Crossworld Between Harmony: Nightmare's Ascension

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// Story: Crossworld Between Harmony

// Chapter 10 - The Duel Between Young and Experience

// Author: Scarlet Reign

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Rever’s Phase. Hours ago

A terrible ambush was unleashed upon the Soulus guards. Rever rose to defend against the cowardly assault. He turned back his head at the stagecoach, knowing for sure that this would be the last time he would see Twilight Sparkle.

“Mount up! Form shields!” With an affirmed voice from the officer, the remaining guards formed around the stagecoach, closing in on each other’s ranks and raising their shields up high against the oncoming arrows.

“Muskets ready! Take present. Fire!”

The musket exploded at the end of the barrel, sending a volley of shots against the archers. Most of them collapsed, either wounded or dead. The musketmen crouched onto their knees, reloading their guns while the shield bearers tried to protect them.

Rever raised his pistol and aimed at the archers. The sound of a firearm bursted with fuelling fire and smoke as the archer fell by the lethal shot. He turned once more to the stagecoach, feeling a slight relief that Twilight was still alright. But he grimly knew that their defenses would not hold out much longer. It would only be a matter of time.

Surviving the assault was never the idea or the thought to escape in that matter. They all knew that their time would finally come, but for as long as they drew their breath they would continue their defiance until the very end.

One by one the guards were taken out by the relentless archers, picking their target with ease. With only a few remaining, they made their final stand at the massive wave of soldiers.

Fortunately, a couple of the guards from outside already heard the commotion that was brewing and darted off to warn the military. Given orders by Gray captain Hover, the few were hidden just outside of the mansion, waiting in the shadows. When they heard the roar of battle coming to life, they immediately knew that something was terribly wrong.

“Twilight! Can you hear me!?” shouted Rever, hoping that the little mare could hear his voice. The battle greatly worsened as the cannons was set dead aim at the stagecoach.

One lashed onto Rever’s shoulder. He had the scent of fear of death in him. “Sir, it isn’t safe, we must get out of here while we have the chance.”

Rever already knew that and even if they did try to escape it would be futile with the gate tightly shut from behind. There was no way getting out as this would be their graves. The guard as well knew the chances of survival, but he was so bent to his life, clinging to even the thought of a desperate hope.

“Twilight! We cannot hold them for much longer. You must get out of here, now!” Rever crouched down on the ground as the cannons began to bombard the group. The iron barrage was terrible and Rever could barely hear Twilight voice with all the explosion. “Get out of here. Survive! There is nothing you can do to help us.”

The guards were engulfed in force and fire. They were being massacred from every direction as time quickly slowed down around them. The iron shell ruptured the earthly stone, breaking the metal pieces and got caught by the unfortunate guards. The arrows were countless, piercing the ranks of the group and cutting them down to only eight.

Rever stood from the infernal chaos, grimly staring at the cannons aiming directly at him. He then smiled slightly, suspecting that his time had come. “Tell the captain, tell Hover, that I did all that I can to save you...”

In that instant the iron shell exploded with tremendous flames, hitting dead center of the group. Rever was silenced as his body was tossed into the air. Fallen amongst his brethren his eyes were dazed by the intense shock wave that stirred him. The only sight was only the dim nightly sky as the background noise of the cannons continued on with relentless firepower. And when all things were about end for him, a helping hand managed to brought him back to his feet.

“Come on sir, don’t give up yet. We have to get out of here.”

Rever stared in astonishment. It was the guard from before, the same guy that tried to convince him to escape, dragging his battered body and pulling him away from the chaotic scene. His helmet was thrown aside, seeing now with his cerulean eyes as he blankly gazed at the stagecoach from a fair and temporarily safe distant.

There was a deep sense of dread that stained his heart. The duty of the Soulus guard was sacred and with that reason alone, he’d join the group without a moment of hesitation. He was also fond of a certain little mare, Twilight Sparkle, and her lovely stories (which I would not explain in this tale). Now it seemed like he was abandoning her to her certain fate.

“It’s over, guard...accept your fate,” Rever grimly replied. “You know as well as I do that we could not escape. You're...just prolonging the inevitable.” He didn’t wanted to be cynical(and that was for sure), but it was the truth. He smelled the burning flesh of his skin, singing even further throughout his body and the sight of the footmen approaching to the coach. “Leave me be, guard to my certain doom. Accept what reality is yet to come.”

The guard was appalled by the officer’s suicidal claim and shook his head in defiance of the command. In a grimly truth, he tried very hard not to believe that it was his time to fade from existence. If he had only wished to return back home. He’d never told his parents how he loved them very much. But now, it was too late for that.

With the footmen approaching dangerously close, the guard charged into the fray, leaving Rever alone to handle.

Over the distant, Rever could hear the agonizing scream of the guard’s premature death. The footmen were already eyeing on him with swords drawn. With last of his strength left, Rever stood from the dirt and made his defining moment. Using the side wall to keep his balance, he grinned slightly at his fate.

Rever breathed deeply and quickly armed into the offense.

======

Geos Phase. Hours ago

The room was utter pitch black as the last candle light was blown away. In the midst of darkness, the automatons were fazed, but slightly prepared on what was yet to come. That was when an ominous sound appeared before one of them.

The voices whispered with corruption and deceit as the young rookie, Geos, fully embraced the nightly call. His mind was not his own. His movements were ghostly, surreal and demonic. He raised his dark blade and smote at one of the automatons with ease.

The rookie was not himself for clearly his mind was not his own at the moment. Like a calling, the rookie obeyed, but to who? In the corner of the deepest core, his heart began to taint and flourished at an alarming rate. He was a loose cannon, based and designed for destruction and death that stood in his way. To him, he was just a toy to be played with; a puppet.

The automatons slightly backed away from the dark knight as they foolishly pressed on with the attack. Though they had durable armour and distinct equipment, they weren’t prepared to deal against the powers of magic for the rookie harnessed the ability (either given or forced to) by the Mare of the Moon. The rookie ravished with delight upon their destruction. He charged head-straight into the fight, without a care, without remorse. He sliced the automatons without trouble as each fell by his blade and his power.

As the last automaton succumbed to his blade, the rookie quickly regained his senses. The powers he’d received, vanished at the instant but still retained the purple hue of his eyes. “What happened here?” the rookie asked, but only found silence as his answer. He stared horrifically at the destruction around him. “Did...did I do all that?”

Geos looked at his own hand, shaking violently without control. He was starting to lose it; that was when he remembered of the fatal shot. The bullet should have killed him right there on that spot. But it didn’t happen. Instead, it did the opposite. He felt a deep sensation of cold festering deep into his core.

More automatons appeared from the entrance as Geos magically procured a dark blade from his hand. He became speechless, shocked even that it had actually happen. He could feel an ominous power lingering from him What’s...happening to me... he thought, desperately seeking for some answer, but he had little time as more of them began mounting by the numbers.

I cannot stay here much longer. I must escape! Unsure on his instinct, the rookie urged forth at the precarious group. Time quickly gone slower and Geos could see much clearer in every detail. The surrounding measure of the room and his attackers. The automatons reacted poorly and didn’t have enough time to attack. Geos felt like a fading shadow, surrounding his entire body and what appeared to be following him. His reflexes increased tremendously as he was able to dodge and avoid the constant assault of the automatons. After exiting the room, it became easier for him to lose them and he vanished without a trace.

Even in darkness, the rookie could clearly see well on the path ahead, managing himself straight out of trouble and into safety. While the rookie was enjoying his newfound gift, something happened.

“Ahhhh, what is this?!” A terrible pressure forced him to collapse as the rookie tried to control the gruelling pain on his head. “Gah, this voice...what? Who's there?”

The rookie had flashbacks of a certain monster that ployed in his thought. But this time it was different as the voice was heard from upstairs, leading straight to the black spire. The rookie recalled to took notice of the spire. It laid ominously behind the full moon. Inevitably, he had no other choice but to follow. And so he did.

Ascending into the stairs, the rookie encountered hundreds of small, crystalline gems, sticking unto the sided walls. They had a warm, purple glow that lighted the way for him. It was kind of no-brainer that the rookie would find something strange once he reached to the spire. He just couldn’t ignore the voice any longer for it was hurting his head.

Once the rookie managed to reach to the spire, he was presented upon a very large and empty room. There was nothing interesting in this place; that was when he looked above ceiling to see more of the purple gems. They glittered and retracted from the dawning moonlight. They looked like the stars from the night.

Amazed from the sight, a strange voice loomed deeper ahead. Wincing his eyes for a better look, Geos quickly saw something in the shadows. Steadying on his feet and moving bit by bit, at the center of the room, laid an unknown prisoner. There were chains, wrapped around its body, binding the figure from every movement. There was a marked rune that displayed onto its chest. A proof of reason for its imprisonment. But what surprised the rookie the most was not the room, but the prisoner itself for what he saw was...

“No this cannot be...an Attrean!”

Based upon the world of mysticism and magic(upon the calling of other things), laid a race that’s similar to a common griffin in Equestria. But what you don’t know, was that they had tremendous qualities unlike anything you have seen before. Golden coated feathers with sharp, reddened eyes, they had tremendous build-up that was twice the size of a griffin and had incredible life-spans that could live up to a hundred years. Cunning and intelligent, the Attreans harnessed both wisdom and magic, making them dangerous throughout the known world.

Geos still retained such studies back from the military academy, studying their strange and bizarre ways. For you see, humanity still greatly feared them from the ‘War of the Feathers’ (which I would gladly explain in due time) and their ruthless appetite for destruction.

The Attrean acted hastily, causing a tragic event that would lead them toward extinction. From a prolonging war or deep prejudice, the Attreans were finally purged from existent, ending their time and history. Or so the rookie would have thought.

“At last...you’ve finally come,” Geos heard the creature’s voice as he magically procured his dark blade once more. The Attrean stared and slightly  bemused. “You sure have the decency to raise your arms against me, do you know who I am?”

Geos replied to the creature with only silence and a deep hatred for their race. The rookie had always heard tales about them. Tales of how they slaughtered countless innocents and destroyed nations upon their wake. It was one of the many reasons why Geos enrolled into the Partishan: to meet an Attrean; and kill it.

“What’s wrong little human, don’t have the courage to strike me down,” the Attrean asked and quickly knew what the rookie was about to do. “will you bear the responsibility, knowing that in your hand, you will slay the last of the mighty race.”

“Shut your beak, you blighted monster!” Geos flared out, slightly closing in for the kill. “You aren’t so mighty now, monster. I have a duty to uphold and it is our course to eliminate your kind from this world. I shall carry them out.”

The Attrean laughed aloud, humorously and hardly felt threatened by the bravado that was coming out from the human; but it was starting to notice something else. “Strange, I could feel a grim stain that’s eating you, little human. A rather...unusual sensation and probably a familiar one. Yes, I know this one. It is the same people that imprisoned me into this infernal chain. Oh how I wish to return the favour with an equal measure of fitting.”

“Enough! I have had enough of this conversation, blighted beak,” said the rookie, preparing to plunge the beast at the neck. He was about to do it until a familiar, equine voice had finally returned. His darken blade faded, crumbling into a mist of shadow as the rookie crumbled down flat.

Don’t listen...obey. Obey! Geos recognized that voice from anywhere. It was the same nightly mare that’s been constantly ravaging through his mind.

The Attrean watched at the rookie’s predicament and couldn’t help but to feel curioused of his dire situation. Then the Attrean had a wonderful idea (though not wonderful, but alas, its a start). “Ah, so that’s the host that gave you these...gifts. A rather terrible burden if you ask me for the likes of you.”

“Shut up, you know nothing!” shouted Geos. “Shut your blasted beak before I--!” The rookie stopped abruptly in the middle of the sentence as the mare volumed even louder. To what he truly feared the most, he could feel the taint that spreaded over him; his mind and body were slowly rotting at an alarming rate. Soon, once the conversion was complete, the rookie, that he once knew, shall no longer exist from this world. He would be nothing more than a puppet, a likely pawn to her grand and dark army.

It would only be a matter of time before his terrible fate. But the Attrean provided him a solution.

“Listen to me little human and listen good. I know what you are going through and by the look of your condition it isn’t good. Soon you’ll be nothing more than an empty shell, a spawn for that accursed creature. Unless, of course, you can help me that is,” the Attrean crept a widely grin that made Geos stuttered to fear and imagine. “I have a proposition for you, my little human and it wouldn’t be difficult. If you want to prolong your existence, then release me from this prison and I shall provide your...salvation.”

Geos was stuttered speechless to make of its claim. What was worse? To either slowly rot to become a mindless hollow or to make a deal with an accursed avian. He would rather choose death than the either of two, but the rookie had reasons alone that redirect him to the third and suicidal option.

The rookie wanted to live, to survive the horrors that followed him, but the most outrageous and simplest reason of all; he wanted to be a hero.

Like a kid reading through fictional lore of knights and adventure, Geos wanted to be like one of them, to save the innocents and to protect the world from evil. He wanted to be brave and wanted to show the world on what he was capable of. It was a foolish and silly dream and that was true, but that dream alone made Geos strived forward on in a world of deceit and betrayal. If he had to make a deal with the greatest of enemy, then he shall do so in behalf of his silly dream. And so he did.

“Excellent! Excellent!” said the Attrean. “Destroy this seal. Release me and I shall reward you with your survival.” The rookie grimly obeyed the Attrean, eyeing at the seal rune that strapped on the avian’s chest. His mind wondered if it was the right decision but he paid little heed on that matter as he materialized his dark blade.

The seal rune resonated in a powerful spell, enchanting with its valiant, purple glow (probably done by Nightmare Moon herself). It was the reason that the Attrean was imprisoned in the first place and now the rookie was about to release it into the world. As the infection reaped into his body, he struggled keep his hand at steady. With his blade up high, he give out a roar. Then he sliced it in half.

Nooooooooooo

The chains that entrapped the creature were broken, releasing the Attrean with the fullest of its might. Its golden wings were stretched, spreading its feathers in a daunting, orange light. The purple gems from above, crumbled in the instant, unable to withstand the powers of the Attrean. The windows were shattered, sending the falling pieces down below (at the butlers and Twilight Sparkle)

“At last...I AM FREE!” the Attrean roared with excitement and the undeniable relief of the freedom that brought to it by the little human. “At long last. It is good to stretch my wings. You have done well and I thank you for that.”

Geos couldn’t say much more as he fell to the ground by the darkness. The Attrean warmly smiled. “Do not worry, little human. I remember my promise and a promise I shall give you.”

The rookie couldn’t see anything for the darkness had taken over his sight. Slowly dying from within, Geos quickly felt the warmth from the Attrean as he snuggled the avian’s softly feathers. The Attrean wrapped its golden wings around the rooke and with a unbelievable flash of light.

They vanished, without a trace.

======

Twilight Sparkle Phase. The present...

The cranking gears of oil and grime continued on, working the machines without any end. More empty shells of mechanical suits of armour stood and laid, waiting for the final step of completion. An ingredient was needed for the automatons to function. A required ingredient that was powerful and mystic and easy to collect: the essence of a human soul

And with that horror, Twilight stared in dismay to see her friend’s untimely demise that would be worst than death. Still hiding from the corner, still hiding from the horrors that presented her, the little mare remained silent as the large metallic claw clasped upon the lifeless body of Rever and taking him away.

Twilight Sparkle couldn’t help but to express such sadness as she tried to control her tears. Rever was one of the few good friends that mattered to her the most. Beside her friends from Equestria and the nine companions that guided her to the human realm (which I won’t explain them in due time), she was at loss for word and would be heart-broken explaining the news to the captain.

The captain! Hover! I almost forgot about him. Twilight thought. Oh I hope he’s still alive. I must find him quick before it is too late. When the last armour suit was submitted to the rest of the ‘newly ranks’, she quickly overheard a discussion between one of the gearers.

“That’s the hundreth so far,” said the gearer. “how much more does the boss needed?”

“As much as possible,” the other replied. “we must pace the double before the shipment. Hopefully the boss would bring us our deserved payment.”

“I hope so. He’s being silent so far and its starting to get on me.”

“Quit yer yapping. What’s the next subject?”

“The tempered one no doubt. And finally its time alright. He’s been giving us heck for some time with all that cursing.”

Yep, that’s gotta be Hover alright. Twilight, in a safe and respectable distance, followed the gearer into another room. Fortunately, after spending so much time in the human realm, Twilight had learn a few new perks along with her adventures with them (the nine companions). One example was that she was getting used to sneaking around the place and without relying on her magic. How she remembered back in the days as a foal when she played hide n’ seek with the other students in Canterlot. She was the worst hider in all of Equestria and that she had to cheat with her magic(and no complaints about it)

As she patiently followed him into the next chamber, there her eyes stared at the prison cell, housing dozen more inmates before being sent as sacrifice of their wicked machinery. There was an elderly man, baring too weak to stand, a couple of merchant and bystanders that had happen to cross in an unfortunate event and to her likely surprise, three Soulus guards that survived the terrible ambush from outside.

The gearer hailed at the two footmen who stood watch at the living test subjects. He then instructed at the next subject, giving them the description of a Soulus guard. The two footmen nodded and opened the cell. With their spears firmly gripped they shoved and pushed the civilian away, clearing some space.

Now’s my chance Twilight thought as she moved much closer to the gearer. She could fairly hear the bickering from one of the footmen at the Soulus guards. The gearers were fitted with strange apparel that was design to protect themselves from the elements of nature. Well equipped and resilient, their main distinct of the gearers was their breathing mask, surviving the toxins of their underground workshop.

With a flicker of her magic, the young mare hoisted the gearer up from the ground. Surprised by the levitation, the gearer was thrown like a common rag doll and slammed hard onto the wall, knocking him unconscious. What surprised Twilight greatly was that the colour of her magic light was turned from simple violet into a deep and scorching red.

The two footmen who were alarmed by the sudden noise, turned their heads for the moment (which would be an appalling mistake for them). The Soulus guards, waiting for a chance, seek their opportunity. Highly trained in the field of battle, it wasn’t hard for them to subdue the footmen and when they quickly looked outside from their cell, they came sighing with relief.

“Twilight! Bear the hailing wind that you're still breathing,” they said. “We have thought the worse that you were gone like the rest of them.”

“No time to rest yet,” said Twilight. “Where is the captain? Where is Hover?” When the gearer mentioned of the tempered one, it was referring to one of the Soulus guards.

“We do not know, miss. The captain was beside us when those strange fellows with masks took him somewhere unknown. I think they went deeper below that a way. Twilight, tell us, what has happen to Rever. Has he...?”

Twilight was silent, unable to give a straight answer as she shook her head. The guards then succumbed into despair, slightly lost to one of their own. They soon resented the moment of sadness, now focusing to survive the horrible event.

“What are your orders, Twilight,” said one guard picking the weapon from the unconscious footman. “Without an escape passage, we are trap from this accursed place. I fear more will come by this disturbance.

“Do not fear yourself for there is a way,” Twilight then pointed her hoof at the linear tracks from above, recalling of the metallic claw. “Follow the tracks. I saw one of those metal suits being dragged off somewhere. And if I know better, I’ll bet there’s an exit.”

“It would be heavily protected that I’m sure,” said the other grabbing the hammer. “But there’s nothing like a challenge that we couldn’t face. Plus on the good sense, we have a debt to pay with those traitorous brigands.”

“Good. Lead the civilians out of here as quickly as you can. Get them out of here.”

“What about you? We cannot just leave you here alone.”

“I appreciate the concern, but I’ll be fine. I am Princess Celestia’s most trusted student for nothing you know. Now, please, go!”

The guards looked at each other with great worry for Twilight Sparkle, but in the end they followed the commands being given and guided the civilians to safety. With them doing their job, it was her time to do her part.

Twilight Sparkle trotted with greatly pace, heading deeper below underground. With time not on her side, she must find the captain Hover as quickly as possible. She only hoped that the captain would be alright.

Note: Not much detail focus on Twilight so please forgive me for my transgression. Anyway, thank you for reading.