Part Nine The Misadventures of Sirus and Amelia

The following morning, Amelia was up early and eager to do some shopping to get her mind off of everything that was happening. So she dragged Sirus along with her. As much as Sirus liked Amelia, he could not understand how shopping would help her. Still, he pledged himself into her service, so he followed, hoping he wouldn't end up bag boy.

It was a very small town. So small it didn't even have a name. There was an inn that doubled as a restaurant where they were staying and one tiny magic shop run by the local magic guild. Other than that, there was a small general store and the rest was houses. Sirus doubted they even had some sort of jail. It was the type of town that was perpetually peaceful, nestled in a forest with only one road going through it, under a large mountain that protected them. This nameless town probably should have been named peace for that was how it was designed. The architecture was old, indicating to Sirus that it was probably around during the Kouma war.

A small child ran by them rolling a hoop on the ground with a small group of others chasing him. A young wife was kissing her husband in the doorway and a gardener tended to her roses. There was an old man being helped across the street by a young man and another old man yelling at a slightly younger man. Wait a minute, an argument? Sirus directed Amelia over so they could hear what was gong on.

"It is against the law!" said the older of the two men.

"But it is the way of power!" replied the other man.

"You wish to destroy us all?"

"Iya. Just rule you all! For too long you have crushed us with that stupid law, but no more! We will conquer!"

Sirus looked down to say something to Amelia, but found she wasn't there. Looking up, he saw her on a roof. Sirus sighed. Before Amelia could begin her speech, the younger of the arguers clapped his hands. A large chimera came up from the ground.

"Let's see how you handle this, old man!" The chimera slowly stepped forward. Amelia took her cue and leapt between the chimera and the old man. Sirus stepped up by her side.

"Halt, vile villain!" she demanded. "I am Amelia Wil Tesa Sailoon," Sirus heard the old man behind them facefault, "and I shall not let an evil being like this destroy the peace and harmony of this perfect village. Give up or face the glowing Hammer of Justice!"

"You think you can fight my chimera?" the man retorted. "I'd love to see you try, child."

"How dare you presume a woman's age!" Amelia darted forward. "Blam blaser!" The chimera repelled the spell. "Nani??" Amelia jumped back. "You can not defeat the Hammer of Justice. As the protector of all and the one who follows any path righteous, I shall," Sirus cut in.

"Excuse me, Your Highness," he said. "May I be permitted to deal with this creature on your behalf?"

"I..I.." she turned back to the chimera. "You are too vile to dirty the hands of the Hammer of Justice. I shall have my Ally of Justice take care of you!"

"Domo arigatoo," Sirus said, bowing. "Power of light, let this unnatural creature return to the veil of nothingness it came from. Ne Sham!" As the spell dictated, such a creature should not exist. Thus the good of the people of the village, on whom he called, lent him the power to be rid of the chimera. All that was left was an empty shell.

"You…you…you," stuttered the loser.

"Yes, I defeated your chimera."

"You'll pay for this! All of you will!" The man ran off.

"You are the princess of Sailoon??" the old man asked, kneeling before Amelia. "The holy city which not even the Mazoku would face during the Kouma War? You and your ally must come with me!" Grabbing Amelia's hand, the old man disappeared in a cloud of dust. Sirus stayed behind and studied the husk of the chimera.

"Interesting. A golem mixture with several minor magical creatures," he muttered to himself. "But not very good. Nor high level because it doesn't have any Mazoku or Shinzuku in it. Obviously amateurs." Knowing what he needed to know, he got up, brushed the dirt off his knees and followed the dust cloud to Amelia and the old man.

"I need you help oh holy princess!" the old man demanded. "In our humble town we don't have much of a magic guild. The most powerful spell that anyone here knows is a Fireball." Amelia and Sirus collapsed to the floor. The both then sat up with hair sprouting and sweatdrops forming.

"Are you sure, Guild Director-san?" Amelia asked. "That's your most powerful spell?"

"Hai." Sirus got the feeling they were about to be pulled into something. "Our magic guild keeps research books. As you may have guessed, our small village was around during the Kouma war. At the time, we didn't even know what was going on. We are a peaceful village that is not within the boundaries of any kingdom. Thus, we don't get many visitors. Until an army of chimeras came into our peaceful home. They started to fight. Another army followed and destroyed the horrid chimeras. They explained about the Kouma war and gave us a book by the mad man who had created those monsters. They told us to hold onto the book and protect it. Before the army left to continue it's holy fight against the Mazoku menace, they taught a few of us some minor spells to help us. That was the start of our magic guild. However, lately a small number of our guild wanted to dive into that cursed research. As guild director, I enforced the law forbidding such practice. Our town was almost destroyed once and we would not have that happened again. They broke away from our guild and our town and went into the forest. Now they are making these beasts. So with no magic to defend ourselves, I must implore you to aid us!"

"But you do not need magic to defend yourselves," Sirus stated. Amelia and the guild director stared at him. "Just before we came here, I studied that chimera. It's a golem mixture. All you would have to do is dig a deep trench and fill it with water. Their massive bulk cannot leap a wide enough trench and it is be so heavy, they will drown themselves."

"You are brilliant!" the old man said, kneeling before Sirus, who blushed.

"Ara, you do not need to do that."

"But how will we have enough time to dig such a trench??"

"We shall go off into the woods and defend this town by distracting these vile villains who wish to destroy such peace and harmony!" Amelia pledged.

"I shall also advise using magic to dig your trenches," Sirus added. "It shall go faster with a Fireball to the ground than a shovel."

"Good point! We'll get our whole town on it!"

"With such allies of justice working together our plan shall not fail!"

"Actually, it can," Sirus corrected. Amelia fell of the chair she was standing on. "If this renegade faction of the guild gets any idea what you are doing, they will send chimeras before you have time to complete your work. I recommend starting after dark. That way we will have time to distract them and you can start under the cover of darkness."

"You're a genius!" The old man grabbed Sirus in a great bear hug.

"A..aa…arigatoo, Guild Director-san."

"Then let us go forth to the place of battle!" Amelia said. She pulled Sirus out the door. He stopped her when they reached the street.

"Your Highness," he said. "Tell me quietly. How do you plan about doing this?"

"Why going out to the woods and attacking them, of course!"

"May I make a different suggestion, your Highness?"

"Of course. You are a very wise man, like Lina-san I will be guided by you."

"Thank you. Will you come with me?" He brought her back to the restaurant. Inside was a few people, one of whom was a man dressed in a cape and hood that covered his face. The hooded man tried, very unsuccessfully to look normal as he looked every which way, spying on all around. Sirus knew what to do. He seated Amelia across from him at a table next to the shifty character. "Your Highness, I recommend that we get a good meal and a good night's rest and go after this rogue faction of the magic guild in the morning," he said loudly and clearly.

"A brilliant suggestion, Sirus-san! Let us eat and then go to bed!" Amelia suddenly stopped, faltered, and blushed, but Sirus didn't understand why. After their meal, he led her upstairs.

"But first, let us check upon our injured companion." Again, he made sure his voice was loud for the shifty man to hear. He let Amelia into Zelgadiss' room, and looked around before shutting the door. Sure enough, the shifty man was leaving in a hurry. Sirus turned to Amelia to give her congratulations on being such a good actress, but he saw her eyes were filling with tears. Looking where she was looking he understood why. The sun was setting out over horizon. The sunlight poured into the room and cast a gentle shade of red to Zelgadiss, who still looked exhausted. Lina was in a chair by his bed, and was asleep with her head on his bed.

"Oh my," he said. "Gomenasai, Your Highness," he said. Amelia left the room quickly. Sirus gently put Lina back in the chair and put a blanket around her. He couldn't understand why Lina would have feelings for an AI, but he wasn't about to pry. He left the room quietly and knocked on Amelia's door. She let him in.

"Gomenasai, your Highness," he said bowing. "I did not know. If I did, I would not have subject you to that torture upon you heart. I apologize." Amelia wiped the tears from her eyes.

"What is your plan for tomorrow morning, Sirus-san?" she asked.

"We will infiltrate their base tonight, your Highness."

"Stop that."

"I am sorry?"

"Don't call me 'your Highness'. Just call me Amelia. 'Your Highness' is nice and all, but it's not me. Just call me Amelia."

"As you wish, Amelia-san."

"No suffixes. Just Amelia."

"As I was saying, Amelia. I understand that as the Hammer of Justice you must wear white at all times, but you should wear something dark tonight. I plan on sneaking into the renegades' base and do some tampering there. With any luck, their systems will be so damaged that they will take at least a few days to fix it, giving the villagers time to prepare."

"You mean you wear lying downstairs!" Amelia accused.

"Not to you, your…Amelia. I was lying so that the spy would give false information to his faction. That way, they will be so busy preparing for us to attack tomorrow, they will not notice us tonight." Amelia agreed to the plan and they started preparations.

Just on the outskirts of town, Sirus met up with Amelia. Sirus had discarded his orange tunic, leaving only his dark blue clothes. Amelia had difficulty finding something dark to wear, since her entire wardrobe was white, but Sirus took some of his older clothes and fashioned a simple but nice dress for Amelia. It too, was dark blue. Together they walked out into the woods, giving the best of luck to the villagers who had started to dig. Once out in the woods, Sirus cast a Light spell to guide them. They walked along until they stumbled across a narrow path. Sirus suggested they follow it.

The path went for quite a while when a harsh voice cut through the silence.

"Who's there?" it demanded.

"Hello. How do you do," Sirus said politely. "I am Siros, a student of chimeras. I know a little bit and I heard there was a chimera research program near here that I could learn from. They are well known for their success."

"Of course we are," the voice replied arrogantly, but not very quietly. "Who's the girl?"

Sirus quickly put his hand on Amelia's mouth. "Alas, this is my little sister, Ameria. She was born without speech and I see it as my duty to look after her."

"Well, get out of here!" the voice said. "I don't know what the hell you're talking about."

"Very well then," Sirus said. "There seems to be a town over there, so I shall go ask them about it."

"WAIT!"

"Yes?"

"Don't go to that town!"

"Then you do know where this research lab is?" There was a grumble and a grunt. A large gruffly looking man who was extremely unkempt stepped into the light.

"Follow me."

"Why thank you!" Sirus took Amelia's hand and guided her. After an hour of walking, they came across some sort of ruined temple. The gruffy man walked boldly to the door and grunted some sort of password. Sirus jogged to keep up with the gruffy man's pace, Amelia right behind him. Sirus had keen eyesight after living in a cave for several years, so he was able to dodge and sidestep all the roots and rocks in his path. He forgot that Amelia didn't have this eyesight. She gasped as she tripped on a root sticking up from the ground. Sirus had fast reactions however, and caught her before she landed.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

She nodded, but whispered in his ear, "My ankle's twisted."

"I shall take care of it when we are alone," he replied quietly. He carried her to where the gruffy man was waiting.

"What took you?"

"Gomenasai, good sir," Sirus apologized. "But my poor sister has twisted her ankle.

"Whatever. Come on." Sirus extinguished his light spell and followed the man inside.

"Yer sister can probably walk."

"As I said, I try to protect her. I am acquainted with some magic and shall cast a healing spell when we are alone," he replied. The gruffy man led them to a large library that looked like it was collecting dust for centuries.

"Yer first lesson in making chimeras is discipline." He gave them a bucket of water, some towels, and mops. "Clean up this place."

"Of course, sir," Sirus said. "You are the master, I am the pupil." The door slammed behind them. Amelia tried to say something, but Sirus shushed her. He cast another Light spell, setting Amelia down on a bench. "Let me look at that ankle," he said. He pushed her skirt up to just above her knees. He felt her ankle. He looked up to her. She was blushing.

"You should better take of those stockings before it swells too much," he said. Her blushing grew brighter. Sirus sat back and waited.

"T-t-turn around, Sirus-san," she managed.

"Why?" he asked, not understanding why she was suddenly so nervous.

"Just do it."

"Yes, your Highness." He turned around and waited for Amelia to say it was okay. Turning back to her, her face had reached a new shade of red. Sirus put her skirt up to above her knees again and looked at her ankle. He rolled up his sleeves and gently held her leg in one arm while examining her ankle with his other hand. He grabbed a towel and soaked it in the bucket of water provided. He then carefully wrapped it around her foot. Amelia's face was on fire. He cast a Recovery. "I do not want you on that foot to be on the safe side. It swelled more than I would prefer, but it was not broken." Amelia blushed brightly and looked at the mops, regaining her composure.

"I'm a princess! Not a maid!" she said angrily.

"But we must stay here, your Highness."

"I said don't call me 'your Highness'!"

"Of course, Amelia. But we must stay here nonetheless. You stay off that foot. I will try to clean up at least a little bit."

"But isn't this where we go and attack these vile villains and save the villagers?"

"No, Amelia. Right now, they have the advantage. The have us effectively trapped. But in the morning, when they are expecting us to attack, we will be able to sneak out of here and destroy their lab while they wait for someone to attack them."

"But can't we wait somewhere else? This place is filthy!"

"No, Amelia," Sirus said patiently. "We are new here and they will most likely send someone in to check on us periodically for the next few hours. I would guess that about two in the morning should be a good time for us to sneak out of hear. Then we can destroy the chimera lab."

"Speaking of chimeras, Sirus-san. You know so much about chimeras and seem fascinated by them. Why do you want to destroy this lab?"

"As you have said, it is evil. I am fascinated about the fact that mankind can create life, but I do not like the life that mankind creates. Chimeras have a bad habit of attacking people and being used to rule the world before they are put out of their misery. The same thing happened to Zelgadiss. Why do you think he is depressed all the time? His creator is dead and his purpose died with him. His programming dictated his purpose, and now he does not know what to do. That is why I do not like AIs. They are destroyed intellectually simply by destroying their master."

Amelia decided not to argue that Zelgadiss wasn't an AI. The hours crept by and the moon's light slowly started to filter into the library. Sirus took another look at Amelia's ankle. She was able to walk and run on it. Sirus broke the mops and piled some dusty books on them. When he was done, it appeared that the books had fallen and snapped the mops.

"What are you doing, Sirus-san?"

"When we go sneaking, if someone should find us, we can simply say that our mops broke and we are looking for new ones."

"Oh. That sounds like a brilliant plan!" She stood on a bench. "Now let us go forth and hinder these misguided souls so that the townspeople have time to prepare!"

They silently opened the door and slipped out of the library. Sirus led Amelia down the halls, hiding when chimeras and goons walked by.

"Why are we hiding?" Amelia demanded quietly.

"Because it will not do any good to attack them now. They have strength in numbers. If we get to the chimeric lab where they create these poor creatures, we can really throw a monkey wrench into their plans." They came to a choice of three halls.

"Now which way do we go?"

Sirus stepped in front of Amelia and focused on his staff. He heard their silent ringing The wood shook slightly in his hand.

"To the left," he said confidently.

"How do you know that??"

"This staff has been handed down my family for generations. Though it is not quite as old as the book I gave Lina. The wood will never wear and with the proper training in white magic, specifically offensive, it will give you a sense of where you need to be. That is how I was finally able to find Lina."

"Then let's go!" It was not long before they ran into a large and chubby man as unkempt as the rest of the people in the ruins.

"What are you doing?" the chubby man demanded.

"I am sorry for running into you," Sirus said bowing. "I am Siros, a new student here, and this is my sister, Ameria. We were learning discipline by cleaning the library when the books fell and broke our mops. We are looking for new ones."

"They stuck you in there?" he grunted.

"Hai. Now would you be so kind as to guide us to where we can find some new mops?"

The man grunted a few directions. Sirus thanked him and they went on their way, getting closer and closer to the chimera lab. Taking another turn, they ran across another man. Unfortunately, it must have been the man from the restaurant. He recognized them.

"Hey! How'd you get in here!" he demanded, a Fireball in his hand.

"Oh, it was not really all that difficult," Sirus said. "You failed in your task as spy. You did not describe us to your partners in crime here." The man started to pale.

"I, Amelia of Sailoon, shall punish you and your vile brethren and restore peace to the tiny village that you haunt!" She got her own spell in hand. "Diem Wind!" The man was blow to a wall and knocked unconscious.

"Well done, Amelia," Sirus said applauding. "I could not have done better myself."

"Domo Arigatoo! Sirus-san!" Not fully realizing what she was doing, she jumped up and hugged Sirus. He hugged back, like he would do with his family. She pulled away.

"Gomenasai," she apologized. Her cheeks were bright red. "I should not have done that."

"Then, shall we go do some mischief?"

Using his staff, Sirus guided Amelia through the maze of the ruins until they reached a large room with stasis chambers that contained the unborn chimeras.

"Amelia, could you please hold off our enemy?" he asked.

"Of course, but they don't know where we are!"

"They will in a moment." Sirus went to the control panel. With a few spells and incantations, several small orbs appeared. With the speed of a panther, and the accuracy of an archer, Sirus started to twist and turn certain orbs at precise angles and directions. Sure enough, an alarm sounded. "Here they come, Amelia!'

"What did you do, Sirus-san??"

Without breaking stride, he continued to move the orbs precisely while he explained. "I am reprogramming these chimeras. I shall speed up their maturation and give them an irresistible need to seek out and go under water. They'll put themselves out of their misery." His hands continued to fly.

Amelia did a very good job of fending off attackers. Her spells were fast and furious, along with her speeches. Sirus wanted to get out of their quickly, however. Since chimeras had been placed on guard duty, it was likely that they were going to have a hard time getting out, and he wanted to leave while there was still confusion about what was going on. Turning one last sphere, he switched it with another orb. The giant stasis chambers opened, releasing the chimeras. He ran over to Amelia.

"We have finished here, Amelia-chan," he said. Wait, did her really say 'chan'? Why did that feel so right? Amelia seemed to notice as well, since her blush was going up to the roots of her hair. Both of them pushed it aside and started to fight their way out. Sirus's heart sank as he realized that he took too long. The first few rays of the sun started to peak through cracks in the ceiling. Something told him that they had to be out of the ruins by daybreak. He took Amelia's hand and flew over the heads of their attackers.

He didn't stop until they were outside and he gently let Amelia down. "Amelia-chan," he said. Did he just say 'chan' again? Note to self. Soul searching later. "We will most likely be chased all the way to the village. Thankfully, the chimeras will more or less destroy themselves and we have stronger magic than the guild faction. Do you wish to face the faction here, or at the town?"

Amelia looked at him dumbfounded. "I have to make an important decision?" she whispered.

"Yes, your Highness." She fumble with words. Sirus glanced at the ruins to see several of the guild faction coming to them. One of them had a powerful spell in hand. Very powerful. Not even thinking of a protection spell, Sirus shoved Amelia aside, taking it head on. He was briefly aware of his name being called before he fell unconscious.

"SIRUS!!"

Amelia watched Sirus fly backward until he hit a tree, finally slumping down. His clothes were charred, his face was covered in smoke and blood that dripped down from his forehead. Sirus was dead, he had to be. He was killed trying to save her! What had she done? She couldn't loose Sirus! Wait a minute. She referred to him as Sirus and not Sirus-san. What did that mean? What was this feeling that was emerging from her when she thought of that innocent sorcerer? If it was love, then why didn't she feel this way for Zelgadiss-san? What was it about Sirus that stirred her up so much?

All of these thoughts ran through her head in an instant. She turned slowly to the rogue guild faction. Tears streamed down her cheeks. The stopped in their tracks.

"I am Amelia Wil Tesa Sailoon," she said. "I am the Hammer of Justice that protects all who are innocent." She glanced at Sirus. "I crush all evil that comes before me. I follow the path of righteousness and honor. You," she pointed to them. "You are going to experience first hand the power of all that is light and good. You will be blinded and forced to live in the perpetual darkness that your souls dwell in. You hurt the man I love. You will be stopped." There must have been some sort of aura around her like Zelgadiss-san got when he was pissed. The guild faction started to turn and run. Amelia didn't give them much of a chance.

"Blast Ash!!!" She released the spell. It did its work quickly and efficiently. The ruins blew up, sending a large ball of fire into the sky. Did she really say love? She ran over to Sirus, covering his body with her own and cast a quick shield spell. When the explosion was over, she sat up beside Sirus. "I'm sorry you got hurt," she whispered. "I'm sorry you died because of me." In response, Sirus coughed up some smoke.

"Sirus!" Amelia cast a recovery spell. Seeing that she would probably need Fillia-san's help, she put Sirus and herself into a Ray Wing bubble, heading to the town. She saw that the chimeras were running towards the peaceful village, but the trenches filled with water put an end to them. She set down Sirus carefully as the sun finally broke away from the horizon to start its day long journey. Walking over to her, the guild director shouted congratulations on such a stunning plan. They were soon interrupted.

"AMELIA, WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!"
Go to Part Ten-Journey's Destination