El Hazard and it's characters are owned by AIC and Pioneer LDC. The author owns only the writing. Chapter 2: Temple of Fire and Rock The sun had set long ago behind the mountain range which housed the Temple of Fire and Rock. Hiashi had just finished writing in his log about his progress with the Lamp of Rock and any new applications of its power. As he had been doing ever since he was made Priest of Rock. Kazusa had left very few records of how to use the Lamp. Hiashi had been doing most of his research through experimentation and creative thinking. He felt as if he reached a plateau, that he had reached the limits of the Lamp's power and the rest depended on skill. After all the chaos Kazusa caused all those centuries ago, Hiashi would be satisfied if his superiors would simply let him develop his skill with what he currently knows and stop insisting he blaze forward with new ideas. Well, at least not satisfied for long. His love of science-fiction kept pushing him on, giving him new ideas and uses for his power. By combining his knowledge of hard science, what he could do with the Lamp frightened him. Water, wind, even fire would be ineffective against the potential of his powers. Responsibility for that power was fighting down the desire to explore. What he really wanted was for the Church to give him limits, boundaries about what he would be allowed to do. Accepting their limits would be easier than following his own. He sighed as he closed the heavy book. A scribe would make a copy in the morning and send it to the Elemental Council. It was like being under a microscope. He was the first man in modern times to be an Elemental Priest. More, he was priest over the same element the last male priest held. The same priest which nearly destroyed the Church then, and nearly conquered El-Hazard less than a year ago. If he were in the Council's place, he wouldn't let him join. But the Grand Priestess had too much faith and trust in him. "You must have confidence in yourself." she said. It's hard to argue with a spiritual leader who also has the Eye of God on her side. Even the Eye felt Hiashi was the one to wear the Lamp, demonstrating its approval by restoring the drained Lamp and showing Hiashi the fate of his violent Father. He walked into the bedroom quietly. His armor cat, Riho, was curled up at the foot of the bed and Shayla-Shayla was already asleep. "His wife." he thought to himself. Despite being married for nearly nine months, the concept still galvanized and amazed him. Sure there were problems in the beginning, as both adjusted to what it was like. In a way he was still adjusting. A happy home life had always been a dream to him until now. This wasn't how he first imagined it would be, but now he wouldn't have it any other way. He sat down on the bed and stroked her red hair, smiling to himself. Today marked the first time he instantly answered to his name. No hesitation, no remembering "Hey, that's me now.", just instant acknowledgment to "Priest Shayla". Shayla-Shayla was an orphan, found by a patrol who arrived too late to save a trading caravan from raiders. Her dying mother cradled her as they approached. "Please take care of Shayla-chan." were her last words. Since they never learned her family name, the local authorities followed established procedures and used her first name as her last. They never discovered where she was from mostly because they didn't try very hard. The land were the caravan hailed from was too far away. So far away and their apparent route so long it was likely she was conceived after the caravan left. And without any surviving papers or other forms of identification apart from a few damaged maps, finding any relatives was virtually impossible. Then when the old laws of the Theocracy were uncovered and men allowed to enter the Church, the rules about intra-Church marriage were evaluated. Hiashi never found out whether it was the way things were done in those times or if the Church was simply an exception due to some early precedent, but when a Priest and Priestess of the Church marry, it is the groom who takes the bride's family name and not the other way around. The Theocracy said it was merely to maintain tradition, but Hiashi suspected some of the more traditional members were upset about disrupting the status quo and wanted payback. It didn't really matter to him anyway. He was glad to abandon his family name. It was just one more painful aspect of his past he could finally bury. Still, it seemed almost silly to use the same name three times. As he sat looking at her, he wondered if he would tell her. Probably not. If he did, she'd wonder why it took him so long to adjust. Best not to bring it up. He unfastened his Lamp of Rock and set it in its holder beside the bed and climbed in. Shayla cuddled closer, murmuring his name as she grabbed his arm in an almost vice-like grip as he fell asleep. Hiashi found himself standing outside Shinonome in his school uniform. It was time for class. He checked the time on his watch to see which class he should go to. But instead of the usual display was the Cybertron insignia, a signal that he was dreaming. Even after Kazusa's defeat, Hiashi still suffered nightmares of his father's violence. The palace healers and councilers taught him a technique that would tell him when he was dreaming. The logic being, if you knew it was a dream, you can control it. He chose that signal because there was no chance of him ever seeing it in El-Hazard, thus it would stand out and be noticed. The signal only appeared during nightmares. Hiashi wondered why it appeared now. He hadn't suffered through one of them in weeks. When he did, they were always at home, never at the school. His answer came swiftly as Bugrom punched their way from the ground. He had fought the Bugrom before. After becoming Priest, Jinnai tried several times to take the Lamp from him. Jinnai thought that if Hiashi could use the Lamp without the usual training, so could he. The Lamp of Rock appeared on his right forearm, but he didn't dare use it. His link with his or any Elemental Lamp existed whenever they were in range, even while asleep. A lesson learned when he fell asleep reading an old book and experienced a nightmare. He used the Lamp by instinct, accidently causing a quake in the waking world. Ever since he never used any Lamp when fighting his dreams. The lead Bugrom charged. Hiashi pulled his fist back, mentally reshaping his arm into a robot's. Controlling the dream by reshaping his body had worked before and finally seemed to put the memories of Father at rest. When he threw the punch, he saw it didn't work now. His arm was still that of flesh and bone and had no effect on the insect. While running inside the school he tried to create a jet pac to escape. That failed. He tried to sprout wings. Again, nothing. He grabbed a mop to morph it into a weapon, but all it did was get grabbed away and snapped in two by a purple fist. Hiashi fought the urge to use his powers. Even if they worked, he would be putting his wife at risk. The Bugrom were catching up. All his usual fighting techniques didn't work. As a last resort, he grabbed a fire hose and pushed the advancing enemy away with a hard stream of water. Suddenly he lost control of the hose and it sprayed him in the face. Hiashi sat up in bed, face wet from sweat and a glass of water Shayla-Shayla threw at him. She still held his hand looking at him with eyes filled with concern. "Are you all right?" she asked. He wiped his face, mopping up most of the water. "Yes, thank you." Riho moved closer putting his front paws on Hiashi's leg, "Bad dream?" "I thought we were over this." she said. "This one was different. I knew it was a dream, but I had no control. It was the Bugrom, not Father. Wait a moment, what time is it?" Hiashi asked noticing sunlight streaming in through a window. "Ten in the morning." "Impossible. I've never overslept, not like this." "Hiashi, maybe you should go to the doctor about this." "I'm not having a relapse, Shayla. It's something else." he said with more annoyance than he wanted. They were interrupted by an attendant. "Excuse me. Priest Hiashi, Makoto sent a massager drone here. He wishes to speak with you immediately. He says it's important." "Where is he?" "At the Stairway to the Sky. Why would he be there? He know's it's forbidden." "I'm sure he has a reason." Hiashi said grabbing some clothes then looked at the attendant until she took the hint and left. "I'm not saying you're having a relapse. But the doctors said it might happen. Arugh. That bastard father of yours is dead. Kazusa's dead. Why can't you just let it go?" Hiashi hurried to get dressed, determined not to let this argument escalate any further. "I have. This is the first time I've seen the Cybertron insignia in weeks. I had no control, and neither of them were there. This has to be something else. Please believe that. Maybe it was a vision." Shayla paused before speaking, "Of the future? Get real. What would you be doing back at that Earth school. That is unless you're planning on leaving me." Hiashi knew when his wife was teasing. He also knew her joke was to cover-up her real concerns. This nightmare was unusual. They never lasted this long or took so much effort to escape. Shayla would have preferred the relapse instead of whatever caused this. Makoto was pacing back and forth at the entrance to the Stairway to the Sky. Ifurita was leaning on her staff watching him. Makoto was muttering about Hiashi taking his time getting here. "Makoto, his temple is miles away. You can't just expect him to drop everything and rush here." Ifurita said. "I know. But I said it was important. He knows I wouldn't do that just for a social call." he said pausing. Before him, a stone spike erupted from the ground. It grew to twelve feet in height before it started melting revealing a nine foot coarsely carved statue of a Klingon warrior. The Klingon looked down at Makoto with an extremely displeased expression. " Who dares summon Priest Hiashi?" it said brandishing its weapon. Makoto took a few steps back in surprise, "You-you're getting better at that. You can stop now." he stuttered. The statue melted again, this time to a reasonable facsimile of Hiashi smirking proudly. "Thanks, I'm not planning on going any further though. Exact duplicates make people nervous. Now what is wrong?" "Well I really wish we can talk in person." The statue nodded in disagreement, "Sorry, I got my own problems." "Trouble in paradise?" "Ha ha," Hiashi said sarcastically, "Now what is it?" "Last night I had a disturbing dream. I was back and Shinonome and the Bugrom were there. Fujisawa and Nanami said they had the same thing. They think it's because it's been one Earth year since we came to El-Hazard. But I know it's something else. It feels wrong. Oh I can't explain it." Hiashi's statue changed expression to more serious. "How much do you remember?" "Not much. Just that they were coming out of the ground and weren't too happy." "Trouble waking up?" "And how. All three of us overslept. Dr.Schtalembaugh was real upset that I was late." "You're right. Something IS up. The same thing happened to me." "Then you must let me into the Stairway to the Sky. It's our best link to the Eye of God so I can find out what's happening. Please, you have the authority." Makoto pleaded. "I have the authority, but I may not be able to use it. They've been keeping me under a microscope, like if I screw-up once, I'm finished. Some of the Council have enough problems with a male priest. I can't add fuel to the fire by letting another guy in a forbidden area. I'll talk with Shayla and Afura then get back to you." "What about Kuaul Taulus?" "She's too new at this. If we bring her along some might see it as peer pressure or worse, corruption. On the other hand, if you spoke to her on your own, she could come of her own free will, independent of us." the statue said with a hand on the chin moving into the Thinker pose. "All right. Hurry. I get a real bad feeling about this." Makoto trailed off as the statue returned to the ground leaving no trace of its existence. At the Shrine, Hiashi came out of his trance. "It happened to Makoto, Nanami, and Fujisawa also. Makoto think's something's up and wants access to the Stairway." he said to Shayla who he knew had been there all along. " Well at least it sounds like something we can take care of." she muttered. "How was Afura doing on your visit yesterday?" "A bit quieter than usual. Wanted to know how you were, how we were. The token conversation bits." she said a bit disgusted and saddened. "I'd wish she'd stop blaming herself for what happened. I told her to forget about it. No one blames her for being possessed." "And you think this might help?" "I can't give him access because we're old friends. You can't grant access because we're married. Kuaul is too new and inexperienced. That leaves Afura. Afura is suppose to be a good judge of character. Maybe this would convince herself of it." "I'll get her down there. You go on ahead and compare notes." Shayla-Shayla said. They embraced briefly. Shayla touched the red stone in her husband's headband. The stone itself was enchanted to be part of the Elemental Lamp of Fire. Shayla wore several such stones on her uniform. This stone was made especially for Hiashi. It was a small battery for Elemental Fire magic. If necessary he could use his special power to use her flame for a brief period. More importantly it signified the bond between them. Hiashi watched her leave. He visited Afura on many occasions. At first it was to help out with her recovery from being possessed. He never found out what the 'real' Afura was like. She always clammed up when he was around. She seemed nice enough, but Shayla said she lost some of her arrogance, that distinctive superior attitude she had wherever she went. He wanted to know the Afura Shayla wanted to get back. He wished for the best as Riho transformed around him then sank into the ground.