Slayers Fan Fiction ❯ Roses ❯ Kamikaze ( Chapter 8 )

Kamikaze

It took a long time for Xellos to find Joran's tower, even at the crazy pace he was going at. He never stopped as he trudged up the mountain, then threw himself over ledges to quickly get down them. Not needing sleep and only being able to be damaged by spells was quite an advantage.

"Who put those mountains there anyway?" he mumbled to himself. "This would be easier if I were healthy enough to teleport. A day on the astral plane and I'd be perfectly well."

"I wonder who cast those spells back there,"

Xellos trudged on. It began to rain, hard, making the ground all muddy.

"You're talking to yourself Metallium, not a good sign."

* * * * *

"Yes, sir, all these rare artifacts and substances are guaranteed genuine and are for sale. Ah, ma'am, you seem to have found my most recently collected potion."

"What is it? It looks like some sort of think wine."

The man chuckled. "No, my dear, its chimera blood."

"It's what?" she yelped, almost dropping the bottle. She carefully set it down on the table, not wanting anything to do with a chimera.

"But, sir," someone else said. "I thought chimeras were extinct."

"No, something created entirely by people can never go extinct. Their like every other piece of merchandise, they may be out of stock for a long time, but they will always be around."

"Merchandise?"

"Yes, I plan on selling chimeras, when my experiment is finished."

An awed hush swept over the crowd.

"Real chimeras?"

"For sale?"

"What are they like?"

"This is a new chimera," the man said, gesturing with his hand. "This one thinks."

"Thinks? A chimera that can think?"

"A very smart chimera, it makes decisions, not like a dog or a cat, but it can put logic to use, it can comprehend."

"But won't it have free will?"

"Not with powered up copy Gems, they need to be recharged with elmekia lances every month, but that's quite a bargain for a chimera that can talk."

"It can talk?"

"Amazing!"

"Like a parrot!"

"No, not like a parrot, he's smarter than that, I told you. It understand logic, it can use spells, its smart, most traps won't work on it. It's tough as nails, too."

"How much is it?"

"I want to buy it right now!"

"Incredible!"

"It would make a nice pet!"

"It's not for sale yet," the man said.

"But you said-"

"I said it would be for sale. I now have the chimera, but the copying process takes time. You can all come back in eight months, the process should be finished by then."

"Amazing!"

"Mephistoles-san."

"Ah, Syphiel, back again?"

"Yes, I need another rose. And some dragon elixir."

"Anything else? You do seem to love my healing roses."

"Quite. What's this?"

"Honey, that's chimera blood," someone in the crowd said.

"What's a chimera?"

"A thing made of mixed creatures."

"Sounds awful."

* * * * *

"Wake up you damn thing!" Joran yelled.

The creature in the cage stirred slightly.

"Get over here!"

The creature made a movement, but then stopped, too weak.

"Fine, see if I feed you."

* * * *

Xellos wandered by a shop that had been abandoned for the night. A sign reading `NEW: DRAGON ELIXIR, UNICORN MEAT, & CHIMERA BLOOD.' Hung on the side.

"I must be close."

There was a tower a hundred feet from the shop. The gate obviously locked.

A huge hedge of white roses crawled up the walls of the tower, clambering their way in a tiny window. Everything else was etched in the blackness of the night, like liquid charcoal, but the roses glowed pure white, the blue tint having vanished in the night.

"Not convenient, but better that the alternative."

Xellos began climbing the thick thorny stalks that tangled every where in Gordian Celtic knots.

"Stupid thorns."

The thorns did no true damage, but they were still quite painful.

The smell of roses began to permeate the air.

"Good, same roses. If it weren't for these, I'd still be bleeding all over the hotel bed."

The moon, what there was of it, went behind a cloud. The roses continued to glow, but they shed no real light. Making it impossible for Xellos to see the window as he reached out to put his hand on the sill.

He crashed into the tower onto some glass implements and needles.

"This is not my week."

AS he began brushing pointy pieces of glass and metal off of himself, the lights in the room came on.

He had about a moment to marvel at what he saw.

Giant glass tubes, with wires connected to each of them, some sort of green and glowing liquid in them.

There were things in the glass tubes as well, something growing.

"Hello, who are you?" Xellos asked the person sneaking up on him.

"So you did know I was here. I didn't think you were human. You're definitely not a dragon."

"Rrrrr," Xellos said, at the mention of dragons.

"Mazoku, perhaps, the man said grabbing Xellos from behind and pressing a knife to his throat. "You smell different, too." The man said, pressing hi face into a lock of Xellos's hair.

"Just what are these?"

"Copies, chimera copies to be exact."

"And where's the original?"

"Quite safe from any rescuers like you." The man jammed the knife into Xellos's shoulder. A horrible electrocuting sensation swept over him, sending him into paroxysms of screaming before falling unconscious, and smoking, on the floor.

"I forgot to tell you, this is a small equivalent to the sword of light. You were essentially wandering barefoot into hell."