Jace was exhausted. He had tread the thicket of the Llanowar for days, hoping that his pursuer would tire and give up on her hunt. He had been attacked several times while wandering aimlessly through the savage undergrowth of Dominaria's most forested section, yet nothing could come to close to harming him. He easily vanquished all that the Llanowar could throw at him, including dangerous beasts, war-mongering elves, and adept druids.
Jace clutched the small crystal in his left hand, and could feel the immense waves of power the crystal seemed to give off, as if the pressure of such powerful magic would erupt within the crystal at any moment. When it surged, he knew it's true owner was close by, probably stalking him, and now, it felt as if it had a heart of it's own, pulsating rapidly in his palm. Feeling this, Jace quickly cast a camouflage spell, knowing that the pyromancer couldn't hit with a fireball, that which she couldn't see.
Suddenly a burst of flame made itself visible only a few hundred feet away.
"No!" Cried the pyromancer, "Show yourself thief! Give me back what is rightfully mine!"
Jace knew he could do no such thing, so he sat completely still, not making even the slightest noise.
"Mage!" She yelled once again, "I shalt not tolerate this!"
And with those words she unleashed a devastating whipflare, cutting down several trees and setting even more aflame. Jace had to jump out of the way of the sudden, fiery slash, thus, breaking his concentration on his spell and revealing him to the fiery planeswalker.
He ran the opposite way, with no hesitation, and she followed, burning and shriveling the hindervines in her way, effectively increasing her pace.
"Give up the stone, mage, and I shall make your death quick!" She bellowed.
"Please understand, I simply can't!" Muttered Jace under his breath.
Jace ran even faster, and before long, he grew weary. He noticed a clearing not too far ahead, and knew that if he could bring this crazed sorcerer there, he could get the upperhand.
He made that his priority, and using this new found goal as a second wind, he sprinted faster through the underbrush.
Upon coming to the clearing, though, Jace realized he had made a deadly mistake. This "clearing" was the end of a cliff, which dropped down, too far for the mage to see.
He couldn't stop himself in time, and he leaped as he came to cliff, much preferring this fate to whatever one lay with him and the pyromancer.
And he plummeted. Down. Down. and even down further.
"Ahhhhhh!" Jace faintly heard the sorceress yell, from pure rage, at the top of the cliff, as he fell.
He panicked. He couldn't die now. He had the key to peace on his plane. He couldn't just let it go that easy.
He needed to calm down.
Jace surveyed his situation... He was falling. He couldn't see the bottom of the great gorge, but at the rate he was falling, he was sure it would make itself visible pretty soon. He had a small bit of time.
Calm down Jace told himself.
And, being a master at clearing his mind, he was calmed in an instant.
He couldn't allow himself to die. He couldn't hit the ground. He needed a portal...or a rift! He could rift to another plane! Then, he would be safely away from the wicked witch, and wouldn't die!
Then, he saw the the bottom of the gorge.
He didn't have time to rift to a plane he knew. He would have to think too long for it...
Then, he remembered the crystal he still held tight in his hand.
With his own will, and the power of whatever this shard was, he could probably planeswalk to an unknown plane. But, no planeswalker would ever do such a thing. They never knew what might present itself in an unknown plane. Horrible creatures, toxic gases, hell, even a realm of molten lava was a scary thought.
But... Jace had no other choice.
He decided to risk it.
He clutched the crystal hard, and started reveling the spell in his head.
He started to get closer and closer to the bottom of the gorge.
He thought harder.
It still wasn't working. Why wasn't it working?! He was only a few hundred feet away from the ground now.
He tried one last time. He screamed as he mustered all his willpower toward this task, and the shard cut slivers in his hand as he squeezed it with all his strength.
Suddenly, a bright, white light flashed around him, and he realized his attempt was successful. But, this was different than normal. Instead of planeswalking somewhere...he was nowhere. He was in Oblivion...
And then, he was undergoing a transformation. He felt his legs shorten, fatten, and stiffen. His eyes grew larger. His posture was bent, and his neck and face elongated. It wasn't so painful, as it was uncomfortable, feeling his body stretch and his matter shift. His hair shifted back and down his neck, in a horse's mane, and a tail grew from his backside. His skin turned a dark blue, and his pupil's widened. A horn grew from his forehead, and was covered mostly by his hair. The hair or his mane and tail stayed black, and suddenly, he felt his transmutation cease.
He longed to see himself, what he had just been turned into...and he wondered WHY he had been transformed in the first place.
With another flash, he was falling again.
This time, it lasted only a split second though, before he realized he was being suspended in mid-air. He looked down to see what was causing this, only to see a cloud of butterflies, slowly descending towards the ground.
As he reached the earth, and stepped off of the makeshift butterfly platform with a bit of difficulty, he heard a timid voice come from behind him.
"Oh, uh, hi. Are you okay?" It spoke softly from behind him.
He turned to face what had spoken, surprised to see, not a human, or even a humanoid creature for that matter, but a light yellow pegasus with bright pink hair.
This place? These creatures... is this what he looked like now? Like a... pony? He didn't seem to have wings as this one did though.
Jace checked quickly to be sure he still held the crystal. Though, he couldn't actually hold it, it found itself a level place on his back, where it stayed while he moved.
He spoke back to the creature," Yes, I'm fine. The butterflies... were they your doing?"
The pegasus replied, "Oh, yeah. I saw you falling, and I didn't want you to get hurt. I would hate to see somepony in the hospital if there was a chance of me preventing it."
Jace felt respectful toward the creature, it..or she... had saved him after all. Maybe not from death, but at least a few broken bones or mortal wounds.
"I'm very grateful. My name's Jace... and... I guess you could say I'm kind of lost..."
"I'm Fluttershy..." The pegasus said quietly, " I know somepony who could help you, if you'd like..."
"That would be fantastic." Said Jace, as he started to fall in stride beside Fluttershy. "Do you mind if I ask you a few things, Fluttershy?" Jace was curious about a lot of things in this realm... where it was, and what is was called, being his top priorities.
"No, I don't mind at all." Said Fluttershy with a sincere smile. She always looked Jace right in the eyes as she talked. Jace liked that, he had known her not five minutes, and he already found her to be somewhat... kind and trustworthy.
Jace started to question Fluttershy about where he was, as they trotted down a dirt path, with a wooden fence on one side, guarding the largest grove of fruit trees Jace had ever seen.
They were on their way to Ponyville.
I'm enjoying it.
Keep going. You're doing fine.
Liked and Faved, I can't wait for more!
I LOVE it. This type of stuff was WAY overdue.
You get a like and a favorite. Good job!
Do you think you could add Nicol Bolas?
2520807
She is if you take something from her! ;D
2520852
Was def planning on it!
Dominaria is destroyed by the great mending at this point in time
think about putting fluttershy garruk and Domi rade all together think about it 3 beastmasters in one place
2521584
Is says "Alternate Universe" for a reason! And already included A bond between Garruk and Fluttershy in my head, itll be there soon.
2521727 but not Domri Rade he is just as much of a beast master as the other two also the great mending is what stopped planeswalkers from being god like and immortal
2521799
Dominaria lies in ruins at the moment but is being fixed by Teferi. The Llanowar still exists and so does the whole of Dominaria. Though, Skyshroud Forest doesn't exist at all anymore. And about Domri... I'm not sure yet, because he's not core and I wasn't sure If i was rifting anyone to Ravnica yet. But Garruk will be included for sure.
2523183 yet you are including bolas and I'm guessing Sorin both who are not core as they only appeared once in the core sets
Jace isn't from Ravnica, he's from a town called Silmot's Crossing (plane unknown, but Ravnica is the only city in the plane of Ravnica).
That said... I love the cover art. /commence read.
2523325
Ravnica IS Jace's home. After he left Silmot's Crossing, after completely destroying his teacher's mind, he erased his own memory and wandered to Ravnica. He lives in Ravnica, and it is his Home Plane now. That's what he thinks of it as.
I dunno, it happens pretty frequently, especially for newly-sparked 'walkers. Tibalt was a fairly regular human on Innistrad (although sadistic), then the inquisitors found him surrounded by devils. He cast a spell to merge himself with the devils, then his spark ignited and the planeswalked, despite not really knowing of the existence of other planes, much less knowing any particular other plane.
In the Eternities Map variant of Planechase, it's called a "Hellride" to planeswalk to an unknown plane.
Fluttershy seems awfully extroverted in that final scene. Liking the story so far, although I recommend an editor and/or prereader; there were a couple small mistakes that I noticed, though not enough to break the story. The Looking for Editors group can probably help you.
2523369
Okay, I misunderstood the description. I took it as "originating from" rather than "where he considers home." I can buy that.
OTOH, I'd be surprised that Jace couldn't get an audience with Niv-Mizzet. Prior to Ral Zarek taking over Jace's research on Azor I's Implicit Maze, Jace was the head researcher for the project, and Niv-Mizzet was "da bozz".
2523389
No planeswalker would do it voluntarily though. The newer planeswalkers did rift on accident, but, once again, not voluntarily.
And Fluttershy would definitely be pretty outgoing if it meant saving someone. She did speak a bit more than usual, but I wanted her and Jace to form a bit of a bond in the beginning.
Sorry about the mistakes, also. Thanks for the tips though!
2523499
I guess the problem for me becomes, if the planeswalkers only ever go to planes they've already been to, how to they learn about new planes?
I prefer hellriding as an actual thing, even if it's the difference between a hasty walk (such as Jace did while plummeting to his death) vs. a planned one. After all, despite their power (which is still quite high, even post-mending), there are many things in the multiverse that could crush a 'walker, and 'walkers tend to get into the nastiest of situations.
2523541
The way I think of it as, if they have time to prepare for a random planeswalk, and time to think and perfect the rift more, they aren't as bad as if one were to just completely, randomly planeswalk.
But, trust me, I completely understand what you're saying.
Magic fic
Dis is gonna be good.
It also starts with my favorite planeswalkers.
good job so far man i want to keep reading and hey i would recommend getting the secretiest for your kindle fire
I like how this is starting.
Not much wrong with it, but I thought I might as well give a few pointers.
(A minor nitpick, but it may flow better if you switch the order of this sentence a bit.) ex:
"Feeling this, Jace quickly cast a camouflage spell, knowing that which the pyromancer couldn't see, she couldn't hit with a fireball.''
(This part is a little awkward. Either that second 'and' should be capitalized or it should look more like this:)
''And he plummeted. Down, down, and down yet further.('even farther', ect.)''
Reviewing?
Jace felt respect for the creature, (? It's not bad, just another nitpick.)