cursebreaker-vahn

[cursebreaker-vahn]

The Ritual, Part Seven (II)

Vahn

Underground, Innistrad

Moments later

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It’s through the relief that Vahn saw Ecxilet’s eyes grow wide and his beautiful smile turn to a look of dread. Vahn followed the vedalken’s gaze towards the gauntlet, and his mood fell instantly when he saw the fog coming out of the Apostate. His mouth echoed his thoughts.

“Nononononono NO.”

Seeing the ethereal consistency, he sent the smoke to destroy the thing once and for all. But it didn’t seem to do much more than slow it down, and even then Vahn could feel the smoke being slowly destroyed by this more malicious opponent. The purple stuff vaguely outlined the form of an arm, and the glove lifted from the ground.

Desperate, Vahn resolved to empower the smoke with one of the Godmakers’ runes, feeling the pain of the power using his mind as a conduit as he finished tracing it in the air. The pain blinded him temporarily, but he had suffered worse this night alone. Yvtan’s smoke was boosted by the same energy that kept the god running, and the purple slowed down to a crawl, and finally stopped progressing. But it wasn’t enough. The white smoke still was being slowly destroyed. He traced a second rune. Complementing the first one, to protect his god’s blessing. He regretted it immediately after he finished it, the strain on his mind obliterating all of his thoughts, all of his focus being drained away to keep the power from leaving nothing of him.

The paladin barely saw the white smoke glow from the energy and protection, as things stabilized. He didn’t register Ecxilet, approaching him. Didn’t feel his hands on his shoulders. Didn’t…

VAHN!

Cethrin’s thoughts broke down the wall around Vahn’s mind, and in a flash of agony, he was back. He noticed the vedalken holding his shoulders, and taking him in an embrace. Then realized that if the power had left him… He witnessed the last of the white mist be destroyed by the haze that slowly took the shape of a body.

“What did you do?” “You came back! What were those things? Doesn’t matter, don’t do that ever again!” “WHAT DID YOU…”

He was interrupted as something resembling a neck and a head finally formed, and with it came back a scream.

“OOOOOOOOAAAARRRRRRR!”

A gust of wind separated the two men, forcing them off the ground and slamming them up opposite walls. The unnatural air that coursed through the room also seemed to prevent anything from entering the couple’s lungs.

“YOU RUINED EVERYTHING!”

Vahn felt a force stronger than any wind hold him to the wall, and close around his neck. If his god’s first blessing had helped him against the air deprivation, it didn’t do anything against a broken neck. Bone and dry flesh was already reforming inside and over the purple mist.

“YOU KILLED HER!”

His pain-blurred vision still showed the paladin Cethrin being in the middle of a fire, and Dulbert somehow growing all over Ecxilet’s body, encasing him.

“I. WON’T. LET. YOU. DIE. I WILL...”

The screams of anger were interrupted by a muffled voice coming from behind the sealed door.

“Ange?”

Two bodies fell to the ground, and before someone could blink, the Cursetamer was opening the door as fast as she could. Her body had reformed, but now it seemed to become alive again, flesh filling out and taking back a lively shine.

Vahn felt a pang of pain when his legs hit the ground, and looked at Ecxilet on the other side of the room. He was collapsed on the ground, but still moving as Dulbert receded into the collar he was. He extended his right hand towards Cethrin, that had been stripped away from his inert etherium one (when did this happen?) and looked up at Vahn, with shame in his eyes. The human felt him start whatever planeswalk he was capable of, and Vahn tried to give him a reassuring look before doing the same.

As Innistrad faded away from him, he got one look at the now open door. He saw two normal women, without clothes, crying in an embrace.

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[cursebreaker-vahn]

The Ritual, Part Six

Vahn

Istunil, Deka

Moments later

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Vahn arrived directly in the center of Yvtan’s temple. He’d sensed Ecxilet being taken back to Innistrad, and was only now realising what it meant. The huge figure of the god before him turned to face him, as thoughts and fears were racing and colliding in the paladin’s head. They should have been able to leave! Geru had assured him of that fact! He had to go back… And the mere idea of it was making his hands shake. Nevertheless, he used them to unlace the magical bag at his belt and threw it on the ground before him. As he was already preparing himself for another planeswalk, he heard his god’s voice.

“Stop.”

It was the last thing he wanted, but his god had spoken. Almost involuntarily, he dissipated his magic as the environing smoke swirled and condensed around him, leaving only visible the machine and the human, a clear section surrounded by white smoke.

“I-I need to go back.” “What happened?” “He-She- She wasn’t- She took him. I can’t-can’t let her have him.” “Breathe. You are in no state to face her. Not alone.” “I… I have to!” “Breathe.”

Vahn did as he was ordered, and breathed in. Smoke rushed to fill his nose, his lungs, his body. He felt a calm come back, with the urgency still there. And something else. He raised a hand, feeling weird. The smoke came out of him, surrounding his arm.

“My god?” “Another blessing. It will not last long, but you can use some of us.” “I’m not… I don’t deserve…” “Do you think we are wrong?” “No! I’m sorry! I didn’t intend to…” “Paladin Adrias.” “Sorry! I did it again…” “We will take care of those. Go.”

Yvtan’s smoke took the bag on the ground and bring it toward one of the god’s hands. “Thank you. Sorry. Thank you!”

Ten seconds later, the planeswalker left, aiming for the bond he had with Cethrin.

Underground, Innistrad

Moments later

Vahn landed in a different room he had left, the smoke that formed with his planeswalk did not disappear, and instead lingered around his body. The Cursetamer was at the other end, dragging an unconscious Ecxilet and applying her other hand and magic on a door. Cethrin was lying against the wall.

“Casselant! You’ll…”

He was interrupted when she lifted her left hand, and with it the vedalken’s body of the ground, signaling Vahn to wait. Taken aback, and reminded that she held his lover in her grasp, he hesitated long enough for her to finish whatever she was doing on that door. “Thank you. Now, what were you saying?”

Vahn’s anger grew past his fear, and he ran towards her.

“Monster! You’ll pay!”

The smoke preceded him, sparkling with energy. With a wave, she sent him flying on his back. This time, the white substance stayed in place. On the ground, Vahn grinned as he opened his hands. Ten ribbons of light emerged from the cloud, four of them slipping under the lich’s grasp and taking Ecxilet from her, bringing him in the smoke. A fifth went for Cethrin, and took her, too. The other five went to each of the Cursetamer’s limbs and to her neck. It kept her distracted for a second, time enough for the smoke to retreat towards Vahn, and lift him back on his feet, holding the esperite off the ground and the staff in his other hand.

The vedalken breathed still, and inhaled the smoke around him. Through the smoke, Vahn willed it and Ecxilet with a big inspiration, looking around himself. The ribbons dissipated because of the efforts of both the lich queen, leaving her look at the couple.

“Pay for what? I’ve been more than generous with you two...”

She accentuated her words by closing both her gloved hands together.

“And it’s time you stop breaking into my place.”

She brought her hands away from each other, and a dark green mist escaped, as if it was confined between them. It didn’t take Vahn long to recognize it. The last time he saw it, it came out of an Apostate.

“How…?”

But he didn’t take the time to finish his question. Ecxilet let out a wondering “Vahn?” before he realized what was going on and took back Cethrin. But she wouldn’t help here, the mist wasn’t magical, more of a poison or plague. Vahn had been immune to it last time he had faced it, but his boyfriend, getting on his feet, wasn’t. Without thinking of how, Vahn moved his smoke to meld with the mortal fog that had left the Cursetamer’s hands. The two living mists fought each other, but Yvtan’s smoke had been made and perfected to clear air of all contaminants.

“How? Do you really think I would collect all of these Relics without studying them? Their effects?”

Right next to the paladin’s ears, a soul-wrenching scream resonated and didn’t seem to stop. All of the runes protecting him lit up, and allowed him to form coherent thoughts. The attack was focused. And, to his relief, didn’t last long. It wasn’t as bad as Arlen Beaumont had been, and didn’t linger, but the fact that she was able to reproduce this made him fear even more what was to come.

Cethrin’s voice rung in his head, giving him something to grab to.

I think I have an idea… I’ve got to prepare a spell with Ecxilet, can you keep her busy? Shouldn’t we… Shouldn’t we get away? We’ve already tried that, we have to stop her. She’s still not at full power, she’s connected to whatever she does next door! It might be our one shot. I… I will try.

He called the smoke back to him, and put himself between Ecxi and the lich.

“Bold of you to go ahead of your magical protection.”

She was walking towards him, and from her ten fingers shot out ten black tendrils, splitting up. They evoked to him a grim mirror of his earlier runic ribbons, even though their composition was different. But they weren’t. He saw it now. These he had also encountered. He wrapped himself in Yvtan’s blessing, becoming a white blur, and went ahead to intercept them, as some tried to go around him to reach Ecxilet. Cethrin was good, but she was channeling a spell, and would have a hard time absorbing everything at the same time.

Vahn was surprised at his own speed, the fog around him amplifying his movements as he quickly reached out to the closest construct of black mana. He took out his runed scimitars, and cut through the closest ones. After their cut, the tendrils crumbled and disappeared. He got to work on all the ones near him, and tookadvantage of his augmented speed.

“So you went for help? Do you really think a screen of fog will protect you from me?”

Suddenly, all the tendrils converged towards him. Yvtan’s miracle destroyed most of them, but a couple reached the paladin’s skin. Despite his protections, the pain was unbearable. Before the smoke finished working, he let out a scream of agony from the bottom of his lungs. After it stopped, while he was panting, the torture at her hand flashed back in his mind, and he froze in place. Then he saw her only a couple steps from him, grinning, and couldn’t resist his fear, taking a few steps back.

“I’ve found better toys, Adrias.”

She reached out to his chest with her hand. That hand. It hit the screen of smoke and continued, unhindered. It touched him, and a finger went inside him. He felt it again. A violation of everything he was. His hands closed down on his weapons’ hilt. He gripped them as hard as he was able to. He wanted to scream again. Louder. But he couldn’t. And then it stopped.

He looked down and saw a white shape being slowly taken away from him. The lich was also looking at it, somewhat puzzled. The smoke had concentrated on one point, and had visibly found a way to counteract whatever magic she was using.

“Hmmm… You might have earned back your ‘interesting’ place with that stunt.” “Get… AWAY!”

A powerful, primal burst of will and mana helped the smoke and pushed back the Cursetamer a few feet, leaving Vahn panting once again.

Out of the way!

Vahn’s mind’s revolted at this new intrusion, before he realized who it was. He moved to the left, and the Cursetamer stayed on him, visibly preparing something big. From the side of his vision, through the smoke that came back around him, the Paladin saw Ecxilet raise the staff in an horizontal position, and saw his hand shine brighter than anything else in this room.The light grew and grew, then passed to the staff that focused it in a single, blinding point. This got the lich’s attention, and she turned her head just to see a ray of pure, white light flow toward her. She raised her hand and tried to gesture a spell into existence, but didn’t manage to do it before the light hit her.

There was an instant of calm. Then an unwatchable pillar of light filled the room within maybe a foot of radius around the undead, and a singular word came out of it, filled with more despair and anger than Vahn had ever heard.

“NO”

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[cursebreaker-vahn]

The Ritual, Part Four

Ecxilet

Underground, Innistrad

Moments later

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Moving frantically as the apostates edged themselves in the dead skin, the skaabs seemed to be lost for a second. The typical emanations of power came from the items as they latched onto their new hosts.

This is… What? How can zombies wield relics? Are you kidding me? Look at them, they aren’t wielding anything!

Dulbert was right, the bodies seemed to have a hard time coordinating their movements, and were currently trying to stand back up after having lost control of their legs. The pendulum that melded at a skaab’s neck swung, and the skaab was on its feet… Then turned to a weird, translucent smoke. The other one was slower on its feet, but arcs of lightning were already striking around its hands and feet as the metallic wool embedded itself in one arm’s stitching.

This is bad. But they aren’t fully aware like you guys, are they? No, not with these husks. So, can you numb them? I don’t know, deactivate them? You should have an advantage… I can’t do anything while I’m keeping the one Vahn works on under. Maybe Dulbert? I’ve got no idea where I’d even start! You are the one that attacked me every time, I only fought back! And don’t forget she’s probably still planning stuff too!

As the conversation went, the electric one was already walking towards Ecxilet. He tried the same spell that kept the undead away earlier, without success.

Doesn’t work? What are we doing here again? I’m not sure what these things are now, to be honest. Something between a golem and an undead? And the spells don’t like that? Apparently they don’t.

Ecxilet advanced farther from Vahn, giving himself more room as he brought back the human’s attention to the room.

“Vahn?” “Yes?”

As he looked back, he saw what was happening and his eyes widened.

“Exactly. You’ve got more experience… Any advice?” “There’s two of them? Apostates don’t work well as a team.”

Right… You’re exceptional, Dulbert. I know that.

The lightning skaab attempted to hit the vedalken… Maybe. He didn’t even need to dodge the fist that passed a meter from him. Arcs of energy connected the zombie and Cethrin, absorbing the ones that would have hit Ecxilet. Seeing the fight, Vahn prepared a spell.

“No, Vahn, stay on the box! You’ll be more helpful once it’ll be done!”

The paladin reluctantly agreed.

“Fine… But stay alive!” “Working on that.”

The crackling zombie seemed more assured on its feet every second, and its next attack was more direct. It was trying to grab Ecxilet with its hands, as energy coursed through them. To his own surprise, his etherium hand guided Cethrin behind his assailant’s shoulder, and as he reeled it in, he sidestepped away before bringing back his staff in an arc that swiped the skaab’s legs and made it fall. The staff had absorbed all the sparkling energy that hit it and arcs were now cracking all over the wood, carefully avoiding the etherium handle.

What just happened? Sorry, I gave you access to some of the stuff I’ve trained for with a previous wielder. You can do that? That’s amazing! You don’t need to be sorry! We can do that? I don’t want you to rely on that, you don’t have the same body nor training as her! I’ll keep that in mind next time I’ll be trying to not be fried.

But the talking had left more than enough time for the flickering one to figure out how to walk, and who to attack, and Ecxilet received a painful punch to the side that made his frail body slide on the rocky ground. The zombie continued in its tracks, but before it reached him, the artificer saw it disappear again.

Be ready…

Ecxilet readied his staff, he suspected what she wanted to…

Now!

In an instant of concentration, Cethrin went ahead and released all the lightning she absorbed and amplified exactly when the skaab reappeared to take the blast. Its flesh charred of the impact and a disgusting smell filled the area. The husk was damaged, but it didn’t stop it in its tracks as its still burning body brought Ecxilet to the ground with it. Feeling his clothes burning, he cast a small spell that he knew of his own, humidifying them on the contact zone as he hit the ground, the zombie on him. It wasn’t reacting, so Ecxilet tried to slip away. Before he did, the body that still twitched disappeared.

He stood back up, ready to beat what unnatural life was left in the skaab when it came back… But saw the other one, on its legs and going to Vahn, who was focused on finishing the sealing of the box.

Oh, chaos! Dulbert? Get ready! Already told you, it won’t work on those, throw the “Saint”, it’ll be more effective. I think you can try at least. There’s someone in there.

Before their exchange was finished, he had summoned back the pendant of the collar he wore and threw it at his sparkling opponent.

So we both get shocked and you don’t? Concentrate, please! I am! Keep it simple.

“We are not your enemies!”

The skaab slowed down and turned his head towards the commanding voice, but advanced still, nearly at arms reach of Vahn, who also noticed something when he heard the voice.

“The fast one wants to kill you.”

Could work. Don’t be menacing.

Slowly walking out of the way, he designated the other skaab that was here again and watching in Ecxilet’s former direction -now the electric zombie’s one- with a murderous look, while trying to make as its body function as much as possible. It stood back on its knees… Before disappearing once again.

“…That’s no Saint nor mind control… You’re the dual wielder?”

The Cursetamer’s voice had came from right behind Ecxilet’s ear and made him jump back as she reminded him of her existence. She hadn’t tried anything in a while. Not a good sign.

“Anyway, please leave my associates alone, even in this state.”

And the zombie turned back towards Vahn. But he now had had a few seconds, enough to be ready to act, the box sealed and being stored away. Ribbons of dekan runes were already forming and wrapping around the paladin’s arms, nesting themselves in his hands. Moving away from his foe, he threw the runes that extended and constricted the skaab’s arms. They then went towards the ground were they fixated themselves, keeping the zombie in place. Bright arcs jumped from its skin to the chains of runes as it strained against them.

Meanwhile, Ecxilet was wondering how the lich had broken Dulbert’s control.

It’s not that weird, there’s something else constantly sending orders back to this thing. Can you fight it? Sure, I’m gonna organize a party in a brain that’s not even working, too. Well, Vahn seems to have it handled for now… Cethrin, now that he’s not boxing the other, can you stop the blinking one? I can certainly try, I might not be able to do much else though. They’re not exactly inactive. Then do that, the other we can restrain more… Conventionally.

The aforementioned zombie appeared a last time and slowed down to its usual speed as the pendulum on his burned skin stopped swinging. It briefly looked around itself, before walking towards the other skaab and Vahn.

Going after it, the vedalken planeswalker saw Vahn extending more rune ribbons -those were red as opposed to the other white- towards the immobilized zombie’s arm where the Apostate had embedded itself. There was a sizzling when the lightning, runes and skin all touched, leaving them unable to grab the item as they dissipated from intense discharges.

The other zombie was ignoring Ecxilet long enough to be hit by the staff he carried on the side of the head. A portion of that head was deformed by the impact, but it didn’t seem to hinder the undead more than its burns, as it turned back towards its aggressor. He responded with another blow, his arms reminding him that he really didn’t prepare himself to hit something repeatedly like this.

Vahn’s incense burner exuded smoke that floated around the pinned zombie’s arm, blocking the view of the red runes that still plunged into it. Light flashed regularly in the opaque cloud, looking like a miniature storm inside a white cloud. His efforts were soon rewarded by something he pulled… But the restraints on the zombie’s other hand were finally destroyed by the energy coursing against them, and the it grabbed one of Vahn’s arm, making him release the Apostate that went tumbling on the ground. With a swift movement, Vahn took his scimitar out of its sheath and cut through most of the arm that restrained him. The skaab released him, and another strike finished separating the flesh assembly from its appendage. Now only kept by a single ribbon, but the last remnants of the Apostate’s energy dissipating in cracks, Vahn quickly finished it off before starting its work on the Apostate that was already extending its lightning to bond with a new host.

Meanwhile, Ecxilet was having a harder time keeping the zombie at bay, but he finally got it on the ground and took advantage of its wounds. His etherium hand clamped around its neck. From his position, Vahn threw him one of his scimitars to finish the thing. By reflex, he moved his hand from its neck and grabbed the blade that was flying towards him. The zombie used that second of freedom to try to land a blow on its captor, but on its belly, Ecxilet cut it down before it had any real occasion to turn back and do so.

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[cursebreaker-vahn]

The Ritual, Part Three

Cursetamer

Underground, Innistrad

Two days later

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The completed stitched body laid on a carved metallic table that was connected through some machinery to a runed stand. The hilt of a sword came out of the top of it. The symbols on the table perfectly detoured the body on it, as if it had been made for it. The Cursetamer stood besides it, a hand hovering over the body, and the other on the controls of the system. Despite not having functioned for months now, and not having contained anything for years, her stomach was weirdly painful.

Are you ready? I’m still not convinced about this… It worked on the kid. The kid was dead for less than thirty minutes, I’ve been for thirty years! And he had his own body! This one should help. And it will work. I… I trust you, love. We can still abort and do more tests, if that’s what you want. No, go for it… Just… Stay with me, please. Never planned to leave you. Here we go.

A green, translucent bubble extended from her hand and contoured the table. Slowly, and from all sides, the curves filled with the light coming from the top. When it reached the body, the glow didn’t stop at the skin, spreading to highlight every vein from the inside, filling it with blood and starting to make the liquid move. As the skin between each part healed and fused, the stitches came undone, and fell, one by one, on the table. Slowly, the basic vital functions started. The heart beat. The diaphragm moved, and the lungs started filling with air and letting it go. It was not simply a skaab she was making, animated by magic.

The second the body breathed in, the lich’s other hand moved quickly on the control panel, aligning dials, pulling levers and pushing buttons.The room came alive, each part in it coming alive in its own way, from a simple purring to a move over the body, replacing the life-sustaining hand to keep the enchantment going.

Finally, the stand initiated. From the exterior, it just meant the rings that formed it started rotating in opposite directions, their own set of runes becoming apparent. As they did, the Cursetamer let go of the control panel, and put on her inspection helmet. She went to work. She could only do it while the stand exposed the sword’s content, and it had to be accorded to the movements of a living body.

Slowly, meticulously, she started to weave the soulspell that would make the miracle happen. She was making it from everywhere at once, the spell extending inside the whole body, around and through the apparent veins.

She was still at it later, having lost any idea of when it was, when she noticed something tugging at the back of her mind. One of her alarms. She couldn’t ignore it, yet she couldn’t allow herself to lose focus on the task at hand. One too many mistake could make her lose Annalise forever. Taking her time, she let another enchantment slowly wash over her, temporarily splitting her own mind into two entities.

As the other continued her work on the spell, I , very careful of not moving an inch to not risk to modify her movements, inspected the alarm still resonating in my half of our mind.

It came from the room I stored my currently vacationing associates in. Currently, and for some of the less controllable ones, permanently. Someone else was in there. I allowed this part of her mind to slip to there, and immediately recognized the signatures of the intruders. Vahn Adrias, and his vedalken friend that had helped him escape.

They were taking the Apostates. Three of the seven had already disappeared in the time it had took me to separate and react, and the human was already preparing one of his colorful boxes for the fourth. As I prepared a spell to get rid of them once and for all, I projected my voice through the room’s only entrance, the normally spell-protected door. They had probably used the same countermagic that had allowed them to get Vahn out of his cell.

“Nice of you to come back on your own.”

They turned around towards the door, and the one with an etherium hand threw something there. It hit the door and fell on the ground.

“Now now, you’ll need to aim better than that.”

As I got their attention, I released the spell I was preparing and a flurry of mind-seeking black strands emerged from the shadows of the back of the room to hit them in their back. I would have preferred to keep the Mirrored intact, but I couldn’t really be as subtle as usual at that distance and with access to so little of my mana.

But the strands didn’t reach their destination. They went off course near the vedalken and disappeared. The anti-magic whatever it was, seemed external… And to not need a conscious effort. I tried to probe the area the strands disappeared around… And was pleasantly surprised! They didn’t just bring me a Mirror, but also a Saint!

“Really, thank you, I thought I would need to dismantle the machine you were hiding behind to get you back. Yvtan isn’t it? And you brought gifts with you!”

I felt Adrias’ smoke swipe through the room, no doubt seeking me. The smoke also obscured the vedalken’s view, while being of no use to “find me”. The blue guy protested.

“Concentrate on the Apostates. I’ll protect you and keep her busy.” “She’s… Not here. I think.” “What?” “Yes, what? You didn’t really expect me to move for two random planeswalkers, didn’t you?”

I made my voice bounce from all around the room as I confirmed it. In the same go, I infused the three still-intact stands that were housing the remaining Apostates. I had made them to resist any intrusion, but I had also made them. As I took control of them, I summoned two skaabs into the room. I considered bringing more, but they had the despicable habit of hindering each other when they were more than two.

“But if you really want to fight something…”

That cursebreaker was fast! I didn’t even have time to see him stash the box away, as he went for the next one. When he touched the stand, I sent a blast of necrotic energy through his arm, but it didn’t have the intended effect, just paralyzing his arm temporarily, as I felt the spell be dispersed through the runes on his body.

As he worked, and the other was keeping the zombies away, I ordered them to loop around on both his sides. He was still keeping them away, but that wasn’t my objective. It maneuvered them closer to the two remaining stands. I made them grab the Apostates, and they awoke. Nearly. The primitive minds of the skaabs weren’t enough to make them really aware, but it was enough for them to activate. I would contain them later, when I could really work on things.

As I lost control over the skaabs to them, I set out to weave something to stop those planeswalkers from leaving the room or accessing any magic. What would have taken me less than a minute if I was there turned out to be much harder of a task given the circumstances.

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[cursebreaker-vahn]

The Ritual, Part Two

Vahn

Istunil, Deka

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Vahn made his way over to the oracle’s living space. Without much ceremony, he pushed past the curtain to the inside.

"Gerru? You needed to see me?"

Her voice simply answered from the back room.

“Ah! You’re back! Yes, come here.”

He did, and entered a rarity in Istunil - a naturally lit room. A large window, made of something other than glass, occupied most of a wall. A weird machine pointed towards the window obscured a good part of it, though. The middle-aged bov was seated at her desk, and was storing back her writing tools in it. Papers with drawings sat before her. She then stood up to greet her guest. Normally, she was only slightly smaller than Vahn. This time, she felt larger, as he was still weakened from the horrors suffered at the hands of the Cursetamer.

Small horns peaked out of her hair and her bovine ears were coming down the sides of her head, nearly touching her shoulders.

“Vahn! Sorry for the mess, I was working. You don’t look great…” "Ah, no worry about the mess. My place is usually worse than this.... and yeah... It's been a week with some extreme ups and downs." "A single week? I haven’t seen you in a month! You'll have to tell me that story! But first..."

She went back to her desk, and took out papers from another drawer. She came back to him and showed them to him. As usual, it was just drawings and mathematical symbols for the paladin.

"I think something major will go down soon, with the relics you chase!"

She looked rapidly through the papers and got one out. She showed it to Vahn. He only saw a bunch of points linked by bars in different colors, but she continued to explain her point.

"At first I thought it would be here, because the marking, here, was typical of an underground event. But the impact was too small for those forms, it's not gonna be on Deka, it would be much clearer. So I searched deeper and found you and Relics."

She showed him what he supposed to be the relevant parts of the drawing. For once, he recognized some of it, given that they were of similar color and general shape as some of the ones she had shown him all the previous times when she sent him out to hunt down an Apostate.

"Ah.... so.... I suppose I should just try to be careful soon? I've had enough events going on for a while..." "Hmmm. It will happen. Prepare, but there isn't much sense trying to avoid something without knowing what. Does the color blue mean anything to you?" "It.... It means quite a lot, actually."

He felt a shot of panic rush through his chest. His life being crazy, he could handle, as well as Apostates, but he didn’t want anything to happen to his vedalken. Well, at least it meant it didn’t have to involve more Relics.

"Does something bad happen?" "Not that I know of. But there's something blue there, I don't know what it is, but it seems important. I usually don't see things by colors." "Oh. Okay." "There's also a sword involved... And a long and powerful expense of magic, that much is clear. Probably a ritual of some sort." "Oh. Well. That's.... Ominous. Thanks, though." "Trust me, I'd like some good news too. At least, there isn't anything about anything bad happening to you. Well, there wasn't last time either and you disappeared Yvtan knows where for a month." "I guess some things slip past you then."

He stared down at the floor. He regretted it as soon as he said it, a hint of acidity slipping past his lips before he thought on it.

"Even I can't know everything! But I do see good things sometimes. Oh, while I’m thinking about it..."

She went back into the desk and came back with a small, rocky box. Vahn took it and frowned. Did she see something?

"I think you should have those, Yvtan told me you’d need them." "What is it?" "Glasses. They should adapt to your sight."

As she talked, he opened the box and saw for himself. A pair of glasses with a bright lining. Minuscule runes were etched into the front, and the barest taste of magic came from them. He picked them up.

"Ah, glasses. I feel old."

Vahn put them on, then blinked. The glasses didn’t seem to do much at first, but his vision soon cleared. And cleared.

"They fit you. And from what He’s told me, it's not like you need them because you got older." "Is.... is this what everything is supposed to look like? It's so.... clear?"

Vahn looked around the room with wide eyes. He still felt old, but the wonder overridden everything else. He could clearly make out even the smallest of symbols on Gerru’s papers. Which didn’t give him their meaning, but still.

"I mean... I don't know what you see, but if the glasses work, it should be, yes. Wasn't that what you saw before?" "Well yeah. It wasn't like this, though. It was still kinda blurry. Had been for a long time..." "Hmmm, you might have needed them earlier, then. Anyway, now that the work part is done with, how have you been?"

She pointed him to a chair. Vahn took a seat in it and sighed.

"Well, I have a boyfriend for the first time in.... A long time." "A boyfriend? That's great! Someone finally stopped you in the morning?"

Vahn laughed a little at the comment. What he hadn’t told her, she might have seen. He hadn’t been the most romantic guy since Ferely… Both times.

"You could put it like that if you want but really we went a bit slower... usually slow is never on the table for me but I was pretty injured so...." "Vahn? Going slow? That's an omen if I ever saw one! I'll have to write that down!" "I ran right into a trap like an idiot and paid for it, so... that... stalled me for a bit. I feel as if I've lost a bit of the vigor that drove me before, to be honest." "I'm sorry, my friend. I mean, if it can stop you from running into traps... But if you want to talk about it, I'm here." "Of course. There isn't much about it I want to talk about.... I was captured. Tortured. Not... much else to say without getting specific...." "Tortured? That's what happened to you? I won't ask you for specifics, it's bad enough you had to suffer through that once. But you got out?" "I got rescued by my boyfriend. Well. He wasn't at the time. It was only by luck that he came by when he did.... otherwise I'd still be there. Dead, or worse." "Ah. A knight in shining armor, then?" "Heh. Something like that...."

Vahn sighed and smiled a bit. At least he would get to see him again once everything would be settled here.

"Hmmm, yup, you like him. So how will that work, long term? He's not from here, is he?" "I've only been in one other long term relationship and it ended with my partner trying to kill me, so, we'll have to see how this goes.... and no. But he's like me. He can move from world to world." "Your life is crazy, I hope you know that." "Oh. I'm well aware."

There was a pause, during which Vahn tried to see back all that happened to him in only the last year from an outside eye. It was indeed crazy. But she interrupted his remembrance.

"Back to business... Can you tell me your birthday?"

Vahn blinked, caught off guard by the question when his mind had wandered off. Did he miss something?

"My birthday?" "Yeah, the big thing I mentioned earlier. Like I said, you're involved and if I know when you were born, I should be able to determine when it'll happen exactly." "Uh.... Gods, let's see... Seventh month of Moon High in 5827. Do you need the exact day? Because I have no idea." "Well, if you want something precise, yes, but I'll see what I can do with that. It will take me awhile, if you have something else to do..." "I suppose I have other things to do... how long? Should I bother to leave the Plane?" "You ask me! I’ve no idea how this thing works! I'd say... One to three hours, if I'm not interrupted?" "Alright. I'll stick around here. I have a thing or two to do back at my house."

He got to his feet, smiled at her and stood behind his chair. She went back to her desk and scribbled the information he gave her on a corner.

"I'll get to it then. With a little luck it should give us some hints." "Of course. Thank you."

He headed out and back into his home, leaving the Bov to her expert calculations. Last time he came back, he was in a rush to find some stuff to replace the gear left in the Cursetamer's complex. Then he had an Apostate to destroy. He took some time to tidy things up, and clean some of the dust that accumulated in his weeks -had it really been weeks?- of absence. And he was now seeing the motes of dust more clearly than ever.

A few hours passed and he soon found back Gerru in the same spot he left her. Except more papers were spread on the desk, and they were all bearing markings.

“So, how are things going?”

Gerru jumped in her chair. She visibly hadn’t heard the paladin approach, having been deep in her work.

“Eeev! Vahn… Why do you sneak up on me?” “I… Wasn’t sneaking up? Sorry.” “Yeah, I might have been slightly too focused on this. Turns out, even with only the moon, it allowed me some pretty interesting discoveries.” "Oh? Do tell."

Vahn takes a look at the notes even though he can't make heads or tails from them.

"First things first... The big thing I talked about... It'll happen by the end of the week. I could probably narrow it down to a day if I knew the crescent you were born to." "I wasn't able to find anything on the exact day. My apologies." "No worries. I doubt you'd miss your own future. You'll just have a bit less info to prepare for it. But I was able to separate the people there. You'll be... Six ? Maybe seven? Half of them are kinda fuzzy. But you and your boyfriend get out... Your boyfriend is the blue one, right? Why didn't you tell me he was blue? Isn't that weird?" "I like it. It looks good on him! And it’s gonna be that many people, huh? Great. I hope nothing too bad happens." "You'll really have to introduce us. And I've seen you two later, so you shouldn't be dead by the end, at least." "Oh. Well that's a relief. Wait, what did you see?" "Nothing dangerous, be reassured. And I don't think you'd want me to tell you." "Huh. Well. Alright. I'll take your word for it." "Thank you. I wouldn't want to spoil the surprises." "Of course." Vahn chuckles. "The good ones at least..." "Mm, yes. I'll just have to wait and see what happens." "You're welcome. Had a few bad experiences with that. That's why I never look to the details when I see myself." "Ah, yes I suppose that could ruin quite a bit..." "Well, at least it got me here." "And it's good to have you here, you know."

Vahn fiddled with the bright pink glasses on his face. He didn’t know her full story,  and she didn’t talk much about her past before she got to Yvtan. Though, he had heard rumors, like everyone. She smiled and blushed very slightly.

"You're sweet, Vahn. Getting used to them already?" "It's weird being able to see for once, but I'll manage."

His smile cracked into a grin. That made her roll her eyes.

"You could have asked before, you know... You can be happy Yvtan's optics were good enough to see the problem." "Ah.... I suppose I could have. I barely recognized there was a problem, really. I just kinda figured that's how everyone saw things...." "It's alright... Sometimes I just wish you would stop to think longer, ok? Hearing about the torture..." "Yes, yes... I'm aware of how stupid I've been." "You aren't stupid, Vahn... But sometimes you're as eager as a teenager." “I might not be stupid, but I do stupid things all the time." "All the time? That seems like an exaggeration. Sometimes. But with what you do, even a few times is dangerous." "Yeah. I've gotten lucky more than a few times." "Being lucky is good. Being careful helps. But you're the one who's out there. Anyway." "Yeah." "So... What worlds did you visit this time?" "Zendikar was interesting. Had a lot of floating stone things -Hedrons. And everything was in a really bad state." "In a bad state compared to here?" "It got hit with some planar threat I think, so yeah. Innistrad was the same way..."

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[cursebreaker-vahn]

The Ritual, Part One

Vahn

Istunil, Deka

                                                              Next Part

Inside its large cavern, the city of Istunil was sheltered from some of Deka’s harms. But even if it was slightly cooler in here, the desert’s warmth filtered through. Vahn had just returned from a colder plane, and his clothes were not adapted to the city that adopted him. He went to his home to change and was greeted by some of his Qih neighbors.

After that, his steps took him to see his god’s temple. He wasn’t coming back empty-handed, as he carried the cursebox in which he had sealed the Apostate that had ended up on Banjuna. An Apostate whose existence would soon cease to curse anything. Yvtan’s paladin made his way to his god’s temple. The round, metallic building that dwarfed all the others in the city was anchored all around to the ground and walls of the cavern through thick pillars that jutted from it onto the alcove that housed the temple. The cavern seemed to arch and fuse with the top of the building. As a paladin, Vahn entered it and climbed the stairs to its central room without any issue. It housed the avatar of the machine-god.

Filling most of the height of the humongous room, clouded by the silvery smoke he exhausted, Yvtan was deep in the work on some new impossible machine. The smoke was the only thing protecting the god and its machinery for the sun that shone through the open roof taking advantage of the cavern’s curve. Rays of sun were illuminating and reflecting on the top of the god, randomly filtering through the smoke and making the top of his head and pipes glow. The platforms Vahn stood on were level with the giant's chest-like part, and were getting only a trickle of sun. Lights were embedded into the platform, and lighted the way of those that wanted to be close to the god.

Around the avatar working and assembling a new wonder, a group of priest-engineers were seated, and observed attently the subject of their worship at work, trying to understand the intricacies of this new creation. As Vahn approached, Yvtan’s arms didn’t stop their work, but his body turned and moved towards the paladin. The arms detached from the colossus’s elbows, still connected to it by a denser, almost solid fog of smoke that sometimes reached out to the work in progress, feeling it. New arms quickly assembled themselves on the main body as Yvtan’s voice welcomed the former Cursebreaker, who bowed in respect for the ancient being.

“Paladin Adrias! Welcome back to our side.” "Ah, it's good to see you again. Sorry I was away for so long...." “You do not have to be sorry to serve me well. Nor to enjoy the life you were given.”

This almost caught Vahn by surprise. He stood and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Ah... thank you. I have been enjoying things a bit more lately, I suppose.... though the Cursetamer is still running around and.... that's troubling." "Her actions are worrying. And she attacked one of ours. If you can ever bring her here, we would be able to free her, and free the worlds of her." "Of course. Transporting her would be an issue..... but...." "We trust you to do all your body and mind allows you. You have proven your worth multiple times. And, if we are not mistaken, you have once again."

Vahn nodded slightly, feeling better. Reassuring him in this way probably made him more efficient and loyal. It would explain why Yvtan kept complimenting him despite his many failings.

"I'll do my best." "As you always do. Put the item in place."

Through the opaque smoke that fill the top part of the room, there was movement. Solid, huge snake-like tubes came out from the walls, and plugged four of the avatar's exhausts, fastening themselves in place. Yvtan brought his hands together in front of him, each several times bigger than the human in front of them. Before the paladin, swirls of smoke gathered on the ground and started to move faster, following unnatural currents. Where those same currents left the ground visible, an oblong glyph was carved into the platform. Vahn, in the meantime, took the cursebox he had filled on Banjuna and waited for the ritual to be ready, before carefully placing the box in the center of the symbol.

As the God's gaze focused on the box, power filled the tubes he was connected to. The lights on the platform dimmed, as part of their energy was redirected to the ritual.

The box started vibrating, without a sound. It's edges blurred, and its runes, white and red, lit up and glowed, now brighter than the lights. The box seemed to be stretching, elongating to try to fill the space at the center of the glyph, still vibrating. The runes, however, were sharp and seemed to stay in place, unmoving. The box seemed to change, both in its patterns and width. The runes constituting the glyph moved around inside the symbol.

As seconds passed, something happened to the box as it cleared twice its original width. It separated in the middle, into two vibrating boxes identical to the original one... Save for their runes, still standing between them. They got further and further apart, until simultaneously, they touched both interior edges of the symbol carved in the ground. The instant they did, a soundless blinding flash came out from them both, accompanied by a sudden distress for everyone in the temple.

When the paladin's vision's cleared, there was only one box left, sitting perfectly still in the middle of the glyph. All the runes on its surface had disappeared, and it didn't give off the same uncomfortable feelings that it used to. The lights on the ground illuminated it anew.

Soon after, the tubes detached themselves from the avatar, and hid back wherever they came from. A mist of smoke regenerated the platform, removing all traces of the glyph. Yvtan’s voice seemed unmoved by the miracle he had just performed.

“This is one less of them. Before you leave with it, I think Gerru wanted to see you once again.” "Ah.... of course. Thank you. I will speak to her at once."

Vahn bowed politely, wondering just what exactly the Bov had in store for him, but also happy to finally see her. He hadn’t had the occasion during the quick planeswalk he did to gear up before the race, and he had missed her. Even if he shamelessly admitted he had more thought about someone else.

"Anything else is on your mind, Paladin Adrias?" "Not much... just... I've found someone who actually seems to enjoy my company quite a bit." "So you did. Who is the one that you are talking about?" "He's able to planeswalk, like me. Handsome. Blue. His name is Ecxilet." "I will remember it. Blue. Interesting." "It's a good shade, too. Very fitting for him. He's also very tall. And-"

Vahn realized he was rambling and got flustered. A god that had lived through thousands of years certainly couldn’t care less about his amorous adventures.

“I uh. I mean-. I'll just. Go see Gerru, now.” "Yes. You will. It is a matter that will be of interest to you." "Of course. Thank you for your guidance, as always."

Vahn bowed yet again and left the chamber. As he did, the God's body turned back to his work -not that he had interrupted it any- rejoining with his arms. Vahn got out of the temple. With her need to see the outside sky, the Bov seer he was heading to see lived on the edge of the city, inside the wall that separated it from the desert's whims.

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[cursebreaker-vahn]

Below Innistrad’s Ground

Hmmm, what should your arms look like?

What kind of question is that? Preferably with an elbow and a hand? And two, if possible.

You know what I’m talking about.

Doesn’t mean I understand it.Or that I want to look at bodies all day long.

It is important Anna. If I miss this, we might not be able to try again.

But it worked on the boy, didn’t it?

Yes, but we can either try to get down every detail of why for sixty more years, and probably bleed out the village, or make sure we do it right.

Well, if you tell me you can do it, I trust you. What do these poor women’s bodies have to do about it… Or their arms?

I want only the highest quality for you, love. And the angel bodies will probably receive the magic better than any human would.

And what if your seven angels don’t have the perfect arms for me or whatever?

They should have. Well, close enough that I can change them slightly to fit your taste afterwards. Your body shouldn’t be that far from the one you were born in… I think. So… Which are the closest to feeling right?

… I hate you.

No you don’t.

You’re right, I love you. Uuuuh, the second one’s?

Really? A reason?

Not really… an impression? Randomness?

...Good enough.

I reached into the stasis bubble, and cut both arms below the shoulders. I took them away, in their own personal stasis, and spread them on the table fitted with the mana rigs.

Now, for a torso…

...

[cursebreaker-vahn]

Soon after Vahn fell from his bed, the door opens up on a sleepy-looking Ecxilet, who rushes to his side.

“You’re safe now. She won’t touch you here.”

He tries to help him back on the bed. Vahn flinches at the touch momentarily, then relaxes just a little. He's still tense all over and breathing heavy. With Ecxilet's help, he manages to get up enough to sit up on the edge of the bed. He holds his head in his hands and tries to stop shaking.

“Do you want to rest? To talk?”

"I don't..... I don't know..."

Vahn lets out a heavy sigh. None of it was real, he reminds himself.

“If you don’t want to talk to me, I can go fetch Cethrin and leave you with her. I don’t like leaving her with people, but you know her and she knows you.”

He gave a small nudge at the gem that was floating -floating?- in front of his neck, before concluding.

“I don’t really know anything about you other than you really don’t like people like Dulbert.”

Vahn takes in a deep breath.

"Please- you can stay. It.... It was just a bad dream. I don't have them often.... I guess it really caught me off guard...." He rubs his eyes. "And I don't like them because most of them are actively hurting people..."

"I don't want to excuse them, but... Maybe they've got reasons? Cethrin and Dulbert won’t say a word about it, but I suspect something happens to them to make them this way. People don't randomly hurt others as soon as you give them power, otherwise all mages would be hunted everywhere."

"They do have reasons, I'm sure. I'm sure some of them don't want to hurt people, but have no choice, or have gone mad from their powers, but innocent people are getting hurt and killed throughout the multiverse.... It's not something I can ignore. I don't know how many Apostates you've seen but not all of them can be reasoned with...."

"A grand number of two... I think? I'll trust you on that, you seem to be the expert, but next time, maybe don't try to attack someone with your whip unless they ask for it."

The blue-skinned man looks away to something only he seems able to see, before bringing back his gaze toward the injured paladin.

"Anyway. Do you know where you took us?"

"No idea. Something happened in the eternities and I re-experienced a lot of things that I wish I could forget. I just wanted it to stop."

Recalling the agony, and his wounds coming back to the front of his thoughts too, he suddenly feels more nervous. He hasn't felt this... vulnerable in a long time. But he tries not to let it show as Ecxilet answers.

"It's the right place then, I guess. It’s apparently named Dylaat, didn't get to know if it was the city or the plane. The people I met grumbled about ‘racers’?"

"Ah.... it seems nice." Vahn looks around the room a little more. The décor almost reminds him of home... "Are we at an inn?"

"A hospital, actually. Quite the cosy one, at that. Locals sent me here when I collected you. What were you thinking, 'walking twice in a few minutes? In the state you were in?"

"Ah... that. I wasn't really thinking that clearly.... might not be, still, but if we had lingered there, my god, Yvtan would have recognized the presence of an Apostate on the plane...." Vahn looks down at himself to inspect his injuries and what he's wearing, while Ecxilet reacts.

"Do you really think I would have survived a month, even less seven, if I didn't learn to hide him and his oozing magic?"

To Vahn’s dismay, things are still rather blurry. He's in a simple tunic, that seems to be roughly his size. However, his clothes aren't on him anymore, nor is his belt or the incense burner attached to it.

"I'd be incredibly impressed if you can hide from gods, but I've been impressed by you before, so..."

He adds and holds out  a hand. His Mirror appears in his palm in a swirl of warm smoke. He figures his armor and whip are lost at this point. He's not about to go back for them. Ecxilet looks at the object that appeared in his hand, then at the counter on the other side of the room where it was previously standing.

"That's a neat trick. Saw you grab that thing back there. It has an importance, beyond making smoke?"

"It's.... sort of like Cethrin. Though, I haven't died yet so...."

He had intended to give more details but..... he finds that he can't elaborate much further. He figures the vedalken will understand.

"Like Cethrin? Who are they then? They couldn't get you out of that cell?"

"No, for me."

"For you? How does that... Oooh !” He paused, thinking about this. “You know, there are easier ways to not be limited by your body."

As he says that, he deploys his etherium hand in front of him, between the two.

"It wasn't really to have a lack of limits... But I must say the etherium does look nice."

Vahn's not sure if he wants to be augmented like that but he finds the concept really interesting.

"Thanks? You know Esper?"

"Yeah. I've only been to Alara a couple times, but one was to Esper."

"You've taken me only to new places, yet. But you might have been travelling for longer than I did. If your god was there, I guess the warm place was your home?"

Ecxilet stands up and goes for a blurry shape on the counter.

"Do you want one? I didn't get to see a lot in that room, but it seemed... Colored. Definitely makes your armor less strange."

The slender man tries to move away from the view, before seeing he wasn't hindering it in any way.

"It's a teapot... Did... Did she do something to your eyes, too?"

"They've always been a bit bad when reading but.... something made them worse. Not exactly sure at what point I stopped being able to see decently but...." Vahn trails off feeling weirdly embarrassed, then sighs. "I would like some tea, yes."

Ecxilet pours out two cups audibly, and brings one to Vahn. It's hot, but less than it could be, since it waited for a while.

"Don't worry too much about it. Cethrin probably knows some way to fix that. Even if she doesn't, I know some people back on Kaladesh that should be able to make you a pair of glasses."

Vahn takes the tea and murmurs a thank you.

"Heh. I think I'd look weird in glasses but.... It's better than not really being able to see.... it feels weird."

"I think you'd look great in glasses. Something light. But like I said, we'll see if we can't fix your eyes first, if you're alright with that."

Vahn is confused by being sort of complimented like that.

"Oh uh. Yeah. It's fine."

He rubs the back of his neck. Ecxilet sips his tea during the pause.

"It'll wait until the rest of your body can sustain it though."

He eyed him up and down. Now that he was bandaged and taken care of, Vahn looked a little better. Well, if you discounted the obvious bandages and bruises.

"Yeah...."

Vahn takes a long sip of his tea as well. He eyes the simple tunic he's wearing. He finds it rather unfitting with all the basic colors and what not, but he's sure the rest of himself looks barely presentable anyways. It's not like he's going to go parading around in this. Ecxilet notices his looks and reassures him.

“Don’t worry, it’s mostly on the surface. With the healers here, you should be back on your feet in a few weeks.”

"A few... weeks?"

That's an awfully long time and the idea of being in this room for remotely that long bothers him. He wants to go back out there now. He knows there are a few curse boxes still out there, and knowing how the others were received, they've probably already been opened... he does feel like its more than surface level, but he's not really sure how to explain it. He resolves to maybe talk to Cethrin about it later.

"Well, yeah, between the burns, the cuts, the bruises... At least, that's what the physicians told me, and Cethrin confirmed. I don't want to imagine what this Casselant did to you."

"I'd.... Rather just not.... think about that at all...." Vahn stares down into his tea. He really wishes he could forget altogether.

"Sorry to have brought it up. Anything happy that happened recently? Someone waiting for y..." he interrupted his question and jumped like he had been hit by something.

Vahn almost jumps in response. "What is it?"

Ecxilet's face goes quickly through a few expressions, before settling down.

"Nothing, nothing. Just Cethrin being... Energetic."

"Oh...okay." He relaxes a bit. "I guess to answer your question... no. I have no one."

Vahn rubs the back of his neck and looks away again. He remembers feeling hopeless in the clutches of the Cursetamer. It's nothing short of a miracle that he even got out.

"I never would have guessed that. Cethrin is asking me to transmit that she likes you."

Vahn just raises his eyebrows a bit. "I like her too. I've missed her. It really has been kind of a lonely last eight years..... she's really the only true friend I had." he drums his fingers along the edge of his cup of tea.

"No friends? I guess I've only saved your life once." he winced. "I heard you the first five times, Cet." he looked back straight at Vahn "What do you mean by eight years? From her."

"You're certainly a friend now." Vahn smiles a little at him, then his expression turns to one of confusion. "It's been about eight years since Cethrin and I.... were forcibly separated."

Ecxilet's next sentence started flat and separated, audibly repeating someone else's words.

"That, might, have, felt, like, eight,... Oh, this is ridiculous, if you want to have a conversation, I'll just have to bring you here."

"That might be a bit easier.... Thank you." he stood up, and left the room.Vahn watches him go, then holds out his left hand to take Cethrin when Ecxilet comes back, seconds later. He lets him slide his hand along Cethrin until he was sat back next to him. As soon as she got close enough, Vahn started hearing her voice.

...And ended up where you found us.

Cethrin, it really has been eight years.... or at least it has for me.

He drums his fingers on the staff, remembering how he used to do that when bored in apostate retrieval briefings.

How is that even possible? I've only been with Ecxi for 7 months.

I don't know. How long were you in the blind eternities?

I was... We were... It can't have been this long!

I'm sorry to say, it has. I almost wish it  was only several months but.... It's been a while.

And you've hunted Apostates all this time? Alone?

Someone had to do it. Besides... I couldn't exactly go back to Ferely....

You could have! You can still! At least warn the Church to stop them from sending others!

I did go back at one point. It.... went poorly. The existence of other planes isn't something to just tell people.... but... do you have any tips on how I should return from the dead to impart that knowledge upon them? You always have been better than me at these complicated things.

I mean... When you went back, nobody learned you were alive? Can't you take your own exemple as proof that the pit has a danger of bringing back the Apostates! Or unleashing them on others! I don't know, tell them it sent you on another continent or something…

It's not... that simple. When I went back, it was a huge mess to say the least. Ran into some people that I really didn't want to, and that complicated every thing to an extreme degree. I don't know if they'd believe me on my own.

Well you don't have to go on your own anymore.

Ecxilet, who stayed silent as they were discussing, intervened aloud for once.

"Yes, Cethrin, where do you want us to go?"

Vahn feels warmth blossom through his chest at the idea of not having to be alone anymore. He's almost startled by Ecxilet speaking, as he suddenly remembers the vedalken is there.

That's true... do you want to tell him about it or should I?

I mean, he's hearing me... Ecxi, we're talking about Vahn going back to Ferely, the place I'm from, to warn the Church to stop sending Apostates out in the Multiverse.

There is a short silence after her statement, both mental and physical.

"That's all well and good, but like Dulbert said, well, meant, why would we go there?"

"I'll be honest, going back again is not something I'm looking forward to. Especially considering how last time went." Vahn sighs. "But I also don’t want to have to chase down apostates for the rest of my time, and I doubt any planeswalker would pick up the job when I'm no longer able..."

"I get that, really, but if your first reaction is anything to go by, I doubt I'd be welcomed with open arms with Dulbert here. Not even talking about the reception he would get."

"Yeah..." Vahn frowns. "I'd rather not drag you into more unnecessary trouble. Sort of given you enough of that, already. I can go by myself it's just... not something I particularly am excited to do."

He feels rather anxious about the idea of going back. Getting wrapped up in all that again would be messier than the first time by far.

"Well, you aren't going anywhere anytime soon, but, maybe, when the time will come... Cethrin, would you go with him?"

And leave you with Dulbert?

"I can manage."

"Again, I don't want to get you in more trouble. I managed decently the first time. Despite everything. May have accidentally, well not really, broken someone's nose, but that's the extent of trouble I personally caused.... If you leave out the thing with the cursebox... and another incident I'm not going to get in to."  Vahn grimaces.

That's not that bad an idea, and I definitely wouldn't mind accompanying Vahn, but the fact Dulbert agrees with you and me on that worries me a little.

"You'd not get me into more trouble. I can survive a week without Cethrin, like I did decades before meeting her. And we still have time to discuss it, if you're not comfortable with it."

"True..."

Vahn drums his fingers on Cethrin again. He still feels terrible, but honestly, sitting still is making him more anxious. He just wants to get up and do something.

Oh, yes, always.

Hmm? I guess so.

He takes another drink of tea and tries to think of where to go from here. Right. He'll need gear before going back to Ferely. "I will also need to go back to Deka first."

"You'll have all the time to do that. But I don't think you want to planeswalk again right now and suffer the same thing that got you here. I don't even know how you arrived in one piece."

"I guess I've been incredibly lucky the last few days." Vahn smiles a little. "Thanks, though.  It's been a while since anyone cared."

"Well, you weren't lucky to end up back there, but yeah, pretty lucky that I went there, too. And you definitely seem like someone people should care about."

"It wasn't bad luck that did me in, honestly. I made an incredibly stupid decision and paid for it...." He pauses. "You think so? For most of these eight years I've just had my god.... and lately, I'm not even sure if he cares about me or just.... that I'm a particularly helpful cog in the machine."

"For what I've seen, you're worried about others more than yourself. I don't know your god, but if he's not a fool he probably cares about you."

Vahn feels his face heat up a bit and a smile plays at his lips again. "Thanks.... I guess I kinda needed to hear that..."

"Well, let's make something, okay? Whenever we have a conversation, I'll make you a compliment you deserve. I'm sure to not run out for a while, and I've got Cethrin for backup even then."

You've got it!

Vahn blushes harder and fumbles for words. He's unsure of how to handle this. "I-I uh.... Thank you." He wonders what he's done to deserve someone treating him so well.

Ecxilet chuckled "Like I said, you deserve them. And you're getting back colors! That's good!"

"Honestly, you're one of the nicest people I've met in a long time." Vahn can't help but chuckle with him. He does feel a bit better... He even almost wants to hug the other man but he's not sure if that would overstep any boundaries.

"Being nice to wonderful people isn't hard." He winked. "You get one more for free since we didn't start before." His mouth formed a malicious grin. "Plus, it drives Dulbert nuts. That's a plus."

Vahn feels his heart skip a beat when he's winked at, and he has no idea why. Usually he's very good with these sort of things and returning the favor, but he's caught off guard... or just out of practice. He matches Ecxi's grin at the thought of Dulbert being annoyed by it.

"I'm glad Cethrin found such a sweet guy to tag along with."

Right?

"No, she found a wreck discovering what emotions are."

That's not true!

"Yes I was Cet. I probably ended up better and worse in the process. And got myself two mind-leeches."

There's a mental laugh.

"You sure don't seem like a wreck now, at least. Besides, being sweet and a wreck aren't mutually exclusive."

"Well, you should have seen me after that zombie thing. Or after I dropped the face when you broke my rib."

Vahn winces a little. "Sorry about that again. I overreacted a lot and you really didn't deserve it." Vahn feels a bit sheepish.

"Eh. It's in the past, and I wasn't exactly calm either. And I got the chance to see you in action. I would just have skipped the feel part of that, if given the chance."

"Oh? I don't think I'm that exciting."

"How you moved and adapted... I'm no fighter, but it was impressive. Especially with that heavy armor on."

Vahn nods a little. "I do have a lot of training in it, which helped a lot. Fighting really is one of the only things I'm good at."

"And hunting and containing Apostates apparently. Given the nature of Dulbert, I'd guess there's less fighting than thinking for that."

"I'd say I'm quick on my feet, but I wouldn't call myself smart. Honestly too many of my strategies involved grabbing the item directly, or not taking necessary precautions, paying for those mistakes, but still coming out on top." Vahn holds up his left hand to show off the missing ring finger.

"Like I said... Adaptation. You may not teach at an university, but you are quick on the action and reaction."

"That's true. If I wasn't I'd probably be dead several times over, honestly."

"Hmmm, I should spare my compliments if we're gonna talk more over the weeks... But you're not making it easy... Damn, another!"

Vahn lets out a short laugh. "Ah... you're cute." He realizes what he said a half second alter and really hopes it doesn't bother Ecxilet.

Ecxilet's smile drops, and he looks at Vahn intently for that half second, then a bit more.

Vahn sucks in a breath through his teeth, cringing at himself.

"Sorry... uh. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

After a second more, he talks back "I'm trying really, really hard to not return you the compliment, could you stop being even cuter than usual, please?"

It takes Vahn a moment to realize that yes, there's mutual flirting happening. "I mean. You just did." He can't help the broad grin that breaks out across his face.

"Chaos! You got me!"

"This is the happiest I've been in a long time. Thank you." Vahn sighs and stretches a little, pretending like the sudden stab of pain in his shoulder from the movement didn't happen.

"You're so very welcome, and right back at you. We'll see if I can't make you happier later then."

"I can pretty much guarantee you'll be able to, if things go like they are now."

"For now, you need rest, I think."

"For once, I agree with that statement. Usually I never stop running around till I drop." Vahn sets the tea down on a bedside table.

"You've done enough of that to have earned this ten times over, don't worry. I'll be outside, I think."

"Alright. I'll see you whenever I get up, then." Vahn yawns a bit and settles back down on the bed to get some rest.

Ecxilet stood up and went to the window, closing back the curtains, then back to the door. there, he looked back to the bed.

"Sleep well, Vahn."

The paladin would have answered if he weren't already fast asleep. Ecxilet smiles and closes the door, his tea in hand.

In the zombie’s nest

Innistrad’s moon shines its silver light on the tall figure of a man, that was clearly neither a human nor a monster, putting him aside from most people on the plane. On his back was a leather coat, characteristic of the plane. On the slender blue man, it looked both a little too short and too large, but at least it kept him mostly warm in the cold night. He was looking, half hidden by some trees, to a dimly lit manor, from which he could make out no movement.

Keep reading

[cursebreaker-vahn]

I made another outfit for my fanwalker, Vahn!

[cursebreaker-vahn]

Vahn is trudging through the swamp. Dominaria. He hates Dominaria. This swamp in particular... Why is he here again? Of course, the curseboxes.  It feels like his legs are being weighed down as he watches as the others, a vedalken and a human, start to get further away. Something doesn’t add up. He'd recognize that man anywhere.... Why would Marco be here? He tries to call out to them, but no sound is emitted. He trips and struggles to keep his balance. They don't seem to notice. He keeps trying to push on and catch up.

Each step seems to sink him lower in the muck and he manages to cry out for the others as something seems to lift from his being.

“Marco?” he calls.

Marco stops in his tracks, and so does the vedalken, Ecxilet, Vahn remembers.

“Marco, get over here and help me! Marco!” The swamp has him waist deep now, and he's beginning to panic.

“No.” Marco just gives him a disparaging look, like he was nothing more than scum on the bottom of a boot. “Why should I? Solves the problem of killing you myself.”

“What?” Vahn stares up at him, then is hit by a barrage of memories. Them together. Their arguments... Marco pushing him. Falling. It fills his chest with a cold emptiness. He’s forced to shake off the thoughts as the mud is up to his chest. “You can't just- help me!” Vahn barks at Marco and claws at the muck. It's risen to his chest now and he's breathing heavy.

Marco just gives him a wry smile and watches him sink.

“F-fine. Wielder! Cethrin! Please!” But they don’t seem to hear him and keep walking. He swears he saw the blue man turn around but they’d all help him, right? He calls out for help again but it falls on deaf- or ignorant- ears.

Sorry, Vahn. We don't need you. Does anyone?

“H-help!” Vahn claws for something,  anything to hold on to as the swamp continues to consume him. He swallows a mouthful of disgusting water and chokes. He feels hot tears begin to roll down his cheeks. After another second of flailing, he manages to grab onto something and breathes a heavy sigh of relief. Okay. He can get out of this. He'll be fine. He glances down at what he's clinging to and stares at the massive, rusted chunk of metal. No. Oh no.

“No!” Vahn would recognize it anywhere. Why would Yvtan be here? And why like this? He paws at the metal and manages to recognize it as a finger of his god. He's seen a lot of death in his lifetime but never- never something he had so much faith in. The sight of Yvtan’s decomposing, rusted hand is too much to handle and Vahn screams.

“No! Nonononono it- it can't.... Please no!” Vahn pushes away from the hand in a blind panic, but feels a jolt of ice cold fear run through him as the hand begins to clench around him and pull him further under the swamp. Vahn  lets out a terrified wheeze and tries to get away from the hand to no avail. Water and filth quickly fill his lungs as he slowly suffocates under the growing pressure of the mud.

The voice of his god rings in his head before everything ends.

Nothing but a pawn... but easier to replace. No one will remember you.

Vahn sits up with a panicked scream and falls off the bed. He claws at his throat and dry heaves on the floor. When his body realises there's nothing in his system to throw up he stares down at the floor, unable to do much apart from shake.

In the zombie’s nest

Innistrad’s moon shines its silver light on the tall figure of a man, that was clearly neither a human nor a monster, putting him aside from most people on the plane. On his back was a leather coat, characteristic of the plane. On the slender blue man, it looked both a little too short and too large, but at least it kept him mostly warm in the cold night. He was looking, half hidden by some trees, to a dimly lit manor, from which he could make out no movement.

Keep reading

[cursebreaker-vahn]

Vahn jolts awake, in a fright. He could have sworn he heard Cethrin but that couldn't be true. He raises his head and- locks eyes with the figure that entered his room. He tries to say something, but can't. He has a hard time even comprehending this is real. The vedalken at the door frowned and inspected him.

“Can’t you walk? Or ‘walk? Did something happen to your legs?”

"I can't planeswalk in this room..." he pauses to gather his thoughts.

"Gods only know how many times I've tried..." he struggles to his feet and sucks in a sharp breath in through his teeth. Naturally, it hurts. He can't pinpoint exactly where but it's several areas.

“And I suppose you can’t go through this door either… That’s just petty…” The other man grimaced.

“ Do you want some help? We’re getting you out of here.”

"Help would be greatly appreciated.... I'm sorry for.... you know.... attacking you before."

Vahn glances around to see if his Mirror is here. The odd blur, more so than usual, in his vision is giving him a bit of a headache. However, he doesn’t need his view to see the other half of himself, especially as he’s gotten more accustomed to his link with it in the previous days. The incense burner is sitting where the Cursetamer usually left it, on a table in the middle of the room.

“Don’t worry about it.” The tall man comes next to the Dekan paladin, and passes his left arm behind him, supporting him and avoiding most of his wounds. He brings Cethrin back in this hand, inviting Vahn to grab her.

Vahn grabs his Mirror, then returns it to its usual place at his hip. He feels a shock of relief run through him. It begins to sink in that he might actually get out of here. It almost feels surreal.

Vahn sighs as the vedalken helps support him. He takes a hold of Cethrin and can't help but smile just a little. It really had been too long.

"Thank you."

No, Ecxi, we can’t. Healing spells, at least the ones we can manage around here tax the healed body, and I don’t think he’s in any state to handle that.

“There’s nothing to be thankful for. The more I learn about that Cursetamer, the more I despise her.”

Cethrin, I can heal myself when I'm out of here. Don't worry about it.

"Mmm. Can't argue with that sentiment."

Yvtan’s paladin’s less sure than he lets out, and just wants to get out of here.

As long as we can hear each other, you should be good. No, not you, him. Well, you too, but you don’t need it.

They pass through the doorway. Vahn tenses upon hitting it, but a wave of energy flows through the staff the two men are holding as they’re leaving the cell.  As soon as his two feet are out, Vahn starts to gather mana as he’s been unable to, already preparing a painful planeswalk to Deka. Seconds after he started, a ripple in the air next to them is followed by a gloved hand, apparently not attached to anything, ripping a wide arc in the corridor, glowing an eerie blue. As soon as he sees that, Cethrin’s voices rises in Vahn’s head.

I’d guess very bad. You know I said to you I could only sense powerful Apostates? That hand, or whatever is coming behind it, is overpowering both Vahn and Dulbert there. And one is touching me, the other is only inches away.

Magic formed around Ecxilet, as he was aligning a planeswalk of his own to Vahn’s, going faster without having to work through the pain.

They only got to see a nearly skeletal head poke through the glowing rift, before the Blind Eternities took them away from Innistrad, to the plane of Deka. The dry warmth of his native plane welcomed the paladin as he crashed in his home in Istunil. Vahn sagged to his knees and relished the feel of the warm air around him. The planeswalk had hurt like the hells, but... Home had never really felt this good. He wasn't sure what was better. Being here, or just being away from there.

Next to him, a body knotted itself into existence, shaping into the vedalken, his staff and collar that Vahn had left behind. Ecxilet looked around him, and removed the Innistradi coat he wore there.

“Are we safe here? I don’t know the plane, but what if she follows us?”

Vahn blinked, then registered that Ecxilet had followed him. He took a second to breathe.

"I don't think she followed and even if she did-"

Vahn cut off and scowled at the ground, before turning to look at Ecxi. His eyes settle on Dulbert. That could be an issue... Panic began to well in his chest as he realized that it would be an issue if they didn't leave the plane.

"We need to leave. Now."

He begins preparing another planeswalk. Gathering the mana hurts already, even here, in his home.

“What? No, you’re in no state to ‘walk again. If you’ve got enemies left here, I can keep them away. Or hide you if I can’t, I don’t know.”

"It's not me I'm worried about." Vahn braces himself and then disappears from Deka.

The chaos between the planes seemed to attack him more than ever, as he entered it and it tried to sip in his every wounds and in his mind, making him relive all the pain he suffered, not only in the past week and a half, but before that. The betrayal from Marco, the amputation of his finger, the fall from the Ring, a dozen paper cut, training bruises… He searched for anything, anywhere to escape. As he slipped into an unknown plane, his consciousness went out as all the pain that kept him awake left him.

Vahn's body hits the wood of a dock. Just a short walk away from it, is a bustling city. The other half of the dock seems to stretch on for miles towards a huge mountain range.

In the zombie’s nest

Innistrad’s moon shines its silver light on the tall figure of a man, that was clearly neither a human nor a monster, putting him aside from most people on the plane. On his back was a leather coat, characteristic of the plane. On the slender blue man, it looked both a little too short and too large, but at least it kept him mostly warm in the cold night. He was looking, half hidden by some trees, to a dimly lit manor, from which he could make out no movement.

Keep reading

[cursebreaker-vahn]

Oh look, it’s Vahn again. Are y'all sick of seeing him yet? I love drawing and talking about him, so….

[cursebreaker-vahn]

Forging New Paths

Events of the Past, Part One    

“Would you look at that. Another Purge went rather smoothly… A couple more Apostates down and out... How many do you think we have left?” Vahn Adrias tears his gaze away from his companion, and peers down the massive hole in the center of the shrine. The hole is circled by a line of runed stones, that glow gently. It’s the end of the day and he’s ready to go home. Home. The word sends a bubble of warmth to his chest and he can’t help but smile a little. “Are we done here, Marco?” He pauses at the odd lack of response from his companion. Marco usually had something to say in response. Even though lately those things had been complaints or insults they were still something. “Marco?” He starts to turn, but something slams into his side. He stumbles closer to the edge of the endless pit and barely manages to catch himself. Vahn can only make bewildered eye contact with his fellow Cursebreaker as Marco knocks him into the pit with a final push.

Darkness floods his vision as he’s swallowed by the void of the pit. His staff, Cethrin, is ripped from his hand in the chaos and he tries to grab for her in the blind panic that consumes him. He tries to reach out to her with his mind but it’s too late. The darkness gives away to a sudden feeling but it’s not… unfamiliar. He takes a deep breath as he enters the Blind Eternities, despite not planeswalking. He steadies himself briefly after recoiling from the unexpected shock of the aether. Soon he picks up on an energy. An Apostate. Likely the one that was disposed of... Vahn can feel the trace of dark energy as it hurtles through the Eternities, but it’s not alone. The trace intersects with a trail of familiarity. A trail to a place that used to be home. 

 Vahn’s feet hit the burning sands of Deka and he drops to his knees. The events that transpired on Ferely hurtle through his mind almost too fast for him to process. Why would Marco do that? Marco had been acting oddly but Vahn had merely chalked it up to the stress of another assignment. He can feel tears prickling at the edges of his eyes and he almost chokes on the dry air of the plane. Burning air fills his lungs as he breathes to try and calm down. Maybe it was a mistake. He pauses for a second longer before he notices something tugging on the edges of his mind. He can feel the energy of an Apostate nearby, likely the one that was disposed of along side him. Vahn struggles to his feet, then steels himself and wipes his eyes. There might be people in danger from the curse. He can deal with the thoughts later. The golden incense burner at his hip glows briefly before a thin trail of smoke emerges and makes its way towards the destination.  Vahn pulls his hood up and glances over his shoulder before walking alongside the smoke towards large cliffside city on the horizon.

As he travels, an odd sense of belonging washes over him. It almost feels like returning home with Marco after a long day in the field. The sensation makes his heart hurt. He keeps his hood up and his head hung low as he enters the city. The looks he gets aren’t unfamiliar. He’s used to being an outsider wherever he goes. He was strange on Ferely, and still strange on Deka. Only a few people ever bothered to make him feel that welcome on Ferely, and one of those people had just attempted to kill him. He chases away the thoughts with the task at hand as he enters through the gates.

As he enters the main square of the city, the effect of the Apostate is revealed to him almost immediately. He stops abruptly at where he can feel the threshold of the effect is. Market stalls are sinking in the ground, as well as people. A mother holds her young child up, trying to keep the boy above the sinking ground.  

 Vahn narrows his eyes. Ines Beaumont. The name conjures bad memories of the damage she and her troublesome brother had caused on the plane of Ferely. He rushes into action, remembering what Marco had told him about the Apostate. Marco’s warm tones echo through his mind. I didn’t linger. Getting it off the ground was my first priority. Vahn’s light, quick steps keep him on mostly solid ground and he strikes out at the object with his whip. The object slides to the right, and begins to sink another set of buildings. A sharp breath catches in his teeth as panic wells through his chest. He strikes out again, and the second lash lands perfectly, and sends the Apostate spinning in the air. Vahn is quick to catch Ines in the bag covered in Ferelian symbols, but trips and hits the ground hard. A white-hot shock of pain jolts through his side. He’d worry about it later. Vahn stows the bag quickly and staggers to his feet to survey the damage. He quickly realizes that for some, it is too late.

 Vahn rubs the back of his neck and suddenly has a thought. His hood. He looks around at all the people staring at him. He realizes he’s been identified as a human. He quickly starts to make his way out of the city, pushing through the crowd. The incense burner hanging at his hip, begins to emit a thick smoke. That seems to be enough to make the bystanders back off. He runs towards the desert with little idea of a destination but is grabbed and held back by one of the tall Qih guards. Vahn feels an arm wrap around his throat in a headlock, but his head is swimming too much to understand what is happening. The pain in his ribs pulses hard, sending a dash of spots across his vision. The last thing he hears before passing out is the rumble of the Qih’s voice next to his ear. 

 “You’ve got some explaining to do, human.”

[cursebreaker-vahn]

Breaking and Taming

I had Annalise trained on the Cursebreaker, his whip immobilized by its own enchantment I had seized control of.

“Are you done? I’ve got other things to do, especially now with you.”

His eyes were filled with hatred as he half-spit his next words.

“If you’re so busy terrorizing people, monster, kill me and be done with it.”

I couldn’t refrain a short laugh at this brash affirmation.

“Dear Cursebreaker, if I had wanted you dead, we wouldn't be having this discussion. You don’t know how rare it is to find a blessed or a fiend to study outside of Ferely.”

“You want to… Study me?”

“You and your toy there. I had hoped for a Saint too, but I guess you’re a bit smarter than you look. But first, I’ll take back my acolytes.”

I went for the bag at his belt, but as I was approaching my hand from it, the bag, and the Planeswalker with it, disappeared in front of me. I activated my glove’s enchantment and plunged my hand through the aether trail. Inside the chaos of the Blind Eternities, I grasped the bag I went for, and firmed my grip. I felt enchantments surrendering to my glove, and suddenly, there wasn’t something to grip anymore, and my gloved hand got back in the same Plane as I was, a piece of leather torn from the bag in it.

Shit!

As I was considering following the Dekan into his territory, something plopped into existence near me. A brightly colored runed box with waning mana seals crashed down a few feet from me. There was no doubt to have regarding its content. I could have felt it from miles away.

Well, at least he doesn’t have them anymore…

I grinned. This would be interesting.

Two weeks later:

So, you DON’T want to get this box? Did they do something to you?

On the contrary, it’s so much easier than tracking down a Planeswalker. We know he’ll come for one of his boxes. And it’s so much work to bring an uncooperative ‘walker on plane.

But while you’re waiting for him to fall into your trap, he’s getting the others!

Well, I’ll get them back once I’ll have him here. If he’s not stupid he’ll have hid them somewhere but what would he do with them? If the Cursebreakers knew how to destroy them, they wouldn’t be here in the first place.

And I wouldn’t be here either.

What would I be?

As I was talking with her I was setting up the enchantment myself. I’d have sent someone, but it gave me a break, and I didn’t really trust anyone else with target-specific interdimensional traps anyway. I had gotten a pretty clear image of his aetheric signature during our last meeting, and had attuned a distance-trigger to him from the box, initiating a tracking magical-physical lock, while preventing others from approaching it. All things considered, it had been a good way to spend a morning practicing more classic, lasting enchantments.

A week and a half later:

I was working with one of the volunteers to make a fitting Mirror for them. It was long and tedious, but I had had the best results with more understanding of the subjects. When I’ll finally succeed in replicating the transfer process once, I’d be able to refine it. But for now, I was stuck discussing about one of the townsfolk’s life. From what my previous experiments told me, he shaped up to fit some sort of container… Go figure.

I was gonna ask Erlok (I finally got around to memorize the name of my new steward) to get him a pottery set, when a welcome interruption spread a characteristic shake through the leylines to one of the stones hanging from my neck. The Cursebreaker had triggered the trap. I cut the subject's babble short.

“Ask Erlok for some clay, you’re learning to make pots. Express yourself. I should be back soon.”

At these words, I disappeared from the room and planeswalked to the same plane I was on, near the enchantment I'd set up.

Five hours later:

I brought back the immobilized bright-armored man back to my domain, where I installed him in one of the currently empty experimentation rooms. While he was still trapped, I plunged my gloved hand through the wall and, quickly, but carefully, sealed the Cursebreaker in this room and from leylines. After that, and having dispossessed him of his whip, other weapons and ridiculous armor, I installed him at a table and left him some food and water. I sat in front of him, and  dispelled my enchantment.

He stared in shock, then went to panic followed by resignation as he probably realized he wasn’t getting out of this one. He uttered through his teeth half a:

"What do you want?"

"To try a few things. Like I said before you left me alone last time, finding a Blessed outside of Ferely is an unique occasion."

Even through the fog of my current condition, their qualification might have been audibly different for someone who knew me.

"I don't suppose I'm making it out of here, am I?"

I emphasized my next words by resting my hand on that incense burner of his.

"You'll probably get out, at some point. Who knows? Of course, I don't know if you'd still have the same body at this point."

He sighed and closed his eyes, before answering with anger seeping from his voice.

"So why are you bothering to talk to me then. To taunt me?"

"That, and to give you a chance to tell me where you've hidden your precious little boxes before I ask more convincingly. Some of my employees are still in those."

"They're gone. Freed the souls. You didn't need those, did you?"

He shrugged. At me. I’ll enjoy working on him.

"Not particularly, thanks to you I've also got a shortage of mortal elements. But I'm sure the people you stole would be grateful to be back. Oh well. You'll end up telling me the truth at some point."

I pointed to the meal in front of him.

"But for now, eat. We'll get to work later."

He eyed the meal suspiciously, before digging into it. His body didn’t eat anything for a day, after all.

"It's true. You aren't invincible. None of you are. Neither am I for that matter, I suppose. You can believe me, or not. Doesn't change what happened."

Eating seemed to affirm his smugness. I was tempted to extract it out of his head, but didn’t want to compromise his soul before analyzing everything. He’d lose hope soon enough.

“Oh, I know that. I just don't think you are able to destroy a Relic. If the Church knew how to do that, I wouldn't receive more employees every other week."

"I have help from my god to save your employees from theirs. The Church is still clueless. I haven't been back since Brother Marco tried to kill me."

"Your god? Someone hasn't been a good little soldier. Well, I'll find out if it is the truth sooner or later. But if you do end up having killed them all, even with help… Do you want a job? If you survive the coming weeks, of course. Or even if you don’t."

At that, he freezed for a second. As I was standing up to leave, he finally gave me an answer.

"A job from you? I have to say no."

"Consider it. Ruthless, driven, murderer... You fit all the necessary qualifications! And you've even already wielded a Relic, I assume. Should help do it again. Or be one, I guess, depending of how you end up."

"I suppose you have me there. Though the freed souls do get to go to paradise after simmering in the seventh layer a bit... not that you can understand what I'm talking about... the idea of making it somewhere heavenly isn't something a fiend can really process, is it? You can call me a murderer, or even kill me, I suppose. Doesn't change a thing."

He did get a laugh out of me, as I exited the room through the door. I didn't bother to lock it. I still had the matter of the recipient-subject to attend.

Was there a joke?

Not really, but he’s lecturing me on a heaven and his set of morals when he’s bound just as much as we are to avoid death.

Oh. Right. I guess it is kinda funny.

The funny part is what is probably going on in his head right now. Or when he’ll have realized that.

As I finished this conversation, I was back at the place I'd left the subject. I was greeted by the sight of a small clay pot and the volunteer examining it. Now, I know nothing about these arts, since my studies took me in other directions, but the subject's craft didn't look like something that was done by a first timer.

"Have you done that before?"

He jumped off his seat, startled, and I gestured him to sit back down.

"Oh, madam, you're back! I've never touched clay before, it's surprisingly easy!"

"No it isn't. We're on the right track... Probably."

“Probably? Aren’t we talking about my life?”

“Yes we are, and believe me, I’m doing my best to make this work.”

“But isn’t it the same thing you did for yourself?”

“Do you think I would give you clay and have you mold it if I already knew how this worked? You do have a point, it’s the same thing that was done to me… And you volunteered for that, so you deserve to know a bit more about it. But I don’t know how the first part was done. If I did, I would be able to do things way better than that. For once, you wouldn’t have to be in the same kind of body I am in, and neither would I. Nor would you have to sustain it constantly with magic. Do you know of a way to constantly use and sustain your body through magic?”

“I don’t, madam.”

“And I hope you’ll never have to learn.”

“I do too.”

“So, the next step. We’ll try to make this creation of yours a mirror of your soul.”

“Madam?”

“Magic stuff. Don’t worry, nothing too dangerous should happen to you right now. And as you’re lucky, I just came back with something that might allow me to get this part better.”

What I left out was that I’d make this part better by comparing how I did it currently with how an actual mirror looked. Any progress I’d make likely wouldn’t apply to him.

“Wonderful! What is the process like?”

“Long. Painless. Invisible. Sit here, and don’t move from this armchair unless I tell you to. Oh, I forgot. Use the restroom, then come back and sit here.”

As he was doing so, I took my inspection helmet I’d left in this laboratory, and put it on, switching a few of the lenses in front of my eyes to filter out exactly what kind of spell I was crafting, and soul I was mirroring.

It was a tedious work, and I was still at it a few hours later. Recreating every aspect, every facet of the man’s soul in this inanimate object. Making it live and shift in the exact same way its owner’s did. Weaving a web of intricate mana strings to connect each edge. Doing so while never perturbing the previous work. Every time I had made another layer, I switched the lenses of my helmet and got to work and correct another one.

It worked better than my previous tries in this direction. The support itself seemed to adapt what I was doing, integrate it, and correct my smallest mistakes that a year before would have made the whole thing fall apart upon use.

By the time I had finished, the subject was sleeping. I sealed the work by letting the shape I’d formed exprim its magic, as I infused it with the barest amount of mana, fixing the magic into an enchantment surrounding the soul. As I did, I looked for any sign that I had succeeded… Or failed. As usual with my last few experiments, I had no such sign. Be it with or without the lenses in front of my eyes. It didn’t even wake the person whose soul had hopefully been mirrored and linked.

Without a sound, I took off the helmet and with it under my arm and the newly crafted artificial Mirror in one hand, went back to the Cursebreaker’s room. He was sleeping when I entered. His Mirror was still on the table. Putting the two next to each other, I used the helmet and took some notes, trying to find any differences between an actual Mirror and what I had crafted. Most of them were things that could be put on the disparity between the souls. But the biggest one was probably that the spell was weaved into the soul in the divine Mirror, whereas it was encasing it in mine.

The fact that I had come as close as I had without any real point of comparison was already impressive. I had built from Relics, not Mirrors, where the mind and soul obscured the vision of a much more powerful spell. As I inspected the way they were fused, I had ideas on how to do the same… The only question was if I would be able to modify the Mirror I had made, without killing its owner, now that they were most likely linked. But at least, now, I had another to test it on. The subject didn’t do anything to deserve any unneeded pain.

I sent someone to bring back the subject’s Mirror to his room, while I worked out a first set of experiments I’d try on the Cursebreaker. Pretty early in the morning, I began the first. Widening my perceptions as much as possible with the helmet, I readied a chisel on the incense burner and tapped it with a hammer, lightly at first. I don’t know if it was from the sudden noise or the enchantment (I’d have to test that further in the future), but the man immediately woke up.

He looked around him before settling down on me and asking:

"What are you doing?"

I didn't bother to answer him, it's not like I was hiding anything. I hit the Mirror again, slightly harder this time.

"Feeling anything?"

He didn’t move, and answered me harshly.

"You're the scientist. You tell me."

I shifted a few lenses. I didn't see a thing, so I'd have to try some other spectrums before notching up the strength.

"You're right. And science needs repetition."

I hit as close to the last test as I could. A small hissing sound escaped his mouth, but I was focused on the object. I saw something this time I think. Very faintly. The reaction of the Cursebreaker only seemed to confirm it.

"Or, you know. You could tell me what you feel."

Another hit, stronger, to be sure. I definitely saw something. I focused the lenses on the correct source. He physically moved on this one, and breathed a little harder, with his angry but resigned glare fixed on my hands and tools.

"It feels like a jolt of.... discomfort? Seems to hurt."

I'd check him later for bruises, those took a while to appear, but for now I put down the chisel and hammer.

"Good. The threshold for piercing damage seems to be rather low. You're cooperating and I'm not a monster, so I'll let you choose the next test. Cutting..."

I put down my hand on the knife I'd prepared.

"... Or something less physical?"

His eyes went from the knife to me while he was making his choice. I played with the knife’s hilt, and was gonna take it when I finally heard his voice.

"Less physical."

With a thought, I channeled my right glove's magic, and passing it through the physical object in front of me. I grabbed a thread of the spell-soul, careful to not do anything with it yet.

"Tell me if something happens. If we'll be working together, can I know your name? Calling you Cursebreaker will get old fast. Especially if you aren't one anymore.”

"I'm Vahn."

His stare is fixated on the Mirror now, as I can see sweat forming on his head. Back to the enchantment, I tugged on the magic thread, but it took a lot of strength to finally make it move out of alignment...  Which lighted it in all directions. Nearly instantly, a thick fog slipped between my fingers and the magic as it was returning in place.

"Uh. How was that for you, Vahn?"

The color seemed to have drained from his face and he looks distressed. He tried to say something, but what came out was probably not what he had intended.

"That..... I.... bad."

So the spell was defending and correcting itself... It wouldn't be easy to remake the boy's, if this was how it reacted, too. At least, it meant I was less likely to damage it permanently.

"Really? I merely tugged at it. And now?"

I stuck a finger in the spell, where it could not simply lose contact. Nearly immediately, a force tried to push me out, but between my strength and a little help from Annalise, I kept it in place. It now twirled around madly, and I was even able to see it drain something from the Cursebreaker to sustain its effort.

Vahn put a hand on his chest. He didn’t say a word, but his anguish was readable on his face, as it tensed into a pained grin. At least I knew a way to make him squirm. I removed my intruding finger. That would require further tests, but I didn't want Vahn to die too soon.

"I guess that's a thing. How about a five minute break, then we'll try the knife!"

Vahn just breathed heavily and stared at me, out of breath. Maybe he was beginning to understand what was gonna happen to him.

[cursebreaker-vahn]

The Experiments

After four hours at channeling the right amount of magic, keeping my mind on the alchemical reaction was getting harder. Thankfully, the transmutation was reaching its end. After ten more minutes of trying to keep my eyes from drifting towards more interesting matters, the slow shift of the components mixing stopped. A single homogen liquid fell down in the glass recipient underneath.

(written by @niuttuc)

A simple look at the result of that experiment told me all I need to know. I’d still let an acolyte run the basic tests on it, you never knew, but in no way did this failure make me feel as the Pool had had.

Another failure?

The familiar voice that raised in my head resonated with feminine echoes. I put my right gloved hand down on my sword’s hilt before responding in the same manner.

Yes. I’m still not convinced the pool is the right path to follow.

You know far more about that than I do, love.

I do. I still don’t think I will be able to recreate it with alchemy, as advanced as it is.

You don’t have to do this for me.

It is true. But I started these experiments way before I found you back, and we have all the time in the worlds. We’re gonna get there. I promised you so.

And I still resent you for it. Why chain yourself to me like this?

Because I wanted to.

I love you.

I don’t. I can only remember it.

Yes you do. Don’t fool yourself as being like all those others, you’re also like me.

Never let me forget it.

Never.

My body isn’t able to cry, or I’d have done it. It had been a month spent at doing nothing but trying different theories. On the liquid, on the receptacles, on the transfer. One month spent using every single drop of knowledge I had extracted and created during fifty years. Alchemy, stitching, necromancy, enchantment, infusion. One month, without any rest, without any pause, and I am only barely closer than I was.

I had come so far. I made whole cities cower in fear before me. Hells, I even made a whole Plane bow before my threats once. I had more influence than any king, more power in every piece of my overtaxed body than most wizards collected in a lifetime. But it was not enough. Never enough. The only thing I truly wanted seemingly forever out of my reach.

But wasting my time on my repeated failures would not help me reach it. After a last thought, I let go of the sword and left her laboratory. Passing the two undead that were guarding the room against any distraction, I went directly to my intendant’s office. Eblar? Or was it his son? Opening the door, the man that stood up was young. Probably his son.

“I’ll need more quicksilver. And you might have to find me new servants.

“Mistress? You came out? Yes, yes of course.” The young man fidgeted a bit nervously in my presence.

“Apostates. Update me. Did any of the Acolytes bring more? Did any of them run away?”

I accompanied this last question by a grin of what was left of my mouth. It had the intended effect, and the man seemed uneasy. There was always someone who thought an Apostate or two gave them a chance against me. A runaway was exactly what I needed, right now. Taking my mind off my unending research for an instant.

“Madam… There were no runaway, but… There were… losses.” The man pointedly avoids eye contact.

“Losses? Plural?”

“Four madam… Three of them, we didn’t find the relics of. The marks were consistent with the Planeswalker that fought your claim a few months ago.”

“The Cursebreaker? I’ll have to deal with him, he’s getting annoying.”

And if he was a Cursebreaker, he had a Mirror, and probably a Saint. These would further my research way more than another month of failed experiments.

“And the fourth?” I began to pace back and forth.

“Oleve found his Relic and brought it back. No sign of their wielder.”

“The Relic was intact? Did they say what happened?”

“They said something about another like them.”

“A traitor?! Why didn’t you start with that?”

The man flinches at my words. “It isn’t madam. As soon as I heard it, I thought the same, and checked with the relic you bestowed upon me. None of them is behind it.”

“Ah! Then it’s a wild wielder! Interesting, but they made me lose a planeswalker… I guess an additional Relic will be good. The Cursebreaker is more urgent, though. Where was that?”

“On Zendikar, madam.”

With the eldrazi cleaned out, I had sent a couple of my ‘walkers to see if they could set out a temporary experimentation area on the plane. Between the survivors and the eldrazi followers that lost their gods, there was plenty of opportunities for someone like me.

“And what of the Planeswalker?”

The young man paused for a moment. “On different planes. But the last time he was seen was ten days ago, on Kaladesh. The witnesses said he was angry. More than usual.”

“Ten days.” I turned to look at him.

“Yes, madam….” He looks away, sheepish.

“Why wasn’t I informed?” I could feel the cold edge rattling in my voice.

“You specifically ordered to not be distracted with anything, madam.”

I scoffed and shook my head. “Good. He’ll show up again. Time is not really an issue. But if you ever get word of him, wait for me to finish my current task and tell me about it, despite any other orders.”

“Yes, madam.”

I sighed. Punishing someone for following orders tended to be counterproductive. Three planeswalkers were a significant loss though. If the infinite Multiverse meant I could always enlist more, I still had to find them. And convince them. I changed my direction of conversation.

“How are things going in the town?”

He was a little thrown off by the subject change. “Going well madam. But we’ll need food and new blood soon. We have reserves, but without a successful expeditions, we’ll empty them before long.

“Yes, yes. I’ll see what I can do. After the tentacle-monster, it’s refugees and abandoned farms aren’t rare.”

“For me and the townsfolk, thank you, madam.”

“It was the deal, wasn’t it?” I looked at him again.

“It was, but you went above and beyond with these new monsters… I’ve heard stories of the outside from some refugees, and… Innistrad has always been a dangerous place, madam, but it was our dangerous. These… Were not. And the angels, too…”

“Don’t worry about it. I promised my protection as long as I had materials to work with. No matter the threat.”

“And you more than kept it.” He bowed.

I exited the room. My humans were pragmatic. I had built that into them. What are a few people a year when the monsters would have claimed ten times as much as I did in the same period of time. Yeah, right. The other monsters...

[cursebreaker-vahn]

Somewhere in the plains of Esper…

6 months ago:

…A vedalken walks. His name is Ecxilet, and his feet are moving the fine sand of the desert. Wanting to get away from what happened in the city. Going deeper into Esper to avoid ending up in another of those places.

Keep reading

[cursebreaker-vahn]

Relics’ Rites of Reflection

This day, I felt confident enough to ask to take my Rite of Reflection. The masters said I was ready. That I would be able to help the world better in any position the Rite put me in. But that the choice was mine. “There isn’t any shame in wanting to keep doing what you’re doing, as long as what you’re doing is good for you and others.”

This day, I asked to take my rite of reflection. The masters said I was ready. That I would be able to do so much more in any position the Rite would put me in. The choice was obvious. “Always strive to be the best you can, and you will be able to elevate others.”

But I wanted to help. I secretly hoped in my heart that I wouldn’t have to move, that I would join the Blessed here, but I would be happy with any assignment the Divine would give me. I felt guilt for presuming and wanting the high position of Blessed, but the Teachings tell us to know our strengths as much as our weaknesses.

I hoped I would be chosen to be one of the Blessed, to lead our Church in its decisions and actions, but honestly anything I could end up as at the end of the Rite would be better than my current position, half-priest, half-apprentice. I could do so much more, be so much more. After all, don’t the Teachings tell us to know our strengths as much as our weaknesses?

When the day finally came, I was summoned to the sacred room of the pool, underground. I had only been there twice before, upon my integration to the Church, and at my passage of age. It hadn’t changed, it was still the same big circular cavern I went into these last time. I entered through the North door. The door of the Common. The only one I had used yet. Today, I would leave through the East door or the West door. The door of the Blessed, or the door of the Task. The third door, the door of the Fiends, was a legacy of a darker past, and a proof of the all-seeing eye of the Divine.

When the day finally came, I was asked to come to the sacred room of the pool. I had only been there once before, when the priests had took me in as a child. It hadn’t changed, it was still the circular cavern I already saw once. I came through the door of the Common, a door I would hopefully never have to pass through again. I would leave through one of the side doors. And there was that other door in the back, I never really understood the symbolic of.

But this time, something was different. The stairs leading to the central reflecting pool weren’t brimming with people. In fact, the room was empty, the last people I had seen being the guards at the now closed door. Yet a voice boomed in the room.

But this time, I was by myself, the guards securely beyond the door I came through.There was just me, and the sacred pool at the center. Yet a voice boomed in the room.

“Sister Brode! You are here today to accomplish your Rite of Reflection. During the Rite, the Divine will judge your soul. If it is pure, you will be Blessed and free to join the others of your rank through your door. If it is impure, you will become a Fiend, and leave the Church immediately, to never return.”

“Brother Lyon! You are here today to accomplish your Rite of Reflection. During the Rite, the Divine will judge your soul. If it is pure, you will be Blessed and free to join the others of your rank through your door. If it is impure, you will become a Fiend, and leave the Church immediately, to never return.”

What? What was that? These were the old ways! The one the church had abandoned centuries before! What was happening?

Wait… What was that last part? He never heard of something like that other than in myths and legends! What was happening?

Lost in my thoughts, I barely registered what the voice said after that:

Still, I didn’t lose focus, and listened carefully as the voice resumed its monologue:

“If you wish to, you can now renounce to the rite, and to your right to ever take it again. If you decide to do so, leave through the door of the Task. Whatever you choose, and whatever you end up being, you will NOT speak about what happened in this room when someone who is not Blessed can hear you. You will NOT willingly or unwillingly spread any information about the Rite or its results.”

“If you wish to, you can now renounce to the rite, and to your right to ever take it again. If you decide to do so, leave through the door of the Task. Whatever you choose, and whatever you end up being, you will NOT speak about what happened in this room when someone who is not Blessed can hear you. You will NOT willingly or unwillingly spread any information about the Rite or its results.”

As these words were pronounced, I could feel the weight of magic on my shoulders, on my mind, fusing with me. A magic centuries old.

I could feel the spells as they were cast, merging with me, with my mind, making me not even envisage to betray this secret.

What would I do? What was that? I was not prepared to make that choice. I had wanted to become Blessed. Was I impure because of it? I waited there, torturing myself, during more than half an hour. Finally, it’s by remembering the Teachings I decided to take the rite. Whatever the Divine judged me to deserve, they knew better than I what I was, and what I was destined to be.

I kept my calm, and tried to analyze the situation. It was probably only intimidation, and I had been growing under the priests’ tutelage since I was five, there was no way I would be impure unless the Divine had a serious issue with their infinite eyes.

“I will take the Rite.”

“I will take the Rite.”

There was a short silence, then the voice came back.

There was a short silence, then I heard the voice again.

“As you wish. You will approach the pool.”

“As you wish. You will approach the pool.”

I did as I was commanded. The pool was a sight to behold. Its unnaturally still surface reflected every detail, every light in the room. One would have sweared that the surface had more details than the reality, somehow. It was truly a wonder of the Divine.

I did as the voice said. Up close, the sacred pool was stunning. Into its unmoving surface, I could see myself and the rest of the room in uncanny details. I could see things in it I didn’t have a good enough vision to see outside. Minuscule cracks on my horns.  I wondered if it was the kind of magic the Blessed wielded, or if this pool was a creation of the Divine.

“You will enter the pool and watch its center.”

“You will enter the pool and watch its center.”

Once again, I stopped where I was. Nothing was supposed to break the stillness of the Holy Pool. But once again, I did as commanded. The liquid of the pool wasn’t cold nor hot. It was like I was walking in the air outside, except walking was harder. I saw with wonder that the surface of the pool didn’t move at all when I entered it, as though I didn’t exist. I now could see my reflection perfectly, with its unnatural level of details. Now that I was close enough, I could see my reflection in the eyes of my reflection, continuing infinitely and each level revealing more of what I was, who I was. My mortal eyes couldn’t see more than the two first reflections, but I knew somewhere, something was peering deeper into my very soul.

I had never in my life heard of someone entering the liquid, except in some religious texts about Saints older than time. It highlighted to me how well the secret of the Rite had been kept during the years. I was excited to experience this magical area legends talked about. I didn’t feel anything really, except a resistance. No wetness, no cold, nothing, just something keeping me away. As I was approaching the center of the pool and of the room, I could see my closer and closer reflection on the surface, which stayed still no matter how much I progressed into it. In my reflection’s eyes, I saw a glimpse of myself. I could only imagine what this enchantment did with people, but it wasn’t for me to see, apparently. I felt uneasy looking at that more real than me version of myself.

“You will lower your arms into the pool. In front of you. There will be an object. Raise it out of the pool.”

“You will lower your arms into the pool. In front of you. There will be an object. Raise it out of the pool.”

As I was doing exactly that, my hands closed on something, just beneath the reflection of my face. Slowly but surely, I raised it, and extracted it from the pool. The impossible stillness of the pool was broken by a suddenly appearing round brown shape, slowly followed by the rest of the staff I was taking out of the liquid.

I lowered my arms through the weird reflection, hiding it from my face, and I felt something touching my fingers. I grabbed as much as I could of the tendrils, and slowly but surely, raised them, and extracted them from the pool. My arms got out of the pool, and with them came back with a magnificent metallic collar and pendant. Surely a sign of how noble his soul was.

“You will now exit the pool, through the way you entered.”

“You will now exit the pool, through the way you entered.”

I reluctantly broke my contemplation of the staff and my reflection, and slowly made my way through the liquid towards the stairs that took me out of the pool. As soon as I exited it, completely dry, I felt a wave of magic come close to me once again, and the staff glowed a soft white. At the same time, I felt something deep in me, like I had been touched by something else. I cried, as I realized that brief contact had been one with the Divine.

I kept my eye on the jewel, my jewel, and slowly made my way through the liquid towards the stairs that took me out of the pool. As soon as I exited it, completely dry, I felt a wave of magic blow past me again, and the collar’s gem glowed of their somber tone. At the same time, I felt something deep in me, like something was apologizing for my loss. For the first time in years, I cried, as I realized what I now was, and that the divine didn’t accept me, crushing all the hopes and certitudes I had since my childhood.

When I finally calmed down, the voice raised a last time. This time it was kinder, warmer.

When my rage finally took over my desperation, I prepared myself to attack anyone that would come for me, hugging the collar as close to my chest as I could. But I couldn’t for the life of me open my mouth to cast a spell or simply swear. The voice raised a last time. This time it was warm with sadness and compassion, as if it was their life that had been ruined forever.

“Come and join your Siblings, Blessed one.”

“Leave at once, and never come back, Fiend.”