The fourth installment of the Magic: The Gathering Reality Fracture story picks up with Tam on Innistrad, diligently collecting the data requested by The Theorist (Jace).
As the sun sets, Tam finishes up her notes and heads to the inn as direct by The Theorist. Once inside, Tam is warmly greeted by the innkeeper, and the two exchange small talk over drinks. During their conversation, the innkeeper briefly retells the tale of when the people of Innistrad rallied to defeat a great evil and imprisoned it within the moon, but the story is cut short by rough knocks on the door.
Using her telepathic ability to get a bird’s-eye view of the area outside, Tam tells the innkeeper the visitors are three vampires, and after equipping a sword, she rushes outside to attack them head-on. Feeling the effects of several drinks, Tam struggles briefly before steadying herself, and makes her way over to the door to watch the brawl. Despite being human, the innkeeper goes toe-to-toe with the creatures, but Tam decides to step in and aid her new friend anyway. After calling out to get their attention, Tam transmits a telepathic blast, stunning the vampires long enough for the innkeeper to collect their heads.
With the threat neutralized, the innkeeper praises Tam and shows her to her room. Once safely inside, Tam changes into her night clothes and decides to practice her telepathy. Looking out her window, she starts small, observing the movements of various animals in the area, but soon her focus switches to a new target — the moon.
Pushing her limits, Tam extends her mind toward the stars, but is stunned when something grabs hold, pulling her consciousness in like quicksand. Before she knows it, Tam finds herself in a dimly lit room accompanied by a gaunt woman sitting on a bed. Noticing her guest, the woman calls out to Tam, speaking not out loud, but “in the sensation of a migraine…”, stating “I can help you, girl. We can help each other.” Sensing danger, Tam attempts to converse with the odd woman while scanning the space for a way out, but soon realizes there’s no door, and worse yet, there’s another voice coming from above.
Looking to where the ceiling should be, the space is replaced by an immense, nearly incomprehensible form, covered with writhing tentacles — Emrakul. Although she knows nothing of the Eldrazi, Tam knows coming here was a big mistake, and her fears are confirmed when the titan tells Tam that she smells of a multiverse “…on the verge of becoming.”
“But I smell that you know not just of a sickly tree … but of an entire forest. I smell a Multiverse on you. A cluster of worlds on the verge of becoming. I sense that you are burdened by the knowledge of this world. Let us help one another. Show me where your Multiverse is, coveter of life, and I will rid you of it.”
Now in a full panic, Tam frantically searches for an exit, and decides to race toward the wall where a window had been upon her arrival. With Emrakul’s voice booming “Show me!” behind her, Tam slams into the wall and it “breaks like shattered glass…” and moments later, she awakens in her room back on Innistrad.
Switching perspectives, we find Vraska, who has arrived at Hexhaven in the Echoverse, and is waiting patiently for her companions to arrive. After two hours time, Chandra, Ajani, and Garruk finally arrive, and the foursome make their way toward The Theorist’s grand tower.
After walking for some time, taking in the sights of the world Jace has created along the way, the party ascends The Theorist’s tower, and it isn’t long before a familiar face appears before them. Everything about this person appears to be Liliana, and Chandra instinctively embraces her, but both Vraska and Garruk, who both have grudges against the necromancer, stand ready to attack. After some convincing from Chandra and Ajani, the pair calm down long enough for “Liliana” to lead the group to her office, where she asks why they had come. Chandra exclaims “…to save you!” but to their surprise, the woman clarifies that she doesn’t need saving, as she “came willingly.”
Already on edge, Garruk is the first to claim that the Liliana in front of them is “not the witch…” and Ajani agrees, citing everything wrong with their surroundings which contains plentiful items used for healing rather than necromancy. Hearing this, Vraska jumps at the opportunity to leap across the imposter’s desk, and lands a jaw-breaking punch on Professor Opal. Despite the impact, Opal rises, casually healing her injury before rushing out of the room.
The party give chase, but inside Jace’s tower, the dimensions twist and hallways contort, and before long, they find themselves back at Opal’s office. Opening the door, the group find Opal casually sitting at her desk. Although it had been daytime when they arrived and confronted the doppelganger, night had now fallen, and one-by-one, the party notice they each have grievous injuries but have no recollection of how they acquired them.
Pityingly, Opal makes her way around the room, healing the planeswalkers’ injuries. With confusion and panic setting in, Vraska suddenly realizes what has happened and exclaims “We already fought Jace…”. Before anyone else can process her words, Opal “smiles in condescension…” and corrects the Gorgon — “Oh, sweetie. You fought Jace three times.”
Read Reality Fracture | Episode 4: Oh, Sweetie in full from Wizards of the Coast.
