A/N: An idea that came to me in a dream.
NO HEROES TO SAVE YOU NOW
Malistaire looked at the blood red skies of Dragonspyre. In a few moments, his quest would be over, his life would return to him and for once in what felt like forever, he felt- happy? No, that wasn't right. Excited? Malistaire couldn't think of a word to describe how he was feeling. But as he looked to the sky, he knew one thing for certain: his Life, Sylvia, was coming back.
He had done it. All of his plans worked better than expected. Wizard City was currently being destroyed by an undead army and the Dragon Titan was being summoned. As soon as it finished forming, Malistaire would take control over it as its summoner and master. Then he would use its unlimited power to bring his beloved Sylvia back to life. After that, he would rule over the Spiral! He'd command the Dragon Titan to destroy whatever remained of Wizard City, he'd make the other worlds bow to him as their king and he'd do it all with his queen, Sylvia, by his side, as they ruled together in their palace on Dragonspyre. He just had to wait for this titan to finish forming.
He watched the titan form piece by piece. So far only its eye had been successfully regenerated, the rest of it was still being formed. A dragon titan was a powerful creature. If something like that would ever be destroyed, it would take a lot of power to bring it back from whatever abyss it was sent to. Malistaire was truly at a loss of how to feel and what to do. Ever since he came up with his plan to bring back Sylvia, he never stopped for a moment. Never stopped to rest or think, he couldn't even remember the last time he ate something. But now, he had nothing to do until the titan formed. Naturally, he took this time to think about his actions. Not in a "how could I have done these terrible things?" way, but in a "my brilliant plan worked!" way.
He thought back to stage one of plan: steal Bartleby's eye. It turned out to be surprisingly easy. Bartleby, being a tree, was unable to fight back as Malistaire stole his eye in a gruesome fashion he didn't like dwelling on. Bartleby certainly didn't seem like an all powerful force of ancient magic after Malistaire was done with him. Despite Bartleby being less than expected, the eye proved to be even more powerful than Malistaire could have imagined. With it, he could raise thousands of undead and command them to join his army. Of course it was not without limits. Malistaire found that there was too much within the eye for him to use it all at once. He had to extract the mana from it in fractions lest he burn himself up from on overload of magic. Even with the smallest bits though, he was filled with an unimaginable amount of power. And that power was used for part 2 of his plan.
Raise an army of undead and use it to attack Wizard City. Malistaire knew that Ambrose would try to stop him, but Malistaire wasn't going to give him a chance. He enlisted five elites to manage his army and to carry out specific tasks assigned to each of them while he dealt with reviving Sylvia. This part of his plan called for separate coordinated attacks, each to cripple Wizard City in one way or another. He had Rattlebones corrupt the fairies of Unicorn way, as Malistaire feared that with the fairies healing magic, Wizard City would put up a much greater fight. Next he ordered the Harvest Lord to teach storm magic to the undead to make them even more powerful. He forced the Cyclops general Akilles to turn against Wizard City and kidnap any wizard he could find as to weaken any army Ambrose could rally. Next, he had Bastilla Gravewynd corrupt the Fire Elves with her ghostly song. Finally, he had Lord Nightshade monitor things and report back to him.
The plan was perfect! With it, Malistaire completely crippled the city. With monsters attacking on every street and old allies being turned against them, Ambrose was unable to spare any wizards and could do nothing to stop him. The plan actually worked a bit too well. Malistaire expected Wizard City to put up a better fight. He expected at least one fool to try and play hero, but no one did. And it made the rest of Malistaire's work that much easier.
The next part was simple: Kill Ambrose. While old, Ambrose was a serious threat to Malistaire's plans. Malistaire knew that if anyone could defeat him, it would be Ambrose. His first assassination attempt failed miserably. He fought Ambrose at the top of Golem Tower with what had to be the two weakest Draconians to ever exist. He underestimated just how strong Merle was and he was forced to retreat. His next attempt yielded better results, but still failed. Ambrose and the other professors always worried about a spy in their midst. Of course they figured that if there was a spy it would be either Cyrus or a death wizard. What they never expected is that it could have been a storm wizard who kept to himself in a library assisting the librarian. Boris Tallstaff made for an excellent spy. No one questioned why the seemingly harmless book suddenly turned into a ticking time bomb after Boris got his hands on it. The explosion, sadly, didn't kill Ambrose like it was supposed to. It did severely weaken him to the point where he could no longer give orders. Without his leadership, Wizard City crumbled.
The rest of Malistaire's plan was fairly simple. Use the unlimited power of Bartleby's eye to raise the mummies and ghosts of Krockotopia and obtain the Krockonomicon, the book he'd need to summon the Dragon Titan. He wasn't pleased when he found out that Marleybone archeologists had found the book first though. Because of this, he had to take an unplanned detour to Marleybone and he was sure to make the people of that world pay for the inconvenience.
He decided that the only way to steal the Krockonomicon was with the help of criminals and luckily for Malistaire, the infamous Meowiarty and his O' Leary gang would be happy to help, so long as Malistaire broke them out of prison. The prison break worked flawlessly. Who would've guessed how terrible Marleybone security is? It made Malistaire wonder just how Meowiarty got kidnapped in the first place. Needless to say, stealing the Krockonomicon proved too easy. Malistaire was honestly surprised that he met with almost no resistance. He assumed the universe ran out of heroes.
With the Krockonomicon secure, Malistaire was prepared to leave Marleybone, but not before exacting his revenge. The detour he took was unplanned and unnecessary, and if someone were trying to stop him (although it didn't look like anyone was) then this opportunity would have given them the chance to catch up with him. He decided that the best course of action would be to use the power of Bartleby's eye and raise another undead army on the rooftops of Marleybone to give them a taste of his power. He was pleasantly surprised by how many dead bodies were just lying around the rooftops.
After that, he took a quick trip to Mooshu to steal the Dragonspyre Spiral Key from the emperor. A shame that Yoshito had to die in the process.
With the Krockonomicon in his hand and the eye of Bartleby, Malistaire could now summon the Dragon Titan and revive his beloved Sylvia. While preparing for the spell, he received word from Lord Nightshade that Wizard City had completely fallen. Lady Oriel had been corrupted into a dark seraph, and with her power, the gates to Unicorn Way had to be shut. Diego the duel master refused to give up however, and it is said he almost defeated Dark Oriel. Almost. Once Unicorn Way fell, the other streets toppled like dominoes. The undead in Triton Avenue destroyed the windmill and cut off Wizard City's power supply. The Fire Elves had completely run out the citizens of Fire Cat Ally. The Cyclopes managed to kidnap a good forty wizards before joining the trolls in destroying Cyclops lane and rebuilding it as "Giant Kingdom". And Colossus Boulevard had been eaten! Malistaire didn't even plan for that, but he didn't complain when the homeless Gobblers devoured the snow covered houses. With all of the streets lost to the monsters, the people of Olde Town had to flee to the shopping district and Commons for safety. Their safety didn't last long though. It took but one day for Malistaire's army to begin pouring into the Commons. Lord Nightshade told Malistaire that the wizards, guards, and even citizens were still fighting back in a ditch effort but Malistaire knew he had won. The people of Wizard City would die and Malistaire would be reunited with his beloved Sylvia.
After a few more minutes of contemplating, Malistaire noticed the Titan was almost complete. The tail was still forming and the rest of the dragon remained, unmoving, but Malistaire knew that it would be mere seconds until his Life returned to him. Unfortunately, those mere seconds felt like hours being stretched across the Spiral. He watched as the Titan reformed itself piece by piece while time itself seemed to be slowing down. Of course, that was mostly the Titans fault. An entity that powerful has effects on the surrounding area such as slowing down time, emitting a minor gravitational field and making anyone who stands near it feel as if all the mana in their body is racing through them so fast they might explode. On rare occasions, they do.
Several, agonizing seconds later, it was done. The Titan was finally formed. Malistaire took in the sheer magnitude of the beast. It was a dragon, yes, but not the kind you would normally see fire wizards casting. Those dragons have sleek bodies and even sleeker scales with wings the size of their bodies and long necks. The Dragon Titan was something that probably ate them for breakfast. A colossal reptile so big that you could see it standing on the Crown of Fire all the way from the Basilica, it had ragged, black scales as if crudely carved straight out of a mountain. Its tail, long and jagged with spikes, with a sharp and deadly ending. The face was probably the most terrifying of all. Black and obvious scales covering it with a long horn that looked like it was made of obsidian. Its emerald green eyes looked around the area as if not believing the world around him was real. Once the Titan confirmed that he was truly reawakened, he stood on his hind legs and rose. He unfolded his leathery wings and casted a shadow that swept over Malistaire and the rest of the Crown and then breathed a stream of blazing red fire into the air.
He's stretching. Thought Malistaire.
The titan looked down and took notice of his summoner. He returned on all fours and let out a deafening roar towards Malistaire's direction, revealing his pointed and scaled tongue and his sharp teeth.
You dare summon me? Malistaire felt a voice pounding in his head. It was deep, powerful, ancient and filled with millennia of malevolence. I am a Dragon Titan. I am older than you will ever be. In my time in this Spiral, I have brought Giants to their knees. I have ruled mountains and skies. I was one of the first pyromancers before you mortals discovered magic. I will destroy you and your kind and return my brethren back from the abyss we were trapped in for so many years. I will-
"You will obey me creature." Commanded Malistaire in a monotone voice. "I have summoned you and as your summoner, you are to do as I command dragon. Or should I call you by your true name? Draconis-hic-tamen-qui-in-omnibus?"
The titan reeled back after hearing this man say his true name. Malistaire was no fool. If he didn't know the dragon's true name then his summoning spell would have little effect on it. The Krockonomicon was an ancient and powerful book. Despite what the Marleybonians would tell you, the Krockonomicon wasn't just a detailed recording on Krockotopia's history. If you read in between the lines and use the proper spell (the one he stole from Loremaster), you'd find the true names of creatures that roamed the Spiral thousands of years ago. Malistaire wanted this specific dragon. To call upon one at random wouldn't give him the same measure of control and with dealing with forces as powerful as titans, Malistaire needed all the control he could get.
The titan bowed his head. Very well. What would you have me do… master? He spoke the word "master" as if it was killing him, which it probably was.
"What I want is for my Life to return to me. I want you to revive Sylvia Drake from the afterlife! Mind, body, soul, heart, everything she was before she fell to illness."
The dragon listened to Malistaire's request. He thought about the nature of the man he was forced into slavery to. And then he laughed.
Hahahahaha! You want me to revive your lost love? You believe that I have such power? This is the most comical thing I have heard in my existence! I wasn't revived by some all-powerful necromancer, I was revived by a grief-stricken lunatic!
Malistaire ended the dragon's laughter with a black lightning bolt powered by the eye of Bartleby. He did not come this far to be taunted and mocked by a beast that he controlled! He would force the dragon to obey him no matter how much pain he had to put it through. And with it being a near immortal titan, he could put it through much more pain than he could to anyone else.
"Silence!" Ordered Malistaire. "I revived you. I control you. You will do what I command! You're supposed to be an unstoppable force of magic, power and ancient knowledge! Now you will bring back my Sylvia!"
You truly are an idiot. I do not have the ability to fully revive a being from the dead. If I did, would I not use it on my fallen comrades during the Titan War? I don't even know who would possibly have such knowledge.
"You were dead for several thousand years. Did you learn nothing from your time in the afterlife? Such as, who is the authority on death?"
Under your logic, every creature destroyed would be an expert on death. Allow me to share a few things with you on the nature of dying. To start, it works differently from monsters to mortals. Why and what the separation is between the two I do not know, but I do know that when a monster such as me dies, we remain trapped in a dark pit, our essence scattered throughout the void. We piece ourselves together bit by bit until we are whole again. Whatever the pit is made of, it isn't able to contain a solid being and the reformed creature returns to the Spiral, assuming that the pit is beyond the Spiral.
"Beyond the Spiral? There are things that exist past it?" asked Malistaire.
Perhaps. If anyone were to know it would be the Celestians of old. Maybe you can bring them back to life with your beloved Sylvia and ask them?
Malistaire blasted the titan again for his mockery. "Enough. Tell me where this place is. Tell me about where Sylvia is. Tell me how to bring her back!"
I don't know what happens to mortals when they die. Maybe I should kill you, so you can discover firsthand what happened to you beloved.
Malistaire prepared to attack the titan once again, but what it said gave him idea. Looking back, he wondered why he thought summoning a titan would help him bring back Sylvia. If he were to return her to this world, he'd have to find her in the afterlife, a place that no one alive has ever ventured, and bring her back. He would still have his kingdom and the titan was an added bonus, but most importantly, he'd have his Life back.
Malistaire raised his wand towards the titan. "You are going to help me find a way to the afterlife, without dying, and you will help me find my way to Sylvia. You will do exactly as I tell you."
You are a lunatic. A delusional, suicidal, idiotic, grief-stricken, lunatic. You will find nothing at the end of your mad quest. You'll die in some painful way and never reach your Sylvia. However, I will help you. Not just because I'm bound to, but also because I find you to be quite amusing. A few "sorry about your loss" cards wouldn't do it for you. Unlike every other sane person, you want to go on some fools quest to bring back your love. It will be a grand sight for me to watch you die in failure while I tell you "I told you so." Not to mention, when you fail I will no longer be bound to you. I will be free to do as I please.
Malistaire disregarded the dragon'sthreats. After how far he'd come, a titans mockery wasn't going to stop him from bringing back his Life. He was going to find a way to bring Sylvia back no matter what it took or where it took him.
The titan flapped his wings and took to the skies, kicking up dirt and debris in the process.
Are you coming, lunatic?
Once again ignoring the creature, Malistaire followed it as it flew off to the Necropolis.People would call him a villain, people would call him a lunatic, but he didn't care. Malistaire was currently the most powerful wizard alive and had a titan under his control. Soon, he would be the explorer and master of death. Soon, he'd be the king of the entire Spiral and maybe the king of what lies beyond the Spiral. Soon, he'd have his Life, Sylvia, back. If he had to be a villain or a lunatic or both to accomplish his goals then so be it. No matter what he became, one thing was certain.
He would not be denied.
A/N: I'm really proud of how this turned out. A couple of writers (BuBuWinter and Firestorm Nauralagos) helped me have a better understanding on what type of character Malistaire is, so I decided to write this in honor of my new found understanding to Malistaire. If you two are reading this, thank you. Originally, this was going to be a one-shot ending with Malistaire failing and committing suicide, but as I started writing, a plot began to develop. This will last for a few more chapters, but I doubt it's headed for double digits. Another note, I was originally going to post this once I finished making a forum dedicated to Wizard101 theories. I haven't finished the forum, and what I've written so far is on Google Doc. I'll announce it when it's finished, but until then stay tuned. My closing statement, I'll be pretty busy for a while. I've joined two clubs and math tutoring at the same time so there goes most of my weeks and now that wizard101 has (finally!) released Khrysalis part 2, there goes my weekends. That's all folks. I hope you enjoyed the read, and please review. Your feedback helps me as a writer!