Slayers Fan Fiction ❯ Invincible ❯ Enter the Sorceress ( Chapter 1 )

"FIREBALL!"

It was a beautiful day like any other, except the inhabitants were started with a not-so-ordinary wake up call. Just your average redheaded sorceress with her faithful companion out for a morning walk.

Nothing like blasting a few spells to wake you up, ne? Lina Inverse and Gourry Gabriev continued down their path after defeating another little menace of a bandit gang trying to steal their money. She stretched gleefully, a huge grin on her face. Not much had changed in the past few years. She was still wild, reckless, powerful, and out to make a name for herself in a new land. She had grown quite a bit, however. Lina went through a sudden growth spurt a few years back, and it was very welcomed no matter how late it may have been. She had grown a few inches. Still short (as far as she was concerned), but tolerable nonetheless. She proportioned out as well, which was a healthy surprise. A change of style was needed since she outgrew her old clothes. They were traveling very well near the equator, so she had on a light, cool outfit. Her shirt was a deep blue funky patterned halter-top that tied behind her neck and wrapped around her back. She cut her jeans into shorts which were now experiencing some fray and she wore a pair of hiking-boot type shoes that were cooler than her other ones. And, of course, she had her armor and cape, which hadn't changed much except that the armor was lighter. Gourry looked and acted just about the same. He had long blue pants on, but a looser shirt and no armor. It had gotten destroyed in some random battle where Lina wasn't careful, and he was waiting to get home for a new set. Other than that, he was the same. Maybe he got a tad bit smarter. Just a smidge.

Either way, the duo was traveling around in yet another new continent that had been opened when the shield around their homeland broke. Lina had no idea how huge it was, and she worked on making a map of the areas as they wondered about. They had just left a small village and she was well fed and well rested, ready for whatever came her way. But this is Lina we're talking about, and soon enough she found herself lagging and in need of food.

"Hey, why don't we stop off and eat something, ok?" she asked. Gourry shrugged and agreed.

"Alrighty. There's a good spot." They found a medium-sized stream with a group of large rocks that stood on the edges. Lina made her way over to one and sat down, wincing slightly from the rock's sun heated surface, and proceeded to take off her shoes to stick her feet in the water. Gourry sat down beside her sitting Indian style and brought out the food.

"Alright, chow-time!" she exclaimed.

"There sure are a lot of weird creature things in this place, right?"

"Yeah, I guess you can say that." Lina chomped happily on an apple.

"Those dwarf guys were kinda short and funny looking." He chuckled and examined a piece of chicken before taking a bite.

"And to them, you're nothing but a giant blonde baboon. Have some consideration, for goodness sake!"
"Me?! What about you? You tried to convince them to give you their treasured ancient book!"

"I saved them from that … big flying chinchilla thing."

"… and you destroyed their farmlands."

"So? They can plant more stuff."

"And then you called them 'conniving undersized infidels' for not giving you any money."

"Look, I saved their butts from that furry threat! The least they could do was show some thanks or something. But, noooo. All I get is a bunch of crazed mumbo jumbo in whatever language they speak… I couldn't understand a word they were saying."

"Lina, you were mean to them."

"No I wasn't! Besides, how would you know? You were sleeping the whole time!"

"I was not!"

"Yeah, you were. Look, don't argue with--" Lina stopped speaking when she heard a high-pitched screeching that seemed to be inside her head. It was nothing like any sound she'd ever heard before, and she felt like her mind was being ripped from ear to ear. She dropped whatever was in her hands and threw them both over her ears, letting out a scream herself. Gourry blinked a few times before putting his hands on her shoulders firmly.

"Lina?"

"Ma--make it stop!" she begged.

"Make what stop?!"

"That … screaming. It's painful!" Gourry just looked at her. He didn't hear a thing… what on earth was going on? She buried her head in his shoulder, trying to shake the pain away, but it wasn't working. Suddenly, a rustle in the bushes got his attention. He turned to see a small creature, round and pure black. It looked like a ball of fluff with a small round tail, ears, and with light glowing yellow eyes. He raised an eyebrow. It was cute in a way, but gave Gourry the creeps at the same time. It bounced a little closer to them and Lina let out another cry.

"It's getting worse…" she whimpered. Gourry was still staring at the thing while holding her at the same time. It slowly snuck closer and Lina couldn't bare the pain. It seemed as if the closer it got to her, the worse this… pain got. Gourry tried to shoo the creature away, but it only let out a giggle of sorts, as if he were playing with it. It gleefully hopped into his lap. Lina's eyes shot open and her pupils shrunk to an unnatural size. Her grip on his arms loosened and she fell backwards into unconsciousness.

"Lina!" He kicked the little creature into the water, and the blueness in her face began to turn a more healthy looking pink, but she was still out cold. He picked her up, resting her head on his knees and tried to snap her out of it. "Lina… hey Lina. Wake up…" He gently smacked her face a few times and her eyes twitched a bit. The creature surfaced and made an agitated squeak. Gourry turned his head and looked at it, and nearly flew back with shock. Its eyes were now a burning red, and it seemed to be angry. It promptly began to screech, and this time Gourry was able to hear. He covered his ears and stared at it, wincing. A few moments later, more rustles from the surrounding plant life came. Out popped more and more of the little beasts, all looking the same but different. He stared around in horror. What the hell… was all of this? The first creature made a few clicking sounds and then the rest all began to have that look of fury in their eyes. They all began to chant strange squeals and yaps and Gourry felt himself beginning to fade. He slumped over as his vision blurred and darkened. His head dropped to the side… and he saw…something. Like the fuzzy form of a person… a flash of light, and then nothing.

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Lina groaned as she struggled to open her eyes. She had a splitting headache, but it was nothing like what she had experienced before. What… had she experienced before? Her eyes were watery and she was weak beyond all belief. As things came into focus, she looked up to the sky. The sun was blaring almost directly above… was it noon already? But the sun had barely risen when…

"Oh, you're up." A soft voice came, but she didn't know from where. Her hearing was extremely fuzzy, although it was a miracle to her that she still had it at all after that ordeal. A hand came and rested on her forehead. She realized that there was cool moist piece of cloth there. It felt soothing and she sighed. Struggling to focus, Lina painfully turned her head to see a blurry figure of a young girl staring back at her. She had jet-black hair tied back into a wild ponytail of sorts, with a few strands that fell and framed her face. The thing that Lina noticed most, though, was that the girl had brilliantly blue eyes… like she had never seen before. They were large and slightly slanted… and the girl had slightly pointed ears… an elf? She must be. But there was something strangely human about her. Lina finally spoke in a broken raspy voice.

"Who…where…"

"Shh. Don't try to speak. You need to save your energy. Here." The girl gently aided Lina in sitting up, and she leaned her upright against a tree. Lina felt a strong aura coming from her. Who was she? "Take some of this." The elf handed her a coconut shell that had some sort of liquid in it. Lina took the shell and slowly drank from it. It was a sweet thick cream that felt like it was coating the inside of her throat. She breathed the scent into her lungs and she felt her body slowly grow tired. Her eyes began to heavy and the girl softly laid Lina down again to rest. Only a few moments went by before Lina fell into a deep peaceful sleep.

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Lina awakened once again, only this time she was feeling almost a hundred percent better. She sat up and stretched, looking around the area where she was. Night had fallen already, but she couldn't tell how late it was, or early for that matter. She was in a sort of sleeping bag and had on a soft thick sweater. Gourry was asleep next to her and a thick blanket made from some animal's hide covered them. They were in some sort of camp… there were lots of odd objects lying around, a small fire, and another sleeping bag set up close by. So, it wasn't a dream. She heard a rustle in the bushes and turned. The elf girl had entered the camp with a net full of fishes. She gave Lina a friendly smile and greeted her.

"Feeling better?"

"Tons. Thanks a lot, but I'm not sure exactly what happened."

"You were attacked by the Erelies."

"Erelies?" she asked.

"Yeah, those little black guys." Lina just looked at her, wide eyed and confused. The girl noticed this, and she sat down near the fire, motioning for Lina to join her. "Explain to me exactly what you can remember"

"Oh…" Lina thought for a moment as she searched her memory. "Right, we were eating… and arguing, and then some high pitched screeching came. Gourry didn't hear it, though… and I don't know much after that. It was really painful and I guess I passed out. And then... I remember waking up for a short time… and seeing you." The girl nodded.

"Gourry? Is that your friend over there?"

"Yeah. Oh… by the way, I'm Lina."

"Lina, is it? I'm Alex."

"Alex… thank you for helping us… how did you find us?"

"Oh, I heard the Erelies making a racket, and I figured they were attacking something. That's what they're usually doing when they make that chant. Then I saw that it was two people, so I cast an astral spell and they dispersed. Then I took you and Gourry back here and gave you a special sleeping potion since you needed real rest, not unconsciousness, to heal."

"Oh… I see. That must've been some haul. Gourry's a big guy…"

"Oh, no it wasn't that bad. Adina helped me, so I was all right."

"Adina?"

"Yeah." Alex turned and pointed to through a clearing in the trees. Lina squinted and saw a brilliant glowing aura. The most beautiful unicorn she had ever seen was drinking from a spring. The moon was visible and reflected off the creature's fur and wings, so that it seemed like "Adina" was glowing herself. Lina stared in shock. She never knew they really existed… and they were so gorgeous. As if on cue, Adina looked up from the water and towards Lina. She turned and began to walk towards them. As she did, a brilliant white light surrounded her and Lina saw that she was changing into human-form. Once she had transformed, she came, still seemingly glowing, with silvery light blue hair that curled past her waste and silver eyes. She wore a long blue dress that came down to her ankles, and she had no shoes on. Adina sat down by the fire and smiled.

"Well, if it isn't Lina Inverse," she said. Lina was too awe-struck to answer. Instead, Alex spoke.

"Lina Inverse? You mean… that sorceress from inside The Shield?" Alex turned and gazed in slight surprise at the dazzled Lina.

"I… uh… what? You know me?"

"Well, yeah. I've heard tons of stories, like how you've killed bandits and dragons and Mazoku and stuff. But… you're not as… small…" Alex gave Lina a good look over. Lina just turned pink and got a little annoyed.

"Of course I'm not as small. That was… a long time ago." Lina thought about how rude she sounded and quickly changed the subject. "So, what the hell were those.. .Er… Eeerlie…"

"Erelies?" Lina nodded, and Alex continued. "I'm not exactly sure where they came from. In fact, they only started coming around about a year after The Shield was broken. I had a feeling they came from your area… but you apparently have no clue to their existence either.

"No, I don't." Just then, a heavy groan came from behind them, and Gourry began to stir. Lina turned around waited for him to wake up. He just blinked and stared up at the sky until Lina got impatient and chucked a rock at him.

"Ow." He sat up and looked around before staring blankly at Lina and the others. "Huh?"

"It's about time, Jellyfish." Lina turned back towards the warm fire and rested her head on her knees. Alex smiled gently before pulling out a few random cooking items and some wild vegetables.

"I guess I'll make some stew for everyone." She got busy walking back and forth setting up a makeshift stove and mumbling quietly to herself. Lina just watched her for a little while before getting bored and turning to Gourry who was gazing at Adina. She didn't seem to mind or care, for she was busy playing with the flames and making them do tricks and dances. Lina jabbed him in the ribs.

"Gourry, don't stare at people," she whispered.

"Ow. I know, but she's so… glowy." Lina rolled her eyes.

"Oh, it's alright. It doesn't bother me," the young woman said. Lina turned pink, a bit surprised that Adina had heard her, but she smiled reassuringly. "So, how long have you been traveling together?" Lina blinked.

"Oh. Er... I dunno. A while… few years. Like… five… or six. I don't remember."

"Wow, that's a long time. And you don't get sick of each other?" Lina shook her head and promptly hid her face in her knees. She knew where this was headed.

"I guess you get used to it," Gourry answered as he smiled innocently. Adina glanced at Lina from the corner of her eye and got the hint.

"Don't you miss your friends?" Lina perked her head up. That's right… Amelia was turning eighteen in a few weeks. They needed to get back to a port town and head home so they could get to her party on time.

"Oh, yeah. We have a bunch of friends all over the place. We meet up with them every now and then. We have a reunion once a year in Seyruun, too." Gourry explained.

"Really? What are they like?" Alex asked as she handed everyone bowls.

"Well, there's Amelia. She's a princess. Of Seyruun, actually. Her birthday's coming up," Lina started. "She's really… pure, I guess. It's odd."

"Yeah, and then there's Zelgadis. He's a chimera, and he gives the impression of being angry all the time. Especially when he doesn't have his coffee. But once you warm up to him, he's a pretty cool guy," Gourry added.

"And Filia. She's a golden dragon. She's strange too… has this mace thing she likes to hit people with."

"And Xellos. He's a …"

"Mazoku," Adina finished Gourry's sentence. "You are friends with Xellos Metallium?" Alex was pouring spoonfuls of stew into everyone's bowls. She kind of had an overly cautious air to her now, eyeing the pair every now and then, which made Lina uncomfortable. Lina gave Gourry a stern look before answering.

"If you'd call him that. He's annoying and we never know what he's up to… but I guess we can't help but like the guy. Sort of."

"Does he call you his friends?" Adina continued.

"I dunno. Probably not."

"Then why do you call him your friend?"

"I … don't know. I guess we're really not … in retrospect. Either way, it's been years since we've seen him…" Adina just nodded. Lina kind of hid her face in her knees again while Gourry looked around confused at the sudden tension. She never really thought of it before. It must sound so intimidating to people when they find out she's acquainted with Xellos. Especially elves and unicorns. While not considered descendants of the gods, they both still held places on the more holy side of the race pyramid. Perhaps she had just gotten used to the idea… she made a note to herself not to throw that particular fact around as much anymore. Lina gently and quietly ate the stew not being able to make eye contact with anyone. Gourry just munched away happy.

"Wow, Alex. This food is really good. I wish Lina could cook like you." At this, he got a quick smack on the back of his head. Alex smiled and even giggled a bit, releasing some of the edge in the air. She let out a deep sigh and seemed comfortable again.

"Well, I have a map you two can have that'll get you to the nearest human port town. You should leave in the morning. You need more rest."

"That sounds great. Thanks for all your help."

"No problem."

After finishing up dinner, the group chatted the night away, talking about random subjects before getting ready to sleep.

Lina sat sleepily on the blanket and looked up to the sky. Gourry was lying down beside her, staring up as well.

"What are we going to get Amelia?" he asked.

"I don't know. There's not much that girl needs, really. She has everything. Our being there will be enough for her."

"Yeah, I guess. Do you think Zel will go?"

"Probably. Anti-social as he is, he'd never let her down. You know that."

"Yeah." A few silent moments passed before Lina spoke again.

"Gourry, am I really that bad of a cook?"

"Well…"

"Gourry!"

"Heh, calm down. You're not that bad. You just need a little work. Maybe if you didn't buy food so much, you'd have more practice."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." She stretched and laid down, covering herself. "Night."

"Nighty Night."

"Don't steal the blankets, Jellyfish."

"Me!? You're the one that always tosses and turns in your sleep."

"I do not!"

"Yes you do. What, do you dream of beating people up?"

"I do NOT!"

"Yeah, ok."

"Grrr. Shut up."

"Goodnight, Lina."

"Whatever." She stubbornly turned onto her side facing away from him, but couldn't help cracking a small grin.

"So, what do you think?"

"Hm? Oh, them? They're funny humans. I just can't believe they're associated with Xellos."

"Lina is not your average human, Alexiel."

"Yeah, I know." The girl sighed as she stared out over a clear lake. Adina was beside her, in her beast form. "Did you hear anything else about the Dark Army?"

"Our lords… they fear a war. It's almost unavoidable now."

"Why… why here? Why us?"

"They want to do here what they did in their own world. That proves that whatever it is they plan, it's serious and on a large scale."

"War." The young elf let out another long sigh. "Who will fight?"

"My dear, that I cannot say. The dragons have made it clear that they do not want to risk yet another near extinction. And I can't blame them. They were lucky any Golden Dragons were left at all."

"But what about the Black Dragons?"

"The only race of the Dragons left with that level of intelligence. It might be a mistake to risk losing them, too. What do you think of the Elves?" Adina asked. Alex let out a slight shudder.

"I'd rather drown then go back to find out. They'll probably help with the healing, but not fighting. What about humans?"

"Can we risk the fate of our world in the hands of such a fickle race?"

"If they're anything like Lina, I think we can."

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Notes: Yay. First chapter. It's a lot longer than I expected. Hopefully not too boring. I didn't want to put too much action and rush it. Mostly explanations and introductions.

Eeep! Anyway, please R & R. Any questions or comments, I'd love to answer them. I LOVE getting feedback. Feedback is good for the soul. I'll always have a little *Question and Answer* thing at the end of each chapter for you to check in case I get to your stuffage. Blah! On with it.

Chapter 2 Preview:

-Lina and Gourry are heading back home, and they're bringing Alex with them! She doesn't want to miss out on the major partying that'll be going on inside the *shield lands* over the next few weeks. Lina gets the feeling that there's more to the girl than meets the eye. Meanwhile, a small messenger takes an important parcel to some unlikely recipients. What's a pretty girl like her doing associating with a Mazoku Lord? And what is up with that creepy smiling priest guy?

Chapter 2 Quotage:

"Hey Luna…"

"Yeah?" Zelas paused for a moment, hesitating and trying to choose her words carefully.

"The reason they didn't want our help was… it's because they need us destroyed for their plan to work. All of us. Gods and demons alike." The young purpled haired woman turned around, slightly shocked.

"What?"

"I'm not exactly sure how or why, but unless we're all dead, they can't fulfill their intentions. Which means they must've gotten whatever creatures are equal to our power in their own world. And that means they can probably get us too, which is why I'm worried. We might not win this one."

Eyecatch: none right now