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>While Zelgadiss slept in one of the inn's many rooms, Hope and Donovan sat up in the front room. Donovan had made himself a sandwich and had almost finished it. Hope was searching through the merchandise for a suitable weapon. As he finished off the last bites of his sandwich, Donovan looked out the window. He noticed something unusual and got up to look closer. Pressing his face against the window pane, he examined the sky closely. Ther wasn't a cloud in sight and the stars were shining brightly. Without averting his gaze, he asked Hope, "Is it a new moon tonight?"
>"How should I know?" Hope replied, picking up a cursed arrow and looking it over before putting it back. Donovan got down from the window and went behind the bar.
>"Mother Moon is supposed to be in her fifth waxing tonight, according to Father's moon chart," he said, looking over Xelloss' calender. Hope shrugged, unconcerned with such things. Donovan grew irritated by this. "Don't you know what that means?!" he cried, "It means that Mother Moon is gone!"
>Hope walked over to her brother. "Maybe she's just hiding," she suggested.
>"Why would she do that? Have you ever known the moon to hide before?" Donovan reasoned. Hope shrugged and looked out the window. Donovan continued to study the moon chart for several minutes while Hope searched the sky for the moon.
>The door to the shoppe creaked lightly as it slowly opened. Hope and Donovan looked toward the door with fearful expressions. They rean and hid behind the bar just as the pale, silver-haired figure stepped in. He looked around the room curiously, looking for any signs of life. The twins listened quietly, trying not to breath.
>**Hello?** the figure sent, finally, **Hope? Donovan?**
>The children gasped, recognizing the feel of the man's sending star. **Silverwing!!!** they both sent at once, jumping up from behind the bar. They ran into his open arms, knocking him over. He laughed as they began cattering at him incoherently.
>"Calm down, little ones," he said, sitting up, "I know about everything that's happened."
>"Where are Mommy and Daddy?" Hope asked, "Are they alright, Unca?"
>"And where is Mother Moon?" Donovan added. Silverwing frowned as the children looked at him expectedly. He sighed, standing up and walking toward the door. Standing in the doorway, he pointed out the open portal. The children went to look.
>Far in the distance, they could see the moon hanging low in the eastern sky. She shone with a bright blue light and looked unusually large. The twins gasped in awe. Never before had they seen such a sight. Mother Moon was glowing with all the light of the setting DayStar and was surrounded by a ring of bright blue. They studied the spectical for a long while, torn between amazement and worry. Finally, they looked at Silverwing.
>"Mother Moon weeps tonight." Silverwing said. "One of her most faithful children has sold his soul to evil."
>"Father?!" Donovan cried, standing frozen.
>Hope tugged on Silverwing's sleeve. "Unca, what has Father done? And where is our Mother?"
>Silverwing smiled down at her, placing a hand on her head and rustling her hair. She giggled a bit. "Your parents are fine."
>"You shouldn't lie to children," came a voice from the hallway. The trio turned to see Zelgadiss standing under the arch, his arms folded in front of him and a grim expression on his face. Silverwing stood up straight.
>"Zelgadiss. We meet at last." Silverwing addressed him.
>Zelgadiss straightened. "How do you know my name?" he asked suspiciously.
>"Oh, I know a great deal about you, my friend." Silverwing answered, "That is why you are coming with me."
>"With you? I don't think so." Zelgadiss said cockily. Hope ran over to him, grabbing his arm.
>"It's okay," she said, Zelgadiss looked down at her. "This is our uncle, Silverwing. He's on our side."
>Zelgadiss looked back at Silverwing. "So, you're a friend of Xelloss?" Silverwing nodded at the question. Zelgadiss grunted, adjusting his arms and leaning against the archway. "I am no friend of his, nor of anyone who is. I'm not going anywhere."
>Silverwing chuckled, shrugging and leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed, immitating Zelgadiss with mock-aggrivation. Hope's face grew angry with Zelgadiss' words and she gripped his arm tightly, pulling it. Surprisingly, Zelgadiss felt her tight grip uncomfortable. "You'd better talk nice about my father!" she scoulded.
>"Why?" Zelgadiss asked. "All he's ever done for me is cause trouble. Serves him right to be enslaved and tortured by Zeras."
>Hope growled, stepping away from him. She reached around and pulled her sling-shot out of her belt. Pulling a small stone out of her belt pouch, she loaded her weapon. "You take that back!" she cried, "You go save my Father right now or I'll shoot you!"
>Zelgadiss looked at the young girl's sling-shot with an amuzed and unworried look. Donovan approached him, looking saddly at Zelgadiss. "I thought you were here to help? Why won't you go with Silverwing?" The young boy's eyes begged him, but Zelgadiss turned away, resisting.
>"I refuse!" Zelgadiss yelled, "I will never help him! Lousy mazoku."
>"Take it back!" Hope screamed, firing her sling-shot. Zelgadiss laughed as the stone was repelled by his stone skin. Hope growled and ran at him, hitting him with her sling-shot and her fist. Zelgadiss let her hit him, convinced that she could not harm him. However, he felt an energy building.
>Looking to his right, he saw Donovan. The boy's look was cold and his left eye had a red mark glowing benieth it. All around him, little balls of energy danced through the air. Donovan held up his hands, gathering the energy into them. "My Father," he said coldly, "is NOT a mazoku!" Pointing his finger at Zelgadiss, Donovan channelled the energy at him. Zelgadiss tried to jump away, but Hope pussed him into the blast as she jumped off of him. When the energy hit him, Zelgadiss felt like every bone and muscle in his body were shattering and tearing all at once. Zelgadiss screamed and passed out.
>As Zelgadiss fell limply to the floor, Hope approached him cautiously. Looking down at him, she kicked him a few times. When he didn't move, she looked at Donovan. "Way to go, Don," she said, sarcastically, "You broke him."
>"I..." Donovan studdered, calming down and looking at what he had done, "I...I can fix him."
>"You've done enough," Silverwing said, stepping forward. "Go on to bed, I'll take care of him."
>"You're leaving, aren't you?" Hope asked. Silverwing nodded. "I want to fight too!" she said, "We're ready, we can fight!"
>"No," Silverwing answered softly. "The two of you must stay here. With you there, it would be harder to sneak in. Go to sleep, and when you wake up, you're parents will be here to greet you."
***************************************
>Zelgadiss opened his eyes slowly, looking up at the open sky. "Was I...dreaming?" he thought out loud.
>"Must have been one hell of a dream."
>"Wha...?!" Zelgadiss sat bolt upright. Silverwing was sitting across from him on a wooden crate. He grinned, offering Zelgadiss a cup of coffee. Zelgadiss took the cup. "Where are we?" he asked, taking a sip.
>"Look around you," Silverwing answered, motioning all around them. "We're on a ship, and we're headed straight for Wolf Pack Island."
>"Wolf Pack Island?!" Zelgadiss blinked, "That's where Greater Beast Zeras has her headquarters!"
>"Yes. And there's still time to turn back." Silverwing said. He watched while Zelgadiss thought about it. "But I'm asking you to rethink your decision."
>"I already said "no"."Zelgadiss answered, sounding very annoyed. "I refuse to help...HIM."
>"Xelloss is not who he used to be." Silverwing said in defense. "He is a kind man and a loving father. Didn't you see how much his children love him?"
>"They just don't know any better. They don't know what he's capable of."
>"But being able and doing are not the same things. Xelloss has a home now, and a family. He has reformed."
>Zelgadiss did not speak for a long while and Silverwing sat, silently, watching. Finally, after he had finished his coffee, Zel looked back at Silverwing. "Can you tell me something?" Silverwing looked up at him. "How did Jaynis end up with Xelloss anyway?"
>Silverwing sighed."It is a long, complicated story, but one night, just before morning, Xelloss came to me and told me of a maiden he had just met in a tavern. He told me that she was a tortured soul, full of saddness and a vengeful fire. She was all he talked about for the longest while. It was obvious that he was in love with her. But, for a while, he didn't see or hear from her. Then he got word that she had been killed. Xelloss was devistated. He became obsessed with resurrecting her, convinsed that it could be done. Eventually, he found a way.
>"Xelloss concocted a theory; If a living soul is introduced to a golem body, the body will become alive. However, Xelloss is not able to guide spirits back from the afterworld. He needed a chaneller. He found one of Jaynis' old friends who was also looking to bring Jaynis back. Back at the shoppe, Xelloss fashioned Jaynis a new body out of magick clay while the other guided Jaynis' soul back. Xelloss' theory worked. Jaynis lived again, but Xelloss had also cast a spell so that Jaynis would remember nothing at all of her past life."
>"So, he took her life away then?" Zelgadiss said, disgustedly. "He forced her to love him."
>"You don't know everything." Silverwing argued, "Jaynis eventually got her memory back, even before then, Xelloss felt consumed by guilt and came close to telling her many times."
>"It still wasn't right." Zelgadiss said, shaking his head solomnly.
>Silverwing sighed impatiently. "Are you in or out?" he asked, looking Zelgadiss in the eyes. Zelgadiss stood up, crossing his arms. He took in a deep breath and held it in for a while before finally letting it out slowly. It was obvious to Silverwing that he was going to say "out". Silverwing stood up and went over to Zel, putting a hand on his shoulder.
>"Please..." he said. Zelgadiss looked at him. "Because you love Jaynis..."
>Zelgadiss took in another deep breath.
End Part IV
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