In the quiet of the afternoon and the low hum of
normal street traffic, a very worried golden dragon in human form nervously
paced around the central square. She was looking for someone, someone to
confide in. She looked absolutely spooked. A normal person would never
notice this in a dragon's face (nor be able to identify her a dragon),
but she was definitely disturbed in a major way.
"Lina!" Filia called without relief.
The red-headed, compact sorceress exited a small
diner, followed by the swords man commonly known as Gourry, who lacked
something most people had been born with called common sense. Shortly after
him, an even shorter girl (with electrocuted, short, black hair) came out,
holding her belly, sighing: the princess of Saillune, Amelia. Inhaling
deeply, Naga the Serpent stretched from a meal well eaten and Kitty felt
too stuffed to move in any extensive way- such as walking beyond a shuffle.
Kagemi sighed with satisfaction, appreciating the invigorating effect of
fresh air right after the ingestion of a great, great quantity of food.
"Hi, Filia, you missed something special!" Lina
expressed a huge smile, indicating her own satisfaction.
"Lina, please! I must talk with you..." Filia said
in tones only Lina was close enough to hear.
Lina turned to see if anyone had a problem with
it, but saw none. Gourry had already been distracted by a man in a stall
moving thimbles randomly with a small bead beneath one of them. Amelia
was already herding both Kagemi and the near-exploding Kitty in some direction,
possibly toward a dessert outlet and Naga seemed to have decided it was
a good idea as well... helping Amelia in the task of moving Kitty, "Should
I get a wheel barrow??" she suggested just as Lina turned back to face
Filia, "I don't see any problems."
Filia clasped her hands neatly below her waist as
she walked with Lina, who was looking at her with curiosity. She wasn't
sure she should be telling Lina what the Council of Dragons had felt earlier,
"Lina-san..."
Laughing to herself, Lina felt like sharing, "You
should've seen the tug-of-war Gourry, Naga, and Kagemi had over the last
leg of ginger crab! Ha! I've never seen Amelia so frightened! I'm glad
I kindly solved the problem by plucking it out of harm's way before someone
undeserving (like them) could rip it apart. Crab is a delicate food to
eat... unless, of course, everyone else is being just as messy as you are!"
Lina laughed again as Filia stared coldly ahead of herself, listening to
Lina, but only catching the last sentence ot so after she finished thinking
briefly over the potential situation at hand.
Lina took note of the priestess' seriousness, "Ne,
Filia-san, what happened? Something wrong?"
Filia stopped suddenly and looked down at Lina,
forming an unbreakable eye contact, "Lina, this 'Kage' is far more dangerous
than what seems to have been described by lore and legend... the true reason
I'm here with you again is because the Council of Dragons sensed a force.
A magical shock wave that appeared over the ocean about a week ago."
"An explosion?" Lina's eyes widened, "Powerful enough
to alert the Council?"
Filia nodded, quickly glancing around the area,
checking for possible eavesdroppers.
"Do they know what it was?" Lina asked while Filia
led her off the main flow of the street.
"I, myself don't know. I felt the shock. It didn't
feel like any powerful spell I've seen before (and I've seen plenty), but
I have a feeling the Council knows, or at least has an idea. They asked
me to accompany you to figure this out. They only told me that Shadow
may have been involved, and it would have some lasting effect because of
the nature of the explosion... of course, they didn't tell me that either."
Lina lowered her head in thought, "Hm... why did
the Gold Dragon Council want you to find me?"
"I don't know... perhaps they felt you would have
something to do with it at some point. I don't think they suspect you of
being the cause... we've already somehow become involved. Kage has been
revealed to us totally by coincidence."
Silence...
Like a library at its busiest. People lightly chatting
below the 'Quiet Please' sign. A little more of that stuff we call silence...
"Could the shock wave have been an after shock
of an explosion that may have been a break in reality?"
Filia shot a look at the young sorceress, "Lina-san...
what makes you think-"
"If the explosion was powerful enough to send out
a dragon-alert, it could have been a momentary hiccup of a really
strong teleportation spell- I mean, not just a hop, skip, and a jump over
an ocean or a continent, but maybe a jump between worlds..."
"That's... that's something we've never encountered
before... but it did feel like the back wind of teleportation, really
amplified tho'... what do you think came through?"
"Maybe something left, but more likely something
came here. There's no way to know what entered unless we find it."
Filia gave a nod of agreement, smiling in fulfilled
relief. Lina knew the situation and even brought up a valid point. The
young dragon priestess prepared, in her mind, a plan for the fateful encounter.
That was what the council had known... Lina Inverse was the most likely
individual on this side of the broken barrier to have such luck... to find
herself caught up in such an important event. She knew it. The Dragon Council
knew it.