Chapter 7-9

The maids in the laundry room were discussing their visitor, a young boy who had found himself in a laundry basket after escaping from his supposed "naptime", an activity everyone else assumed he was doing.

Zel did very much want a cookie but they were strangers and you are never supposed to take gifts from strangers. Of course, no one was actually doing work and this was soon discovered by the head maid, Eve.

Dejected, Zel went to find his fun elsewhere. He wandered the palace looking for amusement and soon became very lost. He found himself in a lonely hallway, and started investigating the various abandoned rooms. In most rooms, there was nothing inside. In others, the furniture was musty or covered with white sheets. They were boring rooms and provided little interest to a hyper six-year-old Zel.

Meanwhile, Gourry thought it would be a good time to wake Zel up from his nap. What he found was an empty, untidy bed. He soon realized that Zel had run off, much like his adult counterpart, "Old habits die hard, huh, Zel?"

This room was less musty but it was still clear it had not been used in years. The furniture was not covered in white sheets. The queen-sized bed was made, the windows were spot-less, the wood was polished, if a touch dusty. It was taken care of but clearly not used.

To Zel's left was a dresser with a vanity. He turned to walk over to the vanity when he heard something unsticking nearby. The back of his shirt felt moist but it had not been moist seconds before. He reached his right hand behind him and felt moisture. He pulled his hand back out front and looked at it. It was wet. Wet with fresh blood. He glanced behind him. The entire back of his tunic was covered in fresh blood.

He turned back to the closed door. There was splat of blood that was the size of his back. Before his eyes, the splat grew and reached out until it covered the entire door and it kept growing, reaching out to the walls around the door. The splat ran downwards, to the floor, rushing towards him.

Zel rushed on to the bed, to get away from the surrounding blood and suddenly pinned to the bed by an unseen force. He looked up. There was now a man on top of him, holding a dagger at the zenith, readying it to strike straight at his heart.

He screamed and rolled off the bed. When he had stopped screaming, the man was still there but there was a curly haired woman under him. She was screaming and she wouldn't stop. The man wouldn't move from his position, frozen in

The vanity, he had noticed, had been untouched during the whole affair. He went up to it and looked into it. It was an ordinary mirror reflecting an ordinary room. The frame was of ivy leaves and hearts. It was polished cherry

"Please, don't say he's hurt himself," Amelia thought. They went into an abandoned hallway. Amelia did not want to be in this hallway. The reason for her distaste of the hall was at the end of the hall was her sister's old bedroom, it was now untouched mostly, except during its yearly dusting. It was in that room that her mother had died. She hoped Zel had not picked that room to entertain himself.

"You can admire yourself later, do you know...?" Lina never finished. She found that Zel was not admiring himself since his reflection did not show and neither did hers. What he was so intently watching was a man with a dagger stabbing a woman with black curly hair. Blood was spewing everywhere. Somewhere off the field of vision shown from the mirror, someone was casting a spell. This was only known because a shot of light shot from a side and hit the man. Blood splattered on the wall and a few drops landed on the mirror's surface.

The other two had also come in. Gourry's face was a mask of horror and disgust. Amelia's face wore a mask of sadness and fury. She grabbed Zel by the shoulders and turned him to face her, while screaming, "How dare you enter this room and show us this? To torture me?! I hate you!" Sobbing, she ran out of the room. Zel, after a moment of hesitation, quietly followed.

She sharply snapped, "Don't try that being cute trick on me! It's not going to work!" Zel said nothing. Amelia shoved Zel's hand off her knee and stood. She strode over to the window. She noticed where the new wall had been placed after Zel so carelessly blew it up. She scowled. She wasn't even in any danger at the time! She said to Zel, "Don't say you understand how I feel, because you don't!" She turned to him. Part of her was distressed that she was screaming at some poor kid that didn't even understand death yet, much less assassination. "You're just some stupid kid who grew into an uncaring, cowardly adult. He wanted too much of what he didn't feel like earning and deserve every torment he gets. So, don't you dare try the cute trick!"

"My mother! Alright! My mother was killed by an assassin hired by one of my late uncles! Why am I even bothering?! This going straight over your head and it's not like you care, you selfish brat!" She again turned to the window.

"#One time I was at Grandpapa's house and I heard a woman screaming, calling, 'Rezo! Rezo! Help me!' and I ran to the source of the screaming and there some blue haired lady I had never seen before and there was this man... rubbing her up and down. And she was screaming and no one came so I got my Grandpapa to help but when I brought him there... he asked why I brought him there, he seemed confused. So, I got Mama and told her about the lady. But

everyone said there was no lady, no one was screaming but she was still there, she was still screaming, and the man was taking her nightgown off and was taking a knife out and he was shouting too, 'Shut the hell up! Shut up you little whore!' And I told them what the man was saying and... Grandpapa slapped me and asked where I heard those words and I told him, 'Just now! Just now!' But then they were gone. Mama told Grandpapa I probably had an overactive imagination and to go to sleep. When he was gone, she told me she believed me and that woman and man were really there and I was not a bad boy. Then she told this little chant I should say when I see things that no one else can see and they will go away. Then I asked Mama what the man was doing and she said, kind of soft, 'He was raping her, honey. That means he was forcing her to play a game that married people play when she didn't want to play.' I found out that the woman I saw was really my great-grandmother and she died the way I saw.#"

"#When I went into that room, with the mirror, I thought it was weird because it was not musty or covered with white sheets. When I got in, blood got on my shirt and blood was on the door and it grew and spread all over the walls and I got blood on my pants. I tried getting on the bed but I was pinned down and suddenly there was a man there, holding a dagger. I rolled off and I saw the curly haired lady. Then I said the chant and they went away. The blood too. When I touched the mirror, I saw things. Past things. Ghosts of strong emotions. Not ghosts themselves, just imprints of their emotions.#" Zel looked at Amelia. She said nothing. "#You think I am lying, right? Rezo looked at me the same way when I told him about the lady.#" He began to cry, "#I do not know why I see things! I do not want to see them, they are scary. They always seem to be screaming. Why do I have to be the only one to see these people? Why do they come after me?!#"

He ran for Amelia's lap and Amelia put his head on her lap, "I believe you. Children never lie. I'm sorry I yelled at you. I miss my mother very much and I didn't want to see her being killed again. I never fully recovered from the experience." She stroked his hair, "I won't tell anyone what you told me, unless you want me to. Do you want me to?"

"Yup, that's my Daddy!" He was trying and failing to tie his bowtie. An older woman entered the frame, turning Younger Phil towards her. She was speaking to him, her face showing joy and calm. She tied his bowtie. She picked up a comb and combed his hair. The woman said something. Phil responded. They laughed. Phil said something else, his face serious, questioning. The woman responded, her mouth forming "Fine, fine. Don't worry." Phil looked relieved. Phil bowed to the woman. The woman curtsied to him. They smiled at each other.

Phil waited. He tried to stretch his back. He smiled and uncovered his eyes. His eyes bugged out. His mouth formed, "Where?" He was probably shouting it but it was silent so they couldn't tell. Zel covered his ears.

"He says, 'Slave? Like do your cleaning and such?' She laughs. I can not do the laugh for you. It is painful to hear though. She says, 'No! How barbaric! You shall be my love slave! You shall be the father of all my children and I will have many.'#"

"#He says, 'Oh, what a cursed fate! I must be forced to lie with you every night and produce children with you. Oh, the horror!' She laughs. She says, 'Now, you shall know the mighty will of Gracia, the White Serpent!'#"

Amelia's mother (for indeed, it was she) was wearing a leather bikini with skulls on it. She was rather well-endowed, although not as much as her first born daughter, and the leather bikini made that rather obvious. Especially to Gourry.

Lina jumped up, standing on the bed, "Oh my Gods! I've seen that bikini before! I traveled with someone who wore a bikini just like that! Skulls and everything! How did two completely unrelated people have the same outfit? And same nickname! They both call themselves, 'The White Serpent'! This is too weird!"

Amelia stared at her mother, "That can't be her! She never dressed like... that! She never acted like that! She was a wonderful, timid person who wore beautiful dresses that covered most of her body! Who is this strange woman?"

"Gracia" laughed. She struck a ordering pose, obviously giving him commands since he was her "slave". Phil clasped his hands and made a big show for demanding something else. She looked insulted and pointed at his nose, repeating the order and turning her back to him. Phil suddenly looked honestly gleeful and started untying the top part.

"#She says, 'How did you know?' He says, 'Simple. You have not used magic in a while. I know you were not having your "womanlies" so I asked Entela what else makes women lose magic. One, curses. Two, babies. I guessed the better of the two.'#"

Image clouded and cleared. The new mother held a baby, Phil was looking at it. He picked it up. Its face contorted into a crying face and started kicking its feet. Amelia's mother wore a mixed face of sympathy and amusement.

The image clouded and cleared. There were few more "unmentionable activities", shots of Mother reading to Gracia, Father tickling Gracia, Amelia's mother explaining to an unexpectingly excited Gracia that she was going to have another child. Shot of labor (which they skipped), shots of Gracia and Amelia playing hide and seek with their mother pretending not to see them, shots of the three jumping on the bed, shots of their mother telling them "not to judge of book by its cover", shots of Gracia being applauded for doing a light spell for her very tired parents very early in the morning right into their faces. Almost all were pleasant and made Amelia very sad.

As Amelia's mother was finishing telling the moral of a story, Zel said, "#The next one is the scary one. I will stop now.#" He tapped the mirror and regain its normal conditions. Zel turned to Amelia, "#Why are you crying?#"

"Master Zelgadis, I am crying because I miss my mother and sister very much. I wish we could have moments like that again but I know we will not. I'm not sad. I'm happy that I was able to see these things again." She stood up, "We should finish planning our trip to Hayla." She went to the door and opened it. The others walked through and she added, "Could you not mention that we were in here or what we saw in the mirror to my Daddy?"

"I am so happy that we don't have to spent another night there. One week is too much," Lina whined. Gourry had dragged her out of bed, regardless of her protests. "You said you wanted to leave and be gone by 9! It's now 10!" After Lina had gotten dressed, eaten, and moaned and groaned at Gourry for being unreasonable, they left at 11:30am.

"We're in a really big hurry, so if you don't mind," Lina said, grabbing Zel out from under Michelle's touch and tossing him to Amelia. She grabbed Gourry's arm and led him out, heading north. The shepherds continued walking, but they headed south. The children were still singing their little song. Zel chimed in (in his own language) at various lines that he knew.

"Amelia," Gourry answered before Lina could, "if you were sitting in your room one day and three people you've never met come in with a six-year-old and tell you it is your long lost relative, wouldn't you be a little dubious?"

It took a week to get to Hayla. Hayla was on the coast of the Gulf of Cephied which, apparently, looked like Cephied's head. Some say during the War of the Monsters, he had fallen during one of the battles, but not the Big

There were fortune-teller booths and snake charmers. Preachers of minor religions preached of ever-lasting torment to those who didn't convert. Exotic animals were seen from cages, nearly hidden in the darkness of the tents they were sold from. Prostitutes stood in barely nothing (actually, lots of women were in barely nothing. Went up to the 100s in this place), tattooed with faux religious symbols, offering their "wares" to the men walking in the streets. Upper class prostitutes stood outside whorehouses, telling men what kind of "entertainment" they could get, and at what cost.

Lina glared at Gourry, daring him to say something. Gourry simply kept walking. He had no desire to go to one of those places. His father, when he had reached puberty, strictly told him, under no uncertain terms, that men who went to those places, "Are lower than spit. The women can't help it, they have no where to go so they must offer it to live, much like a milkmaid must milk cows to live. The men who go there, they do not need it. They are selfish and encouraging bad behavior. If they need it so bad, they should just find a girl, court her and marry her, like the rest of us!"

Of course, there were worse wares than what the prostitutes were selling. In dark alleys, men and, yes, even women sold "Dream Teas" and "Dreamer's Sugar" and other such things. There was no person, no matter how young, that could not buy one of these products for under a gold. Indecent, yes, but they were only selling because people were buying. Supply always depends on demand.

While Lina glared, Gourry ignored the women and Amelia resisted the urge to either throw up or crawl on to some high pinnacle and make the citizens abandon their evil ways, a man was escorting a woman back to work after lunch.

"I'm just an Earth shamanist. I don't understand fortune telling any more than you do. What do you want me to say?" Someone bumped into her. She turned to scold but she found her very guilty looking brother-in-law.

tanned, as was everyone here, but he was dusty as well. He wore white capri-style pants with goat leather sandals. His sleeve less shirt, which was white, had turned into a slight beige from dirt and dust. There was sand in his hair, which he was currently trying to shake out.

"Nowhere. I had to get somethin' for Mam, dried fruit from that stand over there. Did I interrupt an intimate moment?" He replied, mockingly. The couple had been married for a year and they were still in the lovey-dovey newlywed phase.

Malcolm soothe his raw hide with a minor healing spell and replied, "Never, never, never. They're too much work. Can I go now?" And before the newlyweds had time to reply, he was off. His sister-in-law, Elise, just shook her head and headed to the pottery shop.

Malcolm made his way to the fruit cart and ordered the dried fruit that his mother needed. As an afterthought, he bought some banana chips with the left-over money, "Eh, I'll just tell Mam that the prices changed today."

"Yllaer?" The attacker asked then reached over to grab the bag of banana chips but Malcolm flipped over and pinned his attacker down. He became quite embarrassed when he realized he was being mauled by a six-year-old.

"Well, maybe Jeremy can help. Or maybe my Mam can help, she's a fortune teller. But I'm not sure, she's been going on about how our missing cousin is coming back to visit 'to find his innocence' or something like that."

"Nah," Malcolm answered, "it's sort of complicated. My Mam and his Da were cousins so he's like our second cousin, once removed or something. We just call him 'cousin' because he used to call my Mam 'auntie'. Easier for both parties."

"But, it is! Look, you have to believe me! Master Zelgadis was going to commit suicide but we found his note before he did it and we got in and some weird woman was there and she kissed him and then she changed appearance and there was a silent screaming woman in the mirror and the kissing woman grew wings and she left but Master Zelgadis had been turned into a six year old and I'm the only one who can understand him. You have to believe me. We don't know what to do. We need to find his family so he can have a normal life. And that's it."

"O---kay. So, our twenty-four year old cousin, according to you, has been turned into a little six year old," Malcolm said in his "I'm-ten-nearly-eleven-years-old-so-I-know- everything-there-is-to-know" voice.

"I'm surprised. I never thought Saillunians would go to Hayla," Jeremy said, then his voice went to a higher pitch, "It's so corrupt!" Amelia blushed and Malcolm realized she probably had thought that at some point.

They went to a block of fortune telling booths and went pass most of them until they reached a very fine booth. For one thing, it wasn't a tent. It was a small, white-washed, flat-top building. It looked pretty permanent. They could

The door was wood, painted red and had "Fortune teller: Gifted in tarot, palm, tea leaves, and meditation. Business days: Mon-Thur from 9am to 7pm, Fri-Sat from 9am to 10:30am, Sun from 10am to 3pm. Exorcisms only on Sundays, first come, first serve basis."

Jeremy opened the door and the bell jingled. It was dark. There were one or two lavender scented candles burning. A woman with golden hair with red streaks in the strands sat at a small, round table. To her right were various decks of tarot cards, to her left were tea leaves in a porcelain bowl with a cup next to it. In the back, there was a bookcases with a few fortune-telling books with some white magic books to fill up space. There was no crystal ball (having a ball is a sure sign that the teller is a fraud. Every fortune teller knows that those things never work!). All in all, it was very cryptic.

The house that "aunty" actually dwelled in was actually kind of boring. It was two-level white washed house (as was every house. You barely can tell one house from another) with a flat roof. There were two windows in the front, facing the street. The Dutch door was undecorated and not fancy in any respect.

Zel's "aunty" was named Veronica, or Madame Vanda by her customers, Scylla (by marriage) and owned the little house. She opened the door with an unlocking spell. She said to their shocked faces, "Learned it before it got banned. It's handy."

Lina lashed back, " 'Oh, just checking.' What the hell does that mean?" Before Veronica could respond, Amelia remembered how Veronica had seemed to look straight to into her eyes when she said she had been expecting them, "Were you... actually expecting us in particular?"

"Give the girl a cookie!" Veronica threw up her arms as if she was dealing with complete idiots, "yes, I've been expecting you for weeks! I'm a fortune teller, for crying out loud. It's my job to see into the future! You think I don't see random future events? I saw Zelgadis' birth when his father had just been born, I saw his father's death before his mother had coughed once, I saw Zelgadis' change into a chimera before he could spell his own name, I saw Rezo's death when he was still working on discovering what was afflicting his daughter-in-law, I can see your grandchildren's spouses as you stand there, glaring at me. Yes, I have been expecting you for quite some time." Veronica took a couple of deep breaths, "Sorry, I just find it frustrating when people don't understand I can see into the future and can predict the comings and goings of strangers."

"What would be the point? People don't like hearing about those things. Also, I only get flashes of random images. Sometimes, I misinterpret those images. Besides, no future is set in stone. Everyone thinks that whatever they do, the fortune teller's word is final. But, as long as you breathe, it is never final."

"The images I see are images of what will happen if everything goes the way it has been going. Every day, you make choices. To get up or to lay in bed all day. Your future can depend on that one decision. If you get up, you may choose to have breakfast or to not have breakfast. If you choose to eat breakfast, you have to decide between eggs or bread. If you eat eggs, and they're not cooked enough, you'll spend rest of the day being ill. If you eat bread, you'll be fine and perhaps go horse-back riding. If you take one path, you might hit a beehive and get stung. And so on."

"It is. Anyway, back to what you were asking, yes, I have been expecting you. I already know what your problem is." She turned to her children and daughter-in-law, "Now do you understand what I have been saying the past week?"

"She looked at us and kind of shrugged her shoulders like we weren't important and kissed him on the lips. She suddenly changed into a green-eyed blonde woman and wings sprouted out through the robe. But in the mirror, the other woman was still there and she was obviously screaming and crying but we couldn't hear her. Anyway, the blonde woman dropped Zel and he gradually turned into a little kid and the blonde woman said to the mirror woman, 'You can't

"Wish it was just that. They thought that Rezo was no one special and didn't understand why he received so much praise. 'We've seen a million of men and women just like him and sometimes better. We are not impressed.' Her mother told my father that personally when he had asked about her coldness."

"No kidding, she even scared me. I never saw Victoria's relatives after the wedding. As far as I know, they never once came to visit, not even when Zelgadis was born. It was as if they denied their relationship with her. I felt sorry for her, seeing her rejected like that, but it didn't seem to bother her." She sighed and looked distant, as if she could see Victoria behind her audience, "but that was a long time ago and they're all gone, except Zelgadis, but even he is a shadow of former self." For some reason, Amelia knew that she was not referring to their current problem.

"I believe so. Ever heard the saying, 'Ignorance is bliss'? I know that Zelgadis' intention was to stop hurting, his aunt fixed that problem by turning him back to a time before all his problems started.

But Zelgadis of today can not be destroyed completely, only separated into base parts. What you call him 'being transformed' is really him 'being split', leaving only Zelgadis of childhood here. The question is: where did the rest of him go? Though you may not realize it, Zelgadis of childhood still is connected to the other parts making up Zelgadis of today. Using Zelgadis of childhood, I can find those other parts and you three can find a way to put them back together."

"Amelia, that is a very kind thought but personally, I don't think he has a choice right now. Call me cynical, but I don't think his aunt did this out of the kindness of her heart. Remember? 'You can't protect him forever'? Sounds like she has a plan in store for Zelgadis. I think the only way it will work is if he is in this condition."

"Anyway," Veronica said, shooting Lina down, "I will need to get into Zelgadis' subconscious to find what we are looking for." She rose and motioned for Zel to come and take her hand. He took it (after dropping the pot he had been playing with) and followed to a sliding door.

Veronica slid the door to the right and entered. There was nothing inside, except an incense stand. She put a stick in the holder and lit it. She told Zel to sit, which he did and poked her head out, "Don't come in and don't make loud noises. For this to work I need complete silence. So, go outside or something." She closed the door and sat down in front of Zel, "Now, just relax and keep your mouth shut."

Veronica found herself standing next to a standing Zel. He didn't seem frightened or confused. His face was neutral, his arms crossed. It was twilight and a gentle mist from a nearby sea frosted the scene, though there was no water in sight. It was a quaint town. Simple townhouses with a few candles on in the windows. Obviously, some people were awake.

She did hear something but it didn't sound like a vibrato of anything. It was panic-stricken sobbing. She looked past the fog and saw a dirty woman holding a baby in a bundle. She was obviously running from something. She looked around, panting, clenching the baby to her chest. Looking for escape.

The woman's hair was noticeably coming out of place. Her dress was mud-stained and clung to her ankles. She banged on a door, "Please! Help me! There's a man following me! He wants to kill me! He has a knife! Please, provide me shelter!" But the candle that had been lit in the window, went dark. No one answered.

Suddenly, the shape of a man appeared out of nothing. He made no sound as he walked. The woman turned around and her eyes went wide. She held her baby tighter. Veronica could see the shine of a knife blade.

Seeing her chance, the woman turned her back on the man and ran. But suddenly, the man was right behind but Veronica did not see him move from Point A to Point B. He took out the knife and cleanly slit the woman's throat. She turned around and gurgled, "Why?"

They ran for what seemed like hours in the forest. Veronica's robe was now in tatters. Eventually, they came to a riverbank but the river was murky and green. Zel ran through the river. When he in the river, skeletal hands with bits of decaying flesh reached out for him, ripping his pants. But Zel was undaunted and ran through them. Veronica had to follow him and she too jumped in the river and the hands pulled at her as well. Their faces were of dead family members and dead husbands. She screamed in horror and nausea gripped her. She ran past them as well but didn't fail to notice that they had slashed at her legs.

Veronica followed him but when she reached the foot of the staircase, she found she could move no further from that spot. Zel, however, had continued upwards and had mysteriously been able to open the doors.

Zel turned to face her. Speckled feathers shot out in excess resembling a dirty blizzard. A great wind blew from inside the temple, shaking Zel's hair. From the floor, a flood of blood flowed down the steps.

Author's Notes: The song is actually a real song, and the "nonsense" words are actually Gaelic or Irish. The song is called, "Brighid's Kiss" by "La Lugh". Among others, it's on "Celtic Woman 2". The English words are not translations ofthe Irish words. C&C are welcome and needed at destinyplot@lycos.com