ULTRAMagic Eon 2 - Chapter 1
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“I don’t like this, I don’t like this at all,” Blood-Wraith remarked as he checked his cards, then rubbed the back of his brown hair. “Odo goes two years strong with Sylvia and then nothing for an entire year…”
“I know, and nothing from Waramunt either,” Aureolus noted. Sitting next to Blood-Wraith was one of his best friends who was once a strange boy that could just barely be perceived, but now was a fully visible man with green eyes and tidy, brown hair. As for his hand, it was clear he was not going to win that round. “And to add insult to injury, Morrigan and Gore reared their heads around the same time we got radio silence.” This elicited a subtle groan from Blood-Wraith.
Mal, a strange, slender primordial who was the adoptive daughter of Blood-Wraith’s late friend Leif, added more of her chips to the bet. “It’d be nice if we had more intel. Given that we’ve rounded up all of the Eternal Church defectors, we should be able to piece things together… in an ideal world.”
“I know how you feel, Mal,” Gummi sympathized. An ex-member of the church himself, Gummi had gone out of his way to provide all of the information he could in the past. “I’d love to keep tapping that well, but sadly I think it’s run well and truly dry at this point. Anything else is stuff only Milosh and his cronies knew.” He then scratched his blonde sideburns and leaned back in his chair. The four were in Blood-Wraith’s room at The ULTRAMagic Guild Hall, playing a game of Poker. Gummi was an expert and even had created a spell that conjured up a spectral dealer. “Alright, everyone, show your cards.”
Mal grumbled and face palmed. “Dang it, I’m out, no two ways about it…”
“Ooh, this is going to be close…” Aureolus observed.
Blood-Wraith revealed his cards, hopeful he had the best hand. “I’ve got you this time, Gummi…”
Normally Gummi was pretty good about maintaining a straight face in these games, but this time he let a subtle smile appear. “Good hand, Blood, but royal flush.” This made all three groan as Gummi collected his chips.
“Again!?” Blood-Wraith questioned. “You’re not rigging the game or the dealer, are you?”
Gummi laughed as he rounded up his cards. “No no, I’d only done that to Milosh’s goons, I swear. Honestly I got lucky with that round.” He then pulled out a special deck from a secret compartment of his Poker set case. “Here, this is my gaffed deck. Notice the tapered edges?”
Blood-Wraith compared his hand with the other cards and nodded. “Alright, fair enough.” He then chuckled, recalling Gummi’s tales about using various cheating tactics to fleece money from Eternal Church members. “I told Eloise about what’s going on at the moment in my most recent letter to her. She’s um, she’s worried about Gore and how Morrigan might be uh, yeah…”
“A puppet?” Gummi replied with a stern look and Blood-Wraith sighing. “Blood, you can’t keep giving her a chance. You’re giving them an inch and they're taking a mile. Those activists that Gore courts? That is absolutely something I could see Milosh doing…”
“Indeed,” Aureolus agreed. “We’re reaching a breaking point, and those troublemakers aren’t going to leave us alone as long as Gore’s around.” Blood-Wraith slightly averted his gaze, looking a bit frustrated.
“You know, Blood,” Mal interjected. “Not to bring up the past again, but Leif would not have tolerated Gore, not in the slightest…”
“I know, I know…” Blood-Wraith noted as he went to the window, gazing out at the bright blue, yet partially cloudy sky. “I was hoping Morrigan was going to be another Valerie, but the more time passes, the more I'm convinced something’s wrong. I’m praying she’s not in league with The Eternal Order…”
“Your heart’s in the right place, but she ain’t no Valerie,” Mal asserted.
Aureolus stood up, stretched, and went to the window with Blood-Wraith. “Don’t beat yourself up too much, Blood. You’re a teen now with a lot going through your head. And that’s not to mention your relationship with Eloise…”
Blood-Wraith shook his head with a smile. “I wish she was here right now… It’d be also nice if we could get the Future Squad back for this debacle.”
“Well, hey, Cronus is going to be back any day now with David and our Ludwig, so one out of three will have to do for now,” Gummi pointed out as he finished putting away his Poker set.
“Yeah, I guess that’ll help… but that’s not future Ludwig. He’s flying blind just like we are.” Blood-Wraith sighed once more and fiddled with the window lock. “Although he did say David is quite the mage…”
A knock was heard at the door and a tall, brown haired man in armored robes stuck his head in. “Hey, Blood, guys?”
“Hey, Schwarzes. What’s up?”
“The Tower Squad is all here and ready to go. Would you like to see them off?”
“Sure,” Blood-Wraith replied as he walked over. “Let’s go.”
The five made their way down the sconce-lit, wooden hallways to the main hall of the guild. It was a grand room with many tables and a stage for giving speeches and announcements. That day was fairly dull all things considered, but some of the other guild members were present regardless and said hello to the group as they went past. Four mages were standing by in the main hall, each of different origins and skillsets. One was an alchemist, the other was a knight, and there were two traditional-looking mages. While quite the eclectic squad, they were some of the best members of the guild, as if everyone were not already giving it their all.
“Cornelius, guys!” Blood-Wraith greeted as he and Schwarzes walked up to them. “I trust you are all familiar with what needs to be done?”
“Yes indeed, Blood,” the alchemist in the black and gold robes with messy, black hair, and crooked glasses replied. Cornelius scrambled to organize his papers as he had been outlining some information to the others. “Head to the Tower of Babel and make sure Gore isn’t there causing trouble somehow…” He then sighed. “Kind of wanted to go exploring the Cosmos, but hey, any one heading to the tower needs my help, you know what I mean?”
“Well surely you’d want to see your family again, aye, Cornelius?” Gebhard, the knight of blonde hair, sapphire eyes, and armor that invoked the sun said as he adjusted his belt.
“Yeah, yeah. They come to visit, but I see where you’re coming from.”
Audawakrs, the mage in blue and silver robes with almond-colored hair nodded as he made sure he had all of his books. “I’ve been yearning to explore more of the tower’s vast wealth of knowledge, so this is quite the honor. Plus it will be a delight to have you as our guide.”
“Ha, you wouldn’t be saying that if you were in Ozymandias’ shoes…” Cornelius partially muttered, warranting a few chuckles.
“Schwarzes?” The brown haired, green eyed boy in gray and dark green robes politely interjected. “Thank you for sending me on this mission.” Calvin gave a slight bow with that. “I’m a bit scared of the activists, given that I’m not much of a fighter…”
Schwarzes then gave him a comforting pat on the shoulder. “No worries, Calvin. Tusk and I promised Cynneberht we’d keep you safe and we’d never throw you into the deep end like that.”
Cornelius then got out his metal wand and gave it a swish and a flick. A strange doorway appeared in a cloud of magical mist, with him opening it up with a creaking noise. “Follow me, gentleman…” Once they were all through, the door closed and neatly vanished in a sparkling mist.
A strong, older mage with white hair and red eyes in his own black and gold robes then stepped over to the two. “A shaky move, Blood. Securing the tower is a wise move, but at the same time we need all of the help we can get. Guild membership isn’t taking off like we thought it would…”
Blood-Wraith slowly face palmed. “Don’t remind me, Tiberius…”
He could not help but chuckle. “The tower or our roster?”
That warranted a slight smile that Blood-Wraith could not stop. “Both. Oh sure, we can’t get people to join or notice us, but we can certainly attract those idiot activists!"
“Well that’s not true, Blood,” Schwarzes interjected. “We’ve gotten all sorts of people to join the guild…”
Blood-Wraith gave him an incredulous look with a subtle groan. “Schwarzes, everyone that’s joined so far are either good friends or family members…”
“And that’s a bad thing?”
“Hey, wait a second!” Mal interrupted from where she was sitting. “Mizuki, Cronus, Barry, John, and Serjiel were new faces, remember?”
“Er, technicality with Serjiel, as he was friends with Yoshihiro,” Aureolus pointed out. “And Drusa knew Cronus…”
“Okay, fine!” Blood-Wraith shot back. “But I’d like to see some more new faces…”
“Well then some new faces you shall receive, my boy,” Tiberius declared. “For we have four new members joining as soon as they get here.”
“Wait, really?”
As he said that, three people entered the main hall. “Make way, important guild business, coming through!” The boy in the black space suit called out as he led the other two. Notably he had white hair, purple eyes, and always seemed to have light faintly lensing around him. The two adults accompanying him looked like a U.S. army pilot and an armored mummy that was not actually a mummy. “I’ve brought the new recruits, Tiberius!” the boy proudly stated.
“Well done indeed, Quasar,” Tiberius replied with a chuckle and a smile. “Shaye, Ahhotep, glad you could make it.”
“It’s a pleasure to be here, Tiberius, Sir!” Shaye said with a salute, then shook his hand vigorously.
“Indeed, and what a truly charming guild this is,” Ahhotep added as Tiberius gave a respectful bow to her.
“Now obviously you two have met Mr. Sagan here, our resident singularity and son of the Discordant God of Gravity,” said Tiberius. “I would also like to introduce Schwarzes Biest, or ULTRAMagic Ultimatum, and Sir Blood-Wraith Raynot, ULTRAMagic… Blood, have you actually picked out a codename yet?”
He shrugged. “Can I go with ‘ULTRAMagic Blood-Wraith?’”
“No, because that’s your name.”
“But Quasar does it!”
“Well yeah, but a Quasar is also a celestial object,” Schwarzes clarified, causing Blood-Wraith to groan again.
Shaye thought about it for a second, wanting to help out already. “How about ‘Knight’? Since he’s clearly knighted and whatnot?”
“Not a bad idea,” Tiberius agreed with a nod. “We did have an ULTRAMagic Knight back in the Epoch, but Nechtan Sloann hasn’t shown back up yet, so I suppose the codename is free.”
Blood-Wraith shrugged again. “Fine with me, I guess. So, Shaye, what’s your story?” Just by looking at his short, tidy brown hair and orderly uniform, Blood-Wraith could tell he had a lot to tell.
“Well firstly the name’s Smets, Shaye Sheerwood Smets. I’m a B-17 pilot for the U.S. Military of Universe-17. I was born and homegrown in Texas and took to the skies when World War II of my universe kicked off. In regards to how I met Queen Ahhotep here, to make a long story short, my plane flew into one of those strange Reality Errors, which led to me gaining ULTRAMagic and meeting the love of my life.”
Blood-Wraith nodded with a smile, shook his hand, and then looked at Ahhotep. She was harder to read given that she was not actually a mummy, rather a strange entity wrapped up in linen. The armor she wore seemed Egyptian-esque, but the purple and gold lion heraldry suggested otherwise. “An honor to meet you, your majesty.”
“Thank you, Sir Blood-Wraith,” she replied. “I am Pharaoh Ahhotep VII, queen of the realm of the gods… or at least that’s what I thought until Shaye showed up. Evidently I was never supposed to exist in the first place…”
Blood-Wraith could hear the disappointment in her voice and felt bad for her. “Hey, your majesty? It’s alright. Me and Aureolus weren’t supposed to exist either, but here we all are…”
“Me more than him, but you get the idea,” Aureolus noted from his table.
Ahhotep felt very warm inside from that. “Thank you, Blood-Wraith. You’re very thoughtful. And please, call me by my name for guild matters.”
“Will do-and you can call me ‘Blood.’” He then clapped and cleared his throat. “Welcome to the guild, you two. We may be a little ragtag and messy, but we are dedicated to helping keep the Cosmos safe.”
A muscular, brown-haired woman in a blue trench coat then came rushing into the main hall, worried and out of breath. “Blood!?”
“Oh, Shaye, Ahhotep? This is my sister, Dragoslava. Hey, Drago, what’s up?”
“They’re back…” And with that, everyone could feel Blood-Wraith’s mood turn sour.
Next: Chapter 2
ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)
Master Post - Patreon
“I don’t like this, I don’t like this at all,” Blood-Wraith remarked as he checked his cards, then rubbed the back of his brown hair. “Odo goes two years strong with Sylvia and then nothing for an entire year…”
“I know, and nothing from Waramunt either,” Aureolus noted. Sitting next to Blood-Wraith was one of his best friends who was once a strange boy that could just barely be perceived, but now was a fully visible man with green eyes and tidy, brown hair. As for his hand, it was clear he was not going to win that round. “And to add insult to injury, Morrigan and Gore reared their heads around the same time we got radio silence.” This elicited a subtle groan from Blood-Wraith.
Mal, a strange, slender primordial who was the adoptive daughter of Blood-Wraith’s late friend Leif, added more of her chips to the bet. “It’d be nice if we had more intel. Given that we’ve rounded up all of the Eternal Church defectors, we should be able to piece things together… in an ideal world.”
“I know how you feel, Mal,” Gummi sympathized. An ex-member of the church himself, Gummi had gone out of his way to provide all of the information he could in the past. “I’d love to keep tapping that well, but sadly I think it’s run well and truly dry at this point. Anything else is stuff only Milosh and his cronies knew.” He then scratched his blonde sideburns and leaned back in his chair. The four were in Blood-Wraith’s room at The ULTRAMagic Guild Hall, playing a game of Poker. Gummi was an expert and even had created a spell that conjured up a spectral dealer. “Alright, everyone, show your cards.”
Mal grumbled and face palmed. “Dang it, I’m out, no two ways about it…”
“Ooh, this is going to be close…” Aureolus observed.
Blood-Wraith revealed his cards, hopeful he had the best hand. “I’ve got you this time, Gummi…”
Normally Gummi was pretty good about maintaining a straight face in these games, but this time he let a subtle smile appear. “Good hand, Blood, but royal flush.” This made all three groan as Gummi collected his chips.
“Again!?” Blood-Wraith questioned. “You’re not rigging the game or the dealer, are you?”
Gummi laughed as he rounded up his cards. “No no, I’d only done that to Milosh’s goons, I swear. Honestly I got lucky with that round.” He then pulled out a special deck from a secret compartment of his Poker set case. “Here, this is my gaffed deck. Notice the tapered edges?”
Blood-Wraith compared his hand with the other cards and nodded. “Alright, fair enough.” He then chuckled, recalling Gummi’s tales about using various cheating tactics to fleece money from Eternal Church members. “I told Eloise about what’s going on at the moment in my most recent letter to her. She’s um, she’s worried about Gore and how Morrigan might be uh, yeah…”
“A puppet?” Gummi replied with a stern look and Blood-Wraith sighing. “Blood, you can’t keep giving her a chance. You’re giving them an inch and they're taking a mile. Those activists that Gore courts? That is absolutely something I could see Milosh doing…”
“Indeed,” Aureolus agreed. “We’re reaching a breaking point, and those troublemakers aren’t going to leave us alone as long as Gore’s around.” Blood-Wraith slightly averted his gaze, looking a bit frustrated.
“You know, Blood,” Mal interjected. “Not to bring up the past again, but Leif would not have tolerated Gore, not in the slightest…”
“I know, I know…” Blood-Wraith noted as he went to the window, gazing out at the bright blue, yet partially cloudy sky. “I was hoping Morrigan was going to be another Valerie, but the more time passes, the more I'm convinced something’s wrong. I’m praying she’s not in league with The Eternal Order…”
“Your heart’s in the right place, but she ain’t no Valerie,” Mal asserted.
Aureolus stood up, stretched, and went to the window with Blood-Wraith. “Don’t beat yourself up too much, Blood. You’re a teen now with a lot going through your head. And that’s not to mention your relationship with Eloise…”
Blood-Wraith shook his head with a smile. “I wish she was here right now… It’d be also nice if we could get the Future Squad back for this debacle.”
“Well, hey, Cronus is going to be back any day now with David and our Ludwig, so one out of three will have to do for now,” Gummi pointed out as he finished putting away his Poker set.
“Yeah, I guess that’ll help… but that’s not future Ludwig. He’s flying blind just like we are.” Blood-Wraith sighed once more and fiddled with the window lock. “Although he did say David is quite the mage…”
A knock was heard at the door and a tall, brown haired man in armored robes stuck his head in. “Hey, Blood, guys?”
“Hey, Schwarzes. What’s up?”
“The Tower Squad is all here and ready to go. Would you like to see them off?”
“Sure,” Blood-Wraith replied as he walked over. “Let’s go.”
The five made their way down the sconce-lit, wooden hallways to the main hall of the guild. It was a grand room with many tables and a stage for giving speeches and announcements. That day was fairly dull all things considered, but some of the other guild members were present regardless and said hello to the group as they went past. Four mages were standing by in the main hall, each of different origins and skillsets. One was an alchemist, the other was a knight, and there were two traditional-looking mages. While quite the eclectic squad, they were some of the best members of the guild, as if everyone were not already giving it their all.
“Cornelius, guys!” Blood-Wraith greeted as he and Schwarzes walked up to them. “I trust you are all familiar with what needs to be done?”
“Yes indeed, Blood,” the alchemist in the black and gold robes with messy, black hair, and crooked glasses replied. Cornelius scrambled to organize his papers as he had been outlining some information to the others. “Head to the Tower of Babel and make sure Gore isn’t there causing trouble somehow…” He then sighed. “Kind of wanted to go exploring the Cosmos, but hey, any one heading to the tower needs my help, you know what I mean?”
“Well surely you’d want to see your family again, aye, Cornelius?” Gebhard, the knight of blonde hair, sapphire eyes, and armor that invoked the sun said as he adjusted his belt.
“Yeah, yeah. They come to visit, but I see where you’re coming from.”
Audawakrs, the mage in blue and silver robes with almond-colored hair nodded as he made sure he had all of his books. “I’ve been yearning to explore more of the tower’s vast wealth of knowledge, so this is quite the honor. Plus it will be a delight to have you as our guide.”
“Ha, you wouldn’t be saying that if you were in Ozymandias’ shoes…” Cornelius partially muttered, warranting a few chuckles.
“Schwarzes?” The brown haired, green eyed boy in gray and dark green robes politely interjected. “Thank you for sending me on this mission.” Calvin gave a slight bow with that. “I’m a bit scared of the activists, given that I’m not much of a fighter…”
Schwarzes then gave him a comforting pat on the shoulder. “No worries, Calvin. Tusk and I promised Cynneberht we’d keep you safe and we’d never throw you into the deep end like that.”
Cornelius then got out his metal wand and gave it a swish and a flick. A strange doorway appeared in a cloud of magical mist, with him opening it up with a creaking noise. “Follow me, gentleman…” Once they were all through, the door closed and neatly vanished in a sparkling mist.
A strong, older mage with white hair and red eyes in his own black and gold robes then stepped over to the two. “A shaky move, Blood. Securing the tower is a wise move, but at the same time we need all of the help we can get. Guild membership isn’t taking off like we thought it would…”
Blood-Wraith slowly face palmed. “Don’t remind me, Tiberius…”
He could not help but chuckle. “The tower or our roster?”
That warranted a slight smile that Blood-Wraith could not stop. “Both. Oh sure, we can’t get people to join or notice us, but we can certainly attract those idiot activists!"
“Well that’s not true, Blood,” Schwarzes interjected. “We’ve gotten all sorts of people to join the guild…”
Blood-Wraith gave him an incredulous look with a subtle groan. “Schwarzes, everyone that’s joined so far are either good friends or family members…”
“And that’s a bad thing?”
“Hey, wait a second!” Mal interrupted from where she was sitting. “Mizuki, Cronus, Barry, John, and Serjiel were new faces, remember?”
“Er, technicality with Serjiel, as he was friends with Yoshihiro,” Aureolus pointed out. “And Drusa knew Cronus…”
“Okay, fine!” Blood-Wraith shot back. “But I’d like to see some more new faces…”
“Well then some new faces you shall receive, my boy,” Tiberius declared. “For we have four new members joining as soon as they get here.”
“Wait, really?”
As he said that, three people entered the main hall. “Make way, important guild business, coming through!” The boy in the black space suit called out as he led the other two. Notably he had white hair, purple eyes, and always seemed to have light faintly lensing around him. The two adults accompanying him looked like a U.S. army pilot and an armored mummy that was not actually a mummy. “I’ve brought the new recruits, Tiberius!” the boy proudly stated.
“Well done indeed, Quasar,” Tiberius replied with a chuckle and a smile. “Shaye, Ahhotep, glad you could make it.”
“It’s a pleasure to be here, Tiberius, Sir!” Shaye said with a salute, then shook his hand vigorously.
“Indeed, and what a truly charming guild this is,” Ahhotep added as Tiberius gave a respectful bow to her.
“Now obviously you two have met Mr. Sagan here, our resident singularity and son of the Discordant God of Gravity,” said Tiberius. “I would also like to introduce Schwarzes Biest, or ULTRAMagic Ultimatum, and Sir Blood-Wraith Raynot, ULTRAMagic… Blood, have you actually picked out a codename yet?”
He shrugged. “Can I go with ‘ULTRAMagic Blood-Wraith?’”
“No, because that’s your name.”
“But Quasar does it!”
“Well yeah, but a Quasar is also a celestial object,” Schwarzes clarified, causing Blood-Wraith to groan again.
Shaye thought about it for a second, wanting to help out already. “How about ‘Knight’? Since he’s clearly knighted and whatnot?”
“Not a bad idea,” Tiberius agreed with a nod. “We did have an ULTRAMagic Knight back in the Epoch, but Nechtan Sloann hasn’t shown back up yet, so I suppose the codename is free.”
Blood-Wraith shrugged again. “Fine with me, I guess. So, Shaye, what’s your story?” Just by looking at his short, tidy brown hair and orderly uniform, Blood-Wraith could tell he had a lot to tell.
“Well firstly the name’s Smets, Shaye Sheerwood Smets. I’m a B-17 pilot for the U.S. Military of Universe-17. I was born and homegrown in Texas and took to the skies when World War II of my universe kicked off. In regards to how I met Queen Ahhotep here, to make a long story short, my plane flew into one of those strange Reality Errors, which led to me gaining ULTRAMagic and meeting the love of my life.”
Blood-Wraith nodded with a smile, shook his hand, and then looked at Ahhotep. She was harder to read given that she was not actually a mummy, rather a strange entity wrapped up in linen. The armor she wore seemed Egyptian-esque, but the purple and gold lion heraldry suggested otherwise. “An honor to meet you, your majesty.”
“Thank you, Sir Blood-Wraith,” she replied. “I am Pharaoh Ahhotep VII, queen of the realm of the gods… or at least that’s what I thought until Shaye showed up. Evidently I was never supposed to exist in the first place…”
Blood-Wraith could hear the disappointment in her voice and felt bad for her. “Hey, your majesty? It’s alright. Me and Aureolus weren’t supposed to exist either, but here we all are…”
“Me more than him, but you get the idea,” Aureolus noted from his table.
Ahhotep felt very warm inside from that. “Thank you, Blood-Wraith. You’re very thoughtful. And please, call me by my name for guild matters.”
“Will do-and you can call me ‘Blood.’” He then clapped and cleared his throat. “Welcome to the guild, you two. We may be a little ragtag and messy, but we are dedicated to helping keep the Cosmos safe.”
A muscular, brown-haired woman in a blue trench coat then came rushing into the main hall, worried and out of breath. “Blood!?”
“Oh, Shaye, Ahhotep? This is my sister, Dragoslava. Hey, Drago, what’s up?”
“They’re back…” And with that, everyone could feel Blood-Wraith’s mood turn sour.
Next: Chapter 2
ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)
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