Crossworld Between Harmony: Nightmare's Ascension

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// Story: Crossworld Between Harmony

// Chapter 9 - The Wraps of Nightmare

// Author: Scarlet Reign

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Twilight would soon discover something foul beneath the mansion and Geos suddenly had a new transformation.

Geos was utterly frozen, like he skipped through time and beyond. His eye bulged, widely shocked and confused by the awful sound of gunfire. His vision was blurred by the inviting darkness as his breath was suddenly stopped.

Unable to avoid the shot, Geos grimly collapsed, feeling a terrible blow that pierced into his chest. The rookie looked to his hand, gazing at his own blood. He was shot by the head of the family of the mansion, Joaris Haliv.

The nobleman lowered his pistol, slightly disappointed at the rookie’s resolve. “A bloody shame...I thought you put up a decent fight,” he sighed, sheathing his pistol. He then snapped his fingers to his creation, his fellow automatons.

“Dispose of this body,” he grimly commanded. “His blood is smearing across the carpet.”

The automaton hissed, but understood the command as it approached to the dying rookie. Joaris Haliv departed, leaving the rookie alone to deal with the monstrous creations. It felt like death to him, creeping inches away until the last sudden moment. He could glimpse the automaton, readying to make its killing blow and grabbing him with its cold metallic gauntlet. This was finally it, his time was drawing near, but then, he quickly heard something. A faint whisper, calling out to him.

Fight, Geos...must survive...

The rookie heard a strange, female voice; it wrought through his mind, constantly entranced by her voice. By some, unknown reason, it seemed to be the only chance of his survival. Who are you?

The voice kept on repeating itself, saying to him to fight,  to survive, to adapt; he couldn’t understand her fading voice, but he knew, deep down inside, that there was something stirring in his heart, waiting to be unleashed into the world.

The automaton carried out its command given by Joaris, raising its ancient warhammer at the young entrapped soul.

The voices on the rookie’s head began to get louder, demanding ferociously to released its dormant power. Geos mind was slowly rotting, giving away in a terrible acceptance. As his last shred of hope was finally drained, another thing filled in the void of his heart. Fear.

The automaton aimed deadly at the rookie’s head and before long came a mighty plunge. With a heavy blow like that, it could smashed a bone into pieces, or smashed his head completely; but, it didn’t happen.

In an unbelievable event, the rookie opened his eyes, glaring in a deep, purple fire. A dark aura festered itself around the rookie, forcing the automaton to release him from its grasp. The rookie gritted his teeth, filling with rage and the lust for battle. His hand grabbed its warhammer and smashed the automaton’s head without a second thought.

As one automaton fell, the others quickly presented their weapon, raising their shields and blades and spears in cautious defense. The rookie rose from his feet, feeling the absolute power of the darkness circulating in his bloodstream. It felt good, really good; he’d never imagined it would be so wonderful, to be different and to be free from doubt.

The rookie materialized from his hand, procuring a black blade. For the first time in his life, he wasn’t afraid of anything; his blade positioned at the nearest target. As he crept a smile with an evil glee, his body moved and faded through the darkness. He engaged the enemy.

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Present...

Darkness. The cold, unfeeling, unrelenting darkness. Twilight could barely see ahead, let alone find her hooves. With only the faint orange light, seeping from behind, and the automatons’ persistently barging to get through, she had little choice but to head on into the darkness. And without her magic to assist.

Still exhausted from her previous attack,  Twilight trailed aimlessly into the darkness. Alone and afraid. Ominously enough, the voices in her head began to call out to her, whispering to her name in dire need of help. The more she remained in the dark, the louder it got; she needed to hurry and find an exit fast before she’ll drove into madness.

However the path was endless, blinded by the overwhelming pitch blackness and unable to find the exit, as the voices grew louder with every minute. Her head began to ache, feeling distracted ahead by the thousand sounds of their agonizing wailing. The voices made concentration impossible as she lost her balance, falling down into the ground. She coiled around her forelegs, closing her eyes and demanding for the voices to stop.

But the voices refused to go down, getting louder and more chaotic in their defiance. “Please, stop it!” Twilight pleaded, crying out for mercy. The voices continued on with their whisper, ravishing against the defenseless mare.

Until at the last moment, when she couldn’t bear any longer, she screamed. “GAH, STOP IT!” With affirmed command, the unfamiliar voices suddenly went silent; her horn brightened with a tremendous light, burning away the darkness. She could now see her hooves and the path ahead, gasping for a moment to breath as she firmly stood up from ground. “What in Equestria was that? It has never done that before?” She startled in amazement by the light of her horn. It wasn’t the usual colour of purple, but radiating in a slight, reddish hue.

A door quickly came to view, presenting itself in front of Twilight; though she was able to use her magic to open the door, it wasn’t strong enough to deal with the bigger target such as the automatons or the pursuant humans. At the other side, there was a spiral staircase, leading below underground of the mansion. Anxious, she wondered on what she would uncover on the queer depths below the mansion; there were many possible scenarios leading to this. And she was about to find out.

As Twilight descended underground into the mansion, a terrible grinding sound was heard from the distant. She could see the end of the bottom, where an orange light was seeping through the cracks of the entrance. Inside the room was a laboratory, bearing strange machines and sparkling with life. A line of suit of armours were placed on several metallic carts, where a dozen of foot soldiers were taking them away into the tunnel.

Twilight was curious about this and quickly followed. Hmm, strange, I wonder where they’re going? She thought. The tunnel were well-lit with fire lamps as she pressed on, minding the distance between her and the soldiers. Continuing for more than a minute, she came to stumble upon a gruesome scene.

At the end of the tunnel, Twilight saw a pile of corpses, littered about the thousands. She was haunted, treading back at the sight of such bloody toll, but then at the last second, a terrible scream awoke. Far ahead laid an enchantment circle, where a couple of strange hooded men gathered at the center, raising their hands at the two subjects: the human and the automaton, lying on each table.

Twilight hid behind from the cover, gazing at the hooded men’s ghastly work as an extendable mechanical claw latched upon the lifeless corpse, carrying the body away. The armour that laid on the table suddenly came back to life and proceeded forth with the rest of its brethren.

The mechanical claw brought out another automaton on the table, lying perfectly still. Twilight then eavesdropped at the hooded men, listening carefully about selecting and planting to another host. She quickly directed her sight at the metal door, as it opened to reveal another test subject, but in a terrible surprise...

Oh my goodness, Rever! He’s alive!

Rever was scarred terribly from battle as the two automatons dragged him by the table. Locked in chains through his hands and feet, the hooded men began to incant their magic. When Rever finally woke, his eyes was widened with shock. He tried to break free, shouting out in demand to release him. But his efforts were futile as the hooded men continued on with their spell.

“Is he the one, Wheler? The one that you mentioned?” From the corner, a well-suited man appeared, inspecting at the test subject.

“Without any doubt, master Joaris,” Butler Wheler gladly confirmed. “This Soulus guard, alone, manage to take out a dozen foot soldiers and lead only a few to warn the rest of his guards just outside.”

“Hmm, typical. Very typical of the captain to have a backup. I suspect at this very moment that they notify the military already. It wouldn’t be long before they arrive to end our ‘little’ operation.”

“It seems the news get much even worser, milord,” Wheler added. “It seems, that Geos has succumbed by the nightmare.”

Joaris slightly chuckled. “Heh, about time.”

“...you knew, milord?”

“Of course! I suspected that a puny shot would not end him so easily. He’s too young to die so quickly. What’s more, I sense something different about this one. Not like the rest before him. He has...potential.”

“What is your command, milord?” Wheler said, slightly panicked. "By now, this rookie, would eventually find this place, tearing you and everyone in it to pieces and the military is approaching this way as we speak.”

“Calm yourself, my faithful butler. Clearly it calls for a desperate action and we only have one outcome for this: we must evacuate the mansion. Have the men prepare for the departure along with the rest of the creation.”

Wheler gladly bowed. “At once, milord.”

As the butler was about to leave, Joaris then added. “And after you done that. Why won’t you show your talents with the rookie. I’ll bet he want something to spar with.”

Wheler didn’t comment about it and left without a word. Joaris then glared at the test subject before taking his leave. “Have his soul be split as well. I wanted him to join her army.”

The scientists gradually began their operation, measuring the flow of power of the machine. The coil above stirred, directing its lightning at the armour. Rever stared at the lightning, horrified at what the hooded men were about to do. He tried once more to break free, but it was useless as the coil aimed directly at him. Turning his head with a shred of hope left to resist, his eyes quickly met a certain lavender mare, hiding from behind cover.

Rever paused to this and made one final, warming smile; the last smile that Twilight would see before the coil unleashed its power unto his body.

(Note: Yeah, so forgive me of the shortness of it. My mind was constantly being wrapped with other things. I hope you guys like it and thank you for reading)