
for then he could let his child grow in close proximity to another and
hopefully it might understand humans better. So he searched and he
searched, to the north, east, and west, and found no human more perfect
than
when he searched to the south. In a small village he found a young
healer,
newly married. She had beautiful long wavy sea-green hair, and
opalescent
pale green eyes, and was, by far, the kindest and gentlest woman he'd
ever
seen. He almost regretted not having met her before she was wed, but
even
so, he knew she was not the kind he could truly love. Although she
would
make a wonderful mother, she was too soft for his more nasty side; for
remember, even if he was capable of love, he was still a Mazoku, with
all
that implies. No, the one for him would have to be strong of heart and
faith…but that is another story.
"That night, while the beautiful healer lay sleeping in the arms of her
loving husband, the Mazoku watched them. Concentrating within himself,
the
Mazoku pulled bits of his essence together into a ball of energy,
imbued
that energy within a small amount of his cells, then teleported the
precious
little bundle into the healer's womb next to her own child, making sure
to
hide it from her senses so she wouldn't expel the Cuckoo's Egg.
For the next eight months, the Mazoku kept close watch over the healer
carrying his child, who had turned out to be a girl, and when the woman
was
ready to be delivered of her burden, he slipped in during the night and
teleported the infant into warm blankets he held in his arms, then
teleported the two of them back to his lair.
"For the next twelve years he diligently raised the child in secret,
and she
was every bit as affectionate and caring as he had hoped for, although
her
powers were one or two magnitudes lower than his…but this was to be
expected, and would increase with time. During the following four
years, he
gradually taught the girl how to hide her differences and fit into
Mazoku
society, and on her sixteenth birthday he introduced her to his master.
"His master seemed reasonably well-pleased with this new addition, and
settled at once on a mission to test her mettle. Not a hard mission,
for
his master was a mistress of stratagem, and to send an untested
greenling on
a difficult mission would only be detrimental to all involved in the
long
run…no, her mission was a relatively simple one, she had only to
investigate
the state of the temples in Sairaag. Their master knew that within the
next
few decades, something important to the Mazoku would transpire there,
and
she wished to have an edge up over the other lords in her preparations.
"Full of excitement and a little bit of worry, the Mazoku girl set out
on
her first mission. In the beginning she made weekly reports, but after
the
first couple of months, their master was satisfied that she was
competent,
and after that, her reports were monthly. The Mazoku was proud, for
not
only was his daughter succeeding well in her mission, she was managing
quite
adeptly at hiding her true nature from their master. It made him sad
to
think that his loving daughter had to be so cold in public, but when
they
returned to their sanctuary and she ran into his arms and called him
'Daddy', he was content again.
"After the sixth month of her mission, he started to notice a change in
her.
Instead of being a little reluctant to leave when it came time for
her to
say goodbye to him, she seemed almost eager to return. He could tell
she
was keeping something from him, but he didn't want to press her for it
yet…better to let her come to him in her own time rather than strain
the
bond they had formed by asking for more than she might yet be willing
to
tell.
"A month later his patience was rewarded. After reporting to their
master,
she flew into his arms as soon as they were alone, eagerly telling him
stories of the wonderful young acolyte she had met and who had told her
he
loved her. The Mazoku girl told her father that she was in love with
the
Acolyte as well, and that he had made her very happy. Her father was
not
wonderfully pleased at this news, but he hid that fact from her.
Likely
this would pass if the young man in question ever learned of her true
nature, and the Mazoku didn't feel it necessary to burst the bubble of
his
daughter's happiness and dreams just yet.
Everything continued on the way it had been for the next four months,
but on
the fifth month after she told him of her love, the Mazoku's darling
daughter, who had just turned seventeen, came to him crying. Now the
Mazoku
thought her tears must have come from her love's rejection of her, and
his
heart both ached and burned to harm the one who had hurt his precious
daughter…until, that is, she told him of the reason for her tears.
"The Acolyte had known for a month of her true nature, and still loved
her
just as deeply. His superiors, however, had become suspicious of his
actions, and had been watching him closely. They had discovered his
dalliance with a 'young student' (the pose she had adopted in order to
serve
her master's wishes) and when they confronted him, she tried to come to
his
defense. She was unsuccessful in defending him, however, not wanting
to
expose her Mazoku nature, she was unable to keep them from confining
him to
his quarters. Later that night she had teleported into his quarters
and
been caught…her darkness exposed… The Acolyte tried to defend her in
turn,
but they were overpowered and thrown into penitent cells beneath the
Holy
Tree Flagoon. She had managed to escape, but did not have the strength
left
to return and save her love on her own, so she begged her father to
help her
save him.
"Her father was at first reluctant, but in truth he loved his daughter
too
much to deny her a chance at the love he had yearned after for so many
centuries. The two of them teleported to the Acolyte's cell, and the
Mazoku
girl quietly explained their plan to him. They brought him back to
their
realm, and the Mazoku was quickly impressed with his daughter's choice.
The
Acolyte, he decided, would make a great leader someday, or a great
priest,
if he continued on his present path. When the Acolyte nervously asked
him
for the right to marry his daughter, should all their troubles be
sorted
out, he gave his consent, oddly touched by this obviously human
gesture.
"With the Mazoku's help, his daughter and the Acolyte turned the tables
on
their accusers, and all was put right again. Better than right for
her, in
fact, when the Acolyte asked her to be his bride. They were wed soon
after
in a small private ceremony, and their great happiness was marred only
by
one thing…her master could never hear of this. It would be looked on
not
only with scorn and contempt, but as a failure in the mission she had
been
sent to accomplish.
"All went well, and the couple were blissfully happy for two years.
The
young Mazoku was well settled into Sairaag, and her master found her
information so useful that she made the assignment a long-term one.
Things
can no longer stay the same, however, than one can expect to stay the
sun in
her daily course, and by-the-bye the Mazoku girl became pregnant. This
blessed event, which should have brought only joy, deeply saddened her
father, for he knew their mistress would look upon it as a betrayal,
and
would force her to give up her child. If she found out the truth about
the
child's father, it would be even worse. He knew he could never force
his
daughter to give up her child, his grandchild, the ultimate expression
of
the love between her and the Acolyte, who was now a Priest. All he
could do
was caution her to be careful, and do everything in his power to help
her.
"All was in vain, however. She managed to conceal her pregnancy for a
good
while, and thankfully her wardrobe had always included voluminous
cloaks,
which helped in that respect immensely, but at seven and a half months,
her
belly was too big to hide any longer, and she had no choice but that it
be
visible. Pregnancy had affected her powers in ways she could never
have
anticipated, making her unable to cast an illusion around herself. The
Mazoku offered to help his daughter, but she was adamant, and made him
swear
by the strongest of oaths not to get involved, for she loved him too
much to
bring him down with her.
"With a heavy and sad heart he swore as she had asked him, and was
forced to
watch as his daughter defied their master and was banished for it, her
precious baby attacked by their master's power. That was the last he
ever
saw of his daughter. He never even knew if her child had lived or
died, for
his daughter had made him swear also, in their last moments together,
that
if anything happened to her he was to wait some years before searching
for
her child, so as not to endanger it by bringing it to their master's
attention."
"The Slayers" is the product of Software Sculptors, Tokyo TV, Enoki Films Co., Ltd., Monthly Dragon Magazine, Weekly Comic Dragon, Fujimi Books, Hajime Kanzaka, Rui Araizumi, and Kadokawa Publishing Co., Ltd.
