Planar Chaos

Chapter Five: Interruptions are in Order

For some reason Marthel knew he would find Kyari on Equilor. This was the Multiverse's most ancient plane, and one Marthel himself had longed to visit. It might possibly be home to planeswalkers older than Urza and Nicol Bolas who would tell him more about those that came before. It might possibly be the origin point of the entire multiverse and was famed as a nexus of knowledge and powerful magic.

Yes, if there was anywhere the Sylvan Ranger would go, it would be here. She longed for understanding and this was the best place to find it. Life might have originated here, and life was Kyari Alexiona's area of study.

He found the elf walker seated on the ground outside of Bloodhill Bastion in deep conversation with a Sphinx-like creature. The walls of the city looked to be made of flesh and pulsed with a type of life. Kyari extended her hand with the permission of the Sphinx to touch the wall. She jerked it back in apparent alarm.

"Kyari!" Marthel called, waving his arms to catch her attention.

The Sphinx and Kyari looked up. Her face fell, and the Sphinx's expression became a scowl. As Marthel moved closer he overheard their conversation take a very different turn.

"You promised you were the only one, that there wouldn't be others."

"I didn't know he'd follow me here, honest." Kyari looked at the Sphinx with pleading eyes. "I don't even know how he found me. We haven't seen each other in what must be years."

"Three years, four months, twenty-two days, and about six hours if my count is right," Marthel chimed in.

"It doesn't matter, Marthel. You need to go. I'm busy."

"It is you, Kyari Alexiona, daughter of Shandalar, who must leave," the Sphinx said. It stared deep into Kyari's eyes. It might have been staring down into her soul and looking at her spark. She hoped the powerful being liked what it saw.

Kyari couldn't keep her eyes open anymore. She blinked. The Sphinx smiled at her coyly. "You may return. Alone." Kyari bent her head in assent. She rose and walked over to where Marthel casually stood.

"You always have to meddle in everyone's affairs, don't you." She grabbed his hand and planeswalked, dragging him along with her. They landed in a field outside of Akros on the plane of Theros. "Don't you realize how hard it is to get into Equilor? I had to try on six different occasions before they decided I was worthy enough to enter. And even then they were very specific about the terms. I had to leave my hydra here." She let out a low whistle and a Kalonian hydra's heads rose above the field's tall grass. It bounded over to her, its many heads nuzzling and butting her playfully. "Do you know how dangerous it is for a hydra on Theros?"

"So why did you go to Theros? Why not leave it on Shandalar?"

"Shandalar is a rogue plane. It wanders through the multiverse. I might not have been able to make it back in a timely manner." Kyari absentmindedly scratched the hydra under two of its chins.

"I see your point," Marthel said.

"You could apologize, you know."

"For what?"

"For getting me kicked off of the plane where life began? The plane where my studies could have progressed beyond anything either of us could imagine?"

"At least you found it before the Grave Birther did."

"The who?"

"A walker I know who uses blue, green, and black magic."

"One of the corrupted." Kyari scowled. "He's taken our gift for life and twisted it into something terrible no doubt."

Marthel shrugged. "I wouldn't put him on the levels of Rinok as far as corruption goes, but I suppose you could see him that way."

"Rinok is even worse. He has taken white magic and warped it into some bizarre quest for eternal strife. It gives us the gift of protecting the weak and evening the odds against evil, yet all he can think of is his next conflict, the next opportunity for slaughter." Her stomach rolled just thinking about battlefields left in Rinok's wake. Somehow he whipped the inhabitants of a plane into a frenzy until they were begging to go to war and kill each other. They could have had a perfect peace only yesterday. Kyari sighed. She wished more planes could be like Equilor.

"Well, I'm sorry you two don't get along, but I'll have to ask you to be civil when you're at my party."

"What?"

"I'm throwing a party on Ravnica. You're invited."

Kyari pressed on the bridge of her nose with a thumb and forefinger. "That is what you were trying to find me for?"

"Yes."

Kyari began to laugh hysterically. "I'm sorry, but it's just so funny. You tell the best jokes, Marthel, you really do. Now why did you really come find me?"

"That was it, actually."

Now she was angry. "You interrupted my study with the beings of Equilor just so you could invite me to a party?" The heads of her hydra turned to look at Marthel, saliva dripping from their mouths. Marthel turned and began to run. The Kalonia hydra bolted after him, catching up to him quickly. Then it was airborne with the aid of an enchantment Marthel himself had taught Kyari. Large spectral angel wings had sprouted from the hydra's back, carrying it over Marthel and letting it land in front of him. Suddenly Kyari was behind his back.

"So I take this as a no in my RSVP list?"

"Oh no. I'll come. I just hope it's worth it."

Marthel had grown up in Bant. All three colors of magic were present in Kyari and they all angered in very different ways. Green mages tended to empower themselves for a counterstrike. Blue mages plotted and planned. White mages smote their enemies in cascades of divine fire. She could do any of the three at any time and Marthel would only have a split second's notice.

He planeswalked in a panic, leaving Kyari alone in the field with her hydra.