Disclaimer: I don't own Magic: The Gathering, only my OCs.
Chapter 12-…and into the fire
Khell recoiled in horror from the demon as he stood up, his eyes glowing with the frenzy of battle. The demon surveyed the scene: the warriors who'd been momentarily confused and alarmed by the explosion of the prison were now mobilizing, gathering their weapons and forming around the crater formed by the explosion while the women ushered the children out of the open and back into their huts, looking fearfully back at the Keepers as if they were going to attack at any second. The warriors started nervously at the Keepers, aware of the power the summoners wielded. The archers had their arrows nocked, their bows drawn and aimed at the Keepers.
"What have you done with Arrathir, you monster?" growled Khell, staring hatefully at the demon.
"You should be thanking me," said the demon "Without my intervention, he'd be dead and you'd still be trapped in that prison."
"How did you survive the stones?" asked Khell, puzzled "They should have sucked you dry of mana."
"No idea," said the demon "The kid couldn't handle it on his own, so I had to take over; got to get to my mate after all"
"You renounced your claim on her," said Khell "She is free from you!"
"Ah," said the demon "But my host desires her and has already chosen her as his mate, therefore making her my mate. All that remains is to claim her…"
"Assuming we get out of here alive that is," said Khell, nervously watching the hunters out of the corner of his eye.
"Leave them to me," said the demon "I thirst for blood."
"Stop," said Khell as the demon turned toward the warriors "These men are trained in anti-summoner combat. If you attack them, I am sure they will aim to kill and you will not last long against their weapons."
"They cannot hurt me!" laughed the demon "I shall take great pleasure in crushing their skulls between my hands and making the earth run red with their blood. To attack my host is to attack me, and those who attack me will die!"
The demon charged at the warriors, who unleashed a barrage of arrows at the demon. Several of the shafts impaled themselves into the demon's body, but he shrugged off the arrows with no ill effect. Leaping into the air, he landed among the warriors and flexed his claws, grinning manically.
"It's showtime!" he exclaimed, cutting down the first warrior with a swipe of his claws. The man went down with a scream as a fountain of blood erupted from his stomach. Before he'd hit the ground, the demon had already whirled around and attacked another of the men. By now, most of the warriors had been able to draw their swords and made futile attempts to bring the demon down.
As one warrior stabbed at him, the demon sidestepped the attack and grabbed the man's arm, using his momentum to drive him into the man behind the demon. The two men froze in shock as the first one's sword was driven deep into the second warrior's chest. As the warrior's eyes went wide upon realizing what he'd done, the demon cut him down with a single slash of his claws.
While the demon continued his rampage, Khell dug Charles out of the rubble. The blue Keeper was stunned, but conscious. "What's going on?" he asked.
"The demon's back," said Khell "As you can see, he's doing what he does best: causing chaos. We need to find Eva right away."
"Why?" asked Charles, still a bit groggy.
"The demon's got it in his head that Arrathir's decided to take Eva as his mate; therefore she is the demon's mate. He wants to claim her, but seeing as Arrathir and Eva haven't made things official, we should protect her; at least until Arrathir regains control of his body."
"Good plan," said Charles "Plus, I don't want to have to deal with that right now," he added, indicating the demon, who was currently darting among the warriors and killing them one by one.
Khell and Charles had no trouble sneaking through the village among the chaos. All the men were out battling the demon, so there wasn't anybody to stop them. Every hut they passed seemed to be infested with mana stones, making their progress rather slow as they had to take long detours to avoid becoming drained of their energy. All the while, they kept searching the area for Eva's mana. Having finally located her approximate location, they made their way towards her.
They finally came to a small hut by the edge of the village, right near the tree line. It was smaller than most of the other huts they had passed. They cautiously approached the hut, wary of any mana stones, but found this hut appeared to be relatively devoid of them. Opening the door, they saw two women sitting on the ground by the door. Upon hearing the door open, the women jumped up and backed from the Keepers in fear. They were both wearing stone pendants around their necks and one of them was brandishing it toward the Keepers, like a holy symbol to ward off the evil.
The rest of the hut was composed of a single bed, on which Eva was lying. She appeared to be sleeping, and the Keepers were relieved to find her mana was stable; albeit lower than it should have been. Around her neck was a collar similar to the ones the Keepers had been wearing upon their awakening. Stepping past the terrified women, Charles leaned over and snapped the collar's band, throwing it away as the stone began to sap his mana. He gently shook Eva to rouse her from her slumber.
"Arrathir…" Eva moaned gently. Charles felt a pang of jealousy in his heart, but he pushed it away. There was no time for that now; they had to get out of there.
"Eva, it's me, Charles," he said. Eva's eyes fluttered open and she started at Charles with a mix of surprise and confusion.
"Where's Arrathir?" she mumbled.
"Arrathir's demon took over while we were being held captive," said Charles "He's gone on a rampage right now."
"Not again," moaned Eva.
"Well, it was his demon that got us out of our prison," said Khell "However, Charles is right: we should let him calm down."
"He's completely out of control!" said Eva "If we don't interfere, a lot of people are going to be hurt! Bring me to him; I can calm him down."
"I don't think that is a good idea, Eva," said Charles "You may have forced the demon to renounce his claim on you, but he still wants to make you his mate. There's no telling what he'll do if he sees you."
"I can take him," sneered Eva.
"One thing I don't get," said Khell "Is how he managed to overcome the stones. None of us were able to get close to those stones without having our mana drained, yet he seems to have no such problem."
"Didn't you say he had near-limitless mana?" asked Charles.
"In theory, yes," said Khell "However, he would need to draw this mana from somewhere. I'm fairly sure the surrounding land wouldn't be enough; the mana is too unstable. In fact, I'm even astonished anything can grow here, what with those mana stones scattered all around. This place should be devoid of mana."
"I am sure that there is some explanation for all this," said Charles "However, we don't have time to ask questions. We should make for the forest and wait there for the demon to calm down."
"I have to see him!" said Eva. She tried to tear herself from Charles' grasp, but the blue Keeper held her tight.
"Please trust me on this, Eva: you don't want to see Arrathir like this," said Charles. Eva continued to struggle, but finally gave up against the Keeper's iron grip.
"Fine," she said "I'll come along, but you'll have the deaths of these people on your hands."
The demon snarled as he jumped out of the way of another volley of arrows. Despite his superior stamina, he was beginning to tire from the effects of the arrows. They didn't instantly drain him of his mana upon contact, but the several arrows that had struck him, combined with the proximity of the warriors who all wore armor encrusted with the blasted stones had severely weakened him. He probably wasn't much stronger than his human half at this moment.
He had to give the warriors credit: they knew what they were up against and after he'd dismembered the first dozen or so, they had stopped underestimating him and their attacks had become more precise and focused. He was currently backed against the base of a cliff with the warriors forming a tight perimeter around him. He was trapped and with his strength low, he would have to fight his way out of this one. The demon grinned: this was going to be fun!
As the demon flexed his claws, deciding which of these pitiful mortals to kill next, he noticed more warriors approaching. At first, this didn't bother him, more fun for later, but then he noticed they were bearing great chunks of rocks on makeshift gurneys made from two wooden poles. Even as they approached, the demon could tell this wasn't going to be good. He could feel his power draining as the much larger rocks began sucking up his mana.
The demon found he had trouble maintaining his balance and he suddenly felt very tired. His vision blurred and his head began spinning. He had to get out fast. He couldn't last much longer and if he passed out, he was sure the hunters would have no qualms about killing him.
Human…Keeper…lend me your strength. Without it, we will not survive this.
He got no response from the two, but immediately felt a great surge of energy pass through him, driving away the lethargy that had been plaguing him. He glared at the warriors with newfound strength and let out a fierce growl before charging at them, fangs bared and claws ready to kill.
He didn't last long. Soon after his initial attack he began to feel the effects of the blocks of stone. Regardless, he continued, fighting for his life. The warriors attacked him mercilessly and he was forced to retreat more than once. It was on one of these retreats that a final arrow embedded itself in his chest. The demon was stunned for a second. He stared disbelievingly at the shaft protruding from his chest and went to remove it, but found he didn't possess the strength to lift his arms. He fell to his knees, bleeding from dozens of wounds and with a half-dozen shafts stuck in his body. He turned his face to the sky in a silent prayer to whatever Gods might be looking down on him before collapsing to the ground.
A cheer went up from the hunters and they rushed forward to finish the job. The demon watched his doom approaching through his half-closed eyes. Suddenly, explosions rang out from everywhere, causing confusion among the hunters. Someone picked the demon up and, placing their hand of his forehead, 'ported him away from the area.
The Keepers had taken refuge in the forest near the village. They rested there while their mana slowly regenerated. Eva had asked Khell to keep monitoring Arrathir's mana, but Khell was unable, due to the interference from the mana stones, so all the Keepers could do was wait, and hope.
"He'll be all right," said Charles, sitting beside Eva. The red Keeper was hugging her knees and staring anxiously in the direction of the village. "He's gotten out of worse situations before, and that was before he knew about his demon powers."
"Someone is coming," said Eva, her ears perking up. Sure enough, a man soon stepped into view. He was older than Khell, in his 50's at least, but he still had a full head of messy black hair that fell in stray locks town his shoulder and across his eyes. He was dressed in a brown travel cloak with a dark grey tunic and black pants underneath. In his arms, he held Arrathir's unconscious and bloodied body.
Eva immediately leapt up and pointed an accusatory finger at the man.
"What have you done with him?" she demanded.
"Peace, Eva," the man said "I am a friend."
"How do you know my name?" asked Eva, confused.
"I have been following you Keepers for quite some time now," said the man "Since you arrived in Shiv in fact."
"You claim to be a friend," said Khell "However, how can we be sure of this? We are currently being pursued by an unknown enemy and have faced many of his minions. How do we know you're not just one of them?"
"If I worked for the One," said the man "You would all be dead. In your weakened state, you would be no match for me." He gently set the black Keeper on the ground. "He's lucky I intervened when I did. A bit longer and his mana would have been completely gone. He really pushed himself in that battle. I never would have dreamt his power would develop so fast."
"Who are you?" asked Khell "Why have you been following us?"
"Yes, I do owe you explanations," said the man "First, let us heal and revive the black Keeper. He will surely have the same questions as you do and I hate repeating the same story twice."
Khell set to work healing Arrathir's wounds. Since his mana was still fairly low, he could only manage low-cost spells, but the man was apparently a summoner as well, since he aided with a few spells of his own. Finally, the Keeper's eyes fluttered open and he looked confusedly about for a second before being violently glomped by a relieved Eva.
"Why do you keep worrying me like this?" she asked, shaking the Keeper so violently his teeth rattled. "I swear, you'll be the death of me!" As she continued to shake him, Arrathir grabbed Eva and pulled her in for a deep kiss. Eva was stunned for a moment, but soon returned the kiss.
"I was worried about you too," said Arrathir as they broke their embrace "You had no need to worry: I'm fine."
"Although you may have tried biting off more than you could chew," said the man.
"Who's he?" asked Arrathir, immediately tensing up.
"He saved you from those hunters," said Eva, placing a reassuring hand on Arrathir's shoulder.
"Who are you?" asked Arrathir.
"My name is Tyr," said the man "I've come to tell you that Lu Chao is not to be trusted. I believe he is working for the One."
To be continued…
Author's note: Well, quite a long time since the last update, eh? Blame this on NaNoWriMo (which I won, by the way), my schoolwork, addiction to FF III and my general lack of creativity in regards to this story. Hopefully the next update won't take as long and the Christmas break is coming up, so I'll have time to write then.
Until next time…