Menace of the Orichalcos

Chapter 1 | The Reclamation of Evil

"Goodnight dear." Dartz said, giving his daughter Kriss a parting kiss. She hugged him with all the gratefulness one could have for having her father returned to her a normal man, and gave a merry laugh as she then gamboled off to her room to sleep.

Dartz gave a considering smile. His daughter was now in her late teens, full of innocence and maturity; one couldn't ask for a better combination in a young person. The King of the Atlantians set aside the aqua-colored book he'd held in his hands, and rose from his chair. With a great desire to see the night's sky, he walked toward the over-sized archway that led out onto the palace veranda.

As Dartz stepped out onto the marble, metal-accented veranda, the city of New Atlantis stretched out before him. Dartz smiled: now that the city was rebuilt --having been arranged much differently than it had been in ages passed-- it looked almost normal. All the evening lights were burning with a soft glow. Yet then Dartz frowned, for here membered he was one of the main reasons it had come to such ruin in the first place. By his hand the Orichalcos' first victims had been the citizens of Atlantis themselves.

'It wasn't the Pharaoh,' thought Dartz , 'It wasn't he that was the evil one . . . It was I. I was the first to become a vessel for the vile power of the Orichalcos.' He squeezed his eyes shut, curling his fingers into fists. 'Somehow, all those ages ago, I came to believe that it had come to help us. But now I see it only wanted to possess us, control us. Slowly draining us of our souls that it might become an unstoppable power!'

Dartz lowered his hands to his sides, and looked upward to the half-moon glowing brightly in the hazy night's sky. "And what of the Pharaoh?" he said in a low tone, "I tried to claim him for the Orichalcos. I did everything in my power to weaken him. I persecuted him for his mistakes, lied to him and told him he was something he wasn't. And when I joined with the Leviathan, we even swallowed him alive!"

Dartz shook his head; all these events seemed like some horrific nightmare now. "But in the end," Dartz concluded, "The Pharaoh only became stronger, by facing up to what he had done and rising above it. . . By his shear will alone I was defeated. His heart is so strong. I wonder, would he have succumb to the Orichalcos had he been King of Atlantis in my place?"

Dartz paused in pensive thought as he looked down at the city once more. "Nevertheless, we both used the power of the Orichalcos, and both came to the same conclusion. . . That siding with Evil never leads anywhere, but to misery and death eternal."

'Misery and death?'

Dartz heard a voice speak out clearly in his mind, a voice other than his own; it was neither male nor female, but it WAS.

'Greetings my most faithful servant. I have returned to you, because you were the only one who was ever able to accomplish anything for me.'

Dartz jerked away from the veranda railing. "No," he said breathlessly, "You-! Who are you?" He dared not take a guess.

'Ooh Dartz, do you not recognize your Master? Can you not feel my presence moving within your body?'

"No! You're the Orich-!" Dartz's hands clapped over his mouth; he dared not allow himself to speak the name of the Seal.

'Yes,' spake the voice, 'It is I. I have come to you because I desire to ingest the wealth of souls that exist on this planet. Even now I am aware of the multitude of human beings who walk this Earth. So keenly am I aware that I can almost taste them, the number of their souls is so great!'

Dartz was rigid, unmoving, having backed into the outer palace wall, hands still pressed tightly over his lips. 'This can't be happening! This can't be happening!'

'You forget, I am inside you, so I am privy to your every thought.'

'Why have you returned to bring me misery Soul Eater? Haven't I suffered enough at your hands?' demanded Dartz.

'Suffered? Do you believe you greatly suffered when you served me? Hmm. . .' The voice seemed to drift with mild consideration, 'Yeess, many suffered. All those, in fact, who became entrapped in my Seal at the end of each contest. They screamed SO as their souls were ripped from their bodies. But they could do nothing! HA HA! And when their life-forces brush against me I seized them! Seized them with all the fervor of a starving vagabond, and engulfed them! OH!' the voice almost tittered with delight, 'You don't know what it's like to feel a soul squirming within you! Twisting and reeling as it struggles to be free-! Its every movement only aiding to drain its energy into yourself. OH, the feeling!' the voice laughed, 'I will claim all human life-energies as my own! YES! MY OWN!'

'NO! Leave me you mad thing!!' Dartz cried out from his mind, 'Leave me! I want no part of your Evil! I don't want to collect souls for you! Not again!'

The voice paused, and growled. 'You forget who your Master is, Dartz. I WILL rise, and be whole! And you will help me. For you see, when you gathered for me the Duelist Soul, I was nearly able to rise as a Phoenix from the ashes and become a tangible being. Instead you allowed the Leviathan to be destroyed.' the Orich paused, its anger rumbling through the blood in Dartz veins, 'Of course you know why I gave you the Leviathan? I did NOT give it to you to be the ultimate weapon in your arsenal, an act in which you seemed all too eager to revel! NO, I only created that great beast as a formidable holding tank for all the captured souls.' The Orich was almost talking like an enthusiastic school teacher. 'The truth is, I fully intended to destroy the Leviathan myself, and drain each and very soul from it. That is, once it had accomplished its task.'

Dartz eyes widened, his brow creasing. 'What?'

'I was your ultimate weapon Dartz, but you persisted in underestimating my abilities. You thought my talents lay only in capturing souls to mount on your pretty wall? If you would have only asked, I would have done so much more to help you.' the Orich sighed, 'However, when I saw that your plans, although being slow were indeed effective, I got careless and allowed myself to fall into the simplistic role of laying forth my Seal. I didn't want to waste all your effort besides.'

The voice went silent for a moment, long enough for Dartz to wonder whether he had imagined the whole visitation or not. 'No, you do not imagine me.' said the voice at last, dashing all Dartz's hopes, 'I will be whole. Only this time things will be different. The strongest souls -those who managed to elude my capture- I will take first! I will go after whomever I choose! All who have used my power will serve me, will be mine, and YOU are no exception!'

The Spirit of the Orichalcos lunged upward through Dartz body, clamping down on his mind like a vice. Only then did Dartz's hands fall away from his mouth; his muscles were burning, his brain-! He screamed.

'And once I am able to merge with the power of the Sun, this planet will be no more, for the life that dwells therein will belong to me! AHA HA HA!' At once, the Seal of the Orichalcos appeared on the ground beneath the Atlantian's feet, caging Dartz within its Seal. But it was not green as it had been before; its venomous light shone as a blazing crimson across the palace.

"No! Please! NO!" Dartz cried desperately, "My daughter, my people! No! Stop!!" But Dartz's cries fell on deaf ears. At once a shaft of red light shot upward into the night's sky, the blast so strong it stole the air from his lungs.

The red column of light shone with such a virulent hue, the city of New Atlantis looked bathed in blood. Doom had been declared over the citizens below, and from that point on, New Atlantis would be Dead Atlantis.

A monstrous Seal appeared in the sky overhead, hovering over the whole of the city. The eyes of the Atlantians widened in fear. "The Seal! It's the Seal!" they gasped. "No, it can't be!" Many fingers pointed. "It comes from the palace!" There was a collective gasp, and then a woman screamed. "The Orichalcos- The ancient evil–! It has returned!" "No!"

A young girl standing on the farthest street corner, looked toward the palace with tears glistening in her eyes. "Sire Dartz-!" she moaned, "The Orichalcos has come to reclaim him!"

Panic broke in the streets and spread through the citizens like wild fire; they ran pell-mell, falling over each other in their attempt to gather their loved ones and flee toward the sea that surrounded them on every side. But the Seal wouldn't let them escape. Calling its new form Vehemence Red, the Orichalcos dropped its barrier over the city so that those who had reached the docks suddenly found themselves hopelessly trapped behind it. The children were squealing in fear, unable find solace as they clutched at their parents.

The young girl on the street corner hadn't moved, even though her fellow Atlantians moved in futile chaos all around her. She only stared toward the palace, crying and crying. "Oh Lady Kriss," she whispered, "I'm so sorry."

With its Seal surrounding the city, the Orichalcos could sense the peoples' fear and loathing, and smiled. Gathering still more power from the light shaft it held around Dartz, the Orichalcos fed the energy straight into the Seal. There was a collective scream, hideous to hear, as the people of Atlantis suddenly collapsed. Wherever they had been standing, they fell like broken puppets, so that the streets were soon strewn with their bodies; their souls were gone.

"AHA HA HA HA!" The great Seal faded, and the light around Dartz quivered, slowly absorbing into him. Then his eyes opened, as if opening for the first time. He raised his head, and the iris of his right eye glared red, as red as the new Seal.

A gasp sounded forth behind him. Dartz turned, and his eyes fell on the horrified face of his daughter. Kriss' eyes were wide, her body trembling; she had been spared because of her proximity to her father. "Hello, my dear," said the King of Atlantis, as a smile most wicked curved his lips, "Come give your daddy a hug." He opened his arms to her.

With a shriek Kriss ran back into the palace. Dartz laughed; he threw his head back, his mouth wide as a cavern, and laughed. Indeed, the Orichalcos had spared Dartz's daughter from its own savagery so that Dartz himself could take her soul; an act that would both prove his loyalty and sufficiently harden his heart.

Dartz strode into the palace to find his daughter, no longer the kind Atlantian who had put his heart and soul into rebuilding Atlantis, no longer the kind father Kriss adored. No, he was the Orichalcos embodied. And he wouldn't be the only one.

—End of Chapter 1—