bakerstreet

"Of course," he answered. The discomfiting feeling - he knew it quite well, really. Hearing compliments you didn't quite believe... He'd lived through it more than once. So he gave Zelgadis a smile and motioned toward the road. They'd intended to walk, after all, and it gave them time to talk as well.

"I-- To change the subject," he said, thinking that maybe that would be welcome, "I'd thought I'd felt some magic around you that was less magic you'd used and more magic used on you. I'm guessing that's related to what you've said - that you were born human." And that he didn't want to see that face in the mirror. "I don't know if the magic here and the magic I'm used to on Azeroth would really mesh well. I... Hm."

Kalec bit his lips. It would take some experimentation and testing, and that probably wouldn't be comfortable. That wasn't something he would want to put someone through for uncertain results. But if anyone could do it, it would be either himself or the Kirin Tor. True that no one had tried to change Magni from diamond back to dwarf, but Magni also hadn't expressed a want to change. Zelgadis, on the other hand, just had.

And, damn it all, but if Khadgar could send around a version of his head in an arcane bubble to talk to people all over Azeroth, surely they could work some unbindings.

"Would you be willing to come to Azeroth?" he finally asked. "Between my own skill and that of my friends in the Kirin Tor, I think we could return your humanity to you."

Zelgadis had stopped walking. Because he had to check to make sure he heard that correctly. "I'm sorry, can you repeat that?"

Because... well, he hadn't even asked. He just mentioned that he used to be human and now wasn't, and this near-stranger had just... volunteered it.

Inside Zelgadis's head was two thoughts. The first could be summed up as 'what's the catch'. Because... this didn't just happen unless someone wanted something from him, and usually because they were willing to lie (or at least vastly overestimate the difficulty of the problem).

The second was 'you will not only be an idiot, but you will be the ruler of the kingdom of idiots if you turn something you've wanted for years down'.

Historically speaking, the second voice usually won, but the first voice doggedly pressed on.

Those words told him a lot that weren't in the words themselves.

Kalec had already surmised that the magic on this world worked very differently to the magic on Azeroth. The ease with which Zelgadis's spell had assaulted both ethereal and physical had made that clear, and the fact that something like his own magic that he'd used to disperse the dead body--

Well. He had a lot of evidence by now.

But the tone in Zelgadis's voice made it clear that this was something not easily done here, and that--

That was sad. Especially since it was now evident that he wasn't willingly like this, handsome or not.

Kalec looked at him with a gentle, if sad, smile. "If you're not happy with how you are, if this magic was done to you against your will, you deserve a chance to have it undone. And while I don't know, necessarily, how the magic on this world works contrary to the magic on Azeroth, I do know that we have some very studious mages back in Dalaran, and-- Pardon me for saying so, but if I put my effort behind it, along with all the knowledge in the Azure Archives, I know we can do something for you."

His smile gained a little confidence. "We have more practice, now, with binding magic than we've ever had before. Even the runic magic of the Shadowlands." Reaching out, he placed his hand softly on Zelgadis's shoulder. "You've been nothing but friendly to me, and even if I am a little soft-hearted, I'm usually a good judge of character. I can tell you're a good person, and you don't deserve to have to live with something you hate, that someone else did to you. I'm more than happy to do everything in my power to help."

"You don't even know me. We literally just met, and you are offering 'everything in your power'? There has to be something you want in return."

It is said with the tone of a man who wants to believe this is true, but has had enough experiences to know that it probably isn't. Yes, Kalec's magic was unusual enough that Zelgadis was willing to consider that it opened options for him that he had accepted weren't available on his own world.

But it still sounded like it was a lot to do for a random stranger, even for a dragon whose idea of a simple favor might be larger than a human's. Zelgadis had slowly come to trust that his friends would help him to what extent they could, but... there had to be a catch, or a price. People just didn't do this.

Kalec blinked. This was...

This world really did work differently than he thought. While he understood the idea of give and take, to him, it was a very... Goblin, maybe? Frame of mind. They didn't tend to do favours. They always wanted some sort of edge. Poor Zeros had learned that the hard way.

"I... I guess I hoped that I could learn more about your kind of magic," he offered, "but I'd understand if you weren't willing or able to show me. Or if you're not used to people offering to help just on their own, I--..."

He trailed off, slowly shaking his head. What a sad state this world was in if people couldn't help one another just because. Kalec took in a deep breath and exhaled, letting that thought go. It wouldn't help anything just to be sad.

"All right," he said. "So if you're used to people wanting to make a bargain, what do you think would be an appropriate bargain? Because I think I already have a starting place for how to help you. Something that already exists in my world that I think can be adapted to do what we want for you. So - with that in mind. That there's already something that could work. What would be an even trade, in your opinion?"

"I'm willing to tell you what I know about magic," Zelgadis said quickly, suddenly anxious that he had fucked this up somehow. "It's just... a major magical working for a single person is the sort of thing that most people just can't do because they want to help. Even a kingdom or a guild would rather focus on helping the people they are obligated to first."

But he took a breath. "But, it sounds like what you are saying is that this is smaller-scale than I'm thinking it must be," Zelgadis said. Which is also kind of scary, but he's not going to dwell on this. "On my end, this is worth... priceless. Everything I can tell you or find out about magic would be cheap." Zelgadis was serious -- Kalec could probably demand almost anything from him, short of his life, and he'd agree willingly.

"Zelgadis, I'm going to be honest with you," Kalec said, looking sincerely to Zelgadis's eyes. "I don't like the way your world works. I don't like that the people here don't have the kindness to help someone just because it's the right thing to do. I don't want anything from you except the opportunity to help you."

He paused. After all, he'd just said he wanted to be honest - so that was the least he could do.

"And maybe a little more of your company. I'm really enjoying talking with you. And..." His head tipped down, blue hair falling into his face before he looked up again, cheeks a little pinker. "I already told you I think you're handsome, but even if nothing comes of that, I want to help you."

"There are people here who are like that," Zelgadis said quickly. "A friend of mine... you actually remind me a bit of her."

Weird to be defending a world that Zelgadis would fully concede can be a bad place. Maybe it was more defending Zelgadis's friends, who he did actually care about and were trying to help. Lina, Gourry, Amelia... all of them would help if they could, and had helped by passing on information (well, not so much Gourry on that last bit, but more because it was so far from Gourry's expertise).

"But I can manage company and conversation." He was about to say that he didn't make good company, but he stopped. Because those same friends had made it clear that they liked spending time with him. Maybe it was more that he could manage company when he thought he was wanted, and not dashing off to chase some lead.

(He was tabling the fact that Kalec was flirting with him. Because Zelgadis's brain was already running on overload, and that was another great unknown that was going to take more emotions than he had to spare to figure out how he felt about that. He would come back to it sooner rather than later, though.)

When Zelgadis defended this world, though - it brought more of a smile to Kalec's face. Good. It wasn't all like that, and that was a relief. He'd seen the disbelief in Zelgadis, that someone could be kind, and he hated that the rest of the world had been like that, but-

Was a lot of Azeroth really very different? The great faction war was only beginning to end. The world was only just starting to see it was better if everyone fought alongside each other instead of opposite.

"I'm sorry for assuming," he said, "and I'm glad to be wrong. And I hope I prove myself better than assumptions in the future." After all, life was about learning - and he still had a lot to learn. Everyone did, whether they thought so or not.

But then, after soft laugh, he said, "So. Let me explain a little about this possible solution and you can tell me if you're willing. Of course, we'll do some trials first - I wouldn't be willing to risk a person until we were sure it would work. But you see, most of the life on Azeroth actually began as metal and stone. They were made by the Titans and the Watchers that the Titans had left there on Azeroth. But one of the Old Gods wanted to get a foothold in Azeroth's new life, so it created the Curse of Flesh. As it passed from creature to creature, they changed from metal and stone to flesh and bone. And all this happened so long ago that now, the curse is gone - but one of the Watchers went... a little mad. He started trying to cure the Curse of Flesh and began turning gnomes and dwarves back to stone and metal. He succeeded a few times - but we were able to restore them back to flesh. I think that, between me, Khadgar, and Brann Bronzebeard, we should be able to adapt it to work on you."

Zelgadis listened. A weird story, but... well, if he talked about Flare Dragon Ceipheed and Ruby-Eye Shabranigdu, that might seem weird to someone else.

"It's not all stone, though even removing that would be progress." He would lose his superhuman toughness and at least some of his strength... but he also might feel more human, and have things like normal skin and hair, and not sink in water.

"My body is 1/3 rock golem, 1/3 brau demon and 1/3 of the original human."

"Brau demon," he echoed, brows lowering thoughtfully. "That's not one I've heard of before, which means it likely isn't connected to the Legion - especially as I can't sense any fel magic in you. But we're unfortunately very practiced in demons. The Illidari would be able to help with that, more than any of the Kirin Tor."

But that brought about another interesting possibility. "We might..."

Kalec paced, his frown gone contemplative. Zelgadis had gotten him into one of a mage's favourite things: problem solving. He lifted his hands, his fingers starting to glow a pink-violet as he pressed them together and then pulled them deliberately apart, forming a glowing, translucent, vertical field in the air. A vague, sketchy gesture from one finger had a line drawing of Zelgadis appear on that field with notations of what he'd been told so far - one third rock golem (and an image of a golem, miniaturised, appeared out from the notation), one third brau demon (he had no image of a brau demon, so he used a voidcaller instead), and one-third human. The image he decided on for the human third was simply Zelgadis without the stones visible on his face.

"Some warlocks," he said, adding another image onto the field, of a human woman in robes, "have shown the ability to metamorphose into a demon form briefly, but return to their normal forms afterward. The Illidari are better at it, but you're not elven, so that wouldn't apply as much to you." The image, though, grew into a demon form complete with horns and wings and hooves before shrinking back down into a human form. "And the Kul Tirans have shown that they can be shamans and have abilities with stone -- as do dwarves." All of which gained illustrations on that glowing field.

"With access to all of that... And I don't doubt you're used to having some of the benefits -- I mean--"

Kalec visibly stopped, realising that he was going deep into magical theory instead of actually being personable and holding conversation. He cleared his throat, chagrin falling over him like a blanket. "I'm so sorry. I shouldn't talk about someone theoretically when I'm right in front of them. What I was trying to say is that, I think we might be able to find a way to let you use the benefits while giving you back your humanity."

And Zelgadis is just staring at him. "Look, whatever you can do, I'd be grateful. I'd also like to know some of the theory behind that, but slower and starting from the basics. Talking about it and trying to explain it makes me a lot more comfortable with the idea of it happening to me."

Trust issues? Him? Whoever could imagine that?

And that made absolute sense. Kalec laughed softly and then, after looking around, he motioned for Zelgadis to follow him. "Let's step over here so we aren't talking about theory in the middle of the road. Oh, and--"

He had to stop and concentrate for just a moment, but then a floating tray appeared, laden with pastries, a flowing fountain of drinks, and a few fresh fruits. "Since we're putting off getting to a restaurant, we might as well have a little something. And since I'm the one being distracting, it's only fair that I provide."

"Well, that's certainly better than trail food," Zelgadis said. And the more Kalec threw strange magic around like it was nothing, the more Zel believe this just might work.

"It's just some conjured pastry," he said, waving it off, for all he did take hold of one of the tray's handles to pull it along with them. There was no reason not to bring it along, after all.

He could tell, though, that between fighting and the offhand magic he was doing, his own supply was depleting. While it was far from running out, and the food would help, this world didn't have the same amount of ambient magic that Azeroth did. His first thought was just how much magic Zelgadis could do if he was on Azeroth. True that his worked differently, but so much depended on how much could be reached. His own perception was skewed, what with who, and what, he was, but now he was curious. But he had to lay some groundwork, first, showing his (hopeful) guest just how magic on Azeroth worked.

"The first thing I need to tell you," he said, choosing a spot with some convenient logs that looked like someone had used it as a camp before, "is that, while I'm very good with the arcane, there are other types of magic that I'm not as versed in. The work of the Old Gods, for instance, is better known by Shadow Priests, and the work of the innate elements of the world is better known by Shamans, nature better known by Druids and so forth."

And from there, answering questions as best he could, Kalec explained the workings of magic on Azeroth and how he believed they could be worked to help Zelgadis. From Dragon and Dracthyr visages to the metamorphosis of Warlocks and Demon Hunters, from the elemental shields used by Shaman to the shapeshifting abilities of Druids - and how they could work together to let Zelgadis have the aspects of his form that he'd gotten used to, all with a baseline of humanity that he could return to at will. By the time he finished, the sun had crept further along the sky, but the floating tray was still there, replenishing the supply as it was depleted.

Zelgadis listened and was actually able to ask intelligent questions, and make comparison to his own world's magic -- black magic that drew on the followers of the Demon Lord Shabranigdu and was destructive but not inherently evil, shamanism which drew on the elements, white magic that healed and defended, holy magic which seemed to be the counterpart of black. "That wasn't practiced in this part of the world for over a millennium. I met dragons in other parts of the world who could use that."

The Demon Lord Shabranigdu was not a name he'd heard before - and that made it all the more interesting. He'd gotten unfortunately familiar with all the rankings among the Legion, and the more he heard here, the more sure he was that what Azeroth called 'demons' and what this world called 'demons' were two vastly different things, which was corroborated by the fact that Zelgadis said his form was part demon and Kalec felt no trace of the Fel on him -- and that was fascinating.

As he listened, he leaned forward, arms on his knees, rapt attention written plain on his face. "That's very familiar," he said. "Our priests are trained in such a way that they have knowledge of both Shadow magic - which is attuned to the void - and magic that's thought of as holy, which is attuned to the Light. Only recently have we begun to see that the Light, as we'd come to understand it, isn't precisely holy as much as it's simply a force that can be used by those trained to use it. Many have pushed back against that, still wanting to believe that the Light is a strictly benevolent force."

"People hate the idea that just because something appears good, doesn't make it good. Or evil. Magic is just a power, and different types of magic just have natural inclinations. It's perfectly possible to use white magic to do terrible things, even if it is very difficult to use it for destructive things."

Kalec didn't even try to stop his smile. "Exactly. What should actually matter is the intention behind the action - though the action does count as well. Something I've had to learn from experience." Still - religion was a touchy subject. The Light provably existed, as did the Titans. Divorcing magic and morality after generations would be...

Now wasn't the time for philosophical maundering. Kalec cleared his throat.

"But back on topic - I hope that the explanations have helped. Of course, if you do decide to come, you wouldn't be left out at any step. You know yourself and the magic that's been worked on you best, so without your knowledge, input, and decision, nothing would be done," he tried to assure, though a thought came just moments after. "But -- But if you would prefer to just come and explore Azeroth, you'd be welcome as well. You wouldn't be the first otherworldly visitor."

"That would certainly be interesting..." Oh, wait. "I should remember to get a letter to friends so they don't worry if they don't worry if they don't hear from me for a while." Lina and Gourry were traveling, but Amelia usually was not, and they knew where to find her.

It was weird to think that people actually cared what happened to him. Even a year or two ago, he might not have remembered to do this, and been yelled at the next time they met.

"A wise idea," Kalec agreed. He had a bad habit of not being very reachable, he knew - a habit he was indulging at the moment, what with not even being on his own world. "A reason to get to town? I can likely fly us there in about--"

What had Zelgadis said earlier? A few hours of walking? By wing that would be...

"Fifteen minutes? Depending on the wind."

"All right, we can- wait, spell or shapeshifting?"

Because it only occurred to Zelgadis that a dragon would have that option after agreeing.

Kalec was already standing by the time Zelgadis asked, checking the surroundings and walking a bit away - measuring for room, of course, before he said, "Shapeshifting!" with a cheerful smile, and the reason became evident.

With a swirl of power, the half-elven form grew by a factor of hundreds, a blue dragon appearing as if from nothing, glowing runes fading into and out of sight over his scales, silver and blue cuffs around all four feet, and horns and spikes seemingly made of crystal protruding from his jaw, his chin, his head, and his spine, a ball of them at his tail. He sat, towering, now, over Zelgadis, with his eyes glowing a pinkish violet - like the magic he'd used before.

"It may be easiest," he said, his voice now much lower and with an echo in tone, "for you to ride holding on to one of my horns, or for me to carry you in my claws. Your choice, of course."

Zelgadis had seen draconic transformations thanks to traveling with Filia. It didn't mean it wasn't startling to see it.

"I've ridden dragons before. I'd prefer to hold onto a horn. If you don't mind."

If he thought about it too hard, riding someone who was a person was a bit weird.

"I don't mind at all."

For Zelgadis to reach, though, Kalec carefully arranged himself, lowering his head and tilting it to one side for him to climb up. Thankfully, he had enough horns and such to make climbing easier. Horns, spikes, his ears - he could deal with most anything around his head to be grabbed, honestly, so long as it wasn't an eyelid.

"In the direction we were walking, right? Should I land outside the village so I won't scare them?"

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gathersnomoss - 2024-02-27 19:02 (UTC) - Expand

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dreamyeyes - 2024-03-01 06:31 (UTC) - Expand

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Feel free to have Kalec interrupt the question iwth whathever he's doing

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