Disclaimer: I don't own Magic the Gathering.
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Thanks to BlindSeer0 for reading and editing, seeing this long fic in his inbox one day was a surprise.
Magic the Gathering: Sunlight
Weapon clashes and screams fill the air around me. I can make out the heartbeats of all of the mortals around me, picking up speed right before they die. The things they fight though have no heartbeat. They are an anomaly to this world. I might be kept alive through the magic running through my veins, but the horrors known as the Eldrazi can't even claim such. As one of the spawn nears me I dispatch it with a quick slash of the sword in my hand. It's no use even trying to feed off of such things, they have no blood to sustain vampires like me.
"Forward!" yells the armored man, known as Gideon Jura, fighting next to me. With each flick of his wrist, the strange bladed whips attached to his gloves take out another spawn. But their ranks never seem to diminish. "We need to kill the Gods!"
With a quick hand motion I rally my own troops, urging them forward. Like the shadows on the forest floor my vampiric troops pour across the battlefield, carving a path through the mindless spawn. The first to make it through the seemingly endless wave are confronted by monstrosities that make the spawns before them seem like cuddly pets. They stand taller than the tallest trees, and crush several soldiers with each movement.
"Damnit!" swears Gideon. As he fights his way through the spawn he spares me a look. "Drana! We need to stop those things before they tear our army apart!"
"I don't need to be told the obvious from you human!" I spit back.
Gathering the magical power that runs through me I spring into action, flying through the air at the giant Eldrazi. One lazily tries to swat me away with one of its four arms but I dodge. Not bothering to deal with the arms, I fly straight towards its head. I cock back my fist and then punch. The sound of the blow resonates through the area as the Eldrazi's head explodes out the back, spraying everything behind it with large people sized globs of brain matter. The monstrosity collapses to the side, crushing thousands of spawn attempting to join the battle.
As I move towards another large Eldrazi, I see Gideon climbing up another. As fast as a river he works his way up, too small to be hit. Each swing of his wrists digs the whips into the beast and pulls him closer to the head. Once up to its shoulder he gathers his own magic, projecting it around his whips. White energy surrounds the strands and extends them, long enough to wrap around the monster's throat and then take off its head. It crashed to the ground with results similar to mine, Gideon riding it down to safety than going to work on the next.
We repeated the same methods with several more, our forces actually starting to show signs of progress. But then it happened, the moment we had both been hoping for and fearing. Three Eldrazi, each as large as a mountain rose up to take the battlefield. These were the Gods, the three progenitors that all the others came from. Once other Gods had sealed them away, but now they were free. But not for long. I had lived as their slave once before, I didn't plan to do so again.
"Prepare to die you bastards!" I yell, flying as fast as I could towards the center one. This was Emrakul, possibly the most dangerous of the three. Emrakul was like a giant jellyfish, a mass of tentacles surrounding a central brain. Gathering up every last drop of magical energy I flew faster than ever before, dodging the tentacles in my way. And then, cocking back my fist I swing at the main mass, and miss as I'm ripped directly from reality. I feel myself being flung through a nothingness that tries to tear my very being apart. I quickly focus all of my power to stopping it. Time seems to have stopped. I'm unsure if I'm even going anywhere. Like a swimmer gasping for air, I hope that each second will lead me to a respite. And then suddenly….I get my wish.
I appear and collapse on a cold metal floor, gasping for air. At the clanging of boots on metal I look up into a pair of insane eyes.
"I hope you had a pleasant trip," laughs the woman standing over me. Her gray eyes are cold, calculating and quite insane. Her hair is also gray, but not of a natural color, it's like strings of polished steel. "I'm glad you made it here in one piece. Now that you are, there's just a little more preparation before everything is completed."
"Raaaagh!" I yell, leaping up from the floor to try to kill her with the last of my strength. Somehow I miss though as she fails to be where she was.
"Naughty little bat," laughs the woman from behind me. Before I can even turn to face her a bolt of magical energy hits me in the back and launches me into the metal walls of wherever I am. "Now don't resist like a good little lab bat and that won't happen again. It's almost unfortunate that you withstood being brought here so well."
I can't even move from where I had collapsed, the spell having paralyzed me. Some magical force lifts me off of the ground and I drift down corridor after corridor, only able to see the ground moving underneath me. Then I hear a metal door opening up somewhere and I'm thrown roughly into a room, the door clanging shut after me.
After a few more minutes the spell finally wears off and I can move again. Standing up I wipe the dust off of my black pants and vest and look around. The walls of my prison are solid sheets of a dark-gray metal that I don't recognize. I move to the door and attempt to bust it down, only hurting my hand in the process. I found all I could do was sit and brood about my sudden and unexplained imprisonment while every part of me ached.
Then the knocking noise started. I tried to ignore it, but it kept coming, insistently. Eventually, unable to ignore or stand it any longer, I do what any reasonable being would do in such a situation. I punch the wall, screaming at whatever's on the other side.
"Be quiet!" I yell. Unfortunately, the wall chooses that moment to become decidedly less solid. A door shaped section of the wall turns a weird see-through fuzzy, blue color. My fist slams into the face of a small human girl who was crawling through the opening. She collapses backwards into her own cage, the opening disappearing as she had no doubt lost consciousness. The irony of the whole situation kept me grimly amused for the next hour or so while I waited for the girl to wake up again, hoping she wasn't choking on blood from a broken nose and was still willing to explain to me what was going on despite the concussion I had given her.
After yet another short eternity a timid knocking noise sounded from the other side of the wall.
"Hello?" asked a voice. "May I come in?"
"Yes, after you explain to me how," I replied.
"Magic," replied the voice simply.
"Yeah, I figured that," I replied dryly. "What type of magic?"
"Phasing, I had read about the concept in an old book in the academy library."
"Never heard of it."
"It's very complex, originally developed and created by the Plansewalker Teferi while he was a student at the academy of Toloria."
"Speak in words I actually understand."
"I technically can't. I'm using a translation spell so that we can understand each other, without it our languages are too dissimilar."
"Well, that's just great. Where are you from?"
"I'm from the land of Otaria on the plane of Dominaria. You do know about the concept of the multiverse, right? That there are many worlds out there that can't interact with each other and none can enter or leave them? A near infinite number of worlds, or planes as they're generally called."
"I do now," I replied, digesting what the strange girl had just told me. I guess that explained Gideon and his strange armor, weapons and mannerisms that had come out of no where to fight the Eldrazi. Or did it, hadn't she mentioned something about no one being able to enter or leave?
"Well I'm from the world of Zendikar and I've never heard of any of the places you've mentioned so far, so how are we able to talk and be in the same plane then?"
"There are Planeswalkers, beings born with the power to traverse the planes at will. The woman who captured us, Riga, is a Planeswalker of immense, almost unlimited, power. She captured me about a week ago, I think, it's hard to tell time here. Or if time is even moving or matters here."
"Speak Zendikarian, or at least clear enough so your magic does. What are you talking about?"
"Riga's home is a strange moving Plane that crosses through the Ǽther that connects the planes and isn't bound by the same rules of time and entropy as an actual plane."
"And that just means you have no way of knowing where or even when we are?"
"Yes," replied the girl.
"Great," I sighed. "How do you know all of this?"
"Dominaria has always been a hub of Planeswalker activity, giving birth to an extremely large number of what is usually a rare condition. I haven't actually met any, but the information gathered in the academy I attend includes a rather large section on them, hence my knowledge of Planeswalkers and the Multiverse."
"And your information on our host?"
"She told me. When I was first brought here I asked all types of questions which she seemed more than happy to give me. She did lock me up in this cell though saying that it was for my own good and safety. I'm not sure she's entirely sane."
"I gathered," I replied dryly. "Do you happen to know why we're here then?"
"Her immortality is fading, her powers disappearing. She's trying to keep them both. Somehow that makes us necessary."
"Well that's just great, she said something about collecting one last piece before throwing me in here, so I guess we'll get to find out everything soon enough."
Everything was silent for a while after that except for the hum of magic and energy that was background noise to the whole complex we were inside. The chatty girl from the other side knocked on the wall again to get my attention before speaking up once more.
"May I come over now?" I figured that she had been locked up for so long with no company that she was overjoyed to have someone to talk to and look at. Silly academy brat, unused to living in a real life survival setting and the need sometimes for silence and solitude. I was still tired, annoyed and starting to get hungry though, so letting her over felt like a good idea. Just feed on her until she was dry, and give myself the energy to fight Riga one last time and maybe escape. It didn't seem like it had a high chance of success, but at least it would deprive the crazy Planeswalker of the girl who she probably needed for her plan. One last act of petty vengeance. In the end though I had decided that that was probably unfair to the friendly girl, and I could always just kill her later if I needed to.
"I wouldn't suggest it, I'm starting to need to feed," I finally said.
"Feed? You're hungry?" the confused girl asked.
"Yeah, for blood."
"Blood? You're a vampire?"
"Yes."
The girl was silent for a while before she spoke up again.
"What's your name?" she asked, curiosity evident in her voice.
"Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief," I replied, and then feeling like it was only polite. "What's your name?"
"Braids, just a simple conjurer and student from the academy in Otaria. What's a Bloodchief?"
I sighed, realizing that this girl was going to spend the next several hours, or maybe even days asking me questions. She was obviously the naturally curious type. I figured that if she was still alive at this point then someone must have been feeding her, and hopefully they would feed me soon too. Until then I was hungry, tired, annoyed and way too old for this shit, but I still couldn't find it in myself to tell the girl to shut up. It would feel too much like striking a loyal animal companion while on an expedition. It wasn't something anyone with brains did because they had skills you needed and it was easier to treat them nice and keep them happy than to force them to help you. So I had answered all the questions Braids posed to me, asking a few of my own along the way, to keep up a dialogue and to find out more about this girl who I might need to rely on.
Food arrived several hours later in the form of a trussed up goat that was thrown straight through the walls of my cage. I leapt on it hungrily, forgetting that Braids had just asked me a question. The goat bleated briefly before I overwhelmed it and sunk my teeth into its throat, silencing it. I drained the horned beast in a matter of minutes, regaining the strength torn from me by my trip to this plane. Sated, I finally started paying attention to Braids again.
"Sorry, what did you say again? I was starving and needed to feed."
"I just got some vegetable soup, bread and some cheese. What did you get?"
"Goat."
"Oh," Braids had said after a moment of silence. "Is that what that noise was over there?"
"Yeah, it was fresh," I replied. It only occurred to me right after that a walking human blood bag might be uncomfortable with the idea of a vampire draining a live goat of its blood.
"Do different types of blood taste differently?"
"Not really, blood is blood whether from a human or a goat. Although blood with magic in it, like a magician's, is usually the best." In hindsight I was still kind of out of things with recent events and full of good food and that probably wasn't a good response to tell a magician.
"Does that mean you want to suck my blood?" she had asked curiously, a strange lack of fear in her voice. I was pretty convinced she was insane by that point.
"Not really," I replied honestly. I decided to throw in some dishonesty too. "There's no point in doing so, dead people don't make for as good as conversation as you."
"You don't find me too chatty or anything?" Braids had asked, sounding like she was honestly hoping for me to say definitively how good she was to talk to. "Not "hyper", "manic", "ranty", or anything of the like?"
"Hyper? Yes, you are." It was then time to counter with some flattery. Words could be much more useful for a Bloodchief to make allies then ripping off some heads, although depending on who it was, not nearly as much fun. "But that's not really a bad thing. From what I've heard so far I'd say you're passionate instead. You have personality unlike a lot of stuffy academics I've met."
Once you have several hundred years of experience of living under your belt it becomes easy to lie without actually saying something you haven't at one point experienced positively or negatively at the same time. I've found that thinking about a certain event helps make the lie more convincing. For example, I have met plenty of academics much more grating than this hyper girl, and while I would hate to be chained to her, it could always be worse.
Braids was quiet again for several minutes after that, practically an eternity for her from what I could gather by her activity up to that point. When she spoke up again, her voice was unexpectedly choked with emotion.
"That's so good to hear. Almost everyone in the academy says that I talk too much or that my ideas are insane or inane. Ever since I cast that spell to give everyone a good night's sleep it's been harder to talk to everyone."
"You cast a sleep spell over an entire academy?"
"I embedded it into the magical runes that power the shield system to help it reach everyone. I thought a good night's rest and a nice dream about bunnies would help get everyone in a better mood the next day."
"Bunnies?" I asked incredulously. Maybe my earlier guess about this girl being insane had been right. "Why bunnies?"
"Because who doesn't like bunnies! They're soft, they're cute and they're nice! Plus making a dream sequence tied specifically to each dreamer's preference would have required much more skill and effort than I could have managed ten years ago."
"How old are you now?" I asked, actually curious for once.
"Nineteen," Braids replied simply.
"So you put a whole academy of mages asleep at the age of nine?"
"Yep. I was so proud of it too. I went around bragging the next morning, and was so surprised to see everyone else glaring at me. I also found out later that one of the elders of the academy was deathly afraid of rabbits due to a run in with a hedge mage in the Krosan Forest many years prior. He wasn't very happy with me about the incident."
I couldn't help it or hold it in anymore and I found myself laughing at the complete silliness of Braids' story. I apparently needed a good laugh, because I laughed much longer than the story actually warranted. When I finished silence greeted me for a full minute, the hum of machinery and magic filling the air. Braids response was as unexpected as mine to her story. She started to giggle, an extremely girlish sounding giggle.
"You have the most hilarious laugh!" Braids giggled.
"What's wrong with my laugh?" I asked incredulously.
"Nothing! Nothing!" Braids giggled defensively. "You just seem like the type of person who's always so serious and composed. Like earlier when you were talking about feeding, you weren't embarrassed, hostile or anything, just flat sounding, dead serious. Most of the academics I talk to like to pretend to be calm and composed, but they get flustered so easily! Sometimes I've wondered if to use magic you needed to give up communication skills."
"Sounds like your experiences mirror mine. The academics like to stick to their towers and academies, but as soon as the Roil rolls nearby them, they freak out like kids during their first thunder storm!"
"Your world sounds so interesting! The Roil would be so cool to study!"
"Every new place sounds much more exciting than it really is. Plus with the Eldrazi running about, it wouldn't be a fun place to visit currently."
"So then you don't like living there?"
That was definitely not been a question I had been expecting, or ever really thought about before. I was quiet for a moment, just thinking about the question before I finally answered.
"I've traveled every corner of Zendikar, and I've found it dangerous, unpredictable but still so full of mystery, adventure, wonder and beauty. There's always something new as the place changes constantly. Home is what you make of it, and in Zendikar we're constantly making new homes."
There was yet again more silence. It felt kind of awkward as I realized that I hadn't really answered the question directly.
"So to answer your question, yes, I do like living on Zendikar. I'll eventually get out of here and figure out a way back to my home. We'll see about getting you back to your home while I'm at it."
The conversation had seemed over at that point, silence reigning. I was kind of disappointed, but it was only a matter of time before Braids started talking again, people like her couldn't keep silent for long. When she spoke up again, it was much less energetic then I had expected.
"If we only have a choice between my home and yours, could I go with you? Like you said, home is what you make of it, and your home sounds nice."
"Sure," I replied without any conscious thought to it. It was the type of thing I would have usually said as a lie to comfort someone whose assistance I would probably need. It unnerved me slightly when later I thought back and realized that I hadn't meant it as a comforting lie.
Due to the difficulty of telling time in my prison, I instead settled on judging how many feeding cycles passed. By the time three such cycles had passed, and by consulting with Braids, I deduced that she was fed twice a day and I was fed just once. Enough to keep us alive, but not really enough to break out, spells blazing to fight a mad god. At one point Braids asked me where I thought the food was coming from. I replied that she was the expert on the crazy plane, and if she didn't know, how would I? Did Planeswalkers even need to eat? Maybe she had a farm and vegetable patch to pass the time or something between abducting women across the multiverse and being crazier than a one-eyed, one armed Kor trying to scale to the Eye of Ugin in the middle of a Roil storm.
Braids once again continued to ask me many more questions, most of which I happily answered. Solitude was one thing when it was a choice, but I was slowly finding out that forced solitude could be maddening. Being able to talk to pass the time really helped to take the edge off of things. I even asked her questions myself. Mostly questions about Planes, the Multiverse and Planeswalkers, to help figure out a solution to getting out of the cage, but also questions about Braids herself. If I was going to be forced to work with her, then I would rather know what I was working with.
I had also made a few attempts at breaking through the cell walls again. Whatever metal they were constructed out of, it was proving indestructible. The attempts had mostly just been a ruse to show that I was putting in a little effort to get out. Braids had once again demonstrated to me that she could just phase the wall out so that we could pass to when the time to move was right. It had only been a small hole in the wall, just enough to prove that it worked but not accidentally give away what we could do to Riga. I had caught a glimpse of a brown braid of hair through the hole, but not much else of my new partner.
"So your name isn't a nickname? It's you're actual name?" I asked after eight feeding cycles.
"Yeah, I was already named Braids before I even had hair," Braids replied indignantly.
"Braids is a weird name for a child, were your parents crazy?" I teased.
"Drana is a pretty weird name to me."
"Lots of children have the name Drana on Zendikar."
"Were you named after a Drana from Legend then?"
"I chose my name when I broke free from the Eldrazi slave masters and formed my clan. All of the others are named after me," I replied proudly.
"So you were the first? Doesn't that make the name weird?"
"At least my name isn't a style of wearing your hair."
"You don't know, on another plane a 'Drana' might be the word for going bald or something!"
I had been ready to respond, but suddenly I felt a surge of powerful magic, silencing my reply.
"Did you feel that?" Braids asked through the wall.
"Yeah, a surge of magic. I felt it," I replied.
"Something big is happening. I think this is what she's been preparing for the past eight days. She's going to grab the final piece she needs for whatever her plan is."
"Then this is our chance. She'll be distracted and open. We can kill her. Or barring that, escape to whatever plane she's currently reaching into. Get us out of here quickly!"
A moment passed by, and then suddenly the door to my cell blurred and turned blue. Not wanting to be caught off guard in case something was out there, I made a running jump out of the phased door and rolled to my feet, the surprised Braids looking at me from outside my cell.
"That was quite an entrance," she stated dully.
"You can never be too careful," I replied, looking around for threats and finding everything clear. Done with that, I sized up my companion. She was short; shorter than me by at least two heads. She had her brown hair in two braids, her skin very tan for a scholar. She was also wearing clothes made more for moving around then the pompous scholar robes I usually expected on such a person. On her head she wore a pair of blue tinted goggles.
"You're very pale, aren't you?" Braids asked, looking me up and down.
"I live in the dark reaches of Zendikar's vast forests, the sun doesn't bother to touch us there. Of course I've never really managed a tan in my whole existence even when outside of the forests."
"Do you burn in the sun?"
"No, I just fail to tan. Now let's get a move on, we need to reach Riga before she completes her spell."
I looked around and saw several branching tunnels, unsure of which one would lead us to our target. I could feel the magic building up, but I couldn't manage to pinpoint it. Braids lowered her goggles over her eyes and looked around. Finally she lifted a finger and pointed at one of the pathways to my left.
"Over that way, there's a large build-up of mana down there."
"The let's go greet our host," I replied with a toothy grin.
Braids led the way, directing us down a maze of tunnels whenever a new fork appeared. I followed close behind, senses tuned for any sort of danger that might appear. Finally she motioned me to slow down, and creeping forward slowly I peaked around the corner to see something I hadn't expected.
It was a large metal apparatus, gems embedded into every inch of its surface in geometric patterns that I guess were magical in nature. The apparatus formed a dome that sprang up from a five pointed magic circle engraved onto the room's floor. In the center of it all stood Riga, white robes flapping about her as she gestured about, her eyes vacant and shining with excess magical power. Mana flew from her hands, striking in seemingly random patterns all around her, but in what were probably meticulously planned and executed strikes. The magic felt like it was reaching its peak, it was now or never.
I turned back to Braids, goggles over her eyes as she stared, completely enthralled by the spell being worked in front of her. I had put my hand on her shoulder and gently shook her to get her attention. Her focus finally on me, I started to whisper to her.
"It seems like the spell will be cast soon. We should attack now while she's distracted. We'll need to strike fast and hard. What's the most powerful spell you can manage?" I asked.
"A summoning spell," she replied, staring past me at the mad Planeswalker. "Otherwise most of what I can do is just support spells."
"Ok then, prepare your summoning; how long do you think it will take?"
"I can have it out in a minute. But she'll probably feel me gathering the mana, and might respond."
"Then I'll attack first and you just summon as fast as possible. When you're done with that, switch to support spells. Maybe counter anything she tries to cast if you can."
"Got it," she nodded, a determined look on her face. I gave her one last comforting smile and then with a tap on her shoulder, bolted into the room, making straight for Riga. As soon as I was on the move, I felt Braids drawing in the mana to cast her spell, but I kept my attention on my prey.
Riga's eyes stayed vacant for a few moments, the distance between us shrinking rapidly with each passing second. Right before I reached her though, she looked right at me, her eyes gaining understanding, her face twisting into an expression of utter fury.
"You will not interfere!" she yelled. A bolt of magic leapt from her hand to strike me, but I quickly dodged to the side, evading the bolt as it struck the floor, melting through the ground like it was nothing. A second spell quickly followed, but I also managed to just dodge it, this one blasting a whole in the far wall behind me.
Unfortunately a third bolt had also been fired right after the second. Maybe trying to take on a god was a bad idea, even for a vampire of the highest caliber like myself. The bolt had been aimed directly to where I had been dodging. Luckily I noticed a second right before it hit me and used magic to protect myself. Instead of being completely vaporized I was instead flung backwards into the far wall, a sizeable vampire shaped dent made in what I'm pretty sure was the same super tough metal that my cell had been made of. I had fought beings powerful enough to be called gods before, and while that had been extremely tough and not something I'd have ever called fun, this fight seemed to be trying to make those seem like a leisure hike up Valakut. Collapsing onto the floor I looked up and saw a fourth bolt, right on course to me.
I was saved when a weird yellow-green blob flew in front of the blast, taking it head on. The thing was vaporized completely, a weird ticking noise accompanying its death. That's when I looked around and saw dozens of the blobs floating around. A group had formed a shield in front of Braids, whose hands were out, glowing blue from all of the magic she was harnessing. For a moment I thought it was due to the concussion, but the blobs kept multiplying. Blobs would be pinched by some invisible force down the middle and then they'd just split into two new blobs. An ever present ticking noise had filled the room from what seemed like multiple sources, and none of them seemed to be synchronized.
"You two will not stop me!" Riga yelled. The energy she had been steadily feeding into the apparatus suddenly surged. She had sped her plans up, and that definitely wasn't good for us. Spells needed time for a reason, speeding something up with brute force was the act of many mages on Zendikar who tried to tap into the powerful raw mana that the plane supplied. It never ended well for any of them or those around them. The mana at Riga's disposal wasn't as potent as on Zendikar, but she was much more powerful than any regular mage. That just meant she was pushing things way beyond the danger level any normal mage could manage.
"I've fought and stopped the plans of gods before, what makes you think you'll be any different?" I replied, getting up from where I had collapsed from the wall. Braids' blobs continued to float around the room and multiply, soaking up the random bolts of energy that were flying from either Riga or her apparatus. I turned to look at Braids. "Are you able to control these things?"
"The Chronozoas? Ya, to a point. Mostly they're just programmed to multiply and protect you and me. I can also have them attack but I'm not sure how useful that would be here," Braids replied, not even looking at me.
"Keep up a shield around me. No matter how hard they hit, I bet I can hit harder. And keep yourself safe too," I added.
The energies surrounding Riga and her apparatus seemed to be reaching a high point, everything was starting to morph and take a different form. Raw mana was turning into the precise forms of energy needed to form the particular spell. I had seen enough, and it was time to end this. I charged forward, the chronozoas taking a shield position around me, leaving space for movement and presumably to attack if needed. Several of the blobs lost their lives in the several seconds it took to reach the mad planeswalker, lives replaced just as quickly by their multiplying comrades. Riga seemed to realize how close I was and released one final desperate blast of energy at me. All the chronozoas around me were obliterated, but I just continued to charge forward.
"Hello you Kor whore," I said, smiling in malicious triumph. Riga wasn't the type of being to indulge me in a look of utter dawning horror, but the small look of surprise was good enough for the circumstances. I leapt at her, and wrapped my arms and legs around her, immobilizing her. And then I bit into her neck, sucking out as much of her life force as I could.
Instead of blood I enjoyed a rush of pure magical energies. I'm not even sure she had a corporeal body. She seemed to be a mass of sentient magic, something even more unnatural than any of the elementals I had encountered on Zendikar or the eldritch abominations that were the Eldrazi gods. I only managed to grab what had to be a small fraction of her energy before I was thrown off. I landed on the floor, my body crackling with the magical energies I had absorbed. Riga looked down at me with pure, utter hatred, and her hand crackled with what was undoubtedly enough energy to vaporize even me completely.
Before the bolt could be launched though, Riga was suddenly mobbed by no less than three dozen of Braids Chronozoas. All of the ticking blobs converged on the mad Planeswalker, attacking her through means I'm not entirely sure of. The assault only lasted for a few moments though as the energy meant for me wiped out all of Braids' summons. That was enough to give me the time to get the energies coursing through me in control though. I gathered almost all of the energy in me into my hand, the energy crackling between my clawed fingertips. I lunged at Riga through the mist of vaporized chronozoa and buried my hands straight through Riga's chest, releasing them into a blast of sanguine energy inside of her.
Riga exploded in a scream, and so did everything else. I once again felt myself being yanked though the void and I didn't even have any time to wonder where I was before appearing on a new plane. Unfortunately I was floating in the air just shy of the tip of a nearby mountain. Luckily for me, I just unfurled the wings at my back. Floating safely in the air, I was able to witness a giant fortress of some type of metal violently bury itself into the nearby mountains side. I could only guess that it was Riga's mobile plane. Somehow I guess I had been flung outside of the plane. And from a panicked scream slightly below me, I hadn't been the only one.
"Help! Drana!" the voice yelled, calling out to me. It was Braids, who I could see falling down through the air below me. She had obviously never flown through the air before or jumped off a cliff, flailing around the air in utter panic. I was free of Riga's plane, and the mad planeswalker was dead. I didn't need the hyperactive mage anymore. So without hesitation I furled up my wings and plummeted down towards her.
Like a hawk I swooped down as fast as I could towards the panicking girl. Unfortunately I was trying to save her, not kill her for food. As I approached I yelled out to her.
"Stop panicking! Try to spread out parallel to the ground with your arms and legs out! I'm going to grab you and slow our fall, do not fight me!" Luckily Braids seemed to still be able to listen to commands, and started to flail less, her body positioned kind of like I had told her to do. It was close enough for me. I grabbed Braids at the same time as I unfurled my wings once more. The wind caught my wings and threatened to tear them off, but nature couldn't hurt me, it was going to save me. Instead of falling straight down, we started to glide across the sky. I pumped my remaining magical energy into my wings and occasionally flapped them to help maintain our altitude.
Within minutes I was once again fully in control of our flight. I leveled out and soared over the unfamiliar landscape, Riga's plane resting in its new home buried in the side of a mountain. There seemed to be settlements below me, but I couldn't make them out clearly from where I was. In my arms Braids seemed to have stopped panicking for good, and was just staring silently downwards. I could feel her heartbeat, fast but steady enough not to cause worry. The prey I grabbed like this usually panicked, instead of calming down, so it was a new situation for me. Up close I could smell her blood and I realized how hungry I was after all that had just happened.
"I'm going to land, so just hang on," I said, trying to comfort my passenger.
"Hang on to what?" Braids had asked, sounding completely serious.
"No clue, I just thought it sounded comforting," I admitted. I glided down as gently as I could towards the ground. Luckily Braids was much shorter than me and didn't really get in the way of anything. We landed in the middle of a cobblestone square, a fountain spurting water from what I could only assume was an angel statue. As we touched down on the hard ground I released Braids and she stumbled forward slightly, somehow managing to keep her balance. Well, at least for a moment, and then she fell backwards onto her butt, releasing a small cry as she did so. The situation was so absurd from the life or death stakes of recent events. I started to laugh, walking around the girl and holding out my hand to help her up. She glared up at me, but eventually cracked a smile and started to laugh also, taking my hand and help.
"Never let me fly again," said Braids, wiping off her clothes and pulling her goggles up from over her eyes.
"You harness blue mana and you've never flown before?" I asked. Braids mumbled something under her breath. "What was that?"
"I said I'm afraid of heights so I've never tried before!" she snapped, turning bright red in embarrassment. "I prefer time and summoning magic, those are my specialties!"
"I've noticed, good job on those blobs, they were useful."
"Everyone else has always told me they're annoying with all of the ticking and multiplying, but I've always thought they were great and kind of cute," Braids said with pride.
"Usually I'd prefer something with teeth in that type of situation, but I guess I can't complain about the results."
I was feeling pretty tired and bantering back and forth was all I could really manage at the moment. So it was that it took me a moment to realize that Braids and I weren't the only ones in the square anymore. It was full of humans in unfamiliar clothes. Angry humans with pitchforks, torches and brands in a shape I didn't recognize.
"Demon!" several of them shouted, I could only guess at me. I was too tired to even respond, this was definitely not something I wanted to deal with at the moment. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how you wanted to argue the case, Braids had enough energy to come to my defense.
"Drana's not a demon!" she yelled at the townspeople. Unfortunately she just couldn't leave it at that. "She's a vampire Bloodchief!"
The angry mob either didn't recognize the last word as an important title or didn't care, they had really only needed to hear the word 'vampire'. Voices were raised along with weapons. The crowd started to slowly press in, a public lynching. I didn't really feel like getting violent with a bunch of random townies, but I didn't have the energy to take Braids with me, and leaving her would be sure death. Maybe if I made things bloody enough they'd back off and I could finally get some food and a long, long nap. Luckily that plan proved to not be necessary.
"Hold!" yelled a commanding angelic voice. A tall, pale woman walked towards the town square, the crowd parting as she approached. She towered over almost everyone else in the square in both stature and presence. Her hair was long and white as snow, her eyes intense and lined with dark shadows. She was like the perfect combination of light and shadows with her pale skin, snowy white wings and dark armor. Walking slightly behind her was a human man who could be her brother from how similar they looked, minus the wings and an elf woman I recognized as belonging to the Jorga tribe of Zendikar. I had heard descriptions of this very woman, Nissa Revene, the one supposedly responsible for releasing the seal on the Eldrazi gods and then disappearing from the face of the plane somehow. The group stopped in front of Braids and I, looking us over with judgmental eyes.
"Who are you two to trespass on this land from the sky?" asked the Angel, her voice ringing through the air clearly even without her raising it.
"I am Braids, a conjurer from the land of Otaria," said Braids, stepping forward and trying to act as confident as she could apparently manage after a very long, very rough day. "This is my friend, Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief, from the land of Zendikar. We didn't mean to intrude anywhere, circumstances have been kind of crazy lately."
None of the names of places or titles seemed to confuse the Angel or her companions, instead they seemed to recognize them as familiar. If the Elf really was Nissa Revene as I suspected, then it wouldn't be surprising for them to know about Zendikar, and if she was also a Planeswalker, then it's possible she had visited Braids home of Otaria or somehow heard of it. The white haired man looked at me for only a moment before staring at Braids. Something about her seemed to fascinate him, and I was tempted to snap at him to stop staring at her. Somewhere in my tired mind though I felt he was oddly familiar. After a moment I realized he was a vampire, although not of a type familiar to Zendikar. And it was then after that I realized that I had seen him before. He had been one of a trio of extremely powerful beings that had once long ago sealed the Eldrazi gods away into the eye of Ugin. I had just been a slave at the time, but when they had appeared we had revolted and thrown off our old masters. I realized now that that meant he must be a Planeswalker like Riga.
"Everyone disperse!" commanded the Angel. "We have this under control, I do not believe these beings threaten us with harm, and if they do, then their lives will be forfeit and I will be enough to handle them. Now back to your fields and vocations as I settle matters between us!"
The townspeople obeyed the Angel, her word apparently enough for them to ignore a being they had thought was a demon, and knew was a vampire. Soon the only people left standing directly in the square were the angel, her two companions, Braids and I. The angel turned and started to turn and walk away.
"Come with me," she commanded. "We have many questions for you that need answers. One of which will be what that massive flying fortress that buried itself in the side of one of our beautiful mountains is."
"May we find out your names first? And about where we are?" asked Braids, her natural curiosity starting to surface.
"I am Avacyn, protector of this the land of Innistrad," said the angel. She gestured to the man and then to the elf woman. "This is Sorrin Markov, the rightful Lord of Innistrad and my creator. And this is his companion, Nissa Revene, of the plane of Zendikar that you mentioned before that your vampire belongs to."
"She's not my vampire," replied Braids timidly, turning slightly red for some reason. "So you know of the existence of other planes? Does that mean you're Planeswalkers or have met some?"
"I'm a Planeswalker," said Nissa, speaking up finally. She looked right at me, worry and anger in her eyes. "Vampire, what is the fate of Zendikar? How is our home faring since the Eldrazi were defeated?"
"My name is Drana," I growled back. "I was in the middle of what I hoped to be the final battle against their gods when I was abducted suddenly and violently by a Planeswalker by the name of Riga. The best I can tell, it's been more than a week since then, and so anything could have happened. I'm glad to hear that apparently the battle was won, but don't you pretend to care about our world when you fled it when things got tough!"
"Don't pretend to know me you vile bloodsucker!" roared Nissa, turning to confront me. "I did what I thought was best for Zendikar. When it turned out that was a mistake, I left to find the one person I knew had a chance of fixing it! I found Sorrin and brought him back just a few days ago! Together with the help of another Planeswalker who was fighting there, Gideon Jura we resealed the monsters. I had to flee because people blamed me for causing the whole mess! I have been banished from my home forever!"
"Calm down Nissa," commanded Sorrin, putting a hand on her shoulder. The Elf did slightly, but still seemed tense and angry. He turned to look at me. "The seal I had placed on the Eldrazi lords several centuries ago had started to deteriorate due to disturbances throughout the multiverse. Nissa did what she did believing that releasing the seal could stop the Roil disturbing and tearing up your land. Sadly she was too young to know the horror of the Eldrazi like I suspect you do. You were one of the Bloodchiefs that toiled as an Eldrazi slave, were you not?"
"Yes, yes I was," I replied. "You're a vampire aren't you?"
"Yes I am. My lineage is of Inistrad though, making me different from you."
"And you're also a Planeswalker?"
"I have been a Planeswalker of many, many centuries. Even more than you have been alive for."
"So that means you two have immortality and near unlimited power, right?" asked Braids, cutting in energetically in her curiosity.
"There are two types of Planeswalkers, Old and New. The old Planeswalkers were like gods with the attributes you named. I was also once like this. But a recent shift across the multiverse, one from your home plane of Dominaria, and the same shift that weakened the seal of the Eldrazi, has changed the nature of the Planeswalker spark. The beings who have it are no longer gods, just mortals with the power to walk the worlds if they choose. Nissa is one of those. Any like me who hadn't died off in infighting with other Planeswalkers found that our sparks had started to fade and change to that of the new. I am now no longer a god, just an extremely ancient and powerful vampire with all that that still entails, not a huge loss."
"Wow, this is amazing! When I get back to Otaria I'll have so much new information to add to the academy archives about Planeswalkers! This could make me the premier expert on the subject!" squealed Braids in unconcealed glee.
"I have a question," I butted in. "If Planeswalkers are no longer gods, then how were we kidnapped by one and forced to kill her in an extremely tough battle on the crazy moving plane that is now crashed in the middle of your mountain side?"
"You said it was Riga who captured you, correct?"
"Yeah, that's the crazy Planeswalkers name as far as I know. You know of her?"
"All old Planeswalkers are eccentric, it comes with the nature of the spark that some quality or personality trait is magnified in the process. Riga was always elusive, but I have heard of her. She traveled around on a moving fortress plane of her own creation picking up objects that interested her from other planes she passed by. She should have also lost most of her powers, but the objects she collected could easily hold massive amounts of power, enough to simulate it. But even so she would still be just flesh and blood, and our sparks don't allow us to transport others through the Ǽther anymore. She must have had some type of device."
"I bit into her, she wasn't flesh and blood, just pure magic," I countered.
"Then this is more troubling then I had thought. She shouldn't have her powers still, but if she does, then she'll be much harder to handle than you could imagine. Did you kill her somehow?" asked Sorrin, maddeningly calm in what sounded like a dire situation.
"I stabbed her in the chest and exploded her with magic," I replied.
"Then she's probably still alive. Planeswalkers like her are just magic controlled by a mind. If you don't destroy the mind, then they can reform once again."
"We will prepare a force to hunt her down and destroy her if she is such a menace then," said Avacyn, turning to face Sorrin. "She must be stopped if she poses a threat to the hard earned peace we now have on Inistrad."
"I agree, but what's troubling is why she captured these two in the first place," replied Sorrin.
"She told me she was trying to keep her immortality and omnipotence since they were starting to fade," said Braids, speaking up again. "She needed us for some spell or something, and she was trying to get her third and final piece when we attacked her. I think it was something from here."
Suddenly everything started to shake. Townspeople started to panic and but the three beings in front of me just stared at the mountain behind me. I turned and saw Riga's plane lift up off of the mountain side and to start to pulsate with magical energy. The large fortress started to move towards us but instead of getting bigger as it approached, it actually stayed the same size. Eventually I realized it was shrinking as it approached, condensing into some new form. Eventually it started to shrink faster than it grew and when it was at the edge of the town it had turned into the familiar shape of a woman. Riga floated in the air at the edge of the town, fury in her eyes, magical energy crackling around her.
"You foolish beings thought you could stop a god like me!" she boomed, her voice reaching every part of the city. "I will destroy you, but not before I use you to keep what is rightfully mine!"
"You mad being!" yelled Avacyn, flying up into the air to confront the mad Planeswalker. "You shall not endanger the lives of anyone in this town or on this plane while I am still alive and fighting! Everyone and everything of Innistrad belongs to Sorrin Markov, and I am their protector!"
"You foolish angel, you are the final piece I need! I will not be gentle in getting what I want!" screamed Riga. Energy crackled and gathered into her hand and blasted out at Avacyn. The angel materialized a staff with a strange brand at the end, and swiped at the magic bolt. The energy was deflected right back at Riga, but she calmy lifted up her hand and just reabsorbed the energy, smirking. "You will put up quite a fight, but in the end you cannot stop a god!"
"Everyone flee for now!" bellowed Sorrin, taking charge while Avacyn engaged Riga. "Send a call out to all of the angels! And tell the vampires that I summon them to battle! Everyone who can fight, mobilize and await my command!"
"I will try to assist Avacyn," said Nissa, turning and running towards the battle. Green mana glowed around her hands and plant roots shot up from the ground, ensnaring Riga. The roots glowed red though and combusted into ash, Riga smirking in triumph.
"How can we help?" asked Braids, turning to Sorrin.
"If you have any spells, either attacks or counters, use them against her. If we can overwhelm her with too many different types and fronts of attacks, then we might be able to strike and crush her mind."
"I'm not sure how much you can do, you used quite a bit of energy against her before," I said, stepping up to Braids. I was honestly worried about her.
"I think I can manage to summon another batch of Chronozoas to assist and protect everyone. We technically brought her here. That means we should be the ones to stop her."
"Fine," I conceded. I turned to face Sorrin once more. "I'm exhausted from my previous fight against Riga, is there a place that I can feed to regain some strength so that I can fight?"
Sorrin nodded and called out to a passing villager who was scrambling into some armor, a crossbow in hand.
"You! Get her to a barn with some cattle so that she can feed."
"But my Lord," protested the villager. Even with a Vampire as his Lord, he didn't seem to be comfortable with me feeding on livestock.
An explosion shook the air and Avacyn was blasted through the air, smashing into the fountain and raining water and stone everywhere. She shook off what must have been a powerful attack and just flew back into the air once more to engage her foe.
"Now!" snapped Sorrin.
"Yes my Lord!" cried the villager, giving in after seeing the guardian angel hit so hard. "Right this way ma'am."
He started to run off, but before I followed I turned once more to Braids, grabbing her by the shoulders. I stared into her eyes, trying to look as serious as I could.
"Promise me you won't do anything stupid while I'm away. I'll be right back, so just stay back, assist when possible and stay out of Riga's way. Got it?"
"Got it," replied Braids, tears in her eyes for some reason. I don't know exactly why I did it, but I grabbed the small girl and pulled her into a tight hug, causing her to squeal in surprise. After a moment she returned the hug and then we broke it off, her smiling back up at me. "You stay safe too."
"Where I'm going, that might be impossible, but I definitely won't die today," I promised. I ran after the villager, who hadn't even stopped to wait for me while I had talked to Braids. Ignoring the crowds of people milling around me I zeroed in on the villager. Shortly he led me to a barn and opening the doors I saw several rows of cattle and other animals. I couldn't resist giving him a toothy grin.
"Feeding time," I said. He had had more than he could stand at that point and fled back to where the battle was raging. I ran into the barn, and not caring chose the first animal I came across, a bull. It was powerfully built, but I was on its back before it even knew what was happening. By the time it realized something was wrong, I had drained it half way, too late for it to fight back. By the time the rest of the barn realized what I was, I had drained the bull to the last drop. I then pounced on a calf, the small morsel giving me the last bits of energy I needed. Dropping the corpse to the ground I strode confidently out of the barn. As soon as I was out, I fully extended my wings and took to the sky.
Stray bolts of magic had lit houses on fire, which were being attended to by fire teams trying not to get vaporized by other stray bolts. Large holes dotted the cobblestones and corpses of soldiers, townspeople and what looked like a couple of angels and vampire dotted the ground. The living angels and vampires had taken to the sky though and were assisting Avacyn and Sorrin in the air, although they were much less effective than their powerful leaders. From below Nissa was summoning plants to assist in either blocking magic bolts or trying to restrain Riga. Other mages flung spells up at the mad Planeswalker when the opportunity presented itself. Soldiers with bows and crossbows would occasionally fire volleys up when the air was clear of allies, but with little success as Riga was too powerful for such tactics.
I could also make out Braids standing in the town square, goggles down, hands out. Chronozoas sprouted from her hands and flew up into the sky, ticking, splitting and protecting as many as they could. Riga herself was cackling manically the whole time, whatever little sanity she might have had before gone. I attempted to fly wide around her, flying high above her position. I dive bombed at her, but she was ready for me this time, grabbing my hand and holding me in a vice grip.
"Trying to pretend to be powerful?" she taunted me. "You're nothing but a weak bat whose immortality is wasted on living in the bowels of an ever changing forest. You could never beat the Eldrazi for good, and I am their better!"
"You're barely worth a tentacle of one of those abominations," I spat, kicking at her. The kick landed, hitting her side and knocking me free. I made distance between us, a pair of Braids' Chronozoas floating to my side to assist.
"So the girl who pretends to be real has grown attached to you," observed Riga. "Are you just as attached to an echo of unreality?"
"I won't let you capture either of us again," I said, staring at her. Avacyn and Sorrin had each taken opposing side of Riga. Everyone else who could fly had made a holding pattern around us, Chronozoas doting the air here and there, splitting occasionally with more ticking. Down below archers could be seen reloading and waiting, everyone with a weapon with reach trying to prepare. The mages had all stopped slinging spells and were instead building up to what I assumed was each's strongest attack.
"I don't see why you should care for such a girl, she's not real you know," said Riga calmly, her voice booming loudly across the town. "You were the unholy immortality I wanted. Avacyn was the last remnant of Sorrin's old Planeswalker powers before he relinquished them without a fight. She embodied the holy power and strength I craved."
Riga flourished her hands dramatically and pointed down at the town square at Braids.
"And that girl down there, Braids, she was the irrationality, the power of a being that doesn't exist in this reality. She was created during the mending, the event that attempted to suck my powers. Time and reality were warped, new possibilities came to fruition and grew in multiverses alongside our own. We are the main reality, and most of the fakes were crushed with the mending, but not hers. Her world was the last to survive, living side by side with ours, untouchable and unrecognizable."
The mad Planeswalker raised her hands above her head and laughed.
"She's not a real person or being. Just a sad little girl that represents a happier time that will never happen. Carefree, a fix to what in our reality was an insane woman. A hopeless dreamer in a world where making those dreams possible could actually happen, unlike our own. I needed such a dream, and for that, an unreal half person such as her was necessary. She's not real, but if I consume her existence, then I can be!"
I had heard enough. With a cry and an anger I didn't fully understand, I flew at Riga as fast as I could. My attacks did nothing though as she either just blocked or dodged them. She stuck her hand on my chest and with a wicked smile released a blast of magic at me point blank. I flew backwards, finally being caught by a chronozoa. A second one touched my chest and flattened around it, healing the burnt area and covering it with a protective layer.
My attack had apparently been the catalyst. Sorrin and Avacyn engaged Riga as one, attacking simultaneously, dodging magical bolts and explosions. Eventually even they were both knocked away. Riga gave a mad smile and with a high pitched scream sent out a sphere of energy that wiped all of the vampires and angels from the sky. Luckily Braids' chronozoas rushed to their rescue, protecting them from the deadly energy, but they were all still forced from the sky, crashing loudly in various places throughout the town.
They were followed up by the magicians. Bolts of all colors and forms shot upwards. Water, fire, metal spikes, living thorns, lightning, ash, shadow, light and much more all converged on Riga's position, which I realized hadn't shifted throughout the whole fight. They all struck her, causing her to scream out in pain, the first real sign that she was weakening or being damaged. But she wasn't defeated, and thin bolts of blue energy shot out from her, tracing their way down the sky and finding the head of every mage in the town that had just hit her. They all screamed in pain as their minds were violated and they collapsed to the ground shrieking in pain.
The last line of attack, the archers, spearmen, and anyone else who could reach with conventional weapons fired upwards. The normally deadly bolts flew at the mad god who just smirked wickedly. She waved her hand and a wall of fire swept out and engulfed the flying weapons. The last line of resistance was gone. Or at least they had seemed to be before flying straight throw the fire, a fuzzy blue glow around them. The bolts struck the shocked Planeswalker, turning her into a still living pincushion.
I didn't delay, I launched off of the chronozoa that had caught me and flew as fast and hard as I could at Riga. I smashed into her, my hand burying itself into her chest, splintering the weapons there. I ignored the uncomfortable shards and continued flying, carrying her out of the defenseless village and smashing her into the ground nearby. The impact sent chunks of dirt, soil and rock flying into the air all around us. And then, as she stared up at me in genuine fear, I smashed my fist with all the force I could through Riga's head, turning it to pulp.
I was thrown backwards with an explosion as Riga's body lost all form, turning into just pure magic and scattering across the land. I didn't have any energy left to fly with, but luckily I felt a pair of strong arms catch me.
"I have got you," said the unmistakable Angelic voice of Avacyn. "It seems that you have finally vanquished our mad foe."
"That she has," agreed Sorrin, flying up to greet us. "I've killed Planeswalker before, I can attest that Riga is no more."
"That was an amazing magic that let the arrows hit her though. Was that you?" asked Avacyn.
"No, that was Braids, she called in phasing magic," I replied, completely drained. "How is she?"
"I do not know, let us go meet her and heal our wounds," said Avacyn, flapping her wings and carrying us back to the town center. As we approached I looked for Braids and finally saw her, standing by the ruined fountain and staring absently at nothing. Avacyn landed gently onto the ground and released me from her arms. After taking a moment to regain my sense of balance, I walked over to Braids.
"Hey rabbit girl!" I teased. Riga was gone and we were free, it was a pretty euphoric moment. She didn't respond to my comment, or my presence as I neared her. I put my hand on her shoulder to get her attention. As I was about to call again, I realized something was wrong, very wrong. Braids didn't have a pulse. Whatever had been holding her up collapsed under my touch and she crumpled to the floor like a rag doll. "Braids!"
I knelt down, frantically searching for a pulse, and still not finding one. I barely noticed when Avacyn and Sorrin came up behind me.
"Is something wrong?" asked Avacyn.
"Of course there's something flaming wrong!" I yelled up at the Angel. "She doesn't have a bloody pulse!"
Sorrin knelt down by Braid's collapsed body, examining it. I instinctively growled at him but he ignored me.
"This isn't magic overuse, it would have destroyed her mind instead. It seems her body has failed, and done so a little while ago. There's the framework for a spell that was supporting her body's functions, but the supply of magic was cut off."
"Can we reconnect to spell to the source?" asked Avacyn calmly.
"The source is gone for good," said Sorrin shaking his head.
"Then let's get a new source!" I yelled.
"Do you have an artifact lying around that can supply energy to keep a mage alive?" asked Sorrin.
My mind raced. I wasn't sure what to do. I could always bite and transform Braids, but I doubt she'd appreciate undeath. I could rush to scour the nearby mountain for anything that had fallen out of Riga's plane, but she had seemed to have absorbed it all, I doubt she missed a relic powerful enough for my needs. While thinking things through, an idea occurred to me.
"Attach me to the spell!" I said, grabbing a fistful of Sorrin's shirt. He brushed my hands away, my grip weak due to fatigue.
"You're not in any shape to become a battery," he said sternly. "And you can't safely feed anymore to gain your strength back. You need rest. And while usually I wouldn't care, I'm not going to help you kill yourself."
"I have a large supply of energy, use me," said Avacyn, drawing our attention to her. "I have a large life force and she has been without life for a while. We must hurry."
"That's the point! It's not even sure she can be brought back at this point," argued Sorrin. "If I reconnected the spell, it would keep drawing energy until the host was revived, or the battery was drained."
"What's going on?" asked Nissa. She had walked over during or argument. She was holding a hand to her head, no doubt from magical fatigue.
"My Lord, please allow me to repay her for saving me and Innistrad!"
"Fine," conceded Sorrin. He turned to Braids and started to wave his hands around. Red runes started to fill the air, connecting the small girl to Avacyn. Then brilliant white energy started to syphon from Avacyn to Braids. Avacyn grunted at the drain, and Braids' body leapt up slightly at the influx of energy, but her eyes didn't open and I didn't sense any life in her yet.
"What the heck?" asked Nissa, still confused. "Anyone want to explain what's going on?"
"Later," I growled menacingly. "How about you use some of your magic to try to heal her, you can manage that at least, right?"
"Who am I supposed to be healing?" asked Nissa. "The angel or the corpse?"
"She's not dead yet!" I snapped.
"Yes she is," sighed Sorrin. "This isn't working, I need to break off the spell before it kills Avacyn."
"I…can…keep….going…" muttered Avacyn, clearly suffering under the drain.
"No you can't!" yelled Sorrin. "This is too much for you!"
"Attach me also then!" I yelled. "Maybe if there's two of us it'll work!"
"You can still barely walk."
"Just do it before I kill as many of you as I can!"
"Fine," muttered Sorrin darkly.
With another wave of his hands, another line of red runes shot out from the tracery connecting Avacyn and Braids. It stopped in front of me and I felt my energy leaving my body, and struggled to stay conscious at the drain. Now white and black trails of energy were meeting at Braids and entering her body. It started to convulse more and more.
"The body is rejecting the opposite natures of your energy," commented Sorrin. "This'll probably just rip her corpse in half if it continues any longer."
"It…will…work…" muttered Avacyn, her eyes closed tightly against the drain.
"Damn…right….it will…." I said. Suddenly green energy enveloped Braids body. Looking over I saw Nissa with her hands out casting a healing spell.
"I guess I do owe you for some suffering," admitted Nissa. "I won't connect myself to whatever that thing is, but maybe this will help."
"The energy is starting to get balanced out," marveled Sorrin. I looked back at Braids' body, hoping to notice a change. But one wasn't happening, just less convulsing. I was just about to give in and tell Sorrin to break the spell before it killed us when I heard a sound.
Thump thump.
My eyes widened. Could it be….
Thump thump.
"What was that?" asked Sorrin, observing the body. He leaned he closer.
Thump thump. Thump thump. Thump thump.
He backed away from Braids', surprise on his face.
"There's a heartbeat," he muttered. Avacyn managed a smile, still straining against the drain. I also felt myself cracking a smile. "We need to continue this until she wakes though, otherwise her body could just fail again."
"Will…the…drain…still…need to be…maintained?" asked Avacyn.
"Yes, but it should be much more bearable," replied Sorrin. "Once she's in the clear, I'll deal with the rest."
The moments dragged on at an agonizing pace. With each passing moment her heartbeat grew stronger and I could hear the organs in her body working once again as blood flowed through them. But still, Braids didn't open her eyes. If her pulse was normal and her eyes still weren't open, could we let up on the magic, or would she just die again at that point? Would we even be able to survive until she wakes up? My energy is almost completely gone and Avacyn has fallen to one knee. Nissa looked like her head is about to split from the strain and Sorrin is casting some type of spell, rapidly drawing his hands through the air.
"If you want to live, then return to this body!" he yelled, his hands glowing with dark energy. Braids eyes still didn't open and we were running out of time.
"Hurry up and wake up already Rabbit Girl!" I yelled. "I'm not returning to Zendikar unless you're with me!"
Nothing happened though. Braids didn't magically spring to life at my voice. I don't know what I had been hoping for, but this wasn't it. Nissa collapsed to the ground behind me, clutching her head. The light and dark energies from Avacyn and I started to clash again, causing Braids' body to start convulsing once more. Sorrin waved his hands and the red tracery runes connecting us to Braids faded away. Avacyn and I both collapsed to the ground, the connection with the runes having held us up.
"Why did you cut the connection?" I growled, barely able to lift my head off the ground.
"You were both going to die," snapped Sorrin. "This isn't working. Either she was too far gone or didn't want to live. Either way, I wasn't going to be party to your foolish suicide."
He moved over the Avacyn's side and checked on her. His voice softened a bit as he spoke to me again.
"I'm sorry for your loss, but you need to know that this was never going to work," said the vampire lord. He went from Avacyn to Nissa, cradling the elf in his arms. Black energy flickered from his hands to her head, apparently easing some of her pain.
Through the ground I heard the sound of Braids' heartbeat. It was starting to fade now that the magic was gone, no energy or soul to sustain it. Had Braids' really wanted to die that much? I remember Riga saying how it was a shame I had made the journey to her plane intact. Had Braids not managed to do so? Was that what had almost killed her and made such a survival spell necessary. She must have been tied to Riga or one of her devices, and known it. The whole time she had said nothing, just going along with my attempts to kill the mad planeswalker, no doubt knowing that such an act would end her life. She was too smart to not have known. Did she really not want to live? To continue our friendship that felt so important to me, but nothing to her?
"Why won't you come back you idiot!" I yelled, tears starting to form in my eyes.
I felt something brush past me, almost as if stopping to touch me first. But it was just a breeze. The breeze moved over Braids, her clothes and hair rippling a bit as the wind picked up, but only over Braids. I watched as the wind picked up, and then suddenly disappeared, leaving Braids' body alone, serene as the last vestiges of life fled it. Her pulse continued to slow down, eventually completely losing the steady beat we had managed to give it.
"Let's go," said Sorrin, resting his hand on my shoulder. "Everyone, especially you, need lots of rest. I can send someone to deal with the body however you'd like."
"Might as well just burn it," I muttered. I was tired and fatigued beyond belief. I could barely stand. I was also emotionally drained, a feeling I had never had before. I just needed to lie down, and maybe never open my eyes again. I knew I would though. Eventually I would get used to even this loss. And that might be the worst part.
No, the worst part is definitely the thumping headache I've started to develop. It's starting to pick up pace too, probably as I fail to deal with it. Thump thump…thump thump…thump thump thump thump…. And then I realize it isn't in my head. It's a heartbeat. Building up to normal. And continuing to beat. I slowly turn to look at Braids, and see that her body is still motionless. Maybe it all was in my head, there's no way that…
And then Braids opens her eyes, sits up and looks right at me. A large smile blooms on her face. As I saw her alive and smiling, I felt…angry.
"You idiot!" I yell at her. This draws the attention of Sorrin, Avacyn and Nissa who had started to run away. I ignore them though as I painfully walk over to Braids, grab a fistful of her shirt and lift her up in the air until we're eye level. Her feet dangle above the ground and she has a shocked look on her face but I don't care. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!"
"Breathing?" asks Braids, confused by my reaction.
"Yes, and why the hell did you ever think letting yourself stop breathing was a good idea?!"
"Drana, calm down," said Sorrin, putting a hand on my shoulder. "Put her down before you collapse."
"I am not going to calm down!" I snap. "This idiot allowed herself to die! To legitimately die! It's only luck that she's not dead!"
"The magic running the spell around her just ran out," calmed Sorrin. But I refused to be calmed.
"Yeah, and this idiot knew it was tied directly to Riga, didn't you?!" I yelled, looking at Braids. She had stopped smiling and was avoiding making eye contact with me. I was getting angrier, and angrier. "You knew the whole damn time, since we met."
"Yes," admitted Braids.
"Do you value your life so little?" I asked.
"I'm a minor conjurer who was a burden on everyone at the academy!" yells Braids, turning to look at me, tears in her eyes. "And the world I'm from? It's not even real! Eventually the multiverse is going to remember it's there, and fix its mistake. Plus there was no way for me to ever return home, the only one left who could even hope to do so was Riga, and she had no plans about even leaving me alive when she was done with me. I can't even get to the actual Dominaria because New Planeswalkers can't take along passengers!"
"Is this true?" I asked Sorrin, looking at him.
"Yes," he sighed. "Our sparks allow only us to travel the Multiverse."
"So we're stuck here, on Innistrad. Nissa could return home to Zendikar, but you never can," said Braids sadly. "I can never see your beautiful home, and I knew it all along, even when I made you promise to take me there. I lied to you the whole time, because I didn't think we could actually defeat Riga."
Tears were streaming down Braids face as she cried constantly now. Her voice was choked with emotion; sadness and regret.
"But then we did," continued Braids. "I was so surprised. I had helped you because I didn't want to give up, even if it was hopeless. You were the only person to rely on me, and I didn't want to fail. You saved me as I fell from the sky, and flying was scary but so much fun. But I knew Riga wasn't dead, since I knew our lives were linked since she had kidnapped me."
I just stared at the crying girl for a moment before gently lowering her to the ground. I released her shirt from my grasp, and moved my hand to gently rest on her cheek. She looked at me, searching for something in my face. I gave a deep sigh.
"You're a great person," I said. "Friendly, kind and a powerful mage. Don't devalue yourself like that. Home is what you make of it. There's no reason in getting down about our situation, we'll figure out something. I'm just glad you're alive now, and you should be also."
And then I passed out, my energy finally giving way. I felt myself falling as my consciousness drifted away. I could hear Braids yelling my name as darkness engulfed me.
I woke up, my head pounding, and my body weary. I sat up and looked around, seeing beds arrayed in rows everywhere, a field hospital. Nurses, doctors and various healers walk up and down the rows, attending to humans, vampires and angels alike. Food was being given out, what it is depending on the patient, along with water. Looking to my side I see Braids, resting peacefully in the bed next to mine. I couldn't help but smile as I heard her steady heartbeat, music to my ears after all the work I had put into keeping her alive. A caretaker noticed that I was awake and scrambled over to me, but tiredness once again consumed me, and before they could make it to me, I was once again fast asleep.
After I woke up again, I was tended to. My wounds were actually pretty severe, and I was one of the last to be discharged, against my intense disproval. Braids was discharged before me though and convinced me to cooperate with the healers. She went to assist with the relief effort for the town, but whenever she had free time, she stopped by to visit me and to chat. She seemed genuinely happy every time we talked. Her wide range of unusual magical talents apparently proved useful in cleaning up after Riga, earning her lots of praise. We'd talk about Innistrad, the relief effort around town, the people, Sorrin (I told her what he was like as a god and she told me about what he was like now, Avacyn (apparently created by Sorrin as a god to protect Innistrad from evil forces), Nissa (which led into a long discussion of our favorite types of insults in our native languages, and about our respective homes and selves.
After I was discharged Braids and I were allowed to stay in a house whose occupant had actually been killed in a demon attack a few weeks prior. I guess eventually we managed to settle into living on Innistrad. It might be a different plane, but it quickly started to feel like home. I suspect that any plane I had Braids with me on would have felt like home just as fast, but it honestly wasn't that bad of a place to live. The townspeople mostly leave us alone, which suits me fine. Avacyn, Sorrin or Nissa occasionally approach us either to ask for our assistance with something, like demon attacks, or sometimes to just talk. They're not that bad of people when you get to know them I guess. Nissa's still a bit of a tentacle head though.