Disclaimer: nope, don't own Slayers. That's all copyrighted to Hajime Kanzaka-san. I'm just borrowing his wonderful ideas to make a non-profit form of entertainment.
Upon the Sea of Chaos
A woman with long, flowing golden hair sat on her throne in the middle of her Sea of Chaos, twiddling her fingers.
Well, alright. There is no middle to a Sea of Chaos, and the throne wasn't really there: that was also part of the chaos. And technically, there was no woman either, just a bunch of chaos energy that couldn't twiddle non-existent fingers. But for the sake of comprehension, we'll just pretend that the Lord of Nightmares has a physical form, ok?
Now then, where was I? Ah, yes, the Mother-of-All was sitting on her Throne of Chaos. She had made it a point not to interfere with the lives of her children, but it was boring to just exist...or...not exist...or whatever beings of chaos do. But Her children; their lives. It was the only rule she ever followed. All the other rules she made she had broken. Such is the way of the Goddess of Chaos.
She gazed longingly at one of the jewels that adorned one of her staffs. Green emeralds and blue sapphires glittered under a white mist that parted here and there; the staff itself was a boring stone-grey. Looking through the mist, Chaos saw nothing of interest, and turned away to look at her other three staffs...getting the same result. She sighed a non-existent sigh, and leaned back in her chair, hoping something would catch her attention soon.
An eight-year-old ran along the beach, leaving footprints in the sand that eventually eroded with the waves. Normally, this girl would be ecstatic to be in such a place, except she was twenty miles from her home town of Zephilia, and running from the law, a.k.a. her older sister. Yep, Lina Inverse would be in a heap of trouble when she returned, as she had skipped out on her magic lesson for the day. Although she didn't see what the big deal was; she knew practically everything her sister tried to teach her...except that white magic. Nothing about it interested her except for the healing spells. That and she wasn't very good in it. Her older sister, Luna Inverse, prided herself on white magic, but then again, being a Knight of Ceifeed may do that to a person.
Lina sighed and flopped down on the sand, letting the waves splash about her feet. Although Lina knew a lot of black and shamanist spells, she wouldn't normally skip lessons, mostly because, at heart, the great, not-yet-famous Lina Inverse was a show-off. No, the main reason she had skipped today was that she was supposed to learn more white magic spells. She made a face at the very thought.
Trying to forget about what she was missing, Lina turned her attention to look up at a large cliff. That cliff was kind of annoying, as it separated the north beach from the south. The beach would be so much more fun if the two were connected, and Lina could play with the children from other towns that frequented there! But a normal Dragon Slave wouldn't do the job, no, Lina had tried that already; the best she got was a decent-sized chunk blown off the top after using three of the black magic spells in a row. She needed something more powerful, something that would easily do the job.
She gasped and sat up as she suddenly thought of a spell that might be capable of destroying such a large cliff. While looking through her sister's spell books, she came across one with many runes on it and no title. Thinking that she might not get another chance to read that thing, Lina had snuck it out with her. Now, alone, with no person in twenty miles, she had the chance to sit down and read the book that emanated such magical power.
Pulling the small book from her pack, Lina turned to the page with the spell called, what was it, Giga Slave! and began to read. Seeing as the spell was five pages long, she also pulled out an apple and munched away.
First, there's the obvious description of what the spell does. Second, there's the incantation. That part of a spell is always a must. After that, a detailed description on what each line of the incantation means. Then, an explanation on how much magical power to pour into each line to control it.
Lina whistled when she got to that part; she wasn't sure she had enough power to control this Giga Slave, but she could always try.
Now usually, the part about how to control a spell is the last thing in a description. However, being a powerful spell, what came last was a list of consequences. Translating the runes, Lina was able to make out "Loss of..." where it would undoubtedly continue on to the next page. Curious, she looked at the top of the next page and saw... "How to Make Tea for Mazoku."
"Eeeeeehhh?!" was all she could manage. She looked back between the two pages before noticing a small rough edge between the two; someone had ripped the page of consequences out. "But why?" Lina thought aloud. Why would someone want to rip a page of Big Sister's magic book out?
The red-headed girl shook her head to clear her thoughts. Never mind that, she now knew how to do the so-called "Most Powerful Spell of All-Time" which called on a Dark Lord more powerful than Shabranigdu and Ceifeed themselves. She raised her arms and concentrated, beginning the incantation, her mind flitting through the instructions she read not ten minutes ago.
"Darkness beyond blackest pitch, deeper than the deepest night..."
Back on her Throne of Nothingness-and-All, the Dark Lord of All felt a little pull in the back of her mind. She turned her head toward the staff that was giving off the feeling, and began watching with interest.
"Lord of Darkness, which shines like gold upon the Sea of Chaos..."
Now the Lord of Nightmares could hear a voice coming from the jewel. She listened in on the words of the spell.
"I call upon thee, swear myself to thee..."
She gasped. Someone was trying to summon her! No one had summoned her in over two thousand years, well before the Kouma War broke out. Some fool of a human had managed to harness her life-force and attempted to use it against one of her grandchildren, Deep Sea Dolphin. Having been summoned to a world of her creation for the first time, it was interesting to look around. Unfortunately, as a side-effect, both the caster and the one destined to have the spell cast on went insane from simply gazing upon Chaos. She had let them both live; the priest out of sensing something of import from him in the distant future, and Dolphin out of a love for her direct children. The priest recovered in time, but lost his memory when he was turned into a Mazoku. What did they call him now? Oh yes! Xelloss!
Shrugging off the thoughts of the past, she turned her attention to the present. Or what passed as present on the little planet. Wondering just how much her creation had changed in two thousand years, the Lord of Chaos decided to answer the summon.
Smiling and tapping her fingers on her chin, she waited for the last line to be spoken.
"Let the fools who stand before us be destroyed by the power you and I possess!"
That was her cue; She returned to her original state, a golden orb of chaos, and descended through the mist into an area where emerald met sapphire: the beach.
"Giga Slave!!" Lina Inverse cried out, attempting to control the large black nothingness that had formed above her. With the last of her strength, she hurled it at the cliff, hoping it would be destroyed.
Unfortunately, she didn't have enough strength left, and while she managed to hit the cliff, she, too, was caught in the blast. She looked up as the darkness of Chaos descended upon her.
An eternity passed. A second passed. Time became irrelevant. Time was never relevant. Lina awoke to find herself floating in a blue space, a white light shining on a non-existent horizon. She was tired, she wanted to sleep...
She felt herself being lifted and looked up, finding herself looking into the face of someone who looked, other than the odd golden hair, exactly like Luna. "Big Sister...?" Lina called out weakly, then frowned; no, that wasn't her. Some of the facial features were different. But, just like Luna, this mysterious stranger had bangs that fell into her face, hiding her eyes. "Who are you?" she asked.
She was answered by a light, musical laughter, and somehow very familiar. "I am your Mother," was the reply. Yet the woman's mouth never moved. Instead, the sound came from all around and inside of Lina.
Lina frowned again. "My mother? No, you don't look like my mama. My mama has long red hair, like mine!" She held up a lock of her hair to the woman for proof.
The stranger laughed again. "Yes, that is true. However, I am also your mama's Mother. I am the Mother of all living things. I am the Mother of all non-living things."
Lina was getting confused, and decided to just let the subject drop. Then she remembered what she had originally wanted to do. "Oh, yeah! What happened to that cliff?"
The golden woman frowned in confusion. "Cliff?"
"Yeah! It was a big cliff. Really big. I could hardly dent it with even three Dragon Slaves! So I tried out this new spell, Giga Slave, I think it's called, to try to get rid of it. Did it work?"
Laughter echoed throughout eternity for what seemed like eternity. "A cliff? You summoned Me to destroy a cliff?" The laughter resumed.
"Ah, well..." Lina suddenly tensed. There was something about that pronoun that just didn't belong. "Wait a minute...you're the King of Darkness? The Lord of Nightmares?!"
Chaos gently touched the girl's chin and held it. "Yes, I am She. I find it rather amusing that My power would be used for something so miniscule as the obliteration of a cliff, however."
Lina seemed to be in a state of shock. "Wait, I lost control of the spell, didn't I? I'm dead aren't I? You're gonna kill me for summoning you, aren't you?" Tears welled up in her eyes.
The Mother smiled gently, settling some of Lina's fears. "No, I will not. I find the reason behind the summon rather...amusing." Her face grew hard. "However, lose control of My spell once more, and we shall have to have a little chat." Lina gulped. "But for now, I return you. I also sense some great destiny for you, My Child. Be careful now." The Lord of Nightmares gently set Lina down on the non-existent ground and smiled once again before reverting back into her orb form and floating away.
As the Sea of Chaos disintegrated and reformed itself into a Sea of Blackness and Unconsciousness, Her voice drifted back around Lina.
"I will leave you a warning...Please don't go throwing my spell around aimlessly..."
A second passed. And then another. Soon, a minute passed. And then another.
A few more minutes passed before Lina woke to someone desperately shouting her name.
"Lina! Lina!! Please, wake up, Lina!! Oh, gods, oh Ceifeed, please, no. Lina!!!" The small red-head opened her eyes slowly, and found herself immediately and violently shoved into someone's shoulder. "Thank the gods; thank all of them! Lina, you're ok!" The shoulders shook, making it hard for her to concentrate.
As she reoriented herself, Lina turned her head to look at the person who held her. Purple hair blocked her view. Suddenly, as quickly as she was shoved into the shoulder, she was shoved away from it, and found herself looking into tear-filled crystal eyes. "Onee...san...?" Lina asked cautiously. For all her life, she had not once seen her big sister cry. "What happened? Why are you crying?" At this question, Lina was once again pushed into her big sister's shoulder.
"Oh, Lina, I thought I lost you." Luna pulled her sister away once again, more gently this time, and wiped at her tears before continuing. "I was looking for you when I saw this huge black dome on the horizon, and felt a great burst of chaos energy. So naturally, I went to investigate. When I arrived, I saw you lying half-in and half-out of the water in an inlet that I swear wasn't there before. But, what really scared me," Luna's shoulders began to shake again, "is that you weren't breathing!" Lina tensed when she said that. "I thought you were dead, I thought..." The Knight pulled Lina to her again. "I'm just glad you're OK..."
The young girl struggled against the embrace, but to no avail. "Oneesan," Lina gasped. "You're choking me."
The older one sat Lina up straight again. "Oh, sorry," she admitted. The Knight looked around. "But what exactly happened here? What could create a bay where there once was a mountain?"
Lina looked around and saw, indeed, that annoying cliff had been replaced by a wide body of water that opened up into the ocean. Or, as Luna called it, a bay. "I, I don't know," Lina stuttered. "All I remember is that I cast the Giga Slave and then-"
"You WHAT?!" her sister exploded. "You cast the Giga Slave?! Do you have any idea how dangerous that was?"
Lina shrunk back in fear. "Um, not really...See, that page was torn out of your book..." She quickly covered her mouth, as if she had said something wrong. It didn't take long for Luna to figure out what.
"Book? Which book? The only book that has the incantation to a spell like that is..." She gasped. She then proceeded to throttle Lina. "You little witch! What did you do to my Claire Bible Manuscript?!"
"I-I took it out of your library cause the spell looked interesting. I brought it with me to the beach! It-it should be r-right next to me!" she managed to choke out between shakes.
Luna dropped Lina and looked around eagerly. Her eyes lingered on the bay.
Wondering what she was staring at, Lina, too, turned her attention toward the bay. "Oh," was her understanding response.
The Knight of Ceifeed shot the small red-head the Look of Death™. She then began to throttle her again. "Not 'oh,' my Claire Bible's gone!! You vaporized it! It went to wherever that mountain's gone! It's all your fault!!!" she finished with a screech. After letting out all that pent-up anger, Luna dropped Lina back on the sand and sighed. "Well, at least you're all right. The book...I guess it came like that, with that page torn out and all, but I was told what the consequences were..." Lina perked up and leaned in, having forgotten all about the danger her sister represented. "The Lord of Nightmares could have taken you. You could have been vaporized with the book and that cliff." Lina gulped. "I think the words that were used were 'return to chaos,' where you literally would have gone to the Sea of Chaos...and been no more." Luna sighed; she had been doing that a lot, today. "But, as I said before, I'm just glad you're safe." She pulled her sister into a hug again, then stood up. "C'mon, let's go home, 'k?" She reached down and pulled Lina up; she gladly obliged.
"Is there gonna be food there? I'm kinda hungry after draining myself like that."
"Yeah, sure." Luna chuckled. "You certainly drained yourself; your hair's all white!" She gently tugged on a strand and held it up for Lina to see.
"Eeeehhh? How'd it get white? I want my real hair back!" she began crying.
Luna laughed again, not bothering to comfort her little sister from the shock of having different colored hair.
The Lord of Darkness sat on her throne in the middle of the Sea of Chaos once more. The new sound of waves crashing into a cliff-face was a nice addition, though. She looked over at the large cliff, which was constantly being bombarded by chaos in the form of golden waves. Turning her attention back to the book in her hand, she smiled. So a piece of Ceifeed helped to write this, huh? Even though it was a piece of her firstborn, it didn't possess all the knowledge Ceifeed himself had; that was kind of a downer. Oh well, it was still an interesting read.
Ah, and what was that girl's name? Lina Inverse? Yes, that was it. No doubt she would play an important role somewhere in the near future. She also had the feeling they would meet again, face-to-non-existent-face. But that was something to ponder later. Did I mention the Claire Bible was an interesting read?
A/N: (always gotta have one o' these) yeah, there are many theories on how Lina first cast the Giga Slave (cause you know she HAD to have cast it before Shaburanigdo, knowing all about it and why she shouldn't cast it and such :P), but this is mine own theory, based off the common "she created a bay where nothing lived" theory. (tell me if this isn't a theory, but has actually been proven by Kanzaki-sama himself)
anyways, I hoped you enjoyed the story; it didn't turn out as good as I had hoped ToT but at least it's good enough to post, seeing as I got my basic idea down and all.
aahh, I'm ranting again. anyways, reviews are nice, criticism is appreciated, and flames are discouraged, seeing as they provide no info except that the person hated the story (if you hated it, please tell me WHY)
and sorry 'bout the cheesy title, but that was all I could think of (working title was LoN just to let you know XD yeah, it's kinda hard to come up with titles, ya know?)
aaand that's the end. see you again...if I ever update anything at all >>