The Monsters of Sepia’s Past

~"Venturing up the Castle of Obisidian Madness"~

This is not supposed to be. This is just not how it is supposed to be.

That was all she had kept on repeating in her head while trotting up the massive planet, her body shivering from the realization of the horror she had to keep on experiencing. It took her three days and three nights to travel up half way to the North. And there was still no life. It was another four days and nights of her traveling before she saw a ruined castle of obsidian. She began to gallop the rest of her way there, hoping she would find her twin who she had longed to see. She was amazed at how massive the castle was, but she paid its size no mind as she began to advance to the castle.

With much speed in every galloping step she made, she was in front of the great entrance of the ruined castle that was much greater in size and mass then she had originally imagined. The castle was much too broad for even Minu to get an estimate of its breadth, depth, length, or height. She looked up, watching at the castle reach up to the starry heavens and could not see the top.

She then turned from side to side and could not see end of the castle's sides. It was the largest structure she has ever witnessed.

The wind began to pick up, and stood before the entrance of the castle. Minu gently knocked on the door, but there was no response, and the door did not budge. She began, pounding away and one of the doors opened inward slightly, the darkness from within crawling back and giving her a pathway into the castle. She walked in and began looking around, but it was too dark for her to see what the inside really looked like only being able to make out the shapes of a few broken rocks and pillars.

She lit her horn a light blue, showing what was all about her. Minu's eyes widened, and she shrieked ever so slightly as she watched a strange darkness crawl away from her light, slipping back into their corners and behind the broken pillars and other old and dusty structures. She continued searching around the castle, glancing at more and more destroyed structures going up through the levels of the castle.

The goddess had come into contact with odd structures and statue of creatures she has never seen, and she had even come across many dusty bookshelves, all of which she had never seen. She has traveled up through the floors of the ruined castle for thirty days and nights and had reached quarter way up through the castle. Minu actually forgot what floor she was on and lost count after the hundredth floor.

Upon exploring, she ventured into this dark room which was very large and in the middle stood a pegasus that was being choked by a strange creature. Minu went to stop it, but was forcefully pushed back through the entrance. The entrance was closed up after she bounced back from off the wall and on to the ground.

"...What was that?" Minu said as she looked to the closed entrance and then down the hall. She got off from the ground and dusted herself before she continued on.

She eventually came into contact with a crooked bookshelf, walking down the damaged hallway that lead to the next floor entrance, that wasn't completely broken and demolished like the many others she had passed. It books were dusty, but there were books that seemed lodged within the shelf that caught her attention. Minu came near to it and used her magic to pull the book out from the shelf which afterwards fell away and the other books that were on the shelf had turned to dust.

She looked at the cover of the book and watched an image of a glowing blue eye, which looked back at her. Minu wasn't used to seeing such strange images on the cover of a book, but as curious as she was to see what was inside the book she opened the pages of the mysterious book. When she had opened up the book to the first page, the hallway had turned blue like the ocean and the pages with their strange markings crawled like wraiths from out of the book onto her body, moving down and then onto the walls. They traveled in a spiral like manner all across both paths of the hallways.

Minu's eyes began to moving from side to the other, trying to analyze what was taken place before her. Every word that she looked at began placing pictures within her mind, although she could understand what the words had meant. Four visual images had been placed in her mind. The first was her brother against her. The second was of seven strange beings that burst down from the dark heavens with fire upon an unknown land filled with equines. The third was of her brother who appeared from out of a shadow with an army of shadows and was against forces of light in which she has not seen. The fourth was with her brother against her the second time. Her brother's face came from out of the book, trying to eat her but she closed the book and threw it away from her.

"Noooooo!" she said, putting a hoof to her head. The blue illumination of the hallway along with the wraith-like words that were present had disappeared. "What are these pictures that plague my mind?! What happened to you brother?!" Tears began coming down from her eyes. She fell down onto her face and mourned her brother for seven days of the dawning and setting of the red star, reminiscing on all the times they were together and ruled the universe.

Afterwards, she began to travel onward up through the levels. Forty days and forty nights passed with her walk through the tower from that point. She has seen many ancient relics and things that she wondered just how old they were. Minu passed through many dining areas, bedrooms, countless hallways, and even some apparent secret dining areas, and has seen a forms of life, some of which she did not bother in fear of awaking great danger, some damaged armor and statue remains. There were strange markings on the wall as well but none of which she could know or understand.

She had finally, after forty days and nights, reached the top floor of the tower, fighting through illusions that would plague her mind every so while. She at times felt as though she was on the verge on some strange madness, but it would only fade a little bit the higher she went. It was however the first thing she didn't feel upon reaching the last floor.

It was a hallway that stretched along a straight path for miles, stacked with thick stone pillars along each side. It was very windy, but the red sun had shone down in through the open windows of the hallway. Between the spaces of each pillar stood tall sculptures of unknown creatures, some having faces of anger and others of sorrow. Their positions were also the same, standing up tall and looking down to the ground. The wind blew cold between her hooves, but she was happy to have the opportunity of seeing her brother after so long.

"Finally," she said. Her royal horse shoes clanked on the ancient stone tiles as she trotted through. She heard the wind blow by and felt it pass through her mane and upon her white fur. The light around her horn had also dissipated with the passing of the wind. Her head moved from side to side, looking at each statue that she passed. She kept her ears open for any strange sounds or movements, even more so since the sound of her trotting echoed loudly through the hall.

As journeyed through the long hallway of ancient statues, the day had passed her by. It was nightfall, when she had come before a giant door that had to beast guarding its gates. They stood on each side, facing each other and looking to the floor like all of the others. These wonderfully made sculptures had happy expressions upon them, but the more contorted and sinister they looked as she went onward nearing a giant door. At its center, it had the symbol of a dragon's face with the horns of a ram or goat. It was also separate from all matter, almost as if it were a portal.