Crossworld Between Harmony: Nightmare's Ascension

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// Story: Crossworld Between Harmony

// Chapter 8 - The Automatons

// Author: Scarlet Reign

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Note: Alright, in this story, you will find Twilight searching aimlessly through the darkness, but ultimately, she will encounter something terrible, lurking from behind.

One year ago...

On a dark and stormy night like this, there was a man sitting silently in his room. Depressed by the tragic event, he succumbed to his tears, blaming himself for his foolish action against the love of his life.

If there were a moment, a chance, then he could start over from the beginning, hoping that he wouldn’t follow the same, foolish mistake. He wanted to correct his mistakes; to make amends for his action and (to make things right.)

But he was foolish to believe that he’d have a second chance; he should have listened to her from the start.

Managing to get permission from the highest order, the Haliv made an expedition through the dangerous mountains called Falcon Peak in search for hidden wealth. Their trip to the mountain didn’t go to waste and returned with tremendous wealth; their discovery made them richer beyond their wildest dream through centuries to come...but was it worth it?

Their trip came with a steep and heavy price. His wife, Joanna, was the only reason for his existence, his purpose in life. She kept pushing him, supporting him along the dark troubles ahead; if it weren’t for her then he would have died long ago.

Joanna, the love of his life and his pathetic existence, died in that cold and desolate mountain. Consumed by greed and dominating pride, Joaris left her to her tragic fate. The action had affected him, deeply and forcing himself into the breaking point of insanity.

As Joaris stood from his seat, his eyes stared intently at the single pistol, laying on the table. He could do it, ending his life, right here and now. He grimly grasped the pistol, aiming directly unto his head; his hand were shaken, almost pulling the trigger in ending his miserable existence.

But something stopped him.

From the corner of the room, a dark, thick purple mist swept inside. Joaris aimed not on his head, but at the threat that was before him. Unafraid of death, the purple mist quickly gathered itself, forming into a mare.

“Joaris Haliv,” the dark mare spoke. “I have a business proposition for you. You interested?”

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The path was endless, continuing with no end in sight; Twilight Sparkle travelled into the unknown hall, weary of enemies that were afoot. She felt annoyed from the walk, silently demanding it to end.

As she strode even further into the unfamiliar abyss, her wish was finally answered.

At the end of the hall stumbled a door, where a faint, orange light seeped from inside; Twilight was glad that it was over, feeling a certain relief. This was her chance to figure out the mysterious of the mansion and this person, Joaris Haliv. As she was about to turn the handle with her magic, her relief came at an abrupt end when she suddenly heard a metallic sound.

Twilight looked behind herself at the dark halls, still hearing its metallic clank getting closer to her. Anxious and frozen with fear, she directed her horn to light up the path, but what she saw shocked her.

Emerging in plain sight, stood a robust metallic creature, wielding an antique halberd. It was the human suit of armour that Twilight had notice from earlier. The armour began to move, slowly advancing at the mare with its weapon firmly gripped; it glowed in the darkness, fading in a deep and purple light

Twilight trembled, shaking her head in disbelief at what was on front of her; she focused at the door, but, ominously, it was locked. Forcing the door to open in a fearful panic, the armour grimly raised its weapon

Twilight jerked her head, gazing widely at the armour’s weapon; her reaction was sudden as she ducked from one of its deadly swings. The mare dodged its lethal blows, barely holding out much longer. She tried to make a run back to the long, dark and dreadful hall and was close to succeeding it, where its cold metal gauntlet firmly grabbed her foreleg.

Grappled, Twilight was lifted off  the ground with ease, screaming out loudly in a terrible fright; her eyes were directed at its helmet, gazing at the ominous, purple glow. The mare was tossed hard back at the door, entering inside of the room of the sheer force of the human suit of armour.

As Twilight began to faze, brought in discontent, her eyes were still glued on the creature, moving closely and bent on killing the mare. And at the instant, the mare had finally had enough and sparked with a fitful rage.

“That does it! I can’t take it anymore!” Recovering from the dreadful toss, Twilight stood up on her hooves, suddenly brave and valiant in the face of death once more. Her horn brightened, illuminating in a glorious purple light.

“You wanna piece of me!” Twilight bluntly asked, readying to take the shot, but the only response from the armour was its unease silence. The weapon was raised, bringing its halberd in range. The armour quickly lunged for the mare.

“Fine! Then by all means! TAKE IT!” Unleashing with all of her might and magic, Twilight fired her powerful beam at the charging threat.

The shot was a clear hit, landing dead center unto its chest. The walking human suit of armour didn’t have a chance of resistance as the beam overwhelmed the metal creature, tearing it in half. Gears and parts spurted out from the inside, spraying and sending farther into the darkness; its terrifying aura diminished after contacting her beam, falling motionless and defeated.

Twilight panted, repeating in a few short breaths. Understanding what was going on, she stared at the dead metal creature; if it was alive or not. Exhausted and spent from her magic reserve, she crumbled down to her knees, trying to regain whatever was left of her strength. She gave a long look at the armour, where she blew with a sigh of relief.

The armour was a machine. Relieved that she wasn’t a cold-blooded murderer, she strangely felt something about this one: the knowledge to create an automaton would have taken years to discover; not to mention the solution for finding a suitable power source.

As she was unable to inspect the intensive details of the fallen automaton, another sound emerged from the darkness, but this time, it sounded like an army. Twilight grimly lifted her head, lighting up the hall with her horn to glimpse in horror of the massive numbers of automatons, marching towards to her with weapons drawn.

Frightened by sheer numbers, Twilight quickly focus at the broken door, trying to lift it with her magic. Still exhausted from the last attack, she could barely concentrate on lifting the door as the automatons drew ominously closer towards to her.

“Come on, please work.” Twilight became desperate, pleading for her magic to work. She focused deeply at the door, and was answered: a purple aura shrouded the entire object, raising up in mid-air; gradually, but it was good enough.

This put a smile on Twilight’s face as she redirected the door to the open entrance. The automatons marched steadily, but reassuringly near at the lavender mare. They knew what the mare was doing as one of the automatons emerged from the rest, carrying a deadly axe. With precise aim, the wielder threw its axe at the mare.

Twilight grew weary, where her magic finally placed the door at the entrance and locked it. Her relief came abruptly when she quickly jumped by the edge of axe, almost near inches to her snout. With no time to spare, the room inside was normal, a simple bedroom with no escape route. She was trapped.

The automatons reached through the door, banging loudly and forcing to enter. Twilight saw the windows, a probable chance to escape, but it would result a steep fall into the bottomless pit. Growing in panic, she searched the entire area of the room; so far, with no luck.

It would only worsen for Twilight even further, when the door slowly began to crumble; the automatons would enter in a matter of minute along with her premature death. “Gah, blast it all!” She stomped her hoof, creating a slight echo throughout the room. Then, she quickly realized, there was a light coming from the bookshelves.

One of the books fell to the ground, where a small, noticeable light pierced the corner of her eye. Twilight gazed at the shelves, where the light appeared.

There was another entrance; another chance for escape.

Without the magic that assisted her, Twilight hurriedly budged the bookshelf, manually pushing the heavy objects. From the corner of her eye, she could easily notice the secret door, slowly revealing itself, but her ears grimly caught the sound of another door, collapsing on the ground as the automatons entered with weapons drawn.

Twilight’s heart was racing, gasping for a moment to breathe; but she didn’t have the time to relax, not even for a moment, when those soulless machines were in bent to rip her into shreds. Pushing the shelves with all of her might, she took one heavy shove and with a painful gasp, the shelves finally fell sideward.

The automatons drew dangerously closer as one of them swung a two-handed claymore. Twilight dodged the deadly attack, sweating profusely in a mixture of fear and relent; she quickly countered with a forceful kick at the heading, causing the automaton to collapse against the others.

Twilight turned the knob and entered, eyeing back at the persistent monsters that was coming for her blood. That was the last time she saw them before she slammed the door shut. Then after that, there was only darkness.

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An hour ago...

“Please, relax and enjoy yourself, Geos. There’s nothing to be afraid of,” Joaris Haliv swept the books away and sat on his chair. “We must have many things to discuss.”

“But, what is there to discuss?” Geos asked, acting wearily of the special treatment that he was receiving.

“There are many things to discuss, but let’s try something simple, shall we. What do you think of the place?”

Geos scanned at the surrounding, collecting his thoughts about the mansion. The place was unnatural for him and the more he thought about it, the more it hurt his head. “I do not mean to sound rude and all, but I find the place to be...unsettling.”

Joaris Haliv heartily laughed. “There can be no denying  that,” he easily sighed. “Guess the place needs a good cleaning; I think I should ask butler Wheler to do this task. But first things first, another question: what do you think of her?”

“Think of her? What do you mean?”

“I mean, my good man, do I need to repeat myself,” Joaris rose from his seat and snapped his fingers. In the instant, an ominous shadow quickly engulfed the entire room, consuming everything in it except for Joaris and Geos.

Geos was startled by the reaction that surrounded him; he headed to the exit, but was quickly blocked by the overwhelming darkness. His hand grabbed the scabbard, taking a defensive approach at Joaris. He gave a good long stare at the nobleman, gazing back at him with his ominous purple eyes; he’d know that kind of look, back from Ironcloud.

“Please, lay down your arms. You are safe.” Joaris words were slightly cold, gradually echoing in an ominous vibe. His appearance changed dramatically as the darkness transformed him into a different person. Tidied and well-groomed, he smiled ominously with his newly, fresh clothes.

“The darkness won’t hurt you or I,” he added. “For as long you have the mark, then nothing will come to harm you.”

“M-mark? What mark are you talking about?”

Joaris raised to question, slightly surprised about this. “You mean you didn’t know? Hmm, I guess it is possible that she’s been busy with her work,” he deeply sighed and pointed. “Look at your chest. There is no denying that she trusted you with it.”

Geos was confused and looked down to notice an ominous light, coming from the center of his chest. His eyes began to widen in shock to glimpse the wound, ominously glowing in a purple fade.

“I’m surprised that you didn’t know of this,” Joaris sighed, disappointedly as he snapped his fingers; several figures revealed to themselves from the dark, drawing their weapon. “It’s a shame really. I thought Nightmare Moon had offered me gift, but alas, I am mistaken.”

Joaris hand clutched his pistol and rose it against the rookie; the design of gun was strange, unlike anything that Geos had ever seen. They had an unfamiliar markings, wrapped around the barrel, almost alive even. “Well, I guess you are suitable candidate for my experiment,” he added, taking aim. “Goodbye, Geos.”

The end of the barrel hissed, as a lavender hue brightened from the markings. He then pulled the trigger.

(Please forgive of the sudden errors on the grammar, the editing version would be finish in no time.)

(Edit: Alright, it is fix.)