Time Spiral (novel)

Time Spiral is the first book in the Time Spiral Cycle. It is written by Scott McGough and published in September 2006. The other books in this cycle are Planar Chaos and Future Sight.

Blurb
Time is running out.

The planeswalker Teferi at last returns to his home plane only to find it devastated and barren. Time itself is fracturing, and it's up to Teferi and his companions to find a way to halt the collapse.

It won't be easy when his allies are poised to turn against him.

Plot
With the impending return of the continent of Shiv that Teferi phased out during the Invasion, Teferi and Jhoira return to Dominaria seeking information and aid. The three hundred years between Shiv's departure and return have altered the land such that the continent will no longer fit into its rightful place and the friction of its restoration threatens the entire plane. Since Dominaria is the nexus of the Multiverse, all of existence is at stake. Teferi first stops in Skyshroud but is horrified to learn that Dominaria is almost completely devoid of mana, the result of the massive rifts in places all over the plane that have been draining mana for centuries.

One such rift was created over Skyshroud when its protector and patron, the planeswalker Freyalise, transplanted the forest onto Keld during the Rathi Overlay. With Skyshroud under continuous attack from Gathans and still harboring anger over Teferi's abandonment of Dominaria during the Invasion, Freyalise refuses to help his efforts. While examining the rift Teferi encounters Radha, a half-elf warrior that can draw mana from the rift much the same way that the rift draws mana from the plane. Impetuous and defiant even in the face of a planeswalker's infinite power, Radha is single-mindedly focused on becoming a true Keldon. With a promise to teach her ancient Keldon knowledge, Radha agrees to join Teferi and together the group travels to Urborg to study the Stronghold, another area transplanted during the Rathi Overlay, and the rift there.

In Urborg the band encounters Venser, an artificer that has lived his entire life in a land dominated by the artifice-hating planeswalker Lord Windgrace. Teferi can discern that both Radha and Venser have the planeswalker spark but he notices that it is different from his own. After this initial encounter, Teferi is drawn to Venser's ambulator, a teleportation device that has a connection to the Urborg rift that is similar to Radha's connection to the Skyshroud rift. When Venser attempts to demonstrate the device to the group, the rift reacts violently to Teferi's presence, and Teferi planeswalks directly into the rift in an attempt to save his companions. Instead, the entire group is pulled into the rift falling through cracks in their reality where they witness the devastating events in Dominaria's history that caused the rifts plaguing the plane, such as the activation of the Golgothian Sylex at the end of the Brother's War, Karona's war in Otaria, and the explosion at and later obliteration of Tolaria. They also see the various rifts across Dominaria in Skyshroud, Shiv, Zhalfir, Urborg, Otaria, Tolaria, Madara, and Yavimaya.

Jhoira, Venser, and Radha wake up on a Madaran beach separated from Teferi and are drawn into a conversation with a disembodied voice. The voice tells Jhoira that he saw them falling through reality and pulled them to Madara. It then tricks Venser and uses the artificer's and Radha's latent planeswalker sparks to regain corporeal form; revealing itself to be Nicol Bolas, one of the Multiverse's oldest and most powerful planeswalkers. Teferi returns but is too late to prevent Bolas' rise and is drawn into a duel with the dragon where he is easily defeated. The group is only granted a reprieve when Teferi can convince Bolas of the dangers the rifts present to Dominaria and Bolas decides to leave, swearing vengeance on those who had imprisoned him.

Weakened, Teferi sends Radha back to Keld at her request and takes the rest of his group to the Shivan rift to prepare for the continent's imminent arrival. Radha continues her journey to become a true Keldon by fighting and defeating the Gathan warlord threatening Skyshroud. With her victory, she becomes the new Warlord of Keld and somehow switches her connection to the rift into a connection to Keld. Sensing this, Teferi attempts to forge his own connection to the Shivan rift and channels all his life force into it, intending to sacrifice himself to close the rift and ensure Shiv's safety. The rift is consumed and Shiv phases-in without incident but Teferi is sapped of his planeswalker spark and is now mortal.

Summary

 * The time rift over Shiv is sealed, rifts over Skyshroud, Urborg, Zhalfir, Yavimaya, Otaria, and Madara remain.
 * Teferi loses his planeswalker spark and becomes a mortal wizard.