Nightmares and Legacies (Part 6)

[The MAGGUSS Legacies]

Part 1 viewtopic.php?f=153&t=34447
Part 2 viewtopic.php?f=26&t=34448
Part 3 viewtopic.php?f=153&t=34450
Part 4 viewtopic.php?f=153&t=34453
Part 5 viewtopic.php?f=153&t=34464

CONTENT WARNING: None today, folks!

Limited time, so no pics, either.


Bernardin Estates, Rhy’Din - NOW

Magus stood over the large blood stain on what was his favorite rug within the basement library. He couldn’t remember with any certainty whether Ari had enchanted it, or not, as she had much of the house. He moved over to his desk, and immediately opened a door, pulling out a small electronic box. It had a small rudimentary screen, and a little lens, or receptor of some kind on the back side, along with a handful of simple buttons.

Returning the carpet, he turned it on, and pointed it at the blood stain until it beeped. He checked the screen, and sighed. “They are attacking Cameron already, then…” trailing off into a few thoughts. Magus put the device into a pouch on his side, taking a moment to think, mulling over several scenarios.

He should find Cameron, which can be a feat, but not by any stretch impossible. However, he considered what would lead to a faster solution. He turned, and marched quickly down to a pair of double doors on the side of the library. Opening them revealed a small maze of hallways extending under the north yard of the Estates, and he began down them, searching for a specific vault. A few turns, and he arrived at a stone door covered with runes, and opened it with a press of a hand, the runs lighting in various colors to allow his entry.

He closed the door behind him. The room was filled with small cubbies along both sides, numerous artifacts within, several glowing, several with their own protection runes lining the trim of stone around them. In the center of the room there was a pedestal, made of stone, also covered in runes.

There was another cubby, directly in the back wall by itself, with a dagger set upon a stand. It seemed to need no runes to keep it safe, and that’s where Magus ended up. He took the dagger and moved it carefully to place it on the pedestal in the center of the room.

He moved a hand to slip fingers over a room on it’s base. Slowly it began to glow and the room started to fade away, leaving only the pedestal, Magus and a haze surrounding him. Magus waited quietly, and patiently until he could feel the chill flow through it.

He closed, his eyes and lips parted, exhaling a foggy breath before speaking, “hello old friend.”

A dark, distorted voice rang out from an armored figure in the distance behind him. Hello, Magus,” is said. “Come to make me reconsider?”

“Of course not,” Magus replied. “I respect your wishes, you’ve made yourself completely clear you’ve chosen this fate.”

“I see,” it murmured out like stone speaking. “Then what do I owe the pleasure?”

“Does anyone in your legion date back to the day R’kael,” Magus asked. “I need his sigil.”

It’s eyes, glowing blue through a helmet, narrowed and shifted in thought, speaking, “I do not know that name.”

“Elvish, at least thirty millenia old,” explained Magus as he turned just enough to glance over his shoulder at the figure. Magus’ face was dour, something in the sight of this man… or what was once a man flooded him with a melancholy sensation.

The armored man was quiet in the misty haze. His breath, if he even breathed, produced no mist. It finally spoke, “none in my legion are that old. I do not believe this thing was created quite so long ago,” as it gestured to the dagger on the pedestal.

“It was worth a shot,” Magus said. “Thank you, Kyle.”

“I will always be in your debt,” it replied, before it faded into the fog.

Magus looked a bit sullen, staring aimlessly as he thought. He knew what the next step was. I’m going to have to call in a bigger favor, he thought. His abilities pulled on the space around him, warping it as he connected his space to another place. When he let go, he was gone, leaving visual ripples in the air.

A beach, some nondescript world

Cameron knew they’d still find him here. They’d found him in Vangor, and they found him in literally any world he’d traveled. He still liked the waves, the sound and scent of the ocean. It was something Fae had instilled in him that fondness for the tides that he hadn’t had before. Some of their best memories, prior to petty fights were in bungalows and cabins seaside on some obscure world, hidden from everyone.

Infact, one of the bungalows, a small seaside shanty town they’d once stayed in for some time and managed to be happy in, was only a few miles south of where he sat, while listening to the shore. He stared out into the ocean and wondered if the ship that launched the attacks would come from the water today. He mulled over those happy memories a moment, almost oblivious to the approaching footsteps in the sand.


“I mean what I said, Ar,” Cameron uttered. He could just somehow feel the dense presence of the warrior.

“I did not come to fight,” Ar replied, quietly. “Odd as your tricks may be, you won my respect,” he said. “I came to discuss our common enemy.”

“What even is an enemy, anymore to us,” Cameron replied. “We’ve lived so long we’ve forgiven everyone and learned to respect them. Why don’t we just start like that?”

“I… I’m not here to talk about philosophies. I need to know who is attacking us, and where they are,” Ar pivoted the conversation.

“I don’t know, and I don’t know, but stick around, they’re over due to pay me a visit,” Cameron said. “You’ll be sure to meet them.”

Gaea, the Homeworld of Gaea

Magus stood quietly in a forest, his hand was raised aloft above his head, fingers held as if to clutch. Runes of a spell cast were circling it as he focused, eyes closed. He had to be sure there were no humanoids for miles upon miles to do what he had intended. When the spell was complete and he sensed no other beings other than fauna for quite some distance he relaxed. He drew in a deep breath.

The world around him stilled a bit, as if energy was being drawn out of it. Not life, or anything meaningful, and not a meaningful amount, save the wind which seemed to die down quite a bit, much to the confusion of the birds that were about. He was absorbing the kinetic force in the world around him.

Attracting a God was no minor feat. And since they by and large could not sense him directly, getting one’s attention took a lot of finesse, especially if you didn’t want to attract their ire. And he’d done far too much of that lately.

Magus crouched and placed his hands to the ground. He needed not disturb or harm the world around him much, if at all if this was to work. Carefully, he used the force to lock a large hunk of his surroundings together as one humongous object and then slowly began to leak huge amounts of force into it.

The earth quaked. Literally. A deep rumbling within the world as the trees began to shake and wildlife began to panic and flee in fear. He let the energy ramp up and release, carefully until a natural fault took over and the world around him began to shake on its own. He stood the the waves of sound and force around him and waited.

After a minute or so, the sound calmed. She knows this planet better than all he thought. He hoped this would not be in vain.

Then, after several moments he could feel her. The world around him calmed, the temperature became… perfect. A sense of serenity overtook the land around him as the fauna all settles, and began something akin to their best lives. If only for the next few moments, they fussed with not a care in the world.

“I need something of you, dearest heart,” Magus said in the faintest whisper.

And in a whisper came his reply; the voice was soft, loving and pristine, even on a breath. Like perfection to any ear that could behold it. “It must be important if you would contact me so, dear hero.”

“It may be, though, it may be a request you’re unable to even consider,” he said, reluctantly.

“I’m intrigued,” the voice replied. “Do ask, you’ve done much for this world, and I am curious if I can assist you.”

“I need R’kael’s sigil,” he said, softly.

Everything around him seemed to stop, everything grew silent as a grave. He turned his head, looking around. “Do you know what you ask,” the voice prodded at him. The voice had changed to a sound concern.

Magus saw her figure, impossible to immediately comprehend, moving in the trees. “Yes,” he said, moving as if to approach.

Gaea’s figure approached as well, golden eyes piercing through the lush foliage of the forest they stood in, as she spoke. “You are dear to me, but I cannot give you this. It would bring the pantheon down upon me where I share it.” She approached, pausing before him and lifting a hand to touch Magus’ cheek with the most loving touch he’d ever experienced.

Magus’ eyes fought to understand her form. It was a beauty incarnate. Natural beauty. He knew he saw an elfish form, he knew her eyes were golden, her ear pointed, he frame every bit as lithe as his, but he could understand it, and committing it to memory was a struggle as he looked her up and down.

“If you require this so dearly… so desperately,” she said in that whisper, “then you will need to pry it from the face of this world. R’kael birthed the first of us upon this world in ages longer than memory. Gaea was his before it was mine, and it carries the secret, you need only find the right place to look.” Gaea leaned in, lips pressed upon his, in a feather-light kiss.

Magus took a deep breath, and he could not tell how long he’d been standing there. He knew it was longer than he could recall, and he knew he was not the first to experience the lapse. He closed his eyes. She was the Goddess and embodied beauty, nature, and love, and he told himself it was to be expected as he calmed himself from the wash of serotonin in his mind. She’d left him a puzzle. Luckily, it wasn’t a hard one.

He didn’t know exactly where to look, but he knew who to ask.

Gaea was a magnificent world. Hardly the only one to bear the name, but it’s where the Goddess he’d addressed drew hers. It had a few unique circumstances, but one especially remarkable trait to the eye, however; its moon was beginning to teem with life, a white orb in the sky slowly growing green. Only two mortal souls in the world knew why, and Magus was just a visitor.

A moment later Magus emerged upon the moon, in a field of shrubbery, and grass blades, stepping carefully. He spied small gnat-like insects floating about, and smiled faintly. It was new. It was also becoming easier to breathe.

“MAGUS!” His name was carried on a pristine, but shrill cry from his side, and he turned to face the familiar voice, already opening his arms. A small girl landed against his chest, curling small, white wings against her back. “You’ve come back,” she shouted, nuzzling into the leather he wore. He hugged her as tightly as one did a child you’d not seen in some time, and lowered onto his knees.

“You have insects, Maela,” he said, petting down her hair with affection and letting her too her feet.

She jumped back and lifted into the air with wing flaps, grinning broadly and wildly, “I do! I have bugs, Magus! My life is growing!”

“You’re extraordinary,” he said on a grin, rising back to his feet.

“I think so, too,” she shouted in exclamation. “I’m so glad to see you! I’ve missed you so much!”

“I’ve missed you, too,” he said to the young Goddess. “I’m afraid I can’t stay long, but I have a question for you.”

“Oh.. Okay,” the dismay was mild. The child had many things to do and create and nurture, so she was far from lonely on her new little world.

“Do you know where the first elves lived on Gaea,” he asked, pointing to the large world that linger in the sky casting colors of blue, white, green and brown, overhead.

“Oh, of course,” she said, quick to whip around in her flight and point. “Near Dragonfall, it’s hard to see from here, take a deep breath.”

Magus immediately did so, before he felt a little hand clutch his, and off into her faintly purple sky they went, launching into the space of stars and leaving the moon below them. It took only a few moments for her to propel them to a side of the world where Magus knew Dragonfall was.

Pointing wildly, she asked “see that shape of lines and islands that kind of swirl into the cont’nent?”

He nodded, staring closely, with no air to use for a response. He saw it. The shape had been cut into by the death of the two great dragons in their battle, but sure enough… it appeared to look very much like a sigil if traced correctly. Though some of it was lost of eons of erosion and decay, Magus was confident he could make enough of it out to reproduce. He tugged at he hand and pointed to his mouth.

“Okay,” she said, and wings flapped needlessly and she carried them back to the moon, releasing him a few feet above the ground. He let out a breath sharply. The lack of gravity allowed an easy landing without much fanfare or any special tricks.

“Perfect, Maela, thank you,” he said. “I promise to visit you soon, alright?”

“Do you have to go,” she pleaded at him.

“Yes, sweet one, I must, I have an important problem that needs my attention, but you’ve been a great help,” he opened his arms for a hug, and got a big one from the tiny winged, pointy eared girl. “Keep watch over Gaea for me.”

“Yes, sir!” She beamed as she broke away.


The beach, the same nondescript world

“So, you never thought to cut out the corruption,” Ar asked, looking at Cameron in a somewhat condescending fashion.

“No, it just didn’t come to mind, alright,” Cameron answered.

“Don’t you have an ancient demon inside of you,” Ar continued, patronizingly.

“Yes, and he didn’t think of it, ei…” Cameron trailed off.

It was faint, but Cameron couldn’t forget the sensation of feeling her near, though he was beginning to be able to tell when it wasn't really her. In the distance they saw clouds, very very dark clouds seem to roil in from nothing. Cameron knew it. They were here.

“They’re here,” he said, climbing to his feet. “They don’t follow me to Rhy’Din, ever, so we should run there, if it gets too hairy.”

“I do not run,” Ar said.

“Of course not,” Cameron replied, clearly annoyed. “We need to get the one with the beard who’s commanding the others to tell us what he wants, maybe if we kill him, this all ends.”

“Fair enough,” said Ar.

They waited. In the distance the ship became more visible, lurching incredibly fast toward them. Tiamat. Fae’s ship… but not. It was distorted, overgrown, and Fae’s Tiamat sailed the skies, not just the seas, or the case of this insane monstrosity, the very earth.

Each prepared, Cameron summoning Ibliss’ blade to his hand in a wave of fire. Ar popped his joints since Cameron had destroyed his cherished weapon.

After only a few moments, it was upon them; dark clouds were overhead and behind the ship were all sort of demon and creature made of shadow and bone and flesh crossing the water as if it were merely sand. Upon the bow was Fae, or something that approximated her so keenly at one point that it had fooled Cameron.

“Death to you, beloved,” she yelled ahead as the ship, which should have gone aground tore through the shore in its approach, cutting into the beach.

“Why does she always look different,” Ar asked.

Cameron looked back at Ar, completely confused.