"Life is like stepping onto a boat which is about to sail out to sea and sink." - Shunryu Suzuki Roshi
Looking back down the mountain a the little town of Beram, it looked to be perched on a narrow little shelf amid the sheer cliffs of the Lancre Mountains, Gourry thought as he paused to take a breather. He looked out across the way towards the other mountain that rose just as sheer and dangerous as this one across the way and shuddered. This was a no man's land, as barren and inhospitable as some of the places he and Lina had visited in their recent travels in the great deserts outside the area defined by the Barrier. Whatever that was. There the land had been flat and incredibly dry and hot; here, the mountains lifted straight up, sheering away in places to form little pockets in which the snow gathered. When it was gone, they would be meadows, he thought, but how long out of the year was that? He shivered and pulled his cloak closer around him. Lina was right to hate the cold; he didn't know if he would ever be warm again.
Turning his back on that dizzying sight, he looked at the path in front of him. It was steep and treacherous and was seemingly not there until Jarix blazed a way through the drifting snow. They were above the tree line here and the wind that whipped their cloaks away from their bodies and knifed straight through their bodies had piled the snow so deeply in places that they had to find ways around it. Fortunately, Jarix seemed to be able to spot these and they could avoid them for the most part. The snow was so dry that as soon as one of them trudged through it, it would fall back into the channel they'd cut, making it just as difficult for the next person in line to wade through.
And when it wasn't the snow they were having to deal with, it was loose scree and shifting rocks underfoot. Or ice-coated slickrock on which their boots could find no purchase and they had to literally crawl along, finding finger and toeholds by feel. The leather of Gourry's gloves was beginning to shred; he was glad he had another pair in his pack because by the time they finally got to this Temple, he was certain these would be completely ruined and of less use in this weather than his everyday, half-fingered gloves.
Jarix lead them along unerringly, moving just fast enough to keep good time, but not fast enough that they could not keep up. Zelgadis followed behind Jarix, trying to make the way easier for Amelia, who was having the hardest time of them all. She was smaller than the three men and floundered easily. Occasionally, he or Zelgadis had to carry Amelia through waist-high drifts. Just as he was doing now.
"How much further?" Zel called to Jarix, who had gone up around the bend of the trail and was waiting above them. The wind picked up his cloak and tossed it around him like the wings of some great, black bird. Gourry set Amelia on her feet and she took Zel's hand as he offered to help her over the next section of rotted scree and broken rock. The blonde swordsman smiled to himself as he watched them; it lightened his heart to see them together, although it also accentuated the ache he felt at Lina's absence. But they were his friends and he was glad they'd finally come to see what everyone else could see: That they were good for each other. The enigmatic Chimera and the impetuous hero-freak he'd first known certainly had matured and grown together. He nodded to himself; it was the way it should be and he was happy for them. They complimented each other the way he and Lina -
His heart twisted and he had to blink several times before he could see clearly again. Gripping the hilt of his sword, the maroon scarf snapping sharply in the wind, he whispered, "I'm coming for you, Lina. Don't worry; I'll find you." He hurried after the other three.
"We've only been climbing for three hours!" Jarix shouted back over the wind, as if a three-hour climb through snow and biting wind on a barren mountain was an everyday occurrence for him. "We've got another hour, hour and a half left!" Gourry shivered and pulled the hood of his cloak closer around his face; he noticed the others did the same. Amelia looked ready to drop in her tracks, but she said nothing and climbed on after Zel as he rounded the bend and caught up with Jarix.
"There's a storm coming up," Jarix called as Gourry brought up the rear. "We need to hurry so we can get to the Temple before it breaks! That means no more stops!" Gourry heard Amelia groan softly and put a hand on her shoulder.
"Couldn't we use a Raywing to get there?" Zelgadis asked, looking at the girl with concern in his eyes. He put his arm around her and pulled her close.
"Can't. There's only one approach and it can't be gotten to by air. Besides, do you want to try and fly in this wind?" He looked at Amelia, who was standing there shivering so much her teeth were rattling. "I told you you should have stayed behind," he said in a flat, uncaring voice. "This climb is too hard for a girl, much less a pampered Princess."
Her head snapped up and she gave him her version of Lina's Glare of Death. "I'm not pampered! And we'll make it to the Temple before the storm breaks! You just keep right on leading us and don't worry about me!" Zel had to hold her back so she wouldn't storm off like she'd done the last time.
"You don't have any choice this time, Princess," he said, unfazed by her look. "Come on!" he said, turning and leading the way along the non-existent trail. The three companions sighed and followed along behind him.
"Not much further now!" Jarix's voice echoed along the narrow canyon walls back to them. They'd entered the canyon about fifteen minutes ago and while they were grateful that the wind no longer cut through them, they now had to deal with squeezing through narrow passage ways. Now their places were reversed: Amelia, being the smaller, could slip easily through them, but Gourry had become stuck twice. Zel had had to pull him bodily through. The last time, he was certain that he'd cracked a rib. His breath still caught when he tried to breath too deeply.
The passage widened suddenly and took a turn into the cliff face. They hurried through, and this time found a floor that had been worked to make it smoother. Steps had been chiseled into the rock and Jarix stood at the top, waiting for them. They followed eagerly; the cold wasn't as apparent in here. In fact, compared to outside, it felt downright warm.
"This way," he said over a loud roaring noise as they joined him at the top of the stairs. He led them along a narrow ledge along the wall. They were in a large cavern that dropped away from the ledge with sudden abruptness. Jarix had cast a Lighting spell and all they could see past it were thick shadows. They hugged the walls of the cavern; even Jarix.
Around the cavern, which appeared to be circular and then through another opening, this one more regular than the last one as if it had been shaped by human hands. Beyond that, Jarix didn't need the Lighting spell and let it fade. Great crystals embedded in the ceiling caught the light and reflected it back down so the entire cavern was bathed in a soft glow. But it was where the light came from that made the three stop and gasp in wonder. For there, out of an opening half again as high up as they were, water spewed out of the rockface. It fell outward in an arc to collect in a circular pool below before flowing out of the chamber through some hidden exit. The pool glowed with a pure silver light, like that of the full moon, bright enough to read by.
"Come on," Jarix said from up ahead. "The Temple is just up ahead." With growing excitement, they left off staring and hurried after him.
He led them along the ledge that ringed the chamber and behind the curtain of falling water. There an archway beckoned. Stairs, not the roughly hewn steps from earlier, but perfectly carved and polished stairs that gleamed in the silvery light, led upwards. Jarix started up them without looking back. The little group stared at them, bone-weary and not looking forward to the climb. "How does he do that?" Gourry asked, putting his foot on the first step and forcing himself upwards by will alone.
"I'll be damned if I know. It's like he didn't even feel the cold outside, too." Zelgadis took Amelia's hand and helped her upwards. Gourry turned back and took her other hand and together the three of them pushed upwards.
It wasn't long before Jarix was lost to their sight. The stairs didn't go straight up, but folded around on themselves several times. After the seventh turning, Amelia dropped to her knees and they stopped to take a breather.
"How high do you think we've come?" Gourry asked, peering into the darkness. There were small crystals that glowed spaced intermittently along the walls, but they were dim and didn't really do much to push back the darkness.
"I think we're higher than the tallest bell tower in Seyruun," Amelia said between gasps.
"They've got to end sometime," Zelgadis said, wiping sweat from his brow. "The mountain can't go up forever."
"Any idea where Jarix disappeared to?"
"No and I hope we don't see him again. I don't care what he says, once we get clear of the passage out there, we're Raywinging back to Beram.
Gourry pushed his hair out of his eyes and looked down at Amelia. "Well, let's get on with this. C'mon, Amelia, I'll carry you." He knelt on the stairs with his back to her.
"No, Gourry-san! You can't do that!" She stood up but her legs were too worn out to hold her. Gourry and Zel each caught one of her arms and helped steady her.
"Don't argue. Zel and I can trade off if it's that much further. You're worn out."
Amelia sighed. "All right," and climbed on his back. She hung on gratefully as he straightened and they started up the stairs again.
There weren't that many more stairs to go, however, and they finally reached the top. They climbed up and into a large round chamber situated apparently on the very summit of the mountain. Easily seventy-five feet or more in diameter, glassed-in windows and a glass-domed ceiling afforded them an uninterrupted view , or would have if a storm hadn't been raging outside. Thick grey clouds wrapped around the building, and the wind whipped snow against the panes. They could hear the icy particles bouncing off the glass.
In amazement, they turned their attention away from the world outside and towards the center. The floor was inlaid with marble tiles so that half of the chamber was white and the other half black. In the very center, about ten feet in diameter, a large circle of glass had been set. The glass glowed faintly in the semi-darkness of the storm. Looking closer, they could see that all but a tiny sliver of it was lit. Above the glass, without any visible means of support, hung a large round block of marble, again white on one side, black on the other. Each side bore a cross-shaped gouge.
"It's the moon," Amelia said suddenly.
"What?" Zel asked, looking at her.
She pointed at the floor. "Today's the last day before the full moon. That's what it would look like if we could see it." Both Gourry and Zelgadis went to stand behind her and looked at it.
"She's right," Zelgadis said. "It is the shape of the moon."
"That makes sense, doesn't it?" Gourry said. "After all, we know the Temple of Light only appears on the night of the full moon..."
"You're right," a voice said behind them. The three startled and as one body turned to face that familiar voice. What they found, though, wasn't what they were expecting: Instead of the insolent trapper-turned-guide that had led them up and through the mountain, they faced a priest robed in black and silver. His silver hair, still pulled back at the nape of his neck, gleamed in the near-total darkness of the room. His green eyes gleamed like agates. The rings on the crescent-tipped staff he gripped in his right hand jingled softly as he set the tip against the marble floor.
"Welcome to the Temple of Light and Shadow," Jarix said, stepping forward from the stop of the stairs.
Teleporting himself into the room where Lina had collapsed, Xellos knelt by the fiery-haired sorceress. She'd wandered aimlessly for hours before finally collapsing in a pitiful heap when her legs could no longer carry her. Nestled within the yards and yards of blood-red velvet, she looked so small, so fragile, so pale. So lost. She'd continued on far longer than he would have expected; he'd been watching her during the last hours and she'd been like a sleepwalker, moving on will alone, as if her feet simply didn't realize that her mind had shut down.
Kneeling by her, he gently brushed back a lock of hair that had fallen over her face. Her hair was so soft, so beautiful, gleaming like copper against the lavender silk of his glove. He raised it to his face and breathed in her scent; it was heady and intoxicating, just like her power. Letting her tresses fall through his fingers, he sighed heavily. This was taking far too long. He really needed to do something about that, but found himself reluctant to takes steps to push her completely over the edge. He wanted Lina, not an empty shell. He caressed her cheek with tremulous fingers; he'd never wanted anything this much in all his life.
She shifted in her sleep and her brows creased, marring her perfect features. Her mouth opened and she gasped a little, a half-sob. "Gourry," she whispered softly.
As if bitten by a snake, Xellos snatched his hand back and sat back on his heels. How? he demanded. How could she remember? Had her memories returned? No...he thought. They couldn't have done. If her memories had returned, Lina Inverse wouldn't have just collapsed here in a puddle of velvet draperies. She would be Dragon Slaving her way out of here. So...He put his hand on his chin to stroke it thoughtfully. She either just remembered his name or it was merely a fragment of a dream. Either way, nothing important.
His eyes feel upon her gloved hands, folded delicately beneath her chin. Rage burned within him and he felt the need to strike out at someone, something. Spotting the gold ring on the outside of her glove, he knew exactly what he was going to do. Carefully taking her hand, he grasped the fingertips of her glove and tugged it off - pulling the ring with it. It tumbled into his palm and he curled his fingers over it, forming a fist. A twisted grin spread across his face as he imagined what the swordsman's reaction would be when he "returned" this to him.
Xellos stood in a swirl of black cloak and looked down at the sleeping girl at his feet. Then he was gone in a flash of darkness.