It had begun as any other day for him; poorly. Zelgadis Greywers opened his eyes, rose to his feet, and greeted the morning with a string of curses due to the crick in his back. He stretched his lean, white-clothed body to try and dislodge the uncomfortable knot, which refused to budge in any way. With many more muttered curses, he unsheathed his blade and painfully went through routine warm-ups. He had a new lead on the Claire Bible, and he wanted to be prepared for anything.
This explained why an hour later, the not-so-nearby bandit headquarters went boom.
Lead or no lead, he thought, frying another outlaw with a Flare Arrow, there is no way I'm sleeping on the ground again tonight.
One of the other desperados charged him, sword drawn, and managed to not only bend his weapon into a useless piece of metal, but also to make a rather large and nasty cut in the chimera's shirt. Said tear ran from Zelgadis' left shoulder to his right hip, and neatly bisected his belt, too.
"No more games," he growled, embarrassment flushing his face as he held his pants up with his free hand.
"Games?" The rogue whimpered, knees knocking.
"FREEZE ARROW!" The Shaman cried, and sent three glacial javelins into the earth. Himself excluded, everyone was frozen to the ground. With that out of the way, he strode into the cave that held the gang's loot.
I must have hung around Lina too long, he decided, helping himself to the cash. Several other objects caught his eye: enchanted swords, magic shields, a talking flute that had been gagged, an assortment of scrolls that turned out to be a written copy of the recipes for a full-course dragon cuisine, and a strange looking black leather bag embroidered with gold.
Lina would probably want this. He stashed the scrolls and the bag, thinking she could use it as a purse. If not, he could always hock it.
He was about to leave, when he remembered the bandits. Their frantic swearing made him wonder how he forgot about them. They were frozen up to their shoulders, just as he had left them. Walking up to the leader, he pulled a coin out of his pocket and started flipping it absently.
"You're a gambling man, aren't you?" he asked, leaning on the ice. "What's say we make a little bet..."
"A b-b-bet?" The boss shivered, and Zelgadis nodded casually.
"On one side, I'll kill you and your men with some big spell."
"On the o-o-other?"
"I walk away. You and your men thaw out, and forget it ever happened." He flipped the coin, eyes narrow. "Call it in the air."
"T-t-tails." He blurted out a mere moment before it landed on the chimera's outstretched palm with a ping and toppled.
"Heads." Zelgadis looked up from the coin, eyes dark. "You lose. But, I'm willing to give you one last chance. Where is the Claire Bible?"
"The B-B-Bible?" The thief stuttered, eyes wide in fear.
"The Claire Bible." He repeated slowly, energy gathering discreetly in his hands.
"We don't have it! Them other guys, Lily and Gary, they took it!"
"Tell me, what did 'Lily' look like?" Recognition flashed across his steel blue eyes. Within the next minute, he had the information he wanted. As he turned to go, the bandits called out.
"Hey! What about us?!" Slowly, the chimera turned to face them, his gaze harboring the glow of magic. Several of them whimpered as Zelgadis' eyes glowed white and the wind blew back his cloak. By the time he had raised his left hand, they were begging for mercy.
"MIND WIPE." A soft whisper passed his lips, and the spell destroyed the last fifteen minutes of their memories.
It was almost sunset when he reached the village. As much as he hated being around so many people, he was sick of camping out. Only the other day, a snack had crawled up his shirt, seeking the warmth that somehow emanated from his stone skin. It had been very unpleasant to wake up to a reptile that had become motion sick from sleeping on his stomach.
The crick in his back announced its return with a violent burst of fiery agony. He sighed, the exhaustion of the journey seeping all the way to the marrow of his bones. How long had it been since he slept at an inn? Three weeks? Four? Too long, at any rate. He paid the Innkeeper for two nights, left instructions that he was not to be disturbed, and gratefully made his way to the room.
Sleep engulfed him as he collapsed on the bed.