Chapter 3: Power Struggle
Dear Journal!
That night was the most terrifying night of my entire life. I have never seen so much death and destruction as the night when Geyadrone attacked us. I can still see the image of the Daraja Plain being littered with corpses from both armies. The horrible part was seeing the fallen Serran rise again as zombies to serve Geyadrone. I think seeing their dead friends and comrades as undead truly demoralized the Serran army and that probably is the reason why we suffered so many deaths. It was a good thing Teferi was there to lend a hand or else we would have lost this war quickly. The destruction here was horrible but the destruction caused by the Phyrexian will be a thousand times worse. Frankly, I'd rather not stay around to see it.
Josh Mitchell
The Daraja Plain once so beautiful was now littered with corpses. The horrific part of all was the fact that those corpses walked and fought. Geyadrone's surprise attack was very successful in killing hundreds of Serrans during the first few minutes. Responding, the plainswalker Teferi launched his own counter attack against her and he was able to contain her assault. But then, the Serrans who were killed by Geyadrone's aerial attack began to rise. Many Serrans stared at the corpses in disbelief. Others could not bear to fight against those who were once their friend and/or family. That moment of hesitation cost them their lives. Those newly slain Serrans too rose once again to seek out their love ones and add their family and friends to the rank of undead.
From two hundred feet in the air, Roran and Josh can see all the carnage unfolding. From outside, an army of wolves and humans were rushing into the city to help add more Serrans to the army of undead. Leading the army was a massive beast that bashed opened the main gate with just his club. The onrush was met with heavy resistance from the Serran ground forces. From the high vantage point, it looks like the Serrans were doing well for themselves, but in truth, they were losing. The beast, which Josh recognized as Sol'Kanar the Swamp King, was slaughtering the Serrans.
In the air, Serran angels were fighting a desperate battle against a host of vampires. Roran, still enraged, charged into battle at full speed leaving Josh to fight alone once again. Josh was content to take a moment to watch these two powerhouses battle it out. Geyadrone, calling on her ancient powers, unleashed another horde of specters to add to her already massive aerial army. But in this battle, she was not the only one with titanic powers. The moment her specters appeared, Teferi's Time Elementals erased them from existence. Raising his hands high, Teferi summoned a flock of his wyverns and sent all of them for a direct attack against Geyadrone. As the wyverns neared, Geyadrone activated her enchantment to create a strong downdraft sending all the wyverns plummeting to the ground. Waving her hands, she countered Teferi's attack by sending her own endless stream of bats against him. With a thought, Teferi called forth a wall of swords to slice all bats into pieces. The two plainswalkers were through with simple spells. Calling upon their full godly power, they launched massive sorceries at each other and turned the night as bright as day.
With his massive club, Sol'Kanar charged right through the Serran resistances, batting away anyone who dare oppose him. Even the Serran's strongest warriors were crushed from just one blow of his club. Sol'Kanar charged onward like an unstoppable juggernaut killing any opposition. Even the angels in the air were not safe from him. With his incredible strength, Sol'Kanar would grab and launch Serrans into the air to strike down any angels near him. The Serran wizards, as well as Teferi's wizards, tried every spell they can think of to stop Sol'Kanar, but every spell seemed to bounce off him harmlessly.
Then, Sol'Kanar suddenly stopped in his track. He lowered his club and the fire in his eyes slowly began to burn out. The wizard guild all stared in amazement at their leader, Bosia, as he continued to channel more power into his crown. It was said that Bosia received the Crown of the Ages as a gift when he first arrived on Dominaria, but no one had ever seen him used it until today. Seeing the unstoppable beast frozen in its tracks gave heart to the Serran army and they rallied to push the invaders back. It didn't last. From out of the sky, Geyadrone sent a pulse of green energy at Sol'Kanar and her champion was back on his feet. Jumping forty feet into the air, Sol'Kanar raised his club high and smashed Bosia and his crown into a big blood puddle on the pavement upon landing. Without Bosia's leadership, the mages scattered in all directions to avoid Sol'Kanar's wrath.
From up high, Josh spotted Master Mage Angelica and descended to help her. As Josh got closer, he could see that the master mage need no help. Flanked by two Serran mages and two of Teferi's mage, they expertly destroyed any invader near them. Josh landed a few feet away from the group only to have Angelica unleash a bolt of light at him. Skillfully, Josh deflected the bolt to a nearby wolf, frying it. As Josh turned back to face his teacher, Angelica's eyes lit up with recognition and gave the young man a big hug.
Scolding, Angelica asked, "Where have you, Roran, and Karra been? You had all of us so worried about you." Slowly her face softened and said, "I'm glad you're safe though my boy."
"Master Mage Angelica, the other mages still don't have a way of stopping that beast," dressing in a simple blue rope, a dark skinned, baldheaded mage continued. "With Bosia gone, we need you to lead us. We need a course of action now! Please!"
Holding both her hands, Josh spoke loud enough so everyone will hear. "The beast is called Sol' Kanar the Swamp King. The only thing strong enough to defeat it is a strong summoning using black plus white magic and using blue magic to bridge the two colors. I have one such summon spell, but I will need everyone's mana."
"That is absurd! I refuse to believe he has the knowledge to cast such a spell. Even if he was able to, the creature will have black mana in its makeup, which makes it untrustworthy to defend us. We can't trust our lives to this child," said a Serran mage.
"He's right child," said Angelica. "Tell us more. Convince us!"
"Look! We'll be summoning a replica of Sol'Kanar's archenemy. The only being strong enough to beat Sol'Kanar is Dakkon Blackblade!"
Josh didn't have time to finish his speech as Sol'Kanar roared at the mention of his archenemy's name. The anger in him was showing through as all of his muscles flexed and grew bigger. Leaping high into the air, Sol'Kanar wanted to smash Josh like he had smashed Bosia earlier. The terrifying sight of Sol'Kanar's massive frame falling on him froze Josh in place. He could only look up in terror knowing this was his last moment of life. Then out of nowhere, pair of feet suddenly slammed hard into Sol'Kanar's chest, sending the beast smashing through a wall six hundred feet away. The force of the impact had broken both of Roran's legs but he would gladly do it again to save his best friend's life.
Seeing Sol'Kanar's reaction was enough to convince the mages to help bring Josh's summoning to life. Josh can feel the tremendous mana flowing through him from the other master mages. Knowing his time was short; he began reading the words of Dakkon Blackblade memoir. "My power is as vast as the plains, my strength is that of mountains, each wave that crashes up the shore thunders like blood in my veins."
Sol'Kanar was already on his feet and making a mad dash toward the group of wizard. Crashing through and killing all who block his path, be it friends or foes. All he cared about is killing the mages before their summoning was complete. In minutes he was upon the mages. With his club on his right shoulder, Sol'Kanar made a full force swing intending on killing all mages with one hit.
The club stopped an inch short of hitting the group. A shield of gold and black solidly connected with the club and absorbed the blow. Looking up, Sol'Kanar saw the pearly white smile of Dakkon Blackblade right before Dakkon brought his shield crashing into Sol'Kanar's face sending the beast back a few steps.
Dakkon was an impressive warrior, a legend out of the storybooks. His mere presence gave pause to everyone who laid eyes upon him. Standing tall with a sword of strange black metal and a shield of gold and black, Dakkon was able to turn back any attack made on him. His gray armor and helmet seemed to hide his entire body with the exception of his burning red eyes and pearly white smile. Sol'Kanar was now holding his club with both hands. It was amazing that this massive creature with a pair of horns bending forward and a hunched back can move so fast. It moved with incredible precision to dodge and block all attacks by Dakkon and retaliate the attacks. Both man and beast were of equal match for no one could score a solid hit upon one another.
Both plainswalkers were quite tired from their duel. Geyadrone being older than old was surprised that Teferi, being relatively young was able to match her spell for spell. Even Teferi himself, being only nearly two millennia old, was surprised he was able to stand up to her. Both were about to continue their duel when they saw the battle below. Recognizing Dakkon, Geyadrone unleashed a Soul Burn spell, intended to kill the Dakkon where he stand. The spell simply dissipated moments before it reach Dakkon. Yelling out, Teferi said, "leave the mortals to their battle! You still have me to contend with!"
Irritated, Geyadrone commanded her dark elves to come out of hiding and deal with Dakkon. That was a foolish move on her part for no matter what her elves do, it could not stop Dakkon. As more Serran mages and Teferi's mages converged on Josh and his group, they channeled their own memories of the lands, making Dakkon a fearsome force. The memories allowed Dakkon to access the mana of those lands directly and let his might grow with every passing second. Dakkon could feel the mana from Urborg swamps solidifying his body in darkness making him stronger than ever. Memories of Teferi's Isle allowed him to move with incredible speed to score some quick slashes on Sol'Kanar's body. The mana of the Daraja Plain was most effective of all for it powered up his armor, making him untouchable by the dark elves' spells.
Realizing her mistake, Geyadrone ordered her dark elves to launch an all out assault against Josh and his group of mages instead. Using some of his last counter spells, Teferi was able to stop all the elven magical attacks. This also gave the Serran mages a golden opportunity. With the dark elves being in the open, they were vulnerable to a direct assault and the Serrans intended to make the most of it.
Calling on the might of Serra herself, the Serran Mages cast their power to the heavens and waited. Right above the dark elves, clouds gathered and formed the graceful face of Serra. The elves looked up in wonder at the beautiful face formed above them. The face seemed to smile a merciful smile as light poured down on them. The dark elves had never felt such love as they were feeling while being bathed in Serra's light. They happily lifted their heads to heaven as their bodies were reduced to dust. With the dark elves gone, the reanimation spell they maintained lost its effect. The undead slowly dropped and return to their former stage of being simply dead.
Sol'Kanar was doing poorly now as his body began to weaken against Dakkon's constant attacks. Every step Dakkon took, Sol'Kanar could only stepped back and tried to avoid being killed. Every time Sol'Kanar avoided an attack, Dakkon had already moved into another attack and scored a good hit on him. After an hour of battling, Sol'Kanar's critically injured body gave out. With one powerful spin cut, Dakkon took off his head.
"Geyadrone, you soulless bitch! I'm coming for you next!" yelled Dakkon.
"Come and get me you cheap imitation!" laughed Geyadrone. "You can't even get up here!"
In answer to her challenge, Teferi's mages cast Flight on Dakkon, sending him rocketing at Geyadrone. Josh frantically tried to stop Dakkon but he was too late. Not knowing what else to do, he told his fellow mages about Geyadrone's downdraft enchantment. The Serrans focused the last of their mana into destroying her enchantment but it was too late. Seconds before Dakkon could attack, Geyadrone activated her enchantment to disabled his flying ability and created a strong downdraft sending Dakkon plummeting to the ground. Though the enchantment was destroyed, the mages could not do anything but watch as their champion came crashing down on the battlefield outside the city. The force of impact created a crater a few miles wide killing anything within its radius. Though nearly exhausted, Geyadrone was driven by her hatred of Dakkon. She forced the land to seal the crater and made sure Dakkon Blackblade could never be resurrected to haunt her again.
While Geyadrone was busy with Dakkon, a chorus of angels had congregated around Teferi to revitalize the planeswalker. This also gave Teferi enough time to gather power for an all out battle with the ancient planeswalker. Out of nowhere, he felt a tap on his shoulder. To his left, there was a warrior angel whose legs were broken. The angel gave him what looked like a card and said that his friend Josh told him to bring this spell to the Teferi and end this war permanently. Intrigued, Teferi absorbed the strange language on the card and read in English, "Serra Avatar". Smiling brightly, the plainswalker grabbed Roran and placed the angel in front of him.
As energy coursed through Teferi's fingers and traveled into Roran, he began to explain. "This spell of your friend's allows me to make an incarnation of myself that reflects my inner might. However, knowing that Gayedrone killed your sister earlier, I thought it would be appropriate that you become my avatar instead. You, young angel, are now a reflection of my power. Use it to avenge your sister and bring justice to all those who have been slain in this battle."
Roran now radiated light from every pore of his body. His eyes glowed as blue as the endless sea. Within those eyes, ocean waves made of mana can be seen coursing through him. Outwardly, his body glowed like a new sun threatened to burn away any eyes that dared to look directly at him. Giving Teferi a knowing smile, Roran charged at full speed at his sister's Murderer. Geyadrone was not prepared for this much resistance against her force and she was nearly spent. Gathering what was left of her mana, she launched everything at the anger-driven angel charging at her. The dark bashing spells would have killed the angel instantly but not this time. This time Roran, with his iridescent sword, easily deflect all of the spells thrown at him. In a little over a minute, Roran traversed the distance and was right beside the hated planeswalker. Using every ounce of his strength, he struck Geyadrone with an overhead blow shattering her protective aura. Recovered and moving at blinding speed, Roran sliced the planesswalker into six pieces. Geyadrone had been a plague and darkness over the land. Roran was glad to be the light that dissipated the darkness and bring hope back to his people. Like real darkness, Geyadrone's body hung in the air and dissolved before Roran's radiance.
Seeing their goddess destroyed, many of the invaders fled the battle. As Roran led five choruses of angels and swooped down onto the fields, many other humans dropped their weapons and surrendered before Roran's all consuming light. Most of the vampires and specters simply turned to dust as Roran got near them and they too fled for what was left of their existence. In less than half an hour, the battle was over. All that remained was to kill the wolves and the wild animals summoned here by Geyadrone.
By the next dawn, some order was finally restored to the city. Using Roran as a beacon of hope, the Serrans rallied to quickly cleanse the city of invaders. By midmorning, the avatar spell of Teferi had burned out and Roran was restored to the way he was. The first tally of causalities estimated that around three thousand Serrans had died, and Sol'Kanar alone killed eight hundred of them. With more than one thousand prisoners of war, the jailhouses were too overcrowded due to the sudden influx. A small camp was built just outside of the city for the main purpose of holding these prisoners.
Within the city, healers were scattered in all directions trying to save whoever they could. Many angels of mercy were assigned as combat medics and their main job was to seek out and rescue anyone with life threatening injuries and provide immediate aids. Most able-bodied ground units were assigned to clear the streets and help the medics. Only a few hundred angels were assigned to guard duties. Their job was to simply circle around the prison camp and intimidate the prisoners. By the next nightfall, all corpses were cleared out of the city and were given proper burials. The corpses all went through the cleansing ritual to prevent them from being resurrected again. By then, everyone was exhausted and all of the work to rebuild the city was pushed back.
By the 5th day after the battle, reinforcements from Zhalfir finally arrived. Teferi was there to greet the Zhalfirin general and informed him of what they could do to help the Serran. On the 8th day, all wreckage was cleared out and the people headed for the outside of Serra's Cathedral.
"Today we honor those who have fallen in defense of Serra and her children," Said Priestess Oresta. "They have given their lives to protect us all from those who would destroy us. May they find their way to Serra and once again be within her glory."
All who were assembled lowered their heads in honor of the fallen. Then in the priestess place stood Master Mage Angelica who was recently elected to be the leader of the Serran guild mage. "Today we are also here to honor those who fought bravely in the face of adversity. If it were not for them, our city would have fallen that night." Angelica turned the floor over to Teran Lawbringer, Roran's father. Unfolding a parchment, he began to read the list of names of those who acted valiantly in battle and they were honored by being given a silver feather. Teferi was also honored but he had asked that the Serran leaders not give him anything but to promise to protect Dominaria. They gladly agreed.
"And finally we now honor those whose courage and understanding truly saved the day," Said Teran. "First we honor Josh Mitchell, a mage whose knowledge and creativity enabled us to defeat Sol'Kanar the Swamp King. Though he broke many laws by practicing more than just white magic, we are glad he did or else we would all have been lost. We honor you with this golden feather."
Josh bowed before the crowd and accepted the feather. It was actually a feather embedded within an oval piece of glass. On the bottom was an image of Serra holding both her hands out as if to bless whoever holds the feather.
"Finally we honor my son, Roran Lawbringer. His courage and commitment to protecting his people inspired us all that night. He was our guide in the darkest moment of the night. Without his light and leadership, we would have suffered much more casualties. We honor you with this golden feather."
Roran stood up and accepted. His father smiled and continued, "and as a surprise, we chose to break tradition and elevate Roran to the rank of Archangel." The people cheered as Roran accepted the honor but Roran was not happy. In his mind, he had earned this rank at the cost of his sister's life.