Zel: even more begrudgeingly Hello, my name is Zelgadis Greywyrs. A typical manic depressant human-turned-chimera by my grandfather/greatgrandfather Rezo the Red Priest. In trying to find my cure I have unknowingly transported myself to the mysterious world of El Hazard without a means of return home. What is going to happen to me in this unpredictable place?

"So this is where that came from..." Zelgadis looked at the library's roof. It was rather lacking in a portion of it's roof, and could easily see the UFO that provided the diversion for him where that hole is.

"Yeah, Makoto built this library for Afura Man when he was looking for a way back to his world. One of the Wind Shrine's rules is that only those in service to the shrine can access to books within. He put a strange-looking ornament on top as a finishing touch. Now that you mention it, that UFO did look a lot like the ornament he placed where that hole now is."

"Oh, Hi Alielle." Afura walked up to the two. In his current outfit she could notice Zelgadis' blue stone skin. "I was hoping Makoto would return so I could get him to fix that roof. It's just that I've been so busy lately that I never got around to actually asking him to do it. But now that you two are back - and fortunately without that drunk, pathetic excuse for a teacher Mr. Fujisawa - You can begin work right away on fixing my library. I'm getting rather tired of having to use my wind powers to keep the rain out."

"Um, actually it's just me and a friend. Makoto's still at the palace last I heard. He and Princess Rune havn't been more then two inches apart since he got back."

"Well who's your friend, then?" Looking at the stranger, Afura couldn't tell who was wearing it right away. "I'm pretty sure I'd be able to reconize Nanami... So who is she?"

Zelgadis went pale. Well, as pale as blue can get. 'F-f-from the way that priestess is talking, she took more into Alielle's comment about us being friends then there is... But why does she think I'm a girl?' He heart began to break as he began to think that while he was looking for the girl of his dreams, she was doing the exact same thing.

Alielle was about to tell Afura all about Zelgadis when she noticed how pale he was. She quickly figured out why. 'If I don't do something fast, he'll figure out that I'm just trying to figure out his secret to love.' She jumped into him, intending to give Zel a warm embrace that she only did before to Nanami when she was being sneaky about hitting on her. What she got instead was a reminder that Zel's body is as hard as a rock. As if those two times he fell on her wern't reminder enough.

Undaunted, and somehow still concious, she squeezed him a little tighter. "This here's my dear Zelly. He saved me from some bugrum, and I've been helping him out on looking for a cure to his condition."

'Damn...' Zel thought to himself as his face returned to it's natural blue hue, 'Alielle has been madly in love with me all that time and was just hiding it. Which means it was pointless to save her from the bandits without her knowing.'

"A cure, hunh? And what does that have to do with me?" Afura was rather confused with this part. "You seem to forget that I'm a priestess, not a healer."

Zelgadis sighed. "Because," he told her, "my condition is very unusual." He turned to face Afura. "Do you think they can cure this?"

Afura took a good stare at him. "No... I gues not..." Then she fell backwards, fainting. Zelgadis had not given her one of his friendlier faces for her first view, and as a result Afura was completely unable to handle what she saw.

Alielle caught her, while Zelgadis just shruged. 'happens all the time, not like I have no idea everyone thinks I'm a monster.' He turned and started to walk into the library. "Alielle, you make sure she's ok, I have something to do..."

Afura slowly opened her eyes. Alielle was by her side, holding her hand gently as she waited for her to recover. "How... How long was I out?"

Alielle smiled softly at her. She remembered how sweet she thought Zel was when he treated her wounds after he fell on her. Twice. Now seemed a good time to try that... bedside manner. 'How appropriate of a name...' Alielle thought to herself. "Not long, really. It only seemed like forever."

Afura blushed slightly. 'Not that I'd fall for her, but Alielle is getting much better at her lines.' She stood up and looked around. Zelgadis was nowhere to be seen. "What happened to your friend?"

Zelgadis walked out of the library. "I'm all finished here. Let's go, Alielle." He turned to leave.

'All finished? What's he mean by that?' Afura rushed into the library as Zel and Alielle started to leave. One book from each shelf of the library was on the floor. From the looks of it they were hastily looked through. All the other books were untouched.

"How DARE he mistreat my books like that! He didn't even ask permission!" Afura was furious. She ran out of the library, and took off in the air after them when she could.

Also in the air was Ifurita, being chased by the whirlwind still attached to her staff. "Oh, where is that stupid Shrine of Wind?" She noticed two people on the ground up ahead. "I know! I'll just ask them for directions!" And she too flew at Zelgadis and Alielle, unaware that there was another trying to occupy the same airspace.

Because Afura wanted to confront Zel before showing him the power of the wind, the two landed just a few feet in front of him and Alielle after having their midair collision. The jolt released the whirlwind, which was very happy to be free and ran off to enjoy the warm sands of the desert. Those who survived an encounter with it named it the 'demon wind', unaware how true the name actually was.

The two staggered to their feet, both moving about almost identically as they rubbed their heads. "Why don't you watch where you're go-" They suddenly noticed who they were talking to and got ready for a fight. Afura because she really didn't like Ifurita, and Ifurita because she knew Afura didn't like her.

Zelgadis whispered to Alielle. "I already know Afura Man, but who's the other one?"

"That's Ifurita, the Demon God." she replied.

'Demon God... Sounds like Xellos in disguise. Original name though.'

Afura growled. "Ifurita, what the hell are you doing here?"

Ifurita searched for her notebook. She remembered that Jinnai had said something about what to tell them if she was discovered. When she found what she was looking for, Ifurita read it aloud, "It's a secret!" She hadn't been able to write down the word 'mission' that was supposed to follow that, and now had forgotten that another word was supposed to follow it.

Now convinced that Ifurita is really Xellos in disguise, even if he has no idea how Xellos got here before him to know everyone here, and begins to suspect that Xellos knew all about his book after all. His anger so intense that the real Xellos would know in a second, he begins his attack. "Source of all souls which dwell in eternal and infinite. Everlasting flame of blue, let the power hidden in my soul be called forth from the infinite. Ra Tilt!"

Soon Ifurita was standing in a brilliant pillar of blue light. She screamed, her head jerking back suddenly as she began to float an inch off the ground against her will. Never before had such intense feelings of pain coursed through her entire body. When the spell faded away, she dropped seemingly lifeless to the ground. A very confused Afura, concerned by the scream Ifurita let out, tried to catch her without thinking. Now Afura was trapped under the unmoving body of the demon god.

"Damn... She's heavy." Was all Afura could manage to say. She tried to figure out why she tried to catch Ifurita. While she was watching Ifurita take Zelgadis' strange blast she took a good look at her. And for a moment, Afura almost thought she saw what Makoto was talking about when he tried to tell them that Ifurita wasn't evil. A split second where Ifurita almost seemed to have a childlike innocence to her. It was that moment that Afura felt sorry for everything that had ever happened to Ifurita. All her anger for Ifurita had faded. But at the moment it was all coming back to her.

Zelgadis and Alielle tried to lift Ifurita up so Afura could get out from under her, but for some reason Ifurita was too heavy even for the chimera man. 'Odd... Filia has no trouble bouncing Xellos around with mace-sama,' thought Zel, 'so why is he so heavy now?'

Alielle gave up, but then had a bright idea. "What if we use Ifurita's staff to wind her up again? Then she'll get up on her own!"

Zel noticed the place on Ifurita where the staff goes to wind her up, and was pretty sure Xellos didn't have to be wound up. Not that Zel would ever LOOK at Xellos in the spot where Ifurita got her recharges mind you. Thinking he must have goofed in thinking Ifurita was Xellos, he grabs the staff in question and starts to wind her up again. Turning to Alielle, he jokes, "You sure Ifurita will wanna get up when she wakes?"

Afura didn't like the joke one bit. She countered with one of her own. "Oh, if Ifurita was anything like that, rest assured that Alielle would know about it."

Zelgadis was about to ask why Alielle would know, but that was the moment Ifurita woke up. After a little stretch, she turned to Zelgadis. "Hello, new master. How may I serve you today?"

"N-new master?"

Ifurita smiled at him. "That's who you are, isn't it? I mean, last time I got a new master I thought it was the one I was laying on. But it turned out to be the one with the staff. You have the staff, so you must be my new master!" After a moment of silence because nobody knew what to say, she added, "So... What do you want me to do first?"

"Oh... I don't know... Blow up that mountain." He said it as a joke, and just pointed to any old mountain. Well, technically all mountains are old, but you know what I mean. To his horror, Ifurita grabed the staff, charged up, and completely obliterated it.

Alielle was also horrified. "Zelgadis! How could you use Ifurita's power for evil?"

'Well excuse me, princess...' Zel thought to himself. "I'm sorry. I didn't think she was serious about me being her master."

"Dead serious, sir!" Ifurita chimed in with a altogether too happy tone for the words she just uttered. "Do you have any other tasks you wish me to perform?"

"No, not really, Ifurita. Unless you know a way to turn me back into a human."

"Nothing comes to mind, Master. But I do have one question..."

Zel sighed. "What is it Ifurita?"

"Um, my memory seems to be damaged... Can you tell me what 'evil' means?"

Everyone else facefaults. "Well, it's just that my old master said 'evil' meant being good-natured and liking kids. But I don't see how blowing up a mountain is good-natured or kid-friendly. What if they wanted to climb the mountain but can't anymore now that it's blown up? So I'm thinking maybe it must mean something else."

Afura growled at Ifurita. "And why didn't you think of this when you served your old master?"

"Because," answered Ifurita, "I'm not allowed to question anything my master says. Now that my old master isn't my master I can question anything I think he did wrong, unless my new master tells me he thinks it's right."

"All right, Ifurita. I'll tell you all about what evil really is while me and Alielle walk to the next shrine to look for my cure." Zel and crew begin to head off again.

Suddenly Afura remembers why she came here in the first place. "And what's the deal with you reading the books in MY library without permission?"

Zelgadis gave her a dismissive hand gesture. "I fixed the roof for you, so what's the problem?" And Afura, realizing that she didn't check the roof, goes off to do so.