The Angst Team
Chapter 1: Hidden Movement
Fair Warning: This chapter is about the length of the intros. I hope you enjoy reading, 'cause I just got a pack of blank 3" x 5" cards to write character profiles and notes on.
Spider-Man winced at the not-quite pain. It felt every square inch of his body felt like it was asleep and had just been hit on a funny-bone. He stood there a moment watching this young man with a ridiculously large backpack and a bright yellow and black patterned bandanna collapse to the ground as if in slow motion before the view tilted first to the side and then more to the front as he watched the ground zoom up to meet his face. Odd though, he thought he smelt bacon frying or ham roasting, well some pork product… or maybe he was just experiencing those subconscious illusions as his mind retreated into the oblivion of unconsciousness.
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Along the twisting road walked what one might describe as a cheerful looking with a smile that seemed to complement his features. While he didn't move with the weariness born of a lengthy journey he carried himself like someone who was used to traveling and most passerbys would note the only particularly odd thing about him was the walking staff he carried. It branched at the top at about the level of his armpit and in the crook of the 'Y' shape was a sizable red sphere. All in all, one would say that he appeared to be a nice guy… appearances are deceiving at times though, as he took pleasure in other's pain, dispar, and terror. He was in fact a Mazoku who went by the name Xellos.
Xellos wasn't particularly fond of his current task, he didn't care one way or the other really, he'd been rather indifferent about the whole thing. Being a messenger was actually in his job description and his Master, Mazoku Lord Zelas-Metallium, had wanted him to deliver this message to another Mazoku Lord, Dynast Grauscherra.
Xellos didn't know what the message related to, neither did he want to know. While he had almost always loved knowledge for it's intricate, delicate, and fine details, especially for its more manipulative factors, this was different. He could feel it in his bones, well the core of his existence. He didn't have bones to be precise, perhaps it was something of great importance, or perhaps not. If it was anything he should know he would find out soon enough. He looked to the south and slightly to the west, that was odd, the amount of magical energy being released… well, he couldn't investigate it right now, but he would definitely keep his eyes and ears open for news on what had caused that disturbance.
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Zel looked up at the sky for a moment as he completed the healing spell, the wind blew clouds in at a rate that looked more like it should be a time-lapse film and the sun was soon blocked out by dark clouds threatening both storm and rain, never having a chance to fully brighten up after the eclipse. Apparently the summoning was for rain, that was a lot of work for a sprinkle. Zel grimaced a little at his private little joke.
This was all he could do for the old mage, his healing spells weren't kept in that much practice as his body wasn't injured very easily at all. The last time he'd had a healing spell used on him had been shortly after that fiasco with Shabrandigo, Rodimus made it out of that alive… but Zolf hadn't. Rodimus was currently about as far away on the continent as was possible, investigating a potential cure for the chimera. Zel got up and instructed the Orphidians to carefully take the old mage to a place that would be safe from the upcoming storm.
Zel got to his feet and was about to follow the Orphidians when something caught his eye. There was actually somebody, well two somebodies in the magic circle. One was dressed in what might be some sort of costume for a masquerade ball or something of the sort if it weren't so gaudy, the other seemed to have on some more sensible attire, although it looked different than anything Zel had seen it was quite plain and looked very functional. Curious, Zel found himself trying to figure what these two exactly were. They looked human enough, but that Zel knew several beings that could look human, werewolves, certain high-level dragons, and other shape-shifters were just a few that came immediately to mind… and the others that didn't made even his blood run cold.
Zel quickly loosened the sword in the sheath at his side, as a precaution of course, and began to inspect the two, the first step was to remove the mask on the one… for some reason Zel had a feeling like he was invading privacy bu doing it. It couldn't really be helped he told himself. He quickly checked their breathing and pulse, they seemed fine for humans, but that didn't exclude the possibility of werewolves or shape-changers.
Zel blinked in surprise, why would a summoning spell need to be so powerful to bring a couple of shape-changers… or, even more strange, seemingly normal humans. It didn't make any sense, none at all. He hoped that Galvanaas would be able to shed some light on the reasons they had been summoned.
After a quick check to see if they could be moved Zel got three other Orphidians to help him take them to wherever they had taken the mage. Zel and the Orphidians used the Orphidian's alpenstocks and Zel's cloak and shirt to improvise a pair of stretchers to transport the two. Zel lost himself in thought as he followed the Orphidians, helping carry the tail end of the second stretcher.
It wasn't all that far of a trek, but he didn't see the almost slightly crescent shaped cliff until they were right on it. Zel was amazed as he beheld a whole city carved into the face of the cliff wall. It was amazing, the cubic buildings looked to be the sturdiest that he'd ever seen, yet it seemed older than most buildings he'd seen, and looked positively ancient.
"What is this place?" Zel asked the Orphidian who was carrying the other end of the stretcher.
"Thisss isss tribe'sss home!" The Orphidian exclaimed in obvious pleasure and pride. "Massster brought usss here after sssaving usss."
Zel nodded in understanding. Apparently the mage had brought them here after rescuing them from some unknown plight and they'd made this place their home. That implied that these buildings had been here before that and Zel couldn't help but wonder at who would make such a city. The almost cubic styles of buildings and pathways carved into the cliff-face were quite different than any style he'd ever seen before, and he had seen many different styles in his travels, in fact it was different than any style that he'd even heard of before.
The Orphidians led him to a building that looked like it may have once served a religious function. The floor was a shiny, glasslike obsidian inlaid with red and silver that seemed to make some sort of decoration that Zelgadiss couldn't make out because of the furnishings and equipment that littered the room. The Orphidians quickly ushered them into a medium square room that had a white floor with a black ring and in the center of the ring there was a black elongated rectangle with oddly placed and oriented grooves that sometimes crossed each other but in no discernable pattern. Galvanaas rested on a pallet that was pushed into a far corner and there were a few Orphidians hovering over him keeping a concerned watch that directed them to put the others in the other pallets that were against the wall.
After seeing that the three were properly resting Zelgadiss took his leave and started out to explore this fascinating place, perhaps the Orphidians kept a library here… or the previous tenants.
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Erfren Maxwell looked up at the pair of large doors standing before him, he inhaled deeply as he cleared his mind as they had taught him in the earliest part of his training. In addition to giving a report to the council here in the Synodic Chambers it was time for his final test… the final rank would be his if he passed the seven tests.
His hand reached out absently, almost involuntarily, as he traced the image inset on the door, a red dragon that looked more like a snake with clawed talons at the end of it's short legs wrapped around a silver sword, the symbol of the Sentinels. It was this symbol that caused them to earn the name "The Cult of The Dragon And The Sword" or alternatively "The Serpent and the Sword", the Sentinels were there to defend the weak from the dark and so they were also called "The Defenders of Light", there were other names that they were called some good some downright hateful. In the end though it didn't matter much, the Sentinels would do their duty no matter what the world called them.
Erfren briefly skimmed over the history of the Sentinels in his mind. The Sentinels had been started four hundred years ago by a mysterious man, his name had been lost and was simply referred to as the Founder, who had gathered a group of men together for the express purpose of helping the innocent people of the world… the time had been full of turmoil and one of Shabrandigo's seven pieces had been loosed at the time. After nearly a year and a half of combat the piece had been split into two and the wars had continued for a time while the Sentinels helped save some cities from being overrun by the hoards of monsters that had been loosed, while other cities they helped by healing or providing what support they could all the while keeping their hidden power a secret, for it was not yet the time to reveal themselves, the Founder had warned them about it and made them swear to keep their power a secret until the time was right.
Unfortunately, the Founder mysteriously disappeared without a trace, before he could tell them what the right time was, and so they kept it a secret to this day hoping that they disguised it well enough, the whole organization was set up as a sort of international honorary social knighthood. They had even gone through the trouble of having branch offices and libraries in most of the prominent cities.
As individuals the Sentinels were spread out across the lands and held any number of occupations and official positions. It was remarkable that the rumors concerning them were only due to their secretive nature rather than the power they held, the Sentinels had alleviated most of the populace's fear and apprehension about them with their good works, humanitarian aid, and other social deeds.
Though it was hard keeping their power secret at times, in fact he'd nearly blown it in front of the man he was learning swordsmanship from, and he was very careful, he could only imagine what kind of excuses some of the others had made. Though it didn't make him feel any better that most of those reaching his rank had a few close calls like that.
Erfrin let out another long breath and stood back from the door as he thought he heard someone coming to open it. he looked down at his hands which had become suddenly sweaty and wiped them on the bottom of his jacket as he pulled it down again and stood there as the door silently opened of its own accord.
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Zelgadiss found himself looking up into the cloudy sky as lightning and thunder crashed about and the rain fell at odd angles parallel to the cliff-face, he'd been watching the storm play with the landscape for hours as he lost his mind in thought. The ancient balcony he was on looked like it had seen a lot of use in its time, and he wondered if the stones here could talk what they would be able to tell him of this place, who had first made this cliff city? Where had they gone and why? How had they created this city, and why had they chosen a cliff to carve it from?
Zel looked back towards the doorway and wondered if Galvanaas was awake yet, he needed answers, not about this place but about himself and those two men that summoning spell had pulled here. Galvanaas, it seemed was the only one with answers, and for some reason Zel had the ominous feeling that those answers would only raise more questions. Questions like what that old prophecy had said and how he knew Zel was supposed to be this "Dark Warrior" and what exactly did that mean?
He wasn't going to be getting any answers just standing out here, but chances were that all three of them, Galvanaas and those other two, were still unconscious, Galvanaas from the Mozoku attack and the other two from the drain the summoning had put on them, but still Zel went to see if maybe one of them had recovered. He couldn't help but sigh though.
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Xellos stepped up to the steel castle's cold doorway and rapped on it with the staff he was carrying, sure he could try to skip through the astral plane into Dynast's castle but there was no telling what kind of defenses that Lord Dynast had placed there, and doubtless any surprise would be an unpleasing one. So, Xellos simply walked up to the front door in the world of men.
It was somewhat unnerving to be so alone in the Frozen North Wastes, there was no life, only the snow and ice, Xellos couldn't remember how many types of snow and ice he'd seen in the past few days. There was fine, dusty snow, wet slushy snow, clean snow, dirty snow, and he didn't even want to know what had made that green snow that color. It was bad enough that his shoes had been stained, Xellos only hoped that the smell at least would come out.
Xellos raised his staff to rap on the door again when it opened on astonishingly quiet hinges and he was ushered inside by three living suits of bronze armor as the doors began to swing shut again.
"Lord Dynast awaits your presence." one of the armor suits said in a hollow voice that sounded like wind blowing through a hollow log, and then added, "Immediately."
"All right, all right." Xellos said as he smiled and laughed a bit waving the suit to lead him on, "Let's go then."
The suit turned and stoically led the other Mozoku down one of the hallways that had blue carpet with gold trim and all sorts of weaponry displayed on the walls, magical and not. Some even had plaques under them telling of the hero that had foolishly challenged the power of Lord Dynast and how their fate had been handed to them, more often than not, in a disturbingly violent manner.
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Peter Parker woke up with a groan as consciousness slowly returned to him. It felt like he had a mild sunburn over his entire body. His first thought was of how dark it was, the cave-like blackness was so all-encompassing that he wondered if he'd opened his eyes and when he brought a finger to wipe some of the gunk that had encrusted the corner of his left eye he felt his gloved hand on his naked face. 'Oh, no! Did Dr. Doom… No, I don't think I'd be alive if he did, but where am I… and what happened?' He thought about it a moment before stirring as quietly as he could.
He tossed the coverlets back and felt along the wall, trying to find some clue as to where he was. His other hand went idly to the light he kept in his belt. 'Should I use it and give my position away, or should I wait and try to make it out of here without it?' Peter weighed the two options, while most people would argue that trying to find one's way out in total darkness was foolishness most people didn't have his spider-sense to guide them. With the light he could make quick work of things and probably get out in a fraction of the time it would take him relying on his spider-sense, but it would also make him a target, any light shed in total dark like this was a literally a lit sign announcing where he was. If anyone could have seen his face they would see him grinning as he made his choice and made his way up the wall.
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"O-HO-HO-HO-HO!! A-HA-HA-HA!!"
The laugh echoed in the canyon, and even the echoes that were mere shadows of the original sent men fleeing in terror. The madness had come again. First it was a wild boar, then a small red-headed sorceress, and now this monstrosity… if this kept up the four horsemen of the apocalypse were due on Tuesday.
Kelama couldn't help but smile as the rest of the general populace cringed in terror to what he could easily turn a deaf ear to. It was amazing what people in general were scared of, some of it was with good cause, but most of it was trivial, unimportant, and, quite frankly, absurd.
Then Kelama caught sight of what was causing the disturbance to the population. A woman clad in, well it was almost easier to say she wasn't. Black long hair, frightening laugh, skimpy dresser… this had to be that Nega, Nagi, Naga? Naga. Yes, that was it, Naga.
Well, anyway, Naga was talking to one of the citizens of the town, or finished talking, it looked like the man would need several minutes to recover from the sonic bombardment, minutes that Naga apparently couldn't lose as she ran off, letting another of the laughs loose to give small children nightmares for weeks. Kelama almost burst into tears at that, maybe he should stay and get a few good meals after all.
Kelama walked up to the man Naga had been talking to and sat down next to him. He could wait for the man to recover to see what she had wanted, the emotions of terror and fear were practically running off this guy.
After maybe ten minutes of waiting the man finally tried to speak, "Thank you," shakily at first but firming up. "What do you want?"
Kelama looked off in the direction that Naga had gone and made a gesture, "I want to know what she was talking to you about."
The man nodded. "She wanted to know if Lina Inverse'd been here recently, and if she had where she'd gone."
Kelama looked thoughtfully at the man. "Lina Inverse you say?" He'd thought he'd connected Naga with that woman, but this cemented it, information like this wasn't exactly to be ignored… anyone that counted themselves as the rival of someone who had destroyed a piece of Shabrandigo shouldn't be taken too lightly.
The man nodded, "The one who almost blew up the Sentinel Library. I still have no idea how that giant fireball could do no damage. None at all!"
Kelama's eyes widened a bit. He couldn't believe his luck, he had uncovered yet another clue, but again he was too late to make any personal, direct observations. It felt like he was always a step behind the action. 'Well, I suppose that's the nature of an investigation mission. It's amazing how little we have on these "Sentinels" after three hundred years of investigating. They keep their secret well, I'll give them that.' Kelama thought as he eyed the library, all of the Sentinel outposts were heavily shielded magically, but this even more so.
Kelama had been investigating the Sentinels for years now at the behest of his general, who was convinced that they could present a danger, and never found anything suggesting they were anything other than some kind of social organization. They had shown themselves as quite good at pulling small and semi-medium scale operations off behind the scenes, usually they were mop-up or relief missions, humanitarian work, but occasionally one would slip once in a while and give a hint of something different, that something they were hiding.
Kelama wondered about what all the pieces of this puzzle would show. Would it show anything? Or were his superiors just being paranoid about these Sentinels? Well, maybe he should get some more information from this man… though it wouldn't do to suddenly switch topics, better to slowly direct him to the information he wanted. Besides, he could gater other useful information.
"Tell me about this incident with Lina Inverse." Kalma said comfortingly in a calm and yet strong tone.
The man shuddered as he recalled the horror, the horror that was a little girl. A little red haired girl with a temper named Lina Inverse.
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It was a good thing he'd decided to use the ceiling, Peter reflected as the door opened and two definitely non-human creatures entered followed closely by a third, more human appearing figure. The two inhuman creatures looked like over-large red-orange snakes despite obvious arms, legs, torsos and their short, stubby, semi-conical tails. The third looked like an artist's rendition of a dark-elf he'd seen once when he was playing a role-playing game with several acquaintances… that had been kinda fun despite being coerced into it by Harry and having his character killed off in the first battle.
Peter shook his head trying to clear it and focus on the task at hand, getting out of this place. Aunt May would undoubtably be worried if he was too late and he didn't want her to worry, not when he could help it. It was then, with a sudden clarity like a fog lifting, that he saw how he could get out without being detected. He scrambled across the ceiling towards the door as the trio passed beneath him and let himself fall when he reached the place overhead the doorway where the ceiling and wall met, grabbing the to p of the doorframe and sticking as he swung through the doorway using his wrists and flipping up and above the doorway and sticking to the wall in a crouch as he started to scan this next room.
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"You jellyfish for brains!" yelled a small girl with long red hair chasing an older guy who was, ironically, close to three times her size. Anybody who saw the scene and was not familiar with the dreaded Lina Inverse, would have laughed and gotten a stare from the small redhead that could freeze a blacksmith's forge.
The man, dressed in blue armor and with ridiculously long blond hair looked like he was trying to outrun Armageddon, and judging from the giant fireball that leapt from the small sorceress's hand maybe he was.1
"Wait! Lina, wait!" yelled another woman following the two, Sylphiel was hoping that she would be able to heal Gourry after that comment about eating like a whale Lina had gone ballistic. It wasn't like he'd meant anything by it, she could swear that Lina had been looking for some excuse to visit bodily punishment on the swordsman for the past few days, too bad that Lord Gourry had fallen straight in to her clutches, as usual.
That was when Gourry ran into a rather tall and impressive building, being chased by another of Lina's fireballs. Sylphiel groaned, this wasn't good, it was the main library of the Cult of the Sword and Dragon… well, maybe the local authorities would chalk this up to a monster attack, something that was happening more and more often where Lina Inverse traveled. It certainly kept the local bars full of stories for adventurers to feed off of, but if Lina ever found out that the bars and taverns were responsible for a major part of the gossip concerning her being a "Dragon Spooker" and the "Natural Enemy of All Who Live" she would probably leave them as nothing more than piles of dusty ashes. Thus they were self-fulfilling prophecies.
"Lina!"Sylphiel cried, finally catching the smaller girl- er - woman's attention. "That was a library!"
Lina turned from Sylphiel back around to face the library expecting to find giant hellish flames flaring from the building. Instead all there was to be heard was a strangely uncanny silence which the undertones of the city trying unsuccessfully to break. Lina glanced back at Sylphiel wondering if she had an explanation of some sort, but the shrug she received said the other woman had no ideas regarding what was happening.
Lina was normally the impulsive one, but now she was a bit hesitant the power she'd put into that fireball would have easily started a raging fire, especially where there were a lot of flammable materiels… like a bunch of old, dry, dusty books. Finally she overcame her reluctance and decided that she would investigate, returning to her normal impulsive self as she burst into a run towards the door of the library.
Gourry, on the other hand, had been sure that it was the end for him when fo ran into the library, it didn't take a genius to tell that a fireball in an enclosed space with a few immediately inaccessible exits was not a good thing. He was even more sure of his impending doom when his foot slipped on the polished black surface of the floor and he felt the heat of the fireball rushing through the space he'd been occupying a moment ago.
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Zel followed the two Orphidians as they led him to the back room where Galvanaas and the two other men were. He rather wished that they would have taken up different positions in front of him though, the torchlight from the angles where they held them was preventing him from seeing as well as he could otherwise with his inhuman, cat-like, chimera eyes.
It was for that reason that he didn't see that one of the beds was empty until he was well in the room. 'Where did he go!?' Zelgadiss's mind raced; what were his intentions? What if he was an enemy? What were his abilities? What could he do? Would he even be safe alone if he was indeed an ally?
'One step at a time…' Zelgadis calmed himself almost instantly, then began instructing one of the Oriphidians, "Go see if you can find the man that was resting there," Zel gestured to the empty bed, "and bring him back to me."
Zel turned to the other one and instructed him to try to rouse the old Mage while he focused on the boy with the yellow bandana tied around his head.
The bandana-clad boy stirred for a moment and then rolled over clutching the blankets close and pulling them out from under Zelgadiss and sending the chimera tumbling to the floor.
Zel only stared at the sleeping form in surprise, he weighed nearly two-hundred and eighty pounds, and this boy had pulled the blanket out from under his feet with while still asleep!? This was incredible!
Zel tried again and agin to wake the sleeping boy up but the most he got was an incoherent mumbling before the voice drifted back into sleep. Frustrated, Zelgadiss took a deep breath and screamed "WAKE UP YOU!!"
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Lightning flashed, briefly illuminating the darkened desert landscape despite the torrential downpour. It was the kind of wind-driven rain that seemed almost warm when it impacted but quickly drained the heat away as the wind tore through any sort of protection short of solid housing. Had anyone been both close enough and looking in the right direction when the lightning flashed again they would have seen a figure in red and blue crawling up the side of the slightly curving cliff-face and into the night, though hardly anyone in their right mind would be out in such weather.
Peter Parker however, was very much in his right mind though, as he fled driven on by a great need. A nameless terror had settled on him after seeing those inhuman bodies moving with the grace born only of living things, he had to flee, to get away from those things… his mind would simply not allow him to accept them as reality, so he fled.
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The hand shot out with such surprising speed that Zelgadiss couldn't help but be hit by it. It also carried enough force that he couldn't help flying across the room. To say Zel was surprised would be an understatement, sure he knew this boy was strong when he pulled the blanket from under him… but this… this was enough force to shatter solid stone walls.
Ryoga's eyes flew open as his instinctive punch hit something hard. He didn't quite believe it, he'd always been a relatively light sleeper, you had to be when you camped in the wilderness more often than not. His stay in the hospital shouldn't have dulled his instincts that much… it was then that he realized how bone tired he was, he felt like he'd been hit with a battleship after being deprived for sleep for five days and four nights, in other words he felt absolutely drained, and that was in addition to the weird tingle he felt, it was kinda like the stinging, tingling sensation you get after you've been hit in the face rather hard… only over his entire body instead of just one spot. It was decidedly uncomfortable.
Standing up, Ryoga looked around at the surroundings and realized that he was without a doubt lost again. He couldn't help but sigh, it was fate, he guessed, the terrible sense of direction that plagued his entire family… although there was this strange, almost tugging feeling in the back of his mind in addition to the absence of an urge to wander. It was something he wouldn't have noticed until it was gone, now he didn't feel as though he was being pulled into looking for something that was always around the next corner… instead he felt peace, except for that tugging feeling.
Zelgadiss stood and looked carefully at the person who'd flung him across the room so casually, like a small girl might throw a doll. He stood at nearly the same height, or rather he would if he weren't hunched over… he looked like someone pulling themselves out of a collapsed building or landslide or something.
Ryoga glared at the person, well he thought it was a person, it was black and had pointy ears and it's eyes were slitted… 'Am I in hell?' Ryoga thought as he eyed the other speciously, 'I'd have to get pretty lost to wind up there.'
"Who are you?" the black-skinned man said in what seemed to be an amalgamation of languages that Ryoga could understand only because of his vast linguistic knowledge and abilities gleaned from years on the road traveling from country to country.
"Ryoga Hibiki." he replied, waiting to see what he would do and preparing for the worst.
Author's Note #1: I originally wasn't going to include Gourry and the rest, this is for you Mr. Lemieux. (Mr. Lemieux is an avis Gourry fan.)
General Comments: I'm trying to keep the chapters long… which is not a bad thing if I can keep them interesting. I figure I need write at length as well as smaller chapters. (Blame the likes of Robert Jordan for putting silly ideas like that in my head. If you don't understand that read the Wheel of Time series… wait, don't do that, I shouldn't cause more people to get addicted.)
Comments & Criticisms are welcome.
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