Disclaimer: I do not own Magic the Gathering nor Love Hina, I wish I did, but I do not. The first one is property of the math teacher and genius Richard Garfield and Love Hina is property of Ken Akamatsu.
A/N: This current fic is inspired in the Time Spiral expansion, which has a lot of time alteration, so expect a lot of chronological chaos in here.
Also I repeat, English is not may native language so there will be some mistakes. And it's hard to write a secon chapter.
Have fun.
Chapter I
After a long walk over the barren ground, Taro as he was named by the two beings was able to see a fortress, more accurately a small keep, with medium granite walls and before them several pointed logs forming a stockade; as he got closer the stench of dead rotting corpses in the stockade, he couldn't guess what kind of strange creature were the ones rotting in there, before he could try to guess their shape, the stench made more strong as they passed through the stockade.
Some growls were heard among it, and the rotting forms of what once could be a soldier, viashino or human rose from it, and soon a few more appeared, Taro was about to panic when one of the viashinos turned at him.
"They're ghouls, foul creatures revived by dark magics, they eat mostly the dead corpses, but once in a while they yearn for fresh meat" the viashino's facial expressions were similar that of a grin.
Taro gulped, it was almost evident for him that those two enjoyed making him have a really bad time, even though they were warnings, they sounded more like taunts.
"Open the gate!" roared the other to one soldier of his same race over the sentry tower, who after receiving his orders barked them to the guardians of the gate, who quickly removed the lock and opened the heavy metal door.
"About time you two showed up" growled one of the gate keepers, seemed taller and more dangerous than the other two thanks to his armor, and a scar in his left part of the face, with a patch where once he had an eye. "The ghouls are beginning to wake, and we don't want anymore of them"
"Then why can't you not just fight them?" asked Taro, soon realizing his mistake as the keeper gave him a glare with his only eye that could kill, his teeth grinding.
"It would be stupid" he stated "those things can infect you and with the supplies we have in here, you'll soon be one of them, but…" his expression turned into a smirk "if you offer to fight them, we shall give you an adequate burial, after killing your… undead self" Taro looked more nervous, it seemed that anyone he would meet, was having an strange pleasure in afflict him with fear.
"Keeper, where's Ot?" asked the other viashino.
"He's at the inn, should I tell him you require his presence?" laughed the keeper, swinging his sword ad he did so, he then turned to the other two keepers "Close the damn door!!! For the bey's sake!! You want us devoured? If so I'll send you immediately to the sliver's hive north of here!!" the other two guards quickly closed the door without hesitation, they knew their captain's rage was something to fear.
"Come Taro" ordered the first viashino "time you meet with one of your kin"
"Hai" he replied
"What was that?" the second one frowned.
"Yes, I'll come" he replied, cursing himself for making such a fool mistake as speaking, even one word only, in a strange language to them.
As the three of them walked through the outpost, Taro could see that long ago this was a prosperous city, but time and other factors turned into a rubble pile, even though, he could see the citizens, some of them human, some of them viashinos and other that he could not guess what they were.
"This city was once very successful human city, but during the Phyrexian wars, it was turned to rubble and has been left like this ever since" commented the first viashino, trying to break the ice.
"I see" replied Taro with a confused look. 'They haven't told me what's going on!!' he shouted to himself.
"We are here" replied the second one, as he opened the old wooden door of the inn, inside of it there were some humans, in a corner there were three goblins and behind them what Taro think it could be an ogre, the bartender, human also was at the bottom in the bar, while some waiters from diverse races walked through the inn taking their customers orders. Taro and the viashinos walked towards the table next to the goblins where a pale skinned man with armor was drinking quietly until the group got closer.
"Hey! Time for you to show, I was wondering if the sliver had already eaten you" he greeted loudly, his yellow eyes gave a warm sensation to anyone who approached, and also had a kind smile.
"Nah we were just wandering around" answered the first viashino "And found this" he pointed towards Taro.
"Hmm may I ask you from what village are you from sir?" he asked in the same tome, albeit a bit more formal.
"None, I was near my home when a lightning struck me and well… here I am" he answered nervously. "Without the fact that I was flying" he mumbled but the man heard him.
"Flying?" he asked "Aren't you a sorcerer or an artificer by the way?" he gave a curious look, for his clothes, he wasn't a warrior that was sure, he may be one of those strange artificers that existed long ago.
"No, actually I was sent flying by a punch" he chuckled.
"Did you provoked an ogre?" the man asked, laughing as the viashinos.
Keitaro was about to say no, to defend Naru, but all the times he was sent flying because of a mistake appeared in his mind, and made him feel anger, something that to our friend was practically new. "Well, you could say that" he chuckled, with an angered smirk on his face.
"I see… well, I think I got away from the theme… my apologies good man… but can you tell me where are you from?" the man took another sip of his beer.
"I think I may not be from this world" replied Taro.
"I see" he looked at the roof with a concerned expression 'Teferi's sacrifice wasn't enough… what a pity' he thought, then looked to his companions "Mind you if I buy you some drinks?" he offered.
"If you insist" replied the first viashino as he sat in the chair in front of the man, Taro sat near the first one and the second remained standing.
"Don't want to take a sit Skaargan?" he asked, pronouncing very carefully the name of the viashino.
"Nah, I'm fine on my feet as you can see" laughed Skaargan as he called with hand signs to a waiter; almost immediately a kobold who seemed the waiter approached.
"Whats you wants?" asked the pathetic little creature with a submissive tone. "Drinsks?"
"Are you a diviner or what?" mocked the man "Well it's obvious? You know… I am in a giving mood today, and because we just survived the third sliver strike wave… DRINKS FOR ALL!!" yelled the man, almost instantly cheered by all the presents.
"Muurgran" whispered Skaargan to the other viashino "Has our friend lost his mind? You know what happens when ogres drink…"
"It's the owners problem not ours! Don't you think brother?" he laughed, he then turned to Taro "Taro, you've been so quiet for a while, when we found you in the barrens you were speaking non-stop, is something wrong?" the viashino sounded concerned. Viashinos always had been reluctant to establish friendships with other species but actual times made them change, it was clear that now the won't survive standing alone.
"I've been thinking on my past" he gave a sad smile "how many times I've been trying to help and ended beaten, maimed because of a misunderstanding and the most…" Taro's voice broke, and a silent tear escaped from his left eye.
"Don't worry" said the man in a concerned tone "well you are in a new place so you can have a new life, no need to remember your past if you don't want to… no one will ask you that"
After a silent moment, the kobold returned with their drinks.
"Now drink and forget" ordered the three subjects in a cheery tone as the emptied their mugs in almost no time. Taro after doubting for a while joined them "and by the way… my name is Davion".
Meanwhile, the storm continued in Japan, and the girls couldn't go outside the building.
"I don't remember seeing this building before…" commented Kitsune "And I does not look like the rest of the Inn"
"I agree…" said a serious Kaolla, who caused a serious shock to the rest of the girls with her expression, she's never been that serious, then her expression suddenly changed and looked like the Kaolla of always "That's why I want to explore it!!!!" Every one in the room fell to the ground.
Anyway, the building drew the attention of every one in there, since it's architecture was quite different from the traditional Japanese buildings, and the strange metallic objects on the walls made it look even more strange.
"It could be dangerous…." Motoko commented, suddenly a buzzing sound came from one of the passageways "Stay here while I explore this place… I have the feeling that something strange resides here" then she looked ad Naru, who was in a very dark mood, and she decided to distract her mind "Naru-sempai… would you mind coming with me?"
Naru turned to look at Motoko, and she was about to say no, but some strange force made her accept, then she stood up, and followed Motoko quietly, still thinking about Keitaro, of what she'd done to him since the first day she arrives.
'I wonder if he hates me…' she asked herself, very concerned 'Nah… that pervert is a softie and would never hate any one of us…' she thought to comfort herself.
Motoko, on the other hand, was more concerned into finding the source of the sounds than worrying for Keitaron, nevertheless she still hope he would be fine.
The quiet walk was suddenly interrupted when a massive machine obstructed their way. The robot looked at Motoko and Naru, it's face had an intimidating look and Motoko was about to unsheathe her sword when the creature moved and kept doing what it was doing for a long time now, as if the girls didn't exist at all. Now they knew the origins of the sound, the creature emitted constant sonic pulses that formed a constant buzzing. Relieved to see that those creatures were not a menace, for the moment, Motoko was about to tell Naru to go back, but a distant groan made her change her opinion.
"Someone's there…" said Motoko as she moved faster towards the direction of the voice; Naru following her; after passing a few robots that did the same as the first one: ignore them, they found a golden metal door, despite this it looked that could be easily opened, but as Motoko found later, some strange force locked the door.
"It's been a long time… I've had a name once…" the voice told to itself, with a dry tone. "Now I'm this hideous thing… perhaps it's a punishment for my sins… Someone is there?" it asked.
"Who are you?" asked Motoko in a demanding tone "What are you doing here?"
The voice didn't reply, for a few seconds the hallways were covered in a sepulchral silence, and the door opened; Motoko entered first to the room, which had the appearance of a torture hall, in the bottom of it, she saw a hideous being, chained to the wall. Naru followed her, but after seeing the monster, she fell to her knees and could not help but vomit, she tried to shout but the voice didn't came out. The sight of the creature filled with fear Motoko's heart as Naru's. One of his arms was entirely mechanic, dripping some disgusting and fetid liquid from what it seemed veins over the black metal, the rest of his limbs were a combination of rotten flesh and metal, as the torso; half of it's face made him look almost human, the other half showed an empty eye socket, dripping the same disgusting substance.
The horrible creature rose his head, looking at the persons who entered recently. "It's been so long… since I saw one of my kind…." It said, with a sad expression "I was left in here… by my brother… I earned this… this is the cost of power…" the creature continued his monologue until Motoko asked who he was again.
"I… once had a name…" the creature responded "Mishra the prodigal artificer I was called…"
End Chapter I