The second installment of the Lorwyn Eclipsed story picks back up with the group of students still fleeing the moon-headed beast.
After escaping the cave, the students quickly scatter and find places to hide. Just moments later, the creature emerges behind them, bringing a shadowy, creeping darkness along with it. Stepping fully through the gate, the massive beast continues onward, seemingly having no interest in locating the ones responsible for disturbing its slumber.
After waiting a few minutes for the danger to pass, the students hesitantly emerge from cover and make a break for a nearby meadow, still sunlit and untouched by the creature’s darkness. Not long after regrouping, Tam notices a person in the distance – a woman clad in archer’s leathers – urgently beckoning for them to come closer. Assuming she couldn’t possibly be worse than the last inhabitant they encountered, the foursome migrate toward the stranger.
Ushering the group into a nearby forest, the woman introduces herself as the Brigid Baeli, hero of Kinsbaile and asks who they are and where they come from. Abigale then tells the woman about them being students from far away and details the circumstances surrounding their arrival. Now better acquainted, Brigid reveals that they aren’t the first to have tumbled down the tunnels and shares that it has been happening ever since the Phyrexian incursion “cracked the shell of the world.”
According to Brigid, “…people tumble down tunnels and fetch up here in Lorwyn, if they’re lucky, or the other side of the division, in Shadowmoor, if they’re not…” and the beast they had encountered was Isilu who was meant to be sleeping. The hero goes on to explain that no one had ever “…caught your sort arriving, or departing…” but as it was becoming more common, she decided to investigate the rumor of a light in the sky on the hunch that it could be where the strangers were coming from, and sure enough, it lead her to them.
“She gestured to the sky. The students followed her motion and sighed almost in unison as they saw the triangular outline of the Omenpath that had delivered them to Lorwyn in the first place. It was still there, faint and distant and wreathed in daylight.”
Then, as if on queue, the sky above the group began to dim, and they could only watch as the Omenpath above slowly disappeared, smothered by darkness. With their only way home now cut off, Tam asks Brigid if there is somewhere they could go. Acknowledging the request, the hero sets off, leading the students to their next safe haven.
Switching to the perspective of a new character, we’re introduced to Maralen, the avatar of Oona and current Queen of the Fae.
“Tall as an elf, but with pale green skin that appeared hardened and semi-crystalline, almost opalescent. Her hair was long and black and fanned out around her in her sleep to form the shape of wings against her bedclothes. She had the curved antelope horns of a Mornsong elf, even greener and more crystalline than the rest of her, nearly pearlescent in the light.”
Awakening in her bedchamber within Glen Elendra, the mighty fae stronghold, Maralen rises clumsily, still reeling from a bad dream. Almost immediately, a group of faerie attendants rush to her side, clamoring over one another to inform their queen of an issue that had arose during her slumber. After silencing the crowd, Maralen designates a single speaker, who tells her that one of their ranks, Aherin, has been “gone hours and hours and hours.”
According to the fae, Aherin had yet to be found despite multiple searches, but more concerning yet, someone had been “…using his bed and his place, and when the flock’s in motion, it seems there’s thirty-five. So we don’t know where he is, or why, or who’s been putting their head to his pillow!” Coupled with her bad dream, the news of the missing fae added to Maralen’s unease, and as if sensing this, another of her attendants, a Gilt-Leaf Elf named Rhys, entered the room.
After briefing Rhys of the situation, Maralen commands the pack of fae to go and search for their missing flock mate, then informs the Elf that she would be going for a walk to clear her head. Moving to leave the chamber, the queen is startled by the “sound of ghostly laughter,” but turning back at Rhys, it’s clear she is the only one who can hear it.
“Maralen watched them go, then turned back toward Rhys. Midway through the motion, her eye caught her mirror, and for a moment, it looked like there was a third person in the room with them, smaller, made entirely of living flower petals and glaring at her with unending menace. Maralen jerked backward, and the reflection was gone.”
Making her way to the palace courtyard, Maralen is greeted by Eirdu, the great sun beast. Described as an “impossible beast, six-legged, with red and white fur and a long tail of thorns that looped around the entire space as barrier and banner…” Eirdu’s radiant presence began to melt away Maralen’s unease, but unbeknownst to the queen, a certain mischievous faerie was observing from the shadows, its motives yet unknown.
“Not far away, the little blue faerie listened to their exchange and frowned, visibly perplexed. It looked around, spotting a newly opened patch of Shadowmoor, and dove into the moonlight, letting its transformation repeat in reverse, blue becoming green, smoothness becoming jagged and ornate. Now giggling and delighted, it took to the air, following Maralen’s path through the palace to her room.”
Changing perspectives a final time, we’re reunited with Liliana, who has resumed her teaching responsibilities at Strixhaven. While grading papers in her office, a knock at the door interrupts, and she finds Ajani standing on the other side. Unable to hide her surprise, the necromancer invites him in, but leaves no room for pleasantries and asks him “who died?” to which Ajani responds “Jace.”
Stunned into silence, Liliana pours a cup of tea while Ajani fills her in on the events on Tarkir that lead up to Jace’s unmaking in the Spirit Realm. Ajani tells her that Jace “…lost control of the spell, and it came apart in his hands, and then he came apart with it. The spell took him, and he was gone. Just light and energy on the wind…” but upon hearing this, she quickly responds with “There was no body. He’s not dead. Jace Beleren wouldn’t die without leaving a body.”
Forced to ignore her speculation, Ajani tells her there is another, more important detail she needed to know – that Nicol Bolas had escaped during the chaos in the Spirit Realm.
“Her teacup shattered as it hit the floor. “He used an Omenpath—we don’t know whether his spark is intact, and even if it is, he doesn’t know where you are. But you needed to know.”
Before Liliana could process this bombshell, Dina burst into the room without bothering to knock, explaining that four of her students had gone missing. Composing herself, Liliana questions her assistant about their last whereabouts, and she shares that they had allegedly seen a “weird little flying thing, like a big bug with hands” before attempting to chase it down, and that she suspected they had fallen through an Omenpath.
“Dina looked between them, panic seeming to abate somewhat as she passed the responsibility along. “Can you find them?” she asked. “I can certainly try,” said Ajani.”
Read Lorwyn Eclipsed Episode 2 in full from Wizards of the Coast.
