Xen smiled as he noticed what he suspected to be a member of the Selesnya. Walking up to her he asked, "Pardon me, but do you know where the Agyrem is in this area? Or better yet a place the locals call the Ghost Quarter?"
"The Ghost Quarter?" the young woman asks. She's probably barely out of her teens. "I don't know exactly where in Agyrem the Ghost Quarter is, but Agyrem is about five blocks that way," she points to the left of the way Xen entered the Orzhov area. "I haven't been to the Ghost Quarter itself, though. There are ghosts and spirits all over the place there."
Xen smiles and pulls out the parchment and makes some quick notes. Looking back up at her he smiles saying, "Thanks for the directions. I mainly needed to know where the Agyrem was before narrowing my search."
Bowing in thanks Xen bid her farewell and headed off in the direction she indicated while making sure to go exactly five blocks.
As Xen travels, he can note a distinct drop in the number of people populating the streets. As soon as he reaches the fifth block, the buildings simply stop.
In a city with lots of prime real-estate, it may be at first surprising that the area hasn't been developed. As Xen reaches the border of the Agyrem, a chill starts to permeate him that has nothing to do with temperature. This area is one giant graveyard, filled with the millions of people who passed away in this huge city.
Even if he can't see them, Xen can tell that there are spirits here, watching him. The feeling Xen gets is that one wouldn't even need to be a mage to notice them.
The area encompasses several square miles of city, and Xen is at the very edge of it.
Xen stops right at the edge and makes some recordings verifying the location of the Agyrem. While waiting at the edge Xen knelt down on both knees and began saying several prayers in honor of the deceased. Standing up Xen tips his head in respect of the dead saying, "I mean none of you harm. I seek only spiritual knowledge and understanding."
With that Xen looked up at the Agyrem and began searching for anything that might resemble the Ghost Quarter.
Anything beyond 100 yards is shrouded by a strange mist. Xen thinks he can see something beyond them moving, but he's not sure. If he is to find the place, he'll have to enter.
Xen took one last look at his surroundings taking everything in. Committing the details to memory, he carefully stepped into the Agyrem trying to be respectful of any grave markers so as to not disturb the spirits.
Although he felt an eerie feeling creeping up his spine he continued onward taking in the Agyrem as a whole. If he ever hoped to learn more about the five mana's then he would have to open himself to the sources of that very mana.
Quietly he progressed seeing as far as he could into the mists, a silent revere coming over him.
Xen frowned when he heard the word son uttered. Last he knew his father had still been alive. But it had been years since he left his family and meditated in the forests. It was possible his father was alive and in Ravnica, unlikely though. If he was dead though, then why would his spirit be in Ravnica.
Letting out a small huff Xen opened his eyes and turned to his left looking for this entity wondering what he would find.
Xen's blood turns to ice as the ghost manifests. He simply stood there frozen in place as memories flashed through his mind.
For a moment the graveyard and the mist vanished to Xen's senses as a memory washed over him. He was standing on a grassy field, far younger than he was now, at night staring down two men blocking him from his mother. The memory becomes a blur as Xen is standing behind one of the men his dagger flashing and slicing into several arteries.
The memory shifts again with Xen covered in the blood of the other man. Xen continued to stare down the last man tossing his dagger from hand to hand all signs of emotion gone from his eyes. He grabs his dagger and slicks back his hair with the blood on his face. Flourishing the dagger Xen moves it to a slicing position and charges the last man. There's a shouting and then silence.
Xen's crouching over the bloody form of his mother, a man laughing in the background. Emotion floods into his eyes as Xen tightens his grip on the dagger and whirls around on the man.
The memory shifts again to Xen standing in the grassy field at night drenched in blood. All around him are three bloody corpses severely sliced up. He's panting as he looks up in the night sky completely devoid of emotion.
Again the memory shifts to Xen mumbling an inaudible "forgive me" to his father. There he turns away still drenched in blood from the fight and walks into the forests determined to see out his self imposed exile.
The torrent of memories fade and Xen finds himself gripping his shaved head balled over in the graveyard in front of the entity. Shaking and finding breathing difficult Xen barely whispers, "Mother...?"
The figure comes over to Xen, kneels down, and places her hand on his cheek. Instead of the coldness he expected, he felt a loving warmth enter his cheek where the hand passes through. She looks into his face, his eyes. The face, Xen can see, is not the one of his mother, but the resemblance is uncanny.
"I know your face..." she says, trying to recognize him. "Who were your parents?"
Xen feels his chest tighten up at the question. Turning his gaze away from the ghost he tells her with a look of sorrow on his face, "Yes, she passed away many years ago..."
"I have been here for years," the woman says, standing up. "I last saw Sarah and her husband years ago. You were just a baby then... I died of old age a few years later in Ravnica..."
"I see..." Thinking for a moment Xen came upon a thought and pursued it by asking, "Did you live in Ravnica long enough to become familiar with a place called the Ghost Quarter by the locals?"
Xen smiled and asked, "I'm a mana wielder, a druid, and I've come to Ravnica to connect with this Ghost Quarter. Do you think you could guide me there?"
Bowing in thanks Xen bid her farewell and headed off in the direction she indicated while making sure to go exactly five blocks.
In a city with lots of prime real-estate, it may be at first surprising that the area hasn't been developed. As Xen reaches the border of the Agyrem, a chill starts to permeate him that has nothing to do with temperature. This area is one giant graveyard, filled with the millions of people who passed away in this huge city.
Even if he can't see them, Xen can tell that there are spirits here, watching him. The feeling Xen gets is that one wouldn't even need to be a mage to notice them.
The area encompasses several square miles of city, and Xen is at the very edge of it.
With that Xen looked up at the Agyrem and began searching for anything that might resemble the Ghost Quarter.
Although he felt an eerie feeling creeping up his spine he continued onward taking in the Agyrem as a whole. If he ever hoped to learn more about the five mana's then he would have to open himself to the sources of that very mana.
Quietly he progressed seeing as far as he could into the mists, a silent revere coming over him.
Xen feels a life force hovering around him.
"Son..."
Letting out a small huff Xen opened his eyes and turned to his left looking for this entity wondering what he would find.
"My son..." the ghost says, "Is it you?"
For a moment the graveyard and the mist vanished to Xen's senses as a memory washed over him. He was standing on a grassy field, far younger than he was now, at night staring down two men blocking him from his mother. The memory becomes a blur as Xen is standing behind one of the men his dagger flashing and slicing into several arteries.
The memory shifts again with Xen covered in the blood of the other man. Xen continued to stare down the last man tossing his dagger from hand to hand all signs of emotion gone from his eyes. He grabs his dagger and slicks back his hair with the blood on his face. Flourishing the dagger Xen moves it to a slicing position and charges the last man. There's a shouting and then silence.
Xen's crouching over the bloody form of his mother, a man laughing in the background. Emotion floods into his eyes as Xen tightens his grip on the dagger and whirls around on the man.
The memory shifts again to Xen standing in the grassy field at night drenched in blood. All around him are three bloody corpses severely sliced up. He's panting as he looks up in the night sky completely devoid of emotion.
Again the memory shifts to Xen mumbling an inaudible "forgive me" to his father. There he turns away still drenched in blood from the fight and walks into the forests determined to see out his self imposed exile.
The torrent of memories fade and Xen finds himself gripping his shaved head balled over in the graveyard in front of the entity. Shaking and finding breathing difficult Xen barely whispers, "Mother...?"
"I know your face..." she says, trying to recognize him. "Who were your parents?"
She looks into Xen's eyes. "Sarah has gone on, hasn't she?"
Looking around Xen breathes in deeply to focus himself and asks, "What happened to you?"