research

Z’arith returned to Darastrith Palace with a fire in her eyes, a mission in her heart, and a number of stitches across her arms from dealing with the riots. She scoured the libraries of the palace for hours, searching for some clue as to her hypothesis about the flux.

Her answer came in the form of a bookcase in the most secluded corner of her own bedroom. That bookshelf had been here when she was coronated, and didn’t look like it had been touched in a very long time even then. It was dusty and dry as the desert itself, and the cover was nearly unreadable from age and from wear. An ancient copy of a Darastrian songbook, Ballads of the Desert Rain.

The songs therein described ancient, powerful bards who were in time able to fly with the dragons. They spun tales of the wisdom and knowledge of the ancestors past, and of the unbridled magical creativity of the past. It spoke of oases littering the desert, many of which had surely dried up in the time since this had been written.

Sure enough, further research found similar songbooks, collected from all across the planes. They spoke of the wisdom of Elpis and an Invictus that was free-thinking. The glimmering, enchanted blooms of an ancient Kuroiki, and a Curu’nen with lush forests and nature mages. Stories abound of the free-wheeling, yet charming scoundrels of Kaldraixen long before her sister ruled it, and of a Livenslurji that wasn’t quite so dark, twisted and unforgiving. Glasbryn rabbitfolk who followed their own dreams and listened to the spirits of their ancestors, and Rilmanal, wild and glorious. There were even lyrics about the sun blurred by the volcanic ash of Xiyaotl.

She wondered how she had missed these in her frenetic searching before, and how it had only hit her in that doctor’s office on Ravnica. Why it hadn’t hit her sooner, while she was there. She knew what those leylines’ colors tended to look like now. The signs were always there!

But there were still far too many questions to be asked. Why was this happening now, and what was the cause? What made the leylines change the first time, and was it this big of a shock? Where should she look for more information? There were other planeswalkers from Chrontomus. What had Emilius found? What had Cecelia found? What had Midnight stolen that could help piece things together?

What should she worry about more, the flux here or the troubles over there? This was home, but the guild wars were getting even more dire. But being there afforded her more time to think, and the less time spent on petty squabbles between panicked leaders, the better. She could bring this to the ones handling this better, first. Nim was a good first stop. Zerah, too, would want to know this. Should she find the other planeswalkers first?

She stopped to take a deep breath, then leaned heavy on her desk. Decisions, decisions.