Mystic: The Tablets of Gilgamesh

The underground hideout was a safe one, Jellal Merrison, 27, though, with it, he could monitor Adam’s work. Adam Phisher, 17, a young Mystic Seeker born under the stars of Aries, was brash and puerile, but he meant well. It had been 72 hours exactly since the target was last spotted robbing a store, a suspected Mystic causing havoc and using their gifted powers for the wrong reasons. Sometimes the job was arduous and made Jellal ponder if he should truly be a judge against others.

“Do you see him yet?” inquired Jellal. Nothing. No answer. “Adam, do you see the target?”

It had been years since Jellal lost his left arm in battle, but had he not done it the world would have been ruled under the tyranny of an evil, selfish God: Ares. His friends Mako Kikame, Alura Dawnbreaker, and Sally Anderson had long since gone their own separate ways, scarcely keeping in touch. For Jellal, this was for the best, as neither of them wanted to maintain the hard life of bringing down Mystic criminals, only offering when they were absolutely needed.

Jellal, a tactical and militaristic special op’s type of person in terms of personality preferred this, as he had his hands full with Adam, who was more than enough for him to watch over.

For Adam, Jellal was like a brother, as he never really had a family, moving from home to home and living on the streets. For Adam, he loved Jellal and hated to disappoint him.

“Adam, I’m commanding you to answer!” Jellal exclaimed, face scrunching up in anger, his jet-black medium length hair moving as he rocked impatiently in his chair.

It was pouring outside as a skinny man in rags ran off, water splashing loudly as he ran in fear. He wore tattered clothes with his pants hanging low, how he could run so well was a mystery.

Perched up top on the Empire State Building in New York City was Adam Phisher. His shaggy blonde hair was dripping with rainwater as he eyed down below with his bright blue eyes. His earpiece going off loudly.

“I hear you,” Adam replied in his youthful way. He smirked as his eyes moved quickly, analyzing the ground below. He wore a jet-black jacket with slim jeans and combat boots. It was not his style, but Jellal insisted it was easier for him and safer to wear than his normal clothes. Adam wasn't exactly the fashion king, but he agreed that the potential of ruining his clothes may not be the best option.

As he looked down, he saw his target running into an alley after pushing a man down, trying to get away. “You have permission to take him out,” Jellal told him. Adam knew what he meant, it didn’t mean kill the man, of course, the option is there if your life is at risk, but most importantly he was tasked with capturing the man alive.

“Understood,” Adam said as he pressed a button on his earpiece, effectively shutting it off. He stood up straight, looked down and took in a breath of fresh, rainy air before letting himself lean forward and fall down. When he came to the ground, he moved his feet forward and landed on a roof building nearby and then hopped down to the alley, in front of the man.

The move startled the panicking man as Adam stood straight up. “What do you want?! Y-you can’t have it!” The man rushed Adam and was stopped in his tracks as Adam, while young, was still a Mystic, therefore naturally stronger than a human. He raised his elbows up and pressed his arms against the man's hands, stopping him.

“Sorry, you’re coming with me, Jared Greene,” Adam told the man as he began to push back, taking one step forward, the man known as Jared Greene felt himself being pushed back. He quickly cocked his left arm back and then threw a punch only to be grabbed by Adam and tossed over his shoulder in a Judo-style flip. The man screamed out in pain as he looked up terrified. “I said you’re coming with me. I have some questions for you,” Adam told Jared, eyes looking deep into his.

“You made me do this!” With that, Adam let go as he felt the arm changing, he watched as the man transformed before his eyes. He screamed out as if in pain or in anger. His skin becoming bark-like, his arms stretching and his bald head becoming nothing but wood as his clothes faded away. Before Adam stood a seven-foot-tall monstrosity. “Aahhh!” He screamed loudly as he pulled his arm back before swinging it from left to right, forcing Adam to leap into the air and backflip.

“Alright, so you want to play first?” Adam held his hand out as light gathered from the surrounding area, elongating into the shape of a sword as he gripped it, the light shattering like an eggshell as a sword was revealed underneath. He smirked lightly as he bent his knees to prepare himself for a mad dash.

Jared stretched his arm towards Adam at high velocity, smacking hard into the ground, breaking it. Pieces of rubble flew into the air as Adam dodged to his left, gripping the sword with both hands as he dashed towards Jared, his body glowing slightly white, leaving trails as he ran faster and faster. He stabbed the sword into the arm as he ran, slicing it open. No blood, no flesh, just bark.

As he neared Jared, the tree monster flung his other arm towards Adam and grabbed him before tossing him into a wall. His back slamming against it hard as he fell through the wall and into a closed bank.

Prior to this confrontation, Jared had robbed some convenience store and now with this, the cops would know where he was without a doubt. He pivoted on his tree-like feet to turn around when he w stopped by police already there, guns pointed towards him. Their eyes open in horror at what they saw. Most people never actually saw the powers that Mystics possessed, but seeing one transformed at night was a sight to be seen.

“Don’t move or we’ll shoot!” The officers stood straight as the commanding officer shouted to Jared.

Jared was not having any of this, he threw his hands into the ground as trees began to sprout from the ground at the officer's feet, throwing them off balance. One was quick to the trigger and began firing. The bullets did nothing as Jared flinched regardless. “Argh! Leave me alone!” Jared bellowed as he blocked the bullets with one of his arms and sped towards the cars and out of the alley.

Adam was laying on the ground of a bank when he heard the shots. “I should probably get up now. Jellal is going to be angry with me if I screw this up, too.” Adam got up from the ground, dusted himself off and stepped out into the alley. He looked to the left and saw nothing, then the right where a mess of police cars sat. In the distance was Jared. Adam sprinted off towards him but realized he couldn’t catch him at this rate. He could use light to teleport, but he needed it to be light outside, and it was dark, cloudy and rainy. He closed his eyes and focused his energy. His body began to radiate with light energy, encompassing his body as he bent his knees and took in a deep breath.

With a single push from his feet, the ground fragmented into pieces below him as he blitzed his way to Jared at incredible speed. He was almost unseen by the naked eye. The sword vanished as his hands formed a fist. As he neared Jared, the tree Keeper turned around in time to block an oncoming attack, but before contact was made, Adam was behind Jared in an instant and rocketed his fist towards the back of his head.

Jared knelt down from the hit as Adam flipped over him and landed in front of him. HE opened his left hand’s palm and white energy began to form in the shape of a ball as he spun around on his feet and extended his hands out, a white light, blinding and aiming for Jared as is wooden eyes widen.

The police got up as they looked around to see the creature gone, then it happened. An explosion hits the ground as smoke could be seen down the street, following a blinding light. They rushed over, one by one. They came to the crater only to find nothing there.
One officer scratched his head, his hat almost falling off as he pondered not only what happened earlier, but what happened here. “Get men over here, I want CSI to check this out!”

Jellal stood watching as a flash appeared behind him, there stood Adam with an unconscious, normal-looking Jared Greene. He looked like your typical street criminal, skinny and in rags. He looked up at Adam who stood confidently next to his target, removing the earpiece from his ear and removing the black jacket he had one, his hair dripping wet, but even in the dark, his blue eyes glowed.

“Good work,” Jellal said as he walked over to Jared. He sat down and used his only hand to smack the man before placing a spell on him, waking him up. Shadow tendrils enthralled by Jellal wrapped around him. “Alright, Jared, I have a few questions for you.” Jellal’s eyes were dark but also intense as he stared the scared Keeper in the eyes.

Adam walked out and grabbed a soda from the fridge. The base he was in was underground and looked like an old 1940’s war bunker. He sat down and looked at some photos on the desk of two girls and a boy. The boy was Japanese, his name was Mako, one of the few who stood up against Ares when Jellal lost his arm.

He had never seen Jellal fight, but he knew he was scary, highly-trained, and a Keeper born under the sign of Libra. Plus, Jellal made sure Adam never forgot his birthday. Jellal was nice to him and helped him discover his powers, prior, Adam lived house to house, well, more like church to church, he just told people it was house to house to garner sympathy. In truth, he used to live with the Catholic Church at the Vatican. He only briefly understood the concept of his powers. While at the church, he would use the light to heal others and perform exorcisms, he was seen as a potential saint. But then Jellal appeared at the Church demanding he takes Adam. The Church was hesitant, they didn’t want to lose their power, but also they didn’t trust anyone with Adam. Eventually, they gave him away. All Adam knew is he was found as a child near the ocean of Greece, no parents, no siblings. Nothing.

This often depressed Adam, he felt he was never wanted until the Jellal took him in and trained him. He sat in the chair and thought about the day he was found by Jellal.

It was a warm spring day in Vatican City, a young boy, clad in white robes, gilded with gold, sat in a chair as a young woman lay in bed, tied to the bedframe. He was merely 12 as he looked on. “Surely this isn’t necessary, to tie her up.”

“My boy, she is possessed by a very powerful demonic presence. We must take precautions, not just for ourselves, but her own safety at that,” an elder gentleman told him. He was wearing grey robes and only had hair on the side of his head with a comb-over, trying to hide the fact he was balding. “Now, Adam, do what you normally do and help this young lady, OK?” The gentleman stated as he took a step back.

Adam stood up and walked over to the woman and placed his hands over her, her eyes bloodshot, eyeing him as if pleading to be let go from this insanity. Soon, his hands glowed bright white as she jerked and contorted in many ways. She began to scream aloud as he tried to do his best.

“Let me go!” she demanded. Her eyes shut in frustration as if feeling an incredible amount of pain. Despite this, Adam did not stop. He attempted to push his efforts even harder as the light intensified further.

“I can’t do that, miss,” Adam rebuked to the woman as she began to bounce around on the bed her hands and feet trying to break free, but to no avail for her efforts.

Before Adam’s eyes, he saw a dark shadow begin to form on her gut, he looked on and then around him and finally to the female. She, nor the others for that matter, seemed to take notice of the spiraling shadow taking form. Then it happened, a deep, gruff voice spoke to him.

“You wish to take me?” it asked, “As if I’d let you do so.” Suddenly the floor shook hard as he fell back, eyes wide, followed by a force and scare that threw Adam back from his chair and onto his back. Suddenly a figure popped into existence from her navel and manifested a body before fading into a cloud and seeping through the roof and out of existence.

The elder man rushed over to Adam and aided him up, patting him down and asking if he was OK. Adam shook his head, stating to the man how he had seen a figure and heard a threatening voice.

As Adam walked back to the Church to see Cardinal Franklin, the one who took him in, to tell him what happened. It scared him and he had no idea what to do about it. But as he did, he found a man clad in a black leather jacket, long black hair and jet-black eyes. He turned out and eyed Adam. Adam felt unsure but he thought he saw him talking to Cardinal Franklin.

“Adam,” a voice beckoned, “Adam, wake up!” Adam’s eyes fluttered open to find himself sitting in a chair in front of the computer holding the picture frame of Jellal’s friends. He looked over his shoulder to see Jellal himself looking down at him with his hands on Adam’s shoulder. He had a look of concern on his face as he looked Jellal in the eyes, despite how little light was illuminating the room.
“Yea, yea,” he responded, “I’m awake.” He sat the photo down and stood up, stretching as he turned towards Jellal. “Sp, get anything good out of him?”

Jellal nodded, “yea.” He waved Adam to follow him. Doing as he was told, he followed him into the room where Jared was. He was knocked out. “I got what I needed.”

This puzzled Adam, Jellal never actually told him what it was he needed, only that this Keeper, in particular, had been causing trouble. Doing as he was ordered, he went after the man, but the reason was not known to him.

“And, if I may ask,” Adam started, “what is it you were looking for?” Jellal looked back and smiled slightly as he waved him to follow him to the supercomputer before him. Displayed was an ancient tablet, made of stone that, as far as Adam could tell, it must have been carbon-dated back to a time before the common era.

“This, Adam is the Tablet of Gilgamesh,” Jellal told him. The tablet looked old, but that old?
“So, what’s so important about some Rosetta Stone tablet? We donating it to the Museum or something?” asked Adam in an inquisitive tone.

“This, Adam is a stone that granted Gilgamesh the power to be a God. It’s the only thing that can make a mortal immortal, it’s very powerful and not easy to get. To prevent anyone from doing the same, Gilgamesh had it shatter and spread across the globe.” Jellal turned to face the screen as he continued. “That’s what we’re going to do; find them before someone else does.”

Find them? Were there really others who knew about this? If so, how did they find out? Furthermore, why has it not been collected before? As if reading Adam’s mind, Jellal pitched in again.
“It’s never been collected due to magical properties, as well as the lack of sufficient technology to locate them. With the satellites we have, it’s much easier,” Jellal told him. He turned back towards Adam, “and we must find Mako, Alura, and Sally, ASAP.”

“What?! You’re powerful, why can’t you just collect them yourself?” Adam was getting a little heated as he asked his question, which didn’t make Jellal flinch once.

“Because, we won’t be the only ones searching, and I don’t take chances. As for me,” he began, lifting his arm and showing the lack of an actual arm. “I may have once been powerful, but since I lost my arm I haven’t been the same, Adam. I also have to man the computer to watch you from here, to make sure you’re not followed. If something happened, I’ll be the first to intervene.”

“Who else could possibly be after them?” Adam asked sincerely, as far as he knew, the pool of those seeking the tablet pieces would have to really be small, but with Jellal, Adam could do this, plus it means traveling the world, what could possibly go wrong?

It was cold, snowy and icy in the Antartic circle. There, the deep underground was a man who stood six feet tall. He turned around as a young female walked into the icy castle room.

“Sir, one of the pieces has been located in Siberia,” she said as she knelt down and bowed her head. She wore a thick pair of black winter leggings, a thick arctic fur coat, and a red skirt.

The man, with dirty blonde hair and bright blue eyes, also wearing an arctic coat and slim pants with combat boots on, turned his head, his eyes glowing sky-blue and radiated power. He merely smiled slightly at her comments. “Excellent,” he began as he walked over to a thrown with a stand made of hardening ice that no flame could possibly melt. On the stand were pieces of a tablet, archaic and shattered, as if broken many years ago. “Thanks to Hitler’s regime, gathering some of these pieces was rather simple.” He turned towards the female. “Lora, head over there with the others and collect it, we only need a few more and everything will be finished.”

She nodded to him and stood up before bowing, “Yes my lord.” As she left, the man eyed the tablet pieces with a serious look as then sat down on his throne of ice. Behind him was a trident made of the finest material that not even norman mortals could gather. It was, in fact, a trident of a God, and the man's name was Daniel, son of Poseidon.

“Soon, everything will be mine and I will finally have my wish granted to me, and then I’ll be a complete God, and no one will stand in my way.” He looked back at the tablet stand, “and I will get you back. No one will stop me from getting my revenge.” He clenched his fist as thoughts of his past rapidly went through his mind, and the massive betrayal he was faced with.