Chapter 2: Deploy the Gatewatch
Chandra Nalaar idly took a sip of the dark coffee her mother had brewed before leaving that day, then wrinkled her nose in disgust.
Ugh, it's gone cold.
Sitting up from her slouched position in the oversized leather armchair, Chandra shifted the delicate mug to one hand and held the other before her. She took a small breath in through her nostrils and let it flow out her mouth. A small flame appeared in her outstretched palm. She once again took the mug with both hands, and once a plume of steam was visible on the brown liquid's surface, she took another sip.
Much better, she thought, though deep down, the comfort of her mother's brew did little to quell her anxiety. As she looked up from her cup, her eyes scanned the other faces that sat around her mother's small apartment.
Sitting directly across the living room from her, Jace Beleren was lost in thought, his eyes trained on his own cup of coffee that he had yet to sample. Chandra had looked into the mind-mage's eyes so many times before, saw the gears whirring beneath his cloaked face, behind his bright blue eyes. But now, his eyes were listless, heavy bags beneath them, and she could tell that the gears had momentarily stalled.
Beside him, the chronomancer Teferi was chatting with the large silver golem Karn. Teferi ran a dark, wrinkled hand over his graying goatee as he reminisced, sharing a story about some long-past friend on their shared home of Dominaria. Karn's head nodded slowly, almost automatically, along with him, and his mouth moved occasionally to offer a short response. Had Chandra not known the golem, she would have thought he was very rude.
Sitting to Jace's other side was the lion-headed warrior Ajani Goldmane, who was currently catching up on his sleep after their last sojourn. He yawned, revealing a pair of curved fangs, then fell back into his light slumber.
Looking at her compatriots, seeing them so at ease, suddenly filled Chandra with an unknown rage.
How can we all just sit around here acting like the world isn't about to end? What kind of heroes are we, sitting in my mom's house on Kaladesh when Nicol Bolas could be anywhere in the multiverse? We need to get a move on, we have to find Bolas before anyone else dies!
Suddenly, the cup in Chandra's hand cracked, dousing her lap in scalding coffee. Though her pyromancy left her immune to heat damage, she still jumped back at the surprising explosion of noise.
All eyes were on her now. Even Ajani was awoken by the sound, his reflexes already propelling him to his feet in case one of them was in danger.
Chandra looked down, and besides the large brown stain on her dark red skirt, she saw that the small fire in her hand had grown into a sizeable blaze without her even realizing. Embarrassed, she extinguished the flame.
"Sorry guys," she said, slightly stammering over her words, "I just like my coffee really hot." She offered a small laugh, but the others did not bite. They looked at her with a mix of concern and empathy, neither emotion she was keen on receiving. She wanted nothing more at this moment to sink into the chair and be lost in its leather folds, but then she felt a light hand on her shoulder.
"You got angry again, didn't you?" asked Jaya Ballard, wizened pyromancer and Chandra's occasional mentor, in a low, even tone.
Chandra shrugged the hand off her shoulder and let out a puff of air. Chandra didn't want to admit to Jaya that she was right, but her actions told the story nonetheless.
"You need to work on that temper of yours," Jaya continued. She calmly held up her own cup of herbal tea. Chandra looked from her periphery and saw a trail of steam begin to rise from it, and Jaya took a slow sip. "You can't fight Bolas in that condition."
Chandra wanted to spit venom back at the hard woman. You think you know everything! You haven't even pledged to the Gatewatch! But she held it back, instead sulking into the chair until her back was on the seat, chin resting on her breastplate and crimson strands of hair falling in front of her eyes.
"It's alright, Jaya," Jace piped up, peeling his eyes away from the swirling mysteries of his coffee cup. "We're all a bit on edge. Gideon should have been back by now."
Gideon. He's the reason we're still here and not on Bolas' path. She wanted to be mad but being mad at Gideon was nearly impossible for her. He was the heart and soul of the Gatewatch, and everyone knew it. Between his indestructible aura, his natural leadership and charisma, and his downright attractive features, no one argued that Gideon was their leader, even if he wouldn't admit it himself. Chandra briefly recalled when she first met Gideon, who she had fallen hard for his rakish good looks and sureness of speech. She laughed at this now, as Gideon was more like an older brother to her now, a guiding light to keep her, to keep all of them, from straying off course.
The Gatewatch had only been together a short while, but they had already tasked themselves with saving the multiverse from whatever threats may appear. They hadn't done a great job of it thus far, with Nicol Bolas delivering them a resounding defeat on the plane of Amonkhet, but now they each knew that their only options left were success or death. Not just their own death, but the death of every being in every plane.
Besides Jaya and Karn, everyone in the room had pledged an oath to keep watch over the helpless denizens of the multiverse. They were all planeswalkers, each with powerful magics at their disposal, but still their small numbers bothered Chandra.
We need the others back, she briefly thought. No, we only need one of them back.
Of the planeswalkers who had taken up the oath of the Gatewatch, three were absent from the room. One was, of course, Gideon Jura, who was supposed to meet here after he concluded his business on Dominaria. There, he planned to find Liliana Vess and bring her back to renew her Gatewatch oath.
Chandra's brow instinctively furrowed at the thought of Liliana the necromancer. She had once thought of Liliana as a sister, almost a foil to Gideon back when she was working alongside the Gatewatch. Someone to look up to, to teach Chandra about the ways of the worlds and how to keep one's head above water. But after Amonkhet and their defeat at the hands of Bolas, her intentions had been laid bare. She didn't care about saving the helpless, only saving herself. Her powers came from a deal with four demons that locked her soul away, and she had exploited, manipulated, and tossed aside her allies in order to slay these demons. Apparently the last one had been slain on Dominaria, so while Gideon searched for her, the rest of the room had to wait for him to come to the same conclusion they already had: Liliana Vess was not coming back.
Still, there was still a small part of her, a tiny voice way in the back of Chandra's mind, the hoped Liliana would come back, would see the error of her ways and help them fight Nicol Bolas. Her magical powers were great enough to possibly stand against the dragon now that her contract was broken, but more so would be the morale boost she could bring to the rest of group.
Especially Jace, she noted somberly, looking back to the stoic man staring at nothing. I'll never understood what those two saw in each other, but I know he misses her more than any of us.
And then her mind instantly snapped to the final missing member of the Gatewatch. Nissa Revane, the elf sorceress who could make the ground shake with a wave of her hand. Nissa, who spoke to the trees. Nissa, who had stood by their sides through the worst of it, who had stood by Chandra's side more than anyone. Nissa, whose russet hair shone in the midday sun, and whose green eyes reflected her own so perfectly…
She should be here, dammit! Chandra inwardly cursed. I know Zendikar needs her, that her elf clan needs their leader, but we need her too. I need her. I need to tell her, I need to see and tell her that I…
Her train of thought was interrupted by a sudden burst of iridescent light from the center of the room. Everyone's attention turned to Gideon Jura as he stepped out of the portal, hair still whipped back from the Dominaria breeze.
"Well it's about time!" Chandra blurted out, immediately regretting letting her thoughts tumble out of her mouth. Luckily, Gideon did not seem to mind and offered her a warm smile.
"Sorry about that," he said, "things on Dominaria took a bit longer than I expected."
"And what about Liliana?" Jace asked, putting his coffee cup down on the adjacent end table.
Gideon's eyes fell to the ground, and his shoulders slumped forward just enough for Chandra to notice. Before he said anything else, everyone in the room already knew what he was about to report.
"I found no trace of her on Dominaria. She must have planeswalked away after I slew Belzenlok. I guess she wants to see what life is like without it being beholden to any demons, but I have no idea where."
"I told you this would happen," said Jace snidely.
"And I told you I don't care," Gideon retorted. If Chandra didn't know any better, she might think she saw Gideon puff out his chest at Jace. "It was still worth looking for her, we could use all the help we can get."
Chandra mused, Is Gideon asserting dominance? Nah, probably just defending an old friend.
Jace scoffed at him. "You act like I don't already know that. I would have been ecstatic to see Liliana in this room, but we all knew what would happen as soon as her contract was broken. My mind is constantly moving, Gideon, but even I saw that there were only two possibilities for her: planeswalk somewhere far away from Bolas, or planeswalk right to his side. And it looks like I was right. Lucky me."
Teferi stood up, his back lightly creaking as he straightened to his full height. "Jace, Gideon, there's nothing we can do about her now. Now, we must plan for Bolas' defeat."
"Agreed," added Karn in his robotic monotone. "We need to focus on a plan for the seven of us."
The number rang hollow in Chandra's ears. Seven. It should be eight. It should be nine!
Once again, Chandra felt Jaya's hand grasp her shoulder. "Careful Chandra," she whispered in her ear. "You wouldn't want anything to happen to your mother's home, would you?"
Chandra looked up, and she saw that the ends of her hair were starting to glow like dying embers. A second or so more, and her head would have been engulfed with flames, tall and hot enough to lick the molded ceiling. Chandra took a deep breath through her nostrils and watched as her hair reset to its normal red color.
"Do we know where Bolas is?" Teferi inquired, trying to cut down the tension in the room. "Or perhaps where he's headed."
"Nothing yet," said Jace. "He's been in the wind since Amonkhet. Though I'd wager is staying in his Meditation Realm until he strikes, leaving us with no way to track him."
Teferi pursed his lips. "Hmm, that is troubling. In the meantime, are there any more allies we may recruit to the cause?"
"Maybe…" Jace began, but he quickly cut his thought short. "Nevermind, it's not relevant."
Both Teferi and Gideon narrowed their eyes, but they knew it would be better to leave it alone.
"Anyone else?"
"We can talk to Saheeli Rai," Chandra offered. "She's not too far from here, and she helped us last time. Her metal magic is really strong…"
Ajani spoke up in a low roar, "I have spoken to the moon sage Tamiyo and the behemoth summoner Kiora. Neither swore an oath, but they said they would help whenever we need them."
"That's good," Gideon said softly. "Any allies we can muster will be helpful." He paused, then inexplicably unsheathed the sword that lay on his side. Blackblade was aptly named, a longsword that looked like forged obsidian, but was much sharped than that. Gideon clenched his fist around its hilt.
"This blade has taken so many lives before this day. It cleaved into flesh and drained the souls from their bodies. It killed the demonlord Belzenlok. It brought low an Elder Dragon. And still, I can feel its insatiable hunger. We will need all the help we can get, everyone who is willing to lay their life on the line for this mission. Some of us will die, but only so many more can live. It will all be worth it though, as long as I can plunge this blade into Nicol Bolas' pitch-black heart and allow it to taste the soul of an Elder Dragon one final ti-"
In an instant, the room was silent. No one reacted, they had been enraptured by Gideon's speech. They were all looking at him, and then suddenly, he was gone.
"What the hell was that!?" Chandra yelled as the event finally struck. "Did he just planeswalk?"
"No way," said Jace, slow panic creeping into his voice. "That wasn't his usual white light. I saw it, it was like a, a beam, and it was split into five colors."
"Remain calm," Karn entreated, "I'm sure he'll be back so-" And just like that, Karn disappeared as well.
"Are we under attack!?" Chandra yelled, two balls of fire appearing in her palms. She could feel the tingle of her scalp igniting, though it only barely pierced through the mixture of panic and defensive anger. "Is this Bolas' doing?"
Teferi held a hand up to Chandra and met her eyes. "I don't believe so. I was able to slow my vision on Karn this time, and Jace was right. It's a beam of mana, all five colors. Bolas is good, but he can't use all colors of mana. There must be another explan-"
Teferi disappeared, and Chandra indeed saw the beam, even if it lasted for only an instant. The fire on her head and in her hands grew larger as her breathing increased, her heartbeat pumping in her ears. She knew that she was leaving a burn mark on her mother's ceiling, but it was a small price to pay for defense.
Ajani went next, clasping his oversized axe while looking at the ceiling, desperate for a clue.
The next moment, Jace went.
Chandra felt the hand on her shoulder one more time. She waited, waited for Jaya to tell her to calm down, to stop the needless destruction she either was currently perpetrating on about to perpetrate. But no sound came, and the weight of the hand vanished instantaneously.
Chandra Nalaar stood in her mother's Kaladesh apartment, alone. She didn't know whether to scream, cry, or launch a fireball through the heavy oak door. It didn't matter. Because the next moment, she was bathed in light.
Disorienting swirls of white, blue, black, red, and green overtook her sense. She felt light and heavy, stretched and compressed, hot and cold. And then she felt the light penetrate her chest. No, not just her chest. Her soul, her very being, was now grasped by the light.
My spark!
The light grabbed hold of her planeswalker spark, enveloping it in the sensation of pure color. She felt it give a quick tug, and then she was gone from Kaladesh.