Chapter 9

The Shadow Offensive

"General!" the shade yelled as it rose from the ground in Thalia's tent, "A squadron of shades is approaching our position!"

Finally, Thalia thought, drawing her sword. Julna had given her platoon orders to stake out this section of the forest; the shades apparently frequented this stretch when travelling from Nephalia to the surrounding villages. They had waited three days for shades to come through here. Thalia had been getting impatient; it almost never took this long to cross paths with the Old One's army. Only a month after Julna had forged Shadowseer, he had raised an army that he believed to be almost as large as the one that had been stolen by the Old One. Shortly after that, he had given Thalia a sword just like the ones she used, but infused with Æther mana so she could be a general in his army. It felt good to be able to defend herself against those creatures, but she wished that Timdis was there to do it for her; Thalia suspected she was developing a phobia of shades as they continued to stalk her. Timdis could have shot magical arrows at the shades without ever getting near them, and she would be that much safer.

But generals had responsibilities, and none of them were to cower in her tent, trying to keep herself away from the shades at expense of her troops. Thalia flipped open the flap in her tent and stepped out into the clean, fresh forest air. A hundred shades turned their eyes to her. Some had taken on three-dimensional form, while others were still only shadows on the ground. Thalia still hadn't gotten used to commanding such... unconventional soldiers. They obeyed her unquestioningly, but she hadn't needed to make any sort of allowances for things like food or tents, except for herself. It made her uncomfortable because she had never engaged in this kind of warfare before; she didn't think anyone had. All these shades did were float around, chase one another for unknowable reasons, and patrol their "camp" unceasingly. None of them ate, they didn't sleep, and (thankfully), none had to stop a patrol so one of them could relieve themselves. Alright, so there were some benefits as well.

The shades who had detached from the ground saluted with their dark, ethereal arms. Thalia returned it, marvelling at how quickly Julna had instilled a militaristic behavior in his creations. He had raised a sizeable army and taught them correct conduct in a month. Even Lord Markov had been pleased. As for Avacyn… well… Thalia could never tell with the archangel. That one was too good at hiding her emotions. Julna, however, had only looked vaguely satisfied when he assembled the thousand-or-so shades he had created. He had sent half of them to patrol villages across Innistrad to keep anymore innocents from having their shadows stolen. The rest he had split among Thalia, Sorin, and Avacyn. Sorin had seemed perturbed at not receiving an Æther mana-infused blade like Thalia; he believed his blood magic to be useless in a fight against shades, until Julna had told them about the essence-stone that contained the energy and life of the shade. He had been able to capture a few of the enemy shades and taught Sorin how to extract the essence-powder, which Julna could use to fuel his umbreomancy to even greater heights, controlling shadows to ensnare shades who stayed attached to the ground. It was something he had learned only a few days after forging Shadowseer.

Thalia couldn't help but admire Julna's intellect. He had figured all these tactics out in a month and had trained an entire shade army in the same time limit. And these weren't just any regular shades; Julna had theorized that he had given a spark of lithomancy to the shades, and that was why they became stones once they were dead. He had experimented with using more lithomancy in the shade-making process, and had created shades that were much more solid; they looked like men, but were made of shadow and were much harder, better, faster, and stronger. He called them lithomantic shades, they were made from a stone (he could even use the essence-stone from dead shades) imbued with Æther mana, and they were capable of using steel swords charged with it; his generals received etherium swords from the etherium he mined from… well, wherever he got it from. While Thalia only had a battalion of normal shades, Julna campaigned with a small army of lithomantic shades somewhere else, and she was stuck with stakeout duty. Yes, she fought shades from the Old One, but nothing had happened on this particular stretch.

Until today.

The scouts at the edge of the camp simply stood there, waiting for a few shades to come and try to attack them. They were prepared for it.

At least, they thought they were. A flood of shades materialized at the edge of the grove and shot forward, crushing the scouts into dust. The rest of her platoon flew forward to defend, but the Old One had sent far more shades than Thalia had imagined. She swung at any shade that tried to get close to her, but the odds were against them. She called a shade to her side and said frantically, "Get word to General Buras! The Old One sent many more troops than we thought!"

The shade said, "At once, General!" and flew off in the opposite direction, going blindingly fast. Hopefully Julna was nearby, or else the Old One would finally get Thalia's shadow. Why did he want it? Even Julna didn't know. But it had been trying to get it since the plague had started, so Julna had taken it upon himself to protect her.

Thalia swung her sword, destroying two shades at once. More were breaking through her dwindling defensive line. Her platoon was falling, and she knew it.

Come on, Julna, she thought, you're always there when I don't need you, so why aren't you here now?

Just as her last few shades moved to attack, a ball of pure gray energy shot out from behind Thalia and turned the entire front line of enemy shades into dust.

Julna smiled as Thalia whirled around with surprise. She smiled ever so slightly, but her tone was sarcastic as she said, "You have wonderful timing. Did you know that?"

"Of course," he replied, mentally commanding the squadron of lithomantics he had brought to attack all enemy shades approaching them, "It's one of my best qualities."

She rolled her eyes. "You want some 'best qualities'? Show your quality of getting rid of the things you created."

Julna nodded and drew Shadowseer. The sword sparkled with the stars of Nyx. He ran forward and swung it at a large shade that was about to break through Thalia's shades. Shadowseer had barely scratched the shade when it burst into dust. Shadowseer kept going and hit two other shades that had foolishly chosen to replace the dead one. Julna called his twenty lithomantics to take out the excess shades that he couldn't get to. Between them, the large battalion of shades that the Old One had sent were completely eliminated. Julna dug his hands into the pile of dust they left to restore his energy.

Thalia walked forward, her sword speckled with black dust. "And that," she said, smiling, "Is why we keep you around."

Julna chuckled. "Really? The only reason?"

"Of course. If you weren't so good at killing those shades, I'd leave you to the zombies over in Diregraf."

"And I'd just kill those and come right back here."

"I'd take your sword."

"I'd summon it back from Nyx."

"I'd knock you out first."

"You'd never have the strength."

I would shut you both up from the inside first, said Falderin, exasperated, to them both from Julna's shadow. All Julna could hear from Niredlaf was something that sounded suspiciously like giggling. Niredlaf seemed to enjoy Falderin's annoyance.

Thalia blushed. "No need for that, Falderin."

Julna surveyed the grove. Since it was a battle of shades, there was no blood or corpses, only small piles of black dust. "Well," he said, "At least we learned one thing from this."

"And what's that?"

"The Old One is starting to be more reckless. He's beginning to fear us."

Thalia smiled. "True."

They both heard a fluttering of wings from above. They looked up and saw Avacyn descending from the sky. She landed with her customary grace and looked around. "Well," she said, "You seemed to have this well in order."

"Yep," Julna replied, "The lithomantics work wonders."

"They'll need to. Sorin is having troubles with shades attacking Stromkirk. We need to get over there."

Julna nodded. "Can you take Thalia?"

"I can."

Julna nodded to Thalia, who stepped forward and grabbed Avacyn's arm. "We'll see you there, I suppose?" she asked.

Julna raised his cloak. "More like you'll catch up with me." He chanted and warped away.

Sorin jumped out of the way as a shade lunged for his shadow. Barely even concentrating, he sapped its essence-stone and left it without energy to even continue existing. He had learned this skill a month ago and it was already becoming absurdly easy. Still, this was a larger force than he had ever seen before. The Old One couldn't possibly have gotten all these shades from Buras; he must have found a way to create them himself. Maybe that's why he needed all of the shadows; he consumed them to create new shades.

Sorin's front line was giving way to the onslaught. He growled in frustration; where was Avacyn? She was supposed to be at his side, fighting with him. He sapped the essence-stone of two shades who were getting too near to him, but it wasn't enough. Too many were breaking through. They'd be overwhelmed soon.

Just then, he saw a glowing white figure flying through the sky towards him, and someone appeared right next to him with twenty figures, like shades, but not exactly, surrounding him.

So that's where she was, Sorin thought, Off getting Buras and Thalia to help me. How quaint.

Julna looked confused as Sorin stared at him. "What?" he asked, "Didn't expect me?"

"Not in the least. You were supposed to be helping Thalia."

"I did, and now I'm helping you."

"Who told you I needed help?"

Julna looked even more confused now. "Avacyn did," he said, "She told us you sent her to bring us to help you."

Sorin sighed. "I didn't send her, but she went anyway. She seems to think I need help when I don't."

Julna looked around. "Well, it certainly looks like you need help to me." He turned toward his twenty lithomantics. "Fight any enemy shade you can find. Sorin's army must not be breached." The shades nodded without a word and sprang into action. They ran towards the front line faster than any man and began attacking the shades with Æther mana swords. It wasn't much of a fight after that. Sorin sapped essence stones, Avacyn and Thalia hacked at shades once they landed, and Julna swept away the rest of the Old One's army with Shadowseer. That blade was terrifying to Sorin. It could shut down Sorin's powers with a single scratch and could kill shades by barely even touching them. It had been forged using a power Sorin didn't understand using a spell that had been devised by gods. Such a thing was not something Sorin believed should be in the hands of anyone.

And yet, if it weren't for that monstrosity of a blade, they would have no chance of stopping the Old One's horde. Julna couldn't summon an infinite supply of Æther mana, so the sword was his main way of killing the shades. Every so often, Julna would have to replenish the stockpiles in Thalia's sword, but his never ran out. Sorin didn't have a sword, and neither did Avacyn; their magic (and in Avacyn's case, her spear) was strong enough to kill ethereal beings on their own.

And yet, more shades kept coming. Sorin's force was almost gone, and he was sure that even with Julna here, twenty lithomantic shades could not hold Stromkirk.

"Julna! We need to pull back!" Sorin yelled.

Julna shook his head. "We can't! Stromkirk will not fall!"

"Are you blind?" Sorin screamed back, "Our forces are falling! You can't defeat an entire army on your own, and neither can we!"

Julna smiled. "Then I think it's time for a little back-up." He said a word, and that white shade he always had with him sprang up and flew away.

They kept fighting, and Sorin hoped that whatever Julna had set in motion, it had better happen in time for his shadow to stay safely connected to his feet. Avacyn had thrown Thalia over her shoulder to keep the shades from getting at her. Even one of Julna's lithomantics fell, and Sorin hastily picked up its sword before an enemy shade could get it. He continued to sap essence-stone, but he was running out of black mana sources to tap, and white mana couldn't take life energy of any kind. It could generate it, but not take it.

Suddenly, from the forest on the outskirts of Stromkirk, a wave of white appeared. Sorin saw the blue eyes of Julna's shade leading a torrent of other white shades to attack. The Old One's black shades had never fought them before and fell quickly under the onslaught.

Julna nearly laughed out loud at the expression on Sorin's face. He had never seen the vampire more dumbfounded than he was right then. Avacyn and Thalia looked equally surprised. Niredlaf's army swooped down and hit the Old One's army in the flank. Julna mentally told his lithomantics to stay back; he didn't want to lose any more of them today. Niredlaf returned to Julna and said, Was this what you were hoping for?

Absolutely, Julna replied, They never saw you coming.

Sorin finally was able to wrench himself out of his stupor and stormed over to Julna. "And just when," he began, "Were you planning to tell me about this second army? Where did you get it anyway?"

"First of all," Julna replied, "I never saw a battle dire enough to use them. They were my secret weapon, Sorin, and I didn't want the Old One to know about them. Second, you told me soon after I first got here that you were also having a minor problem with all the spirits haunting the villages. Since Niredlaf here was made from the spirit of my old body, I figured that I could use other spirits to create white mana shades. As you can see, it worked."

Sorin still looked angry. Julna knew that he really hated surprises or unexpected outcomes. It was why Julna enjoyed doing it to the vampire; any time he could annoy Sorin was a good time. After all, it took Sorin's attention away from blaming Julna for the shades plaguing Innistrad.

Avacyn glided over and looked at Julna with approval. "You certainly having a knack for solving minor problems, Buras. I take it you made those shades from spirits?" Avacyn had a talent for figuring out how Julna made his shades; Julna had no idea how she could tell so well.

"I was just explaining that to Sorin here. They certainly worked well here."

"That they did, but the element of surprise was on our side. Next time we won't be so lucky."

They all heard a rumble come out of the woods, and the Old One said, rather begrudgingly, Well played. Even I could not foresee what that spirit-shade would bring to pass. The angel, however, is correct; I now know you have them, and my preparations have already begun.

They looked at each other. "Well," Julna said happily, "Wasn't that nice of him to tell us his feelings? Maybe next he'll invite us to tea."

Thalia burst out laughing.

A few weeks passed, and none of them saw much of the Old One's army. Julna believed Sorin to be correct in his assumption that the Old One had begun making his own shades; they had destroyed so many that it would be a while before any significant attack would occur.

Julna, on the other hand, still had a sizeable number of shades left, as well as the spirit-shade battalion he had unleashed at Stromkirk; additionally, he had collected all the essence-stone from the recent attacks and was able to make three more lithomantic shades, whom he had given one of each to Thalia, Sorin, and Avacyn. He used the most of his remaining etherium to give them the kind of swords only his generals received; that way, they could more easily protect their charges. Thalia had especially seemed comforted by this.

Julna had, of course, also been working on making normal shades for their army. The real hassle was training them to fight other shades. That was what he was spending the majority of his time doing.

Thalia had walked in on one of these training sessions with Julna training new shades. It hadn't been going very well; the shades viewed each other as brothers, so convincing them to fight one another hadn't been going very well. Julna was taking a break when she walked in and he didn't look happy.

"What is the point," he asked her when she drew near, "Of making these things if they're more stupid than the zombies?"

Thalia shrugged. "You've had success training them so far."

"Still, I keep thinking that maybe these are the shades that will never learn, and maybe it would be better to give them to the Old One so he can deal with their stupidity."

Thalia rolled her eyes and drew her sword. "Maybe some sparring will take your mind off your troubles."

Julna stared at her, and the shades on the practice ground suddenly moved away from each other, creating a ring in the center. Thalia took the hint and walked over to stand at one end of it. Julna drew Shadowseer and took his place at the opposite end. Thalia went into battle stance, as did he. They circled each other, calculating where to begin.

Thalia feinted a lunge, but Julna knew what she was doing and instead swung from the side. She raised her sword just in time to parry and swiftly attempted a counter strike. The superior reflexes Julna had allowed him to dodge with time to spare. He swung to counter her counter, and when he saw that she wouldn't be able to block it, he twisted the blade so the flat hit her instead of the edge. She flinched as Shadowseer hit her, and then jumped backward.

"How do you do it?" she said incredulously, "That was the most well-executed counter I've ever done!"

"It's all because of the etherium," Julna replied, "Come here, I'll show you."

She walked over next to him, and he took her sword and deliberately slashed his forearm with it, all the way down to the bone. She shrieked in horror, but he said, "Calm down and watch." She looked, wincing at the blood, and saw the smooth gray etherium of Julna's bones. She said, "What are you trying to-" She stopped, and her mouth dropped open as the wound healed before her eyes.

"The etherium does so much for me," Julna said as she stared, "It heals me, gives me perfect physical abilities and keeps me from aging. I'm surprised that you were able to push me over when you first started teaching me because of the etherium."

She struggled to find her voice. "Are there… Are there any others like you?"

"There are some people who cut off their limbs and replace them with skeletal pieces of etherium, like a mage I knew once named Tezzeret, but I've never liked the look of that. No one else knows how to make fully functioning homunculi that can hold someone's spirit, so no, there are no others; I am unique."

Thalia was struggling for words. "Did it hurt? When you possessed this body, I mean?"

"Not at all. The pain was from the blood-curse Sorin placed on me. He had… misunderstood my appearance in a place where a catastrophe had occurred. He blamed me for it and tried to kill me. I hastily used a spell to slow it and gathered etherium to make the body." He chuckled awkwardly. "It was only after I transferred bodies that I realized the etherium one didn't have any clothes. My maid was quite disturbed when she walked in to find what looked like a naked stranger in her master's house."

Thalia laughed, but still seemed thoughtful. "So this isn't what you've always looked like?"

"A strapping twenty-five year-old immortal bachelor? Not at all. Before this body I was middle-aged and starting to show it. I think this body is an improvement."

"I'd have to agree with you. I hate working with crotchety old men."

"I didn't say old," Julna protested, "I said middle-aged."

"Which is almost certainly a defense against the fact that you were getting old."

Julna threw up his hands. "I give up. If you say I was old, I was old, but not anymore."

She laughed. "True. And from what you said, I'll never have to deal with you when you're old."

They went back to sparring, and fighting Thalia helped Julna forget that there was even a war going on.

That is, until a shade captain shot into the sparring ground. "My lord Seneschal," he said, "And General Thalia, Lord Sorin wishes to send you a message. He says that he is attacking the Old One at his source at Nephalia."

"WHAT!?" They both shouted.

"Did he say why he was doing this?" Julna asked frantically.

"He says that since we eradicated most of the Old One's armies, we need to strike him before he can rebuild them."

Julna huffed in frustration. "For once, Sorin actually makes sense. I was thinking the same thing, but you'd think he'd at least tell us before he does this kind of thing. How long has it been since he left?"

"He left about an hour ago with General Avacyn."

"Well, we've got some catching up to do. Let's go, Thalia."

They found Sorin and the shades in a clearing about half a mile from the sunken ship where the Old One resided. He was organizing them into ranks in preparation for an attack. Avacyn was nowhere to be seen.

"You know," Julna called as he walked into clearing, causing Sorin to jump in surprise, "It's usually common courtesy to tell your umbreomancer when you take all of his shades to attack an incredibly powerful being without him."

Sorin regained his composure and said, "You and Thalia seemed perfectly happy fighting each other. I didn't want to interrupt you two."

"You're always full of excuses, Sorin," Julna countered, his temper finally starting to boil over, "But the truth is you wanted to prove that you can do things without my help. Even though you would have died back at Stromkirk if I hadn't assisted you, instead of being grateful, you try to prove that you don't need the person who created your armies in the first place!"

Thalia tried to intervene, saying "Julna," in a soothing voice, but he stopped her and went on, "All those years ago, you needed my help to stop the Eldrazi in the first place, and Ugin and I helped you. Did I ever tell you what happened to Ugin? About a month before you returned to Zendikar to stop the Eldrazi once and for all, I found him. I had been granted immortality as long as I stayed on Theros, so I was minding my own business there, when Ugin showed up. He was nearly dead, and had been tortured by Nicol Bolas for centuries after we imprisoned the Eldrazi. I tried to nurse him back to health, but he died. Right before he did, he told me of the Eldrazi outbreak. From the way you treat me, you'd think I had stayed on Theros, but you know I didn't. I came to help, but what did I find? Your friend destroyed the central hedron I had made and freed them! And what did you do? Did you go after her? NO! You blood-cursed me and left me to die!"

Sorin was struggling to say something, anything, but all he managed to get out was, "Nissa Revane is not my friend. Not anymore."

"I really couldn't care less about your friends or not, because I am obviously not one of them. The only reason you contacted me on Ravnica was because you wanted something from me!"

"Yes! And that 'something' was to stop something you started!"

"AND THAT'S WHAT I'VE DONE! Against my better judgment, I followed you here and have been trying to rectify my mistake. But at the pinnacle of the conflict, when we are attacking the source of the problem, you suddenly decide that you don't need me!"

"STOP!" shouted someone from above. All three of them looked up and saw Avacyn descending from the clouds. "You two must stop now. I don't understand what 'Ravnica' means or half of the other things you two are talking about, but we are this close to the Old One and I will not have my world overrun by shades because you two were busy bickering!"

Sorin looked at Julna, Julna returned his gaze, and Avacyn looked at both of them with a stern look. Sorin looked at Avacyn and said, "I am… sorry, Avacyn. You're right."

"I am sorry as well," Julna said.

She nodded. "Good. Now, Julna, do you have a plan?"

"The sentries are the most powerful shades that I brought with me. This close to the Old One, he would probably have more influence than anywhere else, and could make them even more powerful. If our army just shoots out of this clearing, they'll sound the alarm and the Old One might very well come out to fight himself, and I don't think we can handle that kind of battle. We need to find some way to sneak the entire army into the middle of them and take them out at once. But how do we do that?"

No one had an idea. At least, no one corporeal. After a moment, Julna realized that both Falderin and Niredlaf were trying to get his attention. They detached from his feet, and he said, "Do you have something?"

Niredlaf pointed at Shadowseer with a wispy hand. "The sword, master. It can carry a great many shades within its metal." To demonstrate, he suddenly disappeared into the sword, but his voice still projected clearly to Julna. "There is enough space in here for the entire army."

Julna commanded all the shades, saying, "Follow Niredlaf!"

The sun was very nearly blocked out by all the shades as they, at the same time, charged Shadowseer. The sword nearly flew out of Julna's hands, but he held it close, and soon enough it was only him, Thalia, Sorin, and Avacyn in the clearing. Shadowseer looked no different.

"Well, that was certainly an advantage."

"But how are you going to get all of the sentries at once?" Thalia asked.

Julna thought for a moment, then smiled mischievously. "I'll surrender."

The sentries were quite taken aback when they saw the Seneschal, alone, saunter out of the forest towards them, holding his sword up and yelling, "I surrender!"

With a single mental command, all sentries converged upon him.

The more bloodthirsty ones told the leader that the Seneschal should die on the spot, but he refused to listen to them. The Old One would want to see the Seneschal; he had made it clear that he must tell something to the Seneschal.

"No tricks now," the leader said, "You will put down your sword and come with us."

The Seneschal smiled. "Put my sword down?" he asked, "Why of course I will." He thrust his sword point-first into the ground. There was a single moment of silence, then an enormous wave of shadow poured out of the sword and engulfed every sentry.

Alright, Julna thought, Perhaps an entire army of shades is a bit too much needed to overwhelm a dozen sentries, but still, that was amazing!

He couldn't see his surroundings at all when he let the army loose because the shadow was so concentrated. The sentries hadn't even made a sound as they were quickly destroyed. He hadn't even needed to take Shadowseer out of the ground. He whistled and waved to the clearing to indicate that his companions could join him. Thalia, Sorin, and Avacyn walked out of the forest looking terrified.

"You… we lost sight of you when the shades emerged." Thalia said, her eyes wide.

"But it was the most awe-inspiring scene I ever witnessed," Avacyn clarified. Sorin stayed silent.

The Old One was inside, and it was time to confront him. At that moment, they heard the Old One speak. He spoke only three words: Come to me.

Julna approached the door, but Thalia caught his arm. "Julna… be careful."

Julna nodded, opened the door, and stepped inside.