New Testament 053: Ruin

For them it could have been mere minutes or several hours, but they all received the same fate at the same time in the end. For Elias it was just a matter of an instant; he only got a few seconds to think about the word 'shadowgame', and they had ended. For within the shadows time could move as fast or slow as the master desired. The Magus wished to see all opponents lay down before him as a single party, it did not matter if one put up a batter fight. Madlyn was unconscious, Lydia was writhing in pain, Marcus and Cable were exhausted and wounded; not one of them could defeat the pillars. They were annihilated as the phantom said. "Damn it." Only Marcus had enough energy left to speak. "These games are not.. fair." The enemy before him, the Dioscuri twins, merged back into one symmetrical being. He walked up to the duelist. "This is what happens, when you stand against the copper pillar. Us to belongs the Millenium Key and the card Dragon." One could not be claimed right now, but Timaeus was taken from Simmons's coat.

At the same time the nameless bandaged servant took Critias from a helpless Blackstone, and Fatimah took it away from the knocked out Halliday. "For our creator, the dragons of Atlantis are." The Lead, Mercury and Copper pillars placed the three cards at the feet of their master. "Yes, the relics of an ancient civilization. The kingdom that discovered the powers of Ka before us.." He stepped down from his throne, glaring at the cards with his golden eye. "The souls of the knights stayed in this world, foreseeing our arrival. But in the end they too were powerless.." He opened his hand, the trio of cards started to glow. "Now they will suffer the future fate of the priests.." The throne of shadows started to tremble and pulsate, it emanated waves of darkness which pulled in the cards like a magnet. "?" Elias saw how Timaeus, Critias and Hermos were swallowed by the black oil-like substance, their light gone forever. "The humans have lost one more messiah. Only he remains." Now everyone looked straight at the student.

"No.." He shook the puzzle, as if he was trying to wake Raness up again. "Come out, come out now! They need you!" He could not help, what could he do against all of them if he could not even beat Archon on his own. "Come on. Why can't you..." By now the four had surrounded him, but kept their distance. "Can not.. come?" They sounded curious, as if they also did not know why Raness was not responding. "Child." Hieroglyph spoke up. "This does not have to be your concern. You can choose to surrender the puzzle, forsake ownership of it to us and just walk away. You never wanted to be a part of this, did you?" His tone was condescending, yet laid back. "Your.. friend already tried that. I can not trust you!" He was affraid, but he was not going to let that cloud his judgment again. "Simple. You are looking at the body who completed that puzzle." Hieroglyph smirked. "What?" Gaines did not see that coming. "In a past life, I too hunted for this treasure. In a past life I was like you.. Elias Gaines. I am 'a descendant'."

Marcus groaned as he heard that. This had been a theory of his, but he did not expect it to be true. "Like me? But..why are you on the Magus' side?" He did not think 'the chosen one', could be an evildoer. "Glyph's existence is difficult to explain, kid. Suffice it to say that Glyph had the option of many identities over many lifetimes, all members of that special family tree . All to bring about the return of my creator." That explained a little, but not enough. "Why should I give this up to you? You will kill me anyway, you want to kill all of humanity so why should I run to live just a few more days?" He clenched the puzzle close to his chest. "Kill?" The bandaged spat, as if he/she had been insulted. "He does not understand the design." Dioscuri laughed. "Humanity, Magus give up all humanity, but not kill." Fatimah sighed.

"Human." The Magus spoke to him now. "You fear, you hesitate, you question..and then you die. You, Host, do not understand that you are also imperfect. " He sat down again. "We need the Puzzle, we need all seven forged from gold. Three remain unclaimed." Seven apparently was always the magical number. "All the world will come to accept the design afterwards, for now all they can do is resist and struggle. Their bodies and souls remain anchored in a false light, perpetuating the cycle of a flawed existence. But the seven can end this cycle.." Gaines barely had an idea what he was talking about, yet he had to ask. "How.." How could seven items do all that? "By returning to the source. By opening the gateway between worlds, the gate of Alkahest." For some reason his head started throbbing when that name was dropped. "Imperfect beings tasted the golden power, I can make them accept it.. removing all shadows and weaknesses.. all of mortality."

And now they knew, in a vague manner, what the Magus wanted to do. "But then.. why take all those souls, kill all those people in the city?" He still did not want to believe in their supposed nobility, especially with their often cruel games. "No soul is wasted, they are simply kept out of the reincarnation loop." Said Hieroglyph, who stood a lot closer now. "We too are imperfect beings, the difference is that we can see like our creator." They all pointed at their own eyes, which were either gone or covered. Hieroglyph was missing one eye entirely so he could carry around that Millenium item. "The Creator made us.. from mortal flesh and immortal Ka." The Lead Pillar said. "To open Alkahest.. we can not let anyone stand in our way. Even if we have to destroy their bodies.. or banish their spirits." Elias was silent now, he no longer could think of anything to say. They all said things that sounded benevolent, yet his heart continuously told him otherwise. "Host, choose now..the shadows.. or the eternal.." Marcus held his breath, saying anything would probably just cause him to make the wrong decision. ".." Gaines knew not what he wanted, or what he did not want. Not until he remembered a part of his own life.. "!"

On the outside of the studio, the army had been waiting for signs of activity. The darkness started to spread out over the building like black paint. "If Cable had not been in there, we could have just left already." Cleo hissed. "Aren't you forgetting Elias?" Colin asked her. "That kid.. eh I suppose we need him too. If only he was not such an indecisive.." Before that sentence was finished, they heard a loud noise coming from the inside. "What the?" Then a bright flash followed, which cut through the shadows like a hail of bullets. "Good lord!" They could see inside the area at last. "Cable?!" They noticed the four people on the ground, and one student standing at the edge of the illuminated area. "You can come in now! Get these people out of here." The person shouted at the soldiers. "But where are the others?" They did not see their commander anywhere. "Just do it!" Finally they came into the light sphere and pulled the four other duelists to safety. "How in the hell?" Colin did not know Pharaoh spirits could do that trick.

The soldiers did not see what was beyond the light barrier though, the four pillars and their master who were driven back by the golden glow. "The Pharaoh I presume?" Hieroglyph was impressed. "To my enemies yes. I see that all of you have changed as well over the millenia." Raness had come out after all, responding to his hosts emotions. "I had forgotten how oppressive your powers were, Magus." He smiled. Whether the Magus was surprised or not, he could not tell. But the phantom soon replied. "Your memories are is still not restored, are they Lord Raness?" He said in a mocking tone. "Do you intend to duel us here, with only one of the three Gods unsealed?" At any rate, there was no fear in his voice. "No. I surfaced merely to save my companions, and to stop the stream of lies." He started to walk away, while keeping eye contact. "I remember enough Ka. I remember how you torched my kingdom and sacrificed soul after soul. You have no good intentions for this world. I will save it from your evil.. for good."

And then he stepped out of the opening the Puzzle had made, leaving the five entities in the darkness. "We need to leave now." He said to the soldiers. "What about the other survivors?" They asked him. "I fear there are none. If you want to save their souls, we need to live through this day." He looked back at the studio, which was now a mass of darkness. "..." He did not understand why nobody followed him out, until he looked up. "The sun?" Maybe because they were born out of the shadows, but he believed a weakness to the sunlight was possible. They did after all go through the trouble of relocating the portal to the inside. "Pharaoh?" Raness was soon approached by Cleo. "What are we supposed to do now? If the enemy is right there, can't we just bomb the place?" She saw no point in actually dueling someone that could put four people down at once. "But isn't Carters body still inside?" Colin pointed out in the background. "If he is not dead already." She countered. "We can discuss this later. We need to fall back and regroup."

Inside the four servants circled around the exit of the set. "Pharaoh escaped, all of them saved." Dioscuri was disappointed. From the look of things either Pillar had been expecting to duel the great Pharaoh. "If he beat Archon and commands Obelisk, he is their greatest ally." The bandaged one turned to the Magus. "Creator, do we follow them?" But Ka shook his head. "Until we have collected all the Items, there is no purpose to risking a power struggle with God. As long as the sun shines down on this part of the world, our powers will be weakened." He looked towards the current collection of Millenium Items. "Mercury Pillar." He telekinetically picked up the Millenium Tauk and gave it to the scarlet woman. "You know what to do. Track down what belongs to me, what will belong to me." She nodded and put the necklace around her neck. "What to do.. The Items power, shine it down on what belongs to the Creator." The eye symbol on it started to glow, but the color was a pale red rather than golden.

"No.. we were too late?" Christine and company heard the news. "They revived that Magus guy after all? Even though they stopped Archon?" They were informed along the way to the studio area, though by now the pilot had gotten orders to change course. "Then it was all for nothing." Nero hated this. Everything Marcus or they had done could not prevent the coming of Ka. "But what about Lydia or Madlyn?" Ceasar was more worried about his colleagues. "They will be fine. They suffered no physical injuries.. sir Fraser however will need some time in intensive care." Jackson cringed. "They did that much to him." He took something out of his coat. "Wait, you hid it in such a simple place all along?" He took out the Millenium Key. "They wanted this, no doubt." He did not know it yet, but the Key was no longer on their side. "They will want the other Items too. How are we supposed to find them now." The base they normally used to find Items was taken over. "Damn it. At this rate we will never save you William."

In the darkness there was a light. "Am I..dead?" William asked himself. But then he questioned how that would work, since he was already a soul stuck in a hellish netherworld. "Oh!" The memories came back, and so did sensations. "Where the.." He remembered being blasted off the mountain by the one that pretended to be his brother and Venice. Then came the blackout. "But this is not the ground..." He looked around and saw that he was actually on top of something else, caught between two waving wings. This looked oddly familiar to him. "Timaeus?" For a second he thought he was riding the blue dragon he used to wield all those months ago. "No?" Instead it was a dragon he did not recognize, it had blue scales and wings, but was thinner and sleeker. "I do not get this, but I will accept any miracle." He flew back up the tower with it. "Here I come, whoever you are!" And a few moments later he had returned to the terrace where the betrayal began. "What in damnation?" And the stranger was still there, and he looked quite surprised.

"You..actually made it back here, on such short notice." Williams Dragon set foot on the ground in front of the cave, dropping him off before dematerializing. "When did you find a chance to summon that?" He asked. "I have a question for you first. What the hell are you?" This time he would not let him get away. "You want a straight answer? You would not even understand.. But maybe if I mention names like Turner and Jacob.." Carters eyes narrowed. "Yeah you recall those dont you? I am like them.. A lesser shadow, an offshoot of the mighty Magus. But unlike Jacob and Turner I was stuck here until you anchors came along." He suddenly shifted from his Gerard-appearance to that of Venice. "Then the mighty Pillars suddenly needed me, my unique powers. My ability to summon the memories of others. It was an easy trick for me to make you think you were hanging around with miss Gray and mister Carter. But I no longer need to put up this charade.. now.." And then he shifted to Andre's appearance. "Now I will use you to get out of here."

(To be Continued in New Testament 054: Cain to his Abel)