Gateway of the Eyes (First Draft)

Chapter 35

(Drakalian’s POV)

I was woken to the sounds of hoof steps coming closer to where I was resting.  Expecting trouble, I quickly jumped up to my feet and readied my Bo staff, prepared for whatever was on its way towards me.  Rasi, who was still resting in my lap, fell off of me when I got up, giving a loud chirp of annoyance.  I just ignored her, listening for where the sounds were coming from.  After a few seconds, I figured out that they were coming from the first testing arc.  I lowered my staff, knowing whom it could be coming from that direction.

A few seconds later, both Daring Do and Rainbow Dash walked out of the tunnel, Dash holding an orange crystal under her wing.  I smiled a little as they approached us, glad to see that they were able to succeed in the test.

“Hey, glad to see that you made it out in one piece.” I said.

“Yea…one piece.” Said Daring, seeming to be looking at something far away.

I raised an eyebrow at her response.  “Um, Daring.  Are you ok?”

“She’s fine, she just had a bit of a…well…we just had a bit of an argument, that’s all.” Said Dash, placing the crystal to the side for now.

Daring nodded in agreement.  “Yea, just an argument, that’s all.”

“I doubt that a single argument would have caused you to pale from the memory of it.” We turned around at the noise, and saw that the golem was looking at us, a neutral expression on his face.

Daring seemed to freeze upon hearing the golem speak, and quickly said, “Well, that’s what happened, so just stay out of it.”

To our surprise, the golem walked up to her and placed a stone hoof gentle on her shoulder, before looking in her eyes.  “I know what you went through, Adventurer Extraordinaire, and do not fret over it, for I had to go through the same thing before I became what I am now.”

Daring looked surprised at what the golem said, and she just stared at it for a few seconds, before she lowered her hat over her eyes, and said, in a low voice, “Well, just don’t tell them what it is, ok?”

The golem nodded.  “I will keep this knowledge to myself, do not fret on that.”

Daring nodded her appreciation, and then we heard some more hoof steps, and turning around, we saw that Twilight, Rarity, and Fluttershy came out of the second tunnel, Twilight holding a light blue crystal with her magic.

“Hey guys, glad to see that you two made it as well.” Said Dash, a smile on her face.

“I can’t believe that I’m going to say this but…I’m so glad that test is over.” Said Twilight, taking an exasperated breath as she dropped the crystal with the other one.

“Oh, it wasn’t that bad, dear.  I mean, we did figure it out in the end.”  Said Rarity, patting the other unicorn on the back to comfort her.

I raised an eyebrow at the scene, and then turned to Fluttershy and asked, “Um, what happened to Twilight, Fluttershy?”

“W-well, she, um…she got a little annoyed at the test that we had to do in order to get the crystal.  I thought she did good though.” Said the yellow Pegasus.

I just raised an eyebrow at that, not sure what to think about it.  Shrugging, I said, “Well, as long as you guys got the crystal, then that’s fine by me.  Now all we’re waiting for is-”

“HI!  We got the crystal as well!” Shouted Pinkie Pie, appearing right from behind me, causing me to jump at the sudden surprise.

“Celestia, Pinkie!  Don’t do that to me.  Also, where’s AJ?” I said, taking a few deep breaths from her sudden appearance.

“Ah’m right over here, sugarcube.” I turned around, and saw the orange farm pony exit the final tunnel, a look of confusion in her eyes, panting like she was just running for most of it.

Worried, I quickly ran up to her and got to my knees, looking all over her body, and said, “Applejack, are you ok?  You don’t look so good.”

AJ took a few deeps breaths, and then once she seemed to have calmed down a little, she said, “Well, let’s just say we met some interesting…ponies, in the testing chamber, and Pinkie didn’t really make things better, either.”

I raised an eyebrow again, but decided to say nothing, knowing that if it involved Pinkie in some way, the less I knew what happened, the better.

“Well, Ones that Hold Harmony, it appears that you have completed your tests, and I can now say for certain that you have now earned the right to take the Ikazuchi, and to use it as you see fit.” We turned to the golem, which was the one that spoke.  It continued and said, “With this blade, you will now have a chance on waking up Argenteus from his eternal slumber.”

We were silent for a moment, and then Daring asked the golem, “Ok, so, how do we get the blade then?”

“Just place them in the containers above the arcs, and the Ikazuchi blade shall show itself.” The golem said, pointing to the empty spots above the arcs.  With that, Twilight picked up all three of the crystals that were on the floor (I did a double take when I noticed the purple crystal among the others, for I didn’t remember seeing Pinkie or AJ place the crystal down with the others) and placed them in the correct spots with her magic.  She placed the orange one first, then the light blue one, then finally the purple one.  We waited for a few seconds, expecting something to happen, and then, the three crystals began to glow, and shot out a beam of light straight at the center of the room that we were in.

We all closed our eyes as the lights got too bright for us, and then, after a few seconds, it dimmed down, and we were able to open our eyes.  That was when we noticed that a small pedestal was raised from the ground, and on top of it, held in something that resembles a weapons rack, was what we assumed the Ikazuchi blade.

It was a large sword, at least two feet in length, maybe more; the sheath was made of varnished black wood, with a blue sash on the hilt.  The blade itself what slightly curved, and also had only one sharp edge, the other side most likely for blocking.  At the hilt was a hand guard, and the hilt itself was wrapped in leather and rough silk, most likely for a better grip.  The sword type was familiar, but the name escaped me for the moment.

I took the blade, along with the sheath, out of the rack.  I gave it a once over, then a few test swings.  It was nicely crafted, from what I could tell (which wasn’t much to begin with), and had a good balance to it.  I sheathed the sword and then placed it in my belt next to one of the Sais, making sure that it stayed put.  I then turned to the others, who were looking back at me, curiosity in their eyes.  I then said the one thing that was on all of our minds.

“Now what?”

We were quiet, thinking about what we should do, when Daring said, “Well, I guess we got to find Ahuizotl and give him the blade.”

I nodded, and then I, along with the others, began to proceed back up the stairs.  As we walked, they began to talk amongst themselves.

“So, who thinks that he is going to hold his part of the bargain and let Ditzy and the fillies go?” Asked Dash, looking at the others.  “Cause I don’t trust this guy at all.”

“I don’t either, Dash, but this is the only way that we can save them right now.” Said Twilight.

“Well, I know for a fact that he will hold his end of the bargain, but I get the feeling that we are missing something here.” Said Daring, deep in thought.

“What ya mean, partner?” Asked AJ, a slight confused look in her eyes.

“Ahuizolt has always kept his deals, no matter what.  The one thing that we need to keep an eye on is him trying to pull a fast one on us, for even though he keeps his deals, he is always looking for a loophole in the deals that he makes with others.” Said the adventurer, deep in thought.

Afterwards, we all went silent, thinking about what our next step is to saving Ditzy and the fillies, when suddenly, as we neared the top, Daring stopped us for a moment.  Curious, I said, “What’s up, Daring?  The exit is right here.”

Daring was quiet for a moment, and then, in a low voice, she said, “I think we might have been followed.  Just give me a second, I’ll scout it out.” Before we could say anything, she quickly zoomed up the last few flights of stairs and out of sight.  We were quiet as we waited for her, all of us trying to take deep, quiet breaths, the only sound that we could hear, along with our heartbeats.  After what felt like hours of waiting, we heard Daring’s voice from up top.

“Ok, it’s clear, come on up!” She shouted.  However, something seemed to bother us, and Dash beat us to it by saying, “So, did you beat the ones that followed us, Daring?”

There was a pause, and then we heard her say, “No, it was a false alarm, just come up, we got to save the girls.” We all looked at each other and nodded, and then we all ascended the staircase, covering our eyes as we reached the ‘surface’ once again.  As soon as our eyes adjusted, however, we were met with a very unpleasant surprise.

Right at the entrance of the tests were at least ten tribal ponies; eight of them with their spears pointing at us, while the other two had their spears pointing at Daring.

“No sudden moves, human.” Said the closest one, his spear aimed right at my throat.  I wasn’t in the mood to listen to them, however, and slowly tightened my grip on my staff, before I said, “And why should I?” I knew I was being a bit risky, but I believed that Daring had some way out of this, and from what the others told me, they had some experience defending themselves in a fight.  I stared right into what I believed to be the lead pony’s eyes, trying to pierce his very heart.  “As far as I can tell, we have you seriously out-matched and overpowered, even if you have her contained at the moment.”

To my surprise, the tribal leader just smiled, and then he just pointed to his right side.  I looked at what he was pointing, and to my horror, I saw a lynx and a cheetah holding two of the fillies in their mouths, the cheetah had Applebloom, while the lynx had Sweetie Belle.

“Sweetie Belle!”  Rarity shouted, fear in her voice.  I then noticed that AJ was about to charge towards her own sister, but was stopped when three of the guards held her back, though with a bit of difficulty.  The leader just chuckled, and then, turning towards me, he said, “I believe you all know what happens if you try to fight your way out, hmm?”

I just stared daggers at him, wanting to do nothing more then to stick both of my Sais into his eye sockets, but I knew that I couldn’t.  I took a deep breath, so that I didn’t fall to temptation, and nodded to the tribal leader.

“Good, now, give me all of your weapons.” I hesitated at his order, but a single growl from the lynx reminded me what would happen if I just disobeyed.  I tossed my staff to the ground, and then withdrew my Sais from my belt and tossed them with my staff as well.  I was about to take the sword out as well, but he stopped me and said, “No, you hold on to that, but if I see you take it out at any time, then good bye fillies.” I slowly took my hand away from the hilt.  He looked at all of us, making sure we had nothing else on ourselves, and with a nod he motioned for us to follow him.  With no other choice, we did so, with the cats next to the leader, three to each side, and the last three in the back.  We walked in complete silence, my anger just growing as I kept watching the leader grin smugly.

‘Yeah, yeah, laugh it up for now, dickhead, cause the first chance I get, I’m going to wipe that smirk right off of your face.’ I thought, the bitterness just seething in me.  I knew it wasn’t very creative of a comeback, but I was angry at the time, so I couldn’t have cared less.  I then realized that Rasi wasn’t on my shoulder anymore, and once I noticed her absence, I tried to remember if she went back on my shoulder at all before we left the testing rooms, but I came up with nothing.  I shrugged to myself, not in the mood to care about what happened to the lizard.

As we walked, both AJ and Rarity tried to get next to their sisters, but were prevented from actually walking next to them, having to walk with the rest of us, leaving the cats to carry them in front of us.  They allowed us to talk, as long as we kept our voices down, which was something, I guess.  I then noticed that two of them that were next to Fluttershy and seemed to be staring at us, and upon closer inspection, I realized that they were the two guards that were guarding the entrance to the temple.  To my slight joy, they both had some bandages on their heads, and the yellow one had some bandages near his lower torso as well, making me smirk a little.

Unfortunately, he noticed my little smile, and glaring at me, he said, “Laugh it up, freak, for once you guys are done here, I’m going to return the favor.” I just laughed a little at his attempt to hurt me, cause I knew that I could take him on easily if I needed to.  The yellow guard wasn’t happy with my laughter, and was about to shout at me, when he saw Fluttershy walking next to me, her eyes wide in fear from the situation that we were in.  He then grew a smile of his own, and then, in a whisper that only Shy and I could hear, along with the other guard, he said, “You know, next time we fight, when I win, I’m going to take what I was hoping to get, and I’m going to enjoy my little prize as well.” With that, he began to stare at the yellow Pegasus, and licking his lips, he said, “Oh yea, I’m going to enjoy her for a very long time, and I’m going to make sure that you’re watching the entire time that I enjoy her.”

Fluttershy gave a small squeak in terror, and then she quickly nuzzled herself into my side for safety.  I quickly wrapped an arm around her for protection, and glaring daggers at him, I said, “If you come anywhere near Fluttershy, I promise you that I’ll make you a mare permanently.”

He just laughed at my threat.  “Oh really, and how are you going to do it if you don’t have your weapons, huh?” He said, still laughing.

To his surprise, however, I just smiled darkly at him, before I said, in a low voice, “Who said I need my weapons to rip you genitals off?”

He looked at me in surprise, and then his eyes went from surprise to anger, and he lifted his hoof to hit me, but was stopped by the tan guard.  The yellow one looked at him in surprise, but before he could say anything, he said, “You’re going to have to wait on that, cause we’re here.”

I looked up, and sure enough, we had indeed arrived at our destination.  We had arrived in a clearing, it seemed that we also arrived at the end of the jungle as well, for right in front of us was a large wall where the floor of the cave met the ceiling.  Leading up to the wall were two rows of stone pillars, some of them had intricate pictures, while the others seemed to have words on them.  Right in front of the wall was a large altar with a bowl beneath it, seeming to be there for the sole purpose of catching something.  Behind the altar was a large yellow crystal, and inside the crystal, I could just barely make out the shape of a human, or at least some sort of bipedal creature.  Right next to the altar were Ditzy and the rest of the fillies, along with the other two cats, a tiger and the panther that we saw earlier.  Right next to them was a strange creature that I could only assume to be Ahuizotl.

Ahuizotl was big, very big, much bigger then me by a good couple of feet.  He walked on all fours, and seemed like a weird hybrid of different creatures.  His hind legs were that of a dog, as is his head, with the eyes at the end of the snout.  His forelegs are like an ape, and he had a long, monkey like tail, which for some reason had another hand at the end of it.  He was also wearing some jewelry in the form of a golden necklace, golden bracelet on his tail wrist and the biceps of his arms, as well as a single earring on his right ear.  What he had in his hands, though, was enough to make my eyes go wide with fear.  In his left hand, he was holding a blade that was similar to the Ikazuchi blade that I had in my belt, although it was smaller, most likely about a foot in length.  The hilt of the blade was also different, for instead of a blue sash, it had a black sash instead.  I assumed that it was the Baransu.  In his left hand, however, was what scared me the most, for he was holding Dinky, bound by rope, and a large cut that was on the side of her face.

I nearly lost it then, wanting nothing more then to take the sword out and stab him through his wrenched heart, and I nearly did so, as my hand drifted to the handle of the blade.  Ahuizotl, however, noticed this, and with a flip of his wrist, he brought the blade’s edge right to Dinky’s throat, before saying, in his deep Spanish accent, “I wouldn’t advice doing that, human.”

I stopped my hand’s movement, and, taking a deep breath, I was able to calm myself down at the moment, and said, in a low tone, “What did you do to her?”

“Oh, relax, it’s nothing permanent.  Besides, the brat deserved it for all the trouble she put me through.  I mean, all I wanted was for her to just say a few things, and then she would have been fine, but no, she had to be so stubborn and just throw insults at me.” He said, loosening the blade from Dinky a little, but still keeping it at her throat.  “Now, give me the blade.”

I hesitated, not sure what I should do, for from what we heard from Daring, he most likely had some sort of trick up his sleeve (so to speak).  After a few seconds, however, he began to grow impatient, and to make me hurry up; he quickly motioned to his cat minions, the tiger and panther.  The two cats quickly took Scootaloo and Ditzy in their mouths, while the placed their paws on Diamond and Silver.

“If you hesitate any more, then I will kill them.  Now, if you will, Give…Me…The…Sword.”

At this point, I knew that I had no other choice, and so, with that in mind, I slowly placed my hand on the handle of the sword.  As I did so, the tribal ponies around me quickly pointed their spears at me, and everypony tensed up, waiting for my next action.  I paused, making sure that they wouldn’t just jump on me, and slowly took the sword, still in its sheath, from my belt.  I held it in both of my hands, and then slowly approached the altar, Ahuizotl extending his tail hand to receive his prize.

As I was walking, I took a quick look around the place to see the expressions of everypony around me.  I saw worry in the expressions of everypony, that was for certain, with AJ, Rarity, Daring, Ditzy, and the fillies being the most worried of them all.  It felt like everything was staring at me, and if I weren’t so full of emotional hatred and rage, then I would have frozen up like the time of my arrival party.  I soon approached the altar, and I hesitated again, staring at the hybrid, a look of anger still on my face.  Ahuizotl just smiled a bit, and then he placed the blade a little more onto Dinky’s neck, causing her to squeak a bit, before extending his tail hand some more.  I remained motionless, and he said, in a carefully measured voice, “Place it in my hand, human…”

Slowly, ever so slowly, I extended my hands forward, and then, as if it were a fine treasure, I placed it in his hand, not out of respect of him, but of the weapon, and of the hopes of getting my friends and family back.

As soon as it was in his grasp, he retracted his tail hand and, with the same hand, he motioned me to back up with the others.  I did so, but this time a little quicker then before, eager to not be in the spotlight any more then necessary.  As soon as I was back with the others, he removed the blade from Dinky’s throat while he unsheathed the sword, and he began to examine both blades with glee.

“Finally…the Ikazuchi blade…and the Baransu blade.  Now that I have both, the human will soon awaken.” He said the glee barely contained in his voice.

“Alright, you’ve got your damn sword, now give us Ditzy and the fillies!” Shouted Daring.

Ahuizotl was quiet, seeming to ignore them.  I was about to yell at him as well, when he suddenly said, “Release the prisoners.”  With that, all four cats dropped the ponies to the ground, and the tiger and panther removed their paws from the other two.  As soon as they were free, they quickly ran up to us, Applebloom going to AJ, Sweetie Belle going to Rarity, Ditzy going to Daring, Scootaloo going to me, while Diamond and Silver went to Twilight and Fluttershy respectively.

“Ah was so scared, sis, ah thought…ah thought that we was done for.” Said Applebloom, hugging her sister tightly, while also crying a bit.

“Sshh, it’s alright, now, you’re back with us, and you’re safe.” Whispered AJ as she hugged the yellow filly back.

“You’re safe now as well, Sweetie.” Said Rarity, brushing the unicorn filly’s mane as they hugged each other.

“Hey, you ok, sis?” Asked Daring, looking at her sister as they held each other.

Ditzy was quiet for a while, and then she slowly nodded, before saying, “Y-yea, he didn’t really hurt us, except, well…” She fell silent, and Daring just hugged her closer.  Diamond and Silver didn’t say anything, opting to just hug the pony that they were holding tighter.

I brushed the orange filly’s mane with my hand, calming her down as she shook in my hold.  “You ok, Scoots?” I asked her.

Scootaloo was quiet for a moment, and then she looked up at me, her light purple eyes all teary, and said, “I am now, Dad.  Can we…can we go home now?”

I nodded, hugging her tighter.  “Of course we can go home now.” I said, feeling a few tears of happiness flowing from my eyes.  I then realized that we were missing one more filly, and looking up, I saw that Ahuizotl still had Dinky in his grasp.

“Hey, Ahuizotl!” I shouted, getting his attention.  “You said all of the fillies, now give us back Dinky as well.”

To my surprise, Ahuizotl just smiled.  “Well, I guess I did say that I would give you Ditzy and the fillies back.” He said.  “However, I didn’t say that I would give you all the fillies.”

My heart nearly stopped when he said that, and I quickly released Scootaloo and stood up, getting myself ready to charge him.  “You son of a bitch.  Give me back my daughter!”

The hybrid just glared at me, dropping the sword on the altar.  “No, I don’t think so.  You see, way back when, the tribal ponies here were looking for a way to awaken the human warrior, and these ponies weren’t afraid to do things to achieve this.  Now, they tried different kinds of sacrifices, such as other tribe members, thieves, murderers, and even volunteers.  However, there was one thing that they never got a chance to try.  Now, Miss Daring Do, you’re a bright mare, so, can you tell me what it is that I’m talking about, hmm?”

Daring went quiet for a moment, and then her eyes went wide with shock, her pupils dilating.  “Oh no…”

“What is it, Daring?” Asked Ditzy, the worry for her daughter showing in her voice.

“The prophecy… ‘One must offer the blood of the innocent soul’…” She said in a low voice.

Once she said this, everypony in the room went wide-eyed as the words sank in.  I slowly turned to hybrid and said, in a low tone, “You’re going to sacrifice her.”

Ahuizotl’s smile grew even bigger, and with a flourish, he said, “And with her blood, I shall control the most powerful warrior, and with him as my champion, I will take over all of Equestria.  Starting with your precious village.”

As soon as he finished talking, my mind snapped, and I just charged him at full force, my hand clenched in a fist, nothing but bloodlust in my mind.  “YOU FUCKER!”

To my dismay, he was easily able to deflect my blow before sending his own punch into my stomach, knocking the wind out of me, as well as pushing me back till I landed with the others.

“Drak!” I heard the ponies shout, but I couldn’t tell who it was, and in a few seconds, everypony was already over me, trying to help me up.

I looked at them as I tried to get my air back, bringing up a coughing fit as well.  “Drak, are you ok?” Asked Ditzy, trying to drag me back to my feet.

“No, that…t-that son of…a-a b-bitch is…is….” I didn’t get any further then that before my coughing got the best of me, making me gag and wheeze as I tried to recover some precious air.

We then heard Ahuizotl laughing, and turning to face him, we saw that he still had Dinky in his grasp, as well as the small blade-like dagger.  “Such a foolish thing, human.  I was going to just have my guards escort you out of here, but after a performance like that; I think that wouldn’t do at all.  Instead, I’m going to keep you all here until I awaken the human warrior, and once he is up, my first order to him will be to kill you all.  Don’t worry, I won’t kill Ditzy and the other fillies, I did promise that I wouldn’t harm them if you brought the Ikazuchi blade.  Once all of you are dead, I’ll keep them as my personal servants, and make sure that they get treated nicely.  Until then, you are to stay right where you are, and if any of you make a move, then I will kill one of the other fillies.”

With that, Ahuizotl snapped his fingers, and the guards circled us, before tying us up with some rope.  Once we were tied, one of the guards left the group, most likely to get the other tribal ponies.  As we sat there, the hybrid began to tie Dinky up on the altar, making her lie spread eagle, her hooves tied to the edges of it.  We could only sit there and watch the whole thing, helpless to do anything to stop him.

“Now, you only have a couple hours to live, and then when the sun reaches the zenith, we shall commence the ceremony.” Ahuizotl said, giving another flourish, causing his minions to cheer.  All I could do was just glare at him in hatred, only able to wait it out, and hope for some sort of miracle to happen, and happen soon.