[FFML] [slayers]Slayers Born 22-28

Illusion of Life

"These are some very interesting mutations," Tinuviel
tapped her chin in thought as she regarded the twisted
trees. "I wonder if this is connected to the general
lack of life in this region." The elf girl was
trailing along behind the rest of them.
"You know, having these extra numbers and everything
is all fine and good," Xalan started. "But it's
slowing us down significantly."
"Yeah, it took us forever to pass that carriage," Xina
agreed. "What was his problem anyway? I thought his
eyes were going to pop out of his skull."
"We were outrunning his horses, three of us are quiet
obviously NOT human, and we can quite obviously handle
a fight. I'd say that those are all reasons to be some
what worried."
"Out of curiousity, what is it like living here?"
Everybody looked a little confused at Tinuviel's
statement.
"Trees can't talk Tinuviel," Xina half-growled.
"Those warts look pretty bad, do they give you any
pain?" Tinuviel's question was followed by a loud,
pained roar. Everybody face faulted. "That's an ugly
club, why don't you use something better made?"
"How come all these people manage to come at us
downwind all the time?" Xalan asked, frustrated.
"Smash annoying elf!"
"Annoying elf---*?" Jol pushed her out of the way as
the trolls tree trunk club crashed down to the ground.
"Hey Jol...would you be careful....you're destroying
all these plants!"
Several more trolls stood behind the first one and
started to shamble around him.
"Flare Lance!"
"Hell Blast!"
The first two trolls fell under the power of the two
spells, and the rest of the attackers hesitated. They
looked doubtfully at the charred and drained corpses
of there fellows and at the small humanoids they were
being told to attack.
"Kill little ones!! Ma'gluks say kill!" The trolls
again started shambling forward, one of them slashed
down with one of the trees they were using as clubs.
Xalan caught it in his hand and almost absent mindedly
diverted it to the side and then held it in place.
"Weakling let go of club!!" the troll complained.
Xalan arched an eyebrow.
"If you really want me to," he let go sending the
troll flying backwards into his companions.
Jolrael, after showing Tinuviel a lovely; to a normal
person this could be translated as twisted, diseased,
and mutated; patch of what might have been bamboo at
one time, leaped up and stopped in mid-air. One of the
trolls took a moment to scratch its head in confusion
at the human that refused to fall from the air. Then
two of his comrades had their throats slit by that
floating human's blade.
Val considered taking dragon form, but since he didn't
really have time to get out of his clothes, and didn't
have any spares, he settled for magic.
"Umm....Fireball," the spell burst in the middle of
three trolls covering the trolls around them with soot
from the charred creatures.
"Disfang!" Xina watched wide-eyed as the shadow dragon
wrapped about the troll's shadow and started tearing
it apart. Then she smiled viciously.
"Bamu Rod!!" Amethyst slashed with the fire whip as
trolls tried to move towards her. Xalan meanwhile had
given up on his staff and was settling for pulling the
trolls down to his level and snapping their necks with
his mazoku-blood strength. Whenever a troll got too
close, Val used similar tactics, while Jol took a more
airborne approach with his levitation aided leaps.
Basically, they were slowly but surely decimating the
trolls. Xina zipped by through the lines, with her
sword drawn.
"Hey what do you think you're doing!?" Val shouted.
Then Xina found a troll's shadow and melded into it.
"What is she.." Then the troll started convulsing as
cuts appeared on its body and a shadow blade extended
in and out of its shadow. The troll finally fell
forward, and as its shadow vanished, Xina was
deposited unceremoniously back in to the physical
world.
"Ouch, have to work on...." she watched wide-eyed as a
troll club began to descend toward her. Then it was
ripped to pieces as Jolrael passed by, a second troll
was wrapped in a tongue of flame and burned to a
crisp. Xina wasted no more time trying to find another
shadow.
Things travelled downhill from there, for the trolls
at least.

******************

"So how's that for..."
"DON'T DO THAT AGAIN!!" Xalan shouted, obviously
frightened. Xina took a moment to get over the
surprise of her brother yelling and then glared.
"Like hell I won't!" she snapped. "Stop treating me
like a damn baby, I'm faster than you, I'm almost as
strong..."
"I'm not saying don't fight," he interrupted,
receiving another glare. "But don't act so stupid
about it."
"Stupid?" she snapped. "Stupid!" She shrugged him off
and went off into the twisted wood, chin raised
arrogantly.
"Him and that dragon," she muttered. "I don't need
their help, thinking I'm so weak." She sniffed the air
and grumbled some more. "What are you doing here?" At
least it wasn't Janus, she didn't think that she was
under control enough to maintain her veil.
"He's just worried about you," Amethyst said.
"Well, he doesn't have anything to worry about," Xina
snapped. "I can handle myself, and I just proved it."
Amethyst sat down next to her.
"You left the lines," the chimera pointed out. She was
speaking in that tone she adopted when they sparred,
it always reminded Xina slightly of her father's ever
critical and sarcastic speech patterns. "When you
needed support we had to ignore our fronts. If they
had been something more than trolls, we would have
been in trouble."
"I don't want to be like Tinuviel," she said quietly.
"I don't want to NEED help..."
"Everybody needs help," Amethyst laughed. "Even such
defenders of justice as us!" The last was not a joke,
and Xina wondered how some one who was obviously
skilled in battle was so naive. "Instead of sparring,
how about next time we try something to help you learn
about strategy."
"What do you suggest?" An illusion appeared in front
of the cheerful chimera, a board of squares with the
intricately crafted images of warriors and wizards.
Xina recognized two of the pieces as her mother's
human form, and noted the staff wielding man next to
her on either side of the board. Filia held either end
of the rear ranks. The front rank was a row of eight
blonde swordsman baring a resemblance to Jol. In the
center the queen and king seemed to have been reversed
in order. Zelgadis stood in the queen's position, and
a small dark-haired young woman stood in the king's
position.
"How's chess?"
"Is that...?" Xina pointed to the staff-wielder with
purple hair like her own red-streaked covering.
"The bishop? That's your father," Amethyst said.
"How do you..."
"I didn't know what he looked like, my father showed
me how to make this illusion. That's my mother." She
pointed to a black-haired young woman in the queen's
position.
"Can you make it bigger?" Xina asked.
"Sure, why not," Amethyst shrugged. The board vanished
and a large illusion of a smiling Xellos stood before
them with closed eyes. Xina stood up and walked around
it. Then the image bent forward waggled a finger, its
lips moving silently and one of the eyes opening to
form a secretive wink.
"Did you do that?" Xina asked as the illusion returned
to normal.
"No I didn't," Amethyst answered nervously. "Let's go
back to the others, okay?"
"Sure," Xina said as the illusion faded away. "Hey
Amethyst..."
"Yes, Xina-san?"
"Thanks, you're not as bad as I thought," she said.
Amethyst brightened visibly.
"Your welcome, Xina-san."

**************

"That must have taken a lot of effort."
"Its...worth it..." the other panted.
"How is it worth it, you hold yourself here in limbo,
give her false hope, and neglect her brother. Nothing
but pain all around. You should pass on."
"Thanks for your advice, but I think I'll hang around
a while longer."
"What can you gain from it?"
"Sore wa himitsu desu."

****************************************************************************

Hostage

Zangulus came upon the remains of the trolls about a
day after they had died,
the creatures of the twisted forest had nearly
stripped the carcasses to the
bone, but the quality of the remaining flesh was not
indicative of much
decay. He wasn't much behind them, which was perhaps
as much a bad thing as
a good thing.
The bounty hunter did not doubt that he could take any
one of these
children on their own. The black blade strapped to his
back renewed his
youth and charged his strength beyond what he had had
twenty years ago.
There were the uncomfortable urges that he had been
having since taking the
blade. He had almost killed an unconscious girl, a
half-mazoku freak, but
still just a defenseless girl. That was certainly not
an honorable action.
He thanked Ceifeed that the girl woke up before he
could slaughter her so.
Now he could slay her in honorable combat.
"First the staff, then Gabriev," Zangulus repeated to
himself. He
thought of the defiant fox-girl then and how close he
had come to breaking
her. "Business before pleasure."

*******************

"Master..."
"SILENCE!!" Roquen shouted from where he was engraving
the floor with
symbols of death, magic, eternity and darkness. He had
paused in his actions
as the shade spoke. "A distraction could bring a slip
of the chisel and ruin
the circle! Fool!"
"But Master, the trolls have been destroyed."
"Hmph, I suspected as much," the necromancer gestured
for the shade to
approach. "You witnessed the attack?"
"Yes," the necromancer stuck his hand in the shade's
"head" and took the
knowledge he wished for out of the undead's mind. The
shade screamed as its
master carelessly ripped its essence to pieces in the
effort. As the shade
dissipated into nothng the necromancer retrieved his
hand, shrivelled from
contact with the dark creature, and healed it.
"Such strength and power in such young children,"
Roquen commented. "The
princess of Sailoon I recognize, but these others..."
he thought of the
warning his scrying pool had given about the moon and
the elf. "That only
leaves the moon, who would that be?" He mumbled a
chant and twisted his hand
in a summoning gesture. Another shade appeared before
him.
"Yes master?" Roquen couldn't help but smile, the
staff had increased his
power beyond what he had thought it would. Still he
could not just throw
away these specters forever, there was only a limited
supply of dead in the
area.
"There is a young elf-woman in the forest," Roquen
said. "Collect her
and bring her here, but do not harm her."
"Yes master," the shade began to shift its form in
preparation to leave.
"Oh, and do not engage her friends, they are too much
for you."
"But how do I capture her then?"
"That is your problem."

*****************

Xina was finding chess infinitely more enjoyable than
sparring. Amethyst
still beat her, but the difference in their skill was
rapidly closing the
gap. At the moment, Xina's recklessness was what was
getting her in trouble.
This was the usual state of affairs with her. As
usual, Amethyst, who in
dealing with people and life was clueless, was much
more cagey in a more
military conflict.
"Check!" Xina declared loudly as her mother
dragu-slaved the illusionary
Val that served as the demon-side's black-square
bishop. Xina watched the
illusionary spell battle in a wonder that hadn't yet
diminished. Her mother
had had control of such devestating power and never
mentioned it. Well, she
had told stories about defeating monsters and demons,
but she had always
attributed the feats of magic to some other companion.
"Oh dear," Amethyst appeared troubled as she
considered the move.
"Shouldn't we be travelling, Xina-san," Janus asked, a
bit anxiously.
"If we knew where to go maybe," Xina shrugged, raising
her eyes
momentarily to glance at the sorcerer with a sunny
face. Her glance back
down at the bored took in Val's annoyed bristle at the
obvious favor she was
placing at the sorcerer's feet. Good, let him stew on
that.
"Besides which we're in better shape if we stay in one
place for their
move," Xalan noted. "We know the undead generally
stalk at night after all."
"You seem rather anxious to face potential death,"
Jolrael noted.
"I'd like to get this over and done with." So much for
the sentimental
value of his old staff.
"It seems like you get less interested the closer we
get," Val grumbled.
"Oh, Val-san, aren't isn't the flora here so
interesting?" Val
sweatdropped as Tinuviel made a quick appearance. "I
can't wait to get a
look at some of the fauna!" Xina glared as the
elf-girl tried to drag Val
off to look at some twisted plant she had found. The
distraction had killed
the chance she had to get more info out of the
questionable sorcerer. If she
weren't so concerned over not letting anybody know she
suspected him, she
could have just questioned him. She wanted to know
more about his motives,
however.
"Your turn Xina-san," Amethyst said and Xina looked
back at the board and
her eyes snapped wide. His mother's duplicate had
vanished, replaced by some
orange haired guy with a big sword. The demon-rook had
a straight line to
the figure of Amethyst's mother that served as "king"
of Xina's pieces.
"Where did that...."
"Hey, let go of me!" Everybody looked to where
Tinuviel, momentarily
discouraged by Val's continued resistance, had been
investigating a crumbling
mutated tree. The elf girl was punching and kicking at
a figure of shadow.
"I'm not done yet!" Her attacks were proving fairly
useless.
"Let go of her dead man!" Jol shouted as he passed his
sword through an
arm. The magical blade sliced the thing's unholy arm
off, and the limb
dissipated as soon as it was cut from the rest of the
creature. It let out
an unholy screech and dropped its chosen hostage,
backing away from the
oncoming warriors. Xina noticed it fading into the
shadows. Both her and
Xalan noted the sudden movement from various shadows
of the area
"Get back Tinu," Xal commanded. "They're coming in
strength."
"Look at that," Tinuviel said dreamily. "The animals
of this forest must
possess some sort of shadow magic."
"Tinuviel, get behind us," Val shouted as he passed
her "It'll be easier
to protect you!"
"Certainly Val-kun," Tinuviel bowed, speaking in a low
awe-filled voice.
and Amethyst took a rear position to support the three
fighters, or rather to
have a safe position to rain death on them. It didn't
take long for Xina to
notice something about these new shadows.
"They all have one arm!" Xina shouted. "Its a trick!"
She turned to
face Tinuviel in time to see the real shade again
grabbing the elf-girl.
This time, though, a great flying beast of shadow and
bone flew down to carry
shade and elf-girl away into the night sky.
"TINUVIEL!!!"
"Come on Val!" Xina shouted. The dragon was already
half-way through the
transformation. Xina snapped up to the dragon's neck,
followed by most
everyone else. Then Val lifted off in pursuit of the
beastly flying
creature. The thing flew not much faster than the
dragon, and soon it was
becoming obvious that it was heading for a rickety old
tower built by some
long forgotten lord and overrun by the swamp soon
after.

****************************************************************************

Two Face

"It seems solid," Tinuviel said to herself, sitting on
the back of the creature. "But," she stuck her hand
into the creature. "Hey that's cold!" She pulled her
hand out and watched as the shriveled, life-drained
hand returned to normal. "Hmmm, that's an interesting
reaction."
"Do not do that again," the shadow commanded. "The
master requires you to be unharmed."
"Master...are you mazoku?"
"No...I am not."
"Then why do you have mazoku?"
"Aren't you scared at all?"
"Not really. Now how exactly can I put my hand through
this bird, and still be able to ride on it?" She
scratched her head in thought.
The shade ignored her as it shifted its awareness to
regard the dragon close behind it. As soon as they
landed, this girl's friends would be on them. Somehow
he did not think that this is what his master had in
mind when he was sent to collect the elf-girl. There
was something funny here, these winged shades were
usually much faster.
"My master is not going to be pleased with me," the
shade sighed.
"It won't be a problem!" The shade turned to the
source of the voice in time to see a black blade slice
down and through its dark, insubstantial form.
Zangulus grunted as he sat down on the back of the
shadow creature's back. Tinuviel looked at him and
scrunched her face.
"Hey, when did you turn into a person?"
"I didn't turn into anything," Zangulus snapped.
"Then how did you get here?" Tinuviel asked in
confusion. "And what happened to the shadow thing?"
"Girl, you are in a very bad situation, you most
likely are going to die," Zangulus explained
patiently. "Aren't you the least bit afraid?"
"Why should I be?" Zangulus managed to avoid face
faulting off the beast. "Oh my, that is a perfect
example of pre Kouma War architechture, I wonder what
it was made for, is that where we're going?"
Zangulus resigned himself to dealing with the girl, as
sanity stretching as that might be. She might make a
good hostage against the others later.

***********

"The shade was destroyed," Val grumbled in his dragon
voice.
"Did she toss some of that water on it or something?"
Xina asked, she was sitting up near where the neck met
the head..
"No there is some older man with a black sword," Val
answered.
"Black blade?"
"He was hanging from the side of the thing since
before we followed it. I think he stabbed the blade
into it for a hand hold or something."
"Zangulus," Xina snarled.
"That's the guy that attacked you?" Val asked her.
"Yeah," Xina snarled. "As soon as he lands, let's gut
him."

************

The circle was ready, he could cast the spell, but
first he wanted to see what he had to deal with. When
the spell was cast he'd spend some time locked away,
protected and unreachable. Of course, while his
transformation was occuring, his minions would arise
in force. Then he would have a strong border prepared
for his arrival. And the true conquest would begin.
A piercing cry ripped through the night sky beyond his
walls. The necromancer strolled out to the window, and
saw the dragon pursuing his shadow raptor. The
necromancer's eyes widened and he ran back to the
center of his circle, grabbing the mazoku's staff as
he did so. He needed to cast the spell now!

************

As the beast landed, Zangulus dragged the girl off of
it, interrupting a discourse on proper methods of
maintaining such a building. The bounty hunter absent
mindedly sliced his blade up through the shadow
creature, causing its life force to dissipate into
nothing.
"Come on girl, I don't want to be here when your
friends land."
"That's weird," Tinuviel said, unconcernedly looking
up. Zangulus looked up for a moment and saw the
shadows along the ceiling being drawn inward. "I
wonder what's doing thaaa...."
Zangulus dragged her along following the withdrawing
shadows. Behind him he heard the dragon landing, but
he was already inside.
"Damn it he's getting away!!" Xina shoutted.
"Xina, wait for us!" Xalan called out, running after
her. His sister stalled as skeletons and zombies
started bursting from the ground. Jol leaped right
over her and the ranks of undead disappearing after
the bounty hunter. Xina drew her sword, these mindless
creatures weren't much of a threat, even to her. Then
remembered the last time a mass of undead had appeared
around her.
"Oh no!!! Not again!!" Xina back pedaled just in time
to avoid a pair of quick fired Megido Flares. "Wait
for me to get out of the way!!!" More undead were
raising already, and shades could be seen in their
ranks.
"Go on!" Janus shouted. "The dragon and I will hold
these minions!"
"Val?" Xina asked.
"Go!" the dragon, now in human-form, wearing sort of a
thrown on robe from somewhere. Then he crushed an
attacking skeleton. Xalan, Xina and Amethyst smashed
their way through the horde with the other two
following behind and then blocking the way further
into the building.
"I can't smell anything in all this stink," Xalan
snapped.
"This place is evil," Amethyst shivered. "After we
rescue Tinu we should raze it too the ground."

************

"Hey, could you let go of me," Tinuviel shouted. She
snatched a vase that was one of the few un broken
artifacts in the hallway. "Look at this vase, it must
be older than..." she smashed it into the back of her
captor's head. He fell to the ground and let go of
her. "Oh, damnit, I broke it. What happened to you?"
"Dangerous sense of humor does not cover it." Zangulus
complained as he stood up.
"I don't know who you are," Zangulus turned to face
the voice and saw Jolrael standing there, sword in
hand. "But get away from her."

************

Xina pulled ahead of her brother and Amethyst,
following the shadows. She knew that the staff was
there somewhere, and Zangulus would be there too, with
Tinuviel.
"Hurry up!" Tinuviel shouted.
"Xina-san, please wait for the rest of us!" They all
turned a corner into a huge room emanating dark power.
In the center of an engraved circle was a twisting
skeleton surrounded by dark power. Xina immediately
recognized the staff in the thing's hands.
"You fools are too late," the undead monster snapped.
"I am reborn, and within a season I will rise to rule
this world!!!"

***********

"Is that everything," Janus asked as he charred
another skeleton.
"I think so," Val muttered. "We must have used up the
place's graveyard. Those shades are easier the second
time around."
"Good, its just us then," Janus laughed. Val turned in
time to see the dagger sink into his shadow.
"Traitor," Val spat.
"I was never on your side," Janus corrected him. "And
now, without you, Xina and her father's staff are
mine."
"FIREBALL!!" Val shouted. "LIGHTING!"
"WINDY SHIELD!!!" The fireball bounced up into the
ceiling and the stone work collapsed on both
combatants.

****************************************************************************

Towers Crumble

Zangulus scanned the boy in front of him, though young
man might have described him better. His build, his
face and the way he held himself in preparation for
battle.

"You must be Gabriev's son," Zangulus said coldly,
drawing his black blade. Jolrael narrowed his eyes.

"Oh, do you know Gourry-san?" Tinuviel asked as the
bounty hunter dragged her along behind him. "Hey,
couldn't you just ask!?" The warriors were circling
each other, waiting for the other to make a move.

"His father and I have a long-standing difference of
opinion."

"Doesn't really matter, does it," Jolrael said.
"Whatever problem you have with my dad, has nothing to
do with us."

"You seem a little less....dense than Gourry,"
Zangulus noted. "Did his talent skip you as well?"

"And are you getting old that you have to hide behind
a hostage?"

"Hostage? What hostage?" Jol and Zangulus face
faulted.

"Fine then, let's get this over with," Zangulus
snapped his blade forward as Jol got to his feet.
Jolrael's own weapon blocked the other aside and spun
out of the block into a slash that was in turn
parried. Sparks of power flashed as the weapons
collided.

"That was good," Zangulus noted. The older swordsman
swung his sword away from the parry, trying to come in
from another angle. Jolrael only just managed to get
his block up in time. "Your father was better."

"I have a few tricks he doesn't," Jol assured him.
Zangulus was pushed off his feet and back about ten
feet by something he did not see. He rolled to his
feet in time to avoid a swift downward strike held at
the end of onne of Jol's leaps. Zangulus was no longer
amused by this confrontation.

The swords clashed and sparked with strike and parry
as the battle went on.

"Hey could you repeat that exchange?" Tinuviel said
from where she sat with a little notebook and feather
pen.

"WHAT?" both warrior's shouted.

"I think I missed some of the movements."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"What is that?" Xina asked as the necromancer's
skeleton seemed to further dissolve.

"RA TILT!!" The blue-white flames flashed forward and
surrounded the creature. Nothing happened. "His spirit
isn't here!"

"White as the moon!" the twitching skull cackled. A
blast of dark fiery power launched itself at the
chimera.

"WINDY SHIELD!" the darkness swirled into the wall of
air and dissipated. Xina sheathed her sword and ran
forward at the cackling creature.

"Xina look out!" Xalan cut across and shoved her aside
as another blast targetted her.

"We have to get the staff!" Xina snapped.

"FIREBALL," a wave of darkness batted dissolved
Amethyst's fireball. The skeleton was now little more
than a floating skull and arms. The rest of its body
had been sucked into the flow of magic somehow.

There was a sudden rumbling that knocked all three
living warriors to the ground, and then had them
scrambling up to avoid getting hit. Xalan cursed that
there wasn't anything he could do as he avoided
repetive blasts of power. Into the room from the
otherside, Zangulus and Jolrael tumbled in, still
fighting a stalemate. Jolrael had tried to blind the
hunter, and had gotten around his will enough to at
least dim the vision. Overall though, now that
Zangulus wasn't playing around, his skill made up the
difference.

Xalan moved to help Jolrael and then noticed a section
of ceiling about to come down on Tinuviel where she
was following them. The kage-kitsune rushed and pushed
her out of the, wondering if that was going to be all
that he was doing this battle.

"The elf!" the skull shouted as its arms disappeared.
A bolt of darkness launched itself at her and Xalan.

"Tinu down!" Jol shouted as he reached out with his
mind and intercepted the attack. The sudden conflict
sent him reeling, and he was pulled away from his duel
with Zangulus.

"The place is falling down," Janus shouted as he
appeared. "I think the dragon has already been crushed
in the rubble.

"Val?!" Xina hesitated in her current rush to get the
staff that had cluttered to the ground. Zangulus
turned away from the psychic Gabriev and made his own
rush for the staff, snatching it from the ground.

"Thanks for the help!" he shouted as he launched
himself out the tower window. Xina rushed over and saw
him descending smoothly on a blanket of darkness
extending below the point of the blade. "But my
mistress awaits!"

"Hey, Janus!" and if there was a hint of hostility in
Xina's voice, they could attribute it too the hunter's
escape. "Get over here and raywing me down!" The
sorcerer acquiesed quickly.

"Xina-san wait for us!"

"None of you will escape!" the skull shouted, despite
the lack of a jaw bone. A wave of darkness launched at
the pair at the window.

"Stow it!" Xina shouted as she jumped at the window
following the sorcerer. She formed a force bubble
between her and the undead. The bubble, looking like a
sphere of concentrated light held as the darkness
shattered against it. Tinuviel watched and arched an
eyebrow at the reaction.

"I will return!!" the undead Roquen promised as the
last of its skull finally vanished and his spirit was
pulled to wherever it would be stored for his final
transformation.

"Xina!" Xalan rushed for the window, but the wall
caved in around it, blocking that path.

"We have to get out of here now!" Jolrael shouted. The
swordsman grabbed a thinking Tinuviel and rushed for
the other window. Immediately outside he enacted a
levitation to carry him above the path of falling
stones.

"Xalan-san," Amethyst pleaded to the kage-kitsune who
was trying to dig through the rubble as the rest of
the tower was crumbling around him. "We can't help her
if we die here."

"Let's go," Xalan agreed.

"RAYWING!!!" Amethyst shouted, and then navigated
through the falling masonry to join Jolrael and
Tinuviel outside.

"Where are they?" Xalan asked. Craning about for any
movement he could see below. He couldn't see his
sister, the sorcerer or the hunter they were chasing.
What he could see didn't improve his mood. From the
fields about the crumbling tower, skeletons and shades
rose up in ranks and began marching south.

"They're heading for Zephilia," Amethyst said. "There
are so many of them!"

"Zephilia is well known for repelling all attacks
against them," Jol noted. "And nobody really knows
how."

"You know, I bet a weapon of light would be useful
when that thing comes back," Tinuviel noted absently.

"But where do you find one of those?" Amethyst asked.
Below them the rubble shifted.

"I can't see any sign of them," Xalan said, trying to
look through the twisted trees.

"Where's that damn sorcerer!" Val's dragon form
roared.

"Val-kun!" Tinuviel shouted. They landed near the
rubble. "Oh, we have to get you out of there!"

"That sorcerer is after Xina, where are they."

"They went after the staff," Xalan muttered as he
started trying to clear the rubble.

"Oh I can get out myself," the dragon sniped. "Just go
after Xina."

"No, you can't," Jol noted. "I suspect you were in
human from when this all fell on you, and you're a lot
more hurt than you're acting."

"But Xina..."

"Will have to take care of herself for now," Xalan
said. "We have other problems." Xalan and Amethyst
worked to physically clear the rubble, while Jol moved
boulders telekinetically until Amethyst could get to a
position that she could reach Val's injuries and heal
them.

"They'll be heading for Zephilia and civilization,"
Jol said as Amethyst completed the healing. "If you
can get us there ahead of the dead, maybe we'll see
them along the way."

"I don't like this."

"Nobody does, Val-san," Amethyst said.

****************************************************************************

Janus's Comeuppance

Xina looked back through the forest to where the tower
had stood. Where, for all she knew Val and everyone
else were buried under tons of stone. She hadn't
thought about that particular result. She'd had too
things on her mind, getting Janus away from everybody,
and going after Zangulus. So of course now she was on
her own with someone she had every reason to believe
was out to kill her.
The sorcerer hadn't made a move yet, hadn't even tried
to capture her. He still wanted something from her
that he wouldn't get if she knew he was an enemy. It
was probably the staff, after all he did need her to
track the hunter now that they'd found the trail
again. Xina's mother and brother may have been much
better hunters than her, but this noseless human was
completely incompetent.
"We're getting close," Xina said tightly. "I think we
might catch up to him within the hour." At least they
had left behind the really bizarre terrain a day or
two ago.
"Do you think that you could get the staff from him on
your own?" Xina looked at him and thought here we go.
"I probably could," Xina asserted, lying through her
teeth. "And I could move faster without you, that's
for sure. Can't track in that raywing of yours."
Janus's expression didn't appear to change on first
glance, but Xina saw his eyes narrow at the
implication that he was a burden.
"Then why don't get the staff and come back here,"
Janus suggested. "If you get any trouble just drop it
and run."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence," she said
playfully.
"You are perfectly capable of defending yourself,
whatever your brother says." The sorcerer tried to
sound comforting, but his eyes were calculating.
"Still perhaps I can give you a little aid." He took
hold of her sword, mumbled something and then shouted
"Astral Vine!" Suddenly the sword was glowing,
temporarily enchanted.
"Thanks," Xina said softly, hiding the predatorial
smile in her head. He was making his move. The
kage-kitsune rushed off into the forest.

**************

"Those monsters are going to be here any day now,"
Xalan argued. "We don't really have time to go looking
for something on a rumor that she may have heard."
"We'll be just fine," Amethyst assured him. "All we
have to do is tell someone in Zephilia that an army of
undead is coming and we'll have plenty of help."
~This gets Tinuviel out of danger~ Xalan turned to
look at Jolrael. The swordsman didn't appear to even
be paying attention to him. ~And if you find something
you'll be able to do more than push people out of the
way of attacks.~
"Oh, I wish Val-kun had stayed," I'll bet he could
have gotten us there faster than walking." This didn't
rub off well on either Jol or Xal. Soon after landing,
Val had taken off again to go back for Xina. The fact
that had left behind Xalan had him more than just
annoyed. Jolrael's reasons for being annoyed with the
dragon were even more obvious.
"You're sure this Celina person knows where to find a
weapon of light?"
"Well she and her friend certainly seem to know a lot
about magic and stuff, had a nice long conversation
with them one day."
"When was this?" Tinuviel rolled her eyes up and began
mumbling to herself.
"Twelve years ago," she said finally. "I think."
"Great," Xalan muttered. "I'm following a lead that's
more than half as old as I am. Be careful," he said to
Amethyst.
"I've been trained by one of the best swordsmen and
shamans in the world," she said proudly. "I'll be
fine."
"Now what was I talking about when I left last time,"
Tinuviel asked herself as she followed Xalan walking
east and south. "Mirrors, some sort of relic."
"I think we'll find a town off this way," Jol pointed.
"But what's to guarantee that they don't just attack
us on sight?"
"Why would they attack a Princess of Sailoon?"
"I don't know, because Zephilia is an isolationist
country with a reputation for swallowing elite
assassins and warriors?"
"I'm sure they'll recognize that we're here to help
them."
"If not, do you have a raywing ready?"

******************

Zangulus looked back, he thought he had heard
something behind him.
"Martina?" he called out. Then there was a flash of
glowing enchanted steel, it came in fast but he was
still able to block it easily.
"I know that name," he looked and saw the girl from
the tombs. "Mom complains about someone with that name
all the time." Zangulus stood up and faced her.
"Little girl, you're in over your head," he smiled as
he drew his sword. "But I can't say I haven't looked
forward to this." He slashed forward and she blocked
with her blade, riposting a return strike.
"You're just a dirty old man," Xina spat. "A grave
robber."
"You've gotten better," Zangulus complimented her. He
stepped up his attacks, not going full out, but making
it just hard enough to be entertaining. She stopped
attacking and concentrated fully on defense, but that
didn't last long either. The astral vine had
strengthened her blade, but not well enough. Zangulus
black blade shattered the weapon forcing Xina down to
the ground.
"No great hero is coming to your rescue now," he said
standing over her.
"Turn over the staff and the girl to me!" Zangulus
whirled around to see a fifteen year old girl holding
a sword. The bounty hunter narrowed his eyes and
recognized her as a mazoku.
"My mistress wants them, and no demon is going to
stand in my way."
"You think you can stand against the General of Dynast
Grausherra!" The eternal teenager launched blast at
the mortal swordsman, and saw it deflected off by his
enchanted blade. They circled each other cautiously
and then started slashing at each other with their
blades, neither noticing that the items they were
fighting over had left the area.
After several minutes a shockwave knocked down both
opponents.
"Get away from my minion, you vile little brat,"
Sherra looked up from where she had been thrown and
saw green haired woman standing between her and
Zangulus.
"I don't know," Sherra said. "So you can't have been
mazoku long."
"Where's that girl!" the bounty hunter yelled. Sherra
scanned about and noticed that both girl and staff had
left. Sherra cursed herself for underestimating the
girl, especially considering her now confirmed
heritage. Her agent had played out that little seed
soon after joining the girl's party.
"I'll get you two later!" she shouted as she
teleported away.

*************

Janus was surprised when Xina appeared out of the
forest carrying the staff.
"You..." before he could finish saying anything she
had knocked him backwards and was holding him down.
"Don't try to cast anything," she ordered. "You killed
Val didn't you?"
"How could you..."
"Save it!" Xina snapped. "I've known you were after me
since you mentioned my mother's name." The sorcerer
smiled.
"The dragon brought the ceiling down on himself," he
told her. "But I would have killed him eventually
anyway." Xina restrained herself from tearing him to
pieces then and there.
"And who is Dynast Grausherra?" she asked tightly.
"One of the Dark Lords," he answered. "So don't think
that you'll be able to win, even if you beat me."
"What do you mean by if I..."
"DILL BRAND!!" Both were blown into the air and landed
roughly on their backs. Xina was standing on her feet
as Janus cast from where he fell.
"DISFANG!!" The shadow dragon formed and reached out
toward a smiling Xina.
"That was very stupid," she told him. As the dragon
passed by seeking her own shadow, she stepped into it.
The shadow dragon was momentarily confused by its
inability to find a target. Then, to Janus's horror,
it turned on itself and began ripping into his shadow,
and consequently, him.
As the sorcerer's torn body fell to the ground Xina
leaped out of the shadow and rolled to her feet.
"That'll teach you to try and scam a Metallium," Xina
spat as she started walking away from the traitor's
dead body.
"You're not nearly as good as you think you are," Xina
turned to face the teenaged mazoku she had seen
earlier. "Too bad Xellos wasn't around to teach you
better." Xina hefted her staff nervously.

****************************************************************************

Sort of Related

Tinuviel was walking in front of Xalan, in clear view,
where he could see
everything that she did. There was a very practical
reason for this, he
didn't to end up with a hair cut like Xina's. Or
worse, considering the ever
curious elf already had a hair sample. In fact his
traveling companion was
of greater concern to him than potential enemies.
Enemies he could fight,
but Tinu was a sort of natural disaster waiting to
happen. She never waited
long.
Xalan had never really taken full advantage of his
mazoku-born endurance,
or really appreciated it, until travelling with
Tinuviel. Being able to
operate perfectly fine on about an hour of sleep a day
was certainly a plus,
though he dread what might eventually happen in that
one hour. The one
consolation he had was that Tinuviel's presence seemed
to mollify the various
humans they met on the road. Not as well as the
obviously royal Amethyst,
but well enough to avoid trouble.
Xalan occupied his mind as they traveled with trying
to figure out why
Jol was so taken with the girl. It kept his mind off
what might be happening
to remainder of his friends. Right about now Amethyst
and Jolrael were
probably facing an army of dead creatures with
whatever force they could
muster from Zephilia. As for Xina, she was playing at
fighting Zangulus
until whoever Janus had signaled arrived to distract
the hunter.
"Are you sure they live around her somewhere," Xalan
asked. "I don't
really see how you can be sure this is the region."
"Hmm? What?" Xalan sweatdropped.
"This Celina person, are you sure we're in the right
place?"
"I have no idea." Xalan facefaulted.
"What do you mean by that?" he asked, climbing back up
on his staff.
"What do I mean by what?"
"What do you mean that you have no idea if we're in
the right place."
Xalan prefered to have a plan for things, this random
hopping around was too
unprepared for his tastes.
"Well, they're in some little town called Zenla, which
they said was the
far eastern part of Zephilia," Tinuviel thought about
it some more as she set
an odd looking rock into one of her pouches.
"So you have no idea where we are, or where we are
heading." Xalan knew
how to find his way back to where they'd split from
Amethyst and Jol, but
that would be admitting defeat. Not mention it was
probably a battle zone by
now.
"That's not true."
"Okay where are we then?"
"About a mile from that place," she pointed. Xalan
looked and saw the
top of the building peaking out over a hill.
"Let go of my tail," he said without turning around.
"But..."
"Just let go of my tail, please." Tinuviel let go of
his tail and sighed
frustratedly. It was only a few minutes later that
they were at the
building, which turned out to be an inn on the edge of
a small town. Xalan
let Tinuviel go in first, less chance of starting a
ruckus that way. Once
inside he found an empty table and sat down, he
considered deepening the
shadows about him a little, but nobody really batted
an eye at his entrance,
so he didn't bother.
"Welcome to the Happy Candle, can I take your order?"
Xalan looked up to
the waitress.
"Mom!?!" he gasped in surprise before he noticed
several differences
between this woman and his mother's human form. There
was no streak of
silver in her hair, for one thing, and she seemed
younger by a few years.
That said a lot, his mother claimed memories that Jol
and Amethyst claimed
were sixty years old, but looked she only about
twenty-five. Finally, there
was an innate quietness and passivity in the woman
that was completely unlike
his volatile mother.
"Gomen," the waitress said nervously. "What did you
say?"
"I'm sorry, you look like...." Xalan started.
"Celina-san, its you!" Tinuviel said suddenly.
"Hmm," the red-head examined the pair and tried to
figure out where she
knew the girl from. Then it hit her. "Oh, you're that
girl from a few years
ago. You disappeared in the middle of dinner, what
happened."
"I don't know," Tinuviel sounded confused. "One moment
I was studying
this odd tree behind your inn, the next thing I know
the tree was in
Beleriand along with me." Xalan sweatdropped.
"But I didn't feel any magic," Celina said. "Are
you..."
"Excuse me, but if you're this Celina person," Xalan
suggested. "She
says you know where to find a weapon of light."
"Why would you be interested in that? What good is
it?"
"We need it to fight this undead thing that wants to
rule the world,"
Tinuviel piped up. "He's of somewhere probably
recuperating from the
transformation, it was a really interesting spel. What
little I caught of it
at the end anyway..."
"Have you tried talking to this monster and settling
your affairs that
way?" Hearinng such sentiments come from such a close
copy of his mother was
thoroughly freaking Xalan out.
"I don't think that would work," Xalan said nervously.
Then a customer
called out and Celina blushed furiously as she looked
towards the call.
"Gomen, but I have to go," she bowed formally. "I
guess we can talk
about this when the common room closes." She hurried
away, arms swinging in
a demure fashion that further seperated her from
Xalan's mother.
"She's...nice," Xalan said. Then thought to himself,
"Almost freakishly
so."
"She's a really powerful sorceress," Tinuviel
explained then. "That's
why she looks so young."
"Celina asked me to get your order, since she forgot,"
they looked up at
the sound of the shy voice. Before them was a tall
woman dressed in a manner
to hide what Xalan suspected was an incredibly shapely
body.
"Hello, Gracia-san," Tinuviel waved cheerfully.
"Tea, please," Xalan ordered, silently grieving that
nobody made tea as
well as Filia did. "And lamb, as rare as you can make
it." Tinuviel
couldn't decide what exactly she wanted and settled
for a sample of
everything.
It was an hour or two later that common room was
cleared out and Celina
and Gracia came back to sit down with Xalan and
Tinuviel.
"Excuse me, but what is your name?" Celina asked the
kage-kitsune.
"Xalan Metallium." The women seemed to flinch at the
name.
"I thought all the Metallium mazoku were destroyed."
"I'm only half mazoku, my mother is..."
"Lina Inverse?" Celina interrupted nervously. "Gomen,
but you said she
looked like me right?"
"Yes....are you related to my mother at all?"
"Well, maybe you should ask her that." She said
nervously and quietly.
"Oh, this is Lina-san's son," Gracia declared
suddenly. "What does he
want?"
"We're here for that weapon of light you said you
had," Tinuviel said
suddenly.
"Isn't that up in our room some where?" Celina asked
Gracia.
"Your room, singular?" Xalan asked, and both women
blushed. Xalan
blinked and then blushed furiously himself. "Never
mind."
"Well, let's go up and look for it," Tinuviel
declared, and the other
three were greatful for the subject change. The room
in question was quiet
large, in fact it seemed to be a lot bigger than it
should have been. There
was no bed though, it seemed more like a study of some
sort. Xalan opened
the door to what he thought was a closet to find a
hallway. A long hallway
with a row of three doors on either side and one door
at the end. Two
magical lights hung along the hallway on either side.
"Umm, what's going on?"
"Oh," Celina seemed embarrassed. "We played with the
dimensional
boundaries a little."
"How are we supposed to find anything in this," Xalan
asked as he opened
another door to find a vast freezing room full of
meats and other such foods.
He couldn't see the far wall. "This could take days."
"Well, we don't have to go in all the rooms," Gracia
suggested quietly as
the two women opened the door at the end of the
hallway. Xalan noted, but
tried not to, the single double bed in the rather
plain bedroom. Tinu didn't
have the same sense of tact or even much common sense.
"You know, I've been wondering why you have just the
one..."
"Here it is," a furiously blushing Celina said. She
picked up a gauntlet
of some sort with three sockets above the wrist.
"That's the light weapon?"
"Hmm, this?" Celina looked at it a moment. "Wait a
minute, you're right.
Light come forth." Three blades of light extended from
the sockets, from a
claw gauntlet.
"Oh my," Gracia said. "We've been using it as a
torch." Xalan
facefaulted.

****************************************************************************

Discordian Chili

Amethyst and Jolrael were moving faster than either of
the twins. It didn't take long for them to come to a
town. It didn't look all that different from other
towns. Merchants and peasants going about their day to
day lives while a modest number of soldiers hung
about, obstensibly on guard duty. The only really odd
thing about the town was that nobody batted an eye
when Amethyst and Jolrael showed up at the edges of
town.
"I told you they wouldn't attack such obvious
defenders of justice as us," Amethyst noted.
"What is it with all those mini-speeches?"
"You know, I never really figured out that myself."
Jol face faulted. "My white magic mentor made it part
of the curricullum."
"And if you never found a reason for why they were
necesssary," Jol started. "WHY do you keep doing it?"
"Habit." Jol face faulted again. "Are you feeling
okay? You didn't hurt your legs or anything did you?"
"I'm fine," Jol said. "There we go, he looks like
somebody official." Amethyst looked to where a soldier
with a more formal looking uniform was chastising a
pair of soldiers now standing at attention.
"Sir, hello, sir!" Amethyst called out running towards
the man.
"Amethyst, wait," Jol called out running along behind
her.
"We are here to warn you of ..." Amethyst stopped as
suddenly there were nearly five sword and spear points
directed her way and about two dozen spells being
readied across the town square. "What did I do?" she
asked nervously. The officer looked her over
suspiciously, glancing over at Jolrael who was facing
similar odds.
"Okay, you might get us," Jol admitted. "But we'll
take a lot of you with us."
"And I don't think those swords are going to do you
much..."
"Astral Vine!" all the weapons suddenly glowing. Jol
and Amethyst sweatdropped.
"....umm there's an dark army of undead coming out of
the northlands to spread evil and corruption across
the land?"
"Yeah right, you're just a pair of mercenaries."
"We really don't care if you pass through," another
commoner said. "But we don't like people thinking they
can push us around just because...."
"Stand down!" the officer called out. "You are
Princess Amethyst Lina Sailoon-Greywords?"
"Greywords-Sailoon," Amethyst corrected. "Sailoon is
the actual family name. Why?"
"Your parents travelled with Lina Inverse before she
'died', is that right?"
"But Lina-sama isn't..." Amethyst's eyes snapped wide
and she shut her mouth.
"Lina is alive?" this elicited a murmur of excited
muttering.
"I'm not sure she'd wa..." Amethyst snapped her mouth
shut again. Jol sighed.
"Yes, Lina's alive, but she prefers that people think
she's dead." The swordsman admitted.
"And you are?"
"Jolrael Gabriev."
"Hey, didn't Lina-chan travel with a Gabriev?"
somebody asked.
"That was my father..."
"Really?" Suddenly all the weapons and prepared spells
disappeared. Jol and Amethyst watched cautiously for a
moment before they were mobbed by a horde of friendly
faces. "So they're friends of Lina's" "Hey, welcome to
Zephilia." "Lina is alive you say." "How is she." Both
Amethyst and Jol sweatdropped.
"Didn't you hear us say that there's an army of undead
heading this way?!"
"Time enough for that later." "Yeah, there's always
something attacking us around here." "Hey, who's going
to tell Luna?" Total silence and massive sweatdrops
around the town.
"Who's Luna?" Jol asked nervously.
"Lina-chan's sister." Somebody answered. "She's the
Knight of Ceipheed."
"Lina-sama's sister....is the Knight of Ceipheed?"
Amethyst repeated.
"What is it with that family?" Jol asked no one in
particular.
"Hey, I know," somebody shouted. "Why don't we send
them to go tell Luna?" Jol and Amethyst sweatdropped.
"We can't do that to them without giving them a good
meal first." "They can come to eat at my restaurant."
"Your restuarant? Ha that's a laugh." Jol and Amethyst
looked about and realized that fully two thirds of the
buildings they could see were restaurants of some
sort.
"Umm, is all Zephilia like this?" Amethyst asked
someone at random as the arguing continued with cries
of "Hot Pot!!" and "Roast Beef!!"
"Well, only the core really," the woman answered.
"Some of those fringe villages are just boring."
"I see," Amethyst sweatdropped.
"I wonder if anybody here cooks chili?" Total silence
again as everybody turned to look at Jolrael.
"You don't mean...DISCORDIA'S chili....do you?"
someone asked. Jol sweatdropped.
"You've heard of it?" Everybody nodded quietly.
"That's one of my favorite dishes! Can anybody here
cook it?"
"What's 'chili'?" Amethyst asked.
"Discordia!" somebody called.
"What?" A rather petulant female voice called out.
"Somebody wants to try your chili!"
"Really," there was the sound of a low, mischievious
chuckle as short girl wearing spectacles pushed her
way to the visitors. "You want to try my chili?"
"Yeah, I love that stuff," Jol said.
"Hey, are you a copy or something?" Amethyst asked as
she looked through the girl's spectacles.
"What, no! Why do you ask that?"
"Did you know that you have two different colored
eyes?"
"Yes," the girl said through gritted teeth. "Now come
on, if you want chili, follow me." The girl led them
to an odd building covered in geometric patterns that
continued on with out change about the whole of each
surface. Each individual surface had a different
pattern, and they were gathered together without much
concern for the order apparent within themselves.
Every chair, table, shelf, even plates, books and
plants, were covered with the same geometric patterns
of lines.
"Just sit there and we'll see how much chili you can
take."
"I'll just have coffee please," Amethyst said
sheepishly.
An hour later Amethyst was on her fifth cup of coffee
and Jolrael was on his, much to Discordia's
irritation, twentieth helping of chili. Outside the
villagers watched on in a state of near awe.
"He can actually eat it!" "How is that possible?" "He
must not have any taste buds at all." "That stuff can
burn a mazoku's mouth, what are you talking about?"
"I don't see what all the fuss is about," Amethyst
said then. "Can I try some?" The girl who stood about
half a foot shorter than Amethyst glared at her a put
down one of two bowls of chili in front of her.
"Its good isn't it?" Jolrael asked as Amethyst took a
taste. She nodded as she started eating it a little
faster. Then the spice hit her and she dropped her
spoon. She was through the crowd outside in blur and
at the fountain drinking as much water as she could.
Jolrael sweatdropped at his companions reaction to the
chilly. "Mom does that too." He scratched his head as
if he couldn't figure it out.
"Hmm, there's nothing wrong with the chili then,"
Discordia noted. "And I've been making it hotter each
time." The crowd outside sweatdropped and looked to
where Amethyst still had her head stuck in the water.
"I noticed!" Jolrael yelled out happily. Discordia
growled, the crowd face faulted.
"Luna shouldn't be a problem for HIM," somebody said.
A panting Amethyst appeared in the doorway then.
"Can we go talk to this Luna person now?" she asked as
tears elicited by the chili's spices rolled down her
cheeks.
"Yeah, get them out of here before I get annoyed." The
villagers remembered the last time Discordia got
annoyed. For a month the town's food supply was
bombarded with her spices and nobody could eat at
their accustomed speed.
"Yes, she's in the next town over," somebody called
out desperately. "Just follow the road and you'll get
there soon enough."
"But what about the army of undead?" Jol asked.
"We can handle it if it comes here!"
"But don't you want to here about Lina?"
"We get the news later!"
"But...but...what about all this chili!?"
"Come on Jolrael-san," Amethyst sighed. "I'm sure you
can have as much chili as you want later."

***************

An hour later they were approaching another town.
"You could have let me finish that helping," Jol
complained.
"Jolrael-san, you don't usually act like this."
"I don't usually get pulled away from all the chili I
can eat."
Then something large flew over them and passed along
at incredible speed before crashing at the edge of the
town ahead of them.
"Hey, that was Val-san," Amethyst shouted. The next
thing they saw was an explosion and then about fifteen
or so seperate spells. They both sweatdropped.

=====
"Caffeinated Kender? What's that, a berserk spell?" -
Tribble, Kender Warrior of the Celestial Kingdom
"God has to have a sense of humor, it's the only explanation for sex." - my father
"I have to write a how-to paper for class, so I'm writing a paper on how to be psuedo-evil." - my brother

http://members.aol.com/thrythlind/snake.html

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