Ranma winced, turning his head away from the blast crater left by Jonathan's final attack, a smoldering pit of ash and soot covered ground with still diminishing sparks of red was all that remained of the site, Julia was gone.
"Mommy?" The pained anxious voice of her child, Gina called out tentatively. The girl looked shell shocked, but even now he could see slivers of tears leaking from her expressive blue orbs.
"She.." Ranma croaked out, feelings of horror and dread welling up within him threatening to break his control over his own tears, "She's.. gone."
Theo stumbled to the crater where he fell to his knees, his eyes widening in absolute horror and shock as Ranma's words reached him and his eyes saw all that remained of his dear Julia. Nothing. She was gone. He was alone. Alone. Alone..
"JULLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLIA"
***
Julia hissed in pain as she fell to her knees, arcs of red electricity tearing across her form for a few brief moments before dissipating all together. Pain was the only thing she felt, the world around her ripped from her senses as the overwhelming encompassing pain laced through her body, nerves exploding with the sensation and threatening to knock her out.
***
Gneiss frowned, placing his feather tipped pen down as a huge discharge of magical energy reached his senses. "What the heck?" he mumbled. The energy had felt familiar, very familiar in fact. Only it had been tinged with a smothering evil.
Pushing from his desk, the aging Mage grabbed his staff and stalked from his study. "This bodes looking into."
***
Gneiss frowned as his senses returned to him from his teleportation spell. He was in a large forested area, but nothing he could see seemed out of place at all. What was it that he felt?
"Uuuunn." a pained groan reached his senses, and like a flash he focused on the voice and followed it to its owner.
Julia Brigand-Diggers, the wife and Daughter-in-law to his two favorite students of the past, Theodore and Jonathan Diggers. She was a bloody mess, much of her skin colored in blood as bright as her own scarlet mane. She was lying face down on the ground unmoving, only occasionally letting out breif groans of pain that proved to him she was still alive for the moment.
Kneeling by the woman, Gneiss spoke. "Aural Scan." and his eyes began emitting a shimmering gold light. The woman's aura snapped into his view, a dusky blue of interwoven shimmering forces. Looking over it, he was relieved to discover the woman herself wasn't damaged in the slightest, but her Aura had seemed to suffer quite the shock. It was similar to when a beginning Aura mage first overloaded his Aura trying to draw in too much magic.
Bringing his staff down, the old mage held it at the base of her neck while speaking, "Mend.", a glimmering field of white light snapped into existence around his staff, the energy slowly leaking into her aura as he channeled the power. Good, that should keep her aura from withering away should it some how be leaking.
"Need to get her to a healer." he spoke to himself as he stood up. He was about to summon more of his energy for a teleportation spell when something caught at the edge of his senses. Something had leaked from her aura into his, he had only caught it due to having his Aural Scan still activated.
Focusing internally, he was surprised to discover a magic spider matrix moving about his aura, weaving a nearly invisible gossamer web. He didn't have a clue what it was for, but he sure as heck didn't want to take a chance. Locating the spider, he weeded it out through a flash of his own aura.
Unsettled by the strange infection he had gathered, he turned his gaze back to Julia and focused his aural sight to delve even deeper then before. He nearly dropped his aural sight in shock at what he discovered.
A literal colony of similar spider matrix's had infested her Aura, already he could see most of her covered from head to toe in the odd looking gossamer webs that the spiders weaved. The creatures were small, almost on a sub-atomic level, but even now Gneiss could see the magical energy that sustained them within the woman's aura was leaking away, the spiders disappearing almost as fast as he saw they scuttle about weaving their intricate web.
"What.. the hell.." Gneiss didn't know how to describe it. Thoughts of getting Julia to a healer were forgotten, he couldn't risk whatever the heck was in the woman's aura spreading as it already could as evidenced by the fought off invasion into his own aura. He hoped making this choice wouldn't kill the woman, but even he knew the needs of the many out weighted the needs of the few.
***
Two Days Later.
Ranma stirred the fast cooking eggs hovering over the stove, but anyone who even glanced in his direction could tell his heart just wasn't into it as it use to bed. Two days. Two soul wrenching days since Julia had been killed, and the boy had found himself in the figurative hell on Earth.
Theo refused to get out of bed, not that Ranma could blame him. His wife had been killed, right before his own very eyes while he was powerless to do anything about it. The boy had complete faith that Theo would get over it in time, but the wounds were still too fresh, too new, he knew it would take time.
Brittany, bless he ignorant heart, didn't understand what was going on. He nearly cried every time she asked where her 'Momma Julia' was. He just couldn't tell her that Julia was gone, never coming back again.
Then there's Gina. The poor girl had been present when her mother had been killed; to make matters worse she was an intelligent girl even at her age, which meant he couldn't cover it up like he did Brittany. Gina knew what happened, knew her mother wasn't coming back, and it still tore him up whenever she cried in his lap. Theo was too distraught to care for his daughter, so Ranma had saddled the responsibility until the man could pull himself together, pushing aside his own mourning in favor of the two little girls who had already come to mean so much to him.
There would be time for mourning later.
"Ah.." Ranma startled, whipping around to face a short shaggy blond haired man dressed in something he immediately recognized as a mage suit while looking thoroughly sheepish.
"Who the heck are you?" he growled, moving away from the stove, his muscles tensing. It wasn't an uncommon occurrence for mages to just suddenly show up in the house, but it was common for those mages to try and cause trouble while here. Seemed Theo and.. Julia lived very interesting lives.
"Forgive me," the man put up his hands to placate the boy, "I mean no intrusion. I am Carfax, a courier of the Conclave on assignment. I have a message for Theodore Diggers concerning his wife, Julia."
Ranma's eyes widened, "WHAT!?" he vanished, appearing in front of the guy far to fast for the other man to react, "What's the message! Tell me!"
"ACK!" Carfax started struggling in the man's grip, "Ch!Choke! Can't breath!"
Ranma sighed, putting the man down before sheepishly apologizing, "Sorry.. it's been a rough few days."
"I bet." Carfax deadpanned, rubbing his neck. Man that kid had some serious strength. "Look, I'd like nothing better then to tell you, but it's against policy. I need to speak to Theodore Diggers."
"He.." Ranma sighed, "He won't speak to anyone."
"Forgive me if I don't believe you." Carfax grunted.
Shrugging, he turned and shouted "THEO! SOME ONE'S HERE TO SEE YOU!"
"TELL WHOEVER IT IS TO GO TO HELL! OR BETTER YET, BRING HIM HERE SO I CAN SEND HIM TO HELL!" an anguished scream returned his answer.
"Get it?" Ranma deadpanned.
"Crystal clear." Carfax shrugged. "Very well. Mrs. Diggers was found two days ago in the forests east of Tessa, she was wounded, but due to magical difficulties she couldn't be healed until we finished our observation. She is alive and well, and wishes to see her family immediately."
"..." Ranma looked shocked, mouth hanging open.
Carfax shrugged, leaned over and closed the man's mouth. "She's at Gneiss's tower for the time being. Toodles!" he waved his hand before vanishing in a flash of shimmering white.
Lets Look Towards
See other episodes by Matdeception
(Posted Sat, 24 Jan 2004 17:55)
Questions? Problems? Suggestions?
Send a mail to addventure@bast-enterprises.de
or use the contact form.
らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
All other series and their characters are © by their respective creators or owners. No claims of ownership of these characters are implied by the authors of this Addventure, or should be inferred.
The Anime Addventure is a non-profit site.