A single light source illuminates a pedestal holding an open book. An eerie disembodied voice cackles nastily.
"Two days it will take," it says, "two days of torture for daring to disturb this inner sanctum. At the end of those two days you will suffer the same fate as all who dare to enter this temple...That which you wished to gain shall be reversed."
She moaned in excruciating, bone-deep pain as she opened her eyes to see that she was now in the middle of a forest somewhere, then scrunched them closed again as she tried to ignore the pain by curling up in the foetal position...it always worked during "that time of the month", but even this didn't seem to cure the shuddering waves of pain travelling through her body
Zelgadis was running as quickly as he could. He didn't know why, mind you, he only knew that someone very important was in trouble and he had to get there soon. When he reached his goal, he slowed down, confused.
"Not that this whole thing hasn't been confusing from the very beginning." He muttered as he searched through the murky gloom of the forest for the source of the feeling which had called him here.
Suddenly he caught a glint of orangey-red from between the trees. A fire? he wondered. As he drew closer, he realized that it wasn't a fire, it was the fiery hair of Lina Inverse...curled up in a little ball of pain on the forest floor
"Lina?!" Zel rushed over to her, his heart dropping into his stomach at the sight of such a usually strong girl reduced to this. He shook her gently to try to get her to wake up.
"Lina? Lina, what's wrong?"
"Z...Zel?"
"Yes Lina, it's me."
"H...hurts...everywhere...s...s...spell..."
You want me to do a healing spell?"
"I...iie...won't...won't work...s...stupid t...temple...guard spell...two days..." she gasped and passed out again from the pain.
Zel sighed and shook his head. What has she gone and done now? he thought to himself, Well, we can't stay out here, and I think I saw a cave back there...
Carefully and ever-so-gently he picked Lina up, trying not to jostle her pain-wracked form, and carried her to the cave. When he got there he laid her down on a pile of brush which had blown into a back corner. He built a small fire and laid his cloak by it, then moved her onto it so she would stay warm.
I'm never going to get the story from Lina in the state she's in. he reasoned, There's only one way for it. He sat beside her and put one hand on her shoulder, then sent his mind away from his body into the astral plane. From there he steeled himself and entered Lina's mind. After a slight disorientation he found himself in an endless field and surprisingly he could feel only an echo of the pain she was obviously in. Even that much, however, was enough to make him deeply worried.
"So much pain! How can she still be sane?"
He saw a tree in the middle of the field with a figure seated beneath it. The figure was Lina, of course, but not a Lina Zelgadis recognized. She looked about eight and she was sitting with her knees pulled up and her head buried in them.
"Stupid, stupid, stupid. You were a stupid girl again, Lina Inverse. It couldn't get much stupider than that!" she muttered and started to cry. Zelgadis squatted down in front of her. "Hey," he said, "It can't be that bad."
"Zel?" she looked up, "Zel! You're human!"
Zelgadis looked down at his hands. "I suppose it's because I'm in astral form and my form is controlled by my mind." He pondered, "After all, you presently look like a girl of eight."
As Lina realized this she immediately blushed and shifted appearances so she looked more like her normal self...but not entirely. She seemed, to Zel's eyes, to be somewhat more...shapely...than normal. He decided not to comment on that though, he had a funny feeling she just might hurt him, and besides, it wasn't exactly an objectionable sight...really rather subtle...he only noticed the difference because...well... He cut that train of though off before it could show itself in his face as a blush.
"Zel, what's happening to me?" Lina asked tremulously.
"That's what I'm trying to figure out." Zelgadis said, "You said something about a guard spell on a temple?"
"Yeah, I heard about this spellbook at this hidden temple near the little town where I was staying. It was supposed to be really powerful, but supplicants could only find the temple if they were alone, so I ditched Gourry and headed there. The whole damned thing was a trap, though. I managed to make it all the way in to the central altar, but then this voice started laughing and it said that I would suffer two days of pain and then 'that which I wished to gain' would be reversed, whatever that meant."
Zelgadis could see the pain reflected in her eyes. "It's getting worse, isn't it?"
"Yes." Lina admitted, "It feels as though my whole body is being ripped apart from the inside out."
"Well, I'll be right here and I'll keep you safe." he reassured her as he started to feel himself pull away, and patted her shoulder.
"Thanks." she smiled.