Episode 9
"Prophetic Message? What Inverse Is It Talking About Anyway!?"
That afternoon, with Luna cleaned up and dressed in her armor, the group set off toward the ominous crypt where the whole plague originated.
"Why are you wearing your holy armor Luna?" Lina asked.
"I would just rather be prepared." was all her older sister said, and the sweetness of her tone seemed to Lina a bit disingenuous.
"Humph." Lina replied, "I looks like you're expecting some kind of disaster!" she grumbled, "And none of the rest of us has anything like you have!"
"Lucky me you think that way!" Luna thought to herself, but aloud she replied, "Oh, I think you'll be okay." in a knowing, and slightly condescending tone.
"Well, what am I supposed to be doing here?" Gourry asked, "I don't have any armor or any magic!"
"Don't worry." Luna replied, "I'll be doing most of the dirty work today."
They reached the point where the entire landscape was dead and shriveled, with barren patches spreading, and even the dirt was seemingly an unnaturally pale color.
As they walked, Luna noted a few places she had before seen corpses, where only small pieces of cloth and leather, or a metallic item such as a knife remained.
"Wow!" Lina marveled, "They're totally disintegrating!"
"Is it safe for us to be here?" Luna asked.
"That," Luna sighed, "I really don't know the answer to."
They walked along in silence until they came to the hill overlooking the excavation site.
There in the large pit they could see the top of the stone structure, just as it was last time she was there.
"I have to go the rest of the way alone." Luna announced, "I'm the only one this plague will not directly attack. And if you see any violet glowing light around you, even the slightest shimmer, teleport back to town right away."
"Yes Miss Luna," Fillia obediently replied.
With that she walked away, down the hill to the side where the ramp led directly into the pit, where her magical armor began to glow and seemed to have crackling sparks flying off of it the deeper into the pit she walked. From there however, she went out of sight behind the crypt where they could not see her.
At the entry to the crypt, Luna felt the terrible presence of the plague still trying to invade and destroy her as it had tried before, but she simply went to the unopened doorway and carefully removed the talismans, doing her best to not damage them any more than they were.
Some of the talismans which had been torn were showing signs of attack from the curse plague, they were almost nothing but transparent images now, and when she touched one of them, it faded into fine dust that vanished into thin air.
Taking the four best, most intact talismans, she returned to the group, grateful to be away from that terrible presence which was filling her lungs trying to get into her body and consume her like it had those mortals who foolishly opened the crypt to begin with.
As she reached the top, the other three were looking anxiously as she detached her sword Einlanzer and waved it across the talismans. No violet glow or sparks erupted in their presence, despite being there in that pit all this time.
"Well," she conjectured, "These talismans seem to repel the curse plague," and she reattached her sword to her necklace where it instantly shrank back to a charm until she next might need it. "I don't know how it works, or what is written on them, but its somehow warding off the plague and there were about fifty of them on the crypt door," handing one of them to each of the others but keeping one for her self, just in case, "Only these last four came off intact."
"Well," Lina looked at them, "This is clearly Mazokese," turning the talisman over in her hands.
"Uhhh..." Gourry looked at it, "What's that?"
Getting annoyed, "Once again Gourry," she growled, "You're the only one here who doesn't have a clue what is going on..."
"Mazokese is the language of the monster race." Fillia responded helpfully, "The Mazoku."
"Like that sack of orc turds Xelloss!" Luna growled.
"Hey," Lina began in an apologetic manner, "He's only a monster you know. What else would you expect from him?"
"Just you wait and see if you continue to defend him when the truth comes out!" Luna challenged her.
"Uhh-huh-huh," Lina chuckled at her sister nervously, "I think I'll shut up now..."
"I'm hungry again!" Gourry declared.
"Gourry!" Lina complained weakly.
"Well its not like the inn has any other customers," Luna offered, "And the food will go bad if nobody eats it," she continued, "And they're such good friends to us," she rationalized, "So why not support them in this time of hardship?"
"Well," Lina considered, "When you put it that way..." and shrugged.
"Lets not bring back any of the local dust since it might be contaminated." Fillia suggested, "I would hate to bring the plague right to the home of such sweet wonderful people..."
"Good idea!" Luna heartily praised her sound thinking.
With that, Fillia summoned the spell and the four of them departed in a golden flash.
Ep 9, Chapter 2
Arriving in the dining room of the inn, Lina and Gourry did their best to help reduce the old stocks of Alyth's All Welcoming Inn, but Fillia was not too hungry and after a cup of herbal tea, excused herself to one of the many vacant rooms to relax and get in some long overdue meditation.
As she went into her trance-like state, she once again began seeing images of baby golden dragons, running and playing in the breeze beside a beautifully decorated cottage overlooking the sea.
As she focused on the image, it seemed to grow from mere ghostly paleness behind her eyelids into a very vivid lifelike one, until finally, she seemed to actually be standing there! The breeze threw a couple of strands of her long blond hair across her face, startling her, but instead of falling out of her trance, the shock seemed to even more strongly reinforce it!
A beautiful little girl dragon ran up and tugged on the hem of her gown, "Momma! Momma! I can fly now!"
And as she spun to watch the child dash toward the cliff, something inside her instinctively wanted to run and rescue her, but instead, she watched as the child morphed into a small dragon and sailed off the cliff and then high up into the sky.
"They're beautiful, aren't they?" Came a strangely indistinct voice from behind her.
When she turned to look, there was a disturbingly blurred image of somebody standing right beside her, whom she could not recognize.
"Who are you?" she asked the blurry humanoid form.
"I am an Inverse of the Great Clan Magnus." came the indistinct voice. "I am here to save your people...people...people...people..." the blurry personage dissolved into the air, and soon too, did the children, the cottage, and finally it all returned to the grayness behind her eyelids.
Gasping a deep breath as she came out of her trance, she calmly looked around the room, "An Inverse of the Great Clan Magnus" she pondered the words of the blurry person. "An Inverse of the Great Clan Magnus is the key to the survival of your people" the words made their presence once again in her mind.
"I wonder who this Inverse is." she wondered aloud, "Who are they, were are they, and what will they do to rescue my people?" sighing, "I suppose I should ask Luna if she knows anything of this."
Fillia slipped into bed and lay, arms behind her head, staring at the ceiling.
"What do I know about the Inverse family anyway?" she pondered to her self, "I came here seeking the person in a prophecy, and that time it was an Inverse as well..."
In her mind, she could see the first time she came and stayed at this inn, she came to see if Luna Inverse was the person in the prophecy. After all, there were never many Inverses anywhere, they were not a large clan of people.
When she first saw Luna, a tall, strong, confident woman, well built as far as human figures went, with dark hair and flashing eyes filled with immense power, she thought at first surely she had found the Inverse of the prophecy.
She acted rather politely of course, and entrained Fillia after she got off work at the inn, taking her to the carnival that was in town, walking along the river banks where the trees draped out over the water in a distinctly lovely manner, she met Luna's parents, she even took her to a secret spot overlooking the ocean which Luna cherished as her own secret spot away from the madness of the world.
After everything however, when two wonderfully enjoyable weeks had passed, she finally told Fillia that there was surely some kind of mistake and that it couldn't possibly be she of whom the prophecy spoke and that Fillia should look for her younger sister Lina who was a sorceress of some power.
She even wrote a brief note which she promised would be enough to ensure the younger sister Lina's complete cooperation.
She left saddened, but now she wondered, what made her feel so sad? Was it the fact that Luna was not the one in the prophecy? Or was it that she would not get to spend any more time with this intriguing and electrifying human being who somehow seemed to just make her feel different. Made her feel so...so...alive!
"Well," she sighed to herself "I suppose she will direct me to some other Inverse when the time comes." rolling toward the window, looking out at the stars, she recalled Luna's question about what she would wish for the most, and now, she was less sure of that answer than she was before. "What do I truly wish for?" she asked her self, "Oh well, I'll ask Miss Luna in the morning." and she closed her eyes.
Ep 9, Inset
That night, as Fillia slept in the room she had the last time she stayed here, Luna slept in the room next door, having talked to Lina, Gourry, Alyth and Bruno late into the night.
Dragging herself to the room, she could hear the soft sound of Fillia's gentle breathing, and for a moment, stopped by the door, where she merely listened for several moments.
What was it about this beautiful magical creature that had her so bewitched?
The soft doe eyes? The long blond hair? The peaceful nature? The latent raw animal power? The incredible long tail? The...?" She fell off, drifting off to sleep.
She stood on a cliff by the seaside, and there was a cottage.
Outside the cottage stood the beautiful Fillia, hanging out clothing, humming a soft and beautiful tune, while little children ran around screaming and giggling, playing some kind of tag game. The children all had blond hair, stubby little wings and tails, but otherwise looked relatively human.
As she walked up to Fillia, she reached out and stroked the girl's lovely cheek with the back of her fingers.
In response, the lovely dragoness leaned her face into the fingers, closing her eyes softly and inhaling, before turning her lips to kiss Luna's fingers.
She set down the empty basket and took hold of Luna's outstretched fingers with her own hand and led the taller girl into the cottage.
Suddenly they were in a darkly lit bedroom lit only by the light of one window.
She was laying on her back and Fillia was on her knees above her, wearing a blue silky slip with golden flowers, which barely covered her middle body, exposing her shoulders and middle thigh. Luna wore a similar silk slip of a black background and blood red roses.
Fillia was not wearing a headdress and her hair simply hung down across her back and shoulders, draping all the way onto Luna's chest as she leaned forward, those innocent doe eyes gazing at her in total reverential adoration.
The voices of children giggling outside would pass by the window occasionally, but for the most part all she could hear was their heavy breathing.
Sweat glistened off the smooth skin of the dragoness, making her seem more electrifying to the look and as she raised her fingers gently to the shiny wet arms, the skin was slippery and soft, so inviting to the touch...
Fillia lowered her body until she was sitting on Luna's thighs, the warm moist skin heavy and soft upon her own legs.
Her long smooth tail began to slide up her leg from the gap created between their thighs and the bed, sliding up toward the gap which separated their private regions by barely a hand-span, and crossed up under a black silk slip toward her most private regions.
Suddenly it felt as if Luna's whole body was jolted by one of Lina's lighting bolts as she arched her back gasping wildly for air!
Her silk slip was propped up very high at the waistline and was stuck to her with a cool slimy feeling she had only recently learned existed.
"Oh no!" she gasped, looking around reflexively for the dragoness who was not in the room with her, "Fillia! What have I done!?"
Ep 9, Chapter 3
Luna awoke from a very powerful dream with a gasp and cried softly, "Oh no!" looking around reflexively for the dragoness who was not in the room with her, "Fillia! What have I done!?"
Rubbing herself reflexively where the tall cone rose from her black and red night slip, she felt the cool sticky gooey sensation she had recently learned of and rolled toward the wash basin with a groan, holding her hands over her groin until she could reach a towel.
"Ewwwww," she groaned, "What IS this mess anyway?" as she wiped it away in disgust.
Throwing the sticky towel in the linen receptacle, Luna took a guest bath robe, more towels, and slipped to the womens' bath early before anybody else awoke.
While she was in the bath, she took a moment to examine her self and although it made no sense, it was clearly a part of her body now, wherever it came from.
"Where did it come from?" she frowned as she did her best to stuff it back inside her, "Is this some by product of the curse plague? Or have I always had this?" she wondered very alarmed and aware that this was not how girls are supposed to be.
She heard voices and footsteps coming down the hallway and hurried up to leap out of the bath with a towel wrapped securely around her midsection, then slipping on the guest bathrobe, tying it tighter than she usually would have.
Passing by Lina who was groggy and disheveled, she nervously slipped on up to her own room, which she almost got into without challenge, but that Fillia stepped out, just pulling her door closed and backed into her, making her squeak in surprise, "Oop!" as she spun to see Fillia was also startled.
"I'm terribly sorry -" Fillia began her seeming new ritual of apologies.
"No-no-no-no!" Luna rebutted, "I'm the one who must apologize to you!" she said in a rather odd, slightly frightened tone.
"For what Miss Luna?" came the confused inquiry.
"Oh..." then she remembered that it was only a dream. A very very realistic dream, but a dream nonetheless, "Well, ummm..." thinking hastily, "Well for bumping into you just now!"
"But-" Fillia began to protest.
Chuckling loudly to cut her off, she went on to say, "Well its nothing anyway, lets just forget about it and go have breakfast, shall we? I'm starved!"
This worked well for Fillia, who replied, "Umm...Okay," then looking at Luna's robes, "But you may want to change first."
With more nervous laughter, Luna replied, "Oh..heh-heh, yeah!"
Ep 9, Chapter 4
Breakfast was served to the four adventurers, and as they ate, they spoke of the current state of things.
"Okay people," Luna announced, Before we can resolve this problem, we needed to know what is written on the talismans so we have some idea how to resolve it."
"I agree that we have to know what is written on it, but for that we need a lore master or the Claire Bible." Fillia countered. "Where would we find such a person?"
"Oh! Hey!" Gourry raised his hand, "I know someone!"
"Who would you know, blockhead?" Lina growled at him disdainfully.
"That girl Sylphiel!" he protested, "She knows all kinds of stuff!"
"Well I can't believe it!" Lina regarded Gourry incredulously, "A real valid honest to gods IDEA for a change!"
To this he simply got a glum look at her left handed compliment. "You're welcome." he replied glumly, dropping his chin into his palm.
Well then everybody," Luna declared, "We know where we need to go next!" then remembering the talisman, "But before we go, I have to drop this off with poppa to see if it will help him get well or at lease buy us some time while we find the real cure!"
Alyth stood at the doorway and waved them off into the distance as she was prone to do, an then turned back inside, saying toward Bruno, "I do hope they save us all."
"Yes my love," his rich voice came through the kitchen serving window, "We all do." after a brief pause, he repeated, "We all do."
