Please note, the whole chapter has been totally
rewritten, so it's a different story, with only the main
ideas kept intact. The Old Story Idea is availible at my
website, but the older version will not be continued.
Only this new version will be continued.

Please read and enjoy,
Troy Thomas

***

Check out my writings webpage. Find my stuff. ^_^
http://ca.geocities.com/therealsilentnova/entrance.html

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-- Attached file included as plaintext by Ecartis --
-- File: tsw01.txt

The Slayers: Wild
By Troy Thomas

Ranma 1/2 and its characters are the creations and property 
of Rumiko Takahashi. Slayers and its characters are the 
creations and properties of Hajime Kanzaka and Rui Araizumi. 
Excepting flames, if you have any comments or criticisms, 
feel free to send them my way.

***

I can be found at the following addresses:
URL: http://ca.geocities.com/therealsilentnova/index.html
Email: Silentnova@go.com

***

Chapter One

The tower was tall. It extended far into the sky, but was 
short of Heaven by a hair.

Her name was Lina Inverse. She stood with her hand shielding 
her red eyes from the overhead sun, straining to see if there 
was an end to the tower. She looked over to her companion, 
and asked, "Are you sure you want to go up there?"

Her companion, Zelgadis Greywords, nodded. His face was 
covered by a cloth hiding away any skin, revealing only his 
eyes, which were determined and sensible.

"Okay then, but I have to tell you, it doesn't look right," 
Lina said, standing with hands on hips, looking at the tower, 
which seemed to have tree bark as its exterior.

Zelgadis, not bothering to respond, started towards the 
tower.

"It doesn't feel right either," Lina said, her expression 
contemplative.

"There you are, Lina!" a cheerful young man exclaimed, 
bounding over to Lina's side.

"Gourry," Lina started, her voice edged with an unspoken 
thought.

"Yeah, Lina?" Gourry, family name Gabriev, questioned, 
looking down at his short redhead companion.

"When we go inside, you go first, okay?" Lina swiftly slapped 
Gourry on the back, forcing the blonde swordsman to stumble 
forward. "Now, lets go!"

***

"It's raining," Ranma Saotome said, looking outside his 
home's kitchen window. He was a young man, almost a boy. His 
blue eyes sparkled with distrust at the weather.

"Yes, Dear," Nodoka, his mother, said, as she dried a plate, 
placing it away in a cupboard. "If you're going outside, 
remember to bring an umbrella."

Thunder shook the world.

"On second thought, don't go outside at all," Nodoka said, 
smiling nervously, fingering her long red hair, which 
cascaded down over her shoulder.

Lightning lit the sky outside, and as though in reverence, 
Ranma and Nodoka remained quiet, wondering of the storm's 
end.

"Ranma," Nodoka started to say, her voice worried, "I just 
remembered, your father phoned only fifteen minutes ago 
saying he was leaving Mister Tendo's... The weather was fine 
then, so I don't think he thought to bring any rain gear. I 
think you should find him, and bring him a rain jacket."

"Alright then," Ranma replied, inwardly groaning.

***

Inside the tower, Lina found there was a ceiling. "This isn't 
right," she complained. "If there's a ceiling, then we can't 
just fly up to the top floor where all the good stuff is!"

Footsteps attracted Lina's attention to a flight of stairs at 
the tower entrance's end.

"Yes, Lina," Zelgadis said, walking down the stairs. "You 
have to climb to the next floor, where you'll find that 
there's also a ceiling, and then another in the room above 
that one..."

"Meaning I can't just blow a hole through the ceiling, and 
hope there's a lot of free space between the next floor and 
the last floor," groaned Lina, clutching her head. "I hate 
stairs!"

"Maybe it's a good thing!" Gourry exclaimed, smiling 
positively at the thought of not having to fly.

"Stairs are never a good thing, Gourry!" Lina growled.

"Well, what I'm just trying to say, Lina, is that lately 
you've been eating so much, and I think you need the 
exercise!" Gourry pointed to Lina's stomach. "You know," He 
started to say, oblivious to Lina's growing embarrassment and 
rage, "you sort of look like a bug, now that I think about 
it, with your skinny little arms and legs, and your fat 
little stomach..."

Zelgadis watched, fascinated at Lina's speed, when she seemed 
to teleport from the spot where she had been standing to the 
spot just before Gourry, smashing a conveniently located vase 
over the swordsman's head.

A long moment after the swordsman's collapse, Lina dusted off 
her hands. "Now Zel, when you were upstairs, did you happen 
to notice anything interesting?" she asked, putting her hands 
on her hips.

"See for yourself," Zelgadis replied, turning around to walk 
back up the stairs.

***

'It's the ominous storms I hate the most!' thought Ranma, 
running down the wet sidewalk, covered in white and yellow 
raingear, carrying under one arm his father's raincoat. 
'Something bad always happens.'

Lightning lit the sky, seemingly right above Ranma. Thunder 
instantly followed the flash.

"Damn, that's loud!" Ranma shouted, stopping to collect his 
bearings.

However, there was a vague and odd light in the air, which 
seemed to have been birthed from the previous lightning. The 
light instantly caught Ranma's attention, and he found its 
source, far above his head. 'That's odd,' he thought, looking 
at it, a small sphere of light.

***

Inside the tower, on the top floor, stood a young man and 
woman, staring at the small sphere of light, which floated 
above the floor in the centre of the room.

"This will not work," the woman, her name Maria Onnette, 
said. "Golbez, you've failed. I wanted a power greater than 
the thief's, but you've only delivered promises, which are 
only air."

"Yes, it's true I promised that we'd be delivered a great 
power to help us overcome our enemy. However, I never told 
you how exactly this power would be delivered to us, because 
I myself never knew where this power would come from." 
Golbez, a priest, stared at the sphere, which gently glowed a 
soft blue. "We can try to seize it, when it appears, whatever 
it is, and hope whatever else comes with this power doesn't 
destroy us."

"Tch, you're too uncertain. It would've been better if you 
submitted to my will, then I would not have failed!" Maria 
replied.

"My will is my own. Never again will I fall under domination, 
Maria." Golbez wisely and sadly smiled. "Besides, even if you 
were to control me like one of your puppets, you'd find that 
you'd still only have my knowledge to work with. And our 
combined knowledge has only brought us to this end, this 
tower. With me a puppet, I'm certain this is where we 
would've been, anyway."

"This is nonsense!" Maria waved her hands at the sphere. 
"What will this bring us?"

"Definitely a power, which is a dream, and other things, 
perhaps." Golbez smirked, but his smirk wasn't from 
confidence but certainty. "You're unimpressed with the first 
step, I assume? But it doesn't matter, because I agree, 
actually. This is nonsense. We can't hope to defeat him with 
this mystery before us."

In the room's centre, the light sphere pulsated.

"We enter the second stage," Golbez stated. "There is no 
return, now."

***

"This is incredible!" Lina stated, marvelling at countless 
shelves of magical and mysterious artefacts. "Zel, you said 
every floor is like this?"

"No," Zelgadis replied, as he flipped through a book, 
frowning as though the book was so far useless. "After the 
fifth floor, there are strange designs on the floors and 
walls, and nothing else."

"You mean like over there?" Gourry asked, leaning against a 
shelf, uninterested in everything except the wall opposite, 
which was alight in a strange bluish glow. "It just lit up 
like only a moment ago."

"You think someone's home? I thought we were told that nobody 
worked here anymore." Lina asked, pocketing a stone, which 
sparkled in her hand. "Maybe it's some kind of alarm 
system..."

"I don't think so..." Zelgadis muttered, replacing the text 
on the shelf, before leaving the room to the stairway. A 
moment later, he returned, a worried frown darkening his 
face. "The glow seems like it's being sucked up through the 
designs, like through a straw."

Lina shrugged, a puzzled look on her face. "That's pretty 
suspicious. Maybe we ought to go poke our noses in somebody's 
business!" She looked at Gourry. "Remember, you go first when 
the fireballs start getting tossed!"

"Why me?"

"Because I'm a lady, and like all servants, you must obey 
me," responded Lina, smiling as though she was enjoying the 
deepening mystery of the tower.

***

Strong winds forced Ranma to find shelter, yet he couldn't 
remove his attention from the light sphere, seemingly the 
disturbance's source. "That's big trouble!" he said.

Far above the light, Ranma was certain the storm clouds were 
in a descent towards the sphere. "I wonder what's happening?" 
he asked.

***

"Did I mention I hate stairs?" Lina asked, collapsing against 
a wall, panting and sweating.

Gourry ran down the stairs to stand beside Lina. "This is 
great!" he jubilantly exclaimed, wiping away a single bead of 
sweat on his forehead.

"Gourry..." Lina started, before reacting to a strange change 
in the wall. "It's just gotten warm!" She looked ahead, past 
where Zelgadis impatiently waited for Gourry and her to 
resume climbing. "Something's building up! We've got to 
hurry, or else we'll miss the show!"

***

While shielding his eyes from intense winds emanating from 
the sphere, Golbez gestured with his hand at the ball of 
light, as though he was throwing an object into the air.

The sphere in time with the hand, as though lifted, 
disappeared through the ceiling.

Collapsing to his knees, Golbez breathed deeply, as his body 
heavily sweated. "We should go to the roof," he said. "Help 
me up there. Lifting it took too much out of me."

Maria looked towards the room entrance. "There... are some 
intruders..."

"We cannot be distracted. They won't disturb us, anyway. To 
the roof," Golbez ordered.

On the roof, the two arrived as the sphere began to expand.

"This is surprising, Golbez! I never expected this!" Maria 
shouted, over the winds, which came from the sphere.

"Are you happy now, with the results so far? Golbez asked, 
watching the light, which was far above the tower roof.

A mist started pouring out in a spiral pattern upward from 
the sphere.

"We near the moment for when we need to be prepared..." 
Golbez started, worry wearing itself over his face, "prepared 
for anything."

The mist floated high into the sky, forming into clouds, 
which began a slow rain.

"This is beautiful, and I love the rain!" shouted Maria, 
basking in the falling water.

***

"I hate the rain!" Ranma muttered, holding tightly to a fence 
overlooking a rain runoff ditch. "And what the hell's with 
this wind? Is it trying to pull me up?" He looked up, seeing 
whole clouds disappearing into the sphere. "This is horrible. 
What's going on?"

***

"This is the top floor?" Lina exclaimed, her voice a mixture 
of frustration, disappointment, and curiosity. She looked 
around the room, seeing nothing, except her comrades, who 
wore the same expression as her on their faces, and the same 
strange glowing designs, which dominated every floor of the 
tower.

"You'd think there'd be someone here, or maybe even 
something," said Gourry, looking about, his face filled with 
bewilderment.

"There's nothing to hint about any sort of trapdoor, but I 
get the feeling there's more to this room than we can see. 
Maybe something bad," Zelgadis offered, relaxing before 
walking over to the wall opposite the stairwell entrance. 
"This blue glow also suggests that something incredible is 
happening."

"Wait! Do you hear that?" Lina asked. "Isn't that thunder?"

***

Over the tower, the clouds grew larger and darker as more 
mist came out of the sphere. With the size of the clouds, the 
rain and wind also grew in intensity.

"Take care not to be blown away, Maria," Golbez warned. "At 
the moment, if the situation turns sour, I'll be too weak to 
defend myself." He firmly held himself against the roof's 
railing, watching for any change in the sphere.

"Too weak to defend yourself, Golbez? Even from me?" Maria 
asked, bringing out a wooden mask, cruelly smiling at the 
priest. However, the winds took hold of the mask, and threw 
it over the side. "No!"

"Maria, my will is my own," Golbez said, his voice steady and 
weak. "Also, you need to be ready for the final stage. It is 
deadly powerful, and whatever else comes through the portal 
might test my strength in an attack, before I can recover 
from the casting." He pointed to the sphere. "Look!"

***

At once, he was taken off the ground, but he grabbed the 
nearby fence despite somehow inwardly knowing the sphere 
would take him in, no matter his actions to the contrary.

He heard faint screams all around, over top the storm winds 
and through the sphere's vacuum.

He wondered, 'Can the whole city of Tokyo see that weird 
light?' He answered, 'Probably, because it's so bright!'

In the corner of his eyes, he could see the ends of the fence 
tearing from the ground.

'Ranma!' he heard, in either memory or dream.

"Akane!" he cried out, responding to his name.

'She's going in!" Ranma realised. 'Everything is! Nerima, 
even the world, if it had to..."

"Ranma, what's..." Akane's voice stopped, waking Ranma from 
thought. Her voice was gone, as everything would, into the 
sphere.

As though something was speaking through him, Ranma said, 
while the whole fence finally tore from the ground, "Nerima's 
already gone. Every piece and every person." As he headed 
towards the sphere, he saw his words turning into reality. No 
building remained. "And everything's coming along too, in the 
end, because if it all stayed, then..."

***

The sphere was the size of a mountain, hanging silently in 
the air, holding perhaps a world.

"Golbez, what is this?" Maria asked.

"It's a glimpse of everything, and this is not the only 
sphere, when I think about it," Golbez replied, walking 
casually to the roof's centre, since the dread winds had 
suddenly stopped the same moment as when the sphere had 
finished growing. "Lets see what Fate has saw fit to bring to 
our universe."

A beam of energy shot away from the sphere, leaving in 
seconds the sight range from the tower roof.

"Golbez," Maria said, her words expressing a demand for an 
explanation.

"Perhaps I am only an excuse for this spell to be cast..." 
whispered Golbez, as he watched thousands of beams follow the 
first, and hundreds of thousands more all over the sphere 
choose their own paths. "And if this is not the only sphere 
in all of existence, which is unending, then in a hundred 
thousand billion more universes, there must be..."

"I am only a pawn, no matter my actions to the contrary..." 
suddenly said Golbez, tossing a small black bead into the 
air, which flew to the sphere. A second later, the bead fell 
back to his open hand, and it was glowing white. "Maria, I 
don't need this yet, so you can keep it for now," he said, 
tossing the bead to Maria.

"What is it?" Maria asked, looking at the bead.

"It was once a grand dream, destroyed by a terrible force, I 
think," Golbez said, looking up to the sphere. "The same will 
happen here, one day, if my theory is correct."

A beam, the last, shot down directly at the tower.

"My, won't our intruders be surprised?" Golbez asked.

***

The ceiling was slammed down hard from above, giving way for 
an object to crash through to the floor.

Soon, dust and dirt from the collapsed ceiling slowly sank to 
the floor, allowing a semblance of clarity to return to the 
room.

"Lina!" Gourry shouted. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Lina asked Zelgadis, as she began standing 
up, brushing herself off of dirt and dust, "Did you see what 
that was?"

"No, and now I think we're owed an explanation as to what's 
been happening," Zelgadis said, looking to the hole in the 
ceiling. "Let's go up."

"No, stay down there," a voice commanded. A second later, a 
young priest jumped down through the hole. "Welcome to 
Maria's Defeat. I am Golbez." He faced Zelgadis, and then 
asked, "What brings you here?"

"I was searching for help...for a curse I am under," answered 
Zelgadis, fitting the cloth over his face snugly on. "We came 
up here when all the walls started glowing."

"The glowing has stopped, it appears," Golbez said, looking 
at the walls. "Anyway, the spell is also complete, so I am 
almost ready to answer any questions you are certain to have, 
just after I discover what it was that crashed into my 
tower."

"It looks like we need to go down one more story," Lina said, 
peeking through a hole in the floor. She looked at Golbez. 
"What kind of spell did you just cast anyway?"

In delighted surprise and a sweeping bow, Golbez brought his 
hand to meet Lina's. "Hello, young lady. I'll be quick to 
deliver an answer as soon as you allow me the pleasure of 
knowing your name."

"Lady?" Gourry asked, under his breath. Boy isn't he in for a 
surprise?"

"Lina Inverse!" was the answer, coming strongly and proudly, 
from Lina. She looked at Gourry crossing her arms. "See 
Gourry, this is how I should be treated! You could stand to 
learn a thing or two from Golbez here!"

"Lina Inverse?" Golbez smiled, his expression calm and 
collected. "The surprise is even greater than I first 
believed. Out here, even in this land, your reputation 
preceded you. In fact, up here, in this out of the way tower, 
I have heard of you."

"Golbez," started Zelgadis, "what was the spell you just 
cast? All those symbols..."

"A revolutionary spell, when I think about it, is the one way 
I can describe it," Golbez replied, walking towards the 
stairwell. He said loudly, not to anyone currently in the 
room, "Maria, if you would, please bring me my staff."

The three comrades followed Golbez, and in the stairwell, 
they found a young lady, whose hair was a dark green, 
intently staring at them.

"Damn! I didn't think there was a secret passage here!" 
groaned Lina, looking up the stairs, which hadn't before been 
there.

After taking his staff, which was adorned with a crescent 
moon and a jewel in the moon's centre, from Maria, who walked 
back up the stairs, Golbez said, "That was Maria, my 
employer, in a way, but more my equal." After starting to 
walk down the stairs, he continued to speak, "She's the one 
who suggested I develop and cast the very spell you were 
witness to."

"But we didn't see anything, really," Lina, who was following 
close behind Golbez, said. "Just clues that something 
happened..."

"We're here," Golbez stated, stopping at a closed door. He 
pushed it open. "Incidentally, I'm glad you three are here. 
If there's trouble, I could not defend myself."

"Now you say that?" Lina asked, shouting.

After casting a light spell, Zelgadis walked forward into the 
room. "It's a person," he said, walking up to a prone body of 
a young boy, who looked no older than Lina. He stooped down, 
and placed his hand on the boy's side. "He's only asleep."

"There's no trouble here, it seems," Golbez said, walking 
into the room. He walked to the boy, and placed his hand over 
the boy's forehead. A glow overflowed the boy's body, and 
then a moment later, the boy opened his eyes. "Hello, young 
Sir. I am Golbez, and you've managed to crash into my tower."

"What?" the boy asked, slowly sitting up.

"What is your name?" Golbez asked.

"Name?" The boy looked at Golbez, and blinked at the priest. 
"Am I... dead?"

"No," said Golbez, helping the boy to stand. "You're in my 
tower."

"I'm not dead? That's good..." The boy walked away from 
Golbez, trying to even the space between himself and everyone 
in the room. "I didn't think this is where we went when we 
died anyway..." He looked at the walls. "No windows, huh?"

"You would like some air?" Golbez asked. "We are just about 
at the roof, if you'd like to get a view of the surrounding 
area..."

"You know, I'm getting a little sick of not knowing your 
name," Lina said, her voice tired.

"My name? It's Ranma Saotome," they boy answered, following 
Golbez, who was walking to the stairwell entrance.

"His name is Ranma Saotome," Lina said, looking at Gourry, 
who was sitting down, playing with dust on the floor. She 
looked at Zelgadis, who was examining the impacted floor, 
where Ranma's body had just been. "Do you get the feeling 
that there's something that we don't know that we need to 
know before it bites us in the ass?"

"I think we're being left behind..." Zelgadis said, standing. 
"And yes, I too have that feeling."

The three left the room for the stairwell, only to find 
Golbez and Ranma already gone. They began climbing.

"You know, I'm really not following..." Gourry said, 
scratching his chin.

Sighing in annoyance, Lina started speaking, "Well, first 
off, we got into the tower, and that weird glowing started 
happening... Then we got up here, and Ranma crashed into the 
tower, at the same time as when the glowing stopped... Golbez 
showed up to see what happened, and he met us. We met Maria 
almost right after, and I got the weird feeling that she 
didn't like us very much..."

"And now, when he found Ranma, Golbez took him upstairs, and 
left us behind," Zelgadis said.

"And reactivated the trap that doesn't allow us to get up to 
the top floor!" Lina shouted in joy. "And he seemed like such 
a nice guy too..." She touched the wall, where only minutes 
before a set of stairs had been. "Before, I got the weirdest 
feeling from this room..." She looked into the room. "What 
the? Where'd the holes go?" She ran into the room, followed 
by both Gourry and Zelgadis.

The door slammed shut.

"Whoops!" Lina quietly stated. "Maybe we should start 
thinking before we enter a strange room."

"It's too late for that," Zelgadis said, unsheathing his 
sword, staring at the end of a room, where light was 
revealing a large form. "It's a golem, but it feels different 
somehow..."

Gourry took out his sword, and then looked at it. "You know, 
this sword, it just doesn't feel the same..."

"Gourry, I know it's hard, but please... keep your mind on 
the current plot!" Lina shouted, shocking the blonde 
swordsman into action.

***

The world was already different. The air, for starters, 
seemed cleaner.

'The air's always cleaner,' Ranma thought, looking into the 
distance, hoping to see... 'What do I want to see?' He looked 
at the rain gear, his father's and his own, which he before 
held unknowingly in hand, and then dropped the rain gear down 
by his feet. 'I wonder how... where everyone is?'

Turning around, Ranma saw Maria holding a mask, which she 
seemed to like very much, since she was wearing on her face a 
large and cold grin.

"You're a very strange person," Maria said. "From some 
strange world, with stranger clothes..." She threw the mask 
at Ranma, and the mask seemed to alter its flight, as though 
it was trying to land on his face.

"What the hell?" Ranma asked, batting away the mask, which 
spun out of sight over the tower railing, down towards the 
ground.

"You're mine, puppet!" Maria shouted, her finger glowing with 
a curious glow.

Ducking, Ranma watched the mask he earlier bat away fly over 
top of him. A second mask joined the first in a strange 
dance, as though each was ready to strike out towards him.

"What are you doing?" Ranma asked, glaring at Maria.

"You're not of this world, and I feel a strange power from 
you..." Maria snapped her fingers, and in response, the masks 
in unison seemed to attack Ranma's head.

However, Ranma quickly heel-kicked one mask, and then 
uppercut the other. A moment later, both masks fell to the 
roof, still and cracked.

"Ha, ha!" Maria threw her head back in laughter. "You're 
strange and full of surprises. I never knew anyone could use 
their bodies in such a fashion..."

"Maria, it is time we left," said Golbez, from the tower roof 
door. "The three intruders are currently occupied with the 
golem. We would be smart to escape now." The door swung open, 
and Golbez stepped onto the roof. "Leave the boy. If you want 
his power, then there will be other opportunities in the near 
future."

Ranma braced himself against any attack. However, his eyes 
became heavy and his body strangely sluggish. "I can take him 
with me..." he heard Maria say, before his body began 
falling...

***

"Carry him, you mean?" Golbez asked, turning towards the 
tower roof stairs. "Can you protect yourself, much less the 
boy, once those three defeat the golem?" He began to walk 
down the stairs. "You're more likely to lose in any battle 
that you fight now, and you also have our only weapon against 
our common foe..."

Maria growled, "Fine then! Have it your way..." She turned to 
look at Ranma, who was slumped over in a deep sleep. 'What is 
that power inside of you? It's so much like my...'

"Maria, come!" ordered Golbez.

After a final contemplation of the boy, Maria then walked to 
the tower roof staircase, closing the door behind her.

***

"Ahh!" Gourry screamed, leaping toward the golem, which stood 
absolutely still, until the very moment when Gourry was about 
to bring the sword down in a cleaving motion at the golem's 
head.

The golem punched out, catching the swordsman in the stomach, 
who flew backwards from the force of the punch.

"Man, that's one fast golem..." Lina considered, as a nervous 
sweat drop ran down her temple. "Gourry!" Quit messing around 
with it!"

"It might be fast, Lina, but I'm faster!" Gourry said, 
confidently smirking at the golem. He rushed forward, and 
ducked under another punch from the golem, slicing off the 
offending appendage. "Hah!"

The golem, after grabbing its stump, looked in anger at 
Gourry, and then picked up the fallen arm. In a swift 
movement, the golem reattached its arm.

"Um, that's weird," Gourry said, before back flipping away 
from the golem, which tried to stomp on him.

"It seems as though this isn't an entirely ordinary golem," 
Zelgadis said, turning away from the door, which he had just 
been studying. "But still, it's just a golem." He raised his 
arms, as though holding a bow, and then shouted, "Flare 
Arrow!"

***

"I came through here?" Ranma wondered, looking around, seeing 
nothing. "Where is this?" he asked. "I know I'm sleeping, but 
this definitely isn't a dream. Where..."

"Everywhere," was the answer, which came from behind him. "It 
is every time. Anything, everything, the whole of existence."

"Why am I here?" Ranma asked.

"Because I felt it would be amusing to see what it was the 
parent of your existence was most concerned about," answered 
the voice. "Perhaps though, we should continue this 
conversation when the time is more appropriate."

Ranma began shouting, "Wait! Who..."

***

"They're gone," Gourry commented, after opening the tower 
roof door, looking out over the horizon. "What a great view," 
he said.

"Open your eyes, Gourry. That Ranma guy's right over there," 
Lina said, walking over to Ranma, who was sleeping. "Hey, you 
awake?" she asked, poking him in the shoulder.

"Are you?" Ranma shouted, waking. However, all he received in 
response was a shocked silence. He looked first at the person 
sitting next to him, the girl Lina, who seemed a bit dazed. 
He then looked up to the sky, and asked, "Damn! What the hell 
was all that about?"

Lina suddenly grabbed him by the collar, and growled, "Yeah, 
what the hell was that all about?"

"Huh? What are you doing?" Ranma asked, a surprised 
expression covering his face.

"Don't shout in my ear!" Lina shouted, right into Ranma ears.

After releasing Ranma, who fell onto his back, Lina stood and 
looked at Zelgadis. "Well, Zel. It seems we've been left 
alone. Maybe we can search through the tower now."

"Humph. I doubt we'll find anything for my curse." Zelgadis 
looked at Ranma. "It would seem the only point of this tower 
was to cast that spell..." Walking over to the railing, he 
looked at a faraway town, houses and the city walls standing 
strong. "But... those two..."

"Yeah, what were those two up to?" Lina wondered. She looked 
at Ranma. "And what do you have to do with them?"

"Me? Nothing, I don't think," Ranma replied, who looked into 
the horizon. "Where... Where am I?" he slowly asked, looking 
at Gourry.

"You're asking me?" said Gourry, pointing at himself. "Um... 
You're at the top of this tower, I think."

Before confidently crossing her arms, Lina shoved Gourry out 
of Ranma's view. "You know, I should warn you that when you 
ask a question, you should make sure it's to someone who has 
a brain."

"So then, you can tell me where this is?" Ranma asked.

"Maybe, but first you need to tell me where you came from," 
responded Lina.

"The place where I came from... it's... gone," Ranma said. 
"Or at least, that's the feeling I got from that voice..." 
Seeing no one on the roof understood, he began trying to 
further explain his answer, "That light thing just appeared, 
and then it sucked me up into it, like a vacuum cleaner."

"Whoa! What's this light thing?" Lina looked at Zelgadis, and 
asked, "Vacuum cleaner?" However, receiving only a shrug for 
a response, she then said to Ranma, "Well, I guess it really 
doesn't matter..."

"From what it sounds like, Ranma, you must be from another 
world or dimension," Tiring of the conversation, Zelgadis 
began walking towards the tower door. "I'll just be searching 
through those books we saw, if any of you need me. It's 
possible that there's actually something useful down there."

"Ranma, when we got to this tower, it suddenly lit up, and 
then you crashed into the tower," Lina stated, thumbing her 
chin, deep in thought. "I think you were called into this 
world by a spell of some sort. But I've never seen a spell 
like it before..."

"I wasn't the only one, I think," Ranma looked towards the 
town, which was so faraway, it seemed lonely. "There was 
another voice too, and it spoke through me. Not like that 
last one at all... It said everything was saved..."

"Ah, now it's getting to be weird," said Lina. "The spell, 
voices, you... I don't think we'll be solving this one 
anytime soon." Looking at Gourry, she excitedly stated. 
"Well, looks like if we want answers, then we should go after 
those two weirdoes!"

"Who?"

"Golbez and Maria, Gourry, or did you forget?" Lina growled.

"I wasn't even paying attention," Gourry replied.

"I think this conversation is wrapping up anyway," Ranma 
said, walking towards the tower roof exit. "It's all 
questions, and no answers." Shrugging, just before leaving 
the roof, he finished speaking, "I guess we just have to wait 
till the next chapter, before we get any real answers."

"Great, and how long will that take?" Gourry asked, pouting 
in disappointment.

End Chapter One

***

Author's Notes:
I want to thank Allyn Yonge, David Johnston, Xellos, and 
others for their great and wonderful comments and criticisms 
with my previous work, which led to this total rewrite of 
Chapter One.

I apologise to anyone and everyone who was looking forward to 
the third chapter for the previous work. After realising the 
original work had no direction (which was true of all my 
stories), I took a while off, and then came back with a 
definite purpose. This story has a set course, an element the 
original hadn't.

I see the story at around twenty-five like-sized chapters. 
Since I'm older than when I first started writing, I actually 
see myself finishing this story.

The Old Story Idea can be found on my webpage.

Anyway, thanks for reading,
Troy



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