Chapter 5
Caprifexia cocked her head to one side and squinted, staring up at the immense branches above her and trying to gauge the distance. The giant limbs seemed to be unbelievably massive, apparently as thick as moons according to some calculations she had done in her head. Under normal circumstances, they should have collapsed in on themselves, but, for whatever reason, they didn't. They also seemed to have a solid and clear enough presence that they manifested in the Void, which was also, to her knowledge, unprecedented. They had to be artifical, but that begged the question, as it had on Nirn, who would make something like this? And why?
Nirn. She was pulled from her examinations by the thought of her old… home? Had it been her home? She'd been 'studying' there, after a fashion, and she'd certainly spent more time on the plane than any other after Azeroth. She had friends there-
She exhaled a puff of smoke. Some friends, they didn't even let her be herself. They didn't even care that in the future she would-
No. Not thinking about that. Not. Thinking! Look at the weird tree thing, that's a much more interesting thing for a hero to think about.
Staying busy, that was the key. Staying busy so she didn't have the space for her mind to turn to-
She dug her claws into the branch's bark and forced herself to look up. To be in the here and now. Life focused on the present. That was the key.
She was perched on the top of one of the large trees in the snowy forest they had arrived in. The sky above was clear, but unlike the stark blue that so often stretched from horizon to horizon back in Winterhold, this world was different. There was a large object that acted a bit like a sun, although it was giving off the wrong kind of light to actually be a proper stellar object. Some giant ball of mana, perhaps? What was more, even during the day, streaked with the gently shifting colours of an aurora, indicating that the space outside the atmosphere of the demi-planes was subject to extreme stellar winds, which would, she imagined, make it rather difficult to directly navigate between the demi-planes without dipping back into the Void.
It was quite beautiful, and in conjuction with the tree gave the rolling forested landscape kind of vivid, wild feeling. The ambient magic was also different to Nirn, not more potent, more… stratified. Like Kaladesh. If she focused, she could feel streams of red mana wafting by above as part of the solar winds. It wasn't as potent as the energy of the forest, which she couldn't really identify the particulars of but assumed was what Sorbet called 'Green,' but it was definitely there. The tree might have been ridiculous, but it was pretty, and even if she was primarily interested in magic and accruing more power to deploy in heroic ways, she didn't often have a chance to just sit and appreciate natural beauty.
"Ms. Caprifexia?" shouted Chandra from below, pulling her from what had been, for once, a pleasant train of thought. "Ms. Caprifexia!?"
Grumbling, Caprifexia took one last look at the sky before beginning to make a controlled descent through the thick, dense, and low canopy, flapping and tearing and burning down to where her apprentice was waiting on the dense and dim forest floor a small walk away from the forest town.
"What is it?" said Caprifexia, flapping down and alighting on a low branch near her apprentice, who was wrapped in layers and layers and layers of warm clothing, two scarves, thick mittens and a knitted hat. It was, apparently, 'cold.'
"I heard some shouts, coming from the village," said Chandra, pointing a mittened hand back the way they had come.
Caprifexia cocked her head. Shouts, screams, the clash of steel on steel. She sniffed: blood in the air, woodsmoke.
"It's probably nothing," said Caprifexia. "Mortals are always making strange noises and burning things."
"Shouldn't we, like, investigate?" said Chandra.
"I'm not done here," said Caprifexia.
"They could be under attack," said Chandra.
Caprifexia looked back up the tree. "But I'm not done."
"But Ms. Caprifexia!"
Caprifexia grumbled. Mortals, and ex-mortals like Chandra it seemed, were so needy. "Fine," she said, jumping from her perch and shapeshifting back into her mortal guise. "But I bet you it's nothing."
They trudged back down the forested path, picking their way between the large trunks of the thick forest, the sounds growing louder as they approached. More than that, Caprifexia felt dark magic swirling around the village, which was odd, since they hadn't seemed to have had any spellcasters. They crested a rise, and through the thick trees the edge of the village's rough wooden palisade and gate they'd left through came into view, and the shouts and sounds of battle grew clearer.
A group of humans, clad in furs and covered in glowing purple runes raced around through the dense trees, even as the gate Caprifexia and Chandra had left through closed with a bang! Arrows rained down from the watch towers. Several struck home, killing where they found eyes and hearts, but if they bothered the other rune-adorned humans as their pierced limbs, they gave little indication, ignoring their wounds as dark, tasty smelling blood poured down their limbs and onto the snow beneath.
"Oh look, some heroes have come to save the village," said Caprifexia. "That saves me from doing it, I guess. Convenient. I can go back to looking at the tree-"
"I don't think that those are heroes!" said Chandra, ducking behind a tree and peering out from behind it as the heroes began trying to ram down the gates with a massive ram. "Look, they've got, like, skulls on their shoulders!"
Caprifexia peered at the attacking heroes. It was true that they did have quite a skull-based theme going on. Perhaps they just enjoyed–for some reason–the aesthetics of the mortal skull? Which was weird, but no weirder than a whole host of other things that mortals did.
"That doesn't prove anything," said Caprifexia. "One shouldn't judge by appearances, Apprentice."
"They're chanting 'kill them all!'" said Chandra. "And 'take their skulls!' And 'eat their hearts!'"
"Kill them all! Take their skulls! Eat their hearts!"
Caprifexia tapped her lip and considered.She supposed those weren't classically heroic chants.
"But the villagers called me a demon, remember?" said Caprifexia, offering a cogent counter-point. "No, I think there's more evidence that the villagers are the real villains."
"Kill them all! Take their skulls! Eat their hearts!"
"The villagers aren't- aren'tflippingvillains!" said Chandra.
"That remains to be seen," said Caprifexia.
"Ms. Caprifexia, you're really strong," said Chandra beseechingly. "You could stop them, help the villagers, like you helped me! Although… you know, with maybe a bit less, like, collateral damage? Please? Please? Pleeeeaasse?"
"Fine, let's go and investigate," sighed Caprifexia, striding down the snowy path towards the perhaps-heroic berserkers as the continued to batter and splinter the wooden gateway. Most of the defenders on the walls had already fallen to thrown axes and arrows and spears, leaving the probably-heroic forces mostly uncontested. "But remember, heroes don't jump to conclusions. They might be friendly."
"Kill them all! Take their skulls! Eat their hearts!"
"Err, right," said Chandra, her voice shaking a bit as she scurried to keep up with Caprifexia.
Caprifexia strode through the forest, and was spotted when she got within around twenty meters of the group.
"Look, stragglers-" began a scrawny man, raising their axe toward Caprifexia.
"-no you idiot, look at her fucking horns, she's like the master," said another, a larger woman with an eyepatch over one eye. The woman approached and bowed her head. "Forgive us Great One, we did not know there were more of your kind here. Are you here to aide us with the gate? I do not believe we will have further trouble, they seem to be out of arrows…"
"See Chandra, they're much more respectful, the villainous villagers could learn a lot from these nice mortals," said Caprifexia.
"That… I don't think… err…" stammered Chandra.
"Hello nice mortals, what are you doing here?" asked Caprifexia, addressing the friendly, heroic mortals.
"We are… raiding, Great One," said the woman. Her eyes flicked to Chandra, who was trying to hide behind Caprifexia. "Forgive me, Great One, but why do you have a child with you?"
"Hey, I'm not a child!" protested Chandra, strangely.
"She's my apprentice," said Caprifexia. "I'm teaching her to be a hero."
The 'raiders' seemed to be confused by this, and muttered, glancing amongst each other.
"You mean… are teaching her demonic sorcery?" suggested the one-eyed woman, after a moment.
"Demonic?" said Caprifexia, wrinkling her lip. "I have no interest in Fel magic, or the revolting beings that practice it."
"So you're… not a demon?" said the scrawny man.
"No," hissed Caprifexia. "I'm Dragonqueen Caprifexia, daughter of Neltharion the Earthwarder, Matriarch of the Black Dragonflight, Saviour of Nirn, Godslayer, and greatest hero in the Multiverse! I am a dragon."
The berserkers, who Caprifexia was beginning to slowly suspect might be demon cultists, looked at each other, before bursting into laughter.
"I see we found the village fool," cackled the one-eyed woman. "Your head will look good on a pike, oh great 'dragon hero.'"
"Ms. Caprifexia!" said Chandra as the probably-not-heroes began to advance. "Ms. Caprifexia! They're going to-"
A spear flew from the advancing berserkers, confirming Caprifexia's long-standing contention that they were, indeed, villains. Unfortunately for the mortal, however, spears travelled at markedly slower speeds than arrows, which still could give her a bit of trouble if she didn't shield them in time.
Caprifexia twisted, and her hand closed on the haft as it sped by, bringing it to a dead stop. The berserkers stopped laughing.
"Did she just…?" said the scrawny man.
Caprifexia electrified the spear for good measure, then threw it back at them. The spear, however, must have been enchanted to not work for heroes because it went wide and high, streaking up over the berserkers' heads and smashing into one of the supports of a watch-tower in the town. The spear, and the support, exploded in a cloud of splinters, and there were screams from inside the village as the watch-tower teetered and then collapsed.
The berserkers looked back at the town, and then back and Caprifexia.
"Did you mean to do that?" asked the one-eyed woman. "Or are you just really terrible at throwing?"
"Chandra, it seems they're villains after all," said Caprifexia, ignoring the villains and their slanderous and unfair accusations about her ability to throw objects around like a silly-looking mortal. "You know what to do."
"Err… throw fire at them?" said Chandra, summoning fire to her mittened fists.
"Throw fire at them," nodded Caprifexia.
The definitely-clearly-villains-who-Caprifexia-had-always-recognised-as-such hurled another javelin, this one aimed at Chandra. But Caprifexia twisted her hands and a draconic sigil appeared in front of her: the javelin's course suddenly went haywire, spinning off into the canopy overhead as Caprifexia disrupted the area's local magnetic field.
"Eat this!" shouted Chandra as she hurled fire at the oncoming berserkers, but although the fire struck home and blasted members of the oncoming horde back those hit simply got back up, seemingly unharmed but very superficial looking burns.
Caprifexia experimentally blasted one with lightning, but although it had more effect than Chandra's spells, since she was amazing, and seemed to cause markedly more pain, the scrawny man she hit didn't stay down.
"Um, Ms. Caprifexia?" said Chandra as the berserkers closed. "Fire isn't working."
"Hmm," said Caprifexia, eyeing the purple runes on the berserkers bodies that seemed to flare more brightly whenever Chandra's fire hit them.
"Ms. Caprifexia, they're getting closer," said Chandra. "Ms. Caprifexia? Ms. Caprifexia!?"
Caprifexia grabbed her Apprentice's collar, who was almost as tall as she was she noted, and space and time bent as she Blinked them sideways into the forest away from the villains.
"What was-" said Chandra, staggering and putting her hands to her stomach. "Oh spirits, I'm going to-"
Chandra vomited. Caprifexia wrinkled her nose.
"They seem to have some kind of protective warding," observed Caprifexia.
"What- what was that!?" croaked Chandra, still looking a bit green. "Oh no-"
She vomited again.
"Really, apprentice? It was just a Blink," said Caprifexia, regarding the horde, who had seen where Caprifexia and Chandra had relocated to and were charging again.
"Well, it sucks!" said Chandra. "What are we going to do? Our spells don't work on them."
"You move back, I can't deal with them and worry about you," said Caprifexia. "Take notes though, there will be a quiz."
Chandra scooted away and Caprifexia muttered a word. Fire roared into existence around her as she cast J'zargo's 'Flame Cloak.' Her feline friend's spell billowed and writhed around her mortal guise, raising the ambient temperature in the immediate area several dozen degrees.
The several villains skidded to a stop as they closed on her, and holding up their hands against the immense heat. The one-eyed woman, however, was undeterred, and the runes on her body began to blaze with purple light. She lunged with a yell, and instead of catching fire like some of the nearby trees had, powered through the enchantment, raised her massive axe and brought it down in and overhead blow toward Caprifexia's head.
Caprifexia caught it on a conjured 'duelists shield' that appeared over her left forearm but, to her surprise, the force of the blow drove her to one knee. For a moment she just stared at the one-eyed woman in shock. Outside of her 'spars' with Serana, she had never fought anyone in hand-to-hand combat with remotely similar strength to her own. This woman was a mortal? Or… no, it must have been the strange, purple magic augmenting her strength. Concerning. Mildly, at least.
The fire of J'zargo's cloak might have been ineffective against the woman's bolstering magic, but the stream of dragonfire that Caprifexia unleashed from her maw proved too much, and the woman rapidly backpedalled, angry burns appearing on her forearms and torso. Still, she should have been dead, not just a little singed: that had been dragonfire, the hottest and most anti-magical and best flame that Caprifexia knew of.
The scrawny man, his body also blazing with runic magic charged her a split second later, but Caprifexia had no intention of letting another of the strong mortals close on her. She splayed her fingers and with a shout released a blast of 'messy' lightning that detonated outward from her palm, picking the man up and slamming him against a nearby tree hard enough that it shouldhave broken bones, although she didn't hear anything snap, and the man picked himself up a moment later. That was… also worrying. Well, for a mortal it would have been; dragons didn't get worried, of course.
Another mortal charged her, and another, and another, and Caprifexia soon found herself on the back-foot, able to drive them off, but unable to harm them with her usual repertoire of destructive magic, and gradually accumulating cuts and scrapes and bruises where she was too slow.
She was used to fighting mortals who generally, if they didn't shield themselves, were 'one-shot'–as J'zargo put it–by her magical attacks. She had certainly intended her breath and her lightning blast to be fatal – efficiency was on of the core tenants of heroism, after all. Extreme magical resistance was typically the province of dragons, and other, less amazing, magical creatures, not mortals with runic tattoos. Once she figured out how to kill them, she was going to have to remove some of their skin to see what exactly was going on with that runic magic.
Caprifexia blocked the one-eyed woman's axe only to receive a painful kick to the chest that sent her tumbling over the snow. Spitting blood and frozen crystals, she picked herself up and glared at the now laughing villains. Laughing. At a majestic dragon like her!?
"What's the matter, dragon?" mocked the one-eyed woman, who seemed to be the leader. "Fancy spells not working against the Master's blessing?"
The skulls on spikes she could forgive. After all, mortals had weird taste she didn't pretend to understand. Throwing spears at people? Well, if they'd thought she was a villain, that was forgivable. Demonic sorcery? Who hadn't dabbled with 'evil' magic now and then?
But laughing at a dragon? That was beyond the scale. She didn't care how many fancy symbols they carved into their skin, or how much foul demon magic they used: she was going to crush these uppity little mortals, and she was going to enjoy doing it.
Just as soon as she figured out how to go about doing said crushing.
She could conjure a thunderstorm, as she had at the Battle of High Hrothgar, but that would rapidly exhaust her mana. A few blasts had been enough to empty her large well of Red mana back then, and unlike her personal power, the energy she could draw from the fabric of reality that was Skyrim, though vast, was strictly definite. Also, the heavy canopy above would probably disrupt the discharges…
Void Magic? No, even if she'd had the space and time to cast it, the Whispers had been… unnervingly loud the last time she had used it. No, that wasn't an option.
What about Terramancy? Her people's Gift from the Titans who had uplifted them? The power to shape and mould the earth. Yes… with that, she could rip open the ground and entomb all of these pathetic and cheating villains. Anything on a large scale would probably use most of her reserves too, efficiency of her Gift or no, but she'd like to see their silly little runes overcome being crushed under tons of stone or dunked into lava. Hah!
Although like a Void Lance she'd need time and space to cast something like that…
Her eyes fell on the half-collapsed wooden palisade, and the haggard remaining defenders of the maybe-villainous village. Ah, perfect. Distractions. The maybe-villainous villagers would slow the raiders down and give her time for her spell.
Caprifexia vanished in a swirl of energy, appearing next to Chandra and staggering slightly as the arcane discharge painfully zapped at her. Blinking back to back wasn't the easiest or nicest thing, but it was necessary.
"What are-" began Chandra, before her eyes widened as she realised what Caprifexia was about to do. "No! Not again-"
Caprifexia Blinked again as soon as her hand closed on Chandra's collar, and the reappeared inside the town. Chandra immediately collapsed and started vomiting, and Caprifexia lost her footing for reasons totally unrelated to the fact that she'd never finished reading about how to Blink 'properly' before her home had been sacked.
"Alright," she said, shaking her head and pushing herself up as ahead of her, down a gently sloping road, the raiders resumed their attacks upon the gate. She cracked her mortal knuckles, getting herself ready. She'd never, strictly speaking, cast such a massive terramancy spell. But she was a Black Dragon, manipulating the Earth was quite literally in her DNA. "Let's see them survive this."
"Weren't you- you supposed to be saving the villagers?" coughed Chandra, wiping away some disgusting mortal bile from her lips and pointing ahead to the gate as it began to splinter and break.
"I never agreed to that," said Caprifexia, spreading her hands and calling upon both her Red Mana bond and the Gift the Titans had bestowed upon her people. Deep red-orange energy began to swirl around her body, pooling for a moment before sinking into the ground in great ribbons of energy.
"Ms. Caprifexia- woah!" said Chandra, wobbling as beneath them the ground began to shake. "What are you doing?"
"Winning."
Cracks radiated forward from Caprifexia's body, splitting and ripping apart the ground as Caprifexia sank her power into the earth.
"Ms. Caprifexia!? The- the town!" shouted Chandra, waving around her hands. "You're destroying the town!"
"Sometimes sacrifices must be made for the greater good," said Caprifexia.
The tremors grew more violent, and the cracks began to widen from inches to multiple feet. To her right a building creaked and groaned for a moment, before with snapping sounds it collapsed inward in a series of lurches, bits of debris tumbling down into the deep crevasse forming beneath it.
"We're supposed to be saving the town!" protested Chandra, annoyingly.
"No on beats a dragon!" roared Caprifexia, ignoring her mewling apprentice.
"Ms. Caprifexia!" shouted Chandra, sounding very much like Einar.
"No one beats a dragon!" screamed Caprifexia as her power began to roll off her in great waves and the earth in front of her bent and morphed beneath her will.
"Oh, flipping… flip!"swore Chandra, pulling at her hair. "Ahhh!"
The red haired teenager shouted something strangled and incoherent, before recklessly rushing ahead of Caprifexia, scrambling up and over the increasingly uneven terrain to get to the confused, and honestly quite stupid looking, defenders, who had stopped worrying about the falling gate and were instead looking around in gormless terror.
"Get out of there!" shouted Chandra. "Get out of there!"
"W-what?" said one of the dopey defenders. "What's happening?"
"My teacher, she's- she's gone nuts!" shouted Chandra, very unfairly. "She's bringing everything down! Run! Run!"
Nuts? Nuts?
Caprifexia would be having words with her apprentice about the appropriate way to address a dragon.
The cretinous defenders responded to her somewhat meat apprentice's frantic calls, and began to make their way back. One of them slipped and fell into a crevasse with a scream, and Caprifexia felt something that might have been a twinge of regret. But she immediately quashed it with simple logic: these people would have already been dead if not for her heroic intervention, which meant that if even one of them survived then she'd be ahead, heroically speaking. She was pretty sure that was how that worked.
Besides, they were probably all villains anyway, they'd called her a demon after all. This was… this was just efficient heroism – two lots of villains, one earth-rending-quake.
Hopefully Chandra would be OK though; she quite liked her new apprentice. Most of the time. Not when she said she was nuts. Hmph.
The crevasses widened as the spell's intensity ramped up, and the air above began to roil and boil as molten lava began to pool in their depths. More houses that probably no one was using anyway collapsed inward, or else ignited. The defensive palisade fell away entirely, revealing the confused and wildly shouting raiders who were scrabbling and scrambling for purchase on the heaving and warping and shifting ground. She spotted the one-eyed woman fall from her perch with a scream into a particularly hot looking chasm. Excellent.
"Ms. Caprifexia!" shouted Chandra, who had managed to make it back onto the area behind her along with most of the defenders. "That's enough!"
"I still see a few villains," said Caprifexia, peering into the churning and twisting landscape, focusing in on the scrawny looking man who was clinging to a protrusion of rock, sobbing and screaming hysterically. "That one's being particularly stubborn."
She shifted her hand toward him and focused. The protrusion cracked and shattered, and he was sent screaming into the molten depths.
"Well," she said, releasing her spell and looking over the magnificent devastation she had wrought. "That went well."
A good third or so of the possibly-villainous town was now mostly sunken into dozens of jagged rips and rents in the ground. A few of the thatched buildings, or sections of them, hung on here and there, and were slowly catching fire as lava crackled and hissed merrily, but there weren't any raiders in sight, and, in general, she though she'd been admirably thorough. She had used up most of her reserves of red-mana for the earth-shattering spell, although thanks to the nature of the 'external' mana she drew from Skyrim, she wasn't feeling at all tired.
She really was an exceptionalhero.
"You- you destroyed like half the village!" shouted Chandra, who for some reason seemed quite agitated. "Thank the spirits everyone had evacuated to the town hall, or, or…"
"Don't thank the spirits, thank me," said Caprifexia, patting her apprentice's head. "And don't worry, collateral damage is an unavoidable side effect of heroism. You get used to it. Now, what was this calling me 'nuts' about, hmm? That is no way to address a dragon."
"W-what?" said Chandra. "That's not the issue-"
"I've been lenient with you because you have until recently been a silly mortal, but, strictly speaking, you should be addressing me as 'Lady Caprifexia' – at minimum," said Caprifexia, wagging her finger. "'Queen Caprifexia' and 'Dragonqueen Caprifexia,' or just 'Dragonqueen,' would be even better. 'Your Majesty,' or 'your Dragonieness' would also be acceptable. Understood?"
Chandra was about to say something when behind her there was the sound of rushing footsteps, and Villain One, arm in a sling, came racing towards them. Lightning surged into existence around Caprifexia's fingers as she levelled them at him and prepared to end him.
"Wizards!" he said breathlessly, his wild eyes flicked first to Caprifexia and then to the rent and torn ground behind her. "The- the western gate- there- there's…" He trailed off. "By the Gods, what happened here?"
"Heroism," said Caprifexia, keeping her fingers pointed at him. "I'm not surprised you don't recognise it, villain-"
"What's wrong Harvor?" said Chandra, rudely pulling Caprifexia's electrified hand down.
"Oh… oh! Right! A demon, at the west gate!" said Villain One, shaking himself. "We're going to be overrun. We, um, need… help?" His gaze wandered back to the heroic destruction behind Caprifexia and Chandra. "That was my house…"
"A demon?" said Caprifexia, her ears perking up. Interesting, perhaps it was the one who had taught the berserker's their strange runic magic. Maybe she'd be able to get some information out it with torture- no, what did heroes call it? Ah, that was it.
Enhanced Interrogation.
Einar had whinged that the book she'd read about it in, some kind of 'Imperial Interrogation Handbook,' had been written by 'sociopaths,' but then again he'd also been a mean, unfair, and mean person who'd told her off constantly even for just trying to see him- No. Now was not the time to think about him.
She released her magic and allowed Villain One to continue to live, for now, as she followed him though the remainder possibly-villainous town toward the sounds of further battle. They passed the central square where the inn they had stayed in stood, and which was now filled with injured and dead townsfolk. The injured and those tending to them looked at Caprifexia with frightened, hopeless eyes.
"Don't worry, my- my teacher will save you!" said Chandra, trying to raise their spirits. "A demon… a demon's no match for her-"
There was an explosion from the path ahead, and a wave of dust and ash billowed down through the town's main street. Screams echoed, and bloody and terrified maybe-villains emerged from the cloud of dust as it settled, sprinting away from the sounds of massive armoured footfalls. Caprifexia narrowed her eyes as she felt a large, powerful magical presence approaching.
"Oh, flip…" whispered Chandra, apparently also sensing it.
Dragons didn't get scared. This was established fact. But the presence that was approaching her felt… immense. It wasn't demonic, it didn't even feel like a being. It was something else: infinite in complexity, indescribable in presence.
A shape resolved from the dust. It was hulking, standing at perhaps ten or eleven feet and bristling with muscle. Its torso was covered in vicious black and purple plate, and it had vicious looking horned head and burning eyes not entirely dissimilar from her own. The demon reeked of the same magic that had protected the berserkers. Their 'Master,' perhaps.
He, however, wasn't what drew her attention immediately, and hadn't been what she'd felt. No, she'd felt the massive axe he gripped in his clawed hands. The haft was blackened steel, etched with runes, but the head was what made it unique. It was wrought form some kind of blue-green, glass-like material, which danced with starlight and gleamed in the dust-filled air. Like a moth to flame, her worries slid away in the face of overwhelming curiosity and interest.
What was that axe made of?
"Hmm," rumbled the demon, his voice like boulders grinding together, coming to a stop and peering at Caprifexia. "I suppose you are the reason I felt my servants at the other gate perish? What are you… another demon?"
"I am no demon, I am a dragon," said Caprifexia.
"A high dragon?" said the demon. "Masquerading as a mortal? How odd. Odd, but not unpleasant, I have been growing bored with the ease of this slaughter, I will relish a true battle. Unless… perhaps you wish to join me? I am Varragoth-"
"What is that weapon?" said Caprifexia, ignoring his prattle and cutting him off. "The material?"
The demon seemed a bit put out by her interruption. "My axe? Oh, magnificent, isn't she?" he said. "The key to my freedom, and that which brought me here. The material? Have you never seen Tyrite before? I would have thought a being as old as your kind would know it. Strange."
"And where did you get it, Mr. Varygoth?" pressed Caprifexia. "Is there some kind of mine?"
Varygoth looked at her askance. "That isn't my…" he began, before shaking his horned head. "Listen, because I have respect for your people, I will give you the chance to join my raid, to become my second. Come, reave with me, Scaled One. Together we will bathe this realm in blood and-"
"Can it be purchased somewhere?" asked Caprifexia. "A market? Or is there a mono-pony on its production?"
"What? No-"
"I have gold, if that is what you people use as fungible tokens-"
"This isn't something you can buy-"
"What about a barter?" said Caprifexia, drawing on what she remembered of Einar prattling on about 'Economics.' "I have several interesting trinkets."
"I have no desire for trinkets-"
"Are you sure? I have some very good ones," said Caprifexia, rummaging in a pocket for a moment before finding what she was looking for. "See this? This is something called a 'self-inking pen.' I made it myself, it's very clever. You can write things down with it if you're not a dragon and your memory is terrible, and do other stuff like fill out forms for things like life in-sor-ance – do Demons do that? I try not to have anything to do with your vile kind usually. Oh! And it also has a lightning cannon built in, but I haven't gotten that to work reliably…"
She took off the cap and pressed the button on the side of the pen. The tip let loose a few green sparks, then started to smoke. The demon stared at the smoking object with a look of incomprehension, clearly awed by her creation. She'd been working on the pen for Einar's birthday. But since he'd made it clear he didn't care about her or want to see her every again, she didn't need it any more.
"However, the self-inking works perfectly," she said, putting the cap back on and holding it out. "Shall we make a trade?"
"I will- I will not be mocked!" roared Varygoth, hefting his axe.
Before Caprifexia could ask him another perfectly reasonable question he lunged at her with frightening speed, his axe cleaving through the air towards her. It met nothing, however, as Caprifexia transformed and darted between his legs. The canopy wasn't quite so low in the village, although it was far from optimal flying conditions. She rolled as she passed underneath him, unleashing a blast of dragonfire straight upward as she went and eliciting a roar of anger and pain from the demon, although it didn't seem to actually harm him.
She twisted and banked as he whirred around, staggering him with a blast of lightning. Like his followers, however, although it clearly pained him, he was not crippled or killed by her magic, and she yelped as she was forced to rapidly conjure a shield to block a vicious swing of his massive axe.
It worked.
Sort of.
The axe's momentum was stopped, but a blast of something passed straight through her barrier and smashed into her, sending her flying through the air and crashing straight into a pile of stacks filled, she discovered, with flour. She emerged from the exploded pile a moment later, her black scales white, spitting out powder, and more than a little annoyed. This was rapidly becoming no fun.
Behind Varygoth his sycophants began to cheer and chant his name but, disappointingly, her supposed supporters just cried and wailed and, those who could, fled. Typical.
So apparently whatever this 'Tyrite' was, weapons made from it produced some kind of shield-piercing, 'phantom force.' That was… bad. Why was she defending these probably villains again?
Space and time bent around her as Varygoth followed up with an attempted coup'de grace, and she emerged from her Blink behind him in a swirl of azure that only had a few wild sparks of arcane discharge. His axe sank deep into the ground beneath where she had been a moment before, but he didn't immediately know where she had gone and looked around in confusion. So he wasn't a wizard then, just a demon with a fancy axe. Interesting. She could exploit that.
Light bent and twisted around Caprifexia as she cast what was usually termed 'Lesser Invisibility.' It wasn't 'True Invisibility,' which could fool the naked eye and Caprifexia could absolutely cast but just didn't feel like. Neither was it 'Greater Invisibility,' which was almost undetectable even by magical means and she was mere days, perhaps even hours of effort off achieving. But 'Lesser Invisibility' did make her much harder to see, and when Varragoth turned around wildly his eyes passed over the patch of twisted light without stopping.
"Come out, you cowardly lizard!" he roared, staring around wildly as she began to charge her next spell. "Come out and face me! Face me! Face me!"
She ignored him as he swiped his axe through a nearby house, utterly obliterating it in a single blow. A few mortals screamed, but they were always doing that, and she paid them no mind.
"Face me!" he screamed, growing increasingly frenzied and crushing another dwelling. "Face me, or-"
A deafening roar of thunder heralded her response as her invisibility spell collapsed and a massive beam of lightning, as wide as a mortal, leapt from her claws and rammed into the demon's torso.
Unlike the 'normal' attacks she used, which were–due to the feeble nature of those she regularly faced–designed to be fired in rapid barrages where any one blast would kill, the 'Thunderbeam,' as it had been referred to in the textbook she had gotten the spell matrices from, had been designed as 'siege magic.' Speed of casting was eschewed for concentrated destruction designed to break through, or at the very least, weaken warded doors and walls. It had also taken the rest of her red-mana, although that was fine, because she was sure that there was no way that he could survive such a powerful spell.
The blast picked the demon up off his feet and hurled him through the air, crashing through one, two, then three houses before hitting the ground and coming to a stop with a crunch against what looked like it was a blacksmith's furnace.
"Hah!" crowed Caprifexia as silence fell over the town, both the inhabitants, and the demon's followers. "You thought yourself a match for me? I have slain so-called Gods! Saved entire planes of existence! Travelled further and seen more than you can possibly comprehend! The forces of the multiverse bow to my command! I am unstoppable, immortal, undefeatable-"
With a roar the demon vaulted into the air and launched himself at her at an even more frightening speed than he had before. Some part of her mind noted that despite the claims that the terrible textbook had made about the efficacy of the 'awesome destructive power' of the 'Thunderbeam' the demon seemed entirely unharmed. The rest of her, however, was too preoccupied with summoning the strongest shield she could manage as the demon's terrifying axe cleaved towards her so fast it was almost a blur.
As before, her defence managed to stop the axe, but not the 'phantom' force which ripped through her shield and sent her careening backward with enough power that she passed through a wall, what felt like a ocean of pain, a table, then a chimney before hitting the ground and rolling across the next street over.
"Ms. Caprifexia!" shouted Chandra as Caprifexia rolled over, letting out a small whine as her nerves screamed as her that her wings, one of her forelegs, and her tail were definitely broken.
"Impressive magic," rumbled Varygoth, his voice growing closer with each massive footfall. "Against most demons, that spell of yours would have killed. But I am no lesser demon, I am Varragoth the Indestructible! My power is unmatched! Even the Gods fear my axe!"
Caprifexia pushed herself up on her working foreleg, spitting some blood from her mouth, head spinning as she shifted into her mortal form, which at least could move properly.
"Ms. Caprifexia!" screamed Chandra, hurling a rather impressive looking plume of fire at the demon from where she was with the town's defenders. "Leave her alone, you- you bully!"
Chandra's spell washed over the demon, but did no damage. Varygoth ignored her entirely.
"Leave her alone!" screamed Chandra. "Ms. Caprifexia, run! Run!"
"Do you have any final words, 'dragon?'" sneered the demon as he loomed over Caprifexia.
"You hit… like… a mortal…" wheezed Caprifexia, struggling to her feet, one of her arms hanging uselessly by her side.
The demon threw back his head and roared with laughter. Perhaps her normal magic didn't work on him. Perhaps she had no red-mana left. Perhaps he was unusually strong, but she was a Black Dragon; she hadn't begun to run out of options.
Options like runni- tactically retreating.
Varygoth's axe whistled downward, but before it could hit Caprifexia Blinked again. The effort winded her, and she staggered as she appeared next to Chandra, who caught and helped steady her.
"Apprentice, time to go," she said.
"W-what?" said Chandra.
"This isn't worth our time; I'm… bored," said Caprifexia, swaying on the spot. "Yes, that's right… bored. Let the two lots of villains fight."
"They're not flipping villains!" shouted Chandra. "They're just normal people! What is wrong with you!? We- we need to help them! Like you helped me! Do- do that laser beam thingie; the thing that cut through the colosseum! I bet that will work!"
Caprifexia wasn't exactly sure what a colosseum was, but if Chandra was talking about the tavern on Kaladesh, it was still very much up for debate who had destroyed it. Regardless, she assumed that by 'laser beam thingie,' her apprentice meant her Void Lance.
That was, as far as ideas went, a rather bad one. Even when Caprifexia had been far less injured back on Kaladesh, the Whispers had been far more difficult to control and suppress than ever before. She wasn't scared of her future, of course. Dragons didn't get scared; just mildly concerned. And it seemed that mild concern about her inevitable future demise meant that being promised salvation by beings-of-infinite-and-inexorable-power-who-absolutely-were-capable-of-granting-such-things-if-they-wished was somewhat more seductive than it previously had been.
"I don't have enough time to cast it," said Caprifexia, grimacing as she summoned up a swirl of golden energy and poured it into her wounds.
'Restoration magic' was a 'mandatory' class at Winterhold College, and although Caprifexia had initially protested that she wasn't a priestess and didn't believe in their stupid Gods, they had forced her to take the classes. It turned out that belief in some kind of 'higher power'–as if anything could be higher than a dragon–wasn't necessary, and the magic involved could be understood in a perfectly scientific way. Why her people had never figured this out, she wasn't sure. She preferred not to think about it.
Regardless, she was now able to perform some small degree of healing. Not enough to fuse bone, but enough to at least close the wounds and give her draconic fortitude a chance to begin to heal her properly.
"We should retreat… tactically," said Caprifexia as her shoulder jumped painfully back into its socket with a click. "And heroically."
"They'll all die!" said Chandra.
"That is a price-" Caprifexia coughed up some blood. "-that I am willing to pay."
"We can't!" said Chandra. "We- we're the good guys! We're the heroes!"
"These people aren't… worth it," said Caprifexia. "Apprentice, trust me-"
"No… no! You- you can do the laser thing! And I'll- I'll distract him!" said Chandra tearfully. "Buy you time. OK? That's what you need, you said."
"Chandra-"
"OK!?"
The redhead didn't wait for affirmation, instead taking a series of deep breath before throwing back her head and screaming. Caprifexia felt a huge surge of red mana stream across the multiverse and pour in to her apprentice – more energy than she had ever felt the young ex-mortal woman try to wield before. Chandra's quite shoddy spell matrices fluctuated wildly as her fists and hair ignited, and Caprifexia raised a shaking hand to counter-spell her apprentice before she blew herself up. But then the young redhead managed to regain control of her spell. It was a wildly inefficient use of magic to set her hairon fire, but it was better than Caprifexia had expected given the young woman's previous attempts at magic.
Caprifexia also wasn't entirely sure how her young apprentice wasn't burning herself. Caprifexia didn't have to worry about that kind of thing, because she was fireproof, but Chandra was clearly at least a little bit gifted with pyromancy if she'd figured out some kind of trick to protect herself from her own flames that were literally blazing on top of her mortal–and therefore flammable–head.
Still, despite her apprentice's almost-impressive improvement in magic (a dragon would, of course, improved far quicker under her exemplary tutelage) Caprifexia still wasn't sold on the proposed course of action. It still seemed a far better idea to just Planeswalk away. There was nothing stopping her, really. Although… running would mean leaving behind her apprentice, who was not entirely unlikable, to probably die. And then she would be, once again, alone.
There was also the fact that she was a dragon, and out of red-mana or not, there was no way that she was going to be shown up by an (ex)mortal child. That, she could not allow. No red haired monkey, not even another Planeswalker, was going to out-hero her!
Also, she supposed, there was a remote chance that the village wasn't actually made up of villains, which meant that, as a hero, she had, if not a responsibility to save them, then at least a bit of a reason to. Though that was very much a tertiary consideration.
So, despite her immense pain, growing fatigue and general ambivalence, she summoned the last of her strength she drew on her Spark, letting it fill her before she reached down, beneath the firmament and into the nothingness that lay below.
"Hey, ugly! You- you want a fight? I'll give you a fight!" shouted Chandra.
Her apprentice punched her fists forward, unleashing two blasts of fire straight at the demon's face. The creature grunted in irritation.
"Will you- will you stop that?" said the demon, raising a hand against Chandra's barrage of fire. "That doesn't hurt me, you know! What part of Indestructible didn't you understand? Stop- stop it!"
W̶͍̾ë̶̼ ̶̲́h̷̠͝á̶̦v̶̠̕è̷͔ ̵͕̈́ẅ̵̳́h̷̼̉ạ̷͝t̸̠́ ̸͖̆ÿ̷͍́o̴̹͘u̴̬̕ ̵͖̐w̵͖͂a̸͈̎n̶͙̊t̷̬̂.̸̣̊.̵̣͝.̴̮̎
The Whispers fluttered past her ears, softly at first as Caprifexia reached with weary metaphysical hands to grasp the terrible energy of What Lay Beyond, but growing in volume even as her Spark rose to ward them off. Louder and louder and louder they became, making it hard to focus on wrestling free the smallest sliver of Eternity she needed for her spell.
G̷̯̃í̴ͅv̴͚̓ę̷̍ ̶̝̓í̸͍n̵̫̉,̸̜̄ ̶͛͜ḅ̷̈́e̷̮̍c̶͚̈́o̶̤͑m̸̖̽e̷͚̓ ̴̼͑ţ̶̽h̵̝̒e̷̥͋ ̶̅͜m̶̻̈́a̸̙̔s̶̞̍ṫ̵̤e̸̩̅ŗ̸͑ ̴̨̓o̴̱͒f̴̞͒ ̷̳̌y̸͇̽o̷͚͝u̸̥͒r̵̟̍ ̵̻̔f̴̟͒a̵̬͑t̷̻̔ë̷̦́.̵̛̦.̴̛̫.̸͇̈́
The sound of Chandra's battle faded into the background as the Whispers continued to grow more potent. They prodded and probed as Caprifexia wove together her spell, their words like daggers in her mind as they tried over and over and over to draw memories she did not want to think about to the surface.
The inexorable draw of the Eye behind her; clawing futility at snow; Mirael's laughter ringing in her ears; Fate, terrible, terrifying Fate-
W̷̦̮͔̣̞͖͙̝̗̓ͅḥ̴̗̺̝̇̃̀̏͛̍̀͌ȁ̶̟̆̑̐͌̒̀̚t̴̡̛͔̲̻̰̫͇̟̊̽͂̐̋̂͠͠ ̷͖̄̽̌̀͆̄̾w̶̨̹̠̾̒͆͌̀͜͜a̸̧̢̻̬̰̣̬͙͔̯̋̈́͆̇s̵̡̠̹̰͚͌͆͗̐͛̌̇̚ ̵͍̞̔́̏̓͑ṱ̶̼̳̈̐̽̋̓̇̔̓ͅo̵̥̤̳̹̖͚̩͖̭̽̽̃͋̍͛̆̀̓ ̵͉͚͉̝̮͎̆̎̄̊̾̋b̸̛̭̩̪̯̰̪͖͕ę̶̺̯̩̼͉̱̩͒͒̈́̔͋̕͜͝͝ ̸̡̜͎̩̪̠̏͛̓̈́̒̏̆̃͒͝ň̸͍̞̮̃̾́̕͝e̵̡̳̩͖̭̮̩̫̾̔̚e̵̺̩̞̩͕̠̲̠̻̱̽̒̉̂d̴̢̧̟̦͚̜͓̺́̏͋͐̀́͋̓ ̸̢̡͍͔͊̃ṋ̷̡͓̦͔͍͍̣͎̼̊̾̈́͑̒o̶͇͉̻͖̹͙̍͗͌̈́̍͋̅͗͐͠t̴͉͉̬̐͗̃̎̉͠͝ ̵̡̞̖͈̥̾̒̑̉͛̎͊̈́b̴̢̛̛̦̥͎̭̫̝͓͍̒̀̈̀̎̚e̸̱͕̣̙̾́̅͑̒͑̚͜ͅ.̴̯͉͉́̀͂̋̀.̶̡̦̪͎͈̫̻͇͂̓͌̽̄͌͜ͅ.̷̠̮̬͔͈͋̏
"No. No. Focus," she muttered to herself, pushing away the intrusive thoughts. She had a job to do, killing this demon and making sure her apprentice didn't out-hero her; she could worry about her fate later… her death-
T̸̲͍͓̃̕ẖ̷̢̻͒̚e̴͔̹̻̊ ̶̢̠̟̘̙̆͋̓͛ẅ̴̘͖́̔̓͛͗̓̓e̷͇͙͍͍̠̎̃̇͝͝a̴̠͐̋͗͜͠ṽ̵̢̞͙̈̐͐̓͘e̷̡̪̲̺̭̔̊ ̷̞̪̏̔̓c̸̢̨̛͓̘̔â̴͙͖̠̘̙͒̄͐̆͋ͅn̷̢̜̲͓̾̔̏̽̂̒ ̶̝̈́̍̋̈́ͅb̸͈͎̈̈̆̓̐ę̵͛͜ ̵̛̬̳̘̼̞̒̋͜u̴̙̣̻̥̪̞̅͐n̴̜̙̓͐̽̐̕͝w̸̼̉́̄͂͂͠o̷̪̻̬̤̔̓̍͆̕v̸̘̙͖͖̆ė̷̛͉́̅̎̐n̸̢̧͔̠͉̰͙̿͑̔́̓̄.̵̭͓̲͙͉̥̍.̵̯̱̼̲̫͋̑.̸̼͍́͐̇͜͠
Ahead of her the demon charged Chandra, axe flashing in the sunlight. Had Caprifexia taught Chandra how to shield? No. She hadn't, had she? She should probably have done that. Yet another thing she hadn't done right; another false step leading down the path to her inevitable-
O̷̝̹͒̚n̸͕̳̔͐ļ̸̨̅y̶̩̰̐ ̸̥̀͘ẃ̷̟e̶̼͌ ̸̭̣̐c̸̬͚̎a̵͎̔̄n̸͍͍̎̇ ̴̢̚s̶̼̲̀̀a̶̲̘̚͝ṿ̵̢̐ḙ̸̋͠ ̴̫̦͆y̵̻̌ó̵̼͝ȗ̵͍̑.̷̝̅ͅ.̵̭̕.̷͍̌̆
"That- that's not true,"replied Caprifexia. "You don't want to save me! You want to… you want to…" She trailed off. What did they want to do again? It was getting hard to think. Damn injuries, damn demon, and her stupid damn apprentice insistingthat she needed to use a Void lance.
S̸͙̹̗̃͒͐e̵͖͠e̸̺̔̏̕ ̸̡̹̄ͅy̴̺͍̋̎o̷͔͚̲̽ů̴͈̅ ̶̧̎f̵̺̦̼̆̈͝l̷̦̣̏̂͜ȏ̶̡͈̏ũ̶̧̘r̴̤̜̮̒i̸̮̔̏s̵̮͂̕̕h̵̢̉?̷̨̞͍͂̉͝
Chandra hurled herself sideways, narrowly avoiding being bisected but still being thrown through the air like a rag-doll from the force of the impact. She hit the wall of a building, hard, and slid down it, moaning slightly as she landed in a heap at the bottom.
Well, that had been disappointing. Caprifexia had thought her apprentice, being… eight? Nine? However old she was, Caprifexia had thought that she'd be a bit more competent. When did humans become full adults again? Ten? Something like that. Hopefully, she wasn't dead.
Dead, like she would be-
̵̹̄͗̓Ď̶̳̾ä̴̗͕͖u̵͔̥̘̿͝g̸͍̯͍͑̓ḣ̸̺̥t̷͔̣̫͗e̵̤͌̂͑r̴͎̳̥̿͝,̶̲̝̃̌̔ ̴̪̔̀w̸̱̥͓̏̏e̴͖̜͑̓͋ ̷̬̙͋̈́̾h̴̭̤̣̑ä̵̭̋͠v̴̩͂̊̃e̶̛͖̦̔́ ̷͇̪̄̀̒n̸͙͉̞̿o̴̥̬͐̍͠ẗ̶͓̟̊͊h̶͍̩̚i̸͚̠̽̉͜͝n̴̡͕̿̓͝g̵̺̉̇͜ ̵̢͔̆͛͝b̴̨͓͖̈́ù̸̱͆ț̵̱̔̃ ̷̡̞̬͆̃͠l̴̖̺̻̀̅ò̵̜̉́v̶̡̤͍͋̎e̴̘̲̤͗̽͝ ̶̖̟̿f̸̠͑ȏ̸̫͉̯̀r̷̭͉͆̈́ ̴͚̋y̴͖̾̓o̸͔̞̜̍̽u̷͚̟̓̏͝.̸̢̔.̷̥̪̰͝.̷̟̫̂
Caprifexia tried to pull herself together and complete the spell, doing her best to ignore the pounding in her head and the increasingly high-pitched whine that was drowning everything else out. Summoning and controlling the Void had always been hard, but it had never been this hard. The energy swirled in her palm, slippery and writhing, trying to break free of her grip.
Ẁ̷̛͓̝̹̉͊h̵͖̻̻̍̂̈́ẏ̷̤̯̖͈͊͐ ̶̦̺͈̗̀d̷̜͕̊́̆ö̸̡̱͉̗̫͘ ̸̹̘̙̊̽̆͌̃͜ỷ̷̺̟͓̙͓̍o̷̬̲͒͒̉͆͜u̷̧̇ ̵͈̳̻́̎̆̕ś̸̛̟̈́͠t̶͎́r̵̠̳̽ͅū̴͈͒g̶̗̼̯͉̎ǧ̸̨͇̝̆̈́͠l̷͓̜͙͎̐̈́̓ȩ̸̮̒̔̓̽͆ ̵̯̜͔̦́̐̂͒̕s̷̳̣͆ŏ̷̧̝̺͖̑̀̓͘?̵͎̜́̆̓͜
"Stay out of my head!" she shouted, her words sounding muted, far away. "Stay out!"
The demon turned back at the sound of her voice, jerking in surprise – a common, instinctual reaction to seeing the terrible Truth of Things for the first time. Unlike the villains on Kaladesh, however, the demon wasn't paralysed by their fear. Instead, the monster charged, barrelling through the snivelling probably-villainous mortals who proved themselves even worse distractions than her apprentice had. The demon closed, and she raced to complete the spell, forgoing a few of the safety seals in favour of speed.
Y̸̦͑͋̑́̋̕̚ǫ̶̮͚͔̽̆u̷̗͍̣̗̎̉ ̶̭͌́̎̚m̶̛̟̝̅͐͌̒̈u̶͈̳̟̮̻̥͈̰̎͛̃͘s̴̬̝̦͕̐̓̏̆́͐̐̉͜t̴̟̦͖̝̬̀̐͐̈́̿̚͠͝ͅ ̸̩̿́ļ̶̧͈͔͎̪͗e̶̛͕̯̳̼̜̼̮͌̀͂͋͌̾͜͝ţ̷̺͚̠̂͘͜ ̶̪͔̔̀̇̒͆̂̌u̵͚͖̤̟̘͍̬̯̾͊͛s̸̲̥͂̈́͌̀ ̸̡̤̭̝̜̅̎̈́̎̕i̸̡͕̠̖͕͊̊̈́̐̈́͑͘ṅ̷̦̙̮́̑́!̵͍̈́̓̃ ̷̧̨̞̤̂͗͆̋͊̂͛L̴͓̻͎͎̎͆̓e̶̢͉̳̱̞̫̳̳̓̑̏́̚̕̕t̵͍́͌̍̈́̒̚̕ ̷̣͔͖̮̗̹͓̰͐̉u̶̜͐͆̈́̓͛͘͝s̵̳̺̜̩̈́̄͛̾͜ͅ ̸̟̗̆̐̀̈́̓̓̌͘h̷͙̠̺̲̠͔͐̂̓̇̒ę̶̤̺͈̙̉̓̈́̈́̏͑̀̆l̴͉̣̦̯̬̞̓̑̂͂̚p̷̜̬͎͙̦̦͙͘ ̸̛̲͍͓̼̳̑͐̽̉͛͘̕ŷ̵̠̮̟͔̂̾̋͒̈́̍͠o̵̗̊̊͆͆̍ư̸̱̝̣͇̺̗̮̙̔̇̈́͘!̷̡͙̳̎̆̇̐͆͘
Void lightning arced around her as spillover, erasing great gouges of earth from existence and ripping apart two of the nearby buildings. A few of the stray arcs struck her, but were turned aside by the flickering and spluttering golden sheen of her Spark. Caprifexia's vision flickered, blood and sweat stinging her eyes she forced herself to push through her half-healed injuries and exhaustion and keep control of the spell.
T̸̨̖͙͒ö̵̫́͘ò̶̪̭ ̶͓͓͂s̵̱̒̋̑l̷̝͔͌o̴̙̗̅͝w̶̫͂̽̾!̷̻̯͒̍ ̷̡̧̗͋̔͝Y̵̨̡͕͌̀̑o̴̢̪͌̔u̵͓̞͐̆̀ ̴̦̗̺͝w̷̰̫̫̎͑í̷̺̦̯͒̚l̸̡͚̮̿̿l̸̫̊ ̸̰̻͉͋̋n̵̲̻͙̏͊o̴̯̻̓̾t̵̮̟͒̂ ̵̟͕̹̿̄̔c̴̛͓̱͋o̵̝̾m̵̧͎͘p̷̭̹̅̈́̑ľ̸̡͖͖̅͂ȩ̸̫͂t̸̨͓͆é̴̫̯͉̽͆ ̷̧̮̥͒̓̀i̶̧̯͓͛t̶̡̨͑͋̓.̷̦̂͋.̶͍̖̿.̴̱̈́̈́̓
"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" yelled Caprifexia, feeling her grip on the spell beginning to slip.
She redoubled her efforts, but it was futile, and with a crackle and a roar of backfiring energy she was knocked from her feet as the spell-matrix collapsed. Her Spark protected her from instant annihilation, but the energy still tore at her, sending great arcs of boiling blood high into the air as it ripped into her body.
Her head hit the ground hard, her horns digging deep into the mud and slushy snow. The mewling of the mortals vanished entirely, drowned out by a high-pitched whine and the increasingly desperate Whispers. The demon's shadow fell across her. She tried to Blink, but couldn't even seem to form the most basic of spell matrices. She tried to Planeswalk, but her Spark was exhausted from protecting her, and like her spell, her efforts collapsed.
W̶̼͚͚͖͎̐̒̉̿̍̈̓̀ẻ̷̹̳͙̹̃̈̈̉̌̄͛͆͐͘ ̸͙̦̞̖̠̹̊͑́̏̎̈́̓́͆̏̑̇c̷͕͉̜͇̉̒̉̋̊͗͌̎̈́̿͗̑̅͘͠͝͝ą̸̨̨̡̢̱̟͚͕̣͍͓̯̦̖̖̂̉̏͝n̴̝̦̫͈͉͔̝͕̭͔̺̺͑̿̃̔͑͆̈́̀̏͊͐̈́͜͜͝͝ ̶̨̪͕̗̝̯̙͓̤̏͋̇͌̒̈́͐̿̂̈́̔s̵̛͎͙̹͕͎͇͖̯̎́͋̆͌̃̓͆̽â̸̯͔̹̲͕̌̽́̈́́̀̇͘̕͝v̷̩̟͖͖̪̳̠͔̰͖̣̤͈̺͙͙̘͆̂̓͌̈́͑͋̌͊̾̋͌̉̉͋̆̾ę̶̧̡̡̛̙̦͍͔̭̘͇͊̉̄̒̑̄̈́̈́͋͛́̔̌̿͘͝ ̴͈̯̞̱̖͇̟̥̌͒̽́ͅy̵̧͉̩̤̩͈̜̗̮̘̜̻̥̣̻̪͋̔̈́͐̊͗̅̿̋̂̈́̕ͅo̴̥̬͉̖̜̜̟͍͘͝ǘ̴̩̖̼̲̻͔̗̞̭͚͕̻͚̭̓̆̔!̶̨̻̥̤̠̃̔́̑
"Not like this," she said weakly as the demon came the a stop above her.
Boiling tears mixed with hissing and steaming blood as it pooled around her. She didn't want to die. Not now, not in the future, never. It wasn't fair! She had so much left to see, to do. It wasn't fair!
D̴͈͋̓ā̷̩̒ȕ̵̦̜ǧ̴̢̠̥ȟ̷͈͝ţ̶́͜ê̴̘̄̕r̵͈̰̓,̶̺̫̃̈̚ ̶̢̂͊̀y̴̧̨̝̔̾̑ȍ̶̥̻͇u̸͇͇͒ ̶͕̼̋͊̀m̶͔̟̆̋̿ṳ̸̓͂̓s̷̺͈͌̇t̶̨̜̩͐̓̓ ̸͚̊l̴̡̾ḛ̵͔͍͑͐̏ṭ̸̖̯͒̽ ̸̬̭̈́̎̃͜ǘ̷̧̟s̵̗̘̙͂ ̶̟͎͒̑͋h̵̘̗̑e̴̙̺͒̓͝l̵̦̥̦̔͠p̵͈̭̈́͠ ̵̘̬͕̋̇y̴͙͕͇̏o̴̧̝̎̑̑ǘ̸̯̣̕!̴̟͐̾̕
The axe flashed above her, its blue-green and gold sheen shining in the dappled shade of the snowy canopy. Battered, exhausted, beaten – by a pathetic demon of all things, how utterly embarrassing. At least Einar and the others wouldn't see her failure, they'd all just assume she'd moved on to bigger and better heroic feats, if they thought about her again at all.
But if she died on… whatever this plane was called, then there would be no one to stop Mirael. Nirn would. Nirn would end. Wouldn't it? She didn't know, she was too exhausted to think clearly. At least all the pain and sorrow and loneliness and heartache would be over soon…
The axe descended, but before it could strike a blazing comet of fire moving at significant speed, and at the centre of which seemed to be her apprentice, tackled the massive demon bodily and knocked him sideways, making the axe's strike fall wide.
Caprifexia turned her head painfully to see that her apprentice had managed to ram the demon into a nearby house. Chandra had, however, predictably, failed to actually hurt him, and the demon reached out and grabbed the still blazing girl and raised her into the air by the front of her coat. Stupid girl, she should have run. There was nothing that Caprifexia could do but watch as the demon prepared to kill her apprentice.
W̵̜̝͆ī̸̛̭̰̬͈̻l̶͚̃͗̀̀̚l̴̨̯̯̺̆͘ ̸̥̟̭̼́͋͐̀̔y̶̺̑̅̽̇ȯ̷͇͉̞̍̓̑̆u̴̺̬̗͑͂ͅ ̷̧͇͇̇j̷̛̼̏ư̴̮̊̌̔s̶̹̍́̐̅͝t̶̠͎̜͂͆̇̀ ̷̜̫̊́̀͘͜l̷̟̋̒͝e̵̛͙̤̱̿͋t̴͉̓ ̷̻͓͍̖͗̒h̸̬̖̲͐ễ̷̮̥̠͝ŕ̴͓͔̹͋̀̐̊ ̷̧͈̭͔̔́͑d̶̮̾̀̿̈i̸̠͗͌́͌͝ȩ̵̖̞̫̾̉?̵̼͙̈́ ̸͖̞̱̩̇Ơ̶̞͋u̶̯͉͓̖̎̀ţ̸͓̭̤͓̕ ̷̬̺̯̇͑͜͠ơ̸̪͈͒̇̌f̷̛͖̮̞ͅ ̸̧͓͈͍̍p̴̨͕͔̥̊̋ṙ̵̰͍̙̫̠́̈́̕͝i̷̢̛͍̯̊̈́̉ḍ̸̛ẹ̴̪͈̗̏̿̊̐͊?̵̛͈̬̪͒̚ ̶̩̘͍̇̓͐W̴͔̽́̊̚ẹ̷̢̖̹͂́͜ ̴͇̅̽̑̋c̶̥̮̈ả̴̳͒͊̊̑n̷̘̰̰̅͌̊͠ ̴̠̈́̊͝ś̴͓̲̩͎͜ả̶͈͚͙̃̓v̴͙̗͋̓ͅė̸̺͕̳̠ ̴̖̐̌̈́y̵̝͆ö̸̡̜͇̘́̽͛̌̏ü̵̜̓̕ ̵̡̤̱̗͓͝b̴̨͔̔̔̇̓̽ö̸͍͚̩̰́͝t̴͉̟̔̽̀͛ḫ̸̤̈́̓̈́̍͝ ̵̢͚̫̞͔̋D̴̨͈̪̲̅̊͌̎̿ą̴͙̞͙̒͗ͅủ̶͖͚͙̱̋͌̀͆ĝ̵̜͗̆͛͠h̸̗̲̹̄̍̊̆̚t̵̛̗̜̫̓͝ḙ̴̻̑̍ṙ̸̢̐̍!̴̦͍̽
Save them both? No, the Whispers…
The Whispers did not lie; they dissembled, obfuscated, but they did not lie. They were the Terrible and Singular Truth. If they said they could help them, then they could. Yes… with their power, she could do a̵̼͚̋͋n̷̻̆y̵̤͉̿t̵̘̖́̏̄ḩ̵́̀i̸̝̻͊̓̀n̷̝̲̮͛g̸̭͕̅.̸͜͝.̵̬͍̇̂̐.̶̨͉̘̍̐
Y̸͚̲̲̍͋e̶̝͔̼͘s̷̢͍̪̍̀ ̵̨̊D̵̲̹͕̓̕â̸̞̼̥ṷ̵̞̦͝g̸͓͇̾̋͠h̶̬͑̏͐t̶̻̠̻̂e̷̬͋̇̌r̷̰̫̆͒,̵̟̼̘̂͐̋ ̶̥̓͌̀c̷̪̺̎͜o̵͓͔̽͜m̵̗̏̂e̵͓͈͛̆ ̵̦͔̅h̸̦͈̽̐͝ö̶̬́m̴͓̲̾é̸̢͋͆.̸͍̄ ̵̞̤̥̀̃̒C̷͇̏͆ò̴̙̓ͅm̵̦̽e̸̟͐̈́͘ ̷̲͔͊h̴̦̿o̶͔͖̪͘m̷͈̦̒ė̶̮́̒.̶͚̩̂͘.̸̜̳̆̄.̶̣̋̽͒
She would not die here, and neither would Chandra. She would not die anywhere or anywhen. It was time to stop fighting with her wings tied together; time to embrace her birthright and crush this demon like the pathetic excuse for a being that he was; time to behave like arealdragonand take what was hers.
Chandra screamed as the demon raised his axe with one hand to strike the young human girl down.
Caprifexia stopped holding herself back and fell back into the loving embrace of the Whispers.
There was a moment of intense stillness, before all at once her mind expanded outward into infinity. Her perspective shifted as a thousand eyes opened, inside and out, making her realise just how tiny, how limitedshe had been; an embryo that had fought its birth; a seed that had struggled so long not to bloom.
In her Endless mind she saw the shape of this world, the demi-planes that circled around the great and foul World Tree, and beyond it, the sweep of the glorious, unending, absolute perfection of the Blind Eternities, an endless see of Unity, marred only by tiny kernals of irritating, putrid Difference. She could see it all: Nirn, Kaladesh, Innitgrad, Azeroth… Everything. Every inch, every corner, every spec of matter lodged in the sea of the Void.
At her core, her Spark remained, anchoring her will and holding her material presence together amidst a maelstrom of Void energy that would have instantly unmade and returned any other being to the embrace of Eternity.
The demon's axe continued to whistle downward toward her apprentice, but Chandra was not his to take. With a single, tiny flicker of will from her vast mind a tentacle erupted from Caprifexia's shoulder and flicked the demon, breaking his grip on Chandra and sending him flying.
It was different from when she had been merely corrupted by the Void, before she had Ascended to Planeswalkerhood. She wasn't a mere extension of something else, she wasn't a puppet for the Whispers as her father and mother and siblings had been, her Spark insured that. She was more; still the same perfect, flawless being, but now bestowed with undiluted, unmediated access to the Truth of things.
No, not a servant of the Eldrazi: a peer; a Daughter.
Mewling screams from the village's maybe-villains and jeers from the defnitely-villainous raiders shifted into terrified screams, and the insects fled before the Daughter as she rose into the air, unable to bear the sight of her utter Perfection that rolled off her in waves and shifted and warped and purified the vile, baserealityaround her.
Why had she been so afraid of her birthright? Of what was owed her? There had been no reason to fear, she saw that now. No, avoiding causality and paradox couldn't be simpler. All she had to do was shatter the offending reality, bring an end to the stain upon the multiverse that was 'Nirn.' Without time or space or vile existence, there would be no paradox, could be no paradox. She would be free of any temporal loop, no matter how tightly or skilfully woven by the Caprifexia that had been to come.
First this world, then Nirn, then the rest.
And to start…
"̴̂ͅF̶̤̾e̷̟͝à̴̹r̸̜̔ ̷̪̌n̴͚̊ǫ̵̓t̷̥̊,̶͖̋ ̶̦͛I̷̺͂ņ̷̒ṡ̷̮e̶̯̍c̷̘͠ť̶̠,̸̳͌"̶̨̈́said the Daughter, turning her thousand eyes to the demon and smiling with a hundred maws. "̸̫͂Ȋ̶͔ ̸̜̀w̴̘̔i̶̖̓l̵̲͝l̶̜͌ ̷̬̿s̵͚͋ḛ̷̂t̴̹͝ ̵͇̋y̶̥͒ő̸̳u̸̡̒ ̵̯͊f̸̻͊ŕ̷̞ĕ̷̘e̵̲͋.̸̪̾ ̶̟̚Į̴̂ ̴̝͑w̷̫͐i̴̲͝l̶͈͂l̴̜̈́ ̸̟̉ş̸̄e̶͍̿t̷̀͜ ̷̬̾y̵̖̚o̷͇̍u̷̜͑ ̵̹̏á̷̟l̵̰̕l̴̯̏ ̴̮̂f̸̰͊ṛ̸͒é̸̟è̷̡.̴̬̎.̵̣̇.̴̹̂"̴͖̔