Slayers TIME
Chapter 5- Fireside Chats
"So tell me again how you know this girl," Greven asked, folding his arms across his chest. The foursome was walking along the road, now to the east towards Atlas. They had slept wearily last night, deciding to double up on guard duty. Breaking camp the next day had been somber as well. Very few words were exchanged between the travelers and their travel day had been going near four hours before Greven decided to break the silence.
They now moved parallel to the mountain range they had been approaching before. The landscape was beginning to open up before them, though the spiny peaks were bending off to the north as the group moved east. The coming of spring was quite clear on most of the country side, the rolling hills that stretched beyond them all beginning to come alive again with green. The beaten dirt path that they walked along was even showing signs of life, the edge of the grass beginning to encroach upon it. It was somewhat ironic that life was blooming all around them as they all felt the pressures of potential destruction.
"I don't know how she did it, but she was definitely showed up in my dreams two nights ago," Lina said. "I thought I had just made her up until I woke to find Amelia had actually been kidnapped, just like Rani had warned in my dream. Needless to say, I think her actually existence seals the deal that she's real and Amelia's probably in trouble."
"How could she have gotten into your dreams, though?" Kreutz asked. Lina shrugged.
"It requires a good bit of magical power. I was involved in something similar when I was on Mipross Island and one of Gourry's ancestors found his way into my dreams."
"One of my ancestors?" Gourry asked. Lina sighed, then got angry.
"Yes, you idiot!" Lina screamed. "Don't tell me you forgot about Roudy and everything that I told you about him!"
"I seem to recall something of that nature," Gourry admitted. "But I don't remember anything about you running around with one of my relatives."
"He had the Sword of Light, jellyfish brains," Lina said, his eyes going flat. "The same sword that you carry around with you. Trust me on this one, Gourry. For once in your life can you please just get a clue?"
"Can I, around here? There haven't been any stores for awhile..." Gourry mused. Lina nearly fell down, but Kreutz caught her arm at the last second.
"Never mind," Lina said, slapping herself in the head (Gourry said a silent thanks that it wasn't him). "The point is that it's possible to go wandering through peoples' dreams, its just magic that I don't know how to use." She turned to Kreutz and Greven. "Neither of you to has any experience with Dreamwalking, do you?" Her friends managed a shrug.
"It's probably a derivative of chi of sorts," Greven said. "You know, like locking on to someone's astral signal and manipulating it to think that they're seeing you in their dreams."
"Chi?" Gourry asked. "What's chi?" Lina's eyes went wide.
"You mean you've never heard of it?!" she demanded, jumping up and grabbing him by the collar. "For gods' sake's, Gourry, this is almost a new low!"
Gourry put with his hand to his chin. "Well, I'd say that 'cause we're still on a hill, it's not really a new low," he said, missing the point, "But no, I don't know what it is." Lina released her dimwitted companion, glancing blankly at Greven.
"You're the one who uses is, Greven," she said. "Why don't you take care of this one." Greven shrugged.
"It's pretty simple, actually," Greven explained to Gourry. "You know how spells from Black and White magic involve manipulating the powers from Mazoku and Dragons, right?" Gourry cocked his head sideways the way a dog does when it's confused.
"Maybe that's over his head," Lina said.
"Hmm." Greven said. "Well, basically, chi is like using the energy that you have in yourself instead of borrowing from the energy from someplace else. It differs from shamanism in that instead of taking any type of astral energy and transferring it into a spell, you take your own astral energy and create an extension of your own power. Does that make any sense?"
"So it's kind of like the Sword of Light, right?" Gourry asked.
"No, you idiot!" Lina said. "It's nothing like" she paused and gave her companion's statement some thought. She then also cocked her head sideways for a moment. "Oh, wow," she said finally. "Actually, it kind of is like the Sword of Light." She paused her rant and scratched her head, surprised by her companion's correct answer.
"The Sword of Light naturally draws out your own astral energy, amplifying it into a blade," Greven explained. "So yeah, that's actually a reasonably accurate comparison."
"Okay, I think I follow," Gourry said, nodding slowly.
"It's not practiced as heavily as shamanism because the caster has to have a strong connection to their astral energies. It's kind of like black magic and white magic in that there's more than just practice to it. Some of it comes down to what you're naturally capable of. At any rate, though, if these guys have someone who can manipulate dreams, then he's good."
"Better than you, Greven?" Kreutz prodded with a slight smile.
"Yeah, bro," Greven agreed. "Probably better than me." Gourry nodded, attempting to recap what he just learned.
"So basically we're dealing with a bunch of really strong magic users that are good enough to sneak up on us and have also captured Amelia and want to test Lina for something that we don't know about?" Gourry summed up.
"Yup, Gourry," Lina agreed. "That sounds about right."
"Okay!" Gourry exclaimed, slamming the bottom of his fist into his opposing palm. "So, what you're saying is basically that we're in a lot of trouble!"
Everyone fell down. Even Kreutz.
"Yeah, Gourry," Lina said, climbing up. "I think that's safe to say."
"She said she'd be in touch," Kreutz said. "Do you think she means she'll talk to you in your dreams again?"
"That's what I'm willing to bet on," Lina said. "I'd imagine tonight, even. She doesn't seem like the type that beats around the bush too much. If she says we'll be in touch, I suspect I won't be waiting long."
"So we don't have too much choice besides traveling as far as we can go, setting up camp and hoping for the best," Greven concluded.
"We should probably double up on guard duty again, tonight," Lina said. "Just to be sure she's not going to show up and get 'in touch' with us in a more physical sense."
The group traveled on the rest of the day in somewhat lifted spirits. Despite the dangers still being there, talking seemed to help a great deal. Lina took this time to fully recap her own adventures over the last few years. While the story of how the brilliant and beautiful sorceress effortlessly toppled a piece of the dark lord Shabrinigdo and went on to valiantly fight off half of the Mazoku race as they tried to kill her obviously had a distinct Lina Inverse touch, they were entertaining if not at least partially true. To help make her point, Lina was always ready to strike a pose as she reached a key scene, enhancing the effect.
Since they were no longer trying to beat out other rescue teams and Amelia's safety seemed to be guaranteed as long as they followed directions, they made camp much earlier than yesterday. They ate a good chunk of the food they had left and Lina was forced to supplement the meal with a few dozen fish that she went off to catch from a nearby stream. Kreutz treated Lina and Gourry to a rarity in their travels: fish that had been skinned and gutted before eating. After a few complaints about the guts being the best part, Lina was pleased to find that fish tasted a lot better when Kreutz made them as opposed to when Gourry made them. After a couple more travel tales, Greven and Lina went to sleep while Kreutz and Gourry took the first guard. The entire campsite became markedly more quiet whilst Lina slept.
.
Lina dreamed again that night, though this time she didn't find herself surrounded by the perpetual mist that had been haunting her the last few days. Instead, she found herself in a rather pleasant environment: one of the main streets in Seyruun that she had been on only two days ago. She was sitting at an outdoor table at a small café in the theatre district. Her cape and shoulder guards were off, placed aside with her gloves. She looked down at the table in front of her and saw her reflection in a dark cup of coffee staring back at her. She looked at it for a moment before turning her head up again, her heart jumping when she saw Rani sitting across from her. The black clad woman sat smugly, sipping from a white, porcelain cup. For a moment, Lina thought that she jumped along with her heart. Rani definitely wasn't there five seconds ago, was she?
"Hello, Lina," she said coolly. "How are you doing?"
"Better that I'm not getting fireballs thrown at me!" Lina shouted in disgust. After a moment of gaining her composure, she sat back in her chair and crossed her legs. Reaching forward, she took her cup in one hand and took a sip. Some dream spirits must have been busy while she wasn't paying attention as she found her coffee now had milk and sugar in it, just the way she liked it.
"I figured you'd be more receptive to instructions in this environment," Rani said, indicating the café with a wave of her free hand.
"Well, it's an improvement over your old methods," Lina conceded.
"I said you wouldn't come to harm if you followed directions, Lina," Rani said. "Why did you feel the need to double up guard duty again?"
Great, so she's somewhere where she can see us sleeping, Lina thought.
"Just being safe," she covered. "Can't blame us, can you? You did sneak up on us pretty well last night, and Lina Inverse doesn't like being snuck up on twice by the same person. That, and I believe you just indicated that Amelia wouldn't come to harm if we followed directions."
"Your own safety was implicitly guaranteed," Rani said, drinking slowly from her cup.
"Whatever," Lina said with a shrug. "Let's get down to business, 'cause I don't have time to play around, what is this?"
"Oh, how cute," Rani said. "It rhymes." Lina scowled, eliciting a laugh from her opponent. Having her fill, Rani returned to her serious stare.
"I'll be brief, then, since you're in such a rush," she said. "In short, I want you to steal something. A simple task for you, I'm sure, but this will be what we'll call the first round of you test."
"Steal something?" Lina asked. "What something?"
"There will be an auction going on in Atlas city by the time you get there," she said. "I want you to infiltrate the compound in which it's being auctioned and steal it."
"And it is"
"An artifact."
"I'm gonna need to know more than that if you want it," she said with a sarcastic smile.
"It will be the only thing on auction. You should have no problem finding it." Lina growled.
"Fine," she snorted. "But I want to know two things first." Rani nodded. "First," Lina continued, "why can't I just bid on it and get it that way? Second, what's the deal with this testing thing? I've decided after careful consideration that I can't really comply effectively with your requests unless I know what I'm being tested for."
"The answer to the first question is, of course, because it's a test. I'm not interested in if you can buy it, Lina. I'm interested in if you can steal it. The answer to your second question is"
"I swear to the gods that if you tell me it's a secret, I'm going to kill you," Lina said.
"A secret?" Rani asked, a bit confused. "Well, I suppose it's kind of a secret," she admitted. "But I'll just say that we need to see if you'rewhat we think you are."
"For what?" Lina asked, eyes narrowed.
"I'm sorry," Rani said with a smirk, drinking the last of her coffee. "But that concludes this dream session. I will be in contact again when you complete your objective."
"Oh, no you don't!" Lina yelled, dropping her cup and leaping across the table, trying to grab her. Before the cup in the floor, though, Rani was gone and Lina was lying on the floor, grabbing nothing but air. She was quickly reminded that not only was the sidewalk hard, but feeling pain in your dreams was an ironic reality.
"Ouch, that hurt," she said, rubbing her bruised head. "Good thing it won't leave a mark." Climbing wearily to her feet, she brushed herself off and grabbed the half empty cup off of the table and downed the remainder of the coffee in one gulp. She shook her head.
"I don't like this at all," she said. "And I guess this means that normal dreaming for Lina Inverse is suspended until further notice." As if on cue, she found herself startled back into reality, Greven's hand on her shoulder, rousing her to keep watch. She couldn't help but yelp slightly, causing Greven to withdraw his hand.
"Woah, it's just me!" he said. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," she said woozily.
"Rani again?"
"Uh-huh," she said. "It looks like we need to rob some rich guy in Atlas to get some artifact that's use we don't even know about."
"Good stuff," Greven said. "At least this'll be interesting." Lina laughed.
"One thing that you always realize when you hang around me is life is always interesting. The gods seem to have some special affinity for causing me trouble." It was a nice night out, so the group had not pitched tents. Greven had awoken half an hour ago, relieving Kreutz and Gourry after the first watch. It was about four in the morning.
"You know, Rani said she'd leave us alone," Lina said. "You can go back to sleep if you like. I don't think I'll be doing much sleeping anyway."
"Nah," Greven said, shrugging if off. "It's okay. I only need about five hours of sleep a night, anywayI think."
"How do you pull that off?" she asked.
"It's all in the chi control," he said. "When you have acute control over your astral form, you can create a deeper synchronization between it and your physical form, making it easier to regain energy, I guess. I'm not really sure, to be honest." He rose up and walked over to sit by the fire, picking his pipe up off of the ground there and putting it to his mouth. Lina walked up behind him and sat down to his left.
"So, it must be nice to not have to deal with this kind of stuff all the time," Lina said. "You know, the crap where you're always involved in something bigger than you?"
"I suppose," Greven said. "But at least you don't have to deal with it on your own, right?" he pointed out.
"That's true," Lina admitted. "I have always had people around with me when the world seems like it's gonna end. I mean, most of my recent friends have all been made through life threatening situations. Zel, Amelia, Phil, and even Gourry."
"He's been with you since the beginning?"
"No, not since the very beginning when I left Zefielia. It's beenwow, like two years," Lina said. She laughed. "He's been trouble since day one, but still"
"You're rather ambiguous about your feelings for him," Greven said. Lina flushed bright red.
"Wha-what?" she stuttered. "What do you mean?" Greven laughed.
"Whatever there is between you two that's going on or went onyou're very confused about it," he said. "And I don't even have to read your chi to know that. So what's the deal, Lina? You can tell your old buddy, can't you?"
"It's nothing!" she exclaimed unconvincingly. "There's nothing going on between Gourry and I. We're not a couple. We're not together. I am not interested!" Greven laughed again.
"How can you be so sure?" he asked with a grin. "I mean, it sounds like you're more confused about what you think than anyone else is, so how can you be sure of it?" Lina twiddled her thumbs.
"I dunno" she said. She sighed. He read her like a book. He always did. He probably always would. "I guess, well, I guess I kind of am confused," she admitted. "I was never good with that kind of stuff, you know?"
"Oh, I know," Greven said. "I have a memory, after all." Lina blushed again.
"It's easier to just not deal with it." Lina said. "And so what? I'm allowed to be confused. I lead a confusing life! That's the way things are. Why should dim-wit over there be any different?" Greven took a puff of the pipe and turned his head to the red head.
"He really is pretty stupid, isn't he?" Greven asked with a suppressed chuckled as he exhaled some smoke. Lina grinned.
"He really is," Lina said, breaking down and laughing out loud. Greven laughed as well. "He's chivalrous, though," Lina said. "And as annoying as it is, sometimes, I respect that much. He's a nice guy" She laughed again. "But yeah, he really is pretty dense."
"Hitting him is kind of a backwards way of flirting, though, isn't it?" Greven asked with a raised eyebrow. Lina flared up and quickly punched him in the kidney forcing him to drop his pipe.
"Okay, okay," Greven said, holding up a hand in defense, picking up his pipe with the other. "No more." He rubbed his side. "You'll figure out just what you think in time, Lina," Greven said. "As confused as you may be, you always were one to trust your gut. I'll bet that much hasn't changed over the years." She nodded.
"Yeah, I guess you're right," she said. "No word of this conversation ever gets repeated," she added menacingly.
"Of course," Greven agreed. "I wouldn't want to go causing problems, now would I?
"I will kill you, Greven Tenser," she said with a pointed finger. "Don't think that's ever changed."
"Lina, if ever there was one person I'd never love more to have on my side but hate more to be against, it would be you."
"I'll take that as a compliment, Greven the Grey," she said, referring to him by the color designation the sorcerer's guild had given him back home. As soon as he showed signs of remembering what her color had been, though, she gave him a 'don't even think about it' glare. He followed her train of thought.
"Thanks, Lina the..uhhsorry you got nailed with a lame color," he said.
"It happens, I guess," Lina said with a grimace. "Can't let it get you down, right? Just as long as no one ever finds out about it."
"Your very embarrassing, very pink title is safe with me," Greven said. Little known Lina-fact: all sorcerers are given color designations from their magic guild, such as Rezo the Red. Lina never uses hers because she was titled Lina the Pink, a name which she detests to this day. Greven is unfortunate enough to still have scars from when he teased her about it the first time.
The two sat in silence at the fire for awhile. When sorcerers get bored, they sometimes amuse themselves with cheap tricks, performing basic shamanist spells to play around with nature. One of Lina's favorite was to play around with the fire, creating pieces of ice and controlling the speed at which they would melt. Greven's favorite amusement normally came from using a variant of Diem Wind called Diem Claw to create an updraft under women's skirts, blowing them upwards and revealing whatever they were wearing underneath, though Lina was not exactly a good target for this. Instead, the two engaged in a very common magic game called Controller, in which each player picked one of two spells that normally cancel each other out. Each tried to beat out the other by having his or her spell just barely cancel out their opponents, a task requiring an exact match of power being poured into the spell. Too much power and you overdo it. This was called a Bust. Not enough, and you might get yours canceled out instead.
For example, Lina would create a small flare arrow in the air and Greven would counter by forming a small freeze arrow. They would push their spells together and alter the power levels being supplied. If you overdid the counter with too much, you lost, so if Greven put too much power in and Lina quickly cut back, he would have Busted. If he matched Lina's cutback, though, and canceled out her flare arrow, he would have won.
Lina was notoriously good at this game, a surprising skill from someone who enjoyed overkill so much. The only way Greven could ever consistently beat her was by cheating and reading her chi to determine how much energy she intended to put into a spell.
"I win again!" she exclaimed again. "Ha! No one can beat the sorceress supreme, Lina Inverse!"
It was true. Lina had beaten him thirty four consecutive times and he was
beginning to get discouraged. She always won. She always did. She probably always
would.
"I'm getting tired of this game," Greven admitted. "Can we play
a game I can beat you at?"
"Oh, poor Greven's getting tired of getting whipped?"
"Poor Greven has a good idea, actually," Greven said, dumping out the ashes in his pipe and putting it away. "Do you want to be seriously amused?"
"Okay," she said with a shrug. "Sounds like a plan to me."
"Watch this, then," Greven said, rising and walking over to where Kreutz was sleeping. He sat cross-legged near the paladin's head, inviting Lina to come over as well.
"Okay, now be quiet and let the hilarity ensue." Greven placed his hands in front of him and beginning to concentrate. In the ancient art of chi, he extended his astral form towards Kreutz's, manipulating the raw magical waves and beginning to enact his plan.
He tickled him.
Lina watched in amusement as Kreutz moved his hand out of his sleeping bag to scratch at an unseen itch on his face. The scratching became more intense as the itch moved up towards his head and into his hair. The intensity of the itch slowly increased as Greven smiled and Lina started to laugh. Kreutz soon had both hands out of his bag and was scratching at his scalp with great vigor. Greven lowered his right hand and twisted his wrist over, and suddenly the sleeping Kruetz was overcome by an unquenchable urge to scratch his crotch. First one hand went down, then the other until he was consumed in a full out fit. Finally leveling the coup de grace, Greven spread the energy to affect all of Kreutz's astral-physical connection, stimulating the sensory neurons over his entire body.
Lina laughed out loud as Kreutzs' hands ran all over his body, unable to make the itching go away. If you can remember how annoying that one mosquito bite can get, just imagine an entire body full of them and you may be able to understand what Kreutz was feeling.
It was right around this time Kreutz grabbed and scratched somewhere a bit too sensitive and was woken up with a startled: "Ow!" The large man sat up in his sleeping bag and looked around with confusion. Already back at the fire, Lina and Greven turned around, feigning surprise.
"You alright, man?" Greven asked, Lina still chuckling.
"Uhyeah," Kreutz said. "I guess. Bad dream, maybe."
"Go back to bed," Lina told him. "We've still got a couple more hours before we set out."
"Yeah," Kreutz agreed. "Right. I'lluh, see you all in the morning." Shaking his head, he cast a minor sleep spell on himself and was unconscious in no time. Once they were sure he was out, Lina and Greven broke out laughing again.
"And you say I'm bad!" Lina exclaimed. "Yeesh! I may physically abuse my partner, but at least I don't torture him!"
"You found it amusing, none the less," Greven pointed out.
"Well, yeah, of course," she admitted. "When did we ever not find playing pranks amusing?"
"Ah, just like old times, Lina," Greven said, patting the redhead on the back. She looked up at him with a smile.
"Yeah, Greven," she said. "Just like old times. Hopefully we'll
come out of this alive just like old times, too." Hours later, they sat
and watched the sun rise before heading off to catch some fish for breakfast.
