The Story of
Meren, Deathbender
The night felt surprisingly sad during this time of celebration, Chandra noticed.
The celebration at hand is of the end of major threats to a plane known as Zendikar, a land dotted with five major continents, Tazeem, Ondu, Murasa, Akoum, and Guul Draz. These lands were diverse with their own sets of cultures and landscapes unique compared to any of the other continents. In times of prosperity, rich stories and legends of happy tales would come and go, telling of a time when this plane, Zendikar, was free of worry from the threats that lie beneath their feet.
Eldrazi. They are a strange lot, mostly in the form of hordlings and spawn, and unless they have an overwhelming army, manageable.
Too bad that they were anything but, and it was especially worse since they had leaders in essence to not only keep the spawn going, but to also wrought destruction far more severe in a few days compared to what an overwhelming horde of Eldrazi can do in months. Those 'leaders', more like 'parents', were the titans Kozilek and Ulamog, titans with unknown origins, able to travel through the Blind Eternities though it's just a simple walkway between the planes, and bring fourth destruction unlike anything people have seen for eons.
Chandra was a little late to the party, but she was happy she wasn't early. She normally wouldn't feel this way since she didn't make it earlier to help save many of the lives which had already been lost, but rather because she saved her friends, Jace, Gideon, and Nissa, from a demon planeswalker known as Ob Nixilis. She acknowledges that if she came earlier, she would have been likely captured and their lives would have been forfeit.
The same fate would have been what all of Zendikar would have suffered by even worse captors, until everything would have lain to wastes. Chandra has seen what can happen, and it looks nothing like the rest of the plane. No life walks in these areas where they once called home, and no activity from the plane itself can be heard, such as ground movement or water movement. All you hear is just the movement of what is left, people still barely surviving, and Eldrazi. The thought still makes Chandra shudder.
Even though Zendikar was saved by the four planeswalkers, who formed the Gatewatch after the rescue from Ob Nixilis, and people were jovial and full of life instead of the constant fear of what would happen tomorrow plaguing their thoughts and lives, Chandra couldn't help but feel sad. She felt sad about many things, but she mainly felt sad about those who did suffer the worst fates on this plane, either from being overcome by spawnlings, crushed under the mighty titans, or being left alone in the wastes, waiting to die and become those wastes.
The thought disturbs Chandra almost as much as certain events during her childhood, but those were more personal.
Most people are asleep by now, unlike Chandra. She ponders at her private tent near the edge of their small encampment by a small fire, wondering about her future as a protector and member of the Gatewatch. Hopefully we gather more members soon, we need all the help we can get if Emrakul makes an appearance. She learned of the third titan from Nissa, who was the biggest baddie of them all. Gravity did not chain this being unlike its two partners in crime. Chandra hopes to still scorch it like she did to the other titans, and if the being is ever out of reach, she'll find a way.
Chandra brings her thoughts back to the celebration that took place. It was riddled with partying and speeches of victory and unity. Many notable people, such as Drana, a vampire from Guul Draz, spoke on unity with the people on Zendikar to watch their backs, and other themes that came up in those speeches were ones of tolerance and realizing who the real enemy is.
After the initial celebrations and when things were left to more of a calm stir, the planeswalkers were finally able to converse with themselves for a while. Most of the conversation was serious, but sometimes they were brought into a lighter mood and could lay off of the more pressing issues, which there were little besides Emrakul.
The other planeswalkers seemed to have their goals set out for them. Nissa planned to help Zendikar recover from the Eldrazi onslaught. Gideon was going to help Nissa as best as he could while healing from his injuries fighting the titans, and Jace planned on visiting a place he found provoked a need to investigate, and would leave within a few days.
Chandra, however, didn't really have a plan for the future. She considered helping her friends with Zendikar's recovery but she decided against it, feeling like she wouldn't be able to help much in that department. The notion of going with Jace seemed a little boring to her, but she knows that he isn't really boring, just less excitable and more well thought out than she is. Keral Keep kept on calling her back to watch it over again, but she wasn't sure if she was ready to go back home yet.
Now here she is, just pondering by a dim-lit fire, wondering just what to do next.
As if to answer her, a small light flares up suddenly in the distance away from the camp. Chandra notices this out of the corner of her eye, I'll check this out. Chandra didn't think anything of it, but she thought it was probably just a celebratory flare, she'd seen plenty of those today.
She put out the fire and started heading toward where that light was, her injuries from expending her fire magic that defeated the Eldrazi making her limp slightly along the way. It slowly gets darker the further she walks away from the camp, even more so when she makes it out of the small dip it was set it. Now the only light around is her red gloves and some light showing someone in the distance.
Chandra walks further to realize that it's a little boy. What would he be doing outside of the camp? The boy didn't notice Chandra until he got close, and he flinched and made a yelp. Chandra knew something was off by his mood, so she prepared herself for anything and went to talk to him for extra details. She put a hand on his shoulder, "It's okay, I'm not here to hurt you. What's wrong?"
The boy was shaking under Chandra's hand, so she let him go. He spoke with a shaky voice, "There was a scary looking man. He terrified me. He disappeared and now I can't find my way home." Chandra was on her feet in a moment, hair on fire and ready to fight in case the man came back.
Chandra grabbed the boys hand, "I'll lead you there, we aren't far away."
She started to lead the boy back to the camp, and as they drew closer, the grip from the boy tightened in Chandra's hand. Chandra didn't have time to react when the hand suddenly felt much larger and the grip tightened, painfully. She was forcefully turned around and didn't have time to observe the new, dark face before everything faded to black.
After a stillness in her, she feels something again.
It's soft at first, but a warm air pervades her space all around her, much like Akoum. The ground beneath her seemed to move with restraint, as if something was killing the thrum of the plane. Chandra remembers how she didn't feel any of that in the wastes of Zendikar, and assumes that she is either on Akoum or Guul Daaz. Those continents were heavily damaged by the Eldrazi, and from what little Chandra felt of the continents at those short times of silence and stillness, the area around here felt very similar.
Her breathing is light, almost too light, she notes. Breathing is almost a challenge for the fire mage, and when she tries to breathe in more, a sharp pain can be felt. Her eyelids have trouble opening as she tries to gather herself, but the pain inside her is giving her trouble. Through her body a low thrum of pain can be felt, which gets more intense the closer to her stomach.
Chandra can't see it, but she can feel blood as she traces her hand on her exposed stomach. She has trouble trying to get her eyes open, even though she really wants to see the damage right now, other than the damage she felt after slaying the titans on Zendikar.
She never told anyone, brushed it off even, but Chandra's body felt tired and even pained after the events were said and done. This caused her to plan to rest on Zendikar for a bit, and ponder about her future during the meantime to decide what she really wanted to do.
Now that topped with the damage she got from whatever happened when she was last awake made her barely manage to keep her eyes open. Chandra felt she could just give up into the blackness that felt almost comfortable to her, much better than she feels right now.
She wouldn't give in though; Chandra still had stuff to do, and she had a life to live. So she willed herself up with a small surge of strength, and opened her eyes. She looked and saw the little black marking, causing her to really question what happened before (she was never a big fan or tatoos or things of the sort, but that's besides the point). She staggered over to a small pool nearby, washing herself off (mostly the blood) in a quick fashion and resumed walking in a small limp.
The ground beneath her is grassy and rocky at the same time, and mountains peel around the area in a long band, all show a very dull color of brown muck. Looks like Akoum. Chandra assumes she is most likely in Akoum, but she considers the possibility of Guul Daaz, or even the fact that she may have planeswalked.
She doubted the last possibility. As far as Chandra knew, you don't just accidentally planeswalk more than once, like she did when she was almost executed by the hands of members of The Order.
Oh, The Order. Chandra recites their name with an all too familiar distaste. The same organization spouting peace, loyalty, honor, were the ones who killed her parents, and changed Chandra's life forever. It was hypocritical, a tribute to a group or personality that Chandra loathed the most; The Order was hypocritical. They preached of peace in the form of dominance, loyalty in the form of control, and honor bound by questionable traditions.
If they completed their goals, how they did it didn't matter, right?
Not to Chandra.
They, among others, were why Chandra never believed in the 'means to an end' philosophy. She would never let the lives of innocents be used as toys, pawns, even if the outcome was better for many. She never believed in 'sacrifice for the greater good' (though if brought up in that situation, Chandra would do it); she wouldn't let anyone else do it if she had the chance to help the situation herself.
It was a flaw, and Chandra knew it. Logic dictated that it is better to risk lives of a few, or even let them be consigned to their destinies to die, than to let the majority's lives be at risk. Who said that logic was necessarily correct?
Chandra knew logic was there, but she didn't believe in some principles it told, because it cut into morality.
Chandra understood it, but she didn't like it. She was just more based on emotion and improvisation rather than careful planning and thought. She'll leave those parts to Jace and Nissa in future planar threat level events.
A forest drew closer to Chandra as she kept walking on, and she debated whether or not she should walk into it, but she knew it would be better than out in the open.
Chandra soon made it to the forest and kept walking in, hoping to find some natives to ask for help and to heal her as well. Her condition wasn't the worse, but she felt like if something happened she would not be able to put up a good fight.
The forest is quiet; no insects or other forms of life can be seen or heard by Chandra. Soon she starts getting nervous at the possibility of someone trying to attack her. Chandra would usually be bold in these situations, but with her injuries she knew it wasn't a great idea.
Chandra prepared a little fire in her hands as she kept trudging through the forest, keeping her ears sharp. Her hair didn't alight, for she felt it could make her become easier to single out in the dim-lit forest floor.
Chandra would normally enjoy these walks of isolation, if she weren't injured and in a new location. Something about this forest seemed different to Chandra, too still for her comfort with no background noise except the occasional movement of the brush from movements of wind, and with trees so tall that sunlight barely graced the ground below the trees.
Chandra looks up to the small openings that the branches barely provide. To her, it almost looked beautiful in it's erratic but elegant design, much like Nissa thought of life on Zendikar. Unlike Nissa, Chandra wouldn't mind setting the forest on fire when the situation calls for it.
Chandra looks ahead again, and notices a shadow moving forward toward her. Keeping calm, she looked up and saw a figure moving above the trees, quietly. When the figure passes over Chandra, it takes a few seconds for no shadows from the figure to cover her no more. How large is that thing?
She has no time to mull over that thought, as she hears noise coming from behind her, where the figure went. When one sound is made, another is in reply, many of which make the ground shake for a small moment. Chandra figures this is most likely a battle, possibly with that figure she saw. Going against her instincts, she goes to investigate. If she sees that she can't handle what is going on or is put in danger she can slip away into the forest; she's gotten used to hiding at times where she is weaker, though she doesn't enjoy it.
She crouches and starts to walk slowly, stopping every few trees to peer out and see if anyone is there before moving forward again. The noises draw closer, making her more antsy as she moves along, and more paranoid even. Regardless of her nervousness she pushes on forward.
The noise is really close now. How come I haven't seen anything yet? As if to answer her questions, a woman is slammed on the other side of a large tree Chandra was peeking out of, causing her to snap still on the other side. Guess I found it.
"Do you really think you can topple me?" An overconfident, snarky voice spoke. "You know what, don't answer that." The only thing Chandra heard next was a grunt in reply, closer to her in source. Chandra then notices two pair of green stained tan hands appear in her peripherals in such a way that they were bent far backwards. Her hands are bound.
"You know, it's quite funny how people can be very much the same when vulnerable. Even the one who plays the more dominant role in situations like these can be just like the rest. You'd definitely know what I'm talking about, don't you, Meren?" The woman's voice grew closer as she spoke, more than Chandra is comfortable with. The other unnamed woman spoke again, much quieter, "I'll show you how it feels, just like you did long ago with-"
"How in the blind eternities did you know?" Meren spoke back, sounding angry with every word. Chandra tensed up as the conversation grew more intense. "No one but me made it out that day, and I haven't spoken it to anyone."
A chuckle can be heard throughout the quiet forest, "I have my sources, far above anything a lowly necromancer such as yourself can imagine. No one to guide you, to lead you through, what point do you have?"
A necromancer? Chandra was brought back to her thoughts with the new information of Meren. She was starting to reconsider interfering for the fact that she was not a fan of necromancers at all, but she couldn't help but feel that she couldn't just let this situation be.
Her instincts told her to not get involved, to just get away from the situation and save herself.
Chandra was never good at that, leaving people behind. Innocents, whether or not she agreed with their ideals or ways of life, were still innocent people. If Chandra left this situation be, she would never forgive herself. Out of her thoughts now, Chandra noticed it got much darker than it was moments before. Odd, Chandra thought simply.
Only hard breathing can be heard, seems like the two got quiet. Igniting a small flame in her hand, she concentrates it to a high power before firing it off a distance away before it makes a large explosion, alighting the once quiet forest on fire.
Chandra rushes out from hiding through her pain and tackles the only free person to the ground. Getting a close look of her features, she notices a tanned woman with war paint on her face, brown hair, and ragged clothing much like shamans would wear that Chandra has seen. A staff can be seen lying to the side of the pair.
"Look out!" Meren cried to Chandra just in time for her to roll out of the way of a rock elemental swinging it's arm toward Chandra's side. The distraction is over, and now Chandra knew her and Meren were both in danger. I could use a little help. She quickly got away from the elemental and ran over to the bound Meren, using the fire to cut the rope on her wrists and freeing her. Chandra looked to the smaller woman, who was in much similar clothing as the other woman now standing across from them, and noticed a grim look on their face, contorted into a deep frown.
The woman across from them moved her hands around, and seemingly out of the ground came more elementals, each of them being identical to one another. Chandra had a feeling this was going to escalate out of her control, knowing that only her explosions could take the woman's conjured minions out, and she was too worn out to do that at the moment. The fire only grew beside all of them, making the area extremely hot. The little adrenaline she had at first was now almost worn off, and now she could barely keep standing.
"You think fire can beat me so simply?" The woman seemed mad, as well as sure of herself. "You must not be smart, fire burns through the trees, but not rock." Her arms move forward, and now the elementals charge toward Meren and Chandra. Chandra falls down on the ground despite the situation, feeling all too exhausted to even lift her arms. Her eyes feel heavy, and they suddenly close without Chandra's consent. She loses her hearing as she fades into slumber at one of the most inappropriate times to rest, Chandra thought. Before she sleeps, she hears one menacing conjecture, a phrase that sounds like it's been said before many times.
"Devour, Skaal Kesh."
The noise came back to her first. Wind is what she can hear, fast wind. The noise doesn't bother her, as she became used to it in her travels. Chandra was wondering if it was natural wind or if it was caused by something, like speed.
Movement comes next, and feeling with it. It makes Chandra dip down for a moment and suddenly being jerked up. She feels cold on the outside, but warm on the inside. Chandra guessed she must have strained herself too much earlier to feel this hot in her head, that coupled with her being ailed from whatever happened before and exhaustion from that didn't help much. She can also feel a lot of shaking and shifting other than the occasional dip and rise she feels.
The curiosity of the fact that Chandra is still alive, or at least she feels that way, is what makes sight to come next. Her head only sees a yellow sky, with clouds passing by above at a quick rate. Her eyes still feel heavy, but she feels as though she can't go back to rest right now, and that she probably shouldn't. She tilts her head forward and notices a dark tail dotted with yellow lights flapping along in the wind, and sees no visible ground when she looks to her side, so now she knows that she has been flying, probably on a dragon.
As far as Chandra knew, there weren't dragons on Zendikar, which is now causing her alarm, because she really has no idea where she is.
Her arms and legs feel too heavy to move and sit upright, so she tilts her head back and notices someone farther in front toward the head of the dragon, Meren. Her dark long hair flows in the wind carelessly as she concentrates on flying the dragon.
Chandra wonders whether or not it would be a good idea to strike a conversation with her, feeling a little nervous to speak with her. Her injuries make her feel more vulnerable, and if this person wanted, Chandra's life could be her's.
She is a necromancer after all, and not many can use a fire mage to their whim as a zombie. Can they do that, or are all zombies just mindless? She's heard of a more complicated type of zombie, one where memories are preserved. These zombies have high potential to be more valuable as individual soldiers, but they can be prone to attack their summoner.
It could all just be a myth, but knowing that their was an impossibly large amount of planes in the Multiverse made the lines between real and fake difficult to define. Who's to say what is and isn't nonsense anymore? Only those who stayed cooped up in their small plane and never see other realities, Chandra guessed. She didn't want to be sheltered, not like many people she had met before, thinking they knew the answer to everything but only seeing a tiny smidgen of, well, anything. Chandra had seen a lot in her travels since becoming a planeswalker, but she knew her perspective on things was still small.
That's why she didn't assume Meren was like other necromancers, though it wasn't easy to from her bias' screaming out that she was bad news. Chandra's reasoning for this was that she firstly never met Meren and has no idea what she is like, and Meren is also probably the best chance to keep Chandra alive right now.
In the end, Chandra decides to talk to her for the reason of, why not?
"Hey there" Chandra simply says in greeting. She tried to wave her arm but it wouldn't move at all. Meren looked back to Chandra; a confused expression masks her face.
"I'm surprised you're awake." That wasn't the reply Chandra was expecting. "You seemed worn out." That was true; Chandra could barley move herself at all. "You were really only there for five seconds, so unless the woman somehow teleported, put a weird etching on you, and stabbed you all within a fraction of a second, I'm sure the injury wasn't done by her?" Yes, but I don't know who. Chandra tried to remember, but her head hurt as she tried. Chandra doesn't even know what she last remembered, before she came to whatever place she decided to go to.
Chandra tried to adjust to face Meren directly, but she could only fail to do so. "Yes, but I'm not sure who did. I'm not even sure-" suddenly a sharp pain, much like being stabbed, was felt through Chandra's body; the worst of it being right where the new wound was. Chandra couldn't help but wail in pain, as she couldn't bear to hold it in. This felt like something entirely new to her, most pain could be brushed off by her, but one like this throbbed inside, making her involuntarily scream out.
Meren's face darkened, she knew what she had to do. "Land, Skaal Kesh." A simple command made the dragon slow down and head toward ground. Convenience found that a cliffside cave was just right by in on of the rugged spires. A good place to rest, I will need to make sure no one else resides there later though. The loud wails from Chandra stopped, but some small cries were still heard by the shaman.
Meren wasn't sure why she was doing this; she could have easily left her behind. The forest was on fire and she had finally got herself out of a rough situation by having her dragon devour the unnamed woman she had fought with. She almost departed the forest immediately after until she noticed Chandra on the ground, and a small pang emanated in her chest.
She wasn't sure where it came from, and buried it immediately back from where it came from, picking up Chandra and bringing her with her. She told herself it was for future necromancy purposes, to have a much more powerful zombie, which she believed, mostly.
Then she found out she was still alive, and then the little feeling sparked back up again. Meren wasn't sure what it was, but it made her feel lighter almost, like when she accomplished her goal of revenge, but different.
She grew frustrated at this though, and buried it from whence it came. If it didn't involve her accomplishing her newer goal, she needn't feel that way.
The shaman decided to let this charade with the woman play out, see what she's like and all. She was indeed curious of the little rune-mark on the woman; maybe it was something she could use to her advantage. In the end though, the woman would be used the same as most of those she encountered, as a tool for her whim in the afterlife.
Meren was now currently frustrated though, wondering if this woman was going to be more work than it was worth. She hates losing progress on her self-made mission.
Now she was wondering if she should just let the woman die; she's almost all the way there, she saw her exhaustion, and her wound, and her inability to move. She's practically hers right now.
But she can't do it, not yet. She needs to learn more about her to use her to the fullest extent to help execute her goals.
She tells herself this.
When they landed among the cliffside just outside the breach of the cave, she got to work to heal Chandra. She hadn't been used to healing the living before, but she knew enough to heal someone to help numb pains and help sate most of the problems of non-life threatening injuries. Most of the healing was for herself, a skill not well known in Jund.
She went to the back of the dragon and grabbed Chandra, jumping from the back of the dragon to the ground, and placing Chandra on the flat on the ground. Meren started to get to work but something about Chandra caught her eye.
It wasn't anything about the injury (which wasn't even cleaned), but it was about Chandra herself. She kept mumbling some things that Meren couldn't hear, that was until her curiosity grew over her and she leaned in to hear what the woman had been saying.
"Mom... Dad... No..." Meren's eyes widened, A nightmare? She'd never seen someone else experience one, but it didn't look good for the fiery woman. Small streaks were across her face, tears, going down a shaking face. The small pain flares higher this time; to ignore it, Meren decides to get to healing Chandra.
Meren used to experience nightmares, before she left her clan they were mostly the same. She knew it was caused from stress as she had to follow the clan she used to belong to, but much of the training, the rules, and the traditions didn't feel right to her. Her dreams usually painted her other clan members as enemies, something she was confused about, until the test. Thinking about it always made her bitter.
After said event, her nightmares were always one of uncertainty, and a blaring loudness. She was connected to Jund, but it was too loud to handle, too alive, and she hated it.
The nightmares began to sate themselves as she journeyed on to another realm, much quieter and the ground and living much less bland and predictable, in her mind. The place was much more dangerous to most, but it became home to Meren. She grew to understand the inner workings and ways to survive in the realm, Grixis. She knew the way to survive was through ambition and conquering, whether it be territory or the bodies she would eventually raise as the undead.
Then she came back to Jund, and exacted her revenge on her brothers and sisters of old. Now she was the last of Clan Nel Toth. She stayed in Jund, to make it like Grixis, not so alive and predictable, and worst of all, noisy. The thrum of her home bothered her like nothing else.
So why heal Chandra? Meren wasn't sure what more she had to gain from healing this person, but the prospect of a new ally was something Meren wanted to toy around with. Someone who would help Meren in life rather than dead would be useful for Meren, but that's if that someone would even help her in the first place.
Sometimes, Meren isn't sure why she does some things, such as saving the very people of the area she wants to have quiet.
Those people including the woman who she encountered earlier, with the hair that sparks in flames as well as her hands. She's quite a bit taller than Meren, around half a foot, she guessed. She seemed to be wearing battle armor of sorts, and she was also wearing gloves on her hands, which Meren hadn't figured out their purpose yet, but guessed it had to do with that fire she has.
She was brought out of her thinking when Chandra yelped in pain. Heal first, figure out the rest later. The small pang-pain in her chest started to swell. Was it empathy, possibly sympathy? Meren can't tell for sure; normally she would be annoyed by it, but this time she's not, strangely. They were feelings she would drive down in order to concentrate on more important things, to Meren anyway.
Whatever it is, I'll figure it out later. With that, she put her full concentration on the very person who made her feel those strange feelings.
On Zendikar, Nissa, Jace, and Gideon were all confused and left in bewilderment.
Where in the world was Chandra?
Early in the morning was when Nissa woke up, not needing much to sleep well in the nature around them, even though they were on the more active region of Akoum. She decided to check on the others, more out of habit than anything else. When Nissa checked on Chandra, she was surprised to see no one in the tent.
Surprised, because Chandra needed to heal from her injuries. They weren't life threatening, or even ones that were detrimental to her capabilities, such as movement. All Chandra had from the battles they fought were feelings of exhaustion and bruising, as well as aching, mostly in her arms and legs.
Nissa knew Chandra loved to rest when she could, but seeing this sight set off an alarm for Nissa. She looked around the camp for a while, which was quite sizable, and when there was no sign of Chandra, she started to panic.
She got help from a few others after that, including Jace and Gideon, and the first thing they did was look around the edge of the camp, where the planswalkers had decided to settle their tents at. No sign of struggle could be found within her tent, or anywhere near for that matter. The others had assumed if someone came for Chandra she would kick up a loud fuss in a blaze of fire, but there was no sign of that.
No sign could be found, except from farther away from the camp. When Nissa and Jace went up to see, they noticed the rock on the ground was charred, much more darker than other spots of the same rock. Chandra had used her abilities, but for what?
There was blood found, soon after. It wasn't small either, there was plenty on the ground, much more than should be safely lost.
They couldn't find much else, but a small scroll, right in the epicenter of the blast. It was unlikely that someone placed it there, as the seal was still very warm from the blast that Chandra had made (which they concluded she did since some of her abilities include large explosions), and it couldn't be opened. The scroll was sealed magically, not physically.
In the end, they concluded that some time the night before, Chandra had been lured outside the camp, and a skirmish took place, which explained the blood. Nissa hoped it wasn't all Chandra's.
Nissa decided to distract herself from the situation, knowing there wasn't anything she could possibly do, by trying to help people throughout the day. Apparently, Jace and Gideon had helped out as well, and Nissa wondered if it was for the same reason.
The three planeswalkers presently sit by a fire, the sun going down, things around the camp starting to calm as light fades away for the day. They talked about everything they knew from it, and from what Chandra did the night before. No information they knew was relevant to whatever happened to the fiery planeswalker.
They had been silent for a while, eating dinner while all of them were in intense thought about what possibly happened to the other member of the Gatewatch, and their friend. Jace eventually broke the silence.
"This has got me thinking, and I think I just realized a major flaw within the Gatewatch." This brought both other planeswalkers out of their thoughts, wondering where that conclusion came from.
"What is it, Jace?" Gideon spoke to Jace solemnly.
"Contact." Jace stated simply. "We are planeswalkers, going to other worlds where we may find threats, be dying, or just simply need help. Helping each other will be impossible if we don't know what's going on." Nissa agreed that was true, noting how just the other day they were talking about what they were planning for the future, being possibly separated from each other, worlds apart. "Of course we can simply planeswalk away, but what if we can't find each other? What if we miss our chance to save people trying to get help? Or what if we are in dire need of assistance that is life threatening, and planeswalking is not an option?"
Neither of the other two companions could answer that.
As it turns out, Jace couldn't answer it either, but he stated that when he could, he would find a solution to this problem. That helped put Nissa at ease, knowing how Jace could think miles beyond many and could find solutions most would never think of.
After dinner, they all decided to go back to their respective tents and rest. On her way back, Nissa had begun thinking about what could have happened to Chandra, no distractions able to keep her away from the imaginations plaguing her mind, and those imaginations were now causing bile to make it's way up the elf's throat, which she stifled.
I hope Chandra is okay.
Jund was mostly quiet, for now. Only the rumbling of the terrain under them could be felt by Meren, which still greatly irked the necromancer.
She sat on the side of a large cave, a fire lighting a large portion of it. Her dragon, Skall Kesh, could even fit inside the cave, resting (as much as a zombie dragon could rest) on the entrance of the cave, being large enough to block most of what Meren could have seen of the outside.
Meren felt exhausted, using what she could to heal Chandra and clean the wound she has acquired. It took much of her strength and will, something she would have never imagined doing to preserve life. The pain in her was a prime reason she did it, though she wouldn't admit it to herself, coming up with the reason of 'learning about who she is so I can use her to the fullest extent' in either life or death to accomplish her goal to make sure she wouldn't forget her purpose.
She felt as though the woman she had just met earlier that day could help with that, her goal, to topple Jund and all of it's cairns. Two long years and Jund had started to slowly die, and only some of the most powerful tribes, peoples, and animals still survived in the most secluded areas, mostly in forests.
Meren had run out of most of her cannon fodder in the last attack, clearing out one of Jund's largest forests, said by many to be impenetrable to those unwelcome. Those unwelcome mostly being referred to necromancers and zombies that would try to take advantage of the life inside, as it was the closest major life-source to Grixis.
Many had tried, all had failed. The closest into the forest one had made was a few hundred feet, and he had a sizable army capable of toppling most tribes in Jund. Rumor has it that it only lasted 5 minutes until all forces were defeated.
It was weird, Meren thought, that she almost blindly charged into the forest with her trusty dragon. She wouldn't be standing here today if she did, she knew that for sure.
She had grown over-confident thanks to many near-flawless defeats across Jund, toppling tribes very similar to her own, and the few small settlements quickly burned under her hand that used to lay on Jund. She had almost thought of Jund to be a cakewalk, something so easy to stomp over, but she had never encountered the forest, the true settlements that lay around Jund. Life had been diverse there, with many different tribes and animals co-existing in peace, where the true loudness could be heard. Those beings rumbled the earth below more than anything she had seen before, so she made it her goal to topple this.
Then, Meren heard of the previous invasions, that all went to hell, as one person put it.
She was preparing to invade and went to visit a small settlement of which she had gotten supplies from (mostly food) and had become somewhat friendly to some people she had met there, mostly at the local bar, but most of that friendliness she displayed was just a show. After the place drained it's usefulness, it's fate would be the same as any other place that teemed with life.
She casually asked about the forest, since she wanted to see if there was anything important she needed to know. Meren hadn't thought the forest wouldn't be anything more than just a forest, but when someone told her about all the life inside, she was curious if he knew more to elaborate.
The man did, of course. He regularly traded with those who lived in the forests, and learned much of the history of it, which he resided to Meren. He called the forest "The most organized and well kept place that balances itself with nature" and according to what he said, he was right.
She learned that they had a system of being able to watch the forests, birds above the skies, and locals of the forests watching for any suspicious activity. All the tribes worked together, and even the beasts of nature worked with them as well, such as the large thoctars that could be seen under the large trees.
With all this information in hand, she decided to prepare, exercising her patience more than once on the way, but it turned out to be worth it.
It was mostly worth it.
Three months of careful deliberation followed. She sent harmless zombies, mostly small bugs and rodents, to scout out the place, though not in similar patterns as to make sure she still had the element of surprise. She read upon the history of the forest tribes and their weaknesses, the worst one being fire. The forest could quickly burn because of fire, since Jund is normally a very warm place, and it was time for Summer, the hottest time of the year.
Then the big break for her came when she found a major flaw in the forest, the least watched place was near one of the most powerful tribes in the forest, who were getting ready to celebrate for a holiday just a few days after Meren had found out about it.
That was when Meren decided it would be a perfect day to attack the forest.
She knew charging in one area would be asinine, so she decided to send a multitude of threats that would cause disarray among the members of the forest. She was right; having a dragon attack in one area, a huge army of zombies attacking another, and a raging fire blazing in another area would do that to people.
Because of these things plaguing the forest, Meren was able to walk in unnoticed after a little bit of waiting time. She walked strait toward the celebratory people of the tribe which she never cared to learn the name of at the darkness of night.
As she walked, she noted how beautiful and serene this place could be when quiet, but she knew that wouldn't last long as she drew closer to that tribe area, and the forest would soon be loud with activity as well once they found out what was going on.
For the next three days, a battle took place like none other Meren had seen before, nor the members of the forest.
Meren walked in and silently slayed all members of the tribe celebrating, the loudness blocked whatever noise was made while getting closer to completing her purpose. It was difficult the more noise died down, but luckily most people (including the tribe leader) had been in a drunken state, so she was able to take care of the tribe with little conflict except for the few guards who were sober.
Her dragon had managed to devastate some of the guard towers, even fighting with a thoctar and winning in the process. Skall Kesh had managed to kill most of the birds used for alerting the others on ground before they could become a problem.
The army of zombies was in the worst shape, but it was definitely faring against the members of the forest. Normally they would be easy to pick off with only a few deaths at hand from members of the forest, but it was much larger than that. What was worse for those forest dwellers was that they had never encountered zombies like Meren's, ones she called the Borrowed.
The army wouldn't die down since those who fell became reanimated by the Borrowed, a stunning development in the attack that many in the forest fell prey too. The army was now gaining the upper hand fighting fire with fire.
Speaking of fire, the blaze only grew worse over time as those who would normally show up to quell the blaze were pre-occupied by the other things going on inside their forest walls.
That was day one.
By day two, the forest had already received irreparable damage. Many who had fought against the zombie scourge became members Borrowed, the fire wasn't quelled, it only grew, and the dragon had devastated most ways of quick contact and visibility by air.
No one in the forest knew of their master though; she couldn't be found. No one expected her to come walking casually though the forest, quickly eliminating many warriors, scouts, and shamans like they were not comparable to the dirt. She let them rise back up, and borrowed them, their souls, likeness, most everything about them taken for her use, to assist her in case she made it in a rough patch. Now her company was the size of a few hundred, those being just the ones she has reanimated herself.
The battle thrilled her, unlike those she had fought in before, this one was a challenge. A challenge meant to be conquered, and silenced by the death mage.
"Deathbender." Meren was brought out of her memory just a few months past, muttering the name that an old mentor gave her in distaste during his last moments. She muttered the name again, as part of her own personal namesake, which brought her satisfaction that she was proclaimed so, and the fact that she was so.
Then, she heard a stir, and some shuffling, and a grunt.
Seems like she's awoken, finally. The shaman went to walk over to the injured woman, who struggled to even sit up on the small blanket Meren had laid out for her almost half a day before. Meren had managed to sleep for a little while, but nightmares decided to show their face again, specifically one involving the ending of the invasion.
She had almost died then, and her powers were almost stripped away from her entirely by a shaman of which she hadn't learned his name. All of her zombies fell onto the ground in an instant, lifeless once more, except for the one she had shared a bond with, her dragon.
She managed to over-power him, but she couldn't reanimate him, or anything else then, not completely.
Now, she was able to do it slightly better, but it still needed some time until her full potential could be utilized again. It was another reason that she hadn't decided to reanimate Chandra.
She didn't necessarily need to keep Chandra alive, though. Meren was so attuned with necromancy that the being would have to be dead for a very long time before Meren couldn't reanimate and utilize most of it's potential as it had in the life before it.
Something in her couldn't just let the woman die so simply, so quickly after meeting her. Alarm signals kept blaring in her head over the potential of her, as she could help put Meren back on track of getting what she wanted.
That was her logic speaking.
Emotion won the battle, though.
Meren conceded to play along with this for now, making excuses along the way to cover up what she had a feeling she was thinking. This is for the goal, nothing more.
When she made it over to Chandra, her eyes were already open, barely open. "Meren?" Chandra couldn't see well as she had just woken up for the first time in nearly twelve hours. "Where are we?" She seems disoriented, Meren observed.
The necromancer took a seat right next to the newly awake companion. "We're in a cave. You were suffering from pain and I took you here to heal you." Meren didn't think of it before, but telling the woman this could help gain her trust. This could be beneficial. "I never caught it, but what's your name?" She knew that if she showed interest in someone, that they can open up much quicker.
Chandra lifted herself with her arms to sit up with Meren; some of her strength in her arms had returned. "Chandra Nalaar, nice to meet you" she said to the necromancer smiling. "Thank you for saving me, that pain was almost too much to bear..." Meren nodded in reply, expressionless. Her face didn't change until she remembered something, how did Chandra learn her name?
Meren tried to not let her expression give away that she had been suspicious of Chandra, since no one in Jund ever knew her real name, except the woman she had encountered the day before. "How did you learn my name? I didn't even tell you yet." After she said it she realized that it may seem that she was particularly guarded over her name. Hopefully she didn't catch that.
The question caught Chandra off guard, as she had been planning on not telling Meren what she had heard the woman say to her about her necromancy and her past. So she came up with a partial lie, "I heard that woman say it to you, but I couldn't hear much else. What else did she say to you?" Chandra hoped the question would throw Meren off the subject.
"No, nothing important," Meren said quickly.
It worked.
An uncomfortable silence formed after that, neither of the two parties knew what to say. The dragon guarding the entrance of the cave watched impassively as it's master sat by the wounded woman, now being awoken by the conversation the two woman had.
Meren said something on her mind to ease the tension. "Thank you, by the way." Chandra whipped her head back in Meren's direction at that show of gratitude. The shaman grew a little nervous at the eyes peering into her, as she wasn't used to displaying genuine gratitude to anyone. Despite that, she continued speaking. "I... Don't think I would have made it out of there without your help," Meren finished with an impassive face, and Chandra took note.
Seem a little guarded, huh? Wouldn't be good to test the waters. "No problem, it's what I do. That woman back there was quite interesting." Chandra decided to move the conversation to a topic they could converse over, the only experience they really shared so far.
Meren looked up in thought, then back to Chandra, displaying one of her quirks she had in conversation. "Yeah, I guess so. She was spouting about some dragon-lord and how he was going to change all of Jund. It wasn't any of the ones from here, though. Not even Karthus."
Chandra got confirmation without even asking, she had planeswalked. Apparently dragons were worshiped, and she was located in a place called Jund, which she had never been to before in all of her days of planeswalking. Wonderful. Things would be different if Chandra could planeswalk, but she had already tried. She only went to reach out to feel other planes, but she couldn't sense them at all. So now, Chandra was consigned to stay in Jund, at least for a little bit, still injured and in the company of a necromancer. Things went from 0-100 real fast. Just wish I could remember what in the world happened. When she looked into herself for memories, all she can remember is on a night of celebration, she went away from the encampment, found a boy, and next thing she wakes up on Jund with a small sigil on her stomach with a stab wound on the center.
The overload brought Chandra into a sour mood.
Meren noticed, but she decided to leave it be unless Chandra wanted to talk about it.
Not too long after both parties decided to head back to sleep. Chandra still felt exhausted even though she had already 12 hours of rest, and Meren went to sleep now that she knew Chandra was at least going to be alright, plus the healing process brought her some wear, so she rewarded with herself with some shuteye, huddled next to her dragon for warmth.
When Meren awoke later that day after morn, she was surprised to see a red haired woman sleeping further inside the cave. Meren was brought to her senses as she quickly remembered. Chandra... The name didn't bring her distaste, unlike most other names she knew. She felt nervous at the name, nervous because of what she was hiding from her. Would she get in the way of her if she found out what she was doing?
During Meren's train of thought, Chandra had made her way to the death mage, currently staring directly in front of her face, eyes glazed over. Must be really far somewhere else. She poked the dazed one on the forehead, after which Meren regained her senses and the dragon began to stir. Is it possibly bonded to her? Seemed like it was a reaction of what I just did.
Meren had gotten herself to stand up, now noticing the height difference between the two. Without tilting her head, she could only see the lower parts of Chandra's neck. She wasn't used to being this small compared to most, as most people in Jund were around her height or smaller, but regardless of that, she didn't feel small, not since the Circle.
Though she feels small in a different way, not by the scrutiny of those who were blinded with fear who had not recognized her potential (or had, in Kael's case, and he still was fearful) but of just purely by height.
It still felt similar though, she was much smaller and younger during that test, while the others who dictated her fate stood above her, head and shoulders. Meren had always felt it was a measure of superiority, noting how those tall for their ages during her time in the clan were ones to take charge, mostly from overconfidence. Stature was important in her clan, the tallest believed to be leaders, while the rest followed. Sometimes those who weren't blessed with height were not treated as well among members of their own age, and they were ostracized from doing certain things, such as becoming high level shamans or taming more unstable elementals.
Meren ever wondered why she even took the test at all, regarding those standards. She was short for her age, and still is, compared to many of her tribe being at least half a foot taller than her, or rather were. Growth in youth meant leadership, but Meren wondered, how does that correlate with that? She never understood, and eventually she concluded that those philosophies ended up having the tribe chose bad leaders, most of those leaders much taller and more 'promising' as the older clan members put it, were scorched within seconds of her wiping out her clan.
She always smiled at the memory, but not because she was morbid, rather she felt like she had broken out of the clan and became herself, no longer using the namesake of Nel Toth.
Remembering that also brought her to a question, how had that woman known her clan namesake? No one should know that, I have not once uttered to the warm wind of those events, alone or not. She started to feel anxiety about the possibility of others knowing of her plans. The element of surprise had gotten her far, but she didn't know if that would last much longer.
Meren was brought out of her revere with a snap.
"Earth to Meren?" Chandra said with a little twinkle in her eye. "Hopefully you weren't comfortable in lala land, because I'm starving. Got some food?" Meren looked up to the fire mage, feeling a small grin tug on her lips. I'll figure out that whole situation later.
"Yeah, I came prepared. May take a moment." Meren strolled over to the mostly dead fire, preparing to start it herself, when she came up with an idea. "Hey, I hope it's not rude to ask but-"
Without even looking, Chandra sent a small flame hurling towards the fire, igniting it instantly, causing Meren to jump in surprise. Chandra was looking at the dragon and yelled a "You're welcome!" to Meren in the distance.
Definitely easier to do that with her around, Meren noted silently. She went over to the cave wall where she grabbed some uncooked food of the animals she had hunted just the day before. As she grabbed the raw food, another idea came to her. Maybe Chandra could help cook? As far as Meren could tell, Chandra had no quarrel with using her fire for menial tasks. She walked over to the fire mage, who was currently sitting by the fire. Meren was about to speak to her when the redhead companion spoke, "I know what you're going to ask, and sure thing! I don't mind doing this with fire, for future reference." Chandra grabbed the meat, which was some Thrinax, and started to cook it with a small bit of fire coming from her hands. Did we even need that fire?
Meren couldn't imagine what that was like, to use abilities so powerful for things that are just so, lackluster. Chandra can hurl fire and scorch an entire forest if she could, but she's using it for something as small as cooking food; it would be different if the death mage can't cook with fire, but that is not the case. What menial tasks would people ask a necromancer specifically to perform? Her thoughts roamed, and she found most likely that many would ask for her to reanimate loved ones. Family members, lovers, friends, pets, anything that was close to them and living would likely be asked for Meren to resurrect.
Wouldn't work out that way. Why help them in the first place?
Meren knew how necromancy works, by resurrection the bodies to use as extra arms and limbs, but sometimes the zombies were missing a few of them. Zombies were never like they used to be, just shells to be used, abused, to bring destruction or as weapons.
I'm not like other necromancers, I borrow them from the grave, Meren noted pridefully.
She was brought out of her revere by a certain fire mage who had noticed her grin. "First time I've seen you smile. What brought that on?" Meren felt anxious about giving the real answer, but she decided to give a fib, but a believable one.
"Just thinking about you helping with the cooking. It's really useful." Chandra smiled that and resumed searing the dead animal in front of her. It was true, Meren had found that to be useful instead of going through the longer process of starting a fire without having the ability to bend it to their will.
After a small bite, Chandra concluded it was ready. "Goodness this tastes good! I've never had something like this before!"
Meren raised her brow as Chandra passed her some food. "Really? I'm surprised, Thrinax are all over Jund." Chandra fidgeted a little, but the necromancer was currently scarfing her food down so she couldn't see the worried fire mage.
Should I be honest with her? She wasn't sure how people on Jund would react knowing there was a planeswalker in their midst. Sometimes they were so rare that the concept of planeswalkers is null. There were other times where people sought to steal the spark of planeswalkers to gain power or achieve a goal of some sort, or even them being shunned by those who see them as a problem.
Until the fire mage learned more about the person beside her, she didn't want to risk anything. She came up with a vague backstory, "I'm not from here, in fact I haven't even been here before. I woke up by the forest with whatever this is," she showed the death mage the etchings that bore her lower torso, "as well as injured and exhausted. It's why I collapsed while in the forest." I guess that's all true, just not specific.
Meren listened to the fiery-haired woman speak before her, taking note of just how vague it was, as well as how short it was. She's keeping details out. She knew it'd be better to wait until the fire mage revealed more about herself on her own, feeling as though if she began to trust her she could be more open to Meren's vision of Jund.
It was a small glimmer of hope she clung on. It would be easier if it turned out that way. Something unusual was felt in her again, but she stuffed it down once more. What's with the pain in my chest? She left that thought behind though, concentrating on conversing with the woman next to her.
"Interesting. This place doesn't bode well for outsiders as much, were you on a caravan or something?" Meren had seen many of them arrive on Jund from larger places with more cities like the Bant kingdoms to deliver supplies to the only towns laying in Jund. Much of those same caravans she saw didn't arrive to their destination.
"No, just a traveler." Vague answer again.
After that short conversation they ate mostly in silence. Only small bits of conversation were made by the two, and it was mostly Chandra who spoke. Meren wasn't normally one to chit-chat, Chandra figured.
Now the two were preparing to leave and travel somewhere else. Meren said she had somewhere they could go, but she hadn't told Chandra of this place.
While Meren was preparing, Chandra felt into herself again, and she felt nothing.
Where's my spark at?
An: First chapter, here we go. Not exactly sure where this might be going but hopefully somewhere sensible. Thanks for reading!