As the group slowly made its way to Zarev, Lina used some of the gems to create a large sphere that looked a bit like frozen fire. After finishing the sphere, Lina shook away strange thoughts and directed her thoughts towards it. Xellos looked at the sphere with interest.
"Miss Lina? What is that sphere for?"
Lina took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "This alteration to me has affected my mind somewhat. This sphere holds a copy of my personality. I don't want to lose myself to this. I can use this sphere in case the alteration affects me too much to bring me back to who I really am."
Lina shook her head and placed the sphere into the shadow realm on the cart she enchanted to follow her around.
"You do realize if someone else uses that, they will act just like you?" Xellos asked.
"No one but me is meant to use it," Lina replied. "That's why it's in there."
Lina thought about the Shadow Reflector copies of her and frowned. 'It could be used to make one of them a temporary me as well. They would return and send their memories back into me and their personalities would revert. Gah! This goddess nonsense is annoying!'
Lina looked at the group and stood up.
"Okay. We're almost there. Do not destroy any books, because I need to know just how bad this situation is for me. Only go after Diol and Nali and ignore the others. I'd go with you, but there might be controls built into this body and I would start attacking you if one of those two activated them."
"So, you want this Miss Nali and Mister Diol captured alive? Is that right Miss Lina?" Xellos asked.
"That's correct Xellos. The two of them are insane and in their insanity, they have pushed things beyond belief," Lina replied. "After this nonsense is taken care of, I intend to hunt down two people who might be caught up by this craziness that had nothing to do with this. I also don't want the people who followed them hurt. Just removing the two of them should disrupt this cult once and for all. Once I have them, I should be able to imprison them so something like this can't happen ever again. Killing them will turn them into martyrs and I don't want that to happen either."
"How about I sneak in and grab the two of them? I'll also grab some of their books for you and that should take care of this little problem," Xellos offered.
"You still think that either of them have a copy of the Claire Bible?" Lina asked in amusement and shook her head. "I doubt it, but if one is there, you are welcome to it."
"Why thank you, Miss Lina. I shall be back shortly," Xellos said and left the area.
Lina sat down and closed her eyes. She quickly suppressed any magic heading into Zarev coming from her.
"Miss Lina? Why did you trust Mister Xellos on doing that?" Amelia asked.
Lina opened her eyes and gave a slight smirk to Amelia.
"He's after the Claire Bible. He doesn't know those two. This will turn out to be a complete nothing for him, but it will allow me to deal with two of my more irritating problems without a lot of fuss," Lina explained. "Although after this, Xellos will probably hunt down crazies to make sure they aren't this crazy."
"You keep calling them crazy. Why?" Zelgadis asked.
"Let's see. I encountered Diol about three years ago. That was when he first came up with the idea to turn me into a chimera. Although, this body is far better than the one he had originally planned for me. I guess he's been chasing me ever since. Although, I thought he was in jail with the bandit who hired him."
"And Nali?" Zelgadis asked.
"She's all the way insane and...believesthatI'magoddessanddeservestobeworshippedinsteadofCephiedorShabranigdo," Lina responded, rushing through the last part.
"What?" Amelia and Zelgadis asked in unison.
"Did you just say that this Nali person believes that you are a goddess and should be worshiped over other gods?" Gourry asked.
'I thought I spoke fast enough to cover it,' Lina thought and just gave a reluctant nod.
"Okay. That's....," Zelgadis stammered.
"Totally insane. You're a human being Miss Lina," Amelia continued.
"Not completely. Remember, I was turned into a chimera. One of the two ingredients used was orihalcum, the congealed blood, teeth and nails of Cephied. The other was a bit of Ruby-Eye's blood that was left over from the making of the Demon Blood Talismans," Lina admitted ruefully.
Amelia and Zelgadis looked at Lina in shock. Before anyone could make any further comments, Xellos appeared with two people tied up in ropes floating behind him. A bag was thrown over one shoulder. On his face was a very ill expression.
"Miss Lina? Did you know that this cult in Zarev worships you? The books here are copies of holy texts and spells that draw upon you."
Lina relaxed her hold on the magic and felt a few people casting spells. She just shook her head and sighed, as she took the bag from Xellos. Lina opened the book and felt her face flush with rage and embarrassment.
"Xellos? Do you recall that conversation we had about demon cultists?"
"How if gods won't help out, then why not turn to demons? Yes? What does that have to do with this situation?" Xellos asked.
"Nali here did not believe that Cephied and his followers or Ruby-Eye and his followers should be worshipped. She went out to find a new god or goddess," Lina replied.
"You? But, you are human," Xellos replied and then looked at Diol. "Why do I have the feeling that Mister Diol has a part to play?"
"Diol is obsessed with chimera research and wanted to turn me into the ultimate chimera. A bit of Ruby-Eye's blood and a chunk of orihalcum with Nali sponsoring him and you have them turning me into something that can act as a source of spells like Ruby-Eye or Cephied. Add in Nali's creation of a cult worshipping me....."
The look on Xellos' face was priceless. Lina could not recall anyone having so many expressions in so short a time. While that was going on, Lina looked at a tree that was casting a shadow over both Diol and Nali and quickly banished them to her shadow realm.
'Reina? I have sent two people into the realm that I want dealt with. They are Diol and Nali Take them and have them set to work. I'll talk with them later. Have one of the others head to Zarev and explain what happened to them.'
'Yes, mistress.'
"Hopefully, this cult will break up now that those two idiots are out of there. It's now time to track down my ex-partner and Rina Sanverse and make sure they don't get caught up this insanity," Lina stated. "Ex-partner first. I'd rather not deal.... Well, never mind. Let's go."
"Miss Lina? What are you going to do about the cult?" Amelia asked.
"Nothing. It should break up and soon there will be no one worshipping me. When that happens, I should be able to turn myself back into a human," Lina replied.
"Lady Lina? Where do you stand on the Mazkou/Shinzoku War?" Xellos asked.
"Lady Lina?" Lina replied. "I'm one-third human, one-third Mazoku, and one-third Shinzoku. I stand in the middle. If it looks like the Shinzoku will win, I'll side with the Mazoku. If it looks like the Mazoku will win, I'll side with the Shinzoku. If neither side looks like it will win, I'll stay out of the fight."
Lina got a confused look on her face and then cocked her head. "Where did that come from?"
"It sounds like your instincts told you what to say, Lady Lina," Xellos answered. 'Boy, is this completely throwing Lord Hellmaster's plans off.'
"Tell me Xellos, why did you start calling me Lady Lina, instead of Miss Lina?" Lina asked with a bit of amusement.
"Er? Well, you are a goddess and...," Xellos stammered.
Lina shook her head and walked past Xellos.
While she was walking past, she whispered, "Don't worry, Xellos. I know why. You might want to go back to Miss Lina for a while. I don't want to attract any attention, if I can help it."
"Why are we tracking down these other people?" Zelgadis asked.
"I'm trying to minimize the damage that this problem of mine will cause. Those are people who could turn into equivalents of Dark Lords like Hellmaster or Beastmaster, since they are strongly associated with me. I want to make sure it doesn't happen," Lina answered. "As to Diol and Nali, I imprisoned those two, so they can't do something like this ever again. That shadow realm is also an afterlife of sorts. Those who worship me, will go there."
Xellos followed the group and mused on the situation. 'Well, this is going to throw everything off. Gaav is not going to have an easy time with Lady Lina as she is now and Lord Hellmaster's plan requires Lady Lina to be a mortal. She also tricked me into teaching her how to protect against attacks from the astral plane. Minimizing the effects of this is a good idea. I'll have to track down Diol's notes and destroy them.'
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(Posted Wed, 15 Apr 2009 18:49)
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