To Live Another Day 42

To Live Another Day

Episode Forty-Two: Feeling The Aftershock

In the mountainous region a relatively short distance away from the town, Lina and company were scouring the ground, looking for the spicy herbs they needed. They had left a trail of knocked out bandits and monsters in their path and obtained some loot because of that. Even so, it wasn't enough, Lina wouldn't give up and she wouldn't let anyone give up, until she found what she was looking for.

"Miss Lina, the sun just set, we won't be able to find anything in the darkness." Amelia pointed out tiredly. She was all up for bringing justice to the evil in their own hideout, but she was tired from doing so continuously without rest.

"Light!" Lina's reply to Amelia's plea was to light up the atmosphere with a spell. "That should make things easier. Let's keep looking, the spicy herbs have to be around here somewhere!"

"There they are!" A new band of monsters arrived. They looked like sharks with spider legs and bat wings and they came in a variety of shades of gray and red.

"More of them?" Zelgadis was becoming very annoyed with the constant interruptions.

"We know you're hiding him. Beast Master Zelas has monsters positioned all around this mountain, blocking the path. That's because her weakened general is here. We managed to sneak past the guards and what do we find? Many fallen allies and Lina Inverse. Rumor has it that you've become Xellos' slave, so he must be near by!" The leader of the monsters, a dark red specimen of the strange species claimed.

"For the millionth time, I'm not Xellos' slave, I'm his bodyguard!" Lina yelled exasperated.

"I still don't get it, why are the monsters so sure that Xellos is here? They even threatened the bandits into going after us." Gourry expressed his perpetual confusion.

"I told you stubborn idiots that Xellos is at Celo's resort. You should know that Celo is one of Beast Master's monsters. It's only logical that Xellos would find refuge in a place like that!" Lina lied. She wasn't about to put Xellos in danger and jeopardize her bodyguard wages by revealing his real location. In truth, Lina was as confused as Gourry. It seemed that word had gotten around that Xellos was in a vulnerable human state and there were more than a few monsters out to get him.

"Lies!" The monsters argued as they continued their stubborn attack. The way things played out it almost looked as if Zelas was leading the monsters away from Xellos and towards Lina for their extermination. She concluded that it was more hard work for her to be away from her client than it was to actually guard him. That also explained why it was taking a while for the monsters to come avalanching in, Zelas must have been secretly doing her part. Strangely, Lina got the impression that Xellos wasn't counting on any of that. Yet perhaps Lord Beast Master wasn't about to throw away a competent general so easily just because he was having a time of weakness.

"That's it, I'm getting pissed off!" Lina loudly declared in a dangerously threatening tone. "Darkness beyond twilight, crimson beyond blood that flows, buried in the stream of time is where your power grows."

"What about the spicy herbs?" Gourry urged. if Lina blew up the mountain they were on, she would destroy the spicy herbs that were apparently hidden there along with it.

Lina didn't listen and continued chanting her spell. "I pledge myself to conquer all the foes who stand, before the mighty gift bestowed in my unworthy hands."

"There's no reasoning with her!" Zelgadis concluded. Lina was beyond the end of her patience and no one could stop her now.

"Let the fools who stand before me be destroyed, by the power you and I possess..." Lina was ready to launch her powerful spell and level the mountain.

"Retreat!" Following Amelia's wise advice, she, Zelgadis and Gourry ran for their lives.

With a more pissed off tone than usual, Lina released the spell, "Dragon Slave!" The large amassment of monsters was immediately destroyed along with the mountain and all the vegetation in it in a brilliant flash of light and a big explosion.

xoxox xox xoxox

Meanwhile, at the astral space where Xellos, Filia and Venus were, the glowing seed that was the core of power for the enemy tree snake chimera overloaded with the power of Xellos' Dragon Slave, causing a massive chain reaction. Outside of the astral space in town, Gravos, Jillas and Naga had been struggling to keep the constantly regenerating enemies at bay when the trees suddenly dried up and were left motionless. In the astral space the atmosphere turned unbearably hot as the seed became unstable distorting the area.

Venus knew she wouldn't stand a chance to win the fight without her chimera. She recklessly threw herself at the unstable seed in an effort to contain its power. Her recent fusion was somehow undone as Alys and Aya's corpses were thrown out of her body, leaving Venus with her older appearance. It was the appearance that Filia knew as Hanna. "Xellos, you are no doubt still doomed, another will kill you where I could not. Curse you Filia! Curse you for protecting that useless monster!" A terrible malice emerged from Venus with her last breath as the astral space vanished and the aftershock threw Xellos and Filia into a different location.

xoxox xox xoxox

Lina, Gourry, Amelia and Zelgadis found themselves in the middle of a crater with no vegetation left. It once was a mountain covered in green, but it was gone now. "The herbs! The spicy herbs are gone!" Lina lamented a little too late.

"It's okay Miss Lina, maybe we'll still be able to find some," Amelia tried to console her even if her optimism was obviously not realistic. "I hope you learned your lesson, you need to think of the consequences before you blow up a mountain... or blow up anything."

"This is Lina," Zelgadis pointed out as a matter of fact while the group made their way out of the crater and reached the ground level. "She never thinks of the consequences."

"You should be thinking of the consequences of being so cruel!" Lina retorted, "can't you see I'm in the middle of mourning my spices?"

A bright flash of light in the distance caught the group's attention. "What was that?" Gourry pointed in the direction of the town. "Do you think it was some kind of falling star? We should make a wish!" He squinted at the distant location, noticing that something was off, "did there used to be that many big trees around town."

"I'm pretty sure those weren't there when we left," Amelia recalled with growing worry. Trees randomly popping out couldn't be a good sign.

"That light just now almost looked like the Dragon Slave," Zelgadis observed.

Lina's countenance changed, with an urgent look of alertness replacing her mourning gaze. "That really was the Dragon Slave," she concluded. The hasty redhead would recognize her favorite spell anywhere. "I taught Xellos how to cast it and warned him that he should only use it in cases of emergency. Given his situation and the possible dangers, I doubt he would waste energy on a Dragon Slave without a good reason."

"Oh no!" Amelia gasped, "the enemies must have learned of Xellos' real location!"

"I don't think this is the same enemy," Zelgadis pointed out. "Those are trees out there, who do we know that uses trees to attack?"

"A bird? A forest ranger?" Gourry guessed.

"No!" Lina explained, "the Green Alchemist! We never did finish our business and evil cults tend to keep coming back until the big boss is beaten. I guess that means we're in for a fight, let's go!" Thus the group rushed back to town, even if unknown to them, the fight was already over.

xoxox xox xoxox

"Xellos! Xellos!" When Xellos woke up, he had a very sharp pain on his head, which was noticeable even beyond the harsh aches and pains that assaulted his whole body. "You're alive, I'm so relieved."

Xellos noticed he was in Filia's arms and she was crying, but she wasn't healing his wounds. "You know, instead of crying you could use a recovery spell," he pointed out painfully.

Filia looked sad and worried, she too was covered in wounds, "I can't, it won't work. All my magic is gone."

Xellos stared at her and noticed that her hair was no longer blond, it was white. She was drained of all power and wouldn't recover for a few days, or worse. "Did she really curse you?"

"Yes, Venus used her terrible malice and hatred to drain away my power and seal it. When I came to, I was here, in this forest, but I don't know how I got here. I found you unconscious and it looks like you hit your head." She gently touched the affected area and Xellos cringed in pain. "I tried to heal you and noticed that I couldn't. That's not all..."

Xellos' blurry senses cleared out and he was able to feel the presences all around them. "This is no forest, not in the usual sense at least. We're still on the astral side; we were just thrown into a different part, a private space. There are monsters all around."

"What are we going to do?" Filia's fright became evident on her face.

"Don't get scared," Xellos urged, though he was having more trouble than he would ever admit with that himself. "Fear will only empower them. I wish I could have talked Lina into teaching me the Ragna Blade, but she insisted that it was too dangerous and that the Dragon Slave would be more than enough. I can't move in and out of the astral space freely as a human and I can't cut through. With your powers sealed, it looks like we're stuck here." Xellos got to his feet with some difficulty. He and Filia were both visibly in bad shape.

There was some rustling from the trees and a monstrous vulture with razor sharp metallic feathers dived towards the pair. They immediately dropped to the ground and dodged the attack just in time. Yet the assault was only getting started. The other monsters felt motivated to join in after the vulture took the first try. A strange creature similar to a bear with fur the color of flames, giant black claws and glowing yellow eyes emerged from the bushes with a hungry menacing growl. Several similar creatures, some more grotesquely composed than others, soon surrounded Xellos and Filia.

"I know you we shouldn't be afraid, but we're surrounded and helpless!" Filia saw her life flash before her eyes. She regretted her ignorance in younger days. She was glad that she was able to see the light. She regretted not knowing for certain that the town was safe, that her friends were safe, that her son was safe. If they did survive, she gladly gave her life for that, but she was still saddened that she wouldn't be able to see Val hatch. She looked at Xellos; she regretted not being able to fully figure him out, to understand his thoughts beyond his acting. She regretted more strongly than she could ever guess, that his life was about to end too.

"We can't outrun them." This was it, it was the end. He couldn't find a cure, he couldn't recover his power and now he was going to be devoured by monsters much lesser than himself. He didn't have the strength left to cast a single spell; he could barely stay on his feet. Filia would be killed, she would be torn apart by those creatures and the mere thought of that filled him with a deep frustrating rage. If he had his monster powers, none of those beasts would be able to touch her.

A loud howl was heard as another beast arrived on the scene. The creature was as tall as a large horse with a body that very much resembled a wolf covered in black fur. It had the face of a wolf with long fangs like a saber tooth tiger. Its ears were fox-like with a bit of white on the tips. Its massive clawed paws were also white, as were the tip of its tails contrasting with the rest of its black fur covered body. It had two tails, similar to fox tails, each half as wide as its body and about two thirds as long. The most stunning feature were its ferocious silver eyes, there were no pupils no irises, just a pair of glowing silver orbs mesmerizing the being's prey. The beast had a black collar with silver spikes on it, symbolizing that it belonged to someone, a very powerful someone to be able to keep such a pet.

The beast threatened the fire colored bear, who didn't appear to have any intentions of backing away. The bear lunged forward, but the wolf-fox being was faster. It jumped straight up and landed on the bears back not even needing to use its claws. The bear's body produced a sickening cracking sound as its spine and ribs were fatally crushed. Mortally wounded, the bear monster crawled away as soon as the silver-eyed beast got off it dismissively.

Three vultures, led by the one who attacked before, swooped down on the beast. With amazing speed and power, the black predator produced blue flames from its mouth that reduced the bird monsters to ashes. The surrounding creatures took this as their cue to leave, running for their lives. No prey, however appetizing, was worth dying for. The ferocious beast kept its silver eyes on Xellos and Filia as it made its approach at a luxurious, almost mocking pace. It knew that there was no way the living creatures before it could manage to run away.

"Xellos..." Filia let out what she felt could be her last breath as she clung to him. This was it; they were both going to supper a painful gruesome death at the claws, teeth and raw strength of that terrifying creature! The beast looked as if it would pounce, making no effort to hide its intentions. Then it happened, the creature jumped and Xellos pushed Filia out of the way, being tackled into the ground. "Xellos!" Filia cried out in horror. Then she heard something peculiar...

"Haha, stop it, hahaha, c'mon, quit it, that tickles! Hahahaha!" Filia stared with wide eyes as the ferocious beast licked Xellos like some kind of puppy that was all too glad to see its master. "Get off Fang, you're crushing me!" The creature obeyed, sitting obediently by Xellos' side as the man sat up with a hand on his torso. "Ow, I think you messed up my ribs worse than they already were. Human bones are so terribly fragile." Xellos finally got to his feet, using the animal sitting on the ground beside him for support.

"What just happened?" Filia was dumbstruck beyond understanding. "You know this wolf?" She demanded.

"Fang is a fox, or a monster fox at least," Xellos explained as he gave the beast called Fang a pat on the back. "He's one of Lord Beast Master's pets."

"You idiot!" Filia screamed in enraged agony. "I thought we were going to die and it turned out one of your allies was here to save us all along? Why did you have to scare me like that?" She reproached harshly.

"How was I supposed to know Fang would come?" Xellos argued. "Besides, given my current form, he could have betrayed me and bitten my head off. I guess he's especially fond of me since I would play fetch with him when Lord Beast Master was too busy." He maintained a calm expression, it seemed that the tragedy had passed, at least for now. His cheerful face didn't have a single hint of the deadly fear he was unfortunate enough to experience before. Yet strangely, his senses felt heightened and precise beyond what his exhaustion should allow. He attributed it to a human's stubborn desire to survive even when the situation was apparently hopeless.

Filia was fuming with anger, "liar! You knew we were safe from the second you saw that, Fang monster thing!"

Fang growled at Filia and she let out an undignified little squeak. For a second she thought the beast would attack her. She needed to watch herself or that thing really would bite her head off. She needed to remember that Xellos was not Fang's master, Zelas was. Plus Xellos was not truly her general at the moment; he was a human who couldn't stop Fang if he decided to act out of line. Then the large beast let out a little whimper and lay down at Xellos' feet like an injured puppy.

"Look what you've done, you heartless dragon," Xellos petted Fang's head gently. "It's okay boy, I still appreciate you. I'm not a terrible ingrate who would be mean to the one who just save me from a painful death. Don't take it personally; golden dragons are just cruel by nature."

Filia felt a heavy wave of guilt fall upon her. "I'm sorry," she approached Fang cautiously. "I'm really sorry I was mean to you, Fang. I'm not angry with you, I was just worried that Xellos and I were going to die and the scare made me act and speak harshly." It didn't look like Fang was going to attack her, so Filia tried petting him. "Will you forgive me?" Before she could even blink, she found herself on the ground with the large animal on top of her, having tackled her in a similar way to Xellos earlier. The creature licked her face and wagged its two tails. The being looked like a wolf, Xellos claimed it was a fox, but it was acting just like a dog. "Okay, okay, I get it, hahaha, we can be friends, hehehe, that really does tickle." When Fang finally released her and Filia was on her feet again, she observed, "you two really are similar. Fang guilt tripped me just like you've done before."

"He's a smart fox," Xellos grinned. "Also a very powerful one, he's a high level monster. Only those at the level of the monster lords and generals would be safe if he ever got really mad. He doesn't usually go into combat though; he's more of a show pet than anything else. Nonetheless he's trained to fight if needed."

"A show pet..." Filia could almost picture the monster lords walking their pets in front of an audience of high level monsters, waiting to be judged. She pushed the silly thoughts away; they weren't completely safe just yet. "Can Fang get us out of the astral side?"

"Of course, well Fang, get us out of here. I still have some business to take care of on the other side." The beast held his right paw over his black nose and whimpered. "What? Are you trying to tell me I smell like a human? Quit covering your nose, I know the scent of humans doesn't actually bother you, you're just throwing my condition in my face, you ungrateful mutt."

Fang's next action left Filia staring in amazement, "did he just blow raspberries at you?"

"He can be a little too playful sometimes. C'mon Fang, I really need to go back," Xellos insisted with a growing worry in the back of his mind. Fang lowered himself to the ground next to Xellos, making a little growling noise. He looked at Xellos then looked forward. "I see, you want me to follow you and you'll even give me a ride?" Fang nodded. "I can walk on my own." Xellos crossed his arms and pouted.

"Quit being stubborn and just get on," Filia insisted. "You know we both can barely stand and Fang is our only hope of survival in this place."

Xellos looked at the monster fox then gave Filia a meaningful look. "Unless he's delivering us to our doom. If my lack of progress has truly disappointed Lord Beast Master, she might want to finish me off with her own hands..."

To be Continued

Disclaimer, I don't own Slayers. Venus has been defeated, but the danger is far from over...