TRANSFORMERS: Power Surge

                                    To wield the power was to understand the power. To understand the 
                 power was to become one with the power. All who were a member of the small
                 brotherhood had to learn this at the very beginning of their quest to become a
                 mage of the Order of Yolinar, an order who’s roots traced back to the ancient
                 times on the planet of their people, the Izarians.
                                    Izaria was not a large world compared to others, being roughly the
                 size of Earth’s moon, but it’s inhabitants had accomplished a lot in harnessing
                 magic. Most of the population were exposed to magic at an early age, with some
                 going on to become mages, and were well respected by the rest of society. These
                 mages were powerful with the magic, with some of the elder mages having
                 memorized decades worth of spells from endless amounts of books.
                                    One of these elders, Ranik, was the most powerful mage on the
                 planet. His knowledge of the magic was said by others to transcend time and
                 space. Anything that anyone could think of, he could perform with ease. His
                 mind was a repository of knowledge, he taught younger members of the Order
                 ways to hone their skills, and even manipulate the magic for their benefits. But
                 what they didn’t know was that Ranik was more evil then good now, his magic
                 derived from the black and grey books, his power absolute.
                                   This was kept hidden from everyone quite easily, as his dark spells
                 were more than enough to protect him for the meantime. His students were
                 nowhere near his level, and those who knew him in the Circle didn’t have the
                 slightest idea who he really was. Ranik wasn’t the slight bit concerned, as the
                 less the Circle knew about him, the better. He walked over to a large book that
                 was on his table, and lit the candles on either side before opening the book. It
                 was time to summon the darkness.
                                   He repeated an age-old spell that opened a gateway to the dark
                 realm of magic, and began his casting, hoping to increase his ability with the
                 dark magic. Ranik wanted nothing more than the total control over the Circle,
                 and all mages on his world, to usher in his vision of the future of magic. Little
                 did he know that fate was preparing a surprise of epic proportions for him.

                                   To say he was a little bored was more than an understatement. With
                 nothing to do on the long voyage back to Cybertron, he put the ship on autopilot
                 and walked to the rear compartment to check on the cargo. Whiterod examined
                 the power couplings and spare reactor parts, noticing that everything was fine.
                 He could have sent someone to pick all this up from Goo, and not gone to the
                 trouble of going, but he had issues to discuss with Wreck-Gar, and found it
                 easier to go himself.
                                   After checking a few more crates of parts, he decided to head back
                  to the cockpit and find something else to do. Just as he re-entered the cockpit,
                  his console started to beep and flash. He sat down behind it, and began checking
                  the ship’s controls. It seems that there were some weird energy readings coming
                  from a nearby system that was thought to be uninhabited up until now. Whiterod
                  changed course to put the ship on a trajectory that would take it right through
                  the system, enough to get more data.
                                  The ship powered along, reaching the system in a short time, and as
                  it entered the system, Whiterod began scanning everything he could, gathering
                  as much data as possible on the mysterious system. Initial scans showed a five
                  planet system, with one that might be able to support carbon-based lifeforms.
                  After a few more cycles of scans, he was about to resume his original course,
                  when the computer picked up an enourmous energy reading from the fourth
                  planet. “What the slag could be causing this??” said Whiterod, loudly.
                                  As he entered orbit of the planet, his ship’s systems suddenly went
                  dead, and the ship itself began losing altitude. The downward pitch became
                  steep very fast, and pieces of the ship began to take damage from the stress.
                  Whiterod quickly left the cockpit, and jogged over to the side loading hatch,
                  sliding open the door, and threw himself out, beginning a free fall of his own.
                  The ship’s descent began to level off, but was still too fast. 
                                  As Whiterod began to control his own descent and slow, the shuttle 
                  slammed into the ground below with a screeching sound of crumpled metal. He
                  slowed enough to watch it all unfold, then himself landed with a dull thud on 
                  the surface, it’s green grass and sporatic trees like a place on the planet Kesla
                  he had visited recently. Away in the distance, smoke began to plume from the
                  remains of his shuttle. He decided to find the energy source, hoping to find out 
                  what had brought his ship down so abruptly. Whiterod transformed into his
                  vehicle mode, and sped off across the grassy knoll.

                                 “I tell you Bastrin, he’ll be the death of us all. I have forseen it.”
                  said the red mage, his voice stern, full of authority. “Well,” began Bastrin.
                  “If you are sure about this Tirmis, then we should confront him, remove
                   him from the Circle, and if necessary, the Order.” he explained. Tirmis
                   just hung his head, stroking his goatee lightly, pondering things before
                   speaking. “You and I both know what will happen. And I for one don’t
                   want to be around when it happens.” he said calmly.
                                  Bastrin nodded. “Then perhaps it is time we left for the other
                   dimension.” he suggested. Tirmis turned away and looked down towards
                   the grassy fields of Jasra, their emerald green beauty something he might
                   never see again. “Let us witness what that deranged, old mage is up to
                   before we depart. I have already informed the others. They will be waiting
                   for us.” he finished. A brief silence ensued before Bastrin spoke. “As you
                   wish.” he said softly, trailing off.

                                 Ranik could do nothing but smile as his power arc became to great,
                   it scorched the ground for almost a circular kilometre around him. And to
                   also further his satisfaction, his arc was so powerful, it seems it had brought
                   something down from the sky for him to toy with. “Excellent.” he said. “The
                   spell worked better than I thought.” he finished, enamoured with himself more 
                   than usual. In the distance, he saw a faint plume of smoke, and decided to go
                   take a look for himself.
                                 He muttered another ancient spell and all of a sudden, his gray cloak
                   was replaced by a black mage’s cloak, his head now bald, as per his true
                   appearance, with a strange symbol that resembled a double diamond indented
                   into his forehead. He started off for the smoke plume, and hoped he wouldn’t
                   meet up with anything unusual until he had time to learn about it first. 
                                  It wasn’t far to the plume, but not too close either, and he found
                   himself a little fatigued when he arrived, his spell casting of the day also taking
                   it’s toll. What he saw before him amazed him in so many ways. It was some
                   kind of mechanical thing, and it was huge. The doorway alone looked like it
                   was made for someone or something that would tower over a normal Izarian.
                    Ranik pointed his outstretched arms at the doorway, and muttered a short
                    spell. Within seconds, the ground briefly shook, and molded a few steps for
                    him right up to the doorway before it stopped shaking. He slowly made his
                    way up the steps, and into the mysterious metallic thing. 
                                 For the most part, it was dark, the exception being a few things on
                    a ledge above him flashing on and off. He wasn’t sure what they did, so he
                    left them alone, and kept walking. Knowing he needed light, he raised his
                    right hand and opened it to his palm. “Orah netolbei!” he said aloud, and all
                    of a sudden, a small spherical orb appeared above his palm, floating free and
                    illuminating everthing around him. 
                                 It became clear to him that this being was some kind of mechanical
                    being, one so gargantuan and advanced that it would take some time to
                    figure out where he and his kind came from, and why they came near to his
                    world. Ranik needed time to contemplate all this. Walking and thinking
                    seemed to be his forte, as he was accustomed to doing this while learning
                    new spells on the fly.
                                 As he explored the passable areas of the structure, he was in awe of
                    it’s size and sophistication. If it wasn’t for large amount of damage done to it,
                    he might have been able to get it operational, and somehow use it to his own
                    advantage somehow. After a few more minutes of looking around, he exited
                    through a gaping hole in the aft quarter of the ship. The smoke still rose above
                    the wreck, marking it’s location for kilometers.

                                He couldn’t find any trace of the of energy reading that had brought
                    him down here in the first place. Nothing registered on his scanners. He had
                    stopped on a hillside overlooking the large grassy area where his ship crashed,
                    trying to get a reading. He was about to transform back into vehicle mode,
                    when a quick glance at the shuttle revealed something interesting. He used his
                    optical zoom interphase to get a closer look at the smouldering remains of his
                    ship, and got a surprise.
                                A single lifeform had emerged from the wreck, and was heading away
                    from it very slowly. Whiterod decided to investigate, as this lifeform might know
                    something about the energy reading. He transformed quickly into his vehicle
                    mode and sped back down the hillside, gaining velocity on his way back to the
                    ship. Not even a cycle later, he arrived at the ship to see the lifeform now stopped.
                    He transformed into his robot mode, his optics now glowing, and walked over
                    to the lifeform, blocking it’s path. H wanted answers, and he wanted them now.
                               “Stop.” he started. “I require information.” he said, addressing the lifeform,
                    which was significantly smaller than himself, closer to the size of a human. The
                    fleshling didn’t say anything, but just stared at him. Whiterod spoke again. “Tell
                    me what I need to know, and I will leave here.” he finshed. The fleshling only
                    smiled, and looked up at the large being. “Oh I’ll do one better.” said the fleshling.
                    “I’ll show you.” he finished, his arms now outstretched. 
                               “Orah kettan garan!!” he yelled, as a ball of energy formed and shot upward                              away from him, striking Whiterod in the lower chest plate and sending him flying 
                    backwards into the ground, sliding for a few nanocycles before coming to a stop.
                    Whiterod got to his feet quickly, and drew his plasma rifle, aiming it at the small
                    being. “You’ll pay for that, FLESHLING!” he yelled, as he pulled the trigger. A
                    bolt of plasma energy lanced out from his rifle and struck the small being, knocking
                    him down instantly. But for some reason, and to Whiterod’s surprise, he got back
                    up almost immediately.
                                The fleshing just smiled, before speaking again. “And so it begins.” he said.
                    “The Circle be damned. They’ll never stop me, and neither will you my metallic
                    adversary!” he said, laughing. He then started yelling out another spell. “ORAH
                    VAH HIN PARAH!!” he screamed, suddenly enveloped in pure energy, sending
                    several bolts at Whiterod. He managed to dodge a couple, but couldn’t dodge the
                    rest, the bolt attacks relentless. One blew a hole in his chest plate, while another
                    hit him in the left optics, blowing off a chunk of his upper cranial plate and 
                    exposing some systems that now leaked some energon.
                                  Knowing that conventional weapons would not work on this particular
                    fleshling, Whiterod called upon the powers from inside him, his demi-God
                    attributes slowly coming back to the forefront. Still a Transformer, he was now
                    more powerful than most, and his opponent seemed to acknowledge this by only
                    slightly nodding as the big robot’s optics flashed almost every colour before he
                    was surrounded by an aura of power, as was Ranik, casting his spells.
                                  He reeled for a second, then focused on the task at hand. His working 
                    optic glowed the brightest shade of red, as he focused his powers. He formed a
                    large ball of plasma fire in front of him, then hurled it at his target with insane
                    speed. The explosion blew the small fleshling across the grass until he collided
                    with a large boulder near the shuttle. Writhing in pain, he got to his feet, and with
                    another spell, cast a column of fire down on Whiterod, it’s intensity something
                    the large robot had never experienced before.
                                  Whiterod’s armour began to disintegrate slightly, his left arm now
                    inoperative. He backed off as the fire column ended, rage taking over from any
                    kind of rational thought that may have been left. Seeing his opponent directly
                    ahead, he immediately charged, yelling a battle cry while simultanouesly 
                    forming an energy barrier around himself, arcs of raw energy splintering off
                    the barrier as he picked up speed. With a heavy thud and an explosion, he caught
                    Ranik off-guard, knocking him backwards, and pushing him into the damaged
                    shuttle before another explosion rang out.
                                   Both combatants lay motionless now for a short time, both taking
                    massive damage. Ranik was bleeding profusely from various points, barely
                    concious, and unable to move. Whiterod was now missing a leg, and had many
                    breaches to his armour all over his body, energon leaking, and systems slowly
                    shutting down. Ranik turned his head enough to see the robot moving, possibly
                    getting to his feet. He knew he couldn’t let the big being do that, or that it would
                    all be over for him. 
                                   Ranik had enough energy left in his body to utter one more spell before
                    blacking out. He focused his mind on the spell, and then began reciting it.
                    Whiterod noticed this, and was able to turn his head enough to see a console
                    right above his head. He knew what he had to do. Ranik was ready, and so was
                    he. The dark mage began his spell. “Una...vana....jalam....pomah....” he muttered
                    as he lost conciousness. 

                                    A swirling aperture just big enough to envelope an Izarian was to
                    his left, ready to accept them. Bastrin focused all his abilities, making sure that                                     it wouldn’t close prematurely on them. He turned to his colleague and yelled
                    at him. “We have to go NOW! That old fool has doomed this world of ours!!”
                    Tirmis looked away from the battle long enough to see the vortex, and Bastrin
                    using everything he had to keep it open. He took one more look at the grassy
                    plains, then turned and jogged into the vortex, vanishing.
                                   Bastrin also took his last glance of his world, knowing it was all gone,
                    but deriving satisfaction that Ranik would soon be dead. Now very fatigued, he
                    turned towards the vortex, and jumped into it, also vanishing, the vortex remaining
                    open for a few more seconds before shrinking out of existence without even a
                    sound. For them, it was over, their world was lost forever. For Izaria itself, it was
                    all just beginning.

                                   Just as his body was enveloped by raw energy, Whiterod reached up and
                     tapped the control console and initiated the self-destruct sequence, with only three
                     seconds for a countdown. A few nanocycles later, the timer ran out at the same time
                     that a blinding white light pierced everything in it’s path. The energy reacted badly
                     to more raw energy, and a blinding explosion burst across the land, incinerating
                     Ranik, and throwing Whiterod clear of the planet entirely, while starting an inferno
                     of sheer plasma, torching everything on the surface quickly, the combined energies
                     too much for the small planet to handle.
                                    With only time for one more thing before his systems started shutting down
                     and stasis lock a permanent factor, Whiterod slowly brought himself to tap a few
                     controls for his phase shift, setting a rephase out away from the system that was 
                     about to become the epitome of chaos. Bright shimmering energy enveloped him
                     temporarily, as he vanished into his own vortex that seemed unstable, as energy bolts
                      were still cycling through his wrecked body.
                                      A short time later, the small world of Izaria exploded in a big way. 
                       shockwave formed and streaked away from the area as pieces of rock were
                       thrown in every such direction, followed by much smaller pieces of debris.
                       The shockwave continued outwards, and slowly got smaller, the debris of it’s
                       wake all that was left of the once prosperous planet of Izaria, a world who’s
                      devotion to their magic ultimately became their undoing. Ashes to ashes, dust
                       to dust. An ending for some, and the start of a new beginning for others.

                                                                      THE END