My Tumblr

[alexeiadrae]

Thoughts on J-Novel Translation of The Slayers Novel 16: A Chance Encounter in Atessa

I’ve not even read a fan translation of this ya’ll, just summaries! This will be exciting! And spoilers below.

Keep reading

[pip25]

"BDSM stuff"...?? O_o

[pip25]

As you wish

Phantom pain. An unpleasant sensation seemingly originating from a limb that’s no longer part of the body.

This phrase resurfaced in Zelgadiss’ mind time and again, ever since he and Amelia had left Saillune City towards the Kingdom of Ruvinagald. He, of course, had all of his limbs intact and was not experiencing any type of chronic pain, either – but a different sensation, the feeling of a certain weight upon him, surfaced with alarming frequency. And the source of that weight, he knew, was obviously no longer there.

He risked a glance to his right. Amelia walked next to him with a spring in her step, humming some sort of tune he could not place. Her good mood was hardly a surprise: this so-called mission of theirs not only allowed her to leave the palace behind for a while, but also let them meet up with Lina and Gourry again, and travel together for at least a week or two.

It’s been some time since they’ve returned from the Outer World, after all, he thought. If they’re especially lucky, maybe Xelloss won’t show up. One can only hope.

No, he would not bother her with this. The last thing they need is him bringing her down with his own problems. That’s not why they’re here, that’s not what she would want… right?

Zelgadiss pulled his hood deeper into his face in frustration. A year or two ago, the answer to that question would have been straightforward.

“Oh, look!” Amelia’s excited voice interrupted his ruminations. “There’s the border outpost, Zelgadiss-san!”

He forced his attention back to the road ahead, and indeed, there it was: a rather unremarkable two-storey tower of stone and wood at the edge of a forest, with a couple of soldiers standing guard nearby. While the states of the peninsula lacked precisely assigned borders, well-traveled trade routes, like this one, tended to have boundary stones to show roughly where one country ended and the other began, often with similar outposts on each side.

Before they could enter the Alliance of Coastal States, which Ruvinagald was a part of, they needed to take a tiny detour: Amelia was supposed to sign some deeds on Prince Philionel’s behalf here in this tower. As they drew closer, between its first and second storey windows, Zelgadiss spotted the crest of Saillune’s Chivalric Order; it seemed like the outpost was manned not by simple soldiers, but the kingdom’s knights themselves.

An uneasy feeling spreading over him, his hand unwittingly reached to touch his left shoulder, trying in vain to chase away the sensation of a certain weight pushing him down.

“Your Highness, welcome! We have eagerly awaited your arrival.” A forty-something man with a finely trimmed full beard came forth to greet them, wearing chain mail and a turban on his head. There was a bit of an odd pause before he gestured towards the entrance. “I have been notified that Your Highness has little time to spare; the scribe already has the documents prepared in the hall. Is there anything else we can do to assist?”

It did not escape Zelgadiss’ attention that the man barely acknowledged his presence; in fact, his gestures very much suggested that he expected the princess to go inside alone, as if he wasn’t even there.

Amelia seemed to have caught on as well; her good mood deflated a tiny bit as she sent a questioning glance in her companion’s direction. Though inwardly grateful for the gesture, Zelgadiss immediately shook his head with a tiny, barely visible movement. He wanted to get this over with, the quicker the better.

“No, that will be all, thank you,” the princess finally replied to the bearded knight with a polite if meaningless smile, mouthed ‘just one minute’ to her companion, and disappeared behind the oaken double doors.

Zelgadiss decided that, in the present situation, he was perfectly content with simply gazing at said entrance with his arms folded while he waited for the whole ordeal to end. To begin with, he never had much of an appetite for small talk; if the others here wanted to ignore him, that was fine as far as he was concerned.

This assumption of his, however, was quickly turned upside down.

“Let me take a guess.” The middle-aged man’s half-amused, half-exasperated voice made him turn back in his direction despite himself. “You never had any chivalric education or training, but were knighted anyway because you slew a dragon, rescued a princess or something equally dashing and heroic.”

With a wince, Zelgadiss once again started rubbing his left shoulder. While the ceremonial blade used by Prince Philionel had been light as a feather and rested on him only for a few moments during the accolade, this ‘phantom sensation’ now felt like several tons forcing him towards the ground.

Of course they’d know he’s also a knight, he realized, at least as of a few days ago. They’ve been briefed about Amelia’s arrival, and he is her official escort – his newly acquired title was necessary for that exact purpose.

Not that he would’ve admitted any of the above to the man in front of him; the conversation was vexing enough for him already.

“Something like that,” he conceded with a sour expression.

“I suspected as much.” The other man nodded with a sigh. “Well, listen here, hero boy. If you enter one of our outposts, you are expected to greet your fellow knights, or the commander at the very least if you’re feeling all shy,” he said gruffly while pointing at himself. “Don’t just march in here with your head in the clouds and then act disappointed when the others don’t know what to do with you.”

Zelgadiss stared at him with the same bewilderment on his face as if he had just been exposed as a spy from Zoana.

“Do you understand what I’m saying?” the commander pressed on. “I don’t care what sweet nothings you and the princess whisper to one another, you’re not her consort, a baron or any other noble, at least not yet. But you’re also not a peasant who’s just passing by. You’re one of us. Try to act the part, and we’ll get along just fine, got it?”

Robbed of words, all Zelgadiss could do was blink. Rudeness or insults certainly weren’t new to him, but it somehow did not feel appropriate to simply write this off as either of those. Indeed, that was the most perplexing part: annoyed as the middle-aged man may have been, he could not glimpse any malice, fear or even surprise on his features, even though they stood close enough that his hood barely hid anything at all. It was baffling, yet oddly familiar – and of course excruciatingly embarrassing.

“…Understood,” he finally managed to blurt out, surprising even himself.

“Very well then.” The bearded knight looked satisfied with his answer as he gestured back towards the tower. “We’ll look after your charge while she’s here; feel free to take a breather in the meantime. If you need any rations for the rest of the journey, you can—”

His sentence was cut short by a whole tree – complete with the trunk, branches, leaves, bird nests, and roots – slamming into the ground right in front of them. As the incredible momentum made it skid a few additional yards, the commander disappeared in its sizable canopy; only the muffled sounds of his barely restrained cursing made it out.

“Argh! Gods… my leg’s a mess!” he shouted, clearly in pain. “What the hell is happening?!”

Zelgadiss whirled around to face the forest, though he already had a pretty good idea of what they were facing. Not many creatures had the sheer strength necessary to uproot a tree like that, and the intelligence and willingness to use it as a weapon.

He was right. A dozen hulking, hunched beasts hustled towards them from within the forest, their forms roughly humanoid but somewhat ape-like, their skins colored in dirty shades of yellow, green and blue.

Trolls.

His gaze snapped back to the other knights nearby. The enemy’s display of strength, along with the disappearance of their leader sowed the seeds of panic within their ranks; even those who had rushed out of the tower with weapons drawn seemed more inclined to turn around and flee than to defend their post.

“Doesn’t matter,” Zelgadiss muttered to himself. “They’d only get in the way…”

“Hear me, brave knights of Saillune!” The thundering declaration reached his ears as he was about to rush forward alone. He looked up, and saw Amelia standing at the very top of the tower (where else?), resolutely pointing towards the approaching troll horde. “No evil can hope to defeat those who walk the path of righteousness! No strength born from malice can deter those with a heart of valor from seeing justice done! Stand with me, and let us show these monsters the true virtuous might of our kingdom!”

Her speech was not without impact: the fog of panic gradually lifted from the knights’ ranks, and the fear in their eyes was replaced by resolve. Not enough to make them move, however; while they no longer wanted to run away, it still looked as if they were waiting on each other to take the first step forward.

Someone had to set an example, Zelgadiss realized with a frown, and lead the charge against the enemy.

You’re one of us.

The commander’s words echoed in his mind, and at that moment, he finally understood why they felt so strangely familiar.

Fine. He’ll do it, just this once, he thought to himself, and raised his sword towards the top of the tower in what he hoped to be a knightly salute.

“As you wish, my Lady.”

Then he ran. Both to set that example, and to avoid having to see what effect, if any, his incredibly awkward-feeling line has had.

Battle cries sounded from behind him. Innumerable boots hit the ground, their rumble melding into the chant of Chaos Words springing forth from Amelia’s lips.

Zelgadiss ran even faster – and could not suppress a smile.

The battle did not last long. The knights apparently knew about Amelia’s prowess as a spellcaster, and once Zelgadiss fried a few trolls with lightning, they included him in their tactics as well: they drew the beasts’ attention away from the two of them while they mowed them down with a combination of sword, sorcery and bare fists. As fearsome as their foes’ strength and regenerative abilities were, they stood little chance against such a fierce, coordinated onslaught.

After healing the injured, including the commander’s broken leg, the midday sun found the princess and her official escort already well beyond the Saillune border.

“Zelgadiss-san, those knights have been very rude to you. I’m so sorry!” Amelia apologized hastily as they climbed the mountain road at a brisk pace. “I don’t know what has gotten into them!”

Her companion awkwardly cleared his throat. “Um, right, them. It was a… a misunderstanding. We got over it.” The hint of a smirk tugged his lips. “Not the first time I got chewed out for my lack of knightly manners, anyway.”

That visibly caught the princess by surprise. “You’ve traveled with knights before?”

At first, Zelgadiss felt frustrated that he let that slip, but the emotion quickly morphed into guilt. He had enough of keeping secrets from Amelia for one day. She deserved better than that.

“His name was Rodimus.” He kept his eyes on the road, though his gaze seemed to be somewhere far away. “I’m not sure if he had a proper title, but he certainly considered himself a knight. Acted like one, too. The problems started when he wanted everyone else to act the same way. I remember butting heads with him… a lot.”

There was a certain warmness in Zelgadiss’ voice as he spoke of his late friend that made the princess smile.

“Whatever he may have found wanting in you back then, I don’t think you have much to worry about now,” she commented playfully.

“Right.” Her companion nodded slowly, his eyes still on the road ahead. His smirk now had a slight self-deprecating edge to it. “To start with, in my case this title is just a formality. So what if I don’t measure up to the—”

“That’s not true at all, Zelgadiss-san.”

He stopped and finally turned her way, perplexed. Amelia’s smile was gentle but unrelenting.

“A knight’s title is more than just a formality. Believe me, it’s not something my father and I would give away unearned,” she spoke softly. “Father considers you a dear friend and ally who has fought on Saillune’s side for justice several times. And I…” Her cheeks turned a darker shade of pink. “…I consider you… dear… in many ways. I-I just want you to know that… you have nothing to prove to me.”

Gentle wind stirred the leaves of the beech trees on both sides of the road around them.

Standing motionlessly as if his feet had taken root, Zelgadiss tried really hard to answer something, but could not keep himself from stumbling over his own words.

“Uh… No, I… That wasn’t… It’s not like I wanted to…”

His face now even redder than hers, he forced himself to turn away. Desperate to do something, anything to serve as a distraction, his hand moved towards his left shoulder out of habit… and stopped halfway.

Only then did he notice. The ‘phantom weight’ that haunted him for days – it was no longer there. He somehow also knew it would never return.

Finally able to calm down, Zelgadiss took a deep breath. Then another.

“Alright, I… guess I’ll give this… knight business some more time then. See what comes of it,” he murmured almost to himself, then began walking once more. “A-Anyway… Come on  Amelia, let’s get moving. We still have a long journey ahead of us.”

“Right!” The princess beamed as she followed him without skipping a beat.

Long it may have been, it was a journey to look forward to.

EPILOGUE

“Zelgadiss-san?”

“Hmm?”

“When you… raised your sword like that and said… I mean, when you led all the other knights into battle… that was so, so incredibly cool! I even forgot about my incantation for a second.”

“Uh… thanks? Just so you know, I don’t plan to make a habit of it.”

“Aw, but why?”

“Well, it was a… spur-of-the-moment thing. You don’t write your speeches in advance either, do you?”

“Usually no, but I have a couple of Father’s best ones memorized, just in case.”

“…I …see.”

“So I was thinking, rumor says the smiths of Ruvinagald can produce some really high-quality, shiny-looking armor. When we get there, maybe you could… try some of them on?”

“…Absolutely not.”

[alexeiadrae]

Thoughts on J-Novel Translation of Conspiracy in Solaria, Ch 2

-I was wondering if it was the translation, but yeah, in J-Novel Mileena seems to be at her most smiley in the 9th novel and becomes stone faced in subsequent novels. That always struck me as odd, not too sure what to make of it other than that Mileena was happy to meet Lina and Gourry.

-Lina isn’t happy with Gourry’s comment about Lavas hearing bad stories about Lina, but I have to wonder if Gourry is trying to get at Lavas’s motivations. If he’s wanting to hire Lina because he’s heard that she’s an evil sorceress then it would be something that they would need to know.

-While I have entertained the idea that Gourry could have had a privileged, noble upbringing, Gourry’s comment about noble’s really having it made sort of leads me to think he might not be one. He’s not coming at it from a nostalgic perspective.

-And we have the conversation where Lina talks about Luna making sure that Lina could identify the taste of poison. Unlike other things that J-Novel has translated about Luna, this actually is a bit milder. Lina says, “Just a skill my sister back home made sure I learned back in the day.” The way Lina talks about makes it seem like it was part of her training. However, Gourry is horrified by this and it’s obvious that identifying poison is not a typical part of warrior training even though it could come in handy, and Lina also indicates that she has been traumatized by this but in a very passive way “Gourry must have noticed the terror deep in my eyes, because he fell silent again with a shiver.”

So, I tend to think Lina is minimizing a bit, which tends to happen when someone has grown up being mistreated by a relative. Its also possible that Lina had a sarcastic tone in her voice when she said it but if she did it didn’t get conveyed.

-And Luke and Mileena return, as do the questions about why Mileena travels with him. Someone suggested that Slayers is following the trope of being in denial about being in love, which is a possibility, but not one that makes sense to me and also one that I personally dislike. For one, when media portrays someone as in denial about being in love, the people around them see through them and encourage them to confess, here’s an example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ee86DRxtHU

With Luke and Mileena it is different. In novel 9 Lina states that Luke doesn’t have a prayer with her and in this chapter Gourry is very embarrassed for Luke: “A slave to love? Come on man…” Gourry said with a wince. “I think she’s just got you whipped, is all. It’s sad to see a man fall so low.”

In love denial the pressure is on the person in denial to open up about their feelings, but in this case Lina and Gourry both put pressure on Luke to give it up with Mileena. They aren’t telling him he has a chance, they aren’t telling him to give her time, they are telling him that she’s using him and that he looks weak chasing after her. And this also ties in both with themes of people who have a shard of Shabranigdu being unable to accept hard truths in their life (for Rezo it was his blindness, for Luke it’s that he won’t ever romantically be with Mileena) and themes in Slayers that we have to accept the cards that life deals no matter how painful.

Back to Mileena, another explanation for why she travels with Luke is because she is using him. Lina and Gourry seem to think this is the case, and off hand I can’t think of anything to firmly confirm or deny it other than the fact that Lina and Gourry’s read on the situation is worth more than mine. I’ll be evaluating this through this re-read through, granted, I am biased in my own explanation that she is either aware that he has a shard of Shabranigdu and feels obligated to ensure he doesn’t go AWOL or scared of who he will hurt in his rage if she leaves based on some things that happen in future novels. And potentially there is a fourth and fifth explanation out there!

Anyway, there are some nice Gourrina moments in this chapter. Luke wants so bad to be to Mileena what Gourry is to Lina but he just comes up short.

[savvyliterate]

I feel that in the rest of the chapter after Gourry’s comments to Luke, that Kanzaka then proceeds to demonstrate why Gourry isn’t in the same position as Luke, even though Luke perceives that he is.

- I think it’s very telling that Gourry describes things as an active choice for him, and despite telling Luke he doesn’t prefer to think for himself, he actually does and he’s not afraid to speak his thoughts. For Luke, going along with Mileena is a passive decision based on his … lust? Crush? I suppose it’s love? For Gourry, going along with Lina is an active decision based on his trust in her, and from what we’ve seen, his resulting feelings is based off that same trust.

- Lina points out that Mileena would be mad that Luke didn’t even ask why she turned the job down, and Luke is terrified of this. If the same thing happened with Lina and Gourry, he wouldn’t be scared of her.

- Gourry spends the rest of the chapter after the meeting with Luke questioning Lina’s actions: Is it wise to sneak back in the castle? Why don’t we knock out the guards instead of sneaking from room to room? Aren’t we going the wrong direction? All of these are things I don’t think Luke would do with Mileena. He wouldn’t challenge her decisions, he’d just do them. Gourry does challenge Lina’s decisions, even if he is going along with them, and we see Lina change her mind based on his opinion, which shows she does take his thoughts seriously.

I did laugh though at the Rui illustration of the two of them, COVID-ready, sneaking into the lord’s room. Dressed in all black except for the shining manes of auburn and blond hair that could easily be spotted in the dark? ILU, Rui.

[pip25]

I think Luke’s behavior can be attributed to simply wanting to look good in front of Mileena. He doesn’t question her decisions and tries to avoid making her mad (except for the one thing that might actually matter, namely his constant ravings about his love even in front of her) because he thinks that’s the best way to get closer to her. In that respect, too, he might very well be wrong, of course, but that just makes the whole dynamic even more hilarious, at least to me. :)

[alexeiadrae]

Thoughts on J-Novel Translation of Conspiracy in Solaria, Ch 1

-So, if I recall correctly, this was the novel that had 3 different fan translations, like one person started it, another picked it up at a certain point and then a third person redid the beginning translation. The result was it was rather disjointed. So it is very exciting to get this translation especially since so far…it is Gourrina galore!

-Also, I was surprised J-Novel got this up so quickly! I was expecting to wait a month at least!

-And for some background, I’d literally just finished reading J-Novel’s print release of the first novel when I learned that the first chapter of novel 10 had dropped, so it was interesting seeing how Lina and Gourry had matured as characters as well as how their relationship has grown.

Keep reading

[pip25]

I think the colored pages were (at the very least)  missing from the fan translation. We did the second half of it, but I don’t recall if it was released along with QP/Diana’s translation of the first half or not, and in the latter case the color pages probably never made it in because they are usually at the front of the book.

[alexeiadrae]

Thoughts on J-Novel Translation of The Cursed Sword of Bezeld, Ch 4

-As someone who has been too nice to creepy men, there’s something so fun about Mileena. Really, she needs to give lessons in this. Luke pulls the whole “I’ve changed for you baby!” thing and Mileena smacks it right down. You go girl! You keep those boundaries!

And then to summarize, Lina to Luke and Mileena: Stop the lover’s bickering.

Mileena: I assure you there’s no love involved here.

Lina then thinks that Luke doesn’t have a prayer. I am loving this so much. It’s therapeutic.

-Hm, wonder if there is any meaning in the fact that one of the few times Lina casts the Dragon Slave in the novels is in the novel where she first meets Luke.

-Mileena definitely functions as Luke’s keeper. When he’s panicky, she maintains an air of calm and finds something reassuring to say. As someone who studies communication, I am impressed that Mileena finds a kernel of truth (that the hyperdemon did experience damage) rather than an empty “we’ll take it down somehow” type thing to calm Luke. And then when Luke throws a dangerous spell that could kill Lina in the crossfire, Mileena throws a counterspell that protects her. I guess Mileena knows that Luke gets reckless and knows what spells to use to compensate? Whether or not Luke and Mileena set up this system beforehand is interesting to think of. Like one day Luke laments that he can’t cast a Fireball in a cave when they dissect the day’s battle, and Mileena thinks, “well, actually if I cast this spell in response you could…” Or if Mileena is just that on her toes with Luke.

-Mileena takes over when Lina and Gourry are stumped on what to do and comes up with a plan. I can’t recall any other character being so bold and effective here. Lina is usually the unapologetic leader and the one everyone looks to so it’s a big thing that Mileena steps up like that. I like Mileena’s strategy. If the big stuff doesn’t work, aim smaller and just focus on slowing it down. She’s definitely becoming one of my top 3 favorite characters.

-Huh. Sherra gives her place of birth as the Kataart Mountains.

-As for when Gourry realized about Sherra, it’s worth noting that Luke and Mileena cry out in shock when Sherra reveals her true nature but Gourry doesn’t join in.

-It is worth noting that Luke does not understand what Sherra means by being the General of the Dynast and Lina has to explain. This is interesting for many reasons, one being that Gourry did not ask the question.

-It’s worth noting that I don’t ever remember Sherra actually explaining the origin of her name in the later novels, so…

-OK, so Gourry panicking about Lina fighting the hyperdemon and chasing after her at the end is likely the closest thing we’re going to get to Gourry chasing after her at the end of NEXT in the novels. Loved it.

I’ve also got to say, from Gourry winking at Lina at the beginning of the novel to how concerned he is for her safety at the end, to floating the idea of traveling with each other because they enjoy it, he seems to be doing everything he can to let her know that he cares about her and plans to stick with her, without actually stating it.

-I was wondering if it was the fan translation, but Mileena is described as smiling somewhat often in the J-Novel version. She smiles again when she says goodbye to Lina and Gourry. This is interesting because I rarely recall her smiling in the later novels and I’d wondered if it was the translation. Perhaps Mileena was trying to communicate that despite Luke’s animosity she is friendly towards them?

-This is one of those novels where I really wanted a longer epilogue. I’d like to see Lina ask Luke if he’d meant to kill her with the Fireball in the cave. Or get into Gourry’s brain a bit to see when he figured out about Sherra. When Dulgoffa came up, for sure, I think he figured it out. But there’s also no indication that he found out earlier. So either Sherra’s Mazoku stench is not as strong or Gourry picked up on other things with Xellos. Also, a bit more resolution between Lina and Gourry. While she still seems exasperated with him she isn’t verbalizing it as much and things seem to have settled down a bit.

[pip25]

About Luke not having heard of mazoku generals: I don’t think the hierarchy below the five main subordinates (Dynast and co.) is widely know, even among sorcerers, or perhaps even among the dragons, except when the dragons actually fought that particular demon in the war a 1000 years ago.

After all, not one of them uses an alias, ever, even though that could get them easily discovered by anyone who’s aware of the priests’ and generals’ names. (That’s exactly what happens to Norst in novel 17.)

[alexeiadrae]

Thoughts on J-Novel Translation of King of the City of Ghosts, Ch 2

-Sylphiel’s passive aggressive insults at Lina dig a bit more, and Lina seems to be more certain they are deliberate in J-Novel. Sylphiel really strikes me as queen of the southern insult. Ex: “Well, did you hear about how the Johnsons had a baby only seven months after they got married who miraculously is not in the NICU, bless their hearts!”

-Sylphiel also doesn’t undermine her ability to rescue Gourry herself in J-Novel. She just states, “I wish to rescue Sir Gourry myself.” In TP she adds if it is possible and seems more wishy-washy. In J-Novel she later admits that it will likely be fruitless but that it will be calamitous if Lina gets there first, tipping the cards that she’s figured out that Phibby wants Lina to cast an out of control Giga Slave. Unlike in TP, Lina doesn’t avoid her gaze but meets it and sees that they share an understanding of what will happen. So Sylphiel, like the rest of them, is pretty much committed to a death’s errand.

Sylphiel is basically more catty in the novels than in the anime. And unlike in the anime where a comradery develops between them, Sylphiel really makes sure it does not happen in J-Novel. And while Sylphiel likely does have fantasies about pulling off the rescue, Sylphiel also has very good and valid reasons for going onto Sairaag alone and attempting a rescue on her own, and we can’t lose sight of it, even if Sylphiel really does not have a chance of defeating Phibby. 

-Milgasea’s reasons for not killing Lina are clarified more in J-Novel. He doesn’t want to become like Gaav and his allies. In J-Novel he also voices some support for Lina and states that he will “bet everything” on Lina. It’s hard to say if he believed Lina actually had a chance or was trying to build her confidence.

-In TP after Amelia and Zel go on ahead without Lina, Lina makes statements about enjoying the sun on her back and that being alone isn’t half bad that aren’t in J-Novel, and if anything her being alone feels ominous in J-Novel. Considering how vulnerable Lina is alone and how much it meant to her that her friends would stand beside her, I can only imagine that she would feel a fair amount of anxiety given her situation. Now, yes, she knew Rashatt would not harm her, but in a situation that is literally life or death how much are you wanting to bet on something like that? I have a hard time seeing Lina as laid back and enjoying the solitude in such a situation.

-More so in J-Novel than in TP you see the personality difference between Gaav and his minions from Xellos and Phibby. Rashatt can’t pull off deception well. Lina saw right through him. Joining forces with Phibby didn’t alter Rashatt’s abilities. It does make you wonder why Rashatt became Phibby’s minion. Lina makes the point that underlings seem to have complete obedience to their superiors and the only reason Gaav was the exception was because of the human element within him. So did those feelings of loyalty evaporate after Gaav was destroyed? Did Rashatt not like Gaav’s plan but have to follow it anyway and decide to serve Phibby out of gratitude for being freed? Or is this one of those situations where Rashatt has to serve Phibby since Phibby overpowered and destroyed Gaav? Winner takes it all, including the loyalty of the minions type thing. Which leads to questions about how happy Rashatt is to serve Phibby.

[pip25]

My take on why Rashart joined Fibrizo? I’d say “being spared of utter destruction” is a pretty strong motivator, even for a demon. :)

[starblazerm31]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Slayers (Anime & Manga) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Characters: Lina Inverse, Xellos (Slayers) Additional Tags: Christmas Special, Slayers Secret Santa 2020 Summary:

Lina Inverse and Xelloss have to stand in for the fae of Good Will and Punishment in this Xmas special! 1570 words

My gift for @pip25 for Slayers Secret Santa 2020 put on by @slayersweek! I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

[pip25]

Why didn’t Tumblr notify me of the mention, aaaargh! Sorry for taking so long to notice this, and thank you very much for the fic! :D

[pip25]

Slayers Secret Santa 2020 fanfic: Sisters

Hi, @sugar-stories! I was your @slayersweek secret santa this year, sorry for the lateness. I hope you’ll enjoy this little fic - community service did not quite make it, but I’ve tried to incorporate the other prompts to the best of my ability.

Sisters

“Gracia, wait!”

The tall girl in her mid-teens turned back, her long raven hair and priestess garb swaying around her.

The clothing and features of the child trying to catch up to her on the narrow forest path were undeniably similar to hers, but with her round blue eyes and startled expression she still had an air of innocence about her, suggesting an age barely over ten years at most.

“You’re so slow, Amelia!” the older girl spoke impatiently.

“But we shouldn’t stray this far from the camp!” The answer came in a pleading tone. “When they find out, everyone will be really angry!”

“Hahaha! They won’t find out if we’re quick enough – so hurry up! Breeze Town should be really close now.”

Despite her eagerness to rush ahead, Gracia did slow her pace down slightly. Amelia tried her best to catch up, but still looked quite a bit worried.

“Why are we going to Breeze Town?” she asked once she was close enough to tug at the other girl’s robes.

“Hihihi! Because, dear sister, while you were wasting time reading fairy tales in the Eternal Queen’s castle, I found out a huge secret!” Gracia replied, looking very proud of herself. “The Knight of Ceiphied, the strongest person in Zephilia, works at an inn there!”

That certainly piqued the younger girl’s interest a little. “A knight? Do you want to ask him to teach us how to fight evil?”

Her older sister sent a look of disgust her way. “What? No, of course not. I want to beat him up.”

“Eeeeh?! Why??” Amelia’s eyes grew larger than dinner plates. “Is he a villain…? I thought knights were allies of justice…”

Gracia turned her head away. “Who cares what he is. If I can defeat him, Father will have to accept that I’m strong enough to set out on my own.”

The little girl tugged at her sister’s robe once more with a pout. “Are you trying to run away again? In those weird clothes?”

No answer came. Gracia still refused to look her in the eye.

“They’ll drag you back again, you know. And Father will be really sad.”

The older girl raised her head high in defiance… then let out a yelp as she tripped over a thick wooden branch lying across the path. Unfortunately for her, they were going downhill on a moderately steep slope at this point, so not only did her face get closely acquainted with the muddy earth, but her momentum made her roll a good ten yards down the path, until she stopped at a spot where the autumn forest gave way to a large, lush meadow.

Once she caught up again, Amelia crouched down and touched her sister’s arm, lying in the dirt in an odd angle. Her expression was now more resigned than worried, like she was seeing such a scene for the umpteenth time.

“RECOVERY.” The healing spell flooded their surroundings with white light. “…Let’s just go back to the camp now, okay?”

“Huhu… ha… ha… Y-You think this was enough to hurt me? Haha, this… this is nothing,” Gracia muttered, wincing as she got off the ground.

“…Why are you doing that?” Amelia asked innocently.

“Hihihi, doing what?”

“That! That strange laugh! It sounds like… like someone is tickling you.”

Gracia seemed greatly offended by her remark. “No one is tickling me! It’s just… Mom always said that a confident laugh can strike fear into the hearts of your enemies, so…” She trailed off, then added in barely a whisper, “I’m still practicing, okay?”

Looking too embarrassed to continue, she instead took a few careful steps forward, let her gaze sweep through the scenery – and her face immediately lit up.

“There it is! The town!” She pointed towards the opposite edge of the meadow and broke into a run, injuries all but forgotten.

A road cut into the middle of the grassland, much wider and visibly more well-travelled than the path they had followed until now. One end disappeared among the forest trees, but the other indeed led to a couple of wooden cottages, with more buildings coming into view in the distance. In front of them, the words “Breeze Town” were carved into a short limestone obelisk.

“This looks like a pretty big place,” Amelia commented as they made their way into the settlement. “How will you find that knight person?”

Her sister grinned. “Haha! Everyone in Zephilia knows about the Knight of Ceiphied! We’ll just ask someone for directions… like that weird-looking commoner over there.”

About fifty yards ahead stood a larger two-storey building with a sign depicting a heavily stylized bovine udder. A young girl with chestnut brown hair paced back and forth in front of it restlessly; she was the same age as, or perhaps slightly older than Amelia, but it was very hard to tell for sure considering she was dressed in a cow costume from the neck down, complete with black hooves and a huge, pink-colored cotton udder hanging from her stomach.

Once she noticed the two sisters’ approach, the girl gave an exasperated sigh, and to their astonishment began a small sing-and-dance routine, making several pirouettes in front of the wooden structure, her udder flailing wildly about in the air.

I’m Cindy the cow, yes, that’s my name, They serve my milk here to great acclaim, You looking for wine? Hey, that’s no shame, Maggie’s Inn welcomes you all the same!

After going through the lyrics twice in a rather lifeless voice, the girl graciously whirled around on one leg – and started banging her head against the inn’s wall.

“I.. can’t… take… it… anymore!” she screeched.

The sisters simply stood there, rooted to the spot.

“Um…” Gracia began, but before she could say anything else, the cotton udder once again took a 180-degree turn in the air, its owner glaring daggers at her.

“Don’t. Ask,” she hissed threateningly.

“…Why are you dressed like that?”

“Aaargh! I told you not to ask!” The puffy forelegs of the costume tore into her shoulder-length hair. “It’s my punishment, alright?! Luna works as a waitress here and I thought people wouldn’t mind if her adorable little sis would snatch a cookie or two for free… But they’re a  bunch of penny-pinching pricks, and now I have to work in this… ridiculous getup to pay for them! Does that placate your curiosity, dear customer?!”

Amelia blinked in confusion. “But… why tell us if you don’t want people to know?”

“Because it’s part of my punishment, you numskull!” the girl roared, then reached into a small pocket on her costume and took out a piece of paper, irritably scanning its contents. “Now what else do I need to tell you? Ah, right: chocolate milkshakes are now fifty percent off, though it’s still daylight robbery if you ask me, there’s a special ‘buy one get one free’ offer on cookies, but don’t bother, I tried them and they’re horrible… oh, and the guards want people to stick to the forest when heading out of town, because the man-eating plasma dragon was spotted not far from here recently.”

“M-M-Man-eating plasma dragon??” Amelia blanched.

Her sister on the other hand merely gave a curious nod. “Hmm, now that you mention it, I remember Father and the Eternal Queen talking about something like that. The beast is hiding in the mountains near the capital and comes down here from time to time to eat people.”

“Eeeeeh?! We left our escort and came all the way here when you knew that evil dragon was around?!”

“Now don’t be scared,” Gracia lightly patted Amelia’s head, though she did not seem to appreciate the gesture. “If the beast turns up on our way back, it’ll serve as a nice cool-down exercise after my triumph over the Knight of Ceiphied. Muhuhuhu!”

The brown-haired girl in the cow costume, until now busy poking her ear in a display of utter boredom, suddenly perked up. “Wait, what? You want to beat up the Knight of Ceiphied…?”

“Yes, hahaha, that is exactly why we’re here,” the older girl nodded again with confidence.

“Uh-huh… Gotta ask: are you planning to do that before or after hell freezes over?”

Her good mood evaporating, Gracia folded her arms. “Hmph! I do not need to hear such insults from a common cookie thief who presently serves her well-deserved punishment. Good day!”

She was about to turn away, when the inn’s door opened a crack and a young waitress peeked out, gazing curiously at the sisters. She was around halfway between Gracia and Amelia in age, though her mannerisms and outfit made her look slightly more mature. Her dark bangs were long, both in the back and in front, to the extent that they nearly covered her eyes.

“Are these people leaving?” she asked with some disappointment, before turning her head to the side. “Hey ‘Cindy’, are you doing your job properly? You should be getting us customers, but it’s already half past ten and the inn’s almost empty.”

“C-Cut it out! I’m not Cindy!!” the girl in the cow costume wailed. She pointed at the pair in front of her in desperation. “How about you bully them for a change?  Hey, you two loons, she’s the one you were looking for, the ever-so-famous Knight of Ceiphied!”

Gracia and Amelia gawked at the waitress.

“She’s… Whaaat??” That was all the former managed to say.

“Are you… are you really the famous knight?” the younger girl asked with wonder.

The answer came in a wary voice. “…First of all, I’m Luna. Second, I don’t actually have an official title, but yes, people around here call me the Knight of Ceiphied. What business do you have with—?”

“The outrage!” Gracia cried out before she could finish, extending both hands in a theatrical gesture towards the girl in the cow costume. “How could a person as powerful as you put a lovely, innocent child like her through such undeserved hardship?!”

Amelia took a step back, perplexed. “Uh, but you just said—”

“Unforgivable!” Her protests were likewise ignored. “The heavens cry out for retribution, and I will see to it that justice is served! Now, heehihihee, prepare yourself, Knight of Ceiphied!” Gracia waved a hand in front of her. “FREEZE ARROW!”

An icicle the size of her outstretched arm appeared in the air and sped towards Luna.

“She’s totally nuts!” The chestnut-haired girl dove out of the way in a frenzy.

The waitress, on the other hand, did not try to evade – in fact, she looked almost relieved.

“Oh, so you’re one of those people.” She lazily held out her hand, and the moment it made contact, the icy projectile burst to pieces. “I was worried you’d try to recruit me for some world-saving quest or something.”

Amelia’s frantic gaze jumped from Luna to her sister and back. “Wait-wait-wait! You say she’s a villain, but… almost blowing up the inn out of the blue is also something a villain would do, you know…! What’s going on??”

“She’s got a point,” the waitress said, suddenly standing next to Gracia, with a hand on the other’s shoulder. “Let’s take this fight somewhere else.”

The tall girl huffed. “You think you can tell me what to do? I’m… uh…”

She looked around, disoriented. The two of them were no longer within Breeze Town, but stood alone amidst the vast meadow she had crossed earlier.

“Here’s how this is gonna be,” Luna stated matter-of-factly. “I’ll spare a minute to pummel you into the dirt, and in return you’re going to buy yourself a full-course meal at Maggie’s. Got it?”

Gracia tried to give the angry huff another go. “Like I said, you think you can tell me… what to… No way…”

The waitress now held a sack full of coins in her hand, and amused herself by repeatedly tossing it into the air. “I’ll hold onto this for you until then. Come on, give it your best shot!”

The older girl sent a scowl her way, then leapt back. “I’ll make you eat those words! DEMONA CRYSTAL!”

Dense, chilling fog hit the ground in front of her, creating a thick sheet of ice upon contact. The freezing cold spread out in a fan shape and quickly reached the spot where Luna stood – except she was no longer there.

“Aaaand you missed,” the waitress’ voice sounded from behind her.

Gracia turned around just enough to see Luna giving her a light push with her free hand – a light push which sent her a good twenty yards through the air, screaming all the way. Even after the unnerving sound of impact, the momentum made her roll another ten yards in the grass until she came to a stop.

“Don’t be too hard on yourself; this is how it always ends,” Luna commented as she walked closer. “One tap, one KO – end of story.”

The tall grass ahead of her stirred.

“I’m… not… done yet.” With great effort, Gracia managed to stand up. She was covered in bruises and her priestess outfit had gotten torn in a few places, but her injuries still looked unexpectedly minor considering her previous trip through the air.

For the first time, genuine surprise spread across the waitress’ features. “Wow… You’re a tough one, I’ll give you that.”

Her opponent managed a shaky grin. “Mwuhaha! I told you I’ll make you eat your words! And now…” She put a hand on the ground. “VU VRAIMER!”

The earth began to shake, then split apart and a twelve-foot-tall, roughly humanoid mass of soil and grass climbed out of the fissure.

“Golem! Attack!” Gracia commanded.

“Baa!” the magical construct responded in a deep voice, swung its mighty fist… and nearly flattened its creator.

“Wait! Not me! Not me!” said girl screamed, running as fast as she could towards Luna with the golem in dogged pursuit.

The waitress simply stood there, looking unsure what to do about the situation; thus she was caught entirely off guard when, the moment she passed by, her opponent held out a hand to her face.

“LIGHTING!” With its duration set to zero, the spell immediately extinguished itself in a brief, blinding flash. In the same instant, Gracia changed directions and cocked her fist. “I have you now! Pacifist Crush!”

Her blow was caught within the Knight of Ceiphied’s open palm.

“Do you know how many times my sister tried that tactic against me?” Luna flung her flailing opponent out of the way, then readied a strike of her own against the incoming golem. “Why do you think I let my bangs fall into my face?”

A second later, the animated mass of earth burst apart, pieces of soil raining down on the meadow everywhere.

Having flown only a couple of steps this time, Gracia quickly scrambled to her feet. With a stubborn smirk, she raised both hands into the air. “Is that so? Then it’s time for my most powerful spell! Prepare yourself!”

A sphere of blue light began to gather between her palms.

“Alright, bring it!” Luna answered with a smug smile of her own. “I’ll admit I’m starting to enjoy… this…”

Her words died away as her gaze rose upwards, drawn to the massive shadow that fell upon the two of them.

Thump.

“Mwahahaha! You’re scared now, aren’t you?” Gracia laughed, seemingly unaware of how the ground once again shook below her feet, much more violently this time – and not because of the spell she was trying to cast, either.

The waitress did in fact seem shaken, but for entirely different reasons. “No, forget about the fight! Look behind you and run!” she shouted.

“What a transparent ruse! I know you are only trying to distract me to— Kyaaa!!” Gracia let out a scream as what seemed to be a bolt of lightning sped by above her head, scattering her spell effortlessly. It hit the ground halfway between her and her opponent, resulting in a crater wide enough to easily swallow a cart.

A feral snarl came from behind her back. With shaky legs, the tall girl slowly turned around.

Towering over her was a dragon with scales of silver, claws of steel and eyes of liquid gold. Its head alone was twice her own size; electricity crackled within its mouth, ready to unleash another bolt of magical destruction.

Her entire body paralyzed by fear, Gracia could only watch helplessly as the beast’s claws swiped through the air in her direction.

The boulder-sized talon came to a halt less than a yard from her, held in place with a single hand by Luna, who appeared between them in the blink of an eye.

“Sorry pal, in our town there is no such thing as a free lunch,” the waitress sneered.

She then swatted the claws away like they were leaves in the wind, jumped forward and drove her first into the dragon’s stomach.

The beast roared, though more in anger than pain, it seemed: the punch shoved it back a good distance on the ground, but its shiny scales looked none worse for wear at the point of impact.

Seeing the ineffectiveness of her attack, Luna appeared annoyed herself – but her ire soon turned into bewilderment as the dragon’s growling voice began to form coherent words.

“You strong, human! But me still eat you soon!”

Gracia, who stood in the exact same position as before, seemingly petrified, finally forced out a gasp. “It… haha… it can talk…”

“Me talk!” the dragon replied in a lower, but still rumbling voice laced with pride. “Me siblings all dumb, but me strong and smart! Siblings stay on mountain, but me come down and find many tasty human! Me the best!”

“Oh, shut up,” Luna spat while jumping high into the air.

For a moment she was seemingly floating way above the huge beast, then she came down with a mighty punch to its skull, one she could put all her momentum behind.

As she touched down on the ground, the dragon’s head reeled to the side – but then righted itself once more, still no injury to be seen.

“You no hurt me!” With that cry, it sent another volley of lightning at the waitress.

Still unable to move, Gracia watched the magic beam tear into the grassy landscape – and the next thing she knew, she was at the edge of the meadow near the town entrance, with Luna standing next to her.

“Damn lizard’s right, I can’t bring it down like this. I need something I can use as a focus for my powers,” the waitress explained in a hurried tone. “Do you have a dagger, a sword or anything similar?”

“No,” Gracia responded immediately, looking inexplicably upset, as if the Knight of Ceiphied had just insulted her parents.

“Figures.” Luna glanced back at the dragon; the beast was already closing in on them, trampling through the tall grass, each step like the beating of a gigantic drum. “Okay, here’s the plan: run towards the town, keep that dumbass occupied for just a minute – I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

If the tall girl wanted to protest, she never got the chance: the waitress was gone from her sight in the next instant. She looked down at her trembling legs, as if hoping she could glare them into submission and get them to move.

Then her heart skipped a beat. From the corner of her eye, she noticed a crucial detail both her and the Knight of Ceiphied have missed until then.

Their fight had an audience.

“The evil monster is going to destroy the town! We must help!” Amelia jumped forth from behind the limestone obelisk, trying to strike a heroic pose while visibly fighting her own battle against fear.

“And help how?!” The girl in the cow costume appeared next to her, tearing at her chestnut hair. “Do you know a spell big enough? Because for me only one comes to mind, and I don’t think I can pull that off right now! Where the heck did Luna run off to??” She looked around, but the waitress was still nowhere to be seen. “Ugh… Fine, but don’t blame me if everything goes sideways! VAL FLARE!”

“No, w-wait…!” Gracia’s words of warning were drowned out by the roar of flames as a crimson projectile smashed against the fore legs of the approaching dragon.

Despite the huge explosion that followed, the spell did not even slow the beast down – but it was enough to make it change directions.

“Ha, human me tickle,” the plasma dragon growled with amusement as it trotted by the still-stupefied Gracia and stared the young spellcaster down. “Tickle give me appetite…”

In the same moment, Luna nearly tore the inn door off its hinges.

“The guards! Have any of you seen where they are??” she questioned the patrons within; the place was a lot more crowded now, many having fled inside when they saw the approaching beast. Most only stared at the waitress confused, while a few people shook their heads. “Great…Then do you have a sword, a dagger, or… anything with a pointy end? Come on!”

A wave of murmurs ran through the crowd.

“Maybe… you could ask the boss lady?” one of them pointed towards the counter; the innkeeper herself was currently missing from the room.

Luna sighed irritably. “No, Maggie doesn’t keep any weapons here. The place’s full of that fancy kitchenware collection of hers…” Her eyes bulged. “That’s it!!”

“Stay back, you vile monster!” Amelia’s mid-air kick collided with the wall of silver scales, but she bounced right off like she was trying to beat up a mountain. “Oooow!”

“Come any closer, and I’m lobbing a Fireball down your throat!” Drops of sweat rolled down the face of the girl in the cow costume, as the dragon slowly lowered its head towards her.

“Yes, human use more flashy light,” the rumbling voice almost purred like a cat. “Me like tickle when me eat… so… um…”

The beast pulled its head back slightly, suddenly looking uncertain.

“…What?” she blurted out.

A weird, disgusted frown appeared on the draconic visage. “No-no, me wrong. Tickle or no tickle, me no eat you. Look thin, short… nasty. Me get heartburn.”

“…Huh?! Why you little…!”

“Other human look more tasty.” A ball of fire crashed into the beast’s face, but it did not even notice as it turned its attention to Amelia, who lay in the grass clutching her sprained leg. It opened its gaping mouth, sparks of electricity dancing within. “Me have lunch now—”

“AQUA CREATE!”

“Graoaaaargh!!” A tormented roar could be heard as a heavy stream of water poured into the plasma dragon’s mouth and reacted with the energies of its primed breath weapon inside, sending waves of lightning through its entire body.

“Atrocious! Not only do you ignore me, but dare raise a hand against my sister?! I hope you’re prepared for what comes next!” Gracia yelled while sprinting closer. Her voice, now without an ounce of fear, was instead rife with anger.

The beast whirled around; stray arcs of electricity still occasionally ran through its eyes and nostrils, making its face twitch.

“You! Awful human!” it boomed. “You make me pretty tongue all hurt and numb! Me eat you first!”

Gracia merely put her hands on her hips. “Really, is that the best threat you can muster? If you wish to scare me, you still have some ways to go! Ha… Hahaha… Hahahaha…!”

The dragon looked outraged. “What…? No, me no joke! Me no funny! Me really eat you!”

“…Hehehehe… Hihihihihahaha…!”

“H-Hey…! Hey! Why you laugh?! Me scary! Me strong, scary dragon…! No laugh, human! You hurt me feeling!”

But Gracia kept on laughing and laughing, barely taking a second to breathe, as if her life depended on it – and perhaps it did.

“Hahahaha… Huhuhuhuhu….! Hahahahahohoho!”

She did not let up, and with every passing second, her voice became louder, sharper and stronger.

“Hohoho…!  OhOHohoHohO! OOOOHOHOHOHOHOHO!!”

That was the moment when the dragon started to back away.

“S-Stop! Me have good ear! Guh… You crazy! Me no eat crazy! Stooooop!!” It opened its mouth again to release another bolt of lightning, but only produced a shower of harmless sparks.

With no other option left, the beast turned around again in panic, trying to flee in the direction of the town – and immediately came face to face with the Knight of Ceiphied. She held something in her right hand: the largest kitchen knife she could find in the innkeeper’s collection.

“Hi.” Luna smiled. “Missed me?”

As she lunged forward, the blade of her weapon began to shine with brilliant white light; the knife pierced the silver scales like butter, all the way up to the handle.

“Me... no smart… after all…” the dragon groaned – and the surge of holy power burned it to ashes from the inside.

All could now breathe a sigh of relief… Well, if it were not for the insufferable laugh that still pierced the air.

“Oohohohoho! OOOOHOHOHOHOHO!”

Gracia stood there with her head held high, a reversed palm put in front of her mouth, oblivious to the world around her.

Wincing, Luna put her knife away and tried stopping her ears, but it seemed to make no difference whatsoever. “Ugh… What in the gods’ name is that horrible sound?”

“Someone… I’ll promise to be a good girl from now on… just make it stop!” the brown-haired girl writhed in agony on the ground next to her.

“No choice then, I’ll… have to knock her out,” the waitress spoke through gritted teeth. She took one shaky step forward, then immediately fell to her knees. “Crap! It’s somehow… making all my limbs go numb—!”

“SLEEPING!”

Finally, silence descended on the meadow. Gracia’s form slumped and she fell over – right into her sister’s arms.

“Please don’t be too angry when you wake up… You were so cool just now,” Amelia whispered in a tender voice while holding her in the princess carry pose, not looking the least bit overwhelmed. She then turned sheepishly towards the others. “Um, I’m sorry for… well, everything. But at least the evil dragon has been defeated, and we got to see that you really are no villain, Luna-san!”

The waitress gave her a weird look. “Uh… thanks?”

Amelia lowered her head in a polite bow. “It’s late, so we really need to go back now. But I hope the four of us can meet up later on and fight for justice together!” With an odd, exaggerated pirouette likely meant to look heroic, she whirled around, almost fell on her face, but righted herself at the last moment. “Take care until then, brave knight and… um, Cindy!”

The petite girl headed for the forest path with quick steps, Gracia still resting in her arms.

Only when she disappeared behind the trees did Luna speak up once more, as if she suddenly realized something. “Hey Lina, who were these people again? Did you catch their names? I actually never gave them their purse back.”

“Nope.” Her sister shrugged. “But I say if we never see them again, it’ll be too soon.” She put a finger to her chin, and added in a mischievous voice, “Still, what a lucky break for you, huh?”

Luna’s brows furrowed slightly. “Come again?”

“I mean, if that lunatic could still fight, she would have mopped the floor with you. Heheh, imagine everyone talking about how the great Knight of Ceiphied got her butt kicked by some crazy girl who laughed her into oblivion—” While looking like she was just getting started, Lina immediately shrunk back as she noticed her sister’s unamused stare. “Err… uh… I’ll be g-going back to dancing now, okay?”

She then quickly ran off towards the inn, her cotton udders swaying left and right.

To Gracia’s disappointment, that day did not go down in history as the moment when the Knight of Ceiphied suffered an ignominious defeat, but as the day when said knight slew a plasma dragon with nothing but a kitchen knife, making her fame soar to even greater heights.

Still, Gracia was sure, more than ever before, that things would not stay the way they were. She had grown and changed. They could not keep her at home for much longer: she would soon set out on a journey to see the world, practice magic and make a name for herself. Not by her ancestry, but by her own power.

Her own legend, that of Naga the Serpent, was only beginning…

[pip25]

Refuge - A Lina/Xelloss fanfic

Hi there! This is a small companion fic written for the the April prompt of @slayersweek, a prequel of sorts to my main fanfiction story, “Slayers - Order in Chaos”. Knowledge of that fic is (hopefully) not necessary to understand most of what’s going on. Hope you’ll enjoy! :)

It was definitely not the average summer downpour.

The wind howled like an army of restless ghosts, while innumerable flashes of lightning turned dusk into noon for several seconds at a time. Not much could be seen, however; obscuring all sight beyond a couple of steps, the rain poured with a ferocious intensity that would give even seasoned adventurers pause.

Watching the storm vent its rage over the jagged mountainside, Lina Inverse found herself to be no exception, despite having over a hundred years of experience under her belt.

They had to consider themselves extremely lucky, having managed to find shelter moments before the rainfall went entirely out of control. The rock alcove the two of them had stumbled upon had its entrance opposite the wind’s direction and it seemed like no water could get inside from above either.

On the other hand, their hiding place was, to put it mildly, incredibly small. A far cry from anything that could be considered a cave, the alcove was barely high enough for the average person to stand, and had just enough surface area to fit a single bed. It was enclosed by cold, uneven rock on three sides, and a low stone wall on the fourth; beyond that, there was nothing but rain and wind.

“Well, I think we will be safe here for a while,” the sorceress said, turning away from the storm to look at her companion. “I doubt we’ll be going anywhere before tomorrow morning though, so… we might as well set up camp.”

She loosened a clasp below her neck, reached over her shoulder with one hand and took off her cloak.

“Here, hold onto this for a sec.” Despite her dangling the piece of clothing in front of him, the dark-haired man remained motionless, his face turned in the direction of the rain as he leant against the stone wall. “Um, hello…! Urgent message from the Material Plane to Xelloss! Please respond…!”

“Oh, my apologies,” the priest dismissed his staff from existence and grabbed the cloak with both hands around its shoulder line. “I was looking for any alternative accommodations nearby, but regrettably came up empty-handed.” He cocked his head to the side. “There does not seem to be much we can set up here, I’m afraid.”

“That’s what you think,” Lina smiled mysteriously. “Watch me turn this tiny jail cell into a high-class inn in no time.”

Now that she could use two hands, the sorceress removed her gloves and shoulder guards as well, then started rummaging through the countless magical pockets of her cloak with dizzying speed. She first retrieved a bedroll and laid it down; it fit the available room on the stone floor almost perfectly, leaving only a tiny bit of space at Xelloss’ feet. Next came a thick blanket, then a notebook, a wooden case about the size of a deck of cards, two large sacks of nuts and jerky, and finally a waterskin, still half-full.  

Putting the case, the snacks and the waterskin next to the pillow section of the bedroll, Lina hopped down on the opposite end, threw her boots into the corner next to the priest, then crawled under the blanket.

“There! A cozy little alcove, in more ways than one.” Her head reappeared on the other side, soon to be joined by her right hand which flung a piece of jerky into her mouth. “Sure, the floor isn’t exactly soft, but from what I’ve heard that’s good for your back. Really, if it wasn’t for the fact that it’s out here in the middle of nowhere, I’d be shocked that people aren’t charging money for this.”

“It may indeed look comfortable, but I would not call it especially warm, even now in late summer,” Xelloss mused. “The weather being as it is, you might run into trouble by the early morning hours, even with that blanket on.”

Hardly appreciative of his warning, the sorceress folded her arms and stuck her tongue out at him. “Fine, be that way, you doomsayer. Remind me to gloat about how wrong you were in the morning.”

With that, she immersed herself in her late dinner. The food looked plenty, more than sufficient for four or five ordinary travelers; but Lina Inverse was quite far from ordinary, and for her it was just enough to get by until tomorrow. Unwilling to let that dampen her mood or to give her companion any more openings, she resolved herself to do something she rarely did: eat slowly, try to savor each bite, so her rations would last longer.

However, being accustomed to a meal requiring her full attention (to keep the plates, silverware and food from flying all over the place), she now found herself easily sidetracked; her gaze kept jumping back to the priest, who still stood there with his back against a wall, unmoving, as if he had become part of the makeshift room’s furniture somehow.

An unsettling thought ran through her head: she once saw him standing in the exact same spot for an entire night at the edge of a cliff, gazing into the distance.

This time there was no cliff edge, and he was not staring into the unknown – but at her.

“Um, Xelloss, don’t you want to sit down or something?” she asked. The prospect of him staying like that until morning – she had to admit, it creeped her out quite a bit. At least if he lowered himself to the floor, the whole thing would become less obvious.

The mazoku looked down at his feet. “I’d be glad to, but with so little room I fear I’d be sitting on you instead of the ground… unless…” He snapped his fingers. “Ah, here’s an idea!”

His body started floating upwards as if submerged in water, and a few seconds later he was waving cheerfully at the sorceress from above – sitting cross-legged upside-down on the rugged ceiling.

“What do you think? An imaginative solution, don’t you agree?”

Lina’s head plopped down weakly on the cushion. “Oh gods, this is even worse!”

“But why? I am sitting, am I not?” Xelloss looked at her like she had refused to accept that one plus one did in fact equal two.

“That’s not the issue here! It’s… uh…” the sorceress stammered. Explaining the problem to her companion felt like willingly inviting a terrible headache. “Geez, just come down from there already!”

The priest shrugged, lowered himself from the ceiling – and began floating halfway between that and the floor, seemingly lying on his stomach in the air just above her.

“Any better?” he asked, relaxing with both hands behind his head.

The sorceress hid her face in her hand. “Two words: Hell no.”

What seemed like genuine disappointment spread through Xelloss’ features.

“I… see.” he muttered with a pout. “Well, if you feel so strongly about this, I suppose I can simply withdraw to the Astral Plane for the time being…”

With a sigh, his projection blurred, then disappeared.

The sorceress frowned. She was quick to remind herself that he probably said all that just to make her feel guilty about driving him out of their shelter, at least in the physical sense. Being the annoying person he is, Xelloss cared nothing of the fact that she had several good reasons for doing so. Very good reasons.

To her even greater annoyance, however, this knowledge brought no change to the outcome: she did feel somewhat bad about it.

She looked around frantically in the alcove, but the priest was right: there simply was not enough room for him on the floor… with one possible exception. An exception he did not point out, and it was painfully obvious to her why.

In utter disbelief that she would even consider this, Lina rolled her eyes… and patted the bedroll beside her.

“Hey, Xelloss… I… guess you could fit under the blanket…”

She barely had the time to withdraw her hand, and the mazoku was already there, his head sticking out from beneath the thick fabric, his grin bigger than ever.

“My, Lina-san, aren’t you being bold this evening?”

Lina figured the two of them would not have much room next to each other, but it was far worse than she thought: the priest’s right arm was already bumping into her own.

“There’s absolutely nothing ‘bold’ going on here, capiche?” Her words sounded like she wanted to convince herself just as much as her companion. “You’re the one who said it’s going to get cold later on. Well, luckily for me, your projection has plenty of body heat you don’t need, so consider that your price of admission. Now, put your hands where I can see them.”

The priest raised a provocative eyebrow. “What exactly are you suggesting I would do with my—”

“Your hands where I can see them. Right. Now. Or I might really start entertaining some bold thoughts, like dragon-slaving you from under the covers.”

Xelloss obediently slid further up towards the wall behind his head, revealing his hands, arms and shoulder line; while he was still wearing gloves, his cloak and sack seemed to have disappeared.

More than eager to close the book on the previous conversation topic, the sorceress moved towards the edge of the bedroll to get at least a few inches of distance between them, then grabbed the wooden case next to the near-empty sacks of food. After a couple of botched attempts, it yielded its contents.

“…Glasses, Lina-san?” The priest seemed so surprised, his eyes fluttered open for a second.

“Yep, I need these to read my notes.” After levitating a ball of light to just below the low ceiling, she retrieved the booklet and opened it around the middle. Adjusting the tiny rimless frame on her nose, she scanned the seemingly empty page – but turned to the mazoku immediately afterwards. “Go on, say it.”

“Say what exactly?” Xelloss replied, wearing his best ‘I’m going to play dumb and there’s nothing you can do about it’ expression.

The Lighting spell at the ceiling suddenly became very interesting to Lina for some reason. “Well, me cooped up under the blanket, reading a book with these glasses on… makes me look like some old lady, doesn’t it?”

The priest scrutinized her features for several long moments. “Hmm… I don’t think I see much of a difference.”

Her shoulders drooped. “Oh. Too bad.“ She glanced back in Xelloss’ direction. “…What? I am an old lady, you know. It’s great being the irresistible ageless beauty and all, but is it so bad that I sometimes wish I could look the part a bit more?”

He raised both hands in a gesture of denial. “Not at all… though countless women and men less than half your age would want to have your head, Lina-san, if they could hear of this.”

The sorceress let loose a dangerous-sounding snicker. “Let them have it… if they can take it.” She turned a page back in her notebook, which seemed just as empty as the one before. “I don’t think I’ve ever been a pushover, but if this pans out… their odds might just get a tiny bit worse. As in a snowball’s chance in hell.”

His eyebrows soaring upwards with curiosity, Xelloss slid closer to her to take a peek; she was about to pull her notebook away from him when her body froze up, almost as if struck by a surge of electricity. But to her embarrassment, it was no attack magic – merely the priest’s shoulder-length hair brushing the tip of her ears.

“Ah, invisible ink! No wonder you need special glasses to look at the pages,” he marveled.

“And of course, you don’t. Why am I not surprised?” Lina grumbled, but the mazoku’s curiosity was starting to rub off on her. “So…? You’d better be amazed; you’ve been given the honor of being the first person ever to see my ground-breaking, top secret research project.”

Xelloss’ eyes opened ever so slightly, and the previously invisible paragraphs and diagrams started to glow on the pages with a faint bluish light. “This appears to be fundamental magic theory for holy spells…” his eyes opened further, “…cast in the human language.”

The sorceress broke out in a smug grin. “Pretty fancy stuff, isn’t it? Holy magic’s been around for almost a century now, so you’d think someone would’ve done this ages ago, but nope. Some lunatics wanted to learn the golden dragons’ language instead! Theyiiii—”

She desperately bit back a yelp as the priest leaned forward, and the hair on the back of his head tickled its way down along her neck. “…Uh… Long story short… I don’t want to brag, but I think I’ve really outdone myself this time.”

Her companion did not respond immediately; his eyes seemed to be glued to the notebook in thought.

“Is this the most recent version of your theory, Lina-san?” he finally spoke. “Because, if I may be blunt, these numbers appear to be grossly inaccurate.”

“…H-Huh?” She leaned forward as well; their faces were basically touching from the side, but she was too upset to pull away at that point. “What do you mean ‘inaccurate’?! Look here, it makes total sense! I’ve been doing some experiments to boot, and it all works!”

Xelloss’ smile was as warm and understanding as it was insincere. “But of course. And if you intend to restrict yourself to the holy equivalent of that Lighting spell above our heads, this will do just fine. If you wish to go anywhere beyond that, however… I’m afraid it’s not even close.”

After those words, it came as little surprise when Lina’s left arm circled around his neck and pulled him into a headlock, one that could have been much more fierce if it weren’t for the fact that the limited room required her to basically hug the priest to her chest.

“And what do you know about holy magic, huh? Huh?!” she yelled, her flushed cheeks just making her even more angry. “You’re not going to play the ‘age-old mystical being’ card on me this time, Mr. Know-it-All! The power of the gods did not come anywhere near the peninsula when you were prancing around during the last thousand years!”

The priest reached up, his left hand resting casually on her elbow as if her throttling truly was little more than an affectionate embrace.

“You wouldn’t believe how many holy spells I’ve found in Claire Bible manuscripts, Lina-san. I know much more about such magic than what I suppose would be appropriate for a mazoku of my stature,” he added jokingly. “It likely also helps that I speak the language of the golden dragons without difficulty; once you understand how they think, the fundamentals of their spells aren’t that hard to grasp.”

Her arm slowly relaxed around his neck.

“Okay, if you’re that sure of yourself… then prove it,” she said simply. “Tell me what the right numbers are, and maybe I’ll believe you.”

His hand ascended further, and he waggled an index finger in front of her face.

“A respectable attempt to bait me, I admit, but surely you realize that those numbers are a se—” Chomp. “Um… Would you mind not eating my finger?”

Ignoring his plea, the sorceress started chewing instead. “No, dheir nyot a decret!” With a look of displeasure, she finally released both his finger and his neck. “Bleh!… Seriously Xelloss, why don’t we try something new for a change? This is important, valuable info, I get it; but I don’t think Zellas specifically ordered you not to reveal it to anyone. So how about we try to make a deal? There’s no harm in seeing if there’s anything worthwhile I can offer you in exchange.”

Still well within the boundaries of her personal space, the mazoku’s eyes opened once more. “I can’t help but repeat myself: you really are quite bold this evening, Lina-san.”

She tried to move her head further back, but immediately felt her hair touch the unforgiving stone wall behind her. “Uh, let me rephrase that: I’m talking about an exchange of information, okay?”

As if on cue, Xelloss’ expression morphed into the friendliest one imaginable. “Naturally! What else could you have possibly been referring to just now…?” Apparently satisfied by the murderous look she sent his way, he let the topic drop. “In all seriousness though, while I find your proposition intriguing, I don’t see what you could offer me that would be of similar value to the human race discovering an entirely new form of magic… especially if we restrict the exchange to nothing but information.”

With unhurried movements, Lina put her glasses back into their case, and when she looked at the priest again, her lips curled into a smirk that matched his perfectly.

“Come on, don’t disappoint me like that,” she spoke in a low, soft voice. “I’d come up with the right numbers by myself eventually; no need to blow this out of proportion. Meanwhile, here I am, ready to answer any and all questions you could possibly have, and after all we’ve been through, you really can’t think of even one thing you’d like to ask?”

The mazoku propped himself up on an elbow, his other hand touching his chin in contemplation. “Any and all, you say…? That would be tempting… if it weren’t for the severe restrictions I feel I’d nonetheless have to uphold if I wanted to keep our little shelter here in one piece.”

Now it was the sorceress’ turn to lean closer to her companion.

“You don’t have to. If I get wet, it’s my loss,” she whispered, her tone dead serious. “Try me.”

His smile widened, a flash of lightning illuminating his face at the exact same moment, making the sight even less comforting.

“If you so wish. Assuming that I’d agree to this arrangement, my first question would be this: eighty-seven years ago, the five of us were travelling through the Kathoman islands at the southern part of the ocean.” Lina’s eyebrows twitched with discomfort. “One night I was called away on unrelated business, and when I returned in the morning, I found both you and Gourry-san looking like you did not get a minute of sleep, while Amelia-san informed me that the two of you did not get back until dawn. I never found out why; in fact, even years later, the mere mention of the incident sent you into a bout of embarrassed rage.” He put a gloved hand on her trembling fist which dug into the blanket like she was hanging on to it for dear life. “Would you be willing to explain exactly what happened that night?”

Speaking through gritted teeth, it took all of the sorceress’ willpower not to snap. “If that’s what you want to hear, fine,” she hissed. “Do we have a deal?”

Her reply visibly took the mazoku by surprise. “…Perhaps, but hold on, I’ve yet to state my terms in full. I’d like to ask you five questions; this is the first one. If you refuse to answer any of them, or I have reason to believe that you are not telling the truth or are omitting significant details, I reserve the right to withdraw from the agreement. Is that acceptable?”

In response, Lina slapped his hand away and receded under the blanket to the point that only her angry crimson eyes were visible.

“Alright you damn pervert, listen,” she muttered. “Gourry and I… we thought we’d explore the island a bit before sunset. We were about to head back to camp when we ran into a couple of natives; they spoke with a really thick accent, but were a genuinely friendly sort and seemed to have taken a liking to us. They’ve invited us to a… festival of some kind they were holding in their village, with free food and all that. There was a catch though: those wishing to attend had to be there by sundown. We didn’t have the time to tell Amelia and Zel… but, well, I thought we’d just eat some delicious grub and leave after an hour or so.” She winced. “I think I should have known better. If not right there, then after we arrived in the village and I saw all that… weird… stuff.”

“Details, Lina-san,” Xelloss reminded her in a sing-song voice. “Don’t forget about the details.”

“Aaargh… There were… statues of…” She forced the words out of her mouth. “…statues of… male… genitals… everywhere. And I do mean everywhere. Big, small, tiny, house-sized… you name it. They told me they were just… decorations… and that, combined with the mountains of food I saw being served won over my urge to get out of there at top speed. Gourry looked pretty relaxed too, so it didn’t seem like we were in any danger… I guess we really weren’t. But…”

She trailed off for a couple of seconds, her chest heaving like she was short of breath.

“The whole festival thing soon became even more suspicious,” she continued with considerable effort. “The invitation sounded like they simply wanted us to join the fun, but once we were there… we were treated like guests of honor, like the success of the entire celebration hinged on us. My nerves were already somewhat on edge, so I made a mental note to watch my back. Nothing happened though… not at first. The food just kept on coming, each course more delicious than the one before… until around midnight.”

The priest watched as her gaze became unfocused, her eyes widening with horror.

“I glanced up from my meal and saw that… the whole village started taking off their clothes… not like they wore many to begin with. Then… the guy who invited us stepped beside me and… encouraged me to do the same. Like it was… no big deal at all.” She clenched her eyes shut. “I was… this close to leveling the entire island… but then… I noticed Gourry. He was talking to the village elder in a perplexed voice saying something like… this wasn’t exactly what he had in mind.”

Xelloss stared blankly at her. “I… I’m not sure I follow,” he stammered.

“You’ll understand soon enough. Now shut up,” Lina growled. “Obviously, I started grilling Gourry for answers… you can take that literally, I know there were at least a few Fireballs involved. It turned out… he paid the villagers for the food, and asked them to invite us here. He wanted it to be a surprise, to… to celebrate… our anniversary.” She turned under the blanket to face the priest, a strange, agonized smile appearing on her lips. “It was actually a week later, but leave it to him to mix up the dates. To make things worse, the natives didn’t understand what an anniversary was, and thought he was trying to arrange some sort of… fertility… ritual.”

She gave a deep, forlorn sigh.  

“Gourry wasn’t done though. After explaining to the villagers that we were going to keep our clothes on, he told them to ‘skip to the next part’. Before I could recover from the shock and bring myself to ask what the hell was that supposed to mean, I saw drums, flutes and… other instruments I didn’t recognize being brought out by the dozens. My husband stood there in the middle of them, and, accompanied by a choir of still butt naked men and women… he started to sing.”

She suddenly reached out and grabbed Xelloss by his collar, pulling him closer. The strained smile on her face blossomed into an expression even more baffling: it was impossible to tell whether Lina was about to laugh or cry.

“That idiot jellyfish…! I have no idea where he got the melody from, but get this: the lyrics were about how he couldn’t come up with any lyrics! How, no matter what he tried, he could not think of anything fancy to fit the occasion, but… he hoped I would like the song anyway, because… he thought it would… it would make me smile.” Her voice almost broke for a moment. “That… was so… him.”

She released the priest, but did not pull away.

“I think I fell out of my chair somewhere in the middle of the song… I don’t remember when or if I ever got back up. The rest of the night felt like I was in a daze… we were eating, singing… Ceiphied knows how, but I think they even got me to sing something, but I can’t recall what it was… I distinctly remember, though, trying to find a way to get Gourry and me alone, so I could beat the living crap out of him. I… or was it him?... managed to find an empty tent many hours later. In the end… well, the beating was postponed… and our second child was born early that next year.” She gazed at her companion with a weary look. “Is that enough detail for you, or do you want me to list the goddamn positions?”

The mazoku hastily donned a cheerful façade to hide his stunned expression. “I reckon I can fill in the blanks.”

“It’s so weird though,” she muttered absently, as if she did not even hear him. “I always figured if I told anyone about this, I’d either die of embarrassment, or at least blow up half the continent. But now… I don’t know how I feel. I…”

A single tear rolled down her cheek onto the bedroll.

Xelloss’ brows furrowed slightly. “There was no time limit in the terms I’ve set. Would you prefer if we continued this conversation tomorrow?” he asked in a careful voice.

“No… it’s fine,” she spoke in a half-whisper, managing to add a shaky wink. “And that was your second question.”

The priest wrinkled his brow further in confusion, then let out a small chuckle. “Oh dear… I did let my guard down, didn’t I?”

While he did not look particularly offended, his last few words - possibly a warning, a provocation, or just a remark of no consequence - were left hanging in the air. For the next few minutes, the two lay in the tiny stone alcove, under the cozy blanket, facing each other in complete silence.

Outside, the storm somehow managed to intensify even further. Instead of providing the occasional blinding flash or two, lightning became a constant feature of the night sky. The claps of thunder were distant at least, but as they melded into the scream of the wind, they created a horrid alloy of sound that seeped inside the tiniest cracks, wailing like a harbinger of doom.

Still, somehow all of that did not matter one bit. Lina pulled the blanket back above her shoulders, and let herself relax in the soothing warmth that enveloped her. Her gear was the best money could buy of course, but the sensation went far beyond what wool lining alone could provide; she felt some of this warmth coming from within her in greater and greater waves, like a hot spring that burst forth from her chest.

“I’m starting to feel sorry for the weather,” she said lightly, breaking the silence between them. “It’s trying so hard, and here I am, my only worry being what you’re going to ask me next.”

Xelloss put a hand behind his head in an almost bashful gesture.

“My, you flatter me, Lina-san.” His smile turned mischievous. “Unfortunately, flattery will get you nowhere. My first question was mostly aimed at testing your resolve; now that we’ve moved past that, let us get down to business, shall we?”

The sorceress nodded, rubbing her eyes. “Ask away.”

Somewhere nearby the roaring wind managed to fell a tree, sending it tumbling down the mountainside.

“I’ve been curious about this for a good while now: what exactly is your greatest fear?” the priest asked in a conversational tone. “The real one, I mean. I’m rather convinced the answer has little to do with slugs, and these days the mention of Luna-san also doesn’t quite cause the same panic attack it used to.”

As if to prove his point, Lina indeed merely frowned upon hearing her sister’s name.

“We really are getting serious, huh?” she spoke without much enthusiasm, blinking a few times. “Well, at least I don’t need to think too hard on that one. A word of warning though: I doubt it’ll be as interesting as you hope it to be, and it’s also kinda… hard to explain, at least in any detail.”

“Oh, no need to worry,” Xelloss on the other hand did not even try to hide his curiosity. “We can start with the simplest version, and go from there.”

Followed by her gaze, the sorceress’ index finger drew a shaky line on the bedroll between them.

“How do I say this… Remember Auntie Aqua?” With the raging storm as its backdrop, her voice was barely audible. “When we first met her while looking for a spell I could use against Garv, she showed me a vision… an alternate reality or just an illusion, I still don’t know… where I miscast the Giga Slave and destroyed the world.” Her finger came to a halt. “I think that’s where it all started… but that’s not it. My greatest fear isn’t what this would lead you to believe.” She looked at the priest again. “Maybe we should try to find some common ground first.  It feels weird to ask this, you being a mazoku and all, but… how close did you ever get to experiencing true nothingness? Not just darkness or desolation, but a void without light, without matter… without anything.”

The priest’s cheerful smile waned inexplicably. “I believe I have seen what you describe… or at least something not far from it.”

Her hand slowly moved to touch the edge of his cloak. “Could you tell me about it? It might help me explain.”

Breaking eye contact, Xelloss appeared to be studying the orb of light above for several long moments, his face an expressionless mask.

“Very well. I suppose I did say we’re in no particular hurry,” he finally answered, sounding like he had made his mind up about something.

As if in anticipation, the incredible winds outside let up slightly.

“It happened a century or two after the War of the Monster’s Fall,” he began, his open eyes still fixed on the ceiling. “Nothing in particular prompted me to do what I did, aside from idle curiosity perhaps. Sometimes humans simply feel like testing how far they can jump; that day, I decided to test how high up I could fly.”

He gave a light shrug. “Well, I said ‘fly’, but once I realized the true extent of the distance between me and the clouds, I quickly added short-range teleportation as an option. I reached my destination in just a few minutes; while the view was no doubt fascinating, to my disappointment there seemed to be nothing further up but an endless, empty azure sphere. Honestly, I was close to ending my little escapade right there, but ultimately I chose to go a bit higher regardless, just to be certain.”

Xelloss raised an arm to point at the unseen sky behind the layers of rock. “That blue sphere, I soon realized, is simply an illusion of some sort, if not necessarily magical in nature. The higher one goes, the more the color fades away into a starless night, caring nothing of the fact that the sun is still far from the horizon. Also, even with constant teleports, it eventually began to feel like I was barely making progress; thus I decided to bend space further, and multiply my distance from the ground many times in a single instant.”

After a beat of silence, the mazoku spoke in a voice that felt strangely weak and distant. “What I saw then… was genuinely unexpected. For one, the Material Plane is apparently a misnomer. It is not the sky, but the realm itself which takes the form of a sphere, not unlike the moon and the sun, which seem to exist as worlds separate from our own.” His expression hardened. “A lot more… unsettling, however, was what I did not see. The three orbs aside, everywhere I looked, both on this side and on the astral… I saw naught but emptiness, a black void stretching into a distance so unimaginably vast, it seemed impossible even for me to comprehend. It indeed lacked virtually everything: not just light and matter, but even force and motion. I was floating in place without using magic; I did not fall and, aside from spinning uselessly in place, I could not move either. Without the ability to teleport… I would have been trapped in that void for an eternity.” His eyes slowly closed. “Needless to say… my stay there was brief. I returned to the surface in short order, and have felt no desire to revisit that place ever since.”

The winds died down completely, wrapping the alcove in the much gentler sound of pouring rain.

With a faint smile on her lips, Lina drew closer, and rested her hand on the priest’s shoulder. “Well, what do you know,” she mused in what was little more than a whisper. “I didn’t expect us to share the same fear.”

Her companion frowned a little. “I said nothing about fear.”

“Right, you didn’t,” her soft voice quelled his protests quickly, almost ruthlessly. “But you should be able to understand then. What my true fear really is.”

Taking a deep breath, the sorceress closed her eyes as well. “Auntie Aqua showed me a vision of it, then Hellmaster Fibrizo let me experience it in reality. I can’t really put its horror into words the way you did, but… it’s like the exact opposite of all I hold dear in life. Something that terrifying, no matter how I’d try, I could never forget.” Her hand tightened its grip on Xelloss’ shoulder. “No, it’s more than that. At times… on some really bad days, I could still feel it lingering: its coldness hiding in every conversation turned sour, its weight pushing me down with each loved one I’ve lost.” Another tear rolled down her cheek. “When… when Gourry died, and I did not know where to go, what to do… when I looked at the road ahead of me, I did not see new things to discover, people to meet, good food to eat… I only saw black nothingness spreading before me throughout the centuries to come, until the last shred of the person I used to be gives up hope… and ceases to exist.”

Despite the sadness filling her words, Lina’s expression was not upset, not even worried. Her eyes still closed, she put her head against the priest’s shoulder next to her hand, her deep, even breaths becoming the loudest sound in the alcove as even the downpour began to lose its momentum outside.

“And yet, here you are.” Xelloss replied after a little while, his own voice likewise strangely calm. “Roaming the lands, fighting battles, solving mysteries, eating a truly astounding amount of food, discovering new magic… Lina-san, as far as I can tell, and I do believe I can tell – you’ve never been more you.”

Slowly but surely, that faint smile from before returned to her face.

“Yeah…” she breathed. “….and whose fault is that?”

His widening grin aside, the mazoku gave no answer to her question.

Instead, he turned his gaze outside, above the low wall of the alcove, noting that only a slight drizzle remained of the cataclysmic onslaught from before. Even the clouds did not fully cover the sky anymore; through a small gap, one could glimpse a quite clear view of the waxing moon.

Xelloss’ eyes reopened, then immediately narrowed into a line of foreboding amethyst. For a minute, he stared at the moon, or perhaps what lay beyond it with a dark expression, as if sizing up an enemy of considerable power – then he smiled, like he was amused by his own reaction, and turned away.

“It seems we’re through the worst of it,” he commented absent-mindedly. “Most strange; judging from its sheer intensity just a little while ago, it would’ve been no surprise to see it last the whole night, don’t you think?” After several seconds had passed without any reaction, his gaze slid to the side. “…Lina-san?”

The sorceress was asleep. Her head still leaned against his shoulder, her hands hugging his arm like a small pillow.

Visibly surprised, Xelloss let out an awkward chuckle. “Goodness, Lina-san, do you expect me to stay like this all night?”

“…Mmmnhgnm…” came the eloquent reply.

The priest nodded, his expression thoughtful. “Of course, that was my fourth question.” With his free hand, he smoothed out the woolen fabric covering her shoulder. “And I suppose… the answer could not have been more obvious.”

Reacting to his brief glance upwards, the sphere of light blinked out – and the alcove was covered by a comfortable second blanket of darkness.

-------------------------------------

Lina stirred as her consciousness emerged from the realm of dreams, but decided almost immediately that she did not feel like waking up just yet. Her entire body was surrounded by soothing warmth, like a cocoon; even the strangely-shaped cushion she cradled in her arms radiated comfortable heat. She felt she could still spend many hours like this – it’s not like she had anything important to do, right?

Amazingly, the cushion shook a bit, not letting her drift back to sleep. With great reluctance, she opened her eyes to see what was happening. The first thing she noticed was a small notebook, lying on the edge of the bedroll and her blanket. It was opened around the middle, the pages filled with notes written by a steady hand, using what seemed to be black ink; even a few small diagrams were squeezed into the margins here and there.

Her right hand reached drowsily for the booklet. She did not understand how she could read its contents without her glasses, but what she understood even less was the simple fact that these notes were clearly not hers.

“Good morning, Lina-san,” her pillow greeted her in a gentle voice.

The sorceress was very much convinced that cushions did not usually move, much less talk, so with some apprehension she quickly glanced to her left.

As it turned out, her pillow did talk – this oddity being explained by the fact that her pillow was none other than a most cheerful-looking Xelloss.

She pulled away from the priest with breakneck speed.

“Uh… um… g-good morning,” she stammered, trying to remember how on earth she ended up falling asleep in that position. The events of last night were slowly coming back to her, but some details still remained frustratingly hazy. “Err, I see you wrote some stuff about holy magic into my notebook… thanks.” She still could not banish the look of confusion from her face. “This seems like… way more than what we agreed upon though.”

The mazoku gave a frivolous shrug.

“Well, I certainly had a lot of free time on my hands in the past few hours,” he explained. “Also, it was only fair; after all, our little question and answer session also went, how should I phrase this, quite above and beyond my initial expectations.” He winked at her. “I didn’t know you had it in you, Lina-san. You were absolutely right when you took the initiative, and I was in the wrong for being skeptical; feel free to gloat to your heart’s desire.”

The sorceress basically flattened herself against the wall in the corner. She did not like the sound of that, not one bit. “I know I’m going to regret asking this, but… what are you talking about exactly?”

“Hmm, it would be rude of me to go into the most graphic of details,” the priest pondered, his words making Lina flinch. He drew closer, trapping her into the corner completely. “But since you insist, a few highlights that come to mind… You hiding bashfully under the blanket, not wanting me to see your face, much less anything else under it… The feel of your labored breaths… That expression you had in the moment when we reached one of the many climaxes of our evening, torn between joy and pain… And when the raging storm that drove us into this frenzy of emotion had finally calmed down, your head resting against me, peaceful and content… Though I understand that you were perhaps not entirely satisfied, given your offer to tell me about various ‘positions’ – but I think we still have plenty of time for that. We can slowly get to know this new side we discovered of each other yesterday, and see where it leads us.” He put both hands to his (illusory) heart. “Truly, Lina-san, this night we have spent together… it was a night to remember.”

The cold stone behind her back suddenly feeling searing hot, the sorceress flailed about mentally, trying in vain to calm down and make sense of what was happening. Xelloss would not lie, that was for certain, but the things he said…

One by one, they clicked into place. All of them were true of course, but none of them were real, at least not the way they were intended.

She turned her attention back to the priest, who waited expectantly, like a child causing mischief to be noticed by his parents. With every ounce of her willpower, she forced her expression into a calm smile.

“It really was,” she said as she reached forward to trace her finger along Xelloss’ cheek, much to the mazoku’s astonishment. “This is a nice place. It might be small, a bit cramped, but I liked it here.” The moment her hand touched his ear, she grabbed onto it and started yanking it in every possible direction. “WHICH IS THE ONLY REASON WHY I’M NOT GOING TO BURY YOU UNDER THE SMOULDERING RUINS OF THIS MOUNTAIN, UNDERSTOOD?!”

The priest did not put up much resistance beyond a playful wriggle or two. “Yes, Lina-san, I hear you loud and clear… as long as there’s anything left of my ears, that is.”

With a grumble, she let go of him and got to her feet. “You can keep them… for now.”

It took her a minute to pack things up, most of that time being spent on waiting for the best moment to strike, then savoring the view after she unceremoniously pulled the bedroll out from under Xelloss and made him tumble over the stone floor.

“Oh my, such viciousness,” the priest commented as he picked himself up, summoning his staff into his hand. “They say one’s choice of travelling companions reflects on oneself – what does this mean for me, I wonder?”

“You have something to say?” Lina asked in a dangerously sweet voice as she secured her cloak to her shoulder guards.

The mazoku glanced at the sky. There was barely a stray cloud to be seen; nothing challenged the pleasantly warm rays of the morning sun as they poured down on the mountainside.

“Actually, there is one thing I forgot to mention.” He leapt over the low wall to join the sorceress outside the alcove. “I never managed to ask my fifth question yesterday.”

Lina eyed him warily as he reached over her shoulder and gestured towards the winding mountain trail that disappeared and reappeared among the giant boulders and tall trees below them; a beautiful sight to behold.

The priest’s question came in a mellow voice. “Could you tell me what you see now, when you look at the road ahead of you?”

Her apprehension melting away, a smile with the same radiance as the sun above spread over Lina’s features. She took Xelloss’ hand and made him point towards the horizon.

“There, right there! See that?”

“I’m… not sure what ‘that’ is.”

His uncertain words were met with bright laughter as she started running along the trail, down the mountain.

“Don’t worry, I don’t know either!” she yelled back. “But something tells me it’ll be fun!”

Looking satisfied with her answer, Xelloss quickly followed suit.

[applecakeart]

Here’s a commission I just completed for the new chapter of the Slayers fanfic Order in Chaos by Pip25. This has always been one of my favorite projects so I’m thrilled to have been able to do art for it again! You can read the fic here: t.ly/5yOOX

[zelame]

ディズニーのわんわん物語のあれをゼルアメで。

Amazingly cute new Zelame animation from Tiko!

[pip25]

Just spent an hour to create an offline-viewable version, but it was worth it! :)

[harocat]

ahhhh would you mind linking it to me, even if just privately? I’d LOVE to have it saved to my HD. No big deal if you can’t though. <3

[pip25]

I uploaded the GIF version here:

http://pip25.tumblr.com/post/90440744154/source

[pip25]

Source: http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=44421022

Downloadable version as per request. Made an animated PNG of it too with better colors, but Tumblr only seems to keep the first frame of that. :/

[zelame]

ディズニーのわんわん物語のあれをゼルアメで。

Amazingly cute new Zelame animation from Tiko!

[pip25]

Just spent an hour to create an offline-viewable version, but it was worth it! :)

[zombiesrungame]

We’re seeing some questions about a few of the features and changes that have come with Zombies, Run! 2, so we’ve come bearing advice which should hopefully clear up any problems you’re having.

Season 1 Base

We’ve heard from some players who are upset about losing their base progress...

[pip25]

This is how you DON'T do a major version update, especially in the case of a paid application.

Removing features "to accelerate development"? Can you really say that with a straight face...?

To top all of this, communication regarding this update was abyssmal. If I knew what I had to give up, I would have never updated my game - I have the nasty suspicion that may have been the exact reason why you stayed quiet about the caveats.

As much as I enjoyed season one, I now regret giving my money to you. You have abused, and as a result, lost the trust of your userbase. For shame...