Aquarius Monday
by Queen Momoko
Chapter 3: Temples And Tests
I own nothing. Absolutely nothing... except the idea... and even then not really. ^^ I have no money either. I'm poor. Sailor Moon and Slayers are not mine. Enjoy. ^^ C&C are welcome. 8/10/02
Note: All references can be found at the bottom with their corresponding numbers. ^_^ These include translations of words.
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The world had long since been explored and forgotten. And while most of the world had once again been rediscovered, there still lay a small tree covered island that had long since forgotten the touch of a human. And so when the small band of people disembarked their ship and set foot on the island, it was no surprise when they encountered fearless animals. And so the people ventured forth to explore the new island that they had discovered.
After days of wandering through the dense foliage, they came upon a silvery temple. In the sun's warm rays, the temple stood cold and steadfast. Yet when the moon's cool beams, hit the temple, it lighted up like a star's warm embrace. The adventurer's were confused, of course, but decided to venture into the now open temple. Strange writing covered all the walls and only one person of the party managed to translate only small fragments of it. What they found in the writings was a wish granted the person who could call forth the power that was hidden in the temple.
So with hearts filled of hope and minds filled of greed, the party continued on into the temple. And as they neared the central chamber, they're hearts began to fill with jealousy and hate for the people with them. Yet one remained seemingly untouched, the one who had been able to read parts of the writing. He alone followed only to find out more of the writing.
When they finally reached the center chamber, the men ran blindly into the room, trying to catch the power of the temple for themselves. And only the one remained standing before the doorway to great room, frozen in place. He had tried to warn his fellow men that only those with a pure heart and desire would be allowed to enter the central chamber unharmed. All others would face death as punishment.
So only one brave adventurer ever made it back to the mainland with a story of a mysterious moonlight temple that would grant wishes, if the heart was pure. While many had tried to get the temple to fulfill their wishes, none that entered ever came back. The story seemed to vanish into the mists of time as people gave up and forgot about the temple hidden on an island, surrounded entirely by forest and water.
*~*~*~*~*~*
"So Lina, what are we doing here?" Gourry asked.
"We're here to help Zel find a cure," Lina answered sweetly, completely ignoring the confused look that had appeared on Gourry's face.
"But I thought you decided to come because you wanted to wish for-" Gourry's confused words were cut short as Lina swiftly hit him over the head before he could say anything else.
"What are you talking about Gourry? We just came to help Zel," Lina laughed nervously, casting glances at Zel.
Zelgadis merely ignored the two that were with him. He had guessed that Lina had come for her own reasons mixed in, but that didn't matter. He turned his attention back to the ornately carved wall in front of him. The ancient language that had been written covered every available spot in the vast temple that they were now in. Though the language had seemingly been lost and forgotten Zel had been preparing himself for this task. For the last couple months preceding the journey to where he currently was, he had been reading as much as he could on deciphering dead languages.
From what he had read from the walls so far, he had learned that residing in the central most room would be the key to getting his wish granted. Once they found the central chamber, the person who entered the room would receive the gift that would allow him to finally be cured. But only one person was allowed into the Central Chamber, and that person had to be pure-hearted. Zel shook his head, whatever that meant. He knew that if anyone entered the chamber that was not pure-hearted, or if more than one person entered, they would never leave the temple.
The problem now was not how to tell Lina that only one person could enter the place where the gift would be given and that the person also had to be pure-hearted. Rather, the problem was just trying to find the Central Chamber. The writings that were posted at each intersection had be found and deciphered from the other various writings on the wall. Then he had to figure out which way was the best way because evidently, most of the paths led to the Central Chamber eventually. But he wanted to get out of the temple as fast as possible. There was a reason why no one had made it out of the temple alive yet, except for the first man who had made the voyage here.
The group of adventurers stopped before the short hall that led to the central chamber. They groups shielded their eyes from the glare that the room created. The walls of the inner chamber glowed brilliantly with the light from the moon that came through a circular opening in its ceiling. The clear crystal patterns that decorated the walls seemed to glow with an eerie blue-red flicker. After their eyes adjusted to the bright contrast of the room ahead, Lina and Zel looked to see if there were any visible traps.
Zel took a few steps into the hall to read the inscriptions that were etched along the pathway while Lina and Gourry hung back. After all, it wouldn't be prudent to lose all of the party on a first inspection. The words in the hall seemed to shift as Zel tried to read what they said. But Zel stopped as a sharp sense of unease came over him. A light laughter drifted strangely around Zel and down the hall. Zel spun towards where the laughter seemed to emanate from to see a wall of fire had sprung up to separate him from Lina and Gourry.
In the red flames a girl stood laughing. Her long violet locks of hair rose to dance with the flames that surrounded her. Seeming to realize that Zelgadis had turned around and was no facing her, she stopped laughing and let a smile slowly curve her crimson red lips upward. As she leveled her gaze at Zel, the fire seemed to dance around inside and behind her violet eyes. A slim, delicate hand brought a brilliant red rose across her lips as she continued to stare appraisingly at Zel him.
"Well now, what have we here? Do we have another brave adventurer come to try and take our little treasure? And I wonder is he prepared for his death? What do you think?" Her voice rose and fell with the flames that blocked that end of the corridor. She moved her eyes from Zel to gaze behind him at the other end of the hall that led to the Central Chamber.
The chill that was creeping up Zel's back grew in intensity. Carefully, so as to keep the woman in the fire in his sight, he turned to see what was occurring at the other end of the hall. The doorway to the Central Chamber had become a solid wall of ice with blue haired woman lazily leaning against it. The woman's neutral expression didn't change as she cracked one of her eyes open to look at Zel before moving her gaze over to fiery woman.
"He seems more prepared than the others who have come here. He might be able to actually do it. Though we shall see about that, won't we?" She said as her icy blue gaze turned back to Zel. "Are you prepared for the tests, Boy?"
"For failure in any of the parts means certain death for you," a smile fully blossomed on the first woman's face, "and your friends, should they choose to ignore the rules."
Zel looked the smiling woman in the fire over. The frown that had marred his face since her appearance still held its place as he noticed the long red dress that she wore. It seemed to flutter slightly in the currents of the fire, but it otherwise seemed unharmed by the fire. He turned his gaze then to the shorthaired woman on his other side. She too wore a long sleeveless dress as she waited for his answer to their question. The presence of something in the ice behind her drew Zel's attention next. A single baby blue rose in full bloom was imprisoned in the ice. Zel nodded his assent to the terms that the woman had set.
"Let the test begin," the blue haired woman laughed slightly at some personal joke. "I will start the first round."
Zel turned his full attention to the woman still leaning against the ice. As he stood waiting for her to begin her portion of the test, he noted that the rose in the ice and her dress appeared to be the same color. Zel focused his gaze on the woman to block stray thoughts from entering his mind.
"For the first portion of my test you must fight me," she spoke suddenly. "You may use only magic and you must defeat me using my own element. If you can defeat me, then you must answer me a single question. Once you have correctly answered my question, you will have completed my portion of the test."
Zel began chanting under his breath as he kept an eye on the woman. She appeared to trying to hear the soft words that he was chanting. A slight wind appeared as the air around him cooled. Small icicles began to form and collect on his cloak and his clothes as he continued his chant.
"Gray Buster!" Zel shouted, shattering the silence that had descended on the hall. The moisture in the air froze and created a fine dust of ice crystals that began to drift down to the floor. The woman blew air out into the hall and smiled as she watched it crystallize before her eyes. As the tiny bits of ice finally all began to settle down, Zel looked her over. The cold seemed to have no effect on her other than amusing her.
Zel focused on his surroundings as he tried to form a plan that would allow him to beat the icy woman since a direct attack probably wasn't going to work. Zel cocked his head slightly as an idea came to him. Zel nodded as he thought the plan over again to himself, figuring that the plan might actually work.
"Freeze Arrow!" Zel's attack sped towards the waiting woman who had raised her right arm in a halting position. As the dangerous arrows of ice neared her, she yawned. The shards of ice that had come directly at her were now hovering before her outstretched hand. They then fell harmlessly to the ground at her feet. The arrows that had gone wide of her slammed into the wall of ice behind her, cracking it slightly.
"Freeze Bullet!" The rapid fire of the second attack was to catch her slightly off guard, but she still stood with her arm outstretched waiting for the bullets of ice to speed towards her person. But the tiny projectiles of ice all flew past her blinking form and into the weakened wall of ice behind her, shattering it. The tinkling of falling ice behind her caused her to spin around and stare in slight shock. But she quickly turned back to Zel. Her light laughter tinkling in time with the still falling bits of ice.
"Congratulations. You have just passed the first part of the test. Would you mind telling me how you came up with that idea of yours?" she asked politely. "Of course, that isn't your question. So don't feel that you have to answer. I'm just curious."
"Well, I obviously couldn't attack you from the front. You were too well prepared for that. So I thought that if I could distract you from me I would be able to get an attack past your defenses. When you failed to guard the wall of ice behind you I was hoping that I would be able to shatter it and possibly some of the shards of ice that would result in the shattering would have injured you," Zel calmly explained to the still smiling blue-eyed woman.
"Now for your question. Answer carefully because there will be no clarifying and your first answer is final," she said slowly. "Did you come here with a pure heart?"
Zel closed his eyes in thought. Was his heart pure? He thought back over his life and everything that he had done and had happened to him in it. He had killed people. Did that make his heart impure or did that just make his hands covered in blood? He had come with the idea of finding a cure for his problem. Was that considered pure? And if so did that mean that he had come with a pure heart or not? Questions flooded his mind as he tried to think of his answer.
How could he answer, if he didn't really understand the question? How was he or anyone expected to pass this test? He could say yes, without really knowing what she was asking, and the act of answering with an affirmative might gain him pass onto the next test. But if he was lying when he answered yes to the question, it might mean that he had not passed the test and he would die. A snarl found its way onto Zel's face as the riddle continued to grow. He had to make a decision.
"No." Zel spoke into the silence that had gathered while he thought about his answer.
"Omedetoo gozaimasu (1)," the blue haired woman said as she bowed her head to Zel. When she raised her head from the bow, a smile appeared on her face over Zel's confused expression. "Ganbatte." A soft breeze stirred around her end of the hall, lifting the blue rose, that had once been embedded in the ice and then had fallen to the ground, causing it to drift slowly to woman's open hand. With rose in hand the blue-eyed woman vanished.
Zel turned around to face woman who was basked in flames. He took a moment to look behind her. Lina and Gourry stood on the other side of the wall of flames silently cheering him on. After all, if they didn't speak, there was no way that they could be construed as helping him during the tests. It had taken a bit for them to manage to get Gourry to understand, but it appeared as though their efforts had not been in vain.
"I must say," the woman in the red dress's voice brought Zel's attention back to where it should have been, "that I did not think that you would make it past my friend. But surprises are always fun. For my portion of the test, you will have to answer some questions. If you somehow manage to make it though all the questions alive, then you will proceed to the final test. Now, what... is your name?"
"Zelgadis Greywers," Zel said semi-boredly.
"What... is your favorite color?"
"Blue."
"What... is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow? (2)" Her violet eyes flashed with fire as she looked at Zel's confused expression. "Just kidding. What is your quest?"
"To find a cure for my... condition."
"How, pray tell, did you find this room?"
"I followed the signs that lined the walls."
A smile spread across her face as she continued, "And what protects this temple?"
Zel closed his eyes to think of everything that he had managed to read as they were making their way towards where they were now. Three guardians were named in the protection of this temple. Now all he had to remember was what exactly their names were. "Merucuri, Marusu, and Serenity."
"You may proceed. I will remain here to make sure your friends don't try and interfere," she smiled over to him, before turning her back to him to watch over Lina and Gourry.
At the clear dismissal, Zel walked down the rest of the hall and past where the lady of ice had been. In the middle of the room was a raised circular platform. The corresponding circle in the ceiling was gone, clearly being the source of the moonlight that filled the room. A growing shaft of white luminescence began to grow and fill the platform before him and he was forced to turn away from the blinding light. As the light slowly dimmed, he turned back towards the center of the room to see a silver haired angel floating a few feet above the platform.
Her silver eyes locked onto Zelgadis's steel blue eyes. They simply stood staring into each other's eyes. Her eyes try to look and see his soul while his eyes merely tried to figure out what she was. Just as suddenly as they had begun looking at each other, Zelgadis pulled his eyes away from the searching eyes of the silver-winged woman. After a few seconds he turned his eyes back towards her to take in her appearance. The upturned crescent moon on her forehead began to glow slightly and Zel braced himself for another blinding light.
*~*~*~*~*
"It has begun. You are to keep them safe at all costs," a firm female voice echoed off the walls in the large room as she spun to face a woman sitting on a throne.
"I know just who to send. My General will do the job, won't you?" the woman on the throne commandingly asked the man who kneeled before her.
"Of course, Mistress. It would be my pleasure," the silky masculine voice drifted up from the kneeling form.
"It is necessary for this to be carried out with the utmost secrecy. And to make sure you will be able to carry out your little mission, we will be giving your magic a little kick," the final woman spoke up.
"Of course, if you even try to use the power we give for any purpose other than what we have assigned you, you will face our wrath. Is that understood?" the first woman said smoothly.
"Good," the final woman said cheerfully after the man's nod of understanding. "Let's get this party started."
*~*~*~*~*
1. Okay, for the purpose of this story Japanese is going to be considered the ancient language that people can't really read or speak. It is considered a dead language in the Slayers world. Everything you see in English, you must imagine that it is in fact a different language and not really English. ^^ Understand? P
P.S. 'Omedetoo gozaimasu' means "Congratulations" and 'Ganbatte' means "Good luck" (in case you didn't know).
2. This is sort of taken from Monty Python's Holy Grail. But I thought it was funny and it fit. ^^ So I just had to put it in there. The Bridge of Death is definitely entertaining. :-P