Chaos Ascendant

Chapter 5

The key to balance, Lina had called it. Zelgadis called it a large yellow rock. Amelia called it chunky. Gourry called it the SunStone. Truthfully, the word Gourry had used was in the strange wind-flute language of the Mipross Elves. Lina had been the one to translate it into ‘SunStone’ for the others.

Any way it was named, they all agreed that from the seemingly inert yellow topaz emanated a more than vague sense of power.

At length, Lina sighed and put the stone down gently on the table. “It’s only part of the key, though. We still have to find the other parts.”

Amelia looked to the redhead in confusion. “I don’t understand, Lina. How can an old magical rock be much of a key to anything?”

In lieu of a verbal answer, Lina reached across the table and rested her fingers on Amelia’s hand. She cupped her other hand around the stone and then looked to Amelia.

To the Princess of Saillune, Lina’s touch went from a simple physical sensation to something far deeper. The magic reached out from the stone and through Lina, grabbing Amelia up in a raging torrent of power, which Amelia felt all the way down to her soul. Raw and untempered, the magic was wild, yet had the same feeling as when she had first met Luna Inverse. It felt… right somehow.

To Zelgadis and Gourry’s sight, the stone within Lina’s hand had remained simply a rock. However, the chimera was aware of something dancing just beyond his reach on the Astral Plane. It was almost as if Lina and Amelia were summoning something but did not have all the power required to do so, even though he knew far better.

Amelia’s eyes widened, and Lina released both girl and stone. “Do you see now, Amelia?”

Wordlessly, Amelia nodded, the full meaning of the powers within the stone still working its way through her mind. If that stone was all that she thought it was… perhaps a cure for Zelgadis was within reach, just as the Lord of Nightmares had suggested. Maybe… just maybe, they could find a way to tap into the powers within the stone…

Amelia’s train of thought was de-railed as a voice caused everyone to turn from the table, and the princess felt that old familiar chill as her blood ran cold in her veins.

“That is nothing for children to play with. I will take it now.”

Lina scowled at the figure in red which so closely resembled Kira Inverse. Oddly, while she had been afraid of her sister, this figure, while imposing, had none of the fear-inspiring traits that Luna had. And so, it was relatively easy to favor the woman standing there with a very dark look as she spoke. “Go back to the Hell that you crawled out of, Knight of Shabranigdo, and leave us alone.”

Amelia and Gourry blinked. They hadn’t been privy to the events of earlier, and they didn’t know that this wasn’t Kira. The both of them were under the impression that this was simply Kira doing her job as the Knight of Shabranigdo.

“But, Miss Lina,” Amelia began hesitantly, defaulting to her old way of addressing Lina. “Isn’t that Lady Kira?” Delicately, Amelia began to open her senses to the figure before she felt a barrier wall snap into place and realized with a jolt that both Lina and Zelgadis had moved to the defense.

Fiery crimson eyes locked on ice cold ones, and Lina’s voice grew dark. “That’s not Kira. It only looks like her. She is no more Kira than the Chaos Knight was me that time everyone ended up on the Sea of Chaos.”

Silence fell in the room as Amelia put the puzzle together. “Oh… Oh no! That means…!” Suddenly the princess was very glad that Lina and Zelgadis had cast the protection spells they had. The only thing was that the levels of magic building in the room were beginning to suffocate her. She envied Gourry the partial resistance his elven blood granted him.

Lina nodded, not taking her eyes off of the Knight of Shabranigdo. “Yes it does.” She lifted the stone in her hand, smiling dangerously. “I think I’m going to send this somewhere safe.” A golden shimmer formed around the stone, and it faded from sight. “You might find it, Knight of Shabranigdo, but I very seriously doubt that you’ll be able to take it away from where it went.” She watched with a smirk as the other Knight vanished from sight. “Well. It’s about to get very interesting.” She stood and looked at the confused group. “Shall we go?”

Far away, in the city of New Sairaag, a raven-haired girl was busying herself with her chores. Sylphiel nels Rada was cheerful, even though all that she had been through. She’d learned how to be stronger as she helped rebuild her city, and held no animosity for any of those involved with the events that had destroyed it.

She was a gentle and loving girl. Sometimes, to a fault. She couldn’t cast a flare arrow to save her life, but she was fairly good at the Dragon Slave. She was perfectly aware that this made little to no sense, but she didn’t let it bother her.

In fact, she wasn’t even bothered by the fact that a large yellow gemstone had appeared out of nowhere and clonked her on the head. She just caught it and looked at it thoughtfully, considering that Lina Inverse must have sent it to her, and no doubt the sorceress was caught up in yet another adventure.

“Ah well,” Sylphiel sighed with a smile as she set the gemstone in her laundry basket. “I haven’t seen Lina in a while. I wonder if Gourry dear will be with her…?” She picked up the basket and made sure none of the clothing was hanging out. “It’s a good thing I did laundry. I suppose I ought to pack…” She turned back towards her house, and paused. “Now that’s odd… I could have sworn that I heard a voice…” She looked around in confusion and seeing no one, continued back, only to come to a complete stop before her front door.

A woman who looked a good deal like Lina Inverse was standing there in what Sylphiel could only call red armor. “Oh! Hello… but you aren’t Miss Lina. Are you related? You look just like her.”

Cold crimson eyes narrowed. “Give me the stone.”

Wide blue eyes blinked once, then twice. “Stone? Oh! This?” She reached into her basket and picked it up to show the other woman. Now that she could only use one hand to hold the basket, she shifted its weight to her hip, resting her hand against the bottom of the basket and gripping the wand in her belt for support.

The woman who looked like Lina made a lunge for Sylphiel, and it startled the cleric enough that she called her own defensive magic around her.

The effect was, for once, quite impressive.

A brilliant white shield formed before her, a gentle voice whispering words that Sylphiel had never heard, yet understood. She felt the magic swirl around her, felt the stone within her hand suddenly burst into magical life and saw the effect it had on the other woman.

Fire flared out from the Knight of Shabranigdo’s fingers, but the brilliant shield absorbed the flames, leaving Sylphiel unharmed. The light grew brighter, and Sylphiel felt as if someone were standing beside her. She turned to see who it was, and with a shock, realized that the shield was being cast by a woman in silvery-white who looked exactly like she did.

Before Sylphiel could begin to come up with a thought, someone else had appeared between herself and the strange woman in red: Lina Inverse.

All of this happening so suddenly proved to be too much for the gentle cleric, and she swayed slightly, crumpling into the waiting arms of the solid chimera who had appeared behind her.

Zelgadis sighed, catching Sylphiel easily. “She still hasn’t changed.”