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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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Sorry this took so long to get out, over a year! Just recently I've been kicked off the computer for quiet some time, though I've been writing in secret. 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", by Susan Kay. An amazing book...
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H. crap, it's been a YEAR since I've updated this! And in all honesty, I was truly slacking. I had it all written down, and I finally got around to putting it on the computer. I hope you like for all those who waited, and that you so much for the reviews, they meant a lot.
Geuna~
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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 Two: The Persian
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You just keep coming back for more, don't you? I'm not sure whether to be flattered or offended that you find my suffering so appealing. Wait-no, I shouldn't think that way. After all, I find suffering very appealing....
Oh dear, I don't want to unnerve you before the story begins again... though it's so much fun. Some of you are taking it very well... I wonder about you.
Now let me see... Ah ha!
I can't really say that I ever got used to my new life... I can very much less say that I got used to my surroundings. I was used to the audiences, of course, though the children where always very annoying. They like to scream... the children as well as the women, while the men simply turn pale and still as statues (now, if they all would do that...).
I used to think that screaming was a relatively beautiful sound (yes, and I mean in every sense of screaming out... ^__~). Now I simply find it annoying... Hideous or not, I seriously believe humans should shut-up for a change and move on to something else a bit more productive. Why, in the whole time they spend screaming their heads off like that the cause of their fear (that of which would be me, even had I not been changed) could kill them three times over in very different, gory, glorious ways, with enough time to make a spot of tea. If I were actually the one killing them and had I a preferred method of killing them, I would simply slit their throats, so that the last sounds they make are incoherent gurgling.
It's a quiet sound, you see...
After the first few years during my "off-hours", my keepers would give me a mask to wear. It was one that belonged to another act. It wasn't very fancy, but it was still very pretty. It was white polished wood, hand painted with elegant designs. Messy, fat designs, but still, anything made by hand is to be treasured or some such, right?
Surely I should think them kind for that gift? But why give me it?
Perhaps so they would be distracted from what was underneath it whenever I wore it... They couldn't stand looking at me, either. Figures. They're dumber than the audiences that come to see me everyday.
It was after the first two years that I stopped trying to get out of there. I had brought in so much business to them they couldn't afford to let be out of their sights, keeping me in the very center of their camp. Every time I tried to teleport, I couldn't get far enough, and would always still be within the camp, no matter where I tried to go. They had apparently heard of my tricks before, and were ready for them.
Nearly ten years had past and the camp leaders had changed when I finally proved to most of those original (human) performers remaining that I was actually a rather intelligent creature, and I was able to partake in a number of interesting conversations. Usually on the subject of magic, which they knew very little of, and were very terrified that I was practiced in it. Though very weak, I could still conjure a good fireball. Not one that could melt the bars of my cage, but a fireball none the less.
And as most of you know, a real fireball should be powerful enough to melt iron, right? .... No? Well, there's very little you people know. Take notes, now, and moving on to those conversations I was telling you about...
On the subject of the "inferiority of man", they tended to become annoyed, so I tried to stay away from that subject. Tried... Hm, I don't see what it is about that subject that turns people off or maybe that's just me.
I, personally, was the only one able to figure out why any of them gave me the time of day. That was due to my own influence, surprisingly. I could literally draw people to me.
Using the little magic I had, I could channel it through something. In this case, I used my own voice the same way a snake charmer uses music to hypnotize or calm a cobra. In my case, the tables were turned. I was the monster charming the human. I'm shocked, really. Who wouldn't thought humans would fall for such a simple "charm". Though it kept business on me, didn't it?
Maybe it's their ignorance of magic or because I know better, but I shall never be so gullible. My body may be human, but my mind isn't, not yet, and I will keep it that way as long as possible, because humans are idiots.
This position was forced on me. And my present lack of hygiene at the time was also forced upon me. I wasn't exactly allowed a visit to the washroom everyday, or every other day, or even once a week.
I must say that the only smart human I had meet by then... Wait, no. I'm now willing to grace this one person with this title. "Human". Keep in mind, it is for his sack only, for I would rather spit on that title and have it combust into flames rather than take it in an endearing a sense as he would. He loved his humanity, though I wonder now what was so f*cking wonderful about it.
He came that day in mid-fall, during my thirtieth year of living behind the same bars...
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Xellos saw him in the crowd earlier, the one that stood out in the crowd. Maybe it was something about his clean, elaborately decorated off-white robes, but this man wasn't a local villager. Chances are he would be jumped for his money come nightfall. Though a short time later two men appeared at his side, equally clothes though in darker colors. He couldn't see their faces at all.
From a distance, though, Xellos thought he caught a flash of crystal blue eyes above the cloth covering the man's face, but he wasn't so sure. They were almost desperately familiar eyes, but he figured he was just going insane. It would be the worst of his problems, no big deal.
Xellos actually shrugged to himself and laughed for some reason, though he didn't know why. It felt like the right thing to do at the time and it make half the crown back away from his cage in fear. His laugher frightened enough spectators to actually flee, which made him laugh even harder. Again, it was no big deal. The rumors that would spread regarding a whole crowd that ran away in fear of one creature's laugher would bring in more business for sure.
That all had been hours ago now. Somewhere along the line the figure and his bodyguards had disappeared, but he wasn't sure how much time had passed since then. It had been ages since Xellos had ever bothered with remembering the time...
But that man in white, he stood before Xellos now, and he just... starred... He starred at Xellos, his eyes (which had been visible before) now hidden in shadow. It was almost too perfectly dramatic. A long white clothe was wrapped along his lower face and neck, the cloth etched in an elaborate design that was almost foreign in style compared to what he was used to around the town. The patterns were curved lines of gold, silver, blue and green. The long hooded cloak he wore extended to his feet, beige in color, though with the same designs along the hemming.
After a few minutes he moved his left hand so it was propped on his hip, allowing Xellos some view of what he wore underneath his heavy cloak. There was a simple beige shirt, plaints, boots, and some sort of black/blue silk sash drawn around his waste. Xellos was sure he saw a belt just behind the sash, as well as the gold colored hilt of a sword.
He was beginning to take but his earlier assumption that his man would get jumped were he to walk around alone, and figured he should instead petty the poor fools who would decide to try. But since he didn't seem to want to start a conversation, Xellos went ahead and start it for him, asking one of the questions that had been on his mind all day.
"You'll get jumped around here, walking around in robes like that."
Finally the man spoke in a very familiar voice. "I was."
"Oh? You don't look like a man who was just robed."
"I slit his throat."
He said this with no remorse, and Xellos knew immediately that he liked this man. To hide his humanity so well... That is a rare and valuable gift. "And what honor do I own your presence, my lord? The show closed hours ago, and I've sure you've seen everything you need to." Xellos snickered, knowing full well the effect his laughter had on others, especially while he didn't wear his mask.
The man didn't blink, however, nor fidget in any way. He voice was startlingly clear in the night air, but no one had heard him so far. "No man with a mind should be caged as your are."
He laughed. Oh, Xellos laughed!
Did this man just call him a... a MAN!? Oh, that's rich. Then again, to have someone speak to him with such respect was a shock...
After five minutes and the laughing hadn't stopped, the man said in a very annoyed tone, "Are you quite done?"
Hm... Xellos figured he could be "nice" sometimes, even as a Mazoku, so why not try it as a human? Finally, he shut-up, but he kept smiling. This was visibly annoying the man even more. Oh, this was like the good old days! "And pray tell," Xellos continued, unable to hide the humor form his voice, "why are you telling me this?"
The man shrugged, but then reached up and pulled back his hood. There wasn't much to see immediately, though Xellos could finally see his eyes. Those eyes were an intense cerulean blue (though not as bright as he thought them to be earlier), and his suspicions were confirmed as to whom the man reminded him of...
The man pulled the cloth scarf down so it hung loosely around his neck, lower face and hair, and while he was still in the process of removing the scarf Xellos spoke up. "As mysterious as always, aren't you, Zelgadis-san?"
Zelgadis paused as thought thinking over what Xellos had said, then continued to pull the cloth away. "You're a mind reader as well?" He didn't sound very surprised. But it always had been very hard to shock the chimera.
Xellos smiled enigmatically. "Perhaps."
"Then you already knew of this?" He gestured to his face with a gloved hand, the fingers cut out (aaah, the nostalgia!).
Xellos shrugged. "Perhaps."
Actually, Zelgadis' face looked like a bastardized version of the one he remembered. The hair was the same violet, though perhaps much longer. The rocks that had before obscured his face were shallower and looked like mere plates of rock. The skin to the left of his face was almost a normal, pale ivory color, but moving toward the right side it became a light mauve, then pale blue/gray. Not nearly the same coloring as last time, but certainly close to it. But the eyes were the same color. Strange... And if all this was the same, than his tragic disposition was probably there as well.
It made Xellos realize the only reason Zelgadis was there was because of... pity... "Two birds of a feather flock together" or some nonsense like that... It was the only reason Zelgadis did anything...
With this realization, the ex-Mazoku couldn't help but feel angry... he didn't want pity, though this sort of act was so characteristic of the Zelgadis he knew.
"And you know of this as well," Zelgadis continued questioningly, and a bright ball of flame appeared in his outstretched palm. Xellos was blinded.
In a moment Xellos' cage door swung open with the disturbing sound of screeching metal. The lock had melted away and now sat as a bright red lump of steel on the ground... Some would be impressed, and Xellos was (as least a little) because Zelgadis was the first he had seen to have properly mastered the magic of this world. Here he thought it was practically nonexistent!
Xellos didn't move from the open prison, just sitting there until Zelgadis finally turned and walked away into the darkness.
Though Xellos was coming very close to getting used to his new life... But then again, how much fun could eight cubic feet of metal space and a floor of hay be?
He followed the chimera...
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Yes... Dramatic, isn't it? (I'm rolling my eyes right now, so you know) Yes ,yes, Zelgadis-san freed me. I can't say I was expecting it, either.
I followed him into the night (taking my mask with me), where I found many of the guards unconscious, and a few very badly injured. I wanted to finish the job on them right there while they were most vulnerable, but there was little point, and their deaths would be blamed on me, anyway, and I would most likely be hunted.
Zelgadis-san, it turned out, was just as thorough as I remembered. He had gone and found a body that had washed to the shore. A ship had crashed a week before, though that is not surprisingly, considering how often ships crash or sink about the rocky shore. Zelgadis-san had given me some thick, dark robes in exchange for the ones I wore (as thin and tattered as they were, the change was refreshing), and he placed them upon the corpse.
It made me wonder, again, while I looked like in the mirror, if I could look so much like that rotten mass of flesh. I wonder if I smell like it, too, and just can't tell. I'll never know how I look, though, for every time I try looking in the mirror the image is blurred, and I see nothing of importance. It sort of disappointing...
Zelgadis-san didn't seem to have a problem with ugly, smelly things... The corpse was then swept back into the dark waters by the coming tide as the moon grew higher that night, but it would surely wash ashore again.
At this point, he meant to part ways with me. He had traveled to this land on "business" and would return that night by boat. A land called Persia (not his native land, mind you, but he had spent most of his life there, I would find out). But I shall go into detail on our little "Chimera-Persian" in a little bit.
My mask in place, I stole away into the storage area of the ship. I figured, why not tag along? It would be just like old time, and luckily Zelgadis-san seemed just as fond of me as always. ^_^ He was going to be so pleased when he found out I had come along...
When he found out, that is, and it didn't take him long, either... His two bodyguards, Rodimus and Zolf had a very sharp eye. And lucky for me, they liked me just as much as Zelgadis did. Oooh-hoho, memories make me laugh!
It was to be a very long trip... And lo' and behold, another reborn soul waited for me across the sea in a new land, though this soul was just as twisted as before...
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End Part Two: The Persian
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To be continued.... Part Three: The Czar
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