Slayers Fan Fiction ❯ Slayers: Knightfall ❯ chapter 27 ( Chapter 28 )

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Slayers: Knightfall

Chapter Twenty-Seven

“So this is the Vale of Shadows . . .” I softly gasped, awestruck at the pure and unspoiled natural beauty laid out below us. Like the name implied, the Vale was a small valley drenched in shadows. Currently a shroud of mist covered the Vale and shone a lovely golden hue in the morning sun. Fairy Souls swarmed and swirled everywhere we looked; almost as if the Vale was the place the very stars that filled the night sky came to rest and play.

Gourry and I stood shoulder to shoulder, taking in the wondrous scene, scarcely believing the Shard of Lucidia could really be in such a place. And if it were, where in the lush tangle would we even begin to look for it?

Or at least I was. Gourry seemed to be too busy scratching at his rear to be wondering much about anything. Oh to be as simple as to find joy in a good butt scratching.

Regardless, I breathed in the pure and cleansing air with a content grin on my face. I was finally at the end of a major part of my journey. Once I got the Shard I knew that no one would be in any kind of position to manipulate me ever again. Unless they want to find out what it is like to be missing decent sized chunks of their body. And trust me, I know how to remove just enough tissue to keep someone alive but in oh so considerable pain. Not that I’d ever do that, of course.

Oh, how the tables will turn!

The scenery was great, the weather clear, my mood was actually pretty darn cheery for once and I was with my best friend. I would’ve called this the perfect moment of the perfect day if I ever had one. But, unfortunately the snarling sack of dragon crap grumping behind me just about spoiled the green gorgeousness with his own brand of polluting toxic hate.

“Not bad scenery, eh Val?” I asked, not considering that someone like him couldn’t be moved by what was in front of us. Her was once a dragon after all.

“Meh,” he grunted, which was Valgaavian for “Astonishing!”

“Oh, come on!” I pressed. “It’s better than “meh”. More like mehX10000 if you ask me.”

“Who did?”

“Whatever, ass.”

“Well, enjoy the meh view while you can,” the draco-demon said. “This place reeks of evil.” And with that he disappeared, back to Zellas and her plans I guessed.

An odd choice of words coming from him . . .Maybe there is more dragon to him than he wants to admit.

“It’s down there somewhere, Gourry,” I wasn’t exactly sure why I said that. Maybe I was just getting nervous, which HAS happened on occasion. Or so I am told.

“I don’t see the temple, but I recognize this place on the map.” Gourry was studying the map Luna gave to me with such intensity that I was half afraid that it would burst into flames, which HAS happened before. Or so I am told.

A swarm (for lack of a better term) of Fairy Souls floated by very close to my face with a purpose known only to the enigmatic glowing orbs. I laughed aloud. How could I be nervous in a place as enchanting as this?

“Maybe we can ask the Fairy Souls?” I kidded. “Come on, Gourry,” I took his arm. “The temple isn’t going to find itself.”



“ARGH! SNARL! GROWL!”

“Calm down, Lina!” Gourry trying to calm me down was like trying to quell a forest fire with a squirt gun. Just plain silly to even attempt. “We’ll find it . . .eventually.”

“It’s been three days!”

Yes . . .three freaking days with no temple, no Shard in sight. Just raw and sore feet, dirty stinky clothes, and a supremely pissed off attitude to show for this infuriating nature hike. But then again, very few nature hikes I had endured in the last few months had been less than infuriating.

Another thing! The trees were downright creepy once you got a good close up look at them. The twisting and gnarled limbs and knobby branches and eerie looking faces seemingly grown from the bark made me wonder if there was more to those trees than met the eye.

I didn’t help things at all when Gourry decided to sing hiking and camping songs somewhere down the line.

A Fairy Soul flitted by.

“FIREBALL!”

Of course my stress relieving blast didn’t harm the insubstantial light, but it sure did harm the scenery. A lot.

“You think you could warn me next time you do that!?” Apparently I had harmed Gourry, too. He’ll live.

“Maybe if you stop your incessant singing! If it was anything other than campfire songs, I might’ve been joining you!”

“Hey,” Gourry said, apparently unperturbed at my random acts of violence against nature and himself. He picked up something from the ground that had blown to there from the force of my explosion. “This looks . . .oddly familiar . . ..”

“Gimme that,” I snatched the object and held it close for inspection.

It was a piece ribbon just big enough to be a bracelet.

It was pink, with a blue talisman with a hexagram inside it.

It was obviously Amelia’s.

“Amelia’s!?” Gourry was as shocked as I was at my revelation. “What was she doing here?”

“Probably here to destroy the Xenasphyr, remember?”

“Of course not! Who do you think I am? Zelgadis?”

“Its that skull thingy that Naga used to wear. It drove her nuts, apparently. The only reason Zel and Amelia would be here is for that bizarre thing’s destruction. But I don’t think they’ll be able to destroy it by themselves. One, if I haven’t found the temple, practically the one person the place was made for, then they wouldn’t be able to find it either.”

“It has been three days though,” Gourry said, deciding to be astute. “You’d think we’d have seen some other sign of them before now.”

“Unless they did actually find the place, which would royally piss me off,” I said that to disguise the real reason why I hoped not to meet them; utter anxiety. We didn’t part ways in the merriest of terms, what with me forsaking the gods and joining up with a demon with a very demonic horn poking out his noggin. While I think that Zel would come to understand why I did what I did if he hasn’t already. Amelia would be another matter entirely.

Amelia is a girl whose beliefs aren’t easily thrown aside, if at all. Because of that, she more or less holds others to the same standards that she upholds. While traveling with me, I think she realized that I wasn’t exactly a priestess in manner or thought as she is, and I truly believe that she came to accept who I am. But . . . I don’t think she realized how far I would go for my own survival.

To her, beliefs and vows are something to uphold til death. I, on the other gloved hand, would gladly renounce whatever it took to keep me alive save for a very few special things. Would I actually mean it though? Depends on what it was renouncing. I think that it was that main difference that had shoved a wedge (possibly irrevocably) between our friendship.

But, all in all, it was just one more thing adding to my already topped out stress levels. There were stones in my boots, making my aching feet even more unbearable. The bugs were biting; my skin was dirty and itchy. The smell of fresh green nature was fast becoming nauseating. The birds were providing an uncalled for chorus for Gourry’s impromptu concert. A squirrel wandered up to me, apparently asking for food.

I gave it and a bunch of other innocent-bystander-wildlife a Bomb “Banana” Split and simultaneously increased our own food supply. I’m good like that.

Problem was that I was sick of camp food and would love nothing more than a smorgasbord of nothing but cakes of various styles and flavors. Like carrot. And Elemekian Chocolate. Or even good old-fashioned vanilla.

I thought it was just my thinking of vanilla a little too hard when my vision started to get sharper and took on a golden vanilla hue.

Golden Vanilla?

Ah, so that’s the trick.

Maybe it was something to do with the very place we were in. Or maybe I was angrier than I thought I was. In any case, I was in full-blown Knightmare mode and could see the forest in a whole new light. As well as something else.

“Haven’t seen you guys in a while . . .” I could see Shades. The Shadow Men that haunted me for a brief time before I knew what I was. Remnants of those who venerated the Lord of Nightmares; wretches of souls who can never know anything but the chaotic everything and nothingness that is the Sea of Chaos.

It made sense, the builders of the temple (who and whatever they were) made it so that only the current Knightmare would be able to find it once in the Vale.

The shades slowly walked in a purposeful direction, practically screaming at me to follow. I didn’t have a reason not to.

“This way,” I led on, trepidation and confidence building with each step.



“Over the river and through the wood-!”

“That’s enough!”

“Oh, come on!”

“Look, we’re here,” I stifled any other argument with that timely proclamation. It was up ahead, through a thick, uh, thicket. Tall and wide it was built. A stepped pyramid similar in style to the one’s on Mipross Island but seeming to be much, much more ancient. Gone were the fluted columns like those that adorned the structures on the Elven Isle. Only a dim black light emitted from the single opening at the pyramid’s precipice; an eerie but sure indicator that I had indeed reached the climax of my journey.

I could not see inside the building, even with my Knightmare abilities so I just turned it off. It was starting to drain me but not as badly as it would have if I were anywhere else but this place. I could still see the shades plain as day.

I was shaking all over, giddy with excitement and trepidation, a total body buzz like nothing I’d felt before. Hell, even my teeth and toenails were tingling.

“Looks like an interesting climb,” Gourry quipped. “Looks like your friends are back.”

“You can see them now?” I asked. “I followed them all the way here.”

“Really? I guess that means we really are at the end of a major part of our journey.”

“You sound reflective.”

“Maybe,” Gourry wistfully grinned. He then stared me right in the eye as he sat down on the first of the stone steps. “It’s just that I’m proud of you, ya know?”

“Gourry . . .” What was this, all of the sudden?

“You’ve been through the worst kind of hell, and . . .well, I don’t know how you do it, but you stayed so strong.”

Holy crap! He’s tearing up!

“H-hey!” I almost kept my voice from quavering. “What’s all this now? “ I hugged him fiercely, fast being overcome by emotion. “The only reason I’ve held it together for so long was because of you. And even then I’ve made some pretty bone headed moves. But how much worse they had been if it weren’t for you being there for me?”

It was soul-bearing time again. And no, it doesn’t get any easier with practice. Now, how do I say this without sounding too terribly corny?

Ah, hell. You’ve got an entire field’s worth, just spew it out.

“Somewhere, deep in my heart, that you and I are . . .more than just meant for each other.” I took a steadying breath and wiped some of my own tears away. “It’s like you were made to be my compass, my rock. I don’t know where I would be if you hadn’t stumbled upon me being attacked by bandits and unnecessarily rescuing me.”

“Dead or . . .uh, dead, I would think. You really do have a knack for making enemies?”

“That I do. But that’s what are kick ass team work is for right?”

“Such as it is.”

“What? Don’t you think we work well together?”

“No, it’s not that. But I get the feeling I’m gonna be left behind once you get that shard thingy I’m going to be left behind. I mean you barely need my to protect you anymore as it is.”

“Maybe it can be the other way around.”

“Maybe, but where would my pride as a man be?”

“I think in your pants.”

“Ha,” Gourry leaned back and I rested my head against his chest. Destiny can wait a few more moments.

“Do you think Zel and Amelia are really inside?” the swordsman asked?

“I don’t see how it is possible but we haven’t seen any other sign of them either.” I sighed, worried that my former friends got into a tangle with something they shouldn’t had. “I almost want to say that they found whatever they were looking for and had already left. Or they couldn’t find it and left.”

“I hope that they are okay,” Gourry shifted and stood up, drawing his sword.

“What?”

“I can hear fighting,”

“What!? That cannot be right! No one else knows about this place!”

“Only one way to find out!” Gourry led the charge, clambering up the stairs towards the black light entrance.

“Right . . . “ I muttered and raywinged after him, catching up in a second. Gourry was stopped just outside the entrance, looking rather perturbed as what to do next.

I peered inside the black-lit gloom, suddenly understanding the blonde bruiser’s trepidation. I couldn’t see anything inside but darkness. I switched over to Knightmare mode (which came surprisingly easy) but still could not penetrate the haze.
Well that sucks.

“Um . . .After you?” I pushed Gourry inside, not really knowing what he’ll encounter.

“Ahh!” My heart stopped at his sudden scream.

“What is it!?”

“It’s dark!”

“Idiot! Of course it’s dark!” And to think that I was on the verge of freaking out.

“I thought it might’ve been brighter inside!”

“Since when-!” I was cut off by a mocking laughter that I recognized all too well. But what was he doing here?

“Hidey-ho, Aiden!”

“That guy?” Gourry groused as he drew his sword. He was pretty easily defeated the last time we had faced the Knight of Shabranigdo. This was going to be a fun fight . . .

“Yes, and don’t forget this guy either,” Another voice rang out from behind and to Aiden’s right. Stridus suddenly appeared from that direction, stepping from behind a thick tree.

. . . I think that fun would now be considered an understatement.

This was not good. Aiden was probably more than what Gourry and I could handle. Adding Stridus to the mix surely doomed us. On top of that, if it really was Amelia and Zel inside the Temple having a scuffle, as I was fast becoming to believe, they would probably b next on the two Knights of Crazy’s hit list!

Assuming they survive whatever it is they are up against.

“Making new friends, Stridus? Or has Milgasia finally saw fit to send you after me?” I quietly began to chant under my breath. I needed every advantage I could get.

“Hardly,” Aiden answered for the Earth Dragon’s knight. “I wouldn’t kill you for him out of sheer principal. This is for my master’s sake.”

“Mil couldn’t make a real decision if his scaly hide depended on it. He doubts himself, Lina Inverse. And it is all your fault.” Stridus’s voice was pure, unadulterated venom. I knew he didn’t like me before, but damn . . .. I must’ve accidentally wiped my butt on his nightgown or something.

“My fault!?” My spell was done but his sudden revelation was to intriguing to pass up!

“You confused him! You were supposed to follow him without question! He is the High Priest of the Golden Dragons: Emissaries of Sylpheed himself! That you should ignore his authority for that of a demon of chaos is beyond reprehensible. Instead of punishing you severely as he should have, he is left dithering about, hoping you would come back to him like some ungrateful lost mongrel! He should’ve sent me to deal with you. But instead he sent your two powerless friends who did nothing to stop you from joining with the forces of evil.”

He looked around for a second before continuing. “But it seems the faith he placed in them, as well as in you, was indeed ill spent.” He drew his gigantic, clever-like blade and leveled it in my direction.

But before he could deliver his ultimatum . . ..

“Zellas Brid!” My spell finally escaped its metaphysical cage, kicking the incredibly unfair battle off with a color but deadly ribbon of light . . .or would have if it had worked! Gourry skidding to a stop and fell flat on his face, halting his would’ve been charge into the foray.

“Wah . . .?” I was dumbfounded but realized my mistake as soon as I heard Aiden’s laughter.

“That’s right, little girl,” the Knight mocked. “Black or Holy magic cannot work in this place as neither demons nor gods exert any influence here.”

“Your powers are diminished as well, why bother coming?” I’d bet my life Nightmare magic would still work here, but lets save that for when we really need it. It looks like I have two death defying battles to attend to today.

“I knew I wouldn’t have a better opportunity to finish you off than here and now, were we are on equal footing and have no superiors to get in my way. I recruited Aiden as he is more than willing to fight you on even terms.”

“That last fight was hardly a fight at all. I would love to see what you two could do now that any unfair advantages are taken care of.” Aiden boasted.

“This still is crazy! I thought you two were mortal enemies!?” I turned to Aiden. “Didn’t you get your hand cut off by him?”

“Oh, its been rectified,” Stridus cackled, proving that he was without a doubt, off the deep end. “See?!” he held up the severed stump that had taken the place of his left hand.

“Eye for an eye as my master always says,” Aiden said. “It was the only way I would agree to coming with him. Most enjoyable indeed.”

Oh. Well that’s that.

“Equal footing, eh?” Gourry smirked. “Well let’s can the talking and get to it, shall we?” He punctuated his request with a roaring battle cry and launched himself into a fierce duel with Aiden, who barely got his own crimson claymore up in time to parry.

If Gourry thought he was going to have it easy because of Aiden missing his full abilities as a Knight of Ruby Eye, he found himself to be sorely mistaken. Much like a city boy trying to milk a bull, the situation wasn’t pretty and liable to get you hurt. Aiden was proving himself to be more than a capable swordfighter; in fact I’d say that he was Gourry’s equal if there could be such a thing.

As for Stridus and myself, things got off to a shaky start with me beginning by using my full range of Shamanistic magic. First a Bephis Bring under his feet to preoccupy the leather covered goon followed by a flurry of Flare Arrows.

Stridus levitated over the near bottomless hole I had created and used his sword to parry the magical darts of fire away. He set down upon solid ground in front of the hole and sprinted towards me almost faster than I could manage.

I leapt to my right, going against my long ingrained instinct and was rewarded with Stridus missing me by a mile I threw a Rune Flare at him as I swung myself around to face him. The ball of red light flew by into the forest, exploding spectacularly and destroying only trees and some wildlife. Not the intended target that was aggravatingly close to my personal space while swinging a giant’s meat-clever!

I ducked below the murderous slab of steel and grabbed a hold of Stridus’ leg just below the knee.

“Digger Volt!” A lethal electric blast ate its way into the shrieking knight’s flesh, splitting skin and cracking bone with its intense heat. What I hadn’t intended was Stridus’ spasmodic jerking that caused his sword to whack me across the head with its flat side. Keep in mind the clever probably weighed more than I did.

I reeled, struggling to stay conscious. As my vision faded back and forth from clear to black I saw that my “lethal” blast of electricity apparently wasn’t lethal enough. Stridus was struggling to stand himself up again but failing miserably whenever he tried to put any weight on his mostly destroyed knee.

“D-damn you, Inverse,” The knight cursed.

I ignored him and chanted a recovery spell to speed up my aching head’s return to the realm of unhurtyness. I looked back up just in time to look back down, very quickly, to the mossy dirt. Stridus had apparently managed to cast a ray wing spell and had just tried to rush me.

How can he focus with that kind of pain?

Not only pain, but surely fatigue as well! I mean, he’s been swinging that obviously-over-compensating-for-something sword of his with only his one good hand for the duration of the battle. I hoped it would have turned out to be a joke like it was made out of cardboard or something but my noggin could already attest to the fact that it was not.

I pulled myself up in preparation for the next mad charge of the Earth Knight, dimly aware that something like this had happened to me before but I couldn’t quite remember, as if Gourry had decided to lend me one of his less than admirable attributes.

Arrgh! Damn you cranial trauma!

I couldn’t even see Stridus coming but my instincts led to my leaping to my left almost not in time as my cloak got a nice new rip in it. I could hear that Gourry and Aiden’s fight was still going full swing, leaving me still to fend for myself.

“Gah!” I screamed as something tore into my shoulder. My shoulder guards took the brunt of Stridus’s unexpectedly quick attack but I suspected I had a nasty gash by the spreading hot sensation spreading quickly all over my back.

“Paybacks a bitch, ain’t it ya bitch?!” The knight laughed and zoomed away in preparation for another dive-bombing attack.

If only Amelia or Zel were here!

Wait a minute . . .! Oh, Zel! You are going to love this when I tell it to you!

I kneeled, shifting my weight forward and held my sword out high in the air in front of me, grinning all the while but trying not to think of the inevitable mess that my soon to be had victory will ensure.

You see, a long time ago, when Gourry, Lantz, Zelgadis and I were fighting our way through the Miasma forest in order to deal with a copy of Rezo, we had the glorious opportunity to fight a flying fishman named Rahanimu. Lantz was having a heck of a time avoiding the anthropomorphic scaly swimmer that Zel eventually felt that he had no choice but to intervene. Rahanimu was fast, but he couldn’t change direction once he begin his dive-bombing attack. Zel took advantage of that weakness by doing exactly what I am employing now. Needless to say, Rahanimu was sliced in half with but the littlest amount of effort from Zel.

“Behind you.”

I shuddered at the unexpected whisper just before my back exploded with an impossible amiount of pain. My senses dimmed and I heard the anguished cry of Gourry. With the last of my rapidly waning strength I swung myself around and reached into Stridus’ leather jerkin. I pulled out an earth brown jewel the size of an infants fist. I weakly grinned in satisfaction as fear and shock stole the look of victory and revenge from the Knight’s face.

The jewel, the very object that gave Stridus control of his power vanished into nothingness borne from my own power. He may have hurt me bad, really bad, but with that relatively simple act I hurt him worse by far. No longer can Stridus call himself the Knight of the Earth Dragon, as the jewel had no replacement. He may still have preternatural strength, agility and skill, but now he can no longer effectively use his Knight abilities without quickly being exhausted.

Irony is a bitch, ain’t it?

My eyes shut and I could not find the strength to open them. I realized that this probably was not a good thing but I found myself mocking the situation.

Hahaha! This always happens to me! I get trashed: Gourry kills the baddies and escapes with me in tow, finding someway, somehow to heal me. It’s a wonder my body isn’t nothing but a mass of scar tissue.

Then something completely unexpected began to happen.

Well this is different, a bunch of white puffy clouds are drifting by. Since when did Gourry learn use ray wing? Or maybe he found Zel or Amelia and one of them is carrying me off? Where did all of these other people come from too? And why do they all have wings? I found myself touching down on a massive cloud filled with people.

“Hello, Lina,” A voice that I never expected to hear again greeted me. “I think you might’ve screwed up.”

“You know, Big Sis?” I wrapped her in a tearful hug and didn’t plan to let go. “I think you might be right.”



Tom the Mighty’s Mighty Notes.

Whoa, betcha didn’t see that one coming, did ya? Not even I saw that one coming! This completely screws up my plot-line but it was too good to pass up! What will happen next? Stay tuned next time for either Slayers: Knightfall or Slayers Knightfall Interlude 2, which ever comes first.

Oh, and who else was surprised to learn that Slayers Revolution is only a 13 episode series? I sure was!

Reviews are awesome and make me feel better as a writer. That was a hint.