The Sparks of War

[Hiver]

Something touched me and I snapped out a gauntleted hand reflexively, before I froze as it grabbed something soft.

"That would have been really awkward if I had been kneeling a bit higher," Alexis said calmly as I opened my eyes.

"...Sorry," I said, and released her neck.

She hmmed and touched the side of my head, a slight soft white light bleeding into the side of my vision as I shifted. Alexis grabbed my chin more than a bit roughly and kept my head still, "Don't move!"

"I'm fine."

"You have a cut in your head the length of my finger!"

I sighed softly and closed my eyes, "There was a plane crash," I admitted, "I had a healing potion that handled most of it or I'd be covered with bruises right now," I admitted but tried not to move, "So you ended up here too, huh?"

"Yep," she agreed and frowned, her hand slowly moving, "The lights told me to come," she said before she sighed, "It was such an obvious trap but..."

"Yeah," I said, "Same. You tell anyone before you leave?"

Alexis nodded and tilted her head slightly, poking my skull a couple of times before she nodded again, "There. And yes, I was with Sheila when I got the summon."

"Ah."

That's good, at least she knew some of what was going on.

Alexis sank back to sit on her heels as she frowned at me, "How soon after arriving did you Walk here?"

I shrugged and sat up a bit straighter, feeling the side of my head, the ache almost gone, "Something like eighteen hours."

"...Shit, no wonder you're exhausted."

"The running battle across half the city didn't exactly help," I admitted with a small smile, "You get into any trouble on the way here?"

"Only those Eternals," Alexis said and looked around, scooting around to put her back against the wall next to me, "At least the new sword worked great."

"Of course it did."

That got a small eyeroll and something muttered beneath her breath.

I smirked, "So, has anything happened since I started my nap?" I asked, "Have you been here a while?"

Alexis shook her head, brushing a strand of her hair back before she frowned and started to redo her braid as it had gotten into a bit of disarray, "Made my way here after Belaren's call. Arrived a little while ago, Master Goldmane pointed you out to me when I did. I thought it might be best that I was the one to wake you."

"...Yeah, might be for the best," I admitted, regretting my reaction to waking, "I might be a bit tense right now."

"No, you don't say."

I growled softly at her, drawing a small smile from her, "Come on, we should talk to whomever is in charge."

Alexis nodded and got up, offering me her hand. I took it, allowing her to pull me onto my feet. Something she did with a lot more ease than could be expected at first glance; she was stronger than she looked.

Suppressing a small groan of pain, I let go of her hand.

She frowned at me thoughtfully for a second before she reached out and slugged me gently in the side with her fist.

My vision went white for half a second. I definitely didn't whimper.

"That's what I thought," she said and frowned, "You have a broken rib."

"Well, I do now," I choked out slightly, "I think it was just cracked before."

"None of that, off with your armor, I need to deal with that."

"I'll be fine when I can turn back."

Alexis put one hand on her hip as she glared up at me, "One, what would you say to me about that? Second, I know your wives."

I walked over to a nearby table and did as I was told. Gauntlets went first, followed by vambraces and the rest of my chest armour, along with the undershirt.

She moved up to poked at my side, "...You might be right though, I think this is just cracked."

I kept my arm out of the way, "Using my Consorts like that is playing dirty."

"Keeping you in top condition makes it much more likely we both get out of this with our hides intact," Alexis answered distractedly as she poked along my rib with a glowing hand, "You're damn right I'll play dirty."

I growled slightly and crossed my arms, letting her work, "So... sword works?"

"Yep. Cut through the blue fucks like a lightsaber."

"You're awake," a voice said and I looked over, giving the large cat-man a nod,

"Master Goldmane," I said in greeting, "It's good to see you again. I'd get up to greet you, but I think your apprentice would hurt me if I tried."

He was just as massive as I remembered him, towering over me by at least two heads and proportionally more muscular. He was wearing shoulder plates, vambraces and a half-robe kind of thing to go with his white cloak.

"And you as well, young dragon," he said softly with a small smile, "I thought it would be best to allow you your rest until my apprentice arrived. You seemed to need it."

"Yeah," I admitted and then frowned, "What's going on here?"

"Jace will explain it to everybody shortly," he said, and put a massive hand on my shoulder, "Get what rest and food you can before then. You will need it."

I nodded, and he moved away again as Alexis pulled her hand away,

"There," she said and then looked around, "And I think Master Goldmane has the right idea. Get dressed, I'll see if I can scare us up something to eat before the meeting starts."

My stomach quickly agreed with that idea.

 

[Hiver]

I crossed my arms as Jace took the stage and started talking,

"Let's bring this to order, please. We need a plan," he said as he looked out over us.

"And you two strategic geniuses think you can come up with one?" a voice rang out and I looked over to the speaker. He was large, one of the largest in the room, at least while I was in mortal form. He was a demon of some sort, wings, horns, red skin, the entire thing.

I suppressed the urge to growl again. I did not like demons.

The guy I still couldn't remember the name of, long dark hair, breastplate, blue cloak… what the fuck is his name! Stepped up, "There'll be time for everyone to have their say. But standing around muttering to each other isn't getting us anywhere. So how about we stow the inside comments for the time being and listen?"

Well. He had a point there.

Jace spoke up again, "We face a number of problems. Five to be exact. Some of you are aware of them all, but many have only just arrived and haven't had the time or opportunity to get your heads around the whole picture. So let me offer some clarity now," he said before he looked at some dude that could only be Izzet affiliated.

Tall and grey haired, he was wearing blue and red clothes with a big fuckoff mechanism on like a backpack.

He spoke up, "One, The Izzet Beacon is luring more and more unsuspecting Planeswalkers to Ravnica, where they run the risk of becoming more fuel for Bolas power."

Bolas. Nicol Bolas. That was who was behind this entire thing, some sort of plan to lure Planeswalkers here to kill us and absorb our Sparks.

What's worse, he was some sort of dragon. Not the best look on the PR side of things for me, I have to admit.

Likely a good thing that I followed my instincts about sticking to mortal form on the way here.

There was a flash of light and a Planeswalker appeared in the middle of the crowd, an older man with a carefully trimmed white beard.

Jace looked at him for a second before looking out over the crowd again, "We need to disable the Beacon which is under Izzet and Azorious guard at the aptly named Beacon tower. Getting there may be difficult but the real problem is the machine itself, which was built with safeguards to prevent Bolas from shutting it off."

...Not seeing the problem here. Just destroy the thing. Hell, if that can't be done, wreck the entire tower. I have yet to meet something I couldn't destroy if I put my mind to it.

"Problem number two," Jace continued, interrupting form chatter, "The Immortal Sun. Once the beacon summons the Planeswalkers to Ravnica, the Sun keeps them trapped here. So like the Beacon, we need the Su-"

I leaned down to Alexis, "Did you know that?" I whispered.

Alexis nodded, "I tired Walking back," she whispered back, holding a sandwich in her hands, "I arrived back in the forest not far from the Tower, but I was almost instantly snatched back here."

Hmmm.

I wonder if that effect could be reversed?

"Three!" Jace said, cutting through the chatter, "The Planar Bridge from Amonkhet allows a seemingly endless army of Eternals to enter Ravnica and slay the Planeswalkers lured by the Beacon and held by the Sun. We have to shut it down, and we can only do that from the Amonkhet side."

"But how?" a dark skinned woman in what looked like bronze armour asked, "I tried to Planeswalk back to Amonkhet, but the Immortal Sun-"

Jace held a hand up, "I know. And we can't wait for Problem Two to be solved. So we'll utilize the portal itself...to travel to Amonkhet."

An old woman in red robes, leaning against a staff spoke up, "While the Eternals march out of it? That sounds like a great plan for committing suicide."

Point to the old woman.

"We are exploring an alternate plan," Jace said and then looked towards me, "Atreus. Chandra said you had a way to close Planar portals. Is that something you can do with this one?"

I looked at Jace and said the first thing that came to mind, "Fuck you."

That seemed to actually startle him slightly as the entire room looked at me, "Excuse me?"

"Why would I assist you? You, the one who voted for the entire population of my plane to be to-" I broke off as Alexis elbowed me hard in the ribs.

I took a deep breath and then shook my head, "Maybe if I had two weeks to build the device from memory," I finally said, "I don't think we have that."

He nodded once and looked back to the old woman, "There are ways we can mitigate the risk," he said, before he looked out over the crowd again, "Problem Four. Liliana Vess. She's clearly controlling the Eternals for Bolas, we need to mak-"

"What the fuck was that?" Alexis hissed up at me, "Are you trying to get us killed!?"

"...Sorry," I said and gave her shoulder a small squeeze, "I… I lost my temper there for a bit."

"Now is so not the time!"

"I know, I know," I sighed again and then I took half a leg of lamb from a passing servant that was circulating with food and refreshment for those gathered. I like lamb, but they are such a pain to get normally. It was just rude to sweep down and grab one as they are always owned by somebody else, and going through the motions and turning to mortal form to buy one when they are barely the size of a snack…

Usually not worth it.

"Five," Jace continued, "Bolas, himself. Though if we can't deal with the first four problems, the fifth is pretty damn hopeless."

The guy I couldn't remember stepped forward, "There is a sixth problem. We have a responsibility to protect the ordinary Ravnicans. Since none would be in danger if not for Bolas' hunger for Planeswalker Sparks."

Jace nodded, "That's right. Six. Six problems."

"Seven," The Izzet guy with the small powerplant on his back said, "We need to reconstitute the Guildpact by uniting all ten guilds. Without the Guild-"

I turned him out and took a bite from my snack with a frown. Six problems. The big bad, the elements of his plan.

Three devices, one Necromancer, the big guy himself. Devices could be broken or redirected. That beacon reached out through the Blind Eternities, the Sun locked us into this Plane and the bridge… It opened a hole between Planes.

Liliana Vess. She helped me, helped us. She and Chandra are why Azeroth still lives. She was a Necromancer which automatically made her insanely suspect and likely just outright insane, but…

She still helped. More than most of them did. What could have caused her to turn on the rest like this? Likely because it gave her power, she was that type. Or because she was forced to, she wasn't the sort to just join a cause to give somebody else power.

Did she plan to redirect it somehow to her instead of Bolas?

Well, it didn't really matter why she did it, if it was for power or self preservation. She had killed so many, caused so much damage.

If I get the chance, I'll kill her.

A voice rang through the general discussion, "Now that you all know of our existence, you could be forgiven for believing our ability to traverse worlds is an excuse for a Planeswalker to always run from a fight."

It was the guy in armour again. What the fuck was his name!?

"But we of the Gatewatch took an Oath to always stay. It was a choice we had the luxury to make, and somehow we thought that choice made us superior. Now we stand among you with that choice taken from uys. Now the choice is whether or not to fight."

I remember how you voted, armoured man. Hypocrite.

He unsheathed his sword with a dramatic effect, rising it high into the air, "This is Blackblade! It has already slain one Elder Dragon, and it can destroy Bolas, as well! With it, I hereby vow to take back this world! Who's with me!?"

I'd give him that, that's a good speech, and the crowd apparently agreed as they started to gather around him.

Ajani put a hand on his shoulder and more people started to reach out in turn. I reached up and pulled my goggles down, studying the sword and its magic flux before crossing my arms.

I'd really like to have a better look at that thing.

A different voice rang out through the room, and I looked up at a door on a small balcony overlooking the chamber to see a goblin, "Masters, one of a' them God-Eternals approaches, at the head of a small army of those undead creepies! You got about eleven and a half minutes 'fore they're here!"

"Six challenges!" Jace called out, "Six missions! We need volunteers! Now!"

God-Eternals.

I did not like the sound of that.



AN// Happy new year!

 

[Hiver]

"I don't like the look of that," Alexis said quietly.

We could see an approaching group of flying Eternals in the distance, circling above a large shape approaching, snake-like head sticking up above most buildings.

The fliers were angels, large birds, and small winged reptiles. All seemingly made from the same blue material with golden symbols on them. But what really drew everybody's attention was the thing they were circling above.

It was massive, larger than a Titan, shaped more or less like a human, but with a head like a cobra.

An undead god.

"Well..." I said equally quietly, "I killed a god before, and he was alive at the time. How hard could it be?"

Alexis glanced at me, forcing a small smile, "We just have to do it without anything grabbing us. Piece of cake."

"Yeah, no problem."

"Luckily, you aren't alone," Ajani's voice rumbled behind us as he stepped up to look into the distance, "We should get ready."

I nodded and looked at Alexis.

She looked back and then nodded, "Teamup?"

"Yep," I agreed, before I sighed and looked to Ajani, "Please make sure nobody tries to shank me for this, because I don't think my kind is especially welcome right now."

The large lion man nodded gravely, but seemed a bit amused as he stepped back to give me room. I channeled a bit of magic and returned to my real form in a cloud of spell smoke, the group around us letting out sounds of surprise, followed by more sounds of even more surprise as the smoke dissipated and I spread my wings into a stretch.

All the while my silvery armour was deploying, flowing across my body, along my neck and legs, along my tail and wings. The helmet covered my head and the HUD came to life before my eyes.

"He's one of us!" Ajani's loud voice boomed as weapons started to track my way, "He's against Bolas!"

Alexis waited for the armour to finish forming over my back before she swung herself up, the armour forming a saddle beneath her, straps of metal going over her thighs and around her lower legs to keep her in place. Her fist klanged against the armour on my back, "You could have done that a lot less flashy!"

I turned my head to look at her with one eye, "If the mortals have a problem with it, that's their problem, not mine. As long as they don't try to attack us, it's fine."

Alexis rolled her eyes and reached to pull a magi blaster from a holster behind her waist with her left hand, the right gripping and taking the hilt of her manablade from her waist, igniting the blade with a crackle, the bright white light shining brightly in the gloom of the spell-darkened sky.

I shifted slightly, stretching my wings as I checked my own weaponry. Two manalasers on my back close to the base of my wings, one on my chest.

Looking toward the incoming army, I designated anything that was undead as a target. Then with an afterthought, I added the condition that it should also be blue, just in case any of the mortals along with us were less moral than they seemed. I wouldn't cry from one less fully-dead undead, but right now we had bigger problems.

With three running steps, I spread my wings wide and climbed into the air, rising above the barricades as I circled higher above the Senate building. We weren't alone either. There were already a group of fliers in the air. Angels, soldiers on pegasi, and even a handful of bird people. I was the biggest thing we had in the sky, however, which I did not like, it meant I would have a target on my tail.

I turned my head enough to spot that Alexis had a big grin on her face.

"What?" I asked.

She shook her head, "Sorry, can't help it!" she answered over the wind, "I just realized that no matter what happens, my life is awesome. I'm about to ride a power armoured dragon into battle against an undead god while holding a lightsaber!"

I couldn't help it. I laughed as I banked again before spotting what we were up against. One good touch...

Considering what they did, I didn't feel like testing a soulstone against them either.

My laughter died away.

I glanced down to see the armored guy climb onto a pegasus, "Hey, what's the name of that dude again? The one with the fancy sword?"

Alexis leaned over to look down, "Oh, that's Gideon. Jira? Jura? Something like that."

"Thanks, that bothered me all meeting. Seriously, how difficult is it to introduce yourself," I said as I continued circling.

"He did. You were asleep."

"...Okay, fair..." I admitted. Suddenly my left mana laser fired, a bolt of blue light lashed through the air and blew a wing of a large blue roc-like bird that had strayed too close to the group, "Oh, cool, those works like they should."

"Shit, I didn't even see that one!" Alexis yelled and started scanning the sky.

Yep, time to pay attention.

I did the same, looking over towards what was coming for us. Hundreds of fliers, an undead snake-god, and what looked like thousands of forces marching on the ground around its feet.

Gideon's pegasus climbed to altitude and he lifted his sword, pointing towards the oncoming fliers, "Fliers first!" he yelled, "We need to clear them out! For Ravnica!"

A cheer went up in the group of fliers and we started moving.

"Lexi, if they get close, duck close to me," I instructed her.

"Your armor is shielded, I remember," she answered, and patted my back with the hand holding her blaster, "Let's do this."

My lasers started firing rapidly, and then we were among them.

The dying started.

 

[Hiver]

I twisted and turned, one wing smacking a Roc from the air, the powerful armour and sharp wing edge cutting it in half in a spray of shrapnel as I banked around. My manalasers had not stopped firing since we got into range. The first thirty seconds I had spent tuning how much power they were drawing. Yes, my armour automatically pulled Mana from the environment to work, and yes Ravnica was a mana-heavy Plane, but I'm not sure anywhere would provide enough mana to handle continuous rapid fire unless I hooked them directly to a leyline or something.

So I tuned the power down to just enough to blow chunks out of whatever the Blue material was and then left them to their work. Blowing chunks out of something flying is most often just as effective as turning it into shrapnel.

I turned hard, rolling as an Angel dove towards me, hands grasping as I brought Alexis around.

Her sword flashed as we went past and the Angel fell in two pieces, "If you... held steady... OHFF... I could actually.... shoot!"

"I'm not holding steady with this many of the fuckers!" I protested, twisting around and snatching a Roc out of the air as it was about to dive onto a pegasus rider. I grabbed it by the wings and ripped it in two before dropping it.

Alexis fired another two shots, both missing, before she holstered her blaster and instead decided to focus on using her magic, and with a chop of her sword and a flash of white mana, her Angel summon appeared next to her.

She looked around and nodded firmly to Alexis before banking and going straight for one of the undead angels.

Whomever got in their heads that Angels were gentle creatures had not met that one... or any of the Ravnican breed either for that matter. They were some of the fiercest warriors on the battlefield.

"How many more fliers do you have?" I asked and felt for my own mana. Might not be able to do a lot of them, but I had enough for...

I finished my summon and a large red Azerothian proto-drake appeared in a flash of greenish light. It roared, it's big maw filled with shining teeth wide as it engaged quite happily into the fight, colliding in mid air with a Roc almost as big as it was.

The Roc, undead or not, didn't seem to enjoy the experience.

"Only her! Kinda!" Alexis yelled back and yelped, almost laying back flat against my back as she avoided another Angel, her sword lashing out and taking its leg off. It didn't slow the undead down, but did pull it off course. A second later one of my dorsal manalasers fired and blew its left wing off, sending it tumbling to the ground below.

Banking again, I scanned the ground below while I adjusted targeting parameters to focus on closer rather than bigger, excluding the big undead god that didn't even seem to notice us right now, just striding forward.

An arrow suddenly pinged off my shield, followed by a dozen more to equal lack of effect. I looked down. Archers. Undead archers, and somewhat skilled as well if they could hit me at this speed and altitude.

But if they could hit me...

I turned my head, quickly banking around as a pair of pegasi riders in red and white screamed as they fell towards the ground below, their mounts dead or drying with half a dozen hits each.

I folded my wings and dove. I quickly readied a pair of spells, took careful aim and then cast them both. One after another.

I couldn't afford to miss.

The slow fall spells hit the two soldiers and they quickly slowed down to glide downwards instead of falling to their deaths... or considering the eternals on the ground, at least not falling to their deaths quite as quickly.

Swooping past, I snatched the right one by his armour and banked slightly, grabbing the left one by his arm.

There was the sound of breaking bones as the whiplash of my velocity snapped his arm like a twig and I likely at least bruised the ribs on the first one and possibly gave him whiplash, but at least they didn't fall down on the streets below.

Pulling up, I changed direction and then let go, causing them to drift towards the roof of a building below.

Alexis held a hand up, a dozen arrows bouncing off her shield, "We need to do something about those!"

"Squid!"

Alexis blinked and then nodded firmly. I changed direction to cover her from fire and she holstered her sword and started to channel mana for a summon. Suddenly a kraken appeared in the air next to us. It trumpeted and fell towards the archers below.

It would squish them easily enough, but suddenly it glowed a bright white and grew to twice its original size, massive tree trunk tentacles arresting it's fall and it started lashing out, smashing and crushing the undead Eternals even as they went after it like ants on a gecko.

"That's new!" I yelled to Alexis and beat my wings to climb higher.

"Not me! That's Master Goldmane!"

I nodded and climbed higher again. No arrows this time, they were clearly either squished or too busy handling the kraken below. I looked down and this time, the undead god wasn't ignoring everything. It had turned and was approaching the Kraken. Even as I watched the Kraken noticed and attacked it, massive tentacles lashing and wrapping around the snake headed undead. The god barely even slowed down, it grabbed a massive tentacle, pulled the kraken close and then smashed its hand straight through the summon, causing it to disappear in a cloud of spell smoke.

Well, shit. I personally knew how strong that squid was, even when not buffed like that by somebody like Ajani. To just wade in like that and hit it once...

Fuck. Yep, staying way out of range of the big fucker.

"We need to do something about the big one!" Alexis yelled over the wind, leaning forward towards my back to get beneath my shield.

"Do you have something that can take that?" I answered and circled slightly, looking down towards the god-eternal. It had turned and was once more approaching the senate building. It was almost by the square.

"No. Do you?"

"...Sorry, left all my nukes at home," I said and frowned, "Maybe the gauntlet? But that would be close to the limit and it's not exactly a precise weapon. And that would wipe out half the block!"

Alexis nodded, "What if I made you stronger? You have that growth spell to make you big?"

"I'm not getting within grabbing range of that thing, forget it!" I protested, "But maybe we can slow it down some," I said and changed direction, circling lower across the houses and changed targeting priority on my mana lasers.

They started to fire after a second, shooting bolt after bolt after bolt towards the undead monstrosity at full power.

Hopefully from outside the range of getting attacked back. Maybe one of my larger summons could at least slow it down?

The bolts didn't seem to do much, smacking into the massive eternal in a steady rain, mostly focused on its head. It didn't seem to do much...

But what it did was draw the attention of the god-eternal, it's massive head turning to track towards us.

"Uhm... Atreus?" Alexis said, "It's distracted!"

I quickly banked away and swooped down beneath the line of sight along a street before it had the chance to surprise us with fucking eyebeams or something.

That's the kind of surprise I could live without.

Pulling up again, I resumed firing only to find that the god-eternal was already looking in my direction, heading our way and seemingly not caring that there were buildings in the way.

Nope.

I turned, beat my wings harder and rose up and away from it.

I looked back in time to see a glimpse of metal as somebody threw themselves off their pegasus mount, shining sword and armour to slam into the back of the god-eternal's head.

The god actually screamed before starting to glow, quickly dissolving into nothing.

It was him. Gideon.

Even as I watched him fall through what used to be a massive snake god, a pair of angels caught him, carrying him back towards friendly lines.

I banked to follow, retasking my manalasers to once more clearing the sky.

I so need to get a look at that sword.




AN// Tomorrows part posted early.

 

[Hiver]

The ground forces were charging across the plaza below towards the barricades and waiting defenders as we banked out across them.

Alexis slapped her hand against my armoured back for attention, "Strafe them!"

That sounded like a great idea, and I shifted course, diving down along the line and exhaling, sending a stream of cold towards the charging undead, ice shimmering and cracking as it crawled along the ground where it touched, any of the Eternals touched freezing solid. I kept going all the way along the line.

Ever seen a deer on ice?

Turns out whatever mineral they were made out of did not have the best traction on slick ice.

The ones running past the frozen ones suddenly slipped, and before they could get back on their feet, the next one tripped over them, sending both Eternals flailing along the icy ground.

Meanwhile the rest of the defenders didn't stand idle. Arrows, magical and not, hit the horde hard, downing Eternal after Eternal, joined by spells and other ranged attacks.

Sadly, some ice wouldn't keep them away forever. There were thousands of them, and they charged across their own fallen.

"Again!"

I banked and went in for another pass.

It wouldn't stop them, there were too many. But the more we slow them down, the more time we have before they reach melee range.

Down, I let loose with my breath, freezing along a swath of ground and Eternals as Alexis fired her blaster into the group. At this range and with this many... moving fast or not, she couldn't really miss.

I snatched one of the jackal headed Eternals up as I beat my wings into a climb again, releasing after half a second to send it flying through the air. But delayed or not...

They reached the defenders.

There was a clash as Undead hit barricades and shield walls, the sound of yelling, of weapons against weapons, weapons against shields, spells flashing... the sound of battle filled the square as people fought for their lives. Planeswalker or not, at the moment it didn't matter. In fact, the normals had an advantage, they didn't die just from being grabbed. I banked again for another pass. A trio of arrows shattered against my shield and I shifted course for the archers instead as I retargeted the chest mounted mana laser to prioritize ground targets. It kept firing, picking Eternals at random as I went down lower again, releasing another cloud of absolute zero freezing the archers solid where they stood.

"Ah! Fuck!"

I glanced back, spotting Alexis holding her hand over her shoulder, the hand starting to quickly glow white as she channeled a healing spell, "We need to take out those archers! On the roof!"

"Armour. I'm telling you, it works!"

"Bite me, Lizard!" Alexis snarled and then spread her arms, mana channeling into a spell as I banked around towards the Eternal archers that had climbed on top of a building for an elevated firing position. I readied my breath, but Alexis was faster this time and with a flash of blue light a murder of large birds descended upon the archers, birds the size of small dogs with claws and breaks seemingly razor sharp.

I shifted course slightly to go for a set of Eternals still on a sidestreet.

That shift in course likely saved both of our lives.

I saw the blue shape out of the corner of my eye a split second before it swept up at full speed from a different street, having flown fast and hard along the street and below the level of the buildings.

I twisted into a wheeling turn, beating my wings hard as the shape passed us by with what felt like centimeters to spare. As I turned away, I could see it, the shape of an Eternal with a dragon-like form. Two wings, two legs, long whipping tail and a head that looked way too teethy. The entire being seemed made out of that strange blue material all Eternals were made of and it was fast. Very fast.

It twisted around and came at us again. This time I didn't give it such an easy time and cast a quick spell before pulling up hard, giving the dragon a face full of frost troll.

I don't care how tough or undead you are, getting smacked in the face with a flying frost troll is one hell of a distraction.

At least enough of one to make it miss us only for a beam of pure light to explode out from the barricades, seemingly spearing straight through the Eternal dragon, causing it to crash down towards the city below and straight through one of the buildings.

"Shit," I said and went into level flight for a second to look around, "Ajani?"

"Might have been," Alexis answered, sounding a bit out of breath, "Or... one of the others. That was way too fucking close."

"Think that was a deliberate trap?" I asked and circled a bit higher, away from the buildings and any possible hidden attack paths as I scanned the skies.

Alexis went back to healing her shoulder, "..I don't know," she admitted, "I didn't think they were that smart."

I growled softly, "As a rule, undead aren't. But their master can be."

Liliana Vess just tried to kill us. There went what little good will I had been willing to feel towards that particular Necromancer.

"Are you doing okay?" I asked, and glanced back at my rider.

Alexis nodded and rolled her shoulder, "I'm good, it wasn't poisoned or anything, the arrow just grazed me. Let's get back down there."

I nodded and twisted around for another dive.

 

[Hiver]

I beat my wings hard as I came in for a landing, my armoured claws scraping against the white marble rock and I stretched my wings for a second before folding them again.

Alexis slapped the spot of the armour that would release her from her saddle and she groaned as she slipped down off me, stumbling and grasping the edge of my wing for support as her legs almost folded.

I turned my head to look at her, "You okay?"

Sinking down to sit, she rubbed her thighs and lower legs, "I'm fine, just getting my blood flow back," she groaned, "Do those things have to be so tight? Seriously, I have massive bruises each time."

"Better tight than not tight enough," I said as I looked at her, shifting a bit, "I might be able to catch you if you were to slip off higher up, but not that close to the ground."

"...Yeah, fair," she admitted and cringed slightly as she massaged her leg, "But seriously, if we're doing this more often, I should invest in some padding."

I twitched my head and my armour retracted back towards the low profile mode that mostly followed my spine, tail and along the upper part of my limbs, "Don't you have that already?"

Alexis glared at me, "Excuse me!?"

I gave her a draconic grin, "The pants, I mean. They are leather, don't tell me it's the only layer?"

She glowered and reached up to twack me on the snout, "It's not, and that's not what you meant!"

There was a choking sound to the left and I looked to see a soldier staring at us before quickly retreating at our looks, "What's his problem?" Alexis asked with a frown and reached up, taking hold of my nosehorn, "Boost?"

"No idea," I answered and raised my head, pulling her onto her feet, "But yeah, I should be able to enchant something for it. Sadly, I'm not sure even I could squeeze anything else into those things you're wearing."

Twack!

"I didn't mean it like that, woman! Seriously, what's your problem! Enchantments! They are as enchanted as they can be!" I growled at her.

"...Sorry," Alexis admitted and frowned, "I'm just... wound up and angry about all of this. And I think I'm coming down from an adrenaline high."

I nodded slightly, "And your first big battle since..."

"That too," she said quietly and scratched idly behind my nosehorn, "I'll be okay. You?"

"I'm fine," I said and shifted my head slightly into her touch, "I'm worried about Sheila, Rengosa and Zrazta."

Alexis nodded, "I told Sheila what little I knew before I left. But... I didn't know it was affecting you too. But at least they know where I went. They should be able to figure the rest out if neither of us..."

"Yeah," I agreed before I raised my head a bit to growl at her, "But we will both return."

"Damn right we will," she agreed with a smile.

Further down a pegasus went in for a landing and Gideon vaulted off it. He spent a couple of seconds patting the mount before he looked around and walked over towards us.

"Good work out there," he said with a smile and a nod, "Likely saved a lot of people."

Alexis idly scratched my chin as she smiled back, "We did what we could. There is a lot left to do, but if we can help, we will."

Gideon nodded, "Glad to have you," he agreed and then looked at me, "Atregos, Jace wants to talk to you about having you join the mission to shut down the Immortal Sun."

I growled softly but nodded, "Very well. That seems fitting for my talents," I agreed, "I will discuss it with him."

"Excellent, thank you," Gideon agreed and then smiled at Alexis, "I'll talk to you later, Miss Castle," he said and then turned and walked over to the next group that gave us a wide berth.

Alexis sighed softly and turned back to me after a couple of moments of looking after him, "Well," she said, "We should likely get read-" she started before she broke off, "...What?"

I looked at her and shifted my wings, not saying a word before I glanced towards Gideon and then back to her again.

"Shut up!" she exclaimed and twacked the tip of my nose again.

"I didn't say anything," I chuckled, "I'm not the one that gets all gooey as soon as there is a pretty face."

Alexis gaped at me, "Lizard! You have three wives!"

"And?" I said and stretched my wings, "I know you well enough to know what you like. That one is just a bit old for you."

Sighing, she shook her head, "Just turn back already, just because you would fit inside like this doesn't mean everyone else would too."

Focusing my magic, I turned to my moral form and rolled my shoulders before rubbing the back of my neck for a second with a small yawn.

"I'm hungry," Alexis said and checked her blaster again and the hilt of her sword.

"...We just ate," I said and walked along with her back into the large building, "Seriously, I did the flying, how much energy could you have used?"

"You eat like three times a week, you don't get a say."

Fair enough.

"Besides," Alexis continued as we walked inside, "I think that we should take the chance whi-" she said before she broke off and froze.

"What?" I asked and looked at her.

"It's him..." she started as she started at a man at the side of the room. He was tall with short dark hair and a short neat beard, wearing what looked like most of a set of dark plate armour and carrying a sword by his belt.

"Who's that?"

"That's fucking him! Geraka!"

 

[Hiver]

Alexis went for her sword, and I quickly wrapped my arms around her, pinning her arms to her sides as I bodily pulled her off her feet and turning her away.

"Let me go!"

"Not the time!" I said, squeezing her tighter as she struggled, "Later! We can kill him later!"

Alexis slowly stopped struggling, "...You can let go now."

I looked at her dubiously.

She shook her head, "...Really," she said and sighed, relaxing slightly, "You're right, we can deal with him later."

Slowly letting go, I stayed ready to grab her again. Because if anyone started any actual fights in the group right now, they would turn everybody else against them.

Especially us, I suspected because of what I was and that she was clearly my ally.

I glanced back towards Geraka. He didn't even seem to have noticed and was flipping through a thick book that seemed attached to his armour by a silvery chain.

I turned back to Alexis, she was breathing slowly and deeply, her hand resting on and not quite gripping the hilt of her sword, "You doing okay there?" I asked carefully.

"...No," she said after a second, "No, I'm not. I'm going to go look at what I can do. You should go find Beleren."

I squeezed her shoulder before I nodded, "Okay," I said and then let go and looked around as Alexis left the room.

Better keep an eye on that guy though, after what he did to my friend... one step out of line and he's dead.

"Atregos!"

I looked over at the sound of my name to see somebody I had not seen for quite a while and I smiled, "It's good to see you again, Saheeli."

Saheeli Rai smiled as she walked up to me, looking almost exactly as when I saw her the first time. Long dark hair tied up with metal and she was wearing something very similar to the first time I saw her, but it also seemed covered in an almost metal like mesh in a second layer as well as a pair of shoulder protectors and vambraces, a satchel hanging at her side, "You as well," she agreed, "It's been a while."

I nodded, "It has," I agreed.

Longer for her actually, last time I saw her I had gone back in time.

"I'm glad you made it," she said and crossed her arms, "It sounded bad when you left."

I sighed.

"It was bad," I agreed, "and it was close several times since then, but we all made it out alive. How have you been?"

She flashed a quick smile, "About the same," she agreed and then sighed and motioned to the room in general, "And now this."

"This indeed," I agreed and snorted, "Ever run into this Bolas?"

"Yes," she said, her voice about as warm and cuddly as liquid hydrogen, "I have. And he's as dangerous and devious as you would expect from somebody that pulls this sort of thing off."

"Nothing is ever easy, is it?" I asked and shook my head, "See the guy behind me? With the armour and book?"

"Mhmm."

"He's a mass murdering maniac," I said softly, "Put a town to the flame and slaughtered everybody there. Almost killed Alexis."

"I remember her," Saheeli agreed quietly, "Thanks for the warning. Jace said you're coming with the team to shut down the Immortal Sun?"

I nodded, "So I'm told," I agreed, "My enchanting skills may become useful. Who else is on the team?"

"Chandra, Lazav and Lavinia."

"I know Chandra, but who're the others?"

"Lavinia is a member of the Azorius and Lazav is weird."

I raised an eyebrow, "Weird?"

Saheeli nodded and frowned, "Some sort of shapeshifter, I never managed to quite pin him down. Not sure what the plan is yet, we're gathering a couple of rooms down."

"Well, no use dragon things out," I said, "Shall we?"

Saheeli grinned for a moment, "We shall," she agreed with a nod and then she looked at me as I let her lead the way, "So... did you get some practice quicksmithing?"

"A bit," I agreed and shrugged, "Never did manage your lifelike replications though," I admitted and then smirked at her, "Did you ever figure out those enchantment equations?"

The human scowled, "Those things are impossible and unnecessary. Better to do things my way."

"My way gets the same result each time and they are easily replicated by somebody else with the same skill, time and equipment. They can be taught."

Saheeli shook her head, "But that's just... there is no soul in it! You might as well have golems working on a production line."

"That sounds awesome, have you found a way to let golems cast enchantments?" I asked with a grin.

"No! And that's not the point! You can't just-"

We were still arguing by the time we reached the others.

 

[Hiver]

The guy guarding the Immortal Sun was apparently a master engineer and spymaster by the name of Dovin Baan

He had little flying mechanisms called thopters that spied for him all across the town. Which means that if they spotted us, he would be ready.

Which meant moving underground.

I ducked low again as the roof started to get lower and I suppressed a growl of annoyance.

"Bit low," Saheeli commented as she walked next to me. She had not needed to duck even once yet, short enough to walk without trouble.

I glowered slightly at her and then snorted, "At this point, I'm glad that these are maintenance tunnels and not sewers."

"With some luck," Chandra said from up ahead, holding one hand up with flame licking along it to light the way, "It will stay like that."

"Does it seem like we are lucky?" Lazav asked as he walked next to her. The shapeshifter had started as tall as me, wearing a heavy cloak that seemed to change colour and shape constantly and slowly. Now, he was short as Saheeli and walked easily through the tunnel.

I should have done like Chromie and picked a gnome as my mortal form. What in the world was I thinking when I picked something similar to my original body?

Gnomes are just so practical!

I should have picked a gnome. Stupid mortal form is too big.

"We're getting close," Lavinia said quietly, "We should keep conversation to a minimum."

She was right. If we were spotted now, moving this way would have been a complete waste of time anyway.

I glanced towards her. For someone wearing that much heavy armour, she was moving quite quietly. If it was because she was that good or because her armour was well made was unclear, but it was quite nicely made. I wouldn't mind having a closer look at it.

Lazav stopped and held his hand up, "This is far as we can get underground," he said quietly and nodded towards a ladder leading up to the right, "This leads to the basement of a building close to that side of New Prahv, only a block away from the compound, best way there without getting spotted. We need to move above ground for that. We better do it now."

Chandra nodded and stepped back, giving everybody else room to move past her as Lazav shimmered, shifting to look like her.

Then Lazav led the way and climbed up the ladder, followed by Saheeli and Lavinia, leaving Chandra and myself alone in the darkness with only her flickering fire for light.

Chandra looked at me, "We wait five minutes and then go."

I nodded, "Yeah," I agreed and pulled a ring out of a pocked, "I made this on the way, in case we're spotted anyway, this will help."

Chandra frowned, "What is it, invisibility?"

"Better," I said with a smile as she took it and slid it onto one of her fingers. Almost instantly her appearance shifted, her face shifting, her ears lengthening and narrowing like an elfs and her hair changing from the roots out to a beautiful deep blue from her previous fiery red. The colour of her clothes shifted to black and blue from their normal red and black in reverse of the normal combination, her clothes turning black and her boots and sleeves turning a nice blue colour.

Her usually amber eyes were the last to shift to an icy blue. Chandra blinked and looked down at herself, her hand moving up to bring her hair into view so she could look at it before she raised an blue eyebrow at me, "Blue, huh? I thought we were going to hide under a spell?"

I nodded, "I like it," said as I looked her over, "You make a good looking elf. And this is just in case something sees through it. But In my experience, security in layers is better than to trust something completely."

Reaching up to my necklace, I touched it and triggered one of the possible appearances already pre stored. My hair turned white and my armour shifted from its usual appearance to look like it was a fairly standard looking set of leather armour.

Chandra frowned slightly and crossed her arms, "I think you may be as good at that as Lazav."

I shrugged slightly, "I cheat with enchantments. I think he/she/it may be doing it naturally, I didn't feel a whisper of magic when they changed."

"Neither did I when you did that," Chandra said a bit dryly and then looked towards the ladder, "Time?"

"Time," I agreed, "I'll go first, stay within a meter away from me at all times when we're on the surface."

She nodded firmly and I started up the ladder. It was a surprisingly long climb to the top through a somewhat cramped stone shaft, ending at a thick metal lid.

I pushed it carefully upwards, looking around carefully for any random Eternals. Nobody or nothing in sight. I couldn't hear anything either, which was stranger than anything else. Ravnica was a city, they are never quiet.

Then again, maybe the inhabitants had grown brains and gone to ground to avoid the fighting. Which was far from a bad idea considering what was going on. I pushed the lid away and slowly climbed out into the dim cellar before starting to weave my best Blur spell around me and the area around me I could.

Chandra climbed out a few seconds after me and looked around before looking at me in question.

I nodded and led the way towards the door.

Let's do this.

 

[Hiver]

We moved slowly. The Blur spell was useful and easily hid you from view… at range. And it worked best in the sky.

But the slower we moved, the better it worked on the ground as it let the spell shift edges and patterns blur around us. Besides, I had worked a lot on making it better.

The courtyard was surrounded by a trio of towers, water cascading down from them, and it was likely all that was keeping the Immortal Sun from melting the general environment because holy fuck was that thing given a fitting name.

It was a sphere on a plinth in the middle, and it shone and radiated heat like a small sun. Above it in a large floating circle was a platform of thick white stone.

The heat was oppressive, and that was even with the assumption Chandra was drawing the heat away from me.

From open portals high on the sides of the towers flew thopters of all sizes; they filled the skies with their swarms, from the size of flies to actually a bit bigger than my real form. The sound of wings almost drowned out the sound of the waterfalls.

The rest of the group was facing off towards a blue skinned guy on top of the platform.

I shifted and whispered to Chandra, "Do you really think you can melt that thing? It's handling a lot of heat already."

She just nodded firmly, "Just a little closer."

I nodded and slowly moved us closer, arms spread as I channeled the spell. The Blur spell was usually a set and forget spell, but if you channeled it, it was more efficient but took constant concentration.

I really need to build something that does this for me for next time. Why I haven't yet, I have no idea. Damn, that's starting to get seriously hot. We were almost twenty meters away from the blazing orb and it felt like I was standing right next to a bonfire.

"Chandra…"

"Close enough," she agreed and stepped around me, flames starting to flicker along her arms and her blue hair starting to turn back to red as her flames burned through the illusion enchantment.

Then she let loose and whirling streams of fire so intense I couldn't look at it speared the plinth in a bloom that… the apparently heat resistant stone couldn't withstand, and it started to deform under her assault.

The blue guy whirled and stared at us and started to raise one hand.

The ones on the platform attacked, Lavinia throwing her hand out towards him and the blue guy stumbled with a scream of pain, hands going to his face.

I pulled a pair of blasters and started firing. Thopters intercepted some of the blasts, but one grazed his shoulder and he spun around as there was a spray of blue blood.

Lazav took advantage and changed mode on the flamethrower he had used to mimic Chandra's pyromancy, and hosed him down with liquid fire.

Dovin Baan screamed and fell off the platform.

Chandra stepped forward, pouring more fire on the plinth, blasting a hole into the thopters defending the Immortal Sun before she broke into a run towards it and jumped through the gap in defenses, putting her hands straight into the inferno that was the Immortal Sun.

Seconds later the Sun flickered out.

Every thopter in the sky seemed to go nuts and whirled towards us. I raised my blasters and started to fire as quickly as I could.

I might as well not have bothered.

Chandra raised her hands, flame licking along her hair, raising it, and her eyes glowed brightly as fire flickered along her arms as she raised them, and spiraling spears of flame shot out towards the thopters.

Thopters exploded in showers of sparks and metal shrapnel. My own blasters helped as I fired into the swarming mass, but most of it was Chandra.

Suddenly thompters only remained on the fringes of the area, slowly circling and not attacking. Chandra stopped her attack and it was quiet other than the muted sound of wings around the area, and the cooling falls.

I slowly holstered my blasters. That had been both easier and way harder than I had expected it to be. Hard yes, but my part of it had been walking slowly for thirty minutes holding a spell up.

Holding my hand up against the quickly fading heat, I approached the Immortal Sun as Chandra shouldered it off its resting place and onto the ground.

"You okay?" I asked, "i know you can handle heat and all but…"

"I'm fine," Chandra said and slid down after the sphere back onto the ground, "I can handle hotter fires than that."

Nodding, I looked at her. Pyromancer or not, her clothes actually looked like they were smoking in a couple of places.

Moving around to look down at the Immortal Sun, which now looked more like a plain metal sphere than anything else, I held my hand out, feeling heat still radiating from it, but even that was fading quickly. Very quickly.

I reached towards it only to have Chandra grab my wrist,

"Don't," she said, "That's a bad idea."

"I have examined bad ideas before," I said and then frowned and pulled my hand back, "But I don't feel like ending up unconscious for a couple of weeks."

"..Chandra, is that you?" Saheeli asked as she climbed off a landed thopter, the other two coming in to land along with her on their own captured thopters.

Chandra looked at her with a small frown, "Huh? Oh!" she asked and then pulled the ring off, causing her colours and features to shift back to what they should be.

"What now?" I asked and looked between them.

Chandra frowned, "Okay… Saheeli stay here, the rest of us can join the main assault if you think you can take it from here."

Saheeli nodded, "I got this. Go."

I nodded firmly. I had wanted to have a look at the Artifact, but if Chandra thought poking it would be a bad idea, then I was ready to listen to her. At least for now; I might try again later.

I turned to Lavinia and Lazav, "Either of you want a ride or are you good with those?" I asked and nodded to their thopters.

Lavinia shook her head, "We're good."

"Awesome," I said, looking at Chandra, "And you?"

Chandra nodded, "Yeah. Transform quickly, we should hurry."

She was right about that.

 

[Hiver]

I stretched my wings as my armour deployed before I lowered myself a bit, turning my head to look at Chandra.

She walked up, patting my side before reaching up and pulling herself up into the saddle asd it automatically shifted for her, before the metal safety restraints strapped her in place.

Chandra nodded at me, "No looping."

"No promises," I said, and took two running steps and beat my wings, taking to the sky and climbing towards the dark sky before leveling off, not wanting to fly too high. All that'd do was make me a target if somebody had good ranged weapons. I didn't think that very likely, but this was also the Plane where the Izzet were, and I wouldn't put it past them to have invented some sort of AA missiles.

My armour was good, but come on. I would rather not risk the chance if I could help it.

"You okay back there?" I asked and glanced at Chandra, turning my head to look at her.

She had pulled her goggles down over her eyes against the wind, "I'm good," she answered and looked towards the beam of light spearing the sky straight ahead of us, "How long?"

"Not long," I answered, "Have any way of speeding things up?"

"...Maybe," Chandra said, "But I would rather save my mana."

"Not a bad plan," I agreed and looked towards the source of the light and the dark sky. Nicol Bolas. Liliana Vess. They did this, they...

Alexis was there somewhere, fighting. If she died because of this... she was one of my best friends. At least none of my Consorts were here. Shiela, Zrazta, and Rengosa were all safe back home. The thought of them being here for this, possibly getting trapped here if I fell...

At least they weren't here. I missed them, I was afraid what would happen if I didn't come home, what it would do to them... but it could have been worse.

Alexis being here was bad enough. Damn it, what would I say to her father if she died?

But... now the Immortal Sun was off. I could feel it deep inside, that slight pressure I had felt before no longer existed. I could Walk out of here. I could Walk out of here and be safe, we could just leave. But if I did... if we did...

The Eternals would still be here. The entire population of Ravnica would still be in danger and absolutely nothing would keep them from trying it again. They deserved to die for what they had done here, and if we didn't make them pay for it... who could?

I rested on my wings for a second, sinking slightly lower to avoid standing out as much against the sky, covering us in another Blur spell. No use taking chances.

"Do you think they can do it?" I asked after a moment, "Take out Vess? Without her, they would lose the Eternals."

"Maybe," Chandra said and leaned a bit against the wind, "Why did..." she broke off and shook her head.

I knew how she felt. They had been friends. Fuck, Vess helped save Azeroth. But saving one world didn't give her the right to destroy another.

A mental command shifted my helmet, lenses shifting down over my right eye and magic activating the telescopic zoom function and I could see the target.

Nicol Bolas. Sitting in a throne like some sort of humanoid on top of a massive zigurat. He was ugly, a pair of curved side horns like a female and a pair of wide ratty wings. He was thin, like some sort of wyrm. It was... it was as if a child that had never seen a dragon had drawn one from a description.

He was facing away from us, I could only see his back from here, and past him and the temple I could see a shimmering portal. And then I suddenly didn't anymore.

"It's down!"

Chandra looked around, "What? What's down?!"

"The enemies' portal is down!"

Wait, I recognized that from somewhere. Where was that... never mind.

I shook my head before I continued, "The planar portal just went down, the Eternals aren't getting any more reinforcements!"

"Two teams at least made it," Chandra said, "If you can see the portal..."

"I can see 'him' too," I agreed and sank a bit lower still as we passed residential areas, "Bolas is still on his throne. I can see... I can see Sparks in the air moving towards him. We have lost people."

I beat my wings harder, flying a bit faster.

Suddenly a voice rang through my head, "Everyone, retreat! Regroup at the Senate building!"

"You hear that?" Chandra asked.

I shook my head in annoyance, "I did," I admitted with a growl, "I wish he'd stay out of my head!" and then I banked hard and shifted course around and back towards the large compound we left from. Go there, go there, go back there. Fight, retreat, fight, retreat.

"A retreat isn't a loss," Chandra said over the wind, "Remember that."

No. No, not when we managed at least two out of five objectives.

Not when we could all just fucking leave if things became completely critical. Not when the enemies' reinforcements have been shut off. But I still didn't like it at all.