Magic: the Gathering
Chronicles, Volume 21
Author's note: Mass Effect 2 fans will probably be able to identify who the Tohru character was modeled after. On with the story...
***
It was on the very edge of the plane of Jund where Elena the Defiled One stood, right on the very point of the shard of the broken Alara. Few beings ever ventured here, on the very end of this semi-plane, but it was here where Elena worked her horrific magic. The volcanic wastes and steamy jungles crawling with predators were behind her, of no consequence to her. The plane's entire ecosystem was Enslaved, every dragon, Viashino brute, and slimy elemental here bent to her will. And currently, Elena was straining to make good of her threat over Nicol Bolas' head.
The other shards of Alara were actually visible from here; Elena could see they golden Bant, the green and brown Naya, the black and contorted Grixis, and the silver and blue Esper from here. These shards had been set on a collision course, where they would meet and create a titanic maelstrom of magic, a nexus of unparalleled power that the elder dragon needed so badly. Right now, only Bant and Grixis met at that central point; the former, because it was shielded against her will, and the latter, because Nicol Bolas would be suspicious if his own plane of operations were affected by her.
"And now, you need me more than ever," Elena said quietly to herself, referring to Nicol Bolas. Only in his weakened state could the elder dragon be unable to counter her moves, but what did that matter? As long as Elena worked her magic and kept the remaining three shards held in place far away from the other two, it meant no maelstrom nexus, no power for Bolas to drink from. If he wanted his Maelstrom, he would have to help her first.
If he was willing to cooperate. The elder dragon could not be read easily, Elena had to admit.
How could Beta have fallen? Elena raged to herself as she frowned in anger, multi-colored streams of mana flowing from her hands and accessing the Enslavement mana in the shards to hold them still. My second-strongest Hunter, the darling who was to bring the black Key Creature to me! And Kappa, where is he? Did he flee to Mirrodin to recover his strength? I fear for that one. Being created after the fact, he may have some… flaws. Alpha, Delta, do not let me down! There is also Epsilon to consider, and Gamma's power that he stole.
There was another complication for Bolas to deal with; Elena's magic was being infused into the shards to hold them back, but the energies were not connected to her; Elena's death would not move the shards again, and their only manipulator would be dead, leaving them stuck forever! Elena smiled to herself at the thought. She was the one key that could re-open the wealth of revitalizing energy Bolas sought, and he would help her succeed, or he would forever suffer frailty and weakness. Even with full strength, Elena would have the entire Multiverse in her control! Not even the Elder Dragon would be able to overcome such odds.
At least, Elena was confident that that was the case.
***
"Hmmmmm. Very unusual. I must say, I have seen tarot cards and other fortune-telling accessories, but nothing with legitimate power like these do. Perhaps they channel energies from elsewhere? Perhaps blessed by the Kami or Planeswalkers? No, Planeswalkers do not give blessing. Perhaps from another world entirely? New plane of card magic? Possible, possible…"
"Hey!" Viktor interrupted, hoping to catch the other's attention. The other paid no attention as he studied Viktor's Thorn Elemental card and Ashley's Holy Day card.
"Might be a blood contract to access powers. Yes, unusual runes on the back for such a purpose. The five colors of magic in an oval, no one else can use these cards to the same effect. Child! Did your perform a blood contract to access the power of the cards?"
The Kamigawa Planeswalker looked to Viktor for an answer, waving the Thorn Elemental back and forth to indicate it. Viktor shook his head.
"No, Tohru, I already said. They're from another plane called 'Earth.' There's no magic or mana there at all, just these cards to play a game."
Tohru blinked, confused. "A game? Is that all this is? The Kami, the war, the suffering, a game?" he swept his arms before the cratered surface of the Towabara plain as he and the kids made their way to Eiganjo Castle.
"Hey, um, we're not entirely sure either," Devin had to admit, jogging to catch up. "These cards just manifest different creatures and spells and stuff. It's not like we have powers except our mana auras. Wait, maybe that's it…"
Tohru was renowned as a master scholar of all subjects in life, not to mention a recent Planeswalker eager to prove his worth with his vast repertoire of knowledge. The man tilted his head in thought, his creased, elderly face having an oddly youthful look of curiosity to it. His red and gray wise man robes flapped as he walked at a brisk pace, forcing everyone else to hurry along to catch up to him. And currently, he was trying to figure out the concept of booster packs.
"These cards come in packets of fifteen each? Most unusual," he commented, changing topic without warning, his rapid mental process making his speech fast and clipped. "Must not be a preference of contents, randomization to prevent unfairness toward game. Yes, that also adds to the excitement of purchasing game materials, not knowing if you will find the cards you want." He turned to Kelly. "Did you say that 'mythic rare' cards are in one out of every six or eight booster packets?"
"One out of every eight," Kelly said bracingly. "And look, shouldn't we be considering how to accomplish the mission at hand? We're about to storm a castle that's well-protected, and the middle-strongest Hunter is going to be here too. Plus, there are plenty of Enslaved creatures around…"
"Do not worry. Have already considered all aspects of current operation," Tohru said proudly, tapping his chin with a luxurious fan. "Enemy numbers uncertain, other than Delta Hunter who currently bears Makoto Yamada as a hostage. His goal is lord Konda, as is ours. Therefore, speed and stealth preferable to brute force and slaughter. Most efficient plan of action, recapture Makoto and secure Konda, then flee."
"H-huh? Get them back and run?" Viktor yelped. "How can that be a good plan? Delta will be there too!"
"You can teleport from plane to plan, can't you?" Tohru asked him rapidly, his piercing eyes on Viktor. "By merely touching cards together?"
"Well, yeah. We can," Viktor said. "But we can't just let Delta get away!"
"Why not? Do you have a theory?"
"No, but… shouldn't we get one more enemy out of the way?"
Tohru shook his head. "Too risky to do this much in one mission. Should instead plant seeker spell on Delta to find him later, and defeat when he's not expecting us. Right now, Delta expects us to come after him since he pursues a Key Creature and is close. Instead, after this Delta will wander around in defeat, demoralized. That is best chance to strike."
"Okay, um… anyone have any stealthy spells on hand?" Viktor asked everyone, joining them. Being the one with blue cards, Ashley offered a few.
"Infiltrator's Magemark?" she offered, holding up the said card. Viktor recognized the Ravnica card easily – a blue Aura that gave +1/+1 and unblockability to the enchanted creature. But then again...
"Any others?" Viktor asked. "We've got to be sure we can be completely undetected."
"Turn to Mists?" Ashley offered again, slipping that very card out of her stack of cards.
"But that removes a creature from the game until the end of the turn," Devin objected, then caught himself. "Wait, the alternate –"
"The alternate effect, Gruul boy! Jeez, did a drunk Borborygmos tutor you as a kid when you were young?" Gerbie complained as he peeped out of Ashley's pocket, his beady eyes unbelieving. "I'm one twentieth your size and knew that!"
"Hey, quit mouthin' off, man. He just lost an arm recently, go easy," Ike protested in his slow, strangely teenager-like voice, crawling out of Viktor's own jacket pocket and pointing at Gerbie.
"Yeah. Have mercy on the cripple!" Devin added, patting his right shoulder.
"Crippled mind, maybe," Gerbie muttered, and Viktor could have sworn that the Simic pet had a smirk on his furry face before retreating back into his pocket sanctuary. Ike shrugged and slipped back into Viktor's pocket, muttering in his deep voice.
"Most unusual conversation," Tohru commented, launching into one of his scholar rants again. "Level of casual mockery and lack of hurt feelings both indicate a high level of friendship and personal intimacy. Clearly, you all have been through much together, even before entering the Multiverse from your 'Earth' plane."
"You're right about that, Tohru," Kelly nodded with a small smile. "We've been good friends for who knows how long? The Magic game is only one thing out of many that keeps us together."
"Some Simic hydroplasm-wurm saliva-glue would keep you together, too," Gerbie sniped from his pocket before Ashley shoved him back in, zipping up the pocket most of the way to only allow an air hole to let him breathe.
"Sure, sure," Devin grinned. "Okay, Turn to Mists would turn us all into vapor, wouldn't it? Just how would that work?"
"Only one way to know. We're getting close to detection range, I'll bet," Ashley said, holding the Turn to Mists at eye level as Yosei, the Morning Star came into view from behind the Eiganjo Castle, on patrol. Though he couldn't tell from here, Viktor had to assume that the dragon spirit was Enslaved, as were many denizens of this plane. With every passing minute, more and more of the Multiverse fell into Elena's control. They couldn't wait any longer!
"With your word, Viktor," Kelly prompted, and Viktor nodded, gesturing. "Take it away, Ash."
"Okay," Ashley said, before the group stopped and she closed her eyes, a look of concentration and focus on her face. Then, her blue and white mana aura whispered into existence, flowing into the instant card she held. Viktor had to resist yelping as he suddenly felt light, as though balloons had latched onto him and begun to carry him away. A mist of sandy white and ocean blue faded into existence, wafting from the Turn to Mists card like a fog machine. Everyone else was fading from Viktor's sight, even Tohru.
"Whoa, man, am I getting high on dried Golgari rot-plants?" Ike said in wonder from Viktor's pocket, his voice light and unfocused.
"Hey, did Ike just make a stoner joke?" Devin commented, now gone from Viktor's sight. "He talks like a skater anyway..."
"Be quiet!" Kelly hissed. "Where are you?"
"Where are you? I can't see you guys anywhere," Devin said frankly, lowering his voice at Kelly's request. "I can only see myself, and even them I'm kind of see-through."
"Same for me, I feel really alone," Ashley's voice added, sounding a little off-put.
"Don't worry, sis, we're all here," Kelly assured her. "Tohru, how are you holding up?"
"Incredible! I've seen your card magic at work for the first time. I must say, I can barely express or contain my enthusiasm or wonder for such a phenomenon! May I study it in detail later?" Tohru's old but excited voice warbled rapidly from Viktor's left.
"Well, the experiments will have to wait, old timer," Devin said. "We've got to rescue Makoto first."
"But I can't see any of us," Ashley put in. "How can we avoid straying apart?"
Viktor suddenly go an idea. "Kraken's Eye," he muttered, the artifact eye appearing before him before being partly hidden by the mists of Ashley's spell. "I've altered it so I can see with its strong eyesight. I've linked the rest of you to it, too."
"Totally different from the original effect, but I like it," Devin praised, as he and the others faded back into Viktor's sight, making him breathe a sigh of relief. Every time someone left his sight in the Multiverse, it was usually for a bad reason. He motioned for the others to follow, and they did, Tohru marveling at the Eye that allowed them to see each other. With time, they arrived at the front gates of Eiganjo Castle, the building simply massive. Viktor had never gotten too much of a sense of scale from looking at the original card's illustration, but now he felt like he was staring up at a man-made mountain.
Viktor just opened his mouth to ask how they were going to get up to a window to sneak in when Ashley's Lifted by Clouds sent them floating to a middle floor's window; opening the front doors would have alerted the Enslaved creatures inside, even if the intruders were invisible. There would probably be counter-magic traps at the front lobby, anyway. Better to slip in with an unexpected route.
"Okay, now we have to find the throne room," Viktor said quietly once everyone had landed on the wooden floor of the hallway they were in. The hallway was relatively bare, with only a few doors along one wall and windows on the other. "We have to be fast but quiet. Everyone ready?"
Everyone else gave the affirmative, and the five-some advanced down the hall, making light footsteps to ensure that they wouldn't be heard, especially since some of the boards creaked. As they pushed further into Eiganjo Castle, Viktor saw various rooms and hallways, from an elaborate dining hall to a samurai armory with katanas and armor pieces, and private quarters with the doors open to reveal expensive dressers and beds within. The place was remarkably still, Viktor had to admit; where were the inhabitants of the Castle, Enslaved or not? They had to be here... unless this was a trap? No, there was no way. Konda was the lord of this castle and wouldn't want to be anywhere else. Yosei was on patrol outside, after all.
"Hmmmmm. Where'd everyone go?" Devin commented quietly after a few minutes. "This isn't going to be a trap, is it?"
"That's possible," Kelly said thoughtfully. "It could be a trap waiting to spring, or an empty castle to lure us away from where the real action is, a ruse. No matter what, though, we're already here and need to get to the throne room. I just wish this place weren't so big. This could take a while, even if I used small creatures as scouts such as Ravenous Rats."
Tohru rustled around in his robe's pockets, until he produced a large piece of rice paper and unfolded it, showing its contents to everyone else. "Perhaps this map would be of use?" he said.
Viktor nearly tripped. "And you didn't show us this earlier?" he sputtered.
"Slipped my mind. My apologies," Tohru said, unperturbed. "I have done much research for lord Konda, having visited this castle many times. Follow this route to the throne room."
Tohru traced a path on the map with his finger, and Viktor led the way, hoping that this tense, quiet corridor crawl would amount to something.
"Do you hear something?" Ashley asked after a minute, as they were in an anteroom and passed a large, elaborate statue.
"Like what?" Devin asked, cupping a hand to his ear to listen.
"Like, a thumping noise?" Ashley asked, and Viktor could hear it too, coming from the next room. "Get ready," he whispered urgently, gripping his Fighting Drake card tightly in preparation for combat. The five intruders crept closer to the source of the noise, edging along the wall.
"Hey, kiddo," a sudden, loud voice said gleefully. Viktor nearly jumped out of his skin and whirled around, his heart almost stopping at the sight that met him. He recognized the bulky man before him with wood and iron armor, and cat pelt-like hair.
Delta grinned widely. "Welcome to Eiganjo Castle," he joked before his massive foot collided with Viktor's stomach, sending him rocketing across the room and crashing through the wall. Viktor couldn't even make a sound as his back crashed through the wall, and he didn't stop there; he kept going, sailing through the next room and crashing through its wall, too, and then the third wall as well.
"Gaaaah!" Viktor managed to gasp at last, slumping against the impact depression he made on the fourth room's wall, falling limply to the floor and his vision flickering. He could feel Ashley's Withstand effects behind him, and he knew that the cushioning magic was all that had kept his back from breaking. Viktor struggled to sit up, as Delta came stomping through the holes in the walls that Viktor's flight had created.
"Gotcha! I thought you kids would be more slippery than this," Delta commented enthusiastically, cracking his knuckles loudly; his fists had to be twice the size of Viktor's own. The man was almost a giant, over seven feet tall and bulky. He was the red-green Hunter, indeed, and looked even bigger indoors than out in the open at the Sokenzan mountain range, where Viktor had seen him last.
"How... did you see me? And how could I not see you?" Viktor gritted, trying to move through the haze in his mind caused by Delta's kick.
"Easy!" Delta answered, closing in. "I have some help."
"Fireball!" Devin yelled, his seething blast of fire threatening to envelope Delta from behind. Before the fire could reach hi, however, another being appeared out of nowhere, swinging his hand to deflect the fire. With effort, the being had the fire careening against a wall, blasting away a large chunk of it to reveal the open sky beyond.
"Who are you?" Devin cried, dismayed at his unsuccessful spell. The being landed close by, his armor blue and black. The being himself appeared to be in his late teens, around the kids' own age but he had a round, dime-sized emerald in his forehead above his malicious and playful dark blue eyes.
"Who am I? Better to ask who are we," the armored warrior said, as a third newcomer flashed into existence and stood back-to-back with the other, clad in the same armor and with the same style emerald forehead. "We are Theta --" started the first one.
"-- and Omega. Learn and remember it well, kids," the newcomer said with a nasty wink and toothy grin. "'Cause we're gonna gut you!"
"New Hunters?" Ashley cried in dismay, taking a step back. "How many are there?"
Theta shook his head. "Nuh-uh," he said, waving a finger. "Omega and I are the servants of lord Alpha, who in turn is the servant of Lady Elena. So, in a way we serve Elena and are spawn of her flesh, but we're really Alpha's guys. The muscle."
"That makes us sound like dumb brutes," Omega complained. "We're not like Delta over there. Jeez!"
"Well fine, we're Alpha's right-hand men, then," Theta said finally.
"That would make them blue-black. They're bound to be tricky to fight," Kelly informed the others urgently. "We've got to be careful."
"Careful or not, you're not getting the Key Creature here!" Delta announced. "Lord Konda is for my taking, so I can get him back to Lady Elena. She's running desperate, just so you know, especially after Beta's downfall. Theta and Omega and I are going to take your other Key Creatures, too, like the black demon Beta couldn't capture on Ravnica. I'll be the one to make my Lady proud!"
"Like hell you are!" Viktor roared, his Fighting Drake blasting into appearance, the giant winged beast screeching as it charged after Delta, aided by a Battlegrowth that Viktor cast on it, giving it giant metal claws to fight with. However, it was for naught – Delta jumped above the Drake's thrusting, snapping jaws and grabbed its entire head with his left hand, then slammed its head right into the floor with a loud crunch.
"Take that, scale-boy!" Delta cheered as the Drake's skull was pulverized, the creature dying.
No way. Even in that little time frame, he could fend off the Drake and kill it? Viktor thought. He's fast for his size and strength. I better watch out and –
Viktor didn't have time: before his Llanowar Behemoth and Scatter the Seeds could be cast, Delta appeared before him in a flash, the giant Hunter moving with a swish and a streak of red and green mana.
It's that surge of speed that Gamma and Beta have used! Viktor thought, recognizing the move before Delta grabbed Viktor's head and slammed the boy into the wall, yelling with glee. Viktor gritted his teeth and crumpled to the floor, rolling to dodge Delta's boot stomp finishing move. A Flash Foliage ensured that a tangle of vines and Saprolings caught Delta's foot in place, giving Viktor the time to cast Elvish Warrior equipped with a Trusty Machete, the elf wielding the weapon with expert and deadly grace. The elf leaped high into the air, twirling around before swinging the rough but sharp machete at Delta's head, the elf's long hair whirling with the movement.
Delta's hand was there to block the blow, a wood and iron brass knuckle on his fist that had several knife-like blades between the knuckles, those blades clashing against the Elvish Warrior's Trusty Machete, the two sets of blades pressing against each other. Then, the Elf broke off the attack, forcing Delta's hand away to create another opening. The machete closed in on Delta's head, his eyes widening in shock.
"Whoa!" the Hunter yelped, before ducking and sinking his other fist into the Elf's gut, the blades on that brass knuckle impaling the Elf all the way through and killing it. The Elf slumped to the floor before vanishing in wisps of green mana, with Delta standing triumphantly. "You almost got me there. I'm not too good with sword-fighting like that," Delta said before charging. "I'm better at smashing things!"
"Then try this," Viktor whispered before slipping a Twiddle out of his card stack, a stream of blue mana rocketing at Delta's feet and tripping him, making the massive Hunter fall forward and tumble across the wooden floor, crying out in shock.
Kelly's Sengir Vampire was quick to pounce on the vulnerable Hunter, the ragged pale man seizing the Hunter and biting his neck, draining his life force and adding it to Kelly's reserves of mana, adding some red and green to her charcoal-black mana aura.
"Get it off! Quick!" Delta shouted, rolling and clawing at the Vampire that had seized him from behind. Theta and Omega were in the air at once, like a pair of ninjas without the swords. They both spun in the air the way the Elvish Warrior had, but they had more power; each of them connected a foot to the Vampire, sending it flying with a heavy spinning kick. The Vampire slammed into the opposite wall, crashing through it and adding another hole.
"Hey hey, Delta, don't let the boogeyman get you!" Omega joked, pointing at where the Sengir Vampire had gone.
"I know! Leave me alone!" Delta cried defensively.
"Then don't get caught so easily. Take it from us," Theta said cockily, pretending to brush a little dirt off his right pauldron. His eyes widened as he realized that a Deft Duelist had slipped up from behind, the Bant sword-master swinging to take his head off with a lightning-fast sword stroke, having First Strike. However, Theta whirled around and backed up, blocking the sword with one of his own; but something was strange about it. It looked like a large broadsword, but only the left half of one, like the original was split down the middle and Theta held the left half, in his left hand no less. Viktor gaped at the bizarre weapon the Hunter servant wielded.
"Omega!" Theta cried, and the other nodded, taking out his own half-sword, the right half of a broadsword and lopping off the Duelists' head, vaporizing it. Both Hunter servants panted, looking much more aggravated.
"It's been a while since someone took a swing at us!" Omega growled, pointing at Ashley. "You're the one who cast that, right?"
"How could you tell?" Ashley asked, recoiling.
Omega tapped his temple. "A probe spell," he said. "We cast it the instant you all showed up here in Kamigawa. Not one of your moves was hidden from us, even after you turned yourselves into mist to hide from the other Enslaved creatures around here. We even let Delta have access to the effects, and loaned him an invisibility spell on top of that to land a good ambush. He owes us a favor, but there you go."
"Never underestimate us!" Theta said, pumping his fist, before a Shock blasted his face, sending him tumbling back and smoking.
"Damn it!" he snarled. "I guess we're getting cocky, ain't we?"
"Come on, Theta, you're getting sloppy!" Omega taunted his ally, using his half-sword to deflect a second Shock without even looking at it. "I didn't get hit!"
"Then it's time to combine our abilities, ain't it?" Theta grinned wildly, twirling his own half-broadsword around before securing it in a grip in his armored left hand. "Our double-teaming?"
"Yeah. And if worse comes to worse, we'll have to use that move," Omega agreed, tracing a complex pattern in the air with his blade before raising it to a ready position in his right hand.
"Fine. You guys pick who to fight, then," Delta told the twosome, as Viktor took his chance and joined the others and Tohru. "I'll fight the rest. Fair is fair, right? I want to claim at least one or two kills here, if not more. I'm itching to prove myself, especially after my comrades' earlier failures."
"What are we going to do?" Kelly asked Viktor once he joined them. "There's three of them now, and Theta and Omega are bound to be tricky at best. If they serve Alpha, the strongest Hunter, then they're probably blue-black like he is."
"I'll take on Delta with you, Ashley. Kelly, you and Devin take on the twins over there, same team setup as against Beta and Kappa. But we can still cover each other's backs. Plus, don't be too afraid to use our Zendikar cards; we don't have the luxury of holding back here."
Then, turning his attention to Delta: "Pretty cocky of you, to take us on before securing the Key Creature. And where is Makoto?"
"Your friend?" Delta sneered. "I deposited the lump in the throne room under a confinement spell, so he can only wait as we finish our battle here! I have his card thingy, after all. He's not going to take that Key Creature before I do."
Delta slipped a Magic card from his armor and showed it to the kids: Makoto's Konda, Lord of Eiganjo card, still in perfect condition. Viktor formulated a quick and simple plan in his mind.
"Tohru. Where's the throne room?" he whispered to the wizened scholar.
"Throne room? Why, in central regions, one floor below us and that way," Tohru answered, pointing to the wall opposite of the wall facing the outside world. "Do you have a plan, Viktor? If so, you must confide in me so I may help. I have my own spells to use, you know. Care to share?"
"We're going to take the battle to where it matters. And get our friend back," was all Viktor told him and the others, but they all nodded and understood what he meant by that. The five of them weren't going to fight on Delta's terms if they could help it.