"Long, long ago, there was a sorceress with immense power, and her name was Lina Inverse." The elderly bard spoke to a generation of children who had never heard of the Bandit Killer. "She had the ability to call upon the Lord of Nightmares, and invoked the power of the Golden One to destroy Dark Lords like Ruby-Eyed Shabranigdo, Hellmaster Phibrizo, and Chaos Dragon Gaav. Even Beastmaster Xellas Metallium gave Lina Inverse a certain amount of respect. But, all things must come to an end."
"What happened to Inverse-sama, 'ji-san?" One of the children asked when the old man paused for dramatic emphasis.
"Lina and her... friends.... came upon an enemy that even they could not fight." The teller audiably stumbled on the word 'friends' as if one of them had meant more to either the teller himself or the character of LIna Inverse. "Eventually, Lina caught a disease that no magic spell could cure, and she died of the sickness." A teenaged boy snorted at the elder's statement; "This is the age of technology. Who needs magic?"
"Boy," the story-spinner chuckled dryly. In the time you could build a bomb with enough power to blow up this city, Lina and her friends could blow up the continent."
This shut up the arrogant teen.
"Now, where was I?" He smiled wryly, violet eyes dancing with sadness. "Oh, yes. And so Lina Inverse died.
"Lina's friends grieved tremendously at her passing, but one of them took it much harder." He paused again. "There was one... One of the young men who was in love with her."
One of the girls commented on how tragicly romantic it was, earning her a disbelieving look from her older sibling.
"The man was so heart broken at her death that he would not move from the spot of her final breath for a long time. He found a spell to preserve her body and let no one near it until he grew gravely ill as well, and had to be taken to the distant city of Sairoon for treatment. During this time, the body mysteriously vanished, so when he came back to resume his vigil, he gound nothing. Rather than make him suffer by living without her, the gods turned him to stone. But not even a body of rock could end his heart ache.
"It is said that the statue of the young man still stands at the site where his beloved fell, and precious gems lay at his feet as the tears he shed after becoming stone."
"Precious gems?" The same boy who had boasted about technology now had his intrest peaked. He could almost feel the money in his hands from selling the treasure.
"Even after becoming stone?" The same hopless romantic girl sighed with a starry gaze.
"WHERE?!" The youth grabbed the old man by the collar and shook him hard.
"Yare yare..." The bard choked out. "Child, child, calm down! It's only a story!"
"Just a story...?"
"Of course, behind every fairytale," the elder grinned, shrugging off his cloak, "is a bit of truth." His shoulder length violet hair tumbled free and revealed his apparent youth, and his slit-pupil gemstone-hued eyes glittered with life.
"Mazoku!" The boy gasped as several others abandoned the room. "What do you want?"
"Sore wa..." The slit-pupil eyes closed as the 'old man's' lips twisted into a smile. "...himitsu desu!" That being said, he promptly disappeared.
The clearing was relatively non-descript, merely an uneven ring of trees around a circular lake. In the center of the pond was a small island, just large enough to house a weeping willow tree and a statue. The figure was of a man kneeling in prayer, head bowed in grief and hands clasped onto the sword hilt.
"Still here?" Xellos Metallium addressed the stone, but got no reply. "You're not going to move, are you. Not even going to talk." More of a statement than an inquiry, the Mazoku sighed when he was answered with silence.
"You know, there's a chance, a small chance, that she could have been ressurected." The Trickster casually reclined against the willow's trunk. "After all, she was the favorite of the Lord of Nightmares."
"Don't." A low voice, course with disuse, growled maliciously at Xellos' comment. The Mazoku opened his amythyst eyes, hands behind his head as he arced an eyebrow at the statue.
"Did you say something?" He questioned, kicking the stone in a not-so-gently manner. "Are you going to talk to me?"
The only sound was the metallic ring of a gemstone teardrop hitting the golden hit of the sword that was halfway buried into the earth.
"Fine, be that way." Xellos stood up and whacked the rock. "I'll be back next year to see if you're ready to rejoin the living, Zel."
As the retired Trickster teleported away, a soft voice could barely be heard on the breeze.
"Lina..."