Well, sorry about not publishing for twenty-what days, but I've been busy and someone's a jerk and keeps stealing the laptop and not waking me up so I lose six hours of typing. Anyways, I hope I didn't keep you waiting too long, because I would never want to bore you. Heh heh. If you can't tell yet, this should have all new characters and monsters, including the monster/Mazoku Lord that ends up in every season ending. Hopefully no one is too OoC, because that would make the fic suck...so, keep on R-&-R-ing, 'kay? Also, the anime for Slayers wasn't descriptive, so don't get pissed when I misspell names. And I think the fourth wall will need a repair job after this chapter. Now then, what you have so patiently been waiting for...SHIFT, chapter four!

Chapter 4 – Prelude

A loud bump accompanied by a squeal from Lina woke up everyone who was not awake already.

"W-What...?" Henrietta asked, rubbing her eyes tenderly, "Where are we?"

"Cadia, West plaza." the carriage driver answered as he opened the door. Lina, Filia, Gourry, Cecil and Henrietta all piled out and stretched on the cobblestone road, taking in the city around them.

"This is much bigger than Bejewld..." Cecil said, his eyes twinkling.

"This isn't hardly as large as Seyrune, so I would hope you aren't too impressed." Lina said, a nonchalant tone in her voice.

"Where's Seyrune again?" Gourry asked.

Lina let out a sigh and the group walked along. "Gourry," she explained, "Seyrune is where Amelia is from. In the North."

"Oh."

"You mean Europe?" Henrietta asked.

"No," Lina answered, "I don't think so. I haven't heard of any Yew-rope though, so I might be wrong."

Cecil and Henrietta exchanged worried glances but didn't say a thing.

"What?"

"Oh, n-nothing. Just...curious."

"You two are so weird. Oh, well. We might as well get situated for the night. Let's go find an inn somewhere. Maybe we should ask a local."

Although the city of Cadia was large, there wasn't a soul in sight. Ambient rumbling could be heard from the North, though. Following the first sign of intelligent life, that's where the group went. Every house – if you could call the enormous structures "houses" – was entirely deserted. No men, women, children, animals or anything of the sort.

As they proceeded towards the sound, it got louder and louder. Eventually, they reached the source. There was a very large ship tethered to the dock. A large, familiar ship. Virtually everyone in the city was gathering around it, trying to watch as yet more familiar figures came down from the ship.

"Oh," Lina groaned, "it's her. Again. Gourry, how many times has Amelia arrived at the most inopportune moment?"

"Mm. I don't know, how should I? Who's Amelia again?"

"Uh, Lina?" Cecil asked, "Don't you think Gourry's short term memory loss is just a little bit too severe?"

"Yes. It is my theory that he was dropped multiple times as a baby, resulting in massive brain injuries."

The group attempted to stop laughing to pay attention to the princess and a few other people, most of them probably magicians or knights.

"I don't think I could stand it if I was forced to listen to one of her speeches." Lina sighed, "I think we should get back to looking for a place to stay."

"B-but I want to k-keep watching..." Henrietta said.

"Oh, fine. But Cecil will have to stay with you, if it's okay with him." Cecil nodded, and Lina continued, "After all, we wouldn't want to lose you to the crowds. Just be sure to pack a few barf bags – her speeches are just a little too much for sane people."

"Sane people? Where? I don't think I've met any on the journey so far."

"Hen, if you weren't blind, I'd punch you right now."

The girls giggled together and the group separated yet again. Cecil and Henrietta going to watch – or in the case of a certain someone, listen to – the princess while Lina and Gourry were going to search for an inn. When the latter group had reached the West plaza again, they realized – well, the smarter half realized – that there was something missing.

"Gourry, where's Filia?"

"Who?"

"Filia! Filia, Filia, Filia! The dragon girl! The girl with the heavy mace! Her, Gourry, her!"

"Oh, yea. You mean her?" Gourry pointed to Filia, who was currently staring down the pavement.

"Filia!" Lina exclaimed, running over to her, "There you are! You had me worried for a sec. What's going on?"

"Oh." Filia turned and now that Lina could see her, she appeared to be holding a book of some sort."

"Uh, what's that?"

"This? I don't know. That's the problem. This building," she gestured to the building to her left, "appears to be a library, but there seems to be something wrong with the books."

"Well, what is it? Spit it out."

"Here. Take a look for yourself."

Filia handed the large, leather covered tome to Lina, who flipped back to the cover. The book had no noticeable title, neither on the cover, the spine or the back. Curious, Lina flipped through the rest of the book. She dropped it with a gasp.

"Lina?" Gourry asked, walking towards the girls, "What's wrong? Is it the book?" Gourry picked up said book and opened it up, "There aren't any words in it? I wonder why that is."

"Gourry, that's not quite it. All books have had something written in them, or else they would never have been published. This book is in mint condition, yet...there's no sign of anything have ever been written. No ink, no paint, no words or drawings of any kind."

"Maybe the author wanted to show off his paper collection?"

"Gourry, be serious. I think that this might be something a little bit more interesting then a case of the author being extremely disturbed. Filia, I'll help you look through the library – let's see if there are any other books like that."

Filia nodded and the girls went straight into the library, leaving a confused knight behind.

"Um...what do they want me to do, then? I guess...I'll just wait for them?"

He sat down on the ground, waiting for someone to come out of the library.

Lina doesn't normally get upset about these kind of things. I mean...I've seen her stare down the Hellmaster without flinching. Why would she be so upset about an empty book? Maybe it's important? Oh! Maybe it'll be the starting point to another serious journey! More monsters to slay, more near-death experiences and more instances where Lina has to use the Giga Slave and nearly destroy the world! Wait, what's an instance?

As Gourry racked his microscopic brain for a definition to the new word he had used, he saw three, no, four familiar looking faces arrive from the direction of the docks.

"Hey," Cecil exclaimed, turning to Gourry's direction, "where are the other two?"

"In this library." the knight called back. The four people walked closer to the library.

"So," Zelgadis said with a sigh, "we meet again. I guess."

"I guess. And you all met...how?"

"Well," Henrietta explained, "me and Cecil were watching P-Princess Amelia's speech from a distance, far away from the crowd, and I thought it m-might be better if we could g-get up close. So, instead of walking, C-Cecil decided to use magic to get us closer to the crowd. However, he misfired a-and we crashed into the sh-ship and it was s-so exciting and we...and we..."

As Hen took in long, gasping breaths, Cecil finished with, "and we will let you use your imagination to finish the story."

In response, Gourry booed.

"Well, it's not our fault – the writer is just too lazy to finish the story."

"What wr-writer?"

"Writer? I didn't say anything about a writer."

"Cecil, you broke the fourth wall! What the hell is wrong with you?"

"I have no idea what you mean."

Cecil and Henrietta staring rolling on the ground in laughter, but obviously the others didn't quite get what was so funny. After a regaining of composure, the all waited for the other two to come out of the library. People were storming in from the dock and were going about their regular business. Finally, after ten more minutes, Lina and Filia returned from the library.

"Guys," Lina exclaimed, "you'll never believe what I found! Oh, hi Amelia. Hi Zel."

"Yo."

"Hello!"

"Well, anyways, every single book in the library is totally empty. No words, no pictures, nothing. I can't tell what's wrong, but it feels like magic may be to blame."

"Actually," Zelgadis said, "that's why we're here. Amelia?"

"Oh, is this the part of the episode where I finally get to speak?" Amelia excitedly asked.

"Well, I think they're 'chapters' now, but go ahead."

"All right! Er, I mean, okay. A couple months back, books in the center of the South continent started going blank. No one knew why, but it seemed to be magic of sort. It started to spread out to the shore, and now we're worried that it might spread to the North, and ultimately to the cities housing magical tomes. Fortunately, Seyrune is under a massive protection spell, but we fear that even that won't be able to hold it. So far, we don't have any suspects. Whoever is doing it seems to be a powerful sorcerer, though. Unfortunately, Lina, Mr. Zelgadis and myself were at the top of the list."

"Please, no more 'Mr.' Zelgadis."

"Whatever you say! Anyways, we had to check out all the other continents to see if there are any other powerful sorcerers because if there isn't, we're the only logical suspects. And that means-"

"No!" Lina exclaimed, "No more inspectors, no more jail, no more crimes, no more, no more, no more!"

"Okay, okay! Don't worry. This is just an idea, but maybe if we all stick together, then maybe it'll be less likely that one of us did it."

"Hm. Sounds good to me. Is anyone else that we know on the suspect list?"

"Pokota is, but I sort of doubt he did it. There are several other unidentified magicians that we only know by title. One is able to create mass illusions, another can transmogrify himself, other people and objects, the list goes on and on."

"Hm. Well, let's get back to looking for an inn. Cecil, Hen, you go that way," she gestured in the opposite direction, "and we'll go this way."

The two seemed confused about the choice of division, but they went along with it anyways. They headed off, and just when they were out of earshot, Lina asked more questions.

"Amelia...I have a feeling that I know who it is. Who's erasing the books. This person has been traveling around the South continent for a while without any goal in mind, possibly with magical abilities rivaling mine. So...check if anyone on the list specializes in sleeping spells."

"Wait," Filia said, "I think you're jumping to the wrong conclusion here, Lina. You don't really think it could be-"

"I know it could be Cecil. You probably didn't see what he did in Bejewld. He killed every single monster ravaging the town with a simple command. He and Henrietta seem to be very suspicious, in my opinion if no one else's. I mean, clothes that don't look normal, spells that aren't known here, knowledge that no one else possesses...and what the hell is in Hen's suitcase?"

After a minute of silence, Amelia said, "Well, I guess I'll check. Let's see..."

As she was flipping through papers, Cecil and Henrietta dropped down from a Levitation spell.

"Well," Cecil said, "we found an inn over to the East. It's on the outskirts of town, but it's affordable and has a good position – there's three restaurants nearby and a few markets. Uh...what's wrong with you all?"

"Nothing!" they all responded in unison.

"Uh, Lina?" Amelia said, holding a piece of paper, "here's the, uh...thing you wanted."

She handed the paper to Lina and as they walked along, Lina read the profile in her head.

This sorcerer is at an S level, on par with the greatest magicians of all time. She smiled in satisfaction, knowing that she was one of the greatest magicians of all time. He specializes in his own original Nightmare spells, a mixture of sleeping spells and doom curses. Although he has the available skill, it is doubtful that he is behind the erasing of Southern knowledge. The incidents began approximately half a year ago, but sources were unable to scry him until just two months ago.

Two months ago? Why is that? How is it even possible? It's like...he didn't even exist until then?

"Lina, is there something on your mind?"

"N-no! Of course not. So, if you don't mind me asking...where were you around two months ago?"

Cecil picked up his head as if he was just now listening and Henrietta let out a short gasp.

"Hm...two months? I don't quite remember. Why?"

"No reason."

I'd better leave it at that – they might get suspicious if I keep asking.

"Oh, well!" Hen exclaimed, "We might as well g-go and look for the inn!"

And so they did. After that awkward blurb, no one talked for quite some time. Passing through the concrete jungle that was Cadia, they all felt rather small and insignificant. It was certainly bigger than all of the other cities in the South. Buildings towered above their heads, almost obscuring their vision of the sky. It was dizzying.

Finally, after stumbling around Cadia for what seemed to be an eternity and a half, the group finally found themselves at The Big Time, a small inn in the middle of a large economic center. It had one of everything there. They quickly walked in. It was much bigger than the Ruby in more ways than one. It had three floors, each of which had an astonishing twenty rooms, albeit small ones. The rooms were only suitable for two people each.

"So," Filia said with a sigh after they decided on rooms, "I'll be alone. In my room. All alone."

"Filia," Lina muttered, "if you say that any louder, the Xellos will come to your room and do unspeakable things to you."

"I'm fine – I'd rather sleep alone, thank you very much."

After some laughs, they proceeded up the stairs and found themselves on the third floor, renting four rooms which were all right next to each other. They only came up to examine the rooms' locations, so they quickly retreated back down and out the door. They had registered rooms – now what?

"I think," Zelgadis thought aloud, "we should go and gather information from the locals for now. The local nobility would probably know the most about it."

"You're so smart, Zelgadis!" Amelia exclaimed, earning a look of embarrassment from the chimaera.

"Good idea." Cecil said thoughtfully, "But wouldn't it be best if we worked our way up to the nobility?"

"No. The way information works in the South is this: upper nobles receive it first, then their servants, then lesser nobles, then their servants, then foreign nobles, foreign servants and the civilians are lucky if they hear even the slightest rumor."

"But...that's not right!"

"No, but that's how it works. Now then...I believe the big building near the docks was the city hall. Let's start there."

Zelgadis was half right. It was city hall, but it was something else too.

"Lina," Gourry asked, "what's a 'strip club?' Do we have to be naked to join?"

"I'm afraid it's a little more than that, my dearest moron."

Before she could get into detail, everyone walked in, hoping the club was on the second floor. It wasn't. Just two steps in and Cecil and Zelgadis held their sleeves up to their noses, hoping the bleeding would stop. They couldn't help but pay attention to what was happening onstage. Gourry looked dumbfounded.

"What's she doing that to a pole for?"

"Gourry, you're stupid and will never have children."

"What?"

"Nothing!"

Lina dragged Gourry to the staircase, Zelgadis was weakly led by Amelia and Henrietta had to give Cecil a quick jab in the stomach to get him to pay attention to the current task. Filia, however, was the first up to the city hall part of the building. It was quiet up there. All that they could see was a bunch of empty seats and old pieces of parchment.

"There aren't any people here..." Filia said in a foreboding tone.

"Except little old me." a familiar voice rang out from behind them.

They whirled around.

"Xellos!" Lina exclaimed, clutching her dagger.

"Oh," he said softly, "I have no intentions of hurting you. I only wish to help you – no need to be so harsh."

"What do you want?"

"Like I said, to help you. I can give you the information you need. You want to know who's behind the erasing of the books, right? I know who and I know why."

"Gr...what's your price?"

"Who says I have one?"

"Oh, come on – you don't have to play your little charade with us; we've memorized every line from your act. So...what is it? The price, I mean."

"Well, I don't have any place to stay tonight. And I hear you have an open room...?"

"Oh, no." Filia said, "I don't think so. I will not have a monster sleep under the same roof as me, especially you, let alone share a room."

Lina grumbled at her, conveying the message "Take one for the team, dammit. Just relax and we can handle it."

"So it's a deal?" Xellos said, opening those menacing eyes of his.

"Sure..."

"Good. I'll tell you in the morning – I'm tired now. Good night."

Xellos teleported away, leaving everyone confused and mad. Especially Filia.

"Filia," Cecil warned, "your tail is popping out."

"Gr...but he makes me so mad! How could he just do that? And now...I have to share a room with him?"

"About that," Amelia said, scratching the back of her head sheepishly, "it's not just a two person deal – this is a couple's inn."

"So?"

"Uh...you'll be sharing a..."

"A what?"

"A...bed."

"...What? I did not hear that. If I heard that, I will have to go strangle someone. Right now."

RANDOMLY ABRUPT ENDING! Yay! And so the plot deepens. Sorry about the fourth wall – I was too lazy, so I just decided to waste space by breaking it a few times. Now I have to publish this before my laptop turns off.