The Enigma by MGSSnake

The crowd cheered admiringly as they watched a young street performer by the name of Criss Angel magically lift his body off of the ground for about an 8 feet height.  Sighing he floated back onto the ground only to be rewarded with the usual applause and stares of amazement.  Criss, or so was his alias, smiled and waved at the mass of stupefied passersby as they shared their amazement to the camera crew that was known as Criss's street team.  

"Criss is fucking awesome!" one of them exclaimed.

    Returning to a passive mood, Criss waved his goodbyes and continued down the sidewalk.  Slowly but surely for all of its glamour, Las Vegas was nothing more than a slowly rusting diamond in the rough.  Ever since he was a child did he have fantasies about setting foot on the glamorous streets of this dirty city in the middle of a desert.  However now that he really thought about it, the scenery was in need of a change and fast.

'It's amazing how easy it is to entertain people anymore,' Criss thought to himself as he wandered down a random street. 'However, through my demonstrations, I hope I can keep the magic of illusions alive and well for many more years to come.'

"Well done Criss," his brother J.D. said clasping his hand on his shoulder.

"Does it seem to you that even though people here are amazed by the fact that I can do magic and illusions without the assistance of wires or trap doors and such that well..." Criss explained, soon finding the original question difficult to put into words.

"Just spit it out Criss," J.D. commented as the rest of the street team caught up.

"Never mind, I'll just ask you later," Criss said as he boarded his RV.

    J.D. furrowed his brow as his magical and gifted brother disappeared into the RV.  His attention was then captured by his other younger brother Costa.

"Hey Costa," he called.

"Yeah?" Costa asked, glancing up from his paperwork.

"Could you come here for a minute?"

"Sure," Costa said before running over to the side of the RV. "What's up?"

"What's bothering Criss?" J.D. asked earning a concerned look from Costa.

"What do you mean?" Costa asked glancing at the open door of the RV.

"He's been acting strange lately," J.D. mentioned. "Or more distant.  I mean talking to him anymore is like either talking to a brick wall or trying to ask him something when he's listening to Korn on his iPod."

"Well, maybe he's tired of his schedule and needs a vacation," Costa offered.

"You know he'll never admit to that," J.D. said shaking his head. "He loves his fans and his job more than anything."

"Well, maybe he's just feeling lonely..."

"I don't know...with how much his girl loves him..."

"Well the only other suggestion I can make is why don't we go in and ask him ourselves what's wrong?"

    J.D. swallowed the lump in his throat before sighing heavily while staring at the ground.  

"Alright, but let's go easy on him," J.D. said as they entered the RV. "Criss?"

    Upon receiving no response, the two brothers searched the RV until Costa discovered that he had retired to the back, where they found him slumbering on the small bed contained within the tiny room.

"Let's go," J.D. whispered.  "We can ask him later."

"Well, maybe we won't have to," Costa whispered after they closed the door behind them. "Maybe all he needed was a few hours of shut eye."

"Maybe," J.D. whispered as they exited the RV. "Let's just hope that's all it is.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Criss watched as the sands of his Amystika drifted from dune to dune, the familiar contraptions he placed before him and conquered frequently littered the area, as well as a few vacant chairs that have seen better days.  He disregarded them as he sat down on a rather large boulder jutting from the shifting sands.  Erich waved cheerfully at him before carrying on with his usual childish antics, whether they be riding on a bicycle or carrying around a watering can.  Either way, he cheerfully returned the gesture before returning to staring at the shifting sands.  However he noticed something in the distance, a flicker of light more or less.  Intrigued, Criss jumped off of his boulder and proceeded to walk towards the flicker.  As he drew closer, the flicker took on the silohuette of a young woman, preferably around his age, however slightly younger.  His lips parted slightly as he cocked his head to one side, his eyes squinting to focus on the silohuette.  He was just about to call out to the silohuette when a sudden sandstorm swelled up and surrounded him, causing him to shield his face with his arms.  A few mintues later, the sandstorm abruptly subsided and the silohuette disappeared.

"Where'd she go?" he asked himself.

    A shrill cry resonating in the distance captured his attention before a sharp and decisive pain tore through his shoulders and abdomin.  Criss cried out in pain as the obscure obsidian handles of daggers appeared, small rivers of blood cascading from the wounds.  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Meanwhile in the real world, the Mindfreak street team were driving back to the Aladdin hotel seeing as how their main star had passed out in his RV's small bedroom.  Costa sighed as he glanced back at his magical brother's closed door, then up to his older brother whom was navigating the driver towards the hotel which was more or less their second home.  Costa was just about to ask J.D. a question when he heard a soft, yet agonizing whimper emit from Criss's room.  

"J.D.!" he shouted, jumping to his feet.

"What?" J.D. asked, a touch annoyed.

"Something's wrong with Criss!"

"What are you talking about?" J.D. asked his panicking brother.

    Criss's now agonizing scream was enough to answer J.D.'s question and cause both brothers to bolt for their suffering brother's room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Criss collapsed onto the hot sand as his blood continued to leak from his body.  His strength, having abandoned him, heeded Criss in no way possible for the removal of the daggers, which continued to be the cause for the loss of his blood.  A choked moan escaped his lips as his vision started to blur, the never ceasing sun continuously beating down on his literally drained body.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Oh my God, Criss!" J.D. cried as he threw open the door, revealing his youngest brother being the centerpoint in a pool of his own blood. "Forget the hotel! Get us to the nearest hospital pronto!"

"But J.D..." the driver started.

"Just do it!" Costa cried hysterically.

    Following orders, the driver stopped the RV and made a hasty u-turn, cutting off many cars in the process.  As the RV sped towards the closest hospital in the general vacinity, J.D. and Costa worked frantically to get Criss's mysterious injuries under control.  Just as Costa finished wrapping the large gash on Criss's abdomin, a raspy and painful cough eminated from his throat, causing more blood to spring forth from his mouth.

"Jesus Christmas!" J.D. cursed.

"We're losing him!" Costa cried.

"Almost there," the driver called back.

"Come on Criss," J.D. said through clenched teeth. "Don't give up."

"I never thought it would come to this..." Costa whispered.

"This isn't how Criss was meant to go," a voice said behind them. "No, this is just the beginning..."

"Who the...?" J.D. questioned as he turned to face an intruder. "Who the hell are you?  And how'd you get here?"

"It matters not," the mysterious woman answered. "If you wish, I can help to save your beloved brother."

"How?" Costa asked desperately.

"Stand back and allow me to work," she said as she pushed both of them out of the room, closing the door afterwards.

"Can we really trust her?" Costa asked his brother.

"I'm not sure," J.D. responded. "But there's really nothing we can do now except pray and hope."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Meanwhile inside of the small room, the mysterious woman kneeled next to Criss's bedside and crossed herself before placing both of her hands on either side of Criss's face, her forehead coming to rest on his.  

"Take me to Amystika," she whispered. "Criss, I'm here to help..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Criss's eyelids started to slide over his quickly clouding eyes as his last few breaths worked their way through his now drained body, the sensation of pain now all but numbly sparking through his body.  The familiar sandstorm from before swelled up again as a familiar presence was felt returning to him, now closer than before.

"Criss..." a feminine voice echoed.

    Too weak and drained to respond, Criss merely laid in place, waiting for death to consume his body.  The only sensation that graced his flesh enough to register to his slowly withering mind was the soft caress of healing hands.  The blurry image of the familiar silohuette woman now hovered over his diminishing body.  A wave of her hand had caused the daggers to disintegrate, the pieces floating away in the wind with the shifting sands.  She then placed both of her hands over the first wound, concentrating hard, she focused all of her natural energy into mending the skin, muscles and blood vessles that had become damaged by the daggers.  Once the wound was completely healed, she moved onto the next, this process repeating until all of the wounds were mended.  

"As you prefer to demonstraight to mortals of the world, magic is a powerful thing," the silohuette remarked before gently kissing his forehead, life-giving energy rapidly rushing through his head and throughout his whole body.

    A strained moan escaped his chapped lips as the silohuetted figure stood and disappeared into the sandstorm.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Meanwhile back in the RV's mini bedroom, the mysterious woman opened her eyes and stood from her position.  Before parting, she placed both of her hands over the spot where sealed beneath skin, muscle and bone resided Criss's heart.  She inhaled deeply and as she exhaled, passed a large portion of her spiritual energy through her physical connection to Criss.

"Farewell Criss Angel," she said as she picked up a loose sheet. "We shall meet again someday."

    After speaking her words, she threw the sheet over her and as the sheet cascaded upon her, vanished.  Having waited enough, J.D. flung open the door to ask what was taking so long only to discover the room to be empty except for a now healed Criss.  His mouth hung agape as his mind tried to piece together the possibility that Criss could have some competition.

"We're here!" the driver called as he pulled into the emergency parking lot.

    J.D. shook his head, deciding that he could figure this out later, however right now, he needed to get Criss into that hospital before it was too late.