---o--o--o---
Author Hello, Xellos
Xellos I never do introductions...Never liked them...
Author You are a tedious one, aren't you?
Xellos As you say, old friend...
---o--o--o---
Slayers: Clouds!
Chapter 13:
Survival! Let Friends be Safe!
---o--o--o---
The dragon lord knew his time had come again...
"Yes," with eyes glaring down into the dusty ground. Next to his feet a woman in black coughed. He took pleasure in flooring the lord Zelas, a familiarity of memories from long ago. "Don't you remember the romps we used to have? Eating sausages and cheeses while you brushed your children's ratty furs skins. I used to watch you feed them under my untrusting gaze, their eyes never leaving my own stare me in the slightest. Oh, it was so long ago."
Zelas' muddy face looked up, her condition not at all pretty. "I can't even imagine you there."
"But it was! I remember it..." Wrapping his giant hands around her neckline, he pulled her up like a ragdoll. "I can't thank you enough for your power, your fun. After all, I couldn't have done it without your little help."
Zelas coughed. "I try--"
The stranger extended her arm, putting her ribs against his own in familiar embrace. "Dance with me, old friend..."
The Mazoku lord spit on his pleas. "...Never will I be with you again." But she had not the strength to push him away, her feet still dragging in mud. "You beast and traitor."
"You betrayed them before...am I right? You turned your back on the rest of them, with you and Philbrizzo doing this to me."
"No, we didn't," gurgled Zelas. "What would I get out of turning your head into mush?"
"Perhaps if I reminded you of the price of pain." He turned his back for a second and pulled out a plain brown canvas sac, heavy from its contents. From the bottom leaked black energy, dripping on the dry ground, sizzling like flying eggs.
"Madness."
The dragon lord dropped the bag, its sticky contents rolled out as if spurring by her curiosity. Her heart wanted to look away, but her eyes could only burn the horrible image in her mind. She was staring at the head of Dolphin, her friend, in the middle of black sticky mess. Her eyeballs were still squirming and circling like drunken sailors, her lips split apart by the sharpness of a blade. Even dismembered, the sea-dwelling Mazoku lord was still alive.
"And my former lover, you will do it betray them again. I believe I am need of a withdrawal."
Just as sudden, the dragon lord plunged his arm up to his wrist onto Zelas crippled body. He ripped flesh from her suddenly immaterial form, molding a removed handful sticky black mass with his fingers until it was quite pliable in his hands. Zelas' body fell backwards, leaving her chest open to the mud below her broken body.
The stranger straightened up, the flame of black torching the sky, the shadow of the Cloundminders ever close in the distance. He tilted head high into the sky, his now mad laugher shaking the air.
---o--o--o---
The sorcerer looked up at Filia and Xellos. Mazoku and Dragon.
They were on the same side, with the indefensible City of the Clouds behind them twirling in the morning blue sky. The seriousness in their eyes was unmatched to the silence of the moment. If only one could imagine...
A dragon with the will.
The fire in her eyes. Life. Survival. Lina had only seen it once before, the anger, the sorrow that Filia had hidden away from her family, disobeying...
"Filia," spoke Lina, so softly that she barely heard herself.
The truth was known. Mazoku and Dragon. In a pact, working together against the Cloudminders. A fate, a history of thousands of years ago, working together, because of past transgressions, by them--
A dream.
Why now? Why would the memories of her dreams surface as she watched Filia cloak flutter in the wind. Something about this place had brought the memories of the dreams alive, but now they were happening all at once.
The valley, all the same.
The place, just off by a hair.
The sky, a perfect blue. The Cloudminders, more magnificent in her eyes than ever possible from her dreams. She felt just being able to reach out and touch them, to feel their presence, no matter how mysterious--
At a split second, unleashed. Blue and green, the waves of power that seem to come out of nowhere. More powerful than her amplified dragon slave. The signal of the end of the world, for all that she knew.
It was not just Zelgadis' fate...but her fate as well, to know the answer.
Lina's heart called out in pain.
The Cloudminders. They had all the answers.
No one was going to stop her.
No Mazoku.
No dragon.
Even if it meant taking on her friend.
She knew what she had to do.
---o--o--o---
Xellos looked down at the redheaded sorcerer, amused as ever.
A hand played. No longer a game, each round had been played by experts. A series of battles coming to a climax. Never before had a betray been so close--so good, so bad. So perfect, it fact, it was like a tickle. He was getting off on it, all right--
Lina was determined as ever. Even before had he seen the red outlined so dark in her eyes. Not directed so much at them, but at the truth.
And then back at Filia. For beyond the determination in Filia's eyes, there was a sadness and grief. As if someone touched and threatened the very life of her soul--and more.
He watched her, ever so carefully, looking for that sign, thus waiting for her to be ready. So tense was the air that you could slice it with blade of the Lord of Nightmares.
And then, he stepped in.
"Time out!" interrupted a Mazoku, making a T shape with his hands. The mysterious appeared right behind the redhead, almost playfully goosing her with his fingers. "I need to huddle with my partner for a minute."
"Wha? Partner?" repeated the sorcerer, twirling around towards Xellos. "Hey, aren't we a bit busy here!"
"I know, baking a cake. Right?. 10 minutes, tops." He poofed and reappeared next to the dragon, swiping her hands literally from out of the air. Filia didn't even have time to flinch, so dumbfounded by the casualness of the Mazoku.
"Ta-ta!" And he was gone with the dragon.
"What just happened?" chimed Sylphiel.
Gourry scratched his head. "I think they needed some time alone."
"Stupid Mazoku," commented the chimera, supported by the ever-so helpful Sylphiel. "Even stupider Filia." He looked up at the rest of them, his glare no longer friendly. "How could she do this to us."
"I'm sure she has her reasons," pondered Lina. "I can't imagine that past transactions are forcing her--"
"No, she's got more spine than that." The chimera came over next to Lina, his glare more determined. "So, do you think we can take her?"
"Wait a minute," shouted Sylphiel, "You don't expect us to go against her!"
Amelia's eyes waxed over. "Our magic...we've never."
Lina straightened out her posture. For them to use spells against a dragon, it was almost a tenet of white magic that nothing like would ever happen. Yet...
"What does your heart tell you?" she answered. "What do you want to do?"
"That Filia is a dragon," said Amelia, "and how I can't do this to an elder. She's almost like the sister..." As her words trailed off, her posture become suddenly defensive.
Lina put her hand gingerly on top of Amelia's head, rubbing her thick locks of hair. "You know when you were bad one day and your daddy punished you?"
"No, not at all! I was a perfect little girl growing up-" A thought entered her head, stopped Amelia in her tracks. "Well, er...there was this drapery once in the throne room. Something about me with scissors."
The rest of the group chuckled.
"Come on." Lina sighed. "Think of it as telling off your parents. Besides," said Lina, looking out of a corner of her eye at Zelgadis, "I made a promise that I intend to keep. Mazoku and Dragons be damned."
Amelia nodded.
"Lina," said Sylphiel, coming over to the other two ladies. "How do we intend to get past Xellos and Filia? Its not like be can stroll right by-"
"No, of course not." The redhead, realizing that something was different, did a headcount of her friends. "Where's Gourry?"
---o--o--o---
He held the beautiful dragon by her lower arm, loosely in his hand yet tightly against his body. "So, little dragon. Before you commit your soul to the Mazoku will, I believe we have something to review." Talking at the same time, the Mazoku tugged at his bag, producing a scroll.
"You had better make it quick," Filia growled. "I can't even imagine they think we're like a couple of spies."
Xellos was amused, his chest on to her back, gently pinning her arms behind her back. "Oh, I didn't come on over here just 'Kiss the Dragon.' You know I'm correct." Filia obediently nodded her head, her body wilting in his grasp. "Now, pay attention what I say, and speak softly so they don't hear us..."
"OK" purred the golden dragon, "but read it."
"Oh this?" He let the bottom of the scroll go as it uncurled well past his feet. He drew the top it up to the Dragon's eyes. "Now for article one--"
"Give me that!" Reality helped Filia break out of his grasp, snatching the document from the mysterious priest hand's. She read the top part of the scroll first, before speaking the passage out loud. "I, Filia Ul. Coup, declare my will and soul to one Xellos, servant of Greater Beast Zelas Metallium..."
"Oooh, not in that tone. You're surely have the wrong idea."
The dragon was furious. "You mean there's some way I could have the right impression?"
Xellos's face showed off a little smirk. "With more feeling, little Dragon."
The blond could not stop reading the scroll out loud, exasperated what else Xellos had placed in his wish list. "Not yell at you!" raising her voice, "Scratch you back!"
Xellos coughed. "Ummm... how did that get in there..."
"Wash your tights!" Filia took the scroll and threw it back down into the mud. "Did you ever think I would become your slave so easily? What do you expect of me."
The mysterious priest objected, "A housewife then!"
"Nagomi!" The blond dragon slapped the Mazoku so hard across the cheek that he tripped, toppling into the grass.
A little adjustment and he was as good as new. Almost. "I feel it, Filia. I know you can tell me now..." The little show the Mazoku had performed was already over. "And how it feels."
"Disgusting," spat Filia. "I don't feel a thing."
"Not true. This is a Mazoku you're talking about. It is, after all, the pain of regret."
The golden dragon shuddered at Xellos' last words. She felt it elevate in her body, a knot in her stomach rising up her chest. If these strange feelings she tried to hold continued captured in her mind, there was no saying what would happen. It was as if the situation--
"Ah, betray." Finished Xellos. "Such a strong word to use."
Filia's breath grew shorter. "How..." was the only word she could speak, even if in itself made very little sense.
"I tend to think of it as following instructions from your elders."
Her attention snapped back onto the Mazoku. "You...knew?"
"Oh, for quite some time. You probably knew in the back of your mind too, yet could not ponder the truth of it."
"No, I guess not. The Cloudminders have been another stain that I never knew, history I don't care about..." She looked closer into Xellos' eyes. "You said you were there. What did happen?"
Xellos crossed his arms. "It was a long time ago, during the time when Dragons and Mazoku ruled the world."
Filia let the energy from Xellos wrap around her body. She didn't have the will to fight it, ever if she wanted to avoid the truth.
A scene changed the sky became darker and colder than before.
"What are you doing..." asked the dragon, entering something that she had never felt before. Indeed the Mazoku and dragon were as close as ever, the power of Xellos streaming off his like a geyser of water.
"Memories...we Mazoku have the power of illusion, just like you dear dragons. But this one is of something long...ago."
"Why are you showing me this. I know already--"
"Because," as if almost in a trance of anticipation, "you need to know the truth from both sides. As if you may know some of it from history, his word is never a good source."
Her mind objected, throwing up a light wall. "No...I don't want to..."
"Alas...its too..."
"Late." Finished the dragon. But she felt the words in her mouth, even before they could be stopped by her mind.
The white fluffy clouds that were there before were gone, now replaced with the white wisps of something else, laced in the color of red. The City of the Clouds seemed to disappear from view and reappeared farther away from its former position. It finally matched the cloud cover from before, the color refracting off of its golden spires seemed a bit more menacing than before.
"Where are we..."
"More like when are we..." pointed Xellos, at a floating group. "Oh, there I am..."
Filia eyes looked up, horrified. Next to Xellos was a small boy, an unmistakable floating power of Philbrizzo.
She could just imagine the conversation between the two Mazoku. And out of the air, a group of golden dragons circled overhead, about to charge the two Mazoku.
The Xellos from the past raised his staff, it itself glowing in the setting light. He shot ray of light out towards the dragons--
"No!" screamed Fila. But she was not really in this time, her pleading cries could only be heard by present Xellos.
"Oh Filia, I'm not that way unless---"
The smoke cleared. Past Xellos' shot has been in warning only, for it was enough for the golden dragons to pause. In front of the pack, squarely looking at the two Mazoku, The Supreme Elder.
Filia watched her former leader and head of the golden dragons pause at the Mazoku. They weren't fighting? How long ago was this?
"I am not afraid of you and your little new minion there, Philbrizzo."
"You called us, dragons. What is it that you desire?"
"We are the protectors of this world," answered the elder leader. "The balance between us and the other races must remain at peace."
"Oh," paused the past Xellos. "And who made you the judge?"
Philbrizzo ignored the younger one. "We don't have time to play dragon games. I need a good reason for being here. "
"They have imaginable power. Power to crush the gods and Mazoku alike."
"Yes, they are a threat. If they tug the switch, we can jump into another plane. There's no reason to go against them, for there are easier things to do to satisfy our needs. Why should we risk something for no gain? How foolish."
The elder dragon stepped forward, snarling into Xellos side. "You will help us, Mazoku. You always wanted a piece of the secrets of the Cloudminders."
The past Xellos blew him off. "Yare yare. You are quite foolish." At the same time, Xellos' blackness around him grew. "So maybe then I'll have a little fun with you instead..."
Filia watched, shaking her head, watching Xellos lower himself into a darting position to attack. Behind him, a smarting Philbrizzo. The Mazoku were coming together, like a pack of wolves. And it didn't matter who the enemy was, it all seemed to be a waste of time.
And then, a new member appeared.
Right in front of then between Philbrizzo and the Dragons. His size was massive, at least five times the size of Xellos. They all knew his name, yet no one had to speak of it.
And there was a fire in those eyes. A power, never to be quenched.
"Heed, Lord Philbrizzo."
The mysterious priest didn't bat an eyelid. "I see... so the real caller cometh."
The child Hellmaster was steadfast, however, pushing Xellos back to silence with a turn of his head. He quickly made the other Mazoku minions snap their attention towards the new stranger.
"There are those who believe time has given us the right. That the Lord of everything has the powers bestowed on us..."
Then, a pause, and one that seemed to last an eternity. "And your point?" spoke Hellmaster.
"Yes, the Ancient Dragons have decided not to fight among our side. The golden dragons had done their best to eliminate them."
"Petty battles. Toys I call them, and since they have no threat on anything I do." Philbrizzo was not impressed with the stranger's tact, no matter how dwarfed he was. "I don't care--"
"I see all, Philbrozzo. Those Cloudminders have the Ancient's most elusive power. We cannot allow them to have that over us."
Xellos spat right at their feet. "You mingle...then."
"We protect this world, at any cost."
"We don't believe you one bit." doffed Xellos.
"Name you price."
Philbrizzo's flat expression turned into a smile of pleasure. "Oh I see...you can't do it alone. I see why you called us, golden one, you wanted the power of light and dark." He took a second to rub his chin in delight, his mind churning ideas left and right. "Very well. Give me part of this world to do as I please."
"Blastomy!" shouted a dragon.
The stranger gritted his teeth. "How dare you---"
"Shut up, for I already know you're say yes from those fists of yours are almost glowing. Go ahead and cause trouble later. I don't give a damn. However, I want amusement, and a little playground would suit me fine. A zone of intense magic..."
"Never!" shouted The Supreme Elder. Such a zone is a power keg to everything that we believe in! You would have chaos at the snap of your fingers!"
Philbrizzo stared at the silent stranger. "You asked me to name my price." He paused as the smirk of his smile threatened to take over his entire face. "I do believe you agree with the terms, I might add."
The stranger nodded, opening up his hand for the Mazoku to see. In his palm, a ball of energy floated up and flew over to Hellmaster, waiting like a puppy to its owner.
The elder dragons stiffened.
"Very well, your silence delivery seals our pact." He moved aside for the smiling mysterious priest to float forward. "Use him well."
---o--o--o---
A Mazoku's story suddenly ended. The scene of the past faded more instantly than it had appeared. The City of the Clouds appeared, back in its original position.
"Excuse me," said Gourry, the blond swordsman popping right between Xellos and Filia, his eyes searching the ground below them. "Oh, hello."
"What are you doing here?" said Filia, her face whitened with surprise.
"Ummm..." paused the blond swordsman.
"The dragon asked you a question, so I expect you to answer it." Xellos shook his head, looking down at the blond swordsman.
"Actually," asked Gourry, "You've seen a sword around here? Oh, I would guess about 4 feet in length, with nice and pretty crystals in it. Its got lots of great stuff, like the ability to swing--"
"Oh?" asked the curious Mazoku. "Did you lose your plaything? It does something helpful?"
"Sure. It glows in the dark."
Xellos sweatdropped. "Oh, does it? That's quite a nightlight. Well, if I do see something like that, I'll bring it on over to you."
Gourry frowned, "Well, I guess that's OK. Em said that it would be impossible for you to touch, that's all. Maybe because it would be hot to the touch."
Lina appeared behind the swordsman, all smiles. "Hehehe... excuse me everyone." She turned Gourry around so the other wouldn't see. "What are you doing over here!"
"Looking for that thing that Thoth had--"
"And you're asking Xellos and Filia?"
"They seem to like my story, that's all. Its better than Xellos' story..."
Lina turned her eyes up at the Mazoku and Dragon, both of them smiling at each other like a couple of innocent bystanders. Even Xellos was teasingly waving her hand back at them.
"That!" she pointed, "is our enemy over there. Didn't you remember that they won't let us to the City of the Clouds."
"Why not?"
Everyone else facefaulted.
Lina let out another point. "Hold on a sec...what are you missing?"
Gourry seemed to be the annoyed one this time. "The sword I got from Em, and the one that glows like the box that whirls. You remember Thoth pulling it out earlier..."
The thought hit Lina hard like a rock. "You mean... it's a chaos sword?"
Filia took a step back, right into the chest of Xellos. They seemed to be stepping away if only for a second, all while Lina was looking at them out of the corner of her eye. The dragon stepped backwards suddenly, her feet shifting a glint of metal among the grass.
Gourry spotted it before anyone else did. "There it is! The sword!"
Xellos looked down, seeing that his little dragon assistant had indeed stepped on the metallic weapon, revealing it from the brush. "Oh, my..."
Lina charged, Gourry right behind her as the humans made a grab towards Filia's feet. The two of them were so aggressive toward the sword that they jumped right into each other, toppling over each other, a foot short of the sword
Xellos stepped on the sword's hilt with his boot, cradling the blade within his hands. He looked down at the fallen sorcerer, tisking tisking the poor girl the second time within the hour. "Sorry, Lina. I have an obligation--"
"Look! A golden dragon in lace!" huffed Lina.
Xellos was not fooled. "Now don't think--"
"With a giant Octopus tying it down!"
The mysterious priest wheeled--
SMACK
--with a right fist from our redheaded sorcerer.
"Got it!" bounced Lina, the chaos blade securely clucked in her small chest.
Having been bulldozed again, he muttered a second before realizing that the golden Dragon was overshadowing his position. "Really, now...I just imagined the tentacle..."
WHAP
He crumpled again, this time taking a little longer to collect his nerves.
"Nagoni!" grumbled a dragon, stomping away.
"Linnna!" squealed Amelia, with the other two right behind her. "Did you find Gourry."
Gourry turned around to them, flashing Em's sword at the same time.
It was almost enough to make the chimera smile.
"What is that...thing?" asked Sylphiel, pointing to the crystalline structure in the unknown blade.
"There are chaos stones within the blade." Zelgadis looked up it, almost breathing a sigh of relief. "And quite possibility our salvation."
Lina blinked, "You mean its a sword in a chaos box--"
A blast of nearby energy startled the five of them. They looked around the plain, surprised to see that Xellos and Filia had backed away from their position. They were clearly readying themselves for some melee action--
"Are you letting us go, Xellos?"
"Give us the chaos blade, Lina," responded Filia, drawing herself next to the detestable Mazoku. "We can't allow you to have such a holy item. And then we'll let you leave this place, unharmed."
"Holy, huh," whispered the sorcerer, turning her eyes up at the two of them. "You know better Filia, than to ask me. I would never let that happen."
The mood was turning serous again.
"Can we run?" asked Amelia.
"No," said Zelgadis, "not from this."
"We're not going anywhere..." Lina looked up, expecting for hell to come to them. "Not while there's a way to save Zel. And besides the point, you think I'm going to let a single Mazoku and his sidekick dragon finish me off? Ha!"
"You don't think they'd come out after..." Amelia's eyes looked up over the ridge as the reflection of gold started to glow in over her pale face. "Oh no..."
"Duck!" screamed Zelgadis, pushing the princess sorceress to the ground. Everyone else with him hit the deck.
BOOOOM!
A roar of dragon's energy shot over their position, turning the higher grasses into a forest of smoldering ashes. A few fires from the immense heat erupted nearby as the energy blast cleared away.
Filia was livid. "Don't you dare call me a sidekick to him!" she pointed.
"I like this!" said Xellos, his stack glowing black with energy..
Lina pushed both her hands out. "Scatter! Now!"
A smattering of hand-sized black cones hit the ground just where Lina had once been standing, throwing up fire and debris wherever they touched. Right after the assault of darkness, a bluish ball of energy compiled the problem as it nose-dived in front of their new position.
"I can't believe they're working together!" shouted Amelia.
The redhead was coughing too much to answer back.
This is nothing but trouble, pondered a chimera.
---o--o--o-
"What do we do now," asked Filia, looking down at the ground.
"You already know that answer, little Dragon." Xellos continued to stalk around the blond, letting the air between them to become full of conflicting energies. "Its good for you, untrusting them."
"Don't you dare..." There was a slowness in her voice, for the Mazoku's steps were slowly enchanting her rational thoughts. She was becoming memorized by the spell that the Mazoku was putting on her.
His charms were succeeding. "Yes... you know. Now lend me you hand..."
"NO!"
The Mazoku didn't bat an eye. "Cloudminders..."
"Grrrr..." The golden Dragon turned her hand around to her side, hiding it from her own sight. "I can't believe I'm doing this..."
Xellos licked his lips, his mind assuring him of the next step. He watched as a small spheroid of energy form in the Golden dragon's hand, a swirling mass of yellow light. "Yes..."
Filia shuddered, her emotions showing pain and guilt on her face. She spun around, her hands still wrapped in Xellos' black power. The passion of it all made her drop to her knees, all while letting out a little roar of desire.
"Yes...give me... your strength..." Xellos purred at the sight, his own body growing excited my the mere thoughts.
It was time...oh so wonderful!
Filia looked up from her kneeling position, looking up at the Mazoku as he stepped closer to her ball of energy. "Xellos...stop it..."
The Mazoku was undeterred. "This is the price!"
"There has to be another way!" She shouted up again, trying to stop what she had created.
---o--o--o---
The energy in the air made Amelia shiver and shake. "What's that feeling..."
"Unbridled emotions," said Lina, feeling the coldness in the air.
"She really did it." Sylphiel's voice was incredibly sad, dripping with total remorse.
The chimera face was hardened as well. "I never doubted that she would go through with it..." A gust of wind interrupted his words as raw energy in the air reached higher in the air. "And we missed it so much..."
They watched the Mazoku smile, for in front of him a floating ball of yellow with strings of energy leaving Filia's fingers. He turned his staff towards Filia's gift and began to peel a little of the yellow energy, gently gathering the tiny amount by adding a little darkness to the swirl. Like two opposite colors of paints, they never truly mixed. This made much smaller ball of light and darkness, but a ball of chaos.
"Watch out!" Lina was hysterical, and the rest of them didn't doubt a single word. "That's bigger than your average fireball!"
The tiny chaos ball screamed over their heads, landing quite a distance behind their heads.
BOOOOOOMM!
It threw the group out of their crotched positions, throwing them forward in a searing blast of energy. Poor Sylphiel was thrown straight up the air and might have been thrown high save for Gourry's lucky grasp of the shrine maiden's foot.
"What was that!" Amelia was terrified.
"Pure light-dark energy, mixed by our good friend Xellos." Lina gripped herself, at least trying to think of the next step.
"They're mad!" said the chimera, stomping his feet with anger.
"Lina! We can't go against that collaboration..." screamed Amelia. "There's no way..."
The sorcerer stood her ground. "We're not going anywhere."
"But if they're putting up this kind of fight?" asked the princess of Saillune. "What's the point?"
"Then the secrets of the Cloudminders," finished Zelgadis. "Its now more than probable...its real."
Amelia stood aghast against the backdrop of the smoldering crater, big enough for a full sized dragon to hide in. "You can't be serious! This is just nuts!"
Lina surveyed the damage behind her, the steaming crater easily five times as deep as her height. "No, its not madness. Never would I believe Filia could be capable of this. This is more than guile and hatred. She must be in real trouble."
---o--o--o---
Filia watched as Xellos took another helping at her ball of energy, this time taking more than a quarter of her gift. He combining it again, this time with the base of his staff like a stirring stick.
"Come over here, little one," said the excited Mazoku. "Your husband-to-be is a making a drink."
Her eyes shifted over. "Not on your life. Do you think they'll go on now?"
Xellos smoothed over his hands. "I do hope so..."
"Your horrible! You could have just knocked them out. Or diverted them. You said it once yourself that you could have directed them out of the way..."
"Oh really now." Xellos stopped his work, just enough to come over and stare at the golden Dragon. "How many times have they tried to stop them. Hmmm?"
Filia took a step back. "Once?"
Xellos shook his head. "Oh dear."
"Twice?"
"Not quite the case, I'm afraid."
"Three times?"
Xellos had to stand there and think about it. "Ahhh, maybe. But really now, there was Joe himself."
"No..." said Filia. "How revolting."
"And what are you doing now?" said the Mazoku, as he turned the bottom of his staff among the energies. The mixing of energy seemed a little thicker as he turned and turned into it under the great strain of power.
"No...you can't possibly believe."
"But I do. And now I know..." In front of the mysterious' priest's eyes, the reflection, it glowed as if to say yes. Complete. Restored to a time once forgotten.
Filia watched the swirling perfect sphere of energy twirl among itself, a pure globe of yellow in a sea of darkness. Or was it a seed of darkness among the yellow sky? Or a flashpoint between the two, interloping from once way to another?
Xellos lifted his staff into the air, the perfect chaotic energy was tethered on like a ball on a string. And just when one would think it would wrap all the way around his own staff, he released it--
---o--o--o---
"Quickly!" screamed a sorcerer, the darkness coming quickly on their position.
"BARUS WALL!"
The four of them put up their walls in succession, the layers extensionally stronger than the one behind it. Amelia's and Zel's cracked open like a hammer against an eggshell, disappearing as fast as they have been produced. Sylphiel's own wall didn't do much better, fairing up for a second or two longer as the energy ball dug though its layering. The energy caved in, the force hitting Lina's wall and the last line of protection.
At first, Lina thought that she had succeeded in stopping the forward motion of the attack. But like with Sylphiel's barrier, the chaotic energy continued to drill into her shielding.
"MEGA BRAND!"
Pure energy met the pure destruction of an energy barrier, shattering the globe of darkness as it disappeared.
"Jump into the pit! Now!"
Everyone dived--
The air turned from darkness to light, the chaotic energy exploding outward, striking down energy and air alike. Sound was inhuman, raising to levels never heard before.
If they hadn't been a place to hide directly from the blast--
Ground gave way, the soil suddenly melting around them. Everyone was suddenly in a mode of panic, pushing what they had to block the chaotic energy.
Not even a second later...It was gone!
Lina was first to crawl out the hole, throwing off soil that had just protected them. She couldn't understand...where all that excess energy and chaos had vanished to. It couldn't just have disappeared from thin air?
Could it?
Xellos and Filia was there in the distance, their mouths wide open. Behind them, the golden dragon's energy just hovered up and down, like an angry play toy...
"How did we..." asked Sylphiel, as she wiped the soil from the side of her face.
"I'll let you know," drowned Lina, "as soon as I know."
A crackle. Energy. They all looked at the blond swordsman, his chaos blade beckoning over his head has he used it as last second shelter. The blade, however, was lit with white, with an occasional sparkle of chaos.
"Are we..." coughed Amelia. "Is everyone OK?"
---o--o--o---
Xellos looked up in the sky, almost communicating secretly with someone that wasn't there. He frowned, grumpy with the result, still staring up is disbelief.
Filia looked disturbed at the group in front of them, angrily stamping her foot into the grass. "What are you planning on doing now!"
"Give me a second." He turned his head sideways for a second, tilting it back in a relaxed motion.
Filia shook her head. "Xellos!"
The mysterious priest would not budge, relaxed as ever. "Yes..."
He watched Lina and company cave around Gourry and his mysterious sword like its was the second coming of Cepheid. There was no way to be sure that he had blocked it...unless...
Oh well, he was going to miss the little red headed one--
Reaching out with his palm to the sky, he began to unleash more power. So dark was the energy streaming out of his hand that it snowballed off in the shape of red spheres, darkening every object within sight of it. The edges of the darkness mixed and flowed with the smoothness that one could swear they were made of water.
"No..." Filia reached out, trying to snare the Mazoku from his deadly vice of power. "You can't...be serious..."
"It was never serious until now, little dragon. Now, let me show know you how serious it ends."
The dark matter of energy plunged into Filia sphere of energy, excited for the new rush of power. It turned from the cold yellow to a hot white of energy, almost threatening to blind everyone in sight. It was huge, bigger than any of them. Even the heat it was putting out was much to strong for anyone to handle.
It was ready.
"Batten the hatches," said Lina, as if announcing the weather was turning for the worst. "We're about to get the company of the very unfriendly type."
"Oh dear," said the purple shrine maiden. She and Amelia used each other for support as more wind suddenly pushed them back.
"Don't you ever get," exclaimed the chimera, "that feeling were not invited?"
Lina unleashed her sword from her waist, expecting the worst. "Sure. I love crashing a party."
And then she winked. "Now! Everyone behind Gourry!"
The swordsman nearly facefaulted. "Whaaa?"
"You're our protectorate. Right?"
Gourry nodded. "But that doesn't mean the rest--"
"Then protect me, damn it!"
Xellos lifted his arm into the air, and threw them down, heaving his ball of energy away. After his gift left his hands, he kept them up, as if waving goodbye.
"Here we go again..."
The mysterious priest chuckled a bit inside, watching the giant black and white ball of energy as it hit the ground and rolled towards Lina and company. He kneeled, suddenly to catch his energy and compose himself, weakened from all the effort. Next to him, Filia, her eyes like dinner saucers, swollen from tears of pain.
It was going...going...it was 5 seconds...4.
The group of humans were huddled behind Gourry, behind the outstretched glowing chaos bade...
...3...2...
Xellos watched the group brace for impact, the thin chaos blade the only stick of resistance in front of them. He smiled as very tip touched the edge of the swordsman blade. Strike!
Then, a strange reaction. Like steam escaping a top of a tea kettle, his ball of light and darkness cracked open, the white energy shooting back towards Xellos like a vertical sprout of fire-hosed water.
"Oh my..."
BOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM
Everywhere exploded outward in a blinding light. Xellos heard the energy crackle as it reached his feet. Before he could reach instinctively for the edge of his cape, the Mazoku was flipped over headfirst before he ever realized what had happened.
A golden dragon screamed.
Still spinning like a pinwheel, Xellos dropped his staff, his broken body falling behind the dragon into the muddy ground. Even if he escaped into the ethereal plane, he knew this erupting energy would find him there as well. He didn't hope or pray for his safely, but for the survival to carry out the task at hand.
In the corner of his eye he saw a golden dragon sprawled on the ground. She looked up at him with a look of fright, her mud-caked face expression crossed with shock. "Got any more bright ideas, Xellos dear?" Then she closed her eyes.
He looked up higher, over the hill, on the top ledge. Indeed, his master Zelas and the stranger had been watching all of them. They were quite a pair.
"Indeed I do." Putting his index finger toward his lips. "But that...it a secret."
---o--o--o---
Gourry blinked. Wrapped around his hands was the magnificent chaos blade, its powers had protected them like nothing else he had ever seen. When the giant sphere of energy came barreling down the way towards them, he instinctively drew his blade up with Lina's coaxing. He was become used to used his new sword as vacuum, the loose chaos energy now in the body of his magical sword. He left it there, still staring at the outstretched blade.
The sounds of thunder died. It was over.
"What...happened?" asked a shine maiden, coming up from the left.
"I don't...believe it." Zelgadis eyes were glued to the glowing stones that made up the blades of the sword. "Light dark magic, one of the greatest powers, stopped dead in its tracts by a couple pieces of rock in metal."
"Victory!" Amelia was flashing the familiar V, their fingers as wide as her smile.
"Filia!" Lina ran across the browned field. Gourry was second right behind her, dropping his blade aside as he rushed toward the fallen dragon.
The redhead turned over Filia's body, her beautiful yellow and white robes were torn and caked with mud. Lina felt along Filia's wrist for a pulse, sighing at finding the dragon was alive.
Sylphiel came up behind Lina next, looking down at the fallen Mazoku and Dragon. "Was this...all necessary?"
The chimera shot her a dirty look. "We did what we should have done a long time ago."
"Zel!" retorted the sorcerer.
Sylphiel put her hands up defensibly, "But this result! Couldn't have we down something else that wouldn't of have been so--" And suddenly, she was a loss for words.
"Painful, you mean," nodded Lina, her voice tone tense. "and we're not much closer to the real reason."
"True," followed Zelgadis as he left them for a second. "Excuse me, I'm going to make sure that's all the trouble around here...Lina?"
"Wait." Lina was too busy poking around with Xellos unconscious self, poking around his bags and belongings. She finally came to his yellow sac of belongings that was swung around his shoulder. "Hmmm, what have we got here."
She pulled at the yellow bag as it suddenly came loose from Xellos' waist. Popping it down, she looked for a zipper or something to open the bag. As she reached for the zipper to-be, it seemed like the bag itself moved ever so slightly, jotting out of the way. "How do you open this thing?"
"No idea," said the shrine maiden. "I don't even see a latch."
"I've seen Xellos open his bag," said Gourry.
Lina wheeled over to the blond swordsman like a woman possessed.
"Well, you see, I think he was whispering."
Lina sweatdropped. "I'm not sure if that exactly helps. I mean, a lot of times I'm saying things that other people don't understand."
"What was that?" asked a swordsman. "You mentioned something about eavesdropping?"
The redhead fumed. "Gourry!"
"Lina...maybe he wasn't talking," suggested the chimera.
The sorcerer nodded, leaning down next to the unconscious Xellos. It was as she was speaking but no intelligent words were coming out.
"What's she doing," asked Gourry.
"Chaos words," said the other shine maiden.
Lina tried again to reach for Xellos' side bag. This time, the yellow bag seemed to give way as it just opened enough for the sorcerer to stick her hand in.
She hit something immediately, small and soft to the touch. "There's some sort of strap here, but I can't--" And she pulled it harder, it gave way and snapped clutched in her hand over her head.
A bra. A golden bra.
"What the..."
The guys looked stunned, their eyes glazed over.
Lina blushed, taking up to examining what she had pulled out. "Filia d'Coup, handmade by Dragon." She wheeled at Xellos, "Why that lo-down dirty, sneaky, two-timing thief of a..." And for good measure, she kicked him playfully.
The chimera wasn't the only one to chuckle. "I wonder how Xellos acquired such an item."
"Let me see," said Amelia pulled it out of Lina's hands and drew it up over Lina to her eye-level, so much that the cups covered her eyes. "Oh, I think I can adjust it to my size."
"Give me that!" muttered the sorcerer.
The redhead searched in the bag again, grabbing onto something warm. She hesitated for a sec before drawing it out, the hard object tucked warmly inside her palm.
She looked into her hand, her fingers opening like a morning tulip. A slightly glowing chaos stone very much like the one she had seen before, illuminated by her magical touch.
She tugged at her belt, bring up the other chaos stone hidden on her body. As two stones seemed to glitter in unison, their patterns of light and darkness around their edging was just enough to make them aware of each other.
"Creepy," said Amelia.
In all, Lina was able to pull out two more stones before giving up and collapsing back on the ground next to the fallen Xellos.
"...Lina..."
The redhead turned her head, looking over to who was calling her. "...Filia!"
"Quickly Lina," interrupted Sylphiel, " She's awake..."
The group of them scattered over to the fallen golden dragon. Sylphiel was in the middle of chanting a healing spell, the rosy color was slowly returning to the dragon's face.
Filia's eyes open for just a second as a slight smile came over her face. "I think I see you now..."
Sylphiel turned to the redhead, comforting the dragon's head in her lap. "She's been through a lot, so please give her a second to readjust."
"Yes...I have." Filia struggled for a second with her words. "You know why I couldn't tell you, Lina..."
"I think so," nodded the sorcerer. "You could have dropped us a hint..."
The dragon frowned. "No, you really don't understand Lina, the Cloudminders..."
As a snap of the fingers, the dragon's eyes grew wide. "Run!"
"Run? Wha...what the..."
"Run away from here, as quickly as possible! Do it now!"
"Filia!"
But the blond pulled Lina's arm away, curling back into a slight fetal position like a small child. She was utterly terrified, as if hiding from something very dangerous.
The air grew sticky as Lina felt a tingle across the back of her neck. Power. Ego.
"You feel that?" asked the chimera.
"Yea..." said the sorcerer, looking around at the other confused members of the group. "More company."
The stranger's voice boomed from everywhere. "You failed, Filia Ul Coup. You are unworthy of your title, Dragon."
"No, don't do this." Her voice was weakened and dry. "I tried my best."
"You carry the mark of a Shrine dragon. Do you not deny your own self preservation?"
"Please!"
"Just like the Mazoku, you have become a traitor."
Lina circled around an invisible half circle with the chimera on her side. Behind them, Sylphiel read the rest of them as the other two didn't know what was happening. Whatever it was, there was something stirring in the air as a gust drift up from nowhere.
White light hit them for a second, then they noticed the sun had been blocked out by a tree. No, not a tree, but a person, male, easily twice their height. His face was square, his blond hair slicked black into a ponytail, matching the smoothness of his beard and sideburns. His red leather robes that flowed of heavy fabric were accented with tufts of white fir and spiked points of gold. Across his chest he wore a gigantic white fur-lined strap, encrusted in white and red diamonds. The strap was part of a holder for a gigantic sword that he wore over his head, easily as long as Lina's height.
Lina looked up and could only stare at the fire in his eyes. Iris as white as snow, pupils as red as fire itself.
Amelia fell down to the ground.
Lina and the new stranger stared at each other for an eternity. The silence was finally broken by the stranger himself. "Meddlesome...humans..."
Lina stayed focused. "Filia's master, I presume."
Zel did a double-take. "The fire dragon king."
"You are correct." He unleashed his massive blade, pointing it towards the party. "You do yourself great honor to have perished from the power of Lord Vrabazard. May the mother of all chaos have mercy upon your soul."
---o--o--o---
Author You... saw him?
Zelas Yea, we sort of...dated
Author I guess before the war of the Mazoku fall...
Zelas I was really into those red eyes. I still can't believe I fell for him
Author So...I don't see any little underlings...then how did you two break up?
Zelas SMACK
Author (winces in pain) Next time on the show, when Mazoku get some!
Zelas SMACK