Jace meets....? The shocking meeting awaits!

Jace was wandering around the borders of the Land of Earth when he suddenly felt a familiar mind. One that he had not felt or even thought about in many years. And one that he was not happy to know made it to this plane. Jace knew they were within 25 meters of himself but he was utterly surprised he couldn't see or hear him. Maybe traversing to this plane had changed more for the dragon than it had for Jace. It was a definite possibility. But this was not a good sign. If He had managed to get here how many other planeswalkers had been trapped in this plane? And an even worse thought, had it been done purposefully. Jace didn't have the answers to these questions just yet but he made a mental note to find them on his travels. For now he pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind and readied himself for what was sure to be a fight. Especially if he really was sensing who he thought he was. There really wasn't any doubt since Jace could hear the planeswalker's thoughts though.

At the moment, Nicol Bolas was not very far away, leaning against a tree near a rock outcropping. Being not far from Ukiyoe, there just so happened to be a sleek, fluffy gray cat prowling nearby. Nicol's eyes wandered over the scene, then stopped dead on the feline. He... loved... cats... they.. were... so... cute!
"Here, kitty..." he said gently, holding out his left hand to the animal. The cat crept a little closer, allowing Nicol to scratch it gently behind the ears. It purred, rubbing itself up against the... age-old planeswalker? No, just an innocent and confused boy. Still, the cat made him happy. The Inner Voice was quiet today, so Nicol was able to fill his time with happy, peaceful pursuits. He had hoped that today would be a good day, too. Little did he know who was in the vicinity... had he been a dragon, he would have seen him already. Now, though, he was blissfully unaware.

Was this truly the same planeswalker he had met in the past? Jace could hear his thoughts and the mind was unmistakably the same, but it was thinking about cats. Why would the great dragon planeswalker Nicol Bolas be thinking about cats of all things? It just didn't make sense. Jace stealthily made his way closer and stopped just 5 meters away form him. What he saw definitely wasn't the dragon he remembered. Staying behind a tree and out of sight, Jace delved completely into Nicol's mind, searching every inch of his memories and the deepest reaches of his mind. What he found was intriguing. This was in fact Nicol Bolas but it wasn't exactly the same as he was when Jace knew him. Traces of his old self were still there but this new Nicol was much more innocent and seemed to not know of his past.

Jace took this as an opportunity to mold what he knew would someday become a powerful planeswalker. He would step out from behind the tree and introduce himself, attempting to win over a new pawn. "Hey." was all he said. That's right, "hey". The ultimate way to manipulate someone. Jace's people skills might be rusty. Or maybe it was simply being in the presence of Nicol Bolas that made him nervous even after seeing into his mind.

Nicol was now hugging the kitten in his arms, laughing softly and cuddling it when the cat made a sudden "meow?" sound. At the same time, Nicol heard a voice say "hey". Turning toward it, he saw the man. The guy didn't seem even remotely familiar to Nicol, but at that moment, the voice in his head popped up, screaming at him to run away as quickly as he could... to put as much distance as possible between them.
"You cannot withstand him in your current state! Flee!" Well, screw that, Nicol thought. The voice had ruined a perfectly good day, so Nicol chose to ignore it. He smiled brightly at the man and stood up, setting down the feline, who sat and began to clean itself.
"Hey! What're you doing, way out in the middle of nowhere? I think there's a town or s/something thattaways... I think..." he would speak, pointing in the approximate direction of Ukiyoe, which was barely visible over the horizon. Nicol hoped silently that the man was friendly...

"Hey! What're you doing, way out in the middle of nowhere? I think there's a town or s/something thattaways... I think..."

The boy seemed extremely innocent and nothing at all like the Nicol Bolas that Jace had once had the mispleasure of knowing. He was seriously starting to doubt his telepathic abilities. "Well I was actually looking for a necromancer by the name of Liliana Vess. A pretty, young looking girl with tribal tattoos all over her body. Have you seen anyone fitting that description?" This was a double edged blade. Jace was in fact looking for Liliana but he also hoped the name would spark some form of recognition for Nicol. The dragon he knew was immensely powerful and strategic. Jace had to be absolutely confident that the person in front of him was changed before moving forward with his plans. He listened intently to the boy's thoughts as he waited for a response. Depending on the answer given and the thoughts that lead to the answer, Jace might be willing to help the boy and take him under his wing.

The cat had now clambered up into a tree and was looking down contentedly at them from a branch. Huh... the way that this guy described his apparent... girlfriend? Target? Contact? Made her seem like one of those newfangled musicians or one of those crazy theatre actresses. Well, he had certainly never heard of someone like that before. If he had, then he had surely forgotten.
"Nope, never seen or heard of someone like that. Then again, I haven't been everywhere or met everybody, so I'm sure that if you sniff around a bit, you'll find someone fitting that... er... outlandish description."
For sure, people with "tribal tattoos" didn't wander around everyday. "By the way, I'm Nicol Bolas. Who're you?" Nicol offered a friendly hand, hoping for an equally friendly handshake. The voice had subsided from screaming to grumbling angrily of impending doom, but that wasn't likely to happen, now was it?

"Nope, never seen or heard of someone like that. Then again, I haven't been everywhere or met everybody, so I'm sure that if you sniff around a bit, you'll find someone fitting that... er... outlandish description. By the way, I'm Nicol Bolas. Who're you?"

Nicol said as he extended a hand. Jace could hear the faint whispers of the Nicol Bolas he knew trying to manipulate the boy in front of him. It seemed to Jace that this version of Nicol Bolas was indeed a completely new person, ignorant to the actions taken by the dragon planeswalker he had once known. Jace would look cautiously at the outstretched hand for a second, still unsure he could trust the boy, and then finally shook the hand. "My name is Jace. What are you doing out here by yourself? It's dangerous to be traveling alone." he would say to Nicol in a somewhat kind tone. In that instant, Jace had decided to train Nicol himself, helping him to reawaken his Spark. Nicol Bolas would be a powerful ally one day.

What WAS he doing out here? Nicol instantly knew the answer to that. Both he and the voice had agreed on why he was wandering around, but fwith different rationales. To the voice, he was wandering to collect power and dominate the world..."control" was the word that it kept sending through his brain. Did others need to have their lives dominated by others? And why, especially, by him? He was just a boy, he was just

DOMINARIA'S MOST ANCIENT EVIL.

Ooh, the voice had really done it this time. That's it, he told himself. If you won't leave me alone, I'll go against what you want me to do. No matter who this Have person actually is, I'd rather trust him than the dramatic annoying fucker in my head.
"I'm out here trying to figure out whether the voice in my head is right or wrong. It's always telling me to do horrible, terrible things for power, but I don't know if what it's saying is true sometimes. It keeps mentioning weird names, so I'm just... doing some self-searching."

"I'm out here trying to figure out whether the voice in my head is right or wrong. It's always telling me to do horrible, terrible things for power, but I don't know if what it's saying is true sometimes. It keeps mentioning weird names, so I'm just... doing some self-searching."


Jace could hear all of Nicol's thoughts as they happened so he wasn't surprised when he said what he did. This put Jace in a difficult position but he quickly decided the best way to move forward from here would be to tell Nicol exactly who he was and deal with the consequences, be they good or bad. Jace would take a deep breath to prepare himself before he spoke. "Well, I can tell you exactly what is going on. Whether or not you believe me is up to you. My name is Jace Beleren. Yours is Nicol Bolas. We are both powerful mages called Planeswalkers from different planes. It seems that you have sealed your power and wiped your own memories. You were a powerful and dangerous dragon. You manipulated many people, myself included, and unleashed a dangerous power. In order to preserve your decaying body afterward, you sealed your powers, knowledge, memories and spark into a human body and apparently sent it to this world. You were one of if not the most powerful and evil being I have ever met. The inner voice you are hearing is your original self, pre-programmed to give you instructions."

Jace would pause for the young and innocent Nicol to take in what had just been said. Jace prepared himself both physically and mentally for any kind of retaliation that might come from the words that he had spoken.

The words that had issued forth from the man's mouth didn't quite click for a second. Pretty much almost exactly one second, a moment of awkward silence after Jace had finished speaking. Then, the voice made a grating noise, and somehow, he knew that the man's words were true. But in that case... was the voice right? Was he really an evil godlike being who served only himself? What he done in the past to Jace... what had he done to others? His body seemed to curl up in mental agony as his hands clutched the sides of his head.
Into his mind's eye swam a vision: A young, dark-skinned man was crouching on the floor beneath him. He seemed to be... made of both metal and flesh. His expression was angry and resentful. The voice, his own voice, he realized, boomed forth: "RISE, SERVANT. YOUR RESURRECTION IS AT HAND."
It was in that moment that Nicol realized just how many sins he had committed. As the pain faded, he stood to face Jade. He didn't remember the man, but he felt an obligation towards him. "I see. What wrong did I do you?" He speed his arms slightly. "If you're the kind that takes organs, then you may have as many as you like so that I can make up for what I did."

"I see. What wrong did I do you? If you're the kind that takes organs, then you may have as many as you like so that I can make up for what I did."


This Bolas was the extreme opposite of the Bolas Jace know. He had even just offered Jace his organs as a way to atone for his sins and from what Jace could tell from listening to Nicol's thoughts he was sincere. "I am not one to harvest organs. Your previous crimes are obviously not that of your own. You have little to no memories of them and your personality seems to be the exact opposite of the dragon planeswalker I know. However, if you truly wish to do something to atone for your sins why don't you come with me? I will train you myself as best I can and perhaps you can help me in my goals. I have a suspicion other planeswalkers have made their way to this plane and are stuck just as I am. I wish to gather them and hopefully use the collective information to find a way back. So, will you come with me?" Jace would say to this new version of his greatest enemy, who seemed to be turning into a very unlikely ally. He would wait for Nicol's response as he read his thoughts out of pure habit at this point.

Nicol's eyes widened, then an innocent, trusting smile spread across his face. "Yeah! I'd love to come with you!" To be perfectly honest, he was happy to have met someone who understood him perfectly, for whatever reason. Of course, he was too naive and unskilled to be suspicious. But perhaps if he followed this guy around, he could meet some of the people who had done him wrong.Maybe, they would be friendly like Have. And if they weren't, he would just have to persuade them that he really wasn't a big ugly dragon. It was settled, he was going.

"Yeah! I'd love to come with you!"


Jace could hear all of the naive thoughts that had come before, during and after Nicol had said this. It gave him mixed feelings but at least he had another Planeswalker joining him. He wondered how this boy would react to meeting Ashiok, one of the only other planeswalkers Jace had met in his short time on this plane. "Ok. Then we should get going. I have plans to head to someplace called the Land of Water. We will be heading there with two others named Garruk and Ashiok. Let's go." he would say to the boy before turning around. Jace would make sure Nicol was following him as he left to find Garruk and Ashiok before heading to the Land of Water.
[exit]