On the other side of town, far away
from the little grove of trees that Lina was searching through for Zelgadis, a
certain chimera sat on the bank of a river and tossed stones into the swirling
water. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do about this latest… disaster. It
wasn’t as if he could walk away this time. Rezo’s spell guaranteed that he’d
see her again, in one world or the other. He’d honestly expected her to
fireball him, not just sit there and scream. He closed his eyes, leaning against
the boulder that he had sat beside. It wasn’t as if he had even been able to
enjoy the thought of falling asleep beside her. He’d been too bloody tired. And
now, he was too put out.
Footsteps falling caught his
attention, and he opened his eyes, knowing who it was by the pattern of the
steps, slowly turning his head along the boulder to see Lina approaching
quietly. Her hands were clasped tightly, head high, and as she approached him,
he became aware that something wasn’t quite right. There was a major buildup of
unreleased power around her, almost crackling in its intensity. As she got
closer, he could see it in her eyes – she was fighting the spell that was
trying to take her Astral again. He stood, turning to look at her in concern,
and as she neared him, she opened her mouth. That simple action on her part
cost her the concentration that kept the spell from taking her.
She didn’t get the words out before
she fell to the ground.
She hit the stone floor of Rezo’s
tower hard, and sat up, cursing the spell Rezo had cast. Of all the inopportune times to come yank me into this place… I could
have at least had the chance to apologize first! She stood, looking around
to see that she was in Zelgadis’ room… and he was still on the stone slab. Only
this time, he was sitting there, looking at her calmly.
She blushed involuntarily and started towards the door. “Sorry…” She muttered, but his hand caught hers, stopping her.
“Wait. This makes the third time you
have been here. Now I want to know what is going on.” His voice was quiet,
still as emotionless as when they had first met, but he had asked her…
She turned, pulling her hand
self-consciously out of his grasp. “I… I wish I knew. All I know is that I’m
trying to find the keys to a cure… and so far I’m doing nothing but screwing
everything up!”
“Your friend. The chimera.”
She blushed deeply. “Yeah… him,” Get a grip on yourself, Lina! Standing
here, talking to the ghost of the past isn’t going to help you any… or will it?
Something flashed within her mind, a piece of the puzzle starting to take
shape. So far, I’ve met two different
aspects of Zelgadis on the Astral Plane… and Rezo. I’ve interacted in what
seemed to be memories… when I shouldn’t be able to do that!
She looked at him for a moment. “Why
did you try to kill yourself, Zelgadis?”
Surprise rippled across him, and he
stepped back. Coldness settled over his features, and he folded his arms. “What
do you care?”
It fell out of her mouth before she
could stop herself. “I care because I don’t want you to kill yourself before I
can put you back together!”
Lina froze, the puzzle piece not
only forming in her mind, but falling into place. “That’s it! That’s how he did
it! By the Holy Priest, he really did it!!”
He stared at her, muted confusion in
his eyes. “Did what? Who?”
“I’ve figured out the keys to the
curse!” Lina shouted. “You, you’re the key. Well… one of them, at any
rate,” she grinned. “See, in order to
protect you from Shabanigdo and to allow you to have the chance at undoing the
curse, Rezo separated you!” She started to bounce around as she explained.
“You’re the stone golem, which explain why you don’t sleep, why your room looks
like this… and why your emotions and social skills are… somewhat lacking.”
He stared at her as she started pacing
now, considering out loud the pieces of the spell. “The demonic form that we
fought must be the Mazoku. That’s the rage and the power… and also the tie-in
to Shabranigdo, so he’s by far the most dangerous,” She paused, looking at him.
“But I’ll bet that you haven’t met him. Anyway, that leaves… the human. But I
still haven’t found him…”
The stone expression hadn’t changed.
“You make no sense.”
Lina grinned at him, undaunted. “Of
course I don’t make sense! You’re only a third of the whole thing! Stay put.
I’ll be back!”
She closed her eyes in
concentration, and gave the magic around her something to consider. There was a
subtle shift, and suddenly a snap. In a flood of magic, she wasn’t under the
possession of the spell any longer. She was the one in possession of it.
She pulled free from the Astral
moment and checked herself. She had plenty of time to stay astral. With a
thought, she cast herself through the spell in search of the human aspect.
In retrospect, she should have known
where he was. Landing at the foot of the large tree beside Rezo’s tower, she
looked up at the bottom of his feet.
“There you are,” she said.