A/N: Hm... very... different chapter. Hope you guys like it anyways!
Chapter 7
"WHAT?!" Lina cried, mouth agape. "You're kidding. That's... that's just impossible! How could..."
Filia shook her head, taking a sip from her tea and placing it back on the tablecloth-covered tree stump. "It's true, I'm afraid. In the past two weeks, about eighty percent of the remaining ryuzoku race died. Ryuzoku live much, much longer than humans, Lina. Two weeks is the blink of an eye for us. And they all died of natural causes—something we usually only lose dragons to once every couple hundred years or so. The only explanation I can think of is that someone is killing them."
Lina crossed her arms. "That's crazy. Why would someone do that? How would someone do that?"
"Well, Xelloss—" Filia suggested.
"I don't think so." Lina shook her head. She sighed. It was starting to click. "Somethin's been bugging me, Filia. Starting a few weeks ago, members of the Sorcerer's Guild have started to drop dead."
Filia's eyes widened a moment. "Really? What killed them?"
"Natural causes," Lina shrugged. "Most of them. Experiments getting lose, food poisoning, disease... some of them died from miscasting spells—these are experienced sorcerers, Filia. They don't miscast spells. Almost every one of their deaths were different, but..." She shook her head. "Some previously-friendly sorcerers decided suddenly to test their new spells on each other. It just doesn't work."
Filia drew in a small gasp. "Then what... You could be next! I could be next! And we don't know how the murderer's doing it!"
"Exactly," Lina nodded. "Someone's killing high-level magic users, Filia. They're the only ones who've been affected. Maids, servants, apprentices... none of them have been touched."
Filia stared down at her tea. "What do you think this means?" she asked.
"I don't know," Lina shrugged. "Some people have reported strange behavior from sorcerers before they died... they'd seal themselves in their studies, writing long, ten page, sometimes hundred page documents. They tried to do it secretly, at night, but some of them were found out. When asked, they didn't seem to know why they were doing it. Just that they'd had to do it." She sighed. "Then they'd go back to their normal life, but before too long... they died."
Filia sipped her tea. "So... you've been looking into this already?"
Lina nodded. "Yeah. I had to. I mean, I am a member of the Sorcerer's Guild, Filia. Pretty much any sorcerer who's worth his salt is. So... I'm in danger." She swallowed. "Some people have even quit the guild, thinking that might stop it, but it didn't. Some have gone into hiding... to be discovered dead later."
"So... someone's been killing people, and we have no idea who he is or how he's doing it," Filia stated, frowning.
"Sorcery, probably," Lina shrugged. "But I've never heard of any spells like this. Completely untraceable, doesn't leave a mark, kills differently each time, and to some extent controls your actions before you die. Maybe a puppetry spell of some sort..."
"So what do we do?" Filia asked, her brow furrowed.
"We look into the victims. Again," Lina replied. "So far, I've only asked around a little. It's kind of common knowledge, really. So now, if a sorcerer starts writing some long tome, he's practically written off as a dead man."
Filia shook her head. "Okay. Has anyone found out what the victims write?"
"No," Lina shook her head. "They've all been pretty protective of what they've written, and then, they secretly dispose of it somehow."
Filia nodded. "I don't know much. The messenger dragons only contacted me briefly to let me know of the danger, then continued looking for others of our race. They didn't give me much information, just that someone was killing off the dragons, and to be careful."
"All right. I think it's safe to say it's the same killer. Dragons pretty much all know high-level magic, right?"
"Mostly. But less than eighty percent, I think."
"Hm... well, it's possible that the killer was afraid of the dragons finding out he was killing them."
Filia nodded. "Possible. Dragons are probably more of a threat to him than humans..."
"Especially if he'd already killed off all the human sorcerers," Lina pointed out. "If that's true, then he's afraid of something. Means he's not indestructible. Could be what he's been trying to do from the beginning, too: kill everyone who poses a threat. Though that wouldn't explain why everyone writes something before they die."
"If that's true, then..."
"Why am I still alive?" Lina finished. She shrugged. "I don't know."
"All right. I suppose the first thing to do would be to find out everything we can about the victims. The victims we know about, anyway," Filia offered.
Lina nodded. "Yeah." She stood up off the rock she was sitting on. "Let's go through them one by one, from the beginning. Let's head to Atlas City. They should have kept pretty good records about the dead sorcerers there."
"Agreed," Filia responded. "We don't know how much time we have. As much as I'd prefer not to... I'll fly you there."
"Thanks," Lina smiled. "'Preciate it."
They cleaned up and headed out.
--
Knock, knock, knock.
Knock, knock, knock.
KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK.
"GRRAH!" A few hours later, a very angry Lina (accompanied by a slightly embarrassed-looking Filia) was pounding on the front door of the sorcerer's guild. "LET ME IN!" she bellowed. "I know someone's in there!"
"No!" came a voice from inside. "No entry!"
"Why the hell not?!" Lina waved her arms frantically in the air. "I'm trying to save the world, here!"
"No entry until the murderer has been apprehended!" said the voice from inside. "Period!"
"Grrrr..." Lina fumed. "If you don't open this door, I'll BREAK it down!"
"My lady," huffed the voice, sounding very amused and haughty, "This is the very well warded door of the Sorcerer's Guild. Do you think a simple third-rate sorceress could break it down so easily?"
"THIRD-RATE?!" Lina growled. "Do you even know who I am?!"
A small peephole opened in the door, revealing a single eye. This eye widened, whites showing in fear. The peephole slammed shut. "Uh, ah, right away, Miss Inverse, one moment please..."
"That's better," Lina growled. There were some clicking noises inside, and then the door creaked open a bit. "Finally." She kicked the door the rest of the way in. A crunching noise could be heard coming from behind the door.
"Ow..." whined the doorman as the fearsome Lina Inverse stormed past.
"Oh, dear..." Filia sighed. She could just catch up with Lina later, she decided, and closed the door. "I'll heal that for you..."
The pudgy little doorman smiled. "Thank you, nice, pretty lady..." he mumbled before passing out.
--
"All right!" Lina headed straight for the records room. She'd been here plenty of times, and knew exactly where it was. Turn here, turn there, keep going down the hallway... The few sorcerers that were left in the guild took note of her passing, and carefully steered clear.
But when she reached the doors and paused, she heard a voice. "She's still alive?" it gasped.
"But she's the most powerful sorcerer of them all! Why was she spared?"
"Maybe..." commented a hushed voice. "Maybe she's the murderer!"
Lina turned on her heels. "Who said that?!" she growled, fangs bared, preparing a fireball in her hands.
The crowd that had gathered quickly dissipated as the third- (tenth?) rate sorcerers scampered away, tails between their legs.
Lina smirked a little. "All right, let's do this!" she threw open the door to the records. It wasn't hard to find the book she was looking for; it was sitting right in front of her, on the desk. "Sorcerer Guild Deaths," it said, and the year. It was open to the most recent page. Someone had probably been working hard to keep it updated...until they died, probably. Most record-keepers and other officers in the guild were also high-ranked sorcerers.
Lina sat down and cracked her knuckles, absently wondering where Filia had gotten to. Oh well, she'd catch up eventually, she decided, and flipped back to the beginning of the book.
--
Meanwhile, Filia was trying very, very hard to get through the masses of questioning people pressing her against the door.
"Who're you?" asked one man.
"Where's your guild membership?"
"What are you doing here?"
"How do we know you're not the killer?!"
"How did you get in here?!"
"I...I..." Filia swallowed.
"Well? Who are you!"
"I'm... I'm..." She took a deep breath. "I'm Filia Ul Copt. I do not have a guild membership, but I'm here with someone from the guild."
Someone asked in a very quiet, threatening voice, "Who?"
"Eh heh...um..." Filia looked embarrassed. "Lina Inverse?"
Silence. Then, "Seize her!"
"GAH! Stay AWAY!" In a flash, she'd drawn out her mace and plowed through the first line of sorcerers.
"AHH!" They fell like dominoes.
"Oh dear..." Filia sighed. "What a mess..." She shook her head. "Look, if you'd just let me through..."
"Now!" cried a voice. "Get her!"
"Flare--"
"No!" Filia cried, wielding her mace again. Down went another third of the sorcerers.
"Ahh!" The remaining third rate sorcerers ran away.
"Phew," Filia said, wiping her brow. Then she saw everyone around her. "Uh... oops."
"That's all right!" the doorman said. "You can just heal 'em all up again, right?"
Filia let out a resigned sigh, and set to work.
--
Deep in the depths of the sorcerer's guild, the third-rate sorcerer's screams couldn't reach Lina. They'd probably have fallen on deaf ears, anyway, as Lina was starting to see a very glaring pattern in the sorcerer deaths, starting with the first ones.
Chimeras. The first sorcerers had been working on chimeras. The murderer had started with the sorcerers working on chimera research, and spanned out from there, to people who only had a passing interest in chimeras, and finally, just the most powerful guys out there.
"No way..." Lina swallowed. "No... it can't be." She shook her head. She was probably jumping to conclusions. After all, there were plenty of people who would want the kind of secret information these sorcerers had.
But she couldn't deny the possibility, and she couldn't deny her gut feeling.
And worse, it would explain why no one she'd grown particularly close to had been effected, despite the fact that Sylphiel and Amelia were fairly good sorceresses—and Filia was a dragon priestess. Following the pattern, Filia should be dead by now.
And well, Lina was the most powerful of them all. She should be dead, too.
She shook her head. She had to find him, but that would be almost impossible. So, instead, she'd find that piece of definitive proof.
She searched through the book once more, carefully, looking for something, anything, any clue that could lead her to where she could find that piece of proof. Towards the end of the records, everything had become much more detailed, as the record-keepers realized exactly what kind of power they were up against. And there, towards the end, was her clue. A note, dated about a week ago:
--
Mary, my faithful wife, has noticed my odd behavior. I myself did not realize that what I was doing was strange, despite my having studied the victims of the mass murderer. The power of this strange spell is indeed strong. Yet, now that someone has pointed out to me how odd my actions are, I am able to notice. But I cannot stop myself, nor can I conceive why I possibly thought to act the way I did. I even attempted to tell someone where I had sent that strange letter, but I couldn't. I attempted to write it, and I couldn't.
However, when I sneaked out of the house to send the letter without Mary noticing, I managed to ask the postman to copy the name and address for me. He was very confused why I, the scholar that I was, could not copy the name and address myself, but in the end, I managed to convince him to do it. I have hidden this name and address—I can't help but be secretive about this, and I don't know why. This concerns me, even more than the fact that I know I am not long for this world.
I have hidden his name and address. It is hidden in the place that fuels our magic, for as powerful as we are, even the most powerful of sorcerers would not be able to survive without the contents of this place.
--
Lina frowned. Well, the place that fuels magic... that was easy enough. Fuel. Food was fuel, and it was true, sorcerers needed food to be able to cast. The place that contained that food would be the attached restaurant/cafeteria and larder.
"All right, a clue!" Lina cheered. She threw the doors of the record room open, and quickly found the attached restaurant (which was, sadly, deserted). "A clue after my own heart, too!" Lina cheered. She looked around. Her stomach growled. "All right... first things first! If I'm going to find a clue hidden in here, then I'd better clean up!" She headed for the larder.
In it was cheese, bread, rice, anything she wanted. So she started to eat.
And she ate.
And ate.
And ate.
About an hour later, she'd managed to get to the bottom of the piles and piles of food. And there, on the floor, on a huge piece of parchment. "Huh. You know, I don't think I had to eat anything to find this after all! Oh well!" She patted her stomach, then looked over the name and address of the murderer:
Leahat Delard
Eldor, Kalmaart.
"All right, Leahat, if that's your real name—which I doubt it is—here I come."
At that, she sped down the hallway to the door. There was Filia, in a pile of bodies, healing them or something. They looked like they'd really been damaged by something.
"Come on, Filia," Lina said, "Quit playing around." stepping over them and walking to the door. "We've got work to do."
"But... all right...Did you find something?" Filia asked, rushing after her.
"Less talk, more flying," Lina said when she was outside.
"But, there're people everywhere..." Filia said, but when she saw the serious look in Lina's eyes, she nodded and obliged, and they took off.
Filia's stomach growled. She wished she'd had time for lunch.
--
A/N: Someone's killing off all the powerful people!! Do you realize what that means?
GASP! ALIENS ARE PREPARING THE WORLD FOR INVASION! EEEEE! RUN FOR THE HILLS!
... sorry, had to. XD
Not even sure where that one came from... O.o
Anyway, stay tuned for the next chapter!
