Slayers: Chaos

Chaos 9

Slayers: Chaos

Episode 009: Impulse! A Step Forward and Ten Back

Wolves howled as the sea washed against the shores of Wolf Pack Island. Xellos led Lina inside the hidden palace underground, towards Zelas' throne room. "You really are a stubborn one," Zelas' voice was heard, coming from down the hall. "At least you are named correctly." As she emerged from another hallway and into their view, Lina and Xellos realized that there was something peculiar attached to the bottom of her white dress. It was a young wolf-dog with yellow fur and blue eyes. The female was a little over a year old and she was playfully chewing on the ivory fabric in an attempt to get her master's master to play with her.

"Fili," As soon as Xellos spoke the name, the wolf-dog released the fabric of Zelas' dress and ran to Xellos, trying to jump on him. Xellos caught her, but he set her down again. "You're too big to jump into my arms like that."

"Fili has visited her kind long enough, go drop off your pet in Seyruun." Zelas dismissed.

Xellos knew it was his cue to leave Lina alone with Beast Master. "I'll be back in a little while." He teleported away, taking the wolf-dog with him, Val and Palou would be glad to have her back. Zelas never liked her much, though she had a level of tolerance for Fili that amazed even Xellos. The wolf-dog hybrid was the daughter of one of her favorite wolves, Chaos, and Milgazia's dog, Justice, needless to say, Zelas was not pleased with this, but let Fili and her siblings live. While Inky, Pinky, Blinky and Clyde, who took more after their mother with black fur, lived at Wolf Pack Island with the other wolves, the runt of the litter was adopted by Xellos and named Fili Algar Metallium. Her middle name was composed of the forth letters of the names Zelas, Amelia, Zelgadis, Lina and Gourry possibly because Xellos was Lina's useful and sometimes useless, item number four, though that was somewhat of an unconscious choice in his part.

With Xellos gone, Zelas led Lina into the elegant yet somewhat rustic looking throne room that was occasionally remodeled. Gold and fur seemed to be the theme at the moment. Zelas' golden throne had thick black fur draped over it with a few fur rugs scattered about in a seemingly random pattern that was both chaotic, yet strangely balanced. The walls were decorated in swirls of white, black and gray as if painted with distant galaxies and the golden throne stood out, though it wasn't blindingly bright due to the contrast of the black fur details on it. Zelas took a seat on the throne as Lina stood before her.

The red haired sorceress chuckled, as if trying to force herself out of the numb state she was left in. Her eyes were still red and puffy, making it obvious she had been crying. The taste of her unpleasant feelings must be clear to Zelas. However, Lina Inverse had her pride and she wasn't about to be looked down on by a monster lord, or by anyone. "I see you've remodeled the place." Lina didn't visit Wolf Pack Island often, but she had been there before during a series of chaotic events that she didn't have the energy to think about at the time.

"Do you like it? I'm remodeling the sitting room that precedes my personal chambers too, but you had not seen that one before." Zelas spoke casually. "That's a pity because it was quite stunning if I do say so myself. But alas, the decorations are lost. Sweet little Val let the wolves into my chambers last time he was here for a visit and he got them so hyper and playful that they chewed up my precious dissected dragons. Of course, Val thought they were just statues, amusing little mischief maker that boy," she chuckled.

"Dissected dragons..." Lina couldn't help it but to wonder what Filia would say to the story of that event.

"I sent the torn up remains to Milgazia as a prank gift and he sent me a rather displeased sounding letter in return, but it was so proper and diplomatic that I couldn't take it seriously. I would laugh my head off the day someone made that oh so controlled and patient dragon blow his temper a la Lina," Zelas grinned.