Inside the snowy mountain, was dark, endless caves, build like a labyrith. It would take years for a monster to find his or her way out or into there. Just like where the clair bible was, but more dangerous. Traps were in every corner, and monsters were ready at any command given.
Deeper inside this mountain, was Beastmaster's room. Monsters were only sent there to be ordered, or to be talked to by Her. She was strict, and wanted everything done right. Or else....
She sat in a high dark room, where you could hardly see her face. She always sat high, and mighty, and gave examples to her monsters of how they should be in her presence. Respectful no matter what.
Her favourite monster was Xelloss. He was smart, and gave the most respect to her. Not to mention powerful as well. He never disobeyed an order, and was ready for more, at any given time. She let out a deep sigh, and leaned on her right hand, that was balanced on her armrest.
"Xelloss. Come to me." she said in a tired voice. Beastmaster figured if she wanted to solve this problem, she should use a good monster. And... it was time for that girl's vision to start happening.
The chair which where she sat was dark blue, and was made out of leather. She sat waiting for her servant, and made herself comfortable. The room was dark, but light enough to see all but details. Torches ligned the huge walls around her chair, and a dark purple carpet was layed before her. On the ends of her armrests were lions' heads, carved roaring with anger.
She waited, and waited. Until suddenly, Xelloss appeared before her smiling.
"Good evening, Beastmaster." said Xelloss as he kneeled before her, and kissed her left hand. He let go gently, and stood infront of her, ready for an order. "How may I be of service to you?" he asked with a grin on his face. He hasn't had a real job for awhile. It's been four years since he's last seen his companions, Lina, and her friends. And he was eager to get new orders. He preferred fighting something, than just laying around drinking coffee...
"There's a slight problem in the real world..." Beastmaster sighed, remembering a certain dragon. She leaned back in her chair and crossed her legs, moving her white dress aside, revealing a bit more of her legs. "I'd hate to send some weak fool after it, so I'm asking you." she said relaxing herself. Xelloss just grinned as he heard the real world. Maybe he could see Lina again. He wanted to play some more tricks with them before he returns to the Astral Plane.
"And what's bothering you beastmaster?" he asked trying not to look excited. He held his hands up in a questioning manner, with his mace in one hand, the other bare.
"I can tell that you're excited, Xelloss. So don't try to hide it. You can't hide anything from me." she explained while smirking in the dark. Xelloss felt beaten, so he just asked what the order was.
"The order. Yes." said beastmaster leaning forward. She was still in the dark, but you can now see that she was holding a wine glass in her left hand. Xelloss looked at it longing to have a sip, but then quickly payed his attention to his orders.
"I've detected some strange force, out of the Monster's Barrier. I'm not sure what it is yet, so that's one reason I'm sending you." she took a sip of her wine, and continued talking. Xelloss, in the meantime, kept the grin on his face, standing comfortable, and not that respectfully.
"It's seems threatening, so I want you to figure out what it is. Theres more than one of these things, and I detected a big one close to all the others." She paused, as she looked at Xelloss. His grin vanished, as he listened carefully, with no expression on his face.
"If it's threatening, eliminate them, no questions asked. If it's not, then ask them if they want to join us." she laughed. "We might as well get more monsters. I never have enough!" she laughed as she took a long sip from her wine glass, and then waved her hand at Xelloss.
"Well, you can go now, Xelloss. That's all the information I have for you. Don't disappoint me." she said setting her wine glass on a black table next to her.
"I won't, Beasmaster. Thank you." Xelloss said bowing, and then turning to leave. Beasmaster watched him walk a little distance away, trying to impress whoever was around, and then vanish into the darkness.
Beasmaster took another sip of her wine, and then sighed, sadly. "Be careful, Xelloss. It's not just another order. It's the order..."
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Her golden hair blew with the breeze, as she sat on a high rock, scanning the view. She stood up, and listened to the breeze and birds around her. It seemed so peaceful, and had pleasant sounds there. How could someone threaten to attack the Fire Dragon Temple? She thought for awhile, as she closed her eyes.
She was atop a rocky mountain, with a big rock at the tip, where she was standing. Her white cape flew with a rush of a breeze, and she sighed, causing herself to breath in the wonderful air. Slowly opening her eyes, she quickly scanned the scenery one last time. Nothing was there that seemed threatening, so she turned around and scanned behind her. Still nothing. She sat on the rock again, at the very edge of it, as her feet dangled on the cliff. The blond touched her blue ribbon on her chest, feeling the knot that held it together. No sign of her being a priestess was there anymore. She quit that job...
"Oh well.." she sighed. In the distance, she could see the Temple, standing high, still with that part of the wall that Lina and her friends built. Silly. She laughed at the thought. They were good friends, and she hoped that she'd see them again.
Yes, it was nice to see the temple still standing. After all, there are only very few golden dragons in the world. Just like Valgaav was reborn, some Golden Dragons were. If they'd fully perish, then the world would be unbalanced, and everyone knew that the Lord of Nightmares needs to keep it right. Unless.... unless she decides to ruin all existence. Human, Monster, and Gods.
The dragon girl started to think of Valgaav, and Jillas. Jillas was taking good care of Val for her, so there's no need to worry.
She has to find out what might make her vision come true. She knew it'd happen soon. But after all those years, she'd forgotten it all. Why? Why had she forgotten something that made her cry infront of her friends, and collapse? All she could remember, was that it definately had something to do with someone she knew very well. She stood up trying to ignore her thoughts, and looked over the edge.
"Where are you monster...... Where." she whispered to herself. "Huh..?" she said squinting her eyes. Right below the cliff, at the very bottom, she saw some sort of animal. Then suddenly, it vanished.
"What?!" cried Filia. She leaned more over the cliff, trying to see what was so suspicious. "WHOA!" she cried as she stumbled. She quickly tried to gain her balance back, wobbling back and forth, until she decided to fall backwards.
*Thump*
She landed right on her butt, and moaned with pain. "Well, atleast I didn't fall off the cliff..." she thought aloud. She slowly stood up, holding her hurt bum, and then whiped the dirt off of herself. She then got on all fours, and crawled her way to the edge of the cliff. This thing she saw was too suspicious to just leave it un-identified. She carefully leaned over the cliff, but then decided just to lay on her stomach. She peeked carefully over, and now saw blurriness. It moved slwoly, back and forth, infront of the cliff.
"What is that thing?!?" Filia asked herself. She sighed, and stood up. "There's only one way to find out!" she closed her eyes and nodded, as she started to walk down the cliff.
A breeze blew by her, making her sigh. She lazily climbed down, and almost tripped on a tiny rock. "Oooo! That was close." she continued her way down, and started hearing weird noises. "Huh?" she tip-toed from behind one rock to another. She was very close to the certain blurriness, and squinted her eyes to make it out.
"Shfitz. Shfitz. Shfitz." It said each time it slimed across the ground. It left a trail of green muck, making Filia want to puke.
"EEwww..." she whined. "It smells!" She covered her nose with her cape, and peeked closer to the object. It paused, and started sniffing the air. Slowly, it turned, showing Filia the evil eye.
"Shfitzzzzzzzzz." it growled.
'Is that all it can say?' Filia thought... "Uh-oh... He found me...!" she panicked, looking left to right. She just stood shocked, as the slimy thing walked towards her. She stared at it's feet, and then looked up at it's eyes.
It shfitz it's way over to Filia, and half way there, it paused. Dark blue tentacles were flowing around it's feet, making the slime. It's legs were extremely skinny, and a dark red. It's arms were also a dark shade of red, and it's chest was a dark, dark green. The face was... extremely..... ridiculous. It was dark green, with HUGE white eyes, with only a blue speck for a pupil. More blue tentacles replaced it's ears, and it's mouth and nose was nowhere to be seen.
"What is this thing...?!?!" Filia thought aloud. She looked at it more, and had a suspicious face on.
The creature was only wearing a spedo....... for some very odd reason.., and it was the same colour of the tentacles. It held up it's right hand, as if it were holding a ball. It's nails grew out of it's skin, and formed a sphere. Filia watched some more... and tried to figure out what it was doing.
"Umm... excuse me?" she said making the white eyes glare at her. "Uhh... do you by any chance have a threat against the Fire Dragon Temple...? Hehe.... ahem.." she said shyly. The creature slimed it's way closer to Filia, and in a bright blue flash, a dark greenish redish spear appeared in it's overgrown nails. It was about as long as the creature was tall, and looked extremely sharp.
Filia stared shocked, and noticed it was preparing to attack. "Alright, then! I guess you are a threat!" she said, glaring back. She held up her mace, and pointed at the still standing creature. "I won't have you destroy the Fire Dragon Temple!" she ordered, but the creature just stood it's ground, with only it's tentacles moving.
The dragon stood slightly shocked that it wasn't attacking, and slowly lowered her mace. The creature lowered it's weapon as well, shocking her even more.
They stared at eachother, not moving, and with their guard down. Filia started getting uncomfortable, with the only sound being its tentacles.
"Shfitz." the creature mumbled. "Shfitz!" it said louder. "Shfitz! Shfitz! Shfitz!" It repeated with a stronger voice. "SHFITZZZZZZZZZZ!!!" It yelled knocking the confused Filia over. A huge blue light appeared somewhere near the wall of the cliff, and blinded her.
"Ouch!" she whined as she squinted her eyes in pain. She opened her eyes to an army of the creature she saw before. "What!?!?!" she panicked. "Where'd they come from!"
"Shfitz............................." they started humming. One by one, they held up their hands, as their green nails grew longer. Filia couldn't count them. There were way too many.
She slowly stood up from the ground, and steadied herself. "Oh no you don't!" she threatened. She lifted up her mace, and stared at all of them.
"Ten. Fifteen. Twenty!" she counted. She growled in anger, and squinted to the bright blue light still shining on the cliff.
She focused all her power in her mace, and ran up to the nearest creature. "YYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!" she screamed, running. The mace extended, and she started flinging it around. "DON'T YOU THREATEN ME!!!" she yelled while bashing a bunch of creatures infront of her.
Their white eyes had x's in them, as they fell onto the ground.
Filia breathed heavily, after her numerous attacks. She looked around, and all she saw were dizzy creatures. "Phew!" she said wiping her forehead. "I guess that does it!" she turned proudly, and started walking away.
"Shfitz... Shfitz.... Shfitz! Shfitz!!!!!!!!" the creatures started calling. Filia paused, and turned around. The creatures were bringing themselves up off the ground, and held their weapon, ready for another attack.
"Huh?!!?" Filia gasped. "How could they..." she watched in disbelief, as all the creatures were aiming at her with their sharp spears. Her eyes widened, as numerous jumped up into the air, and hovered rapidly towards her. She quickly held her mace up, and started blocking the attacks, but they were so fast, and didn't lose strength.
"I won't be able to hold this for much longer...!" she said imbetween harsh breaths of attacking and blocking....
He flashed onto the edge, and watched the battle below him. "This certainly seems like the suspicousness I've been looking for." he smiled and vanished.
Re-appearing closer to the attack, he noticed that they were fighting quite an attractive girl. He saw from a far distance that she had strong attacks that were weakening the creatures, but not enough.
The creatures she was facing didn't seem recognizable to Xelloss, so he didn't know their strategies. He moved in closer, preparing himself to help the young lady, until he saw what she was using.
"A mace?" he asked himself. "Filia...?" he said quite shocked. Then a smile ran across his evil face, as he made himself comfortable in the air. "I'd like to see more of this!" he chuckled. His reactions towards Filia came back. The teasing, insulting, and trickster Xelloss was having fun again.
Filia gasped for air, as she started weakening. "Ugh!" she said taking another swipe at a creature. "I should have just used a spell! But-- I'm-- so much weaker!" she said imbetween attacks.
Xelloss noticed Filia's lack of breath, and considered whether he should help her or not. "Well.... if I don't help her, then who would I make fun of?" he smiled. "Here I come!" he said vanishing.
"I don't think-- I can hold on--- much longer--" moped Filia.
Xelloss hovered close behind Filia, and crossed his legs, while using his arms as a pillow. He smiled, and looked over at the suffering dragon, as he pointed with his staff at the mob surrounding her. He made a circle around the struggling Filia with his finger, and created a shield.
Filia gasped at the white substance around her, and collapsed to the ground thinking she'll thank the person who saved her later.
As Xelloss saw how weak Filia was, he knew he had to finish her fight. "Oh well.." he sighed. He looked away from the surprised and shocked creatures, and snapped his fingers. At that exact moment, all the creatures surrounding Filia exploded, making blue blood spray on everything, but the dragon and Xelloss. The bright blue that blinded Filia from the cliff also vanished, leaving only the two not-so-good friends.
Xelloss disappeared, and re-appeared beside the fainted Filia. "Hmmm..." he thought eyeing her. He then looked around at the creatures he just attacked, and shrugged.
The blue blood closest to him, was moved away as he sat on the ground beside Filia. He looked under the girl's cape, and searched by her side. She was laying on her left, and Xelloss was looking on her right.
"Nope... not there." he said. He then moved her so that she'd lay on her back, and then checked her left side. "Ahah!" he smiled. He pulled out a cup and teapot, and poured tea for himself.
"Want some?" he asked the fainted Filia. A second later... "Guess not." he shrugged, as he drank his tea. He thought about why beastmaster had sent him on such an easy mission. Then figured it wasn't over yet. His eyes widened, as he remebered his orders. He was supposed to ask if they'd join the monster race... then again, they were kind of threatening...
'Oh well!' he thought, still keeping a smile on his face. He looked over at Filia, as she started to revive from her fainted sleep.
"Ugh..." she moaned. "Where--?" she said slowly opening her eyes.
Xelloss thought for a second, and grinned. He knelt over Filia's face, and waited for her eyes to fully open. Keeping a big smile, he moved closer; almost nose to nose with Filia.
She looked up, and shrieked. "IIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! YOU!!" gasped the blond. She looked at the smiling Xelloss, and started getting mad. "You stole my tea....." she said after noticing, then looked at the pot in which it was in. It was empty.
"My.. my... What a wonderful way to treat a person that saved you!" Xelloss said sipping his tea.
"You selfish little--"
"Ah! No bad language, Filia-san!" he said holding up his index finger.
Filia growled, and stared at the drinking Xelloss. "What are you doing here..." she asked trying not to be self-centered.
"Well...." he paused, for a very very long time.......... "I can't tell you." he smiled.
"That's just like you!" Filia said sitting, and crossing her arms.
"Don't I get a thanks for helping you?" He asked.
Filia didn't answer. Her eyes closed, and her hair blew in the still blowing wind. She had to find out what that blue thing on the cliff was. And how did Xelloss kill so many creatures so easily?
Xelloss realized she wasn't going to answer, and payed attention to his orders. He saw the blue light on the mountain, so he wanted to check it out more. He placed his empty tea cup on the ground, and stood up to walk towards the bottom of the cliff.
Filia noticed Xelloss moving but once again ignored him, as she kept her eyes closed. She had to find out what these creatures were! Or else... she wouldn't know how to defeat them properly. She figured that there'd by more than just about twenty-five creatures threatening the Fire Dragon Tenple. And Xelloss is here too, but why? Ofcourse, he won't say.... She opened her eyes, and watched Xelloss place his hand at the bottom of the cliff.
"What are you doing?" she asked suspiciously. He knelt down, and placed his hand lower, still not answering Filia.
After awhile, Xelloss sighed, and stood up. He looked over at the dragon and smirked. "There seems to be a barrier here, and it'd take too much power for me to open it right now."
"Because you're not as powerful as you say you are?" said Filia lifting her head high, and tunring away from him.
"No." he replied irritated. "Only because I helped you. So I just want to take my time now, and relax...." he sighed, as the wind blew through his hair.
Filia glared at him, enveying his peacefullness. Then again, why should she envy a monster? She shook her head at her thoughts, and looked at the Fire Dragon Temple in the distance.
Xelloss followed her gaze, and smiled. It brought him so many memories of the Slayers, and made him happy at the thought. Even though... it's just a memory.
"So what are these things.....?" said Filia becoming relaxed.
Xelloss walked up to the blond, and sat accross from her. "Well, I'm actually not sure. They could be from anywhere, really. And I've never seen these creatures before." he admitted, still keeping a smile.
Filia pulled her knees up to her chin, and placed her head atop of them. She sighed, and closed her eyes. After a long time searching and fighting, all she wanted to do was rest.
Xelloss looked at his aquaintance, and raised an eyebrow. She was falling asleep. He wasn't tired, since monsters basically aren't, so he looked at the blue blood near him. He took a jar out of a pack he was carrying, and placed some blood in it. "We could probably make experiments on this blood." he whispered to himself.
"Mmmhmm..." mumbled the half-awake Filia. She breathed deeply, and the sky was getting darker by the minute. The blue shade was turning pink, and Xelloss looked up at the change. Clouds were moving so slowly, and the colours seemed too gentle to the trickster.
He smiled at the helpless Filia thinking he could play a fun trick on her, but then decided she needed the rest.
"I'll be back." he smiled standing up. "I wonder if Lina and her friends are around.... Oh well..." sighing, he disappeared. Leaving Filia alone in the coming darkness.
