Disclaimer:
It should probably be obvious that my writing skills are clearly not on the professional level. Which leaves little doubt that I do NOT OWN Slayers, any of its characters.
"Wow! It is even more amazing than I thought! Check this out!" swinging the sword eagerly, like the child he was, the skilled young swordsman called out to his twin brother hoping that he would share in his exuberance.
A somewhat spry and lanky eight year old boy endowed with silky, flowing blond hair reaching his waist, continued dancing around with his family's treasure as his older twin grimaced warily. "I don't know about this…."
The two Elmekian children stood in a clearing of a deep, flourishing forest. As the sunlight twinkled through the small openings in the tree leaves, the swift and almost musical rushing sound of the cascade could be clearly heard. On one edge of the clearing was the forest line. The luscious grass extended five or six feet past the last trees, and then the ground became rugged, like a solid rock, with some cracks and a few patches of dirt. At the other end of the clearing, was a cliff that dropped thirty feet to where the waterfall ended, housing a cavernous pool of frigid water.
After a few more minutes of torturing his nerves, the skeptical twin, decided to speak up again. Despite being older, he often found himself following the troublemaking schemes of the younger Gabriev boy. "Gourry! We are so dead if anyone finds out we stole the sword of light from Grandpa! Come on; let's put it back before anyone finds out!"
Pausing for a moment to inspect the sword with appreciation, Gourry turned to his nearly identical brother. They both had the same graceful locks, and peaceful blue eyes. Both boys were unusually tall for their age; they also had the same fair skin tone. The one noticeable difference between the two was a very small color difference in their hair. While Gourry's hair was distinctly golden yellow, his brother had almost an almost pure gold look, sheen with a light brown-bronze hue.
"Joarry! You were enthusiastic last night when we were planning this! When did you become such a'fraidy cat!" Gourry walked over to meet his brother, "Here, come on, loosen up! You try it out! This is totally worth it! Besides, remember, I'm a genius, so there is absolutely NO WAY we will get caught!" Flashing an impish grin, Gourry gently grabbed his older twin's hand and shoved the sword into it.
Warming up a little, Joaren Gabriev embraced the moment and gripped the sword of light, "Gourry, you may be a genius when it comes to sword fighting, but that doesn't mean it applies to EVERYthing." Joarry emphasized. "Oh? Are you sure about that? You did see my scores from our last math and science tests didn't you?!" Gourry replied cheekily. "They were the highest in our class! I even did better than Therzin! People are always calling him the smartest of our grade. And Eliyah said that I did much better than she did when she was our age. You know how smart she is too! It's impossible for me to NOT be a genius when you sum up all the facts!"
Eliyah being the Gabriev twins' older sister, had about four years longer of a life span. While the family genetics made it very clear that she was related, there was a bit of a paradoxical nature to her personality. She took on a regal nature, possibly acquired from her elfish ancestry. While having a detached and cool demeanor, the young lady Eliyah, was also known to be very kindhearted and amiable. Many wondered how she had such opposing character qualities. Although, considering her parents odd relationship, maybe it was not too unbelievable.
The couple had a tumultuous relationship. Their feelings for each other often tipped the scale back and forth between love and hate, sometimes the rate at which the was so alarming, any innocent bystander who happen to witness their squabbles, felt the need to take shelter as if there was molten lava ready to rain from the sky.
Shaking his head, Joarry decided to ignore his boasting brother as he took a stance and launched into a sword drill their teacher had recently shown them. Finding a soft grassy spot near the forest edge, Gourry sat down and spread his legs out and leaned back on his hands to hold himself up. Watching Joaren with a serene face, Gourry took a deep breath of the fresh Spring air.
"I'm going to remember today for the rest of my life!" Gourry said out loud.
"Yes, I suppose you will…." The voice responded appearing out of nowhere.
Gourry leaped to his feet and whirled around frantically searching for the owner of the intrusive comment. Still unsuccessful, he did notice the air growing heavy with a foreboding atmosphere. The hairs on the back of his head felt all prickly.
Fighting the feeling of nausea and panic Gourry yelled at his brother who had not yet noticed the arrival of the monster. "Joarry! Get ready to fight! There's a monster!"
Joaren's whole body went rigid as his neck whipped around to look towards his twin. Halfway between the two of them appeared a man of medium stature, he was dressed in baggy black pants, a off white-sandy beige long sleeve shirt, and lavender gloves. He had a slightly knobby wooden staff in his hands which held a large red ruby at the top resting between a fork shaped opening in the wood. The unwelcomed visitor was cloaked in a black cap with light brown boots and shoulder length deep purple-black hair. There was little about his appearance that might actually indicate his true evil nature, he wore a wickedly half friendly grin and his eyes were closed.
The younger Gabriev wasted no time jumping into action. While having some teaching about general information regarding monsters, Gourry didn't have a whole lot of knowledge on how to go about fighting one. As such, it leaves no question of whether or not he would understand well enough when it is pointless to even attempt engaging in battle with such a foe.
Instead, scrambling a few feet to his left, in an attempt to swing around the mazoku to reach his brother, Gourry reached down to grab a few bigger stones that were lying on the rocky precipice. Determined to protect his brother and their families treasure, Gourry launched rocks at the intruder as hard as he could.
In his hurried attempts, the younger Gabriev twin actually made contact with a few of his projectiles. Albeit, the monster really wasn't putting any effort into moving, seeing as the rocks were as painful as a mosquito bite.
"Joarry! Take the blade out!" Gourry instructed. He wished that he had thought to bring another sword with them. Maybe it wouldn't do much against a monster, but at least it was better than rocks.
Trembling, Joarry mentally willed his hands to calm down and cooperate. After a few more seconds, the older boy was able to get the pin out and was about to call the light out, when the mazoku decided that it was time to take action. Teleporting in front of Joaren, he raised his staff and swung it into the boy's left side. Screaming as a rib was broken the boy doubled over and dropped the sword in favor of cradling his injury.
Gourry growled at their enemy, "Joaren! Throw the sword to me!" The poor boy was near in tears from the pain the creature had inflicted on him.
Lifting his staff once more, higher this time as if to use it more like a spear to stab his wounded prey, the monster's eyes opened a fraction, with malicious intent, his smile becoming sinister, "Time to say goodbye!"
"NOOO!" Gourry hurded himself into the monster, and successfully tackling him, The young Gourry pulled out the dagger that he always carried on him. Joarry with pain fueled desperation, he was hoping to see his brother escape safely. "Gourry! Get out of here! Go get Father and Grandfather!"
Ignoring his older brother, Gourry continued his pursuit. Mentally willing all his power and energy to wrap itself around the tiny weapon, Gourry thrust it into the monster's right shoulder. The blade was gleaming with a gold and blue light as it struck near where the heart would be on a normal human. The attempt proved more effective than it should have. The monster dropped the wooden staff and hissed in pain, one eye opening dangerously. "Well done!" he congratulated. "But I must say I'm sorry to disappoint you if you thought that would actually stop me."
Now Gourry had landed on his feet, he was now standing in front of Joaren. He reached down and claimed the sword of light—his previous weapon was abandoned on the ground where it had fallen between himself and the monster.
"Light come forth!" Gourry shouted. With a whirring sound, the light shot out of the empty hilt. The mazoku now opened his other eye, now both eyes were dark purple slits peering out at Gourry with intensity.
Stooping to pick up his staff, the creature regained the demeanor that he arrived in. His face now revealed closed eyes with an eerily happy smile. "How interesting! You still want to fight me? Well, I suppose I DO want to see what that sword is capable of. Even if it is only wielded by a child, this could be fun. Very well, let's see what you can do!"
Using the staff in place of a sword, the two began to go on the offensive. Or rather, Gourry went on the offensive, while the mazoku humored him. After several minutes of combat, the monster started getting bored. He decided that he didn't want to play anymore. Using the pointy end of his staff, the mazoku stabbed Gourry in his right sword arm. The staff didn't go all the way through, merely making a deep wound on his bicep. Joaren screamed "Gourry!"
Gourry managed to not drop the sword, but his grip barely held on. Whimpering a bit, he grit his teeth, and switched his hand position to primarily hold the sword with his left hand. Swinging wildly not wanting his opponent another opening to strike again, the young swordsmen attacked back.
The tactic was a wise choice, Gourry made contact with the monster's shoulder and was able to make a large gash from the middle of the right shoulder down to the previously inflicted wound.
But the mazoku was done humoring the children. He stretched out his opposite hand and sent out an energy blast, it hit Gourry in his left shoulder upper arm, sending the sword flying one way, and he fell in a heap with Joarry. They were a few feet from the edge of the cliff. Gourry got large gash on the back of his head from a sharp rock he had come in contact with in the tumble. He managed to sit up some and gently helped Joarry sit up as well.
A tight smile crossed Gourry's lips as he noticed that his brother seemed to have only obtained a few minor scratches from the blast and its aftermath.
The monster smiled pitifully at the two. "I give you credit, you managed to actually irritate me. Originally, I had not intended to kill you. But after the little stunts you pulled… Gourry was it? …. I think it might reflect badly on me in the future if I let some little boys beat me up…."
Glancing at the mazoku briefly, something else caught Gourry's eye, the sword of light! It was dangerously close to falling of the precipice. It was teetering back and forth, ready to fall over at any moment.
Without another thought, Gourry dove.
AN: Yes. A cliff hanger. A bit literally. hehe. Anyway, please review! Your words mean a lot to me to know people are reading/enjoying my story. Alternatively, if you hate my story, I still won't turn away your reviews. =D So you have little excuse now!