Veira
4713 AR
Rain was pouring down. The unique permutations of the sky above shone through the clouds giving them a ghastly, scarred appearance. The lightning that forks across the sky is impacted by the energy that spills from the celestial crack, causing them to flash brilliant shades of neon colors. It hurt Vex's eyes to stare at it for long.
He slipped down a rooftop, and caught himself right before he fell off the edge. He didn't like how they did their architecture on this plane. He's been to a few and they all seemed to have different opinions on what makes a roof. He was actually rather fond of the ones on a plane called Vryn, but the culture there was suspicious and stuffy. He's heard rumors of this place and wanted to see it for himself.
The strange light show in the sky is the result of a crack in space-time. Or so the locals say. He had to admit that it gave off some strange energy. He didn't want to find out first hand what that energy would be like so whenever he drew mana from the plane in order to cast his favorite spells he would make sure he didn't pull any of that along. It felt like it would…hurt, somehow.
There were booths and games being set up all over the huge, gritty metropolis that seemed to make up the bulk of Veira. There were some smaller villages and a few estates scattered throughout the countryside but what he wanted was going to be here. During the Festival of Festivals the energy of the gathered crowd and their merriment forces the rend open just a little bit further during its active cycle. Instead of just energy from different times and places slipping through, whole objects can fall out. These objects are often very valuable and if that seedy man in the bar could be trusted…magically powerful.
He found a spot where a building's roof was closer to the ground and he took a bit of a gamble and hoped he wouldn't break his ankles on the wet ground. He landed with a louder splash than he had hoped for and with a quick jerk of his hand cast a blue curtain around himself. It rendered him invisible to most sight but if he stayed still for too long sharp-eyed individuals would be able to tell the difference.
He quietly moved, hoping that his ripples if he left any would have simply passed as the falling rain. He saw some of the booths had guards. That would mean that there is something in there that is worth guarding. They were taking their jobs seriously, which was annoying.
"Hold!" He heard the guard nearest him say. He froze, his heart in his throat. He hadn't been doing this thief business long and often stayed up at night wondering how soon he was going to get caught. Apparently he knew his answer.
"It has been four years since I've seen you here!" The guard started saying to the merchant that was coming the other way. Vex fought every instinct he had to let out an exasperated sigh. He thought for sure his spell had failed and that he was going to get arrested for obviously sneaking around in the dead of night.
He decided that he wasn't going to waste anymore time and hurried on. The best things to steal wouldn't be until the big ceremony tomorrow. He was mostly just scoping out the possibilities of snagging some additional baubles along the way. Unfortunately these guards were paying a lot more attention than he had been hoping. His illusions were good for distracting but he had to to keep his focus tight. The slightest break in one of them and it wouldn't work on that person for a while.
He's been lucky so far and hasn't found many people that could see through them quickly. Vex had to learn quickly that it was easier to mask the smallest possible changes that yielded the best results. Too much brought a lot of unwanted attention.
Vex slipped past all of the tents after making a quick mental map of which ones he was going to visit when they were less guarded, assuming the festival didn't prove more interesting. He made his way towards the tavern that he had a room at, under a false name. He quickly ducked against a building as a shadow slipped past overhead. He was grateful that he hadn't dropped his invisibility just yet.
The figure looked familiar to him, he wondered how that person had followed him here. Very interesting but that was a complication that he was looking to avoid. He turned down an alleyway and cast a new spell around himself, this one made him look like a merchant he had once seen on another world. Hopefully that would do. He dropped the invisibility and entered the bright warmth of the tavern.
The next day the air was full of music and commotion. This was the Festival of Festivals after all and the only thing bigger than this was a coronation, supposedly that would be delayed until the following month because of the events of the festival, according to the local gossip. Vex has found that most local gossip is useless and worthless but it's usually pretty accurate when it comes to festivals and kings. He would have to see if he can come back for that coronation. If these people are half as wealthy as he's been able to piece together he'd be able to make a fortune off them.
Vex, donning his illusion once more steps out into the busy street. At least with this many people coming and going he'll be able to blend in far better than he was expecting. Especially if that hunter was actually after him. That man being a Planeswalker took him by surprise. He figured he was just a local on Innistrad, when stealing from the church drew too much attention to himself he decided to depart. The huntsman that was hired to come after him has proven to be a nuisance. Hopefully in the chaos of the event he'll be able to lose him.
Vex was amazed at just how much life was found on this plane. He knew this city was large but there seemed to be just so many people. He was guessing that many of them had made a commute from a far way off just to be a part of the events here. He could feel the energy of the plane gathering. Whatever was going to happen tonight was promising to be spectacular and he wasn't about to let a crazed huntsman ruin it for him. The promise of rare and potentially powerful artifacts was too good of an opportunity to pass up.
He bought a dish that was made of some sort of sweet and fried bread from a vendor and it was just as delicious as he imagined it would be. There were street performers doing tricks to the delight of onlookers and he wondered if that wouldn't be a good disguise to consider in the future. Maybe if he actually knew anything that would be worth entertaining people. Maybe his illusions could be handy for that sort of thing.
As the day wore on, he started to feel a touch anxious. He wanted to get this over with so he could move on, slip away with a prize or two that would fetch a great price on a different plane. Ravnica, perhaps. Those Izzet guild members couldn't be trusted but they were also among the most easily swayed of his clients to purchase items from different worlds. Several of his items he knew had ended up in their vaults and were slowly being dissected and rebuilt in the Izzet League's own image.
He froze but then quickly decided to keep up his appearance of a merchant looking at items when he caught sight of the huntsman, carrying his ridiculous gun around with him in public like he wasn't afraid of anyone. Perhaps he didn't need to be. Vex wasn't sure what plane he was from but he knew that this man wouldn't hesitate to shoot him down right here and now.
"I say, young man, what is this marvelous contraption?" he asked a vendor, who was selling small little machines that let out puffs of brightly colored smoke and whirled around whimsically on the table in front of him. The young man, thinking he had a buying customer, put on the air of a showman as he made the little machines race around in circles.
"These contraptions fell through the schism a few years ago! My father and I took the time to carefully take them apart and rebuild them into a nice little arrangement of different styles. They don't really do much but provide hours of entertainment! Powered by these tiny little mana crystals, and those, let me tell you, are hard to come by…We're selling them today at a stock clearance price of just 400 grits apiece!" he beamed at Vex, who did his best to not laugh. 400 grits? Whatever those were, these were clearly not worth much. Vex knew a little bit about some mana crystals that he's encountered and most of them didn't last very long. If you were a talented mage you might be able to recharge them but if you weren't careful they'd just explode.
"My! What a bargain," he lied. Noting to himself that the huntsman had moved on, he tipped his hat to the young man. "I'll be back if I don't find anything else worthwhile for my dear Emily."
The young man thanked him for his time and he moved on, carefully concealing one of the small machines within his illusion until he could find a quiet spot to try to deactivate it. Fortunately, it didn't take much figuring out. He slipped the contraption into his bag. If nothing else it might make a handy distraction in a pinch. Of the dozens of machines the kid had skittering around the stall he probably wouldn't even notice a couple of them missing.
He paused to look at some expensive jewelry. He thought some of it could be authentic but he also found that unless it had some properties that he didn't know about most of the time the jewelry would just sit around until he was forced to damn near give it away and he really didn't feel like dealing with all of that on top of everything else he already had at one of his safehouses to dispose of.
He did make a couple small purchases using a spell he picked up on a world called Eldraine. In a couple of hours those real coins would evaporate leaving their owner bewildered at their missing money. He had to be careful he didn't stick around too long, or maybe someone would be able to see through his illusion. He kept in motion, staying with the wandering crowd whenever possible. Eventually it seemed that everyone was gathering near a large stage. He slowly folded in with them. Hoping that he would be able to maintain the illusion. It was starting to get difficult with the jostling and so many people around him made him feel claustrophobic but he also knew that if he was to drop his illusion being able to throw up a new one in a crowd would be easier than if he was caught alone somewhere. He hadn't seen the huntsman in a while but if that man had tracked him across planes he was probably on his trail already.
"Sir! Lower your weapon! You're not going to take that into the crowded bullpen!" a guard was shouting, from the corner of his eye, Vex confirmed that it was the huntsman. His wide-brimmed hat seemed to keep his features in a supernatural shadow. The man had this…dark air about him. Vex knew that he could fire concentrated energy blasts from that damn gun of his. Nasty little thing.
A weedy little man in a brightly colored suit stepped out onto the stage. He spoke into a tiny little brass box that carried his voice around the area. A magical voice box, how novel. As he spoke the crowd all quieted down to listen to him.
"Ladies and gentlemen, the magicians' guild tells me that the time is nearly upon us! We must pour our hopes and dreams into the sky and in exchange it will rain its benevolence down upon us! Will we receive artifacts of mystery? Devices that can help us improve our future? New venues of entertainment? We have had it all before and it will surely delight us again.
"For those of you who are joining us for the first time, remember to be mindful of your neighbor when reaching for falling things. The magicians will be on standby to keep anything from hurting anyone but the rules are simple. Whoever lays hands on something first gets it. Guards will confiscate any disputed objects and they will be donated to the science guild for analysis. So, with that all in mind our musicians will begin to play some soft focusing music. Turn your eyes to the schism and let it rain upon you!"
"That's a little culty," Vex muttered but his eyes floated upward as their musicians began to play soft soothing music. The schism, growing more visible as the daylight faded, was already responding to the attention given to it. It thundered more and the energy inside of it built. Vex could feel his arm hair starting to rise. If they generated enough power it would probably suck his illusion right away from him. At that point, it probably wouldn't matter. Brilliant colors flashed inside of the schism and he could hear it, a faint echo of the Blind Eternities stirring within it. These people really didn't understand the forces they were messing with, did they?
"Focus, believe, open your hearts and your minds!" The speaker softly intoned. The energy of the crowd was definitely shifting and the schism as he kept referring to it began to resonate with the crowd. Vex was actually more interested in the group magic working that he was witnessing than he was the reason that they were all gathered for. He's been on several planes and none of them had anyone come together in such a fashion…to command the plane itself. He wondered if this was actually far more dangerous than anyone realized.
He thought he felt rain, but realized it was crystalized mana falling on them. Some of the vendors had kids with baskets and that seemed to be what they were after. So that's how they kept their supplies going, fascinating. He allowed himself to capture a few too. You never knew when you'd need something like that.
As the energy of the crowd reached a zenith, the sky above responded in kind with a roar and a dramatic shower of multicolored lightning. In the growing night sky small objects began to form in the heart of the schism and fall towards the ground. They were mostly just…things. Small pieces of jewelry, bits and bobs of machines. Nothing really big seemed to materialize but they began to fall faster and more frequently. Whenever something landed in someone's outstretched hand there was cheering.
Vex caught a small gold ring, it had a strange motif on it. One that he hadn't seen before. It looked like two horns curving gently outward. It radiated with a strange energy that felt…wrong. He couldn't explain it but it felt both like death and life, truth and lies. He slipped it into his pocket to explore later. If nothing else maybe he could follow it back to the plane it came from and that might be a fun little adventure.
He noticed that on the wall that surrounded this area there was a hooded figure. He thought it was the huntsman but this was a different person. They held a long thin wand in their hand. He wondered if they would try to magic the objects away as they fell, but they didn't. They just watched. Like they were looking for someone or something. He could only hope that they weren't interested in him. An idea suddenly came to him that would help him out as the objects falling were starting to get more interesting but he knew that with all of these people he wouldn't be able to snag much. He would need a diversion. He would have to do the thing he didn't want to do and tap into the schism itself.
He fumbled in his pockets and produced a grit that he had lifted off a merchant when he wasn't looking. This small coin had a strange five-forked symbol on the front. It was very shiny. He would be able to replicate it using the faerie coin spell. He would just need to time it all perfectly. The storm above raged on and small trinkets continued to fall. Some of them looked like laboratory equipment he saw on Ravnica. The Izzet were probably going to be furious about that. He did wonder…were these just 'lost items' from different worlds or were they from different times too? They did say that this was a time schism. He wasn't a scientist but it would prove interesting if it were. Oh well, he'd have to find out the next time he was here. It was time to make his exit.
He channeled the energy of the schism into his spell. As he wove it, a dark cloud billowed out of the schism. The crowd all held their breath and the announcer even fell silent as they all wondered what would come from this. With a sudden burst of blue mana rippling from Vex, the cloud broke apart, raining down on the crowded plaza as thousands of grits.
"Oh my stars, the schism has rewarded us with wealth beyond our measure! Gather it up one and all! Share it amongst your brethren! A prosperous year awaits us all!"
As everyone made their mad dash for their chance at piles of grits, Vex realized that his little trick had broken his illusion spell. It had also drawn the attention of the huntsman who was now making his way through the crowd towards him, the figure in the hood was also watching him. Shit. What had he gotten himself into now?
Vex used the opportunity to snatch up a few missed jewelry pieces and a rather interesting looking lamp and stuffed them in his bag and scurried from the plaza, even the guards had dropped their attention to try to grab a few grits as they continued to pour from the heavens.
As Vex ran around a corner, he stumbled as the ground by his foot suddenly exploded in a shower of sparks and rocks. He whipped around and saw the huntsman after him, his face a mask of shadow beneath his hat, save his eyes which burned with an eldritch light. He wasn't sure if he should continue to run for it or if he was going to have to fight his way out.
"Took me long enough to find ye, child thief," the man said, as he raised his hand and another concentrated energy blast began to form in his palm. "But you won't be getting away this time, I'm afraid. I'm Derrick Vane, the Last Huntsman. I will never lose my quarry."
Derrick Vane, huh, Vex admitted that he didn't recognize the name. He was certain that this man was from Innistrad but now he's not so sure. If he was a Planeswalker like him, he could have been from anywhere. He was going to need to be quick in his escape or he wasn't going to have one.
There was a crack and the hooded figure with the wand appeared at the other end of the alleyway. Double-shit. Vex considered his options and he didn't like the chances of any of them but if he did nothing he was likely to get crushed by one or both of these people. He still didn't know who the hooded figure was.
"And what did I do to piss you off, hoodie?" he called. The figure said nothing but leveled their wand at him. Magical energy gathered at the tip and he didn't know what was coming but he suspected that it was going to hurt. He waved his hand at the ground and blue mana kicked up in a cloud around him. Four copies of himself took off in each direction from the cloud.
Derrick shot one of them in the back with his weapon and it evaporated. If that had been the real Vex, that looked like it would have hurt. The remaining three doubled up their efforts to run away. The hooded figure vanished with a crack, Derrick took off after the one in the north direction. Once they were both gone, Vex canceled his spell of invisibility. He knew that these people wouldn't stop hunting him but he figured he could make it harder on them.
He pulled the ring out of his pocket and gave it a good hard look. He nodded to himself and then slipped it back into his pocket. He concentrated his energy and his body turned into mist and vanished from the plane. He focused on the energy in the ring in his pocket and allowed it to pull him along.
When he opened his eyes he first noted that it was very, very hot. He dusted the sand off his coat and looked around. There were two suns in the sky and large monuments were being built. On the horizon it looked like there were two giant horns curving up into the sky. They glinted golden in the bright sunlight. This definitely looked like a wealthy place. He grinned and headed towards the nearest civilization.
Back on Veira the illusions all vanished as Vex left the plane behind. Derrick slid to a stop and put his gun away, swearing. He would have to go back and try to track the residual mana before it faded away. There was a crack and the hooded figure appeared in the alleyway beside him. He narrowed his glowing eyes at the interloper.
"You distracted me and let my quarry get away. I won't forgive that." he grumbled in his gruff voice.
"I apologize, I was sent to collect something from his person. What you did with him after that was none of my concern."
"And just who sent you? I was hired by the Church on Innistrad to collect a relic he had stolen."
"I was hired by a…collector. They are looking for rare objects from different worlds. I'm looking for knowledge to add to the Biblioplex. I was hoping to get two birds with one stone but I guess he got away."
Derrick was already walking away, back towards the place where Vex had planeswalked away from. He had no interest in collectors or universities, he was simply trying to do his job. Bring the thief to justice and recover the lost relic. He had no patience left for anyone else.
"Stay out of my way, or I may hunt you next," he called over his shoulder. The hooded figure said nothing. They simply vanished with a crack.