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Aftershock - The Repercussions of the Atog War
Peace returned to the land, one previously enmeshed in a grand war. The
superpower leaders of the Second Atog War had come to a peaceable truce. In
the wake of such a devastating war, the environment was in shambles. Several
guilds formed, embodying the spirit of togetherness. Only together would the
survivors survive.
The war, however, claimed the sanity of one of the main participants...
I. Shattered Reality
In the nether void it happened. I remember it so clearly...
"I'll fix this!" Gandalf declared.
I found myself in a place of unfeeling, devoid of light and sound. From the
darkness, I recall Jake lunging at me. He caught me off guard with this
unexpected move. I was down, but not out.
Jake then began to summon hordes of atogs, which popped up out of nowhere.
They herded their way to me, hoped for a tasty meal. I merely summoned an
updraft, pulling myself out of harm's way, and they could not reach me.
Jake payed no attention to my actions. He began to fling fire and
lightning in
my direction. I could tell he was caught up in destroying me, for he cast
whatever spell that came to his mind. I would counter a spell here, or deny
one there. I summoned up all my wrath and destroyed the hordes of atogs, but
this did not deter him. He saw that my blast of power had left me weakened,
and he took advantage of this weakness.
He cast a single spell. It was a rather uncommon spell, actually. A broken
visage of myself appeared in front of me, the pieces crumbling to the floor.
"Hah! Fool! Revenge is sweet. Goodbye, stupid person," he said.
I did not realize the full extent of the damage caused by the broken visage
until it was too late. Shrugging off this malady, I managed to defeat him.
I wove a ritual of subdual, slowing him down efficiently. I was then able to
manage a psychic transfer, destroying Jake's body in the process. Our
consciousness merged then, sealing away Jake the mad Atog God.
I won the duel, but did I win the war? It seemed so. I was able to arrange a
steady peace with Lord Anonumus, now known as Cup. Margrave set out with his
council, but we never heard from him again.
In the mean time, Gandalf made mention of the fact that he was acquainted with
an elf of deep shadow. Cup and I wanted to know more about her, but Gandalf
refused to have anything to do with it. Taken by the beauty of the forbidden
Elf Girl, Cup and I chose to vow for her. We would never slander her, nor
attempt to destroy her. We would do everything in our power to defend her
from
those who would do her harm. In time, we collected several followers, and we
became known as the Minions of Elf Girl. Sadly, trouble was brewing.
II. The Jaded One-Another Piece of the Puzzle.
During the time these events occurred, a more sinister being made his
appearance. He spoke often and loudly about his Lord Chaos, and his Dark
Queen. He gave away that his past was connected with Cup. Cup, horrified and
dumbfounded, disappeared. The Jaded One then turned his attention to me.
I questioned the power of his extravagant Dark Queen and all-powerful Lord
Chaos. He began to stalk me, following everywhere I went, leaving messages
where I could find them. He began to menace the general populace. I fought
him off with the aid of my friends after a period of self-imposed exile. I
thought I had heard the last of him.
The various clans moved to open war. Alliances were made, and quickly
broken.
War stretched everywhere, threatening lives once again. My many pleas against
war were ignored, and so I, along with the Minions of Elf Girl, chose to
find a
way to stop it. We were quickly set upon by the chaos, forced to join in the
war movement or be destroyed. Our numbers swelled even more.
Dreams in the night. Fires, atogs, the broken mirror. These all skimmed
along
unpleasantly in my head. Who was behind these wars?
Fuer Grisse ost Drauka, the self-titled Bringer of Death, was. He charged
onto
the scene. The Jaded One reappeared, and became his ally. Most
frightening of
all, Jake the Atog God arrived and allied with Fuer as well. Their unholy
trinity began to destroy the credibility of some, and vowed to wage war on
others.
How had Jake broken free? We were as one, nothing could have destroyed the
bond I had built after the reconstruction. It hit me. The broken visage from
our last duel. That weakened my hold on him. He must have escaped before we
were completely fused together again, and I never realized it.
I tried to control him, but he was far stronger than he had been before. As
one person, I had been able to stop him, but now he shrugged off my attacks as
if they were nothing. I realized I would need help in order to defeat him.
In
the darkness of the night, all my hopes failed.
III. The Wrath of Jake
I was in my high palace, trying to determine the best way to control Jake,
when
he nonchalantly strolled in.
"Hello Elrohir, have a nice little party?" he asked.
"What do you mean by that?" I replied.
"Don't be so evasive, Elrohir. I wouldn't harm you." He raised his arms to
the sky, then bowed before me.
"You're not the kind of person to bow down to anyone, Jake. Why do you bow
before me?" I asked.
"My reasons do not matter, fool. You may trust me."
"I have never trusted and will never trust you Jake. You can count on that."
"Join us, Elrohir. We can grant you power beyond compare. You can have
control of any guild you wish. Join us, or die," Jake said.
"I am afraid not, Jake. Fuer is against my allies, and the Jaded One is
marked
for death. I will never join you," I replied.
Jake reached into his pocket for something. He pulled it out, and it began to
expand and transform, taking the shape of a Phyrexian portal.
"Then I am afraid you must die, Elrohir."
The portal pulled me in, and I entered Phyrexia. My powers were useless
there.
I looked around, and saw artifacts that I had never seen before, and baubles
of such intricacy that it is no wonder that they are never seen in present-day
Dominaria. Monstrous artifact creatures plodded their way around, from the
majestic Sardian colossus, to the famed dreadnaught. I could feel the power
Jake exerted on this dimension, for it was vastly superior to my own power.
He
stepped through the portal then, and appeared before me.
"This evens things up, don't you think?" he asked. He pulled from a nearby
pile of what appeared to be junk an intricate box. "This is an icy
manipulator, Elrohir. Ever hear of one?"
"Yes I have, Jake. What of it?"
"You are powerless here. You shall not stop me. I will destroy all of those
fools on Dominaria. They will believe you to be dead, and lose hope," he
said.
"The mighty general of the Atog Wars, destroyed by his own summoning spell.
What a sad way to go."
"What summoning spell?"
"You will never know the answer to that question."
The tendrils of the icy manipulator shot out, binding my arms and legs in a
frozen grip. I was incapable of acting, motion was an impossibility. Jake
went back through the portal, bent on destroying the world.
IV. The Grip of Phyrexia
Phyrexia
I awoke from my slumber, and again witnessed the movement of many mechanical
monstrosities. The manipulator continued to bind me, stopping all my
actions. I blasted the artifact, destroying it utterly. I was again free, but I had to
escape in order to find and defeat Jake.
I wandered for days until I found what I thought was a command center. Nearby
was a factory, repairing damaged artifacts. I entered the command center, but
nothing was out of the ordinary. Of course, the ordinary was an abstract
concept in this artifact hell. I worked my way through the corridors,
searching for a central control area, something that would open a portal so I
could get back to Dominaria.
Entering a rune-covered doorway, I was accosted by several mechanized guards.
They were loyal soldiers of Yotia, but twisted and perverted from their
original task. With spikes, glaives, and swords, they attacked me. They
surrounded me swiftly and closed in for the kill.
I managed to summon a spark of lightning, and it played havoc with their
systems. I would have to remember that in the future. The soldiers
collapsed,
and I noticed their power source. Mana batteries! I took these and ran on,
searching still for a portal to Dominaria.
Lumbering from out of the darkness came a large, hungry daemon. Utilizing the
mana batteries, I managed to destroy the daemon in a blast of flame. It
shriveled up, and reformed itself soon after. It had the form now of a man.
"It is not often that one defeats a Phyrexian daemon, human. How did you
manage such a task?" the man asked, glancing curiously in my direction.
"I am not human, but a god. I made due with what I had. How do I leave this
place?"
"Once you are here, you can never leave," he replied. "You are held in
what is
called the Grip of Phyrexia."
"There is no way out? No way that I could get back to Dominaria? Jake the
Atog God is running loose there and will surely destroy it if I do not stop
him."
"You are powerless to stop him. It is futile to try. It would be best if you
gave up your pointless task," he said. "The only way for you to be freed
is if
someone finds a way to destroy him with out killing him."
"Then if I can find a way to have someone on the outside defeat him, I will be
free?" I asked.
"Perhaps that is the only way, Elrohir, but the commander of atogs is very
powerful. He has subjugated this plane and put it under his control. His
grip
on Phyrexia is absolute. The power he now commands is far greater than
anything ever seen. No one person will defeat Jake very easily. I have been
trapped here myself for several years. I am Rofan Lenar."
"Pleased to meet you, Rofan. Why is the source of mana here so faint?"
"There are no sources of mana here. Jake has siphoned them all. What few
spells I have been able to cast were powered by mana batteries I have taken
from worn-down creatures."
"Yes, I discovered that myself. If we can pool our energies together,
would it
be possible to break the grip of Phyrexia?" I asked.
"I seriously doubt that. To break the grip of Phyrexia, you must first break
the grip's holder."
"I see. Rofan, I think I have an idea."
On the horizon, creatures lumbered on their way.
V. Collision Course of Destruction
Dominaria
A place of great majesty and wonder. A place falling firmly under the grip of
Jake the Atog God. His atogs marched over the land once again, consuming
everything in reach, artifacts, forests, people, and even time itself.
Several
members of opposing guilds put aside their differences in order to find and
rescue Elrohir after a diminutive figure who went by the name of Yoda told
them
that Elrohir was, in fact, not destroyed, as Jake wished the world to believe.
Kai, head of the Guild of Mass Destruction, was the leader of the rescue
movement. He recruited Witch Hunter as his personal assassin, and himself
declared a duel to the death against Jake the Atog God.
Jake laughed at the foolishness of these humans to defend one of their own.
He
wandered the lands, surveying the damage dealt by his hordes of atogs. One
day, he met up with Witch Hunter. The attack began. Jake easily repulsed
Witch Hunter's lone attacks, but soon Telim Tor and Liberator joined the
attack.
Jake's atogs were caught in an inferno and were destroyed. Jake made more.
Another inferno occurred, along with the wrath of god. Still, Jake's atogs
appeared, exhausting the resources of the three mages. Sure in his power, he
continued to flaunt his abilities. A presence was felt then, urging the mages
to defeat him.
"You must defeat him, but he must not be slain," it warned.
Jake was struck by an antiproton nuclear weapon summoned from a rift by one of
the mages, but shrugged it off. The mages were not pleased. He launched a
massive attack, doing more than a generous amount of damage to the attacking
mages. With their spells, they were able to prevent themselves from harm.
"Use the wrath of god, someone. Do it quickly," the presence urged. He was
answered by numerous wraths, and the mages reappeared, having unsummoned
themselves to prevent their own destruction. Jake set about to recreate his
army of atogs. Little did he know that he was on a collision course of
destruction.
"Now, put into place a Feroz ban, and use a null chamber," the presence
suggested. Immediately, Jake was unable to cast his atogs as easily, and
soon,
was completely unable to.
"Where did you get a null chamber?!?!?!" Jake cried.
"That's something every mage learns in starter school," someone replied.
"Aaargh! Damn you!" Jake exclaimed.
"His powers are weakening. Call the powers of Armageddon now." The presence
was very insistent. "You must destroy him without killing him."
"How do we do that without our mana sources?" the mages replied.
"You will find a way."
The blast of Armageddon sounded. The ground crumbled away at their feet.
Using moxen, diamonds, and friendly elves, the mages were able to pound at
Jake
ferociously.
"How do you manage to still cast spells, mortals!!??" he cried in rage. He
received no reply.
"Use Ashnod's transmogrant, and then shatter him," the presence declared.
Jake stared in surprise as his skin turned to metal. His power left his
ruined
husk of a body just as it began to fall apart. Kai planeswalked in and lent
his undiluted powers for attack as well. Jake could not escape.
"I will not be defeated like this," Jake declared. "I use the spite of
Kaervek
on you all. Ha. Kai, I leave in good conscience knowing you have been
cheated
of my death." A vast explosion rocked the valley floor.
In the aftermath of the explosion, Jake vanished.
VI. Aftershock
"Rofan, the grip is gone! I can feel it!" I yelled. My presence HAD been
felt
by the warrior mages. Inside, I felt that Jake had returned. I threw up many
devious barricades so that he would be unable to escape. "We can leave now,
Rofan. Jake has been dealt with."
"I am afraid that is not to be for me, Elrohir. I will remain behind.
Already
the lines of magic regenerate. There is much to be learned from this hell of
artifacts."
"Farewell then, my friend. May you find good fortune from this day on. Your
help was immeasurable. I will someday find a way to repay you."
I found the Phyrexian portal, and commanded it to open. My powers were
returning quickly. I returned to Dominaria, but it was vastly different from
the one I had left behind. Scorched earth spread from horizon to horizon.
Some towns remained standing, while others blew away on the wind.
I soon regained contact with the various guilds, and beckoned Gandalf to
aid me
in keeping Jake away from the light of day again. I learned from him that of
the trinity, only Fuer walked the land still. Jake had destroyed the Jaded
One
in his quest for power.
In Gandalf's tower, he began the process of locking away Jake for good. What
he did, not even I can comprehend, but I am left with the assurance that Jake
will never return.
Elrohir, God of Wisdom
General of the 1st and 2nd Atog Wars.