SLAYERS FOREVER
by the crazed individuals of Giga-Works*
*We can take credit for none of the characters or elements presented below. All of them are copyright H. Kanzaka / R. Araizumi; except for one! (Can you guess where he/she is copyrighted to?)
EPISODE #1: All For the Want of A Meal
Version 1.1
1/17/03
Zelgadis rose from the rough sheets and blinked his eyes repeatedly. Throwing back the curtains revealed little more than a violet sky and a still dark skyline. Good, dawn wouldn't come for at least another hour. He looked back onto the bed to find Gourry still loudly snoring on the other side. How he could sleep with full armor on was anyone's guess.
After taking a quick bath, Zelgadis washed his face in the basin, rubbing his face dry with the coarse but unnaturally white inn towel. He peered into the mirror and his hand instinctively fell to the shaving razor sitting at the edge of the sink. Only when Zel brought the metal blade to his rocky, chimerical skin did he realize the comedy in his mistake. He had been transformed for more years than he wanted to remember, but each morning he still thought of shaving. He held the razor in his hand and chuckled for a moment before he slammed it hard against the edge of the porcelain sink. Every morning.
Zelgadis wiped his hand across the steamed mirror; in it he saw everything he hated. The rock-strewn, golemous and disfigured features of his face; they were nothing, the icing on the cake, the salt in the wound. He loathed his reflection for one reason.
His eyes. It is a common belief that you can spot a liar by the look in their eyes. Zelgadis had been telling the truth his entire life, but still, his eyes never lost the appearance of a fraud.
The reflection shred any remaining of doubt in Zel's mind. He placed his beige tunic and hood over his head, buckled his belt, and grabbed his pack on the way to the door. He could no longer live with the lie.
"More music, my queen?"
Lina waved aside the servant as she was far too preoccupied with her bowl full of pealed grapes, being fed to her by a hunky male specimen in a loincloth.
"Sure, whatever," she answered through a smile.
Lina surveyed the large throne room filled with jesters, epic poets, and servants. The jesters were doing the best to entertain her continuously, the poets were furiously trying to write her every word for posterity's sake, and the servants had their hands and legs full carrying out her every whim. Anyone else in the room was merely bowing.
Despite the whole display, Queen Lina Inverse felt a little empty. She turned her head to either side, seeing no one but groveling dukes. She was missing something.
Lina snapped her fingers. "Of Course!" She pressed a button on the side of the throne. It started to zoom across the throne room, floating to the large balcony on the other side. Below the open terrace was thousands of screaming followers (and that was just within the castle.) Beyond the walls stretched loyal admirers, as far as the eye could see, spanning past the horizon.
THAT was what Lina was missing.
Gourry chewed on the collar of his tunic as he tiptoed down the hallway, peering to either side at the neat, intricate woodcarvings along the wall. He sighed, knowing they would soon be burnt to cinders. He continued along the hallway, stopping at the last door. Lina's room. Gourry swallowed hard before he reached for the knob. Lina had instructed him countless times before never to wake her up earlier than noon under threat of DragonSlave (unless it was an emergency.) This was in fact an emergency, so Gourry expected he'd get off easy with a Val-Flare.
Gourry opened the door to see Lina, in her cute yellow pajamas, on her lacy rented sheets... gnawing fiercely upon her feather pillow. Her eyes were darting rapidly beneath her eyelids, and she lazily talked to servants that weren't there. Great, Gourry thought, she's already moved on to the "Royal Banquet". He was as good as toasted. Sighing with increasing weight, he walked towards the bed. With the very tip of his boot, Gourry tapped Lina on her shoulder. Nothing. Again, he prodded her, trying to keep the majority of himself at of arm's length. On the third poke, Lina started to respond, murmuring under her breath and (by reflex) trying to bite Gourry's foot.
Gourry sighed a third time, this time his shoulders coming down to his knees. He crept one step closer to the bed, shook the teen violently, and made a mad dash for the door.
I'm going to make it, I'm going to make it, I'm going to-
"Fireball!"
Gourry was about to wonder how he was going to "fireball", but this train of thought became interrupted by a magical explosion of flame that sent him airborne down the hallway.
Lina sat up in bed, one hand scratching her head while the other held in a yawn. She stuck out her tongue, and for reasons unknown to her, pulled a feather out of her mouth.
"Good morning to you, too," Gourry said sarcastically as a he crawled through what was once a doorway. He coughed a tiny cloud of smoke.
Lina snorted and looked at the charred Gourry as she clasped on her shoulder-pads and cape.
"Serves you right, waking me up like that for no reason. Now let's go, I'm hungry!"
She grabbed him by the back of his collar and dragged him down the hall stairs to the main area. Throwing herself into a chair at an empty table, she waved over a waitress. Breakfast awaited.
"But I do have a reason," Gourry whispered to Lina as she tied her napkin around her neck. "We have an Emergency! We're out of money!"
The inn waitress came over to the table with the young redhead girl and the tall blond. "Good morning," she said with a chipper, genki-like smile. "What would you-"
She opened her eyes to find the table empty. She shook her head in confusion.
"I could have sworn..."
Zelgadis bent over at his waist, relieved to have finally shaken off the fat clergyman. It had been more than worth his effort. From beneath his cloak he withdrew an intricately carved glass bottle filled with a burgundy liquid. Uncorking and raising the bottle to his lips, he swilled two thirds of its content before his wrist lowered. He stood posed and brimming with pride, but a bit of his mirth faded with each second that ticked away. He threw the bottle to the ground but it refused to break, instead landing with a loud thump.
Awkward as the beaker was, Zelgadis tried to keep focus on returning to back to normal. That stuff he stole should have worked! Feeling like a patsy, Zelgadis dashed down streets, his hands clenched with rancorous determination. He’s return back to that temple and....
His eyes returned to the finely-made glass bottle. It was mostly empty, but Zel’s latent curiosity was awakening. Zel weighed the bottle in his hands, beginning to wonder if-
Zelgadis's train-of-thought was interrupted by the staggered accusations of an overweight priest barreling in his direction. The chimera fastened the container to his belt, for he knew there was a proper time and place for pondering... and a time and place for fast escapes.
"What do you mean we're out of money?"
While wincing at the earthshaking volume of Lina's inquest, Gourry looked around to make sure they weren't causing a scene. He turned his head in Lina's direction, but he could not for the life of him make eye contact.
"I mean Zelgadis was the only one who had money, and he wasn't in our room. He's upped and left!"
Lina folded her arms across her chest. Zelgadis's departure couldn't be avoided, and he'd have several hours gain on them in who-knows-what direction. Amelia could have picked up the bill, but she would be have been halfway back to Seyruun by now.
"All right," Lina declared, "we need money. So, we can do one of two things: Take up small jobs or run across a small posse of bandits." She led him down the street, her eyes darting from side to side, looking for temporary employment (and for any random ruffians.)
"Either way, we need cash." She glanced back at Gourry. "Are you sure you don't have any money? I'm so hungry..."
"Well..." he replied while shielding his face, "I-I spent the last of it on this."
He pulled from his pocket a wooden toy duck. It bobbed about in his hand innocently. "Isn't he cute?" he asked, holding it out with one arm for Lina to see (whilst with the other arm shielded his face from almost certain doom.)
Lina stared at the wooden duck for a second, collecting her thoughts. Glancing back at Gourry, the collection blew apart.
"You mean to tell me that you spent the last of our money on a TOY!!!" She face-palmed, her head shaking from side to side. Well, she thought, might as well let him keep that thing for awhile. But next time, I'm carrying the money.
"It's very... cute, Gourry. Now come on, we need fast cash."
As they started walking down the dusty road, a figure in beige sheik-wear darted past them, cutting them off at a street corner. The figure turned around to look behind him, allowing Lina and Gourry to catch a glimpse of his rocky face.
Following close behind the chimera was an overweight bearded man, shouting and cursing himself red. The majority of his profanity was directed towards his quarry, but every now and then he was damning the red and black robes he wore (over which he was consistently tripping.) He too turned the corner in front of Lina and Gourry, again cutting them off.
"What could that be about?" Gourry asked, quite puzzled.
Zelgadis, Lina thought.
She turned her eyes to Gourry and shrugged at his comment. "Don't know, but I say we should follow him. And who knows, maybe he's found some treasure and is trying to keep it to himself!"
Hearts throbbed in her eyes at the thought of gold, jewels, money, and all sorts of goodies. Shaking her head out of it, she jumped up, landing atop a nearby rooftop. About to run, she remembered that Gourry wouldn't know better to follow. So, she yelled down to him.
"C'mon Gourry, lets go! We have to catch up with Zelgadis!" She put a fisted right hand up level to her nose, and rested the other hand on the small muscle of her upper arm. "Annnd, I want to see if he's got anything interesting!"
Turning away again, she ran from rooftop to rooftop, chasing Zelgadis (or at least the dust he was leaving behind.) From below, Gourry's voice stopped her.
"Which Zel do you want me to follow?"
"What kind of stupid question is that-"
Lina Inverse looked up to see Xellos sitting on a chimney directly in front of her. With the same genki look on his face as he always had, he pointed to something directly behind Lina. Turning, she saw, of all people;
Zelgadis.
Gourry, of course, had no idea what was going on, but he shrugged and figured Lina had that Zel covered. Meanwhile, the Zelgadis that he was supposed to catch was gaining a good lead on him. "Hey Zelgadis! Wait up!"
A face-fault later, the befuddled Lina Inverse approached her comrade on the rooftop, making sure to keep her distance (something was up.) Zelgadis was standing straight up, but his muscles were tense, almost hair-trigger. The only motion Lina saw was the slow fluttering of his off-white cape.
"You spooked me, Zel. I guess this saves me the trouble of-"
Before she could finish the sentence, Zelgadis bounded off of the roof and disappeared into the darkness of the alley below. Lina rushed to the edge, but sighed at his absence. Having little luck with the facts at hand, Lina swiveled in Xellos's direction.
"Just what are you doing here?" she probed. "Are you behind that extra Zelgadis?"
Xellos stared smugly at Lina and fingered the reddish orb on his staff.
"What am I doing here?" he replied with a smile, "Lina, you ought to know better than to ask THAT. And if I was to pretend to be Zelgadis, I would certainly have done a better job. No, the extra Zelgadis wasn't me, but please try figure out the rest on your own... Its sooo boring if I give it all away."
Xellos vaporized with a "shah" and reappeared outside of Lina's view. On a chimney pot, he waited for the remainder of the plot to unfold from his "box-seat".
Gourry, meanwhile, had been managing to close the gap between his chimerical friend and himself. He had almost passed the clergyman on Zelgadis's tail when a large rumbling interrupted him. Gourry curled into a ball on the ground, clutching his stomach.
"food....
gotta have food."
Gourry crawled melodramatically back to where he'd seen Lina and the other Zelgadis. Maybe she had luck than him.
Lina scratched her head in confusion. So, Xellos wasn't behind the Zelgadis on the rooftop. But, he was surely up to something. That trickster was always up to something. She looked over the building's edge to see Gourry crawling like a dying raccoon... meaning the other Zelgadis had badgered off as well. She prepped her hands in a fireball position, but her anger faded with a sigh. It wasn't his fault (neither of them were at 100%.) And, if her woman's intuition was correct, something fishy was up.
Lina and Gourry walked up and down marketplace, their eyes scanning vigilantly. Or more specifically, Lina scanned vigilantly while Gourry's stared vapidly into space.
"What are we doing again?" he asked for the seventeenth time within that quarter-hour.
"We are LOOKING for a job to get some MONEY so we can EAT. UNDERSTAND?!?"
Silence answered her question.
Lina sighed and continued to look around the storefronts. They had been looking for a job since noon, but they had failed to see a single "Waitress Needed" or "Help Wanted" sign (not that Lina was enthusiastic about serving tables, but it was for the sake of food.)
"Oooh, Lina, I found one!"
Lina nearly did a double-take. Had Gourry finally come through for her? Could he possibly have done something right? After failing to get a glimpse over the shoulder of the seven-foot swordsman, Lina scrambled under his arm to leer at what Gourry had seen.
"That's an advertisement, you dope!" Lina asserted audibly as well as with her fist.
Still, Lina stared curiously at the flier. It was the wording that grabbed her attention:
DO YOU NEED A CHANGE?
Come to the Temple of Alchemy
301 'Temple Row', South Side of Armadillous
"I wonder if Zelgadis saw the flyer..." Lina pondered aloud.
"And look at this flyer!" Gourry motioned to an adjacent ad, this one rendering unmistakably the monk they had seen chasing Zelgadis (beard and all.)
"The most respected Priest in town, Friar Mikshen," Lina read to Gourry. "Visit him at the Temple of Restoration, 303 'Temple Row'."
"Do you think it's worth checking out?" the blond inquired.
"Since they're right next to each other, I bet it is." Lina rubbed her chin. 'Temple Row' contained where Zel had likely been and where he was likely to show up.
"Then we'd better get moving, both temples are on the other side of town."
Lina turned around to be face to face with Xellos. His eyes were closed and he wore his usual puckish grin. For once, it was Gourry who tried to place the trickster's motives.
"Are you actually going to help us out for once, or are you going to desert us at the most inconvenient moment like you always do?"
"Probably," Xellos answered manner-of-fact-ly. He normally didn't like to reveal information, but fact was fact.
"All right," Lina pronounced with a sigh, "Let's get this show on the road."
A short time later, Gourry and Lina could be seen heading south, bickering over something inconsequential. Following the ragtag duo on foot was Xellos. Whatever his opinion was of the topic in question, he kept it to himself.
In the middle of giving Lina a piece of his mind (relatively speaking), Gourry stumbled around the corner to find the city's "Temple Row". The street (on both sides) was filled with dozens of temples, each sign flashier than the last. Though in the Slayers Universe they had yet to develop neon lights, magic had more than leveled the playing field, making Temple Row impossible to miss. Signs like ‘Free Readings’, ‘Discount Baptisms’, and ‘Open 24 Hours’ adorned impressive stone churches and mosques.
But the most awe-inspiring temple had to be the massive, dark, and ominous building at the end of the block. A black ziggurat, spanning 20 floors easy. The jet-black marble of the building seemed to suck in the light emitted from neighboring temples. From the top of the pyramidal colossus shone a red beacon, one that revolved around menacingly.
Gourry's focus then turned to the temple sitting just right of the black construct; the temple decorated with orange and maroon flags. Stripes and checker patterns encircled the outer walls. On the face of the tacky temple, circling a stone dragon, priests had carved four symbols; the elements wind, water, fire, and earth. Of course, the symbols could be interpreted as stink, pear, feather, and corn meal, but odds were the latter combination was not accurate. Either way, there was unmistakably a dragon in the middle.
Gourry's focus flickered back and forth from the tower of terror to the temple of tack. "What do you think?" he asked, turning to Lina. Lina was not quick to respond.
Muttering angrily to herself, Filia stalked out of the gaudy-looking temple. Not noticing where she was going, she accidentally bumped into Lina.
"Oh, I'm very sorry."
Filia reflexively apologized without recognizing Lina and Gourry, then walked away, still muttering to herself. Lina, who had been inquisitively gazing at the tacky lights (before she was rudely interrupted), heard the stranger's muttering and immediately got mad. How dare someone run into the Great Sorcery Genius Lina Inverse and not BEG for mercy!
"Look where you're-" She paused and noticed a very familiar mop of blonde hair and priestess attire. Who was that?
Filia's melodic voice had caught the ears of Xellos and had broken his concentration. For a moment his stomach lurched, but he regained his composure almost instantaneously. He glanced about, hoping no one caught his momentary display of emotion, (even if that emotion was frustration and disgust.) Xellos struck a cocky pose and laughed boisterously. He called out to the departing priestess, his desire to torment overriding his usually clear thinking.
“oh, hello filia...”
Filia had heard someone calling her name. That whiny voice sounds really familiar, she thought. Could it be... nah, I don't think so.
Lina, meanwhile, putting two and two together, placed her hand in her palm. She pulled a 180° and called after the young dragon. "Filia! Hey, Filia!"
She heard another voice calling her, a female voice this time. Turning around, she beheld for the first time Lina and Gourry... and Xellos.
"Lina-san, Gourry-san!"
Gourry smiled at Filia, thoroughly surprised. While glad to see Filia, he didn't expect her to be in the maroon and orange striped temple. Why would she be in there? he contemplated, his facial expressions displaying the same question.
"What are you doing here?" Filia asked vivaciously.
"Hello there, Filia," Xellos interjected, trying to keep a straight face. "How is everything in lizard country?"
Glancing at Xellos, she noticed that he had that infuriating smile on his face again. Control yourself, Filia, she tells herself as she took a calming breath. This is a public place. People will stare at your tail if you get too upset. She faced Lina and Gourry, trying not to even look at the treacherous priest.
"And why is that Mazoku* with you?" she inquired, the tension in her voice quite obvious.
"Sore wa Himitsu!"** Xellos answered predictably. "Wouldn't you like to know, Miss Nosey. I'm merely following orders, as usual... and I'm almost curious as to why the dragon priestess would be here."
Xellos was gleefully watching the veins protrude in Filia's forehead.
Lina glanced from the Mazoku to the Ryuzoku*** and sighed heavily. Not again... every time.... Then it hit her: she hadn't known that Xellos was even with her. She opened her mouth to ask him, but already she knew what she'd be told. Shrugging, she gave a halfhearted smile to Filia.
"Funny meeting you here," she said to the shrine maiden. "And Xellos? Well, we don't pay him any mind unless he's useful to us. So what are you doing in this part of town?"
Glaring angrily at Xellos, Filia suddenly turned her back and ignored him completely... well, almost. She smiled at Lina and Gourry.
"Well, I heard about this place and its famous temples, so I decided to take a look. However, there doesn't seem to be anything of much interest here."
She jabbed a finger towards the tacky-looking temple, clenching her fist and shaking in fury. "And that is one of the worse I've seen. Such gaudy colors! And when I made a humble suggestion to the head priest, he actually asked me to get out! Can you believe such rudeness?! And he dares to call himself a priest?!"
Lina glanced at the oh-so-tacky shrine and chuckled. Filia did have a point, wanting to change the appearance.
"Yeah, I guess. But then again, if people coming and telling you how to change your temple, you would be angry too." She thumbed the building.
But Lina remembered the task at hand. "Say Filia, when you stepped in there today, did you see anything about changing a person or their appearance?"
Filia looked confused at Lina's question.
"Changing a person's appearance? Hmm... I'm not sure. I wasn't in there for a very long time."
Dead end.
Lina clenched her fist as though she was going to hit something, but it stayed, her wrist moving in a shooing manner.
"Doesn't matter, really.”
"But why would you want to change someone's appearance?" Filia said with a puzzled expression on her face.
Lina rubbed her chin as she rocked back on her heels. Questions of where Zel had gone were rushing through her head. Besides, she was getting hungrier by the minute. THAT'S IT!
"Say Filia." Lina gained a ravenous look in her eyes. "How about we go and talk about this over some nice warm food, huh?"
Filia sweat-dropped at Lina's request, remembering Lina and Gourry's combined appetites.
"Er... sure, but I hope that both you and Gourry have enough money to pay for your own meals. And I'm certainly not going to pay for Xellos's meal!"
Lina fell face first into the ground at Filia's words. Groaning from her spot on the ground, she grumbled and whimpered.
"But, Filia, we don't HAVE any money. Gourry spent it all on some stupid wooden duck..."
Wide fiery eyes stared up at Filia pathetically, begging for food since her mouth didn't dare beg for anything. Besides, she almost got anything she wanted by her gorgeous looks. Gourry, meanwhile, was staring at her with watery eyes. His knees started to go weak and his stomach rumbled like a portable earthquake.
The dragonette's eyes softened at the sight of Lina and Gourry at her feet, beads of saliva threatening to flood the earth below.
"Oh, all right," she admitted in defeat, "I'll treat you guys for once... until you get money, ok?"
Lina jumped to her feet, hearts in her eyes.
"Oh thankyouthankthankyou!!"
Oh dear... this is going to be hard on my pocket, thought Filia. And I wanted to buy more nice vases too! Sigh.
Scooping up both Gourry and Filia (being hungry sure makes the laws of physics useless), Lina ran back to the tavern that she'd started the day at (the food there had smelt especially good.) "C'mon, c'mon! Let's go!"
Xellos stood alone in the gaudy temple archway. Damn, he thought with remorse; he hadn't had the chance to deliver a really crushing remark to Filia. Oh well. Taunting Filia was fun and all, but he had his orders... and now he had to attend to some business. His usually cheerful face sobered for a minute as he drifted towards the head priests office. Lina Inverse's problems could wait.
As she was dragged along by the fiery strawberry-blonde, Filia noticed that Xellos was not following them. Hmm... he's probably up to no good, she thought. I should find out what he intends to do and stop him before he does it... but Lina won't let me go without paying for their meal. Sigh, I hope Lina takes pity on my emptying purse.
Floating to the back door, Xellos read the name carved in the poorly transmuted gold plate (it looked an awful lot like shiny yellow lead.) "Hon. Br. Rimmour."
Xellos jumped through the solid barrier and into a dimly lit office. The inside of the Temple was very much like the outside; the chartreuse green stripes over a floral magenta wallpaper made even the powerful Xellos wince, his eyes rearing in agony. In the corner, behind a bright orange desk, sat a surprisingly young scarecrow of a man in a vivid purple robe and a tall red hat; Xellos presumed him to be the Honorable Brother Rimmour.
The man was stiffly hunched over a mound of paperwork which he was scrawling over frantically, obviously too busy to notice the Mazoku. He looked as if he'd never seen the light of day, his youthful face pasty and pale (& his dull brown hair looking like burnt Astroturf.) He was obviously perturbed or panicked about something, for he took quick breaths, swatted profusely and the nostrils in his long portentous nose flared and contracted violently. Upon observing the evidence, Xellos came to the conclusion that Rimmour was a smeg.
Xellos pretended to clear his voice rather loudly. Brother Rimmour gave a terrified yelp and his papers fell off the desk. Reaching out hysterically to grab them, the Honorable Brother Rimmour slid out of his chair with a very painful "thump".
Xellos just stood there... with a sweat-bead on his forehead.
Plopping both Filia and Gourry down at a round table in the inn, Lina hailed down a waiter. With only a brief glance at the menu, she ordered over half of the entrees (which is far too little from her usual order {she was probably going to order seconds later.}) Rubbing her gloved hands together, she awaited the victuals.
"Ahh, food! I've been dying all day for it!"
She paused for a second, looking to Filia. "So, Filia, have you seen Zel? We were looking for him when we ran into 2 Zel's, but we lost both." She glared at Gourry since it was HIM who was supposed to have captured at least one. "But we were guessing he was in one of those temples. Gourry found a paper that said that gaudy could help people change themselves. Ever heard of anything like it?"
Multiple crashes were heard outside just before Zelgadis came sailing through the tavern wall. He landed atop the table nearest of Lina, Gourry, and Filia. Zelgadis was looking worse for wear while his companions looked significantly alarmed.
The crew viewed looked up at the gaping hole in the tavern wall. Coming through the clouds of dust was a second figure dressed in beige; no wait, dressed identically to Zel! The figure walked over to Zel and lifted him into the air, Zel's body hanging limp in his arms. The conquering figure waited for Zel to struggle.. but the battle was won.
The Zelgadis look alike looked around at the shocked faces of people in the tavern. Only then did he notice: His face mask was off! He quickly used his spare hand to tie the mask back into place.
But Lina had seen: the blue skin, the rocky protrusions, the triangular chin...
He was Zel’s exact copy.
The copy walked away with Zel hanging over his shoulder, never taking notice to the group sitting just feet away.
Jaws hung abound throughout the room.
"Uh, Lina," said Gourry, the first to break the silence. "Do we know two Zelgadis's?"
Filia looked to either side, completely stunned. She just sat at the table, not even drinking her tea.
"Tell me, Lina-san, was that Zelgadis or not? And why are there two of them?"
Back at the office of the Honorable Brother Rimmour, Xellos had made his presence apparent and the young priest had grown severely frightened.
"Who the hell are you?" he stammered crossly. "How did you get in here?? I'll have you know, Laddy, I hold audiences by appointment only!! That's IT! You've made The List!"
Brother Rimmour withdrew a pocket-sized booklet from his robes and a small pencil from under his hat and scribbled fanatically, muttering;
"Purple-haired Freak, disturbing inventory accounting of new shipment of Dragon rectums...and being sneaky. Name..." He looked up, his nostrils flaring.
"Name and occupation, my good fruitcake?"
Xellos gave him half a smile. Just wait, he thought.
"Xellos... Mazoku Priest/General."
"Ah...very good. Xellos... Is that with a 'Z'?....Mazo-......." There was an awkward pause.
......
......
......
Br. Rimmour closed the book, his pale face having turned green and his eyes unusually large.
"Ah......well, my 4:00 canceled, so I suppose I can spare my time."
Xellos grinned with malicious delight at his associate's fear. "How fortunate. I'm surprised to see you here; I was under the impression that this temple was run by Brother Kitshen."
It was Brother Rimmour's turn to smile... a rather twisted one that actually made Xellos jump a little.
"We're under new management," said the priest.
The Honorable Brother Rimmour offered a seat, but Xellos politely refused, explaining that he "looked more imposing in the half light if he was standing rather than sitting." Once again the Mazoku's playful continence went deadly serious.
"I need to ask you about the Cockatrice Blood..."
END OF EPISODE 1
Join us next time for...
THE WOES OF A SORCERY GENIUS
*GLOSSARY*
********************************************************************************
Mazoku*
The destructive race linked to Ruby Eye Shabrinigdo. In most English translations, they have been called the "Monster" race.
"Sore wa Himitsu"**
In English, "That is a secret"; Xellos's famous phrase.
Ryuzoku***
The Dragon race, in every way the opposite of the Mazoku race.
GIGAWORKS is
A-chan: "Voice" of Lina Inverse, Moderator
Paper Tiger: "Voice" of Gourry Gabriev, Editor
Jia Re Meng: "Voice" of Xellos and Rimmour, Illustrator (and all-around Smart-ass)
White Knight: "Voice" of Zelgadis 1&2, Website Designer
Moonhawk: "Voice" of Filia, (And Voice of Reason)
