Jess Lebow - The Darksteel Eye

Behind them, Bosh beat the metal devices into the ground. He kicked holes in their hides and tore their insides out. He smashed their vision crystals, blinding them before he dented in their heads, and he ripped their steering sails off. Without them, the levelers could only turn right, and they spun in place, looking like ballerinas dancing a deadly ballet on the battlefield.

Towering above them all was the Kaldra Champion. With each of his great magical fists he smashed a leveler flat. With each of his feet he stomped them into foil.

It was a massacre of titanic proportions. For each victim these killing devices had claimed on the surface of Mirrodin, the elf, goblin, golem, and champion visited five blows upon their heads. The battlefield rang with the screeching of metal, and the ground was piled with debris.

The fighting stopped. The levelers, usually fearless and unrelenting, retreated. Behind them, the gates to Panopticon lay open, and a pair of figures emerged. One was bipedal. His skin shone brilliantly under the glare of the mana core.

The other walked on all fours, not like a wolf or a lion, but more like a spider with only four legs. Unlike his counterpart, this one did not sparkle or reflect the blinding light. Instead he looked a pale blue, as if he were made of flesh instead of metal.

As the pair marched toward them, Glissa recognized the shorter, two-legged creature. “Malil.”

The other bore a striking resemblance to the metal man. Not in his body or even his face-for this creature had six eyes, each covered with a deep blue lens-but in his mannerisms. They were like a father and his son. Each looked different, but both came from the same lineage, carrying the same build, the same set of ancestors-and the same scars.

The levelers parted, and the two creatures stopped a handful of steps from Glissa and her companions.

“I have watched you for so very long, Glissa,” said the spindly legged creature. “At times I have wondered if we would ever meet face to face. Now here you are.”

Glissa gripped her sword. “Everyone seems to know me, but who are you?”

The creature lowered his head and front legs in an elaborate bow. “I am the Guardian of Mirrodin, keeper of all you see.” He stood up. “You may call me Memnarch.”

Something inside Glissa snapped, and she leaped forward, covering the distance between her and Memnarch in two great bounds. With a howl, she hurled her blade at the crablike creature, driven by more than strength or speed, but by the hatred she had harbored for this man since her parents’ death.

Her steel blade whistled, and Malil lunged forward, trying to get between her and Memnarch, but he was too late. The elf’s fury was swift, and the sword connected with one of the Guardian’s legs.

With a great creak and a loud pop, Glissa’s weapon clove through the joint, and the six-eyed creature listed to his left.

Time stopped. A cathartic release rushed through Glissa’s whole body, grabbing her by the spine and shaking every part of her, from top to bottom. This was the moment she’d been living for. This was her revenge, and she’d struck the first blow. Happiness and grief warred with each other, and tears formed in her eyes. Justice was near.

There was a spine-tingling screech, and Memnarch pulled back, waving his hands in the air.

Glissa was lifted from the ground by an invisible force and thrown back. The world blurred. Wind rushed in her ears, and the elf crashed into the ground a hundred paces away from where she had been standing.

Memnarch lifted himself up, rising to the full height of his long, spindly legs. “How dare you?” he shouted. Raising his hand again, he lifted Glissa from the ground with an invisible, magical force, letting her dangle in midair. “I am your god . You should worship me.”

“There is no god in Mirrodin.” Glissa kicked and struggled, but it was no use, she was held fast.

“Facts are fact, no matter if you believe them or not.” Sidling over on his three good limbs, Memnarch looked her straight in the eyes. “That is inconsequential. You have something I want.”

Glissa glared at him. “You took everything I had when you killed my family.”

Memnarch titled his head. “Not everything.” He grabbed the floating elf’s chin, examining her face. “I do not know where the planeswalker spark resides, but it is enough that I have you.” Turning around he found Malil. “Take her to the containment cell.” He looked back at the goblin and the golem. “Kill the others.”

Slobad started jumping up and down. “Smash him!” he shouted.

In a flash the Kaldra Champion swooped in. Malil jumped in front of Memnarch, putting himself between the Guardian and the Champion.

Raising his greatsword, Malil charged the construct. His blade connected then bounced away, having done no damage to the magical avatar.

With a swipe of its hand, the Kaldra Champion knocked Malil back against the wall of Panopticon. His body made a clang as it impacted, then he slid to the ground, disappearing from view behind a pile of ruined levelers.

The avatar moved in on Memnarch, raising his fists, ready to smash the Guardian.

Memnarch placed his hands to his forehead. A beam of brilliant blue mana shot from his eyes. The magical energy swirled around and around the towering Champion. With each revolution, the light spread out, like thread unwinding from a spool, and it surrounded the Champion in a giant sapphire egg.

The mana solidified, and the Kaldra Champion disappeared, swallowed whole by a throbbing blue sphere.

Glissa dropped slowly to the ground, her hopes of bringing justice to her parents’ killer fading.

The giant egg cracked, and the hardened shell dropped away, cascading to the ground in a shower of tiny blue bits. Inside, the Kaldra Champion still stood, seemingly unharmed.

“You claim there is no god here, Glissa,” said Memnarch. “Perhaps this will change your mind.” He looked up at the immobile Champion. “Seize her.”

The Kaldra Champion turned on Glissa. With its magical palms outstretched, it lurched forward, grasping at the elf. Its hand slapped the ground just as Glissa leaped away, just barely missing being smashed.

“Careful,” shouted Memnarch. “We need her alive.”

Glissa scampered behind a broken leveler. The Champion knocked it aside-sending it spinning through the air and floated forward, looming over the elf.

Glissa looked up at the magical construct she had placed so much hope in. It floated there, ready to snatch her up. Nothing in this world turned out as it should. Nothing she had been told since her childhood had been true. She had placed her trust in something that had been untested, and now she was paying the price.

There was nothing that could be counted on, nothing worth trusting. If she lived through this, she promised herself, she would trust no one but herself-ever again.

The Kaldra Champion reached again for the elf. Glissa backpedaled, but her heel caught on something. It was Pontifex’s hoverer, and she tripped over it. The Champion’s hand closed down around her. Closing her eyes, she prepared to be squashed-or worse.

A long second passed. Nothing happened.

Opening her eyes, Glissa saw the Kaldra Champion being dragged backward away from her. Standing at the base of the Champion’s lower body, straining with all of his might, Bosh had both of his arms wrapped around the magical creature, and he pulled it away from her.

Though Bosh was only a third of the Kaldra Champion’s size, he still had the strength to be a formidable opponent. The golem yanked hard, twisting the Champion’s body and hurling it toward Panopticon. The magical construct flew through the air, landing on the ground several meters shy of the tower’s wall.