Slayers Fan Fiction ❯ The Slayers: Legacy of Darkness ❯ Prelude 07 ( Chapter 7 )

Lina stood approximately five inches from certain peril.

She had been wandering aimlessly, following her intuition through the icy maze Xelloss had guided her through before. Those few casual turns turned into a thousand mind-boggling curves as she tried to make her way backwards, and in the end she didn't end up where she had begun at all. Instead, she winded up where the heart of the river poured out into the sky, and she took one look down the steep mountainside and decided she'd have to be out of her mind first before she would be jumping. On the other hand, if she flew out now, not only would she attract the attention of every ryuuzoku in the area (of which there were very, very many), but she would also undoubtedly grab the attention of every mazoku in the area as well. And what she needed least right now was the headache-inducing beating of wings as a million—or more—creatures chased after her through the air, though that wasn't much different from the usual, anyhow.

“Damn that Xelloss,” she cursed mentally, stomping her foot on the ground in frustration. “The least he could have done was escorted me back out.”

But it was hard for her to stay angry at him, and soon she found herself lost in thought again as her arms hung limp at the sides of her body and she stared down the waterfall. The breeze was so tranquil; the scenery was just as jaw-dropping as it had been when they had arrived, except now the moon illuminated the waters and made the rocks shine like jewels rather than staining it the colors of the sunset. It was particularly bright that night; Lina could see very clearly the terrain of the mountains, as well as the shadows that crept along the mountain paths…

A shrill howl pierced through the air, followed by a tirade of others. Werewolves once again stole out of their human shells and preyed upon the land as they desired. The sheer number of them dancing around the area was almost sickening. It almost seemed as though the valley of dragons had become the valley of werewolves over the passage of time, and Lina had no intention of becoming scraps for the children. It couldn't be helped—she would have to fly her way out of here if she didn't want to be eaten by ravenous werewolves. Risk it and die trying—that was her motto for death.

She whirled around and took ten large steps back into the cave, did a couple stretching exercises, then followed up with a couple breathing exercises. When she was done, she checked the wind speed by sticking a finger up in the air—just right—and then made a mad dash for the opening and leapt out into the night.

“Geronimoooo!”

 

“I hope you have not been waiting long, Juu-ou-sama.”

Xelloss appeared by his master's side, humbled down to his knees. Beastmaster was clad in her usual battle armor and took the appearance of a large wolf, the one she would frequently choose for battle due to its advantageous speed. In her hands were her specialty shield and sword, indestructible unless attacked by a powerful force such as that of Ceipheed. She wiped the sweat off her brow and grinned maliciously, licking the dragon's blood off of the blade of her sword as it dripped. Her personality now was completely different from the one she usually portrayed—calm and collected. Her inner beast (no pun intended) had been released from its chains.

“You've only missed a small part of the fun,” she told him, casting her deep golden eyes down at her subordinate. “Did you coerce Lina Inverse into aiding us?”

Xelloss shook his head. “She refused my offer, as expected.”

“That is too bad, it would have made things far more interesting,” Zelas replied, calling back a part of her army of hawks. When they had retreated far enough, she reached over and petted Xelloss on the head. “It's your turn, my dear.”

“Yes, Juu-ou-sama.”

 

Lina instantly regretted her decision as she came face to face with the surface of the water.

She had planned on casting a levitation spell just seconds before hitting the water, but something fired off wrong and she, well, fell.

Breaking the surface of the water, she cursed the gods and properly cast a levitation spell this time, lifting her out of the cold water. “Great, I'm wet again,” she muttered, and cursed the gods again. But as she rose, she did not notice the pair of gleaming blood-red eyes that stood behind her…

Her back nearly broke into two as an enormous white werewolf bounded from the path she had taken with Xelloss earlier and barreled right into her, nearly knocking the wind out of her as it made impact. She reacted quickly and shot a fireball into its eyes, forcing it to release its hold on her and leap back onto the mountainside as she fell once again into the water. Werewolves weren't too fond of water, and so it most likely wouldn't follow her.

But she was wrong. The werewolf was tailing her from the mountainside, sometimes even reaching out to try and slash her with its claws. She swam swiftly through the cold waters, unable to fly out of it because then the wolf could easily make another attempt at her life. Swimming to the other end of the valley was out of the question—it was too far and she would drown from exhaustion. And if she swam out to the middle first before casting a levitation spell, that would just put her in a worse predicament when she tried to reach land again because she would be worn out from spell casting and wouldn't be able to fight the congregation of werewolves waiting to steal some of her flesh.

“I guess the only choice is to kill this thing,” she thought, watching the white werewolf as it made fairly accurate swipes at her. She pulled the short sword from its sheath and raised it above the water. “Good thing Zel taught me this one… Astral vine!”

Black lightning struck the iron, turning it a deep crimson color. Lina shifted the position of her hand on the hilt of her sword for optimal aerial purposes and threw it full force at the unsuspecting werewolf, striking it in between the eyes. It howled in pain as lightning coursed through its body and its legs gave way as it fell on its back, head and neck in a distorted position. The creature had died.

Lina leapt onto the path the werewolf had been trailing her on with a simple ray wing spell and walked through the pool of blood to pull her sword from where it was embedded. It was soaked in blood which she quickly wiped off with her cape, and she returned the sword back to where it belonged. She dusted off her hands and checked her handiwork with a smile. “Guess I owe Zel one,” she mused.

But it was no time to be slacking off, as the follow up of howls reminded her. She was still in very grave danger, and she needed to find a way back down to the village soon. These werewolves would tail her endlessly otherwise.

And with that, she began running.

 

The clash of two tremendous powers was quite a sight indeed.

Master and subordinate—queen and joker—were effortlessly taking down the fleet of ryuuzoku chunk by chunk, piece by piece. Giant crescents of killer power wafted through the air from their hands and gave no mercy to chosen victims. If gazed at from afar, one could easily mistake these for the similar-looking northern lights as they meshed together and reflected all the colors of the light, but the light was bathed in streams of blood, and even the wondrous light could not conceal the horrendous massacre taking place. Showers of dragon's blood fell upon those who desired it, and voracious hawks tore away at the diced flesh, devouring the dead bodies of the ryuuzoku's fallen comrades. Xelloss and the Greater Beast were bathed in the blood they spilled, and both indulged themselves in the experience.

Xelloss recognized a familiar face among the crowd and grinned as she approached. He closed the distance between them and met with her scouring face with a delight that infinitely sickened her.

“Long time no see,” he jeered joyfully, blocking her attack and landing on the spear that had been so harshly thrust at him, mocking her.

“Damn you,” Fayle cursed, swiping at him with her right claw. He dodged it effortlessly and caught her neck with his staff, choking her and threatening to kill. She gasped and cast a cold glare at him, then shouted, “A mazoku such as yourself would never understand the concept of love!” She gasped for another breath and then snapped in a scathing voice, “I've seen the way you look at her. Lina Inverse is the source of your weakness, isn't she?”

He frowned. “I grow sick of your rambling, you pitiful creature. But if I kill you now it wouldn't be fun, so I'll just disable you so you can watch as your squadron falls prey to my master's pets,” he remarked gleefully before severing her wings and critically damaging her arms and legs with one swift blow. She choked on her own blood as it was coughed up from her throat, and she was unable to even utter a single cry of agony as she fell from the sky. A hush went through the crowd of ryuuzoku, followed by a roar of rage as they all made one last great charge.

Xelloss bowed to his master playfully. “Please, allow me, Juu-ou-sama.”

She rolled her eyes at him. “Do what you want.”

He chuckled and turned to the oncoming wave of ryuuzoku. Opening his eyes to lace his dialogue and make his statement more menacing, he said in a low murmur, “Keep this in mind: without your great dragon god to aid you, you're little more than yesterday's trash.” He soared through the crowd, leaving behind two thin beams of light that lingered for a second, then exploded along with each and every dragon left in the sky. Pieces of their bodies fell through the sky and landed on the earth below them, tarnishing the forest's unsoiled beauty. Xelloss turned to look at his handiwork and smiled in overweening satisfaction. He lifted his hand in gesture as he made one last cocky remark.

“You never stood a chance.”

 

Lina increased the speed at which she was running, realizing she was being tailed by a somewhat large pack of werewolves. More than likely, the white werewolf she had killed held some kind of importance within the clan, and now its members were hunting her down for revenge.

She spun around reflexively with her sword out as a werewolf jumped forward to attack her, nailing it in the neck and sending its head flying out into the water. She grimaced at the grotesque display and fought the urge to throw up, holding her sword out to her side with one hand as she covered her mouth with the other. Beheading things wasn't exactly something she was particularly fond of doing, and she couldn't help but feel nauseous after seeing all the blood spurt into the air as the head went flying off the creature's shoulders. In addition, the air was tinted with the stench of the animal—worse than the scent of wet dog. She felt dizzy just thinking about it.

Up ahead she could jump down to a lower path and hope that the werewolves wouldn't follow her, so when the time came she leapt forward at a diagonal, reducing the speed of her fall by positioning her feet on the rocky cliff side and sliding down it. In the end, though, she still fell on her butt as she hit the lower ledge, and rubbed it as she continued running.

The antics successfully threw the werewolves off for a moment, but they were shortly on her tail once again. She cursed her luck and shot a couple fireballs towards the cliff above them to hopefully stall them by placing objects in their path, but they climbed over it with ease and continued pursuit. She was nearing an opening in the border of the Katart Mountains, and there was no way she'd allow herself to get caught now that she was so close. Summoning the remnants of her energy, she dashed for the exit, hoping to find a place where she could rest momentarily soon.

But her hopes were dashed as a gigantic white werewolf appeared before her again. The blood dripping from a scar on its forehead indicated that it was the same werewolf she had “killed” earlier, and for some reason it managed to stand on its legs once more. Intense fury was written all over the creature's face, and Lina could clearly see the amount of hatred it harbored for her and how much it wanted to taste her flesh. She came to a screeching halt and looked around frantically for a way out, but the best option would be to try and make it past the werewolf that stood before her. Though with its amazing agility, there was no chance she'd be able to squeeze by it without getting caught between its enormous claws.

So there was only one way out: up.

She quickly cast a ray wing spell and flew up towards the sky, but her reaction was just a millisecond too slow, for the white werewolf still managed to grab her leg as she was soaring away. It flung her thin body against the rocky floor and made ready to pounce its victim. Lina, frightened and battered, could only watch helplessly as her attacker prepared the final blow.

But just as everything seemed hopeless, a ray of light shone through as a familiar voice was heard: “Linaaaaa!” Her eyes widened in pleasant surprise and both hands moved towards her mouth in shock as a familiar figure slashed through the werewolf from behind. It can't be…!

“Gourry!” she exclaimed, feeling warm tears come to her eyes. It really was him—no one else smiled as sweetly as he did.

“Was I late?” he asked, extending a hand out to help her up. She took it enthusiastically and threw herself into his arms, burying her crying face into his chest as she pulled on his shirt. Her muscles tightened and her body trembled from the tremendous effort it required to keep from breaking down completely, but Gourry just smiled and held her gently, patting and stroking her red hair. After a few seconds, he said, “We need to go. There are still more wolves in the area.”

She nodded into his chest and hung her head down low as Gourry led her out of the valley. Her overflowing joy was expressed in the tears that came from her eyes, and she thanked god for bringing her back to his side.

And this time it would take more than words to make her release this gentle hand.

 

Xelloss walked up to Fayle's broken body and crouched down by her head, wrapping his arms around his knees and placing his chin on the soft spot between his legs playfully like a child. It would almost seem innocent and cute if the words coming from his mouth weren't so bitter and foul. “Are you in pain?” he asked cheerfully.

The golden dragon did not open her eyes. Her breathing was jagged and raspy, thick with blood; one could clearly hear that something was jarring her passage of air. She kept silent and refused to reply, but Xelloss wasn't about to let her go so easily. He took his staff and pressed the sharp end forcefully against one of her open wounds, causing vast amounts of pain to go searing throughout her body. She cried out in pain, starting out as a roar and then ending as a dull whirr as it echoed off into the night. Xelloss grinned and asked again, “Are you in pain?”

Fayle managed to open one eye to look at him, though the eye itself was drenched in blood and she was apparently blind. She stared at him in silence for a moment, and then breathed, “My pain wanes in comparison to your own.”

He was taken aback by her statement and opened his eyes in annoyance. It was highly unusual for Xelloss to be ticked off by anything, but this dragon was beginning to succeed in that department. Leaning in closer, he inquired, “…What do you mean by that.”

But she only formed the words “Because you see…you see…” on her lips over and over again. This reaction puzzled Xelloss, and he assumed that the dragon had finally begun to breathe her last when a familiar scream pierced through the air.

He stood up quickly to see where it had come from and noticed Lina at the edge of the Katart Mountain Valley, cornered by numerous werewolves; she had been knocked aside by the white one and was only seconds from becoming the pack's midnight snack. Xelloss was in the middle of teleporting when he witnessed another male figure come to her rescue, and he was stunned stiff to see her embrace him with such fervor. But his shocked expression was soon replaced by a regretful smile, and he slapped a hand to his face as he laughed at the irony of the situation. “Of course, of course…Gourry-san completely slipped my mind…” he remarked wryly, laughing a little more. “That bastard guardian…”

A smirk crept upon Fayle's face as she watched the situation unravel. “Because you see…you have already lost. She would never turn to a mazoku such as yourself, one who cannot even grasp the concept of love…”

In a burst of agitation and frustration together, Xelloss used the orb end of his staff to smash her face into pieces. More dragon's blood found its way onto his clothes, soaking it more thoroughly a dark shade of crimson, and suddenly he yearned for the rain to fall and wash away his sins. He suddenly found the blood entirely revolting, and his body trembled in a failed attempt to get out of contact with the moist cloth. He began to lose mental stability, and he fell to his knees as his hands pressed up on the sides of his head and he bent forward, crying for “No more…no more…”

But he had already taken too many doses of the drug, and he was thoroughly addicted to it now. He couldn't stand being separated from her. He felt destroyed from the inside out just knowing that what certainly belonged to him could never be his. And he felt so hopeless.

But to his relief, his master appeared to comfort and collect him. She lifted his head and pressed it to her bosom, embracing her minion like a small child, and gently asked, “What is the matter, Xelloss?”

He didn't respond, so she continued, “Didn't we already discuss this long, long ago?” She cupped his face with her long, slender fingers and whispered delicately into his ear in a fashion that was known to perk his attention, “What exists in this world already belongs to us. It is only a matter of recovering what is rightfully yours.”

His normal facial expression returned with that statement, and he stared into his master's eyes as she studied him for any lingering feelings of despair. Satisfied with what she saw, she stroked his blood-stained hair and brushed a couple wet strands away from his face. “I'll be waiting for you back home.”

After she left, Xelloss stood up and slowly glanced at where Lina had been standing just moments ago. With firm resolution, he declared, “It's not over, for I will return to your side soon enough to reclaim what is rightfully mine.” He turned and slothfully dragged himself away, fading into the dark shadow of a nearby tree.

“Definitely…I will have it.”

 

Lina walked beside Gourry, leaning against him with his arm lazily slung over her shoulders. Her cheeks were slightly rosy as they strode and conversed. “How did you know where I was?” she asked.

“Just a feeling, I guess,” he replied, though it was the truth. The two were linked by a “feeling”, and he had used that to track down her location.

“I see…” she whispered, content with his answer. “…What happened to Sylphiel?”

“Oh, she had to leave to care for the kids.”

Lina's chest tightened at the tender subject. She was reluctant to ask, but it was something she had to know: “Your kids?”

He glanced down at her, and she looked up at him, but he appeared to have no clue what she was talking about. “I don't have kids,” he stated directly.

“Then…”

“They are the orphans of old Sairaag,” he explained, “when it was burned down the first time.”

It suddenly made sense, and Lina blushed in embarrassment for what she had assumed earlier. “Oh,” she stated subtly, and looked down again. She was relieved to know that it had all just been false guesses on her part, but there was still one thing she truly needed to know.

Breathing in deeply, she forced herself to ask, “Why did you save me?”

“Because I'm your guardian,” he responded without thinking. Lina sighed—that part hadn't changed, but at least she was back where she began. It could have been worse—Gourry could have not forgiven her for her actions and let the circumstances take their toll on their relationship, but he hadn't, and she was grateful for that.

She gazed away from Gourry at the moon that hung in the night sky. The moon's light illuminated the tears brimming in her eyes and her pink lips that curled up into a tiny smile. “I guess I'll just have to be patient and see what happens,” she thought morosely. To the moon, she requested, “Will you give me a glimpse of what I have ahead of me?”

Chills ran throughout her body as the haunting face from her dreams flashed through her mind once more, and her smile immediately faded. Suddenly, she felt as though a bad omen had fallen into her lap, and she wasn't quite so sure she wanted to come face-to-face with the future anymore. She also wondered if Xelloss would stumble upon her path once again, and if she could have her questions for him answered. Unlikely, she thought, remembering his fondness for secrecy.

But only time will tell.