By TempestXtreme
Disclaimer: I own only my own characters. Lashana and Telca are real people and thus own themselves, and Lashana owns Tvashtar, Kadrith, and the three dragons. Their Harem belongs to whoever created them.
Chapter One – In which Phoenix meets Xellos…and Xellos meets Kyle. Ouch!
Phoenix smiled as she stepped out of her portal, followed by a man with light brown hair, dark green eyes, and a handsome face. He stood at a height of 5'11, was built like a tank, and looked like he could probably tear one in half, too. He wore dark brown pants, matching boots, and matching fighting gloves. He wore a dark brown cloak, but otherwise went without a top for his own personal reasons. Phoenix turned and looked up at him, smiling.
"Well," she said. "I guess you're going to meet your sister's friends."
The man shrugged and looked at the palace. "This place is as big as Angelheart Castle," he said. "I'm sensing some strange powers in there…"
"That's probably Lashana and Telca," Phoenix said, shrugging. "Lashana is the Chaos Knight, and Telca is the Avatar of Gaia."
"They appear to be in a battle," the man said. "Their powers are flaring."
"Probably training," Phoenix said casually. "If they were in a battle, they'd be out here I think. They wouldn't want to demolish the palace."
The man smirked. "Of course not. This place would cost a fortune to rebuild."
"Let's get inside," Phoenix said. "I'll introduce you to Lashana, Telca, and the Guys."
"Alright," the man said, following Phoenix to the deck doors that lead to the kitchen. Phoenix opened the door and peaked inside.
"Hello?" she called out. "Anybody here?"
Kenshin popped up from behind the counter. "Oh, hello Phoenix-dono," he said. "Who's your friend?"
"This is Kyle. Kyle, this is Kenshin," Phoenix said, nodding to the man. "He wanted to meet Lashana and Telca. Where are they?"
Kenshin pointed in the general direction of the Danger Room. "In the Danger Room, training with Kadrith and Tvashtar."
"Ah, that's why I could feel their powers flaring," Kyle said. "I thought it was a little odd. Nice to meet you, Kenshin."
He began to walk out of the kitchen, but was stopped when Xellos popped in, grinning at him. "Well, hello there!" he said. "And who might you two be?"
Phoenix took one look at Xellos and narrowed her eyes. "What's a Mazoku doing here?" she said coldly, instinctively activating her Wraith Blade. Xellos' eyes opened wide at the sight of the ethereal weapon. He knew what it was, and what it could do to an Astral Being like him.
"Sore wa himitsu desu," Xellos said, waggling his finger at Phoenix. "But you didn't answer my question. Who are you two, hmmm?"
Phoenix raised the Wraith Blade higher. "None of your business," she said, her tone icy. Kyle was looking at Xellos, eyebrow raised.
"What is this creature?" he said. "I don't like the look of him."
Xellos grinned at Kyle, floating in front of him and eyeing him with open eyes. "My, you are a big man," he said, grinning perversely. Kyle snarled and slammed a fist into the Mazoku's face, sending him back a good six feet.
"Arigato!" Xellos grinned. "Do that again!"
Kyle reached behind him, to his belt, and attached a pair of claws to his fists. "How about I gut you instead?" he said. Xellos' grin widened.
"That sounds like fun!" he said, teleporting close enough to Kyle so that their noses almost touched. Kyle snarled, an aura of Chi surrounding him.
Phoenix backed away, glancing at Kenshin. "Duck. This is about to get ugly," she said, knowing full well what was about to happen.
Kyle raised his claws, and thirty seconds later; Xellos was in pieces on the kitchen floor.
"Are all Mazoku so easily slain?" Kyle said, detaching his claws and putting them back onto his belt.
"If he's who I think he is, then he's masochistic and immortal," Phoenix deadpanned. "Kenshin, was that Xellos?"
Kenshin nodded, a little dumbfounded. This Kyle person reminded him of Sanosuke for some reason. "Uh, yes, that's Xellos," he managed to say at length. Kyle kicked at a hand that was trying to grab his leg.
"Well, if he comes near me again, I'll do more than just slice him apart," he said. "I'll use the Crimson Fist on him."
Phoenix shuddered. She remembered what the last person who had pissed Kyle off to the point of receiving the Crimson Fist Technique had looked like…after they had managed to pry him out of the granite cliff face, that is. He had lived, but had yet to come out of his coma.
"Kyle," she said, banishing her Wraith Blade. "Don't do the Crimson Fist to Xellos. At least not in any place where people eat, OK?"
"All right, all right," Kyle said, looking down at the body parts as they started to move towards each other. "Well, what do you know? He IS immortal. And a sucker for punishment too, I bet."
"WHAT THE HELL!?"
Kyle winced at the sheer volume of the screech. Then he looked up to see two women: one was obviously either an elf or half-elf, judging from the ears, and the other woman was the one that screeched. She appeared human, but Kyle could see that she wasn't – those slightly pointed ears reminded him of a Dark Elf, though he doubted that she was related to any type of elf. Judging from the volume of her voice, she was probably part Banshee.
"Uh, hi," he said. "You must be Lashana and Telca."
Telca blinked at Kyle. "Um, hello. Who are you?" she said. Phoenix chuckled and waved at her.
"Don't worry," she said cheerfully. "He's with me. His name is Kyle Angelheart. He's Becca's brother, and he, um, met that."
She pointed to the small mound of…something that was attempting to become Xellos again. "I didn't know that the General-Priest of Zelas Metallium lived here. If I did, I would've come with a Campfire Songs CD and a portable CD player."
The mound-that-would-be-Xellos shuddered. Lashana snickered, and looked at Kyle.
"You bear a strong resemblance to Becca," she said. "Nice to meet you, Kyle."
Kyle nodded and shook her hand, then Telca's. "Same here," he said. "Rebecca always talks about you two. I figured I'd come and meet you myself, to see if what she says is true. Are you two really all that insane?"
The two sorceresses grinned. "You bet!" Lashana said. "What has Rebecca been up to lately?"
Kyle shrugged. "Studying her spells and training students," he said. "Phoenix over here is her favourite it seems. They spend almost all of their time together, even when they're not training."
Phoenix giggled. "Well, Becca is a really nice person. I like being around her," she said.
By now, Xellos had reformed, and was floating there, looking at Phoenix closely. He smirked to himself as he felt the feelings that she was trying so hard to suppress: dark feelings of guilt and a longing to be accepted despite of what she had done in the past.Xellos grinned. "My, my," he said. "Such tasty feelings you have, Phoenix-chan."
Phoenix glared at him. "Don't you dare feed off me," she said. Xellos smirked and fully opened his eyes to look her.
"Mmm…anger. Such a tasty emotion…"
Phoenix gritted her teeth. "I'm warning you, Xellos," she said, summoning her Wraith Blade. "The last Mazoku to try and feed off of me is still recovering."
Xellos' eyes went wide from shock, and then he closed them again, grinning. "Ah, I see. You're the little girl that Loriana ran into a month ago. Yes, she is still trying to recover from your little…meeting. That Wraith Blade of yours is dangerous. Are you sure you can handle its power?"
"XELLOS! STOP THAT!!"
Xellos winced. "Hai, Knight-sama," he said, teleporting away. Lashana sighed and looked at Phoenix.
"Sorry about that," she said. Phoenix banished her Wraith Blade and shrugged.
"Nothing to worry about," she said. "I've run into Mazoku before, and I've dealt with them every time."
"Hey, Lashana," Telca said. "Isn't Loriana that Mazoku that works for Zelas?"
"Hey, that's right," Lashana said. "She is."
Phoenix blinked and looked at them. "You've met that demon wolf?" she asked. "Idiotic woman tried to get a rise out of me so that she could get a good meal. What she got was a taste of my Wraith Blade."
Kyle chuckled. "Ah, yes. I remember hearing Rebecca say something about that weapon of yours being particularly harmful to astral beings like Mazoku. Something about how it strikes at the very core of their astral forms and just about kills weaker Mazoku in a single hit."
"Yeah, but that demon wolf I ran into was obviously one of the Higher Mazoku. She survived the attack, though I'm not surprised she's still out of commission," Phoenix replied. "But enough talk about Mazoku and Wraith Blades! How about we show Kyle around the palace?"
Lashana glanced at Telca, who shrugged. "Sure," Telca said. "C'mon, Kyle. We'll show you around."
Phoenix watched as Kyle followed Telca out of the room, followed by Lashana and Kenshin.
Then, she went to the nearest seat, sat down, and stared into space, her mind wandering again.