ACROSS THE WORLDS
By Ulquiorra9000
Chapter 7: Meeting Allies
Morrel staggered to his feet to properly greet Azrael. "P-pleased to meet you. I don't suppose you know a good healer?" He swayed on the spot, his mind feeling fuzzy.
"Perhaps." Azrael accepted the oversized opal shard from Maretta and tucked it under his left arm. He bowed his head to Morrel. "Good day, young sir." He bowed his head again to Mizuki. "Young lady."
Mizuki swallowed. "What d'you want?" Her chest heaved.
Azrael ran a hand delicately through a lock of his red hair. "Many things. For the moment, I want to extend an offer for you both. It seems that you're both quite capable, to have helped Maretta in a place like this." He glanced at his ally.
"Yeah." Maretta nodded enthusiastically. "That akuma was a tough one, Azrael, especially since it swallowed the shard for extra power. But these two sure came through. The boy's Morrel. The girl's Mizuki, a native. I heard Morrel call her by name."
"I see." Azrael cleared his throat. "Morrel, Mizuki... well done, slaying that akuma. But I have more work to do, and if you both were to help me, I could offer much in return."
Morrel hesitated; Azrael seemed like a sensible fellow, but... he felt a faint chill as he took in the man's blue-black mana aura that gently permeated the room. There was something about it... "Who do you represent?"
"Myself. I have a mission to complete," Azrael said. "I was born on Dominaria, on an island nation called Ezig Natum." His face fell. "That island is no more. But if I collect the four broken pieces of my creation, the Sphaera Vitae, I can ensure that nothing like what happened to my home has to happen anywhere else."
His home? Ruined? Morrel thought back on Bant, where Grixis siege beasts and zombie hordes butchered the townsolk and harvested their flesh, and where Jund raiding parties burned everything in sight and poisoned the ground... He clenched his fists. "What exactly happened?"
Azrael's tone took on a hard edge. "It was invaded. By whom, I still don't know. But you see, Morrel... everyone I know is dead. I was a genius artificer there, renowned... I feel it's my duty to do something, anything. My artifact was broken into four pieces when it backfired the first time. But I've learned since then. If I get back the pieces, I can make all this right!"
Maretta nodded. "He'll help protect the innocent and weak across the Multiverse with the artifact's power." She smiled. "And we'll all be rewarded, of course. Azrael's a generous fellow. Right?" She gave him a fond look.
"I have seen enough suffering," Azrael said somberly. He held out the Sphaera shard for Morrel and Mizuki to see. "Will you join me, young sir and lady?"
"Well..." Morrel knelt by Mizuki. "Hey, what d'you make of all this? You've seen more of the Multiverse than me."
"My arm..." Mizuki glared at her left arm with disgust. She looked over at Azrael. "Hey, you. Can you destroy this curse? 'Cause if not, I'm outta here."
"Let me see." Azrael walked over, got to one knee, and held Mizuki's left arm carefully in his hands. "I see. An akuma curse. This is why you stormed this castle?"
Mizuki nodded mutely.
"My Sphaera Vitae could dispel that curse," Azrael said confidently. "That, or simply the act of righteously helping me prevent acts of evil can counteract the curse's dark nature. I've seen it happen before." He stood. "Give me your pledge of loyalty, Morrel and Mizuki, and I can help you as much as you could help me."
Morrel hesitated again. Up close, Azrael was a charming and alluring fellow... but that aura! It felt cold, and the vague something felt stronger. Undercurrents of... obsession? Grief?
Madness?
No, Azrael is the victim. His people... But Morrel couldn't shake that feeling. What else was Azrael planning?
Mizuki glanced at Morrel. "You wanna do it? Look, I'm grateful you helped me kill Haijin-no-Imari. Really, for my family, I'm glad. But I still have the curse, right? Azrael said that helping him can break the curse. An act of righteousness, he said. Bantians like you would like that, right?"
Morrel helped Mizuki onto her feet. "It's a tempting offer, Azrael. But I'd need to know if -"
A flare of flaming red mana cut him off.
Another being stepped into the entertainment hall through a planeswalking gate. It was an elf woman Maretta's age, with her brown hair in two long, braided ponytails. She wore a wilderness survival outfit and a determined scowl.
"You!" Azrael whirled to face the newcomer. "You have some nerve, coming here -"
As an answer, the elf woman extended her left hand and, with a blast of flame, summoned a petite phoenix. The bird spread its fiery wings and filled the room with light and its beautiful cry.
Azrael and Maretta covered their faces with their arms and backed away from the fiery display, buying the elf some time. Quickly, the elf took Mizuki's cursed arm in her hand. "Come with me, quick! Azrael... that man is not what he seems to be. Please... just trust me. I will bring you to a healer and explain myself."
Morrel gaped. What the...? "Hey, elf lady... are we going to Naya? 'Cause it's not safe there..."
"Zendikar," the elf said. "My name's Zoira. I'm here to really help you. Hurry!"
"But Azrael's Sphaera..." Mizuki said.
"Just hear me out!" Zoira insisted.
"Fine!" Mizuki wrenched her arm free and gripped Morrel's upper arm. "Just lead the way."
Morrel winced as he felt the familiar, crushing pressure around him, like he was being squeezed through a dark tube. His consciousness was crushed into a tiny mote of light -
As soon as Morrel's feet touched solid ground, he collapsed, his ribs flaring with pain. His stomach churned and he felt himself break into a cold sweat. "Ohhhhhh..."
Mizuki appeared next to him and fell flat on her face, panting. She was careful not to jostle her broken right arm.
"Mizuki... are you okay?" Morrel groaned, tentatively reaching out to touch her. She was cool to the touch, her body shivering. Oh no...
Through another flaming gate stepped Zoira, her expression placating. "Sorry about the short notice," she said as the gate vanished behind her. "I'll get you to a healer's house right away." She raised her voice. "Got two injured here!"
Two more elves, men this time, hurried over and slumped Morrel and Mizuki over their shoulders.
And on the way to the promised healer, slumped over the elf's shoulder, Morrel fully took in where he was.
He was in a wild elf colony, nestled on the branches of an unfathomably vast tree in an exotic forest. Massive glowing fruits hung from nearby trees as insects and bizarre elementals crawled along their leafy, vine-draped branches as colorful birds swooped by overhead. The sunlight barely poked through the forest canopy in shafts of greenlish light.
The settlement itself was made up of animal-skin tents, thatched-roof huts, and apartments carved right into the tree's wall-like trunk. Elves, humans, and other beings Morrel had never seen before crowded the place, bartering for equipment and weapons, saddling animals, gathering parties for expeditions...
So this is Zendikar, huh? was Morrel's last thought before he blacked out again.
*o*o*o*o*
Crickets chirped and frogs croaked outside when Morrel jolted awake. He lay on a wide cot in a room lit by an oil lantern hanging on the ceiling. Based on the smooth, carved walls, this room was built into the tree's trunk. He thought he heard creatures crawling around inside the wooden walls.
Shelves of animal bits, jars of liquid, and medical tools were everywhere on the walls, plus a few more empty cots. The room smelled of different chemicals and herbs.
Morrel groaned as he sat upright, pushing aside his thin blanket. Someone had removed his shirt to apply enchanted white bandages to his chest, and his heart felt sluggish, his blood thick. Maybe from medicinal herbs or potions? "Mizuki?" he croaked.
Mizuki stirred on her own cot. Her arm was in a sling that hummed with green mana. "H-hey. Did we make it?"
"Whoa." Morrel forced a laugh. "You must be more out of it than I am. We got here okay. Zoira..."
"Zoira!" Mizuki leaped out of her cot and onto her feet, baring her teeth. "She better have a good explanation for - ohhhh..." She staggered.
"Get back in bed!" barked a new voice.
From a back office marched a pale man with white hair and dark tribal markings on his face and arms. He was roughly middle-aged and wore survival gear like Zoira, who accompanied him. "You both need to keep resting. Unless you want to open something back up?"
Mizuki scowled and crawled back into her cot. "You the healer?"
"Yes," the man said shortly, dusting his hands. "You teenagers sure took a beating out there. How did -"
"It's okay. I can take it from here," Zoira assured the man, ushering him from the room. "Thank you again."
Zoira turned back and put her hands on her curvy hips. "Do me a favor and follow the doctor's orders, okay? I'd hate to see you both break something else."
"Where are we?" Morrel croaked. His chest's pain was now a dull throbbing.
"A Tajuru elf camp on the Murasa continent of Zendikar," Zoira said, stepping closer. "My native tribe. But other races are welcome here, like that kor man just now. His name's Grada."
"A kor?" Morrel repeated.
"A race of natural survivalists," Zoira said. "But don't worry too much about that." She drew up a stool and sat between Morrel and Mizuki's cots. "I'm sorry for bringing you both on short notice like that. But I couldn't let Azrael get control of you back there on Kamigawa."
Mizuki snarled. "He was going to help me, you know." She held up her left arm, which had reverted to normal for now. "Can your kor friend cure my curse, by any chance?" Sarcasm weighed down her voice.
Zoira bit her lower lip. "No, and neither can I, because -"
"Then why did you barge right in?" Mizuki snapped. "Azrael's friend Maretta helped us kill Haijin-no-Imari! What did you do?"
"Please, stop!" Zoira slapped a hand on her thigh. "You don't know what you're talking about, Mizuki! I've been busy. I barely had time to follow Azrael's planeswalking path to Kamigawa. It's difficult to track him, but because of his haste to Kamigawa, it was easier. It allowed me to get you two out of there in time."
"In time for what?" Morrel asked. A thought dawned on him. "Are you... an enemy of Azrael's?"
Zoira nodded. "For good reason. Trust me. Did Azrael tell you about his Sphaera Vitae, and what happened to his home city on Dominaria?"
"Yeah," Morrel said cautiously, "that he'd use his artifact to prevent any more acts of evil like that one that destroyed his home. Zoira, I've seen the maelstrom war on Bant! I know what sort of horrors that Azrael is trying to prevent."
But Morrel remembered that odd feeling he had had around Azrael. Was Morrel the fool here?
"He's playing you." Zoira drew something from her tool belt, a silver capsule. "But I know better. See this? It's a memory capsule, often used by Dominaria's advanced artificers and researchers. This one belongs to Azrael's sister."
A stunned silence fell in the room.
Mizuki's eyes widened. "What, does she want to stop Azrael, too?"
"For the sake of her brother... yeah." Zoira popped the capsule open, and a sheet of pearly white mana flooded the room -
Morrel found himself standing on a tower's balcony in a sprawling city of stone and metal alike. Mizuki and Zoira stood with him, along with a fourth person.
"This is Ezig Natum," the newcomer said. She had smooth red hair and wore a dark green gown and a gold necklace. Something was familiar about her, from the shape of her face to her eyes...
"Are you Azrael's...?" Morrel asked.
The young woman nodded. "My name's Kaida," she said. "This was where my brother and I were born, and learned all about artifice and life energies." She swept an arm to encompass the sunlit city. "A place of learning that rivaled Tolaria Academy! Until they came."
The air grew dark as a horde of twisted monsters appeared from a portal in fast forward, swarming the city, slaughtering the people where they stood, smashing and burning everything in sight. The monsters left, leaving only ruins.
"Azrael and I didn't know where they came from," Kaida said sadly, "and we were lucky to survive in our safe house near the city's edge. The few other survivors simply left for the mainland, but the invaders had gotten there, too. Azrael and I took it upon ourselves to find a way to undo all this. We used all our research and what artifacts we had left to build the Sphaera Vitae, the sphere of life."
Morrels recalled Azrael's words. "It didn't work?"
"No. It overloaded, and split into four pieces that disappeared," Kaida said. As she spoke, a flare of light came to life on a cliff face further ahead. "The explosion vaporized my body, leaving only my mind in my memory capsule. I thought no one would learn of this until that kind elf lady, Zoira, found the ruins of my home and resolved to stop my brother."
"But he's trying to help," Morrel pointed out. "Why would you stop him?"
"Madness and grief have claimed him," Kaida said bitterly. "Our Sphaera won't work. I'm sure of it. But Zoira told me that he's trying to rebuild it and make it even more powerful! The first time it went off, it shuddered the AEther and nearly destabilized Dominaria. If it were to go off again, whole planes could be warped and torn apart when AEther leaks into them. Billions would die, whole ways of life gone."
Morrel stared, his mind numb with shock. "Neither you nor Zoira could warn him?"
"Like I told you, kind sir, my brother's mind is lost," Kaida said. "Obsession, madness, grief... he is no longer the brother I knew growing up. He was the pride of our university, but now his gifts will destroy so much! It pains me to ask you this... but will you put an end to my brother? Take his shards and hide them, and..." She looked down. "Give my brother rest. You, and your friend here. It would be a tremendous service to the whole Multiverse."
Mizuki looked out at the desolation and back to Kaida. "You... really want us to kill him?"
Kaida nodded. "Please give him rest. We should have died with the others that day anyway, now that I've had time to think on it. We can finally join our family in the after."
Morrel set his jaw. My quest... "All right, I'll help you. Azrael promised me power and glory, but that was the madness talking, wasn't it? I sensed something about him..."
"Azrael's tainted gifts aren't something you'd want," Kaida said firmly. "He has already seduced two other planeswalkers with his mind magic, by what Zoira has told me. She's told me all about planes and the walkers... based on my research, and this new data... it's all clear to me. You have to stop him and prevent harm to the other planes!"
Mizuki waved her left arm. "Doing all this... it'll dispel my curse for sure, won't it? Fighting for other people's sake?"
"It's got to," Zoira said. "Curses are based on malice and selfish ambition, but this is the natural opposite."
Mizuki grinned. "Fine, then I'll help. I'll make sure to bring Morrel with me."
"I'll do everything I can," Morrel promised.
Kaida smiled. "Thank you, all of you."
The memory vanished, and Morrel found himself back in the healer house with Mizuki and Zoira.
"Whoa," Mizuki said, her face pale. "Never seen anything like that before!"
Zoira toyed with the capsule in her hands. "I knew at once that I had to help. I've seen your planeswalking tracks, Mizuki, and noticed that there were traces of a passenger." She looked over at Morrel.
"I'm not a planeswalker," Morrel admitted. "But Mizuki's warped Spark can bring me as a passenger."
"As long as the curse persists," Zoira figured. "Once it's cured, Mizuki's Spark should stabilize. Let's make sure she can get you back home before then."
Morrel felt a chill. "That would be appreciated."
"So... we're all allies, huh?" Mizuki said. "A team?"
"We are," Zoira said with a smile. She stood and headed for the door. "Stay the night until you're better. You're in good hands; you'll be patched up by mid-afternoon."
"And then?" Morrel asked tentatively.
Zoira's smile broadened. "I have my own leads to investigate for the other three Sphaera shards, but... I've got another planeswalker friend on my side, investigating Lorwyn. I think he'll like having some extra help..."
With that, she left.