Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ VIRUS ❯ Master Mage Seishira ( Chapter 6 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

By: MellyN

XxXxXx

VIRUS

By: Melissa Norvell

Chapter 6: Master Mage Seishira

XxXxXx

"Seishira?" Bunmei placed a hand on his hips and shifted his weight to one side. "So, you're the one we're looking for."

"You were looking for me?" The white-haired sorceress seemed a little perplexed by his response. She had stumbled across them and had no idea that the group of mysterious people had actually been on a quest searching for her.

"Yeah, how the hell did you know where to find us?" The assassin was a little confused on that ordeal, and when he thought about it, the situation seemed either coincidental or suspicious that they met like this.

"I didn't. I happened to be walking through town and I saw you all engaged in that fight with the bounty hunters, so I decided to assist you," the sorceress saw someone who needed help and decided to aid them. Seishira never had a clue of what their true intent or motives were.

While the two had engaged in talk, Pazusu extended his hand to the fallen Rosario.

"Here," he told her with a kind expression as the girl slowly glanced up at him and blinked. Rosario thanked him and took his hand as she was slowly pulled up from the ground. Pazusu made sure to pay mind to her injuries.

Seishira turned with her back facing the group. "Follow me. We should discuss matters in private," she told them as a gentle rain began to fall from the blackened skies above.

As the group walked through the rain, Rosario thought to herself with a skyward gaze. 'The rain…' the girl began to contemplate before the vision had struck her again. There was a flash of a brighter place, where the skies were blue and she saw the mysterious girl, falling from the bridge once more and the white-haired man with the blacked out face that pulled her from the water. Who were they, and why did she remember them? These memories she had, were they hers or someone else's? There was truly no way of telling, since she had lost nearly all of her memories. At this point in time, she wasn't sure if her true name was even Rosario. 'Who…Who are you?'

"Hey, Rosario," Pippin's young voice pulled her out of her current state of mind.

"Huh?" The green-eyed girl glanced over to the younger female in question.

"Come on!" The cheerful girl smiled.

"Oh, sorry about that. I spaced out," Rosario looked ahead to notice that she was a good foot behind the others.

"Are you feeling well?" Pippin was a little worried about the girl's condition.

"Yes, I'm fine," Rosario leveled her with a comforting smile. "My back hurts a little and I did a belly flop on the ground but I'll live, thanks to you guys, and Seishira."

XxXxXx

Soon, the small group came upon a house in the city of lights that belonged to the sorceress. Inside, they found their way to a large, round, wooden table. The injured girl glanced around at the stone walls and dark chocolate carpet. The whole setting of the house reminded her of medieval times and was even decorated as such with vibrant red and gold tapestries on the walls and an abundance of ancient spell books, written in texts that someone like her could never think of deciphering.

They passed through that room, into another with the same stone walls, a dim shade of dark gray. This room had a black and white checkered tile floor, a few wooden chairs, a small table and a red couch. Pippin and Pazusu sat on the wooden chairs, Seishira stood in the middle of the room and Bunmei sat on the couch with Rosario laying beside of him, her head on his thigh as she rested her tired and injured body. The tattered cape that the assassin once wore was draped over her and provided some warmth against her rain washed form.

"So, that's it? You all came to seek my knowledge of Versailles and the Castle in the Sky," Seishira heard the tales of the assassin and the swordsman of her group.

"Well, as of now all we know are legends and myths. We were hoping that you could provide us with some truths about this place," Pazusu told her. It would be nice to hear something that wasn't a fairytale and if anyone knew, she was the one the rumors spoke of.

"What would you like to know?" Seishira would gladly tell them what they desired, but she needed somewhere to start from.

"Is there a way to that castle that exists in Versailles, and if so, how do we get there?" Bunmei wanted to get straight to the facts.

"For what reason do you wish to go to the castle?" The sorceress questioned. Depending on the reason, would depend on whether or not she gave them the information that they desired.

"Everyone who's here comes from a different land, and we all want to return to the places that we came from," Bunmei explained. No matter what their personal endeavors, their goals were the same.

"That will be no easy task," Seishira explained. "You're going to have to get through the Virus and Queen Ambaralla in order to escape."

"We gathered that much. We just have to figure out where they are," Pazusu spoke up from his position, seated backwards in a wooden chair nearby.

"I know that the queen is hiding somewhere in that damned castle," Bunmei had never seen Ambaralla in Versailles. It was just like someone like her to sit and hide in a seemingly inaccessible region. Usually, highly suspicious people hid in places like that and to an assassin and, it was no surprise to him.

"Yes, she is the most powerful person in the land above and below," Seishira stated which caused a whole new rise of questions.

"Above? There's a land above?" Rosario lifted her head from Bunmei's thigh.

"Did you think that the Castle in the Sky was an entity all its own?" The white-haired woman asked. Rosario truly didn't seem to know anything about Versailles, much less anything else.

She had a lot to learn.

"So, there's a whole different land up there?" Bunmei had heard speculation but until now, there had been no real confirmation on it.

"Yes, the land above us is called Oscillo. To them, we are the inverted land. They are said to have preexisted before Versailles and they know everything about us."

"What keeps one world from falling on the other?" Pippin questioned. To her, it seemed like one world would easily just fall on the other because they were in viewing distance of each other.

"Yeah and why the hell is it so dark down here? Is it dark in Oscillo too?" Bunmei continued to question.

"Versailles and Oscillo share the same sky. The sun rarely comes over to this side and when it does, there's not enough light to penetrate the dense layer of clouds," Seishira informed them of the natural occurrence of things.

"That's why it's always dark down here," Pippin commented. For the longest time, that had been a mystery to her and she was glad to have some kind of explanation on the matter.

"If you ask me, I think there are other reasons as well," the assassin speculated.

"Hm? Really? Like what?" The short-haired girl looked towards the red couch where the assassin was seated.

"That queen wants to keep us in mystery. Since she's up there, no doubt she's watching every move that we make down here. I bet everyone here comes from another place," Bunmei stated his suspicions behind both worlds and their so-called queen.

"Really?" Rosario lifted herself from the couch with both hands as she looked towards the man with inquisitive eyes. The more he talked about his personal thoughts of the two worlds, the more interested she became in them. His opinion stuck out, he rebelled against everything that everyone else believed and she had to wonder if he might be right on some of his assumptions. "You think that everyone down here is just like us?"

"Why else would Ambaralla hide?" Bunmei deducted. "She's got herself tucked in that castle so she can brainwash everyone down here and make them think that they're getting what they want."

"What if she isn't really like that?" A part of Pippin didn't want to believe that the queen had such malicious intentions.

"Everyone has their reasons for doing things." Pazusu finally spoke up. "Maybe hers aren't as bad as we think."

"Tch, yeah right," the stubborn assassin refused to even take their words to heart. They would all see that the queen wasn't as glorious as everyone made her to be- one way or another.

"Why do you think she's suspicious?" The white-haired girl turned her sights to Bunmei. The queen had given everyone a way of life and let them have whatever they desired. Pippin honestly couldn't see how she was all that bad.

"Would she have to erase our memories if she wanted us to be aware of what she was doing?" It was a profound point that even someone as optimistic as she couldn't deny.

"You do have a point," Pazusu looked thoughtful on the subject. That itself was a mystery.

"Yeah, Pazusu and I don't even know where we come from," Pippin glanced at the ground.

"Or if Pazusu and Pippin are even our real names," the purple-haired swordsman looked a little sorrowful at the subject. The two of them had often wondered about their origins and what kind of lives they might have led before they were brought to Versailles.

"Then what you seek is undoubtedly in that castle," Seishira came to that conclusion a while ago. They sought to overcome the mysteries of the past and the only one who could give them that information was the queen.

"Then that's where we need to go," Rosario sat up with a look of determination on her face.

"But, how do we get there?" Pippin questioned.

"Who knows?" Bunmei replied with an irritated sigh. This whole mission seemed impossible.

"Well, we're going to find out. Right guys?" Rosario glanced to the other members of her team. She was determined to find out what was going on and hopefully, she would have the support of the others who resided in the room before her.

"Hell yeah we are. I'm not staying in here any longer than I have to," Bunmei said with his trademark smirk. No matter what the odds, he refused to give in.

"Seishira, will you please help us get to the Castle in the Sky?" Pazusu asked. So far, she was the answer to all of their questions regarding the myths of the two worlds and he had a feeling that she would come in handy when they needed information and advice, plus she was powerful and having someone with a vast knowledge of magic was more than in their favor.

"We were told that if anyone can help us, it would be you," his sister agreed.

"Well, there is an area of transport in Versailles but you will have to travel all the way to the edge to get to it, and even when you reach it, you'll need someone who knows magic to transport you all to Oscillo. They'll have to be a master mage," Seishira informed.

"In other words, we need you," Pippin smiled.

"Precisely, there are only three master mages in all of Versailles and there is one sage," the sorceress informed.

"Sage?" The youngest member of their team asked.

"A sage is a rank higher than a mage," her brother informed. "They are very powerful practitioners of magic. I'll bet that sage is even stronger then Bunmei and I."

"Hey, I'm not a magician. The magic I know is only related to the ninja arts," the assassin defended himself. There was no need to compare magic to sheer strength and martial arts.

"You could not even begin to imagine his powers," Seishira's tone was dark with a hint of fear. The sage was definitely someone to take heed of if he were ever anyone's enemy.

"Huh?" Rosario took notice of the sorceress' words.

"The sage that exists in Versailles has incredible powers, far beyond anyone's here. He is said to rival Queen Ambaralla's powers," the response from the white-haired magic user sent shock throughout the room and a variety of exclamatory phrases sounded from all corners of the room.

"Now that would be the guy to get on our side," a smile crossed Bunmei's features as he placed a hand under his chin and a gleam came to his golden eyes. If anyone could help them, then that would be the person and his key to the complete and utter defeat of the queen.

"That task is impossible," Seishira's words cut through the glorious plans of the assassin in a matter of seconds.

"Huh? Why?" Pippin asked.

"He's been exiled. No one truly knows where he is."

"So that's no help to us," Pazusu sighed.

"We'll have to go it alone then," Rosario knew that what they had now was the best they could do at the moment.

"I should be able to assist you. I can get you to the end of Versailles but we'll have to go by foot," the magic user informed the group. "My magic won't be able to transport us there. Plus, you cannot use transport magic near the outside region."

"So, we'll have to go on foot," Pazusu stated the obvious.

"That was a pretty smart move. They made it to where you'd have to go on foot to get to it," Pippin pointed out the brilliance of the thought put into such a quest.

"The edge of Versailles, huh?" Bunmei glanced to the girl who sat beside of him on the couch. "Is that where you were?"

"I thought I was at the front of Versailles," Rosario scratched her head in confusion. "I'm not really sure though."

"We'd have to climb that huge cliff to get there. You know the one you fell from," Pippin stated.

"I don't have a good feeling about that," Rosario went through all of the scenarios in her mind. It was scary enough that she fell from it and nearly died, but going back up it was more than her worst nightmare.

"Well, wherever it is, we aren't getting there like this," the black-haired assassin was irritated. He was never one to stay in one place for too long, and he hated sitting around and talking as if they had time to waste.

Seishira's glance went to the girl beside of him. "She's injured. You should let her rest."

"If we have to stop every time someone gets a scratch, this will be intolerable," the assassin argued. Just because someone was injured didn't mean that they couldn't at least walk. The quicker they got to the queen, the better. Injury had never stopped him from moving on and the others shouldn't think of it in that manner either.

To face the upcoming dangers, they had to be strong.

"Rosario isn't tough like us. She's just a normal girl," Pippin defended her injured friend. They were fighters, so it was easy for them to just get up and keep going after they've been roughed up but it was different for someone who had never been in battle before.

"What a pain in the ass," Bunmei sighed and grumbled.

"No, we can go," Rosario spoke up after a while of internally struggling on what to do.

"Are you sure?" Pazusu thought that she was crazy for suggesting such a thing.

"Bunmei's right," the girl looked down in guilt. "I wouldn't want you to stop because of me." At this point in time, she felt as if she was nothing more than another obstacle in their path, something that stopped them from obtaining their goals and she hated it. Rosario didn't want anyone to think of her as weak and now they were doing that very thing.

"Hey, just because Bunmei doesn't want to wait doesn't mean that we won't," the swordsman spoke up in a strong tone. He would stay there for her, even if the stubborn assassin refused.

"Do what you want," the black-haired man closed his eyes and frowned coldly. He could care less what they did.

"You guys are confusing me. Do we move out or not?" Pippin was left in the dark on the matter. It seemed that everyone had their own ideas about what they were doing.

"If Bunmei wants to, then we should," Rosario closed her eyes. She knew it would be painful to move on but it wasn't worth fighting over.

"Who made him the leader?" Pazusu shot. Why was it his decision on what they did? Who bowed down and made him king?

"Well, I think Seishira should be the leader. She does know the way," Pippin suggested with a smile. It made perfect sense to her.

"Good idea," Bunmei agreed.

"Thanks."

"Let's move out then," Rosario stood.

"Now you're talking," the assassin stood beside of her with a grin. They were finally seeing things his way.

"You'll need some proper clothes. We can't have you walking around in bandages and a cape," Seishira walked over to the girl and examined her clothes. Rosario nodded in agreement. "We'll go to the shopping district with the money we have and buy supplies for our journey and a new set of clothes. The ones you all have look worse for wear."

"This isn't a fashion show," Bunmei wore a look of irritation. "These clothes are comfortable and I can move in them."

"Your cape looks terrible," Pippin held up that tattered and ripped end of the dull brown cape. It looked as if it had been drug through the dirt, chewed by rodents and it had large slices through it. Like someone had taken a sword to it many times.

"I've been in the harsh elements. Besides, if you had people trying to kill you all of the time, your clothes wouldn't look that great either," the irritated man grumbled.

XxXxXx

The group of travelers stood in front of the master mage's house, clad in their new clothes, each one dressed differently. Rosario has on a pink dress with sleeves that were cut in jagged triangle shapes with dark red trim, the empire cut top of the dress was done in the same fashion as well as the lolita-looking bottom, beneath it, she wore white knee-socks and red mary jane inspired high heels. Pazusu wore a black cowboy hat and unbuttoned best with a white button up shirt that was left untucked from his black pants and a loosely tied thin, black tie hung loosely around his neck. Pippin wore an outfit identical to the one she had worn before, only her top was red and her high stockings were a periwinkle and Bunmei was clad in a black, button-up top with a frilly neck tie and white frills that cascaded from the sleeves. He looked much like a prince or someone who sported ouji-sama (1) styled clothing.

Bunmei stuck a finger inside of his neck tie and pulled the suffocating object away from him as he stared it down with an awkward expression. "I don't like this."

"I don't know. I don't think it's all that bad. At least these clothes are comfortable," Pazusu was pleased with his outfit.

"Speak for yourself," the assassin grumbled. "I feel like a member of a Visual Kei (2) band."

"I like it. It's beautiful," Rosario smiled, pleased to have some actual clothes. She felt better now that she wasn't so exposed to the world.

"Well, if we want to start out, then we need to head off in this direction," the sorceress pointed her staff to the right of everyone and the group began to walk.

The group walked in silence for a good two hours before Pippin decided to bring up a question.

"Do you think that those bounty hunters are still around?" She asked.

"They probably are," Bunmei stated as Rosario looked down in shame.

"Hey, don't worry about it. We'll protect you Rosario," Pazusu gave the girl a kind and strong smile. He wouldn't let any harm befall her.

"She needs to learn to protect herself. Otherwise she'll be of no use to us," Bunmei interrupted his princely moment with the grim truth of the situation.

"Give her a break. It won't happen just like that," the swordsman sighed in exasperation. Seriously, what was this guy's problem? He expected Rosario to just hop up and become a grand fighter in a matter of seconds.

"How's your back? Are you alright?" Pippin ignored the two's bickering and checked on her newly acquired friend.

"I'm fine," the pink-haired girl replied. Her green sights still fell on the ground. She knew that she was useless to the group as she was but she didn't know what to do about it.

"Are you sure?" The short-haired girl continued to question. "You look down about something."

"I'm just having a hard time dealing with everything."

"Are you worried about what Bunmei said, Rosario?" Her words struck deep inside of the wavy-haired girl. She was absolutely right, Rosario was worried about being useless to the team and due to what he had said, and she worried about it even more than ever.

Her silence said it all.

"He's an assassin," Pippin tried to explain it in a way that would hopefully help her think better about her situation. "He's not a normal person like you are. He probably doesn't understand how you feel."

"He doesn't seem like he likes me."

"We all barely know each other. Some people just need time," the girl gently tried to calm her friend's worries.

Rosario gave her a sad smile. "I guess you're right. Besides, we all have a long time to get to know each other, so we should be fine."

Or at least, she hoped that they would.

XxXxXxXx

The black-clad assassins ran up to a green-haired woman and bowed. There were at least twenty of them before her. The woman looked down upon them with piercing blue eyes. She wore a black, form fitting vest, buttoned to the top with a white-tight, button up shirt, tight, taupe colored pants that resembled those of an English style horseback rider and high, black boots. A black, half cape hung around her shoulders like a shroud and her shoulder length, curly forest green hair hung around her cat-like face as red lips twisted into a frown upon hearing her minion's words.

"We failed."

"So, you caught sight of the Black Rose Assassin?" Her strong and sharp voice questioned darkly.

"Yes, we tried to apprehend him but he managed to take out several of our men," one of the assassins informed.

"He was sighted with a strange group of people," a second assassin spoke up.

"Who are these people?" The green-haired leader questioned.

"They were two girls and a young swordsman."

"Did you happen to get their names?" The woman asked. If nothing their names would be somewhat of a lead as to his location.

"One of them is Pazusu, the Legendary Swordsman. The others I'm not sure of."

"Track them down," she ordered, "I want that bounty…and this time, I'm going with you." If they had failed last time, she would make sure that they succeeded this time. A sadistic grin crossed her face as bloodlust reared its ugly head. 'There will be no escape for you now, Black Rose Assassin. Your head is as good as mine.'

…To Be Continued…

NOTES:

1. Ouija-sama- A style of clothing in Japan known as the 'prince' style. It is what it says, any style of baroque or renaissance dress that makes one look like a prince. Japanese bands like Plastic Tree (one of my personal favorites, aside from Alice9 and Gackt) wear this style of clothing.

2. Visual Kei- Visual Kei is considered the band dress of Japan. It consists of elaborate outfits that are of a lolita style but consist of a brighter color scheme. A lot of bands like Malice Mizer and Alice9 wear Visual Kei.