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Sorry this took so long to get out. I'd been kicked off that computer for quiet some time. And just so you know, this is Slayers PHANTOM as in "Phantom of the Opera". And I'm not talking like the musical, I'm talking about the book "Phantom",
Geuna~
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Disclaimer: Slayers in not mine, and I did not get permission from its creator/owner/producers to use their characters, etc. However, since I am writing this for my own please (and hopefully the pleasure of others), and not for profit, I'm sure they won't mind.
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Slayers PHANTOM
By Lady Geuna
Rated: PG for now (Some language.), some chapters may get violent.
Couples: X/F understanding/possible romance in future, L/G friendship/romance, L/X friendship/romance, A/Z friendship/romance. (All types of relationships are developing, you shall see.)
Summary: 369 years after the death of the last living Slayer, a new order, the Hall of Races punishes Xellos Metallium is punished for an act ordered by Zellas. Now he's thrown into a world that no one would've been prepared for.
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Slayers PHANTOM
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Part One: The Phantom
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So, since you are so very eager to stay... than I suppose can tell my tale... Ha! Do you know what I feel like right now? I feel like an old man sitting before his grandchildren to tell some life lesson. Hm... Life lesson indeed.
I am old, I have been for hundreds, thousands of years, but the only difference now is that I can actually feel my age. I do not get gray hair, or sagging flesh, or aching bones... I have a soul(yes, my "blackened, oh so evil" soul)that's been chipped away, piece by piece with a rusty pick that never seems to dull and lose it's sharp edge. The years have weighed heavily on me by now...
So, anyway, my story...
Well, I can't say that appearing in another world wasn't a shock, or at least in this case.
I would've assumed they would send me to the world of Death Fog, or maybe even Dark Star (Those worlds that have been taken by darkness or are still in chaos, as our Mother so wished.). Or maybe even the world of Chaotic Blue(1).
Yes. I assumed that I was in the world of Chaotic Blue from then on, unless the magic used on me was far more advanced than I'd thought...
I stood in a field, which was rather... peaceful... An odd feeling of peace that I wasn't used to... I'll try to explain that later. Anyway. Though everything seemed so "peaceful", as I called it, I could tell the world was suffering from some sort of draught. Everything was dried out and brown, though having the appearance of once being lush and green, and one little flame could easily turn everything around me into smoldering ashes.
This, at least, brought a true smile to my face.
I am a sadist. What else do you expect of me?
But fun could wait(damn that fact). First, I had to figure out where I was exactly. Where to go. What to do now that I was here.
I wished to just.... think. And since I had nowhere to teleport, I began walking(I wished I had my staff, which was taken away from be earlier.). It appeared to be either late summer or early fall in this world, because the sun seemed especially warm, yet the wind was blowing very steadily, and at one point became strong enough to nearly knock me off balance(It's been I while since I'd ever stumbled... well, not on purpose, anyway.).
Within the first three hours I became aware of a few interesting, if not daunting, facts (Some bothered me more than others.).
First, my sense of hearing was dulled, though not by much. Normally I could be able to hear the sound of pin falling from miles and miles away, but now I found that I would only be able to hear a twig snapping form a few hundred yards away. It was an... odd change.
Second, I could barely sense my own magic... Maybe this could be due to the fact that my senses have been diminished as a whole, but I couldn't be sure... However, this led my to believe my powers were indeed only had a fraction of what they had been...
Third, I was more than a little disturbed to find that my astral form was.... well, it's hard to explain( After all, my astral body is the shape of a cone). Now I... My astral form seemed.... human... I even smelled like one... I was still Mazoku, but I had been minimized, weakened. I had been... well, it's hard to explain it properly, so I will leave you with have I've already told you.
These last facts led to my forth, and final realization.
I was disguised. Because I felt so human. Not that I have anything against human, they are very interesting creatures, indeed. But now that I had been brought down the their level... I hated it.
I hated it...
I could hate... What? Yes, of course I could hate! But never like this... It... hurt... I was feeling pain, though not physically. And then... fear... I was afraid? Fear became panic, and panic became confusion, and confusion into frustration. I didn't understand this at all. If you must know, Mazoku do feel such emotions. Even love (Though it happens so rarely it's usually not taken into account, and can cause the Mazoku itself to become ill... Love can have different form. I myself, have a love for violence. Insanity is always a pleasure to feed on... Anyway!). We feel these emotions often, in some cases. But they are easily controlled or even expelled from the mind. But now I couldn't get rid of any of them!
Humans are much more complicated than I thought...
It was around this time that I saw a dirt rode about a half mile ahead. A new question entered my mind. Could I still teleport? I hadn't tried it yet. Would I be able to? Could I teleport right to that dirt road ahead? Disappear and reappear all in the same instant...?
I don't know, but something told me that I was trying to prove something to myself. There was hope... and dread... I realized how human that was, and I insisted to myself that this was just a simple experiment. I meant nothing to me.
Nothing...
Ha! That was a lie...
So, I took a deep breath, and I concentrated... Teleporting is normally more of a reflex, but in this case I felt that I would need to. And how right I was. In an instant I was standing no longer in the field of overgrown, dying grass and crop, but on the first road that had been far in the distance a second ago...
And then I feel.
All my energy had been practically drained from my body and I could no longer support myself on my own feet. My legs gave way, and I lay, shivering with fatigue and pain. My insides burned. I could hardly move at all. So... at least I knew I could teleport... but it took far too much energy... so much that... it felt like it nearly killed me.
Oh, and this next event was very interesting... Very.
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"Sir...? Sir, are you alright?"
Someone was calling to him. Xellos hadn't noticed that cart coming up, or when the man had come to help. He had fallen into his stomach, and that had been a few minute ago. Yes, he'd been lying on the ground for a while.
"Sir, are you alright," the man repeated.
Xellos sat up now, feeling a bit confused about what had happened. "Yes... Yes, I am." He was, he just needed a little rest. He looked up to the man who had helped him. The man's expression showed relief for about a second.
Before he screamed in terror.
The man, a fellow who looked to be some sort of merchant in his middle ages, stumbled away as quickly as his legs could carry him. "Oh my God, stay! S-Stay away!!"
Xellos really had no idea what was wrong with this man, though he was awfully curious. He could also tell that he wasn't able to feed off of the mans fear(And he would've tasted so delicious...). Xellos got to his feet, following after the man as he was attempting a hasty retreat, having climbed back onto his horse drawn cart and was fumbling clumsily for the reins. But he wouldn't get away so easily.
"Keep away from me, monster! Stay away!!"
No, this wouldn't do at all...
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His death had been a quick one, just a quick snap of the neck. And I felt something new now...
Guilt.
It was a terrible feeling. And a very powerful one, indeed. From that day forward, I would learn that guilt follows you wherever you go and for all eternity...
A threw the mans body onto the road, leaving it there for any sort of animal who would want to eat it. I decided I wouldn't care. I will never know, even to this day, who that man was. I took his cart, however, and covered myself with a hook cloak, which the man had been wearing. For the time being I discarded my outer tunic and cloak. I wanted to draw as little attention to myself as possible, I figured.
After riding the card for about an hour I had reached a nearby town. It was very small and similar to the ones in the New World. And as far as I could tell, there was no magic here. That, at least, gave me some sense of superiority. I soon abandoned the cart in the middle of the cobblestone street as managed to "disappear" into the crowd of people. Luckily, no one paid me any notice as I didn't appear too conspicuous. I discovered I was in the town of Wasiar. An... odd name, I will say that. I'd never heard of it before(But of course I wouldn't have, would I?). It was a small town, and in the middle of nowhere, unlike the so-called "great cities" I heard a number of people talking about.
I wanted very much to find a mirror, to get a look at my own face. For some reason, the expression of terror on that man's face wouldn't leave my mind. But I did remember what those people in the Hall of Races had said...
/"Whomever lays eyes upon you will see your blackened soul. You won't be able to hide your ugly inner self behind a human face anymore..."/
Obviously, I had discovered the complete truth to that statement... I could've allow anyone to see me, otherwise I could be in big trouble...
Actually, I was doing rather well with remaining unnoticed until I bumped into a young women and my hood slipped down.
It wasn't long until all those around me began screaming and moving away. How odd, even Zelgadis had never gotten this sort of reaction for... most people. I don't know what he was always complaining about. I had attempted to escape from these people, but I soon found myself being attacked rather brutally with fists and other weapons. They were screaming the strangest things. It seemed that they thought I was some sort of demon, or the devil himself(Had this been any other time I might've been flattered.).
Of course, humans could be so cruel.
I think I finally had the since to attempt teleporting once more. I didn't care where, really, but I had to try.
Once again I concentrated, and I disappeared just as a rather large dark skinned fellow was bringing down a rock on my skull. I had taken myself into an alley, I think. A dark one, luckily. No one heard me crashing into crates and other garbage back there, and I would allow myself to fall asleep this time. I was now exhausted again, but this time beyond my capacity to cope.
So, there you have it.
What? You thought it was going to be something more? Well, as you can possibly imagine, I had to live the next, oh, three year as such. That's making part of an incredibly long story short. A lot can happen in such a short time, though I know now that time can pass with incredible slowness... I had to hide, to steal, and to kill to stay alive, being as mortal as I am. And I find myself becoming more and more human each day. I have so many regrets, you understand, and my body is becoming weaker, though I do not age. I find I am no longer able to teleport, which was my one defense against physical attack. Using regular spells weakened my just as much as teleporting, and if I tried using combat magic in a fight I would only take down a few, leaving the rest to kill me while I'm down.
I hate my life.
I really do.
Sometimes I wonder what things are like in my world... the world I had been banished from. I wonder what Filia is doing right now.... Valgarv....
Oh, that is just sick. I actually miss her... I get this... strange, strange feeling when I think of Filia. I would find myself thinking about her often. You see, I had no one, this whole time. I had become incredibly lonely.
Heehee, so this is what insanity is like, hmm? Well, I guess that's what it could be. I really have no idea.
And I had been very incorrect about there being no magic in this world. Oh, how I had been wrong. Yes, magic did exist, though the spells I have seen are strange and not very powerful at all. But Mazoku, and such creatures like us don't exist. These people saw something in me that they feared, that they didn't understand. I cannot fight my nature, or the black soul. It is who I am.
I have often wondered what I look like now... though I hardly imagine it would be something I would be able to put into words. In all this time, I have never looked in a mirror to find out, for I fear what I would see... Fear I would see what everyone saw, and... I don't think I could handle that.
I was no one. I had no one.
I became a shadow that you would only see for a second before it disappears, leaving you wondering if it was ever really there to begin with.
I am a murderer, a monster, a mortal, but no one knows I'm here.
I am a cold shell, and I will kill any of you before you can kill me first.
I don't care.
I had become nothing more than phantom...
At least, I was nothing more than a phantom, until I was jumped one day in the middle of the night while heading out of town. By now, I think you should know, I do not stay in the same place for long. When people show up missing or dead, you hardly want to be around to be found. I know I would be blamed, because I am to blame.
Oh, don't think that the fact that being mortal would make me feel any sort of pity for human creatures. There are the ones who try to kill me everyday. And besides, most of my killings are for self-defense. Killing had lost its thrill at first, but slowly I am beginning to enjoy it again.
Anyway, these men who attacked me. They, for some reason, did not kill me. It turns out they had been hunting for me. A few kids had evidently spotted my a few days ago. I had been knocked out, but when I awoke I asked them what they wanted with me. Though shocked that a "hideous, repulsive creature" such as I could speak, they answered.
They were going to make money off of me.
A traveling show.
I was a freak.
Yes, that I was...
And this... this is how I would spend the next thirty years of my life...
Caged.....
I would've never thought... that I would escape.... to leave that place...
I learned to hate beyond mortal understanding...
To enjoy killing, even with human emotions...
Sadistic pleasures characteristic of the worst sort of human mortal...
And oh how I loved it...
But then... I did escape...
Heeh.
And you wouldn't believe who came to be my... heeh, "savoir"...
A lost soul had been reborn...
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End Part One: The Phantom
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(1) There is a rumor that the world of Chaotic Blue is actually our world. "God" and the "Devil(this would be Chaotic Blue)" are the Lords or Light and Darkness. No one knows what that world is really like.)
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To be continued.... Part Three: The Persian
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