Epilogue

The Infinite Light

Julna stood at Thalia's bedside back on Innistrad, Lukarme in his hands, Falderin and Niredlaf floating beside him. He had taken her there after the rest of the planeswalkers had left and the refugees returned to their homes. It seemed as if she were only sleeping, but Julna knew that if they couldn't save her, she would never wake. Her body was comatose, barely functioning; it had been all Julna could do alone. But with Lukarme, perhaps there was a chance. He had, after all, healed Julna's shattered etherium arm with barely a touch.

Lukarme studied Thalia for longer than Julna would have liked, then said, "What exactly did you do to save her?"

Troubled by his first response not being a miraculous solution, Julna gritted his teeth and explained what he had done. It eased him a bit when Lukarme seemed appreciative of that. "That was well done, considering the stress and suddenness of it all."

"So can she be brought back fully now," Julna asked, trembling ever so slightly, "Now that her brain has been restarted?"

"Theoretically, yes," Lukarme said, running a tentacle over her forehead, "The trouble is that her magical potential is so weak. Had she been more powerful, it would have been easily awakened. The land will not easily let go someone it has invested a significant portion of its power in."

"We still have to try."

"Of course we do. I'm simply saying that this may not have been necessary in a different situation."

"Well," Julna said, frustration rising, "This is the situation we're in. So, shall we?"

Lukarme's response was to place both his tentacles on either side of Thalia's head, on her temples. A slight pulse of energy began emanating from him, mana being injected into her being.

"Falderin, Niredlaf," Julna said, turning to each of them in turn, "You know what to do."

Falderin nodded and glided upward. When he was directly over Thalia, he spiraled downward, fusing with her mind and waiting for Julna's power to join him. Julna took another pebble, once again, smooth and perfect as he could find, and placed it on her forehead. Niredlaf joined with him, and lithomantic power filled his veins, to be directed through the pebble into her mind. This wasn't the stressful situation that he had been in last time, so he had more time to think and theorize of where the best parts of her mind to re-awaken first were. He gently directed power towards those areas, trying to bring light back to them. From his perspective, her mind was dark, empty, save for those dim places they had awakened that kept her heart pumping and lungs breathing.

Now, Julna heard Lukarme say, Let's do this together.

Julna felt Lukarme's vast amount of strength feed into his. The power felt familiar, and Julna realized it was, obviously, because Lukarme had been created from a reservoir of power fed to Julna by all the other planeswalkers. He took this power and directed it at the darkest parts of Thalia's mind. They resisted, as they had before. Julna persisted, pushing the power through the conduits of her mind.

Come on, Thalia, he said, Don't give up on me.

He had no idea how long he took. It could have been hours, but it could have been only a single second; it didn't matter. No matter how hard he tried, or how much power Lukarme fed him, Thalia's mind refused to budge.

Finally, exhausted in mind and magic, Julna released himself. Tears welled up in his eyes as he looked at Thalia, unchanged. All his power, all this, and he couldn't save her.

"I'm sorry," Lukarme said, sounding on the verge of tears himself, though how a stone could cry, Julna didn't know, "It's not a problem with you. You did all you could; her magical potential is just too small to be awakened."

If only we had a way to give her more power, Julna thought, but he couldn't think of a solution. He still didn't fully understand how she'd somehow managed to become an umbreomancer in the first place. Lukarme had explained it somewhat, but his explanation didn't make a lot of sense.

He couldn't give up. He knew that much, but what else could he do? From what Lukarme said, Julna guessed that she needed a lot more magical potential. Where would she get it?

Some connection flashed in Julna's thought process, and he seized upon it. He remembered a story he had heard from the planeswalkers involved in the battle on Mirrodin, now called New Phyrexia. What had they said? He remembered that Karn, the golem who had created Mirrodin, had been infected by Phyrexian oil, but he had somehow been cured, specifically his heart and mind. Someone had cured his body of infection by the oil, but the planeswalker Venser had needed to do something in order to heal Karn completely.

But could Julna do the same thing? There was one surefire way to give Thalia the power she needed, but was he willing to sacrifice that much? He hadn't been using it very much since he received Urza's cloak, true, but it had been a part of him so long that he recoiled at the thought.

But then he looked back at the comatose body of the woman he loved, and the decision was made for him. He would give up anything in order to save her. Why had he even thought of refusing?

He knelt down, his face almost brushing Thalia's, and said, "Thalia, please accept my most precious possession. It is what I must give to you to save you, but know that I do it willingly, with all my heart." He kissed her, and as he did, he readied his magic for one final spell.

He gave his planeswalker spark to Thalia.

It made a simple kind of sense. Planeswalkers were the most powerful of mages, despite being weakened by the Mending. The spark gave them some kind of special connection with the land, allowing their magic to grow and flourish.

And Julna gave it up.

The comfortable warmth within his heart, something he had been with for so long he no longer noticed it, left him. He physically felt his power diminish as a soft light engulfed Thalia's body. her breathing became more fluid, lively. Finally, with a gasp, she opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was Julna, smiling shyly in front of her.

"You idiot," she said, "Please tell me you're not going to drop dead because of your heroic efforts to save me."

Julna laughed, tears of happiness streaming unchecked down his face as he embraced Thalia. She laughed too, a wonderful sound, and hugged him even more tightly. There they stayed, locked together, Falderin and Niredlaf spinning happily around them. Darkness and light. What a perfect contrast.

Finally, they broke apart, albeit reluctantly. Thalia immediately saw Lukarme sitting on her bedside table, where Julna had placed him.

"I take it he's responsible for saving me?" she asked.

Lukarme chuckled. "Actually," he said, "This was one time where I couldn't save you. Only he could."

Thalia looked back at Julna. "If you tell me that it was the power of love or true love's kiss or something like that, I may slap you."

"No," Julna said, "It was something much more personal than that. I gave you my planeswalker spark."

All the playfulness in Thalia left, like a small breath being gasped out. "You what?"

"I know," Julna said, the weight of what he had done settling on his shoulders.

She looked at him, concern showing so deeply in her eyes that Julna felt like crying again. "So what does that mean, exactly?" she asked, reluctant.

"Well, for starters, it means we're about equal in strength right now. Second, it means you can now travel through the Blind Eternities on your own."

"And what about you? Are you trapped here on Innistrad now?"

"Hardly. I still have the cloak, remember?'

She nodded, remembering. "You idiot," she repeated, starting to cry, but whether from happiness or sadness, Julna couldn't tell, "A girl's lover is supposed to give her flowers, not bloody magical sparks that let them travel through the universe!" She hugged him again, even more tightly. Julna chuckled and held her.

"You realize what this means now, right?" she said after a while.

"No. What?" was his reply.

"Now you have to take me to dinner on Ravnica at some point."

He laughed and said, "Not just Ravnica. The entire Multiverse is open to us. Theros is a great place to visit, but above all else, never go to Akros if you're hungry. Their entire society is so militaristic that the food is terrible." She giggled.

"Do you remember that time on Ravnica when Nahiri found us?"

"How could I forget? A stone elemental nearly killed me."

"Well, remember what we were going to do before she barged in?"

Julna smiled, understanding immediately what she was getting at. "Falderin, Niredlaf, Lukarme, could you give us some privacy please?"

The three shared a look; well, more like the two shades glanced at each other and Lukarme kind of fidgeted.

"Of course," Niredlaf said, finally, taking Lukarme in a wispy arm and dragging Falderin out of the room. Julna watched them leave and close the door behind them.

"Well then," Julna said, moving to join Thalia on the bed, "Where were we?"

They were together long into the night.

Niredlaf placed Lukarme on the table in the kitchen. Lukarme was a bit disarmed by what he knew was happening upstairs, but despite all the magic and monsters that the two had been through, Thalia and Julna were still human. They were good for each other, Lukarme could read that much, despite having been born only a week earlier.

The two shades seemed uncertain of what to do, now that their master was… occupied. Lukarme was perfectly content to stay at the table, pondering deep thoughts that those two could never dream of.

Finally, Falderin and Niredlaf left, most likely spying on Julna and Thalia. If Lukarme had eyes, he would have rolled them. Those two acted far too juvenile sometimes for their own good.

And you don't? a voice said, You'll do that a few times, believe me. I would know.

Who was that? Lukarme looked around with his mind, but no one was in the room anymore. No creature either, for that matter.

Wait, what was going on? Something was happening in the middle of the air right in front of Lukarme. It was like a rip in the air, a tear in the fabric of the multiverse.

Which was, of course, exactly what it was.

The rift opened wider, and through it all Lukarme saw was… nothing. He saw complete darkness inside that rift. There was nothing out there, so who had made it?

Obviously someone had to, he thought, Or else it wouldn't have happened. Of course. It wasn't until he said the last sentence that he realized he hadn't been thinking that at all. Someone had said that to him, someone who sounded remarkably like Lukarme himself…

It can't be

Oh, but it can, Lukarme said from beyond the rift, in the Infinite, Julna didn't tell you why he immediately knew your name and what you were capable of? It's because he'd already met you.

Lukarme (the one in Thalia's kitchen) immediately understood, theorizing it instantly with his vast intelligene. So… it was me then. I set my own creation in motion.

Indeed. So now do you know what needs to happen?

Lukarme did. But, he said, How can I do that?

It's quite simple. Let me explain…

Julna and Thalia lay together, saying nothing, just looking at each other. Julna had never known the value and happiness of silence, but now he did. Sometimes it was better to just lay back and stare at the one you love.

Thalia broke the silence. "Julna," she said, "What will you do now?"

"I think I'll kiss you again," he said, leaning forward.

She snorted and said, "Be serious for a minute. You're immortal, right? Now that the Eldrazi are gone, what are you going to do with the rest of your life?"

Julna stopped. He hadn't thought about that before. What would he do? Go back to Theros or Ravnica and settle down? The thought of raising a family with Thalia thrilled him, but what strain would that put him under? Thalia was right, he was immortal. She and his children would be old before he knew it.

"I could make you immortal," he suggested, "The way I did to me."

She actually looked horrified. "Why would you do that? I really don't like the thought of that, just… existing, never being able to truly rest? No, if there's one thing that Innistrad has taught me, it's that death is not to be feared."

"Then what will we do?" he asked, "I can't change the fact that I will never die. What would that do to a family?"

Thalia looked concerned and thoughtful. She frowned. "I hadn't thought of that. But, to tell you the truth, I don't want to settle down. The thought of giving up my power, my life, to raise a family? I don't think I'd make a very good mother. Besides, I'm a planeswalker now, thanks to you. There's so much out there I need to see."

"I could show you. We could travel the Multiverse together."

"And make you endlessly show me places you've already seen, letting me cheat my way through learning it? I've always liked discovering new places on my own, without anyone to guide me."

"So what would I do while you're out swashbuckling your way around the cosmos?"

She giggled at his word choice. "Well, from what Lukarme said, there's a whole Infinite for you to explore, isn't there?"

"So that's how it's going to be? Both of us separating, exploring new places by ourselves?"

"Why not? I like the idea of that; two lovers, far apart, heroically finding ways to return to each other. Besides, haven't you ever heard the phrase 'absence makes the heart grow fonder'?"

He had, and he realized that the concept of exploring the Infinite excited him. "You, Thalia," he said, snuggling closer to her, "Are an absolute genius."

"Of course I am. Why did it take you so long to see it?"

Who could ask for a better woman to love?

Lukarme took a deep breath. Well, he imagined that he did. The older version of himself floated in the rift, coaching him through the complicated process required to travel so far back in time.

I'm ready, he said, Send me through.

Together the two shade stones channeled their power and together opened another rift, this time, one that opened up on an unfamiliar scene: a small boy in a village on Theros, levitating stones for the first time.

Now remember, the older Lukarme said, you must now show yourself to him. It is imperative that you never meet before Innistrad. Give Thassa the idea of activating his planeswalker spark as his thaumaturge's gift, guide him to Urza's mindstone, and whatever you do, don't worry about Ulamog, Remember, Julna has already defeated him in the end.

The younger Lukarme mentally nodded. Here I go, he thought, Time for my own journey to begin. The time rift pulled him away.

And mine to end, the older Lukarme thought.

Or maybe not. There were always more stories out there, in the Infinite. He and Julna would just have to discover them together.

The End

Continue onward for a brief discussion of future stories