Friendship is Magic: the Gathering

by DRKLCNS

Chapter 2: Rude Awakening

Jace Beleren walked through the Arcaneum, the other mages and students clearing a path as the mind mage passed. Most of the people at the Arcaneum were aware of Jace's high status amongst the wizards, and gave him a wide berth as he continued towards the office of one of the leading members. He knew that whatever the reason the mage summoned him, it had to be urgent, as he had requested Jace's... unique skills.

Only a select few on Ravnica knew that Jace was, in fact, a planeswalker. He only revealed his status to those who had something of interest to offer him, which thanks to his considerable telepathy skills, wasn't a large number. The mage who summoned him, however, was informed of Jace's true nature by Niv-Mizzet, the leader of the Izzet guild, and had been a helpful source of information for him while on Ravnica. Now, he knew, he would have to return the favor.

Jace climbed the stairs leading to his destination, and opened the doors. He entered, and found the one who summoned him sitting behind his desk. "I was hoping we could make this quick." Jace spoke up over the two. The two mages quickly became silent, and the second one stood and turned to look at the newcomer. "I was informed this was a high priority job, and I don't have time for wild goose chases."

The standing man spoke "Master Balthazar, who is this impudent upstart? Does he not know who you are to speak to you in such a-"

The wizard cut him off "Enough, Siphax." The man fell silent as Balthazar continued "Jace Beleren is one of the Arcaneum's greatest allies and contributors. I have a previous engagement with him, and I'm afraid it is of utmost importance. Please leave my office, we will continue this discussion later."

"But, surely it can-"

"NOW."

That was the final warning, and Siphax new it. He quickly strode out the room, taking time to glare at Jace before he shut the door.

Balthazar threw up a quick warding spell once the door had shut. "There, that should keep out unwanted listeners. I apologize for Siphax, he has... considerable ambition, but unfortunately, he tends to be a bit headstrong."

"Understood. Now, what is the assignment you had for me?"

Balthazar sighed as he folded his hands and stared at Jace. "Strait to business as always, Master Beleren? Very well then. Early this morning, a rogue fire mage was able to break past security, enter our vault of relics in Nivix, and made off with an ancient artifact of extreme value: the Orb of Infinity."

"Sounds basic enough. Why do you need my help, and not just track her down with the Legion?"

"We already attempted that. We had her cornered with the local captain, when suddenly, she simply...vanished."

"Vanished? You couldn't follow her mana trail?"

"We attempted to do so, but found that her mana simply disappeared on the spot. We were hoping that perhaps she might be of a similar nature to yourself."

Jace responded with the answer he knew to be on the scholar's mind "You mean a planeswalker."

"Exactly. I assumed you would have considerable experience dealing with others like yourself, and would be able to track her down and retrieve the orb" The wizard leaned in closer to Jace "And return it immediately."

"Fine. And my payment?"

The mage chucked as he replied "Always the businessman, Master Beleren. Your usual fee will be paid, and in addition, we would be willing to allow you to experiment with the Orb once it has been retrieved."

"I'm assuming that's supposed to be an honor?" Jace was hoping that this would be worth his time, but failed to see the value in experimenting with this artifact. He was a telepath, not an artificer.

"Seeing as how Niv-Mizzet ordered anyone that even touches it be executed, I would say so. It certainly isn't something that your average man could hope to achieve. Perhaps you, with your knowledge, would be able to unlock the secrets that we have not been able to ascertain." The wizard leaned back, confident that his offer would be taken by the knowledge-seeking mage before him.

Jace pondered for a moment, then answered. "Very well. Now then, where did this intruder escape?"

Balthazar stood, and began walking towards the door, as Jace followed "Two of the Legionnaires from this morning's incident, recovered much faster than the others, having only received mild burns. They were able to be healed relatively quickly, and have been asked to escort you to the site." As they exited the building, Jace saw the two soldiers the man had spoken of waiting at the foot of the steps.

Jace walked up to the soldiers, and ordered "Lead the way."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After arriving in the alleyway of the incident, Jace ordered the soldiers to make sure no one would disturb him, nor to turn around should they hear anything. Fortunately for him, Boros soldiers were exceptional at taking orders, and stood guard almost motionless, save to redirect a few passersby who wanted a glance at what was going on behind them.

Jace's eyes glowed as he scanned the alley, searching for the mana trail of the rogue 'walker. It was rather easy to find, a vibrant reddish-orange, that went down the way towards the back wall. It almost seemed familiar to the mind mage...

Suddenly, Jace facepalmed as he realized who he was chasing after. "Chandra, not again..." This would be the third time he had to follow the planeswaker girl in order to retrieve a valuable artifact. He was also more than a little worried at this point. Two planeswalkers coming across each other twice unexpectedly was coincidence. But three times? Somehow, the Multiverse was playing a prank on the two of them, or so Jace assumed.

"Great. Not only do I have to follow her across the Multiverse again, but I'm sure she's going to be more than a little upset that I'm going after her for a third time." Jace shook his head and stared at the ground, continuing to mutter to himself. "This won't end well."

He began to focus, collecting his mana for the planeswalk. After a few minutes, he figured he was prepared enough, and had a strong fix on his target. He entered the Blind Eternities, and began to follow her trail.

After a short time, he found the plane she had bolted to. She clearly had gone through the planeswalk somewhat unprepared, as it seemed like she had simply dove for the first nearby plane that was safe. Jace followed the trail to the barrier, but stopped once he reached the outer rim. He attempted to enter the plane, but was confused when he was forced back. He waited there, thinking for a moment.

He had spent quite a bit of time planeswalking, and was used to the effects of the void. With enough focus, he could stay in between planes for at least a day-not that time really meant anything here. But he knew that trying to force his way into this plane would not only difficult, but could also be dangerous to his Spark-the force that gave him the power to walk the planes. Knowing that, he started considering his next move.

Diving right into this plane would probably be a bad move – especially considering that Chandra clearly was desperate enough to jump right in without any thought as to this barrier. Figures that she'd pick the one plane that wasn't easy to get into. He pondered for a moment. And the only one I know of who might know anything about this is... He sighed to himself, and continued As if it wasn't bad enough having to go after Chandra again. Now I have to get his help." He floated away from this strange plane, and went to seek out the one being he knew who could help him to break through the barrier.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chandra's head felt like it had been beaten by a hammer. She moaned as she tried to open her eyes, but they seemed to be content with staying shut. Her hearing was fuzzy, but she could make out two female voices coming from either side of her.

“Do you think she'll be okay?” The first voice was rough, but still effeminate. “She looked pretty beat up when we found her.”

“The doctor said she wasn't too injured.” The second voice was lighter, with an air of intelligence to it. “Her external injuries were minor, though she did have a small concussion. She should be fine by tomorrow morning. I just hope she wakes up soon; I'm interested in how she got there after that huge explosion happened.”

Injured? Explosion? What are they talking about? Her head still ringing, she tried to piece together her recent memory. The last thing I remember was trying to get through that barrier, then my body started burning... She couldn't remember anything beyond that point; her head was still pounding. Whatever happened, I must have hit my head. She moaned again, and tried to sit up on what she assumed was a bed. Her whole body felt numb, and she rubbed her eyes as she mumbled “Engh... where am I?”

“She's awake!” said the first voice. “I'll go get the doctor!” She heard it fade as a whooshing noise followed it moved away.

“Doctor?” She continued to rub her eyes, hoping she could force them open. “What's going on?” After another couple of minutes, she attempted to open her eyes again, this time succeeding. Her vision was blurry, but she slowly started to regain focus as she looked about the room.

She was lying underneath a plain white sheet, inside a room with few furnishings. Whoever was talking mentioned a doctor, so this must be a hospital or something. She looked to her left, and saw some strange machines, which she could only assume were medical equipment.

“Thank goodness you're awake!” It was the second voice, coming from her right. Chandra turned to look at it, and was surprised by what he saw. She was no stranger to beings who looked different; she had seen elves, goblins, merfolk: even the stout Kithkin of Lorwyn were fairly normal compared to the sight before her.

A lavender unicorn, standing roughly four feet tall, was standing next to the bedside. Her dark purple mane was cut short, and had a stripe of pink and purple running the length of it. Her tail had a similar color scheme, and adorning her flank was a small tattoo of a pink starburst with 5 smaller stars surrounding it. She was watching Chandra with wide eyes and a relieved smile.

“Okay, I must have hit my head really hard.” She blinked a few times, hoping that her mind was playing tricks on her, but when she opened them the unicorn was still there. “Because there's a purple unicorn standing next to me.”

“Well, yeah. I've been here the whole time.” Chandra would have leaped from the bed if it weren't from the numbness she felt. The unicorn just spoke. Chandra racked her brains, trying to remember if unicorns could speak. To her knowledge, they couldn't. It just talked to me. How is it talking to me?

The unicorn, seeing the panic in her eyes, tried to calm her down. “Are you okay? I'm not going to hurt you or anything.” Chandra calmed down slightly, but she was still rather unsettled. “I'm the one who brought you here to the hospital. You were unconscious when we found you. I'm guessing you don't remember anything, huh?”

Still dumbfounded, Chandra slowly shook her head from side to side. Twilight continued “Well, that's okay. Maybe you'll remember later: you got a small concussion, but it's nothing to really worry about. The doctor said you'll be fine.” She held her hoof to her chest. “I'm Twilight Sparkle. What's your name?”

Twilight Sparkle... that must be a normal name for unicorns, I suppose. Chandra held her hoof to her chest. “I'm...” Wait, hoof? WHAT???

Chandra looked down at her hands... or at least what used to be hands. Instead, she saw two hooves, exactly like the ones on Twilight Sparkle, only with a different color. “Oh no, oh nononononononononono...” She started kicking off the sheets, and saw that her feet had also been replaced with hooves. Her body also seemed to be shaped like the pony's, though her clothes had been replaced with a green hospital gown. “What's going on?” She started to panic, and tried to leave the bed. Twilight, however, threw her hooves onto the bed and held her in place.

“You can't get up!” She struggled to hold down the flailing Chandra. “The doctor said you need rest!” Chandra, however, was stronger than she expected, so she restorted to using magic to pin her down. “Please, just relax! I can't figure out how to help you if you don't calm down!”

Chandra struggled against the magic for another moment, then gave in and lay back down. “Can someone please tell me what's going on here? I wake up in a strange bed, with a purple unicorn next to me, and now suddenly I find that I look like...” she gestured to her whole body “...like this!”

Struggling to understand the patient's ravings, Twilight simply asked “You mean, a unicorn?”

“A what??”

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jace materialized on a small rock formation, floating high in the sky. The air was filled with similar objects arranged in no particular formation, save for a group that formed a trail from the rock he landed on upwards to a giant mass of stone. He gingerly stepped up to the next platform, as the floating rock bobbed a bit under his weight, but it quickly returned to its original position. He continued the climb up the path, slowly approaching the mountain of floating earth.

Once he reached the base of the mountain, he found himself standing before a giant doorway, easily 5 times the height of a man. Beyond the threshold, Jace could only see darkness. He stepped through the opening, creating a sphere of blue light to guide him. He slowly walked forward, then called out to the darkness. “Bolas!”

His voice echoed back to him, reverberating across the chamber walls several times until the name was all but unrecognizable. He'd better be here. I didn't come all the way out to his personal sanctuary to talk to shadows. “Bolas!” He called again, but echoes and darkness answered him.

Fantastic. There goes my only- He turned suddenly, as a flame erupted on a brazier on the wall. Another flame appeared on the opposite wall, then another next to it. Slowly, the walls began to glow with light as more and more of the braziers were lit, till the room was surrounded by flickering flames. As the final braziers lit, they illuminated an enormous dragon seated upon a throne at the rear of the room. The beast was colored a tarnished gold, and two massive sweeping horns erupted from his head. His wings were splayed out, folded over the sides of the throne, as if he had been waiting there for some time. His eyes glowed a sickly green, and his teeth gleamed as he smiled, observed the human mage.

“Hello, Jace.” The dragon's voice was but a whisper, but it made the chamber rumble and chilled Jace's heart. “Nice of you to visit.”

Jace looked up at the towering monster, fighting the chill he felt. “Always a pleasure, Nicol Bolas.”

Comments

[DRKLCNS]

Chapter 2! Sorry for the wait, being on vacation does that. I did get some more writing in, though: should have chapter 3 posted tomorrow. After that, who knows. I'll try to do at least once a week.

Now, then, as I said in an earlier comment, I don't like the title. I'm hoping to find either an alternative title, or a subtitle to go with it, like for the Harry Potter books. If anyone has any suggestions, please Message me, and I'll figure something out. Thanks guys, I've already gotten way more support for this thing than i ever thought.

[Royal Brisk]

No good can come with having to deal with Nicol Bolas...

[StormCrow]

why's Jace got to be an idiot and get Bolas Involved
I think being a Unicorn would be an excellent disguise for Chandra

[Zennistrad]

Jace is asking Nicol Bolas for help? Sweet Jesus, he must be really desperate.

[blitzcrystal0617]

you never go to bolas for help from what I know he is EVIL, EVIL I TELL YOU!!