moonshadows

Somewhere, a dragon just teleported.

The ripple made by a dragon converting its mass to the Astral Plane is unmistakable; the very fabric of a dragon’s aura screams protest as it hauls the physical body along. The tell-tale ripples make a teleporting dragon easy to trace, and combined with the difficulty of such a task, make the act fairly rare. Your average dragon teleports once every few years.

However, a dragon just teleported, and did so near Lina Inverse.

The petty matter I’d been attending to can wait. The anchor in Lina’s substance pulls me swiftly to her, and I can see the dragon lumbering heavily through the Astral Plane, wings rowing uselessly. A golden dragon. Very interesting. She drops back into the physical plane with a small sigh of relief, but doesn’t seem drained by the act of teleporting. Sinking lower, binding my aura so that she doesn’t detect me, I hover just outside the physical plane and look at her. Well, that explains it, she’s in human form. That makes it less exhausting, dragging only a small human body around. She puts her hands to one of the baubles she’s wearing, and begins a somewhat lengthy and demanding process of changing back into her natural form. She must be young – it shouldn’t be that much of a struggle to shift back.

With an obviously forced scream of what’s supposed to be primal rage, she launches herself from the tower and makes a series of passes over the docks and boats. There is minor damage and moderate chaos, and I wonder what the silly thing’s trying to do. My lovely little friends scamper onto one of the ships, obviously intending to lure the dragon out to sea. Lina’s enthused, Gourry’s blinded by his moment of understanding, even the chimera’s a bit excited – but the little white-magic princess is dismayed. Another pass, and the captain and crew jump ship. Amelia grounds herself with a snap, taking command and polishing her favorite phrases about justice. The ships wallow into position, and a row of white-magic sorcerers prepare to launch an assault on the dragon as she comes back around. I can’t help but be amused – white magic, against a dragon? A being created by the very entity that white magic draws from? The rest of the fight is as much a farce as the first attack was; the dragon knows how to fly, that’s for sure. Lina’s had just about enough. I can feel her frustration, and that steel behind the fire. She’s marginally more effective than the others are, but the dragon is still unscathed. Her temper is almost at the boiling point. Wait for it, wait for it . . .

“Darkness beyond twilight, crimson beyond blood that flows. . .”

There is a short pause, and then the influx of Lord Ruby Eye’s power electrifies the Astral Plane around her, forming a swirling vortex of black energy that crackles red as it centers upon her. The talismans that amplify her powers glow slightly in response, and the dragon tries desperately to get out of range. Just before the blast consumes her, however, she hurls herself back into the Astral Plane. The sea’s response to the explosion hurls Lina’s ship further from shore, stranding my favorite people.

Well, well, well. A golden dragon causing chaos and luring Lina away from the lands previously covered by the seal. I know we’d agreed to let the dragonkin into and out of the area freely, but we honestly didn’t expect them to send someone in so soon.

There is a bit of a squabble; they could technically get back to shore, but Lina doesn’t want to go back. She didn’t intend to cause that much damage to the port town, but apology has never been her strong suit and it’s easier for her to blame the ‘Filia’ that she suspects caused the dragon attack, and fueled by the desire to wreak her vengeance upon the girl, she uses unfair logic and bullying to get her way. I’m so proud of her! It looks like my presence has been rubbing off on her. Let the dragonkin try to use her as a pawn in their schemes; once she discovers that Filia is the golden dragon that attacked the port town, they’ll have no chance. Lina hates being manipulated more than anything else in the world, and the dragonkin aren’t very good at it. Mazoku, on the other hand, are. Lina’s a piece on My Lord Beastmaster’s side of the chess board, and has been since she was twelve.

Ah, Lina, things are never boring around you. Whatever shall we do when you’re gone?

*******************************************************

Ten days out to sea, seven days since the last crumbs of anything edible have been eaten. My little toys have lost the energy to even squabble amongst themselves. The suggestion was made, five days back, that Lina cast another Dragon Slave behind them to create a tidal wave that would surely propel the boat towards land. Lina refused; there’s no reason for casting the spell, and despite what typically ensues around her, she does not relish needless destruction. Unknowingly, she made the right choice. My Lord Beastmaster maintains good relations with Lord Deep Sea, and a blast that size would surely upset the other mazoku lord. Three days back, the chimera voiced the thought that if Lina started bitching me out, surely I’d show up to protest innocence, and they could bargain with me for safe passage to shore. Any shore. Again Lina refused, repulsed by the idea of asking for help from anyone, much less me. Ironically, I have been gently urging the ship towards a section of shore at the pleadings of the dragonkin.

When Filia’s little adventure got my favorite toys stranded, the dragonkin lost touch with Lina. The young golden dragon got herself lost on the Astral Plane and when she clawed her way back to the port, Lina’s ship was out of sight. She returned to the Fire Dragon King for orders, and he sent a messenger to My Lord Beastmaster in desperation and at the suggestion of the Water Dragon King. My Lord Beastmaster agreed to have me deliver Lina to a place of the dragonkin’s choosing, on the condition that I accompany her as a representative of the Mazoku Race. Having no other option, they agreed. The dragonkin hope that the current situation can be resolved without our help, but they’re not above trying to use us for their own ends if need be.

The port the dragonkin have selected is being attacked by bandits when Lina’s enthusiasm drives the boat into the city. There is a quick fight – Lina’s easier to anger when she’s hungry – and then the feasting begins. This is going to take a few hours. I report to My Lord Beastmaster that Lina has been delivered to the appointed town; she in turn relays the information to the Fire Dragon King’s messenger, who lumbers heavily through the Astral Plane to make his report. By the time my little friends have finished eating, a familiar profile cuts through the sky over the sea and heads out towards the desert. The chimera sees it first, but the other three don’t miss it, either. They recognize it as being the same dragon that attacked the port, and Lina goes from ‘sated’ to ‘enraged’ without so much as pausing at any of the emotions between them. Starvation and exhaustion forgotten, the four dash through the streets in pursuit of the young gold.

When they catch up to her, she’s in the process of assuming a human form. Faced with the girl who supposedly wanted to hire her turning into the dragon from the port, Lina stutters a moment and her train of thought crashes. She recovers as the dragon attempts pleasantries. From the Astral Plane, aura tightly bound to not reveal my presence, I watch with amusement. Let the games begin! Lina versus the Golden Dragons, round one!

Lina demands explanations; she only gets part of one before Gourry sidetracks the dragon priestess with a discussion about shifting forms. Our favorite sorceress drags the topic back to the attack on the port, and why it happened.

“I was confirming your power, as I said I would.” Filia’s nonchalant about the whole thing.

“So you attacked a town to do THAT?”

Boy, did the dragonkin lose points there! Manipulation and threatening innocents, way to get on Lina’s good side!

“Destroying the town wasn’t my intention. You did that with your spell, Miss Lina.” The dragon is smug and self-righteous about it, trying to shift the blame to Lina, not wanting to admit that the Dragon Slave wouldn’t have been necessary if she hadn’t attacked, nor would it have damaged the town if she had staged her test elsewhere. Lina is incoherent with indignation. “Besides, if you couldn’t handle something like that, I doubt you’d be able to survive what’s ahead of you.”

Obviously, the Fire Dragon King hadn’t been informed of Lina’s exploits . . . or does not believe the tales. Either way, the dragonkin have just lost some more credibility in the group’s eyes. Filia goes on to recite the prophesy, and a discussion about it ensues. My Lord Beastmaster already knows more than this naïve dragon has been told; I was there when the Ancient Dragons killed the lord from another world and took his magical bow. In fact, I was the one sent to offer them the choice of keeping the bow safe but never using it, or fighting the entire Mazoku Race for it. When L----- first inhabited Lina’s body, My Lord Beastmaster sent me to ask what it was She wanted the Mazoku to do. L----- took me through the barrier between worlds and let me glimpse the two worlds adjacent to ours. In one, Lord Death Fog had vanquished her opposite and the world was a sterile pit of darkness and death. In the other, Lord Dark Star and his opposite had engulfed the world in a bitter struggle for supremacy that was slowly devouring everything. The disapproval radiating from L----- made it clear that these two paths were not what She desired. The Sword of Light had been used as an object demonstration; it was revealed to us that it had been created, along with five other weapons, by Lord Dark Star and his opposite at a time when they were working in harmony. Hearing the words of the prophesy, knowing what we know, a lot more is becoming clear.

Filia finally gets to the point: the dragonkin want Lina to represent humanity and save the world. My little friends laugh it off; in irritation, the dragon tells them that Lina is a fill-in, a runner-up. The blow lands, and Lina’s amusement evaporates in the pain of her wounded ego. Nearly incoherent with rage, she flatly refuses to be herded around after being insulted, and the dragon brings out a small, white envelope. Whoah! I back up about fifty feet on sheer reaction to the aura that clings to the paper. The Flare Dragon’s Knight . . . they sent an emissary to the Flare Dragon’s Knight. Lina reads the note and freaks out, gibbering in panic and performing hysterics that would have been amusing if I weren’t cringing away from the two-month-old aura on the paper.

After much cajoling and soothing and just a bit of unnerved reaction to the thought of a sister that frightens Lina where a fragment of Lord Ruby Eye failed, the others finally convince Lina to calm down and take the job.

Well, well, well. It looks like I’ll have to introduce myself to Miss Filia. After all, we’re going to be traveling together.