//------------------------------// // The vision // Story: For Justice and Peace // by Clawder //------------------------------// The calm breeze of dead wind... The lifeless sensation in the earth... The fragile and bone-like dust which replaced the ground... Gideon Jura was unfortunately familiarized with all of this. He remembered his first encounter with the eldrazi and the countless allies and friends he lost against them. He remembered needing the help of the entire plane of Zendikar, inhabitants and nature alike, to finally beat the menace. He had won the battle. So why was he standing in a wasteland again? Why couldn't he see anything but that awful dust expanding beyond the horizon? The planeswalker keeled and gently ran his fingers through the surface of the scarred land. His suspicions were confirmed as the spot he touched crumbled and faded into the wind. “No,” Gideon shut his eyes and closed his fists “Not again...” he remembered the fall of Seagate and the screams of it's victims. Something he wished to forget and never see again. However, this devastation made him remember what happened. Had he failed? Was this Seagate? Gideon rose to his feet and began wondering around the place. Most of it was like a blanket of dust, but there were also hills and what appeared to be the remains of a forest. Venturing into the blank canopy, he started finding statues of the fauna which used to inhabit this plane. He could identify hydras, crocodiles, different types of birds and plenty more creatures that seemed to belong to many different places. As if the multiverse had combined the worlds to make all species live in a single one. His feet led him to the edge of the forest, where the wreckage of a village lay. At first sight, he saw that most of the dust sculptures had an equine figure. Some had horns, some had wings. It was strange to see all of these creatures without a single human on sight. Maybe they left, leaving their mount behind... But, that wouldn't make any sense... Gideon thought. Why would anyone leave behind their best way to flee from the attack? It was like the eldrazi had attacked a stable from Theros and the owners ran away hoping to escape while the abominations were busy with the horses. There was something strange about the animals though: They were shorter than the average horse. Although Gideon had never seen a pony as a unicorn or pegasus, he didn't doubt it was possible for them to exist. What was even weirder was their really big eyes and small muzzle. The proportions of their faces allowed them to have more humanoid-like expressions. And they were terrified expressions. Faces that Gideon had seen plenty of times before. The fear and dread... The faith torn... The panic... And sometimes the resignation. Gideon heard a crawling sound behind him. Immediately, he turned around with a fighting stance and his whip started glowing. Behind the ruins of a house, an eldrazi crawled into sight, just patrolling around. It moved thanks to the tentacles beneath him and possessed four arms. The back of it's head was uncovered, but Gideon could see there was a bone mask on the other side. He recognized the creature as one of Ulamog's spawns. Taking the opportunity to make a surprise attack, Gideon charged at the beast as fast as he could. He leaped forward just a few feet from it, to land a killing blow from above. Right before his whip connected with the eldrazi's head, the creature turned around; revealing the bone mask Gideon expected to find. But there was something else... Right in the middle of it there was a red, glowing circle. Like a never-blinking, flaming eye. This distracted the warrior for a split second, but he refocused quickly and resumed his attack. The searing light cut through the eldrazi, which let out a screech in response. As it was being consumed by the energy, the creature writhed and emitted what could be called screams of pain. Soon, the body of the eldrazi disappeared, but it left behind it's head. Curious, Gideon approached slowly and picked up the skull. It seemed lifeless, and even the strange red glow was out. Unable to figure out what this meant, he dropped the thing back to the ground. It was probably a good idea to look for shelter before more eldrazi found him. Gideon turned to leave wen he heard a strange whisper behind him: “She's here,” the voice said. The planeswalker froze. Unsure if he had imagined it. “She's here,” the voice insisted. Although more than a voice, it was a distorted sound which tried to mimic a voice. Finally, he gathered enough courage to turn around, and to his dismay, the eye socket was glowing red once again. The skull never moved, but it was more than obvious it was saying the words. “She's here,” “Shut up,” Gideon grit his teeth as he commanded. Taking firm steps towards the head. Without waiting for it to repeat the line, he lifted one of his feet and forcefully smashed the remaining extremity. That instant, everything collapsed. The world, the head, Gideon himself. “SHE'S HERE.” ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Gideon was startled awake by the terrifying sentence. Or rather, the way it was said. He was breathing heavily, but fortunately, he managed to stay quiet enough to let the other ones in the camp sleep. He slowly got up from his bed and silently crept out of his shared tent. There were ten other humanoids there, none of which appeared to notice the sudden worry of their leader. After years of exhausting battle, they deserved a peaceful rest. Sleeping in the common soldier's tents and eating their food was also inspiring for the troops because they could relate to their captain in every way possible as an example of equality. This didn't make Gideon shine any less in battle, but it made others aspire to be like him. Trying his hardest not to wake anyone up, he walked out of the barracks. A difficult task considering stealth was never one of his strong areas and the fact he had slept with his armor on. Force of habit. Despite the difficulties, he managed to leave unnoticed... Or so he thought. “Hey.” Gideon's eyes widened and he looked over his shoulder quickly. His combat reflexes were appeased when he saw it was one of his allies who had called. Said ally was Chandra Nalaar. “What are you doing up this late?” Gideon asked. Chandra simply crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. “Right,” he mentally slapped himself at the irony. “Were you seriously expecting to leave without anyone noticing? There are vampires here, you know?” “Vampires who aren't here. You know they are in a different sector.” “I still think that was kind of racist from you and Tazri,” Chandra joked. Gideon ignored her comment and stayed silent. At this, Chandra kept going “So where are you going?” “Somewhere you don't want to follow.” “I'll be the judge of that,” Chandra smirked. Gideon sighed and indicated his fellow planeswalker to follow him away from the encampment. When they were out of earshot, he went straight to the point. “I had a vision,” he began. “You're spending a lot of time around Jace.” “Chandra, please listen,” he added a scolding tone to his words. Chandra rolled her eyes and crossed her arms once again. “I was more than that. It was vivid. I was there.” “Where 'there'?” “In-” he paused to think for a moment. What he saw didn't match any of the planes where he had been to. There were no unicorns or pegasi in Zendikar. And the fauna was too diverse to be Theros. “I'm not sure...” he gazed at the earth beneath him, trying to find a plausible explanation to give “All I know is that I have to stop the last of the titans before my vision becomes real. Or find the wreckage to investigate if it has already happened.” Chandra moved forward and put a hand on Gideon's shoulder “Calm down,” she said with concern “You need to take a break from all of that. It will help you more than you think,” she then took her hand off “Why don't you plan something cheerful? Like a party with goblins!” she suggested, smiling. “A party,” he droned “How is that going to help? It would only give us more false hope. It would lead us into believing we actually won when there's still a threat to fight.” The pyromancer overheard him, not actually minding his points. “Why would we celebrate? Because that way we can ignore our problems for once until they come back and strike twice as hard?” “No, because goblins are the freaking bomb when it comes to parties,” she replied with seriousness “Trust me. They are,” she tapped her chin “Sometimes quite literally.” Seeing there was no point in reasoning with the girl, Gideon walked past her, shaking his head slowly. He felt a grip in his arm, but he didn't look back. “You can't leave. The troops need you.” “They need me to do what? Didn't you say it was all over?” “Without you at the lead, every race will start to spread and hate each other again. I could swear I saw a vampire gnawing an elf's bone last night! In the middle of a campfire! And do you think anyone cared? No, no one did,” she looked away with a semblance of guilt “I know I didn't.” “I'm pretty sure they can handle themselves just fine with the help of the other leaders,” he pulled his arm, leaving Chandra's hand nothing to grasp “I assure you I won't be gone for long, but I need to find Emrakul before she finds us,” he started walking again “I trust you, Nissa and the others to keep everything under control.” Chandra stared at him as he kept going towards an unknown destination “Gideon!” she called. The warrior stopped and again, didn't look back. “Can I have your pillow?!” she shouted to make sure he heard her. Gideon made a quick mental note to never pay attention to a pyromancer again. After a few feet of walking, he smiled “Sure thing, Chandra,” he said to himself. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ It had been three days since Gideon left to find Emrakul. Barely eating and taking short rests on nearby ponds to replenish his energy and drink water. The land was healing quicker than he expected, but it was still too damaged. It didn't take long for him to get to the most devastated area of Zendikar, where Ulamog and Kozilek had went through. The place where he stood was like a painting portraying a before-after situation: Just a step ahead lay a prairie of ash devoid of life. Behind him, was the beautiful and dangerous jungle of Bala Ged. Glancing side to side, he saw a dividing line between the vast vegetation and the dust blanket. As if the eldrazi had decided to stop right there. I should've brought some provisions. Gideon thought as he took his first steps. Hopefully there would be an intact place around the scattered hedrons. Or hopefully his goal was close. He was just a few feet away from nature when he heard an elk bulge at him. He looked to his left, where the animal was standing; staring right back at him. The elk turned around and trotted slowly away from him. Gideon thought nothing of it for a moment, until he saw the elk turn his head and bugle once again. Strange as this was, Gideon nodded and followed. The unlikely guide waited patiently for the human to catch up with him to resume his movement. Both of them walked along the great division, the elk never touching an inch of the corrupted land. After three hours of walking straight, they arrived to the end of the jungle, where the wasteland started taking more and more terrain. Weird as it was to follow a random and somewhat intelligent animal, it was clear it knew where to go. The strange creature stopped and turned it's gaze to Gideon, who also ceased to move. When it had the human's attention, the elk pointed it's head toward a direction that led into the wasteland. Nothing seemed to be there, but it would probably take a while to reach his destination. Gideon didn't know if this animal could be trusted since he had never seen one as clever as this, but right now it was his only lead. He would have time to investigate about this phenomenon later. Before he could nod or give a sign of thanks to the elk, it was already going back to the vastness of the jungle. Gideon had been walking for a long, long time by now. His entire body started aching and begging for water. The worst part was that he didn't even know where this way was supposed lo lead him to. I really should stop trusting everyone. After fighting shoulder to shoulder with vampires and goblins alike, the planeswalker had developed a dangerous sense of companionship towards everything that wasn't an eldrazi. A sense of companionship he should probably start ignoring, his current situation considered. Fortunately, this time he hadn't been fooled. After hiking up a small dust dune, he could see a canyon downhill. What was interesting about this canyon, was the hedrons spread across it. Hedrons which looked drained. Out of power. Originally, they were supposed to float and glow with a distinctive blue. Indicating they were either working as a lock, or they had still magic inside them. Now, they were empty shells. The remains of a prison broken thanks to three certain planeswalkers. Regardless of what they were now, this was undoubtedly the place where the mysterious elk wanted Gideon to go. Approaching the hedrons proved to be a difficult task; the canyon didn't make it any easier to reach down to them. Thinking for a moment, Gideon came up with an idea. His right fist started to glow and he delivered a powerful blow to the dead land beneath him, which instantly collapsed, bringing Gideon along with it. The fragility of the dust was unbelievable. In some places, it was as hard as a baloth bone, but now it was like mere ashes. Was it because the eldrazi titans were gone? Probably. Whatever the reason, the crushed edge of the cliff worked as a slide for Gideon. It wasn't a pleasant experience to be covered in that awful stuff, but it helped him get down. Shaking like a dog that just took a bath, Gideon readjusted his armor to get rid of the remaining dust in his clothes. Then, he headed towards the nearest hedron. It looked like any other one the allies used for their settlements, and this was definitely not the Eye of Ugin, so what about this place? Gideon placed his hand on the hedron and tried to channel the magic left in it, if any. That moment, he was attacked by another vision. At least, he thought it was a vision. Emrakul, the eldrazi titan, hovered above this exact same spot. Restrained by a hedron alignement. What? How could this happen? Gideon thought, as he watched the scene in awe. The abomination tried to fight, to destroy or move the hedrons away, but to no avail. The only thing the eldrazi could do was produce aberrant noises and cast devastation below her, wave after wave of death hitting the ground. It eventually formed the canyon Gideon was currently standing in. Did someone capture Emrakul? He was pretty sure the alliance hadn't done this, yet there was no one else who could've possibly done it. Even if there was, they would've informed immediately. How someone had been able to form a hedron alignment around Emrakul without being obliterated was beyond Gideon. He took his hand off of the hedron after the flashback was over. His entire body was shaking. He had forgotten how terrifying the eldrazi titan was. “But what happened then?” He thought aloud. His curiosity led him to try to do the same with all of the other hedrons around, but there were no more visions. Instead, he found a strange essence in one of the last remaining stones. Something he could identify was not from Zendikar. It was magic... Magic from another plane. A sudden realization hit Gideon. A horrifying truth revealed: Emrakul was gone from Zendikar. Still shaking, he put his hands on his head and pressed. He clenched his eyes shut and screamed out of desperation. It took him time to regain his composure and take a decision. He didn't know how long Emrakul had been gone, and since it had already been months since anyone saw the titan, it probably was too late for the invaded plane. However, Gideon couldn't waste any more time going back to inform the others. He would need to see how much damage was done and only then, he would determine the next course of action. Hopefully, this plane was still alive. Gideon thanked the gods for his luck at finding this hedron. He breathed in and out a couple of times, preparing for whatever he could encounter. He couldn't identify this kind of magic, so it was for sure an entirely new plane. His thirst, hunger and exhaustion replaced by determination, Gideon planeswalked away.