Awakening
A
Slayers Fanfic by Majo-chan
Part
2: Little Wing
Author’s
notes: Okay, Kenshin fans! I’m sure there are some of you out there…anyway, of
you’re a fan, you’ll notice that I have given up on original titles and have
stooped to plagiarism of the titles from the soundtracks. I feel really bad
about that, but those names actually fit the chapters better than anything I
can come up with…Okay, as usual, all disclaimers apply, etc, etc. Don’t sue me, I spent all my money at Anime Expo 99.
**
Cursed Valley really felt cursed. It wasn’t really
one valley, but a number of cracks on a large plain. The ground dropped steeply
in certain places, revealing dangerous vertical drops deep into the bowels of
the earth. The vegetation was next to nonexistent, except for some dark oily
poisonous plants around the edges of the valley, and the whole landscape fairly
screamed of death and destruction.
“The Cursed
Valley. The place where one of Ruby-Eye’s most
powerful servants battled one of the Dragon Kings.” Lina murmured,
ignoring the hot winds that whipped around her, stirring her black cape.
“I think it was the Earth Dragon
King?” Xelloss mused.
“Yes.” Filia
confirmed it. “But I wasn’t kidding when I said that the Dragons have combed
this place. There is nothing here but wasteland and those vertical cliffs.”
“Ah, Filia.
You just didn’t look in the right place.” Xelloss told her. “Let’s see…” He
pointed to a barely visible path down the almost perpendicular sides of one
ravine. “Shall we go?”
“You do know what’s down there,
right?” Lina asked Xelloss nervously. He smiled at her, as he usually did.
“I know what was down there one
hundred years ago.” He replied unhelpfully.
So they descended into one of the
dark valleys. Gourry kept looking around nervously while Filia continuously
shifted her axe. Xelloss, on the contrary, seemed to be enjoying himself.
After what seemed like forever, they
were finally all down. Lina looked around. She could barely see the sky above
her, and the air down there was cool and even a little humid, a complete
contrast to the hot, stifling wind that blew across the top of these valleys.
Filia brushed a strand of hair behind her ear.
“Well? Where is this thing you have
to get?”
“This place is like a maze.” Gourry said
in awe.
“Gourry is
completely correct.” Xelloss agreed. “The Dragons have tried to see what were
in these valleys, but the clash of Light and Darkness here has shifted the
balance between planes. Neither Demons nor Dragons can
navigate here easily, and unless you’ve lived here for quite awhile,
there’s no way you can find anything with any sort of ease.” He scratched his
head thoughtfully as he looked around. “Now, where did I put it…aha!”
Lina and Amelia jumped and screamed
as a section of the cliff on their right warped and almost seemed to reach out.
“What the heck!”
The wall swirled a little, then
lightened and solidified. Lina stared at it in wonder.
“A…mural?” she whispered.
The former cliff face was now made
of white, smooth marble, and on it were carvings. Carvings of
wolves, as far as she could tell.
“These are really good.” Amelia
whispered. “The wolves are so lifelike.” She reached out to touch them.
“I wouldn’t do that, Amelia.”
Xelloss chided. “I don’t think they’d like to be petted by strangers. I’ll
introduce you all first.” He waved his hand and the wall swirled again. The
carvings shifted and Lina and Amelia backed off as the wolves began to pull
themselves out of the wall. Wolves of various shades of gray began to swirl
around the astonished travelers in large numbers.
“What the-“ Lina gasped. The wolves were ghostlike apparitions,
but they were here. Coming out of the walls. Gliding past her like solid wisps of smoke. “How’d you do that!?”
Xelloss was patting one wolf’s head.
“Oh, simple. The Dragons would have killed the pack
had I left them here, so I Sealed them, just like the
Dragons who Sealed the Lords. Now I wake them up so they can give us a hand.”
Filia was feeling sick from the raw
dark energy the wolves were emitting. “You sealed these? Here?”
“Yup. After
all, it would be a shame if they all died.” Xelloss had all the wolves around
him now. Some were content to float around, some sat at his feet. Some seemed
to demand attention as if they were his pets; there were a little over twenty
wolves in the canyon now. “Now, now. Don’t be selfish.
I know you want her back.” He told one. “I want her back too. So if we all
stick with the plan, it’ll all work out.”
“Wow!” Gourry
gasped. “He talks to wolves!”
Even some wolves
sweatdropped.
“Uh, Gourry, I think that’s
obvious.”
“But these wolves are so adorable!”
Amelia squealed as she held out a hand for the wolf closest to her. Xelloss
chuckled.
“She is cute, but you can’t eat her
because I’ll need her later.” He said to the wolf. The wolf whined silently as
Amelia quickly snatched her hand away. Another wolf was staring at Filia
intently, growling silently. Xelloss shook his head.
“Nope. Can’t eat her either. Maybe later?”
“Why you, Namagomi!”
Filia snarled.
“So, Xelloss,”
Lina quickly changed the subject to prevent another
fight. “What are we going to do now that you have all these wolves?”
“That is a secret.” He told her. “ But I do have some things to set up first. So why don’t
you-Ack!” The unfortunate Mazoku found himself in yet another headlock.
“Tell.
“I…can’t…exactly…breathe…” He
choked. She loosened up a little.
“Well?”
He smiled shakily. “Well, I need to
distract the Dragons so they will come here. Then you, Filia and I will hop
over to where I hid the Demon Lord and we do the Unsealing. Can you let me go
now?”
“The wolves are just decoys?” She
asked him. He made choking noises and loosened her grip a little. “Answer me.”
“In a way, but you really don’t
think I’d let them be killed after going to all that trouble of keeping them
alive in the first place, right?”
“Who knows?” Filia
retorted scathingly. “For all we know, that’s exactly what Demons do.”
“I’m evil, Filia-chan, not stupid.
That’s you.”
Lina made sure her grip on Xelloss’s
neck was firm. He made a choking noise in confirmation. “Okay, if that’s your
plan, then how are you planning to attract the Dragons? Oh,
sorry.” She released him again.
“Good Heavens,” He muttered. “Well,
I was getting to that before you cut off my air supply. Since I need to get the
Dragons’ attention, I need to use my powers. I don’t want to fry anyone by
accident while I rearrange the scenery, so I want all of you to go in there.”
Xelloss pointed to the wall that the wolves came out of.
“But it’s a wall.” Gourry noted
brilliantly.
“Gourry,
just try it, okay?” The Demon replied exasperatedly.
“How do we know it’s not a trick?”
Filia asked him suspiciously. “After all, once we’re gone, you can do whatever
you want.”
“My goodness, a Dragon with a
brain…” The Demon ducked the axe swing aimed at his head. “The point is, since
I need all of you to get what I want, why would I do anything to you?”
Filia tried again. “Two words,
Namagomi. Ulterior. Motives.”
“Quit it, Filia.” Lina said
impatiently. “He can’t have any ulterior motives. At least, he can’t do
anything against the Lord of Nightmares. I think we can trust him on this.”
Xelloss smiled and bowed.
“Why, thank you, Lina.” He gestured
to the wall. “I’m going to start soon, move please.”
Experimentally, Lina pushed her hand
against the white marble. It felt like she was pushing through a thick wall of
mud. It was cool and slimy, sort of…she closed her
eyes and forced her way through. She opened her eyes and found herself standing
in a grassy plain, and what seemed like a thick slab of glass behind her. She
could see Filia, Xelloss, Amelia and Gourry on the other side.
“It seems safe enough.” Amelia
mused. Gourry ran through without preamble.
“Hey, that was fun!”
“Gourry,
you idiot…” Lina sighed. “Come on, Filia, Amelia. Let’s get going.”
“I don’t trust you.” Filia told
Xelloss. He smirked.
“I know.”
Soon, all except Xelloss were on the
other side. He patted a white wolf on the head and whispered something in its
ear. It uttered a short bark in answer.
“Okay. That makes sense. So you all
know what to do?”
“No.” Lina
muttered, but the Demon was too preoccupied with talking to his wolves to
notice.
Finally, Xelloss nodded. “That’s the
plan, then. I’ll start.”
Lina watched as he raised one hand
and pointed at the cliff on the right.
“Always wanted to
get rid of that.” He murmured. As if responding to his words, the cliff
rumbled, then broke up into huge chunks of soil and rock that flew upwards as
if pushed, disintegrating as they went. “And we really need some elbow room
here.” The valley that they were in was leveled in a second. Lina gaped as she
saw the blue skies over on Xelloss’s side. The Demon was scratching his head as
he continued to contemplate the scenery of devastated land before him.
One of the wolves howled loudly.
“You think so too?” Xelloss made a
shooing gesture, and everything blew up. Lina cringed instinctively when a
gigantic chunk of torn earth barreled its way toward her. It impacted against
the wall on the other side, but did not get through.
“Wow.” Amelia murmured. “How did he
do that?”
“At this rate, he’ll wake up Cepheed
with this racket.” Filia replied seriously.
“Which would be a bad thing,” Xelloss looked at her with a sly smile. “I think I’ve done
enough damage. It’s time for us to go.”
“Go? Go where?”
Xelloss shook his finger at them.
“That is a secret.”
Lina tensed as she felt darkness
wrap itself around her and Filia. She could already feel herself fading. “W-WAIT! What about Amelia and-“
And they were gone.
**
“Lina-san? Filia-san? Xelloss-san??” Amelia had a very bad feeling.
“What? Where did they go?” Gourry
asked, looking around. There were about three or four wolves left in the
dimension, the rest had crossed over. They had a great view of the sky, since
“That’s an awful lot of Dragons.”
Amelia said, sounding sick. Gourry scratched his head.
“So, what are we going to do?”
Amelia took a deep breath. “Well, Xelloss-san has obviously taken Filia-san and Lina-san to
complete their mission. So we’re here…as decoy.”
“What!? Uh,
what’s a decoy?”
Amelia sighed. “Take out your sword,
Gourry-san. I think we might have to do some fighting.” Inwardly, she squished
down her fear. This is no time to be afraid.
**
“You didn’t.”
“Didn’t I?” Xelloss
countered.
“You didn’t.”
“I think Filia-chan
is in denial.” The Demon whispered to Lina.
Filia ignored that little comment.
“You DIDN’T!”
“I thought I already told you that I
did.”
“He did, Filia. He did.”
“YOU HID A DEMON LORD IN THE
DRAGONS’ STRONGHOLD!? ARE YOU CRAZY!?” Filia finally screeched.
“I think I was, for a little
while…but that’s not the point. I wasn’t crazy when I did it. And what’s wrong
with hiding a Demon Lord in the Dragons’ Stronghold?”
Lina restrained Filia. “Filia! Calm down and remember
what we’re here for! You can kill him AFTER we save the world!”
Xelloss looked around with a cheery
smile. “Isn’t it nice how quiet it is with all the Dragons gone?”
Lina didn’t think it was nice at
all. “What is the big idea, leaving Gourry and Amelia behind like that?! They
can get killed!!!” She gripped his neck firmly and shook him hard a few times
to get her point across. “Well?! Explain yourself!”
“Lina-can’t…breathe…”
“So!?” She
shook him harder.
“Dragon…..behind…you….”
Lina
yelped and dropped him, throwing herself out of the
way. A female dragon swung her sword at the short girl, but missed. Lina cursed
expressively.
“I thought they were all gone!”
“Not all,
apparently.”
Filia rolled her eyes. Time for her to step in. The quickest and quietest way to
make sure no one saw them… White energy gathered in her hands, forming a
shimmering sphere. “Sleeping!”
White light expanded outwards,
leaving their attacker, and the rest of the Stronghold, asleep. Hopefully, that
is. Xelloss clapped.
“Great job, Filia.
Now I don’t have to kill everyone that’s left!” He cheered. Filia glared at
him, hefting her axe threateningly.
“Where are we going now?” Lina
quickly asked. Xelloss pointed down.
“To the lowest
level, of course.”
“Great, more
walking.” Lina muttered, running a hand through her red hair. “Filia? You think you can help us
out with these mazes you Dragons call halls?”
“I don’t need her help.” Xelloss
commented.
“Oh, really?”
Filia smirked. “Just don’t get us lost, Namagomi.”
“Time out!
Time out! No fights! Not when we’re so close.” Lina said. “Let’s get on with
things!”
Xelloss nodded and turned to lead
them. Filia followed after Lina, bringing up the rear. Lina shivered a little
as she saw all the sleeping dragons in the Stronghold. Most of them were women
and children. Whatever Xelloss did, it certainly caught the Dragons’ attention
like he wanted it to. There wasn’t a single male Dragon left that she could
see.
Filia stared at Xelloss’s back,
thinking. How could he have such power? Well, that was a stupid question. That
was a given, according to what the Dragons know about his rank. The question
was how he hid it for the thousand years that he was around. Everyone, Dragons,
Demons or Humans, have an Astral Presence. Not many people are aware of their
Presences or how to control them. The Astral Presence, or the Astral bodies if
you will, is a Demon’s true form. She had tried to search out his Astral body
in the Astral Plane. And failed. That would mean that
either he did not exist or that he had somehow found someway to mask his
presence. Neither option seemed possible, especially considering how he could
tap or turn off his power at will. She shook her head. Did that mean that the
Dragons never really captured him? With the power that he had displayed, it was
obvious that he could have easily broken out of the wards that the Dragons had
put on him.
“Filia?” Lina’s question
broke her out of her reverie.
“Yes, Lina?”
“Do you know what’s happening back
in the Valley right now?”
“You’re really worried, aren’t you?”
Lina nodded. “I can’t believe that
he just left them there.”
Filia patted the girl on the
shoulder. “Think of it this way, Xelloss needs the two of us to awaken all the
Demons. Since he needs your help, I doubt that he would do anything to make you
seriously angry with him. So your friends are probably okay.”
Lina stared at Xelloss’s back.
“They’d better be.”
**
“Here goes nothing. Flare Arrow!”
A stream of fire erupted from
Amelia’s hands and streaked toward the Dragon that was advancing on them.
Gourry was actually holding his own against the Dragons that attacked him with
spears. But Amelia wasn’t stupid. Once the Dragons realized that they have no
way to fight efficiently with magic, the struggle was over. Once again, she
wished she had a chance to learn all the attack spells that Filia could have taught
her. It would have been really useful now.
“Flame Breath!”
One Dragon casted. Amelia closed her eyes and waited
for her death.
But it never came.
She opened her eyes. “What?”
Zira snorted, the shield that she summoned slowly fading away.
“You’re safe, girl. What were you thinking?” To Gourry, she reached out and
grabbed thin air, somehow pulling him back towards her. “To be fighting with
all these Dragons.”
A wolf howled at her.
“Oh, really?”
The impassive woman said. “I’ll be sure to have a long talk with him about this
later.”
The wolf’s tongue lolled out as if
he was laughing.
“Too true, I did teach her quite a
few damaging spells.” Zira snickered. “But still, I’ll be sure to reprimand
him. What he did was not a nice thing.”
**
Lina sneezed.
“Bless you.” Filia
murmured. “Are we there yet, Namagomi?”
“What do you think, Filia-chan?” He
retorted.
“Grr…”
“So, Xelloss.
Explain to us why you chose to hide a Demon Lord in the Stronghold. I’m
curious.” Lina interfered. “Wouldn’t he stick out like a lump on a log?”
“Not necessarily.” Filia countered. “If the Sealing was complete, like all the
Sealings were, then all of the Demon Lord’s power should have been locked away.
That erases all traces of the Demon’s aura. The Dragons would have no way of
tracing him.” Filia shook her head. “And the Stronghold is the last place we
would look for our enemy…”
“Exactly.” Xelloss agreed. “I find it amusing. Your enemy is right
under your nose, and no one ever suspected.”
“It’s not funny.” Filia glowered.
“Oh?”
“You guys, quit it already.” Lina
was getting a little more than tired of their immaturity. “So, what do we do
once we get to the Demon Lord?”
“That’s a good question. Did Zira
teach you the Laguna Blade yet?”
“Yes, but I can’t control it at all.”
Lina sighed. “It fights me. I have to wrestle with it and it takes up all my
power and control.”
“Sounds like the Laguna Blade all
right.” Xelloss mused. “Well, I guess all three of us hit it with our most
powerful spells.”
“You don’t know how to break it?!”
Lina yelled.
“Do I look like the world’s
authority on breaking Dragon Seals? All I know is that in order to break the
Seal, we must use a power that is more than the Dragon’s or Demon’s power.”
Xelloss shrugged. “And that’s where you come in. And here we are.”
“This is it?” Lina asked, staring at
the wall in front of her.
“Not quite. She’s behind this wall.”
“She?”
Xelloss
placed his hand against the wall, and it went through. “This is just an
illusion. Shall we go?”
Filia followed as they went through.
Lina shook her head and followed. She didn’t know there were any female Demon
Lords…
**
“Who are you?” The Dragon Mage asked
Zira as he continued to pour power into his spell. Zira was holding the shield
as if she could hold it forever.
“Who am I? That is of no importance
to you.” She replied.
“You are a Demon, then?”
Zira smiled. “Yes. I am also Dragon,
I am also Human. I am everything and nothing. I am who
I am. How’s that for a riddle?”
“You dare mock me!?”
“I dare nothing, I dare everything.
Do you dare?”
“You don’t know who you’re
fighting!”
Amelia shrank back in fear as black
and gold energy swirled around Zira. The older woman simply shook her head.
“No. You are the one who doesn’t
know what you are fighting.”
**
“Wow…” Lina
gasped as she looked around. They were in a cave made of opaque crystal. Filia
closed her eyes as she felt the pulsing power of the place. The crystal itself
was a seal, the white magic only amplified its natural
qualities so it can now hold even a Demon Lord.
“Are all the Seals like this?” The
sorceress wondered. Xelloss shook his head.
“No. Like Filia
said, the Demon Lords and Ruby-Eye were all Sealed by
different mages and the Dragon Gods. All the Seals are different.” He touched
the crystal, his eyes open. “It doesn’t affect me unless I call my power. This
crystal is deadly to the wielders of Black Magic, though.”
“How are you going to attack it,
then?”
“I’ll manage. Let’s start.”
Lina nodded. “I’ll take center,
Xelloss on the right, Filia on the left. On my signal, okay?”
They nodded and got into position.
She took a deep breath. Clear your
mind of all disturbances. Mind is Power. Pure mind equals pure power.
“The shadow that protects evil…”
Filia gathered as much of Cepheed’s
power as she thought she would safely hold in here. Xelloss was looking at the
crystal, expression unreadable as black energy raged around him in a storm.
Lina’s right hand was outstretched, and black and white electricity crackled
around the petite sorceress.
“Sword of the dark, cold void…Free yourself from Heaven’s bonds! Become my body, my strength!
And let us walk the path of destruction together!” Lina was yelling now, the
chaotic energy ripping up the ground under her. “Power that can even crush the
power of the Gods! LAGUNA BLADE!”
“Ready.” Xelloss
said. Filia nodded.
“GO!” Lina
shouted, swinging the chaotic blade towards the center of the room, where the
largest chunk of crystal is. The power of Nightmare combined with the power of
Light and Dark, and everything was engulfed in the golden light that followed.
**
“What the-“
Gourry and
Amelia tried to keep their balance as the ground buckled and trembled beneath
them. Various Dragons and wolves were sent tumbling down as the earthquake
continued. Zira merely levitated herself to avoid the same fate.
The power that she
could feel now. She smiled.
One down, five
more to go.
**
“I feel awful.” Lina groaned,
falling to her knees, the Laguna blade fading out of existence. Filia picked up
pieces of shattered crystal that were no longer opaque, but as clear as bits of
glass. The whole cave was shattered now, revealing moss covered walls and damp
little streams of water. Still, the glasslike pieces glowed with unholy light.
Xelloss walked to where the center
of the crystal was. Lina could see something that looked like a glass coffin at
the top of the small rise in the ground. He reached out and the lid almost
seemed to melt away. The Demon held out his hand, and a delicate, feminine hand
stretched to take it.
“Who?” Lina whispered as Xelloss helped the woman up.
She stood, platinum blond hair cascading down her
back in waves. Xelloss knelt and kissed her hand. She smiled and Lina could see
something human in those smoldering eyes with the slitted pupils.
“Rise.” She commanded softly,
pulling Xelloss back up. “Why so formal, my General Priest?”
“It’s been awhile, Xellas-sama.”
End