ULTRAMagic Eon 2 - Chapter 14
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Guinevere was in a hurry to get the guild as things were a bit dire at Castle Ter Avest. Forgoing the usual greetings and pleasantries, she made her way to the main hall and thankfully Blood-Wraith was there. As for Blood-Wraith himself, he was writing down the dream he had the night prior. It was a premonitionary dream and there was a looming feeling that that day was going to be a very long one. He did not want to admit it to himself that he had a good idea of what was about to happen, but there was no getting around it. In truth it felt like he was not supposed to know the things he had figured out, electing to keep it quiet from the others. The best he could do was confront Karnage and hope for the best…
“Guinevere, what’s the matter?” he asked as he stood up.
“Morrigan… she’s at the… castle… causing trouble…” she answered between moments of catching her breath. Her previously black licorice body had turned red in recent years, indicating her achievement of ULTRAMagic and a general expansion of her magical knowledge.
“That’s what I figured…” Blood-Wraith muttered to himself. “David, Ludwig? Anyone else? We’ve got to go take care of something!”
David walked over and noticed the papers, growing concerned as he read them. “Blood, what’s all this, lad?”
He quickly snatched them up and teleported them back to his house. “Nothing, nothing… Morrigan’s at it again, and I say we capture… bring her here to get her out of the way.” Blood-Wraith was quietly kicking himself for the gaffe, as it was very telling of his current state of mind.
“Excuse me, Blood?” Guinevere interjected. “Since when do you talk like that?”
“Guinevere, Morrigan is in danger and this is a good opportunity to get her out of harm's way.”
“We’re not playing around anymore,” Ludwig pointed out, resisting the urge to ask Blood-Wraith if he was okay, knowing he would probably not get a straight answer. “For real this time. We don’t care who Gore actually is, enough’s enough.”
“I’m coming too!” Wynnstan said as he raced into the hall, clearly looking for some action.
“Oh no no no, you’re still a little disoriented,” Aureolus said as he hurried over.
“Hey, I’m getting better,” he protested as he tried to summon one of his rifles. This act made him stumble to the ground. “I meant to do that…”
Blood-Wraith exhaled. “Schwarzes? You around?”
“Yes, Blood,” he answered as he appeared beside them in a flurry of sparkling starlight. “What’s up?”
“Can you keep Wynnstan here and get him on his feet? We’re heading out to Valerie’s to deal with Morrigan…”
It was at that moment time slowed to crawl for Schwarzes as he processed what Blood-Wraith had just said. The timing was impeccable, meaning only one thing… the time he had feared for so long was finally upon them. So many thoughts rushed through his head as tried to figure out what to do. Did he go with them? Did he go and try to stop Karnage by himself? He knew this moment was coming, yet drew nothing but a blank. And then a voice spoke to him, saying to let Blood-Wraith go. It assured him everything would be alright, but would it? Against his better judgement, he agreed to Blood-Wraith’s request.
“Sure, Blood,” he said in a plain, accepting tone. “Alright, Wynnstan, let’s get you all ready to go just in case…”
“Aw come on, I can handle it…” he protested as they walked out of the main hall.
David noticed Schwarzes’ odd reaction and felt a slight chill run down his spine. Was something about to happen? Surely it must, given that a higher dimensional was clearly uneased. “So, shall we head out then?”
“Yeah, let’s go,” Blood-Wraith replied. “Coming, Aureolus?”
“Of course, Blood. Let’s see if we can finally talk some sense into Morrigan,” he said as they began to leave.
“Nach Ihnen, meine Dame,” Ludwig said to Guinevere, gesturing for her to go first.
“You noticed that weirdness, didn’t you?”
“Ja…”
“Have any idea what they were referring to?”
“Nein, outside of the things Cronus has alluded to.”
Guinevere sighed. “Mother’s been the same, with all of the Operation Brutus stuff…” she remarked as they also began to leave.
Blood-Wraith forwent the pleasures of flying as a dragon and created a void door straight to Castle Ter Avest, which lay amongst The Roaring Mountains on a rocky plateau with sparse shrubbery and trees. Morrigan was dueling with Valerie, using a curious gravity-based magic cast from her sword, no doubt the Daemonbrandt Weaver had worked on several years prior. The two did not notice the group arriving as Valerie cast a spell that summoned a storm of rose petals to assault Morrigan, all whilst the two engaged in witty banter… albeit Valerie was not having as much fun as Morrigan was, given the latter’s ignorant cockiness. Blood-Wraith took on the form of Verdant Might, summoned his swordstaff, and tapped Aureolus on the shoulder to activate his Golden Dragon hex.
Morrigan had done some snooping on Valerie to learn about her style of magic, but what she had not prepared for was Blood-Wraith flying in on a dragon followed by a torrent of golden fire from the dragon’s mouth to put some space between the two combatants. “WHAT THE HECK?!” She exclaimed after she just narrowly dodged the flames by jumping behind a rock.
“Morrigan!” Blood-Wraith called out. “Enough of this! Gore is a liar and a villain!”
“Say what?” she sarcastically replied as she emerged from behind the rocks. “Come on, Bloody-Buddy. I know you and my hotshot don’t get along, but that’s no excuse to lie about him and…”
“LISTEN TO ME!” he roared as he ran over to her and grabbed her by the shoulders, despite her black and purple armor getting in the way. “There is no Gore Bloodblade! That’s Karnage Dethgrave, a member of The Eternal Order!”
“What… what are you talking about?” she stuttered in silent panic, unsure what to do. Morrigan never expected Blood-Wraith to get in her face that much.
“Think, Morrigan! Think! Did you ever notice how all of the trouble we’ve been dealing with for the past year always springs up around Gore, Fran, and Volf?”
“But… but they’re helping me realize that I can become the leader I was always meant to be?”
“NO! No they’re not! They’re playing you like a fiddle and filling your head with bullshit!”
David stepped over and cleared his throat to get their attention, knowing Blood-Wraith was just going to get more heated as the situation progressed. “Morrigan, I implore you to heed our words, as it is a matter of utmost severity we all find ourselves in. We have mounting evidence that Gore is Karnage Dethgrave from repeated encounters with him and countless anomalies that have popped up ever since this conflict started. It would behoove you to reconsider your alignments, as this is a crucial turning point that could very well decide the fate of the Cosmos itself.”
Blood-Wraith let go of Morrigan and she took a step back. She could see the grave looks on the group’s faces and realized they were being serious with unwavering determination. “Well, I mean… I mean… Well, I can’t say that things have been smooth sailing ever since I met Gore…”
“You saw how he spoke the day of the debate,” Ludwig bluntly put forth. “And you didn’t think that maybe there was something wrong?” Morrigan said nothing, as there was no rebuking his point.
“Dear, you’ve fallen in with the wrong crowd,” Valerie stated as she stepped towards Morrigan. “Trust me, I know how it goes; I’ve worked with Milosh and The Lich before. And don’t worry, Fran was there too-or should I say Anne Vozenilek?”
Morrigan froze in her tracks… “What? Fran? No…” The dawning realization gave her voice a subtle, horrified tone.
“You don’t believe me? Sweetie, I know Anne’s modus operandi.”
“Morrigan, come with us, back to the guild,” Blood-Wraith said with concern for a friend in his voice. “You’re better and more important than the platitudes Fran and Volf could ever give you.”
Aureolus was naturally sensing that something was amiss as he glanced around, given the lack of reinforcements Morrigan had. “Morrigan, given what happened last time, I’d argue we’re being hoodwinked again. This wouldn’t happen to be a distraction, would it?”
Morrigan’s regretful face gave way to worry as she realized the jig was up and that she needed to spill the beans. Her betrayal would not go unnoticed, but the voice in her head that had been screaming at her for the past couple of years had finally come through as loud as a warning siren. Her ears rang out with the guilt she had been ignoring and could hold it in no longer. “YES, DAMN IT! Yes, this-this is a diversion, as Gore wanted to go to the Valley of Eons to find something.”
“Bugger that blaggard!” David cursed. “No doubt he’s planning something nefarious for all of us!”
Blood-Wraith nodded in agreement. “Don’t need to tell me twice-Zlib, Uzc, Flzo, Aru!” A void door appeared before the group, but Blood-Wraith indicated for everyone to hold on. “Not to worry all of you, but things are about to get dicey. Only come with me if you’re ready for the worst…”
“Blood, what are you talking about?” Guinevere demanded to know. “You were acting weird at the guild hall, and now here?”
“It’s complicated, Guinevere…”
“Blood, if it is that serious, then we should go back and rally the entire guild,” David asserted.
“No, we need to go now and they need to be ready when things finally hit the fan…”
Morrigan would have cried over the mounting realizations she was coming to grips with about her so-called allies, but something about Blood-Wraith’s resolve gave her strength. She had no right to ask for his forgiveness, if what she was thinking about Gore was true, but she could at least help fix the mess she had caused. “I’m… I’m going with you, Blood-Wraith.”
Blood-Wraith sighed, knowing he had backed himself into a corner. “Are you sure about that? You wouldn’t if you knew what I know…”
“Well you’re going to need my help on what I know about Gore’s plan, won’t you?”
Blood-Wraith smiled, as she had a good point. And that conviction was what had caused him to put faith in her a year ago. “You better bring your A-game then, as you know Karnage is as vindictive as they come.”
She shuddered for a moment, but then her sword began humming, like it was encouraging her to go forward. “You have my sword, Blood.”
“I love it when things finally work out… Valerie, Guinevere? Go warn the rest of the guild and tell them to be ready for a fight. Things are about to get messy.”
Guinevere was about to get mad over Blood-Wraith continuing to not tell her what was going on, but she let it go as she realized then was not the time for infighting. “Alright then. Shall we tell them an army of shadow constructs is coming our way?” Of course she still had to sneak in a little, playful snark.
“Gore… Karnage has a shadow orb…” Morrigan clarified.
“We’ll also rally The Iron City army then,” Valerie said she indicated for her daughter to cast a certain spell. “No doubt Theobold is going to give you a dressing down for not notifying him ahead of time, Blood, but I suppose there’s not much we can do at the moment.”
Blood-Wraith laughed. “Yeah, no two ways about that.”
Guinevere nodded once her guildmates had finished speaking. “Right, mother, ahem-Ez, Trstr, Crtk,” she called out, summoning her own void door that the two quickly entered.
Ludwig cracked his knuckles, then his neck. “So, are we going in hard or what?” Electricity could be felt heating up the air as a subtle rumbling shook the landscape.
“Yes, Ludwig,” Aureolus answered with a tone that was subtly calling Ludwig out for pointing out the obvious. “And I’d dare say you’ll actually get the action you’ve been craving ever since you joined us.”
“Exzellent, that’s what I like to hear…” It was clear that his true self was itching for a fight, which made Morrigan a little worried.
Despite her reservations, Morrigan had a question to ask Blood-Wraith as he opened the door to The Valley of Eons. “Blood, I… Look, I don’t have any right to ask this, but are you mad about all the stuff I’ve done before with Gor... Karnage?”
“Morrigan, I don’t hold grudges,” he answered. “Those problems are irrelevant, for it is how you react to them that truly matters. You have a lot to answer for, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get there. For now we have an unpleasant rogue god to deal with…”
“Right, you’re right, Blood…” she replied as they stepped through into the timeless ruins of the Descendants of yore. What the group saw caused her to worry again, as their fears had been all but confirmed…
Next: Chapter 15
ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)
Master Post - Patreon
Guinevere was in a hurry to get the guild as things were a bit dire at Castle Ter Avest. Forgoing the usual greetings and pleasantries, she made her way to the main hall and thankfully Blood-Wraith was there. As for Blood-Wraith himself, he was writing down the dream he had the night prior. It was a premonitionary dream and there was a looming feeling that that day was going to be a very long one. He did not want to admit it to himself that he had a good idea of what was about to happen, but there was no getting around it. In truth it felt like he was not supposed to know the things he had figured out, electing to keep it quiet from the others. The best he could do was confront Karnage and hope for the best…
“Guinevere, what’s the matter?” he asked as he stood up.
“Morrigan… she’s at the… castle… causing trouble…” she answered between moments of catching her breath. Her previously black licorice body had turned red in recent years, indicating her achievement of ULTRAMagic and a general expansion of her magical knowledge.
“That’s what I figured…” Blood-Wraith muttered to himself. “David, Ludwig? Anyone else? We’ve got to go take care of something!”
David walked over and noticed the papers, growing concerned as he read them. “Blood, what’s all this, lad?”
He quickly snatched them up and teleported them back to his house. “Nothing, nothing… Morrigan’s at it again, and I say we capture… bring her here to get her out of the way.” Blood-Wraith was quietly kicking himself for the gaffe, as it was very telling of his current state of mind.
“Excuse me, Blood?” Guinevere interjected. “Since when do you talk like that?”
“Guinevere, Morrigan is in danger and this is a good opportunity to get her out of harm's way.”
“We’re not playing around anymore,” Ludwig pointed out, resisting the urge to ask Blood-Wraith if he was okay, knowing he would probably not get a straight answer. “For real this time. We don’t care who Gore actually is, enough’s enough.”
“I’m coming too!” Wynnstan said as he raced into the hall, clearly looking for some action.
“Oh no no no, you’re still a little disoriented,” Aureolus said as he hurried over.
“Hey, I’m getting better,” he protested as he tried to summon one of his rifles. This act made him stumble to the ground. “I meant to do that…”
Blood-Wraith exhaled. “Schwarzes? You around?”
“Yes, Blood,” he answered as he appeared beside them in a flurry of sparkling starlight. “What’s up?”
“Can you keep Wynnstan here and get him on his feet? We’re heading out to Valerie’s to deal with Morrigan…”
It was at that moment time slowed to crawl for Schwarzes as he processed what Blood-Wraith had just said. The timing was impeccable, meaning only one thing… the time he had feared for so long was finally upon them. So many thoughts rushed through his head as tried to figure out what to do. Did he go with them? Did he go and try to stop Karnage by himself? He knew this moment was coming, yet drew nothing but a blank. And then a voice spoke to him, saying to let Blood-Wraith go. It assured him everything would be alright, but would it? Against his better judgement, he agreed to Blood-Wraith’s request.
“Sure, Blood,” he said in a plain, accepting tone. “Alright, Wynnstan, let’s get you all ready to go just in case…”
“Aw come on, I can handle it…” he protested as they walked out of the main hall.
David noticed Schwarzes’ odd reaction and felt a slight chill run down his spine. Was something about to happen? Surely it must, given that a higher dimensional was clearly uneased. “So, shall we head out then?”
“Yeah, let’s go,” Blood-Wraith replied. “Coming, Aureolus?”
“Of course, Blood. Let’s see if we can finally talk some sense into Morrigan,” he said as they began to leave.
“Nach Ihnen, meine Dame,” Ludwig said to Guinevere, gesturing for her to go first.
“You noticed that weirdness, didn’t you?”
“Ja…”
“Have any idea what they were referring to?”
“Nein, outside of the things Cronus has alluded to.”
Guinevere sighed. “Mother’s been the same, with all of the Operation Brutus stuff…” she remarked as they also began to leave.
Blood-Wraith forwent the pleasures of flying as a dragon and created a void door straight to Castle Ter Avest, which lay amongst The Roaring Mountains on a rocky plateau with sparse shrubbery and trees. Morrigan was dueling with Valerie, using a curious gravity-based magic cast from her sword, no doubt the Daemonbrandt Weaver had worked on several years prior. The two did not notice the group arriving as Valerie cast a spell that summoned a storm of rose petals to assault Morrigan, all whilst the two engaged in witty banter… albeit Valerie was not having as much fun as Morrigan was, given the latter’s ignorant cockiness. Blood-Wraith took on the form of Verdant Might, summoned his swordstaff, and tapped Aureolus on the shoulder to activate his Golden Dragon hex.
Morrigan had done some snooping on Valerie to learn about her style of magic, but what she had not prepared for was Blood-Wraith flying in on a dragon followed by a torrent of golden fire from the dragon’s mouth to put some space between the two combatants. “WHAT THE HECK?!” She exclaimed after she just narrowly dodged the flames by jumping behind a rock.
“Morrigan!” Blood-Wraith called out. “Enough of this! Gore is a liar and a villain!”
“Say what?” she sarcastically replied as she emerged from behind the rocks. “Come on, Bloody-Buddy. I know you and my hotshot don’t get along, but that’s no excuse to lie about him and…”
“LISTEN TO ME!” he roared as he ran over to her and grabbed her by the shoulders, despite her black and purple armor getting in the way. “There is no Gore Bloodblade! That’s Karnage Dethgrave, a member of The Eternal Order!”
“What… what are you talking about?” she stuttered in silent panic, unsure what to do. Morrigan never expected Blood-Wraith to get in her face that much.
“Think, Morrigan! Think! Did you ever notice how all of the trouble we’ve been dealing with for the past year always springs up around Gore, Fran, and Volf?”
“But… but they’re helping me realize that I can become the leader I was always meant to be?”
“NO! No they’re not! They’re playing you like a fiddle and filling your head with bullshit!”
David stepped over and cleared his throat to get their attention, knowing Blood-Wraith was just going to get more heated as the situation progressed. “Morrigan, I implore you to heed our words, as it is a matter of utmost severity we all find ourselves in. We have mounting evidence that Gore is Karnage Dethgrave from repeated encounters with him and countless anomalies that have popped up ever since this conflict started. It would behoove you to reconsider your alignments, as this is a crucial turning point that could very well decide the fate of the Cosmos itself.”
Blood-Wraith let go of Morrigan and she took a step back. She could see the grave looks on the group’s faces and realized they were being serious with unwavering determination. “Well, I mean… I mean… Well, I can’t say that things have been smooth sailing ever since I met Gore…”
“You saw how he spoke the day of the debate,” Ludwig bluntly put forth. “And you didn’t think that maybe there was something wrong?” Morrigan said nothing, as there was no rebuking his point.
“Dear, you’ve fallen in with the wrong crowd,” Valerie stated as she stepped towards Morrigan. “Trust me, I know how it goes; I’ve worked with Milosh and The Lich before. And don’t worry, Fran was there too-or should I say Anne Vozenilek?”
Morrigan froze in her tracks… “What? Fran? No…” The dawning realization gave her voice a subtle, horrified tone.
“You don’t believe me? Sweetie, I know Anne’s modus operandi.”
“Morrigan, come with us, back to the guild,” Blood-Wraith said with concern for a friend in his voice. “You’re better and more important than the platitudes Fran and Volf could ever give you.”
Aureolus was naturally sensing that something was amiss as he glanced around, given the lack of reinforcements Morrigan had. “Morrigan, given what happened last time, I’d argue we’re being hoodwinked again. This wouldn’t happen to be a distraction, would it?”
Morrigan’s regretful face gave way to worry as she realized the jig was up and that she needed to spill the beans. Her betrayal would not go unnoticed, but the voice in her head that had been screaming at her for the past couple of years had finally come through as loud as a warning siren. Her ears rang out with the guilt she had been ignoring and could hold it in no longer. “YES, DAMN IT! Yes, this-this is a diversion, as Gore wanted to go to the Valley of Eons to find something.”
“Bugger that blaggard!” David cursed. “No doubt he’s planning something nefarious for all of us!”
Blood-Wraith nodded in agreement. “Don’t need to tell me twice-Zlib, Uzc, Flzo, Aru!” A void door appeared before the group, but Blood-Wraith indicated for everyone to hold on. “Not to worry all of you, but things are about to get dicey. Only come with me if you’re ready for the worst…”
“Blood, what are you talking about?” Guinevere demanded to know. “You were acting weird at the guild hall, and now here?”
“It’s complicated, Guinevere…”
“Blood, if it is that serious, then we should go back and rally the entire guild,” David asserted.
“No, we need to go now and they need to be ready when things finally hit the fan…”
Morrigan would have cried over the mounting realizations she was coming to grips with about her so-called allies, but something about Blood-Wraith’s resolve gave her strength. She had no right to ask for his forgiveness, if what she was thinking about Gore was true, but she could at least help fix the mess she had caused. “I’m… I’m going with you, Blood-Wraith.”
Blood-Wraith sighed, knowing he had backed himself into a corner. “Are you sure about that? You wouldn’t if you knew what I know…”
“Well you’re going to need my help on what I know about Gore’s plan, won’t you?”
Blood-Wraith smiled, as she had a good point. And that conviction was what had caused him to put faith in her a year ago. “You better bring your A-game then, as you know Karnage is as vindictive as they come.”
She shuddered for a moment, but then her sword began humming, like it was encouraging her to go forward. “You have my sword, Blood.”
“I love it when things finally work out… Valerie, Guinevere? Go warn the rest of the guild and tell them to be ready for a fight. Things are about to get messy.”
Guinevere was about to get mad over Blood-Wraith continuing to not tell her what was going on, but she let it go as she realized then was not the time for infighting. “Alright then. Shall we tell them an army of shadow constructs is coming our way?” Of course she still had to sneak in a little, playful snark.
“Gore… Karnage has a shadow orb…” Morrigan clarified.
“We’ll also rally The Iron City army then,” Valerie said she indicated for her daughter to cast a certain spell. “No doubt Theobold is going to give you a dressing down for not notifying him ahead of time, Blood, but I suppose there’s not much we can do at the moment.”
Blood-Wraith laughed. “Yeah, no two ways about that.”
Guinevere nodded once her guildmates had finished speaking. “Right, mother, ahem-Ez, Trstr, Crtk,” she called out, summoning her own void door that the two quickly entered.
Ludwig cracked his knuckles, then his neck. “So, are we going in hard or what?” Electricity could be felt heating up the air as a subtle rumbling shook the landscape.
“Yes, Ludwig,” Aureolus answered with a tone that was subtly calling Ludwig out for pointing out the obvious. “And I’d dare say you’ll actually get the action you’ve been craving ever since you joined us.”
“Exzellent, that’s what I like to hear…” It was clear that his true self was itching for a fight, which made Morrigan a little worried.
Despite her reservations, Morrigan had a question to ask Blood-Wraith as he opened the door to The Valley of Eons. “Blood, I… Look, I don’t have any right to ask this, but are you mad about all the stuff I’ve done before with Gor... Karnage?”
“Morrigan, I don’t hold grudges,” he answered. “Those problems are irrelevant, for it is how you react to them that truly matters. You have a lot to answer for, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get there. For now we have an unpleasant rogue god to deal with…”
“Right, you’re right, Blood…” she replied as they stepped through into the timeless ruins of the Descendants of yore. What the group saw caused her to worry again, as their fears had been all but confirmed…
Next: Chapter 15
ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)
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