"Insufferable, self-centered, heartless - "
"Ne, so you're Nii-chan's little sister?"
Terisa paused in her circuit of swearing around the table, the voice suddenly reminding her that there was another person in the room. Another living person that is, there were always spirits floating in and out of the proverbial woodwork. She fixed her narrowed blue eyes on the child but his wide-eyed, cheerful violet eyes never wavered. Call her crazy, and a lot of other things, but Terisa swore she saw adoration in those eyes.
"Yes, kid. Right on the first guess. What gave it away?"
"Wai! Now Nii-chan won't be so lonely anymore!" Lin giggled, his joy echoed by Furball's excited yips. "Can I call you Nee-chan? Do you really talk to ghosts? Did the other kids tease you when you were like me? Why didn't Nii-chan ever talk about you?"
Terisa closed her eyes briefly to ward off the bewilderment from the slew of questions. "Alright. Starting with the first question, no. I'm nobody's older sister, don't mix me up with your dear Nii-chan. I talk with spirits, ghosts are usually much more hostile and focused. I'm not going to even touch the teasing question. And he talks about me as much as he cares about me, which given that he didn't try to find me just goes to show it wasn't very much of at all."
"That isn't true!" retorted the young boy, standing up in his chair as if to make himself taller. "Nii-chan isn't like that. Nii-chan cares a lot. That's why he takes care of Furball and me. Even though he didn't look too happy about it at first but he was really nice to me after mommy died. And Nii-chan cares about that funny red-haired lady that I'm not supposed to call old and he's trying to find her though he hasn't found her yet."
"He's nicer to complete strangers than to his own blood and kin. You've never been dragged away against your will, watching as the only person you trusted and cared for in the world did nothing to stop it. You've never spent nights curled up by the window, praying to the stars that he'll come so we can be together again. You've never experienced the pain of learning that the only person you care for in the world doesn't give a damn about you."
"But he does care for you! Nii-chan says your name sometimes when he wakes up so he must care about you."
"My hearing must be going," Terisa sighed. "Could you repeat and expand on what you just said?" To Lin's blank look, she clarified, "You said you heard him say my name sometimes. When and why? Is it like a curse? What does it sound like when he says it?"
"Hmmm. I think it's after he's had some really bad dream. Then he gets up out of bed and goes around the room. Nii-chan sounds really sad when he says your name. I want to ask him why but I'm not supposed to be awake and he doesn't know I'm still awake when he wakes up like that. It's funny. Any other time, he knows when I'm pretending to be asleep."
"Wakes up from a bad dream and says my name sadly huh?" Terisa pulled out a length of the shock of violet hair between two fingers, the same color hair her brother had before he looked like whatever he looked like now. "So if he cares about me so much, why didn't he look for me?"
"Did you look for him?"
"Of course, I did! I always asked the local spirits when the carnival set up outside of a town if they ever saw a violet-haired, blue-eyed young man, dead or alive, answering to the name Zelgadiss but no one ever saw him! How was I supposed to know that he became a silver-haired, blue-skinned, pointy-eared whatever," she snorted.
"So Nii-chan really didn't look like he does now when he was younger? But I think he looks cool! Even if Nii-chan doesn't think so. Nii-chan thinks he looks like a monster. Ne, do you know why he thinks he looks like a monster?"
"I grew up in a carnival. I've seen stranger things though I guess I can see how other people might think he is a monster, appearing like that and being anti-social and all. Or it could just be lingering effects of our not-so-fond times in that hovel called an orphanage. At the next opportunity, I'm going to nail his hard hide to a chair and Zel is going to tell me everything that's happened. He keeps way too many secrets."
"Does that mean you're staying?"
"Well, we at least need to get this missing persons case cleared up."
"Do you want to try one of my tarts?"
"You can cook? Will wonders never cease." Terisa took one of the offered tarts, bit off a piece, and chewed. "Hmmm. Not bad. Why don't we check to see if Zel is done with all of his magic tricks?"
"Okay!" Lin hopped off of his chair and ran up the steps, never seeing Terisa hastily spit out the pieces of the poisonous tart into a napkin. Years in the carnival had hardened her stomach and taste buds but that didn't mean she actually had to eat something like that tart. "Ummm, Nee-chan? I knocked and knocked on the door but no one opened it. What do I do now?"
"Go in obviously. Why even knock in the first place?" she asked exasperated, coming up the stairs. "You already know they're inside. And don't call me Nee-chan."
"But Nii-chan told me to never enter unannounced or he might throw a knife at me," Lin said with perfect seriousness.
"Are you sure he wants to take care of you?" Terisa muttered, opening the door herself albeit cautiously. The room was oddly quiet for a magical inspection. "Hey, Zel. Did you find anything about the dime novel yet?"
"There's no one here," Lin said, looking around Terisa's leg. "Where did everyone go?"
"They couldn't have left," she murmured, senses alert for anything out of place. "I would have been told since there are spirits at each of the doors. No signs of a fight or disturbed furniture. Only the book is still here."
"What kind of book is it?" The little boy stretched out a hand to open the worn book on the table. The pages began to flutter slightly as if disturbed by a breeze. But there was no movement of air in the room.
"Don't touch it!"
Lin snatched his hand back as if he had touched a red-hot poker. Terisa stormed over to the table on which lay the book and glared at it as if it was a living creature. The little boy looked at her, then the book, and back again. He didn't understanding what was going on, but put it down as one of the many mysteries comprehensible only to adults. Suddenly, the book opened by itself.
"Ghost!"
"I told you before, they're called spirits," Terisa said, partly in exasperation and partly in amusement over Lin's mixed expression of fear and wonder. "And one of them is turning the pages of the book right now. However, nothing is happening, not like when you were about to touch the book."
"Something happened?"
"Yes. The book began to react, a low level energy surge probably caused by the presence of something alive. As you can see, it isn't reacting to the spirit turning the pages. But it can't be that simple can it? Just open the book and poof! You're sucked in and now a confused visitor of somewhere else. It would have caught a lot more people than those that have been reported missing."
"Ne, Nee-chan, why are the pages in the back newer than the ones in the front?" Lin asked, peering from the table's edge at the pages turning by themselves. "They're a lot whiter and they don't have words written on them yet."
"I told you, I'm not your Nee-chan. And just what are you talking about? The pages should all be the same age." But as it was very easy to see, the pages weren't the same age. That is, they didn't show signs of being the same age. The ones near the beginning were obviously faded and yellowed with time and dirt. But the pages were less faded as they neared the end of the book and the last three pages were as empty and white as brand new pages. "Guess that supports the idea that this isn't a normal book. And those pages don't look like parchment or vellum...they're what??"
Lin quickly looked up at her outburst. "They're what what?"
"Nothing you need to know," she snapped. That was revolting, stomach-turning, and completely inhuman. It was unbelievable but if the spirit said so, then Terisa believed it. After all, spirits did retain some vague sense of touch, enough to tell things apart. And the spirit said the pages weren't made out of any of the usual materials for writing. What demented mind would make a book out of human skin??
Gourry broke the water's surface, taking in a deep breath of fresh air. It felt like he had been underwater for hours, trying to find in the murkiness which way was up. Then suddenly, he could see the light filtered from the surface and he knew which way to go.
"Hey, Gourry! What took you so long? Find a mermaid down there?" joked one of the youths sitting on the edge of the wooden platform anchored to float in the middle of the swimming pond. "Or were you mistaken for one yourself?"
The jokester received a wave of lake water in the face as a reply. Laughter rang out from another youth, currently in the water, his arms and head resting on the wooden raft. The summer sun made the water sparkle and appear very tempting to a group of boys who wanted to cool off. Yes, that's right. That's why he was here in the water.
There was not a care in the world, no worries of the future, no harsh demands from parents. Nothing dark touched this place of relaxation, almost as if it was a dream. Well, if it was one, Gourry didn't want to ever wake up. There was something so...so...normal about it, something different from what he knew would be waiting for him once the dream ended. This would probably make more sense if he could remember what this place was better than.
Tired of treading water, Gourry swam over to the platform and pulled himself out of the lake. Odd how it looked so dark and foreboding when he was out of it. It almost made him want to never go back in. But that was silly. It was only water. And he'd have to go back into it anyway to get back to shore. Besides, he wasn't alone here. He was with...
Gourry blinked. He blinked again. He began to think, to try to remember. It wasn't a very difficult task because at the age of eight, he didn't have that far or much to remember. Still, he was drawing a complete blank in his mind. Looking at the two other boys, he asked,
"Who are you?"
Sylphiel ran clutching her prize, ducking and climbing the tree roots that would have discouraged bigger people but not her. She was small enough to get by them with little trouble and that was how she discovered her private little place. Technically she wasn't supposed to be in here, the sacred place beneath the really, really big holy tree. Of course, technically the prize she was carrying wasn't supposed to leave the church's altar. But surely no one would miss it for a few hours.
Breathless, the girl finally arrived at her 'palace', a room of a house that had been overgrown by the tree's giant roots. Some of her favorite toys were already here from previous trips. She also stored some food and a blanket for times when she spent the whole day here. Using a root as a temporary chair, Sylphiel looked at her prize, the Bless Blade of Sairaag.
She wasn't too sure why it was always on the altar. If it was so magical, why wasn't anyone using it to kill monsters and such? Why was it always kept inside where no one was supposed to touch it? Oh well, it was outside today and in her hands now. With it, she could pretend to be the great savior of their city over a hundred years ago.
"With my Sword of Light, I will vanquish the evil Magical Beast Zanaffar!" Sylphiel couldn't keep the solemn expression she always imagined a great hero would have as her giggles bubbled up. It all sounded so silly, those words. But the story was real. "Come, my comrades! Together, we will rid this fair city of monsters!"
Now that seemed familiar. But of course it did. It was a make believe game she has played countless times under these branches. However, this was the first time she actually had the Bless Blade with her. Why did she take it out? It was certainly too big for her to swing, it was about as big as she was. Yet, something told her that this was important to saving the city. Naturally that had to be so. It was supposed to be linked to the holy tree and by that alone, it should be invincible.
Tying the blanket around her neck as a cape, she led her imaginary companions deeper into the recesses of the Flagon, the Bless Blade the symbol of their cause and the guarantee of their victory. She could almost see her friends-in-arms running beside her, spells and swords at ready. Strange how they were never this detailed before.
Lina woke up and rubbed her eyes. When had she fallen asleep? Brushing out the leaves that had fallen into her hair during her nap, she spied that the sun had passed its zenith. Her stomach growled its agreement that lunchtime had come and gone during the beauty sleep. That was a bad thing.
Little Lina sprinted the entire distance from her little hiding spot from Nee-chan back to home. She had been hiding from Nee-chan earlier for some reason she couldn't quite recall now but just about any reason was a good one to hide from Nee-chan. Her older sister was scary. And mean, you can't forget the mean part.
Coming upon the end of the forests, Lina slowed down, pulling out the wrinkles in her crumpled clothes and tried to rub out any grass stains. Her mother didn't like it when she got her clothes dirty but Nee-chan would probably throw her into the well if she caught sight of Lina now. That is of course, after she force-fed Lina poison again.
Which was one reason, Lina wasn't too fond of going to mealtimes when it was only herself and Luna. She didn't know why Nee-chan was always mean to her even when she hadn't done anything, which seemed to be a rare occasion as of late. Luna nee-chan always found some fault in Lina and she would get punished accordingly.
"You've been sleeping out in the forest again." Her sister, older by ten years, rolled her eyes in exasperation. "I was going to go out to look for you but I should have figured that your stomach, missing lunch, would have woken you up and dragged you back home."
Lina cringed, waiting for the flying projectile to strike.
"Well, I've kept some food out for you. Wash your hands and face first in the kitchen. Who knows what you might have picked up by sleeping in the leaves like that?"
"Eh?" Little Lina blinked, her simple understanding of the world and the habitual action-reaction process falling apart at this irregularity. "You...aren't going to punish me?"
"Punish you? For missing lunch? Where did you get the idea that I was that petty?" Luna shook her head, sitting back in one of the metalwork lawn chairs. "Hurry up and eat. Actually, why don't you change out of that. I just finished the wash and you should be able to find some clean stuff. They're in the kitchen.
Dazed, the young girl stepped cautiously into the kitchen. Nee-chan was acting weird. She was acting *nice*. Not that Lina hadn't wished that her sister would be a little less harsh on her but the reality of it was disturbing. Lina quickly washed her hands and face, drying them off with a clean towel hanging from a hook next to the sink just inside the house. Just as Nee-chan has said, several piles of folded, clean clothes were sitting on the kitchen table. Deciding not to tempt fate, Lina changed out of her grass-stained and wrinkled clothes into a clean set. Then she went back outside, seating herself quietly across from her sister, ravenous but also wary of the quantity of food set out before her.
"Is something wrong?" her sister asked concerned.
"Um, ano, this food...is it..." Lina didn't want to say poisoned even though that was what she was thinking. On one hand, she was happy that Nee-chan even let her eat after lunch was over. Nee-chan had a 'you snooze, you lose' philosophy. But Lina wasn't sure she was hungry enough to willingly intake poison. Of course, Nee-chan wasn't behaving at all like Lina was used to her behaving.
"Is it too cold? I can heat it up for you. I wasn't quite sure what to do with it since I didn't know when you were coming back or if you were even coming back. I was worried that you had fallen out of a tree and hurt yourself. Lina, is something wrong?" Luna looked with worry at her younger sister, whose head was bowed forward, the uncombed red bangs shadowing her face.
"Zellllllllllll!"
Zel turned his head to the voice that called a shortened version of his name in a very drawn out and annoyed manner before he was nearly bowled over by the weight that suddenly added itself to his back. Luckily, being only about four, his younger sister wasn't that much of a burden.
"Terisa, you're getting too old to be jumping onto my back. Go jump on dad's."
"You promised to take me to see the clowns, Zel!!"
Several people looked in their direction and smiled indulgently at the cute scene of the pouting four-year-old blond girl with several wisps of violet that matched the hair of her six-year-old brother who was trying to mollify her. Of course, there were many children begging their parents to do this or that so it wasn't anything unusual at the carnival.
"Come on, Terisa. I never said I was going to take you to see the..." Zel swallowed."...clowns." He just didn't like those people, at least, they were supposed to be people. But they didn't really look like people with those huge feet, bright mismatched clothes, and assorted faces. Actually, little Zel was rather afraid of them. "If you want to see the clowns, ask mom or dad."
"You could try asking me first."
Zel looked up in surprise. "Arthur?" His 'older brother' nodded, dark hair framing the face of a teenager, as he shifted the weight on his back. "Is that Kelvan?"
"Yeah. Little guy fell asleep can you believe that? And in all of this noise too. Maybe Terim will take him off my hands for awhile. I'd like to enjoy the carnival a bit too and it's a little hard to talk to girls when you've got a kid on your back." Arthur scanned the crowds for Zel's parents who couldn't have been too far off from their children. He could feel Zel staring at him. "What's up, Zelgadiss?"
The boy shook his head slowly. It was hard to think, perhaps he had too much ice cream. But there was something bothering him. He could feel Arthur looking curiously at him, periodically adjust his numb arms that were carrying seven-year-old Kelvan's sleeping weight. Kelvan...?
"Wasn't...didn't Kelvan go to school....somewhere?" Zel frowned, trying to remember. Hadn't Terisa said something? "Terisa said...Kelvan was at the Academy of Magic...in Avalon..."
"What are you talking about Zel? He's only seven. Most kids don't start apprenticeships until they're at least ten. And how would Terisa know that? She's only four. Jeez, kids want to grow up so fast these days."
"Zeeeeeelllll," Terisa pouted, pulling on his sleeve. "I want to see the cloooowwns. Let's gooooo."
"Where is Terim for crying out loud?" Arthur grumbled. "I'm his ward, not a babysitter."
"..." Kelvan was asleep.
"Don't stray too far now!"
"There you are, Terim! Get Kelvan off my back already!"
Zel silently watched the two, ignoring even Terisa's insistent tugs at his arm. There was something out of place, something that wasn't supposed to be here. But what was it? What could be wrong? Everyone was here, together and happy. His entire family was here.
"I don't know you two..." Gourry said slowly, standing up on the raft as he took one last look around. The summer heat seemed to turn chilly and the sparkling lake dulled into a mirror's face. "It's not that I don't remember. I've never seen you two before. This never happened before."
He faced the two 'youths' whose faces were now nothing but blanks. "I never had any friends growing up. I never went out to play, was never allowed to play as other children do. As much as I wished I had days like this, they never happened."
Sylphiel paused to catch her breath, leaning against the Bless Blade for support. In her mind, or was it only in her mind, she could hear her imaginary friends calling on her to help them fight. But it wasn't the legendary Zanaffar. It was Rezo, or more accurately, his copy. And it was Hellmaster Fibrizo. The Flagon had helped defeat the former. It fell to the latter.
She looked up at the thick branches covered with leaves which were already losing their edges as their form began to dissolve. "The Flagon I knew and grew up under is gone. As is the Sairaag I knew. You and all of this are only memories. Begone."
"I always thought it would be great if you were nicer to me, that you showed you actually cared about me..." Lina looked up at 'her sister', no longer seeing with the eyes of a child. "This isn't real. You aren't real. Nothing here is real. I don't know who is doing this but I'm sure going to make him regret toying with my mind."
"What are you talking about Lina? Are you feeling well?"
"You can stop pretending already. I can't even see your face anymore, 'Nee-chan'."
"Hey, Zel! What are you standing there for? Everyone is going to see the show in the main tent!" Arthur called back to Zelgadiss, still standing there like a statue as people walked by.
"Zeeel. Ouch, not so hard!" Terisa winced as her older brother tightly grabbed onto her wrist. "That hurts. Let go, Zel."
"...not supposed to be here."
"Nani?"
"Arthur...and Kelvan aren't supposed to be here," Zelgadiss said quietly. "They never came here. Arthur had already left to take Kelvan to school. Only mother, father, you, and me went to the carnival."
"Zel, what are you talking about? Come on, let's hurry up and go. I want to see the show," his little sister whined. "We're going to miss it."
"Of course we are. Because we never went."
Silence fell over the carnival even though everything went on as before. People walked by talking and laughing, silhouettes with no more substance than shadows. Colorful flags flapped silently in the wind and whistles and kazoos soundlessly blew their noise.
"We never went to the main tent to see the show. Because before that, it all turned into an inferno." Zelgadiss' eyes, older than the form they peered through, looked coldly at his 'sister' caught in his grip. "Everyone died. Except for me and Terisa."
"What are you talking about? I am Terisa."
"Really?" He let go of her wrist but never letting go of her eyes as he deliberately held out one hand, palm out toward his parents and adopted older brothers. In that hand was growing a small orb of flickering tongues of fire that seemed to burn away the pale skin to reveal a darker hue underneath. "Fireball."
Like a rapidly blooming flower, the sphere of fire flew and exploded, eagerly devouring the 'people' was if they were no more than paper. Zelgadiss's face showed no emotion as his 'family' burned away, the fires catching onto the carnival tents and visitors. The 'Terisa' before him looked blankly at him, before stepping back and vanishing in the growing inferno.
"And here I thought I had problems dealing with things."
"Terisa??" Zel stared at the wavering and transparent figure of his sister, his sister as she was now and not a phantom of the past. He himself had also somehow reverted back to his adult self. "What happened to you?"
The phantom image grimaced. "No time to explain too much now. Come on, we're getting out of here. I hope."
"Hope?"
"I think I can take you out with me. But I'm not sure. Of course, if you want to stay and burn yourself up, that's completely up to you." Her tone wavered despite the sarcasm even as she briefly vanished but returned again in that indistinct form. "Look, I know you have this annoying tendency to be wishy-washy but I really can't keep the connection open for much longer so - "
"How?"
"Take my hand," she offered. A sense of familiarity washed over them both as they remembered how so many years ago, in another inferno, Zelgadiss said the same to his sister. As she gave her hand and trust to him then, so he did now. Again they escaped the fiery death that claimed everyone else.
But as before, their survival did not go unnoticed. One being, the master of this place, had seen them go. It had been busy with three other of its newest guests, trying to settle them back down into their lulling reveries, to notice too late that the fourth had broken free. And it had help. That was unexpected. But what was more unexpected, and yet greedily welcomed, were the fires that raged within it now, extinguishing the induced flames of the reverie by pulling them into itself. There was little doubt about it. They were the ones.
They thought they had been the only survivors. They were wrong. They were the only living survivors. And there were many who resented that.