Chapter 1 - Introduction To A New Adventure

"So Xelloss...you said you know some about this ghost priestess you mentioned."

"Hai."

"Then tell us what ya know."

"Hmmm..." The purple-haired priest looked around at the group until he stopped at their new addition. A mysterious person, yet of great power. Anybody would be able to tell. Even a mere mortal. His aura was strong and somehow...familiar to Xelloss. However, it didn't really matter. As long as he didn't mess up his plans. Or morely, his lord's plans.

Still, he had taken very accurate notes on the stranger. He carried an interesting and strange name which was Aleinas Lisill Enkis. His clothes... Black cloak attached to a shawl, kept together around him by a small silver circle brooch. Both were silver inside with silver borders at the bottom, and an 'S' pattern on the side borders drawn with the very same silver color. They even came with a completely black hood. The man also wore a handkerchief-mask, which he wore literally all the time along with his hood, making it impossible to see his face, even his hair. Mysterious, indeed.

Even the cloak hid him mostly from view, normally. Though in his present seated state with one leg crossed over the other, you could see enough. He wore black pants which were tucked into his knee-high silver boots, and brown belt, and a leather pouch hung from his shoulder under the shawl and cloak. He had a second brown belt hanging loosely at his side, merely for the purpose of carrying his longsword. His longsword and scabbard, however, seemed to come as a set with the rest of his clothes.

The sword's hilt was styled to look like a pair of wings, and apparantly was made out of a kind of... Silver? He couldn't really tell himself...but...it also seemed familiar somehow. It couldn't possibly be, because the scabbard was not familiar at all. It was black with a silver border at the top and bottom, and had the very same 'S' pattern as his cloak and shawl.

Xelloss then looked further up. The man also wore silver gloves, but where they ended, he didn't know. Possibly at the shoulders. He also wore something black...maybe leather...but he wasn't sure what. His shawl was so low, it almost hid his upper body completely from sight. And, apparantly from what he could see yet, he did not wear any accesories such as bracelets, rings, necklaces, more belts, or anything. Not that he expected him to, he was a man after all. Although...a very slim one at that, much like the dear chimera, Zelgadiss Greywords, but somehow...more slim.

Now, to continue onwards with the story rather than go rambling on about Aleinas... Xelloss saw that he was looking the other way as of the moment. Demo, he was sure that he would be listening once he started his story- telling.

"Well what I've heard is that every full moon, a mysterious shadow appears somewhere near a lake they call the Chaotic Gatewater. And every time, a ghost appears there. They say that some have seen this ghost and spoken with her, even got an idea of her past."

"Yes, and?"

Still the curious and impatient one, eh, Lina? "Ah, well, it's an interesting past if I say so myself. She was born in the town of Gesnar, which was destroyed by a Mazoku, but she was somehow able to survive, by herself."

"The poor dear! That is so unjust!"

"Ahem, as I was saying.. She was brought up by a priest, afterwards, still being very young. She learned the way of the world, of magic, and of fighting. Later though, she snuck out and ran away in search of adventure."

"Fighting? They taught how to fight at temples?"

"Hai. Back in the old days, temples that taught self-defense and martial arts were a bit more popular than at present. It was believed that setting up seperate schools for those things would only disrupt the peace and harmony between children, and later on adults."

"Oh, okay...um, I guess."

"Good. Now to continue. She was taken in by dragons soon after. There is another rumor saying she fell in love with one of them. Nonetheless, she left them to live among humans. Taking jobs as a mercenary, assassin, spy, thief, and basically anything, she survived on her own with help from no others."

"How could she!? After her hometown being destroyed, and being taken into a temple, how could she do such unjust and dishonorable things?"

"Ahem...please, stop interupting. Where was I... Oh yes. For some particular, or maybe inparticular, reason, she had joined the Mazoku and fought against the Golden Dragon race. Maybe she was trying to save the Ancient Dragons, or maybe she was afraid the Mazoku would give them all slow, painful deaths. Who knows? It is known that she favored the Ancient Dragons, though, because no matter where I go, people say she wouldn't let harm come to a single being from that certain race."

"Heh, either that, or she knew about the massacre of that race ahead of time, somehow."

Xelloss took a moment to think about that. Somehow that seemed...familiar...Why have there been so many familiar things all of a sudden? "Yes, maybe. Well, either way, she must have found a certain Mazoku that was killing Ancient Dragons, because she managed to transform it into a human. During a certain period of time, the Mazoku had no choice but to follow the girl everywhere and do her every bidding. Until they made a deal. In exchange for the "Mazoku"'s "freedom", this human girl, could become very powerful without spells and such. And that is what happened."

Xelloss looked up at the next person who interupted, who turned out to be....Aleinas?? And he was chuckling, too. That was interesting. "May I ask what is so funny?" The priest watched the other shake his head and reply to him grimly.

"Nothing. I am simply amused."

The next voice was Lina's.

"Yeah? Well that's a lot to say considering you don't say much, and what does happen to come out of that mouth of yours is always something serious or stiff. No offense, but you don't really seem like the type to even smile."

"...Well, I agree it is a lot to say. However, don't you find it entertaining that a Mazoku made a deal...with a human? Don't you think it would rather...trick...her into turning it back? And knowing Mazoku, this human would have been dead the moment she released it from humanity, although she would realize that earlier on and so -wouldn't- release it at all. So surely this story was based on rumors, old tales, and the imagination of the mind of a normal, old village man, no?"

"Maybe, however, nonetheless, it is the only information I will give."

"Oh? And why is that?"

"'Tis all I heard."

He had to choose his words carefully. Had that 'heard' been said as 'know', it would have been a lie, and lying just isn't what Xelloss did. What was it that he knew though? Well...to the readers at present...that is a secret yet to be uncovered. Then again, unfortunately, Xelloss found that he was confused with himself, as he himself couldn't figure out why it would have been a lie.

"I see... Well, I shan't be the reason for the end of your storytelling. Please, do go on."

"Thank you. Now... Yes, after gaining her new powers, she started working for a Mazoku for half a century, then a full century she goes back to that normal life among humans, training mostly to grow even more powerful. One of her powers were long life so...she decided to use her time usefully. She joined the Mazoku once more, and stayed, atleast for seven whole centuries, before going on a sudden rampage for revenge over death of a certain dragon, whom, as mentioned before, was rumored to be her love."

"Oh my, the poor soul...but...still...no matter what, she shouldn't be doing such an unjust thi-"

Zelgadiss sighed as he covered Amelia's mouth. "I wonder what Filia would have to say to that."

Yes, the ex-priestess...the Golden Dragon... What would she have to say about that?

"Go on, Xelloss."

"Ah, yes. Anyway, her rampage seemed to have stopped all of a sudden. I've heard only a few rumors about that, but I believe the most interesting and less farfetched out of those would be...the ghost of her loved one coming to her and calming her down."

"That's the least farfetched?"

"Hai, most definitely."

"Well...okay...doesn't seem very sensible though..."

"Hai, but just because it's the least farfetched doesn't mean it has to be sensible."

"....Hm...I guess so." Xelloss could see the annoyance in Lina's eyes at having to agree with him. However, she really couldn't hold anything against him about it, as he really was telling the truth, as usual.

"See? Hm, where was I again? Ah, of course. After she was calmed, though, a Mazoku had felt threatened by the power she held, and so killed her. It is said that her death happened around a thousand years ago. The end of a mostly meaningless life, and the beginning of an absolutely self- meaningless wandering. Eventually leading her spirit to the temple we will be looking for."

"Will be? We already are!" Xelloss only continued to smile as Lina grinned and then turned to Aleinas. "Okay, Aleinas. Now, you told us that you know where this temple is?"

"Hai, the Lake of Moonlight Chaos."

Lake of Moonlight Chaos? Heh...long title...these type of places always seemed to have long titles. Anyway... There?? "Demo, Aleinas-san, aren't Mazoku attracted to that place?"

"Of course, the very reason why it is avoided all the time. They are mostly weak though...however, it's the number that is frightening. But even the bravest of them don't dare come near that lake at the time the temple appears."

"How is it that you know this?"

Ah, the third time Zelgadiss, dear, had spoken directly to Aleinas since they met two days ago.

"Oh, I have my ways. All you have to do, see, is trust me. I guess that's a bit much to ask of you, though, as you seem to have a hard time trusting people. More especially..me. Mind if I ask, why?"

A growl escaped the chimera's mouth as he replied Aleinas. "I have my reasons. Mind if I ask you to mind your own business?"

"Of course you have your reasons, and no, I cannot, because I'm curious as to why you want to hide whatever it is you're hiding from me. And I am also curious as to why I am partially blamed for the group of bandits that attacked you before we met."

"How?" Amelia blinked, Xelloss secretly wondered. "We were out of ear shot, weren't we?"

Aleinas tugged lightly on her hood and a small point appeared. "I don't have ears like mine for nothing." Xelloss mentally chuckled a bit. So the man had ears similar to Zelgadiss's.

He watched the chimera narrow his eyes at Aleinas, but Xelloss heard Lina speak first.

"Elf? Dragon? Or what?"

"Hm... I don't know."

"What do you mean by that?"

Ah, the fourth time now!

"I mean that I don't know. Maybe I'm one, maybe I'm the other, but you won't know because I won't say. I won't say because I don't want to. And I do have my reasons, for there are serious consequences of which neither of you could ever think of."

"Hmph, he's almost as bad as Xelloss. Secret-keeper... I see no reason as to why he can't just tell us what he is."

"How do you know I'm not worse?" Xelloss could tell that everybody, including himself, could sense the nice little smirk hidden behind that mask. This was all amusing, indeed, but it was slightly annoying...for this was usually around the same style of which he, himself, used to annoy others...not exactly the same, but somewhat. And...even that...seemed familiar... It was like he knew something, he had memories stored in his mind trapped and caged away behind a barrier which has a crack. A crack too small to be a leak, but big enough to make certain things familiar. Could it be? No, it couldn't. Not him. It would have been impossible for someone to block out his own memories. And besides, there were no spells for that, and the only one who could do that would be his own lord and master, and he knew she didn't...

"You couldn't be. He's the most annoying fruitcake in the world." Xelloss snapped out of his thoughts and just continued to grin as he felt Zelgadiss's glare positioned on him.

"Okay, okay, let's just get back to the main problem here." Apparantly Lina didn't want any delays like arguments or glaring or the sort. How...unlike...of her. He grinned in his mind. "Which way do we go first?"

"Well first, we should leave town by the East Road. After some time, we will meet a fork. From there, I shall tell you the next step."

Before anybody could complain, Lina spoke. "Fine. Come on, we've already gotten our supplies and I've had a large breakfast. Let's go!"

Lina got up and left the tavern quickly, heading for the east side of town. After her was Gourry, followed by Xelloss, then Sarah.

"...Zelgadiss-san, do you think we can trust him?"

The hood and mask wearing chimera shook his head slowly as he got up from his seat. "I don't know, but he's the only other lead we've got...and personally, I'd rather trust his sure directions than Xelloss's supposedly thousand years crazy Mazoku mind."

With that, the two left the tavern together.