Planar Chaos
One Shots: Return to Alara
Marthel touched down in the kingdom of Valeron to find it much changed. The once grand cities were scorched and stained with ash. What had happened to Bant, and where were the angels? Marthel ducked behind a wall as a band of brigands raced through the city street. He'd laid the cobblestones for this street when he was a boy.
A roar split the sky. A huge dragon soared overhead, scorching the trees outside the city's walls. A lone angel flew up to face the beast. Marthel held his breath as the dragon let out another roar and snapped its jaws around the angel. Her wings hung out of its mouth on either side and they fell away, plummeting to the earth below. He thought he was going to be sick. The dragon, which shouldn't be here, had just eaten an angel whole. It destroyed something that was sacred. Marthel closed his eyes, but the sight replayed in his mind's eye.
His eyes snapped open and his nostrils flared as a flurry of feathers gently floated down around him. The dragon would die in the most painful way Marthel could imagine. He fixed on it and hurled a spell filled with rage and hatred, suffering the only thing on his mind. The dragon began to falter in the air, tumbling from the sky as its heart exploded in its chest and its skin burst into flame.
A cool touch brought him out of tunnel vision. A soft, white hand rested on his outstretched, shaking arm and brought it back down to his side. A familiar voice whispered in his ear, "Stay your anger, Jace Marthel. The deed is done."
Nadia embraced her chosen hero, stroking his hair as a mother would for a distressed child. "It's been a long time. Many things on Bant have changed."
"But what caused this?" Marthel demanded, breaking away from the angel. "Was is Jhessian pirates? Did the inner kingdoms destroy Valeron? Or is this the work of that fell storm?"
"The storm that you disappeared in swept over Bant, bringing with it creatures from other worlds. Our world expanded, but also shrank. Bant as you knew it is lost forever, Jace Marthel. I have gained and lost many sisters since your sudden departure."
"I should have been here," Marthel said bitterly. "I just didn't know how to come back."
"You have returned now and that is what matters." Nadia looked up to the sky. "Bant will live on in you."
It was then that Marthel had an idea. "Nadia, you could come with me. I could bring you with me to the other worlds I've visited. Then Bant could live on in both of us."
"My place is here with my sisters protecting the mortals from these new threats. Undead monstrosities roam this land. How can I abandon the people to such a fate?"
"We could do so much more together, out in a larger world. Nadia," Marthel brought her face close to his, willing her to see his memories since he'd left Bant, "please come with me. There are worlds out there that need you more than Bant does. Worlds that can be saved."
"I understand." Nadia closed her eyes. She did not see what Marthel meant about worlds needing to be saved, but rather saw that he needed a companion. A constant friend to pull him back to the light when darkness threatened to consume his soul. "Very well. I will accompany you."
"First, though, I want to see what's happened to Bant. I want to see what you meant by it's expanded."
Nadia led him out into the streets of the city, exiting it through the main gate and walking in a vague southeastern direction. "The events that created the storm we saw before your disappearance became known as the Conflux. Five worlds collided in a storm of magic called the Maelstrom. Beings from those five worlds began to intermingle and strange magics flowed between their borders. Bant was overrun. We held out as long as we could, but in the end we failed. All five kingdoms have succumbed to the same fate you see before you."
Marthel bit back tears. "I want to see."
"I can show you."
They kept walking towards the direction from which the storms had come. Few creatures bothered them. On the horizon Marthel saw something that seemed to glow from within. The light wavered as the creature creating it lumbered forward. Marthel stopped and waited for the creature to come to him.
As it drew closer, he could see someone sitting on its back. The person appeared vaguely human and seemed to direct the giant elemental. It had to be at least fifteen feet tall at its shoulder and strode with a low, long, and incredibly smooth gait. Its legs and feet appeared to be living wood wrapped in vines and coming to points where they touched the scorched earth. A molten center gave off the strange, wavering yellow light and now Marthel could see a glowing cloud of blue enveloping the creature's head. It was in this cloud that the person sat. From what Marthel could tell at least one of his arms matched the limbs of his elemental mount.
"You know it's not safe out in the open, right? Something just wrecked a dragon's face after it ate an angel," the person said. Marthel got the distinct feeling that this man's face wasn't quite right. He was also uncertain as to whether the stranger's hair was the same color before Marthel blinked.
"That would have been me," Marthel said darkly.
"Wow." The stranger signaled for the elemental to take a step back and kneel down like a large crab. Marthel watched as he slid down its back and onto the ground, landing with a soft thud. His body seemed to ripple with a shockwave. "Then maybe I should be careful."
"Maybe you should," Marthel said. He then turned his attention to the elemental. "Also, what in the name of the five layers of New Phyrexia is that thing?"
"Oh," the stranger looked up at the elemental. "I call him the Maelstrom Wanderer. I found him during the Conflux. Or I should say he found me. It's kind of neat. I just ride on his back and nobody bothers us."
"Surprising since there are things like that roaming the skies," Marthel looked up to see a large dragon that had been infused with a kind of metal flying lazily overhead.
"Oh yeah. Etherium dragons are a thing now. Personally I think they're neat, nothing spectacular. But then I never was one for artifice in any form. Last time I tried I exploded several square city blocks." Marthel looked back at the stranger to see he had manifested another arm and was using it to scratch his head while his other hands were occupied searching the pockets of his blue and red robes.
"How are you doing that?" Marthel's curiosity got the better of him and he reached out to grab the extra arm only for it to melt away in his hand.
"I was mostly in pieces when I wound up in the Maelstrom. I guess it put me back together with a few improvements. I take it you aren't from around here."
"Formerly of Bant, haven't been back in some time."
"Planeswalker?"
"What?"
"You're a planeswalker. I could tell pretty easily. Not just anyone can take down a fully grown dragon with that kind of power." The stranger found the object he was looking for, a small pendant decorated with a stylized tree in blue and green. Marthel had seen that symbol before during his travels in Ravnica and recognized it as the Simic Guild signet.
"I suppose you're one too?" Marthel readied a defensive spell just in case. He'd met walkers he could do nothing but fight with before. The battles could get incredibly nasty. Sensing his tension, Nadia drew her own weapon. A low rumble from Maelstrom Wanderer caused both of them to take a step back.
"You see, Maelstrom doesn't like fighting much. In fact, he and I would prefer to go on our merry way and just leave you to whatever it was you're doing." The stranger sighed. "And here I thought we could be friends. I haven't met many others like us. One of my friends is a real firecracker. Totally insane. But she's at least always up for a good experiment."
"So... you're asking for introductions after riding in on that?" Marthel laughed. This guy might be fun. "Fine. I'm Marthel, the Maelstrom Mage, and this is Nadia."
"Pleasure," Nadia said, doing little to conceal her distaste for the newcomers.
"Maelstrom Mage, huh?" The stranger raised one eyebrow that had begun to glow slightly. "I've never seen you in my wanderings through it."
"When the Maelstrom began and beings began to emerge from it, I had my first planeswalk."
"So you've never been inside of it?"
"No. I haven't. But I am of the Maelstrom just as it seems your mount is. Just as you are."
"Listen, buddy," the stranger said, "I don't think you can just go around calling yourself the Maelstrom mage if you haven't ever actually been inside the Maelstrom."
"Well what do you call yourself?"
"I'm Odom. Right now I'm thinking of calling myself the duplicant. I'm pretty good with illusions and copies."
"Well then I can call myself the Maelstrom Mage. You don't have a claim on the title."
"See... That's like me saying I'm a member of the Gruul just because I bounce between the Izzet and Simic. I mean... I am a member of the Gruul, but not because I just happen to be a member of two guilds that share colors with them. I've actually been through the initiations and such. Let me tell you getting buried alive is way worse than staring down a ragebeast. Granted I only go there anymore because of the parties."
"You're not making any sense. I am of the Maelstrom. When those other beings awoke, so did my spark. I have a unique nature," Marthel countered.
"Yes. You're different. But that doesn't make you special. We're all different. That's why we're planeswalkers." Odom climbed back up onto Maelstrom Wanderer's back.
"I think you need to shut up before I come over there and slap some sense into you."
Odom looked down and patted Maelstrom Wanderer on the side. "Come on, Maelstromo. We don't need this kind of negativity in our lives."
Marthel watched as the large elemental turned around and lumbered away.