After your last visit you are unsure of how your presence will be met. Pausing before the oak door, you take a deep breath for courage and slowly push it open. The room inside is lit by numerous candles scattered around the room. Some sit on books, while others are placed on any flat surface that can be found. The old man is hunched over, looking at a low bookshelf on the other side of the room.

Perhaps you could help me with this book? I don’t have the strength I once enjoyed in my youth.

He points to a book on the bottom shelf, bigger than any other in the room. It looks as thick as your leg, perhaps thicker. As you walk closer you notice that the book sticks out an inch or two, as if someone had been trying to pull it out.

Thank you! I was starting to think I would never get that out. You see, I need the book for my research. It contains all of the known information on Urza.

Who is Urza?! How do you not know the most powerful planeswalker to ever live? I see you have not been taught the important events of history. Perhaps I can help to correct your poor upbringing. Come, put the book on my desk and sit down.

You struggle to lift the book, but manage to move it to the desk with considerable effort and a few grunts. After setting the book down in a very ungentle manner you notice that the stool has returned, and gladly sit down to rest. The old man follows you over, and opens the book to the very first page. You see a portrait of a slightly aged man, with a magnificent face and graying hair.

Like many legendary figures, Urza started among humble beginnings. However, unlike most, he had a genius already destined for greatness. Urza was born to a nobleman in the kingdom of Argive. His brother, Mishra, was born exactly 364 days later. Both of them were beyond what one might call a genius. From almost the first day they were born, they began to create, disassemble, and recreate anything they could find or imagine.

The old man stops for a moment before asking you a question.

Please turn the pages so that I may rest my weary arms.

As you comply you see that the next page offers a sea of small text covering all available space, but your eyes are eventually drawn to a small picture in the bottom right corner. It appears to be a mechanical bird in flight, but you can't imagine how someone would create such a complex and beautiful machine.

[caption id="attachment_3090" align="alignleft" width="274" caption="Mishra, Artificer Prodigy"][/caption]Urza and Mishra's family life was like a boat perpetually stuck on stormy seas. Their mother died of a horrible disease shortly after their birth. While their father was busy with state affairs, he loved his sons and always made time for them. In an attempt to provide them a proper home, he remarried with another member of the nobility. Unfortunately, the woman was not as caring about the boys, and took to alternating fits of contempt or indifference over the boys. While they still enjoyed a relatively peaceful life, they grew to dislike their new mother.

At the age of ten, the boys' father grew sick with what doctors believed to be the same illness that befell his wife. Knowing the boys would be unhappy at best if he were to disappear, their father sent them to live with an old friend and archaeologist, Tocasia.

You notice that the man is once again ignoring the writing, and seems to be telling the story from memory. You wonder if this old man, Issar Roon, is more than a simple historian, but are quickly distracted again by his story.

The brothers once again enjoyed a happy life, learning all they could about archaeology and the Thran culture Tocasia was excavating. Urza immediately fell in love with the Thran artifacts. Mishra helped Urza in repairing and recreating some of these artifacts, but spent a large portion of his time with the Fallaji diggers, learning their history and stories.

Their crowning achievement came when they repaired a damaged Thran flying machine, called an ornithopter. Urza and Mishra immediately put it to work, flying above the desert in glee.

Shortly thereafter, the two boys found the ancient capital of Thran civilization, Halcyon. In the caves below the city they found an ancient powerstone, a source of energy used to power Thran creations. Unbeknownst to the brothers, this stone was a unique powerstone containing the soul of an ancient Thran artificer, Glacian. No one knows what happened in those caves, but somehow Urza and Mishra split the powerstone in two. Urza's half of the stone made all things, living and non-living, stronger, while Mishra's made them weaker. As such, they were named the Mightstone and Weakstone. At the time, neither of them understood just how important that powerstone was to the past and future of Dominaria.

Snapping out of your mesmerized stupor, you realize that he has already started talking about the next page, and quickly turn it over.

A much quicker result of their contact with the stone was a mutual desire for the other brother's stone. The boys began to quarrel over the two halves, but were stopped by a much more sedate Tocasia. When they arrived back at the expedition camp the two brothers refused to speak to each other. Urza disappeared into his room for days, and Mishra began having dark nightmares.

One night, their argument came to an abrupt and violent conclusion. Without Tocasia present, they began to fight and use the power of their stones against each other. Tocasia, worried about the two of them, rushed in to prevent further trouble. Distracted by her presence and disregard for safety, the boys lost control of their stones. A huge explosion shook the camp, and destroyed most of the building they were in. Both brothers survived, but Tocasia was less fortunate. Mad with despair and shame over everything that had transpired Mishra fled into the darkness.

The old man suddenly stops his story. Thinking he may have fallen asleep, you look over at him. His face is vacant, as if he has somehow traveled to some other place. Knowing this man has a very strange disposition, you decide it's time to leave for the day. You leave the book open, and quietly walk out of the brightly-lit study.