//------------------------------// // Issue 9-Making a Mark [Part 4] // Story: I Am Not a Charlatan! I Am Mysterio, Master of the Arcane Arts! // by The Quidam //------------------------------// Ethan was not having a good time. He had traveled a long way to get here for some meager scraps. He had spent days traveling across a desert through a method of flight. He hated flying, or at least greatly disliked it! Still, he knew it to be the quickest way to get back to his current residence, so he was thinking that would be the problem he would have to worry about the most today. So he planned on spending the last moments before the trip composing himself and giving a final farewell with perhaps another companion to travel with them. He didn’t even get to have the dignity of tasting a regular breakfast platter for the first time in a long while. Why? Because he was currently in another realm, fighting off bandit Coyote-men, with a jungle savage dressed Dragon-woman. That was a sentence that was just said about the situation! Maybe a month ago, he would have flipped to it on television, or skimmed its pages in a comic shop, but never in his previous life would he ever believe he was the star of such a fantastical notion! Yet here he was using every skill in his currently known arsenal to fend off these attackers. From smoke pellets, to actual energy blasts from his palms his fought these mongrels off; because of course he was dressed up as his favorite supervillain as he was doing this! Being dressed up as Mysterio seemed to have its own perks. While these bandaits clearly used brutal tactics to get what they wanted, he could use a bit more finesse. He could jump with better agility due to the equipment in his boots. His gauntlets could match a blow for these big pawed being’s own four-fingered punches. And best of all, none of these Raiders could throw back one of his energy blasts, or bat it to the side like Bo did during their little skirmish. If it weren’t for their greater numbers, the tech using, magic faking individual would have nothing to fear about this strange event in his reality. Another time, Ethan would probably wake up and laugh at the ridiculousness that happened in his reverie the night before. This was no dream, or nightmare, for he could feel every sensation of the events transpiring before him. The burst of wind from an ax’s slash as it nearly impacted his shoulder. The near penetration of a spear into his ribs that he dodged at the last moment. The vibrating rustle of a chain and ball that nearly pulverized his back echoing with the volume of a rattlesnake. The evidence of this being too real was overwhelming. And yet it was not as much frightening as infuriating that he was feeling this level of flight or fight. For as he fought, a more peculiar train of thought came to his mind. Here he was facing down bipedal dogs with bladed weapons and the intent to kill. He was merely hindering their efforts with the faintest luck and over pushing his body’s current conditioning. Yet with all of these factors in mind, he did not feel as afraid as he did when he faced those six mares. And that exasperated him. ‘Why is this not as worrisome?’ He thought as he elbowed a coyote in the throat. ‘Is it because of what I have already done?’ For in his time in this strange place, Ethan had done a great many things in this land with the mantel of Mysterio. He had driven away a pack of tree-wolves, and enthralled a pride of manticores. He had befriended a Zebra-woman in some capacity as a neighbor. He had saved the life of a dragoness, and had even taken her treasure trove back from a greater dragon. He had done many wondrous things, but it seemed that his mind kept going back to his main regret since waking up in that forest clearing. ‘Why them? Why was I so afraid of them?’ He spread out his arms to fire off a cacophony of energy shots, to drive back the ten different coyotes about to rush him. ‘These dogs are ready to take my life for all the trouble I’m giving them. Yet with those six, I felt as if they could…erase me!’ “Master, Help-!” Tsavorite’s cry was soon silenced. “Dammit!” Mysterio yelled as he turned his attention to where he saw his draconic subordinate last. He let himself get too unfocussed to not notice her plight. He knew these coyotes outnumbered them twenty to one, yet hoped she would be capable of handling herself. But sadly, it appeared that this pack knew how to get the drop on her. He could see that she was roughly scratched up and somewhat wounded despite her draconic scales. Her wings were tightly bound to the ground in a multitude of chains. And yet her image was even more greatly tarnished by the too small muzzle being set over her jaws. It was a heartbreaking sight to see his new friend being treated so shamefully. It was also a very distracting one as he found himself being lassoed in chains by a good number of these coyotes. “Let go, you mangy mutts!” The diamond dogs seemed to ignore his exclamations for they already began discussing what they were going to do with him. “This one might fetch Big Price! Has a Very Big Shiny for head!” One coyote spoke to his comrades. “Can do magic tricks, too! But may be too troublesome to reteach!” said another. “Might be easier to chop of its head and sell the shiny!” A third spoke out loud. Tsavorite seemed to be more desperate to escape her bonds at that. Unfortunately, the dogs piled on top of her with more numbers and started to beat into her with whatever bludgeoning weapons they possessed to get her to comply. “Unhand Trixie this instant!” shouted another voice being dragged to the greater number of diamond dogs. “She’s not afraid to unleash her wrath on you mongrels for thinking she’s some sort of property!” “Muzzle this one, too! She keeps talking lots, and tries to bite despite placing anti-magic shiny on her!” shouted one of the mutts holding her by her arms. It was him and two others that were keeping the blue unicorn from escaping. Mysterio could see that her horn was trying to conjure some form of spell, but seemed to be canceled out by a rough gem encrusted ring newly placed upon it. It did not seem that Bo and Norah were faring any better. Despite Bo’s best efforts to hide her sister, it seemed to be for naught as the two were chased into the fenced walls of the scrapyard. “Don’t look back, Norah! Run!” Bo shouted as she fought back the raiders trying to rush the two. “Get out of here!” “But Bo!” Norah shouted as she was thrown by her sister to the top of the fence. She could do nothing, by stare sadly at her sister getting dogpiled by the coyotes. “GO!” the larger female barked out as she was buried into the swarming pack. The sound of chains and locks were further proof that they got her. ‘There’s got to be something I can do!’ Mysterio angrily thought as he tried to pull himself free from his captors. “C’mon, Mysterio, you always have at least one more trick-” The inside of his HUD lit up with a series of diagnostics and a question popped up. Ethan looked at the inquiry with dubious eyes as he found himself getting what he needed at the opportune moment. “Would I like to use one last escape trick? Of course I would!” he muttered before quickly skimming the images popping up. Seeing the desperation of Bo trying to shake off her captors solidified his reseolve. He then knew what to do, and what had to be done. “Magicis Fugam Vestimentum!!” Mysterio shouted the command as a deep purple mist began to pour out of his form. As he did so, his cloak wrapped around him in a torrential spiral and like a drill-pointed rocket, he flew out of the chains that bound him with a clatter and past the raiders. He knocked back a great deal of them back as he pierced through their numbers with the forced of cannonball covered in sandpaper. “Don’t lets him escape!!” A bigger one shouted to his fellow pack members. But none could catch the swirling cloak as he flew over the fence and into the distance. “Where did he goes?” One stupidly asked as he tried to stare out in the distance, only to see the sun glare into his eyeballs. “HEY! The pup’s gone too!” Another shouted as he pointed out Norah was no longer on the fence. This caused three sets of eyes to perk up in particular. The three female consociates of Mysterio realized that the sorcerer left with the young pup in his flight away from there. While some would prefer to have gotten free as well (Trixie!), other conceded that he was at least able to get the pup away from Clutter Coulee and the Raiders. “Norah…” Bo thought as she found herself too bound and muzzled to do much more than shed a few tears. “Be safe.” [}0{] Norah was certainly safer than she was a few moments ago. However, she was not any happier about her newfound flight towards freedom. For one thing, it was a like being held tightly in a spinning purple tornado. Despite the struggling she made, she could not free herself from Mysterio’s grasp. Even though a part of her knew that to have him let go of her at this heights would be suicide in more ways than one, she couldn’t bear the thought of abandoning her sister like she was unwillingly doing. “Go back!” She screamed at Mysterio as they flew. “Bo, needs help!” “I know.” Was his simple response. “Why’d you leaves her behind?” a sniffle embodied her pleas. “We needs to help her!” “I know.” Again was all he replied with. “We gotta-” “I know!” Mysterio had enough of this. In an instant he set himself down on the desert floor with Norah sitting down in a heap. He tried to reason with the pup as to why they could not rush back. “Look, Norah, I want to help your sister and my friends, but we have to be smart about this!” “It’s not smart to leave them behind! It’s dumb! Very dumb, and you’re dumb for thinking it!” Norah argued like the child she was. “Arrgh!” Mysterio smacked his helmet. He was getting nowhere with this kid. “Look, we need to plan quickly. You seemed to be the resourceful youngling while your sister clearly knew more about the scrap piles than she was letting on. Do you have anything we could use? Anything at all might help us out?” Norah thought hard, and quickly came up with something. But after doing a quick search of her pockets, she gave a sad whimper at how she was missing something. “I hads a bomb, but I don’t haves the controller no more.” She dishearteningly explained. “It would probably still be strong enough to take them all out if I coulds make it go boom.” A bomb that strong in this junkyard? Mysterio had to know where it was to avoid it going off prematurely then. “Where is this bomb?” “Around that puffed-up-plot mare’s neck!” “…What!?” He immediately realized that he had seen the thing! It was that junky looking collar Trixie wore. Well he certainly would not be using that if there was a chance of blowing her up for sure! “Yep, but I don’t know where the controller is. So the only ways for it to blow up is if someone removes it from her neck and leaves it for a minute.” Norah nodded assuredly, not realizing she revealed that the situation was much worse. ‘Like some raiders who would undoubtedly try to take it off to sell her perhaps!?’ Ok, now the bad situation had gone from a 9 to a 10! He would definitely be calling Bo out for letting her sister do such a slavery trick, but now he had a shortened deadline to meet because he had no idea how long he had to prevent a bomb from going off and possibly taking everyone else with it. “This is not good at all!’ Ethan thought. He could barely keep focus under pressure! He could barely keep up his façade of being the composed and cunning sorcerer. Instead he kept feeling the vertigo of the unspoken question swimming in his head: Would this be another murder he would have to try to prevent? [}0{] Ethan could barely keep his thoughts coherent. He was more still than a statue, and judging by how pissed the vagrant was at his lack of a response, he may soon find himself as stagnant and lifeless as one forever. In his stillness and shock, sound was strangely dulled and colors seemed to fade out. He could not hear thee motion off cars driving by outside, nor feel the boiling blood that was rushing through his body. Yet the ringing of the door’s chime was amplified like a cathedral’s mark of the hour as his dad walked into the store with a bag of sandwiches in hand. “Ok, they were out of Turkey-WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!” The vagrant turned to face the older McIntyre man, but before he could even point his gun at him, a sack of large submarine sandwiches flew into his face. It was soon followed up by the rushing tackle of an angered father with enough force to slam him into the glass countertop and break it! The gun went flying out of his hand as the two grown men as they slammed into the glass display of comics and figurines. They then tumbled away from the new collection of shards, and began a wrestling match on the floor. The two men were a garbled blender of furious punches, chokeholds, and slams upon the rough carpeted floor. Stuart was a magician, who had enough experience with tight spots, contorting his body, and resisting things that tried to limit his mobility. This meant that he knew how to read an opponent and to get them to think they could hold him down, only to find another blow appearing into their peripherals. It should have given him enough of an edge to win. The vagrant however was more willing to fight dirty, and despite being on the losing side the longest it all changed as he went for a sucker punch into Stuarts’ kidneys. With that hit, Stuart lost his concentration long enough to find himself gasping for air and trying to compose himself to continue. Unfortunately, in those precious seconds, the vagrant quickly reached into his pocket and pulled out a knife. The older McIntyre could do nothing as he witnessed the vagrant ready his arms to stab him in the throat! [}0{] Despite his cool exterior, Norah took his silence as a bad sign. She began to weep heavily thinking that not even this powerful magic-man couldn’t save her Big Sis. Hearing her bawling was enough to get him to snap out of it and come to a realization. ‘Terrified...mortified...petrified...stupefied…FEAR!’ That was it! He had a plan! “Norah. You said you received your name by how sneaky you can be?” He asked as gently as he could. Norah wiped her snout on her sleeve as she tried to settle down her waterworks. “Yeah…-sniff-…so?” “So I am going to need your help most of all if I am going to succeed! I will be using some of my more noxious conjurations against these brutes.” He couldn’t use his fumigations before due to the rush of the ambush, but now he had the edge of surprise! He reached into his wrist gaunlets’ compartments and pulled out a great handful of holo-cubes. “But I will need you to spread out these…special talismans around the place if I am going to finish them off with something so frightening, that they will run out with their tails between their legs and never return.” Norah looked dubious at the cubes. She had seen shinnies that were bigger and prettier. Yet she trusted the sorcerer’s words for what other choice did she possibly have? “But how cans you be so sure that they will be afraids?” Mysterio reached a hand out to help her to her feet. He thought carefully of a good enough answer, and thus imparted to her, “Because I am a human. And it stands to reason that the only things monsters should fear are worse types of monsters. And I’ve done worse with less.” [}0{] Back in Clutter Coulee, things were not looking good. The place was a scrapheap, but now it looked to be even more of a mess. This was due to the once carefully set piles and homely looking shacks being razzed for anything useful or valuable by these raiders. For that is what they did: find something of value and take it to either sell or be used. These raiders were known as The Desert Ash Pack. They had strength in numbers and were infamous for taking this part of the desert as there territory. At least, they thought of themselves a known well enough. Never before had they thought of taking their activities to somewhere beyond their imied borders until the idea came to their Alpha. For he thought that the best way to start getting up in the worl, was to get all the scrap and materials they could procure. That way they could get even better stuff to fight, and enjoy like those others packs seemed to. Thus their boss Quarry was seen as a lot cleverer than his fellow pack members in that way. It was why he was alpha after all despite being an eye-patch wearing spear user. “Now, we”ll take the shinnies and whatever else that is valuable for us!” He snidely proclaimed as he watched the other dogs gather up whatever goods they could find into their sand wagons. They were the vehicles they used to traverse the desert and took turns pulling. Now they would be filled with their newfound goodies in exchange for the explosive payloads they brought. One way or another, there would be another explosion today. “And thus we will start becoming a more respected pack than those stupid Morning Howlers.” “What abouts the females, boss?” Ah! Now that was a bonus to Quarry’s scheme. He thought this day would only get him some scraps and more exercise by taking out a pony workforce. Yet besides that strange Shiny-Headed figure and his magics, there was just these three females. Not much of a challenged to his pack as far as things went down. It gave himself a few more things to add to his future sales earnings. “A Unicorn could go for a fair price if trained properly. They says the horned one are able to point to the biggest shiny deposits!” He flicked her horn, frustrating her, but proving that Trixie’s magic jamming ring kept her helpless to her situation. “Not to mention, they can make extra for being a buyer’s favorite colors!” If it weren’t for the muzzle, Trixie would have spat in his face. Still, Quarry moved on to gaze at one of his biggest prizes of the day! A Dragoness! It took twelve good strong coyotes to keep her subdued even now, but as it were, these chains and shackles would keep her from being a problem. “Sellers would pays very good shinnies to get dragons! Hecks! We might just keeps her to makes more to sells.” Now that would be a way to rake in riches! “Eggs alone are impossible to get on the market these days.” Now it came to their last captive. Sure he was disappointed that her pup got away, but it looked like he was able to get the better deal. She seemed like a strong type of Diamond Dog Bitch. She certainly knew how to fight seeing how she took on more of his pack than the dragon to be sure that pup got away! At first he thought of her as a Bulldog, or a Bernard type. But no, even though she must had been eating lots to get big and strong, she was clearly a Border Collie. There was no hiding that type of beauty, no matter how ‘plushy’ she got. Even with her runty paws, she could be worth something in the ‘pet shops’, but something about this one seems to ring a bell in his head. “As for you…You seems familiar?” He pondered as he tried to get a closer look with his good eye. She was chained up pretty good with his pack-mates nearby, so he was in no danger. She seemed to mumble something that was longer than a sentence. Feeling he could humor her, he took the muzzle off her for a minute and lent her an ear. “What’s that?” He expected to hear her plea for her life. What she gave had more bite to it. “You’ve messed with the wrong bitch!” Bo barked. Using all the strength she could muster in such a confined space, she shoved her muzzle forward and bit into the coyote’s ear. The ones holding her bound struggled to get her loose, but could only do so at the cost of a piece of it coming off as they pulled her back. “Arrgghh!” Quarry held onto his bleeding wound with anger and pain. So if that was how he was treated for being a little nice, then he would return the favor with interest. As soon as he got it bandaged, the lead coyote barked out his orders. “Strips them! They want to be means to our kindness, we’ll be meaner back! Loads them onto the wagons and make sure the powder is ready to go boom! I want everyone else to know we of Desert Ash are not pups to be messed with!” The scum were only too eager to comply. The thing that seemed to lack more in this environment besides water was female company in their group. So of course it wasn’t a moment longer when the three captives felt clawed paws gripping at their clothes. None of them needed another reason to hate these mongrels. But at the sound of the first ripping of cloth, they each debated on what they could do about it. As it stood, their options were vastly limited. Yet, Each of them still had one trump to play. ‘If I use this, I am going to have to take every one of them out.’ Bo thought as she readied a constrained paw into the dirt to channel her hidden ability. She may go down and never see her sister, but at least she would never be a pet again! ‘I can’t let even one live.’ Tsavorite thought as she readied her flames. Even with her jaw shut, they lit hungrily at her bindings. Her thoughts went to her master and hoped that he would never hear of the secret to her terrible power. ‘The risk of others finding out about it are too much!’ ‘I am going to have to be sure that it is only them who are dealt with. The price is going to be too much to pay, otherwise.’ Trixie thought as she prepared herself to die. She may have sunk low, and made bad choices that would prevent her seeing Elysium, but she would rather die quickly in an explosion than become a whorse for these mutts for years to come. They were all planning to go down in one final gambit. Then all of a sudden, a deep green fog bank rolled into the scrapyard and enshrouded them like deep security blanket. The Desert Ash Pack grew nervous while each female felt a bit of hope return to them. “WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?” A deep voice rang out and demanded the attention of all. [}0{] -Crack!- The Quidam looked up from the book He was reading. The being was sitting at the table that was set up in Ethan’s dreams. Perhaps he was on break from his duties, or breaking the monotony of its duties. However, that did not matter because he knew the sound of something breaking when it wasn’t supposed to and it wasn’t coming from His break. The Quidam drew attention to the teacup that was set nearby. Normally there would be no blemishes on this artistic drinking piece. Yet on its surface was a crack of the worst kind! Not only was it marred by a deep fissure on the fine china, but the crack did something considered impossible in any other reality. It spread. Not only was the crack extended to part of the table, but to the 3rd-dimensional boundaries above the liquid layer. Thus despite being relatively tiny, it was monumentally worrisome for breaking conventions and known laws. The Quidam knew what such an instance provided an omen to. He turned to face the nearby bookshelves and quickly swapped Its/his current reading material with an immensely thick tome with the Emblem of McIntyre. By commands that went without saying, the pages turned until it seemed to settle on one particular instance of Ethan’s subconscious memoir. The Quidam stared intently into the pages of this particular chapter. Only instead of words forming sentences, they were starting to paint a picture. [color=#6aaafdd] He pondered as he stroked a nonexistent chin. He gazed upon the memory as it reached its climax. [}0{] -BANG!- The knife clattered onto the floor. Soon after a body fell across from it. Only this one had a bullet wound in the back near the heart. Stuart gazed at the blood that had splattered upon his shirt. Not a drop of which was his. He then gazed at his son, who was hyperventilating at what he just accomplished with the smoking pistol in his hands. In the scuffle between the two men, it had flew put a few inches from him. Seeing his father get into a fight and about to get stabbed, the boy—no, young man—immediately took it upon himself to end the treat. Ethan dropped the gun, and it landed with a thud that deafened him. In his mind the sound was not as loud as the corpse crashing on the floor. And that was already louder than anything he could imagine. Maybe it was the dizziness of the shock, or the smell of smoke with iron, but he found himself vomiting for what felt like hours, and yet he still could not hear a sound. “SPEAK!!” His father’s voice finally reached him in the haze as the sensation of being shaken started to steady into stillness. “You alright?” Young Ethan said nothing. Instead he flung himself into his Father’s embrace and cried like never felt like crying before. “It’s alright, Ethan. You’ll be ok! You did a good thing!” Stuart tried to comfort his son as best as he could. “Just stay with me! So long as I’m around, you’ll never have to be afraid of guys like him.” Ethan blubbered on, not aware of anything but the salty blur of tears pouring out of him. While deep within him he knew that he did what he had to in order to save his father, he felt filthy and a much deeper sense of shame. It was something he would forever try to suppress, but never really forget. That was the day that Ethan first caught a glimpse of a much more terrible world and hoped he would never find himself encountering it again. [}0{] The Quidam sighed as it now cemented the conclusion of what was happening. It wouldn’t be the first time He witnessed such an occurrence, but Ethan seemed to give the impression of avoiding the issue. Now all that stood by was the hope that thins would not worsen. It was very hard to repair a façade when one broke their own self-built character. [color=#6aaafdd] [}0{] All eyes were on Mysterio. His expressionless visage stared back at them. Yet his posture conveyed something that went past anger. Beyond coherent fury! Something far worse and primal. All the coyotes raised the hair on their necks at the feeling in the air. Despite bearing their teeth, they were weary of the foreboding feeling in the air. Bo recalled it when she met her pack-alpha for the first time. Trixie felt it once before when she found herself staring eye-to-eye with an Ursa. And Tsavorite recalled it as a lingering feeling that chased her as she crawled on her belly, until she found herself at that ancient entrance to her Master’ castle. Some might call it death, but that wasn’t the right name for it. Still, it was a sensation that would impart two particular truths of the universe to this captive audience: No one ever wants to be near a hero when they snap. No one ever wants to be there when a villain laughs. Isn’t that what he read in a book somewhere, Ethan thought. It seemed oddly fitting to him for after all he experienced; getting ripped from his life; struggling to survive the environment; fighting a number of large predators including a fricken DRAGON! Yet seeing these females getting stripped of whatever clothing they possessed was a nail too far in the coffin of his sanity. Mysterio shook in place for a while until it occurred to all that he was beginning to go into a loopier state of mind. “Why...are you…trying…so hard…to get me to frown? Men…go to jail. Animals…get…put…DOWN!!” He spoke with dark humor. For what else would fit the notion of what he was hesitant to say, but now assured: he was not dealing with humans, but animals! And animals only responded to power! Otherwise they would know not to tear up your fancy clothes! Or to take a shit on your nice green lawn! So these mongrels would need a lesson that involved either a great deal of power or and exorbitant amount if pain. “I am going to show you what death feels like! I am going to have all your senses experience it!” It was on that day, for a time at Clutter Coulee, that Ethan embraced the madness of Mysterio’s Façade and did both. [}0{] For a while, no one did anything. Eventually Quarry got tired of the stillness and wanted to get on with this day. “So, the spell slinger is back?” He spat as he twirled his spear in boredom. “Bah! Just catch him and cut off his head so we cans starts going home!” “Boss, we needs to let her go!” Shouted one of his underlings. That statement drew his attention away from his weapon.”Says who?” “Says this marks on her back! She already branded! Laws of Finders Keepers says we can’t takes her!” The mutt pointed out. Quarry took a better glance at what he was talking about. There on the back of the dragoness was a fancy brand of an eye between her wings. When one of the dogs ripped off that clothes she wore for her tits, it had the added benefit of no longer hiding this mark like before. Of course, Quarry didn’t care either way. “You’s stupid? This is prime method to get serious shinies! You think this magic fool knows what he has? Finders Keepers or not, she is ours now!” “But boss, I think he wants her-Bleck!” The scout ceased speaking when a metal pipe burst out of it’s chest where it’s heart once was. “No, I want her back. Back! Use your elocution, you stupid mongrel!” Mystero chided with a wagging fingertip. “Mmmmsstrrrr?” Tsavorite mumbled through the muzzle. She wasn’t the only one shocked at the brutal speed and efficiency of that act performed. The surrounding pack mates and fellow captives were struck with surprise. They didn’t even see him move from that spot he previously stood. Yes, he showed he could do magic, but this went beyond teleportation. This was blinking into existence. “Be with you in a moment, Tsavorite. I must impart proper speaking exercises upon these mangy dogs.” He whimsically answered as he pulled out the pipe and twirled it about like a dancer’s cane. He leaned on it with the steadiness of a gentleman. “Let us use our words now! Repeat after me: How now brown cow.” “Kill this runt of a bitch!” Quarry roared in command to his pack. Magic or not, his pack would dog-pile him and slaughter him to pieces! Four bigger members of the pack took the lead of the charge. Each readied their own vicious blade to slice their opponent to chunks. Yet Mysterio barely gave any sign of being anything but calm. “I SAID-!”He picked up the pipe and began fighting back with the calculated motion of a macabre dance routine. For the standard grunts, he struck back against each strike towards his person and parried with better skill. As for the big four, he showed a much deadlier use of force. “How!” One strike pierced through the back of this coyote’s neck. “Now!” Another got a piercing strike in the ear canal before he could turn his spear to point. “Brown!” This one received it from the bottom of the jaw. “Cow!” And this one ironically didn’t see the long shaft piercing him through the eye coming. “There!Was that so hard?” But none of these dogs answered him. Either they were dead, or scared nearly to death at how easily he dispatched them. Angrily, he threw the pipe at the crowd of dogs, causing some to flinch backwards as they felt his presence become much more hostile. “Imbeciles! I expect beings that wear clothes to be able to respond like proper gentlemen. Instead I find animals who can only dream while wearing pants!” A few of the braver grunts grabbed their axes and spears and decided to charge at the sorcerer for their fallen brothers. “And furthermore…!” His gauntlet grew red as he reached out towards these few brave mongrels. “It is very rude to try to interrupt me as I am trying to impart my wisdom! So you now have holes in your bodies! BANG!” Like a rapid fire machine gun, he unleashed a torrent of red shots of magic in their direction. As great leapers the coyotes were, they had no way of avoiding the assault in midair, so of course they felt every shot pierce into their bodies and exit out the back. It was probably the last thing they felt, for they didn’t react when they crashed into the ground like fallen hailstones. “Now…what was I saying?” Mysterio asked. Yet he found no answers from the fallen besides the groans of pain from the not-quite-dead. “Useless vermin! Fine! I shall see if someone else is willing to help me!” Tsavorite felt her muzzle loosen. Trixie and Bo felt theirs become less tightened as well! The reason they found was because Mysterio was immediately present nearby removing them. Not just for all of them together, but for each one of them. “Now ladies..”Started the first. “Am I wrong to think…” Spoke the second. “That you are not animals to be sold…?” The third continued. “But females to be respected with dignity?” All three spoke together. And then like a dream faded back into one Mysterio. “I am sorry for the way you have been treated. I demand that it stops now!” He looked to the coyotes that still held the females in chains and said in a smooth command. “Release the prisoners!” And without thought, or hesitation, the coyotes did. They gently let loose the chains like obedient dogs, and stepped back at The sorcerer’s hand motions on. Mysterio stared down at the sad sight before him. Tsavorite already had little in the way of clothing with her simple garments. So she gave no reaction to her lack of sarong and top. But her wings still stretched and drooped around her like a cape, for she still felt a bit of shame at being captured so easily to the raiders. Trixie had a deeply teary expression as she hugged herself as best as she could. For she was probably the one out of the three with her clothes the most intact. Her overalls had deep tears in them like a tiger has stripes, and her shirt was long gone. The straps to her overalls were cut off by the rough claws of the dogs so they could not remain up. Yet she still had enough to cover herself modestly so long as she kept her arms tight around her chest. It was certainly better than Bo. Her outfit had entire handfuls off it haphazardly ripped out. It was to the point where it would be better to replace the outfit entirely, than to see what patched up nightmare would be made when resown. The worst parts were how he noticed that there deepest tears were directed to her more intimate spaces like her bosom, showing just how much these animals lacked decency. Bo was clearly mad at the transpired events as well because she angrily stared down her captors as she rubbed out were she felt the chains chaff. “My sister better be safe, Mysterio! Or you are gonna wish these mutts kept me chained up!” She barked as she noticed a lack of Norah with Mysterio. “Believe me. Even if you feel it necessary to strike me down, I would still never wish that upon you. Upon any of you!” He sighed sadly as he took off his cloak and gave it a few shakes. As he did, it grew longer until it was big enough to wrap around the three females, which he did like a security blanket. “I apologize for not coming sooner. I should've done more earlier to prevent you from getting treated as you did. But I had assumed that they were like you, and were reasonable. But now I know better. Animals can’t be reasonable. They can only be redirected into understanding the pecking order!” He snapped his fingers. “So let them see why they should never take what I consider to be part of my dominion!” The green fog became more thick and pronounced. However, it was condensing towards Mysterio and spiraling around him like a cyclone. “Get him!” Quarry demanded knowing an attack when he saw one. He knew he only had so many pack mates left to work with, but together they could still get this spell weaving bastard with his back turned to them. Yet not one of his remaining pack members moved or made an effort to ready their weapons. “I said to get him!” Quarry yelled again, with a bit of confusion. Yeah, he could sense that he was tough, but the still had the advantage of numbers. Surely they weren't scared of just this one lone individual? One lower rank pack mate pointed at what they were seeing that was keeping them in place. “But Boss look!” The green fog that enshrouded the area kept being sucked into Mysterio’s body. And yet it seemed to be doing more than that. For as it passed over the carcasses of their fallen pack members, it was as if time was going backwards. The open wounds and seeping pools of blood began to close up and evaporate. Even deadlier wounds like the one who was stabbed in the eye seem to regenerate. As they each began to reach a somewhat intact form, a few let out coughs that sounded dry and cracked. Somehow, Mysterio was bringing them back! They were still battered and bruised, but they were alive! One of them woke up with a start, followed by others. Soon they all were awakened and aware as well as filled with immense fright at what they just experienced. “He killed us! He killed us then he unkilled us!”shouted the one who was stabbed in the throat. Yet he spoke fine, and had no wound to speak of! “How could anydoggie hope to match such scary power?” Their cries of alarm and terror were halted by a hurricane of maniacal laughter. The laughter’s source was a man, called Mysterio. “YOU CAN’T!! DON’T YOU GET IT!? I am a MASTER of the ARCANE!!” He pointed to them like an imbecilic congregation to which he was administering. “I can make you feel death! I can make you disbelieve life! I can make it so you will experience untold pain and unspoken pleasure consecutively or simultaneously.” A glimmer of reflected light quickly drew his attention. Over by the fence, reflecting it from a mirror shard, he saw Norah. She gave a thumbs up at the ready, while her detonator was in her other hand. Her mission was successful. Now it was up to him to get the final act started. “Pardon my forwardness, but I am going to need this!” He spoke softly to Trixie. She scooted a little at how he was reaching towards her chest. “What are you-?” His hands however, were grasping upon her collar, which he promptly ripped off of her with the speed and grace of a table trick. “Don’t worry, Norah said it would explode in a minute after removal. Plenty of time to do this!” Mysterio then raised his voice to address the crowd. "Don’t believe me? Then let me show you a glimpse of HELL!” It ascended into the sky for a few dozen feet, until it reached the farthest point it could remain in sight. Norah pushed the detonator, and it exploded. The burst was far enough to avoided hitting anyone, but that was not the point of Mysterio’s move. “Praecipite aperiri portam inferni repente!” He shouted as his hands glowed and made exorbitant motions. He must have made over a dozen motions that would have made a ninja look ridiculous were it not what was happening above him. The explosion spiraled and twisted, while also spreading wider like dough under a roller. It also gained the properties of a storm cloud, for it shifter from a fiery orange to a nightmarish black with red lightning running through it. Them suddenly the head of a lava skinned canine burst through its surface as if to pounce on this crowd below. It has nine eyes and six rows of teeth. It did not bark, but roared with the sounds if tormented beasts. It was a demonic Doberman worthy of Satan. Yet what made it more frightening was not just it's countenance, but the dark tentacles and shriveled claws of other creatures dragging it back in as if to get their own turn at momentary freedom. Thankfully for all the portal closed and vanished the moment the creature’s head was dragged back in. It was about 20 seconds, barely enough time to get a drink, or cough out a sentence. But it felt like an eternity to that audience that knew what it was like to be nothing more than battered bunches of fur and blood that were buried in the sands. Heck, Quarry passed out in a mere seven seconds after witnessing the beast burst from the cloud. These Diamond dogs were curled with their tails between their legs. Some peed themselves, but no one would make fun of them for it considering the reason why. Those that could still walk, started to grab their pack mates who couldn’t and hastily chucked them upon the wagons. They didn’t care if it meant leaving behind their earning or their weapons. They didn’t even care how mad Quarry would be when he finally woke up and saw how far away they travelled to get out of there. The Desert Ash Pack knew that they were too close to becoming their namesake to give a damn! “Who is you?” One stupidly asked as they were about to leave. “I am Mysterio! One who is a master of the senses and of the illusions you consider reality! I am the one who will not only break your body, but your mind! To me, life is but a dream and only those who live with dignity deserve to take part in it! All who live like animals will be left broken in the dust! The rest will end up meeting a fate more dignified than the cowardice of dogs!” His hand extended out to the desert as if directing these dogs out on their exodus. “Now go and spread the word to your masters: Clutter Coulee is now under my protection as a part of the Wonder Domain!” And that was the parting message to the Desert Ash Pack. For they all fled into the sands as if Tartarus itself was coming after them. Then again, considering who they crossed, perhaps that was the case. Had he been been anyone else, perhaps he would have been more thorough and exterminated them. Yet, if they were eradicated, then who would be left to talk about him? To praise him? To fear him? To challenge him? To fear him? No! Mysterio knew he risked making new enemies by letting the Desert Ash off as easily as he did to speak of him, but he knew it was for the best. It was not a question of how, or why, he just knew it. Just like he knew how to conjure up such a nightmare and how to save his…friends. Yes, they were his friends, weren’t they? It was at that instant that Mysterio seemed to ease up and a bit more of Ethan seemed to return to the forefront. “Good grief, was that not a chore to deal with?” “Master Mysterio!” Tsavorite cheerfully called out. He turned to face her, only to find himself pulled off his feet, and helmet first into a dragoness’ embrace. “Oooff! Tsavorite! Go easy on me! I just took out a mongrel mob!” “I never doubted your victory for an instant! Even when you left, and it all seemed lost, I still held hope that you would return for us!” She imparted with great sincerity. She finally let the magical sorcerer down, who tried to play off his bashfulness at the praise and the dragon’s state of clothing by dusting himself off. “Well of course! How could I think of returning to my castle without my dearest friends and supporters?” “Friends?” Tsavorite asked as if the term was a bit unusual to her. “Well, we are friends, are we not?” Mysterio tilted his helm as he counted off on one hand. “You, me, Trixie, Bo, and-” “Norah!” Bo ran past the two of them, with her mind set on one thing: getting to her sister! The poor pup was just standing still staring at shock of where her bomb exploded and apparently ripped open a portal to Tartarus with Mysterio's enchantment. The bigger sister shook her younger with a hesitant motion, fearing the worst. “Norah! Are you ok? Say something!” “I blew up a hole into Tartarus!” She broke into a wide and wild grin as she started to dance and cheer. “I am the greatest Diamond boom expert to live forevers and evers!” “Oh, Norah!” Bo sighed with her eyes rolled. She still smiled at her sister’s antics. “Don’t ever change!” “Why would I? I saved you Big Sis! And I only needed one bomb to do it!” That soured Bo’s mood a bit. “About that. You know you're not supposed to use bombs like that collar one!” “I know, but Trixie was asking for it when she kept callings you a fatass behind your back!” “She what-?!” Bo shook her head to keep on track of the lesson. “Even still, you know better! It could have backfired or Mysterio’s spell wouldn't have worked, or something else coulda’ gone wrong and I would have lost you forever.” Norah sniffed a bit as she knew her sister had a point. “I’m sorry, Big Sis! I won’t do it again! I promise!” Bo hugged Norah deeply a she admitted. ”Still, it was lucky you were there to help save the day as disturbing as it was. I may have nightmares for weeks from that thing showin’ up!” “Who's the scaredy pup now?” The pup teased with her tongue out. “Why you-!” Bo wedged her into her large bust with one arm as she began to noogie her sibling with the other. She playfully demanded her to surrender to her attack. “Take that back!” “Nvvr!!” Norah mumbled. She would never give up! Not even to her Big Sis’ Knockout Noogie attack! Mysterio chuckled a bit at the sister’s happiness. It was indeed confirmation that it was worth it to see those two reunited. Teavorite heself seemed to brighten up at the sight, and that made himfeel happy as well. ‘Maybe that’s all you need to get by in this world. A bit of happiness and a person to share it with.’ “Master Mysterio!” But that line of thought would have to be placed on hold. For another person called out to him, and it wasn’t Tsavorite using the term ‘Master’. No, this came from the blue unicorn, rushing towards him. She was wrapped up in Mysterio’s cloak, which apparently shrunk down from its larger size. She held it tightly as she gazed gladly at the mirror visaged person who helped save her life. “Ah, Miss Lulamoon! I thank you for your contributions to my spell today. I hope you are well, all things considering.” He considered taking back the cloak, but considering how he was restraining his eyesight around Tsavorite, thought it would be best to avoid another female with wardrobe issues. Trixie stood still in thought as she carefully composed herself as best as she could. When she finally found the words, she spoke with as much dignity as she could muster. “First, Trixie would like to deeply thank you for coming to her rescue.” She bowed her head. “Had you not come…well Trixie would rather not think of the possibilities!” The sorcerer patted her on the shoulder. “There, there, Miss Lulamoon. You are safe now! Nothing to fear!” “Still, there is one thing I must do for saving me from…something that horrible!” Trixie then to everyone ‘s surprise did something that no one who knew of her prideful persona would do. She took to the ground in genuflection and touched her horn to Mysterio's feet. “Trixie is but a mere magician, but perhaps under your great tutorage she can truly become Great and Powerful! Trix…No, I know it is pretty presumptuous of me to ask for this honor as if it were a favor, but I can think of no other way to repay you without my body being a token. I promise to serve you faithfully and to be loyal to your cause!” Her horn glowed with magic as she spoke her request aloud. “Please, oh Master of the Arcane, make me your apprentice!” Ethan had to blink a few times under the helmet at that. A magical unicorn was not only swearing loyalty, but asking to learn magic from him? As a sorcerer's apprentice? “…Ok, sure.” He answered. “Can’t see anything going wrong with that.” After all, he just pulled off being able to unleash Hell to some Coyote Bandits. How hard could tutoring magic be? [}0{] The Quidam thought aloud. . He then poured himself another cup of tea. The same cup that had the crack that affected nearby space, and yet it still held the liquid with no problems. He swirled the cup, debating to sip, even with no head to speak of. He finally decided on drinking it, and was surprised a bit at the taste. . The Quidam remarked. He turned his attention back onto the manuscript with the emblem of McIntyre on the cover. It was not painting illustrations, but instead was reciting quotes that were building up foundations to support the upcoming events. One in particular stood out in shining script. “‘All the world will be your enemy, Prince of a Thousand enemies. And when they catch you, they will kill you. But first they must catch you; digger, listener, runner, Prince with the swift warning. Be cunning, and full of tricks, and your people will never be destroyed.’” He closed the tome and set it down on the table before it floated back onto its place on the shelf. With that, The Quidam stood from his seat as he felt it was time to…take a walk…and see what was happening in the realm that caught the interest of a being such as he. [}0{] Mysterio… …Far and wide the story of that one man who came to Clutter Coulee was uttered… …and yet the reactions to that name were all the more interesting… [TO BE CONTINUED...]