Destiny's Choice
Part I - Takao
By XellGadis



"Hm? What's going on?" I pulled out a pad of paper from my pack and started scribbling down information about my surroundings. The guys won't believe what just happened. Here I was, in the middle of some forest in the middle of nowhere. There was some barely audible noise coming from the west so I decided to check it out. What I saw was either a good thing, or a bad thing. Well the good thing is that I found water, but the bad thing is that I see people. Friend, or foe? I don't know. Hey... that rhymed ^-^. Hiding behind some bushes, I saw five people, travelers perhaps. Some are wearing capes... and carrying swords?
"What the hell? Where AM I!!!" I thought. Well by what I can see, one redhead girl, a blonde swordsman, a really weird looking guy with a sword, a girl wearing white, and some guy with purple hair carrying a staff. Yeesh. I swear, I got pulled into one of those videogames I play. Probably one of the RPGs. Well the redhead seemed to be fishing while the others were just sitting around and starting a small fire. The guy with the staff was sitting in a tree... In a tree... looking straight at me.
I crept away from the area. After walking around aimlessly in the forest, I heard more voices, loud voices. Peeking behind a tree, there were about a dozen or more guys carring huge axes and swords. Probably mercenaries, or bandits. I was able to barely hear in on a conversation they were having.
"Didja find them?"
"No, but they're somewhere in this forest."
"Good. Search for them more."
I wanted to hear a little better, so I decided to move closer to what they were saying. As I did, I accidentally stepped on some brush, which made a small crackle. Although it was faint, they heard me. I saw them turn in my direction, and that was the last I saw of them.
A map. A map of the area is exactly what I need. What I need is to find the direction 'out'. I was now running through the forest as an arrow whizzed right past me and struck a tree. I knew there would be more, so I didn't bother to look back. A small sting began to form in my cheek. I must have been cut by the arrow. Wiping the blood, I continued on my unknown path. I heard water up ahead. Perhaps that was the river I had seen before. When I got to the river, I decided to head upstream, hoping to find the travelers I saw. After a bit, I didn't hear any noise so I decided to take a drink in the river. The water was clear and it looked pretty safe. Anyways, some is better than none. I sat down to take a breath for a moment. Checking what time it was, I noticed that my watch had stopped. What luck.
I got up and began to continue walking along the river when an arrow was fired straight at me and hit me on the leg. Cringing with pain, I tried to continue, but the pain was too great. I forced myself to stop. The arrow and went right through the muscle. Checking my leg, I sad down alongside the river, rinsing some of the blood. The cold water stung the cut at first, then my leg went a little numb. I'm not too sure if it was the injury or the water. In a moment or two, I could hear hollering. The men had completely surrounded me. One guy, probably the leader, had some disgusted look on his face.
"We go on a long chase and all we find is some kid?" He seemed pretty pissed off.
"Boss, if it really was Lina Inverse, don't you think someone would have heard a spell?"
"Don't question me! Well kid..." The big guy had some evil grin on his face. It made me feel like I'd have been better off if I had taken out the arrow and bled for who-knows-how long. Oh crap. He's taking out some big-ass sword. I'm gonna die.... and I'm only sixteen... and I don't even know where I am. Now he's really giving the "I'm gonna kill you" look. That sword... rusty... oh great... If I don't die of getting chopped to bits, I'll probably die of tetanis deteria or something. Maybe I could jump into the river.. but either way, I'm gonna die...
"Huh?" I saw something in the corner of my eye. It was too fast for me to see what it really was, but it was black. I looked around. Two of the guys had run from the forest, and were instantly incenerated. I felt a large gust of wind, and sitting down must have saved me. A few of the men were knocked into the river. I saw a few flashes of light, and more of the guys collapsed. Soon, only the leader was standing. He looked around, puzzled. That girl I saw earlier came from the forest.
"Lina Inverse. Prepare to die!" The leader had charged straight at her with his sword swinging. She sidestepped his attack and jumped a distance back.
"FIREBALL!" she yelled out. Soon, a ball of flames appeared in her hands and it was aimed straight at the guy. He was struck by the attack and flew into the river. Soon, the other four came.
"Why do I even bother with these morons..." she said. Noticing that they weren't here to kill me, I decided to try my luck.
"Uhh... Hello...." I stuttered. All of them looked at me.
"Who's he?"
"Dunno"
"How am I suppossed to know?"
"Uh.. Can you help me out here?" I asked. The girl in white walked up to me.
"Okay! I'll have you fine in a minute." She then pulled out the arrow from my leg. The pain nearly killed me. The blood flowed heavily and I could have swore that if I hadn't died of blood loss I would have died of pain. What happened next was more shocking than the pain. Actually, it made the sting disappear.
"Recovery!" A soft white light appeared in her hands and she directed it at my injury. The whole time she was smiling. Soon after, the blood flow had stopped, the pain had ceased, and me leg felt back to normal. I was able to stand again.
"Thanks" I held out my hand and smiled. I'm Takao Kasheru. She grinned back and shook my hand.
"Not a problem. I'm Amelia Wil Tessa de Seryunn."
"Oh yeah... do you know where I am?"
"Actually... we're kinda lost ourselves..."
"Then can I come with you? I wanna get outta here!"
"I'm not too sure.. Is it alright with you Lina, Gourry, Zelgadis, and Xellos?"
"I guess so. No problem having a little more company." Gourry said.
"I don't care. Do what you want." Zelgadis remarked.
"As long I don't have to do something crazy like marrying him. I'm fine." Lina said. I wonder why she said that.
"Xellos?" Amelia asked. Xellos disappeared and reappeared right next to me. He stared at me for a second.
"Well?"
"Eh.... you can just forget about him. He'll come and go as he pleases." Lina said. She then stood up to head back to the clearing they had started on setting up camp. As we walked over to the clearing, I had a small chat with the people I just met. Apparantly Zelgadis is a shaman, but due to a curse, he is part demon, part golem, and part human. That explains his odd appearance and why he doesn't get near water.
"So how did you get here?" Amelia asked me.
"Well... It's a rather weird story. To be exact, I don't even know how I got here. I was with some of my friends on a camping trip. There was a rock slide or something and I fell down a cliff. The next moment I ended up here." I explained. Lina had stopped walking.
"A dimensional tear..."
"Eh? Thats what it was? It seems so medival here I didn't think that there have been any scientific discoveries."
"If it was a dimensional tear, it doesn't exactly mean that you are from this world. It doesn't even mean that you came from the future or anything. Its just an alternate dimension."
"Lina, how do you know about this type of stuff?"
"Dark Star, he's sealed in an alternate dimension and there were five holy weapons that were used to seal him."
"There was a seal?"
"Yeah, so maybe the world you came from had a seal that was broken. That's probably how you were able to get here." Zelgadis concluded.
"Uhh.. what are you talking about?" Gourry asked. It became clear to me that Lina and Zelgadis had some deal of knowledge, but Gourry appeared to be a total moron. It also seemed that magic existed since I'm in a totally different world. For some reason, I had a weird feeling that Xellos was watching me closely. I have no clue why.
We arrived at the clearing and Lina had sat down on a large rock and began fishing again. She caught a number of fish using her magic, and we sat around a fire roasting them. One thing that amazes me is their eating habits. Lina must have caught half the river, and yet she and Gourry were fighting over the last fish. At least they have coffee here. Well I'll be traveling with them for a bit, so I'd better get used to their company. I'm still trying to figure out how and why I got here. But maybe Zelgadis is right. Maybe there is a dimensional seal that was broken. There are times I just wish I could be home. Now is one of those times.


---------------------------------------------------------
End - Part 1 - Takao

E-Mail: XellGadis@hotmail.com

Note: All Slayers characters belong to their respected copyrighters and not me. Please don't sue me.