Chapter 3
Blazing gold, the sun shone down on Caprifexia as she wandered listlessly between the shining towers of brass and stone. She'd left the 'Last Party' that morning, and although she was weary from staying up what had been her third night in a row, she knew she wouldn't be able to sleep. Her mind was churning, turning over the aetherborn's last few moments and trying to make sense of her raging emotions.
It had been beautiful, but at the same time perverse. A celebration of a life, but inextricably also death. Perhaps for mortals it was an intelligible response to the looming inevitability of their demise, a need to make sense and impart meaning into their tragically short existences.
But she was a dragon, and anything less than an open ended, hypothetically infinite life seemed pitiful. Sure, she knew that many dragons did perish, either by accident or through violence. Her entire flight, other than her brother Wrathion and herself, were dead after all. But for a dragon accidents could be avoided, fights could be won. Death was contingent on both her actions, choices, and outside events, but not the inevitable result of simply existing.
But she would die, had died, was to die defending Nirn. And like the aetherborn she had done it with a smile. From where she was standing currently, that seemed incomprehensible. It had been one thing to risk her life for her friends, for Nirn even, but it was a totally different thing to have headed back in time knowing she was walking to her death. Was she, at this point, even an immortal anymore?
Why had she done it? What was a single world compared to her potentially infinite life? It was nothing-
She shook herself. No, that was the kind of thinking that had led Mirael down her villanous path; to the point where she saw entire planes and their inhabitants of existence as nothing but playthings for her whims. Caprifexia might have given up on being a hero, but that didn't mean she was going to forget what she'd learnt. Mortal lives had value. They had worth. The fact they were fleeting made them tragic, but as she'd learnt that morning also, in a strange way, bittersweetly beautiful. Even if she had given up on heroism, she wasn't ever going to become a villain again.
Her feet carried her through the city back to the market, which was even busier than the day before, with great crowds streaming toward the immense large circular building that lay on one side of the plaza. For want of anything better to do, she followed the crowd, entering some large kind of arena and finding a seat near the middle. Some kind of show perhaps? Whatever it was, it was better than walking aimlessly, and she had no particular desire to move onto another Plane just yet.
People continued to stream in for another twenty minutes, sitting on the long stone benches and talking excitedly amongst themselves as on the far side of the sandy floored lower section a portcullis rumbled upward.
Several blue villains and humans with zappy-sticks walked out first, one of the carrying some kind of red-brown coloured wooden block. They were followed by more blue villains, these escorting a group of haggard looking mortals, bound in chains. A few of them were grey haired, but the rest looked fairly young, including a red-haired human girl who couldn't have been more than twelve or thirteen.
Caprifexia frowned at the scene as the crowd began to roar in approval. Just what kind of show was this? Were they going to let them go free? Some kind of prisoner amnesty? That didn't sound very interesting.
"Citizens of Ghirapur!" shouted one of guards who seemed to be in charge, a man with his face obscured by a cowl and a sharp looking scimitar at his hip. "Thank-you for coming, it does you credit that you are so invested in the safe and harmonious running of this great city!"
There were more cheers from around the crowded amphitheatre. Caprifexia had thought it was pretty terrible as far as speeches went, especially after the aetherborn's moving last words, but apparently these mortals had very poor taste. Far from unexpected.
"These prisoners, these renegades, attempted to disrupt that harmony! That security! They broke the laws of the Consulate that govern us all! That keep us safe!" continued the man, working himself into a rant. "They sought the wreak havoc upon the aether! The very lifeblood of our great civilisation! And for that, it has been judged, that they must pay the ultimate price!"
The crowd's roar was deafening, and Caprifexia's bemusement mounted. Paying a price? How could they do that? They were dressed in rags. What did they have to pay with? Did these mortals not understand how currency worked?
One of the prisoners was dragged forward toward the block, and made to kneel.
"Lemik Kanna," said the cowled human. "You have been found guilty of reckless misuse of aether and sedition. Do you have any last words?"
"Fuck you, pig," said the man loudly, his words ringing out across the huge space. He cleared his throat and spat onto the man's boots.
The crowd jeered and howled as the cowled man drew his scimitar from its scabbard, raising it high above his head. Realisation hit Caprifexia a split second after the blade began to descend. This wasn't an amnesty, some kind of pay-for-freedom scheme; this was an execution. Steel whistled downward, and Caprifexia's stomach twisted as the prisoner died in an instant, his head toppling into the sand and staining it red with blood.
After witnessing Aedi's death that morning, which had been so strangely bitter-sweet, this gross and horrific violence was like a slap in the face. 'Interfering with aether and sedition?' What did that even mean? The first thing was nonsense, how could you 'interfere' with airborne mana, and whatever the second thing was, how could it warrant such a degrading and humiliating death? Sometimes villains had to be put down, and sometimes Caprifexia had even enjoyed doing it, but…this?Making it a spectacle for a baying crowd? It was revolting. Disgusting.
No, this wasn't just-this. This was was cruel, murderous villainy.
Not a hero anymore, she reminded herself, even as her hand curled into a fist. Not a hero. Nothing to do with you…
The small girl was shoved forward next, crying, and the crowd went even wilder as she was forced to her knees and her neck pressed to the block.
"Chandra Nalaar," said the cowled murderer – likely a blue villain, although she couldn't see beneath the cowl. "You have been found guilty of practising pyromancy, the most dangerous and heinous form of magic."
"No, please!" screamed the little girl. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"
The crowd laughed. Caprifexia's hands began to shake.
The tiny, pathetic little mortal was going to be killed for simply being a mage? Gunjana the aetherborn had said that mages were disliked in the city, but Caprifexia had never suspected it was this bad. Practising pyromancy? Using fire magic? Those were no grounds for being a villain.
"For this, you are sentenced to die," continued the cowled man as the girl sobbed. "Have you any final words?"
Caprifexia had thought she'd been done with risking her life for nasty and ungrateful mortals who never had anything but unkind words for her; thought she'd been done with trying to strive endlessly and futility to garner a skerrick of respect or even acceptance; thought she'd been done being a hero. She'd been wrong.
"You want to face apyromancer!?" yelled Caprifexia, draconic bass rumbling across the large space, flames erupting from her body as she cast a 'Flame Cloak' spell that J'zargo had come up with, and which her former instructor Faralda had described as 'utterly suicidal for anyone except that damned menace to use.' "Then try me, you vicious little mortals!"
Nearby people screamed, recoiled, and ignited in places as Caprifexia vaulted from the stands, launching a fireball as she went that sailed through the air and smashed into the sandy floor. The impact flash-heated a wave of sand into glass that sent shards radiating outward, blasting a trio of blue-villains from their feet and riddling their villainously blue bodies with the razor sharp fragments.
She landed in a crouch. Such a drop would have killed or crippled a mortal, but Caprifexia was no mortal – as these villains were about to discover. Several of the zappy-sticked villains levelled their weapons at her.
"Cower villains!" she said, baring her teeth. "For you face Caprifexia, Aspect-Queen of the Black-"
The small group fired their blasts of electricity at her mid-speech, which was rude, to say the least, but Caprifexia didn't even bother shielding. She had encountered these sticks before and-
'Why is everything black?' she thought blearily. 'And why does my mouth taste like copper?'
The world fuzzily reasserted itself, and Caprifexia found herself lying on the ground. Her chest hurt quite badly, not as bad as when the nasty elf Arakno had shot her with lightning, but enough to be painful. What was going on again?
"No need for alarm, good citizens!" shouted a voice. "A minor nuisance, one that's been dealt with. The execution will continue in but a moment!"
Caprifexia frowned. Execution…?
Her memory came rushing back. The massive tavern. The brutal killing of the man. The little girl-
Caprifexia's eyes snapped open. They'd shother. Without letting her finishher heroic monologue. She'd known they were villains, what with the executing children and all, but there was evil and then there was rude.
Caprifexia let out an enraged roar as she pushed herself up. Ignoring the pain in her chest she raised her fists over her head, summoning a large chunk of red mana from across the Void. Crimson energy flickered around her hands as she slammed them down. Sand liquified in an instant beneath the power that the Titans had gifted her people over the earth, rising upward in a wave and then crashing down over the four zappy-stick wielding villains who had shot her.
The liquids in their bodies cooled the molten glass, leaving behind ugly, misshapen figures as it set and the rest of the glass hissed as it rolled outward, popping as it shifted from moltern orange to a cloudy, semi-transparent film.
Caprifexia spat a mouthful of blood to one side and bared bloody fangs at the villains, letting loose another roar that made the more skittish of the villains flinch and cower.
"Shoot her! Shoot her!" yelled the cowled villain with the sword.
Roused from their stupor, the rest of the villains raised their zappy-sticks again and fired another volley of lightning at her. But Caprifexia, now that she knew that the blasts actually hurt, was having none of it.
The problem with energy-based magi-tek ranged-weaponry against a real wizard was that without a will actively directing it, the energy was just that, energy. It was one of the main reasons that her people had never really equipped their armies with it. That, and because their servants had been replaceable cannon-fodder. A lightning bolt cast by a mage couldn't be turned aside easily directed as it was by will, but a blast of energy loosed by an enchantment or, even more simply, a chemical reaction? That was just ambient energy to be shunted about like any other, all that was required was a little bit of skill and focus.
Lightning parted harmlessly in front of Caprifexia's outstretched hand, safely discharging behind her into the crowds of villainous spectators, eliciting screams from behind and curses from ahead.
"Stop shooting you fools, it isn't doing anything! Leave her to me," said the cowled, sword wielding Villain, striding forward. "I don't know who you are, pyromancer, but you will regret attempting to aid your fellows."
"Fellows?" snorted Caprifexia as he raised a gauntlet of some kind and aimed it at her. "Please, they-"
The gauntlet clicked. She expected another blast of lightning, but instead a wave of white light washed over her. She shielded instinctively, but the magic wasn't offensive, as far as she could feel. She wasn't actually sure what it was doing. Probably nothing important.
"Will you let me finish speaking!?" said Caprifexia. "You people are so rude, you know? I'm trying to give a good heroic monologue and you just-"
"Your heinous powers can't help you anymore, pyromancer," said the cowled man.
Caprifexia's eye twitched. "Cut me off again," she said. "See what-"
"Surrender!"
Caprifexia thrust a hand forward, summoning fire and…
Nothing but a few hot sparks and a bit of smoke emanated from her fist.
"Huh," she said, flexing her fingers. Had that wave… disrupted her pyromancy? She snapped her fingers, again conjuring a few sparks but failing anything more. Odd, it had done something to the area too, temporary scrambling the usual pathways she used to manifest pyromantic energy. Oh well, that wasn't a big problem.
"That's right, cower, fiend! Your hideous fire magic will do you no good here!" shouted the mage, drawing her attention back to him. "You are powerless against the might of the Consulate!"
There were cheers around the arena, but Caprifexia wasn't impressed. They thought that was enough to stop her? It had been an interesting enough spell, sure, for a mortal, but she was a dragon. Her people had been engineered by the Titans to be the ultimate bio-weapon, to be sky-shaking juggernauts of both physical and metaphysical might. Whelpling or no, it would take far more than a loss of command over fire to render her powerless.
"Maybe if I was a mortal that might have worked," said Caprifexia. "But if you'd let me finish, you'd know that I am no mortal." Lightning arced between her fingers. "I am Caprifexia, daughter of the Destroyer, and every force of reality bends to my will."
She unleashed a blast of lightning, but before it could strike the man and rid the multiverse of one more villain, she felt him thread a spell together, and a shimmering silver shield in the shape of a large hexagon snapped into existence in front of him, absorbing the blow.
Interestingly, although it hadn't come from across the multiverse, Caprifexia could tell that he was drawing on the power of a nearby place; that he was using the magic of the fabric of reality. The mana, however, was not the like the well of immense destructive, chaotic energy that Caprifexia had tapped at the Battle of High Hrothgar, and instead felt clear, crisp, and precise.
'Blue, perhaps?' she thought, thinking back to the books Sorbet Melon had leant her. She'd have to look into that.
She was drawn from her musings back to the battle by a blast of condensed air being hurled at her, hard enough to crack stone. She deflected it sideways with a concave shield of shimmering golden energy, sending it spinning off into the villain-filled stands and responded with another blast of lightning which sent spiderweb cracks radiating across the man's second hexagonal-style shield.
Perhaps realising that he didn't have the strength to slug it out with her, he switched tactics, and a large tiger flashed into being, bounding towards her. At first she thought it was a conjuration, but with a snort she realised that it was entirely illusory. She ignored the tiger and launched another blast of lightning, but the man blocked it again. This was becoming annoying.
The tiger moved sideways around her shield and leapt, and Caprifexia yelped as she suddenly found herself bowled over, what should have just been illusory claws ripping and tears at her skin. Despite the apparent sharpness, however, Caprifexia in any form was a dragon, and the illusion's talons didn't bite deep, her natural resilience saving her from more than some shallow cuts.
More than a little annoyed she grabbed the tiger's head and crushed its illusory skull, shattering it into a million shards of luminescent magic that hissed and fizzled for a moment before dispersing.
She was just turning back to face the villain when a blast of wind picked her up and sent her flying, back past the snap-frozen glass figures, over the sand, and finally into the large circular wall at the edge of the arena.
"Got her," said the cowled mage. "Now-"
Caprifexia stood up, scowling and brushing sand off her coat. That had hurt, even more than the bolt of lightning or the illusionary-tiger's claws. Her shoulder was aching something fierce. No, she had had quite enough of this nonsense. She was Caprifexia. She had slain Gods. She had saved Planes. No jumped up hedge-mage in a cowl was going to defeat her. Fine, if he could block lightning, then she'd give him something he couldn't block.
"Sir, she's not dead!"
"What are you!?" yelled the cowled mage. "Why won't you just die!?"
"As I've been trying to tell you," she said as her body began to glow gold and her Spark rose to the fore. Rather than Planeswalking, however, she reached for the Void and grasped its power. "I am Caprifexia, daughter of the Destroyer, Dragonqueen, Saviour of Nirn, Godslayer, Planeswalker, and Greatest Hero in the Multiverse. And you are nothing."
The cowled man, for the first time, showed real fear at her words, and took a half-step backward as the terrible un-light of the Void began to swirl around her fingers.
W̷̨͉̣̣̭̳̯̓͐̈́̃͋̆ẻ̴͎̖̟͗̕ͅ ̸̟̜̆̀͗͐͐̾͜s̷̳̹̙̠͓̅̚ẽ̴̢͍̝͓̜͈̦̲͕̍̐̐̔͗n̴͚͍̳̰͒̋̚s̴̯̩͔̭̮̯̩͗ę̴̫̓͛͐̅ ̴̤̰̠̲͈̯̔͠ẙ̷͍̠̮̻̰͙͔̪̇̓͑́͝͝o̸̩͚̿̋̒̍̅ͅͅǔ̵̜͙̮̼̝̉r̴͖̓́̌́̏ ̵̧̨̲͉̼̀ͅf̸̛̛͖̪͈̮̽̃̒̓́ẻ̴̢̟̲̟̲̟͂̐̄̌̊͒̊͝ą̵̺̤͓͋͜ȓ̸̗̗̞̈̍͗̿̊́͊.̵̨͖̳̥̠̼̥̜̳̉͋̀͋́.̴͙̊̊̄͝.̶̡̘͕͓̜̯͙̞̃
The Whispers pressed down on her as the energy built, just as smothering as ever. They could make her great, they told her, could save her from the fate that was to come.
Ẉ̸̰͕̺̩̺̼̠͐́̇̓̐ͅe̸̳̝̝̖̘͂̈͐͂̾͐̀͊ ̶̣͚͖̼̩̝͇̩̊̅̐̍̿̑̔͛ç̶̻̫̯̈́͜á̵̝n̶̢͕̖̳͎̦͍͓̱̗̋̏̏̚ ̷̧̢͕̯̜̬̮̽̒͋͒͑̉̆͛͜ͅs̶̘̺̜̙͍̥̃͗͜ȧ̶̡̡̧͙̝͍̘̖̤͍̆̃̍͋̏v̷͙̩͍̬͈̗͓̩̣̰̆̈̿͌́̍̚͝ę̸̗̫̼͖̝̣̦͉͇̄̓̆̀̄̋̍͝ ̶̛̥̿̓̔y̷̲̿͘͝o̴̩̳̝̫̘̻͗̈́̓͊͘͜ͅu̴̟̹̳̪̬͓̔̀̅̀̈̐͛͝.̶̳̓̌̄͂̓̉̕͠͝.̶͙̺̥̠̱̥͍͔̟̫͆̂͒͆̈́́̄̃̽̚.̴̡̞͇̹̬͚͉̞̤̖̾̉͛̏͜
The Whispers didn't lie. They never lied. They probably could save her from her fate…
I̶͙͕̺̻̙͚͚͕̭͗̔̎̌͗̈͐͒̉ţ̴̖̞͇̭́̾͋̊́͛͠͝͠ ̵͙̹͈͐̅̈͐̄͝c̸̨̧̹̠̙̤̝̱̯̜̩̻̻̲͂̌͐͛̃͂̑̓͂̍̒͋͠͝ạ̸̡̧̗̟̞̅̾̾̈́ͅn̴̹͖̪̬̥̟̲̘̥̲̎͐̚ ̵̪͔͉̪̬͈̗̹̤̤̔̈́͊̌̾̾̌͘͘b̵̧̢̧̡͖̭̲̩͎̝̩̣̞̭̮͋̈́̄́e̸̛̛̬̲̞̼͚̩͒̇̉̅͐̄͛͌͆̚̕͝ ̶͉̦̱̩̪̞̖̮̺͙̭̪͔͓̣́͋̿̋̾̍̃̉͆͑͂̚͜͝͠͝ͅȁ̷͍̦̣͔̖̫̪̮̣̣̯̣̆ͅͅv̷̨͈̬͔̯̜͕̹͗̽̀͋̌̽͂͂̌̐̀̃̄͝o̸̧̲̝͈͐̈́̈́̊̊̍͛̓̚͜͠͝͝͠ȉ̶͖̪̼͕̤͕̼͙͉̼͒͆͊̌̓̊́̃̈́͂͂̈́͘d̸̡͙͙̭͉̝̭̗͔͎̫̝̣̥͛̀̀̔̉̈́̽́́̏͗͝e̷̡̓̽̌̊͋͊̀̑͋̑͛͝d̷̨͔̻̩̳̀͗̊̊.̵̯̌̉̉̓̀̒̓̔̂̔̚͘͝.̷̢̨̨̧̭̺̝͖̝̬̒́.̵͙͎̼̙̱̾̐̀̊͆̈́͐̊́̏̽̆̋̾
No. The Whispers might not lie directly, but their promises were poison. Their 'deals' nothing but desperate attempts to enter reality, and she did not need their permission to use their power. With an effort of will she shut them out, flaring her Spark higher and quieting them. A trickle of sweat beaded on her forehead, running down and dripping off her nose as she prepared to release the gathered energy.
Ẁ̵̡̉h̴̢̀ȃ̶̺̯t̷̜̩̏̾ ̷̦͋i̸̗̊̓ŝ̸̯̼ ̸͎̰͋n̵̮͊̑e̴̦̜̅ẹ̵̍ͅḑ̵̛̣̕ ̷̩̺͊̽n̷̪̠̄̽o̶̯̕t̴̡̲̏ ̷͕͛̓͜b̶̖͈̆e̵̠͗.̵̱̔̈ͅ.̷͔͙̏͌.̷̺́
She released her spell, and power shot across the area in a beam of destruction, erasing the air it met from existence as the terrible Void energy ripped and tore at reality. The villain tried to shield, but his silvery hexagon immediately cracked and splintered as the beam blasted straight through it.
However, rather than standing still and taking his righteous heroic punishment, he released a wild, virtually uncontrolled blast of air that hurled him sideways. She tracked him with her fingers, shifting the beam and cutting through two of his villainous colleagues as she went, but then he hurled himself upward with another blast of wind, spinning like an out of control rag-doll. Scowling she adjusted again, but before the beam could cut him apart the spell collapsed, the last of the gathered Void energy dispersing. She clicked her teeth. Annoying.
The villain landed hard, and she was just about to throw more lightning at him when there was a large cracking sand. Behind him one of the load-bearing pillars for the arena, which had been bisected by what could honestly have been anyone's spell, slid sideways, smashing into another pillar, and then another, and then another. Higher up cracks raced up and over the domed roof, and the villain looked up. The crowd screamed, and began to run for the exits in a great crush as masonry rained down all around them.
"Look what you've done!" cried the villainous mage.
"Oh yes, blame the hero for your own villainous, slap-dash building regulations," said Caprifexia, lightning crackling between her fingers. "I shouldn't be surprised," she continued, glass crunching under her boots as she made her way back across the area. "You villains always seem incapable of taking responsibility for your actions. Not like heroes, like me."
"You're- you're no hero," shouted the villain as a particularly enormous chunk of masonry crashed down into the arena's stands, crushing a dozen of the screaming mortal spectators.
It was good to see that she hadn't lost her knack for heroism during the six or so months she'd been couped up in Winterhold College. She really was excellent at at hero-ing: she hadn't even meant to kill those villains, that had been just incidental heroism. Not that her amazingness was surprising, she was a dragon, after all. She was excellent at everything she did.
"Y- you're a criminal!" said the cowled villain. "A murderous danger to all of Ghirapur!"
"Your pathetic lies will do you no good, villain," she said, raising her gathered ball of lightning and hurling it at him. "Die!"
Once again he managed to get himself out of the way with a blast of air, but the lightning ball still struck the ground and radiated outward and he was caught in the backlash, screaming as the electricty raced over his body. Not enough to kill, unfortunately, but when he landed again he struggled to rise. The remaining pair of zappy-stick wielding villains, showing what in a hero would be understandable self-preservation, but for them was just cowardice, decided to run and turned, abandoning their leader.
Overhead there was a particularly large cracking sound, and Caprifexia looked up to see a another supporting strut of masonry shatter, raining down small pieces of rock all around them. Hmm, she should probably leave soon, she thought. Just as soon as she ended this villain and saved the city.
Caprifexia summoned more lightning and looked down to see the bruised, battered, bleeding, and lightly smoking man feebly pushing himself upright. He summoned another blast of air with a trembling hand, but it was so incredibly weak and poorly crafted that she didn't even bother raising her shield, simply powering through it with draconic strength and holding up her gathered energy for a death-blow.
"This is your end, villain," she said. "Don't feel too bad, you were never a match for me."
There was the sound of more cracking rock from overhead. The villain's frightened gaze flicked past her. Caprifexia raised an eyebrow, wondering if this was some pathetic ploy to extend his worthless, villainous life, before glancing up just in time to see an enormous chunk of stone break free from overhead and begin to plummet downward, straight toward the still manacled prisoners and the girl on the block.
For a moment Caprifexia was torn between finishing off the villain and protecting the prisoners. Then she saw the small girl's tear stained face, and her lightning spell collapsed. She thrust her hands out, and power surged through her as she grasped the mana around her, shifting it into a more malleable form and hurling the largest levitation field she had ever attempted to cast at the falling piece of rock.
Levitation wasn't something that red mana lent itself too, so she had to transmute the magic around her through her soul, which was tiring. That meant that while the villain turned and crawled away like the coward he was, she gasped, her entire body trembling as the immense piece of masonry, as large as a house, began to slow its descent. Slow, but not stop.
The prisoners began to shuffle away, and Caprifexia thought for a moment that she would be able to hold it long enough for them to get out. The little girl, however, was smaller, and having more difficulty. Her chains were much tighter, and she hadn't been able to stand back up, instead being forced to crawl across the ground.
"Go faster you stupid, tiny mortal!" yelled Caprifexia as blood trickled down from a nostril and the wound on her chest began to burn from the exertion. "Faster!"
The girl tried to obey, but the faster movement only made her slip and collapse. Caprifexia screamed at her to move again as she felt her spell begin to destabilise, but it was too late, and the energy gripping the huge rock shuddered before collapsing.
Caprifexia watched in horror as the rock descended, her mind racing for some way to save the tiny moral. She could blink, maybe, but only fast enough to get to the girl, not fast enough the then get both of them clear; and while she was strong, she couldn't catch a piece of masonry that large. She could try and blast the child out of the way, but no, the force required to get her clear quickly enough would pulverise her body and kill her as surely as the crushing weight of the rock…
Her titanforged mind kicked into overdrive, and her perception of time slowed, processing information at a speed that would have sent a mortal into a coma, contemplating and discarding scheme after scheme until she realised, after almost half a second, that she wasn't going to be able to save the little girl.
Caprifexia was forced to watch, helpless, as the girl screamed, her amber eyes staring up at the rock as her body began to glow gold and Caprifexia felt the girl's soul connect with-
What?
The girl vanished in a swirl of brilliant energy, and a split second later the huge chunk of masonry crashed into the sand.
Caprifexia stared at the fallen piece of ceiling, totally dumbfounded, as more and more masonry rained down around her, small pieces bouncing off her horns. That hadn't been a teleport, there had been none of the telltale distortion of space-time. No, the girl had touched, and then breached,the Void. Caprifexia had never observed anyone else Planeswalk, or rather, never seen a normal Planeswalker do it, but there was nothing else that explained what the girl had just done. The girl was a Planeswalker, and Caprifexia had just watched her Spark ignite.
Caprifexia summoned up her own Spark and stepped out of the collapsing arena and into the Void a moment later, and sure enough saw the young girl, her body blazing gold and walking across one of the paths between worlds. Despite the girl's chained hands and feet, she seemed to be able to walk totally unhindered, the manacles bending and warping disorientingly in the un-space.
Caprifexia jogged to catch up with her. She reached out and grabbed the girl's arm, but the girl didn't even seem to notice, continuing to walk forward. Of course, thought Caprifexia, letting her go. She didn't experience transit in the same way as Caprifexia, who was an amazing dragon, did. Contenting herself to follow, Caprifexia fell in behind her, crossing one, then two, then three platforms before finally arriving at the entrance to a reality that was unlike any she had seen before.
A giant tree grew from the platform where the central, star-like entrance should have been, towering up and disappearing into the Void. Here and there, scattered between branches, were star-like orbs that, while not as large as regular planes, did share the same essential appearance, albeit far more stark in their distributions of mana between one or two colours. Odd, she'd have to investigate that.
The girl began to make her way up one of the branch-like ramps, passing a few 'demi-planes' before pressing her hand against one of the blazing orbs –this one mainly white and green– and vanishing. A moment later Caprifexia followed with her own portal.
It was snowy, and cold, and a harsh frigid breeze blew through a dark forest as Caprifexia stepped through the portal. Ahead of her the small girl had collapsed, shivering, her manacles once again hindering her movement. Hearing the sound of Caprifexia's boots on the snow she rolled over, staring up at Caprifexia with terrified, confused eyes.
"W-w-what's g-g-going o-on?" said the girl through chattering teeth, tears streaming down her cheeks.
"Calm down, you silly little mortal," said Caprifexia, kneeling down and casting a warming charm. "Show me your chains."
The girl's shivers grew less extreme, and although she still eyed Caprifexia with apprehension she extended her hands.
Caprifexia unlocked the unwarded metal lock with a simple cantrip, and they clattered into the snow. The girl rubbed her wrists, but said nothing.
"My name is Caprifexia," said Caprifexia, trying to remember how you were supposed to interact with children.
'Instil a sense of absolute terror-'
No, no, that had been her textbook back in Blackrock, so that was wrong. Well, probably wrong… Had Einar said anything? He was always telling her off, and viewed her –wrongly– as a child. Was that what you were supposed to do, tell children off? That sounded better, and she could always fall back to instilling terror if that didn't work.
"You're very lucky to be alive," admonished Caprifexia, channelling Einar and putting her hands on her hips.
"W-what?" blubbered the girl.
"Nearly getting crushed like that," tutted Caprifexia, shaking her head. "Very dangerous!"
The girl blinked up at her. "But you… you caused the arena to collapse!" she said. "When you… um,blasted Baral. Which was- which was really cool-"
"Part of growing up is learning to take responsibility for yourself," said Caprifexia sagely. "That includes responsibility for not getting crushed."
The girl look at her askance for a few moments.
"You, um, you fought the Consul. Baral, he wasn't able to stop you," said the child, refusing to acknowledge the need to take responsibility for not being crushed while chained and unable to move. "He was scared of you. I've never seen him scared."
She balled her hands into fists.
"I wish he was scared of me," she said, conjuring a small plume of fire around her fist. It was quite a poorly crafted spell, but given mortal standards it was still probably pretty impressive for a child.
"He was just a silly little mortal," said Caprifexia, brushing some snow off the shoulder of her coat. "I am a mighty dragon, he could never hope to be a match for me."
"You don't look like a dragon," said the little girl sceptically. "Whole, you know, elf thing you've got going on."
Caprifexia raised an eyebrow, before shifting into her true form. "And do I look like a dragon now?" she asked.
"Wow," said the girl, her face lighting up with wonder as she extended a hand and placed it on Caprifexia's wing. "You're beautiful."
Caprifexia, who was used to people mocking and deriding her true form, or otherwise screaming, took a moment to process the compliment.
"Of course I am," said Caprifexia, quickly recovering and preening. "Dragons are majestic."
At last, she thought,someone who actually appreciatesmy true self. Maybe this child wasn't so bad after all.
"I'm Chandra," said the girl. "Where are we? Did you take me here? To save me?"
"No," said Caprifexia. "I only followed. You brought yourself here."
"Me? How?" said Chandra. "All I know is a bit of fire magic, I can't teleport."
"You did not teleport, you Planeswalked," explained Caprifexia. "Teleporting is the act of moving between two points in space-time; usually a large distance. Planeswalking is the shifting between different realities in the multiverse, and is only possible for Planeswalkers. They are entirely different, and entirely unrelated branches of magic."
"Planeswalkers?" said Chandra. "Is that what I am?"
"Obviously," said Caprifexia. "How else would you have gotten here? You mortals always need everything spelled out, don't you?"
"Are you one too?" said Chandra.
"Obviously," said Caprifexia. "Quad Erat Draconium."
"What the… dragon said?" said Chandra, translating from draconic into her own tongue. "Wait. How did I understand that?"
"You're a Planeswalker," said Caprifexia.
"So I'm… like you?" said Chandra.
"Yes," nodded Caprifexia, because pausing. "Well, not like me, since you're a human, not a dragon. But your Spark sets you apart from mere mortals. Congratulations, a real step up. Relatively speaking."
"I'm… a God?" asked Chandra.
"Gods don't exist," snorted Caprifexia. "You are, however, a higher form of life. Than other mortals, that is. Not dragons though, you're still lower down than us."
"Oh."
"According to what I have read, a Spark brings with it a boost in mental acuity, the indefinite extension of one's life, an increased affinity for magic, and the ability to speak and understand any language," continued Caprifexia, ticking items off on her fingers. "I, of course, already had all of those things before I became a Planeswalker, because I'm a dragon, and we're amazing, but since you can understand draconic you apparently have at least some of those abilities."
"Wow," said Chandra, looking down at her hands. "Cool."
"Come, we should walk a way before returning to Kaladesh," said Caprifexia, standing up. "Distance transfers over to a degree between Planes, and that arena may not be finished collapsing due to the terrible building regulations of your home-Plane. They really should be ashamed, making such flimsy taverns."
"What? No, I don't want to go back!" said the girl, aghast.
"Your parents must be looking for you-"
"My parents are dead," said the girl, looking at the snow and sniffing, tears welling in her eyes. "The Consul killed them."
Despite the manifestly pathetic display, Caprifexia's heroism had made her a very kind soul, and she was only mostly disgusted by the overt display of weakness.
"I'm, err…" said Caprifexia after a moment of trying to remember what Einar had said about comforting blubbering children. "Sorry?"
Be enterprising with them? Was she remembering that correctly? No, no… ah,empathise.Yes, that made much more sense.
"My parents are also dead," said Caprifexia.
"R-really?" said Chandra.
"Yes, although they were villains, and trying to destroy the world, so it's probably for the best," nodded Caprifexia. "My brother killed them, then he tried to kill me."
"You're really weird," laughed Chandra, wiping at her tear stained eyes.
"I am not," said Caprifexia, crossing her arms. "Its you mortals who are weird. Dragons are the normal ones."
"Can I… come with you?" said Chandra, rubbing the side of her shoulder and looking at Caprifexia shyly.
"Come with me?" said Caprifexia.
"You're amazing, and good at magic, and know all about this Planeswalker stuff," said Chandra, a note of desperation in her voice. "You could- you could teach me!"
"I am amazing…" agreed Caprifexia, speculatively tapping her lip with a mortal finger.
She had been rather- err, a littlelonely without Einar and J'zargo, it was true, and she did know what this girl was going through. She too had lost her parents, and her home. She sure would have liked to have someone help her get on her feet. Well, looking back on it she would have. At the time she'd still been a villain, and probably would have attacked someone offering to help her in an insane homicidal rage.
And besides, it would be the heroic thing to do. And she was a hero, that much was clear to her now. It didn't matter if she didn't get credit for her amazing, incredible heroism, or that people told her off for totally unfair reasons and alleged 'collateral damage.' She'd helped the girl and the other prisoners and killed those blue and non-blue villains and a good chunk of their villanous audience because it had been the right thing to do. She was a dragon, and as nice as it was to have her perfection recognised in the end she was the master of her own destiny and choices. She acted because she wanted to, because she thought something was right. And… sure, she was confused and concerned about the future, but she had a while to figure it out, and although she had been disturbed by the 'Last Party,' she could see merit in the philosophy of 'living life to its fullest' and focusing on the present.
"I suppose you can tag along," said Caprifexia.
"Thank-you!" said Chandra, wrapping her arms around Caprifexia and starting to sob again. "Thank-you!"
"There, there my young apprentice," said Caprifexia, tapping the girl on the back. "It's OK to cry, you're just a silly mort- a silly human, after all."