[NoR] - [08] - Hook

The crowd shrieked wildly as the Planeswalkers strode to their corners. The volume rose as a fourth appeared unceremoniously in his corner, drawing the attention of the other three. Razel turned to the newcomer, grinning at him as he did.

“Sudaj! Glad you could make it!”

The arrival was wrapped in a coat with the sleeves torn away. The jacket was bound tightly to his chest by several ties while his arms were bared, revealing the countless scars he had brought upon himself. A ritual blade was slung at his hip, designed not for assault but for drawing his precious fluids. It was clear that he had not yet learned to completely control his form as he adjusted a strap or three.

“Sorry I’m late, Roz. I’ve been following this lead on something recently.”

A quick surveying of his surroundings filled him in on the goings-on.

“I see I arrived just in time?”

He looked to the other ‘walkers present, smiling to Iman. His eyes widened as he saw Kaos, the radiant eldritch power emanating from the elf clearly alarming him. Iman took this opportunity to chime in.

“Shall we?”

A great gong rung out, signaling the start of the duel. Sudaj, caught unaware, stumbled his way over to his corner. Mana began to flow through the combatants, and abruptly the space shifted. The coliseum was replaced by a clearing atop a great ship carting several flying machines. A much smaller simulated crowd now cheered them on, and an oddly catchy tune tore through their ears. The music kept an unnerving sync with their every action, emphasizing the slightest of their motions. The grinning imp bounced in his corner, the floor beneath him taking a paler tone than the surrounding black pavement. Sudaj eyed his opponents warily, his own watery essences seeping through the platform beneath him to pool at his feet. A second elf stepped from the nothingness, standing before its master. Razel simply snapped his fingers, coalescing a skeletal champion wrapped in frost to his side. The frozen features hung suspended within the cold crystalline aura, magnified slightly by the ice. Sudaj hurriedly pulled his blade, drawing it across his arm and flinging the blood on the ground before him. A glow crept from the fluid, flowing to his wound and seeking refuge behind his eyes.

The elf seemed to take offense to this, charging the inexperienced mage. Kaos gestured blandly, sending a vein of power into the creature and causing it to grow to giant proportions. A massive elven fist introduced itself to Sudaj’s face, sending him reeling into the railing behind. Iman’s mask began to widen, the solid grin broadening as a faint chant escaped the carved teeth. The Elf turned to face the noise, finding only a ring of light enveloping him as he was suddenly incapable of motion. Sudaj muttered an acknowledgement.

“Thanks...”

Kaos glared at Iman, calling another elf to his side. The two summons looked to each other, seemingly unaware of their near identical features. Razel ignored them as the ice encasing his Rimebound Dead thickened, emitting a soft blue glow as it sharpened. Again the world flickered, now taking them to a village shrouded in mist. Kaos spoke up, commenting on the new scenery.

“Oh, thank Emrakul. If I’d had to listen to that damn song one more time...”

Planeswalkers do some very odd things for fun. Part and parcel of having nigh-omnipotence, I would think. While the concept of magical duels is an ancient one, as with most things, Planeswalkers tend to take it to an extreme.

The Academy had a very interesting room within it designed specifically for dueling. It was a small demiplane unto itself with the capability to simulate any environment you could imagine. It was intended to keep the fights fresh, while also training you to be prepared for anything. While proper magical combat was not on my schedule until much, much later, I watched many of my fellow students go at each other with next to no mercy. I gained much inspiration from these encounters, often finding a new line of research or a possible solution to a problem that had been plaguing me for a while. Watching the rushed decisions of others can often have that effect.

“So how do they change the arena?” I had asked Rokh during a particularly hectic match.

“It’s magic, naturally. One of our Artificers generated this demiplane, then built a console that creates the varied illusions which make it up. If I remember correctly, he actually asked to copy locations from the memories of the students so as to make it as realistic as possible.”

Rokh gestured at the combatants for emphasis, pointing out the fact that within the arena’s ‘bubble’, you could not see the crowd watching you. Instead the interior would portray more of the locale, presenting a seamless and endless expanse.

“But how do they change it?”

As he so often did when amused by my seemingly obvious questions, Rokh smiled at me bemusedly.

“When you’re in the pit, you can focus your energies on the console and attempt to shift the plane. This can be a good thing, or a bad thing.”

“How so?”

“Well, say you need to focus on the fight at hand. If you spend all your time trying to go somewhere else, I’ll have no problem torching you.”

This made perfect sense. Pour your energy into one thing, you have less for another.

“Then why bother?”

“Some places will assist you, while some will hinder you. It varies.”

At that time, he pointed to a creature one of the combatants had called to his aid, who now appeared to be airborne.

“See? Now it can fly. Before it was stuck on the ground. Now, if the opponent can change where they are, that creature will lose that ability; however, you never know what’s coming up next. It may get even bigger and nastier, or it may die entirely. You never know.”

As if on cue, the plane shifted, stealing the air from beneath the creature, sending it careening to the ground like a stone. As it landed heavily, a small goat appeared before the other ‘walker.

“Some places give you...livestock?”

Rokh just grinned.

“You never know...”

The frosted dead shambled towards Kaos, bony icicles reaching for warmth. The second Elf turned to intercept, thinking twice as an unearthly moan emanated from the skull chilled within. A quick leap to the left brought Kaos paradoxically closer as the Rimebound Dead suddenly and unnaturally warped itself to him, scraping a large series of gouges from his chest. The wounds erupted with blinding light, allowing the skeleton to retreat back to its master. Sudaj looked about the fog worriedly, his fears justified by the sudden appearance of Razel immediately behind him.

“Boo.”

The accompanying shriek was cut short as Razel clapped his hand over Sudaj’s mouth, the masochist’s eyes fluttering as his essence was slowly drained from him.

“Oh, come on. You toss your life force about like water, why can’t I? Don’t be such a pans-”

A green fist caught him much as it caught Sudaj, except harder. The benefit of stealing vitality was immediately offset by the concussion, while the wall that attempted to catch him collapsed from the force of the body knocked through it. Sudaj dropped to the floor as Razel’s palm left his lips, a wisp of his soul flittering out as he hit the ground. Kaos strode purposefully towards the jacketed mage, who now attempted clumsily to pull himself off the floor.

“Again with the elf? Well, if you can repeat yourself, so can I.”

Kaos stopped and scowled, not even bothering to look for Iman as he waited for the inevitable. Another ring came tearing through the fog, isolating the second elf much as the first. Sudaj seized the opportunity to attempt a cheap shot, thrusting his blade at the distracted Shaman before him. Kaos simply ignored the stab wound, turning slowly and speaking to the Imp as he stared down the interloper.

“You want variety? Fine.”

With a flare of his markings, the rings dissipated from his minions. Both elves hurried back to their master, wasting no time in adding their power to his own.

“I think it’s time you actually met my G-”

All things ground to a halt as time ceased to flow. A faint clattering announced Razel’s escape from the rubble as he surveyed the scene before him, noting the now free elves as well as the aura belonging to the devious Invisible Imp floating just behind Kaos, in the only blind spot he had. His attention turned to the new sources of mana aside Kaos, recognizing the scheme he had in mind.

“Oh, HELL no.”

Taking advantage of the time he had left to himself, Razel turned his energies within and began to pool as much power as he could handle. Fog began to swirl around him, speeding up with the passage of time as it returned to normal.

“-ods!”

Sudaj was the first to notice, scrambling to his feet and taking cover. Iman abruptly came into focus, his grin leveling into a grimace as he caught on. Kaos, assuming the fear was intended for him, simply grinned. It wasn’t until the bolt of void tore through the air beside him that he realized who they were looking at. The two elves exchanged worried looks, floating gently before beginning their own death spiral. The skeleton joined them, while the other ‘walkers simply stared as their accoutrements flapped about them. The bodies collapsed on each other as they were drawn into the sphere of emptiness, their viscera falling loudly into a puddle of former flesh and bone.

“Really? You damn my priests without at least waiting for their friends?”

“Well if I wait, you’ll make use of them.”

“Do you honestly think I need them?”

His eyes overflowed with seething fury as the blue glow of his irises intensified. Two grand monoliths tore through the cobbled stone behind him, their own ancient auras merging with the Shaman’s. A crash of thunder and a spike of lightning tore between the two towers, opening a portal at their apex. A writhing mass of tentacles crept through the opening, seeping into the realm with a sickening squish. Sudaj’s eyes, somehow, got even wider.

“Oh dear.”

Iman called down to the others from atop one of the spires, the mass of flesh still making its way into the realm.

“Do you need these? Since you were so careful with my precious rings earlier, I thought I may as well return the favor.”

Kaos simply glared into the distance, ignoring the imp but knowing exactly what was coming.

“I hate you so much.”

“I know.”

With a click of his heel, the tower beneath fractured, collapsing deafeningly into a cloud of rubble as the portal seized, severing the tentacles from the creature beyond. The writhing limbs flopped about in the ever-growing pile of entrails.

“The realm between realms is far from empty,” the professor had droned. “...in fact, there is one species that is actually native to the eternities. Today we will discuss the Eldrazi.”

Rokh had, for some reason, insisted I take this course. Apparently he felt being aware of the dangers involved in interplanar travel would be useful or something. Go figure.

“The Eldrazi are unique in that they are not associated with our classical varieties of magic, instead consisting of pure, unaligned mana. Indeed, these antediluvian horrors actually feed on the energies of the realms they invade, rending the very fabric of the realm from its seams. There are those who worship these creatures as Gods...”

The professor droned on and on about the various lineages, citing the Titans and their foul brood. I will admit to having difficulty staying awake about halfway through, instead seeking clarification from Rokh.

“So these ‘Eldrazi’, what do they look like?”

He seemed to find the professor as boring as I had, judging by the lack of expediency in putting away the book he was reading.

“It depends. I’ve only ever seen a few of the spawn, never one of the titans. It was a horrible amalgamation of features, as if it couldn’t quite decide what it wanted to look like before it gave itself a shape. Hideous. I’ve seen some horrible things, but if the broods are any indication, the Titans themselves will induce madness simply by existing.”

I took him at his word, his oddly repulsed tone intriguing me. I decided to leave the conversation alone. Rokh didn’t mind at all, returning to his tome.