A Halloween Special:

Slayers Silent

Chapter 1

Quiet

The trail before her had grown considerably darker. With forearms crossed over her head, she gazed up into the cloudy, overcast sky. The young woman, aged 20, brushed her wild crimson hair from her eyes and readjusted a black headband that drooped slightly unto the woman's sleek eyebrows. With a sigh she stopped her trek, and sat herself down against a large crooked oak tree that clung close to the dirt road. It was forest all around her, forest for the last eight days, with no signs of civilization besides a run down inn that harbored some of the creepiest people she'd ever met. That was almost a week ago.

Not even some bandits to rob, she thought to herself. She flicked a errant leaf off her arm, and with a groan, unclipped the fastens to her black, jeweled encrusted shoulder pads, and slide them off, setting the armor beside her. As she lay against the tree and played with the sleeves of her long, white gloves, she considered taking a bath, but then thought better of it.

She was alone, but she wasn't worried. For one thing, she knew she wasn't really alone. "I know you're out there, come out for once."

"Well well, the mighty Lina Inverse, the great slayer of monsters and dragons alike, asking for my company? Just what is the world coming to?" Said a voice that teased her, though in a friendly manner. Lina didn't bother looking in the direction of the voice, and instead opted to shut her eyes and lean her head against the tree's rough, charred trunk.

"At this point any company is better than none." With a yawn she placed her arms behind her head, trying not to let the silence of the forest setting unnerve. Usually there would be some noise, the chirping of crickets, the squeaks of some form of hungry bird, something, anything that said nature was taking it's course. Here of course, there was nothing. Not a howl of a wolf, or the chirps of a grasshopper. She'd only ever noticed anything like this in places of great magical struggle, like a particularly vicious demon battle.. This territory was unknown to her; after slaying the demon lord Shabranigdo for the second time she had decided to head deep into Outer World territory, where opportunity called, where magic was sparse, and where no one knew her as the Dragon Spooker. I hate that name soo much, she said to herself, before a sudden wave of darkness seemed to cover her whole.

Without looking up, she groaned out in a mildly annoyed tone, "Get out of my light Xel." Squinting her eyes as she stared up at the violet-hair, staff carrying man that stood before her, she could see that perma-smile on his face and his practically closed shut eyes. How do you see like that?

Xellos stepped aside, letting the bright yellow rays that had broken through the cloud cover warm the resting woman. "My apologies Miss Lina, however, do give credit where it's due. I have been making my presence known much more often than originally, and if I remember correctly, much to your content."

Lina opened one eye, turning her head slightly to his direction, and gave him a sarcastic smirk. "It's only to my content to know where you are, Xel. Otherwise Gods only know where you'd be, and when you'd be watching my beautiful, lithe, womanly body in it's most vulnerable state." She winked, teasing the monster-in-disguise who only sent back a slight cringe.

"Lina," he cried out, "I hope you don't mean to say I'd ever take a advantage of you, I may be a Trickster Priest, but I'm surely no Lecherous Monk"

"No, that would be a different anime," replied Lina, rising up from her spot, her shoulder pads in hand, "but if it means all the same to you, I'm gonna need a bath. I'm filthy and I'd rather not meet up with Gourry smelling of dirty socks and rot. Not that he would really care... keep on the lookout for any perverts will ya? " Xellos nodded, watching the girl as she walked away toward the crystal clear lake located just shy of the dirt path. The young sorceress enjoyed his company, he knew, even if she tried to hide it with the occasional barb. He didn't mind it of course, Lina was truly the most interesting mortal he'd ever met, even if she had suffered much during the past year.

"And try not a take a peek, Trickster Priest," she suddenly spoke out as she trampled through the downhill underbrush, "otherwise I might have to Dragon Slave your ass back to whatever monster it is you worship." Of course she knew he wouldn't; whatever horrible things he was, the one thing he wasn't, was a pervert. Still, she'd much rather tease him whenever she could; he loved taking his shots in whenever he could, after all.

Placing her pads against her rock, and removing her boots, that uncomfortable tension that filled the air seemed to reverberate stronger than ever. The silence was unnerving, and not even the serene beauty of a lake shimmering with the sparkling distortions of the sun's rays seemed to make things any better. It's just so damn quiet. What I would give to have Amelia here to talk to, or maybe a pervert, at least then I could make the guy scream or something. Turning around, she saw no one. Xellos had disappeared somewhere, off being that sort of mixture of gentlemen and degenerate that only he could pull off. With Gourry up ahead in the nearest village, it was actually almost a comfort having the monster around. "Well almost."

Lina giggled, and placing her head band on the boulder alongside the rest of her clothes, she turned from tree to tree, taking in the entire view while the occasional cloud would manage to recapture the sun and drape everything with a sheen of darkness before passing by. She opted not to take longer than she needed to clean herself. Gourry would be up in the next village, and she wasn't interested in finding out what horrible thing dwelled or occurred in this terrible branch of road. Leave that for someone else to deal with. Sighing, she entered the warm lake water, and felt completely alone.

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

"Come on, don't you tell me you didn't try to make a move on her." The air grew cooler and the sun grew dim, covered by clouds that were thick and crowded. Lina, with a finger poking the all powerful monster Xellos, gave him a wink while she asked her bawdy question.

Xellos for his part kept his smile, even if it did seem like a tinge of pink appeared to have colored his cheeks. "And you wonder why I hide in the shadows so much," he quipped back, while raising his pointer finger up in the air.

"Well I just figure, even a monster has to get lonely sometimes."

"And perhaps a certain sorceress as well?"

Lina looked away, without answering his question. Xellos didn't press the matter. "Good company can be hard to come by unfortunately, though as to whether I consider her good company or not, I'll have to confess that sometimes I do. After all she is sweet, if a little arrogant."

"I always thought you two would ma- Xellos?"

The monster had stopped in it's tracks, and now lagged behind several steps. "Xel?" she asked, puzzled by his sudden stop.

With that same smile on his face, he placed a hand behind his head and began to speak with a slightly embarrassed tone. "I apologize Miss Lina, but I have other arrangements to attend to. I believe the town of Quiet Cove is just ahead, so I will bid you a farewell for now."

"Wait," she spoke out, "mind telling me what those arrangements are?"

With a shake of his head he closed his eyes, "That, is a secret."

Lina looked on as he disappeared, leaving an empty space where he once stood. The winds, though light, caused her hair and cape to flutter gently while she stood. The clouds had blotted out the sun, though she couldn't remember where those clouds had come from, and the trees had begun to grow thicker and wilder, almost impenetrable, if not for the woodland dirt pass. Everything became grayer and less alive; and somehow she hadn't noticed the fog that had crept up and covered the lush green of the leaves with a muted monotone, and converted the healthy clear blues of the nearby lake into a murky black. And the noise...

Her hair got into her eyesight. She brushed her hair back, noticing that she herself had apparently dimmed as well; her bright red locks had seemed to grow slightly faded, along with the rest of her clothing. "I have too... go get Gourry..."

Lina, with a small smile on her face, continued to play with the locks of her hair, twirling the curls of her around her pointer finger absent mindedly, gazing dreamfully at the fog that obscured the road some distance ahead, with the sky and the land seemingly blending into one entity.

The sorceress awoke from her trance, and pressed her fingers to her cheek, catching something wet that streaked down her face.

"What is this?" she asked, staring down at her gloved fingers and the wet spots the liquid had formed on them. "Am I... crying?" She shook her head, wiping the rest of the fluid off her cheek, and continued forward. "I just need something to eat." I'll just get something quick to eat before meeting up with Gourry, and then make him pay for another meal. She smiled to herself, pushing away the unnerving emotions that had crypt up in her. I just gotta remember to get outta here as soon as possible. Quiet Cove, what a fitting name.

From a distance and high in the air, the violet haired, staff wielding monster-in-disguise looked on at his red-headed companion. With eyes that were harsh and cruel, he sighed and turned away.

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

Xellos was right of course, the town was not that far off, and within a few minutes Lina had made it to the end of the trail, where a checkpoint had been set up. It was strange, she had expected perhaps a small village or settlement, nothing too big, especially this far off from civilization, but it seemed this place was larger than she had anticipated. The checkpoint was a small watch tower some 3 stories tall and constructed of large interconnecting stone slabs that ended at the top with a large cone-shaped lime-green copper ceiling. The blocks were worn and crumbling and covered over by large swaths of ivy vine and weeds that grew uninterrupted. As she approached the tower, and with a slight apprehension, she walked toward the watchtower entrance, a large black space shaped like a doorway.

"Hello?" She asked, peeking her head in. There, in front of her, was a man in armor, seated in a old black chair. The man, with his back to her, wrote in a journal, and wrapped in the black shadows of the tower's windowless first floor, hid his body from her, along with his face.

"You may go." He blurted out, without raising his head or moving his gaze from the journal, nor ceasing his ministrations on his papers.

"Do I have to pay a toll or-"

"You may go."

Lina shrugged, taking one more glance at the back of the man's head before continuing past the watchtower and into the town proper.

The cobblestone streets echoed her every step, supplementing the sound for the entire town. The roads, wide, unusually expansive, and paved with gravel, were sparse of traffic. No carriages, no horses, no push carts or trolleys. Crossing one road and following the main road downtown, and passing by shops that lay devoid of customers and clear of shopkeepers, she continued walking forward, through a gray shroud that coated the entire town in a faint washed out hue. Where is everyone? She wondered. Where's Gourry?

The buildings, aside from the curious issue of vacancy, were typical town buildings, small cottages of timber and wattle, the larger buildings some two stories high and made of brick and stone. None of the buildings seemed in ill repair, or abandoned. At least not abandoned until recently.

Turning a corner on a road, a passed a wall with a chalk drawing of a white cat, she noticed a bright orange glow emitting from an inn a block away. The sign above it, with large decorative runes, identified the building as "Diner 52". Finally, maybe I can get some answers. And a meal. Taking a quickened pace past the lonesome and deserted streets, she looked from side to side, searching for anything else that might hint of life. Again there was nothing, except for the loud echo of her heels against cobblestone, and the ever thickening fog.

Opening the door to the inn, she walked in, her eyes adjusting to the now bright candle light that made her eyes water. It was an ordinary diner with nothing to distinguish it from any other she'd been in. Except that no one was there.

"Sorry miss, we're closed."

Lina turned around with a shock, staring at the first human being she'd seen since stepping into this horrible settlement. The woman, tall and angular, with dark short hair that ended at the shoulders, with eyes that were hidden behind the shadow of candle light, and dressed in a waitresses outfit, shocked her even more.

"Didn't you hear me? Hey, you OK there lady?"

Lina shook herself out from her surprise. "Yeah, I'm fine, sorry, it's that you remind me of someone I know..."

The other woman, with probing eyes Lina could still not see, turned away for a moment as she picked up her purse and blew out the candles, addressed her. "Like I said, shop's closed, so if you're hungry you'll have to come back tomorrow." As she covered herself with a long black overcoat, she continued speaking. "Now, if you're looking for an Inn to stay at, I got a place down the street."

Lina, with no other place to go, decided to follow the woman. "Actually, I'm looking for a man, really tall guy, blonde, wearing a lot of blue armor, going by the name of Gourry. Did anyone like that show up in town? Maybe ordered a room?"

The other woman, walking down a street which Lina didn't recognize, kept silent. She looks so much like my sister... She couldn't help but stare at the shop keeper. She was the same, right down to the ample breasts. Lina couldn't help but look down at her own, which, despite her age, weren't much bigger than when she had been a teen. There was a difference however, between the woman named Maria and her sister: the woman had one streak of red hair running down the side of her face. She hadn't seen it before, under the flickering lights of the candle lit diner, but now, she could see the red sheen it cast. "So what's your name? I'm Lina."

The other only turned her head slightly to meet her gaze. "My name is Maria. Pleasure to meet you."

Lina kept her distance, keeping a healthy pace behind this woman. "So Maria, what's up with this town?"

"What do you mean?" Maria, now at the professed inn, removed a lock pad, and opened a large metallic door, revealing a long staircase descending downwards into a black, indistinguishable hole.

"Hey, what's the big idea," cried out Lina. "That doesn't look like any Inn I-" The howling cry of an unknown source assaulted her ears. It was everywhere, coming from all sides, Lina turned her gaze up to the air, then toward the streets, and across anywhere she could. The low pitched whine steadily increased, louder and louder till Lina had to cover her ears to lessen the piercing throbs the noises caused her before it finally began to ease. "What is that!?" Screamed Lina, turning to Maria. She was nowhere to be seen. She was gone.

"Where did..."

Turning around, she gazed up a figure on top of a building several blocks away, with hands up in the air as it cast a spell. The flames burned around the tall female body, condensing as they twirled together into a ball of fire so hot she could feel it from that distance. She knew what the woman was summoning, she'd used it herself before.

"NO, STOP! DON'T CAST THAT!"

With her own arms outstretched, she prepared to cast her own spell and prevent The Dragon Slave from being unleashed on the town.

"FLARE ARROW!" She cried out.

Nothing happened.

"Wha...? Flare Arrow! Flare Arrow! FREEZE ARROW! ELMEKIA LANCE!!"

Lina stared at her hands, shaking in terror. What's going on, why can't I cast anything?!

She stared up again. It was too late to do anything. Lina ran full speed through the door as the fiery blast of the stranger's spell propelled her through the air. The explosion was deafening and the heat scorched her skin. She flew down the stairs before hitting the staircase with a heavy thud, the pain so terrible it caused her to scream. Flames snaked up her cape, threatening to devour her alive. Throwing off her shoulder pads with as much speed as she could muster, Lina tore the cape off her, and watched as the entire cloth was consumed by flame. She looked down at her left arm, which hung limply by her side. "Oh Gods..." With a loud shriek she set her dislocated arm back into place. She sat there, quivering. "What is going on here... what the Hell's happening? Oh Gourry, you sure picked the right spot to take a break..."

Pain shot up through her heart. "Oh Gourry, please be ok..."

Carefully rising up, holding her wounded arm, and trying her best to leave her cinched skin alone, she continued down the stairs. There was no where else to go, not while she was vulnerable, and not while whoever that person up top was continued to fire off Dragon Slaves. Step by step she descended the long flight of stars, down into a blackness untouched by light, and ignorant of flame.

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

What felt like an eternity finally ended; collapsing onto the black floor a mere step after reaching the last stair, Lina closed her eyes, and rested. "I don't care if they shoot 50 Dragon Slaves at me, I need my beauty sleep." She chuckled, turning her body face down while she lay there, leaving alone the blisters and burns the fire had marked on her back, and stared up into blackness.

"Oh Lina, what did you get yourself into this time?" Her words reverberated against the walls, echoing and bouncing off into the endless black ether. The floor was damp and cool, slimy and awful to the touch, but she was too stricken with exhaustion and pain to get up. What was out there, this deep underground, she wasn't sure, but a sneaking suspicion told her it wasn't an Inn. She couldn't see anything, anywhere. If anyone was out there, she knew she was helpless. I just, wanna rest... Closing her tired eyes, she passed out.

When she woke she wasn't sure. That she could see light was a surprise, and what first caught her attention were the two small feet in front of her, adorned with a pair of shiny black shoes and legs covered by a dress of deep red. Lina looked up, and felt the warm glow of the white magic that this strange girl emitted. She couldn't see the girl's face, but only the faint outline of a her long blond hair, streaked with a line of ruby red hair.

Raising her head up, with the pain in her back gone, she got a better view of the girl. She was pale, and the darkness obscured her eyes. The young girl, no older than 8 or 9, let her hands continue to glow even as she stopped healing the sorceress. "Thank you," Lina started, smiling appreciatively.

The little girl giggled, and with a sudden brashness cried out. "Follow me!"

As the little girl ran, Lina got to her feet, surprised. "Wait, hold on!"

The little girl turned a corner, and as Lina turned the same corner, she cried out in pain, the sharp cold slice of hot pain shooting up her arm as a spear sliced her. She backed away, hitting a wall that stabbed her back with several small jagged metal spikes and blades. She cried out again, tearing herself off the wall right as another figure thrust it's spear at her. She looked up into the face of the two individuals that attacked her, and gasped.

The two individuals, now joined by a third, twisted and writhed in directions she didn't know a body could move. They were women, all identical in size and shape. They were wearing nothing more than strips of black leather that covered their arms, their genitals and barely contained their large, round bosoms. Their high heeled, black boots tapped loudly against the uneven metal grating. What caused her to gasp were their faces, at least where a face should have been; instead there was nothing, only a caved in skull surrounded by long, matted black hair that shone with a hint of violet from the from the little girl's light, who from at the end of the corridor, only stood watching, as if bored. Worst of all though, perhaps even worse than the long ice spears frozen to their right hands, were their gargled cackles, a mix of high and low pitches guttural cries.

One of the monsters slashed forward, jamming her ice spear into the mangled metal of the walls, just short of piercing Lina. The spear shattered, and as Lina jumped backwards and tripped against a metal spiked that unexpectedly shot up from underneath the floor, she looked up to see the ice spear regenerate, glowing anew with ice that steamed a white haze. Another monster thrust it's spear downward at her head and pinned Lina down by her hair as she barely managed to duck the ice weapon. Another spear came forward, and with a shriek, Lina tore herself away from her pinned strands, rolling away from the thrust of the second spear.

A fourth of the cackling creatures, taking Lina by surprise, flung the blunt end of her spear at her, knocking her to the ground. She looked up, and terrified, froze as the spear came down.

With eyes shut she waited for the impalement, and was surprised as the creature, sliced down the middle by a large clear blade that had shot out from the opposite wall, collapsed beside her. The creature's upper half writhed on the floor, and squealed out a horrible croaking groan as another blade shot out from the grated ceiling, and pierced the creature through the heart. Lina turned away, covering her mouth, trying to keep from vomiting, and ran past the dead creature while ducking a large serrated broad piece of metal that jutted out of the lower corner, almost puncturing her leg . The other monsters, not far behind, stopped in their tracks, and continued their horrid cackling.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?!" cried Lina as she approached the little girl. The girl watched with a confused look on her face, and with a wide smile, turned around, and continued her running. "Hey, WAIT!" Screamed Lina again, in a fury.

"Keep up!" Was all the girl uttered as she ran past another corridor, and disappeared from her sight. Lina, with blood seeping down her back, arm, and scalp, continued forward. The floors and walls of these corridors were a chaotic jumble of sharp edges and crumpled metal, of walls that would shoot outward so far that they almost closed off the passage, of porous floor panels that jutted upward or downward, and of which, despite their mangled appearance, glistened vibrantly, clean of debris, and reflecting any light that touched their surfaces. The uneven floors and the unpredictable protrusions of the walls made it difficult to run, which made it all the more amazing that the little girl could navigate the corridors so well, without a single injury to herself. "Come on!" Yelled the girl, waiting for Lina.

Ducking one beam, her eyes caught a glimpse of herself on a long metal shard that reflected as well as glass could. Gazing down from the patch of blood clotted scalp she saw the blood had pooled in the middle of her chest, a big red wet stain of dark crimson. Lina, touching the drenched cloth with her fingers, stared out blankly, and gasped. "No, no...." She turned away, closing her eyes. "Why won't you leave me alone?" She screamed, feeling a sharp scarred edge cut into her thigh. Lina jumped back, escaping the full brunt of the metal scrap as it slid up from the floor, her blood leaking down it's edge, the scrap ripping through the metal floor like... like.... like a dagger through flesh...

She finally reached the end of the corridor and entered a massive pitch black room, only to lose the girl again as she jumped off a ledge, and continued on, this time disappearing completely. This time however, there was an alternative light source, off into the distance. It was a speck of yellow and red flame. It's either that or the girl, and I don't feel like being led around anymore. She turned away from the ledge, and with a limp, continued, this time unmolested.

The complete lack of noise made her shudder, and despite the distant flame, everything was pitch black, covered in endless shadow, the clank of heel against metal, and the drip of blood the only perceptible noises within the incomprehensible room. She wasn't quite sure she was still even in an inside environment, she wasn't sure of anything anymore.

She reached a chain rope bridge that spanned the rest of the way, and below it, a giant expanse so wide and so deep it could very well have had no bottom. "Ray Wing!" cried out Lina. The echo went on into the void. Nothing happened. Had to try.

As she stepped on the metal chains, and worked to balance herself, a strange shuffling noise came to her attention. Something's, something's behind me. Turning around, she saw a bright light flash, just a few feet from her location. Staring at the foreign illumination, she walked forward, and noticed a figure holding the light source, a familiar one.

"Zelgadis?" Asked Lina. The creature turned it's head up, staring up at Lina as it lay on the floor.

"Lina."

"Zelgadis, how did you get here, what happened, are you-" She suddenly stopped, taking a step back. The creature, whom looked like Zelgadis, nevertheless gazed blankly, and moved in wild, gesticulating fashions. As it rose up, she covered her mouth, and took several steps back.

"Lina" grunted Amelia, a violet-haired girl and her close friend. Only it wasn't her, it couldn't be. They were nude, the two of them, and connected together at the waist. Her skin, pale and bruised, was covered in a layer of blood and glistening sweat. She was the lower half, her legs turned outward, and her arms converted into a set of long misshapen stumps that stomped with every step. Her eyes were blank, and so were those of the Zelgadis half.

"Lina."

Turning around, she grabbed the chain, and ignoring the pain that radiated throughout her body, continued forward, struggling to keep her pace as the chains jumped with every one of her frantic motions. The monster stayed on it's side, and continued to cry out the sorceresses name.

Reaching the other side, she did not rest, and with a few more steps, came up toward the light source, a small flickering candle. Above it was a masked man, clad in blue armor, with long blond hair. He was tied up a ceremonial pillar, and in the chest of this man was a dagger.

"No... it's not him... no..." she whimpered.

"Try to remember Lina Inverse, try to remember the things you keep hidden away."

Maria stepped out from behind the pillar that held the dead man up. She took a few steps forward, glaring with cruel sharp red eyes that narrowed as she closed in.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Lina said, taking a few steps back, bumped against a metal wall, and was trapped by the woman, who with arms by either side of her, leaned in, their faces practically touching.

"Where's your dagger Lina?"

Lina opened her eyes wide, and shaking, turned away from the woman.

"Come on Lina, don't be that way," she said, whispering into the scared woman's ear. "Tell me if you remember this one.... 'No, please no, please don't, oh gods no, don't do this, stop, please stop, don't d-'"

"SHUT UP! WHO ARE YOU!?"

Grabbing Lina by the throat, Maria began to squeeze her air passage shut, grinning cruelly while Lina, with both her hands struggling to pull her off, began to gasp for air.

"Who am I? Look at me Lina, don't you recognize me? Who else would I be!"

Slugs, large, white and slimy, squirmed from behind Maria's back and slid down her arms, onto Lina's.

The sight of the fat, disgusting creatures pulsating and squishing across her flesh caused a renewed vigor in the woman, and she screamed in terror, her eyes tearing up as much from the creatures that slid across her bare arms as from the hands that struggled to crush her throat. Then she felt it, the stinging sensation of their wet fluids burning her flesh.

"AAGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!"

"Leave her alone!" cried out a small, angry voice. The little girl, with her hands aglow, pushed Maria, causing her to drop onto the metal grating. Lina, now free, slapped the slugs off her raw, burned skin and gasped out for air, struggling to scream as her flesh continued to sizzle.

Before she could recover, the same loud howl, or siren, from before, rang in her ears. She struggled to keep the noise out of her head, and with the glimpse of some new thing approaching, cried out in shock. A monster, tall and human shaped, wearing a large metal mask, and carrying a dirty, filthy, massive sword that he dragged behind him, appeared from the darkness. It's massive frame bobbed and heaved with each step, and with a sudden display of his power, rose the massive sword over his shoulder, and threw it straight at Lina. The blade punctured through the metal grating and sliced through Lina's hair, just inches shy of decapitating her. The sorceress, writhing violently, began to feel faint, and as her senses faded away, and with that terrible howl still in her head, the masked monster continued it's lumbering pace, with an arm outstretched, reaching out for her...

To Be Concluded.