Soujiro Seta SIN
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At the Gates of
Hell 4
Okay, here's the last part in Zeal's epic
story for this round! Booya!
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Zeal stepped into a magnificent
chamber replete with ornate magical objects, and grand
bookcases full of books lining every wall. There must be a
thousand books here at the very least! Zeal’s eyes seemed
to glow as she reached for a random book and wrested it from
its place on the shelf. Her suspicions were confirmed – it was
indeed a tome of magic. She replaced it and took another from
a different location, looked at it, and put it back. Pick and
choose, again and again; every time the book was about magic.
Talk about your reading Zeal twitched as she leafed
through the yellowed pages of the book she currently held.
I guess he doesn’t get out much…. But he had obviously
done just that, for the place bore no sign of the Summoner’s
presence, aside from the lingering presence of his dark aura.
Many of his books had writing that was illegible to
Zeal, but some of them contained text she could read. “The Art
of Summoning Made Easy” she read off the spine of one
particularly wide book. Next to it sat “Demons for Dummies”.
“Let’s see…. ‘Maniacal Magic’, ‘How to Grow Your Own Army’,
‘The 1001 Best Villan Quotes Ever’, ‘Pentagrams Are People
Too’, ‘Getting Microsoft XP to Work for You’….so many books
which bespeak the dark arts gathered together in one place”
Zeal pondered. “Maybe this guy got picked on a lot as a kid.”
As she stepped away from the bookcase, she felt her hair begin
to stand on end – generally not considered a good sign.
Quickly she hid behind a large chair, trying as best she could
to conceal her aura from detection. But if this Summoner was
powerful enough for Yume to tell her not to try combating him
alone, it was probably of no use anyway.
Merely a
minute after Zeal had taken refuge, a great black pit opened
in the circular room’s center and a great sorcerer robed in
blue and gold rose up from it, as if regurgitated from a
darkness deeper than Hell (if in fact , this place was not
it). Zeal heard a sniffing sound, as if he was sampling the
air, trying to follow the traces of her presence. For what
seemed like ages, he paced the room, the only sound a
continuous sniffing and a deep breathing. He appeared to be
tired, for he set his great staff against a wall and slumped
down into one of the room’s high-backed chairs. With a wave of
his hand, a bookcase slid along the wall to reveal a glassy
rectangular surface. The Summoner began to chant a spell,
pointing his finger at the panel.
“Picturus
Boxus….awaken!” The panel blinked to life, and Zeal could see
people on it. It was certainly some sort of magical window
that would allow him to see anywhere he desired! “Channelus
Changeus!” the summoner boomed again, and the picture changed
to a scene of two armies doing battle on a field over a small
brown oblong ball. Strangely, even after several minutes, Zeal
noted that there were no casualties. The armies must be so
evenly matched that neither can kill a man of the other’s
side! Zeal concluded. Whatever the small brown ball was,
it certainly must be an artifact of great power, no doubt
something the Summoner had his eye on to snatch up when the
two armies had spent their strength.
Standing up and
walking away from the talking window panel, the Summoner made
his way to one of his many bookcases and took out a book bound
by a spiral of metal. Setting himself down again, this time
with a lap-table, a bottle of ink, and a quill, he began to
write, and talked as he wrote.
“Dear LiveJournal,
today wuz a horrible day! Back in the real world, I had 2
prepare my W-2 tax forms, so I left to do that. While I wuz
there, people maed fun ov me and said I needed to ‘take a
bath’. What’s that? I swear, the dumb human pigs R always
inventing new lingo – they think they R so smart! Once I
finally learn how to summon Level 80 demons, they shall all
feel my wrath! Ah-ha-ha-ha! Oh yeah, and Bob finally got DSL,
so I’ll waste no time in teaching him how 2 becum a lord of
teh Online World liek me! Who needs peepul when you have PC
gamez? I meet all the gratest people I know here, and I feel
exccepted too!
Anyway, when I got back online and
returned to my hoem dimension just four hours ago, I was
shocked to find an army of fighters and mages invading my
level. The audacity of some people! They’re even trying to PK
each other; how dum kan u get? Pretty soon I’ll try 2 get them
with my lv. 60 demons, but I had 2 assess the damages ‘n stuff
– lots ov my traps were borken. I will write in u again later
to tell about a super-pritty girl today that I met who said I
was sort of nice except that my hair was greasier than a
potato chip. Who wood have thunk that people who were not
online were so sweet 2? Haha, n e way, l4t3rz!”
This Summoner being….he’s completely delirious!
Queen Zeal thought, resting her forehead on her right hand.
He thinks this place is some sort of GAME or something!
However, that may mean he is weak from the transport between
dimensions, and that means it’s time for a challenge!
Like a shot from a vertical cannon, Zeal used a
repulsor spell to send herself flying to the top of the
high-backed chair she had been hiding behind. “Summoner, you
shall continue your reign of darkness no longer!” she
proclaimed in her best authoratative tone. “I, Zeal, Queen of
Magic, have come to destroy you and your foul cause!” Her eyes
seemed almost electric, and the Summoner stood up with a
start, spilling his bottle of ink onto the floor.
“Hay
U! What r u doing here!?” he shouted, the voice ringing like
cacophonous bells in the steeple of a dark church. “U r teh
lady I waz trying 2 chatting with earlier, coz I recognize ur
blue hair and orange clothes! Hay, u didn’t say anything so I
thought u were an enemy and I sent some demons after u, but
then when I almost had u, something maed me haev a blue screen
and I had to restart! Gaaaargh!” He raised his hands skyward
and called to the sky in a black tongue, and demons seemed to
materialize in a ring from the walls to surround Zeal.
“Not so fast!” she cried as she jumped down from the
top of the chair to the center of the floor below. “Last time
I was on the run, but this time, I’ve a little treat for you!”
She held her arms out and started whispering words, growing
slightly louder as the demons converged on her position.
Suddenly, a rainbow ring radiated forth from Zeal, slowing
slightly before it hit all of the demons (due to insufficient
processor speed, yet again). As it passed through them, their
strength was sapped and they fell writhing to the ground. “It
seems that your lackies are insufficient against my succession
spell” Zeal boasted, throwing an energy ball at where the
largest pile of demons lay and blowing them up for added
effect.
“U…u….it cannot be!” the Summoner cried.
“Those r lv. 60 demons I cast 2 attack u! So many that even my
1337 processor was pushed to handle them all! But ha ha even
though ur spell is strong, I know lots of r0x0ring spellz to!”
Grabbing his staff from where it lay propped against the wall,
he began to spin it around ever faster, fireballs flying from
its head all the while. Zeal surrounded her hands with magic
and batted away as many as she could, but the Summoner just
increased the rate of fire. “Feel the force ov my Turbo
Controller Buttonz!!!!” he cackled as a fireball slammed into
Zeal’s gut and sent her flying into a bookcase. Before she
could even slump down, she was hit with a veritable volley of
more fireballs, each racking her to the core of her bones.
“I…I feel my strength ebbing from me!” Zeal cried,
coughing and gasping for breath. As she felt herself slip
away, her mind suddenly became clear, as a ray of sun boldly
breaks through a barrier of clouds. Zeal……Zeal! Use the force, Zeal! the voice
repeated. Zeal could only wince as she felt her arm – it had
most certainly broken by an unfortunate collision with the
Summoner’s bookcase. Use the force,
Zeal! the voice in her mind said again. What can I
do? Zeal questioned the voice. I feel my power
lessening even as we speak!
Look for the cable, Zeal! The cable! It’s the
small wall port right below the phone line port! Zeal
looked, but she couldn’t see a ‘port’ on any of the walls.
I cannot see it! And the Summoner is almost upon me!
Trust your feelings, Zeal! Find it with
your heart!
Scanning the room, she saw what
appeared to be a black thread sprouting from the wall, right
under a table, obscured by the shadows. With the last of her
strength, she summoned an energy ball into her hands. The
Summoner flinched, then laughed.
“With taht puny
attack, u cannot even hurt me!” he laughed.
“It’s not
you I’m aiming at!” Zeal shouted, mustering all her strength
and awareness into this one moment, this brief slice of time.
She let fly the blue sphere, past her fingers, through the
legs of the surprised Summoner, and straight into the wall
from which the cable protruded.
“I….I don’t know what
you’re trying to do…but it won’t work! Uh…never work! I haev
firewall up!” Zeal could almost taste the delicious fear
creeping into his tone. She raised her good arm shakily and
put her fingers together. She gave a quick snap of her
fingers, and the cable fell from the wall, completely severed
and spewing a shower of mystic sparks.
“NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!” the Summoner cried. “My
broadband connection! U fiend! I will hunt u down over all the
internet and find u 4-ever! U cannot escaep from meeeee!!!! He
began to phase out of existance, his voice becoming grainy.
Zeal thought she heard beeping and humming in the background,
but she was not aware of her surroundings enough to percieve
it clearly. “My…..my super cool level! I will haev my revenj!
Or maybe I will just go back 2 Ever…..quest…..” He finally
flickered from view totally. As soon as he was gone, Zeal
began to feel a rumbling in the place.
Is his world
falling apart without his dark presence to sustain it?
Zeal thought. But she was slipping away, unable to hold on to
waking thought. She thought she saw a light again, as she
slipped into unconsciousness for the second time that day. But
her work was done. A great evil had been vanquished, and many
realms were no doubt free from Summoner’s tyrannical rule.
T….thanks…Yume…. Zeal collapsed to the floor, unable to
sense anything more.
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Am I a
butterfly dreaming I'm a man, or a bowling ball dreaming I'm a
plate of sashimi?
"The Queen is peerless in both power and beauty"
FFOS6 :: Queen Zeal :: Sidekick :: Shadow
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