Chapter 1-Greetings Selene
It was the last day of a long summer. The sun rose over the sleeping city of
Cehpied, nestled along the river 'God's Flow'. Merchants opened shop and bakers
removed fresh baked bread from ovens. And soon to be students unwillingly got out of
bed; it was time for them to register in the schools that they would be slaving away in for
the next year or so.
Heading north along 'God's Flow', a traveler would encounter a school for the
particularly gifted and skilled. Resting atop a lonely mesa amid a lush evergreen forest
rose the mighty Slayers Academy. Six gothic spires that represented the different levels of
the academy reached above the tops of the pines towards the skies. The rest of the school
sprawled out amongst pines, blending in with the forest, yet intimidating visitors with
its size. Large green creeper vines grew along the walls and framed the large intricate
windows of the Academy. The Slayers Academy was truly school amongst schools, and
students everywhere longed to be accepted to the academy. It was by far the least prison
like school in the Cephied area.
However, to Selene Lunar, the Slayers Academy was just another school, just
another prison. She stood before the gated entrance to the academy, staring at the school
motto engraved on the gate: "The light amist the darkness." A small sigh escaped from her
lips.
That's not right, Selene thought. This is the armpit of darkness.
The light breeze tousled Selene's long brown hair across her shoulders of her loose
green tunic. Her sharp hazel eyes bored into the motto sign, and she wished it would just
burn away. Eventually, she pulled her gaze away and headed into the grounds. As Selene
wandered around the school, she noticed that the campus was rather empty of people. She
began to wonder if this was the correct day for registration, that perhaps she came a week
early.
"Of course this is the day of registration," she reassured herself. "I've been dreading
this day for months. Well at least my mother isn't registering me this year. I would die if
she tried that again."
Selene didn't exactly agree with her mother on many things, but they both agreed
that Selene should become more responsible for herself. She was a 4th year student after
all, with only two long years left in her school/prison term. However, she had spent her
first two years in 3 other schools. Her transfer to the Slayers Academy during her 3rd year
was turning out to be a good move, but the she had trouble dealing with the student body.
During Selene's beginnings at the Slayers Academy, she had kept mostly to
herself, as making friends might cause her trouble. She did make a few friends, though,
and at the top of the small pile was a set of twins, Crescent and Celeste Moonstorm:
identical in looks(to a point) but very different in character. These sisters had introduced
Selene to their rather large circle of friends, and she became mildly popular amongst them.
She also met their older brother, Moggy. During that encounter, she came to the startling
discovery that he was in a rather amorous relationship with Lina Inverse's older sister,
Luna- a fact not well known in the Academy. A fact that Selene had stored away for later
use on a rainy day, as she knew blackmail was a useful tool.
Selene shook herself from her thoughts as she came to the Registrar's Office. She
inhaled deeply, uttered a small prayer under her breath, and strode through the double
doors.
Were she proceeded to walk into another student, causing them both to tumble.
As Selene rose, she gazed about the large office took in the action. The scene before her
was chaotic at best. In the large office were crammed a hundred or so students and
several teachers. The teachers were engaged in a futile effort to maintain order while
signing up students to there respective classes and dorms. People were shouting to be
heard, and more people were shouting louder to be heard over them. The volume grew
and grew to raucously loud pitch. Students could be seen being squeezed in the mob, and
several students were 'misplaced'.
As she stared at the insanity, a single thought popped into her mind- "Oh hell.
Now I'm really screwed. No one in here knows what they're doing!" After realizing this
she turned the full force of here glare onto the student she had bumped into.
Crescent
By the late afternoon, the temperature had dropped drastically, and the wind had
picked up in intensity. The lone figure walking towards the edge of Cephied pulled her
coat closer to her body. She stumbled, and the books she was carrying were dropped.
She stooped to pick them up, and at that moment, a sudden gust of wind blasted her.
"Great," sighed Crescent. She re-wrapped the coat around herself and picked up
the many books. "Its definitely going to snow this winter, maybe even in the fall." I just
wish that I could find a coat that actually fit, my, ugh, body. Crescent let out another
sigh.
Crescent came from a rather normal family. Aside from the great curse that had
been put on them long ago, it was an average family indeed. Crescent's grandfather had
been a ambitious person in his youth, and had performed deeds that no one would have
been proud of. The grandfather had cursed the gods, and in return, the gods had cursed
him, and all his descendants. It was even rumored that the curse was a joint effort of Lord
Ruby Eyes and the Flare Dragon God Cephied. The extent of the curse was variable:
those under the curse would turn into man-beasts when they became too emotional.
For Crescent, the curse turned her into a bird creature, complete with wings, tail
feathers, horns, and talons for hands and feet. Much of it had been avoided, as Crescent
was normally a calm person. Unfortunately, an event had transpired over the summer that
had caused her to keep her wings permanently. No matter how hard she tried, they simply
would not go away and worse was that the transforation happened more easily.
Crescent had still not grown used to the burden when registration
day rolled around, and she worried what her friends and peers would think.
When Crescent thought about it, the wings were not that bad. She now could fly(if
she ever got over her embarrassment of having wings), and the wing color was pretty.
They were a golden brown at the top and faded to white towards the tips. Still, Crescent
was certain that her dorm roommate would faint dead at the sight of her, and she dreaded
the trip back to the Academy.
Crescent neared the city limits, and she paused to make sure no one was around.
As long as she had them, she might as well make use of the wings, and she decided to fly
back. With the cargo textbooks, it would be easier than walking, and she might even
impress some one with a graceful landing. As she was about to remove the coat for take
off, she heard someone behind her."
"Hey there, lil' missy, what yah hidin under the coat?" said a young cocksure
voice.
Crescent turned to confront the voice to find herself partially surrounded by four guys.
"Nothing," she stammered. "What do you want?"
"Just some fun," said the boy who owned the voice. Crescent decided he was the
leader. He edged closer in a rather obvious attempt to make a pass at her. "My names
Duran. Its kinda dangerous to be walking out here by yerself." A lopsided smile appeared
on his face.
Crescent backed away slowly and considered her options. She was a magically
inclined, but it was forbidden to use magic within city limits. Crescent was also well
trained in martial arts, but she was outnumbered, and the boys appeared to be no slouches,
either. She was about to make a break for it when she backed into a fifth guy who
immediately grabbed Crescent's wrists. Crescent let out a small shout and spun about,
kneeing the assailant in the crotch. He let go and collapsed to the ground writhing in
agony.
"We got a frisky one here," shouted Duran as he charged towards Crescent. With
her eyes ablaze, she vaulted over his shoulder and spun in the air and kicked him in the
ass, sending him flying into a nearby tree.
When Crescent landed she immediately collapsed to the floor. A wave of nausea
swept over her. She looked at her hands and saw that they had begun to change.
"Not now," Crescent pleaded with her body. She saw the five boys circle her
warily as they stared at her hands and the horns that formed above her eyebrows. Crescent
felt the tail feathers grow and her shoes rip open as her feet changed to talons.
Duran frowned, "Looks like we've got a monster on our hands." He step towards
her as two of his buddies grabbed her wrist and effectively restraining her. "I bet I know
what she's hiding under that jacket. Lets see if I'm right, shall we?" He ripped of her
jacket revealing her, of course, her fabulous, but now useless, wings. Crescent had fully
transformed into the bird harpy, and she was very weak.
"Please," Crescent whispered, "leave me alone."
A smirk crossed his face. "Of course we can't do that. You pranced around
making fools of us. You need to be, ah, ......punished," he said with acid in his voice.
Duran signaled to the other two guys and they came over and pinioned her, forcing her to
the ground. They began to pluck feathers from her wings causing excruciating pain to
spasm her back. Crescent was lost in a panicked thought, trying to figure out why she
was so weak. The answer was simply that the emotion that caused her to change was
fear, and fear induced weakness which controlled her body.
Just my luck, she thought. How am I going to get out of this ?
As Crescent's hope began to fade with the onslaught of pain, another unfamiliar
voice called out.
"Leave her alone," said the calm, even voice.
Duran spun about to face the source of the voice and came face to face with a blue
skinned man with rock like growths on his skin. Mustering up all his bravado, Duran
issued a feeble retort.
"You cant tell me what to do," he said. "Wait, yer another monster, aren't ya, and
yer tryin to save yer species. I hear its endangered!" With that, the whole group fell to the
floor laughing.
The calm blue skinned man simply pulled out a sword.
The group stopped laughing. The guys holding Crescent's wrists let go, and she
rose to her knees to see what was happening. Duran had drawn a sword also and he and
the blue skinned man were circling each other.
"You wanna fight, eh weirdo?" Duran said.
"Not really, but if you insist," his opponent replied. Duran raised his sword and
charged forward, the blue skinned man merely side stepped and tripped him. Duran
sprawled onto the ground, but to the amazement of Crescent, he recovered quite nimbly,
flipping himself onto his feet.
Duran studied the blue skinned man that had just floored him, then decided quickly
on another course of action. "Fireball!" he shouted, and a red burning orb of flaming mass
shot from his hand towards the blue skinned man, who simply side stepped again. The
fireball continued past him and headed towards the members of Duran's gang,...and
Crescent.
This is not good, she thought. She cringed as the ball neared and right about when
it was going to hit, she felt herself being moved. The fire ball hit and exploded, to
Crescent's amazement, a good 50 feet away from were she currently was. She looked up
and saw the blue skinned man standing over her.
He must've used a teleport spell, she guessed. Very smooth.
Duran let out a curse as he saw his four 'henchmen' burned to a crisp. "God damn
it all."
"You know, what you just did was sort of...illegal," said the blue skinned man in
that calm tone of his.
"Shut yer face!" Duran shouted, spittle flying everywhere. He was now obviously
quite disturbed, and flames could be seen dancing in his eyes. "Now you die, blue boy!!"
And Duran charged forward, sword raised high. This time the blue skinned man met
Duran's sword with his own, and steel rang on steel. Duran was lashing out violently,
while the blue skinned man was making well calculated moves. The battle lasted for a few
minutes, but the blue skinned man slipped on a loose cobble stone, opening his guard up
to Duran's attack. His aim was true, and Duran's sword went straight into the blue
skinned man's stomach. The sword promptly shattered into hundreds off pieces.
Crescent gasped. So did Duran. The blue skinned man simply looked at Duran and
raised an eyebrow.
"Need a new sword?"
Duran stammered for words. "But-b-but...I...ah.."
The blue skinned man moved forward and Duran spun on his heels and took flight.
The blue skinned man moved towards Crescent and kneeled next to her.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
Great, Crescent thought, now he thinks I'm a wimp. She stood up as she reverted
back to normal, except, of course, for the wings. "I'm fine. I'm fine. Just a little shaken."
She looked at the man and finally noticed the odd rock growths on his skin that seemed to
define his features. His hair was of a even darker blue than his skin. Crescent realized she
had been staring, and she quickly averted her eyes and stared at the ground. "Sorry to
have caused you trouble," she mumbled.
"That's okay," he replied. "Just try and stay out of it."
Crescent realized she was being chastised by someone her own age, and that irked
her. As she felt her strength return, her anger returned as well. "Hey!" she shouted, "its
not my fault that they attacked me!"
"Oh really? Then whose fault is it? Mine? If you hadn't noticed, your aren't exactly
in the safest part of the city. Maybe you should stop walking with your head in the clouds
and pay attention to where you are going. Then maybe people wouldn't have to rescue
you!"
"I didn't ask you for your help, thank you very much!"
"I know, you were to busy being pinned to the ground!"
"Why you little insignificant......" Crescents words trailed off as her anger
consumed her and her transformation happened again. She collected the books and took
off. After a few minutes in the coolin air, she realized that she had not gotten the man's
name, and she regretted this the more she thought about it.
Celeste
Celeste Moonstorm stood amidst the many kiosks that were selling all sorts of
clothing. Her shoulders were slumped forward in the poise of utter boredom. She
normally loved shopping, but not when she has to spend money on things she didn't want.
Like the school's uniforms. "This is soooo boring," she whispered. "Why do they make us
wear these stupid uniforms?!"
"You know perfectly well why we have to," relied Sylpheil, smiling at Celeste as
she handed her a maroon knee length skirt with gold trim. She searched around one
kiosk and found the rest of the uniform, a white sailor top with maroon trim and a gold
scarf. "Just think what some people would wear if there wasn't a uniform." A mental
image of Naga in her barely-qualifies-as-clothing outfit flashed in both the girls minds, and
they shuddered in disgust.
"I guess you're right," sighed Celeste. "But why is it such horrible colors?"
Sylpheil giggled. "Is there anything you do not complain about?"
"What do you mean?!" Celeste asked over defensively.
"Oh...nevermind. Lets go pay for these and find the guys."
"Sure , sure. Oh, and can you believe these outrageous prices?!"
2 hours later
"Where are they!!!," Celeste yelled, Syphiel cringed, it was not normally very
healthy to make Celeste mad and the boys knew this. So where were they? Suddenly
Syphiel remembered something. Carefully she approached Celeste and put a restraining
hand on her shoulder.
"Calm down, Celeste," Syphiel whispered, "You wouldn't want to 'change' right
here in the middle of the town, would you?" Celeste shook her head.
"Good, now we must think. Where would the boys want to go-"
"Even if we told them not to-" Celeste added.
"And even if they knew they would get in trouble." Syphiel finished.
"The Bazaar." Both girls said it together.
Celeste darted off grabbing Syphiel by the hand as she went. Soon they were at an
alleyway between two small buildings. Music and shouting could be heard from the
alleyway and above it was a sign that read; The Bazaar! The girls entered the area which
was crowded with dancers, merchants, and civilians. Celeste grinned evilly and Syphiel
knew she had something in store for Romulus.
"Oh Celeste," Syphiel pleaded with her friend, "Don't be too harsh on Gourry and
Romulus. You know they can hardly resist a good party or anything like that."
"Yeah, one with many scantily clad girls around." Celeste muttered. "don't worry
Sylphiel," she continued leading her friend through the Bazaar, "Gourry has nothing to
worry about, he'd be to dimwitted to cheat on you, it's Romulus I'd pray for." Finally
they arrived at a small both, decorated in some sort of Arabian motif. "Aha!" Celeste
exclaimed, Syphiel glanced around.
"What is it?" she asked, "I don't see the guys anywhere."
"Of course not," Celeste replied, "They would know better than to be out in the
open. But look, there is another room that goes with this booth. It's where I usually find
Romulus hiding." She laughed manniachly and dragged Sylphiel through the door. On
the other side they found a room full of male and female entertainers dancing, talking, and
flirting with the guests. Sylphiel wondered if they could really find the boys in here, since
there were so many people walking around. She had no reason to worry because Celeste
spotted them instantly and again pulled her along.
They walked up behind the boys who were unaware of their presence. Romulus
was flirting with one of the entertainers while Gourry stood behind him, gulping down a
foreign drink. The entertainer saw the girls approach but said nothing, instead smiling to
let them know she saw them.
"So what do you say?" Romulus leaned forward, "Someone like you must be a
fabulous dancer."
"Oh, I don't know," the girl replied, "I was really sent here to give you a
message."
"What message?"
"Oh, one from these two girls," the entertainer winked, "Something about you not
being somewhere..."
Romulus straitened up and glanced around. "Gourry, you don't see the girl
anywhere, do you."
"Uhhhh..."
"Nevermind," Romulus turned back to the girl, "If they were here they'd have fried
our asses by now. I mean-"
"That's right," Celeste shouted, finally showing herself, "I would and will fry your
asses!" Sylphiel followed Celeste. The entertainer laughed and glided away.
"Gypsies," Romulus muttered, "You never can trust 'em."
"Well you shouldn't have been here anyway. Come on Sylphiel, grab your man
and lets go." Gourry looked up from the platter of food he had managed to get.
"Eh?"
"Just come Gourry," Sylphiel said, "You shouldn't eat Bazaar food, it's terribly
unhealthy for you. I'll make you a good healthy meal when we get to the dorms." Gourry
smiled and stood.
"Sure Sylphiel," he grinned, "I always like your cooking best." Celeste and
Romulus watched the two go on like this for awhile.
"How come I can't get punished like Gourry?" Romulus whined.
Celeste growled, "Now what would be the fun of that. And besides, I can't cook."
"You sure got that right."