Chapter 8: Settle the Wreckage
Chandra awoke to the sounds of panicked screaming and the smell of smoldering wood. Her eyes fluttered open, then shut immediately against the harsh violet light that seemed to engulf her. She propped herself up on her elbows and tried to stand, but she felt something pinning her chest down. Her breathing was labored, a consequence of both the object compressing her lungs and the particles of ash lingering in the air.
Shit, what was that? She cracked her eyes open, just enough to give them time to adjust to the light. Once she could see, she looked down to whatever she was trapped under. An iron beam, one of many that supported the roof of the Embassy of the Guildpact.
The building… everybody! I need to find them!
Chandra dug her palms into the ground and tried to pull herself out from beneath the large beam. A shooting pain rippled up her torso. She cried out, her elbows buckling from the sudden burst of pain.
Shit, shit, shit! I guess I gotta burn my way out of this.
Chandra let the burning energy within her flow from her fingertips and coalesce in her hands. Her hair ignited, and as the energy flow widened, she directed the fire to the beam. She let loose a torrent of red-hot flame at it, holding the blast for a few seconds. This was as long as she could hold before the pain came back, washing over her body with a renewed fervor. She grit her teeth and let her flame die down.
The beam was orange with heat, but she had made no progress in carving a path through the thick length of metal. Tears started to well in her eyes, though she couldn't tell if they were caused by the injuries she'd sustained in the explosion or from her own frustration.
Crap! I can't just blast it, the beam's too big to melt. I need a controlled fire to cut it, like one of those welding torches Mom always uses. Dammit!
In her head, she could hear Jaya's words repeat, a constant disapproving lesson. "You need to control your flame." "Don't get angry, put your emotions aside." "You'll never master this if you can't restrain yourself." "I see her, she's over there!"
Chandra paused. Wait, was that last one in my head?
She craned her neck to where she thought the voice was coming from, and she saw a hulking silhouette approach. Karn's silver frame soon cast a long shadow over her, blocking the ceaseless onslaught of violet light. The golem's hands glowed with a silver light as he reached down to the beam on Chandra's chest. He grabbed it and pried from its spot, the metal bending like rubber in his magical grasp.
Air rushed into Chandra's now-unobstructed lungs, causing her to violently cough. Her chest hurt with each cough, but the dusty air made it impossible for her to stop. Karn held out a hand, no longer glowing, and helped Chandra to her feet. She tried to stand up straight, but the searing pain in her chest made her double over, her jaw seizing up. Karn silently took her arm over his wide shoulders and propped her up, his metallic frame easily supporting her weight. She put an arm over her stomach and offered a terse "Thanks" through clenched teeth.
She heard more footsteps approaching. Though she could not discern who was coming through her tear-streaked vision, she counted five pairs of feet fast approaching.
"Chandra! Are you okay?" Jaya asked frantically.
"I'm f-" Chandra tried to continue, but she could only let out another dry cough that sent another wave of pain across her body.
Jaya took a step toward her. "You're not fine. I think you've broken a rib or two."
"Stand back," came Ajani's low growl, "I'll heal whatever injuries you sustained." He began a low chant, channeling the instincts of his pride back home. Incandescent light appeared in his paws, and he pressed it to Chandra's stomach. She seized up at his slight touch, the provocation roiling her internal injuries, but just as soon as the pain came, she felt it ebb away.
Her strength restored, Chandra let go of Karn and steadied herself on her own two feet. The tears in her eyes receded, and as her vision readjusted, she could finally see what was happening. The dirty and wounded faces of the Gatewatch stared back at her, looks of defeat, terror, and rage spread across them. But Chandra could hardly focus on them, as she looked past them to the fifty-story circle of violet energy that stood in the rubble of Jace's former office. Her mouth fell open in horror, as a stark realization lodged itself in her brain: she recognized this portal.
"It's the Planar Bridge," she said in disbelief. "Bolas has the Planar Bridge."
Her eyes fell from the bright façade of the Bridge to the street where it appeared, and a new wave of repulsion crashed over her at the chaos of the scene. Not only were the surrounding buildings reduced to piles of brick and mortar, but the cobblestone road was shattered, split cleanly by the Bridge's power. She could see bodies trapped beneath the rubble; hands outstretched that had already ceased moving.
The citizens were in a frenzy. Minutes before they had been living their quiet, unassuming lives, only for armageddon to fall upon them. Most of the Ravnicans were panicked, running back to their homes, pushing children who were asking questions their parents did not know how to answer. Some, however, were not as fortunate. The Bridge had opened in an instant, and anything caught in its path was at its mercy.
Her eyes fell on a small human girl, no older than six. The girl held her mother's hand and was trying to pull her to safety, desperately ignoring that her mother no longer had a body below her shoulders.
Chandra wanted to vomit, but she held back her bile and tore her eyes away from the carnage surrounding her so she could talk to her team. There was silence among them, but Chandra was not afraid to break it in a time like this.
"Is everybody else okay?" she asked, her voice still raspy from her injuries.
"We're all mostly fine," Gideon reassured. His voice was hard with resolve, and for the first time, Chandra could tell that the brave face he wore was concealing something else. "Ajani has done a good job of healing."
"How did we even survive? The Bridge should have cut clean through us, but none of us were hit."
Teferi was the one to speak up. "I was able to slow time as soon as I heard the explosion. With it, I managed to push everybody out of its path, but I couldn't get us out of the building in time. And not all of us completely dodged the portal." His eyes fell to Gideon's arm, which he instantly tried to cover. He was too slow, and Chandra gasped when she saw what Teferi was looking at.
A huge wound, like a cut from a massive saw blade, traced the back of Gideon's arm. From his shoulder joint to his elbow, a black trail of scarred, burnt flesh now ran. It looked deep, so deep that she thought if Teferi had been a fraction of a second slower, Gideon would have lost the arm completely. This terrified her, seeing the indestructible Gideon suffer any kind of damage, but the terror soon deepened, as a horrific revelation appeared before her.
"That's my fault," she whispered.
Gideon immediately dismissed her claims. "No, it's not your fault. Any of us could've been in the Bridge's way when it opened. At least my aura was able to deflect some small amount of the energy, and Ajani's magic closed it enough to stop it from hurting too much."
"But you were only there because of me. If I hadn't blasted you with that fire, if I could have just controlled my damn emotions, that wouldn't have happened!"
"Chandra…" said Jace, his voice filled with worry for his friend. He started to extend a hand, but he thought better of it and placed it by his side once more.
"None of that matters now," Gideon asserted, "what we need to focus on is figuring out Bolas' plan and taking him down."
Chandra clenched her fists in frustration, but she knew that Gideon was right. For the time being, she would just have to crawl as far out of her mental abyss as she could. She gave Gideon a small nod of acknowledgement, but she could not bring herself to look him in the eyes. He smiled, but she did not see.
"The plan hasn't changed, has it?" Jaya asked the group. "We should still send one group to gather the guild leaders while another group goes to kill Bolas."
"But what about the Bridge?" asked Teferi. "What does Bolas plan to do with it?"
"It doesn't matter," Gideon spoke with a commanding authority. "If the dragon is dead, his plans cannot come to fruition. We need to find him and destroy him as quick as we can. He's already caused so much destruction, left so much death in his wake, and I fear it's only the beginning. We need to stop him, just as we had planned before."
Jace tentatively raised a glove hand. "Well, the plan we had earlier isn't going to work now."
"Why not?" Gideon's voice was low, but all could sense the worry behind his words. "Were you injured in the explosion?"
"No, nothing like that. It's not me who's been injured, it's Ravnica."
All heads turned to Jace, cocked in confusion. "What do you mean?" Ajani asked.
"There's a reason Bolas opened the Planar Bridge right here, right on this spot."
Gideon's eyes narrowed. "Yes, because he somehow saw through all of your illusions and blockades and knew we were there. He knows we're the biggest threat to him, so he tried to take us out."
"No," Jace said flatly, "I'm certain that was a coincidence. Bolas may know that we're here, but that's not why he put the Bridge here. He did it to sever Ravnica's leylines. The Embassy of the Guildpact was specifically built on top of the spot where all the leylines in Ravnica converge. Since the Bridge seems to be capable of cutting through magic, even strong magic like your indestructible aura, Gideon, he used it to disconnect the leyline's flow."
"What does that mean?" Ajani asked.
Jace's tone grew cold. "It means that anyone drawing their powers from Ravnica's magic is now completely powerless. Which means that I'm no longer the Living Guildpact. The Guildpact no longer exists."
Gideon tightened his grip on the sword hilt by his side. "So, our plan to kill Bolas?"
"It won't work. I no longer have any way of arresting him. Even if we could get close to him, he'd wipe the floor with us before we could do anything."
"Then what do we do now? There must be something else!"
Jace's voice barely made it above a whisper. "I don't know." In the back of his mind, Jace blamed himself for this setback.
I should have known Bolas would cut off Ravnica's magic. Maybe if I had gotten here early, I could've figured out a way to reroute the magic somewhere else. Uproot the ancient stones and put them out of harm's way. Vraska's stone manipulation could have helped…
Jace felt a hand on his shoulder, the sensation snapping him back to reality. He looked past the tip of his hood and saw Gideon looking at him, a slight smile breaking up his chiseled features.
"It doesn't matter if we don't have a plan yet. We'll find one. Nicol Bolas will not live to see another sunrise. You always come up with something."
A warmth spread through Jace's chest with these words, a feeling of happiness he had not felt in a long, long time. He wanted to believe Gideon's words, to desperately make his friend's claim a reality, and for a single moment, he truly did believe.
The moment, however, could not last forever, as the comforting sensation in Jace's chest immediately receded as an otherworldly buzzing started to emanate from the portal. It hummed and pulsated, surges of energy rippling across the violet surface. It shook the ground with its resonant vibrations, stirring the Gatewatch and commanding all their attention.
"What's happening now?" asked Gideon, readying to draw his blade.
Chandra looked at the portal, its purple energy dancing across her pupils. She thought that, in another context, the sight would be beautiful. But she knew what was about to happen, and there was nothing beautiful about it. Gripped with fear, all she could do was utter a single sentence, drowned out by the incessant hum of the sinister device.
"The Planar Bridge is about to open."