January 08 2007: Author's Nonsense: Right on to chapter three.
End of Chapter 2:
"What of the broken water mirror?" Silmeria asked seriously. "We could return to his world and see if he has retreated there with her. It is as good a first step as anything else."
Chapter 3:
"Lezard." Mystina shook her head as she leaned over the plate of bread and cheese she'd gotten together for her breakfast. Not exactly resort accommodations but at least there was nothing growing on the food that she could see. "You can't expect a girl to fall for you after you kidnapped her and took away her godhood."
She had to admit that the boy had tenacity…not that it was necessarily a good thing in this case. His obsession with the Valkyrie had caused more trouble than it had ever really been worth to either of the two. Now, from what she understood by his story, Lenneth was steadfastly ignoring him and he was getting into his 'insane obsessive' mode as a result of her not immediately returning his blind devotion. Not that anyone wouldn't doubt the truth of what Lezard claimed with all the evil he was capable of; but given all he'd gone through to be of aid to her and what the girl knew about him she had to admit that there was something else to the way he treated Lenneth. Perhaps the stalker nature was the only way the dark wizard really knew how to love.
"What did you expect was going to happen Lezard? You can't use all that magic of yours to make someone feel the same way you do?" Mystina snapped at him with a shake of her aqua green locks.
The necromancer continued to pace in the makeshift dining area, his midnight velvet cloak whipping around with a sharp snap whenever he suddenly turned around in his frantic movement, running a hand through his soft coffee colored hair to smooth it down for the fourth time sense he'd entered the room and found his ex-classmate sitting and eating some of the food he kept around for himself when he remembered his own need. The nervous gesture followed by him wringing gloved hands and glancing at the less anxious sleep deprived freeloader sitting at his dusty table.
"You are a girl Misty." he observed.
"Thanks for noticing." she retorted dryly.
"Well what should I do?" he demanded, coming to a stop near where she sat and bending to look at her closer as if the attention would help him glean extra information from her answer. "What do women expect from a suitor?"
The green haired girl's lips had to quirk a bit at the whole situation, the idea of Lezard asking her for feminine advice a little too much for her brain to logically place the event. Though at the rare sincerity in his features she managed to repress the laugh. Considering a little more when he continued to stare at her expectantly, "I'm not sure Lezard. Most girls want to be wooed not kidnapped. I suppose you could try the usual; flowers, candy, pretty gifts…I suppose freedom is out of the question."
"At least for now." Lezard agreed, either not hearing or not caring to respond to the sarcasm in the final sentence of her statement. "Do you think all those things would work? They seem rather ordinary for the siren resting upstairs."
She shrugged a little and rolled her eyes at his compliments. "Don't know, I think the best thing would be to find something that really interests her and somehow make whatever you give her mean something. The best gifts are special. Oh, and that bit where you insulted the ex that she was in love with…dangerous subject. I wouldn't bring him up at all and insults are completely out of the question."
That made the necromancer frown and return to pacing, as if whatever advice she'd given had left him exactly where he had started and he'd already given up on getting help from her. Not that Mystina minded; she'd rather he think she wouldn't be of much help…he had a tendency of doing unkind things to her when he was trying to help Lenneth and figured she could be of use. She finished chewing the bite of bread she'd taken and washed it down with a bit of wine.
"Try talking to her…well…once she stops screaming at you. Don't make her come to you with this silly little game of waiting in the dining hall." she suggested. "Get some food and take it to her. She has to be at least a little hungry after the last few hours. At least that way it shows you do actually care about her well being."
"Of course I do." Lezard snarled. The insinuation that it could be any other way followed by a glare send toward his ex classmate and then continuing to pace. "So get food and take it to her, sounds simple enough. What would she want?"
"How am I suppose to know Lezard?" Mystina blinked at her crazy 'friend'. "What am I all of a sudden? You never listened to me before, no reason to take my advice now."
"I'll have to go get something…" he decided as his cloak cracked in the air behind him again with another quick turn, starting what promised to wear a pattern in the floor. "What I have here is too old for her."
Mystina stopped chewing and found herself a napkin to discreetly spit out the cheese she'd been working on, glancing at the wine uncertainly. She really did have to stop crashing here without bringing sustenance of her own.
"Why don't you try a lot of things and just tell her you brought her everything you could think of cause you didn't know what she'd like?" Mystina suggested with a smile. "I'd adore it if some guy did that for me. It's a little cliché' but sometimes you just can't beat the classics."
Lezard listened for a while and nodded a bit to himself at the suggestion, she got the distinct idea he would convince himself it was his idea if it worked and yell at her if it didn't. "I suppose it makes sense so I can figure out what I'll need to provide her in the future. Good work Misty, you owe me for the room and board. I'm not a charity."
He teleported away on that cheery note to get to gathering what he would need. Leaving Mystina to roll her eyes a second time after he was gone. "Yeah, I'll make sure that I figure out how much a leaky roof and moldy bread is worth most of the time after I recover from the possible food poisoning you cheapskate."
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The land was warped and not quite completely devoid of life, instead the rare plants and malformed animals made the whole thing more like an alien-scape that someone had dragged out of some abstract painting than any real place. The remains of the strange world that the necromancer had made were just starting to brighten with the strange off-bronze sun in the violet sky. The sub-world's creatures mostly left the arrival of the outsiders alone, a lot of the immediate life not considering the intruders a part of their food chain or somehow recognizing them as a greater form of being without the dark wizard there to control their minds and have them be aggressive.
The five that had arrived exchanged looks ranging from annoyed (Hrist and Arngrim) to confused (Alicia) to concerned (Rufus and Silmeria).
"I wonder if Brahms is still somewhere here." Rufus commented as he looked at the highly decorated landscape. "It hasn't been that long sense we left here. I certainly never figured we would be coming back…"
"No reason to dwell on that fact now." Hrist interrupted. "At this point I think even Brahms would go against Lezard after all he's done."
"What's he's done this time?" Brahms voice cut into the groups conversation. "What are you all doing here?"
He glanced at Silmeria and then back to Alicia before letting his eyes slide over the rest. He was silhouetted on some sort of augmented spire that had fallen from the mansion where the 'not so final' battle had taken place.
"We're looking for Lezard." Silmeria spoke first. "He somehow separated us…and then disappeared with Lenneth."
"No surprise." Brahms smirked some, he had to give the wizard that he was committed. "He didn't die then. Should have realized when this world of his didn't completely disappear upon his demise."
"A clue we won't overlook next time we kill him." Hrist promised. "Have you seen him here? We figure this would be the top of his list for locations to take her."
The vampire lord shook his head negatively, hopping down from where he was perched on the debris of the bizarre mansion. "Afraid not, this is the first time I've sensed anything sense you all left after the conflict. He certainly was a strange guy but he didn't think to create any other sort of life that was human in nature. Animals and plants he has a variety of although the place arches out farther than I've bothered to yet explore. He made his own twisted world…it is a fair reflection of his mind."
"So where do we start then?" Alicia asked. "The sooner we find them the sooner we'll be able to save Lenneth. We can't afford to waste time."
"She's right." Silmeria agreed. "It might be faster if we split up and then have a place of contact in a day or so to go over possible findings. We can divide up in three sets of two, Hrist?"
"Sounds like it will work." Hrist admitted hesitantly. "Are the rest of you fine with it? We'll give the mirror to Alicia and Rufus so they can send up a signal if they find anything. Between Silmeria and myself we can take flight and be seen if it becomes needed."
"We have a plan then. Let's hope we find him soon." Rufus said with a sigh, reaching out toward Alicia and despite himself he had to resist the smile. He had her back.
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Lezard reached up to start picking the pieces of salad from his hair where Lenneth had dumped his offer of food on him. At least she didn't get a hold of the pudding first.
He eyed his love and smiled despite the lettuce on his shoulders and the cheese in his hair, still adjusting to the fact that he had her at all. The smirk only causing Lenneth a little more dismay now that her 'throwing things' method of defense had lost much of it's fire.
"Come now my love." Lezard shook his head to clear it of any clinging crumbs. Deceptively innocent looking when he wasn't showing his line-of-thought on his face. "I am simply trying to make sure you eat and I would like to sit with you. Is it so much to ask when I'm worried about your health?"
"Yes." She didn't think she was being unreasonable. "I'll eat if you leave me alone."
Lezard sighed a little bit at her terms, wanting to be more forceful but remembering Mystina's warning; she wasn't the best example of a woman really - but she did have a closer view of his love's possible thoughts than he did just by sharing her gender. He finally just nodded, relenting to the demand. "If it will keep you fit then I'll give in this time my sweet. If you need anything, especially company…let me know. I'll come to you if that is what is needed to sway your decision about me goddess."
Lenneth only managed to scoff as he made his retreat from the room, a little too surprised by his willing exit for her apparent behalf to offer the normal level of her distain. Did he just willingly help me? Another one of his tricks... At least he isn't making me eat with him.
She started looking over the many things he'd brought for her, vaguely wondering just how long he'd taken to put all of it together before finding things to eat, she wouldn't admit to him she was starving but she had no reason to hold back for propriety's sake now that he had left.
It was as he paused around the hallway from her room to lean on the wall.
"Oh fates why do you curse me so?" he whispered to himself. Raising a hand to take his glasses off as he closed his eyes, putting his other arm over them as he slid his body down the wall to sit in silent lament of his destiny. "the master of time so willingly brought to my knees by my sublime angel. What covetable anguish your toxic words sear onto my soul! If you only knew or could understand the sophisticated torment I weep for the way you abuse the strings of my heart!"
He laughed lightly, the slightest hint of dementia in it's tone as it's pitch raised a little beyond what should be normal for his voice. Removing the blue velvet of his sleeve from over the lavender eyes that smiled despite the latest turn away, determination shining in their calculating depths as he rose with a new fervor to dash for his laboratory, new ideas running through his brain as he hurried off to start putting them in the works.
"Something special…" he muttered with a crazed grin. "…I can do something you'll never forget my goddess."
End Chapter
Man, this chapter was pretty difficult to get together. Believe it or not. I see Mystina as a sort of conscious for Lezard at times…being one of the only characters that actually knew him on his rise to power. Though he killed her once I thought her resurrection by him was fitting for the story I'm telling. Til next time.
-Aura
To my reviewers:
LotornoMiko - It went through. I try to upload new chapters to my stuff whenever I get the time and I try to have an extra chapter written in advance whenever possible. I actually had most of this chapter outlined when I posted two. I just went through and fiddled with it to fix it up before I posted it. Like I have 4 almost complete while I'm posting this one. As far as the spell goes; I got most of it from the Valkyrie Profile manga. I added the last couple lines but the rest doesn't belong to me - sadly. I wish I had a complete translation of the manga that stared Lezard. I only own it in Japanese.
Lezard Valeth - Mmm I'm sorry if you think I'm copying Lotorno in any way. That isn't my intention. As far as the Valkyrie thing goes I might shove a flashback in sometime. With Lezard giving Mystina a body I already have a reason for it he just hasn't mentioned it in the fiction yet. I've hinted toward it very vaguely but there is a motive behind his 'generous' act.