Zatanna: Mistress of Magic Issue 7
Written by Bodhi Ouellette
Tower of Fate, Infinity Desert:
Family reunion; between father, mother, and daughter. Zatanna never would've thought that she would ever see her parents again, thinking that they had disappeared from her life for good, without a reason to tell her why. But those questions are finally being answered. They are together again. Together, and Zatanna hopes it is for forever. And in the Infinite Desert, forever is all they needed.
The three of them walked within the room with space bending stairs. Zatara then unlocked a door with a special key and opened the door up, revealing a vast beautifully luscious forest landscape. Zatanna stared in total awe of the incredible landscape, and she moved forward, with her two parents behind her. She stopped against a cliff, and she sat down on a rock. "This is incredible," said Zatanna. "The Tower is just incredible. It's… well, magical."
"The Tower of Fate is an amazing place indeed, Zatanna," said Zatara. "It is a place unlike anything you've ever seen. Even for a magician like me who has been here for years now, I still find new things to explore in this tower."
"Indeed," agreed Sindella. "We're thankful that Kent Nelson offered us a place here to live."
"That's what I want to ask you about…" Zatanna looked back at her parents. "Why did you two leave?"
Sindella slowly approached her daughter, taking a seat next to her on the small slither of rock not being taken up by Zatanna, and placed her arm around Zatanna's waist. "My daughter," she started. "We left because my… self, was after your father and I. Allura, or the evil side of her had finally figured out where I was located. Even as a broken person, she is still a powerful being. Giovanni and I were given two options; fight her and risk the chance of her killing me and absorbing more power, or leave to a safe place where she would never find out where we were."
"But why did you have to leave me behind?" asked Zatanna.
"We didn't want to rob you of your life, Zatanna," answered her father. "We didn't want you to live a life of seclusion. We wanted you to grow up, and if that meant leaving you alone… I'm afraid it was a compromise we had to make."
"We are very, very sorry that we had to leave you, Zatanna," Sindella apologized. "We wish we could've told you why, but we wanted to keep this a secret."
"But look at where we are now," said Zatara. "Here we are, together at last. As a family."
"It's everything that I wanted," confessed Zatanna. "For years, I would dream of the day that I'd finally find you two again. Now that dream has become a reality. I… I just only care about how we're together again."
"Then let us spend that time together…" stated Zatara, as he walked up to the edge of the cliff and looked down at it. "Come, you two," he said. Zatanna and Sindella both got up and approached Giovanni. "When you were young, you remembered that you wanted to fly like a bird?"
"Yeah? No way. You don't mean we're…"
"Hold on tight, Zatanna. Tonight, we're going to fly."
Zatanna clutched her fathers hand with her left hand and her mothers with her right hand. From there, they leaped off of the cliff, diving down below the lake. And with four simple words…
"Ylf ekil na Elgae!"
They flew. Just as they were about to dive into the water, they curved up, now flying just a few inches above the lake. They could see their reflections within the water. Sindella placed her hand in the water, as she created small waves behind them. They would continue to soar for a few more minutes until they curved up again, now flying up into the sky, before all three of them stopped high above in the air, as all three of them embraced in a hug. This was love. This was a family.
Family…
Meanwhile, Madame Xanadu is still digging through Fomori's mind for any information about Allura at all. Etrigan, John, the good Allura, and Kent are all sitting on chairs or couches, relaxing and drinking tea. Between the four of them, there was no conversating. Etrigan hated awkward silences, so he began to start a conversation. "How's Inza, Kent?" asked Etrigan.
"Fine," Kent responded, taking a sip of his tea. "She's currently out from the Tower. If you stay long, you might be able to see her."
"I look forward to it if that should be the case. Oh, how I've missed this place."
"Where have you been, by the way, Jason?"
"In London, where I would hope to keep a normal life with the demon locked inside me. But alas, it has returned once more, as you see. It's as if no matter what I do, the beast cannot be subdued."
"You have your ways with your rhymes, I'll tell you that," spoke John.
"And I make a mean Shakespeare speech," joked Etrigan.
"I don't doubt it."
"You certainly seem to doubt a lot of things, Mr. Constantine," stated Kent.
"Well, when you're a cynical brit like I am, you tend to not take things too literal, you know? We brits are hardasses too. I would know because I am one myself."
"Why do you smell so bad?" acknowledge Allura.
"Cigar smoke," answered John, pulling out a cigarette pack. "The number one slow death apparatus. Want on?" he offered a cigar to Allura.
"No smoking in the Tower, please," ordered Kent.
"Ah, come on, you can't even smoke in this place?"
"I won't allow it. I'm 62 years old, and the smoke will damage my lungs."
"That's bull. Let me smoke."
"So you wouldn't mind if I kicked you out, meaning you'd stay in this realm forever?"
The threat made John slowly put away his smokes and shut his mouth, at least for now. "I'll obey," said John. He then turned his attention over to Madame Xanadu, still searching for the information Fomori has. "How's it going with Mr. Werewolf over there?" asked John.
"I'm collecting bits and pieces and putting it together," explained Madame Xanadu. "The evil Allura did a good job at keeping anyone reading his mind to figure out what she's doing."
"Yeah. She can do that," mentioned Allura.
"You seemed troubled," said Etrigan. "Is there something that's making you muddled?"
"A little bit...," Allura professed. "It's just knowing that having my other half here... knowing that its a really bad idea to do that makes me a bit uneven."
"We'll keep you safe, Allura," stated Kent Nelson. "The Tower is protected from any outside attack. Nobody can enter this place without my permission."
"Uh... you might want to redact that statement, Kent," responded Madame Xanadu, who turned around to look at the group with an almost petrified expression. "I found out what Allura's doing. And we've just led her right where Sindella and her other half is."
The four all became stunned by this revelation. Fomori looked at the group, his face showing guilt and total regret. "I'm sorry," he said to them. "I didn't know it would come to this."
"I wish I could trust ya, buddy," said John. "But you just put us all in danger, so why should we give you any sympathy?"
"You don't. You'll be too busy fighting."
The room violently shook. Madame Xanadu and Kent Nelson lost balance, while Allura, Etrigan and John kept hold of the couch. It continued to shake vigorously. John looked back at Kent. "What the hell's going on?!" yelled John.
"Something's breaking through the Tower's invisible barrier," answered Kent.
"Where's the Zatara's?!" asked Madame Xanadu.
"Hold on, let me get them."
Kent then placed out his arm at one of the bookshelves on the wall. With one wave of his cane, the Zatara's all came into the room through a hidden entrance, midair, then falling down onto the ground. They quickly got back up, now feeling the rumbling throughout.
"Kent, what's going on?" asked Sindella. "Why is the Tower shaking?"
"Allura's here."
"What?"
"We need to defend the Tower," said Kent. "Who knows what else Allura might want to do here now that she's found us in here."
"What should we do then?" asked Zatanna.
"We need to get the good Allura out of here, and keep her out of the bad Allura's grasp. The rest of us will fend off these intruders."
"My daughter and I can protect Allura," offered Zatara.
"Good. The rest of us will fight the invaders." Kent then turned over to Fomori, who was still chained to the wall. "Are you willing to fight for us or against us?"
"My allegiance for Allura was not on my terms," stated Fomori. "What she offered me can no longer compare to what Zatanna promised me instead. I need no redemption. I just need to fight."
It was silent for a moment, till the chains confining Fomori broke, allowing him to fall to the ground. He looked back down at Kent and the others. "I promise you," he started. "I will stand for you."
"Right now, you're valuable to us, so I'm glad you are with us. The rest of us will fend off the threat."
"Hate to break it to ya, but you don't seem to be the fighting type," spoke John. "How do you intend on fighting?"
Kent gave him a smile. A golden yellow portal surfaced on the ground, and rising up from the floor was the Helmet of Nabu. Kent grabbed the helmet and slipped it onto his head. A flash of light brightened the room, and when everyone looked back, they saw the Lord of Order; Doctor Fate. "Any more doubts, John Constantine?" the voice of Kent and Nabu echoed to him.
"Nope, it's pretty clear I'm the least reliable person here. Let's do this."
When the enemies finally breached, the first to enter, through large portals- that made the appearance of an entire piece of the wall was missing since you could see outside- were big brutish beasts, similar in size to Fomori, except they were all different types of Anamorphic beast hybrids, like a lion, or eagle. They also wielded massive weapons, larger than a human body, and too heavy for any normal person to pick up. They wielded axes, spears, swords, belly clubs, chain balls, and bo staffs. Detaching from them were Shadow Crawlers, who clinched to the walls to try to attack.
Doctor Fate flew through the space bending stairwell, with two of the beasts chasing him and many Shadow Crawlers tailing. Large beams of energy blasted out of Doctor Fate's hand, hitting many of the beasts down. As for the Shadow Crawlers, Doctor Fate's left hand created a larger bright light that deflected the Shadow Crawlers away, due to their vulnerability against the light. Doctor Fate was then caught off guard when a Beast climbed up onto the walls and jumped off of it, ready to smash Fate, was stopped midair when a pentagram formed around the Beast's body. The pentagram then slammed the beast into wall a couple dozen times till the Beast passed out. Doctor Fate looked up to see an upside down John Constantine as the one who casted the spell. He cocked is head to the side and waved at Doctor Fate.
Doctor Fate gave him a simple nod and then flew off. John turned back around to notice about six Beasts. three on each side, coming down sideways from a stairwell that was at a weird angle, yet converged on a pathway that was leveled normally, or at least normal to John's perspective. John was confident he could beat them all, but luckily for him, Fomori swung under from under the stairwell and landed on the platform with John, with his axe in his hand. They stood back to back, ready to strike.
"Have any fears, John Constantine?" asked Fomori. "-Because you're going up against creatures with the strength of a hundred men."
"I have many fears," answered John. "And I'm not scared of these chumps. I'll manage."
"Best of luck." Fomori raised his axe above his head and screamed a wolf cry at the Beasts. He charged at them, and swings his axe up from below, which sliced off the face of one of the Beasts in half. The other two beasts, however, had more of an advantage against Fomori, managing to block most of Fomori's axe swings. Fomori then tried to use other means of attacking, such as using his sharp claws to scrape at the Beast's faces, which he did to one of them, but the other one was much more fortunate.
Meanwhile with John, he had struck one of the Beasts with a fireball that hit right at its head, burning the Beast's face. John followed that up with a "bomb" that he cooked up and rolled below the last two Beast's feet, blowing up below them. John was about to move on until another Beast, this time shaped like an eagle and flying with wings, made a surprise attack on John, carrying up in the sky with its bird feet. Fomori finally got the upper hand on the two Beast's he was facing, stabbing one of the Beast with his sharp fangs on its head, and bashing the other Beast with his axe. Once that was done, he noticed that John was being lifted off by the flying Beast. Fomori kicked up one of the dead Beast's spheres with his feet and then threw the spear right into the Beast's chest. The Eagle Beast screeched at the wound, and then fell below. Fomori was lucky enough to catch John in time from falling down with the Eagle Beast. He helped John back up onto the platform.
"Looks like you've managed well," Fomori quipped.
"Oh, bite me, ya mutt," replied John.
Sindella was soaring through the room as well, along with Doctor Strange, mostly fending off Shadow Crawlers from creeping into the cracks of the multiple doors throughout the room, so they won't be able to find where Allura is located. Meanwhile, Madame Xanadu and Etrigan are at their own place, also fending off the Anamorphic Beasts. Etrigan slashed and clawed at all of the Beasts that came towards him, while Madame Xanadu blasted the Beasts with spells that paralyzed them in their place. The teamwork the two of them was spectacular, but then again, they've been side-by-side, fighting together for centuries now. This felt like a regular Tuesday for them.
As the battle is ensuring outside, Zatanna and Giovanni Zatara have relocated Allura into a mysterious room only called "The Box" , a place quite literally shaped like a box. It was very big inside, with a gray color, and a light source hanging above the ceiling. There are only a few things in the room; a table and chair, a bureau, and a bed laydown on the ground. Allura takes the pleasure of sitting in the chair while Zatanna and Zatara are on high alert for anything to occur. Though, they are located in an enclosed box. There isn't even a door to get out. They are secluded and protected.
Allura twiddles with her thumbs, nervously. Zatanna noticed this. She walked over to Allura to comfort her. "You ok?" asked Zatanna.
"Yeah, it's just- I'm just... scared, that's all."
"There's no need to be afraid, Allura," assured Zatanna. "We're safe in here. Nothing can come in. You're fine."
"Yeah," Allura said unconvincingly. Zatanna went back over to her father, leaning against the wall and she turned her head to him.
"Can't wait till this is all over," stated Zatanna. "Then you, Mom and I can enjoy our lives together again."
"Makeup for all the lost time," replied Zatara. "I can't believe your mother and I missed out on so many things in your life. Nimbul taught you well, both in sorcery, and as a parent."
"Yeah. She did. That's one thing that worries me, though. How I feel like I've never really appreciated Xanadu's efforts in raising me. I mean, I love her, and I will always see her as my true guardian, but... all I could wonder about was where you two went. And I feel so bad for it."
"I'm sure Nimbul will understand. As for the three of us... what would you like to do first? Want to go someplace special?"
"Hm. Where could we go, though? I've been to everywhere for my tours. Tokyo? Paris? Venice?"
"Venice! That's where we'll go. That was where Sindella and I first met, you know. That was the day that leads to all of this happening. You're mother and me's marriage, your birth, and this whole mess."
"And Venice is where it'll all end."
Allura moaned. "Man, you guys are so cheesy. Can you cut it with the-" Allura noticed something crawling onto the floor. "What's that on the floor?"
Zatanna and Zatara looked down to see that Zatanna's shadow was moving. This meant only one thing; Shadow Crawler. Zatanna froze. "Oh no," she said.
"I thought nothing could get in here!" yelled Allura.
" This one must've been with me when I entered in the Desert," Zatanna answered. "Stay back." The Shadow Crawler started to move Zatanna's arm. She waved her arm over at her father, and then, spoke for her. "Tsalb yawa!" the Shadow Crawler commanded Zatanna to say, and a large blast of energy knocked her father into the wall. Zatanna then turned over to Allura, and she started to slowly walk forward to her. Allura fell out of her chair and pushed herself back against the wall, defenseless. As the Shadow Crawler's control of Zatanna came closer to Allura, Zatara retaliated by casting a spell that pulled Zatanna back away. She clamped onto the wall like a magnet. Zatara approached Zatanna and grabbed her shoulders.
"Emoc otno em wodahs relwarc!" The black shadow then crawled up onto Giovanni's arms, and onto his body. Zatanna stood back, scared. "Dad!" she cried.
"Go! Take her with you! I'll be fine!" Zatara ordered Zatanna.
Allura ran over to Zatanna. Zatanna grabbed her arm, and she prepared to say the word that would get the two out of there. "Ad hominem." Swirls of smoke traveled around the two's bodies, and when it engulfed the two altogether, the smoke died down and they had disappeared, leaving Zatara behind.
Back in the room of the Space Bending Stairs, the six had continued to fight the never ending onslaught of Shadow Crawlers and Anamorphic Beasts. On a platform, the smoke resurfaced, and when it disappeared again, Zatanna and Allura came out. Sindella was flying by them when she noticed them there. She flew down to them. "What are you two doing out here?" asked Sindella. "You're supposed to be isolated away."
"I know, but there was a Shadow Crawler that was with me, and it attached to Dad. We had to leave him behind."
"Oh, god… This isn't good."
Suddenly, the beasts stopped fighting and the Shadow Crawlers became motionless, as a mysterious figure, with black hair and green eyes wearing a dark purple cloak descended down through an opening in the Tower. The rest of them stopped and stared as their enemy has finally arrived. The evil Allura had come.
She smiled when she found that her two other halves were together. "It's been a long time since I've seen you around," said the evil Allura.
"No thanks to your persistent attacks against me and my husband," retorted Sindella. "Not to mention Doctor Fate and Etrigan. What is the meaning of all of this?"
"I have my agendas. If I am to rule the world I must eliminate anyone who may pose a threat against me, and I must have all of my halves combined within me."
"And I will do everything in my power that does not happen."
"How will you do that, exactly?"
Sindella turned around to the good Allura. "We need to combine," she said to her.
"What? Are you sure?"
"We have to. It's the only way we can beat her."
The good Allura sighed. Her time spent as an individual was over. Now she had to return to her true form. They grabbed hands. Swirls of energy circled around them. Allura disappeared, and her energy traveled up into Sindella's arms, and fused into her skin. Sindella's eyes glow white, and she flew up into the air to face her enemy. "This ends today, Allura," told Sindella. "No more hiding. I will stop you."
"Come and face me then."
Allura was the first to attack, by sending a massive blast of magic towards Sindella, but she created a massive force field that reflected the attack and sent it hurtling back at Allura. Sindella followed that up by making a massive ball of magic that she threw at Allura. Still trying to recover, she gets hit again by the ball of magic, which seemed to do some sort of lasting damage to Allura's abilities. Nevertheless, Allura dodges the rest of the attacks made by Sindella and almost got up close and personal. However, knowing that close proximity between the two would mean formation of each other, Sindella quickly flew away. Allura followed her, with every turn and sudden descent and acceleration. At this point, Doctor Fate and Zatanna went along to aid Sindella while the others continued in their battle.
Zatanna, using her backwards words, created a floating circle platform that allowed her to be lifted up into the air. She and Doctor Fate went along, chasing down Allura. Doctor Fate looked over at Zatanna. "What happened to John?" Doctor Fate asked.
"I had to leave him behind," Zatanna answered. "A Shadow Crawler took him over."
"I see," said Doctor Fate.
Doctor Fate casted a spell which formed his signature symbol. Allura flew in it, and the symbol materialized somewhere completely different. Allura, irritated, flew over again towards Sindella, but Doctor Fate and Zatanna were blocking her path. Doctor Fate summons a flurry of chains that tried to wrap around her, but she destroyed all the chains that came near them. Zatanna then spoke another word in backward that created a bubble that engulfed Allura. However, she broke out of the bubble and continued to advance past the two and over towards Sindella. Sindella prepared for Allura's attack by creating another force field, but Allura came closer and closer, until she was right in front of the force field, and when she touched it, the force field crumpled and Sindella was knocked back, against a wall. Allura cornered Sindella and she held her down by the wrists. "Come to me!" Allura screamed. "Come to me once more!"
Sindella couldn't resist. She looked back at Zatanna and softly said "Forgive me" to her daughter. She disappeared as well, her energy traveling up Allura's body and into her skin. This was it; the final piece. Allura had been made whole once again. The six all stood, defeated. Zatanna fell to her knees, seeing her mother consumed by the mad woman. "YES!" Allura cries. "I am whole once again! Now, it is time to end all of you once and for all!"
But then, a surprise attack came; "Tsalb reh yawa!" and a yellow beam hit Allura and knocked her back a bit. They all looked over to find Giovanni Zatara, standing with them. "You have taken my wife," said Zatara, " and the mother of my child. You don't deserve to live any longer."
"It's too late. I am more powerful than any sorcerer or sorceress on this planet!"
"No. You aren't. Not when I'm done with you. Part reh!" A massive amount of chains and handcuffs swerved around Allura and cuffed her down from moving. Zatara moved up to her, only for Zatanna to interrupt him.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"Ending her life with a spell so dangerous that no man is willingly enough to use it," coldly answered Zatara.
"You… you don't mean…" replied Madame Xanadu.
"I do. Homicidal; otherwise known as the Suicide Spell."
Zatanna got in his way again. "Dad, please, it doesn't have to end like this," she said, already coming into tears. "I already lost mom. I can't lose you too…"
Zatara stopped for a moment. Then he kissed his daughter on the forehead. It would be the last time he'd ever spend with his daughter. The daughter he now sees to have grown up as the strong woman that she is. No matter what happened, he would always be there with Zatanna. And he would make sure of that. He whispered, "Remember. I love you." He moved Zatanna aside and approached the trapped Allura. Zatanna tried to get close to Zatara, but John Constantine pulled her back and kept her from getting closer.
"No, dad! Please don't!'
Zatara placed his hands on Allura's cheeks, and he said "Llik su htob, won." Allura's face started to rust like iron, as did Zatara's hand. The rust traveled up their arms, down their bodies, and all across their bodies, until eventually, they were completely covered in rust. Then they easily cracked, and broke apart, falling down on the platform they stood on.
They stood motionless. The Beast didn't move a muscle, and the six were too speechless to say anything. Zatanna boughed her eyes out with tears. Her parents, whom she had just reunited with, were now taken away from her yet again. She got down onto her knees to continue to cry, as John comforted her as she did. Madame Xanadu walked over and placed her hand on Zatanna's shoulder, while Fomori, Etrigan, and Doctor Fate watched. The battle was over. But the pain had just begun.
Venice, Italy; One Week Later:
Things had quieted down since that day in the Tower. Kent Nelson managed to move The Tower of Fate out of the Infinite Desert and back to Earth where it belonged. Each of them said their goodbyes; Etrigan returned back to London, while Madame Xanadu decided to move her shop in New Orleans to into Gotham City, in order to be closer to her adopted daughter. Fomori declined his original offering of getting his humanity back, and instead decided to lead the surviving Anamorphic Beasts to do their own journey. He left with the blessing of the others. The remnants of Giovanni Zatara and Sindella had been collected and given to Zatanna to do as she so pleased. As for Zatanna, well, she and John were in Venice, to visit the place where her parents first met.
Zatanna stood over the bridge right across where the fairs use to be held at. John stood behind her, waiting for Zatanna to dump the remains of her parents. But before she could, she decided to say one last goodbye to her family. "You were right, dad," said Zatanna. "You did say we would end up here when this was all over. I was just expecting it to be all of us together; alive. But I can't have that anymore. I promise I will continue to do what you and mom have been doing for years now. People are gonna need a magician at their aid, and it might as well be me. I'm… I'm gonna miss you." Zatanna opened up the pot with her parents' ashes and she slowly poured them into the water below. She watched as the ashes slowly started to spread apart and sink below into the water. She kept staring until she could no longer see the ashes anymore. When they were gone, Zatanna turned back around over to John. "You did well, Zee," John said. "I'm sorry this had to happen. I feel like this is all partially my fault."
"You didn't do anything, John. In fact, I think you helped me more than anything. I finally got to see my parents again, for one last time. I don't think I could've ever asked for something like that ever again."
"So, what are you gonna do now?"
"Well, I think I should probably go back into show biz. People will be missing me. Maybe meet up with an old friend of mine. Do crazy magic stuff. And spend more time with you."
"I can't guarantee that last part, but it sounds like a pretty good plan."
"Good is an understatement. More like magical."
And that was the end of the first arc of Zatanna. Apologize for the delay on this issue. My run isn't over yet! I still have a lot I want to tell! Zatanna will be back in January for its new bi-monthly schedule, as Zatanaa's old foe Felix Faust returns, and something happens in which she goes back in time to meet with all of her ancestors. See you all later!
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