Chapter 35: Toll of the Invasion

Despite the city's age, a full map of Ravnica does not exist. Among the rabble, it is often said that this is because any attempt to catalog the infinitely interconnected bloodstream of cobbled streets, shadowed alleys, and landmark-strewn causeways would already be obsolete by the time a cartographer could finish a single block. Most citizens get along just fine on nothing but muscle memory, intuition, and an inability to yield against the city's surprises. For a non-native visitor who knew nothing of these local concepts, it would be easy enough to lose themselves in the sheer enormity of it all. For Teyo Verada, it felt almost the same as being pulled beneath the sand and drowning among the encompassing dunes. Were it not for the muffled sound of a familiar voice speaking in his direction, he likely would have been swallowed whole.

"Huh?" he shouted out, blinking a few times to bring his thoughts back into focus. His neck slowly arched down from the abyssal skyline that seemed both unchanged and utterly distinct from the myriad other views of the city he had gathered today. No matter how much he ran, above him hung black clouds punctured by wisps of passing light, never the same but always similar, and so very unlike the twinkling nights of home. "Sorry, I was just, kinda… what was that?"

He saw Kaya gave him a light roll of her eyes as she wiped her dagger along the crook of her elbow. "I said, you're getting really good at that. Much better than when you first got here."

It took Teyo's brain a second to catch up to the present. He realized that the events of the last few minutes had become a blur in his mind. His eyes first looked past Kaya to the heavily graffitied wall a few meters away. She had warned him earlier that this neighborhood would be considerably rougher than where he had been previously, to which the profound levels of vandalism, refuse, and general disarray readily confirmed. These factors spoke nothing of the Eternals that stalked the streets, a detachment of which now lay broken and inanimate at their feet, along with the shattered remains of a chariot and its equine pullers. Events began to sharpen: the crossover through the abandoned alleyway that reeked of rotten sea life, the emergence onto this avenue, the sudden charge as the chariot-rider and its crop turned into the road, the frenzy of activity that Teyo could not quite remember.

He felt Kaya's eyes on him, waiting for a response. As the events crystallized, Teyo almost forgot what Kaya had initially said. Luckily, his synapses caught up just in time. The shields. Right, she was talking about the shields. "Oh, yeah, uh, thanks, Miss Kaya. I think maybe I'm just getting used to it. Training back home was always much slower, but I guess that's because we train more for stamina than speed."

"Well, no better way to learn than sink or swim, I suppose. Either way, as long as you're keeping those Eternals off us, I consider it a job well done," Kaya commented with a wink as she sheathed her relatively cleaned weapons.

He gave a nervous shrug, shrinking beneath the weight of positive reinforcement that felt both unnatural and unearned. Kaya's earlier words from Orzhova distantly echoed in his head even now, making him struggle to accept any responsibility for this growth. Had his spark not ignited, could he do what he was doing now? Despite running more than double one of his usual caravan routes, he did not feel tired. Despite not eating since dawn, his initial hunger had subsided among the distractions. It was reasonable to him, then, that it was his newly acquired state, rather than any of his efforts, that were to blame for his increasing ability. It also readily explained why his mind seemed to drift as soon as combat began, leaving his body to act reflexively for the duration.

"I guess so. I'm still nowhere near a proper shieldmage's level or anything, but I'll keep at it."

"No need to worry yourself about perfection," interjected Lavinia from Teyo's other side. He did not turn at her prompting, but he could hear that she was still on her haunches, picking through the remains of the destroyed chariot to ensure the Eternals within were truly dead. "You've performed your duty admirably thus far. If what I have seen is not indicative of a true shieldmage, then I would question the qualifications of such a title. Once this is done, I think the Azorius could have much to learn from you. We often employ walls of enchanted runes for defense, and your techniques may prove helpful in whipping the guards into shape."

"O-okay," Teyo said after a few moments of trying to come up with an adequate response. He had been alone with Kaya for so long, he forgot how intense the lawmage could be at a moment's notice. He normally did not feel this type of discomfort unless he was speaking with Abbot Barrez, though he recognized that the two only matched in tone, not content or actions. "I've never taught anyone before, but I guess, maybe…"

"Frankly, I don't see the appeal," came a third voice from a few steps behind the others. "Without some sort of offensive option, you're really just sitting around waiting to die, aren't you?"

Teyo's spine instantly stiffened at the disparaging words that crept over the road like an icy fog. He briefly considered turning around to confront their newly acquired traveling companion, but he thought better of it when an image of the man's ghastly visage flashed across his mind.

Fortunately, Kaya did not share Teyo's reservations. "Oh, come off it, Davriel. Teyo did a hell of a lot more than you did in that fight. He kept those things from even getting close to laying a hand on us."

"And it was his shields that offset the chariot enough to cause the crash," Lavinia added.

Crash right into us, he thought with a shade of embarrassment. Lavinia's the one who bound it all before we got flattened.

"Right, that too," said Kaya. "Meanwhile, I saw you just sit back the whole time. Do you even have magic you can use, or are the mask and cape just for show?"

Davriel waved a languid hand out from beneath his cloak. "It seemed you had the situation well in hand, Kaya. Had my assistance been necessary, I suppose I would have obliged. But I can assure you that my spells are quite potent."

Kaya rolled her eyes, this time with clear hostility, as she let out an annoyed sigh. "Well, great. Thank you so much for the consideration."

"My pleasure," Davriel said, unfazed.

As Teyo watched the two planeswalkers talk, he could plainly see Kaya's mounting frustrations for Davriel etched into her tired features. They were the same looks that she had thrown at Teysa during their meeting, only now they were spread across uncountable minutes and immeasurable lengths of traversed streets.

"Remind me again," she huffed, crossing her arms over her chest, "why did you even agree to come with us if you were just going to be dead weight?"

Davriel made a noise as if he were stifling a yawn from behind his twisted mask. "I would be offended by such an accusation, were it presented by someone else. Your mission is to speak with this demon… Rakdos, was it?"

Kaya nodded mutely.

"Yes, and you'd like to convince this demon to help us, correct?"

She offered no response this time besides a beleaguered glare.

"Well, arbitrating demonic deals is a specialty of mine. Fighting and running and all this other menial nonsense is certainly more up your alley. I'm here to ensure that a mutually beneficial agreement is reached for all of us." The way Davriel accentuated this last sentiment, with the closest thing his droning voice could come to excitement, made the hairs on Teyo's neck stand on end.

Kaya let out a grumble as she let her arms fall to her sides. "Yeah, yeah, I remember. Hopefully, if my message gets back to Orzhova in time, we won't need any of your 'expert negotiating' skills."

Teyo ran a hand across the back of his head, weaving his single braid in and out of his fingers. It was a habit he had developed at a young age, one that helped to center his mind in the presence of encroaching danger. It usually came about when he saw the first clouds of an approaching diamond storm on the horizon, but now it came as he recalled the Syndicate messengers they had met with some time ago.

Soon after their group received their orders and left Svogthos, a place whose sights and smells he would gratefully forget, Kaya rerouted them to assist a contingent of ground troops from assorted guilds in dealing with a harrying swarm of Eternal drakes. Only the vague geometric impressions remained in his memory, but he had apparently managed to maintain his shields long enough for Kaya and the others to defeat the enemies with minimal casualties.

Teyo grimaced as he recalled the grisly images of both the fallen guild fighters and the defeated Eternals. While Kaya flagged down an Orzhovian member of the detachment, a vampire donning a regal headdress, elegant robes, and blood-smeared lips, to deliver an important message to the Church, he could do nothing to prevent his mind from wandering. He could not look at the bodies that lay at his feet for more than a second before his eyes flitted away. By now, he had seen plenty of corpses, far more in a single day than he ever thought or planned to see in a lifetime. He had seen them mangled, dismembered, piled up, and most distressingly, utterly hollowed out. At this point, Teyo reasoned, he should be getting used to it. Yet whenever he tried to push himself to look to the ground, to peer into the lifeless eyes of some unknown creature with a hooked nose or blue skin or a body divided between human and equine, he still found himself unable to meet the countless gazes that all seemed set on him.

Since he could not look down, he chose to look up. It was not much better, between the industrial immensity at his vision's edge and the streaking reminders of the dead above, but these threats were just abstract enough to hold his attention. Staring at the shadowed sky, surrounded by concrete and metal and countless other things he did not understand, Teyo could feel his anxieties mounting. The dimly illuminated sky blurred into a striped canvas, and it was not long before the only conscious thoughts in his head were the nebulous sensations of home, of the sand and the smells and the abbey and Retha and Vitor and even Abbot Barrez and how much he missed them all.

He must have started to cry, as when Kaya brought him out of his stupor with a firm hand on his shoulder, he remembered feeling an unfamiliar dampness on his cheeks. He had tried to surreptitiously wipe it away with the sleeve of his robe before she could see. She asked if everything was okay, and though he offered a quick, silent nod, Teyo swore he saw a flash of concern in her eyes.

There was no time to press it further, however, as Lavinia quickly pointed out that they could not waste time standing around when their mission sat unfinished. As they took off down the street, Kaya and Lavinia at the helm and Davriel taking up the rear, Teyo swallowed down the hazy emotions stewing within. Lavinia was right, they had a mission. They needed his help to keep them safe, not to worry and feel homesick. This, it appeared, is what planeswalkers do.

That was how they wound up here, a labyrinthine distance away from that inciting incident. They had run for so long, mostly dodging the patrolling bands of Eternals that roamed the streets, all except for this last ambush. No matter how long they had been at it thus far, however, they still had some ways to go.

"Alright, I think that's quite enough," Lavinia called out to Kaya and Davriel as she finally stood up from the wreckage. "We do not have the time to just stand around bickering."

Kaya shot a last dirty look at the oblivious shadowmage, then thrust her hands into the oversized pockets of her coat. "Fine by me. Did you find anything in all that?"

"Nothing besides the usual. Luckily, it looks like you managed to get all the Eternals the first time around."

Kaya's head dipped, letting out a small exhalation. "That's good. Alright then, let's keep moving. Stick to the walls and shadows. I know this part of the city looks bad, but trust me, it's only gonna start looking worse."

Teyo and Lavinia nodded in understanding, while Davriel simply tilted his head to one side. It was clear she wanted to say more, but after seemingly weighing her responsibilities, Kaya opted to turn around and begin leading the pack once again. Lavinia locked into quick step beside her, already pointing out the optimal path, and Teyo picked up his pace to follow a few steps behind, enough distance that he could throw up a shield at a moment's notice, but not so close that he might accidentally get in someone's way.

They ran in silence, skulking in and out of emptied thoroughfares, unseen passages, and buildings that were both recently and long abandoned. Occasional stops appeared whenever the jackbooted footsteps of the Dreadhorde came into range, but these were kept as short as possible, the urgency of their deadline apparent to all. Though Teyo kept his eyes trained on the others, the ghostly edges of shapes readied at his fingertips, he could not help but steal glances at their surroundings whenever he felt it safe enough. Each twist and turn brought on new sights, but it was clear even to him that every step closer to their destination brought along greater deterioration than the step before.

It was dirtier and more disheveled than the Azorius sector where he first arrived, let alone the ostentatious architecture of the Orzhov. Thick grime clung to every pockmarked surface, awful smells permeated the air, and there was not a single window left unbroken. And though he could not know for sure, Teyo got the distinct impression that this part of the city was like this long before the Eternals arrived. It all made him even more uneasy, and while Lavinia and Kaya showed no hesitation in sidling close to a crumbling wall or stooping behind a horsefly-haloed trash bin, Teyo dared not touch anything out of fear that either he or it would suddenly succumb to rot. Davriel seemed to share his caution, though he doubted any of it ascended past not wanted to get his clothes dirty.

Paradoxically, though the city seemed to be progressively decaying around them, it also seemed to grow livelier with each step. While the well-kept sectors of the city were evacuated aside from only the most unfortunate or most foolhardy citizens, the denizens of this slum had no interest in letting the Eternals rule the streets. From every corner of the district, Teyo could hear the unfiltered anarchy, growing steadily louder as they moved. Unearthly shrieks, the unabashed clattering of metal, and unceremonious explosions filled the air, yet it was the energy they carried that worried him the most.

It doesn't sound like the rest of the city. I don't know, it's almost… excited? It sounds like the festival days back in Oasis. But that can't be right. Right?

Teyo thought back to that morning, when Kaya, Lavinia, and Ral had given him the rundown on the guilds of the city. He had carefully committed the ten organizations to memory, but it would take some careful raking to find them amidst the accumulating chaos from the day.

We're on our way to talk to the Rakdos. Which ones were they again? Not the police, not the military, not the scientists, not the other scientists, not the church…

It was a few seconds of rifling through all the information that had been foisted upon him before the Rakdos saw it fit to answer it themselves. As the party turned a tight corner, hugging the edifice of a long-neglected market, the wall suddenly exploded with a massive fireball. Teyo, ripped from his mind by the noise, quickly summoned a wall of tessellating triangles before Kaya and Lavinia, who were already frozen in defensive fashion. He winced as a hail of heated shrapnel buffeted the shield, but a repositioning of his fingers and a fluctuation of the geometry ensured that the bowing would not lead to a break.

As the burning light and roaring sound started to fade, it was replaced by a raucous chorus of guttural shouts and howls coming from within. It set Teyo's nerves on edge, as it resembled no man or beast he had ever heard, but it still seemed to carry a melody, as if the smoke and flame were somehow singing. He craned his neck to get a better view over Kaya's shoulders, just in time for its source to smash its way out of the building. A trio of horned, red-skinned monsters, each riding some horrid metal contraption, tore through what remained of the wall and the awaiting pavement. Their hands were alit with roiling fire, and each hid their face behind masks of either glowing red stone that pierced through the skin or patchwork flesh that hung loosely from their crowns. The devices appeared to be comprised entirely of spikes, reforged into wheels that they could either ride atop or pilot from within. And though Teyo had no intention of checking for himself, the sharpness of their machines was easily attested by the impaled remnants of Eternals that swung limply around in time with their movements.

From the corners of his vision, he saw both Kaya and Lavinia adopt a battle stance, hands glowing around their weapons even before any of the grotesque monsters made themselves visible. Without any input, Teyo's body followed suit, dropping his center of mass and gathering mana in his chest to prepare for whatever attacks he might need to rebuke. Fortunately, their preparations proved unnecessary. Once outside the freshly crafted ruins, the creatures paid no heed to the travelers. They continued off in a straight line, careening across the narrow roadway to the adjacent shops. The one in front slung another violent burst of magic, and the triumvirate disappeared into the infernal flash, their hideous laughter slowly receding from the area.

The terrifying incident lasted less than a second, but as Teyo stood in shock, he noted that it was still enough to shorten his breath and bring his pulse up to a percussive allegro.

Right, the Rakdos. They're the crazy ones. They dress up, and they perform things like… torture and…death. A shudder ran up his spine, but he clenched to try and quell it. It's fine. It's fine, right?

He quickly looked to the others, who were in the nonchalant process of sheathing their unsullied weapons.

"Ugh, devils," Lavinia sneered under her breath. "Always so unsightly, even with the end of the world looming overhead."

Kaya shook her head in agreement. "You'd think they'd put off destroying everything in their way for just one day, right? I mean, no use partying today if you get wiped off the face of the world tomorrow."

"Pragmatism is generally lost on the simple," mused Davriel from the back. "Devils are such useless creatures. No brains between those ears, only brimstone. I doubt that leader of theirs has given any orders besides 'make mayhem.'"

Kaya shrugged, her motions still exceedingly rigid where Davriel was concerned. "Well, at least they can go toe-to-toe with the Eternals. Even if it's only by coincidence. Might make the negotiations easier."

As Teyo stood and listened to the others talk, he noticed that every joint in his body had grown immovably stiff, his spine prickled with tracing chills, and a coarse lump had begun forming against his esophagus. Hearing the planeswalkers speak, he did his best to loosen, straighten, and swallow these automatic responses so they would go unnoticed. He pushed back the lingering fear as best he could, but this left plenty of room for a viscous shame to pour forth.

None of them were afraid of that. It barely fazed any of them, yet here I am shaking in my slippers. Miss Kaya and Miss Lavinia were ready to fight immediately, and I'm sure Davriel could've fallen asleep while seeing that. Those, those… devils would be a scary sight to anyone back home, I bet, even the Abbot. Teyo paused, stifling a sigh with a purse of his lips. I'm not back home, though. I'm here now, I'm a planeswalker. A planeswalker wouldn't be afraid like that. A planeswalker would be ready for anything.

"Hey, Teyo, you ready to keep moving?" asked Kaya, disrupting his train of thought. Overcoming the momentary mental whiplash, Teyo redoubled his efforts to suppress any outward signs of his discomfort.

He gave a curt nod. "Yeah, I'm, uh… we can head out. If the coast is clear, I mean."

She raised a quizzical eyebrow at him, her eyes scanning up and down his frame as if inspecting him over some unknown discrepancy. After a moment, it appeared she found nothing amiss, giving Teyo a shrug of her shoulders before resuming their forward progress. The rest of the group fell back into their silent positions. As the rising clamor of their objective enveloped them once again, Teyo realized that, no matter how many rhythmic prayers he mentally chanted or meditative breaths he took, he could no longer get his muscles to fully untense.

This made his progress deep into the slums even more uncomfortable, but regardless of how much his instincts pulled him to either stop or turn around, he continued to keep pace. These sensations only amplified as they delved into the louder, more populous heart. They opted for the circuitous route, delaying their arrival but allowing them to avoid drawing any undue attention.

Despite the seeming stranglehold Bolas had on the city, Teyo noted that these savage streets were still under the Rakdos' control. Every furtive glance he caught of the cultists from between the alleyways had him unintentionally balling his fists around his sackcloth robes. He saw men and women, wearing nothing but red masks and blood splatter, flipping and pirouetting through wheels of flame. He saw grey-skinned hulks, with sharpened crystals embedded in them like pincushions, smile as they carved a devastating path through street and civilian. He saw a horde of miniature devils, wielding chains topped with spikes, blades, skulls, or candles, descend upon a pair of contortionists, but he thankfully moved away before he could see what, if anything, they left behind.

Amongst the carnage, the only Eternals that Teyo saw were already dispatched. Most were simply left where they were brought down, leaking effluence into the grout. Some, to his revulsion, had been repurposed by the revelers, their lazotep shells hollowed out to act as helmets, costumes, and props, anything but the full-body armor for which they were designed.

I guess that is pretty impressive, Teyo reticently admitted. Even some of the planeswalkers are having trouble dealing with the Eternals. Maybe that means they'll be easier to reason with.

They passed another throughway just then, and Teyo caught a glimpse of a cultist, wearing the barest amount of leather to still be considered clothing, as she held a detached Eternal skull in one hand, scraped out its fetid contents with the other, and smeared them down her face and chest, all with mouth open and metal-studded tongue out.

Teyo shuddered, doing his best to keep his nausea down. Then again, maybe not…

It was another few blocks through the chaos-wracked streets before Lavinia slowed herself and signaled to the others to do the same. They all stopped before a small building that appeared to be an abandoned slaughterhouse, its iconography ripped into illegibility and its doors and windows all blocked by unsightly conglomerations of wood and nails.

"This is it?" Kaya asked dubiously.

Lavinia nodded. "If my intel is correct, then yes. There should be a door in the back that we can use."

"Finally," Davriel droned, "I was beginning to think all this running would never end."

Both women shot him a sideways glare, then turned to cut through the building's available alley. Teyo followed close behind, the atmosphere emanating from this place setting his nerves askance, though somehow differently than the rest of the district had. He did his best to brush it aside as they rounded the corner and arrived at the slaughterhouse's dilapidated loading dock.

A pair of heavily rusted overhead doors were set into the brickwork. The larger of the two was pulled down, displaying a masterfully grotesque mural of graffiti, all surrounding the central image of a demonic face bifurcated into black and red. The smaller entrance was fully opened, though the darkened interior was blocked by an armored ogre whose frame practically filled the doorway.

It stood staunchly at the threshold, thick arms crossed over its blackened, scarred chest. At its side sat a wooden club topped with massive nails, each one bent and discolored from excessive use. And though the ogre's face was almost completely in shadow, Teyo could see the burning orange of its eyes and teeth as if they were carved directly into the silhouette. While it was not the most disturbing sight in their travels, it did cause Teyo to slow down significantly.

Fortunately, the ogre did not appear to see them yet, its gaze still fixed at an unknown point across the way. Not wanting to draw its attention, Teyo leaned forward and whispered as softly as possible while still being audible over the ambient din.

"Miss Kaya, Miss Lavinia, hold on a second. Maybe we should pause for a bit. I mean, we don't even have a plan of attack."

He hoped that such a bold suggestion would distract from the unease that gnawed at his stomach like an incessant sandworm. The effort, however, was superfluous, as Lavinia answered him without turning around or pausing her movements.

"Good instincts, Teyo, but there's no need for any of that. Just stay behind me and follow my lead. Don't pull any weapons or spells out, and definitely do not look them in the eye for longer than absolutely necessary."

Before Teyo could ask any of the myriad questions this answer raised, Lavinia had stepped out of the shadows, proceeding towards the hulking brute with a cool self-assurance. Kaya, in response to his inquiry, simply shrugged her shoulders and fell in line behind Lavinia.

As Teyo followed, trailed listlessly by Davriel, he whispered to Kaya. "Are you sure about this? You and Miss Lavinia keep saying how much your guilds don't get along with these Rakdos, and this guy is… a bit intimidating. Shouldn't we have a plan if we need to fight our way in?"

Kaya turned her head back to him. "Lavinia's spent a lot more time in these parts than I have. If she says we're good, I trust her. So, you probably don't need to stand that close."

Teyo looked down to find that, unbeknownst to him, he had almost completely closed the gap between himself and Kaya, hiding as best he could behind her secure frame. As a rush of embarrassed color filled his cheeks, Teyo delayed his steps, widening the distance and nearly bumping into Davriel, who had obviously not been paying attention to him at all. Kaya gave Teyo an affectionate smirk before turning back around.

Apprehension suddenly gripped Teyo as he saw the ogre's searing eyes shift in their direction and lock onto Lavinia's approaching stride. He felt his body brace, fingers at his sides splaying in pentagonal fashion and tongue poised behind his teeth to expound the first syllable of his chant as soon as necessary. Then, to his utter amazement, Lavinia walked up to the ogre and, without breaking her stride, passed him by on her way into the slaughterhouse. She quickly disappeared within the shadows, and the ogre made no move to catch her.

Teyo swallowed the lump of surprise and anxiety as he continued forward, jamming his sweating fists as deep in his robes as possible. Kaya went through next, and again the ogre did not raise so much as an eyebrow. When Teyo's turn finally came, he bent his neck nearly parallel to the ground. It helped avoid the ogre's gaze, but he still felt the red-hot impression of it on his nape. With every ligament as stiff as a board, he scuttled into the building, his movement so rushed that he almost tripped over himself the moment he exited the guard's radius.

He stumbled for a few steps, but an outstretched hand managed to catch him before the fall. He looked up to see Kaya, barely visible in the deep shade of the slaughterhouse, staring at him with a worried furrow. "You good, Teyo?"

The young mage took a step back to straighten himself out and clear his tightened throat. "Um, yeah. Yeah, I'm good."

"From where I was standing," Davriel sighed as he slunk up behind them, nearly causing Teyo to jump, "you looked as though a light breeze would've knocked you off your feet."

Kaya's eyes angrily flashed to Davriel for a moment, then came back to Teyo refilled with concern. His lips pursed as he thought of a reasonable cover. "I'm fine, really. I guess… I was just a little surprised, is all. I figured we'd have to fight our way in. I'm not sure what Miss Lavinia did to get us through, but it worked out a lot better."

"I didn't do anything," Lavinia said as she double-checked the fastenings on her cloak. "Like I said, no need for any of that."

Teyo cocked his head. "Wait, but then, how did…"

"I've been to more performances on assignment than I'd care to recall, but it's always the same. A Rakdos bouncer's job isn't to keep people from getting in, but to keep them from getting out before the show's over."

Maybe it was Lavinia's harshly even tone, but something about this statement sent a chilly ripple down Teyo's spine. The only response he could muster was a tepid, "O-oh…"

"Well, we don't have the time to waste standing around up here," she continued, giving no indication that she had heard him. "The easy part of our journey's over now. Once we head down there, it's going to be a tough while before we reach Rakdos' chambers."

Her silhouette gestured with its head to a pair of innocuous double doors on the far wall. They seemed just as neglected as the rest of the building, heavy iron slabs coated in rust, ink, and who knows what else. The only sign that there was something different about these was the faint aura of crimson light that slipped between the cracks. To Teyo, it was a gravely ominous portent, instantly reminding him of a gate to the underworld.

Kaya, however, seemed unaffected by the sight. "Might as well get this over with then. I'm sure it can't be as bad as people say."

"Just stay close together and avoid eye contact," Lavinia advised, nonplussed. She turned and began moving toward the door, then after a few steps added, "Also, unless you packed a change of clothes, it's advisable to watch where you step. Or what you're stepping under."

Part of Teyo wanted her to elaborate further, but another part, the one that readily filled in the blanks with vague images of what he had already seen, gratefully accepted her brevity. Kaya, however, responded with a disgruntled sigh, followed by muttering under her breath, "If any of those clowns ruin my jacket, I swear…"

She took a few steps to catch up to Lavinia, with Davriel floating just behind her. Teyo, however, found himself unable to move. The longer his eyes locked with the leering portal, the more unyielding his limbs became. Kaya must have sensed this hesitancy, as she stopped in her tracks to look at him.

"Teyo?"

His eyes wandered to Kaya's unseeable figure. This break in his focus seemed to loosen his joint, at least enough that he could begin to catch up to the others. "Yeah, I'm…I'm coming."

Teyo's first few steps were noticeably tight, but they regained some normalcy once he reached Kaya, who had stayed put while he caught up. He thought he had done a relatively fine job of covering his misgivings, but it seemed that Kaya's intuition was as sharp as ever.

"Hey, kid, listen. You did a great job so far, getting us all here safe and sound. If you need to, I don't know, take a breather or whatever, it's fine if you want to, maybe, wait up here until we're done."

Though Kaya's tone was a gentler version of her typical timbre, Teyo immediately felt his posture lock defensively. "What? No, I'm fine, really. Even with all the shields I've used, I'm not as tired as I had been getting before."

"Are you sure?" she pressed further. "I know this whole day has probably been a lot for you, being your first planeswalker experience and all. It's fine if you need some time to… collect yourself…"

"I agree," Davriel added from a few steps away, "if something like that little ogress back there was enough to scare you, boy, you may want to wait up here until our job's done."

Even with only the bare backlight leaking from the doorjamb, Teyo could see the intense flash of rage that contorted Kaya's face for the instant she locked eyes with Davriel. In an unexpected turn, Davriel was not content to simply let the look lie.

"What? It seemed you weren't going to make your point properly, so I made it for you. You're welcome."

"Oh, just fuck off already, Davriel," Kaya shot back. "For a guy who wears a mask with no mouth, you sure have a hard time keeping yours closed. You're only hear to talk to Rakdos, so how about you shut the fuck up until then?"

Despite Davriel's mask blocking any ability to read his emotions, a lilting sigh and an ebb of the shoulders painted a detailed portrait of his smug self-satisfaction at Kaya's outburst. Without any further retorts, Davriel floated past them to where Lavinia waited by the door, his feet disappearing beneath a pooling cloud of shadow.

As he left earshot, Kaya mumbled to herself, just loud enough for Teyo to hear, "I'm too tired for this shit…" She cut herself off before going any further, shaking her head and returning her focus to Teyo. "Don't listen to that asshole, kid. I've dealt with plenty of guys like him before in my line of work."

Teyo paused, his hand finding its way back to his hanging braid, looping it fraying edges through his fingers. "O-ok, yeah, I guess. But he was right, wasn't he? That was what you were getting at."

Kaya opened her mouth to respond, then closed it again as she rethought her initial reaction. After a few seconds of pursed lips shifting around the bottom of her face, she opened them again. "Look, I get it. I haven't been on this plane too long, but even I know it's crazy, and that was before the invasion. I bet you've adjusted way better than most other new planeswalkers would have in your position, but it's still an adjustment. It's a lot. And past those doors, it's gonna be a whole hell of a lot more. There's no shame in needing to bow out for a bit. I kinda wish I could, but this mission's my responsibility, you know?"

"It's my responsibility too," Teyo interjected, his response seemingly catching Kaya, and himself, off guard. "I won't just sit around while you all risk your lives for me and everyone else, even if I am scared."

The word reverberated off Teyo's teeth, shaking his core now that it had been given life outside his head. He refused to let it stop him, though.

"Back when I first joined the monastery, before I even became an acolyte, I was terrified of the diamond storms. When we would go out on training missions, I would try and hide where Abbot Barrez wouldn't find me. But he always did, and then…"

Hesitation gripped Teyo's throat. Tactile memories flooded his mind, dredging up stinging reminders of punishments long past but not forgotten. He could not look Kaya in the eyes, fearing her unwarranted sympathy. Or perhaps, even further in his subconscious than he would ever admit, he feared that she would peer into his eyes and see the solution to her problem plain as day.

Out of his periphery, he saw her hand start to reach out for him. With his hand still entwined with his braid, Teyo jerked his elbow away from her reach, mostly to signal her reproach, which appeared effective.

"No matter what I tried," Teyo continued, "he found me, and he made me go with them. I was afraid of what might happen, but after a while, I got used to it. It took a few years, but eventually I stopped hiding before missions. I'm still kinda scared of the diamond storms, but I know that people need us to protect them. This is just like that. People are counting on you to convince this Rakdos to help, and I know you and Miss Lavinia and probably even Davriel can take care of yourselves, but they're still counting on me to help keep you all safe. So, that's what I'm gonna do. I think that's what a planeswalker would do."

While Teyo spoke, his voice began with a significant waver, the words getting caught in his mouth as if caught amidst a desert twister. As he went on, however, this shakiness began to subside. His muscles started to unwind, and his posture shifted until his back was straight and his chest puffed out as far as his underdeveloped pectorals would go. Internally, he could still feel the trepidation filtering through his blood, but his words bolstered his body, refusing to let it buckle any further.

He stared Kaya directly in the eyes, unsure of how she would respond. Dormant images and sensations skittered across his brain, paddling against a current of summoned adrenaline. There was still tension in his body, a remnant of how he had fruitlessly defended his defiance in the past. Fortunately, this apprehension dissipated when he saw Kaya's half-hidden mouth turn into an understanding smirk.

"Are you sure that's what you wanna do?"

Teyo let his hand slip from his braid, pulling it into a fist by his side as he gave an emphatic nod.

She let out a small snort of laughter and shook her head. "Well, if that's how you feel, then who the hell am I to stop you?"

Instantly, Teyo felt his bunched muscles start to unspool. The lingering fluctuations in his brain petered out, leaving him filled with a disconcerting mixture of relief and surprise. While he tried to sort through his emotions, he managed to give Kaya a single, resolute "Thanks."

"Anytime, kid. Now, come on, we got a plane to save."

She jerked her head in the direction of the door, allowing the gesture to pull her along to where Lavinia and Davriel waited. Teyo, with staunch conviction flowing from his core to his extremities, followed suit.

"Alright," Lavinia started, glancing around to the other members, "is everybody ready?"

The three assembled planeswalkers nodded, with Kaya and Teyo sharing a quick glance from the corner of their eyes. Seeing agreement, Lavinia nodded as well.

"Excellent. I know the quickest route to Rakdos' chambers from here, so I'll take the lead. It will still take some time, so stay sharp."

Stepping into the frontmost position, Lavinia placed both hands against the looming double doors and forced them open with a creak that caused Teyo's teeth to clench. They revealed a wide stone staircase, its roughly hewn walls coated with an incomprehensible smattering of demarcation and destruction. He attempted to peer to its bottom, but it descended past his sight towards a pit of burning light and riotous noise.

Lavinia went first, the click of her hard soles against the stone echoing shortly before being engulfed by the far-off cacophony. Davriel followed behind her, then Kaya, and finally Teyo, whose steps, while still slightly hesitant, continued to push him forward.

Shortly after they started descending, the doors shut behind them with a drawn-out squeak and a subsequent chunk. The loss of the ambient light went unnoticed, as the bright glow from the bottom completely bathed their fronts in swirling titian. Each step down made the light brighter and the sound louder, until the dual sensations were nearly overwhelming. This was only exacerbated by the odd rubbish littered on the stairs that they needed to step around, including ripped clothes, shattered puppets, discarded knives that still wetly glinted in the flicker, and piles of bones and viscera that were best left unidentified.

Despite the feelings that pulled at the back of Teyo's head, he kept plunging ahead in time with his allies, keeping his eyes trained on Kaya's dimly illuminated back. Eventually, the uproarious noise and incendiary lights began to come into focus, though it was still impossible to pick out any individual sounds among the dissonance. It was not until Kaya stepped out of the stairway, and out of Teyo's vision, that the sensation of being swallowed returned in full. The sight left him nearly breathless, save for a single, unheard utterance:

"By the Twin Suns…"

He stopped in his tracks at the stair's landing, mouth hanging open in abject horror. There were no words to describe the phantasmagoria that stood before him, overpowering every sense in his body and expunging every thought from his mind. His chest tightened, his eyes darted in every direction, and he could already feel a damp coat of sweat accumulating on his brow. The only thing he could say for certain about this place was that, by every metric, he did not belong.

It was Lavinia's voice, overly hardened and smeared with disgust, that penetrated this dumbfounded stupor. "Well, here we are. Rix Maadi, Rakdos' dungeon palace and home to the vilest spectacle in this city, the Juri Revue."

For the first time since they had met, Davriel could not keep a hint of true emotion from his voice. "Oh yes, now this is more like it."