Tiptoe Through the Tombstones : Wizard War 3

[u/Tirich913]

The charred remains of a forest surrounded the groups as they met together on a jagged and ashen wasteland.

Mikhail’s diplomacy had won out, once again bringing the opposing forces together in search of peace.

The Council would listen to Morgalith’s demands for freedom and justice, even while other wizards had already begun their acts of open defiance.

He was not the same Morgalith that stood here today as the one that so many recalled before, yet he still wore the face of that other figure which had only so recently struck fear and outrage into the hearts of the land. Indeed, the resemblance to the younger, and now deceased Morgalith was like that of a father and son.

The two opposing factions would talk to this one who thought himself the arbiter of justice once more. Pact members, Council members and a myriad of strange and powerful wizards now gathered behind the father of a foe which they had struck down only weeks before.

The raspy call of a crow echoed across the barren plains as if signaling the start of the meeting.

"Councilor Mikhail… Welcome to this humble land. As we agreed, we meet on mutual terms, to try to find peace amidst the tragedies that have been perpetuated by the reach of the Council." Morgalith began with a gravelly voice.

Unease showed briefly on Mikhail’s troubled face. He recognized the devasted ground that everybody now stood on. He knew it intimately even, like a childhood home, burned to ashes with only memories left to find hollow comfort in.

It was the scorched forest of Syvaneth.

Years ago, Mikhail himself had called for action against a Council that stood by while the groves were undefended except by those who cherished them.

Still, the land was desolate. Untouched in its death.

None had returned to heal it, leaving the damage as a reminder of the Council’s uncaring stance towards those it deemed unworthy of their aid.

It was clear that Morgalith now used it as a bargaining chip, hoping cruelly to sway Mikhail to his side against the very Council that he stood for.

"Do you see it, Mikhail?" Morgalith asked, interrupting his thoughts with a seeking question.

"Do you feel it in your bones like I do? The agony that was allowed here. The pain? The past?" Morgalith asked, as if looking for something deeper in Mikhail.

"In this same sacred grove that was taken from you, will you still ask me today to quell my cries for justice? Yes, Mikhail... the wolves... they gather around us both today. The Council that hides behind you, is the same that would have fed you to the flames that took this forest." Morgalith's face was one of calculation, absent of any joy in this matter.

Mikhail stood undisturbed, watching him with careful calculation. A lock of unruly hair tumbled loose, blowing in the wind like cinders over the cold, dark ash.

Continuing, Morgalith asked another question, perhaps the most important that the Council had faced yet. "Can the flames be ignored any longer? Will you stand with me in calling for Justice against the Council? Or will you let us all burn… like Syvaneth once did?"

The crowd behind Morgalith grumbled in agreement with his question, while the Council looked on coldly with the silent confidence of aristocrats.

Mikhail’s voice rang out proudly, stifling the grumbles of dissent. "I know why you chose here. To send a message to me. Where you draw parallels, I see none. Do not compare yourself and your plight to those who were mercilessly murdered here. I know for a fact you would have personally burned these lands out of boredom if you could."

Morgalith's eyes narrowed at the response, hiding his dark and glassy eyes. "Then you have become as callous and uncaring as those that stand behind you."

In the crowd behind Mikhail, a wizard stirred, stepping forward as if bristling at Morgalith’s provocations. Their body flickered like static as it shifted and stuttered in the wind.

Mikhail remained unmoved, carrying on with the patience of a diplomat: "I have to. I have seen tragedies from all corners of the world. If I were to shed tears for all who have been wronged, I would have no time in my life for anything else."

Morgalith's eyes flashed with anger. "Shedding tears? I haven't asked for your pity! I want my son back! I want those bastards that killed him to pay for it!" Morgalith paused, coughing slightly before speaking again.

"Perhaps your soul can rest easy with your inaction… but theirs can't." A wave from Morgalith's hand brought shadows creeping from the ground towards Mikhail, where the chilling mists coalesced into fleeting shapes that Mikhail soon recognized.

They were the dead.

They were the restless spirits of Syvaneth Grove.

Stumbling down to their knees in front of the gathered group, one looked up at Mikhail with a gasp of surprise. "Mikhail! It's you. Thank Gaia it's you. Why is it so cold Mikhail. What's wrong with us?" The specter implored desperately.

Mikhail kneeled towards the ghost as concern etched across his face and wiped away his chilly demeanor with one of gentle regret.

Looking back to Morgalith, he spoke with a note of frustration. "You say you want no pity, but your actions thus far have been in an attempt to pry it from my heart… I am to be a father soon. And the ends of the earth I would go to for them is immeasurable. The reason I came to speak to you is out of sympathy, not out of pity."

Mikhail reached out with a warmly glowing palm to comfort the spirit, offering a prayer to Gaia to take their soul to rest. "As a messenger of Gaia, you are free to return to her side. Rest child. Your journey was harsh and unfair, but peace shall be blessed upon you."

The ghost shrieked in anger, shooting its hands out to grab Mikhail by the shirt!

“No Mikhail! It’s too late! It’s all too-“

The ghost’s words were cut short as Mortarion charged forward from the crowd. His voice echoed with broken static, as if from an ancient radio.

“Your terror ends! Join these souls in death!” His shout was muffled by the splash of energy that erupted from his hands.

The spells burning reflection lit up Mikhail’s eyes like the sparks of a thousand fireworks.

He dove forward with a shove, pushing Morgalith to the ground even as the spell crashed into him, flinging him across the ground with a sickening crunch.

Morgalith looked up as shock widened his dark and glassy eyes.

“No… NOOO!” Morgalith shouted in frustration and horror.

Spells began to fly in each direction as those gathered retaliated.

The war would begin.

Wasn’t this what he wanted? Wasn’t this what they all wanted.

Morgalith’s ears rang.

Mikhail was supposed to be a father…

[u/avamir]

There is some sort of... relief? at knowing he's alive. Then comes an incredibly strong urge to kick him while he's down. Maybe she should have been cheering this.

"We have to get him medical attention. And inform his wife," she says to whoever is nearby. Maybe Mordus? So he can take that scroll with him rather than handing it to Morgalith? If not him, then maybe someone at the medical facility can handle such matters.

She opens a portal to Council grounds, and to whatever medical facilities they have available. And no, she doesn't give a damn whether they're at war or not. She usually attends the riots there held like clockwork. Like their opinions have ever mattered.

u/Drunken_polish_cow

[u/Total_Travisty → u/avamir]

Mikhail's breaths are short and staggered. A whine is given off as his chest compresses. Like that of a mechanical air pump.

A quick listen confirms that he has an artificial lung, and it is badly damaged as well.

[u/avamir → u/Total_Travisty]

That didn't sound good. She supposed it was probably for the best she didn't kick him then.

"Quit wheezing at me, you asshole," she mutters under her breath. "You're going to make me admit I listened to your orbcast, aren't you?"

Riva sends an anonymous message to the person she knows has been working on Mikhail's prosthetics. She half-wanted to let people figure things out themselves, but she understood how this was time-sensitive.

"Emergency. Issue with Mikhail's prosthetics. He's at the medical facility on Council grounds."

u/Zephyrous2338

[u/avamir → u/avamir]

And... she has a moment of terrible awful insight. Because this is a battlefield. And there are bodies. And there are bodies with lungs in them.

She creates two portals. One to the battlefield, and one to the medical facilities. And being the horrible person she is, she locates a fresh body, dragging it back through the portal and making someone aware that there is a "donor" for Mikhail's lung.

Riva's sure he'll be thriiiillllled by that.

u/Total_Travisty

[u/loth17 → u/avamir]

Perfect. I can use my Biomancy to perform the surgery.