Revival
(Revised Edition, January 2009)
by Cheezey
Epilogue
Far, far away, across the mists of space and time itself, a weak and battle-worn red cloaked figure opened his eyes. Mumm-Ra the Ever-Living could tell that he had been weakened, but he was not dead. He was still alive, and not in the afterlife. They couldn’t destroy me, he smugly thought as an evil smirk spread across his grotesque face. All three of those wretched swords combined their powers, and they still couldn’t destroy Mumm-Ra, the Ever-Living Source of Evil! He then looked around, wherever it was that he was, to see if his bride had also survived. Her form, wraithlike and transparent as she was now little more than a spirit, rested nearby unconscious.
Mumm-Ra would not have admitted it, but he was pleased to see that she survived as well. Although he did not particularly like her, she was bound to him, and he was glad to have familiar company in the new realm they found themselves in. It dismayed him that Ma-Mutt was nowhere to be seen, but his demonic dog had not been at the battle, either, and he hoped that once his powers had time to rebuild that he could summon his faithful familiar to his side once more.
And where would I be summoning my putrid pooch to, anyway? The bleak and rocky ground was nothing like any landscape he had seen in his thousands of years on First, Second, and Third Earth, or on New Thundera. The stormy sky above him seemed like one that was perpetually so rather than just as a phase of weather, and he saw little in the way of wildlife, plant or animal. The only sign of life that he saw was a twisted fortress in the distance that radiated an aura of power, pain, and evil.
The sound of a tired feminine groan next to him distracted him, and Mumm-Ra watched Torlei sit up slowly. She reached for her forehead, as though it hurt, only to find that it was insubstantial, and her crimson eyes widened in alarm. “My body…”
“It’s gone,” Mumm-Ra said. “Be glad that you were powerful enough that your spirit could withstand the power of the mighty sword.”
She came to his side, drifting more so than walking, as she got used to her new and strange state. “Does that disappoint you?”
“Would it make you insufferably annoying if I said no?” Mumm-Ra responded with more than a slight bit of sarcasm.
Torlei sneered back at him. “Charming as ever, even after a painfully sound defeat.” She surveyed their surroundings and frowned. She knew they were not anywhere on New Thundera, the Plundarrian Moons, or Third Earth. “Where are we?”
“Your guess is as good as mine.” He pointed to the evil structure in the distance. “But I suggest we find out, and start here. It’s a place of great evil, and perhaps we will find something of use to us there.” Torlei gave a nod of agreement, and the two of them closed their eyes to focus what remained of their dark powers to find the most powerful nexus of evil energy, and then teleported themselves there.
They materialized in what appeared to be a laboratory of some sort, although entirely alien in design to them. An altar, also foreign in structural particulars but that bore symbols familiar to them both as disciples of the Ancient Spirits of Evil, was in the chamber. Before it stood a figure in a brown hooded robe chanting in a foreign tongue what the two undead beings immediately recognized as a spell calling to the same masters they served. A moment later, the figure straightened and turned to face them. She—at least they presumed it was female by the pitch of her voice and the contours of her face—had bright yellow eyes lacking pupils upon a hideous face of bluish-green warty skin, and a twisted smile that showed fangs. They knew instantly that she was a witch of the Ancient Spirits of Evil.
“You’ve come,” she said in a shrill voice that reminded them both of Luna, not a pleasant reminder or comparison, accurate as it was. “The Ancient Ones have granted my plea to provide me with lesser evil spirits to assist me in my endeavors.”
Both Mumm-Ra and Torlei grimaced at being called “lesser evil spirits,” but given their current state and lack of power after their defeat, they supposed that was how they looked and appeared to one who had not known them in their glory, and certainly an apt statement if they were being compared to the Ancient Spirits of Evil themselves. “You have summoned us here?” Mumm-Ra questioned the witch. “Why?”
“I prayed to the Ancient Ones that they would send me a supernatural advisor, one that can help me make my magnificent creations of robot and machine be more effective against the mighty robot that stands in the way of my king’s, and our empire’s, victory against them. I prayed for guidance and they answered in the flames of my altar fire that ever-living beings would be sent to my side to assist, from some other time and some other part of the universe. Are you them?”
“So this is payback for our failure,” Torlei grumbled. “They guided us here rather than let the wretched magic sword destroy us. I suppose we should be thankful, although being a glorified servant is hardly something to relish.”
“Indeed, but we must bide our time and do as they wish for us to regain our strength,” Mumm-Ra replied, and then answered the witch. “You asked for help, and we have been sent to aid you. We can provide that, but tell me, witch, what can we expect in return for your service? Anyone who knows the ways of our masters knows that none of us does something for nothing.”
The hooded witch cackled. “Simple. If you do your job well enough, the Ancients displeased enough to send such powerful souls as yours to my aid will consider the insult atoned for. In short, you’re working for brownie points,” she said, and picked up the blue cat that weaved about her feet. “So what do you say, Mumm-Ra, Torlei? Do we have a deal?”
“You know our names?” a surprised Torlei said.
Nodding, the witch said, “The Ancient ones have told me all about you and your mishaps on the realm of New Thundera. Perhaps once you aid me, I can help you return to seek revenge in a time not long after you left. From what I’ve heard, you must be aching for it.” She scratched her cat behind the ears. “Funny, felines giving you such trouble. I’m rather fond of my kitty.”
Mumm-Ra grimaced at the sarcasm in her tone, but chose to bite his tongue for the time being. Exchanging looks with Torlei and seeing that she was of a similar mindset as he, that for a time their “helper” role might not be so bad, he smiled back at the one they had been sent to assist. As an ever-living, he had all the time in the universe to have his revenge, and considering his and his bride’s dire straits, what did they truly have to lose? Mumm-Ra smiled at the robed figure before him. “My dear witch, you’ve got yourself a deal.”
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