Rivalry Of The Gods

Alloy and Vess stood outside of Pure Platinum’s extravagant mansion, waiting for one of the guardsponies to come back with words that they could enter through the massive golden gate.

Vess made it clear by impatiently tapping his ‘hooves’ on the ground, that he rather be somewhere else right now.

Soon enough they were given clearance to enter, trotting along on the pathway with the lush garden around the estate brimming with its grandeur.

At the large main entrance they were escorted by yet another pair of guards. Platinum didn’t spare when it came to protection it seemed. But seriously, whoever had more money than they could count would probably feel that nothing short of an army would be enough to watch for potential threats.

Describing the main hall in detail would take too much time for the smith, that’s how gaudy it was. The gold encrusted spiral stairs, the statues of famous athletes, original paintings made by famous artists, Pure Platinum had it all and more.

The two of them were made to wait in one of the rooms on the second floor. It, too, was heavily decorated, expensive sofas and armchairs and a table seemingly made out of precious stones.

The ponies escorting them, eyed Vess suspiciously, but had been given orders to let the minotaur in with the smith, so they never uttered a word of protest.

The palpable wealth of the place almost made Alloy physically sick to his stomach, as he thought of how many of the townsfolk that had a hard time scrunging up for scraps in the streets, barely getting by.

Vess didn’t look like he was any more comfortable here, than in Alloy’s smithy, Brass could almost see the guy looking as grossed out as he was by all this. His hood made it hard however, to distinguish any change in his facial expression.

After what seemed like hours, the lord of the estate entered with a small entourage of his toughest brutes. They were quite larger than the normal pony, scarred muscle-freaks with next to nothing in between their ears, but loyal as dogs to their master.

As they broke the silence by entering into the room, Alloy darted up from his seat in the couch, Vess mimicking his action a second later.

Pure Platinum eyed the two, especially Vess, with disgust and perhaps a little bit of interest.

“Your insolence astonishes me, young Alloy,” the fat pony started. Alloy looked questioningly at him in response.

“That you would have the gall to sit on one of my finer furnitures is beyond my understanding, but no matter, I feel gracious today, so I shall forgive you for this transgression,” he said while looking condescendingly at the smith.

Oh, that disgusting bastard! Alloy thought, but managed to contain any sign of anger on his face.

“I believe you have come here regarding the request I gave you yesterday, hmm?” The fat lord waddled closer to the two, while his brutes covered his sides.

More like demanded, but yes, I got it, you fat excuse for an earth pony.

“Yes, my ‘lord’, I have completed your request, behold,” Alloy pulled out the exquisite rod from his saddlebag, its luster dancing off of the rest of the room, “your new and improved scepter.”

Pure Platinum’s eyes widened for a little while, taking in the bedazzling sight, before returning to his senses. “Yes, excellent, that will do, little smith, that will do.” He licked his greedy lips before motioning for one of his goons to take it from Alloy.

The fat pony grabbed the rod and looked it over. “Yes, you have certainly done a fine job here, Brass Alloy.”

Well, at least he can see that much, a wonder really, since all that fat almost covers his eyes completely.

“I’m glad it is to your...liking, my lord,” the smith said, having to force the words out of his mouth, “maybe, we could discuss the issue of payment then.”

Platinum stopped adoring the scepter and looked at Alloy like he had struck him down. His expression was vacant for a little while, then he scoffed loudly. “Payment, hah! Consider this task a great way for you to pay off the remainder of your worthless father’s debt! Don’t forget your place, smith,” he said with a poisonous tongue.

Inside, Alloy raged heavily, resisting the urge to snatch the rod from his greedy hooves and beat him with it. His response was however: “My lord, a long time was invested in completing this task you set for me, I have not been able to work for a full day with any other requests.”

“I do not see that being any concern of mine, smith. It’s hardly my problem you slacked off during work, you should have tried harder if you wanted anything else done for the day, however,” he said and pondered for a while before continuing, “there might be something great I could give you should you manage to complete another task I’ve yet to reveal to you.”

Brass gritted his teeth. “And pray tell my lord, what is this task that you so graciously want to bestow upon me,” he said while trying to hide his sarcasm.

“Ah, my dear boy. It’s simple really. I want you to, by the end of this week, complete a whole set of these wonderful scepters you created yesterday.”

“A-a whole set? What does that mean?”

Platinum frowned. “Don’t forget your manners in my presence, boy, and it means I want a complete set of twenty scepters by Sunday.”

Twenty of those!? Alloy would scream if he didn’t know that it would probably earn him a cell in the dungeons.

“T-twenty?” he asked disbelievingly.

“Indeed, by Sunday, you’ll be provided with new materials every day, of course” the fat pony said again. “Now let me tell you what I would offer you for such a task.”

Alloy was silent, he didn’t know if he could just refuse Platinum, but what would happen if he did?

“Are you listening, boy, this is important. Don’t you dare waste my valuable time with your dawdling!” he yelled at Alloy.

The artificer quickly snapped to attention. “Y-yes?”

Ignoring Alloy’s lack of manners, Pure Platinum proceeded in explaining what he would gift the smith with, should he accept and finish the task.

“Your debt shall be completely wiped away, I shall personally issue a receipt with my seal, claiming you owe the house of Platinum nothing any more. We shall never bother you with requests of our own, and you’ll be free to work in Hoofington for as long as you like, as will your descendants for years to come,” he paused to catch his breath. “You shall also be handsomely rewarded for this feat with no less than five thousand gold bits, I take this is sufficient payment, my boy, hmm?”

Brass was baffled to say the least. The amount of bits Platinum was offering was enough to set the pony for a decade to come. He wouldn’t even have to work if he didn’t want to.

“I-I…” he tried to say.

“Heh, I suppose that it was to your liking then? So, do we have a deal?”

The smith calmed down enough to think about the offer. If I do this, I’m free from this guy’s grasp forever, on the other hand should I decline, he looked Platinum in the eye, they glowed evilly with promise that would follow, should he refuse him, then I don’t see myself ever working in smith ever again…

“I’ll do it,” he whispered.

“Speak up, boy, I didn’t hear you,” he said threateningly.

“I said, I’ll do it...my lord.”

“Excellent, I will see to it that the first set of materials are by your smithy this afternoon, you can start early.” The fat pony chuckled to himself, earning a laugh or two from his minions.

I can do it, Alloy told himself and looked towards his companion. With Vess’ help, it’s not impossible, I can do it if I work with minimal amount of sleep, but it can be done. Brass felt a sliver of hope for the first time in a long while in his life.

“Ah yes, that reminds me,” Platinum said, looking over the minotaur that he had requested to come with the artisan. “You there, who are you exactly?”

Vess got very stiff all of sudden, noticing the fat noble’s eyes were on him. He squirmed where he stood, looking to Alloy for help.

Oh crap, I forgot about that…

“M-my lord, if I may speak”? Alloy said nervously.

Platinum turned his gaze towards the artisan again, and motioned for him to make it quick.

Brass stepped a little closer to his ward, motioning towards his big stature. “This is Vektor, a cousin of a friend of mine, that I’ve been tasked to teach our ways while he’s staying here.”

“Interesting,” the noble said. “And pray tell, why doesn’t Vektor speak for himself?”

“He hurt his throat, my lord, he can barely whisper right now.”

“Unfortunate, I would really like to have heard the tale of why a robed, tailless minotaur disturbed the order of my town yesterday, a pity. Well, since he’s incapable of speaking, I guess there isn’t anything else I would keep you here for. You are both dismissed.” He nonchalantly waved them away with his right hoof.

A great sense of relief washed over Alloy, Platinum hadn’t been as interested in Vess as he had previously thought. He motioned for the mage to follow, Vess needed no incentive however and followed right behind him.

Before they got to the door, Platinum smiled maliciously. “Just a moment, ‘dear’ friends.” He turned towards Vess as he was now right in front of the noble.

“I can’t seem to see your face very properly, that hood you have certainly blocks out most of your features, it’s almost like it repels Celestia’s sun itself. Why don’t you take it off, just for me, hmm?”

Vess just stared at the noble that he towered over, failing to comply to Platinum’s request.

“Well, I’m waiting, boy. Don’t tell me that you’re deaf as well? Take. Off. Your. Hood,” he said, a large frown forming on the fat noble’s face.

The mage didn’t seem like he was doing anything, but Alloy could hear faint whisper coming from his breath. It sounded like the bird noises he made when he talked in his own language.

“What, what are you saying? SPEAK UP?!” The noblepony was now so angered that he motioned for his brutes to go and remove the hood for him.

Before they could even get to Vess however, he reached for his grey hood and slowly dragged it back. Alloy gasped as the mage’s disguise came undone as the horns followed with the hood, before stopping a little ways back.

Platinum stared at the tall figure, before letting out a disgusted sigh. “You’re just as ugly as your primitive kin up in the north, get out of my sight before I toss you in a cell for your impertinence.” He angrily waved at Vess and Alloy to be gone.

Vess pulled his tattered hood up again and arduously walked out, like he was depleted of energy, however, Brass was the one lagging behind.

The artisan was in shock as he trotted down the stairs to the main hall. They were both escorted out post haste out from the manor, the golden gate slamming shut with a loud noise as they exited.

Alloy couldn’t believe that Platinum had just dismissed them, after seeing Vess’ face no less.

After they had walked far beyond the noblepony’s estate, Vess got down on one knee, panting heavily as he had been running a marathon.

Quickly, Brass came to his aid, assisting him with what he could, letting the guy lean on him for support.

“What in the world are you?” he asked his companion as he helped him get up and going.

Vess responded only by shifting his hood back a little bit, a smirk on his lips.

o.O.o

In the large granite quarters of an otherwise cold and grey stone building, a middle-aged, dark-skinned man rested his head on his desk, his dark mantle laid across his chair. He glanced at the reports laying before him and sighed.

More failures...damnit.

He was not pleased with the alchemists and the mages, they had promised the utmost results in their new findings, yet when they were provided with the greatest of specimens, they had only led to disappointment.

How many more years do I have to wait for the promise to be fulfilled? Here I sit, rotting away at my desk, waiting for just a hint of what to do next, and the only thing I’m told, is to wait and see…

The man frowned, crumpled the reports in his muscular right hand and slumped back into his chair. Six months, he thought, six months ago, everything changed out of the blue. He had been promising, he had had potential. Then, by a whim, ‘it’ had decided to alter the playing field. Now we’re just told to wait for clarification on the next vessel…

He still couldn’t believe the day, where he had gotten the ‘orders’ of using the relics on his ward. Granted, he had been impatient for the day to come, but it had played out very differently from he had imagined. When the experiment had seemed to gone awry, he had almost stepped in to check on the specimen, only to be blasted into a wall, almost knocked unconscious.

If only that had been the case, he thought, as he hazily remembered the terrifying screams of men and women being boiled to death from the magical heat exuding from the vessel.

He also remembered the strict directive of ‘it’, forbidding the man to intervene further, that his role was not needed for this occasion. The dark-skinned man had fumed at this notion, as he thought he was going to get tricked. He was reassured however to be patient for just a while longer, that his efforts were not going to be in vain and that he would be properly rewarded in the end, as promised.

Normally he would have laughed at such assurance, and if it were a lesser man talking to him, he would have lopped his head off for such insolence. ‘It’ however, was not a lesser man, in fact, he was sure it wasn’t a man at all. After all, ‘It’ never made appeared in front of him, ‘It’ whispered into his mind.

Now, the first time he encountered the voice, decades ago when he was still young and virile, he thought he had gone mad, however every doctor he had asked had assured him that he was perfectly healthy.

First it was simple things like ‘It’ wanting to get to know him better, asking him what his goal was in life. Being the successor of a wealthy merchant dealing in precious gems, he had responded that he would expand the business and accumulate even more wealth and fame for himself. As months passed by, the man and his business growing at an surprising rate, the voice in his head started proposing deals to the man.

The voice proclaimed that it had laid foundation for the man’s wealth and his father before him, and that now, it had even greater plans it would set in motion, if the man was interested.

Driven by avaricious greed and the prospect of power greater than that of the rulers of the continent, the young man had accepted the voice’s deal, and soon the business would see itself relocated to the icy mountains of Skyshard.

Here he was now, decades later, a silver-streaked old man, and still he waited. Wealth he had, power as well, yet it still wasn’t enough, but he was at the voice’s mercy, like he had been his whole life.

Or was he? That day, six months ago, he had done something that he hadn’t considered before. He had disobeyed the voice, whilst indirectly, he had not fully heeded its words that time. When his ward had frantically fled the hold, he had sent words out to a close friend of his, one that, if coming across him, he could take the ward in, and perhaps look after him for the man.

A friend I expected word from sooner, he said while holding a crumpled letter in his left hand.

As by a wish, a familiar knocking came from the quarters thick, wooden doors. Not waiting for a reply they swung open a second later, revealing a rugged old man wearing tattered clothes, a bow on his and with a huge burnmark over the right side of his face.

The man in the chair looked at the figure at the door, and spoke to him, “So, I take it that is why your report was late?” he said and gestured towards the man’s scarred face.

The old man in the doorway only stared at him in reply, as if the question wasn’t relevant in the slightest.

“Either way, come in and have a seat,” he said, motioning for him to sit at the chair on the opposite side of the desk.

The figure complied and with heavy steps he went towards the chair and sat down, still meeting the man’s eyes.

“You look like you’ve been through hell and back.” The dark-skinned man grinned.

The figure continued to stare at him, but after a while he smirked, “He was a damn pain in the ass, that’s fer sure.”

“Yes, I can see that. Honestly, you look like something the wolves dragged in.”

“Hah!” the figure chuckled, “you should take a look in a mirror sometimes, might do ya some good.”

“Heh, well it’s good that you haven’t lost your sense of humour at least,” he said, then his expression became stern. “Now, on to more important matters. Let me hear what you have to report, David.”