Chaos Ascendant

Chapter 4

When Amelia had finally managed to catch up to Gourry, more people than Amelia could count at a quick glance were mobbing him. Instantly fearing the worst, she flew up high above the mob, and called down to the blonde at the center. “Mister Gourry! Are you all right?”

He looked up at her and nodded. “I’m fine, Amelia. But none of these people are Lina!” He sidestepped an outreached hand, dodged another person, and put the rock well out of reach above his head. He was used to having to keep things away from Lina, and this mob was tame and not even third-rate in comparison. Therefore, he wasn’t truly worried that the gemstone would get stolen.

Grateful that she was wearing pants, Amelia put her hands on her hips and hovered in the air. “Of course they aren’t, Mister Gourry. None of them have hit you over the head yet!” She hated to admit it, but that would have probably been Lina’s reaction to Gourry’s so publicly announcing that he had a gemstone of that size. Then again, knowing Gourry as well as Amelia did, she acknowledged that it was probably in one of the safest places in the world while in his care.

Gourry thought about that for a moment. “You know, you’re right!” He held the stone above a woman’s head as she tried to jump high enough to reach it. “But I still don’t know how to find Lina!”

Amelia sighed and sat in the air, thinking it over.

“Let me just get this stone, and then we can go see Amelia, okay, Zelgadis?”

Zelgadis folded his arms again. The minute they had arrived in Saillune (traveling the Chaos way, and not on foot,) Lina had caught news of someone with a brilliant golden topaz that was supposed to be magical. Of course, that was suddenly the first thing on her mind. “Lina, it’s more important to tell Amelia about the imbalance than to get some topaz that’s had a cheap spell cast into it.”

Lina glared at her stone companion. In a tone of voice that he knew better than to argue with, Lina informed him that she was going to get that rock, and that was that. Chaos Knight or not, Lina was formidable when she was denied something that she wanted.

Reluctantly, Zelgadis followed a good distance behind as she headed off towards where a mob of people was milling around. He knew that she’d probably just end up fireballing them from a few paces away, then waltz in and walk off with the treasure… just like she had right before he met her. And with the amplification of the Black Magic circle, she was likely… “Lina!” He was suddenly very worried for the unwitting fool who owned that gemstone. Running up to her, he shouted across the din of the mob. “Remember the magic amplification!”

When she heard the explosion, Amelia wasn’t entirely alarmed. After all, she’d traveled with Lina for so many years that she’d become relatively accustomed to random fireballs and explosions nearby. So when she initially heard and saw the explosion, it didn’t bother her one bit. She continued to perch in the air, pondering how they’d find Lina when she realized that the fireball had detonated underneath her. This, of course, meant that the fireball was entirely too close to Gourry, and that meant trouble.

She darted from the air, into the smoke, landing on someone who looked vaguely suspicious in a cloak, and knocking them to the ground, proceeded to pummel them, calling out, “Don’t worry, Mister Gourry! In the name of Friendship and Justice, I won’t let them get away- ow!” Whoever she was hitting was well armored because she’d just managed to hurt her hand a great deal.

An extremely familiar and very dry voice interrupted her. “While I admire your obviously undying enthusiasm, Princess, you’ll only hurt yourself if you keep doing that.” The voice continued to speak, switching to the words of a spell, and suddenly a burst of wind blew through the area.

The dust from the explosion cleared quickly after that, and Amelia got a good look at the person upon whom she was perched. She had landed on Zelgadis, who was now lying on his stomach on the ground, and her fist was still against the shoulder that she had hit. Awkwardly, she pulled her fist back, looking at her knuckles and blushing violently. This wasn’t how she’d wanted to run into Zelgadis again. “Mister Zelgadis… I…”

He cleared his throat to remind her that she was still sitting on him, and she leapt up and off of his back with an embarrassed yelp, looking over to see a familiar diminutive redhead pounding the blonde swordsman into the ground. Predictably, Lina had the topaz in her free hand, and Gourry looked perfectly content to have her pounding on him once more.

“It’s good to see you too, Amelia.” Zelgadis remarked as he dusted his cape off, watching the pink of the Princess’ face deepen again. He hadn’t seen her since that last awkward night where they both had decided that they needed more time before entering a formal relationship. It had only taken him a month to decide that it had been a mistake to say that… but he was determined to be good to his word and not pressure Amelia.

A few hours later, everyone was gathered at a table in the Royal Palace. Lina had endured Philionel’s crushing hugs, and now sat at the table, looking thoughtfully at the topaz. “Hey, Gourry…? Where did you get this stone?” She was all too aware that she hadn’t really talked to Gourry yet… and she wasn’t too eager to do so, either. She was happy to see him… but she still hadn’t worked anything out.

Gourry scratched his head. “Oh, that? It’s been in the family for a long time now, I guess. Why? Is it important?” Could the stone be important? He wanted to ask her about the past two years, what she had said in her dream… what Rouddy had said about her when he had gone home. But he knew better than to ask right now. The air was too charged, there was too much unsaid… and he knew if he said anything first, it would either end up in him getting pummeled, or with her leaving again. And he still had that other dream… the one with the octopuses.

Lina stared at the blonde. Normally, she would have climbed across the table and proceeded to beat Gourry over the head for that sort of answer, but this time, she simply closed her eyes and shook her head. “You know, Gourry… I keep forgetting that you’re a direct descendant of Cepheid. Of course this sort of thing would be in your family.”

Amelia and Zelgadis looked to each other. The way Lina was acting was beginning to give them both a bad case of nerves. Amelia turned to Lina and managed the question nervously. “What is that stone, Miss Lina?”

“It’s a very powerful amulet, Amelia. You see, a long time ago, during the Wars, pools of magic were formed when spells were created. Some sorcerers ‘soaked’ stones in these pools of magic to create very powerful amulets for many uses. Most of the stones were destroyed, and the magic pools dispersed over time. But a few of the stones escaped destruction. Mostly the ones that were created with pools of what we now know as the Sealed Magics,” Lina replied.

“Sealed Magics? Miss Lina, do you mean Cephied’s Holy spells?” Amelia asked, leaning forwards in her chair.

“Not only those magics, but countless other magics as well,” Lina said, looking into the fiery depths of the golden topaz.

Zelgadis lifted an eyebrow. “And that particular stone is…?”

Lina smiled faintly, a mysterious little smile that would have had all the hair on Zelgadis’ head standing on end, if it wasn’t already doing so. “This, Zelgadis, is our key to Balance.”