Slayers Fan Fiction ❯ Search for the Darkstar ❯ The Truth Behind the Quest ( Chapter 10 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

By: DQBunny

Disclaimer: "Slayers" isn't mine, but belongs to Kanzaka Hajime, Araizumi Rui and those who represent them. I'm just borrowing the characters for a little while and will return them intact. Except for Gourry. He might be squished just a little. This story is set after the manga arc "Knight of Aqualord" and is an alternate take on the TRY season of the anime.

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Chapter 10: The Truth Behind the Quest

After washing off much of the evidence of their long journey and dinner, they walked into a room so big that Lina was quite sure that a good chunk of Saillune's royal palace could fit inside of it with room to spare. The courtier that led them from the dining hall stepped aside as they walked into the room and stopped to take in the view.

"What is this place?" Shizuri asked, slowly turning around in a circle to get a look at the entire room while doing a mental comparison to the temples that she had seen back in Kunan. She quickly realized that there was no comparison.

"It's so big," Amelia whispered, eyes wide.

"This is our primary cathedral hall." Filia approached them from where she had been standing in the center of the hall and gestured to the large space behind her. "This is where most of our services to honor Flarelord take place. Most of the time, we are in our full dragon forms, but the Elders have chosen to remain in their human forms in honor of your visit. Please, follow me."

They followed her across the hall. While it was lavishly decorated, Lina noticed that the cathedral lacked the elegant murals that were in other parts of the temple. When they reached the center of the hall, she saw a semi-circular dais in front of a large statue of Flarelord that was crafted from a glittering red stone.

"Pure ruby," Lina whispered to Amelia as they approached it. "I'm willing to bet a good chunk of money that's 100 percent ruby."

Amelia nodded. "I'm willing to bet there's more ruby there than we have in our vaults in Saillune."

"Oh?"

Amelia frowned at the interest in Lina's voice. "No, Lina-san. You're not getting a personal tour of the Saillune royal vaults. I really don't want to have to arrest you afterwards."

Lina held up her hands. "Amelia! What do you take me for?"

Amelia slanted her a dark look and Lina cringed slightly. OK, so maybe she had considered taking a little something if she ever got the chance to peruse through the Saillune royal vaults. Nothing much, just a small memento of their visit. It's not like they would even miss it!

As they grew closer, Lina saw that it wasn't just an dais for decoration, but that a long table stood upon it. Human-sized chairs were placed around it with several men occupying the chairs. In the center of the dais, the Elder of the temple sat, calm eyes watching the strangers as they made their way toward him.

"You have enjoyed your repast," the Elder commented as they reached the dais.

Lina placed one hand on her hip and lifted an eyebrow. "It was decent. Since you seem to like to skip the pleasantries, what took you so long to speak with us?"

Surprise flickered across the Elder's face before settling back into a placid expression. "We were in discussions to see if you were the ones being referred to in the prophecy."

"Just a minute!" Shizuri took a couple steps forward. "You dragged us all down to Ceiphied knows where and you're not even sure that the prophecy even referred to us at all? Are Flarelord's priests all this incompetent or just this certain tribe of golden dragons?"

"Shizuri-san!" Filia hissed, waving frantically at her. "Please, be respectful!"

Shizuri turned back and gave her an exasperated look. "Respect has to be earned. You and your lot have done nothing to convince me that this is worth taking the trouble over. You're suppose to be a high and mighty race. Why don't you take care of this so-called prophecy of destruction yourself? Your dragon king actually still exists! You can pray to Flarelord and have him take care of this!"

"You know it doesn't work like that!"

"Filia." The single word spoken by the Elder cut through the argument and Filia immediately clamped her mouth shut. Mortified, she bowed slightly to the Elder.

The Elder turned his focus to Shizuri. "It would go against the prophecy, servant of Aqualord, to ask Flarelord to do such a thing."

"Not to mention that we cannot do it to begin with." A man with a brown mustache who sat on the Elder's left spoke that sentence. Lina's gaze shot over to Filia and noticed that the priestess bristled at the man's words.

"We must keep this from the Mazoku," the man continued. "There are spies watching us all the time. We can not let them know what is happening."

"Thanks to you destroying both Hellmaster Phibrizzo and Demon Dragon King Gaav, the Mazoku are starting to panic." The Elder folded his hands in front of him. "Your actions have greatly diminished their power, and from the news that Filia has told us, your defeat of the general and priest of Deep Sea Dolphin is another blow. They will take any chance that they can get to diminish the power of the gods. Hence, neither Flarelord nor those who serve him can risk getting involved in a fight with the Mazoku."

"Is that so?" Lina folded her arms across her chest and aimed her best glare at the Elder. "Funny. Airlord didn't seem to think that way."

The placid mask slipped as a look of pure shock, then fury crossed the Elder's face, the latter directed at Filia. Filia froze, her mouth gaping open. Slowly, she shook her head, her breath thready as she tried to remember how to speak. "I didn't know! I swear, I didn't know, Elder! She never told me!"

"You didn't need to know," Lina informed Filia curtly.

"Filia..."

"I swear, I didn't know!" Filia rushed forward until she was a few inches away from the dais. "Elder, I swear to you, I wouldn't lie!"

Interesting... Lina felt sorry for Filia as the her composure cracked. The priestess was nearly in tears as she did her best to convince the Elder that she hadn't known about Airlord being involved with Mazoku interests. Lina frowned as she watched Filia try to explain and saw the dragon cringe several times. It's like she's afraid of being struck.

"She's telling the truth," Lina spoke up. "Filia didn't know because she didn't need to know."

"How do we know that you're not the one lying?" the man on the Elder's left demanded.

Lina bristled. I can see why Filia doesn't like that one. She slowly pulled off her right glove, carefully rolling the leather down to prolong the moment as long as possible. When it was off, she held up her hand, the back of it facing the council.

"Get behind me," Lina muttered just loud enough for Gourry and Amelia, who flanked her, to hear. "I call upon you, Airlord! Lend me your power!"

The back of Lina's hand began to glow with the emblem of Airlord. A blue glow started to form in Lina's hand. In a swift motion, Lina turned her hand palm up and released the power. A shaft of blue light shot into the air.

"No, that's not light." Filia pressed her hand to her mouth. "That's wind! Pure wind!"

The wind slammed into the temple's roof and through it, creating a hole that Lina knew was actually quite sizable. She gritted her teeth as her energy began to wane. She refused to let the Elder see that she couldn't control the power for long periods of time. Even so, sweat rolled down her face when she allowed the power to subside. Rocks fell from the ceiling and Amelia quickly threw up a shield around them. The rocks tumbled to the ground and formed a ring around the shield.

"So?" Lina pulled her glove back on. "Convinced?"

The Elder didn't say anything for a long moment. Lina's gaze locked with the Elder's and they stared at each other intently. He broke it first, closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "After the defeat of Hellmaster Phibrizzo, the prophecy arrived along with the appearance of the disturbing light that you can see in the distance."

Lina gritted her teeth at the dismissal. She took a step forward, about to give him a piece of her mind when she felt a hand on her shoulder. At first, she thought it was Gourry but when she glanced over her shoulder, she was surprised to see that it was Lyos. He shook his head at her and glared at the Elder. "He's not worth shit, Lina," he muttered.

Filia gasped softly and Shizuri rolled her eyes. "Cut the dramatics. Your Elder is being an ass."

"You can't speak of the Elder that way!" Filia hissed, scandalized.

"He's not my Elder and I can speak of him in anyway that I want." Shizuri pulled Filia aside and gestured to the table. "Open your eyes, Filia. Your precious Elder just dismissed Lina's genuine display of power that she personally received from Airlord as if it was just an everyday occurrence. You and your temple say you want humans to fight this fight for you, that the gods won't get involved. Lina's power and the fact that she used it to help defeat Hureika and Rikufalso is proof that they are willing to step up."

"The light lies so far away that even those of us with wings have failed to reach it." The Elder spoke up again, a little more louder, ignoring the conversations going on among the humans and his priestess. Filia and Shizuri fell silent and Lina relaxed, pulling her arm from Lyos' hold as the Elder continued to address them.

"Behind the light is something that pertains to the prophecy, therefore we must take extreme care in choosing who will travel out there." The Elder lowered his hands slightly. "You have displayed...an interesting show of power. However, we are still not sure that you are the ones we feel safe in entrusting the fate of the world with."

Lina growled and started to advance and this time it was Gourry who grabbed her arm. She tensed beneath his hold, but didn't go any further.

"However, we have no reason not to dismiss you either. So, we're going to take a risk and put this mission in your hands."

Lina jerked her arm from Gourry's hand and placed her hand on her hip. "You're not one for tact aren't you?" Or having little surprises dropped in your lap.

The Elder lifted an eyebrow. "You disapprove?"

"We don't know what you dragons are up to with all of this. You say that you don't trust us, but you sure haven't given us reason to trust you either."

"Lina's got a point," Lyos said.

Amelia frowned and pressed her hands to her chin. "But, if we don't do this, who will? There's no telling what horrible things could happen if something isn't done!"

Lina turned back to her. "It works both ways, Amelia. The gods have the capability to cover their own butts just as well as Mazoku."

"I still think we should do it! It's the right thing to do!"

"I think we should do it too," Lyos added. He folded his arms over his chest. "The Mazoku are going to find out about this and they will find out. I'm not going to let them get to anyone the way they got to me."

"I'm with Lyos." Shizuri walked over and stood next to him. "Not that I hold a great amount of affection for our hosts, but it is my duty - and that of the Knight of Aqualord - to defend our people against any threats caused by Mazoku or anything similar to that. I'll do it for my people. Not for the Golden Dragons."

"Fine." Lina nearly smirked at the Elder but instead, she faced Gourry. "You've got the last vote. What do you say?"

It said a lot that Lina asked Gourry for his opinion and they all knew it. Despite their own feelings, if he voiced any misgivings about the mission, Lina would more than likely walk away from it.

He didn't say anything for a moment and Lina wondered if Gourry understood what was going on to begin with. Then his gaze, calm and steady, met hers. "Lina, I think..."

His voice was immediately drowned out. There was a large crackling sound a few feet behind her and Lina whirled around to see dark spears of magic forming on the other side of the hall. The group of humans and Filia quickly clustered together, Lyos and Gourry moving out to the front with their hands on their sword hilts.

A large portal opened and a huge being stepped through it. He was at least three times as tall as Gourry and Lina was quite sure that he would be a good match for one of the dragons in their full form. She stepped forward. A chimera? No, that can't be, he doesn't look like any I've ever seen. The being had one normal-looking eye and the other covered by orange scaling. His body combined both a muscular build with a very gaunt-looking waist and legs.

The Elder shot up from his seat. "You? How did you get into a sacred place like this?"

Gourry slowly drew the Sword of Light and stepped in directly in front of Lina. Lyos did the same with Banisher, moving to shield Amelia, Shizuri and Filia.

The being didn't bother to look at any other member of the group other than Gourry. His eye widened slightly as the blade of light flickered before him.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Almayce." He kept his focus on Gourry's sword, not bothering to acknowledge the Elder's question directly. "I am from the Overworld."

"The Overworld?" Lina breathed.

Gourry blinked. "Overworld?"

Lina growled, curled her hands into fists and used said fists to knock Gourry across the room. She stomped over to him. "Don't you even dare!"

Gourry landed on his rear and still managed to skid back a few feet. He gave Lina a pathetic look. "What did I do?"

Lina loomed over him. "I know that tone of voice! Before you ask, or even embarass the rest of us by trying to guess at it, the Overworld means that it's a world on a plane above this one! In simple words, he comes from a different world than we do, jellyfish brains!"

Gourry bowed his head in shame. "You could had just told me, you know," he grumbled.

"And it would had taken the next five hours to do so!"

"Still, you didn't have to hit me quite so hard!"

Shizuri sighed and turned her back on the bickering couple. "Someone from the Overworld, huh?"

"Why have you come to this world? To this temple?" The Elder spoke loudly once more, partly to cover the argument going on between Lina and Gourry.

For the first time, Almayce turned his attention to the Elder. "I seek five weapons of power for our world. All of them are now located in Ceiphied's world. One of them is here inside this temple, the sword Gorun Nova, that the man over there possesses. I am here to retrieve that weapon."

The group collectively turned in the direction Almayce indicated to find Lina and Gourry, nearly nose to nose, still fighting with each other. At Almayce's last words, both of them immediately fell silent and, in unison, turned to confront him.

"Like hell!" Gourry yelled and brandished the sword in front of him. "The Sword of Light is mine!"

"We've been to hell and back to get that thing back," Lina growled. "We're not about to give it up."

The Elder approached Almayce. "What do you intend to do with the Sword of Light, Overworlder?"

"Why do you ask me that?"

"If we give you the Sword of Light, and you leave at once, then there will not be a problem at all."

"What the...," Shizuri stammered.

"You can't just give the Sword of Light away!" Lina glared at the Elder, her dislike of him growing by the second. "It has not and will never belong to you!"

"It doesn't belong to you either," Gourry muttered under his breath.

She still heard him. With a quick lash of her hand, she grabbed his shirt and hauled him down until her eyes bore into his. "You. Are. Mine." she hissed in a voice so soft that he almost didn't hear her. "Therefore the sword belongs to me too."

Gourry gave Lina a baffled look and before he could think of a response, the Elder addressed them. "What we desire is to protect the world. For that, we will sacrifice the Sword of Light." He turned to face Almayce. "Now, Overworlder, what is your plans for the weapon?"

"What I, and my people, desire to do with the weapon is summon the Dark Lord Darkstar to this world."

"What?" The shout came from the Elder, the council, Filia, Lina, Shizuri, Lyos and Amelia.

"Who?" Gourry glanced at Lina.

She didn't bother knocking him across the room this time. "Darkstar. He's a dark lord that is the equal of Shabranigdu. We've got our own problems to deal with, thank you very much, why do you want to summon Darkstar to this world?"

Darkstar... Filia's mind started to race through the prophecy and it began to fall into place. "The dark star mentioned in the prophecy..."

"It literally means Darkstar." Shizuri said, reaching the same conclusion at the same time. The two women exchanged a horrified look.

Amelia jabbed a finger in the air, launching into full justice speech mode. "You probably want to take over our world using Darkstar's power. In the name of Justice, I, Amelia, will not allow this!"

Lyos sighed heavily and pressed a hand to his forehead. "Can the justice speeches, princess."

The corners of Almayce's mouth quirked slightly. "My objective is not world domination."

"Overworlder! I do not understand why you are wanting to summon Darkstar, but you can do it in a place other than this world. If you are telling us the truth and this world is not your objective, then we will give you the Sword of Light and you will leave this world."

Amelia's jaw fell at the Elder's words. "So, you're saying that you don't care if Darkstar is summoned at all? Just as long as he does it on another world?"

That can't be right. Filia stared at the Elder in disbelief. "Elder, you don't mean that!"

"Silence, Filia!"

Filia backed up slightly, which infuriated Amelia. She dashed forward until she was a few feet away from the Elder. "That wouldn't be just! Is this how servants to the gods conduct their business?"

"Not all of their servants." Shizuri gritted her teeth and glared at the Elder. "Where I come from, servants to the gods would not stand for such a thing. Then again, what do I know? I'm just a mere servant to the high priest of Aqualord in my lands. It's not like I know anything."

Filia pressed her hand to her mouth. Shizuri-san's right. We're the servants to the gods. We're suppose to protect everyone from the powers of the Mazoku and dark lord! We shouldn't be avoiding this problem just to have another world be put at risk!

The Elder ignored Amelia and Shizuri. "What do you say, Overworlder?"

"You of this world are not so different from us," Almayce commented. "I, too, do not desire a useless struggle, nor do we care to summon Darkstar to our world either."

"Well, gee, you'd think there's a good reason behind that," Lyos muttered.

"I will accept your proposal," Almayce continued. "Once I possess Gorun Nova and the other four weapons, I will have no further need for this world. I promise not to summon Darkstar to this world."

The Elder gave a slight nod. "That is acceptable. In return, we will help you locate the other four weapons. Once you have them, you will leave this world at once."

"Just a minute here!" Lina dashed forward, planting herself between Almayce and the Elder. She turned her back on Almayce, glaring at the Elder. "You have no right to speak for any of us, especially when we don't agree. Even when we do say something, you dismiss us like we're some sort of gnat." She jabbed a finger in the Elder's face and slowly advanced on him. "I know your type, old man. You don't like people going against you. I'm not under your control like Filia is."

Filia's jaw dropped. "Lina-san!"

"It's true," Shizuri muttered and Filia whirled around to face her. "You're under that man's thumb, just like every other dragon in this room."

"But, he's the Elder! He's the high priest of the Flarelord temple! I serve under him!"

"You are in service to Flarelord, not to your Elder. Just because you're a shrine maiden doesn't mean that you don't have the power to think of yourself. Tell me, from your gut, do you think what he's doing is right?"

Now the Elder faced them, nearly knocking Lina aside in the process. "Do any of you not care about saving the world?"

Shizuri folded her arms over her chest. "I happen to be really fond of this place. I just don't think you should be handing a weapon like the Sword of Light over to random stranger who just happened to walk into this temple. You even had Filia extensively 'test' us before we came here."

Gourry and Amelia edged closer to Lina. "What'll we do, Lina-san?"

"Wait for my orders."

The Elder turned back toward them. "Now, give me the Sword of Light."

Gourry stepped out in front of the girls, and gave the older dragon a grim look . "No."

For the first time, the Elder approached the group. He stopped a few feet away from Gourry and gave him such a cold look at Filia immediately cringed, having recognized it before. The swordsman didn't flinch and stared back at him with an equally stubborn glare.

"Giving up the Sword of Light is a worthy sacrifice to save the world." The Elder indicated the sheath strapped across Gourry's back. "You have a second sword. You will not be powerless."

Gourry's grip on the Sword of Light tightened. "I've already sacrificed this sword once. We nearly died tried to get it back and I'm not giving it up again. If I'm going to give this man my sword, it's going to be my decision, not yours."

"This is a matter of saving the world!" Enraged, the Elder advanced toward Gourry. "What would a mere swordsman know about matters like this?"

Gourry didn't flinch. "I don't know that much," he admitted. "This whole Overworld thingy's kind of confusing, but I'm not about to just hand over my sword, one that has been in my family for hundreds of years, over to someone I don't even know. Besides, that Almayce guy could still summon that Darkstar fellow to this world. Just because he says he'll do something won't mean that he'll actually do it. Even a mere swordsman knows that much."

He's right. Gourry-san's right and so is Shizuri-san. We can't just blindly accept this Almayce's word over all the research we've done and the prophecy! Not after we went through so much to get this sword as well. Filia watched as the Elder took another step forward and lift his hands and her heart nearly stopped as she realized what he was about to do. She dashed forward, planting herself in front of Gourry with her arms spread out wide to shield him. "Run, Gourry-san! Lina-san, Amelia-san, cast a shield over him!"

The Elder glared coldly at Filia, then began to chant in an unknown language. Filia's eyes widened with horror. "Get out of here!" she yelled to Gourry.

Amelia, who had her own hands up to cast a Balus Wall, froze when she heard the words coming from the Elder's mouth. Oh, Ceiphied...that's Holy Magic!

Lina grabbed Gourry's arm, deciding to run first and ask questions later. "You heard her, let's move! Raywin..."

"Ray Freeze."

Energy snaked out from the Elder, expanding so fast that Lina never managed to complete her own spell. It crawled up their bodies, freezing them where they stood. As the energy encasted Gourry's hands, his grip on the weapon slackened enough to where the hilt dropped to the ground and the blade deactivated. Lina stared around in horror. The spell did not affect the dragons in the room, nor Almayce. Then she saw a flash of movement on the other side of Shizuri.

The Elder reached for the weapon just as Lyos darted out from behind Shizuri. He snatched up the sword and pointed the hilt at the dragon. "Light, come forth!"

A new light blade burst forth, longer Lina realized, than the one that she could create. It wasn't as long as the one that Gourry created, but it was pretty close.

The Elder narrowed his eyes. "How did you break my spell?"

"Your spell never even touched me, old man." Lyos brandished the blade. "I guess it's one of the perks about being Knight of Aqualord. You can't use the magic of the gods against me. If you want this sword, you're going to have to get it from me first."

Lina's eyes met Amelia's and she mouthed the word "fireball" to her. Amelia immediately nodded and they began to concentrate the spell into their hands. Lina's eyes went wide when despite the heat, the ice wouldn't melt. This is the difference between a Holy magic spell and one of the ordinary Shamanistic spells? Oh, crap. I better think of another plan.

Before she could do so, before Lyos could make a move against the Elder or vice versa, what remained of the ceiling that Lina hadn't destroyed earlier caved in. Filia shot her hands into the air and chanted out something that Lina didn't recognize. A huge dome of light formed over the group and the rocks bounced off it the shield as if they weighed no more than a ball of paper. When the last of the rocks hit the ground and the dust settled, Filia released the shield and gasped.

Valgaav stood in front of the group, hands glowing with energy and prepared to attack.