---o--o--o---
-
[Lina] Hmmm, do you think I should get it trimmed? {shows off the golden locks with a flick of the wrist}
[Amelia] But...why did you have to bleach your hear?
[Lina] {looks horrified} Bleach! Isn't hair suppose to be a natural color?
[Sylphiel] Ummm...it's not like I wanted to be the purple princess...
[Amelia] Yea, sure... {swaps at her own mop of hair} What about curls?
-
---o--o--o---
-
Slayers: Clouds!
Chapter 10:
Wedding! Time for the Blond Marriage!
-
---o--o--o---
-
"And now, the merry-go round starts once again."
Xellos had known of the idiom from an age long since forgotten by time. He had composed the expression in his own words, from an ancient time in one of the oldest kingdoms in the east. The settlers from this age long ago had immense wealth and the ego to build the grandest amusement park for all of its people -- a special place no less -- filled with attractions, restaurants, shows, and rides.
And yes, it was the ingenious design of one of its special rides that had caught the attention of the Mazoku. It was a circular spindle almost like a spinning top, except it was forty or fifty feet wide. The townspeople affectionately call it their 'merry-go round.'
He hid within the astral plane, watching the architects conceptualize their merry-go round. Each day, he saw their blueprints mature through their design drawings of riding horses, wolves, and other four-legged animals. Inspired by the moment, he returned late one night and replaced the design sketches with his homemade plans. He managed to sneak away just before an artisan guild member came in. When the artist saw the new plans, he took them for his workers to carry out.
When it was done, the artisans wrapped their present in secret. In a lavishly timed ceremony, they unveiled their inspired work. And what a sight it was! The architects fainted while the artists stood proud. The townspeople were dumbfounded as they blankly stared at the merry-go round. The kids were already climbing onto the ride, cheery eyed and ready to go. And yet...there was something about humans riding dragons that made Xellos chuckle for what seemed like...forever.
Lo and behold, the townspeople's children were tickled about riding the lords of white magic. Gold ones, black ones, even an occasional blue and red one. The planners had initially thought their merry-go round was a source of embarrassment; how very surprised they were at its acceptance because of its very ironic identity.
"Humans," he said to himself, watching the little humans jump on and off merry-go round, "are a most unpredictable sort."
And here he was in the present, looking down at a very blond Lina from his hidden place within the astral plane. Everything started...here. The merry-go round. The fun, the excitement... it was time to start to show.
He was careful, for Lina Inverse was not of the normal sort. Her detecting skills would eventually reveal his presence, knowing that the one-way portal would only hide his identity for so long. It only took a small hole into reality for a view, a lot smaller for any normal human to notice. Still, he didn't leave...not yet.
The mysterious priest chuckled to himself, watching the blond sorcerer while she checked herself out in the mirror. She frowned at her locks in her hair, turned around...and tumbled nonchalantly on the corner of her bed, unable to control her own awkward body. Oh, this was too much! He was tempted to push the moment, as the urge inside himself wanted to catch the sorcerer and welcome her to her new life. It wasn't just the figure that had him going, but something about that golden hair...
He checked his rising emotions. Yes, he'd have to be more careful, he said to himself. Personally, he even thought that thought he had outfoxed his own cunning mind, a wave of ego told him that wasn't so. Not to say he was smug about it either.
So he bid adieu, gripped his staff and closed his portal view.
-
---o--o--o---
-
"Xellos!!"
Lina's beckoning call did not summon the mysterious priest to answer. Swearing that his presence was watching from the shadows only made her shudder more. But...what had caused her to call the name of Xellos like so many times before?
She searched for an answer and remembered her visions during the night... "It was just a dream," she muttered to herself. "A dream...that's all it was..." She tugged her hair just for a second before looking down into her hands at long blond locks. "No, I'm not waking up from this. Maybe...because this also part of a dream."
She twisted the hair in her fingers and then pulled it. Hard. All she could do was bite her tongue from the sudden jerk of her head, as a little touch of pain came from out of the blue. "Oh...my..."
There was a heavy knock on her closed bedroom door. "Ummm, Lina? Is everything all right in there?" Sylphiel's voice sounded more concerned than ever. "Filia thought you were shouting..."
Lina could hear the dragon lady mumble something untranslatable to the purple shrine maiden before erupting like a sleeping volcano.
"She said Xellos!" grumbled Filia. "Its almost like he's in there with her!"
The shrine maiden objected to Filia's pointed comments, even if she 'wasn't' trying to hurt Lina's feeling.
"I'm all right!" Lina paused at hearing her words, looking down at her golden locks at the same time. "Just a little trouble with...getting out of bed this morning." She twisted around the bedroom, fruitlessly looking to escape out a back door or a balcony window. No such luck.
"I'll be out in a minute..."
"OK," chimed Filia, "because I'd hate for you to miss this lovely breakfast they delivered."
"Breakfast?!" The dragon's words didn't take long for Lina to recognize, her mouth salivating while her tummy growled. Her instinctive reactions made her throw open her bedroom door and charge into the sitting room.
"Fooood!" Charging into the sitting room, she had turned her undivided attention towards the laid out assortment of smoked seafood and tropical fruits and sat her blondness down. "Wow, the Sheik really knows how to put on a morning spread!" She proceeded to dig right into her meal, starting with the sizeable pile of scrambled eggs on her plate.
Sylphiel blinked in natural disbelief. "Lina...you look...different..."
"Mmmm..." mouthed the sorcerer, "You have got to try this smoked salmon! It's so good!"
Filia was a state of continued shock as she watched the blond Lina devour her breakfast. One thing that Lina had not changed was her voracious appetite and manners. Yet, the stranger's clothing was Lina's sorcerer's outfit but tighter around the body. Each of the ladies sweat dropped as the voice of Lina came out of the blond's mouth, almost like an oversight.
The blond sorcerer looked up from her mostly eaten breakfast, the shrine ladies' stares at her were surreal. The two of them were unable to move even an inch from their standing positions. "Would you two mind telling me what you're looking at?"
Sylphiel pointed to the top of Lina's head. "It's just that...you're a blond!"
"Yea, I know," said Lina, shoving the objection aside. "Kind of has some good qualities." She twirled with her finger a golden lock of her hair and smiled. "I like it..." She looked back down at her breakfast and shoveled away.
Both shrine ladies grinned like Cheshire cats. "How can you be so calm about the whole thing?" asked Filia.
The sorcerer looked up with a stare at Filia, silently thinking about it for the first time. When she had heard Uzumara's curse from yesterday, she had almost fainted right there on the spot. A fish? A thing that swims in water? With all that algae and disgusting stuff? Cepheid no! She couldn't even think of herself as a piece of seafood. Absolutely no way!
Yet, here she was. Not as a fish, but as a...blond. A stunning, beautiful...blond. She ran her loose hand down the side of her body, stunning in every detail. A little clumsy, but so what! She could actually feel her chest press into the table. It made her so happy that she let out a small sniffle.
"Lina," said the purple haired shrine maiden, unable to interrupt the sorcerer's thoughts.
A spell. Her magic. Her new body didn't coordinate that well, so her sudden spell casting was...reduced. No big deal that everything wasn't perfect. Maybe...it was something she just needed practice with...yea, that was it...
"Lina..." Sylphiel's persistence snapped the sorcerer's undivided attention. "Are you ok?"
"Oh yea..." The blond sorcerer stood up from the table, her body bobbing up and down with every moment. "Many times when I was younger, I would have wanted these-" she said, cupping her chest with both of her hands. "And now, because of it, this feels...so right!"
Both shrine maidens blushed. "Cut that out!" exclaimed Filia, waving her hands in a crossing motion. "Its embarrassing!"
A knock on the onside foyer door startled the three of them. Instead of waiting for a response, the door cracked opened and stopped only a couple of inches open. "The royal tailors will be here in five minutes. Please make yourselves presentable to them." The door creaked closed just as fast as it had been opened.
The three ladies gaped awkwardly at each other.
"I didn't call for them," said Lina, staring back at the front door.
"Neither did I," said Filia. "Something's...amiss. Oh, maybe its about the wedding?"
Lina cringed. "Damn it! I'm such a freaking baka." She turned around to her fellow blond, practically begging. "What am I going to do?"
The door creaked open ominously as if gusted open by the wind. "Lina Inverse..." The sorcerer could make out Kerchef's distinct voice and the shuffling movements of several others from behind the door.
"Don't come in, we're not dressed!" shouted a dragon lady.
"It's Kerchef," he chirped, "Captain of the royal guards to Uzumara." The girls could tell that the servant to the Sheik was an impatient man just by his pacing in front of their door. "I intend to come in."
"Don't you dare!" shouted a frustrated Lina, "otherwise, you'll be a flaming pile of-"
"Morning!" interrupted Filia as she ran to the door and locked it closed. "Please give us a few minutes to get dressed!" The dragon turned and dashed madly across the sitting room, shushing her new blond roommate into Sylphiel's sleeping chamber.
The purple shrine maiden shot Filia an aggravated look but she cut her off with a hand motion. "Shhhh.... we can't tell them that Lina's not a fish!" she whispered.
The shrine maiden ahhh'ed to the blond dragon's comments appropriately. "I guess so."
The sorcerer, meanwhile, didn't like getting told what to do. "Hey! What are you doing-" But Lina's temper tantrum was cut off by Filia, as she gently escorted her fellow blond into Sylphiel's room and closed the bedroom door.
Sounds of jingling keys were the precursor to the double set of foyer doors springing open for the Captain and his men. Kerchef didn't waste anytime commandeering the sitting room, snapping his fingers as several of his men marched in formation behind him. "Where's that annoying fish bride!" He charged into Lina's open bedroom before coming back out with his scimitar drawn.
Sylphiel sweat dropped. "She went...to the spa!"
"Yea, to get her...errr fins all nice and clean for the wedding!" followed Filia.
Kerchef thumbed his chin. "Ahhh, I see. Very smart of her to prepare for the Sheik in such a manner. I'm impressed."
The girls looked at each other, quite surprised that the captain had bought their tale -- lock, stock and barrel.
"Very well! I have a special present for our fish bride." The captain barked an order, signaling for a set of servants to come in. "She will be required to wear this wedding dress. The sheik's tailors have prepared this fine garment, incrusted with the rarest pearls and emeralds of all time."
Filia cringed as she took her hand to the green garment, examining the fine silk work. To her, the patterns of flowers were beautiful, but the color of an ugly stain of moss that looked like puke. "Kind of disgusting green, don't you think?"
"Of course it's green, you fool!" barked Kerchef. "The Sheik is a fish, he prefers his mate to be like his favorite food." He fondled the silken dress with his grubby hands, so much that it made Sylphiel's emotions recoil. "The silk to make this dress is dyed with local varieties of kelp."
"Ahh!" Filia continued to poke at its unusual openings and odd blimp-like shape she couldn't make heads or tails of the wedding dress. "What are all these holes for anyway?"
Sylphiel nudged the dragon lady away from the dress for a second, finally getting Filia's attention. "Actually, it's for the fins, don't you see?" She poked around the dress like an experienced seamstress. "And here's where the feet are, and then the tail section...."
Filia coughed. "Oh! And I was just thinking about how I would love to wear something as beautiful as this!" She chuckled a bit, which immediately lightened Kerchef's somber mood. "How foolish of me into thinking this wedding gown was for me!"
"We can arrange matching bridesmaid dresses if you wish," grinned Kerchef.
"No, that's quite all right! I'm sure I'll have a lovely frock to wear for today!"
"Hai," nodded the captain. "Make sure our bride returns and is ready within the hour. I shall be escorting her to the bridal suite in preparation for the ceremony." The captain gave a little courtesy bow and left with his fellow guards, leaving the dress spread out on the sofa.
A few seconds after the front door slammed closed, Lina bolted from her hiding spot in Sylphiel's room. "That was much too close." She took one look at the wedding dress on the couch and almost threw up. "What is that!"
"Curtains?" said Filia, trying to smooth over the situation. The dragon held up the dress to the window, and indeed, the fabric matched the window treatments quite nicely.
The blond sorcerer swallowed her tongue as she emotionally face faulted into the cushiony sofa. "I need to go back to sleep..."
"Everything going to be fine." Sylphiel sat down next to the lethargic sorcerer, drawing Lina's golden hair back rather motherly. "Kerchef will be on his way now to the spa."
"Hai, if we're going to get out of here," contorted Filia while she creaked open the front door. She immediate saw the backsides of a couple of Kerchef's guards and shut it before they noticed. "We've got company on the outside."
"So? I like to introduce myself all the time!" Lina flipped over to get a better look at everyone before scurrying up to her feet. "Oh Cepheid, we are so getting out of here!"
She dashed up and took a couple of steps towards the door, preparing to dish out some of her famous chaotic magic. She chanted the spell's words perfectly, the energy forming in the palms of her hands. As stepped forward towards the door to release her explosion array, she tripped on the carpeting -- falling face first into the floor.
*Smack*
"....Oh crap!"
"Lina!" cried out Sylphiel, leaning down to help her collapsed friend. "Are you all right?"
"....Owwwie..." The blond sorcerer pulled her head up off the hard ground. She winced at the surprising amount of pain, even thought the plush carpeting had prevented a permanent injury. "This isn't exactly a piece of cake anymore."
The other blond's face was agape at Lina's clumsiness, yet it took Filia a only a second to comprehend it all. "Well, you wanted to be in a body like that, but it now you can't even-"
"Filia!" interrupted Sylphiel, aghast at the dragon's rudeness.
"But its true! You heard her...she wanted this body!" The dragon lady snickered at the sorcerer's unfortunate predicament. "And imagine that, not being about to control...those hips!"
"That's not funny!" Lina looked at the floor with resentment in her eyes. "I didn't think being a blond was going to be so much trouble!" She refused to budge from her crouched position.
Sylphiel got down on her knees and crossed her legs, weaving her cape underneath her legs. "I know this is hard for you, Lina." She couldn't help smiling at Lina's new look.
Lina stared at the shrine maiden before opening her palms up. "But I wanted this body!"
The purple shrine maiden paused. "Are you...sure?"
"I am!" She grabbed her chest again as an example of show-in-tell. "It's just...I never thought that these...*things*...would throw off my balance." She moaned, reminding to herself that coordination is an important thing when casting spells.
The shrine maiden nodded. "You know, a lot of woman would kill to have a body like yours. Didn't you ever meet anyone that was like this?"
"Errrrr..." she blushed, thinking of the past for a second. Lina disregarded it as she and Sylphiel both looked up at Filia, who was busy cleaning up the breakfast table. "Don't look at me, I just shape change into this."
Sylphiel nodded. "And it's a very nice body too," she chimed.
Filia mumbled a couple of words before returned back to her room. Something about humans and their opinions, and she was glad that her friends didn't hear it.
They sat for several minutes, silently in a funk. Even the carpeted floors were a comfortable place.
"Now...if we can't bust down the door..." murmured Lina, before moving her thought process on. "Then my only choice is...hmmm." She put her hands on her chin, scratching it for answers. "I wonder...what if were to become a fish?"
"Lina! Don't ask for stuff like that!" scolded Sylphiel.
The blond snapped her fingers. "Damn! If I were a fish, then the guards would escort me as the Sheik's wife to be at a moment's notice! But how can I fool them now..."
"What about a disguise spell?" asked Sylphiel, thinking out loud. "You could get escorted to the ceremony as a fish, and then we could escape once we get to the bridal suite."
"Well, I certainly don't know too many illusion spells," answered the blond sorcerer, "what about you?"
Sylphiel nodded her head. "It's really advanced white magic. If we knew someone who know transformation magic..." As if she had said the words on cue, they both turned their eyes towards Filia's bedroom door.
-
---o--o--o---
-
It slithered along the foot of the wall. Out of sight, out of mind. That was its motto.
Its mission was a foolhardy one. Find where Lina was. Stay out of sight. Watch the sorcerer's actions. Follow her at every moment. Listen and hear the details. And finally, to file the report. Such was the simple task it was assigned.
It relished at its roll in intelligence. Practicing for years and years not to be seen nor heard. Never captured alive was its motto, memorizing it as its most important commandment.
And it looked...hard. Saw Lina. At what she was and her details. And decided that a report was immediately required.
-
---o--o--o---
-
Filia sat down on the bed, her mind in disarray. Why, she asked herself. Why was she in this mess?
She cursed at her predicament. All that she had wanted was at her home. Rebuilding from her former life that had faded so long ago, she was determined to run her little mace and vase shop with all her possible vigor. Juris and his former roughhousing associate had done a surprising well under her tutorage. She was amazed how the fox had settled working in her shop. They had become a family of sorts.
And she thought about her adopted son to be. Little Valgaav, all nestled up in his egg. He was almost ready to be born, sleeping away peacefully in his cocoon. She wanted him to grow up with values and given a second chance. Then, just maybe...everything that mattered would be ok. Instead of forced right now...
She took a second to wipe away a couple of newly formed tears. Anytime would have to be better than this. If only-
"Hello little Filia," interrupted an appearing Xellos. The mysterious one winked, smugly sitting himself down at the foot of Filia's plush bed.
The golden dragon growled. All of her problems were swept aside at the appearance of the Mazoku. "You have some nerve, coming in here right now. When was the last time you went at obedience school?"
Xellos blinked, "My, my...little dragon seems to be rather upset. Isn't there something I can do for
you?" He seemed to duck for cover a little bit before presenting her a gorgeous embroidered handkerchief.
Filia swiped the little gift away, taking it out of need more than anything. Dotting her eyes softly, she then inelegantly blew her nose, thus recomposing herself as best as she could.
Xellos leaned in closer, amused with Filia's sadness. "You're not rejecting me anymore? Hai?"
She looked up. "Are you kidding me! Never have I been more insulted over your...manners!" She threw the soiled handkerchief back into his face, smacking the Mazoku in the eye.
"Yare...yare...!" It was surprise more than anything to the mysterious priest. He instinctively reached out and dropped the soiled gift off his lap, covering up for his wounded pride.
"Don't you have some important secrets to keep quiet about?" She did a little fake wave in jest, her emotions as checked as possible. "Go bother someone else."
Xellos patiently crossed his arms. "But I like it here. You're the friendliest golden dragon I know."
"That's because I'm the only dragon you know!" She stared and questioned the mysterious priest some more. "Why are you here, Xellos? Don't you know that your very presence is irritating at best?" A sudden answer to her question popped into her mind. "It wasn't just the trip here, or the spa... I should have realized it, you've been following me around all this time! And without the rest of them knowing!"
He tugged as his sweating collar. "Well, if you put it that way..."
"You!" shouted Filia, her temper no longer held in check. "You've been up to something! Damn you!"
Xellos loved every minute of it. "Quite a threshold you have for anger, little one. Especially when you get really upset, you let out all those lovely emotions that you're supposedly hidden inside of you. And they are wonderful! I see it! You want to do this, and that, and even that it me!" He licked his lips in delight, savoring every dark sensation. "How...wonderful!"
"Wha?" exclaimed the dragon, amazed that Xellos was in sheer delight. "How can you be...?"
The mysterious priest leaned closer onto the bed, making the old springs creak ominously. "You know I can feel it. After all, we do indeed live on those nasty emotions of those around us..." He tisked tisked Filia a few times like he was scolding a child. "You know better than that."
"Namagomi!" Filia's spiked club came from out of nowhere and crashed into the bed, just missing the disappearing Xellos.
The old piece of furniture couldn't take the burden of the dragon's swing; the bed's legs folded out as it crashed to the ground.
"Why can't you stay still!" heavily breathed the dragon.
He reappeared unblemished on the other side of the bedroom. "Ano...it wouldn't have been a very good idea to stay." Xellos blinked as he looked down at the remains of Filia's bed. "Did you gain a few extra tons, little dragon?"
Filia howled. "How did you know I've been gaining weight!" She tugged at her unbelievably thin waist, a body that most human females would have died for.
Xellos raised his finger into the air while turning his head instinctively toward Filia's bedroom door. "Company. How I do hate visitors." The mysterious priests nodded for a second before disappearing from sight.
Filia sighed, recomposing herself She would have no chance to relax --for where Xellos had been standing was huffing Lina.
-
---o--o--o---
-
"Come on Filia, you have just got to help me!"
"I don't know," pondered the dragon in the direction of Lina and Sylphiel. "I mean, honestly, we still don't know how you became a blond."
Lina thought out loud. "That bastard Maximilian did it, I'm sure. He was suppose to turn me into fish food," she said, making a fist at the same time. "And then he thinks he did, but he royally screwed up."
Filia nodded. "I guess so..."
"Well, someone must have changed Maximilian's potion..." pondered the changed blond.
"Wow..." said Sylphiel. "Whoever it was-"
"Why not go to the wedding like that?" responded Filia, staring at Lina's golden locks. "Maybe you'll get out of it."
Lina scowled. "Ummm, I don't think so. I think Sylphiel agrees with me." She watched the purple haired one nod at her statement. "Everyone thinks I'm a fish. If I show up as something different, they'll barbecue our ass." She turned suddenly away from the golden dragon.
"So unlike you..." Filia stepped around the fellow blond to look into Lina's eyes. "You know, the old redhead I knew would have blasted us out of here. A few days ago you blew up the tallest building in Monte Darlo..."
Lina glared off in space of a second. "...didn't mean to..."
"And you've thrown Xellos around into a nasty headlock," smiled Filia, "so I heard."
"Yea, that was fun..." The sorcerer twiddled her fingers nervously.
"Oh, and you shouldn't forget about blowing up the Bridge of the Ancients," poked Filia. "A relic that had been standing for centuries-"
The sorcerer turned pale, yelling back at Filia. "I had to!"
Sylphiel coughed quite loudly, interrupting the quarreling blonds. "Filia, take a minute to think about what Lina asked for."
"I don't know. This may not be a very good idea..." The golden dragon was suddenly more apprehensive than ever.
Sylphiel walked back into Filia's room with the wedding dress, hanging it on the back of her bedroom's door. "Please, Filia. Can you change Lina? Not just for her...but for me as well."
Filia sweat dropped. "All right."
The shrine maiden let out a little smile. "Good. Then I think we're ready." Before Lina could object, Sylphiel had nudged the sorcerer by the arm to stand her next to the hanging wedding dress.
"Have you done this before?" asked Lina, surprised by the whole bit.
"Well, not exactly. If I stay concentrated, I can hold the illusion for a couple of hours. But beyond that, I sure wouldn't risk it." The blond dragon watched Lina affirm her answer before starting the incantation.
The words were in dragon tongue, the spell much more complex than a normal white spell. At the conclusion of the chaos chant, Filia pressed the jewel on her chest with both of her hands, channeling energies through the semi-precious stone.
The spell bathed Lina in a body of magic, wrapping and cocooning her in yellow strands of light. The delicate spider web throbbed with such passionate energy, hushing everyone with its holy beauty. After a long minute, it finally dissipated and melted away into thin air.
Filia faded at the completion of the spell, loosing her balance and toppling forward. She would have collapsed on the ground if it wasn't for Sylphiel catching her. "So...tired."
The girls looked up at the transformed Lina, now the complexion of a pink fishwoman in her own right. A tuft a red hair gave her the distinct look of the original Lina. Filia had done it all in one step, adding a duplicate of the green kelp wedding dress, the loose silken fabric perfectly molded around her scaled body.
"Lina! That looks good on you!" squealed Sylphiel.
The fish sorcerer trudged off to a full-length mirror in the far corner of the room, the girls sweat dropping at the rear fluke waggling tail. "Wow, I look...pasty." Lina scratched her scales on her tummy in frustration. "Damn, this thing really itches."
"Whatever you do, don't try to cast a spell in your new getup," said Filia, still a little hazy. "The magic on magic would cause me to break my concentration of the illusion."
"You're kidding." Lina was nervously combing the few stands of messy red hear she had left on the top of her head.
Sylphiel gaped at the changed Lina. "I can't believe you got everything right..."
Filia nodded. "Yea, I know. I just hope it buys us the time we need to escape."
-
---o--o--o---
-
Maximilian swirled the delicate concoction of liquid in a glass beaker, closely examining its viscosity. He never thought that it was exactly poison in his mind, but more of a transformation. Just like a set of clothes, it was temporary and never anything life threatening of the sort.
Where white magic only had its purposes, however, those purposes had been so limiting. So he tooled around with Shamanistic magic and added to his repertoire. And the results have been grand, for he had given Uzumara what he really wanted. A fish wife.
"Maximilian..."
On hearing his name, the wizard turned away from his workbench. He didn't like uninvited guests within his laboratory; yesterday's unannounced visitor was still throbbing in the back of his mind. The new swirls the black energy from the opposite end of the tower only annoyed him more.
He waited for the creature to form his entire body, preferring to get a little information out before elimination. He was sure to make quick work of his uninvited Mazoku guest. Maybe this fool was a servant of a human neighboring kingdom? Whoever it was, was surely an idiot.
Maximilian cursed. The Mazoku looked almost human, in fact. A strong one would be a pain in the neck, even thought the creature was still no threat compared to the power of the Cloudminders... Still, it was a distraction. A very annoying one, in fact.
"What do you want Mazoku? Why do you trespass into my laboratory?"
Maximilian watched the dark creature of the night take a step forward. Tall and lanky, the Mazoku was dressed in a simple green slacks and a full-length black suit coat. Maximilian could see underneath his jacket was an off white fluffy shirt, silken like a noble's wardrobe. The stranger's face was hollow, the skin stretched in and shrunken considerably. He had grayish blond whiskers that drooped considerably. But the most annoying part of the getup it was the large blond hat that covered most of his head, the top point inverted like a crater.
"...I'm here for my master," said the Mazoku. "Call me...Moe. The last of three brothers." He took a step forward out of the darkness, the blackness of the astral plane finally fading away.
Maximilian judged the Mazoku immediately. "You have no claim in being here. Who do you answer to?"
The Mazoku was as silent as a statue.
"Answer me! Before I run out your puny existence-" shouted Maximilian.
As the wizard readied himself, something around Moe's neck caught his eye. It was...slithering.
The Regent's eyes grew wide with a realization. No...it couldn't be...
"Cat got your tongue?" Moe let his eyes light up ruby red as he enjoyed basking in the moment.
Maximilian watched the dark feathery thing slide over Moe's neck, the rest of its body coiled around the Mazoku's torso. Finally, its small head made its appearance next to Moe's shoulder; its skin was as black as coal, its black eyes showing incredible intelligence and guile.
"Excuse me...human," grinned the Mazoku.
Maximilian shuddered as he watched as the reptilian serpent whisper a few choice words into Moe's ear. The wizard pointed rudely up at his visitor. "You're are part of...him?"
"Not exactly," said the Mazoku, turning is focus back forward. "More like his advisor." He scratched the serpent on the back of the head like it was his pet. "Isn't he the most adorable thing?"
"That bastard...how could he..."
Moe threw down his arms, staring down the wizard with his glowing eyes. "You should talk, betrayer. My master has told me of your history. Remember who has your life in their hands."
The Sheik's Regent tried to take a step backwards, but his body was already leaned up against the counter. "I did what was required. What else does your master desire?"
Maximilian watched the black serpent take another half wrap around Moe's neck to speak into his other ear.
"So...my little friend here says you have failed. What a shame..."
"But...I did what was required!" The wizard tried to object but was cut off by the Mazoku.
Moe's eyes glowed again with power; his little serpent friend seemed pleased as well. "No matter. We have a use for you, however...very nice use...indeed."
A bolt of energy from the ceiling hit Maximilian, like it had come out of thin air. The wizard never had a chance.
-
---o--o--o---
-
*Knock Knock*
"...Just a minute!"
Kerchef grumbled. "The Sheik awaits you, dear fish one. I suggest you hurry up in there!"
"She's almost ready!" bleeped the blond dragon.
"...that's too much powdering on the nose...errr..."
"...Wha? I don't have a nose? Why not?"
*Knock Knock*
"Open this door otherwise I will forcibly take it down!"
As if ordered, the double doors to the sitting room both swung inward, opened by each of the shrine maidens. Kerchef and his several guards quick ushered themselves in, eyes blazing ahead.
They stopped only a few feet in. In the center of the room, was fish Lina, the soon to be queen in all her glory. Her delicate face features were covered in veil of green silken cloth, the beauty quite outstanding to the captain's men.
"Ooooh.," loudly exclaimed one of Kerchef's men, the rest of them with their mouths agape in awe.
"How can they be all flabbergasted?" asked Sylphiel.
"Bakas," said Lina. "Humans in love with fish persons. I think I'm going to be sick." She took a step forward as Kerchef bowed and politely escorted the fish bride by the arm.
"Come with me," he asked.
Lina nodded, "Let's get this over with, shall we?"
-
---o--o--o---
-
The mysterious priest looked up into the sky. The sun was rising in the east, its rays cresting over the tall waterfall. About twenty or feet or so above his head was the base of the tallest spire of the Sheik's city; the center marker of power for all its citizens to see.
Where Xellos was peering from was one of the more lavish balcony gardens owned by the Sheik. Even though it was small, its banisters were covered in blooming trees vines; the moisture of the waterfall feeding life giving water to its roots. That and the morning sunlight gave the balcony greenery the perfect conditions to prosper.
It also gave the Mazoku wonderful cover from other spying eyes. Astral plane hiding was so tripe that he barely used it like this morning. Most of the time, he preferred to hide in reality. Not that hiding was one of his better specialties, but sometimes it was the best way to gather information secretively.
Xellos turned to look up at the Regent's window above his head. If Lina's little distraction didn't pan out soon, then he would have to pop in on old Maximilian. Figuring he could only spare a few moment more, something below his feet caught his attention.
He first saw Sylphiel walking timidly in front of a throng of people. The unmistakable figure of the shrine maiden was easy to spot because of her wonderful, purplish hair. He also identified Filia trailing the pack, almost staggering with each careful step forward. Strange, he thought. And then, he spotted the anomaly.
Xellos couldn't believe his eyes. He took a long hard stare at the waddling fish: the red tuft of hair, the wedding dress, and the walk of her...fins. He knew it was Lina. But...how?
A second look back at Filia, and it didn't take long for Xellos to calculate the sorcerer's plan. "So....they thought not making a mockery of wayward spell would get them to escape." The Mazoku chuckled at the thought. "My...my. She is in for quite a surprise."
A rustling from the vines behind Xellos' back got his attention. He bit his upper lip in frustration; for he didn't dare turn his head and face his adversity. Discovering that you were being watched was bad enough, but if they had known he was aware of them.
So he disappeared.
A black serpent fell out from the deep vines, enjoying its moment of freedom as it slipped across the balcony floor. One would think the serpent was temperamental the way it flicked its tongue in and out of its mouth. Actually, it was more to sniff around like a normal serpent than be annoyed at missing its opportunity to pray.
Rising over the top railing, the black serpent looked below at the human figures and then up at the window to the Regent's laboratory. A little tilt of its head and a second later its master popped in from the astral plane.
Moe looked down to where his pet companion was flipping its tongue and stared diligently. "So, you say he was here." He reached out with his bony hand and smoothed the fine feathers on the serpent's blackened head until they shone in the sunlight. "Hardly a concern at the moment. Oh, and she is with them?"
The serpent bobbed his head downward at the party.
"I see." Moe leaned against the railing, letting his lanky body stretch out. The rim of his blond hat was so low that it hid his eyes if anyone did indeed take a look. "Lovely as a fish, isn't she?"
The creature slithered up Moe's arm and twirled around the Mazoku's shoulder to get comfortable. As soon as he was there, he moved closely next to the Mazoku's ear as whispered a few choice words.
"Oh? You can see through it? How can you do that?"
The serpent stared at Moe with its beady eyes, flipping its tongue at double the speed of before.
Moe sighed. "I should have known."
A couple of more whispers from the black serpent, before it twirled around Moe's body. It didn't stay around for long, preferring to land back and disappear under the tropical bushes.
"Well...well... " And the Mazoku disappeared as well.
It was as if Xellos had been waiting on autotimer. For as soon as his interrupting guests had disappeared, the purple priest appeared again, this time sitting on the higher windowsill outside of the Regent's laboratory.
"Yare...yare..." He looked down again at the trailing golden dragon, the rest of the group was already gone. "Shall we play, my dear brother? Surely you jest!" With a wave of his staff, he disappeared.
-
---o--o--o---
-
The escorted girls came to the familiar entrance to the Forbidden Palace. Several sets of guards were already there, abet a few more than what was needed to open the doors to the lavished dome chamber.
"Don't you think you're overdoing it a little on the security?" asked Sylphiel, as she waited for the guard scrum next to the doors to clear.
"Hardly." The captain smiled as he signaled for his men to promptly open the double set of doors to the palace. "I refuse to take chances."
Kerchef's men took their positions while pulling open both the doors at the same time, welcoming the entire group in at once. Loud organ music hit their ears first as they focused on the luxury of the domed palace.
"What's going on?" sneered Lina while looking down the long red isle and the rows and row of nobles and fishman on both sides. "You're not taking me to the bridal suite?"
Kerchef chuckled. "Surprise..." he said, motioning with his arm as an escort to walk down the wedding isle. "Instant wedding!"
The guards laughed before getting shushed down by Kerchef's glare.
"Ummm, Lina?" Sylphiel looked around as well. "I don't think we're getting away so easily from the bridal suite..."
The captain of the guards turned his head down at the fish sorcerer. "Oh? We wouldn't want our star attraction to run away, would we..."
Lina felt sick. Tapping her fish foot impatiently, she looked for obvious avenues for escape. The walls of heavy guards made an escape quite impossible. She could only murmur to herself, the blondness damning her spells. She was going to have to risk it, and right now. So she turned around and looked for Filia.
"Filia?" shouted Lina. The blond dragon was gone. "Filia!" She frantically turned to the purple shrine maiden. "Where did she go?"
The purple maiden shrugged her shoulders. "I...don't know."
Lina barked out a couple of more unintelligent words before blurting something comprehendible to Sylphiel. "What the! Why can't I do a spell!" The sorcerer's voice was laced with fear. "Didn't Filia say that any spell would break the bond?"
"Hai," nodded Sylphiel. "I can't imagine that not being the case-"
The sorcerer cut her off. "Never mind! Just break the spell! Please!"
The shrine maiden spoke a set of chaos words before closing her eyes. As soon as she finished the incantation, she flicked her eyes open wide with total surprise. "I can't!" exclaimed Sylphiel, suddenly exhausted and leaning against the side of the palace wall for comfort. "Something's...blocking it!"
A couple of the rougher guards approached Lina quite aggressively. "Do we need to personally escort the bride to be down the isle?"
The fish woman turned to Kerchef's men. "Now you just wait one minute, buddy!"
Not hesitating for a second, they grabbed the fish sorcerer by each of her limbs. With brute force, they had the fish Lina scampering with her tiptoes just off the ground.
She objected as much as she could. "What are you goons doing! Get off of me!" She tried to scratch her way out of the mess...but she couldn't fully control the coordination of her fish-disguised body that well. Except, for course, for a well-placed kick between the legs.
"Ow! Ow! Ow!" One of the guards hopped around like a bunny rabbit. "Mean fishy!"
"...Lina!..." Sylphiel reached out with her arms towards the sorcerer, but another guard kept the purple shrine maiden at bay.
"I'm going to try to find out what happened to Filia!"
"Hurry!" said the fish, grabbing another guard by the meaty arm and biting it with her jawbone. He howled in pain, causing hysteria among the rest of them.
Kerchef parked his heavy hand on top off Lina's dorsal fin, shoving the fish to her knees. "Didn't I tell you to behave! Its useless to resist, I know how to sedate your kind."
"Let go of me, you bastard!" The immense hold by the captain made Lina's attempts at fighting back futile.
"It's time to get hitched," he said while tugging Lina's arms above her head. "These are the sad and faithful moments I so treasure. Always a joyful occasion in the end!"
"Are you kidding me!" screamed the sorcerer while being dragged into the Forbidden Palace by the heels. "I'm not a fish! Wait! Get that blond girl over here from before! Help!"
-
---o--o--o---
-
"Get your paws off of me!" shrieked Filia. She was in no mood to take crap from Xellos. "That was a dirty little stunt you pulled back there, getting me away from Lina and Sylphiel." She pointed up the walkway towards the Forbidden Dome, undoubtedly where the accelerated wedding ceremony was taking place.
The Mazoku showed off no sign of resistance. "Its not like you had to come with me, little dragon! I can't believe you were so susceptible to my charms!"
"Cut that out!" shouted the dragon before stepping away from the Mazoku. "I don't care what you say, I'm going back to help Lina and escape this crazy Sheik city. There's nothing you can say-"
"Valgaav," said Xellos.
Filia froze.
Xellos took great pride in his acquisition of knowledge. He didn't take his information needs ever so lightly. Yet, here was a chance to shine a little bit, show it off to the little dragon. He had always enjoyed his status when he had the upper hand.
The dragon grasped her hands in anger. "How...could you possibly know about that?"
"Ano...that isn't a secret?"
The blond turned her gaze onto the Mazoku, her eyes wide open. "Damn you, Xellos!" She took a step closer to the smirking Mazoku. "Damn you..." Maybe...something would give her the answer she wanted.
Xellos patted himself on the back. "So...right after all." He looked over at the dragon, approaching her gently. "Tell me, Filia. I want you to tell me."
No! How could she resist the pull of this! It was disloyal! "I...can't. I will...never...betray."
The mysterious priest stepped forward toward the dragon lady. He was no longer surprised at her anger at him -- once boiling, it had simmered in her mind to a dull roar. Something else was on her mind, and for once, he knew what it was.
"Filia." Xellos let his staff lean unattended onto his body while he reached out with his hand. She didn't resist as his hand touched her neck ever so gently. "I am your priest. It's confession time."
"Are you crazy!" She pushed her mind away but the Mazoku had locked his leeching touch on her. In her emotional frail condition and with her illusion spell still active on Lina, she didn't have the strength to...break away form the Mazoku. She cursed, for like a pitcher plant, she had too been attracted to the Mazoku in the search for truth.
It was nothing more than a release for her emotions. Bottled up as they were, a little coaxing would drain them into his mind. "Tell me, Filia. Where is little Valgaav?"
"No...don't do this...feed on me..."
"Where is the last ancient dragon?"
Filia tried to clam the pain in her heart, the warmth dissolving every second of the anguish. But her own walls broke down each second the Mazoku kept his touch on her. She had adjusted to the pain for a long time now -- more than a month of solicitude on the road had hardened her heart. But all that internal strength she had before disappeared under Xellos' gaze.
The blond's eyes grew wider as she watched Xellos raise his other hand to join his other cupped hand over her chin. His drain was so inviting that she could no longer resist. Another block in the wall crumbled.
"I don't have him anymore. You know that already."
"I do..." He grasp at her neck, feeling her arteries as she slowly closed her eyes. There! As began to feel the emotions flow up from her mind. Pain. Anguish. Fear. Dragons were always so stoic individuals and therefore it was quite unusual to capture their raw passions. Yet, when an emotional feeding came, it was furiously tasty. The power...the sensation...
"Who do you trust, Filia? You, the last of your golden dragon clan." He took both hands and ran them down her smooth skin next to her ears, tucking both fingers sexily along the nape of her neck. "Who is it?"
The blond let a tear fall from her eye. She could feel it run across the grain of her cheek and down her face, finally stopping firmly against the Mazoku's clammy touch. The...pain. The torture...she had to release the last of it...
"Tell me, little dragon. What secrets do you hide..."
And she let it go.
-
---o--o--o---
-
Filia remembered like it was yesterday. A late afternoon, during the closing her mace and teashop. The squalid weather of light rain and strong winds had kept her teashop quite busy with customers. She was happy for the business and when it finally dusked, her patrons left her friendly shop for home.
She sighed, finally finishing her table cleaning in the front area of the café. She could hear her assistants, Juras and his companion squabbling and then laughing in the back kitchen. More likely than not, the two of them were playing with soap water. Indeed, she wanted to avoid breaking up their little fun.
She looked over at the basket where Valgaav's egg was warming, its light bluish hue tinting the rest of the café. She could swear in the last few of days the little ancient dragon had stirred around a quite a bit. Still, it would take several more months for little Valgaav to hatch.
A string of bells by the front door rang as a new customer entered, followed by heavy feet and the ping of a heavy wooden staff hitting the ground. Filia didn't want to even look up at her guest, her eyelids too droopy. "I'm sorry sir, but we're closed. We'll be open in the morning-"
A deep beckoning voice answered, "I would like some tea, please."
"I said we're--" She looked up at her late night visitor, her remarks coming to a screeching halt.
"Hello, Filia."
"Oh..." She watched as the figure approach her, avoiding the light. Then, the candle in front of her gave off just enough to recognize the robed figure.
"..." Filia swallowed her tongue, not daring to approach the stranger.
"As expected..." muttered the stranger. Red eyes glowed back at the dragon, a stare of recognition. "from a betrayer of the golden dragons." He walked over to Valgaav's egg and looked into the basket. "And yet, you're raising an ancient dragon."
Filia scolded her visitor. "I don't report to anyone in my clan." She folded her hands over her chest in a sign of solitude. "Dark Star. The terrible price of the prophecy."
The figure half circled around the basket of Valgaav. "I see...that now..." He reached down and softly touched the egg. "Tell me, Filia..."
Filia nervously stirred around, her emotional barometer rising. "What...are you doing?"
The stranger looked up at the dragon lady. "Times change. We've lost so many members in last few centuries. But the past...those transgressions always remains a constant." He took the Valgaav egg and held it gingerly in his hands. "I have something for you to do."
The dragon cringed as she looked at the stranger. "What are you?"
"It's time, Filia. Time for the reappearance of the Cloudminders." He cradled the egg in his arms, finding the unborn ancient dragon surprising warm. Filia had done quite well for herself.
The blond took a step backward as she watched every movement in the stranger. "How can you be so naïve? I don't want to be apart of this! I won't do your wished!"
"Oh...you won't?" The stranger reached into his garments and pulled out a heavy book. "What if this were your little dragon?" He pounded a leather volume on the table with such force that the whole café rattled with the sound of thunder. "I suggest you obey, dearest Filia. This book is a lot stronger than this timid eggshell. Remember that."
And before she could object, the stranger was gone. Even the ringing bells of the front door were silent. "No..." She drew her hands close to Valgaav's empty basket and threw the baby blanket aside.
"No!" Only the cupping of her hands over her face could cover the disgrace, as she let out streaming tears of pain. "Valgaav!"
-
---o--o--o---
-
Xellos congratulated his willing partner, watching as tears of sadness poured from her eyes. "Weakened because of that spell on Lina. I had to do something to get you to open up."
"Xellos..." She twisted her head, making the Mazoku release his grip over her emotions. So she grabbed her mace and smacked him in the chin. So hard that he fell to the ground. "Baka! I can't believe I let you take advantage of me so easily!"
The mysterious priest kneed himself up, rubbed his bruised face at the same time. "Oh? And what did I do!"
The blond threw the mace aside, still standing over the Mazoku with a fire of hell in her eyes. "Xellos. The trickster. The mysterious priest. What other aliases have you used in your lifetime! Twenty? Thirty?"
Xellos did a quick check in the back of his mind before gleefully turning back to the dragon. "Actually, One hundred and seventeen timex. You have to remember, little dragon. I've been around for quite a while."
"Bastard. I bet you couldn't tell me the truth right now." She flapped her tail impatiently, watching for Xellos to answer. "Well... oh, and it has to be something I don't know about! Telling me that the sky is blue is a big waste of my time."
"Ano..." The mysterious one poked at his chin for a second time. "Actually, you don't think Lina became a blond on her own, don't you?"
"Wha?" pointed Filia, getting more and more upset with every passing minute, "two-timing, dirty crossing-"
Xellos finally didn't attempt to hide the truth. "But of course. I needed to know exactly if you were part of it. I had my suspicions that you were in on it from the get go, of course."
A sudden thought crossed her mind as she checked her outside influence. "You've been masking and keeping up my spell up!" She made a sudden plunge towards Xellos, managing to barely grab the Mazoku by the neck. "Why?"
He threw her hands up his collar, trying to get Filia's grasp off of his neck. "That is...outside your only question. And, therefore...that is...a secret."
"Aaaagh!" She dropped him like a sack of potatoes.
Xellos looked away with of the corner of his eye for an easy escape. What he did spot was a couple of white robed figures scurrying around to the back entrance of the Forbidden Dome. Perfect, he thought.
"Oh Filia..." said the mysterious priest before nodding his head in approval. "When was the last time you played dress up?"
"..." silently objected the dragon before upping her temper again. "You really think I'm going to listen to you!"
"Ahh..." The Mazoku leaned in closer -- personally to get the golden dragon's attention. "It is assured that if you don't help me, then Lina will most certainly perish. Quite easily, in fact"
Filia gulped.
"Good. I see you do play for my team." He threw his arm out proudly, causing his cape to billow. "Follow me."
-
---o--o--o---
-
The fish bride tried to resist Kerchef's push, but she couldn't turn her awkward body around to kick the captain in the neither regions like his underlings.
Kerchef was equally having trouble, even with his experience in disciplining fish people before. He had one hand on a rope that kept Lina's arms tucked quite closely to her body. The other hand held her dorsal fin tight against his chest, making sure that it wouldn't turn up and punch him in the jaw. Many years of practice had given him the skill when handling fish people before. Therefore, he was surprised that Lina was still acting very...human. Probably because of the recent transformation, he surmised.
The elevated orchestra, the same one from last night, began to play the wedding march; a version that anyone would have recognized as rather over the top with too much cymbal crashes.
"Walk," commanded Kerchef. "Down the isle."
"Let go of me!" cried Lina, trying to get loose of Kerchef's iron grip. "Didn't I tell you that I'm not getting married!" Her words shouted dully off the noble audience, quite immune after seeing her display from the night before.
Kerchef pushed the fish bride down the red carpeting. "Do you want to make a public display on your big day!" He urged her forward with gentle kicks to Lina's underside, in which she'd let out a little yelp with an angry roll of her eyes.
The sorcerer could see Uzumara waiting at the far end of the red carpet. The Sheik was lavishly robed in a white silken suit, his body adorned with sparkling diamonds and gold. Even his plain black pearl strings from before were occasionally laced with emeralds the size of quail eggs.
Lina waddled up to the Sheik, all smiling. "Nice setup you have here. Hot date tonight?"
Uzumara was not amused. "Yes, I have one."
Kerchef made Lina bow little curtsey before turning to the crowd, scanning it for help besides Sylphiel. No sign of the golden dragon -- wherever she was, Lina was sure she was knee deep in it with Xellos.
"I'm very glad you're enjoying your wedding ceremony."
The sorcerer looked blankly at the fish Sheik. "I never said that!" Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a female painter who was just starting the lines of herself next to a finished Uzumara in tux. "What's she doing here?"
"Our wedding pictures, of course."
Lina fumed, pushing the poor woman's artist easel over with the flick of free dorsal fin. She was quickly mobbed by Kerchef and a couple of his guards and severely pushed to the ground.
"Enough foolishness!" The Sheik gently clapped his handing together in double motion. His guards and attendances heard the warning, scurrying to complete their tasks in record time. "This ceremony begins now!"
A couple of white priestly robed figures entered from opposite ends of an elevated stage. They looked at each other as they came together before turning towards their audience. "Please, step forward." said one of them, waving the Sheik and Lina to join them up on the higher platform.
Lina thought that it was strange that these priests had their bodies, and even their heads, were fully covered by the same fluffy white and gold silken threads as the Sheik. It hid their public identities very well.
Kerchef looked perplexed. "What weirdoes performing today..." Uzumara shushed his adopted son before turning back around. The Sheik was not about to call off the ceremony because of a happenstance, figuring the Regent was just spicing up the ceremony a bit.
With a voice all too familiar, Lina could only scrutinize the mysterious priest and his assistant, carefully looking for clues to their identity. A flash of purple thread from just underneath the hemline of one of the priest's robes was the indication. She thusly swore.
The priest's assistant scurried over to the sorcerer's side. "Now behave, young bride. We can't have any of that baloney Lord of Nightmare language up here."
The fish sorcerer looked up into the eyes of the shrine dragon. "Fil..." She took a half step backwards before catching herself. "What are you doing with...him?" thumbing her nose toward the disguised Mazoku.
"Saving your ass," responded Filia, as she covered Lina's fish mouth with her own index finger. The sorcerer had no choice but clam up and keep the rest of them out of trouble -- which only made the Lina sweat drop some more.
The disguised priest was busy lighting a caldaria of candles on a rear alter table; a normal procedure by most wedding standards. However, this one was humming a little ditty, all while using his index finger as a combination blowtorch and lighter.
"Geez..." thought Lina, realizing that Xellos was immensely toying with everyone, especially the people that knew who he really was. Besides, his digit flame was doing a very easy job of lighting the twenty or so candles.
"Why can't you just light all of them like a normal person!" bleeped the golden dragon.
From behind the silken head cover, she could have sworn the Mazoku was smiling. "That wouldn't be any fun." Xellos turned around the audience, ever so tolerant. "Patience, little dragon. We're waiting for the right moment."
Filia gaped at the disguised Mazoku. "Waiting for what? I'm going to break your little spell, and then I'm changing Lina back into her blond self!" She twisted her hands around until they were positioned for spell casting.
"Ano...you probably could." Xellos held his crispy finger up, slightly smoking from its lighter stage. "But look carefully, little dragon. Do that and Lina becomes shish kabob." He gently pointed to the double line of Kerchef's guards -- each of them holding a very menacing ten-foot pikes in their grasps.
Filia stared at the bad news. "Oh..."
"Priest!" Uzumara tapped his foot impatiently, the rowdy crowd equally sensing the starting delay of the ceremony. "What seems to be the problem!"
Xellos twisted around, interrupting his candle lighting duties. "Hai...was there something I can help you with, Sheik?" He watched the stare of Uzumara and Kerchef not on his face, but squarely at something else. The Mazoku took a second to look down at his burning digit, thus screaming off a little fake yelp. "OW...ow...ow..."
"Get on with it!" shouted the Sheik, his patience wearing thin.
Lina swallowed. "Let's say I don't want get married today. Tell you want! I'll swing on by here tomorrow and--"
Kerchef reached out and grabbed the collar of Lina's wedding dress, enforcing his physical will on her. "Stay, little fish girl." His words were as icy as his touch. "I wouldn't want to fillet you."
Lina gulped, turning her attention back to Xellos and Filia. One of the cups of wine placed on the alter table had already been accidentally 'spilled' by the dragon. The muttering blond blotted the table with too many silk napkins, trying to clean up the mess -- all while apologizing every second she could get.
The two of them caused all sorts of ruckus in stalling the ceremony. But why? What was the point of delaying the enviable? Wincing again, she watched as Filia fumble Xellos the ceremony book, letting it fall down and slide off the elevated stage.
Xellos stared as his book as it tumbled away, watching it smack to the Sheik's foot. "Oops..."
Gimping in pain, Uzumara was fed up with the comedy bit. "Don't you know the wedding service from memory? By Cepheid, what kind of priest are you?"
The purple haired priest tugged at his robe nervously, as if looking for a way out. "A mysterious one? No?" He shook his arms like a fluttering newborn bird trying to fly for time. "Well...it has been a while. I think its something about a human not wanting to marry fish person. "
The nobles in the crowd hushed, for Uzumara had had enough. "Seize him!" He turned to his trusted captain of the guards. "Kerchef...take over for Maximilian's inept fill-ins."
"Yes, Sheik." Kerchef's men executed the orders precisely; their pointed pikes surrounding Xellos and Filia. The two raised their hand in a surrendering fashion as they were quickly shuffled off the stage.
"You could have tried harder," prodded the shrine dragon. "Baka."
Xellos was complacent. "More time, Filia. Just a moment longer." He looked up at the ceiling and then was deafly quiet to the dragon.
"Damn it! Listen to me! This crazy mess is all your fault!"
Lina sighed at the arguing enemies, so much like a married couple that it disgusted her. She interrupted them with a stern lecture. "Xellos, what do you think you going to accomplish with just...delaying the enviable like this!"
Xellos neatly sidestepped the question. "Hmmm... I wonder where Maximilian is at the moment..." Answering his own question, he jumped up and down in his shoes like a schoolchild. "I know! I know! He's washing his wizard's hat! How perfect!"
Lina cringed. "Where did I go wrong!" She shook the cobwebs from her head, knowing her escape window was closing fast.
The crowd quieted as the ceremony began again. Kerchef was on stage with Xellos' wedding book out, the priestly role reduced to belting out the melodramatic passages. "We are gathered here...to join our Sheik of the City with this fair fish..."
Xellos seemed to be totally aloof as he sniffed the air. "You know, little dragon...I would have never thought of that before..." He nudged himself gently against Filia's soft skin -- getting the shrieking reaction from the dragon that he so much enjoyed.
"Eeeep!" Filia's tail stiffened in the air like erected flagpole; those eyes of hers narrowing down while she growled. "Leave me alone, filthy namagomi!"
The Mazoku grinned. "So...go ahead. Let it go."
"What crazy nonsense are you talking about now?"
"Release her. It's not like you want to keep it bottled up all this time..."
Filia blinked. "Wha? Release what?" She didn't understand the Xellos' strange request. Blinking her eyes, the cryptic message hit her like a ton of bricks. "Are you crazy! Didn't you say before, with all these guards around?"
"Hai." Xellos flicked his eyes back up at Lina, at which even Filia could understand.
"Bastard." Filia shot Xellos a dirty look before closing her eyes in order to concentrate. Spilling out a couple of chaos words from thoughts from a not-too distance time before.
A sudden flash of lightening appeared, as if the magic was perfect slight of hand. There was a poof of white, completely covering where Lina the fish stood. It dissolved in seconds as if stripped away by a gust of wind, revealing a very feminine Lina -- her blondness in all its glory.
The noble crowd saw it all; the whispering and murmuring rising so loudly that it built to a ruckus.
"What kind of sorcery is this?" The Sheik blinked at his new wife to be, disillusioned from the whole show before. He pointed behind Lina at her companions and friends. "Which one of you is responsible...for this fake atrocity!"
Lina knew that she had returned to her blond self, so she ran. "Got a go..." she said, with a little wave of her hand. "Ta-ta!"
"Kill them!" barked the Sheik. "Now!"
The royal guards had anticipated the Sheik's orders, already charging towards the blond sorcerer with their menacing pikes facing forward. A few of the close ones were kicked back by the blond as she almost toppled forward. There would have been a run-in with a pike if the purple shrine maiden hadn't caught Lina by the cape, thus saving her from a fatal fall.
"Thanks. But any ideas to get away?" asked Lina while looking up at Sylphiel's smiling face.
"None at all."
"Crap! I hate this!"
The floor shook suddenly as if ticked off. Loud crackling sounds echoed from beneath everyone's feet, covering the floor with a web of black cracks. The little bit of dust that was on the marble floors scattered around like sand blown by the wind.
"What's going on?" Lina though it was only her personal instability on high heels, but a check from everyone else confirmed it was not her blondness.
The trembling grew in size as the Forbidden Dome's walls shook painting off its walls. It grew louder and harsher as a chair or two toppled over. Fright entered the faces of every man or fish, scattering the guards into a disorganized frenzy. Everyone was horrified on what was to happen next, except a smiling Xellos.
"Eeeeep!" The dragon had just defended herself against one of the other guards before accidentally balancing herself against the Mazoku. When she saw Xellos' grin was from ear to ear, she pushed him away with both her hands. "What are you so happy about! Baka!"
"Can we run?" Sylphiel had taken to leaning on the back wall as she first noticed the buckling floor. "Oh...my..."
"Hold on!" Lina stared as marble tiles disappeared and fell into darkness below. Other places were erupting with tunnels of hot air like a teakettle's steam from its release value. They multiplied on the floor like rabbits.
Seconds later, the crackling marble floor exploded. Huge gaping holes swallowed guards and nobles alike, their bodies disappearing within the choking dust. The explosions dropped powder and debris around everyone like falling snow, turning the visibility down to zilch.
The dust separated Lina and Sylphiel away from her other companions, the Sheik, Kerchef, and his troops. They backed up a couple of more feet as a boulder blown in from underground fell and shattered around them on the marble floor.
"Who's doing this?"
"I haven't got a clue." Lina turned her head rapidly back and forth looking for trouble. "Whoever it is, Xellos was delaying everything for this enviable."
As the rumbling and shaking stopped, the still choking dust made exit visibility impossible. The few nobles that managed to avoid the pits escaped with their lives. The other ones found the new holes in the marble floor...and to their own horrifying discovery they left nothing save the dying pleas for their lives.
Sylphiel shuddered in fear, grabbing onto the blond Lina for support. "No...!" Still tearing, her nerves turned as she halfheartedly stepped forward, determined to save lives. "I...have to..."
"You can't!" Lina latched onto the purple maiden's wrist, pulling her back against the wall of the dome. "If you go out there, you'll never make it!"
"But...I'm a shrine maiden!"
Lina shook at her head. "You go out there, you die for nothing." She pulled the shrine maiden close to her. "What's the point of that!"
The purple maiden bit her lip. "But what about Filia! She's still out there!"
The blond winked. "She's a big girl. Besides, I have a feeling that Xellos is looking out for her..."
The two ladies stepped as carefully as they could, their backs touching the outer circular wall while inching their way towards the front door.
More shocking cries for help came from behind the dust clouds. The purple shrine maiden again took a step forward to help, just as Lina managed to pull the shrine maiden back by the wrist.
"Please..." answered the blond sorcerer. "I might not be able to hold you off next time..."
"Hai, I understand." Sylphiel nodded with tears streaming down her cheek.
Lina looked out into the covering dust cloud; its viscosity improving by every minute. They could see the swiss cheese-like marble floor, the holes easily outnumbering safe places to walk. Whatever tables, chairs, and other wedding decorations that were present before were either missing or splintered in small piles of debris among the bottomless pits.
"I think its over..." The blond sorcerer was about to sigh a little relief when something dark slithered in and out of her view.
At seeing the moving shadows, Sylphiel jumped up and grabbed the blond tightly around the waist. "Uhhh, I don't think we're alone." As soon as the purple shrine maiden had said those words, Kerchef and a couple of his men emerged from out of the dust clouds.
"What have you done!" The captain pointed at the two strangers with his scimitar drawn. "Where is the Sheik! You two... are bent on revenge!"
The former redhead sweat dropped. "What you're talking about! I would never want to kill people and fish like this!"
"Liar! Now you will pay for your crimes!"
"...Uzumara...where are you..."
All heads slowly turned toward the torturous booming voice from within the dust clouds. The celestial voice was almost indescribable. "...Brother..."
Kerchef turned his sudden attention around at the unknown, his face aghast. "Maximilian! Is that you!"
The online of a blackened creature emerged from the mysterious haze. The giant serpent was at least ten feet long, with scaled body skin that shone black, magical, and very powerful. Stubby front limbs that were more like fins helped the creature maneuver to and fro. But it was its deformed head that shook Kerchef's willies, outlined in the unmistakable deformed bust of the Regent.
"Oh Cephied!" Sylphiel turned her head behind Lina's shoulder, the scene almost unbearable to watch.
"What happened, brother! Who did this to you!"
The serpent came a little closer; the former human lowered his head to the ground as it released its bite on a squirming object, the battered fish body of the Sheik. It slid across the dusty floor, leaving a bloody trail all the way to the far wall, where it smacked it and foundered around with the last gasps of its life.
"Uzumara!" The captain of the guards ran to help his master, cradling the Sheik in his arms. "How could this...happen!"
"Why?" asked the blond Lina, looking up into the Serpent's cold gaze. "There's no reason to be so senseless..."
"Father..." Kerchef was desperately trying to revive the sheik with CPR when he felt a gentle hand on his shoulder. He turned around, surprised by the calming face of Sylphiel. He offered no resistance as the shrine maiden bent down next to Uzumara, to cast her healing spell.
The changed serpent groaned in pain. "So many years of serving the Sheik. So many times that I had thought it was wrong...I was doing right. All that time...is now fruitless."
"How can you have been so deceptive!" shouted back his brother. "You could have come to me! There might have been a way..."
"Power, dear Kerchef. It was something that I desired a long time ago, no matter the cost. The power...of the Cloudminders. You cannot resist the pull of its feeling, of its ego. Wait until you touch it...and you'll understand..."
"Brother..." shook the head of Kerchef. "What has happened to you..."
The black serpent turned his ugly head down towards Lina. "And you, sorcerer. If you had not interfered, then my chaos boxes would have taken control of this pathetic, lying kingdom!"
"Me?" The blond Lina took another step back until her back was rubbing against the wall. "You think I caused all of this! How naïve can you be?"
"I want revenge!" The serpent of Maximilian moved closer toward his Sheik and master, but the small figure of Lina cut off his shuffle forward.
"Haven't you done enough meddling with the Cloudminders?" snarled Maximilian. "Stay away from it! Otherwise, it will bring you nothing but death! Like me..."
"No." Lina tilted her head lower so her blondness covered her eyes. "I...can't do that."
"What nonsense is this?" The serpent roared a shrill that shook the walls of the Forbidden Dome. "Why must you be here!"
The blond looked up. "A friend...in need. Someone I that care about...very deeply," said the blond sorcerer, straining her voice. "He's..." She swallowed her breath, finally coming up with the courage to say the words in her mind. "He's been cursed...by those chaos boxes. And I made a promise to him...that I must fulfill. And if I don't succeed, them I will...take his life!"
Sylphiel heard Lina's plea, turning her head in shock towards at the blond sorcerer. "No! How could you let Zelgadis talk you into that!"
The blond sorcerer took a step forward. "And that is why...my life is not equal to his. Many times before, us humans have fought for our lives. I am...their hope. Their champion of sorts." She laughed at herself, hearing how ridiculous she sounded. "And I will try...once again."
"So be it," grunted the serpent, igniting darkening power around his eyes. "No matter, Lina Inverse. You shall die..."
Lina took step back, tripping for a second.
A fireball... no she couldn't do it! There had to be another answer!
She looked around for it in the back of her mind. Here was battle, not as an entertainment but as a check against her life. She had no choice but to defend for her life.
"Fireball!"
But she slipped again as the spell was cast out of her hands! Curse this blondness!
The serpent Maximilian dodged it easily, laughing at the blond all the way. The fireball exploded against the ceiling behind the serpent, blowing a sizeable hole through the roof. It was over even before it began.
Lina cursed, just managing to dodge out of the way of falling ceiling before dropping back a few more feet. She jumped again and fell to the ground, just missing the energy shots emitted from the Serpent's eyes.
"Lina!" mumbled Sylphiel, putting up a shield of protection.
All the action shot more dust up, covering each other's sight line. The black serpent blew with his mouth the dust clouds away, hoping to uncover the fallen sorcerer and her companions. He moaned, opening up his eyes all the way to see, This was taking much too long...
"...Power vested in me, come forth!"
"Aaaagh!"
A huge ball of light blew out of Lina's hands, illuminating the room in an angry glow that blinded the serpent. Blind as a bat, Maximilian thrashed around the golden dome with his tail, hitting every where he remembered the blond had been. He had been outwitted once again...
-
---o--o--o---
-
"Love that spell," commented Lina as she stared up at the front doors to the Forbidden Palace.
'Run!" shouted the passing Kerchef, who was still carrying Uzumara on his back. "We can't be here!"
"Come on!" Sylphiel took Lina's hand as she looked behind her at the collapsing building before turning forward.
The domed palace was unable to take any more punishment, shaking for a final time before its vaulted roof finally gave way. The collapse started with its outer walls folding in like an accordion, followed by the top of the dome falling down in one huge swoop. As the vaulted roof finally touched down, it let out a roar of vibrations that echoed into the air with a thud.
The group had run so quickly that was no longer on the ground by the Forbidden Palace, but on the overhanging walkway to the city below the waterfall. Already, the walkway was shaking, the only escape visible to them was the elevator lift down the lower city.
"Let's go!" Kerchef didn't wait one second for the two ladies, choosing to load the carriage with himself and the fallen Uzumara draped across his back. "Come on!" he shouted to Lina and Sylphiel, telling them to board.
Both of the girls looked at each other in disbelief. "Are you sure?" asked Sylphiel, watching the walkway crack like an old fresco painting. But she didn't have a chance to object as Lina dragged her into the lift.
Kerchef had his sword out and swung it at the pulley ropes, releasing a couple of the counter weight lines that held the carriage in its high position. He knew was he was doing, apparently because the lift swiftly dropped like a weight to the safe ground.
Escape didn't last long.
From up top where the lift had come from, opened a hole for the serpent of Maximilian. His head stuck through the overhanging ledge hole staring down at his prey.
"Kerchef! Come back with the Sheik's bride and face your brother! Or do you betray me!"
The captain of the guards looked up as his family abomination. "I don't you what you have become, but we no longer come from the same strip of flesh!"
"Fight me!" Maximilian wasn't satisfied with letting them go, choosing to lower his twisted body into the ropes of the carriage. His snake-like body tangled the lines instantly, stopping the escaping cable car from descending .
"Bastard!" Kerchef held one of the corner lines of the lift in agony, while the carriage swayed to and fro wildly like a swing into the wind. "You'd rather kill us all to satisfy your sick needs?"
As the hostages held on for dear life, the carriage swung up closer and closer towards the cliff of rocks and falling water. If the sudden descent of a broken carriage didn't kill them, then the wall of water rapids would definitely finish them off.
Sylphiel turned to the blond sorcerer. "Can you cast anything? Like a spell to get us away?"
The sorcerer looked up at the shrine maiden, the very look in her eyes was of her confidence draining away. "I...want to...but... If I wasn't lucky back there, I would have..."
"What about levitation? I can carry Kerchef, but someone has to carry the Sheik..."
"I can't...risk it..." Lina lowered her head and shook it, disgusted with herself.
The cable car rocked again as Maximilian snapped one of the four corner cable support lines. It caused the lift to twist in the wind, heightening the chance of death.
"Shoot him!" yelled Kerchef, daring the sorcerer to take the offensive. "What are you waiting for!"
All Lina could do was hide. "I...I..." She looked up at Maximilian and then down at her feet in fear. "I can't! Believe me, I've tried...!" She felt her whole body shiver as thoughts of impending doom pounded her mind.
"Lina..." The shrine maiden put her hand onto the blond's shoulder, trying to comfort her friend.
The blond turned her anger back at the captain of the guards. "What in the world did you do to me?"
The carriage shook again from the pressure being applied into the lines. The once human Maximilian was doing his best to drop his enemies to the ground. He finally succeeded in snapping a second corner lines, opposite of the first rope. One more, and the four of them would topple out of the unstable carriage to certain impaling on the rocks below.
"Can't you do something!"
"Didn't you hear me before?" The blond almost fainted from the strain in her voice. "I'm...useless!"
And that's when Lina heard the whispers of a familiar spell from behind her. "...buried in the flow of time..."
"Sylphiel..." She twisted around and watched the shrine maiden's face strain under the immense concentration of Ruby eye's spell.
"Hopeless..." blunted the smiling serpent while staring down at the purple maiden's spell. The former white wizard was either totally naïve or didn't know exactly what Sylphiel was molding in her hands.
But when the gist of the spell's power lit the sky, Maximilian became quite apparent to the power of Ruby's spell, its redness reflecting over his glazed eyes.
"Dragon Slave!"
Sylphiel's spell rang true as the massive chaotic sphere of energy shot out of most gentle set of hands even seen. The ball of energy rapidly accelerated up towards the elevated walkway, its aim straight towards the heavens...with one serpent on a rope in the way.
"Holy Cepheid!" exclaimed the captain. "That thing is huge!"
"Go..." Lina watched as Sylphiel with her outstretched hands, controlled the flight of the ascending Dragon Slave. Amazing that the shrine maiden had learned the finer points of the spell so quickly, for she did indeed have the necessary photographic memory for copying her own favorite motions. She knew Shabby's spell would take out the entire bridge and the debris of Forbidden Dome -- it would be lucky if any one of them survived at all.
If it were possible, the serpent that was Maximilian...smiled while dragging his forearm forward. Lina couldn't figure out why he'd be rather smug...until she spotted it conspicuously tied to one of his useless limb. For firmly within the serpent's hold...was the unmistakable outline of a chaos box.
"Abort it!" The sorcerer threw her blondness into Sylphiel, breaking her concentration over the spell. The shrine maiden's arms waved forward if just for a second, arching the dragon slave spell arching just enough off course like a falling star.
"Lina! What are you doing?"
The sorcerer was too busy watching the dragon slave arch through the sky. She could see the chaos box absorb some of the spell's energies, peeling away a layer or two like removing the skin of an onion. But the hungry chaos box was just too far away to completely trap the wayward spell.
"Oh crap..." bleeped Kerchef.
The dragon slave arched though the waterfall, smacking the rocky cliff side just underneath the Forbidden Dome. A thunderous roar released walled ocean, spilling super-heated rock into the steaming rivers below. The high causeway cracked and splintered directly in the middle, its disintegrating structure showering down a hail of rocks and debris.
Maximilian the serpent was nowhere to be found...
Water hit the small lift like a leaf in the wind, tossing them mercilessly towards impending doom. Lines snapped as their carriage was thrown through plumes of water as it rapidly fell to the ground where it splashed and sank right into a moat of water, just to the left of the lower castle.
The Sheik was first up to the surface of the water, swimming the backstroke like almost nothing had happened. Kerchef was next with his head poking out of the water. Lina and Sylphiel popped their heads up next, their hair so wet that they looked like drowned cats.
"We're saved!" thanked Kerchef and he hugged the blond Lina in delight. "That was close!"
"Get off of me!" The sorcerer pushed the captain off her back, diverting her attention to helping Sylphiel. The purple shrine maiden needed a little boost while getting out of the water, even though she was surprisingly no worse off than aching from the falling impact. As she finally kneed herself out, she collasped back down onto the ground, exhausted.
Lina sighed. She was about to pull herself up and out of the water with a half-turn when a strong nimble limb tugged at her wrist. She took the help, bringing herself up onto dry land.
"Its so nice that we get to save you again, Lina!" Nene mothered Lina a bit by removing a long strand of seaweed from her hair.
Mimi blinked in surprise, removing the sand from the blond's shoulders. "Wow...you sure look different."
"Uhhh...yea. It sure has been fun." The larger Lina stood up, a foot taller than the kawaii twins. She watched Nene pull the flailing Kerchef out of the water with the water-nimble Sheik in tow. "I wouldn't want to do it again. Not for a million years."
A half dozen or so locals from the lower city had already formed a crude semicircle around the survivors, interested in the unusual strangers had come from the very castle of so called human rulers. They murmured between each other, curious that a fish was dressed up with the exact kingly robes of their pictured human leader and thought to be current Sheik.
Kerchef tried to defend his Sheik with every known word. "Subjects! Citizens! This is not what it seems! Your ruler is up...there!" He pointed desperately at the collapsed Forbidden Dome. "This person is just...an emissary from another kingdom! I swear."
The locals frowned with doubt. "Liar!"
"I can't we were deceived...by a fish!" News traveled fast as the apprehensive crowd's size swelled, threatening to become a restless mob.
"What a coward!"
The horde swelled. The survivors had no choice but to back up until their heels were on the water's edge. Without the protection of the Sheik's guards, Uzumara and Kerchef were unable to defend themselves.
Lina took a little jump up on Nene's and Mimi's shoulders and whistled.
*PFfffft!*
"Listen up, everyone!" With her blondness still as asset and her body dripping sexily wet, the crowd's attention -- especially male attention -- was on her.
"...Yea...you go, girl!"
Lina frowned. "Now, I know that you're all flabbergasted that the Sheik is a fish. Believe me, even I was surprised."
"You had better believe it!"
"...Roast the fish!" The crowd acted as if they were the judge, jury and executioner all wrapped into one -- determined to mock and finally dispose of their false leaders.
Hesitating for second, Lina continued to pour on the bad news. "And... you may already know the Sheik has been hiding the fact of his heritage for so many years." She could sense the mob was beginning to turn for her, so determined was she to push forward.
"Just remember what he had provided for you?" Lina pointed to the irrigated lands around them; their fields filled with a bountiful of crops. "Who do you think made this city? Who?"
The mob paused, listening to every word from the blond sorcerer as she pressed her point. She saw a couple of the younger locals stop forward to attack, but older members of the crowd held them fast.
"We could have built this place," said one of the little ones, stepping up to challenge.
"Then have your fathers and mothers tell you of a time long ago. Yes, you older ones. Back when your grandfather's grew up and lived in this desert. You should ask them how hard nomadic life was. Do you want to return to the former ways that your family lived?"
The memories of harsh desert life popped into the crowd's head, calming them for the moment. There was water here, and food. Shelter. Clothing. Life...was better. It was better than just survival.
Lina took a second to eye Kerchef and the Sheik, letting out a little half grin before continuing. "Beyond the fallen palace is a port run by the fishman. In fact, the Sheik has been hiding the legendary fishdom ship port for decades!"
The crowd broke out into a flutter of talk. This luxurious port run by fishman! It was something of legend to travelers and men alike. It was supposedly...on the other side of the world? In fact, it was all the way around the world...so far, that it was here! Their brothers, the fishman, ran the trading port known to all! Here!
"You bitch!" shouted Kerchef, his scimitar ready to strike down the blond.
Before he could charge, the two ninja twins held the captain by each of his arms. "Hey, that's our friend Lina!" shouted the ladies in unison, not used to holding down such a beast. "You can't do that to her!"
"Let go of me! I'm going to murder her!" Kerchef twisted around and swung his muscular arms across his chest, flinging the ninja girls back in the lake. Easily breaking free had only excited the captain more. He growled at the upcoming fun as he charged the blond, his weapon raised high in the air-
He didn't expect the Sheik to grasp his own wrist firmly, thus holding him steadfast. "Uzumara! What are you doing?"
The Sheik discouragingly shook his head. "No, don't do this. This...is wrong."
"What are you saying?" Kerchef lowered his weapon in shock.
"We should have done this a long time ago... I have...been wrong."
"No! I won't!" countered the captain. "It will ruin us! I won't let her destroy everything that are parents built!"
"Kerchef!" scolded the Sheik, making his adopted son stoop for a second. "Do you think they would be happy with your brother right now! Do you?"
Uzumara pushed forward until he was in between Lina and his captain. "Today has been...quite difficult. I must apologize for my subordinate here."
"How can you say that?" yelled Kerchef.
The Sheik stared back at the captain. "Listen to me, son. I cannot afford to lose both of my adopted children. I had always thought that you were the one that might turn on me, never figuring that it would eventually be Maximilian. After all, with his training in white sorcerer's knowledge, I always thought he would protect me." He took a good look at Kerchef from head to toe. "You have become quite a man, my son, and I trust you now more than ever."
Kerchef didn't know what do say.
"Maybe once," continued the Sheik. "long ago, when I was lad, such things would have been handled differently..." He slowly turned his attention towards the subdued crowd. "Time has taken small steps, for I am an old fish."
The captain was astonished. "Father..."
The commoners could sense the ring of truth in the air as the Sheik turn to them with both of his open palms in the air. Even though his royal clothing was rich and beyond the means of many, his clothes gashed and ripped with his fish body dirty from all the action made him one of them. Yet, he was still a very proud individual, as conceited as there was in the world.
"Listen, my friends. Let me a story from a long time ago..." The Sheik weaved his tale of ancient history from what seemed like forgotten times; all started with an account of his mother and adopted father-in-law. Indeed, the Sheik never did forget his most cherished memories, for they were full of tragedy, hopes, and desires. Most of all, it impressed the rowdy mob into stunned silence. The sorcerer could see there was not a dry eye in the crowd.
"Lina..." said Sylphiel, clasping her hands in admiration. "You did it!"
The blond sorcerer gave the shrine maiden a small V with her two fingers, toned almost to a silence due to the circumstances.
Kerchef angrily sleeved his scimitar back along his waist. "And what about the nobles! The ones that are the merchants for trading ships?"
The Sheik held his open hand out to his adopted son. "They will, unfortunately, lose some of their power. And this kingdom may never be as rich as it is now, with much less success down the road. Still, the only thing I know is that it is a small price to pay..." He turned her attention to the blond Lina.
"Ano..." The blond sorcerer blushed deeply before focusing her attention on the Sheik. "I...I..."
"First of all," nodded the Sheik, "thank you."
Lina bit her lip. She wasn't used to gratitude these days. "Well, its about-"
Mime interjected right in between the two of them, directly entering into their conversation. "She says you're welcome." A little slap on the back by Nene all but sealed the deal.
"Damn..." said the blond sorcerer. "What else could happen."
"You have one more thing to ask for, Lina," pushed Sylphiel, padding her comfortably on the other shoulder.
She looked blankly at her purple haired friend. "I do?"
"Come on. I know been trying to get it off...your chest."
The ninja girls chuckled.
Lina sighed a bit, thinking how the consequences would weigh in her mind. No doubt, she said to herself. Not anymore, at least after today. No way she was going to let it slip on by and forget about this nightmare of a day. It was time...to put aside a dream...
"Lina..." begged the shrine maiden. "Please."
The sorcerer looked squarely into the Sheik's eyes. "I don't want to be a blond!" The courage came from deep within her heart, saying it from within her very soul. She turned again the other way to tell the rest of them. "You heard me! I don't want this body! Its not...me! Never! Never again!"
Sylphiel smiled from ear to ear.
Uzumara stepped towards Lina, bringing his hard up against Lina's cheek. He pushed away a curl of blondness that was covering one of Lina's eyes. "So...you want to be a fish. How special it will be to be my wife after all."
"No way!" fumed Lina. "Change me back to normal human being!" Her eyes darkened in total frustration. "After everything that has happened today, don't you think that's the right thing to do?"
The Sheik frowned. "Are you sure-"
"YES!"
He bobbed his head again before turning to Kerchef. "Take her to Maximilian's laboratory. Find your brother and stop him."
"Understood." Kerchef bowed to his father-in-law and then to the twin performers. "Watch him. And don't have any wine."
Mimi shrugged, "Oh, really? We can't drink?"
"Yea...and we just raided the dessert tray before the wedding..." whined the other twin.
Kerchef cringed at hearing Nene's news, deciding not to press the issue. He quickly turned his attention to the blond sorcerer. "Let's go. Now."
"Hai." Lin looked around for her friend just as fast. "Sylphiel? Where are you! We need...your firepower!"
The purple shrine maiden nodded. "Hai... Right behind you!"
-
---o--o--o---
-
"Gee. Wasn't that fun?" smiled the mysterious priest. "I was wondering when you would stop whining."
"Be quiet." The golden dragon was busy combing excess dust out of her hair. "I don't like to be carried about like a trophy girl."
"Awwwe..." sniffled Xellos. "Isn't that what loved ones are supposed to do?"
"Are you crazy?" She shot the Mazoku an incredulous look. "I am definitely not your friend, girlfriend, wife, or anything even remotely related to any of those categories!"
He lowered his artificial guard, moaning loudly. "I can't ever have fun."
The blond fumed a bit more before taking in their new darkened surroundings. The two of them were enclosed in narrow square shaft, singularly lit by a small ray of light from the ceiling. There was barely enough illumination to see up the shaft more than a few feet. A set of ropes ran down the center of the shaft to the uneven wooden floor below -- clearly the top of a moveable elevator lift.
"Can't you turn on a lamp or something!"
"I could, but being in the dark like this... it's sort of romantic. Don't you think so, little dragon?"
"Umph!" Filia sidestepped just out of the Mazoku's reach. "You should know better when seducing a golden dragon," said Filia, stepping carefully around the elevator ropes in get a better sense where she was. "Why can't we take the elevator like normal people?"
"I have my reasons." Xellos turned his head up and looked up the path of the elevator. He raised his staff high into the air, glowing red light up the entire shaft, thus illuminating the impressive height of the vertical tunnel. "Is that better?"
Instead of looking up, Filia stared wide-eyed down at her shaded hands, drenched in the light of the Mazoku's power. At first, she thought they were immersed in blood. So...blood was on her hands. It was the price of what she had to do.
This is what it was like to be under the power of a Mazoku. And the stain...would never come out.
No! She shook her initial thoughts away, realizing that it was Xellos bathing her body in the power of Shabernadgo. It's only...the power of a Mazoku. Then why...was she forced into this?
Xellos nodded his head, amused by the dragon's reaction. "So...it is no longer foreign to you." He looked up down and suddenly spun his staff around so the head of his quarterstaff was held in the palm of his hands.
Filia could see the anger entering into Xellos' face. Seriousness. What shallowness and amusement that had been his facemask before was suddenly stripped away, leaving an emotional core that scared every bone in her body. She shuddered at the sight of the true Mazoku, fearing the worst.
Xellos gritted his teeth, stabbing the tip of his quarterstaff just above the elevator's roof. He jostled it around, letting out little spark of fire, handling it with the ferocity of a wild animal.
Filia could just make out the half-darkened portrait look of Xellos' face...of pure unadulterated pleasure.
She screamed.
Something wailed a quick deathly sound before falling off to the side of the elevator lift. She could hear it squirm a bit as it finally fell through a crack area below the elevator car, finally disappearing from her range of hearing.
"What...was that!" Visibly shaken up from the encounter, Filia leaned down on her knees to catch her breath.
"Aaaah...we had a little visitor." The mysterious priest turned his calm face back toward the dragon. He had already masked his hidden core, reverting back to his usual aloof demeanor. "Some things are better left unsaid."
Filia slowly nodded, determined for once not to push to the issue. "Hai. So what are we waiting for?"
The elevator shook and suddenly descended down the darkened shaft, apparently answering the beckoning call of potential passengers. "We're escorts, mind you." He turned to the dragon and let loose a little smile. "After all, we saved the world once...what makes it that we can't do it again?"
She had never been so frightened in her life.
-
---o--o--o---
-
Kerchef, Lina, and Sylphiel ran in informal triangle formation quickly into the open main entrance of the lower castle. They moved quickly in step of each other, all determined for this day to end.
"Where's this secret underground laboratory that Uzumara mentioned?" asked Lina, flexing her hands in anticipation. "I can't wait to get my hands on Maximilian for changing me into this...thing!"
The captain turned his attention to Lina. "Be careful what you say, sorcerer. After all, he is still my brother."
"True. But it's not going to be a piece of cake. We may have to fight him on his own turf, especially if he's still a serpent."
Kerchef frowned. "I know, I'm not looking forward to this. Nevertheless, we have little choice."
"Speak for yourself," smiled the blond. "I can't wait!"
"Why you-"
Sylphiel interrupted the two of them by interjecting a new question. "So...how far down is the laboratory within the lower castle."
"Well, for one thing, it's not down," answered the captain. "When we started building the lower castle, our builders found the ground was too sandy to support an underground cavern necessary for a wizard's laboratory. So, under Maximilian's orders, we built the rooms of his laboratory within the tallest spire, the farthest possible distance away from the commoners."
Sylphiel gulped. "Oh...this doesn't sound like fun at all."
"The highest tower?" exclaimed Lina, as she also muttered something about climbing to high places. Indeed, her experiences from just a week before in Monte Darlo were not of happiest of times. "And believe me, I'm really kind of not looking forward to hiking so many stairs."
"Oh, don't worry. There's a lift to Maximilian's laboratory." Kerchef turned left without pointing, making both the ladies lose track of the captain. "Quickly! This way!" He waited a second for the other two to catch up before continuing.
They arrived at a closed ornate doorway with no visible knobs or latches to pull upon. Kerchef had his scimitar out, using the handle as a knocking hammer against the bronze-encrusted door. "Hey! We're going to Maximilian's laboratory! Hurry up!" He knocked again on the unmarked doors until they finally open split in the middle, withdrawing themselves into the walls.
Lina and Sylphiel were immediately stuck dumb by the intense luxury of the elevator. They saw plush red walls overly draped in silk, patterned with crisscrossing lines of jewels. The far wall of the elevator was lined with the same type of luxurious couch that matched their own suite room. Giant brass hand rails and poles, thicker than Lina's wrist, helped the passenger secure themselves within the lift, the reflection of the brass only made it even more gaudy.
But the strangest sight was a human-like frog, dressed in a red and black suit with coattails, all while sitting at the controls of the lift. He sat like a small child with his short squatty legs overhanging the edge of a simple wooden stool. One of his webbed hands was securely on the elevator's control leaver, while the other hand urged his visitors into the lift.
"Come in, come in." he croaked. "Long time no see, captain."
Kerchef stepped in with his sword still unleashed yet safely tucked in by his waist. "Yes, operator. It looks like my brother has redecorated lately."
Lina and Sylphiel followed the captain into the luxurious elevator, their eyes glazed over. "I think we're going in." As soon as the ladies stepped into the elevator, its heavy doors closed quickly, almost trapping Sylphiel's cape in the process.
"Going...up!" The operator switched the lever up, jerking the elevator with a couple of shakes that had the two ladies scrambling for balance. Quickly, however, they were climbing up; indicated by a wooden control arrow turning a couple of degrees to the right.
They stopped. "Maid's quarters," bellowed the frog operator, like he was counting off a procession. The doors threw themselves open as a couple of servants shuffled in, each holding a stack of plush towels. The lift snapped its doors shut and creaked upwards.
And it stopped again. "Pantry & Storage!" The process repeated itself as they added another couple of passengers. Lina tapped her foot at the delay, sulking in the back of the elevator.
And again. "Bakery!" Another jolting by the elevator caused Lina to twitch, with Sylphiel noticing this time.
"We'll get there," she said, resting her hand on Lina's shoulder.
"Kitchen Prep!"
"Enough!" shouted Lina, squeezing between Kerchef and a servant before grabbing the operator by the necktie. "Stop at the next floor, right now!"
The frog froze the elevator immediately with his control leaver, opening its doors a few feet higher than the floor of an open room of supplies and boxes. Lina didn't waste a second, pushing all the servants out the door as they stumbled out onto the lower ground. The poor indentured workers scattered away from the door, trying to get away from the crazy blond as fast as possible.
"What are you doing?" asked Kerchef, clearly annoyed at Lina's frisky behavior.
"Getting there before dark" pleaded the blond, before turning her attention back to the operator. "And you too," she said, tossing the frog out like excess baggage. "I can control this elevating rust bucket in my sleep."
"Burp!" The operator tried to instruct Lina as best as he could. "Wait a sec, don't pull the leaver too far--"
"Blee...!" Making the ridiculous face with her eye and tongue, she let the operator 'have it' until the elevator doors shut on her beleaguered expression.
"Going...up!" The blond sorcerer shifted the control switch up all the way until it 'clicked' conveniently at the top. The elevator responded like a rocket, taking off within a moment's notice.
"Liiinnnaa...." Sylphiel was desperately holding onto the side of the railing with all her strength. Kerchef wasn't having much better luck; he was collapsed head first into the couch, swearing like a pig.
The blond tugged the leaver down all the way, but whatever resistance there was in the handle was suddenly missing. "Wha...it's not working!" She could still feel the elevator accelerate upwards; the floor indicator turning clockwise like a windmill. "How do I stop this second-rate piece of junk!"
Kerchef turned his large body over on the couch, gleaming his eyes at the sorcerer while his head was still glued to the couch. "Blonds are nothing but a walking disaster!"
Just like it had accelerated, the lift suddenly stopped at its top floor, bouncing up and down a few more times before finally settling to a standstill. The elevator doors opened, spilling out three very dizzy passengers onto the floor, weary from being thrown around like a dandelion seeds in the wind.
"Uhhh..." whimpered the purple haired maiden. "I don't feel so well..."
Kerchef had found a window ledge nearby, needing a bit of fresh air....
Thinking that she was hearing something, Lina turned her head around back toward the closed elevator doors. "Damn..." she said under her breath, swearing to the faint moaning in the elevator shaft. She shrugged it off, finally hearing the empty lift leave as it lowered itself down.
"Must be the wind." She turned and helped Sylphiel off her knees. "Come on, that wasn't so bad!"
-
---o--o--o---
-
The three of them turned the corner, coming though the open doorway to Maximilian's laboratory. They stopped immediately within a foot of the entrance, staring in disbelief at the disaster before them.
Everything was the infernal mess. To the right were his experimental countertops, stripped bare of their delicate beakers and glass jars as if a giant hand has whipped them clean. The cabinets above the countertops were open wide and missing of their contents. And everything that was missing above made up the muddle of broken glass, bubbling liquids, and other assorted junk sprayed on the floor -- the mess already colligating on the floor.
Maximilian's large study desk on the left side of the lab was also ransacked. Scrolls and important documents of Maximilian's were pulled out of cubbyhole draws and ripped to shreds. The papers were chaotically shredded as if done by hand -- even it would have taken a haste spell to rip so much, so quickly.
"Be very careful, Kerchef." Lina poked around the floor of the desk, looking through the papers for clues. "I've seen this before and believe me, it wasn't a pretty sight the first time." She spotted the small ripped corner of an outline -- of a very familiar print design of a cloud -- and swept it aside.
Shocked, the captain spun his head around like a top. "Who would do such a thing? A Mazoku?"
"Probably. Whoever is it, did it at Temple of the Water Dragon King a few days ago. The first time they were looking for something. But...this...this has to be different. Maximilian knew too much about the Cloudminders. And it looks like it was very valuable information. This time...they're covering their tracks."
"Are you sure?"
"Positive. Let's hope the Regent wasn't stupid enough to leave all his Cloudminders information around to be picked through." She kicked a piece of broken glass in frustration. "This is only some of it..." The blond stepped into the center of the room, finally giving up. "This can't be it!"
"No..." Kerchef pointed up at the ceiling and metal scaffolding several floors up. "The private library...its up there. However, there's no way to get up there except by levitating." The captain nodded a bit before looking back down. "Not a bad security system, I might add."
"Oh really? Time for a look see..." The sorcerer recited her levitation spell, lighting her body up with magic. As she finished the chant, she took a little jump off before collapsing back down onto stone ground in a jumbled heap, mumbling. "Now how are we going to get up there?"
Sylphiel came over to the blond, putting her hand on her shoulder once again. "Come on, I'll give you a lift."
Lina looked at the ground. "Damn...I'm so useless."
The shrine maiden clasped her hands around the blond's waist, not giving a second for Lina to react. The sorcerer blushed slightly as they ascended towards the second floor of the lab.
"Hold on..." chimed Sylphiel as they shot up like a rocket.
As the two of them landed safely on the upper lever, they couldn't help to feel they were too late. Maximilian's homemade library was in ruins; just like his downstairs area. Books were scattered all over the floor, either split open by sword or ripped by hand from their bindings.
"This doesn't look much better," said the blond.
"Lina...look here..." A thin trail of dried blood led from one of the opens windows and down the metal scaffolding to a central area in the middle of the tower.
They raced down the elevated walkway to a centrally placed metallic table wiped clean of its contents. The dust layer on the table was pocket marked with the cleanest of squares -- a sure sign that a set of previous objects had been recently stripped from the table's surface. Now those objects d'art were gone.
"Over here..." said Sylphiel, as Lina saw it at the same time.
"...Maximilian!" finished the sorcerer, her eyes glazed over.
The now again human was bruised and broken as if beaten like a rag doll. The gray robe that he wore before was blotched and sticky from covering huge bloody wounds. The v-shape neckline left a view of his chest hair caked down with dried blood. Next to the Regent's body was his own quarterstaff, covered in a mix of sticky hair and blood -- leaving little doubt to the source of the brutish weapon used against his own human body.
"He's not in good shape..." said the shrine maiden, trying to further gauge his injuries. "I'm not sure-"
"Brother...are you there?" coughed Maximilian, not recognizing the moving images within his vision. He pleaded insanity for a second while focusing on who his visitors were. "I am...such a fool."
"Shhhh..." Sylphiel was trying position herself in order to cast a healing spell, while Lina blotted at a deep bleeding gash on Maximilian's forehead.
"Kerchef's downstairs," said the sorcerer, unable to look squarely into the Regent's eyes. "Hold on a second, we're going to get you stable with a healing spell..."
"No! Leave me, now!" Maximilian threw his bloody hands into Sylphiel's view, stopping the shrine maiden's concentration with little strength he had.
"But...you'll die!" pleaded the shrine maiden.
"I have no choice!" The Regent coughed multiple times before dripping a few drops of red fluid from the corner of his mouth. "Baka. You don't understand that you can't save my life."
"You think I want to save your ass after putting me through this personal hell?" Lina let off with an explosion of anger, the frustration compiling in her mind all day long. "Well, think again, buster. You're changing me back from being a blond."
"Don't you see?" shouted the Regent, "I'm already dead. How do you think I was able to change back into a human?"
The two ladies looked blankly at Maximilian, not grasping his turn of events.
The Regent continued. "You see, I managed to get control of my mind...if only for a second. In those precious moments after your attack on my serpent form, I was able to come here... and use the chaos box to cleanse my body of his hateful magic. The after effects, however...is that my body repels all spells..."
"So?" sneered Lina. "It sounds like you'd be safe from a fireball or two-"
The impact of the Regent's words hit her like a ton of bricks. Because Maximilian had used the power of chaos on his own body...because he had not just controlled the magic to turn back into a human, but had drained it like a drain from his body... that he knew what he had become. He knew with his body, charged with the chaos energy from the Cloudminders...was now able to repel any spell.
Able. No, more than able. More like immune.
Lina swallowed her tongue, following the sequence of the battle in her mind. The Regent's assailant must have tried an attack spell or two with little success. Realizing that the Regent was temporally immune, the Regent's assailant took Maximilian's own quarterstaff...and physically beat him to his deathbed.
The blond sorcerer shook her head, traumatized by the wizard's intense pain. No white magic could cure or even relieve his physical throbbing. So...horrible...
"Baka...this isn't normal..." she rattled off, her stomach queasy as hell. She fisted her hand in frustration, pounding the metal causeway. "Why are so many people dying for these...secrets."
"What's going on up there!" yelled Kerchef, still on the lower level. "Is my brother up there? Is he alive?"
Sylphiel went over to the railing. "He's..." She looked back at Lina, who signaled a little nod. "Hold on, I'm coming down," she said, throwing her legs over the banister.
The sorcerer turned back to the fallen Regent, her body exasperated with fear. "Why did you hide the secrets of the Cloudminders from us?"
The regent shook his head. "The power...it was like I was one of the gods. I prefer to think of it as a blessing, instead of a curse..." Maximilian stirred around, preferring not the dwell on the news of his personal demise. "Lina, help me up to the table."
Lina could not understand how the Regent was still alive, the injuries were some of the worst that she had ever seen. She was even flabbergasted that the Regent hadn't even faded into unconsciousness -- surely the pain had to be unbearable. So...what was keeping him alive?
The sorcerer put her thoughts aside while she reached around the Regent's body with both of her arms. With a tight bear hug, Lina brought the wizard up from his crumpled self back onto his feet. Turning him around slowly, she faced Maximilian towards the display table, positioning his clammy hands so they leaned his body forward.
"Over here..." The Regent reached with his right hand back underneath the table, pressing a release button. It shook the table slightly as a panel to a hidden chamber folded up, revealing a miniature chaos box and a couple vials of clear liquid. "Quickly..." He could no longer hold his leaning balance, slowly collapsing onto the metal floor.
"Damn!" Lina tried to catch Maximilian, but she stumbled on the metal grating before tripping face-forward. Still, she managed to get her own body underneath the Regent's head before it could smack the hard ground.
Maximilian nodded a bit, tilting his head at an ugly angle. "The vial...it will work overnight on the chocolate you had last night..."
"What? And I thought you drugged the wine we had at dinner the night before!"
"Not quite. You actually need to ingest both. The mix of them is how the spell is formed." He coughed again before leaning his head down again.
"Damn chaos...its a curse that could only be dreamed by death itself..."
Oh Cepheid, shouted Lina within her mind. She finally realized why the Regent was still alive, his very life a single step away from death's doorway. The chaos effect that Maximilian wasn't just a painkiller neutralizer...but it was keep him alive. Living with the unbearable pain but unable to die...until the chaos itself dissipated from his body...
Luna trembled from within her thoughts. "Who would do this to you!"
"Those who know the Cloudminders..." Maximilian looked at Lina with a sense of total deliriousness. "...Ancient...dragons..."
Lina froze. No, she couldn't believe the truth as it rang in between her ears. No...
The sorcerer could see the very chaos seeping out of the Regent's eyes, like a hot water mist leaving a teakettle. The chaos...it was angry at its beholder's final act of betrayal. Time was short-
"...Please...tell my brother I'm sorry..."
And then, he was still.
Lina's eyes grew wide as the wizard's last words repeated in her mind. "It can't be..."
The Regent's body was suddenly clammy, its warmth disappearing like the rays of the setting sun. With no more chaos, the human form was nothing more than a rotting corpse, the fire of its life extinguished.
Thoughts raced thought Lina's mind. "No! The ancient dragons are...gone! If they are the Cloudminders...then..."
She stood up just as fast, her hands shaking profusely after every step. All she could do was feel the fear from Maximilian's last words...
Cursing, Lina suddenly remembered Maximilian's last two parting gifts from this world. The sorcerer ran to the secret compartment and took one of the Regent's clear vials of liquid. "Well, I sure hope this is the stuff." She uncorked the top and drank it lavishly. It tasted like chalk and went down just as thick. "Damn, I guess I'll have to wait until morning for this stuff to work..."
She turned her attention towards the miniature chaos box that had found a home in her other. She was about to hold it up for a look when a voice sprung up from behind her.
"So... we didn't finish the job."
Lina spun around, the chaos box still in her hand.
"More...secrets... My master will be pleased..."
-
---o--o--o---
-
Filia kneeled down across a thick crossbeam, her hidden place high among the wooden rafters of Maximilian's laboratory. From her lofted position, she could watch Lina and Sylphiel as they attempted treatment on the injured Maximilian, So...horrible was the Regent's condition that she almost turned her head away in shame. As hidden as she was, all she could do was look down at the scene below.
Leaning against the wall behind her was Xellos, still stretching his back out. He muttered something about being used like an accordion before turning his thoughtless gaze on the golden dragon.
"So...go down and help them," flatly said the Mazoku. "I know your shrine dragon's urge is calling you."
"Yes...it is..." She snapped her head back at Xellos. "Your scheming with Lina has cost so many lives. Why did you have to upset everything?"
"Yare..yare..." Xellos nodded down at the sorcerer. "When will you learn that sacrifices are sometimes...necessary. We couldn't have Lina marrying Uzumara." The mysterious priest was zealous with his own thoughts. "Besides, it wouldn't have driven out the Mazoku working for-"
"I desist your sickening methods to the bitter end." She pulled down the hemlines of her dress in disgust. "I refuse to be a pawn in this sick game of yours."
The purple priest opened his hand and waved down towards Lina. "Then go down and help them."
"Fine!" Filia boldly stood up and looked down on her friends.
And then, she froze. "I...I...will go...in a second." A little tingle of her tail made her twist her head around, nearly butted heads with the smiling Mazoku.
"Oh...really?" Xellos stuck his tongue out playfully, touching her nose--
"Baka!" She felt for her mace from under her dress, pulling and attacking with it all in one motion. "You!..."
But Xellos was gone.
"What am I doing..." she said, loosing the tight grip on her mace. "I...can't go though with this!" The mace finally gave way , clunking down next to her foot impassively, "Please, Cepheid, give me the wisdom I need..."
Something from behind her caused the dragon to shift her head ever so slightly. A little tuft of smoke appeared out of thin air; quickly dissipated as quick as it had appeared. From the center of the movement emerged a human, sweeping away the energy as it made its grand entrance.
The golden dragon's eyes went up and down the visitor's body, her mind like a blank slate. When the thoughts finally came to her mind, all she could do was whisper out a couple of words...
"Oh...no..."
-
---o--o--o---
-
Lina could see the Mazoku's smoke from her backside, quickly presenting the chaos box within her open hand. "Take one more step buddy and I suck you dry. Understand that?"
"Yes...I do..." Moe said, rubbing his bony chin in frustration. He seemed to be sensing something in the air as if receiving a subliminal message. Alas, he frowned bitterly. "So, my acquaintance is dead, to the hands of that no fault, goodie two shoes, golden dragon."
"You mean Filia?' said Lina, taking a couple of encircling steps around the Mazoku.
"You are correct." He raised his arm again, interrupting the sorcerer. She could swear the Mazoku was smiling at the latest subliminal news. "Ahhh, I have been told of something else very interesting..."
The sorcerer leaned back just enough for the Mazoku to feel to flight emotion in her mind. She didn't dare show it in her posture, but her blondness had betrayed her once again.
This intrigued the Mazoku to no end. "Ahhh...the great Lina Inverse...and she's scared of little old me. Now I am interested."
The sorcerer cursed, doubling her show of the miniature chaos box. "I said stay back!"
Moe's eyes grew wide, finally recognizing the chaos box in Lina's hand. "My...my...so you are not the defenseless blond what was described to me..." He chuckled, taking a step forward while licking his lips. "Tell me...how do you expect to activate such a chaos box? You have no stone for it..."
The blond swallowed, reaching with her other hand among her hidden waist compartment. Very carefully, she took hold of the chaos stone and pulled it over her chest.
The human Mazoku's eyes glowed red as he charged forward, catching the blond sorcerer by surprise. "Oh no you don't!"
His crude attack was to run his flying body into the blond, causing Lina to go flying backwards head first into the empty bookshelf. She hit the wooden shelving quite hard with the back of her head. After the stunning impact, her hand accidentally opened up enough for the chaos jewel to squirm free onto the metal ground.
"You really need to work on that delivery. I smelled that little plan of yours from the very beginning..." He kicked a couple of books, knocking them into the body of the fallen blond sorcerer.
Lina shook off the blows, using her hand as a brace to push herself up to her knees. She reached instinctively up at her jaw at the pain, discovering her lips were dripped in her own blood.
He laughed. "In the end, you're a lot less threatening as a blond."
Lina spit disgustedly at the floor, turning her eyes over at the Mazoku. "You know me...and what I'll do to you when I get back to normal."
"But that's not going to happen." He kicked again, this time missing the scurrying blond as she rolled out of the way. "Maybe my master will allow me to keep you as a pet. How unfortunate how that can never be the case."
Lina had moved as far away as she could go, but there was nothing behind her except for empty shelves of bookcases. She got to her feet and grabbed a large book to use as a shield, but the Mazoku slapped it out of her grasp a second later. Her eyes grew wide, as there was no place else to turn for help.
Slowly yet silently, the Mazoku reached up with his glowing hand, ready to strike down the blond sorcerer. A second later and it would be all over.
"Lina!" Sylphiel put up her shield just in time from blow, protecting the both of them from the attack. She was already breathing quite heavily, taking a second to look up before bowing her head in exhaustion. "Hold...on....!"
What! thought Lina. "Where's-"
A shout came from higher in the tower. Elevated above them so far high was Kerchef, dangling by one of the hanging curtains. He dropped like a rock, repelled down the fabric like a maniac his scimitar drawn high in the air.
Lina sweat dropped at the lucidity. "Kerchef! What are you doing!"
The Mazoku chuckled at the effort, letting the blade strike his shoulder. He laughed again as the cutting edge dissected across his chest with a perfect diagonal slice through his body. Moe's body unpeeled for just a second, before folding back and healing itself.
"Fool...that doesn't hurt for a second... "
But before the Mazoku could swallow his own words, the wound line appeared again, glowing hot white with energy. The Mazoku's eyes glazed with weakness as he fought the internal shocks throughout his body.
Kerchef smiled, lowering the blade and then raising it against the Mazoku's neck. "A final present from Maximilian. My brother ran this very blade each and every day against his chaos boxes. Its residual effect...are quite numbing to a Mazoku's life form."
Moe cursed, gritting his teeth while trying to keep his body whole. After more than a few seconds of concentration, he managed to stabilize his body. But the toll of the attack was the removal of his humanoid skin as it melted away like pudding. Where bronzed desert skin had been was burnt black and crispy like coal; his lovely tan hat was no more than a cinder of its former self.
"You bastard. You drained me, and permanently." When Moe looked up again, he saw the blond sorcerer with the chaos box in one hand, her chaos stone in the other. His mind reeled, his body temporary unable to flee for safety.
Lina fingered the chaos box, managing to pull open the top with the long fingernails she had acquired as a blond bombshell. Shrugging, she attempted to plug the crystal into the chaos box, but all it would do was clink like an unmatched set. She fumbled the crystal and tried again. The chaos crystal from Monte Darlo... it didn't fit.
The Mazoku pointed and laughed. With his mouth wide open...
"Why you!.." Lina pounded her foot impatiently, glaring madly at the chuckling Mazoku. It was useless to attack the Mazoku without her powers. Damn it! She was more annoyed at his fat trap than anything!
An idea smacked her in the head. "Sylphiel! Flare Arrow!" she yelled.
"But Lina..."
"Do it!"
"Hai!" The purple shrine maiden started the words of her spell, determined to get it right...
"Just try it!" snarled the Mazoku.
"Oh yea!" With force, the blond twirled, shoving the open-ended chaos box down Moe's throat.
The Mazoku didn't know how to respond, swallowing his words on the sharp edges of the unlit box. "Wha...!" He tried to close his orifice and smash the delicate box, but it that was proving to be harder than desired.
"I like...you quiet!" The sorcerer looked back at the frowned Sylphiel, her awaiting diminutive flare arrow was just small enough to ignite a couple of matches.
Lina pointed right at Moe's trap for Sylphiel to see. "Right...there!"
"Hai!"
The shrine maiden's flare spells would usually have little effect on a Mazoku. The delicate chaos box, however, was a perfect target, splintering open in a flash of fire. A second later, a charging Lina took her chaos stone and slammed it home around the broken box.
"...Bi...tch!" There was just enough intact chaos box left to ignite the energies that it had long since desired. The strong pull of chaos, so close to Mazoku energy... It was a feeding frenzy, even as the box threw itself apart. And before Moe could repel it with a spell, the chaos fires around the crudely broken box blew the Mazoku's cranium off in a small explosion of fire and chaos.
Moe's human-like body fell down onto the metal scaffolding, thumping like a falling tree trunk on the walkway. The Mazoku's blackish sticky form melted though the thin grating, dripping like pudding to the ground below.
The blond sorcerer looked down at her fallen opponent, watching the body fall away like instantly melting snow. Sticky remnants of the broken chaos box lay scattered among the muck. She kneeled down next to the biggest pile and found her quartz-like jewel, picking it out with a clean handkerchief.
"Gotcha..." she said from the corner of her mouth, "and don't ever try that again..."
"Lina!" Sylphiel leaned down next to the sorcerer, helping the blond back up to her feet. "Are you OK?"
"Yeah, I'm fine..." The sorcerer let the quartz-like stone shine in the light for a second or two, admiring the danger and raw power of the chaos stone. So delicate and beautiful was the stone itself; for without its accompanying chaos box it was a piece of art.
"What do you see?" asked the shrine maiden.
"The mysteries of the Cloudminders," as she looked thought the clear stone. "What other truths are you hiding..."
Kerchef stumbled back from where his brother was lying, tears streaming from his eyes. He was distraught, talking to himself as the same time. "I...may never forgive myself for this," he cried, before disappearing once again.
Lina looked at the disappearing Kerchef, the strength in his eyes fading fast. She tightly gripped the stone in her hand, staring around for answer, but there was not as much as a whisper, even from her own mind. "And we will fight to live, like so many times before..."
The sorcerer collapsed unconsciously into the arms of Sylphiel. This battle was finally over so she could dream...of the City of the Clouds and their masters...
-
---o--o--o---
-
Well, the one year anniversary of this novel-length fict has come...and gone. This chapter...has been the most difficult...but alas, its downhill from here... ^_^
- Incantrix
incantrix@dreamclouds.com
Also, master of the sleepy Slayers Fan Fiction Archive
that's www(dot)slayersff(dot)com !!!
Yes, that's the reason for all the crazy '-''s Stupid ff.net won't give me two carriage returns for formatting :evil
-
---o--o--o---
-
-
[Lina] Hmmm, do you think I should get it trimmed? {shows off the golden locks with a flick of the wrist}
[Amelia] But...why did you have to bleach your hear?
[Lina] {looks horrified} Bleach! Isn't hair suppose to be a natural color?
[Sylphiel] Ummm...it's not like I wanted to be the purple princess...
[Amelia] Yea, sure... {swaps at her own mop of hair} What about curls?
-
---o--o--o---
-
Slayers: Clouds!
Chapter 10:
Wedding! Time for the Blond Marriage!
-
---o--o--o---
-
"And now, the merry-go round starts once again."
Xellos had known of the idiom from an age long since forgotten by time. He had composed the expression in his own words, from an ancient time in one of the oldest kingdoms in the east. The settlers from this age long ago had immense wealth and the ego to build the grandest amusement park for all of its people -- a special place no less -- filled with attractions, restaurants, shows, and rides.
And yes, it was the ingenious design of one of its special rides that had caught the attention of the Mazoku. It was a circular spindle almost like a spinning top, except it was forty or fifty feet wide. The townspeople affectionately call it their 'merry-go round.'
He hid within the astral plane, watching the architects conceptualize their merry-go round. Each day, he saw their blueprints mature through their design drawings of riding horses, wolves, and other four-legged animals. Inspired by the moment, he returned late one night and replaced the design sketches with his homemade plans. He managed to sneak away just before an artisan guild member came in. When the artist saw the new plans, he took them for his workers to carry out.
When it was done, the artisans wrapped their present in secret. In a lavishly timed ceremony, they unveiled their inspired work. And what a sight it was! The architects fainted while the artists stood proud. The townspeople were dumbfounded as they blankly stared at the merry-go round. The kids were already climbing onto the ride, cheery eyed and ready to go. And yet...there was something about humans riding dragons that made Xellos chuckle for what seemed like...forever.
Lo and behold, the townspeople's children were tickled about riding the lords of white magic. Gold ones, black ones, even an occasional blue and red one. The planners had initially thought their merry-go round was a source of embarrassment; how very surprised they were at its acceptance because of its very ironic identity.
"Humans," he said to himself, watching the little humans jump on and off merry-go round, "are a most unpredictable sort."
And here he was in the present, looking down at a very blond Lina from his hidden place within the astral plane. Everything started...here. The merry-go round. The fun, the excitement... it was time to start to show.
He was careful, for Lina Inverse was not of the normal sort. Her detecting skills would eventually reveal his presence, knowing that the one-way portal would only hide his identity for so long. It only took a small hole into reality for a view, a lot smaller for any normal human to notice. Still, he didn't leave...not yet.
The mysterious priest chuckled to himself, watching the blond sorcerer while she checked herself out in the mirror. She frowned at her locks in her hair, turned around...and tumbled nonchalantly on the corner of her bed, unable to control her own awkward body. Oh, this was too much! He was tempted to push the moment, as the urge inside himself wanted to catch the sorcerer and welcome her to her new life. It wasn't just the figure that had him going, but something about that golden hair...
He checked his rising emotions. Yes, he'd have to be more careful, he said to himself. Personally, he even thought that thought he had outfoxed his own cunning mind, a wave of ego told him that wasn't so. Not to say he was smug about it either.
So he bid adieu, gripped his staff and closed his portal view.
-
---o--o--o---
-
"Xellos!!"
Lina's beckoning call did not summon the mysterious priest to answer. Swearing that his presence was watching from the shadows only made her shudder more. But...what had caused her to call the name of Xellos like so many times before?
She searched for an answer and remembered her visions during the night... "It was just a dream," she muttered to herself. "A dream...that's all it was..." She tugged her hair just for a second before looking down into her hands at long blond locks. "No, I'm not waking up from this. Maybe...because this also part of a dream."
She twisted the hair in her fingers and then pulled it. Hard. All she could do was bite her tongue from the sudden jerk of her head, as a little touch of pain came from out of the blue. "Oh...my..."
There was a heavy knock on her closed bedroom door. "Ummm, Lina? Is everything all right in there?" Sylphiel's voice sounded more concerned than ever. "Filia thought you were shouting..."
Lina could hear the dragon lady mumble something untranslatable to the purple shrine maiden before erupting like a sleeping volcano.
"She said Xellos!" grumbled Filia. "Its almost like he's in there with her!"
The shrine maiden objected to Filia's pointed comments, even if she 'wasn't' trying to hurt Lina's feeling.
"I'm all right!" Lina paused at hearing her words, looking down at her golden locks at the same time. "Just a little trouble with...getting out of bed this morning." She twisted around the bedroom, fruitlessly looking to escape out a back door or a balcony window. No such luck.
"I'll be out in a minute..."
"OK," chimed Filia, "because I'd hate for you to miss this lovely breakfast they delivered."
"Breakfast?!" The dragon's words didn't take long for Lina to recognize, her mouth salivating while her tummy growled. Her instinctive reactions made her throw open her bedroom door and charge into the sitting room.
"Fooood!" Charging into the sitting room, she had turned her undivided attention towards the laid out assortment of smoked seafood and tropical fruits and sat her blondness down. "Wow, the Sheik really knows how to put on a morning spread!" She proceeded to dig right into her meal, starting with the sizeable pile of scrambled eggs on her plate.
Sylphiel blinked in natural disbelief. "Lina...you look...different..."
"Mmmm..." mouthed the sorcerer, "You have got to try this smoked salmon! It's so good!"
Filia was a state of continued shock as she watched the blond Lina devour her breakfast. One thing that Lina had not changed was her voracious appetite and manners. Yet, the stranger's clothing was Lina's sorcerer's outfit but tighter around the body. Each of the ladies sweat dropped as the voice of Lina came out of the blond's mouth, almost like an oversight.
The blond sorcerer looked up from her mostly eaten breakfast, the shrine ladies' stares at her were surreal. The two of them were unable to move even an inch from their standing positions. "Would you two mind telling me what you're looking at?"
Sylphiel pointed to the top of Lina's head. "It's just that...you're a blond!"
"Yea, I know," said Lina, shoving the objection aside. "Kind of has some good qualities." She twirled with her finger a golden lock of her hair and smiled. "I like it..." She looked back down at her breakfast and shoveled away.
Both shrine ladies grinned like Cheshire cats. "How can you be so calm about the whole thing?" asked Filia.
The sorcerer looked up with a stare at Filia, silently thinking about it for the first time. When she had heard Uzumara's curse from yesterday, she had almost fainted right there on the spot. A fish? A thing that swims in water? With all that algae and disgusting stuff? Cepheid no! She couldn't even think of herself as a piece of seafood. Absolutely no way!
Yet, here she was. Not as a fish, but as a...blond. A stunning, beautiful...blond. She ran her loose hand down the side of her body, stunning in every detail. A little clumsy, but so what! She could actually feel her chest press into the table. It made her so happy that she let out a small sniffle.
"Lina," said the purple haired shrine maiden, unable to interrupt the sorcerer's thoughts.
A spell. Her magic. Her new body didn't coordinate that well, so her sudden spell casting was...reduced. No big deal that everything wasn't perfect. Maybe...it was something she just needed practice with...yea, that was it...
"Lina..." Sylphiel's persistence snapped the sorcerer's undivided attention. "Are you ok?"
"Oh yea..." The blond sorcerer stood up from the table, her body bobbing up and down with every moment. "Many times when I was younger, I would have wanted these-" she said, cupping her chest with both of her hands. "And now, because of it, this feels...so right!"
Both shrine maidens blushed. "Cut that out!" exclaimed Filia, waving her hands in a crossing motion. "Its embarrassing!"
A knock on the onside foyer door startled the three of them. Instead of waiting for a response, the door cracked opened and stopped only a couple of inches open. "The royal tailors will be here in five minutes. Please make yourselves presentable to them." The door creaked closed just as fast as it had been opened.
The three ladies gaped awkwardly at each other.
"I didn't call for them," said Lina, staring back at the front door.
"Neither did I," said Filia. "Something's...amiss. Oh, maybe its about the wedding?"
Lina cringed. "Damn it! I'm such a freaking baka." She turned around to her fellow blond, practically begging. "What am I going to do?"
The door creaked open ominously as if gusted open by the wind. "Lina Inverse..." The sorcerer could make out Kerchef's distinct voice and the shuffling movements of several others from behind the door.
"Don't come in, we're not dressed!" shouted a dragon lady.
"It's Kerchef," he chirped, "Captain of the royal guards to Uzumara." The girls could tell that the servant to the Sheik was an impatient man just by his pacing in front of their door. "I intend to come in."
"Don't you dare!" shouted a frustrated Lina, "otherwise, you'll be a flaming pile of-"
"Morning!" interrupted Filia as she ran to the door and locked it closed. "Please give us a few minutes to get dressed!" The dragon turned and dashed madly across the sitting room, shushing her new blond roommate into Sylphiel's sleeping chamber.
The purple shrine maiden shot Filia an aggravated look but she cut her off with a hand motion. "Shhhh.... we can't tell them that Lina's not a fish!" she whispered.
The shrine maiden ahhh'ed to the blond dragon's comments appropriately. "I guess so."
The sorcerer, meanwhile, didn't like getting told what to do. "Hey! What are you doing-" But Lina's temper tantrum was cut off by Filia, as she gently escorted her fellow blond into Sylphiel's room and closed the bedroom door.
Sounds of jingling keys were the precursor to the double set of foyer doors springing open for the Captain and his men. Kerchef didn't waste anytime commandeering the sitting room, snapping his fingers as several of his men marched in formation behind him. "Where's that annoying fish bride!" He charged into Lina's open bedroom before coming back out with his scimitar drawn.
Sylphiel sweat dropped. "She went...to the spa!"
"Yea, to get her...errr fins all nice and clean for the wedding!" followed Filia.
Kerchef thumbed his chin. "Ahhh, I see. Very smart of her to prepare for the Sheik in such a manner. I'm impressed."
The girls looked at each other, quite surprised that the captain had bought their tale -- lock, stock and barrel.
"Very well! I have a special present for our fish bride." The captain barked an order, signaling for a set of servants to come in. "She will be required to wear this wedding dress. The sheik's tailors have prepared this fine garment, incrusted with the rarest pearls and emeralds of all time."
Filia cringed as she took her hand to the green garment, examining the fine silk work. To her, the patterns of flowers were beautiful, but the color of an ugly stain of moss that looked like puke. "Kind of disgusting green, don't you think?"
"Of course it's green, you fool!" barked Kerchef. "The Sheik is a fish, he prefers his mate to be like his favorite food." He fondled the silken dress with his grubby hands, so much that it made Sylphiel's emotions recoil. "The silk to make this dress is dyed with local varieties of kelp."
"Ahh!" Filia continued to poke at its unusual openings and odd blimp-like shape she couldn't make heads or tails of the wedding dress. "What are all these holes for anyway?"
Sylphiel nudged the dragon lady away from the dress for a second, finally getting Filia's attention. "Actually, it's for the fins, don't you see?" She poked around the dress like an experienced seamstress. "And here's where the feet are, and then the tail section...."
Filia coughed. "Oh! And I was just thinking about how I would love to wear something as beautiful as this!" She chuckled a bit, which immediately lightened Kerchef's somber mood. "How foolish of me into thinking this wedding gown was for me!"
"We can arrange matching bridesmaid dresses if you wish," grinned Kerchef.
"No, that's quite all right! I'm sure I'll have a lovely frock to wear for today!"
"Hai," nodded the captain. "Make sure our bride returns and is ready within the hour. I shall be escorting her to the bridal suite in preparation for the ceremony." The captain gave a little courtesy bow and left with his fellow guards, leaving the dress spread out on the sofa.
A few seconds after the front door slammed closed, Lina bolted from her hiding spot in Sylphiel's room. "That was much too close." She took one look at the wedding dress on the couch and almost threw up. "What is that!"
"Curtains?" said Filia, trying to smooth over the situation. The dragon held up the dress to the window, and indeed, the fabric matched the window treatments quite nicely.
The blond sorcerer swallowed her tongue as she emotionally face faulted into the cushiony sofa. "I need to go back to sleep..."
"Everything going to be fine." Sylphiel sat down next to the lethargic sorcerer, drawing Lina's golden hair back rather motherly. "Kerchef will be on his way now to the spa."
"Hai, if we're going to get out of here," contorted Filia while she creaked open the front door. She immediate saw the backsides of a couple of Kerchef's guards and shut it before they noticed. "We've got company on the outside."
"So? I like to introduce myself all the time!" Lina flipped over to get a better look at everyone before scurrying up to her feet. "Oh Cepheid, we are so getting out of here!"
She dashed up and took a couple of steps towards the door, preparing to dish out some of her famous chaotic magic. She chanted the spell's words perfectly, the energy forming in the palms of her hands. As stepped forward towards the door to release her explosion array, she tripped on the carpeting -- falling face first into the floor.
*Smack*
"....Oh crap!"
"Lina!" cried out Sylphiel, leaning down to help her collapsed friend. "Are you all right?"
"....Owwwie..." The blond sorcerer pulled her head up off the hard ground. She winced at the surprising amount of pain, even thought the plush carpeting had prevented a permanent injury. "This isn't exactly a piece of cake anymore."
The other blond's face was agape at Lina's clumsiness, yet it took Filia a only a second to comprehend it all. "Well, you wanted to be in a body like that, but it now you can't even-"
"Filia!" interrupted Sylphiel, aghast at the dragon's rudeness.
"But its true! You heard her...she wanted this body!" The dragon lady snickered at the sorcerer's unfortunate predicament. "And imagine that, not being about to control...those hips!"
"That's not funny!" Lina looked at the floor with resentment in her eyes. "I didn't think being a blond was going to be so much trouble!" She refused to budge from her crouched position.
Sylphiel got down on her knees and crossed her legs, weaving her cape underneath her legs. "I know this is hard for you, Lina." She couldn't help smiling at Lina's new look.
Lina stared at the shrine maiden before opening her palms up. "But I wanted this body!"
The purple shrine maiden paused. "Are you...sure?"
"I am!" She grabbed her chest again as an example of show-in-tell. "It's just...I never thought that these...*things*...would throw off my balance." She moaned, reminding to herself that coordination is an important thing when casting spells.
The shrine maiden nodded. "You know, a lot of woman would kill to have a body like yours. Didn't you ever meet anyone that was like this?"
"Errrrr..." she blushed, thinking of the past for a second. Lina disregarded it as she and Sylphiel both looked up at Filia, who was busy cleaning up the breakfast table. "Don't look at me, I just shape change into this."
Sylphiel nodded. "And it's a very nice body too," she chimed.
Filia mumbled a couple of words before returned back to her room. Something about humans and their opinions, and she was glad that her friends didn't hear it.
They sat for several minutes, silently in a funk. Even the carpeted floors were a comfortable place.
"Now...if we can't bust down the door..." murmured Lina, before moving her thought process on. "Then my only choice is...hmmm." She put her hands on her chin, scratching it for answers. "I wonder...what if were to become a fish?"
"Lina! Don't ask for stuff like that!" scolded Sylphiel.
The blond snapped her fingers. "Damn! If I were a fish, then the guards would escort me as the Sheik's wife to be at a moment's notice! But how can I fool them now..."
"What about a disguise spell?" asked Sylphiel, thinking out loud. "You could get escorted to the ceremony as a fish, and then we could escape once we get to the bridal suite."
"Well, I certainly don't know too many illusion spells," answered the blond sorcerer, "what about you?"
Sylphiel nodded her head. "It's really advanced white magic. If we knew someone who know transformation magic..." As if she had said the words on cue, they both turned their eyes towards Filia's bedroom door.
-
---o--o--o---
-
It slithered along the foot of the wall. Out of sight, out of mind. That was its motto.
Its mission was a foolhardy one. Find where Lina was. Stay out of sight. Watch the sorcerer's actions. Follow her at every moment. Listen and hear the details. And finally, to file the report. Such was the simple task it was assigned.
It relished at its roll in intelligence. Practicing for years and years not to be seen nor heard. Never captured alive was its motto, memorizing it as its most important commandment.
And it looked...hard. Saw Lina. At what she was and her details. And decided that a report was immediately required.
-
---o--o--o---
-
Filia sat down on the bed, her mind in disarray. Why, she asked herself. Why was she in this mess?
She cursed at her predicament. All that she had wanted was at her home. Rebuilding from her former life that had faded so long ago, she was determined to run her little mace and vase shop with all her possible vigor. Juris and his former roughhousing associate had done a surprising well under her tutorage. She was amazed how the fox had settled working in her shop. They had become a family of sorts.
And she thought about her adopted son to be. Little Valgaav, all nestled up in his egg. He was almost ready to be born, sleeping away peacefully in his cocoon. She wanted him to grow up with values and given a second chance. Then, just maybe...everything that mattered would be ok. Instead of forced right now...
She took a second to wipe away a couple of newly formed tears. Anytime would have to be better than this. If only-
"Hello little Filia," interrupted an appearing Xellos. The mysterious one winked, smugly sitting himself down at the foot of Filia's plush bed.
The golden dragon growled. All of her problems were swept aside at the appearance of the Mazoku. "You have some nerve, coming in here right now. When was the last time you went at obedience school?"
Xellos blinked, "My, my...little dragon seems to be rather upset. Isn't there something I can do for
you?" He seemed to duck for cover a little bit before presenting her a gorgeous embroidered handkerchief.
Filia swiped the little gift away, taking it out of need more than anything. Dotting her eyes softly, she then inelegantly blew her nose, thus recomposing herself as best as she could.
Xellos leaned in closer, amused with Filia's sadness. "You're not rejecting me anymore? Hai?"
She looked up. "Are you kidding me! Never have I been more insulted over your...manners!" She threw the soiled handkerchief back into his face, smacking the Mazoku in the eye.
"Yare...yare...!" It was surprise more than anything to the mysterious priest. He instinctively reached out and dropped the soiled gift off his lap, covering up for his wounded pride.
"Don't you have some important secrets to keep quiet about?" She did a little fake wave in jest, her emotions as checked as possible. "Go bother someone else."
Xellos patiently crossed his arms. "But I like it here. You're the friendliest golden dragon I know."
"That's because I'm the only dragon you know!" She stared and questioned the mysterious priest some more. "Why are you here, Xellos? Don't you know that your very presence is irritating at best?" A sudden answer to her question popped into her mind. "It wasn't just the trip here, or the spa... I should have realized it, you've been following me around all this time! And without the rest of them knowing!"
He tugged as his sweating collar. "Well, if you put it that way..."
"You!" shouted Filia, her temper no longer held in check. "You've been up to something! Damn you!"
Xellos loved every minute of it. "Quite a threshold you have for anger, little one. Especially when you get really upset, you let out all those lovely emotions that you're supposedly hidden inside of you. And they are wonderful! I see it! You want to do this, and that, and even that it me!" He licked his lips in delight, savoring every dark sensation. "How...wonderful!"
"Wha?" exclaimed the dragon, amazed that Xellos was in sheer delight. "How can you be...?"
The mysterious priest leaned closer onto the bed, making the old springs creak ominously. "You know I can feel it. After all, we do indeed live on those nasty emotions of those around us..." He tisked tisked Filia a few times like he was scolding a child. "You know better than that."
"Namagomi!" Filia's spiked club came from out of nowhere and crashed into the bed, just missing the disappearing Xellos.
The old piece of furniture couldn't take the burden of the dragon's swing; the bed's legs folded out as it crashed to the ground.
"Why can't you stay still!" heavily breathed the dragon.
He reappeared unblemished on the other side of the bedroom. "Ano...it wouldn't have been a very good idea to stay." Xellos blinked as he looked down at the remains of Filia's bed. "Did you gain a few extra tons, little dragon?"
Filia howled. "How did you know I've been gaining weight!" She tugged at her unbelievably thin waist, a body that most human females would have died for.
Xellos raised his finger into the air while turning his head instinctively toward Filia's bedroom door. "Company. How I do hate visitors." The mysterious priests nodded for a second before disappearing from sight.
Filia sighed, recomposing herself She would have no chance to relax --for where Xellos had been standing was huffing Lina.
-
---o--o--o---
-
"Come on Filia, you have just got to help me!"
"I don't know," pondered the dragon in the direction of Lina and Sylphiel. "I mean, honestly, we still don't know how you became a blond."
Lina thought out loud. "That bastard Maximilian did it, I'm sure. He was suppose to turn me into fish food," she said, making a fist at the same time. "And then he thinks he did, but he royally screwed up."
Filia nodded. "I guess so..."
"Well, someone must have changed Maximilian's potion..." pondered the changed blond.
"Wow..." said Sylphiel. "Whoever it was-"
"Why not go to the wedding like that?" responded Filia, staring at Lina's golden locks. "Maybe you'll get out of it."
Lina scowled. "Ummm, I don't think so. I think Sylphiel agrees with me." She watched the purple haired one nod at her statement. "Everyone thinks I'm a fish. If I show up as something different, they'll barbecue our ass." She turned suddenly away from the golden dragon.
"So unlike you..." Filia stepped around the fellow blond to look into Lina's eyes. "You know, the old redhead I knew would have blasted us out of here. A few days ago you blew up the tallest building in Monte Darlo..."
Lina glared off in space of a second. "...didn't mean to..."
"And you've thrown Xellos around into a nasty headlock," smiled Filia, "so I heard."
"Yea, that was fun..." The sorcerer twiddled her fingers nervously.
"Oh, and you shouldn't forget about blowing up the Bridge of the Ancients," poked Filia. "A relic that had been standing for centuries-"
The sorcerer turned pale, yelling back at Filia. "I had to!"
Sylphiel coughed quite loudly, interrupting the quarreling blonds. "Filia, take a minute to think about what Lina asked for."
"I don't know. This may not be a very good idea..." The golden dragon was suddenly more apprehensive than ever.
Sylphiel walked back into Filia's room with the wedding dress, hanging it on the back of her bedroom's door. "Please, Filia. Can you change Lina? Not just for her...but for me as well."
Filia sweat dropped. "All right."
The shrine maiden let out a little smile. "Good. Then I think we're ready." Before Lina could object, Sylphiel had nudged the sorcerer by the arm to stand her next to the hanging wedding dress.
"Have you done this before?" asked Lina, surprised by the whole bit.
"Well, not exactly. If I stay concentrated, I can hold the illusion for a couple of hours. But beyond that, I sure wouldn't risk it." The blond dragon watched Lina affirm her answer before starting the incantation.
The words were in dragon tongue, the spell much more complex than a normal white spell. At the conclusion of the chaos chant, Filia pressed the jewel on her chest with both of her hands, channeling energies through the semi-precious stone.
The spell bathed Lina in a body of magic, wrapping and cocooning her in yellow strands of light. The delicate spider web throbbed with such passionate energy, hushing everyone with its holy beauty. After a long minute, it finally dissipated and melted away into thin air.
Filia faded at the completion of the spell, loosing her balance and toppling forward. She would have collapsed on the ground if it wasn't for Sylphiel catching her. "So...tired."
The girls looked up at the transformed Lina, now the complexion of a pink fishwoman in her own right. A tuft a red hair gave her the distinct look of the original Lina. Filia had done it all in one step, adding a duplicate of the green kelp wedding dress, the loose silken fabric perfectly molded around her scaled body.
"Lina! That looks good on you!" squealed Sylphiel.
The fish sorcerer trudged off to a full-length mirror in the far corner of the room, the girls sweat dropping at the rear fluke waggling tail. "Wow, I look...pasty." Lina scratched her scales on her tummy in frustration. "Damn, this thing really itches."
"Whatever you do, don't try to cast a spell in your new getup," said Filia, still a little hazy. "The magic on magic would cause me to break my concentration of the illusion."
"You're kidding." Lina was nervously combing the few stands of messy red hear she had left on the top of her head.
Sylphiel gaped at the changed Lina. "I can't believe you got everything right..."
Filia nodded. "Yea, I know. I just hope it buys us the time we need to escape."
-
---o--o--o---
-
Maximilian swirled the delicate concoction of liquid in a glass beaker, closely examining its viscosity. He never thought that it was exactly poison in his mind, but more of a transformation. Just like a set of clothes, it was temporary and never anything life threatening of the sort.
Where white magic only had its purposes, however, those purposes had been so limiting. So he tooled around with Shamanistic magic and added to his repertoire. And the results have been grand, for he had given Uzumara what he really wanted. A fish wife.
"Maximilian..."
On hearing his name, the wizard turned away from his workbench. He didn't like uninvited guests within his laboratory; yesterday's unannounced visitor was still throbbing in the back of his mind. The new swirls the black energy from the opposite end of the tower only annoyed him more.
He waited for the creature to form his entire body, preferring to get a little information out before elimination. He was sure to make quick work of his uninvited Mazoku guest. Maybe this fool was a servant of a human neighboring kingdom? Whoever it was, was surely an idiot.
Maximilian cursed. The Mazoku looked almost human, in fact. A strong one would be a pain in the neck, even thought the creature was still no threat compared to the power of the Cloudminders... Still, it was a distraction. A very annoying one, in fact.
"What do you want Mazoku? Why do you trespass into my laboratory?"
Maximilian watched the dark creature of the night take a step forward. Tall and lanky, the Mazoku was dressed in a simple green slacks and a full-length black suit coat. Maximilian could see underneath his jacket was an off white fluffy shirt, silken like a noble's wardrobe. The stranger's face was hollow, the skin stretched in and shrunken considerably. He had grayish blond whiskers that drooped considerably. But the most annoying part of the getup it was the large blond hat that covered most of his head, the top point inverted like a crater.
"...I'm here for my master," said the Mazoku. "Call me...Moe. The last of three brothers." He took a step forward out of the darkness, the blackness of the astral plane finally fading away.
Maximilian judged the Mazoku immediately. "You have no claim in being here. Who do you answer to?"
The Mazoku was as silent as a statue.
"Answer me! Before I run out your puny existence-" shouted Maximilian.
As the wizard readied himself, something around Moe's neck caught his eye. It was...slithering.
The Regent's eyes grew wide with a realization. No...it couldn't be...
"Cat got your tongue?" Moe let his eyes light up ruby red as he enjoyed basking in the moment.
Maximilian watched the dark feathery thing slide over Moe's neck, the rest of its body coiled around the Mazoku's torso. Finally, its small head made its appearance next to Moe's shoulder; its skin was as black as coal, its black eyes showing incredible intelligence and guile.
"Excuse me...human," grinned the Mazoku.
Maximilian shuddered as he watched as the reptilian serpent whisper a few choice words into Moe's ear. The wizard pointed rudely up at his visitor. "You're are part of...him?"
"Not exactly," said the Mazoku, turning is focus back forward. "More like his advisor." He scratched the serpent on the back of the head like it was his pet. "Isn't he the most adorable thing?"
"That bastard...how could he..."
Moe threw down his arms, staring down the wizard with his glowing eyes. "You should talk, betrayer. My master has told me of your history. Remember who has your life in their hands."
The Sheik's Regent tried to take a step backwards, but his body was already leaned up against the counter. "I did what was required. What else does your master desire?"
Maximilian watched the black serpent take another half wrap around Moe's neck to speak into his other ear.
"So...my little friend here says you have failed. What a shame..."
"But...I did what was required!" The wizard tried to object but was cut off by the Mazoku.
Moe's eyes glowed again with power; his little serpent friend seemed pleased as well. "No matter. We have a use for you, however...very nice use...indeed."
A bolt of energy from the ceiling hit Maximilian, like it had come out of thin air. The wizard never had a chance.
-
---o--o--o---
-
*Knock Knock*
"...Just a minute!"
Kerchef grumbled. "The Sheik awaits you, dear fish one. I suggest you hurry up in there!"
"She's almost ready!" bleeped the blond dragon.
"...that's too much powdering on the nose...errr..."
"...Wha? I don't have a nose? Why not?"
*Knock Knock*
"Open this door otherwise I will forcibly take it down!"
As if ordered, the double doors to the sitting room both swung inward, opened by each of the shrine maidens. Kerchef and his several guards quick ushered themselves in, eyes blazing ahead.
They stopped only a few feet in. In the center of the room, was fish Lina, the soon to be queen in all her glory. Her delicate face features were covered in veil of green silken cloth, the beauty quite outstanding to the captain's men.
"Ooooh.," loudly exclaimed one of Kerchef's men, the rest of them with their mouths agape in awe.
"How can they be all flabbergasted?" asked Sylphiel.
"Bakas," said Lina. "Humans in love with fish persons. I think I'm going to be sick." She took a step forward as Kerchef bowed and politely escorted the fish bride by the arm.
"Come with me," he asked.
Lina nodded, "Let's get this over with, shall we?"
-
---o--o--o---
-
The mysterious priest looked up into the sky. The sun was rising in the east, its rays cresting over the tall waterfall. About twenty or feet or so above his head was the base of the tallest spire of the Sheik's city; the center marker of power for all its citizens to see.
Where Xellos was peering from was one of the more lavish balcony gardens owned by the Sheik. Even though it was small, its banisters were covered in blooming trees vines; the moisture of the waterfall feeding life giving water to its roots. That and the morning sunlight gave the balcony greenery the perfect conditions to prosper.
It also gave the Mazoku wonderful cover from other spying eyes. Astral plane hiding was so tripe that he barely used it like this morning. Most of the time, he preferred to hide in reality. Not that hiding was one of his better specialties, but sometimes it was the best way to gather information secretively.
Xellos turned to look up at the Regent's window above his head. If Lina's little distraction didn't pan out soon, then he would have to pop in on old Maximilian. Figuring he could only spare a few moment more, something below his feet caught his attention.
He first saw Sylphiel walking timidly in front of a throng of people. The unmistakable figure of the shrine maiden was easy to spot because of her wonderful, purplish hair. He also identified Filia trailing the pack, almost staggering with each careful step forward. Strange, he thought. And then, he spotted the anomaly.
Xellos couldn't believe his eyes. He took a long hard stare at the waddling fish: the red tuft of hair, the wedding dress, and the walk of her...fins. He knew it was Lina. But...how?
A second look back at Filia, and it didn't take long for Xellos to calculate the sorcerer's plan. "So....they thought not making a mockery of wayward spell would get them to escape." The Mazoku chuckled at the thought. "My...my. She is in for quite a surprise."
A rustling from the vines behind Xellos' back got his attention. He bit his upper lip in frustration; for he didn't dare turn his head and face his adversity. Discovering that you were being watched was bad enough, but if they had known he was aware of them.
So he disappeared.
A black serpent fell out from the deep vines, enjoying its moment of freedom as it slipped across the balcony floor. One would think the serpent was temperamental the way it flicked its tongue in and out of its mouth. Actually, it was more to sniff around like a normal serpent than be annoyed at missing its opportunity to pray.
Rising over the top railing, the black serpent looked below at the human figures and then up at the window to the Regent's laboratory. A little tilt of its head and a second later its master popped in from the astral plane.
Moe looked down to where his pet companion was flipping its tongue and stared diligently. "So, you say he was here." He reached out with his bony hand and smoothed the fine feathers on the serpent's blackened head until they shone in the sunlight. "Hardly a concern at the moment. Oh, and she is with them?"
The serpent bobbed his head downward at the party.
"I see." Moe leaned against the railing, letting his lanky body stretch out. The rim of his blond hat was so low that it hid his eyes if anyone did indeed take a look. "Lovely as a fish, isn't she?"
The creature slithered up Moe's arm and twirled around the Mazoku's shoulder to get comfortable. As soon as he was there, he moved closely next to the Mazoku's ear as whispered a few choice words.
"Oh? You can see through it? How can you do that?"
The serpent stared at Moe with its beady eyes, flipping its tongue at double the speed of before.
Moe sighed. "I should have known."
A couple of more whispers from the black serpent, before it twirled around Moe's body. It didn't stay around for long, preferring to land back and disappear under the tropical bushes.
"Well...well... " And the Mazoku disappeared as well.
It was as if Xellos had been waiting on autotimer. For as soon as his interrupting guests had disappeared, the purple priest appeared again, this time sitting on the higher windowsill outside of the Regent's laboratory.
"Yare...yare..." He looked down again at the trailing golden dragon, the rest of the group was already gone. "Shall we play, my dear brother? Surely you jest!" With a wave of his staff, he disappeared.
-
---o--o--o---
-
The escorted girls came to the familiar entrance to the Forbidden Palace. Several sets of guards were already there, abet a few more than what was needed to open the doors to the lavished dome chamber.
"Don't you think you're overdoing it a little on the security?" asked Sylphiel, as she waited for the guard scrum next to the doors to clear.
"Hardly." The captain smiled as he signaled for his men to promptly open the double set of doors to the palace. "I refuse to take chances."
Kerchef's men took their positions while pulling open both the doors at the same time, welcoming the entire group in at once. Loud organ music hit their ears first as they focused on the luxury of the domed palace.
"What's going on?" sneered Lina while looking down the long red isle and the rows and row of nobles and fishman on both sides. "You're not taking me to the bridal suite?"
Kerchef chuckled. "Surprise..." he said, motioning with his arm as an escort to walk down the wedding isle. "Instant wedding!"
The guards laughed before getting shushed down by Kerchef's glare.
"Ummm, Lina?" Sylphiel looked around as well. "I don't think we're getting away so easily from the bridal suite..."
The captain of the guards turned his head down at the fish sorcerer. "Oh? We wouldn't want our star attraction to run away, would we..."
Lina felt sick. Tapping her fish foot impatiently, she looked for obvious avenues for escape. The walls of heavy guards made an escape quite impossible. She could only murmur to herself, the blondness damning her spells. She was going to have to risk it, and right now. So she turned around and looked for Filia.
"Filia?" shouted Lina. The blond dragon was gone. "Filia!" She frantically turned to the purple shrine maiden. "Where did she go?"
The purple maiden shrugged her shoulders. "I...don't know."
Lina barked out a couple of more unintelligent words before blurting something comprehendible to Sylphiel. "What the! Why can't I do a spell!" The sorcerer's voice was laced with fear. "Didn't Filia say that any spell would break the bond?"
"Hai," nodded Sylphiel. "I can't imagine that not being the case-"
The sorcerer cut her off. "Never mind! Just break the spell! Please!"
The shrine maiden spoke a set of chaos words before closing her eyes. As soon as she finished the incantation, she flicked her eyes open wide with total surprise. "I can't!" exclaimed Sylphiel, suddenly exhausted and leaning against the side of the palace wall for comfort. "Something's...blocking it!"
A couple of the rougher guards approached Lina quite aggressively. "Do we need to personally escort the bride to be down the isle?"
The fish woman turned to Kerchef's men. "Now you just wait one minute, buddy!"
Not hesitating for a second, they grabbed the fish sorcerer by each of her limbs. With brute force, they had the fish Lina scampering with her tiptoes just off the ground.
She objected as much as she could. "What are you goons doing! Get off of me!" She tried to scratch her way out of the mess...but she couldn't fully control the coordination of her fish-disguised body that well. Except, for course, for a well-placed kick between the legs.
"Ow! Ow! Ow!" One of the guards hopped around like a bunny rabbit. "Mean fishy!"
"...Lina!..." Sylphiel reached out with her arms towards the sorcerer, but another guard kept the purple shrine maiden at bay.
"I'm going to try to find out what happened to Filia!"
"Hurry!" said the fish, grabbing another guard by the meaty arm and biting it with her jawbone. He howled in pain, causing hysteria among the rest of them.
Kerchef parked his heavy hand on top off Lina's dorsal fin, shoving the fish to her knees. "Didn't I tell you to behave! Its useless to resist, I know how to sedate your kind."
"Let go of me, you bastard!" The immense hold by the captain made Lina's attempts at fighting back futile.
"It's time to get hitched," he said while tugging Lina's arms above her head. "These are the sad and faithful moments I so treasure. Always a joyful occasion in the end!"
"Are you kidding me!" screamed the sorcerer while being dragged into the Forbidden Palace by the heels. "I'm not a fish! Wait! Get that blond girl over here from before! Help!"
-
---o--o--o---
-
"Get your paws off of me!" shrieked Filia. She was in no mood to take crap from Xellos. "That was a dirty little stunt you pulled back there, getting me away from Lina and Sylphiel." She pointed up the walkway towards the Forbidden Dome, undoubtedly where the accelerated wedding ceremony was taking place.
The Mazoku showed off no sign of resistance. "Its not like you had to come with me, little dragon! I can't believe you were so susceptible to my charms!"
"Cut that out!" shouted the dragon before stepping away from the Mazoku. "I don't care what you say, I'm going back to help Lina and escape this crazy Sheik city. There's nothing you can say-"
"Valgaav," said Xellos.
Filia froze.
Xellos took great pride in his acquisition of knowledge. He didn't take his information needs ever so lightly. Yet, here was a chance to shine a little bit, show it off to the little dragon. He had always enjoyed his status when he had the upper hand.
The dragon grasped her hands in anger. "How...could you possibly know about that?"
"Ano...that isn't a secret?"
The blond turned her gaze onto the Mazoku, her eyes wide open. "Damn you, Xellos!" She took a step closer to the smirking Mazoku. "Damn you..." Maybe...something would give her the answer she wanted.
Xellos patted himself on the back. "So...right after all." He looked over at the dragon, approaching her gently. "Tell me, Filia. I want you to tell me."
No! How could she resist the pull of this! It was disloyal! "I...can't. I will...never...betray."
The mysterious priest stepped forward toward the dragon lady. He was no longer surprised at her anger at him -- once boiling, it had simmered in her mind to a dull roar. Something else was on her mind, and for once, he knew what it was.
"Filia." Xellos let his staff lean unattended onto his body while he reached out with his hand. She didn't resist as his hand touched her neck ever so gently. "I am your priest. It's confession time."
"Are you crazy!" She pushed her mind away but the Mazoku had locked his leeching touch on her. In her emotional frail condition and with her illusion spell still active on Lina, she didn't have the strength to...break away form the Mazoku. She cursed, for like a pitcher plant, she had too been attracted to the Mazoku in the search for truth.
It was nothing more than a release for her emotions. Bottled up as they were, a little coaxing would drain them into his mind. "Tell me, Filia. Where is little Valgaav?"
"No...don't do this...feed on me..."
"Where is the last ancient dragon?"
Filia tried to clam the pain in her heart, the warmth dissolving every second of the anguish. But her own walls broke down each second the Mazoku kept his touch on her. She had adjusted to the pain for a long time now -- more than a month of solicitude on the road had hardened her heart. But all that internal strength she had before disappeared under Xellos' gaze.
The blond's eyes grew wider as she watched Xellos raise his other hand to join his other cupped hand over her chin. His drain was so inviting that she could no longer resist. Another block in the wall crumbled.
"I don't have him anymore. You know that already."
"I do..." He grasp at her neck, feeling her arteries as she slowly closed her eyes. There! As began to feel the emotions flow up from her mind. Pain. Anguish. Fear. Dragons were always so stoic individuals and therefore it was quite unusual to capture their raw passions. Yet, when an emotional feeding came, it was furiously tasty. The power...the sensation...
"Who do you trust, Filia? You, the last of your golden dragon clan." He took both hands and ran them down her smooth skin next to her ears, tucking both fingers sexily along the nape of her neck. "Who is it?"
The blond let a tear fall from her eye. She could feel it run across the grain of her cheek and down her face, finally stopping firmly against the Mazoku's clammy touch. The...pain. The torture...she had to release the last of it...
"Tell me, little dragon. What secrets do you hide..."
And she let it go.
-
---o--o--o---
-
Filia remembered like it was yesterday. A late afternoon, during the closing her mace and teashop. The squalid weather of light rain and strong winds had kept her teashop quite busy with customers. She was happy for the business and when it finally dusked, her patrons left her friendly shop for home.
She sighed, finally finishing her table cleaning in the front area of the café. She could hear her assistants, Juras and his companion squabbling and then laughing in the back kitchen. More likely than not, the two of them were playing with soap water. Indeed, she wanted to avoid breaking up their little fun.
She looked over at the basket where Valgaav's egg was warming, its light bluish hue tinting the rest of the café. She could swear in the last few of days the little ancient dragon had stirred around a quite a bit. Still, it would take several more months for little Valgaav to hatch.
A string of bells by the front door rang as a new customer entered, followed by heavy feet and the ping of a heavy wooden staff hitting the ground. Filia didn't want to even look up at her guest, her eyelids too droopy. "I'm sorry sir, but we're closed. We'll be open in the morning-"
A deep beckoning voice answered, "I would like some tea, please."
"I said we're--" She looked up at her late night visitor, her remarks coming to a screeching halt.
"Hello, Filia."
"Oh..." She watched as the figure approach her, avoiding the light. Then, the candle in front of her gave off just enough to recognize the robed figure.
"..." Filia swallowed her tongue, not daring to approach the stranger.
"As expected..." muttered the stranger. Red eyes glowed back at the dragon, a stare of recognition. "from a betrayer of the golden dragons." He walked over to Valgaav's egg and looked into the basket. "And yet, you're raising an ancient dragon."
Filia scolded her visitor. "I don't report to anyone in my clan." She folded her hands over her chest in a sign of solitude. "Dark Star. The terrible price of the prophecy."
The figure half circled around the basket of Valgaav. "I see...that now..." He reached down and softly touched the egg. "Tell me, Filia..."
Filia nervously stirred around, her emotional barometer rising. "What...are you doing?"
The stranger looked up at the dragon lady. "Times change. We've lost so many members in last few centuries. But the past...those transgressions always remains a constant." He took the Valgaav egg and held it gingerly in his hands. "I have something for you to do."
The dragon cringed as she looked at the stranger. "What are you?"
"It's time, Filia. Time for the reappearance of the Cloudminders." He cradled the egg in his arms, finding the unborn ancient dragon surprising warm. Filia had done quite well for herself.
The blond took a step backward as she watched every movement in the stranger. "How can you be so naïve? I don't want to be apart of this! I won't do your wished!"
"Oh...you won't?" The stranger reached into his garments and pulled out a heavy book. "What if this were your little dragon?" He pounded a leather volume on the table with such force that the whole café rattled with the sound of thunder. "I suggest you obey, dearest Filia. This book is a lot stronger than this timid eggshell. Remember that."
And before she could object, the stranger was gone. Even the ringing bells of the front door were silent. "No..." She drew her hands close to Valgaav's empty basket and threw the baby blanket aside.
"No!" Only the cupping of her hands over her face could cover the disgrace, as she let out streaming tears of pain. "Valgaav!"
-
---o--o--o---
-
Xellos congratulated his willing partner, watching as tears of sadness poured from her eyes. "Weakened because of that spell on Lina. I had to do something to get you to open up."
"Xellos..." She twisted her head, making the Mazoku release his grip over her emotions. So she grabbed her mace and smacked him in the chin. So hard that he fell to the ground. "Baka! I can't believe I let you take advantage of me so easily!"
The mysterious priest kneed himself up, rubbed his bruised face at the same time. "Oh? And what did I do!"
The blond threw the mace aside, still standing over the Mazoku with a fire of hell in her eyes. "Xellos. The trickster. The mysterious priest. What other aliases have you used in your lifetime! Twenty? Thirty?"
Xellos did a quick check in the back of his mind before gleefully turning back to the dragon. "Actually, One hundred and seventeen timex. You have to remember, little dragon. I've been around for quite a while."
"Bastard. I bet you couldn't tell me the truth right now." She flapped her tail impatiently, watching for Xellos to answer. "Well... oh, and it has to be something I don't know about! Telling me that the sky is blue is a big waste of my time."
"Ano..." The mysterious one poked at his chin for a second time. "Actually, you don't think Lina became a blond on her own, don't you?"
"Wha?" pointed Filia, getting more and more upset with every passing minute, "two-timing, dirty crossing-"
Xellos finally didn't attempt to hide the truth. "But of course. I needed to know exactly if you were part of it. I had my suspicions that you were in on it from the get go, of course."
A sudden thought crossed her mind as she checked her outside influence. "You've been masking and keeping up my spell up!" She made a sudden plunge towards Xellos, managing to barely grab the Mazoku by the neck. "Why?"
He threw her hands up his collar, trying to get Filia's grasp off of his neck. "That is...outside your only question. And, therefore...that is...a secret."
"Aaaagh!" She dropped him like a sack of potatoes.
Xellos looked away with of the corner of his eye for an easy escape. What he did spot was a couple of white robed figures scurrying around to the back entrance of the Forbidden Dome. Perfect, he thought.
"Oh Filia..." said the mysterious priest before nodding his head in approval. "When was the last time you played dress up?"
"..." silently objected the dragon before upping her temper again. "You really think I'm going to listen to you!"
"Ahh..." The Mazoku leaned in closer -- personally to get the golden dragon's attention. "It is assured that if you don't help me, then Lina will most certainly perish. Quite easily, in fact"
Filia gulped.
"Good. I see you do play for my team." He threw his arm out proudly, causing his cape to billow. "Follow me."
-
---o--o--o---
-
The fish bride tried to resist Kerchef's push, but she couldn't turn her awkward body around to kick the captain in the neither regions like his underlings.
Kerchef was equally having trouble, even with his experience in disciplining fish people before. He had one hand on a rope that kept Lina's arms tucked quite closely to her body. The other hand held her dorsal fin tight against his chest, making sure that it wouldn't turn up and punch him in the jaw. Many years of practice had given him the skill when handling fish people before. Therefore, he was surprised that Lina was still acting very...human. Probably because of the recent transformation, he surmised.
The elevated orchestra, the same one from last night, began to play the wedding march; a version that anyone would have recognized as rather over the top with too much cymbal crashes.
"Walk," commanded Kerchef. "Down the isle."
"Let go of me!" cried Lina, trying to get loose of Kerchef's iron grip. "Didn't I tell you that I'm not getting married!" Her words shouted dully off the noble audience, quite immune after seeing her display from the night before.
Kerchef pushed the fish bride down the red carpeting. "Do you want to make a public display on your big day!" He urged her forward with gentle kicks to Lina's underside, in which she'd let out a little yelp with an angry roll of her eyes.
The sorcerer could see Uzumara waiting at the far end of the red carpet. The Sheik was lavishly robed in a white silken suit, his body adorned with sparkling diamonds and gold. Even his plain black pearl strings from before were occasionally laced with emeralds the size of quail eggs.
Lina waddled up to the Sheik, all smiling. "Nice setup you have here. Hot date tonight?"
Uzumara was not amused. "Yes, I have one."
Kerchef made Lina bow little curtsey before turning to the crowd, scanning it for help besides Sylphiel. No sign of the golden dragon -- wherever she was, Lina was sure she was knee deep in it with Xellos.
"I'm very glad you're enjoying your wedding ceremony."
The sorcerer looked blankly at the fish Sheik. "I never said that!" Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a female painter who was just starting the lines of herself next to a finished Uzumara in tux. "What's she doing here?"
"Our wedding pictures, of course."
Lina fumed, pushing the poor woman's artist easel over with the flick of free dorsal fin. She was quickly mobbed by Kerchef and a couple of his guards and severely pushed to the ground.
"Enough foolishness!" The Sheik gently clapped his handing together in double motion. His guards and attendances heard the warning, scurrying to complete their tasks in record time. "This ceremony begins now!"
A couple of white priestly robed figures entered from opposite ends of an elevated stage. They looked at each other as they came together before turning towards their audience. "Please, step forward." said one of them, waving the Sheik and Lina to join them up on the higher platform.
Lina thought that it was strange that these priests had their bodies, and even their heads, were fully covered by the same fluffy white and gold silken threads as the Sheik. It hid their public identities very well.
Kerchef looked perplexed. "What weirdoes performing today..." Uzumara shushed his adopted son before turning back around. The Sheik was not about to call off the ceremony because of a happenstance, figuring the Regent was just spicing up the ceremony a bit.
With a voice all too familiar, Lina could only scrutinize the mysterious priest and his assistant, carefully looking for clues to their identity. A flash of purple thread from just underneath the hemline of one of the priest's robes was the indication. She thusly swore.
The priest's assistant scurried over to the sorcerer's side. "Now behave, young bride. We can't have any of that baloney Lord of Nightmare language up here."
The fish sorcerer looked up into the eyes of the shrine dragon. "Fil..." She took a half step backwards before catching herself. "What are you doing with...him?" thumbing her nose toward the disguised Mazoku.
"Saving your ass," responded Filia, as she covered Lina's fish mouth with her own index finger. The sorcerer had no choice but clam up and keep the rest of them out of trouble -- which only made the Lina sweat drop some more.
The disguised priest was busy lighting a caldaria of candles on a rear alter table; a normal procedure by most wedding standards. However, this one was humming a little ditty, all while using his index finger as a combination blowtorch and lighter.
"Geez..." thought Lina, realizing that Xellos was immensely toying with everyone, especially the people that knew who he really was. Besides, his digit flame was doing a very easy job of lighting the twenty or so candles.
"Why can't you just light all of them like a normal person!" bleeped the golden dragon.
From behind the silken head cover, she could have sworn the Mazoku was smiling. "That wouldn't be any fun." Xellos turned around the audience, ever so tolerant. "Patience, little dragon. We're waiting for the right moment."
Filia gaped at the disguised Mazoku. "Waiting for what? I'm going to break your little spell, and then I'm changing Lina back into her blond self!" She twisted her hands around until they were positioned for spell casting.
"Ano...you probably could." Xellos held his crispy finger up, slightly smoking from its lighter stage. "But look carefully, little dragon. Do that and Lina becomes shish kabob." He gently pointed to the double line of Kerchef's guards -- each of them holding a very menacing ten-foot pikes in their grasps.
Filia stared at the bad news. "Oh..."
"Priest!" Uzumara tapped his foot impatiently, the rowdy crowd equally sensing the starting delay of the ceremony. "What seems to be the problem!"
Xellos twisted around, interrupting his candle lighting duties. "Hai...was there something I can help you with, Sheik?" He watched the stare of Uzumara and Kerchef not on his face, but squarely at something else. The Mazoku took a second to look down at his burning digit, thus screaming off a little fake yelp. "OW...ow...ow..."
"Get on with it!" shouted the Sheik, his patience wearing thin.
Lina swallowed. "Let's say I don't want get married today. Tell you want! I'll swing on by here tomorrow and--"
Kerchef reached out and grabbed the collar of Lina's wedding dress, enforcing his physical will on her. "Stay, little fish girl." His words were as icy as his touch. "I wouldn't want to fillet you."
Lina gulped, turning her attention back to Xellos and Filia. One of the cups of wine placed on the alter table had already been accidentally 'spilled' by the dragon. The muttering blond blotted the table with too many silk napkins, trying to clean up the mess -- all while apologizing every second she could get.
The two of them caused all sorts of ruckus in stalling the ceremony. But why? What was the point of delaying the enviable? Wincing again, she watched as Filia fumble Xellos the ceremony book, letting it fall down and slide off the elevated stage.
Xellos stared as his book as it tumbled away, watching it smack to the Sheik's foot. "Oops..."
Gimping in pain, Uzumara was fed up with the comedy bit. "Don't you know the wedding service from memory? By Cepheid, what kind of priest are you?"
The purple haired priest tugged at his robe nervously, as if looking for a way out. "A mysterious one? No?" He shook his arms like a fluttering newborn bird trying to fly for time. "Well...it has been a while. I think its something about a human not wanting to marry fish person. "
The nobles in the crowd hushed, for Uzumara had had enough. "Seize him!" He turned to his trusted captain of the guards. "Kerchef...take over for Maximilian's inept fill-ins."
"Yes, Sheik." Kerchef's men executed the orders precisely; their pointed pikes surrounding Xellos and Filia. The two raised their hand in a surrendering fashion as they were quickly shuffled off the stage.
"You could have tried harder," prodded the shrine dragon. "Baka."
Xellos was complacent. "More time, Filia. Just a moment longer." He looked up at the ceiling and then was deafly quiet to the dragon.
"Damn it! Listen to me! This crazy mess is all your fault!"
Lina sighed at the arguing enemies, so much like a married couple that it disgusted her. She interrupted them with a stern lecture. "Xellos, what do you think you going to accomplish with just...delaying the enviable like this!"
Xellos neatly sidestepped the question. "Hmmm... I wonder where Maximilian is at the moment..." Answering his own question, he jumped up and down in his shoes like a schoolchild. "I know! I know! He's washing his wizard's hat! How perfect!"
Lina cringed. "Where did I go wrong!" She shook the cobwebs from her head, knowing her escape window was closing fast.
The crowd quieted as the ceremony began again. Kerchef was on stage with Xellos' wedding book out, the priestly role reduced to belting out the melodramatic passages. "We are gathered here...to join our Sheik of the City with this fair fish..."
Xellos seemed to be totally aloof as he sniffed the air. "You know, little dragon...I would have never thought of that before..." He nudged himself gently against Filia's soft skin -- getting the shrieking reaction from the dragon that he so much enjoyed.
"Eeeep!" Filia's tail stiffened in the air like erected flagpole; those eyes of hers narrowing down while she growled. "Leave me alone, filthy namagomi!"
The Mazoku grinned. "So...go ahead. Let it go."
"What crazy nonsense are you talking about now?"
"Release her. It's not like you want to keep it bottled up all this time..."
Filia blinked. "Wha? Release what?" She didn't understand the Xellos' strange request. Blinking her eyes, the cryptic message hit her like a ton of bricks. "Are you crazy! Didn't you say before, with all these guards around?"
"Hai." Xellos flicked his eyes back up at Lina, at which even Filia could understand.
"Bastard." Filia shot Xellos a dirty look before closing her eyes in order to concentrate. Spilling out a couple of chaos words from thoughts from a not-too distance time before.
A sudden flash of lightening appeared, as if the magic was perfect slight of hand. There was a poof of white, completely covering where Lina the fish stood. It dissolved in seconds as if stripped away by a gust of wind, revealing a very feminine Lina -- her blondness in all its glory.
The noble crowd saw it all; the whispering and murmuring rising so loudly that it built to a ruckus.
"What kind of sorcery is this?" The Sheik blinked at his new wife to be, disillusioned from the whole show before. He pointed behind Lina at her companions and friends. "Which one of you is responsible...for this fake atrocity!"
Lina knew that she had returned to her blond self, so she ran. "Got a go..." she said, with a little wave of her hand. "Ta-ta!"
"Kill them!" barked the Sheik. "Now!"
The royal guards had anticipated the Sheik's orders, already charging towards the blond sorcerer with their menacing pikes facing forward. A few of the close ones were kicked back by the blond as she almost toppled forward. There would have been a run-in with a pike if the purple shrine maiden hadn't caught Lina by the cape, thus saving her from a fatal fall.
"Thanks. But any ideas to get away?" asked Lina while looking up at Sylphiel's smiling face.
"None at all."
"Crap! I hate this!"
The floor shook suddenly as if ticked off. Loud crackling sounds echoed from beneath everyone's feet, covering the floor with a web of black cracks. The little bit of dust that was on the marble floors scattered around like sand blown by the wind.
"What's going on?" Lina though it was only her personal instability on high heels, but a check from everyone else confirmed it was not her blondness.
The trembling grew in size as the Forbidden Dome's walls shook painting off its walls. It grew louder and harsher as a chair or two toppled over. Fright entered the faces of every man or fish, scattering the guards into a disorganized frenzy. Everyone was horrified on what was to happen next, except a smiling Xellos.
"Eeeeep!" The dragon had just defended herself against one of the other guards before accidentally balancing herself against the Mazoku. When she saw Xellos' grin was from ear to ear, she pushed him away with both her hands. "What are you so happy about! Baka!"
"Can we run?" Sylphiel had taken to leaning on the back wall as she first noticed the buckling floor. "Oh...my..."
"Hold on!" Lina stared as marble tiles disappeared and fell into darkness below. Other places were erupting with tunnels of hot air like a teakettle's steam from its release value. They multiplied on the floor like rabbits.
Seconds later, the crackling marble floor exploded. Huge gaping holes swallowed guards and nobles alike, their bodies disappearing within the choking dust. The explosions dropped powder and debris around everyone like falling snow, turning the visibility down to zilch.
The dust separated Lina and Sylphiel away from her other companions, the Sheik, Kerchef, and his troops. They backed up a couple of more feet as a boulder blown in from underground fell and shattered around them on the marble floor.
"Who's doing this?"
"I haven't got a clue." Lina turned her head rapidly back and forth looking for trouble. "Whoever it is, Xellos was delaying everything for this enviable."
As the rumbling and shaking stopped, the still choking dust made exit visibility impossible. The few nobles that managed to avoid the pits escaped with their lives. The other ones found the new holes in the marble floor...and to their own horrifying discovery they left nothing save the dying pleas for their lives.
Sylphiel shuddered in fear, grabbing onto the blond Lina for support. "No...!" Still tearing, her nerves turned as she halfheartedly stepped forward, determined to save lives. "I...have to..."
"You can't!" Lina latched onto the purple maiden's wrist, pulling her back against the wall of the dome. "If you go out there, you'll never make it!"
"But...I'm a shrine maiden!"
Lina shook at her head. "You go out there, you die for nothing." She pulled the shrine maiden close to her. "What's the point of that!"
The purple maiden bit her lip. "But what about Filia! She's still out there!"
The blond winked. "She's a big girl. Besides, I have a feeling that Xellos is looking out for her..."
The two ladies stepped as carefully as they could, their backs touching the outer circular wall while inching their way towards the front door.
More shocking cries for help came from behind the dust clouds. The purple shrine maiden again took a step forward to help, just as Lina managed to pull the shrine maiden back by the wrist.
"Please..." answered the blond sorcerer. "I might not be able to hold you off next time..."
"Hai, I understand." Sylphiel nodded with tears streaming down her cheek.
Lina looked out into the covering dust cloud; its viscosity improving by every minute. They could see the swiss cheese-like marble floor, the holes easily outnumbering safe places to walk. Whatever tables, chairs, and other wedding decorations that were present before were either missing or splintered in small piles of debris among the bottomless pits.
"I think its over..." The blond sorcerer was about to sigh a little relief when something dark slithered in and out of her view.
At seeing the moving shadows, Sylphiel jumped up and grabbed the blond tightly around the waist. "Uhhh, I don't think we're alone." As soon as the purple shrine maiden had said those words, Kerchef and a couple of his men emerged from out of the dust clouds.
"What have you done!" The captain pointed at the two strangers with his scimitar drawn. "Where is the Sheik! You two... are bent on revenge!"
The former redhead sweat dropped. "What you're talking about! I would never want to kill people and fish like this!"
"Liar! Now you will pay for your crimes!"
"...Uzumara...where are you..."
All heads slowly turned toward the torturous booming voice from within the dust clouds. The celestial voice was almost indescribable. "...Brother..."
Kerchef turned his sudden attention around at the unknown, his face aghast. "Maximilian! Is that you!"
The online of a blackened creature emerged from the mysterious haze. The giant serpent was at least ten feet long, with scaled body skin that shone black, magical, and very powerful. Stubby front limbs that were more like fins helped the creature maneuver to and fro. But it was its deformed head that shook Kerchef's willies, outlined in the unmistakable deformed bust of the Regent.
"Oh Cephied!" Sylphiel turned her head behind Lina's shoulder, the scene almost unbearable to watch.
"What happened, brother! Who did this to you!"
The serpent came a little closer; the former human lowered his head to the ground as it released its bite on a squirming object, the battered fish body of the Sheik. It slid across the dusty floor, leaving a bloody trail all the way to the far wall, where it smacked it and foundered around with the last gasps of its life.
"Uzumara!" The captain of the guards ran to help his master, cradling the Sheik in his arms. "How could this...happen!"
"Why?" asked the blond Lina, looking up into the Serpent's cold gaze. "There's no reason to be so senseless..."
"Father..." Kerchef was desperately trying to revive the sheik with CPR when he felt a gentle hand on his shoulder. He turned around, surprised by the calming face of Sylphiel. He offered no resistance as the shrine maiden bent down next to Uzumara, to cast her healing spell.
The changed serpent groaned in pain. "So many years of serving the Sheik. So many times that I had thought it was wrong...I was doing right. All that time...is now fruitless."
"How can you have been so deceptive!" shouted back his brother. "You could have come to me! There might have been a way..."
"Power, dear Kerchef. It was something that I desired a long time ago, no matter the cost. The power...of the Cloudminders. You cannot resist the pull of its feeling, of its ego. Wait until you touch it...and you'll understand..."
"Brother..." shook the head of Kerchef. "What has happened to you..."
The black serpent turned his ugly head down towards Lina. "And you, sorcerer. If you had not interfered, then my chaos boxes would have taken control of this pathetic, lying kingdom!"
"Me?" The blond Lina took another step back until her back was rubbing against the wall. "You think I caused all of this! How naïve can you be?"
"I want revenge!" The serpent of Maximilian moved closer toward his Sheik and master, but the small figure of Lina cut off his shuffle forward.
"Haven't you done enough meddling with the Cloudminders?" snarled Maximilian. "Stay away from it! Otherwise, it will bring you nothing but death! Like me..."
"No." Lina tilted her head lower so her blondness covered her eyes. "I...can't do that."
"What nonsense is this?" The serpent roared a shrill that shook the walls of the Forbidden Dome. "Why must you be here!"
The blond looked up. "A friend...in need. Someone I that care about...very deeply," said the blond sorcerer, straining her voice. "He's..." She swallowed her breath, finally coming up with the courage to say the words in her mind. "He's been cursed...by those chaos boxes. And I made a promise to him...that I must fulfill. And if I don't succeed, them I will...take his life!"
Sylphiel heard Lina's plea, turning her head in shock towards at the blond sorcerer. "No! How could you let Zelgadis talk you into that!"
The blond sorcerer took a step forward. "And that is why...my life is not equal to his. Many times before, us humans have fought for our lives. I am...their hope. Their champion of sorts." She laughed at herself, hearing how ridiculous she sounded. "And I will try...once again."
"So be it," grunted the serpent, igniting darkening power around his eyes. "No matter, Lina Inverse. You shall die..."
Lina took step back, tripping for a second.
A fireball... no she couldn't do it! There had to be another answer!
She looked around for it in the back of her mind. Here was battle, not as an entertainment but as a check against her life. She had no choice but to defend for her life.
"Fireball!"
But she slipped again as the spell was cast out of her hands! Curse this blondness!
The serpent Maximilian dodged it easily, laughing at the blond all the way. The fireball exploded against the ceiling behind the serpent, blowing a sizeable hole through the roof. It was over even before it began.
Lina cursed, just managing to dodge out of the way of falling ceiling before dropping back a few more feet. She jumped again and fell to the ground, just missing the energy shots emitted from the Serpent's eyes.
"Lina!" mumbled Sylphiel, putting up a shield of protection.
All the action shot more dust up, covering each other's sight line. The black serpent blew with his mouth the dust clouds away, hoping to uncover the fallen sorcerer and her companions. He moaned, opening up his eyes all the way to see, This was taking much too long...
"...Power vested in me, come forth!"
"Aaaagh!"
A huge ball of light blew out of Lina's hands, illuminating the room in an angry glow that blinded the serpent. Blind as a bat, Maximilian thrashed around the golden dome with his tail, hitting every where he remembered the blond had been. He had been outwitted once again...
-
---o--o--o---
-
"Love that spell," commented Lina as she stared up at the front doors to the Forbidden Palace.
'Run!" shouted the passing Kerchef, who was still carrying Uzumara on his back. "We can't be here!"
"Come on!" Sylphiel took Lina's hand as she looked behind her at the collapsing building before turning forward.
The domed palace was unable to take any more punishment, shaking for a final time before its vaulted roof finally gave way. The collapse started with its outer walls folding in like an accordion, followed by the top of the dome falling down in one huge swoop. As the vaulted roof finally touched down, it let out a roar of vibrations that echoed into the air with a thud.
The group had run so quickly that was no longer on the ground by the Forbidden Palace, but on the overhanging walkway to the city below the waterfall. Already, the walkway was shaking, the only escape visible to them was the elevator lift down the lower city.
"Let's go!" Kerchef didn't wait one second for the two ladies, choosing to load the carriage with himself and the fallen Uzumara draped across his back. "Come on!" he shouted to Lina and Sylphiel, telling them to board.
Both of the girls looked at each other in disbelief. "Are you sure?" asked Sylphiel, watching the walkway crack like an old fresco painting. But she didn't have a chance to object as Lina dragged her into the lift.
Kerchef had his sword out and swung it at the pulley ropes, releasing a couple of the counter weight lines that held the carriage in its high position. He knew was he was doing, apparently because the lift swiftly dropped like a weight to the safe ground.
Escape didn't last long.
From up top where the lift had come from, opened a hole for the serpent of Maximilian. His head stuck through the overhanging ledge hole staring down at his prey.
"Kerchef! Come back with the Sheik's bride and face your brother! Or do you betray me!"
The captain of the guards looked up as his family abomination. "I don't you what you have become, but we no longer come from the same strip of flesh!"
"Fight me!" Maximilian wasn't satisfied with letting them go, choosing to lower his twisted body into the ropes of the carriage. His snake-like body tangled the lines instantly, stopping the escaping cable car from descending .
"Bastard!" Kerchef held one of the corner lines of the lift in agony, while the carriage swayed to and fro wildly like a swing into the wind. "You'd rather kill us all to satisfy your sick needs?"
As the hostages held on for dear life, the carriage swung up closer and closer towards the cliff of rocks and falling water. If the sudden descent of a broken carriage didn't kill them, then the wall of water rapids would definitely finish them off.
Sylphiel turned to the blond sorcerer. "Can you cast anything? Like a spell to get us away?"
The sorcerer looked up at the shrine maiden, the very look in her eyes was of her confidence draining away. "I...want to...but... If I wasn't lucky back there, I would have..."
"What about levitation? I can carry Kerchef, but someone has to carry the Sheik..."
"I can't...risk it..." Lina lowered her head and shook it, disgusted with herself.
The cable car rocked again as Maximilian snapped one of the four corner cable support lines. It caused the lift to twist in the wind, heightening the chance of death.
"Shoot him!" yelled Kerchef, daring the sorcerer to take the offensive. "What are you waiting for!"
All Lina could do was hide. "I...I..." She looked up at Maximilian and then down at her feet in fear. "I can't! Believe me, I've tried...!" She felt her whole body shiver as thoughts of impending doom pounded her mind.
"Lina..." The shrine maiden put her hand onto the blond's shoulder, trying to comfort her friend.
The blond turned her anger back at the captain of the guards. "What in the world did you do to me?"
The carriage shook again from the pressure being applied into the lines. The once human Maximilian was doing his best to drop his enemies to the ground. He finally succeeded in snapping a second corner lines, opposite of the first rope. One more, and the four of them would topple out of the unstable carriage to certain impaling on the rocks below.
"Can't you do something!"
"Didn't you hear me before?" The blond almost fainted from the strain in her voice. "I'm...useless!"
And that's when Lina heard the whispers of a familiar spell from behind her. "...buried in the flow of time..."
"Sylphiel..." She twisted around and watched the shrine maiden's face strain under the immense concentration of Ruby eye's spell.
"Hopeless..." blunted the smiling serpent while staring down at the purple maiden's spell. The former white wizard was either totally naïve or didn't know exactly what Sylphiel was molding in her hands.
But when the gist of the spell's power lit the sky, Maximilian became quite apparent to the power of Ruby's spell, its redness reflecting over his glazed eyes.
"Dragon Slave!"
Sylphiel's spell rang true as the massive chaotic sphere of energy shot out of most gentle set of hands even seen. The ball of energy rapidly accelerated up towards the elevated walkway, its aim straight towards the heavens...with one serpent on a rope in the way.
"Holy Cepheid!" exclaimed the captain. "That thing is huge!"
"Go..." Lina watched as Sylphiel with her outstretched hands, controlled the flight of the ascending Dragon Slave. Amazing that the shrine maiden had learned the finer points of the spell so quickly, for she did indeed have the necessary photographic memory for copying her own favorite motions. She knew Shabby's spell would take out the entire bridge and the debris of Forbidden Dome -- it would be lucky if any one of them survived at all.
If it were possible, the serpent that was Maximilian...smiled while dragging his forearm forward. Lina couldn't figure out why he'd be rather smug...until she spotted it conspicuously tied to one of his useless limb. For firmly within the serpent's hold...was the unmistakable outline of a chaos box.
"Abort it!" The sorcerer threw her blondness into Sylphiel, breaking her concentration over the spell. The shrine maiden's arms waved forward if just for a second, arching the dragon slave spell arching just enough off course like a falling star.
"Lina! What are you doing?"
The sorcerer was too busy watching the dragon slave arch through the sky. She could see the chaos box absorb some of the spell's energies, peeling away a layer or two like removing the skin of an onion. But the hungry chaos box was just too far away to completely trap the wayward spell.
"Oh crap..." bleeped Kerchef.
The dragon slave arched though the waterfall, smacking the rocky cliff side just underneath the Forbidden Dome. A thunderous roar released walled ocean, spilling super-heated rock into the steaming rivers below. The high causeway cracked and splintered directly in the middle, its disintegrating structure showering down a hail of rocks and debris.
Maximilian the serpent was nowhere to be found...
Water hit the small lift like a leaf in the wind, tossing them mercilessly towards impending doom. Lines snapped as their carriage was thrown through plumes of water as it rapidly fell to the ground where it splashed and sank right into a moat of water, just to the left of the lower castle.
The Sheik was first up to the surface of the water, swimming the backstroke like almost nothing had happened. Kerchef was next with his head poking out of the water. Lina and Sylphiel popped their heads up next, their hair so wet that they looked like drowned cats.
"We're saved!" thanked Kerchef and he hugged the blond Lina in delight. "That was close!"
"Get off of me!" The sorcerer pushed the captain off her back, diverting her attention to helping Sylphiel. The purple shrine maiden needed a little boost while getting out of the water, even though she was surprisingly no worse off than aching from the falling impact. As she finally kneed herself out, she collasped back down onto the ground, exhausted.
Lina sighed. She was about to pull herself up and out of the water with a half-turn when a strong nimble limb tugged at her wrist. She took the help, bringing herself up onto dry land.
"Its so nice that we get to save you again, Lina!" Nene mothered Lina a bit by removing a long strand of seaweed from her hair.
Mimi blinked in surprise, removing the sand from the blond's shoulders. "Wow...you sure look different."
"Uhhh...yea. It sure has been fun." The larger Lina stood up, a foot taller than the kawaii twins. She watched Nene pull the flailing Kerchef out of the water with the water-nimble Sheik in tow. "I wouldn't want to do it again. Not for a million years."
A half dozen or so locals from the lower city had already formed a crude semicircle around the survivors, interested in the unusual strangers had come from the very castle of so called human rulers. They murmured between each other, curious that a fish was dressed up with the exact kingly robes of their pictured human leader and thought to be current Sheik.
Kerchef tried to defend his Sheik with every known word. "Subjects! Citizens! This is not what it seems! Your ruler is up...there!" He pointed desperately at the collapsed Forbidden Dome. "This person is just...an emissary from another kingdom! I swear."
The locals frowned with doubt. "Liar!"
"I can't we were deceived...by a fish!" News traveled fast as the apprehensive crowd's size swelled, threatening to become a restless mob.
"What a coward!"
The horde swelled. The survivors had no choice but to back up until their heels were on the water's edge. Without the protection of the Sheik's guards, Uzumara and Kerchef were unable to defend themselves.
Lina took a little jump up on Nene's and Mimi's shoulders and whistled.
*PFfffft!*
"Listen up, everyone!" With her blondness still as asset and her body dripping sexily wet, the crowd's attention -- especially male attention -- was on her.
"...Yea...you go, girl!"
Lina frowned. "Now, I know that you're all flabbergasted that the Sheik is a fish. Believe me, even I was surprised."
"You had better believe it!"
"...Roast the fish!" The crowd acted as if they were the judge, jury and executioner all wrapped into one -- determined to mock and finally dispose of their false leaders.
Hesitating for second, Lina continued to pour on the bad news. "And... you may already know the Sheik has been hiding the fact of his heritage for so many years." She could sense the mob was beginning to turn for her, so determined was she to push forward.
"Just remember what he had provided for you?" Lina pointed to the irrigated lands around them; their fields filled with a bountiful of crops. "Who do you think made this city? Who?"
The mob paused, listening to every word from the blond sorcerer as she pressed her point. She saw a couple of the younger locals stop forward to attack, but older members of the crowd held them fast.
"We could have built this place," said one of the little ones, stepping up to challenge.
"Then have your fathers and mothers tell you of a time long ago. Yes, you older ones. Back when your grandfather's grew up and lived in this desert. You should ask them how hard nomadic life was. Do you want to return to the former ways that your family lived?"
The memories of harsh desert life popped into the crowd's head, calming them for the moment. There was water here, and food. Shelter. Clothing. Life...was better. It was better than just survival.
Lina took a second to eye Kerchef and the Sheik, letting out a little half grin before continuing. "Beyond the fallen palace is a port run by the fishman. In fact, the Sheik has been hiding the legendary fishdom ship port for decades!"
The crowd broke out into a flutter of talk. This luxurious port run by fishman! It was something of legend to travelers and men alike. It was supposedly...on the other side of the world? In fact, it was all the way around the world...so far, that it was here! Their brothers, the fishman, ran the trading port known to all! Here!
"You bitch!" shouted Kerchef, his scimitar ready to strike down the blond.
Before he could charge, the two ninja twins held the captain by each of his arms. "Hey, that's our friend Lina!" shouted the ladies in unison, not used to holding down such a beast. "You can't do that to her!"
"Let go of me! I'm going to murder her!" Kerchef twisted around and swung his muscular arms across his chest, flinging the ninja girls back in the lake. Easily breaking free had only excited the captain more. He growled at the upcoming fun as he charged the blond, his weapon raised high in the air-
He didn't expect the Sheik to grasp his own wrist firmly, thus holding him steadfast. "Uzumara! What are you doing?"
The Sheik discouragingly shook his head. "No, don't do this. This...is wrong."
"What are you saying?" Kerchef lowered his weapon in shock.
"We should have done this a long time ago... I have...been wrong."
"No! I won't!" countered the captain. "It will ruin us! I won't let her destroy everything that are parents built!"
"Kerchef!" scolded the Sheik, making his adopted son stoop for a second. "Do you think they would be happy with your brother right now! Do you?"
Uzumara pushed forward until he was in between Lina and his captain. "Today has been...quite difficult. I must apologize for my subordinate here."
"How can you say that?" yelled Kerchef.
The Sheik stared back at the captain. "Listen to me, son. I cannot afford to lose both of my adopted children. I had always thought that you were the one that might turn on me, never figuring that it would eventually be Maximilian. After all, with his training in white sorcerer's knowledge, I always thought he would protect me." He took a good look at Kerchef from head to toe. "You have become quite a man, my son, and I trust you now more than ever."
Kerchef didn't know what do say.
"Maybe once," continued the Sheik. "long ago, when I was lad, such things would have been handled differently..." He slowly turned his attention towards the subdued crowd. "Time has taken small steps, for I am an old fish."
The captain was astonished. "Father..."
The commoners could sense the ring of truth in the air as the Sheik turn to them with both of his open palms in the air. Even though his royal clothing was rich and beyond the means of many, his clothes gashed and ripped with his fish body dirty from all the action made him one of them. Yet, he was still a very proud individual, as conceited as there was in the world.
"Listen, my friends. Let me a story from a long time ago..." The Sheik weaved his tale of ancient history from what seemed like forgotten times; all started with an account of his mother and adopted father-in-law. Indeed, the Sheik never did forget his most cherished memories, for they were full of tragedy, hopes, and desires. Most of all, it impressed the rowdy mob into stunned silence. The sorcerer could see there was not a dry eye in the crowd.
"Lina..." said Sylphiel, clasping her hands in admiration. "You did it!"
The blond sorcerer gave the shrine maiden a small V with her two fingers, toned almost to a silence due to the circumstances.
Kerchef angrily sleeved his scimitar back along his waist. "And what about the nobles! The ones that are the merchants for trading ships?"
The Sheik held his open hand out to his adopted son. "They will, unfortunately, lose some of their power. And this kingdom may never be as rich as it is now, with much less success down the road. Still, the only thing I know is that it is a small price to pay..." He turned her attention to the blond Lina.
"Ano..." The blond sorcerer blushed deeply before focusing her attention on the Sheik. "I...I..."
"First of all," nodded the Sheik, "thank you."
Lina bit her lip. She wasn't used to gratitude these days. "Well, its about-"
Mime interjected right in between the two of them, directly entering into their conversation. "She says you're welcome." A little slap on the back by Nene all but sealed the deal.
"Damn..." said the blond sorcerer. "What else could happen."
"You have one more thing to ask for, Lina," pushed Sylphiel, padding her comfortably on the other shoulder.
She looked blankly at her purple haired friend. "I do?"
"Come on. I know been trying to get it off...your chest."
The ninja girls chuckled.
Lina sighed a bit, thinking how the consequences would weigh in her mind. No doubt, she said to herself. Not anymore, at least after today. No way she was going to let it slip on by and forget about this nightmare of a day. It was time...to put aside a dream...
"Lina..." begged the shrine maiden. "Please."
The sorcerer looked squarely into the Sheik's eyes. "I don't want to be a blond!" The courage came from deep within her heart, saying it from within her very soul. She turned again the other way to tell the rest of them. "You heard me! I don't want this body! Its not...me! Never! Never again!"
Sylphiel smiled from ear to ear.
Uzumara stepped towards Lina, bringing his hard up against Lina's cheek. He pushed away a curl of blondness that was covering one of Lina's eyes. "So...you want to be a fish. How special it will be to be my wife after all."
"No way!" fumed Lina. "Change me back to normal human being!" Her eyes darkened in total frustration. "After everything that has happened today, don't you think that's the right thing to do?"
The Sheik frowned. "Are you sure-"
"YES!"
He bobbed his head again before turning to Kerchef. "Take her to Maximilian's laboratory. Find your brother and stop him."
"Understood." Kerchef bowed to his father-in-law and then to the twin performers. "Watch him. And don't have any wine."
Mimi shrugged, "Oh, really? We can't drink?"
"Yea...and we just raided the dessert tray before the wedding..." whined the other twin.
Kerchef cringed at hearing Nene's news, deciding not to press the issue. He quickly turned his attention to the blond sorcerer. "Let's go. Now."
"Hai." Lin looked around for her friend just as fast. "Sylphiel? Where are you! We need...your firepower!"
The purple shrine maiden nodded. "Hai... Right behind you!"
-
---o--o--o---
-
"Gee. Wasn't that fun?" smiled the mysterious priest. "I was wondering when you would stop whining."
"Be quiet." The golden dragon was busy combing excess dust out of her hair. "I don't like to be carried about like a trophy girl."
"Awwwe..." sniffled Xellos. "Isn't that what loved ones are supposed to do?"
"Are you crazy?" She shot the Mazoku an incredulous look. "I am definitely not your friend, girlfriend, wife, or anything even remotely related to any of those categories!"
He lowered his artificial guard, moaning loudly. "I can't ever have fun."
The blond fumed a bit more before taking in their new darkened surroundings. The two of them were enclosed in narrow square shaft, singularly lit by a small ray of light from the ceiling. There was barely enough illumination to see up the shaft more than a few feet. A set of ropes ran down the center of the shaft to the uneven wooden floor below -- clearly the top of a moveable elevator lift.
"Can't you turn on a lamp or something!"
"I could, but being in the dark like this... it's sort of romantic. Don't you think so, little dragon?"
"Umph!" Filia sidestepped just out of the Mazoku's reach. "You should know better when seducing a golden dragon," said Filia, stepping carefully around the elevator ropes in get a better sense where she was. "Why can't we take the elevator like normal people?"
"I have my reasons." Xellos turned his head up and looked up the path of the elevator. He raised his staff high into the air, glowing red light up the entire shaft, thus illuminating the impressive height of the vertical tunnel. "Is that better?"
Instead of looking up, Filia stared wide-eyed down at her shaded hands, drenched in the light of the Mazoku's power. At first, she thought they were immersed in blood. So...blood was on her hands. It was the price of what she had to do.
This is what it was like to be under the power of a Mazoku. And the stain...would never come out.
No! She shook her initial thoughts away, realizing that it was Xellos bathing her body in the power of Shabernadgo. It's only...the power of a Mazoku. Then why...was she forced into this?
Xellos nodded his head, amused by the dragon's reaction. "So...it is no longer foreign to you." He looked up down and suddenly spun his staff around so the head of his quarterstaff was held in the palm of his hands.
Filia could see the anger entering into Xellos' face. Seriousness. What shallowness and amusement that had been his facemask before was suddenly stripped away, leaving an emotional core that scared every bone in her body. She shuddered at the sight of the true Mazoku, fearing the worst.
Xellos gritted his teeth, stabbing the tip of his quarterstaff just above the elevator's roof. He jostled it around, letting out little spark of fire, handling it with the ferocity of a wild animal.
Filia could just make out the half-darkened portrait look of Xellos' face...of pure unadulterated pleasure.
She screamed.
Something wailed a quick deathly sound before falling off to the side of the elevator lift. She could hear it squirm a bit as it finally fell through a crack area below the elevator car, finally disappearing from her range of hearing.
"What...was that!" Visibly shaken up from the encounter, Filia leaned down on her knees to catch her breath.
"Aaaah...we had a little visitor." The mysterious priest turned his calm face back toward the dragon. He had already masked his hidden core, reverting back to his usual aloof demeanor. "Some things are better left unsaid."
Filia slowly nodded, determined for once not to push to the issue. "Hai. So what are we waiting for?"
The elevator shook and suddenly descended down the darkened shaft, apparently answering the beckoning call of potential passengers. "We're escorts, mind you." He turned to the dragon and let loose a little smile. "After all, we saved the world once...what makes it that we can't do it again?"
She had never been so frightened in her life.
-
---o--o--o---
-
Kerchef, Lina, and Sylphiel ran in informal triangle formation quickly into the open main entrance of the lower castle. They moved quickly in step of each other, all determined for this day to end.
"Where's this secret underground laboratory that Uzumara mentioned?" asked Lina, flexing her hands in anticipation. "I can't wait to get my hands on Maximilian for changing me into this...thing!"
The captain turned his attention to Lina. "Be careful what you say, sorcerer. After all, he is still my brother."
"True. But it's not going to be a piece of cake. We may have to fight him on his own turf, especially if he's still a serpent."
Kerchef frowned. "I know, I'm not looking forward to this. Nevertheless, we have little choice."
"Speak for yourself," smiled the blond. "I can't wait!"
"Why you-"
Sylphiel interrupted the two of them by interjecting a new question. "So...how far down is the laboratory within the lower castle."
"Well, for one thing, it's not down," answered the captain. "When we started building the lower castle, our builders found the ground was too sandy to support an underground cavern necessary for a wizard's laboratory. So, under Maximilian's orders, we built the rooms of his laboratory within the tallest spire, the farthest possible distance away from the commoners."
Sylphiel gulped. "Oh...this doesn't sound like fun at all."
"The highest tower?" exclaimed Lina, as she also muttered something about climbing to high places. Indeed, her experiences from just a week before in Monte Darlo were not of happiest of times. "And believe me, I'm really kind of not looking forward to hiking so many stairs."
"Oh, don't worry. There's a lift to Maximilian's laboratory." Kerchef turned left without pointing, making both the ladies lose track of the captain. "Quickly! This way!" He waited a second for the other two to catch up before continuing.
They arrived at a closed ornate doorway with no visible knobs or latches to pull upon. Kerchef had his scimitar out, using the handle as a knocking hammer against the bronze-encrusted door. "Hey! We're going to Maximilian's laboratory! Hurry up!" He knocked again on the unmarked doors until they finally open split in the middle, withdrawing themselves into the walls.
Lina and Sylphiel were immediately stuck dumb by the intense luxury of the elevator. They saw plush red walls overly draped in silk, patterned with crisscrossing lines of jewels. The far wall of the elevator was lined with the same type of luxurious couch that matched their own suite room. Giant brass hand rails and poles, thicker than Lina's wrist, helped the passenger secure themselves within the lift, the reflection of the brass only made it even more gaudy.
But the strangest sight was a human-like frog, dressed in a red and black suit with coattails, all while sitting at the controls of the lift. He sat like a small child with his short squatty legs overhanging the edge of a simple wooden stool. One of his webbed hands was securely on the elevator's control leaver, while the other hand urged his visitors into the lift.
"Come in, come in." he croaked. "Long time no see, captain."
Kerchef stepped in with his sword still unleashed yet safely tucked in by his waist. "Yes, operator. It looks like my brother has redecorated lately."
Lina and Sylphiel followed the captain into the luxurious elevator, their eyes glazed over. "I think we're going in." As soon as the ladies stepped into the elevator, its heavy doors closed quickly, almost trapping Sylphiel's cape in the process.
"Going...up!" The operator switched the lever up, jerking the elevator with a couple of shakes that had the two ladies scrambling for balance. Quickly, however, they were climbing up; indicated by a wooden control arrow turning a couple of degrees to the right.
They stopped. "Maid's quarters," bellowed the frog operator, like he was counting off a procession. The doors threw themselves open as a couple of servants shuffled in, each holding a stack of plush towels. The lift snapped its doors shut and creaked upwards.
And it stopped again. "Pantry & Storage!" The process repeated itself as they added another couple of passengers. Lina tapped her foot at the delay, sulking in the back of the elevator.
And again. "Bakery!" Another jolting by the elevator caused Lina to twitch, with Sylphiel noticing this time.
"We'll get there," she said, resting her hand on Lina's shoulder.
"Kitchen Prep!"
"Enough!" shouted Lina, squeezing between Kerchef and a servant before grabbing the operator by the necktie. "Stop at the next floor, right now!"
The frog froze the elevator immediately with his control leaver, opening its doors a few feet higher than the floor of an open room of supplies and boxes. Lina didn't waste a second, pushing all the servants out the door as they stumbled out onto the lower ground. The poor indentured workers scattered away from the door, trying to get away from the crazy blond as fast as possible.
"What are you doing?" asked Kerchef, clearly annoyed at Lina's frisky behavior.
"Getting there before dark" pleaded the blond, before turning her attention back to the operator. "And you too," she said, tossing the frog out like excess baggage. "I can control this elevating rust bucket in my sleep."
"Burp!" The operator tried to instruct Lina as best as he could. "Wait a sec, don't pull the leaver too far--"
"Blee...!" Making the ridiculous face with her eye and tongue, she let the operator 'have it' until the elevator doors shut on her beleaguered expression.
"Going...up!" The blond sorcerer shifted the control switch up all the way until it 'clicked' conveniently at the top. The elevator responded like a rocket, taking off within a moment's notice.
"Liiinnnaa...." Sylphiel was desperately holding onto the side of the railing with all her strength. Kerchef wasn't having much better luck; he was collapsed head first into the couch, swearing like a pig.
The blond tugged the leaver down all the way, but whatever resistance there was in the handle was suddenly missing. "Wha...it's not working!" She could still feel the elevator accelerate upwards; the floor indicator turning clockwise like a windmill. "How do I stop this second-rate piece of junk!"
Kerchef turned his large body over on the couch, gleaming his eyes at the sorcerer while his head was still glued to the couch. "Blonds are nothing but a walking disaster!"
Just like it had accelerated, the lift suddenly stopped at its top floor, bouncing up and down a few more times before finally settling to a standstill. The elevator doors opened, spilling out three very dizzy passengers onto the floor, weary from being thrown around like a dandelion seeds in the wind.
"Uhhh..." whimpered the purple haired maiden. "I don't feel so well..."
Kerchef had found a window ledge nearby, needing a bit of fresh air....
Thinking that she was hearing something, Lina turned her head around back toward the closed elevator doors. "Damn..." she said under her breath, swearing to the faint moaning in the elevator shaft. She shrugged it off, finally hearing the empty lift leave as it lowered itself down.
"Must be the wind." She turned and helped Sylphiel off her knees. "Come on, that wasn't so bad!"
-
---o--o--o---
-
The three of them turned the corner, coming though the open doorway to Maximilian's laboratory. They stopped immediately within a foot of the entrance, staring in disbelief at the disaster before them.
Everything was the infernal mess. To the right were his experimental countertops, stripped bare of their delicate beakers and glass jars as if a giant hand has whipped them clean. The cabinets above the countertops were open wide and missing of their contents. And everything that was missing above made up the muddle of broken glass, bubbling liquids, and other assorted junk sprayed on the floor -- the mess already colligating on the floor.
Maximilian's large study desk on the left side of the lab was also ransacked. Scrolls and important documents of Maximilian's were pulled out of cubbyhole draws and ripped to shreds. The papers were chaotically shredded as if done by hand -- even it would have taken a haste spell to rip so much, so quickly.
"Be very careful, Kerchef." Lina poked around the floor of the desk, looking through the papers for clues. "I've seen this before and believe me, it wasn't a pretty sight the first time." She spotted the small ripped corner of an outline -- of a very familiar print design of a cloud -- and swept it aside.
Shocked, the captain spun his head around like a top. "Who would do such a thing? A Mazoku?"
"Probably. Whoever is it, did it at Temple of the Water Dragon King a few days ago. The first time they were looking for something. But...this...this has to be different. Maximilian knew too much about the Cloudminders. And it looks like it was very valuable information. This time...they're covering their tracks."
"Are you sure?"
"Positive. Let's hope the Regent wasn't stupid enough to leave all his Cloudminders information around to be picked through." She kicked a piece of broken glass in frustration. "This is only some of it..." The blond stepped into the center of the room, finally giving up. "This can't be it!"
"No..." Kerchef pointed up at the ceiling and metal scaffolding several floors up. "The private library...its up there. However, there's no way to get up there except by levitating." The captain nodded a bit before looking back down. "Not a bad security system, I might add."
"Oh really? Time for a look see..." The sorcerer recited her levitation spell, lighting her body up with magic. As she finished the chant, she took a little jump off before collapsing back down onto stone ground in a jumbled heap, mumbling. "Now how are we going to get up there?"
Sylphiel came over to the blond, putting her hand on her shoulder once again. "Come on, I'll give you a lift."
Lina looked at the ground. "Damn...I'm so useless."
The shrine maiden clasped her hands around the blond's waist, not giving a second for Lina to react. The sorcerer blushed slightly as they ascended towards the second floor of the lab.
"Hold on..." chimed Sylphiel as they shot up like a rocket.
As the two of them landed safely on the upper lever, they couldn't help to feel they were too late. Maximilian's homemade library was in ruins; just like his downstairs area. Books were scattered all over the floor, either split open by sword or ripped by hand from their bindings.
"This doesn't look much better," said the blond.
"Lina...look here..." A thin trail of dried blood led from one of the opens windows and down the metal scaffolding to a central area in the middle of the tower.
They raced down the elevated walkway to a centrally placed metallic table wiped clean of its contents. The dust layer on the table was pocket marked with the cleanest of squares -- a sure sign that a set of previous objects had been recently stripped from the table's surface. Now those objects d'art were gone.
"Over here..." said Sylphiel, as Lina saw it at the same time.
"...Maximilian!" finished the sorcerer, her eyes glazed over.
The now again human was bruised and broken as if beaten like a rag doll. The gray robe that he wore before was blotched and sticky from covering huge bloody wounds. The v-shape neckline left a view of his chest hair caked down with dried blood. Next to the Regent's body was his own quarterstaff, covered in a mix of sticky hair and blood -- leaving little doubt to the source of the brutish weapon used against his own human body.
"He's not in good shape..." said the shrine maiden, trying to further gauge his injuries. "I'm not sure-"
"Brother...are you there?" coughed Maximilian, not recognizing the moving images within his vision. He pleaded insanity for a second while focusing on who his visitors were. "I am...such a fool."
"Shhhh..." Sylphiel was trying position herself in order to cast a healing spell, while Lina blotted at a deep bleeding gash on Maximilian's forehead.
"Kerchef's downstairs," said the sorcerer, unable to look squarely into the Regent's eyes. "Hold on a second, we're going to get you stable with a healing spell..."
"No! Leave me, now!" Maximilian threw his bloody hands into Sylphiel's view, stopping the shrine maiden's concentration with little strength he had.
"But...you'll die!" pleaded the shrine maiden.
"I have no choice!" The Regent coughed multiple times before dripping a few drops of red fluid from the corner of his mouth. "Baka. You don't understand that you can't save my life."
"You think I want to save your ass after putting me through this personal hell?" Lina let off with an explosion of anger, the frustration compiling in her mind all day long. "Well, think again, buster. You're changing me back from being a blond."
"Don't you see?" shouted the Regent, "I'm already dead. How do you think I was able to change back into a human?"
The two ladies looked blankly at Maximilian, not grasping his turn of events.
The Regent continued. "You see, I managed to get control of my mind...if only for a second. In those precious moments after your attack on my serpent form, I was able to come here... and use the chaos box to cleanse my body of his hateful magic. The after effects, however...is that my body repels all spells..."
"So?" sneered Lina. "It sounds like you'd be safe from a fireball or two-"
The impact of the Regent's words hit her like a ton of bricks. Because Maximilian had used the power of chaos on his own body...because he had not just controlled the magic to turn back into a human, but had drained it like a drain from his body... that he knew what he had become. He knew with his body, charged with the chaos energy from the Cloudminders...was now able to repel any spell.
Able. No, more than able. More like immune.
Lina swallowed her tongue, following the sequence of the battle in her mind. The Regent's assailant must have tried an attack spell or two with little success. Realizing that the Regent was temporally immune, the Regent's assailant took Maximilian's own quarterstaff...and physically beat him to his deathbed.
The blond sorcerer shook her head, traumatized by the wizard's intense pain. No white magic could cure or even relieve his physical throbbing. So...horrible...
"Baka...this isn't normal..." she rattled off, her stomach queasy as hell. She fisted her hand in frustration, pounding the metal causeway. "Why are so many people dying for these...secrets."
"What's going on up there!" yelled Kerchef, still on the lower level. "Is my brother up there? Is he alive?"
Sylphiel went over to the railing. "He's..." She looked back at Lina, who signaled a little nod. "Hold on, I'm coming down," she said, throwing her legs over the banister.
The sorcerer turned back to the fallen Regent, her body exasperated with fear. "Why did you hide the secrets of the Cloudminders from us?"
The regent shook his head. "The power...it was like I was one of the gods. I prefer to think of it as a blessing, instead of a curse..." Maximilian stirred around, preferring not the dwell on the news of his personal demise. "Lina, help me up to the table."
Lina could not understand how the Regent was still alive, the injuries were some of the worst that she had ever seen. She was even flabbergasted that the Regent hadn't even faded into unconsciousness -- surely the pain had to be unbearable. So...what was keeping him alive?
The sorcerer put her thoughts aside while she reached around the Regent's body with both of her arms. With a tight bear hug, Lina brought the wizard up from his crumpled self back onto his feet. Turning him around slowly, she faced Maximilian towards the display table, positioning his clammy hands so they leaned his body forward.
"Over here..." The Regent reached with his right hand back underneath the table, pressing a release button. It shook the table slightly as a panel to a hidden chamber folded up, revealing a miniature chaos box and a couple vials of clear liquid. "Quickly..." He could no longer hold his leaning balance, slowly collapsing onto the metal floor.
"Damn!" Lina tried to catch Maximilian, but she stumbled on the metal grating before tripping face-forward. Still, she managed to get her own body underneath the Regent's head before it could smack the hard ground.
Maximilian nodded a bit, tilting his head at an ugly angle. "The vial...it will work overnight on the chocolate you had last night..."
"What? And I thought you drugged the wine we had at dinner the night before!"
"Not quite. You actually need to ingest both. The mix of them is how the spell is formed." He coughed again before leaning his head down again.
"Damn chaos...its a curse that could only be dreamed by death itself..."
Oh Cepheid, shouted Lina within her mind. She finally realized why the Regent was still alive, his very life a single step away from death's doorway. The chaos effect that Maximilian wasn't just a painkiller neutralizer...but it was keep him alive. Living with the unbearable pain but unable to die...until the chaos itself dissipated from his body...
Luna trembled from within her thoughts. "Who would do this to you!"
"Those who know the Cloudminders..." Maximilian looked at Lina with a sense of total deliriousness. "...Ancient...dragons..."
Lina froze. No, she couldn't believe the truth as it rang in between her ears. No...
The sorcerer could see the very chaos seeping out of the Regent's eyes, like a hot water mist leaving a teakettle. The chaos...it was angry at its beholder's final act of betrayal. Time was short-
"...Please...tell my brother I'm sorry..."
And then, he was still.
Lina's eyes grew wide as the wizard's last words repeated in her mind. "It can't be..."
The Regent's body was suddenly clammy, its warmth disappearing like the rays of the setting sun. With no more chaos, the human form was nothing more than a rotting corpse, the fire of its life extinguished.
Thoughts raced thought Lina's mind. "No! The ancient dragons are...gone! If they are the Cloudminders...then..."
She stood up just as fast, her hands shaking profusely after every step. All she could do was feel the fear from Maximilian's last words...
Cursing, Lina suddenly remembered Maximilian's last two parting gifts from this world. The sorcerer ran to the secret compartment and took one of the Regent's clear vials of liquid. "Well, I sure hope this is the stuff." She uncorked the top and drank it lavishly. It tasted like chalk and went down just as thick. "Damn, I guess I'll have to wait until morning for this stuff to work..."
She turned her attention towards the miniature chaos box that had found a home in her other. She was about to hold it up for a look when a voice sprung up from behind her.
"So... we didn't finish the job."
Lina spun around, the chaos box still in her hand.
"More...secrets... My master will be pleased..."
-
---o--o--o---
-
Filia kneeled down across a thick crossbeam, her hidden place high among the wooden rafters of Maximilian's laboratory. From her lofted position, she could watch Lina and Sylphiel as they attempted treatment on the injured Maximilian, So...horrible was the Regent's condition that she almost turned her head away in shame. As hidden as she was, all she could do was look down at the scene below.
Leaning against the wall behind her was Xellos, still stretching his back out. He muttered something about being used like an accordion before turning his thoughtless gaze on the golden dragon.
"So...go down and help them," flatly said the Mazoku. "I know your shrine dragon's urge is calling you."
"Yes...it is..." She snapped her head back at Xellos. "Your scheming with Lina has cost so many lives. Why did you have to upset everything?"
"Yare..yare..." Xellos nodded down at the sorcerer. "When will you learn that sacrifices are sometimes...necessary. We couldn't have Lina marrying Uzumara." The mysterious priest was zealous with his own thoughts. "Besides, it wouldn't have driven out the Mazoku working for-"
"I desist your sickening methods to the bitter end." She pulled down the hemlines of her dress in disgust. "I refuse to be a pawn in this sick game of yours."
The purple priest opened his hand and waved down towards Lina. "Then go down and help them."
"Fine!" Filia boldly stood up and looked down on her friends.
And then, she froze. "I...I...will go...in a second." A little tingle of her tail made her twist her head around, nearly butted heads with the smiling Mazoku.
"Oh...really?" Xellos stuck his tongue out playfully, touching her nose--
"Baka!" She felt for her mace from under her dress, pulling and attacking with it all in one motion. "You!..."
But Xellos was gone.
"What am I doing..." she said, loosing the tight grip on her mace. "I...can't go though with this!" The mace finally gave way , clunking down next to her foot impassively, "Please, Cepheid, give me the wisdom I need..."
Something from behind her caused the dragon to shift her head ever so slightly. A little tuft of smoke appeared out of thin air; quickly dissipated as quick as it had appeared. From the center of the movement emerged a human, sweeping away the energy as it made its grand entrance.
The golden dragon's eyes went up and down the visitor's body, her mind like a blank slate. When the thoughts finally came to her mind, all she could do was whisper out a couple of words...
"Oh...no..."
-
---o--o--o---
-
Lina could see the Mazoku's smoke from her backside, quickly presenting the chaos box within her open hand. "Take one more step buddy and I suck you dry. Understand that?"
"Yes...I do..." Moe said, rubbing his bony chin in frustration. He seemed to be sensing something in the air as if receiving a subliminal message. Alas, he frowned bitterly. "So, my acquaintance is dead, to the hands of that no fault, goodie two shoes, golden dragon."
"You mean Filia?' said Lina, taking a couple of encircling steps around the Mazoku.
"You are correct." He raised his arm again, interrupting the sorcerer. She could swear the Mazoku was smiling at the latest subliminal news. "Ahhh, I have been told of something else very interesting..."
The sorcerer leaned back just enough for the Mazoku to feel to flight emotion in her mind. She didn't dare show it in her posture, but her blondness had betrayed her once again.
This intrigued the Mazoku to no end. "Ahhh...the great Lina Inverse...and she's scared of little old me. Now I am interested."
The sorcerer cursed, doubling her show of the miniature chaos box. "I said stay back!"
Moe's eyes grew wide, finally recognizing the chaos box in Lina's hand. "My...my...so you are not the defenseless blond what was described to me..." He chuckled, taking a step forward while licking his lips. "Tell me...how do you expect to activate such a chaos box? You have no stone for it..."
The blond swallowed, reaching with her other hand among her hidden waist compartment. Very carefully, she took hold of the chaos stone and pulled it over her chest.
The human Mazoku's eyes glowed red as he charged forward, catching the blond sorcerer by surprise. "Oh no you don't!"
His crude attack was to run his flying body into the blond, causing Lina to go flying backwards head first into the empty bookshelf. She hit the wooden shelving quite hard with the back of her head. After the stunning impact, her hand accidentally opened up enough for the chaos jewel to squirm free onto the metal ground.
"You really need to work on that delivery. I smelled that little plan of yours from the very beginning..." He kicked a couple of books, knocking them into the body of the fallen blond sorcerer.
Lina shook off the blows, using her hand as a brace to push herself up to her knees. She reached instinctively up at her jaw at the pain, discovering her lips were dripped in her own blood.
He laughed. "In the end, you're a lot less threatening as a blond."
Lina spit disgustedly at the floor, turning her eyes over at the Mazoku. "You know me...and what I'll do to you when I get back to normal."
"But that's not going to happen." He kicked again, this time missing the scurrying blond as she rolled out of the way. "Maybe my master will allow me to keep you as a pet. How unfortunate how that can never be the case."
Lina had moved as far away as she could go, but there was nothing behind her except for empty shelves of bookcases. She got to her feet and grabbed a large book to use as a shield, but the Mazoku slapped it out of her grasp a second later. Her eyes grew wide, as there was no place else to turn for help.
Slowly yet silently, the Mazoku reached up with his glowing hand, ready to strike down the blond sorcerer. A second later and it would be all over.
"Lina!" Sylphiel put up her shield just in time from blow, protecting the both of them from the attack. She was already breathing quite heavily, taking a second to look up before bowing her head in exhaustion. "Hold...on....!"
What! thought Lina. "Where's-"
A shout came from higher in the tower. Elevated above them so far high was Kerchef, dangling by one of the hanging curtains. He dropped like a rock, repelled down the fabric like a maniac his scimitar drawn high in the air.
Lina sweat dropped at the lucidity. "Kerchef! What are you doing!"
The Mazoku chuckled at the effort, letting the blade strike his shoulder. He laughed again as the cutting edge dissected across his chest with a perfect diagonal slice through his body. Moe's body unpeeled for just a second, before folding back and healing itself.
"Fool...that doesn't hurt for a second... "
But before the Mazoku could swallow his own words, the wound line appeared again, glowing hot white with energy. The Mazoku's eyes glazed with weakness as he fought the internal shocks throughout his body.
Kerchef smiled, lowering the blade and then raising it against the Mazoku's neck. "A final present from Maximilian. My brother ran this very blade each and every day against his chaos boxes. Its residual effect...are quite numbing to a Mazoku's life form."
Moe cursed, gritting his teeth while trying to keep his body whole. After more than a few seconds of concentration, he managed to stabilize his body. But the toll of the attack was the removal of his humanoid skin as it melted away like pudding. Where bronzed desert skin had been was burnt black and crispy like coal; his lovely tan hat was no more than a cinder of its former self.
"You bastard. You drained me, and permanently." When Moe looked up again, he saw the blond sorcerer with the chaos box in one hand, her chaos stone in the other. His mind reeled, his body temporary unable to flee for safety.
Lina fingered the chaos box, managing to pull open the top with the long fingernails she had acquired as a blond bombshell. Shrugging, she attempted to plug the crystal into the chaos box, but all it would do was clink like an unmatched set. She fumbled the crystal and tried again. The chaos crystal from Monte Darlo... it didn't fit.
The Mazoku pointed and laughed. With his mouth wide open...
"Why you!.." Lina pounded her foot impatiently, glaring madly at the chuckling Mazoku. It was useless to attack the Mazoku without her powers. Damn it! She was more annoyed at his fat trap than anything!
An idea smacked her in the head. "Sylphiel! Flare Arrow!" she yelled.
"But Lina..."
"Do it!"
"Hai!" The purple shrine maiden started the words of her spell, determined to get it right...
"Just try it!" snarled the Mazoku.
"Oh yea!" With force, the blond twirled, shoving the open-ended chaos box down Moe's throat.
The Mazoku didn't know how to respond, swallowing his words on the sharp edges of the unlit box. "Wha...!" He tried to close his orifice and smash the delicate box, but it that was proving to be harder than desired.
"I like...you quiet!" The sorcerer looked back at the frowned Sylphiel, her awaiting diminutive flare arrow was just small enough to ignite a couple of matches.
Lina pointed right at Moe's trap for Sylphiel to see. "Right...there!"
"Hai!"
The shrine maiden's flare spells would usually have little effect on a Mazoku. The delicate chaos box, however, was a perfect target, splintering open in a flash of fire. A second later, a charging Lina took her chaos stone and slammed it home around the broken box.
"...Bi...tch!" There was just enough intact chaos box left to ignite the energies that it had long since desired. The strong pull of chaos, so close to Mazoku energy... It was a feeding frenzy, even as the box threw itself apart. And before Moe could repel it with a spell, the chaos fires around the crudely broken box blew the Mazoku's cranium off in a small explosion of fire and chaos.
Moe's human-like body fell down onto the metal scaffolding, thumping like a falling tree trunk on the walkway. The Mazoku's blackish sticky form melted though the thin grating, dripping like pudding to the ground below.
The blond sorcerer looked down at her fallen opponent, watching the body fall away like instantly melting snow. Sticky remnants of the broken chaos box lay scattered among the muck. She kneeled down next to the biggest pile and found her quartz-like jewel, picking it out with a clean handkerchief.
"Gotcha..." she said from the corner of her mouth, "and don't ever try that again..."
"Lina!" Sylphiel leaned down next to the sorcerer, helping the blond back up to her feet. "Are you OK?"
"Yeah, I'm fine..." The sorcerer let the quartz-like stone shine in the light for a second or two, admiring the danger and raw power of the chaos stone. So delicate and beautiful was the stone itself; for without its accompanying chaos box it was a piece of art.
"What do you see?" asked the shrine maiden.
"The mysteries of the Cloudminders," as she looked thought the clear stone. "What other truths are you hiding..."
Kerchef stumbled back from where his brother was lying, tears streaming from his eyes. He was distraught, talking to himself as the same time. "I...may never forgive myself for this," he cried, before disappearing once again.
Lina looked at the disappearing Kerchef, the strength in his eyes fading fast. She tightly gripped the stone in her hand, staring around for answer, but there was not as much as a whisper, even from her own mind. "And we will fight to live, like so many times before..."
The sorcerer collapsed unconsciously into the arms of Sylphiel. This battle was finally over so she could dream...of the City of the Clouds and their masters...
-
---o--o--o---
-
Well, the one year anniversary of this novel-length fict has come...and gone. This chapter...has been the most difficult...but alas, its downhill from here... ^_^
- Incantrix
incantrix@dreamclouds.com
Also, master of the sleepy Slayers Fan Fiction Archive
that's www(dot)slayersff(dot)com !!!
Yes, that's the reason for all the crazy '-''s Stupid ff.net won't give me two carriage returns for formatting :evil
-
---o--o--o---
-