That morning Lina woke with the vague realization that something had happened during her sleep the night before. Despite the warmth in the room Lina felt the same deathly chill she had had in her dream, which Gar had entered. Probably Zel's ex-demon part again. But what stopped him this time? Last time Popo woke me up but no one woke me up this time... Lina mused as she got out of her bed. To her surprise she saw little stones placed all around her bed. Curiously she picked one of them up to examine. The one she held in her hands was polished, palm sized and somewhat round. It was a light blue green color and a symbol was one side of it. The odd thing about the symbol was that wasn't one that she recognized and it appeared that the symbol had been burned on the stone. She placed it back where it was and picked up another one. This one was a creamy pink color and had a different but still unidentifiable symbol burned onto it. All the stone where polished, round and the same size and shape with different colors and symbols.
Though Lina should have been disturbed or angry that someone had been able to get into her room to place the stones near her bed but she was too interested in the stones themselves. What are they used for? And what are they doing in my room?
Just as Lina had that thought a sudden light blinded her. When the light dissipated and she opened her eyes all the stones had disappeared except for the first one that she had picked up.
"Oh great, disappearing people and now stones?" Lina shook her head and picked up the remaining stone. Might as well keep it. Maybe I'll figure what it is and what it's for later.
Xellos grudgingly opened his eyes after waking up from his dream. He hadn't woken up in fear from his nightmare, he wasn't sure what woke him up. But he didn't want to open his eyes. Xellos was afraid that he would see what he was expecting to see, the dark blue color of his prison.
Though he still opened his eyes anyway and to his surprise he saw faint light peering through beige curtains, hardwood floors and white walls. He was in a room at the inn. Though happy that he was free from his entrapment Xellos didn't get up from off the floor. Instead in his still tired and weak state he nodded off again and back to sleep.
Unknown to Xellos in his sleeping state, he had been freed from Gar's created prison and was lying in Zelgadis' room at the inn. The same voice that had promised him freedom had in fact done what it said it was going to do.
The creature stared at Xellos' sleeping form as it sat on Zelgadis' bed. His condition isn't well. Perhaps with some rest he should be fine later. He'd better be, I'm going to need him to do that favor for me. But I wonder will Xellos be able to see me? And will Gar even realize that Xellos is gone? The creature silently chuckled.
Lina figured from the lack of people in the restaurant that she was up pretty early. I wonder when everyone else is going to get up... Oh well if I have to eat alone then it doesn't matter. No Gourry to take my food. Lina smiled mischievously as she looked at the menu. From the previous nights since this whole problem had happened Lina hadn't been able to get a good nights sleep at all. Then add that time of the month on top of that. So needless to say her appetite hadn't been it's normal size.
But that wasn't the case this morning. She was feeling better then yesterday and she gotten a goodnights sleep so she was definitely up to a big meal.
After she had ordered her food, Lina pulled out that stone from her pocket. She fingered the symbol lightly with the tip of her right index finger. No matter how hard she tried she couldn't think of anything that looked anything like it. It kinda resembled a flame with a cross in the middle. Or at least she thought it looked like a flame. I wonder if Mr. Hender would know what it is. I might as well ask him when I see him later. She looked up to the clock at the other side of the room. Just a few more hours and the machine will be done.
Just then the food came and Lina started to dig in making most of the restaurant staff wonder if she was inhuman with her appetite.
An hour or so later Lina headed over to the library. From the thick gray clouds rain poured down drenching all those who went outside, just the same very few people were walking the streets. Lina was practically alone as she walked. The normally busy and noisy streets where quiet. The only sounds were that of the rain splashing on the ground and the sound of Lina walking. She shivered hugging her arms. When she had gotten up and looked outside it hadn't been raining nor did it appear like it was going to. But only moments before Lina had finished her meal had the rain started to pour. Though it was only a simple raining day Lina couldn't help but think how the weather added to a macabre scene to what was to come. Was Zelgadis going to live? Or was he going to be dead? And what were they going to do otherwise in either case?
As Lina opened the door she was nearly knocked over as a round blue object smashed right into her.
"Padupleeedoi." Popo said with a cheery smile.
"Good morning to you too." Lina gave him a small smile while giving him a pat on the head. "So where's Mr. Hender?"
"Pweepda!" Popo declared and zoomed off through the library with Lina following him.
Popo lead Lina to one of the wings where Mr. Hender sat leafing through some books. The man's clothes where rumpled and his skin was pale. He looked very tired and his face showed it. He had large bags under his eyes and he rubbed his forehead with his fingers.
"Hi Mr. Hender. Find any useful information?" Lina sat down at the table and picked up one of the discarded books. It was in a language that she didn't recognize.
"Unfortunately no. I have found information but nothing that would help us that much." He sighed and put the book that he was looking at down. He leaned back in his chair with eyes closed.
"I take it you didn't sleep well last night." Lina observed.
"No I didn't sleep well last night, I didn't sleep at all. I stayed up all night researching. I just wish that this problem could be one that I could have a better chance at figuring out." Mr. Hender sighed again and picked started to stack up the books. He wasn't planning on putting them away just yet but he couldn't stand just having them laying there in a mess.
"I might have a challenge that you might find more easier to figure out."
"What?"
"Can you tell me about this stone?"
Lina handed Mr. Hender the blue green stone that she had found in her room. He looked at it with a bit of curiosity. He mentally noted the size, shape and color of the stone as well as the symbol that appeared on it. "Tell me Miss Lina where did you find this?"
"Tell me what you know about it first them I'll tell you were I got it."
"Very well. Now I remember reading about a type magic that is some what like shamanism in the fact that it deals with nature, only this type dealt more importantly with the aspects of nature symbolized in stones. Now from this symbol literally stands for 'soul protection'. You see it? This ball of flame is supposed to be a person's spirit. And the cross inside stands for protection and healing. This stone could have been used to heal or protect someone, especially if it is used in correlation with other stones. Like curing someone who is sick, warding off bad spirits or protecting someone from bad dreams and so on."
"Do you think that sort of stuff works?"
"Well I'm not sure, this is the first time I've ever really seen one of these. Where did you get it?"
"It was laying on the floor in my room around my bed when I woke up. There were other ones too that were different colors and had different symbols."
"Do you have the others?"
"No all them disappeared a few minutes after I woke up. That one was the only one that was left."
"This is rather odd I'd have to say..." Mr. Hender mused and handed back the stone to Lina, "You may as well hold onto this. Whether it works or not it might be a good idea to hold onto it."
Lina deftly nodded and placed the stone back in her pocket. I wonder how much someone would be willing to pay for a stone like this. Lina wondered.
"Do you want a towel or something to dry off? You look pretty wet from the rain." Mr. Hender finished stacking the last bit of the books.
"No I'm fine."
"So where are the others? Not up yet?" Mr. Hender picked up the stack of books and put them back to his re-shelving table.
"Probably not. They'll be here later. How time do we have left till the machine is done?"
"How about we go and find out?"
According to the machine it would be done in less then two hours. Mr. Hender looked over the machine. Everything seemed fine and working correctly. Not seeing anything wrong or odd with the machine he left Lina alone in the lab to go get himself some more coffee.
At first Lina sat down at the stairs staring at the floor. The she started playing with her wet hair. Then she got up and started to pace around the room. But then she stopped a moment when something caught her eye. On a glass part of the machine Lina could clearly see the smudge of a very large and very odd-looking handprint. What the hell is that? She blinked a few times. It didn't look human in the slightest.
With only a few moments to go Lina, Gourry, Amelia, Sylphiel, Mr. Hender and Popo were down in the lab with their eyes glued to the machine. And before their eyes the machine made it's final hum as its door opened. Steam shot out making it hard to see what was inside. But soon enough the steam cleared to reveal a human looking Zelgadis. His hair was the same style only now it was soft human hair that was a bit more of a light lavender color then it had been. His clothes were the same as they had been and his eyes though closed looked the same and his ears weren't pointed anymore. But probably the most noticeable change was Zelgadis' skin. It was no longer the greenish blue stony texture that it had been. He had fair pale skin.
Very pale skin.
Deathly pale skin.
Everyone could only stare at Zelgadis. He was laying too still in the machine, he didn't appear to be moving at all.
"He can't be... can he?" Amelia said in an almost whisper.
No one dared answer her. They all stood there in silence, not one moved or said a word. Finally Lina walked over to the machine. She went to put her hand up to Zelgadis' neck to see if he had a pulse when all of a sudden he started to stir. Lina pulled her hand back and stared at Zelgadis as he started to wake up.
Zelgadis opened his eyes and everything was dark all around him. He blinked rapidly and the room started to lighten up and what he saw were the fuzzy images of people standing around him. The fuzziness cleared up and he could see everything perfectly.
"Thank the gods Zelgadis you're okay! You really had us scared there, we thought you were dead!" Lina said extending her arm so that Zelgadis could grab her hand and help him out of the machine.
"Well as you can see I'm not dead." Zelgadis said in a shaky voice. He could barely get himself up even with Lina's help. His whole body felt like jelly and he was feeling extremely weak and fatigued. "Um can I ask you a question?" Zelgadis looked at Lina in the face.
"Sure, what do you want to know?"
Zelgadis bit his lip and frowned a bit before he spoke. "Umm... just who are you?"