Disclaimer: I don't own Magic: The Gathering, only my OCs.
Chapter 11-Out of the frying pan...
Khell came to with a groan. He was lying facedown on bare dirt. His body ached all over and he had a killer headache to boot. Opening his eyes, he squinted into the darkness that surrounded him. From his low angle of vision, it was difficult to determine where he was, so he decided to get up for a better look, but he felt so exhausted he was unable to muster up the energy necessary to stand. He did manage to roll over, and found himself staring up at a low domed roof.
As he stared at the roof, Khell found if he turned his head just a bit to the left, he could see the unconscious form of Charles lying further away. Khell could feel his mana: it was faint, but he was alive. As Khell stared at him through the gloom, he noticed a metallic band around Charles' neck. Reaching up to his own neck, Khell found there was a metal choker strapped around his neck as well. Running his fingers around, he suddenly winced in pain as the burning sensation he'd felt from the arrowhead shot through his hand. There was a stone embedded in the front of the collar and Khell could now feel his mana slowly ebbing from his body.
"Charles," Khell called out hoarsely "Charles…"
Charles mumbled something and stirred, but otherwise gave no indication he'd acknowledged Khell's call.
"What is going on?" mumbled Khell.
"I have no idea," said Arrathir's voice "But I don't like it."
Khell turned over in surprise, seeing Arrathir standing by him. He, unlike Khell and Charles, was not wearing a collar, but there was a bloody wound on his neck.
"How did you get it off?" asked Khell.
"They knew we were summoners," said Arrathir, with a smirk "But they forgot about our demonic strength." Leaning down, he grabbed the metal band and tore it off, leaving several gashes on the green Keeper's neck. "Sorry about that," he added, as an afterthought as he tossed the broken collar aside.
"I'll live," said Khell, rubbing his neck. His fatigue had left him and he was able to stand. He took a look at their prison: it was a domed hut made of mud and some sort of vegetable fibers mixed to create crude cement. As he approached the wall nearest to him for a closer look, he felt his fatigue returning and quickly backed away. He understood now; there were mana-sucking stones embedded in the walls.
"They sure know what they are doing," he mused "How could they have been so prepared?"
"I'll tell you how," snarled Arrathir, tearing Charles' collar off "Lu Chao fucking double-crossed us."
"How do you figure?" asked Khell.
"Well, think about it," said Arrathir "Why else would he send us here? I'll bet Chihowaido isn't even on this fucking island! Lu Chao knew these freaks inhabited the island and he sent us here on purpose! He's trying to kill us!" he roared, his eyes flashing red as his demon manifested itself through the Keeper's anger.
"This is a trial," said Khell, staring sternly at Arrathir "Lu Chao works in mysterious ways. Much of what he does makes little or no sense at first, but it is all part of his plan. He is testing us, to see if we truly are the Keepers of Mana. The Keepers were semi-Gods so we should be able to get out of this."
"Do I look like I give a fuck?" spat Arrathir as he began pacing around the center of the room. "All I know is, because of him, we're in this mess and Eva almost died! Where the fuck is she?"
"Do you even know if she's alive?" asked Khell.
Arrathir paused. "Yes," he finally said "I know she is. I can't sense her mana because of the stones in the walls, but my intuition tells me so." He resumed his pacing "Yo, wake up, Charles," he added, nudging the blue Keeper with his foot.
"Ugh," groaned Charles, opening an eye. Sitting up, he clutched his head and winced in pain "I haven't felt this shitty since that time I went on that drinking binge. Where the Hell are we?" he added, taking a look around.
"It's no use," said Khell, sensing Charles taking a mana reading "I've tried penetrating the dome, but the stones are creating a powerful interference field that blinds us from the outer world."
"Can't we just break through the wall?" asked Arrathir.
"No," said Khell "The stones appear to be evenly spread out over the surface of the dome. They only have a certain range of influence, so if we stay in the middle, we won't be able to summon, but at least our mana will remain stable. If we approach the walls, our mana will most likely rapidly drop and we'd pass out before we could break out. Even if we did manage to break through the wall, I am sure they have guards on the outside and we'd be so exhausted from our efforts to escape that we wouldn't last very long."
"This is bullshit!" yelled Arrathir, throwing his arms up in exasperation "We're trapped here because of a few fucking stones? Hey, assholes!" he yelled at the walls, as if whoever was outside could hear him "Do you know who I am? I'm the fucking Keeper of Black Mana! I've overcome death, battled Planeswalkers and defeated them, and faced the wrath of a woman! Don't fuck with me!"
"Even if they heard you," said Charles "I doubt they understand English."
"Fuck you!" said Arrathir, reeling on the Keeper "We're in this mess because of you! If you had stopped Eva from going back, those freaks wouldn't have followed her back to us!"
"And who saved your sorry arse when you were surrounded by those vines?" asked Charles "Who Teleported us all to safety?"
"You only did that because you've got a crush on Eva," growled Arrathir "Too bad she's mine," he added with a grin.
"You're not worthy of Eva's love," spat Charles "You see her for what she is, not who she is. You see her only as a prospective mate; someone to be conquered."
"Conquered?" laughed Arrathir "I already have her! She was all but begging me for sex a few nights ago, and don't you dare insinuate I do not love Eva," he added, his eyes flashing dangerously. "She is more precious to me than anything in the Multiverse!"
"Stop it, you two," said Khell sternly "Quarrelling isn't going to help our present situation. Let's not point fingers here. We're in this mess together and we need to work together to get out of it. Now quit acting like children! Let us assess the situation and see if we can come up with anything to get us out of here."
"Shut up, Khell," said Arrathir "You're always acting like you're the leader of our little group; as if you're so wise just because you're the more experienced of us."
Khell grabbed Arrathir by his collar and pulled the Keeper's face close to his. "You will calm down," he ordered.
"Fine, whatever," shrugged Arrathir, freeing himself and sitting down.
"All right," said Khell "Let's recap: we've been Planeswalked to an island inhabited by these humans who seem to be well-versed in anti-summoner combat. As well, the island seems to have certain areas that drain our mana. Given that these hunters are armed with mana-sucking stones, I'd say these 'mana black holes' are created by underground deposits of these stones. We've been taken captive by these hunters who obviously have some motive for wanting us alive."
"I tell you," said Arrathir "It's Lu Chao. I'll bet he's in league with the One and sent us here on purpose. That way, they can just come and get us when we're at our weakest."
"We've been over this," said Khell "Lu Chao is on our side."
"I don't mean to side with Arrathir," said Charles "But it does seem a bit fishy. We end up on this island where supposedly Chihowaido is hiding and instead is just happens to be a summoner's worst nightmare."
"Lu Chao knew what he was doing when he sent us here," said Khell "As for Chihowaido, he may or may not be on this island. If he isn't, then perhaps he sent us here to help us increase our abilities before we face Chihowaido once again."
"Did Lu Chao take into account Eva and I almost dying?" snapped Arrathir.
"To save us, Charles had to further develop his teleportation skills," said Khell "Something which might come in handy in the future. As for you, Arrathir, to save Eva you managed to successfully summon your weapon. You seem to reach your full potential when you are fighting for the one you love. Lu Chao is trying to get us to overcome our limits by putting us in life-or-death situations so that we may become more powerful; a step closer to the complete awakening of the Keepers."
"A trial by fire," said Charles "As of yet, we have not had the chance to fully display our power. We've been limited to occasional duels and skirmishes, but now that we've been essentially stripped of our powers, we need to tap into the power of the Keepers to overcome this new obstacle."
"Well, at least you get it, Charles," said Khell, staring reproachfully at Arrathir, who merely rolled his eyes "All we can do for now is wait and see what these hunters want with us."
Eva awoke to the feeling of a wet cloth pressing against her forehead. She groaned in pain as she realized she had a splitting headache. The cloth was suddenly removed and she heard two people talking in hushed whispers next to her. She opened her eyes and found herself lying in a low bed inside a dark room. The mattress was soft and seemed to be stuffed with some kind of straw-like material. The pillow under her head was also filled with a similar substance.
As she sat up to get a better look around, another pain shot through her shoulder. Clasping a hand to her injured shoulder, she collapsed back into her pillow and a small cry of pain. Looking at her shoulder, she saw that it had been bandaged. The events of the day suddenly came back to her. Immediately, she tried sensing Arrathir's mana, but was unable to.
Ignoring the pain in her shoulder, she stumbled out of bed, collapsing to the ground from fatigue. She felt a gentle arm grab her and help her up. Looking at her benefactor, Eva saw she was a young girl dressed in a simple brown dress. She had long black hair set into a plait and deep blue eyes.
"Where am I?" mumbled Eva as the girl began helping her back to her bed "Where is Arrathir?" The girl looked apologetically at her and shook her head, grabbing a cloth and gently dabbing Eva's brow. Eva tried to protest, but fatigue took her over and she closed her eyes, giving in to sleep.
"That's it!" said Arrathir, getting up. The Keepers had been sitting in silence for the past hour, awaiting their fate. "I'm sick of waiting around and not being able to do anything! Eva could be dying right now and I'm not able to help her!"
"Well, if you have some sort of genius plan to break us out of here, we'd be thrilled to hear it," said Charles sarcastically.
"I'll tell you what my plan is!" said Arrathir "I'm fucking getting us out of here!" With that, he charged at the nearest wall, smashing his fist into the dried mud. He screamed in pain as the stones embedded in the wall cut into his hand, leaving several bloody wounds. He could feel the now-familiar numbness crawling all over his body as the stones began sucking out his mana at an alarming rate. Falling to his knees, Arrathir brought his bloodied fist around to hit the wall again, but this time, with his strength rapidly leaving him, he barely touched the wall before collapsing. The world swam before his eyes and he could feel the cold grip of death ensnaring his body.
I won't be defeated by a bunch of fucking stones!
With an inhuman effort, Arrathir struggled to his feet, blood pulsing in his temples. He threw himself at the wall, hoping to use his body weight to break through it, but all he achieved was cutting open his shoulder when he hit the sharp edge of a rock. Arrathir howled in anger and pain as he stumbled backwards on shaky legs, clutching his bleeding shoulder. He snarled angrily at the wall and charged again and clawed at the mud, his claws spurting blood as they encountered the stones in the walls.
Charles and Khell watched, horrified, as Arrathir's suicidal attack on the wall continued, the black Keeper refusing to back down, even as his injuries increased in severity. He attacked the wall with seemingly increased vigor, unhindered by his injuries.
"Where is he getting all this energy?" asked Khell "His mana should be completely drained by now."
"He is feeding off the demon's power," said Charles "The demon has near-limitless mana, both through his demonic power and the Keeper's power."
"Shouldn't we be helping him?" asked Khell.
"If he hasn't passed out by now, his plan may actually work," said Charles "Plus, rescuing him would require getting near those stones."
Arrathir finally collapsed to the ground, bleeding profusely and completely out of breath. The area where he'd attacked the wall was covered in cracks and gashes, but still appeared stable. The two other Keepers saw the exposed rocks now glowed a dull yellow. As Charles and Khell watched, the glow intensified until its brightness forced them to shield their eyes. Charles and Khell could feel a tremendous amount of mana emanating from the stones. The mana grew even more until, with a thunderous bang, the stones exploded, sending rock shrapnel through the enclosed area, scratching the two Keepers. The explosion set off a chain reaction that caused the entire dome to vaporize in a matter of seconds, sending up an enormous cloud of dust.
As the dust cleared, Khell rushed to Arrathir's side, shaking the unconscious Keeper.
"Arrathir!" he yelled "Are you all right? Wake up!"
Arrathir gave a small laugh, turning over and opening his eyes, his pupils a blood red. "Arrathir's not here, Mr. Dracos…Arrathir can't wake up, Mr. Dracos…Arrathir's gone away, Mr. Dracos," hissed the demon.
To be continued…
Author's Note: There you have it. Chapter 11.