From: Twoflower <twoflowr@ikkoku.maison-otaku.net>
To: ffml@ffml.fanfic.com
Subject: [FFML] [Slayers] Slayers Demiurge one : Awareness
Date: Sun, 10 Oct 1999 21:11:35 -0700

     "It's the principle of the matter," the Dark Alchemist
scoffed. "Belief is nothing compared to the reality of the world.
This is thaumatological science, m'boy, not a puppet show;
'belief' is not how we work.  It's results that matter, the
reality, the facts and the truths.  Not some flimsy concocted lie
that the yokels swear by in ignorance.  Now pack up the equipment
and break out the map, I want to get home in time for a nice hot
bath."

I get the feeling that this gentleman will discover just how wrong he is.

     "You're not her," Roy said quickly.  Sure, some part of his
brain instinctively was telling him to flee and/or kill her or
both in reverse order, but his curiosity unfortunately won.  "You
can't be her!  You haven't aged a day!!"

     Lina Inverse kept her fireball at bay; a simple enough task
for a sorceress as powerful as she was.  "Hey, buddy, if that's
some crack about my size--"

     "The gods have to be punishing me for wanting something
exciting to do.  That's the only explanation, isn't it?  An
anti-miracle!  What ARE you?  When I last.. met Lina was TWENTY
YEARS AGO!"

     She hesitated.  The fireball flickered.

the plot thickens.

     She thought back, thought back hard.  There was a long,
bright time.  A time with her friends... Amelia, Zelgadis,
Gourry... quests, adventures, lots of fights, some really close
calls.  Rezo.  Shaburanigdo.  Phibrizo and Gaav, Valgarv and Dark
Star...

     And then... it got fuzzier.  She hadn't noticed the
transition until she studied it, had it pointed out to her.  Now,
she usually just coasted from event to event in fuzzy
contentment.  Moving through it like a dream you weren't aware
you were in, not until you were jarred awake by the alarm clock.
How did she get around to all those places so fast?  She felt she
had to go there so she did and she did what she had to do and
never questioned it.  Steal this, eat that, take this, harass
him, beat up them, move on.  Nothing felt wrong about it, not
then, but now, now it was all wrong.

Maybe she 'is' a clone/copy

     "What ARE you!?" Roy asked, bewildered.

     "Isn't it obvious?" Lina asked, twirling her sword back into
its sheath, and charging up another spell.  "Everybody seems to
know my name, or at least my deeds.  Bandit-stomping,
treasure-taking, food-eating, quest-completing, tomb-raiding,
Mazoku-slaying, world-saving.  I don't understand much right now,
but I know who I am.  I'm Lina INVERSE.  That's what Lina Inverse
does, that's what I do, and I do it WELL, and I like it.  As for
you--"

I think he just gave away the plot.

     "Ah," he replied.  "That is a secret.  Good day, Mrs.
Gabriev."

So, Xellos enters the story.  Why didn't Lina recognize him?

     "Not until you called for me," Lina explained.  "Then I
snapped out of it.  I felt like I had to do something, right
there and then, and knew exactly what.  And when I decided to
quest, it's like I became fully aware... and in control.  I
haven't felt that weird pull since.  I guess because I'm too
'busy' to respond to it.  So that's what I'm doing... I'm trying
to figure out what I am, and why."
     "So....... are you Lina?" she asked.
     "I'm more Lina than SHE is," Lina scoffed to herself.  She
turned back to Penny, and leaned back in her chair.  "I'm going
to work with that assumption for now.  I feel like Lina Inverse.
It's a little hard to keep the weird factor under control, but
Lina's good at that, so I'm handling it.  But I've got no clue
where to start looking or--"

Another piece to the puzzle.

     'Demiurge,' the table said, in a voice that could only be
called stony.  'Unknown entity, religious significance.  No extra
data found, please install plug-in spell.'

And now we know.  This new Lina is really the collection of everyones beliefs in Lina Inverse, creating a being with Lina's abilities and appearance.  Pretty much a god of sorts.

     "What, the cults?  Nobody believes in that stuff anymore,"
Penny said, with a shrug.  Commonplace to her.  "I mean, it's all
just legends.  There aren't any Mazoku or Dragons.  Well, there's
big lizards, but not the legendary god dragons or anything, and
the elves were just a vertically challenged magically gifted race
of humans, scientists have proven that through testing and--"

Then just what did Lina blow up, a giant troll?
Hmm, a new aspect to the quest.  Find out what happend to the mazouka and dragon gods.


You can find my stories at:
Stardancers Homepage
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Pagoda/4630/
RanmaS's Archive
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Towers/3007/fanfics.html

From the Pen of the DragonBard:

****************************************************
*"There are more things in Heaven and Earth . . .  *
*then are dreampt of in your philosiphy."          *
*Hamlet                                            *
*                                                  *
*Glendower: I can call spirits from the vasty deep!*
*                                                  *
*Hotspur: Why, so can I, or so can any man;        *
*But will they come when you do call for them?     *
*Henry IV                                          *
****************************************************

Yes I am crazy, I don't just act that way!

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