AN: I do not own The Slayers, I just play in the sandbox.

"FIREBALL!" A flash of brilliant light descended unto the tiny bandit camp, and turned what had been a calm, quiet evening dividing the day's spoils into a twisted mass of panicked chaos as the name of a sole sorceress rang on everyone's lips. "Lina Inverse…Lina Inverse, The Bandit Killer, The Dragon Spooker and The Girl Who Leaves Destruction in Her Wake." Lina chuckled, and slung her arms back to her left before throwing them forward as she yelled, "FIREBALL, FIREBALL, FIREBALL!" in quick, rapid succession before she descended into the camp, with a tall, blonde swordsman at her side.

Though small in stature, she picked up the nearest bandit she could find and brought him at eye level with her while she left Gourry to take care of anyone who might take the opportunity to attack her while she was distracted. She glared deviously at the now terrified bandit as she barked, "I want information, and I suggest you cooperate. In my book, villains have no rights, and I have nothing against killing you on the spot…"

"What is it you want to know?" he asked, never once doubting her words.

Two bandits came out of nowhere, swords raised as they charged at Lina. Gourry stepped between Lina and the bandits, and disarmed them easily without killing them, allowing them to run away in fear. Unlike Lina, Gourry avoided claiming lives when he could.

Lina's smile rang with false charm, "I have it on good authority that your gang knows the location of the ancient works of Sorcerer Keran the Great. I have a vested interest in his works, and was just wondering if you might be able to direct me to their whereabouts." Her eyes narrowed into another chilling glare as her face seemed to expand. Raising her voice a decibel, she spat, "And you'd better give me the correct location or else I will hunt you down and haunt you forever!"

The bandit gulped, "Seyruun!" he shouted, "It's in Seyruun, I promise it is!"

"Where in Seyruun?" Lina growled as she leaned in closer to his face.

"Old City Library! Not where the other books are, though. You'll have to dig in the underground caverns, but I promise you they're there!"

"Old City Library, eh?" Lina said to herself as she dropped the bandit and turned to deliver a flare arrow to a bandit that was sneaking up behind her while Gourry was distracted with the three that were coming from the front and the right and left sides. "Makes sense, I guess. Come on, Gourry, let's grab their treasure and go get some food."

Gourry's ears perked at the mention of food, "Alright!" he said as he finished off the bandits, "I'm so hungry, I think I could go for a fourth serving tonight!"

Lina laughed, and slapped Gourry companionably on the back before she took off and started searching for the bandit's treasure that would pay for the night's meal, both completely oblivious to the dark forces watching them from afar.

He had walked through this town once before. He tried not to remember the events of those times too clearly, though the town itself had a power that forced them to rise from their graves. Almost as if by remote, he walked up to the maze. Even though he had only traveled through it once, he knew he could easily find his way through the maze again. And this time I don't have two monsters and a dark lord on my tail.

While he felt that his mission held a great importance of its own, the urgency he felt now was nothing compared to what he had felt when he had traveled here with Lina and the others, desperate to find a spell that would destroy Gaav, the Demon Dragon King. Yet the immediate goal had been the same. Like Lina had to see the Claire Bible three years ago, he had to see it now.

Zelgadis had not thought it fair that only Lina had had the privilege of seeing the Claire Bible, but pressed as they were for time, Zelgadis had not complained too much. Still, Lina could at least have asked if there was any way for him to revert back to his human form. It had been, after all, his own initial quest to find the Claire Bible that had stirred Lina's interest. Zelgadis was not too bitter, though. They had all nearly lost their lives fighting Gaav, and then Phibrizo afterwards. And after that crisis was over, Zel had felt slightly wary about coming back here. Yet the need to find to a cure to his curse overcame the wariness that plagued him whenever he thought about returning here, and now here he was…

It was just as spectacular as he remembered it. The tall, misty mountain overlooking verdant green hills. Zelgadis looked around silently, memories of the last time he was here returning to him unbidden. The weird spherical monsters he and Amelia had destroyed, Seigram sneaking up behind Amelia and throwing her from the cliff, the blood flowing out of her body, his panic as he feared that she just might not make it. The Golden Dragon, Milgasea, coming to their aid. Lina destroying Seigram with the Ragna Blade, and then the ensuing fight with Gaav, one in which Gourry and himself had nearly lost their lives fighting. Zelgadis winced and shook his head and tried to clear himself of the memories when something on the field of his vision caught his attention. It was flying, it was golden, and it was headed straight towards him. Maintaining his calm, Zelgadis watched as the Golden Dragon landed and reverted to his human form. Zel recognized him at once, and it soon became apparent that the dragon recognized Zel as well. "Welcome back, Zelgadis Greywards."

Zel nodded in what he hoped was a polite manner, "Milgasea." He acknowledged. He had wondered about the best way to approach the dragon with his request. Should he just cut to the chase and ask to see the Claire Bible? Or should he actually make an attempt at small talk? He gave up the latter option as useless. He wouldn't insult Milgasea by pretending to be interested in what he did in his copious spare time. "Well, the reason I have come here is to see the Claire Bible."

Milgasea nodded, his golden eyes closing, his expression unreadable, "I figured as much. Follow, we've much to discuss."

Without waiting to see whether Zel followed or not, Milgasea headed down a path…one that was not the path that they had taken two years ago to see the Claire Bible. Zelgadis was about to object, but thought better of it, and followed Milgasea in silence while he tried to be patient. After what seemed like an eternity, they finally came to a cave that Milgasea entered. Inside was a rather cozy room. Milgasea sat down at a table, "Sit," he said, and Zelgadis did. Milgasea poured Zel a cup of coffee, and some tea for himself. He took his time, sipping the tea slowly before putting it down as he looked Zelgadis straight in the eye, "I am afraid that I cannot allow you to see the Claire Bible."

Zelgadis face faulted, recovered, and said, "Why not? All I want is a cure to this accursed body of mine!"

Milgasea sighed, "Tell me, Zelgadis, what sort of magical powers did you possess before you were transformed into a chimera?"

Zelgadis opened his mouth to protest, and then shut it, and thought for a few minutes before he replied, "I had some powers, but nothing compared to what I have now. But then, I didn't study shamanist magic until after my transformation, so I really cannot accurately say how powerful I was before it."

"But do you think that you would be as powerful a sorcerer now without the demon part of you as you are with it?"

Zelgadis sighed and muttered, "Probably not."

"And there are times when your stone body proves an advantage in a swordfight. You're used to taking a lot more punishment than the average human as a result of your stronger body. How well would you fair in a swordfight if you no longer had it? You would overreach your bounds."

"Still, it's my risk to take!"

"Yes, it is, but I know something that you do not."

Zelgadis's ears perked, "What is it then?"

Milgasea lowered his head, "Not much, I fear. There have been bad omens but nothing specific. But it is enough to know that you and your friends are in danger yet again. And this time, the threat that you will face will be far greater than any you have faced before. You will need your powers if you and your friends are to survive this one. Even then, I fear that your chances are not great."

"What is it? What will we be facing?" Zelgadis asked, desperate for more information.

Milgasea stood up, and gestured Zelgadis towards the door, "I have told you all that I know. Farewell, Zelgadis Greywards."

Once again, Zelgadis was back outside the maze, in the same desolate deserted town, wondering what to do next. He took a sip from his canteen, and then stared at it. As was their custom, Amelia had once again given him her bracelet to keep with him as he traveled. He fingered it and debated the risks and benefits of returning it to her. Then suddenly he knew where he would go. Seyruun. Seyruun, the white magic capital. The time was long overdue to take Amelia up on her offer. Certainly a cure to his accursed body would be found there, and maybe, just maybe, some answers to some of his questions.

"This ice cream is just as good as I remembered it!" Lina said as she and Gourry walked through the streets of Seyruun, towering ice creams cones in each hand.

"You can say that again!" Gourry said, finishing off a scoop of chocolate chip cookie dough and starting on a scoop of cookies and cream.

"Now, if I recall correctly, Old City Library should be somewhere along this street. I'll go and find the works of Sorcerer Keran. Why don't you look and see if you can find yourself a better sword. The one you have is good as a temporary measure, but I'll feel better once you have one with power similar to the Sword of Light's. I don't think you'll have much luck, Seyruun being a city of pacifism and all, but give it a shot. We'll meet up back at the inn in time for supper."

"Alright." Gourry said. He almost turned to leave when he stopped, "Hey Lina, I thought that you were just hanging around me until I gave you the Sword of Light."

Lina froze as her eyes grew big, "Umm, yeah, well…"

"Well, not that I'm complaining or anything, but now that I no longer have the Sword of Light, why are you still hanging around me?"

Lina turned as crimson as her hair, "Well…Hey, what do you know? Here we are, Old City Library, right where I remember it being, now go along Gourry and find yourself a nice new sword to buy and give to me, and don't you dare start dinner without me tonight because studying makes me extra hungry!" Lina said as she pushed Gourry away from the library.

"Okay, okay, I'm going." Gourry said as he walked off, confused. Lina watched after him for a few moments, as confusion set in as she tried to sort out her feelings for the swordsman. But then she decided to give it up and ran straight into the library.

A librarian stood up as Lina entered. Lina ignored her. She wouldn't know where Sorcerer Keran would have left his works. For one thing, most people in Seyruun probably never knew that their city, the white magic capital, harbored black magic documents. For another thing, Sorcerer Keran's works would not be found on any old library shelf. No, it would be harbored in some secret room, and Lina was determined to find it.

"Let's see," she said to herself as she walked through the library. "Keran must have been here before Seyruun was even founded, meaning the library might have been built over the place where his works are stored, meaning I must reach the lowest levels of the library…" she looked around for a staircase, found one, and started heading down…and down…and down. The further she went, the less well kept the staircase looked as the air took in a stale feel. No one had been down here for ages. The wooden stairs started to creak, and then started to look as if they were going to break away completely and then, suddenly, it changed to a stone staircase. Old, crumbling stone, but stone nonetheless. That, and the design of the stairwell had changed completely.

"LIGHTING!" Lina yelled as she let the light illuminate the walls around her. "Inscriptions…" she said as she stared at the walls around her, "They're a little faded…wait a minute! This is the language they used during the time of Sorcerer Keran! Looks like I found it! Oh Lina, you're so clever!" She strained her eyes slightly and started reading the inscriptions. It basically said that here resided Sorcerer Keran the Great, and why he was so great. Lina was about to be overcome by his ego when finally she came across a door.

She tried to open it the conventional way only to find that the door refused to open the conventional way. She tried a few basic lock pick spells, and found that they didn't work that well either. Lina grinned as she threw her arms back, "Well, if that won't work, how about a DIL BRAND!"

BOOM! Well, that took care of the door. Lina peered inside anxiously, and wasn't the least bit put off as several ghosts exited the room and went prancing up the stairwell and towards the main library. Lina shrugged, "Well, what are you going to do? What matters now is that I find those papers of his and gain some of Keran's ancient and great wisdom!"

"Princess Amelia!" a voice rang. Amelia looked up from her paperwork and stared at the guard. It had better be important. "Yes?" she asked.

"Princess, there is some trouble down at Old City Library!"

"What kind of trouble?"

"Some ghosts have been let loose from the catacombs under the city by some crazy sorceress and are terrorizing the library patrons. Thus far the temple priests have had a hard time exorcizing them, and we thought that with you as strong in the arts of white magic as you are, might be able to render assistance."

Amelia stood up as she raised a hand, "While the dead refuse to stay buried and torment and disrupt the lives of living innocents, justice will never triumph. That is why I, Amelia Wil Tesla Seyruun, will rush to confront this evil!"

And with that, she took off and was gone.

Lina was very content. Sure, miles above her many petrified library patrons were cursing her name as ghosts ran amuck in the library, but here she had found what she had been looking for. Sorcerer Keran's experiment book. Most of it was spells that had been maintained and passed down. Some Lina was fairly sure that she could blend in with some of her own and perfect. Others Lina had absolutely no use for, or were just plain dead ends. And then she found it. Her eyes widened, "It can't be!" she exclaimed, "My gosh, it is! He was trying to combine power from black, white and shamanist magic! But is that possible?" In sweet anticipation, she turned the page. Such a spell could even be more powerful than the Giga Slave! Not to mention not as dangerous. She face faulted. Apparently, Sorcerer Keran felt that since the spell was so powerful, he should divide it up and leave a trail of breadcrumbs to where it lay. Lina frowned. All she had was a name. Ullis? Ullis! The ancient city of forgotten wisdom, lost to humanity for a millennia! Hurriedly she searched the room for an atlas. Luck was with her, for it was not long afterwards that she pulled one out. She flipped through the pages and searched for Ullis…and there it was, located near present day Atlus City. And after a millennia of being a lost and forgotten city that the living no longer frequented, she, Lina Inverse, would be the first to step into the ancient city!

She leaned back and thought out loud to herself, "Ullis, I'm going to see Ullis!" she frowned as she thought about what she might well find there, "A spell that could combine power from black, white and shamanist magic. Could a mere human even manipulate all that power?"

"If anyone can, I'm sure you can."

Lina sat up, "Zel?" she asked, "What are you doing here?"

"What do you think? Looking for a cure. I doubt I'll find one in here, though. I just heard about a panic at Old City Library, and correctly concluded that you were at its center."

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?"

"Anyway, where's Gourry? It's not like you two to be separated from each other." He said slyly as he lifted an eyebrow.

Lina ignored him. Either that she was too preoccupied with her discovery to be bothered with throwing a tantrum, "Out looking for a new sword. We're meeting up at the inn and then we'll head off to Ullis. I've found about all the information I can here."

"Ullis?" Zel asked, "The Ullis?"

Lina nodded, "The one and only. There's an atlas here that shows us where it is!"

"Splendid." A new voice said. Lina and Zel turned in surprise to see a woman they had never met before climb in through the hole that Lina had blasted into the wall, "Oh dear, dear, dear. Lina, darling, you really should see that you don't leave quite so much carnage in your wake. It was frightfully easy to track you down, you see. And given the stakes, well, I must say many people are going to be interested in what you have just found."

Lina scowled. "Excuse me, but who are you?"

"Oh, dear me! Where are my manners?" she asked as she patted her immaculately styled dark hair, "Professor Scarlet Rubaka. I'm Seyruun's lead archeologist. You can check my credentials with Princess Amelia, or Prince Phil for that matter."

"The Professor Rubaka?" Lina asked as she recognized the author behind numerous articles that were taking the various Sorcerer's Guilds by storm with their information about the various archeological finds she had made in Seyruun.

"Please, call me Scarlet. I'm also familiar with your work, and I would like to think of you as a colleague."

Scarlet lifted her beige linen skirt and revealed a lovely pair of doe skin boots as she stepped over a piece of fallen debris and before sitting at the table. She pulled a pair of pince-nez from her poets blouse and set them on her rather aristocratic nose. Lina felt a bit in awe of her. She radiated power and intelligence, and on top of everything else, seemed remarkably well put together.

Scarlet pulled up a manuscript and tutted when she saw that it had been singed. "Oh dear me, this scene has not been processed well at all. What if your carelessness has forever damaged a vital piece of information?"

"Um, well…" Lina mumbled as Zel folded his arms, amused.

"Now look, darling." Scarlet said, "You are a brilliant sorceress and researcher. I've spent the past five years trying to locate this laboratory. I hope it's not too presumptuous of me to assume that it was my paper on the subject that led you to seek out information on Sorcerer Keran in the first place."

"Well, now that you mention it, yeah."

Scarlet tucked a stray bit of hair back in place, "I do wish I had access to your sources. But then I might now approve of the means. Hm, no, don't tell me how you found this then. Anyway, back to my main point, you have saved this world over and over and done extraordinary things. The human race should be bowing down before you in thanks. But are they?"

"Huh?" Lina sputtered.

"Let me clue you in, darling. They're not. And it's because of the means you employ. If you want to receive the credit that you are owed, then you really must take more care with your surroundings."

"You say that, but how am I supposed to take down a monster intent on destroying the world if I'm too worried about a little bit of collateral damage?"

"But darling, that's not always the case now, is it? I mean just today you unleashed a family of ghosts upon this poor library. Miles above us they are tormenting patrons and creating quite the mess. The ordinary person does not see you fight Shabranigdo, but they do have to contend with these little daily emergencies you throw their way. So now, what are you going to do about these ghosts?"

"Nothing, it's not my problem."

Scarlet tutted, "If you ever want to be given the credit due to you as the savior of the world, then this matter of the ghosts is your problem. Oh, and don't go shooting off that dastardly Dragon Slave. While it may be your defining trademark, fire off a spell that powerful and you'll destroy all of Seyruun! And you really don't want that on your resume now, do you? Now move along, I'll stay here and complete a thorough investigation of this find. I expect I will see you again in the morning. You will need my help in Ullis. Bye now."

Lina wasn't sure if she should feel inspired or belittled. But then Gourry ran into the room yelling, "Lina are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Gourry! Why wouldn't I be?"

Gourry scratched his head, "Well, I just heard about the ruckus over here and figured…"

"Oh, come on, let's go to the inn." She said as she headed up the stairs with Gourry and Zel trailing behind her. "Any luck finding a sword."

"No," Gourry said, "Seyruun just doesn't have much of a demand for them."

"Don't worry, we'll find you a new one!" she then looked up at the rows and rows of stairs in front of her, "This will take forever, come on Gourry." She said as she grabbed his hand, "LEVITATION!"

Zelgadis followed suit, and soon they were up at the main floor of the library. And that was when all Hell broke loose.

"Gee," Lina said as she deflected a very heavy book with a small wind spell, "I didn't know it was this bad up here."

Books were flying, shelves were falling, patrons were being chased every which way, and priests were running about doing their best to rid themselves of the menace. And then suddenly, a familiar voice broke through the chaos, "You, who come back to life after your life is through, you, who terrorize the living remorselessly, you, who could not find the time to do all that you could in your first life, and are yet still incapable of doing it in death, do not belong here and I, Amelia Wil Tesla Seyruun, shall send you back to the afterlife where you belong!"

"Amelia?" Lina, Gourry and Zelgadis all said at once.

Amelia turned, and face faulted, and then sighed, "I should have known Miss Lina was the cause of all this."

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Lina said as she headed towards Amelia. Gourry held her back, "Ur, Lina, considering that she is the Princess of Seyruun, and considering that we are in Seyruun, I don't think attacking her would be such a good idea."

Lina turned to face him, "WHO ASKED YOU?"

"Never mind that! What are we going to do about these ghosts? They're everywhere!"

Lina sighed heavily. "You know, this isn't my field." Damn, she hated feeling incompetent! "I mean, this is the white magic capital! I'm surprised this has you all stumped."

"Perhaps these ghosts are of Sorcerer Keran's own making." Zel said.

"Hm," Lina said. She thought back to one of the spells she saw in the book she was reading. But after Scarlet's admonitions to be more cautious Lina was a little wary of casting a spell she'd never heard of before. She looked around the library and her heart felt unusually heavy. No wonder people only listed the bad stuff when they met her!

"Well, here goes." Lina hoped it would work, "You who are resurrected…ETERNAL SLEEP!"

And with that, all of the ghosts dropped where they were, their bodies seemingly absorbed into the floor. Lina smugly brushed her hands against each other, "Piece of cake." She said nonchalantly.

"If you could have done that the whole time…" Amelia started, horrified.

"Hey, it was a new spell, untested, I wasn't sure it would work."

Amelia sighed.

"So, Amelia, what's happening?" she said as she slapped her on the back. The librarian looked like she wanted to have a word with Lina but considering what she had learned of the sorceress decided it better to appeal to Prince Philionel directly rather than confront Lina about property damages.

"Oh, the usual. Official duties, papers and banquets. Rather dull, actually, but justice is being served. What brings you to Seyruun?"

"The prospect of a spell more powerful than the Giga Slave. Unfortunately, it isn't here. Gourry, Zel and I are leaving for Ullis tomorrow. Oh, and I guess your head archeologist is tagging along."

"Oh, so you've met Miss Scarlet. Wait a minute! Ullis?" Amelia repeated, her eyes widening, "The ancient city of Ullis? You know where it is?"

"Yeah, found an old map that had its location. Why?"

"In that case, I must accompany you to Ullis!"

"Sure, why not? It'll be just like old times. Anyway, what's your stake in Ullis?"

"Seyruun has been trying to find the ancient city for our own private reasons." Amelia said, folding her arms across her chest.

"Your own private reasons? Just what are you hiding from me…" Lina stopped suddenly, her eyes darting to Amelia's wrist. Sure enough, on one wrist, was her usual pink bracelet with the blue jewel, on the other, however, "Wait a minute, Amelia, where's your bracelet?"

Amelia blushed, and looked shyly at Zelgadis, "Well…"

Zelgadis blushed even more deeply than Amelia had as he brought out his canteen with the princess's bracelet wrapped around it, "I, um, you, um, you dropped this and, um..." He said as he handed it to Amelia.

Lina clasped her hands together, "Oh that's so sweet! I didn't know you two were a couple!"

"What?" Amelia asked as she turned even redder.

"We're not a couple!" Zelgadis said. Amelia looked around and saw that all of the patrons were staring, "Could we get out of here?" she asked.

"Sure, sure," Lina said, "And on the way to Ullis City you two love birds can tell me all about it!" Putting one arm around Amelia, and another around Zelgadis, she led them out of the library with a confused Gourry in tow.

"We're not love birds." Zelgadis objected.

"Oh, this is going to be a long trip!" Amelia cried.

AN: I originally wrote this in 2002 to be the fourth season of "The Slayers" we never got. And, as I always maintained, I took it down when we did get that fourth season. I debated about whether or not to update this with Revo/Evo and with all of the background info that had since reached the English speaking world (in 2002 there wasn't a lot, I even email QPDiana with a lot of questions, some of which we now have answers to that we didn't then). Also, when I wrote this I was so focused on making it canonically accurate that, after I finished it, I realized I forgot a few anime trademarks, such as the new character who has their own arc through the season (granted I was so scared of writing a Mary Sue I shied away as much as possible from OCs) and Lina casting a Dragon Slave in the first episode. I was paralyzed with all of the changes that needed to be made, and then the final novel translations were made available and I found some resolution in those that I found lacking with the series and further caused me to put updating this on the backburner.

However, this stuck in my mind. "The Slayers" should have ended on a stronger season. And I finally figured out some ways to incorporate Revo/Evo and the new background information we have. Some things about Revo/Evo frustrate me, such as Amelia not being a glutton like she was in TRY and NEXT, so let's just say it happened but all of the characters were hit with an OCC stick and are now back to their end of TRY selves, OK? Anyway, one chapter down, 25 more to go!