Sadira sat upright swiftly, grabbing at her necklace. The brilliant red gemstone set within pulsed with a low light. Beside her, Mozenrath stirred.
"Eh?"
Sadira ignored him and placed her hand over the stone, closing her eyes and concentrating. An image swam before her, a grand palace set against a backdrop of sand and rock… It faded away before she could see any detail, but she knew what it was.
More importantly, she knew where it was. Mozenrath was fully awake now, his golden eyes curious and slightly concerned. "Sadira?"
"I know where it is." He frowned.
"Where what is?" She swung out of bed and began to throw on clothes hurriedly.
"The place I have to find!" She was breathing rapidly, her face flushed with excitement.
"For Allah's sakes Sadira, quit speaking in riddles," He said irritably. He got out of bed as Sadira was lacing up her boots.
"The remnants of the Sand Witches. I know where they are." She stood, practically bouncing with excitement. Mozenrath sighed.
"Well, if you're going to go cavorting off at all hours of the night, I suppose I have to go with you." Sadira strode across to the window in the room and pulled apart the curtains. Light flooded the room.
"It's noon." He squinted at the window.
"So it is." She walked over to him and placed her hands firmly on his bare chest.
"Moze, I love you, but this is something you can't do with me. I have to do this." He pulled a face.
"More Sand Witch no outsiders stuff?"
"Right." She kissed him gently on the lips. It lasted for a while. "I'll be back soon enough."
"You better," he called out to her retreating form. He sighed and began to get dressed.
Elsewhere, Sadira stuck her head into the workroom. Alexios was sitting cross-legged on top of a table, quietly reading a scroll. She looked up at Sadira.
"Good morning, master," She said politely. "Shall we begin the day's lessons?" Sadira went to the wall where the weapons were holstered and shrugged on her harness, sliding her katars into position along her spine. She picked up Alexios's bracers and tossed them to her. The small girl caught them and smoothly slid them on. True to her word, Badger had forged an exceptional pair of weapons for her. They looked like bracers until Alexios triggered a small switch within using her magic, and a long cord shot out that she could use as a whip. The top part of the bracers were specially strengthened, and Alexios was trained to use them as shields.
"Combat training?" The Greek girl asked, puzzled. Sadira shook her head and put on her cloak.
"No. Today we're going to go discover our heritage." Alexios's brow furrowed.
"I don't understa-" Her eyes widened midsentence. "You mean you found the ruins?" Sadira nodded and rushed out. Alexios jumped off of the table and grabbed her own cloak, following her.
She almost ran into Sadira as she skidded around a corner and found her mentor stopped completely. She was staring at something in the front room. Alexios peered around her to see what it was- a small cat with storm-gray fur, sleeping peacefully in front of the fire.
"I didn't know we had a cat."
"We don't." Sadira stared at it a bit longer.
"Back so soon?" Mozenrath asked sarcastically as he swept into the hallway behind them.
"There's a cat," Sadira said perfectly calmly.
"I don't have a cat."
"There's a cat," She repeated, and pointed. Mozenrath pushed past her into the room, saw the cat, and immediately stopped and placed his hand over his face.
"By all that is holy, mother, what the hell are you doing here?" Sadira looked left and right. Nope, Mozenrath was most definitely talking to the cat.
"Hey, Sadira, I think your boyfriend is talking to a cat," came the amused voice of the smith. Everyone had come to watch, apparently.
To their surprise the cat yawned, sat up, and talked right back.
"I came to visit you. It's been a few weeks, and-" Mozenrath interrupted her.
"It's been four years!" The cat looked surprised.
"Has it? Bugger this realm and its time, anyways."
"How did you even get in here?"
"I just nipped in when you let that smith-woman in- you know, the one that smells like tuna-" Sadira and Alexios both glanced at the smith. Badger scowled.
"Shut up."
"- and then I sat down to take a quick nap." Mozenrath looked like he was about to explode.
"That was two months ago!" The cat licked a paw.
"It's not my fault nobody noticed me until now." Sadira coughed quietly, drawing attention.
"Umm, two questions. One, how did the cat sleep for two months straight, and two… Why is the cat talking?" Mozenrath made a visible effort to calm himself.
"Right. Of course. Mother, this is Sadira and her apprentice Alexios-"
"And the one that smells like tuna."
"I was getting there, mother, don't interrupt- Sadira, assorted ruffians associated with Sadira, this is my mother Mirage." The cat bowed elegantly.
"My pleasure," Alexios said out of politeness.
"Damn right," The cat purred, pleased. Badger frowned.
"Did he just call us assorted ruffians?" Sadira blinked.
"Mozenrath, your mother is a cat?" Mirage the cat looked down at herself.
"Oh, of course!" The cat elongated, growing and stretching rapidly until an elegant, tall woman dressed in red and gold stood before them. She had Mozenrath's golden eyes and cat ears. Her hair was a dark black. She smiled, revealing two sets of pointed canines alongside otherwise human teeth. "Mirage, Bastite and goddess, at your service."
"Minor goddess," Mozenrath interjected. Mirage thumped him.
"Shut up."
"Mother!"
"You deserved that one, not telling me you got a girlfriend-"
"How am I supposed to when you never visit?"
"I visited you tons of times!"
"Actual visits, mother. Not just sending a letter attached to some woman's dress that you hired to come on to me."
"You looked so lonely, I thought it might help."
"What the hell is your definition of help-" he was interrupted by the sound of Sadira dissolving into hysterical laughter.
"What?" Mozenrath demanded. She almost choked laughing.
"You- and your mom- oh, I can't even-" she continued to laugh.
Mozenrath scowled until Sadira composed herself. She was still chuckling as she made for the door.
"You're not going to stay and meet my mother?" Mozenrath asked, half serious.
"As much as I'd love to see it, no. Come along, Alexios." They departed swiftly. Mozenrath huffed and left for the dining room, leaving Mirage and Badger alone in the room.
"Smells like tuna? Really, Mirage?" Badger addressed her indignantly. The Bastite shrugged.
"It was the only thing I could think of. You won't be able to hide here forever, you know."
"Of course not, since the Council saw it fit to remove my powers- something you had a hand in, as I recall."
"You should consider yourself lucky you were left with what you have."
"What, a metal arm and the Shift? Even toddlers can Shift."
"And you should be grateful. Stroke of genius with the name, by the way."
"I'm surprised your son doesn't recognize it."
"I haven't exactly kept him up to date with matters back home."
"Something that works to my advantage. Are you going to report me?"
"No. But I'm keeping an eye on you." Mirage tapped her nose and left to go find Mozenrath. Badger scowled and left out another door, her gait momentarily almost... predatory.
Sadira ran like a woman possessed. Alexios was by no means the peak of fitness, but she certainly wasn't out of shape, either- Sadira's training and life on the streets had seen to that. The Greek girl prided herself on her ability, but even she was having trouble keeping up with her mentor.
She'd reigned herself in as they'd traversed through the city, wearing the traditional niqabs in case anybody happened to look out, but had ditched hers the second they were out of sight with a snort of disgust. Alexios still wasn't used to this country's custom of making women hide themselves. She didn't much like it.
Alexios had seen the look in her mentor's eye- steely determination overlaid by an overwhelming calm over the normally fiery and mercurial mentor. She knew exactly where she was going and what she would find there. She had neglected thus far to tell Alexios exactly what they were looking for, or why they were running so damned fast.
Alexios almost hurtled into Sadira as she came to a sudden stop, about a mile into the desert. Alexios bent over, her hands on her knees and her chest heaving as she tried to catch her breath. Finally, she stood and looked out at the stretch of sand that was completely like every other stretch of sand in the desert- and yet, Sadira stared at it, enraptured.
"Sadira," The Greek girl said softly. "Excuse me, but… what are we looking at?" Sadira did not answer. Instead, she pulled the amulet off of her neck and swept her hand across it. There was a great stirring, and suddenly sand rose into the air in a great, spiraling tornado that towered its way into the sky. Alexios's fear rose as the winds whipped her hair about. Sadira seemed totally oblivious- she just stood there, infuriatingly silent.
All at once it was over, the sky blue and calm. Large stone monoliths had emerged from the desert, shaped like large stakes. Intricate swirling designs covered the surfaces of the pillars. Sadira, trancelike, wandered among them. Alexios had little choice but to follow.
It quickly became apparent that the pillars were not what they seemed. Amid the designs, central to many of the swirling pictograms, names were written.
"Ancestors," Sadira said as she seemed to return to her own body. Alexios breathed a silent sigh of relief- the calm, zen-like Sadira of moments ago had been a little frightening. "This place- it's a graveyard. We're standing on the ashes of our order."
Alexios looked at the ground. "Sorry," she said aloud, just in case any potentially vengeful spirits were about. She heard a noise, like a whisper from afar, and the sands beneath her seemed to shift minutely. Sadira smiled.
"No need. They recognize us." Alexios wondered who exactly 'they' were as Sadira made for the center of the graveyard. The area there was dominated by a large stone structure that looked like a mausoleum- the luxury equivalent of graves. It was simple and elegant. Four statues made up the corners, each of a faceless hooded figure holding a different weapon. They all bore inscriptions in plainly carved block letters on the bases of the statues. Sadira ran her fingers over the names reverently.
"Aglea, Femi, Bayan, and Chetna," she half-whispered. "The Founders. They came from Arabia, Egypt, Greece, and India, all drawn here by something- or so the prophecy used to say. I don't know if there's any copies of it left, not since the Seer died." At this, Sadira's eyes became clouded. She shook her head and stepped back, walking until she faced the statue of Chetna. The statue held what looked like old katars in its hands- but much, much longer and wickedly curved, like claws. Sadira drew her own katar and stepped forward almost reverently. Alexios was a bit taken aback- in all the time she'd known Sadira, she hadn't been this respectful to anybody, much less to a statue.
Sadira spoke, words that cannot be written in any language, and the statue reacted. A small vertical slit opened in its base, and Sadira stuck her katar in. There was a click and the wall of the structure slid open, revealing a small red orb hovering in the middle of the space, supported by nothing. Its surface was smooth and unbroken. Mysterious shadows played within its depths.
"What is that?" Alexios asked, curious.
"We called it sunstone. How it was made is a secret that was lost to us, but it can hold a hell of a lot of power. The amulet is made of the same stuff- that's why it unlocks power in people. But this one… Maybe we just…?" She stepped inside and touched the orb. All at once, a gust of wind pushed Alexios in and the hidden door snapped shut, leaving them with only the light cast by the sunstone orb for illumination. There was a great hum and a sudden bump, then all was still. The secret door opened again. Sunlight flooded the chamber.
Alexios gasped in spite of herself as they stepped outside. They found themselves standing on a round platform made of burnished metal- the exact metal, she couldn't tell- that led to a pathway that marched, arrow straight, until it encountered a massive portcullis. From there it led to a gargantuan castle that had no less than six spires stretching up towards the sky. Mountains of sand rose in the distance, forming a ring around the structure. Alexios peeked over the edge of the platform and gulped as she spotted the ground, a long ways down. Colorful banners flew from the spires- red and gold being the largest and most prominent of them all, hanging from many edifices. As they got closer the banners were revealed to be tattered and torn with age. A seal had once graced their surfaces, but had since faded to the point where they were unrecognizable.
Sadira let out a loud whoop and punched the air, her face stretched into an earsplitting grin.
"We found it!" Alexios raised a hand timidly. Sadira spotted her and visibly reigned herself in.
"Yes?"
"Um… What did we find?" Sadira put her arm around her apprentice and turned her to face the castle.
"This? This is home."
They walked until they reached the massive gate. It was made of the same strange metal the platform was made of. No opening mechanism was visible.
"How do we-" Alexios's question was cut off as Sadira took a step back and sprinted at the gate, throwing herself forward and turning to sand at the last minute, instantly reforming on the other side. Alexios gulped. Sadira had taught her the sand trick- it was a signature spell of the Sand Witches- but she didn't have much practice and she wasn't very good at it.
"Come on! You can do it!" Sadira encouraged her from behind the gate. Alexios breathed deep and closed her eyes. Her dissolving was flawless, but her reforming was bit messy, and she tripped and fell to the ground on the other side rather than landing gracefully as Sadira had.
"Good job- just visualize solidity a bit more and you'll be perfect at it," Sadira told her as she helped her to her feet. Suddenly, a strong breeze blew, stirring up sand that drifted along the floors.
"Greetings," said a new voice, and they both jumped and whirled around, weapons at the ready. The sand had drifted up and formed an outline of a slim, tall, hooded figure. Her form flickered as the sand swirled within its confines. "I am Bayan, the first Seer. You are the first to come here for many, many years. The Citadel has fallen into disrepair and its guardians are lost."
"Lost?" Sadira repeated, looking alarmed. "What do you mean?"
"An invader, not from this realm or from yours. Not human- something less than human. Filled the halls with dead things..."
"Ayam," Sadira growled. Alexios shifted nervously and thumbed the button that would deploy her whips. She could feel something evil up ahead, radiating malice like a small sun. "I'll kill him."
"You cannot by your own power. My maul is entombed with my body. I will guide you, but you cannot wield it. Only a seer can." The sand form of Bayan turned to look directly at Alexios. She felt oddly like the eyeless hood could see directly into her soul. "Only she can."
"So, Mozenrath, tell me," Mirage said as she lounged in a seat, "When did you meet this Sadira?"
Mozenrath was reading a tome and barely acknowledged her.
"When I had her abducted off the street." Mirage sighed.
"Mozenrath, we talked about this, you can't just abduct people-"
"Why not?" Mozenrath interjected, looking at her sharply. "You did it all the time."
"That's different." Mirage inspected her hand and morphed back into cat form. She was more comfortable in it.
"How so?"
"I am a god." The cat imperiously washed a paw. Mozenrath snorted.
"A minor goddess if at all, mother. You're fairly low on the totem pole all things considered." The cat stiffened.
"How dare you. I am Mirage, who released Chaos-"
"Who promptly tricked you into saving the city you wanted him to destroy. What the hell was that about, anyways?"
"I am the physical incarnation of evil, you know." Mozenrath burst out laughing at this. The cat looked offended. "I beg your pardon?"
Mozenrath reached behind him, took out a ball of yarn, and casually tossed it across the room. Mirage's cat form was a speedy blur as she instantly leapt from her chair to attack the yarn.
"Oh, yes, very evil," Mozenrath commented as the physical incarnation of evil played with a ball of yarn on the floor. The cat form of Mirage ignored him and took the yarn back to her seat. "I can definitely see how the only weakness the physical incarnation of evil has would be a ball of yarn."
Within the blink of an eye the Mirage-cat swelled up and assumed her true form, somewhat like her human form but more catlike, with a semi-fur covering, wickedly sharp claws, and an enormous, overpoweringly radiant aura. Her aura was, surprisingly, not unlike Sadira's; but where Sadira's resembled the crimson of silk Mirage's was blood-red and pulsed sickeningly.
"Watch your tongue, Mozenrath," her voice boomed out, suddenly awash with power. "Do not push me."
Then she was a cat again, purring as she toyed with a ball of yarn. Mozenrath remained straight-faced throughout the whole encounter, although a piece of him was slightly impressed. He couldn't remember ever seeing his mother in her true form before. She could be a valuable ally in the days to come.
"You were telling me about how you met Sadira, Mozey?" Mozenrath glared at the cat.
"You know I hate that name."
"Why do you think I used it?"
"Anyways- She'd just returned to Agrabah after that whole period where Aladdin and his cohorts battled everything they could find within miles, including me and her, although we never crossed paths during that period, of course- and was looking for allies against Prince High-and-Mighty when my name came up from lord knows where. My people are looking into that. Then-"
"You have people?" Mirage interrupted.
"Yes, mother, I have people, stop interrupting. I had her pulled off the streets and well, here we are." Mirage licked her paw and then ran it over an ear.
"Are you sleeping with her?" Mozenrath's face got red.
"Mother!" The cat, infuriatingly, kept washing herself.
"Do you do anything kinky?" Mozenrath practically jumped out of his chair.
"I'm done, goodbye, nice of you to visit-" and he was out of the room. Mirage made an amused noise.
"Figures. Throw all the magic you want at him, but as soon as ask him a question…" She chuckled and lazily got up, stretching then closing her eyes as she weaved a spell. The conversation with Mozenrath had made her think a bit. She was the incarnation of evil, but it'd been a long time since she'd done anything particularly evil. She morphed into human form and used her finger to trace a long oval in the air, her finger leaving amber rends in the air. A portal appeared and she stepped through.
The chamber she emerged into was pitch-black and cold. The air shifted and stirred as something moved through the chamber.
"Mirage," came the voice through the darkness.
"Chaos," she answered, and torches flickered into life. The chamber was lined in stone and actually rather small. It was sealed with the strongest magic, deep beneath the ground in the realm humans call hell. It was richly carpeted and adorned comfortably, with a large fireplace and plush ottomans arranged around it. The individual she'd come to see rested on one of these, in the guise of an enormous snow-white tiger. The tiger watched her lazily with one eye.
"Please, sit down. It has only been… what, sixty years since your last visit?" Mirage sat down carefully on a seat near him.
"Little less than a month by the realm I'm operating in now." The tiger made a rumbling noise as it breathed in and out.
"The human realm? That explains your fleshy form right now." Mirage inspected her nails, suddenly very self-conscious.
"I happen to like this fleshy form." The tiger nodded.
"I must admit, it has a certain grace to it." The tiger shifted until it resembled a human. His form was large, massive by most standards, but his build was actually very slight. He squinted at Mirage and scaled down his form until it was the proper size. "Blasted human form. Although, now that I'm in it, I can definitely see the appeal of having thumbs." He flexed his hands experimentally a few times.
"Yes, I could definitely do something with hands," he mused. His gaze shifted back to Mirage, and she saw that his eyes were his usual murky gray. He being Chaos, his eyes had a tendency to shift colors randomly and with his emotions, but she had never observed any other color but gray when he looked at her. She didn't know what to make of that.
"Hands are very useful," Mirage acquiesced. "And hair. I have a particular fondness for hair." Chaos patted his matted brown mess of hair.
"I'm afraid I don't share your sentiments in that area. But, enough," He said, shifting back into his tiger form. "I sense you didn't come here to just idly chat about forms. What do you want?"
Mirage blinked. She didn't know what Chaos was talking about. She'd thought she was just coming to check in, but… a small part of her had driven her here. She quickly thought of something to pretend was important.
"Indeed," she said smoothly, hoping that Chaos hadn't been clued in to her mental decisions just then- but of course he had- "My son is about to gain access to some power."
The tiger rose and sat before the fire. "Good for him. May he grow to be a good Bastite." Mirage sighed.
"Chaos, Mozenrath is my son." He licked a massive paw with a massive, sandpapery tongue.
"Ah, of course. The half-breed. What kind of powers will he have?"
"I don't know." And there it was, the issue at hand. Mirage had always known that someday Mozenrath would gain the ability to shift into the forms of her people, but since he was the only half-Bastite in existence she had no idea what would happen.
"Cannot you do your spinning trick and predict it?" She cocked her head and thought about it. Then she began to spin, the layers of silk in her dress spiraling out until she was surrounded by swirling folds of cloth. There was a flash of golden light and Mirage came to a halt.
"Well?" The tiger asked. Mirage looked troubled.
"The vision is cloudy. I can only see the potential."
"Which would be?" Her eyes met his, deadly serious.
"He could be more powerful than either of us." Silence followed her words. "Chaos- would you return with me when the time comes?"
He looked at her strangely.
"You'd unleash me upon the world once more?"
"I'm the only one who's bothered to visit you in the last four thousand years. You owe me." The tiger nodded.
"Very well, Mirage. I will help to restrain your son." Mirage was in the middle of thanking him when a strained expression came over her.
"Wait- how long have I been here?"
"Hmm... About a half hour, or half a day in the normal realm-"
"Its happening now. He's about to start changing." She quickly opened another portal and stepped through. Chaos paused, then followed her.
Freedom, one side of him whispered. Promises, the other countered. They continued to war.
Hello, readers!
Lots of original content in this one, so a short explanation.
First off- the Sand Witches. The only canonical thing I have to go off of is that Sadira is one and was trained by them, so I have considerable liberty in designing my own fanon (fan canon) here. Yes, they have a floating desert palace. No, it's not on earth (more on that in later chapters). Yes, Bayan is dead, her spirit is showing itself in the form of an image projected on sand. Basic principle: magic. And yes, that is Ayam Aghoul (I am a ghoul, har de har Disney) I just referenced.
Secondly, the fact that Mirage is the physical incarnation of evil. That is canon, but my version is considerably different. I'll be exploring that in-depth later. On her relationship regarding Chaos and Badger (Badger being a complete OC)- Well, I'll be looking into that as well.
Oh, and there's been a two-month time skip between Badger's arrival and their discovery of Mirage, in case you missed it in the text.
I tried to make this chapter light-hearted but at the same time it advances some important plot points. My personal favorite line to write in this entire thing: Mirage's "I am a god." I hope you like it!
Questions, comments, or concerns? Don't hesitate to PM!
Sincerely,
Author Pikdude
Names:
Name is followed by meaning. All names are actual names I found on the interwebs.
Aglea- (beauty, splendor)
Femi- (love)
Bayan- (clearness, eloquence)
Chetna- (power of intellect)
