[JT] Testament of Metal

[JT's intro: So I am going to do something I haven't done yet, share some of my other writing.  I used to write short stories all the time, and I constantly have them swimming around in my head.  I decided  I wanted to put this one into text though since it revolves around my favorite Planeswalker and what I hope happens with him next.  I know it won't, but I can only hope.]

The rain fell in sheets and the wind howled through the trees as two figures flew through the forest, running so fast that their shadows blurred and streaked behind them.  "Get back here!" Shouted the figure in the rear, launching a wave of black mana from his metallic right arm, lightning arcing between the Filigree.  The figure in the lead slashed his left hand behind his back, creating a blade of white mana that sliced through the darkness, both natural and aethereal.  Damnit, Bolas!, he thought.  You knew this would happen... Tezzeret sneered as he saw his spell split in two, striking nearby trees instead of his target. 

MTG card art: Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas

The lead runner continued to sprint ahead, unphased by the death magic he had just avoided.  He lifted his right hand in front of his iron-masked face and clenched it into a fist.  An aura of blue mana engulfed it.   Just beyond the haze of blue energy, the runner could see the edge of the forest and smirked.  He leaped into the air, his momentum carrying him forward through the treeline and over the sheer cliff just beyond it.  He began to plummet towards the tumultuous sea bank below.

Tezzeret broke through the trees moments later, skidding to a halt at the edge of the cliff.  Steadying his own heartbeat from the panic, he looked below.  "Fool!  You squander your rebirth!" He spat.  It was then he noticed what the other was doing.  As he fell, the masked runner punched his blue-aured fist below him and released it, both the fist and the aura.  Below him formed a disk of filigree large enough to stand on.  The wind resistance slowed him enough - just enough - to buy time.  He concentrated more mana into the disk and it began to glow the same blue that his fist had.  He continued to slow, and suddenly stopped.  He tilted his head up at Tezzeret, and shifted his weight a bit.  The aura around the disk intensified slightly, raising him back up to the cliff.  He continued upward until he was staring down at Tezzeret, and came to a halt.  "Tell master that if he-"

He was cut off by a bolt of blue and black mana that Tezzeret whirled up and blasted from the palm of his filigree arm.  He clenched his flesh and bone left hand into a fist and grasped his wrist with his metallic right hand.  More blue and black mana began to swirl around his fist as he reared back and then shot it forward.  Instead of a wave of energy, this time shot forward a bird made of both feather and filigree.  The strix blurred through the air, it's metal wings slicing through the sheets of torrential rainfall.

MTG card art: Baleful Strix

The being in the air regained his balance with enough time launch a small cloud of death magic of his own.  It dissipated itself in the downpour, turning into acid rain, drenching the bird and melting away what little flesh it had.  The strix, having lost it's consciousness, sputtered in the air then plummeted into the waves below.  Tezzeret looked up in disbelief as the figure above him reached both hands up to his helmet and removed it.

MTG card art: Venser, the Sojourner

Venser started again; "As I was saying..."  He held his helmet under his right arm while lifting his left hand up a foot away from his face.  Plumes of blue, white, and black mana danced from his fingertips, unabated by the rain.  "You  can tell our master," the venom in his tone at the mention of the being who had given him this filthy half-existence stung through the wind; Venser silently hoped that the dragon Nicol Bolas himself could hear him from whatever plane he was on at the time, "that if he wants me, he can come and get me himself because his servant..." Venser smirked as a glint of malice shined through his eyes.  "just won't cut it!"

He launched his left hand forward, shooting a wave of three magics at Tezzeret with such force that he couldn't move away in time.  The magic exploded as it collided, sending rubble and dust into the air.  Tezzeret hacked and coughed as he realized Venser had aimed for the ground below him.  Even though the airborne debris was dying fast due to the rain, he felt the ground beneath him begin to shake.  Out of instinct, he leaped back toward the treeline; as he landed, the ground where he had been standing crumbled and toppled down the cliff into the waves below.  There was a loud sizzling in the air that caused Tezzeret to look back up at where Venser hovered; or rather, where he had hovered.  As Tezzeret's eyes refocused on the sky, all he caught was a glimpse of a shadow dissipating into nothingness.  Venser was gone.

"Blasted teleporter!"  Tezzeret howled, his lightning arcing furiously.  How was he going to report his failure to the dragon?