Lina could see how her friend's vitality was dying away slowly. And there was nothing she could do.
Amelia, her cheerful, spunky friend, who had always stood up for friendship and justice, was dying in her arms.
A resolute expression appeared on Lina's face. No! Not if she had anything to say about it!
Deep within her, she knew that what she was about to do was wrong. The damage she might cause might not only harm her and her friends, but maybe even all of Azeroth. But she just couldn't let Amelia die.
She put her hand on the mortal wound on her friend's chest and called out a simple phrase:
"VITAMIN B!!"
A soft glow surrounded the princess of Azeroth, and within seconds, the blood vanished from her body. Lina could watch how the wound was closing. and shortly after that, Amelia started breathing again.
Amelia opened her eyes. "M-Miss Lina... Wha... what the...?" She stared down at her chest in disbelief and then at her friend.
"What... What have you DONE??"
Lina didn't reply. She stood up from the ground and looked over to the Dark Portal. The forces of the Alliance were swiftly losing the battle. She noticed how the last of the knights that had formed a protective ring around her and Amelia fell under the axe blow of an Orc.
Lina quickly killed the Orc with her blade and gestured over to where the last few knights were fighting alongside Zelgadis and Gourry. She pointed at them with her right index finger and shouted:
"IT IS A GOOD DAY TO DIE!!"
For a short instance, a strange... TWITCH was going through reality. The bodies of the fighting men were engulfed in the same strange light that had appeared during Amelia's miraculous recovery, and for a while, they staggered around dizzily.
The Orcs and Trolls decided to use that apparent moment of vulnerability and attacked the humans with all their might.
Every single one of their axes and curved blades hit their targets... but they harmlessly bounced off the humans' bodies. One of the knights cried out and slashed at one of the Orcs... and the green-skinned warrior fell down as if he was struck by lightning.
The CHEAT had turned them invincible and at the same time, raised their attack power immensely.
Lina ignored Amelia's frightened shiver and pointed at her with her sword, while at the same time, her left finger pointed at the Gryphon Riders, which were still trapped underneath the magical net.
"IT IS A GOOD DAY TO DIE!" she once again shouted, and the miracle recurred: The bodies of Amelia, the gryphons and the dwarves got surrounded by a shining aura, and then Sky'Ree let out a shrill scream as he flew upwards... and the second his wings were touching the magical net, it completely disappeared.
The dragons attacked the gryphons and their riders savagely, but not even their hot fire breath was able to harm them now. The winged mounts of the dwarves were taking a bloody revenge for the death of their fallen comrades.
"Lina, what... what just happened?" Amelia muttered again. She was afraid. That power her friend had just shown... it almost seemed... unearthly.
"Come, follow me!" Lina said and gestured at the portal. "It's not over yet!"
The red-haired sorceress plowed through the Horde troops like a berserker, until she met with her friends in front of the portal.
Gul'dan was nowhere to see, although Lina had hoped she could finally pay him back for what he had done to her. But now she had other problems to worry about.
The Ogre Magi had already detected them and threw an amount of runes on the ground in front of them. Gourry gave off a loud battle cry and ran right through the magical land mines. Whenever he stepped on a rune, it erupted in an enormous, magical explosion, but his body stayed unharmed. Zelgadis and Lina were right behind him, and when their blades struck the Ogres, their massive bodies fell down on the spot.
Still, Lina had forgotten one little detail: She hadn't used the Cheat on herself, so she wasn't invulnerable against the powerful punch one of the Ogres suddenly threw at her. The force of the blow threw her backwards, and all of a sudden, she found herself near the portal.
Gourry avenged her by slicing through the Ogre as if he was a piece of butter, but that didn't help Lina right now, as the strong suction of the dark maelstrom within the portal pulled her closer and closer.
And just as she thought she couldn't make it, Zelgadis appeared in front of her. He reached out for her, and Lina grabbed his hand, so he could pull her to safety.
When they were out of the portal's reach, they fell down on the ground and panted heavily.
Zelgadis grinned. "Looks I saved your precious ass this time!"
Lina blinked in confusion. Since when did Zel talk in such a manner?
She shrugged and stood up. As she took a good look around, she noticed that the battle was over. Up in the air, Kurdran just defeated the last dragon by throwing his hammer at it.
After the Magi's death, all of the remaining Orcs had decided to skedaddle. The Alliance had won this battle.
But for what a price... Of all the Alliance's warriors, only four knights, two Gryphon Riders and Lina and her friends had survived.
"Just... just tell me one thing," Zelgadis said and looked at Lina firmly. "What did you just do?"
Lina looked at him sadly. The feeling of triumph she was supposed to feel wasn't coming.
"Something I should have never done, Zel..." she said in a quiet voice.
A short while later, they met next to the Dark Portal, just far enough so the suction of evil couldn't reach them.
"It... it is over," Amelia said in a small voice.
"Is it?" Lina said. She was feeling tired. She didn't even look at her friends. She was crouching on the grass and just looked down at the ground.
Gourry nodded. "Yes, we have won. The Orcs have fled and my father's mages will be able to destroy the portal as soon as they get here. We... we couldn't have done it without your help..."
Lina sighed. What was she supposed to do with such a win? It wasn't worth anything. For just a little moment, she lost her self-control... and all was over. Months of preparation, and it was all in vain...
"May... may I ask you something, Miss Lina?" Amelia asked carefully.
Lina nodded. "Sure! But call me 'Miss' again and I'll kick you!"
Amelia winced. "S-sure, Lina... as you wish. Um, it... it's kinda hard for me to ask this, but... it is something that all of us have been wondering, after today's battle."
"And what might that be?" Lina asked. She had a bad feeling about this.
Amelia took a deep breath and asked: "Are you a goddess?"
The question hit Lina like a blow. "What... whatever made you think THAT?" she murmured.
"Because only a god or goddess is able to do the things you have just done," Kurdran said in a firm voice.
"I can assure you, I am neither," Lina sighed. "I am just... an adventurer who's able to do a few tricks..."
"But... what you did CAN only be the result of divine intervention," Gourry insisted. "Today's victory was a miracle, Lina... we were practically doomed. Until you pulled your so-called 'trick'."
"So it might seem to you," Lina said while shaking her head. "But where I'm from... anyone can do these things..."
"Where you are from?" Zelgadis came closer. His eyes narrowed. "Where is that? You never told us."
"And I won't do it now, so don't bother, my friend."
"I am not... your FRIEND!" Zelgadis spat and turned around angrily. Lina winced under his words.
"Why are you like this, Zel?" she asked and stood up. "I mean, we have been friends for months, right? Without my help, you would have died tonight."
"And the lives of how many people could you have saved?" the chimera grumbled under his breath. "If you had the power?"
"What... what are you saying?" Lina muttered and took a step backwards.
"You know very well what I mean!" Zelgadis shouted. "You're playing our hero! The savior! But our lives actually don't mean anything to you, am I not right? All of this is nothing but a big GAME to you, right?"
"Zelgadis!" Gourry shouted angrily. "Cut that out!"
"How many battles have you witnessed, Lina?" Zelgadis asked. "How many brave men and women have you seen dying? How many villages have you seen being ransacked and burnt down by Orcs and Trolls? How many mothers have cried for their sons and husbands while YOU COULD HAVE PREVENTED ALL OF THAT WITH A SINGLE WORD?"
"But... but it's not like that..." Lina said weakly while staggering back.
'It's much worse...' she thought. 'Without me, none of this would have ever happened...'
"Now shut that mouth of yours, Greywords!" Gourry snarled and drew his blade. "One more word and I swear, I'll make sure you regret it!"
"Let... let him be, Gourry..." Lina murmured. "I... I can't blame him. Maybe he is right... he can't understand..."
Gourry lowered his blade in confusion. "Um... to be honest, Lina. neither can I. I mean, is he actually right? Could you have prevented it?"
Lina was reluctant to answer. But finally, she gave him a sad nod. "Yeah... maybe I could have. But I never should. I shouldn't have done what I did today either."
"What else can be worse than killing our wives and children?" Kurdran muttered with a frown.
"But you don't have family..." Lina muttered to herself. "Not really..."
"What are you talking about?" Amelia asked in confusion.
She carefully gestured over to the dark swirling of the portal. "Does it... does it have anything to do with that thing? And where it leads?"
Lina gave her the hint of a smile. "You're a smart girl, Amelia..." she said.
"Is that the place where you came from?" Amelia asked. "The place where everyone has the powers of a god?"
"Yes," Lina sighed. "Only that no one really is a god out there... some believe they are, but they actually are just idiots..."
"Another world..." Zelgadis whispered. Then he scowled and drew his blade. "The world you came from... And the Orcs and Ogres and all the other monsters!"
Lina let out a gasp when she realized just HOW big the mistake she made was. But it was too late.
Zelgadis screamed like a madman, jumped at Lina and rammed against her body, which sent her flying. Lina tried grabbing on to something, but the pull of the dark vortex behind her was too powerful. Amelia and Gourry came running to help her, but before they could reach their friend, she got pulled backwards and fell into the undulant darkness behind the portal...
With an loud scream, Minako Aino pulled the head-mounted display from her head. Angrily, she gave the desk she had been sitting in front of for the last few hours a kick, which almost made the computer and monitor that were standing on it bounce.
"OH THAT GODDAMN BASTARD!" she shouted while jumping out of her chair and hammering on the wooden surface of the desk. "THAT WRETCHED, SNEAKY, BACKSTABBING SON OF A BITCH! That... that..."
She couldn't find another word to express her anger at what Zelgadis had done to her high-leveled sorceress character. She gave the desk another kick, but that didn't really help, it only made her foot hurt.
Finally she picked up the helmet in which the head-mounted display was integrated and almost slammed it down to the ground in her anger, when suddenly, a voice behind her exclaimed:
"I believe the word you are looking for is 'treacherous scoundrel', isn't it? Oh, and before you damage the helmet, keep in mind that its value corresponds to an amount of Yen worth approximately twenty-four years of allowance."
Minako gulped, carefully put down the helmet and turned around with a nervous grin. "Hehehehehe... Hi, daddy..."
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(Posted Tue, 19 Jun 2007 19:34)
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