Crossworld Between Harmony: Nightmare's Ascension

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// Story: Crossworld Between Harmony

// Chapter 11, Part 2 - The Living Taboo

// Author: Scarlet Reign

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There had always been a difference between the infected and the those possessed by magic.

Those that were stained were seized; turned into an empty shell, no longer the person they were but filled with raw energy and the craving for more.  Those that were taken, bound by another will, were forced to serve their masters eternally until their existence was no more but a constant fade.

They varied on one another, each with possible and dreadful outcome. However, for Geos, the situation was dire. Never before had the attrean seen a condition so vast that shrouded over the human. With all of its expertise and its grandeur of knowledge, the avian should have easily cure this without any difficulty or effort.

Truly, the attrean was wrong, and the cause puzzled the avian greatly.

Geos, the young, unfortunate rookie who endured far worse than death, had suffered the highest of degree that bestowed upon him. The curse of the beast from the realm of magic had forever scarred the rookie. There was a rare option that the attrean had resorted to and sworn it would never do this again.

However, the rookie, being the savior of its freedom, deserved his salvation.

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Darkness returned for the lavender mare as Twilight Sparkle was plunged deeper below the crystal cavern. Sliding down towards an unknown destination, she screamed with terrible fright. The only mare that would enjoy such a dangerous ride would be a certain pink mare that would be ravished with delight.

Faster and faster the path went. Twilight closed her eyes just in the nick of time before she met the end of her ride. Spewed out from the hole, she crashed hard upon rugged ground. Her back and her limbs ached as she tried to take in her surroundings.

“Well, that could have gotten worse,” said the lavender mare, rubbing her posterior. She then lit her horn, only to find herself yet again on a gloomy path. Cold and utterly darker than before, young Twilight Sparkle ventured on into the deep, hoping that the stone artifact would be there. if the attrean was telling the truth. But the longer she stayed in the dark, the more she started to lose herself.

Once more, darkness welcomed the little mare, honoring her as a special guest in its home. The shadows behind her magic light danced gleefully, flickering with horrific life of their own. All the elements were brought to a defining moment when the lavender mare took notice of the crystal walls stained with utter blackness, like all life itself had been drained completely. They weren’t the same multi-coloured crystals from above ground; nothing more than dark, dim, lightless crystals.

“...death.”

Up above, Twilight couldn’t barely see the ceiling. The dead crystal walls heightened tremendously above the unknown and became shrouded in eternal darkness. Not even her magic light could tell if the ceiling was near, far or if one even existed at all.

Silent whispers returned to the lavender mare, spewing unintelligible language and the moaning of pain and agony. She ignored them strongly, refusing to listen to the hallucinations that haunted her every hoofstep. She dared not want the light to fade, knowing very well that being covered in darkness would be the end of her. It was far better to hear the voices than to be lost in the dark.

Walking straight along the path, Twilight heeded the earlier warnings from the attrean about the mysterious artifact; that it would test her very limit. She was ready, no, more than that, she was ready to face the dangers that lurk in the deep for she had faced far worse than her previous voyage and having to endure the challenges ahead.

During her voyage she couldn’t even comprehend how much she had to get used to the funny, smelly streets of the capitol or that one time when outrageous folk was so ill-bent on stealing her horn. The thoughts expanded of her many complaints of human society, Twilight was close to the breaking point of insanity, but digressed of the distractions and focused onto her goal.

She pressed through the uneasy darkness and emerged upon a large open space. No light behind the crystals; just utter black. There was an ominous chill that she had sensed as Twilight was presented at a massive river, extending up to miles long ahead. The waters didn’t wave or make any movement. It was still and motionless.

“Come on, Twilight, you can do this. You can do this.” There was no other way to get across the river; the path ended here. The attrean feather slightly glowed, responding passively that the stone was nearby. She lowered her eyes to spotted something over the distant.

There, at the center of the great river laid a small island, bundled together by boulders and rocks. A light faded from the island, glimmering in the darkness. Twilight couldn’t tell if it was the artifact, but she was soon going to find out. The lavender mare stared at her own reflection in the water. With a touch of her hoof, the water rippled, echoing and passing on into the next. There was something uneasy in the waters that troubled the lavender mare, as if there was a stain that never be released.

Twilight would not dare swim in those waters, fearing for her very life. Her teleportation spell didn’t have the range to reach the distant, instead, she had another idea, but it was risky and she would have to gamble her life for it. Her magic was stronger than usual, strong enough, in fact, that she could levitate herself into the air and get to the small island.

As she was set and ready to try out her new magic, questions filled the lavender mare’s head, wondering if it was worth saving the rookie. She didn’t have any other choice, although, for she had sworn to stop Nightmare Moon at every field and corner. Yet, there was also another reason that she continued her attempt. A reason that she made a promise to someone from long ago.

A red glow surrounded her entire body and, as she began floating on air, Twilight focused on the island ahead. Slowly, but surely, the lavender mare continued with careful advance, afraid of looking down at the river. Focusing deeply, she remained steadfast and strong. But for how long?

“Almost there, almost there.” So far it was going smoothly, the mare could see the island much clearer now and was about to reach solid ground. However, as she was on the clear, the water suddenly rippled. Taking notice of the dilemma, Twilight looked down at the river and for a minute she thought she’d seen something moving.

“Wait, wait a minute, did I see something? No, that cannot be,” Twilight thought, shaking in disbelief and hoping it wasn’t true. Panic finally snared the lavender mare, losing her iron focus and causing her to fall into the river.

A tremendous splash awoke the monster from the deep. Twilight mustered her magic and sailed back into the air. Soaking wet, the feather that was attached to her mane was lost and sank into the bottom. Its orange glow lighted below the waters where she grimly saw a shadow, swimming and surrounding the mare.

Twilight thought that her eyes were playing tricks once more, but this time it was real and the shadowy creature gushed out from the waters with an ominous blue glare. A massive serpent had risen from the depths, blocking her and the appointed destination. Its jaws was adamant, revealing its terrible fangs as it plunged for the mare.

Gone paled with fear, the lavender mare dodged its teeth, almost becoming a snack. She twisted back with every pace, but the sea monster followed. Her focus on the levitation spell was swiftly fading; she could not get her head straight with the monster on her tail. She almost reached back to the entrance, but the monster submerged into the water and appeared right in front of the mare. Frightened, she managed to avoid its ravenous jaws and once more fell into the cold, blackened river.

Underwater, the lavender mare hurried to get to the surface. However, her eyes then met at last the sea monster’s glare. From the distance the sea monster glared back at the little mare, staring with its quadruple eyes. It sped greatly towards the lavender mare with its massive jaws wide open. Its scaled body was shrouded in the shadows as its blue stare was the only thing that Twilight could see.

Twilight was in a dangerous predicament and she would be swallowed whole by the raging monster. “No, I can’t die here. There’s no way I can die here,” thought Twilight, unaware that in a mix of fear and anger, her horn began to glow brightly in red. “No, I refuse to accept this. You hear me? Never!”

The sea monster was already near and swallowed the lavender mare whole. The serpent ravished with delight; satiated of its hunger. But an unexpected event occurred; the monster felt a tingling sensation below its stomach. It cried in a terrible, demonic wailing; jerking wildly without control. A red light pierced out from its mouth and with an excruciating howl came the release.

Water gushed out from the river and bursted in a tremendous blast.  A large explosion detonated beneath the waters as a fading scream lingered in the air. Twilight landed roughly on the small island, fazed, but alright. Gasping for air and coughing terribly, she shifted her head to the large, fallen serpent, stunned and in disbelief.

“Did...did I do that?” Twilight was simply amazed that she could defeat such a foe and even more so when she saw the aftermath. The serpentine monster then decomposed until it consisted of nothing but dust and shadow. Its scaled body gradually faded and vanished completely into the darkness.

As the serpent diminished into the oblivion. There was a cold-chill wrangling through Twilight’s spine and she shuddered the thought of its maker. The way the monster was made and summoned had to took a great deal of magic and skill. She wondered, greatly so, of the ingredients and the methods of creating such a creature, but she had little time to study when her eyes were caught on an entrancing sight.

The orange feather was lost into the deep, but the lavender mare spotted something more and the attrean was right. At the center of the small island laid a black stone hovering above the air. Its definitive aura fueled with ominous evil. Glowing in deep, dark blue, Twilight cautiously advanced to the artifact, her mind being careful of the powers that held from within.

“So, this is the stone,” thought Twilight. “Hmm, I expected it to be a lot...bigger.” Without the feather, Twilight could not return to the attrean and save Geos in time. She would forever be trapped from below and would never see the warmth of the sun. As she stepped inches closer a chilling sensation of cold radiated from the stone. Its warmth was no longer there and the only thing that Twilight felt was but emptiness.

Her forelegs suddenly began to weaken; her eyes were getting sleepy and drowsy by the light. She couldn’t focus on the task ahead as she faintly collapsed to the ground. She couldn’t move; unable to feel her muscles. She was deeply entranced, under the spell of the mysterious artifact. Then, without any notice, a whisper was heard.

“Welcome...welcome...” the voice said with a soothing calmness, but in its tone hid a cold and vicious entity. Twilight  was startled by this and couldn’t react to her defense. The magic that she always relied on was gone. Drained and quenched for thirst, Twilight stared at the source of the whisper, the source of what was happening to her.

Beginning to panic, she resisted, but her efforts were futile as her body began to fade. Her lavender coat, her pale-light grayish mulberry, was turning grey. Her eyes lost their sight and she fell; eternally asleep by the black stone.

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Captain Hover, leader of the Soulus guards, now rested on his prison cell and was being watched by the gearers. He sighted several of them planting strange devices at the support beams. Beside their reputation of creating such wonderful devices, they also had the tendency to leave destruction in their wake.

The gearers were ordered, and demanded, to destroy the crystal caverns and render all proof of evidence of Haliv’s conspiracy involvement. They firmly planted the charges to create a cave-in, but what they did not know was that their fate would be grimly sealed. Unaware of the deceit, the butler, Wheler, had begun plans of his own. Ordered by the master of the mansion, the butler would seal the only entrance, leaving the gearers behind and trapped under a pile of rubble.

It was a deserving payment for the heathens masks and their foolish, pompous pride, but Hover needed to escape from his cell if he wanted to see Twilight and his men. He gradually cursed at the butler, and of himself. Naive and distracted, he was blind and could not see the treachery that laid before him. He was an utter fool, but that went behind him for the moment.

Isolated, the gearers that were watching him suddenly darted off somewhere into the cavern. This was his chance. As the captain struggled with the lock he was abruptly paused by a familiar sight. It was the crystal, the one he notice from earlier. Shrouded and glowing a deep azure, the captain was immediately drawn by its beauty.

His hand was stretched out and wanted to touch it, but as he was close enough to grasp its surface, he quickly regained his senses and gladly jerked away from the gem.

“This thing...what is this?” thought the captain; starting to lose himself. Beyond speechless, he had never before seen such a rare type of rock. The only time that he recalled was in the merchant stores when he was a little kid, but this one was far bigger. His head began to lose, slowly hearing ominous whispers. He demanded to embrace the crystal so, and his resistant struggled with temptation were waning. This was no ordinary crystal, as the captain finally realized the truth.

His hand slowly reached to the crystal, trying to fight his desire and retain his will. The captain faded into the breaking point and was struggling for control, but could not help himself because of the beauty that laid before him.

There were studies from the academy of powerful materials that would bend any soul to blind madness. The desires in the men’s hearts would be wrapped with lust for power and wealth that they would lose themselves to the grimmest of fate. How hard he tried to restrain of himself had ceased all of the chances and would succumb to the unknown.

With his own bare hands, captain Hover succumbed to the crystal and touched the tip. The crystal lit, brightened in an incredible light as strange energy flowed down upon the captain. The sight darkened him, rendered him empty of all such ability and function. His body froze by the daunting power as his eyes glimpsed between horror and wonder.

The energy dissipated unto the captain and the crystal shattered into numerous pieces. A single drop, small as a pebble, hovered below the side of the captain, glittering in sapphire.

Two passing gearers were on their way for their escape when one stopped to take notice of a shiny gem laying in the prisoner’s cell. Filled with greed in his heart, the gearer foolishly opened the lock.

“What are you doing?” said the other. “We need to get out of this place and fast.”

“Hold your boots on, I’m just getting this piece right here.”

“I still don’t get why you have to get this one. This place has got everything.”

“Almost everything.” The gearer reached closer to the blue gem. He wanted this one more than the rest. As he picked the little gem he smiled with selfish glee. “See, I told you this was a cinch. This prisoner has no strength left to resist--!”

At an abrupt sentence a stream of water poured upon the gearer, dropping the gem and hurling him far in a respectable distance. The other gearer was simply surprised and was about to holler a warning to the others, but he too was put out of commission with a torrent blasted upon his face. With the two down for the count, the gray captain emerged from his cell, retrieving his blue gem.

“Well, now this is starting to get interesting around here.”

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In the middle of an island in a river of blacken mystery, Twilight was being attentive at the black stone that laid. The voice was soothing in her ear as she approached to it more cautiously. The stone called out to her in advance, praying that its voices were heard.

“Alright, enough with this game,” said Twilight, having enough of the charades. “What is it that you want?”

The black stone said in grumbled words, unable to comprehend to what it was saying. Its fainted light gave the only hope for Twilight from the horrors that shrouded in the dark. The stone simply brightened a little to ease her fear.

Twilight was suspicious, through and through. She wanted to know why the attrean wanted the stone in the first place. The question that came to mind right now was: can this help Geos? As she pressed forward a little bit closer a trembling quake rocked the little mare and she fell off balance.

Out from the depths of the river sprung another shadowy, serpentine monster. Twilight’s morale steadily faltered when she spotted more of them springing out from the water. Four more serpents appeared out from the blacken waters, staring at the intruder with their ominous glow. They were about to get ready for the plunge upon the little intruder.

The massive weight of their bodies and rabid teeth would destroy Twilight completely. Their terrible fangs were drawn wide open as Twilight’s heart started beating faster and faster. Frozen and paled with fear, the stone called out to her, whispering by her name.

It had asked her to use its power, to save her from a doomed fate. Twilight stared at the object, tempted on accepting such a chance, but she hesitated, unsure of its unknown power. Would the stone be her savior or her untimely grave. The stone was calling to her and she was afraid to respond. Desperation and fear took over the little mare as the monsters descend with tremendous speed.

Twilight Sparkle, the violet mare, forced towards to the artifact and when she touched its potential a blinding light appeared that burned through the shadows. Then everything went into pitch.