Chapter 15
In the Aftermath
The rest of the night was certainly eventful. The destructive force of Sylphiel's Dragon Slave had created extensive damage to Dakeyras and the various buildings that housed the populace. There were several buildings that were still standing, but fewer still stood unscathed. Having such a destructive force unleashed onto the village was certainly a cause of panic amongst the villagers. They all ran this way and that, all yelling in desperation and despair, some making efforts to douse the flames that devoured the buildings still standing, some trying to locate and recover loved ones, some being overcome with the disaster of losing their home and everything.
Being in a such panic, the villagers had no time to hunt down the perpetrators or point any accusing fingers.....
Several hours later, the night sky was penetrated by the first traces of sunlight. Yet as the sun rose over the horizon, announcing the arrival of a new day, nothing had changed in Dakeyras. It was still a scene of total chaos as the village picked itself out of the scene of devastation that the village had become. The wound it had suffered was immense - and it would certainly take a lot of work to restore Dakeyras to it's former glory.
But the villagers worked on. Worked on to recover what could be salvaged. Worked on in spite of the lack of sleep. Worked on with the task of saving the remnants of the village.
Yet, as the villagers worked hard to rebuild their lives, they were too busy to pay any attention to anything else.
Such an oblivious attitude provides the perfect cover.....
The perfect cover of some nefarious scheming.....
Had any of the villagers shot one glance at the site where the cultist house once stood, they would have caught sight of a solitary figure.
A single, solitary figure who picked his way through the remnants of the house.
A single, solitary figure whose features were concealed by a magenta robe.
A single, solitary figure who was cursing under his breath.
Things were just going marvellous. The plan was all falling away at the seams. They finally achieve a host body and they finally succeed in resurrecting Damenamecus - only to have it all fall away so abruptly. What had taken months to plan out was destroyed in mere minutes. What was more infuriating is that Damenamecus had returned to the mortal realm only to disappear just as soon as he arrived. And without granting the immense knowledge he had promised! Talk about fate!
What was worse still is that the host body, the treasured puppet, had disappeared! Disappeared without a trace! Disappeared along with any hopes of attempting to resurrect Damenamecus a second time! Seems the prospects for knowledge are slipping further and further away....
Yet in spite of this chain of continuos disaster, there is still the prospect of hope. There is still a chance that the knowledge he had been thirsting after will be granted to him.
There is a chance the puppet could be buried under all this rubble.....
All he has to do is find her. And after that everything should fall into place with ease.....
Suddenly a voice broke the hooded figure out of his reverie.
"Kurt!" the voice shouted. "Over here!"
The hooded figure looked up at the sound of his name. He grinned. That voice certainly sounds familiar.....
Kurt removed his hood and headed over in the direction of the voice. He then knelt down and began shifting a huge portion of the fallen wall. Pushing the wall clear, the teenager found a welcome discovery.
It was a skull.
A skull that gazed up at Kurt with empty sockets.
A skull that signified all that was left of the liche Adolphus.
Kurt reached under the skull and lifted it out of the ruins. The teenager grinned with malevolent intent at his find.
"Well numbskull." Kurt grinned. "It's good to see you're still around."
"Oh marvellous" Adolphus snarled. "My resurrection of Damenamecus falls through, our base of operations collapses, all of our disciples are incinerated, I lose my body and yet you still persist with your nonsense!"
"Oh yeah?" Kurt smirked. "What are you going to do?! You can't do a lot in your condition now, can you?!"
"You underestimate me" Adolphus shot back. And to prove his point, the skull's jawbone snapped shut on the teenager's hand!
Kurt let out a shriek of alarm, as the pain burst out into his palm.
However there was one thing wrong with Adolphus' plan of revenge - In his pain Kurt let go of the skull. Thus, there was little that could stop the liche from tumbling down onto the rubble below.
Hitting the ground with a bone-crunching thud, Adolphus grumbled. Well, this was just marvellous. He finally gets an edge of that troublesome teenager - only to wind up in a position of utter ridicule! Fate can be most cruel.....
But just the bastard wait. He'll get what's coming to him. Something that will certainly be something worth laughing about.
Suddenly both the liche and Kurt fell silent as a new voice heralded the entrance of an intruder to the scene.
"Cease your games, both of you! We don't have time for this!"
Both Adolphus and Kurt looked up at the newcomer. She was bedecked in a magenta robe, sporting a shower of raven black hair and an expression of beauty and intelligence. The woman also displayed a glare of incompetence at her associates.
"Alana!" Kurt exclaimed. "You're still here!"
"Of course!" the woman named Alana retorted. "You didn't think I would miss out on the great knowledge promised by Damenamecus would I?"
Upon hearing this, both Kurt and Adolphus blinked in exasperation.
"And on that note" Alana continued. "Where is Damenamecus? And what happened to our base? And our loyal disciples.....?"
Kurt nervously shuffled his feet, unsure as to how to break the news to his accomplice in crime. Adolphus, however, sweat-dropped.
"Umm.....Alana?" Kurt replied. "Did you happen to hear a massive explosion....?"
Alana blinked. "Yeah....."
Then it hit her.
"WHAT?!" she yelled. "What the hell happened?!"
"I can explain" Adolphus said calmly. "I saw everything."
"The chosen one did arrive" he went on. "And she did ascend to the altar. However some of her friends arrived looking for her. But they were too late to save her: She had already been appointed to the task of providing a host body. And Damenamecus did come to earth - but in a massive explosion that claimed the house and all of our disciples. Then Lina Inverse showed up and, along with her friends challenged Damenamecus. And I'm sorry to say that they succeeded...."
Alana blinked, taking in every word of Adolphus' story. Then, her expression grew angry.
"I can't believe this!" she snapped. "I can't believe your incompetence!"
"MY incompetence?!" the skull roared back. "What have I done?!"
"You let that interfering Lina destroy Damenamecus!" Alana screamed in fury. "You let Damenamecus disappear before he could grant us all that wonderful knowledge we've been seeking for!"
"Don't you dare speak to me like that!" Adolphus growled. "I am strong in power!"
"That's true" Kurt giggled. "But for now, you don't have a leg to stand on!"
Alana sighed her annoyance. Eventually she allowed her anger to subside and spoke again:
"So what do we do now?"
"Well I don't know about you" Kurt said "But I'm not giving up yet! I want that knowledge that Damenamecus promised to us! I say we start again!"
"That's all very well" Adolphus replied. "But how can we start all over with no disciples, no base of operations and no Chosen One to play host?"
"Easy" Kurt grinned. "If Damenamecus is gone then his host, the Chosen one, must surely still be around here under all this rubble!"
"I doubt she would've survived....." the liche mused.
"Yeah" Kurt agreed. "I've been all over this ruin but I haven't found a trace of her!"
"Well maybe she would've if you hadn't allowed that Lina Inverse to destroy Damenamecus!" Alana snapped at Adolphus.
"Oh yeah?" Adolphus shot back. "Where were you whilst I was busy summoning our Great Lord?" How dare she speak to him like that?! Him, a liche of great power! A liche who has been living for centuries! He was immortal while she was still a mere human. And a human who's main concern is the science of life-form creation!
"Well at least I wasn't stupid enough to let Damenamecus go without sharing his wondrous knowledge!" Alana shot back.
Adolphus snarled in anger. Just that bitch wait. He'll show her! He'll show that he is truly a force to be reckoned with!!!
As Alana and Adolphus both descended into arguing, Kurt sighed. Slowly he turned away and headed through the rubble, poking his way through the remains of the house. Right now, he was thinking of commencing a second attempt to resurrect Damenamecus. However there was no way he could do it without recovering the host body, the Chosen one, first.....
Suddenly, his eyes caught sight of something! Something poking out of the rubble. Something which Kurt hurried towards. Could this be the Chosen One.....?
Upon arriving at his destination, Kurt frowned. No, this wasn't the chosen one. Great, so much for high hopes.....
Suddenly a plan began formulating within Kurt's twisted mind. A plan that involves this discovery. A plan that could swing things in the favour of himself and his friends. A plan that could certainly pick things up after this disaster.....
"Alana!" he shouted. "Bonehead! Over here!"
Immediately, Alana and the liche ceased all arguing. Scooping up the skull in her hands, Alana hurried over to Kurt and his discovery.
Once there, both the liche and the scientist, gazed at this find.
There at their feet lay the body of a red-headed girl. She lay in amongst the rubble, completely knocked out. A short distance away, lay a tall blond man. He too was unconscious. And near that was a chimera.....
"That's not the Chosen One" Adolphus groaned. "That's her friend!"
"Hold on" Alana said, pointing at the red-head. "That's Lina Inverse! The famous bandit killer!"
"Preciously!" Kurt grinned.
"I've got an idea" he went on. "We can't find the Chosen One but we have found her friends! If we can't find the Chosen One, we'll make her come to us! Once she finds out he have her friends captive, she gladly do whatever we tell her! And even if she doesn't show up, we can merely turn this Lina over to the authorities and claim a huge reward in gold! Either way, we can't loose!"
"Kurt" Alana began. "I do believe you're onto something. Something quite brilliant and clever in all it's ingenuity....."
"Yes, but there is one problem as far as I can see" Adolphus said. "You forget that there is no place for us to go here. The house where we conducted the resurrection has been blown off the face of this earth!"
"All right then" Alana said in a voice radiating with authority. "This is what we'll do. I'll take care of these three. Kurt, you stay here and try to find the Chosen One. If she doesn't come, tell her we have her friends. I'll meet you back at my place!"
"Your place?" Kurt echoed, a puzzled expression across his face.
"Trust me" Alana grinned. "I have found an abandoned mansion on the outskirts of this village. It's a touch shabby but it'll pass as a new bse for our operations. From thereon, we can plan our next move."
"Understood." Kurt said. "Good luck to you."
And with that, the teenager turned away and headed off, to continue his search for Amelia.
Alana, meanwhile, gazed upon the three bodies before her. Then she turned and gazed down at the skull that was Adolphus.
"I guess we had better find you some body eh?" she grinned.
Adolphus merely grumbled his disgust at Alana's bad joke.
And thus the three evils left the blasted ruins behind.....
The tavern was the one of few buildings that managed to survive Sylphiel's Dragon Slave. It still stood as the many villagers ran this way and that, seeking to douse the flames that consumed the various buildings and salvaging all that could be recovered.
With such activity, one could move around easily without the fear of attracting attention and running into any threats.
Thus, Sylphiel was able to make it to the safety of the tavern. It was within the security of the tavern's protective stone walls that the priestess was able to observe the chaos around her.
She sighed. She couldn't believe what she had done. In casting the Dragon Slave she had wielded an enormous amount of destructive power. Sure, such use was with the intention of eradicating a greater mazoku from this mortal realm, but at what a cost! The village of Dakeyras had now collapsed into ruin and flame. Buildings were blown apart and the few that remained were already being consumed with flame.
All the proof was laid before Sylphiel from the window in her tavern room.
What made matters worse was that a large group of the villagers witnessed her casting of the Dragon Slave spell. Consequently it was most likely that they would hold her responsible for the devastation caused. But even as the villagers panic provided her the necessary cover to slip away, it wouldn't take long for the villagers to discover her absence and, possibly, put a price on her head!
Seems she would have to keep a low profile from now on.....
Syl sighed and turned away from the window. The necessity of a low profile wasn't the least of her troubles. No, there was a greater problem facing the priestess.....
There, across the room, Amelia Wil tesla Saillune lay on the bed, fast asleep. But the disturbing thing was that Amelia's appearance had been altered in a way that was sinister and frightening. She had, somehow, obtained the same curse that had plagued Zelgadis Greywars. What was disturbing was that this curse was an exact replica of Zel's. Thus, Amelia's flesh had grown blue, her hair had turned to needles and her frame had grown hard as rock.
What worried Syl was how Zelgadis was going to react to upon seeing that Amelia had become a chimera like himself. The priestess certainly knew how obsessed Zel was in finding a cure of his condition as he couldn't bear to live with the frustration of being perceived as a freak. But what happens when he isn't the only chimera in the world?
And what else happens when he finds out the other chimera is someone who has been trying excessively to make him smile?
Syl returned her gaze out through the window, another thought weighing heavily on her mind: The exact whereabouts of Lina, Zelgadis and Gourry. The priestess knew for a fact that they were taken out in the battle with Damenamecus. Yet, once Syl had seen what had happened to Amelia, a sense of urgency took over and Syl fled to the tavern with Amelia and without her friends.
But if Lina, Zel and Gourry were still out there, would they still be alive following such a horrendous encounter? And would they still be alive following the destructive power of that Dragon Slave spell?
No matter, she would have to find them whether they be dead or alive.
However such a task is easier said then done as Syl can't show her face in public......
Suddenly, a soft moan broke Sylphiel out of her thoughts.
Slowly, Amelia rolled over and opened her eyes. Thinking quickly, Sylphiel moved to the bedside and covered the princess' mouth with her hand.
Even though Amelia had just woken up, this sudden move suddenly jolted her out of the world of the slumber and into the realm of the living. Amelia looked up and got an even bigger shock when she saw Sylphiel. Immediately, Amelia made excited, however muffled, noises.
Syl smiled sadly.
"Hello Amelia." she said. "Sorry to trouble you like this but there's something I believe you ought to know...."
Chapter 16
Contents