Chapter 1
He was dead, he had to be dead. He couldn’t see an inch in front of his face, and the air reeked of rot.
And he was cold, terribly, terribly cold.
The first thing he did, the only thing he could do, was look around in the darkness, and wait for his eyes to adjust. When at last they did, he saw that the floor, walls, and ceiling were made from dirty cobblestone, and that across from him were bars like the cell of a prison.
No, not a prison, an asylum. Oh Celestia, he really was in hell.
A moment of terrifying realization crept over him, and left him with a churn in his stomach.
You’re dead, Gabe, accept it, you lost, and now you’re here.
But why was he even able to think that? Hollow were mindless husks, he shouldn’t be able to control his bowels let alone think. Perhaps…perhaps he wasn’t dead after all, perhaps he’d simply slipped into unconsciousness, and his wound wasn’t as bad as he’d thought.
Hope sparked in his mind, he smiled weakly. But his heart didn’t race, it didn’t pound eagerly against his chest.
It sat still in his cold body, shriveled, withered, and unmoving.
No, no he was in fact dead, the gash in his chest still very much there, and still very much fatal.
With that knowledge locked in his mind, he crept up to his hooves, rolled his shoulders, and cracked his aching, stiff neck from side to side. Apprehensively he looked down at his chest, nodded to himself, then sat back on his haunches.
What would unlife be like for one who had to consciously endure it? None came to the Undead Asylum, none of the Hollow spoke with one another, they were just kept here, like beasts. He would spend an eternity here, alone, in silence until his mind eventually was lost, and his body dust. Never again would he enjoy the sensation of feeling the wind in his mane, or the sun on his face, or even eating.
This, he thought, was a fate worse than death. Here was denied any form of afterlife, of peace, only quiet and isolation.
He wondered if he shouted into the dark corridor outside his cell, if any of the Hollow would hear him, and if so, would they do anything? Would they even know that they’d heard anything?
Just sacks of meat, existing in a hellish limbo, denied judgment, and left to wander the endlessness of purgatory forever.
“Oh Elizabeth…” Gabriel sighed, his voice cracked and tired. “I pray you were spared this dismal fate.”
The words echoed into the cold air, his breath a cloud of vapor. He looked down, then shut his eyes, he may be kept from the afterlife, and the world, but he would not be kept from at least the simple peace of sleep. At least, he thought not.
“My, you’re a rather sorry sort, aren’t you?”
Gabriel’s head shot up, he looked around his cell and saw no one, then he looked outside of the bars, and found the source of the light, almost happy voice.
There was a young Pegasus, his fur a pale cream hue, and his mane a fiery red. He was dressed in tattered black robes that had slots for his wings, and atop his head was a wide-brimmed hat that hung over his forehead. He looked at Gabriel with carefree eyes, and a seemingly fixed grin on his face.
Most importantly, he didn’t look dead.
“Wh…” Gabriel stood fully, his body aching in protest. “Who are you? How did you get here?”
“Quite a boring story really, doubt you’d be interested in hearing it. But! That’s not why I’m here. I mean, to tell stories that is. I mean I’m not here to tell stories! I am here to do something else, something non-story related!”
The young Pegasus grinned wide, and bowed his head. “Oh but where are my manners? You can call me Malakai. No, wait, you can call me Mal. Too many useless syllables in ‘Malakai’ that could be used elsewhere.”
Gabriel looked at Mal as if he’d caught fire, he’d explained nothing, and managed to confuse him further. He trotted over the bars curiously.
“Why are you here, Mal?”
“Why, to get you out of course! Well, out of this cell, I doubt I could get you out of the asylum. No, that task will fall to you.”
Free him? This was too much of a coincidence to be real, he was dreaming, he had to be. The young Pegasus continued, oblivious to Gabriel’s shocked expression.
“If you do manage to make it out of here, though, we can work on getting you back to your old self and not so…” Mal raised a fore-hoof and motioned to Gabriel’s entirety. “Dead.”
“That’s possible?”
“Of course it is! Well not really, but it might be! No one’s really tried it before, but it’s better than nothing, eh? So what do you say?”
Gabriel paused, and weighed his options. Moments ago, he was dreading the endless future in this dark, tiny cell. Yet outside, Celestia only knows what sort of things could await him. What if he were killed again? What would happen to him?
But what if he could really be alive again? And if he could, maybe...
“Alright, get me out of here.”
Mal beamed. “Fantastic! Simply fantastic!” He reeled back, all of his weight dropping to his back legs, then he dropped, and smashed a hoof into the lock.
The sound of cracking metal was like the finest music Gabriel had ever heard. Cautiously, he pushed open the gate and walked out of the cell. The sense of freedom he expected did not come.
“Now, before you head out on your way, you may want to…ehem… make yourself decent?”
Gabriel glanced back, and noticed his body was bare of clothes. He shouldn’t have been surprised, the dead were usually stripped, but still, a flustered look overcame his face.
Mal chuckled, spinning around. “There are some leather grays in the chest there, you’ll have to arm yourself though.”
The chest was opened already, and indeed, inside lay sloppily folded leather armor like the Thieves used to wear. Like he used to wear. It didn’t take him long to slip into them, and they fit like a glove. He looked back to the Pegasus, a thank-you hovering at his lips.
But Mal was gone, and he was once more alone in the dark corridor.
Gabriel walked slowly, each step dirtying his hooves with mud, dust, and blood. He could hear the wails of the Hollows now, distant echoes that chilled him almost as much as the air did, a surreal reminder of where he was.
He needed a plan, if he were to even hope of getting out. And if he did get out, he’d have to have a plan for that too.
“Gwyn…” The name seethed through his teeth, he wanted nothing more than to kill Gwyn, to make him know the pain he’d endured. The deaths, his friends and family who’d died so he could have a shot at Gwyn, all in vain. Sorrow washed over him, there was one thing he wanted more.
“Elizabeth…” His little sister, the one he’d sworn to protect, killed before his very eyes by the wretched Executioner Smough, and the dragon-slayer Ornstein. He’d take his vengeance to them first, for her.
Subconsciously he noticed the wailing had softened and had been replaced by a low groan which was much closer. It wasn’t until he heard the hoof-steps behind him that he turned, and his look of contemplation shifted to one of horror, and shock.
Limping towards him was a pony, its body bathed in darkness, yet not fully encased by it. What he could see startled him.
The pony’s fur was gone in some places, its flesh was rotten and decaying, and its legs were bent at an awkward angle. Its face was mangled, both of the eyes were gone, its jaw was slacked, and its muzzle was riddled with holes and wrinkles. It groaned again, and chills shot up Gabriel’s spine, the creature lunged and opened its broken maw, revealing scattered, sharp teeth.
Gabriel threw himself back as the jaw snapped shut, but before he could even get his balance, the creature lunged again, this time with a fore-hoof, and smashed it down on his shoulder. Pain shot through him, and he went with the strike, dropping his upper body, and rolling forward past the thing.
When he sprang back up, it turned, and groaned again. Gabriel launched at it, ramming it with his shoulder and knocking it over. It smacked its head against the wall and lay still, for a moment, Gabriel thought he’d won.
Then it struggled back to its hooves and charged him as if nothing had happened.
“Dammit!” Gabriel spun around and dashed off, narrowly avoiding a chomp to his rear. His hoof-steps echoed noisily in the corridor, but what made his decaying heart leap to his throat was that his were not the only ones. He dared a look behind him, and to his terror, the creature was giving chase, its jaw flopping crudely about in its lopsided gallop.
He turned his focus back to the path before him, seeing a staircase that spiraled up. Slowing enough so that he didn’t smack into the wall, he started up it, sighing in relief when he heard the creature do the exact opposite. However it wasn’t long until it regained its composure and was back after him, emitting its groan that sent chills through his body.
Gabriel more jumped up the last few steps, the fur on his neck standing on end, it took every bit of self-restraint to keep from yelping. He saw an arched doorway, more importantly he saw light, as the creature’s hoof-steps grew louder, he made a break for it. Every fiber of his being screamed with freedom as the sun’s light washed over him, made his pale, decaying body visible to the sky.
But that did not last.
The sun was immediately blotted out by a massive figure that jumped down from the one of the surrounding building’s rooftops. It landed with an earth-shaking “thump” that rattled every bone in Gabriel’s body. Only when the dust settled did he get a proper look at it.
The thing was prodigious, and shakily resembled a lizard, or perhaps a man, or perhaps both. Its scaly flesh was wrinkled, bloated, dirty and riddled with tiny wounds. Unidentifiable bones jutted out from its knee-joints, and in a cryptic crown-like object atop its demonic head. Its tail was at least three times Gabriel’s length, and was stripped of all flesh up to where it connected to the rest of his body, and in its hand was a hammer, an immensely large, crudely assembled hammer. The demon roared, and Gabriel thought about turning and running back inside.
Then he heard a familiar groan, before he could turn, the Hollow Pony lunged. Teeth sank into his shoulder, and he screamed, somewhat shocked that he could feel pain still. He rolled forward, and the Hollow’s head caught between him and the ground. There was a sickening crack, and when Gabriel stood, the Hollow lay still, its hooves twitching. He almost felt pity for it, but any feelings he had were cut off by the demon’s roar behind him.
There was a swooshing sound, like something heavy falling through the air, Gabriel’s eyes widened and he threw himself to the side just as the massive hammer crashed into the ground where he’d been, smashing the Hollow Pony’s corpse.
It started towards him, taking long, heavy steps. It brought the hammer back, and prepared to swing wide. Air split, whistled, Gabriel ducked and rolled under the swing narrowly avoiding it. But as he stood the demon wrapped its hand around his body, lifting him into the air, face to face with it.
Gabriel looked into its pupil-less, dull yellow eyes, furrowed by a boney brow into a permanent glare. He couldn’t imagine the hate this being had for him, such fury, anguish, pain. It was going to enjoy squeezing the unlife out of him.
Suddenly, the air cracked, and against the demon’s shoulder, fire exploded. Bone and blood and scales flew, its flesh charred. It roared in pain, and Gabriel dropped from its grasp, landing hard and looking to the sky.
Mal hovered a few feet above the demon, his fore-hooves alight with fire that engulfed but did not burn. He grinned down at him, giving a polite nod.
“Well I can’t let you bite it again right after I let you out, can I?”
The demon swung at him, but Mal dodged it as if the attack had been made in slow motion.
“Run along now! The spider will only be content with the fly for so long.”
Gabriel obeyed without a second thought, his eye catching the sight of a door to the side beneath an overhang supported by old stone pillars. He ran through it as the demon roared with anger, yelping in surprise this time when a gate dropped shut behind him, sealing him in another dark, moss-ridden corridor.
Mal’s laugh echoed in his ears, he was laughing, that estranged Pegasus was laughing! Gabriel wasted no time descending the stairs from the gate down into the darkness, anything was better than that monstrosity.
There was a sharp twang, and something sharp lodged into his shoulder, punching through his armor. He let out a shout of pain and ducked behind a jut in the wall, daring a look down. An arrow, crudely made from rotted wood and chipped iron. He craned his neck down, grasped the shaft in his teeth and started to yank back. Then something caught his eye, a glint on the ground beside him.
Thank Celestia, the closest thing to salvation he’d ever seen. With a wince of pain buried beneath excitement, he knelt down and quickly lifted up his prize; a dagger, the blade a fore-leg long with a curve carved into its back side. There was even a sheath, with a sling. Oh glory.
He flung it around his neck so that it rested snuggly at his right side, then drew it in his teeth, the ribbed, worn leather handle didn’t so much as wiggle in his clasp. An air of confidence fell over him, he waited.
Hoof-steps, dull, and echoed by a faint splish-splash from the shallow water on the ground, grew close.
As the tip of the Hollow pony’s horn came into view, Gabriel spun around the corner and slashed out with the dagger, surprised at the resistance when it struck the wooden crossbow levitating in the air by magic, and shattered it.
The Hollow seemed to take no notice at the loss, only leaned forward and lunged its head for the other’s chest. Gabriel craned his neck to the side, meeting the stab with a slash and batting it away before shooting back and raking the blade’s edge across the Hollow’s throat, jumping back, ready.
But the Hollow Pony only stumbled forward, its legs giving out beneath it. With a chilling groan that resonated in Gabriel’s head, it lay still, its rotting carcass soaking in the murky water.
Gabriel slid the dagger back into its sheath, looking down at his handwork with grim satisfaction.
No, not satisfaction, never satisfaction, only acceptance, and relief to still be….functioning.
He rolled his slightly aching shoulder, then continued down the corridor, noting with apprehension that a few of the cell gates were open. But he noted something else as well, the wall was splattered with random dots of blood, not dried and old, but wet, and fresh.
Hollow did not bleed, if his heart could beat, it would have done so like a drum. He dashed forward, skidding around a corner and looking with wide eyes at what he knew immediately to be the source of the blood.
There lay a pony clad in dirty steel armor, the horn atop its head snapped mid-way, and a frightening gash trailed from the side of its neck to just beneath the opposite shoulder. It wheezed, rolling its head to see the newcomer, its sides rising and falling heavily. With a voice lacking energy, and wet with blood, it spoke out to him in the otherwise silent hallway.
“You… You are not Hollow… yet you are not alive…”
Gabriel walked over, careful with each step as if even the air about the dying pony were fragile. He nodded.
“I am Sir Kine, knight of…” Kine paused, hacking and wheezing beneath his helm. After a moment, he sighed. “I am dying, friend… my time is short...Please, do me an eternal favor and pray to Celestia with me..”
“I’m… not really…Strong of faith.”
~And yet you’ve cursed her and praised her not so long ago, you hypocrite. Pray with the poor pony.~
Gabriel settled down beside the knight, bowing his head.
“Alright… uhm… Celestia, caring and loving princess of the people, please see Sir Kine to a peaceful afterlife, for none deserve the fate of undeath.”
~None it would seem, but me, oh loving and caring one.~
“Your will be done.” And then he stayed silent, looking at Kine’s helm and wondering if the poor knight had passed on already.
But Kine took in a ragged breath, and managed a chuckle that was cut short by a cough and a gasp for air.
“You pray well…For one not strong in faith…What is your name, strange traveler?”
“Gabriel.”
“Gabriel…I have one more thing to ask of you…If you’ll hear me.”
“Of course.” A simple reply, yet he was unsure the truth it carried.
“Kill me…End this suffering so that I may take my…My place in the afterlife…”
Gabriel recoiled slightly in shock. “Kill you? Listen I…” Kill him? No. No no no. That was murder, raw murder. Right? Even if he asked for it? No one asked for death, that was insane. He shivered in fear and confusion.
Amazingly, Kine’s plated hoof rose and rested on the shaking pony’s shoulder, and through the steel helm, Gabriel almost thought he could see a smile, an understanding smile.
“None shall condemn you…For aiding another willingly to the light…If you do this for me, I will give you the key I found…On the corpse of a Hollow Guard, so that at least you may escape this place…”
Gabriel looked to the ground, unsure.
~What would you do, Elizabeth?~
And in that brief question he found they answer: Mercy.
With a grim nod he reached back and drew the dagger, positioning his head at the gap in the armor between the chest piece and leg pieces. He looked up at the knight, sorrow in his eyes.
Kine still smiled invisibly. “Thank…you…” He shifted slightly, then nodded.
With as gentle, yet swift a motion as he could muster, Gabriel slid the blade through the knight’s flesh, between the ribs, and into the heart.
Kine gasped, his chest expanding once, then the breath left him completely, and he lay still. Dead.
From his hoof, a small key attached to a chain tumbled to the ground.
Gabriel sat back, wiping the blade on his armor, and then re-sheathing it. He looked down at Kine’s corpse, feeling dread, and envy growing in him. The lucky pony would rest in peace.
He scooped the key up with his fore-hooves and hung it around his neck, daring one last look back before trotting on.
At last he came to a section of the Asylum where the roof and wall was gone, he could see the sky, craved its warmth, he could see the abyssal depths below, and fear gripped him. He stepped back, then continued down the path, taking another spiraling stair-case up. To his relief he heard no groans from the Hollow, if they were freed, they did not know where he was. A large door at the end of the open-roofed hall gave a promise of freedom, at least he hoped.
There was a fluttering sound behind him, followed by a thump. Gabriel spun, preparing to draw his dagger, but stopped at the sight of his Pegasus savior.
Mal bowed his head grinning ear to ear.
“I see you’re capable of traveling in a circle in an otherwise very non-circle-y place. Congratulations.”
“What? I went in a circle?” That couldn’t be right, he’d have noticed. He’d had to have noticed.
Mal laughed, void to the other pony’s confusion. “It’s quite alright, you have to go this way anyways. The only exit is the other end of the courtyard. “
“Why didn’t you say that?”
The Pegasus huffed; he changed expressions so easily, like a child.
“Well I was rather busy, if you hadn’t noticed. Now go on, you’ve got something to be busy with.”
Mal motioned to the door with his head, grinned, then flew up and away through the broken ceiling.
Gabriel shuddered with fear, fear of an uncertain fate. He knew of course what awaited him, the demon, with its eyes full of hate. But what of after? What if he fell once more, where would he go then? To the abyss?
What if he won?
“Elizabeth..”
Gabriel rolled his shoulders and cantered through the doors, which gave way to the open air and light of the courtyard, albeit now he was above it on the broken remnants of a bridge. He halted at the edge, dust and pebbles falling down and bouncing off of the face of the Asylum’s Demon.
It glared up and growled, Gabriel glared back and craned his head to the sheathed dagger.
Then the demon jumped up with agility unfitting of something its size, high above Gabriel, glancing the
walls of the Asylum, its hammer raised. It plunged towards him, Gabriel was caught off guard, he made a
decision between the fall and the hammer.
He jumped off of the platform, aimed for the slanted roof of one of the surrounding buildings, slamming
into it side-first and rolling like a ragdoll off the edge. As he fell, he heard a devastating crash, the
hammer struck the platform where he had once been, showering the demon in debris that simple
cascaded off of its tough hide.
It landed with an earth-shaking thump and roared. Gabriel landed with a pained grunt, his dagger clattering on the ground away from him. He scrambled to his hooves and dashed out of the way as the demons massive hammer came down once more.
Gabriel tried to reach his weapon, but every time there was an opening to it, the demon would swing his hammer and nearly crush him. He ducked back beneath the pillared overhang, trying to gather his thoughts for merely a moment, formulate a strategy, that was what he did, what he always did.
Eli was always the one to act, and he was always the…
His moment passed, the demons hammer came crashing down through the overhang, only by dumb luck did it miscalculate where he was.
Gabriel was smacked out of his thoughts by rubble , he bared his teeth and lunged out from the crumbling shelter, taking advantage of the sweet moment that the demon spent prying its hammer from the wreckage.
It spun around towards the fleeing pony, heading towards its dagger. The demon growled and brought his hammer level with the ground, then, it launched forward, aiming to crush his prey with a pin-point strike.
But Gabriel was faster, he dove, the old steel-bark of the hammer scraping the leather armor of his underside, but doing no further damage. He grazed the dagger’s handle with his teeth, and as he was lifted into the air, a tooth caught beneath one of the folds, and it followed too.
He’d never flown before, not once in his life had he been airborne like this, soaring in the air, weightless. For that split second he envied the things in this world that could spend their lives in the air and open sky, so free, so careless.
The demon roared, and gravity took its toll, he heard the swoosh of the hammer pushing through air, and new this was his last chance.
Gabriel threw all of his weight to the side, his body moved, and he caught sight of something that moved towards him in the motion. The dagger, a blessing, a gift of life. As he continued to fall, he felt the wind from the hammer swing pass over him, felt the thrill of survival and the pressure of his teeth on the leather handle of the dagger.
As the massive weapon crashed to the ground, Gabriel’s body straightened out, he plummeted down towards the demon’s snarling face, and hate-filled eyes.
The dagger sank deep into the demon’s flesh, at a soft spot on its forehead, just above its right eye.
Gabriel’s weight carried him down, he felt as if he jaw would break, and his teeth shatter, but his grip held firm, and the blade cut true, dislodging at the chin, and falling to the ground alongside its master.
The demon stumbled, its face carved in two, the fury in its eye leaking out in a spray of blood and brain. It fell, crashing through the Asylum walls, and as it did, its body shimmered like a coin in the sun.
The scales peeled, the flesh bubbled, its entire form distorting and giving way to an encompassing light. Then it was gone, and at the center of the courtyard was a shimmering golden sphere.
Gabriel groaned, pushing himself slowly to his hooves. He laughed, for the first time…By Celestia, he couldn’t remember how long it had been since he laughed. Every bone in his body shook with excitement, adrenaline coursed through his cold body, could it do that? Was he only fooling himself into these delusions of grandeur? At the moment, he didn’t care. He scooped up the dagger, sheathed it, then approached the sphere.
It was unlike anything he’d seen before, he’d heard of the demons and the powers they possessed, was this the manifestation of them? Or was this something far greater, the very essence of the demon itself.
Slowly, cautiously, he reached out a fore-hoof and touched it.
Pain surged through his body, immense, unbearable pain that made him collapse in agony. Every ounce of energy he had vanished instantly, replaced by a burning sensation comparable to being tossed into a pyre. He jerked, convulsing randomly, unable to control his muscles.
Yet he made out a sound like wings swooshing close by, and the faintest hoof-steps that grew nearer second by agonizing second.
“Oh my…Excellent! Absolutely magnificent! You’re indeed the one, my friend. Oh I can’t believe the luck!”
Familiar, that voice. So familiar and yet as a name hovered in the back of his mind he could not make it out through the fire and pain.
“Ah yes, you can’t be feeling all that well right now, but uhm… sight tight! Yes everything will be okay shortly, just try and relax and ignore the…”
The voice faded to a minute buzzing, a hazy echo, then he heard no more. Unconsciousness claimed him, he welcomed it.
