Avian awoke with a startling pain in his hands. He looked around the ritual chamber to find the place abandoned. As he reached his stinging hands to his face to rub his eyes, he discovered that whatever ritual had been performed on him had been a success. His hands hummed with the same aura that permeated all the magic artifacts he had found throughout his life. "Well, I can wield magic." Avian muttered as he climbed off the table in the middle of the room. He felt the first pang of psychic pain thereafter. "Welcome, new one. You have survived the first trial. Now take your gift and rend sacred death upon all!" The voice was loud and demanding, and when Avian got his bearings again he began to stumble out of the ritual chamber. The surrounding rooms were empty as well. He made his way down a long hallway to find a door that seemed to lead outside. All he could gather so far was that he awoke, with a newfound ability for magic, in a partially time stopped manor house. His new magical abilities allowed him to see through the illusion, though it was still present in his eyes. He stumbled out one of the side doors and spotted a young woman. She appeared to collapse on the ground upon spotting the manor house, but as Avian went to help the voice echoed in his head. "Leave her, she has more to suffer at the hand of the demon lord." Avian didn't like this voice, but since its echo brought the pain with it, he decided to heed its words and followed his instincts that led him into the woods.
Avian managed to make it about a half mile when he heard the screams. He ran the rest of the way and found a little town under heavy attack. There were several animated skeletons and many ravenous ghouls set upon the citizens. The people were in a frenzy as they tried to escape the ravenous undeath. A wounded man stood at the entrance of a building swinging his sword and mounting a decent counterattack, but one man wasn't going to help in this fight. Avian raised his hands to help the man, but the voice echoed again. "Move to the edge. Kill any who attempt to escape. Do not let the strong find you." Avian nearly collapsed as the pain in his head forced him to the edge of town. He raised his hands, and the black magic erupted from them. As people passed him they began to cough and wheeze. The magic seemed to infect, as more people began to collapse. Avian felt the pain slowly subside, until the woman he had seen earlier burst into the town square. She let a flare of violet energy erupt across the battlefield and seemed to seize control of the most powerful undead soldiers. With the strongest under this witch's control, the tide quickly turned. Avian ducked behind a building as the undead army began to turn on itself in the absence of its leadership. He called forth his limited understanding of his new magical power and pulled a veil of illusion over himself. He slunk off toward the tree line. His disguise appeared to work, as his walk was unobstructed. He turned back toward the village to find that a knight had rode up on a black horse. His memories told him that the knight was his master, and that he should return to the manor house to await his master's command. He raised one hand and focused in an attempt to call forth the magical power. A sphere of violet energy appeared in his hand. He gasped, and began to flip it around his hand as he made his way back toward the manor house. As he broke through the treeline, the voice whispered to him. "You must train yourself. Your magical ability is powerful." Avian stepped into the foyer where he was met with the knight from before. "Greetings, Wizard. I am Josu Vess, your new commanding officer." Avian nodded. He was unsure if he was to salute this man, so he began to raise his hand to his brow. "Enough of that." Josu dismissed. "You saw our goal. We are to spread our lord's message across Dominaria. You were created to further that cause." Josu turned and beckoned Avian to follow. "Your new magic runs on the energy of the swamps of Urborg, across the sea. You have the ability to call forth that power when you see fit." The lich knight opened a door at the far end of a long hallway where many small skeletons were sparring one another. "Your training begins now, Avian. You must defeat all of the opponents in this room without coming to harm. Anything less than perfection will cause the drill to restart. Master your magic." Josu shoved him through the open doorway. "And be quick, before my sister comes back to cause trouble.
Avian trained for what felt like months. He slowly learned how to manifest the magic and use it to cripple his opponents, but with no physical weapon he was having trouble landing finishing blows. After paralyzing a group of skeletons, he had the bright idea of grabbing one of their arms and pummeling the group to death with it. This left his back open for too long and he was struck with a skeletal spear. Avian gasped as he felt death wash over him. He awoke in the same room, surrounded by skeletons that he had previously defeated. He fought harder, and with more ferocity, but as he knocked the horde back with a magical pulse, one threw a javelin that pierced his left eye. He awoke at the beginning of the drill again and proceeded to try again. This time he was able to nimbly dodge the ranged attacks and keep the horde at bay, but as he mounted his offensive he found that his magical effects were weakening as he used them. Avian returned to the defensive and remembered what Josu had told him. "The swamps of Urborg." Avian had never been to this place, but when he thought of swamps he was able to picture them in his head. He felt a surge of energy flow through him and as he raised his hand he found he was able to fling skeletons out of the way and into each other. He smiled, as his magic now had a finishing move. He lifted several skeletons into the air and flung them into the ever-growing horde that kept appearing around him. Eventually they grew close, and he let forth a pulse to drive the horde back. He noticed this time that the enemies closest to him crumpled beneath the power of the attack. Avian cracked a smile and began to unleash more of this destructive energy. The skeletons began to crumple as they were struck with this new magical force, and Avian found that he could crumple entire groups of enemies with this new attack. Eventually, the voice echoed in his head again. "The forces that stand against us do not fight with many small creatures, as we do. Now you must fight a single, powerful, foe." The skeletons all crumpled, and the bones rumbled across the ground. They began to congeal and form a single skeleton. He was far from the shambling minions Avian had been fighting. This creature stood seven feet tall and held mighty weapons in all four of its arms. Avian took a step back and called for his magic. The creature lunged forward and swung at Avian, who nimbly dodged the strike and pushed the creature back. Avian noticed that his forceful touch left a mark of rot along the creature's body, so as it ran toward him, he hurled a sphere of his magical energy at it. The hit struck the creature's exposed sternum and caused a crack to form. The creature stumbled back then dropped two of the blades from its hands and pulled forth a bow. Avian frowned. This creature was able to take hits from his attacks while barely seeming to react. The arrow came at Avian at blinding speed, but Avian raised his arms and held out a sphere of energy. As the arrow entered it, it turned from sturdy wood and steel to decay and rot. It collapsed out of the sphere as mere dust. This gave Avian an idea, and he charged the creature. The creature swung at Avian who jumped out of the way of the blades. He called forth the same energy as before and laid it on the creature's head. The bone began to rot as the energy spread, and the skeleton began to collapse. Avian rotted away the head, then focused on destroying the arms. Eventually the creature was gone, and a pile of rotting bone meal remained. The manor house rattled and began to collapse around him. Avian used his magic to see through the illusion of the endless room to find the door and forced his way out. He ran down the hallway and found a window outside. He saw the witch from before, with a veil over her face. She struck Josu and appeared to destroy him. His lich armor crumpled to reveal a young man underneath. The woman laid him to the ground and began to pray over him. Avian had seen enough. HE readied magic to attack the woman, but the voice had other plans. "Leave, lest the Planeswalker destroy you as well." Avian quickly fled out the back of the crumbling manor house and into the woods. "Come home, Avian. Urborg will be your place." The voice planted a picture in his mind. A structure, in the shape of some sort of giant maw. The place was aglow with some kind of energy. Avian found himself compelled to find this place and join the people inside. "Come to us at the stronghold, and I will teach you to perfect your magic." Avian made his way through the woods and back to the now ruined town. People were walking around the destroyed place trying to find usable supplies amongst the ruins. As he walked through the town he found the man from before. The one who was mounting the defense against the undead. He smiled to the man and continued walking. "Hold there." He called as he made his way to Avian. "You're leaving town?" Avian nodded. HE sensed telling this man about his trip to Urborg was a bad idea, but he couldn't leave him with nothing. "I'm making my way to the coast, I think." The man simply nodded. "Will you tell people that this town has been crippled? They need serious help." Avian nodded. "I can do that." He had no idea why he would do that. This was Josu's goal, and it seemed like the goal of the voice too. Avian decided to play into this man's plan, to find out more. "Who are you?" Avian asked. "I'm new around here." The man eyed him suspiciously for a moment, then the look faded. "My name is Gideon." Avian nodded. "Gideon. I'll remember that." Avian turned and kept walking. He wanted to help Gideon and rebuild this town, but he was sure the voice wouldn't like that very much.