#trnlore

[elder-dragon-bolas]

Terran Summary: Chapters 1-7

Prologue: Imprint

Sorin Markov plans the creation of Innistrad’s protector, Avacyn, on a remote city-plane known as Terran. He is attacked, however, by a group of drunkards and troublemakers known as simply “The Cult,” just before he leaves the plane. Using death magic, he reduces the group to skeletons, and planeswalks away. The vampiric planeswalker accidentally leaves behind a drawing of Avacyn, however, and when another Cult group enters the room later, their minds put together the corpses of their comrades and the drawing of Avacyn as proof of a dark, angelic god, which they name ‘Zepada,’ and out of that moment, the Cult of Zepada is born.

A Brief History of Terran

This one is written in summary format itself, so you will just have to read it. It is not an absolutely necessary read, but does help with understanding of certain events and is not that long. I would recommend it. What is most important is that the city-plane of Terran was shaped by an elf named Dayn into mostly forest over a few years, and that only one last city, Zon, remains, protected by the forcefield of a planeswalker known as Edwin.

Chapters 1-3: Plea, Decision, Arrival

Edwin, Zon’s Time Sage, has been having visions of the city’s destruction, and of one man who is meant to save it: Jace Beleren. Using interplanar magic, he contacts Jace Beleren via scroll. After intense personal debate, Beleren decides to help the plane, and the scroll guides him to the plane of Terran, where he makes his way through a part of the Hydrean to reach the Last City of Zon. There, he meets Edwin.

Chapter 4: Heart of the Wood

The elf Virya has finally come of the age where she will embark upon a journey to the heart of the Hydrean Wood to meet Dayn, creator of the Wood. However, she learns that this year the entirety of the Wood is going as well. When she reaches the heart of the forest, Dayn tells the gathered that he needs their energy to create a massive hydra, one that is capable of destroying the Last City. At that moment, Virya is struck by a vision of the destruction of both the elves and Zon, presided over by a skeletal, winged figure. She flees the clearing as stealthily as she can, and makes her way to the Zon, hoping to warn them of the elves’ approach in order to stop the dark future she has foreseen.

Chapter 5: Forces of Zon

Edwin introduces Jace to the heads of Zon’s government. Beleren reads their minds as well, discovering that many of them have darker pasts than he imagined. The administrator Sarev is haunted by shades that stalk her at night, Nikolai, the chief of the Trailblazers, is a Planeswalker who lost his lover Sylvia to a gorgon. Greziel, the head of the Exterminators, was once Nikolai’s friend, but they fell apart after Sylvia’s death. Benjamin, Zon’s ruler, has a far deeper relationship with Nikolai than Jace could have imagined. As the meeting ends, a messenger informs Benjamin that an elf by the name of Virya has arrived with a warning of Hydrean attack. After the meeting, Edwin takes Jace to his undercity chamber. He reveals to Jace that he showed Jace only an illusion of himself, and that his real self can never leave the chamber, as it takes all his power there to fuel the forcefield that keeps the Last City protected from the Hydrean’s creatures.

Chapter 6: Dark Machinations

Zira, the highpriest of the Cult of Zepada, executes a number of operations in order to prepare for the dark angel Zepada’s awakening. She uses her Shades to torment Sarev and her children in order to force her to reveal the location of the Time Sage’s secret chamber, then sends more Shades to track Nikolai’s location. In the Tomb of Zepada, she reports this information to a dark pool of matter that she believes the dark angel will be reborn from. Zepada promises to reward Zira with godlike powers once she is fully reborn.

Chapter 7: Running from the Past

Nikolai runs between Zon’s outposts to warn them of the coming attack, from where additional messengers will warn Zon’s farther castles. On the way, he remembers his past: how he first planeswalked from a metallic plane after his parents had died; how Benjamin had found him in the Hydrean Wood and raised him as a child unknown to the rest of the city; how he had lost his lover Sylvia deep underground during a raid of a mad scientist’s labyrinth. It had been after seeing her die that he had planeswalked away from Terran for the first time, arriving in a swamp in which he made an oath to never leave Terran again, since he associated planeswalking with every painful event in his life. In the present, Nikolai arrives at the last outpost to find it destroyed, fighting off a group of elves before making his way back to the Last City.

Meanwhile, Dayn, the hydra colossus Arkthus, and the rest of the Hydrean Wood’s forces have arrived to surround Terran. How they will get past the Time Sage’s forcefield is currently unknown.

----CHARACTERS---

Jace Beleren is a powerful mind mage and planeswalker who has no memories of his childhood, or his life before he planeswalked away from his now unknown home plane. Along with the Gatewatch, he saved the plane of Zendikar from destruction at the hands of the Eldrazi titans Ulamog and Kozilek. At the request of Terran’s Time Sage, Jace traveled to Terran to save the Last City of Zon from destruction at the hands of the savage forces surrounding it.

Edwin is a temporal mage and planeswalker who is incredibly ancient, although it is unknown if he lived before the Mending, a time long ago when planeswalkers were as powerful as gods. Using his power, he shields the city of Zon from destruction, but does so at great physical and magical expense to himself. He is known to the people of Zon as the “Time Sage.”

Benjamin is the ruler of the Last City. Many years ago, he found a near-toddler in the Hydrean Wood, took him in, and named him Nikolai. He raised the child, but eventually had to lead him at an orphanage due to it raising questions about who the child’s mother was — a scandal unfit for a city’s ruler. Still, he visited Nikolai almost every day, eventually allowing the boy to join the ranks of the Last City’s Trailblazers.

Nikolai is a planeswalker who, like Jace, does not know his home plane. When he was very young, his parents were slaughtered before him, igniting his Spark and whisking him to the plane of Terran, where he was taken in by Benjamin. Although he suppressed the memory of planeswalking, he ended up unintentionally leaving the plane again under the stress of seeing his lover, Sylvia, killed. After her death, he made an oath to never leave the plane of Terran again, giving himself the title “Nikolai Faithful.” Although he was once friends with Greziel, the two fell apart after Sylvia’s death.

Dayn is an elven planeswalker who, many years ago, used the explosion of green mana known as the Wellspring to shape the city-world of Terran into the nature-covered expanse it is now. He rides upon Arkthus, a massive hydra created through the collective power of nearly all the Hydrean’s elves. He is hellbent upon Zon’s destruction.

Zira is the high priestess of the Cult of Zepada. She rallies and directs the city’s underground cult, preaching that the day the Cult’s dark god’s (Zepada) rebirth is fast approaching. She carries out Zepada’s orders, which come to her through a sarcophagus deep within the angel’s tomb. For reasons currently unknown, she harbors both a deep hatred for the Last City and an extreme passion for the Cult. She is able to fully control a set of thirteen chains attached to her back, as well as a number of shades who do her bidding.

Virya is a Hydrean elf who cannot seem to fit in with any of the savage elves around her, instead preferring to look at the world through a more calm scope. On the day of her coming of age journey to the center of the Hydrean Wood, she is struck by a vision of a broken world; devastation of both the Hydrean and the Last City. In order to prevent it, she runs to warn the people of Zon, and for some reason, is able to pass through the city’s forcefield. After her information is given, however, she is detained in a cell near Zon’s North Gate.

Sarev is a Zonite government official who oversees a great number of the city’s affairs. She is haunted by Zira’s shades, who torment her and her children until Sarev finally surrenders the location of Edwin’s secret chamber under the city.

Greziel is the leader of Zon’s Exterminators, and is a master of incendiary weapons. He was once friends with Nikolai, but avoids talking to him following the death of Sylvia.

Amriel is the leader of Zon’s Expedition Unit, a group of many scouts devoted to mapping out the Hydrean Wood.

[elder-dragon-bolas]

Chapter 8: The Siege Begins

Chamber of the Time Sage

Edwin looked into a pool of rippling infinity and found that it reflected back nothing but guilt. The mystic waters of his chamber’s fountain were meant to show Edwin whatever time he wanted, but today, they showed him only his mistakes, as if to maximize his regret. The Time Sage had not been honest with Jace Beleren. Yes, he had told him everything there was to know about the Hydrean and its dangers, about Dayn and his army, but he had lied about the Cult. Edwin had claimed to not know their true plans, but in fact was more aware of them than almost anyone within the Cult. Had he told Jace the real danger the Cult presented, the mind mage would have been gone from Terran in an instant.

Edwin had sent an innocent man, a stranger who did not even belong to this plane, to near certain death. And yet, Jace, however small his chances of survival were, was the plane’s only hope.

He tried for the sixth time today to reach out to the future, and for the sixth time that day, got no response. Edwin smashed his hands against the fountain in frustration. Just as it had been shortly before the Mending, his vision of the future was obscured, granting him only vague probabilities and chances of what could be. He could now only hope that Jace would find some way to defeat not only the force that had converted almost all of a planewide city into nature, but also a darkness that had been brewing since even before the Mending. He wished he could leave to help the poor man fight, but if he were to leave here, he’d have to stop channeling Zon’s protective field, and then all would be lost.

Zon’s North Gate

It had taken a while, but they had arrived. The elves of the Hydrean were finally here, staying just outside the limits of the Time Sage’s forcefield, more and more arriving every minute. The ranks of soldiers, scouts, and Exterminators behind Greziel had stood stalwart at the beginning, but now a few of them had started to shake. If the elves had all gathered here outside the forcefield, surely they were expecting something to happen to it. Why did they all look so sure they would be inside before long?

Most of Zon’s best fighters had been sent here, to the city’s North Gate, to defend against the brunt of the Hydrean’s assault, as they had amassed most of their forces here. They had been told to wait to attack until Benjamin himself gave the word, but their leader had still not arrived. Even the army’s steeds were beginning to stamp their hooves in apprehension.

Then, a clarion blast of noise pierced through the air, and an entourage of horses clad in shimmering white armor rode into view, some of their riders bearing flags while others held golden wind instruments. In the middle of them rode a tall, familiar figure, the crest of the Zon war falcon on his chest and a massive, glowing sword upon his back.

Benjamin, the Overlord of Zon had arrived at last. The Last City’s ruler scanned the crowd for a moment, his eyes showing that he had expected someone else to be here by now. Nikolai, Greziel thought with a sick taste in his mouth. Incredibly fast but always too blasted late.

The noise sounded off once more, and the leader of the Last City pointed towards the crowd of elves and beasts with his blade, the signal of a bloody initiation. Benjamin’s horse charged forward with the same courage that shone upon Benjamin’s face, and the rest of the army was quick to follow.

With a smile on his face, Greziel pulled the massive, metallic Sunchanneler off of his back. As he felt the familiar heat pour into its barrel, he cried out in exhilaration, and ran forward to fight for the city and the people he so loved.

Unknown Location Beneath Zon

Zira Three-Eyes stood upon a raised platform of black stone, a ceremonial crown of bloodstained bone planted upon her head, its centerpiece covering her forehead in place of her usual blindfold. She looked out at the crowd assembled before her, fingers tapping at her sides. She had always had stage fright.

“Loyal ones,” Zira began, “Hundreds and hundreds of years ago, God visited our mortal realm. We, the lowlifes and drunkards, the criminals and rejects, had been the ones to find her presence. We witnessed her power long before the Wellspring changed our world, and we even obtained an image of her likeness.”

With shaking, reverent hands, Zira opened a glass case to her right. With reverence, she lifted up the piece of parchment within, and held it up to where the entirety of the Cult could see it. Upon it was a drawing of a beautiful winged figure, holding a weapon that was rendered unidentifiable by the blotting of ink.

“It was many years ago when the first highpriest, the goblin Yvrin, found the corpses that Zepada had annihilated,” she continued. “Yvrin was spoken to by Zepada that night. Zepada told Yvrin her name and her promises to us, and Yvrin told the world. Zepada promised us that our belief would one day be rewarded by her return, the return that would ascend us to godhood. God now speaks to me, loyal ones, and she has shown me the path to her return. Zepada requires quite the red carpet, one painted by not just the blood of our enemies, but our own as well. Now, we have played both the Hydrean and the Last City beautifully into our hands. Now, we act, and we turn their conflict into utter chaos. Now, we revel in the bloodlust. Tonight, Zepada RETURNS TO OUR WORLD!”

The room erupted into frenzied cries and applause, and Zira could not help but add her own voice to the chorus. Soon her people would be ready to march into the daylight of Zon, at last showing their fangs to the world that had ignored them for so long. And not long after that, their glorious, winged leader would join them.

Borderwoods of Zon’s East Gate

The group of elves marched through the last stretch of the woods, their feet making no sound. No one knew these trees better than they did. As soon as they came upon a Zonite, they’d rip them to shreds and feed the remains to their beasts. Yes, no one knew the woods better than the elves.

------------------------

In trees far above the elven forces, Amriel and his scouts waited. They probably think they have the home advantage here, thought the leader of the Expedition Unit. Wait until they find out just how much we scouts have found out about their little Wood.

As the elves marched into position, the scouts let themselves fall one by one off of the tree branches, diving into the crowd of elves below. Dozens of cords attached to their backs and wrapped around the tree branches, stopping their fall just above the ground, where each scout grabbed an elf and let the bungee cords pull them back up. A flash of swords and the elves were decapitated, their heads falling to the earth below. The crowd looked up in shock, and some of the elves began clambering up the tree’s branches.

Their forces were split now, and that mistake was realized far too late by the elves left on the ground. Leaves flew up from the ground around them, and up jumped several scouts, some armed with daggers and some with shortswords. The elves’ numbers were halved before they could even begin to react. When they did, though, they reacted with anger and passion behind every sword strike.

Scouts began to drop from the trees above, and the initial morale the Expedition Unit had gained from the ambush began to fade. “Bring this fight to the ground!” commanded Amriel. He bounded off the tree, and his scouts followed. What the elves below had thought were more scouts’ corpses falling from above turned out to be actual scouts raining from the skies above, swooping down with swords swinging.

It won’t be easy, Amriel thought, but we should be able to win this fight.

Streets of Zon

Jace Beleren raced through empty streets, mulling over all that Edwin had explained to him. The Time Sage had warned him of an elf named Dayn, a planeswalker who was the reason behind so much of Terran being covered in wilderness. The plane had once been a massive city, just like Ravnica, until an event known as the Wellspring, when Dayn had harnessed an explosion of green mana and destroyed most of the plane’s city, creating hydras and beasts from nothing. Apparently he was here to claim Zon, the last piece of civilization that had escaped destruction.

Edwin had also warned Jace about the hydra Dayn rode upon — Arkthus. The creature was as large as a small mountain, and just as hard to destroy. Jace wished that Edwin had let him know about that detail before he had made the decision to fight for Zon.

Edwin had told him to make his way to the North Gate of Zon, where he would find Benjamin. He could only hope that he would get there in time. To destress, Jace reached out to the minds of the people hiding in the houses around him. He felt anxiety and despair, yet he also found hope. He found awe at the bravery of Zon’s soldiers, and he felt love for husbands and wives who had been called to the fight.

And then, he found a familiar mind, one pained with great suffering. Sarev.

He looked to where the pain had come from, and saw a cobblestone tower to his right. Running to it, he threw it open and ran inside. He ran up the stairs, regretting not taking Gideon’s breathing lessons all the way. His telepathy led him into a short, narrow hallway, and into a room that appeared to be made for children to sleep in. There were two beds in the room, but only one was occupied. Sarev sat on the bed, rocking back and forth as she stared at Jace.  To her left and right sat two children who could only be Sarev’s children, each of their gazes just as fixated on Jace. He reached out to the minds of the three tentatively, and was met with a tortured maze of pain and fear. Realizing that their minds had been attacked, Jace slowly worked apart the magic. The curse was a weak one, and it took Jace only a few minutes to undo it. Whoever had done this had not cared to cause lasting damage, which means there must have been some other motive.

Sarev did not speak immediately, but when she did, she ran and hugged Jace, thanking him profusely for undoing the horror surrounding the minds of her and her children. “Jace, there is something you must know,” she warned, her eyes wide. “The things that attacked me — I’m almost sure they were servants of the Cult. They were trying to find out where Edwin lives, and they forced me to tell them; you have to warn him as soon as you can.”

“Don’t worry,” Jace responded. “I won’t need to run.” He reached out to a mental link that he and Edwin had established before Jace had left for North Gate, and as easily as he could whisper into a nearby ear, he sent: “Edwin, the Cult is coming for you. I’m coming to you now — stay safe.”

Chamber of the Time Sage

Edwin was looking down at the fountain when he heard it. The noise was slight and short, as if it was not meant to be heard, but he had certainly noticed it. It had been metallic and rattling, almost like… chains.

Edwin’s heart filled with dread.

From the stairs leading down into the chamber floated a sardonic voice, taunting, “Oh, well, I guess you heard that, didn’t you, Mr. Sage? Can’t be helped then. Suppose I can just walk right in anyway, no need for sneaking, now.”

Zira. The Cult’s highpriest. Edwin had seen her in his visions, and although he did not know what she would be doing on this clouded day, he had witnessed her vile acts before through the fountain’s waters. She was not only devious, but powerful, and Edwin knew that if he was giving his power to the city’s forcefield, he may very well lose to her in combat.

“What do you want, witch?” Edwin barked. “There’s nothing here for you, the fight is at the walls.”

“Oh, we both know that’s a lie, don’t we, Eddy? I have many more eyes than just the ones on my face, all over the city, right under the noses of you and everyone you hold dear. How do you think I found you?” Zira jumped over the last few steps and came into clear view of Edwin, revealing the malicious smile resting upon her face. “Sarev may seem tough, but she broke rather easily.”

“You bastard.”

“If only I was lucky enough to deserve that title. My parents were very much together, they just didn’t want anything to do with me from the start.”

“If you’re only here to banter like a young child, Zira, I’m sure there are pubs in which you could spend your time much more efficiently.”

“Oooh, I love your snark, Mr. Sage. Let’s get to the point then, shall we?” Zira jumped into the air towards Edwin, the chains surrounding her flying out in every direction before extending and throwing themselves towards Edwin.

Thinking on his feet, Edwin threw a spell at the chains, slowing time in the small area of space they flew through, impeding their progress and causing Zira to fall back to the ground before her chains had come even close to hitting him. “Is that the best you’ve got?” Edwin sneered. Just as spoke the insult, a voice that was not of the chamber cut through his head — it was Jace, warning him about the Cult. “A little late, Jace,” he sent back. “Don’t come for me; I’ll be fine. My visions have made it very clear that you need to be at North Gate if we are to save Zon.” With that, Edwin severed the mental connection. He needed to focus.

“So that’s how you’re going to play it, then?” Zira seemed to like the challenge. She waved her hand in an arc, and the chains rose once again, spearing themselves at Edwin. He blasted off another slowing spell at the chains, but this time, they redirected themselves, moving out of the way of the spell and back at Edwin. He barely had time to put up defensive wards as the chains collided with him, and upon seeing how much they had damaged his wards, he realized he would not be able to last for very long against the highpriest. He started running; staying in one place would only make it easier for the highpriest to attack.

“On the run now, Edwin? We both know you can’t leave. Or at least, you don’t want to.” Zira attacked with her chains once more before continuing, “I know your secret. I know that you can leave this world whenever you want to, and I know that the Trailblazer can as well. Once I’m done with both of you, there will be no more Travellers on Zon’s side.”

So she doesn’t know about Jace, then? Edwin rolled out of the way of the chains this time, and inquired, “Who told you about… Travellers?”

This time Zira dashed towards Edwin, each of her chains striking out one after another. “Zepada, of course. She has spoken to me, told me all about you and your kind, and all about what you can do. I know that you were once much, much stronger. Her voice promises me that after I deal with you, she will give me powers far beyond those of even you Travellers.”

Using a combination of quick movements, wards, and spells, Edwin dodged chain after chain, and responded, “Zira. That voice is not Zepada. That voice is something far more powerful, a force that everyone on this world is going to come to fear if you let it out. It is lying to you, using you, for its own means. It has been planning every moment of this night since centuries ago.”

Zira seemed to pause for a second before she began attacking again, this time with even more fervor. “YOU LIAR!” she shouted. “Zepada has given me everything, and I’ll show you just where that everything has got me.” Her chains rose into the air once more, and Edwin once again found himself wondering if he, or even the plane of Terran as a whole, would make it through the night.

Zon’s North Gate

The fight was going shockingly well for the Last City. It seemed as if the elves had forgotten civilization’s might in the years since Edwin’s forcefield had created a temporary peace. The organized fighting tactics of Zon’s soldiers cut through the elves’ rowdy fervor with ease, every slain elf bolstering the soldiers’ morale further.

The soldiers around Benjamin fought with the most intensity, but farther away from Zon’s leader, the fight was far more even. Greziel had found himself separated from the rest of his unit, and was now surrounded by a tangle of menacing elves. They stayed a safe distance away from his Sunchanneler, as they had witnessed the destruction it had wrought upon their comrades, but they inched slowly closer. Suddenly, a particularly brave elf jumped from the crowd, bringing his club down upon Greziel’s Sunchanneler before the Exterminator had a chance to react. With their enemy disarmed, the ring of elves closed in.

But just as all seemed lost, a familiar blur cut through the front half of the elven circle, bringing them to the ground. As the blur slowed, it became evident it was humanoid in form for just a moment, before it accelerated again into a spinning wave of red and beige. In no time, half of the elves lay on the ground, and Nikolai stood before Greziel, handing him his Sunchanneler with a grimace on his face.

No words were shared between the two former friends as they began to fight. A burst of flame erupted from Greziel’s Sunchanneler, and with trained precision, Nikolai charged forward to take down any elves who were not already being charred.

As elves fell down all around them, Greziel looked up, although he immediately wished that he had not. The hydra that he gazed upon had some of its heads literally in the clouds, its necks each as thick as five trees tied together.

This battle was nowhere close to over.

On Top of North Gate’s Wall

Jace Beleren stood upon one of the many balconies connected to Zon’s wall, surveying the battle that raged below him. Reluctantly, he had listened to Edwin’s message and made his way to North Gate rather than to the Time Sage’s chamber, even through his frustration at having the mental connection cut.

Now that he was here, though, what was he supposed to do? Edwin had said that the only way for him to save Zon was by being here, but if he went into that bloody combat, he would die — he was an illusionist and telepath, not a soldier. Why, then, was he here?

A roar from above Jace tore his eyes to look at the sky. He could now see a massive hydra approaching the Last City, its necks writhing through open air.

Arkthus.

Chamber of the Time Sage

“You can’t last for much longer, can you, Eddy?” Zira remarked.

She’s right, thought Edwin. My wards are completely run out — her next attack might be the end of me, and if I die, the forcefield goes with me. The barrier’s done for either way; she’s already won that much. I don’t have to go down with it. There’s still more that I can do for the City than just the forcefield.

As the chains slashed at him again, Edwin cut the channel of energy that he was pouring into the forcefield.

Time slowed to a crawl. Edwin felt a massive reservoir of power flow out of the city’s borders and into his body. His aged features changed in moments, his wrinkles smoothing, his muscles swelling, his silver hair changing into a brown shade with a streak of red. Even though he knew of the situation he had just put Zon into, Edwin smiled. It was good to be powerful again, even if it was still only a sliver of what he had possessed before the Mending.

Shock passed over Zira’s face for a moment, quickly becoming a smug grin. “Ah, so you realized the field was done for either way? Clever boy. I suppose I’ll be going now—”

“You’re not going anywhere,” said Edwin, and to either side of him, reality shifted, opening a portal to another time and age upon Terran. Bolts of lightning arced from the rifts, headed straight for the highpriest, but just before they reached her, the ground between the two fighters erupted, a massive, corpulent beast emerging from the hole, body-blocking the two lightning blasts.

Although Edwin could no longer see Zira, he heard her voice giggle, “See ya, Mr. Sage! Better luck next lifetime!”

The undead beast that had just entered Edwin’s chamber kept climbing, punching a hole through the ceiling layer and bringing its head to the surface of the Last City.

Zon, the Last City

As if some invisible force had passed through them, every elf surrounding the city of Zon looked towards the massive hydra approaching the Last City. The hydra roared once more, and the elves’ heads turned slowly back towards the soldiers of Zon, a smile on every one of their faces. In unison, the elves charged, smaller hydras emerging from the Wood behind them.

[elder-dragon-bolas]

Chapter 7: Running from the Past

He had been so young. So young, in fact, that he had never even learned the name of the world he had lived on. It had a metallic surface, and the creatures that lived upon that surface were anything but normal. Many of them were near completely composed of metal, and the few beings with flesh remaining were hunted viciously. Nikolai had been among those few.

Before he had even learned to speak, a massive, oil-dripping creature had invaded his home. It had chopped several other survivors down, then, with one swift strike, cleaved both of Nikolai’s parents’ bodies into bloody chunks.

He had screamed, then, and disappeared from that world in a blast of heat. He had reappeared, crying, in a massive forest, where he found he had no will to do anything but roll up into a ball and cry. When he awoke, he was not alone. A massive beast with a dozen heads loomed over him, and after bellowing out a primal roar, extended its massive necks to crush him. But just as Nikolai closed his eyes and accepted his fate, he had heard the slice of metal against flesh, and looking up, saw a man looking to be around thirty standing above him. He had scooped up Nikolai and rescued him from the forest, and as the years passed, Nikolai had come to known him as not just Benjamin, but also “Father.”

In the present, Nikolai swerved to avoid a tree branch. He was almost at the final outpost he needed to visit, and then he would run to North Gate, where he would fight alongside Benjamin. To pass the time as he ran, he forced himself to remember, however much it hurt him, as he always did before battles of consequence.

He had never understood why he had not died upon the metal world, why he was whisked away so miraculously. He had done his best to erase it from his mind.

He had to stop living with Benjamin only a few years after the man had saved him, as questions of who this mysterious boy was would have been raised, and could have gone so far as to create theories of an illegitimate child, as Zon’s leader was known to not be married. Benjamin had put him in an orphanage, but had visited him every day, sharing stories and taking him on adventures around the city.

As Nikolai had grown up, he began to manifest superhuman running capabilities. Benjamin had happily offered him a spot among the Last City’s Trailblazers, and Nikolai had happily accepted. He rose quickly through the ranks of the Trailblazers, eventually becoming their leader. In this position, he commonly interacted with the leader of Zon’s Exterminators, a man named Greziel. They quickly became friends, and after enough time, they were as close as brothers.

It was around that time that they met Sylvia.

Even the memory of the woman hurt Nikolai, and he had to catch himself before he tripped over a large branch near his foot.

Sylvia had been an expert Trailblazer. Although not skilled in physical combat, she was incredibly nimble, and possessed reflexes that put even Nikolai to shame. She and Nikolai had grown closer each day, until Nikolai’s heart eventually fell for her. And yet, he held himself back, for he had noticed that his friend had similar feelings for Sylvia. It had become a topic of minor argument among the two, but never anything dire enough to shake the foundation of their friendship. When it became apparent that Sylvia loved Nikolai and not Greziel, the Exterminator had dropped the topic.

As Nikolai wiped a bug from his cheek, he noticed that his lips had become a smile without him noticing.

There had been a joint mission between the Trailblazers and the Exterminators, called to deal with one of the deepest evils the Hydrean Wood harbored. There existed a group of scientists known as the Slavir, some human, most gorgon, that experimented upon the bodies of the dead. In order to acquire humanoid bodies, they often stole away more novice scouts from Zon’s Trailblazers and Expedition Unit. If a recruit went missing, the Slavir were almost definitely to blame.

The Expedition Unit had recently discovered a stronghold that could potentially be a base of Slavir operations. It was a relatively small tower. Upon exploration of the structure, the Expedition Unit had found no signs of life (or unlife). It had been Nikolai who had stumbled upon a well-hidden trapdoor. Below it, the Expedition Unit had found a massive pile of scout-recruit bodies, each with their own variety of mutilations.

The Exterminators had been called in to perform a mass cremation of the bodies, but when it had ended, it became evident that the pile had been used to conceal a pathway that led deeper underground still. Upon this discovery, many more Trailblazers, Scouts, and Exterminators had been called in, and the exploration of the tower’s underground began. They had found that the area expanded and writhed into a labyrinth so grandiose even the Expedition Unit struggled to map it.

The labyrinth had split the once large group into several smaller ones, but there were plenty of horrors for each of those groups to witness, including botched experiments and desecrated corpses. Occasionally, a group would encounter a gorgon Slavir administrator, which usually meant that the Zonites would not only have to fight off the gorgon, but also the gorgon’s pets — strange combinations of different species and body parts held together by dark and unknown forces. These encounters slowly picked off members of each group, but when the groups began to retreat, they found that the labyrinth had shifted on its own, denying them any means of escape.

As he remembered, Nikolai’s breathing became short and quick.

Sylvia and Nikolai had led a group of some of the most veteran Trailblazers, but even their numbers had dwindled. There came a moment when Nikolai had looked back and found no one behind him — not even Sylvia. He had continued to walk, and then run, alone and with sweat dripping from every pore.

When he finally reached a massive, square room which he could only hope was the labyrinth’s center, what he saw terrified him. A pile of corpses many times bigger than the one they had burned to get down into the labyrinth lay before him, consisting of the men and women who had entered the maze just hours ago.

Around the pile stood a ring of horrific mutants, some holding bodies, some consuming them. A single gorgon stood at the far end of the room, smiling at Nikolai. Quickly, the Trailblazer’s eyes scanned the pile for familiar faces, and although he saw many, he noted that Greziel and Sylvia were not among them. Nikolai drew his sword, opening his mouth in a battle cry, and charged, when he was interrupted by the gorgon’s smooth voice.

“Now, now, not so fast,” the gorgon chided. “If you kill me, how will you ever leave this place? How will you ever find your friend again?”

Friend? Thought Nikolai. Don’t you mean friends? He thought better of asking this, however, not wanting to give away any more information than he had to.

“Now, let’s get to introductions, shall we? I am Vivze, the chief administrator of this sector. And you are…?” The gorgon pointed an upturned finger at Nikolai.

Nikolai said nothing.

Before Vivze could open her mouth again, a familar figure ran through the doorway to the wall next to Nikolai. Greziel was blood-splattered, some of it his own red blood, some a darker, purplish shade. The gorgon’s mouth opened in a wide O of exaggerated surprise. “Another guest is still up and running? What a treat! Well, then, I suppose we’ll just skip straight ahead to the best part.” Vivze snapped her fingers, and a mutant appeared from the shadows, tugging a chained-up Sylvia along with it. His lover’s breath was ragged, her clothes torn.

“Do you two recognize her?” Vivze asked with glee in her voice. “Well, boys, I have a deal to make with you. I give you back —”

Nikolai and Greziel were already charging forward.

Nikolai’s speed allowed him to reach Sylvia before Vivze and her mutant even had time to react. With a soldier’s precision, he cut loose the chains surrounding Sylvia, and reached his arm around his lover. When he turned to look into her eyes, though, he saw a spiked chain wrapped around her neck, causing his eyes to widen in shock.

In this moment of shock, Vivze revealed a black knife from her sleeve, and with one stroke, ripped the front of Sylvia’s throat into bloody tatters. She fell to the ground with a shriek, her last conscious movement a hand thrown towards her love.

Nikolai saw Greziel screaming, saw him charging towards the gorgon, but Nikolai found himself unable to move. A flood of memories had come back to him as he had seen the knife come down, as he’d seen his lover fall to the ground; he’d seen his father and mother cut down beside Sylvia, he’d seen the oil-dripping monstrosity who had killed his parents in the face of every Slavir amalgamate surrounding him. He had screamed a scream of rage and pain and sadness, and he felt an old feeling, a memory he had tried so hard to forget, surrounding him. He felt the temperature rise as the air around him shimmered, he felt himself rise into the air, he felt the stare of every living being in the room upon him. Nikolai felt Terran fade from existence, and he felt himself carried away from the plane by the same power that had carried him there so many years ago.

By the time the last outpost came into view, hot tears ran down Nikolai’s face.

He had laid there, on the swampy ground of a world whose name he did not know, and had wept. The ponderous weight of memory had crushed him, and he resolved to die there, in the muck of that unknown world’s bayou. Many-legged insects and rats crawled around him, and still he had not moved.

He had spent hours, weeping for himself, for Sylvia, for his mother and his father. Night had become day when finally a different image had lighted upon Nikolai’s feverish mind. His thoughts turned to a crying Benjamin, a father shedding tears for the son he had lost at such a young age. For him, he would go back. He remembered Greziel, alone and abandoned in that dark, hopeless maze. For him, he would go back.

Nikolai had scooped himself out of the mud, and reached towards the void between worlds. The void reached back, and for the first time, he felt himself leaving a plane of his own choice. But a thought occurred to Nikolai, and he cut the connection short. There’s something I have to do first, he thought. Reaching down, Nikolai picked up the sword he had cast to the ground, the weapon that had failed to slay his love’s killer, and cut his palm with it. He then planted the sword into the ground, and looked up at the sky. Raising his bloodstained palm, he made an oath to never leave Terran again. It had been the leaving that had been there at every painful moment in his life. He would not allow it to happen again. He would forever be loyal to only one world — Terran.

From that day onwards, he had gone by the self-proclaimed title “Nikolai Faithful.”

As he reached the outpost, Nikolai wiped the tears from his eyes, pulling his thoughts back to reality from his melancholy reverie. As he surveyed the outpost from up close, though, anxiety began to claw at his heart. Many of the buildings were damaged or covered in claw marks. Corpses littered the ground, and armed, savage elves ran from building to building. It took only a moment for Nikolai to put the pieces together — the Hydrean army was far closer than the people of Zon had thought.

It was not long before the perceptive elves took notice of Nikolai, moving to surround him on all sides. They wielded sharp, long knives, and had not a civilized hair on their body, from their uncut nails to their frenzied eyes. With no route of escape, Nikolai accepted the only remaining course of action: to fight. Raising their weapons high, the elves charged. Their screams of bloodlust turned to gasps of shock quickly, however, when they saw a quarter of their numbers fall onto the ground, sword wounds cut into their chests. Nikolai had moved so quickly that they hadn’t even seen him draw his sword before this. The elves recovered quickly, though, and the deaths of their brothers and sisters only served as fuel to their rage.

Running at a speed so fast that his feet barely touched the ground, Nikolai blocked sword after sword, each of his parries fluidly transforming into a precise strike, each aimed at a different elf’s vitals. In a flurry of feet and blades, he felled more elves than he could count to, but their numbers swelled faster than he could cut them down. They were everywhere at once, filling his peripheral vision to an extent that made him wonder if he should have just tried his best to flee.

Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a Hydrean charger stomp onto the scene. It wasn’t the largest of beasts, but it packed a punch, and was too durable for him to fell it quickly. He had to escape before it reached the fray.

A club crashed into the back of his head — a punishment for pausing to analyze the stomper. Struggling to stay on his feet, Nikolai whirled around, coming face to face with the club’s wielder. The elf was bigger than any he had ever seen, its build bulky and its stature looming. One of its ears was completely torn off, and its fangs were twice the size of those of the other elves. The goliath roared and brought down its club again, this time aiming for Nikolai’s sword. Dazed by the impact, the Trailblazer was unable to react, and his weapon was knocked out of his hand and somewhere far into the tangle of elves around him.

With his weapon gone, Nikolai did his best to dodge the circle of knives and clubs closing in on him, but knew it would not be enough. He received another crack from the brute’s club, and realized that if he didn’t take him down soon, he was going to be too dazed to continue running. I’m going to have to use that technique, Nikolai thought, and grimaced.

Shaping his hand into a spearhead, Nikolai sprinted at the large elf. The elf swept its club low, aiming for Nikolai’s legs, but this time, the Trailblazer hopped upwards, leaping on top of his enemy’s club. Focusing his strength into his legs, Nikolai propelled himself towards the elf, then turned in midair, kicking with all his strength. The elf was dazed for only a second, but it was enough. Making his hand into a point once again, he ran faster than he had in a long time, aiming his hand directly for the elf’s heart. His speed brought his hand straight through the elf’s flesh, gouging his organs. The colossus fell with a bellowing scream.

“Huh,” Nikolai joked. “I think I might’ve broken a nail there.”

The elves did not find this amusing.

Without the largest elf clubbing him, Nikolai regained his natural rhythm, and slowly began to turn the fight once again. He weaved his way through the crowd, retrieving his sword, and his odds started to look for the better.

Then he remembered the charger, which had now arrived at the fight. An elf sat on top of it, pointing at Nikolai and barking a command which didn’t quite reach his ears. The charger ducked its head and charged at Nikolai, who dodged the creature’s assault just barely. Then, however, Nikolai felt the force of the shockwave the charger’s attack had left behind, and fell onto the ground. A swarm of elves dived on the opportunity, but Nikolai got to his feet just in time to dodge away from their slices.

I’m not going to win this fight by ordinary means, thought Nikolai. I need to do something big. His eyes drifted up to one of the outpost’s towers that was still standing, and then down to its weak bottom support — four wooden legs. A plan formed in his mind, and he made a break for the tower, the crowd of elves on his heels. The charger followed them with foam dripping from its mouth.

As they got into position, Nikolai turned his head back at the charger, baring his teeth in a challenging grin. The charger got the message, and ran straight for Nikolai, but the nimble Trailblazer sidestepped the charger with ease, instead sending it into the tower’s weak legs. Before the crowd of elves had time to react, the entire viewing tower was crashing down upon them, felling even the massive charger as it went.

Nikolai ran back to the Last City with all the energy he had left. He had to warn them before it was too late.

---------------------------------------------

On the back of the massive hydra known as Arkthus, a single elf looked down upon the city that had eluded destruction for so long. Today was the day it met its end, and his arrival would herald its fall.

For the first time in decades, Dayn of the Hydrean Wood smiled in earnest.

[elder-dragon-bolas]

Chapter 6: Dark Machinations

The highpriest of the Cult walked with a slight swing in her step, her hips moving side to side in a dangerous expression of seduction, not done so much for romanticizing, but more for her to delight over the mixture of fear and dizziness it inspired in the people she met. From the sides of her tightly sewn shirt dangled thirteen chains, creating a menacing sound as she walked down the damp, gray caverns spiraling deeper and deeper underground.

Zira hummed a tune that only she knew, a constant variation on three notes. To most, it did not sound that musical, but her critics were rather short-lived. She wore a blindfold, a black loop of silk around her forehead rather than her eyes. It had earned her a nickname within the Cult: Zira Three-Eyes. She took it as a title of respect and not an insult, not only because of the mysteriousness it granted her, but because the statement wasn’t so far from the truth.

“Highpriest Zira!” a voice echoed from down the hall just as her feet touched the staircase’s last platform. A short, blood-covered goblin scrabbled into view, an urgent look on his face. “The Tomb was shaking again just a bit ago!”

Zira smiled. “Scurry off, loyal one. I’ll head there myself. ” A roar from deeper underground reminded her of something. “Oh. Don’t forget to make sure that it’s ready for Zon’s surprise party.” As the goblin ran off, the smile on Zira’s face intensified into a wide grin. The Tomb of Zepada had shaken eleven other times this week, and each time it did the glee growing inside her heart expanded exponentially.

Every step she took echoed off the walls of the long hall extending endlessly before her. Time always seemed to come to a crawl as she walked this path. Finally, Zira reached the far end, and saw the golden gate that loomed from three times her height, a small golden statue of a winged humanoid at its top. The gate’s doors opened without her hands ever touching them.

The Tomb of Zepada was a fairly empty room. A massive sarcophagus with a skeletal design extruded from its surface lay at the center of the room. Zira approached the coffin with reverence, and cautiously placed her hand upon the skeletal design’s face. The sarcophagus’ lid slowly floated upwards, moving higher until it finally reached the ceiling, where it came to a rest floating in midair.

Inside the box was not a body, but a strange black substance that was not solid, aqueous, or even gaseous. It bubbled and steamed, and if Zira stared at it closely enough, she could almost see the outline of a person. Without warning, a grating, feminine voice emanated from the coffin. “It is time at last, highpriest Zira. The bloodbath is imminent, and I will be more than pleased if you execute it properly. How goes your progress in setting the puppet show’s strings?”

Zira smiled. “Perfectly.”

------------------------------------------

Sarev was in a good mood today. The Visitors had not made any appearance today, and for the first time in months, she had been able to focus on her paperwork without the black things watching her, whispering to her. As the moon set, she tucked her children into bed. Her husband was a soldier deployed to East Gate currently, in case the elf Virya’s warning turned out to have merit.

Tentatively, she climbed into bed herself. The potential of a coming battle at the walls frightened her, but the exhaustion of the day’s work and stress eventually lulled her into a deep slumber.

She was sitting in her home’s workroom, poring over stacks of paper, when the Visitor appeared. It was tall, black, and its only feature was a pair of glowing white eyes. It had long claws, and only stared at her. It had no mouth, yet she could hear its whispering, a sound like the scratching of rusted nails upon a sword, telling of things she could not comprehend.

(You’redreamingthisisn’treal)

Yes, she told herself, I’m dreaming. When the Visitors actually came to Sarev, their whispering was much, much louder, and inescapable. They had never asked anything of her, only stood their, disappearing if she looked directly upon them, slowly driving her mind over the edge.

Sarev awoke in a cold sweat. Flustered, she decided to go check on her children, sleeping in the room down the hall. She slipped out of bed, faced the door to open it, and then stopped, horrified.

A Visitor was standing there to block her way, its hands shaped into long claws.

Sarev woke up again, screaming. She reached to her arm this time, pinching it, and felt the sharp pain. She was finally awake. Sarev walked fearfully to the door — no Visitor this time — and started down the hall.

Then she heard a long, scratching noise.

Sarev bolted to her children’s room, feeling the floor under her bare feet press against her. She was awake. She was awake. She was awake. Sarev threw the door to the children’s room open, and stopped dead midshout.

Three Visitors stood in the room. One held her little Sarah in a hug off of the ground; she was still asleep. The other held poor sleeping Lric in a similar pose. The third stood to face her, and for the first time, the whispers were comprehensible. “Do you care for them? Answer me this. Where does the Time Sage live? Do not lie, or we will be back, and we will not be so kind.”

Sarev could only stare.

“Answer quickly,” it commanded. The two Visitors holding her children grew white, teethy mouths, and grinned simultaneously at Sarev.

Sarev snapped back into reality, pinching her arm one more time to make sure she wasn’t dreaming, and started speaking frantically. “Underneath the center of the city!” she gasped. “Eye Alleyway in the 1st district. There’s a stairwell at the back of the alleyway if you turn left and move a grey slab from its top. Please leave them alone, please, have merc—!”

Sarev was sitting on top of her bed again.

She ran to her the room her children slept in, and found them sitting on their beds as well. Their eyes were wide open, but they did not speak or move, only staring at Sarev.

Sarev fell to her knees and cried.

-----------------------

“That’s the Time Sage, then, but what of the other Traveller?” the voice asked Zira.

“I have information on him, too, don’t you worry,” Zira responded.

------------------

Nikolai sprinted through the forest towards one of the last outposts he had to notify of the coming attack. In turn, messengers from those outposts would make a beeline for Zon’s outermost outposts, which were in fact massive castles, each about one-fortieth the size of the Last City.

Above him, an unseen pair of black figures flew through the treetops, barely able to keep up with Nikolai’s inhuman speed. They had followed him for a very long time now, gathering any information they could. When Nikolai reached the next outpost, they listened in on the conversation.

“After the last outpost, I’ll head to North Gate and fight from there,” Nikolai informed the outpost leader. “If the fight starts going for the worse, I’ll head to Edwin’s chambers and see if he can offer any further help.”

The shades nodded to each other, and disappeared.

-----------------

“With that information, I’ll find and take care of Nikolai after I’m done with the Time Sage,” Zira assured the voice.

“Perfect, then. When I am reborn into this world, Zira, you will be rewarded greatly.” The voice was full of promise, and Zira couldn’t help but grin. She had the utmost faith that Zepada would take her and make her into a god like her. She would look down upon the people of Terran, and they would feel pain for her pleasure.

--------------

Benjamin, the ruler of Zon, stood on the highest point of North Gate’s wall, gazing at a faraway mountain. The forest below was quiet and peaceful, a stark contradiction to the thousands of soldiers rallying themselves at each of the city’s Gates.

A messenger ran up to him; Benjamin recognized her as the viashino who had brought him to speak to Virya earlier today. She looked as tired as ever, but through her gasps she stuttered, “There are reports of attacks from inside-the-city sources at all four Gates, Benjamin. Their numbers include goblins, humans, zombies, and some things that I can’t even name.”

After those words, the viashino was not the only one sweating. “Have the Gateleaders deploy one-sixth of each Gate’s guard to investigate and dispatch the attackers,” Benjamin commanded, and the viashino ran off immediately.

With anxiety beginning to grip his heart, Benjamin looked at the horizon once more, and noticed something odd.

The faraway mountain had moved closer.

[elder-dragon-bolas]

Chapter 5: Behind the Walls

The spires of Zon rose far above Jace’s head, some even piercing the clouds. Surrounding him was the maelstrom of thoughts that was always surrounding him on the plane he called home, and their physical accompaniments walked all around him, bustling about their day, always somewhere to go. Merchants crowded the alleyway entrances and unoccupied walls, vending their ‘miraculous’ goods to any soul foolish enough to purchase them. Everything about the city reminded him of Ravnica, except that it was missing something — the ten guilds that controlled the City of Guilds were not represented in any way within this city, Zon, and strangely, Jace couldn’t tell if it was better that way or not.

Ahead of Jace walked the man who had greeted him, Edwin. A sense of unease floated around Jace when he looked at the man. No matter how hard he tried, he could not sense Edwin’s mind. It was not just a resistance to being probed, the mind simply was… not there.

“Try to keep up, Guildpact. There are some people I need to introduce to you, and while some of them are pacient, a few are… not quite so. That, and we still have a while of walking remaining. Time is not infinite.” Edwin quickened his pace.

(Guildpact? How does he know my title?)

Jace supposed that Edwin could have traveled to Ravnica. No need to be overly suspicious, right? This man was obviously powerful, and considering he had sent a missive across planes, he was probably a Planeswalker as well. Jace lengthened his strides to keep up with the man ahead.

To pass the time while they walked, Jace reached out to the thoughts of the common people around him, trying to attain a better understanding of the plane of Terran. He heard mundane thoughts of business deals and gatherings, but he also felt fears of what lay outside the city’s walls. His heart fell in his chest when he learned that Zon was the actual last city to exist on the plane of Terran, the rest of it surrounded by a massive forest that the city’s people referred to as the Hydrean. These thoughts continued to swirl around Jace, and eventually they became routine. After a while, though, Jace began to notice stranger, darker thoughts in a few select minds. Some were of strangers who had robbed their home in the night, a missing child, rumors muttered of a coming bloodshed. The most disturbing thought of them all was an image of a massive, dark-winged angel, its appearance varying greatly from thought to thought. Slowly, Jace began to understand that an underground cult existed in this city, but he could not come to understand its true agenda from the cityfolk’s thoughts alone.

“Edwin,” Jace asked, “are there… angels on Terran?”

The man stopped in his place, and looked slowly back at Jace before he began walking again. “No, Jace, there are none, but there are some who believe there once was. A faction known as ‘The Cult’ prays to a dark angel they call Zepada. Although they are dangerous, they are disorganized and have not had any major activity in a very long time.”

The pair continued walking in an awkward silence. Eventually, a massive white building came into view, and upon heading inside, Jace was greeted by a group of four men and one woman. The one who looked the oldest among them waved his hand in a greeting that he was obviously not used to using on this plane. Perhaps Edwin had instructed him to greet Jace that way.

“Welcome, Jace of Ravnica,” the man said. “My name is Benjamin, and my role here is to oversee the government of the Last City as well as its protection. Around me stand the trusted few that Edwin has gathered to meet you. They are all aware of what a Planeswalker is, and they all know a little bit about you and your home plane.”

Jace took a moment to survey the group before him. Benjamin had a kind and fatherly aura about him, yet from the massive sword strapped to his side, Jace could tell this man had seen through and survived dark times. The woman next to him looked like the most serious of the entire group, her skin the blue of all vedalkens. She reminded him of Lavinia. Behind the woman stood a tall man who had a medium-sized sword to the left of his waist, and a number of small scrolls tied to the right side. He wore a leather cloak and smelled of the massive forest Jace had walked through outside Zon’s walls. The last two stood on opposite sides of the group, and were angled so that they didn’t have to look at each other. Jace was tempted to view their minds, but decided to wait until they were done speaking. The one on the far left of the group wore boots of light material, telling Jace that he ran often for whatever his role was. The man to the far right smelled of soot, and some of his clothes were even visibly speckled with ash. He had a small smile on his face, though, and seemed like a humorous fellow.

The official-looking woman stepped forward and extended a hand to Jace, which he shook. “My name is Sarev,” the woman began. “I monitor Zon’s economy and legal issues — the busy work, you know? I’m really not sure why I’m needed here, as I have other matters to attend to — many other matters, mind you (here she looked at Benjamin) — but I will do my best to assist you in any way I can.” She stepped back into the group.

Next came forward the man on the far right. He clapped Jace on the back as he shook his hand, shocking him. “Name’s Greziel!” he exclaimed. “I burn things. Mainly leafy things.” When the man stopped talking, Jace looked at him confusedly, hoping for more of an explanation.

When that explanation didn’t come, Benjamin laughed. “Greziel handles the burning of dangerous areas of the Hydrean, allowing for us to reclaim a little bit of the world we’ve lost to the Wood. Our Expedition Unit and Trailblazers locate and mark key areas of the Wood and mark them, then Greziel and his exterminators burn them.”

“Speaking of the Expedition Unit,” the tall man behind Sarev said, “My name is Amriel. I lead the scouts of the Expedition Unit to explore the lands that Zon will one day reclaim.” Amriel shook Jace’s hand respectfully.

Finally, the man to the group’s far left spoke. “Nikolai,” he said. He did not shake Jace’s hand.

“And I, Jace, am Edwin.” Jace turned to face Edwin, who had not moved from his right side. “The people of Zon call me the Time Sage. I am the reason that Zon is not overwhelmed by the Hydrean. My power creates a temporal field around the city, reducing the beasts and wild elves who try to enter the city into specks of dust, aging them by centuries within an instant.”

Jace looked at Edwin with a new awe.

“Well, then,” Edwin continued, “I suppose it is now time for us to make our departure. There is something I must show you in order for you to understand this plane’s predicament.”

As Edwin turned to leave, Nikolai took a step forward and placed his hand on Jace’s shoulder’ surprising him. The man leaned in and whispered with conviction in his tone, “I know about your mind powers, Beleren. Know this - they don’t know. Do not tell them.” Nikolai released his grip, and Jace turned, walking away confused. Interested now, Jace telepathically reached out to the minds of the group behind him, and what he found shocked him.

In Sarev’s mind, he found the piles and piles of documents he had expected, but looking deeper, into her subconscious, Jace found memories deep below the surface, ones she had tried to push away. He saw nightmares, and he saw strange figures appear in her room at night, making strange threats. Jace considered looking deeper, but of course, there were four more minds to search through.

Next he looked through the minds of Greziel and Benjamin. He saw fire and bloodshed, he saw valor and anger, but throughout all of these memories, he kept seeing one person — Nikolai. He saw Benjamin, looking at a young, young child who barely resembled Nikolai. He saw Greziel laughing with Nikolai, then yelling at him. He saw a woman he had never seen before, there for a second and then gone.

Amriel’s mind was filled with maps and charts of the Hydrean Wood. He saw Amriel training new scouts, and he felt his concern for them. He saw leering beasts and fighting scouts, marked locations and forgotten groves. The expedition leader seemed to be the most authentic of all of the group from face value alone.

And then, at last, he turned his powers to Nikolai, and was instantly hit with a massive wave of pain, and then a current of sympathy washed from his own mind. Nikolai was a Planeswalker, too, and also like Jace, his sparking had been tragic even by Planeswalker standards. He saw a young Nikolai disappearing from an unfamiliar plane, chased by horrific, tar-and-metal monsters, and then he saw him reappear within the Terran wood. Above him stood an older figure; the ruler of Zon himself. Benjamin reached out a hand to the child, and suddenly the memory shifted…

Nikolai was by Greziel now, carrying out some kind of mission of burning. They worked together like brothers, their every movement in sync. He saw another scene, the two young men talking to a beautiful girl, and later, once she had left, arguing over her. They fought, yet still their friendship remained as strong as ever. And then, everything went wrong.

He saw a gorgon slide out from the shadows in a place he did not recognize. He saw Nikolai and Greziel, surrounded by a host of mutated amalgamations, the mutilated corpses of their comrades cast about the room. He saw their stalwart determination turn to panic as the gorgon brought forward a chained figure; the woman they had fought and loved. He saw them charge, and he watched as the gorgon slit her throat.

He felt Nikolai’s scream of pain, and he heard Greziel’s scream of vengeance, calling to Nikolai to help him cut down the gorgon. He saw the betrayal burn brightly in Greziel’s eyes as Nikolai’s body dissipated out of existence in a massive pillar of red light. He felt Nikolai’s confusion as he tried to stay on Terran, and Jace realized that he and Nikolai shared something in common; but he couldn’t put his finger on it. Nikolai had not known that he had crossed planes before since he had been so young. It reminded Jace of something, somehow, lost within memories he no longer had.

Jace Beleren never realized that quiet tears had began to flow down his cheeks.

Before him and Edwin could reach the exit, though, a panting viashino clothed in light armor rushed into the room, yelling for them to wait. “I have an important message from the West Gate Guard!” she exclaimed. “An elven girl approached them today, completely unarmed, and instead of attacking, she told them that the Hydrean has organized itself as a massive force, and that they have a hydra bigger than anything we’ve ever seen.”

Everyone in the room shared a glance. The things that had prompted Edwin to call Jace to Terran were about to become reality.

Benjamin was the first to speak. “Sarev, notify the four Cardinals. Have them organize the entirety of our military.”

Sarev looked shocked, inquiring, “But won’t Edwin’s shield be enough to stop them?”

“You know the futures the Time Sage has seen. We can take no chances.” The voice of Zon’s ruler was grim, and Sarev nodded without further debate, walking as quickly as possible while remaining businesslike. Benjamin turned now to address the viashino messenger. “Is the elf still outside? I will meet with her.”

The viashino paused for a moment. “No, sir. She… she was able to step inside the field.”

Benjamin’s eyes widened in shock. “Amriel, have other elves been able to step inside? Have you seen any recent reports with similar incidents?”

Shaking his head, Amriel responded, “No. Just an hour ago a small group of border elves tried to attack a novice scouting group, but they weren’t able to follow them past the field of safety once the group retreated, and believe me, they were definitely trying.”

“Then this girl must be very important,” Benjamin inferred. “I will go to meet with her at West Gate. Greziel, prepare the exterminators for defensive combat, and Nikolai, alert the outpost messengers of the situation. I’m sure the castles will be attacked before the city. Edwin, take Jace to the fountain and truly catch him up to speed.”

The remainders of the group left the room at once.

-------------------------------------------------

Edwin had led him to the center of the city, into a strangely placed alleyway, and down a flight of stairs it would’ve taken Beleren hours to notice on his own. Birds had seemed to watch them closely throughout the entire journey, making Jace’s hair stand on end. As the pair passed through a set of white double doors, they slammed shut behind them, and Edwin turned to Jace. “This is as far as I go,” he let out, and disappeared.

In a sudden panic, Jace turned to the doors behind him, but they would not open.

Collecting himself, he took the entire situation into the account and thought logically. When the answer came to him, it seemed far too obvious. The reason he couldn’t see Edwin’s mind was because he was searching for a mind where an illusion stood, a familiar sent by Edwin to bring Jace here, perhaps for reasons of… personal safety? Pondering the reason the Time Sage hadn’t come in person, Jace headed down the long flight of stairs, deeper and deeper underground.

Finally, he came to a square fountain basin, a pillar topped by a diamond shape in its center. Jace heard the sound of tired footsteps, and he turned to see a man walking towards him. The cloak he wore was shades of smeared red and blue on a backdrop of worn white, and he looked a few centuries old.

“Edwin?” Jace guessed with uncertainty in his voice.

“Yes, it is me.” Edwin smiled. “I am sure you have deduced by now that an illusion of myself was sent to gather you. I am sure that you realize I took a bit of artistic license with the illusion’s appearance, but no matter. Hah.” Edwin walked forward until he was about a foot away from Jace, and then sat down on the chamber’s cold ground.

“Why are you here, and why do you look so… under the weather?” Jace asked, deciding to replace ‘frail’ with a kinder word. “And what is the reason you called me here?”

“I suppose explanations are in order. Well, Jace Beleren, magic strong enough to shield an entire city is not easy to come by, even for a Planeswalker. To protect the city, I must give up my energy, transmitting it from under the city’s very center. I have not left this room ever since Zon became Terran’s final large sanctuary, and I hopefully never will.” Edwin’s smile turned bittersweet.

“But, what about when…?”

“Death? I am not quite human anymore, boy. Not another species, not something necessarily greater, but something very different indeed. When you play with time for as long as I do, it does strange things to you.”

“And for just how long have you been playing with time, Edwin?”

“Do you know what the Mending is? Perhaps so, perhaps you don’t. It would take too long to explain, anyway - just know that I’m very, very old. It’s the old Planeswalkers you really have to watch out for.” As Edwin said the words, Jace thought of Ugin, the spirit dragon who had been completely apathetic to the loss of life as long as it meant he could continue studying the Eldrazi remaining on Zendikar. “Yes, I have been here a long time, and I will not leave. You, however, can, and according to my visions, you are crucial to the completion of the incredible task ahead, which will save not only this city, but the entirety of Terran.”

“Elaborate?”

“You know of the siege coming to Terran.” At this, Jace nodded. “But there is something more at work. The Cult I told you of is planning something, and I wish I knew exactly what it was, but my power refuses to enlighten me. All it tells me is that you are necessary in stopping their plot.”

“If this task is so difficult, there are others I can have assist me, you know,” offered Jace. “I have a group of people who are starting to get the hang of this sort of plane-saving thing.”

“A pyromancer? A necromancer, a soldier, an elf too? If you value their lives, you will not call him. I have seen futures where they arrive, and believe me, they do not end well.”

“What? You’re telling me you know, one hundred percent, that if they come and help me, they’re done for? How can you possibly know that, and how could it possibly be true? I know these people… well, sort of know them. They’re capable.”

The Time Sage looked Jace Beleren dead in the eyes. “Jace, take it from me. There are some situations that can be avoided, but once initiated, cannot be escaped. My talent lets me understand these situations, and for some reason, fate seems to want only you here, as if you are crucial to solving some puzzle only you can see. Fate will not take no for an answer, and although it offers many branches in some circumstances, in others it has only a stump for you to take. It is life’s final decider.”

Jace sighed, frustrated, and reached out to the real Edwin’s mind. What he found was quite literally a thousand times more than what he had expected, so many more years of knowledge than he had ever felt, and not just that, it was as if his mind was not one but hundreds of different minds. Gasping, Jace stepped back, and Edwin laughed.

“Yes, Jace,” he chuckled, “I am very old. Not only that, but I don’t exactly exist. At least, I don’t exist in a conventional sense. I exist in, er… let’s just say too many existences. It’s rather complex, but think of me being a cumulation of every possible decision that makes a change. Is that too complex? Maybe it is. No, I’m sure you understand.”

Beleren stared blankly, a massive headache forming at his temples, earning another laugh from Edwin.

“Well, don’t stand with your jaw hanging open all day. We need to discuss just how you’re going to save the world.”

[elder-dragon-bolas]

Chapter 4: Heart of the Wood

The day is finally here.

Every child of the Wood dreams of the day that they will visit the Wood’s center, its pulsing Heart, the central point where the Wellspring began and created the beauty around them. It is a coming of age, and for many, it is a time of epiphany and self-realization.

Then why am I so worried?

Since the day has started, something has felt off within the Wood. The leaves are whispering to each other in secretive tones, and the elders are silent today. Even the ground feels unstable beneath my feet, a dark omen for what is to come.

But I’m just being nervous, right?

“Virya!” A familiar voice snaps me out of my worries. “It is time for Communion, my daughter. Almost everyone is at the Leaf-Circle by now, we’ll be late if you stand talking to roots any longer.” Mother’s voice is kind but stern, and I follow her with light, bounding steps.

“Coming, Mother.”

As we approach the Leaf-Circle, the excitement among the others of my age is practically tangible. Their bright eyes dart around like fireflies, voices chattering to each other in a language I know the words to but have never been able to speak, not like they do. No, the others do not like to talk with me. I am not like them.

When they run with the beasts, I sit with the moss. They dance with hydras, I sketch a tree. They talk of how one day they will grow to trample the people of Zon, and I… I have different ideas. We will never be the same, and we all know it, but no one says it. I walk by Mother, and they walk by one another. Sometimes I am sad, but sometimes I think that I am different for a reason.

I’m still waiting for that reason, though. I have been for a long time.

The few elders who haven’t arrived at the Leaf-Circle yet carry a different mood. They speak in quick, hushed cricket-tones, all but one of them bearing a grimace upon their face. I only wish my ears could pick up their words; the unknown is a beautiful but terrifying thing.

At long last, the Leaf-Circle comes into view. It is as beautiful and undisturbed as it was four moons ago, a perfect circle of dark-green kryest leaves, not moved since the settlement’s creation. Each of us steps reverently over the leafy border and into the circle of Communion that unites us all. At its center, on top of a tree trunk whose body was shattered by skyfire, is Elder Jurisa. As always, she carries an authoritative yet loving mood, similar to Mother’s.

“Children of the Wood,” Jurisa begins, “I declare this Communion initiated.” A sudden ripple flows through all of us, barely noticeable but always, always there. We feel it, the same mana that connected all of Terran many years ago when the Wellspring rewrote the world as one of nature rather than skyspires.

“Today is the day that you have all been waiting for, the journey of your children to the Wood’s Heart,” she continues. “There their eyes will be opened to the true beauty of the wood, the glory wrought by the Greenherald.” Jurisa’s eyes flash green briefly before she speaks further, and they turn without her face’s accompaniment, surveying the entirety of the Circle that is to her front.

“This year’s journey will be far different, however. This year, the children will not make their journey to the Circle alone. We will accompany them there. Not just us, the elders, not just their parents, all of us will make that journey.” A feeling of confused excitement ripples through the crowd as she says this. “The Greenherald has spoken to the eldest elder in each village with a beautiful message, one we have all waited for for many years. I wish I could tell it to you myself, but the Greenherald wishes the words to come from his own lips.”

At the mention of Greenherald Dayn, our pointed ears perk upwards. It was him who harnessed the Wellspring, him who created the Wood we all know and love. Surely something momentous is happening.

“We will begin the journey within the hour. Ensure you have everything ready.” Elder Jurisa smiled. “I declare this Communion closed.”

Immediately, the gathered crowd bursts into excited chattering. We depart shortly after. Everyone else’s feet move eagerly ahead, but mine slow and tread carefully. I am not so sure about what is about to happen as they are. Then again, I never have been.

I could tell you about the journey to the Heart, but that is not the important part of my story. The important part came at the Heart itself. The Wood’s center is a beautiful thing, and its title is well deserved. There lies a marvelous flower, pulsating as it flares a blood red coloration from deep within. Surrounding it are verdurous leaves of jade green, cradling it as a mother holds her child. Every child of the Wood knows that this place was where the Wellspring originated, the tide of wild magic that changed the city-world of Terran into a sprawling majesty of green. Its petals were closed, as if it would soon blossom.

Before the flower stood the most important elf in all the Wood — the Greenherald himself, Dayn, his head looking at a tiny mound of dirt piled before him. To be in his presence was almost like standing before a god; he had created the Wood, and without the Wood, none of us would be who we are now. Perhaps some of us would have never come to be at all.

Dayn raises his head and begins to speak, and I have never been more ready to listen. But when the words come, they fly past me. I hear them but do not understand them, they are like dust in the wind, blowing by my ears but never through them. I look around, and see that all the other children are staring at the Greenherald intently, their parents and elders smiling in remembrance.

(Why can’t I hear him? Why can’t I hear the words of our creator?)

Suddenly, the Wood fades from my eyes, and I am in another place. Still, I hear the sounds of the Greenherald’s voice, but now I am in the city of Zon, the Last City, and the scene before me is horrifying. I see the people of Zon, the humans, the goblins, the vedalken, the viashino; and I see the denizens of the Wood, the elves, the beasts, the krakens, the hydras; all looking up at a great darkness in the sky. I see the Greenherald himself, lying on the ground, unable to move. Tears well at his eyes, and he stares unblinking at a raining sky. Farther away from him is an unfamiliar yet important-looking man. He stands over another man, one that I have only heard stories of, weeping, not stopping. A woman wrapped in chains laughs from underground, and a deeper voice starts to rise.

(whatisthiswhatisthiswhatisthis)

And then I am back in the Wood, and now, I can hear Dayn’s words.

“And that is why, my children, we cannot tolerate Zon’s defiance any longer. The world belongs to us, as it always has. As civilization once trampled nature, we shall return the favor. This is why I ask of you to lend me the power that was once given to you, the tiny bit of Wellspring that lives within you. With it, I shall bring forth a champion to blot out the sun, a being so powerful that all of Zon shall quake in terror. Benjamin will drop his sword and weep when he sees it. Yes, children, extend your hands and open your hearts, and lend me your power.” Dayn closes his eyes.

(thisiswrongsowrongwhatishappening)

Each of the elves around me close their eyes and extend their hands, and I can feel the invisible energy flowing from them. The flower behind Dayn begins to pulsate violently now, and the headache I have worsens. This is so very wrong. I don’t extend my hand. I shouldn’t, I can’t. Then it happens, and my heart stops.

Just for a brief second, I swear that Dayn opens his eyes and looks at me.

Then, the thought is gone, and he is closing his eyes, his head tilted downward just as it was before. I raise a trembling hand and extend it towards the Greenherald, but still, I feel nothing. Once more, I am not like the others, I am not like them at all.

The flower swells, then bursts into green light.

The roar that follows deafens every noise in the universe; not even my thoughts are safe. When my eyes can finally see again, they struggle to take in the absolute behemoth before me. The hydra rises beyond the trees, its necks as thick as trees and covered in thousands of tiny spikes. Its lower heads skim the treetops and its highest reach far beyond the clouds. I cannot help but shake.

The Greenherald looks easily two decades older now, but he is smiling. “Its name is Arkthus, and it is our champion. It will lead us to vic…”

His voice trails off, and I am in Zon once again. I see the hydra rising above the city, tearing it and its people to shreds. I see the beasts of the Wood charge in, its elves shortly behind them. I see bodies on both sides crash to the ground, blood coming from every open orifice. I see children crying and trampled, families cowering in fear. And out of every body cut down, out of every drop of blood spilled, I see the blackness, the darkness, well up. I see it gather, and I see it rise. It grows wings, it holds some horrible weapon, and it looks down upon me, pointing a long, skeletal finger.

And then, I am back in the Hydrean again, surrounded by rejoicing voices and deafening roars. But now I know — this is not where I must be now. I seem to be the only one who knows, the only one who has seen. I must stop this. I must go to Zon, and I must warn them. I must stop this… whatever this is.

I run, and I hear the shouts behind me as I go. I see the Greenherald look at me in confusion, and then I see her. Mother. But she is not angry, or confused. She smiles, as if she knew this would happen all along.

I must go.

[elder-dragon-bolas]

Chapter 3: Arrival

This was not dignified.

Jace Beleren, wearing a vibrant blue coat laced with beautiful white curving patterns, eyes glowing with magical energy, and wielding a powerful extraplanar scroll, stood next to his toilet.

Lavinia, the Azorius representative who was tasked with monitoring the Guildpact’s activities, would be furious if she discovered her charge was leaving to another world - that was, if she even knew there WERE other worlds. The lawmage had not the slightest inkling that Jace was a Planeswalker, or that such a thing even existed.

Regardless of what she knew or didn’t know, though, the leader of most legal activity on the entire plane of Ravnica vanishing without a trace would surely upset her. Lavinia did her best not to let him out of her sight.

Thus, here he was, in the one place Lavinia had the respect not to come look for him - the restroom. The lawmage certainly wouldn’t be happy, but Jace was sure that she could handle things for just a bit while he was away - right? Right. Probably. Maybe. Eh.....

Jace would definitely get to the piles and piles of paperwork once he got back. He promised himself that - the kind of promise that he made simply to appease the tiny bit of mundane work ethic he had tucked away in the very back of his mind. Whatever. Paperwork and which Gruul member got the bigger meat piece could wait if a plane’s fate was at stake... probably. There he went again. There was no more time for self-doubt. Jace gripped the scroll in his hand, and reached with his mind into it. He felt the magic its sender had woven into it pulling him away from Ravnica, asking him to follow it. With a subconscious hint of reluctance, Jace let his bonds to Ravnica loosen until the world fell away, ready to follow the scroll’s trail through the Blind Eternities.

The scroll’s magic had other ideas than plain “following,” though.

The magic violently yanked Jace through the Blind Eternities, dragging him along like an Orzhov aristocrat would yank a disobedient caracal. The magic tugged the startled mind mage along, and on his way, he saw many worlds go by, wondering which one they would stop at.

One world was covered entirely in ocean, the next one covered in clouds. One plane he passed was what looked like a giant tree, extending in all directions from a point at the very center of the world. Then, Jace Beleren saw something that rattled him to his core. One world was pink and beautiful, as if the entire world was coated in vibrant blossoms. Time seemed to slow just so he could admire the world.

Then the pink faded to black, and the plane began to burn. It was not like how a fire burned, but a burning that left Jace feeling emptier than the deepest pit. The plane faded from view just as it collapsed in on itself, gone from the Multiverse forever.

It was strange, being able to see the planes around him in such great detail - it wasn’t something he was normally capable of such things. Perhaps it was the scroll’s magic, showing him the Eternities in more detail. Did it... did its owner... want him to see that?

Jace’s thoughts were shattered to bits by an arrival as forceful as the journey. A slit in reality opened four feet above the ground, and the mind mage crashed down from it onto a grassy clearing ringed by a circle of lush trees. Behind the trees, a ropy mess of sinuous branches formed a dense wall around the grove.

Then the branches began to shake. No, not shake, slither. What kind of branches slithered...? Jace Beleren realized with a start that they weren’t branches at all.

They were necks.

The hydra’s necks began moving at incredibly fast speeds around the grove, maneuvering between the cracks in the trees towards Jace. The body came following the heads at an alarming rate, unseen legs propelling it towards the frightened mind mage.

With his mind finally operating correctly again, Jace assessed the situation. Running was useless, and the creature’s mind was too primitive to do anything but alter its vision, which would be useless due to its sense of smell. It’d sniff the real Jace out of any number of clones.

Then what could he do?!

The heads came crashing down on Jace, converging all into the same space as if to mash him into the ground. The mage desperately conjured a ward, but his warding magic had never been strong - that was Gideon’s field. Just as the barrier cracked almost immediately under the stress put on it, and in a last minute spark of ingenuity, Jace jumped backward, the heads following him and pushing onto the cracking barrier. When it exploded, Jace flew backwards rather than into the crushing ground, flying across the grove.

Think, Jace, think.

Then another nail was thrust into Beleren’s coffin as the hydra’s eyes turned to him. In the greenness, he saw something beyond power and hunger. He saw... dominance.

He didn’t stand a chance. The hydra was towering over him, its heads about to strike. Who was he to stop it? It was towering ten feet, more, above him, with heads that he’d never manage to hack off. It was too late to try any complex magic unorthodox to him - only illusions were left to him, and no matter how many he called, the hydra would know which was him. It was lost.

No. Jace Beleren was a mind mage - one of the most powerful in the multiverse. No mere beast was going to get the better of his mind. A clarity filled his aching cranium - he was in control. Then the hydra’s heads charged again, and it hit him. The fear. The dominance. He didn’t need many Jaces...

He just needed one.

Jace Beleren towered above the great boughs of the forest’s highest trees, his head hundreds of feet in the air, trying to emanante confidence as his real body shook down below. The hydra’s heads stopped in a feeling it had not felt in a long time - fear. It sniffed. Yes, it was the tiny prey. But now it was... big.

The hydra hadn’t quite left yet. In an act of desperation, Jace did his best to look intimidating, letting out what he hoped was a growl. He realized it probably sounded like a mewl to the hydra. To ensure the beast didn’t get any ideas after Jace’s pitiful ‘roar,’ Beleren took his hand, many times the size of all the hydra’s heads combined, and made a thumbs-up.

The hydra had never been more horrified in its life. It dragged itself out of the valley at a rate that it could only hope was enough to outrun the hundred foot titan behind it.

Jace couldn’t help but laugh.

*******************************************************************************************

The scroll had guided him through the forest, and so far, no other dangers had confronted him. Either he was incredibly lucky, the scroll had a smart guiding system, or the hydra had decided to tell it its gossip group about the scary, large blue man rampaging through the forest.

Finally, the trees began to grow scarcer, and a high wall came into view, at its base a blue and gold accented arch composed of a flecked white material. the arch had a few parts extended outwards, and on one of them sat an esteemed-looking falcon, glaring down at Jace.

Below, a man leaned on one of the arch’s pillars, a white cloak embroidered with small trails of red and blue draped over his shoulders. A pocket watch encased in blue metal hung from a chain in his shirt pocket. He was obviously pretending to have been there for a while, although from his stance Jace could tell he’d just gotten there - almost as if he’d known Jace would be arriving at that exact time.

Jace tried to look into his mind, but was encountered by an issue he’d never encountered before - the man’s mind simply wasn’t there. Jace’s experience with illusions told him the man wasn’t one, so then why did it seem like the man himself didn’t exi-

The man looked over, his eyes startling pools filled with a liquid that shifted between red and blue coloration. He extended his hand.

“My name is Edwin. Pleased to meet you, Jace of Ravnica. There’s something we need to discuss.”