Magic: The Gathering is property of Wizards of the Coast
Note: I would like to get one thing straightened out with everyone. If this sounds rude or obnoxious, I am deeply sorry. But my stories have, VERY little to do with the actual Magic storyline. There will be certain appearances from characters (SPOILER: Volrath, Bo, and Chainer), but as far as the stories from the M:TG novels go, there is little resemblance. Hell, a lot of things I'm just making up off the spot, and I'll be doing that a lot throughout the entire story. I really am sorry if that doesn't appeal to you, but this is my interpretation of how it might happen, in real life, to Earth. The introduction of mana, the…never mind, I won't spoil it for those of you still interested in the story. So don't count on anything to even resemble the M:TG, all my information is based off of the cards, and the quotes off of the cards. Now, I would like to make some responses to my reviews, if that is alright.
MUSTEX1. I know red mages aren't telepathic, and I don't know where you concluded that from, but if it's coming from the voice, that is…to be explained later. ^-^ Much later. ^-^;;;;
2. Not even your own? Woo, my bad. Thanks though, I'll be sure to remember that in future chapters.
3. That is to be explained later. ^-^
As for your cons, I haven't actually read the M:TG storyline, so I'm kind of in the dark with the whole Planeswalker thing. I just know that they're terribly powerful. But thanks once again for the info, it was really appreciated. But I think I'll keep him old, for dramatic purposes. Now with that said and out of the way, let us continue, shall we?
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Colors: A Prelude to Death-Training
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The sun had just peeked over the treetops in the harsh forestlands of Dominaria. A sign to the people for them to wake up and start a day anew. But there are some of those who like to wake up before the sunrise, there are those who NEED to wake up before the sunrise, and then there are some who really don't have a say in the matter.
The five young apprentices, Jack, Jesse, Tayliana, Sarah, and Drake, were all lined up in a row, respectively. Jack is still asleep, Tayliana keeps nodding off, Sarah yawns widely, and Drake is the only one to be fully awake.
"The first lesson!" Urza exclaims to his pupils, "Will be similar to something you have seen…or felt before. By using your mana to increase your…."
"Mana?" Jesse asked. Urza sighed ruefully.
"Mana, the energy of life. The source from which your powers are born, fed, grow, and depleted. Now, may I continue?" And he shot Jesse a look, who stepped back, "By utilizing your mana, you will be able to increase your toughness, and also will be able to make you immune to certain spells." He stops, looking at Jack, whose head keeps bobbing up and down. Urza snaps to attention, pointing his stick at Jack, who is sent back flying, yelling all the way.
"Jack!" Tay yelled, turning to look at him.
"Don't turn your back on your opponent!" And Urza snapped his stick at Tay, who is also sent backwards. By this time, everyone is wide awake. Urza relaxes and begins pacing again. "This will also be a test, of your intuition. Clear your mind, concentrate on sensing my power. Your opponents are eyes are only to deceive you, his mana will always tell the truth however. It is not as hard as it sounds, you just need to concentrate." He stopped, looking between the three remaining people standing. Sarah was visibly nervous, Jesse was a little tense, but Drake was the only one not looking too worried about it. Urza smiled, and continued to pace, "You must also learn when your opponent will attack. He could attack now! Or maybe now. Or perhaps…even NOW!" He yelled, pointing his stick and no one in particular, which everyone jumps at, but everyone is still on the ground. "No, you must always sense your opponent because he will attack…." And he aims his stick at Drake, and his feet are lifted off the ground, and joins Tay and Jack, "…when you least, expect it." Sarah was about to go for him, but wisely decided against it, and began to focus on Urza, her eyes squinting. "One more thing…" Urza continued, his eyes focused on Jesse, "One must also know the extent of his powers. One must know his limits, and his strengths." The whole time, Urza continues to keep his eyes fixated on Jesse, "There is a difference between courage, and foolishness. To act without thinking of the consequences, could result in your own harm, or the harm to those who you truly love." Sarah, a bit confused, looked up at Jesse. He was sweating profusely, his hands were clenched, and his mouth was at an uneasy frown, "Think before you do anything. Because if you don't, your recklessness will become the END OF YOU!" And he once again pointed his stick at them, and Jesse crossed his arms in front of him. But there was nothing happening to him. Instead, he looked to his left, and saw Sarah in a similar position that he was in, except that she looked like she was in more pain, and was about to collapse. Her hair was flying wildly, her body grew more and more weaker, yet at the same time stronger. She had been able to see Urza's mana, and it was directed right at her. She struggled to keep her balance, until Urza smiled, and lowered his staff. There was a slight *pop*, as Sarah gasped at fell to the ground, her arms supporting her, and breathing heavily. "Very good," Urza commented, "Very good in deed." That's when he heard the loud moaning and groaning of the other students. He looked up and noticed that all three of them were in a mess of tangles. "Get up! All of you! We're not done yet!" This time, the moans were more of protest than of pain. All the while, Jesse was staring down at Sarah, still breathing profusely, and sweating a lot. Urza, with a slight smirk on his face, was watching the two. He gripped the staff with both hands and said, "Concentrate." And pointed it at Jesse.
Several hours passed, and their first lesson was done. Luckily, or unluckily, all of them survived. Everyone stood patiently waiting for their next lesson. Urza walks up to them, and taps his staff on the ground. All of a sudden, a small, three-foot tall bird with a small body and large head and beak came trotting out of the woods. "This will be your next assignment." The bird squawked, and everyone looked down at it strangely.
"What is it?" Tay asked, bending down to get a better look at it.
"It's a moa. A small, but very quick and agile bird. It is mostly used for food, however, I find it quite useful in this next task." Tay looked up at him, as he began to explain.
"As you are now, most of your offensive and defensive skills, will come from your own body, and enchantments. This exercise will enable you to use your mana to quicken your speed, and will also increase your agility. The concept is simple enough, catch the moa. You got no time limit, and there are boundaries to make it easier for you, but there are also some rules." He taps the moa on the behind with the staff, and it goes squawking off into the thick underlay. "The rules are as followed. Do not kill the moa, nor do not let it die. If you do, the next task will be much, much harder for you. There are also some boundaries." He points his staff out past the woods, and walks out. Everyone follows him. Urza steps out from the thicket, and into a open area. When everyone steps out behind them, they freeze in their tracks. They are on a cliff, overlooking a vast forest down below them. The sun hangs high in the sky, as what's remaining of the morning dew glistens on the treetops. Sarah walks out to the edge of the cliff, her eyes also glistening with the sun.
"It's beautiful." She whispers under her breath. Although everyone is looking at her, no one says a word. Her spectacular innocence, and beauty silences them. Something comes to Urza, as he reaches inside his robe and pulls out a white, folded cloth.
"Here," he says, handing it to Sarah, "Your clothes are a little ragged, you might want to change." Sarah looks down at her shirt confused, then realizes that it is a mess. She rushes behind some trees and begins to change, Urz continues the rules. "Do you see the forest?" Everyone nods. "Look out into the distance, about three miles. You will notice where the land begins to die, and jagged rocks start the form the surface of the planet. That is Rath. A desolate wasteland of sulfur, evil, and monsters too powerful for you to imagine. That is the boundary. Wander past there, and you will surely perish a most horrid fate." Everyone, even Drake, gulped. When the bushes behind them started to rustle, they turned around, and Sarah emerged. She was wearing a pure white, silk robe. Unlike Jesse's robe, which just hanged over his body, hers seemed to adjust to her figure. As she walked, the bottom of her dress easily moved with her leg, so no restraint was put upon her. Her gold hair was let loose, and everyone swore they were looking at an angel.
"Wow…." Was the response from all the men, except Urza. Instead, she shot a quick glare at Jack.
She looked at them nervously, "What's wrong?" She asked. At once the guys jumped, Jack acting a little wild, spurting out crazy things, Drake just turning his back on her, and Jesse looking at the ground, scratching the back of his head, and mumbling nervously. Urza tapped his staff on the ground in disgust.
"Are you all through here?"
"Yes!" They yelled nervously.
"Good. Now the quicker you find it, the longer the break you have before your next lesson…BEGIN!" At that, they all sprinted off into the woods.
"What the hell is this?" Jack says sourly, while peeking into a bush. "How the hell are we even supposed to find one bird in the middle of the forest? Huh?" He looked up, and there was the moa, digging its beak into the ground, searching for grubs. Jack smiled to himself, he was going to catch this bird all by himself. He stepped slowly up to it, making sure not to make any noise. He was close, and the bird hadn't noticed him. Now he was within jumping range, "Just a little closer." He thought to himself. "Aaaaaand…GOTCHA!" And he pounced on the bird, grabbing it around the neck. It screeched, and hollered and began to kick wildly, flapping its wings everywhere.
"HA! Finally caught you, you little *THUMP!* ooo…." The bird had managed to connect a kick with Jack's stomach, he tried desperately not to let go, but this time the bird managed to flip around and kick him in the face several times. Jack dropped the bird, grabbed his face in pain, and tried to leap on the bird before it could get back up. Didn't work, he missed it by inches, and his face went plowing into the mud.. He pulled it out of the mud, yelling, "GET BACK HERE!"
"Four hours…." Tay said angrily, "Four, flippin hours have we been out here searching for this damn thing!" She kicked a log and it shattered into tiny pieces.
"Oh, please calm down." Sarah pleaded, who was sitting in a tree looking around. "Think of this as…as a treasure hunt!" With that she leapt down to the ground, smiling at Tay. She didn't smile back.
"Sure, and while I'm at it, let me sprout wings and marry Jack." She said in a rude, sarcastic tone. Sarah didn't mind though, she laughed and skipped off into the woods to look more, Tay reluctantly following. On a nearby hill, concealed in the fallen branches of trees, Jesse was spying on them.
"Well, at least she's alright." He said aloud, a stick snapped, and he whipped around. Drake was standing over him, glaring.
"What do you think you're doing?" He asked.
Jesse scoffed, and continued to look through the bushes, "I don't care about this damn bird, I just want Sarah to be safe, that's all."
"So you don't care if we get stuck out here in the woods for days on end?" Jesse didn't answer. Drake smiled evilly and laughed to himself, "Sounds like you should be the black mage, not me." That got Jesse's attention. He didn't like to be thought of as a nuisance, selfish, or a bad person. He glared at Drake, then finally rested on his knees and sighed.
"Alright, I'll start looking. Besides, Tay's with her anyway, so…."
"I FOUND IT!" Sarah's voice suddenly squealed. The moa bursts out of the thicket, completely catching the two guys off-guard. The moa's foot lands right on Jesse's face, and with incredible power, shoves the back of his head into the ground, and continues running. Drake can only watch amusingly. Sarah bursts out of the bushes, with an exhausted Tay right behind her, she looks up at Drake.
"*pant…pant* Did you see which way it went Drake? *pant*" He nodded, then looked down at Jesse, Sarah followed suit, "Jesse?"
"Ow…."
The moa was running for its life, Sarah and the others had just caught up with it, and were closing in.
"We…almost got it…." Tay said, obviously very tired. Except for Sarah, who was giggling the whole time, no one else was having that good of a time either. They continued running, the moa pulling away, the group gaining on it, it was an on/off situation. When they passed Jack, Sarah was the only one to call out to him.
"Come on Jack!" He watched them nervously as they disappeared through the thicket, and he followed suit. By the time Jack had caught up, Sarah was beginning to feel the effects of exhaustion and Drake pulled out in the lead. He began running a lot faster than the others, and was a mere foot away from the moa. He just reached out to grab it, when an orange blur darted in front of him, and the moa had disappeared. He stumbled to regain his balance, and ended up face first in the mud as well. Sarah stopped dead in her tracks, watching the thing begin swinging from the trees.
"Hey! That's ours, give it back!" Everyone else caught up with her, and thought they were going to have a rest, then Sarah motioned with her hand, "Come on." And ran off. Drake glared at the others, Jesse tried desperately to keep up with Sarah, Jack wasn't far behind, Tay had been the only one to stop.
"I may have to kill your friend if she continues to do this." He tells her.
Tay gasps for air a few times, "You'll…have to beat me…to it…."
Sarah had finally stopped running, and was in a small clearing now. There was an opening in the canopy big enough to let a small circle of light through. There were a couple fallen logs, and a lot of tall grass. Sarah was standing just inside the light, staring into the trees.
"Sarah…." Jesse yelled, finally catching up to him. He rested his hand on the trees, and panted heavily. What's…the matter?" He panted a couple more times, and Sarah pointed into the trees. Jesse stopped panting when he looked up, and saw what she was pointing at. At that time, the others had caught up, and had also seen what she was pointing to.
In the shadows, one could visibly see several large creatures watching them. There were some in the trees as well. They got a real good look at them when they stepped out of the shadows however. They were apes. Large apes. Their fur was a mixture of orange and brown, and they wore what appeared to be really hard, leather armor on their bodies. One of them, held the dead moa in its hand, its body limp like a wet rag. They did not seem to be very pleased that these intruders that have wandered onto their territory.
"Um, I think we should let them have the bird now." Jesse said nervously, backing up.
"Y-Yeah…that's, a good idea." Tay said. The apes took a step towards them, and they fled.
"I…think…that…he's…trying…to kill…us!" Jack yelled as he heard the snapping of large limbs behind him. They were catching up with them, and fast. They continued to run, all the while the branches above them were snapping and falling on their heads. Tay tripped over a log, stopping everyone, and the apes landed in front of them. No sooner did their feet hit the ground, then one of them launched itself at the group. Jack felt the wrath of its hand, as he was smacked backwards, falling onto the ground. He lay there, looking up at the sky for a moment, then he smiled. He wheeled back on his hands and pushed himself onto his feet. The two groups had split up now, and were in a deadly brawl. One of the apes landed in front of Jack and swung. Jack dodged, and kneed the ape in the stomach. The ape reeled back, stopped and roared at Jack. It tried charging him again, but it was killed as a strange force hit it in the side. Jack looked over at Tay was smiling.
"Ha! You're not the only one who has learned new tricks." She said cockily. A sharp pain hit her in the side though, and she fell down. At that time, another ape had leaped into the air after Tay, who was still reeling from the unknown pain. Jack wasn't about to let her die, as he placed his hands on the ground. The Earth underneath the ape then shot up in a sharp, pillar like form. It pierced the ape right through its body before the rest of the dirt swallowed it up whole. Jack looked at it with wide, nervous eyes.
"Wow." He said to himself, smiling nervously.
Elsewhere, Sarah was too busy defending herself, to realize how much more agile she had become. She was doing standing flips over the apes, somersaults, tumbling. She had not realized any of it. It felt…natural to her. She didn't notice the other ape, however, and one punch quickly threw her off balance. She stumbled for a while, until she landed on her butt. She rubbed her head, and noticed that one of the apes and did a flying leap for her. It was quickly intercepted by Drake, who, like the wind, moved to her location and with enormous strength, punched the ape out of its path. Sarah looked up at him, and he looked back. He did not seem to be happy, he scoffed at her, and proceeded to go off on the other creatures. Sarah watched him the whole way.
Drake had charged into a group of three apes, who were attacking at random. He grabbed one of the creatures by the fur and proceeded to beat in its chest. Another ape stopped him from killing its comrade, but Drake whipped around and connected a punch with that ape's face. He turned around yet again, and with one final blow, punched the ape so hard in the chest that it collapsed, providing it a slow death. One of the apes then grabbed Drake by the arms, and pulled tightly, very tightly. The other ape, its face bloody from the last punch, staggered for a little while, as the other one tried to rip Drake's arms off. When it regained its senses, it roared its war voice, and charged at him.
Sarah, who had been watching this, tried to intervene. She held up her hands, palms wide open. She closed her eyes and tried her hardest to concentrate on her mana, to see if there was anything she could do to stop it. But the ape wasn't giving up, it made a direct B-line for Drake, and was sure to pummel him. It was right in the middle of its windup, when it stopped. It just stood there, frozen almost. It then dropped its arm, looked at Drake in a calm manner, then trotted off into the forest. Drake was too busy resisting the force of the ape to really care, so he smacked his head off of the creature's face, and that let him go. The creature backpedaled, then did another charge at Drake. But he whipped around, holding out his hand in front of the creature's face, and it stopped dead in its tracks.
Fear held the creature in its tracks. It looked into Drake's eyes, his pure black, evil eyes. The ape grew more and more fearsome. It was trembling now, and began to back away. But Drake was following it every step. It was getting more scared, those eyes. Those eyes were driving it mad. It wanted to get away, but it couldn't look away. Those eyes were piercing a hole right through its mind, its heart was a mad panic. Then it stopped, and fell over backwards…dead.
Jesse bent down on the ground as an ape went right for him, and with one arm flipped the ape over his head. Another one made a direct punch to his chest. He reeled back, but wasn't all that hurt. This time, it was HIM who did the charging, ramming his shoulder into the ape's body. It collided with a tree, and died on impact. Jesse turned around and grabbed the palm of another ape, and twisted its arm, it snapped like a twig, which gave him enough room to kick it in the stomach and send it flying.
There were few apes left, but as with the strange birds, another force stopped both parties dead in their tracks. Urza had come onto the scene, overlaying the battle ground. The apes recognized his power, and quickly fled, leaving their dead and injured behind. Urza stepped right for the middle of his students, who huddled around him. Some of them tried to say something, but nothing came out. Urza looked down on the ground, and noticed the dead moa laying on the ground.
"I see, that you have failed the assignment." He said in a passive-aggressive tone.
Some of them tried to reply, Jack and Tay were the only ones to say something, "NOW WAIT JUST A MINUTE!"
Urza pointed his staff towards them, "Yes?" The two gulped, and back down. Sarah looked over the bloody battleground, just the sight of the dead apes made her sick. But she noticed that one of them, the one Jesse broke its arm, was still alive, and lying onto a tree. It was making a very low, very painful noise. Sarah couldn't help but feel sorry for it, and began to walk towards it. Urza, discussing the value of timing, didn't notice her. She slowly walked up to the ape, its good arm grasping the bad one. When it saw Sarah, it snapped at her with its teeth and she jumped back. But she still continued forward. It tried to move, unknown to Sarah to get away or to fight, but she quickly put her hands on its chest and leaned it back against the tree.
"Shhh…shhh…I-I'm not going to hurt you." It growled, not believing her. She remembered what she had done before, she concentrated on healing the creature. It no time, a small ball of light formed in her hand, and she administered it into the ape's chest. The ape's body grew a bright glow, until it diminished, and it was alright. By this time, the rest of the group had broken their argument with Urza, and were watching Sarah. The ape slowly moved its body, not realizing it was fine. When it did, it shoved Sarah out of the way, and with its arms glided across the treetops, joining its brethren. Sarah watched it go off, stood up and brushed her self off. She noticed everyone watching her. "Yes?"
"Compassionate…caring…just like most white mages are." Urza said curiously, "Just don't let your mercy get the best of you. There are some creatures in this world who don't deserve compassion, and some who won't show it back to you." He clapped his hands, "Simian grunts may be violent, but they will respect a good deed. They may even prove to be a valuable asset in the future. Now then." A tiny figure shot from out of the tree behind Urza. It was no larger than six inches, with tiny wings that were faster than a hummingbird, and the body was a very small, but very beautiful girl. She glided next to Urza as he spoke again, "This is an Uktabi Fairy. You must find her, and catch her, with no harm to her…at all." Everyone groaned. "Ready…begin!" Before anyone could take a step, she was off like light. Everyone except Urza had froze in their tracks. This was going to be a long lesson.
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End Chapter 6