The brood are only the minions, he said. That is why we must put them all back in their prison, and hold their parents in check with them.
Why must we?
Because if we fail to do so they will eat this and many other planes, Sorin said. Planes that you perhaps have visited?
Nissa had, in fact, visited only a handful. One had been a staggering metropolis of beings standing virtually cheek to cheek amid towering buildings. She had walked the street for about an hour and in that time it had seemed that the amount of people grew and the height of the buildings lengthened. There was nothing green that she could see. She had left soon after.
Another plane was stranger than the first. There had been natural features like mountains and forests, but on closer examination they turned out to have straight angles that showed they had been created. She had watched in amazement as a range of mountains were moved with the wave of a hand by a being with metal arms and an elongated head. She d been taken prisoner fairly quickly by one of those beings and barely escaped with her life. She would not be traveling to anywhere like those places again, if she could help it. Still, she said nothing in hopes that Sorin would keep talking. And he did.
If we do not contain the brood, they will free their titans, and Zendikar will cease to be what it is now.
What are these titans?
They are terrible creatures that eat energy, as the brood do, Sorin said. As he spoke he stared out over the starlit ocean. Small white crests appeared on the low choppy waves. They suck the very energy out of a plane and move on to the next one. Destroyers of planes. They are dreadful foes to anyone who stands against them.
And they are imprisoned now?
Yes, in the Eye of Ugin.
On Akoum? Nissa said.
Sorin nodded.
Nissa looked out at the water. How will we put the brood back in the prison the vampire saw them escape from?
Sorin did not say anything for a moment. We cannot, he said finally.
Did you say we cannot?
Yes.
Why is that?
They are too dispersed at this point. But they are not the true danger. If the titans escape he raised his eyebrows in the starlight there will be utter catastrophe. And the brood lineage are trying to accomplish this, they just do not know how yet.
So this brood will have to be hunted down, and their parents imprisoned?
Sorin nodded.
And what would happen if we allowed these titans their freedom?
They would wreck Zendikar, Sorin said, without hesitation.
But Nissa sensed something a certain tightness around his mouth and eyes that she had not seen before. She looked again, and it was gone. Could he be lying? she thought. And for what reason?
Why do you tell me all of this now? Nissa said.
I am already helping you on this quest. You saved my life in the Turntimber, and I am repaying you.
We are near Akoum. Somebody has to understand what we will shortly face.
Why?
Sorin exhaled. I will need your skills later.
Nissa did not like how that sounded. And if I refuse? she said. Later?
You cannot refuse. Zendikar depends on it.
Nissa sat looking out at the water. Why would the brood or the titans be on Zendikar in the first place? Were they native to that place? Clearly the Eldrazi had been on Zendikar a long time. Eldrazi ruins could be found in almost every corner of the plane.
And who was Sorin, really? Who had sent him to make sure the Eldrazi stayed contained, and why? Why would beings from other planes be so concerned with keeping the Eldrazi on Zendikar? How did he know the truth of the Eldrazi when she, a native of the plane, had never heard even a whisper of what he d said? She only remembered the Eldrazi as a childhood nighttime story. And in those stories, the Eldrazi were the sort of beings that built castles that reached to the sun and ate golden fruit from trees that floated in the air. And Sorin was telling her they lived on energy, on mana from the land?
She turned to ask Sorin how he knew so much about this situation, but he was gone. She was left with the sound of the waves chopping against the hull of the ship and the behemoth s massive legs chugging in the water.
Nissa sat with her back against the mast and let her mind wander. Above her head the stars moved along their paths. Soon her mind was reworking what Sorin had said, and before she knew it, the eastern horizon went as red as blood.
Nissa could see a line of land ahead. Above the land towered high, strangely pointed spires of sharp tipped mountains. As she watched, the morning sun reflected red off the crystal-studded peaks.
Nissa felt a presence and turned. Anowon was standing on the other side of the mast, staring at her.
Truly you are lucky to be a Joraga, the vampire said. And to have taken the Joraga tincture of cut fungus and asta weed.
Good morning to you, Nissa said, turning back to the blood-red shore of Akoum. I wonder why Sorin has not fallen to your fangs?
Perhaps he is not to my liking.
And I am?
Anowon looked away from her and at the land on the horizon.
Akoum, Anowon said. The kor called it the place where things were lost. Low level Roils are nearly constant. The very land is as sharp as a knife s edge. The sun refracts through those pointed crystals creating areas of extreme heat that could cook an unsuspecting elf traveler in a manner of moments. And the denizens, Anowon said as he grimaced malevolently, taste horrible.
As if in response to Anowon s monologue, the ocean suddenly pitched to the right. There was a sudden, deafening rush, and the water immediately next to the ship began to impossibly lift up. Soon a huge globule of swirling water was floating above the tip of the mast. Nissa could see the dark shapes of ocean creatures six times larger than the behemoth caught in the huge bubble. And when she looked over the side of the ship, she could see the plant life of the ocean floor flopped to the side in the early morning sun. A loose fish flopped on a bare patch of sand.
It s the Roil, Anowon said.
Nissa watched as the ball of ocean floated gracefully up into the sky, with its fish swimming within.
Sorin walked to the front of the ship, brushing his long hair with a silver comb. He glanced up at the piece of disembodied ocean.
Look! Even parts of Zendikar are trying to get away from Zendikar, he said.
They were still a league from the shore. Nissa unrolled Khalled s map to look for a possible port in which to land the ship. Akoum appeared like a large circular landmass. She wiped the map off with the palm of her calloused hand and peered closer.
What troubles you? Anowon said.