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As soon as she looked into the princess's despairing and hopeless eyes, she knew something bad had happened.
‘”Amelia, what happened?” She immediately walked over to the girl sitting on the wall and grabbed her by the shoulders.
“Mister Zelgadis... left us again…" She uttered these words in a voice so full of regret that Lina thought for a moment that her heart would break.
“A complete idiot. Did he find a temple in the area again?”
"Miss Lina, he's really not coming back this time." Two tears rolled down the girl's cheeks. “He's going to the Tower of No Return. Miss Lina, you know what that means, don't you?
Lina swore loudly. Of course, she knew. A tower on the outskirts of Lecikeds, the city of death, home to a nameless creature living on the border of four dimensions. A being that promises the fulfillment of every wish. From which no one has ever returned.
"Miss Lina, I..." She broke into spasms of tears. "I tried to do everything to turn him back. I even confessed my feelings to him. And he…” The tears flowed down her cheeks in two streams. “He thanked me and left…”
In an instant, the girl's gaze became even more desperate.
“Miss Lina, I know he doesn't love me back, but I want him to live.” She grabbed the older sorceress by the hands. “To live and be finally happy. Miss Lina, only you can stop him. I beg you, do not let him go to a voluntary death…”
Lina watched her friend wordlessly.
"Of course, I won't let that hooded head do it! Don't worry Amelia! A beautiful and brilliant master of black magic will see to fix this his head of stone” Said the red-haired girl with a smile.
Only then did the princess' face lighten up a bit. A hope appeared once again in those sad blue eyes.
“Thank you! Thank you, Miss Lina!” Amelia threw herself on Lina's neck and clung to her tightly. For a few more minutes the sorceress calmed down the younger girl, arranging a plan in her head according to which she could have a chance to catch Zelgadis before the man achieved his goal.
***
“ Zel!” She called, seeing a figure dressed in white in the distance.
No reaction.
“Zel, I’m fucking telling you to stop!”
Only then did he turn around and looked into her eyes. Lina shivered as she saw his gaze. Full of darkness, hatred towards the world and yourself. Determined. Ready for everything.
At the same time, she also felt a surge of rage. How dare he? How dare he not even say goodbye to her. How dare he push her away so much?
"You bloody moron, what are you thinking?!” She took a few steps, standing right in front of him. "Leaving without a single word! Do you know what I had to do to reach you?!”
“Why do you care?” His voice was as cold as when they first met.
"Stop acting like a complete jerk." The sorceress growled. "Have you hit this stone head of yours?" How could you treat Amelia like that? You're not going to tell me that you've really lost your mind and are really going to the Tower of No Return, are you?
"Yes, I'm going to the Tower of No Return, and I'm asking again, why do you care?"
Those words made Lina flinch.
“Zell, what happened?”
“It's quite easy. I'm fed up with this life. There are two options. Regardless of what would happen the Lord of the Tower of No Return will solve my problem. “
“Your problem? What problem, Zel? You live, you breathe, as long as you do, everything is fine. Anything can happen. But when you stop breathing, it's all over. Nothing will be able to change. Why do you wish for such an end?”
“Lina, my life is not up for discussion. My life, my choice. Respect that.”
"I'm supposed to respect that you actually want to commit a suicide? You gotta be kidding me. I won't let you.”
A fireball appeared in her hand.
"I don't want to hurt you, Lina." He replied in a bored tone.
“Then come with me. Please.”
Something clicked in Lina. "Please" uttered in a pleading tone? By her? What had happened to her?
The answer was simple. She was terrified. Terrified that Zelgadis really was ready to die. Terrified at the prospect that he might not actually be next to her.
An astonishment in the chimera's eyes showed that he was as surprised as she was. Soon, however, his face returned to coldness and indifference.
“I've already made up my mind. You're just prolonging it.”
It was the final drop that made her lose her temper.
“Fireball!”
The language of magic was the one she was most familiar with. If mere words failed, she would convey her thoughts to him in another way.
Chimera quickly dodged.
“Dam Brass!” A ball of dangerous energy flew towards her.
The inconspicuous clearing became a place of a serious magical duel. The forest instantly filled with the less powerful charms of earth, fire, air, and water shamanism. Successive evasions and careful use of offensive spells on both sides testified to the desperate nature of the fight. Neither of them wanted to kill the other. Neither wanted to give in.
“Fireball!!!” She felt it was getting harder and harder to dodge. Her magical capacity would allow her to cast spells for the next few hours, but her problem was Zelgadis' advantage in terms of speed and durability. She had miraculously avoided the previous two Shadow Snaps, but knew she might not be so lucky next time. She didn't have time to incant stronger spells. Zelgadis knew her repertoire of spells too well. She mentally cursed once more. Her magic was more powerful apart from spirit and earth shamanism, and yet he had the upper hand.
Her fireball flew straight at him.
She was sure the man would dodge again.
However, that did not happen.
The mage took the full hit, but didn't stop…
Which made him bump into her before she realized what it meant.
They began to wrestle on the cool, rain-drenched grass. A few overturns later, Zelgadis grabbed her wrists and pinned her to the ground with the weight of his body. The girl let out a cry of anger and tried to break away from him, having been completely unsuccessful. In terms of sheer physical strength, she had no chance with the chimera.
A few seconds later, she felt an unpleasant tingling sensation in her hands.
Only a moment later did she understand what Zelgadis was doing.
Using physical contact, he was introducing energy disruptions into her body, which would prevent her from using spells for the next few hours.
Which were crucial to the goal she wanted to achieve.
“You're giving up?” The mage asked quietly. His blue eyes, as always, gave her an unpleasantly penetrating look.
“Are you kidding me?!” She growled, trying to break free from his grip, in response to which the warrior only tightened his grip on her wrists.
She was completely immobilized. Her power has been blocked. Using magic was no longer an option. For the first time in a very long time, she began to panic. How was she supposed to win this fight?
"Lina, it's over." Zelgadis said calmly.
“No.”
“Lina...”
“No!” She repeated stubbornly. "I can't let you do that. I won’t allow you to do such a stupid thing!”
Those words made his till now indifferent gaze flash with anger.
“Stupid? What do you know about my life? What do you know about turning into a chimera? About life as a chimera? About constantly looking for an answer that doesn't exist?!” His anger grew with each question. The icy tone turned into a scream. “What right do you have to interfere in my life?!”
A determination still glowed in Lina's eyes.
“You have become my friend. That's enough for me. I want to help you, Zel. Why is it so hard to understand?!”
“Help? Like what? Do you have in your repertoire of spells a way to restore me to my former self? Somehow I haven’t noticed it. Or maybe you have something that can eliminate those recurring nightmares? Something to stop those hateful looks from the crowd? Something to ease the feeling of betrayal and hatred of this world? I'm listening! Can you give me something like that?!”
The cold indifference had completely vanished from his eyes. A pain, raw and hot, without any relief, without any respite. That was all that could be found in his eyes.
She immediately felt the same pain in her heart. She couldn't bear it. She couldn't bear his suffering.
Miss Lina, only you can stop him.
Only then did she understand Amelia's words.
“Myself.” The word came out of her mouth so softly that she wondered if she really had said it out loud.
“What?” He asked, as if he had misheard, though they both knew how good his hearing was.
"I can give you myself." She said a little louder, her voice sounding unsteady.
She felt her cheeks heat up, but she didn't dare look away. It was her last card. She couldn't give in to teenage reflexes now.
Especially since, for the first time during this encounter, there was a hesitation in his gaze.
“What are you talking about?”
By words, she had already achieved everything that was possible to achieve. There was only one way to relay the rest of the message.
His face hovered just above hers. The distance was so short… She only needed to muster enough courage to take this last step.
Now or never.
She lifted her head slightly and kissed him softly on the lips.
The world stopped for a moment.
After what seemed like an eternity, Zelgadis kissed back.
For those few seconds, life became wonderful, bright and wonderful.
Soon, however, the lungs began to demand oxygen and the minute of oblivion was gone along with the current of the flowing grains of sand of time.
“Do you understand? Even though you're a complete moron, I don't want to lose you.”
The grip on her wrists, to which she felt as if the blood had temporarily stopped flowing, loosened.
“Are you aware of the consequences of the words you're saying?”
“Why? You take me for a girl of loose morals who gives herself to anyone who wants to?!”
“Lina.” The man gave her a look that immediately made her serious again.
"Of course, I'm aware of what you call 'consequences' " She replied, feeling her face blush even more. “You won't disappear anymore, you won't leave me alone, you won't face your nightmares alone. We'll be together. We will live, won’t we?” She gave him an expectant look.
His eyes continued to stare at her warily for a few moments. As if he considered the possibility that, once again in his life, someone was trying to deceive him. A fear seized her again.
"Zel…" She said his name almost imploringly.
And then something strange had happened. A spark of a dark power, as delicate as a cobweb, escaped from his eyes, though he didn't seem to realize it.
In an instant, everything became clear to Lina. This was one of the ways of action of the nameless entity from the Tower of No Return. It searched for strong negative emotions in his victims, who might have been the most powerful of magicians. Hatred, shame, unfulfilled ambition, loneliness... Then he cast the subtlest of charms on these people. With low power, but extraordinary precision of placement. The spell only helped the growing feeling that lurked in the darkness of the mortal's soul.
And only an equally powerful positive emotion could overcome it.
Zelgadis' gaze finally turned warm. He released his grip on her wrists completely, then gently intertwined her fingers with his. The corners of his mouth lifted slightly before he leaned over her again and kissed her.
This kiss wasn't as innocent as the previous one. He expressed a lot with his intensity and gentleness at the same time. There was doubt and fear, but also a hope and a joyful promise.
When they finally stopped to take a breath, Zelgadis got up and offered her his hand, which the girl took with a great joy on her face.
“So you're not going anywhere, are you? I want to hear those words leaving your mouth.” Said the sorceress, giving him with a careful look.
"And hasn't my mouth given you enough reassuring already?" Zelgadis asked with a slightly malicious smile.
Lina blushed again.
"I want to hear it." She repeated, ignoring the heat around her cheeks.
The mage's smile widened as he pulled her to him by the hand he still held in his.
“I'm not going anywhere anymore.”
“And you won't disappear anymore?”
“And I won't disappear anymore.”
"And you're not going to withdraw and make up more depressing crap about yourself and stuff like that?"
“Do you still have more of these questions?” The man interrupted her in a half-weary, half-amused tone.
"Several more…" She said before resting her head lightly against his chest, where his strong heartbeat was coming from. "Don't scare me like that ever again, okay?"
The man embraced her.
“I'll do my best.”
He kissed her lightly on the forehead, then on the cheek, then after a moment's hesitation, at which the corners of his mouth turned up again, he kissed her neck.
Instantly, he felt Lina stiffen slightly in his arms. He looked at her out of the corner of his eye with a mischievous smirk.
"You're still too innocent to know exactly what it means to give your all to a guy, aren't you, Lina?"
A fearless master of black magic, the terror of bandits, the legendary Dramatta looked like the personification of red Christmas lights.
“You’re mean...” Growled a beautifully blushed girl. "I mean, it was nice, but I…"
“Relax. We will slowly work on complete fulfillment of your promise.”
If it was possible, the sorceress blushed even more.
“Zell!”
The man laughed heartily and pulled her back to him. Lina rested her head against his chest again, listening to the strong beating of his heart.
Zelgadis’ laugh…
How long had she not heard it.
She had almost forgotten how much she liked that sound.
It sounded like a sweet promise for a better tomorrow.