Disclaimer: Slayers = not mine

Battle at the hot-spring

Raging demon dragon king

Eruks eyes snapped open. He didn't know why, but he just had a strange feeling that something was wrong. He shook his head and sat up. "Is something wrong master?" Nimph slowly opened her eyes and yawned loudly. His sudden movement had woken her up quite forcefully seeing that she had made it a habit to sleep curled up on his chest. "It's nothing" he sighed as he let himself relax and carefully leaned back in his bed "I just got a funny feeling that something is up". He closed his eyes and tried to go back to sleep. His thoughts kept bugging him however, and he found himself unable to rest. Don't think so much, just rest he mentally begged his mind. Little by little he started relaxing, calmed by the sound of Nimph snoring soundly on his chest.

"Hey you two, wake up" Naga banged on the door.

"Coming miss Naga" Nimph called back and grabbed her towel. Despite her hurry, she stopped in the front of the closed door "Umm master, could you open the door for me?". Eruk groaned and got out of bed. It had been the same every morning the last three days.

He opened the door and allowed the fairy to exit. "Why don't you ever join us in the hot-springs?" she asked as she passed him. He shook his head "no, it's ok" he gave her a warm smile "besides, I wouldn't be able to join you even if I wanted. The baths here have separate areas for men and women anyway".

Nimph shrugged "what is it with you humans anyway? Does it matter if you are male or female anyway?". Eruk felt blood rise to his face "look, I'll tell you about it when you get older ok? He practically shoved the tiny creature out of the door and slammed it shut. Sometimes her naivity concerning human relations really left him speechless.

He sat down on the bed. It's not that I want go he thought as he pulled his shirt off. He took a look in the mirror. His entire torso was covered by scars. "Hideous" he thought as he let his finger trail over the one that covered his stomach.

His face grimaced as he remembered how he got it. The memory of the enraged Damien Shadowheart were still a nightmare to him. It could have been me... he shuddered at the thought of what he could have become. He sat down on the bed. If it hadn't been for Sylphiels kindness, who knows how he had ended up?.

"Snap out of it!" he ordered himself and stood up. Dwelling on the past had never helped much. He stood up and got dressed.

"So, back again young man?" the bartender greeted him warmly. Eruk nodded and sat down on a chair. He hated spending his time in a small bar like this, but with Naga and Nimph spending the better part of the day swimming in the hot-spring, he had nothing better to do.

"Could you give me the usual?" he asked. The bartender nodded and poured him a glass of water "on the rocks?" he asked jokingly. "Do whatever you want" Eruk shrugged. This was such a waste of time, but Naga had insisted that they stayed for at least a few days and he was not about to argue with her about something like that.

"I've got to do something" he thought "otherwise I'm going insane". He drank the last of his water and left the bar. "Now, what to do?" he thought while he looked around. Except for the large indoor hot-spring, the town really didn't have much to offer.

"Sir! SIR!!!" A man came running up to him. Eruk spun around and faced the man "what is it?" he asked dryly. "I'm sorry to disturb you sir" the man huffed "but you wouldn't be a mercenary, now would you?".

Eruk looked the man over. His clothes hinted that he was a part of some sort of militia. "I might be" Eruk narrowed his eyes "what do you need me for?". He tried his best not to seem to eager by the prospects of a job, but inside he was smiling. This was the perfect chance to earn some money without Naga claiming all of it for herself. "My name is Birann" the soldier introduced himself "I really don't have time to explain right now, but if you want a job, go talk to the commander". Birann bowed deeply and ran off again. "Weird fellow" Eruk shrugged "but I'd better do as he suggested. Anything is better than hanging out here doing nothing anyway".

He adjusted his sword on his back and started to make his way to the military compound. As he started to get closer to his destination he could hear people shouting, and the sound of running. "You there!" a man ran up to him "are you a mercenary?". Eruk nodded. "Thank goodness" the man sighed "I take it that you spoke with Birann then?" Eruk nodded again "he told me the commander would tell me what was going on here".

The soldier guided Eruk to the city gate and pointed outside "this is the problem". Eruk looked out of the gate. It looked like several tents had been set up during the night. "Lizardmen..." Eruk growled. He had had several encounters with those creatures in the course of his travels. They could almost be regarded the same way as bandit gangs inside the barrier lands.

"I don't see how this could be trouble for a well trained militia" Eruk remarked. The commander of the city guard came up to them "usually it isn't" he shook his head "but with that THING they've brought along, we can't do a single thing about them". The smile on Eruk face started to fade as a towering tent came into view in the middle of the camp. "Chimera..." Eruk whispered. Suddenly this whole job was starting to look a lot better from his point of view. Not only would he get to do something other than hanging around in a bar drinking water all day, here was one of the creatures that he had vowed to destroy. He mentally prepared himself for a difficult fight.

"I'll take the job" he informed the commander and started walking towards the camp. He could already feel his anger towards the chimera creatures rising. "Hey, where are you going?" the commander shouted behind him "we just wanted you to assist the guards in case they attack...".

Eruk drew his sword, and slipped into a defensive position as the first couple of lizardmen charged towards him. In a flash he dispatched the first one and changed into a more offensive position. His remaining opponent slowly started to back away. "That's right" he smirked "never underestimate your opponent".

"In that case, you should follow your own advice" a female voice shouted. The blood started to drain from his face as he recognized the voice. "Not now..." he groaned.

"All alone are you?" Mimi laughed "I had thought you smarter than this". Eruk turned his head slightly to look at the two newcomers "can't you two just give it up?" he growled "I don't need you to interfere with my mission". A sudden movement made him turn his attention back to the remaining lizardman. The creature was running back towards the camp. "Great" Eruk mumbled "he got away".

He turned to the two girls again "do you have any idea what you've done?" he shouted.

"We saved that creature?" Nene offered helpfully. "Be silent" Mimi ordered her "it doesn't concern us anyway". Eruk advanced on them "oh but I'm afraid it does" he smirked "It got away to warn the entire camp about us". The twins looked nervously at each other and then back to the man advancing on them. "But we can always just go back to the town, right?" Nene suggested "it will be safe there". Eruk shook his head "look at that" he pointed in the direction of the town. Several of the lizardmen hard already begun encircling them.

"Do we really have to fight?" Nene whispered to her sister. The other girl simply readied her fan in response. "I take it that our differences have been put aside for the moment?" Eruk turned away from the twins "I don't know about you two, but I think fighting among ourselves would be a bad idea right now". Very slowly he continued moving backwards in their direction. "You have a point" Mimi agreed "but once this is over, we WILL take you and that crazy woman back with us". Nene nodded in agreement.

Eruk dodged a blow with ease, and sent another opponent flying with a well aimed punch. He took the time to cast a glance at his makeshift teammates. The twins were actually holding their own pretty well. No big surprise there though, lizardmen weren't exactly known for their fighting skills. He took out another opponent with a fast slash of his sword when he heard a scream. He spun around. A huge chimera had gotten its hands on one of the girls. "MIMI" Nene cried and charged forward with her staff to help her sister. "She'll never make it" Eruk thought. He spun around and made a vicious slash at all the nearby lizardmen. Three of them dropped death and the others backed off.

The chimera raised Mimi high in the air and tossed her towards the charging girl. Nene fell to the ground and dropped her weapon as her sister collided with her. The chimera howled in triumph and started advancing on them.

"Not so fast there!" Eruk shouted. He stared the creature straight in the eyes. "So you recognize me?" he smirked as the chimera turned away from the twins and started walking towards him. Eruk slipped into a fighting stance "ready to be destroyed?" he threatened.

"you'd better run now" Mimi called out to him "That creature is not normal!". Eruk narrowed his eyes "I'm not going to back out of this fight". Nene shook her head "We'd better go sis, he's crazy to go up against that thing". Mimi didn't move.

Eruk ran forward and made a strike at the creature but missed. In return he took a blow to the head and stumbled backwards. The chimera was fast to follow up on it's attack. Eruk fell to the ground, blood started flowing into his eyes from a wound on his head. He slumped to the ground and passed out.

The chimera raised its hand to deliver the final blow when something hit it in the back of the head.

"Sis!" Nene shouted "what are you doing!". Mimi held up her hand as her fan returned to her. "maybe that wasn't such a good idea after all" she mumbled to herself.

With an angry grunt the chimera turned it's attention towards the girls. "I think we should get out of here" Nene had already started to back away. "Well, what are you waiting for?!" Mimi shouted as she ran past her sister "we have to get back to town".

"What do you think is going on out there, sir?" Birann asked the commander. The older soldier shook his head "I'm not sure, but I'm sure those two can tell us" he pointed at the two girls that ran for the city gate with all their might. "Is... it... still... after... us?" Nene huffed. Mimi shot a look over her shoulder "Run faster!" she cried.

"Excuse me?" Birann blocked the gate "I was wondering if I could...". He was pushed forcefully out of the way by Mimi "Out of my way!!" she shouted. "You'll have to excuse my sister" Nene called back "but we really are in a hurry here". Birann climbed back on his feet "what was that about" he asked confused.

His answer came just seconds later when the massive chimera shoved him away. "What the hell is that!?" The commander shouted as the creature made it's way through the town.

"Umm sis? I hope that you have a really good plan now" Nene whimpered as she pressed herself up against a wall. Mimi shook her head "We just have to fight, I guess...". Nene swallowed hard and readied her staff. The chimera roared in triumph as it started advancing on the twins.

They moved closer together. "I knew we should have stuck to singing..." Nene whispered "I'm just not cut out to be in this kind of business...". Mimi sent her an annoyed look "Are you saying that this is my fault?". Before Nene had a chance to answer, the chimera rushed forward ready to kill them both.

"It was nice knowing you sis" Nene whispered and closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable. She screamed loudly when she felt a gush of wind on her face.

"Would you look at that?" Mimi whispered. Nene slowly opened her eyes. The chimera was struggling to get back up after seemingly having been thrown several feet away. "What happened?" she asked. Mimi pointed at a house "I think... he did it..." she gulped.

Eruk stood on the roof. A aura of pure energy radiated from him as he looked down on the fallen chimera. Slowly it got back up and stared at the attacker, for the first time in it's life it felt a strange sensation of fear.

A cruel smile formed on Eruk face as he slowly levitated down to the ground. "Is he insane!?" Mimi shouted "He hasn't even drawn his weapon yet!". The chimera had recovered from his first attack and charged forward. Eruk slowly raised his right hand and pointed at the charging creatures. A wave of pure energy shoot from his hand and struck the creature directly in the chest. It flew backwards and crashed through a wooden wall. Mimi and Nene quickly ran out of the way as it crashed down in the hot-spring.

"What is going on out there?" Naga shouted "who dares to disturb the great Naga!?". She took a step back as the chimera rose from the water. "It's one of... them" Nimph pointed at the creature and quickly hid herself behind the sorceress. "I sure wish the master was here..." she whimpered, as the creature turned to look at them.

"Don't you dare to look away from me" Eruk growled as he sent the chimera flying with another energy beam. "Sidekick?" Naga asked and took another step away "Is there anything wrong?". He slowly drew his sword and walked out in the spring. "You'd better get away miss Naga" Nimph warned the sorceress "He has completely lost it". Naga nodded slowly and climbed out of the spring.

Eruk let out a cry of rage and charged the creature. His vicious attack almost slashed the chimera in half. It fell backwards. With inhuman strength he leaped out of the water and raised the sword high above his head. "What's he doing?" Nene asked. She and her sister were peeking in through the hole in the wall that the chimera had made. "I don't know" Mimi whispered back "but it looks serious...". The sword was starting to glow as he channeled all of his magical power into the blade. Before the creature could even react it was engulfed by a red light.

"Oh my god!" Mimi cried "that creature...! He just...".

"What are the two of you doing here?" the twins spun around and found themselves face to face with Naga. "We just... I don't... sorry..." Nene whimpered. "To hell with sorry!" Naga shouted and grabbed hold of both of them "we need to get out of here, and that's fast!". She shot a nervous glance back at the hot-spring, or rather at the steam that was left after Eruk had fired of his spell.

"What's going on here" Mimi cried as the sorceress dragged her around a corner "isn't he supposed to be working for you?". Naga leaned up against the wall and took a deep breath "It's a long story..."

"Master?" Nimph carefully flew through the steamy clouds of the former hot-spring. "oh there you are" she exclaimed and landed next to the limp form on the ground. "Are you ok?" she asked as she reached out to touch his forehead. Pure dark energy started flowing from him and into her body. "What... What is going on?" she whimpered as the dark energies grew stronger. She fell to her knees and grit her teeth in pain. It was the first time the power had been so concentrated. "I... won't... fail" she whispered as she fell to her knees.

"Oh dear, you poor creature...".

Nimph slowly turned her head in the direction of the voice. A woman slowly walked through the mists. The fairy narrow her eyes in an attempt to look at the woman's face "Miss Naga? Is that you?" she called. "Oh, I didn't see you at all little one" the woman giggled "my, do you ever look tired...". She reached down and touched the fairy. "What are you... talking about?" Nimph mumbled as she fought to stay awake. "Be at ease now, little one" the woman gently bent down next to Eruk as Nimph drifted of to sleep.

"Now, it's just you and me" she whispered.

"Who are you...?" Eruk groaned in pain.

"Shhh don't talk" she hushed him "you should go to sleep as well". In his weakened state Eruk found himself unable to defend against her spell. As he drifted of to sleep, he caught a glimpse of green hair. "I hadn't intended for you to see me just yet" Millenia mumbled "but I have my ways to change that". Again she touched his head "what were you thinking anyway?" she shook her head "now is not the time to unleash your power". She stood up and stared down at his sleeping form "we will meet again, demon dragon king". Without another sound, she turned around and vanished through the mists.

Authors notes:

Seems like the power of Gaav is growing ever stronger inside Eruks body. Now, I wonder what would happen if he for some reason lost all of his control over this power? Bad things would surely happen.

And how does that woman Millenia fit into everything? Am I just playing around with peoples heads here, or is there a reason for everything?

There is an answer to all this, but it is somewhere in the future chapters.