Nissa - Stopping The Roil

Nissa had heard stories of the Roil, the force of Zendikar that consumed everything in its path. The stories didn’t seem to be exaggerations. Rocks were raining down around them and the land was shuddering and undulating like the violent waves of an ocean.

The elves lost their balance and tumbled to the ground. Nissa reached for Mazik’s hand and together they scrambled under the overhang. The world around them turned on its head. Trees twisted and bent, jutting out from the ground at odd angles. Boulders popped high into the air and slammed together, cracking and splitting and then hovering like long, jagged teeth. An immense force lurched and snaked through the land itself like a blind madman; roots, rocks, and soil warped and folded to its will.

***

And then all at once it came to her, an overwhelming flood. It was cold and oppressive; it was fear. Nissa had found her connection, she had found the land, and the land was terrified.

She could see it then; the Roil wasn’t an alien force; the Roil was Zendikar’s reaction to the dark knot. It was the land rearing like a spooked horse. So horrified was it of the darkness that it had lost itself to fear.

***

Boulders crashed into the overhang above their heads, sending chunks of rock raining down on them. It wouldn’t hold for much longer.

“Nissa, what do we do?” Mazik’s voice was filled with panic.

Nissa closed her eyes. She did the only thing she could think to do: she began to hum. It was an animist song, the tune that her mother had hummed to her so many times. She dwelled on each note, infusing it with peace, comfort, and reassurance.

When the song ended, everything became still and silent.

Nissa opened her eyes. The land had ceased moving mid-wave. Trees were caught tilting out like elbows. Rocks were paralyzed half-way up their trajectory, and trails of dirt hung like stars in the night sky. It was as though time had stopped.

And there before her was the glowing stream.

***

NISSA’S ORIGIN: HOME