Trials of a Planeswalker Ch. 01: Rising

"Come on, there's been an attack on the Izzet Facility and I have to get back there. Something happened and I got sent into the middle of a Rakdos place. I have to get back as soon as I can, there's going to be a full scale war." Blayne exclaimed.

"Wait, you're actually with Izzet League? Why didn't you just show me your signet then? All of us in the League ride for free." The captain laughed.

"I don't have one of those either." Blayne groaned.

"Are you tryin' to swindle me boy?" The captain growled.

"No, I really am with the Izzet League, but I've only been there for a week or two." Blayne said, stepping aside as more cargo was carried on.

"Then why don't you have any proof? All of us who joined the League got our signets the day we joined." The captain said, pulling a round signet from his jacket.

It was a glimmering brass disk with the Izzet symbol of Niv-Mizzet in the middle. The symbol was the upper half of a dragon in red set against a blue background.

"Crixzix and I don't exactly get along. I pissed her off somehow on the first day I was there because I spoke to Niv-Mizzet directly. I ended up touching this orb that had a spell in it that melded my mind with The Firemind and apparently it was amazing that Niv-Mizzet's mind didn't destroy me. I didn't really feel anything dangerous about it." Blayne rambled.

"Whoa! Whoa! Slow down there boy. You mean to say you spoke to Niv-Mizzet himself?" The captain said.

"Yea, yea, big ass egotistical dragon living in a floating golden castle." Blayne groaned, "Can I just get a ride to the Izzet?"

"You sure don't show much respect for your supposed guild leader." The captain said suspiciously.

"He's a big dragon, that's cool. But I've got more important things on my mind. I'm trying to get back and see if one of my friends is still alive after that attack. Please, isn't there anyway I can earn a ride?" Blayne said asked desperately.

"Alright, alright. Show me that you have magic. You could at least prove that you're capable of being in the Izzet League." The captain sighed.

Blayne held up his hand and a fireball sparked into life above his palm.

"Good enough?" Blayne asked, "I'm rather tired."

"Yea, yea. Take a seat already. Damn it." The captain cursed, walking away.

Blayne sighed with relief and flopped down against the railing, sitting on the deck of the ship. The gangplank was pulled up and the engines rumbled softly. Blayne saw the glow burn forth from the engines and the ship started to move. Blayne laid his head back with a sigh, glad at finally having a chance to rest that didn't require his feet to be sunk in rotting food.

*******

CHAPTER 7 - RETURN TO IZZET

They reached the air tower near Izzet territory. Blayne was filled with hope when he saw the Izzet facility still intact and the destroyed part of the civilian district was totally abandoned. He was sure they had fought them off. He wasted no time in running down the stairs and down the street. He pushed people aside and sprinted wildly for the great steel gate of the Izzet facility. He had never entered through this gate before. It was a very intimidating and marvelous sight. A ten foot round entrance stood open at the top of a huge dull metal staircase. On the left of the gate was a huge orb swirling with blue mana and on the right, a similar orb of red. Piping and metal gadgets covered the ground around the stairs and crawled up the walls. At the top of the door was a huge Izzet symbol, making no mistake of where the door led.

Blayne hurried up the steps and was stopped at the door by a metal man. He stood seven feet tall and held a massive sword and shield. He was a skeleton of metal with a glowing crystal within his skull. The sword and shield were held in a firm grasp, always at the ready.

"Stop." It's metallic voice rumbled, "Present signet or means to pass."

"Damn it. Hey! Crixzix! Lizzex! Tazzex! Someone!" Blayne yelled past the guard.

"Remove yourself from the Izzet League's gate or you will be removed." The construct said loudly, "And your life may very well be harmed."

He took a step back and looked around.

"Come on! Someone!" Blayne yelled.

"Vacate the premises. You are trespassing." The construct warned, taking a step forward.

People passing by were starting to stare. The business district was quite busy and Blayne was getting irritated.

"Forget it! Get out of the way!" Blayne cried, lunging up the stairs.

The construct recognized the threat and raised his sword. Blayne let all the mana in his body burst forth and a bright eruption engulfed the metal guard. It, at first, stood its ground. But as the surge of magic engulfed it, the metal man was taken from it's feet and thrown a dozen yards down the tunnel. The guard bounced on the ground and the surge of magic shattered it into a half-dozen pieces. The weapons flew away and its body parts scattered across the floor. Blayne stepped down the hall after it, grinning at his success.

He looked down at what was still intact. The construct's head was still attached to half a torso and it had one arm. The rest was scattered about in pieces. It's head turned towards him and it's crystalline brain glowed.

"Trespasser! You will...be...destroyed!" The constructed growled, snapping out with it's one good arm.

Blayne yelled and swung his arm downward. An impressive fist of telekinetic power smashed the construct's head into the metal floor, practically fusing the two together from the force. The crystalline brain was shattered and crushed inside the metal itself. It's arm stuck to his ankle and he was forced to pry it's fingers open.

In front of him, three Izzet mages ran forward and stood their ground in front of him. They all wore leather and Izzet magic equipment.

"Who are you?" The center man asked.

"I'm Blayne. I'm part of the guild, I just never got given a signet." Blayne told them, "Ask Crixzix or Lizzex or Tazzex, I really am!"

"Oh sure, come on!" The man said, sounding a little too friendly.

Blayne took a step forward and the man snapped around. Fire erupted from his gauntlet and roared towards Blayne. Blayne threw his arms in front of his face and let his magic loose. The fire splashed harmlessly around the shield he created. He put his arms down and smiled.

"Ha! That was cool! I've never actually stopped any magic before!" Blayne laughed, "Wait a second, what the hell was that for?"

"Yea, I'm just going to take you into the Izzet League just because you said you were friends with someone in the guild." The man sneered.

"I told you to find Crixzix. She hates me, but she'll vouch that I'm part of the guild." Blayne exclaimed.

"Yea, Okay. Just..." The man started.

'Tatten, stand down. He's telling the truth, let him pass.' Crixzix's voice echoed from somewhere nearby.

The man in the middle groaned. He walked over to the wall and reached for a phone-like device. He held it up to his mouth and gave a sigh, "Are you sure ma'am?'

'Just let him in damn it.' Crixzix barked.

The man stepped aside and Blayne walked past. He walked down the hallway and found himself in the middle of a huge junction of paths and stairs. He looked at different signs near the doorways and stairs. He opted to follow one that read 'residential'. It led him to a familiar hallway and he found his way back to his and the Twin's bedroom. He grabbed the knob and stopped, taking a breath. He hoped Tazzex wasn't in there, but moreover he hoped Lizzex was.

Closing his eyes nervously, he twisted and pushed, opening the door. Before he could get this eyes open, someone leapt on him and wrapped their arms around him.

"Blayne, you're alive! I was worried you had gotten carried off! Lord, it looks like you did get carried off! You sure smell like it!" Lizzex exclaimed, hugging him tightly.

"Leave him alone sis, he needs a rest and a bath. No doubt he's had a helluva time getting back here." Tazzex called from the table.

"Oh god I was worried you were dead. I just Planeswalked and ended up on another world when I thought I was going to die. I thought I had left you to your doom." Blayne sighed with relief when Lizzex got off him.

"Doom? God no. Something happened right before you disappeared, a massive burst of magic encircled the tower and blew all the demons back dozens of feet, killing a ton of them. It gave the mages on the ground time to adjust and shoot them out of the sky. I came out without a scratch, but you had been gone. For two days now I thought you dead!" Lizzex exclaimed wildly.

"No, I ended up in this other world where an old lady named Mother Luti helped me do magic. She gave me simple advice, stop trying to think about the magic so much. My own inhibitions in my head about magic being fake kept me from doing anything spectacular. Afterward, I blew up a mountain!" Blayne laughed, throwing his hands up.

"A mountain? How did you do that?" Tazzex said flatly.

"Uhh...just the peak of it...a huge mushroom cloud. It was cool. I also ended up...kinda...smashing the guard outside." Blayne said, pointing over his shoulder, "It's part of the floor."

"Well that thing was never meant to keep anyone by the commoners out. Any adept mage could've broken it. Hell, someone with a crossbow and a good shot could've shattered the crystal powering it." Lizzex laughed, "So you can do magic properly now?"

"Not sure about that either. It's pretty unpredictable usually. I'm just letting out the mana on instinct." Blayne said.

"Come on then, let's get you a hot bath and some new clothes. Those things look like hell." Lizzex said, plucking Blayne's ragged and stained t-shirt.

"Yea, I agree with you there." Blayne smiled.

"So come on." Tazzex got up and walked across the room towards him.

"Let's go." Lizzex said, grabbing the collar of his shirt.

"Oooh...oh, wait, wait. There's something I've got to tell Crixzix." Blayne said.

"What? What do you need to talk to her for when I want to fuck your brains out? It's been days since I left!" Tazzex exclaimed.

"The attack! I don't think it was Rakdos." Blayne said.

"How do you know that? Who else has hordes of demons at their disposal?" Lizzex said, letting go.

"Let's go talk to Crixzix and I'll explain everything." Blayne said, stepping out the door.

They went down to the laboratory level and found Crixzix working on a large set of Mizzium boots.

"Hey, Crixzix, I need to talk to you." Blayne said.

"What is it?" The goblin asked without looking up from her work.

"The attack, I don't think it was Rakdos. I ended up in a Rakdos house a while ago and a guy there said that they didn't know anything of the attack, but that they instead had heard of Izzet mages allying themselves with Azorius and invading the Rakdos mines." Blayne told her.

"We would never ally ourselves with those bureaucratic screw bolts!" Crixzix snapped, putting down her tools.

"I know, that's why I wanted to bring this up to you. I think someone else is trying to get the guilds to start warring." Blayne said.

"On two stories and one failed attack?" Crixzix said, turning around.

"I heard other thing while I was in the Azorius prison. Golgari are supposedly taking ground. Simic are capturing people for experimentation. The Selesnya are getting violent." Blayne went on, "I think all of this is being orchestrated by someone who wants the guilds to go to war."

"And since the Guildpact was broken, there's nothing stopping them." Lizzex said.

"The Guildpact?" Blayne asked.

"Set up by and signed by the original Parun of each guild, it was subtle and secretive magic that maintained the balance of power through very gentle nudges and indirect involvement. Few, if any ever knew about it before it's disenchantment. It was ingenious, but something in the last year broke it and it became common knowledge." Crixzix said, "Some say it was the rumored tenth guild that caused it."

"What is that?" Tazzex asked, "I've never heard of a tenth guild."

"Nobody had until this last year. Sure there were always rumors or gossip about it, but it was widely accepted that, if a tenth guild had ever even existed, it was long since gone." Crixzix took her goggles off and wiped her face.

"Well who would have the power to start a new guild, especially in these times?" Blayne asked.

"No one really could start a new one. That's why the rumors have been that the tenth guild were the cause of the breaking of the Guildpact. It's name is supposedly The House Dimir. Until recently, no one knew what it was called, but rumors and information started to get around about it. Many believe it was the Guildpact that kept them a secret all these millennia and somehow they were recently revealed, thus breaking it." Crixzix told them.

"You think it could really be this tenth guild trying to start a war?" Tazzex said worriedly.

"Well it would make sense. If they are still at least somewhat secret, most guild members wouldn't suspect them if something happened that looked exactly like it was coming from another guild. With the Guildpact gone, there's nothing to stop the guilds from wiping one another out, thus leaving the strongest guild left...Dimir." Blayne said, "We've got to get the word out about this. Tell the other guilds."

"No, we needn't waste our time with that. None of the others will listen to us anyway. Instead we need to target the source. Go after Dimir, try to push them back and show that we're not to be trifled with. They're trying to pull us like puppets on string." Crixzix smiled, "Let's burn the strings and light the puppeteer on fire."

"How do we go about that though?" Blayne asked, "If a guild has remained in secrecy for thousands of years and the only thing people know about it is it's name, how the hell do you think we'll find it?"

"Secret originate from somewhere. Izzet and Azorius rule the skies. The streets are covered in all manner of guilds. The only place that remains to be searched...underground." Crixzix smiled, "Let's start with the known tunnels in the civilian areas, I doubt they're within any guild territory."

"This isn't as easy as you're making it sound. Searching underground in the entirety of Ravnica obviously can't be that easy. Try not to do anything rash. Let's just ask the people, question the masses. Surely if their name has been uncovered, there is more information out there." Blayne said as he held up his hands.

"That sounds too slow. I say we start a massive excavation under the market district. We spread the guild out. A person every two hundred feet takes a drilling device and they all dig downward to one mile under we've got enough manpower to cover dozens of miles. We could cover this continent in months...if we could devise a new tool to dig a mile deep in record time, then we could do even more!" Crixzix said, turning around quickly.

She shoved everything off her work table with a massive crash. Digging a pen from her pocket, she started to draw on the metal table top.

"Uhh...that seems like a terrible idea. I'm thinking we need to just start asking around. I know the guilds are on edge, but I think it'll take longer than you assume to get to full-scale war. If we send diplomats or at least letters to the other guilds, warning them of this threat, I'm certain we could diffuse the situation and buy a month or maybe more." Blayne exclaimed, "I'm certain that the guilds don't want war. They want power, not war. We warn them of this threat and the guilds guard themselves better. Eager to keep their power, I think they'll seclude and guard their borders."

"What do you know of the guilds huh? What do you know of Izzet? You only remember the last two weeks of your life here." Crixzix exclaimed as she turned on him, "You don't know anything of Ravnica!"

"But Crixzix, his logic is right. If we were to warn the other guilds, it could be a show of good faith and they may guard themselves against total war!" Tazzex backed him up.

"And if they see it as a trick?" Crixzix asked.

"Why would we warn them about possible attacks beforehand if we were going to attack them? Wouldn't it make our job harder?" Blayne said flatly.

"You know, I just got a great idea. Let's try and talk with some of the other guild leaders, let's defuse this whole mana bomb and try to search out Dimir peacefully." Crixzix said happily, "See! I knew I would come up with a good idea!"

"Hey..." Blayne bit his tongue, "That is a good idea. Let's do that."

"Right. I'll go get everything set up." Crixzix nodded, walking away.

"Is she always like that?" Blayne asked out of her earshot.

"Pretty much. You made a good move not arguing or we'd be here for another hour until she decided on coring the planet or something." Lizzex sighed.

"Come on, bath time!" Tazzex giggled.

*******

Blayne openly let the girls scrub his body from top to bottom in the huge, steaming hot stone bathtub. They thoroughly enjoyed washing him all over and it ended with Tazzex jerking him off while Lizzex rubbed shampoo into his hair.

"You know, you could do with a shave. You're all scratchy." Lizzex said, running a soapy hand under his chin.

"Yea...I could...wonder if I could do it with magic...nah, probably blow my head off." Blayne chuckled before sinking his head back into the hot water.

Lizzex scrubbed his scalp underwater, cleaning all the shampoo out. Tazzex sat between his legs, facing him while she played with him underwater.

"Come here." Blayne said, laying his head against the side of the tub.

Lizzex put her legs on either side of his chest and pushed her crotch towards him. He wrapped his arms around her soft thighs and started to lick her pussy. She gave an obnoxious moan and put her hands on his head.

"Oooh Blayne, your tongue is wonderful!" Lizzex moaned, feeling pleasure start to radiate throughout her body.

"Hey Blayne, you can play with my body too if you want." Tazzex said, scooting towards him in the hot bath water.

She grabbed his hand and put it between her legs. He pushed his thumb against her clit and rubbed her lips with two fingers. She gave a happy moan and let go of his arm. He gently slid a finger inside her and rubbed her clit. His tongue slid deeper into Lizzex and he rubbed his free hand across her ass. The girls' voices rang out in unison as they cooed with pleasure.

"I missed...this." Tazzex moaned, squirming and writhing on his hand.

"Missed what? We've only done it like four times." Blayne leaned back and said, "Also, you can keeping rubbing me."

"I like sex...I forgot how good it was before you showed up..." Tazzex breathed.

She reached down and grabbed his stiff cock, starting to rub it up and down. The heat of the water and the grasp of her hand both felt great together. Her hand clenched and vigorously pulled on his organ. His leg twitched in pleasure and he forced his tongue to lap deeper into Lizzex's sweet little spot. Delicious sticky juice ran down his chin from Lizzex. Her muscles quivered as a moan was eased from her throat. She curled her fingers atop Blayne's head, gripping his hair.

He twisted his hand and delved his fingers deeper into Tazzex's sweet hole. Her velvety insides were clenching and undulating about his eager finger.

Blayne's finger dug deeper into Tazzex's honey pot, pushing against the walls of her womb. She gave a lusty moan and she clenched her pelvic muscles erratically. Her moist cunt quivered wonderfully, giving off twitches and jerks of undeniable bliss.

He hungrily licked deeper into Lizzex's astoundingly delicious slit. Her juices dribble off his chin and he drank down what he could.

"Oh yes! Yes! Blayne!" Lizzex cried out, her entire body resonating with shuddering waves of ecstasy.

His tongue stimulating her sweet hole, he ran his thumb over her cute little button and worked his finger deeper inside her twin. He vigorously worked her into a bubbling, orgasmic froth. She howled and her knees gave way. Her body sank completely against Blayne, her soft flesh pushing about his face as she bent over the side of the tub. He reached up and smacked her on the butt as he found it difficult to breathe underneath her.