Infinity Wars Book 1: The Cult

In the plane of Ravnica…

  A man was running through the streets of Ravnica. “Out of the way, coming through!” He shouted to the people on the street he dashed across. Everyone quickly made way for the Izzet mage, quickly recognizable by his red and blue clothes. The dragon tattoo and his trademark elemental gauntlet, different from any other in the Izzet, identified him as Ral Zarek.

  “Why are you in such an hurry, Ral?” A strange creature asked him, in the most basic of descriptions it was lightning in a gel casing.

  “Melek! I was going to Nivix. Apparently Tajic is on his way there.” Ral said. “Any progress on the maze?”

  “I’m working on it.” Izzet’s champion dashed away to try and complete the Intricate maze, which would give the Izzet power over Ravnica.

  Ral resumed his running, trying to get to Nivix, the Izzet headquarters, before the Boros champion could get to their clue stone. With a lightning strike he teleported himself over to a rooftop, continuing his run afterwards.

  Suddenly a few of Boros’ angels appeared, probably to defend their champion. “I haven’t got time for this!” Ral shouted as a burst of lightning came from the sky, hitting the angels.

  Soon after he arrived at Nivix. The tower stood proud above the landscape. On every single level experiments were being held and science was being done and, at the very top, stood Niv-Mizzet, Izzet parun and guild master.

  A ball of fire caught Ral’s attention. He saw some guildmages fighting the champion, a rather foolish decision as Tajic defeated them all. “The might of the legion shall prevail!” The warrior in red and white clad armor bellowed.

  “I’ll be the judge of that!” Ral shouted out punching the champion in the chest with his fist charged with electricity. The Boros soldier tumbled backwards a few steps but was otherwise unarmed.

  “So… one of the most famous and powerful Izzet mages comes here to face me? I’m honored.” Tajic said. Ral passed a hand through his brown and white hair.

  “Well we can’t just have anyone defend the clue stone, now can we?” Ral said with a grin.

  “Enough talk! Have at thee!” Tajic charged against Ral, who barely dodged a strike of the soldier’s sword. The Izzet mage jumped back and fired an electric bolt, which was reflected by Boros’ champion.

  “You’re gonna have to do better than that!” Tajic sliced away with his sword, being blocked however, by an arcane shield from Ral. As the onslaught stopped Ral expanded his shield, catching Tajic in its radius and electrocuting him.

  “Is that all you got?” Ral taunted.

  “It’s about time.” Tajic muttered. This caught Ral by surprise, he was also surprised by the halberdier behind him. With quick reflexes and a teleport he got out of harm’s way.

  “You surrounded me? Poor bastards.” Ral grinned and summoned a storm, taking out many soldiers and angels, but there were more. ‘Well fuck, I’m running out of mana. Maybe I could just…’ He thought.

  “Do you give? Or will we have to kill you?” Tajic asked pointing his sword at Ral.

  “I’d rather take the third option.” Ral said with a grin before disappearing in a white flash.

  “Where is he? Where did that reckless mage go?” A confused soldier asked his battalion.

Meanwhile in Valoran…

  A being of pure energy floated around the halls of the institute of war. A rune and chains linked what looked like a suit of armor made of black metal to his blue arcane body. Everyone in the League, both summoners and champions, knew that it was actually a sarcophagus, a prison, a seal of his true power.

  It was a fact that Xerath would be omnipotent as soon as he was freed. This made him a very respected champion amongst the league, summoners were afraid of summoning him because of fear that the knowledge and power of the ascended being would drive them insane and champions with no viable way of closing gaps were terrified when laning against him.

  If all went accorded to plan, Xerath would be free by the end of the day. He would teleport into Summoner’s Rift and drain all the power he could from the nexus. When that was finished, he would be free and his power would be revealed.

  He looked around and didn’t see anyone, now was the time. He charged up his teleporting spell focusing on the blue nexus, the one that would give him the power he needed.

  In a bright flash he appeared on the battle grounds he knew so well. He turned around and faced the focus of most of the magical energy in the field. “This is it… I will be free!” He bellowed in a deep ghostly whisper.

  Setting the masses of energy that were his hands on the gem within the nexus he started. Strands of blue arcane energy were being drained from the nexus to the being of pure energy.

  What Xerath didn’t expect was the summoners wearing purple robes with gold trimmings surrounding him while he was in the middle of the process. “Surprised Xerath?” One of the summoners, this one in black robes, asked.

  “You cannot stop me! I will be FREE!” He shouted, increasing the flow of energy.

  “Get him!” The summoner in black robes ordered. The others, obeying him fired spells at Xerath.

  “You fools! Do you know who I am!?” Xerath bellowed shielding himself from the spells and releasing a shockwave with the stored energy. Only the black-robed summoner was left on his feet. His image distorted into an elderly man with a brown cloak and leather armor.

  “You will do just fine.” He said in a deep voice. Xerath was caught by surprise when a bolt of energy impacted the nexus, sending the spell out of control and teleporting him to another world. In a bright flash the mysterious man disappeared.

In Canterlot’s throne room…

  Princess Celestia was having a good day, everything was peaceful, her sun was shining in the sky and there was nothing to be worried about. That is, until she heard a lightning bolt in the gardens. There wasn’t a storm scheduled for that day so she decided to check it out.

  Hallway after hallway was cleared swiftly as she moved through the castle. Soon she arrived at the gardens, coming across with a very peculiar view. A being made of pure energy, trapped in a metal shell by a rune and some chains, back to back with a human, wearing equipment and clothes completely foreign to her. Around them were her guards fighting them… and losing horribly.

  Out of all the things in her head only one question came out. “What is going on here!?”

Five minutes earlier, in the gardens…

  Ral appeared with a flash. He quickly examined his surroundings. He was surrounded by hedges and statues, there were a few white equine creatures with horns, wearing armor and levitating spears. There was also a being of pure energy next to him, just another day at the office. “Stop beasts!” One of the equines said.

  “I don’t know who you are and you don’t know who I am, but I guess we’re in this together. Wanna partner up?” Ral whispered to the arcane being.

  “I’ll take out the ones behind you.” Xerath answered.

  “Try not to kill anyone. I want to talk with the leader of this place before doing so.” Ral said.

  “A reasonable course of action.” Xerath replied, stunning one of them with arcane energy. All the others assumed a defensive position.

  ‘This is gonna be fun.’ Ral thought, charging his elemental gauntlet.

Back to when Princess Celestia appeared…

  “Well what happened is that we don’t like being called beasts and having spears pointed at us.” Ral said in a casual tone

  “What my unexpected partner here meant to say is that your guards attacked us for no good reason, not taking the time to see if we were hostile.” Xerath said.

  “Well are you?” Celestia asked.

  “We’re more of a neutral kind of thing.” Ral answered. “You attack us and we strike back, but if you’re friendly we’ll also be friends.”

  “So you’re saying that this is just a misunderstanding?” She said glaring at them and pointing at the ‘battlefield’.

  “They’re not dead or even hurt, that much anyway. We stunned them with some low voltage electricity. And I still don’t know your name elemental thing.” Ral said suddenly turning the conversation to Xerath.

  “I am NOT an elemental! I am Xerath, ascended arcane magus of the Shurima desert, located in the island of Valoran, from the world Runeterra. I am the very essence of magic and I will be free from this metal prison!” He bellowed.

  “I am right here, no need for shouting.” Ral said rubbing his head in pain from the sheer volume of Xerath’s voice. “As for me. I’m Ral Zarek, a guild mage for the Izzet league specialized in high-voltage magic. I am one of the most powerful, and one of the smartest mages on the guild. Unknown to Niv-Mizzet, the guildmaster of the Izzet, I am also a planeswalker, a powerful being capable of traversing the planes of existence at will.”

  “I am princess Celestia, one of the rulers of Equestria. Come in for I believe we have much to discuss.” She said.

   “Lead the way.” Xerath said.

A few minutes later, in the throne room…

  “Who are we waiting for? Izzet mages are not well known for waiting.” Ral said, his gauntlet sparking with electricity.

  “I thought you said you were low on mana.” Xerath said.

  “Hello? We’re in a mountain, so there’s plenty of red mana around.” Ral said.

  “Red mana?” Xerath and Celestia asked.

  “You don’t know the colors of mana?” Ral asked, confused as to how an arcane being and a ruler didn’t know about the colors of mana.

  “I am foreign with such concept. Maybe we have different forms of magic.” Xerath said.

  “That is possible, you do come from different planes of existence.” Celestia concluded.

  “Last time I checked it worked like this for the entire Multiverse. But you know what? It doesn’t matter, I’ll explain anyway!” He lifted his arm and formed five balls of energy with different colors: green, red, blue, white and black.

  “Throughout the planes there is mana, this mana can be of five different colors.” The red ball grew in size and the others disappeared. “Red mana comes from mountains and volcanoes. Red magic is all about chaos and fury, fueled in great part by the user’s emotions. It’s a very ‘explosive’ kind of mana, for lack of a better term. Red mages are adept at fire, lightning and rock magic. I personally use red mana and I specialized in thunder magic.”

  “Next up is blue.” The red sphere of energy turned blue. “Blue mana comes from islands and pretty much everywhere there is water. It is the magic of knowledge, air, water and mind. It’s mages like to have full control of the battlefield, manipulating it with their magic, before making a move. As a blue mage I use the knowledge/mind part the most.”

  “Now for green.” The energy changed again, this time into a green hue. “Green mana comes from forests. Green magic stands for life and nature. Users of green magic can heal themselves and others while summoning massive beasts and woodland creatures to do their bidding.”

  “Now it’s white’s turn.” The sphere changed into the purest tone of white. “White mana comes from planes. White is the color of order and protection. Mages skilled with this kind of magic are able to aid their allies and summon small, but coordinated, armies to defeat their foes.

  “Last but not least is black.” The sphere became dark as darkness itself. “Black mana comes from swamps. It represents death and decay. Black mages summon unimaginable horrors, undead soldiers and all sorts of creatures of the night to destroy their targets. Black mages care for nothing more than power and themselves.” Ral finished.

  “Fascinating…” All heads turned to the new voice. A group of six ponies were there. The purple unicorn stood there looking at Ral with amazement. The blue pegasus with rainbow mane, however seemed just plain bored.

  “Oh no, is he another egghead?” She asked. Ral could stand a lot of things but being insulted was too much! Another pony, a white one with purple mane immediately scolded her.

  “Rainbow! Don’t be so rude!” With an accent like that Ral could swear she was part of the Orzhov, he hated those upper class snobs.

  “Come here you rainbow colored horse! Show me what you got!” Ral challenged the one called Rainbow, his gauntlet sparked with electricity.

  “Oh you’re on.” She was getting ready to charge at the guildmage but was stopped by an orange pony with blonde mane and a hat.

  “Now hang on a second Rainbow! You’re not fighting whatever that critter is!” She said.

  “I’m a not a critter! I’m a human!” Ral said struggling against the magical bindings Xerath set on him.

  “Calm down! We have no need for enemies in this place!” Xerath said.

  “Hi! I’m Pinkie Pie! Ooooooooooh! What are you? Who are you? You’re all electric and stuff! It must be fun floating around like that! I wonder if I can do it.” That was all Xerath could understand from the pink pony that appeared from nowhere and talked at a million miles per hour.

  “Well that’s first impressions gone horribly wrong.” Ral heard the purple unicorn say.

  ‘Indeed they are.” Was all he could think.