Magic: the Gathering
Chronicles, Volume 16
By Louis Kemner 2008-2009
"It seems that Beta and Kappa have encountered their target," Alpha informed Elena, once he appeared in her throne room in Minamo Academy and knelt in his subservience. He had teleported to Ravnica and back and had witnessed the confrontation that was beginning to take place there. Elena, with one finger lightly touching her lips, gave a small smile as she listened. "All four of the children, in addition to a large assembly of Simic guild forces, oppose them. A number of Azorius and Boros troops are present as well, but appear to not be taking a side. They merely watch."
"Thank you very much for the update," Elena told Alpha, who stood to his full height. "You have done well. Quick progress like this is exactly what I always want. You may return to Dominaria now if you wish, but... be on hand, should I call for you."
Alpha gave a bow and vanished in another blue flash, leaving three occupants left in the room. Before he vanished, however, Alpha couldn't help but notice a small tinge of... was that worry on Elena's face, in her voice? Surely she did not expect Beta and Kappa to have any trouble defeating these card-slinging brats? Always vigilant, however, he was prepared to return to carry out whatever Elena wished of him. He would not fail her like Epsilon had, that pathetic dropout.
"And now, let's take advantage of what I have before me," Elena said, now turning to look at Makoto, who was still sitting cross-legged on the wooden floor a few feet away from her throne and looking grumpy. "Why don't you go outside and play, child? I have some plans for you."
"No thanks," Makoto snapped back, looking at the floor. "Don't bother me."
"Oh my, being stuck here with me has made you such a grouch," Elena said lightly. "Some fresh air and sun should help that. Delta…?"
Delta himself was lying on the floor behind Elena's throne with his eyes closed and his breathing slow and steady. Elena repeated his name again, sharply, and he jerked awake, slowly getting to his large feet. He made his way before Elena on her throne and made his bow. "What do you ask of me, my Lady?"
"There's still one Key Creature astray; his," Elena told him, pointing at Makoto with one of her sinister claw-like nails. "There's a good chance that it's in this plane. Take the child and find it as soon as you can; his presence should make it easier to find. I believe that it is Konda, Lord of Eiganjo, the human samurai of legend. The darling probably returned to his Eiganjo Castle, in the Towabara plain; why don't you start by searching there? Use whatever methods you deem necessary."
Delta scratched his pelt-like hair and breathed deeply to wake himself up. "Yes, my Lady. Whatever methods I want? Sounds like my kind of deal." He approached Makoto and grabbed his arm with a meaty hand. "Come on, kid, let's go."
"Let go of me," Makoto growled, resisting. Delta frowned, then flared his red and green mana aura, stunning Makoto like he had been hit by a taser. The boy collapsed, conscious but limp. Delta grinned and lowered his aura, then pulled on Makoto's arm again and set him across his shoulder. To Elena, he said, "I'll be back later," then he started to walk out of the room and onto Minamo Academy's massive wooden front porch. Elena called for him.
"his time, however, I'll send a few of Alpha's spies with you. With the growing dangers facing us, it is important to keep me updated as soon as possible with everything that happens. They may be able to give you intelligence, too, to aid your search."
"Thank you, my Lady," Delta said, bowing again. He didn't know what Alpha's spies would look like or what they could do; he didn't even know Alpha had spies!
With his business finished here, Delta called for an Enslaved Mothrider Samurai for transport. He did this because Hunters could not teleport from place to place in the same plane, except for Alpha when he used his full strength. The Hunters could teleport to other planes, though, even the isolated Ravnica, and arrive wherever they wanted in the new plane.
As he watched his mount coming, Delta felt jealous of Alpha's additional teleport abilities. It sure would be convenient to just appear wherever he wanted to go, one spot of the same plane to the other. He and the others had to have the crappier version? At least with walking place to place, he could use his exhaustion as an excuse to nap. Perfect.
"Hey, kid," Delta told Makoto, who was still slung over his massive shoulder.
"What do you want?" Makoto groused.
"Do you have any food on you?"
"There's a disturbance in the quarantined zone?" Epsilon asked Waren Lightheart urgently, seated on his Grand Arbiter throne in the central chamber of Prahv. Several robed figures, the Soulsworn Jury members, stood still like statues in silent guard, prepared to give their lives to defend their new Arbiter. Epsilon tightly gripped the armrests of the throne chair.
"Less of a disturbance and more of a war, Grand Arbiter," Waren said hurriedly as he gave his courtesy. "Four young adults have somehow penetrated the borders and are roughly in the middle of the zone, in the main street. There's a massive Simic Combine force with them, too, as well as the gigantic demon-beast we've been searching for."
"What else is there?" Epsilon asked, both hoping and not hoping to hear a certain answer.
"Two strange beings oppose the others," Waren went on. "They are reported thus: one wears black armor, and the other is a mechanical beast made of many parts that can re-assemble into new forms at will. Both have monstrous concentrations of mana in them, far above anything else I've ever seen."
"So… Beta and a new one," Epsilon said quietly to himself. This new Hunter sounded unusual; an artifact one, and a shapeshifter? That could be trouble. Not to mention Beta, of course, who was the second most powerful Hunter, stronger than both himself and Delta. And it sounded like Kuro, Pitlord himself was out and about. This was going to be a three-way struggle against Elena's Hunters and the children. He had to do something now, make a plan.
"Thank you for the intelligence," Epsilon said, standing up and jumping down from the throne in an impressive leap and landing before a stunned Waren, in a crouch. He looked up and then stood. "I must go now."
"Wait — !" Waren cried, stunned as his leader dashed out of the room. "Grand Arbiter! What is…?" The Soulsworn Jury members were equally surprised, but were not allowed to move from their stations without Epsilon's command.
"I cannot explain!" Epsilon shouted back. "Take temporary command of the guild until I return. Don't worry; I will have reinforcements with me. You won't lose another Grand Arbiter!"
With that said, Epsilon tore down the halls of Prahv with unnatural speed, shocking the countless guild mages, accountants, and senatorial aides who wandered the halls. This was indeed his precious chance to get ahead of the wretched Elena in her race for power, a chance to crush her pitiful Hunters and get the children out of the way. He wasn't sure what to do about the children, however. The Hunters were clearly his enemies, and powerful ones at least. But the children? They too opposed Elena, though they sought to claim the Key Creatures themselves.
They would hardly benefit from having the Creatures; at best, their meager mana auras would get a little stronger, and the main reason they sought the Creatures was so Elena herself could not have them and gain their full power. It would be tricky dealing with them. Perhaps he could allow them to weaken Beta and the artifact Hunter, then he could capture them and toss them into the Azorius prison complex, notoriously difficult to escape, practically and legally. Or else... he could slay them himself.
How, though? When the original five Hunters were created, in Shadowmoor, Epsilon had been the second-weakest of them all. Only the ironically fierce blue-white Hunter, Gamma, had been inferior to him. Gamma was the one who had met his demise in Shadowmoor, falling prey to Jace Beleren's trickery when trying to capture the Sphinx Key Creature, Isperia the Inscrutable. Gamma had been destroyed, even though the forehead emeralds couldn't, as he knew...
A sudden idea popped into his head, an unexpected possibility, and as he was giving a command, Epsilon settled on a resolution.
"Get some troops to cover my back as I get out there!" Epsilon told one of Waren's assistants, who looked surprised but determined to follow his command. "No, belay that order! Keep all forces in a tight line, and interlock their shields and magic barriers for protection. You are not to take part in that battle outside! It would mean your destruction."
"Th-then what are we to do, Grand Arbiter?" a knight asked, looking afraid.
"Just do as I say," Epsilon told him. "I have a little errand of mine to run. When I return, I will have new orders for you. Now go! We don't have any time to waste."
Everyone hurried to carry out their orders, and Epsilon searched for a secluded place within Prahv's endless halls and court rooms. He knew his destination, and his prize. He doubted that even the other Hunters knew whether this would work, and Epsilon had his own doubts. Even so, he was no match for Elena or her Hunters at the moment, even with his Azorius guild behind him; he was the weakest living one, the inferior Gamma long dead. And Gamma was what he sought, he thought as he vanished.
"This'll help speed things up," Beta commented, meaning the obliteration of the Simic forces on his part. "A nice two-on-four gets the job done."
"Redirect efforts from conversation to action protocols," Kappa encouraged him. Even without the ability to make expressions, his impatience was clear. "I estimate an 83% probability of success on our part."
"So we'll just hope for the other 17%," Viktor said, preparing his spells. "Ready, everyone?"
"Shouldn't we have some kind of plan?" Ashley asked hesitantly, aware of Jace Beleren's strategic abilities and how important they have been so far in the war against Elena. "They could be tacticians, especially the artifact one. He sounds like a computer!"
"No time to worry about that. Incoming!" Devin cried, leaping away. Four thin beams of black fire sizzled through the air and crashed into the street where he had been standing, making craters two feet wide. Beta was walking forward yet again, firing more beams from his pointing fingers in a variety of angles. Volcanic Dragon and Llanowar Behemoth advanced with gouts of fire and elf ballista shots. In response, Beta lightly jumped out of the ballista shots' ways, leaving the javelins thudding into the stone ground. The wall of blazing fire from the Volcanic Dragon closed in on the Hunter, and with one arm sweep, Beta easily knocked the mass of fire away and sent it flying away into the rooftops.
"Don't play games, all right?" he said, firing another pair of thin fire beams; a Withstand blocked them. "If you mess around, Kappa and I will kill you. Just ask him."
"Shut up!" Viktor cried, moving to the front of the group. "I think we have to spread out a little and have two of us concentrate on each one of them. If we stay in a group Beta's fire will be extra harmful." Consenting to this plan, Ashley paired with Viktor, and Kelly and Devin stood close by, twenty feet away from the other two. Viktor could see that Ashley had several cards hidden behind her back, clearly intending to use them as a surprise against the Hunters.
Kappa now made his move. He crouched his lean, reptile-human body, twitched his tail, and covered the distance between himself and Viktor and Ashley in one stunning leap. He landed in a heavy crouch right in front of Viktor and Ashley and swept his metallic claws at them, intending to gut them in one move. Vine Trellis assured that Kappa's claws did not find their marks, and Fighting Drake gave Kappa a solid kick to the chest with its powerful legs used for launching into flight. Kappa caught the blow full-on and was sent sprawling, and another punt sent him crashing into a building, creating a cloud of debris.
"You got him!" Ashley cheered, not even needing to lend her assistance in the combat. Viktor, feeling cautious optimism, suddenly felt a chill down his spine, and dove to tackle Ashley to the ground; a metal tentacle composed of many parts held together shot out from the debris cloud where Kappa was, and would have taken off her head if it had hit. Kappa himself stepped out of the debris cloud, with only a shallow dent in one large body piece where the Drake had kicked him. The tentacle was made of some of his body parts that had moved to form it, giving him a long-range weapon.
"That blow dealt by Fighting Drake was very ineffective," he said, stomping his feet onto the ground for balance. The tentacle slid back into his body and vanished. Now, Kappa moved his tail so its end blade was extended in front of him, and he pounced once again, with the tail striking the stone road where Viktor was standing. With a yelp, he tumbled away, and felt the sharp blade graze his side, drawing blood. Not content yet, Kappa swished the tail and it collided with another Withstand, though the force sent Ashley tumbling a dozen feet away.
"Hey! Hey, Kappa!" Beta shouted, catching the metallic Hunter's attention before he could follow up on his attack on Ashley.
"What is it?" Kappa asked. "Speak quickly."
"I'll take them," Beta said. "Your opponents. Together, they're probably the stronger pair among the children. Switch with me."
"Hey!" Devin called in annoyance. "Are you saying Kelly and I are weaker than them, fire-boy?"
Beta ignored him. Kappa clanked away, stomping towards Devin and Kelly, who prepared for their new opponent. Viktor was about to give Fighting Drake a command to attack his new enemy, only to be too slow. In one instant, Beta was fifteen feet away. In the next, Beta was right before him!
"What...?" Viktor gasped, before a gloved fist sent a painful blow to the gut, knocking him back, Ashley crying his name. As he fell, Viktor realized that Beta had used the same high-speed movement Gamma had used back in Shadowmoor, only it was even faster. Beta had scooted across fifteen feet in a blur, leaving a short red-black trail behind him. What was that technique?
"Better get your guard up, son," Beta said, looking down at him, raising his right arm, unfolding the scythe blade there. "Or you'll die like a dog! You wouldn't want that, would you?"
Viktor had no response; instead, Ashley crept behind him, thrusting a card forth. White energy surged around Beta, crackling and spitting, enveloping him like a dozen constricting snakes. Beta screwed his face in pain and effort as the Celestial Purge kept up the pressure. Its effect text was to remove target black or red permanent from the game. Beta was black and red!
"Arrrgh! Curse you!" Beta snarled. With a heave of effort, he flared his black and red mana aura, managing to throw off the Purge, though he panted from the effort, a few new scars on his armor. He whipped around.
"Watch out, Ashley!" Viktor shouted, and Ashley tumbled to avoid a fire blast from Beta's left palm. Not settling for that, Beta launched a few black fire lances from his left hand's fingers, which were deflected by Carom. This card redirected the next 1 damage from a single target to another. Without a doubt, Ashley was infusing her mana into it to increase the effect.
With a sweep of his arm, Beta knocked aside his own redirected attack; it pummeled a building's wall instead. "How troublesome," he commented, lowering his arm. "You're crafty, maybe too much for Kappa to handle. He's pretty slow to react to surprises like that."
"Hyah!" Viktor cried, pouncing a Snakeform from behind; Beta was gone, zooming away with that blur motion.
"Surprises like that," Beta said, now moving right between Viktor and Ashley. He raised his arms, multi-colored energy crackling on his hands. "Now, let's take this somewhere more appropriate, why don't we? I know just the place."
Viktor tried to stop him, but was too late; a sphere of mana surrounded the three of them, and they were gone from Ravnica's streets. They re-appeared high in the air, somewhere else. Somewhere very hot.
The Minamo Academy stood without its master; none of the Hunters were here, and Elena had let on an excursion of hers. She hadn't told anyone that she would be leaving, but she was the boss; who needed to know? The Enslaved Keiga, the Tide Star patrolled in laps, prepared to meet any threat presented to the vulnerable school. On top of that, many traps lay within, in the off chance that Keiga was defeated; the beast was powerful, but forces existed, including the children, who could defeat it. And that was why Elena was on Grixis.
The plane of Grixis, the black-centered shard of the broken Alara, fit every description Elena had eavesdropped on other Planeswalkers' discussions about it. As she landed and braced herself on the disgusting ground, she looked up and beheld why it was considered a deranged hellscape.
Overhead, thick thunderheads rumbled like angry beasts, throwing lightning bolts to the ground that cackled like an insane laugh. The air was thick, stale, and stank of rot and disease all over. There wasn't a lot of natural ground here other than rock; masses of corpses, semi-solidified planes of ooze and body parts, and thick, noxious swamps dominated the landscape far and wide. On top of that, sickly Kathari swooped in circles overhead, searching for another meal. Mishappen zombies, Incurables, and skeletons wandered about, on the hunt for someone alive to torment before killing. Death Barons and Lich Lords ruled this place, commanding hordes of the Undead, carrying out their nefarious and wicked schemes against each other and the helpless hermitage-dwelling Humans.
What a delightful place.
Elena thought for a second, then decided in a simple course of action. She set off into the horrid landscape exposed, wanting to attract as much attention as possible. Her seething mass of mana and life force was like flies to honey, and little time passed before the deathly hordes closed in on her, seeking sustenance difficult to find otherwise. Countless snarling, drooling, and snapping skeletons, zombies, and death beasts crowded in for the kill.
Elena smiled, standing still even as the army of undead closed in within feet of her.
"You're so easy to corrupt," she told the masses, watching as the undead stopped, surprised by the sudden lack of will to attack her. They could feel the Enslavement mana flowing into them, Elena was sure, as they gave howls and cries of delight as she filled their heads with thoughts of power and sustenance when serving under her. Within moments, each sported the green forehead diamond of Enslavement, all bound to her will. Their corrupt and evil nature made them delightfully easy to commandeer. That was the first step.
"And now, my lovelies," Elena said to all of them, "I'm aware of a hyper-powerful being somewhere on this plane. Would you be so kind as to take me to him? He must be lonely being so powerful, the poor boy."
The Enslaved undead complied, slogging off in a new direction, knowing fully of who Elena was referring to. This would be an interesting meeting indeed.
Elsewhere, on the dark and twisted plane of Shadowmoor, animals scurried away from a blinding flash of green-white energy, and a being appeared there. Epsilon, tossing aside his Grand Arbiter robes, knew that he was in the right place; he recognized the scarred battlefield where Beta and Gamma had fought the first battle against the children. Good; he didn't have time to spare.
"Defy me, will you?" Epsilon said out loud, not turning. He knew that assembled Enslaved creatures, ranging from swamp hags to Gwyllions, were massing behind him to take out their known enemy, a traitor to their mistress, Elena. "Don't you know not to attack someone from behind like that? It's very... dishonorable."
In a green-white blur, Epsilon was among the creatures' ranks, his ivory sword out, flashing through the thick air. The creatures backed away and snarled as Epsilon sliced their comrades into pieces, twirling and spinning expertly. Within minutes, Epsilon settled on one knee, his head bowed and sword held out. One hundred of Elena's dead minions lay scattered about him in pieces. Let that be a warning against her foul Enslavement!
"Now, what I seek," Epsilon murmured, walking forth, approaching a wide crater. It was here, he knew, that Gamma had met his end; his death had probably caused an explosion, creating this crater.
Climbing down the crater's shallow curves, Epsilon scoured the moist dirt, looking, looking. It had to be here; it had to! He could sense more of Elena's Enslaved Minions coming close, some from other Planes. He couldn't be left alone for long.
Epsilon's probing fingers were met with success at last; they closed on the pinky finger-sized green gem, and he lifted it to his hungry eyes. This was it; this emerald matched the one on his own forehead, except that Epsilon's had cracked when he betrayed Elena and lost his connection to her. He prayed for success and placed Gamma's emerald on his palm, then closed his fist around it, focusing all his mana on it.
At once, Epsilon could feel Gamma's blue and white mana flowing into him from that emerald, a shocking experience. The blue-white mana surged around Epsilon like an aura, except that it was not his own. The force of this transfer sizzled the air, creating a shaft of blue-white that reached for the murky heavens. No matter that he attracted attention now. Once the transfer was complete and serenity resumed, Epsilon could feel Gamma's full power coursing within him, combining with his own power to form a single whole. He was now green, white, and blue, much more powerful now.
Epsilon craned his neck, looking up. He didn't know where the foul Elena was, but he had a message for her, one he hoped for her sake that she knew. "I'm coming to kill you. Be ready."
"Don't you have a lot of artifact destruction spells in there?" Kelly asked nervously, looking at Devin's stack of cards. "That's what green does, right?"
"Um, I have a Naturalize and an elf that destroys an artifact when it comes into play," Devin said, gripping his cards tight. "But don't you have life leeching and stuff with your black cards?"
"He's not alive, he's an artifact!" Kelly retorted, pointing at the approaching Kappa. "I'm not suited to fight him!"
"So what, do I do this alone while you watch?" Devin snapped, waving his arms. "Leaving me alone against him?! That's not fair!"
"I didn't say I'd abandon you!" Kelly responded, annoyed. "Don't presume that, Devin. It's just that my deck isn't much good against him."
"If you admit that, then you might as well not be fighting!" Devin shot back.
"I can get some of my spells to do some good!" Kelly argued. "I said not much good, not useless!"
"Well, neither exactly sets me at ease," Devin grumbled, seeing Kappa draw nearer. Thankfully, it seemed that this one couldn't use that rapid movement like Beta and Gamma had done. "But whatever. You have some good creatures like Sengir Vampire. Use him."
"Already planned on it!" Kelly cried, launching the tattered Vampire. The blood-thirsty fiend, cackling in thought of a fight, zoomed forth to meet the artifact Hunter. Before the Vampire could land a blow, Kappa formed a tentacle with his body parts that ended in a blade. This blade impaled the Vampire, killing it.
"Uh, I think you needed to infuse some mana into him," Devin said, staring blankly at the quick kill. "You know, like Viktor's grandpa said on Bant...?"
"Shut up!" Kelly cried, embarrassed, then dove to protect Devin from a pounce on Kappa's part. Working an arm out of her embrace, Devin summoned Viridian Shaman with extra mana; when it comes into play, it destroys an artifact. The elf woman stood tall, blasting Kappa with artifact-shattering force. Kappa's body groaned with the effort of resisting; his shiny armor sizzled and popped from the effort, until he managed to break free of the effect and take the Shaman out with a claw swipe.
"Yikes! Maybe I should have put more juice into it!" Devin cried in dismay. "Did you see that?"
"Yes, but you should see this," Kelly said confidently. Just as Kappa moved in for the kill, a Drag Down spot appeared, a swamp threatening to drag Kappa into its infinite depths. Devin knew its effect; the target got -1/-1 for every basic land type you had. Between him and Kelly, that was three; Mountains and Forests for him, Swamps for her.
"Error! Error!" Kappa grated, unable to move, his energy being sapped.
"Get him!" Kelly cried, and Devin was more than happy to comply. His Fireball blasted Kappa dead-on, and when the flamed died down, the Hunter had visible damage and lay limp.
"Awesome," Devin said in awe, looking down at his fallen foe. "Where'd that Drag Down come from?"
"I cast it as Kappa impaled the Vampire," Kelly explained, holding up both cards for emphasis. "The Vampire was a diversion, and I pretended to be messing up to keep up the illusion. Beta over there said that this one is slow to respond to surprises, after all."
"Oh, yeah. Totally sweet!" Devin exclaimed. "Let's finish him. Another Fireball?"
"Do it," Kelly said, and Devin was about to cast the spell when Kappa's bladed tentacle buried itself in his chest, sticking out the other end.