Torg Eternity – Dead Legion

In the Shadow of the Wings of Wisdom

Nile Empire – North Border

"Hey," said Rex Steele, shaking his passenger's shoulder harder. Muttering groggily, Wren of Greymarsh managed to sit up and look at him. For the first time, Rex saw something besides the darkness of the wizard's hood, even if it was only a pair of alert eyes shining in the darkness.

"What is it?" Wren asked. "Have we arrived?"

"No, not yet," the pilot said. "But you're going to need to put your belt on. We're about to the edge of Nile Empire Territory, and one of the ugliest reality storms I've seen is brewing out there. Those get pretty bumpy even for the best pilots."

With some difficulty and help from Rex, Wren managed to figure out the safety straps on their seat, and Rex returned to the cockpit and took over from the copilot. Outside the cabin, the sky was almost pitch black even though it was only the middle of the day.

Rex Steele had warned them that these "reality storms" frequently flared up where the territories of two different realities brushed against each other. Their conflicting natures creating these dangerous storms, making travel out of one territory unhealthy if caught in the middle of one.

Lightning flashed menacingly outside the window. "If it would be too dangerous—" Wren began, but Rex Steele held up his hand.

"Tush! The Delphi Council needs you to meet up with these friends of yours with all due haste, and I never let down a client!" the pilot grinned. Beside him, the copilot whimpered almost imperceptibly.

Around them, the plane started to shake.

Nile Empire - Cairo

Two days since their encounter in the desert with the giant sand beast. Two days since a massive blast had managed to catch their eye and lead them to where Ghost had found his way back to the surface. Two days Ghost had spent recovering from his encounter at the insistence of Sophia, a display that quietly shocked her two teammates.

But for now, regardless of anyone's injuries, they were stuck waiting around the safehouse. It wasn't the same safehouse they'd been using before their last mission; that had been reassigned to some new group of Storm Knights operating in Cairo while the three of them were still out in the desert. Somehow, it didn't seem fair to Kristina, even though she wasn't someone who was used to staying in one place for a long time. Maybe…maybe that had changed, now that she'd spent a while living there, with people she'd gone on crazy adventures and fought comic book supervillains alongside?

The three of them hadn't been given a new assignment, because apparently word had come from Deputy Director Nakatomi himself that a Storm Knight from another territory had requested to be added to their group. Them, specifically, although how somebody in some other country, some other reality, could've heard about them was something that seemed impossible.

Or was she just worried that whoever this turned out to be might spoil what she'd managed to build with Ghost and Sophia?

"You gonna make it?"

She almost jumped out of her chair, but realized it was just Ghost, and he hadn't just turned visible again. Was he getting sneakier, or was Kristina getting too used to him?

Was that such a bad thing, though, she asked herself.

"Yeah, I'm fine, Ghost," Kristina replied. "Maybe I'm just not sure about what they said. You know, about a new guy wanting to join the team. Why did he ask for us? How could he even know about us? He was in…where, Sweden?"

Ghost smiled at her. "Maybe word's getting around. I mean, we've gotten up to some pretty big things. Besides…well, who am I to tell a wizard I know better than they do?"

"Just because they know magic and stuff doesn't mean they know everything," Kristina replied.

"Really? From what the Delphi Council's been saying, the Core Earth place you're from wasn't supposed to have people who can do real magic."

"That's…that isn't what I meant."

"…mayday! Mayday! Can anyone hear me?!" a voice crackled from the doors leading to the basement.

Kristina literally jumped in surprise. "What the hell was that?!"

"The radio set they left in case there's an emergency!" Ghost replied, flinging open the door and charging through.

"I didn't even know we had a radio!" exclaimed Kristina. "We never used it before!"

"Right! It's easy to listen in!" Ghost agreed as he sat down in front of the bank of broadcasting equipment at a desk against the wall and tried to tune it in more strongly. "If somebody's using it, this must be really serious!"

For a few seconds the radio only buzzed and wailed, but finally the voice came again. "Engine on fire and losing altitude! Have to touch down in the Nile! Hurry!"

"Let's go!" Ghost yelled, and against Kristina jumped, this time at his intensity.

"You think that's them?" she asked. "I mean, the guys bringing that wizard to meet the team?"

Sophia placed a firm hand on her shoulder. "If that vehicle's damaged and about to come down in the Nile, then the pharaoh's people surely know about it too. We should be there to make sure they haven't a chance to take advantage of the situation, whatever it is."

Could always count on Sophia to think like a hunter.

Kristina Rouge was getting used to the driving the ancient style of jeep supplied to their group, something she was letting herself feel a little proud of. Even more than that, she let herself feel proud about how she was learning all the fastest ways to the river no matter where in town they were hiding out. When they were still blocks away from the Nile, the three could already see the fireball in the sky, getting larger and larger as it got closer to ground level.

As usual, the streets were packed with plenty of people going the other direction, carrying their wares from one side of the street to the other, right where it would get in the way of the Storm Knights' jeep.

And Kristina decided there was no time to waste on niceties.

She loudly gunned the motor, scaring the nearest few pedestrians into scrambling out of the way. Then with all possible speed she kicked the jeep into gear and sped down the street, weaving around camels and rug merchants the streets of this miserable city were filthy with.

"Shouldn't our approach be more…cautious?" Sophia raised her voice to ask Ghost as they zoomed down the street, weaving violently around to avoid smashing anyone still in their way. "A disturbance such as this is bound to attract the pharaoh's minions."

"A plane crashing into the Nile's sure to draw the schocktroopers' attention!" Ghost answered. "It's a risk we'll just have to take to get there while there's still time to help!"

"…I'll never understand this world of yours," Sophia muttered, her words unheard over the roar of the jeep and the screams of surprised people dodging out of their way.

Soon the buildings thinned out and the outline of fire on what was left of the plane's wing was impossible to miss. They hadn't even reached the edge of the river when the plane bellied into the water, both wings snapping off and spraying debris across the banks. More jeeps, carrying uniformed imperial shocktroopers, turned into view and sped along the narrow road in the direction of the sinking plane.

"On it!" Kristina declared, before the others had even said anything. She turned the jeep so hard it was on only two wheels, almost throwing an unprepared Sophia out. Ghost was more used to these things and held onto the side, grabbing Sophia's hand at the same time. It slammed back onto all four wheels, knocking even Ghost on his back this time, before Kristina took off down the lane by the river at full speed.

Two jeeps full of shocktroopers were on the lane ahead of them. Looking back, one obviously recognized the intent of the three strangers coming up behind them, and stood up to take aim with his gun. He was looking down the sight when he fell back onto another of his comrades, a bullethole in his chest.

The other shocktroopers sitting in the back of the jeep took one look at Ghost, standing in the back of the jeep and smoke still twisting from the barrel of his automatic. Back at each other. Then as one they let out an extremely undisciplined scream of terror when they realized the driver had slumped over the wheel, another bullethole through him, just before the jeep veered suddenly and plunged into the Nile.

By that time the Storm Knights had almost gotten side-by-side with the sinking plane. One of the doors had been kicked open and a rubber raft was thrown out. Two men in aviator outfits stood in the door, urging someone else onto the raft: a figure in hooded gray robes.

And that was when a bullet blew out a rear tire in the Storm Knights' jeep. The other jeep full of shocktroopers had stopped, and its contingent had leveled their weapons and opened fire. Kristina fought the wheel but their vehicle still went into a drunken spin. Sophia and Ghost went diving out of the vehicle and out of honed instinct went into crouches with weapons drawn as soon as they got their feet underneath them. Ghost with his .45's, and Sophia drawing a long-barreled revolver from inside her duster. A bullet from a shocktrooper's weapon glanced off her coat but she barely noticed, instead gripping the butt of her weapon and squeezing its trigger. The trooper fell.

Ghost fired his pistols and another trooper dropped to the ground. It wasn't their bullets that ended the skirmish, though: the Storm Knights' jeep was still spinning out along the edge of the river, and convinced that saving it was beyond even her skill, Kristina Rouge jumped out and let it crash into the jeep of the shocktroopers.

A huge fireball erupted as one vehicle collided with the other, blowing the Storm Knights off their feet. They were still getting back up when the life raft had gotten to the shore, and its passengers were already stepping onto solid ground.

"Let's hurry," Sophia ordered, leading the way into the maze of alleys that made up the grimy city of Cairo. After a minute she held up a hand and the group stopped, and she turned back to face the group, focusing on the hooded one they'd just rescued. "Now, I presume you're the wizard."

All eyes were on the hooded one, but they were only silently looking back. Sophia. Kristina. Ghost. After taking them all in, slowly they reached up and pulled back their hood.

Beneath, it revealed an androgynous dark-skinned face, framed by a head of brown curls. Their hooded robe fell away, exposing a red jerkin and brown vest, white breeches and knee-high, laced-up leather boots. Quick yellow eyes gazed back at each of the three Storm Knights, taking in each of their faces again now that they'd revealed their own.

"You're the wizard. So, who's he?" asked Sophia, pointing at the pilot.

The pilot stood, arms akimbo, and flashed a smile. "Rex Steele, airman extraordinaire, at your service!"

"I've heard of you," Ghost said.

"And I've seen you at the movies," Rex grinned. "You're the Ghost! That scorpion monster from the last one wasn't too convincing, but I'm sure the real thing was much more impressive!"

Kristina asked a question next. "Is he joining our team too?"
The pilot shook his head. "Regrettably, no. I've already got orders to catch another plane to the Living Land for a new assignment there." Rex pushed an envelope into Kristina's hand. "Here's the new assignment I'm supposed to give you. Best of luck out there, friends! Let's go win this war!"

Meeting the others' eyes dubiously, Kristina looked around to make sure nobody else was around, then peeled open the envelope and took out the note inside.

This is DC Middle-East Division dispatch. Informants and radio traffic all point to a BIG MOVE by Doctor Mobius, a real Hail Mary play. Several of his favorite personal sorcerers congregating at the site of biblical Mount Sinai, attempting to ascertain via magic the locations of not one but MANY Eternity Shards in one fell swoop. Possible treasures include the Spear of Longinus, a piece of the True Cross, Moses' staff, the Holy Grail, and the Ark of the Covenant.

If this is true, the ritual MUST be disrupted at all costs. Proceed to Al Fadrin Airfield, south suburban Cairo, take possession of the Fokker-Ramses aircraft labelled 'Reggie's Charter'. Fly to co-ordinates secreted in the plane. This mission is High Priority. Destroy this document after reading. End.

Needing no further prompting, Ghost got his lighter out of a pouch on his belt and torched the note.

"What is a 'Hail Mary play'?" asked Sophia. "It sounds…inadvisable that it be allowed."

"No, it's not, but, I wonder…" Kristina mused.

Ghost asked, "Wonder what?"

"…nothing. Let's go." The quartet hurried into the heart of Cairo, not noticing the shadowy observer slipping away in the other direction.

Following their instructions was surprisingly simple. The simple twin-prop plane they were told about was there, no-one around to stop them from taking it, which they did. Sophia seemed suspicious of how easy it all was, looking everywhere for any sign of an attacker before being the last one to climb aboard. Kristina took the controls and easily found a map with their route, then soon they were speeding down the runaway and lifting off the ground.

The wizard shuddered at the feeling as the ground lost contact with the vehicle, and Ghost leaned over to try to take their mind off it. "Hey, if we're going to be working together from now on, what should we call you?"

"I am called Wren, of Greymarsh," the wizard replied. They looked back at Ghost, studying his face. Or, he quickly came to suspect, what was on it. "Do you…normally…" they started to say, seeming to struggle to find the words.

He chuckled. "Wear a mask?" Ghost supplied. "Believe it or not, a lot of the good guys around here wear these too."

"Such a strange world."

"Finally, someone with a bit of sense," Sophia muttered.

Wren looked over at her. "I…did not mean to make any unflattering observations," they said quietly. "In Aysle, the lines between the Light and the Dark are very clear. I suppose that in many of the worlds seeping into this Core Earth, the same is not always true."

Ghost scratched his stubbled cheek. "Well, it's not really about declaring a side, it's that we have people who we are when we're not fighting evil. It's about protecting that, but the mask's also about…I guess, becoming something more than we are without it."

"Interesting."

"It makes no sense to me either, but that's the case of more things every day," Sophia muttered, again.

Wren faced Sophia and nodded slowly in affirmation. "I can say much the same thing."

Curiosity slightly cracking her serious expression, Sophia looked back at them, asking, "What do you mean by that?"

Hearing that question, Wren's eyes went slightly wide, as if they realized that perhaps they'd said too much. It took a few moments of silence, but Wren became composed enough to answer in a plain diplomatic tone, "I have…a condition. A status. I cannot quite explain why it's the case, but I've lived many lives, always appearing again when I'm needed in the face of some crisis. Wearing another face, in another location."

"Oh yeah?" Ghost asked, lipping a cigarette from its pack. "So you've been, whatcha call it, reincarnated?"

"What does that word mean?" asked Wren.

"It means, well…" Ghost started, then stopped, searching for the ideal explanation himself now.

Suddenly, Sophia supplied the answer. "It means dying, and then being reborn."

Slowly, Ghost raised an eyebrow. "You've seen that?"

Sophia nodded. "The most powerful creatures in Orrorsh have that ability. They can be slain, but eventually they always reappear, as deadly as ever."

"What a dark world that must be," Wren mused.

Their observation had put an end to that already awkward conversation, with no-one knowing what to say next. Somewhat to Kristina Rouge's relief, it seemed, with the way she locked eyes with Ghost and beckoned him into the cockpit with her. She motioned for him to sit in the empty copilot's seat, which he did, but then with a glance over her shoulder, Kristina asked, "Do you think we should really stop this ritual or whatever the bad guys are doing?" she asked.

"How do you mean?" Ghost asked, a little too loud for her liking.

Kristina glanced backward again at the others, then whispered, "If this thing they're doing can locate a bunch of really powerful treasures, maybe it's worth letting them do it, so our side can find out where they are too?"

Without warning, Wren was immediately between them. "I must advise against this plan."

Kristina shrieked in surprise but managed to hold the controls steady. "DON'T DO THAT!" she yelled at Wren.

"I am…sorry," Wren apologized. "I must insist you do not pursue this course. It is a mistake to let the forces of evil know the location of any great source of power. These villains enjoy force of numbers and an openness to move that we do not."

"Okay, okay! It was just an idea," Kristina grumbled, facing straight ahead, obviously to avoid looking at Wren. The wizard seemed placated, although their expression was all but unreadable, and they returned to their seat.

Quietly, Ghost said, "The wizard's got a point, I have to admit. If we had an empire of people too, I'd say we just get the locations of all those treasures and pass them along. But here, we're the underdogs."

"Lame," Kristina mumbled.

He chuckled softly. "These superheroes in the media where you're from, they like to form big clubs, don't they? Well, that was the idea Dr. Frest had when he brought everyone over to this world."

"I know, I know. Look, I'm just—"

"You thought we had some good going here: you, me, and Sophia. Now you're not sure anymore because the Council made us take this new person. Let's see how well the wizard does when we're on an actual caper, huh?"

"Pfffft…caper?"

Ghost smirked. "Isn't that what they call those where you're from?"

"…sometimes," Kristina replied with a smirk of her own.

With the desert dragging past underneath them, Kristina Rouge went on mental autopilot. She wished in the back of her mind she could put the plane on actual autopilot, but that was either beyond the Delphi Council's budget or the technology that could exist in the Nile Empire. "Hey," she said over at Ghost. "Check the route, will ya? That big mountain, that's the one we're heading for, right?"

He consulted the map for a few seconds, then nodded. "I mean, I'm not exactly an expert on maps, but the numbers seem to match."

That was when they received another kind of confirmation.

*BLAM!*

A burning flash erupted through the starboard side windows and the plane rocked violently. Kristina yanked the control yoke hard to port and sending the plane into a rapid sideways dive.

"Are we under attack?!" Sophia shouted from the back of the cabin.

"Looks like the guys doing this big important ritual have a military escort!" Ghost shouted back as another explosion erupted a short ways away. "And they're not taking any chances on any air traffic, looks like!"

Kristina gritted her teeth. "Everybody buckle up! I'm taking us down, but I don't know about landing in the middle of the desert!"

The words had hardly left her mouth before the matter was out of her hands. Another explosion tore into the rear of the plane. Air was pulled out of the cabin as the tail section was blown away. Sophia screamed something but was drowned out by the howling air. With all her strength Kristina managed to level off the plane and lowered the landing gear.

And the Storm Knights held onto their seats.

Without warning a titanic bump signaled the plane touching down on the dunes. It bounced into the aim, came down violently and tilted hard to its starboard side. The landing gear on that side must've come off, and the next thing they knew there was a horrific screech of tearing metal. Sophia saw most of the wing on that side shear off, and stared over her shoulder through the gaping hole in the back of the plane as it careened over the sands.

There was a creak and the plane leveled out and lost speed, no doubt due to the other landing gear being torn off. Suddenly the tail of the plane twisted into the air and the cabin still holding the Storm Knights rolled like a log down and up, down and up the dunes.

Finally running out of momentum by the edge of Mt. Sinai.

Fireworks popped in front of the dazed Storm Knights' eyes. It was Sophia who managed to recover first, unbuckling her safety belt and flopping down onto the roof of the cabin. Managing to get to her feet, she got Wren out of their seat next and laid them gently on the roof. Next she headed toward the cabin, but from the groan she heard, realized her services might not be necessary. Kristina Rouge was rubbing her face with one hand, while Ghost had already unbuckled himself from his seat and, holding onto the armrests, somewhat awkwardly lowered himself to the ground.

"You're back on your feet already," Sophia observed. "I almost fear to ask, but do you have experience with this sort of thing?"

"I guess?" Ghost shrugged. "I mean, there was that time on the harbor patrol boat, and that time on the street car. Oh yeah, and that time on the Gold Star Limited…"

"You'll have to tell me more about your exploits sometime," Sophia said, and was she smiling faintly? "For now, let's rouse the others, and hope we're still in time."

Whether they were in time or not, they were in luck. A large freight elevator had been installed next to the mountain, obviously for hauling whatever the ritual involved up to a plateau partway up the mountain. Its keys were still dangling from the controls when the four Storm Knights got up to it, allowing them to call the platform on it down to the ground. The fact that it was already all the way up to the plateau rightly worried them, however; what if the imperial wizards had already completed their ritual?

Each prepared in their own way. Ghost checked his twin pistols. Kristina Rouge drew a few clips for her machine gun, loaded and cocked her weapon before sticking the others through her belt to be ready in a hurry. Sophia checked that strange rifle she'd brought Orrorsh, but slung it back over her shoulders and drew her revolver from inside her duster.

"Don't think we'll run into anything serious up there?" Ghost asked, eying the pistol in the huntress's hand.

She looked him in the eye. "Hoping that men are all we meet up there."

Among the group, Wren of Greymarsh simply stood where they were, eyes cast skyward, awaiting the end of their ascent. None of the others interrupted them.

Closer and closer they got to the top, an unearthly glow starting to spill over the edge of the plateau. Sophia tensed. "Does it occur that even though there's a military camp at the foot of the mountain that attacked us, none of the soldiers there thought to pursue us?" she asked no-one in particular.

"Maybe they think we didn't survive," Ghost offered, but tensed as well. "Or maybe they're more afraid of interrupting what's going on up on there."

It was then the elevator ground to a stop at the top of its span, and they were about to find out.

At first it seemed as if no-one had noticed the Storm Knights' arrival. In the center of the plateau stood a white pyramid some ten feet high, the strange glow coming from its top, where a small idol none of the Storm Knights could identify slowly rotated at the pyramid's tip. Standing on three of the pyramid's sides were three bald men with thin beards braided in the classic Egyptian style, their arms spread wide as they no doubt invoked the mystical power at work.

Ghost tensed even more than he had already at the sight, but drew his weapons.

"Intruders!" yelled someone, the enraged captain of a detachment of imperial shocktroopers ringing the plateau. The soldiers started to rush toward the elevator, and the Storm Knights braced themselves to meet the charge.

Exactly then, a column of ivory white light lanced from the tip of the pyramid into the sky. "We're too late!" Kristina Rouge cried.

"I would not be so sure," Wren replied, their eyes following the light. The clouds thundered and bolts of electricity danced across the sky. A pulse of red light formed in the sky and raced down the column of light issuing from the pyramid. As soon as it contacted the tip, a gigantic form took shape: it looked like a man, easily twice the height of the pyramid the sorcerers had been using to summon it. Its skin was as black as coal, crossed by red bands that throbbed with an unearthly power. The same power throbbing in its shining red eyes, set into the head of a giant ibis. Somehow the beast seemed to scowl in menace even though it had the face of a bird.

All around the plateau, the imperial forces stood mesmerized. Those shocktroopers that had been threatening the Storm Knights had stopped where they were, all eyes focused on the giant bird-man. Closer to the beast, the trio of sorcerers were starting to let out triumphant laughter, that grew louder as they seemed to believe their ceremony had been answered by the gods.

At once, this idea was crushed when the creature made its first move. In both massive hands it grabbed up the shocktroopers guarding the ceremony and shoved the screaming soldiers into its mouth.

Surprising none of her comrades, Sophia responded first. Her revolver barked and tore a pinprick of blood in the giant's body. Kristina Rouge and Ghost opened up next and their own bullets dug into the bird-thing's body. It ignored them completely as it next turned its attention to the trio of sorcerers, turning the practitioners of the mystic arts and burned all three to ash with beams crimson beams of light from its shining eyes.

Still it ignored them. The giant beast let out a great cry as the Storm Knights paused to reload their weapons. It reached out to touch the giant pyramid that had summoned it to this world.

And slumped to its knees.

"…what's going on?" Kristina asked, unwittingly lowering her weapon as she watched.

"It seems weakened by whatever forces summoned it here," Sophia observed, unslinging her rifle to use against this much greater threat.

Wren suddenly spoke up. "Yes, and that means we must strike now, before it can gather its might!" They held out a hand, muttering strange words.

Before a lightning bolt ripped from their fingertips and slammed into the bird's back, knocking it away from the pyramid.

"Spread out and surround it!" Sophia called, darting away from the edge of the plateau to the right without waiting for the others to acknowledge her. Already Ghost was off, circling around to the left. Kristina stayed for a second, regarding Wren with a wary eye.

"You okay?" she asked.

The mage staggered off the edge of the elevator and onto the firmer ground of the plateau, holding a hand to their face. Not the one they'd just used to fire their lightning bolt, which was still crackling faintly with power. Wren said, "The magic in this world is…far less than what I am used to. I am finding it difficult to…concentrate. Go! Slay the beast before it recovers!"

Sounds of gunfire ripped across the plateau, but Wren of Greymarsh was paying no attention. A strange thing was happening, the world they were in seemed to be becoming more…acceptable. The intense sun, the desert stretching off into the distance, were already seeming more and more natural to the mage's mind.

"No! I must not allow this to take place!" Wren gasped. Desperately they clung to thoughts of their homeworld. Of castles and dragons. Lurks, elves, giants. Barbarian raider clans in longboats. Cold nights by icy seas and insufferable parties of dwarves needing the skills of a learned mage in the infernal tunnel nests they called home.

Hazy and indistinct, the memories were. None were Wren's own, merely the memories of another Wren of Greymarsh, from another time, when there was another need for their talents. But as sound of guns went off around the area, they could feel themselves returning to normal, tuned again to a familiar reality where magic was plentiful and the world was shared between men and many, many other creatures of great power.

The world of Aysle.

It was then Wren managed to stand up, sure of their place in their world.

Perhaps a little wiser for it.

By the time Wren had recovered, the bird was almost recovered from its own bout of weakness. Row after row of tiny bloody pinpricks had riddled its torso from Ghost and Kristina's guns, while Sophia waited for a chance to get off a shot with maximum effectiveness.

It let out a horrible shriek and dove over the pyramid, its giant crushing hands held out to seize Ghost. He ducked and fired back, aiming at its eyes but only poking a few tiny holes in the soft flesh around the top of its beak.

A terrible crash shook the plateau as the bird landed on its belly. It opened its giant hands, but there was nothing there.

Kristina Rouge finished emptying another clip into the bird's side while it was distracted, swore and loaded another one into her weapon. There was only one more; maybe guns couldn't solve this problem. She was distracted from that thinking by looking up and seeing Wren running onto the battlefield. "Wren! Are you okay?"

She didn't get a straight at first. The mage looked across the area, "Where is the Ghost?" Wren exclaimed, looking around rapidly. "I knew I shouldn't have trusted him! The rogue's deserted us!"

"No, he didn't," Kristina sighed.

"How can you be so sure?!"

"Because his superpower is turning invisible."

" 'Superpower' ?"

Wren followed Kristina's pointed finger to the other side of the plateau, where Ghost appeared out of thin air. He bent down and picked up a grenade one of the devoured shocktroopers had been carrying, pulled the pin and lobbed it at the bird's back. It went off after one bounce, getting a scream from the giant monster. It stood up, rage glowing in its eyes and chasing Ghost across the area again.

"Such a strange world," Wren muttered.

"It's kind of cool after you've been here a while," Kristina smiled before she peppered the bird's back with bullets. Sophia chose that moment to fire as well, her shot hitting the scorched area where Wren's lightning bolt and Ghost's grenade had already injured it. Still, it kept coming, raising one giant hand to swipe at Ghost.

Shutting their eyes, Wren started to trace patterns in the air with their hands. Then they said one word: "Diminish."

The swing came, but slowly. Ghost had no trouble diving under the grasping hand and ran around it as fast as he could.

"Got anymore of those lightning bolts?" Kristina asked Wren.

"I don't feel quite steady enough for that yet," Wren replied, but with a smile. "I think I can manage one of these, though." Again they muttered and traced patterns in the air while the bird lumbered after Ghost in their direction. Then Wren snapped their fingers on both hands and there was a loud pop of power that made Kristina jump back in surprise just before she was about to fire at the bird again.

Wren intoned a pair of words the reverberated in the air. "Sound Cloud."

Immediately the bird stopped chasing Ghost and started looking around in confusion, probably at the faint buzzing in the air Kristina could hear after the spell was completed. It stomped around in pain for few confused seconds, but those few seconds gave Sophia the opening she needed to fire off three shots from her rifle into the gaping wound in the bird's back. Ghost and Kristina raised their own firearms, and peppered the bird's face, aiming for its eyes and throat.

Each shot made the bird twitch spasmodically and give off a terrible shriek that sounded part human, part animal, and like nothing any of them had ever heard in their lives. Even Wren, from what they could remember yet. The bird staggered around the pyramid, this time glaring at Wren and Kristina, seeming aware that Wren was the one behind its pain. It stumbled closer, managing three steps, then crashed down, and the light life went out of its eyes before it crumbled to dust. A dramatic wind picked up, carrying the bird's remains back to its divine masters.

A heavy pall of silence covered the mountainside for a while after their titanic struggle with the messenger of the gods, but soon pragmatism had to prevail. Kristina Rouge stood guard over the elevator to make sure the troops camped at ground level didn't call it and strand the Storm Knights above. Meanwhile the others made a quick search of the area, not turning up much. Wren found a scroll that none of the other Storm Knights would even attempt to decipher, and at the mage's insistence Ghost crawled up the pyramid and grabbed the idol floating at the top.

It was of a snake-headed goddess that Ghost vaguely remembered was named Wadjet. As they made their escape across the desert, it was decided to hand it over to the Delphi Council, if only to keep any and all miraculous talismans out of the hands of the empire.

Wren was still examining the scroll as they were making their way through the streets of Cairo back to the safehouse. A few lines in particular seemed to stand out to them, and when they tried to get the other Storm Knights' opinions, Sophia refused to have anything to do with a magical text, and Kristina just shrugged it off, saying guns and cars were the only things she was qualified to talk about.

So, in exasperation, the mage turned to Ghost, who they still weren't quite sure they could trust. Still, the masked rogue was the only member of the group who seemed the slightest bit familiar with the supernatural. "So, what's so weird about this scroll that's bothering you so much?" Ghost asked obligingly as he took the old paper to take a look at it himself.

"This part here," Wren indicated with their finger.

"You mean the lines where the ink's a little darker than the rest of it?" Ghost asked.

Wren nodded. "What does that indicate to you?"

"You serious?" he asked dubiously. They nodded, and he gave what from his tone he thought was a very basic observation. "Well, it indicates somebody wrote in something newer on those lines than the rest of the text."

"Exactly," Wren said, and snatched the scroll back. "What does that tell you?"

"…that maybe somebody sabotaged the wizards back there, so they weren't really doing the ritual they thought they were doing," Ghost answered. Before Wren could follow up on that, Ghost did it himself. "But the question is, who would do something like that, and who could do something like that?"

"A mystery," Wren muttered as they rolled the scroll up again. "I wouldn't having some idea of…"

They trailed off as the next block came into sight. Flames were still flickering about halfway down the street. In the lot where the Delphi Council safehouse had been standing the last time they'd been in the city. A perimeter of gun-toting shocktroopers surrounded it, angrily waving along pedestrians who slowed down to stare.

Without saying a word, the Storm Knights spread out and took different paths away from where they stood, Ghost taking Wren by the arm as they avoided the soldiers sifting through the ashes of what had been their headquarters. Once they arrived at their rehearsed meeting point, however, Sophia and Kristina weren't the only ones waiting for them. Standing with them was a bald-headed priest in white robes emblazoned with a golden ankh on the brow of the hood he wore.

"Who's your friend?" Ghost asked, a hand about to snatch on the mask hanging inside his shirt and get ready for another fight.

The priest asked quietly, "Are the masked hero who calls himself the Ghost, and the reincarnated mage? The legion of the dead we were told to watch for?"

"Yes, we are," Wren answered before Ghost could make a more cautious response. "Are you a servant of the Light as well?"

A soft chuckle and a knowing smile were the priest's first reply. "I suppose you might call it that. My name is Brother Adan, and I serve the Brothers of the Gate. We are no friends of pharaoh. I can take you to safety, now that your previous haven has been discovered."

"Just like that?" Ghost asked a little suspiciously.

"This Delphi Council is not the only power working against the High Lords of Possibility," Adan said.

Sophia slipped to Ghost's side and whispered into his ear. "I believe we can trust him, and I do not believe it would be wise to travel the streets trying to make contact with the Delphi Council just now. Not if our hiding place has just been destroyed."

"Okay then, lead on," Ghost accepted.

Adan took the Storm Knights through a twisting network of back alleys until not even Ghost knew where they were anymore. Along the way, Adan would throw a coin to any beggar he passed. Eventually they got to a part of town that was somewhat familiar, the temple quarter, where Adan led them through a secret backdoor into a Temple of Osiris. He left them in a basement room, and came back a little while later with two hooded novices carrying platters of simple but welcome food.

"I thank you for your trust," Adan said as the Storm Knights ate. "We began to search for you after our high priest told us he'd been visited by a vision that your group had finished forming, but were afraid the empire had found you first when that house was raided and burnt."

Next he eyed the scroll that was still in Wren's hand. "Pardon me, master mage, but is that…perhaps the scripture used on the ritual carried out on Mt. Sinai?"

"You did it," Ghost immediately pointed his fork at Adan. "Somebody from your outfit was the one who changed the writing on that scroll. To summon that killer bird instead of finding where all those treasures were."

Again, Adan smiled knowingly. "We could not allow such power to fall into the hands of the pharaoh, could we?" he asked.

"That thing could've killed us!" Kristina snapped.

"How can that which is already dead, die?" Adan replied. "No, madam, fate has greater things in store for you and your friends. Much, much greater things, which we will have a chance to explore soon enough…"

Core Earth – Venice, Italy

It was no use, the misfit group of so-called "Storm Knights" sank another boat carrying the Hooded Cobra's useless minions. In another minute, they would be upon him, and the key to his success would be snatched away. While one of his loyal shocktroopers continued to steer the speedboat they were using to race through the Venice canals, the masked villain smashed the stolen canopic jar in his hands with the butt of one of his ray pistols.

A pile of dusty shards fell to the floor of the boat. The ancient relic was no more.

But there was nothing inside but a tiny pile of dust.

Hooded Cobra let out a scream of frustration that echoed up and down Venice's historic canals. He'd come all this way on a wild good chase; the prize wasn't here.

The sound was drowned out by a helicopter swooping over the canal. A woman in a luxurious red dress leaned out of the side door, throwing a rope ladder down. Hooded Cobra grabbed it as went by, leaving his escort to the mercies of the Storm Knights that were almost upon them. The villain himself sat heavily in one of the helicopter's seats and silently buckled his harness.

"How did it go?" asked Lady Hourglass, his rescuer. Hooded Cobra grunted, but she kept staring at him through the hourglass-shaped monocle that was the villainess's trademark.

Finally, he admitted, "Nothing. The scepter was not here."

"And you came all the way here, thinking it would be safer because Italy's not infested with masked heroes. That was the thinking, wasn't it?" Lady Hourglass asked and took a puff on her cigarette. Hooded Cobra's blood boiled at the jab, but there was no use denying it. This had been a wild goose chase. Nothing to do but investigate the last jar in the set and hope that one contained the scepter.

The masked villain barked orders at the pilot, who turned the helicopter around.

"Where are we off to?" asked Lady Hourglass.

"Cairo," grunted Hooded Cobra.