Slayers Persist Episode Two: "Secrets of Twilight. Memories of Past Mazoku."
By Zach Grafton.
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Danna's skills in carriage pulling were surprisingly refined.
Since their cart was without a roof, of the standard farm-equipment
variety, the dragon's speed allowed for a refreshing breeze to ease itself
about them, and very few bumps jostled them out of their seats. Lina and
her crew were indeed very relaxed... the only setback to this being that
their transporter was so fast, the ride itself lasted no more than five
minutes.
Due to the extreme speeds, they didn't realize they were on Varince
Daryl's camp of expeditioners until they found themselves thrown out of
their seats and face-first onto the ground in front of them. While adept at
travel, Danna apparently needed a bit work on her stops.
"It's reasons like that they created the Dragu Slave," Lina growled
as she staggered to her feet.
"I'm sure Danna's sorry," Halgon put in, and patted the dragon's
muzzle. "Aren't you, Danna-chan?"
"Roaa."
Lina shrugged that off and cocked her head, looking around the
campsite. There were a dozen tents pitched about, and one exceptionally
large one in the center. Gourry rubbed at his chin. "Looks like we'll have
a lot of partners."
"I don't think so," Lina responded lightly.
"Nani?" Raleic glared at her in irritation. "Can't you see? Those
tents must fit at least thirty people."
Ignoring her with an air of solid resolve, Lina stepped further
into the campsite, heading directly for the central tent. Gourry and Raleic
shared a puzzled look, followed up with a shrug.
"What a stupid girl," Raleic grumbled.
"Naw, Lina's really smart." Gourry smiled. "You'd be surprised. She
just hides it really well."
"She'd almost have to." Raleic tossed her hair over her shoulder
and leaned against Danna's neck. Gourry, not truly able to think up an
appropriate reaction to this, smiled again and started after his partner.
"Lina?" he asked in a low voice as he walked up. "What do you mean,
you don't think--?"
"Do you sense any people, Gourry?" Lina shot him a mild look. "I
mean, I know you're not a sorcerer, but even a warrior like you has some
talent for that kind of thing."
"Well, not really." He scratched the side of his head.
"Exactly. The only person I think we'll be finding is the one in
here." She raised her hand to gesture at the tent, which opened at that
exact moment.
A young man with shaggy hair stood there, handsome in a rugged
outdoorsy kind of way. On seeing the little band he gave a quick squawk of
surprise and stumbled back a step.
"Oya oya," he breathed, raking a hand up through his hair. "You
guys scared me. I didn't think anybody'd be coming!"
"See?" Lina asked cockily, hands on her hips.
"Wow," Gourry said, and applauded.
"Alright, alright." Raleic shoved her way between the partners and
gave the man a good looking over. "You're saying we're the only ones here,
huh?"
"Afraid so," he said with a sigh, and extended a friendly hand.
"But welcome, anyway. I'm Varince Daryl, and if you're looking to help me
find the Gem of Twilight, I'd be more than happy to..."
"By ourselves?" Raleic swatted his hand away. "Don't be
ridiculous."
"D-domo..." Varince struggled to arise from that one with any
amount of grace. "Weren't you here to sign up?"
"Not if we're the only ones! We're not going to put ourselves
through you meant for thirty men!"
"Wait a minute." Lina raised her hands to silence them, and looked
at Varince. "Did you say the Gem of Twilight?"
"Uh, hai."
"Lina!" Raleic shouted. "You can't possible be thinking of--"
"We'll do it!" Lina declared, pointing skyward.
"R...really?!" Varince's eyes shone with tears of happiness.
"Are you crazy?!" Raleic asked.
"But we promised the shepherd," Gourry reminded. "We're obligated.
Ne?"
"Uhm... right, right. It's all about obligation." Lina nodded, but
Gourry could easily see a familiar glimmer of greed in the corner of her
eye. "So when do we set out?"
"Well, I was about to close everything down before I saw you guys."
Varince shrugged. "I guess whenever, really. Is that yours?" He pointed at
Danna.
"Um, I guess so."
"Alright then, that'll really make things easier!" Varince ran and
hopped into the carriage as if it was his own. "Then let's not waste any
time!"
"Right!" Lina agreed, grabbing Gourry and Halgon by the backs of
their necks and hauling them up into the cart as well. "Off we go!"
"Ano," Gourry managed, "I think there's something more to this Gem
of Twilight business than saving a shepherd's flock of sheep."
"Knowing her," Raleic answered, settling herself neatly into the
cart just as Lina snapped Danna's reins and the dragon responded by falling
into a steady dash, "you're probably right."
The Mountains of Kouwara were a desolate place bordering a day's
travel northeast of Seiruun. Really no bigger than a small grouping of
foothills, they clustered together in a small range about a mile or two
wide in each direction, jagged little peaks thrust up at the sky. To Lina,
it gave the impression of a little kid trying to defy the Lord of
Nightmares because of an ice cream cone that melted prematurely.
"Kind of small for a mountain range, isn't it?" Gourry asked,
watching as he drew closer over the horizon.
"Yeah. You sure that map is right, Varince?" Lina poked her new
acquaintance in the side.
"Of course I am!" he said defensively, folding his map up once more
and slipping it into his pocket. "I'm absolutely certain."
"Where did you get that thing, anyway?" Lina leaned in closer.
"Maps to one of the most coveted treasures of all the world don't just pop
up, you know."
Varince paled a bit, but covered over it by getting suspicious.
"What? What do you mean?"
Her answer was cut short as the party of five found themselves at a
face-to-face rendezvous with the rocks and undergrowth of the surrounding
hillside.
"Jeez, I'm sick of that," Lina grumbled, spitting a pebble out of
her mouth.
"Okay," Lina said, waving that topic away. "So you ready to set
off, Varince-kun? Where do we start?"
"Ano..."
They looked at him warily.
"I think I left my equipment back at the campsite." He had the
grace to smile sheepishly. This did not save him from a clubbing over the
head, but at least he showed good intentions.
"So how the hell are we supposed to get in there?" Lina grumbled,
rubbing at her bruised fist.
"I guess we could scout around or something," Gourry suggested.
"Shouldn't there be a cave or something?"
"No," Varince said, sighing. "There's no opening of any kind in
these mountains."
"Then how are we supposed to get inside?" Raleic shouted, hands in
the air. "What are we wasting our time out here for?"
"Befitz Bring, obviously. You do know that spell, don't you, O
mighty one?" Lina's voice was dripping enough sarcasm to fill a bucket.
"Of course I do!" Raleic countered with a huff. "But we can't just
use that anywhere on this entire hillside! A wrong position could bring the
whole place down on top of us."
"True," Lina was loathe to admit, and cast Varince a slight frown.
"Well, expeditionary man?"
"I guess we'll have to wing it without any help," was all he could
offer. "You're a sorceress, aren't you?"
"The infamous Lina Inverse, at your service." She smiled, awaiting
the usual declaration of either fear or awe.
"Oh!" Varince cried, fist hitting palm. "Lina the Pink! It's truly
an honor to finally meet you!"
Gourry's eyes widened. "Lina... the Pink?"
Varince was lost under the surface of a giant hammer.
"How did you know that name?" she growled/shouted.
The expeditionary rose to his feet, battered and bruised, and
managed to whimper, "I'm the new head of the Sorcerer's Guild."
Lina's jaw dropped. "You?"
"Sorcerer's Guild?" Gourry looked between them. "You mean like
Halciform in Atlas City?"
"Yes, but without all the insanity and Pledges to Mazoku." Varince
brushed the dirt from his vest and offered a friendly smile. "Which is why
I've wanted to meet you for some time. You put an end to that shameful
chapter of our Association. Who knows what horrible things might have come
if Halciform had continued his experiments?"
Lina sighed, folding her arms. "But let me guess. No one'll ever
know about the Halciform part of it because it would make the rest of you
look bad, so you're keeping it quiet and putting the blame on those two
idiot flunkies. Am I right?"
"Ah." Varince grinned, and shifted his feet a little. "That is..."
"Mm-hmm." Lina turned and slipped past a rock, wandering up the
slope of the mountain.
"O-oi!" This from the newly proclaimed Head of the Sorcerer's Guild
as he scrambled after her. "What would you have us do? And their petty
squabbling almost ruined our reputation anyway. Surely, as the famous Lina
the Pink, you must understand--"
His words were cut short as Lina gave him a violent kick to the
head. "DON'T CALL ME THAT!"
"I think it suits you quite well," Raleic said, perching on top of
a nearby rock.
"Hai, so do I." Halgon smiled with the best of intentions.
"You're not helping," she hissed at him.
"Where'd he get that name anyway?" Gourry asked, rubbing his chin.
"Lina the Pink sounds kind of funny."
"That was the name they gave me when I became a sorceress," Lina
grumbled. "They assign all the sorcerers colors. Mine was pink."
"I think it's cute," Halgon said, and was punted into a nearby
boulder.
"I don't! Now can we get to finding a way into this mountain?" She
made it clear she wasn't expecting a reply by trudging off before she was
done asking.
"Hold on," Varince requested, having apparently recovered from his
head injury. "You can sense magic, can't you?"
"Eh?" That gave Lina pause, and she looked back over her shoulder.
"Of course."
"And you've heard of the Gem of Twilight, I'm sure."
Lina nodded, a little. "Of course."
"So why don't you try to locate the Gem through magic?" He raised a
brow. "It can't be that hard to find. It's got to be radiating energy like
crazy."
"Probably a good idea," Lina admitted, giving her head a brisk
shake, inwardly hating herself for having to deal with these monthly
cycles. She should have thought of that herself; and at the same time,
something was telling her that there wasn't something quiet right about
that at all. She sighed. "Give me some space. I'll try it out."
As they obeyed, she closed her eyes, pressed her palms together,
and concentrated. She didn't allow her mind to drift, but kept it riveted
on its singular purpose.
While everything emits a certain amount of magical power (that is,
after all the force of chaos, and therefore the force of life itself),
magical objects did this to a much sharper extent, radiating in waves while
the usual item or ordinary artifact simply sat like a slightly irksome
distraction off to the side. The more powerful a magical object, the more
energy it transmits, and thusly, the easier it is to find. Something as
legendary and sought after as the Gem of Twilight should stand out like a
Mazoku Lord in a haystack.
Lina opened her eyes. Varince and the others watched her with
expectant, eager faces.
"Couldn't find a thing!" she announced with a smile. Her companions
toppled backwards.
"Nothing?" Varince groaned, a hand to his head.
"Well, that's to be expected." Lina shot him a look. "I mean,
something that powerful would be hunted by millions if it were so easy to
find."
"Well, I guess that makes sense."
"Of course it does. The same thing happened with the Philosopher's
Stone. Chunks taken from the staff that holds up our world would radiate
magic throughout an entire country, especially ones this powerful." Lina
tapped her head and smiled. Even in the midst of menstruation, she still
had it.
"So maybe that's why there's no magic in the other parts of the
world?" Gourry asked.
Lina stared him.
"Ano?" He looked behind him. "Is my hair messed up?"
"I've just never heard you say anything that intelligent," she
sighed. "I mean, it was wrong, but at least it showed a little bit of brain
power."
"Arigatou!" Gourry beamed with pride.
"And he thinks I complimented him," Lina muttered. "It's a wonder
I'm still alive after being around him so long."
"So now what do we do?" Raleic asked, solely to make it absolutely
clear that she was not at all impressed by Lina's logical deductions.
"Nothing," announced a voice, and from behind a rock stepped
Branhof, the mysteriously hooded evil shepherd mage. "I am afraid I can't
allow you to go any farther."
Coming from Zefielia, the land with all those nice grapes, Lina had
come across a shepherd or two in her time. Not many, but a few, and one of
these shepherds had indeed been evil. He hadn't been a mage, however, which
attributed to his very short life span. Branhof was apparently going to
learn from his brethren's mistakes.
Lina extended an arm as a gesture for the others to stay back. They
obeyed, evidently not in a hurry to engage in battles with such strange
opponents.
"Branhof," she greeted in a low voice. "What brings you here?"
"I want those sheep for myself," he answered, pointing a gloved
hand at her. "I can't have you returning from these mountains."
"Talk about ludicrous," Varince said, rolling his eyes.
"I'm going to have to agree with the corrupt politician on this
one," Lina put in, much to Varince's annoyance. "Do you really think you
can take us all on, Shepherd-san?"
"Easily," the cloaked figure replied, and pointed his staff at the
cocky sorceress.
"Fireball!" came a cry from behind, and a flaming sphere soared
close enough over Lina's head that she instinctively tried to smother any
errant little flames out of hair just in case. Branhof calmly raised the
staff a fraction, chanted softly enough not to be heard, and sent a Freeze
Arrow to cancel out that Fireball. Both collided and disappeared in a cloud
of steam.
"Damn," Varince cursed, already positioning himself for another
spell attack. Lina was already concentrating on marshaling what few magic
properties had returned to her... and finding them to be next to none. She
figured she'd have to improvise.
"What you don't realize, Branhof," she admonished, drawing herself
up, "is that we've got the world famous Raleic Deontri on our side."
"...eh?" Varince nearly toppled over, and the Elmekia Lance he'd
been preparing fizzled out. Raleic was simply too stunned to talk.
"She comes from the very courts of the Sea of Chaos." Lina gestured
behind her, and seeing that she'd shocked the postal worker into paralysis,
reached back and yanked her forward. "Her name resounds throughout the
land. Go on, Raleic! Break this man with your mighty fist of power!"
Raleic continued to stare.
"Oi!" Lina smacked the back of her head. "Snap out of it!"
"So!" she thundered so suddenly that Lina was knocked to the
ground. "You finally realize how great an asset I am to your team!"
"Hai, hai!" Lina smiled and ducked behind a rock, pulling Gourry
and Halgon along with her. "Kick his ass, Raleic!"
Branhof tilted his head. "You think you can defeat me, do you?"
"You and all your... evil sheep monsters!" Raleic cried, snapping
back her cloak.
Branhof sweatdropped. "I don't have evil sheep monsters."
"But if you did," Raleic stated evenly, "I could defeat them."
"You're very arrogant, girl," the shepherd said with a distasteful
tinge to his voice.
"At least I'm not afraid to show my face in public," she countered.
"What are you, really hideous under that hood or something?"
"B-baka!" He pointed his staff directly at her. "I'll have you know
I've got a very large fangirl base."
"Ha! But do you think that's enough to take on the great Raleic
Deontri?"
"You brought it up!" Branhof screamed, flailing his arms in a very
unprofessional manner (if villainy counts as a profession).
When Raleic spoke again, her voice was so low and steady it took
those listening to it a moment to reorient themselves. "You seem a little
upset, Shepherd-san."
"N-nani?" The hand holding the staff wavered.
"You should never let yourself be distracted in a magical battle,"
she informed him. "Especially not against the great skill of Raleic
Deontri."
Branhof lowered the staff, and drew a cloaked arm in front of his
face as a shield. "What are you--"
"RA-TILT!" she commanded, blasting the spell directly at him. For
all she could see, the point of impact was perfect, and he was gone without
a single scream.
"Ha!" Raleic drew herself fully upright and wrapped her cloak
around her. "Thus is the fate for all those foolish enough to..."
"BAKA!" Varince shouted, making Raleic jump. "Ra-Tilt doesn't work
against human opponents!"
"Ano? But..."
As the spiritual mist resulting from her spell began to subside,
Raleic found herself face-to-face with the slit, pissed-off eyes of an evil
shepherd mage. "Blam Blazer," he said simply, sending Raleic shrieking down
the mountainside.
Varince sighed and returned to his own spell.
When they were safely huddled behind their rock, Lina gave Gourry a
tap on the shoulder. "You think you can distract him?"
"I dunno," Gourry said slowly. "Without my old sword..."
"You've got that one from the village of warriors you went to with
Amelia, right?"
"Well, hai, but.."
"So do you think you can distract this guy at all, or what?" Her
tone was growing steadily lower.
"I guess so, but probably not for long." He scratched his head.
"Why?"
Lina grinned and said, "To give Halgon the time he needs to go in
for the kill."
"Nani?!" the both of them chorused
"Halgon, you said before that you had watched your... Pochie's
final memories. Ne?"
"Uh, hai."
"That's a really powerful spell." She closed one eye, and peered
intently through the other. "Where did you learn it?"
The color went from Halgon's face.
"Ano... that is..."
When he didn't seem likely to make a coherent sentence, Lina
continued. "And you knew my name. You couldn't have gotten that from
Pochie's memories, and you said you'd never heard of me before."
A moment passed, and Gourry wasn't altogether sure what he should
be doing. Thusly, he began to organize a bunch of pebbles into a passably
accurate little picture of his grandmother.
When she'd drawn the moment out long enough, Lina leaned closer to
the pale ax-wielder. "What are you hiding, Halgon?"
"I... ano..."
"AIIIEEEEE!" came the shriek of a rapidly tumbling Raleic, rushing
by them.
"Guess our bought time is up," Lina said, hopping to her feet.
"Gourry, take care of him as long as you can. And Halgon?"
"Ah... hai?"
She gave him a look. "You'd better be good out there."
"Icicle Lance!" Varince called, and flung the shaft of ice with the
deft precision of your usual Sorcerer's Guild Leader.
Branhof countered with an undramatically showcased Elmekia Flame,
powerful enough to burn through the spell and nearly singe its opponent
like over-done goblin meat. Varince cast a hurried Defense spell to block,
and flung back an Elmekia Lance. Branhof took to the air without so much as
a call of "Levitation."
"Did we miss anything?" Lina asked, patting Varince lightly on the
shoulder.
"How can you be so nonchalant?" he shouted.
"Oi, don't get all worked up."
He forced himself to calm down. "Lina," he said seriously, his
voice low, "we're in trouble. I don't know why, but this guy's better than
I am."
She shrugged. "All you political types are blowhards anyway.
Gourry, show him how it's done."
"Yosh!" the swordsman cried, leaping forward, blonde hair flying
out behind him in a very dashing display of heroics. He raised the sword
over his head and gave an impressive war cry, preparing to slash downward
through the man's body and end this entire ridiculous escapade for good.
Branhof simply stared.
"Are you insane?" he asked, raising his staff as if to parry a
blow. "You don't even have the Gorun Nova anymore."
Gourry fell flat on his face. "Nani? How do you know about my
Hikari no Ken?"
"Now," Lina hissed at Halgon.
"But..." He looked down at his feet, cleared his throat. "But
Lina-san..."
"Now!" Lina snapped, and shoved him forward. He lost his balance
and stumbled over Gourry.
"This is pitiful," Branhof stated, and the top of his staff began
to glow.
"Halgon, for the sake of L-sama, do something!" Lina cried, leaping
forward and choking him.
"But I tried to tell you!" he shouted back, when he could get
enough oxygen to breath. "That memory spell is the only one I learned!"
"Baka, you can't just learn a spell!" Lina's hands grew tighter
around his throat. "You have to go through a whole process of learning to
work with the magic and its power and--"
"Bomb Di Win," Branhof said with tired dissatisfaction. Varince had
just enough time to leap in front of Lina with his Defense shield, bearing
the brunt of the windy blast and getting rammed into a boulder for his
valiant efforts. The boulder teetered a little, and Lina looked over at it,
saw something behind it... and blinked.
"That was uncharacteristically civil of you," she said, dragging
Halgon over.
"I try to be, from time to time." Varince gave her a weak smile.
His Defense shield had disappeared.
She nodded, and looked at Halgon. He looked back, with dull hurt in
his eyes.
"You're strong, aren't you?" she asked him. He only looked back in
response.
A second passed, and Gourry wobbled to his feet. It's an odd thing
about Gourry; he's an idiot, but at times he understood a lot more than
even he knew. This was one of those times, and he dashed at the flying
shepherd with sword upheld.
In the moments it took for Branhof to bat the swordsman aside, he
completely missed seeing Halgon straining to lift the large boulder over
his head, teeth grit and muscles strained. By the time he did, the stocky
little man had flung it directly at him.
"Impressive," Branhof allowed, spinning and blowing the rock apart
with a well placed Fireball. "But you don't seriously expect me to be
stopped by something like that?"
"Not at all," Lina grinned, hands on hips, and from somewhere
behind her came a sudden shout of "Arc Brass!"
No reaction was registered on what could be seen of Branhof's face
as a blast of blue lightning crashed down on him from the sky, struck the
ground beneath, and evaporated the evil shepherd into a bunch of little
particles.
Raleic stood on wobbling legs, a slight grin on her face.
"I told him not to mess with the greatest sorceress of all time,"
she announced, collapsing onto her side.
Raleic came to sometime during the dead of night. She had
apparently been laid out beside a fire like some sort of sleeping bag; the
thought of her mighty self being manipulated by such unworthy peons as
these snapped her into immediate awareness. The first thing she realized
was the odd way the fire was blowing to the side without a breeze on which
to actually blow... but her pride was more important than anomalies in the
worlds of physics, and she shook that off and dragged herself upright,
coming face to face with Gourry.
"Ack!" she cried, clutching her cloak around herself. "What are you
doing?"
"I was keeping this fire hot," Gourry said, prodding said fire with
a stick. "I thought you'd need to warm up. It's a little cold out now."
"Ah. Hai, I guess it is." Reassuring herself that she was properly
clothed, she let go of her robe and pushed herself up. "Where's Lina?"
Gourry lifted the stick he'd been using to stoke the fire and
pointed it over at the sorcerer genius extroardinaire we all know and love,
watching something Varince was doing with his hands. "They told me what
they were doing," Gourry explained, "but I couldn't understand it."
"Something about magic," Halgon sighed from beside her. He was
hauling a few little twigs over to their small campfire, for what good they
would do. "I'm starting to hate magic."
"Well, you did know that special spell with the memory thing,"
Gourry pointed out, prodding his shoulder with the stick. "Lina's not going
to buy that that's the only spell you learned."
"But it's true!" Halgon said miserably, dropping the gathering of
thin wood onto the fire and watching as it lit up. "I didn't even know that
was really a magic spell before she started accusing me!"
"Hai, hai," Gourry conceded with usual jovilant good humor. "How
did you know her name, though? That's the one thing that puzzles me."
Most likely because that's the only thing he can understand, Raleic
thought, but due to the fact that she didn't understand any of this
herself, she kept her mouth shut.
"Well." Halgon shifted his feet a little. "I guess I... sort of
have heard of her before."
"Then why didn't you tell her?" Gourry asked, pure innocent
curiosity in its physical incarnation.
Halgon gave a little shrug. "I was afraid of her," he said. "After
recognizing her from those wanted posters I'd seen a few years ago, I was
too afraid to try and get revenge for Pochie... so I convinced myself I
didn't know her."
"Ahhh," Gourry said, and diverted his attention once more. "Are you
feeling better, Raleic-dono?"
"Uh? Oh, yeah. Sure am." She put on a chipper smile.
"You did a good job earlier," he said. "Even Lina was impressed."
Raleic silently slid to her feet and looked over at Varince. She
could make out a faint glow of light coming from that direction, then saw a
flicker of flame, and made her way over.
Indeed, Varince held a small ball of fire in the palm of his hand,
its flaming tendrils licking to the side as if it wanted to escape
captivity, or wanted to search out an all-night club. Raleic put a hand to
her head, and was about to ask what the hell was going on when she noticed
a small doorway in the mountainside.
"So fire is adverse to this cave for some reason," Lina observed.
"Interesting."
"Not really," Varince said, and the Fireball puffed out. "It's only
natural to expect weird things around such a strong artifact."
"I guess so," Lina admitted with a shrug, and caught Raleic's eye.
"Oh, you finally awake?"
"What's that?" Raleic asked, pointing at the doorway... which on
further inspection, looked more like a small blasted portion of rock.
"One of Branhof's attacks must have done that," Lina said, turning
to gaze into those mysterious depths. "Looks like it leads directly into
one of the mountain's passageways."
"Awful convenient, ne?" Varince chuckled, and looked back at Halgon
and Gourry, who were on their feet and kicking dirt over the little
campfire. "Well, seeing as you're up, I guess we're ready to head in."
"Of course," Raleic said, tossing her hair over her shoulder. "I'm
always ready to face the dangers of the unknown. I, the great Raleic
Deontri, will clear this petty excuse for a mountain range with my own two
hands! I will vanquish all that is undesirable in those catacombs! This
very earth shakes with my passing!" She tossed back her cloak, struck a
dramatic pose, and waited for the applause.
And realizing she was alone, Raleic stumbled sullenly into the cave
by herself.
Continued in Part Three.
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Many characters are copyright of Hajime Kanzaka, Rui Araizumi, Kadokawa
Shoten, TV TOKYO, SOFTX, and Marubeni. Story by Zach Grafton.