It was raining heavily, and occasionally lightning flashed across the dark sky. Lina glanced around and found herself standing in a large chamber. The high stone walls were made of smooth black marble, and the windows were of scarlet glass. The lightning threw the crimson hue against the far walls, and made them bleed.
"Is this... the Heart of Darkness?" She wondered aloud, and was answered by the empty echo of her own voice. "Hello?" This time, there was no echo, only a familiar, deep, slow beat.
"A single heart beat?" A distant memory of a hooded youth stirred. "Who's there?"
"Rynia?" A soft male voice called out. "Rynia, have you come back to me?"
Rynia was the name of the girl in the story... She realized. " Who's there?"
"I can here your voice, but I can't see you." The man said. "You must think I'm crazy, or stupid to still be... here. I mean, I should have... I mean..."
What was the name of the guy in that story? Lina racked her brain in an attempt to recall the sorcerer's name. "Zeruphim!"
In an instant the darkness that obscured the back of the room was lifted. Lina found herself staring at a pillar of white marble, against which was tied a man whose garb and pallor almost camouflaged him.
"That's right, it's me." The captive was bound with heavy coarse ropes and as according to the legend was pinned to the tall slab by a sword through the heart. Slowly his eyes opened, revealing deep blue eyes that shifted slightly between pain and bliss. "Rynia, please come where I can se you." He coughed violently, a deep, moist sound that told Lina that blood was seeping into his lungs.
"Zeruphim..." Once more she marveled at the figure from a fairy tale.
"I must be dreaming," he murmured. "You swore you'd kill me before you spoke my name, yet three times you have already said it... Although, if this were any good dream, I would be free... do you know how much you torture me? I've been with you, giving you power and strength for nearly a thousand years, and you never once... no. I won't dwell on the past. I don't have enough time to dwell on the past." Another heartbeat rippled through the air, mirroring the agony on his face.
"Zeruphim?" she walked up to him and reached out.
"I forgive you, you know." He gazed straight through her. "There will never be anything I can't forgive you for, because I love - "
Her hand touched his face; connected with his frigid and smooth flesh, and he shattered.
Lina woke up feeling his saddened cerulean gaze upon her. She opened her eyes and found herself nose to nose with Zelgadis.
"Lina?" he blinked. She noted that his color had returned, and he looked as if he had never collapsed.
"How are you feeling?" She asked, drawing back quickly.
"Fine." He blushed. "What happened?"
"I think you had a heart attack." Lina's grim expression relied the severity of the situation.
"That's ridiculous." Zelgadis shook his head. "I can't have a heart attack."
"Zel, I'm serious."
"So am I." His voice turned cold. "If I had a heart attack, there's no chance I could have recovered as neatly and as quickly as I have. Hell, I wouldn't even be able to sit up, no matter how much healing magic you and Amelia have pumped into me. I'm fine. Nothing's wrong."
"Like Hell nothing's wrong!" She yelled, jumping to her feet. Her outcry woke Amelia and Gourry, who had been sleeping in nearby chairs.
"Zelgadis-san!" The princess cried joyfully.
"Oi, Zel, so you survived your heart attack?" Gourry beamed.
"It wasn't a heart attack!" Zelgadis shouted.
"Maa, maa, Zel-kun, settle down or you really will have a heart attack," Xellos teased as he materialized into the room. The chimera glared at him coldly, barely resisting the urge to growl in his frustration.
"What do you want, Xellos?" He settled for speaking in a very low, very quiet tone laced with malice.
"I came to check on you." The trickster retained his smile. "No one really expected you to live through the night, except Lina and myself, of course."
Zelgadis was about to snap back, but he was stopped short by a violent earthquake. He fell forward and out of bed, landing hard on his rear by Lina.
"What was that?" Amelia whimpered.
"Well, it felt an awful lot like an earthquake," the chimera replied dryly.
"Maybe." Lina frowned and stuck her head out the window to look around. "There's no fissure in sight, though."
"Lina-chan, be careful, there may be - " a tremor ran through the ground as Xellos spoke, " - aftershocks... Yare, yare, there've been a lot of interruptions as of late." Lina was thrown backwards, but caught quickly by Zelgadis.
"You okay?" The blue-skinned youth asked quietly.
"Yeah, just shaken." The red head smirked at her pun.
"Lina..." he groaned. "That was horrible."
"I know," she grinned. "Ain't it grand?" Zelgadis only sighed and helped her stand upright.
"What do you think caused the earthquake?" Amelia asked tearfully.
"Well, normally, earthquakes are caused by the shifting of tectonic plates..." The red headed sorceress launched into a long and technical explanation of what normal earthquakes looked like and why it couldn't have been a normal earthquake and lost everyone to dreamland via boredom. This included Xellos and Zelgadis, who usually paid close attention. The former would occasionally whip out a pad of paper and a pen, eliciting exasperated sighs from his companions, while the former would merely stow the information mentally.
"... and so, due to the lack of damage despite the violence of the shake, coupled with the lack of fissure and location of the mountains, this cannot have been a normal earthquake." Lina came off her "professor" kick, only to find her whole "class" asleep. The petite sorceress fumed, then released her tension in the form of a large but weak fireball. Her friends woke abruptly, and lightly toasted.
"So it's a magically induced earthquake?" Zelgadis yawned. "For what purpose? It doesn't appear to do too much damage..."
"Maybe someone's making milkshakes?" Gourry suggested. Lina sighed and put her head in her hands.
"Lina-san, Lina-san!" Amelia called, looking out the window. "All the snow is vanishing!"
"Eh?!" Lina, Gourry, and Zelgadis darted over to her and saw the last of the once thigh-deep snow vanish without a trace.
"Wow, that's convenient," the blond marveled.
"A little too convenient..." the red head scowled. Beside her, the chimera remained as silent and a still as the statue he sometimes appeared to be.
"Local folklore says that the snow often vanishes like that around here because of the Heart of Darkness." Xellos said from behind them. "Legend has it that the castle orchestrates great blizzards every winter to represent the sorcerer's grief, and then causes the snow to disappear to represent Rynia's stay with Zeruphim. These freak storms can come and go at any time, and can last anywhere from three days to three weeks."
"Romanticized nonsense." Zelgadis snorted in response, startling his companions with his sudden speech.
"Perhaps..." The Mazoku shrugged. "Or perhaps Kokoro no Yami merely misses its master..."
The chimera snorted again, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms.
"In any case, I say we should get as much information on that castle as we can." Lina slammed her fist into her palm. "I've got a feeling that whatever's going down has something to do with that castle."
"You mean the castle's real?" Amelia shuddered.
"Hmm? Oh, yeah," Lina pointed out the window to one of the not-so distant mountains. "It's right there. We've got a perfect view."
Amelia and Gourry peered through the portal at the slightly misty mountain, trying to see what the sorceress saw. Their eyes swept over the vast spans of rocks and haze, then finally found the darkest patch. A fortress' outline formed from that black blur as their eyes focused on the Heart of Darkness.
The young princess yelped and scrambled back.
"Gee, that's kind of far away." Gourry scratched his head. "I wouldn't want to have to walk there."
"You won't; we'll be flying when we go." Lina replied, matter-of-factly. "Gourry, I want you to ask around the taverns. Amelia, you hit the libraries. I'm on the streets."
"What about me?" Zelgadis asked, having a feeling that he already knew the answer.
"Zel, you stay here and hold down the fort." The red head's look dared him to object. "I don't care how well you say you feel; you nearly died last night. Take it easy today. If you really want something to do, try to get Xellos to let you look through his Big Book of Stuff. It's bound to have something about Kokoro no Yami in it."
Zelgadis fell silent as he debated on protesting. Finally he sighed and put his hands up in a 'surrender' position.
"As you wish," he shook his head.
Didn't expect him to go along with that so easily, Lina thought. Must be my lucky day.
"Everybody meet back here in three hours to share and for lunch." She beamed. "Let's go!"
Zelgadis sighed as his friends ran out of the room. When would they ever grow up?
"Ne, Zel-kun, it is down to you and it is down to me." Xellos smiled. "Shall we play a game?"
"Whatever games you're playing, fruitcake," Zelgadis snarled, "you can count me out." His icy blue eyes narrowed.
"Shall we play 'Twenty Questions'?" The violet haired pries seated himself upon the bed.
"No." The chimera answered coldly.
"That wasn't very nice, Zel-kun." Xellos chastised him. "I am thinking... of an object."
"I said I'm not - " Pain tore through the blue-skinned youth's chest as he fell to his knees.
"You're going to play." Xellos replied cheerfully, yet somehow with an ominous tone to his voice. Zelgadis gritted his teeth and glared.
"Is it... alive?" He managed to grind out.
"No." Xellos smirked. "That was one."
"Was it ever alive?" Zelgadis pulled himself up using the window ledge for balance.
"No." The Mazoku watched in glee as his companion staggered to a chair. "Two."
"Is it stone?"
"No... Three."
"Is it metal?"
"Partly. Four."
"Is it something I would like to use to rip you apart?"
"Definitely." A dark smile spread across Xellos' face. "Five."
"Is it a sword?" Zelgadis' hand found the hilt of his own weapon.
"You guessed it!" The priest clapped and grinned. "Now for your reward..."
"Fruitcake, I want nothing from - " The chimera growled, but was cut of by the Mazoku dropping a rather large and dusty tome on his head. Xellos dusted off his hands as he watched the shaman twitch in pain and anger.
"Oh, I think you'll find something interesting in this book, Zel-kun." He chuckled. "Maybe not what you're looking for, but I'm positive that Lina-chan and the others will be quite interested." Upon saying that, he promptly disappeared, leaving Zelgadis to nurse his wounded head and badly bruised pride.
Zelgadis growled and glared at the space that the Mazoku had just occupied. Then with a sigh he took the Big Book of Stuff and sat down on the bed to read.
Three hours later, the travelers reunited at the lunch table. By this time, Zelgadis was more moody than he was before, and sat hunched over in his chair with his hood and mask pulled as much over his face as physically possible. The other three, seemingly oblivious to his dark attitude, discussed what they had found out about Kokoro no Yami.
Gourry had, expectedly, gone to the taverns and forgot why he was there. Amelia searched every inch of the library and came up with a few outside sketches of the castle, but nothing as solid as a map. Lina had shaken down innocent bystanders, but found that most people simply ignored the Heart of Darkness.
"Well, that'd didn't help much," Lina sighed, leaning back in her chair. "seems like everyone's too scared of the place to go up there."
"I'm not surprised." Zelgadis snorted. "Some of the local folklore about that place is downright disturbing."
"Oh?" The sorceress glanced at him. "How so?"
"Well, I managed to get a hold of Xellos' book, and I looked up Kokoro no Yami." The chimera folded his hands under his chin.. "Popular theory states that somewhere in Zeruphim's castle is hidden a magnificent treasure, but the whole castle is booby trapped to keep people from getting at it. Personally, I don't believe it. Why would someone like Zeruphim, who had no need of trinkets like gold and jewels, bother with rigging his castle with traps? He would be much better suited to guarding it himself."
"Good point." Lina reluctantly put thoughts of treasure out of her mind. "By the way, how did you get a hold of Xellos' book?"
Zelgadis paused, remembering the painful 'game' Xellos played.
"That is a secret!" Speak of the Mazoku... "Ne, Zel-kun, what else did you find out?" The purple haired trickster barbed the chimera.
"Xellos..." The off-white-clad youth snarled.
"There's more?" Amelia prompted in an effort to prevent a fight.
"Well, one of the older legends presents the idea that the castle was formed by Zeruphim's will alone." Zelgadis forced himself to calm down. "This theory is supported by the fact that there's no where near here that produces black marble, and at the time of the castle's creation, red glass wasn't made until about five hundred years later. This is a possible truth; since Zeruphim's time would be running out soon, the earthquakes could be caused by the castle's slow destruction. Depending n how much of Zeruphim's power was used to stabilize this valley and make it habitable, the whole city may be destroyed."
"That's terrible!" Amelia cried out.
"The whole city, destroyed?" Gourry looked confused. "Just because some fairy tale guy dies?"
"It's just a theory!" Zelgadis replied. "There's no proof that anything will happen to the town. Hell, if anything, they'll be better off without the castle screwing around with their weather. You saw the earlier quake. There wasn't any damage to the city. Nothing will happen to - " The chimera halted in mid-sentence and clutched his chest. His eyes closed tightly as he doubled over, so he did not see the concerned looks on everyone's faces - even Xellos'.
"Take it easy, Zel." Lina put her hand on his shoulders. "You're still sick..."
"He's not sick." Xellos said quietly, causing the chimera to look up at him with terrified cerulean eyes. "He's dying."