Chapter Three
Mind & Shadow
Note: If any of the following chapters involving Jace on Ravnica is a blatant copy of scenes from The Secretist, please tell me. The only storyline I have of what happens to Jace is from that book, so I need to use them, but I wish to tell a different viewpoint of many of these events.
Jace crouched in an alleyway, searching for the thought-pattern he was following. Ral Zarek was being covert all of a sudden; he had never known a storm mage doing that. Zarek and his cohorts were trying very hard not to be seen as they made their way towards Nivix.
Waiting until they were a good distance away, Jace got up and followed them, making himself inconspicuous to the minds of anyone who saw him.
All except one, whom he didn't know was watching the watcher.
Julna stood on a shaded rooftop, looking at Jace Beleren through the eyes of the shades that were tailing him. After days of searching for a telepath to rival the power of Mirko Vosk, Beleren had so conveniently returned from Zendikar two months after Julna had. True, Julna was rather unhappy that Beleren had unwittingly assisted in the release of the Eldrazi, which Sorin had blamed Julna for, but Julna needed a telepath, and Jace was the best of the best.
Julna spoke the words that would send Falderin scrambling to catch up with Jace.
Jace had followed Ral all the way to the Guildgate of Nivix. He had had some close calls on the way, but this was turning out to be the best idea he had had in a while. Ral Zarek was meeting with Niv-Mizzet himself.
Ral began talking. "We have done what you have requested, Great One, though we had a harder time doing it than we thought. The pattern revealed itself, but only by causing extensive damage to the undercity."
Mizzet's eyes narrowed. "Come inside and we shall discuss this further," he growled. Turning his enormous body to fly up to the top of Nivix.
Jace couldn't miss this chance. He fused his mind with Niv-Mizzet.
Julna stared incredulously. This couldn't be right. Falderin was sending a very timid probe towards Jace's mind, and from what he could see, Jace and Niv-Mizzet were currently one and the same. Was Beleren foolish or desperate enough to invade the Firemind itself?
Either way, Julna had to do something about it. Using black mana from the Golgari fungus around him, he melted himself into the shadow of the overhang and traveled all the way down to the ground, materializing again next to Falderin.
"Master!" Falderin said cautiously, guessing what Julna was about to do, "Do you think this wise? We do not want the Izzet finding out our affiliation to the Dimir."
"That's only if they can get through your telepathic defenses. We're going to throw our combined might at the Firemind to keep him from overwhelming our prospective ally. Come on, we need to get as close as possible. Niv-Mizzet is starting to notice that something is wrong."
Jace was astounded at what he found. His mental surroundings manifested itself as a mansion on fire, but not being destroyed. The fire did not burn, it was simply there. Many hallways and doors branched off from the entrance hall where Jace was standing. In place of a door behind him was the dragon's Mind's eye. Rather than being a metaphor for inner concentration, this was an actual eye that was closed at the moment, Niv-Mizzet not being aware that someone had invaded his mind. Jace sprinted down the corridors. Every door had a little peek hole set in the wood, and Jace looked through a few, and realized that they were the doors to the dragon's memories and knowledge. Everything ever done by the Izzet, things dating back to the Guildpact and before, was catalogued in this dragon's mind. This was the greatest treasure trove of knowledge in Ravnica, possibly in the Multiverse, and it was at his command. There was the knowledge of the Maze, and there was a personal conversation with Azor himself, and, and, and…
He couldn't fully comprehend the amazing store in here. But he didn't have time to. He could tell that the dragon was becoming aware of an intruder, and his mind's eye was opening, trying to get a glimpse of Jace.
But something was happening. Two… things were attempting to keep it closed. They were both shadowy, insubstantial, but the trails of dark energy they left behind were acting as a sort of cage, keeping the dragon from attacking the unwanted visitor.
What?... Jace thought.
"I think it's working!" Falderin yelled telepathically as they struggled to keep the mind's eye closed. Julna had never met a mind so powerful or vast. Falderin was certainly acting the optimist; Julna couldn't hold on much longer. And Beleren was taking his sweet time doing what he came to do.
"Hurry up!" Julna barked at Jace, "Before this dragon sends us all to Phyrexia!" He didn't usually make allusions to other planes, especially that particular one, but he needed to identify himself as a potential ally against Ral Zarek and the Izzet. Zarek had so carefully hidden his planeswalker abilities from the dragon, but other planeswalkers, or indeed, their shadows, could easily see the signs of a spark in him.
Jace immediately began searching through memories of the Maze, not even trying to be subtle anymore. Time was of the essence.
The mind's eye shattered the cage and snapped open a split second before Jace was finished. Julna and Falderin had time to leave and hide, but Jace was still preoccupied with finding the memories, and he escaped a moment too late. Niv-Mizzet hadn't found anything out about Beleren, but he now knew Jace was there.
As soon as their minds were back in their own bodies, Julna immediately grabbed Jace and began chanting, raising Urza's cloak. As Niv-Mizzet swirled his head around, trying to find them, the runes on the cloak flashed, and the two mages vanished.
They reappeared in the Second District, near Vitu-Ghazi and the Rubblebelt. It was luck entirely that they were in a part of the city that didn't have many citizens wandering about, not wanting to fall prey to bloodthirsty Gruul Shamans or worse, the slaughterhorns. Julna pulled Jace to his feet and said, "Hurry, we have to move. We need to be somewhere safe when Niv-Mizzet's planeswalker comes after us with his storm elementals. If you promise to let me wipe your memory of its location after we leave there, I can lead you to a safe-house."
"The Maze," Jace mumbled, "So THAT'S what it's for…"
Julna cleared his throat. "Did you hear me? We have to move."
Jace turned to Julna. "And go where? I don't even know who you are and you're trying to help me. Coming from personal experiences, I can't trust people like that."
"Well, you're going to have to change that. Look!" Julna pointed to the rooftops far above. Flashing in between the spires of the city were red, fleshy blurs. "Hypersonic dragons," Julna said, "They'll be on us in a couple of minutes!"
He still wasn't moving. Julna rolled his eyes and slammed his fist down on Jace's head. The mind mage crumpled like a rag doll. Concentrating, he ran straight towards the dark wall in front of him, Falderin dragging Jace behind him. As his head was about to connect with the hard stone, Julna closed his eyes and the three of them dissolved into the shadow. The hypersonic dragons swooped down, only to find an empty alleyway and three shadows moving irregularly, their supposed casters staying very, very still.
Jace woke up to total darkness. All he could tell of his surroundings was that it smelled like the undercity. He sat up and tenderly rubbed the sore spot on the back of his head. "Ugh, what did you DO to me? I've never felt such a powerful jolt spell in my life."
"That's because it wasn't," the stranger's voice came from out of the darkness. "I just hit you really hard."
"Do you think you could turn on a light? I would enjoy being able to see you."
Uttering a few words in a language Jace didn't recognize, all of the darkness in the room seemed to shift until it was all tightly packed in a corner of absolute blackness. Everywhere else was suddenly flooded with light from no source, and Jace saw the stranger clearly. He didn't look that menacing for someone who had double-handedly fought off the mind of Niv-Mizzet. He was a man of about mid-twenties, with black clothes that showed no sign of wear and nothing of where he might have come from, if not for the subtle black spikes at the shoulders. This man was wearing the uniform of a Dimir spy!
Not wanting to let this chance slip, Jace threw his mind at the agent to see what he could discern of the Dimir's plan for the Maze.
Julna expected Jace to attempt to probe his mind, but he was on no account going to allow it. Using twelve words in the divine language of Theros, his birthplane, Julna summoned all the mana from the various hotspots in the district and was even able to draw mana from swamps of Zendikar and Theros. Gathering all this energy within himself, he summoned every shade he commanded and threw them at Jace in response.
Instantly the growing pressure in his brain disappeared, and Jace slumped on the ground again, trying to fight off the onslaught that Julna had unleashed.
That was the beauty of the divine language. In words it could accomplish the equivalent of several sentences in any language of mortals. Learning it had been an arduous journey in and of itself, and Julna shuddered to think of the cost of the quest. It was not something he would do again, but he was glad he had done it. Being able to summon all shades in one burst was certainly proving useful, as well as being able to shape an etherium body better than any master artificer, even Tezzeret.
After a few minutes of prolonged silence with a few suppressed whimpers from Jace as he fought the shades, Julna sent them all back to Duskmantle (he'd really need to find another place to put them soon). His aim was not to incapacitate Jace for the foreseeable future, but simply to demonstrate his power and what would happen if Jace tried to invade Julna's mind. Jace sat up, wide-eyed and full of terror, and simply asked in a quiet voice, "Who ARE you!?"
"My name is Julna Buras," Julna said, "And I've come for your help."
"And again: Why would I want to help you?"
"Because I don't believe either of us wants Lazav or Niv-Mizzet to figure out the Maze first."
"Well, you're right about that. You're a planeswalker, judging by the fact that you know what Phyrexia is. Where are you from? What plane were you born on?"
"I was born in the small village of Lexissora on the plane of Theros."
"Theros? I don't think I've ever heard of that plane."
"Very few have. Not many have been there; not that it's blocked from planeswalking, it's just unknown."
"What's your magical specialty and mana type?"
"I am a black/blue mage who specializes in Umbreomancy, or shadow magic, if you prefer. Go on, ask me another question. I'm enjoying this little game."
"Why are you so interested in me? What do you want?"
Julna smiled. "Like I said, I need your help. A certain employer of mine recently made a decision that I did not agree with, and so I quit the organization. Unfortunately, I must still confront a certain member of said organization who is a very accomplished telepath. I need a telepathic mage of similar or greater powers in order to defeat him."
"That's why you need me. What is that cloak? I can tell that you value it above all else, and the magical runes are very faint on the inside, but what is it? What can it do?"
"This cloak is the most valuable object I possess. It was created by Urza and has many powers. Not only does it power up my magic itself, using certain words, it allows me to instantly teleport anywhere, and I do mean ANYWHERE."
Jace's eyes widened. "Anywhere? You can travel instantly to Nivix?"
"Yes."
"Esper?"
"Child's play. I just traveled there about a month ago to collect etherium for a little experiment."
"The Inner Sanctuary of Nicol Bolas?"
"Yes, but why in the world would I want to do that?"
Jace seemed on the verge of a nervous breakdown. "One last question: What is the extent of your powers? What can you do?"
Julna smiled acidly. "That, Beleren, is something that I will never tell anyone."
Jace slumped against the wall. "My mind is reeling, and that's saying something. Who's this adversary you need a mind mage for?"
"Mirko Vosk."
"The Mind Drinker? What do you plan to do?"
"Lazav decided to not make me the Dimir's champion, I run the Maze for myself and take whatever is at the end. But I can't do that."
"Why not!? Just use those shades you threw at me."
"I can't. Those shades need to regenerate every time I bring them out in the daytime. I have a lot, but Mirko will eventually find a weakness. That's why I need you. You need to help me fend off his telepathic attacks."
"That's all? That should be relatively easy." Jace pulled out a small necklace with a blank pendant. Writing some runes on it with a stylus, he whispered words and pulled mana from fountains on Ravnica. He handed the pendant over to Julna, and Julna noticed that it was now glowing blue. "This will protect against telepathy," Jace explained, "You need to keep putting mana into it, but it will keep Mirko from messing with your mind."
Putting it over his head, Julna smiled. Jace stood up and made for the door. "Well, now I can go back to my business."
"Oh, you will," Julna said, "But do you really think I'll let you walk away after everything I've told you? The only reason I told you in the first place was because I knew you would never walk out with that knowledge. I told you that my shades have to regenerate after being out in the day. But I didn't use all my shades in that attack. I still have one left." Saying the five words, Falderin detached himself and attacked Jace's mind, erasing Jace's memories of Julna and putting him to sleep. Julna instructed Falderin to take Jace back to his home, then rendezvous with Julna outside Vizkopa.
This just wasn't Jace's day.
Jace woke up in his home, having no memory of how he had got there.
What?... How did I get here? Where's Niv-Mizzet? Where's Ral Zarek? He thought. The last thing he remembered was barely escaping from Niv-Mizzet's mind. He couldn't believe that he had held off Niv-Mizzet's mind single-handedly. It was probably the hardest thing he had ever done, but he had done it and gotten his information.
But there was something else… He had a feeling that there was something he was forgetting. Something that he was forced to forget. He searched his mind and found gaping holes where his memories of the last day should have been. They stretched from the moment he had left the Firemind to the moment when he woke up.
But there was still one thing. One tiny thing that had been left behind. It wasn't a memory, more like a subconscious impression. Something that couldn't be erased. The impression told him one thing.
Watch the shadows.
