Trials of a Planeswalker Ch. 02: Fall

"Let me see it." Blayne said, holding his hand out to Henry.

"What?" Henry asked, raising an eyebrow.

"The Mox you have with you. Let me see it." Blayne said, wagging his fingers intently.

"You really can read minds can't you?" Henry started, reaching slowly into his pocket.

"That's not really how I found it. A few months ago I used a ruby Mox to defeat an evil Planeswalker named Nicol Bolas. The feeling of a Mox is not something you easily forget. I thought I sensed it before, but I wasn't sure until you summoned that big light thing." Blayne said, "Just let me see it for a moment. I'm not gonna steal it."

"I know." Henry said, reluctantly, pulling out the large pearl from his pocket. He held it over Blayne's hand by the single length of chain attached to it, gently setting it in his palm.

"You never told me that was a Mox." Robin frowned, standing next to Henry.

"How long were you planning on hiding that from us?" Varia said accusingly, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Well I never said I trusted any of you either. At least..." He turned to look apologetically at Robin "...not right away. But unlike SOME people, that doesn't mean I blame you when something goes wrong, or that I won't help when I'm needed."

Varia's lip curled and she opened her mouth to reply but Blayne shushed her.

"Interesting. I've not felt white mana like this before." Blayne said, pulling in a little bit of white mana from the Mox, "These Mox really are something. Mmmm, that's what I needed."

He handed it back to Henry as a glow of white began to shine around his middle. White mana swirled through his body and dissipated slowly, healing what damage there still was after Varia's sangromantic healing. He probably couldn't have done that to anyone else, but he knew himself well enough to heal his own body.

"You can use white mana?" Henry asked, cocking his head as he pocketed the Mox.

"I can use any color of mana. Something I've always excelled at, I can absorb and contain huge amounts of all the colors of mana. Someone once told me that if I could control it as well as I could contain it that I could be more powerful than just about anyone. But that's something I've never been good at." Blayne said, getting to his feet.

"Blayne! Be careful!" Varia said worriedly, wrapping her arms around him.

"It's fine dear, I'm in perfect shape now. Robin, how are you?" Blayne asked her.

"Fine. Henry healed me." Robin smiled widely.

"Actually I meant shouldn't you be getting back soon? You've been away from your body for quite some time. I'm not worried about this one. We already know injuries in this form don't last." Blayne said.

"Oh right! I almost forgot about my body! Ooops!" Robin giggled, "I was having a good time talking with Henry, but I suppose you're right. I should go back."

"I'll see you later sister." Blayne smiled and, with a flick of his magic, he dispelled her angelic form. Her spirit was sent back to her body in a split second, causing her to gasp and lurch up on her couch.

Henry stared wistfully at the spot Robin had been before turning back to face Blayne and Varia, "Sooo, I'm afraid we didn't get to talk much earlier about being a Planeswalker. Could you explain it to me again?"

"Well the bottom line is that you can walk between the infinite different planes out there." Blayne said, "Other than that, I really don't know. I've spent most of my time as a Planeswalker learning how to be a mage."

"Alright," Henry said, nodding, "how do we do that?"

"It hinges on remembering the sensation you felt when you first came from your world to this one. What it was like to move from there to here." Blayne explained.

"Yea, I think I remember it. Can't really describe it, but I'm pretty sure I have it." Henry said.

"Alright, take a seat and focus your mana. Draw it up inside yourself and focus on that feeling. Focus on leaving this Plane, on traveling somewhere else. Your spark will open the way and you will be pulled into the AEthers." Blayne said and Henry sat cross-legged on the floor while he turned his thoughts to Shyara, 'I am going to send you back to Azeroth before we leave here.'

'That is fine master. I have been enjoying my time on Pandaria.' She thought back to him.

Blayne reached out with his magic and dispelled Shyara, letting her return to her home on Azeroth. Unlike Robin, Shyara was brought here in both body and soul, making her summoning both easier and trickier at the same time. She disappeared from outside the door and there was a gentle rustling of the ocean breeze.

"Okay, I think I have it." Henry said, looking up from the floor.

Blayne turned and sat beside Varia, taking her hand. It was so good to be feeling the magic inside him again. After months spent back home, he honestly did miss this. His mana rose up inside him and filled his body. The AEthers came easily to him and he Planeswalked.

Varia was pulled alongside him and they both landed on their feet in the Blind Eternities. Nothingness eternal surrounded them and the pearlescent pathways twisted and floated beneath them.

There was a slight blink of white light near them and Henry appeared. He shook his head and looked around, quite in awe at the sight of the AEthers.

"By all the gods..." He whispered, looking down at his feet and then further around him.

"It is quite a sight, but trust me, there are more amazing ones out there. Come on, let's go discover a new world." Blayne smiled, starting down the path.

"Who built all of this?" Henry said, following them.

"I don't think anyone did. I think it's just kind of always been here. I can't imagine anyone being able to build here." Blayne said, turning down an adjacent pathway.

"Do you have a map? How do you know where we're going?" Henry asked.

"I don't. The only thing I actually know is where my home is. That's something that seems to be programmed in your head. You just naturally know which plane is home. Think about it, try to find your home. It will call out to you." Blayne said as they walked.

"I see. Like a lighthouse in a storm, it's always there." Henry observed as he realized where his home was.

"Blayne, let's go there!" Varia said, pointing off the pathway.

"Just like that?" Henry raised an eyebrow.

"That's how it works! Come on!" Blayne exclaimed, grabbing both Varia's and Henry's hands.

They leapt forward and dove into the cloud, flying into a new plane.

*******

CHAPTER 5 - A FRIGID WORLD

Little did they know it when they entered, the Plane of Kaldheim was not a kind one. Vicious, subzero blizzards tore across the surface of the world every day and such cold temperatures were reached at night as to be called 'soul-chilling'. Naught but the most hardy and wild creatures survived there.

"It's fucking cold!" Varia screamed over the wind.

"We have to find shelter!" Blayne exclaimed, trudging on through the bottomless snow. They sank to their waists before the snow packed enough to hold their weight. The only thing around them except swirling snow, their vision was very limited.

"Blayne, can't you warm us up with a little fire?" Varia asked him.

"I can barely feel any red mana here at all. I want to save what little I have for an emergency! We're not frozen yet! Let's keep going! I'll do what I can to try and fend off the wind!" Blayne said, using the icy blue around them to form a telekinetic barrier. The wind roared around them, curling around Blayne's barrier. It wasn't much warmer, but it was something and they were all grateful. The cold mana made Blayne feel as though the wind were still passing through him, but it was still better than actually having the blizzard on his face.

"I've never... in my life... experienced this kind of cold." Henry shivered, hugging himself in an attempt to trap what little body heat he had.

For more than ten minutes they shoved onward through the snow until Varia spotted what looked like a cave entrance. They hurried towards it and found it to be little more than a wide crack in the rocks. In all that time they still hadn't seen a touch of foliage. There was nothing out here that they could burn for warmth.

"Someone get some light in there! I think we could squeeze in if there's something behind it." Varia said, staring in the crack.

Henry held out his hand, producing a small ball of shining golden light. It floated between the rocks and into the cave beyond, showing ample space to take shelter in.

"Come on! Inside!" Varia exclaimed, digging down in the snow until she could crawl into the crack. She slipped inside and Henry followed her. Blayne held off the blizzard until they were both inside and he could follow. As he did, a bit of snow fell into the crack and closed off most of it behind them. Little more than an air hole was open at the top of it.

"It's not warm, but it's better." Blayne said, shivering in his thin clothes. Varia was far worse, as her thighs were bare above her boots.

The cave was probably just a bunch of collapsed rock that froze together. It was barely twenty feet deep and six feet tall at the most.

"We have to Planeswalk away. We can't survive here." Varia shivered.

"I know, I know." Blayne said, wrapping his arms around her. He warmed himself with a trickle of red mana and she moaned happily, cuddling closer to him. His magic took the nip out of the air, leaving the cave around freezing. Varia stayed close to him even as the spell faded, adoring his body warmth.

"Come on, let's go." Henry said, sitting down on the floor.

Blayne and Varia quickly followed suit, sitting near him and closing their eyes.

It barely took Blayne a minute to feel it. There was something wrong; he couldn't Planeswalk. He couldn't feel the AEthers, he could barely feel his own fingers.

"Blayne?" Varia said worriedly.

"Me too." Blayne nodded, putting an arm around her.

"You guys don't feel it either, huh?" Henry said, looking up at them.

"Yea, the AEthers. It's like it's gone, or somehow it's blocked. I can't reach it." Blayne nodded.

"Well, we can't stay here or we'll die." Henry exclaimed in desperation, "I'm pretty sure we're on a mountain, our best chance of surviving would be to get down and quickly!"

"But where would we go?" Blayne said, scratching his head.

Varia held up her hands, black mana swirling there. She claped her hands together and there was a loud pop. A half-dozen small black spirits appeared around her hands.

"Look in every direction. Search for anything that could help us survive. Be back here in an hour." Varia instructed them. The spirits rushed away, phasing through the solid rock and into the storm.

"Good thinking." Blayne nodded, "Now just to survive an hour."

Henry scooted around closer to Blayne. The three of the huddled close together and Blayne attempted to use what little red mana he had to keep them all alive. He was seriously regretting the fact that Luvion was the last plane they visited: a reef in a giant ocean was hardly a source of red mana. Now he barely had enough for a fireball or two. It would be enough to keep them warm for a short while, but he could already feel his power dwindling.

*******

Blayne and Varia had nodded off by the time the spirits came back. They bumped against Varia and woke her up.

"Oh fuck it's cold." Varia hissed, rubbing her numb thighs. She looked at the spirit and reached up to it. She held it to her ear and it whispered it's report. When it finished she gave a happy sigh.

"What is it?" Henry asked, his teeth clacking loudly.

"Twenty minutes south of here, down a steep hill, there is a cave in the mountain side with a torch burning out front of it. He said there is a warm fire inside" Varia said quickly.

"Warm fire?" Henry said happily, "Blayne! Wake up!"

"Huh? What?" Blayne jerked up. His body was aching with the cold and his fingers were stiff.

"One of my spirits found something. Twenty minutes south of here, there is a cave with people in it. It's warm. Let's go." Varia exclaimed.

"Alright, let's go!" Blayne said, getting up on his knees.

"What about that? We got stuck when we came in here." Henry said, pointing at the entrance. Blayne crawled past him and touched the snow that was filling the crack.

"I think I can get us out." Blayne shivered as he drew in more of that frozen mana. He shoved his fists forward and a burst of telekinetic power made the snow explode outward. The freezing wind hit them in the face and they all cried out.

"Let's go! Quick! This cold is gonna kill me!" Varia stammered, shaking with the new cold wind. Blayne forced his way into the snow, climbing back up on it. Twenty minutes seemed a lifetime away and he couldn't wait. None of them could.

Gathering what strength he could, he made all three of them lift into the air shakily.

"Whoa~!" Varia exclaimed in surprise.

"This is gonna be cold, let's go!" Blayne called, making them rush forward wildly.

Blinding snow tore at their face and ripped at their clothes as they raced south. They only knew what direction south was because the spirit had imparted that information to Varia and, apparently, the little thing had an innate sense of direction.

They were half-way down the hill when Blayne's magic gave out and they tumbled into the snow, throwing fresh powder up into the sky. The wind ripped over their heads and Blayne groaned loudly. He tried to reach for more magic, but the strength just wasn't there. He hadn't eaten anything the entire day and he hadn't slept but that wink in the cave; his body was rebelling with total exhaustion.

"Come on... come on. We need to keep going." Henry chattered, standing upright.

"Ohhh..." Blayne groaned, forcing himself to sit up.

"I'll do it. I'll get us there." Henry said, pulling forth his own magic. He hadn't done much telekinesis on other people before, but it was that or die in the cold. He couldn't focus well enough in this blizzard to use his teleportation magic and it only worked when you knew where you were going anyway.

He lifted them out of the snow and they started forward again. It took another exhausting five minutes until they saw their salvation. Just like the spirit had found, there was a torch burning brightly in the snow. Obviously magical, it stood up against the worst tearing and violent winds, a beacon to show the cave entrance.

"Yes!" Henry cried happily, letting the spell die as they reached it. They all fell into the snow again.

Grabbing his arm, Varia helped pull Blayne forward. They got to the door and Henry banged on it loudly. There was a loud clamor inside and a slide was pulled back in the center of it. A man looked out at them with bright blue eyes.

"Who's there?" He asked suspiciously.

"Please. We're freezing. We're going to die. Let us in." Henry begged him.

"Who are you?" He asked again.

"We're mages. We got lost on the mountain and now we're freezing. Please!" Varia said loudly.

"The fella in the middle doesn't look good. Come on in and get warm. You can tell me more once you've got a change of clothes." The man said and the door opened.

The three of them hurried inside and the door was shut tightly behind them.

A man about four feet tall with the thickest black beard any of them had ever seen stood before them. If he was smiling or frowning, it couldn't be seen behind the bushy hair. He looked them over with his hands on his belt. He wore a thick red shirt and had brown pants on with suspenders over his shoulders. He might've been short, but he was thick and strong.

"What kinda crazy folk are you goin' out in a blizzard like that?" The dwarf asked them sharply, "Get by the fire before y'all freeze."

They all sank down around the fire that was crackling in a small brick fireplace in the middle of the floor. The smoke from it rose up and disappeared through a tiny hole in the ceiling.

"Come on, get out of them wet clothes. You're gonna die like that." The man said, shuffling around them.

They all stripped to their underwear near the warm fire, happy to lose all the wetness that clung to them. Henry blushed a bit when he saw Varia in her wet black underwear and he was just in his pale boxers. It made him think a little of Robin and what she would look like in her underwear. Then, he realized that he actually didn't even know what she really looked like. The dwarf spoke up and broke his train of thoughts.

"Now, name's McDoogle, Jameson McDoogle. I'm a hunter and trapper in these parts. Where in all are you from?" The dwarf asked, sitting in a plush chair across the fire from them.

"We're... we're from... far away... where it's not so cold." Blayne mumbled, holding his hands close to the fire.

"Yea... a spell went wrong... now we're stuck here." Henry nodded.

"Must've been some kinda spell. I don't know anyone that could jump half-way 'round the world by mistake. Cold here in these mountains covers most a Kaldheim and only a few little bits aren't buried in snow. And even in those places, you'd be catching a cold in clothes like these." Jameson said as he gestured to their clothes sitting on the ground around the fire.

"We weren't outside at the time the spell was cast." Varia said quickly.

"Uh-huh. Well, there's some stew in the pot there over the fire. Help yourselves, I've already had my fill. I'm not one to turn away those in need and you three look plum tuckered. I've got an extra room in the back, though it's only got one bed. I 'magine one of ya is gonna sleep on the floor." Jameson said, jabbing his thumb over his shoulder.

"If you don't mind, I'll just sleep by the fire here." Henry said, scooting a tad closer to the flames.

"Suit yourself. Here's a blanket." Jameson said, pulling a knitted blanket off the back of his chair. He walked it around the fire to him, "Just don't let any hot coals get on that, I knitted it me self."

"Thanks." Blayne said.

"Yea, thanks." Varia nodded.

"Very much." Henry sighed as he wrapped himself in the blanket.

"And thank you for letting us sleep in the bed." Varia whispered to Henry.

"Eh, I'd feel bad if you two had to sleep apart." Henry shrugged, "And I really want to stay by the fire."

Blayne chuckled softly, rubbing his hands together again. Jameson grabbed a log from next to the wall and set it on the fire, throwing sparks up to the ceiling.

*******

Varia cuddled closer to Blayne under the thick, woolen blankets. They were both naked, their underwear hanging nearby as it dried. It was very relaxing to finally have a warm bed to rest in.

"Hey Blayne... it's a little cold. Want to warm the bed up?" Varia whispered, teasing a finger across his chest.

"Mmmm... I'm already so tired..." Blayne grumbled with a small smirk.

"I'll do it all." Varia said, kissing him, "You saved us today anyway."

"Hey now, you and Henry helped too. I didn't do it all myself." Blayne said, putting an arm around her waist.

"Whatever." She mumbled, pressing her lips to his again. He kissed her in return and their tongues pressed together. The bed was definitely getting warmer already as they touched one another and made out.

Blayne grabbed her cute little butt and leaned back to look at her.

"Varia, is it bad that I miss this? Hurriedly making love in strange worlds and exotic places?" Blayne said, caressing her bottom in both hands.

"I don't know, I like it too." Varia said with a sheepish little grin.

She rubbed her crotch against him, squirming about in her desire.

"Go ahead and turn around. I want a piece of your delicious little pussy." Blayne said, squeezing her butt again.

Varia smiled lustily and crawled about under the blankets. Her butt poked out from the covers and she straddled his face. He could feel her tongue sliding up and down his half-erect cock.

"It's been entirely too long since I saw that." He said, staring at her damp slit in the dark. He teased his tongue up and down it, making Varia coo in pleasure.