The bad good, and the good bad
For those of you who asked. I am obsessed with Egyptian stuff. The hieroglyphic for a stork is called a menaphis. I have no idea if I spelt it right, but that's how it's pronounced.
Where am I? What happened? Why can't I move? What time is it? How did I get here?
Cyclonis' eyelids fluttered and she stared half-focused at the plain, white ceiling above her. What is this strange place?
Her eyes blinked and slowly moved to her right. There, sitting on a stool beside her, was Piper. She had her back turned to her and was watching something across the room.
Cyclonis clenched her fists, expecting to feel rage and the urge to strike the Storm Hawk. But she felt nothing. Cyclonis didn't feel a hint of hostility. In fact, she actually felt… relieved to see her.
What's going on? Why do I feel so weird? Cyclonis strained to sit up but only managed to lift her head a few inches. Her mind slightly cleared and she saw that her body from the neck down was firmly wrapped in ropes. The ropes wrapped around her and around the mattress, binding her tightly to the bed.
Piper, seeing Cyclonis' movement out of the corner of her eye, turned. "Hey guys! She's awake!"
"'bout time!" Aerrow grunted. "How does he look now?"
Piper turned back to staring across the room and stroked her chin. "Still crooked. Turn him a bit to the left."
Finn and Aerrow put their shoulders against Dark Ace and swiveled him to the left. While they held him in place, Radarr quickly tore off lengths of duct tape and place it on his arms and legs.
Aerrow straightened Dark Ace's foot so that it tipped to the side. "There. How about now?"
"Hmm…" Piper mused, cocking her head. Radarr joined her. "His right leg isn't far away enough."
They groaned. Dark Ace's gaze was fixed on Cyclonis. Seeing her gawking up at him in disbelief, he raised his index finger and made a muffled 'hello' from behind the duct tape over his mouth.
"What..?" Cyclonis looked madly around the room they were in. and the she remembered from the day she came into the Storm Hawks' ship as Lark. This was Piper's room.
"How do you feel?" Piper said softly, placing a hand on her forehead. "You aren't feverish anymore. That's good."
"Do you feel like murdering us in our sleep?" Finn said grimly, ripping Dark Ace's leg from the wall and retaping it a little farther away from the other. "Any evil thoughts about taking over Atmos?"
Cyclonis stared fearfully at them, and the gazed up at Piper's face. "No," She said quietly.
Finn stopped and twisted his head over his shoulder to see her. "Really?"
Cyclonis shrank back into the large pillow supporting her head. "What time is it?"
Piper picked up a cup that was placed at the bedside. "Morning. What happened? Do you remember?" Piper asked, holding the cup of water to Cyclonis' lips.
Cyclonis' distrust was stronger than her thirst. She turned away from the offered cup and was silent for a moment. And then she began,
"I used the wrath crystal on your pilot because I needed an easy test subject for the wrath crystal's first victim. I thought that he would be the best since I saw him as meek, weak, and that he was constantly left alone on the ship. So I chose him."
Cyclonis sighed and shut her eyes. "He proved much, much stronger than I gave him credit for. He wasn't fully consumed. Even a little should have completely taken over his mind, but it barely made a dent. He was laden with guilt and he was suffering inside so bad that I had to do something in order to keep him alive. So I, uh… used the wrath crystal on him a second time…"
"Is that bad?" Finn said, clueless as ever.
"You. What?" Piper said in a low tone.
"I couldn't think of anything else to do with him! I didn't know how to reverse the process, so I did it. I was so eager to have success, I…" She sighed heavily.
"And?" Piper pressed her.
"I don't really know how he did it. He somehow turned all of my Talons against me behind my back. He got rid of all my generals. Snipe, Ravess, and Repton disappeared. And then, just last night, he… defeated me and sucked out all of my power," Cyclonis said weakly. She looked with relief at Dark Ace. "He told me you were dead."
"Wait! Wait!" Finn waved his arms as if cutting off an orchestra. "So… Stork is now a totally evil mastermind and he's now going to take over Atmos?"
"He calls himself Menaphis now."
"Mena-who?"
"Menaphis," Cyclonis opened her eyes.
"So Stork, our Stork is now the evil master of Cyclonia?" Finn couldn't help but laugh.
"He's calling it Menaphisiem now. Every single one of my Talons are loyal to him. When he was attacking me, not one stepped forward to help me," Cyclonis' voice was small and fearful. "It was as if they were happy to get rid of me."
Dark Ace grunted in disgust. Piper looked back at Aerrow, who nodded. Piper turned back. "So you are completely powerless?"
Small tears formed at the corner of Cyclonis' black rimmed eyes. "Yes."
"Alright then. We want Stork and Junko back and you want your Cyclonia back. In order for that to happen, we need you two to promise something."
Cyclonis tensed.
Menaphis sat in Cyclonis' throne. He had moved it to a larger, more menacing room, with a huge window as the back wall. He sat gazing at the storm, the lightning flashing across his maroon eyes and the tip of his tail twitching in pleasure.
His form had not ceased changing. His long, black hair grew down the spine of his neck to his shoulder blades, spines ran down from between his ears down to his tail.
The colors of the terra had changed too. The black and violet shades of Cyclonia were now black and forest green. Cyclonia was now Menaphisiem.
Footsteps distracted Menaphis from the storm and he stood up as a crowd of men marched in.
Runn saluted, the shine of admiration springing into his eyes when he was his master. "Sir, the men you have selected are here."
"Good," Menaphis purred. He sprang down from his throne in a single bound and landed with only a small click as his claws hit the stone floor. He straightened and paced over to the men. They stood unafraid, gazing adoringly up at his face.
Menaphis gave them a white smile. "Good morning, men. I see that you are all well fed and have slept well."
"Yes, master," Runn bowed and the other men followed.
"I have called you here because I feel that you are the best for this little… favor. Feel up to one?"
"Anything for you, master!" A man in the back called out.
"Thank you. I could never ask for more loyal and promising partners, equals," Menaphis' smile broadened. "I am not giving you orders. This is more of an errand I'm asking you to do. I need you, handpicked by myself, to go to one terra each of your choosing. There, relax, enjoy yourself, but make sure no one finds out what you're doing. Study the lifestyle of the people there. Find out what they have, what they want, and what they need. Then, when you find out the things you need to know, come back here and tell me."
"We don't want to rule with fear anymore. Cyclonis' tactic caused the people of Atmos to hate her and to rebel, just as her father and grandfather have done. But me, I have a more effective idea," Menaphis said, moving from man to man. "We don't want the terras to fear us. We want them to be desperate to join us! Once we know what they want, we can give it to them… on the condition that they join Menaphisiem!" Menaphis winked.
"We're going to bribe?" Runn asked.
"Not exactly. It's more like being neighborly. It's kind of like my good friend Junko here," Stork said, gesturing to the wallop.
Junko's ankle was tied with an extra extra extra thick chain to the throne room's wall. But that was the only sign of hostility. The wallop was seated in an elaborately cushioned chair, fine food in front on him and countless books piled at his side. And yet Junko was gazing sadly at his knuckle busterless hands.
"by giving him the best of care he has ever had, he will see that this place isn't such a prison," Menaphis chuckled, ruffling the wallop's grey hair. "And, if he can get it through his thick skull, he will eventually see that he can't fight want he can't resist. It's futile."
"Yeah, but don't you want all the terras now?" asked one of the men.
"Ah, but that's what Cyclonis wanted. Unlike her, I have patients. You can't build an empire in a week." Menaphis paced to the window and a bolt of lightning cut the sky in half as he watched. The crash of the bolt shook the terra and the men couldn't help but gasp and hold onto each other for balance. Junko held onto his chair like a vice, his eyes squeezed shut and repeatingly whispering, "IhatethisplaceIhatethisplaceIhatethisplace…"
Menaphis turned as a black silhouette against another flash of lightning. His teeth shone white. "Any questions?"
"Yeah," a man raised his hand eagerly. "When do we go, sir?"
"Whenever you feel like it, men," Menaphis said softly.
The men, thrilled, bowed and dashed out of the room, talking excitedly. Menaphis' smile became wider and he slowly turned to walk back up to his throne. With Junko still whispering fearfully in the background, the master of Menaphisiem sat comfortably in his chair and leaned back to watch the storm.
The wrath crystal sat on his left armrest. He picked it up, weighing it in his palm, and tapping its smooth texture with his claws. A lightning flash threw itself at the castle, causing it to tremble.
"Crash all you want," Menaphis hissed at the sky. "I'm here to stay!"
Suddenly a voice spoke. It was soft and sounded like it was coming from a great distance. "What are you doing?"
Menaphis made a half turn to look around his throne. No one had come through the door and the room was empty except for him and Junko. The wallop had become silent a few minutes after the men had left. Menaphis snapped his fingers to catch Junko's attention.
Junko shrank back into his chair, his grey eyes wide. "N-No!"
Menaphis turned back to the storm, dismissing the voice as a figment of his imagination.
It came again, this time louder. "What are you doing?"
Menaphis stiffened and looked around again, searching for the source. The wrath crystal in his hand trembled and he glanced down at it.
At first he thought it was his reflection he was seeing on the smooth red surface, but then he realized that it looked different. The face he saw in the crystal was the face of a young male merb, long black hair falling down the right side of his face and two earrings on his left ear.
"Who are you?" Menaphis hissed.
The merb in the crystal shrugged. "Who do you think?"
"Go away," Menaphis snarled.
The merb laughed. "I can't! I'm a part of you. I am you!"
"You are not me!"
"Maybe not now, but I was," the merb said. "My name is Stork. Ring a bell?"
"No! Now get out of here!" Menaphis shook the crystal furiously, but the face only became bigger and the voice louder.
"What are you doing?! You not only betrayed your friends and joined Cyclonia, but no you have become the very symbol of which you used to fight against! What are you doing?!"
Menaphis growled at Stork. "I am the master! I will have Atmos as my own!"
"Yeah, but in order to do that, you'll have to kill the people who you have once stood alongside with," Stork yelled. "Are you really twisted and sick enough that you have completely forgotten who you are?! What happened to your love for your friends and your home?!"
"Love makes one weak. I love nothing and expect no love back," Menaphis snapped.
Stork rolled his eyes. "This definitely isn't a mind worm's doing!" The merb leaned closer until they were eye to eye; yellowish white against burning maroon. "Listen, this very crystal you're holding is poisoning your mind. It's not you. The wrath crystal uses a person's qualities and bends them to its own use. The longer you're infected, the more evil you'll get and the harder it'll be to get back to normal!"
Menaphis narrowed his pupils to slits, trying to stare his former self down. "What if I don't want to be you again?" Even now, as I look at you, all I see is weakness and stupidity!"
"You can say what you like about me. When I look at you, I see the suffering of many innocent people and the destruction of Atmos, including Terra Merb. I see the death of the Storm Hawks, you friends, and even your Talons will be terrified that you'll suddenly turn on them too! Your world will become on big black hole that you'll be unable to escape from. Is that the destiny you want?"
"I write my own destinies!" Menaphis roared, leaping up and hurling the wrath crystal as hard as he could against the window. The glass shattered and the crystal landed on the rocks below the room, coming to a rest between two boulders.
Rain swept in sheets into the dark room, lightning crisscrossing the clouds and the largest thunderclap yet rocked the terra.
Menaphis stood dripping wet at the window's edge, a black form against the storm. The rain ran down his arms to spill from his claws and, in the glowing wrath crystal's light, it looked like blood.
In the back of the room, Junko fainted. (again)
Review! Review! Must… have… reviews… to… sur…vive… gurgle cough. Anyhoo… next chapter will be up in a few days. Sooner if I get enough reviews. : P luv Stork!!!