Disclaimer: I do not own Magic: The Gathering, only my own characters.
CHAPTER 47-Into the Desert
The dark red liquid gurgled out of the bottleneck into the awaiting chalice below. Once the cup was filled to the desired volume, the bottle was raised, the flow of liquid retreating back into the bottle.
Bringing the cup to his lips, the One took a sip and sighed in pleasure. He'd always had a fondness for Earth wines. Despite being extraordinarily primitive, Earthlings did possess certain talents making them less of an evolutionary mistake than one might be led to believe.
Compared to most races of the Multiverse, humans were among the most wretched beings. Their nature for destruction would ultimately lead to the destruction of the race. Yes, the One had once been human, but he had transcended the limits of human life when he became a Planeswalker, so he no longer considered himself one of them. As well, humans disgusted him, especially Earthlings.
Over the term of their existence, they had killed more of their own kind than had most races of the Multiverse. Yes, goblins did come in close second, but Earthlings had become exceedingly proficient at it. As it currently stood, they spend an amazing amount of time and resources in developing increasingly powerful weapons, all to better kill each other with. In their past century alone, they had waged several major conflicts, all resulting in millions of deaths and the development of yet more way to kill other humans, the most amusing being an explosive device powered by fusion. Primitive, certainly, but devastating. The Earthlings had stockpiled enough of these devices on their planet to destroy it several times over.
The One believed the Earthlings' problems were largely brought about by their rapid technological advance. Their plane had only been in existence for several billion years, and the race for only a few dozen million years, yet they were already traveling to their planet's satellite. However, for all their technology, they were still ignorant of magic. While most races of the Multiverse possessed some knowledge of summoning, humans on Earth were oblivious to it, save for the reincarnations of the Keepers of Mana.
This thought brought the One back to reality. Setting his cup down, he gazed out at the five figures seated before him at the table.
"My friends," he said "I thank you for coming here on such short notice. I have summoned you here to inform you that Anima, Numa, and Arog have all failed to stop the Awakening. As such, everything is going along as planned. The Keepers' power is growing and they only have the Keeper of Red Mana left to awaken. However, we have one hitch: Arrathir Quinn in dead. Instead of absorbing his life essence, Arog simply released it."
"Then the time to strike is now!" said a man to the right of the One "Without the Keeper of Black Mana, the others will be weak and demoralized! Let us deal the killing blow and rid ourselves of the Keepers once and for all!"
"Patience, my friend," said the One "When the Keepers are at their full strength, then we will strike."
"We grow impatient," said a female voice to the left of the One "You promised us the power of the Keepers when the Keeper of Black Mana awoke over one Earth year ago. We still have yet to see these promises fulfilled. As well, your summoners seem to have failed miserably at their task."
"As I explained," said the One "The sacrifices for Anima, Numa, and Arog were necessary. Left on their own, the Keepers' reincarnations would have never developed their powers to their current levels."
"And what of this human, the girl?" asked the woman "How does she fit in your plan?"
"Ah yes, Eva Pezrokov," said the One "Arrathir Quinn's love interest. An unfortunate occurrence, but she has had her use. Quinn's protectiveness of her has helped further develop his abilities, as well as awaken the Keeper of Blue Mana. She is his weakness and could be of use in the future."
"How can she be of use if he's dead?" asked another man.
"The Keepers of Mana are more resourceful than you think," said the One "It may take a while, but I believe Arrathir Quinn will find a way to return to life."
"What about Erik Morlock?" asked a third man "Has he accepted his Keeper yet?"
"No," admitted the One "He has proven to be most reluctant to embrace his destiny and he could be the most troublesome of them all. If need be, we can find ways to persuade him. However, in times of great stress, the Keeper is sometimes able to leak through his mental barriers and take over Morlock's body. We can use this to our advantage. Now, unless you have any further questions, this meeting is adjourned."
In the day, the desert was a furnace. The reverberation of the sun on the countless sand dunes, couples with the nonexistent breeze made traveling through the desert a living Hell. However, at night the temperature dropped drastically, making travel possible, even enjoyable.
That night, a pale moonlight illuminated the dunes, casting dark shadows in the valleys; such as the one the summoners were currently crossing.
It had been several hours since they'd left the city, but the mountains in the distance seemed as far away as ever. The summoners walked in single file, Shal'Narth leading as he scouted ahead of the group. Khell followed, his staff strapped across his back, then Charles, Eva, and finally Erik, hanging back from the main group.
The going was somewhat difficult. Save for Shal who was used to the desert, the rest of the group trudged across the loose sand, occasionally stumbling and falling over. If they were on a hill in such an occurrence, they would sometimes completely loose their footing and roll down the slope to the bottom, upon which they would spend a considerable amount of time getting the sand out of their clothes and hair before starting back up again. Fortunately, everyone kept a close watch on one another and if someone did fall, the others would quickly help them up, so these incidents were rare.
As Shal'Narth reached the crest of a dune, he suddenly backed down in a shower of sand, looking panicked.
"Get down!" he hissed with urgency, dropping to the ground. Confused, the summoners did as he asked.
"What is it?" asked Khell. The viashino didn't answer. He only pointed a claw at the sky. The summoners looked up and stared in awe as a giant shadow passed in front of the moon, the light filtering through its wings and sharply tracing out every spike along the creature's back and tail.
"A Shivan Dragon," said Eva in a hushed whisper. She started getting up for a better view, but Shal pulled her down with a warning hiss.
"Stay low!" he growled "If it sees us, we might as well roll over and die! Trust me; you don't want to be hunted by a dragon. If they catch you, they won't kill you straight away, oh no. They play with their prey for hours before they kill it. I'd rather die by the sword than in the claws of a dragon!"
They watched, breathless as the dragon vanished into the night. Shal kept them down for a while to make sure it was really safe. Once his fears had been settled, they set off again.
Eva was thrilled. "A dragon," she said "A real dragon!"
"Can you summon one of those yet?" asked Charles, falling into step beside her. Shal'Narth was far ahead enough for them to talk without risking having their cover blown.
"No," said Eva "But they're definitely at the top of my list of creatures I want to learn how to summon. They've been there ever since I joined the Awakening."
"I wasn't thinking of summoning when I joined," said Charles "I just wanted to help Arrathir."
"That's why you joined?" asked Eva "Out of pity?"
"Sort of," said Charles "I was also curious. I mean, this guy comes up to me and says, 'Yeah, Magic: The Gathering is real, oh and by the way, you're the reincarnation of a million-year old Planeswalker'."
"Must have been weird," said Eva.
"After you died," said Charles "Arrathir was a wreck. He was ready to tear Numa into pieces. I just couldn't leave him like that, so I gave him my phone number. I thought that would be the last I heard from him, but then when he called up and said he needed a place to stay, I realized something was going on and I intended to find out more."
"So what were you doing in Tokyo anyways?" asked Eva "I've just realized I barely know you."
"Well, I came to Tokyo because I wanted to become a mangaka," said Charles "Failed spectacularly at it, but since I had some bases in Japanese and I really liked the culture, I stayed. I managed to scrape a living giving part-time English lessons and working the odd job. I met Kouji and we split the rent on a flat. Then one day we were really strapped for cash, I went to a local otakon to sell some of my cards, and you know the rest."
"So you didn't find any of this weird or have any second thoughts about this whole thing?"
"As I said, I was curious, but I just went along with the flow," said Charles "Also, I just trusted Arrathir."
"And what about your parents?" asked Eva "Aren't they going to worry if they try to contact you and you're gone?"
"I lost touch with my parents years ago," said Charles "They never supported my dreams. They thought I should have become an accountant or something."
"That's kind of sad," said Eva "Loosing touch with your family."
"Well, that's life," said Charles "Shit happens."
Groaning, Numa managed to pull himself up, wincing in pain. Drawing a card, he cackled madly.
"This is your end!" he said, "I play Dark Ritual, adding three black mana to my mana pool and next I play Stone Rain!" A red meteor came crashing down on Arrathir, destroying one of his Swamps. "Now I play Radiate! For each target an instant or sorcery could target, I put a copy of that spell on the stack. In other words…"
"You can destroy all our lands!" said Chikuro.
"Exactly!" said Numa. Chikuro and Charles covered their heads as a shower of meteors rained down on them, obliterating all their lands.
"Finally, I play Goblin Grenade, sacking one goblin token to destroy your Spirit of the Night!" said Numa.
Eva fell forwards, landing on all fours in the sand.
"Are you OK?" asked Charles, helping her up.
"Yeah," she said "It was weird, I had a vision. I saw you, and some guy dressed in blue robes. You were duelling, but what was really weird was that it was as if it was looking through Arrathir's eyes. I could hear his voice and everything. I also saw myself, hanging on a wall behind the guy in blue."
"That was when we dueled Numa," said Charles "How could you have seen that? You were unconscious."
"No idea," said Eva "Weird as Hell."
The continued in silence, Eva trying to figure out how she could have seen one of Arrathir's memories. The only plausible explanation she could come up with was that Arrathir had somehow implanted the memory in her mind, but if so, why? Was he sending her a message?
As they walked on, the moon continued its trek across the sky, eventually vanishing behind the horizon. The stars began to fade as a pale light appeared on the horizon. The darkness surrounding them grew lighter as a new day began. As dawn broke, Shal called a halt at the base of a large sand dune.
"We're almost out of the sand," he said "But next, we cross nothing but barren, dry rock. We won't last long under the sun, so we'll have to set up shelter quickly. You lot rest while I scout ahead." With that, he scampered up the hill and vanished from sight.
The summoners sat in the sand and passed around food and water, resting in preparation for the day ahead. Eva ate with great gusto. She hadn't been hungry when they'd left the city, but after a long night of walking, she was famished.
"My feet are killing me," she mumbled through a mouthful of food "You guys are lucky your demon strength keeps you going."
"Being a hanyo is really not all it's cut out to be," said Khell "With all the benefits, there's also a lot of downsides. Best example: Arrathir. I think we can safely say he's the worst-case scenario of the dangers of being a half-demon. When Rin first awoke, it was hard for me to control the wurm. There was an intense feeling of hunger and all I wanted to do was eat. Also, your entire personality changes when you have to contend with your inner demon screaming at you to kill anything that moves. Again, I'll use Arrathir as an example. When I first met him, he was a lot quieter and shy, but then he became irritable and violent. If I didn't know it was him, I would have thought he was a completely different person."
"Then there's the physical features," said Charles "While Arrathir's ears and tail were fairly easy to hide, some of us weren't so lucky. Just look at old beak-face," he added, pointing to Erik "I'd hate to be in his shoes."
"What about your demon, Wainscot?" asked Erik "How is it you've been awakened almost as long as I have and yet you have nothing to show for it?"
"Yeah, what is your demon type?" asked Eva.
"I have no idea," said Charles "Seriously. I asked Chiburuu and he didn't know either."
"So what about your individual abilities?" asked Eva "Arrathir had enhanced smell and hearing, Khell, you can turn yourself into a big-ass wurm, Erik, well I assume he's eventually gonna get wings, and Charles, you're some kind of mana detector. I wonder what the Keeper of Red Mana's ability will be?"
"If they're a dragon," said Charles "Probably breathing fire or something. If they're a goblin…oh God…I hope it's not a goblin."
"You don't like goblins?" asked Eva.
"The only people who do like them are the idiots that play goblin decks. I swear, talk about cheap beatdown. Only a noob would use goblins."
"I ran a goblin deck back in Onslaught," said Eva.
Charles looked incredibly embarrassed and said nothing.
"How's the foot taste, Wainscot?" taunted Erik.
"Shut it, Morlock," said Charles "Where's Shal?" he asked, quickly changing the topic.
"I'll go look for him," said Khell, getting up and scaling the hill. After scanning the horizon, he came back, announcing, "He's nowhere in sight. He couldn't have gotten that far, plus he said he was just scouting."
"Something is wrong here," said Erik.
"You're just paranoid," said Charles.
"And you're just to dense to realize we're being set up!" yelled Erik "Just think about it: four humans, unarmed, in the middle of the desert with nobody to help us. We're easy targets!"
"Maybe you are, Mr. 'I-won't-accept-my-keepers-because-I'm-scared'!" said Charles.
"Hey, fuck you, Wainscot!" yelled Erik "You wanna go? Remember, last time we dueled, I kicked your ass!"
"Well not this time!" shouted Charles, charging his mana.
"Oh you are on! Bring it!" said Erik, his hands bursting into white flames.
"Guys! Break it up!" said Eva "We don't have time for this!"
"Stay out of it, Eva!" said Charles "This is between beak-face and me!"
The two summoners faced off, glaring daggers at each other. As they were about to unleash their attacks, the sand all around them exploded as the Viashino Sandswimmers attacked.
To be continued…
Author's Note: So, Charles and Erik are prevented from beating the shit out of each other by a Viashino attack. Can they quit fighting for a second to repel the lizard-men?
On a further note, this story has almost hit 600 reviews! That's almost double what YGOvsMTG got! Thank-you, readers.