Sennymay tripped over a twig and fell on her face. That was the end of her running. What were these words for "Fire" making "Air" dance? Why did Kifka say that? He said he had a flame for her or something, Senny was not sure. She was too busy dodging his attacks at the time.
She kept thinking about him. Senny sat on the ground and took out her coffer. It had Kifka's symbol on it. She could still read the language of the Ancients. His name meant something like "Eagle"… or "Fire Drake". The way it was spelled, it could have meant both. She opened to coffer.
Her heart skipped a beat as she watched with disbelief and terror as a red cloud of vapor sizzled out of the coffer. She tried to throw away the coffer, but it was stuck to her hands and wouldn't let go! She screamed as the vapor engulfed her, making it hard to breathe. How stupid she was! A Rogue and didn't even check the coffer for traps! She would have kicked herself right now, but the vapor made even movement extremely painful and difficult. Suddenly she saw a bright ray of light shoot up into the sky and, with it, the vapor. If Kifka didn't know where she was before, he knew now.
Her hands were throbbing now. She looked down and gasped. On the palms and backs of her hands she now carried Kifka's sign. This was that legendary spell no one believed was real! This spell bound the victim to the caster for eternity and there was no way to get this spell off. She now belonged to Kifka! She wailed loudly and sunk back to the ground.
There was still something in the coffer. She looked in. It was the Crystal of Light, only made into a pendant, along with some coins totaling up to 3k just like was promised. If this was Kifka's money and pendant, he must have been very rich and powerful.
Sennymay tried to think of a way to escape, but only one thing came to mind. A ship. She would sail a ship to the other continent where Kifka could not follow her. Then maybe she could do some research on this spell and perhaps find a way to remove the signs from her hands. Speaking of the signs, they were now emitting a red light, undoubtedly signaling Kifka's presence. Senny jumped to her feet and ran towards the oceans.
She now trotted along a trail overgrown with grass and not used by people in years. She followed this trail and it led her to something called Sky Park, a floating Magi city that sold ships to people. She climbed the stairs and stepped upon the white sidewalks of the Park. Her jaw dropped. The buildings were in ruins, cracks in the middle of the streets showed the ground several feel below. Something caused this and made the Magi people abandon this place. It must have been something powerful, so she was not willing to stick around to find out. She looked around once more. The piers were ruined and only one ship stood in the docks. Sennymay approached it.
It was a magnificent vessel called "Jupiter". Sennymay recognized this name from her studies. Before she became a rogue, she studied cosmos. "Jupiter" was the name of the fifth planet of a Solar System in the Milky Way Galaxy. The ship was tall and still in good condition. A beautiful figurehead resided on the front of the ship. It was shaped as a woman with wavy brown hair and green eyes.
Sennymay walked over to the ship and climbed in. It was a whole frigate! A majestic warship about to begin her maiden voyage! She gaped in awe at her surroundings. "Jupiter" sparkled and gleamed in the afternoon sun.
Sennymay stocked up on a couple of provisions and stood in the middle of the deck. Now all she needed was someone who knew how to sail a ship! Suddenly she felt the light pulsating in her hands again. She was drawn to Kifka's box by an invisible force. Her hands opened the box and drew out a note. Senny's eyebrows rose. She unfolded the letter:
"Dear Sennymay Belldandy," it read," I am sorry for the sign on your hands, but it was out of my control. My love for you made me put that spell on the box." Love! It read love! Senny was dumbfounded. She now belonged to Kifka. All this because of his love? She thought that one wasn't supposed to do such things to loved ones. "But I will help you on your journey even though the purposed of it is to escape from me…" The rest would have been a sigh, but the letter could not express that. "Any time you are in trouble or danger, open this chest. I will help you." The End. "Love, Kifka." She laughed slightly.
"Okay, Kifka," she said with disbelief in her voice, "How do I sail a ship?"
The box started to jump around. An image of Kifka appeared.
"To sail a ship, use the spell of animation, my love," he said. "You will find it in the chest." The image disappeared. Senny reached into the chest and pulled out a scroll. She opened it and read:
"Go to the figurehead and say the following:…" Senny shrugged and went to the figurehead. She leaned overboard and read, "Jupiter! Awaketh! Help me out! Giveth thy power to me! I am your master!"
The figurehead screeched. The eyes blinked. The figured head looked up and met Sennymay's amazed stare. The scroll fell apart in the half-elf's hands. The figurehead breathed in.
"God-den! What can I do for ye today?" she asked Sennymay.
"Um, can you get me to the Southern Continent?" Sennymay asked back.
"Yes, ma'am!" the figurehead exclaimed. Suddenly the ship dropped. It fell all the way down from the floating island, making Sennymay feel weightless. "Jupiter" hit the water with an enormous splash, almost causing a tidal wave upon itself. "Sorry 'bout that!" the figurehead exclaimed. "By the way, what's your name, Cap'n?"
"I'm… uh, Sennymay," the Rogue answered. "Jupiter", satisfied with the answer, sailed south. She seemed to know where she was going. Senny sat down inside the captains' quarters. The sailing was quiet.
The quarters were full of maps, compasses, and other useless junk, according to Sennymay. The windows were round and showed nothing but blue skies. Senny got a hold of Kifka's box and opened it. Inside was a magnificent steel broadsword and mithril armor. She removed it from the box and decided to put it on. Everything fit perfectly. She looked into the box again. There was a pair of earrings and a pendant in it. She put on the earrings and took off her gold hoop one. Senny was not going to part with the gold earring. A dying rogue gave it to her when she was 11. She stabbed her earlobe with the sharp end of the earring, creating another hole. She now had one earring in her left ear and two in her right.
Now she took the pendant. There was a note attached. Always a note. It read: "I know you won't wear it… But if you feel for me what I feel for you, you will. I love you. Kifka." She put on the pendant. Inside was an image of some kind of a cathedral. A black one. Swarms of bats circled it in the shadows. She might have not felt for him what he felt for her, or at least that's what she thought, but she still put it on. Something wanted for her to keep him close to her heart. She now leaned back into the captain's chair and dose off.
The Rogue was awakened by a sudden jolt. The sky was pitch black. Senny grabbed the broadsword and rushed for the door. BONK! She smacked her nose. A force field stopped her. The box jumped up and another image of Kifka appeared. His eyes stared at her pendant.
"This pendant that you are wearing will turn hot when you are in danger." His image disappeared, his eyes never shifting from that pendant.
Senny felt it warm against her chest. There was danger. The force field was gone, so she rushed outside to the figurehead. "Jupiter" was screaming as water demons attacked her. They tore at her limps, sap oozing down her body like blood. Senny closed her eyes shut. She might have appeared heartless to people, but she could not see the figurehead suffer. She held out her hands and screamed, "Revert back to your original form, lest you suffer more!" The figurehead turned back to wood and the sap stopped dripping down into the water. Alas, this delay caused the ship to be surrounded by the demons. Sennymay grabbed her broadsword.
One of the demons, short and dark, jumped onto the deck and rushed at her. She swung at it and knocked it sideways several feet by a blow to the back. She was not yet used to a sword this broad and heavy.
She was then completely surrounded by the demons. They crawled onto the deck and towards Sennymay. She had no way to fight them. Like one, the monsters jumped on her. She managed to fight three of them off, but the other eight soon overwhelmed her. One of them went for her throat, but impaled itself upon a white light from the White Crystal of Light pendant and was stunned, but the rest of them still tore at her. Soon, the pain became unbearable.
"K I F K A!!!" Sennymay screamed out.
A ray of red light came down from the sky and stopped on her. The monsters looked up with terrified expressions on their ugly faces. The ray was suddenly blocked by a shadow of a man. It was Kifka! He swung his staff as he was still in the air, and knocked away the monsters. He put his arms around Sennymay's waist and pulled her out of the monster pile.
One hand still around her hips, he waved his staff in an intricate and complicated manner.
"Opollo, I command you! Burn these foul creatures!" He rose his staff to the sky. Nothing happened. The water demons quickly recovered and charged them again. "Must I do everything on my own?" Kifka exclaimed. His warm hand left Senny's waist. He gestured and pointed at a demon. A spark flickered and a streak of fire shot at three of the creatures. They jumped back into the water, their dark bodies on fire. But a simple fire spell was not enough.
Senny stared at Kifka as he prepared the next spell. She wondered if it was he in person of just hologram like the one in the box. She reached forward and touched his soft hair. He was as real as he could get.
Kifka froze. "This is neither the place or the time," he told her in a strict voice and resumed his spell casting. He rose his hands to the sky, forming a fireball in the air. Kifka took a step back, then hurled the fireball at the monsters. The flames set one of the monster's ears on fire. The other demons were less fortunate. The fireballs that Kifka released one by one blew off their appendages one by one. Soon most of them were dead. Kifka was running out of magic and, with it, energy.
He dropped to his knees, then collapsed to the ground. The wizard breathed rapidly. His chest heaved. Sennymay ran at the remaining monsters. She at swung the first one. Neck removed, the monster's head fell to the ground. The half-elf rushed at the second one. She swung again and the shot severed its left leg, sending the demon flying back overboard. This was war. Senny killed five more by cutting off their limbs.
She heard Kifka calling to her. She rushed to him.
"My love, this is my last strength," Kifka whispered. "Take this passage and escape the demons." He gave Sennymay a ball of light. "Remember me…" he smiled wearily at her.
"No!" Sennymay screamed. "I'm not leaving you!" There it was! Her feeling. She had had a secret passion for him since the first time he saved her life at the kobold village, but this was not the time to reminisce. "I'm taking you with me!" She grabbed his arms and threw the ball of light to the ground. A portal opened up in front of her and she dragged Kifka in, kicking the demons away.
She stood him up, but he collapsed and fell on her. She put her arms around him to steady him as the portal closed and took them away.
Back to Gems page.
Back to Main page.
Etrion, "Four Gems," and its characters are Copyright © Sennymayy 1997 - 1999.
