disclaimer: OK, I don't own Slayers. Remind me of it some more...

I hate this chapter, but it's needed for the story. I hopeI can get the message through.

chapter 2: Kvalser

In the nearby hidden city of Kvalser (A/N: I made it up, OK?) the town's elders were observing the spectacle that was unfolding before their eyes.

They were the Keepers of the history of the Golden dragons. It had been the elders' task to keep an eye on Valgaav ever since he was created, and they loathed their subject like nothing else in the world. All their lives, they feared that he might find out about their village and strike when they least expected it. In their eyes, Valgaav had no right to live. He was the devil himself, the devil sent to destroy the holy Golden Dragons. The inhabitants all knew the story of 'Valgaav the Destroyer' and loathed him for wanting to wipe out their holy gods. Little did they know that he hated the mazoku just as fiercely. The younger generations had never really believed that someone as evil as him could exist, but hated the image of a 'heretic' like him none the less.

Kvalser's history depended on the Golden ones, their religion was based on them. They were the self-declared protectors of the Golden ones.

Just a little drawback: they never learned Valgaav's side of the story. For them, the Golden dragons were holier than L-sama himself, and they had never heard of the genocide of the Ancients. They knew the race had once existed, and they just assumed it had become extinct by the power of their Light-weapon, even if that didn't sound very logical. The Ancients had always been trying to prevent that anyone 'd ever use its power for evil purposes.

Well...they had an idea how it could have happened...but they'd always stop doing research after the matter when the Golden dragons were mentioned. The books and manuscripts would all be abandoned to the town's forbidden library.

The whole town of Kvalser was proud of 'their' dragons and would do anything to hunt down and punish anyone who meant them harm... as long as 'anyone' wasn't the feared Valgaav, of course. He scared the ...begeebies out of 'em.

Since Dark Star was summoned, they had been worried about their town. If Lina and her party couldn't defeat it, no one could. And if they couldn't, Valgaav would come and destroy the last city of the Golden dragons.

With his brows knitted together in concern, Kvalser's towns leader watched the battle raging from his tower's window. His staff if town elders was discussing the situation, and a few young men were standing in the middle of the round room, looking a bit lost in the mess.

At last, the bravest of them dared to interrupt the elders' heated conversation. He tapped one of them lightly on the shoulder. 'What's your problem!' the old man snapped, making the young one recoil.

'Uh...Well...Umm...'

The boy blushed fiercely. Great...he had his words planned and now he was completely stressed and he couldn't even utter a simple word...

'It's okay, kid. We all are a bit jumpy today...' the kind elder interrupted his thoughts.

'Now, what is it you want to know?'

Relieved, the young man could speak normally again.

'Why were we summoned? Why did you order that every warrior or magician had to gather here? We were all watching the fight out there...'

The elder eyed the bunch of fighters the boy had brought with him. He could feel they were strong, but they lacked experience and confidence in battle. He could've known. They were the result of their pacifist religion, which told that it is OK to learn how to fight, but that combat should be avoided at all times. It also said that once you are 20 you should retire from fighting and find yourself 'a proper job'. Well, they'd just have to use them to the best of their capacities, even if it'd be the riskiest operation they'd had to do in years, no, centuries.

The elder sighed.

'You've all seen what's going on out there.' He addressed the whole group of warriors.

He received a curt, tense nod from all of them.

'Good. You may or may not have seen that something was blasted away from the battle into our direction. We were sent an urgent message by our observation-tower: that 'thing' was a very flustered-looking Valgaav.'

A sharp intake of multiple breaths at the sound of the name.

'The good news is that he appears to be defeated; not dead, but severely weakened. If you all look out the window now, you can all see that Dark Star is vanishing, so it is save to go and...'

The elder hesitated.

'And what?' a frail magician asked anxiously.

'Well, capture the devil. We all know he needs to be punished for his crimes.'

Slowly, the young men became aware of the danger they were in. They'd have to leave their town, go into the 'outside' world and attempt to...no! just Capture the being they had hated, and, more importantly, had feared for all their lives...

They didn't doubt that the menace from their childhood was weak now, they had seen the attack and the elders wouldn't lie to them, but still...

'You're right!' the first warrior exclaimed, determination in his voice. We might never get a chance like this again! This is the time to strike!'

'And don't forget...' he added '...what he did to the Golden ones...'

In a flash, the frightened squad regained their confidence. Hatred flared within them at the mention of Valgaav's newest crime. The remembered the horrific sight of the Golden dragons being killed, they remembered the feeling they had had when they saw their beloved Goldens fall...anguish over the loss of something beautiful, and the loathing, the hatred they felt towards the being who had taken it all from them. They didn't know, however, that a certain mazoku wasn't completely innocent either.

The decision was made. They'd accept the task of capturing the devil and bring him to their town, where he'd get his punishment. The warrior who had been the first to speak to the elder, Danver, was chosen unanimously to be their leader. After all, he was the bravest, the most experienced and he knew 'his' squad the best. He was surprised, but the brown-haired youth accepted. Immediately, he began forming squadrons of the men with the same kind of tactics: archers, shamans, black mages and swordmasters.

This is what they had all secretly trained for. Not for self-defence, or because they 'thought it might come in handy'...they had trained because every young man in the city would, at some point in his life, come to the conclusion that he would have to do his share in combat when the mighty Valgaav came to conquer their home.

Danver was given directions to the exact spot where Valgaav had 'landed'. (It was something like ' Outside the gate, go south until you reach that spire over there, and then avoid those sinkholes, and then continue until you run into that bunch of golems, kill them off and...', each landmark shown out the window; for no one had thought of bringing a map along.)

In a few minutes, the group was fully armed with weapons, spellbooks, tips from older, retired fighters and the 'directions'.

They were ready to go and set off into the dangerous outside world.