Chapters Hope Seeker: Thunder Struck
Trails of steam danced through the cold air from the cup of coffee on the desk. Touching the edge of the paper cup with the tip of his hoof, Hope Seeker felt the scolding liquid within was still too hot to drink comfortably. Coffee should be too warm to guzzle so you can sip it and enjoy its robust flavor, but in its current state Seeker felt it might ignite the container it currently sat in. He rested his elbows on the desk as he stared into the black liquid. He had hoped that the hot refreshment would relieve the weight of his heavy eyelids once he was able to drink it, but for now he watched the mist emanating from the surface and allowed his mind to slip.
Hope Seeker’s office was getting darker as the Pegasi maintained one of their summer storms, only lit by the street lamps outside the window and the white crystals that were affixed to wall sconces like primitive torches. The building owner had prohibited Seeker’s use of lanterns or open flames after the last incident where his office was lit aflame. He tried to explain that it was an attack on him that lit the flames in the first place, but his plea fell on deaf ears. His rent was raised to help cover the property damages.
The only entrance into the cramped office was an ill fitted wooden door with a pane of warped glass set into its upper half. Though the glass had a decent sized crack through it, the words printed on its surface: “Hope Seeker, Private investigator” were still legible. Hope rested his head on his hooves, suspending his head above the cup of coffee as he blew along its surface in an attempt to cool it faster. His thought continued to wonder in his tired state, exhaustion tightening the grip it had upon his mind.
Memories began to flash past as his fatigued brain tried to answer the ever present question: “How did I get here?” Seeker was abandoned at a young age, too young to remember what his patents looked like let alone who they were. The orphanage he grew up in was mostly populated with earth ponies that had lost their homes and families from some catastrophic events like large accidents and natural disasters that could not be prevented. Hope however was not only given up by choice, but was also the only unicorn there. Unicorns were normally taken in by the schools to advance their teachings much in the same way Pegasi were brought to the clouds to be taken care of by those who could teach them how to fly properly. Not to say that it was uncommon for a Pegasus to have their ability to fly stunted because they grew up on the ground rather than with their head in the clouds.
Seeker had little to no guidance when his magic began to flourish, but that didn't stop him. It only made life more interesting for him. Rather than finding somepony else to answer all his questions for him he began doing research on his own. His endeavors with his arcane studies did not increase the magical power that he himself could exert, but rather gave him the knowledge that he needed to manipulate and amplify his results. He spent endless hours creating staves, wands, and other devices to give him the effects that he sought. The cutie mark that stood against his beige coat, a wooden staff carved with glyphs and runes and a red gem set into its head, was another sign of his remarkable talent for such artisanship.
Once he reached an appropriate age to apply for a magic school without a requiring a guardians approval, Seeker submitted applications to every academy and university he could find. His knowledge of magic however proved feeble on the written tests. His arguments were valid according to all his own research and experimentation, but the field of magic his talent resided in was highly theoretical and the schools were unwilling to test the validity of his claims. His practical testing did not fare any better as he was not allowed to use the tools he had created. The test was designed to challenge the subjects pure power and control, not how well your toys work. The understanding of manipulating his own magic was unable to overcome the tests that, with the assistance of his trinkets, could have been passed easily.
With too many failures under his belt he decided to forget the idea of learning how to properly use his magic and instead find ways he could use what he knew to support himself. Seeker went back to the earth ponies he had grown up with in Maretropolis and started working with the local police departments as a consultant. The jobs that he was called in for regarded crimes that were currently listed as unsolved due to the lack of evidence. With some of his unique tools, Seeker was able to uncover details and traces that were overlooked by the original investigators. The pay for these jobs however was abysmal and made it difficult to make ends meet at times, so he decided to supplement his income by doing a little work as a private investigator.
The pay would have been better if the jobs were steady, but the ones that would come through his door were lacking in number to have made it his primary job. As it was he had not had a customer darken his doorway form almost a week. Even the librarian from Ponyville that called him on an almost regular basis to locate missing books had been out of touch lately.
Though she never paid him in bits, but Seeker never minded her work. The jobs she offered were too easy for him to take his normal payment rates in good conscience. Depending on what book was missing he could almost track it down without magic at all. If the missing book involved Daring Do then he would find it at the home of the local weather Pegasus, books on baking would most likely be with an eccentric earth pony living with the Cakes at the local bakery and so forth. Rather than the normal currency of metal coins she would pay him with small lessons on magic that he used to improve his own work.
Seeker was not doing well financially however, and rent would be right around the corner. He would be willing to take almost anything right now. He didn't care if it was a lost pet or magically suspended houses, anything was better than sitting around his office waiting for time to tick away. His boredom reached the point where he wished someone would try to burn down his office again with that mysterious green fire when the ringing of the nearby phone brought him back to his senses.
Seeker reached out a hoof to pull the receiver from the phones base. He could have used his horn to levitate it to his head, but if there was something he could do without his magic, he would. He believed that just having magic didn't mean you had to flaunt it, but he was fairly sure that the idea was enforced on him as a child.
"Seeker, Private Investigation." He said with the blunt tone he reserved for such reiteration. No reason to sound too desperate for work, especially before any had been offered.
"Hey Hope, its Lightning." The feminine voice poured through the speaker making Seeker smile and wince. It was his contact at the local precinct Lightning Shield.
"I thought i told you to stop calling me that." Seeking responded before taking a well needed sip if his now perfectly warm coffee.
"Awe, and I thought we were on a first name basis. Why do you have to be so pessimistic anyway?" The voice chortled back though Seeking could hear the smile she wore.
"So am I to assume this is a social call? I'm with a potential client right now and can’t discuss anything that isn't business." he lied as he continued to drink his coffee. The warm beverage was well deserved as the temperature of the room continued to drop with the storm outside coming to fruition.
"You always were a bad liar Hope, but I do have a scene i need you to take a look at." Lightning said with as much emphasis on his name as possible.
“Bad?”
“We've got a body, too young to have just keeled over. No medical history to back up a sudden death. No wounds that we can tell till the coroner gets her. No signs of a struggle or forced entry.” Lighting rambled through the short version of the report she would be filing.
"Suspected murder then? Alright, you know my normal fee. Where do you need me?" She quickly rambled off an address that Seeking scrawled on a loose piece of paper on his desk. "Got it. Anything i should know before i head over that way?"
"Nope. I'll be waiting." Lightning said before hanging up.
"How rude. She didn't even say goodbye." Seeking stared at the receiver with a forced hurt look on his face for a few moments before hanging up the phone himself. He still wasn't sure how the contraption worked, even after dismantling three of his own. He finished off his coffee before standing up from his desk to collect his things.
The coat rack next to the door was relived of its burden: a black canvas duster and black fedora. Seeker had to brush his shaggy brown mane from his face before placing the hat on his head. He would prefer his hair was shorter, but with a lack of funds going to a barber was not an option and he did not want to attempt the feat himself.
The jacket he pulled over his back was heavy with all the equipment that found their homes within its many hand stitched pockets. Lastly a long wooden staff was thrown over his back, held in place by a small strap of leather looped over his shoulder and across his chest.
Disengaging the enchantments that maintained the lighting crystals within the room Seeker left the office, locking the door behind him. On his way out of the building he stopped on the floor bellow, where a small law firm was located, just long enough to steal another cup of courtesy coffee before facing the storm.
A wave of thunder greeted him with the chilling rain as he stepped out into the storm. It was going to be a long walk.
Author's Note
I'm not too familiar with this format, but we will see how things turn out over the next several weeks.
Hope Seeker: Thunder Struck
The apartment building on 28th and Neighfare was designed as a gated community that required either owning a key or having someone on the inside let you in. Iron gated widows and door gave a false sense of security to the inhabitants that lived within. In this day anyone with the appropriate skills could have gotten inside without detection, but it did discourage the common thug that might have wanted to stir up trouble.
Seeker waved at the paramedic crew on his way into the building. They waived back from the dry interior of their ambulance, waiting for clearance to move the body. He tried to shake off as much of the residual water that clung to his clothes before approaching the officers guarding the door. Luckily he recognized one of them, a heavy set desk jockey that followed Lighting’s lead.
“They let you out of your cage, Last Watch?” Seeker jested over the sound of the continuing downpour.
“On occasion.” The officer said with a broad smile. Watch’s dark grey body made his white teeth stand out vividly in the following flash of lighting. “I see they haven’t pinned you up in one yet.”
“If this is regarding that fire again, it still wasn’t me.” Seeker said as he smiled back. Last watch gave out a solid laugh as he raised the police tape blocking the entryway.
“Alright Seeker, Lieutenant Shield is waiting for you on the fifth floor. Better get a move on before she tans your hide. The crew is already biting at the bit to get her remains out of here.” Watch said.
Seeker didn’t have to be told twice. He walked in out of the rain and thunder outside, trying not to make a mess with the water that still managed to drip down his hoofs. Maybe a canvas coat was not the best thing to wear out in the rain. The squeaking of his hoofs echoed in the silence of the corridor as he made his way past the elevator to the stairs. He preferred the open air of the stairwell compared to the confined box. The sudden lurching as it got up to speed and slowed to a stop felt too close to the sensation of falling for Seeker to trust them.
Opening the door to the fifth floor landing, Seeker stumbled out into the hallway, panting heavily, to see Lightning Shield leaning against the door frame of one of the apartments. She fluttered her orange wings as she straitened her stance. Her curly red hair pulled back into a ponytail to maintain a professional appearance.
“Still afraid of getting in the elevator, I see.” Lightning asked as Seeker approached. He paused for a moment to catch his breath from climbing the stairwell. He was a Unicorn, not an athlete.
“It’s not the getting in part that bothers me; it’s the possible drop that can happen when something goes wrong.” Seeker panted as he continued to steady his breath.
“Whatever you say Hope. Let’s get this over with so I can let the boys outside take over.” Lightning said. She used every chance she could get to call him by his first name. Seeker assumed that she only did it to get a rise out of him.
Lightning pulled the police tape clear of the doorway and strode in with Seeker on her heels. The room was small as far as apartments go, but Seeker felt it dwarfed the dwelling he was fortunate to still have. The furniture that littered the thick brown carpet was of an exceptional quality, and every piece matched with the others in the set. The walls were decorated with paintings and other decorations, but the absence of photos gave the room a hollow felling, as if the room was merely on display rather than a home.
“No family from the look of things. Everything appears almost spotless.” Seeker muttered to himself loud enough to let Lightning hear what was on his mind.
“What do we know about her?” Seeker asked while he rifled a hoof through his pockets.
“Not too much I’m afraid. Speaking with the landlord, who found her like this, we were able to determine she was single; living alone like you already deduced. She works at Maretropolis Community College.” Lightning read from a small notebook she had tucked away in her coat pocket.
“Let me guess, Librarian?” Seeker smirked.
“Magic was definitely a factor here. Something powerful must have happened here to leave such large traces behind.” Seeker continued to observe the body through the lens. He leaned closer to the body, doing his best not to touch anything. The light seemed to originate from her chest and strike out violently in every direction. “I can’t be for sure, but it looks like whatever caused her death came attacked her from the inside.”
The expression that Seeker watched crawl onto Lightning face when he pulled the eyepiece away was much graver than he had anticipated. Even as a detective she did not react well to the thoughts of anyone killing somepony else.
“Somepony has been murdered by magic in my city. I’m going home to catch some shuteye.” The stare Seeker got from his apathetic comment would have burned him on the spot if looks could kill. “What? I can’t go to her work if it’s already closed for the night. Unless you want to condone breaking it in, if so I’ll head over there now.”
“No!” Lightning snapped. “I mean, no. You can wait till tomorrow to investigate around the school. I’ll keep in touch if we find anything more out of the ordinary.” Lightning almost blushed from her outburst, but kept her posture of professionalism as best as possible.
The appliances and fixtures were dated and were inefficient with the amounts of energy the required to run properly, but Seeker made his own modifications to help them out as best he could. Out if force of habit he opened the door of the icebox to reveal the chill within was beginning to falter, same as it normally did at this time of night. He noted the contents within were rather sparse as he pulled a cube of glass from the boxes interior. With a small force of will the cube illuminated with the runic symbols that had been gently decorating its surface. He quickly placed the glass back into the icebox as the extreme chill it gave off began to numb his hoof. With any luck it would last more than a day, but it had been getting harder to maintain with the summer heat of the afternoon.
He sat down on the couch in front of his stone fireplace. Lacking any sort of chimney access, the fireplace was built into an old exhaust system that was used for some type of machinery. Being summer Seeker did not have any wood to burn. He decided to save money rather than try to keep some on hand; a decision that he currently regretted. The storm outside carried a chill with it that didn’t cut to the bone like winter would have, but was uncomfortable just the same.
Seeker stared into the empty fireplace as his mind tried to make sense of the information he had collected so far. A Unicorn was murdered in her home and magic was the weapon of choice. She was a librarian at a small local college. There were no known family members that could have been involved.
The more Seeker thought about this case, more questions came to mind rather than answers. Tomorrow would come quickly enough; then he would be able to enter the library in search for answers to this crime. He hung up his coat and hat to dry by the front door and leaned his staff against the wall as he failed to stifle a yawn. The darkness of his bedroom was more than inviting as he dragged his hooves to his bed. The blanket warmed around him, blocking out the residual cold that floated in the air. The moment his head found a comfortable spot on the pillow he drifted off to sleep. No amount of coffee could measure up to a good night’s sleep.
Hope Seeker: Thunder Struck
Chapter 3
Seeker had already attempted a shower to wake him up, but it worked about as well as chucking a butter knife on a cement block. The thought of eating something for breakfast to wake him up proved fruitless. The selection of things he passed as food was not what you want to put on your stomach so early in the morning.
Seeker finished off the first cup just as his phone rang. He walked over to it and lifted the receiver to his ear. A short series of popping sounds came from the speaker as he answered. This was one of the devices that he had taken apart and the only one he managed to reassemble to a point it would work.
“This is Seeker.” He stated firmly over the continued crackling of the speaker next to his ear. It seemed to help the person on the other end of the call if he enunciated properly, something that he was not in a custom of doing. The sound that came as a response was garbled and inaudible, but he could at least determine who it was. “One sec.” Seeker smacked the receiver against the closest wall and put it up to his ear again. “Want to try that again, Lightning?”
"Whoa! No need to yell. I can hear you." Seeker yelled towards the reciever he held as far from his head as his hoof could stretch. He slowly moved the phone back to his ear, the lingering threat of deafness producing a higher level of caution than was necessary.
"Did you take the phone apart again? Never mind, I don't want to know. I have the coroner report on the mare from last night." Lightning said. The sounds of her office bustling in the background threatened to encroach upon the conversation.
"Already? That was fast." Seeker said over another sip of coffee.
"You do know it's almost 10, right?" Lightning asked, forcing Seeker to look at the clock hanging in the kitchen. She was right. The time it took for him to shower and brew coffee must have been longer than he anticipated.
"Slow morning?" Seeker asked through a forced grin. "Let's start with a name." There was an audible pause where only the sounds of ruffling papers could be heard. Seeker was just happy to change the subject of conversation away from the wasted time his morning had been.
"According the the file, her name is Studied Tome." Lightning said as she read down the report. "Her overall health was better than even mine, save for the condition of her heart. It's been described as 'shredded from the inside'. Looks like you were right that magic was focused from inside her chest." Seeker felt a gnawing pain in his chest at the prospect of his own organs being torn apart from within. "There's nothing else of note from what I can see."
"Thanks for filling me in. I'm going to take off for the school as soon as I finish my coffee. Call you later?" Seeker said with another sip of the below standard coffee.
"You'd better." Lightning said as she hung up the phone. Seeker could only look at the receiver in disbelief.
"She hung up on me again?" Seeker chuckled. "What great manners she grew up with. Her parents must be proud." Seeker downed the remaining liquid from his cup while hanging up his own phone. Wearing his now dry jacket and hat, he grabbed his staff from the wall and opened the door to leave. The feeling of the warm sun on his face after the cold night was unfortunately absent. A cold blast of air almost blew the hat from his head as it blew through the open door, the rain still blocking the sight of the sun above.
The weather should have been sunny this morning if the schedule the Pegusi circulated was anything to go by. It was not uncommon however for the plans for the days weather to change on a whim. The amount of rainfall might have fallen short of the intended quota or some other questionable event that allowed the weather ponies to take a day off and let the clouds sit where they may.
The frigid walk to the college was through the unanticipated weather soaked Seeker clothing once more. He could only pray that the library would even be open through such a storm as his hooves splashed in the forming puddles at the base of the building’s steps. Much to his delight the doors swung open, allowing him sanctuary from the unwelcome weather outside.
The inside of the library was silent, as was expected. The smell of rain was drowned by the aroma of the books and parchment filling the shelves that reached from floor to ceiling. Rows and rows of knowledge stretched through hallways formed by the over laden shelves. The thick brown carpet beneath his hooves seemed to devour any sound his hoof falls could have made. Combined with the layers of shelves, the sound of the storm outside was quickly muffled.
Seeker looked on in awe as he stepped forward towards the shelves. He had never made time to see the inside any of the schools he applied to. This collection of books and research materials sparked quick daydreams of what he could accomplish with such information within hoof's reach, and this was only a community college library. He could only imagine the immense amount of knowledge held within a larger university. A quiet voice snapped him back to reality before he was able to get close enough to touch any of the books that were just beyond his grasp.
"Can I help you, sir?" The pony behind the counter asked him, looking over her reading spectacles. Seeker was so distracted by the towers of books that he overlooked the the presence of somepony reading at the front desk.
“Yes.” Seeker said as he continued to come back to reality. He offered her a hoof to cover the awkward silence. “Hope Seeker, Private investigator.” The mare shook his hoof gently with a polite smile.
“I thought you were a new face. I’m Post Script the assistant librarian.” She said, using her hoof to indicate the name tag that was pinned to her sweater.
“So is it safe to assume that you know Studied Tome?” Seeker asked as he took note of the name tag that she wore. The picture looked like her, but not in the most flattering way.
“Oh, yes. She is the head of our library. She has not come in yet, but I’m sure it’s just due to the weather. You can wait for her if you like.” She said. The expression she wore told Seeker she was unaware of the fact the Unicorn had died last night. He felt his own smile slipping as he tried to pull the words together in a way to soften the blow.
“Uh, I don’t think she’s going to make it in today.” Seeker said. His mouth was beginning to feel dry despite the humidity in the air. “I’m here on behalf of the police to investigate her… uh, murder.” He could have phrased that a little better Seeker thought to himself.
“Murder? I didn’t realize.” Post Script said, her ears folding back to emphasize the look of shock on her face. “We were told there was an accident, but they said nothing about her being murdered. Who would do such a thing?” Her eyes dropped to the desk in front of her, unable to look up at him.
“It’s only a hunch. We don’t know if it was a murder for sure or not. That’s why I’m here.” Seeker said. He tried to lower his head so he could see her face; possibly get her to look him in the eye again. His efforts were in vane however. Her eyes just stared blankly at the book she had previously been reading. “I need to ask a few questions figure out what really happened. Can you help me with that?”
Post Script turned her face back up towards him, a few tears floating in her eyes that refused to fall. She placed her reading glasses on the desk and pulled a small bell from one of the drawers. The bell was placed on the edge of the desk, the message printed on its surface stating “Ring for Service” made clearly visible to anypony approaching to check out books.
Post Script drug her hooves along the carpet, her head hanging low with her ears still turned back. She guided Seeker down one of the darker hallways between bookshelves. The corridor ended at a dead end where a simple door was installed. Post Script opened it and went inside the small office located within. Like the passageway there, the room was rather darkly toned. The window that led to the outside let the small amount of light available outside through the storm into the room. The sounds of thunder and rain became easier to hear with the lack of books to absorb them. Lit by a single candle, the deeply toned wood of the walls, desk, and chairs gave the room the sensation of being smaller than it truly was. The yellow light of the candle brought out the highlights in the woods texture.
Seeker sat down in one of the small chairs after Post Script took her seat on the other side. Her seat was not much larger than the one Seeker sat in, but it looked much more comfortable. She sat with her eyes still clinging to the tears that wished to fall.
“I know this can’t be easy for you.” Seeker said, leaning forward to place his hoof on hers. The moment his hoof came in contact with hers, Post Script’s eyes darted up to meet his. “I’ll need your help if I am going to figure out who did this.”
“What do you want to know?” Post script asked. Her voice threatened to crack as she spoke, but the steely resolve in her eyes kept her strong. Seeker had to admire her willpower.
“How well did you know Miss Tome?” Seeker asked once he was sure she was in a condition to answer his questions. Asking questions of ponies that had just begun to grieve was a delicate task that he took no pride in. It was a part of his job however and therefore needed to be done. Seeker couldn’t help but to sympathize with those that were still obviously hurting on the inside. He was, after all, picking at a fresh wound that was not yet given a chance to heal.
“I knew her for a while before I started working here. She was the one who got me the job, in fact. It’s not easy for an Earth Pony to get employed at a unicorn college.” Post Script said. Her eyes focused on a corner of the room as she continued her efforts not to cry. “I used to be part of the janitorial staff till she caught me filing books. She told me I did a better job than the students that used to work for her.” A tear began to form, but she quickly thwarted its advance with another wipe from her foreleg.
“You knew her before you started working for her. Did she ever mention having any enemies in the school? Anyone that might have been after her job?” Seeker asked.
“No, not that I remember. She was always there for the students and even for the professors when they needed her help tracking down research notes and resources.” She allowed herself a small smile as her memories danced in her head. “I remember recently when she corrected one of the professors on his research. She even walked him through the restricted section of the library to prove herself right. Though he had to restart his research from scratch, I think his pride was hurt more than anything else.”
“What professor was it and what were they studying?” Seeker asked, but before she was able to answer him, a bell rang on her desk.
“Somepony must be ready to check out. I’ll go take care of them and be right back.” Post Script left Seeker alone in the office closing the door behind her. The rain continued to beat on the window as he picked up the bell with his magic, not wanting to touch it with his hooves. What sort of magic made this one ring when the one at the front desk was rung?
Somepony must have taken his work and modified it. Seeker could only imagine this was a proof of concept rather than the end result of somepony else’s research. He would have to ask where the bell came from when Post Script came back to the office.
A bright flash of lightning lit up the room around him, leaving no time between the lightning strike and the thunder. The lightning bolt must have struck extremely close to the building as the thunder rumbled outside. Seeker dropped the bell when the strike hit, but not form the blinding flash or loud thunder, but from the scream he heard from the other side of the door.
Post Script’s eye rolled up into the back of her head as she fell limp, falling into a nearby shelf knocking books to the floor around her. Seeker ran to her side, but it was already too late. He knelt next to her as he feverishly searched for a pulse that never presented itself. Blood was flowing from her ears and nose and her eyes were sunken in. Seeker pulled the lens from his pocket again and pushed it to his eye.
The same streams of magic that Seeker saw from the attack on Studied Tome were present in Post Script's body. The light, however, were being emitted from within her head; not her heart. Whoever was responsible for the attack on the head librarian had taken out her assistant as well.
Seeker quickly made his way to the front desk, desperate to find a phone. He needed to call the authorities and emergency medical teams as quickly as possible. Most of all, he needed Lightning Shield.
Hope Seeker: Thunder Struck
Chapter 4
"She didn't make it, Hope." Lightning said as the body was being prepared for transport to the medical examiners table. Seeker sat at one of the many tables the library kept available for students to study.
"I know. Have the coroner do a thorough exam on her head for me, will you?" Seeker said. Upon making eye contact with Lightning he saw utter confusion painted across her face. "It was the same spell that was used yesterday, but I think it was targeting her brain this time, not her heart."
"What kind of pony are we dealing with?" Lightning asked, more to herself than to Seeker.
"I think it might be a teacher here. Post Script was telling me about an altercation Studied Tome had with one of the professor’s right before this happened. She wasn’t able to give me a name though." Seeker said as he stood up. He wasn't full of energy by any means, but he couldn't seem to sit till either. Not while ponies were dropping dead around town. He walked over to the check in desk where he first saw Post Script and leaned his forelegs along its surface. He couldn't help but to stare at the mare's reading glasses upon the desk, his mind still trying to make sense of the last few hours. “Whoever we are dealing with is testing their power.”
“What makes you say that, Hope?” Lightning asked. She walked over to his side, wanting to place a hoof on his shoulder but she knew better. Seeker was not fond of being touched, especially while he was trying to think.
“Why else would he attack a different killing blow when the first one worked so well?” Seeker asked. “They can already kill somepony with ease, why go through the trouble of making it fancy?”
“Maybe they enjoy it?” Lightning offered. “I don’t know much about magic, but it sounds like a wasted when you already have the ultimate tool for your dirty work.”
Seeker pulled his gaze from the glasses to the book that she had been reading only a couple hours ago. He needed to focus on something other than the picture of the mare standing dead in the hallway that still lingered vividly in his mind. It was not a novel or textbook, it was the library registry. The book held information regarding books that had been checked out and to whom. He stared at it in an absent-minded state till something about the entries on the page clicked in his head. The book recorded the times that items were removed from the shelves to be taken by the students or returned, but there were no entries for today. Not even for the time she was called away from the office by that bell.
That would explain why she was already on her way back to the office when she was attacked. You can't help somepony at the desk if there is no pony there to help. Did the bell malfunction somehow, or was it a distraction? Seeker continued to look at the book registry, flipping pages. It was currently summer, but there were still a few students taking classes. The few pages from the current semester were few enough to skim through quickly. A note caught his eye, written in red ink amongst the normal blacks and blues that littered the page.
“Symbols: A Guide to Ancient Runes and Rituals by Stoic Circle, Restricted Wing.” Seeker read aloud. “Status: Missing?” Considering the level of accuracy the records were adhered to, it seemed unlikely that one of the books would simply disappear, especially from the restricted section of the library. The date in the registry suggested the book had been missing for almost a month, and that was just at the point its absence was discovered.
Seeker flipped through the other pages of the registry looking closer at the titles and authors. No other books from that particular author or, from what he could assume from the titles, were on the same subject as the one that was missing were checked out to anyone. This was unfortunately not the full listing of the libraries records. It only contained the activity logged since the beginning of the summer semester. If Seeker wanted to look at the older records he would have had to talk to the head librarian, and that was not an option.
“Lightning, Do we know if there are any other librarians that work here?” Seeker asked. His voice almost catching in his throat as a flood of adrenaline hit him, forced by the thoughts that surfaced from the back of his mind. Lightning pointed to a display on the wall behind the desk. A few pictures were pinned to a bulletin board with their names written beneath who they were. The first two pictures were of ponies he recognized: Studied Tome and Post Script. The last photo however was of an older, light blue Unicorn he had not seen before, the name “Rough Draft” was printed around her smiling face.
“Just a hunch, but I think there is at least one more.” Lightning said in a snide tone before her face went stone cold. “Wait. You don’t think he’s targeting all the library staff, do you?” she asked. Her wings fluttered in anticipation of his answer.
“I think we might want to get to her before he does.” Seeker said as he buried a hoof into his pocket and began pulling a few items out and placing them on the desk. Lightning Shield leaped to a courtesy phone near the front door, using her wings to hasten her progress, and began dialing in a number with the rotary dial.
“Last Watch, It’s Lightning. I need you to pull some records for me on a Unicorn by the name of Rough Draft.” Lightning said in the commanding tone that came from being an officer.
“How is he going to find where she lives from the police station?” Seeker asked as he began working with the items on the desk in front of him.
“Unless you can cast some sort of spell to track her down, we are a little short on options.” Lightning snapped. The officer in her had taken over.
“I guess you’re right. I can’t cast those spells without some of her blood or hair anyway.” Seeker stated as he pulled the magic lens from his pocket and added it to the pile of things on the desk. Lightning rolled her eyes at him as she waited for Last Watch to return to the phone. Seeker used his magic to levitate the items into the air and began binding them together.
“That’s just outside the school.” Lightning observed out loud. “Thanks Watch.” Lightning hung up the phone and turned to Seeker to inform him she had their next destination. Her professional manner was almost broken as she restrained the smile that was fighting to spread across her mouth. Seeker had used a series of leather straps and buckles to strap the eyepiece to his head like a modified eye patch.
“Don’t laugh. I won’t have the extra hoof to put this thing to my eye if we are running.” Seeker protested. He adjusted his hat as best he could to hide the lens from her, but the damage was done.
“She lives close to here. Let’s just hope she’s home. Follow me, matey” Lightning said as she pushed open the door, fighting against the wind that hindered her efforts. A wet blast of cold air blew into the library as Lightning and Seeker ran out into the storm. It was supposed to be a bright and sunny afternoon, but the weather had other plans. Rain poured down in buckets as they ran; bolts of lightning and cracks of thunder filled the air. Lightning attempted to lift off the ground with her wings to give her more speed. The wind was too powerful however, making it impossible for her to fly strait. They would both have to run the entire way.
Lightning rounded the corner of a building that served as student housing with Seeker a few paces behind her. The apartment building at the end of the street came into view ahead of them through the grey haze of the rain. Seeker used his magic to pull open the door as they approached, allowing them to run in unhindered. They stopped in the dry lobby within; Seeker pushing his full weight against the door till it latched behind them. Lightning turned her attention to a map of the buildings layout near a collection of mail slots on the far wall.
“Third floor, last room on the left. Come on!” Lightning commanded as she flew into the stairwell, no longer impaired by the storm. Seeker Ran after her as fast as his slick wet hooves would allow. He wasn’t able to see her again till he burst through the door leading to the third floor landing. Lightning flew to the end of the hallway and began knocking on the door. An ominous crash of lightning flooded the hallway with blinding white light from a cracked window the moment Seeker reached the door, panting heavily. The door was opened from the inside, but it was still held secure by a chain lock. A single brown eye peered through the gap the short chain allowed.
“Can I help you?” A soft voice asked through the crack in the door.
“Rough Draft?” Lightning asked. The pony inside gave a small nod in response. Lightning let out a sigh of relief as she pulled her badge from under her jacket and let it hang visibly from her neck. “Officer Shield, Ma’am. I’m going to have to ask you to come with us.”
“Did I do something wrong?” Rough Draft asked, the eye that they could see through the crack in the door widened in fear. Her sight dashed between Lightning and Seeker as she awaited an answer.
“No.” Lightning quickly answered in an attempt to calm the Unicorn inside, but the tone of urgency in her voice betrayed her. “You’re not under arrest, but we believe you may be in danger. It’s for your protection.” With that said, Rough Draft closed the door long enough to slide the lock free. When she opened the door again the fearful look in her eye was replaced by an over expression of worry.
“Is this regarding Studied Tome?” Rough Draft asked. Her ears fell and folded back, almost in anticipation of the answer she was going to receive.
“As well as Post Script.” Lightning added. Rough Drafts head hung low as her fears were confirmed.
“I heard Tome was in an accident, but I knew better than to think it was as simple as that.” Rough Draft said, her legs beginning to shake. “Now something has happened to Post Script?” Her face faded into a state of denial, as if the world was crashing down around her yet nothing mattered anymore.
“Way to go Lightning.” Seeker was able to say between steadying gasps for air. He was still fairly winded from the run up the stairs and was only now able to catch his breath. “Now she’s going to be scared out of her mind.” He placed a hoof on Rough Draft’s shoulder. He looked her strait in the eye as best he could while the lens distorted his view of his one eye. Her eyes locked onto his as he spoke slowly and steadily. “Don’t worry. We are going to protect you, but we need to leave this place, now.”
Rough Draft regained some of her composure as she nodded at Seeker. She pulled the door closed behind her and locked it before heading towards the elevator down the hall. Lightning quickly took point ahead of the group while Seeker covered the rear, his eyes dancing around the hallway as he looked for anything out of the ordinary. He was still unsure how the other ponies were attacked and he did not know what to look for, so he took note of everything that would be potentially dangerous.
“We should avoid the elevator.” Seeker suggested. “With this storm going on, the last thing we need is to get trapped in small box.” Another blinding flash of lightning flooded through the window behind them. With the resulting thunder rolling over them, the runes on seekers eyepiece began to spark to life on their own. The power that was released with that lightning strike existed of more than light and sound, there was magic in the air.
“Now who’s worried?” Lightning chided. She looked over her shoulder towards Seeker with a small smile, but she quickly stopped in her tracks. Rough Draft had frozen in place between them, halfway through her stride. Seeker could almost feel the energy that was still pulsed through the building. He quickly activated the proper runes along the surface of his eyepiece, staring intently at the Unicorn ahead of him.
At the base of Rough Drafts neck, Seeker could see the familiar strands of light blossoming forth into her body, creeping towards her spine. He ran towards her, pulling his staff free of his shoulder using his teeth. The end of the staff was planted against the floor where it stood vertically in front of her, held in place by the magic of his horn. Certain runes that had been carved into the surface burst into light at Seeker’s command as he constructed a spell of his own.
A low hum began resonating in the hallway. A white bubble formed around Seeker and Rough Draft, centering on the staff that began to spark from its lit runes.
The magic was still building, but through Seeker’s effort that constructed the field around them, it had been slowed down the spells progress enough to buy him precious moment. More runes began to illuminate along the lens as Seeker refined the view it was giving him. The energy could not be coming out of thin air; it had to be originating from somewhere. Tweaking with his view a little more he locked onto the source of the energy. A charm was hanging by a thin chain from her neck in the shape of the moon and sun, rendered in silver. It was the same design found hanging from Studied Tome’s neck at the time of her death.
Seeker tried to pull the accursed necklace away using the magic of his horn, but it held fast. He was unable to use his horn to apply more strength to his attempt for he was already exerting himself to maintain the spell on his staff. If he were to pull any of his energy from his own spell the power coming from the necklace would surely murder the Unicorn in front of him. If he was going to remove it, he would have to touch it. He decided on the more mundane approach and grabbed the chain with his hoof. With a strong tug, the necklace chain broke and came loose from her neck.
The resulting release of energy that had been building from the spell inside Rough Draft let loose a flash of bright light, the thunderous sounds of an explosion followed in its wake. Seeker was struck with the full force of the spell. He was blown off his hooves and down the hallway, his spell channeled staff hurdling with him. He struck the floor and tumbled several times before finally coming to rest against the solid metal elevator doors in a tangled mass of limbs.
~*~*~*~
Seeker felt the world spinning around him. His eyes were held tight as he fought against the violent waves of nausea churning in his stomach. He was thankful he had decided to skip eating breakfast when the pain in his stomach reached its apex. A dry heave forced itself through his throat causing pain to surge from his ribs.
“You throw up on me and I’ll kill you.” Lightning’s voice echoed in his head. Seeker tried to open his eyes slowly, but something was holding his left eyelid in place. The blinding light filtered into his open eye as a haze of white while it adjusted.
A white room came into view around him. He was lying on his back with a large light hanging above him. He let out a groan as he felt his jacket had been removed and replaced with a hospital gown. He was extremely groggy, presumably from the IV that was carrying medications into his system.
Lightning was sitting in the chair next to his bed. She had a pair of butterfly strips holding together a cut along her cheek. The skin beneath the laceration was swollen and purple through her orange coat indicating a bruise was forming from the resulting trauma. Her hair was no longer tied back behind her head, allowing several frizzy red strands to complete her disheveled ensemble.
"How long was I out?" Seeker asked. His dry mouth and throat forced him to cough after the question. Lightning checked the clock on the wall above the door.
"About two hours. The Doctor says you have a small concussion that should be good in a few days." Lightning answered. Seeker could tell from the tone of her voice that there was something worse about his condition that she was trying not to mention.
"Why can't i open my eye?" Seeker asked her as he brushed his hoof over the obstruction. An eye patch had been secured with straps and a weak adhesive. Lightning's head drooped slightly as she tried to think of the best way to answer him.
"When your spell broke, you collided with me before flying down the hallway. The doctor said that if i had not slowed you down before you hit the elevator door that you would have easily lost your eye." Lightning turned to a metal tray near the bed. Within the tangled masses of bloody gauze and dirtied utensils were the remnants of his magic lens, shattered and warped from a solid impact. “They said you might have torn your retina, but you will have to see a specialist to be sure. Regardless you will have to wear the eye patch for a while.” Seeker pulled himself up from the bed through the pounding headache that tried to keep him in the bed.
“What happened to Rough Draft?” Seeker asked through the pounding inside his head. He did not think Lightning could have dropped her head any lower than she already had.
“She’s been admitted. She’s in a coma, Hope. They are not even sure what caused it.” Lightning said. Her answer was not what Seeker wanted to hear. He turned himself to lower his feet to the white sterile floor.
“Get the nurse to unhook me from these damn things. We are leaving.” Seeker told Lightning. “That guy is still out there and I’m not going to let any eye patch or concussion stop me from getting him.” Seeker tried to take a step forward, but buckled, almost unable to keep himself on his hooves. He pulled his arm up to his chest at the source of the pain that debilitated him.
“What about those broken ribs?”
Author's Note
I just want to note how difficult it is to type out full stories on a tablet...
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.
“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.
Hope Seeker: Thunder Struck
The storm was still raging in the late afternoon sky as Seeker ran as fast as his injured body would allow. Lightning followed as him closely as to not lose sight of him through the sheets of rain that continued to pour down freely from the black clouds above. Seeker felt he had taken too much time to bandage not only his own popped stitch back together, but the thin scratches along Lightning’s side as well. Time was not on their side by any means, ticking away precious seconds that could determine the life or death of the murders next target.
The library staff had been almost completely destroyed, leaving no lead on who the next target could be. There was the possibility that the murders would stop once all the staff members were dead, but with the power that this pony could wield, it was unlikely that he would be satisfied with only three targets eliminated. The only resort was to track down the origin of the spell using the silver necklace that was used as the murder weapon.
Seeker had packed a light saddlebag before heading out into the rain. He did his best to keep it dry beneath his jacket in an attempt to preserve the book that he had placed inside. Other baubles and trinkets rattled around gently from within the bag. Seeker wanted to be prepared for anything after facing down the Hellhound that had been summoned in his living room.
Using his horn to suspend the far end of the chain in the air, he allowed the pendant of the necklace to pull itself forward into the city. It aimed like compass towards the source of the curse that had been channeled through it. Turn after turn, Seeker and Lightning made their way further into the city, following the necklace’s direction.
Seeker began to see familiar land marks as their destination came closer with every step. The university came into view as they rounded another corner, and the necklace was pointing directly towards it. The pair of ponies continued into the school grounds, the necklace turning upwards as they proceeded. Seeker eyes tracked its angle to see a tower hiding behind the school’s main building. Tarps and exposed beams gave the impression that this tower was still under construction and not yet finished.
Seeker motioned to Lightning with his hoof towards the towers upper levels, unable to yell audibly of the wind and rain. Lightning nodded to him in understanding from under her black raincoat. Seeker led the way to the towers base to stand beneath a simple overhang that had constructed. He checked to make sure Lightning was still with him before walking past the caution tape that covered where the main door was to be installed.
The sounds from outside were muffled by the stone walls and iron beams that made up the base of the tower structure. The walls were bare, vacant of any source of permanent light sources. Only the occasional flash of lightning that flared through from the outside providing any light in the black shadows.
Seeker illuminated his horn with his magic to light the bottom floors interior. Layers of sawdust and dirt covered the unfinished stone under their feet, clinging to the moisture they had trodden in. Other hoof prints in the sawdust were present around the room, but one set was more vivid than the rest, presumably made with wet hooves from the rain and puddles outside. Several passes of the same set of prints marked a path back and forth from the front door to a wooden staircase leading upwards. The necklace that Seeker still head aloft was aiming almost strait upwards towards the higher levels of the tower.
“Looks like we’re going up.” Lightning said through her teeth, a flashlight she had pulled from her saddle bag was no held in her mouth to provide her own light.
“Keep your head down. I don’t know what is going to be waiting for us up there.” Seeker said. Thoughts of Hellhounds and other beasts from the book in his pack began to manifest in his mind, carried away with the fear of not knowing what was lurking above. He quickly tried to think of something else to take his mind of the nightmarish images that flashed in his head. “It doesn’t look like anyone has been working here for several days. Why did they stop?”
Lightning chuckled to herself as she thought of an answer. “You expect them to do construction on school grounds while most of the students are taking a break over the summer? I swear they schedule the most inconvenient times to build things in an effort to piss the most people off at once.”
Seeker couldn’t help but to let out a quiet laugh as he began climbing the stairs upwards. The stairs circled the round interior of the wall as they ascended, giving them a full view of each floor in its fledgling state. The walls that would late be built to divide each floor into separate rooms had not yet to be set into place on their wooden frames. Stacks or stone, wood, and plaster were stocked near each landing to supply the construction crews with the materials they would need when the storms died down enough to allow assembly to continue.
The sounds of the tarps that had been secured over the top of the building’s exposed upper floor were whipping in the winds above them. They were about to reach the end of the line, and the necklace was pulling against Seekers magic with stronger force with each step he took. The last landing came into view with a sickly greenish glow coming for something above.
The wall frames had yet to be installed, leaving the floor vacant of most the building supplies that had littered the floors below. Centered on the room was a large stone ring that was suspended vertically a few inches above the ground. It was constructed from the same stone that had made up the solid parts of the Hellhound’s body; black smooth faceted surfaces were stretched between sharp jagged edges. Several fragments floated listlessly around the main ring of the structure along with spheres of green fire.
It was the center of the ring that had disturbed Seeker the most. Locked within the rings interior was a surface similar to water that rippled erratically with minor shifting tones in the mostly green color. The muffled sounds of beasts and monsters echoed from beyond the green veil of the ring.
Seeker’s concentration wavered on the silver necklace he was still holding with his magic. With a solid jerk, the pendant pulled itself free of his grasp. It collided with the stone surface of one of the floating rock formations that continued to orbit the ring. The silver sun and moon pendant locked onto the stones surface, leaving the chain to hang limply as it floated around.
It was not till a bolt of lightning flashed outside that Seeker fully understood what this ring was. Runes lit with power along the floor around the floating ring, powered by the energy that the lightning provided. He began to circle around the room as Lightning watched from the top of the staircase, observing the runes that had been put into place with each lightning strike refreshing the symbols brightness.
“Do you appreciate my masterpiece?” A deep voice rang out through the room, echoing off the stone walls. Piercing orange eyes loomed out from the shadows where the voice had come from; watching Seeker’s every move. “Do you recognize it? You should.”
Seeker was familiar with the runes that the lightning uncovered. A transfer of power, sacrificing of resources and components, suspended or stored energy. He identified all of them save for two he had never seen before, but he was able to put the puzzle together without them.
“You were not just murdering the librarians. You were harvesting their lives.” Seeker said.
“Bravo. I think you deserve a gold star.” The voice form the corner chided. “It is flawed however. Even with the three lives that I have acquired the portal remains shut.” The pony stepped forward into the light of the portal with his eyes still on Seeker. He was an older Unicorn that Seeker recognized.
Professor Final Grade was on the board of judges when Seeker was attempting the practical part of his school application tests for the university he stood in now. He remembered their encounter vividly. Final Grade was one of the few instructors that allowed Seeker show his potential at magic with his staff of other tool even after he failed the task originally. Even in these events, Seeker was still denied acceptance as a student, but the chance to prove his point was satisfactory just the same.
Final Grade appeared gaunter than the last time they had met. Shadowy bags had formed beneath his eyes that were withdrawing into his skull. The skin of his cheeks was receding, showing signs of malnutrition. Overall the professor appeared to be on the verge of death, but he stood in the green light of the portal unwaveringly.
“You have failed.” Lightning declared as she too stepped into the light of the portal. “Your silver trinkets are no longer a secret.”
“I See. You managed to figure out the puzzle then?” Final Grade asked, his attention never wavering from Seeker as he spoke. “Yes, I used the necklaces to deliver the spell, but it was the lightning storm that provided me the power to deliver such a blow. I could never take his work as a credit of my own capabilities, but once I have summoned Tirek I will no longer need to summon up a storm to deal justice.”
Seeker mulled the words over in his head. Final Grade was using the power of the lightning bolts to deliver his spells upon the library staff, pulling away their lives to fuel a greater ritual. If Seeker had read all the runes correctly, Final Grade was trying to open a portal to Tartarus, presumably to release Tirek. The demon who he claimed to serve was documented in Stoic Circles research as the “Caller of Storms”.
“Why did you attack the library staff exclusively? There must have been less conspicuous targets.” Seeker inquired.
“That still leaves the question of why.” Lightning demanded with a stomp of her hoof to distract from the pink hue flushing her cheeks. “Why would you want to bring that tyrant here?”
Final Grade’s eyes broke free from the stare they held with Seeker, rounding his piercing gaze upon Lightning. His face degraded from the overly exaggerated smile to a look of pure annoyance. "It would appear that your… companion is not as learned as we are, Seeker. I suppose that is just how it with these winged barbaric beings. They lack the ability to think on their hooves to solve their little questions while we Unicorns have developed the minds to delve into the greatest of magical quandaries. Let me spell it out to you in a way your feeble feathered mind can comprehend. Make yourself comfortable little filly, for it is story time.” The words that escaped through Final Grade’s teeth were dripping with venom that sliced deep into Lightning’s very soul.
Seeker placed a hoof in front of Lightning, forcing her to steady her stance as she prepared to lash out at Final Grade. “You heard the man.” Seeker offered with a sly wink. “Have a seat so he can explain everything to you.” Lightning would have to return the favor once this whole ordeal was over, but for now she played along with the charade. She sat on the spot forcing Seeker’s hoof away from her, waiting for the pretentious professor to tell his little story.
Final Grade cleared his throat as if preparing to lecture a class, pacing back and forth as he lectured. “It was a mere two years ago that I watched Seeker’s display of power. Even though he required an outside aid to assist him in his task, the display was nothing short of miraculous. The sheer control and power that was gifted upon him from nothing more than simple crudely drawn symbols on a wooden surface with nothing more than a pencil was astonishing.
“I urged for you to be allowed into the school, Hope Seeker, I wanted to see your full potential, but the other members of the board did not share my enthusiasm in your talent. They spoke of rules and regulations in an effort to cover the real reason for their rejection of you application. They were afraid of you, afraid of the power you bolstered within your glyphs. Your display of power without any formal training scared them. They could not hope to breach the barriers of magic you could overcome if only given the chance. You would have been more powerful than they could ever hope to be, and they could never accept that.
“I am sorry, but I took your work. The scribbles that you left behind after your test served extremely useful, but my understanding was limited. I only wished to understand the magic you possessed, so I began to study the research of other Unicorns who had been gifted as you had. My hope was to convince the school to allow you into our walls by proving that your magic, despite the aid of the markings, was a viable field study to pursue.
“That was when I stumbled on the works of Stoic Circle and his rituals. It took me years to get the slightest reaction in the glyphs, but it was all I needed at the time. A proof of concept was better than stumbling around in the dark, but I needed more notes on Stoic Circles research. His collections in the library would made available save for the one tome I needed above all else, and that damn mare that ran the library would not give me access to it. I eventually made up some hair brained theory that not only challenged a piece of research that was held in the restricted section of the library, but was a piece of knowledge that Studied Tome had based a paper on while she was a student here.
“Defending her pride, she guided me through the restricted section in an effort to prove me wrong, which I knew she would be able to do rather easily, but while she was pointing out the specifics of the research notes that proved me wrong, I stole Stoic Circles research.” The painfully large smile crept back upon Final Grade’s face as he continued ranting, Seeker doing nothing to interrupt him.
“With your runes Seeker, I was able to fill in all the gaps in Stoic circles notes. To reach the level of power that you could so easily have reached, I required the aid of the most powerful creature Stoic Circle had ever documented. I needed the power that only Tirek could provide. Not by making a pact with him or anything like that. I would not allow that demon a chance to addle my mind. I would instead capture him in this tower with the very runes that Stoic Circle himself designed to imprison that monster.
“I pulled everything together in order to summon him to the world. The only problem I faced ahead was my inability to power the rituals myself, but that was an easy matter. The lives of the three book lovers should have seen to that, but it would appear my calculations are off. Or are they?” Final Grade stopped in his pacing as a small silver chain caught his eye.
“You only have two, Final Grade.” Lightning said as she got to her hooves. She would have said anything to shut him up at this point. “We got to Rough Draft before your spell could finish. It ends here.”
“Does it? The spell only need one final push doesn’t it, Seeker?” Final Grade released another maniacal laugh. “I have already fed the ritual with a Unicorn and Earth Pony. I could always use a Pegasus to finish it off.”
With a solid toss from Final Grade’s magic, the silver pendant flew through the air towards Lightning. Seeker knew that he did not want to let the piece of jewelry touch her, but he could not afford to touch it himself. He whipped the staff from his shoulder using his teeth and swept it through the air like a baseball bat. With the eye patch still obscuring his vision and impairing his ability to determine distance, Seeker was barely able to strike the pendant. The necklaces landed just in front of Final Grade.
“So you have sided with these simpletons, the ones that do not recognize your power?” Final Grade yelled out in rage. “Very well, I will destroy you with them!”
Seeker would feel the magic coalescing around Final Grade’s horn, but the intended spell was going to remain a mystery. The pendant that had been thrown to the floor regained its magnetic attraction to the portal and flew towards it. The necklace never reached its destination, for Final Grade was obstructing its path.
The silver necklace collided with the side of his head in the same instance a bolt of lightning hit the tower. The runes on the floor burst into a blinding light that flooded the entire floor. A crash of thunder that shook the building, a scream of pain, and the smell of burning hair and flesh overloaded Seeker’s senses. The runes, like the spell that he cast in his living room, left a blinding blur of black spots on his vision.
“Are you ok?” Lightning asked him. He felt a hoof touch his shoulder a he rubbed at his only exposed eye, trying to clear away the blindness.
“Yeah, I can see. I had my eyes closed.” Lightning said sheepishly. “Good news: there is no monster standing in the center of the room this time.”
“And the bad news?” Seeker almost regretted asking, but he needed to know what they were dealing with while his vision returned.
“Bad news is that the professor is a singed corpse and the portal is opening.” Lightning answered. With the professor dead, there was no pony to ask about getting the portal closed again. Not by conventional means anyway. Final Grade was right about one thing though. Seeker was a quick thinker when it came to magic.
“Alright, here is what I need you to do.” Seeker said, his vision returning enough to function again. “I need you to get me a storm cloud. Second, I wasn’t you to stop looking at me like that.”
Lightning quickly wipe the look off her face. It was somewhere between bewilderment and “Are you insane”. She gave him a stiff nod before flying through an opening in the tarps above.
While he waited for her to return, Seeker pulled that familiar piece of chalk from his pocket and began scrawling the symbols he needed across the floor around him. It was one of the few times he used his magic to perform a task rather than trying to do it himself, but after the first time he tasted the chalk he decided to make an exception.
The spell that was used to open the portal to Tartarus was stronger than anything Seeker felt comfortable casting. It was true that the glyphs and symbols he used could bolster his strength, but he was going to need all the help he could get if he was going to cancel out a ritual that was fueled by three sacrifices. With a final flourish of his chalk, Seeker was finished with the prep work. He planted his staff at the center of his spell and began illuminating the runes he would need
“I’m back!” Lightning yelled through panting breaths as she pushing a small black cloud through the opening in the tarp. “This was the only one I could get free from that damn storm.”
“Good enough. Position it above the runes I just put down.” Seeker motioned to the area above the circle he stood in.
“I’m not after the water. I need you to strike me with a bolt or two to power the spell. There’s that look again.” Seeker said as his horn began to power the spell, forcing Lightning to wipe the expression from her face yet again. “The portal is opening and we don’t have time to discuss it! Now hit me!”
Lightning Shield reluctantly gave the cloud a half hearted, one legged kick, releasing a rather small bolt of lightning into Seeker. He could feel the energy pulse through him into the spell, but the sensation that crawled across his skin caused his muscle to lock up with the pain. When control was relinquished over his muscles from the electrically fueled spasms, he turned his attention towards Lightning again.
“You call yourself a Pegasus! I said hit me!” Seeker demanded as he braced himself for the next strike. Lightning kicked at the cloud again, this time using both back hooves to deliver a strike as strong as the one she used against the Hellhound.
“AGAIN!” Seeker demanded as best he could, the sound in his throat wavering from the pain. His broken ribs no longer registering on the scale of pain he was putting himself through now.
“No Seeker! There has to be a better way!” Lightning protested as smoke poured from underneath Seeker’s coat. His horn was crackling with the energy the bolts had provided as he concentrated on the spell.
“We don’t have time for this; I only need one more like that last one!” Seeker yelled out. Lightning wanted to stop striking him with the painful blasts, but she could not deny the resolute gaze of Seeker’s uncovered eye. He needed to do this to close the portal, and he needed her help if he was going to have a chance at doing so.
“One more, but that is it! If you don’t have enough from that then we are finding a different way to stop the portal.” Lightning said defeated. One more well powered kick released the remaining energy from the cloud. The final dose of energy entered Seeker’s body, forcing a scream of agony from within his chest.
The pain lashed at him like whips of flame and ice. His weakened legs dropped him to the floor in a heap, but he maintained his concentration of the spell. Nothing else mattered at this point; not the pain that ran freely through his body, not the throbbing that was coming from his damaged eye, not even the broken ribs that had just been jostled by the solid floor. The only thing that mattered right now was the ritual.
Seeker felt the tangible shift in power as the spell reached a state that was stronger than the portal. With his one good eye to guide him, he aimed his horn at the center of the swirling green vortex before him. He released the spell, channeling it back through his body and out his horn. A solid blast of magic larger than his own body was blasted into the portal’s surface. Seeker was blown across the room with the force of the spell that he just released, rolling him across the floor into the far wall.
“Seeker!” Seeker heard Lightning shout out through his disoriented senses. He felt the floor move as her hooves came to land next to him. “Are you alright?”
“At least you are conscious this time.” Lightning said with a small chuckle.
“Did it at least close the portal?” Seeker groaned in question.
“I’d say you broke it alright. You did it Seeker.” Lightning said as she pulled him to his feet.
“We did it.” Seeker corrected. “I couldn’t have done it without your help.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it. Do you smell something burning?” Seeker asked her. She broke out into a true laugh at that remark. It was a sound that Seeker was happy to hear after experiencing so much death and destruction the last couple days. Seeker felt a smile crawl onto his face even it truly smelled like someone was having a cookout somewhere nearby.
Hope Seeker: Thunder Struck
Seeker was happy to throw the eye patch away after the doctor told him he could stop wearing it. His vision was not completely healed yet, but with a little more time everything would be just fine. A rough looking scar had formed above his eye while the eye patch had hidden that section of skin from view. It was better than losing the eye of course, but it was something that he was going to have to get used to. His ribs were no longer hurting him quite as much, just a little ache here and there but nothing major.
A knock on his door made him swing his head in the doors direction. He was a little dizzy from the distorted view that was still healing in his injured eye, but managed to keep it from throwing him off to bad.
“Who is it?” He asked, knowing full well who it was.
“It’s Lightning.” The pony answered from the other side of the door. Seeker waltzed over and opened the door to let her in. “No longer aspiring to be a pirate?” Lightning asked as she crossed the threshold. Settling herself in one of the mismatch chairs around the coffee table, she produced a file from her saddle bag and placed in on an open area on the table’s surface.
“The pirate’s life was just for me I guess.” Seeker said as he sat in the chair next to her. He pulled the file over to him and began going though its pages. It was a copy of the final report regarding their most recent case. There were a few tags attached to several paged, indicating sections that required some revision. His eyes fell on a particular section regarding the Hellhound encounter. The note attached was simply listed as “How?”
“I believe the Hellhound got summoned from Tartarus, piggybacking off of the portal. When my blood was ‘sacrificed’ in my ritual, it bypassed the spell that was killing the ponies and instead used that power of the portal that the murders were supposed to power. Hellhounds are on the lower tier of demons so a few drops of blood were all the sacrifice the ritual needed.”
“Hellhouds are on the low end of the food chain?” Lightning was shocked to hear that the beast they were forced into fighting was weaker than the majority of the monsters that they could have faced. “That thing would have wiped the floor with us if not for your ice cube.”
“To be honest, it could not have been a problem if I had been more careful. I was so obsessed on catching this guy that I let it cloud my judgment.” Seeker said as he closed the file. He didn’t wasn’t to think of how his fixation was so akin to that of Final Grades’.
“Your obsession was the only thing that got us there in time to stop Tirek from being summoned. Do not blame yourself for what he did using your knowledge either, Hope. You use your magic to help people, not to hurt them for your own gain.” Lightning reassured him as she replaced the file to her pack. “Speaking of, you never did tell me what you did to impress him so much.”
Seeker’s pouting face snapped up to look her in the eye, causing the room to spin slightly with his damaged eye still hindering his perception. “Oh, well I…” Seeker was not comfortable talking about any of his failures in front of her. She was one of the only friends he had after all, and he didn’t want to do anything to threaten that. “I brought a dead plant back to life.”
“That doesn’t sound too impressive.” Lightning scoffed.
“Not compared to the bird I brought back afterwards.” Seeker said, part of his head telling him to keep that information to himself. “I was desperate to get into the school, so I used my blood in a ritual to bring the wood that was used in a piece of paper back to life as the plant it was formed from. The quill supplied the feather for me to reconstruct the bird it was plucked from.”
“Now that is impressive.” Lightning beamed at him. “Just as I said though, even when you are trying to help yourself you managed to bring life back to the dead. You create beautiful things with your magic, and there is no way you could do anything to hurt someone with it.”
“I hope you’re right Lightning. I hope you’re right.”