Being woken up at obscure hours was something Lina hated with passion. Anyone who was stupid enough to do this would more than likely end up the victim of a Fireball. Of course, doing such an unthinkable act while she was pleasantly dreaming about mountains of food and a devoted male harem would put said person at the top of her shit list for the next fifty years. At least.
And yet, somehow she went from reclining on silken cushions with a particularly handsome youth serving her individual tidbits of meat to L-sama knows where in the blink of an eye.
Lina... A familiar voice called to her, projected from a shining symbol that resembled a capital 'M'. Help...
"Zelgadis?" She approached the Rune, knowing through some unexplained way that it was doing what the chimera subconsciously willed. That had been in the manuscript, she remembered.
The character's light pulsed, as if acting like a beacon. It kept the same distance between them when she approached it, leading her a short distance into thick forest vegetation. The sounds of the end of a battle caused her to quicken her pace, but she broke into a run when she heard the Shaman's strangled cry of pain.
"Zel!" Lina burst into the clearing where once a fight had ravaged the area, but recoiled when she saw the victor. Images of the lightning fast Disfang serpent the red eyed sorcerer had used to attack her flashed through her mind.
"How did you get here?" He drew up over the chimera's still body, rusty gaze falling coldly on the still present sign. "Ehwaz. The Transporter."
"What did you do to Zel?" She asked, masking fear with fury. Beside her, the golden rune died out in a puff of sun-touched sparkles.
"The Runecaster?" He snorted, kicking the fallen warrior. "he's still alive, just unconscious."
"FIREBALL!" The sphere of pyre-kinetics exploded towards him, but was willed off course when he lifted the motionless form to be a shield.
"HELL BLAST!" The ebony pike impaled Zelgadis and pined him to the ground by his stomach. A small whimper escaped his blood coated lips as the life force was slowly and painfully drawn from him.
"Zelgad - "
"DISFANG!" The dark serpent bound her shadow tightly, hard enough to crack her ribs. If it hadn't been so important to retain the precious air that she already had, she would have screamed. The shadow constricted, lavishing pain on her that could feed one of Xellos' kind for a century. In the back of her agony-ravaged mind, she realized that it would be quite possible for one of her shattered ribs to puncture her lungs. Over and over, she tried to cast Lighting, but each time the shade would tighten around her, or bury its fangs into some part of vulnerable flesh through her shadow.
I swear, Zel, she thought furiously, that if we live through this, I'm going to let you have it.
"..." Something below the audibility of the others was ushered from his mouth, but he was ignored.
"I find this to be extremely interesting." The ruby-eyed youth examined her coolly. "Who are you to last so long against us, and to even be able to destroy us? You are no Runecaster..."
"I... am... Lina Inverse," she choked out. "Genius... sorceress."
"You?" He laughed. "Vanquisher of Shabranigdo? I think not."
"Think what... you like..." She smirked upon seeing a hint of movement behind him. "It won't... matter soon."
"Foolish child." He motioned for the dragon to tear out her throat.
"BURST FLARE." Zelgadis' voice cracked, but his spell didn't falter. Kenaz manifested in a bright sphere, destroying the dragon. The startled mage didn't even have time to scream before he was wiped off the face of the planet in a blue and white explosion. The intense heat singed Lina's unprotected skin, at least until the chimera collapsed on top of her. His distant gaze sparkled like laughter in his sapphire eyes, and though his breathing was shallow, it was already rhythmic and smoothing out.
"Are you going to be okay?" She inquired, healing her burns and examining his. "You really got beat up."
"He played dirty." Zelgadis spat, mood darkening noticeably. "Caught me by surprise with Ruby-Eye Blade."
"What were you doing out here, anywhere?" She asked coyly. "And where is here, for that matter?"
"The woods behind the inn." Agony danced in stiletto heels on each of his nerves, and wore spiked cleats to jig on the edges of the wounds. "I was minding my own business." He repressed a cry of pain, but settled for swearing in many different languages.
"How did you get the energy to cast Burst Flare, anyway?" She began to work on the laceration closest to his heart. "Hell Blast almost killed you..." Suddenly she trailed off, noticing that his eyes had unfocused and his breathing had all but halted.
"Zelgadis?" Lina pulled the comatose chimera's head into her lap, brushing aside his metallic bangs to place her hand on his forehead. His skin burned with fever, and sweat beaded down his face.
"Hurts." He hissed, his expression contorted with despair and agony. "Can't... breathe...can't..."
Oh, no, he didn't... She thought, panic blossoming in her heart. Did he take the energy from his own life force? He couldn't have had enough left after the Hell Blast... Zelgadis, you idiot! Did you do this to save me? Zelgadis... please... stay.
"...breathe..." The warmth began to fade from him as he lay absolutely motionless.
"Zel... don't do this!" She shook him, pressing her ear next to his chest, trying to find his heartbeat. She found nothing. "Zelgadis, don't die on me..."
No answer came.
He was dead.
But a golden character was shining in his eyes.