| "Quick!" shouts Fred in desperation. "Look for anything that looks
like it could transport that wyrm to wherever it went!!"
This order turns out to be harder than it sounds, because although the
hoard of Minestus is surprisingly sparse for a wyrm (being that he focused
his energy on magical equipment and magical items), there are literally
dozens of possible suspicious items in this cavernous place!
******************************************************************
Minestus and his pet land with a slight thud onto old, weathered streets.
"Great," mutters Minestus absently as he cranes his neck around to get
his barring "Even the INDEPENDENT routes are having trouble! I'm going
to have to do something about that destroyed nexus that got slagged up
in Gala, because this business of having to just travel by ordinary means….by
wing or foot just plain sucks rocks!"
Distant moans and clankings remind the wyrm of the challenges he had
experience last time here, so without further word, he grabbed a large
piece (dragon sized) of colored chalk and sketched a crude circle of Protection.
It wasn't the best, but would do for the task at hand. He turns after laying
out the mat that will serve as the sacrificial altar, lights a few candles
and incense after morphing into human form. Then he smiles at the shivering
duke, who's pointing at the dark….shadowy figures with crimson eyes standing
solemnly outside the circle.
"You needn't worry, pet." chuckles Minestus. "They shant harm us. All
the shadows around hear just feed on negative emotions….such as fear and
such. This business should be well and done before the REALLY terrible
menaces come out! Now…..just lay here and close your eyes!"
Drederigo smile at the darkly handsome man who's holding a bronze knife,
and complies with the request. On an ordinary day, he'd be reaching for
his sword. Even in his addled state, the duke would have recognized the
obvious nature of what the dragon planned on doing.
Minestus pauses as a thought suddenly strikes him. Though this now nameless
city is underneath the waves, it....shouldn't be this dark. SOME light
should be filtering down through the brimey depths, yet….the "ceiling"
above them (the magical barrier that some mage had put over the city for
reasons lost to history well BEFORE Atlantis sank) is dark as pitch. Suddenly,
an obscure piece of information draws itself up and makes it's 'resence
known in Minestus' head.
"Atlantis has biological filters in it's transport system……and a biological
exclusion element into that shield overhead!" the dragon mutters. A wave
of the hand reveals that the barrels he had brought are now filled with……a
soup that once had been single celled assasins…..but now are just disassociated
strings of chemicals! "Well, I'll just go and take care of this business
back at the lair….after I get what I came for!
And he needed to hurry, for he understood now what was blocking out
the sunlight!
It had to do with some very basic factors built into the Phage. It had
been designed so…..once released…….to actively seek an multiply to cover
ever spot on Terra that somehow was not infested with it. Through the magical
nature of the Phage, it had detected this still Phage free city….and every
day more and more Phage organisms swarmed to try to enter. This had led
up to a very thick…..and increasingly weighty load upon the shields of
the city. Soon, the shield would buckle and break…….
Minestus didn't want to be there when it happened….because a quick mental
calculation told the dragon that this shield only had a few days left…..if
that.
The dragon begins to solemnly chant….and the spectres silently watch……
|
