Chapter 12: A Fateful Encounter

Zatanna Zatara
Tower of Fate, MA, USA

The instant we touched the cane, we were teleported to a labyrinth. It was wild, like one of those surreal paintings where up was down and left was right. The whole space was made seemingly of sandstone, but its countless stairways led in dizzying patterns that defied Euclidean physics.

Actually, now that I thought about it, I was pretty sure I’d seen this before in Yu-Gi-Oh. I wondered if there was a mage on their creative team. Which, in hindsight, wasn’t a comforting thought, what with the show’s rampant soul-stealing and eldritch summoning.

“Woah, cool mirrors,” Wally gasped like a gawking tourist. He looked around before pointing up. “Hey, look! I found them!”

There they were. Three people were looking up at us even as we looked up towards them.

One was the spitting image of the projection. Or rather, the genius loci was the spitting image of the tower’s master. He didn’t look like he was in any shape to fight though. He was tied up with obvious electrical burns that spoke of torture.

There were two others, a man and a boy. The man wore slacks and a white, button-up shirt that had been unbuttoned to the fourth, exposing his hairy chest and a gold chain. He looked like a male stripper.

The boy caught me off guard. He was pale, unhealthily so. He looked like he’d never so much as heard whispers of sunshine. His inky black eyes shone with malice. On his shoulders was an orange tabby cat with crimson eyes, obviously a magical familiar of some kind.

I felt like I should know who that was. There was so much magic swirling around him, too much for him to be just another third rate nobody. No, I doubted he was human at all. And when he looked up at me, I felt chills go down my spine. Devil? Archfey? Demon prince? I didn’t know what he was and that scared the piss out of me.

“Oh! Guests!” the pale boy said with a demented cackle. “Well, Abra? Get them.”

“Scatter!” Kaldur ordered. We did even as the now named Abra Kadabra lifted his wand. Lightning shot out and had us scrambling. “Wally, take the cane to Mr. Nelson!”

“On it!” Wally shouted back. He vanished in a blur.

Good, that was good. The Helmet of Fate wasn’t here, which was bad. But if Nelson could get his hands on his cane, we might have a chance against whatever the hell the pasty boy was.

I dodged out of the way of another lightning bolt. It wasn’t magic; I knew that much. I thought it was at first, but no. Looking closely, I could see the drones that orbited around him, firing bolts of lightning wherever he pointed. But that didn’t make it any better. I really wasn’t athletic enough for this.

Artemis tried to return fire with an arrow that burst into a net, only for Abra Kadabra to deflect it with a shield. He shouted some mumbo jumbo before clicking a button on his wand. Instead of lightning bolts, his projectiles spread out to form electrified nets.

“Gah!” Connor shouted in pain. There was enough electricity there to bring the half-kryptonian to his knees, which meant I wanted none of that.

“Dleihs!” I yelped, conjuring a barrier to hide behind. I deflected the one that had been sent at me and shouted, “Worht eht sten yawa!”

The nets tore themselves into the air before falling harmlessly in the distance.

“Oho! A witch dares contest the mighty Abra Kadabra?” the pompous idiot shouted. He spread his arms out wide and thrust his hairy chest out, like a gorilla begging for attention. “Come witness true magical might. Stand in awe of the majesty of the arcane!”

“You’re not using magic! Stop saying that!”

“Silence, wench! Behold! My spells strike from above!”

I groaned. The entire labyrinth was non-Euclidean. Everything was above us right now. But of course the idiot spread out little drones from his sleeves that fired his lightning for him. Dad warned me about charlatans like this one.

Each drone was practically invisible. They were maybe twice the size of marbles and flew around fast enough that it became almost impossible to track every single one, like how mosquitoes seem to vanish from sight. They fired lances of electricity from odd angles wherever he pointed.

I held my hand above my head and focused. I couldn’t have this clown ruin the good name of magicians everywhere. He was exactly why people like Wally existed! “Rehtag eht gninthgil erofeb em!”

The air trembled as I exerted my will upon the world. The genius loci, for lack of a better word, stepped aside, allowing my own magic to fill the space. My spell took hold and drew in the lightning until they formed a tight ball of power in my hand.

I held it there, feeling the power course through me. This was more power than I’d ever worked with before. Even when I’d “dueled” Rigal at Shadowcrest, it was the family wards that had held him, not me. Here and now, it was all me. It was thrilling to know that I could get in a fight against a villain and hold my own.

“You can have this back!” I shouted as I hurled the ball of lightning at him.

“Your petty magic does not scare Abra Kadabra!” he replied. He waved his wand and a number of those marble-like drones floated in front of him, catching the lightning. “Come, allow a more accomplished magician to guide you, child.”

I growled. I’d probably learned more about magic than this idiot when I was ten! He threw the lightning back and I replied in kind, beginning a rally that kept the both of us occupied. No matter how I felt about him, his technology allowed him to go toe-to-toe against me.

But that gave my team time. Connor and Kaldur were a little useless here, but Artemis had range and Megan could fly.

Artemis kept Abra Kadabra distracted. It was frustratingly helpful, frustrating in that I hated the fact that I needed help against this hack. But he was faster than me. His wand, motion sensing and triggered with the push of a button, was far easier to use than my spells.

He’d be no match for dad. I had a feeling even Rigal would eat him alive. But against me? I didn’t have the experience to forge spell matrices with a thought. I didn’t have the skill to snap off attacks like I was throwing around candy. I didn’t have the power to brute force my way through his force field from this distance, not while defending myself and my team at the same time.

I grunted with effort as I jackknifed a lightning bolt back at him. Megan took that chance to fly out from behind me. She didn’t need to get close enough to punch him, just enough that she could telekinetically rip the wand from his hand.

“Shit!” the faux magician cried when he saw Megan coming. He stumbled back, trying to avoid the angry martian. The way he broke character almost made me laugh, then he said something that made my blood freeze in sheer, unadulterated terror. “K-Klarioin!”

That was who he was. The other boy, the pasty one. That was why he had so much goddamn magic. He was Klarion the Witch Boy, a bonafide Lord of Chaos. That… That certainly explained how this third-rate hack got into the Tower of Fate.

I shivered. I now knew what had been giving me the heebie jeevies all day. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Klarion chase Mr. Nelson and Wally. Mr. Nelson had his cane back and was doing an admirable job of not dying, but not dying was as much as he could manage, even with the tower subtly helping him. The two of them vanished into a bell, probably teleporting towards the Helmet of Fate. That was the only way we were getting out of this alive.

And then, Klarion looked back at us and cackled. His eyes met mine. Deep, inky pools of darkness threatened to overwhelm me. I knew who he was now and that fact made it so much worse. It was like the fabric of existence tore and frayed with his every breath, his mere voice the call to primordial disorder.

He looked away. Our eye contact couldn’t have lasted more than a split second. It wasn’t even an attack, that would have implied I was more than a bug to him. With one final cackle, he left Abra Kadabra to us and dove into the bell after Mr. Nelson and my teammate.

My stomach flew into my throat. Wally was annoying, but he didn’t deserve this. The idiot who didn’t even believe in magic… was about to have the worst possible wakeup call. He was now stuck with a Lord of Chaos.

The absolute best case scenario was that Mr. Nelson got the helmet in time. That would still mean he’d be stuck in the middle of a battle between a Lord of Chaos and a Lord of Order.

A Lord of Chaos was exactly that. Mages liked flowery language and purple prose, but not here. His title was as literal as could be. He embodied a primordial force of nature, an aspect of the universe as old as existence itself. He and Doctor Fate were two opposite ends of the spectrum: Order and Chaos, structure and entropy.

Except, Doctor Fate wasn’t here right now. We had Kent Nelson. Legendary magician or not, he was no Lord of Order. We… We could use some magical muscle, a lot of it.

Rigal’s bookmark flew to my hand. Summoning a devil was never the right answer, dad said so. He also said, “Never say never.” Circumstances had changed. There was nothing else I could do, no one else who could possibly come to us in time.

I shivered with dread. I… I didn’t think Rigal was a bad person, but this was a big favor. People had sold their souls for far less than this. He might like me, but I knew there would be a price to pay, even with whatever passed for a “friends discount.”

“Well, as they say, better the devil you know…”

X

Rigal Phenex

I felt the bookmark tear and slumped into my dessert, a tiramisu made by the private chef Max nabbed for us. We’d long since had dinner and I’d settled in my study to do some reading before bed. Victor was with his wife, Serling was watching a sci-fi series I didn’t recognize, and Max had snagged the piece of kryptonite I’d negotiated for to do a bit of resistance training.

I let out a keening whine that was halfway between a resigned groan and a sob. The pull was coming from the direction of Salem, the town of witch burnings. I had a sneaking suspicion I knew what this was about and I wanted no part of it.

Unfortunately, I found out that Zatanna joined the team recently. It wasn’t like their base was a secret from me or anything.

That… That complicated matters. Even besides her being my number one Bishop candidate, if there was anyone on the team I trusted to gauge a magical situation, it was her. If she was calling, there was a good chance that she truly saw no other choice.

And that scared me. The situation could be what I expected from canon, with Wally and Nelson going up to the roof of the tower to confront Klarion, or things could have completely left the rails. I wouldn’t know until I got there.

Worse, if I didn’t answer, I could kiss ever recruiting Zatanna goodbye. I’d always been greedy. In a way, she was a long-term investment. Either I cut my losses here and now, or I went and chanced it against a Lord of Chaos.

I came to a sobering realization: I had to go. I wasn’t willing to call it quits. Maybe stepping back would be the wiser choice here, but I didn't want to.

“Look on the plus side,” I muttered to myself. “At least I’m being invited inside.”

I wasn’t a vampire and Zatanna didn’t own the Tower of Fate so there was no mystical significance to the invitation. Then again, the fact that I was being summoned to help should mean that Nabu shouldn’t smite me offhand.

I took a deep breath and centered myself. I’d need to bring my A-game if I wanted to oppose Klarion in any meaningful fashion. Then, with the snap of a finger, I vanished in a whirlwind of blazing feathers.

X

Zatanna Zatara

Rigal’s arrival was as flamboyant as everything else about him. An orange-gold magic circle announced his presence, his family crest blazing proudly. There was the spiking of temperature, like a warm mug of cocoa or a cozy fireplace. Feathers made of burning embers rained down like autumn leaves. He was as stylishly dressed as ever, primped and preened better than any peacock.

And yet, he was nothing like the boy I’d met at my family manor. Gone was the jovial smile. That teasing glimmer in his eyes that promised so much was nowhere to be found.

His wings spread out, scattering his feathers in an obvious threat display. His golden gaze pierced me with a scorching intensity and I knew: This wasn’t Tweety anymore. This was Rigal Phenex, of the margrave house of Phenex, lords of the Underworld, with all the power, authority, and danger that represented.

“Rigal Phenex answers your summons, magician. Why have you summoned me?” he intoned. His voice echoed with the undercurrent of crackling flames, an unspoken warning to take this seriously.

“I, Zatanna Zatara, daughter of Giovanni Zatara summoned you to secure and defend the Helmet of Fate and repel the intruders to this tower,” I replied, keeping my demand concise. We were, strictly speaking, still in battle.

I've done a lot of reading on devils lately. I’d be a fool not to. And the truth was, despite what amateur occultists would have you believe, there was no strict format to follow when summoning devils. Every devil was different, just like every human was different.

That didn’t make this easier. Just because I’d met Rigal before didn’t mean he was any less nerve-wracking to deal with now. It was hard to breathe, each breath was hot and dry, as if I’d suddenly been transported to the desert. There was an almost palpable weight that made my knees weak. It was as if magic itself was paying attention, lending an undeniable gravitas to the contract being forged.

Of course, that was when Abra Kadabra decided to stick his nose in it. Even my team, rank novices to magic, knew better than to step in, but no, this idiot decided now was the best time to attack a devil lord.

“You summon a devil in desperation? Allow Abra Kadabra to show you how to tame one!” he shouted gleefully.

He stepped forward with a grand flourish of his wand and something else flew out of his sleeve. It was yet another drone, different from his marbles. This one was a collar that he threw like a boomerang.

It flew and attached itself around Rigal’s neck, collaring him like a dog. It erupted into sparks, electrocuting him directly.

Rigal… twitched in annoyance.

He raised a single hand lazily to his neck. His nails, manicured perfect like the rest of him, glowed red-hot and extended into wicked talons. They sank not into the collar, but into his own throat.

He ripped his own head off, collar attached, before throwing it all away without a thought. Even as his head bounced, flames erupted from the stump of his neck, regrowing it all.

It was a gruesome display that made me want to throw up. Next to me, Artemis wasn’t nearly as composed and I could hear Megan trying to soothe the blonde telepathically as she had a minor crisis. It did its job. If that wasn’t a power move, I didn’t know what was.

“That was your one,” Rigal said. His voice was barely above a whisper, but the wind carried it to us all, a quiet threat that even the most bullheaded fool couldn’t mistake. “Leave with your life while I permit it.”

I was wrong. Abra Kadabra, and it just struck me that I didn’t even know whose villain this guy was normally, was so obsessed with the idea of controlling a devil that he continued to provoke him. The idiot held his wand proudly, like that gizmo would work against a lord of the Underworld.

“Fool! Submit to me! Submit to Abra Kadabra, master of magic!” he roared and fired a lightning bolt at the devil.

Rigal stared impassively even as the faux magician poured everything he had into the attack. I knew then by the look of utter contempt in Rigal’s eyes that I’d watch a man die today.

I couldn’t stop it. I wanted to, but just staying on-script was hard enough. Dad said it was our responsibility as mages to protect idiots from the supernatural, even when it was their own damn fault. But I couldn’t do anything. It all happened too fast.

Devils didn’t lie, not mid-contract. There was an unspoken gravitas about contract magic. It was as close to sacred to them as anything could be. They misled. They twisted the truth. They used illusions to intimidate or charm.

But they didn’t lie.

And Abra Kadabra had interrupted this contract, a rather serious one. Rigal had spoken. He’d offered the man his one, the singular chance to walk away from proverbially slapping a devil lord in the face.

The attack came and Rigal caught lightning in his hand before hellfire burnt and ate at reality, snuffing it out. Then, he morphed into a blur of speed I could only follow because of the feather trail he left behind.

“Hellfire Cassowary,” he said, voice completely flat and without emotion.

Abra Kadabra held out his wand, force field coming to life, but he didn’t even get a chance to finish. “You cannot pie–Grk!”

I saw now that he’d slowed to a stop. A spectral construct made of hellfire formed around Rigal’s foot. His leg was extended, talons thrust through Abra Kadabra’s chest. Around them, the remnants of the force field he’d been so proud of shattered like glass, as if it finally realized it’d been pierced.

“T-Tweety?” Miss Martian asked, though it was more of a shaken gasp.

Rigal let out a long, tired sigh. “I’m sorry. I can’t afford to be ‘Tweety’ right now. There is a price. Everything has a price.”

I gulped to swallow the lump in my throat. I failed. “I-I know. You will be compensated, Lord Phenex.”

Even as those words left my lips, I knew I’d just placed my life and soul in his hands. I’d called on him to secure the Helmet of Fate, an object with arguably cosmic importance. I’d asked him to directly make an enemy of a Lord of Chaos to do so.

What could he demand? What couldn’t he demand? Would he induct me into his peerage here and now? I couldn’t say I’d never considered it. It might not be so bad, but… but I’d hoped to join without such a steep power imbalance, if I joined at all.

Contracts were absolute. Short of sending him back right now, I wouldn’t be able to weasel out of any demand he made. Dad would… It’d break him. He’d see this as losing me. It’d be like losing mom all over again.

Tears clouded my vision. I’d never send him back. Maybe Mr. Nelson got his helmet on and this was all for naught, or maybe not. Making sure the Lord of Chaos didn’t get the helmet, ensuring Wally was safe, these were too important to leave to chance.

Author’s Note

Yeah, I don’t know. I just like the thought of Yu-Gi-Oh being a show in DC. It has no relevance to the plot… probably.

As for contracts, I realize this is a field that DxD only briefly touched on in the early seasons, but I wanted that shit to have more weight. Most of the time, it’s nothing, stuff like “Play games with me,” won’t cost much. But what Zatanna asked for was a huge deal. The bigger the ask, the bigger the demand.

Food Fact: Chicken feet are a popular street food option in China. They’re often called “phoenix claws” though, because Chinese people really like their flowery speech.

Thank you for reading. To reach a wider audience, and because I enjoy a more forum-like setup to facilitate discussion, I like to crosspost to a wide variety of websites. If you’re also like me, you can find my works on

Space Battles: https://forums.spacebattles.com/members/fabled-webs.514019/ 

Questionable Questing: https://questionablequesting.com/members/fabled-webs.29875/