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Liliana was back “home”. Her shoulder was still a bit painful, but it had healed enough to allow her to get back to Caligo. She had a mission, to purge the place from the phyrexian menace that roamed the place. She would not let them take that foul ring away and spread further across the multiverse. They should’ve stayed on Mirrodin, because she was going to show them what she was made of and that no one fucks around with her. Not even Nicol Bolas was able to toy with her for long… Despite the price that they all had to pay to emerge victorious from the War of the Spark.
She sighed. Being a planeswalker had recently become quite a hazardous thing. Maybe that they were drawn to each other through a mysterious force, but they were totally drawn to trouble. Kasmina had warned her about Tamiyo and the threat of sleeping agents. She had no idea how the Enigma Sage managed to get this kind of intel that quickly escaped her, but she didn’t want to join that strange… Group that she was a part of. She had already been part of the Infinite Consortium and the Gatewatch, she had her fill of planeswalker groups for a while now. They could do their group thing, she would deal with the things she set her mind to on her own.
First, she had to rid Caligo Morass of its phyrexian invaders. But that was weird. The angels should’ve been alerted by the phyrexian presence, unless she had the misfortune of stumbling on their only scouts. That would be reassuring though, as her job here would be quick. She knew more about how to work around the phyrexian unlife that animated these creatures. It asked for a lot of concentration but it was manageable. She hoped that she wouldn’t have to fight a whole compleated village or town. She could count on the countless dead resting in the ground, but even with them, that would be difficult. She had to kill that phyrexian kor first, so her drones would be left without a commander.
“... Smells like home.”
Only the caws of a lone raven answered her. She was there and she would purge the place. Pretty ironic for a necromancer but the land would have to do with what it had. And right now Liliana Vess was out for the blood of the Kor phyrexian. Corpses rose from their slumber behind her and the remains of dead birds flew around, scouting for the threat. Elas il-Kor would still be searching for the ring. After all, she couldn’t come back to her commander empty handed, right? All she had to do was scout the place, search for the feeling of wrong in the land.
It didn’t take long. Both were kind of searching for each other. The phyrexian smiled uncannily, flanked with three new monstrosities.
“This is my land and you have trespassed here. I have to purge this place from your taint Il-Kor..”
“My orders have changed. I have to bring you back, to partake in the blessings of Phyrexia. Be lucky, Sheoldred herself wants to compleat you. But it seems that you won’t comply.”
The necromancer shrugged, smiling. “You would’ve liked that, don’t you?”
Her zombies leaped on the phyrexian reavers. She had to strike first to whittle down the enemy force. Quantity was nothing in front of a combination of both quantity and quality. Besides, who knew the dead of this land better than her?
The kor phyrexian took one of the javelins strapped to her back and aimed at Liliana. Rona asked her to bring this one back, so she could take care of her compleation. Good necromancers were a scarce resource and even if Dominaria was full of them in Urborg, those were amateurs. She had to be careful not to infect nor damage the goods. This time, the weapon was entirely made of metal and stone, heavier, but impossible to rot. Her aim would be true, and this time, she would succeed in her mission.
She dodged a spell and threw the weapon. It met the dead flesh of a half-rotted knight, its armor barely held together with strings of leather and plants. Elas gritted her teeth and struck at the corpse of a dog, its teeth still intact and sharp despite the state of its flesh. The dead animal didn’t react and got back on its feet quickly to attack once again. She brought down the javelin, planting it through its neck and through the ground. It flailed, trying to attack again despite being stuck.
When Elas looked up, she saw the remains of three of her reavers scattered on the ground, barely twitching. Her target’s troops had been reduced, but she had an almost endless supply of bodies to raise. She wasn’t lying when she said that this was her homeland. She heard the metallic screeching of a blade and rolled out of the way from her own reaver, turned against their phyrexian masters. Again, that woman was managing to exert some control on perfection… But she could see that she had to put a lot of focus on that spell, whatever it was. Her zombies and meat shields were a bit slower. The kor phyrexian ran towards her target, one last javelin in hand. Undead soldiers were unable to stop her as her weapon struck them down, making their limbs fly around.
She plunged the needle she held in her other hand deep in the necromancer’s side. The woman’s eyes widened, and she felt her struggle to stay awake for a few seconds. Elas caught her around the waist when she fell, giving in to the sedative.
“Sleep well necromancer. When you’ll wake up, you’ll be in a wonderful place.”
Phyrexians. Compleated planeswalkers. Sleeper agents. On Dominaria of all places. And where was Ajani? Was she even in the right place?
That was a swamp, but the smell and atmosphere were far different from Urborg. The former was a nauseating and tainted place, never peaceful and filled with anger and terror. This place made her uneasy, but the taint here was more sadness and abandonment. Broken weapons and sometimes bones peeked from underground, soon to be buried under a hunched and already decaying vegetation. But things still grew, even if twisted and sinister. She didn’t like to planeswalk, and she didn’t especially want to planeswalk again to find her friend…
Maybe she should look around first. At best she would find civilisation, at worst she would find a place to rest before planeswalking again. Elspeth took the Shadowspear off her back and ventured into the forest. She could never be too careful. She got attacked by mobsters when doing someone’s laundry on New Capenna once, so what could tell her that she wouldn’t encounter enemies in this place? Moreover, the place reeked of death. If she didn’t stumble upon a zombie in these woods, she wouldn’t be surprised.
After an hour, the knight-errant had to stop. She was definitely lost. This place was a labyrinth and definitely not Urborg. If it was, she would’ve seen someone or something unnatural moving once. But the feeling of loneliness and abandonment that blanketed the swamp seemed almost all encompassing, even though she could still see and hear life continuing. The cawing of ravens, the chittering of insects and even the snorting of a boar.
The rattling of metal and flesh wasn’t life. Elspeth’s grip on her Shadowspear tightened, the weapon’s dark oil glowing white in some places. She knew too well what this kind of noise was. A few more dead phyrexians wouldn’t hurt, unless they were Urabrask’s allies. But the head of the Dominarian invasion was Sheoldred, and the fallen praetor hated all of them, although he could empathize more easily with Vorinclex. How the equivalent of a phyrexian born dragon could empathize with whatever the green praetor was, she had no idea. What she knew is that killing their goons would be a benefit for the greater good.
When she saw the head of the first reaver, she thrust her weapon straight to its face. The creature shrieked. The knight charged and tore the weapon from its sewn together flesh, before sending a bolt of white mana, burning through the abomination, that fell to the ground. She heard orders being hissed in phyrexian. A compleated kor had drawn a javelin from her back and was visibly surprised by her presence. Good. White mana shone around her, burning the reavers that were coming, the flesh and oil binding them together burning and their weapons and charges falling to the ground, useless without limbs to hold them. She was a graceful flurry of strikes, her blade cutting through metal, oil and flesh as easily as if it was through butter.
It was over in a matter of minutes, when the knight ended the kor’s life by driving her spear in her neck. The pale woman let out a gurgle accompanied by some undecipherable words before expiring. Elspeth shook the oil off her weapon, until she could see Shadowspear’s own oil shining white for a brief moment. It was strange to see such a small squad here. If this place was abandoned, why wasn’t it conquered already?
It took her a few seconds to see a human person among the phyrexians. The knight poked the seemingly unconscious body with the tip of her weapon, enough to break the skin.
Her blood was red. Good.
Liliana woke up feeling quite rested, as if she had woken up from a nice night of sleep, with no nightmare to startle her. What happened before again? Oh yeah, she was busy trying to find-
What was she doing in bed?
“You’re awake. Try not to stand on your legs though, gitaxian sedatives are made to keep you from running, even if you wake up.” Said an armed knight while she polished her sword.
The necromancer raised an eyebrow. Gitaxian sedatives? Phyrexians had sub-categories? For her, a phyrexian was a phyrexian.
“Sorry for your arm Vess. But I had to check if you weren’t infected.”
“Oh… Thanks. I guess. I sadly don’t remember you from the War of the Spark. Would you give me your name?”
“You couldn’t have seen me, I was fighting my way out of Ilysia. The name’s Elspeth Tirel. You might know me already.” Growled the armed woman.
Elspeth Tirel. Ajani’s friend, the one who had that cape first. The one who fought Phyrexians, who had a name in Urborg’s fighting pits, fought Bolas and killed a God. An impressive record, and a good reason to hate her. Until recently she had only been pursuing her own interests and had to work with Bolas, even though she never wanted it.
“I guess that I wasn’t successful if you found me unconscious there.” Weakly laughed Liliana. “If you’re wondering about my current activities, I’m just a teacher at Strixhaven. Trying to keep kids from messing up like I did.”
The knight didn’t seem to believe her.
“Where are we by the way?”
“An angel came to my help. Apparently she wasn’t happy with the ruckus caused by the phyrexians and the zombie that had strolled in town.”
“Let me guess. Short hair, tanned skin and not happy to see me?”
“I see that you’re acquainted already.”
“Let’s say that I had to lay my lich brother to rest and kill Belzenlok… Among other things. but you know… Necromancy and being the cause of the problem doesn’t help my reputation.” Liliana tried to explain the situation while being as vague as possible. She didn’t need to talk about her life.
Elspeth moved towards the bed, while removing the mail shirt she wore, tossing it on the chair, exposing toned muscles and for an instant, showing well-sculpted abs marred with deep pink scars. Why. Why did the knights mostly aligned with white mana had such great looking bodies?
“Move. I want to take a nap and there’s only one bed.”
“Huh… Yeah sure.”
The bed dipped a bit under the weight of the knight. Her skin was warm against Liliana’s, even though touching each other was an accident. Both were trying to minimise contact, the necromancer struggling to move towards the edge of the bed. Elspeth turned her back to her. It was fine. That way she wouldn’t have to see her blushing and be internally consumed by lots of feelings.
“Don’t stare at me. I can’t sleep like that.”
“Not afraid that I might… You know, betray you in your sleep?”
“Try it.”
“I won’t.”
“Good.”
They stayed silent, until the necromancer heard the knight’s breath even out. Urza’s balls, this woman made her feel many things. Too many things that should’ve been better left sleeping in the back of her mind. Why here and why now?
Liliana sighed as she finally felt some control come back to her legs. She left the bed without making a noise. She would have to speak to Rael before heading back to Arcavios, then warn Kasmina about the state of the plane. Whatever her cabal of planeswalkers wished to do, she would stay as far as possible from them. She would join the fight against the phyrexians, but would do so on her own terms.
“Sleep well, Elspeth Tirel.” she whispered.
She planeswalked away, unaware of the pinkish tint of her cheeks.