Pilgrimage – The Beginning
Part Two
It’s
been several months since Lina… died. We laid her to rest in the frozen
north, forever captured within a variation of the Dynast Breath spell.
I enchanted an amulet to continually hold a Grey Buster spell in place,
and the frozen crystal grave was complete. In retrospect, I can only surmise
that Zelgadis was too numb from shock to realize what I was doing. You
see, I’d cast a Resurrection spell on Lina just before I’d locked her in
the crystal. In effect, I’d saved her life… only to lock her away alive
within a prison of ice.
I couldn’t
bear to feel her die.
Even
now, I’m vaguely aware of her, that link diminished over time and distance.
But I can still feel a vagueness of her presence when I am tired, just
before I fall asleep.
I remember
the horror that washed over her, snapping her back into herself when the
Demon King forced her to stab Gourry.
Gourry
leapt for Lina, intent on knocking her out again. “Amelia! We have to do
some-!”
Those
blank eyes were turned to him, white-gloved hands holding the dagger that
was firmly embedded under his breastplate armor.
The color
drained from his face and he staggered back, the dagger still in her hands,
his blood staining her gloves. “Lina…” Gourry said, staggering forward,
obviously in pain, but still unwilling to give up on her.
I felt
the angry rush of despair crash through her, felt her draw upon the power
of Chaos within her and displace the Demon King. I knew it was only temporary,
and I started to run towards her. If only I could get to her before the
Demon King took over!
Like
a bad dream, everything moved in slow motion. Zelgadis was at Gourry’s
side, casting a recovery spell to heal the dagger-wound, but Lina… Lina
looked at her hands and the dagger. Gourry’s blood… on my gloves…
She turned the dagger, as if looking at it. But I sensed it, through the
strange link that had formed; I knew what she was going to do.
I screamed
and Zelgadis turned to see as Lina brought the dagger to her chest. A fleeting
thought touched my mind, and suddenly time moved too fast for me to catch
her. The dagger found its home, and she started to fall.
Zelgadis
and Gourry both moved like lightning, catching her before she hit the ground.
But it was too late; she’d known precisely where to place the blade. Even
if I could save her… the Demon King would take over. I ran up to them,
tears streaming down my cheeks.
She smiled
so slightly, whispering, “I’m sorry…” before slipping into that bleak darkness
that precedes death.
But I
couldn’t let her go. I cast the resurrection spell as I pulled out the
dagger, and pretended that it was too late. I lied to Zelgadis and Gourry,
drawing on my inner anger to cast the Dynast Breath and encase her in crystal
ice.
I alone
knew that she was still alive.
Lost
in that twilight, suspended between life and death, but ultimately still
alive.
In the
months that passed, we continued to travel. I know that Zelgadis blamed
himself, as much as I tried to tell him that it wasn’t anything that he
had done.
“Damn
it, Amelia! Don’t you see? The only reason we headed in that direction
to begin with was because Lina had heard of a lost library that supposedly
had texts on chimeras.”
I sighed,
looking at Zelgadis. Anger burned in his eyes, his very stance stiff and
angry. “But, Zelgadis… we couldn’t have known. We all made mistakes that
day… it’s not any one person’s fault!”
“Guys,
don’t fight. There’s no point to it. Lina’s gone,” Gourry’s voice was empty,
and I longed to tell him the truth: that Lina was only suspended between
life and death until I could figure out a way to release her from the Demon
King’s possession.
I looked
over to Gourry. He’d lost some weight, lost that light in his eyes that
had shone so fiercely before. He was alive in body, but his spirit had
taken a hard blow… to reveal the lie would only do more harm. With a sigh,
I shook my head.
Something
flashed through the link, as if Lina had saved up her energy and sent me
a wealth of information. I blinked, absorbing it and understanding.
I stood
and looked to my two remaining companions. “I’m going back. I’m going back
to the castle. There’s something that I must do. For Lina.”
I couldn’t
explain it to them, they wouldn’t understand. But somehow I knew that I
must do something, and I knew how to do it. It would cripple me for years,
but that was a small price to pay for what I had to do.
I had
to destroy the Demon King of the North.
And Lina
had told me how.
I went
to the town’s magic shop and spent more money than I had ever seen Lina
possess. Even Zelgadis’ eyebrows went up when the shopkeeper finally calculated
the price. I paid it without word, signing the document and pressing the
Seal of Saillune into the wax. My Daddy would pay it and complain about
it later.
I didn’t
let it bother me.
The next
stop was a clothier’s. I exchanged my old white and pink outfit for a blue
tunic and solid black pants. Over the tunic went a tight black bodice and
then a belt, which housed the only weapon that I would ever allow myself
to touch: the weapon that would help put an end to the Demon King.
If it
hadn’t been Lina, I never would have touched the dagger. The reasons aren’t
important. They belong to a different story.
At my
throat went a talisman that supposedly came from the Kataart Mountains
area, and thought to be a fragment of the Water Dragon King. It felt familiar,
like the touch of Auntie Aqua’s hand on my shoulder, so I almost believed
it.
Bracers
went around my wrists, laced tight and with inlaid orihalcon tracing the
magical runes and symbols that I had dictated to the crafter. They were
Chaos wards, expressly designed for one use.
A black
cloak completed the clothing, but mine wasn’t nearly as impressive as Lina’s.
Silver threads worked quiet spells around me, weaved into the fabric as
it was created. I did not flinch at the cost. The work was well done, the
Workings held true.
At this
point, Zelgadis was obviously alarmed, but tactfully saying nothing. He
still hadn’t deciphered what I was doing, even though the clues weren’t
hidden from him.
In the
morning, I finished my preparations and went for one last purchase: a half-staff
of oak wood. This was less a necessity, and more a trivial item designed
for me alone. I had an orihalcon gem setting placed in the end and put
a special sapphire in the metal working. While the link with Lina was still
active, there was a tiny spark of life within the gem. It alone could tell
me when it was time. But that role would be played out in the years to
come… after I succeeded in my duty.
Standing
in the road, looking out towards the Kataart Mountains, I was nothing remotely
like the girl who had limped into the town a week ago, crying and lost,
weeping for the loss of her friend. My dedication and decision had changed
me in that week, forcing me to grow into shoes that I had never intended
to wear, but now fit all too well.
I had
stepped away from white magics and become a sorceress.
Zelgadis
walked up and looked at me quietly, those silent eyes taking in my change
and one stony eyebrow lifted as his eyes met mine. “You can’t become a
sorceress in one day, Amelia.”
I smiled
thinly. It wasn’t a pretty smile, and I could tell that it left him decidedly
uneasy. “I am what I am, Zelgadis. And I am royally pissed off.”
Gourry
was completely clueless, and had managed to arrive for my last comment.
With a frown, he scratched his head. “But you are Royalty, Amelia…”
I turned,
not even phased by Gourry’s non sequitur. “Yes, I am, Gourry. Yes, I am,”
Straightening my shoulders, I started to walk back towards the castle.
I had a date with a Demon.
The trip
to the castle was a quiet one, Zelgadis and Gourry each lost to whatever
thoughts that they might have had about this. As for myself, I focused
on the task at hand, preparing myself mentally for what was to come. I
would have to challenge the Demon King of the North in his own castle,
for he could not leave the grounds. I was pretty sure that he couldn’t
leave that room, and I knew that I couldn’t let him touch me. If he touched
me, it was over. So that wasn’t an option.
At the
gates of the castle, I turned and looked at Zelgadis and Gourry. “You don’t
have to come any further. This isn’t your fight.”
Gourry
looked to me, and for the first time in a week, I saw the old light flash
in his eyes. “That monster took Lina away. That makes it my fight.”
Zelgadis
simply nodded in concurrence. He didn’t need to say anything.
I nodded
and turned back to the gates. “Then the line is drawn here. So it begins.”
The room
hadn’t changed; had I expected it to? Perhaps, but perhaps not. As I entered
the room, the wards woven into the cloak began to glow, casting an eerie
light about me. They were, however, for more than just effect: they allowed
me to see without casting a Light spell.
Zelgadis
obliged, however, and the secondary wards in the cloak began the near futile
effort of keeping me protected.
“Demon
King of the North, prepare yourself. I’m sending you back to the hell that
you came from.”
And so
I began the spell. Silent at first, the words only within my mind. I could
not let them know what it was that I was casting until it was beyond the
point where they could stop me.
I drew
the dagger, focusing my will into it, keeping just out of the reach of
the Demon King who glared at me in impotent fury. He knew.
Mother
of all Creation, shining gold on the dark sea of Chaos...
Lord
of Nightmares, heed my call.
My voice
was a whisper now, the words that must be vocalized would be. I had to
embrace the chaos within me, that force of will which allowed me to have
no nature but that which I chose, that force of Self which was alien to
the Demons and the Dragons, alien to the Mazoku, but such an integral part
of us Humans.
“Let
rise Your wrath against one who has opposed you.”
The dagger
in my hand began to glow with a faint yellow sheen. It was working.
“Grant
me the Sword of Darkness and Chaos.”
I heard
Zelgadis’ sharp intake of breath as he realized what it was that I was
doing: I was casting the Laguna Blade with an oath bond. My very nature
would change, and with that, my magic.
“I pledge
myself to you, bind myself to you!”
The words
were loud now, the power swallowing me, catching me in waves and washing
over me. But I knew to focus on the dagger until the magic path was laid
clear.
“Let
our power become one as we walk the path of destruction!”
Gourry
clued in, horror etching itself across his face. “Amelia!!”
“By your
great power, let us deliver the final blow!” I cried as Zelgadis grabbed
Gourry, keeping the swordsman from reaching me.
“It’s
too late!” I heard him call to Gourry just as I called the blade from nothingness.
“Laguna
Blade!”
It hurt
to look at it, the darkness laced with yellow fire. I felt it reach within
me for my emotions, and suddenly I understood. Chaos was the product of
rampant Human emotions… which Mazoku and the others could never understand.
Willingly I gave it my love, my despair, my pain at losing Lina.
The Blade
answered my heart, and with my bracers shining brightly, I swung the Blade
down upon the Demon King of the North.
For a
moment, a brief shimmer of the One shone in my mind, and then the Blade
cut through the Demon King and darkness swallowed us all.