Reality Fracture | #179: The Story So Far Extended Edition

On Vryn, shunting himself from the blind eternities, the wounded planeswalker, Jace Beleren, arrives on his home plane.

He still carries the scars of his transformation at the hands of New Phyrexia, an interplanar invasion force that sought to overtake the multiverse.

Jace was unwittingly reshaped into one of Phyrexia's commanders.

Though he managed to preserve his personality, his body was not so lucky.

He carries his lover, Vraska, with him.

She too was claimed by Phyrexia and was nearly killed by the defending forces of Ravnica.

Through Jace's intervention, the two escaped and have arrived here in search of a healer.

There is only one person Jace trusts enough to save the woman he loves: Rana Beleren, his mother.

Completion, the process by which Phyrexia assimilates the minds and bodies of its victims, involves the replacement of flesh with machine.

Jace's body is now covered with metal plugs, and wiry eyestalks sprout from his arms.

Vraska is far worse off.

Her lower body has been reshaped into a serpent's tail, her snake hair forced into venomous stingers.

But the two are together, free from the forces that wish to claim their identities, and they are alive, for now.

Rana believed her son had been killed at a young age, so seeing him delivered to her in such a state was surprising, to say the least.

Jace and Vraska convalesce in her care, though the healing process is painful for many reasons.

Ultimately, New Phyrexia falls, thwarted by the combined might of the planes and planeswalkers of the multiverse.

But much like Vraska and Jace, the multiverse is left irrevocably changed.

Several planeswalkers' sparks, including Vraska's, are extinguished in the aftermath.

The cause of this remains unclear.

Even more pressing, pathways between the planes begin to open.

Named Omenpaths after the similar phenomena on Kaldheim, these portals herald a new, intrinsically connected multiverse.

But Jace and Vraska have seen what happens when planes are too connected.

Plagues like Phyrexia can spread across worlds.

Criminal syndicates can strangle burgeoning worlds, and unfathomable horrors risk ending existence as they know it.

Perhaps to save the multiverse, they need to take a more radical approach.

In Jace's early years, he encountered a mysterious vault on the plane of Thunder Junction, where he detected a being with an innate knowledge of the multiverse.

He and Vraska return to Thunder Junction to track down this vault, rallying a crew of outlaws and outcasts for the ultimate heist.

After a series of double-crosses and some fey familial drama, Jace and Vraska break away from their crew and enter the vault.

Inside, the two find a small beast-like creature, a child named Loot.

Jace reveals that Loot has a map of the multiverse in his mind.

He can chart the Omenpaths, see the complex web of pathways that connect every plane.

To Vraska, it is a chance to see the multiverse as she once did.

For Jace, it is a step toward unfathomable power.

Jace, Vraska, and Loot escape Thunder Junction and hide away on a far-off plane.

Then, during this time, something incredible happens.

They start to become a family.

Jace and Vraska always wanted children of their own.

Now, they have their chance with their fuzzy adopted child.

Domestics, however, are less appealing to Jace.

He remains steadfastly dedicated to his mission, and Loot is an integral part of his goals.