Mental Defenses 3

We are Emrakul. All are Emrak— "Gah! No." Jace pushed the swirling words from his mind with a stern swipe. "And stay out."

Tamiyo had taught him how to combat Emrakul's maddening touch, but maintaining the mental bulwark was more challenging than the moonfolk made it seem. That was a problem. A big problem for his plan.

Every time he focused for too long on something other than the Eldrazi, Her tainted lattice would creep back into his head, corrupting his defenses and burrowing into the deepest recesses of his mind.

***

It was the first time he had actually seen Her: the titan, Emrakul.

Jace was transfixed.

Emrakul was bigger, he could swear, than either of the others. And, in her way, far, far more powerful. She had only been on this world for a short time, and already so much of it seemed to belong to her. All of Innistrad had uprooted itself to follow her. Cultists, warped into her likeness, dragged themselves over the rocks, abandoning all that they had been in their former lives. Animals and monsters alike, on the land, in the sky, and in the sea flocked behind her as she went. The trees, mosses, and brambles, even the algae trailed itself from the water to be closer to her warping presence.

Jace, too, felt the urge to go to Her. I'amrakul.

No.

He wanted to shake himself. He had to clear his mind. He had to think. He couldn't let Her have what She wanted. He once again mimicked what Tamiyo had taught him, clenching his hands into fists with the effort. The process of ensuring that there was no residue of delirium was not unlike clearing away cobwebs from inside one's head. Thick, lattice-like cobwebs exuded by a towering Eldrazi monstrosity hell-bent on consuming the mind of every living thing on this world. Jace shuddered.


EMRAKUL RISES