Living Guildpact 2

Jace approached, and the roles shifted, as if players on a stage had passed around their scripts. Where once stood a conqueror there was now a convict. An assistant, now a judge. The Living Guildpact stared at the parun of the Azorius and spoke with the wisdom and earnestness of the Jace Vraska knew well.

"The Living Guildpact maintains balance between the guilds of Ravnica. You, Azor, parun of the Azorius, are an inherent part of Ravnica, and have caused imbalance not just on my home, but on countless other planes."

Vraska stood still and listened. Azor was quivering, cowering like a kitten. He could have fought, could have tackled Jace on the spot, but there was deeper magic at work, a powerful level of hieromancy Vraska could not see or understand that kept the sphinx in check. The evocation of status had halted Azor in his tracks, and he listened with wide round eyes to his sentencing. Jace, meanwhile, did not try to tower over Azor. He did not try to physically dominate or intimidate. His posture was calm and measured, his eye contact constant. This was an act of humility, of accepting something he never asked for.

Jace continued, "Not only did you decide it was your place to govern what was not yours, you also never stopped to consider the consequences of your actions. Ixalan is in peril, Ravnica was built to be unstable after you departed, and countless other worlds have likely suffered from your deliberate intervention. Whatever your intentions were, you did not seek to understand the full ramifications of your choices."

***

Jace continued, a crease on his brow and a grimace in his expression. "Your intentions were noble, but the effect of the Immortal Sun on Ixalan has been catastrophic. You and the Immortal Sun are a danger to the stability of this plane."

A strange haze of blue magic shifted across the sphinx's head, vanishing as quickly as it had appeared.

Jace stepped away, the magic in his eyes gone, and spoke with the authority of the Guildpact. Vraska felt a chill run down her neck as he spoke, and realized for the first time just how much power that position carried.

"You will be the master and caretaker of Useless Island. You will not be able to leave, and you will never meddle in the lives of sentient beings ever again. Leave the Immortal Sun here and depart with your life. As Living Guildpact, that is my decree."

The invocation of Ravnican magic around the parun of the Azorius lifted Jace's words, and Vraska felt a strange foreign rush of law magic ringing in his voice.

Azor blinked. Vraska snuffed out the petrification spell she had kept charged throughout their meeting.

Azor spread his wings, which spanned the width of the throne room. He beat them, rose into the air, and flew out the door Vraska and Jace had entered through without another word.

His silhouette vanished above the canopy in the distance, and he was gone.

THE ARBITER OF LAW LEFT CHAOS IN HIS WAKE