Disclaimer: The Slayers is owned by some rich Japanese guys, not by me

Out for revenge

A traveler?

A man was struggling against the cold winds. Even though he tried his best to hold his long black cloak in it's place, he was only partial successful. A strong gush of wind blew his hood off.

"Damn!" he muttered as his long silvery hair started floating freely in the wind. He reached back and pulled the hood back in it's place.

"Master?" A small voice came from one of his pockets "I'm soooo cold, can't we stop somewhere?". The man shook his head "there's no place to stop around here Nimph" The man growled "I have to keep moving unless I want both of us to freeze to death". Another sigh came from the pocket "Just find a place to camp really fast, ok?". The man pulled the cloak tighter around him, hoping to keep to conserve what little body heat he could. He continued on.

As he moved forward through the forest, a small light caught his eye.

It was a small cabin, and judging from the light coming from the inside someone had to live there. He went up to the door and knocked "is there anyone in there?" he shouted.

He could hear that someone moved. "Who's there?" a gruff voice came from the inside.

"A traveler looking for shelter" the man shouted.

Slowly the door opened, and the man found himself looking straight into a large woodcutters axe. He jumped back and prepared for battle. The door opened further, revealing a large man behind the axe. "I thought you were pretty well spoken for a troll" he muttered, while lowering his axe. "You better come inside before you freeze to death". The man relaxed and followed the woodcutter inside.

He felt relived when he heard the door shut behind him. At least for the moment he had both warmth and shelter, and he didn't ask for much more at the time.

"You better sit by the fire young man" the woodcutter said. He didn't need to say that twice.

"My name is Aaron" the woodcutter introduced himself. "And this little beauty" he gestured to the elderly lady next to him "is my wife Sarah". The man pulled his hood back and shook a few drops of water out of his silvery hair "I'm called Eruk" he introduced himself "thanks for taking me in. I can't pay you much though…". Aaron slapped him on the back "don't worry about it, no one should be wandering out there in this weather anyway".

Suddenly Aaron took a step back, as a small head peeked up from one of Eruk's pockets. "Wow, it's pretty cozy in here, isn't it master?" Nimph the fairy giggled as she flew up from the wet piece of clothing and settled in on his shoulder. Her favorite spot..

Eruk noticed the elderly couples reaction. "Don't worry about her" he assured them "she's with me, and I assure you she wont cause any problems". He turned his head a little and looked directly into his small companions blue eyes "isn't that right Nimph? You wont do anything crazy, right?".

"Me?" the fairy pointed at herself, her face a mask of pure innocence "doing something crazy? Oh no master. I'd never do anything of the kind!"

Aaron nodded and put his axe away "Another of those creatures from the barrier lands huh?" he asked not really interested in hearing an answer. "at least it's not one more of those damn troll creatures" he added.

Eruk tensed "troll creature?" he asked. Aaron sat down by the small table "yeah. Shoved up a few weeks ago. Terrorizing us every night it is.".

Nimph scratched her head "isn't that what you came out here looking for master?" she asked.

Eruk nodded. He had spent the last year traveling around trying to dispatch all of Diol's chimera creatures. However, it seemed that every time he killed one, he heard the rumors of two or three more.

"Did that little creature just say that you came out here looking for that terrible thing?" Sarah asked, trying to mask her fear. Eruk nodded. "But why would you throw you life away trying to fight a terrible creature like that?" Sarah continued. Eruk shrugged "I'd rather not talk about that, but I assure you, I'm more than capable of taking care of this creature". Nimph nodded in excitement "this is going to be so much fun, right master?". Eruk sighed again. Fighting those creatures wasn't something he enjoyed, it was just something he had to do.

"Here you go young man" Sarah handed him another cup of tea. He accepted it gratefully. Having been outside in the cold for some time now, he had started to feel like he was turning to ice from the inside and out.

Nimph held out her cup "can I have another cup too please?" she asked. Sarah smiled happily, she had taken quite a liking to the little fairy already "of course you can. And with honey and sugar this times too little missy?". Nimph nodded happily, and absentmindedly started to play with her long blue hair.

Suddenly the atmosphere was broken by a loud roar from the outside. Aaron stood up and grabbed his axe "it's that damn troll creature again!" he shouted. Eruk took a deep breath and stood up as well. "I'll take care of this" he said "you stay in here". He let his cloak fall to the to the ground before he vanished through the door.

It was pretty dark outside, but it didn't bother him much. His eyes adjusted to the dark pretty fast. At least there were some good things with the enhancement Diol had cooked up. Not even the cold winds was bothering him anymore. At the thought of the coming battle, the adrenaline has already started to kick in.

A sound came from his left. He reacted by getting into his fighting stance. A huge troll like creature came crashing through the bushes. Eruk smiled to himself, once this battle was over with, he would have one less of these damned chimeras to worry about.

The creature stopped some distance away and stared at the silver haired warrior. Eruk knew that he had to be careful. Maybe the creature looked like a troll, but it still had almost human like intelligence, and a mazuko's drive for destruction.

It picked up the a fallen tree and started to swinging it around like a giant club. Eruk took a step back, three shiny blades shot from each of his hands, as he flexed his muscles. The enchanted wristblades he had got when he set out on his first journey was his preferred weapon. Not only were they extremely light, but they also had an enchantment to keep the blades hidden when not in combat. The blades however, was starting to show the signs of heavy use.

The chimera charged forward. Eruk nimbly dodged the attack by rolling out of the way. Before his opponent could react he jumped up on it's back. He planted his blades deeply in the creatures back. It howled out in pain.

"Damn" Eruk muttered "didn't get it".

The creature got hold on his left leg and slammed him down on the ground. He lost his breath for a second, but if it hadn't been for the snow, it would have been far worse. The creature brought it's club down in a forceful blow. Eruk had just enough time to get up to a sitting position before he blocked the blow with his blades. He fell back from the force of the blow. He took a quick look at his blades. They had been bent out of shape and was rendered pretty much useless.

He felt his anger rise. Those weapons had a special value to him. They were the only reminder of the life he once had.

With an enraged cry he jumped to his feet. His eyes had started to change color. Instead of emerald green, they gradually started to turn into crimson red. Now he was fighting two battles at once. One against the beast in front of him and one against the rage within his own body. He drew a small dagger from his boot. It wasn't a fearsome weapon in any way, but in his hands it exploded in flames.

"Die!" he shouted as he ran towards the chimera. He dodged it's attack easily, and plunged the dagger deep into the creatures body.

It exploded in flames. In a matter of seconds all that remained of the creature, was a smoking pile of ash.

Eruk fell to his knees and panted heavily. Using his power came at a great cost. Every time he did, he felt his control over his own body slipping.

"Master? Are you ok?" Nimph placed her hand on his head. Little by little he regained control. That was one of the reasons he still traveled around with the little hyperactive fairy. She had some strange power that helped him keeping his inner monster at bay.

"Nimph?" he whispered "I owe you one for this". The fairy giggled "does that mean you'll buy me an ice-cream when we get to a town?". He shook his head. No matter how hard he tried, there were times where he simply didn't understand her.

"Ok, don't move kid!" Aaron stood behind him, his axe ready to strike "I don't know who or what you are, but you better get out of here before I decided I like that troll better! No one should be able to do what you just did!".

Eruk nodded "I see". He stood up and started to walk away. "Could I at least have my cloak back?" he asked before the elderly couple vanished into their cabin. A few seconds later Sarah came running back out. "Here you are, young man" She handed him the cloak "take care". Eruk smiled, "I will". He turned away and started walking away.

He was feeling bitter. No matter how much he tried, he would always end up scaring people away from him. The fact that he was able to use magic didn't make it easier on him. It had only been a couple of years since travel between the barrier lands and the outer world had been made possible, and people were still very suspicious of the strange force called magic.

"Hey master, isn't that a cave over there?" Nimph pointed out to the mountain to his right. He took a closer look "Looks like you're right Nimph, good going". He got closer to the entrance. He edged himself inside the narrow entrance. It was a very small cave, but large enough to offer him shelter from the weather.

He took some food from his backpack. "Here Nimph, you need to eat too, don't you?" he handed her a small lump of bread. "Eeew what is this stuff?" Nimph stuck out her tongue.

"Look, it's all I got, don't complain" Eruk shot back. Nimph continued to stare at the bread in front of her. "I'd rather have some candy" she muttered.

Eruk shook his head, laughing a bit at his small companion. Sometimes his little fairy companion was just too funny to look at. He yawned, and leaned back on the wall, trying to get some sleep.

Authors notes:

There you have it. Two chapters, each one starring one of the two main characters of this fic. I will be doing this multiple storyline thing for a good part of the fic.

Another thing entirely, is that I wont update as often as I did with the first one. Writing "Between light and darkness" took me close to a year and a half. This one I have only been working on for about 4 months. And no, what I have posted here is by far not all of it, I have written plenty already. The reason for my slow updates is that I still have to go backwards in the story and change a few things as I go ahead. But have no fear! I will update from time to time, and I will finish this story.

I just hope that you stick around and check back with this story from time to time.

Oh, and one last thing…. Reviews tends to make me work a lot harder, so please let me know what you think about this fic, ok?