'The beautiful sorcery genius Lina Inverse, and that's ME, got out of Atlas City and went to Saillune to grab a cure for the seal her sister Luna put into her magic powers. Who would've think that both Luna and Helena were on the same way as we ended up in the same town. Luna, Gourry and I ended up fighting a nasty Mazoku that for some reason wanted to kill both my sister and me!! After an incredibly desperate attempt to save Go-err I mean my life, I tried a Dragu Slave, but something went wrong!! The Mazoku ended up dying anyway, but boy am I gonna get it this time for not obeying my sister...'
Slayers AGAIN
Episode 3: "Atonement! The five hundred year old guilt trip"
"And the house has been sealed since then", the old man said, with his large white hair and thick matching moustache, blinking repeatedly, barely showing his gray eyes. Lina and Gourry had arrived in the town of Sierra a few days earlier. Once they got there, an old man greeted them as a "tourist guide", he had said. Lina had no idea Sierra, a small town a few days walk from The Great Holy Capital of Saillune, was a touristic attraction, but it definitely felt that way. Street markets were a landmark in the main street of the small town, and they were always full.
Lina had a zip of her tea and listened carefully, and then, after the man had finished, she commented seriously "So the man has been locked into his own house for burning both his wife and child"
"Yes", said the old man with an almost broken voice. He had offered himself to guide them through town (and of course all the restaurants where local cuisine would be served) for only two gold coins. Lina had smiled and accepted her offer, despite Gourry had protested. He was listening to the story, but his brains, as always, remained turned off.
"And no one has been able to enter in five hundred years...", said Lina, and then had some more tea.
"Exactly. It has already been five hundred and two years, to be exact. Some say that he is still alive in there, mourning his wife and daughter"
Lina put her cup back in the table, laid her back in the chair and stretched "Sounds like nothing more than a local legend, but...", Lina said and then turned to Gourry "...if the door has been sealed for five hundred years, and the guy was indeed a sorcerer AND a smith, we might be able to get you a new sword, Gourry!". Lina then noticed Gourry had been snoring all the time. She immediately landed her fist on the top of his head, waking him up abruptly "WAKE UP, YOU JELLYFISH FOR BRAINS!!!", she yelled.
"Ow ow, Lina!! You don't have to be that harsh!", he rejected.
"Well old man", said Lina and took out ten gold coins from her bag "Here you go. Thank you for the city tour"
The old man smiled gracefully and bowed, saying "Thank you very much" and then left.
"So what's the deal?", said Gourry.
"We're still a few days away from Saillune", she smiled "And we still are short on strength. Should we be attacked by a Mazoku, and I'm pretty sure we will sooner than later, we'll be in a very high disadvantage. I'm not willing to try a Dragu Slave again, at least not after I get my powers back, and if we get attacked by a powerful Mazoku like before, your sword will be no good against him"
"What about Luna-san?", said Gourry.
Lina shivered at the mere mention of her name "Sh-She won't be around every single time we get attacked. I don't think it was a coincidence though that we ran into her that day"
"You mean..."
"Helena. She definitely has a connection to what is happening in Atlas, and so does Sis, and they are definitely connected to one another", she said having the last zip of her tea "We might not find out right now what are both Helena AND Sis after, but if we don't run into Helena, I'm pretty sure Sis won't show up AND we won't be attacked by any Mazoku. Sis has a sixth sense, if you will, for that kind of things"
"Well, then we gotta find me another sword!" he said
"Have you even been listening to what I've been saying...?", said Lina, holding her forehead with one hand while a sweatdrop ran from the other end.
A few minutes away from town, a wooden cottage was left alone, with grass and vegetation growing wild around it. Most people in town wouldn't go near it, and it was considered one of Sierra's most valuable landmarks in terms of tourism. However, most tourists would just go near the house and then just leave, for fear of the actual legend being true. From the north end, Lina and Gourry walked closer to it.
"So this is it...", said Lina.
"And what was that legend again...?", asked Gourry puzzled, but Lina just couldn't stand it and hit him in his head.
"THE OLD MAN ALREADY TOLD US!!! But I guess you were too busy SLEEPING!", she yelled, "Fine, I'll go through it once more. Five hundred years ago, a famous sorcerer and smith for some reason started researching on making the one sword that would compare itself to the Sword of Light, but the research took away most of his time. Once he was testing out the sword's magic powers, his daughter and wife came in, and he accidentally burned them to death. Filled with sorrow, he locked himself into his own house and ever since no one has ever been able to open the house's door"
"Aaaah... so this guy must have been really powerful"
"You could say so. A magic smith is not something you see every day, and as I told you, we might be able to find you a new sword"
"Alright! So let's go inside!", yelled Gourry, running towards the house.
"Gourry!", said Lina, but he didn't listen to her and ran towards the door. Once he was in front of it, he proceeded to open it, but instead, a huge lightning discharge blew him right where he started, next to Lina.
"OW ow ow ow ow", he whined.
Lina held her forehead with her hand and sighed "This is gonna be one long adventure..."
They walked towards the door and Lina examined it for a while, "I don't know, it seems like some powerful magic was used to seal this off"
"How're we gonna open it?"
"Well, we don't have any magic, nor the sword of light... so I guess we should start thinking of some other means..."
Suddenly, they heard a familiar voice behind them "Like me?"
"Xelloss!!", said both Lina and Gourry while turning around and noticing the purple-haired Trickster Priest floating right next to them. He then landed and was put on level with them.
"What are you doing here, Xelloss?", said Lina, still mad about what had happened previously with the bandits.
"Well, I'm here to help you, Lina-san! Gourry-san!"
"Than...!!" Gourry tried to say, but Lina interrupted him.
"Because..." then she started mimicking Xelloss "'Beastmaster-sama told me that...' CRAP! You're here to use us in some way!", she said.
"And... you already figured that out", said Xelloss disappointed.
"We'd have to be STUPID not to figure that out! You've used us AT LEAST THREE TIMES already!"
"Xelloss has used us?", said a puzzled Gourry, and Lina and Xelloss both fell to their backs.
"So what you want to do is get in here and take that supposedly powerful sword and then leave, right?", inquired Xelloss with a puzzled look.
"Basically, yes", said Lina.
"Have you ever heard the legend?", Xelloss asked.
"Yeah, and that's why we really wanna get in there"
"Fine then", said Xelloss and snapped his fingers, "Done".
Both Lina and Gourry were extremely surprised and fell on their backs when they saw the door open by itself.
"AND THAT WAS IT!?", yelled Lina.
"Quite simple, if you ask me, just a magic lock, no big science"
"Well I don't have any powers now!!", she yelled back at him.
In turn, Xelloss only smiled "Well, this is all you need now. Go get that sword", he said and then disappeared.
"This Xelloss, he can seriously get on my nerves. Anyway, let's go, Gourry!"
"Let's go!", he said, and ran towards the house.
Once inside, they noticed there was no light. Even if the cottage from outside seemed to be quite a small place, from the inside it was something else. They couldn't see anything but themselves, but the area surely felt huge.
"What's the deal with all this, Lina?"
"I have no idea. I think we may have entered another dimension. What a sorcerer this guy must have been...", she said in awe "Alright, Gourry. We gotta find that sword and get out of here. We have no idea what we might find"
"Well then", he said unsheathing his sword "We better be prepared"
"Damn, I can't cast lighting. We're gonna have to use regular lamps. Lucky I have a few", Lina said while checking her cape "Huh?" she said, double-checking. In no time, she was checking all over her outfit.
"What is it, Lina?"
"MY LAMPS! THEY'RE GONE!!!", she yelled.
On the outside, Xelloss was floating in front of the house with the big smile that always bothered Lina so much. He then pulled out the three lamps he took earlier from Lina's cape and made them float in front of him, to his own amusement.
"This should make things a bit more interesting", he smiled, and then disappeared.
Lina calmed down, "This is bad, Gourry. We have no idea what we'll find in here", suddenly, all the lights went on and a masked figure appeared before them. He wore a black top hat and a cape that covered all his body. The mask was creepy, with carvings for his eyes and just a wide mouth that ran from one edge to the other in a sick twisted smile.
"How did you manage to enter", asked the man in a very deep voice.
"Are you Treis Laguld?", asked Lina. Gourry was about to ask something, but Lina just held his mouth.
"Yes, it is me. I have been wandering here for the past five centuries, without finding any rest because of the sins I committed", he said, still very deeply.
"What happened here?", said Lina.
"The inside of this house has transformed over the centuries to match my delirium"
Lina wasn't shocked, but she still felt as if this was a bit over the top, "I think this is way too overdone for being a town touristic attraction"
Gourry didn't understand anything that was going on, "So we're not inside the house?"
"Technically yes, we are", said Lina "But when Treis Laguld died, he probably left his spirit wandering inside this house, and since he hasn't been able to leave for the past five hundred years, he probably fused his spirit to this house. You could say we are right now in his in loins"
Gourry seemed sick, "That sounds nasty"
"As nasty as it can get", said Lina.
The man then raised his hands, revealing a black and white tuxedo below his cape, "What is it you seek", said Treis.
"We are seeking for the sword you were forging", said Lina.
"I am sorry", said the man, "but that sword will not leave this house...", and a bright light came from his body.
"Its beginning", said Xelloss standing on the top of the house's roof with his sinister eyes fully opened, "Let's see how well they do. If you manage to come out, Lina-san, Gourry-san, you'll have a very powerful sword in your hands. One that can even match Gorun Nova".
Treis had disappeared, but in his place a bunch of overgrown bugs were left behind. About three cockroaches and two slugs.
"SLUGS!!!!!!!!!!" yelled Lina, running towards Gourry and hugging him "I HATE SLUGS! KILL THEM, KILL THEM!!!!!" she yelled, while frenetically pointing at them with her face pressed against Gourry's torso.
Gourry unsheathed and slashed the two slugs in the blink of an eye.
"ARE THEY GONE!?!?!" yelled Lina, with her eyes still closed. Once she opened them, she noticed she was on her knees, and embarrassingly got up. Gourry had taken care of both slugs and the two cockroaches.
"What was this all about?"
"I... I don't know" said Lina "But I don't think he's just playing games".
"What do you mean?"
Lina had already fully recovered, "He clearly doesn't want us to take the sword. And he probably just won't let us get out of himself that easy"
"HIMSELF!?"
Lina just had to hit him in his head again "I hope so many hits somehow rearrange those two brain cells in there! I already told you he fused with the house!"
"Oh... I don't get it", she said, and Lina just gave up trying to explain.
The surroundings they were in resembled a workshop, with a few tables and tools laying around in no particular order. On one end, there was a door.
Gourry went to the door, "Maybe this will get us out".
"I doubt it", Lina said, "It will probably take us to another part of Treis Laguld's subconscious. Talk about haunted houses..."
"You said it..."
"Anyway, I still find all of this very strange. No human, however strong willed, would be able to do things like this. I mean, however strong his spirit would have been, its pretty far fetched to think that he could somehow possess a whole house"
"But its still a small cottage", said Gourry.
"Its not a question of size, Gourry, its just that it's hard for me to believe that a human could have so much regret in order to do something like this..."
They decided to open the door, and inside they found a large corridor, with three doors on each side, and one on the end. Everything was eerily colored blue and that gave both Lina and Gourry an uneasy feeling.
"This is VERY weird, Lina", said Gourry.
"What would you expect, Gourry? Remember that we are INSIDE a ghost's body"
They walked some more until they reached the first pair of doors. One on the left and one on the right.
"What should we do?", Gourry asked.
"Easy", Lina smiled, "We've seen a lot of dungeons in our time, a lot of laboratories, a lot of underground ruins, lots of weird things. If this guy follows the 'mystery handbook'... these doors are just decoys"
Gourry opened his eyes in awe and a big smile formed in his face "So you really know these things, Lina!!"
Lina had a sweatdrop on her right temple, and said "And if your memory worked better than a goldfish's, you probably would too"
They moved towards the last door in the hallway and Lina stood next to it, leaned her back in the wall, crossed her arms around her chest and smiled, "So what surprise do you have behind this doors, Treis?"
Treis' voice echoed all over the hallway, "Open and you shall see"
Gourry looked everywhere, really frightened "Wow, you weren't kidding when you said we were INSIDE this guy!"
Lina's smile wouldn't come off "I guess we have no choice. You sure are one of a kind, Treis", she said sarcastically, and put her hand in the door knob, "Gourry, get your sword ready", she whispered.
Gourry unsheathed, "Ready it is"
Lina opened the door, and a bright light came out of it. As soon as it dissipated, Gourry went inside with his sword held in position. What they found was a child's room, with a big carrousel in the middle, big enough for a three year old to ride. It was powered by magic and it was still working.
"So this was your daughter's room", Lina said, but there was no answer. The walls were deformed and gave the whole room an eerie look, like some sort of spatial distortion was taking place.
"Talk about gloomy decorations...", said Gourry.
"This is probably part of his regret. He made an image of his own daughter's room and fit it where it could be better. This is very interesting, anyway"
"So where will we find this sword?"
"I don't think he's gonna let us find it that easily. Keep in mind that this is HIS body, he can play with it any way he likes"
"So we might never get out"
"I doubt it...", Lina said confidently, but her look said the opposite.
On the other end, there was another door, only that this one had no knob.
"No way to open it, huh?", Lina said, "Gourry, take out your sword and try smashing it."
Gourry obliged, and a small crack was formed, "Wow, and I just took a swing at it with all my might..."
"Just keep at it"
"Okay", said Gourry, and kept smashing it. After a few strokes, the door went down.
"He's making it way too easy for us..."
"What do you mean?"
"He could've let us out without us noticing it. I think there's more in here than what meets the eye"
Gourry sighed, "There's already more... so much more..."
The next room was another workshop, only smaller in scale and with fewer furniture and tools.
"This is probably where his daughter and wife passed away...", Lina said, pointing at a burnt mark in the floor.
"Fire?", Gourry asked.
"He was trying to imbue a sword with magical powers. We can now safely assume that they were fire-based magic. Shamanistic, certainly"
They moved on until they found two different doors. One was marked with a star and the other with a quarter moon.
"So he wants us separated?", said Lina "There's no way we're doing that, Treis", she smiled.
"What do you mean?"
"You see, he wants to get rid of us, he wants to mourn for the rest of eternity, so the easiest way is to have you go some place and have me go some other, specially since we're looking for the same thing. Sadly for you, Treis, I'm no average lady", she smiled.
"So where should we go?", said Gourry.
"Since we don't have Shilfiell with us to guide us with her priestess powers, we'll just have to go with guess. Let's take the right door", Lina said with the one marked with the star.
"Ok, let's go". Once they opened the door, they found a sword with its sheath floating in the middle of some sort of altar.
"What's going on?", said Lina.
"Hey, Lina! That's my line!", said Gourry.
"I'm sorry, its just that something isn't right...", she said.
Xelloss was standing in front of his master, Beastmaster Xellass-Metallium, somewhere unrecognizable to anyone. The place was basically an enormous crystal formation, placed somewhere only both Xelloss and Xellass-Metallium knew. Xellass-Metallium was an apparently young very chic woman, who wore chic revealing dresses. She was having a cup of wine with one hand and a cigarette with the other. Sitting in a very stylish throne, her tanned skin was shining against the light of a white crystal she had standing in front of her.
"Beastmaster-sama", Xelloss said. Xellass-Metallium took a zip of her wine while looking at her bright crystal screen, where suddenly Lina and Gourry appeared.
"Is everything ready?", she said with her deep voice, having a smoke from her cigarette.
Xelloss smiled at her, "Lina Inverse and Gourry Gabriev are taking the sword back. Though the Knight of Ceiphied sealed away Lina Inverse's powers"
"It does not matter, Xelloss. Her essence is much more than that of the Knight of Cepheid's"
"So your intentions..."
Xellass-Metallium smiled mysteriously, "Xelloss... that is a secret".
Xelloss looked at her with his merciless eyes and smiled back, and then disappeared.
As soon as Lina and Gourry approached the sword, Treis appeared before them.
"I forbid you from coming closer to this sword", he said.
"You almost guided us here!", said Lina.
"Touch this sword, and you will regret it", Laguld said with his already annoying to both Lina and Gourry deep voice, and then disappeared. He left three creatures that seemed like deform goblins, also tainted blue as the rest of the house.
"Gourry!!!", Lina yelled.
"HAAAAA!!!!" he yelled, unsheathing. He attacked the closest creature, the one that was next to Lina.
"This aren't illusions!", Lina yelled, unsheathing her own sword, "This isn't right!!!", she said fighting one of the goblins, who tried to bite her leg. She had landed her sword in the Goblin's head, and it just disappeared.
"What do you mean!?", said Gourry, fighting with the third goblin, finally cutting it in half, making it disappear instantly.
"Look...", she said, worried, pointing at the altar in the middle of the room. Suddenly, five more goblins appeared, "They will keep coming. I don't think this are created by Treis' regrets..."
"There's your main problem, Miss Lina Inverse", Treis' voice surrounded them, echoing everywhere.
"What!?", yelled Lina, fighting another goblin. They were easy to destroy in just one hit, but they kept coming, so it was as difficult as fighting a Mazoku.
"Lina!!!", yelled Gourry, running towards her and slashing a goblin that was about to bite her neck. She turned around and met Gourry's blade.
"Be careful!!!", she said, and kept killing more of the creatures that came out of nowhere.
"I told you", Treis' voice said.
"HOW THE HELL DO YOU KNOW MY NAME!?!?", yelled Lina, fighting one of the goblins. Suddenly, it struck her 'could it be...!?', she thought.
Gourry was busy destroying three goblins that attacked him at the same time, when he noticed a ray of light going right past him, killing a few goblins, "Huh!?", he said, being distracted for just one second, but picking up the fight in no time.
"Gourry! This guy, this Treis Laguld... he's not a ghost!!!", he yelled.
"What!?", yelled Gourry.
"Ha ha ha ha", said Laguld's voice, deeply from everywhere inside the house "Lina Inverse, huh? You are not as powerful as you should be"
"He knows your name, Lina!!", yelled Gourry, while fighting another bunch of goblins.
Suddenly, from a corner of the huge room, a familiar voice yelled, "RA-TILT!!!!", and a white light destroyed every goblin in the room.
"What?", said Lina, looking at the hooded figure. She immediately recognized it.
Outside, Xelloss was shocked "How didn't I notice this!? This... changes everything!!!"
'It turns out that Treis Laguld wasn't who we were expecting him to be. And the sword seems so far from us... who is this mysterious fighter that joined us in the last moment? Could it be...'
(To Be Continued...)