Planar Chaos

Acornum

Part One

Dahnivan Trent hid in the bushes of this new world on which he found himself. Despite his attempts to rationalize what happened, he could not force himself to believe this was the Rubblebelt or the Gruul badlands of Ravnica. This was old growth forest the likes of which his home plane hadn't seen in millennia. Thick, twisting branches laden with broad leaves blocked out the sun. The undergrowth caught and snagged at his clothes, tearing more holes in his tattered cape. The forest seemed to know that he was a foreign entity and actively hindered his progress.

It had been feminine voices that made him hide in this bush, some extraplanar relative of the sharp hollies that were popular for geometric topiary on Ravnica. From his hiding spot, Dahni peeked between the prickling leaves and watched the women come into view.

Women was a generous term. These were young girls, no older than Dahni himself, in the throes of adolescence. There was something different about them, though. They walked with a measured grace and the forest seemed to part before them. Dahni had never seen dryads with green skin before, but their bark-like body coverings and thick leafy hair meant they couldn't be anything else.

"This area of the forest," one asked a taller member of their group. This central figure's bark armor was gray in color and her hair-leaves were a crown of autumn. She seemed to be their leader.

"Mother said she sensed a new presence here," the autumn-crowned dryad replied to her smaller, greener companion.

"Are we sure Daphne was correct? I don't see any new growth capable of producing a dryad yet,Yldan."

"She's almost entirely fused with her birth tree. I wouldn't question a queen on the cusp of becoming one with the forest," Daphne snapped.

Dahni noticed the spears they carried, fashioned from dead wood but hardened somehow until they shone. He examined these dryads closely, taking the necessary steps to alter his shape until he resembled the smallest and greenest of the dryads. The only defining feature of Dahni's that remained was the tattered cloak, wrapped around her shoulders like a security blanket.

She stirred and the dryads' heads snapped in her direction. She awkwardly stood, taking a few shaky steps on legs made of living wood. The smaller of the dryads rushed forward and caught Dahni before she fell over.

"Hello, new sister," the dryad said warmly. She noticed the cloak. "Where did you ever get this?"

"Found it," Dahni said in her new voice, a musical tone similar to the other dryads. "I like it."

"Bring her here," the tallest one, Yldan, said. She examined this new dryad closely. "Where did you come from? Where is your tree?"

Dahni's eyes widened. She needed a backstory. These dryads were prepared for conflict, wearing armor and carrying weapons fashioned from the forest around them. "I got chased," she stammered. "I lost my way."

Daphne's eyes flashed. "Damned elves! They think they can encroach on our forest again? You must come speak with my mother, and tell her everything."

"I don't remember much," Dahni said, bringing a hand to her leaf-covered scalp. "I hit my head pretty hard on a rock when I was running."

"Poor thing," one of the other dryads said, running a hand through Dahni's leaves sympathetically. "What's your name? I'm Saffron, this is Vynia, Anise, and this is Yldan Heartswood, heir apparent to Queen Daphne."

"My name is Dahni," Dahni said in what she hoped was a timid tone. This area seemed to operate under a dryad matriarchy. She needed to maintain her disguise as long as possible in order to gather enough information to understand the kind of world in which she found herself. This wasn't a problem for Dahni. She'd always enjoyed being female for different assignments. There were advantages to this form for espionage. Rarely was she ever searched as thoroughly as her coconspirators when the Boros Legion caught them in the act. Azorius law magic could see contraband through clothes, but the fumbling hands of a Wojek knight too chivalrous to even properly execute a pat down were an advantage to novice Dimir agents.

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A lone unicorn swam through the mangroves and climbed up onto the rainbow-pebbled beach. He shook the seawater from his pale gray coat tinted blue and green by the sun's reflections off the water and partially submerged trees. His kind, curious eyes found Odom standing on the beach in bewilderment.

"Hail, friend," Shalkan said, trotting up to Odom. "I thought I would get to meet your lady friend this time."

"Hey, Shalkan," Odom said. "I don't know what happened. Ash and I left together, but she didn't make it I guess."

"Have you heard any whispering of my missing comrades in your walks between worlds?"

"I haven't, no. Ash was always more intent on the studying aspect of things than I am. I was hoping she'd be able to help me figure out where they could have gone."

"We can do what we can together until your friend arrives. I have faith in our abilities. This time we will find them."

"You're always so optimistic, Shal," Odom said, draping his tree-like arm over the unicorn's back. The unicorns of this plane were smaller than a standard horse, certainly not big enough for a full grown man like himself to ride. He thought Shalkan would even have a hard time carrying Ash, assuming the unicorn would allow such a thing. Shalkan had bound himself to an elven Druid in the past, so perhaps his relationships with mortals were better than the other unicorns'. They meandered onward like old friends, weaving in and out of the mangroves growing closest to the shore while discussing their latest theories on what could have happened to the other unicorns of Acornum and where they could have gone.

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Kyari Alexiona sighed heavily as her feet touched down in the tall grass outside one of the Elfstone Confederation's citadels. She greatly enjoyed the plane of Acornum and its unique ecosystems, but the elves of the Elfstone Confederation confused her. They abandoned the forests, forsaking the magic of nature for the order and control allowed by enchantment and artifice. Trees were replaced with stone as their homes and they spilled out onto the seasonal floodplains, keeping water out of their cities with high walls. Greenery was absent from these elegant but sturdy fortresses. The only animals that inhabited them were birds.

Each city boasted hundreds of unique varieties of winged creature, from the massive rocs that nested in specially built aeries to the pigeons pecking at leftovers in the streets to the elegant owls that served as familiars to the various enchanters and wizards. If a beastmaster such as herself existed among the elves, they would only partially master the skies.

That wasn't entirely true, Kyari mused as she made her way towards the city. There were places where the elves were more like herself. Her sun-browned skin and sun-bleached hair were an anomaly among these elves, more characteristic of the forest-dwelling rebels that defected from the Elfstone Confederation. These rebels sought a return to the old ways of the elves, the ways of nature, of druidic and shamanic traditions. They cried out at diverted rivers, felled trees, drained swamps, and cobbled-over plains that marked the expansion of the confederation's borders. Each new settlement could become an act of war.

There had been war, of course. Kyari had read about it in the history books housed in each citadel's great library. It was these libraries that employed her for her skills as a naturalist. Pages upon pages of field notes on the ecosystems and specific species of Acornum were housed in these libraries. It wasn't easy for the scholars of the confederation to find a soul willing to leave the protection of the citadels and travel on foot through the lands controlled by dryads, faeries, and dwarves. It wasn't easy to find someone comfortable facing down a raging boar, an angry dragon, or even the treacherous creatures that inhabited the Black Bog. Kyari couldn't help but feel a little pride in herself for such bravery, but at the same time she couldn't deny the disgust in her heart. The elves of Shandalar would never behave so shamefully. She only hoped that through her scholarly works these elves would come to learn something.

"Brock would say I sound just like Tamiyo," she sighed, hanging her head. Kyari wasn't out to create a cultural revolution by herself, though. That wasn't her goal. That was the preservation and dissemination of knowledge about the natural world.

The gates to the citadel swung wide open for her as she waved to the guards. Kyari was well known to each city she visited after her long absences. She attributed these absences to expeditions and field research, but suspected there were members among the Elfstone Confederation's Enchanters, the ruling oligarch, who knew more of the Multiverse than they let on.

As she neared the library she heard a commotion coming from higher up in the citadel. Two voices, unmistakably belonging to Aelwe Patris, head of the Enchanters, and his daughter, Lanara, were obviously having a go at each other.

Lanara was a hotheaded young woman that greatly admired Kyari's work. Kyari longed to take on the girl as an apprentice naturalist but her father wouldn't hear of it. The upper classes had significantly less freedom of choice than the lower when it came to occupation. As a daughter of a noble house that was a member of the Enchanters, specifically being the younger sister of an older brother, Lanara's duty lay in securing political alliances.

The yelling stopped. Kyari began to count down from thirty in her mind. Lanara burst into the library in a whirlwind of tears and white-blonde curls, almost crashing into Kyari when the planeswalker had reached the number eight.

"Lanara, we're in the library," Kyari cautioned.

The sobs faded to sniffles as Kyari led the girl to an unoccupied private study room. The two elves sat down in comfortable wingback leather chairs while Lanara composed herself.

"What happened this time?" Kyari asked, leaning forward slightly. She absentmindedly reached into a nearby leyline and diverted a small amount of its flow around the emotional girl in front of her.

"My father, what else?" Lanara huffed. "You'd think in a world filled with magic and unicorns and such he wouldn't be so skeptical."

"Skeptical of what?" Kyari's interest was piqued. She could tell in the mana flow around Lanara that something had changed.

"I… I had a dream. I'm positive it was from Atalanta."

"The Hidden Treasure herself, huh?" Kyari prompted. "She only communicates through dreams, right? Being stuck on that island off the coast of dwarven territory?"

"Yeah," Lanara said. "That's right. I know this dream was from her. I know I need to do something about it, but father doesn't believe me. He thinks this is just another ploy to get out of the citadel and go shirk my responsibilities. I'm the only daughter of a noble house. Isn't this sort of thing supposed to happen to me?"

Kyari mulled over this information in her head. True, magic and the multiverse did have a tendency to pick oddly specific types of people for its various missions. She thought back to a conversation she'd had with Odom and Marthel about the multiverse being controlled by a soul that behaved like an author, choosing the characters that would create the most drama and entertainment for itself. Kyari didn't believe the multiverse was that cruel, however.

"I think that you need to do what you think is best," Kyari said. "Whatever that looks like is up to you. I'll give you my support if you need it, but I'm also not your parent and you aren't of age yet."

"I'm almost there," Lanara whined. "I've only got a few more years. Isn't that close enough for an elf? We live so long."

"Your father is also probably concerned about your safety. Rightfully so. Take it from someone who travels a lot, it can be very dangerous out there. You, especially, need to be careful because of who you are. I don't want to see you kidnapped by rebels and used as a bargaining chip." Kyari reached over and took Lanara's hand. "I view you like the younger sister I always wanted but never had."

"You've met rebels, haven't you Kyari?" Lanara asked eagerly. "What are they like? Where do they live? How does their magic work?"

"I can say they aren't fond of strangers, have no permanent settlements, and their magic works kind of like mine. Instead of working against natural forces, they work in concert with them."

"That must be beautiful to see… and to do." Lanara gazed wistfully into the middle distance.

Kyari had the sudden realization that Marthel and Odom might be right about the nature of the multiverse. They may at least be right about the soul of this plane. It seemed to enjoy a good story, regardless of the clichés involved.