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Lagoons were always Alessia’s favorite, and Ixalan had the best in the multiverse. Blue water like crystal, soft white sands, dark green jungles dotted with the vibrant colors of tropical fruits and flowers, the occasional beautiful bird of paradise - and if she’s lucky, no dinosaurs. At least, not the carnivorous kind.
On this particular day, she had gotten very lucky indeed. She’d found a gorgeous little lagoon on a small island, barely a cloud in the sky, and nothing had disturbed her for hours. She sat, leaning against a log, shield stuck in the sand a few feet away, sketchbook open in her lap, rendering in loving detail every bit of the serene calm before her. She unfurled her wings, stretched her arms and legs out, and yawned.
“Hmm, I think it’s time for a little sunbathing. Maybe even a swim. I’ve been sitting here alone for hours, and it doesn’t seem like anything is going to interrupt me. Plus my last blue pencil is barely a nub from all the water…”
Alessia started packing away her supplies, and just as she was standing up to take off her armor, something small and furry scampered up her back and onto her shoulder. Startled, she jumped to her feet, sending what was apparently a small monkey darting down her front and behind a rock. After a brief pause, she shook her head a laughed.
“Haha, hey there little guy! You gave me quite the scare there; though it looks like I scared you even more. C’mere,” she said, leaning down and motioning towards the frightened animal, who was peeking out at her from behind the rock. “I must look like a strange dinosaur to you, what with all the feathers. I promise I don’t bite. I’ve even got some dried fruit if you’d like a snack…”
She turned around and picked up her satchel, taking out a small pouch of fruit, and looked back up just in time to see yet another small and furry thing come flying out of the jungle and run headlong into her breastplate.
Alessia leapt backwards, wings snapping out to their full length, shield flying to her left arm as the beginnings of divine magic began to spark around her right. She lowered herself into a defensive stance…
And then stood back up, dropping her shield beside her and letting the magic fade away, as she saw what had actually run into her: a tiny moonfolk child, now perched on the log Alessia had been leaning against, rubbing her head where she’d struck against Alessia’s armor.
“Owie……”
Every bit of fight went out of Alessia immediately. Her wings drew back in, arms dropped to her side. Moonfolk weren’t native to Ixalan, or anywhere else other than Kamigawa, as far as she knew. Which meant planeswalker. And was that just the smallest trace of the vampiric blood-curse of Innistrad she felt tickling the back of her spine?
“Now who might you be?” she asked.
The child looked up from the log, still rubbing the top of her head, and smiled a wide, toothy grin. A pointy -toothed grin, Alessia noted.
“I’m Megumi!” she proclaimed. Then, noticing Alessia’s wings, “Are you an angel? Daddy told me about angels. They said they’re all ‘stuck up buzzkills.’” She clapped her hands over her mouth. “I’m sorry. That was a rude thing, wasn’t it? Mommy says I shouldn’t be rude. She also says not to talk to strangers, but you don’t seem like a bad person. Your wings are so pretty!” She floated up off the log a bit, then immediately back down, again rubbing her head. “My head hurts…”
Alessia just stared at the girl for a moment, speechless. And then burst into laughter. “You’re quite something, aren’t you?” She stepped up in front of Megumi, kneeling in front of her and reaching up to place a hand on her head. Megumi pulled away slightly before tentatively allowing Alessia to touch her. “Nobody wins with a headbutt kid. ‘Specially not a headbutt straight into full plate. Here, I’m no good at healing but I can at least help with the pain a bit, and it doesn’t look like you broke skin, thankfully. What in Avacyn’s name are you doing out here all on your own, rocketing into unsuspecting strangers like that?”
Megumi frowned, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to. I just wanted to pet the monkey and I wasn’t paying attention and then you right there and I couldn’t slow down and,”
“Hey. It’s fine, really. I’m pretty sure my armor is harder than your skull.”
Alessia looked over her shoulder to where the monkey was now gathering some of her dried fruit, which had fallen out on the sand where she dropped her bag, all the while keeping a cautious eye on Megumi. She stood up and walked over to him, slowly picking up her bag and gently reaching an arm out to him, trying to calm his skittishness with a bit of her angelic presence. He looked at her suspiciously for a moment, then clambered up her arm and back onto her shoulder, where he sat munching his fruit.
Megumi floated up next to them. “Can I pet him now?” she asked. Alessia laughed, “Yes, but slowly and carefully. He’s scared of you, I imagine. I doubt he’s used to Soratami floating around his jungle!” Megumi reached out her hand and brushed him gently on the head; he flinched at her touch, but didn’t flee.
“You said Soratami, does that mean you’re a planeswalker like me and Mommy and Daddy and Miss Sophi?” she asked.
“Yup. You’re not gonna find angels around Ixalan much either, so it seems we’re both a bit out of place, aren’t we? Now you didn’t answer my question earlier; why are you out here all alone? Where’s Mommy and Daddy and Miss Sophi?”
Megumi’s ears drooped low. “I don’t know where Mommy and Daddy are. I’m not very good at plane-walking yet so I don’t know how to go home.” Her eyes got a little wet; Alessia’s heart felt like it might snap in two. Megumi sniffled and looked up, “But Miss Sophi is… umm…” She looked around at the empty lagoon. “Oops.”
Alessia smiled at her. “Don’t worry kid, we’ll find her, and then we’ll get you back to Mommy and Daddy.”
At that moment, a voice came out of the jungle from the direction Megumi came from.
“Megumi! Child, please come back! I can’t just - ow, Avacyn’s light, stupid vines - I can’t just float over all the vines and roots like you can! You have to - Heron’s Grace! - slow down! I can’t protect you if you go running, or, uh, flying off like this!”
And stumbling out of the jungle, pulling her leg free of a stray vine and brushing leaves out of her short hair, came a very tall woman, dressed in armor bearing the symbol of Avacyn. Armor that looked almost exactly like Alessia’s Goldnight plate, as a matter of fact. And that voice was… familiar.
And then Alessia remembered the name Megumi had used.
“Sophi?”
The woman froze, and finally looked up from brushing her cloak clean, arms falling to her side.
“Alessia?”
In an instant Alessia was in front of her, powerful wings propelling her across the distance between them with a single beat (the monkey, forgotten, leaping off her shoulder and running into the jungle). She barely came up to Sophi’s breast - Alessia had always been shorter than the regular angels - but she wrapped her arms tight around her middle and enfolded them both in her wings, pulling herself tight against Sophi.
“Avacyn’s light, is it really you, Sophi? I thought for sure all of Flight Goldnight was gone, I didn’t even know regular angels could be planeswalkers, I never dared hope I’d see any of you again, I…” Her hands found their way up Sophi’s back and between her shoulders. “Gods, Sophi, what happened to your wings? What did they do to you?”
Sophi recoiled from her like she’d been shot with an arrow, pushing out of Alessia’s embrace and stepping away rapidly. She wrapped her arms about her shoulders and turned away, unable to meet Alessia’s eyes.
“I… I had to hide. From the hunters. And I don’t deserve them. Not after the things I’ve done.”
She did this to herself . Alessia’s heart shattered into pieces, and she felt tears well up in her eyes. She took a few careful steps, reaching her arm out towards Sophi.
“Gods, Sophi. It’s not your fault. It was never your fault. What that thing did to us, you couldn’t have…”
“I should have been stronger!” Sophi was yelling now. Her eyes darkened, showing a madness that Alessia was all too familiar with. Alessia took a step back, shield coming back to her grasp, preparing herself.
“WE should have been STRONGER! We were their protectors! And we cut them down like so much deadwood! I’m a MURDERER, Alessia! A MONSTER! And you! You ran away! You left us all to die! To… to…” She choked back a sob. “To turn into that THING!”
She was terrifying, eyes wild and full of pain and regret, her arms flung out to her side, fingers flexing as if the choke the life out of something, now advancing toward Alessia.
“Did you even KNOW, Alessia? Did you see the abomination that became of Gisela and Bruna, that horrible thing, twisted together and screaming eternally as it massacred entire villages? Did you even KNOW?”
Alessia was crying now, shield raised in front of her, wanting to turn and run but refusing to give up her ground. For Megumi’s sake.
“Sophi, I… I didn’t know. I didn’t see! I ran because I couldn’t bear to kill any more of our sisters, Sophi! Claira, and Jezebel, and Elle; they all died because they forced me to choose between them and the townsfolk. Gods, Sophi, please! Please don’t make me hurt you! I don’t want to hurt you!”
And then Megumi was there, throwing herself around Sophi’s neck and sobbing into her collar.
“Miss Sophi! Please stop! You’re scaring me again!”
Just like that, the madness slowly left Sophi’s eyes. She slumped to her knees in the sand, wrapping her arms around Megumi. “Oh dear. I’ve done something horrible, haven’t I?” she said, her voice barely a whisper.
Alessia walked carefully over to the pair, again dropping her shield to the ground. As she approached, Sophi grabbed her arm and pulled her into the embrace, and Alessia slowly let her wings wrap around the trio, all quietly crying together on the shores of an Ixalan lagoon, all so very, very far from home.
“I’m sorry, Alessia. I didn’t mean it. I just… sometimes, I feel Emrakul’s touch return, and I… I can’t control myself. It feels just like back on Innistrad, just whispers and confusion and fury. I hope I didn’t hurt you.”
Alessia hugged her tighter. “You could never hurt me, Sophi. Even when we were sparring you could never touch me!”
Sophi laughed through her tears, “I suppose that’s true! Always hiding behind that shield of yours!”
Now they were all laughing. Not a joyous laughter, but a release of so many emotions, all at once. Regret, loss, loneliness, all melting away as they held each other.
“Are you friends again, Miss Sophi?”
Sophi pulled the girl in tighter. “Yes, dear. The best of friends.”
Megumi smiled up at the two of them, “Good! Mommy says everybody needs to have friends. I’m glad you found one of yours, you seemed so lonely all the time.”
Alessia stood, pulling the rest of them to their feet with her.
“What happened isn’t your fault Sophi. The power of that thing was… unimaginable. The only reason I got out was because I already had my spark, and I didn’t have the same connection to Avacyn as the rest of you. But I still heard the whispers, felt the tendrils pulling at my mind; I can’t even begin to imagine what it must have been like for you.”
Sophi held Megumi in one arm and wiped away her tears with the hem of her sleeve. “It was… the worst thing I have ever felt. But it’s over now. I survived. As did you. That’s what’s important.”
Alessia cupped Sophi’s cheek in her hand. “Come back with me. I know some people; several good healers. I’m sure we can help you, get whatever remains of that creature out of your head.”
Sophi shook her head. “No. I must help Megumi return to her parents first, and she isn’t able to direct her planeswalking yet. I just have to follow along and keep her safe until we find our way. If there’s any way I can atone for the things I’ve done, it starts with saving one child.”
“Okay, I’ll come with you. I’ve been a lot of places, done a lot of exploring. And protecting people is what I do these days, I can…”
At that moment, an unholy roar the likes of which Alessia had never heard pierced the silence of the lagoon, sending birds flying out of the jungle on all sides.
“What in the hell… I’ve never heard a dinosaur like that before.”
Sophi clutched Megumi, now shaking and clearly terrified, tight against her side. “That’s not a dinosaur. She’s found us.”
“What? Who’s found you?”
As if as an answer to her question, the trees to their right exploded in leaves and splinters, as a huge cyclops women came barreling out of jungle toward them. Alessia reflexively threw up her arms between them, and a curtain of shimmering golden light sprang up out of the ground to meet the monster’s charge. She collided with it headlong, sending sparks of magic flying as she pummeled it with her massive fists.
“NO! YOU WILL NOT HIDE HER FROM ME!”
Her voice sent tendrils of cold up Alessia’s spine, but she pushed them down. She had a job to do. She picked up her shield and folded her barrier in around them as the cyclops stalked around the outside of her barrier, stopping every few feet to throw another punch or kick at the divine shield.
Alessia turned with her, keeping herself between the cyclops and Sophi and Megumi. “Sophi? What’s going on?”
“This is Grii. She has been chasing us for weeks. She wishes Megumi dead. I do not know why.”
“I will have my VENGEANCE!” the monster yelled at them between attempts to break Alessia’s barrier.
“Megumi, can you planeswalk now?” Alessia asked. The little girl nodded. “Good. When I drop this barrier, you go. Sophi, you follow her. Keep her safe. I’ll distract this one so she can’t come after you. Put some distance on her.”
“What? You can’t stay here, Grii will hurt you!” Megumi cried.
Sophi let her float out of her arms. “Child, I have been in many battles with Alessia, and I have never seen a foe so much as bruise her. She will be okay, I promise.” She turned to Alessia. “Alessia, I…”
“Save it for next time, Sophi. I’ll find you again, somehow, after I’ve dealt with Miss Angry over here.”
Sophi nodded. “Very well. Do not tarry longer than you must, Alessia; I fear this one may be too much for you alone.”
“I can take it. I fight dragons these days. Now… GO!”
With that, Alessia dropped her barrier, right as Grii threw herself at it again, causing her to lose her balance. Alessia dropped her shield and caught the cyclops’ fist in her hands, twisting it down as she swept her legs out from under her and let her momentum carry her into the sand. Behind her, Megumi vanished into the Blind Eternities, followed a split second later by Sophi.
“NO!” shouted Grii, trying to scramble to her feet to leap after them. Alessia threw her full weight on her, pinning her to the ground and laying a haymaker right across her face. Just have to keep her from concentrating on ‘walking.
“Nuh-uh, big girl, you’re playing with me now.”
In a blind fury, Grii threw Alessia off herself, sending her a few feet back. Alessia caught herself with her wings, and then called her shield back to her, once again knocking Grii off balance as it collided with her legs. She lunged upward, and Alessia threw a small barrier right in front of her head, clotheslining her.
“Oh come on, they said you were tough! You’re gonna have to do better than that!” Grii climbed again to her feet, and Alessia prepared to throw herself at the monster.
And she looked right into her one, big, terrifying eye. Saw her vicious, crazed grin through the blood dripping out of a cut on her forehead. And she felt the ice cold tendrils of fear grip her mind like a vice. Like Innistrad all over again. Her hands shook, her knees weakened, her heart pounded in her chest. She felt herself slip, just the tiniest bit, for one moment, and Grii was on her, tackling her to the ground, then dragging her back several feet into the water, where she held her under by the throat as Alessia struggled to break her grip.
Alessia felt her vision going black as Grii squeezed at her windpipe and she fought to not breathe in the water. The cyclops lowered her head to just above the water’s surface, her one eye piercing Alessia’s very being.
“You’re. MINE.”
Alessia could barely hear her over the sound of her thrashing in the water. She saw the village back on Innistrad as her sight darkened. Heard the screams of the villagers as they ran. Felt the heat of the flames. And saw herself, crushing Jezebel’s head with her shield, just trying to stop the madness.
She closed her eyes and let her body go limp.
And the second Grii’s grip loosened, she surged upward through the water, slamming her head into that massive eye. The cyclops screamed and reeled backwards; Alessia pulled herself out of the water, sputtering. She reached out into the Blind Eternities with her spark, looking for the thread of Megumi and Sophi’s departure to latch onto.
Gone. She’d done her job.
She flew forward onto the beach, Grii snatching at her heels. Alessia grabbed her bag, recalled her shield, and launched herself thirty feet into the air. Below her, Grii howled.
“I’LL KILL YOU! You let them get away! Once I’ve slaughtered the runt, I’ll find you, and I’ll pluck your feathers one. By. One. Little bird. Don’t you DARE think this is over!” she spat, then turned and planeswalked away, leaving icy wind and screams in her wake.
Alessia watched her go, then followed suit, departing in a puff of feathers.