Lina Inverse, Sorcery Genius, Bandit Slayer, and possessor of other titles that she doesn't willingly admit to, groaned as she tried to recall how she ended up in a forest, with a headache the size of Saillune City.
Blinking a few times, she managed to sit up and look around. She was obviously deep in some forest or another, and she didn't see any obvious paths, either... and, more importantly, she seemed to be alone!
Slowly, it all began coming back to her...
It had all begun in Saillune. The King, Nicodemus Sem Uri Saillune, had finally succumbed to his long illness, and passed on. She and Gourry had been officially invited by the Royal Family to witness the interment of the late king, and then the coronation of Philionel. They had accepted and made for Saillune as soon as they could. After all, it was free room and good food for two whole weeks!
While there, they had been surprised to meet up with Sylphiel again, who, as it turned out, was asked to be one of the shrine maidens for the coronation. She then surprised them by asking them to, once the coronation was over, escort her to the capital of the Dills Kingdom, Gyria. It turned out that she might have a living relative there, after all, and she needed to see if it was true. Not having anything else planned, beyond the vague 'Find a New Sword for Gourry' quest they had been on ever since Gourry gave up the Sword of Light after the whole Darkstar mess, they agreed to the job.
That's when things started to get... more complicated. The day after the coronation, Amelia invited herself into the group, again. Officially, she wanted to get out of the city for a while, to mourn for her Grandfather in different surroundings.
Personally, Lina thought it had less to do with King Nic's death, and more with the sudden pressure on Amelia to get married. As the new First Royal Successor (in lieu of her missing sister), anyone who married her was practically assured to be the next King of Saillune. In the few days they had been there, Lina had seen Amelia approached by no less than thirty or so nobles, ranging from some older than her father, to one that couldn't have been more than seven! Lina couldn't blame Amelia for wanting to get away from that mess. She just wasn't sure what Amelia's presence would mean for their trip.
But it didn't end there, either. Not even a day out of Saillune, they encountered none other than Zelgadis Graywords, another traveling companion they often found themselves with. And as it happened, he, too, was heading toward Gyria. He had heard of a sorcerer in that area that had made new advancements in the field of chimera, and Zel was planning on investigating if he could apply any of that knowledge to his own quest to reclaim his human body.
Naturally, the timing of things raised alarms with all of them. Okay, it raised alarms with herself and Zelgadis. It was a bit too convenient, them all meeting up like that. And there was only one being they knew of that both could, and would, set it all up... but Xellos didn't show up to gloat, which worried Zelgadis to no end. Lina, personally, preferred to just get this over with as fast as they could, rather than obsess over what the self-proclaimed 'Trickster Priest' could be planning for them.
It was two days later that it happened. Lina tried to focus on it, but she could only remember bits and pieces... she remembered what looked like a bright hole in the sky opening up, and a huge dragon, of a type Lina had never seen before, flying out of it. Then something - a castle with wings? - followed the dragon. She remembered they all scrambled to erect what defenses they could... then there were lots and lots of explosions... and the hole in the sky suddenly began sucking everything in... and then...
And then she was here, in the middle of who knows where, alone.
"Great," Lina grumbled out loud, "what else could go wrong?"
Unexpectadly, she got an answer. "Quite a lot, actually. I would have thought you knew better than to say that, Lina!"
Lina growled as she turned around and faced the smiling form of Xellos. Then she smiled brightly. "Hiya Xel! I was wondering when you'd show up!"
Xellos just shrugged. "Well, you know me, Lina. I just couldn't stay away from you for too long."
"So, what is it this time? Just standard 'making my life difficult,' or is there something you actually want to trick me into doing?"
"Now Lina, I can't imagine what you're talking about. Can't I just want to drop in on an old friend to talk?"
"As you said before, Xel, I know you. And the whole set-up since Saillune just reeked of your manipulation."
"Good to know, but believe it or not, I had absolutely nothing to do with getting you together, or with what happened."
Lina scoffed. "Yeah, right. If not you, than who?"
"Ah, ah, ah, Lina. That..."
"Is a secret, I know, I know," Lina finished with a sigh.
Xellos pouted. "You're taking all the fun out of this, Lina. So I guess it's on to business. You see, strange as this is, I'm here to act as messenger, and explain what just happened to you and your little friends."
Lina blinked. "You... telling me what's going on? Not just saying 'That is a secret' all the time?"
"I fear so, Lina," Xellos said, while shaking his head. "I'm actually under obligation here, and am not allowed to stay too long."
"Oh? You expect me to believe that you won't be dogging my steps for this entire ordeal?"
Xellos smiled again. "Well, yes, actually. You're going to be staying here for a while, and I will have to go back to our own staff soon."
"SAY WHAT?!"
"That's right, Lina. You, and your friends, are currently scattered around Lord Death Fog's world. This is where those two beings you saw came from. Their battle got a bit out of hand, and ripped open a portal to our world. And... your little troupe got pulled through it when they got pulled back."
"Oh, this is just great! And how are we supposed to get home now?"
Xellos shrugged. "Well, that I don't know. I do know, that while you are here, you might want to look into a bit of a situation that has cropped up. It seems that some ambition being here is trying to become all powerful... by obliterating all other life in this world. And as this world's Mazoku and Shinzoku are rather... limited... in how they may act, none of them are in a position to prevent this situation."
Lina snorted. "You're a Mazoku, why do you care?"
"If it was just the destruction of this world, I wouldn't. But should this plan succeed, the new god-like entity would start doing what Lords Darkstar and Volfeed attempted... and I can assure you that no one really wants to go through that ordeal again."
Lina rolled her eyes and threw up her hands. "Okay, fine! I'll look into it! How do you know all about what's going on in this world, anyway?!"
"Ah, ah, ah. That, is a secret, Lina."
Lina growled at Xellos, but the Mazoku only smiled at her in return. "Anything else I should now about, or can I get going already?"
"Well, actually," Xellos began...
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(Posted Tue, 26 Jul 2005 06:51)
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