The creature didn't move an inch. It just stood there still as a statue as Zelgadis seemed to stare it in the face.
Do I dare say anything? The creature wondered.
Zelgadis blinked a few times. Everything was clear around him except for this fuzzy blurred image right in front of him. And what was weird was as unclearly as Zelgadis could see the image, he could easily see through it. Though the image may be blurry, it was also transparent. Maybe it's something in my eye. Zelgadis closed his eyes and rubbed them a bit.
The creature took this a cue to the hell out of there. It breathed a sigh of relief. Did he see me? Well at least I finished the barrier in Zelgadis' room.
Zelgadis opened his eyes and there was no more blurry image standing before him. He just shook head and yawned and went back to sleep.
The creature sat on a rock outside the inn and pondered what it wanted to do. It knew that everyone that Gar might go after was safe so it didn't need to worry about them. When was the last time I stopped to go and rest? Hmm... sleep... It smiled with a faraway look. Sleep was something that it longed for, ever since it became aware. But not the usual sleep. If it wanted it could go to sleep quite easily, but what the creature wanted was to go into an eternal sleep. To fall asleep and never wake up. Well maybe I can't have my permanent sleep right now like I want to, but at least I can take a little nap to recharge. After putting up so many barriers my energy has really been drained.
The creature retired to a similar void that Gar retires to with intentions of sleeping but then it remembered Xellos. Yes that's right I was going to fix that problem. But then again it might fix itself. And besides I doubt that anything will happen to that annoying monster tonight anyway. So I'll just deal with it tomorrow. The creature concluded and drifted off into sleep.
Gar evilly smiled as he was about to teleport himself into Zelgadis' room. The thought hadn't occurred to him that he might meet some resistance while trying to enter the ex-chimera's room. Gar silently chuckled as he phased out and re-appeared right back in the void that he had been sent to before with his energy drained.
"What the hell?!?!" Gar yelled in frustration. He wasn't happy to start off with and this just added to his anger. "When I find out whose been defiling with my plans I'm going to cause them serious pain!!!!" Gar huffed. He decided that he wasn't going to try entering in any of their rooms anymore.
Xellos yawned as he lazily opened his eyes. He was in a room in the inn with no memory of how he got there. He faintly remembered his blue prison and the raspy ominous voice that promised freedom. Did that person free me? Xellos smiled evilly. He got up with intentions of going off to cause some of his routine mischief when he noticed the room around him. On the floor around the bed lay a circle of pebbles. Hmm... curious... Now what would these be used for? Xellos got up and went to examine one of the pebbles when he felt the sharp pains of hunger. I need a quick snack.
Rather then teleport himself somewhere the trickster priest walked to conserve energy.
It was the middle of the night and mostly everyone was asleep in their rooms. Xellos frowned. Doesn't give me too many options. Where can I find a bunch of miserable people who are still awake? He pondered that question for a few minutes. He then smiled and headed out to the town's local bar.
In the smoky barroom many people were slumped in their chairs mulling over their drinks. Some people seemed to be enjoying themselves in their drunken state and others had long since passed out from the alcohol. What Xellos was looking for was the people in the room who were lost in their alcohol induced dark depressive states of mind. As soon as Xellos entered the room he found a victim right away.
It was a middle-aged man who was glaring at the drink he held in his hand. He could have one of many problems, problems at home with his family, loosing his job, loosing his home, owing someone money that he didn't have, someone's out to kill him, etc. It didn't matter to Xellos what the man's problems were, all that mattered to him was that the man's dark negative emotions would be satisfactory to feed him.
"Hello bartender, may I please have a cup of tea?" Xellos asked the bartender as he sat down next to the troubled man that he was going to feed off of.
The bartender came Xellos a very sour look. "You drink in a bar, not sip tea!"
"Why is there a problem with me having tea? And is tea not a drink in the first place?" Xellos spoke very innocently with a small smile.
The bartender grumbled under his breath and went off to get Xellos' tea. Xellos grinned evilly. He was feeding off of the bartender's emotions. Xellos looked to the troubled middle-aged man that was next to him. "So are you enjoying the night?"
After an hour later and a few annoyed/angry/depressed people later Xellos left the bar well fed and content.
Hmm... now what should I do now? Everyone would be sleeping at this time, so I really can't do anything until they wake up. Xellos frowned. Well there were those strange stones in that room I was in, perhaps it might be interesting to check those out. And I might figure something else that I could do later.
Mr. Hender yawned and stretched as he sat up in his bed. Since he hadn't been getting very much sleep lately Popo had forced Mr. Hender to go and sleep the night before. And sleep did he. But the problem was that his sleep hadn't been very peaceful. Mr. Hender's dreams were littered with nightmarish thoughts and scenarios. It's a wonder that I wasn't attacked by Mister Zelgadis' ex-demon part in my sleep. Mr. Hender lightly chuckled but sighed right after. He swung his legs around to the edge to get off the bed when he saw the circle of stones around his bed. What the...? Mr. Hender got down on the floor to get a closer look at the stones. They appeared to be the same type of stone that Lina had shown just a day or two prior. Lina did say that she found a few stones in her room on the floor that hadn't been there the night before. But for what purpose do they serve? And why and who would do this?
Mr. Hender went and got a piece of paper with a quill and ink. Without moving any of the stones Mr. Hender sketched each of the symbols out on the paper in the order that they appeared in the circle.
With all the symbols copied down Mr. Hender went and searched around for the book with the information on the magic that dealt with the stones. It took him a few minutes but eventually he found it. The book was called Terranda and it was quite an old book with it's cover practically falling off of the book.
Mr. Hender flipped through the large but tattered book looking for the symbol lists for certain spells and enchantments.
About ten minutes later Mr. Hender finally found the one he was looking for. Dream Barrier: Protects those in the circle from evil spirits entering their dreams and causing them harm by repelling the spirit from entering the circle. Mr. Hender read with a raised eyebrow. A dream protection spell? So I was being protected in my sleep? How did someone manage to do this, and for what reason?