The Darksteel Eye

CHAPTER 24

Glissa awoke to someone poking at her head. The elf sprang to her feet, spinning on her attacker, mana already drawn.

“Whoa, crazy elf!” shouted Slobad. “Take it easy, huh?” He waved his hand in front of her face. “Slobad.” The goblin flashed her a toothy grin.

Glissa relaxed, funneling the mana into a rejuvenating spell that immediately found the throbbing pain in the back of her head.

On the ground beside her lay Pontifex and Marek. Their blood mixed and pooled together below them.

“What happened? How did Marek get here?”

“We were hoping you could tell us,” said Bosh. “They were both dead when we arrived.”

Glissa shrugged, feeling the back of her head. Her spell had significantly reduced the bump, but it hurt when she pressed on it. “I had a fight with Pontifex. The last thing I remember was getting hit on the head.”

“Maybe Marek saved you?” said Slobad.

Glissa smiled. “Not likely.” She looked around. The Kaldra Champion stood behind them, towering over the other three. “Where’s the other wizard?”

“He went after Bruenna.”

In the chaos, Glissa had forgotten. Immediately she felt the urge to give chase, go find her friend and rescue her from whatever fate awaited her when the thresher stopped and let her free. But Bruenna’s image arose in her mind. Glissa could see her shaking her head, saying, “Finish what you have started-for the good of all.”

Bosh handed Glissa her new blade. “You might need this.”

She took it, gratefully. “Thank you.”

Grabbing hold of Pontifex’s hoverer, she hopped on. “It’s time we paid Memnarch a visit.”

* * * * *

In the distance, a four-legged, bird-headed creature stalked the elf and her companions. It crouched low behind a mycosynth monolith. From its hiding place, the myr could see where they headed, but it did not pursue-not yet.

Also in its field of view were several other artifact creations just like itself. They were a pack. Five in all, they hunted the elf.

Back in Panopticon, Memnarch watched her through the Eye as she headed to his palace.

* * * * *

As they approached the glistening tower, Glissa couldn’t help but be amazed. Though she knew it was made of steel, aluminum, and titanium, parts of Panopticon looked like sparkling crystals.

Memnarch’s fortress climbed high into the air, higher than any other structure on the interior. Where each of its five walls joined the next, the line was so sharp and straight, it looked as if it would cut through flesh like a razor. The top rose to a needlelike point, perched atop a room made entirely of glass, opened to the world for all to see in-and for those inside to see out.

From a distance, the tower looked like just one more perfectly formed mycosynth monolith. Up close, it looked more like the scepter of a giant king. Its base was thick and heavy. Its top was adorned with a hefty jewel. Its sides were intricately designed to give off a regal air of power and grace.

A pair of wide doors on the ground floor opened up, and Glissa stopped. She looked up at the Kaldra Champion, then she looked at Bosh and Slobad.

“You ready?”

All three nodded.

The doors lay open, the light of the mana core reflecting off the edges, not penetrating into its depths. Then the darkness beyond began to move. Shadows coalesced into nightmares, and an army burst forth, their shiny hides reflecting back the interior sun’s blinding rays.

“Levelers,” said Glissa and Slobad in unison.

Glissa stepped off the hover hoverer and drew her sword. In a flash the metal beasts were on them. Scythe blades rang out, and the elf parried blow after blow. Catching the tip of her darksteel sword in a joint, she pried free a bolt. After so many fights with these beasts, she knew where to hit them to do the most damage.

Her strike was clean, and one side of her foe sloughed to the ground. Its left half now unarmored, Glissa reversed her stroke and cut deep into the device. That was all it took, two strokes, and the leveler was dead.

Across the way, Slobad loosed his crowbar. Hopping into the air, he jumped over the razor blades of the attacking horde to land atop a leveler. With a practiced flare, the goblin tore into the killing device, taking apart its metal hide in a blink and disabling it with a twist of his hand. Then he was off, leaving the lifeless hulk to rust on the battlefield.

Behind them, Bosh beat the metal devices into the ground. He kicked holes in their hides and tore their insides out. He smashed their vision crystals, blinding them before he dented in their heads, and he ripped their steering sails off. Without them, the levelers could only turn right, and they spun in place, looking like ballerinas dancing a deadly ballet on the battlefield.

Towering above them all was the Kaldra Champion. With each of his great magical fists he smashed a leveler flat. With each of his feet he stomped them into foil.

It was a massacre of titanic proportions. For each victim these killing devices had claimed on the surface of Mirrodin, the elf, goblin, golem, and champion visited five blows upon their heads. The battlefield rang with the screeching of metal, and the ground was piled with debris.

The fighting stopped. The levelers, usually fearless and unrelenting, retreated. Behind them, the gates to Panopticon lay open, and a pair of figures emerged. One was bipedal. His skin shone brilliantly under the glare of the mana core.

The other walked on all fours, not like a wolf or a lion, but more like a spider with only four legs. Unlike his counterpart, this one did not sparkle or reflect the blinding light. Instead he looked a pale blue, as if he were made of flesh instead of metal.

As the pair marched toward them, Glissa recognized the shorter, two-legged creature. “Malil.”

The other bore a striking resemblance to the metal man. Not in his body or even his face-for this creature had six eyes, each covered with a deep blue lens-but in his mannerisms. They were like a father and his son. Each looked different, but both came from the same lineage, carrying the same build, the same set of ancestors-and the same scars.

The levelers parted, and the two creatures stopped a handful of steps from Glissa and her companions.

“I have watched you for so very long, Glissa,” said the spindly legged creature. “At times I have wondered if we would ever meet face to face. Now here you are.”

Glissa gripped her sword. “Everyone seems to know me, but who are you?”

The creature lowered his head and front legs in an elaborate bow. “I am the Guardian of Mirrodin, keeper of all you see.” He stood up. “You may call me Memnarch.”

Something inside Glissa snapped, and she leaped forward, covering the distance between her and Memnarch in two great bounds. With a howl, she hurled her blade at the crablike creature, driven by more than strength or speed, but by the hatred she had harbored for this man since her parents’ death.

Her steel blade whistled, and Malil lunged forward, trying to get between her and Memnarch, but he was too late. The elf’s fury was swift, and the sword connected with one of the Guardian’s legs.

With a great creak and a loud pop, Glissa’s weapon clove through the joint, and the six-eyed creature listed to his left.

Time stopped. A cathartic release rushed through Glissa’s whole body, grabbing her by the spine and shaking every part of her, from top to bottom. This was the moment she’d been living for. This was her revenge, and she’d struck the first blow. Happiness and grief warred with each other, and tears formed in her eyes. Justice was near.

There was a spine-tingling screech, and Memnarch pulled back, waving his hands in the air.

Glissa was lifted from the ground by an invisible force and thrown back. The world blurred. Wind rushed in her ears, and the elf crashed into the ground a hundred paces away from where she had been standing.

Memnarch lifted himself up, rising to the full height of his long, spindly legs. “How dare you?” he shouted. Raising his hand again, he lifted Glissa from the ground with an invisible, magical force, letting her dangle in midair. “I am your god. You should worship me.”

“There is no god in Mirrodin.” Glissa kicked and struggled, but it was no use, she was held fast.

“Facts are fact, no matter if you believe them or not.” Sidling over on his three good limbs, Memnarch looked her straight in the eyes. “That is inconsequential. You have something I want.”

Glissa glared at him. “You took everything I had when you killed my family.”

Memnarch titled his head. “Not everything.” He grabbed the floating elf’s chin, examining her face. “I do not know where the planeswalker spark resides, but it is enough that I have you.” Turning around he found Malil. “Take her to the containment cell.” He looked back at the goblin and the golem. “Kill the others.”

Slobad started jumping up and down. “Smash him!” he shouted.

In a flash the Kaldra Champion swooped in. Malil jumped in front of Memnarch, putting himself between the Guardian and the Champion.

Raising his greatsword, Malil charged the construct. His blade connected then bounced away, having done no damage to the magical avatar.

With a swipe of its hand, the Kaldra Champion knocked Malil back against the wall of Panopticon. His body made a clang as it impacted, then he slid to the ground, disappearing from view behind a pile of ruined levelers.

The avatar moved in on Memnarch, raising his fists, ready to smash the Guardian.

Memnarch placed his hands to his forehead. A beam of brilliant blue mana shot from his eyes. The magical energy swirled around and around the towering Champion. With each revolution, the light spread out, like thread unwinding from a spool, and it surrounded the Champion in a giant sapphire egg.

The mana solidified, and the Kaldra Champion disappeared, swallowed whole by a throbbing blue sphere.

Glissa dropped slowly to the ground, her hopes of bringing justice to her parents’ killer fading.

The giant egg cracked, and the hardened shell dropped away, cascading to the ground in a shower of tiny blue bits. Inside, the Kaldra Champion still stood, seemingly unharmed.

“You claim there is no god here, Glissa,” said Memnarch. “Perhaps this will change your mind.” He looked up at the immobile Champion. “Seize her.”

The Kaldra Champion turned on Glissa. With its magical palms outstretched, it lurched forward, grasping at the elf. Its hand slapped the ground just as Glissa leaped away, just barely missing being smashed.

“Careful,” shouted Memnarch. “We need her alive.”

Glissa scampered behind a broken leveler. The Champion knocked it aside-sending it spinning through the air and floated forward, looming over the elf.

Glissa looked up at the magical construct she had placed so much hope in. It floated there, ready to snatch her up. Nothing in this world turned out as it should. Nothing she had been told since her childhood had been true. She had placed her trust in something that had been untested, and now she was paying the price.

There was nothing that could be counted on, nothing worth trusting. If she lived through this, she promised herself, she would trust no one but herself-ever again.

The Kaldra Champion reached again for the elf. Glissa backpedaled, but her heel caught on something. It was Pontifex’s hoverer, and she tripped over it. The Champion’s hand closed down around her. Closing her eyes, she prepared to be squashed-or worse.

A long second passed. Nothing happened.

Opening her eyes, Glissa saw the Kaldra Champion being dragged backward away from her. Standing at the base of the Champion’s lower body, straining with all of his might, Bosh had both of his arms wrapped around the magical creature, and he pulled it away from her.

Though Bosh was only a third of the Kaldra Champion’s size, he still had the strength to be a formidable opponent. The golem yanked hard, twisting the Champion’s body and hurling it toward Panopticon. The magical construct flew through the air, landing on the ground several meters shy of the tower’s wall.

Bosh turned to Glissa. “Run,” he shouted.

Glissa stood stunned for a moment. She couldn’t leave him.

“Run,” he yelled again, his eyes growing big in his head, his face creased with concern.

Slobad shot up beside her on Pontifex’s hoverer. “Come on.”

The Kaldra Champion righted itself and grabbed Bosh in one of its huge hands. The iron golem was lifted high into the air. He seemed resigned to his fate, not looking at the Champion but keeping his eyes focused on Glissa.

“Go,” he said, his lips forming the words, but no sound emerging. Then he smiled.

The Kaldra Champion squeezed Bosh, and the golem’s face wrinkled with pain. The sound of metal cracking filled her ears, and Glissa turned away. She couldn’t watch.

Stepping on behind Slobad, she whispered, “Go.”

At full speed, Glissa and Slobad flew away from Panopticon.

* * * * *

“After them,” shouted Memnarch.

The Kaldra Champion opened its fist and let its contents fall to the ground.

“I want the elf alive,” ordered the Guardian. “Alive!”

Silently, the Champion floated off in pursuit of the elf and the goblin.

Memnarch turned and headed back to Panopticon. Near the open doors he found Malil climbing to his feet behind a pile of broken levelers.

“Come, Malil,” said Memnarch. “We will watch from the Eye.”

* * * * *

When they had covered several hundred yards, Glissa looked back over her shoulder. As she did, the Kaldra Champion dropped Bosh’s smashed body to the ground.

“I was wrong,” said Glissa.

“ ’Bout what?”

The elf shook her head, fighting back her tears. “I had thought there was nothing worth trusting in this world.” She turned away from the pursuing Champion to put her hands on Slobad’s shoulders. “But there was … there is.”

“He good golem, huh?” said Slobad. “Slobad miss him.”

“Me too,” said the elf. “Me too.” Wiping her eyes she added, “Just do me a favor.”

The goblin nodded. “What you want, crazy elf?”

“Don’t get killed.”

Slobad nodded. “Slobad try, huh?” He glanced at the Champion behind them. “Not so easy.”

Glissa turned her attention back to their pursuer. Slobad was right, the Kaldra Champion was coming on fast.

“How far to the blue lacuna?”

“Close, huh?” replied Slobad.