"Tomorrow or the next day. Whenever he and Keodoz have finished."
It was nearly twenty days before neighbors spotted a white-robed man coming down the mountain. By then Xantcha knew that there was no difference between the cave and the elder-or more accurately, elders-who dwelt within it. Romom, Tessu, and the rest of the Equilor community-and there was only the one community at the edge of time-lived their mortal lives in expectation of the day when they'd climb the mountain one last time to merge with their ancestors.
Despite their focus on their cave-dwelling ancestors, the folk of Equilor weren't a morbid people. They laughed with one another, loved their children, and took genuine delight in the small events of daily life. They argued, held grudges, and gossiped among themselves and about the elders, who, despite their collective spirits, were not without individual foibles. Keodoz, Xantcha learned, was known to be long-winded and supremely self-confident. As Urza's time in the caves had lengthened, the household began to joke that Keodoz had found a soulmate-a notion that distressed Xantcha. Idyllic ways notwithstanding, Equilor was not a place where she wanted to spend eternity.
When she heard that Urza had been spotted, she left the house at once and jogged along the stone road until she met up with him.
"Did you get your answers ?" she asked, adding, "I can be ready to leave before sundown."
"I have only scratched the surface, Xantcha. We are young compared to them. We know so little, and they have been collecting knowledge for so long. A thousand years wouldn't be enough time. Ten thousand, even a hundred thousand wouldn't be too much. You cannot imagine what the elders know."
Of course she couldn't imagine. She was Phyrexian.
"Remember why we came here. What about vengeance? Your brother? Dominaria? Phyrexia!"
He grabbed her and lifted her into the air. "Keodoz knows so much, Xantcha! Do you remember, after we left Phyrexia, how I was unable to return to Dominaria? I said it was as if the portion of the multiverse that held Dominaria had been squeezed and sealed away from the rest. I was right, Xantcha. Not only was I right, but I was the one who had squeezed and twisted it when I emptied the sylex bowl! It wasn't evident at first-well, it was. Dominaria was cooler when I left, but I didn't understand how the two were related. But it was in my mind, when I used the sylex, to protect my home for all time, and the bowl's power was so great that my wish was granted. No artifact device, nor planeswalker's will, can breach the Shard that the sylex created. The elders here at Equilor could not breach it."
"You turned your home into Phy- " Xantcha caught herself before she finished the fatal word and substituted, "Serra's realm?" instead.
"Better, Xantcha. Much better! The Shard is more than a chasm, and Dominaria is an entire nexus of planes, all natural and balanced. Dominaria is safe, and I saved it with the sylex."
"But the Phyrexians? Phyrexia? The Ineffable?"
"They are doomed, Xantcha. Accidents and anomalies, not worth the effort of destroying them, now that I am sure Dominaria is safe. There are more important questions, Xantcha. I see that now. I've found my place. Equilor is where I belong. Keodoz and the others have so much knowledge, but they've done nothing with it. Look around us, Xantcha. These folk need leadership- vision!-and I will give it to them. When I am finished, Equilor will be the jewel of the multiverse."
Xantcha thought of Tessu and Romom waiting to merge with all their ancestors. She wriggled free and said, cautiously, "I don't think that's what anyone here wants."
"They have not dreamed with me, Xantcha. Keodoz has only begun to dream with me. It will take time, but we have time. Equilor has time. They are not immortal, but they might as well be. Did you know that if Brya, Romom's youngest, had been born where I was born, she would be an old woman in her eighties ?"
Xantcha hadn't known and wasn't comfortable with the knowledge. Urza, however, was radiant, as intoxicated by his ambitions as she would have been by a jug of wine. "Urza, You haven't found your place," she said, retreating into the grass. "You've lost it. We came here to find the first home for the
Phyrexians. They've never been here, and if the elders don't know where they're from, then we should leave ... soon."
"Nonsense!" Urza retorted and started walking toward the white houses.
Nonsense was also the first word out of Pakuya's toothless mouth when Urza regaled the household with his notions over supper. Tessu, Romom, and the others were too polite-or perhaps too astonished-to say anything until Urza had 'walked back to Keodoz's cave, and then they spoke in their own language. Xantcha had learned only a few words of
Equiloran-she suspected they spoke her Argivian dialect precisely to keep their own language a mystery-but she didn't need a translator to catch that they were unhappy with Urza's plans or to decide that their politeness masked a strong, even rigid, culture.
Tessu confirmed Xantcha's suspicions. "It might be best," she said in a supremely mild tone, "if you spoke with Urza."
"I've already told him but Urza doesn't listen to me unless I'm telling him what he wants to hear. If I were you, I'd send someone up the mountain to talk with Keodoz."
"Keodoz is not much for listening."
"Then we've got a problem."
"No, Xantcha, Urza's got a problem, because the other elders will get Keodoz's attention, sooner or later."
"Is Urza in danger? I mean... would you... would they?" Tessu was such a calm, rational woman that Xantcha had difficulty getting her question out, though she knew from other worlds that the most ruthless folk she'd ever met were invariably calm and rational.
"Those who go up the mountain, do not always come down," Tessu said simply.
"Urza's a 'walker, I've seen him melt mountains with his eyes."
"Not here."
Xantcha absorbed that in silence. "I'll talk to Urza, the next time he comes down ... assuming he comes back down."
"Assuming," Tessu agreed.
Urza did return to the white houses after forty days in Keodoz's cave. He summoned the entire community and made the air shimmer with visions of artifacts and cities. Xantcha had learned a bit more Equiloran by then. When she spoke to Urza afterward, her concerns were real.
"They're not interested. They say they've put greatness behind them and they're angry with Romom and Tessu for letting you stay with them so long. They say something's got to be done."
"Of course something's got to be done! And I'll get Keodoz to do it. He's on the brink. He's been on the brink for days now. I left him alone to get his thoughts in order. They're a collective mind, you know, each elder separately and all the elders together. They've become stagnant, but I'm getting them moving again. Once I get Keodoz persuaded, he'll give the sign to the others, and the dam will burst. You'll see."
"Tessu said, those who go up the mountain don't always return. Be careful, Urza. These people have power."
"Tessu and Romom! Forget Tessu and Romom, they might as well be blind. Yes, they've got power. All Equilor had undreamed power, but they turned their back on power and they've forgotten how to use it. Even Keodoz. I'm going to show them what greatness truly is!"
Xantcha walked away wondering if Tessu had enough power to take her between-worlds once Urza stayed in the mountains with Keodoz. The adults were missing, though, and the children wouldn't meet Xantcha's eyes when she asked where they'd gone, not even eighty-year-old Brya. Xantcha went outside, to the place where they gathered to watch sunrise light the mountain each morning. The skies were