Chapter 5 Danger

the group sat around the table in Nate's basement in complete shock and silence, trying to comprehend what was happening.

"What are we supposed to do?" Eddie asked.

"I don't know but I feel like we have to do something," Tom said.

"What exactly is that something?" Sylvia asked.

"What if we tried using our cards?" Amy suggested.

"There's no way we could be a zombie army!" Eddie yell hysterically.

"Well, at least not by ourselves," Tom said.

"That's it!" Nate yelled making everyone jump.

"What's it?" Amy asked.

"What if we ask the magic league to help us?" Nate said.

"You think they would?" Eddie asked.

"Worst case scenario they say no and we find someone else," Nate said reassuringly.

"They have practice at the school in a few minutes," Tom said, "if we hurry we can catch them before they start a match."

"Then let's go," Nate said packing his many decks. Everyone follow his example and piled in Nate's truck, it was a cramp tried but no one exactly cared at the moment.

After an about 20 minute ride, the five friends pulled up to the school. They all grabbed their cards and burst into the doors of the school. They ran up to the second floor and into Mr. Decker's room.

"Guys, we need your help!" Nate yelled throwing the door open without knocking and startling everyone. Not counting mr. Decker or Nate and his friends, there were 17 people in the study hall room and no one had started a practice match yet.

"What the hell Nate?" Sam yelled (yes, same Sam).

"Yeah, you're acting like it's the end of the world," said another member of the league.

"You have no idea," Tom said ominously.

"What are you talking about?" Mr. Decker asked.

"Check out the news," Sylvia said turning on the TV. No one could believe their eyes, and army of the Dead had laid waste to the entire state of New York in a matter of hours and they weren't stopping there.

"how is that possible?" Asked another member.

"I can tell you," called a deep gravelly voice that sent chills through everyone in the room.

Nate turned around to see a man with black hair, skin that look like copper, the same purple and gold clothing that the eternals will wearing, and a leathery cape that blew in the breeze even though they were inside. Looking closer the Man's eyes were yellow and orange with slits for pupils and his teeth were filed sharp but it looks natural. The man walked into the room and two eternals walked in with him as well as a man in a hooded black robe with his face completely obscured from view.

"Who are you?" Nate asked.

"You don't recognize me?" Asked the man.

"I think we will remember a man with snake eyes," Tom said.

"Not snake, dragon," the man corrected.

"Whatever, who are you?" Eddie asked.

"Perhaps you will recognize my name, Nicol Bolas," replied the man.

"that's impossible," Sylvia yelled, "Nicol Bolas is a mighty dragon that doesn't even exist, he's part of a game!"

"And what has your 'game' been doing this past week?" Bolas asked smugly.

"Came to life," Nate said stunned, "does that mean you came out of the game?"

"No, I am the other Planeswalkers existed long before your game, it came to life because of me," Bolas boasted.

"But, why are you human?" Sam asked.

"A side effect of your plane," Nicol Bolas sighed.

"So... What do you want?" Amy asked cautiously.

"I've been looking for soldiers to join my Planeswalker army and under my guidance, we will conquer the multiverse. I've been keeping an especially close eye on you Nate," Bolas continued.

"Me, why me?" Nate asked panicked, unable to comprehend that everything that was happening was real.

"Your skills are incredible, I've been watching you for almost a month now and you continue to impress me. I want you to be my second-in-command, and the rest of you will be welcomed into the ranks as well," Bolas offered.

Thailand in the room and no one dared to move. This lasted for several minutes until Nate finally spoke up.

"No way! Last time you lead an army you killed Domri and he was one of your servants! This shook the rest of the room out of their daze and while some were afraid they would die, others were ready to join Nate and his friends for a fight.

"Pity," Nicol Bolas sighed, "I had suspected you would put up resistance but I wanted to see if you would join me first. Oh well."

"I'll join you!" Nate and his friends turned around and saw Sam standing, deck in hand as if he were preparing for a match.

"Sam, what are you doing?" Nate asked him.

"I'm winning," Sam said flatly, "with Nicol Bolas' help I might finally be able to beat you."

"Sam, this is a bad idea!" Mr Decker said raising his voice, "get back here now!"

"silence weakling!" Bolas snapped, "Sam is making a very wise choice in joining me. Will anyone follow his example?"

"No! I won't let you take my students!" Mr. Decker yelled slamming his hand on his desk and standing up all in the same movement, "now leave before I make you!" No one had ever seen Mr. Decker like this before and it scared them. They knew he was seeing red and focused on Bolas.

"There is no way you could possibly defeat me," Bolas said chuckling to himself, "now then, who is coming with us?"

"Bolas, I challenge you to a match!" Mr. Decker screamed, "if you want my students you'll have to kill me first!"

Nicol Bolas smiled wickedly, "As you wish human, but let's go somewhere a bit more spacious. This room is far too small for a proper match."

the football field should have enough room, Sam suggested.

"Excellent," Bolas cooed, "Shall we?"

Bolas and his entourage turned around and headed for the field. Mr. Decker grabbed his deck box and followed, never loosing the look of pure hatred he was wearing. The high schoolers weren't far behind, completely silent. On the field, Nicol Bolas stood at the in zone and Mr. Decker stood at the 30 yard line ready to fight while all of the students sat in the bleachers, no one minding the October chill.

"Let's begin," Bolas said raising his left arm in front of him. On it was a gauntlet with three slots on the top of it, one had a deck but the others were empty, "Minion, give my opponent a gauntlet so he can 'play' too."

One of the eternals shambled forward with a large burlap sack until he got to where Mr. Decker was standing. The eternal opened the bag and reached inside, the bag was full of gauntlets, and handed one to Mr Decker.

"The right slot is for your deck, the middle for your graveyard, and the left is for exile," Bolas explained, "I'll go first to show you how this works. It wouldn't be fair if you didn't know how to play properly."

"I'm ready," Mr. Decker said in a low serious tone.

"Good. Then to start I will play an Island," Nicol Bolas held up the land card it glowed blue and disappeared, the corresponding symbol appeared over his head with a 1 above it, "I end my turn."

"I'll start with a Plains and end," Mr. Decker Record the white sun appearing above his head.

"I'll play a blood fell caves and gain 1 life than end my turn."

"I play a plane's and for one white and one other I summon a hero of precinct one," Mr. Decker watched in pure as the card turned into a white orb that floated in front of him and became a full-size hero of precinct one. "I end my turn."

"I played Gateway Plaza but I have to pay one to keep it on the field. I end my turn."

"I untap and play another planes. Then I will have hero of precinct one attack, dealing 2 damage."

"I take the two." The hero of Precinct one ran forward straight for the dragon. He then did one vertical slash and jumped backwards returning to Mr Decker. Bolas held his chest and pain and waited for it to subside.

"I end my turn," Mr Decker grinned smugly he knew he could win this.

"I plan emergency Zone, then for a black and three others I will summon an undead servant which comes in with a 2/2 black zombie creature token." the students watched in pure Fascination as the black orb of light floated forward and into the ground, the ground then began to crack where the orb had landed in an undead servant crawled out, followed by a zombie. "I end my turn."

"I play another planes and hero of Precinct one attacks."

"My zombie will block, they both die." two creatures struck each other simultaneously and fell dead. After about 3 seconds the hero of precinct 1 turn back into an orb of light and floated back to Mr. Decker, turning back into cards upon entering the graveyard slot while the zombie token just faded away, "Anything else you care to do teacher?"

Mr. Decker looked at his cards nervously, then glared at Nicol Bolas and mumbled "No."

"Good, I was growing tiresome. I will play another Island then for one blue and two others I will summon a Naga eternal," the blue orb rolled on the ground for a few inches, then started to leave behind a tail. the orb then took a Sharp 90 degree turn upwards and made a body that grew arms and a head. The light faded to show the Naga ready to fight, which she emphasized by drawing her two khopesh off of her back. "Then I will have my Undead servant attack for three."

the zombie shambled forward as Mister Decker frantically looked through his cards. "I have nothing," Mr. Decker said as the zombie rushed towards him. The zombie continued forward until it reached Mr Decker. It raised its armed and did a straight Jab into Mr. Decker's chest. he stumbled backwards from shock and pain only to fall onto his back. Nicol Bolas merely laughed.

"I end my turn."

Mr. Decker got up and walked back to where he was before the attack, "For one white and one other, I summon a fresh-faced recruit, and end my turn."

"In that case, I play an evolving Wilds, then I will tap and sacrifice it and search my deck for a basic land," a Jungle full of rocks, streams, marshes, and grassfield's appeared for a second before it sank into the ground, "I will find a mountain and put it onto the field tapped. Then for two black and three others I will summon a boneclad Necromancer," the black orb floated over and formed The Necromancer, "and when bone clad Necromancer enters the battlefield I can Exile a creature from any graveyard, your hero is exiled and I get a zombie." Mr Decker watched in horror as the Necromancer pointed his staff at him and hero of precinct one's card floated from his graveyard, it turned into a black orb of light, floated next to the Necromancer and into the ground for the zombie to climb out of. "And finally I have my Undead servant and Naga Eternal attack for a total of 6, I end my turn."

"I take the six," Mr. Decker mumbled under his breath, frantically looking through his cards for a solution. The undead servant to the single fast straight jab and jumped out of the way for the Naga to do two diagonal slashes forming in the X. There was no sign that Mr. Decker was hurt, no cut or torn clothing, no bleeding wounds, but when the attack was over, Mr. Decker dropped to both knees holding his chest and coughing up blood. The current score is Nicol Bolas 19, Mr. Decker 11.

Mr. Decker slowly stood up and looked pale, like he was about to throw up. "I will have fresh-faced recruit attack for two."

"My Necromancer will block, you're fresh-faced recruit dies and I take no damage." The recruit ran forward, sword at the ready, straight for bolus. The Necromancer jumped into the soldiers path and thrust his staff into the boy's throat while the recruits sword went through the Necromancer shoulder. "I end my turn."

Then to start off," Bolas said drawing his card, "for one red, I will summon a grim initiate," the Red Orb of light took its form as the purple and gold skeleton zombie holding his khopesh. "then for a blue and one other I will summon an augur of Bolas, when he enters the battlefield, I get to look at the top three cards of my library and reveal and instant or sorcery from among them, put it into my hand, and put the others on the bottom of my library. "The blue orb didn't change shape but grew as the merfolk appeared, his hands around the now translucent orb like a fortune teller. The auger then raised his hands to the sky moving the orb of him. The orb lit up for about 5 seconds and Faded, the auger moving back to his original position. "Then for one black and one other I will summon a Lazotep Reaver, and when Lazotep Reaver enters the battlefield I amass one," the black orb expanded and started to swirl like a portal, the Reaver jumping through and roaring, causing a zombie soldier to materialize on the field, "and finally I will have my Undead servant, Naga Eternal, and Bone clad Necromancer attack for a total of 11." The creatures slowly shamble halfway to where Mr Decker was standing and stopped as if waiting for something.

"I can't defend"! Mr. Decker said panicked. The two zombies and The Wizard then took off in a dead Sprint towards the frightened man. The boneclad Necromancer struck Mr. Decker with a sideways swipe of his staff, the Naga Eternal did two diagonal strikes forming an X with her two khopesh, and the undead servant did a single downwards strike with his arm reducing Mr. Decker's hp to 0 on turn 11. Mr. Decker fell to the ground as all the creatures turn back into orbs of light and floated back their respective players, returning to cards afterwards. There was complete silence as Nicol Bolas walked over to the teacher, knelt down and spoke. "What was that about killing you first?" Bolas picked up Mr. Decker's cards and put them into an empty deck box as he stood up, "Now then, Sam has decided to join me. Will anyone follow his example?"

natran to wear Mr Decker was lying and checked his pulse. "H - he's... dead!"

A few people walked forward and stood next to Bolas, some with the look of complete shock and horror on their faces, while the rest ran to Mr. Decker. Nate then surprised everyone, including himself, and rushed the dragon. With the two only being a few feet away, and Bolas still not quite used to is human body, Nate was able to take the deck box from the dragons grip and run back to his friends.

"Insignificant little welp!" Bolas roared, "you dare to challenge me?"

"Not by myself anyway," Nate said, fear in his voice. He then pulled six cards out of his pocket, five planes and a copy of ignite the beacon, "I hope this works."

"No, stop him!" Called the hooded man. One of the eternals in bolas' entourage ran towards Nate with its spear, aiming for his heart. But it was too late, Nate held the cards up to the sky and screamed, "ignite the beacon!" There was a sudden burst of energy around Nate, knocking everyone back except him, Bolas, and the hooded man. The burst was then followed by a pillar of light shooting into the sky, which exploded into the Planeswalker symbol, "Nicol Bolas is here!" Nate screened, "help us!" The symbol glowed a light blue and disappeared, but nothing else happened. The dragons burst into laughter, "Hahahaha, I don't know what your plan was but obviously you failed!"

"No you fool," the hooded man said with panic in his voice, "he just shot a distress beacon for every Planeswalker to see and he told everyone that you are here!" As if on que, Jace, Ajani, Tayo, Chandra, Jaya, and Nissa planes walked in only a few feet from the two groups.

"Who sent up the beacon?" Jace asked sternly, scanning the crowd.

"I did," Nate said the fear in his voice gone, replaced by hatred, "that is Nicol Bolas in human form." Nate pointed at Bolas knowing he accomplished what he set out to do.

"Human form?" Tayo ask, visibly confused.

"Hello Jace," Bolas said coldly, "did you miss me?"

"It is him!" Nissa said in disbelief.

"I can't believe it!" Jas said.

"Chandra, go tell the others we've found Bolas," Ajani instructed.

"Right," Chandra said planes walking away.

"You'll pay for what you did," Nate growled at the Dragon.

at that exact moment, two of needs classmates jumped onto the zombie eternals and held them down making the one drop the bag full of gauntlets.

"We must Retreat for now," called the hooded man, "gather around me!"

Bolas and those that joined him crowded around the hooded man as he cast a spell that caused them all to vanish.