You know, I'm aware that Magus searching for Schala is one of the most
overused plots there is. But I'm trying to be original here, so give it a
chance. See, in this one… finding her is just the start of it.
I don't own any characters except the ones I've made up. Like Magus upcoming soulmate… *evil laugh*
This is rated R for violence in later chapters.
***Magus's quest***
~*~Chapter 1 Old enemies and "friends"~*~
The air smelled like dry sand, and the light was strangely grey. The only light-source was a distant hole in the cave's ceiling, way up high.
Walking very slowly, Magus moved carefully forwards on the ledge, watching the enormous, empty cavern below him. There was absolutely no living thing here, except the warlock.
Frowning, he reached for his cloak and pulled out an old, well read book. He opened it and read a few lines. Shaking his head, he put the book back and decided to continue a little while longer, though there wasn't much left of the ledge. But... that's a bit strange...
The end of the cave was hidden in darkness, though it looked natural. It took even a trained eye to notice that it was a bit too dark. Magus' lips drew back a little.
'Whoever made up this stupid little joke,' he thought, touching the place in the cloak were the book laid, 'he wasn't an amateur.'
Of course it would have taken a great magician or warrior to even dare trying "the little joke". This could actually be rather interesting, and that was the only reason the dark lord even was in the cave. He moved closer to the end of the ledge, listening closely for even the slightest sound.
Suddenly, a rising circle of dirty light cut through the darkness. Magus stopped and watched as the circle became a big pillar. For a moment the light was steadily rising, then it faded. The pillar was still there, but it looked like it was made of glass. It was ten feet high and inside it, close to the top, a small body was floating in thin air.
"So there you are," Magus whispered, frowning.
It was Frog. He was unconscious and in bad shape. His clothes were all torn and burned; the left leg had an ugly cut, as well as both arms. Outside of the circle lay the Masamune on the cave's floor.
Someone moved up to the circle on the ground, and the watching warlock drew back a little, to hide a while longer. Maybe he'd even keep hiding; saving a Guardia knight, and this one in particular wasn't really his kind of thing. But when a voice spoke, even the great Lord of Darkness found himself a bit surprised.
"Are you going to play until nightfall?" the voice said, irritated, "why don't you just kill him?"
What the...? Magus moved closer again.
"Patience, cutie," another, soft, voice said with a small laugh, "I want him fully awake and feeling."
From the softly red lips came one of those strange voices that are hard to tell whether they belong to a man or woman. The body was the one of a woman, dressed in white clothes and a pink cape, which matched the hair. But this was no woman. It was Flea, the magician. And the other, irritated voice belonged to Slash the swordsman. He was nowhere to be seen, though. But he spoke again:
"Stop fooling around, he knew he'd lost just as soon as we took his beloved sword away."
'Applause, I give,' Magus coldly thought.
"Kill him now, Flea!" Slash's voice demanded, and it was the magician's lips that moved.
So sharing the same body to stay alive was their secret. They must somehow have escaped the final blow in Ozzie's castle, too weak to stay in the mortal world alone. It was pretty dumb really, two minds trying to control the same arms and legs... yet, if they had managed to beat Frog... applause.
"Alright, alright!" said Flea sourly, "I'll kill him, you funslayer."
"Good, then what are you waiting for?" Slash snapped.
Flea raised his small, right hand and drew a circle in the air, followed by a standing line above it.
Dark smoke came from the magician's finger as he moved it, and stayed in the air even afterwards. It looked very much like a rope. As Flea grabbed it with one hand, a similar smoke rope appeared in the air behind Frog.
"Couldn't you have thought about something better?" Slash asked, bored.
Flea snorted.
"I told you I wanted him awake," he said, "what could ever be worse for this brave knight than this kind of death?"
There was a slight moan coming from Frog.
"Seems like you're lucky after all," Slash said with an evil smile.
Frog weakly shook his head, trying to regain his senses.
"Did you sleep well, little reptile?" Flea mocked, waving at him with the one free hand.
"Thou shalt not escape this vile crime..." the knight whispered, croaking.
"Whatever," Slash snorted.
Flea moved his hand. When the rope that the evil one held was moving, so did the one by Frog. He tried to struggle as he felt the magic smoke around his neck.
"Rats of darkness!" he croaked, too weak to reach up to his throat.
"I'm afraid we're short of scaffolds, dear guest," Flea said with an evil smile, "this will just have to do."
The pillar of light started to disappear, and with it the power which kept Frog floating. He started making pathetic sounds, struggling for air, as his own weight slowly began to strangle him.
Magus stood up in his full length upon the ledge.
"Powers of the world, lend me the power of Lightning!" he yelled as he threw himself out into the cavern, snarling the needed spell as he dashed through thin air.
Flea and Slash jumped aside, completely surprised as lightning bolts flew from Magus' chest and hit the ground by the circle. Just as the magic attack came to stop, the dark wizard got a grip of Frog. The rope disappeared as the warlock got a grip of the knight, and the two hit the ground. Magus got up on his feet, glaring at the one he'd just saved. He was both confused and angry, surprised over his own actions. Frog was just as confused, trying to focus his eyes.
"Why did thou cometh to my aid?" he whispered.
"You just shut up!" Magus growled.
He was already regretting his quick decision.
"My, what a sweet reunion!" Flea laughed.
He continued, mocking Frog's way of talking:
"Lord Magus, I bideth thee welcometh! How abouteth a littleth barbaqueth to celebrateth? Powers of the world, lend me the power of Lightning!"
The warlock was forced to jump backwards to avoid the bolts leaving Flea's chest.
The magician had been the Lord of Darkness' teacher. He logically knew about Magus' special defense against magic; that only the last thing he'd chanted could hurt him. The warlock hardly avoided the lightning, Frog's weight gave him some trouble. He couldn't drop his burden either, because the knight would surely get killed if left in his condition. Even though that wouldn't be an entirely bad thing, it would make the foolish rescue a complete waste of time. Magus cursed the short memory of the sweet revenge against Lavos, the thought was all that had convinced him that he should give Frog a hand, just this once. It had felt stupid enough even as he decided to make a move, now the dark lord was getting really mad.
"Why don't you say something, lord Magus?" Slash asked with a mean smile upon Flea's lips, "we haven't seen each other in such a long time, and you don't even greet us?"
"Pha!" Magus growled, "dark powers of the world, I dare to ask of you to lend me strength!"
"Less funny..." Flea muttered as he felt the air thicken by Magus' hasty chanting.
Slash was surely the leading mind when the womanlike body spun out of the way for the two gigantic triangles, one white and one pitch-black. As the white one was swallowed by the dark, all sounds and movement froze for the one split second before a massive wave of pure dark pressure threw every last loose piece of material in the cave up against the shaking walls. Magus lost his breath as Frog was thrown against his chest and the warlock's back hit the wall at the same time. On the other side of the cave, Flea and Slash got their body to its feet again. Everyone was breathing deeply.
"That was not very smart, indeed," Flea said, regaining the breath, "did you leave your brain outside, cutie?"
Magus got up, staggered and leaned against the wall, gritting his teeth. He should have known better than to try to defeat Flea and Slash with only one blow. Flea was a magician, and therefore his body had a strong magic resistance. Dark Matter was a far too consuming spell to use in a moment like this, it had drawn too much of the warlock' energy. Now he maybe could manage to chant a low level spell to keep Flea and Slash busy enough for an escape. Well, it would have been a option if they hadn't been all so far away that they were out of reach for such a puny attack.
And all this trouble because of the blasted knight! Speaking of which...
There was a weak sound to be heard from Frog. His green skin was stretched with pain as he tried to summon the last of his fading powers.
"Masamune...!" he whispered, "cometh to my hand!"
And the sword, fallen by the wall a few feet away, rose up in the air and floated towards its owner.
Frog gripped the hilt and tried to focus his eyes at Magus.
"I can hardly hold it..." the knight whispered, "thou must use this single chance..."
It was not like he threw the Masamune, he moved his weakened arm back a little and let go.
"Powers of the world…" Magus growled.
He hurriedly chanted the spell of fragile lightning, and the bolt hit the falling weapon as it fully hit the ground.
He had no idea how he'd understood what Frog had meant, but it worked. The sword pointed at the enemy as it laid on the ground and that lead the lightning in the right direction. The bolt danced forth over the cave floor, directly towards Flea and Slash. A fry that puny wouldn't hurt badly, but Magus took the chance and retreated as an angry cry filled the thick air.
"You weaklings... aaaugh!"
"You're causing far more trouble than you're worth!" Magus growled as he ran with Frog in a tight grip.
"Why did thee even help me?" Frog muttered, with as much sarcasm as he could summon, "owing thee something… nay, I would rather loose my life in a fight against the late Ozzie..."
"Owing me something? You?" Magus snorted, "what on earth could you ever help me with?"
"Defeat Lavos, for one... ugh..."
Frog's bulb eyes turned, and he fell back into unconsciousness.
'Why did I even bother?' the dark magician thought, irritated, 'it didn't bring me anything, helping this little fool.'
But it was done, so he decided to bring Frog away from the deserted island and leave him someplace safe. Starting to act stupid, Magus thought he might as well finish it.
All of a sudden the Masamune flew up in front of him, blocking his way. Magus hated the sword enough in a warrior's hand; if it had a life of its own he was in trouble. He froze, prepared to duck. But the weapon just moved softly through the air and put itself through the metal ring at Frog's belt. Hanging there, it swung and hit Magus' legs several times as he moved on. He was on his last nerve as he finally reached the surface, and stepped out into the sunlight. The ruins of Ozzie's castle were already, after only a year, beginning to get overgrown with all kinds of climbing plants.
The large amount of power he'd wasted on Dark Matter was starting to concern Magus. Maybe he should have taken a rest two days ago... usually he never had to fight, monsters were often smart enough to step aside, and he had never needed much sleep. But now, he was weakened through a foolish mistake, and he could not take the chance to even sit down while still on the island. It was quite possible that Flea and Slash owned a few bottles of healing potions, and he didn't. So he'd just have to bear it until he had left this island.
All these problems and thoughts made him loose a little attention and he almost walked straight into the twenty Guardia soldiers, lead by a captain in golden armor. There was a frozen moment, before the captain spoke.
"General Frog?" he said in great surprise, his rather wide eyes going between the carried and the carrier, "who are you, stranger, who have found him?"
It figured, really. Most humans who had seen the Prince of Darkness hadn't survived it.
Magus was just about to leave Frog and depart without a word, when the small green knight suddenly awoke and spoke with broken voice:
"What bring thee to our time once more, Magus...?"
Make that '102 reasons to cut the little pest in half'...
The armed men obviously went through a short flashback, recalling all they had ever heard about the evil one. Removing the most wild tales about three heads and similar, they probably recalled the more realistic ones that their own general had provided; blue hair and pale skin, wearing a blood- red cape.
A lot of swords were drawn, pointing at Magus. He found himself standing with the back against a wall. There were no possible exits except straight up, but he was too weakened to try a flight. Frog had fainted again, and was therefore not supplying much help. Speaking wouldn't bring anything since the soldiers surely wouldn't even listen, and dropping the unconscious one would only make them attack. The only reason Magus was still in one piece was the fact that the men didn't want to hurt Frog.
The caught one clenched his teeth. As he was weakened, it wouldn't take the Masamune to finish him off…
There was a small buzz, just in the corner of the mind. A Gate? Magus' gaze swirled downwards, a flame of hope glistening in his dark heart.
The warlock had mastered the Gates, he could easily open one anywhere. But that was when he was stronger than at the moment. He might be able to open one that already was placed somewhere, though.
A sparkle in the long grass, to the right... Magus kicked at it, snarling the short spell. A sparkling, deep blue hole opened by his side. Without hesitating he threw himself through it, the angry yells of the soldiers following him.
As the Gate closed behind him Magus found himself at the same place as before. However, now there were no soldiers there and the crumbled walls were almost gone; broken by the hard wind and rain. After putting Frog down in the sunbathing grass, the dark lord pulled out his timecrystal. He had made it by himself to make the time traveling simpler. It was a small, blue crystal ball, which showed the date and year after going through a Gate.
It said 'March 8, year 701 AD'.
A hundred years, exactly... that should keep even Flea and Slash away. Still it was best to stay on guard, ready for attacks.
Magus turned his thin eyes at Frog. It seemed like the knight would stay unconscious for a longer while this time.
'You've caused me far too much trouble,' Magus thought, irritated, 'this time, I won't let you get away.'
I don't own any characters except the ones I've made up. Like Magus upcoming soulmate… *evil laugh*
This is rated R for violence in later chapters.
***Magus's quest***
~*~Chapter 1 Old enemies and "friends"~*~
The air smelled like dry sand, and the light was strangely grey. The only light-source was a distant hole in the cave's ceiling, way up high.
Walking very slowly, Magus moved carefully forwards on the ledge, watching the enormous, empty cavern below him. There was absolutely no living thing here, except the warlock.
Frowning, he reached for his cloak and pulled out an old, well read book. He opened it and read a few lines. Shaking his head, he put the book back and decided to continue a little while longer, though there wasn't much left of the ledge. But... that's a bit strange...
The end of the cave was hidden in darkness, though it looked natural. It took even a trained eye to notice that it was a bit too dark. Magus' lips drew back a little.
'Whoever made up this stupid little joke,' he thought, touching the place in the cloak were the book laid, 'he wasn't an amateur.'
Of course it would have taken a great magician or warrior to even dare trying "the little joke". This could actually be rather interesting, and that was the only reason the dark lord even was in the cave. He moved closer to the end of the ledge, listening closely for even the slightest sound.
Suddenly, a rising circle of dirty light cut through the darkness. Magus stopped and watched as the circle became a big pillar. For a moment the light was steadily rising, then it faded. The pillar was still there, but it looked like it was made of glass. It was ten feet high and inside it, close to the top, a small body was floating in thin air.
"So there you are," Magus whispered, frowning.
It was Frog. He was unconscious and in bad shape. His clothes were all torn and burned; the left leg had an ugly cut, as well as both arms. Outside of the circle lay the Masamune on the cave's floor.
Someone moved up to the circle on the ground, and the watching warlock drew back a little, to hide a while longer. Maybe he'd even keep hiding; saving a Guardia knight, and this one in particular wasn't really his kind of thing. But when a voice spoke, even the great Lord of Darkness found himself a bit surprised.
"Are you going to play until nightfall?" the voice said, irritated, "why don't you just kill him?"
What the...? Magus moved closer again.
"Patience, cutie," another, soft, voice said with a small laugh, "I want him fully awake and feeling."
From the softly red lips came one of those strange voices that are hard to tell whether they belong to a man or woman. The body was the one of a woman, dressed in white clothes and a pink cape, which matched the hair. But this was no woman. It was Flea, the magician. And the other, irritated voice belonged to Slash the swordsman. He was nowhere to be seen, though. But he spoke again:
"Stop fooling around, he knew he'd lost just as soon as we took his beloved sword away."
'Applause, I give,' Magus coldly thought.
"Kill him now, Flea!" Slash's voice demanded, and it was the magician's lips that moved.
So sharing the same body to stay alive was their secret. They must somehow have escaped the final blow in Ozzie's castle, too weak to stay in the mortal world alone. It was pretty dumb really, two minds trying to control the same arms and legs... yet, if they had managed to beat Frog... applause.
"Alright, alright!" said Flea sourly, "I'll kill him, you funslayer."
"Good, then what are you waiting for?" Slash snapped.
Flea raised his small, right hand and drew a circle in the air, followed by a standing line above it.
Dark smoke came from the magician's finger as he moved it, and stayed in the air even afterwards. It looked very much like a rope. As Flea grabbed it with one hand, a similar smoke rope appeared in the air behind Frog.
"Couldn't you have thought about something better?" Slash asked, bored.
Flea snorted.
"I told you I wanted him awake," he said, "what could ever be worse for this brave knight than this kind of death?"
There was a slight moan coming from Frog.
"Seems like you're lucky after all," Slash said with an evil smile.
Frog weakly shook his head, trying to regain his senses.
"Did you sleep well, little reptile?" Flea mocked, waving at him with the one free hand.
"Thou shalt not escape this vile crime..." the knight whispered, croaking.
"Whatever," Slash snorted.
Flea moved his hand. When the rope that the evil one held was moving, so did the one by Frog. He tried to struggle as he felt the magic smoke around his neck.
"Rats of darkness!" he croaked, too weak to reach up to his throat.
"I'm afraid we're short of scaffolds, dear guest," Flea said with an evil smile, "this will just have to do."
The pillar of light started to disappear, and with it the power which kept Frog floating. He started making pathetic sounds, struggling for air, as his own weight slowly began to strangle him.
Magus stood up in his full length upon the ledge.
"Powers of the world, lend me the power of Lightning!" he yelled as he threw himself out into the cavern, snarling the needed spell as he dashed through thin air.
Flea and Slash jumped aside, completely surprised as lightning bolts flew from Magus' chest and hit the ground by the circle. Just as the magic attack came to stop, the dark wizard got a grip of Frog. The rope disappeared as the warlock got a grip of the knight, and the two hit the ground. Magus got up on his feet, glaring at the one he'd just saved. He was both confused and angry, surprised over his own actions. Frog was just as confused, trying to focus his eyes.
"Why did thou cometh to my aid?" he whispered.
"You just shut up!" Magus growled.
He was already regretting his quick decision.
"My, what a sweet reunion!" Flea laughed.
He continued, mocking Frog's way of talking:
"Lord Magus, I bideth thee welcometh! How abouteth a littleth barbaqueth to celebrateth? Powers of the world, lend me the power of Lightning!"
The warlock was forced to jump backwards to avoid the bolts leaving Flea's chest.
The magician had been the Lord of Darkness' teacher. He logically knew about Magus' special defense against magic; that only the last thing he'd chanted could hurt him. The warlock hardly avoided the lightning, Frog's weight gave him some trouble. He couldn't drop his burden either, because the knight would surely get killed if left in his condition. Even though that wouldn't be an entirely bad thing, it would make the foolish rescue a complete waste of time. Magus cursed the short memory of the sweet revenge against Lavos, the thought was all that had convinced him that he should give Frog a hand, just this once. It had felt stupid enough even as he decided to make a move, now the dark lord was getting really mad.
"Why don't you say something, lord Magus?" Slash asked with a mean smile upon Flea's lips, "we haven't seen each other in such a long time, and you don't even greet us?"
"Pha!" Magus growled, "dark powers of the world, I dare to ask of you to lend me strength!"
"Less funny..." Flea muttered as he felt the air thicken by Magus' hasty chanting.
Slash was surely the leading mind when the womanlike body spun out of the way for the two gigantic triangles, one white and one pitch-black. As the white one was swallowed by the dark, all sounds and movement froze for the one split second before a massive wave of pure dark pressure threw every last loose piece of material in the cave up against the shaking walls. Magus lost his breath as Frog was thrown against his chest and the warlock's back hit the wall at the same time. On the other side of the cave, Flea and Slash got their body to its feet again. Everyone was breathing deeply.
"That was not very smart, indeed," Flea said, regaining the breath, "did you leave your brain outside, cutie?"
Magus got up, staggered and leaned against the wall, gritting his teeth. He should have known better than to try to defeat Flea and Slash with only one blow. Flea was a magician, and therefore his body had a strong magic resistance. Dark Matter was a far too consuming spell to use in a moment like this, it had drawn too much of the warlock' energy. Now he maybe could manage to chant a low level spell to keep Flea and Slash busy enough for an escape. Well, it would have been a option if they hadn't been all so far away that they were out of reach for such a puny attack.
And all this trouble because of the blasted knight! Speaking of which...
There was a weak sound to be heard from Frog. His green skin was stretched with pain as he tried to summon the last of his fading powers.
"Masamune...!" he whispered, "cometh to my hand!"
And the sword, fallen by the wall a few feet away, rose up in the air and floated towards its owner.
Frog gripped the hilt and tried to focus his eyes at Magus.
"I can hardly hold it..." the knight whispered, "thou must use this single chance..."
It was not like he threw the Masamune, he moved his weakened arm back a little and let go.
"Powers of the world…" Magus growled.
He hurriedly chanted the spell of fragile lightning, and the bolt hit the falling weapon as it fully hit the ground.
He had no idea how he'd understood what Frog had meant, but it worked. The sword pointed at the enemy as it laid on the ground and that lead the lightning in the right direction. The bolt danced forth over the cave floor, directly towards Flea and Slash. A fry that puny wouldn't hurt badly, but Magus took the chance and retreated as an angry cry filled the thick air.
"You weaklings... aaaugh!"
"You're causing far more trouble than you're worth!" Magus growled as he ran with Frog in a tight grip.
"Why did thee even help me?" Frog muttered, with as much sarcasm as he could summon, "owing thee something… nay, I would rather loose my life in a fight against the late Ozzie..."
"Owing me something? You?" Magus snorted, "what on earth could you ever help me with?"
"Defeat Lavos, for one... ugh..."
Frog's bulb eyes turned, and he fell back into unconsciousness.
'Why did I even bother?' the dark magician thought, irritated, 'it didn't bring me anything, helping this little fool.'
But it was done, so he decided to bring Frog away from the deserted island and leave him someplace safe. Starting to act stupid, Magus thought he might as well finish it.
All of a sudden the Masamune flew up in front of him, blocking his way. Magus hated the sword enough in a warrior's hand; if it had a life of its own he was in trouble. He froze, prepared to duck. But the weapon just moved softly through the air and put itself through the metal ring at Frog's belt. Hanging there, it swung and hit Magus' legs several times as he moved on. He was on his last nerve as he finally reached the surface, and stepped out into the sunlight. The ruins of Ozzie's castle were already, after only a year, beginning to get overgrown with all kinds of climbing plants.
The large amount of power he'd wasted on Dark Matter was starting to concern Magus. Maybe he should have taken a rest two days ago... usually he never had to fight, monsters were often smart enough to step aside, and he had never needed much sleep. But now, he was weakened through a foolish mistake, and he could not take the chance to even sit down while still on the island. It was quite possible that Flea and Slash owned a few bottles of healing potions, and he didn't. So he'd just have to bear it until he had left this island.
All these problems and thoughts made him loose a little attention and he almost walked straight into the twenty Guardia soldiers, lead by a captain in golden armor. There was a frozen moment, before the captain spoke.
"General Frog?" he said in great surprise, his rather wide eyes going between the carried and the carrier, "who are you, stranger, who have found him?"
It figured, really. Most humans who had seen the Prince of Darkness hadn't survived it.
Magus was just about to leave Frog and depart without a word, when the small green knight suddenly awoke and spoke with broken voice:
"What bring thee to our time once more, Magus...?"
Make that '102 reasons to cut the little pest in half'...
The armed men obviously went through a short flashback, recalling all they had ever heard about the evil one. Removing the most wild tales about three heads and similar, they probably recalled the more realistic ones that their own general had provided; blue hair and pale skin, wearing a blood- red cape.
A lot of swords were drawn, pointing at Magus. He found himself standing with the back against a wall. There were no possible exits except straight up, but he was too weakened to try a flight. Frog had fainted again, and was therefore not supplying much help. Speaking wouldn't bring anything since the soldiers surely wouldn't even listen, and dropping the unconscious one would only make them attack. The only reason Magus was still in one piece was the fact that the men didn't want to hurt Frog.
The caught one clenched his teeth. As he was weakened, it wouldn't take the Masamune to finish him off…
There was a small buzz, just in the corner of the mind. A Gate? Magus' gaze swirled downwards, a flame of hope glistening in his dark heart.
The warlock had mastered the Gates, he could easily open one anywhere. But that was when he was stronger than at the moment. He might be able to open one that already was placed somewhere, though.
A sparkle in the long grass, to the right... Magus kicked at it, snarling the short spell. A sparkling, deep blue hole opened by his side. Without hesitating he threw himself through it, the angry yells of the soldiers following him.
As the Gate closed behind him Magus found himself at the same place as before. However, now there were no soldiers there and the crumbled walls were almost gone; broken by the hard wind and rain. After putting Frog down in the sunbathing grass, the dark lord pulled out his timecrystal. He had made it by himself to make the time traveling simpler. It was a small, blue crystal ball, which showed the date and year after going through a Gate.
It said 'March 8, year 701 AD'.
A hundred years, exactly... that should keep even Flea and Slash away. Still it was best to stay on guard, ready for attacks.
Magus turned his thin eyes at Frog. It seemed like the knight would stay unconscious for a longer while this time.
'You've caused me far too much trouble,' Magus thought, irritated, 'this time, I won't let you get away.'