Slayers 1. Prologue: Fear

AN: I do not own Slayers.

Slayers SHADOW

Prologue: Fear

"He he heh. Well done, boys!"

There was a clash of metal against metal as loud voices shouted in victory.

"We managed to clean out another town." A tall, broad shouldered man shouted above the noise. "You boys done good. We've gotten rich offa all these little villages! This was a perfect place to set up base!"

"Yeah, Boss!"Another man said. "Nobody will come out here, ever since rumors of that big monster showed up a couple years back."

A man in a cloak smirked. "They all thought it was the Great Dark Lord Shabranigdo, or something along that line." He said.

"Shut up, Grauss!" The Boss bellowed. "Don't try all of that sorcerer talk on us! Makes me head spin."

The man called Grauss chuckled. "As you wish, Boss."

"There we go. Obedient to a fault, are ya?" The boss chuckled. "Good thing ya are. Those militia? Hah! Ya blew 'em away with one blast!"

"Hmm. That I did." Grauss said. He shook his head and walked away from the reveling bandits. After he went to another room, he sighed and took out a small parchment and pen and began to write.

_To Crown Prince Philionel El Di Seyruun_

_I hope this message finds you well. This letter is encrypted using a spell of my own device that makes the letter unreadable to those who would use it for wicked purposes. I have carried out your instructions and infiltrated the bandit gang known as The Black Axe. While you did not specifically tell me to actually join them, out of necessity I had to. Unfortunately, my involvement in their plans forced me to injure the local militiamen, and I promise right now that I shall give them any aid I can after my work is finished._

_As for my report. These men are indeed bandits, and strong bandits, but they are not capable of razing entire villages. They are merely after money and food. Thus, my lead has turned up nothing of interest. _

_The only clue I have to go on is that those doing the burning are based close to, or perhaps in, Rezo's old tower. These bandits are close, but not responsible. _

_Whatever is doing the destroying is using a very strange form of magic. The homes are not burned with normal fire. It almost seems unholy. _

_I will continue to investigate. In the name of Justice, I will find whoever is responsible. _

_Sincerely, _

_Gauss_

_Court Priest_

Using a spell, he transported the letter magically to the gates of the palace in Seyruun.

Suddenly, there was a loud bang in the other room. Someone or something had either crashed, or else had cast an empowered Fireball spell. Rushing back, he saw the charred remains of several of the bandit men who had been blasted away. This could only mean that a spell had been cast. Numerous screams and cries came from nearby. Gauss rushed to the source of the noise. He had heard about a young sorceress who had a penchant for destroying bandits and stealing all their treasure, and he silently prayed that it wasn't her. Nevertheless, he continued to rush to the source of the screams.

Bodies were everywhere. Some were burned black, others dismembered or disemboweled. The severed head of one man tripped him, making him fall into a headless dead body, the man's entrails that had been forcefully torn out lying next to the head of the unfortunate bandit. Disgusted, he stood up and tried to follow the sound of fleeing men, and of men dying. He looked around as he ran by, noticing particularly the burned men and those who were both burned and bloodied. There was fire still burning in some spots. What struck him as odd was the color of the fire. It was green. That meant that there was definitely a spellcaster of some kind involved, but he couldn't understand why some of the men had been butchered. The sorceress was merciless to bandits, but not brutal.

Wait. He had heard that traveling with the sorceress now was a nearly invincible swordsman. If the swordsman was anything like the sorceress, he would indeed likely be brutal enough to slaughter these bandits in cold blood. He shivered. His duty bound him to the task of finding out exactly what was happening here, as he was still a member of the bandit gang. He ran, seemingly unable to catch the carnage, as more dead bodies lined the pathway he was now dashing along. Suddenly, there was a terrible cry above him. He looked up and leapt out of the way of a man who was falling directly on top of him, and coming very, very fast. The man landed on his head with a dull crunch. Horrified, he knew he couldn't help him. The man's spine had been broken, his head was now in fragments on the ground, and bloody portions and brain matter were now littering the area.

This was too much. Whoever it was, be it the Bandit Killer or not, was enjoying this bloodbath. He was beginning to get terrified. Never in his life had he seen something so...awful. As a priest of the Seyruun royal palace cathedral, he was mentally trained to handle bad situations, but nothing like this. The instinct of fear was beginning to take over. This was bad. Very bad. If this slaughter wasn't the work of the infamous Bandit Killer, then that mean that a Mazoku was involved. And it likely was the very creature that had been destroying villages and burning them to the ground.

There was a deep laugh.

"Just like mortals to run scared before the might of the Legion." The voice with the laugh said, the sound filling the area with unnatural resonance. "How...delicious."

The legion? What in the name of the lost princess Gracia was that? He was confused. And scared. Did the Mazoku start calling themselves the legion? Terrified further, he realized he was wasting thoughts. The sound of heavy footfalls was now filling the air. He tried to move, but his fear had reached a breaking point. His body wouldn't react, and he fell flat on his stomach. When he rose to his knees, he looked up to the most terrifying sight he had ever seen.

The creature was huge. Nearly ten feet tall, with a vaguely humanoid shape, the creature's skin seemed to glow an evil green color. It had huge, black wings that folded around the back of its body, draping it in a natural cloak. The creature had a large skeletal face on its chest, eyes and mouth of this chest gushing forth an evil, green fire. Its head was adorned with six horns that jutted outwards in the same fashion as a lion's mane. A skeletal face, much like the face on the creatures chest, rested in the middle of the mane-like horns. The creature had a second, reverse knee like that of a horse, and cloven hooves, green armor plates apparently shielding them. Over the creature's entire body covered similar designs of evil armor. A large, cruelly curved scimitar was in its hand, bloodied from the slaughter of the bandits.

Gauss panicked and attempted to crawl away. The creature chuckled lightly, or as lightly as it could. "So I see these bandits still have one left, eh? Perhaps you can be useful."

The creature advanced.

"Elmekia Lance!" Gauss shouted. A beam of light energy flew from his fingertips towards the evil creature. The creature raised a free hand and swatted at the magical spear. The spear shattered, and with it, went Gauss's courage.

Gauss went into complete panic. He tried to get away, but the evil creature was always a step behind him. The creature was toying with him. In desperation, Gauss began firing more Elmekia Lances at the creature, all to no effect. The creature seemed to laugh.

"Hmm, yes, you'll do." He said as he grabbed Gauss's robe. "You're going to be very, very useful to us, mortal."

"Let me go! Please, let me go! Please, I'm begging you, let me go!" Gauss was crying.

The creature sheathed its sword and put its hand around Gauss's throat, silencing his speech. The creature spoke, his voice soft yet terribly insidious.

"Do you fear death? Ha ha ha ha ha..."


	2. Chapter One: Stranger

I di not own Slayers.

Slayers SHADOW

Chapter One: Stranger

"OOOOHOOHOOHOO!"

A screeching laugh tore through the thick air of the local tavern. The sound was headache-inducing, and it caused several of the patrons in the bar to cover their ears. The laugh came from a seat at the bench, and in the seat sat a tall, shapely form. It was a woman, and her head, full of long, black hair, was thrown back. The laughter was coming from her. She was pointing at a man nearby who had thrown up all over the floor.

"OOOOHOOHOOHOO! Can't hold your liquor, little man?"

The woman stood, and stepped over the fallen man. The woman was quite tall, and her well proportioned form was squeezed into thin, revealing garments made of leather. A necklace with a small skull on it graced her neck, and on her shoulders were large, hard leather pauldrons that covered her shoulders completely. They were lined with iron spikes, and had an effect of making her look rather formidable. Over her back was draped a long, black cloak with a hood. Her raven-colored hair was in length almost to her knees.

Another nearby man passed out, holding his head with both hands. The bar-goers watched as the woman turned to this new casualty, and scrambled for the door before she began that ear-splitting laugh. She stared with blank amusement at the frantic people who had, in their haste, left spilt beer and the occasional person unlucky enough to get trampled behind as they broke a large hole in the doorway. Starting with a chuckle, she soon broke out into her laughing again as the bartender ducked behind the counter, covering his ears.

"Ahh...just like everywhere I go, none can handle the brilliance of Naga the Serpent!" the woman said, a ridiculously pleased grin on her face. Sitting down again, her grin faded as she stared at the kegs and sighed. This was how she wanted it: quiet, with no one to bother her as she thought. These taverns and bars were often far too noisy for someone who had a lot on her mind.

"Bartender." She said quietly. The bartender stood up and rubbed his head, then took a look at his now empty and demolished bar. His jaw dropped in shock. The woman who called herself Naga seemed not to notice.

"Give me some of your strongest ale. And keep it coming." she said.

The bartender turned to her, eye twitching. "You.." he said, "Destroyed my bar, drove off my customers, gave me a screeching headache, and now you want me to get you a DRINK!"

Naga looked at the man, confused. "But I'm a customer, aren't I?"

"Customer!" the bartender shouted. "You're a walking disaster! Because of that laugh, it may be days before I can reopen because of the hole torn in the doorway! That's a lot of money I'm out, you black-haired witch!"

"My name," Naga replied crossly, "is Naga the Serpent!"

"I don't care if your name is Lina Inverse! Get out of my bar NOW!" The bartender's eyes were burning red, and Naga was certain that his hair was on fire.

"So...rude!" She tossed her hair, not pleased with the comparison. "And you really need to chill out."

"GET OUT! GET OUT! GET OUT!"

Naga had heard enough. His yelling was giving HER a headache. She held a hand in front of him and gestured.

"Freeze Arrow!"

A spear of ice flew from her fingertips and burst on contact with the bartender, exploding into a nova of freezing cold. The explosion froze the bartender and several kegs solid in a thick block of ice. Naga took a step forwards, admiring her work, and hopped over the counter. She grabbed a few bottles that had escaped the sudden tundra, and taking a swig of one bottle, she left the bar. Snapping her fingers, she decided to emphasize her point. She set down the bottles and gathered magical energy in her hand.

"Vu Vraimer!"

She slammed her hand into the ground, which began to roil and twist nearby. The ground forced its way upwards and began to mold itself in a vaguely humanoid shape. The newly created golem stretched its arms and took a step forwards. Naga smiled at it: For once, the golem she created was actually worth a damn. _Shame I'm wasting him here..._

"Ah, well. All right, big guy...smash that building. But leave everyone inside alive."

The golem walked threateningly towards the bar. Deciding it would be better if she weren't tied to the destruction that was sure to follow, she slipped quietly away from the village, smiling at the bounty of drink she had taken from the bartender, listening to the sounds of wood splintering in the distance. Normally, she wouldn't have taken any, but lately she had been feeling a bit lonely, and so was in need of a drink for that night, at least. While she didn't really like being compared to that hot-headed brat and her penchant for destroying everything at the slightest provocation, she was starting to miss traveling with the girl she considered her rival.

She sighed. Sitting down at a nearby tree, she took several long, slow gulps of the of the rather expensive tasting alcohol, and began to remember as the stuff burned down her throat. After Lina and herself had split up, following crazy happening after crazy happening, it just seemed that Lina's reputation had grown, while she simply dropped off the lists, even as Lina's supposed sidekick. Lina had apparently garnered the favor of the Seyruun Royal Family, a fact that disturbed her slightly. She had left the royal family to find herself in the world, and to forget what had happened...but Lina brought all of those memories to the surface.

"Maybe it is time for me to go home..." she said aloud.

"You're not goin' anywhere, miss."

Naga looked up. A large group of men were standing over her. They were of different builds and appearances, but they were all very brutish. _Great. Bandits._

"And what do you want?" She said, annoyed.

"Too see you safe, of course!" One particularly scruffy man replied. He rushed forwards and caught Naga by the hand and forced her to her feet. "Pretty little lady like you out wanderin' alone and wearin' next to nothing...You're liable to get yerself in trouble!"

Naga attempted to pull away, but the man was stronger than her, making her unable to struggle.

"H-hey...let me go!" she shouted, annoyed. She wasn't afraid of these bandits, being a powerful sorceress, but she didn't welcome the advances of these men, and didn't want them to even touch her.

"Not a chance missy..." The bandit leader replied. "You're coming with us."

There was a blinding flash of light behind the bandit leader. A circle covered in mist formed, and out flew a large figure. It slammed into the bandit leader, releasing Naga and knocking him over.

"Ugh." the figure groaned. The figure was large, of humanoid shape, and had a thick body. After a moment it stood. It was as tall as Naga herself, and had fairly broad shoulders over which was worn a dark blue cloth mantle, a similarly colored cloak with a hood descended down the creature's broad back. The cloak was split at the waist, revealing a large, muscular purple tail. Intrigued, Naga took a step around him to get a better look at the strange creature.

His face was bony in appearance, with deep purple skin. Not ugly, but not especially pretty. His eyes glowed blue, and his chin ended with two tentacle-like appendages that came down to his chest. His head was bald, and was smooth compared to the rough seeming bones on his face. The creature wore robes that were colored a light shade of violet, with some yellow or gold trim sewn into lines or patterns. The robes were travel-worn, and they seemed to fit tightly across the creature's body. Naga cocked her head in curiosity. This was not something she had ever seen before.

"Where am I?" The creature said. Naga blinked. The creature spoke in ordinary human language. Now she was REALLY curious. This creature CLEARLY wasn't human, and wasn't one of the beast-men, so what exactly was he?

"Hey!"

Naga and the creature looked at the bandit leader, knocked to the ground. Naga sighed. She had forgotten about him and his rabble. The bandit leader, fuming, stood up and pushed Naga aside.

"What's the big idea of knocking me over!?" He shouted.

The creature made an audible noise of confusion.

"What did I..."

The bandit leader drew a thick sword.

"Don't play dumb with me!" He snapped. "You knocked me down just as I was convincing that woman what a great guy I am!"

Naga sweatdropped and shook her head. She wanted nothing more to do with this situation.

The creature raised his hands up in surrender. "I assure you, I mean no harm-"

"We don't care!" The bandit leader broke in. "You interrupted us, now you'll pay for it! Boys! Kill him!"

The creature raised a hand which burst into fire. After a moment, the flames suddenly exploded into the chest of the bandit leader. The bandit leader collapsed in a heap, already burned nearly to a cinder. The bandits surrounded Naga and the creature, whom Naga now clung to. The creature raised both hands, covered in flames, and threw one of his arms into the air. A powerful wave of fire gushed from his body, oddly sparing Naga but knocking all the surrounding bandits off their feet, scorched badly. The creature paused a moment, and spoke.

"Hold on to me tight, woman."

Naga tightened her grip on the creature's robe. He raised a hand again, and there was a flash of light. Suddenly, they were away from the group of bandits, at least thirty yards or so. The creature quickly turned back, his hand now beginning to glow a light shade of purple. Several of the bandits stood to their feet, and the creature lifted his arm and opened his hand. The bandits, in a panic, began to stumble over themselves. The creature smirked, and several missles of energy flew from his hands into the retreating bandits, detonating in small purple bursts. The bandits collapsed, and the creature nodded at himself in satisfaction. The creature turned to Naga.

"Are you hurt?" the creature asked.

Naga released his robe and looked at the fallen bandits and shook her head. The creature had made very short work of all the bandits, but what kind of magic was he using? Maybe her drinks were getting to her already, but the magic he was using was very, very different than the magic she was accustomed to seeing and using. Normally, she wouldn't care about such things, but she had never seen the spell with purple energy before. Also, instead of chanting these spells or calling power names, he seemed to simply pull them out of the air. Wondering if he was some kind of mazoku, she spoke to him.

"Who...and what...are you?"

The creature nodded, apparently understanding her confusion.

"My name is Sacruuth. I am one of the Draenei." He replied. "And you are?"

_Draenei? _Deciding it were better to leave her questions aside for the moment, Naga put her hands to her hips triumphantly.

"My name," She said, smiling pridefully. "Is Naga the Serpent, the most powerful and beautiful sorceress alive!"

The creature scratched his head and sweatdropped slightly. "Right..." he replied. "Now that we've been introduced...could you tell me exactly where I am?"

* * *

A/N: Ok, after each chapter, for the benefit of those who haven't ever played WoW, I will list the names of spells used by those not of the Slayers 'verse, in the order they were cast, as well as saying who cast the spell. I will, if it is a debut spell, list exactly what they do.

Fire Blast: Sacruuth

Instant cast spell that blasts the enemy with fire.

Blast Wave: Sacruuth

A wave of flame radiates from the caster, scorching all enemy targets within 20 yards and dazing them for a few seconds.

Blink: Sacruuth

Instantly teleports away from the current area to a short distance away.

Arcane Missles: Sacruuth

Causes several missles of Arcane energy to rain on an enemy target. This is a channeled spell, and requires some concentration.


End file.

Slayers, Adventure, Romance