Ask Teferi

    DEEP VIOLET EYES ROLLED SKYWARD upon hearing the word riddle. Jace was fond of riddles. It always made her seethe when he knew something she didn’t, so she learned to be quite good at them. Regardless, why she didn’t get up and walk out then and there was a mystery. He was making her think of the very thing she wanted to forget. Perhaps she really did want more tea…

    She took some time to think on it, not saying a word as he finished the tea and sat across from her. She watched as he poured himself a cup, watched the ridiculous amount of sugar he added with a slight look of disgust on her face and finally, she decided to pour herself some.

    Watching the dark liquid slowly spilling into her cup, she couldn’t help but grin at the compliment offered, but her expression quickly darkened upon mention of Belzenlok. After setting the pot back in the middle of them, she looked up to meet his gaze, having settled on the answer to his little riddle.

    “ Pride. And what could the two of us possibly have in common? ”   Or did she just answer her own question?   “ I’m ready to fight Belzenlok. I’m ready to be rid of this pact. I’ve destroyed three demons just fine so far, this one will be no different. ”

Teferi’s lip twitched as Liliana rankled. Powerful people did tend to develop a habit of taking themselves too seriously. Of all the many madness that had afflicted him when he had been a ‘Walker of old, that had fortunately never been one.

Well, there’s no need to keep making fun of her. Despite what she says, something is bothering her.

“I’m sure you are. I’m sure it’s what you’ve dreamed about from the moment you made the pact. Being free at last. But I have to observe, that you don’t really act like someone who’s about to liberate themselves from the dangling sword of fate hanging over them by a fraying thread. Rather, I confess to getting the impression that you’re afraid of something. Not just fighting the demon, but something else. Something that comes...after.”

Teferi lapsed into silence for a while and sipped his tea. He lay his spine-like staff on an empty chair next to him.

    AS THE BOY FLED THE ROOM, Liliana contemplated whether or not threatening to remove the soul of one of the Weatherlights crew members would get her an earful from the captain or not. Then again, what did it really matter? What was she going to do, throw her overboard? They would be arriving at the Stronghold soon and once their business with Belzenlok was complete, they would all part ways.

    Then again, a small, inconsistent part of her almost, maybe, sort of regretted being so mean to the boy. He hadn’t done anything to deserve Liliana’s wrath. This was about Jace, as it almost always was. She frowned down into her teacup and tried to remember the last time they had seen one another. He disappears for months and comes back and doesn’t want anything to do with her? Why?

    Teferi’s entrance went unnoticed until Liliana heard the creak of one of the cupboards opening. Her eyes darted over to him, her signature glare at the ready but he wasn’t looking at her. Her shoulders slumped, almost disappointed as she shifted in her seat.

    His question caught her off guard. Despite having been staring down at the empty teacup, it hadn’t properly processed in her mind that it was empty. She opened her mouth to respond but stopped herself for a moment. Why was he being nice? He surely passed Raff on his way here. But, then again, fresh tea sounded nice.

    She decided not to answer at all. His second question brought that glare back as she whipped her head back around. She was slightly taken aback to see him staring at her, but her piercing violet gaze did not waver.

    “ What’s it to you? ”

Oh dear, Teferi thought, she’s a proud one...

That was fine. Really, it was fine. His long history of antagonizing the prideful for his own amusement didn’t have to come into play here.

“Let me answer your clever deflection with a riddle...”

Oops. Too late now.

 “I have no strength, but I can lift you up. I weigh nothing, but I can bring you down. If you cannot swallow me, I will certainly swallow you. What am I?”

Teferi turned back and finished the tea with deliberate slowness. She’d declined to answer as to whether or not she wanted some, but he made plenty anyway.

When he was finished, he took the seat across from her, poured himself a cup, and then set the pot to the side within easy reach of either of them.

As he stirred an excessive amount of sugar into his tea, he stared at her the way he’d stared at  a number of interesting puzzles over the centuries.

Something I drew for my brother and I encase one of us pulled Teferi and we needed an emblem.

The Dragon

alwaysagreaterpower:

The question made him think of a conversation he’d had some years ago with a wizened and ruined Liliana Vess. She had sought the reclamation of her power, but her share of the Multiverse had been a paupers copper piece compared to what he’d wielded. What he’d lost. And yet, as he stood here on this beach with the little ‘walker… he found himself smirking. A difficult thing for his reptilian maw, but doable.

“Your mind would shatter at the attempt to hold what I have. You cannot know the measure of loss that I have experienced. What the Mending took from me.“ Even now, in his reduced form, he could slay gods and shatter worlds. But it did him no good to wield this paltry power, when what he’d had before was without limit.

There were few Planeswalkers alive who had seen the multiverse before the mending. Ugin was still alive, but crippled from his defeat. The meddlesome sphinx had evidently been killed by his agent, Vraska. What his agents told him of Innistrad was magnificent. Sorin, trapped and likely to die from his wounds. Nahiri, also in danger of losing her life. So few old walkers still lived. Karn, Teferi and Ob Nixilis. None were threats, but all could be made to serve a purpose.

“I intend to reclaim my old power, little match stick. Already the stars align to my will, soon too shall all the multiverse.“

“No doubt.” The Dragon always seemed extra insistent on reminding him and others exactly how insignificant they were in comparison. Teferi might find that more comical if it weren’t also mostly true.

“But is that really all? Toregain your power...and then what? Do you truly just want power for the sake of power? You must want it for something.”

Am I any different? He wondered. He had pursued knowledge and understanding his whole life, to what end? Was knowledge for its own sake any less self-satisfying and myopic than power for its own pleasure?

The Dragon

“You’ve changed, little match stick,“ he mocked as his circling finally brought him to the ground. Bolas could feel the prickling sensation of Teferi’s mind magic- likely searching for a way out. A solution. The little mammal was surely not foolish enough to think he could win a battle of the mind. No living being could endure his maddening touch.

“Yes, changed indeed. Beyond the reclamation of your spark.“ He had found no need to move the pieces around Teferi in so long. Yet here he was, spark renewed and power on the mend. It was a truly pleasant surprise.

Turning away from Teferi, he motioned to the blasted wasteland of magma and stone, curious what would bring Teferi here. “Tell me, how grand it is, to once more be yourself.”

Contrary to popular belief, Nicol Bolas could be amicable. There was no plot at work here, no game or strategy. Everything was in motion. So why be hostile? He had no equal, it was true. But he could at least hold a conversation. This was Teferi’s lucky day… the Forever Serpent was in a good mood.

Was Nicol Bolas, enslaver of worlds being...amicable? No, that couldn’t be possible, could it? Teferi wasn’t that lucky. The Elder Dragon was the very incarnation of duplicitous schemes. He must be up to something.

“To be once more myself...” How did it feel? For a fraction of a second, Teferi considered deflecting, but no, why bother? It wasn’t likely the Dragon was trying to probe him for weaknesses. He could likely rip any information he wanted out of Teferi’s mind, were that the case.

And besides...there might be some things, odd as it might seem to say, that only someone like Nicol Bolas, who too had lived centuries as an Oldwalker might understand.

Teferi’s grip on his staff tightened as his gaze grew distant.

“How does it feel? It feels...like home. It’s not the same, not what it used to be. I no longer have the near infinite mana, nor the nigh-immortal thought-body...but those aren’t the things I missed. I missed the endless horizon. The true and total freedom, the...”

Teferi broke off and looked out over the vast blue waters that surrounded the little island. A strange and vibrant fish leapt suddenly out of the water and arced through the air.

Teferi inclined his head. “There are no fish like that on Dominaria.”

He bent down and grabbed a fistful of warm sand, letting it run through his fingers. The soil of another world.

“I had almost forgotten,” he said, nearly a whisper, “forgotten the truth it held for me. That all Dominaria isn’t enough. There are no limits to my craving to know, to understand. Though it be impossible, and I will certainly die trying, I once more have the chance to try and know infinity...”

He turned back to the looming form of the Dragon, a sudden burning curiosity. Despite knowing his questions would likely be the things that finally got him killed, he couldn’t help it.

The Dragon

Nicol Bolas had long since done away with the idea that fate guided the actions of beings. Destiny, fate. They were concepts that lesser beings used to excuse their own weakness. An Elder Dragon need not hide behind that curtain. He was the oldest and most powerful being in the Multiverse. Nothing guided his actions but his choices.

With his plans going forward, Bolas rested within a volcanic lair. The molten stone was akin to a warm bath for the dragon, allowing him to relax and focus. He had the Immortal Sun and all his enemies were crushed and shattered. Pawns in place. Soon he would move on Ravnica and claim it. Just one more step towards reclaiming his former power.

Yet as he ran simulations and calculations in his head, he felt a ripple in the fabric of the Muliverse. A spell, informing him of a planeswalker’s arrival. And it was nearby. How curious. With a wicked grin he lifted himself from the magma, stretching his wings. Why not investigate? After all, when the Muliverse gives one a new piece to add to the board, one would be a fool not to take it.

He took to the sky, knowing it would take little more than a minute to arrive at the location of the little walker. Would they flee upon sight of a dragon coming toward them, or stand their ground? It would be interesting to see.

And yet, as he came nearer Nicol Bolas was surprised to see an old, familiar, face. One he had tortured in the past, dismembered and mercifully spared. Remarkable. Bolas settled into a glide as he neared, letting his laughter fill the air as he circle the little mage.

“Teferi, my old… hm, enemy doesn’t quite meet expectations as a label, does it? That moniker would imply you were ever a danger to me.“

Teferi didn’t think much of fate. He believed in a certain congruity between action and consequence, and that many actions and consequences in life went forever unseen.

But the idea of some grand design? Unlikely. However, there were moments, moments like this, when he almost felt he could sense a gleefully malicious consciousness at work behind the events of the universe.

The voice sent a chill through him, and for a moment he flashed back several decades to his own dismemberment and decapitation. He’d been an Oldwalker then. He wouldn’t survive such a thing now.

A literal millennium of statesmanship and political experience as the court mage of Zhalfir allowed him to keep his face a neutral mask.

“Lord Nicol Bolas,” He bowed his head, crossing his spine-like staff across his body in a diplomatic greeting. “What a surprise to run across you once again, and here.”

At the same time through the effort of mental magics, he’d split his own consciousness, running scenarios for a fighting retreat with one part, while another part couldn’t help but wonder, with that same curiosity that had often been near-lethal, what the dragon could be doing in a place like this.

As far as Teferi new, this plane was particularly barren of anything that might interest a 25,000+ year old elder dragon.