Chapter five
"This doesn't make any sense," Adimar surveyed the room. He was in Jiren's house, looking for the assassin that was ordered to take the conspirator out. The murder never happened, the target's body or signs of anything dead was anywhere in the house. Also, the assassin had sent out a distress signal, but there was no sign of that person either. "I think I need to see the whole picture to find out what happened." Adimar's eyes flashed blue and the room became enclosed by a summoner's circle. The turquoise ring expanded to a sphere and began rotating, counterclockwise. The force of the spell shattered the two windows, throwing shards all over the floor. The room rewound to the point where Jiren vanished and an unrecognizable assassin lay, rotting and festering on the floor. The only distinguishable feature of the decaying heap was the shiny glint of metal exposed beneath the crumbling, diseased flesh.
"Mark, damn it, you died," Adimar said blatantly. Slightly shaking, the master healer dropped to his knees and tears flowed freely down his face. "Damn it, why Mark? Why did you do this?" Adimar tried to grab Mark's body, but the time field stopped the priest's fingers from holding on to the decomposing mess. Without even a sound, the door swung open. From it, five tiny white sparks hovered over the corpse. Noticing these beings, Adimar held back his tears and stared at them. The creatures' bodies were composed of pure light; however they had eight pairs of millimeter long wings, barely seen because of the glare they gave off. Like snowflakes, the spirits fell from the air, slowly entering Mark.
The putrid pile exploded with balls of white light, almost blind Adimar. An ethereal ghost hovered in the air next to the body. It was Mark's soul, brought back to the earth by the spirits. The apparition looked over the newly healed body and fused with it. "Bless The One, Mark's alive!" Adimar's tears flowed again, his joy inexpressible any other way. A gang of five goblins leaped into the room. The three feet tall creatures looked like human children, except for the very sharp teeth and green flesh.
"Hmm, human look tasty!" one licked his lips and the sharp fangs showed out of its mouth.
"No, master wants us to bring him in," another goblin grabbed one hand of Mark, followed by three lifting the other limbs of the human.
"I want to taste him so bad!" The hungry goblin leaped at Mark's left hand and the goblin's teeth sank into the meaty hand, only to shatter on the metal hand.
"That what you get for disobeying master." A goblin scolded before making the hungry one support the head. Adimar became tense.
"What master? Where are you going? Please, I need answers!" Adimar pleaded, but the time field prevented anyone from hearing. With a rumble, the door frame flung violently from the wall, splintering on the wall. The wood lay in a heap beside the meaty legs of a troll. The creature's flesh had the same complexion of the goblins and the same teeth, but this monster towered at eight feet, forcing it to arch its back and hump over to fit in the tiny room. The one thousand pound behemoth lumbered toward Adimar. "What is that doing here?" Adimar readied his staff just in case. For some reason, the healer felt that the troll wasn't part of the past. Then, his time reversal spell finished and the troll remained, confirming the cleric's suspicions.
The troll readied his hand for punching as a shield appeared before Adimar. The fist smashed through the shield, hitting the priest in his chest. Winded, Adimar fell over and doubled up in pain. The beast retreated out of the room and a wizard soon took its place. "Hello Adimar, I see that the troll caused you a little problem." The wizard laughed. The laugh sounded much like a screech, causing the healer to grab at his ears.
"Who are you and how do you know my name?" Adimar managed to suck in enough air to talk finally.
"I am Jiren, nice to meet you." The wizard offered his hand to help Adimar up. "I know your name by a simple charm.
"May I ask what are you doing here?" The healer shook off the large pile of dust he landed in. Why are there piles of dust all over the place here? Adimar wondered.
"First, I'm sorry about all the dust. A wurm died here and a lot of its skin fell all over the place. Now, this is my house and one of my charms said a person was in here. Now, what are you doing here?" Jiren smiled; the gesture was like a Venus fly trap, inviting but deadly.
"I was just searching for one of my friends. He was around in this area earlier." Adimar glanced around, nervous. Jiren grabbed the healer by the throat.
"Liar! You are searching for that assassin sent by The One! He's gone, in my care now." Jiren's eyes flooded with black mana.
"I... please... let me live... I don't... want to die." Adimar managed to say. The grip on his neck tightened and all the air flow to his lungs stopped.
"That's the problem with Dominions. No one wants to die; they all want something for themselves. Everyone is selfish. Sometimes, you must be brought to the brink of death to understand!" Jiren removed his hand and Adimar fell limply to the floor, gasping for breath. His purple face quickly regained its pinkish hue. "I died once." Jiren took out a cigarette and lit it. "No one ever revived me... no, I am a planeswalker." Adimar's eyes widened.
"A planeswalker? No, it can't be!" Adimar's face twisted into fright. "Planeswalkers are the epitome of evil. None are supposed to exist, you abomination!"
"Is that more of The One's propaganda? Planeswalkers are humans, but much more. So much more, that it is impossible for me to imagine being a common human again. See, planeswalkers are normal people, but they have a spark. Their soul is destined to want to travel the multiverse forever. A planeswalker is just an extraordinary person, not a monster." Jiren explained between drags. Soon, the room filled with a thin haze of smoke.
"You're lying. Planeswalkers are monsters masquerading as humans. They harvest us, innocent Dimninains, for food to sustain their bond to this existence, just like you killed Mark. How dare you contradict The One and then kill one of his servants! He tells us what planeswalkers are, and what he says is the truth!" Adimar yelled, reaching his feet. Jiren shook his head and smiled. He put out his cigarette.
"Adimar, sweet innocent Adimar. Those are lies. Nothing you said is the truth. All are lies perpetuated by The One. I almost kill you, and you still don't know. I had to die to learn the truth... I guess you do to." With a snap of Jiren's fingers, he vanished and the troll reappeared. A mighty fist swung at Adimar's head. Before he could do anything, the brick-sized fist crushed his head flatter than a pancake. Blood splattered all over the walls with pieces of the brain here and there. A soft thump was heard as the troll crushed the rest of the healer under its massive foot.
Mark had met The One, face to face. He basked in the loving glow of his God. Then, demons grabbed his leg and dragged him back to Dimnina, hovering above his body. With an angelic voice, his ghost questioned the motives of The One. "Why, why did you allow them to take me away from you?" with the great divine ambiguity of any god, there was no answer. With a jolt, Mark woke in a dark room with water dropping on his head. His arms and legs were strapped to the wall. The five goblins watched him, one licking his lip and placing artificial fangs in his mouth. It made its way towards Mark, chomping the air in anticipation. A door slid open behind the four goblins and they jumped. A sweep of the hand of the shadowy figure banished all five goblins to the Æther.
"Mark, we meet again," Jiren revealed himself in the light of a white floating ball. Mark instantly tightened his muscles in rage.
"Defeating me once was not enough? Do you have to kill me again?" Mark tried to get his arms out of the bonds, but it was futile. How does he know my name? Mark asked himself.
"I know your name by a simple divination charm, Mark. Now, I went through a lot of this earlier today, but I say it all again." Jiren conjured a chair and sat down, lighting a cigarette. After a long drag, Jiren conjured an image of Adimar. "He's dead," the wizard told Mark, emotionless and remorseless. Mark dropped his head.
"What?" Mark refused to believe what he had heard.
"Adimar is dead," Jiren replied, enunciating each word. Tears flowed down Mark's face.
"No, you can't be serious. He's a healer. Healers don't die," Mark began laughing. "You're very funny Jiren, very funny and a bad liar, too." Suddenly, Mark's mind flooded with the image of Adimar dying, the punch, the aftermath, everything. The whole memory seemed to contain the very presence of Jiren, like everything that led up to his death was caused by him. Mark realized Jiren did this, "I hate you!" Mark tried to jump at Jiren, but the bonds held. Then, the one holding his left hand snapped. Working quickly, Mark removed the other bonds and leaped at Jiren. With a simple gesture, ethereal ropes bound Mark to the wall again.
"Adimar had to die. He refused to believe that The One is a liar. He refused to believe the truth." Jiren flooded Mark with the memory of the whole conversation. Mark shook his head.
"Adimar was... is right. Planeswalkers are fiends, mockeries of real people. Jiren, you are a devilish bastard, killing the only person I... ever looked up to. Go to hell, may The One kill you!" Mark spat at Jiren, the fluid landing a few inches away.
"Mark, do you know the saying 'Human without, The One within'?" Jiren asked.
"Yes, it means we are individuals and The One is our driving force." Mark replied, calming down as he was powerless to do anything else. A wave of energy smashed Mark's body into the wall, sending a spasm throughout his body.
"Wrong! Wrong! Wrong, wrong, wrong! It means you are all one person, you got that right. Everyone is there own selfish person. However, the second part is the one that will make you hate The One more than me. Whenever you pray to The One, use his energy, or do anything with The One in mind, he steals a piece of your soul. Eventually, you're a soulless husk, completely controlled by The One. That boon on your chest and back, it saps your soul every second, slowly. Soon, you will be a pawn, with no ambitions or goals besides to serve The One. That is why all The One's assassins are commoners, the lowest caste. They are more willing to subjugate themselves to the scarring and the cult." Jiren smashed his empty cigarette pack under his foot and it vanished. Mark did not say anything.
"Why?" Mark managed to whimper.
"The One does this only because he is a planeswalker who fought me once. He lost, weakened to the state of an immobile statue. He created Dimnina after this fight and created people by using the last of his energy. In this way, he planned to eventually harvest the inhabitants of the planet and recharge himself. I am here to stop it. If he himself tried to fight me again, he will die. He is not yet strong enough. Slowly, he is gaining strength, harvesting energy from people like you or healers, like Adimar. One day, he will be stronger than I and that day, you will be dead. He will have stolen your energy and made you another puppet. You will be part of an army against me." Jiren removed the bonds and Mark dropped to the ground, stunned by the talk.
"What can I do?" Mark asked.
"You don't know why I saved you?" Jiren showed Mark the memory of five white spirits reviving Mark.
"I don't understand," Mark replied.
"You are a planeswalker, Mark. Your fate and my fate are now intertwined. We both will kill The One." Jiren's eyes flashed white and a wave of magic washed over Mark's body. His scars vanished and his boon dissolved. "However, Mark, you must first do something. You must master your new abilities as a planeswalker. Rest for tonight and have some food, because tomorrow, we are heading to Dominaria." Jiren closed the cell's door and Mark stood, slowly absorbing what had happened today.
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