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Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite

| Illustrated by Igor Kieryluk

The Grand Work of Compleation

Within her fortress, the Mother of Machines listened close to the skittering of her servants. The myr

Did the mad warriors who called themselves iconoclasts truly think they could create something that could come close to imitating her perfect compleation? She had brought chaos to an aimless land, one ravaged by chaotic forces of an ever-shifting realm

Arising from her porcelain throne, her daggered hands screeched and scratched against the walls as she strolled down the long hallway. The servants bowed as her flowing metallic robes brushed past them. Like a sculptor

"Distribute them amongst the soldiers on the eastern front

She knew the look of amazement in the boy's eye. To be told by what was the goddess of this world that you had committed an act of great worth was a powerful thing. Norn recognized that compleation was a two-step process. If all it was was stitching some metal to any odd creature, Vorinclex's ilk would have had a more successful revolt. Instead, one had to mold their minds to understand that rule beneath compleation was the ideal way to evolve sapience. Once they saw the glory that their Mother of Machines brought, a new dawn

In her ruminations, she almost didn't notice the artificer

"Would you lend me a moment of your time

"Speak of it then." Norn's phyrexian vocal chords clashed sharply. "Taj-Nar is a great asset for our war against Kemba's radicals."

"There's been... there's been disruptions in the leylines." The artificer said as she stepped forward. "Omens of something great, my praetor." The praetor's eyes widened.

"Meet me at the altar. Bring your fleshling creation." 

The holy church held two relics of long forgotten eras. First, an altar

"My name is Qal-Sha. My work is as a Razor Field technician. We monitor the goings-on of all Phyrexia's infrastructure, both physical and mana-based

"Regular manifestations of chaotic forces. Dispatch a triniform

"That's just it, Grand Cenobite. It wasn't that. These spikes in energy occurred only when a new phyrexian was compleated or created. Exactly at the moment." The scroll case unfurled, producing a map of the Razor Fields. Lines of energy shot across the map, as if the very forces of the plane had made warpaths through the steel

Norn gazed at Qal-Sha. Her mechanical mind weighed the pros and cons of the situation. She could be being led into a trap. Qal-Sha and her creation could be one of Tirel's radicals, meant to lure her into the middle of nowhere to be assassinated. Yet when she gazed at her stoic face, she saw the same glamor as in the young leonin boy. Belief in Phyrexia's influence

"We make our journey now. Let us test the validity of your theory."

Qal-Sha was a wonderful navigator with a keen sense of direction. After the flesh artisans delivered them to the edges of the field, she was able to avoid the major dangers present. However, that did not mean the wilds of New Phyrexia were kind. Wild beasts, forgotten experiments of the Progress Tyrant

A mad, rogue phyrexian

"Where is the entrance to this shrine, splicer?" Norn asked. Qal-Sha scanned the horizons around them.

"This is all there is, o blessed one. All of my research tells me that the shrine must lie here, and that it requires a phyrexian prophet's words to unlock it."

For a moment, Norn wondered what this could mean. Watching the shrine as if she expected it to stand up and move, she attempted to ascertain what its origin might be. Scanning

With a flick of her wrist, the fields began to rise up. Chunks of machinery tore themselves from the landscape and onto her body. A curved blade

Here, Elesh Norn froze, her mind working furiously as she attempted to make sense of a situation. Her blade could destroy blightsteel, had ravaged the inkmoths

"Let weak feed upon weak, that we may divine the nature of strength" 

"From void evolved Phyrexia. Great Yawgmoth, Father of Machines, saw its perfection. Thus the Grand Evolution began." 

"Ash is our air, darkness our flesh."

 "Father of Machines! Your filigree gaze carves us, and the scars dance upon our grateful flesh." 

"Great Yawgmoth moves across the seas of shard and bone and rust. We exalt him in life, in death, and in between."

Phyrexia's symbol glowed with golden light as the obelisk began to crack. The pieces of Rathi steel began to fall away, melting into the razor fields below. Qal-Sha watched with a twisted sort of envy. In this moment of shock, the blighted oil of the fields began to swallow her body whole. As she melted into the mass of glistening oil, her eyes never closed

Within this structure was a gaping maw

The energies of Phyrexian unity poured from the statue. Each being that arose in the name of Phyrexia on this plane had sent that first moment of dedication to this point. Swirling energy of compleation arose before her. Then, pouring from every crevice of the statue, Phyrexian creatures began to emerge

"Hail Phyrexia! Hail Yawgmoth!" she screamed. "And hail I, the new Mother of Machines!" A thousand voices answered her. The thought of the last of Mirrodin's resistance hearing their sonorous battle cry brought a smile to her face. Here, Phyrexia felt invincible