Hello out there! Ivan Inverse here. This, unfortunately, is a requisite to posting stories up here. You see, I have had the misfortune of getting my story deleted because I forgot to clarify that the original author and myself are one and the same! Besides that, I forgot to mention that The Slayers franchise does not belong to me (sadly. I envy the creators... anyway).
A few warnings before I go on with this story.
This is a story of the Slayers' descendants. It has been in the process of being written for the past three years because of setbacks and the trouble of trying to make everything fit within the canon of the original story. If some elements seem unfamiliar (like the mention of Luke in the prologue), it is because I am working off of the original novel canon. The story, despite still being silly and light-hearted at some points, is much darker, and it is from there that I draw my inspiration for this fanfic.
I was not involved with the creation of Slayers, nor was I involved in the creation of its world or its colorful cast. All the characters and the original story belong to Hajime Kanzaka (the author of the wonderful original novels and the creator of the whole thing), Rui Araizumi (the guy who created the unique look of the Slayers group, the main artist), TV Tokyo / SOFTX (the group that animated the TV series and originally aired it in Japan), Kadokawa Shoten (the company that published the novel in Japan and sold the translation license to TokyoPop in the U.S.), Marubeni (some people who I reckon had a hand in the creation, for it was on the DVD's box), A.D. Vision Intl. (world famous anime connoisseurs, publishers and localizers of the Slayers movies), and Software Sculptors (the people who brought the whole TV series over to the U.S. in the first place), blah blah blah blah BLAH. Now I'm sure you're tired of reading this legal crap, so on with the story!
This life of ours is not freely given to us. Everything is a part of the One, and so to it all must return. Yet there are those who continue to fight against their reassimilation into this infinite, perfect Darkness. There has been no will with greater luster than that of the sorceress Lina Inverse, the Demon Slayer. Before she even turned twenty, she had saved the world thrice from destruction, and she had changed countless lives. After she and her swordsman partner, Gourry, the Swordsman of Light, destroyed Luke, the Third Risen Seventh of Ruby-Eye, Lina retreated with Gourry to her home country of Zefielia. Following an interlude, she moved south into the Elmekia Empire with Gourry and they wed. They had a family, and life was good to them if only for a short while. As time wore on, it became evident that something Lina did during her adventures had caused her great harm. In her thirties, she mysteriously began to become enfeebled at an alarming pace. Knowing that her time wasn't long in coming, Lina Inverse wrote down the tales and lessons from her travels as a younger woman and left them to her posterity.
Upon Lina Inverse's passing as Lina Gabriev, the Sorcerer's Guild mounted an aggressive campaign to obtain her research -- by any means necessary. But the thieves, assassins, mages and collectors that were sent to obtain the Grimoire Inverse, as it was called, all found failure at the blade of Gourry Gabriev and the Blast Sword, to which all magic was nothing. When the Guild ultimately failed in procuring the Grimoire Inverse, the names of Lina and Gourry Gabriev were cast forever into the bin of historical villains, the saviors ironically branded as destroyers. Because of the chaos visited upon Elmekia by Gourry's presence, he bid his family farewell and entrusted the care of his sons and daughters to Luna Inverse, the sister of Lina Inverse, in Zefielia. Nobody knows what happened to him afterwards... except the scions of Saillune.
Amelia Wil Tesla Saillune subsidized exploration of the New World once the barrier had dropped in an effort to continue her father's quest for justice across borders, since at that time he was finally coronated and no longer had the time to cavort across the Continent. But she returned home after only three short years once the kingdom decided that Amelia should look into taking a suitor for her husband. During that time, Amelia was accosted from the palace with a dire warning: "They are after you." The abductor was none other than a now-human Zelgadiss Graywords. But with ridding himself of his curse, he had also beridden himself of his gifts; he was now only an average spellcaster and a swordsman with more skill than force. No longer was he Zelgadiss the Berserker. Together, the ex-chimera and runaway princess hid until the enemy elements within Saillune's Royal Council became evident, and were destroyed. The "they" that Zelgadiss spoke of were never discovered.
The battle was costly, though, and King Philionel did not survive the ordeal. Knowing what needed to be done, Amelia ascended the throne. When Zelgadiss finally got up the will to profess his true feelings for Amelia, though, it was too late. She was married to another nobleman, and with child. Distraught and once again embittered by his powerlessness, this time powerlessness of the heart, Zelgadiss disappeared from history's stage a broken man. Amelia was never the same woman again.
Ten years into Amelia's reign, the sister that she had never gotten to know, Gracia ul Naga Saillune, returned out of nowhere declaring that she had a mission. Her stay would not be long; only enough time to mourn her father properly and entrust two articles to the Great Kingdom of White Magic: a tattered book of indecipherable script and the Blast Sword. Amelia had the artifacts sealed indefinitely in the chambers of Saillune's palace. There is a legend about that day; it is said that when Amelia asked her sister to remain in Saillune, Gracia let out a bone-chilling laugh which cracked the stained windows to their frames. As far as history knows, Gracia remained in the kingdom as Amelia's emissary and bodyguard. In spite of her great sorcery, Gracia's laugh was forever considered the deadliest weapon against would-be assassins and usurpers.
Years turned into decades, and those into centuries. The Continent flowered in prosperity during the Advent of Science and Exploration. The Mazoku were all but forgotten, and the dragons of Kataart became reclusive and hostile to visitors. But Lina Inverse was never a person easily forgotten... or easily defeated, even in death.