Magic: the Gathering
Chronicles, Volume 13
By Louis Kemner 2008
A tremendous waterfall roared over the edge of a great cliff, its missions of gallons of water thundering and flowing over the rock edge and falling thousands of feet into the ocean below. Heavy curtains and clouds of mists hovered over and around the surging water, creating many small rainbows. There were several enchanted chunks of rock hovering before the waterfall, many with green moss on their surfaces. The largest rock of them all, over a thousand feet across, housed the majestic and awe-inspiring Minamo Academy, home to the teaching of a wide variety of magic and held reverence and respect for the Soratami Moon Folk overhead.
"Lady Elena," Beta told his mistress, "Is this the place?" He took in the great school before him in its entire splendor.
"Yes, it is," Elena told him. "I believe it is time to knock."
Elena, with dragon wings on her back, flew closer to the looming school through clouds of the waterfall's mists, with Beta, Delta, and Epsilon flying right behind her astride Enslaved winged Scarecrows enchanted beyond their usual durability. It was not long before an ominous disturbance caught their attention.
"Does anyone hear that?" Delta wondered out loud, his ears trained to catch any sounds or sights. A low, rumbling growl reverberated in the foursome's ears, and another rumble sounded from under the water before the great waterfall. Then, a blue head started to emerge from the water, followed by a long neck and body. Great rippling fins on the sides of the creature fanned out kept it afloat and churned the already turbulent water: Keiga, the Tide Star loomed large and powerful before the extra planar invaders. Keiga opened his chops and let loose a warning roar.
"What a lovely dragon," Elena said out loud. "Perhaps the easiest thing to do would be to kill him, but I can't afford to waste this one. Hunters. Allow me to handle it."
Keiga had no patience for the intruders who refused to retreat or leave the grounds of his precious Academy, and sensed the vile nature of the four who intruded on his territory. Wasting no time, Keiga snapped his head forward with the intent to eat the four whole.
Elena was quick to soar away from the move, and her Hunters flew in a different direction to avoid interfering unless called upon. She started to elongate and grow, with a red-orange tail sprouting from her lower back and her limbs growing. Elena's whole body grew and warped until she her body was that of a dragon she had absorbed on Dominaria. Elena sent a roar of her own, and the two dragons grappled and wrestled each other with titanic and earth-shaking force. They appeared to fight evenly, until Keiga seized Elena's throat and forced her upper half under the water, trying to drown her. Elena squirmed and struggled to no avail against Keiga's grip.
"Do you suppose she is in need of us now?" Delta asked, watching Elena's plight from his Scarecrow. He held the unconscious Makoto under his bulky arm.
"I have my doubts," Epsilon told him, his eyes also fixed on the battle below. "Our Lady is too crafty to fall for this." For some reason, he almost found himself encouraging Keiga to fight harder and win. Why was that?
Sure enough, just when it seemed that Keiga had won, a mottled green and gray slimy tentacle shot out of the water like an angry snake and wrapped around Keiga's own neck, and a second and third soon joined the first. It was hard to see Elena's body under the water, but the three Hunters could see that she was changing, growing rounder and darker. More thick tentacles came up and wrestled Keiga away, freeing the massive Kraken that burst out of the water where the dragon Elena had been.
"Makes sense," Beta commented casually. "Krakens are sea creatures, more so than a fire-breather. I see."
The fearsome Kraken, with its squat, squid-like body and ten tentacles around its sharp-toothed mouth, wreaked revenge on its oppressor. Keiga fought back against the flailing tentacles, successfully biting off the last third of two of them. However, Elena's new water-suited body gave her even ground with Keiga, and her overall power was greater than the dragon's. Already subduing and trapping Keiga with her tentacles, one of the tentacles morphed into the usual giant's arm, which seized Keiga's throat in a death grip. The aquatic dragon defender roared and struggled to break free, but it was now as defenseless as Elena had been, and Keiga could not transform or warp his body like his adversary could.
Recognizing their opportunity, Beta, Delta, and Epsilon dived in on the scene, touching Keiga's rubber-like hide with their now glowing hands, and before even a minute passed, a green diamond shape took form on Keiga's forehead, and Elena fully released her grip. Elena shrunk her Kraken body with the giant arm into her own normal one with dragon wings, making the scene seem much emptier without the second massive beast.
"Success," Elena said simply, watching the Enslaved Keiga bow his head and give a submissive growl. "I suppose I hurt the dragon more than I needed to, but I find that unimportant. Come with me, Hunters. Inside the Academy."
Once in the entry hall of the Academy, a number of guards and curious students came forth to greet the newcomers with questions and offers to join the school. They were met with a blazing attack that left the group dead, and the four intruders pushed farther into the school, wreaking havoc.
"Aren't we going to Enslave them?" Delta asked as he knocked a student out of a window with a single punch.
"It is easier to Enslave them once they taste the fear and torment of death," Elena told him sharply as she breathed fire like a dragon to roast a few others. "Do not kill them all. Only some."
"These guards will only attack. Might be hard to Enslave them," Beta said as he fired thin beams of black fire from his palms, taking down the armed guards who had charged him. Epsilon was silent as his ivory sword took down those in his way. Within ten minutes, over a third of the inhabitants of the school had been slain, and the rest huddled in a frightened mass in the headmaster's huge hallway and office.
"You are the remainder, then?" Elena told the mass menacingly, taking steps toward them. Several desperate spells sizzled through the air at her; she casually knocked them away with her hands and sent them into the walls and ceiling. "Good. You're about to have a new mistress here. I am Elena."
"You will never take us!" the headmaster shouted, an old man with sweeping robes and a long beard. The character for knowledge was stitched on his hat. "I now know who you are. Planeswalkers passing though our realm have identified you as the Defiled One, the one who will spell the doom of the Multiverse!"
"Somebody did their homework," Elena said icily. "Enough stalling!" With that, she knelt and pressed her hands to the wooden floor. Sickly green mana flowed across the floor and seeped into the students and headmaster alike like a plant would absorb water from soil. Several hundred green diamond marks stared back at Elena as the students and headmaster bowed in submission, groveling to their new master.
"That's very good," Elena said, walking forward again. The newly Enslaved students parted to allow her to pass, and she stood at the opposite end of the room. She secured the headmaster's wooden throne chair and took a seat on it, assuming an air of command, especially since she had just taken the chair of the headmaster and met no resistance. "I claim Minamo Academy as my own fortress. This will be my place of security until all of Kamigawa is mine. When that is done, I'll move on to another Plane and create a bodily clone of myself to maintain my rule here. Do you all understand?"
"Yes, our Lady," the mass of students and headmaster chanted back, getting up.
"Now, Hunters," Elena told them. "Clean up the terrible mess in here. Afterward, carry out what you will. There are two Key Creatures left to claim, and I want them no matter the cost. Delta, please deposit the boy here next to me first."
Delta obeyed, but not without a quick comment. "My Lady," he ventured, "You seem to be in a mood most foul today."
"You and Epsilon's failure in Kamigawa is not pleasing," Elena told him. "But do not feel too much guilt. I am far from defeated, and the children have yet to see my full power, or yours and the other Hunters'. Continue your service to the best of your ability, and that is all I ask for now."
Though the night sky was dark, there was no absence of light in Telomano city or its outskirts, one of the major cities of Oneah in Dominaria. Hundreds of fierce orange lights from countless torches and fires blocked the night's darkness from reaching the city's limits or outskirts, allowing every detail in the stone buildings to stand out in clear detail in the grisly light. Even every blade of grass stood like a razor apart from its brethren in the artificial day.
"And a dozen more, I tell you, who house this defiled wickedness within themselves!" a man in a wide brimmed hat called out to the bloodthirsty crowd, his black mustache waving. He himself held a torch, giving light to a horse-pulled wagon that had a flat, square bed with a fence, and twelve ordinary people were standing like livestock on it. They cried out for their innocence and the injustice that befell them, but the crowd only roared for their deaths.
Standing on the judicial building's shallow, stone steps was Alpha, along with a number of officials who watched the grim procession. There was the wagon of twelve people, and further along the procession was another wagon of a similar load. Thousands of people lined the streets were watching and holding torches as the condemned were led to the riverside. The river cut the city of Telomano in half, with stone-built banks with mortar. Dozens of wooden poles had been erected at the bank, ten feet apart with masses of tender at the bases.
Alpha watched as another wave of condemned people were tied to the posts, with the crowd cheering on the executions about to take place. An official stepped forward and announced, "These people are condemned tonight to death for their work with the demonic spirits! They have chosen to ally with the Raungir vermin and attempt the overthrow of our peaceful and just society! Long have we lived in memory of the terror the Raungir caused us in times past, and they dare to relive it now! Now, condemned, are you prepared for your judgment?"
There were pleas and cries from the condemned, yet the crowd shouted back insults and jeered in return. Then, a number of guards stepped up to the condemned and lit the tinder on fire, and the flames spread to consume the ones tied to the posts. The night would have been dark and chilly, but the hundreds of fire kept everyone sweating in heat of both air and twisted excitement, and the light of the fire kept the area anything but dark.
Alpha encouraged the procession as it went on. He had incited the Raungir cult into rebellion with the purpose of rallying the Telomano people against them. Once the feared cult was put down, accusations of collaboration and demon-worship had sparked and spread like a fire, and not one person was spared their part of the fervor. Alpha credited himself as a major player in subduing the Raungir and was considered a hero in the eyes of the Oneans, allowing him to oversee the hunts in comfort.
The wild riots incited fear, mistrust, paranoia, and cruelty into the hearts of every Telomano citizen. Relatives, friends, and guilds were all turned against each other as fear and paranoia encouraged accusations back and forth, until fathers condemned sons, aunts condemned nieces, and friends condemned each other, guild workers condemning their leaders. Alpha was neutral as far as the Raungir cult was concerned. All he wanted was the fear, terror, and paranoia to seep into the heart of every Onean, making them perfect for Enslavement. The witch hunts would create a snowball effect, gaining momentum over time until the entire Onean country would be plagued by it, and then Enslaved. The simplicity, ease, and effectiveness of the plan could only be conceived by a mind like Elena's, Alpha thought.
Watching the grim procedures, Alpha's mind twitched slightly. He recognized it as one of the other Hunters wishing to meet with him. After excusing himself from the other officials, Alpha left eyesight and sped to the open riverbank well outside the city limit and the suburbs, near a tall cliff from which a waterfall fell that fed the river and split Telomano in half. It was dark here, with only faint lighting from the hundreds of torches in the city and the pearly moon overhead. In a flash of light green light, Epsilon appeared.
"Well then," Alpha said in a way of greeting. "What brings you?"
"This is the plan Elena supplied you with for Oneah's Enslavement, isn't it?" Epsilon asked, turning to look at the witch hunt-fevered city.
"Our Lady told me to find an effective way to Enslave the valiant Oneans quickly and easily, because they would become a major threat against us left alone," Alpha told Epsilon. "I myself devised the witch hunt plan as my method. The hunts are only in this city and the surrounding area right now, yet they will spread quickly and darken the heart of every Onean. After that, Enslavement will be even faster and easier. My will is Elena's will."
"Sacrificing so many for our cause," Epsilon said quietly, again looking over his shoulder at the city. "Imagine it. Is this really the way?"
"It is not the required one, but none is," Alpha answered. "Any method that will bring about quick and effective Enslavement here is acceptable and viable. This is what I chose. Is it not satisfactory for you, Epsilon?"
"I only…" Epsilon started, then stopped, swallowing hard as his eyes flicked back and forth in thought. "Many lives are being lost, Alpha, and much chaos and war. These witch hunts, and slaughtering Akki in Kamigawa and attacking Minamo Academy to add to the Enslaved army to conquer the Multiverse…I find it…"
"What objection do you hold?" Alpha probed. "Do you think we are drawing too much attention? You should know that we can handle whatever attention we draw, even with Gamma's death and the loss of two of the four wild Key Creatures. Perhaps you could aid me, Epsilon, in finding another Key Creature, then? I could ask Lady Elena to arrange for Beta or Delta to oversee these hunts and the Enslavement to follow."
"It's not that," Epsilon said, gaining determination in his voice. His left hand was a fist. "It seems wrong, Alpha, very wrong. I can't bear the pained faces of those being massacred to further our cause. Lady Elena smiles and acts friendly around us and her other subjects, but under that countenance is something else, something darker. I don't like it."
"That sounds like very unacceptable talk there, Epsilon," Alpha warned, taking a few steps closer to his companion. "What is the base line of this thinking? Well?"
"You, Elena, the others…" Epsilon breathed, locking his eyes on Alpha's own. "I can't take it! This is evil work, Alpha, and I won't take part in it! I can't accept our methods and actions in good conscience. I renounce my alliance with Elena, you, and the others!"
"Then, in that case," Alpha told him icily, "I feel obligated to slay you right now, and wipe your traitorous presence off of this land." He started to reach into his robes —
And Epsilon's ivory sword plunged into Alpha's chest, right between his ribs. The attacked hunter stared down at the blade penetrating him with an expression impossible to decipher. Epsilon held his sword's handle in both hands, using his full strength to run Alpha through, breathing heavily and regarding Alpha with a fierce expression.
Alpha slowly gripped the sword blade with his armored hand, wrapping his fingers around the ivory. Epsilon strained to pull the blade out of Alpha's flesh but was unable to; Alpha's mana only allowed the blade to come out when he willed it.
"You…" Alpha stated, slowly pulling the blade out, "Are a traitor." As soon as the blade was fully out, Alpha threw a lightning-fast punch to Epsilon's face, sending the other Hunter flying hundreds of feet back and up into the air, slamming into the rock cliff behind him. In a blue-black blur, Alpha was right before Epsilon in a split-second, and grabbed him and threw him all the way down to the ground. Alpha followed with great speed, crouching over the trapped and injured Epsilon, drawing his dagger. His mana aura was now up, leeching Epsilon of his energy and willpower.
"This is where you die," Alpha told him quietly, and the blade descended. Before the dagger met its target, Epsilon screwed his face in intense concentration and vanished in a flash of light green mana, sword and all. The dagger blade thunked into the soil.
Alpha looked in surprise at Epsilon's absence, then realized the other had managed to resist his willpower drain just enough to Planeswalk away from harm. He did not feel ashamed that his newly acquired target had escaped, however. One renegade Hunter would not be an effective resistance and Alpha would soon make the time to hunt the Hunter down to kill him, or else Elena would make other arrangements for killing Epsilon.
Alpha merely got up and returned his dagger to its sheath, allowing his mana aura to start leeching the life force from the plants and animals underfoot, supplying him to energy to heal his sword wound. Epsilon's sword hadn't done much damage to Alpha's body, but Alpha knew better than to overlook anything of interest, big or small. He merely walked back to the witch hunt-plagued city, leaving a trail of frosty death behind him and allowing himself time to think.
"I see. This is quite mixed news," King Teramont said gravely, rubbing his weary face with one hand and gripping his king's scepter in the other. The golden rod was four feet long and imbued with gems and other precious metals. The King had just finished listening to the kids recounting their quest in Kamigawa, about fighting Delta and Epsilon, recovering Ryusei, Ashley's appearance, and Makoto's capture. Georgi was there too, taking in their every word.
"That's pretty much how it went," Viktor shrugged, not knowing what else to say.
"The scope of our opponent's craftiness
and prowess is continuing to impress and frighten me," King
Teramont said after a short pause. "I can't say what she plans to
do with your companion, but it can't be anything good. Further, two
more Hunters have appeared but not been destroyed. Were they an even
challenge to you?"
"They're strong," Kelly said, "But
we can hold our own against them. Even the middle-strongest one
wasn't too bad. I think that with more training, we could take them
out next time we meet."
"Well, I certainly hope so," King Teramont commented. "Allowing those beasts to run free is not what I want to be forced to do. The other Planeswalkers are being informed of the Hunters' capabilities and appearances, the better to stall their mission. With only two Key Creatures left to find, the four left will make every effort to find one or both."
"And what about the other kingdoms?" Devin wondered, changing the subject suddenly. "Aren't you working to unite them together as a force against Elena?"
"One of the satellite kingdoms of Angellight has been convinced," answered King Teramont, "And my earls and ministers are making progress with another. King Haraven himself, however, is more difficult to convince than a slighted Rhox right now. Perhaps if you killed another one of her Hunters and brought proof of his death, that could help to show Elena can be beaten and there is yet hope."
"We could try," Viktor assured him.
"Best of luck to you all, then," Teramont told the kids. "That is all. I have other matters that require my attention as well. Good day."
Once everyone was out of the king's hall, Viktor was quick to ask Georgi, "What are we going to do now? Rescue Makoto, slay a Hunter, find another Creature?"
"I think," Georgi said, "That we owe a visit to all of your parents." Seeing the surprised reactions he incited, he added, "They don't know what we are doing, and keeping them in the dark isn't right. All of them will be told of what is happening, and the importance of your mission."
"How would we convince them?" Ashley wondered. "Our dad wouldn't like this at all." She referred to her and Kelly's father, whom they lived with.
"I'll do the talking," Georgi said. "Though the child for each parent should be present when I speak. I have a way with words; this won't be too difficult a chore. We'll back here fighting monsters and saving lives in no time at all." As he said this, Georgi began to change his countenance again; out of sight of everyone else, his skin began to wrinkle, his hair whitened and thinned out, and his slight stoop came back. He put his glasses back on and said, "Let's be off."
With the Key Cards, they were no more.
Viktor's parents, at least, weren't hysterical or angry when Georgi and himself told his parents what was going on. Both of them naturally were shocked about what their son was doing when he was away, but Georgi had warned them that if Elena succeeded, she would be able to Planeswalk to Earth and find and kill Viktor and his friends. Viktor wasn't sure if that last part was true, but it helped in convincing Viktor's parents to allow him to continue going to the Multiverse. He was on his cell phone later with the others that evening in his bedroom.
"Huh? I can't hear you!" Devin cried over a din at his end. There was hysterical shouting and arguing raging from the receiver.
"It's me! Viktor!" Viktor said loudly into the phone. "Did my grandfather visit your parents yet?"
"That's what this noise is all about!" Devin roared back, then shouted in his room away from the phone, "Don't say that about my friend's grandpa, mom! What the hell!" and then back to Viktor, "Sorry, man, they're taking it pretty hard. Georgi's not having an easy time."
Viktor thought for a second, and his friend's parents' reactions made sense. Devin's parents were strict and protective people, not even allowing Devin to move out of their home to attend the college he went to with Viktor. Devin had the money and responsibility to live on his own, but his parents wouldn't hear of it. And now this, with their son's life on the line whenever he went to the Multiverse… Viktor could imagine.
"Now, please calm down, Mrs. Willis, and understand the implications," Viktor could hear his grandfather say in a placating tone. "Your son is helping to defeat a wicked and powerful individual the likes of which the Multiverse has never seen, and your son would be hailed as a hero upon the villain's demise —"
"I don't give a damn about your Multi thing!" Viktor could hear Devin's father roar, and then the sound of something shattering. "What about college? What about our son's job? There'll be plenty of other villains in his life if he neglects and fails those obligations!"
"But can they warp and control your son's mind for evil bidding, like the villainess I am concerned about?" Georgi called back. "Bear in mind, Mr. Willis, if your son doesn't help to stop Elena, then she will gain the prowess to come to Earth and destroy him, and no police force or army will be able to stop her —"
There were loud roars, yells, and thuds after that, and Viktor moved his cell phone away from his ear, staring in exasperation.
"Listen, man," Devin's voice said, "It's getting kinda funky over here so I guess a call tomorrow would better. You know?"
"Sounds about right," Viktor told him back.
"But I do have two F's right now cause of our trips," Devin lamented. "I feel like some kind of delinquent or something."
"You're not the only one," Viktor said back, which he guessed cheered Devin up. The Willis home phone hung up, leaving Viktor's phone silent.
Viktor stared at his phone in silence for a few seconds, then dialed another number, and heard Ashley's voice. "Hello?"
"Um, hi, Ash," Viktor answered. "It's boring over here. May I stop by?"
"Okay. We're not doing much either," Ashley said back, with a tiny laugh. "See you in a bit, Vik."
After saying goodbye to his parents in the upstairs rooms, Viktor got in his red car and pulled out of the driveway and into the dark street, with the street lights giving him visibility in the dark early night. It was not long before Viktor pulled up into a parking space in the parking lot of Ashley and Kelly's apartment complex, and was before their door and knocked.
"Hi," Ashley greeted at the door, allowing Viktor inside from the night's chill. He gratefully entered the threshold, taking off his jacket and hanging it on the coatstand by the door. The apartment room was fairly quiet; the only real sound was the Logans' grandfather clock ticking loudly by the fireplace. Viktor crashed onto the couch, just as Kelly came from the hallway where the bedrooms were.
"Oh! Evening, Viktor," she greeted upon seeing her visitor. "Wasn't expecting company, but um…"
"I know," Viktor assured her. "Not much going on at my house anyway." He tapped the arm of the couch with his fingers. "It's actually been a while since any one of us met just to chill. We've been running around different planes fighting to protect each other's lives up till now."
"This is better, I agree," Kelly said, taking a seat next to him. "Your grandfather told our dad about the Multiverse and everything. He was pretty casual about it, thank god. He didn't even object to —"
"Oi!" a squeaky and demanding voice called from the kitchen. "Someone got their chocolate in my peanut butter! This is my peanut butter, all right?!"
"— Object to him," Ashley finished for her sister, amused, as Gerbie waddled into the living room while dragging an open jar of peanut butter with him.
"Can't a gerbil have the food he likes the way he wants it?" the animal demanded. "This is worse than the time someone took my calamari leftovers! Hey! I'm talking here!"
"You eat calamari?" Viktor asked in surprise, his mind filtering out Gerbie's trivial nonsense.
For some reason, Kelly found his simple inquiry funny and laughed. "Dad likes to have unusual food and impresses it on the rest of us too. Gerbie's been pretty enthusiastic about it. He says what we eat is better than Simic growth formulas or the best stuff the Tin Street marketplace."
"Damn right," Gerbie said. "Anyway, I'll just take this back into the kitchen and cry over it… don't mind me." As he dragged the peanut butter jar back into the kitchen, he could be heard muttering, "Unless I add some ketchup and chicken broth and boil it in a pot. That would taste really good… I ought to try that…"
Viktor grinned at the outlandish things Gerbie always said, but his mind wasn't entirely there. He felt comfortable and secure here, even though it was his first time visiting Ashley and Kelly's apartment. He hadn't even met their father yet, who was probably in his bedroom right now, judging by the light that came from that room.
"He's always like that," Kelly told Viktor good-naturedly, watching the kitchen; Ashley went in there too, pursuing Gerbie to make sure he didn't make a mess of anything. "It's so much fun."
"Yeah," Viktor agreed, watching the spot she was.
"Anyway," Kelly said in a tone of new subject, "Have you thought over what we're going to do next? When we go back to the Multiverse, I mean."
"Um," Viktor started uncertainly. He wasn't prepared for the topic. "Besides rescuing Makoto, I'm not sure, really. I guess my grandfather has more training for us in Bant, plus helping King Teramont with uniting Bant against Elena. Besides that, I dunno." He shrugged.
"You're right. Makoto has to be found as soon as possible," Kelly agreed. "We can't be sure what Elena will do with him, but it's bound to be bad. We don't even know what plane she took him, what kind of guard there is, or anything. Plus, there's my Key Creature and Makoto's own. I think they're Kuro, Pit Lord for me and Konda, Lord of Eiganjo for Makoto."
"I think that's them," Viktor said. He continued to feel at unease and meek, and was sure that being here was causing it somehow. "But, well, talking about all this is disconcerting. It's easier just to do it all, you know?"
"I suppose," Kelly said positively and confidently, now looking at him. "Improvising has worked so far. We'll find a way for all this. Lots of people are backing us, Multiverse and here. We're all in this together. You, me, everyone!"
"Yeah. You're right," Viktor agreed, feeling uplifted. Kelly and Ashley's presences were reminding him of what was at stake, what he secretly feared to lose. They, Devin, and Makoto had been more casual friends before their initial trip to Ravnica, but since then be began to feel differently toward them; like they were family, important people whose possible deaths chilled him. "Thanks, Kelly, I was actually starting to feel down about the whole thing, even though…"
"Even though we got Devin's creature?" Kelly smiled; that lifted Viktor's mood a little more. "It has been stressful and all. I've been managing okay, and Ashley's gotten over my close call during that time."
It made sense that Kelly wouldn't want to say "during the time I was nearly killed by Beta," but the mention of that event reminded Viktor again of what he felt dutied to do: protect the others. And Kelly, in particular, was the one Viktor looked up to most. Her firm confidence and unwavering endurance was something he had grown to admire over time. Viktor then realized how closely she was sitting next to him, and her proximity made him nervous but motivated at the same time.
Viktor could hear Ashley and Gerbie clanging pots and pans and talking to each other in the now lighted kitchen but he tuned that out. He tried to say something, yet his throat seemed dry and he simply fell silent and nodded instead, his hand starting to drift closer to Kelly's own. In the relative privacy of the Logans' apartment room at evening, intimacy seemed to play a larger role in his visit, and he felt his shyness retreating.
"I have to be honest with you, Viktor," Kelly told him, appearing warmer herself, "What we've been going through has been tough, and we've handled it pretty well so far, considering we're just kids from Earth and not born of magic or anything. But really, you're really inspiring and motivational, Viktor, at least for me. You and your grandfather both. I really am glad we can do this with you, even though it's not exactly an exotic vacation or anything."
"Oh, uh, I'm honored," Viktor answered awkwardly, feeling surprised but pleased that she felt the same way toward him that he felt toward her. "I actually felt the same way about you, Kelly. I can't imagine being with anyone else." Losing all of his shyness, Viktor started to lightly grasp Kelly's hand in his own, and she squeezed back.
"Well, that's sweet," Kelly glowed. "But there are the others around, too."
"Right," Viktor agreed, his heart beating faster. "It's just that… I like being around you most of all."
"And I like you very much too," Kelly responded, starting to lean closer to him and close her eyes. "Did I ever tell you that?"
"Um, no, actually," Viktor told her gently, lifting her chin with two fingers.
"Well, now you know," Kelly said softly, and both her and Viktor's lips were now only an inch apart —
"We've done it!" Ashley exclaimed loudly and excitedly, emerging from the kitchen, with a steaming, bizarre-looking concoction in a pot and Gerbie on her shoulder. "Look!"
Naturally, Viktor and Kelly jolted apart, feeling the veil of privacy pierced. Viktor felt his heart pounding, but no ill feelings toward the twosome who shattered their moment. He and Kelly turned to witness what the younger sister and the talking gerbil had made.
"A meal fit for a guild leader," Gerbie stated proudly. Viktor almost laughed when he saw that he had a gerbil-sized white chef's hat on from where, Viktor couldn't guess. He leaped down and onto Ashley's arm, coming close to the "food" that was in the pot. "We've got chicken chunks, mustard, garlic, red peppers, water, salt, and cat food for exotic flavor all in here."
"You've got what?" Kelly exclaimed.
"Being exotic is what makes for good cooking," Gerbie insisted. "I learned that from a wandering Gruul chef a while back in my home Plane. You wouldn't believe the recipes he taught me. Anyway, want a sample? Anyone?"
"I, uh, need to be getting back," Viktor assured with hurried politeness as Ashley and Gerbie moved closer and offered the pot and a large spoon. "Sorry. I gotta run. It's late." He got up and threw his jacket on, allowing Kelly to unlock the door for him, letting in cold night air.
"Well, then you try it!" Gerbie asked of Kelly, offering the spoon to her. "Come on!"
"Um, I think, well…" was all Kelly could manage as she gave Viktor a small wave goodbye as he departed for his car and drove off. It was just another day, or rather, night, in the Logan household, after all.