ACROSS THE WORLDS
By Ulquiorra9000
Chapter 26: Aurora
"Take me to his chambers," Nihil snapped as he stepped into the silvery tower's main lobby. "I don't have long to be on this plane, you see."
"Of course, sir," an aide said, bowing his head. He wore black, plated armor and a blue cape, his right hand replaced with a metal duplicate. Many other humans and four-armed vedalken patrolled the metallic, dimly-lit halls. The whole place smelled musty and salty, given how it was on the coast of the oily Quicksilver Sea. Blue lights pulsed at regular intervals on the ceiling, and tiny metallic creatures skittered in the shadows.
Nihil held his chin high as the aide escorted him to an elevator, its steel grate sliding away to admit the two men. Once the grate clanged shut, the elevator rumbled and lifted them swiftly upwards on blue and white mana cables. Neither said a word; none were needed.
Stepping out on the highest floor of the Lumengrid tower, Nihil smoothed his black jacket and ran a hand through his blond hair, a satisfied grin on his face as he approached a shut pair of double doors.
"It's me," he said, his strong voice echoing through the eerily empty hallway.
Spiny, black metal limbs reached from the walls and pried the doors apart, silently welcoming the planeswalker.
Nihil stepped in.
In the huge, half-lit room's center stood the huge, hunch-backed silver body of Jin-Gitaxias, busily tinkering with a scrying pool, surrounded by compleat homunculi and Neurok people. Bizarre contraptions clanked, whirred, and hissed smelly steam on shelves and tables all over the tall room.
"Nihil," came Jin-Gitaxias' oddly smooth, deep voice. The serpentine, long-limbed cyborg slowly turned around, his pointed, eyeless face studying the much-smaller human. "I did not expect a progress report until tomorrow, my boy."
Nihil eased himself onto his hands and knees and bowed his head to the Progress Engine's glorious praetor. "Our enemies are weaker than we thought after all, my lord. I suppose the debacle on Innistrad was only a fluke. Either way, that foolish Maretta is dead."
"By your hand, I presume."
"Literally." Nihil mimed the gesture that had killed Maretta on Esper.
Jin-Gitaxias chuckled, a deep, grating noise. He tapped his long, metal fingers together. "Oh, humans are so full of wit at times. Elesh Norn told me how you were a simple Auriok man until her forces discovered you."
"My gratitude is eternal." Nihil was proud to represent the tentative alliance between the Progress Engine and the white-aligned Machine Orthodoxy.
"What news do you bring?" Jin-Gitaxias asked, his tone suddenly all business.
"Rohkan and I are making good progress on Tarkir," Nihil reported at once. "The Mardu clan's speed is just as much an asset as I had hoped. We're making good progress against the Temur, in order to win the favor of a certain warchief named Ganbaatar."
"These 'Temur' being a rival clan there?"
"Yes. Hardy mountain people, friends of elementals and bears. Their attunement to the natural world could help me find a Sphaera shard on Tarkir, given that there is one. I'd just have to capture some first."
Jin-Gitaxias nodded. "I see. And the shard that Azrael's enemies captured on Innistrad?"
"Probably on Esper or Zendikar. Respectively, they're Veldor's and Zoira's home planes. I doubt that those teenagers were entrusted with the Sphaera shard on their home planes."
"So... Zendikar, Esper..." Jin-Gitaxias gestured toward his scrying pool. "Long have I suspected that worlds outside New Phyrexia existed. And here you are, proving me right! How many probes would you like?"
Nihil knew that Jin-Gitaxias was just indulging him. "All you can spare, my lord."
Jin-Gitxias barked something in the harsh Phyrexian language, and two compleat vedalken dragged over a vat crawling with creatures. The vedalken tipped it over, and over a hundred centipede-like probe constructs skittered over the floor, all converging on Nihil. About a meter long each, they were as thick as Nihil's forearms and had a single yellow eye each, and two scythe-like front arms for grabbing and cutting.
"Disperse the bulk of them on Zendikar and Esper," Jin-Gitaxias said, "and a few each on other planes as you see fit."
Nihil marveled at the probes as they crawled all over him like curious newborns. He'd have to infuse each with a tiny sliver of his Spark to distribute them across the worlds of the Multiverse, and after that... the search was on.
"Perhaps Kaladesh, or Fiora or Vryn," Nihil muttered to himself.
"What's that?" Jin-Gitaxias demanded.
"Possible planes where Veldor might hide his Sphaera shard, my lord," Nihil explained. "They fit his tastes. He loves schemes and artifice almost as much as us. He'd make an excellent thrall of the Progress Engine."
Jin-Gitaxias had no eyes, but Nihil swore he saw a spark of ravenous greed cross the monster's face.
Scooping up all the probes under his arm, Nihil bowed his way out and got to work. The Multiverse was too small a place to hide from the Progress Engine...
*o*o*o*o*
Morrel knew that it was no good; the battle was the Mardu's, and Rohkan's, to win. He staggered to his feet in the snowy pine forest far below the mountain ridge, helplessly listening to the faint sounds of battle, the distant flashes of spells from both sides. It wasn't too long before the chaos ended.
The Temur villagers were all dead for sure.
"Gods damn him!" Mizuki snarled as she got to her feet, her face red from rage and the cold. Her black hair whipped around her face in the frigid mountain wind. "Since when did he have that power?!"
"He must have underestimated us back on Lorwyn," Morrel realized heavily. "Us being young, and him being powerful anyway... this time, Azrael and his men know what they're dealing with. And here we are."
"It's not over yet," Zoira said, standing up and allowing her phoenix to perch itself on her arm. "I can befriend other Temur tribes; I know their ways. Rohkan and the Mardu will need time to rest before moving on and organizing their search."
Morrel felt his sore, weary body tremble. "What of us, though? Zoira, we're totally stranded, and exhausted. Where do we even go?"
"Stop complaining!" Zoira snapped, then sighed. "Sorry. I just can't have you guys giving up on me."
Mizuki hugged herself for warmth. "Right. But where can we go? D'you know this place, Zoira?" Her tone made her doubt clear.
Zoira drew herself together. "I am a Tajuru elf of Zendikar! I'm always at home in the wilds. I could survive a harsh jungle with one arm tied behind my back. Just let me -"
She stopped when a loud, deep growl cut through the freezing, pine-scented air.
Morrel stumbled back in shock as a tremendous, brown-furred bear lumbered out of the tree line, its lips pulled back in a warning growl. Nearby, another bear emerged, no less angry at the intrusion. They made a pincer manuever, trapping the three interluders between them.
"You were talkin' 'bout wilderness survival, right?" Mizuki asked, her voice high with fear.
"Bears don't grow this big on Zendikar!" Zoira squeaked, her phoenix cawing nervously.
Morrel felt his heart race. "I don't think I have the mana to hold them both off."
The two bears studied the interlopers carefully with their beady eyes, huffing and panting, their breath steaming in the air. Then -
Both bears dipped their heads and made high-pitched grunts, their eyes suddenly soft.
Mizuki gasped. "Did they... just say hi?"
"Zoira, we smell like the Temur," Morrel realized, watching as one bear pawed happily on the frozen, snowy earth. "And we ate their food... are we attuned to them, or something?"
"Natural connections are delicate but definite," Zoira said with awe. "The bears recognize us as friends of the Temur, and therefore one of them. The Temur arae secretive and nomadic; it's not easy for just anyone to associate with them. The bears know that we've earned the Temur clan's, and therefore their, trust."
Morrel sighed with relief. "Maybe they can find shelter for us."
"We can't fight Rohkan and the Mardu with bears, though," Mizuki pointed out.
"We'll find a way," Zoira assured her. "Just follow my lead, okay?"
Mizuki clearly relaxed. "Fine. Let's do it."
Zoira helped Morrel and Mizuki climb aboard one bear, and after giving some pointers, she sat atop the other and patted its head. "We need shelter," she told it quietly. "Just for the night. The Mardu are everywhere. We have to fight them."
The bear huffed and ambled off.
Morrel couldn't help an amazed grin as his and Mizuki's bear lumbered along with Zoira's, seemingly tireless as it navigated the pine forest, rocky chasms, mountain streams, and other wilderness. Other creatures like huge elk, foxes and wolves scampered out of the way; clearly, bears commanded respect among all animals, not just the Temur clansmen.
Night fell when the bears finally brought the party to a wide-mouthed cave further along the Qal Sisma mountain range, and Morrel and Mizuki gratefully ate from Zoira's ration packs with her. They settled against the snoozing bears for shelter, warmth, and comfort all at once, watching the stars rotate in the dark sky overhead.
"Oh, the auroras," Zoira commented as sheets of blue, green, and red lights danced in the sky to the north.
Morrel marveled at the light show. Nothing on Bant was anything like it, no equal of the exotic natural beauty. He took Mizuki's hand in his, savoring the warmth. "See? Zoira knows her stuff. This is actually rather cozy."
Mizuki laughed. "Our standards have really sunk on this mad quest, haven't they?" She smiled, her eyes on Morrel's. "So, we're gonna kick Rohkan's ass next time, right? Tell me we're gonna do it."
"We'll have to outmaneuver him," Morrel figured. "He's tough, but obvious. Let's try and think of new ways to combine our spells, and see what happens. We need a new angle."
Mizuki sighed and snuggled against Morrel, resting her head on his shoulder. "In the morning, okay? Too tired now."
"Right." For a minute, Morrel was content to rest with Mizuki against the bear's warm fur, but he frowned as he watched the auroras slowly infuse themselves with more red, odd colors radiating from a certain spot behind a particular peak. Almost like... some disturbance was radiating from there. He pointed at it.
"I'm not sure what that is," Zoira admitted, the brilliant colors reflecting in her eyes. "Or whether it'll be for good or ill. We'll find another Temur village tomorrow and ask them. All I know is, things are only gonna get tougher from here. You ready for that?"
Morrel gently ran a hand through Mizuki's dark hair. "I've got to be, don't I?"
"Good man." With that, Zoira drifted off to sleep.
*o*o*o*o*
Veldor's dust-filter screens were in top form as the Esper man trudged across Dominaria's blasted landscape. He kept passing burnt, twisted ruins of buildings, war machines, and natural formations under the blistering orange sun, the whole sky an unhealthy orange-yellow tint. Scouting parties of Dominaria-breed kithkin kept darting through the sorrowful wreckage, and raider/scavenger parties of humans and dwarves kept careful track of Veldor's progress, but they didn't dare come close. A quick demonstration of Veldor's poly-alloy liquid Etherium arm's capabilities had properly scared them off.
Zoira, please be safe, Veldor kept thinking, his stoic, mechanical mind softening every time the elf lady crossed it. He wanted to curse himself for being so nostalgic, but by the Hegemon's grace, he couldn't help it. If Azrael or his goons hurt her, they'd feel a liquid metal arm through the heart!
Veldor scaled a craggy, wreckage-littered hill and scanned the bleak vista. Not much to see...
There!
A lonely temple stood out among the ruins, somehow in perfect condition, not one stone brick out of place, its stained-glass windows whole and uncracked. How could that be?
Veldor squared his metal shoulders and traced a sneaky path to the looming temple. Have to be careful now. No margin for error.
Once, Veldor had heard Zoira use the amusing term "jackpot" for situations like this. He mouthed the word to himself, savoring it.
Jackpot!