Slayers Fan Fiction ❯ Invincible ❯ Setting the ground for adventure ( Chapter 2 )

The next morning proved as glorious as the last. Lina and Gourry woke up well fed, well rested, and in good spirits. Alex already had breakfast prepared, which included a wide variety of delicious looking fruits and juices. They all sat around the small fire once again.

"Hey Alex, what happened to Adina?" Lina asked with a full mouth. Gourry was next to her stuffing his face. A true sign of friendship was when those two were comfortable partaking in their savage-like eating habits in front of you.

"Oh… she had to go do some stuff. Unicorn business I guess," she answered, slightly awestruck at the feeding frenzy before her. Lina picked up quickly on certain context clues that aroused some suspicion. The pause after the "oh" and the use of "stuff" and "I guess", the latter of which was said in a slightly rushed manner, were what tipped her off. But she thought that she should keep her nose out if it. Well…

"So, Alex. You never really said anything about your travels," Lina commented casually.

"Yeah, I have no purpose in life," Alex answered letting out a short laugh, which gave the impression that she was mocking herself. Lina pondered this a bit, wondering what on earth an elf would be doing traveling alone like that. Perhaps a teenage rebel… Or, maybe not…

"Do you travel a lot with Adina?" Lina added. Alex looked up at her with a strange expression on her face… one that was unreadable. She seemed like she couldn't quite find an answer for her question… or maybe she was trying to think one up.

"On and off," she said finally. Lina nodded.

"So you're not really doing anything in particular at the moment?" she continued. Alex raised an eyebrow slightly. She was starting to feel a bit awkward with Lina's interrogation.

"No, I suppose not…" Lina also started to feel odd, so she tried to think of an excuse for all the questions.

"Why don't you come with us?" Gourry asked, finalizing it by popping a strawberry into his mouth. Alex just blinked a few times, flustered by the unexpected invitation. Lina also blinked, except flustered by Gourry's unexpected good timing.

"Go… with you? You mean… to The Shield?"

"Well, yeah. It's not 'the shield' anymore, is it? You'd be around people who can use magic. I guess it's safe to say you're pretty good at magic, right?" Lina asked.

"You can say that."

"Well I think it'd be a great experience for you. You can learn a lot from the places there, especially Seyruun, which is where we're going," Lina said encouragingly. She was also hoping to learn some stuff from Alex. She knew she was hiding something.

"Yeah! And there's gonna be tons of partying, too," Gourry added.

"Parties?" Now Alex was getting interested, and this didn't go unnoticed by Lina's sharp observational skills.

"Definitely. First, we have our friend's birthday party. She's a princess who's turning 18, so that's going to be a blast. A little bit after that, there's almost a whole week of celebration. There's a bunch of special days that always occur within a short time of each other, and so the people in our continent just kind of take the week off and celebrate everything together," Lina explained.

"What kind of stuff do you guys observe?"

"Oh, this is so fun. Well, first there's the anniversary of the Mazoku Shield's fall, which is a fairly new holiday and basically self-exclamatory. There's the festival of the Lover's Moon, which I find ridiculous. It's a holiday that takes place on the last full moon of the month, and it's basically for everyone who's like… in love or something. But it's also an adopted tradition to commemorate friendships too, which is cool. Then we have the "Night of Chaos" which is pretty fun. It's kind of to show respect for all the gods and demon lords. Everyone dresses up in weird costumes and go to people's houses to get little goodies. There are tons of plays and skits that people do reenacting famous scenes from wars and myths and stuff. My personal favorite one of them all. Lastly, there's new years. Our new year is based on the day when the Lord of Nightmares first created this world. We stay up to count down until midnight, and then we exchange gifts."

"Wow, you guys have a lot of fun… we don't do half as much here." Alex looked extremely excited. "Can I really go?"

"Of course! This'll be a blast!" Lina jumped up, excited herself, and grabbed her newfound companion by the arm and started dragging her blindly in a random direction. Alex finally managed to calm the redhead down and headed back to camp to pick up her stuff. She left a note for Adina in the form of a small magical message, and the threesome finally headed out for the shore.

It was a dark, murky hallway, overly wide and tall, that seemed to go on forever. At practically every angle, there was a tall archway that led to another similar path. One could get very easily lost if they didn't know where they were going. However, a small hooded figure that scurried down the empty corridor knew exactly where he was headed. His small feet made a fast paced tapping that echoed off the walls. In his arms, he held a small package, tied in a soft silky blue cloth. He knew nothing about this parcel except that it must get to the recipient at all costs. It was important, and he would be greatly punished by his master should he fail in his mission. Death would be a much more preferable option.

The short statured creature stopped once he reached two great doors with etchings of many strong and mythical creatures engaged in a furious looking battle. He reached out a small furry hand, shaking slightly, and knocked. He was startled by an unexpected, and rather vicious, barking.

"Who is it?" came a firm, and surprisingly female, voice from behind the still shut doors.

"I...I come with a package, miss."

"From whom is this package sent?"

"From Lord Ericot." He heard a few muffled words being spoken until finally the doors creaked open. He was greeted by a tall and rather amusing looking man, with shoulder length purple hair and a strangely warm smile. He bowed politely. He held an unusual looking staff with which he motioned for the small messenger to enter. "What is your name?"

"M.. me name is Jethro, but Jet is just fine," he stuttered. The man opened one eye and looked down at the shaking creature. He smiled, closing his eye again, and turned to walk.

"Very well, Jethro. My name is Xellos. Follow me, if you will." Jet scuttled behind Xellos who led him down a carpeted path. The air smelled strongly of cigarettes and alcohol, and it turned his stomach. Ahead of them, at the end of the path, there was a rather gigantic throne in which a small and stunningly beautiful woman sat smoking and with a wine glass in hand. She had a young face and long wavy blonde hair, with silvery-violet eyes that watched the two approach. She was definitely not the one for whom the throne was made, but it didn't matter. Her very stare sent chills up Jet's spine. Beside her on the same seat was another attractive woman, except she had short purple hair, much like Xellos, and dangerously red eyes. She too had a wine glass, but no cigarette. At their feet lay a strange looking wolf dog, which rested its head on his front paws, but gazed down at the visitor just the same.

Xellos stopped at the bottom of the stairs that led to the thrown, bowed, and then stood off to the side, leaving the poor creature trembling below their intense look.

"Please remove your hood," asked the blonde one. He did so, reveling the face of an extremely young grey fox. The woman smiled, since she had a soft spot for such creatures. It didn't seem to comfort him at all, however. "You say you have a package from Ericot?"

"Yes. 'Tis addressed to Mistress' Zelas Metallium and Luna Inverse…"

"That would be us. Bring it here." Jet shakily walked up the stairs, and handed Zelas the parcel. He quickly stepped down a few when he heard a deep-throated growl from the animal that lay at her feet.

"Spot, be good," scolded the purple haired woman. At closer range, Jet noticed a chain that went across her forehead and had a centered charm of a moon. She had a similar decoration across her waist. He also noticed two small dots on her forehead. She took a sip of wine from her glass.

"Luna, read this letter," Zelas said as she examined a small article that was also in the package. It was a heavy looking metal ball that seemed to glow… darkness. Jet raised an eyebrow as he inspected it with his eyes. While he couldn't quite explain the dark aura, he knew exactly what it was.

"'Tis a metal weapon, Mistress," he finally said. Zelas looked at him interested.

"Indeed. I was told it was a weapon of sorts, but you seem to know a bit about that sort of thing. Here. What else can you tell me about it?" She handed it to him.

"Hmm. Made of some alloy. I can tell that one of the metals is iron, but the other one… I'm not sure… I've never seen it before. It's a dark green color… that's strange. Maybe it's not metal."

"Any idea what kind of weapon would have used it?" Luna asked, finished reading.

"Too big to be a bullet, but it's also a bit small to be a canon ball. Could be a large gun, most likely. I doubt a canon would be that small. Although… judging by the use of materials, the manufacturer is foreign. Well, to my land, at least."

"Or to this world…" Zelas commented as he handed it back to her. She tossed the information around in her head before nodding. "You've done well, Jethro." She grabbed a piece of paper and quickly scribbled a note back to Ericot. "I'll be sure you get rewarded nicely by your master. You'll make a good henchman to him when you get older." She sealed the note and handed it to him, along with a small bag of coins for food. He bowed, thanking them, and made his way out. Perhaps this trip was worth it after all. Xellos shut the door behind Jet and made his way back to the women.

"What's the news?" he asked, taking a seat on an arm of the thrown.

"Not looking good. They've had a battle already, down in Behlia. That's where this thing is from," Zelas answered, tossing the ball over to him. He turned in around in his hand.

"Over all, this is much worse than anyone expected," Luna added. Zelas nodded.

"What do you think we should do?" Xellos inquired.

"What can we do… perhaps it is time we all allied ourselves? I'm sure Luna and I can get everyone to agree. What do you think?"

"With two of your brothers gone, it puts the Mazoku at a disadvantage," Luna commented. "Even if we manage to get everyone together… I mean, the Dragons are practically gone, and we already know they want nothing to do with this for now. You have your two most powerful forces right there. Maybe you should just stay out of this."

"And leave this to whom? Humans? You do realize that this threat is made of a race that is just the soulless remnants of creatures like humans who were corrupted? How long can they last?" Zelas argued.

"Who's to say the Mazoku won't just ally with them and turn on the rest of us?"

"It won't happen. Already tried it, and it didn't fall through." Zelas smiled to herself while taking a quick sip of her wine. Luna just rolled her eyes.

"Not surprised," she said, a slight edge in her voice. Zelas sighed.

"We planned on turning against them once we figured out their game plan, you know. This is our world, too. Of course, we'd have to kill a few people in the process to earn their trust, but hey. You gotta do what you gotta do, right?"

"Right," Luna replied, but the annoyed edge was still there. She got up and began to walk out.

"Where you off to?"

"Start negotiating. It'll take some time for convincing, I'm sure."

"Hmm. I agree. I'll start talking to Dynast and Dolphin later."

"Alright then. I'll see you around. And Xellos, don't start harassing my sister until I say so, alright?"

"Of course." He flashed her a quick smile.
"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 Mazoku 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" Luna just stared back at her unlikely friend, and turned around again. This definitely was more serious than she thought, and it was time for action to be made. After stepping outside the barrier-protected room, Luna teleported back to her home in Zephelia. Work started in about fifteen minutes, and it wasn't good business to be late.

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Notes: Muahahaha. I got some underlying plot intro done here. That's always fun. Just in case you're wondering, Luna is most likely going to play a pretty big part in this story. At least, that's what I have planned. As always, Review, Review, Review.

Q&A:

Chapter 3 Preview:

-Introducing Xavier! The strong, and not to mention handsome, black dragon who's got what it takes to beat just about any foe! Except an extremely pissed Alex who manages to get him just as ticked off. Against his own will, he joins our heroes to help them through the dense forests and to the port town as soon as possible. What's this talk of a war? There goes Alex again with her secrets. But Lina's got other things to worry about when she gets a letter from home reporting on her fathers failing health.

Chapter 3 Quotage:

"You may need a guide to get your through as safely and quickly as possible."

"The faster, the better."

"And so Xavier will be accompanying you to the shore."

"Exact… what? WHAT?" The youthful man's eyes popped out of his head. He stared at his grandfather in shock.

"You heard me. And don't raise your voice, young man."

"But… Grandpa, you've got to be kidding! WHY?"

"Because it would be healthy for you to get out some. Travel around a bit. See the world."

"Wait a minute… I thought you wanted me to take them just to the port town."

"What kind of getaway would that be? I want you to go with them, have some fun, and bring me back a souvenir, ok? Good boy. See you when I see you!" The older man gave his younger descendent a good old slap on the back. Xavier just stared out in shock.

Eyecatch: as soon as I get drawing…