Artificer and the Flamekin
The vastness of the blind eternities stretched ever on wards, filled with unknown and distant stars. They each contained their own vast and unique plane, none like the others.
And, it was here that a young artificer was searching. A silly lost adventurer trying to make her way around. It was not even a month ago that she had traveled for the first time. A creation gone wrong, though the artificer felt she had been sabotaged.
Shaking the thought away, she remembered the warmth of her home, Kaladesh. It was so different compared to the place she had been taken to. A cold place of endless buildings. It was there she encountered a man named Ral Zarek, who informed her of planeswalking. And apparently, she had the spark for it.
Though she spent some time there in complete wonder, she longed to return home. It was with this that the young planeswalker wandered through the chaos of the blind eternities. The artificer from Kaladesh, Saheeli Rai.
I must be getting close. I know it!
Reaching out towards a brilliantly bright star, she knew it had to be this one. The artificer gripped and felt the pull once more. And as the light and imagery flooded into her sight, she was filled with amazement, wonder, and a little bit of disappointment; however, it honestly didn’t remain very long.
She was not home, but she had entered into a fantastical new world. One completely alien to her understanding.
Saheeli found herself in a huge meadow, flowers of various colors and sizes all around. A forest off in the distant, and a beautiful sunny blue sky above, which unfortunately lacked any sign of aether.
Birds could be heard off in the distance, and here was the buzzing of bees. She could smell the sweetness of the air.
She softly whispered to herself, “Where in good creation have I come to now?”
@ivegard
It was only the third time Ivegard had gone back home since the beginning of her long pilgrimage. Coming back with tales of “faraway” lands and cultures, and marked her arms to remember them. As was now her new habit, she took a job, like any pilgrim, to carry a letter from a soulstoke to a nearby kithkin town.
‘Walking there would shorten the travel, but she took these jobs precisely to not be seen disappearing every time. And taking shortcuts wasn’t exactly following her Path. Descending from the crags, she set out on the road.
Having traveled some distance, Saheeli was doing her best to find some sort of sign of civilization. Perhaps this place didn’t have intelligent creatures? Most of what she saw was strange wildlife. All providing amazing inspiration for lifecraft creations.
As Saheeli made her way towards the nearby forest, she saw small billows of smoke in the sky, “oh! That must be something.”
She quickly rushed forward excited at the find that was just waiting beyond the cover of the trees. And as she grew closer, she was not disappointed.
A small figure was floating causally across the sky, attached to a number of balloons. A bit dumbfounded at first, she hadn’t quite expected that. However, a huge smile quickly founds its place on her face. A village came into view, though smaller in size than what she was used to. The buildings were not of a height she had expected. They were…short.
And as she moved closer, Saheeli saw why. The inhabitants were the size of dwarves, though less wide and more agile in appearance. The artificer cautiously approached, not quite knowing what to expect.
One of the small humanoids took note of her and gave a wave, “welcome traveler. Aren’t you a strange lookin’ one?”
An older man with a crooked cane. “A-ah, Hello. I suppose I am.”
She glanced down. Her garb was so stark and different. And despite not being very tall compared to others on Kaladesh, Saheeli towered over this individual.
“Well as lon’ as you don’t cause any troubl’, you shall be welcom’.”
The artificer gave a smile and a bit of an awkward nod, “oh that is very kind. Thank you. I uh, don’t suppose you could tell me the name of this town? I have gotten a bit lost.”
As Saheeli spoke, a number of the locals took an interesting. Almost like she was a magnet, a number flocked to her in awe. She just did her best to smile and be polite.
One of the younger looking individuals tugged at her robes, while others gawked at the twisted and decorative filigree on her attire. The older one just chuckled.
“Are you a small giant? Or a big kithkin?”
One of the kids piped up a bit bolder than the others. Saheeli gave a soft laugh, “Oh? Well, which one do you think I am?”
She tried to avoid giving a direct answer. Luckily, she was used to drawing in a crowd, though this one was definitely quite different.
The road was known for being uneventful and protected, it was not the ideal for her, but better that than trying to brave the woods where elves would probably be curious of her passage. And if not them, some of the trees might have shook her up.
The town, and the fields around it, were pretty typical of Kithkin construction. They weren’t known for their originality, even if new ideas spread very fast among them once they adopted them. She saw a few of them working in the fields, lifting their heads at her passage and watching her warily. As soon as she saw the first kithkin, she sensed it.
The Kithkins’ thoughtweft was always a marvel for her to feel, thousands of feelings, and opinions creating an identity she could sense of the town itself, way more imposing than each individual kithkin. Without a doubt her presence was already known of most of the town by now.
Seeing the kithkins was a bit of a relieve, after the last months seeing nothing but weird-looking people, humans, kor, aven, of all sorts.
When she approached the actual streets however, she did not see an oval shaped head or large eye looking at her. But she could feel the heavy rumbling of the thoughtweft around her. She went back to see the kithkins in the fields, they eyed her as she made her progress through the plants, fearing maybe that I’d set them on fire? Flesh people were the same everywhere it seemed, even home.
“Hello, do you know where I can find the cenn?
-What w’d’you want with the cenn?
-I’m a pilgrim, I’ve a message for them.”
The kithkin shrugged, the information without a doubt being taken by all the kithkins around the flamekin.
“She’s going to the weird one to see what she wants.
-The weird one?
-Yee, another one from outta town, she’s on the other side of town with the others.
-That’s why I didn’t see anyone! And you’re here?”
He shrugged once again.
“Somone must work the fields, y’know? That’s not like I didn’t see her.”
“Thank you, and good afternoon!”
Ivegard followed the summary indications of the kithkin, and sure enough, she could soon feel a large group of individual kithkins, all sharing the flame of the thoughtweft. And of something else, sticking out like gold in a coal vein, in the middle of them. Someone curious and wondering, it seemed.
When she approached enough to see the crowd, she saw the silhouette standing above all the kithkins. Too small for a giant, no horns, too big for a boggart… A human?!
“oh! You’re a baby giant!”
“No! A huge Kithkin!”
“An ugly elf!”
The children kept shouting excitedly as they encircled Saheeli. The artificer couldn’t do much else, but keep a smile on her face. She patted on of the kids on the head.
Glancing around, she tried to find something or someone to help with the situation, but she wasn’t seeing very mu… OH MY WORD! THAT PERSON IS ON FIRE!
The individual approaching upon the scene was unlike anything Saheeli had ever seen. An aetherborn? No. An elemental? Maybe?
She only stared in wonder, before returning to the moment as one of the kithkin children tugged at her hand.
“Miss! What’s the right answer? What are you?”
Saheeli inwardly gasped at the cute humanoid child looking up at her. She couldn’t disappoint!
Gesturing towards her attire, she gave a bright smile. She extended her arm and some bits of metal formed into a mechanical bird as she poured mana into her creation.
“I am an inventor!”
While the children occupied the kithlings were distracting the human, she went to the cenn. She was watching the children and the human intently, ready to react to any danger posed by the stranger. Curiosity was bubbling, both amongst the kithkin and the human.
She hailed the cenn, but the leader was already turning to greet her.
“Cenn Coan? Ivegard, Pilgrim. I have a message from Soulstoke Serulis for you.”
The flamekin took a tablet behind her and gave it to the kithkin while the human was showing her (quite impressive) toys to the children.
“Oh, that old flame is still burning uh? He was a pilgrim, too, when I first met him. Thanks.
-I didn’t know you knew each other for that long!
-Doesn’t really matter does it? It’s peculiar that you come at the same time as this… ‘inventor’.
-I see it as my path… I’ve met her kind once, very far from here…
-You did? Maybe your path did lead you here today, my friend, I’ve never heard of such a being. What are they, elves? She doesn’t act like an elf.
-No, no, they call themselves hiou-mans. They’re something else entirely.
-Are they dangerous?
-Some are, like some flamekins are… Do you mind if I try to find out what she wants before leaving?
-Leaving so soon? And feel free to do so, I’ll try to rein the children in. Keep me informed.”
She called for them, and they reluctancly returned to their parents, who dispersed soon after, leaving only a couple of adults watching the two strangers. The flamekin got to the human.
“Hi! Really weird seeing you so far from home.”
The kids pouted as their parents herded them away from Saheeli. She couldn’t help but give a sigh of relief. Normally, she could handle the crowds of adoring fans, but it was a bit different on a completely different world. And, she guessed humans weren’t common, or maybe they weren’t even native.
Hearing the voice, she glanced up. It was the strange elemental! Saheeli gasped out a ‘wow.’ Though. she quickly regained her centre, “Hello! Haha yes. I suppose one might say that.”
She rubbed the back of her neck taking a moment to fully take in this individual, “I don’t suppose you may be able to tell me where I am? oh! But before we get too far into that,” she extended a hand, “I am Saheeli Rai.”
And you are fascinating!~
She finished the last bit in her head, though it wasn’t hard to see that she looked at the flamekin with wonder.
After the last six months, Ivegard was already used to people’s first reaction upon seeing her. This Saheeli was leaning more on the curiosity angle than the fear angle, gazing at her eyes wide open. She even extended her hand, thing humans usually avoided to do around her. She took it however.
“Ivegard. So you’ve come all the way here without knowing where you were going? Welcome to, well, this part of Lorwyn. You didn’t meet any flamekin on your way here didn’t you?”
Saheeli was surprised that the fires were not hot, but rather just a gentle warm. It was quite a wonder.
“It is a pleasure Ivegard. It is comforting to find some assistance here. Lorwyn. A lovely name. It was not my intended destination, unfortunately. Though, it is quite beautiful here.”
She shook her head at the last bit, “No, I have not. You are the very first one.”
Flamekin, what an interesting name.
“I have been trying to make my way back home, though have gotten a bit lost and maybe a bit distracted. Are you…”
She remembered the words of the other planeswalker she spoke with. To be careful.
Saheeli whispered in a hushed tone, “Similar to me, since you know what a human is?”
Ivegard smiled.
“I guess so, I travelled too. Not particularly with a destination in mind, though. But I think if you wanted to be discreet, coming here wasn’t the best choice.”
She looked at the road behind the human and nodded towards it.
“My job here is done, I’m on my way out of this town. Do you want me to help you find your destination? I’m pretty sure the kithkins wouldn’t mind. Well, except maybe the children.”
Giving a soft chuckle, Saheeli’s face brightened, “Terrific! This is quite an exciting turn. I wonder if the source of our ability is similar? Oh, how curious. Perhaps if-”
Saheeli quickly took out a notepad and began to scratch down notes as she continued talking to herself. A bit lost in thought, she didn’t quite hear the last bit.
“oh! Ivegard. I am so sorry. Yes yes. As much as I have enjoyed my time here, I do want to figure out how to return home. I have things left to do. Work that needs done.”
Putting her notepad and pen back, Saheeli clapped her hands together and lowered her head, “I would truly be in your debt if you could assist me.”
