"That's because this wasn't supposed to happen." Xellos leaned onto his staff, continuing. "Someone is meddling around where they shouldn't be. With Lina's demise, this timeline has been utterly disrupted, altered from the course set down for it by the Lord of Nightmares Herself. If time is allowed to flow on thus, eventually," he began to tick off results on the fingers of one hand, "the entire fabric of existence will unravel, this plane will be plunged into darkness, life will end, chaos will reign—something I'd normally enjoy but won't be around to—you get the picture."
Zelgadis heaved a mental sigh. Apparently a lot of bad things were going to start happening, all because Lina was dead! Somehow, it felt good to know that the course of events leading up to this conversation was wrong, all wrong! That she shouldn't be dead, that he shouldn't be here mourning her. "Then…what can we do? I assume you're explaining the end of the world to me…for a reason? So that it can be set back right?"
"Perceptive, as always, Zel-kun." He stood back up straight and began to pace. "Now, the Mazoku lords are currently conducting an internal investigation of their ranks, as are the Shinzoku. All of Ciepheed's Knights—particularly one Luna Inverse—are out traveling the globe, searching for anything that might be of help, and I have been sent to find you. A special little mission, assigned by the highest authority." He winked, smiling evilly.
"In other words, you couldn't find any other job, so L-sama stuck you with me?"
The evil smile faded into one of mild annoyance. "I'll have you know I've got quite a reputation, and bec—"
"Because you're the only Mazoku I'd put up with for any small amount of time."
"Well put." The chimera rolled his eyes, and Xellos slipped back into "dramatic voice" mode. "She wants you to go back, Zelly boy. She wants you to set it all right again. Less damage to the hoveante that way, She figures."
So…this monster had connections that far up? All the way to the Lord Herself? Perhaps he wasn't that much of a fruitcake after all…apparently he'd done something at some point in time to earn that kind of responsibility…
Shrugging at his own statement, the priest continued, "And who am I to doubt my own creator? If she wants you to go back, well then, back you shall go!" He swiftly raised his staff and closed his eyes, pointing the weapon mere inches from Zelgadis' face, preparing to recite an ancient spell, when a frantic yell interrupted his concentration.
"W-wait! Xellos! Wha—what are you doing?" Ah, so the chimera had finally snapped out of his trance and was actually paying attention now? "Send me back…where?"
"Why, to three years ago, of course." He pulled back the staff and leaned his upper body forward, knocking on Zelgadis' head a few times. "My, my, not quite as sharp as you let on, are you?"
"I'm supposed…to stop Lina from dying?"
Face breaking into a giant smile, Xellos shouted, "Correct! Give rock-boy a cigar!"
Once more…if that fruitcake made one more remark like that….BAM! That staff of his would find a nice new home up his—
"I will send you back to the day of her death—it will be your job to find her and stop her from being killed. Doesn't matter how—just stop it. Once you've done that, I'll contact you. We can then continue our search—"
"Wait, 'we'?" he interrupted. "'Search'?"
"Oh, don't sound so surprised, Zel: you didn't think I'd let you alone so easily, now did you? You'll have plenty of time alone with Lina-chan soon enough!" Again, a wink and an evil smile.
Zelgadis shook his head, exasperated and trying not to blush at the crude remark. "So, I find Lina—then what will happen to the other me that was gone when she died? I'm not gonna…blow up, or anything by going back, am I?"
"Hmm…" Xellos became thoughtful for a moment, rubbing his chin. "Well, he'll be destroyed, of course."
"Wha—he—d-destroyed?" He hadn't realized such drastic measures would need to be taken, and his stomach gave a revolting turn.
"Mmhmm!" He nodded vigorously, obviously not feeling as sick about killing off Zelgadis' counterpart as Zelgadis himself. "Well, we can't have him wandering around where he shouldn't be, now can we? Don't worry, Zel—it certainly won't affect you. He's not even supposed to exist, anyway, so his demise won't hurt you. We've even already got someone assigned to take care of him."
This didn't comfort the chimera in the least. It didn't matter whether or not Zelgadis was conscious of the death, it was still him that was dying. That alone was enough to leave him quite unsettled, and he shivered.
"Once she has been saved in that timeline, you will both be returned here, where you will be enlisted to aid in the search for the culprit behind all this. This corpse," he extended a single gloved hand to the slab behind him, "will be gone when we return, and time will carry on as before; it will just seem as if Lina has been missing for three years. Alive then, gone, and then, poof! Alive now."
Well, all wrapped up in a nice little package, wasn't it? But those were the ones that usually fell apart easily. Shrugging off the unease, Zelgadis offered up his agreement—what else could he do but follow through with this shoddy plan? "Fine, let's just get on with this."
Xellos bowed low in a mocking manner, then thrust his staff forward again, its red stone once more inches from the shaman's nose. Words of summoning issued forth from the demon's lips as a mist, swirling up around the two in translucent columns of magic. Shortly, a wall of white formed, separating them from everything else, and then…all was dark.
*****
It was a sharp, throbbing pain behind his left eye which prodded Zelgadis awake. While his stone-encrusted hide protected him from most foreign attacks, it could not guard against those launched from inside, and that included headaches. He pushed open his eyes, still small slits, and used all his mind to will the pounding in his head to cease, which—after a few moments—it did. While he waited, lacking the strength and will to heave himself upright, he studied his surroundings with his other heightened senses.
His sight told him he was in an inn of some sort: soft, unslept-in bed, maroon coverlet, sturdy wooden floors, rug at the foot of the bed. There were two windows, one facing west, through which the setting sun was visible, and one north.
His ears and nose told him he was in one of the bedrooms of a tavern. Boisterous laughter and music seeped through the great oak door separating him from the rest of the building, and he could smell various dishes simmering on a stove and baking in an oven. Mingled with these sounds and smells was the ever present scent of alcohol—yep, he was definitely in a tavern.
In the back room of a tavern, late afternoon. That's where he was. The pulsing had finally stopped, and he sat upright now. "…But, where am I?" He cast a quick paranoid glance down—he was still garbed in his usual attire, but…patting himself down, he hissed a curse—no sword. Pulling on his mask, he swiftly descended the stairs and burst out the door, tossing a few coins into the hands of a bewildered tavernmaster, unsure whether or not his room had been paid for.
He scanned each building as he strolled down the town's main road, seeking out one which seemed the best restaurant in town; that would be where he started his search for Lina. "Stu's Beef Stew, no…Vicki's House of Veggies? Hardly Lina's style…Serrigan's Steakhouse—there!"
After drilling the manager of the establishment for information regarding a red-haired, bottomless pit, loud-mouthed sorceress, he was pleased to discover that the man remembered her well. "Yeah, that kid nearly cleaned me out, and what she didn't eat, one of those other wierdos she was with did. Put a couple of my best chefs in traction for doubting she could eat everything they cooked."
That had been a few weeks ago, though, but they had spoken—if the manager recalled correctly—of visiting a new seafood restaurant in the Letarnis district down by the ocean. And then…where had they said they might go? Was it Sairaag….or Seyruun? The manager got those "S" cities mixed up so easily, he laughed.
Zelgadis sighed and exited the establishment, thanking the man, and began trudging towards the outskirts of the city.
"I will send you back to the day of her death—it will be your job to find her and stop her from being killed."
That was what Xellos had said…this was when she was, but what he needed to know was where she was. He didn't even know where to begin, much less where she was. The sun was almost completely set—she might already be dead. He had the opportunity to save her, but he couldn't unless he knew where she was, and he didn't have time to wander around aimlessly looking for her. 'Thanks a lot, Xellos…'
His mind drifted back to the conversation he'd held with Amelia those few days ago…wait, what had she said?
"That last bunch of bandits we hit, outside of Sairaag."
Sairaag…
"Raywing!" his voice echoed through the land.
*****
'There's nothing to do,' Lina Inverse mentally whined, leaning back to rest on a large rock behind her, using her arms as a pillow for her flaming red head. 'Nothing. No treasures to hunt, no towns to save from zombies for big rewards, no Dark Lords to defeat, no fruitcakes to rough up when I get a little ticked, no Zels to drag us on some search for a cure…even the bandits are starting to bore me…' She sighed and stared up at the moon floating high above their camp.
It was actually pretty beautiful tonight, not too bright, not too white, but more of a soft creamy beige tone…kinda like—
Lina was jerked from her reverie and her reclining position by the sound of a twig snapping in the copse of trees mere yards from her and her friends. Then—the glint of moonlight off of steel.
'Hmm…maybe I will get to have a little fun tonight after all…'
She readied her hands for an attack, conjuring up a fireball just in case their visitors proved a rowdy bunch. "Come on out now, I know you're there, hiding," she called into the darkness, but was answered with more silence. Growing a little annoyed—didn't they know who she was?—she yelled again, "Don't make me ask twice, whoever you are, or should I just let this fireball do the talking?"
Still, no reply came, and she gave a low growl, her patience wearing thin. Raising her hand to deliver the spell, she was about to cry out, when she felt all the strength leave her body, and crashed to the ground with a thud. Try as she might to raise even a single finger, she could not, so drained of energy was she—her breath came slowly, and her eyelids grew heavy.
She scoured her mind—somehow it all seemed strangely familiar…
'Is this…what a sleep spell feels like…?'
Needless to say, the fireball dissipated into nothingness, leaving the sorceress completely helpless, and the last thing her eyes saw before they fully slid shut was an older man in a long flowing brown robe, charging at her with a sword held out full before him.
Then, she saw nothing; saw nothing, but still heard for some reason. Why she didn't fully black out was beyond her ken at the moment, and she wouldn't discover the reason until after the battle that was to ensue—that her would-be killer had been suddenly thwarted from his plan, releasing Lina from the effects of the sleep spell before she had even fully succumbed to it.
As she lay there, helpless, motionless, her ears were assaulted by the harsh grating sound of metal on stone, and she found herself finally able to cry out, still struggling to open her eyes. Then, the sickening thunk of a body hitting the ground…but whose? She waited for the slicing of a blade down on her exposed neck, but it didn't come.
Summoning what little strength had returned to her, she slowly forced her ruby eyes open, and her gaze fell upon the horrified stare of the bandit mage who'd made the attempt on her life. Then, she shifted her eyes to view his body—five feet away.
Feeling a rising tide of vomit threatening to surface, she quickly pulled herself up into a sitting position and clapped a gloved hand over her mouth.
Something pulled her attention away from the decapitated body, though…another figure, half of his body lit by the dwindling fire, the other half by the moon; but he was turned away from her, cleansing his hands of the gore covering them by running water from her canteen over them. Hearing her stir, he turned to face her fully.
Eyes wide, she breathed out, "Ze—Zelgadis?"
