Notes: This series is a sequel to my first full fic series, Daarvol. I can't really post it here, because I don't want to waste everyone's time, but all the major plot events of Daarvol are discussed in Aftermath. Currently, I have 13 chapters written and posted on my Gundam RPG, and as for here, I'll post them consecutively within a few days of eachother. Hopefully, I'll get some feedback!
Aftermath Chapter 1 To regrow that which was never lost
Started 8:21 PM 10/11/04
Finished 10:58 PM 10/11/04
Author's Notes: As of November 10, 2004, this Chapter took the least time to complete of all of Daarvol and of Aftermath chapters 1-7. This was finished in about two and a half hours. Most take 2-5 days.
* * * Damn you, Rebbec.
Yawgmoth gathered his essence in the depths of Urborg. Again he had been defeated. First by Rebbec, and by Urza, and now by that damned Rex. He'd tried to seal him in the Meditation Plane with Nicol Bolas and other petty thugs. As if.
Urborg, where his ghost had resided since the end of the invasion oh so long ago. Why didn't my conscious collect in Phyrexia?
Then he remembered. After the untimely thwarting of his Daarvolian attack that cost nearly a billion Phyrexian lives, after Rebbec's team of freaks and rogues had dismantled his mana Destroyers, after the Planeswalker Rex Marhiku had tried to lock him away, Mishra had taken place in Phyrexia. In his absence, the land of Nine Hells ached for a God, and the Destroyer happened to be the one who took it. Now Yawgmoth was no longer a deity. If he could not maintain a hold in Phyrexia, then in any other world he manifested in he would become...
"A mortal!"
Yawgmoth looked at his hands. Hands, puny human hands. No longer was the Dark Lord a being of black mana that remotely controlled tens of billions of souls- he was less evovled than a growing Newt. Yawgmoth strode over to a puddle near him and stared at his own reflection. Rough, wrinkled white skin and bushy black brows furrowed in a frown. "Eleven thousand years of phyresis...all gone."
The Ineffable waded through swampwater. When vipers approached him, he'd slash their heads apart with a sharpened stick he'd found on the trail. "I am the greatest viper," he commented. "No mere snake can deter a God." As he continued swathing through swamp brush and murky water, the former Lord of the Wastes came upon a most wonderful sight. A mere ten yards away, Yawgmoth saw a wooden hut. It was not the hut that pleased him, rather, the creature near it. There stood a Phyrexian in all its glory. A bone-plated head that covered grey-and-black skin, exoskeleton covering a humanlike body frame, and four sharp claws where fingers would be on any mortal. "But this is no mortal," Yawgmoth mused. "This is...Phyrexian."
Yawgmoth let out a loud whoop as he came within the creature's line of sight. The monster huffed and looked up, not recognizing the image of its master who had not been seen two millenia. "A debasor, I see. Interesting." The Debasor roared and stepped infront of Yawgmoth as he approached. "Who goes here, human?" The creature's voice was gravely, the stench of his breath forcing Yawgmoth to cringe. "I," he began, "I am Yawgmoth, Lord of the Wastes, Ruler of the Nine Hells. I am your God. Who are you?" The Debasor went wide eyed and bowed immediately. Though Yawgmoth was a mere human, his death aura was immistakable. "I apologize sire, please pardon my ignorance. I am your humble servant Yrok, born of the steeplejack Xod in this swamp several hundred years after the invasion." Yawgmoth lifted Yrok's head up to meet his gaze and smiled warmly. "It is no worry. Tell me of Dominaria. Tell me what has become of it since the invasion." Yrok chuckled. "There is much to tell, my liege. Much to tell indeed." Eye of twilight, give us sight.
Yawgmoth and Yrok strode through the dark hallway, torch illuminating the path ahead of them. As they made their way down to the ritual chambre, they heard the sounds of the Priests within. Hand of strength, mark our way.
Yrok knocked hard on the wooden door at the end of the path. "It is Yrok, child of Phyrexia!" Father of Machines, let our thoughts be pure.
After several minutes of waiting, the door unlocked and creaked open. There stood a gathering of eight beings in crimson robe. One by one, they pulled their hoods down, revealing grotesque faces, once human, stitched and warped with metallic implants. "Beautiful," Yawgmoth commented. Yrok nodded. "These," he said, gesturing to those infront of him, "are the Dark Ones. After the invasion, a group of living Phyrexians, myself included, began extracting humans from the swamps and teaching them the ways of phyresis. After they saw things our way, we would operate on them to transform them into Phyrexians as best we could with the materials available." Yawgmoth patted Yrok on the shoulder. "You have done well, my child. You have done well." The pseudo-Phyrexians bowed toward the Lord of the Wastes, chanting 'hail the Father of Machines!' Yawgmoth walked around the room, coming upon a human laying strapped to a table. Tools lay around him. He was asleep. "My Lord," one of the Dark Ones said, bowing, "this is Kjort. He is the newest of our kind. We were to perform the initiation ceremony on him tonight." Yawgmoth nodded. "Interesting," he added while stroking his chin. "I'll do it." The Dark Lord picked up a scapel from a desk, brandishing it. "I will make him into an immortal." Then, the operation began.
* * *
Trees were felled. Torzam strode through the forest of Llanowar, knocking down branches and brush as he went. He was a minotaur from Hurloon, ivory horns protruding from a head of rough brown hide. "Where are you?!" He shouted to nothing in particular, recieving no answer. When the bushes behind him rustled, Torzam swung out his axe, hitting only clear air. Then came a light laughter from the branches atop a tree. "Aww, c'mon Torzam! You have no sense of humor at all!" Torzam growled. "Stop kidding around, Semaj. Now give me my swo-" Semaj thrust the powerstone sword in his grip straight into the grass. The nimble elf climbed down the branches, landing softly on a patch of leaves. He had the palest green skin, deep blue eyes, and ivy hair. "I'm sorry" he said sheepishly, bowing his head at the lean minotaur. "I was just playing with it." "Playing with it?" Torzam's left eye twitched. "Playing with it?! Do you know you could kill yourself with that? Its a priceless artifact from the apocalypse. What if the Dark Ones had found you? You could have been killed, the sword taken!" A tear welled up in Semaj's eye. Before he could speak, though, Torzam continued. "Ah, its no matter. Don't be upset. Just make sure it doesn't happen again, okay?" Semaj nodded. "Kay."
* * *
Elise binded her long navy hair and smiled infront of the mirror. She had sky blue skin and was donned in silver armor. "Negotiations with Urborg. Ugh." Elise was a Senator in the Vodalian government. It was her job to contribute to civil and political matters concerning the Merfolk Empire. In this way, she was an ambassador. "It's time!" Came a shout from upstairs. Elise sighed. "Ugh, do I have to? I hate having council with Urborgians. They're rude and ugly and obnoxious and...they smell awful. Oh, who am I kidding? Of course I have to go..." Elise straightened her cape and walked off.
The meeting room was near paradise. Held inside an island palace, the chambre's centerpiece was a marble table adorned with gold candleabras and garnished with grilled fish. One by one, the delegates came. Hurloon's represenative, Torzam, arrived first, taking a seat. Then were those from Urborg. Their stench let Torzam knew they were here some time before they sat down. Yrok came first, scooting his chair in. Then there was Yawgmoth. His mere presence made Torzam's heart rate skip. He knew something was wrong with this human. Elise came last. sitting in a central location. She lifted a brow upon laying eyes on Yawgmoth. Something about him made her woefully uneasy. She cleared her throat. "This meeting has been called to discuss future trade arrangements between the nations of Urborg, Hurloon, and Voda. First, though, its time for introductions." Gesturing at the Debaser, Elise asked "Yrok, would you introduce us to this companion you've brought along with you?" The Phyrexian prepared to speak, but Yawgmoth silenced him. He would introduce himself. "I am Yawgmoth the Ineffable." and you, he added in thought, you will die impaled on my sword, pathetic fish.
I'm NOT AT ALL ABLE to build Madness, since I'm already building one for my partner in crime. Before you suggest a deck, check if it is madness. If the deck you were going to suggest IS in fact Madness, instead of posting, discard 2 cards.
I don't like Yawgmoth being so... belittled... But that's okay... And in the end of Apocalypse, Yawgmoth had a slightly incorporeal form...
Yawgmoth's eternal hatred of Rebbec is a great little thing to come back on for this storyline...
Overall, I like it... a lot... It's MUCH better than all this 'Kamigawa' fanfic garbage that has been seen being thrown around "Ooh! I am Kamiyokomokopopo and I shall cut you with my Lotus Katana!"... No...
Aftermath Chapter 2 Memories and Enemies
Started 6:44 PM 10/12/04
Finished 11:01 AM 10/16/04
Author's Notes: In this chapter, I first realized how awkward it was when I didn't change paragraphs when multiple characters speak in conversation. Since then, I've tried to lean off of doing that, now it hardly ever comes up.
Update 10:07 PM 11/11/04: I've cleaned up the first scene by splitting up that gigantic, incredibly awkward paragraph that is a three-person conversation.
* * *
Elise's eyes widened. Yawgmoth? She did not know this name, yet she feared it. The man infront of her was quite fearsome. His eyes seemed to pierce souls, to view their contents, their thoughts. But this word, this name, Yawgmoth, had no meaning in particular to her. Why then, had this mere name made her fear? "Uhm, yes," she said while coughing. "Y...Yawgmoth, this," pointing at the minotaur, "is Torzam. I am Senator Elise of Vodalia." Reviewing a stack of papers for a moment, she continued. "We are to discuss future trade revenues between-"
"I have no interest in trade with mountain moles," Yawgmoth interrupted, invoking an angry grunt from Torzam. The minotaur raised a fist. "And those in Hurloon have no interest in trade with rotting snakes from the badlands."
The Ineffable raised an eyebrow. Snakes. What interesting creatures. But he was the greatest viper of all. "Indeed. My concerns lie with Voda. We seek to acquire a sail ship."
Elise blinked. "A...ship? Why?"
Yawgmoth breathed deep. "For my own concerns." Elise and Torzam traded worrisome glances, and the Merfolk Senator sighed. She didn't want any trouble with Urborg. Their undead warriors could be defeated, but not without spending dozens of Vodalian lives. Not worth it. "Agreed. You will recieve an unarmed sailship. It can adequately support fivescore troops. However, the ship is not to be on the seas near the land of Hurloon. Understood?"
The Dark Lord smiled. "Agreed." He rose to shake her hand. Elise obliged. When her hand met his, though, it sent chills running down her spine. This man, if he was a man at all, deeply disturbed her. "I'll have to keep an eye on you," she said half-jokingly. "And I you," he replied.
* * *
"SET SAIL!" Yrok's cry was deafening to humans. Only the rowdy pseudo-Phyrexians and their Dark Master were unhindered. Kjort drew the anchor to the ship's bay, and the wooden vessel sailed off. They would go west, through the northernmost tip of the Voda sea, then turn south at the islands of Oneah and Shanodia. They would hit landfall in Verdura forest, sail along the coast and finally go on foot into Yavimaya. "I told you I'd have my revenge, Rebbec. And I shall have it. I know where your soul resides- in the Heart of Yavimaya."
The Vodalian cruiser skidded through a sandbar as it reached the Yavimaya Coast. Kjort thrust the anchor off the stern of the ship, creating a large splash as it hit seawater. The Dark Ones assembled on the upper deck. Yawgmoth scooted to the front, to lead his warriors into the brush beyond. Drawing a curved sword upwards and slashing into thin air, he yelled 'To the Heart of Yavimaya!'. Leaping out onto the sand and making a thud, the Lord of the Wastes rose. His cleric warriors did so behind him. They marched single fire at moderate pace into the steamy, unwelcoming forest beyond.
Yrok lay sights on the first intelligent life spotted since entering Yavimaya: elves. Just barely in eyeshot, there lay a clearcutted section of woodland. In the center of the circular expanse were three tough, thick magnigoth trees, with oak hut efficiencies built onto their firm branches. "Master, master, I've spotted a village!" Yawgmoth jerked his attention to where Yrok pointed at. "My my," he said, "a village of elves. We should visit them." The sight of wooden houses affixed to trees, stacked atop eachother reminded Yawgmoth of an ant colony. It reminded him of insects. "Mere insects...why, I could squash them like the bugs they are." The Father of Machines and his biomechanical disciples braved elf pathways to the village. Where the paths would cut off and leave ranges of brush, Yawgmoth would trailblaze a path for them. At last they reached their destination. Immediately, two young male elves rushed to their aide.
"Welcome!" One elf said. He bowed and smiled. Yawgmoth faked a polite smile in return. He hated smiling at lower life forms, but he could make an exception to smile at their burning bodies as he killed them. Yawgmoth sent a mental message to his followers. Even though he had been stripped of his godhood, he had implanted heartstones in his minions and in himself, so that they could share their minds. So that they could surrender their minds to him.
Play along.
"We are a Keldon exploration troop. Our craft was mauled in Llanowar. The elves there were most unfriendly, so Yavimaya is our only option lest we walk ourselves to death en-route to Verdura."
"Say no more!" One of the elves said cheerily. "We are most hospitable in Yavimaya. Gaea urges us to be so." Yawgmoth cringed at that word. Gaea. Rebbec. They were one and the same. His love, his hate. One and the same.
Yawgmoth bowed. "Thank you." Gesturing to Kjort behind him, Yawgmoth continued "This explorer of mine, he has elven friends in another village. Would you happen to know where the... Heart of Yavimaya is?"
The elf gulped. To venture into the Heart, one must have the Mother's blessing. To do otherwise would be sure death from either the fae folk, the snakes, the bears, the wurms...
"Why, surely." The smaller of the two elves ran into his hut to fetch a map. Minutes later, he returned, placing a scroll of papyrus in Yawgmoth's hand.
"Thank you," the Lord of the Wastes said. "You will be repaid for your service."
And they had repaid those elves- repaid them by burning their huts, waylaying their trees, and impaling green skinned bodies against their very wood. Yawgmoth smirked. "Yes, I had repaid my debt well." The Dark Ones again filed behind Yawgmoth, who cleft apart snakes and stole the lives of bears and flayed the muscles of wurms all without breaking a sweat. He was no God now, sure, but he was damn near it. They had come across more elven villages along the way, but it was best to avoid them completely, carving out trails around them. One of the Dark Ones, the last in line, stopped completely. He broadcast a cry for help out among the other machine men and Yawgmoth, who stopped also, turning around. Last in line was a scrawny man equipped with steel claws on the ground. He was being crushed by a giant spider, twice the size and weight of a full grown human. Its ivy skin gave way to a furry ebony head, tipped with two spiked pincers and eight legs. "What a glorious creature," Yawgmoth commented. "A near perfect natural specimen, only lacking in a more fearsome venomous abdomen. If a poison sac were to be added and its crippling mortality removed, these Yavimaya spiders would be glorious Phyrexians, just like Tsabo Tavoc once was." The Dark Lord cringed as the words 'Tsabo Tavoc' came off of his lips. His beautiful spider queen had been killed twice. Once, she had failed in bringing Gerrard Capashen to him. That had cost her her first life at the hands of his war general, eaten alive by Crovax the cursed. He had revived her, though, not even a year ago. In the body of the Angel Florina, Yawgmoth transformed the innocent creature of life into a champion of unlife. Yawgmoth snapped out of his flashback just in time to witness Yrok and another Dark One scrambling to Kjort's aid, attacking the spider, hacking off its legs two by two. With the insect incapacitated, Kjort crawled out from under the bug and smashed its head with his axe. "Serves you right," Yrot commented while spitting at the fallen creature. Yawgmoth smiled at his minions' cruelty. "Onward. Onward to the Heart of Yavimaya. Your resentment will be much needed there."
Two more snakes. One more Elven village. A stampede of squirrels. "It seems the forest does not wish us to be here," Kjort mused. "I don't care what the forest thinks," Yawgmoth replied. The Lord of the Wastes cut through a thick vine barrier, exposing the view infront of him. Golden mulch lead in a twisted pathway to a colossal magnigoth tree that encompassed half of Yawgmoth's line of sight. Colossal branches supported thick green leaves on the tree that seemed to scrape the sky. "The Heart of Yavimaya," Yawgmoth whispered. Yrok and Kjort at his side agreed amongst eachother. Yawgmoth took a step forward towards the tree, and his Dark Ones folowed. The god-turned-man lead the way towards the soul of the great Dominarian forest. He lead them towards the Goddess of the great Dominarian forest.
The two Clerics to the back fell suddenly, prey to pit traps on the mulch trail, with none of the others noticing. Then the next hooded priest stuck herself in a giant spider's web. She shrieked, and the remaining Phyrexians turned around. "Get her," Yrok commanded. Kjort nodded, rushing over to the silk netting and hacking it apart, releasing the fallen Phyrexian free. "Thank you," she gasped.
The leaves rustled. A chill shot down Yawgmoth's spine. Twigs snapped underneath the feet of the Dark Ones. Wind dragged leaves into midair, spinning around, picking up mulch and forming small cyclones. Dozens of them. "Nature is acting against us," Yawgmoth explained to his followers. "Yavimaya does not want us here, but it is of no importance. I have conquered nature many times in the past, and I will do so again."
There had been a cyclone for each intruder. Yawgmoth was trapped in a forest twister. He blinked soil out of his eyes, and saw that the other Dark Ones were imprisoned in similar fashion. Then he fell unconscious. The Lord of Phyrexia had fallen prey to a measley gust of wind.
He awoke to find himself resting on the massive trunk of the Heart of Yavimaya. Yawgmoth surveyed the surroundings. His cyclone had only carried him fifty feet, coincidentally right where he was planning to go. Twigs and mulch and leaves from his green prison lay strewn around him. None of his disciples were there. "Rebbec," Yawgmoth growled, "show yourself, woman!" I am here, Yawgmoth of the Nine Hells.
Tendrils of green energy shot from the Heart of Yavimaya to the ground across from Yawgmoth. It lingered, flickering with mana. The fallen God laughed. "Have you not the courage to form yourself in my presence?" You rely on physical power, Yawgmoth. You do not know that of the spirit, that of magic.
"Magic? Poppycock. Phyrexia lived for nine thousand years without the aid of magic." Without the aid of magic, you lost two interplanar wars and control of your world.
"Touche, Rebbec." Why do you come here, Lord of the Pit? What is your plan?
Yawgmoth scowled. He hated that name. Lord of the Pit. 'The Ineffable' rang nicely, though. "My plan? I plan to behead your elves, burn your grasses, timber your woodlands, and poison your fauna." Your plan has failed.
"I didn't say it was a good plan."
For the first time in many ages, Gaea and Yawgmoth laughed in unison. It was a hearty laugh that brought them back to days long gone by. Yawgmoth...
"Aye?" It pleased him to hear his own name. When had you loved me?
Yawgmoth paused and raised his eyebrow. He sat for a long moment before licking his lips and speaking. "Do you remember the ship?
Gaea paused, scanning her memory. Then it came to her. Six years before the Thran-Phyrexian war, Rebbec had accompanied Yawgmoth on a Thran flying ship to Losanon. Yawgmoth was to study the phthisis cases there, administer serum, and train new healing corps members. Rebbec had gone under the guise of exploring Losanon's architecture. She had truly gone merely because Yawgmoth asked her to. There they shared a laugh, too. Yawgmoth spoke. "I loved you then and even before then. I loved you since the day we met, when I met the woman who revoked my banishment and cleansed my feet at the gates of Halcyon, and caught me from falling on my ass." Yawgmoth chuckled.
Gaea's laugh filled all of Yavimaya. Leaves bristled throught the great forest. Squirrels stopped in their tracks to jeer. Fruit ripened on the branches near elven villages. Yawgmoth...
"Aye?" When had you stopped loving me?
The Dark Lord shook his head. "I never did."
The Goddess and ex-God heard a thundering quake. A minotaur fumbled out of a nearby bush, grappling a Dark One. Torzam's horns impaled the Cleric's chest. The victim thrashed violently before slumping down, dead. Yawgmoth bolted up, drawing his powerstone sword. "Beast, what have you done to my follower?!" Torzam huffed. "Your follower?" Yawgmoth did not speak further. He jumped into the air, landing next to the Hurloon minotaur and swinging his sword out, slashing into Torzam's arm. The powerstone aided weapon cut past skin, through muscle, right down to the minotaur's bone. Stop it.
Torzam flung Yawgmoth away. The Lord of the Wastes slammed against a tree, not taking a moment to reel in agony before standing back up. The roar of throats and the clashing of swords and shields were heard near them. Elf sentries, double and triple the numbers of the near-Phyrexians. Wooden spears drove into Phyrexian chests. Barbed wire arms slammed against elven heads. Limbs of all kinds were severed. Stop it.
Only Yrok and Kjort remained. They rushed to Yawgmoth's side. The three Phyrexians drew their powerstone swords in unison, brandishing them. Though each Yavimaya warrior had been slain, so had all but two Dark Ones. "Look what you have done," Yawgmoth said, gesturing to the piles of corpses around them, "for your crimes, I shall revoke your life." The Phyrexians braced themselves for battle. Torzam thrust his hooves into the ground. The two sides stood off, each waiting for the other to strike. Stop it!
The cyclones began again. Leaves, twigs, mulch, and dirt all twisted in the air as wind picked them up. Four twisters carried Torzam, Yawgmoth, and each Dark One away from the Heart of Yavimaya.
When Yawgmoth awoke, he found himself on the Vodalian Sailship granted to him by Elise. Yrok and Kjort lay at his sides, still unconscious. The remains of Gaea's cyclones were scattered on the boat. When he rose, Yawgmoth found the ship to already be moving south towards the Verduran Sea. "This doesn't change a thing, Rebbec. By aiding Torzam in preventing my revenge against him, you have doomed your forest to a fate of incineration. Enjoy your Heart of Yavimaya for now."
I'm NOT AT ALL ABLE to build Madness, since I'm already building one for my partner in crime. Before you suggest a deck, check if it is madness. If the deck you were going to suggest IS in fact Madness, instead of posting, discard 2 cards.
I'm NOT AT ALL ABLE to build Madness, since I'm already building one for my partner in crime. Before you suggest a deck, check if it is madness. If the deck you were going to suggest IS in fact Madness, instead of posting, discard 2 cards.
Hrm...I really don't like this chapter, but oh well. Here it is.
Aftermath Chapter 3 Land of Lies
By Rex Marhiku
Author's Notes: I entirely forgot to log when I started and ended this, and I can't remember approximately how long it took me.
* * *
Teferi paused and drew a deep breath inward. He stretched his arms forth, hovering in the air above a large plot of sea. In the rough wind, Teferi's wrinkling black skin shrugged. "It is time. My people have been gone for too long. The danger has passed. Come, world of Shiv, phase in!" The air permeating the churning seas grew still. Bits of matter began to materialize. An island was forming. Gigantic chunks of earth and volcanoes settled above the seas. Then buildings materialized, onyx structures, wooden villages, mountainside caves. Finally, the Shivan inhabitants phased in from the Blind Eternities. Millions of denziens strewn across a state-sized volcanic island. Viashino, the scaly lizard men; Humans, fur-donned barbarians; and Dragons, titanic winged wyrms with the intelligence of a scholar. Teferi landed on Shiv. He breathed the ashen air. Beautiful. For the first time in two thousand years, for the first time since the invasion when Teferi phased out Shiv to keep it from the claws of Yawgmoth and his unholy army, the steamy atmosphere of the Shivan mainland was there. "Welcome back," he called, using magic to amplify his own sound waves so the voice of the bengin Planeswalker could be heard throught the island, "welcome back to Dominaria!"
* * *
Misti ran a brush through her long almond hair. She had donned her shining silver Benalish military uniform, and would soon set out to Keld to conduct trade meetings. She was always sent by Benalia's governing body to conduct all diplomatic issues with the barbarians who inhabited the frigid mountain chain of Keld. And why not? The Keldons loved her, if only for her stunning beauty. The straggled hair of the Keldon warrior women could not compae to Misti's graceful almond locks that reached her shoulders. The clawed and harsh faces of the barbaric Keldon amazonesses were put to shame in the company of Misti, whose spectacles only amplified her stunningly beautiful face. The Benalish officer rose and headed out of her quarters, where a horse-drawn chariot would take her to Keld.
The shouts of horses were heard even above the chime of the arctic winds. Misti dismounted her chariot, shivering and chattering her teeth. Though she had been to Keld a dozen times before, she had never been truly accustomed to the unwelcoming temperatures there. Upon reaching the Bittle village, she strode to the central cabin, her dragon-hide boots sloshing snow upward as she dredged through the unforgiving plateau. Creaking the wooden door open, she stepped into a fireplace-lit hall. There was but one person in the entire meeting room: Nave Bittle. He was a large, muscular barbarian, Bittle's warrior chief. His hair was thrown on his back in long, red locks. His muscular chest displayed scars he'd recieved in savage combat with rival villages. Of course, Nave had repaid his enemies for his wounds tenfold. "Ah, Misti!" the barbarian said in a solid, masculine voice. He stood, walking over to the Benalish officer with only a few steps- leaps to normal men. "What brings you to Bittle?"
Misti bowed. It was her choice to maintain upmost politeness in the presence of Keldons. "You have sent for me, haven't you? I recieved a letter just two days ago..." Nave shook his head. "No, maybe it was from another tribe."
"I don't think so," Misti said, producing a letter from her pockets. Written on papyrus, the scroll had been crumpled and refolded many times on the long journey. She pointed to the bottom of the addressing. Nave studied it closely for a moment, reading the contents of the letter and his signature at the end. "I did not write this," Nave said solemnly. By studying his facial expression, Misti determined he was telling the truth. "Then," she explained, "we have been hoodwinked."
Yawgmoth smiled. His smile was dazzling, and he knew it. He and his two remaining Phyrexians hiked through the steep mountain. Atop it lay Yawgmoth's prize; Bittle village. While they were aboard the Vodalian sailship, the Father of Machines had fitted Kjort and Yrok with new boots; widened feet that replaced their former human appendage with widened platforms of steel and hide much like that of a duck. His perfect minions could not be subject to slipping on the vertical climb and falling to their deaths. Yawgmoth did not need special outfittings. "I am, after all, perfect," he mused as he continued walking, Kjort and Yrok moving behind him. Each step the Thran eugenicist took was as graceful as that of his mission-specific disciples. Yawgmoth would not slip, he would not grow cold, or tired. Eleven thousand years ago, when the Dark Lord was an outcasted Thran, banished to walk the desert and the forest and the mountains and the tundras among lepers, monsters and madmen, he had adapted himself to violent climate changes. "Even my blood is one part mud," Yawgmoth said to himself. He had said that on the day he met Rebbec in Halcyon, oh so long ago.
There was a loud rasp on the log door. Timidly, Nave approached the entryway. Someone with a mighty firm hand was knocking. "Are we expecting anyone?" Misti asked. Nave shook his head. The Keldon warlord didn't even get the chance to ask who it was. A claw shot through the wooden door, creating another gash on Nave's muscular chest. Immediately he grabbed the cold steel hand that had struck him. With one mighty heave, he yanked on the hand and pulled the hand's owner, Kjort, clear through the door, tumbling to the ground, leaving behind a wake of splinters and inviting the cold mountain air into what had been a toasty cabin. Kjort rose, shaking off the wood shards that had stuck to his body. The horror smiled, and lunged towards Nave. Again, he disposed of Kjort by grabbing his fist in a punch and tossing him aside, sending the Phyrexian stumbling down to the ground.
Yrok came next. Scuttling through the opened entranced, he spit at Nave from behind. The venomous saliva sizzled and burned away parts of Nave's skin. Turning around, the barbarian picked up a disemboweled log and hurled it into Yrok's face. Bones in the Debasor's segmented jaw cracked and strained, but he didn't mind at all. The true Phyrexian clamped on the log and bit down, shattering the already strained wood. Kjort rose, looking around the room. He had only now regained consciousness from the mighty blow Nave had given him. "Two on one," Kjort cackled, "so unfair. I love unfair." The man-machine stepped just behind Nave, who was struggling to keep Yrok at bay, and dragged his rusty claws into the barbarian's back. The mighty mountain man howled and yelped, losing his grip on Yrok, who spun around and slapped him in the face, sending him to the ground. Nave lay, unable to move, stricken in the back by infected claws.
Streams of white mana formed into jolts of lightning bombarded Kjort. With each blast, a portion of his metallic implants would be punctured. Misti stood, palms open, feeding the cleansing energy to the man-machine. "Stop!" Kjort yelled, crouching and writhin in the pain the Benalish trooper was torturing him with. Misti relented, drawing her bow and arrow, to be certain. Yrok roared a breath of toxins that fouled the chabre and nearly caused Misti to gag. The Debaser approached her, its claws dripping with virus and its teeth sharpened, ready to slay the one human in the way he had defeated Nave. "Come now," Yrok taunted. His voice was slithery, maniacal. "You do not truly expect to defeat me with a crossbow, do you? I am a Phyrexian. Wounds that would slay any man are a mere twitch on my shoulders. My kind can battle with whole limbs missing. We have defeated your barbaric friend, laden with muscle and brawn but weak still to the power of Yawgmoth. Woman, you cannot prove victorious over two compleated, perfect warriors. You cannot defeat us, girl. Give up."
It was then Misti released a single arrow. It punched into Yrok's chest. Not fearing the arrow, he hadn't even attempted to dodge. That would be a fatal mistake. Upon contacting the Debasor's rancid flesh, the arrow sizzled and dug in more. It slowly worked its way through Yrok's chest, causing steam to profuse from him, boiling away Phyrexian oil-blood. Misti's arrow, which had been magically charged for healing, ate away Yrok's skin like Phyrexian plague. The stunningly beautiful Benalish woman laughed heartily as her Debasor foe tried in vain to pluck out the enchanted arrow. "The arrow was dipped in a salve that I prepared before leaving. It was designed to purge rot and infection from one's body, in case I sustained an injury on my trek. But you are a being of rot and infection. The salve shall kill you."
Then the Dark Lord Yawgmoth entered the hall. His mere presence silenced Misti's victory speech and halted Yrok from reeling in pain. Though Yawgmoth was no longer a God, he was still a force. "These are your doings?" Misti asked, gesturing to Yrok and Kjort who stood defeated. "Yes," Yawgmoth replied coldly. "I am Yawgmoth the Ineffable. I forged the letter that brought you into the Keldon mountains to meet with that savage, Nave."
Misti gulped. Yawgmoth was a familiar name. He was mentioned in Benalish history...he was mentioned in Benalish history as the God that came two thousand years ago, opening holes in the sky that lead to hell, invading the world of Dominaria. This Yawgmoth, if he was telling the truth, was the very man who anihilated all Benalia and almost suceeded in the enslavement of the entire Dominarian plane. "Why..." she muttered to herself. It was less a question to Yawgmoth, and more a thought spoken aloud. She readied another arrow, backing away slowly, too slow for anyone to notice she was moving. "Why?" The Dark Lord mimicked. "You are a threat to me. Benalia and Keld are a threat to me. I cannot allow these two nations to band together. By killing you both, each of Benalia and Keld will blame the other for your deaths. I will have destroyed any possibility for trade and millitary assistance between your two countries, and I will have killed one of the finest Keldon warriors, and one of the finest Benalish soldiers."
"Why do you tell me this now?" Misti asked. "You realize that I will tell the Benalish council of this when I return, do you not?" Yawgmoth shook his head. "No, you won't. You won't survive." Misti scoffed. "And what do you have to stop me with?" Yawgmoth looked behind him. Yrok had collapsed, and Kjort was weakened and small. The Ineffable's plan had failed. Yawgmoth's hazel eyes narrowed as he struck his budding goatee. Waving his hand to Yrok and Kjort, they dissapeared, seemingly into nothingness. "Very well," the Dark Lord admitted. "You have won this battle, Misti of the Gale Order. But there will be many more. With Nave's death, the Keldons will not believe your excuse as to what happened. What will you tell them, hm? That a dead God and two monsters attacked a Keldon dignitaray and killed him, but you survived? Hah. Not even the Benalish will buy that." Having gloated his seeming victory, Yawgmoth too dissapeared.
Misti strode over to the fallen Nave. She checked his pulse. "Alive," she said happily, "but barely." She rolled his heavy body onto his back, where the toxicated wounds Kjort had given him festered and sizzled. Producing her salve, she applied it liberally to Nave's back and hoped that he would survive. "You've been through worse, you can pull through. You have to pull through."
* * *
Teferi floated amongst the swamps of Urborg. He'd visited the place to establish treaties with the vile beings who inhabited this place. Today, he would visit a lonely shack built on top of bog ruins. He'd negotiate with the so-called 'Dark Ones'.
The Planeswalker phased through the walls, and came to sit on a table constructed from the wreckage of a downed ship. "Now," he began, "to wait for whichever ambassador I'm to meet." Teferi would have chosen just about anywhere to negotiate than Urborg, but the inhabitants of Shiv and Zhalfir had missed out on two thousand years of history. The murky cutthroat inhabitants of this lonely swamp were known to keep record of every happening to their knowledge, and Teferi's people would need the crash course. Something about being here, in this hut, made him nervous, angsty. These were emotions Teferi had not experienced since ascending to Planeswalkerhood.
Then he knew why he had been so nervous. Infront of him sat the vilest demon ever to be fathomed. The Lord of the Wastes. Ruler of the Nine Hells. The Father of Machines. Teferi bolted upright. "Y--Y--Yawgmoth!" The Dark Lord grimaced. "It is I, Teferi. I live. I have outlived Urza, I have outlived everyone you've ever known. I'm about to outlive you." Teferi shook his head. "No, Demon. I will not allow this. I can stop you." And he could, or so he thought. Teferi was a Planeswalker. With a mere excursion of will, he could banish Yawgmoth back to his hell. But the thoughts wouldn't gather. Teferi willed the Lord of the Wastes to be gone, but it was not so. "What is happening?" He asked.
"Neural inhibitors," Yawgmoth explained. "Strewn all around this portion of the swamp. Here, your Planeswalking powers are null. You are...susceptible to my will." From behind the imprisoned Planeswalker stood Kjort and Yrok, cackling and laughing. They grabbed his arms and forced him to the ground. Yawgmoth stood infront of him, towering over the chained man.
"I have you, Teferi. You are under my power now. You will do what I wish, for I will command it."
"No, Yawgmoth. No. NO! What are you doing? What is that machine? Leave it there. Don't put that on my- no! Stop! It hurts! Yawgmoth, it hurts! Stop it! ARGH! NO!"
The sounds continued on for some time.
I'm NOT AT ALL ABLE to build Madness, since I'm already building one for my partner in crime. Before you suggest a deck, check if it is madness. If the deck you were going to suggest IS in fact Madness, instead of posting, discard 2 cards.
Aftermath Chapter 4 The World Over
Started 8:25 PM 10/18/04
Finished 10:34 PM 10/23/04
Author's notes: Aerona is the continent where Keld, Hurloon, Llanowar, Yavimaya, Verdura, and Benalia, among other things, are located.
* * *
James fought to exhale the air stored in his lungs, but he couldn't. Something was crushing him. Can't breathe, he thought to himself in vain. He felt as if his blood was growing heavier. The heaves and pushes of the Blind Eternities threaten to crush his body and seperate it into a billion bloody chunks. But Rex was there, protecting him. He communicated in thoughts with his elven friend. The Blind Eternities are the space inbetween planes. In order to Planeswalk, one must pass through the Eternities. I can thrive here, but any mortal would surely implode immediately. That is, unless I protect you for the duration of the trip.
Rex propelled himself and James through the formless nexus that was the Eternities.
The air thickened in the already steamy Yavimaya. In the middle of a clearing, something was tearing at the very fabric of reality. Rex Marhiku appeared first, cream white skin, budding muscles, short jet black hair. James came next. The green skinned elf gasped, releasing a giant exhale. "My Gods, Rex," James said inbetween pants, "how the hell do you DO that all the time? I thought I was going to suffocate!" Rex smiled. "Its quite simple. You breathe, I don't." James wasn't sure whether or not he was pulling his leg.
After he had caught his breath, James asked "So, what is this place again?" "Dominaria," Rex replied. "It is one of the central planes in the multiverse. This is Yavimaya forest, Gaea lives here. Speaking of which, we should be hearing from her soon..." A breeze blew by the Planeswalker and his elven friend. James interpreted the gust's meaning. "She's directing us Southward. We must have 'walked into the plane too far from the...that, thing, you know...the Heart of...the Heart of something. I don't know. I'm bad with names." Rex laughed heartily. Since his transformation, he'd been laughing alot more. Godliness must put one in a good mood. "The Heart of Yavimaya," Rex corrected. "Its a big tree. Can't miss it."
* * *
Boulders dissolved. Tides faded away from existance. Donned in full robe, Teferi floated lazily among small islands in Voda, phasing them out; stashing them in the Blind Eternities. Merfolk sentries swam at incredible pace through the seas, attacking where they could, hurling out spears which clanged impotently against the Planeswalker's energy barrier. The next three lines of Vodalian knights retreated backward, swimming towards the palace where they would report to their leader the inability of the Mer Coast Guard to apprehend this mysterious foe who only hours ago had began his assault on the kingdom.
Elise nearly fell down when she had read the latest news report from the coast guard. "Seven ships downed," she said aloud in digestment of the scroll's grave news, "one hundred knights slain. The foe has the ability...has the ability to make matter dissapear. The islands of Sedron, Loladron, Ardron, and Kemadron have all dissapeared in his wake." She stood. Her long fish tail evaporated in favor of scaly semi-human legs. When merfolk were to walk on land, they'd shed their fins and don their mammal counterparts. It was a bit of evolution that had occured in the past ten thousand or so years, when Dominarian merfolk, for the first time in known history, had began routine contact with the land-lovers.
The splashing of webbed feet meeting against puddles filled the echoing stone room that was the embarkation chambre. Elise gazed upon four Vodalian sail ships which would soon depart for Urborg, Yavimaya, Benalia, and Keld carrying assistance requests written by Elise herself. "Its only fair," she reminded herself, "Voda does favors for these kingdoms all the time. Now, it is time to return the favor." Once she had boarded the four ships and given the crews briefings on the situation at hand, the cruisers left at once, sailing full speed to the continent of Aerona and the island of Urborg to deliver their grave news.
* * *
Yawgmoth studied carefully the assistance requestt the Merfolk ship had delivered to him. Because of Urborg's proximity to Voda, the report reached him first. A grin covered Yawgmoth's rough face. "Excellent," he began, "all is according to plan. Under my control, Teferi is dissolving more and more of Voda with each passing second. Now all I have to do is show up, 'defeat' my mindslaved Planeswalker, and be regarded as a Dominarian hero. I will gain the Mers' trusts, infiltrate their society and their hearts before I impale them all on the great harpoon that is Phyrexia." He motioned to Yrok and Kjort, who bolted upright at his call.
"Shall we go, master?" Kjort inquired.
"Yes," said Yawgmoth.
* * *
The Merfolk messengers were unable to scale the frosty heights in the kingdom of Keld, so the land's inhabitants inspected the ship and delivered the message to their master, Nave. Upon finishing the notice, he crumpled the paper in his hand and tossed it aside. "Pathetic fish," he mused to himself. "Can't even defend their own water. Always asking me for help. Nave, Nave! they say. Nave, help us poor fishies! Help us with your big muscles and long hair! Beat the crap out of our enemies! Yatta yatta yatta...I'm too kind, honestly." Continuing his ranting in in inaudible mumble, he gestured over to his tribe warriors. Fierce and muscled, these troops bore fur and leather armor, steel swords, and barbed axes. "Come on!" he shouted, motioning down the mountain. "We're going to go help the fish people out. Again."
* * *
Just as the Mer ship docked on the serene Yavimaya coast, Gaea instantly knew their purpose. Though the blue aligned Merfolk and green aligned elves have been historically enemies by mere nature, lately their relations have been improving. My children, Gaea projected into the minds of the Vodalian messengers who walked the beach, I know what you come for. Fear not, for the forest will not forsake you. Even now I forge a sail ship of living wood. Even now my finest warriors prepare to disembark. Go, messengers from Voda, return to your empire. They need you now. Tell them the good news. Tell them that the forest is coming.
The two ambassadors could do nothing more than bow in honor of Gaea's prolific words. "Thank you, great Goddess," one of them said in awe. They turned around to return to their ship.
James donned his vine armor that he had brought with him from the distant Squiralis. The elf warrior bore no weapons, for the finest Daarvolian druids had no need for a weapon other than their hearts and hands, and James was a fine Daarvolian druid. "I am ready," James said, speaking to the world. "Are the company of Yavimaya Elves prepared?" Yes, the forest-goddess Gaea communicated to him in thought. Where is Rex? Should he not accompany you?
The elf shrugged. "He told me he was going to stroll around some random planes, you know, to check them out. Said something about some place called...Rabiah I think." When he returns, I shall inform him of the battle.
"Aye."
* * *
Misti stood, flanked by the four other Gale Order soldiers. She had recieved the assistance notice hours ago, and had gone to great lengths to mobilize the entirety of the Gale Order from the four corners of Benalia. She looked straight forward at the vessel that would carry her company to Voda. It was an alabaster ship, small and narrow but long, with finely polished spheres decorating its surface. "This ship has seen me through quite a few battles," she said with a glad sigh, puckering her full lips slightly in doing so. "Gale Order, move out!"
"Yes ma'am!" was the unified response of the soldiers.
* * *
Harpoons fired off from Yatarl, the name Yawgmoth had affectionately given his Vodalian ship. They were iron rods, tipped with salt to amplify the pain the weapon would administer. This was, of course, useless against a Planeswalker- their bodies were mere extensions of will, thoughts given physical form. Yawgmoth knew this, but he would have to try anyway- the futility of his actions would fool the Dominarians of thinking nothing of him.
"Oh how wrong they will be," said Yawgmoth, his sentence broken by the wind and scattered throught the seas.
Next came the Yavimaya ship. James stood on deck, hands extended towards Teferi. Vines shot out towards the Planeswalker, binding his limbs and wrapping all of his body, save for the head.
Yawgmoth's jaw dropped wide open when he saw James Wong standing on the ship next to him. "Damnit," he muttered. "How the hell did...James can't get from Daarvol to--Rex! Rex must be here..." The Dark Lord gritted his teeth at the mention of the cursed Planeswalker's name. "If it weren't for him, I'd be in control of Daarvol right now. Surely, he must have brought James to Dominaria. But where is he?"
Now, Yawgmoth felt joy. Rex was not here. Rex couldn't be here. If he were, he would be locked in combat with Teferi. The Ineffable allowed himself a smile. "Teferi shall slay the company from Yavimaya, and it will never be traced back to me."
Cannonfire burst out from the Gale Order cruiser. Five guns sent charge after charge of white matter slamming into Teferi's vine-bound body. Each blast would send him flying lower down, until half his body was submerged in seawater. From Yatarl, the Phyrexians renewed their attack by hurling smoke bombs off from their ship towards Teferi.
"Something about this...seems to easy," James remarked to one of his elven comrades, who nodded in agreement.
"Now, my puppet!" Yawgmoth commanded.
Teferi smiled. Spreading his arms, he made them all dissapear. Yatarl and its crew, the Gale Order, the living ship from Yavimaya which harbored James, even the newly arriving Vodalian ship that carried on it Nave and a pack of his most fierce barbarians.
* * *
James looked around. He was no longer in Voda, for he could only see land all around him. The ground appeared a hybrid. Plains flowed into mountains and into beaches and deserts and back into plains again. It was as if someone had taken Dominarian geography and piled it together in a giant jiggsaw puzzle. Turning his head to the side, James saw his elf sentry- or atleast what remained of them. Their corpses lay side by side, giant singe marks burned through their chests. "They were good men," the elf commented.
Misti and Nave met up with James. They'd been stranded for hours on this strange land. There didn't appear to be any way out. "Hey," Misti said, gesturing to James. "Do you know where we are?"
The Squiralis elf shook his head. He joined Misti and Nave in wandering around the terrain. They waded through murky swampland, raced through fields of corn, and dredged through damp sand all in the same hour. "Maybe this is where he puts it," Misti speculated.
Nave and James stopped. "Puts...what?" Nave asked.
"The land," Misti replied. "That guy we were fighting. He makes things dissapear. This must be where he puts it all." James nodded. It took Nave a minute more to comprehend what Misti had said, but he too grunted in agreement. "His name is Teferi," James added. "He's a Planeswalker." Misti went wide eyed. "A Planeswal-what is a Planeswalker doing in Voda? What joy could he possibly get from dissolving the world?" James shrugged and added his reply. "All we have to do is survive a little bit longer. I have a Planeswalker friend, Rex. He brought me to Dominaria. I'm not from Yavimaya. I'm James Wong, an elf from Squiralis." Nave raised an eyebrow. "Squiralis? What that...I never heard of it." "Exactly," James responded. "Its on another world."
"Oh." After a few more moments of contemplation, Nave elaborated. "So, your friend can help us. But what if he can't find us?"
* * *
There was snickering from near the party of three. "Soooo...the little twig man, the oaf, and the princess are lost?" The voice that delivered the taunt was raspy. Misti immediately identified it as Yrok. "Pity," a stern, humanlike voice added. "I know exactly where I am."
"Yawgmoth," Nave huffed through gritted teeth.
The Ineffable jumped out of his hiding spot, Kjort and Yrok followed. "James Wong of Daarvol. My, how...unexpected it is to see you here."
Misti looked back and forth, from James to Yawgmoth. "You two know eachother?" She asked.
"Yes." Yawgmoth and James replied simply, in unison.
"Best of luck," Kjort taunted. "You'll sure as hell need it."
And they did, for moments later Teferi materialized. Tall, slender, Teferi's once gleaming eyes- gleaming when he had been in his own mind- were now cold and empty. Immediately he summoned two giant rock spikes for the ground. They flew from the left and right, closing in on Misti, James, and Nave.
"HYARH!" Nave yelled. As the rock threaten to crush his body, he grabbed hold of it. Well-trained muscles strained and spasmed under the immense weight. With one last heave, Nave threw the boulder aside. James dealt with his 'foe' more easily- simply summoning vines that sept through the rock and reduced it to rubble.
"Next obstacle..." Yawgmoth commanded to the mindslaved Planeswalker.
Teferi grew. Limbs doubled and tripled in size until the Planeswalker stood fifteen meters tall. He grinned an empty smile and thrust his hand into the beach where James stood. The nimble elf thrust himself out of the way, once on an equal footing summoning a sand cyclone that ground against Teferi's eyes, blinding him- until he willed himself new eyes.
Misti snuck behind Teferi and began to scale his leg. Nave acted as a distraction, standing on a cliff and hurling rocks off towards the giant, which largely clanged impotently against him, the occasional boulder hitting in a key spot and sending him stumbling slightly.
The Gale Order commander reached Teferi's neck, only now noticing the metallic rod that seemed wedged into his neck. "I wonder..." she pondered aloud, drawing her crossbow and lining up the iron bolt. The force of the arrow impacting the mindslave centipede sent Misti flying backwards, and it was only by her great agility that she landed on her feet. Teferi shuddered, shouting in agony. "Whatever that thing is, it has great effect on him..."
In his thrashing, Teferi halted his attack on James. The Squiralis elf breathed deep and drew in the mana of the scattered woodlands in the phasing dimension. Mana accumulated slowly; for there was no centralized forest. Just as the Planeswalker began to calm, James could feel the last green energies coming to him. "Distract him!" He shouted to Misti and Nave. "Distract him!"
They didn't have time to argue. For their very survival they'd have to fight. Misti tapped the mana of the fields nearby, sending the wheatgrass flying up in a razor storm, focused on Teferi's neck. This tactic, along with Nave's fury of fist-sized stones, more than kept Teferi at bay.
"I don't understand," Yawgmoth gruntled. "My plan is failing- but how? Teferi is a near God. How is he being bested by...by mortals?!" Then it came to him. When Yawgmoth had enslaved Teferi, he had locked away a portion of his vast mind. As such, most of the great power and longevity attributed to a Planeswalker was lost. "Damn it!" He shouted. "Damn it all!"
James released the Mei-Oh. A torrent of green mana whipped at Teferi, enveloping him, vaporizing his thought-body. When the ash had cleared and the cloud of green mist settled, the Planeswalker was no more. All that remained was a shattered mindslave centipede. In Teferi's absence, the phasing plane collapsed, sending each and every piece of vaporized matter spiraling back to Dominaria.
* * *
Rex materialized near the Heart of Yavimaya. He looked around to find an exhausted, battered James standing next to two people he didn't recognize, also pretty bruised up.
"So...what'd I miss?"
I'm NOT AT ALL ABLE to build Madness, since I'm already building one for my partner in crime. Before you suggest a deck, check if it is madness. If the deck you were going to suggest IS in fact Madness, instead of posting, discard 2 cards.
I introduce my favorite character in the series (Laurilane) here. Enjoy.
Aftermath Chapter 5 Secrets in the Shadows
By Rex Marhiku
Started 8:50 PM 10/28/04
Finished 5:23 PM 11/3/04
Author's Notes: Laurilane and Kref Sedonya are both characters inspired by people I know (Lauren/bobmasterofspoon and Ralph/Duckflesh respectively.) I asked them if they wanted characters in this series, and they instructed me on their personalities and such. About half of the characters in the fic are inspired by people I know, with their permission of course.
* * *
Claws slashed blindly through the dense fog that covered Urborg's town of Skellenum. Laurilane braved the dirt road path. If she survived this sightless route, it would lead her into the city, where she could attend an important auction. "If I can survive," she murmured, one hand covering her face. She couldn't fly, not here anyway. Laurilane had to keep a low profile, or else a certain lich lord's minions would surely find her.
The mist ended. She walked into the city's outskirs, ignoring the nearby men who stopped to whistle at her figure. "C'mere, angel!" a drunkard in the street prattled while stumbling about. An angel? She was an angel, a fallen one anyway. Violet bird wings sprung out of her back. She was clad in shining ebony armor, pale white skinned in vampiric tones, and had long red hair that reached past her shoulders. Yes, she was an angel.
"Next item," the auctioneer began, "a map to the burial site of Lord Gabol!" This was what Laurilane was waiting for. She took her seat in the wooden shack that was the auction house. There were ten seats in the room, all of them occupied- five Urborgan humans, a Viashino, an elf, a zombie, and two Benalish nobles. What a crowd, she thought.
"Ten gold coins." Laurilane stated.
The Viashino man rose. "Fifteen gold coinsss!" He hissed.
The zombie reached into a hollow cavity in its chest and produced a sack of money. "Ei..teen..."
"Thirty gold coins," Laurilane retorted.
"One hundred gold coins to be paid upfront!" One of the Benalish men shouted. One hundred gold...that was more money than Laurilane- than anyone else there- had.
"SOLD!" The auctioneer yelled in glee, pointing to the Benalian. "For one hundred gold coins!" He approached the high bidder, scroll in hand, and made the transaction.
"He is not to get away with this," Laurilane promised. She flew overhead in upmost silence, stalking the two Benalish as they went through the dark and twisted alleys of Skellenum.
"Gotcha." She swooped down towards one of the men and grabbed him, searching his pockets and hands for the map- no good. In one casual motion, she tossed him asunder.
"...what in the nine hells?" The remaining man clenched the tomb map in his hand, drawing his sword in preparation for combat. This is a Benalish soldier, Laurilane noted. It wouldn't matter. No human alive could withstand her. Especially at night. Under the cover of night, this fallen angel was near invincible.
He slashed at her. She moved swiftly to the right as she landed and fluttered her wings, forcing the rich Benalian to close his eyes. He would have dropped the map, too, if his grip wasn't as strong as it was.
"He'll let go as soon as he's dead."
She caught the dull end of the sword and flung it away. Tackling him to the ground, she stomped on his face and snatched the map from his hand, soaring high into the air and taunting.
"Guess his grip wasn't so great after all."
* * *
Jamuraa was in ruin. Otaria and Tolaria collided. Shiv was half destroyed, Bogarden obliterated. Teferi's phasing magic had destroyed parts of Dominaria and rearranged the rest. For the first time, Rex felt truly ashamed of his Planeswalkerhood. His kind- for he was no longer human, but energy given form- were the most reckless beings in the multiverse.
Urza's sylex blast destroyed an entire forest and put the world into a great ice age. Freyalise's World-Spell to break the eternal winter had been just as impulsive and chaotic. Tvesh Szat...Urza...Freyalise...Karn...Teferi...all of them had comitted unforgivable atrocities, abusing their power as near-Gods.
"Will I do the same? Am I any better than Teferi? I have the same capabilities within me...what is to stop me from becoming the next great monster in this plane?"
You are different from them, Gaea explained. You have...friends. Those you speak of did not. Your fate will not be the same as theirs.
James gave Rex a hearty pat on the back. "You'll get through alright. And if you don't, I can always slap some sense into you."
Rex smiled. "Thanks Jimmy."
* * *
Sand lashed at her wings. Laurilane couldn't even see infront of her. Dust carried by savage winds covered the trail. "Almost there," she reminded herself.
She was on Tolaria. The once-proud island that held Dominaria's largest and most grand school ages ago had been wiped out by a sylex blast. But that was two thousand years ago, and things have changed since then. The land had been transformed into desert, where searing winds steadily plagued the land. None lived here except lunatics and lepers. Though none lived here, some had lived here, in the past.
"And thats what I aim to find."
The temple stood tall. It was sand-colored rock, blending in with the terrain around it, adorned with snake statues and likenesses of Thran kings. This was the tomb of the Thran ruler Gabol, who had governed Tolaria in its infancy- so long ago that it is by some considered a myth. "Heh. Now to see if it was worth taking two lives for this map. As if taking two lives isn't a reward in itself."
* * *
The air in the temple was, as expected, cold. It wore the stench of moth balls. Laurilane ignited a torch and trailed through the main room, where guardian statues stood guard in the corners. She came across a book. It was large, several volumes compiled into one. Its spine was made of leather, the chronicles themselves written in ink on papyrus. The book lay open on a large marble table near the center of the room. Laurilane lit two torches on either side of the book and read from it.
I am the Thran king Gabol of Tolaria. Here lay my tomb. In it lies bountiful treasures the likes of which only my most faithful have seen- dazzling paintings, gold and diamond and Thran-metal, artifact constructs to guard fortresses and thrones, powerstone arrays to light your way for eternity. But heed, for also in this tomb lurks a great evil. The impure souls shall be purged. Only the righteous will walk from this place alive.
"Heh, righteous."
She shoved down a crumbling rock door that blocked a passageway. Inside the room she gazed at the beauties within the room. Polished porcelain statues, from six inches to three feet in height, covered the entirety of the chambre. "Beautiful," she said to herself. Then without hesitation, she screeched and fluttered her wings, using the force of wind generated to send the priceless works of art crashing down to the floor, creating echo after echo as these treasures broke. "Too beautiful. I can't possibly take all of these... no one should have them."
* * *
Here lies the dark man from a darker world. He plagued the land of one thousand lands with terror never before seen in the empire. Awaken him not, for he will tear apart your body and swallow your spirit and desecrate your grave. Raise him not, for he will twist your world as he has those of our own. Bring him unto Dominaria not, for he will give you treasures that burn the flesh away from your hands.
A magnificent curse. "Poppycock," Laurilane dismissed. She knew this place: it held great reward that Gabol didn't want anyone to have, so he took it to the grave with him.
With a long sigh, she drew her powerstone rod- for she had found the great meter long sceptre that could cleave through rock and bone alike- and smashed at the circular stone that was pressed against the wall. It was difficult work, the rock seemed to refuse to move.
"It'll be worth it. It'll be worth it. It'll be worth it."
She would not give up. She bashed and bashed, muttering Urborgan invocations of power taught to her by the liches and zombies that inhabit the island chain forsaken by the Gods. She spoke of curses and boons taught to her in various lands she had been from. She spoke of the Invasion, muttered spells used some two thousand years ago to defeat otherworldly invaders...and she spoke the ancient Draconic and Thran languages rarely spoken in ten millenia.
Soon it would be too late. She eased her spells and her physical pressure on breaking the stone. She began to give up hope. Until, until...
I live. I live. I live! I LIVE!
* * *
The portal opened. It was a dark land, the darkest place Laurilane had ever seen or even dared dream of. This was a twisted hell that existed in mockery of life on Dominaria, but this was not Phyrexia...No, Laurilane had heard sagas and tales that spoke of this vile land of living machine and the sadistic God that ruled it.
"This is not Phyrexia. This is...darker."
As far as the eye could see, land in this portal was black. Soot and ash filled the skies. Black-and-white figures dredged in marketplaces. This land was as if the still portrait of a depressed artist had been given life- or unlife. Then there was laughter. Horrible, sinister laughter. It stung Laurilane's ears and pierced her very soul. "Make it stop," she pleaded. "MAKE IT STOP!"
No.
As he stepped through the portal to Gabol's tomb, a chorus of screams joined with the hideous laughter. Laurilane looked upward in pure fear. She was scared stiff.
"W...wh...who are you?"
"I?" he said, pointing to himself. He was dressed in suave uniform that would indicate some form of humanity. He had smooth hands, polished boots, glorious formal wear- but when you looked up, the similarities ended. He had no face. This creature from the evil dimension was faceless. Where a nose and eyes and hair and mouth would be, there was only blackness. His head was merely an oval-shaped black hole. "I am Kref Sedonya, tormentor of Rabiah the Infinite."
Laurilane blinked. Kref had no mouth. How did he speak to her, then? The answer shot into her mind painfully as the faceless specter invaded her thoughts to communicate; telepathy.
"You were given fair warning. Lord Gabol's tomb, my prison- he warned you and you would not listen. I thank you for releasing me, you have done me great service. But in doing so, you have damned yourself for eternity. I will kill you and steal your soul and add it to my collection. I will assimilate it with my being, and inherit your wings, Laurilane the Fallen Angel. I will slay your body and mind a hundred times each day. All this for one simple, foolish mistake. One gravely foolish mistake."
Laurilane drew her staff. Truly she knew she could not slay Kref Sedonya the faceless man, but she could try. "I'll die trying," she thought aloud.
Kref cracked his knuckles and stepped forward. Laurilane braced herself. The two prepared to square off.
* * *
"Halt, Sedonya!" The voice was booming. Azure light beamed in the room and collapsed the open portal Kref had stepped through. This voice was that of a God, almost. It was the voice of Rex Marhiku the Planeswalker. Kref hissed. These two recognized eachother, as foes.
"I thought I got away from you. I thought you were locked away," Rex added.
"You thought wrong."
"I encountered you in your world not too long ago. Now you encounter me in mine. Just as you had ran me out of the thousand and one worlds, I will banish you from mine. Leave this place, faceless ghoul. I will take you. Leave."
"...no."
The two squared off. Soon, they would duel fiercely. The Planeswalker pitted against a horrible demon from a world unspeakable.
Laurilane braced herself and brandished her staff for combat. She may be of use yet.
I'm NOT AT ALL ABLE to build Madness, since I'm already building one for my partner in crime. Before you suggest a deck, check if it is madness. If the deck you were going to suggest IS in fact Madness, instead of posting, discard 2 cards.
Aftermath Chapter 6 Of none and one thousand faces
By Rex Marhiku
Started 12:24 AM 11/3/04
Finished 9:55 PM 11/6/04
Author's Notes: The last scene in this chapter is my favorite single scene in the series so far.
* * *
Arctic winds shot from Rex's palms. They struck into Kref and knocked him back hard against the stone wall. He rose, undaunted.
"You'll have to do better than that."
"Oh, I will!" Laurilane intruded on the conversation.
Her staff struck Kref's head from behind. He clutched his head, grabbing the scepter and snapping it in two. He headbutted the angel, but she caught herself in mid-fall. Amidst the distraction, Rex summoned two bolts of lightning that crashed on either side of Kref and singed his suit.
They had him.
"Go back!" Rex commanded.
"Sure will," said Kref.
He dissapeared. His body dissolved into shadow and ran out along the floor out of the chambre. Rex stood, defeated. The great dark man had escaped out of Gabol's tomb and would soon run into mainstream Benalia, where it could begin terrorizing the world. Yawgmoth AND Kref. "Great," Rex muttered sarcastically.
"Uhhhhm," Laurilane asked, floating to stand aside the Planeswalker. She felt as if she knew this man, somehow. "Pardon my asking...but who are you?"
"I'm Rex," the thought-being answered. "Rex Marhiku of Daarvol. And you?"
"I'm Laurilane of Urborg," she replied quickly.
"Laurilane...what a familiar name."
* * *
In the midst of night, Benalish noblemen clutched their throats and collapsed, dead. Kref stood behind them, grasping their heads and draining their life force. "So long, so long ago since my last consumption...now, there is an entire world waiting for me."
He turned and walked silently through the streets of the town. Soon enough, he would capture and pilot a Benalish ship to Urbrog, where he could establish a foothold on Dominaria.
* * *
The air warmed and strained as reality crackled and bent. Rex planeswalked into Yavimaya, Laurilane aside him. Apparently, this Planeswalker had nothing against interplanar hitch-hikers.
"We're here," Rex said grimly.
James swung down into view, hanging from a branch on the Heart of Yavimaya by a vine. "Whats wrong-" he began to ask, cutting off his own sentence when he saw Laurilane. This woman, for lack of a better word, appeared to be the spitting image of Lauren the Lotherian vampire. "...who is this?"
"Who? Me?" The vampire asked, gesturing to herself. "I'm Laurilane."
James took a step backward. This woman reminded him of Lauren, who had slain Brandon and been responsible for Florina's death as well as joined the Zanba army only to defect to the army of Mishra. She had been captured by Yawgmoth...and finally crushed in an instant fighting Phyrexians. She even looked like Lauren, and bore her name. Who was this?
"Uh," was all he managed to choke out. After a moment more of forming a single complete thought, he added "where are you from?"
"Urborg."
"Oh."
Rex asked, "Do you remember the story I told you about when I was in Rabiah?" James nodded. "Well," the Planeswalker added, "Laurilane here has something to tell you pertaining to it."
He is out, Gaea revealed before the fallen angel ever had the chance to explain. Kref Sedonya is free. We must stop him.
* * *
Kref walked casually through the Urborgan marshes, crossed jagged vines and ripped the heads from stray snakes that dare to cross his path. He was drawn here somehow, compelled to come to this particular island, this particular spot.
"Why do I come here?"
The answer came. He stood out on a muddy shore near a putrid lake. Something smelled. It was not the smell of rotting flesh eaten away by lizards and implanted with maggots. It was different, somehow. "The smell of evolution."
Evolve. That is the process that this man- this monster undertook. It stood adjacent from Kref. It had thick grey hide, had a ball-shaped slimy head, and had two yellow tusks jutting from its chin. This creature had evolved. It was Phyrexian.
"I am what you seek," the shambling horror spoke in rough tounge, "come, Kref Sedonya of Rabiah the Infinite. Come and witness the beast of Yawgmoth..."
Kref hesitated. He considered smashing the strange creature here and there, to steal its soul and claim it as his own, but he couldn't bear to destroy such a beautiful being. Not yet, anyway. For now, he inquisited. "Who are you? How do you know my name?"
The strange monster bowerd. "I am but a servant of the great Lord Yawgmoth, Father of Machines. He knows you, Kref. Yawgmoth is all seeing. He knows everyone and everything."
Kref grinned. A God in the fetid swamps? Why would a Lord of creation and destruction choose the most desolate and hated land in all of Dominaria to reside in? Yet still, Kref felt compelled to investigate the matter further. If this Father of Machines was a God as he claimed, the Rabian demon would strike a deal with him. Otherwise, he'd slay the false deity and steal his face.
"Take me to him. Take me to Yawgmoth."
"As you wish, Sedonya."
* * *
And what a sight he was!
He was draped in a teal robe. His face would suggest the man was in his early fourties, but in truth he was twelve thousand years old. His wrinkles that flowed on his face didn't detract from the stern look of absolute authority he projected. His large nose was complemented by the double brown goatees on his chin. But most of all, his eyes were most powerful. They were slim, almond colored, and when he looked at you, it was as if you were uplifted by a chorus of angels.
"You've come," said the dread lord Yawgmoth. "excellent."
Kref nodded, though it wasn't visible. He approached Yawgmoth. Right then and there, a mortal's life would have ended. But Yawgmoth wasn't a mere mortal. He was immortal, Phyrexian. "Yes, yes," Kref replied. "I take it you are my escort's creator."
"I am."
"I am Kref Sedonya of Rabiah the Infinite."
"I know."
"But how? How did you know? I am from a plane Dominaria has scarcely heard of in the entire history of time."
"I was once Thran. The age of the Thran Empire stretches from beyond time itself."
Kref paused. Now he knew. Yawgmoth was a Thran knight, or something, bent on returning him to his world. The faceless demon clutched his fists. He wouldn't let that happen. He'd fight this man to the bitter end.
"I know what you are thinking," Yawgmoth said as he fidgeted through a door and produced a scapel. "I am not here to re-imprison you in Rabiah. I would not be so cruel, for I know myself of the great agony of capture, stuck in the same world for nine thousand years only to be trapped again upon escape...oh, I know of your troubles, Kref Sedonya. We must work together to avenge them."
"How?" Kref inquired, easing the grip of his fists, becoming more accustomed to the presence of this man he could not slay.
Yawgmoth breathed deep and continued his explanation. "I was once a great, bountiful, powerful God, as true as any. I ascended to the throne of Phyrexia and merged with it and sheltered in it, and it took shelter in me. I brought the entirety of the Thran empire into the breast of my world and nurtured them. I gave them thicker skin, long life, eternal life, great power, agility- I made them into Gods. Those weak Thran who refused to ascend and strived to haul my kind back into the Caves of the Damned were vanquished in a swift, three day war. I was the victor. I had scoured them from the face of the plane in white, cleansing cloud. I was to do so for the rest of the universe, but she foiled my plan. Rebbec."
A sigh escaped Kref's non-mouth, for he recognized this name as the greatest Thran architect in history, wife of Glacian, the genius of Halcyon.
"I fell in love with her, and her with me. I brought her into the heart of my world and offered that she may live there with me, to inhabit Phyrexia as her Queen and Goddess. I posessed her, infused her with my being. I found not love, only hate. There was not a trace of the great feelings she once bore for me: only loath. She hated me so much she fled back into the Caves of the Damned and sealed me away for four thousand years. Later, I escaped, and planted my seeds on Dominaria, and raised another invasion in five thousand years, but I was thwarted again by Rebbec and that damned group of ragtags lead by that damned Urza Planeswalker."
"...what does this have to do with me?" Kref asked, not afraid to show his usual self-centeredness.
"Do you want revenge on Rex Marhiku the Planeswalker? Revenge on the Thran Empire? Revenge on Rebbec, who is now called Gaea the world Goddess?"
He stood still and said simply, "Yes."
"Excellent. Then we shall begin immediately."
* * *
The air was as always cold and dry in Keld. Nave barely broke a sweat hiking through thick snow on his way to the forest. A forest, a forest in Keld? Impossible. By all natural means, no greenery could have ever thrived in this polar hell.
But the forest didn't come here naturally. It was from the invasion two thousand years ago. The artificial plane of Rath overlayed on top of Dominaria, and the Rathi forest of Skyshroud had settled in a Keldon valley. Only the enchantments of the Planeswalker Freyalise had saved the elf-sanctuary from freezing.
"But they didn't save it from me," Nave joked. Only sparsely had the Keldons and the Skyshroud elves been in contact since the invasion's end. But now he would HAVE to hold council with the reclusive tree-huggers, such the great Keldon tribes had agreed. It would only be right to inform sworn allies of the return of Yawgmoth.
Nave complained. "Stupid tribes telling me to do stupid things, I oughtta rip their stupid heads off their...stupid...shoulders."
* * *
The folk of Skyshroud lay in ruin. My blade cleaves the head of an elf charging frantically.
Blood drips from my sabre. I raise it high to the air only to cut down upon the skull of another member of the vile tree-hugging race.
My servant is beside me. He clutches two elven children and reaches his hands over their faces. A moment more, and their heads are bare tan skin. He has absorbed their likenesses.
As if to outshow him, my fingers bore into the eyes of a warrior who passed me. He is not elf. He is thick and muscular, grey-skinned. Knuckle dragging Keldon oaf. They are even easier for me to slay than the elves. Where Skyshroud's inhabitants will hide and plot when bested, the Keldons charge screaming to their deaths. I smile. It has been ages since I was last human, since I last swung a powerstone sword to cut a mortal body in half. It is glorious.
I know you are here. I know that laced through the bark and flowing through the blades of grass that you watch Kref and I. I know that you feel the agony of the death of each elf I bring to untimely death. I also know that you object. But what are you to do, Rebbec? You cannot stop me.
Rex cannot stop me, either. No one can. Twelve thousand years of attempts by various mortals and immortals alike from all the universes in the multiverse have ended in failure. I am death, and death cannot be stopped.
Death has its allies, too. Phyrexia was my ally, one I shall reclaim soon. I have made allies of the people of Halcyon, and I have even made an ally of you, Rebbec, long ago. But you have betrayed me. My latest ally, Kref Sedonya, he will not betray me. He knows that I am a God and that I could grant him immortality just as easily as I could syphon the life from his blood.
Just as you and Rex can't halt me, nor can Nave. He bounds toward me now and swings at me with his axe. The fool. If Yrok and Kjort could subdue him, so can I. I grab the handle of his axe and yank it. Nave has overextended. He tumbles down onto the ground, and I stomp on the back of his head with my boot. He is so stubborn. He rises, dusting the soil from his face. Growling, he lunges toward me. I don't even have to block, merely to step aside and watch him crash into a tree.
Kref draws near. I shall allow him this kill. Just as Nave rises and releases a primal grunt, the faceless specter steps in front of him and grabs hold of the barbarian face. Already I can see the tendrils of red mana that composite Nave's soul being drained into Kref's hand, down his arm, and into his body. To drink the life from your foe is delightful, but to witness soul theft is exquisite. He was interrupted, blasted out of the way by a gust of arctic wind. Arctic wind in Skyshroud? This surely must be sorcery.
It was. Rex hovers before me. Standing aside him to the left is the fallen angel Laurilane. I know her name just as surely as I know her sister's name, for I have probed Lauren's mind of the knowledge before I crushed her. Rex speaks my name, Yawgmoth.
Who dares speak my name? To speak my name is to speak the name of Death, and to speak the name of Death is to beckon it to grasp you and snuff out your very existance.
I'm NOT AT ALL ABLE to build Madness, since I'm already building one for my partner in crime. Before you suggest a deck, check if it is madness. If the deck you were going to suggest IS in fact Madness, instead of posting, discard 2 cards.
Aftermath Chapter 7 Two Sides of a Coin
By Rex Marhiku
Started 10:09 AM 11/8/04
Finished 10:24 PM 11/9/04
Author's notes: At the time of writing this, Chapter 7 is the longest chapter in Aftermath (16.3 Kilobytes on Notepad.) The second longest chapter is 4 (15.8 Kilobytes on Notepad.) The shortest Chapter is 1 (8.10 Kilobytes on Notepad.) I try to make all my chapters atleast 13K on Notepad even if it means adding pointless **** that just detracts the quality of the story...such as this bull**** "Author's Notes" section!
* * *
In the distraction, Nave half-rose and rushed by the side of Rex. He didn't like doing this, running and cowering for help in the shadow of another, but to do otherwise would be death.
"Yawgmoth, Kref," Rex addressed while his gaze pinned each of the two offenders, "in the name of the safety of Dominaria and the multiverse, I command you to surrender."
The faceless man scoffed. "Surrender? Us? You are mistaken, Planeswalker. Gravely mistaken, for we posess power greater than yours."
Now Nave began laughing. "HAHAHAHAHAHA! You've got to be KIDDING me! Have you seen this guy FIGHT?!" He pointed to Rex. "He can make storms and transform and disman..dis...wreck stuff! Oh you haven't seen the half of it!" Laurilane gave him a cold stare as if to tell him to shut up. Nave obeyed.
Rex extended his hands. "Yawgmoth is a liar. He is no God, not now, not ever. He is but a man."
Yawgmoth snarled and shouted "Lies!"
The Planeswalker grinned. "I'll prove it."
Tendrils of blue mana escaped Rex's fingertips. They wrapped around Yawgmoth and tightened, forming a net of energy rope. Despite the Ineffable's thrashing attempts to pull free, he could not. Nave and Laurilane faced Kref. They approached, one pace, and Kref backed away in proportion. He soon found himself backed against a tree.
"Whatever," Laurilane dismissed. "Anyway, you should surrender or my buddy here will rough you up before he sends you back to the slammer."
"Buddy?" Rex asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Sure," Laurilane replied. "You're my buddy, right?"
"Uhh...ok."
Kref smiled and hissed. He lunged at a distracted Laurilane, sending two punches to her face. She fluttered her wings and knocked him away, but before Rex could cast another imprisonment spell the faceless killer turned completely to darkness, escaping without trace under the shadow of a charred tree.
Several more squirming attempts by the Ineffable to escape failed miserably. He sighed against the mana strings that bound him and said, "I guess you got me."
"Sure do!" Rex said, voice raised. "And now you're going to talk."
"You've got alot of 'splaining to do!" Lauren added with a giggle.
Rex grabbed Yawgmoth and raised him, casting an enchantment to raise the strength of his prison. "We'll take him to Yavimaya. Laurilane, you come with me, ok? There may be some things said you should hear. Nave, can you handle informing the Skyshroud sentries of Phyrexians in their midst? They have to be better prepared to fend off their assaults when they inevitably strike back." Nave nodded in agreement. Not a moment later, Rex, Laurilane, and Yawgmoth vanished from existance, 'walking out of Skyshroud and into the AEther.
The last moment before they winked out of the forest, Yawgmoth transmitted into the open; Phyrexians, gather to fight for your God in Yavimaya.
* * *
Suddenly, they were real. It had been a harsh trip through the Blind Eternities, though Yawgmoth had remained ever stout. Laurilane, on the other hand...
"Don't do that again!" She shrieked as she came into being leaning on the trunk of the Heart of Yavimaya. "All the colors drifting by...so dizzy."
Yawgmoth scoffed. "Silence, child." In response, Rex slapped his captive and said, "You're in no position to be giving orders."
"But I am," the dread lord corrected. "I always am." Rex tightened the magical bonds.
"Enough of this," the Planeswalker said. "Now you must face trial before me, and my friends, and Gaea."
Yawgmoth was placed in a wooden seat, still in his blue mana cord entrapment. Around him sat James, Laurilane, and Rex.
Finally, Gaea's avatar formed. It started as a sprout jutting up from the grass, then grew rampantly to become a stalk. Then it formed a slender human shape, growing hands and legs and finally a head. Long strands of ivy hair flowed down to the mid back, and out of the soft nature that was an empty face the features of a nose and mouth were sculpted. The eyes formed last, pupils animated glowing violet. I am here, the forest Goddess announced.
Yawgmoth spat towards the avatar. "Rebbec," he snarled. "I knew you would be here. I allowed myself to be captured, so that I could-"
He was interrupted when James lashed out at him by casting a leaf storm that skimmed by the Ineffable's cheek and caused a trail of blood to run down. "Hush," the elf ordered, "while you are prisoner of Yavimaya, you are not to speak unless spoken to. Got it?" Yawgmoth grudgingly obeyed by saying or doing nothing further.
I call this hearing to order, Gaea announced. First; Yawgmoth, you are charged with the anihilation of the Thran race and two attempts to conquer Dominaria. How do you plea?
A smile formed on Yawgmoth's lips. "I did this with joy. Given the chance, I'd do it all again, Rebbec. You know that. But there is one thing, one detail I would change."
And what is this?
"I would have killed you before you sealed the heartstone that locked me in my world."
Sadness filled Gaea's soul to hear those words. There was a time where had he said that, she would have crumpled onto her knees begging forgiveness. But that time has long passed, and Gaea reminded herself that she too would have killed Yawgmoth long before he ever could have comitted these terrible crimes against all the multiverse.
Understood, she replied.
"Next item," Rex said to change the subject from that dark bit of romance, "Yawgmoth, you are charged with the invasion of a secluded plane called Daarvol, of capturing a denzien from Kamigawa of the name Horobi to do your bidding, of slaying countless Daarvolians of all races, of drawing the mana of five kingdoms and using them against us...and murdering Lauren from Lotheria."
Yawgmoth supressed an open laugh. As he gave Rex his plea to these accusations, his tone was as proud and level as all but Gaea had ever heard. "I did it. It was I who released Mishra the Destroyer and employed him as a Phyrexian..." He halted as the bitter thoughts of Urza's cunning brother even now sitting inside the Ninth Sphere of Phyrexia, commanding the billions of metallic lifeforms, stealing what was once his... "and it was I who captured the one you call Horobi, of another world entirely, as a minion. Yes, it was I who corrupted Lothar the king of Lotheria, I who made him syphon power from his land and land around it to be fed to me, I who enlisted Lauren's service as a mercenary to bring Florina to me where I ate her soul and gave her body to Tsabo Tavoc. It was I who brought forth the Mana Destroyers to stomp on the world which harbored them, and it was I who rained plague and war on your world, and it was I who turned Lauren to stone and crushed her just as easily as one would crush a passing FLY! I did it, I did it all, yes! Yes!"
They all paused. Rex and Laurilane lowered their heads in silence. As James did the same, a thought popped into his head: Lauren. Laurilane. There's similarity. They look alike. Who the hell can't tell that there's something going on here?
"There's something going on here," James repeated, this time aloud. "Yawgmoth, you seem to know alot about alot of things. That must happen when you're freakishly old like you are. In fact, I think you're the oldest old geezer anywhere...well, I'm trailing off. My point is, who are Lauren and Laurilane?"
Laurilane blinked, than turned her attention to Yawgmoth. Maybe he knows what the hell is going on, she thought.
"They are sisters," the Ineffable stated.
"And?" Rex asked. Yawgmoth was silent. He tightened the grip of the mana ropes that they threatened to suffocate the Dark Lord, then he eased the bonds. "Explain. Now."
Yawgmoth breathed deep, eager to fill his lungs with oxygen. "Very well. You know that during the Daarvolian invasion, I captured Lauren and brought her to the Fourth Sphere to be examined by Vat Priests. I did this with greater purpose than idle curiosity. Lauren was a great ancestor of Dyfed."
No one but Gaea knew what that meant. Upon realizing that they were still clueless, he continued.
"Dyfed was a Planeswalker during the age of the Thran. She was a friend of mine. She found Phyrexia for me and taught me how to posess it. You could say it was her that transformed me into a God. But she betrayed me, as Rebbec did. She threatened to remove my powers. I stabbed her in the forehead. By continually scrambling her brains, she could not access the planeswalking organ- the brain- and as such could not regenerate, or 'walk away. She couldn't do much of anything."
He stopped to marvel on the great ingenuity that had moved him to stab his foe in the forehead and scatter her mind throught Phyrexia.
"Before I did this, though, Dyfed bore a child I was not aware of. After my imprisonment, those children had children, and so forth. On the third generation of Dyfed's wretched spawn, her great grandson wed with an angel from Serra's Sanctum. Their daughter, half-angel and half-human, was stolen by Baron..." He remembered that not even Gaea knows who that is. "...stolen by a vampiric planeswalker and brought to Daarvol. They mated, forcefully or otherwise, and their son, a three race abomination was paired with a Lotherian woman. THEIR children...their children are Laurilane of Urborg and Lauren of Lotheria."
"How do you know this?!" Laurilane snapped before she even began to comprehend the knowledge that her ancestry is of three worlds.
"I know alot about alot of things," the Ineffable replied with a grin.
"And how did Laurilane get to Dominaria?" Rex asked Yawgmoth.
"This I do not know," he replied. "Oh, there is one more thing you should know..."
Rex, James, Laurilane and the Gaea avatar fixated their gazes on Yawgmoth.
"It is in your best interests to look out behind you."
They looked, but it was too late.
* * *
Kref leapt out from behind a bush and trampled over James, knocking the lithe elf to the ground. He turned to grab the man's neck, but James took hold of his featureless hand and twisted it.
Yrok and Kjort stepped out of the shadows. They both grabbed Laurilane with implacable strength. She thrashed. Kjort tumbled away. A blast of arctic wind sent Yrok flying off as well. The three minions regained their footing and raced toward Yawgmoth.
"You're not getting away THAT easily!" James shouted. Vines sprouted forth from the ground, a spell by James amplified in power by the presence of Gaea. They wrapped together and grabbed hold of Kjort. James stepped near and said, "Give up and maybe, just maybe I'll let you live." Kjort spat on him. The acidic saliva burned away a patch of his wooden armor. James placed his palms on Kjort's shoulders and cast his rusting spell. In an instant, all of Kjort's metallic implants- near half of his body- turned to crimson dust. He died moments later.
Laurilane tackled Yrok. She clawed at his steel chest platings, leaving scratch marks in them. The Debaser responded by spitting tar that stuck to the angel's arms and stung as it boiled away her flesh. "REX!" She shouted, "REX! HELP!"
Immediately he snapped his head toward her. Just as he stepped forward, preparing to run to her aid, he was stricken down. A laugh invaded his mind, the laugh of Kref Sedonya. The faceless monster himself stood infront of the fallen Planeswalker. He said mockingly, "Oops, did I knock you down?" Rex was speechless. Kref knelt, and placed his ebony hand that reeked of ink on the planeswalker's face. He gathered the black sorceries in his mind that would syphon away Rex's soul and face and graft it unto himself.
Except Rex wasn't there. "Where is he?!" Kref growled. He looked around. It seemed Rex had melted away...
He did melt away! His face, body, everything! He was a puddle of blue-and-teal on the grass ground. "What trickery is this?!" Kref demanded.
"This kind of trickery," Rex answered. The milky puddle that was him leaped up and formed into a solid. This wasn't Rex's body, though. This creature had sky blue matted fur, four legs that were each tipped with three inhumanly sharp claws, eyes of solid sapphire, and three rows of teeth in a single gigantic mouth.
"He's shapeshifted!" Yawgmoth announced, then he elaborated. "One of the powers of a Planeswalker is to change forms at will. His body is just a manifestation of his mind, so if he just wills himself to be something else..."
He didn't get to finish. Kref was knocked clear back when the tiger-Marhiku rammed into him. Rex growled and leaped into the air. He landed, grabbing hold of Kref's left arm and crunching down. The faceless ghoul howled in pain and melted into blackness, escaping through a shadow on the ground. Now the feline bodied Planeswalker bolted towards Laurilane.
The black goo had already wiped away the skin on the angel's arm when Rex arrived. One blast of chilling breath sent Yrok hurling into a nearby tree, where Gaea bent branches to trap the horrid debaser.
Laurilane grunted as Rex examined the wound with his paw and shook off some of the tar that stuck to his paw. His body again turned to quicksilver and formed Rex's preferred form- the tan skinned, slick black haired, moustached Rex that all knew and some even liked. He placed his right hand over Laurilane's searing wound and closed his eyes as strands of white mana flowed into it.
"I'm not so familiar with white magic," Rex explained, "just a novice here. But since I'm a Planeswalker and am really, REALLY handsome, I should be able to heal you." He concentrated heavily, imagining the rolling golden grass fields of Benalia, channeling their energy into his hand and then into Laurilane in healing patterns.
"You're right," Laurilane said giggling, "you are a novice and ungodly handsome."
"Why thank you!" Rex replied sheepishly.
Flesh healed as Phyrexian tar burned away. Exposed muscles flowing profusely with blood scabbed and then vanished entirely as new, healthy skin was generated on Laurilane's arm. After a few more moments, Rex said, "There we go. All better."
"Thankie," the angelic woman replied.
Now, Kref! They aren't looking!
The man without a face obeyed his master. He jumped from the shade cast by a magnigoth tree, which made his haunting form visible. He raced through the grass stained with the blood of Kjort to the wooden chair where his Lord was bound. Gaea attempted to stop him. She sprung roots from the ground that lashed toward Kref. He grabbed hold of them as they came near and jumped upward to avoid others, then landing on the ground. James tried to thwart his prison break next. He dove towards him, locking him in a tackle and sending him to the ground. Kref grabbed his face to syphon the mana from him, but instead threw him off of him. "Don't have time," he reminded himself when he began doubting why he'd passed up the opportunity of feasting on a delicious elven soul.
Then he came, ripping away the cords of blue mana that bound his master. "Good job," Yawgmoth complimented as he patted Kref on the back. "Now we must go."
They dissapeared. Yrok vanished in a cloud of soot from his prison amongst magnigoth branches. Kref went next, and finally Yawgmoth just as James lept toward him. Instead of grabbing the Ineffable by the collar, James crashed to the ground, only grabbing a fistful of dirt.
"He escaped," Rex stated bleakly.
"We had the greatest criminal in the whole multiverse in our grasp and he escaped," James added.
"We should have killed him when we had the chance," Laurilane pondered aloud.
My children, Gaea spoke with sympathy, it isn't your faults. We were merely questioning him. We would have killed him afterwards, but we were interrupted. You all did your bests, and we've learned much today. I am proud of all of you.
I'm NOT AT ALL ABLE to build Madness, since I'm already building one for my partner in crime. Before you suggest a deck, check if it is madness. If the deck you were going to suggest IS in fact Madness, instead of posting, discard 2 cards.
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Aftermath Chapter 1
To regrow that which was never lost
Started 8:21 PM 10/11/04
Finished 10:58 PM 10/11/04
Author's Notes: As of November 10, 2004, this Chapter took the least time to complete of all of Daarvol and of Aftermath chapters 1-7. This was finished in about two and a half hours. Most take 2-5 days.
* * *
Damn you, Rebbec.
Yawgmoth gathered his essence in the depths of Urborg. Again he had been defeated. First by Rebbec, and by Urza, and now by that damned Rex. He'd tried to seal him in the Meditation Plane with Nicol Bolas and other petty thugs.
As if.
Urborg, where his ghost had resided since the end of the invasion oh so long ago.
Why didn't my conscious collect in Phyrexia?
Then he remembered. After the untimely thwarting of his Daarvolian attack that cost nearly a billion Phyrexian lives, after Rebbec's team of freaks and rogues had dismantled his mana Destroyers, after the Planeswalker Rex Marhiku had tried to lock him away, Mishra had taken place in Phyrexia. In his absence, the land of Nine Hells ached for a God, and the Destroyer happened to be the one who took it. Now Yawgmoth was no longer a deity. If he could not maintain a hold in Phyrexia, then in any other world he manifested in he would become...
"A mortal!"
Yawgmoth looked at his hands. Hands, puny human hands. No longer was the Dark Lord a being of black mana that remotely controlled tens of billions of souls- he was less evovled than a growing Newt. Yawgmoth strode over to a puddle near him and stared at his own reflection. Rough, wrinkled white skin and bushy black brows furrowed in a frown. "Eleven thousand years of phyresis...all gone."
The Ineffable waded through swampwater. When vipers approached him, he'd slash their heads apart with a sharpened stick he'd found on the trail. "I am the greatest viper," he commented. "No mere snake can deter a God." As he continued swathing through swamp brush and murky water, the former Lord of the Wastes came upon a most wonderful sight. A mere ten yards away, Yawgmoth saw a wooden hut. It was not the hut that pleased him, rather, the creature near it. There stood a Phyrexian in all its glory. A bone-plated head that covered grey-and-black skin, exoskeleton covering a humanlike body frame, and four sharp claws where fingers would be on any mortal. "But this is no mortal," Yawgmoth mused. "This is...Phyrexian."
Yawgmoth let out a loud whoop as he came within the creature's line of sight. The monster huffed and looked up, not recognizing the image of its master who had not been seen two millenia. "A debasor, I see. Interesting." The Debasor roared and stepped infront of Yawgmoth as he approached. "Who goes here, human?" The creature's voice was gravely, the stench of his breath forcing Yawgmoth to cringe. "I," he began, "I am Yawgmoth, Lord of the Wastes, Ruler of the Nine Hells. I am your God. Who are you?" The Debasor went wide eyed and bowed immediately. Though Yawgmoth was a mere human, his death aura was immistakable. "I apologize sire, please pardon my ignorance. I am your humble servant Yrok, born of the steeplejack Xod in this swamp several hundred years after the invasion." Yawgmoth lifted Yrok's head up to meet his gaze and smiled warmly. "It is no worry. Tell me of Dominaria. Tell me what has become of it since the invasion." Yrok chuckled. "There is much to tell, my liege. Much to tell indeed."
Eye of twilight, give us sight.
Yawgmoth and Yrok strode through the dark hallway, torch illuminating the path ahead of them. As they made their way down to the ritual chambre, they heard the sounds of the Priests within.
Hand of strength, mark our way.
Yrok knocked hard on the wooden door at the end of the path. "It is Yrok, child of Phyrexia!"
Father of Machines, let our thoughts be pure.
After several minutes of waiting, the door unlocked and creaked open. There stood a gathering of eight beings in crimson robe. One by one, they pulled their hoods down, revealing grotesque faces, once human, stitched and warped with metallic implants. "Beautiful," Yawgmoth commented. Yrok nodded. "These," he said, gesturing to those infront of him, "are the Dark Ones. After the invasion, a group of living Phyrexians, myself included, began extracting humans from the swamps and teaching them the ways of phyresis. After they saw things our way, we would operate on them to transform them into Phyrexians as best we could with the materials available." Yawgmoth patted Yrok on the shoulder. "You have done well, my child. You have done well." The pseudo-Phyrexians bowed toward the Lord of the Wastes, chanting 'hail the Father of Machines!' Yawgmoth walked around the room, coming upon a human laying strapped to a table. Tools lay around him. He was asleep. "My Lord," one of the Dark Ones said, bowing, "this is Kjort. He is the newest of our kind. We were to perform the initiation ceremony on him tonight." Yawgmoth nodded. "Interesting," he added while stroking his chin. "I'll do it." The Dark Lord picked up a scapel from a desk, brandishing it. "I will make him into an immortal." Then, the operation began.
* * *
Trees were felled. Torzam strode through the forest of Llanowar, knocking down branches and brush as he went. He was a minotaur from Hurloon, ivory horns protruding from a head of rough brown hide. "Where are you?!" He shouted to nothing in particular, recieving no answer. When the bushes behind him rustled, Torzam swung out his axe, hitting only clear air. Then came a light laughter from the branches atop a tree. "Aww, c'mon Torzam! You have no sense of humor at all!" Torzam growled. "Stop kidding around, Semaj. Now give me my swo-" Semaj thrust the powerstone sword in his grip straight into the grass. The nimble elf climbed down the branches, landing softly on a patch of leaves. He had the palest green skin, deep blue eyes, and ivy hair. "I'm sorry" he said sheepishly, bowing his head at the lean minotaur. "I was just playing with it." "Playing with it?" Torzam's left eye twitched. "Playing with it?! Do you know you could kill yourself with that? Its a priceless artifact from the apocalypse. What if the Dark Ones had found you? You could have been killed, the sword taken!" A tear welled up in Semaj's eye. Before he could speak, though, Torzam continued. "Ah, its no matter. Don't be upset. Just make sure it doesn't happen again, okay?" Semaj nodded. "Kay."
* * *
Elise binded her long navy hair and smiled infront of the mirror. She had sky blue skin and was donned in silver armor. "Negotiations with Urborg. Ugh." Elise was a Senator in the Vodalian government. It was her job to contribute to civil and political matters concerning the Merfolk Empire. In this way, she was an ambassador. "It's time!" Came a shout from upstairs. Elise sighed. "Ugh, do I have to? I hate having council with Urborgians. They're rude and ugly and obnoxious and...they smell awful. Oh, who am I kidding? Of course I have to go..." Elise straightened her cape and walked off.
The meeting room was near paradise. Held inside an island palace, the chambre's centerpiece was a marble table adorned with gold candleabras and garnished with grilled fish. One by one, the delegates came. Hurloon's represenative, Torzam, arrived first, taking a seat. Then were those from Urborg. Their stench let Torzam knew they were here some time before they sat down. Yrok came first, scooting his chair in. Then there was Yawgmoth. His mere presence made Torzam's heart rate skip. He knew something was wrong with this human. Elise came last. sitting in a central location. She lifted a brow upon laying eyes on Yawgmoth. Something about him made her woefully uneasy. She cleared her throat. "This meeting has been called to discuss future trade arrangements between the nations of Urborg, Hurloon, and Voda. First, though, its time for introductions." Gesturing at the Debaser, Elise asked "Yrok, would you introduce us to this companion you've brought along with you?" The Phyrexian prepared to speak, but Yawgmoth silenced him. He would introduce himself. "I am Yawgmoth the Ineffable."
and you, he added in thought, you will die impaled on my sword, pathetic fish.
I don't like Yawgmoth being so... belittled... But that's okay... And in the end of Apocalypse, Yawgmoth had a slightly incorporeal form...
Yawgmoth's eternal hatred of Rebbec is a great little thing to come back on for this storyline...
Overall, I like it... a lot... It's MUCH better than all this 'Kamigawa' fanfic garbage that has been seen being thrown around "Ooh! I am Kamiyokomokopopo and I shall cut you with my Lotus Katana!"... No...
This is good stuff...
*scratches his head*
People read my garbage?
SWEET! Here's Chapter 2.
Aftermath Chapter 2
Memories and Enemies
Started 6:44 PM 10/12/04
Finished 11:01 AM 10/16/04
Author's Notes: In this chapter, I first realized how awkward it was when I didn't change paragraphs when multiple characters speak in conversation. Since then, I've tried to lean off of doing that, now it hardly ever comes up.
Update 10:07 PM 11/11/04: I've cleaned up the first scene by splitting up that gigantic, incredibly awkward paragraph that is a three-person conversation.
* * *
Elise's eyes widened. Yawgmoth? She did not know this name, yet she feared it. The man infront of her was quite fearsome. His eyes seemed to pierce souls, to view their contents, their thoughts. But this word, this name, Yawgmoth, had no meaning in particular to her. Why then, had this mere name made her fear? "Uhm, yes," she said while coughing. "Y...Yawgmoth, this," pointing at the minotaur, "is Torzam. I am Senator Elise of Vodalia." Reviewing a stack of papers for a moment, she continued. "We are to discuss future trade revenues between-"
"I have no interest in trade with mountain moles," Yawgmoth interrupted, invoking an angry grunt from Torzam. The minotaur raised a fist. "And those in Hurloon have no interest in trade with rotting snakes from the badlands."
The Ineffable raised an eyebrow. Snakes. What interesting creatures. But he was the greatest viper of all. "Indeed. My concerns lie with Voda. We seek to acquire a sail ship."
Elise blinked. "A...ship? Why?"
Yawgmoth breathed deep. "For my own concerns." Elise and Torzam traded worrisome glances, and the Merfolk Senator sighed. She didn't want any trouble with Urborg. Their undead warriors could be defeated, but not without spending dozens of Vodalian lives. Not worth it. "Agreed. You will recieve an unarmed sailship. It can adequately support fivescore troops. However, the ship is not to be on the seas near the land of Hurloon. Understood?"
The Dark Lord smiled. "Agreed." He rose to shake her hand. Elise obliged. When her hand met his, though, it sent chills running down her spine. This man, if he was a man at all, deeply disturbed her. "I'll have to keep an eye on you," she said half-jokingly. "And I you," he replied.
* * *
"SET SAIL!" Yrok's cry was deafening to humans. Only the rowdy pseudo-Phyrexians and their Dark Master were unhindered. Kjort drew the anchor to the ship's bay, and the wooden vessel sailed off. They would go west, through the northernmost tip of the Voda sea, then turn south at the islands of Oneah and Shanodia. They would hit landfall in Verdura forest, sail along the coast and finally go on foot into Yavimaya. "I told you I'd have my revenge, Rebbec. And I shall have it. I know where your soul resides- in the Heart of Yavimaya."
The Vodalian cruiser skidded through a sandbar as it reached the Yavimaya Coast. Kjort thrust the anchor off the stern of the ship, creating a large splash as it hit seawater. The Dark Ones assembled on the upper deck. Yawgmoth scooted to the front, to lead his warriors into the brush beyond. Drawing a curved sword upwards and slashing into thin air, he yelled 'To the Heart of Yavimaya!'. Leaping out onto the sand and making a thud, the Lord of the Wastes rose. His cleric warriors did so behind him. They marched single fire at moderate pace into the steamy, unwelcoming forest beyond.
Yrok lay sights on the first intelligent life spotted since entering Yavimaya: elves. Just barely in eyeshot, there lay a clearcutted section of woodland. In the center of the circular expanse were three tough, thick magnigoth trees, with oak hut efficiencies built onto their firm branches. "Master, master, I've spotted a village!" Yawgmoth jerked his attention to where Yrok pointed at. "My my," he said, "a village of elves. We should visit them." The sight of wooden houses affixed to trees, stacked atop eachother reminded Yawgmoth of an ant colony. It reminded him of insects. "Mere insects...why, I could squash them like the bugs they are." The Father of Machines and his biomechanical disciples braved elf pathways to the village. Where the paths would cut off and leave ranges of brush, Yawgmoth would trailblaze a path for them. At last they reached their destination. Immediately, two young male elves rushed to their aide.
"Welcome!" One elf said. He bowed and smiled. Yawgmoth faked a polite smile in return. He hated smiling at lower life forms, but he could make an exception to smile at their burning bodies as he killed them. Yawgmoth sent a mental message to his followers. Even though he had been stripped of his godhood, he had implanted heartstones in his minions and in himself, so that they could share their minds. So that they could surrender their minds to him.
Play along.
"We are a Keldon exploration troop. Our craft was mauled in Llanowar. The elves there were most unfriendly, so Yavimaya is our only option lest we walk ourselves to death en-route to Verdura."
"Say no more!" One of the elves said cheerily. "We are most hospitable in Yavimaya. Gaea urges us to be so." Yawgmoth cringed at that word. Gaea. Rebbec. They were one and the same. His love, his hate. One and the same.
Yawgmoth bowed. "Thank you." Gesturing to Kjort behind him, Yawgmoth continued "This explorer of mine, he has elven friends in another village. Would you happen to know where the... Heart of Yavimaya is?"
The elf gulped. To venture into the Heart, one must have the Mother's blessing. To do otherwise would be sure death from either the fae folk, the snakes, the bears, the wurms...
"Why, surely." The smaller of the two elves ran into his hut to fetch a map. Minutes later, he returned, placing a scroll of papyrus in Yawgmoth's hand.
"Thank you," the Lord of the Wastes said. "You will be repaid for your service."
And they had repaid those elves- repaid them by burning their huts, waylaying their trees, and impaling green skinned bodies against their very wood. Yawgmoth smirked. "Yes, I had repaid my debt well." The Dark Ones again filed behind Yawgmoth, who cleft apart snakes and stole the lives of bears and flayed the muscles of wurms all without breaking a sweat. He was no God now, sure, but he was damn near it. They had come across more elven villages along the way, but it was best to avoid them completely, carving out trails around them. One of the Dark Ones, the last in line, stopped completely. He broadcast a cry for help out among the other machine men and Yawgmoth, who stopped also, turning around. Last in line was a scrawny man equipped with steel claws on the ground. He was being crushed by a giant spider, twice the size and weight of a full grown human. Its ivy skin gave way to a furry ebony head, tipped with two spiked pincers and eight legs. "What a glorious creature," Yawgmoth commented. "A near perfect natural specimen, only lacking in a more fearsome venomous abdomen. If a poison sac were to be added and its crippling mortality removed, these Yavimaya spiders would be glorious Phyrexians, just like Tsabo Tavoc once was." The Dark Lord cringed as the words 'Tsabo Tavoc' came off of his lips. His beautiful spider queen had been killed twice. Once, she had failed in bringing Gerrard Capashen to him. That had cost her her first life at the hands of his war general, eaten alive by Crovax the cursed. He had revived her, though, not even a year ago. In the body of the Angel Florina, Yawgmoth transformed the innocent creature of life into a champion of unlife. Yawgmoth snapped out of his flashback just in time to witness Yrok and another Dark One scrambling to Kjort's aid, attacking the spider, hacking off its legs two by two. With the insect incapacitated, Kjort crawled out from under the bug and smashed its head with his axe. "Serves you right," Yrot commented while spitting at the fallen creature. Yawgmoth smiled at his minions' cruelty. "Onward. Onward to the Heart of Yavimaya. Your resentment will be much needed there."
Two more snakes. One more Elven village. A stampede of squirrels. "It seems the forest does not wish us to be here," Kjort mused. "I don't care what the forest thinks," Yawgmoth replied. The Lord of the Wastes cut through a thick vine barrier, exposing the view infront of him. Golden mulch lead in a twisted pathway to a colossal magnigoth tree that encompassed half of Yawgmoth's line of sight. Colossal branches supported thick green leaves on the tree that seemed to scrape the sky. "The Heart of Yavimaya," Yawgmoth whispered. Yrok and Kjort at his side agreed amongst eachother. Yawgmoth took a step forward towards the tree, and his Dark Ones folowed. The god-turned-man lead the way towards the soul of the great Dominarian forest. He lead them towards the Goddess of the great Dominarian forest.
The two Clerics to the back fell suddenly, prey to pit traps on the mulch trail, with none of the others noticing. Then the next hooded priest stuck herself in a giant spider's web. She shrieked, and the remaining Phyrexians turned around. "Get her," Yrok commanded. Kjort nodded, rushing over to the silk netting and hacking it apart, releasing the fallen Phyrexian free. "Thank you," she gasped.
The leaves rustled. A chill shot down Yawgmoth's spine. Twigs snapped underneath the feet of the Dark Ones. Wind dragged leaves into midair, spinning around, picking up mulch and forming small cyclones. Dozens of them. "Nature is acting against us," Yawgmoth explained to his followers. "Yavimaya does not want us here, but it is of no importance. I have conquered nature many times in the past, and I will do so again."
There had been a cyclone for each intruder. Yawgmoth was trapped in a forest twister. He blinked soil out of his eyes, and saw that the other Dark Ones were imprisoned in similar fashion. Then he fell unconscious. The Lord of Phyrexia had fallen prey to a measley gust of wind.
He awoke to find himself resting on the massive trunk of the Heart of Yavimaya. Yawgmoth surveyed the surroundings. His cyclone had only carried him fifty feet, coincidentally right where he was planning to go. Twigs and mulch and leaves from his green prison lay strewn around him. None of his disciples were there. "Rebbec," Yawgmoth growled, "show yourself, woman!"
I am here, Yawgmoth of the Nine Hells.
Tendrils of green energy shot from the Heart of Yavimaya to the ground across from Yawgmoth. It lingered, flickering with mana. The fallen God laughed. "Have you not the courage to form yourself in my presence?"
You rely on physical power, Yawgmoth. You do not know that of the spirit, that of magic.
"Magic? Poppycock. Phyrexia lived for nine thousand years without the aid of magic."
Without the aid of magic, you lost two interplanar wars and control of your world.
"Touche, Rebbec."
Why do you come here, Lord of the Pit? What is your plan?
Yawgmoth scowled. He hated that name. Lord of the Pit. 'The Ineffable' rang nicely, though. "My plan? I plan to behead your elves, burn your grasses, timber your woodlands, and poison your fauna."
Your plan has failed.
"I didn't say it was a good plan."
For the first time in many ages, Gaea and Yawgmoth laughed in unison. It was a hearty laugh that brought them back to days long gone by.
Yawgmoth...
"Aye?" It pleased him to hear his own name.
When had you loved me?
Yawgmoth paused and raised his eyebrow. He sat for a long moment before licking his lips and speaking. "Do you remember the ship?
Gaea paused, scanning her memory. Then it came to her. Six years before the Thran-Phyrexian war, Rebbec had accompanied Yawgmoth on a Thran flying ship to Losanon. Yawgmoth was to study the phthisis cases there, administer serum, and train new healing corps members. Rebbec had gone under the guise of exploring Losanon's architecture. She had truly gone merely because Yawgmoth asked her to. There they shared a laugh, too. Yawgmoth spoke. "I loved you then and even before then. I loved you since the day we met, when I met the woman who revoked my banishment and cleansed my feet at the gates of Halcyon, and caught me from falling on my ass." Yawgmoth chuckled.
Gaea's laugh filled all of Yavimaya. Leaves bristled throught the great forest. Squirrels stopped in their tracks to jeer. Fruit ripened on the branches near elven villages.
Yawgmoth...
"Aye?"
When had you stopped loving me?
The Dark Lord shook his head. "I never did."
The Goddess and ex-God heard a thundering quake. A minotaur fumbled out of a nearby bush, grappling a Dark One. Torzam's horns impaled the Cleric's chest. The victim thrashed violently before slumping down, dead. Yawgmoth bolted up, drawing his powerstone sword. "Beast, what have you done to my follower?!" Torzam huffed. "Your follower?" Yawgmoth did not speak further. He jumped into the air, landing next to the Hurloon minotaur and swinging his sword out, slashing into Torzam's arm. The powerstone aided weapon cut past skin, through muscle, right down to the minotaur's bone.
Stop it.
Torzam flung Yawgmoth away. The Lord of the Wastes slammed against a tree, not taking a moment to reel in agony before standing back up. The roar of throats and the clashing of swords and shields were heard near them. Elf sentries, double and triple the numbers of the near-Phyrexians. Wooden spears drove into Phyrexian chests. Barbed wire arms slammed against elven heads. Limbs of all kinds were severed.
Stop it.
Only Yrok and Kjort remained. They rushed to Yawgmoth's side. The three Phyrexians drew their powerstone swords in unison, brandishing them. Though each Yavimaya warrior had been slain, so had all but two Dark Ones. "Look what you have done," Yawgmoth said, gesturing to the piles of corpses around them, "for your crimes, I shall revoke your life." The Phyrexians braced themselves for battle. Torzam thrust his hooves into the ground. The two sides stood off, each waiting for the other to strike.
Stop it!
The cyclones began again. Leaves, twigs, mulch, and dirt all twisted in the air as wind picked them up. Four twisters carried Torzam, Yawgmoth, and each Dark One away from the Heart of Yavimaya.
When Yawgmoth awoke, he found himself on the Vodalian Sailship granted to him by Elise. Yrok and Kjort lay at his sides, still unconscious. The remains of Gaea's cyclones were scattered on the boat. When he rose, Yawgmoth found the ship to already be moving south towards the Verduran Sea. "This doesn't change a thing, Rebbec. By aiding Torzam in preventing my revenge against him, you have doomed your forest to a fate of incineration. Enjoy your Heart of Yavimaya for now."
Also, yes, it is kind of sad Yawgmoth is so...not godlike, but don't worry, that phase will soon pass. Oh how it will pass.
OH HOW IT WILL!
Aftermath Chapter 3
Land of Lies
By Rex Marhiku
Author's Notes: I entirely forgot to log when I started and ended this, and I can't remember approximately how long it took me.
* * *
Teferi paused and drew a deep breath inward. He stretched his arms forth, hovering in the air above a large plot of sea. In the rough wind, Teferi's wrinkling black skin shrugged. "It is time. My people have been gone for too long. The danger has passed. Come, world of Shiv, phase in!" The air permeating the churning seas grew still. Bits of matter began to materialize. An island was forming. Gigantic chunks of earth and volcanoes settled above the seas. Then buildings materialized, onyx structures, wooden villages, mountainside caves. Finally, the Shivan inhabitants phased in from the Blind Eternities. Millions of denziens strewn across a state-sized volcanic island. Viashino, the scaly lizard men; Humans, fur-donned barbarians; and Dragons, titanic winged wyrms with the intelligence of a scholar. Teferi landed on Shiv. He breathed the ashen air. Beautiful. For the first time in two thousand years, for the first time since the invasion when Teferi phased out Shiv to keep it from the claws of Yawgmoth and his unholy army, the steamy atmosphere of the Shivan mainland was there. "Welcome back," he called, using magic to amplify his own sound waves so the voice of the bengin Planeswalker could be heard throught the island, "welcome back to Dominaria!"
* * *
Misti ran a brush through her long almond hair. She had donned her shining silver Benalish military uniform, and would soon set out to Keld to conduct trade meetings. She was always sent by Benalia's governing body to conduct all diplomatic issues with the barbarians who inhabited the frigid mountain chain of Keld. And why not? The Keldons loved her, if only for her stunning beauty. The straggled hair of the Keldon warrior women could not compae to Misti's graceful almond locks that reached her shoulders. The clawed and harsh faces of the barbaric Keldon amazonesses were put to shame in the company of Misti, whose spectacles only amplified her stunningly beautiful face. The Benalish officer rose and headed out of her quarters, where a horse-drawn chariot would take her to Keld.
The shouts of horses were heard even above the chime of the arctic winds. Misti dismounted her chariot, shivering and chattering her teeth. Though she had been to Keld a dozen times before, she had never been truly accustomed to the unwelcoming temperatures there. Upon reaching the Bittle village, she strode to the central cabin, her dragon-hide boots sloshing snow upward as she dredged through the unforgiving plateau. Creaking the wooden door open, she stepped into a fireplace-lit hall. There was but one person in the entire meeting room: Nave Bittle. He was a large, muscular barbarian, Bittle's warrior chief. His hair was thrown on his back in long, red locks. His muscular chest displayed scars he'd recieved in savage combat with rival villages. Of course, Nave had repaid his enemies for his wounds tenfold. "Ah, Misti!" the barbarian said in a solid, masculine voice. He stood, walking over to the Benalish officer with only a few steps- leaps to normal men. "What brings you to Bittle?"
Misti bowed. It was her choice to maintain upmost politeness in the presence of Keldons. "You have sent for me, haven't you? I recieved a letter just two days ago..." Nave shook his head. "No, maybe it was from another tribe."
"I don't think so," Misti said, producing a letter from her pockets. Written on papyrus, the scroll had been crumpled and refolded many times on the long journey. She pointed to the bottom of the addressing. Nave studied it closely for a moment, reading the contents of the letter and his signature at the end. "I did not write this," Nave said solemnly. By studying his facial expression, Misti determined he was telling the truth. "Then," she explained, "we have been hoodwinked."
Yawgmoth smiled. His smile was dazzling, and he knew it. He and his two remaining Phyrexians hiked through the steep mountain. Atop it lay Yawgmoth's prize; Bittle village. While they were aboard the Vodalian sailship, the Father of Machines had fitted Kjort and Yrok with new boots; widened feet that replaced their former human appendage with widened platforms of steel and hide much like that of a duck. His perfect minions could not be subject to slipping on the vertical climb and falling to their deaths. Yawgmoth did not need special outfittings. "I am, after all, perfect," he mused as he continued walking, Kjort and Yrok moving behind him. Each step the Thran eugenicist took was as graceful as that of his mission-specific disciples. Yawgmoth would not slip, he would not grow cold, or tired. Eleven thousand years ago, when the Dark Lord was an outcasted Thran, banished to walk the desert and the forest and the mountains and the tundras among lepers, monsters and madmen, he had adapted himself to violent climate changes. "Even my blood is one part mud," Yawgmoth said to himself. He had said that on the day he met Rebbec in Halcyon, oh so long ago.
There was a loud rasp on the log door. Timidly, Nave approached the entryway. Someone with a mighty firm hand was knocking. "Are we expecting anyone?" Misti asked. Nave shook his head. The Keldon warlord didn't even get the chance to ask who it was. A claw shot through the wooden door, creating another gash on Nave's muscular chest. Immediately he grabbed the cold steel hand that had struck him. With one mighty heave, he yanked on the hand and pulled the hand's owner, Kjort, clear through the door, tumbling to the ground, leaving behind a wake of splinters and inviting the cold mountain air into what had been a toasty cabin. Kjort rose, shaking off the wood shards that had stuck to his body. The horror smiled, and lunged towards Nave. Again, he disposed of Kjort by grabbing his fist in a punch and tossing him aside, sending the Phyrexian stumbling down to the ground.
Yrok came next. Scuttling through the opened entranced, he spit at Nave from behind. The venomous saliva sizzled and burned away parts of Nave's skin. Turning around, the barbarian picked up a disemboweled log and hurled it into Yrok's face. Bones in the Debasor's segmented jaw cracked and strained, but he didn't mind at all. The true Phyrexian clamped on the log and bit down, shattering the already strained wood. Kjort rose, looking around the room. He had only now regained consciousness from the mighty blow Nave had given him. "Two on one," Kjort cackled, "so unfair. I love unfair." The man-machine stepped just behind Nave, who was struggling to keep Yrok at bay, and dragged his rusty claws into the barbarian's back. The mighty mountain man howled and yelped, losing his grip on Yrok, who spun around and slapped him in the face, sending him to the ground. Nave lay, unable to move, stricken in the back by infected claws.
Streams of white mana formed into jolts of lightning bombarded Kjort. With each blast, a portion of his metallic implants would be punctured. Misti stood, palms open, feeding the cleansing energy to the man-machine. "Stop!" Kjort yelled, crouching and writhin in the pain the Benalish trooper was torturing him with. Misti relented, drawing her bow and arrow, to be certain. Yrok roared a breath of toxins that fouled the chabre and nearly caused Misti to gag. The Debaser approached her, its claws dripping with virus and its teeth sharpened, ready to slay the one human in the way he had defeated Nave. "Come now," Yrok taunted. His voice was slithery, maniacal. "You do not truly expect to defeat me with a crossbow, do you? I am a Phyrexian. Wounds that would slay any man are a mere twitch on my shoulders. My kind can battle with whole limbs missing. We have defeated your barbaric friend, laden with muscle and brawn but weak still to the power of Yawgmoth. Woman, you cannot prove victorious over two compleated, perfect warriors. You cannot defeat us, girl. Give up."
It was then Misti released a single arrow. It punched into Yrok's chest. Not fearing the arrow, he hadn't even attempted to dodge. That would be a fatal mistake. Upon contacting the Debasor's rancid flesh, the arrow sizzled and dug in more. It slowly worked its way through Yrok's chest, causing steam to profuse from him, boiling away Phyrexian oil-blood. Misti's arrow, which had been magically charged for healing, ate away Yrok's skin like Phyrexian plague. The stunningly beautiful Benalish woman laughed heartily as her Debasor foe tried in vain to pluck out the enchanted arrow. "The arrow was dipped in a salve that I prepared before leaving. It was designed to purge rot and infection from one's body, in case I sustained an injury on my trek. But you are a being of rot and infection. The salve shall kill you."
Then the Dark Lord Yawgmoth entered the hall. His mere presence silenced Misti's victory speech and halted Yrok from reeling in pain. Though Yawgmoth was no longer a God, he was still a force. "These are your doings?" Misti asked, gesturing to Yrok and Kjort who stood defeated. "Yes," Yawgmoth replied coldly. "I am Yawgmoth the Ineffable. I forged the letter that brought you into the Keldon mountains to meet with that savage, Nave."
Misti gulped. Yawgmoth was a familiar name. He was mentioned in Benalish history...he was mentioned in Benalish history as the God that came two thousand years ago, opening holes in the sky that lead to hell, invading the world of Dominaria. This Yawgmoth, if he was telling the truth, was the very man who anihilated all Benalia and almost suceeded in the enslavement of the entire Dominarian plane. "Why..." she muttered to herself. It was less a question to Yawgmoth, and more a thought spoken aloud. She readied another arrow, backing away slowly, too slow for anyone to notice she was moving. "Why?" The Dark Lord mimicked. "You are a threat to me. Benalia and Keld are a threat to me. I cannot allow these two nations to band together. By killing you both, each of Benalia and Keld will blame the other for your deaths. I will have destroyed any possibility for trade and millitary assistance between your two countries, and I will have killed one of the finest Keldon warriors, and one of the finest Benalish soldiers."
"Why do you tell me this now?" Misti asked. "You realize that I will tell the Benalish council of this when I return, do you not?" Yawgmoth shook his head. "No, you won't. You won't survive." Misti scoffed. "And what do you have to stop me with?" Yawgmoth looked behind him. Yrok had collapsed, and Kjort was weakened and small. The Ineffable's plan had failed. Yawgmoth's hazel eyes narrowed as he struck his budding goatee. Waving his hand to Yrok and Kjort, they dissapeared, seemingly into nothingness. "Very well," the Dark Lord admitted. "You have won this battle, Misti of the Gale Order. But there will be many more. With Nave's death, the Keldons will not believe your excuse as to what happened. What will you tell them, hm? That a dead God and two monsters attacked a Keldon dignitaray and killed him, but you survived? Hah. Not even the Benalish will buy that." Having gloated his seeming victory, Yawgmoth too dissapeared.
Misti strode over to the fallen Nave. She checked his pulse. "Alive," she said happily, "but barely." She rolled his heavy body onto his back, where the toxicated wounds Kjort had given him festered and sizzled. Producing her salve, she applied it liberally to Nave's back and hoped that he would survive. "You've been through worse, you can pull through. You have to pull through."
* * *
Teferi floated amongst the swamps of Urborg. He'd visited the place to establish treaties with the vile beings who inhabited this place. Today, he would visit a lonely shack built on top of bog ruins. He'd negotiate with the so-called 'Dark Ones'.
The Planeswalker phased through the walls, and came to sit on a table constructed from the wreckage of a downed ship. "Now," he began, "to wait for whichever ambassador I'm to meet." Teferi would have chosen just about anywhere to negotiate than Urborg, but the inhabitants of Shiv and Zhalfir had missed out on two thousand years of history. The murky cutthroat inhabitants of this lonely swamp were known to keep record of every happening to their knowledge, and Teferi's people would need the crash course. Something about being here, in this hut, made him nervous, angsty. These were emotions Teferi had not experienced since ascending to Planeswalkerhood.
Then he knew why he had been so nervous. Infront of him sat the vilest demon ever to be fathomed. The Lord of the Wastes. Ruler of the Nine Hells. The Father of Machines. Teferi bolted upright. "Y--Y--Yawgmoth!" The Dark Lord grimaced. "It is I, Teferi. I live. I have outlived Urza, I have outlived everyone you've ever known. I'm about to outlive you." Teferi shook his head. "No, Demon. I will not allow this. I can stop you." And he could, or so he thought. Teferi was a Planeswalker. With a mere excursion of will, he could banish Yawgmoth back to his hell. But the thoughts wouldn't gather. Teferi willed the Lord of the Wastes to be gone, but it was not so. "What is happening?" He asked.
"Neural inhibitors," Yawgmoth explained. "Strewn all around this portion of the swamp. Here, your Planeswalking powers are null. You are...susceptible to my will." From behind the imprisoned Planeswalker stood Kjort and Yrok, cackling and laughing. They grabbed his arms and forced him to the ground. Yawgmoth stood infront of him, towering over the chained man.
"I have you, Teferi. You are under my power now. You will do what I wish, for I will command it."
"No, Yawgmoth. No. NO! What are you doing? What is that machine? Leave it there. Don't put that on my- no! Stop! It hurts! Yawgmoth, it hurts! Stop it! ARGH! NO!"
The sounds continued on for some time.
Aftermath Chapter 4
The World Over
Started 8:25 PM 10/18/04
Finished 10:34 PM 10/23/04
Author's notes: Aerona is the continent where Keld, Hurloon, Llanowar, Yavimaya, Verdura, and Benalia, among other things, are located.
* * *
James fought to exhale the air stored in his lungs, but he couldn't. Something was crushing him. Can't breathe, he thought to himself in vain. He felt as if his blood was growing heavier. The heaves and pushes of the Blind Eternities threaten to crush his body and seperate it into a billion bloody chunks. But Rex was there, protecting him. He communicated in thoughts with his elven friend.
The Blind Eternities are the space inbetween planes. In order to Planeswalk, one must pass through the Eternities. I can thrive here, but any mortal would surely implode immediately. That is, unless I protect you for the duration of the trip.
Rex propelled himself and James through the formless nexus that was the Eternities.
The air thickened in the already steamy Yavimaya. In the middle of a clearing, something was tearing at the very fabric of reality. Rex Marhiku appeared first, cream white skin, budding muscles, short jet black hair. James came next. The green skinned elf gasped, releasing a giant exhale. "My Gods, Rex," James said inbetween pants, "how the hell do you DO that all the time? I thought I was going to suffocate!" Rex smiled. "Its quite simple. You breathe, I don't." James wasn't sure whether or not he was pulling his leg.
After he had caught his breath, James asked "So, what is this place again?" "Dominaria," Rex replied. "It is one of the central planes in the multiverse. This is Yavimaya forest, Gaea lives here. Speaking of which, we should be hearing from her soon..." A breeze blew by the Planeswalker and his elven friend. James interpreted the gust's meaning. "She's directing us Southward. We must have 'walked into the plane too far from the...that, thing, you know...the Heart of...the Heart of something. I don't know. I'm bad with names." Rex laughed heartily. Since his transformation, he'd been laughing alot more. Godliness must put one in a good mood. "The Heart of Yavimaya," Rex corrected. "Its a big tree. Can't miss it."
* * *
Boulders dissolved. Tides faded away from existance. Donned in full robe, Teferi floated lazily among small islands in Voda, phasing them out; stashing them in the Blind Eternities. Merfolk sentries swam at incredible pace through the seas, attacking where they could, hurling out spears which clanged impotently against the Planeswalker's energy barrier. The next three lines of Vodalian knights retreated backward, swimming towards the palace where they would report to their leader the inability of the Mer Coast Guard to apprehend this mysterious foe who only hours ago had began his assault on the kingdom.
Elise nearly fell down when she had read the latest news report from the coast guard. "Seven ships downed," she said aloud in digestment of the scroll's grave news, "one hundred knights slain. The foe has the ability...has the ability to make matter dissapear. The islands of Sedron, Loladron, Ardron, and Kemadron have all dissapeared in his wake." She stood. Her long fish tail evaporated in favor of scaly semi-human legs. When merfolk were to walk on land, they'd shed their fins and don their mammal counterparts. It was a bit of evolution that had occured in the past ten thousand or so years, when Dominarian merfolk, for the first time in known history, had began routine contact with the land-lovers.
The splashing of webbed feet meeting against puddles filled the echoing stone room that was the embarkation chambre. Elise gazed upon four Vodalian sail ships which would soon depart for Urborg, Yavimaya, Benalia, and Keld carrying assistance requests written by Elise herself. "Its only fair," she reminded herself, "Voda does favors for these kingdoms all the time. Now, it is time to return the favor." Once she had boarded the four ships and given the crews briefings on the situation at hand, the cruisers left at once, sailing full speed to the continent of Aerona and the island of Urborg to deliver their grave news.
* * *
Yawgmoth studied carefully the assistance requestt the Merfolk ship had delivered to him. Because of Urborg's proximity to Voda, the report reached him first. A grin covered Yawgmoth's rough face. "Excellent," he began, "all is according to plan. Under my control, Teferi is dissolving more and more of Voda with each passing second. Now all I have to do is show up, 'defeat' my mindslaved Planeswalker, and be regarded as a Dominarian hero. I will gain the Mers' trusts, infiltrate their society and their hearts before I impale them all on the great harpoon that is Phyrexia." He motioned to Yrok and Kjort, who bolted upright at his call.
"Shall we go, master?" Kjort inquired.
"Yes," said Yawgmoth.
* * *
The Merfolk messengers were unable to scale the frosty heights in the kingdom of Keld, so the land's inhabitants inspected the ship and delivered the message to their master, Nave. Upon finishing the notice, he crumpled the paper in his hand and tossed it aside. "Pathetic fish," he mused to himself. "Can't even defend their own water. Always asking me for help. Nave, Nave! they say. Nave, help us poor fishies! Help us with your big muscles and long hair! Beat the crap out of our enemies! Yatta yatta yatta...I'm too kind, honestly." Continuing his ranting in in inaudible mumble, he gestured over to his tribe warriors. Fierce and muscled, these troops bore fur and leather armor, steel swords, and barbed axes. "Come on!" he shouted, motioning down the mountain. "We're going to go help the fish people out. Again."
* * *
Just as the Mer ship docked on the serene Yavimaya coast, Gaea instantly knew their purpose. Though the blue aligned Merfolk and green aligned elves have been historically enemies by mere nature, lately their relations have been improving.
My children, Gaea projected into the minds of the Vodalian messengers who walked the beach, I know what you come for. Fear not, for the forest will not forsake you. Even now I forge a sail ship of living wood. Even now my finest warriors prepare to disembark. Go, messengers from Voda, return to your empire. They need you now. Tell them the good news. Tell them that the forest is coming.
The two ambassadors could do nothing more than bow in honor of Gaea's prolific words. "Thank you, great Goddess," one of them said in awe. They turned around to return to their ship.
James donned his vine armor that he had brought with him from the distant Squiralis. The elf warrior bore no weapons, for the finest Daarvolian druids had no need for a weapon other than their hearts and hands, and James was a fine Daarvolian druid. "I am ready," James said, speaking to the world. "Are the company of Yavimaya Elves prepared?"
Yes, the forest-goddess Gaea communicated to him in thought. Where is Rex? Should he not accompany you?
The elf shrugged. "He told me he was going to stroll around some random planes, you know, to check them out. Said something about some place called...Rabiah I think."
When he returns, I shall inform him of the battle.
"Aye."
* * *
Misti stood, flanked by the four other Gale Order soldiers. She had recieved the assistance notice hours ago, and had gone to great lengths to mobilize the entirety of the Gale Order from the four corners of Benalia. She looked straight forward at the vessel that would carry her company to Voda. It was an alabaster ship, small and narrow but long, with finely polished spheres decorating its surface. "This ship has seen me through quite a few battles," she said with a glad sigh, puckering her full lips slightly in doing so. "Gale Order, move out!"
"Yes ma'am!" was the unified response of the soldiers.
* * *
Harpoons fired off from Yatarl, the name Yawgmoth had affectionately given his Vodalian ship. They were iron rods, tipped with salt to amplify the pain the weapon would administer. This was, of course, useless against a Planeswalker- their bodies were mere extensions of will, thoughts given physical form. Yawgmoth knew this, but he would have to try anyway- the futility of his actions would fool the Dominarians of thinking nothing of him.
"Oh how wrong they will be," said Yawgmoth, his sentence broken by the wind and scattered throught the seas.
Next came the Yavimaya ship. James stood on deck, hands extended towards Teferi. Vines shot out towards the Planeswalker, binding his limbs and wrapping all of his body, save for the head.
Yawgmoth's jaw dropped wide open when he saw James Wong standing on the ship next to him. "Damnit," he muttered. "How the hell did...James can't get from Daarvol to--Rex! Rex must be here..." The Dark Lord gritted his teeth at the mention of the cursed Planeswalker's name. "If it weren't for him, I'd be in control of Daarvol right now. Surely, he must have brought James to Dominaria. But where is he?"
Now, Yawgmoth felt joy. Rex was not here. Rex couldn't be here. If he were, he would be locked in combat with Teferi. The Ineffable allowed himself a smile. "Teferi shall slay the company from Yavimaya, and it will never be traced back to me."
Cannonfire burst out from the Gale Order cruiser. Five guns sent charge after charge of white matter slamming into Teferi's vine-bound body. Each blast would send him flying lower down, until half his body was submerged in seawater. From Yatarl, the Phyrexians renewed their attack by hurling smoke bombs off from their ship towards Teferi.
"Something about this...seems to easy," James remarked to one of his elven comrades, who nodded in agreement.
"Now, my puppet!" Yawgmoth commanded.
Teferi smiled. Spreading his arms, he made them all dissapear. Yatarl and its crew, the Gale Order, the living ship from Yavimaya which harbored James, even the newly arriving Vodalian ship that carried on it Nave and a pack of his most fierce barbarians.
* * *
James looked around. He was no longer in Voda, for he could only see land all around him. The ground appeared a hybrid. Plains flowed into mountains and into beaches and deserts and back into plains again. It was as if someone had taken Dominarian geography and piled it together in a giant jiggsaw puzzle. Turning his head to the side, James saw his elf sentry- or atleast what remained of them. Their corpses lay side by side, giant singe marks burned through their chests. "They were good men," the elf commented.
Misti and Nave met up with James. They'd been stranded for hours on this strange land. There didn't appear to be any way out. "Hey," Misti said, gesturing to James. "Do you know where we are?"
The Squiralis elf shook his head. He joined Misti and Nave in wandering around the terrain. They waded through murky swampland, raced through fields of corn, and dredged through damp sand all in the same hour. "Maybe this is where he puts it," Misti speculated.
Nave and James stopped. "Puts...what?" Nave asked.
"The land," Misti replied. "That guy we were fighting. He makes things dissapear. This must be where he puts it all." James nodded. It took Nave a minute more to comprehend what Misti had said, but he too grunted in agreement. "His name is Teferi," James added. "He's a Planeswalker." Misti went wide eyed. "A Planeswal-what is a Planeswalker doing in Voda? What joy could he possibly get from dissolving the world?" James shrugged and added his reply. "All we have to do is survive a little bit longer. I have a Planeswalker friend, Rex. He brought me to Dominaria. I'm not from Yavimaya. I'm James Wong, an elf from Squiralis." Nave raised an eyebrow. "Squiralis? What that...I never heard of it." "Exactly," James responded. "Its on another world."
"Oh." After a few more moments of contemplation, Nave elaborated. "So, your friend can help us. But what if he can't find us?"
* * *
There was snickering from near the party of three. "Soooo...the little twig man, the oaf, and the princess are lost?" The voice that delivered the taunt was raspy. Misti immediately identified it as Yrok. "Pity," a stern, humanlike voice added. "I know exactly where I am."
"Yawgmoth," Nave huffed through gritted teeth.
The Ineffable jumped out of his hiding spot, Kjort and Yrok followed. "James Wong of Daarvol. My, how...unexpected it is to see you here."
Misti looked back and forth, from James to Yawgmoth. "You two know eachother?" She asked.
"Yes." Yawgmoth and James replied simply, in unison.
"Best of luck," Kjort taunted. "You'll sure as hell need it."
And they did, for moments later Teferi materialized. Tall, slender, Teferi's once gleaming eyes- gleaming when he had been in his own mind- were now cold and empty. Immediately he summoned two giant rock spikes for the ground. They flew from the left and right, closing in on Misti, James, and Nave.
"HYARH!" Nave yelled. As the rock threaten to crush his body, he grabbed hold of it. Well-trained muscles strained and spasmed under the immense weight. With one last heave, Nave threw the boulder aside. James dealt with his 'foe' more easily- simply summoning vines that sept through the rock and reduced it to rubble.
"Next obstacle..." Yawgmoth commanded to the mindslaved Planeswalker.
Teferi grew. Limbs doubled and tripled in size until the Planeswalker stood fifteen meters tall. He grinned an empty smile and thrust his hand into the beach where James stood. The nimble elf thrust himself out of the way, once on an equal footing summoning a sand cyclone that ground against Teferi's eyes, blinding him- until he willed himself new eyes.
Misti snuck behind Teferi and began to scale his leg. Nave acted as a distraction, standing on a cliff and hurling rocks off towards the giant, which largely clanged impotently against him, the occasional boulder hitting in a key spot and sending him stumbling slightly.
The Gale Order commander reached Teferi's neck, only now noticing the metallic rod that seemed wedged into his neck. "I wonder..." she pondered aloud, drawing her crossbow and lining up the iron bolt. The force of the arrow impacting the mindslave centipede sent Misti flying backwards, and it was only by her great agility that she landed on her feet. Teferi shuddered, shouting in agony. "Whatever that thing is, it has great effect on him..."
In his thrashing, Teferi halted his attack on James. The Squiralis elf breathed deep and drew in the mana of the scattered woodlands in the phasing dimension. Mana accumulated slowly; for there was no centralized forest. Just as the Planeswalker began to calm, James could feel the last green energies coming to him. "Distract him!" He shouted to Misti and Nave. "Distract him!"
They didn't have time to argue. For their very survival they'd have to fight. Misti tapped the mana of the fields nearby, sending the wheatgrass flying up in a razor storm, focused on Teferi's neck. This tactic, along with Nave's fury of fist-sized stones, more than kept Teferi at bay.
"I don't understand," Yawgmoth gruntled. "My plan is failing- but how? Teferi is a near God. How is he being bested by...by mortals?!" Then it came to him. When Yawgmoth had enslaved Teferi, he had locked away a portion of his vast mind. As such, most of the great power and longevity attributed to a Planeswalker was lost. "Damn it!" He shouted. "Damn it all!"
James released the Mei-Oh. A torrent of green mana whipped at Teferi, enveloping him, vaporizing his thought-body. When the ash had cleared and the cloud of green mist settled, the Planeswalker was no more. All that remained was a shattered mindslave centipede. In Teferi's absence, the phasing plane collapsed, sending each and every piece of vaporized matter spiraling back to Dominaria.
* * *
Rex materialized near the Heart of Yavimaya. He looked around to find an exhausted, battered James standing next to two people he didn't recognize, also pretty bruised up.
"So...what'd I miss?"
Aftermath Chapter 5
Secrets in the Shadows
By Rex Marhiku
Started 8:50 PM 10/28/04
Finished 5:23 PM 11/3/04
Author's Notes: Laurilane and Kref Sedonya are both characters inspired by people I know (Lauren/bobmasterofspoon and Ralph/Duckflesh respectively.) I asked them if they wanted characters in this series, and they instructed me on their personalities and such. About half of the characters in the fic are inspired by people I know, with their permission of course.
* * *
Claws slashed blindly through the dense fog that covered Urborg's town of Skellenum. Laurilane braved the dirt road path. If she survived this sightless route, it would lead her into the city, where she could attend an important auction. "If I can survive," she murmured, one hand covering her face. She couldn't fly, not here anyway. Laurilane had to keep a low profile, or else a certain lich lord's minions would surely find her.
The mist ended. She walked into the city's outskirs, ignoring the nearby men who stopped to whistle at her figure. "C'mere, angel!" a drunkard in the street prattled while stumbling about. An angel? She was an angel, a fallen one anyway. Violet bird wings sprung out of her back. She was clad in shining ebony armor, pale white skinned in vampiric tones, and had long red hair that reached past her shoulders. Yes, she was an angel.
"Next item," the auctioneer began, "a map to the burial site of Lord Gabol!" This was what Laurilane was waiting for. She took her seat in the wooden shack that was the auction house. There were ten seats in the room, all of them occupied- five Urborgan humans, a Viashino, an elf, a zombie, and two Benalish nobles. What a crowd, she thought.
"Ten gold coins." Laurilane stated.
The Viashino man rose. "Fifteen gold coinsss!" He hissed.
The zombie reached into a hollow cavity in its chest and produced a sack of money. "Ei..teen..."
"Thirty gold coins," Laurilane retorted.
"One hundred gold coins to be paid upfront!" One of the Benalish men shouted. One hundred gold...that was more money than Laurilane- than anyone else there- had.
"SOLD!" The auctioneer yelled in glee, pointing to the Benalian. "For one hundred gold coins!" He approached the high bidder, scroll in hand, and made the transaction.
"He is not to get away with this," Laurilane promised. She flew overhead in upmost silence, stalking the two Benalish as they went through the dark and twisted alleys of Skellenum.
"Gotcha." She swooped down towards one of the men and grabbed him, searching his pockets and hands for the map- no good. In one casual motion, she tossed him asunder.
"...what in the nine hells?" The remaining man clenched the tomb map in his hand, drawing his sword in preparation for combat. This is a Benalish soldier, Laurilane noted. It wouldn't matter. No human alive could withstand her. Especially at night. Under the cover of night, this fallen angel was near invincible.
He slashed at her. She moved swiftly to the right as she landed and fluttered her wings, forcing the rich Benalian to close his eyes. He would have dropped the map, too, if his grip wasn't as strong as it was.
"He'll let go as soon as he's dead."
She caught the dull end of the sword and flung it away. Tackling him to the ground, she stomped on his face and snatched the map from his hand, soaring high into the air and taunting.
"Guess his grip wasn't so great after all."
* * *
Jamuraa was in ruin. Otaria and Tolaria collided. Shiv was half destroyed, Bogarden obliterated. Teferi's phasing magic had destroyed parts of Dominaria and rearranged the rest. For the first time, Rex felt truly ashamed of his Planeswalkerhood. His kind- for he was no longer human, but energy given form- were the most reckless beings in the multiverse.
Urza's sylex blast destroyed an entire forest and put the world into a great ice age. Freyalise's World-Spell to break the eternal winter had been just as impulsive and chaotic. Tvesh Szat...Urza...Freyalise...Karn...Teferi...all of them had comitted unforgivable atrocities, abusing their power as near-Gods.
"Will I do the same? Am I any better than Teferi? I have the same capabilities within me...what is to stop me from becoming the next great monster in this plane?"
You are different from them, Gaea explained. You have...friends. Those you speak of did not. Your fate will not be the same as theirs.
James gave Rex a hearty pat on the back. "You'll get through alright. And if you don't, I can always slap some sense into you."
Rex smiled. "Thanks Jimmy."
* * *
Sand lashed at her wings. Laurilane couldn't even see infront of her. Dust carried by savage winds covered the trail. "Almost there," she reminded herself.
She was on Tolaria. The once-proud island that held Dominaria's largest and most grand school ages ago had been wiped out by a sylex blast. But that was two thousand years ago, and things have changed since then. The land had been transformed into desert, where searing winds steadily plagued the land. None lived here except lunatics and lepers. Though none lived here, some had lived here, in the past.
"And thats what I aim to find."
The temple stood tall. It was sand-colored rock, blending in with the terrain around it, adorned with snake statues and likenesses of Thran kings. This was the tomb of the Thran ruler Gabol, who had governed Tolaria in its infancy- so long ago that it is by some considered a myth. "Heh. Now to see if it was worth taking two lives for this map. As if taking two lives isn't a reward in itself."
* * *
The air in the temple was, as expected, cold. It wore the stench of moth balls. Laurilane ignited a torch and trailed through the main room, where guardian statues stood guard in the corners. She came across a book. It was large, several volumes compiled into one. Its spine was made of leather, the chronicles themselves written in ink on papyrus. The book lay open on a large marble table near the center of the room. Laurilane lit two torches on either side of the book and read from it.
I am the Thran king Gabol of Tolaria. Here lay my tomb. In it lies bountiful treasures the likes of which only my most faithful have seen- dazzling paintings, gold and diamond and Thran-metal, artifact constructs to guard fortresses and thrones, powerstone arrays to light your way for eternity. But heed, for also in this tomb lurks a great evil. The impure souls shall be purged. Only the righteous will walk from this place alive.
"Heh, righteous."
She shoved down a crumbling rock door that blocked a passageway. Inside the room she gazed at the beauties within the room. Polished porcelain statues, from six inches to three feet in height, covered the entirety of the chambre. "Beautiful," she said to herself. Then without hesitation, she screeched and fluttered her wings, using the force of wind generated to send the priceless works of art crashing down to the floor, creating echo after echo as these treasures broke. "Too beautiful. I can't possibly take all of these... no one should have them."
* * *
Here lies the dark man from a darker world. He plagued the land of one thousand lands with terror never before seen in the empire. Awaken him not, for he will tear apart your body and swallow your spirit and desecrate your grave. Raise him not, for he will twist your world as he has those of our own. Bring him unto Dominaria not, for he will give you treasures that burn the flesh away from your hands.
A magnificent curse. "Poppycock," Laurilane dismissed. She knew this place: it held great reward that Gabol didn't want anyone to have, so he took it to the grave with him.
With a long sigh, she drew her powerstone rod- for she had found the great meter long sceptre that could cleave through rock and bone alike- and smashed at the circular stone that was pressed against the wall. It was difficult work, the rock seemed to refuse to move.
"It'll be worth it. It'll be worth it. It'll be worth it."
She would not give up. She bashed and bashed, muttering Urborgan invocations of power taught to her by the liches and zombies that inhabit the island chain forsaken by the Gods. She spoke of curses and boons taught to her in various lands she had been from. She spoke of the Invasion, muttered spells used some two thousand years ago to defeat otherworldly invaders...and she spoke the ancient Draconic and Thran languages rarely spoken in ten millenia.
Soon it would be too late. She eased her spells and her physical pressure on breaking the stone. She began to give up hope. Until, until...
I live. I live. I live! I LIVE!
* * *
The portal opened. It was a dark land, the darkest place Laurilane had ever seen or even dared dream of. This was a twisted hell that existed in mockery of life on Dominaria, but this was not Phyrexia...No, Laurilane had heard sagas and tales that spoke of this vile land of living machine and the sadistic God that ruled it.
"This is not Phyrexia. This is...darker."
As far as the eye could see, land in this portal was black. Soot and ash filled the skies. Black-and-white figures dredged in marketplaces. This land was as if the still portrait of a depressed artist had been given life- or unlife. Then there was laughter. Horrible, sinister laughter. It stung Laurilane's ears and pierced her very soul. "Make it stop," she pleaded. "MAKE IT STOP!"
No.
As he stepped through the portal to Gabol's tomb, a chorus of screams joined with the hideous laughter. Laurilane looked upward in pure fear. She was scared stiff.
"W...wh...who are you?"
"I?" he said, pointing to himself. He was dressed in suave uniform that would indicate some form of humanity. He had smooth hands, polished boots, glorious formal wear- but when you looked up, the similarities ended. He had no face. This creature from the evil dimension was faceless. Where a nose and eyes and hair and mouth would be, there was only blackness. His head was merely an oval-shaped black hole. "I am Kref Sedonya, tormentor of Rabiah the Infinite."
Laurilane blinked. Kref had no mouth. How did he speak to her, then? The answer shot into her mind painfully as the faceless specter invaded her thoughts to communicate; telepathy.
"You were given fair warning. Lord Gabol's tomb, my prison- he warned you and you would not listen. I thank you for releasing me, you have done me great service. But in doing so, you have damned yourself for eternity. I will kill you and steal your soul and add it to my collection. I will assimilate it with my being, and inherit your wings, Laurilane the Fallen Angel. I will slay your body and mind a hundred times each day. All this for one simple, foolish mistake. One gravely foolish mistake."
Laurilane drew her staff. Truly she knew she could not slay Kref Sedonya the faceless man, but she could try. "I'll die trying," she thought aloud.
Kref cracked his knuckles and stepped forward. Laurilane braced herself. The two prepared to square off.
* * *
"Halt, Sedonya!" The voice was booming. Azure light beamed in the room and collapsed the open portal Kref had stepped through. This voice was that of a God, almost. It was the voice of Rex Marhiku the Planeswalker. Kref hissed. These two recognized eachother, as foes.
"I thought I got away from you. I thought you were locked away," Rex added.
"You thought wrong."
"I encountered you in your world not too long ago. Now you encounter me in mine. Just as you had ran me out of the thousand and one worlds, I will banish you from mine. Leave this place, faceless ghoul. I will take you. Leave."
"...no."
The two squared off. Soon, they would duel fiercely. The Planeswalker pitted against a horrible demon from a world unspeakable.
Laurilane braced herself and brandished her staff for combat. She may be of use yet.
Of none and one thousand faces
By Rex Marhiku
Started 12:24 AM 11/3/04
Finished 9:55 PM 11/6/04
Author's Notes: The last scene in this chapter is my favorite single scene in the series so far.
* * *
Arctic winds shot from Rex's palms. They struck into Kref and knocked him back hard against the stone wall. He rose, undaunted.
"You'll have to do better than that."
"Oh, I will!" Laurilane intruded on the conversation.
Her staff struck Kref's head from behind. He clutched his head, grabbing the scepter and snapping it in two. He headbutted the angel, but she caught herself in mid-fall. Amidst the distraction, Rex summoned two bolts of lightning that crashed on either side of Kref and singed his suit.
They had him.
"Go back!" Rex commanded.
"Sure will," said Kref.
He dissapeared. His body dissolved into shadow and ran out along the floor out of the chambre. Rex stood, defeated. The great dark man had escaped out of Gabol's tomb and would soon run into mainstream Benalia, where it could begin terrorizing the world. Yawgmoth AND Kref. "Great," Rex muttered sarcastically.
"Uhhhhm," Laurilane asked, floating to stand aside the Planeswalker. She felt as if she knew this man, somehow. "Pardon my asking...but who are you?"
"I'm Rex," the thought-being answered. "Rex Marhiku of Daarvol. And you?"
"I'm Laurilane of Urborg," she replied quickly.
"Laurilane...what a familiar name."
* * *
In the midst of night, Benalish noblemen clutched their throats and collapsed, dead. Kref stood behind them, grasping their heads and draining their life force. "So long, so long ago since my last consumption...now, there is an entire world waiting for me."
He turned and walked silently through the streets of the town. Soon enough, he would capture and pilot a Benalish ship to Urbrog, where he could establish a foothold on Dominaria.
* * *
The air warmed and strained as reality crackled and bent. Rex planeswalked into Yavimaya, Laurilane aside him. Apparently, this Planeswalker had nothing against interplanar hitch-hikers.
"We're here," Rex said grimly.
James swung down into view, hanging from a branch on the Heart of Yavimaya by a vine. "Whats wrong-" he began to ask, cutting off his own sentence when he saw Laurilane. This woman, for lack of a better word, appeared to be the spitting image of Lauren the Lotherian vampire. "...who is this?"
"Who? Me?" The vampire asked, gesturing to herself. "I'm Laurilane."
James took a step backward. This woman reminded him of Lauren, who had slain Brandon and been responsible for Florina's death as well as joined the Zanba army only to defect to the army of Mishra. She had been captured by Yawgmoth...and finally crushed in an instant fighting Phyrexians. She even looked like Lauren, and bore her name. Who was this?
"Uh," was all he managed to choke out. After a moment more of forming a single complete thought, he added "where are you from?"
"Urborg."
"Oh."
Rex asked, "Do you remember the story I told you about when I was in Rabiah?" James nodded. "Well," the Planeswalker added, "Laurilane here has something to tell you pertaining to it."
He is out, Gaea revealed before the fallen angel ever had the chance to explain. Kref Sedonya is free. We must stop him.
* * *
Kref walked casually through the Urborgan marshes, crossed jagged vines and ripped the heads from stray snakes that dare to cross his path. He was drawn here somehow, compelled to come to this particular island, this particular spot.
"Why do I come here?"
The answer came. He stood out on a muddy shore near a putrid lake. Something smelled. It was not the smell of rotting flesh eaten away by lizards and implanted with maggots. It was different, somehow. "The smell of evolution."
Evolve. That is the process that this man- this monster undertook. It stood adjacent from Kref. It had thick grey hide, had a ball-shaped slimy head, and had two yellow tusks jutting from its chin. This creature had evolved. It was Phyrexian.
"I am what you seek," the shambling horror spoke in rough tounge, "come, Kref Sedonya of Rabiah the Infinite. Come and witness the beast of Yawgmoth..."
Kref hesitated. He considered smashing the strange creature here and there, to steal its soul and claim it as his own, but he couldn't bear to destroy such a beautiful being. Not yet, anyway. For now, he inquisited. "Who are you? How do you know my name?"
The strange monster bowerd. "I am but a servant of the great Lord Yawgmoth, Father of Machines. He knows you, Kref. Yawgmoth is all seeing. He knows everyone and everything."
Kref grinned. A God in the fetid swamps? Why would a Lord of creation and destruction choose the most desolate and hated land in all of Dominaria to reside in? Yet still, Kref felt compelled to investigate the matter further. If this Father of Machines was a God as he claimed, the Rabian demon would strike a deal with him. Otherwise, he'd slay the false deity and steal his face.
"Take me to him. Take me to Yawgmoth."
"As you wish, Sedonya."
* * *
And what a sight he was!
He was draped in a teal robe. His face would suggest the man was in his early fourties, but in truth he was twelve thousand years old. His wrinkles that flowed on his face didn't detract from the stern look of absolute authority he projected. His large nose was complemented by the double brown goatees on his chin. But most of all, his eyes were most powerful. They were slim, almond colored, and when he looked at you, it was as if you were uplifted by a chorus of angels.
"You've come," said the dread lord Yawgmoth. "excellent."
Kref nodded, though it wasn't visible. He approached Yawgmoth. Right then and there, a mortal's life would have ended. But Yawgmoth wasn't a mere mortal. He was immortal, Phyrexian. "Yes, yes," Kref replied. "I take it you are my escort's creator."
"I am."
"I am Kref Sedonya of Rabiah the Infinite."
"I know."
"But how? How did you know? I am from a plane Dominaria has scarcely heard of in the entire history of time."
"I was once Thran. The age of the Thran Empire stretches from beyond time itself."
Kref paused. Now he knew. Yawgmoth was a Thran knight, or something, bent on returning him to his world. The faceless demon clutched his fists. He wouldn't let that happen. He'd fight this man to the bitter end.
"I know what you are thinking," Yawgmoth said as he fidgeted through a door and produced a scapel. "I am not here to re-imprison you in Rabiah. I would not be so cruel, for I know myself of the great agony of capture, stuck in the same world for nine thousand years only to be trapped again upon escape...oh, I know of your troubles, Kref Sedonya. We must work together to avenge them."
"How?" Kref inquired, easing the grip of his fists, becoming more accustomed to the presence of this man he could not slay.
Yawgmoth breathed deep and continued his explanation. "I was once a great, bountiful, powerful God, as true as any. I ascended to the throne of Phyrexia and merged with it and sheltered in it, and it took shelter in me. I brought the entirety of the Thran empire into the breast of my world and nurtured them. I gave them thicker skin, long life, eternal life, great power, agility- I made them into Gods. Those weak Thran who refused to ascend and strived to haul my kind back into the Caves of the Damned were vanquished in a swift, three day war. I was the victor. I had scoured them from the face of the plane in white, cleansing cloud. I was to do so for the rest of the universe, but she foiled my plan. Rebbec."
A sigh escaped Kref's non-mouth, for he recognized this name as the greatest Thran architect in history, wife of Glacian, the genius of Halcyon.
"I fell in love with her, and her with me. I brought her into the heart of my world and offered that she may live there with me, to inhabit Phyrexia as her Queen and Goddess. I posessed her, infused her with my being. I found not love, only hate. There was not a trace of the great feelings she once bore for me: only loath. She hated me so much she fled back into the Caves of the Damned and sealed me away for four thousand years. Later, I escaped, and planted my seeds on Dominaria, and raised another invasion in five thousand years, but I was thwarted again by Rebbec and that damned group of ragtags lead by that damned Urza Planeswalker."
"...what does this have to do with me?" Kref asked, not afraid to show his usual self-centeredness.
"Do you want revenge on Rex Marhiku the Planeswalker? Revenge on the Thran Empire? Revenge on Rebbec, who is now called Gaea the world Goddess?"
He stood still and said simply, "Yes."
"Excellent. Then we shall begin immediately."
* * *
The air was as always cold and dry in Keld. Nave barely broke a sweat hiking through thick snow on his way to the forest. A forest, a forest in Keld? Impossible. By all natural means, no greenery could have ever thrived in this polar hell.
But the forest didn't come here naturally. It was from the invasion two thousand years ago. The artificial plane of Rath overlayed on top of Dominaria, and the Rathi forest of Skyshroud had settled in a Keldon valley. Only the enchantments of the Planeswalker Freyalise had saved the elf-sanctuary from freezing.
"But they didn't save it from me," Nave joked. Only sparsely had the Keldons and the Skyshroud elves been in contact since the invasion's end. But now he would HAVE to hold council with the reclusive tree-huggers, such the great Keldon tribes had agreed. It would only be right to inform sworn allies of the return of Yawgmoth.
Nave complained. "Stupid tribes telling me to do stupid things, I oughtta rip their stupid heads off their...stupid...shoulders."
* * *
The folk of Skyshroud lay in ruin. My blade cleaves the head of an elf charging frantically.
Blood drips from my sabre. I raise it high to the air only to cut down upon the skull of another member of the vile tree-hugging race.
My servant is beside me. He clutches two elven children and reaches his hands over their faces. A moment more, and their heads are bare tan skin. He has absorbed their likenesses.
As if to outshow him, my fingers bore into the eyes of a warrior who passed me. He is not elf. He is thick and muscular, grey-skinned. Knuckle dragging Keldon oaf. They are even easier for me to slay than the elves. Where Skyshroud's inhabitants will hide and plot when bested, the Keldons charge screaming to their deaths. I smile. It has been ages since I was last human, since I last swung a powerstone sword to cut a mortal body in half. It is glorious.
I know you are here. I know that laced through the bark and flowing through the blades of grass that you watch Kref and I. I know that you feel the agony of the death of each elf I bring to untimely death. I also know that you object. But what are you to do, Rebbec? You cannot stop me.
Rex cannot stop me, either. No one can. Twelve thousand years of attempts by various mortals and immortals alike from all the universes in the multiverse have ended in failure. I am death, and death cannot be stopped.
Death has its allies, too. Phyrexia was my ally, one I shall reclaim soon. I have made allies of the people of Halcyon, and I have even made an ally of you, Rebbec, long ago. But you have betrayed me. My latest ally, Kref Sedonya, he will not betray me. He knows that I am a God and that I could grant him immortality just as easily as I could syphon the life from his blood.
Just as you and Rex can't halt me, nor can Nave. He bounds toward me now and swings at me with his axe. The fool. If Yrok and Kjort could subdue him, so can I. I grab the handle of his axe and yank it. Nave has overextended. He tumbles down onto the ground, and I stomp on the back of his head with my boot. He is so stubborn. He rises, dusting the soil from his face. Growling, he lunges toward me. I don't even have to block, merely to step aside and watch him crash into a tree.
Kref draws near. I shall allow him this kill. Just as Nave rises and releases a primal grunt, the faceless specter steps in front of him and grabs hold of the barbarian face. Already I can see the tendrils of red mana that composite Nave's soul being drained into Kref's hand, down his arm, and into his body. To drink the life from your foe is delightful, but to witness soul theft is exquisite. He was interrupted, blasted out of the way by a gust of arctic wind. Arctic wind in Skyshroud? This surely must be sorcery.
It was. Rex hovers before me. Standing aside him to the left is the fallen angel Laurilane. I know her name just as surely as I know her sister's name, for I have probed Lauren's mind of the knowledge before I crushed her. Rex speaks my name, Yawgmoth.
Who dares speak my name? To speak my name is to speak the name of Death, and to speak the name of Death is to beckon it to grasp you and snuff out your very existance.
Two Sides of a Coin
By Rex Marhiku
Started 10:09 AM 11/8/04
Finished 10:24 PM 11/9/04
Author's notes: At the time of writing this, Chapter 7 is the longest chapter in Aftermath (16.3 Kilobytes on Notepad.) The second longest chapter is 4 (15.8 Kilobytes on Notepad.) The shortest Chapter is 1 (8.10 Kilobytes on Notepad.) I try to make all my chapters atleast 13K on Notepad even if it means adding pointless **** that just detracts the quality of the story...such as this bull**** "Author's Notes" section!
* * *
In the distraction, Nave half-rose and rushed by the side of Rex. He didn't like doing this, running and cowering for help in the shadow of another, but to do otherwise would be death.
"Yawgmoth, Kref," Rex addressed while his gaze pinned each of the two offenders, "in the name of the safety of Dominaria and the multiverse, I command you to surrender."
The faceless man scoffed. "Surrender? Us? You are mistaken, Planeswalker. Gravely mistaken, for we posess power greater than yours."
Now Nave began laughing. "HAHAHAHAHAHA! You've got to be KIDDING me! Have you seen this guy FIGHT?!" He pointed to Rex. "He can make storms and transform and disman..dis...wreck stuff! Oh you haven't seen the half of it!" Laurilane gave him a cold stare as if to tell him to shut up. Nave obeyed.
Rex extended his hands. "Yawgmoth is a liar. He is no God, not now, not ever. He is but a man."
Yawgmoth snarled and shouted "Lies!"
The Planeswalker grinned. "I'll prove it."
Tendrils of blue mana escaped Rex's fingertips. They wrapped around Yawgmoth and tightened, forming a net of energy rope. Despite the Ineffable's thrashing attempts to pull free, he could not. Nave and Laurilane faced Kref. They approached, one pace, and Kref backed away in proportion. He soon found himself backed against a tree.
"We've got you," taunted Laurilane, "and we've got your boss, Yagmund."
"Yawgmoth!" The Dark Lord himself corrected.
"Whatever," Laurilane dismissed. "Anyway, you should surrender or my buddy here will rough you up before he sends you back to the slammer."
"Buddy?" Rex asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Sure," Laurilane replied. "You're my buddy, right?"
"Uhh...ok."
Kref smiled and hissed. He lunged at a distracted Laurilane, sending two punches to her face. She fluttered her wings and knocked him away, but before Rex could cast another imprisonment spell the faceless killer turned completely to darkness, escaping without trace under the shadow of a charred tree.
Several more squirming attempts by the Ineffable to escape failed miserably. He sighed against the mana strings that bound him and said, "I guess you got me."
"Sure do!" Rex said, voice raised. "And now you're going to talk."
"You've got alot of 'splaining to do!" Lauren added with a giggle.
Rex grabbed Yawgmoth and raised him, casting an enchantment to raise the strength of his prison. "We'll take him to Yavimaya. Laurilane, you come with me, ok? There may be some things said you should hear. Nave, can you handle informing the Skyshroud sentries of Phyrexians in their midst? They have to be better prepared to fend off their assaults when they inevitably strike back." Nave nodded in agreement. Not a moment later, Rex, Laurilane, and Yawgmoth vanished from existance, 'walking out of Skyshroud and into the AEther.
The last moment before they winked out of the forest, Yawgmoth transmitted into the open;
Phyrexians, gather to fight for your God in Yavimaya.
* * *
Suddenly, they were real. It had been a harsh trip through the Blind Eternities, though Yawgmoth had remained ever stout. Laurilane, on the other hand...
"Don't do that again!" She shrieked as she came into being leaning on the trunk of the Heart of Yavimaya. "All the colors drifting by...so dizzy."
Yawgmoth scoffed. "Silence, child." In response, Rex slapped his captive and said, "You're in no position to be giving orders."
"But I am," the dread lord corrected. "I always am." Rex tightened the magical bonds.
"Enough of this," the Planeswalker said. "Now you must face trial before me, and my friends, and Gaea."
Yawgmoth was placed in a wooden seat, still in his blue mana cord entrapment. Around him sat James, Laurilane, and Rex.
Finally, Gaea's avatar formed. It started as a sprout jutting up from the grass, then grew rampantly to become a stalk. Then it formed a slender human shape, growing hands and legs and finally a head. Long strands of ivy hair flowed down to the mid back, and out of the soft nature that was an empty face the features of a nose and mouth were sculpted. The eyes formed last, pupils animated glowing violet. I am here, the forest Goddess announced.
Yawgmoth spat towards the avatar. "Rebbec," he snarled. "I knew you would be here. I allowed myself to be captured, so that I could-"
He was interrupted when James lashed out at him by casting a leaf storm that skimmed by the Ineffable's cheek and caused a trail of blood to run down. "Hush," the elf ordered, "while you are prisoner of Yavimaya, you are not to speak unless spoken to. Got it?" Yawgmoth grudgingly obeyed by saying or doing nothing further.
I call this hearing to order, Gaea announced. First; Yawgmoth, you are charged with the anihilation of the Thran race and two attempts to conquer Dominaria. How do you plea?
A smile formed on Yawgmoth's lips. "I did this with joy. Given the chance, I'd do it all again, Rebbec. You know that. But there is one thing, one detail I would change."
And what is this?
"I would have killed you before you sealed the heartstone that locked me in my world."
Sadness filled Gaea's soul to hear those words. There was a time where had he said that, she would have crumpled onto her knees begging forgiveness. But that time has long passed, and Gaea reminded herself that she too would have killed Yawgmoth long before he ever could have comitted these terrible crimes against all the multiverse.
Understood, she replied.
"Next item," Rex said to change the subject from that dark bit of romance, "Yawgmoth, you are charged with the invasion of a secluded plane called Daarvol, of capturing a denzien from Kamigawa of the name Horobi to do your bidding, of slaying countless Daarvolians of all races, of drawing the mana of five kingdoms and using them against us...and murdering Lauren from Lotheria."
Yawgmoth supressed an open laugh. As he gave Rex his plea to these accusations, his tone was as proud and level as all but Gaea had ever heard. "I did it. It was I who released Mishra the Destroyer and employed him as a Phyrexian..." He halted as the bitter thoughts of Urza's cunning brother even now sitting inside the Ninth Sphere of Phyrexia, commanding the billions of metallic lifeforms, stealing what was once his... "and it was I who captured the one you call Horobi, of another world entirely, as a minion. Yes, it was I who corrupted Lothar the king of Lotheria, I who made him syphon power from his land and land around it to be fed to me, I who enlisted Lauren's service as a mercenary to bring Florina to me where I ate her soul and gave her body to Tsabo Tavoc. It was I who brought forth the Mana Destroyers to stomp on the world which harbored them, and it was I who rained plague and war on your world, and it was I who turned Lauren to stone and crushed her just as easily as one would crush a passing FLY! I did it, I did it all, yes! Yes!"
They all paused. Rex and Laurilane lowered their heads in silence. As James did the same, a thought popped into his head: Lauren. Laurilane. There's similarity. They look alike. Who the hell can't tell that there's something going on here?
"There's something going on here," James repeated, this time aloud. "Yawgmoth, you seem to know alot about alot of things. That must happen when you're freakishly old like you are. In fact, I think you're the oldest old geezer anywhere...well, I'm trailing off. My point is, who are Lauren and Laurilane?"
Laurilane blinked, than turned her attention to Yawgmoth. Maybe he knows what the hell is going on, she thought.
"They are sisters," the Ineffable stated.
"And?" Rex asked. Yawgmoth was silent. He tightened the grip of the mana ropes that they threatened to suffocate the Dark Lord, then he eased the bonds. "Explain. Now."
Yawgmoth breathed deep, eager to fill his lungs with oxygen. "Very well. You know that during the Daarvolian invasion, I captured Lauren and brought her to the Fourth Sphere to be examined by Vat Priests. I did this with greater purpose than idle curiosity. Lauren was a great ancestor of Dyfed."
No one but Gaea knew what that meant. Upon realizing that they were still clueless, he continued.
"Dyfed was a Planeswalker during the age of the Thran. She was a friend of mine. She found Phyrexia for me and taught me how to posess it. You could say it was her that transformed me into a God. But she betrayed me, as Rebbec did. She threatened to remove my powers. I stabbed her in the forehead. By continually scrambling her brains, she could not access the planeswalking organ- the brain- and as such could not regenerate, or 'walk away. She couldn't do much of anything."
He stopped to marvel on the great ingenuity that had moved him to stab his foe in the forehead and scatter her mind throught Phyrexia.
"Before I did this, though, Dyfed bore a child I was not aware of. After my imprisonment, those children had children, and so forth. On the third generation of Dyfed's wretched spawn, her great grandson wed with an angel from Serra's Sanctum. Their daughter, half-angel and half-human, was stolen by Baron..." He remembered that not even Gaea knows who that is. "...stolen by a vampiric planeswalker and brought to Daarvol. They mated, forcefully or otherwise, and their son, a three race abomination was paired with a Lotherian woman. THEIR children...their children are Laurilane of Urborg and Lauren of Lotheria."
"How do you know this?!" Laurilane snapped before she even began to comprehend the knowledge that her ancestry is of three worlds.
"I know alot about alot of things," the Ineffable replied with a grin.
"And how did Laurilane get to Dominaria?" Rex asked Yawgmoth.
"This I do not know," he replied. "Oh, there is one more thing you should know..."
Rex, James, Laurilane and the Gaea avatar fixated their gazes on Yawgmoth.
"It is in your best interests to look out behind you."
They looked, but it was too late.
* * *
Kref leapt out from behind a bush and trampled over James, knocking the lithe elf to the ground. He turned to grab the man's neck, but James took hold of his featureless hand and twisted it.
Yrok and Kjort stepped out of the shadows. They both grabbed Laurilane with implacable strength. She thrashed. Kjort tumbled away. A blast of arctic wind sent Yrok flying off as well. The three minions regained their footing and raced toward Yawgmoth.
"You're not getting away THAT easily!" James shouted. Vines sprouted forth from the ground, a spell by James amplified in power by the presence of Gaea. They wrapped together and grabbed hold of Kjort. James stepped near and said, "Give up and maybe, just maybe I'll let you live." Kjort spat on him. The acidic saliva burned away a patch of his wooden armor. James placed his palms on Kjort's shoulders and cast his rusting spell. In an instant, all of Kjort's metallic implants- near half of his body- turned to crimson dust. He died moments later.
Laurilane tackled Yrok. She clawed at his steel chest platings, leaving scratch marks in them. The Debaser responded by spitting tar that stuck to the angel's arms and stung as it boiled away her flesh. "REX!" She shouted, "REX! HELP!"
Immediately he snapped his head toward her. Just as he stepped forward, preparing to run to her aid, he was stricken down. A laugh invaded his mind, the laugh of Kref Sedonya. The faceless monster himself stood infront of the fallen Planeswalker. He said mockingly, "Oops, did I knock you down?" Rex was speechless. Kref knelt, and placed his ebony hand that reeked of ink on the planeswalker's face. He gathered the black sorceries in his mind that would syphon away Rex's soul and face and graft it unto himself.
Except Rex wasn't there. "Where is he?!" Kref growled. He looked around. It seemed Rex had melted away...
He did melt away! His face, body, everything! He was a puddle of blue-and-teal on the grass ground. "What trickery is this?!" Kref demanded.
"This kind of trickery," Rex answered. The milky puddle that was him leaped up and formed into a solid. This wasn't Rex's body, though. This creature had sky blue matted fur, four legs that were each tipped with three inhumanly sharp claws, eyes of solid sapphire, and three rows of teeth in a single gigantic mouth.
"He's shapeshifted!" Yawgmoth announced, then he elaborated. "One of the powers of a Planeswalker is to change forms at will. His body is just a manifestation of his mind, so if he just wills himself to be something else..."
He didn't get to finish. Kref was knocked clear back when the tiger-Marhiku rammed into him. Rex growled and leaped into the air. He landed, grabbing hold of Kref's left arm and crunching down. The faceless ghoul howled in pain and melted into blackness, escaping through a shadow on the ground. Now the feline bodied Planeswalker bolted towards Laurilane.
The black goo had already wiped away the skin on the angel's arm when Rex arrived. One blast of chilling breath sent Yrok hurling into a nearby tree, where Gaea bent branches to trap the horrid debaser.
Laurilane grunted as Rex examined the wound with his paw and shook off some of the tar that stuck to his paw. His body again turned to quicksilver and formed Rex's preferred form- the tan skinned, slick black haired, moustached Rex that all knew and some even liked. He placed his right hand over Laurilane's searing wound and closed his eyes as strands of white mana flowed into it.
"I'm not so familiar with white magic," Rex explained, "just a novice here. But since I'm a Planeswalker and am really, REALLY handsome, I should be able to heal you." He concentrated heavily, imagining the rolling golden grass fields of Benalia, channeling their energy into his hand and then into Laurilane in healing patterns.
"You're right," Laurilane said giggling, "you are a novice and ungodly handsome."
"Why thank you!" Rex replied sheepishly.
Flesh healed as Phyrexian tar burned away. Exposed muscles flowing profusely with blood scabbed and then vanished entirely as new, healthy skin was generated on Laurilane's arm. After a few more moments, Rex said, "There we go. All better."
"Thankie," the angelic woman replied.
Now, Kref! They aren't looking!
The man without a face obeyed his master. He jumped from the shade cast by a magnigoth tree, which made his haunting form visible. He raced through the grass stained with the blood of Kjort to the wooden chair where his Lord was bound. Gaea attempted to stop him. She sprung roots from the ground that lashed toward Kref. He grabbed hold of them as they came near and jumped upward to avoid others, then landing on the ground. James tried to thwart his prison break next. He dove towards him, locking him in a tackle and sending him to the ground. Kref grabbed his face to syphon the mana from him, but instead threw him off of him. "Don't have time," he reminded himself when he began doubting why he'd passed up the opportunity of feasting on a delicious elven soul.
Then he came, ripping away the cords of blue mana that bound his master. "Good job," Yawgmoth complimented as he patted Kref on the back. "Now we must go."
They dissapeared. Yrok vanished in a cloud of soot from his prison amongst magnigoth branches. Kref went next, and finally Yawgmoth just as James lept toward him. Instead of grabbing the Ineffable by the collar, James crashed to the ground, only grabbing a fistful of dirt.
"He escaped," Rex stated bleakly.
"We had the greatest criminal in the whole multiverse in our grasp and he escaped," James added.
"We should have killed him when we had the chance," Laurilane pondered aloud.
My children, Gaea spoke with sympathy, it isn't your faults. We were merely questioning him. We would have killed him afterwards, but we were interrupted. You all did your bests, and we've learned much today. I am proud of all of you.
That thought soothed all three of them.