Chapter II

What's deep hidden

"A long time ago in a lovely kingdom lived a young, pretty Princess. But apart from her beauty, she possessed something very important, dear children. It was her good heart for which she was loved by her subjects. The girl shared her magnificent Palace with her dear friends: three beautiful fairies, called syenleu, and hiruzenkai – their guardian spirits. The most powerful fairy was called cephieleu. She was famous in whole kingdom for her fiery hair and amazing fire tricks she loved to show children. Second syenleu was loved for her delightful voice. The last fairy was able to clean the sky and make the sun shine whenever she wanted. Their guardian spirits looked after them protecting them from any harm. Everyone lived happily in world full of merriness and magic. But one day something terrible happened and because of it the Princess, syenleu and hiruzenkai had to leave their beloved country. Since then magic had disappeared from whole Seyrun."

"Hahaha!" In a big room could be heard a loud mannish laughter. "It's genius! It's simply genius! The man exclaimed holding in his hands a copy of "Fairy tales and myths of Seyrun".

"Gethley, we were supposed to look for a serious pieces of information, not some silly fairy tales. " Answered him a serious feminine voice. Gethley watched closely his new partner. The girl with short, black hair looked at him with disdain in her yellowish, amazingly similar to his own, eyes. Gissleyna, his flesh and blood, didn't know such an abstract term as sense of humor. "You were supposed to kill cephieleu before her awakening. You didn't. You' ve lost one of your lives, but despite your defeat Mr. Phibrizzo's given you another chance, so get a grip!"

"Oh, give me a break. By killing me, they just made me a favour. You know very well, that with every single death I'm getting more and more powerful." He smiled to her impishly.

"Even your number of lives is limited." She reminded him darkly.

"Ok. Ok." He answered in a carefree way. "You have better listen to what's written here. They called the red witch a good fairy! Do you get it?" He laughed his head off. "But it isn't everything! Our lovely good fairy was famous in whole kingdom for her fiery hair and amazing fire tricks she loved to show children". It was good, wasn't it? The high priestess of Seyrun Princess who blown up everything on her way loved to show fire tricks to children! Oh, and that's even better! I would love to see face of this stony stiff after hearing that a hiruzenkai, a proud, personal protector of a priestess was called a guardian spirit!"

"Actually, it isn't incorrect. Hiruzenkai do look after priestesses, after all." Gissleyna answered calmly. She didn't see anything funny in what her brother told her.

"Oh, and do you know how did they called the massacre from one thousand years ago?" He was still skimming a copy of fairy tales. "But one day something terrible happened. It' s a pity they didn't write anything about how we had slaughtered this whole team." He added, languorous.

"But then they would have to write about our loss as well. " The girl noticed. "Maybe the army and those pseudo-mages weren't a big deal, but syenleu and hiruzenkai, especially the cephieleu and her protector were a ferocious enemy."

"It doesn't really matter. The most important is that they died and Seyrun has lost its magic."

"Aren't you forgetting that we needed 1000 years to regain our strength? And it turns out the magic is coming back to this accursed country." In voice of the black-haired woman could be seen a glint of wrath. "And we know nothing about the final moments of this battle… So how can we talk about the victory?"

"They died a terrible, painful death. We've been only in state of hibernation." The man answered her calmly.

"But they were reborn! They haven't regained their power completely, but the cephieleu has reawaken!"

"But it doesn't mean she's got her power back." He interrupted her. "It'll take some time before the red witch regains her full power." He smirked.

"It'll take some time?" She frowned.

"Yes, my dear sister. The red witch won't remember everything at once, but the most painful memories'll appear as first. Do you really think that after 17 years of calm life she'll gladly start to fight?"

"Of course. After all, she has to protect her Princess, doesn't she?"

"You see, Giss, then she was brought up as a priestess whose destiny was to fight and protect. This time she was born as a normal girl with a normal life. It's a huge difference."

"So… Do you think we have enough time to find and kill other syenleu?" She asked with a hope in her voice.

"Yes. That's exactly what's I'm thinking about." He slowly nodded his head.

"And what about finding the Princess? She is a key to the plan of our master. And we still don't remember what had happened in final moments of the battle. How is it possible no one remembers it?"

"We'll find out if we find the Princess."

"What if cephieleu won't let us do it?"

"Well… then we'll find some other way to make her life harder. I'll be satisfied as long as the red witch suffers." The man with feline, yellowish eyes smiled evilly.

Lina didn't want to open her eyes. She still felt dizzy and the feeling that her magic had been unsealed wasn't helping. She wanted to be reborn as a normal girl. She didn't want to repeat this nightmare ever again. She liked her life. Even those dumb teachers were tolerable. She would love to wake up without her knowledge about her previous life, just come to school and hit Rika because of her stupid behavior. But it wasn't possible. Not anymore.

"How long are you going to pretend you are still asleep?" She heard a mean, male voice. She turned around and saw a turned on computer on a desk, behind which was sitting Zelgadis in his human form.

"Did you have to do this at that moment?" She asked with pretence in her voice, ignoring his previous question.

"I'm really sorry we don't have a luxury of one million years to let you awake when you would like to." He answered sarcastically.

In red eyes appeared a glint of wrath.

"And who let you make decision in my place?" She hissed.

"I believe some of your memories should have come back. You are cephieleu, and you've got some responsibilities. And it doesn't matter if you want it or not." His voice became cold.

"And what if I'm not going to be any fucking cephieleu?" She started to tremble out of anger.

"We'll see how long are you going to keep on saying that." He said doubtfully.

"As always, you are insensitive jerk." She got up and left the room. She could see out of the corner of her eye that the man was watching her, but he neither said another word nor made an attempt to stop her. She was glad because of it. Right now talking to him was the last thing she wanted to do.

Thanks to a small, characteristic corridor she knew she was in a dormitory of Seyrun Academy located in the north part of the city. Without putting any jacket on she left the apartment. As soon as she inhaled a fresh air she felt a little better. She decided to go towards the park she always visited when she had too much on her mind. Lost in her thoughts she didn't noticed how quickly she reached her destination. When she saw her favorite willow, she looked around. After making sure there was no one in the vicinity she approached the tree. She studied a tree bark before she chanted:

"Levitation." Slowly she hovered. In spite of not liking the fact she had been forcefully awaken she did appreciate the joy she had always experienced when she had been using magic. She landed gracefully on a branch and looked at the city landscape. The view was breathtaking and at the very same time she could be sure she wouldn't be seen. Lina observed leaves rustling in the wind and all of sudden in her mind appeared a strange thought. She was calm. Last months consisted of unpleasant dreams. Her senses were still alert, but she wasn't aware of the reason why. Now she knew it very well. Unconsciously she felt the presence of Shabranigdo's followers. The sorceress smirked when she saw how contradictory her thoughts were. At first she didn't want to regain her memories, but when she did, she was at peace. Unfortunately, that was the truth. She could get angry with Zelgadis as much as she wanted, but she had to admit he did the right thing.

"Hello, cephieleu." Suddenly she heard a childish voice. Alarmed sorceress raised her head and saw a short, fat woman wearing an ugly pink dress and a funny straw hat.

"Hi, peasant Mazoku." The redhead answered mockingly.

"Could you be so nice and jump from that tree? You know, I don't want to dirty my hands." The Mazoku girl had a truly annoying voice.

"Are your supervisors insane? They are sending an overgrown pig to get rid of me?" Lina continued.

The Demon looked at her ominously.

"I know you haven't regained full power yet. Actually, I think you are pretty weak right now."

"We'll see." Lina just snickered.

"I'll make you regret this pushy attitude of yours!" The Mazoku girl growled throwing towards the sorceress an energy ball. Much more powerful than Lina was expecting. The redhead dodged and casted Fire Ball. She noticed with satisfaction it was evidently bigger than the one from yesterday. On the other hand she was aware that if she had been in full power, one Fire Ball would have been enough to destroy her opponent. In spite of this fact, she was positive this enemy was no match for her. Attacks of fat woman were quite strong, but Lina was too quick for them to reach her. The redhead's strategy was simple but effective. She readied her fire spell. The Mazoku girl jumped high in the air to avoid it. That was exactly what the sorceress was waiting for.

"Ice Arrow!" The Demon in one second became imprisoned in an ice cage. After that Lina started an incantation not heard from 1000 years.

"One who is darker than twilight. One who is redder than flowing blood. Buried in the flow of time In thy great name, I hereby pledge myself to darkness. Those who stand before us in our way. All those who have become fools. Merge thy power and mine To grant destruction equally to all! DRAGON SLAVE!" Release of this energy made her feel really good. She missed it. She just loved magic.

A stream of a powerful energy ran towards the enemy who didn't have a chance to survive. The satisfaction because of this small victory felt really good, but all of sudden the sorceress started to collapse. The dizziness from yesterday came back. She would have fallen on the ground if not for a pair of strong arms.

"Has the great Lina Inverse forgotten that casting such powerful spells in a weakened state results in an instantaneous loss of strength?" She heard exactly the same mocking tenor she heard in the morning.

"Zel, what are you doing here? Don't tell me you followed me." Her pupils narrowed dangerously.

"I didn't. I just wanted to make sure you won't do anything stupid." He corrected her picking her up.

"Do you want to pick a fight?" She asked in a warning tone, not paying attention to the fact how comical it sounded when she couldn't stand on her own.

"I would love to see it." The mage smirked.

"As soon as I feel better…" The sorceress threatened.

"Maybe you won't forget about hiding your magical aura." He cut in.

Lina looked at him annoyed. That was how this dumb Mazoku found her.

"Oh just leave me alone!" Lina barked offended. She never liked when he was right.

"I don't want to worry you, but you are stuck with me." Zelgadis smiled in meanly way.

"Pshaw!"

"Anyway, I can see you are in better mood now." He changed the subject. This sentence alone made Lina serious again.

"I didn't want to regain those memories. I don't want to experience it ever again…" She said quietly.

"That's way we have to act fast. To not let it happen again." His tone became gentle. He knew how painful it was to her. Those memories were an open wound, very difficult to heal. But the only way to get rid of fears of the past was to take them head on. He was aware that was the only way to go forward.

Suddenly he felt her lean against his chest.

"It's good to see you alive." She whispered.

The man looked at her a little taken aback. He expected some outburst of angriness, not something like that. Before he answered her, the girl fell asleep. Studying her face he had smiled warmly for the first time for a very long time and disappeared.

When she looked through the window she saw a dark sky full of storm clouds. First drops of a rain fell on the glass, after which they slowly slipped. The young woman with hesitation touched the pane. The material was doubtlessly cold under her fingers but it didn't last very long. In one instant the place she touched became hot, so much that all drops vaporized. The blond at once took few steps back. But after several seconds she wasn't frightened. She was curious. The young woman raised her hands and put them on her chest. Once again she felt it. The heat. She looked at her palms and saw a small ball of energy. Amazed she focused on the ball which started to slowly grow. She smiled in satisfaction. She really could have control it! Only after hearing a loud thunder she noticed that a drizzle became a downpour. The girl looked at her hands and once again through the window. She sent another signal to make the ball of energy bigger. She succeeded. And at the very same time the rain became even heavier. The shocked, young woman was watching this phenomenon which was under her control in awe. The ball of energy started to grow rapidly and left her hands in order to whirl in the center of the room with remarkable speed. The blond didn't feel fear. It seemed to her that was exactly what she had been waiting for since the day she was born. She wanted to release what was hidden deep inside of her. She reached out to the dancing power. It was so warm…

If someone had been standing next to her, he would immediately have paid attention to the unconscious eyes of the young woman. He would have known at once it wasn't safe for the girl to touch such a dangerous looking energy. And he would have felt a true fear when he saw the ball of energy absorbing a human being.

It was a long time ago when Seyrun saw such a dangerous storm. But still for every citizen this heavy rain and dangerous thunders were just a natural phenomenon. No one would have thought there was a person who was responsible for all of that. On the other hand, calling an enormous, bright dragon a human was difficult. The creature danced with the air above the whole city. Every waving of each wing made a gust of wind. Every single growl which couldn't be heard by normal humans summoned a lightning. The dragon in his trance even didn't noticed some extraordinary newcomer. A purple-haired man smiled watching the creature with closed eyes. (That's exactly what he did, even if it didn't make sense for normal mortals.)

"Oh, small dragon, losing control in such a way isn't like you." He said merrily, but the creature didn't pay attention to the man continuing its dance. The man raised his hand. One second later the dragon was surrounded by a stream of dark, ominous energy. That was the moment when the creature noticed the opponent, but it was too late. A wild light became dimmed by a controlled darkness. The enormous dragon started to shrink and in no time in its place appeared a blond girl in a simple, blue dress with unconscious eyes. The man quickly teleported next to her and caught her when the aura surrounding her disappeared.

The weather started to calm down.

The awakening of syenleu was completed.

The man teleported once again just to appear in an elegant looking flat.

"What's happening?" The young woman asked weakly.

"Nothing at all. You have just almost destroyed the city. But nothing more." Answered an annoying voice she knew too well.

"Xelloss! What the hell are you doing here?" She looked around and noticed she was in arms of the purple-haired. "What are you doing namagomi?! Put me down at once!" She growled.

Xelloss instantly obeyed and released her in such way her bottom painfully hit the floor.

"Ouch! You damn idiot! If I get my hand on you!" Yelled enraged and sore blond looking for her club.

" So you've regained your memories." He said calmly.

That made her stop. Slowly, very slowly her mind became flooded with memories. She was happy she was on the floor because at the moment her legs felt totally weak.

"Seyrun. The Princess. What have I done? I could have killed everybody." She started to mumble. After a moment she looked at Xelloss. "What are you doing here? Why have you helped me?"

"With your hiruzenkai not being here, someone had to do it." He smiled.

Filia looked at him suspiciously.

"Since when does the great Xelloss help his enemies?"

"My dear, you are totally mistaken. I wasn't helping you. At first our goal was to kill cephieleu and syenleu before the awakening. In your case we were late. You would have destroyed Seyrun, which isn't our goal." The purple-haired man explained calmly.

"Sure." Filia answered unconvinced. The Trickster Priest wasn't a person who would do something for free. There was always something more behind his actions.

The Mazoku just smiled and leaned towards her.

The blond's face became flushed.

"I just have to tell you, small dragon." He made a theatrical pause. "You've gained some weight over those years." The blush was long gone and in its place appeared a glint of fury in her eyes.

The man disappeared with a smile on his lips.

"XELLOSS!"

"Gethley, how can you explain me, that second syenleu has awaken?" Said an ominous voice.

"We aren't so sure. But killing just one syenleu would be more than enough." The dark-haired man answered optimistically. "What's more we felt weak pulsation of energy in north part of Seyrun. The last syenleu is the weakest one, so this time we'll kill her for sure."

"Keep your word, Gethley."

"Yes, sir." The yellow-eyed replied. So far situation hadn't look good. But this time he was sure the blood of his enemy would ne spilled. Just like 1000 years ago.