She tried searching for him the old fashioned way, but he never appeared before her again. He was avoiding her, it seems. She did try one thing though. An experiment, if you will. She needed to check and see if he was still around, even if she couldn't see him. So she did the only thing she knew to lure him out of hiding.

She bought a strawberry Slurpee and left it out on a park bench near where she met him face-to-face for the first and last time. She hid behind a tree, watching and waiting. Night came and nobody touched it. Defeated again.

She turned to leave, but as she walked away, she decided to throw one last glance at the bench. The drink was gone. Her eyes widened and she ran up to it, checking for him. He already got away, it seemed. On the bench was a note, with one word written on it.

"Better"

'What an ass' she thought, flustered.

Nonetheless, the experiment was still a success. He really was around, and she could communicate with him through notes.

She began writing to him every day, leaving a note behind and finding one with a response on it, albeit cryptical or sarcastic. It didn't matter though; she could figure out his intent on her own.

There was one answer though, that made her heart shrink. She asked him what he did to her grandma's books.

"Got rid of them"

She cursed and cried and cursed again, but she was sure he was lying. It was all meant to get her to quit. 'Well, tough luck, senor fancy pants, because I'm onto you, and I won't stop 'till one of us dies.'

Her inner monologue ignored the fact that he was immortal.


The days went by and she didn't get any closer to finding her answers. Her grandpa never read those books, as he said, so he wasn't much help with their contents. She had to know what was in them, though.

She was starting to get frustrated with their little back and forth go-nowhere conversations, as well.

"-You goddamn bastard, how dare you toy with me, you good for nothing rotten asshole! Go die in a ditch! Also, I don't like you very much-. Did I read that right?"

She snapped out of her thoughts and looked up at the tall blonde woman who held her most recent note for her to see. She blushed, realizing upon hearing out loud that maybe she got a bit bold with her swearing. She was risking it, insulting an immortal monster like that.

"I take it this was meant for Xellos?" the mysterious woman continued with a light smile in the corner of her lips.

Was she one of his allies?

Lucy went pale at the sudden realization then let out a nervous chuckle.

The woman laughed with her and handed the note back to her.

"There's no point in chasing after him, you know. He'll just keep running away. If you want to meet up with him, you have to make him come to you" the woman said, as if reading her mind. Again.

"How do I do that? Should I try calling him again?" Lucy asked, curiously.

"Xellos doesn't like playing the same game twice. You'll have to be more creative than that to get him to notice you again."

"Like what?"

The woman shrugged.

"That's for you to figure out, little girl"

'Little? I'm almost 20!' Lucy pouted. She was rather petite, yes, but still…!

"Well, all I wanted was to get back my grandma's parting gift. It's a wooden yellow case with a dragon pattern on top. It's a family heirloom, you see. But…Xellos told me he destroyed it." Lucy said truthfully.

The woman seemed deep in thought for a second.

"Oh, that case. It's behind the 'Garden musings' novel on the first floor of the old condemned building on Groot Street. He placed it there a while ago."

Lucy froze.

"How…is that true?"

"Probably" the woman shrugged again, a look of boredom on her face.

Wasn't she on his side though? Why would she rat him out?

"Why did you tell me that?" Lucy asked nervously.

The woman smiled again, this time a sinister, wicked smile.

"Because, I want to make this game more interesting"


She picked up the case and dusted it off a bit. The woman was telling the truth, a box fitting her grandfather's description was placed behind the book on the back of the shelf inside the old building. An abandoned library. Obviously. Hiding books among books. What dastardly thinking.

She opened the box and looked inside. There were 3 books, 2 of which were indeed in very poor condition, worn, with moth-chewed pages and peeled off covers. Truly, the oldest books she ever saw. The third book, however, seemed to be in pristine condition. Almost eerily so. Despite sitting underneath the others, it didn't have so much as a speck of dust on it. The cover design also pointed out that it was about as old as the others, so it didn't make any sense.

She decided to save it for last, since there was obviously something special about that book, and started reading them in order from top to bottom.

The top one seemed to be a history book, detailing the reigns of kings that were lost to time. Not exactly what she was looking for, but some things did seem out of place. Stories about the War of the Monster's Fall, Zanaffar, Shabranigdo and more…these were all fantasy stories, but spoken about like they took place in real time. Weird, very much so. Fairies, elves, demons…they took active part in the history of these kingdoms, as if it was a real life mythology novel.

Were this books' stories real or just fantasy? But she had heard of some of these people. Dragons protecting the kingdom? Demons destroying villages?

If all this truly happened, where were they now? She was sure she'd notice giant fire breathing lizards running around, or magic spells that made people fly. Nothing like that ever happened in the 19 years she's been alive. Life was one dull string of same-y days and washed out grey faces in the crowds.

The book was probably that. A highly fantasized version of ancient history.

Though, one account caught her eye.

King Zelgadis Seyruun the first.

If the numbers were true, his reign lasted over 240 years? How is that even possible?

The book spoke of him favorably, considering him a wise and noble king. His physical description was rather off, though.

Blue skin, sharp eyes, long pointed ears, fangs, rock covered body.

He sounded like a demon.

There were also accounts of his successor, his son, which were far less forgiving. Quite harshly spoken of, described as 'the beginning of the downfall of the Seyruun kingdom', which seemed to become less and less mentioned as the book went on, up till the last half where it seemed to stop existing.

Lucy was rather intrigued and got a nagging feeling the person she was looking for had a hand in all of this somehow.


She picked up the second book. It was made entirely of paper and in worse shape than the first. It seemed to have been treated as less important and consequentially handled more carelessly.

She started reading it.

It seemed to be a diary.

As she went on, she realized it was king Zelgadis's diary. The first half was written in perfect cursive handwriting, with a distinct style and tone, but the latter half seemed to be more jagged and scribbled, as if the author was losing control over his hand and thoughts.

'Something must've happened to him. Something I might be able to understand from the book'

The diary seemed to start off in the middle, with his early life accounts being told as a flashback. Seems he was on orphan, raised by his grandfather. The book went on to detail many accounts, including the horrible events that led up to him becoming a chimera creature, which explained his appearance in the first book. It also described his feelings for a certain girl that appeared to be the princess of the Seyruun kingdom mentioned earlier, but all this seemed to be skimmed over. It was more like the author was avoiding talking about himself, and preferred to detail someone else's life. Someone else's story.

Truly, the book seemed to focus more on the actions of a certain woman named Lina Inverse.

Someone she never heard of before, but for some reason sounded strangely familiar.

This person seemed to take part in so many world changing adventures, was known and feared by every monster out there. She was presented as being resourceful and loyal, and seemed to have earned King Zelgadis' respect through her actions.

Her story seemed to end rather abruptly though and the diary went on with Zelgadis' own life after finishing his travels and settling down at the palace.

A lot of different people seemed to be mentioned in those stories, people she never heard of or really cared about. But there was one that she did. As expected, there was indeed mention of Xellos.

Twice.

Once in the middle of the book, where it talked about their first encounter with each other:

That night is when I met him. That demon that called himself Xellos. I hated him almost instantly.

Standing on top of that burning pillar, clapping. He came up to us and requested our help with finding a lost Claire Bible copy his shrine was caring for. I could sense he was a shifty con artist the second I saw him, but Lina was more forgiving. It took me a few years to understand why. Most of Lina's group was made up of people that didn't seem to deserve a second chance, myself included. I guess she thought he was more than he seemed.

But she was wrong. Judging by looks alone, yes, he seemed almost pitiable. The traveling priest attire reminded me of Rezo. This was the first reason I didn't like him. His patched up pants, baggy clothes, honest smile and tear-jerking story all seemed to lead up to him being a victim in need of our aid.

Then we learned it was all a lie. And we learned it from him, no less. He stole the copy and destroyed it when he didn't find it useful, completely forgetting about our deal. He just took advantage of us and left. Again and again and again. He showed up only when he needed us and left when we needed HIM.

An irredeemable, irresponsible, shameless jackal. That's all he was.

Yet Lina didn't seem to hold it against him very much.

That is, until that day. I'm sure that was his doing, even if nobody else is willing to accept it. But what could I do about it?

The entry was cut short at that point, with no other explanation as to what that 'day' meant.

He was mentioned again near the very end, in a story that seemed to pose more questions than anything else. By this time, his handwriting had decayed considerably, with long pauses and ink splatter that made it a lot harder to read. He seemed to be straining himself just to write cohesively at this point. Lucy guessed that he was near the end of his life.

I feel at a loss. My condition has been getting worse lately. That damned Rezo and his experiments. I feel less and less… human as the years go by. I can barely see anymore because of the hardened skin on my eyelids. I can't concentrate. My mind…is failing me. I don't trust my…self anymore.

I feel like… I wasn't the right person to lead Seyruun. Amelia…Amelia was always so positive…she truly believed in me…how could she believe in such a monster? I wasn't worthy of her…she deserved so much more. She waited on me…she waited for nothing! I realized it all too late. She was aging so much faster than me. Why didn't I…notice? She stayed by my side though. She even made sure I was left the legal king of a country I didn't really want to lead…

But I tried. I did it for her. I did it for her trust, for the smile she always showed me. Even when she couldn't leave her bed, she still smiled at me. She told me she loved me every day. But I never answered back. I couldn't.

Amelia trusted in our future. She believed our marriage would work out, unlike Lina's. Because I would always stay by her side, even though I wasn't human. I did. I wasted her life.

I couldn't have any children. Why didn't I realize this sooner? I wasted her future, staying by her side. Amelia has no other relatives left now. When I die, Seyruun will lose its royal family. I doomed this kingdom.

It's all my fault. MINE, MINE, MINE.

MINE ALONE.

Alone? No, I'm not alone. I feel the cool air and I can hear the curtains flapping aimlessly in the wind. I hear his voice. The bastard came back, just like I thought. He knows I gave up. He knows I'm willing to take his deal.

Xellos. You heartless devil.

But I'm desperate. I have to.

I…I'm sorry Amelia. I…loved you too.

There wasn't much after this. Zelgadis never went into detail about what happened, but Lucy could make a pretty good guess. She felt like she was seeing Xellos in a completely different light now.

She was afraid of him.

And she needed to end him, no matter what.


The third book was the one she was most interested in. It had a blue, hard cover with an intricate pattern and words written in an indecipherable language on the bind. As she noticed earlier, it was in perfect condition.

She felt a little jolt pinch her fingertips as she tried to open it, as if it was protected by some sort of electrical coating. Magic?

Yes. this was a book on magic!

Even though it was written in some ancient language, she could understand the words just by looking at them. As if she had some sort of deep memory of it.

Earth spells, elemental conjuring, fire blasts.

So many uses.

But one spell in particular brought a smile to her face.

'Demon summon'