Disclaimer: I do not own Magic: The Gathering, only my own characters.
CHAPTER 53-The Draw
As Akroma approached Chikuro, ready to deal the killing blow, a great black cloud rolled onto the field, completely obscuring the Keeper of Black Mana from Chikuro's view. The angel flew into the cloud, only to come out a few seconds later looking confused.
"The darkness was so great I could not find him," she said.
"There's the black equivalent of your Holy Day," laughed Chikuro "Darkness. Just like Holy Day, it prevents all combat damage."
Chihowaido was seething. "End turn!" he snapped.
"I cycle Dirge of Dread," said Chikuro "Giving my Hypnox Fear until end of turn. Next, I cast Gloom." The darkness around them increased to the point where Chihowaido could no longer see the Keeper across the field. "In times of despair," said Chikuro's voice from the darkness "Even the mightiest summoners have trouble concentrating enough to cast their spells. Gloom increases the cost of all white spells by three colorless mana. As well, any mana abilities from enchantments also cost an additional three to activate."
"So my Circle of Protection is useless," growled Chihowaido.
"Exactly!" laughed Chikuro "I equip Hypnox with Loxodon Warhammer and attack full out!" The Hypnox and Kokusho charged at Chihowaido.
"Akroma! Slay that worm!" ordered Chihowaido. The angel lopped off Kokusho's head with a clean stroke. As the dragon exploded into mana, Chihowaido cried out in pain as his life was extracted from him to be transferred to Chikuro.
"You really want to give me the extra lifepoints? Thanks!" taunted Chikuro as the Hypnox sent Chihowaido flying with a ground-shaking attack.
CHIHOWAIDO: 8
CHIKURO: 19
"Quite the reversal of situations, eh?" said Chikuro.
"Not for long," said Chihowaido "First, Disenchant on your Gloom!" A bright ray of light pierced the darkness, dispelling it. "Now, attack, Akroma!"
The angel's attack split the ground around Chikuro, causing more lava to spray out of the cracks.
The playing field is weakening. If I don't end this soon, the whole volcano is going to blow.
CHIHOWAIDO: 18
CHIKURO: 9
"I didn't want to have to do this," said Chikuro "But you leave me no choice! Plague Wind!"
A strong wind began blowing over the field, kicking up ashes from the crater. Chikuro's creatures seemed unaffected by the wind, but Akroma was. The angel was down on her knees, her wings stretched painfully backwards by the gale. As the wind picked up, Akroma cried out in pain as her wings were torn off by the wind, vanishing into the darkness of the crater. The angel began to slowly dissolve as the wind eroded her skin away, bit by bit. After the skin, the wind tore away at the flesh and bones of the angel until nothing was left of Akroma but a pile of ashes, which the wind quickly dispersed.
"Destroys all creatures I don't control," said Chikuro, licking his lips "Very useful against pro-black decks, and just to make sure Akroma's really gone, I cast Cremate." Fire erupted all around Chihowaido and he felt Akroma vanishing from his mind. "Removes a spell in your graveyard from the game," said Chikuro. No point attacking since you have enough mana to fuel your Circle, so I'll end my turn."
"My turn then," said Chihowaido "You're not the only one with mass creature removal. I cast Wrath of God! You remember your first encounter with this spell, don't you?"
"It is useless!" laughed Chikuro "My army of darkness will destroy whatever creatures you summon this turn and kill you in the process! Even your enchantments won't save you this time!
"I will not fall to you, ghell," said Chihowaido "You are the darkness and I am the light, and light will always prevail over the darkness! You and your army of zombies are an abomination to all that I stand for. Your mere presence angers me and it is my duty as the guardian of light to rid the Multiverse of your evil, so now feel my wrath; the wrath of a god!"
A translucent white sphere appeared around Chihowaido, pulsating with energy. As the energy built, electricity began arcing across the surface of the sphere in great blue bolts. Chihowaido suddenly unleashed the spell, the sphere exploding in a brilliant shockwave that swept over the field, leveling everything in its path. Chikuro's horde of creature was eradicated by the awesome power of the Keeper of White Mana.
"Here it comes again!" said Chihowaido as the sphere began appearing around him.
Chikuro was sent flying painfully into the wall by the shockwave. He felt his skull crack in several places and by the pain in his chest he figured he must have broken several ribs. As he got up, biting back a scream of pain, he saw an enormous hole in the center of the field from which molten lava was spraying in intermittent jets. A tremor knocked him back down, tearing a scream of pain from him as he crashed down among the rocks.
It's happened: the attacks have woken the volcano.
"Chihowaido!" he yelled, sitting up "The volcano is erupting. We need to leave now!"
"We still have a duel to finish!" said the other Keeper.
"You're insane!" said Chikuro "If we don't leave now, we both die! Wouldn't you rather live now to die another day?"
The Keeper of White Mana seemed to be weighing his option: die now with Chikuro, thereby ridding the Multiverse of his evil, but dying at the same time, or escape and defeat Chikuro some other time.
"Fine," he finally said "We'll call it a draw! Consider yourself lucky!"
"Chihowaido," said Chikuro "Give Charles back his life essence."
"What?" said the Keeper in disbelief.
"You don't want to win that way," said Chikuro "Using another's power. You want to win on your own with no help. What glory is there in defeating me if you had to use Chiburuu's life essence to do it? It's like saying you're not powerful enough to beat me on your own and the only way to match me is by using another's power."
"Me? Weak?" yelled Chihowaido "I'll show you! I am the most powerful Keeper of Mana! Fine! Take the traitor's life essence! I don't need it to beat you! He's over there," he added, pointing to a large rock by the tunnel from which Chikuro had entered the crater. "I will defeat you, ghell!" said Chihowaido "That is, if you get out alive!" Laughing, Chihowaido spread his wings and flew out of the crater's mouth.
Cursing and grunting in pain, Chikuro half-dragged himself to the rock and found Charles' inert body propped up against the wall of the crater. Checking him over, the Keeper was relieved to find Charles' mana, faint but present.
At least he's alive again. Now to get out of here.
Draping the other Keeper's body across his shoulders, Chikuro looked about for a possible exit to this deathtrap. He knew time was of the essence. The ground was not shaking more violently and the temperature was quickly increasing to an intolerable degree as more magma sprayed from the center of the cavern. The air was becoming thick with noxious vapors, making it hard to breathe.
Chikuro finally spotted a small opening near a stone ledge above him. Gathering his strength, Chikuro leapt up, but Charles' added weight, combined with his injuries and exhaustion from the duel left him short of the ledge. Frantically scrabbling with the stone wall, he managed to get one hand on the ledge and hung there, above the liquid-hot magma.
Arrathir…take over…I'm spent…
I-I don't know if I can do it. I won't be string enough.
Strength is insignificant. You can be as strong as you want; all you need is something to give you strength. Do it for Eva. She is what you value most; she is what you fight for.
All right. Give me control.
As the Keeper retreated into his Soul Room, Arrathir was assaulted by the pain his body was in. He felt nauseous from the pain and thought he would pass out. In a desperate grab, he managed to get both hands on the ledge. Now all he had to do was hoist himself up, but his muscles were screaming in pain and his arms felt like wet noodles.
Eva...give me strength!
With a cry of pain, his every muscle straining to the limit as he allowed some of his demon's power to leak through, Arrathir brought him chin up to the ledge. Another extricating effort brought him onto the ledge. He felt completely drained, unable to move. He just wanted to lie there and die as the volcano exploded to end the pain. He closed his eyes and awaited the end.
"You could just wish we'd never met," said Arrathir "That would solve all your problems."
"Never!" said Eva "I'm glad to have met you! Granted my life is more chaotic now than ever, but it's…well, it's hard to explain, but I feel like I was supposed to meet you."
…
"Arrathir?" she said "What happened?"
Arrathir's only response was to embrace Eva in a warm hug. At first, she was shocked, but then accepted Arrathir's embrace.
…
"You're starting to scare me," said Eva "Please promise me you'll stop. Do it for me."
Arrathir hesitated. Pain was the only way he could deal with the guilt inside him. It devoured him constantly and every time he saw the mourning elf families in his mind he swore he could hear the demon cackling in glee. His self-inflicted pain helped him block out his guilt. If he accepted, he would be alone against his painful memories. He couldn't handle that much guilt.
Arrathir opened his mouth to respond, but staring into Eva's eyes, he couldn't bring himself to refuse. She was staring at him expectantly. He could read several emotions in her eyes: sadness, concern, and fear. He knew if he refused, it would only hurt her more, something he'd sworn he would never do again. He couldn't stand to see an ounce of pain in those eyes. His decision was made.
"OK," he finally said "I'll stop it."
Arrathir opened his eyes. He couldn't just let it end like this. He couldn't have gone through so much for Eva only to die before he could tell her how he felt about her. Eva was the one who kept him grounded in reality. Without her, his entire journey would have been different. Was he just going to give up now?
No, I can't. For Eva…
Hauling himself to his feet, Arrathir felt filled with a new vigour. His body still ached, but the pain was numbed and distant. Running as fast as his tired legs could carry him down the stone tunnel, he came out into broad daylight, the bright sunlight forcing him to shield his eyes for a few seconds while they adjusted to the new light.
Looking back at the volcano, he saw the crater was vomiting copious amounts for grey smoke, forming a tall column that stretched into the sky. Already, ashes were beginning to rain down all around him, colouring the landscape a dull grey. It almost looked like a scene straight out of winter, except for the grey 'snow' and the tropical landscape. Running down the mountain, he eventually reached the forest.
"Khell!" he screamed "Khell!" Not getting a response, he sent up a mana flare, hoping the Keeper would spot the signal. While he waited, he checked Charles over. He seemed to still have most of the wounds inflicted by the demon, but Arrathir was confidant Khell could heal them.
"Arrathir!" said Khell, arriving from the forest "What happened?"
"It was Chihowaido," said Arrathir "He's in control of Erik's body now and he sent the volcano into eruption."
"Oh no," said Khell, ashen-faced "Eva went up the mountain just before all the shaking and explosions started."
"What?" screamed Arrathir "Take care of him!" he added, turning and willing himself to run back towards the erupting mountain.
Don't go! You'll just be throwing your life away!
I'm not loosing her again!
Arrathir charged up the mountain, slipping on the loose rocks. All around him, ash and soot rained down, dyeing his hair grey. The air was thick with sulphur and smoke and on several occasions, Arrathir had to struggle to breathe. He lost his footing when a powerful tremor shook the ground. He landed face-first, getting a mouthful of soot. Sputtering, he got up and continued. Along with the ashes, small rocks were now flying through the air. One of these volcanic missile hit Arrathir in the forehead. Staggering, he continued, clutching his bleeding forehead.
He stumbled across Eva quite by accident. Having been thrown to the ground by another tremor, his hands had plunged into the thick layer of ash that coated the ground. As he freed himself, he sent up quite a lot of ashes. Coughing, he stumbled blindly about until his foot caught on something and he fell again. Looking down, he saw he'd tripped on a shoe protruding from the ash. Eva's shoe. He frantically began digging the ashes and soon uncovered Eva's body. She had a gash on her forehead, making him believe she must have knocked her head when a tremor threw her to the ground. She was unconscious and not breathing
We've gotta get out of here! Can you summon anything?
My mana's too low after the duel and you're in no state to summon. We'll have to leg it.
Arrathir draped Eva over his shoulders and began down the slope. The going was slow because he needed to pay extra attention to his footing due to the added weight on his shoulders that tended to unbalance him.
He had almost reached the tree line when another tremor almost threw him off balance. Looking back, he saw the volcano was now in full eruption. Great geysers of lava were spraying from the crater and running down the slope in fiery rivers.
Shit! That lava's going to catch up with us very quickly!
The river!
Arrathir saw he'd reached the river. It was wide and flowed rapidly away from the volcano.
If we can get to the other side, we're safe!
But how do we cross?
Over there!
Arrathir saw that a tree had fallen across the river, forming a natural bridge. He stepped tentatively on the fallen trunk; it held his weight. Bending over to keep his centre of gravity as low as possible, he began crossing. The trunk was not very wide, barely larger than a gymnastics balance beam, so he had to move very carefully and slowly, shuffling his feet instead of lifting them. When he was in the middle of the makeshift bridge, Arrathir stumbled, flailed wildly to regain his balance, and plunged into the raging river below.
He hit the water with a resounding splash and was immediately swept away by the current. He had the presence of mind to grab onto Eva's arm to avoid being separated from her. The current carried them away from the raging inferno the forest had become.
Ahead, Arrathir saw a small cove. Fighting the current, he managed to get himself and Eva out of the river. Not wasting a moment, he lay Eva on her back and recalled the first-aid training he'd had long ago.
OK, head back to clear the airway and breathe into her mouth.
Leaning over, Arrathir formed a tight seal around Eva's mouth with his own and exhaled, feeling her chest rise. He repeated the procedure a few times and then put his ear to her chest to see if he could detect a heartbeat; he couldn't. Fighting against despair, he performed the artificial respiration again.
On the third exhalation, he felt a strong arm press against his head, crushing his lips against Eva's. Surprised, Arrathir realized Eva was conscious and instead of slapping him for kissing her, had him in an intense lip lock.
To be continued…
Author's Note: BWAHAHAHA! EVIL! Why do I do this to my readers? BECAUSE I CAN! Don't worry though, you won't suffer for long. I have the next chapter all written out, so I just need to get my lazy ass on the computer and type it up.
Until next time, Ayubowan!