Chapter 6: Evil Comfort
After being with the family for nearly a week, Zelgadis can walk around the entire house without a guide. He attempts to use his magic to heighten his other senses, but only time will tell whether or not this scheme will work. As far as Zelgadis knows, his magic pool is quite small without his blow demon amplifier.
As Zelgadis finishes up his cup of coffee, with the little girl tugging at his leg for attention, a cold breeze enters the room as the back door flies open. The little girl stops jumping and Zelgadis puts a protective arm around her. It feels like evil is in the room. After some careful thought, Zelgadis releases the girl and nods at her. He doesn't see her nod back at him, but he feels her swift steps as she runs to her mother in the other room.
Trying to think of a plan, Zelgadis hopes that this evil will not harm the family. That's the last thing he wants, but then the figures ice cold hands takes Zelgadis's hand and lifts it to his face. Zelgadis hesitantly studies the figure's cold face. It is a man with closed eyes and a smiling mouth. As recognition dawns in Zelgadis, a strange coldness seeps into his mind making Zelgadis lash out and stand to his feet.
"Now, now Zelgadis, don't you recognize me," Xellos says in Zelgadis's mind. Hastily Zelgadis freezes up and angrily sits back in his seat. Leave me alone! is all Zelgadis is thinking at the moment, and yet, he can finally hear another voice. Even if it is the voice of a monster, Zelgadis's heart leaps with joy for hearing a sound of some kind. A communication he can clearly understand without speculation or imagination.
"I can't read thoughts, Zelgadis, unless you give me permission to possess you," Xellos says happily.
Zelgadis gives a look of degust and shakes his head in a vehement 'no!' He makes an X with his arms, emphasizing his rejection of the idea. Not really sure that Xellos will understand him, Zelgadis begins to sign to him. It has been a while since he has used sign language so he uses basic words.
Giving a sigh, Zelgadis lifts his right hand to his mouth and makes a similar motion to 'thank you' only this time he flips his hand halfway down the arc. "(bad) (man) (steal) (me)" Xellos says nothing. Pausing to signifying a new thought, Zelgadis uses both hands in hang lose signs moving down from his shoulders to start his next thought. (now) (me) (deaf) (blind) (mute). Raising three fingers Zelgadis begins to explain the order of events.
"(First: my mouth, ears, and eyes sealed because three monsters) (pause) (Second: attacked outside stupid gang) (Third: found help, nice family)"
"I see, so how long have you been with this family?" Xellos asks.
Zelgadis feels the child and woman return to his side and Zelgadis smiles at them and nods, trying to reassure them that Xellos is a friend. In the back of his mind, Zelgadis is screaming at himself to stop being friendly with Xellos, but the other part is begging for more communication.
Remembering Xellos's question Zelgadis raises his left hand horizontally with a thumb sticking up and uses his right hand to show the number one sliding across his left hand, signifying one week.
"That's an awful long time, how on earth did you make it Zelly-poo," Xellos says using his pet name, which causes Zelgadis to glare. "You need to say goodbye to these people, Zelgadis," Xellos continues happily. With a curt nod Zelgadis rises from his chair and feels the little girl next to him. He hugs her and she hugs him back. In surprise, Zelgadis can feel warm tears hit his shoulder. The girl obviously knows that this is goodbye. Gently releasing the girl latched onto him, he next feels the woman hug him followed by the man hugging him. Apparently the husband came in to the room at some point. Zelgadis assumes that Xellos has explained some of the issues to them.
"(I'll come back), (repay your kindness someday). (Promise)" Zelgadis signs more fluently to them and blindly hopes that Xellos will interpret for him. Making his way for the door, Zelgadis hesitates for a moment, but offers a smile to the people he knows are standing behind him. He manages to make it out into the street and is surprised when Xellos takes his arm to help guide him. Bristling at his cold touch, Zelgadis attempts to get away, but Xellos only grips him harder.
"Now, now Zelgadis, you are mute, deaf, and blind. I'm sure it's nearly impossible for you to travel freely on your own. You're going to have to trust me," Xellos says happily.
Only then does it hit Zelgadis that he might be making a grave mistake. He has been so thrilled to talk with someone he knows, that he has forgotten who it is. Xellos is a monster, what can the Mazoku ever possibly hope to gain from helping Zelgadis?
"I suppose now would be a good time to explain to you what's been happening in your absence," Xellos says as his strong grip leads Zelgadis forward. The monster is thoroughly enjoying the fear seeping out of Zelgadis. This fear is different, he usually only receives anger, hate, sadness, annoyance, and frustration out of the young man, but this is different. "Oh come Zelgadis, no need to be frightened. This experience sure has been rough on you, hasn't it?"
Zelgadis wants to scream a sarcastic statement at Xellos.
"Anyway, not much has happened (understatement of the year). Your evil sorcerer friend has been quite active, creating all sorts of havoc, but luckily Seyruun is sending their learned white mages out to cure the chimera. Not only that, but Seyruun has begun to rally up the other countries to act upon this murder outbreak. I wish you could describe this sorcerer to me when you get the chance, I really could use a decent report for my master. We are concerned that this sorcerer is delving into monster secrets that he shouldn't. Do you follow me so far?"
Zelgadis nods carefully and begins to wonder why Xellos is being so honest with him. Xellos doesn't lie, which mean that the monster has nothing to fear from the mute, deaf, and blind man. A sudden wave of depression hits Zelgadis when he realizes, yet again, how weak he is, quenching his stubborn tendencies. Xellos is free to share secrets with him, because Zelgadis has no way to tell anyone.
"Well Zelgadis, you're as depressing as ever," Xellos says as he feeds off Zelgadis. "I'm going to drop you off with Lina and Gourry, I have other things to deal with at present. Of course, I couldn't very well leave you there with those wonderful people. Rumor has it that your sorcerer friend is out looking for you again. Aren't you lucky? You probably don't want to drag them into this."
Growling in his silent throat, Zelgadis bites back hundreds of sarcastic sayings he wishes to utter at this moment.
"So what did this sorcerer look like," Xellos asks again.
While walking along Zelgadis proceeds to describe the man to Xellos as best he can with his arm still laced in Xellos's grip. "(Tall man) (weird eyes blue color and dots of gold yellow) (Blue long hair) (dramatic stupid acting skills similar to you)" Zelgadis smiles and laughs at this, hoping that Xellos is amused as well. He continues to describe the appearance of the three Mazoku to Xellos in great detail. In addition Zelgadis includes information about which of the Mazoku removed each of his senses.
"Well, well, well, you're not bad at signing are you, Zel," Xellos says. "What did this blue haired sorcerer want?"
Zelgadis hesitates. Just how much is he willing to tell Xellos? It's bad enough that he is freely giving the monster any information at all. And yet, he just cannot help it. His need for communication has made him quite the jabber mouth. Sighing in defeat Zelgadis explains the sorcerer's intentions as best he can. "(Wants test me) (trial) (prove my worth) (become successor/replacement to Rezo) (Next great Sage)" In anger Zelgadis grips Xellos's arm as he remembers those words.
"A real great sage wannabe" a voice echoes inside his mind: the sorcerer's, "But alas you aren't quite ready for that miraculous task I am afraid. After all, what is a sage without first experiencing some heart wrenching trial!"
What did that crazy coot expect of him, to cure himself again? This is easier said than done. Zelgadis knows how to unseal his senses, but he cannot do it without his voice or eyes. He will need to find the items he needs with the help of the Seyruun priests, then someone will need to find the incantation for the spell and say it for him. He will have to do it three times. At least the creepy sorcerer didn't realize that Zelgadis knows how to cure himself already, otherwise he might not have let Zelgadis go so easily.
Zelgadis stops walking, forcing Xellos to stop as well. Unless the sorcerer did find out the truth and that is the reason he's after him again.
"What's wrong Zelgadis?" Xellos asks. "We are almost out of this town."
Zelgadis shakes his head, trying to wring out his theoretical thoughts, and starts walking again. (nothing) Zelgadis signs.
"You know when one says 'nothing' it really means 'something'," Xellos says with a mysterious laugh in his words. "But I won't pry, I'll find out soon enough. Which reminds me, do you know how to cure yourself?"
Swirling around, Zelgadis hits the monster on the head angrily. How did the stupid Mazoku know what he was thinking about! He must have been reading Zelgadis's thoughts all along! But the monster hasn't. Xellos just knows his human companions very well, even after two years of being out and about. But what are two or three years to a monster?
"I'll take that as a yes," Xellos says as he pretends to be in pain. "Well, we are now out of sight from the town, time to get moving."
Xellos roughly grabs Zelgadis and the world begins to fall away. Zelgadis cannot feel a thing, or smell anything either. "We have a long way to go," Xellos continues. "Did you know that the sorcerer dropped you off down in the southern most country of this continent. He really didn't want anyone finding you,"
All of Zelgadis's remaining senses go numb and he feels slightly sick as Xellos fazes into the astral plain. Amazingly enough, Zelgadis nearly goes blind as a bright light hits his unseeing eyes.
"Well, isn't that interesting," Xellos comments as Zelgadis struggles to cover his eyes. "Seems you can see perfectly on the astral plane, very interesting indeed. You probably can talk and hear perfectly in this plane as well I'm guessing. Too bad you're human."
By the time Zelgadis attempts to opens his eyes the world is pitch black once more as they arrive at their new destination.
"Wait right here," Xellos says as he sits Zelgadis down in a chair and walks away.
Pouting, Zelgadis stubbornly thinks to himself, "Like I can go anywhere!"
Cautiously, Zelgadis begins to feel in front of him, he is at a table and he can smell food not too far away. He also feels the warmth of a small fire nearby, which tells Zelgadis that he is most likely in a tavern somewhere. A slight breeze tickles his right side and Zelgadis wonders if someone is standing there. Hesitatingly, Zelgadis experimentally attempts to heighten his senses using his magic. Over the past week he has been testing this theory little by little when he remembers to.
Rezo used magic to see the world around him, that's why he could sense when Zelgadis threw Lina at him that fateful night long ago. Zelgadis hopes that he can do the same thing.
Using all of his concentration Zelgadis wills his magic to work and is surprised to see (or at least magically sense) a young woman standing next to him. But he can only see her as she moves. Otherwise she is completely invisible. The young woman is nervously switching her weight between her left and right foot. Obviously, she has come to take his order and doesn't realize that he is mute, deaf, and blind. She puts a hand on his shoulder timidly, probably asking a bit louder for his order. Zelgadis can feel her warm breath as she shouts.
Offering a small smile, Zelgadis motions to her that he can't see, hear, or talk. In shock the girl steps back slightly and races away. Needless to say, Zelgadis is slightly disappointed at her reaction. People are running away from him again, just his luck. But the girl returns and takes Zelgadis's hand and puts a skinny plastic like material in his hand. It is a menu.
He opens it up and is thrilled to find that it is in Braille. Carefully Zelgadis rubs his fingers over the words. When he comes across his favorite coffee, Zelgadis points to it and smiles towards the girls. She pats him on the shoulder and hurries away with the menu. Zelgadis can feel a slight happy bounce in her step as she leaves, improving Zelgadis's mood slightly.
While Zelgadis was searching Rezo's labs for a chimera cure, Zelgadis had to learn how to read Braille. Rezo developed many spells in order to read and write in books, but sometimes the old sorcerer preferred using Braille since he found it a challenge. Zelgadis had no choice but to learn how to read the system, if he wanted to know all of Rezo's secrets. Knowing Rezo, he might have done it just to annoy people.
Zelgadis laughs to himself as the girl returns with his favorite cup of coffee; he hasn't had his favorite beverage in over a week, since he couldn't very well tell his rescuers what he wanted. He was lucky to get regular coffee while he was there.
After some time Zelgadis feels the door open and a gloved hand pats him on the shoulder. "Time to go," Xellos says happily. Zelgadis nods and tells Xellos to pay $1.20 for the coffee, briefly wondering if the monster will bother paying for his drink.
Once outside, they walk a short distance, before coming to a stop.
"I told Lina that you are now mute, deaf, and blind," Xellos says to Zelgadis. "Everything else is a secret. I didn't tell her about the sorcerer who did this to you, the Mazoku, or your chimera case. You'll have to find some way to do that yourself. Goodbye." And with that the comforting, evil presence of Xellos vanishes.
Authors Note: Hopefully the use of italic and breaks is not confusing. I studied American Sign Language for three semesters in college and the use of the brackets is the best way I can hope to convey 'signing' in this story.