"So Dragon's Peak, where the real Clair Bible is, is somewhere in that big mountain range." They were walking through the foothills building up into the mountains that possibly even extended to the infamous Kataart Mountains to the west. Not all of the mountains could be considered peaks but to a group of lowly humans, there were enough to make the job of finding one specific peak the work of several decades.
"That's right, Amelia. And this kid," Lina gave their generous guide a good kick, "is going to guide us through it right?"
"Yeah yeah whatever," grumbled the youth who had grudgingly given his name as Rizo. On his head, he sported a big band-aid courtesy of Lina when he made a rude comment during lunch. "You never said anything about being chased by Mazoku."
"Hey, you were the one that insisted on coming along," Lina pointed out with a drumstick, leftovers from their meal at a small hamlet outside of the rocky range. "But there haven't been any attacks for several days so stop your whining."
"I can't believe they can't find you just because you're dressed like a boy," Rizo rolled his eyes to the sky. Mazoku weren't that dumb, especially if higher level ones should have been sent after her by now. Nor should they be scared away by his presence, he was masked too well. Where were Gaav's lackeys?
"And a very convincing boy at that too," Gourry added. He ducked the dinner fork flying tines first his way. "You didn't take the silverware from the tavern did you?"
"Me?" Lina blinked innocently. "Even I don't stoop that low."
"Is there an unspoken 'yet' that I detect?" Rizo snorted.
"Who asked you?" Lina snapped, pushing the other four in front of her. "Now let's get going before - " She abruptly paused. Wasn't there a shadow over there just now?
"Lina-san?" Sylphiel looked back at the red-haired boy with a cap pulled low over his face. 'He' was looking at the forest surrounding the path with a suspicious look. "Is something wrong?"
"Hm? Oh nothing. Just my imagination," Lina laughed away the concern. "Come on, let's get going! The find of a lifetime is just ahead and I'm not letting Martina get her greedy hands on it!"
"Takes one to know one," Amelia coughed behind her hand. Rizo snickered. Lina glared at her but let it pass. There were more important things to consider, like this uncommonly helpful Rizo and the drop of Mazoku appearances. Not that she wasn't grateful but it didn't make very much sense. Why would Chaos Dragon Gaav send Mazoku after her and then abruptly change his mind? Maybe he was waiting for a personal encounter? That would be overkill even when she was at full power. Besides, why would he want to kill little her?
Her eyes fell on Rizo and Amelia walking at the head of the group. That pickpocket appeared so conveniently with information about the real Clair Bible's possible location. He and Amelia had gotten along extraordinarily well during the trip, helping with his quick integration into their small group. His insistence on coming initially made her suspicious. But Lina kept him with them, refusing to let him leave now on the excuse of Mazoku, because it was better to have a possible enemy where she could keep an eye on him.
And now there was that numbing sense that someone or something was following them. That disturbance in the forest just now wasn't the first time but no one else seemed to sense anything. With both Amelia and Sylphiel being high level Priestesses, if it was anything evil they should have been able to sense it unless it was too powerful. The possibilities that it was either a very powerful evil creature or something else entirely didn't reassure her.
That numbing feeling actually reminded her of something else. Back in the small hamlet, there had been some other travelers. On their way out, Lina had accidentally brushed past one and the arm that touched him became completely tingly. When she briefly looked up for a quick apology, she thought she caught a flash of gold in his eyes. But perhaps it was because the person's eyes were a golden-brown. Still, it left her on edge, especially as she could feel his eyes on her when she ran to catch up with everyone else.
"What is this?"
Amelia's question broke through Lina's thoughts. Why was it that she was thinking so much these days? Lina looked at the object of Amelia's curiosity, a large basket face down and propped up with a stick.
"It's a rabbit trap," snorted the former sorceress.
"That must be one big rabbit," Gourry noted, looking under the basket. "I could fit under here. Hey, there's a banana!"
"Don't even think about trying to take it Gourry."
"There are more of them," Rizo called out as he and Amelia looked at the other giant rabbit traps littering the clearing.
"Could these be traps to waylay people seeking the Clair Bible?" Sylphiel wondered.
"What else could they be. I don't think they're here to catch giant killer bunnies. But who would ever fall for such a lame trap?"
"Um, Lina?" came Gourry's muffled voice.
"Present company excluded of course," she groaned as they pulled the weighted basket off of the swordsman cheerfully finishing his banana. "I suppose the existence of traps means we're getting near something important."
"You're sure this is the way?" Lina asked after the twelfth left turn and about fifth right. This place was becoming a veritable maze of rocky ruts made by who knows what.
"Pretty much," Rizo answered absently.
"Pretty much?"
"I got a glimpse of a pamphlet not a guidebook!"
"And it never bothered to mention any traps."
"It probably didn't go into them in very much detail!"
"That much was obvious!"
"Would you two please calm down?" Amelia mediated. "No harm was done since Gourry-san took care of most of the traps."
Gourry, out of breath and fatigued, barely nodded in agreement. Let's see, he had deflected the flying arrows and spears, been used as a bridge across falling bridges and suddenly collapsing rocky ledges no wider than a foot, nearly become a human pin cushion from spikes erupting from the ground, among numerous other things that don't bear mentioning.
"Wasn't that princess also supposed to be here?" Sylphiel asked, looking around their surroundings. "Martina, wasn't it?"
"Martina would have set off every trap here," Lina snorted. But none of the traps here had been set off. So either someone went around resetting them very often or... "What game are you trying to play?" she demanded, grabbing Rizo up by his collar. "There hasn't been any signs of anyone but us passing through here!"
"HOHOHOHO!"
"Sounds like an echo," Gourry noted, tipping his head to try to find exactly which direction it was coming from.
"This treasure will be claimed for the glory of Zoana and Zoamelguster-sama!"
"Damn it!" Lina swore, dropping Rizo and running off in the direction of the gloating. "If she gets her hands on the Clair Bible..."
"If she gets her hands on the Clair Bible?" Gourry prompted as everyone ran after Lina.
"Remember that golem of hers? She might try to rebuild it." Actually, that could be the least of their problems. Knowing that princess, she wouldn't stop boasting about her prize and a continent wide war could start over the bible.
The path they were running down was increasingly lined with signs of impending doom and warnings explicitly stating that the treasure was absolutely not, under any circumstances, to be taken from its resting place. Figures that Martina would never pay any attention to them. But then, Chibi-Lina pointed out, Lina probably would have ignored them as well. Lina told herself to be quiet.
"There she is!" Amelia cried, pointing up the cliff face that suddenly loomed before them. Carved into the face was some ancient idol and in its brow was the largest diamond Lina ever saw.
"Did she climb up there?" Rizo asked, shielding his eye from the glare of the large gem catching the light.
"Martina! What do you think you're doing?!" Lina yelled, trying not to calculate the monetary value of that diamond. She was relieved that it wasn't the Clair Bible but the money she could get for that gem! "That thing is trapped!"
"You can't trick me with such a lie. The glory of Zoamelguster-sama is always bright!"
"What is that supposed to mean?" Gourry asked. Everyone shrugged.
"You only want this treasure for yourself, Lina Inverse. Well, I'm going to beat you this time!" Martina grinned like a smug cat as she pried the huge diamond from the stone, planting a leg on the idol's nose for leverage. With an audible 'pop', the gem fell into the princess's waiting hands. "It's mine!"
"That's not the only thing that's yours!!"
Martina looked down at the small running figures. "Running away like the - " A big shadow fell over her. She looked up. "AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!"
A large boulder came rolling down from above the idol. With the speed boosted by fear and desperation, Martina scrambled down the stone statue with her prize and in next to no time caught up with the other group.
"You didn't tell me that there was a trap!"
"Of course the dumb thing was trapped!" Lina retorted, deciding to not also remind the princess that Lina had warned her. "What did you think those signs said!"
"They could have been fake!"
"So could that diamond!"
Martina and Lina paused. Lina quickly grabbed the gem and examined it amidst Martina's loud protests and attempts to take it back.
"This is cubic zirconia!"
"What?" Everyone asked.
"It's a giant fake!"
"You're lying!" Martina snapped, grabbing back the gem.
"There are fake diamonds?" Gourry asked.
"It makes all of this seem rather pointless," Rizo grumbled.
"Less complaining, more running!" Lina ordered, passing all of them as the large boulder which just happened to fit perfectly in the rocky ruts gained on them. They couldn't escape through the air because there were only two magic users besides which if the Mazoku did decide to show their ugly and very odd faces again, they'd be easy targets. And there wasn't any room to just let the boulder roll by.
"Why don't you peasants do something!"
"Us?? You were the one who set it off!!" Lina yelled back. But Martina had a point. They couldn't outrun this big rock forever. If only there was a passage narrower than this one...and a number of possible escape routes seemed to appear. "Split up into those passages! The rock should roll right by."
"Why don't we all get into the same one?"
"Because we wouldn't all fit, Gourry!!"
"Oh you're right. They are small. You can fit in them easily, Lina."
"Be quiet!" Lina snapped, leaping into one of the crevices. But instead of the level rocky floor, she hit some loose gravel on a steep slope. "What - ??" she choked before all she could was cover her head as she fell uncontrollably down whatever she fell into.
"Itai..." Lina grumbled, pushing the hair out of her face after everything seemed to agree to stay still for longer than two breaths. What had happened? One minute she was running with everyone else from that trap Martina the Useless Princess had set off and the next she was here, somewhere else. Okay, there was that small step in between where she fell down something. Looking back, Lina found it was some kind of tunnel.
"A trap," she said disgustedly. "Whoever built this place was certainly being thorough. Wonder if everyone else was caught in the same thing. You guys here?"
Lina only got back an echo of her own question. There was no telling how far she fell through that tunnel. It looked like she was in another part of the same maze but perhaps at a lower elevation. Everything looked the same so she couldn't tell if she had been here before. Well, it would be an easy thing just to fly up and look for everyone.
"If I had magic," she grumbled. "Ray Wing?" Nothing. Damn.
Well, only a fool trusts her life with a weapon. Or magic. That was her father's non-monetary motto and he couldn't stop saying it at least once a day ever since she started learning magic. It wasn't like she always depended on magic. Yeah right. Her first thought to get out of here was to fly. There were other mundane methods like climbing that didn't come to mind.
"I've got Mazoku after me. Had them after me at any rate. Nothing short of magic will hurt them," Lina rebuked her half a continent away father's silent remonstrations, kicking some rocks out of her way. "Heck, now that I'm all alone, it's the perfect time for something to come down and try to kill me."
Lina waited.
Then she waited some more.
She nibbled on some bread from lunch.
"Oh forget it! If whatever that is supposed to happen is taking its sweet time getting its act together, I'm not going to wait around here for it!" As she didn't really have a clue as to where she was, Lina just began walking in the direction that led deeper into the mountain ranges. "Maybe I'll even get to Dragon's Peak before everyone else."
That thought cheered her up if only a little.
Some pebbles grinded together and Lina's hands immediately fell into position to summon a Fireball. As an afterthought, her hands fell onto her short sword instead. Warily, she looked down the path ahead of her to what was coming.
"Gourry!"
The blond swordsman looked blankly at her.
"What are you doing here? Where is everyone?"
"Hmmmm..." Gourry thought.
"Forget I said that," Lina sighed, happy that she had at least run into someone so soon after separation. "Come on, let's go find everyone." She grabbed him by the arm and began pulling him after her. "Honestly. I wouldn't be surprised if that Rizo kid set us all up. And he's probably still with Amelia! Damn it, why can't anything just be like a simple bandit raid?" She remembered the Dragon Fang Bandits and what came out of that. "Well, a typical bandit raid anyway. But this is silly. Why would the Mazoku be after me? And why are you so quiet Gourry?!"
Lina stopped and glared at the swordsman. He was usually quiet anyway but it was a dumb resigned quiet because he was used to her thinking aloud about things he didn't understand. This silence was different. She couldn't put her finger on it but it was.
"I was just thinking that perhaps we should go that way," Gourry suggested, pointing to a turn off they just passed. Before Lina could say something, he continued. "I thought I saw someone down that way."
"Why didn't you say something earlier!!" Lina yelled, immediately running down that path.
"But you were talking..."
"Jellyfish! Ah, Amelia!"
The cream clad royal princess of Saillune turned around and smiled.
"Have you seen Sylphiel or that kid Rizo?"
"No."
"Did everyone get separated? What a bother. By the way, Amelia, are you feeling alright? Your voice sounded kind of gravely."
Amelia touched her throat. "No, I don't think so. Lina."
Lina blinked.
"Come on, in the name of justice we need to save our lost companions!" Amelia grinned, grabbing Lina by the arm and leading her forward.
"Amelia, are you - " Lina got a good look at Amelia's eyes, blue as they always were but with a spark of gold glowing within them. Just like that stranger back in town. "Who are you!" Lina demanded, trying to jerk away from Amelia's suddenly steel vice grip.
"You've already seen through it," 'Amelia' said flatly, the empty smile on her face only accentuating her expressionless eyes.
"Gourry! This Amelia is a fake!" Lina looked back at him.
"So?"
"So?? What do you mean by just 'so'?!"
"I mean exactly that." Gourry's face lifted, his glowing golden eyes numbing her. Why was this tingling sensation familiar? Just on the edge of her mind where she couldn't remember.
"Let me go!!" Lina tried to twist out of the fake Amelia's grip but the girl, if she really was a girl, jerked Lina back by the hair no longer confined by a cap. Another hand locked around Lina's neck, forcing Lina to remain still with her arm twisted painfully behind her. Wait a minute, one hand was around her neck, one on her arm, and one pulling her hair? That was three hands!
"Be gentle now," reprimanded fake Gourry. "The master would not be happy if the key was damaged."
"What good is the key now if what all we've seen so far is true?" retorted fake Amelia. "This key won't be able to open the gate."
"Who the hell are you two? Who the hell is your master? What does he want with me!?" This key thing was becoming repetitive. Last time it was for Ruby Eye's resurrection, what now? "You two, are you Mazoku?"
Fake Amelia sharply pulled her handful of Lina's hair. "Those pathetic things? They're trapped in their own delusion of free will. We are nothing like them."
"I told you to be careful," fake Gourry snapped, slapping away fake Amelia's hand. "Humans are very fragile and it will only be additional inconvenience to undo any damage to one." His face contorted slightly and the ripple underneath his skin slid down his neck behind his shoulders. Lina could see the blue cloth of the shirt rise up and darken into black. Faster than should be possible or even natural, a pair of black feathered wings erupted from the creature's back. "We'd best be going with the key. The master is almost here."
"Of course."
Lina hoped that the process of creating those wings would divert enough concentration to loosen the two hands still holding her but no such luck. Shapechangers, she had never heard of any race capable of doing it naturally except maybe Mazoku. But Mazoku didn't shapechange as much as create forms in the physical plane. And these two had already admitted to not being Mazoku.
"Let's go."
"Hey!" Lina yelled, futilely trying to break the iron grip.
"...can't allow that..." giggled someone before a tidal wave crashed into them.
Any exclamations of surprise were drowned with mouthfuls of water. Lina tried to keep her gagging reflex down, she didn't have enough air as it was. But her captor apparently didn't need air like she did as she saw them both adapting quickly to the watery environment. But where did it come from?
Suddenly, Lina found herself free from the confining arms which were pulled away by the quick currents around here. Those arms in fact were also floating free of their owner who looked at her bleeding stumps blankly. Lina tried to swim to the surface as her lungs burned for air but she realized belatedly that she couldn't tell what way was up.
A strong current suddenly swept her aside, making her lose the last of her precious air but also out of the way of one of those shapechangers with glowing golden eyes. That was the only feature that didn't seem to change as she saw them turning into sea serpents before her eyes. Perhaps she should let them get her, at least they'd bring her back to where there was air. Not that she could escape from them now as her vision began to darken.
"...breathe."
That voice, the same one she heard before all this water appeared. It sounded like a young woman.
"I did tell you to breathe," said the voice again, a bit annoyed this time. Lina felt something punch her hard in the midriff and instinctively she gasped for air. Instead water filled her mouth and she panicked. But she didn't choke. "Told you so," said the smug voice.
Lina shook her head and opened her eyes. She was breathing water?! And that wasn't the only thing. Even though she wasn't swimming, somehow she wasn't sinking but floating in this water. Those two sea serpents circled angrily around her but didn't seem able to come closer. Then they turned their attention on something, or rather, someone else.
The water warped her vision but Lina could make out it was a slim person with long flowing blue hair dressed in what appeared to be a lighter blue robe. Both serpents dove at the intruder and Lina tried to scream a warning but though she was able to breath water, she couldn't talk through it. The stranger only smiled brightly and drew a circle with her finger. Both serpents were completely torn apart, dyeing the waters a deep purple.
Okay, now Lina was absolutely sure they weren't human. But then, neither was her rescuer whom Lina studied as she came closer. Lina could make out the iridescent pearly skin and the shiny translucent fins that seemed to replace ears. Even if she wanted to move away, Lina found she couldn't as the water currents kept her in place. This woman floated up to Lina and looked at her with her shimmering pupilless eyes that seemed to change from green to blue and back.
"Who are you?" is what Lina mouthed even though no sound could be heard. Of course, without ears, how could this person hear her?
The woman tipped her head to one side, the long blue hair floating around her. She smiled and put a finger first to Lina's throat and then to her mouth, shaking her head. Then she leaned her brow against Lina's and something exploded.
Lina groaned. She was taking a lot of falls today. What had that person done to her? The first thing Lina noticed was that she was dry. The second was that whatever she was laying on was very cold. Someone giggled.
Cautiously, Lina opened her eyes. She was somewhere else, laying on smooth stone around a small pool of water. Beyond that, the mountains in which lay the Dragon's Peak rose high into the sky. Again, someone giggled and Lina looked at the source.
It was that stranger who had saved her. At least, Lina thought it was the same person because the person she saw sitting near the edge of the pool was playing with bubbles of water she created.
"Hey."
The strange girl who couldn't have been any older than Lina didn't reply or even notice as she kept squealing at the popping bubbles.
"Hey!" Lina repeated more forcefully as she got up. Gratefulness didn't extend to overlooking rudeness in Lina's book. She moved over to the girl and knelt beside her. "Who are you?"
The water girl waved a bubble over to Lina.
"I don't have time to play. Do you know your way around here?"
She kept playing.
"I know you can talk. You did so earlier. Of course, your sanity is another matter." Terrific. Saved by a possibly insane person, an insane and very powerful person. There were probably worst fates.
"Mirror."
Lina blinked. "What?"
"Window," clarified the girl, lifting a bubble gently in her hand to let Lina see into it. In the warping image, she could just make out the familiar faces of her friends.
"Where?" Lina demanded, willing the image to become clearer but the bubble popped in it. The water girl looked at the dripping water interestedly. "Can you tell me where they are??"
Those pupilless eyes looked at her. Lina wondered if she could blink. Then the vacant gaze turned to the pool of calm water, one pearl white finger touching the glass-like surface. The blues and whites of the sky mixed and swirled before forming into an image of Lina's friends being confronted by...dragons??
"What are dragons doing here?" Lina muttered. "But that isn't important. I've got to get to them."
A cold hand kept Lina from doing more than voicing the action. For a moment, that smiling face fell to a cold predatory smirk before the face of an innocent returned. Still, the coldness remained on Lina's arm.
"What??" Lina stammered as the water girl wrapped her other arm around Lina. With a smile, the water girl suddenly leaped into the pool whose scrying image was already vanishing. "Can't you at least ask before doing this!!" Lina screamed before they fell into the water.
Lina floundered in the darkness. Somehow that water girl must have lost her grip after the unannounced dive into the pool. That thought didn't comfort Lina as she was guessing that somehow this water girl could use water to cross distances. Getting lost in between here and there wasn't something Lina relished.
"AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!"
Lina whipped around at the scream. "Amelia?!"
"Light!"
"Gourry?"
"Gourry-sama!!"
"Sylphiel? Where are all of you? What's happening?" Lina yelled into the darkness, trying to find the source of the screams. She last saw them before dragons, were they being attacked?
"Gourry-sama! Please stay still so I can heal you," Sylphiel pleaded to the heavily wounded swordsman trying to get up.
"Sylphiel! Gourry!" Lina called, running up to the two that suddenly appeared in the darkness. But as she reached out to touch them, they dissolved, much like the distortion of an image reflected on water when ripples pass through it.
"Lina-san! You mustn't!!" Amelia cried.
Lina almost ran up to her but remembered what happened before. "Amelia, I'm right here! What is it that I mustn't do?"
But Amelia wasn't looking at Lina but something else. Lina followed the fallen princess's gaze and the darkness parted to reveal a barren landscape, a common feature of the result of a massive spell battle. There, facing something Lina couldn't make out, was herself, severely beaten but always defiant, holding the Sword of Light out before her.
"What is going on here!? Ruby Eye??" Lina gasped as briefly, the image of that incarnation of destruction briefly formed before her other self. "Is this a vision of another past?"
But no sooner did she voice that then did the image of Ruby Eye disappear to be replaced by an amorphous darkness. Yet none of the other people, her other self, Amelia, Gourry, or Sylphiel seemed to notice anything. Whoever their enemy was, it wasn't something Lina couldn't see.
But there was only four of them.
"Zel...where is Zelgadiss?"
"It doesn't matter who I face, I'll always win!" retorted Lina's defiant other self to the unknown enemy. Then began the deadly chant of the most dangerous spell in the world, known only by herself.
The sparkling, numbing darkness descended, drawn into the Sword of Light in the sorceress's hands. Lina felt a growing unease, wondering if this was how Gourry and Zel felt when they watched her before. However, this time something went wrong.
The blade of darkness devoured its host, the Sword of Light.
"No..."
But it didn't stop. The uncontrolled energy tearing at the caster, completely destroying her three friends who tried to save her.
"Minna!" both Lina's screamed.
Lina watched as her other self was consumed by the nothingness, watched as the black bolts destroyed all that it touched. The world was being destroyed. And that mysterious enemy she couldn't see laughed as the sparkling darkness spread across the land, returning everything to nothing.
"Where could Lina-san have gone? Do you see any sign of her, Amelia-san?" Sylphiel called to the princess floating near the top of the rocky ruts.
"Not one."
"Who cares where she is?" snorted Martina, protectively holding her treasure. "She's probably just gone ahead to cut the rest of you out of the treasure."
"That is like Lina, but given the situation right now, I don't think she'd go off on her own," Gourry corrected.
Rizo remained silent. It would be a big complication in his scheme if Lina Inverse was killed right now. Even though he could easily look for her, he would have to break his current guise which was something he didn't want to do just yet. If Xelloss would hurry up and get here, he could go look for her. An old but familiar sense snapped Rizo's attention upward as water began to from above them.
"Hey, what's tha-" Gourry started, peering up at the very unnatural occurrence. Then something fell out of it and on to him.
"Lina-san!"
"Lina-san, are you alright?"
The three were so pre-occupied with the sudden return of their missing companion that they didn't notice the amused pale face framed by blue locks peering through the water at them. But Rizo didn't miss it. And she didn't miss him. With only a smile, she and the water vanished.
"Lina-san, what happened?" Amelia asked the dazed redhead.
Lina's head was spinning for one thing. The transition had given her a very good idea what seasickness was like even though she never suffered from it herself. That and the disturbing images she saw during the trip here.
"I..." Lina shook her head to toss those images of an uncontrolled Giga Slave into the back of her mind for later perusal. "I want some food."
"I'd like it if you got off my back."
"Sorry about that, Gourry."
Everyone stared at her.
"What?" she demanded crossly.
"Lina-san, do you remember what you just said?"
"Yeah. I said 'Sorry about that, Gourry'. Why?"
Lina apologizing to Gourry? But that confusing concept had to wait as Rizo's warning caught all of their attentions.
"Dragons!"
"Water under the bridge..."
"What are you up to?"
The person being spoken to looked up at the speaker, a rugged man with long red hair. Behind him was an aqua-haired youth with scars on his face. Both looked at the frail girl whose long blue hair trailed to the ground. She looked at them for awhile before returning to making bubbles.
"Answer Gaav-sama when he address you!" Valgaav snarled.
"No need, Valgaav," Gaav halted, studying the girl. "That's hardly the way you address a superior. But Dolphin doesn't seem to care much about protocol these days. Or much else for that matter."
"Dolphin? Deep Sea Dolphin?! Her???"
"If you don't mind, I'd like a word with her."
"But - "
"Alone." Gaav's words carried an edge sharper than his sword. Reluctantly, Valgaav departed. That Priest of his could be so damn loyal at times, sighed the Chaos Dragon. "But good help is hard to find. Loyal help even harder. But then, you've never had to deal with that did you? Dolphin."
The insane Mazoku Lord only giggled at the number of bubbles she was able to create.
"You probably don't even know what you're doing. But even if you did, you wouldn't care. Destroying the world is what Mazoku do and whatever that brat Hellmaster has planned, it has to do with that. With this Lina Inverse human as the key."
Dolphin peered at her reflection in the waters formed by her power. Like a baby that hasn't yet realized that what she was seeing was herself, she was delighted when the other 'person' did exactly as she did.
"You know I hold no loyalties to what Hellmaster is doing. Probably no thanks to what that cursed Water Dragon King did to me. Going directly against Hellmaster is foolhardy. But I'm not ready to see the world go yet. And certainly not by his hand."
Dolphin looked at him blankly.
"Sometimes I envy you, Dolphin. But I've always wondered what drove you to this state," Gaav said quietly as he vanished.
Those pupilless blue eyes grew sad. "Forgiven...forgotten..."
"Your reason for trespassing?" rumbled the deep voice through the room carved from stone. It was large enough to accommodate the golden dragon that took up one half of the room as it interrogated the six humans seated at a human-sized table at its feet.
"We already told you that at the very beginning," Lina said evenly, gritting her teeth. And she had. The four dragons that had landed and surrounded them outside already questioned them. She didn't understand what this second round of questions was for. "I, I mean we are here to see the real Clair Bible."
The dragon eyed her suspiciously. "What led you to think that the Clair Bible would be here?"
Well, she couldn't tell them about the pamphlet. Even she hadn't really believed it when she first heard it. The Ryuzoku weren't going to believe it either.
"A pamphlet said so," Gourry contributed helpfully.
Lina groaned. The dragon looked at Gourry and wondered if he was serious. When the swordsman didn't give any indication of joking, the dragon began to wonder if all humans now were this odd.
"I find the idea of a pamphlet detailing the location of the Clair Bible to be absolute nonsense. Furthermore, there is no Clair Bible here."
"Pardon me, Dragon Lord," Lina said respectfully to the Gold Dragon. Her sister had drilled etiquette into her head a long time ago. "If the Clair Bible isn't here, then surely you could point us in the correct direction."
"Why would you want such a thing? If legends were true, it would not be something that a human mind can comprehend."
"There isn't anything Lina Inverse can't do," Lina retorted.
The Gold Dragon raised an eyebrow. Okay, maybe mentioning that she was the infamous Dra-Matta wasn't the best idea. So she was impulsive.
"Excuse me, Dragon Lord, I was wondering why I sensed such hostility from you and the other dragons," Sylphiel asked in the lull in the conversation if it can be called such.
"We are only disturbed at the recent number of disturbances in the area."
Guess that would make sense. The Kouma War did start with Hellmaster ordering Mazoku to attack the Kataart Mountains, Lina thought.
"There is also the matter of the intruders into our territory that we could not find or trace." The large golden eyes fell heavily on Lina. "All three of which I believe you are familiar with."
"I'm not sure I know exactly who you mean." Lina returned, trying to keep herself from flinching before the Ryuzoku. Perhaps she could get him to spill some more information. She had know idea who those two shapechangers or who the water girl was but if they could hide from Ryuzoku then they had to be powerful.
"Do not make this difficult," growled the draconic interrogator.
"Elder!" chirped a younger gold dragon who just alighted on the large door to the chamber. "I have another interloper."
"My my. This is rather embarrassing."
Everyone whipped their heads around. "Xelloss?!"
The humans and the dragon elder looked at each other. "You know him?!"
"Why, if it isn't Lina-san and everyone else. So you have found your way on your own to the real Clair Bible," smiled Xelloss.
"Why didn't you just tell me where it was??" Lina demanded, throwing herself at the priest and trapping him in a headlock.
The Ryuzoku and Rizo sweatdropped.
"Was what Xelloss-san saying true? The Clair Bible is really here," Sylphiel stated.
"Why did you lie to us?" frowned Amelia.
"Not good for the public image," Rizo added, exchanging a secret glance with Xelloss. A barely perceptible magic confirmed his suspicions. Xelloss had completed his assignment.
"Milgazia-san. Did you tell them that the Clair Bible wasn't here?" Xelloss asked in mock dismay.
"Why are you here?" Milgazia practically spat out the word 'you'.
"Why, just to help Lina-san. She had some questions that could only be answered by the complete and real Clair Bible."
"I find it hard to believe that you would help someone out of the goodness of your heart."
"I suppose that my master's wishes in the matter do hold some weight." Xelloss's smile grew wider at Milgazia's restless at the mention of Xelloss's master. "I would so hate to meet the poor soul who crosses my master."
"Is that a threat?"
"Me? A human priest threaten a Ryuzoku? The time hasn't come for that yet."
Milgazia snorted.
"How do you know a Ryuzoku, Xelloss?" Lina demanded, giving Xelloss a little squeeze.
"We go back. By the way, Milgazia-san, could you please use a smaller form? As Lina-san seems intent on keeping me in this undignified position, I'm getting a crick in my neck looking up at you."
"Hmph. Don't think I'm doing this for you." Before the astonished eyes of the five humans, the large golden dragon taking up half of the room glowed brightly before shrinking into the form of a tall young man with yellow hair.
Gourry blinked.
Milgazia's cool eyes looked over them one by one before resting again on Lina and Xelloss. For what seemed like an eternity, Milgazia locked gazes with the priest. Finally, Milgazia sighed deeply.
"Lina Inverse. Come with me."
She dropped Xelloss on the floor. "You'll take me to the Clair Bible?"
"Perhaps," he said shortly, giving Xelloss one last glare. "You will come with me. Alone."
Everyone protested.
"Silence!" Milgazia's voice carried the same force as when he was a dragon. "The path to the Clair Bible is treacherous and I am the only one who knows the path. I can not be responsible for more than one person. Besides which, none of you are cleared from your charges of trespassing. You will remain under arrest here while I and Lina Inverse go. Is that clear?"
"Crystal," Xelloss answered for everyone and earned another frosty glare from Milgazia.
"Come."
After one glance back and Xelloss's shooing, Lina quickly followed Milgazia. She still didn't feel comfortable with her lack of magic but these Gold Dragons didn't know about that. The heavy, forbidding silence around Milgazia didn't really help.
"So, how do you know Xelloss?" she asked, trying to lighten the atmosphere.
Milgazia briefly looked back at her. "How much about Xelloss do you know?"
"That he likes to use people for his own ends, that he claims to be a priest, and he disappears very often at his own convenience and only reappears when he needs something."
"You do not trust him."
"Neither do you. Why are you asking?"
"Why then are you following his advice?" Milgazia counted her question with his own.
"He only told us about it as you heard earlier. Besides, for what I want, it's perfectly sound advice. The way I see it, I know I'm being used but I don't know for what. I'll go along until I know what it is because I want to keep living. That's what really matters."
"Living?"
"Of course. Humans are only here for a short time by your standards so we cram as much as we can into our lives. Take the good with the bad, no time to dwell forever on the past or dream of the future. Now is what is important."
Milgazia coughed though it sounded suspiciously like a laugh to Lina.
"What?"
"You humans are truly...different. Your flames burn only briefly but brightly."
"Thanks...I think. Are you going to take me to the Clair Bible now?"
"Yes. And may you survive your encounter with your mind intact."
"I don't have to read hundreds of books do I?"
"That is part of the problem. Humans tend to think in such limited, transient terms," Milgazia sighed as he stopped before a wall. He laid his hand against it, then through it. "Do not let go of my hand."
"So it isn't any written form of transmission?" Lina asked as she was pulled through another dimension for the second time that day.
"Can the knowledge of the Water Dragon King be contained in that?"
"I suppose not but then exactly what is its form?"
"You will see shortly."
"Has any human ever read the real Clair Bible?"
"No."
"But the manuscripts?"
"Even though all of the knowledge is contained in the Clair Bible itself, during its formation, countless beings were momentarily blessed with some of the same knowledge. The written records of these memories are what you call the Clair Bible manuscripts."
"No wonder they aren't consistent."
"We are here."
"Where is it?" Lina asked, looking around the dimensional space they were traversing. Sometimes she could see vague shapes of things but they were so transparent that she thought she was imagining things.
"There."
Lina followed Milgazia's arm to a floating glowing orb.
"That?"
"As I said before, it is not in any common form of written media."
Lina could swear the Ryuzoku was smirking even though his face was still expressionless. She looked skeptically at the orb.
"So what do I do? Touch it?"
"You're on the right track."
"Xelloss isn't the only one who likes being vague," Lina grumbled, walking up toward the orb. It was floating just out of her reach but when she approached, it descended into her outstretched hands. As the orb touched her hands, Lina could feel herself being pulled away into it.
"What do you wish to know?"
Lina blinked. She was sitting in a grassy field on a perfect summer's day. But hadn't she just been touching the Clair Bible?
"Your mind chose this landscape as the one in which you are most settled. You are the first human to successfully communicate with me."
The Clair Bible's voice was deep and resonating, whether it was sound or something else Lina couldn't tell.
"How do I know you're the real thing?"
Lina could hear sputtering.
"You doubt me?"
"Let's just say I've had a long day."
"That is quite obvious."
Lina frowned. The Clair Bible was supposed to be the embodiment of the Water Dragon King's knowledge. So it could only know things from before the end of the Kouma War.
"How do you know that?"
"Your frustrations are foremost in your mind."
"You're digging into my thoughts??"
"No. I can only see the surface ones as is necessary for the level of contact and communication needed to commune with me. Now do you have a serious question to ask me?"
"No one mentioned you also had an attitude."
"Some of my personality was trapped here as well. If you have no questions than this - "
"Alright already! Let's see...guess I can't ask you about restoring my magic. That bastard Xelloss must have known about this. Hmmm, I've got it. Can you translate this stone tablet I have?"
"Easily."
Lina felt the knowledge seep into her mind. It was an odd sensation, like something was writing on her mind. The old forgotten language changed into the common tongue and from the looks of it, it was the spell for Gilga's black spellblade. Hmmm, perhaps she could adapt this to use the Lord of Nightmare's energy. It would help to have something else other than Giga Slave to use. Once she got her magic back of course.
"Satisfied?"
"Very. Now let's get down to serious business. Do you have any information about a race of shapechangers with glowing golden eyes?"
The Clair Bible was silent for so long that Lina wondered if the connection had broken.
"...a race of shape-changers was known very long ago. But there have been no confirmed sightings since my creation."
"Creation as the Clair Bible or creation as the Water Dragon King?"
"The latter."
Lina whistled. "Do you know if they served anyone?"
"...unknown."
"You're a lot of help."
"You're welcome."
"And sarcastic. Do you know why Gaav is after me? No wait, that would be a question about now and you can't answer that. Alright, what information can you give me on Chaos Dragon Gaav?"
"Chaos Dragon Gaav, one of the five Mazoku Lords created from Ruby Eye himself, generally seen in the from of a red three-headed dragon. During the Kouma War, he was used by the Demon King of the North in order to boost that piece of Ruby Eye in order to do battle with the Water Dragon King. Though that gambit was successful in defeating the Water Dragon King, he was able to both seal that piece of Ruby Eye in the Kataart Mountains as well as binding the dying Chaos Dragon to a human form. No other information is known. It is probable that the long imprisonment of the Mazoku Lord in the human body may have resulted in alterations to the Lord's method of thinking."
"Which still doesn't tell me anything," Lina sighed. "Okay, here's my last question."
"Finally."
"Oh hush. Actually, it's last two questions. How can I defeat pure, higher level Mazoku?"
"The simplest method is to call on the power of a higher being."
"Even I know that. Fine, tell me about the Lord of Nightmares."
The sky above her darkened and the landscape around her vanished. It looked like she was floating in the night sky. But the stars had reduced to nothing more than pinpoints of light, making it seem like she was facing a giant Giga Slave.
Slowly, reluctantly almost, the Clair Bible began to speak as if each word needed to be forced to be spoken.
"The Demon Lord of Demon Lords, darkness beyond deepest pitch, deeper than darkest night, the mother of all that was born from chaos and void, that which rules and is the golden sea of chaos, that is the Lord of Nightmare."
"The Lord of Nightmare...is...I didn't know. Sylphiel's oracle was right, I should have realized it when I first cast it. That bay I created is still dead..." Lina shivered in the tingling numbness she could remember was part of the power she channeled for the Giga Slave. That vision she saw of everyone dying wasn't just a dream of a past that could happen. It was the present, it was the future, it was any and every time the Giga Slave was cast. After all, a power that could destroy a world can destroy the gods of that world.
"Why did I ever create it..." she whispered, the responsibility falling heavily and fully onto her for the first time.
"There is a reason for everything."
That wasn't the Clair Bible's voice.
"Who?!"
The night sky surrounding her shattered into million shards of glass as an inhuman roar tore through it all.
"Clair Bible?!" Lina cried as she felt herself being forcibly jerked back into her body. It couldn't be, right? The Clair Bible couldn't feel pain. Reeling from the shock of the suddenly broken connection, Lina forced her eyes open, only then registering the strong grip on her arm. She could only stare mutely at him, one hand on her arm, the other holding the cracked and no longer glowing Clair Bible.
She knew him but at the same time she didn't. The fall of violet hair that she once thought gave him a roguish look now only added a menacing air. A veil of shadow draped lovingly around him, only pierced by the golden glow from eyes in which only a hint of blue remained.
"Welcome back."