Mini-Grand 5111 [Round 3: Menagerie]

Originally posted on MSPA by Ixcalibur.

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“Stupid.” Rannus snapped to himself, the first thing he did upon arrival in this new locale.

Has he been paying attention to the reactions of the others maybe he might have caught some telltale sign upon Batman’s face, an indicator that he had not followed or cared to follow the archmage’s discussion on the mechanics of the magical fog. He ought to have stopped him somehow. It was not that he objected all that much to Batman’s sacrifice, just that without the death of the beast’s summoners the pattern would inevitably repeat itself. The only question was how long it would take before something new was created to terrorise that poor town. Batman had bought them time, but at the same time made it so much more difficult for Rannus to save the citizens of Greenport. After the recent string of disasters Rannus really needed a win, if only to boost his flagging self-confidence.

However trying to accomplish such a feat here was going to be even tougher than before; the first thing that struck him about this round was the distinct lack of mana. This world was more akin to the first they had been taken to; it was not a world that functioned through the use of magic and that was going to severely limit his capabilities. He glanced around the new location. It was a maze of transparent cells with crowds of various different species gathered around them. Inside the cells were strange and unusual creatures with hundreds of eyes or their young nesting in pouches in their cheeks or whatever. The only real difference that Rannus could see between the creatures contained in the enclosures and those staring at them were their size and the fact that they looked somewhat less presentable. Alien kids goggled at the unusual creatures and there was a generally pleasant background noise as the various species enjoyed themselves.

Underfoot the floor was a surprisingly authentic gravel path, and here and there were trees and brick buildings; whoever had made this place had really been trying to go for the authentic look, the transparent cells non-withstanding. However the thing that really caught Rannus’ attention was the walls and ceiling. The entire zoo was enclosed within a massive transparent dome; here and there throughout the zoo it was possible to pick out a couple of people just staring up in wonder at the twinkling expanse of stars that lay beyond.

Rannus was rather grateful that the zoo was not currently in the grip of some form of major disaster in the same way that the previous rounds had been. He was not sure that in the current circumstances he would have been able to coordinate both threats at once. He was going to need all of the mana he had drawn with him in order to save the town. His way would hardly be as heroic as what Batman had done, or as impressive, but with luck it would have a more lasting effect than the crimefighter’s noble sacrifice could achieve alone.

Rannus weaved his way through the crowds without much in the way of incident until he found himself at the edge of the dome looking out upon a blue and orange planet in close proximity to the space station. Rannus had never seen a sight like it, and for a moment he was stunned. His world was an elemental realm, it wasn’t the kind of place that had planets; what he was seeing was something he had never even contemplated before. But as wowed as he was and as much as he would have liked to contemplate how this world might have worked he didn’t have the time. As he stared at the unfamiliar world before him somewhere back in the town another awful monster could have been forming.

At that thought he brushed away his wonder at this world and focused upon the task that needed doing. Whereas in the previous round he had been able to perform magic with little more than a thought and a flick of one his wrists, here he thought it prudent to utilise those techniques he had developed in his home world, in the hope of wringing every last drop of potency from the magic that still clung to him. Quickly he snatched a large pebble from the gravel path and with one nail he scratched a series of runes into its surface, whilst his other hands moved through the air in a complicated series of gestures. He chanted under his breath, a series of words that were not words but thoughts or ideas, given power in their vocalisations. In the emptiness beyond the dome a hole opened up and through it there was a swirl of fog; the heart of the tempest he had accidentally created. Immediately the fog began to pour through the portal and into the void of space.

There were already a couple of bemused zoo-goers staring at Rannus, due to his unusual actions (some of them had decided that he was some kind of entertainment put on by the zoo). However as the portal opened that bemusement turned to worry. He glanced around at the couple of aliens that were looking at him and brushed them off “It’s okay, I know exactly what I am doing.” He told them. When he turned his attention away from the concerned crowd it became apparent that he had missed something in his moment of inattention, something distant moving through the rapidly dispersing cloud of fog. There was another glimpse of movement and then nothing.

And then something emerged from the fog, or rather somethings.

An entire flock of them moving without problem through the dead of space, straight towards them.