Interlude: The Great Massacre

The Mystic Realm

During the last great war…

The sparkling diamond walls of the Casterwill Mansion darkened into obsidian as Bandora teleported on top of the palace, her hands ebbing with dark energies. Thorns of shadows lashed out from the mansion, spreading through the estate and the surrounding forest. Flowers wilted, barks dried up and the forest spirits withered away.

"Enough!" It was Queen Undine of the Mystic Forest, mother of Udonna and Niella. She rose from her throne as her court looked at each other in shock as the walls trembled and the palace shook.

Her royal guards leapt to action, as the windows shattered open and dark mist filled the throne room, before solidifying into grotesque monsters.

"Your majesty, we must get you to safety." Her handmaiden urged.

"No." She shook her head. "These monsters will pay for defiling the sanctity of my palace."

Queen Undine's eyes glowed blue as her flowing gown transformed into sapphire armour. A sceptre appeared in her outstretched hands as she leapt at the monsters, joining her knights, while the rest of her court scurried towards the exit, only to met by a pack of hidiacs, who growled hungrily at them.

"No!" Undine called out, as she fired a blast of blue energy that incinerated a monster. She turned towards one of her knights.

"Protect them! Lead them to safety!" She told them.

The knight nodded, leaping across the room, pink magic circles rotating around him as he landed in between the court officials and the henchmen. He swung his sword in a wide arc and pink winds slammed against the hidiacs, tossing them into the hallway.

"Come with me!" He urged, leading the group out of the throne room and towards the stairways that led to the exit.

Undine breathed a sigh of relief before glowering at the monsters.

A terrifying scream broke through the cries of battle. She turned around to see the golden knight fall to the ground lifeless, a gaping hole in her torso. A monster, who wore samurai armour, withdrawing his sword.

She let out a cry of anger, twirling her sceptre in the air, striking the monster with it.

The monster blocked it with his sword and smashed her with his other arm. She slammed against the wall and let out a cry of pain.

"My queen!" The monster was hit by a volley of elemental magics as the five knights converged around her. Her eyes diverted to where the sixth member of her guard, Marlene lay broken, her golden armour tainted with blood.

"We need to go." She coughed as Francis the red knight helped her to her feet.

"Lanuae Magicae!" Neville, the green knight chanted, summoning a green spell circle underneath them, only for it to shatter.

The monster laughed. "There is no escape, your highness!"

The other three monsters, a yeti, an insectoid with skeletal wings and a bulldog sneered as they joined him.

"They are the Barbarian Beasts!" The silver knight, Anthea noted, her voice trembling as she recognised the quartet who had massacred millions.

"And this is your end!" The insectoid screeched before letting out a sonic attack at them, which made them kneel to the ground, grabbing their ears.

"Too easy!" She scoffed as the monsters neared them, drawing their weapons.

Outside, the Mystic Force rushed to the palace but a barrier of darkness erupted from the poisoned earth, blocking their path.

"No!" Niella screamed, lunging towards the barrier, only to held back by Udonna as the darkness spawned demons, vampires, werewolves, tengas, hidiacs and other creatures of the night, who charged at them.

The mystics drew their wands.

"Magical Source, Mystic Force!" They yelled in unison, the magic of the elements washing over them and transforming them into the mystic rangers.

Amaya Ozu, the blue mystic drew her staff and crossed her arms over her chest. The air condensed to form globules of water that shot towards the hidiacs, tearing through them.

A pack of werewolves moved in towards Amaya from behind, their razor-sharp teeth glinting in the moonlight and their yellow eyes ebbing with hunger.

The blue mystic didn't turn to face them in time but the yellow mystic did. She leapt before them as her body crackled with electricity.

Lena fired her bow and thunderbolts tore through the lupine creatures, reducing some of them to ashes while the others howled, charging at her with feral rage.

The orange mystic came to her rescue. Calindor clapped his hands together and a bolt of lightning tore through the skies, blasting the pack to a pile of ash, seconds before the roar of thunder.

Nearby, the black mystic, Mei transformed her staff into a flail. A chain extended out of the staff connecting it to a spiked metal ball.

She swung her flail, the metal ball smashing through the hidiacs and golems.

"They keep coming!" Gale the pink mystic shouted from the skies, his fairy wings fluttering as he shot bolts of pink magic at the tengas.

Udonna and Niella had their backs pressed against each other as they were surrounded by an army of golems.

"Flurry of Snow!"

"Lunar Laser!"

Snow and cosmic energies made short work of the putties and rock monsters as they heaved a sigh.

Petros the green forest mystic and Augusta the brown earth mystic tore through the enemy ranks with their axe and hammer.

Leanbow and Daggeron rushed through the darkness and saw a coven of vampires surround Roshni the gold mystic and Seraphina the silver mystic.

"Ancient Power of the Phoenix!" The leader of the mystics shouted as a spectral phoenix dived at the nocturnal creatures, incinerating them with his cosmic flames.

As the roots of darkness spread across the magical realm, the inhabitants, both human and mystical saw cracks appear in the skies and dark energy break through.

They felt the earth shudder as the gates of the Underworld rose from the ground in the distance.

Zanna, the Mystic Mother fired another blast of light that ripped through demons.

The Armies of darkness had launched a simultaneous attack on their strongholds- the Casterwill Mansion, the Mystic Academy, several towns as well as the woodland villages.

Their forces were divided.

They were failing.

The teachers of the Academy, former mystics and powerful warriors on their own right fought alongside her. Several senior students joined them while the newer ones were led to safety.

Kai Ozu joined his family at defending their students, attacking the demons relentlessly with his fierce phoenix spirit. He flew in the air with wings of fire and blasted spheres of fire towards tengu warriors, incinerating them to ashes.

Miyuki and Isamu, the Arctic Priestess and the Inferno Knight, his parents ascended to their titan forms to fight the giant monsters who threatened to squash the Academy.

His sister, Urara the Water Witch took out an entire squadron of hidiacs with a giant tidal wave. Her husband, Hikaru the Sun Sorcerer lifted his hand with a pulse of star energy that incinerated the vampires that had converged on a group of young mages.

"Run!" He told them as he took off to help his wife fight against a dark acolyte.

Gold energy merged with blue magic and slammed against the dark magic of the acolyte, pushing it back and knocking him unconscious.

Hikaru held his wife as she took a deep breath. Their eyes met as they prayed for the safety of their daughter, Amaya, the current blue mystic.

A monster broke out through the walls and charged at them, only for a bolt of yellow lightning to pulverize it to ashes.

They looked up to see Tsubasa nod at them, the garuda spirit carried him across the skies as he fought off tengas and winged monsters with their sister, Houka, the former pink mage.

Their eldest brother, Makito the former green mage slammed his fists to the ground creating a miniature earthquake and causing the enemy forces to stumble to their feet, seconds before the ground swallowed them.

Rita Regae, the Mystic Mother's apprentice held out her hands as she erected a forcefield around the younger mages and those too injured to fight. The darkness had cast a curse on the academy grounds, preventing any teleportation spells from working and they were surrounded on all sides by monsters.

Hidiacs, nighloks, tengas and golems clawed at the shield, their eyes hungry to feast on the life forces of the young mages.

"Are you alright, Madame Regae?" One of the mages, Alina asked her.

She gave her a reassuring smile, even as beads of perspiration appeared on her forehead. "Do not worry, child. I will protect you all."

As they defeated the legion of monsters, the Mystic Force regrouped in front of the barrier of darkness.

"Ready?" Niella asked Roshni and Daggeron. They nodded. The three linked arms and their armour glowed as they summoned celestial energies.

"Unison Raid - Cosmic Flare!" They yelled as a beam of gold and silver energies slammed against the barrier, burning through the darkness.

"NO!" Udonna screamed as the barrier faded away to reveal the ruins of her home. The Casterwill Mansion was nothing more than rubble.

"Bramhall…" Augusta covered her mouth in horror as they saw the body of the pink knight strewn on top of a pile of bodies.

"The court… They killed them all!" Gale exclaimed, his eyes widening in shock.

"Udonna, we need to find them!" Niella said panicking.

Leanbow looked around. Aside from the ruins and corpses, there was no sign of any monster or villain but he could still sense the taint of dark magic.

"Look out!" Udonna screamed, pushing him out of the way and swinging her staff, deflecting a bolt of dark energies.

Laughter echoed across the wasteland as Bandora appeared before them in a flash of purple lightning, flanked by the four barbarian beasts.

"You monster!" Petros yelled at her.

"I will take that as a compliment." She winked at them.

"Where is the queen and the other knights?" Leanbow demanded.

The dark mistress grinned. "Are you sure you want to know?"

She snapped her fingers and spheres of dark energies crashed before them, revealing seven warriors, their eyes glowing with dark energies. They wore the armour of the knights and the queen but their faces were cold and mutilated beyond recognition, their bodies bent at unnatural shapes, gaping wounds with dried blood tainting their armour. Their bodies held together by cursed energies, they reeked of death.

"Marlene! Anthea!" Daggeron fell to his knees at the sight of the cursed corpses of his sister and his wife.

"Neville!" Niella doubled over in shock, her face paling as she looked at the green knight. Udonna gripped her arm tightly as their eyes turned towards the sapphire clad warrior in the centre, their mother, who was barely recognisable.

"Marlene!" Augusta screamed, only to be held back by Petros as she couldn't tear her eyes away from her fiancé.

"Meet my newest soldiers, the Fallen Arcanum!" Bandora cackled in maniacal glee as the Mystic Force watched their former allies in despair.

I thought I would do some flashback chapters about the previous Mystics and the Great War. Hope you like my OCs and the worldbuilding for the magical realm. On a related note, would you guys be interested in reading a Mystic Force prequel focusing on the previous mystics and the Great War?

Did you guys spot the Magiranger references?

Thanks to D.J. Scales for reviewing the last chapter. While I am adapting Mystic Force, I am diverting from the original storyline quite a bit whenever I feel like it. As a result, many of the things that happened in the show won't happen here.