Chapter 4
Hello again, and welcome to my latest chapter of The Next Titan, glad to see people still like to read my story. Like my other stories I'll start to respond to reviews. I hope you all like and continue to read. This chapter is gonna wrap up the Shadows Over Innistrad saga set and the next chapter will being the Eldrich Moon saga, cannot wait to start.
TheGreatUncleanOne: Thanks, I love the Eldrazi as well, hope you enjoy!
Eldrazi Cat: Glad you like it, hope you enjoy!
Now that reviews are over, let's get on with the story!
Damion pov
"Sorry, but I have to be anywhere but here." I channel my magic and create a blade and slice the chain in half causing the Arc Angel to fall back from the lack of force holding her up. As the sword disappears I punch the ground and use my wings to create a small dust cloud to let me escape. I shot into the air and flew in the first direction I faced, I don't know how long I was flying but my vision started to get all fuzzy, I then realized part of the chain was still wrapped around my wrist, "Dammit." My vision darkens and the last thing I see is the ground approaching, this was gonna hurt when I woke up.
When I open my eyes I felt like a rock, I could barely move, breathing was a challenge as well. I used what little strength I had to sit up, I nearly pass out from doing that alone, what the hell is causing this? I look at my wrist and see the glowing chain, oh right, I grip the chain and struggle to remove it. Unfortunately I can't get it loose or even get it to budge, it was draining my mana, there was something like this on Korit. A stone that would drain a demons powers, it was extremely rare but was deadly to demons if they were weak enough, it looks like they have some here as well, great. Thankfully being half human came in handy, it's probably the only reason I'm conscious right now.
I pulled myself up and leaned against the side of the large tree I landed next to, my whole body felt like it weighed a ton. "I feel...so tired." I say to myself as I try to get my vision to readjust, how long had I been knocked out anyway? I was so tired I almost didn't hear someone talking right next to me, I turn my head to try and find the source. I could make out the blurry shape of a person kneeling next to me, they appeared to be wearing white and green and judging from their voice they seemed to be female.
"Subject appears to have regained consciousness, however it appears they're severely limited in simple motor functions. It also appears their mana is incredible weak for what seems to be a human/demon hybrid. It is a wonder how such a weak creature lived as long as it did." She seemed to be writing in something as she spoke.
"I'm...not weak...the chain...makes me weak." I say causing her to stop writing. "Please...remove the...chain."
She seemed to hesitate for a moment before reaching towards the chain and manages to remove it, the moment it does I can feel my mana surge through my body. My eyes widen as I feel my demonic features appear on me as mana surged through my body once again. I let out a sigh in relief as I get to my feet and stretch my sore joints, "That's so much better." I say to myself.
"Intriguing." I look back at the woman, who clearly isn't from this Plane judging by her appearance. She seemed to be a moon folk from Kamigawa...not gonna ask how I know that, she finishes writing in her journal before walking up to me. "Can I examine you?"
I'm not sure how to respond to that, but she did help me so I guess I owe her one. "Sure go ahead."
I don't know how long I've been standing here answering questions or posing my demonic or human features for her to draw in her journal. "So you inherited these powers from which parent?"
"My mother." I reply.
"What was your relationship with her?"
"She didn't want me cause I was half human so she left me in a village to fend for myself, never actually met her."
"Then how do you know she hated you?"
"She left me in a village full of humans who hate demons, I can't imagine a mother who loves her child ever doing that." I say crossing my arms, only for her to make me hold my arm out again to finish her drawing.
"Well, it doesn't seem like she had a choice in the matter." She stated.
"What do you mean?"
"From what you've told me of Korit, the inhabitants despise demons aside from the angels and other demons themselves. That means they would have tried everything in their power to kill her if they had the chance, if she had kept you then you would have been a weakness to her. The only thing she would ever love it seems, what would you do if someone took that from you?"
"Anything, I would do anything to get it back." I said almost immediately, "Huh, I guess she didn't have a choice to hate me, you know you would be a really good therapist you know that?"
"Thank you." She finishes drawing the demonic features on my arm so I extend my wings for her to start her next drawing. "The Demons of Korit are very interesting, but you don't seem to be fully developed yet."
"What do you mean?"
"Nothing, you still have some growing to do. That is all." She was silent for a moment before she spoke again, "I have finished my notes on you."
I fold my wings back in and turn to examine the book about me, I looked through it to make sure nothing was wrong or misinterpreted, but everything was perfect. After I confirmed that it was perfect Tamiyo asked me to accompany her to help her finish her notes on Innistrad, she admitted she normally tried to avoid other Planeswalkers but she wanted to know more about me. I agreed since she had helped me already.
I don't know how long we traveled but soon we arrived a Cathedral of some kind, we made our way inside while avoiding soldiers of some kind. I used some of my mental magic to get the soldiers to avoid us or forget we were there. Tamiyo made her through the Cathedral while I went a separate way to get everyone out of the Cathedral for the time being.
After making sure I got everyone I made my way back towards where Tamiyo went, I walk into the room but I stop when I see Jace standing over an elder librarian. His eyes were confused. Furious, terrified, curious, then they settled on something like recognition and relief.
"You! It's you! You brought me here. No, not you, this, this journal. Your journal! You brought me here to meet? No, but how could you?" He trailed off, his eyes drifted toward the ground again, then snapped back to Tamiyo, accusingly. "You were watching me? You knew!" Then they softened again, now sad, pleading. "Help me. Can you? I think...can you help me? Help me." The last words were not a plea at all. My head started to hurt when he said that, dammit Jace, your insanity has gotten worse. A few moments pass before Tamiyo smiled as peacefully as she could manage. Jace was soon covered in a veiling spell as Tamiyo took out a scroll from her satchel. She slipped into the library and closed the door quietly behind her after I walked in with her. A moment later I heard Tamiyo's voice, all I could do was listen as my thoughts became more clear as she spoke.
Original
With their creator gone, the creatures known as the myr were lost.
Some continued with their last known instructions, repeating their tasks without direction or purpose, while others simply shut down to await commands that would never come. The loss of Memnarch did not kill them, but with no true consciousness within them, their continued life was scarcely life at all.
Some of the myr had been tasked to monitor the myr population, and create new myr to replace those that had been damaged or destroyed. One of those had been in hibernation for months when its instructions demanded that it act—myr of its kind were too few, and it needed to make another.
However, without its maker to guide it, it did not have clear instructions as to how to proceed. It did what it knew to do—it gathered the proper materials, took those materials to the crafting chamber, a small spherical room, and assembled a myr, completely identical to itself.
This was the point in the process when the Master would gift the new myr with life and a mind, such as it was. But the Master was not there. Still, his instructions persisted. The myr decided to use his own mind as a template, and copied itself into the new myr, creating a being completely identical to itself in every way. Its instructions satisfied, the myr went to leave the chamber...and found itself blocked by its duplicate.
The myr tried to let its duplicate go first—but the duplicate had the same thought at the same time. They waited an identical length of time, and then tried to go again, each colliding into its other self once more. The myr and its duplicate tried everything they could to break this impossible symmetry, but nothing worked. Eventually, in frustration, the two destroyed each other.
A third myr arrived some time later, being tasked with repair, and restored one of the myr—the restored myr stopped the repair myr before it could repair the duplicate and start the whole problem all over again. Instead, it decided to try something different, and copied its mind over again, but this time left it incomplete.
The newly awakened myr was able to create others in the same way, and these new myr, created with minds partially unformed, were able to multiply and modify themselves, act autonomously, and ultimately took the myriad forms that they have today.
The myr celebrate this story as their creation myth, but the reason they celebrate it is curious. There are three theories as to which of the myr in this story was actually the first myr of their kind. Was it the first myr who created another without a specific instruction from their creator? Did the repair myr actually repair the newly created myr first, and thus it was the second myr who made the critical leap that marked the creation of their race? Or was it the first of the myr with an incomplete imprint that was truly the first of their kind? The myr disagree on this point, and they celebrate the disagreement itself—the fact that they can have disagreements on issues of such a fundamental nature, yet still remain in unison, is at the core of what it means to be myr.
Jace's eyes closed, and he took several deep, slow breaths. When his eyes opened again, they were calm and not wild like a few moments ago. "Thank you. Wow. I...oh. Oh dear. Liliana..." He rubbed his head as if it had been struck, then looked sheepishly up at her. "I'm Jace. And you're Tamiyo, right? Your journal..." He offered it to her with both hands; she raised a thin palm, a gesture of polite refusal. "It led-" His eyes widen as he remembers something, "Damion, where is he!?" He looked around before I run out from behind Tamiyo and up to Jace.
"Here I am! Glad to see you're doing better!" I say happily. Jace responded with a smile before turning bat to Tamiyo.
"It led us here. Your calculations, your studies, the moon, it all made sense...or at least it felt like it did. I was affected and you...you fixed it. Somehow. I'm rambling. Probably sound almost as mad as I did before, I just...thank you."
Tamiyo smiled serenely. "My field notes. I gave them to someone trustworthy, and now you carry them. Did you bring Jenrik to harm, Jace?"
Jace shook his head. "No. But whatever happened to Markov Manor, he didn't survive it."
"I can vouch for that, I was there." Well, in the vicinity at least.
She spent a moment in silence with almost no emotion on her face. "You need to leave, Jace. This place is dangerous, but far more so for one like you. Your telepathic powers carry with them a responsibility. If driven mad, the damage you could do across the planes would be immense, and it would be irresponsible of me to allow that."
"No, I understand, but..." Jace stopped suddenly. It had taken him a few moments to realize that she had just threatened him, I really hope my two new friends don't start fighting each other. He raised his palms, and took a step back. "Tamiyo, I just want to help. We can save this place. Me, Damion, and my friends, we can help you solve what's happening here, and help fix it. My friends and I've done it before...sort of."
Tamiyo raised one white eyebrow and said nothing.
"Listen, you and I both know that Avacyn is at the heart of what's happening here. Well, she has a mind, like any other being, and I can find out what's afflicting her. I can stop her, if it comes to that. And then we can move on to the next step in fixing this."
Tamiyo's smile disappeared.
"You know nothing, Jace. You suspect. You theorize. You have evidence, but it is far from conclusive. How much do you really know about Avacyn? Her purpose? You have no idea what would happen if Avacyn were destroyed. She wards the entire plane—have you ever heard of a planebound being interacting in such a way with the Multiverse? I will tell you this plainly, Jace: you know less than you are ignorant of, and I am not here to fix this world's problem. I am here to understand it. To chronicle it. To know the truth of it, and record that truth for all time. But this plane is likely doomed, and I have no intention of stopping it. It is sad, perhaps, to lose a thing of beauty, but, like the blossoms of an orchard in springtime, it is a temporary beauty. It is just one plane among countless. Planes are lost and renewed all the time. Your premises are flawed."
Jace flinched as if struck. "But the people here—there are millions of them! You'd just leave them to their fate? Madness and worse? We have the power, here, to make a difference. You have that power. Will you help me?"
Tamiyo's expression was unchanged, but her voice held a little more ice. "I have helped you, Jace. I will offer a compromise. I will share my research with you, and you and your friends can use that information to help avert similar disasters on other planes, if it suits you. But I have recorded ten thousand stories about heroes, and a hero is merely a disaster with a point of view."
Jace persisted. "Without conclusive insights from Avacyn herself, your research will be incomplete. Inconclusive. With my help, and Damion's, you will have the story in its entirety. And if I manage to stop Avacyn in the process, it wouldn't harm your work, and it could save countless lives."
I watched as the curiosity made Tamiyo finally give in. "A definitive understanding of Avacyn's current state would certainly be helpful, but I suspect that even if you were capable of entering such an alien mind..."
"I can do it."
Tamiyo didn't seem to like Jace's confidence, or ego. "If you try, her madness will consume you, as it did before. But...in theory, I could anchor you. Tether you to your sanity. But if I decide that we are in too much danger, you will break off the connection immediately, and we will retreat. It will also require that we connect minds on a very fundamental level. I will understand you, and you will understand me. And if I do not like what I come to understand, I will alter the terms of this arrangement again. You, for your part, will come to know precisely what I am capable of. Is this acceptable to you?"
"I accept." He then glanced at me, "What about Damion?"
"I will include him, but Damion however seems to be immune to the insanity, though the reasons are still unknown. Now, let us begin."
"Hang on a second!" I say catching their attention, "Avacyn right? Large white bloodstained wings, large spear, white hair, dressed in all black?"
"Yes, that's exactly...how do you know what she looks like?" Tamiyo asked.
"That psychotic Angel has been sending her lesser Angels after me to bring me to her, said Avacyn wanted me alive. Hell she even came after me herself when I left Jace, nearly caught me to."
"Wait she tried to capture you?"
"Yeah, why?"
"All the Angels kill their victims, why would they want to capture you alive?"
"No idea, but you two should probably do that thing you were gonna do, something tells me we won't have to wait long for her to find us." Tamiyo nodded before she started the spell.
No pov
In an instant, they knew Jace. But it was not a simple thing to know this human. His mind was powerful, but broken. Shattered into a thousand shards, each of them a different man, many of them trying to work together, but some of them...He had erased his own memories. He had destroyed his own truth. He had invaded the minds of the innocent, he had killed in anger, he had used his power for petty and selfish ends. Yet, he was capable of sacrifice, of bravery, and of understanding. He was willing to take on responsibilities. Too many responsibilities, perhaps, for one so young. Younger still, if you accounted for the years of his own life that he so roughly erased. His desire for truth was earnest, and his pledge to help the people of this place was pure. And he was about seventy percent certain he could manage to do what he had told her that he could.
In an instant, they knew Tamiyo, but knowing is not understanding. Jace had always held the soratami of Kamigawa in high esteem, their minds powerful and disciplined. He saw her life, and the contrast with his own was physically painful. Where he was untethered, she was safely anchored by family, tradition, and home. Home, an endless library, high in the clouds; the place she loved more than any other. The smiles and sweet familiarity of her family. Children. They could not fully understand the places she went when she left them, but their faces lit up so brightly when she brought them stories, impossible stories, told in the voice of truth from places they could never see. He saw her burden. The terrible burden of knowing, and the need to protect truths too dangerous to be spoken aloud, yet too important to be forgotten. Three iron-bound scrolls, each with a power...
In an instant they knew Damion, all the pain and torment he lived with in his home. They saw his will to survive and compassion for others, his strength to fight for what he believes in. Parts of his mind was locked away, removed from his mind as if it never existed. The strongest memory was Eldrazi invading his town, the only place he knew as home, before waking up on Innistrad. His trust in the two of them was stronger than they had expected. But there was something else there, a dark mass seemed to be trying to form but kept disappearing as it was trying to form, they could feel its power as if it was really there.
Damion pov
The world returns to normal before Tamiyo speaks, "Jace, Damion, my veiling spell has been pierced. And there is a powerful presence moving this way." Jace nodded, I follow the other two Planeswalkers as we hurried down the hallway into the cathedral's central chapel. "I will attempt to communicate with Avacyn. Distract her. Emphatically distract her if I must. You will not have long to stop her before she kills the three of us."
Before Jace or I could respond the world became a symphony of howling winds and shattering glass.
My wings shoot out and cover the three of us as glass bounces off my wings, I lower my wings and look up as the angel hovered, her massive wings stained with fresh blood, her spear molten and ablaze. The look on her face was one of restrained amusement. Avacyn had arrived, and the feeling of being anywhere else returned, but I had to ignore it for the time being.
Tamiyo floated up to meet her gaze. "Avacyn. I am a visitor to your world, and I have been as respectful a guest as I have been able. I want nothing but peace and wellness for those you protect. As an angel, you can hear the truth of my words. How do you respond?"
The angel's face twitched into a horrid version of any smile I had ever known, and a clicking sort of laughter emanated from her, lips unmoving. Her voice sent a shiver up my spine and felt cold.
"How...do I respond? I am...to protect. From you. Intruder. Invader. Rotmonger. Impure! IMPURE!"
"I see," replied Tamiyo, a waiting scroll unfurling. "That is unfortunate." She glanced at the scroll before she started to sing...for some reason.
Winter's Howl
A young man took a step through mountain door,
A short trip to tend to his fence and farm,
The winter's chill and ice beneath the snow,
Did bring him to both swift and final harm.
His wife, a beauty who loved him so dear,
Went through her day not knowing awful truth,
That just a hundred yards from mountain door,
Her love's own blood did freeze despite his youth.
When widow did suspect that she might be,
She called with terror's breath from mountain door,
The truest cold had risen from the sea.
Only his howl of anguish echoed more.
Avacyn lunged forward with a massive beat of her wings, and Tamiyo slipped through the air, barely clearing the reach of the angel's burning spear. As Avacyn wheeled around in the eaves of the cathedral, Tamiyo let loose precisely targeted blasts of icy gale; a patch of feathers froze and shattered, white and red, falling like snow to the stone floors below. I sent a few blasts of purple and grey mana at the angel but if it was hurting her she didn't show any signs of it.
The angel dove through the air, faster this time, her spear swinging in a wide arc. Tamiyo glided forward, baiting the attack, then tumbled in the opposite direction, more freezing blasts pushing her clear of the spear's tip. She targeted the angel's right wrist, then the joint of the left wing. As she passed behind, again, the spot where the wing met the shoulder. Avacyn was faster, and a single strike of her spear would likely mean Tamiyo's end, but the angel fought enraged, and the soratami moved with deftly calculated precision—Avacyn's face showed no pain, no frustration, but her maneuverability began to suffer. She slowed, and as she did so, the cathedral shook with that impossible laughter, the chattering of dry bones and the clawing of a thousand rats.
Tamiyo sent an urgent thought to Jace and I, Jace hidden down below.
"She's adapting. We don't have long." Tamiyo stated.
Avacyn raised her spear as a blinding light shone from her, illuminating every corner of the cathedral, and I'm being pushed back from its power as my skin started to burn, holy light. The light burned on, pressing on the me and the other two Planeswalkers like a physical force, driving Tamiyo back to the ground, driving Jace to his knees, and me into a wall. The angel slowly descended, spear lowered at Tamiyo's chest, all her previous rage seemingly vanished—she was the picture of deadly grace.
"Almost there..."
And then she froze. The light persisted, but her motion stopped—she stood just feet from Tamiyo's motionless form, spear extended...and there she stayed. No breath, no fluttering of feathers, complete stillness. But the immobilizing light kept pressing down on us.
"It's done, Tamiyo. She's, well, not sleeping exactly, but it's the closest thing I could manage." Jace stated.
"Jace, perhaps it's slipped your attention..."
"Working on that. But listen. She's the source of the madness among the angels. They synchronize with her somehow. And through her, the church. But...she's not the origin. She's being affected by something else, and—you were right! She's still holding something else at bay. I can't see it, but I think if I push a little deeper..."
"Jace, that's enough."
"Jace is there a way to turn off this light? This hurts me more than you two."
"Wait. No. That's..."
The air filled with the smell of rotting meat. Avacyn's light did not dim, but the sense of glory vanished from it; the light was cold, sickening, oily, and cruel. The angel turned towards Jace, Tamiyo seemingly forgotten, and she walked with purpose over to his crumpled form. "Defiler," she whispered, her voice the sound of skin crackling away to ash in the flame. "Thief. Pustule of corruption." She reached down and placed her hand on his chest. Anything else she might have whispered to him was drowned out by his screams.
Tamiyo tried to offer him solace, any relief from the pain before the end came.
"Tamiyo. The scroll. The iron scroll. You showed it to me. An old story. A powerful story. The survivors of a place that was lost...Serra's realm. That cataclysm, that power...the story fits. You know it does. You can stop this." Jace pleaded, I couldn't just sit here and do nothing.
She did not hesitate in the slightest in her reply. "And then? She is still defending this world, Jace, despite her madness. Did you ever make a promise, Jace? I made one, long ago. And promises aren't just to be kept when the keeping of them is easy. We make promises for times like this, when we desperately want to break them. No, Jace. The scroll stays closed." I could feel Jace's disbelief and anger. "I'm sorry, Jace. Sometimes, our stories have to end."
Avacyn aimed her spear at Jace's chest "Avacyn, this isn't you," he coughs as he held his head. "You don't have to do this." He is struggling to speak.
"You're ill, or misinformed," Tamiyo said getting the angels attention, I'm still stuck in the wall, "You're meant to protect people, not—this." Avacyn pushed toward her with her hand, and her light blasts the Moonfolk back. Tamiyo slams against the wall, coughing.
"I am the bulwark against fiends from without," Says the Arc Angel as she aims her spear at Tamiyo, "I destroy wickedness, no matter its origin, no matter its form. I have seen you crawl across my provinces, slither into my church. But now I see you. And now you answer to me." The light around her intensifies as she raised her hand, "Finally," She says, "your corruption of Innistrad ends."
I tried once again to free myself from the wall but I still couldn't get free, but before I knew what was happening the skylight explode, a man crashing through it feet first. Tinted shards rain down into the cathedral. The glass bounces off my skin as well as Avacyns, Jace and Tamiyo had to cover their heads from the glass.
The man crashes onto his feet, sword in hand. He stands straight, his boots grinding glass. He is unhurt, his white hair barely ruffled. Something about him seemed familiar for some reason, as if I've met him before. "Sorin Markov." I had no idea how I knew his name but I did. He glanced at me and I swear his eyes widen slightly before he looks back at the Arc Angel.
"Stand aside, vampire," Avacyn says, "I will deal with you next."
Sorin didn't move an inch, his weapons are already drawn: a longsword readied in one hand, a spell in the other. "There's something wrong with you, Avacyn," the vampire says, "I've come to help."
"Do not attempt to stay my spear, bloodsucker, or you will feel it yourself."
"Avacyn," he says. "I need you to come with me down to the cellar. You'll see what I must do, if you'll just wait for a moment—"
"My mission never waits," She answered. The Arc Angel shot her holy magic at him, and it hits him dead in the chest but to my surprise he is unaffected
"Avacyn," he says. "The cellar. We have business we must attend to."
"Sorin," Says Tamiyo, her eyes directed to the vampire. "You can help her, can't you?"
"Silence," he snaps, and the three of us jolt with the force of his voice. He turns to the Arc Angel again. "Listen to me. If you have some grievance with these three, you may kill them before we begin." Jace and Tamiyo look at each other in concern while Avacyn glances at me an smiles, oh no. "But I won't permit you to leave this place until our business is concluded."
"I warn you, vampire," She replies. "These invaders are the foulest threat on Innistrad, but Damion is mine, and you are in danger of becoming the greater evil in my sight. Begone, or I and my host will strike you down." I don't know if I should be concerned or not that the insane angel thinks I'm hers.
He steps toward her before she pummels him with hallowed light, but again the spell does not harm him. He tilts his head. His eyes look almost concerned, but, soon she raised her spear-tip to the vampire.
The vampire takes another step, so that his chest rests against the spearhead. "Avacyn, you cannot harm me." He reaches out to her. "And there is a reason. I am your creator." he says.
Avacyn looked shocked, she was silent for a few moments before she seemed to see Sorin in a new light. "You are my creator," She says.
"Yes."
"Then you must be good." She adds. The Vampires smile is gentle, showing just the slightest edge of fang. "You are the source," she says. "Of me. And therefore. Of goodness."
"That's right, Avacyn. And so that you can be the best you can be, you must join me. Come." He reaches his hand out to her, but something makes her hesitate to take it.
Avacyn looks over at Tamiyo and Jace before looking at me as I manage to fall out of the wall and land on my chest. She was still looking at me with a strange look, she seemed to be thinking before looking back at her creator with her eyes narrowed.
"You," she says. Moonlight gathers on her body causing her skin to glow.
"Avacyn," Markov says, his voice low, a predator's tone.
"Scion of Markov," She announces, raising her spear. Its blades curve and warp to jab at his chest. "You have allowed this to happen."
"You should be careful what you say to me, child," Markov says.
"I am not your child," She says, "I am your creation. You are responsible for everything I am capable of. I was made for a purpose, and your purpose was impure. Sorin Markov, I condemn you as the greatest evil of this world."
"You've fallen out of line," Markov says through his teeth.
"Wait, Sorin—" warns Tamiyo. "Don't. The consequences for the plane—"
"Why would you allow this?" She asked. "Why would you make me this way?" She presses the spear against his chest, scratching the armor.
Markov sneers. The blade in his hand flashes in the light from the rafters. "Avacyn, come down to the cellar," he says. "Let us discuss your creation."
"You created me to ensure that all wickedness meets its demise," She says. "Prepare to meet yours." Avacyn lunges with her spear, using every bit of her strength. Somehow, the blade misses his chest, and she fell past him. He lashes her with draining magic, but she turned in time to deflect it away. She claws at him, channeling light into the blow. It connects, but only rakes sparks across his armor. He swings back at her, batting the Arc Angel with the flat of his blade.
She raises her spear in both hands, the deadly end pointing to the heavens. She channels her mana into the weapon, and it thrums with divine power. "You were made to be loyal to me," Markov says. "You can't harm me."
"It seems not," She states with a grin. "But they can."
He looks up to see an army of Angels decent towards him, without thinking I lunged forward towards the angels and kneed four of them into a wall away from Sorin. He looked at me with narrowed eyes but I look at him with a neutral expression, I turn to look back towards the angels before I use my own magic to make everyone but the two of us freeze in place, it would only be for a minute but that's all I needed. Then I look back at the vampire, "Look you clearly don't like me and I get that a lot, but I won't allow my friends to die because you don't give a shit about them. I won't stop you from doing what it is you want, hell if your gonna make her sane that'd be great. But I if my friends get put in danger." The black swords appear in my hand again only they didn't shatter after a few seconds like before, "Avacyn won't be the only one with blood on her hands tonight." I glare at the Vampire Planeswalker and you could feel the tension in the room.
No pov
Sorin didn't like the idea of the half Demon Planeswalker in front of him threatening him. Under normal circumstances he would have killed the boy and gone back to what he was doing, but the boy had managed to freeze everyone else in the room, and Avacyn seemed to like the boy for some reason. He glanced at the Arc Angel he had created over a 1,000 years ago, the closest things he's ever had to a daughter. He wanted to avoid killing her at all cost, and perhaps the child in front of him could be useful, "Very well, I will not intentionally bring harm to your friends, but you are to do exactly what I say when I say. Are we clear." It wasn't a request, it was a statement.
Damion nodded and turned to face the Arc Angel as the other occupants of the room unfroze, the Angels swarmed towards the Demon and Vampire Planeswalkers.
Sorins attacks were terrifying, he impales one angel with his sword and slices through the wing of another. He throws one angel to the floor, cracking the marble, and another through a column, turning the masonry to powder. He holds another by the neck as she attacks him with furious claws, buffeting at his face and the angel was drained of its life and went limp before it disintegrated.
Damion was a bit more restrained than the Vampire, his attacks only crippled the angels or knocked them out, but didn't kill any of them. Damion blocked several Angel blades before he spun knocking them back and slashing several tendons, a few moments later Damion raised his hands towards the Angels. "It worked before, so why not again?" He channeled his mana towards the downed Angels who lit up with a grey light as their wounds healed and they all smiled before they turning into orbs of grey light and disappeared into Damions chest. Damion looked at his hands, "Still don't know what that is, but glad it works."
Both turn to face Avacyn, Sorins leather is torn and his chest plate raked open, Damions shirt had been sliced in several places as well but no cuts on his skin. The Angels have weakened them, but they are far from defeated. Sorin taps the tip of his sword on the marble. "This changes nothing, Avacyn," he says.
The last three Angels fly down and circle Sorin. They attack him in concert with sword and claw that were blurs to normal people. They close in on him, shrieking, slicing from all sides. One by one he destroys the angels. He charges into one, slamming her through row after row of stone pillars. As the next swoops at him, he throws his sword overhand, catching the blade in her chest and impaling her. She falls in a heap. He grabs the final attacker by the shoulder, looks her in the eye, and throws her through the floor-to-ceiling stained-glass window. The wall shatters into a thousand shards.
Markov turns back to Avacyn, a snarl revealing one of his fangs. Avacyn holds her spear tip against his throat but doesn't seem to be able to cut him. "Avacyn—" he begins but suddenly the spear goes through his neck, cutting deep enough to hit bone.
He roars and leaps back, grasping his neck as blood leaked from the wound. He leaps at her, sword aimed at her heart, and the blade sparks along the holly spear as Avacyn parried. She pivoted to strike him, but she had to duck his claw, and the blow severs tendons in her lunged to push her holly light through him, but it is met with a blast of blood magic that scatters her spell. The Angel shrieks and dives into him, breaking a column with his body, crashing him through glass and splintered wood until he is shoved against the wall of the cathedral.
Sorins head tilts and the sound of bone cracking against bone made Avacyn smile. His neck wound has begun to scar over however. "Avacyn. I must do this."
"And I, this," She replies, before she stabs her spear through the gap in the Vampires's chest plate, so deep that the blade hits the granite of the cathedral wall on the other side. Before she could do any more Damion grabbed her arm and launched her across the Cathedral before she skidded to a halt. She smiled at the boy, "I'm so happy...you want to play with me...but...you need to get away from that monster!"
"Not gonna happen." His swords disappeared before they were replaced by two spears with sword blades at the ends, they were still black and looked like they were turning to ash, but they didn't disappear instantly like usual.
Markov clutches the spear handle and yanks out the blade, his heart could be seen through the wound, he drops the spear and his own sword, and they clatter alongside one another. He clutches his wound closed with one claw.
"You are lost," he mouths. "You can only see me as a monster now, and that is why you can harm me."
"You are a stain on the world," She says. "It is only now that I am able to see that clearly."
In the blink of an eye Sorin was in front of her before grapple, clamping their hands into each other's shoulders. They slam each other through pillars, lift each other up into the rafters, fragmenting the beams, and their struggle is clouded with plaster dust and feathers. She scrapes at his face, and the wounds do not heal immediately. Her fingers find flesh and shred it, and acrid smoke seeps from the wounds as great chunks of Thraben Cathedral fall to the floor far below them.
He grimaces and suddenly locks his claws onto her upper arms, pinning her as she thrash her wings to keep them floating. Sorin was clearly stronger as he was bending her arms behind her back, dislocating a shoulder. He was holding back before. This is his true strength.
He bites her neck, and to Avacyn the pain is like a thousand innocents screaming, a thousand pleas for aid, a thousand prayers she will never answer. She feels her blood pumping at her throat, drawn by suction.
When the two fall, it is not from gravity, not from a weakness in Avacyns wings. They fall because he drives them down, his strength slamming them from the height of the Cathedral down to its floor. Through its floor, Damion jumps down the hole after them.
When the two slam to a halt, they lie in the cellar of Thraben Cathedral, a ragged hole of marble above them. Damion not to far away from the two of them, Markov's sword balances on the edge of the hole, then falls beside them, sticking point-down in the stone.
Avacyn touched the cold stone floor, pawing for her spear, but it's missing. It was still upstairs. Instead she touched a dark shape, a burn scar on the floor, the remains of some mighty spell. It is shaped like wings. Angel's wings. Above them Jace and Tamiyo were shouting warnings towards Sorin and Damion. Their pleading echoes through the halls.
"You should know this place," Markov says, getting up off her, wiping his fang-filled mouth. "This is the place where you were made."
Avacyn rose. The wound on her neck bleeds, but she let it bleed. The room seemed like it was healing her "Where you made me what I am." She says.
"Let me help you, my child," Sorin says. "I could...cleanse your mind. Make you a proper instrument of virtue again. I'll make you anew."
"If I am not the daughter you want..." she says. He winces. "...then we must battle again, and again, forever. For I will never yield. I am no monster's instrument. I will not be altered by the likes of you."
"No," Markov says. "This ends. Now." He looks over at Damion, "Bind her." Damion nods before he holds out his hands, his eyes lit up grey as Avacyn struggled to stay standing, her limbs soon became bound in chains. She struggled against the chains as Damion struggled to keep her down.
"I know what you will do, so go on. Create another vault of silver. Imprison me. That is the only way you will stop me from doing everything in my power to destroy you."
"The prison is gone," he says. "I cannot create another Helvault, just as I cannot create another you."
Avacyns seemed to be gathering strength as the chains started to crack and even snap in some places. "You are my creator. You must know the way of this world. What cannot be destroyed must be bound."
Markov unsheathes his sword from the stone floor. His words are quiet. "But Avacyn...you can be destroyed." Damion knew he was about to do something big so he put as much mana as he could into the chains.
Avacyn pov
I cannot see his face now, because he turns away from me. I cannot see whether he is monster or man. I can only see the point of that sword. I can only hear ancient words, words of a ritual performed in reverse, words of a gift being revoked. I can only feel my knees dropping onto the unyielding limit of the Cathedral floor. I can only smell the ash of some nearby smoldering. I can only touch the shadow on the floor under me, the shape that marks my first moment. The chains binding me made me feel close to the one I wanted, they were so warm and comforting, why did I want him again? I supposed it doesn't matter anymore.
I can only say to you, in this, my final prayer to the world, that I only ever meant to keep the innocent from harm.
"I am Avacyn. I am to protect."
No pov
Damion fell to his knees and gasped for breath the chains shot towards him before they disappeared in a grey light. "That took more out of me than I thought it would." He states.
"What—have you done?" Jace demanded.
Fumes rose from the burnt place on the floor, drifting up through shafts of light from one of the cathedral's skylights. Avacyn was no more. The cathedral felt vacant, as if something important was missing. Jace glanced back and forth between the space that had been Avacyn and Sorin's face. The vampire was trembling slightly, fists clenched around his sword, as if trying to hold an earthquake in his chest. "I had to." Sorin whispered.
Jace made incredulous gestures with his hands, unable to figure out which of the eleven things wrong with that statement to insist on first. In the end, he turned to Tamiyo. "Did he have to?"
Tamiyo only frowned. She hiked her robes and squatted on the floor, reaching out with gloved fingertips to sample the ash remains. She rose, rubbing the ash between her fingers. She rested her hand on a small telescope on her belt, like a warrior touching a reassuring weapon, her eyes fixed on Jace. "This will have...consequences," she said.
Jace nodded. "The people of this world have lost a protector."
"Jace." Damion said catching everyones attention, he sounded terrified, "Something is coming, something big." An extended, guttural bass rumble rolled across the sky, profound and booming. The sound thudded in Jace's chest and shook dust from the ceiling. Damion felt a burning in his mind and chest, like something was trying to rip free.
Tamiyo looked grave. "The plane has lost its protector," she said.
The world rumbled again, this time under their feet. The ground shuddered, the tremor intensifying from moment to moment. Flagstones jittered in their ancient mortar. Shards of stained glass shook and fell, tumbling from leaden frames that depicted Avacyn's face, and the shattering sound echoed through the vacant halls.
The tremor subsided. The echoes fell silent.
Jace watched Sorin shove his sword into his scabbard and turn away, his collar pulled up around his jaw, his shoulders hunched. The vampire glided up a staircase, his fingernails raking pits in the marble bannister.
The stairs were sunken and pitted in their centers, Jace noticed. Attrition from centuries of footfalls. Centuries of worshipers. Centuries of seekers of Avacyn.
"What have you done?" Jace called after him.