ULTRAMagic Interval - Chapter 10
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Bethany had been looking for ways to get Will ever since the encounter with Valentin in the city. That scuffle was supposed to be a distraction for M.A.I.G., but was ruined when Valentin decided he wanted to be quirky and teleported the fight to the perimeter of the base. Either way, Bethany was going to get back at Will for the fight in his dream. That defeat was humiliating.
Of course she also needed a way to get rid of that god-awful Despot. Bethany was steadily catching on to who he was and was realizing he was not to be trusted in the slightest. As annoying as Valentin was, he was infinitely more preferable to the dregs she had dealt with in the Death Knell coven. Bethany had found a nice glen on the second day to sit and scheme, but this was cut short when a helicopter thundered by overhead.
This was cause for concern like everything else, but Bethany sensed something that chilled her spectral blood and elicited silent panic. She knew who was coming and rushed back to her crypt. Once she was inside, she slammed the stone doors shut and blocked them with her body, taking a moment to catch her breath.
Valentin appeared to be writing something down, remaining focused on his work “You better have a good reason as to why you still don’t have Will’s soul…”
“Zoltan…”
“Zoltan? Zoltan who?” He was not amused.
“Zoltan Dracul, you idiot!”
“And that concerns us how?”
Bethany gave an exasperated breath. “He was one of the people who sealed me away here…”
Valentin scoffed. “Sounds like a you problem.”
Rightfully annoyed, Bethany summoned a scorpion’s tail from her back. Coiled around Valentin, she dragged him over to the far wall. “You see that crest? That’s what we’re dealing with!”
Taking a second to marvel at the grand carving, it quickly dawned on Valentin. “Damn it! Another complication…” A stone medallion at his work space then started humming, causing him to grit his teeth and growl.
“Oh lovely, you know who again…”
“Don’t breathe a single word!” Valentin ordered.
“Don’t need to tell me twice…” Bethany muttered as she slid into a dark part of the crypt.
Valentin snapped his fingers, causing a cloud of what looked like a mix of smoke and blood to rise up from the stone artifact. The mass then took the shape of Despot’s head. His expression was serious and it seemed like he was in no mood for theatrics.
“Greetings, Mr. Friedrich. What does our glorious commandant want on this… sublime day?” It was easy to detect the venom in Valentin’s tone of voice.
“Where is the soul, Karppinen? Time is not on our side and the more you bumble about, the more advantage we lose. You should have delivered the soul by now.”
“To insinuate I made such a guarantee is to demand the universe of me, herr kommandant. These things take time after all…”
Despot was not pleased. “Time we do not have, Karppinen. My patience is wearing thin. Continue to fail me and there will be dire consequences.”
“What are you going to do? Stick me in an oven? Because that worked so well 90 years ago…”
This warranted a very angry growl. “You bumbling waste of a court jester! Any sensible ruler would have you beheaded the instant they saw your putrid…”
“Oh shut the Hell up, you Nuremberg fugitive” Valentin shot back as he snapped his finger, causing the medallion to explode. He then stood there for a moment, remaining silent to collect his thoughts.
“So now what?” Bethany asked as she stepped out of the shadows.
Valentin glanced at the scorpion’s tail. “How about you actually use the manticore, given all the trouble I went through to get it” he snapped.
“Right, that monstrosity…” Bethany groaned as she vanished.
Back at M.A.I.G. headquarters, Will got up from the desk in the guest bedroom. Adrien had given him some documents to fill out, relating to everything he had been going through up until then. Having finished up his work, Will stepped outside. Glancing down the hall, he saw something that made him freeze. There were two men in the living room. One was Captain Antares, a strong looking officer in a Liger Brigade uniform, with mauve colored hair and golden eyes. The other was a tall man in black business suit, with blood red eyes and dark hair in an executive contour cut.
The tall man smiled. “Salutări, Will” he called out, only for Will to go right back inside.
Antares sighed. “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it” he said as he walked over to the door. “Will, get out here.” There was silence. “That’s an order, Private.”
After a moment, a kick was heard. “Damn it!”
“Hey!” Reynard called out. “Easy on the door, Will!”
Will stepped out and sighed. “Coming sir…”
Antares shook his head and gave him a quick hug. “It’s not the end of the world, Will,” He reassured him as they took a seat in the living room.
“Hey, Zoltan…” Will said with another sigh. Sam, who was sitting right next to Will, lightly kicked him in the shin. “Ow!”
Zoltan laughed, feeling sorry. “Glad to see you’re safe and sound, Will. Truthfully I did not expect to be dealing with Bethany again. Would you believe that was over 60 years ago, my boy? I certainly can’t…”
Will felt a smile start to creep across his face. “I’d believe it.”
“I take it she chased you around in the first dream you had of her?” Will nodded. “Ah, that means you're the chosen one to seal her away next…”
“Wait, WHAT!?” Will exclaimed. Sam was also caught off guard.
“HA, joking, joking!” Zoltan said as he slapped his leg. Will gave him an incredulous glare. “This time I plan to pacify her, somehow. Not to throw your grandfather under the bus, Antares, but I think sealing her away was a bandage solution at best.”
“Unfortunately,” Antares admitted. “Don’t worry, Private, this situation has the full attention of the brigade. If things go south, we’ll have Camelot here in no time.”
“Shoot, the whole sky fortress?” Will asked. “Are things really that bad?”
“To be fair, Will, I’ve got GRENADIER on speed dial just in case,” Reynard pointed out. “Intel suggests all of this could easily escalate. We’ll evacuate the whole city if we have to.”
“Wow…”
“This is a serious situation, Private,” Antares stated. “We need to be ready to shoot first and ask questions later.”
Sam put her arm around Will. “Don’t worry, Boyo, we’ll make it through this.”
Zoltan picked up a small cooler and set it on the coffee table. He then got out what appeared to be a candy bar. “Now, Will, Milan has prepared this chocolate bar for you.”
“Chocolate?” Will took the bar. “What for?”
“It’s infused with magic intended to restore your memories. This should dispel the spell Milan cast on you after the incident at the academy. Given what’s currently going on, he feels it’s time you regained your memories. As an aside, it’s completely homemade chocolate.”
Will unwrapped part of the chocolate. It looked quite tasty, having a very pleasing aroma to it. “Mm… well, here I go…”
“Oh, Will, the memories won’t come back all at once,” Zoltan put in. “But just in case the unpredictable happens, Morana is deeply sorry for all of the trouble she caused you back then.”
Will nodded and took a bite. The chocolate was very good, being sweetened dark chocolate. As he ate, he felt the warmth of nostalgia flood into his mind. Hearing echoes of a simpler time, Will began yearning to comprehend where these feelings were coming from. The haze that clouded his mind was still there, but it was starting to slowly dissipate. Annoyingly this sensation was cut off by a splitting headache that came out of nowhere, but it also felt like a lock was being undone. Will needed to stand up, hoping that would clear his head. His breathing was a little shallow, but he remained steady.
“How do you feel, Private?” Antares inquired.
“Ow, alright, I guess…” Will then had a memory pop up. “Oh God… Faustus!?!”
The fire devil appeared out of nowhere in a flash of sparks and embers. “What’s up, Kiddo?”
“The library’s copy of the Witch’s Codex! I didn’t return it when I was supposed to! I mean I was going to, but then I went to that small graduation party Mortis threw for us and…”
“Champ, relax. Mable and Evan took care of it for you.”
Will settled down. “That’s a relief…”
Antares got up and stood before Will. “I don’t mean to interrupt your trip down memory lane, but Adrien told me about the soul fragment stuff and I’d like to lend a hand.”
“Oh, he did? Well yeah, it’s something called ULTRAMagic. Sam told me about it.”
“While I’m not exactly sure what that is at the moment, it is my duty as your commanding officer to help you out with this…” Focusing his magic, he snapped his fingers… twice. “Um, I’m not exactly sure how to do this.”
Sam stuttered a little and stood up. “Captain, come here for a second and touch your head against mine.”
“Pardon me, Sam?”
“We’re not going to kiss, just touch your head to mine…” She had to pull him in, but was successful.
Antares felt a surge through his mind that turned into a headache, but gave way to a pleasant euphoria. “Oh, I get it now!” He then snapped his fingers once more, causing a yellow flame to appear. “Here you go, Private.”
“Thanks, Antares.” Once again, the fragment spiraled up Will’s arm and went into his head, causing his eyes to turn yellow for a second. “Huh, not as intense as your fragment, Sam.”
“Well I did say it would mellow out as you go.”
Zoltan clapped. “Most excellent, Will. Most excellent indeed. Keep that up and you’ll be able to join the ULTRAMagic Guild in no time.” This caused Sam to quietly groan. “Now, Reynard, shall we head to the War Room to talk to the others?”
“Yes, as we have a lot of stuff to discuss,” he replied as he indicated for everyone to follow him.
As the group walked down the hallways, Zoltan tapped Will on the shoulder. “Given what’s going on, Vlastimir should be here soon.”
“No way! How’s he doing?”
“Fantastic. We finally found him two years ago. It turns out he got sent to The Unlight after the incident at the academy.”
“That’s bizarre. Sam?”
She shrugged. “It’s not impossible. The Cosmos is a strange place after all.”
Reynard opened the double doors and led everyone in. “Ladies and gentleman, Zoltan is in the building.”
“Bună ziua tuturor!” Zoltan said as some of the higher ups got up to greet him.
Mayhem was with Buster and Olivia at one of the break tables. He gestured for Will and the others to come over. “Will, sorry I’ve been in and out so much. I was just getting the lay of the land and whatnot.”
“It’s alright.” Will then noticed Buster, feeling a tinge of adrenaline. “Buster?!”
“Yes, it’s me, Will,” he said with a smile. “This is my true self.”
“You look so cool!” Will exclaimed. “What even are you?”
“He’s one of The Dream of Old, a 1 dimensional entity not too far off from what you truly are” Mayhem answered.
Sam was surprised. “Buster, what prompted this? I figured you wanted to stay in hiding.”
“I thought about it, Sam, and I feel safe here at the moment. If the cult comes after me, I’ll fight tooth and nail. Odo is going to have a conniption, but I’m not running anymore.”
Antares took some food and chuckled. “Don’t worry, Buster. We’ll send the entire brigade after them if need be. Olivia, how are you doing?”
“Hey, cousin. Just a little surprised that my boyfriend is an eldritch entity from another dimension is all.”
Faustus chuckled. “If you think that’s strange, Sam’s a succubus who’s the emanation of an angel that was born in Inferno.”
“Well that explains a lot…” Olivia concluded. “Either way, Buster is still the cuddly goofball I fell in love with, so it’s not that big of a deal.”
Will then realized something. “Actually, Olivia, I think you’re the only normal one out of all of us. I’m a dullahan, Sam’s a succubus, Antonio’s a spider demon, Randalph’s a goat, Kyu’s an alien, Buster’s a… Buster…”
Buster laughed. “We wouldn’t be out of place in The Unlight, truth be told. Also, Will, I see you got another fragment.”
“You can sense that?”
“Yup. My brother, Odo, taught me how to, as it was a bit necessary at the time… Anyways, my memories before my time on this Earth are taking a bit to come back, but I do remember members of the ULTRAMagic Guild helping me and my brother out, which obviously led me coming to live with you guys.”
“Oh, where is your brother?”
“I don’t know,” Buster said with a sigh. “Now Will, ULTRAMagic is a very powerful trait to have. And if any of this Bethany stuff relates to the cult, you’re going to need to go all the way with this…”
Buster presented an Indigo orb to Will, his soul fragment. Sam was about to raise her concerns, but the reflection of Morrigan appeared in a monitor and gave her an expecting look. Staying quiet, Sam watched as Will absorbed his next fragment. Morrigan then gave her a thumbs up and vanished.
“So how do you feel, Boyo?” Sam inquired.
“Great! Also, Buster, how do I get armor like that?”
He laughed. “I mean, this is and is not my body…”
Will poked an armor plate. “What? Is this like your skin then?”
“Yes and no.”
“So does this mean you’re technically running around naked?” They all laughed.
Antares patted Will on the shoulder. “Ha, come on, Private. Let’s go see if the others need us and tell them the good news.”
Next: Chapter 11
ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)
Master Post - Patreon
Bethany had been looking for ways to get Will ever since the encounter with Valentin in the city. That scuffle was supposed to be a distraction for M.A.I.G., but was ruined when Valentin decided he wanted to be quirky and teleported the fight to the perimeter of the base. Either way, Bethany was going to get back at Will for the fight in his dream. That defeat was humiliating.
Of course she also needed a way to get rid of that god-awful Despot. Bethany was steadily catching on to who he was and was realizing he was not to be trusted in the slightest. As annoying as Valentin was, he was infinitely more preferable to the dregs she had dealt with in the Death Knell coven. Bethany had found a nice glen on the second day to sit and scheme, but this was cut short when a helicopter thundered by overhead.
This was cause for concern like everything else, but Bethany sensed something that chilled her spectral blood and elicited silent panic. She knew who was coming and rushed back to her crypt. Once she was inside, she slammed the stone doors shut and blocked them with her body, taking a moment to catch her breath.
Valentin appeared to be writing something down, remaining focused on his work “You better have a good reason as to why you still don’t have Will’s soul…”
“Zoltan…”
“Zoltan? Zoltan who?” He was not amused.
“Zoltan Dracul, you idiot!”
“And that concerns us how?”
Bethany gave an exasperated breath. “He was one of the people who sealed me away here…”
Valentin scoffed. “Sounds like a you problem.”
Rightfully annoyed, Bethany summoned a scorpion’s tail from her back. Coiled around Valentin, she dragged him over to the far wall. “You see that crest? That’s what we’re dealing with!”
Taking a second to marvel at the grand carving, it quickly dawned on Valentin. “Damn it! Another complication…” A stone medallion at his work space then started humming, causing him to grit his teeth and growl.
“Oh lovely, you know who again…”
“Don’t breathe a single word!” Valentin ordered.
“Don’t need to tell me twice…” Bethany muttered as she slid into a dark part of the crypt.
Valentin snapped his fingers, causing a cloud of what looked like a mix of smoke and blood to rise up from the stone artifact. The mass then took the shape of Despot’s head. His expression was serious and it seemed like he was in no mood for theatrics.
“Greetings, Mr. Friedrich. What does our glorious commandant want on this… sublime day?” It was easy to detect the venom in Valentin’s tone of voice.
“Where is the soul, Karppinen? Time is not on our side and the more you bumble about, the more advantage we lose. You should have delivered the soul by now.”
“To insinuate I made such a guarantee is to demand the universe of me, herr kommandant. These things take time after all…”
Despot was not pleased. “Time we do not have, Karppinen. My patience is wearing thin. Continue to fail me and there will be dire consequences.”
“What are you going to do? Stick me in an oven? Because that worked so well 90 years ago…”
This warranted a very angry growl. “You bumbling waste of a court jester! Any sensible ruler would have you beheaded the instant they saw your putrid…”
“Oh shut the Hell up, you Nuremberg fugitive” Valentin shot back as he snapped his finger, causing the medallion to explode. He then stood there for a moment, remaining silent to collect his thoughts.
“So now what?” Bethany asked as she stepped out of the shadows.
Valentin glanced at the scorpion’s tail. “How about you actually use the manticore, given all the trouble I went through to get it” he snapped.
“Right, that monstrosity…” Bethany groaned as she vanished.
Back at M.A.I.G. headquarters, Will got up from the desk in the guest bedroom. Adrien had given him some documents to fill out, relating to everything he had been going through up until then. Having finished up his work, Will stepped outside. Glancing down the hall, he saw something that made him freeze. There were two men in the living room. One was Captain Antares, a strong looking officer in a Liger Brigade uniform, with mauve colored hair and golden eyes. The other was a tall man in black business suit, with blood red eyes and dark hair in an executive contour cut.
The tall man smiled. “Salutări, Will” he called out, only for Will to go right back inside.
Antares sighed. “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it” he said as he walked over to the door. “Will, get out here.” There was silence. “That’s an order, Private.”
After a moment, a kick was heard. “Damn it!”
“Hey!” Reynard called out. “Easy on the door, Will!”
Will stepped out and sighed. “Coming sir…”
Antares shook his head and gave him a quick hug. “It’s not the end of the world, Will,” He reassured him as they took a seat in the living room.
“Hey, Zoltan…” Will said with another sigh. Sam, who was sitting right next to Will, lightly kicked him in the shin. “Ow!”
Zoltan laughed, feeling sorry. “Glad to see you’re safe and sound, Will. Truthfully I did not expect to be dealing with Bethany again. Would you believe that was over 60 years ago, my boy? I certainly can’t…”
Will felt a smile start to creep across his face. “I’d believe it.”
“I take it she chased you around in the first dream you had of her?” Will nodded. “Ah, that means you're the chosen one to seal her away next…”
“Wait, WHAT!?” Will exclaimed. Sam was also caught off guard.
“HA, joking, joking!” Zoltan said as he slapped his leg. Will gave him an incredulous glare. “This time I plan to pacify her, somehow. Not to throw your grandfather under the bus, Antares, but I think sealing her away was a bandage solution at best.”
“Unfortunately,” Antares admitted. “Don’t worry, Private, this situation has the full attention of the brigade. If things go south, we’ll have Camelot here in no time.”
“Shoot, the whole sky fortress?” Will asked. “Are things really that bad?”
“To be fair, Will, I’ve got GRENADIER on speed dial just in case,” Reynard pointed out. “Intel suggests all of this could easily escalate. We’ll evacuate the whole city if we have to.”
“Wow…”
“This is a serious situation, Private,” Antares stated. “We need to be ready to shoot first and ask questions later.”
Sam put her arm around Will. “Don’t worry, Boyo, we’ll make it through this.”
Zoltan picked up a small cooler and set it on the coffee table. He then got out what appeared to be a candy bar. “Now, Will, Milan has prepared this chocolate bar for you.”
“Chocolate?” Will took the bar. “What for?”
“It’s infused with magic intended to restore your memories. This should dispel the spell Milan cast on you after the incident at the academy. Given what’s currently going on, he feels it’s time you regained your memories. As an aside, it’s completely homemade chocolate.”
Will unwrapped part of the chocolate. It looked quite tasty, having a very pleasing aroma to it. “Mm… well, here I go…”
“Oh, Will, the memories won’t come back all at once,” Zoltan put in. “But just in case the unpredictable happens, Morana is deeply sorry for all of the trouble she caused you back then.”
Will nodded and took a bite. The chocolate was very good, being sweetened dark chocolate. As he ate, he felt the warmth of nostalgia flood into his mind. Hearing echoes of a simpler time, Will began yearning to comprehend where these feelings were coming from. The haze that clouded his mind was still there, but it was starting to slowly dissipate. Annoyingly this sensation was cut off by a splitting headache that came out of nowhere, but it also felt like a lock was being undone. Will needed to stand up, hoping that would clear his head. His breathing was a little shallow, but he remained steady.
“How do you feel, Private?” Antares inquired.
“Ow, alright, I guess…” Will then had a memory pop up. “Oh God… Faustus!?!”
The fire devil appeared out of nowhere in a flash of sparks and embers. “What’s up, Kiddo?”
“The library’s copy of the Witch’s Codex! I didn’t return it when I was supposed to! I mean I was going to, but then I went to that small graduation party Mortis threw for us and…”
“Champ, relax. Mable and Evan took care of it for you.”
Will settled down. “That’s a relief…”
Antares got up and stood before Will. “I don’t mean to interrupt your trip down memory lane, but Adrien told me about the soul fragment stuff and I’d like to lend a hand.”
“Oh, he did? Well yeah, it’s something called ULTRAMagic. Sam told me about it.”
“While I’m not exactly sure what that is at the moment, it is my duty as your commanding officer to help you out with this…” Focusing his magic, he snapped his fingers… twice. “Um, I’m not exactly sure how to do this.”
Sam stuttered a little and stood up. “Captain, come here for a second and touch your head against mine.”
“Pardon me, Sam?”
“We’re not going to kiss, just touch your head to mine…” She had to pull him in, but was successful.
Antares felt a surge through his mind that turned into a headache, but gave way to a pleasant euphoria. “Oh, I get it now!” He then snapped his fingers once more, causing a yellow flame to appear. “Here you go, Private.”
“Thanks, Antares.” Once again, the fragment spiraled up Will’s arm and went into his head, causing his eyes to turn yellow for a second. “Huh, not as intense as your fragment, Sam.”
“Well I did say it would mellow out as you go.”
Zoltan clapped. “Most excellent, Will. Most excellent indeed. Keep that up and you’ll be able to join the ULTRAMagic Guild in no time.” This caused Sam to quietly groan. “Now, Reynard, shall we head to the War Room to talk to the others?”
“Yes, as we have a lot of stuff to discuss,” he replied as he indicated for everyone to follow him.
As the group walked down the hallways, Zoltan tapped Will on the shoulder. “Given what’s going on, Vlastimir should be here soon.”
“No way! How’s he doing?”
“Fantastic. We finally found him two years ago. It turns out he got sent to The Unlight after the incident at the academy.”
“That’s bizarre. Sam?”
She shrugged. “It’s not impossible. The Cosmos is a strange place after all.”
Reynard opened the double doors and led everyone in. “Ladies and gentleman, Zoltan is in the building.”
“Bună ziua tuturor!” Zoltan said as some of the higher ups got up to greet him.
Mayhem was with Buster and Olivia at one of the break tables. He gestured for Will and the others to come over. “Will, sorry I’ve been in and out so much. I was just getting the lay of the land and whatnot.”
“It’s alright.” Will then noticed Buster, feeling a tinge of adrenaline. “Buster?!”
“Yes, it’s me, Will,” he said with a smile. “This is my true self.”
“You look so cool!” Will exclaimed. “What even are you?”
“He’s one of The Dream of Old, a 1 dimensional entity not too far off from what you truly are” Mayhem answered.
Sam was surprised. “Buster, what prompted this? I figured you wanted to stay in hiding.”
“I thought about it, Sam, and I feel safe here at the moment. If the cult comes after me, I’ll fight tooth and nail. Odo is going to have a conniption, but I’m not running anymore.”
Antares took some food and chuckled. “Don’t worry, Buster. We’ll send the entire brigade after them if need be. Olivia, how are you doing?”
“Hey, cousin. Just a little surprised that my boyfriend is an eldritch entity from another dimension is all.”
Faustus chuckled. “If you think that’s strange, Sam’s a succubus who’s the emanation of an angel that was born in Inferno.”
“Well that explains a lot…” Olivia concluded. “Either way, Buster is still the cuddly goofball I fell in love with, so it’s not that big of a deal.”
Will then realized something. “Actually, Olivia, I think you’re the only normal one out of all of us. I’m a dullahan, Sam’s a succubus, Antonio’s a spider demon, Randalph’s a goat, Kyu’s an alien, Buster’s a… Buster…”
Buster laughed. “We wouldn’t be out of place in The Unlight, truth be told. Also, Will, I see you got another fragment.”
“You can sense that?”
“Yup. My brother, Odo, taught me how to, as it was a bit necessary at the time… Anyways, my memories before my time on this Earth are taking a bit to come back, but I do remember members of the ULTRAMagic Guild helping me and my brother out, which obviously led me coming to live with you guys.”
“Oh, where is your brother?”
“I don’t know,” Buster said with a sigh. “Now Will, ULTRAMagic is a very powerful trait to have. And if any of this Bethany stuff relates to the cult, you’re going to need to go all the way with this…”
Buster presented an Indigo orb to Will, his soul fragment. Sam was about to raise her concerns, but the reflection of Morrigan appeared in a monitor and gave her an expecting look. Staying quiet, Sam watched as Will absorbed his next fragment. Morrigan then gave her a thumbs up and vanished.
“So how do you feel, Boyo?” Sam inquired.
“Great! Also, Buster, how do I get armor like that?”
He laughed. “I mean, this is and is not my body…”
Will poked an armor plate. “What? Is this like your skin then?”
“Yes and no.”
“So does this mean you’re technically running around naked?” They all laughed.
Antares patted Will on the shoulder. “Ha, come on, Private. Let’s go see if the others need us and tell them the good news.”
Next: Chapter 11
ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)
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