Disclaimer; Why even bother saying it? Oh right, I wont get sued if I do… I don't own slayers, ok?
Welcome to the outer world
Loosing my mind?
The night passed slowly with noting to do, except from listening to Lina. "I'm SOOOOO hungry!!!" the petite sorceress cried at the top of her lungs, "I haven't eaten a thing since dinner, I'm going to DIE!!!!!"
At the break of dawn, the boat started rocking violently, causing those that were a still sleeping to instantly wake up. "What's going on?" Sylphiel asked, as she yawned and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. "NO! Miss Lina, you can't eat poor Val for breakfast" A panicked Filia cried and dived behind Zelgadis. The sorceress were growling as a starved animal, when she realized that breakfast wouldn't be as easily obtained as she had anticipated at first.
After several failed attempts at going past, and even above or below the moody chimera, Lina decided that it was time to change her tactics. "Oh Filia" she gently called out with the sweetest voice she could muster "look at this little thingy". With a graceful movement, she pulled out a beautifully decorated vase from the strange sub-space that seemingly existed inside her cape. Filia dived forward, seemingly forgetting all about being a protective mother "Oh it's beautiful!" she cried as she reached for the vase.
Lina carefully backed away, while caressing her treasure "Well I don't know…." She suddenly tossed the vase high into the air "now Gourry, get that breakfast!". From there everything turned into chaos. Filia desperately tried to catch the vase before it fell into the sea. Amelia, Lina and Gourry all dived for the egg. The first claimed, in the name of justice, that she was going to protect the helpless egg. The two others were already fighting over who was going to eat it. Poor Zel was caught in the middle, and the last 3 looked like they wished that they could disappear like Xellos. The commotion went on for a few seconds, but they all froze as Taki pointed out in the distance "Isn't that land?" she shouted. As everybody stopped dead in their tracks, and looked in the direction she pointed, they could confirm that she indeed had spotted land.
"Come on everyone! Hurry!" a small group a children were running through the streets of the town Ofuon. Their happy cries made other children look strangely at them. "What's going on?" a girl peeked out of a window. One of the boys stopped in front of her "what? You haven't heard? There's a traveler in town!". The girl scratched her head "so, that's not some big deal is it?" the boy started walking towards the inn "are you kidding? This guy has actually seen the sorceress! And he's going to tell us all about it!". "Really?" the girl gasped, and jumped out of the window. Both of them ran as fast as they could.
During the last year tales had been told of a red haired sorceress, supposedly she was a friend of the dragons, and able to do some never seen before magic tricks.
All of the children gathered in front of an old man "come on gramps, tell us your story!" they pleaded. The old man chuckled "So you all want to hear the tale of Lina inverse, do you?". The children all nodded as he took a deep breath "Listen carefully then. My story starts about a year ago. The infamous Lina Inverse came to our town in her vessel of destruction", as he spoke, the old man gestured like mad to make his story even more dramatic.
He took another deep breath, as he enjoyed the spectators awed looks "At her side was an invincible swordsman, a heartless demon and an angel of mercy. Without braking a sweat, they defeated an entire army of lizardmen!". As he spoke a strange group of people barged into room. "Hey pops, hurry up and bring some food, and just keep it coming" a short redhead called out.
"Hey Gourry don't you dare touch any of these" Lina threatened, while hogging a small bowl of snacks, that was originally meant for people drinking at the bar. "Miss Lina, you could let Gourry dear have some of those" Sylphiel tried to reason with the sorceress. Lina only gave an evil glance in return "No way! I'm not going to share any of those! I'm so hungry that I could eat an entire dragon". "MISS LINA!!" Filia cried in horror.
In another part of the room the old man stopped in the middle of his tale, and stared at the newcomers. "Come on gramps, what's the matter?" a boy named Guido asked. The old man pointed at the adventures "that…. That's HER!" All the children looked at the source of his distress. "Is that little girl a sorceress?" a girl asked, "I thought she'd be taller" another girl agreed. "I thought she'd have bigger breasts" snot-nosed Guido giggled. Barely had he spoken the words before the old man threw himself at the little brat "don't say that! Don't even think it! If she finds out, she'll not think twice about turning you into a newt, or make a chicken leg grow on your nose. But if you're lucky she'll just kill you quick and painless!"
As most of the children in the audience were petrified by their newly gained knowledge of the short statured sorceress's violent side, one little girl, no more than 5 years old, boldly stood up and started to make her way across the room.
"Gourry I told you to lay off" Lina threatened as the blonde mercenary once again tried to steal of few of snacks. A fireball started to form between her hands. "You know, miss Lina, if you throw that at him you'll most likely end up destroying the entire building, and then none of you gets to eat" Eruk pointed out. For once his reason was enough to calm her down. Finally a waiter emerged from the kitchen carrying a small part of the party's order on two huge trays.
"I've been dreaming about this…" Lina drooled as she prepared to dig in. "'scuse me?" somebody tucked her cape. Tearing her eyes from the feast set before her Lina looked at the small girl next to her. "is yoo'se really Lina Innerdse?" the kid looked at her with a mixture of fear and admiration. "Later kid (glomp, chew, snap) I'm eating" Lina waved her off. "I have hweard that Lina Innerdse is much taller than yoo'se are" the girl kept staring at the frenzy in front of her, blissfully unaware that her life had only been spared because you can't eat and throw fireballs at the same time.
"Listen kid, you better go somewhere else, if you know what's good for ya" Zel warned the annoying little girl. She turned her attention to the chimera "Yoo'se are funny looking mister" she giggled "Yoo'se looks like a big, blue turtle".
"that does it kid!" insulted by her comment about his looks, Zel slammed his mug angrily down on the table. A fireball was forming in his hand. "MR ZELGADIS!!" Amelia cried. Zel only smiled to himself "It worked…." he smirked, as the annoying little girl turned around and ran away as fast as her legs could carry her.
"What's the matter?" Sylphiel asked, staring at Eruk. He was looking at his empty plate "if only I had had a chance of tasting my dinner before it was stolen…" he mumbled and silently witnessed the last remains of his dinner getting torn to shreds in the everlasting battle between Lina and Gourry.
Later that evening, Eruk was lying on his bed, chewing on some traveling bread. His belongings were spread out on the floor. Most of his stuff were still wet from the salt water. A small bundle of rags caught his eye. I wonder what that is, he thought as he reached for it. He groaned as a gun fell from the clothes and hit the floor. Why is it that I keep forgetting about these things? He thought to himself. He stood up and grabbed the guns. He headed for Taki's room.
"Taki, you there?" he asked as he knocked the door. After a little while she opened the door. "Hi there" he smiled "mind if I come in for a little while". She nodded and stepped back, allowing him to enter. He noticed that she tried to avoid looking at him. He sat down on a chair, while Taki sat down on the bed. Eruk could almost feel that she was sad for some reason. It was like all of her feelings seeped into his mind. "Is something wrong" he asked in an attempt to break the silence.
"No, not really" she answered in a weak voice. He took a deep breath and moved over beside her "you shouldn't lie" he pointed out. She looked at him, her eyes red from tears, "how did you know?" she asked weakly.
"you wouldn't believe me, even if I told you. But never mind that. Why so gloomy?" He tried to lead the attention away from the sensation that kept creeping into his body. Somewhere deep inside he enjoyed her sadness, a part of him even wanted to cause her even greater pain. What the hell is happening to me? He wondered this isn't who I am. She stood up and walked to the window "Today I'm turning 17" she sighed.
"So? Why so sad about it? I don't even know how old I am, nor do I know my birthday" Eruk had to gather all of his willpower to remain normal. "It's just that I miss my family…." A single tear rolled down her cheek. Eruk stood up and walked slowly to her side "I understand" he tried to comfort her. Even in the pale moonlight he could see that see was trying to smile. He gave her a nod "now you look like the Taki I know".
He left for the door "try to get some sleep, I'm sure things will look brighter in the morning". She took his advise, but still seemed hesitant to leave the window. He opened the door and took a step outside "oh the reason I came here was to give you a present, but I think it would be best to wait until morning" ignoring her surprise he closed the door and left. He had figured that giving her weapons now, with her current state of mind, would be a bad idea.
Back in his own room he sat down on the bed and took a deep breath. What was that feeling? He almost trembled with fear when he thought about it. What ever it was that he was experiencing, it wasn't natural. And the worst thing about was that somewhere deep inside, he liked it.
Outside the inn a lone figure stared up at his window. His purple eyes shone through the darkness. "You are becoming aware of your power" Xellos smiled, "I wonder which path you'll choose in the end? Oh I just love secrets…."
Authors notes:
What "power" Is Xellos talking about? Anyone figured it out yet? If not, then I have done my work good enough. Big changes will happen in the next chapter. I wont say much, but someone are going to die! (gasp! Oh no!!) Who is it? And how? And of course, am I telling the entire truth? Only one way to find out, and you know it!
