by John Delaney
Jhoira watched Radha’s expression, as the Keldon’s mind worked through what she’d heard.
“All right.” Radha sheathed her blade. “I’m not about to let this little one show me up. If she’s in, I’m in.”
“Me too,” Venser said.
Teferi crossed his arms. “And me. I started this fiasco, and nothing will keep me from seeing its conclusion.”
Jhoira turned to Teferi and Venser, smiling in spite of the danger. “Thank you. If what I have in mind is ever going to work, we need both of you too.”
For a moment Teferi recaptured his old manner, curious, engaged, almost playful. “And what do you have in mind?” he said. “I’m told it’s not always a good idea to keep your plans hidden from those who are helping you enact them.”
“It’s very simple, really,” Jhoira said. “But let me see Otaria before I explain.”
“Mysterious but confident,” Teferi said. “I like it.”
“That makes one of us,” Radha said. “Somehow I expect this will wind up with me being hung out to dry like I was in Zhalfir.”
“Not just you,” Jhoira said. “All of us. So far we’ve relied on single efforts by transcendent beings, but this will be different. No one will face this challenge alone.”
One by one, her friends and allies nodded in agreement. No one spoke, but only because there was nothing left to say.
“Are we ready?” Jhoira said. Another round of nods confirmed the group’s resolve. “Then let’s go.”
Jeska and Venser went ahead under their own power. Jhoira climbed into the ambulator’s chair and bid Teferi and Radha to climb onto its supporting platform.
“What is this thing?” the Keldon said.
“Venser’s machine.”
“Why does it look so different?” Radha caught herself, then shrugged. “Never mind. I don’t really care.”
“Does that mean you’re not coming?”
“I don’t know,” Radha said. “The last time we used this thing we wound up bouncing through history like a boulder down a mountainside.”
“We jumped from rift to rift back then,” Teferi said. “Now there’s only one left.”
Radha mulled this over. “Fair enough.” She climbed aboard.
Jhoira manipulated the controls. The ambulator buzzed and crackled, and when the golden sheet of energy retreated they were in Otaria.
They landed in the central thoroughfare of a deserted mountain village. Jeska and Venser were close by, gazing up at a wall that was crowded with carved icons and symbols. Radha hopped down while Jhoira was still removing the control rig from her shoulders.
“Is this Otaria?” she said. She knelt down and placed her palm flat against the well-worn footpath in the rocks. “That explains a lot.”
Teferi stared blankly up into the sky. “It’s here,” he said. “It’s everywhere.” He swiveled his head toward Jhoira. “This isn’t good.”
Jhoira dropped the rig onto the ambulator’s seat. “How long?”
“Less than a day. Maybe hours.”
“How long until what?” Radha called. Jeska and Venser turned at the sound of her voice, both clearly eager to hear Jhoira’s answer.
“Until things radically change,” she said. “It’s up to us to determine how.”
Bored, Radha went over to the others by the story wall. She shared a curt nod with Venser and Jeska and looked up at the images. “Nice rocks,” she said.
“Thank you,” Jeska replied.
“It wasn’t a compliment.”
“I know.”
Teferi and Jhoira stepped onto the path. “How should we proceed?” Teferi said.
“Carefully,” Jhoira said. “Jeska,” she called, “can you make the rift visible to the rest of us?”
The planeswalker nodded. She glared up at the sky and raised her clenched fist. Dusty, red light bloomed from the clouds, and in this crimson tint the rift stood revealed.
It was like a vast ocean in the sky, a huge, sprawling, wind-tossed sea. There were currents and eddies, but there were also dead zones where nothing moved. The rest of the rift flowed around these obstructions until it wore them away or they were subsumed into the larger body.
“You were right,” Teferi said. “It does contain elements of the other rifts.”
“Is familiar good in this case, or bad?”
“A little of both. The main problem is that it’s so diffuse. The rest of us plunged into our rifts and forced them to close, but I think you’d need a dozen planeswalkers acting in unison just to get a handle on this one.”
Jhoira stepped closer, and her voice dropped. “And Jeska’s method?”
“Same problem. She could start the process of drawing the rift into Radha’s body, but she’d never get it all. And Radha would die long before that happened.
“I see.”
“I love it when you say, ‘I see.’ It means you’ve thought of something I haven’t.”
“Don’t celebrate yet,” Jhoira said. “I’m still thinking it through. What if she also used Venser as a secondary filter? Would that help?”
“It would, but not enough. Jeska’s still the only one who could pull off such a feat, and even her spark won’t be enough by itself.
“And we have no one else.” Jhoira started walking toward the others. “Come on.”
When they arrived, Jeska was explaining the large, central mural on the story wall. Venser had quickly grasped the basics of Pardic runework, but Radha was still lost.
“So that’s you,” she pointed to a pictogram. “But that’s you too?”
“It’s complicated,” Jeska said. “As befits my life.”
“Imagine they made one of these for you,” Venser said. “There’d be one picture for Radha the Keldon elf and another for Radha the Keldon Warlord.”
Radha squinted. “Why not just use the same picture for both? It’s the same person.”
Jeska smiled enigmatically. She said, “Let it go, Radha. It’s like poetry.”
“Oh. Never mind then.” She noticed Teferi and Jhoira were approaching. “Hoy, you two. What are we doing?”
“Preparing to act,” Jhoira said.
“Well, you let me know when the preparing stops and the action begins.” Radha sat and, to Jeska’s obvious amusement, struggled to draw red mana from the fallow ground. “This place is a dump,” she muttered, and Jeska’s amusement hardened into irritation.
“Jeska,” Jhoira said. “What do you see up there?”
The Pardic warrior looked up. “A second sky,” she said.
“Blanketing the whole of Otaria.”
“Yes.”
“Does it remind you of anything?”
“No. Should it?”
“It reminds me of Karona. She was a single entity, but her influence spread out across the globe and on into the larger Multiverse. This rift is a single phenomenon, but it ranges far wider than the others. As far as Otaria is concerned, the rift is omnipresent.”
She glanced at Teferi and felt an inappropriate rush of giddiness. “Godlike planeswalkers are nearly omnipotent, aren’t they?”
Teferi nodded. “And almost omniscient. I’ve often said so.”
“And we have three planeswalkers here,” Jhoira said. “Though Venser is not immortal or transcendent, and Radha’s spark is still dormant. My plan is this: Venser can ’walk. Radha is permanently tied to Dominaria. And Jeska is intimately connected to this final rift. Together they represent the entire Multiverse: a physical world with its own magic, the potential to go from one world to another by stepping outside the physical world, and the inexhaustible supply of mana that permeates both the planes and the voids in between, the abstract power that connects it all. The Otarian rift can’t be greater than the sum of these parts.”
“I’m not sure I follow,” Jeska said.
“I do,” Venser said. “We three must act in concert. Radha is the base. I provide the structure, the moving parts that produce the effect. And Jeska is th
e force that makes the whole machine work.”
Jeska shook her head, unconvinced. “Karona made that rift,” she said. “She proved time and again that nothing magical could stand against her. It would be like trying to stop a flood with a bucket of water.”
“But if you could become the flood,” Jhoira said. “If you were on the inside of it, one with it, you could exert control that someone outside would never achieve. Not even if they were a planeswalker.”
“That is how I handled the rift in Shiv,” Teferi said, “merging with it, then neutralizing it. Freyalise and Karn and Windgrace did the same. It has proven effective.”
“Against the other rifts,” Jeska said.
“And Jhoira’s plan allows for the difference. I think she’s right. The three of you together can match whatever power lies inside the rift. If you meet it head-on you can overcome it.”
“Head-on works for me,” Radha said.
“I thought it would,” Teferi replied.
Venser said, “So the rift can’t be sealed from the outside. You’re saying we have to go in.”
Jhoira said, “Yes.”
“All of us?” Venser said.
“Just you three. But Teferi and I will stay in contact with Jeska’s help.”
“Easily done,” Jeska said. “But what happens if we fail? If we three aren’t enough to get the job done?”
Teferi answered. “The distortion will deepen and spread. A new network will form. Maybe not in the same places, maybe not in the same way. But Dominaria will still be at risk. If this plane collapses, the rifts will spread out across the Multiverse.”
Jhoira nodded sadly. “And it will all have been for nothing.”
“All right,” Jeska said. “I can’t truly say that I’m capable, or reliable, but I’m willing to try. Should I?”
“Yes,” Jhoira said earnestly.
Jeska grumbled. She muttered, “That’s that then. The longer we take to decide, the less time we have to act.” She nodded to Radha and Venser and said, “Win or lose, it’s time to try. Let’s go.”
Radha signaled Venser. “We’re doomed, Pasty. You and me both. See you in the Hells.”
“I’m not doomed,” the artificer replied. “And I’m not going to the Hells. But I will light a candle for you.”
The Keldon glared at Venser, who quickly looked away. Jhoira spotted a thin smile on Radha’s lips, however.
“Thank you, all,” Jhoira said. To Venser she added, “I think you should leave the ambulator here. If something goes wrong—or even if it goes right—Teferi and I may need a way out in a hurry.”
Venser nodded. “And if we fail, maybe you can use the ambulator to try again.”
Jhoira relished Venser’s cautious optimism even if she didn’t share it. This was hardly the time to gainsay what might happen later, however. If they failed now, “later” was not likely to come about.
* * *
—
Jeska took Radha and Venser into the heart of the sprawling Otarian rift. At first she thought something had gone wrong. The inside of the rift wasn’t a tempest-tossed sea of energy as it appeared from without, nor was it the hungry, chaotic void she had experienced in Zhalfir or Yavimaya.
Being inside the Otarian rift was like walking through a dream, vast and endlessly empty but also crowded with ephemeral sights and sounds. Visions of people, places and events she had seen and lived through flickered like shadows and rustled like leaves all around her. She saw Karn battling metallic Phyrexian horrors alongside a scene of Pardic children playing at the foot of the story wall. She heard the roar of crowds watching a battle to the death in one of the Cabal’s fighting pits as well as the screams and curses of armies on the battlefield. She smelled the rich soil of Krosa and the bitter, acrid stench from Leshrac’s crown of fire. She stood among a great assembly of all of Otaria’s tribes, dwarves, and aquatic cephalids, and the mysterious nantuko mantises.
“What is all this?” Radha’s voice was not sharp or annoyed but amazed.
“I don’t know,” Jeska said. “What do you see?”
“Things from home,” Radha answered. “Elves. Slivers. Gathans. Are we in the right place?”
Jhoira, Jeska called. We have arrived, but we’re not sure where. She described what they were seeing.
Teferi answered. This rift has far more of a personality than the others. It’s not sentient by any means, but it does seem to be keying off the three of you. You’re all seeing different things that matter to you. Your thoughts give form to the substance of this place. Think of it as a huge mass of magic potentiality, which your powers have turned into a kind of psychic storehouse or graveyard. The residue of all the time and space distortions you’ve experienced has settled here, and your thoughts give it form, perhaps even substance.
Jeska spoke. Does that help us, or hurt?
I think it helps. Provided you don’t let yourselves be distracted.
“Well, what should I do? Jhoira?”
What do you feel? the Ghitu replied. We’ve been relying on hunches and instinct for a long time now, and here yours are crucial.
I feel like I should hide my face. Like I should run before this place shows me something I can’t handle.
You can handle it, Jhoira said. Be calm and don’t think so much. Focus on what you’re doing now, what you want to be doing, then do it.
Jeska paused, but Jhoira reminded her, Don’t think. Act.
I want to be fixing this. I want to be tearing down these memories and wadding them up. I want to hit something.
That’s a start, Jhoira said. Go ahead then. Hit something.
Jeska focused on the image of Karn in battle. He was doing well for himself, but he was no warrior. She should have been there with him. A ray blast blackened a patch on the sliver golem’s shoulder, and Jeska could not restrain her reaction. She lashed out with her fist, and though her hand passed through her mentor and the image, the scene dissolved into a cascade of glittering dust.
Radha let out a happy sound, but Jeska ignored her. Is that good, Jhoira?
So far. Teferi, any insights?
It’s progress, Teferi said. But it will take years to visit each of these visions one by one. You have to be more efficient.
Will destroying these images seal the rift?
Doubtful, but it will clear away the dross so we can see what we’re working with.
Jeska set her jaw. Clear away the visions. That I can do.
“I’m with you,” Radha said. She no longer seemed amazed by their predicament and had already drawn her blades.
Jeska concentrated, gathering force behind her eyes. She drew her gladius and let out a terrific war cry as she swung it hard.
An arc of pure ruby red stretched out from the tip of her sword. The images it touched sparkled into dust. Jeska smoothly reversed her swing, bringing the sword back across her body, and the arc lashed like an infinitely long whip, stretching all the way to the dreamscape’s horizon.
Jeska moved, sweeping herself around the others as she dragged the red arc back and forth. It was easy at first. There was no shortage of targets. The longer she kept at it, the harder she had to aim, but hacking and slashing were a fundamental part of the Pardic way. She had been doing it since she was a small girl, and she knew she could keep it up for days.
The whiplike line of red mana was everywhere, coiling and curling to every corner of the rift. A chain reaction started as one collapsing image disrupted its neighbor, which then unmade the next, and so on. Jeska roared and danced until the scene became so confused and cluttered that she couldn’t even aim any more, and yet she kept on.
Stop, Teferi said. I think that’s enough.
Jeska lowered her sword and watched as the fading red arc fluttered and rolled. There were no more scenes, no images or memories to attack. The dreamscape was now empty, hollow, and deathly silent.
The three of them stood floating freely in the stillness. The void was stifling, more like the presenc
e of nothing rather than the absence of something, despite its empty, cavernous expanse.
Well? Jeska said, panting slightly from her exertion. How’s that?
Wait, Teferi said. Jeska looked around and saw some of the vision-particles rising up. They arranged themselves into an irregular square shape, forming a new picture that contained a single, large image with only one recognizable figure inside.
“That’s me,” Radha said.
Venser’s voice was filled with wonder. “I see myself too.”
Jeska was silent, and Teferi prodded her. What do you see?
The same, she said, but it was a lie. The portraitlike shape displayed to her a tall, proud goddess-figure in golden armor. The lower edge of her wide, winged helmet covered her eyes and nose.
Seeing yourself, Jeska said. What does it mean?
I think it means we’re on the right track.
Jeska fell silent. Seeing Karona was definitely not the right track but rather more evidence of Jeska’s own fractured psyche. Radha and Venser saw themselves because their lives had not been lived in fits and starts with a new face and new outlook at every new beginning. Jeska raised her sword again, eager to shatter and dismiss this latest vision.
Teferi stopped her. Don’t strike, Jeska. Let’s see what develops.
“I know what will develop,” she muttered, but she stayed her hand. Sure enough, the Karona image drew closer, drawn to Jeska by some unseen force.
Teferi, she said, things are starting to go wrong.
* * *
—
Teferi stood next to Jhoira as Jeska’s thoughts fell silent. Overhead, the rift bubbled and boiled as if someone had lit a great fire under it.
He waited for a few moments. “Here we are,” he said.
Distracted, Jhoira did not look down from the rift. “Mmm,” she said.
Teferi poked the tip of his staff into the hard dirt and worked it back and forth, digging the thin end into the soil. “Is this what it’s always like?” he said.