TWO HUNTERS (PART 3)
Trouvelot. Source: New York Public Library
Garruck walks in silence through the Eldraine wood, until he reaches a silent gladeand a decision. The twins are out there. They cast fresh scent. But there is another trail, one that pulls him. He senses Phyrexian, a ferrous stain in his nostrils, but also a new conduit connecting planes in a way he has not felt…ever. This trail traverses different space, with different winds blowing tantalizing new notches and twists in the trail.
He must pursue. He is Garruk Wildspeaker and the hunt feeds him as nothing else can.
He begins to attune to that static in the edge of everything. For any hunter, finding the signal in the noise is a skill of greatest importance. The trails a hunter can sense have all the complexity of the roots of a great tree, or the anastomoses in an oak leaf. A great hunter can outsmart a school of fish and eat every meal. The greatest hunter, however, can pick their fish while it still swims in the school.
The static is now a symphony, like a dense forest full of morning birdsong. Garruck finds each bird and listens for a time, until he finds the one song that takes him through the blind eternities.
He arrives in the midst of a war. He feels the barren, brittle soil of a Dominaria in danger. He hears the cries of Mirrans and Dominarians and mechanical horror. He sees a great burning tree and planar portals. He can already sense members of the Gatewatch, and the ferrous porcelain of Phyrexian blasphemy.
Garruks’ heart sings. He draws in his breath and roars into the dusty sky of Dominaria
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Vorinclex doesn’t let himself get distracted. Any hunter needs to stay focused. Death surrounds him, but the hunt is greater than life and death. This time mage has him slowed down so that the outside world seems a blur, but he focuses on Teferi’s eyes. Vorinclex is the Greta Hunger of Phyrexia. A true alpha predator. He is tired of squashing ants.
Soon, he sees that recognition in Teferi’s eyes. Vorinclex breaks through. The blur comes into focus and Vorinclex immediately finds the throat of Teferi’s mount. A moment later and it is no more than a spray of viscera. And now Vorinclex stands atop the great time mage. What’s in those eyes? Not fear. Not fear in the eyes of one who has controlled time longer than many experience time.
Vorinclex salivates at the sight of a prey who finally knows they are prey.
But even as the Praetor’s glistening saliva starts to soak into Teferi’s cloak, the hunter pulls away as his sense are aflame. The smell of old pelts, weathered from years on trail. The sound of a hunter’s roar upon finding their prey. It is so familiar! Vorinclex hurls the time mage 20 yards into the pandemonium of battle and leaps away, myopically focused on a new trail.
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Garruk sees many huge phyrexians. War machines. There is no clear winner here, but both sides are growing desperate. In the sky, winged angels light up the phyrexian masses mercilessly. He always love how direct angels were with their prey. But none of that draws his focus. His sights are set squarely on the incredible bulk lumbering towards him. Bone; sinew; like a great dinosaur bear monstrosity, it breaks into a run and deftly bounds off the wreckage of battle, coming straight for him.
Garruk thanks his senses. This is where he needed to be. This is a chance for the two greatest hunters of the multiverse to join and find their truth. He raises his axe and takes stance.
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to be continued…