Disclaimer: I do not own Magic: The Gathering or Yu-Gi-Oh, they are the property of their respective owners. If I did own 'em, do you think I'd bee doing this?
So, I'm opening my mailbox, and I see there are all these reviews! And they're all like: "I love this story", "Keep writing", "That was great!"
[Jaw drops]
Wow. You people really like this story! This had inspired me to write more and update more often. However, with exams shudder coming, I can't promise a constant stream of updates.
Special thanks to Lu Chao who's helping me with this story. Read his fic!
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"This isn't working!"
"I told you it would be hard," said Khell.
Arrathir looked angrily at the mage. This had been their seventh outing to the forest, and so far, he had not been able to gather mana. He could instantly clear his mind and fly over the landscape, but whenever he tried to focus on one manna type, he broke the connection, and came back to reality.
"Once again," said Khell "Remember: If your don't keep your concentration, you'll fail."
Arrathir rolled his eyes at him and closed them. He was once again flying over the landscape. He saw the mountains, plains, islands, forests, and swamps flowing past him. As he concentrated, he managed to slow down the speed at which they flew by. As he kept slowing down with his mind, the landscape became clearer. Soon, he was moving very slowly, as if through thick syrup, while the landscape crawled past him.
He looked ahead and saw a swamp looming in the distance.
I can do this.
He concentrated fully on the swamp, and suddenly he fell from the sky. He landed with a splash in the foul water. Cursing and spluttering, he dragged himself onto the land. Once he had regained his breath, he looked around.
All around him were pools of stagnant black water. Slimy green algae floated on the surface of the water. Every now and then, bubbles would rise and disturb the smooth surface, caused by some mysterious underwater beast. Dead trees dotted the landscape, their pale braches, like long skeletal fingers seemed to reach for him. The place stunk of death and decay. Even the air was rotten; a choking vapour that was thick with the pungent odour of decomposing corpses. The fumes irritated Arrathir's lungs and made him cough. He wheezed, as the thick atmosphere penetrated his lungs. The only sounds heard were the croaking of frogs, and the occasional splash and some unknown creature broke the surface of the fetid water.
Arrathir snapped back to reality. He was lying on his back, drenched in sweat. His hair was a mess, and he was breathing heavily.
"How was it?" asked Khell.
"You could have told me it would be so, so…"
"Real?" supplied Khell.
"Yeah!"
"That's because it was real. You really were in that place."
"Did you see it?" asked Arrathir.
"No, but the environment around you turned into a swampland, so I'm guessing you were in search of black mana."
"What happened?" asked Arrathir "Why did I come back?"
"Same reason as before," said Khell "You lost your concentration."
"I'm trying again!"
He closed his eyes and soon was in the flowing landscape again. He returned to the swamp, but found himself in a different swamp than before.
Of course. This is what Khell meant. I can use more than more swamp for mana.
He focused on the swamp, trying to block out the fetid smells that invaded his nostrils. Suddenly, he felt it. He had taken the swamp. He could feel the energy of the land as it flowed through the swamp. He opened his eyes, and for a moment, thought he was still in the swamp. The gnarled trees and pools of black water were still around him, but the he realized that only a radius of about two metres around him was swampland. He was still in the forest.
"You did it," said Khell "Impressive." Arrathir noticed a slight change in his voice.
Arrathir smiled and tried to keep his hold on the swamp, but the effort proved too great and he collapsed.
Khell spat on the ground. A ghell, a swamp caster. He knew Arrathir used black mana in the card game, but he never thought he was a ghell. It was not entirely his fault. Every spellcaster was destined to one kind of mana. This was their g'imu, or principal mana source.
A spellcaster learned to tap into their g'imu as a first step in their training. After they had mastered their g'imu, they moved on to learn different types of mana tapping, but the g'imu remained their primary mana and was often the base for their spells.
He looked at the teen sprawled in front of him, hatred burning in his veins. He dared to tap the filth of the Cabal! How easy it would be to slit his throat and leave him to die. It would be one less ghell in the universe.
He drew his dagger, the blade sliding out of its shaft without a noise. He raised the dagger to strike, then put it away. He couldn't bring himself to do it. He shuddered at what he had been about to do. Murder! This was an innocent child! He had not harmed or threatened Khell in any way. It was only his hatred of the Cabal that had edged him on. Arrathir was his friend, and he had to accept that black mana was his g'imu.
He checked Arrathir and noticed that he was still breathing. However, he had deep burn marks on his hands. Khell nodded knowingly, then set out to find some healing plants. He retuned a while later with a handful of leaves that he crushed and mixed with some water. He applied the mixture to Arrathir's wounds and bound them with large tree leaves.
When Arrathir woke up, the first thing he noticed was that his hands were hurting like hell. He tried to move his fingers, but he was rewarded with a renewed sensation of pain, so he stopped. He sat up and noticed his hands were bound with leaves. He looked around for Khell, but the spellcaster was nowhere to be seen. As he was about to get up and go looking for him, a great bird swooped down from the sky.
Aven Redeemer?
Khell jumped off the back of his steed and the aven disappeared in a shower of white mana.
"Glad to see you're up," said Khell "I was just scouting out the area."
"What happened to my hands?"
Khell shrugged, "Mana burn."
"Mana burn?"
"Yes," said Khell "When you passed out, you had tapped mana. Since you didn't use it, it escaped from your hands, burning you in the process. The wounds are deep, but they will heal quickly."
"I had it, Khell. I could feel the mana. It was exhilarating."
"I know the feeling," said Khell.
"Man, I am so tried," said Arrathir "That really drains your energy doesn't it?"
"With time, it will require less energy to tap mana," said Khell.
"Well, let's head back. I'm gonna sleep like a rock tonight."
The next morning, Arrathir woke up early. He immediately knew what he was going to do: try to summon a creature. Khell hadn't explained to him how to summon yet, but he thought he could take a stab at it. He got out of bed and snuck into the kitchen without waking the sleeping spellcaster.
Arrathir tapped into a swamp, but this time, he managed to keep his hold on the land. Drawing on the mana, he gathered his thoughts and concentrated on the deck before him. His mind probed the deck. Drawing on his mana, he crafted the creature. At first, it was indistinct; a mass of energy without shape. Then it defined itself. He could smell the metallic odour of it. An artifact. Now the creature was taking form. A head and torso appeared, followed by two spindly arms and legs. Arrathir felt the creature's mind as it came to life. He called upon the creature, and a brilliant white outline appeared. The light dimmed and the creature appeared. It was small, about up to his knees. Its triangular head had two almond-shaped eyes set in it. The creature's skin was a light plum colour.
Myr Mindservant
The Myr looked at Arrathir with curiosity. It did not seem to fear him. Arrathir was stunned. He had just summoned a servant of Memnarch into the real world. With practice, he could surely summon other creatures. He couldn't wait to summon his Havoc Demon, or his Megatog. Arrathir leaned down to take a better look at the Myr, but as he did, the artifact creature took a giant leap and jumped clear over his head. He turned and approached the Myr again, but it jumped away from him. Arrathir leapt forward to pin the Myr to the ground, but it zipped out from under him and he crashed to the ground.
"Having fun?"
Arrathir looked up and saw Khell standing in the doorway. The spellcaster was grinning. He was obviously enjoying Arrathir trying to control his creature.
"A little help?"
"It's your creature," said Khell.
Arrathir growled and threw himself at the Myr. Every time he was about the grasp it, the bugger jumped away and he grabbed empty air. He managed to corner the Myr, but as he advanced on it, the creature leapt onto his head and clung to him with its metal claws. Arrathir screamed and threw the Myr off. As he continued to chase it around, he found himself at the Myr's mercy in a scene reminiscent of Jar-Jar Binks' tangle with the pit droid in Watoo's shop from Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.
By now, Arrathir was getting really pissed. Here was this little thing that he outweighed 10 to 1, but yet the little bugger was getting the best of him; jumping around, running amok, and creating such a racket that Yugi and Gramps came down to see what was the matter. After seeing the scene, they joined Khell, who was rolling on the floor, laughing.
Arrathir drew on his mana and fired a black beam from his fingertip.
"Terror!" he shouted, forgetting the spell would have no effect on the artifact creature. The spell rebounded off the Myr's shell and exploded in a shower of black mana. Finally, Arrathir got a lucky grab on the Myr's left foot and he pulled the creature to him. In the Myr's eyes, he saw no fear, only a mischievous glint and a look of resignation at having been caught. Arrathir himself had to laugh at the ridiculous situation he had been in. He gave the Myr a nod and sacrificed it, making the artifact explode in a shower of colourless mana.
"Well, it could have been worse," said Khell "Try summoning am out of control Craw Wurm. That happened to me."
The Myr had given Arrathir an idea. After breakfast, he grabbed his extra cards he had brought along and begun making a new deck…
To be continued…
Author's note: Another chapter done. Short, but I'm still slowing the pace of the story. Don't worry, Yami Marik will be back. There will be more duels and Arrathir will keep messing up his spells (while getting better of course). This story is going to broaden a bit in a chapter or two.