Magic: the Gathering

Chronicles, Volume 20

As soon as the white and gold-robed healer mage swung open the heavy wooden door to the castle's infirmary and exited that chamber, Viktor, Ashley and Kelly were quick to confront him, babbling with questions.

"Is he going to be okay?" was Ashley's question, the most straightforward one. The healer nodded.

"The boy's condition has stabilized. The angels have smiled upon him and granted him the strength to endure," the healer told us, brushing past. "However, there is no complete repair of what has happened. The Devin boy must live with his loss, I'm afraid. However, we've lost too many in the war against the Defiled One by what Elspeth's 'Planeswalker' allies tell us, and his life is one of the more important ones. See that this is the last harm to befall him or any of you."

"Yes, sir! Thank you very much," Viktor thanked him. "May we see him?"

The healer hesitated, then nodded. "Very well," he said. "But don't overexcite him. His mind needs to settle into what has happened, and the mind's health and body's health are tightly connected."

"Understood," Kelly said, then she and her two friends entered the stone-walled infirmary, the walls being a gentle cream color and with a smooth wooden floor. Two glassed windows allowed Bant's gold-orange sunset light to stream in, providing light. Outside the windows, the green rolling hills of Bant were visible, along with the ponds and clumps of trees out there along with the Rhox monasteries. The matter at hand, however, was the threesome's friend, who was currently in one of the beds.

Devin stirred, opening his eyes to see his three friends approach, looking concerned. He sat up, the white covers falling back to reveal the bandages on his torso. A shallow bowl of water sat on the bedside table next to a book.

"Devin!" Ashley cried, taking her friend's side. "How are you?"

"Never been better!" Devin said brightly, turning to face everyone. "Sorry if all of you have been just waiting around worried sick. The castle gets boring after a time unless there's some jousting tournament starting up on the grounds, or if someone pisses off a Rhox and gets in a fight. Those guys sure are tough, for monks…"

"Devin, that's not the point," Kelly said gently. "We want to know if you've been all right. To suffer such an injury…"

"It's all right," Devin said frankly. "Some of the medicines and balms of the healers here are kind of prickly and make my skin tingle, but they do a good job. They even had an envoy of the angels show up and say some fanciful 'heal thine soul' stuff and weird hand motions." Devin made a funny face and voice as he imitated the angel envoy's words, then tapped his left hand against his leg absent-mindedly. "But really. I appreciate everything they did, and the three of you coming here."

"Hey hey, Gruul boy, make that five! We count for something, in case you forgot," a familiar voice said, and Gerbie pounced out of Ashley's pocket and landed on Devin's bed. "Mmmmmm, nice and soft. Are these sheets woven from the fur of an Azorius Archon?"

"Naw, this is Bant, remember?" Devin said, looking down at the gerbil.

"Oh, yeah. We went back to my home but left again," Gerbie said morosely, then brightened again. "But we did defeat that minion of Elena's, though, didn't we?"

"Yeah. Wasn't too hard!" Devin said with equal enthusiasm. "Only cost an arm and a… well, just an arm." Devin reached over with his left hand and touched the bandages that covered where his right arm used to be. "I didn't think Beta' death explosion would go that far or hurt so much. That was a final spit in the eye, wasn't it?"

"Don't joke about that. You could have died," Ashley objected. Devin's face fell.

"Well, yeah," he said. "Look, I'm sorry if I made you all worry. Too many lives have been lost fighting against Elena and her Hunters and Enslaved army. People have been talking about that here in the castle. I could hear them."

"True," Viktor nodded. "Even so, there's no way we're going to give up on this. Too many people are counting on us for us to fail now. I just wish that this kind of thing didn't have to happen."

"Hey, I'll live with it, okay?" Devin said bracingly, lowering his left arm. "Don't get yourself wound up like that, man. We need a good attitude! I think your grandpa Georgi said something about our mindsets affecting our magic potency. He's taught us all kinds of stuff."

"Indeed," Ashley had to nod. Then she looked all around. "And anyway, where is he? I haven't seen him since –"

"Are you all talking about me?" a familiar voice said, and Georgi Dimitrov, Viktor's Planeswalker grandfather, entered the room with Elspeth Tirel and Jace Beleren in tow. The old man (even though he set himself to look middle-aged) wore Bant armor, shiny and silver. "I just swung around to see what you kids were doing."

"Ahhh, Bardon, you can never be subtle, can you?" Jace shook his head as the threesome entered the room and closed the door, referring to Georgi by his Multiverse name. Elspeth's hood was down, revealing her bun of smooth black hair, her sword in it sheath on her hip.

Viktor was still getting used to seeing his grandfather middle-aged and in good health; back on Earth, Georgi/Bardon had lived in a nursing home in Sofia and could hardly get around without help while Viktor studied abroad in the United States. Then, the day had come where Georgi just showed up and basically outlined the kids' entire mission to them, and revealed himself to be a retired Planeswalker and much older than anyone thought he was.

Even so, it was good to see him again.

"Now, if I remember correctly, Bardon, this boy is your grandchild from a plane you call 'Earth'," Elspeth said, watching Viktor embrace his grandfather. "Isn't he?"

"That he is, and the leader of the five who will take the Defiled One down," Georgi said proudly. "Right?"

Viktor made a face. "Not exactly," he objected. "We're all a group, but there isn't really a leader among us. We all have equal say."

"But every party has its leader, right?" Devin called over. "You've been kind of like that lately, Viktor, and we feel comfortable following your lead. Why not make it official?"

"Well…" Viktor mused in his mind. Was he indeed their leader? He often decided where they went and how they fought against their Hunter foes, but it was always by the consent of the others. "I call the shots, but not without the input of you all. You decide just as much as I do."

"Humility is a virtue, boy," Elspeth smiled. "But there's no need for it here. Everyone needs someone to look up to in these dark times, a heroic figure."

"But heroes always die or something!" Viktor cried, then regretted his words. This wasn't going to be like those movies where the hero dies, was it? The battles he fought were real, and everyone was risking their lives against very real threats.

Georgi roared in laughter. "Nonsense!" he said. "Listen, Viktor, just be someone the others can look up to, okay? I think you have that aptitude."

"Well… okay," Viktor relented. "But the others have a say in everything we do as well, okay?"

"There's that humility again," Jace muttered.

"Anyway. Jace's spies have updates for us to consider," Georgi announced, getting down to business. He went to the center of the room, his armored feet clanking on the wooden floor. "We know where Makoto is."

"You do?!" Devin cried, then winced as he over-exerted himself.

"He's still on Kamigawa, the same plane where we lost him," Georgi explained. "His Key Creature, Takeshi Konda, is there as well, most likely in his Eiganjo castle. I believe that the Hunter Delta has Makoto in his custody and plans to single-handedly storm Eiganjo castle and capture Konda."

"That sounds… bold," Kelly frowned.

"Delta is a creature of impulse and bravado. He would do nothing short of this," Jace put in. "However, be aware that that creature is quite capable of carrying out such a straightforward plan. The man is not alone; he has shamanistic powers, and by what I've studied of his mana aura, his Ascendant State reflects that. The defenders of Eiganjo castle would be overwhelmed."

"No way…" Viktor breathed. His mind went back to the Ascendant State Beta, the fire-wraith that had claimed Devin's arm and nearly killed them all. Delta could do something like that too? "And what about Alpha and Epsilon? What are they doing?"

"I have little information on either," Jace said frankly. "Epsilon has vanished from my sight a long time ago, but seemed to be moving on his own will rather than Elena's orders. That could be quite significant. And Alpha has many mysterious powers, one being a blocker against observation. I cannot tell you where he is or what he's doing any more than I can find the Defiled One herself. I do know, however, is that Alpha has two minions named Theta and Omega who are in Delta's party."

"What?! New Hunters? I thought Kappa was enough…" Devin cried before wincing again and lying down.

"Rest assured, Theta and Omega are more like scouts than fighters," Jace assured him. "Even so, their trickery may complicate matters, and I am ignorant of what abilities they possess other than sharing Alpha's intra-planer teleportation. It is very unlikely that they have Ascendant States."

"And that's the long and short of it," Georgi said. "What is your next move, Viktor?"

"You want me to decide?" Viktor yelped, pointing at himself.

"Of course! I want you to take a stand in this horrific war," Georgi said. "Be someone we can look up to, all right?"

"All… all right," Viktor agreed, now feeling more confident than nervous. "I've made up my mind. Right now, our priority targets are Konda and Makoto. We can get a lot accomplished at once – capture the last Key Creature, rescue our friend, and defeat Delta, along with Theta and Omega. This could be a turning point in the battle against Elena."

"I commend your decision, Viktor Dimitrov," Elspeth said.

"Thanks," Viktor nodded, feeling weird at being complimented by a Planeswalker. He could remember seeing the Elspeth Planeswalker card, and he suddenly had to fight the urge to laugh; here he was being complimented by that card's subject made real! What else seemed illusion in his life but was real?

"So, when are we going to go?" Viktor asked presently. "Soon?"

"When your friend Devin has recovered sufficiently, you may depart," Jace answered. "We cannot risk pushing all of you beyond your limits when so much is at stake. However, neither can we dawdle, for the Defiled One's minions move closer to their goals with every passing minute."

"Then how about tomorrow morning? Morning for here, that is," Viktor suggested.

"That sounds good to me," Georgi said, and the matter was settled.

**

Finally.

Delta was not one to take long walks like this, especially not over rough, cratered terrain like this with a kid over his shoulder and two annoying mini-Hunters tagging along and making fun of Delta's face.

"How you holding up, kiddo?" the red and green Hunter asked the boy, hefting him on his shoulder.

"Rrrrrgh," was Makoto's only reply. Delta laughed.

"Relax, we'll be there soon. Then this'll all be over," Delta said proudly, turning to look at the looming Eiganjo castle, its defender Yosei the Morning Star not yet in sight. That dragon would have to be Enslaved as soon as possible, to make this easier. "Your Key Creature is the human lord Takeshi Konda, and we're going to bag him as soon as possible. Lady Elena won't be disappointed."

"And if she is, then you'll be stuck as her errand boy forever," Omega taunted, walking ahead of Delta out of arm's reach. "She'll make you run back and forth across the Planes all day long, fetching stuff without a break…"

"That would be horrible! I just want to capture this creature and get back to my slumber in the Minamo Academy," Delta complained, holding back a yawn. "Help me out here, guys, and no one will be disappointed in any of us."

"Fine fine," Theta agreed. "But we get first dibs on any treasure we find in there."

"But why would I want treasure?" Delta frowned.

"Maybe a good set of earrings or a gold tiara to offset your ugly face," Omega taunted him. "You need something to distract the eye."

"H-hey! Stop making fun of me!" Delta cried. "I could squash you bugs in my fist, you know. Don't make me mad!"

"Doesn't matter. We can outrun you," Theta put in, and he and Omega proved their point by running in circles around Delta, always out of reach. The brute Hunter sighed in defeat and trudged ever closer to the castle. Within a day, he would be there and find victory.