Zatanna: Mistress of Magic Issue 5
Written by Bodhi Ouellette
The Infinite Desert:
Consciousness came back to Zatanna as she opened up her eyes again. The first thing she noticed was the desert sand colored sky. She lifted herself up off the ground, the air was thick, and sand was everywhere; on the ground, and blowing in the air. Zatanna knew exactly where she was. "I'm in the Infinite Desert," she thought to herself. This was not a good thing.
The Infinite Desert is a plane of reality where nothing is everything. An infinite world full of nothing but sand. It's purpose is to send any magician, or human being for that matter into the zone as their punishment; their prison, where there is no way out. No one has ever managed to get out of the Infinite Desert.
Zatanna got up onto her feet, as she looked around her environment. With nothing around her, she figured there could only be one thing she can at least attempt to try. "Kcor!" she said. But no rock came to her. Her powers were nullified in the Infinite Desert. Now she was out of options. "Crap," she muttered. Zatanna figured that there might be others out there in the Infinite Desert she could meet up with. "Well, it's worth a shot," she said. And thus, went on her search.
It had been an hour since Zatanna began her journey through the Infinite Desert. The traveling through the desert, struggling to breath with the thick air, and incredibly dehydrated. With no signs of water, or anyone for that matter, it seemed like Zatanna was close to her end. She stumbled, and noticed an unknown person sitting on the ground, dozens of feet away from Zatanna. "Hello?" she mustered out. The person looked over to see Zatanna on the ground, and it quickly ran towards her. The person helped her up off the ground, and gave her a bottle of water. Zatanna took a glimpse at the person; it was a female, with short blond hair, and wearing a shirt and over that a jacket, and jeans. The clothes are colored in oil pastel colors.
"Here, drink this," the girl told Zatanna, as she fed her some water.
"Thank you," said Zatanna. She repositioned herself so that she was sitting down crisscross with her legs. "My names Zatanna. Who are you?" she asked the girl.
"Me? My name's Allura."
"Allura?!" Zatanna bursted out. A flurry of rage was about to come out of Zatanna, until Allura stopped her.
"Whoa, whoa!" Allura said. "Why the sudden anger at me?"
"Have you been the one that's been threatening my friends?" Zatanna demanded.
"What?" a confused Allura responded. "What are you talking about? I don't know who you are."
"Then why am I being attacked by someone who claims to be named 'Allura'"? Zatanna asked.
Allura stood still, fearing that who Zatanna was talking about wasn't who she thought it was. But who else could have the name Allura like her? "Oh, no," she muttered out. "She's finally doing it."
"Who's finally doing what?" Zatanna asked.
"You must understand something, Zatanna," said Allura. "The person who's attacking you is in fact me, but it isn't me. If you understand."
"I don't think I do, sorry."
"Here's the story; When I was born, my parents discovered my strong connection to magic. Well, it turns out it was stronger than they thought it was. Much stronger."
"How strong?"
"Take strong and times it by ten. Years went by, and I started going a bit crazy with my powers. It was getting to a point where I could just think of something and entire towns would be warped into different shapes, or entire forests would implode in itself, leaving nothing but a crater. So, they had to split me up; into three different people. One that represented Allura's goodheart and kindness, the other from her lust for power and domination, and a third one, where the majority of her powers are in."
"Who's the third person?"
"I've met her only once, but I remember her name; Sindella."
"Sindella?"
"Yeah, Sindella. She was accompanied with a man in a top hat, and similarly dressed like you are."
"That's my mother."
"Mother? You mean, that was her husband with her?"
"When and where did you two meet?"
"Here, in the Infinite Desert. They were wandering around here, just like me."
"Are they still here in the Infinite Desert?"
"No, if I recall, they had a plan on getting out of here."
"But how? You can't escape the Infinite Desert."
"Hm… maybe they found a way out."
"Do you think we have that chance?"
"Well, I've been here for a long time, so the chances are slim to none. But, since there is no time in this dimension, we have all the time in the world…"
New Orleans, Louisiana; Fortune Teller's Shop:
A beaten and bruised Madame Xanadu wakes up from the beatdown given to her, John and Etrigan by that werewolf. Xanadu moved her head over to see Zatanna gone. "Oh, no," she muttered out. Xanadu crawled over to where Zatanna was last seen, with the only thing left was her hat. Madame Xanadu became worried, like how a parent would. But to Madame Xanadu, though she may have been her surrogate Mother, Zatanna was, and always will be considered as her daughter. John wakes up. He looked over at Etrigan, and helped him up off the ground.
"Was that a beatdown or what?" John stated.
"That axe," commented Etrigan. "It felt like it had the power of an elephant."
"Zatanna's gone!" Madame Xanadu bawled out. John and Etrigan sprinted towards Xanadu to see Zatanna's hat left behind.
"Oh, no," John muttered out. "Shit… Shit shit shit shit shit. Shit!" John took many deep breaths, while Etrigan comforted with Madame Xanadu.
"What are we going to do?" Etrigan asked.
"Find her, somehow," John responded. "There must be some type of spell that can track her location, right, Madame?"
"I believe so," Madame Xanadu replied, wiping the tears off of her face. Etrigan helped her up and she walked over to a shelf full of books. She pulled one specific book out, and started flipping through the pages, searching for the spell John suggested. Finally, she found the spell. "Here it is," pointed Madame Xanadu, with her index finger pointing at the spell. "The Inquisitio Spell. Let's hope this spell works."
The Infinite Desert:
Zatanna and Allura continue on their journey through the Infinite Desert. Along the way, they found nothing but sand, sand, and more sand. The hope to find something in the Infinite Desert before the two would die out from dehydration or starvation was withering away. It was quite, nothing but the sound of the wind carrying the thousands of grains of sand. Dust Storms were also very common in this plane.
"So," Allura started. "Since your mother is technically me… what does that make us?"
"Relative wise?" Zatanna asked.
"Yeah," answered Allura.
"I don't know," said Zatanna. "You look younger than my mother does."
"That's because in the Infinite Desert, there is no time, therefore, there is no aging."
"Hm… we've only just met. I don't really know you much. You could be a cousin, or younger aunt, I suppose."
"Aunt? I'm fine with that."
"Hey, I've got a quick question for you; how are you sure that my parents are still out there? If we don't find them, you know?"
"If Sindella, or any one of us died, then all three of us would cease to exist. Since I'm still here, I know that neither one of them are dead."
"Well, that's good to know."
As they continued further, a giant werewolf arose from the sand, towering over both Allura and Zatanna. The werewolf had dark grey hair engulfing his body, with a ferocious face, like he could kill you with just a lunge, and wore a gold and blue chest plate with shoulder guards, with elaborate designs on the chest plate, rusted grey gauntlets, and armor around his legs. On his back he was carrying a large axe. This was the creature that attacked Zatanna and the others at the Fortune Teller's shop.
"You- you attacked me, and my friends!" said Zatanna.
"Silence," said the giant werewolf. "You two will be the messenger; the two who will lead me to a common destination."
"Common destination? Where are you going?" asked Zatanna.
"To wherever you two are going," the werewolf replied with. "Go ahead and try to stop me, but in this realm, you are powerless, and while I may not be able to do my own magic on the axe that I wield, I can still use my axe. If you even think about escaping or running off, and I'll hunt you and to slice you in pieces. understand?"
Zatanna and Allura both nodded.
"Good. Now, let's go." The werewolf pointed for the two to keep moving forward. They did, and the werewolf moved behind them, as he pulled out his axe. Now the journey continued on, though with an axe behind their backs. No taking chances now, they must be forced to lead their enemies to a location they do not know about.
"Whatever you have planned, whatever your master has conceived of, it won't work," Zatanna threatened.
"I do not care of what my Master does," Fomori confessed. "What she is doing is of no concern of me. I only care for of my freedom."
"Freedom?" Allura asked. "What do you mean by that?"
"I am just a hired man, doing the deeds of whom that offered me the job."
"What did she offer you?" Allura asked.
"That is of no concern to you-"
"Yes it is," Allura responded sternly. "I know me. I would know that I would bribe people into doing favors for me, so tell me what she offered you?"
"Y- … you are one of Allura's second personalities? Then maybe you can offer me something that she had offered me."
"Freedom?"
"More than that. My life. My real name is Marcus Walden. I once use to be human, like you two."
"What happened?" Zatanna asked.
"I was traveling with my fiancee in Transylvania. She and I were fascinated with monsters and the supernatural, in fact that's what got us together; our passion for monsters, demons, and everything fantasy. We went to explore for a werewolf that had been spotted in the area, and we wanted to see it for ourselves. Much to our surprise, we found the werewolf. Unfortunately, it bit me, and then went and murdered my fiancee. The bite transformed me into a werewolf myself. I was left alone, in the woods, with no way to return home without freaking my entire family out, so now everyone believes that I am dead. Allura promised me a chance to become human again, under the circumstances that I do a bidding for her."
"We can help you, you know," said Zatanna. "We can find a way to cure you, with no catches or commitments."
"I have no doubts," said Fomori. "So maybe, instead of me acting like an enemy to you…" he puts his axe away behind his back. "I will travel along with you as an acquaintance. We are close to our destination. Let's get moving."
New Orleans, Louisiana; Fortune Teller's Shop:
Madame Xanadu arranged a magical ritual using chalk, which she drew a pentagram symbol. She placed Zatanna's top hat in the middle of the pentagram, and she sat down on the ground, crisscrossed. The same went for John and Etrigan. The Pentagram lit up a bright orange-yellow. Xanadu began to speak in latin.
"Et venit cum an sit," said Madame Xanadu, "Noster amicus. Fuerit auferri. Quaeso, ut demonstres ubi sint. Hoc memoriale dimisit, amicus noster: locus! Mitte nos amici nostri!"
Smoke circled around them, as the top hat started to float up. Yellow electricity shot out of the smoke, hitting the top hat. The smoke circled faster and faster, as more and more lightning shot out. Then… everything stopped. The three were gone, and the only thing left was the pentagram.
John, Xanadu and Etrigan were now in the Infinite Desert, not far from where Zatanna and Allura were located from. The top hat came along with them. John and Etrigan looked around concerningly.
"Uh… where in the shit are we?" John asked.
"The Infinite Desert…" Etrigan apprehensively answered. "I've been here before; it is full of nothing but sand and dirt"
"You said that like it was a bad thing," John said.
"It is a bad thing, good pere," replied Etrigan, "Because there's no way out of here."
"So, you're saying we might be trapped here forever?"
"I never said that, you-"
"Shush, you two. Look at the hat."
Out from the top hat the sand shaped itself so that it made an arrow pointing at where Zatanna was located at.
"She's this way," said Madame Xanadu. "Let's go. We'll worry about getting out of her later."
Xanadu started following the arrow, with Etrigan following behind. John bent down and grabbed Zatanna's top hat and he put it on his head to wear.
Meanwhile, Zatanna, Allura and Fomori continued on their walk to the destination Zatanna and Allura were not sure about. The three of them began to see an outline of what looked like a tall medieval structure. As they got closer and closer, it became more and more defined. They all stopped. "We're here," Fomori said. Zatanna couldn't believe what she saw… the Tower of Fate!
To be continued in Zatanna: Mistress of Magic Issue 6!