The darkness in the town guard headquarters was almost absolute. All of the windows were closed... the shutters drawn and locked. From the brightly lit street beyond, only the occasional odd shaft of weak light pierced the ebony void. A second dim light spilled from underneath the closet door. It spread only a few inches before the darkness swallowed it. Likewise, the glow from beneath the heavy door leading down to the dungeon failed to penetrate the stygian void of the upper room. No lamps burned. No torches flooded the room with their flickering light. No magic globes or items bathed the chamber in eldritch luminescence.

Nothing.

Despite the brightness of the country sun, the interior of the building was as dark as a sealed crypt... which in a sense it was. Like a crypt, the room had its ghosts. There was the rustling and bumping from the closet, where the burly, slow-witted guardsman Sev was just completing his re-arrangements of the closet's contents. It would be a few more minutes before he realized that he was locked in. Trapped... stashed away like food in a larder.

Then there was the low moaning from behind the desk. Berwick was there, still lashed tightly to a chair which now lay on its side. His eyes were wide open... almost as if he could see. The manic gaze shifted from one dark patch of nothingness to another... unseeing and terrified. His lips quivered, and a pool of drool grew rapidly beneath his head. Berwick's mind was gone. The old doctor knew only fear and sorrow and darkness... for that was all that the thing had left him.

Yes, the thing. The thing was there, dancing silently in the darkness... twisting Dwar's lithe body back and forth, to and fro. He spun and leapt... and smiled. Dwar's soul fought it for control, but it was like a tiny fish trying to swim against a violently flooding river. The darkness flowed around it... engulfed it... suffocated it.

Dwar screamed, but all that passed his lips was a muffled chuckle. The shadow within him danced and waited.

And finally there were the footsteps. Strong and loud and heavy, they marched up the dungeon stairs toward the door separating the prisoners from the dark upper room. The whispering from below had ceased several minutes a go... about the time that Dwar began his dance of victory.

The steps paused at the top of the stairs, just on the other side of the door.

Dwar slipped silently into a corner. He did not hide... he simply stood in the darkness and listened to the door unlock, and then open slightly. The hinges creaked... a jagged, eerie sound.

Berwick moaned. The doctor mumbled... perhaps it was a warning; perhaps it was nothing at all. In the closet, Sev bumped into the door accidentally and spend the next few seconds rubbing his elbow.

A shaft of light tore into the dark room from the dungeon door. It illuminated the wall, but came nowhere near Dwar or the doctor. The door opened wider. More light entered.

"Hmmm...." a deep bass voice mused. Cold eyes peered into the darkness. Hax's hulking figure paused in the doorway. He carried no torch or lamp. The bright light that he and the prisoners had lit in the dungeon spilled out around him, turning him into a fearsome dark silhouette.

"Sev? Dwar?" he called.

"Yeah, boss?" the shadow replied with Dwar's lips.

"You mind explaining what happened to the lamps?"

"Uhhh... well, you see..."

"That's the problem... it's hard to see in the dark. What the hell's going on up here? Where's the prisoner?"

"The doc? He had a little accident."

"Accident," doubted Hax.

"Yeah. See, he made like he wanted to tell me something. He said he wanted to whisper it to me, but when I leaned my head down he tried to bite me in the ear. Then my fist accidentally rubbed up against the side of his head. He's asleep now."

"Uh-huh. Good job," said Hax. "But how is that related to the lights?"

"I dunno. I just...." Dwar's voice dropped away.

"Just what?" Hax stepped away from the dungeon door. More light spilled into the room, but he was one more step into the darkness.

"Prisoners secure down there?" said Dwar.

"Yes. Why?"

"Well... you're standing there with the door open. That's something you tell us never to do. Just the other week you got onto Sev about that. Maybe you oughta close it. Sir."

"Uh-huh." Hax stepped to the side and started to close the door. As he shut out the light from below, Dwar stepped out of his corner. Hax's arm stopped with door three-quarters closed. Light still bathed him, though not nearly as much as before. "Where's Sev?" said Hax.

"In the closet where you told him to go. Still cleaning out space for Vance's body. Should be done soon."

Hax's gaze shifted to the closet... to the light shining under the door. Then Hax eyed the desk. He couldn't see Berwick on the floor... but then he wasn't looking for Berwick, either.

"You gonna explain about the lights now?" said Hax.

"Yeah. It's something I want ya ta see," said Dwar.

"What?"

"Close that door, you'll see it."

Hax paused for a moment.

Then he closed the door.

The light vanished and the room plunged once again into impassible darkness.

"So what is it I'm supposed to see?" said Hax.

There was no response.

Berwick grunted and gasped for reasons known only to himself.

The latch on the closet door rattled as Sev tried and failed to open it. Hax could almost hear the tiny, rusty wheels squeaking in Sev's mind.

Hax's left eyebrow arched upwards on his brow as he eyed the darkness suspiciously.

The shadow leapt out of Dwar's body like striking snake. Invisible against the backdrop of darkness, the amorphous thing burst from Dwar's chest and shot into the air. It zoomed and twisted and danced around the few shafts of light beaming from the shutters... then is shot up to the ceiling and dove straight down to Hax's broad chest.

It hit the guardsman like a bolt from an arrow. It's ephemeral body phased into Hax's flesh...

...and then the shadow SCREAMED as Hax's body rejected it and forced it out.

"EEERRRAAAAGGGHHH!!!"

Hax's body twitched. He turned toward the screaming shadow and watched it writhe painfully in the air and then dive back into Dwar... where it met the same resistance. Thrown out again, the shadow raced around the room once and then dove through the closet door... where the light on the other side burned it, forcing it back out. It scratched at the walls... only to find the enchantment that sealed the building worked as well against his shadowy form as it did with flesh and blood. Not that it could survive in the light outside anyway...

"ARRRRR!" it screamed in frustration.

"Can't abide the light that protects Sev," said Hax. "And you can't possess someone you've already possessed before. Looks like you're in a bit of a fix."

"YOU!" the shadow extended a dark appendage toward Hax. "What trick is this! You bear my corruption... yet I have not tasted your soul before!"

"Really? Take a good look..."

Hax stepped toward the shadow, as he did, his features changed. He grew shorter and thinner. Hax's eyes began to glow with an eerie, multicolored glimmer. His facial features blurred, and finally vanished behind a blue sash. Muscle and clothing faded away, to be replaced by a billowing blue cloak.

"Magic's a bitch, ain't it?" said Blaymore. He folded his arms triumphantly across his chest. "I knew you were listening to our plan downstairs through the door, that's why Hax and I used sign language to come up with this simple little trick to get you out in the open."

The shadow hissed... a sound like the wind rustling through dry leaves.

Then it laughed.

"AHAHAAAA! Trick me, you may... but you cannot destroy me! You cannot destroy the shadow that moves as thought! My story is eternal! I am eternal!"

"We'll see about that..."

Blaymore moved. It was the merest blinking of an eye... but in that time he had dashed over to Hax's desk and used the key Hax had given him. He opened it and removed the 'evidence' that Hax had collected earlier... the six blue stones that Blaymore had with him when he first arrived. He activated one of them, and it began to glow with a bright blue light. A split-instant later, he was standing before the shadow, holding the stones aloft.

The shafts of light cut through the shadow's form like razors, but still the fiend laughed.

"AAIIEEEEGGGIHAHAHAHAAAA!!"

Blaymore advanced. The shadow raced around to the other side of the room to escape the light, but Blaymore was already there to meet it. It screamed and retreated, only to find the blue-cloaked assassin behind him! In every direction the shadow turned... Blaymore and the blue light were there!

Still the shadow laughed.

"BANISH ME!" it hissed. "BANISH ME and I will return again!!!"

"Oh, I will... but all in good time."

Blaymore moved again. He took each stone and activated it, and then placed them all in a circle around the shadow. The light ate away at the edges of his form. Thin tatters of darkness broke free and drifted briefly before the light disintegrated them completely. The shadow-being contracted into a tight ball, trying to move as far away from the light as possible. There was a tiny cone of darkness in the center of the circle. The shadow found it and huddled there... safe for the moment.

"And what game is this, assassin?" it hissed at Blaymore.

"You shall see, fiend." Blaymore replied.

The shadow laughed... and then launched into a concentrated effort to free himself from the luminescent prison. It stretched up toward the ceiling, but could not penetrate the wards that sealed the building. It immediately sank to the floor, only to find the same thing. It darted at the dark patches between the glowing stones, but even they held too much light for it to pass through them.

It was trapped.

"Hax?" said Blaymore.

The door to the dungeon opened and Hax... the REAL Hax... stepped out. He saw the circle of glowing stones, and the shadowy form that lay trapped within it.

"I must admit, I was skeptical." he said.

"About the shadow or my ability to contain it?" said Blaymore.

"Both."

"Well, here it is."

"RRRRRHOW DARE YOU!" the shadow howled.

"How dare YOU?" Hax replied calmly. "How dare you come to this down and spread your filth. Taking lives and tainting souls with your insanity. What gives you the right?"

"Right? I NEED no right! I am the shadow that moves as-"

"Yes, yes, we know." said Blaymore.

"You know NOTHING!" said the shadow.

"What's going on up here?" Ronce and Henna appeared in the doorway.

"STAY BACK!" Hax and Blaymore said together.

"Is it still dangerous?" said Ronce.

"Very," answered Blaymore.

"Ahhh, my children..." The shadow inched toward Henna and Ronce, but could not get close to them. "Have you been enjoying the show so far? I know Ronce has..."

"Get back downstairs," Hax ordered.

"What are you talking about?" said Henna.

"Ohhh....A sultry sigh and a few words were all it took for your brother to abandon his friendship and try to rape poor Sellia."

"That's NOT how it happened!" Ronce protested.

"Isn't it? I was there, remember?"

"You... you TRICKED me!"

"Did I? At exactly WHAT point did I enter your soul and make you forget that Sellia was your best friend's wife? Hmmm.... I don't seem to remember doing that..."

"Both of you downstairs NOW!" Hax shouted.

"And speaking of memories, did Blue-boy bother to tell you that I can access the memories of those I claim? I bet he didn't. You know, Sellia had some rather interesting memories locked away in that head of hers-"

"SHUT UP!" Ronce stepped forward and pointed threateningly at the dark shape. "I will NOT have you sullying her good name!"

"HER good name? But I'm still talking about YOU,dear boy. You AND Her."

"Stoppit! YOU!" Ronce pointed at Blaymore. "Destroy this thing NOW!"

"Perhaps the REAL reason you were so quick to try and bed your best friend's wife was because it wasn't the first time, hmm. Seems you were closer to Sellia than you were with her husband... if you know what I mean by 'close'."

"Ronce?" Henna questioned.

"He is a master of lies and deception," said Blaymore. He stepped protectively between Ronce and the shadow. "Do not listen to him."

"Oh, but I'm not lying NOW, am I, Ronce. Come on... tell the truth."

"Ronce, is this true?"

"Of COURSE it isn't, Henna. I would never-"

"A liar AND a whore!" the shadow spat. "And so incredibly POOR at both!"

"DESTROY THAT THING!"

"Don't worry, Ronce, the secret of your little... performance problem... is safe with us. Sellia was a bit disappointed, though. Maybe that's why she gave you so many chances.

"You LIE!"

"But this is all just between us. We all have secrets of our own, don't we?"

"Quiet foul thing!"

"Besides, we're all scoundrels here," the shadow continued. "Blaymore and I. Hax and Ronce. Scoundrels and villains to the last. Why... even Henna there-" It pointed a thin, wispy appendage at the maiden. The light witted away at the arm, and the shadow yanked it back just in time to keep from loosing it.

"You will NOT address my sister!"

"Oh, I'll do more than ADDRESS her when I get out of here. And she'll love every minute of it. Might even teach ME a few things... considering what she and Thomas had going."

"Thomas?"

"LIES! He speaks LIES!" Henna screeched.

"Now Ronce, you don't still believe that your sister is a virgin, do you... hmmm? And what do you think Thomas was doing while you were bedding his wife? What do you think kept him occupied all those times, hmmm? Drinking? Working? Thomas was no drunk, and he was no working man, either. But he DID love the ladies... especially the maidenly sister of a certain best friend."

"Henna!"

"And truth be told... he was quite a bit better at it than you, Ronce. Henna certainly got the better end of the arrangement."

"LIES! Ronce, I would NEVER do such a thing!"

"But how can I be sure-"

"Indeed, how CAN you?"

"But what of you and Sellia... your BEST FRIEND'S wife!"

"Serves him RIGHT for sneaking around with my SISTER!"

"So you ADMIT IT! You... you FIEND!"

"YOU WHORE!

"SPEAK NO MORE!!" Blaymore's voice cut through the shouting like a sharp blade. He was addressing the shadow, but the silence that followed was universal. Blaymore held one large crystal in his palm... the sun-stone he'd used to blind Hax earlier. It had recharged and was ready to flood the entire room with enough light to banish the shadow a hundred times over. He held the stone up and pointed it toward the confined creature.

"He speaks lies as if they were truth," said Blaymore. "And he twists the truth to make it indistinguishable from a lie."

"Ahhh, but which is which?" the shadow beamed.

"You will speak no more, demon. One word shall send you back to the hell which spawned you."

"There you go with that hero-talk again. But can you back it up?"

The shadow was pushing him. Testing him. Both it and Blaymore knew that the assassin could not banish the shadow yet. Do do so would doom everyone who even knew of its existence... the fiend would immediately pick one of them to serve as a conduit through which it could return.

Now it was time for Hax's plan.

"Hax?" said Blaymore.

The leader of the town guard was already at the window. He opened the shutter a crack, but was careful not to allow very much light in from the outside. The field of faintly-glowing magical energy still sealed the opening, allowing nothing in but air. Hax shifted into metallic form and was about to stick one arm through the damaging energy barrier when a familiar face appeared on the other side.

"Mind explaining what all the fuss is about?" said Sorrins. The town's mage arrived just in time to save Hax a painful trip through his own security grid. Sorrins was accompanied by Elric, a member of the town guard.

"You'd have to see it to believe it," said Hax. "But unfortunately I can't allow that."

"It figures," said Sorrins. "So why did you send for me?"

Hax moved so that his back was to the shadow. Then he began using hand-signals to converse with the mage.

::Remember those mercenaries that we apprehended last year?::

::Certainly,:: Sorrins replied in the same language. Due to Hax's placement, no the shadow could not see the mage's response. ::Odd that they were sent here to capture you, and we ended up capturing them instead.::

::Odder still that their memories of who had sent them had been clouded... until you used your magic to restore them.::

::The memory stone. Yes. What of it?::

::Can it be used in reverse? To remove memories... permanently.::

::I suppose it could, with some minor adjustments.::

::Start your adjustments. There is something in here that everyone needs to forget. The effect needs to be as complete and long-lasting as possible.::

::I see. So I suppose I'll never know what this is about?::

::Hopefully no.::

::I'll have to get back to my shop.::

::Get going. And quickly, I don't know how long we can hold this thing. We have it contained for now... but I get the feeling that it is so because it WANTS it to be so.::

::I understand. Speed is of the essence.::

"Elric," Hax returned to his normal speaking voice. "Accompany him and keep him safe. Make sure nothing delays you."

"Yes, sir," Elric said.

"No need concern... the journey to and from my workshop will be like the blink of an eye!"

Sorrins cast a spell, and he and Elric both vanished in a flash of light.

Hax closed the window and turned back to Blaymore.

"It will not be long now."

"HEY, What's going on out there!" came a shout from the closet. It was Sev, who was still locked in. "This isn't FUNNY, guys... it wasn't funny LAST time and it ain't funny NOW! LEMME OUT!"

Sev pounded on the door.

"Lemme out! I'm gonna tell HAX! HAAAAX! They locked me in the closet AGAAIN!!! HAX!"

"Hold your position, Sev," Hax ordered.

The shadow chuckled to itself.

"And to think I almost possessed him. Desperation does make one do strange things. But you know all about that, don't you, Blaymore."

"Silence, you!"

"Hax, what's going on?" Sev continued to pound on the door. "I heard shouting out there! Did the prisoners escape?"

"Not exactly," said Hax.

"YES!" the shadow screamed... only his voice now sounded a lot like Dwar, who lay twitching silently on the other side of the room. "The BLUE KILLER is FREE! He is using his magic to control HAX!"

"NOT TRUE!" Hax yelled.

"Hold on, Dwar!" Sev called. "I'll coming!"

Sev redoubled his efforts to free himself. The heavy wooden door rattled violently as the guardsman threw himself against it.

"NO Sev! HOLD YOUR POSITION!"

"Hax?" Sev paused. "Is that you!?"

"YES!"

"NO!"

"SEV HELLLP!" The shadow screamed in a tortured voice. "HELP ME!"

"I'm coming, Dwar!"

THOOM! The door rattled violently as Sev tried to bash it down.

"SEV! Stay in there... that's an ORDER!"

"Don't listen to him! He's... oh GODS, HE'S GOTTEN TO HAX! HAX IS POSSESSED! HE'S COMING AFTER ME! SEV HELP MEEEE!"

"Lemme OUT OF HERE!"

THOOM!
THOOOOM!
BOOM!

Meanwhile, Blaymore stood motionless before the shadow. He had no idea what to do. Dispelling the shadow would be so simple... yet it would be the absolute WORST thing he could do.

Well... perhaps not. The WORST thing would be to let it escape...

"Henna! Ronce!" he shouted. "Back downstairs NOW!"

The brother and sister looked at each other, and both decided that it would probably be safer in the dungeon. The started down the stairs just when the shadow let loose with another tortured scream.

"SEEEEV! HAX IS KILLING ME!!! HE'S FINALLY GONE MAD.... ARRRRR-"

BOOM!

"Stop this!" Blaymore held out the sun stone. The shadow looked at it... and laughed.

"EEEEHEHEHEHEHEEEEE!"

"What's that NOISE!?" Sev yelled in between thumps.

"THAT is the sound of a BLUFF BEING CALLED!" the shadow responded.

The shadow drew itself into a ball, and then leapt at one of the glowing stones that held it. The light tore at its substance, disintegrating it rapidly...

...until Blaymore grabbed the stone and yanked it back.

"NO! NOT YET!"

"AHAHAHAAA!"

BOOM!
THUD!"
CRACK!

A huge crack appeared in the closet door.

"STAY in there!" Hax ordered.

"I'm COMING, DWAR!"

CRACK!

"DWAR IS DEAD!" the shadow replied... this time in Hax's voice! "AHAHAHAHAAA!"

"Oh, no! DWAR!"

CRACK!
CRACK!
CRACK!

"Hax, keep that man in there!" Blaymore yelled.

Again, the shadow leapt toward the light. And again, Blaymore moved to save the fiend from being banished prematurely. The shadow chose another of the glowing stones to charge... and Blaymore moved that one as well. Soon it became a dance.... the shadow rushed forward, and the assassin used his speed to keep the fiend from banishing itself. He shifted the stones, moved them backward, forward, to the side... rearranged them constantly to keep the shadow contained...

"HAXhowlongbeforethatmagegetshere!?"

CRACK!

Suddenly, Sev's sword thrust through the door. The guardsman used it as leverage to pry away a section of the door frame.

"SEV! STAND DOWN!" Hax ordered. "Don't make me HURT you!"

"YOU KILLED MY FRIEND!" Sev replied.

CRACK!
CRREEAAAAK.... SNAP!

The door flew open, and Sev rushed out into the room.

He saw the speeding blue blur that was Blaymore rushing around a corner of the room. He saw Hax standing nearby... making no move to re-capture the prisoner. He saw Dwar's unconscious body on the floor. And he saw the shadowy form being held captive by Blaymore. It was desperately trying to escape... but the speeding assassin held it back with his magic stones.

Like a hawk on the attack, Sev's simple mind latched onto the wrong conclusion and would not let it go. He turned to Blaymore... or the blur that marked where Blaymore was... and shouted with anger and tears...

"You've possessed HAX and now you're trying to steal Dwar's SOUL!"

"SEV, it's ME!" Hax said. "Stand Down!"

"Noooo!"

Sev charged. Hax shifted into metal form and dove for him. They collided and went down, but not before Sev threw his sword across the room.

Blaymore saw the sword, and his mind traced it's trajectory. It would hit the floor... and probably slide into one of the glowing stones, knocking it aside and creating a path for the shadow to escape. Blaymore zoomed across the room and caught the weapon in mid-air...

...exactly what the shadow wanted.

The black form dove for one of the unattended glowing stones. Blaymore raced to move it out of the way, but he was a split-second too late. The shadow bathed for an instant in the piercing blue light.... and then it was gone. It's final scream echoed through the room like wail of some fading spirit.

The shadow had banished itself.

Now it was waiting to return.

"What the-" Hax began.

"DON'T THINK ABOUT IT!" Blaymore shouted.

Hax grabbed Sev's head and knocked it against the floor with a THUMP. Sev was unconscious instantly.

"...white rabbit...white rabbit...white rabbit...white rabbit...white rabbit...white rabbit...white rabbit..." Hax repeated it like a mantra while he filled his mind with images of white rabbits.

"RONCE! HENNA!" Blaymore yelled. "DON'T THINK ABOUT-"

"ARRRRGH!" came a scream from the dungeon. It was Ronce. It sounded like something was tearing him apart. "AEEEEEEMYHEAD!"

"...white rabbit...white rabbit...white rabbit..."

"Ronce, NO!" came Henna's anguished cry.

"HENNA GET OUT OF THERE!"

"AIEEEE! THE LIGHT! IT HURTS!!!"

"Ronce NO! Don't extinguish the TORCHES, it's our only PROTECTION!"

"IT HURRRRTSSSSS!"

"Not THIS time, fiend!" Holding a sword in one hand and a glowing stone in the other, Blaymore raced for the stairs. Or he tried to.

Hax was closer. His fast-moving metal form had already shut and sealed the door by the time Blaymore reached it.

"What are you DOING!"

"Trapping it down there!"

"But Henna's down there. It'll destroy Ronce when it emerges, and SHE'S the only one left down there to inhabit!"

"SO!? Weren't you going to kill us all anyway? Now it'll be trapped in a harmless body, which we can easily dispatch once Sorrins gets here with the stone."

"Henna and Ronce will both die."

"At least we can ensure that Henna's end is quick and painless."

There was an ominous silence from the other side of the dungeon door. And then...

"HELLLLLLPPPP!!!!!"

It was Henna. Perhaps there was enough light down there to keep the shadow at bay... or perhaps Ronce had extinguished it all in his pain-induced madness. Blaymore's chest tightened. Hax was right.... but Blaymore wished he couldn't hear the screams...

"It's down there and it can't get out," said Hax in as re-assuring a voice as he could manage.

"We're murderers," replied Blaymore.

"Does that bother you?"

"No. I've been worse."

Hax paused. They both listened. Blaymore heard what he thought was sobbing... but it could have been laughter. It could also have been whispering... but who would she be talking to? Ronce was surely dead... wasn't he?

"Perhaps she's still alive... and unharmed," said Hax. "Perhaps it doesn't NEED to destroy the person when it emerges."

"Even if it doesn't need to... it'll do it just for fun."

"True," said Hax. They listened some more, and then Hax turned to look at Blaymore. "I need to tell you something."

"What? That you're a heartless bastard like I am?"

"You already knew that. I need to tell you something else."

"What?"

Hax smiled.

"You know that 'white rabbit' thing I was doing... It didn't work."

"...no..."

"It was the screams. He couldn't help but think about it... so why continue forcing my way into Ronce's little mind when I can emerge directly into THIS wonderful body?"

"..." Blaymore backed away as Hax's smile widened to impossible proportions.

"You know," said Hax. "That was so easy that it almost wasn't any fun at all. But all that's about to change now. Now... now the fun REALLY starts!".

[To Be Continued]