Slayers: Alive
Episode 106: Cycle! Worse Comes To Worst
"A girl who has justice on her side..." Amelia's voice was carried all over the deck of the party cruise, with the use of a cute little wand that amplified sound waves.
Blocking out the annoying song, Zelas looked at Celo as if silently telling him to follow her. He did, swiftly excusing himself politely from his previous conversation, and following his master below deck. Once they were away from prying eyes and ears, Zelas voiced a simple, yet meaningful request, "report."
Celo's relaxed expression turned serious as he went over the most important aspects that he had to inform. "The research team has reported that there were indeed magical traces in the area where Onyx recovered her elf form. Thankfully, the underground structures were magically enforced so, despite suffering considerable damage due to the recent earthquake, the cave-ins were not sufficient to halt the studies. It seems there was something sealed in her, possibly the reason why her power was so great when she was initially an elf. A seal was placed on her that turned her human and locked that something even deeper, unable to manifest its power."
Celo continued, "the thing sealed in her must have been very powerful to leave such a clear energy signature behind in the astral space near that area. The theory about the power being drained to make Onyx recover her elf form was mistaken. She recovered because the seal that made her human was broken, not only that, but also the seal that held that power inside her was also broken. We have concluded that the spell that the Lord of Nightmares placed in her was actually magic to weaken those seals. When Onyx found herself close to death, the reaction sped up the process of breaking the seals. She is a normal elf now; the thing that was previously sealed in her since birth is gone."
"That thing is..." Zelas questioned, pointing out with her inquiring expression that she did not like the fact that the vital piece of information was still missing.
"My apologies, lord Beast Master," Celo lowered his head apologetically. "We do not know what it was, though it was similar yet opposite to the energy of the Lord of Nightmares, perhaps related to the Stillness, possibly the Void."
"Ah yes, the prophecy written by that dragon," Zelas recalled. A dragon had been on a journey some distance away from Milgazia's main group. That dragon was being tracked by monsters without his knowledge. He received a vision that he wrote on a scroll, but that scroll was never seen by the other dragons. Its author soon became a victim to the monsters and later the main ingredient of Zelas' delectable dragon cuisine. "The prophecy theorized that the Lord of Lamentation, the Void and the End aside from being alternate names for the Stillness that the Lord of Nightmares rejected, are also the names of the three pieces that the Stillness was broken into. The dragon saw them as entities similar to Darkstar, which was a mistaken interpretation. I'm under the impression that the one that is known as the Green Alchemist is the Lord of Lamentation. That being uses trickery manipulating people and their weaknesses, their lamentations."
"Yes," Celo agreed with the theory. "If Onyx's emotionally toned down personality, where she only reacts to extreme situations or particular subjects, is any indication, she was being affected by what was sealed in her, the Void. If our theories are correct, Lamentation is representative of mourning, as opposed to determination. It is to accept things as they come without putting up a fight; it is inaction, a true part of Stillness, the physical part of not doing anything."
"Most likely," Zelas agreed. "The Void would then be the mental part of Stillness, it is the second phase. After action is not taken, the next step of still indifference would be to stop thinking about things. If Lamentation weakens the body with famines and physical harm, then the Void would weaken the mind with apathy and indifference. The last part is the End, the reaper, when the body takes no action and the mind has no thoughts, there is nothing, that being has ceased to exist. Humans are fragile, but if the lowly creatures become extinct, it will be us monsters who will suffer the famine next and become trapped in the same cycle that extinguished human life. I have already decided that I stand for chaos. This world will suffer at my hand for all eternity if it's up to me. I cannot grant it the mercy of dying to become something else, very much less let it die forever."
Celo chuckled with infinite pride and admiration for his master's determination. "Talk about being cruel to be kind."
Zelas laughed at the irony of opposing concepts and how they needed each other to exist. "Without a little bit of kindness, no one would be able to appreciate cruelty. The more comfortable a life style is, the more tragic it would be to break it and the more delicious. Perhaps the Lord of Nightmares isn't simply telling us to stop this, maybe she's asking, are you worthy of existing? Can you defeat what I defeated within myself?"
"The answer should be obvious," Celo smiled with admiration. "The great Beast Master shall be victorious."
With a very wolf like expression, Zelas assured, "at any cost. Be sure to stay alert for the manifestation of the Void, it has been released and will probably not remain quiet for long."
xoxox xox xoxox
Meanwhile, on top of the cruise's deck, a pure white dove landed on the railing next to Milgazia and Memphis. The bird was not a monster, as convenient as monster birds could be as couriers; golden dragons preferred not to resort to such tactics and just used normal messenger birds. Milgazia examined the message carried by the dove with growing dread that not even the gallons of alcohol that he had recently consumed could alleviate.
"The lands previously affected by the famine have slowly become unresponsive to recovery treatments." Milgazia grimly informed Memphis, who seemed rather out of it still. "Furthermore, there are other lands that are being affected by famines and the supplies of the golden dragons are running out as well as the supplies from the countries that were trying to help. People are losing hope..."
"Hmm..." Memphis looked at Milgazia, her eyes almost focused, almost. Then she looked back at the sea and let out a tired dazed breath with no further reaction to a situation that would certainly produce a much stronger reaction had she been in her full senses. She would be pissed off the next morning when she had a killer hangover, though she might at least find consolation in thinking that the event involving the dragon cuisine was all a bad dream.
Milgazia knew that the plan the golden dragons had come up with would fail. He couldn't simply say that this was a common enemy of the monsters and dragons and suggest joining forces. Zelas didn't want to join forces and though Milgazia could see the bigger picture beyond all prideful stubbornness, he wasn't fond of the idea either. Besides, he had only spoken about the truth with Zelas, not the other monster lords, whom he suspected were in the dark. Suddenly, their presence at the party made a little more sense.
Dynast and Dolphin were unsure about what was going on and wanted information from Zelas. That's why they were behaving in her party; information was what fueled their truce. Zelas would probably give them a believable lie to get them out of the way. It would be another story of a deranged human turned chimera, who tapped into more power than he could handle and tried to take over the world. They would probably believe it too; it seemed essentially less controversial then the truth.
xoxox xox xoxox
"It's time to cut the cake!" Tiffany happily announced as several very large chocolate cakes were brought over from the astral side.
"Cake!" Lina and Gourry blissfully exclaimed in a happy chorus of gluttony. They were first in line, hoping to each claim a cake to themselves.
While most of the guests were distracted by the sight of the delicious cakes, Naga got a hold of the magically enhanced sound amplifying wand. Martina and Sirene stood left and right of her as the three took in deep breaths and let their laughter of doom echo. The guests, even the monsters, dropped to the floor of the deck holding their hands over their ears in agony. Coincidentally, another earthquake took place, rocking the ship violently. Most actually didn't mind, since it made the horrible laughter stop, causing several people to contemplate that drowning was probably much more pleasant than listening to that infernal laughter again triple and amplified.
The cruise was assaulted by another onslaught of continuous tidal waves, which this time succeeded in making the large luxurious vessel capsize. Screams of panic echoed from the non-monsters as the monsters took refuge by retreating to the astral side. Thankfully, there were enough skilled magic users around to cast a sufficient force of levitation spells to get everyone to safety. Unfortunately, the cakes, which had already been ruined by the tidal waves, were lost at sea.
"The cakes!" Lina Inverse agonized as she joined the survivors on the shore of the disaster zone that was Amor Resort. "Everything was going so well, we had such a wonderful meal. A delicious meal of the most amazing steaks I've ever tasted deserves the perfect dessert!"
"Steaks?" Filia questioned, her face twisting in anger. "You ate that meat too?"
"Yup, we all did," Gourry happily and truthfully replied, not knowing what he was getting into. "Zelas is an amazing cook!"
"That was dragon cuisine!" Filia shouted in angry indignation.
"Cuisine from your home land?" Amelia innocently inquired, hoping and wishing that was the answer.
"No," Filia seriously confessed, her face set in displeasure. "It was dragon meat, golden dragon meat. It was Milgazia's friend."
Amelia felt the guilt rising in her. "I'm so sorry. We didn't know." Zelgadis joined the condolences in hopes of calming Filia's rage.
Lina on the other hand, was walking over to Milgazia, eyeing him suspiciously. He noticed the red haired human looking at him up and down with a foreboding sensation that told him she was not motivated by admiration. "Is something wrong?" He was almost afraid to ask.
"You look delicious," Lina grinned in a wolfish way that reminded Milgazia of Zelas, and he really didn't want to be reminded of her.
Milgazia backed away at the same time that Galathia arrived out of the astral side, just in time to catch Lina's remark. "Milgazia is a total hottie, isn't he? It's a pity he doesn't show as much skin as Phythan. If a young one like Phythan is that hot, I wonder how hot a dragon in his prime could be..."
Zelas joined the conversation, fading out of the astral side as well. "He's not hot yet, but he might be hot soon, in my oven." She licked her lips in an odd mix between hungry, seductive, wild and predatory. Being around golden dragons that transformed right in front of her made her hungry for something meatier than misery.
"Aw, but he's too handsome to eat!" Galathia complained.
Turning her own argument from earlier against her, Zelas replied by pointing out, "gluttony is a sin too."
Milgazia shuddered and backed away. Honestly, he had more than enough of crazy women who wanted to do inappropriate things to him, culinary or otherwise. Memphis would have said something about the improper comments, but she was too out of it to really notice. She would certainly be cursing alcohol in the morning.
While people theorized about if whether or not the earthquake was caused by the massive destructive sound waves of the combined laughter of doom, it started to sink in that the party was over, mostly because the party's location had already sunk. Thus the guests, who were stranded at the resort island until ships could come pick them up to take them to their homes, gave the newly weds their last round of congratulations and went to find places to camp out among the rubble of the destroyed buildings.
xoxox xox xoxox
As she sat around one of the many campfires in the shattered remains of the once splendorous Amor Resort, Filia thought of many things. She had overheard people talking about their homes and how they wished the seismic activities were not too bad there. Courier monster birds were sent to gather news of the state of other lands and to request transportation off the island. Albeit earthquakes had been felt in other lands, they were not as bad as the violent shaking that assaulted the Amor Resort island. It was almost as if the island was being purposely targeted. As if someone wanted to pick a fight, or maybe show off power. It all had to be related to the same enemy.
Reports of the land becoming dried up and infertile were becoming more frequent. When the news reached Philionel and he shared it via Jarde, Lina was very upset thinking that the promised triple banquet at Seyruun would have to be postponed again. She threw a big hissy fit about how it made the wasted cakes even more tragic. The gluttonous redhead spent the rest of the night eyeing Milgazia hungrily along with Gourry, who had taken to doing the same. Poor Milgazia didn't get a single second of sleep, not that he would dare to risk it.
It all made Filia think that the strange tree-like magical chimera device that Narcissus had under his mansion was not the only one. Who knew how many of those there were? It would be very hard to find them all, even harder to stop them and more so to stop them on time, as the land's condition was worsening fast. The lands in other continents across the sea were not holding up any better and couldn't really afford to send much help. Even the emergency supplies of Seyruun and of the golden dragons were running out. Something had to be done or the world was doomed, plus once Milgazia went home, Filia would probably be next on Lina's menu.
Filia was at least thankful to have been able to find a blanket, to avoid freezing in her showy dress. It was a tiny detail, but it would be that much worse to deal with deadly stress and the cold all at once. The temperatures were rapidly dropping as the winter settled in, cutting the autumn short. Filia held little Val in her arms, keeping him as warm as she could as he slept.
Xellos was sleeping next to her, both of them leaning on Fang, who was now in his fox form, playing the part of a warm and fuzzy giant black pillow. Xellos was going to have a killer hangover in the morning and would probably complain about his honey moon being ruined, but that would be the least of their worries with the current happenings of the world. The end of the world was imminent and something had to be done to stop it.
xoxox xox xoxox
Eventually, ships did brave the irritated ocean to pick up passengers and transport them to and from Amor Resort. Celo and Tiffany would remain behind to keep an eye on the rebuilding process. Zangulus and Martina, who had plenty of rebuilding experience from the work in progress that was the Kingdom of Zoana, were given high positions overseeing the process. Kally, Kalio, Medusa and Sylphiel were assigned to help with the process as well. Sylphiel surprised everyone with her architectural talent, designing the blueprints of the new and improved resort. Pokota, Wizer and all the other guests returned home. As for Onyx, Phythan and Fang, they were sent on a journey to travel the world and report their findings to Beast Master; a monster lord could never have enough spies.
Despite the resort being in shambles, after some further consideration, it was opened to the public, advertising a new theme: 'Love at the World's End.' Apparently the tourists thought it was romantic to pretend the world was ending, assuring that even if it did their love wouldn't end. Couples claimed that this was a lovely idea that would bring them together without the distraction of worldly things such as rides and souvenir shops. Many were even tricked into performing free labor, because constructing something together was such a wonderful bonding experience. Of course, they only thought the end of the world was romantic because it was play pretend. If they knew that the end of the world was actually happening, a gigantic world wide panic would ensue.
After many goodbyes and well wishes, Lina, Gourry, Amelia and Zelgadis joined Philionel on his journey back to Seyruun. Naga went back to roaming the world, while Gravos and Jillas returned to the Maces and Vases shop. Naturally, Elena and Palou also went. Filia wanted to check on her shop thus she, Xellos and Val also returned to town. She intended to catch up to Phil's group later and look into the happenings of Seyruun. Apparently, the prince was being requested to return in a hurry, despite the kingdom not being significantly damaged by the relatively gentle earthquakes that were felt in that area. The problem was that the citizens had become terribly unmotivated and a massive depression was overtaking the whole kingdom, rendering it unable to function.
Filia wanted to do something to help, but she didn't want to place Val in such a depressing setting, thus she knew it was best for him to stay in her town with Jillas and Gravos, assuming that her home there was still standing. When they did arrive in town, they found that the damage wasn't as bad as they feared. There were cracks all over the walls of Filia's shop, as well as every other structure in town, including Elena's house. Many of the vases were thrown to the floor and broken, though no more than the amount Filia had thrown at Xellos' face when he visited her one day some time before he was cursed and his life was turned upside-down.
After the damage report was done, Filia gave her farewells, hugging little Val and telling him to be good. Xellos being Xellos, advised Val to keep things lively by getting into mischief. Thus with their son in the care of his trusted uncles, Filia and Xellos headed off to Seyruun to see just how bad the situation there was.
xoxox xox xoxox
After a relatively uneventful journey with only a few minor earthquakes here and there, Filia and Xellos arrived at Seyruun. The city had an aura of depression around it. It was so strong that one did not need to be an empath to perceive it. Even so, the strangest thing was that it was decorated with bright festive colors, though the zombie-faced, barely alive, people on the streets didn't seem to notice or care. Maybe the decorations were all part of Amelia's efforts to cheer people up, though it didn't appear to be working very well.
Xellos was thankfully long since over his horrible hangover, with its constant nauseous feeling and awful headache finally gone. He passed the time as he and Filia walked to Seyruun castle by throwing around hints about how she still owed him a honey moon, which Filia, with a rosy face, promised she'd give him when they had some time to relax. For the time being however, they would be far too busy getting caught up in Amelia's latest scheme...
To be Continued
There are a whole bunch of the challenge themes from Beloved Enemy scattered throughout the story.
I just started a new story titled Slayers: Days. Let me know what you think so far!