Act I, Pt. I- Rising against the Devil
Sehn: A Dead King and His City of SoulsStory By: Fire Blanket
‘Twenty years....’
A dark red light flashed, briefly illuminating the pitch black room. In the second it did, the decrepit mess of the space was shown, all of the filth collected over the years. Blood smeared every surface, the cold gray steel of the walls and floor barely showing through.
The stains of shit and piss and semen mixed in with the dark marks of dried blood, and the fresher pools of the bile seeped into long, deep gouges cut into whatever surface they were found in. The light faded almost as soon as it came, leaving the room dark once more.
‘Twenty whole years....’
The light flashed again, and if one looked into the corner, where the light originated from, they would see a woman, hunched over and backed as closely to the wall as possible. She had long, matted hair, white in color, but marred by the same filth that covered the room.
Her skin was unnaturally pale, a byproduct of her birth, and the result of never seeing the light in so long. As pale as her skin was though, the same grime coated it as well, hiding what lie underneath. Scars, thousands of them, all forming a network of neat lines and jagged marks across her body, each one telling a unique story of pain and suffering. The light faded once more.
‘Twenty years in this Hell....’
The light struck the room again, but lingered this time, showing everything within in full. The woman could now be seen to only bare half of one arm, her left. The other a stump at the shoulder, with a particularly nasty set of scars covering it, and the same was to be said just below the elbow of her left.
Her legs were no different. Her left leg was almost completely gone, while her right only extended halfway down the thigh. Each had a set of scars, more jagged and cruel than the rest covering her body.
The woman lifted her head from it’s previous, slouched position, and one could see that her face was just as scarred as the rest of her body. Her eyes were a strange sight, the red light cast over the room reflecting off the red of her irises, and dulling against the appearance of an encroaching, black substance that spread from the corners of her eyes, tainting the white of her sclera.
She opened her mouth to speak, and inside her teeth, her canines and the few surrounding, were slightly elongated and sharp.
“Twenty years here, and now....”
Her voice was low and horse, grating and painful to hear, and it resonated throughout the ruined room she was in. The light cast through the room quivered at her voice, and the source of the light finally emerged.
Floating up from the spot it took smothered by her leg, arm, head and torso was a ball of red and black light, the colors spinning and twisting with the appearance of an orb of magma, with a much less intense light, and no heat to speak of.
As she stared at the ball before her, the clicking and clacking of the adjacent door locks opening reached her ears, and she silently watched as the heavy door was slowly pushed open. Through the doorway, in stepped a tall man, dressed from head to toe in a thick, padded suit, and strapped to his side was a holster, a gun sitting snug inside it.
This man paused at the sight of the small ball, and lifted the visor of his helmet to say something. This was all the time the woman needed.
Instantly, and to the confusion of the man, small strands of the orb broke off, converging at a point just a short distance from the source. After a small time and a decrease in size on the ball’s part, a smaller ball of light sat in front of it.
The woman narrowed her eyes, and the smaller ball shot forward at an incredible speed, impacting on the man’s currently unshielded face. The effect was slow, but soon enough, the woman smiled weakly as the man started to tremble.
Slowly but with gaining speed, the man’s skin started to drain of color, and his shaking intensified. Blood trickled from his eyes, nose and mouth, and he started to gurgle and choke, his hands clasped at his chest. He then started to claw away at his suit, and after a second was smart enough to remove it and leave his chest bare.
The woman’s smiled widened slightly as he grabbed at a bowie knife strapped to his leg and began to nonsensically carve away at his chest, blood spilling out and adding to the already coated and dried floor. Large and small chunks of bloodsoaked flesh fell off of him, and any skin that wasn’t bloodstained or carved was now a stark white, with his veins a sickly black and showing clearly through his bleached skin.
Finally, after the carving and cutting of his own flesh was too much, and his heart was just starting to become visible, he collapsed to the ground, dead. After a few moments, the woman’s smile faded, and she watched expectantly as several red and black wisps erupted from his body, accompanied by another, much darker and wildly convulsing one. These wisps all flew towards the orb and joined it, returning it to it’s original size.
The black, twisting wisp was left behind though, and the woman stared at it lazily and opened her mouth wide. It struggled in the air, seeming to attempt an escape, but it was slowly pulled into her mouth and down her throat, which she swallowed greedily.
Her body shuddered momentarily, a small spike of ecstasy shooting through her, giving her an almost orgasmic feeling as the wisp was devoured, and a small line of drool ran down her chin as she savored the feeling, as short as it lasted. She let her body rest for a moment afterwards, as she needed to prepare herself for what would happen next.
No more than a few minutes later, she let out a long, shaky sigh. She looked down at the orb worriedly, anxiety spread across her face, then closed her eyes and drew a deep breath. When she exhaled, she opened her eyes, and her expression changed to that of strong determination.
Several wisps of light, being red and black in color, shot from her mouth and into the surrounding air. Several orbs, all as large as her head formed around her, and adding the now enlarged first orb, they counted eight in total.
The first one shattered, breaking into wisps which all sped towards her right shoulder, forming a new shape. The next split in half, one going for the remainder of her left arm, and the other staying motionless.
A third orb shattered, along with the other half of the second, and they flew to where her left leg would be, while a fourth broke apart and went to her right thigh. With that down, and four orbs still floating around her, she spread her arm and thigh out as she slouched back against the wall once more, waiting for the wisps to take effect.
In mere seconds, the wisps twisted and morphed, culminating around and in between each other as the merged into more definite forms. When they were finished, the woman stood up for the first time in a long time, on two new limbs formed from the wisps, and she kept herself steady against the wall with two other new limbs.
Her new legs and arms were of the same color and mixed pattern as the orbs were, but crafted into their new shapes. Her arms ended in a hand each, each one with five fingers, though more angular and with a clawed appearance, as opposed to a human’s rounded and blunted fingers. Her toes took on a similar appearance, angular and sharp, though shorter and conforming to the size of the average human’s toe.
She stood, taking a moment to gain balance, then took a short while to flex her newly acquired limbs. She found it strange that these appendages, made from technically formless and massless things, were able to physically touch objects, and that she could feel what they touched, almost as if they were here real arms and legs.
Casting those inane thoughts aside, she walked over to the door and over the corpse, making small splashes in the pool of blood as she stepped through them. Outside, she found a familiar sight, one that she had seen so many times in the last twenty years, at least once a day.
A long, narrow, white walled hallway, the occasional gash in the wall or splash of blood marking it’s otherwise clean and neat appearance. She hated this hallway, and made quick and large steps to reach the door on the other side, her four orbs still floating along behind her, they and her limbs giving off small, smoke-like trails of red and black.
With each step she took, her determination, and hatred, grew more and more. With each step she took, she left behind another piece of Hell she would never have to return to, causing her readiness to fight back to increase. And with each step she took, she grew closer and closer to the monsters who put her through such Hell, and her anger and hatred skyrocketed, and she became more thirsty for destruction.
Finally, she reached the door, a simple metal thing with a deadbolt, locked right now. On the other side, the faint and muffled voices of the guards reached her ears, and she grew even more resentful than before.
Her expression hardened, and she lashed out with her right arm, grabbing onto the handle of the door. With a fierce tug, the door was ripped from it’s hinges, the lock shattering and sending small bits of twisted metal to the floor.
On the other side, two guards, wearing armor similar to the one who entered her room, turned and drew their guns, looking at her with unseen expressions of shock and fear. The one on the left attempted to fire, but the arm that held the gun was grabbed and twisted around, eliciting a sickening crack and squelch as the bone and flesh snapped and tore.
Still alive and screaming, he was shoved back onto the floor, while the other guard dropped his gun in horror. He began to stagger back, as the woman slowly stepped towards him, a dark expression on her face and murder swimming in her eyes. His horror grew when she stopped over his gun, and bent to pick it up, pointing it in his direction when she had it.
He let out a short, fearful yell and turned, trying fervently to open the heavy, locked metal door across the room, a short distance away from where his downed partner was writhing in agony. As he struggled to get his key into the lock, a gunshot blasted through the room.
The first bullet landed on his right shoulder, and the power of the shot ripped through the less armored joint and sent an explosion of blood out from the entry and exit wounds. He screamed and fell to his knees, clutching the shoulder as more life poured out of it. His pain was cut short by another loud crack of the gun, and a second bullet tore into his back, shattering his spine and rupturing his stomach upon entry.
A final shot blasted through the head of the man’s corpse, sending bone, blood and flesh across the door and ground, and causing the other guard to scream even louder, as he saw his inevitable fate coming.
He was, however, allowed a small moment of confused hope when the gun was dropped, and the woman simply walked past him and to the door, ripping it off in a much similar fashion to the first. He had a fleeting thought that he was saved, right before the metal door was dropped, crushing his skull and spilling his brain matter and blood across the ground.
“Three dead....” She whispered to herself in her cracked, dry voice, “Two more....”
With those words, she strode forward into the hallway that the door led to, another long stretch she learned to hate over the years. More blood and gouges marked these walls, and large sections were made of glass, spread out every twenty feet, the glass panes ten feet in length themselves.
On the opposite side of the first pane she passed was a vacant operation room. Inside was a table, drenched in fresh blood, and caked in dry. Various tables and carts surrounded it, with bloodied tools and medical equipment placed neatly on them.
This was arguably the room she despised the most. Here so many horrors, unspeakable atrocities against humanity were committed, all against her. She was tortured, experimented on, raped, and defiled in that room. She had her own body cut open and rearranged right before her eyes, no anesthesia or pain killers, right in that room.
She couldn’t even begin to count the numerous times she had been tied down, electrocuted or beaten into submission, then raped by the five men, the five monstrosities who tormented her daily.
She scowled at this room and punched a hole through the glass, and an almost overwhelming reek, a mix of blood, semen and antiseptic washed over her. Unfazed by the stench, she watched as one of the orbs flew from behind her and into the room, hovering at the center, just over the table.
She narrowed her eyes at the orb, and instantly it started to convulse, the once perfect spherical shape now a jumping and thrashing mass. It began to shoot out wildly, knocking equipment off the tables and striking at the walls, ceiling and floor and leaving gashes wherever it touched. Suddenly, it stopped, and collapsed into a single, almost microscopic point.
The woman’s fingers twitched in anticipation, and a smile slowly started to creep across her face once more, just as with the first man she had killed. Within a final few seconds of her anxiousness building, the orb finally reacted the way she had wanted.
Exploding outward, the orb burst from it’s condensed form into a massive storm of black and red energy, creating a whirlwind of destruction within the room, tearing it into shreds and crushing every object caught in it.
She didn’t wait for the storm to stop, she instead moved further down the hall, encountering two more rooms, bother suffering a similar fate. The first was a large, open room, scarred and bloodstained on almost every surface, not unlike her room that seemed so far behind her now.
This first one she remembered well, a room where she was forced by these monsters to fight for survival, against whatever they thought would be fun. On most occasions it was a dangerous animal, but the occasional, heavily armed guard or military robot was offered as well. Each one met a gruesome and violent end, but she had earned her fair share of injuries from that place.
The second room was one she had only visited once or twice in the twenty years she had been in this place, but it housed the one who controlled those years, the one who made her life into the Hell it was.
She decided not to linger on these rooms, choosing to leave the orbs to destroy them without her being near them. Unfortunately, the room of her tormentor was empty, but she had a feeling she would meet him on the other side of the door which sat at the end of the hall.
This door she spent no time in reaching and tearing open, tossing it behind her with much ease, as it was a much simpler and lighter one than the previous two. To no surprise on her part, she saw the last two she wished to kill on the other side. One was simply another guard, while the other was dressed much differently.
He was tall, taller than the guards, with short brown hair and a beard, and he wore a black suit and a white lab coat. His face was bent into an expression of terror, disbelieving of what he was seeing before him.
“Surprised... Doctor....?” He recoiled at her words, as they had snapped them out of a trance of confusion and shock he was in.
The Doctor, instead of responding, turned to the guard and shouted, “Shoot it you idiot, shoot it!”
The guard fumbled with his gun, but ultimately leveled it with her head and fired. The two were confused, but not unhappy, that she didn’t seem to want to move out of the bullet’s path, and instead just stood there, waiting for it to come.
When it did, the top left of her head exploded in a fountain of blood, bone and flesh, spraying against the wall behind her. The two were smiling at this, thinking they had easily won and killed her, but what happened next made them both terrified, the guard to the point of removing his helmet and vomiting.
The fourth and final orb that she carried with her broke apart into wisps, and as the ball unfurled, the wisps flew straight to the gaping hole made in her head. Right before their eyes it repaired, flesh, muscle, bone, sinew, brain and eye, all that were lost reformed themselves as the orb shrunk smaller in size. After a few seconds and the orb disappearing, her head, hair, eye and all had been healed, right back to how they were before the bullet impacted.
As the Doctor backed away in fear, the guard was unable to, he had fallen on his back and was desperately trying to crawl, but ended up slipping in his own vomit. The woman saw this and reached down, crushing his throat in her right hand and lifting him effortlessly off the ground. She then tightly grasped his shoulder with her other hand, then tore his throat out, letting his body drop limply to the floor.
She stared at the Doctor, who was backed against the large blast doors that led outside, unable to open them fast enough to be able to leave. Instead, he resigned himself to his fate, and prayed silently as she advance on him, looking up into his eyes with so much contempt.
“Disgusting....” She wheezed, then thrust her right arm forward.
He clenched his eyes shut, thinking he would have his stomach ripped open or his heart clawed out, but all he felt was a cooling sensation throughout his chest. He looked down, and noticed that her red and black arm was elbow deep in his abdomen, no blood or wound visible.
He wondered what it was she was doing, then he felt a pang of agony rack his body. His heart was now in her hand, and he could feel her tightening her grip around it, her smile showing that she relished in what she was about to do.
He slid down the door a few inches, sweating profusely and with an expression of pain marking his face, his muscles tightening as he grabbed for her arm, only for his hands to pass right through. With his eyes tightly clenched shut, he could just barely open one to look at her, and what he saw was dark expression on her face, and murder swimming in her eyes.
In an instant, his world disappeared, as her arm twitched ever so slightly, and his lumped back, dead as his heart was crushed in her hand. She stared at the body momentarily, then tossed it behind her, barely hearing the thump and skid as it slid across the floor. She made her way over to the side and reached out, grasping a lever beside the door and pulling it down.
With an audible hiss and the clanking of machinery, and the scraping of metal against metal, the large blast doors slid open, slowly at first, but with a gradual increase in speed. She watched with joy and anticipation as the doors to her freedom were opened before her, and the crisp outside air washed in.
When the door opened enough for her to step out, she did, and tears streaked down her face as she smiled happily up at the clear, starry night sky that met her. It had been twenty years since she had seen the sky, and now she finally could. She stood there for at least an hour, the night washing over her, and the cool breeze blowing across her body.
Eventually, though, she knew she had to leave. Staying near this place would only rouble her, so she set off, down the dirt path and into the grassy fields that made the islands surrounding the building.
It had been weeks since her escape from that Hell, and there was no sign of being able to leave the island. She had lived in a cave for at least a month, thriving off of rodents and insects to live, which she was not unaccustomed to. Living in the cave had its downside, however.
Dangerous creatures seemed to call the cave home, or at least a hunting ground, as she would catch glimpses of them once a day, if not more. They were hideous things, with six short legs ending in vicious claws, a set of pincers like a scorpion, a tail like a crocodile and a head like an oversized rat, with black fur coating their bodies and hiding them in the dark, their beady, four red eyes the only way to find them.
These beast proved to be her downfall. In the middle of the night, while she was sleeping, one crept from the shadows and bit her neck, a venom in its fangs paralyzing her, so that it and its fellows could devour her in her sleep.
Something was off about their kill, however. After the venom had worked to kill her, the body exploded into a cascade of black and red energy, startling the beasts away. When the light faded and the wisps were gone, nothing was left but the stone floor of the cave.
She awoke, much to her confusion. She remembered waking as the fangs sunk into her neck, and she knew the moment the paralyzation took effect that she would die. But here she was, waking up and fully alive. Where she was though, was very different than the cave she slept in.
Looking around, she found herself in a massive expanse of black and red, much like what made her arms and legs, and she stood on a large, solid black floor, smooth and wide. Before her were four tall, pitch black obelisks, bearing over her with their imposing figures. She found these structures interesting, but she found herself similarly taken with the surrounding void, and turned away from them to see the space in full.
“What is this?” She was startled, as she heard a deep, thundering voice boom out from behind her, in the direction of the structures.
She turned to look at the structures again, and she found that they had changed. The center left structure now shown like a mirror, with a large, all black figure at the center of it, appearing to be part of the flat surface. It stared down at her with two, dark purple eyes.
The center right had another figure, this one with dark red eyes, while the far right had deep yellow, and the far left had a sickly green. The four stared down at her silently, and she decided to speak.
“What is this....?” She echoed back slowly and unsurely.
The red eyes turned to the purple and the voice from before boomed again, sounding similar to cannonfire, “A Sehn? Brother, is this truly a Sehn that stands before us?”
She was confused, as she had not expected them to know the name of her species, not many did anymore.
The green eyes turned to the purple as well, and a wretched, sickly voiced wheezed out, “Is this a Sehn, brother? No other soul could reach here, it must be!”
Now the yellow eyes turned, asking in a hollow, pained voice, “Could it really be? A Sehn after so long seems impossible, they were said to have died out!”
To their questions and statements, the purple eyes stayed on her, and no voice came from them. A heavy, anxious silence hanged over the void, the woman and the three figures waiting for the purple-eyed one to speak. When he did, none were expecting it.
“You....” To her, the voice sounded like screaming and laughing, like pain and pleasure, like sorrow and happiness. It was a strange voice, scaring her and calming her at the same time. It continued, “How did you come here....?”
“I... I....” She was at a loss for words, unable to speak before this being.
“Enough...” it said tiredly, “I already know... you died at the hands of a Skrag.... An unorthodox way to end for one of your kind... but I am not one to judge such things....”
She looked into the purple eyes with confusion, knowing that she did in fact die, even though she was standing there alive, “I... died?”
“Yes... you died... and now we must deal with you....” The voice sounded drawn out and tired, as if it dreaded “dealing” with her.
“What do you mean?” She asked it cautiously, not sure if she would like the answer or not.
The voice paused, and one of the eyes widened slightly in question, while the red figure seemed to lean forward as it asked, “Do you not know what happens when one of your kind dies?” She shook her head in response, to which the figure leaned back slowly and began, “How-”
“Oh come now brother,” the green eyed figure rasped, “if we of all beings believed her kind to have ended, there must not have been many left. Surely you cannot think they would have that knowledge anymore?”
“This is true,” the agonized voice of the yellow eyed one said, “there would have been a small chance that she would have been taught, too small....” The eyes turned to the purple, “Brother, this is your forte, you should explain.”
The purple eyes studied the woman for a moment, then it’s voice spoke, “Very well, it is inevitable that you would learn anyhow. You see...” it paused, then asked, “what is your name?”
“It’s...” she stopped for a second, thinking back to before her Hell began, then said with certainty, “Sarah, my name is Sarah.”
“Hm,” the voice contemplated the name, then continued, “Well, Sarah,” hearing her name from the being made her shiver involuntarily, “your kind, the Sehn Varukten as they were once known by, are a particular thorn in mine and my brother’s sides. You are aware of your ability, correct?” It took a glance at her limbs and nodded, “It is obvious you do. Do you know what that ability harnesses?”
She looked down, deep in thought, not truly knowing what it harnessed. All she knew was that whenever she killed something, a small red or black wisp would fly up from it’s body. She would then eat the wisp, and it would leave her hunger sated, never requiring her to eat food. Aside from that, she could control the wisps she did not eat, making those orbs she used, as well as her limbs, and a few other things she had learned over the years.
Ultimately, she shook her head, and the figure nodded as it continued, “Understandable, you would not have many knowledgeable Sehn to teach you....” It looked over to the void, and a single wisp of red flew out and hovered before Sarah, “These, and every one that you have eaten or controlled, are souls. Be it a soul of a mindless animal or a sapient being, that is what you have meddled with.”
“A... soul?” She tilted her head to the side in question, not understanding.
“The very force of a living being, the energy that fuels their life.” The soul was returned to the void and it continued, “Your kind feed and survive off of free forms of energy, souls being the most sustaining and available, and allow for raw power when controlled and used in your people’s rituals and magic.” It glanced at her limbs once more, “It would seem you have grasped how to use your inherent magic to a small degree, admirable for one would not have much contact with other Sehn.”
“Just get to the point, brother,” the red eyed one’s voice boomed impatiently, “that is all she needs to know. She can learn of her people’s history wherever she lands, every world has knowledge of them, however ancient.”
“Yes, I believe you are right,” the purple eyed one agreed and said, “I shall tell her now.” It turned to her and stated factually, “You see, young Sarah, your kind are almost unable to die, by conventional means.”
“What...” she whispered in confusion, “but... but I thought you said I had died?”
“You did,” it told her, “on that world.” It saw her look of confusion, and further explained, “You see, when one of our kind dies, or when they were still round to die, they would simply die on that world on which they were killed. They would come here, to the Hekk’nir Sehn Trallon, or the Hall of Souls as it had become more commonly called.”
“When coming to this hall,” it continued, “they would be judged by us whether they were worthy enough to continue on existing. If not, they were cast to Purgatory, where they would spend the rest of eternity rotting away. If they were worthy, we would grant them passage to a world of their choosing, which would mostly be one which had the furthest likelihood of repeating their death.”
“Why couldn’t we die?” She asked it.
It’s eyes, along with the other three’s, furrowed in frustration, and the purple eyed one answered, “We do not know, as embarrassing as it is to admit. No one knew, save for the Creator, and he would never share his secrets.”
“You cause a great deal of stress on us,” the red eyed one bellowed, “with what your people did. Devouring and using souls, almost always defying our power, it is almost infuriating to know one of you still exists!”
Sarah was flinching with every word, which the green eyed one noticed and shouted, “Brother, stave your tongue! It is not her fault that she was born into the Sehn, and it is not the Sehn’s fault that the Creator made them that way!”
The red eyed one backed off, while the purple eyed one said in an irritated tone, “That aside....” It looked down at Sarah and said, “I know you will wonder if you are worthy of passing to a new world, and rest assured you are, however you are knowledgeable of other worlds.” She looked downcast at these words, to which it offered, “Do not fret, we are more than capable of finding a world for you to travel to.”
With that statement, the figures faded from the structures their images appeared on, leaving her alone in the void. Not a minute later, however, and they reappeared. As they did, the purple eyed one nodded, and a large image appeared before Sarah, an image of a green and blue ball, a planet.
“This,” the purple eyed one told her, “is the world we found. It is close within this dimension, and contains far fewer evils to that of others, even if it has a fair share of it’s own. It is uninhabited by humans, and many other creatures from your world as well. It is known as Atrol, the nation we believe would be best to send you is known as Equestria, home of the Equine race more commonly called “ponies”. What say you to this?”
She didn’t need to think much. This void did not seem the ideal place to live, and she did not wish to go to the “Purgatory” they mentioned, nor her own home world. Without a second thought, Sarah nodded, “I will go, just to get away from everything that plagued me back there is enough to convince me....”
The image disappeared, and the purple eyed one said, “Very well. Before we send you off, however, you will need to bare our mark. A sign that we have judged you worthy, and a precaution should you ever “die” again.”
She tilted her head at this, and almost jumped back when four small pillars, as tall as her waist, appeared from the ground around her, a mark of a crowned skull emblazoned on the top of each one. They each lit up, one on her center left a dark purple, one on her center right a dark red, her far left a sickly green, and her far right a deep yellow.
The one on her far right began to glow brighter, and a small beam of yellow extended to her face and struck her in the side, causing her mouth to glow for a few seconds. When the light and beam faded, her mouth was open, showing that over her entire tongue was a set of intricate runic circles, the symbol “π” t the center of them.
“The mark of Famine....” The hollow voice of the yellow eyed one drawled.
Next, the far left pillar shot a small beam of green light at her left shoulder, and after the light around it faded, another mark was in place. This was a set of intricate, free formed runes that covered most of her upper arm and shoulder, with the symbol “ν” marked over them.
“The mark of Plague.” The sickly voice of the green eyed one coughed out.
The center right hit her right breast with a beam of harsh red light. When it faded, it left behind an aggressive assortment of free formed runes and tribal markings, which spanned over her entire right breast and some of the front of her shoulder, with a large “ο” marked boldly at the center.
“The mark of War.” The voice of the red eyed one boomed.
Finally, the center left pillar lit up. Instead of a single beam, however, it split into two, one directed for each of her eyes. When the light faded from them, a set of runes did not show. Instead, two black lines went from the center of each eye and down the sides of her face, like permanent tear streaks. In addition, her pupils were now white, with the exception of a black “θ” in each one.
“The mark of Death.” The purple eyed one said in it’s terrifying yet soothing voice.
She stood in silence, looking over the different runes and symbols that covered parts of her body with some trepidation. She was unsure what the unpleasantly named marks would mean for her, but she had been, at least somewhat, assured that they meant nothing bad, simply a sign that she was worthy of living.
“Now, Sarah,” she heard the purple eyed one say, “if you will turn and exit through the doorway, you will be off to this new world. I wish you luck.”
She cast one last look at the eyes of all four, just as they were turning and leaving, their images fading from the structures. After they faded, she decided to turn around herself, and what met her was a simple, wooden door with a brass knob handle, and a plaque reading “ATROL” was bolted to the upper half.
She steeled her nerves and grasped the handle, turning it and opening the door, and immediately a bright, warm light exploded from the other side, blinding her. She covered her eyes with her other arm and nervously stepped forward, unsure of what to expect on opposite end.
Princess Celestia’s day had been an easy one. Not too many ponies visited the day court, bureaucracy hadn’t been a hassle for the rare times that it wasn’t, and they day was coming to an end with no major mishaps occurring. Even with that in mind, however, she still could not help but feel that something momentous, whether good or bad she was unsure of, was about to happen.
The entire day she had felt that way, though she kept her worry hidden from those around her, for she felt that there was no reason for others to be bothered with her unprecedented feeling. Or at least, she thought it was unprecedented. In reality, her worry was indeed an entirely founded one.
Deep within the unnamed forest at the base of Foal Mountain, just to the east and across the river at the base of the mountain on which Canterlot sat, a door appeared out of thin air. This door was plain and wood, with a brass handle and a plaque which bore the letters “H’nST” bolted to the upper half.
The door was slowly pushed open, and a black and red light crept out, encroaching on, but never touching the surrounding forest. Through this light stepped Sarah, who set her strange feet on the forest floor with wide eyes, taking in the sights around her in this new world. She barely noticed the door closing and disappearing behind her because she was so enamoured with what she saw.
In her viewing of the forest, she saw a city off in the distance, set into a mountain far from the forest. She was curious about this city, with it’s gold tipped, white spires and it’s strange design and placement.
With this city in her sights, Sarah slowly and with a slight unsteadiness, made her way through the thick of the forest, brushing past the plants and branches, listening to the breeze and the birds as she walked.
She hoped to herself, as she walked through that peaceful forest, that she would not be treated as she was before in this world. Those four figures had said she wouldn’t, and she prayed they weren’t lying.
It was midnight, or so the moon’s position would tell, by the time she exited the forest, a judged hour or so of walking at a leisurely pace getting her out. So far, Sarah like this world. It’s clear and beautiful night, the large and alluring moon, the stars hanging in the sky, the forest as peaceful and calm as it was, the night wind, everything she encountered so far pointed to this world already outclassing her own.
She would not judge too early though, as she had yet to meet any of the local inhabitants, and unfortunately the still far off city seemed to be the closest sign of any. Nevertheless, she pressed on in that direction, her eyes glancing at the all mountain every few minutes, to make sure she was still on her path there.
On her way, she reached a river, the water calm and shallow. She crossed it with ease, finding it to be only stomach deep and warm, and there was not a single wave or water creature to deter her. On the other side, she realized how far the river actually reached from bank to bank, seeing that she was much closer to the mountain now.
She smiled to herself as she continued on the way, finding a worn down dirt path near where she climbed from the river, following it happily. She wasn’t ready for what she encountered on the path, a while down and concealed behind a small cluster of trees. There was a town there, a small one of only a handful of houses.
Seeing this, she would have run up to see who would be there, but instead she froze. She smelt something from there, a smell she didn’t quite like. The smell of death and decay, one she had gotten familiar with over the years.
It was a minute after the smell registered that she ran, sprinting for the town. She reached it quickly, and stopped at the center of the houses, looking around frantically. There were ten houses in total, and three were completely destroyed, piles of rubble the only thing left. That’s when she noticed them.
Twenty or so creatures of a horse like appearance, big and small, young and old, were impaled on pikes and stood up in a circle around a charred pit. She hadn’t noticed them in the night, as their coats were all darkened by blood. At the center of them, in the pit, was a body, unmoving and covered in glistening gashes, blood slowly leaking out of the wounds. These corpses were still fresh, this had been done recently.
She slowly stared around at the bodies, walking at a steady pace to the circle. She wondered what or who would do this, and why, but her thoughts were cut off by a sound. A groan came from the body at the center of the pit, signalling her to run over to it.
She examined it all over, trying to figure out if there were a way she could help. She reached out to place a hand on it, then reeled back in shock. She could sense energy, souls, inside it, too many for one being. In fact, counting the twenty eight bodies and not sensing their souls, she could sense twenty eight extra souls in the one before her.
“What... happened to you?” She asked out loud. Of course the pained creature was too injured, possibly deliriously so, to answer, but she couldn’t stop herself from asking. It was just too strange, someone or something must have forced these souls from the others into this one, but she had no idea who or what did it. All she knew was that she needed to do something, fast.
She thought for a moment, wondering what she could do to save this poor creature, when an idea struck her. She placed her hand against the chest of the creature, right where the heartbeat was coming from, and she searched. She searched first for the energy that belonged to the body, the soul of the creature, and made sure to let it on it’s own.
Next, she focused on the extra energy, the twenty eight foreign souls to the body. She focused on these and “pulled” at them, just like how she moved the souls she had controlled before. As they were not original to that body, they moved to her whim easily, and within minutes she removed them, twenty eight white wisps.
She briefly wondered why these were different, as the ones she had seen before were black and red, but another pained groan from the creature shook her out of her thoughts. She looked over the wounds, then at the souls that flowed around her hand, and hoped her next action would work.
She started to work the souls into the body again, but instead of simply placing them back in, she tried what she did to heal her own wounds. She concentrated on breaking the souls down into a more raw energy, which showed to be much harder when done on something other than her own body.
The souls, three of them in total, were broken down into a much broader form of life energy, one that wasn’t the core of a single being, but instead worked on a broader range. They deformed into simple particles of white light and swirled around and into the wounds of the creature, and to Sarah’s relief, started to work on healing them.
Within minutes, the wounds were healed, and Sarah found herself exhausted from bending and moving three souls in such a way. She contemplated the remaining twenty five souls around her hand, but decided against it, they were from innocent creatures, and didn’t deserve that. As she wondered where to get some form of sustenance, she rested her free hand against the ground, and froze in shock.
Coursing through the ground was a massive stream of energy, one that she could tell was deep into the earth, but powerful enough to be felt. It was much different than the souls she had ever felt or eaten, with a much more erratic movement, and it sent a tingle up her arm, like a slight electric shock.
She drained a small portion of this energy, which was almost too easy to do, just a simple tug, and let it flow into her being to get a “taste” for it. It wasn’t as filling as a soul, and left her with a tingling sensation similar to what her arm felt, but she decided to use it either way. It was much more abundant, and she didn’t need to question the morality of eating it like those innocent creatures’ souls.
As she finished absorbing this energy, she looked over to the creature she had healed. Unfortunately, if she looked close enough, she could see it wasn’t breathing. She wondered if maybe there was a chance to save it, but then she saw the white wisp that was it’s soul float out from it. It was dead, beyond help now, just like the rest of the town.
With a little sadness in her eyes, she grabbed the soul and added it to the whirlwind of blue light spinning around her right hand, a strange contrast to the dark red and black of the artificial limb. She stared at the spinning wisps for a moment, then made her way to the other end of the town, to finish her travel to the mountain city she saw, where she could possibly spread word of whatever atrocity had happened here.
On her way out from the town, she noticed a large, slightly tattered square of seemingly blood drenched cloth blowing gently in the breeze, hanging from a splintered piece of a former house's wall. She looked at the cloth, then down at her own naked body, and decided she would need to cover up, to look more modest to the creatures of the mountain city.
She grabbed the cloth and threw it over her shoulders, wrapping it once around her into a makeshift cloak, though her stature of six feet made the cloth come halfway down her shins, but she figured it was better than nothing. As she wore it, she sniffed the fabric, and found that the red coloring did in fact come from blood, though how it got so soaked she did not know.
Shaking her head, she didn’t linger on the cloth’s smell, she needed to get to the mountain city, and fast, to warn of what happened here. With that thought in mind, she gave a determined nod and strode forward, out of the town and down the path to the city.
Act I, Pt. II- Knowledge, and power I
It wasn’t a long walk for Sarah to reach the city she had seen from the forest, it had actually been rather fast after she came across a path leading to it. She simply followed that path until she reached the outside of the now noticeably larger city that surrounded the castle structure she had seen from the forest.
Surrounding the face of the mountain that was previously hidden from view was a large, were multi-layered set of large, semi-circular stone walls, built into the ground and scaling up the rock, surrounding the castle and city within on all sides. At various points on the mountain, at the same level as the castle and higher, were small towers with smaller but similar walls to the city itself. Another sight which caught her eye was the massive, overgrown forest below the mountain and spanning the land around it, inside of which she could see the ruined tops of buildings jutting over the trees.
She wasted little time looking at these walls, towers and forest, and instead made her way through the peculiarly unguarded front wall of the city. Inside were various buildings and towers and shops and homes, all making up the sprawling city that was built into and around the face of the mountain.
Again, she spent almost no time admiring the city, instead marching straight through to the castle structure. As she neared it, she noticed that the opened gate, unlike the one to the city itself, actually had guards standing by, one on each side.
They were a dark gray color, blending in with the night, with black armor and bat like wings folded at their sides. Their eyes were very standoffish, being bright yellow, with slits for pupils, almost like a cat. As she approached these two, they took notice and spread a spear each in front of the gate, blocking her path.
“....” Sarah stopped in front of them in confusion when she saw the one to her right open it’s mouth, some strange sound coming from it. She assumed it was speaking, but it was foreign to her. It’s voice was soft and flowing, with an almost melodic quality to it as she listened.
She stared at the two and tilted her head to the side, saying to the one who had spoken, “I don’t understand.”
The two shared a strange look with one another, exchanged a few words in their tongue, then the one to her left offered, “....”
Again she couldn’t understand, but the words did sound different to her. They had a slightly different tone and pitch, with a different flow and wording, but still nothing she knew. She simply shook her head at the two, who exchanged another glance and a few more words.
After a short conversation, the two removed their spears, and one made its way through the gate and up to the castle, motioning for her to follow. She glanced at the remaining one, who nodded to the castle, and she smiled and made to follow the first.
She was led into the castle, and after a short walk through the halls, reached two large doors, a guard posted on either side. They gave her an odd glance each, but seemed eased by a few words from the one who had led her there. A few more words later, and the two nodded and opened the doorway for them, to which they both nodded thankfully and entered.
Inside, Sarah was slightly struck by the beauty of the room. It was long and wide and tall, with columns lining long, red carpet that led to a throne, and the walls carried large windows with depictions of various creatures, some of which had multiple windows dedicated to them, Sarah noticed.
The two walked through this room and up to the throne, where Sarah saw one of the creatures, this one larger in size and with feathery wings and a horn, with a dark blue coat and strange, blue regalia. What she really noticed about the creature, however, was the fact that she could sense power similar to what she felt underground earlier, though both coursing through the creature, and in the hair-like clouds of sparkling, dark blue mist that created it’s hair and tail.
She stared at this creature silently, who returned the notion, only moving to nod as the guard spoke to it in their language. Eventually, never stopping her stare, the large creature spoke a few words, and the guard bowed and jogged off, leaving the two alone.
They remained in their respective stances for some time, Sarah in her slightly slouched demeanor and curious gaze, and the creature with a regal grace, though with a similar look in it’s eyes. They did not try to communicate, as both knew it would be pointless, and instead resigned themselves to a simple examination of each other.
This continued on for a few minutes longer, when Sarah suddenly sensed a spike of energy, the same as in the ground and in the creature before her, though this one with a different feel to it. She turned her head to where the energy was coming from, a spot not far off to her right, and she stared at it intently and with interest.
As she did, she saw several streams of energy come up from the floor, reaching out from the pool of it contained within the earth. These streams began to swirl and convene at a single point a few feet above the ground, and their colorless appearance darkened to a gold.
Suddenly, so sudden that Sarah lurched back in shock, the energy burst outward, then imploded on itself, sending out a brief flash of gold before disappearing completely. In it’s place was a creature similar to the one on the throne, though this one was taller with a white coat, gold regalia, a multi colored cloud of hair and tail, and with a considerably different energy within it, almost an opposite to the one sitting on the throne.
This new one made to say a few words with the other, an annoyed expression across it’s face, when it spotted Sarah and stopped completely. The two stared at each other, not unlike how she and the other had, before the new creature decided to act. It began to slowly circle her, not in an imposing or threatening way, simply in curiosity. As it circled her, it leaned it’s head inwards slightly, and the horn protruding from it’s head began to glow with a golden mist, and Sarah could see streams coming up from the ground, through the body and to the horn.
She then saw a line, a thin line of gold, shoot out from the tip of the horn and strike the cloth she wore, the glow enveloping a small portion covering her left shoulder. Out of curiosity and having this unique energy so close, she lifted her right arm from within the cloth and grabbed at the energy coating her shoulder. Two things happened as a result.
First would be the white creature leaning back in surprise, the energy receding from it’s horn and crawling back into the ground. Next was the reaction of the blue creature, who stared at Sarah’s red and black arm with interest, and only seemed slightly as shocked as the white creature. Sarah payed neither any mind, however, as she was busy turning and moving the golden mist through her fingers, looking at it in wonder.
As she stared at it, she was unaware of the two creatures moving a little closer, casting glances between each other, and giving her curious looks. They stopped just a few feet away, and continued to watch her as she toyed with the energy in her hand, threading it between her fingers with a childlike look of amazement on her face.
She stopped soon enough, letting the mist form a small ball in the palm of her hand as she stared at it, wondering what to do with it. She thought for a moment, then wondered if it would give a different taste than the energy she pulled from the ground, as it was the same base, but had a unique feeling to it altogether.
The two creatures watched questioningly, wondering what she was going to do with the energy. They almost reared back in shock when she tilted her head back slightly and opened her mouth, revealing her sharp canines, and slid the ball of energy off from her hand and down her throat, swallowing it with a pleased look on her face.
“Sister...” Princess Luna began, staring at the woman before her in befuddlement, “did she just... eat your magic?”
“Yes, I believe she did....” Came the just as confused, if not moreso, reply of her sister, Princess Celestia.
“That’s... that’s what I thought....” Luna muttered dumbly, unsure of what to say.
After she swallowed the energy, Sarah contemplated the taste and feel of it. While certainly different, with a warm feeling as opposed to the tingling one she got from the ground, it offered nothing different otherwise. In short, to her, it was just a slightly altered form of the energy she pulled from the ground.
She decided not to pay it any more mind, however, as she still wished to spread word about what had happened in that town, but she currently had no way of doing so. She could clearly see that the two before her were leaders of some sort, most likely of the land she was in, but she still had no way of communicating with them.
At this point, as she wondered what to do, she heard a strange sound. It was faint, a very feeble sound that could barely be heard, but it was definitely there. She searched around the room, trying to find the noise, much to the confusion of the creatures.
Finally, she found it, hiding inside the folds of the cloth she had wrapped around her body. It was one of the souls she had gotten from that poor town, but it was different from when she had seen it before. It was twisting and pulling itself, swirling around her arm rapidly, making that strange noise; a high pitched whine.
She pulled the soul away from the mix of the others and stared at it silently. She tilted her head to the side as she looked at it, when it suddenly moved. It shot forward and entered her slightly opened mouth, rushing down her throat, and before she knew what had happened, she felt extremely tired. Without warning, she blacked out.
She didn’t know how long it had taken, but Sarah had eventually awoken, feeling the smooth, stone floor of the castle beneath her. She pressed her hands against it and pushed herself up, briefly wondering why she had been left there, when words from an unknown source were spoken, in a language she could actually understand.
“So, you have finally arrived, have you? Good, very good.” The voice was male, sounding very old and wise. When she finally got to her feet and opened her eyes, she looked for the voice and found its owner.
An old human man, at least she assumed it was human, wearing long, flowing white robes with a black, gold inlaid cowl over his shoulders. He sat up on a throne, in a position where the throne she had seen previously was, though this one was a mix of black and gold like his cowl.
His body, or his hands and face which were visible, were pale and wrinkled, his fingernails longs and jagged, his teeth old and yellowed, his eyes pure white, and his long, unkempt hair and beard were scraggly and gray, his hair kept under a tall, ceremonial headdress.
He stared down at her silently as she looked up at him, then he broke their silence by stating in his old, crooked voice, “I welcome you to my domain, Seshnara Akensuroni, or Sarah Akinson as it has been known. I am Atrigalus Morvenus, or Argal.” He inclined his body forward in a bow and said, “It seems the rurokinei was successful.”
Sarah, though confused, returned the bow out of respect, though she asked, “Sesh-nara Aken-sur-oni? Ruro-kinei?” Though she had trouble pronouncing them, she pushed in hopes of knowing what they meant.
“Seshnara Akensuroni,” he said simply, “is your true, Sehn-given name; a spiritual inheritance as it were. All of our kind have one- we simply choose others, or we are given them -such as Sarah Akinson or Argal, by refining our true name, as not many know of our language anymore. Simply to conform to changing times and dying cultures.”
He paused though, seeming to contemplate something, then continued, “The rurokinei... that is a harder subject to explain, and in all honesty I would have expected, and liked, for you to have questioned where you are, instead.”
She looked up at him with a curious tilt to her head and said, “I... actually am quite curious about that as well. Where am I? It is similar to the castle I was just in before blacking out, however the throne is replaced by yours, and those strange creatures are nowhere in sight.”
“Ponies.” He told her.
“Pardon?”
“Ponies,” he repeated, “they call themselves Ponies.” She nodded in understanding, staying silent so as to allow him to continue, “And to answer your question about your location... we are in my domain, the realm of Order, given to me as a parallel to this world by the Gods over Order, so that I may hold it for them, should anything arise that would be under their time and power to bother with. Namely....”
His eyes drifted over to the corner of the room, behind Sarah, and she turned to look at it as well. When she did, she noticed that the particular area was much darker, and the walls, floor and ceiling seemed to twist and bend, almost like they were water and oil. Sitting amongst the twisted architecture, she saw a stone prison, with thick bars and various runes and carvings etched into them.
“What is that...?” She asked Argal slowly.
“That,” he replied vehemently, “is what the Gods over Order, the beings who keep balance and order throughout Existence, have tasked me with watching over. It is the prison of Discord, a vile and monstrous God of Chaos, created by the artifacts of the Gods over Order; the Elements of Harmony. He is a major cause for woe in this universe, and many others in the past, and is part of the reason why I called you here.”
“I was wondering about that,” she said confusedly, “why did you bring me to this place?”
Instead of speaking, Argal waved his hand, and a large image appeared. Sarah recognized the image as the massive forest that spanned out across the land outside the castle she was in. Though, in this image, the forest wasn’t as wild and dark, and the small tower tops she had seen were no longer overgrown and deteriorated.
“This,” Argal stated, “is the nation of Kahl’Aman, the home of the Etrians, or Humans as your world would have named them. This nation was their origin, where the largest concentrated point of Humans existed, and it was a melting pot of all the cultures and species across the world.”
“What happened to it?” Sarah asked, “What made it so much more different than what I saw?”
As Argal was about to speak, the stone prison from the dark corner shook as the one inside it laughed darkly, “I happened to that pitiful little nation, with those insignificant, so easily molded and tortured beings, their minds broken so much in so little time by my power!”
“Discord-” Argal shouted, but the voice cut him off.
“My magic ruined that nation, their people twisted and warped by my energies, their forests growing and snaring their cities, crumbling rock and tearing land!” The voice laughed on, the happiness at what it had apparently done apparent in it, “They stood no chance when I came to rule, when I overturned those disgusting Ponies and stole their throne! Their nation was small, but the influence of their sun, my sun, was too much over this world!”
“Discord if you do not cease-” Argal was cut off once more.
“The sun was blackened, and the people of Kahl’Aman were frenzied, unaware who would challenge war on their allies! The Chaos their nation was thrown in at the thought, it was just too much for me not to enjoy, I just couldn’t help myself!” The voice was manic, the laughing accompanied by a strange warp to the voice, “I brOke tHeiR BodiEs anD MiNds, TwIsTEd tHeir SoUls to My biDdInG aNd MaDe thEm MinDlesS HuSks, sWorN tO mY ChAos, ReVeREd as a GoD!”
“Silence!” Argal’s voice echoed through the chamber and shook the walls and floor. There was a scream of rage and the slamming of something against stone, and the voice from the prison was gone. He muttered to himself a line he had said too many times for his pleasure, “As arrogant as he is mad, and as mad as he is cruel....”
His stare lingered on the prison for a moment longer, then he turned to Sarah and sighed, slumping back in his throne as he said tiredly, “As that... creature has stated, it was his magic that tore the nation of Kahl’Aman asunder. Under his influence the people were twisted and turned immortal, at least their souls.”
Sarah stared at him sadly and curiously, and asked, “What... what do you mean?”
“I don’t know what he did to them specifically,” Argal stated, “but he turned their souls immortal, and their core black as coal. They are mindlessly evil, to the ponies per Discord’s demand, and their souls are to last eternally, while their bodies rot around them.” He gave a short, humorless chuckle, “A true zombie you could say, though they keep their sapience.”
“However,” he continued on wearily, “there stands a problem, not just the one of their corruption under Discord. It’s the Ponies.”
“Did they do something bad?” Sarah asked him, worried that her body was left with people who might damage it.
He waved a hand dismissively, “No, nothing wrong. It’s more what they didn’t do, actually.” He noticed the inquisitory look she gave and explained, “They knew that Discord, under control of their throne, had attacked Kahl’Aman in some way, but given his destructive nature and violent disposition, they just assumed he let the people die in the impenetrable forests as they grew outward. They believed he let the nation, and its people, die.”
“In other words...” he sighed, “the Ponies are unaware that a nation, over six hundred thousand strong, full of powerful, immortal soldiers and people with an unnecessary need to hate their kind, is simply sitting at their door, only a mile away. They’ve even begun expansion of their land into the presumably empty forests, and you witnessed what became of that settlement.”
Sarah stared at him in shock and confusion, and she asked him, “Why call me here then? What would this mean for me?”
“Well,” he sighed, “as a result of the rurokinei, which in simpler words is what landed you on this world after your death, you are now a member of this world. These twisted people of Kahl’Aman? They could mean destruction for almost all of the world should they wish it, as they are immortal, and have grown powerful over the years and influence of Chaos.”
“So...” she hung her head and asked dejectedly, “even after I was told I would escape the evils that plagued me, new evils just await on the other side?”
“I would not say that, young one.” Sarah looked up at him in question, and saw that he had risen from his throne and was stepping down in front of her, stopping before her to say, “There is a way to destroy them, to grant their eternally damned souls rest, one which your arrival may help in.”
“What do you mean? What could my being here do with anything?”
He placed a hand on her shoulder and smiled, “Our kind, which I sadly can no longer connect with after becoming an avatar of the Gods over Order, would be a cornerstone in an army to bring down these violently turned men. They are immortal, yes, but a body is useless without a soul. And what, dear Sarah, do our kind specialize in manipulating?”
She paused, thinking back to what those four strange beings had told her, when realization struck her and she breathed out, “Souls....”
Argal pulled his hand back and clapped once, exclaiming excitedly, “Exactly! If a being, who can quite easily take the soul from any being, with much practice, were to enter a world where the biggest threat were a race of powerful, sadly corrupt beings whose immortal soul is their strongest point, then a hope would be reached to avoid, or even stop said threat altogether!”
“But... what if you had gotten someone that couldn’t, or worse than that wouldn’t, help?” Her question made him stop in place, and slowly, his face sunk into a dark frown as he bent his head forward.
“I’m afraid,” he paused to sigh, “I’m afraid you wouldn’t have a choice anymore.”
“What do you mean?” She asked him worriedly.
He made his way to his throne again, setting down on it tiredly, and resting his forehead in his hands, “The Gods over Order, in conjunction with an unseen agreement with the four who sent you here, have already bound you to a seal to aid in this.”
“But...” she looked at him sadly, “they had promised I wouldn’t see evils like I had known on this world....”
He sighed and said in a pained voice, “Those four likely didn’t even know about the agreement anymore, it was all planned so many eternities ago. Most probably, they were simply being controlled without knowing it.”
“Oh... so I have no choice then?”
“No, you do not....” He saw the downcast, almost horrified expression she wore, and attempted to turn it around, “Well... cheer up at knowing it may not all be as bad as you think.”
She lifted her head slightly, still solemn, but asked, “What do you mean?”
“Well....” He stopped, trying to think of short notice reasons for her to forget her sorrow, and gave a slight smile when he thought of one, “Well, you’d be helping out an almost defenseless, unaware species. With you there, should threat arise, they would be likely to pull through.”
Her expression seemed to lighten at this, if only slightly, prompting Argal to inwardly sigh and think, Thank the Makers for our species having that absurd appeal to morality.
“Furthermore,” he stated, hoping she would buy what he said, “If the Gods over Order had an agreement for one of our kind, which in the end became you, to arrive on this world and aid it should the people of Kahl’Aman become a threat, then they would obviously have some form of contingency plan should you become fatally injured.”
She tilted her head to the side and asked, “What... what do you think that would be?”
“Well...” he mulled it over for a second, praying she would believe him, “perhaps they would have pulled a few strings to ensure you wouldn’t die? There are few of our kind left after all, and even fewer with the abilities we hold.”
She seemed skeptical of his words, but the more she thought it over, it seemed logical to some degree, at least in her mind. Unfortunately, her mind ran on an addled process of thought, not fully understanding that Argal’s words were false, a downfall of never being around other people enough to determine truth from lies.
Seeing the slowly and contemplatively agreeing expression growing on Sarah’s face, Argal clapped his hands loudly, catching her attention as he boomed with a too-genuine smile, “Right! We have that settled, time to send you back to the real world!”
“But-” Sarah attempted to say, but she was cut off immediately.
“No buts!” He shouted even louder, “You need to return and start learning the ways of the Pony society- can’t be there to save them if you can’t even fit in with them, can you?”
“I- I suppose not, but-” Again, she was interrupted.
“Great! Off you are then!” Argal, rudely as he had been acting, snapped his fingers, and in an instant Sarah’s world went dark, much like when she first passed out before arriving in Argal’s domain.
Princesses Celestia and Luna, for all their age and knowledge, had no idea what to make of the situation. First, a scarred, strange-limbed Etrian with off-color eyes and hair stumbled into their city and castle, seemingly ignorant of the world and their language.
Then, shortly after eating some of Celestia’s own magic and what the two sisters could only piece together was soul of all things, she blacked out and disappeared, only to return a second later, dazed and unceremoniously dropped to the ground from thin air.
“Sister...?” Luna questioned, feeling just as out of mind and stupefied as the Etrian before them appeared.
“I do not know either, Luna....” Was the half-hearted, almost defeated reply the elder sister could give.
Luna sighed dejectedly, “Right, of course....”
The two were left in silence as the woman before them tried, with great effort, to stand, failing on several occasions. If they weren’t certain whether it would devour their own magic again, they would’ve tried to aid it, but that doubt coupled with sheer dumbfoundedness made them simply stand by and watch helplessly.
Then, to their even further shock, she spoke, though disappointingly in a language they could not take anything from.
“Sedas mal... croret te heddan jäg...” the obviously still blunted woman muttered, finally gaining her footing, albeit unsteadily, “gestasas hargut... toh mana....”
She then released an exhausted breath and fell forward, already drifting into sleep before hitting the stone floor, if she were to even touch it. Seeing that she had fallen asleep, Celestia saw it opportune to catch her before she potentially shattered her nose and add to the already glaring damage done to her previously, presented by her twisting scars.
“Should we take her to the infirmary....?” Luna asked after a long, silent pause of the two standing there, the woman suspended by Celestia’s magic.
“Yes... I believe that would be best....” Without another word, the two set off to the still-open doors of the throne room, the floating mystery woman in tow. As they were leaving, however, Luna stopped, as did her sister soon after, a questioning gaze in her eyes.
“I apologize,” the younger sister said, “but thought it best to tell you I will be teleporting ahead, to the infirmary.”
“And why is that?” Celestia asked.
As Luna drew magic to her horn, she looked to the sleeping figure with a look of worry and said, “Obviously, given her clear lack of knowledge- of both the land, and the common language of her people here -she is from very, very far away. I thought it would be best to arrive early before you, and notify the staff that perhaps Maedith should be the one to look after this... guest, should she wake up in the near future.”
She looked back at Celestia and gave a weary smile, “Best she wake up to the face of one of her own kind; give her a sense of familiarity in a foreign land, even if they may be unable to communicate.”
Celestia, seeing the wisdom in her sister’s words, nodded once and said, “A wise decision, dear sister. Go on ahead, I will meet you there with our guest.”
With a nod of her own, Luna let the magic built up in her horn unfurl, and she disappeared in a flash of blue and white leaving the two alone in the long hallways of the castle.
“Well,” Celestia sighed, starting down the hall once more, “let’s get you to the infirmary, young one.”
The soft clicks of her golden shoes against the stone tiles echoed throughout the high ceiling as she made her way to the infirmary, the unheard mutterings of the woman closely following.
