Chapter 13: Dead Weight
Shit, am I really out of breath already?
Kaya kept this thought to herself, but even she could barely hear it over the sound of her own laborious breathing. After stepping out of the Azorius tower, her, Ral, Lavinia, and Teyo had made off at a dead sprint in the direction of the Embassy of the Guildpact. They needed to see just what the giant purple hole in the sky was doing and see if the Living Guildpact had finally made an appearance. Lavinia led the way through the winding Azorius streets, which she knew like the back of her hand. Ral was close behind her, his hefty Accumulator clanging with each step he took. Teyo followed him, though his eyes were anywhere but ahead of him as he basked in the urban splendor of Ravnica architecture. And behind them all was Kaya, doing her damnedest to keep pace with the rest of them.
They had only been running for a few minutes, but already Kaya's chest was burning for air. It had been happening for the past few weeks, a strong, sudden fatigue at even the slightest amount of strenuous activity. Staying fit was a necessity in her line of work, but now she couldn't help but feel out of shape. Running, leaping, scaling, stabbing, all the activities that made a great assassin now felt woefully out of reach. The worst part of it all, however, was that Kaya knew exactly why she felt this way. It wasn't her newly gilded Orzhov breastplate, or the insufficient sleep from the stress of Ral's plans, or even the uneasiness in her stomach as she got closer to the unknown dangers in the Promenade.
That fucking Obzedat, and that damned dragon…
She thought it would be a routine job. Come to Ravnica, kill a bunch of ghosts, collect her payment, and move on. In and out. She always tried to learn as little as possible about her targets. The less she knew, the easier it was to kill. Unfortunately, that left her woefully unprepared for the Obzedat. Killing them was the easy part. A collection of greedy, megalomaniacal specters that had never been opposed in life or death stood no chance against Kaya's lifelong hunting instinct. It was only after the incorporeal bastards had passed on that she found out about Bolas' trap.
Orzhov acts as both a church and a bank, collecting and monitoring the debts of a person's mind and wallet. When people can't pay in this life, the debt is carried over to the next. These unfortunate spirits become indentured servants, following the command of the Obzedat and carrying out the will of Orzhova. And when Kaya killed them, the mantle of Obzedat, along with all the debt that title entailed, fell upon her shoulders.
The weight of it all was massive. Thousands upon thousands of spirits now latched intangibly to her soul, dogpiling onto her subconscious with the combined weight of the gold they owe.
I should have just forgiven the damn debts. Fuck Teysa and fuck this guild!
Even now, as she struggled to keep up with her allies ducking and weaving through the meandering Ravnica alleyways, Kaya knew she couldn't do that. She'd already tried forgiving some debts after seeing the condition of the living debtors. The Orzhov acted like thugs, shaking down poor families for their diminishing wealth under the guise of religious enlightenment. It made her sick. But when she let a score of spirits free from the church's clutches, two things happened.
First was the disownment by Teysa Karlov, great-great-whatever-granddaughter of the Obzedat and de facto controller of the guild. Teysa couldn't strip Kaya of her title as guild leader, but she turned the guild against her. Kaya was all but excommunicated, ruling over the guild in name only. Being a deposed figurehead wasn't the best thing that had happened to Kaya, but she didn't really care. She never wanted to be a guild leader, to stay shackled in one place to sit behind a desk and grow fat and lazy. If the Orzhov had wanted her to step down, she was more than happy to oblige.
The second consequence of her maligned contract took a far heavier toll on her outlook, as well as her body. When she released the debtors from her contracts, her body had grown weaker. She hadn't noticed at first, but soon her everyday routine had her sweating. Teysa later informed her that the Obzedat's power directly connects to the debts held by the church. While Kaya has the authority to forgive them, doing so will only weaken her further. She had asked Teysa what would happen if she forgave all the debts, and her response echoed in her ears now.
"Hmm, then you'll simply die. Your body is now held up by the church of Orzhov, and without the souls of those in our debt, that body cannot be sustained."
Teysa had said all this with a smug grin on her face as she lounged in the seat of the former Obzedat leader. Back then, Kaya had wanted nothing more than to punch Teysa square in the jaw. Now, she wanted much more than just one punch.
So Kaya was stuck in a powerless leadership position with no way out.
Well, there was one way out…
Upon the news of her entrapment within the Orzhov syndicate, she had called up the one who had contracted her. Bolas, obviously, knew of the bond that she inherited, smirking with maniacal glee that his plan had succeeded. Kaya confronted him, demanded her freedom, and to her surprise, Bolas was more than willing to allow it. He said she could be free of the Obzedat title and continue to live her live as she saw fit. The only catch, which the dragon delivered with a condescendingly charitable tone, was that Kaya must swear fealty to the dragon and aid in his plans for Ravnica.
Kaya couldn't deny him fast enough. She didn't know much about Bolas or whatever plans he had for this plane, but she wasn't about to give up one prison for another. Between trying to outsmart a group of avaricious zealots or an Elder Dragon that had tricked her once already, she decided her chances lay better in the hands of the Orzhov. To her surprise, Bolas did not insist, merely disappearing into the night with an ominous warning: YOUR CHOICE IN THIS MATTER WAS OF LITTLE CONCERN TO MY PLANS ANYWAY.
She didn't know what he meant, but that was the last she saw of Bolas before last night. After her meeting with the dragon, she was contacted by Ral Zarek, informed of his plan, and readily joined his task force to stop the dragon. At the time, she wasn't sure if she'd joined Ral, Lavinia, and Hekara truly to stop Bolas or just to find a way out of her contract. Even now, there was some lingering doubt, but the events of the past weeks had hardened her resolve against the devious dragon.
"Umm, Miss Kaya, are you OK?"
Teyo's concerned voice suddenly snapped Kaya back into the real world. She had been caught up in her own thoughts for so long, she hardly noticed that her body was moving at a snail's pace. Her breathing was even more haggard than before, loud and raspy like the squeaking of a rusted graveyard gate. Her muscles were burning, begging her to stop moving. All the exhaustion hit her at once, and with no other choice, she stopped trying to run and stooped over to catch her breath.
As she panted with her hands on her knees, Kaya craned her neck to look around. Though she didn't recognize the exact place, the architecture told her that they were almost out of Azorius territory and closing in on the neutral ground. The air felt different here than back at the tower, carrying a faint smell of magic from the portal they were moving towards. As Kaya scanned the area, she noticed something else that took her by surprise: Ral and Lavinia were nowhere in sight.
"Um, Teyo," she said, pausing between breaths, "where are the others?" Her voice carried a faint tinge of worry, but she did not want to show any weakness in front of this boy. It didn't seem to matter, as Teyo answered seemingly oblivious to her concern.
"Oh, they decided to scout up ahead. Miss Lavinia thought she heard marching up ahead, and they wanted to check it out. They saw you were falling behind, so I offered to stay back with you. Well, they actually told me to stay back, but I would've offered anyway. We can join them once you're ready."
Hearing this, Kaya immediately straightened her posture. "Well, I'm ready, so let's go." Though she still felt exhausted, she managed to control her breathing and adopt her typically stern countenance.
"Are you sure?" Teyo pushed again, his concern for her wellbeing obvious in his tone. "We can wait here longer if you need. Miss Lavinia said they wouldn't make a move until we get there, so…"
"Just because we won't make a move doesn't mean whoever's behind this will oblige. I'm fine, we need to get to them."
Kaya neatly stepped around Teyo and began to run in the direction he had indicated.
A look of surprise crossed Teyo's face. "O-ok, wait for me!" he called after her as he started to run as well.
Every muscle in Kaya's body burned with each step, and her breathing was now sharp and painful beneath the spiritual weight she carried. Even though it was excruciating, Kaya had no intention of stopping.
The sooner we reach that portal, the sooner we can figure out Bolas' plan. We can find some more planewalkers, hopefully ones who actually know what they're doing. Then we can beat his ass, and I can get the hell out of here and back to my life.
Kaya pushed herself forward, but even though her muscles screamed at her to slow down, she kept up her brisk pace. By sheer force of will, she kept putting one foot in front of the other, her mind completely focused on the task ahead. So focused, in fact, that she walked completely past the side alley where her compatriots were waiting. Luckily, Teyo managed to grab her attention before she got too far.
"Um, Miss Kaya, there over here." Teyo's voice trembled slightly as he panted for air. Clearly, he wasn't used to all this running around from his monastic teachings. Luckily, it was enough to recapture Kaya's attention. She quickly turned heel and followed as he ducked into the unassuming alleyway.
The passage was narrow and shadowed from the morning sun, but Kaya easily made out the silhouettes of Lavinia and Ral at the mouth of the alley. Their backs were turned to her and Teyo as they looked out at the other side, but they both turned at the sound of approaching footsteps. Lavinia had her dagger drawn, ready to strike if an enemy appeared, but she relaxed her stance when she saw who it was.
"Good, you're both here. Are you ok, Kaya?"
"I'm fine," Kaya replied with a bit more offense in her voice than she intended. If Lavinia noticed, she didn't show it as she continued.
"Ral and I have been monitoring a situation out there. There seems to be a new threat on Ravnica, something neither of us has seen before. I assume it has something to do with the portal we saw open, but that's about all we've gleaned so far."
Kaya cocked her head. "A new threat? What do you mean?"
"Come see for yourself," Ral beckoned, waving Kaya over to his spot at the alley's end. She stepped around Lavinia and peered over Ral's shoulder. The alleyway opened to a small public park, complete with trees, benches, walkways, and a fountain at its center. On a normal day, Kaya assumed it would be a nice place to relax, to eat lunch and watch fellow citizens enjoying themselves. Today, however, the pristine vision in her head was the furthest thing from reality. The benches had all been flipped over, the fountain lay cracked and inoperable, and the walkways were populated not by smiling Ravnicans, but blue-shelled humanoids with glowing purple eyes. They were armed with axes and blades, and to Kaya's horror, these weapons were stained.
"What the hell are those things?" Kaya asked aloud. She began to reach for the daggers on her belt, ready to attack, but Ral held up a hand to signal her to wait.
"We're not sure," he replied, "but it looks like they're Bolas' new minions. They appear to be some kind of undead. Bodies look almost skeletal, movement is really stiff, and they smell like shit."
"Wow," interjected Teyo, who had joined them in looking into the park, "you know a lot about undead stuff. I've never seen real necromancy before."
"Well, I learned from an expert…" Ral's voice trailed off, and Kaya saw his eyes droop slightly. She knew which expert he was referring to, the same one who he'd tried to kill only a week ago.
Kaya quickly tried to refocus Ral's despondent attitude. "Undead's good, that means I should be able to deal with them easily. Only thing I'm worried about is that blue stuff they're all covered in."
"Yeah," Ral responded, once again with eyes forward and voice serious, "I've never seen a chemical compound like that. I'd assume it has some magical quality to it. It might act as armor for them. If he knew planewalkers were gonna show up, it'd make sense for his foot soldiers to have some protection against magic."
"Makes enough sense," Kaya mused. "So, what have they been doing?"
Ral shrugged. "We've only been watching a minute or two. The benches and the fountain were already destroyed, but it looks like those things are patrolling the park. There're no bodies around, so I assume everyone ran away when they could. These things are probably being told to look for citizens wherever they can."
Lavinia's stern voice cut in. "We shouldn't dawdle. If there's no one in the park, they'll get bored soon enough. We should circle back around before they come snooping down here."
Ral nodded in agreement. "True, we can head up for another block or two and cut around there I think."
He stood up and turned to the group, gesturing that they should follow him out of the alley. He held a finger to his lips and proceeded to tread as lightly as possible, one hand on his back to keep his Accumulator from shifting around. Teyo and Lavinia followed suit, making no noise as they proceeded. Kaya was slower to join them, taking whatever opportunity she could get to rest. With a slight grunt, she straightened up and turned to join the others in their silent retreat.
And then, in an instant, the silence was shattered. Not from Ral or Teyo or Lavinia or Kaya. The sound came from the park, and though none of the group made it, the terrified shriek of a child in danger was all too familiar.
The group turned back, their eyes tracing all around the park to identify the source of the cry. It took only a moment for all their gazes to fall on a tree at the far edge of the park's perimeter. Sitting on a high branch, several feet above the ground, was a pair of children. They were huddled together, and their terrified eyes were cast at the tree's base. There, a single blue-shelled creature with a human body and a dog head was beginning to climb up the tree's side, a curved blade in its grip.
"What should we do?" Teyo asked, his voice trembling slightly at the thought of jumping into action.
Lavinia responded evenly: "First off, we shouldn't engage with these things until we know just what they're capable of. Ok, we should start by setting out around the perimeter in teams of two. Ral, you take Teyo and circle around to the left, while Kaya and I wi-"
As she described her plan, Lavinia turned to address her expected partner in the extraction. But, as she faced forward, the words caught in her throat. The spot where Kaya had been a moment before was now empty. Her eyes bolted back to the park, and she saw her ally barreling towards the tree with her daggers drawn.
"Oh, for fuck's sake…" muttered Ral as he flicked on his Accumulator.
Lavinia let out an exacerbated sigh. "Alright, I guess we need a new plan."
As the three remaining members quickly conversed, Kaya sailed across the park grounds. Her armor clinked as each step propelled her forward. She had hoped that she would be fast enough to approach the tree before the other creatures noticed her, but that was sadly not the case. Despite pushing through the exhaustion, Kaya couldn't help but run slower than she wanted. She had only made it a few steps into the park before all the purple-lit eyes were upon her.
The blue-coated undead stopped patrolling the park grounds or overturning whatever hiding places remained, and they all started to advance on Kaya. She was surprised by their speed. Though not as fast as normal beings, they didn't shamble like mere zombies. Their movements were coordinated and steady, like toy soldiers that had been wound up. In the few seconds it took for Kaya to get halfway across the park, the creatures were already on the move.
Shit, she thought as she deftly stepped around a discarded park bench, these things are a lot quicker than I thought. It must be an active spell pulling their strings if it can get them to move like that. She had kept her eyes locked on the tree for the duration of her sprint, but she now afforded herself an opportunity to scan the periphery. To her great dismay, the zombies were marching to intercept her at a steady pace, their weapons drawn.
I can't worry about them, I just need to save those kids.
She refocused her attention on the tree before her, but as her mind returned to the situation at hand, she saw that her path was now littered by the blue creatures. They stood in truly rank file, advancing on her while obscuring her view.
Oh, these bastards want to play too, huh? She postured in her mind, sizing up the myriad enemies. All were roughly human-sized, and all were bearing either natural weapons or exotic swords and axes. Taking these things down shouldn't be too bad, but maybe it's quicker to dodge around? My daggers might have a delay because of this blue shit. Or I could…
At that moment, another piercing cry erupted from the treetop, interrupting Kaya's train of thought. She looked up toward the target and saw that the dog-headed zombie had ascended far enough up the tree that it could reach up to the children hiding in the boughs. It seemed to have lost its blade, most likely kicked away in fear by one of the kids. Its hand, however, now curled around one of the children's legs instead.
Shit! Looks like I don't have time to waste.
Kaya had intended to slow her pace for easier maneuverability around the blockade of zombies, but now she grit her teeth and pushed forward harder than before. She broke out into a bull rush directly at the tree, arms trailing behind her for increased aerodynamics. The blue beings took notice, advancing on her with an unrelenting pace. It was only a moment before Kaya's headlong charge brought her right up to a blue minotaur, horns lowered as it sprinted towards her.
As Kaya stared down the necromancy-filled eye sockets of the oncoming beast, she deftly leapt forward at the beast. As she flew, her body was suddenly engulfed in luminous purple. Kaya felt the familiar weightlessness, and as the minotaur reared its head to intercept her stomach with its horns, she passed effortlessly through it.
Her ghostly intangibility let her flow through the beast like water through a funnel. Both Kaya and the minotaur continued their trajectories, allowing her to appear behind it without sacrificing speed or time. Once she was through it, she turned off the power. The purple light receded, and she firmly hit the ground with the soles of her feet. Undeterred, she continued running at full speed, ready for the next creature that stepped in her path.
One down, don't know how many to go.
The next zombie came into her field of vision, and the same scenario repeated itself. She got within spitting distance, jumped forward at it, and passed through it while maintaining her sprint. The first few were shaky, but she eventually got into the rhythm of quickly activating and deactivating her powers, slipping through the fetid husks without them so much as breathing on her.
Kaya didn't even process the creatures that she ran through. Everything eventually became a blur of glinting blue and shimmering purple, streaking past like the lights on a speeding carriage. And before she even knew what had happened, her destination cropped up in her vision. The tree loomed over her, but she hardly noticed it as she continued to barrel forward. Now, the only thing in her sights, and her mind, was the zombie that had one set of claws dug into the tree's bark and the other hand wrapped around a little girl's leg.
Kaya's body moved without her even knowing it, near-primal instincts kicking in as she lunged at the jackal. Daggers drawn, they suddenly came to life with the same purple magics engulfing Kaya's body moments before. Once she felt the full strength of her powers flowing into her weapons, Kaya plunged both daggers into the zombie's back.
In an instant, the jackal's movements ceased. The necromantic light on its necklace and in its eye sockets dissipated, snuffed out as Kaya's own spell severed the connection between the zombie and its host. Once she felt its decayed muscles go slack, Kaya pulled her daggers from the creature's back. Its grip around the young girl's leg loosened, and it fell limply to the ground at the base of the tree.
Kaya looked at her daggers, which were now coated with a thin sheen of rotted viscera. Wrinkling her nose in disgust, Kaya turned on her intangibility, focusing it on just her hands and her conductive blades. The blood dropped through the daggers and fell to the ground, splattering onto the jackal's limp body. She deactivated her power, saw that her daggers were clean, then quickly stowed them away in their holsters. With her hands now free, she looked up to the tree and extended a hand up to its canopy.
She finally got a look at the children she had come to rescue. It was a boy and a girl, huddled together on a low-lying branch. The girl looked to be about 9, while the boy couldn't have been older than 6. Their eyes were filled with tears, and even though their attacker had been subdued, they still clung tight to one another.
"C'mon, you need to come with me." Kaya's tone was flat and commanding, and the children recoiled as she spoke. They closed their eyes and hugged each other closed, still too scared to move. Seeing this, Kaya rethought her plan.
"Hey," she addressed the girl in a softer tone, "what's your name?"
The girl turned back to Kaya and wiped the tears from her eyes. She sniffled loudly, then spoke in a wavering whisper. "M-m-malisa," she eventually said.
"Well, hello Malisa, my name is Kaya. Is that your little brother with you?"
The girl nodded, and her lower lip began to tremble. "Yeah, his name is Lanse. W-we were playing in the park w-with our mom. We wanted to c-climb this tree and see what kind of a-a-animals were up here. Then, those th-things came out of nowhere, and we got scared, so we stayed up here."
"Ok then, well, I am going to help you and your brother get back home to your mother. Do you know the way home?"
"Uh huh. My mom made me practice."
Kaya tried her best to give Malisa a reassuring smile. "That's great. Here, take my hand, and I'll make sure you get home, ok?"
"O-ok…" Malisa gently nudged Lanse, gesturing to Kaya's outstretched hand. Silently, the young boy let go of his sister's shirt and reached to Kaya. She took his hand in hers, then used her off-hand to support the boy on his way down. She gingerly set him down next to the dog-headed corpse, and she could feel his body tense up at the sight of it. She didn't have more time to waste on comforting the boy, and she made quick work of getting Malisa out of the tree as well. Once on the ground, Lanse grabbed his sister's hand and held close to her side.
With both children safe, Kaya dismounted from her spot on the tree's twisting roots. She turned, ready to plan out the next step in her rescue mission, but as her feet hit the ground, they fell out from beneath her. Catching herself slightly, she fell onto one knee, using the other leg to prop her body up. Suddenly, her breaths were fast and wheezing, her muscles burned with a white-hot intensity, and her limbs felt as though they were made of concrete. Her mind started to swim as a gut-wrenching exhaustion washed over her entire body.
Shit, not now! I knew I was pushing myself too hard, but I needed the adrenaline to keep me moving for just a few more minutes.
Her thoughts were cut off by a light tugging on the fringe of her jacket. "Miss Kaya, are you ok?" Malisa asked, her voice carrying a fearful urgency. Kaya was using most of her strength to keep herself propped up, so it was with great pain that she turned her head to meet the girl's eyes as she offered whatever reassurance she could.
"Yeah, I'll be fine. More importantly, we need to get… you…"
Her voice trailed off, but it was not because of her belabored breathing. Her gaze had drifted from Malisa, past the tree to see what possible escape routes there were. Though her vision was blurring from her tired state, she could still make out a veritable wall of zombies circling around her. They were drawing closer to her and the children with each passing second, a seemingly unbroken barrier of death. A rush of fear shot down her spine at the sight of the figures towering over her hunched frame, blades glinting in the sunlight.
Ok, shit, we need to move. If I can carry these two, I should be able to…
As Kaya thought about her plan, she attempted to rise to her feet. Unfortunately, she was at the whim of gravity, her body firmly planted on the ground and refusing any effort to move. No matter how much she strained and struggled, her limbs wouldn't budge. The only thing she could do was listen to the ever-growing sounds of mindless, shuffling footsteps.
Kaya turned her head from the children and back to her original path. Blocking her fuzzy vision was the visage of a blue naga wielding two curved blades. It drew in close, and Kaya thought she could hear a distinct sound of hissing coming from between the monster's teeth. Even in the face of this creature, she still couldn't get her body to move. Her eyes dropped to the ground, head heavy from the day's actions.
"Alright kids," Kaya said, voice shaking under the strain, "you need to get behind me. Grab onto my jacket if you need but stay behind me. Malisa, can you do something for me?"
"M-maybe…" Though Kaya couldn't see her face, she knew that Malisa was fighting back tears at the sights around her. She scuttled into position behind Kaya, dragging her terrified brother with her.
"Ok, what I need you to do is look out for any openings between these things. Any small little gap you think you can run through. As soon as you find it, you and Lanse need to run as fast as you can through that gap. Don't think about anything else, just run. Run until you get home, and then stay inside!"
"B-but what about you, miss?"
She didn't know if it was a reflex, but a small grin broke out across Kaya's weary face. "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. I'll stay back here and make sure none of these big bullies get to either of you."
"O-ok…" Though Malisa's volume hadn't changed, Kaya was finding it increasingly difficult to hear her. Between her exhaustion and the loud shifting of feet and scales through grass, her world was becoming much too noisy. She did, however, hear the next thing Malisa said:
"We'll see you after this. We're gonna bring our mom to meet the nice lady who saved us."
It was as if Kaya's subconscious pushed these words through to her brain, knowing that they would resonate with something deep inside her. She couldn't quite tell why, but she could almost feel a tear forming at the corner of her eye. Kaya was quick to blink it away and steel her resolve as she heard the snake-woman coming in close.
"Yeah," Kaya whispered, "I'll see you after this."
In that moment, she didn't know if that message was for the children or herself. She didn't think it mattered, really, as she heard the sheer sound of twin blades being drawn a foot or so from her. Even through the cacophony of footsteps, that unmistakable sound rang true. She couldn't lift her head, couldn't reach out for her daggers, couldn't even raise her arms to protect Malisa and Lanse. All she could do was wait.
The sound of air being cut. The screams of two children. The frantic beating of her own heart.
But then, a new sound, one she never heard before. She didn't know how to describe it. Like a dropped weapon bouncing off a cobblestone street. A dead king's crown falling onto his marble floors. Kaya's garbled thoughts tried to identify the noise from her memories, but nothing seemed to match. It repeated several times, that unnamable sound only a few feet away, but Kaya's mind still couldn't quite grasp it.
Then, another sound cut through to Kaya's brain. A voice, yelling over the muffled sounds around her, sounding clearer than anything else in the immediate vicinity. It was a voice that, though she had only heard it for the first time that day, she would recognize anywhere.
"Miss Kaya, are you OK?" asked Teyo. His voice sounded strained, like he was exerting himself, but she could still easily make out the words over the still muffled sounds of zombie shuffling and saber rattling.
"Huh?" Kaya muttered in response to Teyo's call. She tightened her eyelids, trying her hardest to regain some of her strength. After a few moments, she felt a small bit of energy return, enough for her to finally lift her head and see just what had happened to the chaos around her.
Her eyes widened with surprise as she took in the sight before her. A barrier of glittering white energy surrounded her, encompassing the small space that she and the children occupied like a delicate eggshell. Its surface was covered in gleaming geometric patterns, circles and triangles etched into its ethereal surface. It was translucent, and through the surface she could see the naga from earlier. It was wildly swinging its twin blade against the shield, but each blow was rebuked by its magical exterior. The blades bounced away, leaving no mark and reverberating with the sound that Kaya could not identify before. Standing in the center of the small dome was Teyo, chanting mathematical incantations under his breath and holding his hands out to the magical barrier.
"Miss Kaya," he repeated, disrupting his mantras once more, "do you need any help getting up?"
"No, I'm good," she responded. With her newfound strength, Kaya managed to get back onto her feet. Her muscles resisted as she stretched out from her leaning stance, a dull ache now covering most of her body. It wasn't enough to keep her down now, and she tried her best to shake it off. "Thanks for the save," she offered, fighting hard to keep from sounding winded. "This is a pretty impressive power you got."
An embarrassed smile broke out on Teyo's face. "Um, thank you. It's really not much, a simple three-point tessellation barrier mapped over a hyperbolic space. It's one of the first three-dimensional constructs that my shieldmage order learns. We use it to protect our camels from diamond storms, but it repels zombie swords just as well."
Kaya heard the strain in his words. "How long can you keep it up?"
Teyo hesitated for a moment, shifting his posture to keep hold of the structure. "Well, probably only another minute or so. I'm still just a novice shieldmage…" His sentence trailed off, and Kaya could sense a twinge of inadequacy behind his voice.
"You're doing great, kid. Keep it up while you can."
She saw his ears prick up at these words, and he offered her an emphatic nod. He thrust his hands forward, and the light of his shield seemed to intensify ever so slightly. Inwardly, Kaya breathed a sigh of relief. Then, another question came to her.
"Where are Ral and Lavinia?"
"Oh, they're out there," Teyo answered, gesturing broadly with his head to the park area. "They're cleaning up these things as fast as they can. Apparently, the blue stuff on these things is really hard, so Lavinia's normal weapons can't cut through. Ral's lighting seems to be working well though."
As Teyo explained the situation, Kaya followed the path of his gesture out to the park. Even through the ethereal filter of Teyo's shield, she quickly found her allies hard at work. The two were working in tandem, it seemed, with Lavinia temporarily immobilizing the creatures with her Azorius law-magic and Ral finishing them off with a blast of electricity from his Accumulator.
As Kaya watched their display, she noticed something troubling. Though she had only been working with Ral and Lavinia for a short time, she recognized the extent of their powers. Lavinia could lock down ruffians for hours with her spells, and Ral's stormcasting carried enough energy to blow up any matter in its path. She was concerned, then, when she saw that the zombies broke free of Lavinia's magical bonds mere seconds after being arrested, and Ral's lightning seemed to only bore small holes into their gleaming blue shells before they fell lifelessly to the ground.
Either the two of them have gotten weaker, or these things do have some sort of magical immunity. Doesn't matter, as long as we can still drop these assholes quicker than they can get us.
Kaya felt her strength returning, slowly and steadily, like a flower in the noonday sun. The exhaustion was still there, present as ever in the back of her neck and the joints of her limbs, but she felt as close to her old self as she thought possible thanks to the brief reprieve.
"Teyo, how are you holding up?"
"Not great," he admitted, "I probably have to drop the shield soon." Kaya could feel the disappointment in his voice, but now was not the time to lecture him on trying to push through.
"That's fine, you've done good." She retrieved the daggers from her belt and gripped them tightly. Her eyes scanned the perimeter of their barrier. She saw three zombies directly attacking at the shield, with several more surrounding them. A quick sigh escaped her lips, and she straightened her posture to an attacking stance. "At my go, you can drop the shield. I'll take care of the zombies around here."
"Are you sure?" Teyo asked.
"Yeah, I can clear these things away no problem. I specialize in killing what should have stayed dead."
"Well, ok then…" Teyo didn't sound confident in Kaya, but she could hardly blame him. He'd just seen her powerless and had to intervene.
Doesn't matter, she thought, senses tightening as she readied to fight. Can't dwell on the past, gotta keep moving forw-.
Kaya cut her inner monologue short, as she felt a tug at her waist. She looked down and saw Malisa and Lanse, still huddled together on the ground behind her. Malisa's scared and confused eyes met Kaya's.
"M-m-miss, p-please don't leave us here." The girl stuttered over the words, clearly afraid at the prospect of Kaya jumping back into the fray.
For a moment, Kaya wanted to be stern, to tell the young girl to steel herself for whatever might happen. To be ready to run and abandon Kaya if things turned south. To not look back no matter what. These words caught in her mouth, however, spreading a bitter, familiar taste across Kaya's tongue. A taste she didn't want to share with this girl. So, she swallowed the words and let a confident smirk spread across her face.
"Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to you. You just stay put and I'll keep you safe."
Malisa wiped her arm across her face, and a small smile appeared on her thin lips. She gave Kaya a nod. Kaya returned the nod with one of her own, and the young girl let go of Kaya's coat.
Her daggers came alive with a surge of purple light. She could feel her heart racing with anticipation, and her eyes locked with those of the naga in front of her.
"Alright Teyo, drop the shield and step back!"
Teyo dropped his hands and silenced his spell. In an instant, the white light receded, and the ethereal walls dissipated into the air. Teyo stepped neatly out of the way, circling back to where the children sat against the tree. The creatures that had been pushing on the shield suddenly fell forward, disoriented by the quick reversal of their positions. Seeing this, Kaya sprang into action, twin daggers primed.
The naga was the first in her path, standing directly before her. Its blades were down, aimed at the grass from the follow-through on the dissipated barrier. Kaya saw the easy opening and struck at the naga's chest. The glowing dagger went in and out in the blink of an eye, severing the zombie's connection to its reanimation. Kaya stepped to the right as it collapsed to the ground, motionless. The other zombies, a blade- wielding human to her left and an axe-toting minotaur to her right, took notice of Kaya's attack and readied to strike. They were too slow. Before they could even rear back their weapons, Kaya swiped the minotaur across the leg. It tumbled to the ground as its zombified innards dissolved from her magic. The human swung its blade in a horizontal arc, aiming to lop off Kaya's head, but she deftly ducked beneath it. The blade took off a thin layer of her afro, but she quickly retaliated by shoving her off-hand blade through the human's nose, dropping it instantly.
Kaya couldn't help but smile to herself, feeling the fluidity of her movements despite the damming from the Orzhov debt. She looked around, vision sharpened from the adrenaline. Behind her, there were still a few zombies approaching, weapons and claws bared. She wasted no time and sprinted over to them, careful not to overexert herself. Her dagger met one's chest, leaving a wound that crackled with leaking necromancy before the creature stopped moving. Using her momentum, she vaulted forward and stabbed another through the side of the head before it could raise its blade. Behind her, she could feel another zombie approaching. Turning, she saw the humanoid had its hands outstretched, palms glowing with swirling blue lights. Digging her back foot into the dirt, she sprang forward, accelerating faster than the creature could channel its spell. She thrust both daggers through its palms, ghastly blades slicing easily through the spell and the shell of the beast. The light in its eyes and hands flickered, and it fell before her.
So, these things can use magic too, huh? Shit, Bolas really isn't making it easy on us. Who knows what else he made them for?
As if she had asked the question aloud, an answer swiftly came with the sound of beating wings. Kaya turned up and saw a winged zombie, with a bird's head and a humanoid body, barreling down on her. Coming off its rooftop perch with a frightening speed, it reared back a two-headed sickle. Almost in an instant, the aven was upon Kaya, and it swung the scythe in a wide sweep. The bird was fast, and Kaya could barely make it out of the its path in time. Leaping to the side, she dodged the brunt of the bird's attack, but the tip of its weapon managed to graze her. It left a long cut across her stomach, tearing into her coat and leaving an almost imperceptible slash on her flesh.
She readied to retaliate, her legs poised to leap at the bird and sink her daggers into its wings, but the creature didn't stop moving after its attack. It followed through with its slash and returned to the sky before Kaya could take another step forward. She let out a puff of air in frustration, and she felt a slight tweak of pain from the shallow cut on her abdomen. It stung, but not enough to deter her from pursuing the monster.
Her eyes traced its trajectory, but by the time she recovered her footing from its initial attack, the aven was already higher in the air than she could jump, and it showed no signs of turning around. For a moment, Kaya's killing instincts nearly took over, and she almost threw a dagger at the creature. She managed to stop herself in time, knowing full well that, once it left her hand, it would revert to an ineffective piece of metal.
I guess all I can do is wait and see if it comes back for more…
She watched the bird soar higher in the air, reaching the heights of the surrounding rooftops. Reflexively, her stance changed to a more defensive one, readying in case the creature turned around for another dive bomb. Her eyes followed the beating of its wings, waiting for them to turn around once again. In and out, in and out, they flapped with an almost mesmerizing pattern as the bird continued to soar. Then, to Kaya's confusion, the wings stopped. The zombie hung in the air for a moment, its previously dynamic body suddenly still, its ascension stopped for some unknown reason.
What the fuck? That thing just st-
Before she could finish her thought, something suddenly burst from the aven's back. It arose from within the creature like lava from a volcano, spraying chips of blue armor and chunks of decomposing gore across the empty rooftops. Kaya blinked, unsure of what she was seeing. The thing that had erupted from the aven looked like an eagle, but instead of the brown and white of feathers or the yellow of beak and claw, the entire creature was green. It almost looked like an illusion, a projection from some far-off source, but the impact it made on the zombie told her it was real. It spread its majestic wings as far at it could once it exited the fetid chest cavity, and then it disappeared, evaporating into the air as quickly as it emerged.
The light in the aven's eyes had extinguished as soon as the bird came forth, and the lifeless husk hurtled to the ground before impacting in the dirt with a sickening crunch, followed by the clatter of its weapon. Kaya hardly noticed the meteoric fall, however, as her eyes were now desperately searching for the source of the viridian eagle.
That looked like a spell, but it's nothing any of us could make. To hit a moving midair target like that, the user would have to be…
Her eyes followed the hypothetical trajectory, and they fell upon another entrance to the park, opposite the one she and the others had come in. There, she saw a woman wielding a wooden bow. She was breathtaking in stature, wearing a green robe and a deadly serious countenance. Kaya watched as the unknown woman aimed her bow with no arrow notched, then fired a bolt of brilliant green energy toward a zombie on the far side of the park. The arrow penetrated the creature's chest, and a green wolf burst from its back only a moment later.
The sight was amazing, but as Kaya's eyes moved across the park grounds, she saw an even more amazing sight: several other strangers had leapt in to assist them. A white-skinned woman was cutting down zombies with blades of what looked like molten ore, a woman with flaming hair was spraying fire across the field, a silver-haired woman in goggles slung bolts of fire through numerous skulls, and a man in a blue hood was creating multiple copies of himself and using them to corral the creatures into the deadly path of the others. Kaya didn't recognize any faces, but she saw them working alongside Ral and Lavinia, so she had no reason to believe that they were not allies coming to their aide.
It wasn't long before the park was clear, smoldering and pulverized heaps as the only remaining trace of the zombified beings. No one dared to move the listless corpses, choosing to leave them where they lay. As Kaya surveyed the park, she couldn't help but sigh and shake her head, disappointed that this peaceful enclosure in the middle of city now looked more like a battlefield than an oasis. Regardless, she quickly ran to join up with her teammates, who had all gathered around the tree where Kaya had collapsed not so long ago. As she approached the group, however, she was intercepted by Malisa and Lanse. The two children ran up to her from behind Teyo, hand in hand.
"Miss Kaya," Malisa softly said, "is everything OK now?"
She offered a small smile, one with a genuine warmth to it. "For now, yeah. We've cleared you both a path, so now you need to get home, back to your mom."
Malisa's eyes broke from Kaya's, falling to the ground. "B-but… I'm scared to go out there. What if there are more of those things? Will you come with us?" Her voice may have been small, but the pleading was loud as a church bell.
Kaya crouched down until she met Malisa's gaze once more. She put a hand on the girl's shoulder, her grip somehow both firm and gentle. "I'm sorry, but those people who helped me, well, they need me right now. I know it's scary out there, but look at you. You've made it through one encounter with these things already. Not everybody can say that, so you must be pretty strong. Now, there may be other children out in the city who aren't as strong as you, and I need to make sure nothing happens to them. But, I do have a special job for you."
Pausing, Kaya fished into a pouch on her belt and pulled out a small gold coin with the Orzhov insignia emblazoned on it. She held it in front of Malisa's face, making sure the glittering surface caught her eye.
"I need you to give this coin to your mom, OK? It's super duper important that she gets it. So, I need you to get back to your house as fast as you can. Do you think you can do that?"
"I think so," Malisa sniffled. She reached out and wrapped her fingers around the gold circle. Kaya let go, and Malisa quickly put the coin into her pocket. With one last reassuring nod, Kaya took her hand off the girl's shoulder. Malisa gave her another nod, grasped onto Lanse's hand, then the two began walking towards one of the park exits. Kaya watched as they disappeared down the shadowy path, and once they were out of sight, she let out a deep sigh and ran to join the others by the tree.
"Good work out there," Kaya said to Ral and Lavinia once she arrived, gesturing with a thumb to the piles of broken flesh. "Did either of you get injured?"
"No," Lavinia replied curtly, her voice thinly veiling a clear annoyance. Kaya furrowed her brow.
"You know, I won't apologize for jumping in without you. A moment later, and those kids would've been ripped apart by those things. I did what I had to."
Ral was quick to jump in, voice eager to diffuse the mounting tension. "It's fine, Kaya. The important thing is that everyone made it out alive. Right, Lavinia?"
Her stoic face remained immovable. "That's true," she acquiesced, "but we need to have a plan before we go jumping into anything else. We may have learned some important information about these odd creatures, but we can't take a risk like that again."
"They're called Eternals," came an encroaching voice. Kaya turned around to see the five individuals who had come to their aid. The man in the blue robes stepped forward. "Hey, Ral. Lavinia. Sorry I haven't been here in a while."
Lavinia's features softened, and if Kaya didn't know any better, she thought she almost saw the creases of a smile starting to form. "We're just happy you've finally made it."
"Yeah," Ral added, his voice less excited and more ambivalent at the robed figure's presence, "took you long enough. We could've really used you at the guild summit."
The man scratched the back of his head, clearly anxious at Ral's provocation. "Yeah, sorry, we've been pretty busy following Bolas's plans. I couldn't find the time. But, I'm here now, ready to finish this however I can."
"Um, sorry to interrupt," interjected Kaya, "but who exactly are you people? Not that I'm ungrateful for the assist, but with an imminent invasion, I don't have time to just trust any stranger."
Lavinia answered, broadly gesturing with a flat hand: "Kaya, meet Jace Beleren, the Living Guildpact. Jace, this is Kaya, the new leader of the Orzhov guild."
Kaya could hardly contain her incredulities. "Wait, you're the Living Guildpact?"
"Uh, yeah, about that…" Jace stammered awkwardly.
"What is it?" Ral asked, urgency plain in his voice.
Jace turned and looked to his companions, all of whom met his stare with a somber gaze. Turning back to Ral, Lavinia, and Kaya, he heaved a mighty sigh, his shoulders falling. "We've got a lot to talk about."