He threw her door open, rushing in: she was right there to meet him. At the same time, both said, "I need to talk to you."
Both recoiled at the strange coincidence. "You do?" Angela asked, caught off guard.
"I do..." he replied, adamant in being first. Angela waved her hand for him to continue. "I had a strange visitor at the house earlier..."
"Inazin?" Cried Angela, bringing her hand to her mouth and quickly inspecting the Wizard's body for any sign of injury.
He shook his head. "No...I don't know who it was."
"Well, what did this person look like?"
He placed his crystal ball case on the table and lifted the orb to her face. "This."
She raised her eyebrows, flicking glances from the ball back to the Wizard. "Huh? Are you not suppose to sleep at night or something? Does it bring on some kind of hallucination?"
"Angela, listen to me," his voice was full of a panic unbecoming of the Wizard's aloof and cool nature. Angela decided he was serious, and looked him right in the eye. "The voice that radiated from the crystal ball told me not his name, but that we don't need the Necronomicon. We're not even the ones who will stop Inazin." The Wizard thought she was unbelieving again from the look on her face, until she told him her bit of news.
"I did a little necromancy while you were out. I was able to...bring my grandfather back." It was the Wizard's turn to look at her questioningly. She motioned to the bed where Vivi gave him a subtle nod. Surprised, he gave Angela his full attention. "He also said we weren't going to defeat Inazin and Cthulu. Well, technically he said we had to do 'nothing', just...nothing."
"I see. My visitor was only a little bit more helpful. He told me you and I were to 'prepared' the one to defeat them. He did not elaborate."
"Great," mumbled Angela, throwing her arms up. "So what are we suppose to do?"
He shook his head again. "I don't know..."
"You think maybe it's Grendel whose suppose to defeat them?"
"I haven't a clue. How did Inazin become a priest?" Asked the Wizard rather abruptly. Angela was taken aback, but knew he would eventually ask if he read through even a portion of the Necronomicon.
"It was Grendel's fiancée who got into Inazin's ear. Like both she and I said in the past, he use to be very kind and cheerful. My grandpa wanted the world to see that necromancy could be used for good, and wanted all three of us-Grendel, Inazin and I-to go out into the world and find ways to do just that. Grendel and I weren't just running from Inazin, we were trying to fulfill that wish for so many years. Then we heard about Castanet..." Angela blushed. "Oh jeez, I'm rambling about something else! Anyway, before I was old enough to actually go out and try to change the world, Grendel met and fell in love with a man named Corona. He was never successful using the Necronomicon, and eventually convinced Inazin that both necromancy and the spells in that book were a lot alike, and that learning to summon something may very well bring all of us closer to my grandpa's ultimate goal."
The Wizard stepped in. "He believed Corona? Hadn't he even read the Necronomicon?"
Angela sighed, remembering. "No. Inazin was trusting to a fault, and Corona preyed upon that."
"Are they still traveling or in contact with one another?"
Angela shrugged. "I couldn't say. The last time either Grendel or I saw Corona was about ten years ago. He was able to cast a tracking spell on Grendel so no matter where she ran he would find her. However," she stopped, smirked in a fit of pride, "Grendel pulled a fast one on him. He could only track her when she was in her human form. That's why she stays a cat all the time."
It made perfect sense to the Wizard. "Inazin was made a priest by Corona?"
"That I'm not sure of. Those ceremonies are usually held in secrecy. I guess it's not out of the question, if nothing else then Corona lead Inazin to the proper authorities who inaugurated him."
So many secrets were involved in this whole mess; even the Ancient Ones themselves were an enigma wrapped up in a mystery. Looking back, the Wizard began to wonder how much anyone really knew of the Ancient Ones, or even if their true intentions were to destroy the world. It's not as if anyone had ever actually interviewed them. Perhaps their formed frightened many that they were simply perceived as a threat. People would rather fear what they cannot fathom than to embrace it, and so it wasn't such a stretch of the imagination that once someone of high power declared these monsters were a threat the world took that notion and ran with it. Human hearts I will never understand.
"Feel like taking a walk?" Asked Angela, ever so slyly. The Wizard was forced away from his thoughts and thrown back into the here and now. He blinked.
"A walk...?"
"Yeah, we're in over our heads here, and the only two olive branches extended to us need to be interpreted. I was thinking we could finally consult the Harvest Goddess like we planned to last night. What do you say?"
"I say that makes a lot of sense. Let's go."
"Harvest Goddess," inquired Grendel, slowly emerging from a midday snooze in the sun, "I have a question."
"I'm sure I have the answer." The deity smiled.
"You were asking a lot about Inazin yesterday, and I was curious as to why. I know he's an imminent threat to Castanet, and the whole world for that matter, but he's likely still on the island somewhere. Don't you know everything about everyone once they step foot on Castanet?"
The Goddess flustered and her demeanor became recumbent. "Oh my, I've been found out. Well, Grendel, it's true the magical waters help me when someone first enters the island, but it's vague: what their name is, where they are from, how old they are. They do not wield what that person's intentions are."
"Then how did you know about mine and Angela's intentions?"
"Give me a little credit Grendel. I may not be as all powerful as the Harvest King, but I do have a trick or two up my sleeve. I'm psychic, but my abilities only reach so far as my spring: when someone comes here, then all their intricate information floods my mind, and that's how I knew about you and Angela. Although you're a little more difficult to read than Angela."
Grendel felt honored, though strange as it may be. "I am? Even for a Goddess?"
"Yes. If I may, I do not think you were cut out for necromancy."
Grendel remained silent, stunned by the Goddess' blunt opinion. She continued: "No, while you have obviously mastered the craft, I find your abilities to be better suited for defensive magic, such as barriers, changing one's form to assist in the situation, walls around your mind, and the like. Have you ever experimented with anything like that, other than your feline transformation?"
"No, not really. Turning myself into a cat was more of a survival tactic than one I thought I'd try out like foreign food. In fact, I had no idea I had some kind of barrier around my mind to render it unable to read with precision."
"Then it would seem that you are already proficient in defensive magic, but now need to master it as well as you did with necromancy. Here," she lifted her hand, and in front of Grendel appeared an old red leather-bound book. "I sense you'll not be returning to Angela anytime soon, so perhaps you can study in the mean time. You should make yourself scarce though, I know she and the Wizard are approaching soon."
"Thank you," Grendel bowed. The Goddess had a point: Grendel was still peeved at Angela, and it took a long, long time for Grendel to let go of a grudge of any size. She might as well be productive with her time. Besides, this type of magic may prove useful in what she suspected would be an upcoming fight for humanity. But she had one last question. "Why are they coming?"
"I cannot say for sure," she shot the cat a look that said We just discussed the limits of my powers, and Grendel thought it better to leave it at that. The Harvest Goddess would surely take good care of Angela. The Goddess chanted for a few seconds, and Grendel and the book were transported to a secluded part of the island where she could study in peace.
The journey to the Goddess' spring had been much smoother this time around. Angela seemed to take on a certain sense of independence since Grendel's departure, and the Wizard wondered what happened in that time that he returned to his house that changed her so. Either way, he felt a pang of pride for his new companion: though they've only known each other for a couple of weeks, he had taken a liken to Angela, almost bordering on protectiveness, as if she were in possession of something very important that he needed to give his life for to protect if need be. It was confusing, and it was gratifying: his stomach was full of butterflies, and his heart was fluttering.
"Almost there." Angela pointed to a thicket of tall grass and shrubbery beside Barbara's General Store. Though he did care for the girl, she did things that did irk him, like pointing out the obvious: he lived on Castanet much longer than Angela, and therefore clearly knew where the spring was. He took a deep breath: I'm just under stress, just like Angela. It does no good to get upset...
"Right," he nodded, following obediently behind her. Angela thought back to when she and Grendel first came here, and her heart ached. But now was not the time for pity: New Angela, new attitude. She knew Grendel was more than capable of taking care of herself, and that eventually she would come home once her temper wore off. Best to just leave her be for now and let her sort out her emotions; trying to track her down and then prying into her personal turmoil would not end well. A few minutes later they stood before the Goddess, she looking her usual effervescent self despite the state of her health.
"Angela, Wizard, welcome. I see you've had a few moments of enlightenment as to how to handle this Cthulu situation."
Both looked worn out but relieved that the Goddess was clearly up to speed. "Yeah," Angela confirmed. "Really...what do we do?"
"What to do, what to do," the Goddess mused. She cupped her chin in her hand and appeared to be in a state of deep thought, though the whole scene looked utterly theatrical. The Wizard seemed unfazed; Angela wasn't falling for it. The Goddess knew exactly what they needed to do, and if she decided to speak in rhetoric's like the previous two spiritual visitors Angela was going to literally explode. It was no longer an issue of saving one island of people, but the whole world. The time were games had to be over. As if sensing Angela's stance, the Goddess changed into a more serious deity. "You two need to conceive," she said matter-of-factly, looking both square in the eyes. Above all else, more than anything each person had encountered during the past twenty-four hours (give or take), this was certainly the most shocking. The Wizard looked like he might vomit, Angela was pale.
"I beg your pardon?" The Wizard choked out.
"You two," she pointed at both of them, "need to come together and create a child."
"Whuh...what? Why? What's a little baby going to do for us?"
"A lot. Save the world, if you want the full glory of it. Your child, with your magical backgrounds combined, will be born with the exact type of magic to diffuse Cthulu."
"But it'll just be a baby. How can a baby possibly cast a spell?" Angela was feeling annoyed; she thought, at some level, that the Goddess was still toying with them.
"There are some who exuberate magical energy which can impact their surroundings in either a positive or negative way. I, for one, am one of those people. By just being alive and present, the earth becomes fertile, the vegetation grows, the water is clean and life thrives. Of course, with my tree depicting my health status, I am unable to grant all those gifts until my health is restored. But since I'm still alive, the land is still inhabitable, although not with the same fervor as when I was healthy. Your baby will be the antidote. Once he or she is born, you two will be able to deter Cthulu and Inazin. But only after the baby is born." She folded her arms. "Understand?"
"How...how Angela have a baby in time to defeat them. It takes quite some time to carry a baby to full term, what if Inazin decides to strike before the baby is born?" Asked the Wizard, still reeling from the new set of instructions.
"Leave that to me. I've been storing some energy in case of any kind of emergency. If you do make good on your promise Angela, then I will help you with your predicament. Now," she turned from the two, still putting on the airs of drama now that the big news has finally been released, "How about that Flower Festival tonight? I can tell neither of you have gotten close romantically, so maybe a change of scenery and a break from these pressing magical matters might just set the mood." She turned back around and winked at Angela. "How about a date you two?"
A/N: Well, wasn't that fun? I always hate those chapters full of nitty-gritty information in any story, but I now realize that sometimes they're necessary. Now that that is out of the way, we can finally start to have some AngelaxWizard fun! Thanks for your patience, and stick around for a very sudden change in this relationship.