Young Justice: Gotham

September 2st, 2010

As much as I disagreed with what Zatanna had told me many nights ago, there was some truth to her words. I had been feeling increasingly restless for the past few weeks. My soul…itched, for lack of a better word. My Spark wanted to be used, as much as a non-sapient chunk of otherworldly magic intertwined with my soul could want anything.

It wanted more. I wanted more. This plane, the people I’d found here…it was a good place. Somewhere I could see myself living. Starting a family. Continuing the legacy of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black. But at the same time, it was so very limited.

It was only one world out of a countless infinity that I knew was out there. How could I possibly be content with that? I’d learned so much in just two short months. Magics that completely upended my understanding of wizardry and opened new paths of study I could have scarcely imagined just months ago.

And this was just one world. One plane in what my instincts told me was a nigh infinite multiverse. Each with their own secrets to discover and treasures to unearth. I could spend a lifetime exploring, a thousand life times even, and never uncover every mystery.

I wanted more. More magic. More knowledge. More secrets. More power. There were dangers in this world that I was in no way prepared to face. Who knew what kind of threats lurked just out of sight beyond the borders of this reality? How could I possibly put down roots in good conscience if I could not protect myself and my family to the best of my abilities?

For years I’d strived to be more than just another Black. My family had included some of the greatest wizards and witches in history, and I wanted to someday count among their number. To do something that would put my name down in history for all time, that future Blacks could look back on in awe and wonder.

I wanted to be the best, and now I finally had the opportunity to do so. No Black before me had ventured past the boundaries of our world and explored the vast wonders beyond it. No Black before me had studied Order magic and Atlantean hydromancy and Logomancy. There was so much more to discover. So much power and knowledge that I just had to reach out and take. I wouldn’t just be another Black, I’d be the Hydrys Black. My name known by more wizards and witches than the rest of my family even knew existed.

Ultimately it had never been a question of if, but rather when. And now seemed as good a time as any. The summer holidays were over and Zatanna would be stuck in school for the majority of each day, leaving little time for us to spend together. It would take some time to arrange for the requests I’d made of Queen Mera and Kent had finally decided that my proficiency with the local magic was high enough to share his aether-detection spell with me. I was still rather bad at it, but that was something that would come with time and practice.

I wouldn’t be gone for too long. A week, perhaps. It had taken about that long to gather my bearings when I’d first arrived in this plane and I wanted to give myself some leeway. I’d only ever visited two Planes––my home plane and this one––so I didn’t really know what to expect. If wherever I ended up seemed awful and hostile, I’d leave earlier. If something interesting was going on, I could stay a little longer.

Of course I wasn’t just going to up and leave. I’d arrived in this plane with nothing but my wand and the clothes on my back, but that was certainly not going to be the case next time. I unfortunately didn’t have access to a full set of wizarding travel equipment––I was missing too many ingredients to brew some of the potions I would really like to have on hand and enchanting a proper wizarding tent was simply beyond my abilities for the moment––but there were plenty of preparations that I could make.

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Furthermore, there were duties here that I needed to take care of before I left. I met with my muggle lawyer and dropped off a number of enchanted trinkets for him to sell, ensured the wards on my home were in good repair, and made sure to warn Kent and Zatanna that I would be away for a time before we parted ways in Poseidonis.

I spent the first day of September making preparations. Food and beverages were acquired and stowed away in an expanded bag. I purchased and enchanted a number of more rugged outfits, as well as some clothing suited for particularly cold or otherwise inhospitable environments. I also bought a small tent and layered a few protective and space-expanding charms on it. It wouldn’t be nearly as comfortable or safe as a proper wizarding tent created by a master enchanter, but it was better than nothing.

After some consideration, I also acquired a small amount of gold and silver coinage. It was a large expense, but I was completely certain that my paper and ‘electronic’ money would not be accepted in another world while the value of precious metals seemed relatively universal from what I’d experienced so far. Two different worlds wasn’t many, but if nothing else they probably would be useful to have at some point in the future, even if it was not during this first venture into the unknown.

Towards the end of the day, I spoke with Zatanna using her muggle telephone. She’d gotten into a lot of trouble with her father for going out and helping during the attack on Atlantis, but at least he didn’t seem to know that the two of us had spent the entire two weeks together. As far as he was aware, I’d been down in the city for completely unrelated reasons and our paths had only briefly crossed.

I had been hoping to see her again in person before my trip, but unfortunately that seemed unlikely. Her father had both brought her to school and collected her from it at the end of the day and had been home ever since, giving her no chance to slip away.

We spoke briefly about how much she was already hating her first day of classes and how she hoped that Mera would be able to figure things out with her dad soon. She was pretty sure that she wouldn’t be able to get out of going to muggle school, but then at least she’d have magic lessons to look forward to in the evenings.

Eventually Zatanna had to go––her father was calling her for dinner––and we exchanged heartfelt farewells. I promised I would see her soon and try to bring her back a souvenir, and she told me to stay safe.

I went to bed on the first feeling as prepared as I could be and woke up bright and early the next day. I ate, bathed, made sure that all the things I’d prepared the previous day were stowed away in my enchanted bag, and then took a seat in one of the warded rooms on the second floor of my home.

Breathing slowly, I sank into myself, moving deeper and deeper until I finally reached my Spark. I paused, staring at the breathtakingly beautiful ember interwoven with the very fabric of my being. This was it. It was time to be a real Planeswalker.

Existence tore at my command and I stepped out of the world and into the place between. It was clearer now than it had been. Clearer even then the last time I’d used my planeswalking to travel from the Conservatory to the surface. The mist was still there, but it was no longer as dark or blinding.

The endless expanse of energy and nothingness expanded out in all directions, hazy shadows moving through the endless world of mist. I could feel the three tethers binding me to the world I’d just left, but for the first time I turned my back on them and strode deeper into unreality. Zatanna’s homeworld vanished quickly behind me and I could feel this place beginning to eat at me, but I moved confidently onward into the unknown. I had time, and I could feel them, the countless Planes drifting through the nothingness around me.

My eyes locked onto a distant shadow and I shrugged mentally. That one seemed as good an option as any. I moved towards it, distance that wasn’t really distance falling away footstep by footstep. Not that I was truly walking, it simply felt as though I was. I was confident that even if I entered this place as nothing but a limbless torso I’d still be able to move through it as easily as I did now with all my limbs in place.

The shadow resolved itself into a Plane and I stared at it curiously. I couldn’t really see anything about it, but it felt unique. It looked different from Zatanna’s world, at least. The same colors painted in just a slightly different style and pattern. If I ever saw this plane again from the outside, I’d recognize it. Perhaps I’d even be able to describe it to another, though I imagined the description would be useless to any but a fellow Planeswalker.

I touched it and unreality opened before me. One more step and nothing became something. My feet landed firmly on solid ground and I looked around, my eyes drinking in the vistas of a new world.