Fragments of the Myriad Mind

The Tournament

Jyke exhaled.
He stood on one half of an enormous field, almost completely flat. Surrounding the arena, benches rose in stacked tiers. People of all sorts crowded the seats. Humans, of course. The Magical couldn't exist separate from a Summoner on this plane.
In his hand, a large leather tome rested. In it, he knew, were the spells that could bring Creatures from different planes. Jyke was already a potent wizard of his own right, but the spells in this book could help him cast more powerful magicks. Or rather, the mana would give him the energy needed to perform these spells.
Several yards away stood his opponent. Month, they called him. Monoth the Ruiner.
Jyke had heard of him, if only by his enormous reputation. No one knew what was in his Library, or tome, just as no one knew what spells were contained in Jyke's.
However, he had heard that Monoth had a famous spell, his signature play, as it were. The most specific thing he had heard was that it was some sort of necrotic enchantment.
But Jyke had a secret.
Jyke and Month were both planeswalkers, as were all wizards of their order. The Summoners of Synn. That was the authority of this plane. Synn was a vast land. rolling hills and blazing plains. The people native to Synn had started off as nomads, wandering the endless prairies, until the Summoners had come. This was all very long ago, and the accounts were not very accurate, but all the Summoners knew that they were not originally from Synn. They had come from a different plane. From where?
They had yet to discover.
As the name suggests, most planeswalkers could travel between the planes. But try as they might, the Summoners could not. They suspected that their ancestors had come to Synn to escape something, and sacrificed their freedom for safety, trapping themselves on the flat expanse.
It didn't feel much like being trapped. The Summoners not competing in the Tournament ruled Synndor, the capital, and the native humans worshiped them as deities, due to their ability to conjure all manner of things.
Competitors, however, could only cast what was in their Library, and only in the Arena. Their magic was severely limited to make things fair. The Tournament was always running, and the champions of it could join the Council in Synndor, able to use their magic freely. The rest, though, were endlessly fighting to become free. The Tournament ensured that only the strongest, the wisest, the cleverest, and most skilled would rule the humans.
And here Jyke was, at the battle that would change his life forever. For better or worse, depending on how it went.
On the opposite side of a black line that split the arena in half, Monoth stood. He has is own Library in his hand, a look of determination on his face. Jyke knew that look.
Monoth would win this fight, or he would die trying.
The crowd grew silent as the judge raised his hands. With a magically enhanced voice, he boomed. "Let the battle... Begin!"
Jyke flipped open his Library, quickly memorizing the spells. His book was enchanted, so that the pages would be randomized. The first seven pages contained a mountain and a plain, firstly. Not as much as he would've liked, but it should be enough. Among the creatures he could Summon, Bruenor Battlehammer stood out. The mighty dwarf had grown on Jyke. He had certainly helped him out of many tight spots during a battle. He also recognized the two other warriors, an orc and a loxodon. "Loxodon Sergeant" was the title of the commander. His calm authority had helped other soldiers to victory in the past. To have him early on would be great. However, both Bruenor and Lux took a lot of mana, or energy, that Jyke didn't have yet. His best play would be to try and get out the cheaper orc as soon as possible. He scanned the rest of the incantations, fondly recalling the many times he had called upon these spells.
He looked up to see Monoth was also satisfied with his opening hand. After the judge had confirmed this, the battle began.
Monoth started first. On his left, the ground began to quake as a small forest began to sprout out of the earth.
"Pass." Monoth declared in his cold, quite voice. The competitors were close enough to hear each other speak, as that was required often during the battle.
Now that it was Jyke's turn, he opened his book again. Each turn, the Summoner received a new spell. This time was another plains mana. One more mana, and he could eventually cast his more powerful warriors. He turned to his left, using his mountain mana spell, forcing a large spike of rock out of the arena's floor.
"Pass." Jyke announced.
Monoth smiled. Neither he nor Jyke had a cheap spell. He had more time. Jyke saw him flip a page over in his Library. His smile widened slightly, as he made murky water and large-canopied trees form into a swamp next to his little grove.
His smile turned to a grimace. The forest wilted and the swamp drained, their energies visibly appearing to float toward Monoth. The Ruiner combined the energies with a motion from his spare hand, shaping them into a ring of lock picks and other odds and ends. The spell complete, Month explained his creation.
"Thieves' Tools," He said in his drawling voice. "With them, I break into a safe, and gain a treasure token."
As he spoke, the floating tools did as Month described, picking the lock on a ghostly safe, which disappeared soon after. A small chest appeared next to the forest and swamp. The keys remained floating, but drifted off to the side.
"Pass." Monoth said.
Jyke read his new page. Another creature. Bugbear by the looks of it. Only three mana required. Good. Jyke closed his Library, casting a new land. A plains mana. A small area next to his miniature mountain elevated slightly, the sun illuminating it with a brighter light then would be normal. The grass grew tall, and small trees were spaced apart occasionally.
Now that he had the mana he needed, Jyke remembered the orc spell. He willed the energy from the mountain, making it crumble down into the ground a bit, as well as from the plains. The sunshine dimmed and the grass grew dry. Harvesting the energy from both lands, Jyke's mind soared across the cosmos, quickly finding who he was looking for. In a strange city, a tall orc dressed in plate armor clanked down a busy street, many different axes and pole arms strapped to his pack or in his hands. He nodded to a neighbor, whistling a merry tune.
Then he noticed Jyke. Jyke would be invisible to everyone else, but the orc recognized him. He sighed. "He we go again." Jyke used the energy to transport the ore back to Synn, placing him in front of him on the battlefield. To orc looked dizzy and confused. He would be going through summoning sickness. Being teleported through time and space could do that to one's mind. He would be in fighting condition soon.
"Armory Veteran." Jyke told Monoth.
Monoth raised and eyebrow. "A creature already? Impressive."
Jyke ignored the slithering voice. "Pass."
As it became Month's turn, his forest sprang back to life, the swamp refilling as well.
Monoth looked at is new page, nodded, and then summoned a new land. Clouds formed in the sky beside the swamp. Month immediately drained the forest, swamp, and clouds, calling their energy to him as he cast a creature himself. A pale, stringy-haired, gaunt looking fiend appeared in front of Monoth. It too had a dazed look to it.
"Vampire Spawn." Monoth smirked.
Instantly, Jyke felt a sudden pain. Nothing serious, but definitely painful.
"When I summon this creature, it drains some of your life, and gives it to me." Monoth explained.
And Month definitely looked more lively. Being more healthy from when he started would feel good.
Jyke could sense the creature's power. It was a 2, the same as his orc, but the Vampire Spawn had higher toughness; 3, while the Veteran had a 2. If it came to battle, the Spawn would win.
"Pass." Month said confidently. He definitely had the upper hand so far. Jyke intended to change that.
His new spell for that round was another mountain. Exactly what he needed. He placed it next to his other mountain, which had healed along with the plains from his last turn. He immediately tapped the two mountains and his plains to summon the Hulking Bugbear. His mind sped across the stars, reaching a solitary cave that held a large hairy humanoid. He had more barbaric armor than the orc, and carried a nasty looking morning star. When he saw Jyke, he smiled broadly, displaying his pointed teeth. Moments later they were back on Synn, the bugbear beside the orc.
"This Hulking Bugbear has the haste effect, which allows it to attack immediately after being summoned." The brute didn't look at all drowsy, quite the opposite in fact.
"Attack." Jyke ordered. He knew the bugbear had a toughness of 3, meaning that the Vampire Spawn couldn't defeat it in combat. More importantly, however, he knew that the bugbear had a power of 3, meaning he could beat the Spawn easily.
Jyke enjoyed Monoth's look of surprise as the large creature dashed astonishingly quickly across the battlefield. The Vampire Spawn leaped forward and bit into the bugbear's arm, but the beast shook it free and brought down its Morningstar to finish the undead being.
The Spawn disappeared and a gravestone rose out of the dirt slightly beside Monoth. His graveyard.
"Pass." Jyke said.
Monoth composed himself and turned a page over. His lands regenerated as he o so. He studied his Library for a moment, going back to the first few pages, thinking. At last it seemed that he decided something, and he stole the energy from his lands to fuel a new creature.
"Sylvan Shepherd." He said. "A Human Druid with a power of 2 and a toughness of 3." After saying this, he also looked towards the chest from earlier. It exploded, and the jewels within zoomed over liquified into energy, forming another creature.
"Neverwinter Dryad. Power; 1. Toughness; 1."
He studied the dizzy figures, then nodded.
"Pass turn."
Jyke's lands restored, and he looked at the new Library page with interest. An artifact. A piece of equipment, more specifically, and to be even more detailed, A dagger. could equip it to one of his creatures to increase their power by one. But not yet. He'd wait.
For now, he added another plains to the battlefield. Then, using all of his four of his lands, he felt the familiar rush of traveling through nowhere and everywhere at the same time. He ended up on a snowy mountainside. A dwarf wrapped in warm clothing and thick armor battled a huge white wolf. The wolf was clearly losing, blood running from several axe gashes. Bruenor darted around the canine, slashing it with his axe whenever he could get an opening. Eventually the wolf collapsed from blood loss, and Bruenor looked up to see Jyke.
"I be just warmin' up for ye fight." He said, his smile visible through his thick red beard. Back on the battlefield, Jyke's army was starting to grow. First the Veteran, then bugbear, now Bruenor? The makings of a fine legion.
"Bruenor Battlehammer," Jyke said. "5/3 with several neat abilities."
With a power of 5, Bruenor was a strong warrior, and Jyke was glad he was on his side.
"Monoth, I will attack you with the Hulking Bugbear." If he attacked with the Veteran as well, then Monoth could have his Shepherd block the attack, and the Shepherd would win. So, Jyke played it safe.
The bugbear charged Month, but the dryad stepped in between the two, driving the bugbear back before ultimate being defeated. Another tombstone in Month's graveyard.
"Pass."
Monoth immediately created another swamp, then tapped both swamps and his cloud land to bring forth a book. This one was bound in black.
"Grim Tutor." Monoth announced triumphantly. He set his Library down as well as the Tutor. He finished the spell by sacrificing three of his life points. Blood hit the pages. It would hurt a lot to Monoth, but not unbearably so. The Tutor's pages started turning, and eerily, the same pages started turning in Monoth's Library. It stopped on a particular page and, through the pain, Monoth smiled a smile that told Jyke he would be in trouble soon. Monoth touched the page, taking it into his memory as the Tutor faded from this plane, the spell complete.
"Pass. Turn." He said emphatically.
Another plains from his library. He put it into play. 5 mana total. More than enough to cast anything in his known pages at the moment.
Tapping one plains, Jyke quickly summoned the dagger. Items were much easier to retrieve than creatures.
"Spare Dagger." Jyke explained. "And because of one of Bruenor's abilities, I can equip this dagger to a creature without having to bind it with mana." Jyke took hold of the dagger and walked onto the battlefield.
"Here you go, Veteran." He said, handing it to the orc. The warrior excepted it gratefully,
"And due to another one of Bruenor's abilities, the Armory Veteran's power increases by another 2 for each equipment attached to it. So in this case, the Veteran's total power is 5."
But Jyke wasn't finished yet. He tapped another plains to create another piece of equipment.
"Leather Armor." He said. "It provides an additional point of toughness to the wearer, as well as minor magical protection."
Jyke gave the armor to Bruenor, whose original armor was magically replaced by the leather one.
"And again, because of his ability, Bruenor not only gets another toughness point, but also 2 power points as well. So, Bruenor is now a 7/4.
Jyke paused to let the weight of this sink in.
"Now," Jyke said. "I will attack you with everything, Monoth."
All three of his creatures charged forward with their different battle cries. The Sylvan Shepherd engaged in combat with Bruenor, protecting Monoth from him but also sacrificing herself. The bugbear and the orc rushed past the Shepherd and Bruenor and attacked Monoth. Monoth protected himself with the allowed shield spells, but his life points would still decrease by 8, leaving him at 11 total.
"Pass turn." Jyke said, smiling.
Monoth still seemed a little fazed but went on with his turn. He seemed interested with his new page and tapped a swamp and the cloud land to cast it.
"Intrepid Outlander." He said. The orc had scout clothing and carried a bow with a quiver on her back. "2-3 with reach."
He tapped the forest and the last swamp as well to cast a sorcery spell. He shot the mana's energy at Bruenor who flinched at it, but the energy only hit his armor, destroying it.
His old armor returned, but the Leather Armor disappeared.
"Pass."
Jyke's next page revealed just what be wanted. Yes, he had a secret. It wasn't that he was a planeswalker. It was that he knew another planeswalker. A real planeswalker.
After casting the spell, the ground exploded in front of him and Nahiri, Storm of Stone appeared.
"Hey, Jyke. Need a little help?" Nahiri asked.
"Not really. But you might be just what we need to win this." Jyke replied.
"As long as I get to do some fighting, I'm down."
"Perfect. Would you mind destroying that Outlander over there?"
"Not a problem." Nahiri said, shooting sharp rocks to defeat her.
"With that out of the way, Jyke said. "Let's finish this. Attack!" The Armory Veteran swung in for 5. The Hulking Bugbear hit for 3. Now at 3 life, Monoth's shields trembled. Bruenor Battlehammer charged forward with his ax finish him off with 5 attack power. Right before he could, Monoth cried out.
"Wait! I concede!"
And just like that, Jyke won.
Nahiri patted him on the back before swirling away in a tornado of stone. The Veteran banged his sword on his chest plate. The bugbear roared in victory. Bruenor threw his one-horned helmet in the air in celebration.
He had done it. Jyke won the Tournament.
Now, he could be free.
Now, he could rest.