L'risia broke away from Lina's chokehold and rubbed her neck.
'Ow.' She muttered.
'How-do-you-know-about-Dynast?' Filia asked, her mace out. L'risia sighed and got back in her seat, waiting for her companions to stop talking.
'Well- it sort of goes back a long way-' Kai'ila began. 'L'risia! You write stories! You tell them!'
L'risia went bug-eyed.
'Me? I can't talk for that long!'
'Just do it!' Cleo snapped, and looked at the table. 'Hey Gourry! That was MY JELLYBEAN YOU PIG!!'
Ignoring the argument going on in the background, L'risia waved her hands.
'What the HELL?' Lina and Zelgadis shouted. They now stood in front of a beautiful lake, mountains in the background and the grass blowing around their ankles.
'I tell stories here.' L'risia said from where she was sitting in a tree. Lina turned around and narrowed her eyes.
'You wouldn't be Xelloss's sister would you?'
'You're a lot closer than you may realise.' The cobalt-haired girl said wryly. Xelloss blinked. Before anyone could react, L'risia shut her eyes and settled back against the trunk.
'This is where we sit down.' Cleo reminded the group, pausing yelling at Gourry. Everyone obediently sat down and fixed their eyes on the strange young storyteller.
'A very long time ago when the Ancient Dragons were still alive and well, L-sama decided she needed some other people with powers of both light and dark- so she created the Priestesses of Ancient Chaos. The eldest of these was Cleopatra, a tall blonde dressed in purple and possibly the loudest of the trio. Cleo usually took charge of bossing the Ancient Dragons around- er- although she wouldn't put it quite like that. Advising them, for want of a better word, when they swayed to either side of their unusual powers. It was important for them to remain neutral- destruction from the Golden Dragons or the Mazoku was always a threat. The second eldest, created a day after Cleo, was Kai'ila, a redhead with a happiness complex and dressed in a sunshine yellow. Kai'ila, while not sharing Cleo's passion for the social life of the world, usually accompanied her and looked after the children of the Dragons, and the least easy to anger of the trio L-sama created. The youngest was L'risia, a girl of dark blue hair and dressed in black, much to the consternation of her companions. L'risia was the quietest of the three and spent much of her time reading to anyone who would listen, and took up a role as the teacher of the legends and races to the Dragons, and keeping an eye on the world outside the keep. '
'What happened?' Amelia asked.
'Ssh.' Zelgadis hushed her as L'risia continued.
'After a while, L'risia noticed the Golden Dragons fear of the Ancient Dragons. By this time the Priestesses had been around for so long, the leaders of the Ancients barely listened to their advice anymore, fancying they knew enough from the previous thousands of years of observation and guidance. She went to Cleo and Kai'ila, who warned the leaders of the possible danger. One dragon listened- his name was Val Agres.'
Filia's blue eyes widened and then narrowed and Cleo, who was eating jellybeans. Cleo smiled sadly.
'Too bad no one else listened.' Xelloss commented. Kai'ila brought her elbow down on his head and L'risia paused, waiting for silence. Kai'ila sat on Xelloss's chest and shoved a sick into his mouth. Filia giggled at the Trickster Priest's expression.
'Keep going, L'ri.'
'Take the sock out of his mouth, Kai'ila, we didn't do the washing this week.'
Xelloss spat out the sock. 'EEEEEW!' he yelled, sounding like a child. 'Gomen ne, L'ri- please continue, I will sort out Kai'ila later.'
'You can TRY.'
'Shut up!'
'….' L'ri managed, before shrugging and continuing. 'Val told a few outside the leaders, but of course no one would listen, having felt secure for so long. He eventually gave up, and when and attack didn't come, he dismissed the priestesses' warnings as speculation. A few years later, the Golden Dragons struck. The carnage was horrible and within a week it was all over and the once peaceful keep of Ancient Dragons blood-soaked and smelling of burnt and mauled flesh. Even the children were killed, the Golden Dragons so through in their fear of the mysterious and unusual powers of the Ancient Dragons. With the deaths of hundreds, the three priestesses became weak and almost powerless. They had killed a few attacking dragons, but not succeeded in defending their- what they termed cousins. The Golden Dragons found they could not touch the trio, and dismissed them as un-important, leaving the keep drenched in death and carnage. The three left the keep, destroying every trace that it was ever there and regained their strength in a small deserted temple on a mountain close to their old home. Then they realised Val Arges was alive. They watched him curse, wounded, but they were still too weak to help him, when Gaav came to him. And the rest of his life, you know. Through Valgaav's life as part dragon-part-Mazoku, we regained our power, leaving us as we are now, though not as powerful as we once were. L-sama sort of gets us to do odd jobs around the place, which is how we know about Dynast. I was there last year actually- then Zelgadis arrived, in the process saving Dynast's butt.'
L'risia smiled ruefully and shook her head, shrugging. 'I'll get him back later.'
The group blinked at her.
'So that's what you meant when you said you were related to Xelloss-'
'In a way, yes, personally I think L'risia is just a shy version of Xelloss crossed with Zelgadis, she's really moody-'
'Thanks.' L'risia said sarcastically. 'You're really nice, Cleo. Thankyou.'
'Anytime!'
'L-sama-Beastmaster- Xelloss- so, what you'd be like Xelloss's great-aunts?' Gourry asked. L'risia fell out of her tree laughing. Cleo collared him.
'IF YOU EVER INSINUATE THAT I'M THAT OLD AGAIN-'
'But you are.' Zelgadis said calmly. Cleo gave him a death glare.
'Fine, just DON'T MENTION IT!'
Xelloss burst into giggles along with Kai'ila and L'risia. Gourry scratched his head, and Filia looked annoyed, and Amelia, Lina and Zel shrugged at each other.
'Probably runs in the family.'
They were back in the real world, and L'risia blinked at a young man waiting for them, feet up on the table.
'How come he looks like Carrot Glace?' Kai'ila asked her. L'risia shrugged.
'I'll never get used to it either.'
'Who's Carrot Glace?' Cleo asked. L'risia said and folded her arms.
'Cleo- never mind. We've got bigger problems.'
'THAT'S DYNAST?' Lina demanded.
'Yeah.'
'What's wrong Lina?' Xelloss grinned.
'He just looks- sort of- wet.'
Xelloss giggled in his fruitcake manner as Amelia agreed.
'Well, yeah, but Xelloss doesn't usually look like a General-Priest of the Beastmaster either.' Kai'ila said. Xelloss laughed harder.
'It's all part of my genius!' he announced, doing an Amelia impression, teleporting onto of the table.
'I see you haven't changed in the least, Xelloss.' Dynast smirked. Xelloss grinned at him.
'Not in the least.'
Dynast gripped the edge of the table and turned it over with a flick of his little finger, sending the trickster headlong into the wall on the over side of the room. Zelgadis caught a flying cream pie.
'Oh- raspberries too.' He said, lifting up the corner. 'Would you like some Amelia?'
'Thanks!' Amelia said, getting over the little special smile Zel gave her as he tossed the pie to her. How did he know it was my favourite? She wondered, scooping out a piece with her hand and licking her fingers. Kai'ila, across the room watched the little exchange and nodded to L'risia, who grinned in return.
'Amelia! Don't eat all of it!' Lina said, making a beeline for it. Amelia dodged out of her way. Lina overbalanced and fell face-first on the ground.
'hehe!'
'Amelia! Gimme that pie it's the only thing not destroyed!'
'SO go to the kitchen!'
'I WANT IT NOW!'
'No way!'
'Let's settle this then.' Lina said, fire in her eyes. Amelia passed the pie to Filia. 'Look after this please, Filia-san.'
The girls stalked to opposite end of the dining hall.
'Excuse me!' Dynast yelled. 'HELLO? I'M A DARK LORD AND YOU'RE FIGHTING OVER A CREAM PIE?!?!'
'Shut up, this is important!'
'Come on Lina!' Gourry cheered. Xelloss produced flags in each hand, one saying 'Go Lina!', the other saying, 'Go Amelia!'
'YAY WHOEVER LOOKS LIKE WINNING!' he shouted, waving them frantically. Filia smashed him with her mace.
'Namagomi!'
'Ten paces then shoot.' L'risia called, counting. 'Eight! Seven! Six! Five!-' Kai'ila and Cleo hid behind the table. Zelgadis leapt over to join them as L'risia broke off to scurry behind a clock. She reached out and tossed Gourry to Zel.
'Four!' now everyone joined in as the two girls took the steps forward, backs to each other and hands free. 'Three!'
Kai'ila put her hands over her head and Xelloss handed around army hard-hats.
'Two!'
They lay down on the ground.
'One!'
'BURST RONDO!'
'BRAM GUST!'
Author Note- Thnx to all the people who reviewed!! I have exams coming up so the chapters might be a bit slow for a week or so! Gomen ne I'll keep trying to get the chapters up!!
Ja ne!
StarChibi ^_^
