Liliana woke to a bright morning sun shining through the window of her temporary living space. Jace was fast asleep. Liliana leaned over and pressed her lips against his forehead, gently waking him.
"Good morning, my love." He said softly.
"Morning dear." Liliana smiled.
Jace stretched out his arms and wrapped them around her waist, "How are we today?"
"I never knew my choker could get so tight. I still have marks."
"Oh, it can get tighter, love."
"You can show me tonight, baby, but don't we have something to do today."
"Oh, gods. Trial three starts today. We should get down to the lobby?"
Liliana sat up and pouted, covering herself with the sheets, "Do we have to go? You know we can be fashionably late."
"I need to know everything I can. Now put on some clothes." Jace got out of bed and started putting on his shirt.
"Are you sure I can't tempt you? Even just a little?" Liliana let the sheet drop and pressed herself up against Jace. Her finger traced along the lines of Jace's shirt.
Jace sighed, "Lili, as much as I would just love to throw you onto the bed and take you for myself, I cannot."
"Congratulations, champions! You have made it to the third trial! This time, you won't be fighting each other, but fighting your environment. In fact, we encourage you to team up with other champions for this one. Don't worry, you'll have plenty of time to destroy them in the last two. You and your group members will be placed in a random area of the Nimbus Maze up in the sky! You have five days to solve it. Remember, the Nimbus Maze is a sentient being, so watch out for anything it might summon to kill you off. If you fail to survive and solve the maze, you will no longer be in the running!"
As the disembodied voice explained their next trial, Jace sank further into his armchair in the lobby of the Hall. He felt as though all the other champions would be gunning for him, given their occasional looks of malicious intent. Only thirteen remained, not including him. Four of them were his friends.
"You may bring any weapons or materials you think you might need, but keep it to one bag per person. Be sure to come back here at ten o'clock this evening to travel to the maze. Dismissed."
The champions dispersed and began forming groups. The Gatewatch met in Jace and Liliana's room.
"So, how do we do this?" Chandra asked, "Jace, you're pretty good at these things, right?"
"Yeah, but that won't matter if we're killed first."
"I think it's best if we try to conserve resources as a main focus," Gideon began, "We don't know what they're going to give us for food or water."
"We also have to worry about mana. The Maze could send anything it wants at us for every hour of the day. I suggest we use verbal commands whenever we have to use magic. Other than that, we can manage with whatever we take." Jace assisted in strategizing.
"If the Nimbus Maze is in the sky, I won't be able to use my magic at all," Nissa said, "There's no land."
"Hmm. Do you think you can put a plant in your bag instead of supplies?" Jace asked, "If it's on your back, you can use its vines like appendages."
"I can try." The elf replied.
"Alright. Let's pack up our supplies and meet back here in an hour to see what we can cut." Jace said.
Gideon, Chandra and Nissa left the room.
Jace opened their wardrobe and dragged out a heap wrapped in cloth. He untied the knot at the top to reveal his battlemage armor, "I can finally use this."
"What does it do?" Liliana asked.
"It's got over sixty enchantments on it. Stuff like counterbalance, Leyline of Anticipation and Rhystic Study. If a spell hits it, it gets countered and I make a copy to send back."
"Useful heap of scrap you've got."
"Right? Hang on, what'd you say?"
"Oh, nothing."
"So what are you taking?" Jace asked.
"Just some books. The Necronomicon, Book of the Dead, a couple Grimoires and a lot of chalk."
"Do you intend to do some kind of ritual?"
"Of course. Razaketh can take the Chain Veil, but he can't take both it and a dozen weakening spells."
"Interesting. Well, be on your guard." Jace tightened the leather straps on his metal gauntlet. It was wide enough to be a buckler, but it didn't go very far past the hand like Gideon's.
"I'd pack a spell book or two." Liliana suggested, "Just to be safe. You brought some with you right?"
"Fine. I guess I'll take...a Kamigawan scroll of the arcane. And maybe Zendikari Tidecaller tome." Jace stuffed the books in a leather rusack. He then packed a stack of papers bound with twine. They had miniature magic circles on them. He planned to use them if he ever ran out of mana.
Liliana packed a Dominarian healer's kit along with a change of clothes and...wine?
"What's that for?" Jace asked.
"Just a little something I swiped off the bar. I need this for long days."
Jace scoffed, "A little unnecessary, don't you think?"
"Absolutely necessary."
"If that's the case, I'm taking a chess board."
By the evening all five members of the Gatewatch had readied for the coming journey and were relaxing in the Hall as the other champions arrived. Liliana had pulled her hair up into a ponytail with a small golden trinket and had changed into a less frilly and flowy skirt. Jace's arms, legs and chest were clad in steel. He still wore his cloak.
Chandra was in full chain mail and leather and Gideon had put on a bulkier set of plate armor. Well, if it was possible for him to get any bulkier without growing two feet.
Nissa was struggling to keep the plant in her bag from bursting out, whispering to it.
The rest of the champions filed in and the disembodied announcer returned.
"Welcome back, champions! Prepare for teleportation, please."
Each of the champions began crying out in surprise as their bodies turned blue and dissipated into the air.
Jace shuttered as his body returned to its original form, "Ugh. I never want to do that again."
"Woah!" Chandra gaped in childlike awe, staring up the walls of the maze. The entire thing was made of white clouds. Above the five Planeswalkers, was a clear blue sky on the edges, but only space beyond the atmosphere the rest of the way up.
"No time for staring. This place is alive." Jace said, "It has a mind. And it's noticed us."
"What does that mean?" Gideon asked.
"It means we're gonna have trouble." Jace pointed to the back of the group. Behind them, a handful of clouds swirling about and taking form. He whipped his arm around, firing three blue bolts of magic that shot through the forming creature, dispersing the creature back into the aether.
More and more creatures of all variety, from beasts to horrors started to form.
Jace made two different signs with his hands and bent them inwards, "Memory Lapse!" A forming creature was blown away.
"Snuff out!" a bolt of purple magic raced passed his head and made contact with an incoming wurm. The beast disintegrated on the spot.
"Fog." Nissa raised her hand to the sky as a thick cloud spread across the landscape.
"Visions of beyond." the planeswalkers regained their sight.
"Exquisite Firecraft!" a dozen small red projectiles rocketed about, incinerating enemy creatures.
"Reprisal!" Gideon's sural glowed gold as he whipped it around and struck through an undead drake. It shattered into a million gold pieces, "Raise the Alarms!" two soldiers appeared in front of Gideon and defended him.
"Elite Arcanist! Illusory angel. Telekinesis!" Jace summoned two creatures and unleashed a blast of telekinetic force, disabling three other creatures.
"Damn, this thing's relentless!" Liliana shouted as she outstretched her arm, "Mutilate!"
Black tendrils reached from the ground and grabbed all of the maze's creatures, poisoning them with black magic until they all shriveled and died.
At last, the maze stopped summoning creatures. Weapons and hands blazing with mana died down. Eyes stopped glowing.
Jace closed his eyes, "The maze moved on. It's attacking another group. It seems it can only focus on a one or two parts of the maze at once. We should use this time to travel throughout the maze," Jace kicked a fallen beast, "We should skin these and pack up the meat. I'm assuming these will be our source of food." Jace opened his bag and tossed Amonkheti hunting knives to Gideon and Nissa. He then pulled out five small sheets of papyrus and some runic paint. He inscribed symbols on each sheet and handed them out, "Take these. Dissipation Field." the sheets of papyrus ignited in blue flames and burned up.
"What was that?" Chandra asked.
"If anything attacks us, they'll disappear."
"Oh, cool."
"Hey Lili, do you think we could use these guys to defend us?"
"Why, of course." Liliana's hand tensed up and black lightning sparked on her wrist and palm. The corpses of other creatures jerked into an upright position, eyes glowing purple.
"This trial is looking promising." Jace said, triumphantly, "The other champions stand no chance."
"Tezzeret," Bolas's claw tightened its grip, "Whip the Nimbus Maze into shape. These five are too close."
"As you wish, Master."
"The rest of you," the dragon looked over at his other servants with glowing green eyes, "Find them and kill them after their weakened."
"Yes, master." The other chanted in unison.