Hope Seeker: Thunder Struck

Seeker felt his pulse behind his eye patch as he worked. The headache had begun to subside with the administered medication the emergency room had issued him when he left. His ribs were still hurting as much as they were when he left the hospital, but he knew it was partially due to his constant movement aggravating the injury. Seeker could not stop his progress however. The knowledge that the murderer was still nameless after assaulting three mares fueled a fire within him that allowed him to push through the pain.

Seeker paced in circles around his living room while he waited for Lightning to arrive. His furniture was moved against walls to clear a space large enough for him to work. The rug was rolled up and placed in his bedroom, revealing the cement floor that had been lying beneath. White chalk symbols were scrawled on the floor’s flat surface in the center of the room. Seeker continued to circle around it, making modifications as needed with a piece of chalk he kept tucked behind his ear.

The ritual he was preparing may not be able to give him the name or face of his target, but with any luck it would point him in the correct direction. Seeker still needed a component, a focus, to be able to track him down. Lightning would be the one to provide the material he needed, but she was taking too long. The storm outside must have been getting pretty bad to slow her down this much. Seeker continued to walk, afraid that if he were to rest that the medications would coax him to sleep.

A series of knocks were rapped upon his door, reaching his ears through the persistent rumbling of thunder. Seeker did his best to compose himself on his way to the door. Lightning had voiced several times that he was in no condition to continue the investigation, but Seeker was being stubborn like he normally was. The pain coupled with the amount of time that was waited while waiting for Lightning had worn on his nerves as well. He took in a deep breath to calm himself only to agitate the broken ribs yet again. Seeker did his best to cover the pain and frustration on his face as he opened the door.

A blast of wet air ruffled his shaggy mane as Lightning was pushed over the threshold by the harsh winds. The black rain poncho she was wearing whipped with violent cracking sounds. She spent several more wasted moments of time with the effort needed to close the door behind her. Seeker helped her as best he could under the circumstances, almost shocked he was able to close the door by himself. To be honest, the walk home was extremely hazy in his memory. How did he make it home in the first place?

The door latched in place, muffling the sounds outside. The sound of his pulse still remained in Seekers head however. He would have to make an effort not to exert himself too much for the next few hours, or he might hinder his ability to find the murderer. The sheer thought of his injuries getting in the way of his search for answers only poured more fuel on the fire that was building inside of him.

“Sorry it took so long. I’m not in the habit of removing evidence from PD.” Lightning confessed. “You have no idea how many times I needed to sign my name before they let me walk out of there.” Lightning pulled off the black raincoat and hung it on the coat rack as she spoke. She was doing her best not to look at Seeker’s face. The pain he was in was clearly still visible on his eye through the solid determination he tried to portray.

“You were able to get them. That’s all that matters.” Seeker grumbled, his mouth barely moving as he attempted to cover his gritted teeth. He walked over to the short wall that served as his kitchen counter and pulled another pain pill from the bottle the pharmacy provided him. He forced it down his throat with a plastic cup of badly filtered tap water. He didn’t want to take any more of the pain medication out of fear that it would cloud his mind, but the pain he fought back proved more distracting than the medications side effects.

Lightning opened her saddle bag that she had been keeping dry beneath her raincoat. Using her teeth, she removed 3 small manila envelopes and placed them on the counter in front of Seeker. He opened them with the magic of his horn and emptied out their contents onto the cracked tile surface beneath them. Three silver necklaces, each with the design of the crescent moon within the sun, were laid out before him. Each tagged with a small sticker attached around the chain, save for one whose chain had been broken.

“Is there any news about Rough Draft?” Seeker found himself asking, the broken chain reminding him of the events that led to his injuries and the Unicorn who still suffered through his attempt of heroics.

“I haven’t heard anything yet, but it’s only been a few hours.” Lightning said disheartened. Her eyes landed on the broken necklace as well. She felt as powerless as Seeker did at the moment. Broken and beaten, their only lead in the investigation was beyond contact. The case would be at a dead end if it were not for the simple hunch Seeker was clinging to now. Using this news as more fuel for the fire that was threatening to blaze through his very being, Seeker levitated the three necklaces from the counter.

The pendants were each lowered into a smaller ring within the center of the chalk written spell circle, lazily stuttering through the air. He could feel the concussion trying to interfere with his concentration already, but he would have to concentrate much harder when the spell was truly activated.

“Explain to me again how this is supposed to track down the killer.” Lightning said as she began to walk around the circle, giving it a wide birth as to not smear its markings.

“Remember how I told you that the bell at the library was designed to transfer energy from one to the other? I believe that whoever was casting the spells against the library staff was transmitting the spells into their bodies through these necklaces using the same technique. That way he could commit the crimes without having to be present, making it almost impossible for him to get caught. Almost.” Seeker lowered his horn to the edge of the spell circle and began to infuse the chalk marks with his own magic. “If my theory is correct, I should be able to use at least one of these necklaces to lead us to the spell’s source.”

“What makes you think the necklace was responsible?” Lightning asked, sitting down in one of the rooms less cluttered corners. All the proper seating was still piled vicariously against the sparse amount of wall space that was available.

Seeker opened his mouth to answer her, but the amount of focus required for the task at hand left little of his brain available for speech. The spell circle sprang to life with blue light, shimmering upwards towards the ceiling like a spectral curtain. His teeth snapped shut in an attempt to grit through the pain that had sparked within his skull. Something warm as sticky began to roll along his face from behind the eye patch, mixing with the sweat that poured forth despite lingering chill in the air.

The broken ribs were making it harder for him to control his breathing, the concussion was doing its best to hamper his magic, and now one of the lacerations around his eye must have popped a stitch and was now bleeding freely again. Droplets of blood and sweat spiraled down his lowered horn towards the illuminated chalk lines.

Seeker watched helplessly as the blood reached the spell circle. The chalk that had been written down was nothing more than a starting point for his magic to conform to, but if the chalk was washed away while the spell was in such a fledgling state, it could fizzle out. The time and effort put into its construction would be wasted and he would be forced to start again from scratch.

Prepared with the expectation for his magic to fail and the energy he put into it to evaporate wispily into the air, Seeker watched as the spell warped and changed before him. The blood was absorbed into the circle, drop by drop, tinting the once blue light with streaks of crimson. A loud crack rang through the air as the spell was consumed in red light, pulsing erratically. Seeker felt the spell detach from his influence, relieving most of the throbbing headache that was pounded rhythmically with the red lights.

With the spell no longer draining him to sustain itself, Seeker slowly backed away from the circle. Lightning walked to his side as his body began to sway. She held one wing out over him, holding him to her side, steadying his questionable balance.

“Is that supposed to happen?!” Lightning bellowed over the sounds the spell was producing. Almost in answer to her question, a bright flash and thunderous boom that were compounded within the confines of the small room. Both Seeker and Lightning began to blink fervently, attempting to wipe away the blindness the flash had forced upon them.

“I’m going to guess it was not supposed to do that!” Lightning yelled, louder than intended if the ringing in Seekers ears was any induction of how little she was able to hear.

“No. I’m not sure what happened.” Seeker answered. The headache he suffered was threatening to come back in full force, stunting the volume of his words.

“What did you say?!” Lightning yelled, her ears still ringing.

“I just don’t know what went wrong!” Seeker responded in a tone reminiscent to how he needed to talk over the phone when it was acting up.

What did happen? The ritual he designed was meant to strengthen the link between the silver necklaces and the item that the murderous spell was channeled through. Once the blood was introduced, it reacted as if a sacrifice had been made, far exceeding the power the ritual was meant to carry. It seemed to Seeker that his intentions had been pressed past the intended outcome and struck the true origin of the spell and its intention.

The smell of smoke reached Seekers nose while blurs of orange danced from the center of the room in his impaired vision. He stumbled blindly from Lightning’s grasp towards the kitchen to retrieve a fire extinguisher he had placed under the sink. After his office had been set ablaze the second time he felt it was a wise investment.

Reaching out with his hoof the same way he would attempt to walk though a pitch black room, Seeker found the short wall that served as his counter with a loud thump. The sound of his hoof coming in contact with the wood was not what forced him to pause, but a low growl that came afterwards. His head turned slowly back towards his living room, where the circle had been constructed.

Seeker’s vision was beginning to return as the black spots faded, but after his eyes fell on the source of the sound he almost wished he were still blinded. A large dog like beast stood in his living room, crouching low to the floor. Its body was formed from layers of sharp black stone shards with flames burning freely through the cracks and joints.
Thin strands of smoke curled from the edges of its gaping mouth as the orange flames that were ablaze down in its chest crawled up the inside of its throat. The flames that represented where its eye should have been were staring back towards Seeker, locking with his.

“I’m really hoping that wasn’t supposed to happen.” Lightning squeaked, her vision returning as well. Her knees began to shake as the monster turned its attention to her, the items she still carried jingling slightly from within her saddle bags.

Seeker scrambled into the kitchen as the beast lunged forward, but the attack was not intended for him but for Lightning instead. The fear had been so evident on her face was replaced with an expression that Seeker could only describe as pure fury. With a powerful flap of her wings, Lightning leapt to the side to avoid the creature’s bite that snapped closed where she had been standing.

Lightning planted her front hooves against the floor where she landed. Her hind legs however never touched the cement. With a whip like crack Lightning bucked her back hooves against the monsters side. The resulting impact pushed it off balance only slightly causing it let out a roar of annoyance more than pain.

Seeker rummaged through his kitchen, hoping that Lightning would survive long enough for him to return to help her fight. The fire extinguisher was missing from under his sink. He needed a different weapon if they were going to stand a chance against the beast. He tried to block out the noises of combat happening in the next room, trying to concentrate on finding a means of defense.

The hell beast charged towards Lightning again with its mouth open and hungry. She flapped her wings to dodge her attacker again. The beast was more intelligent that she gave it credit for. Stretching out it front paw, sharp jagged claws were raked along Lightning’s side just below her wing joint. The saddle bag was struck with the brunt of the blow, throwing her towards the kitchen as blood oozed from the thin marks in her skin. She slid to a stop along the tile floor of the kitchen on her back with a groan.

The creature rush Lightning in her dazed condition, not giving her any opportunity to defend herself. It pounced through the air into the open icebox door Seeker pulled open using his horn with a sickening crunch. The limited icy contents of the freezer, including the glass cube that kept it chilled, fell onto the beast as it lay on the floor stunned. Several pieces of ice boiled to steam as they came in contact with the stone of the hound’s stone body. Howling out of pain and confusion, the beast reared up away from the cold that the freezer had forced upon it.

Seeker levitated the glass cube that had fallen from the freezer, charging the runes across its surface. Cold mist drifted lazily from the frozen glass block, its runes bursting to life with harsh while light. The beast turned his attention back towards Lightning, unyielding in its attempts to be her undoing.

Through the monsters gaping howl that signaled its next attack, Seeker thrust the frozen cube down its throat into its chest. The creature collapsed on the floor. Seeker poured as much energy into the glass box, chilling the flames that burned inside the monsters body. Claws began tearing away at its own body, trying to pull the source of wrenched coldness from within.

The orange light that had once poured freely through the cracks in the monsters stone flesh faded with each passing moment. The creature’s ability to move slowed with the hindering introduction of the spread iciness that grew under the stone. The orange light that once gave the monster life was stuffed out with a resounding sizzle of steam released from its mouth, locked open in an eternal howl of pain.

Seeker held a hoof to his head as he turned to check on his friend. “Are you ok Lightning?” he managed to ask through the headache that formed from the action of forcing more power into the cube than it had originally been designed for.

Lightning rolled over onto her hoofs, the stone face of intent on her face. She slowly trotted over to the statue left behind by the beast to stare it in the eye. A quick spin and solid buck from Lightning’s rear hooves shattered the remains, propelling the stone shards from the kitchen to cover the living floor. Seeker could only watch in shock at the strength of her kick, especially for being a Pegasus.

“I am now.” Lightning said after a deep breath. “What was that thing?”

“I don’t know for sure, but I think it was a Hellhound.” Seeker replied, retreating to a bookshelf in the living room while cautiously stepping over the sharp black stones that now littered the floor.

“A Hellhound? Like the stories that parents tell their fillies and colts? I thought they were just that. Stories.” Lightning said, stepping over the black rocks herself. Each step she took pulled on the scratches that the hound’s claws left in her side.

Seeker pulled a small book from the top shelf of his small library. A layer of dust had collected on over the years of neglect of this specific volume. It was a book that was given to him when he lived in the orphanage while he was growing up. He had always assumed it was to make him more cautious with his magic due to his magical ability, much the same way the boogie stallion was used on kids who would misbehave.

He blew away the dust that kept the book’s title beyond legibility. The words that made the title, imprinted in gold letters upon the cover, read: “Beasts of the Ether by Stoic Circle”. Seeker had not realized that the book he read so many times as a young colt was written by the same author as the book that was now missing from the library at the university. He had even gone as far as to read the section of the book that contained the history of the author all those years ago.

Stoic Circle was a Unicorn that was overly infatuated with the creature that existed in Tartarus to the point of making expeditions into the Hell dimension on several occasion with the intent to do nothing more than study the creatures that existed within. Using his knowledge of ritualistic magic that his special talent had given him, He made a portal into Tartarus that supposedly only ponies could use.

It was widely believed that his claim had been fabricated and the records he wrote were nothing more than the ravings of a pony looking for attention. It was on his fifth reported venture into Tartarus that Stoic Circle mysteriously disappeared, leaving nothing behind but the notes and stories that were now printed in books that were sold for children as mere fairytales.

Seeker flipped through the books pages till he found a crude drawing of the beast they had just vanquished. It was indeed the Hellhound that Stoic Circle had documented. This abridged printing of his journal carried some of his hoof written notes regarding the hound. It was considered one of the weaker demons that lived in Tartarus, but was still extremely dangerous if provoked. Seeker closed the book and replaced it to the shelf, unsure what to do with the remains of such a creature.

Lightning grabbed a small cloth from the kitchen counter and began dabbing at the blood on her side. The shallow cuts were already clotting to stem the blood flow as she wiped up the excess, almost making her embarrassed at how shallow they had been yet cause so much pain. Seeker sifted through the ruble to track down the silver necklaces that he had used in the spell.

Several minutes passed as he continued to sift through stone after stone. He had only found two of the three pieces of jewelry he was looking for. Both pieces of silver lacked the magical effect he had been hoping for, but the third still might have worked despite the catastrophic event.

“It’s over here, Hope.” Lightning said from the front door. She bent down to pick it up in her teeth. “It must have been knocked away in the fight.” She picked up the silver chain and lifted the necklace from the ground. The silver pendant however, did not dangle strait down as it should have, but instead floated sideways in the air, suspended as if it were magnetically attracted to something beyond the door.

Seeker’s face lit up like a child’s who had just woken up on Hearths Warming morning. The spell had worked though all the difficulties. There was still hope.