Lina Inverse, the Dra Matta, Bandit Killer, Dragon Spooker, Enemy of All Who Live, God Slayer, Flat-Chested Terror, lay in a tiny camp seven days away from Sailloon, dying from fever.
It had struck two days ago while they headed towards Zephilia because her sister, Luna, had summoned them, Lina had begun to appear flushed and listless, but put off any worries of her companions by telling them she was feeling perfectly fine.
Merely hours after she had begun to show symptoms she had collapsed boneless onto the road, unconscious, for the next few hours she swam in and out of wakefulness until she closed her eyes for the final time.
Every effort of Amelia's had met with no success, in fact it seemed to worsen the fever.
Even Xellos was grim and everyone was growing increasingly desperate as they tried to save her.
Now her breaths were ragged and you could feel the heat radiating off of her. They had settled in to wait for her to get better on her own, praying that she would be all right.
It was Zelgadis's watch when she seemed to turn for the worse and he called the rest of the gang in. Everyone except Xellos rushed in and began to try and lessen the fever once more. Lina began to breath in sharp, brief gasps, her face contorting in agony. Finally she let out a long, staggered breath, then her breathing stopped.
Zelgadis frantically tried to revive her and for once his stern mask was broken when he realized the one who had accepted him from the beginning despite his monstrous visage and his betrayal, was gone.
While the Chimera lay weeping a glimmer of black and purple was seen as the Trickster Priest pocketed a dark stone with a bright dancing light trapped in the center into his satchel, he then gave a secretive smile and disappeared to report the fact that Lina Inverse was dead.
****
A month later the news was spread around the world.
Reactions were varied from the bandits she preyed on, who gave shouts of joy and relief on the fact that the infamous Bandit Killer was gone.
People who's homes she had destroyed also felt a sense of relief, they would no longer have to fear a return from the Enemy of All Who Live.
Her friends and companions, those that knew her the best mourned her for a long time, the Chimera, Zelgadis settled into a deep depression with each failed cure, though he never gave up in his long search.
The swordsman wandered back to Sairaag and began to protect the Shrine Maiden Sylphiel, swearing in Lina's and Cepheid's names that he would never let her down.
As for the princess she began to fervently take her duties as heir seriously and buried herself into work to assuage her grief of her friend and mentor. Under her eventual reign the kingdom of Sailoon became even more prosperous and several people likened her to the founders of the capital.
As for Xellos, he kept his thoughts to himself, running his errands without his usal Trickster nature, his nature almost resembled the Chimera in brooding capacity until one day, a year after her death he came across something in one of Rezo's abandoned labratories.
****
Within a room on Wolf Pack Island stood a gigantic crystal that those that studied the creation of Chimera's would have instantly recognized the Crystal of Recreation. It was a light blue and seemed to shimmer every once in a while, slowly revolving, suspended in a column of darkness.
A man recognizable as Xellos emerged from the darkness and stepped closer to the crystal as he reached into his satchel and extracted a tied lock of orange-red hair. Taking one such hair her he charged it with black energy, causing it to stand straight, touching one end to the crystal.
The crystal seemed to ripple like a still pond of water and it began to draw the hair into itself. Releasing the hair he watched as the hair floated to the center. Pocketing the lock he watched for what happened next.
A bright light began to gather around the hair, invisible to the naked eye at first and growing in intensity. Once the light brightened to unbearable levels and then vanished there was a tiny unmoving fetus in place of the hair. Xellos gave a genuine smile as he extracted the darkened stone his satchel and stared at the tiny dancing light trapped in it for several moments before placing it on a shelf nearby.
Then with a flicker of darkness Xellos disappeared from the room.
****
It is several years later, the crystal now holds a small girl, no more then two or three years old. Xellos is seen sitting nearby, once again staring at the stone, watching the light dance within its depths. Once in a while he glances down at a tome in front of him.
He glances at the body that floats in the Crystal and nods once, lifting his hand, dark tendrils of negative energy begins to creep between his hand and the crystal, passing effortlessly through the crystal and began to dance across the girls body like electricity.
After several hours of this he lowers his hand and waits.
Suddenly after what seems like eternity a heartbeat is heard. Xellos smiles at this and waits some more until it repeats again an hour later, after three more repetitions his grins widens and he disappears once more.
****
The girl is now around eleven. Her orange red hair floats around her slender frame like fire and anyone seeing her would think her a spirit of that element.
Xellos returns and he seems almost anxious, gripped in one hand is a rough stone, easily recognizable as the Philosophizer's Stone, thought lost with Shabringdu's rebirth nearly fourteen years earlier. He lets the stone drift out of his hand and then surrounds it with a globe of dark energy and he sends the globe with the stone inside it into the Crystal.
As it nears the girl, her chest, just below her breasts, begins to ripple and then slowly begins to open, bloodlessly exposing her insides.
Once the stone and the globe of darkness rests in the center of her being tendrils of darkness seem to shoot out at the flesh surrounding it. The stone is slowly covered with flesh as she heals and once again the girls chest is sealed, except for a tiny scar.
Xellos studies the girl thoroughly and nods before again disappearing.
Slowly the girls eyes opens, bright ruby red, blank and soulless, the irises seem to fluctuate between the slit irises of a Mazoku and the normal irises of a human. Her head slowly turns and her gaze rests on the stone, as if in response to the girls gaze the light in the stone brightens briefly. The girl raises one hand towards the stone before closing her eyes and returning her hand and arm to their original position.
****
It is six years later when Xellos return's, he picks up the darkened stone and caresses it. Gently, almost reverently he lays the stone against the Crystal of Recreation and watches as her chest once again opens, he frowns at the tendrils of darkness twining and merging with the flesh that holds the Stone in place.
Gesturing with his hand he tries to dispel the darkness and when he fails his frown increases. After several attempts he gives up.
Sighing he directed his attention back to the darkened stone and watched as the darkness surrounding the light dispelled into mist and the light began to try to escape its prison. As the light failed to escape it slowly merged into the Philosophizer's Stone.
Tendrils of light began to interlace itself up the flesh and darkness the joined the Stone to the body and once again the flesh surrounding it closed. The body of the girl begins to glow with the same bright light, though darkness sometimes boils up to the surface.
Still frowning at the darkness Xellos gestured again and the body began to drift away from the center of the Crystal, towards him. Once again the Crystal ripples like water as the girls body slowly emerges, once completely out of the crystal she falls into the waiting arms of the Priest.
Touching her forehead gently as the girl began to breath and her eyelids began to flutter open he whispered 'Sleep!'
After checking all the vitals on the girl he gets up and grabs a bundle of clothing. Unrolling it he reveals a cape with shoulder guards, tight pants, gloves, boots, and a yellow top.
Slowly and gently he begins to dress the girl, every movement careful and precise. Once she was fully dressed he stops and fingers the Demon-Blood stones on his wrist then shakes his head at the thought of keeping them.
He attaches them to the girls wrists and looks at her and smiles, she is clearly recognizable as Lina Inverse, though her hair reaches done to her knees now. He grins at the effect long hair produces and decides to leave it that way instead of restoring it to the length she had twelve years before.
Finished he picks her up and places her on his back in a piggyback ride and with a flicker of darkness they disappear.
****
In Sairaag, underneath the Ancient Tree of Flagoon there is a tradition that takes place once a year on the anniversary of Lina Inverse's death. It started out when Gourry and Sylphiel invited the princess Amelia to a nearby inn where they Slayers had stayed when they visited Sairaag with Lina. To the surprise of all Zelgadis was there too.
The four spent the entire day reminiscing about the adventures they shared together.
The next year saw the same people again at the same inn, this time Filia showed up with a tiny infant dragon in her arms, it seemed Zelgadis had told her of their planned meeting and she had agreed to join them before he headed farther north.
The following year saw Gourry and Sylphiel married and had the common people of the city elect her and him as the ruling family. At the end of their reunion Sylphiel declared that the day of Lina Inverse's death would be a national holiday for her saving the world four times.
Xellos joined them the fourth year and ever since the entire gang would meet there. The day for the celebration was tomorrow and the companion's on Lina Inverse were gathering.
Xellos's reserved room was empty and locked, this inn was always booked solid because of famous people who visited there, it wasn't everyday you saw a Chimera and a demon bash one another, or a dragon in human form with a young green-haired boy who was also the last Ancient Dragon.
The three most sought after faces were the Queen's Amelia and Sylphiel and King Gourry.
The empty rooms that awaited the group of strange people began to slowly fill as each arrived, first was Zelgadis who was accepted in this place and wasn't shunned unlike anywhere else.
Filia and Valtiera were next to arrive, each had a separate room this time as Valteria looked to be fifteen years old.
The royal family of Sairaag had three joining rooms where they and their four children would sleep, it was a treat for their children to get away from the stuffy confines of the Palace.
Amelia was last, alone as always, she had never gotten married despite pressure from her counsellers, though she and Zelgadis did seem closer every year, it was rumored during the slow winter months at Sailoon Zelgadis and Amelia would go on a quest for a cure.
The final person to arrive was Xellos, and he didn't arrive through the front doors like he normally did to annoy the gatherer's, instead he appeared directly in his room with the sleeping Lina on his back. After gently setting her down he gently set the sleep spell to unravel, knowing it would take all night to completely wear off.
It had struck two days ago while they headed towards Zephilia because her sister, Luna, had summoned them, Lina had begun to appear flushed and listless, but put off any worries of her companions by telling them she was feeling perfectly fine.
Merely hours after she had begun to show symptoms she had collapsed boneless onto the road, unconscious, for the next few hours she swam in and out of wakefulness until she closed her eyes for the final time.
Every effort of Amelia's had met with no success, in fact it seemed to worsen the fever.
Even Xellos was grim and everyone was growing increasingly desperate as they tried to save her.
Now her breaths were ragged and you could feel the heat radiating off of her. They had settled in to wait for her to get better on her own, praying that she would be all right.
It was Zelgadis's watch when she seemed to turn for the worse and he called the rest of the gang in. Everyone except Xellos rushed in and began to try and lessen the fever once more. Lina began to breath in sharp, brief gasps, her face contorting in agony. Finally she let out a long, staggered breath, then her breathing stopped.
Zelgadis frantically tried to revive her and for once his stern mask was broken when he realized the one who had accepted him from the beginning despite his monstrous visage and his betrayal, was gone.
While the Chimera lay weeping a glimmer of black and purple was seen as the Trickster Priest pocketed a dark stone with a bright dancing light trapped in the center into his satchel, he then gave a secretive smile and disappeared to report the fact that Lina Inverse was dead.
****
A month later the news was spread around the world.
Reactions were varied from the bandits she preyed on, who gave shouts of joy and relief on the fact that the infamous Bandit Killer was gone.
People who's homes she had destroyed also felt a sense of relief, they would no longer have to fear a return from the Enemy of All Who Live.
Her friends and companions, those that knew her the best mourned her for a long time, the Chimera, Zelgadis settled into a deep depression with each failed cure, though he never gave up in his long search.
The swordsman wandered back to Sairaag and began to protect the Shrine Maiden Sylphiel, swearing in Lina's and Cepheid's names that he would never let her down.
As for the princess she began to fervently take her duties as heir seriously and buried herself into work to assuage her grief of her friend and mentor. Under her eventual reign the kingdom of Sailoon became even more prosperous and several people likened her to the founders of the capital.
As for Xellos, he kept his thoughts to himself, running his errands without his usal Trickster nature, his nature almost resembled the Chimera in brooding capacity until one day, a year after her death he came across something in one of Rezo's abandoned labratories.
****
Within a room on Wolf Pack Island stood a gigantic crystal that those that studied the creation of Chimera's would have instantly recognized the Crystal of Recreation. It was a light blue and seemed to shimmer every once in a while, slowly revolving, suspended in a column of darkness.
A man recognizable as Xellos emerged from the darkness and stepped closer to the crystal as he reached into his satchel and extracted a tied lock of orange-red hair. Taking one such hair her he charged it with black energy, causing it to stand straight, touching one end to the crystal.
The crystal seemed to ripple like a still pond of water and it began to draw the hair into itself. Releasing the hair he watched as the hair floated to the center. Pocketing the lock he watched for what happened next.
A bright light began to gather around the hair, invisible to the naked eye at first and growing in intensity. Once the light brightened to unbearable levels and then vanished there was a tiny unmoving fetus in place of the hair. Xellos gave a genuine smile as he extracted the darkened stone his satchel and stared at the tiny dancing light trapped in it for several moments before placing it on a shelf nearby.
Then with a flicker of darkness Xellos disappeared from the room.
****
It is several years later, the crystal now holds a small girl, no more then two or three years old. Xellos is seen sitting nearby, once again staring at the stone, watching the light dance within its depths. Once in a while he glances down at a tome in front of him.
He glances at the body that floats in the Crystal and nods once, lifting his hand, dark tendrils of negative energy begins to creep between his hand and the crystal, passing effortlessly through the crystal and began to dance across the girls body like electricity.
After several hours of this he lowers his hand and waits.
Suddenly after what seems like eternity a heartbeat is heard. Xellos smiles at this and waits some more until it repeats again an hour later, after three more repetitions his grins widens and he disappears once more.
****
The girl is now around eleven. Her orange red hair floats around her slender frame like fire and anyone seeing her would think her a spirit of that element.
Xellos returns and he seems almost anxious, gripped in one hand is a rough stone, easily recognizable as the Philosophizer's Stone, thought lost with Shabringdu's rebirth nearly fourteen years earlier. He lets the stone drift out of his hand and then surrounds it with a globe of dark energy and he sends the globe with the stone inside it into the Crystal.
As it nears the girl, her chest, just below her breasts, begins to ripple and then slowly begins to open, bloodlessly exposing her insides.
Once the stone and the globe of darkness rests in the center of her being tendrils of darkness seem to shoot out at the flesh surrounding it. The stone is slowly covered with flesh as she heals and once again the girls chest is sealed, except for a tiny scar.
Xellos studies the girl thoroughly and nods before again disappearing.
Slowly the girls eyes opens, bright ruby red, blank and soulless, the irises seem to fluctuate between the slit irises of a Mazoku and the normal irises of a human. Her head slowly turns and her gaze rests on the stone, as if in response to the girls gaze the light in the stone brightens briefly. The girl raises one hand towards the stone before closing her eyes and returning her hand and arm to their original position.
****
It is six years later when Xellos return's, he picks up the darkened stone and caresses it. Gently, almost reverently he lays the stone against the Crystal of Recreation and watches as her chest once again opens, he frowns at the tendrils of darkness twining and merging with the flesh that holds the Stone in place.
Gesturing with his hand he tries to dispel the darkness and when he fails his frown increases. After several attempts he gives up.
Sighing he directed his attention back to the darkened stone and watched as the darkness surrounding the light dispelled into mist and the light began to try to escape its prison. As the light failed to escape it slowly merged into the Philosophizer's Stone.
Tendrils of light began to interlace itself up the flesh and darkness the joined the Stone to the body and once again the flesh surrounding it closed. The body of the girl begins to glow with the same bright light, though darkness sometimes boils up to the surface.
Still frowning at the darkness Xellos gestured again and the body began to drift away from the center of the Crystal, towards him. Once again the Crystal ripples like water as the girls body slowly emerges, once completely out of the crystal she falls into the waiting arms of the Priest.
Touching her forehead gently as the girl began to breath and her eyelids began to flutter open he whispered 'Sleep!'
After checking all the vitals on the girl he gets up and grabs a bundle of clothing. Unrolling it he reveals a cape with shoulder guards, tight pants, gloves, boots, and a yellow top.
Slowly and gently he begins to dress the girl, every movement careful and precise. Once she was fully dressed he stops and fingers the Demon-Blood stones on his wrist then shakes his head at the thought of keeping them.
He attaches them to the girls wrists and looks at her and smiles, she is clearly recognizable as Lina Inverse, though her hair reaches done to her knees now. He grins at the effect long hair produces and decides to leave it that way instead of restoring it to the length she had twelve years before.
Finished he picks her up and places her on his back in a piggyback ride and with a flicker of darkness they disappear.
****
In Sairaag, underneath the Ancient Tree of Flagoon there is a tradition that takes place once a year on the anniversary of Lina Inverse's death. It started out when Gourry and Sylphiel invited the princess Amelia to a nearby inn where they Slayers had stayed when they visited Sairaag with Lina. To the surprise of all Zelgadis was there too.
The four spent the entire day reminiscing about the adventures they shared together.
The next year saw the same people again at the same inn, this time Filia showed up with a tiny infant dragon in her arms, it seemed Zelgadis had told her of their planned meeting and she had agreed to join them before he headed farther north.
The following year saw Gourry and Sylphiel married and had the common people of the city elect her and him as the ruling family. At the end of their reunion Sylphiel declared that the day of Lina Inverse's death would be a national holiday for her saving the world four times.
Xellos joined them the fourth year and ever since the entire gang would meet there. The day for the celebration was tomorrow and the companion's on Lina Inverse were gathering.
Xellos's reserved room was empty and locked, this inn was always booked solid because of famous people who visited there, it wasn't everyday you saw a Chimera and a demon bash one another, or a dragon in human form with a young green-haired boy who was also the last Ancient Dragon.
The three most sought after faces were the Queen's Amelia and Sylphiel and King Gourry.
The empty rooms that awaited the group of strange people began to slowly fill as each arrived, first was Zelgadis who was accepted in this place and wasn't shunned unlike anywhere else.
Filia and Valtiera were next to arrive, each had a separate room this time as Valteria looked to be fifteen years old.
The royal family of Sairaag had three joining rooms where they and their four children would sleep, it was a treat for their children to get away from the stuffy confines of the Palace.
Amelia was last, alone as always, she had never gotten married despite pressure from her counsellers, though she and Zelgadis did seem closer every year, it was rumored during the slow winter months at Sailoon Zelgadis and Amelia would go on a quest for a cure.
The final person to arrive was Xellos, and he didn't arrive through the front doors like he normally did to annoy the gatherer's, instead he appeared directly in his room with the sleeping Lina on his back. After gently setting her down he gently set the sleep spell to unravel, knowing it would take all night to completely wear off.
