The seventh installment of the Reality Fracture story, “Pick Up the Pieces”, starts with Vraska having a passionate argument with the Detective aspect of Jace. Vraska, who has already grieved for a lost love, faces losing him again while simultaneously feeling as if fading grief would be a betrayal of Jace. The Detective reassures her, but she cries nonetheless.
Vraska and the Detective return to Ajani, Chandra, and Garruk. The Detective announces his plan to reunify with the Theorist and slow the overlay of the Echoverse onto the Multiverse. Ajani and Chandra protest the Detective’s plan in their own ways before giving in. Vraska begins to carry the Detective within herself as part of her mind, and the group heads for the next Jace aspect.
Chicken and a Jailbreak
Meanwhile, Tam lies to Professor Opal about cleaning the Oracle Jadzi’s cell, which is now empty, as the Theorist has moved Jadzi closer to his sanctum at the top. Tam’s real goal is breaking Liliana out of her imprisonment. The visit to the icebox was to get some leftover chicken, which she tosses to Liliana. The single corpse is enough for Liliana to use her necromancy and free herself.
Liliana and a small army of rats confront Professor Opal and kill her before raising her corpse as a lich. Liliana notes the similarities between Tam and Jace before confirming that Tam wants her to kill the Theorist. Tam heads outside, while Liliana and her undead double head up toward the Theorist.
Fragments of Jace
Ajani, Chandra, Garruk, and Vraska continue their journey toward reclaiming the fragments of Jace by entering a Phyrexian nightmare with a compleated Jace. Garruk’s ability to see through illusions (and manhandle Ajani) both come in handy, as they recover the Nihilist, stored in Vraska’s head alongside the Detective, and escape through a portal to a memory of Zendikar.
On Zendikar, the party advances to the Singing City, where a cacophony of voices simulates the constant overstimulation of the telepath’s mind. They reach yet another version of Jace, the Warden, and convince him to silence the sounds. Chandra, reversing her insistence that no Jaces enter her mind, takes in the Warden, and they find mutual forgiveness.
Riddle of the Sphinx
The party next lands at the moment Jace caused his mentor-abuser, the sphinx Alhammarret, to forget how to breathe. Though the psychic intensity of the scene disables everyone else, Garruk steps forward and calms the boy Jace, who has forgotten who he was in his desperate effort to free himself. Garruk approaches the boy, reassures him, and takes the Clean Slate into his own mind.
Yet this act revives Alhammarret, who commands Garruk and the others to walk off a ledge into oblivion. Garruk resists the urge, grabbing Chandra on the way, and Ajani also resists it. But Vraska seemingly succumbs and steps off the ledge, leaving the story on a cliffhanger.
Read Reality Fracture | Episode 7: Pick Up the Pieces in full from Wizards of the Coast.
