Beckett stepped out of her cruiser and stared in awe. Castle's photo did not do the devastation justice.

It was beyond horrifying.

The damage was mostly confined to the park Kate noticed, with the surrounding sidewalks also cracked and burned. She watched a group of firefighters, police officers, bomb squad personnel, and members of the Parks Department pointing at the destruction left behind by… whatever the hell did this.

She stepped up to the crime scene tape – because what else could this be but a crime? She showed her badge to an officer behind the barrier and asked, "What happened? Is there any explanation yet?"

"Dunno, Detective," the man said, motioning a news camera to move further back. "Please keep back, sir, we don't know what we're dealing with yet." He turned back to Beckett and went on in a low voice, "It looks like a bomb went off, but no explosive has been detected anywhere, not to mention nobody heard a blast last night. A couple of people reported some gunshots in the area, but no idea if it had anything to do with what happened here. "

Kate opened her mouth to ask another question but saw two familiar people at the edge of the crowd. What were they doing back here? Were they involved in the destruction? She shook her head. That would lend credence to the whole ridiculous magic thing they had going, and for her own sanity, she just couldn't accept that.

"Thanks for the info…" she looked at his name badge, "… Garrett."

He nodded and went back to keeping the crowd at bay along with two other officers.

Beckett moved toward Jace and Gideon, careful to keep out of their line of sight. Just as she moved within earshot, she noticed Jace click off a cell phone.

"And how do you propose we heal the park?" she overheard Gideon ask. "That's not our magic."

"Not us, Gideon. Nissa."

Kate frowned. These two really seemed to believe they had real magic – whatever real meant in this case. And what the hell was a 'Nissa'? She watched Gideon nod in understanding and they both closed their eyes in concentration. What were they doing?

A minute later her jaw dropped as a black line with a white aura on either side appeared out of nowhere, somehow folding the two men into nothingness. Kate looked around, but no one else was paying attention to the two men. The black line folded into itself somehow, and became a black dot, hovering in the air. It disappeared with a flash of pure white flame, though no heat was released. She looked back and saw that not a single other person had seen any of the events occur.

"What the…?" Kate stood a moment in amazement. She looked at the place where Jace and Gideon had been, and somehow, it felt oddly familiar. She felt a pull, like the tide going in, drawing her towards it. What is this? Suddenly she became aware of this… energy around her. It couldn't really be described. She felt it, in the city around her, even in the ocean, though she couldn't even see the Hudson River from here, close as it was, let alone the Upper Bay. She didn't know how to feel about this. The stuff almost seemed attracted to her.

Using her mind, Kate gathered the energy, and she could swear that she knew how to do the thing that Jace and Gideon did. The stuff, energy, whatever seemed to light on fire, then she really began to feel that tidal pull, she dove into it, though if anyone had seen her, she simply would have folded into the same nothingness Jace and Gideon had with a burst of light.

XXXXXX

Jace stepped out of the Blind Eternities, and onto a world acutely different from Earth, Gideon close behind him.

"All right, we're here. They said they would be staying in Akoum, right?"

"Yeah. Let's go." They both started to walk when they heard something fall to the ground behind them.

"What is- Kate! What are you doing here?"

"Ow. That hurt." Kate got up, brushed the dirt off from her jeans, and looked around. "Where am I?"

"Uhh… you're in Zendikar."

"Zendi what?"

"Zendikar. This is one of the many planes in the multiverse. And because you are a planeswalker, you can travel between them."

"What?" Kate couldn't believe what she was hearing, but as she looked around, she saw she was definitely not in New York.

"Look, for now, just come with us, we will tell you everything once we get to Nissa and Chandra."

The three moved through a forest down a well-used path. Kate gazed up at the trees – taller than any in the woods by her dad's cabin, even taller than the sequoias she'd seen in California. She heard strange noises and decided she didn't want to know what kind of animals were here. She hoped they wouldn't run into any – she had a feeling her gun wouldn't work in this magical world.

Suddenly she realized she was falling behind Jace and Gideon since she was gawking so much. She ran to catch up, and noticed the terrain changing as they moved to a higher elevation.

It didn't take long for them. They followed the small mountain path until they arrived at a small village. Immediately they saw the two walking up the path toward them.

"Wait a second," Kate said nervously. She needed to get her bearings and didn't want to show her weakness – at least not until she knew if these women were friendly or not.

"What's wrong, Kate?" asked Jace.

"Do you trust these two?" she asked. Gideon stared.

"Of course. We're here to meet with Nissa in particular, but Chandra will help us as well."

"I'm just gonna go…" she waved a hand behind her. "… Over there… Out of the way."

"That's not necess…" Jace said, but Kate moved off to stand behind a large boulder. Hidden, but close enough to listen to what the others were saying.

"Haven't we shown her we're trustworthy?" complained Gideon. "What's it going to take before she accepts us at our word?"

"Perhaps she's been burned by people she's trusted before," replied Jace. "And being that she's from a plane where magic is viewed with suspicion at best – well – I guess I can understand her wariness."

Gideon shrugged, seeing the point as they approached the women.

"Chandra, Nissa. It is good to see you."

"And you, Jace. To what do we owe the visit?"

"It's the mission we're on. We've tracked Garruk down to a plane called Earth." He explained the plane to them and recounted their journey.

"No magic at all?"

"None. At least, real magic. There are 'magicians' who are nothing more than tricksters. They do have a strange thing they call electricity. It only powers artifact-like machines, though. That seems to be the closest thing they have to magic. Even the mana is old, as if it hasn't been used in a long time – or ever."

Kate watched a bird land on the rock she was hiding behind. It fascinated her. It had brilliant blue plumage, with orange feathers behind its head. It began chirping a birdcall different than anything she had ever heard. She hoped she wouldn't be noticed.

No such luck.

"Who's there?"A woman with dark hair and pointed ears called out. "You, behind the rock, show yourself." Kate came out from her hiding place, a little sheepishly.

"How did you know I was there?"

"The bird told me." The woman in front of her, Nissa, said it like it was the most natural thing, like anyone could do it.

"Uh-huh…" Kate's skeptical tone was unmistakable.

"It's true. I'm connected to this plane much more than you may think." The woman narrowed her eyes. "So you are the planeswalker Kate."

"Uh, yeah, I guess so… Well, I'm Kate anyway."

God, could she sound more like an idiot? If any proof was needed that she was out of her element, that was it. She rolled her eyes at herself. "Tell me, what's a planeswalker again?" Chandra began her explanation.

"You were born with the planeswalker's spark. It is a piece of the blind eternities, the place you went through to get here. When your spark ignites, and it would seem that it did just before you were killed by Garruk, it allows you to enter the blind eternities without dying."

"So… before I entered these... blind eternities, I felt this energy around me, and I used it to go into… whatever that was."

"The energy you felt is called mana, the land in every plane is able to produce it over time. I like Zendikar because there is a lot of it here."

Jace interrupted. "Almost all mana falls under five colors: white, blue, black, red, and green. Different lands produce different colored spells, and different types of spells require certain colors of mana. For example, these mountains here produce red mana. And-"

"Yeah, red mana is the best because you can do this." And with that, Chandra spread her hands out, thumbs touching, fingers pointed to the sky. A sheet of flame, almost two stories tall erupted from her hands, heating up the entire area around them.

"Holy sh –! What was that?"

"Ignore her." Gideon walked up. "That's not what we're looking for right now. Nissa, we need you to restore the nature area we told you about. Not only that, we need to teach Kate how to effectively wield magic. She'll need it to fight Garruk."

"Yes. we should have her try all four colors to see what she is the most comfortable with."

"Weren't there five?" Kate asked.

"Yes, but only necromancers and other dark magic users use black mana. It is how Garruk was cursed. Kate, do you know how to use the mana in the land?"

"I think so… Does this mana correspond to the elements? Earth, air, fire and water?"

Chandra looked thoughtful. "Think of it as they are produced by the elements. I think we can teach you more specifics."

Jace broke in."You – at least in the beginning – will probably be most comfortable with using white and blue mana. You live in a city, on an island, by the ocean. We'll begin there."

Thus the three began training a new planeswalker, bringing another into the fold.

Hey everyone, hope you like the story so far, the climax is here. Leave a comment if you can't wait to see what is going to happen! (I can't wait for it either, still toying with at least two endgame situations)

Thanks to Netsrik1 for writing this story and putting up with a week of me pretty much not there as I was in Hawaii. You're the best!

Please comment below!