Revenge of Humanity

A sigh of relieve left Rei-Skalen’s lips as he felt the dark heart pulse below him, responding to his magic. He was lucky that Celestia hadn’t bothered to check the body of Ner’Shal before burying it, otherwise his plan would be ruined and Ner’Shal would most likely have her body incinerated. A smile came to his lips as he lowered his hand and sat down, feeling his body being tired.

As he waited for Ner’Shal to slowly realize what had happened and how to get out, he turned his head towards the night sky, seeing the sea of stars in the night sky. His smile widened as he noticed that the moon still shines brightly, even though its surface was tainted with picture of a pony.

He let out a tired yawn as he lowered his back to the ground and brought his hands behind his head, shifting a little because of his wings. The night sky reminded him of the days of his youth, when there were no worries in the world that could drag him down. Those days were filled with peace and joy, the love and happiness all around him.

He could still remember the old days when he was a child, running around the royal palace with his big sister, the white corridors with paintings of former royals on the walls, the colored windows and high ceiling, the expensive chandelier of feasting hall covering most of the ceiling, the worried calls of his mother and peaceful laughter of his father.

As he lied on the ground, he raised his hand towards the sky, as if to take hold of the stars above. His smile faded a little as his eyes turned to dark gauntlet he was wearing, remembering the day he had forsaken the teachings of light and reopened the gates of Eden to dark magic his ancestors had sealed away so long ago.

He lowered his hand to the ground as he turned his attention back to the sky, fully aware that Ner’Shal was trying to figure out how to get above ground. It was hilarious to him, that after searching weeks for secrets of Necromancy, Celestia and her allies had made his job easier by moving the dead humans to be buried in mass grave.

He shook his head in amusement as he returned his gaze back to the night sky, just watching it. It wasn't long before another purple portal opened near him, with familiar woman walking through with her hair still messy from earlier ‘activities’ they had performed upon the good news he had heard from her.

“Really, your job was to resurrect a master of magic and here you are, laying in the ground with stupid smile on your face” Sharon said in amused tone as she held her hands on her hips, which gained her a chuckle from her husband “oh, but I'm simply waiting for Ner’Shal to dig herself up. It’s not my fault it’s taking her so long” he said as Sharon shook her head in amusement and started walking towards him, shaking her hips more than normally.

“Oh, and what should we do in meanwhile, my dear husband?” She questioned as she stopped next to him, smile on her face and arms crossed as she waited Rei-Skalen to answer her question “oh, I don’t know. Watch the night sky and lie on the ground?” He questioned as Sharon uncrossed her hands and moved her leg to other side of him, before kneeling so that she was straddling him with seductive smile on her face.

A smile spread on Rei-Skalen’s lips as he felt his wife sit on his lap, his hands taking hold of her waist as her hands rested on his chest plate, her back bending backwards as her chest came forward seductively “I have another idea we could do my dear, but I need you to take that heavy armor off” She said in seductive voice as Rei-Skalen moved himself back into sitting positing, with his wife still on his lap as he moved his left arm on her upper  back and drew her into a kiss, which she eagerly answered as her arms wrapped around his neck.

This was however the same time Ner’Shal dug herself up from her grave, her hand breaking the surface as it took hold Rei-Skalen’s left leg. With this sudden motion, he accidently slapped his wife on her right ass check, which gained surprised gasp from his wife as she held the knowing look on her face as she drew away from the kiss, opening her mouth to comment.

“not now, it seems we’re not alone anymore” Rei-Skalen said in serious tone as he motioned behind his wife, who turned to look behind her, just in time for second hand to breach the surface as it started to claw the dirt away. With disappointed sigh and look that promised ‘rough sex later’ to her husband, she raised herself from his lap as he started digging the intruder out of the ground.

After a few minutes, Ner’Shal was standing in front of them, shaking the last of the dirt out of her body as she raised an eyebrow at her decaying skin “really? Couldn’t wait until i was fully a skeleton before resurrecting me?” She asked sarcastically, before her eyes widened and her hand went to her throat, not used to the echoing, cold voice of lich.

“I could have, but then you would have been expecting the voice change. The look on your face is quite amusing” Rei-Skalen said with smile, before his expression went into serious “Arch-Mage Ner’Shal Elhalment, our species as a whole is in great danger. You have been resurrected to serve and protect those who are alive, so that we may once again rise above others and crush those who seek our extinction. The royal decree number 2648 has now been made invalid, so you will be given full access to necromancy and all related magic for good of your people. Do you accept your new duties?” Rei-Skalen spoke in dark, but serious tone as Ner’Shal had a blank expression on her face.

After a moment of thinking, she smiled as she kneeled and bowed her head “I, Ner’Shal Elhalment, Shall accept my duties until further notice, for the good of my people” She said in calm, but strong voice before rising back to her feet with small chuckle “now that the official thing is over, what would you like for me to do, Rei-Skalen?” She asked as Rei-Skalen looked around, still seeing the marks of war on the land around them.

He stayed silent a while, before letting out a sigh as his body visibly showed the signs of being tired “Destroy the land” He said simply, causing the both women to look at him like he was insane. Rei-Skalen noticed this and answered their unasked question “I would rather see the lands of our empire being a wasteland, tainted with dark magic and hostile to all life rather than watch as these animals steal the land that was rightfully ours. When the time comes, it will be they who will be forced to either die or flee as we take over their lands, starting with Equestria. Celestia will be forced to watch as her dear ponies will pay for destroying our empire by rebuilding it in slavery” Rei-Skalen said in angry tone as Ner’Shal nodded in understanding. It had been her death that had caused the dark magic to be used, so it was no surprise that Rei-Skalen would rather watch the lands of empire turn lifeless than lose them to the arrogant animals who defied them.

“Are the pillars of might still standing?” Ner’Shal asked as Sharon nodded, knowing that they were important to what Rei-Skalen had planned. Her spies had carefully checked the land in last few months to see what remained, only to notice that the Towers that marked the borders of Empire, still (surprisingly) standing, though no longer connected to Eden.

“Now, sister” Ner’Shal crossed her arms as she looked at Sharon “While it would be great to start the work i have ahead, I still don’t know anything about necromancy or poisoning the land. So, can you-“ She was interrupted as the flash of light appearing above Rei-Skalen’s hand, with leather book levitating above it “It took few months to make, but this book details all you need to know to resurrect the dead and taint the land, so that the filthy animals don’t get anything” Rei-Skalen said with smile on his lips.

As the book was passed to her, Ner’Shal asked the question that started bothering her “My lord, what would you like to do to those that are buried below us?” She asked carefully, noticing the pained look on Rei-Skalen’s face as he bowed his head. After a moment of silence, he answered in sad tone “No. The people who died to protect us have earned their rest. I will not allow their bodies to be turned into mindless husks” he answered as Ner’Shal nodded in understanding, even though Rei-Skalen wasn’t looking at her.

“Their sacrifice will be honored. However, we shall make sure that the lands that they died protecting will not be tainted by the filth that killed them” Sharon said in angry tone as she looked around, painful memories of watching her people die flashing in her mind “It will take months to prepare, and the mages we have left will be weak for weeks after the spell is done and the taint starts spreading. We might have been the most powerful race in this world, but we no longer possess the strength we used to” she said in depressed tone as Ner’Shal hugged her, with Rei-Skalen preparing the portal back to their new home.

It would be years before they could start focusing on gaining more strength, as the people would need functional society to grow in order to ensure their survival. However, the knowledge of the magic their ancestors’ studies would help greatly, even though it would take decades to access the full knowledge of magic left behind, even more so because it would take at least 3 to 4 decades to stabilize the lives of humans and demons.

• 5 Years later –

Celestia watched the landscape as she stood in top of the hill, her face showing hint of pity and sadness as she watched the green magic corrupt the land she had taken over only few years ago. The taint (as her ponies had called it) had started spreading only a year after the destruction of Eden, which according to her ponies was the source of this taint.

In last four years, the taint hadn’t spread far from the source, only few kilometers, but the land that had been protected by the human barrier had started to die away as it stopped responding to her ponies, slowly turning the area into an area similar to Everfree Forest, only difference being that the land starting to dry ahead of the taint.

It was sad; the land that the humans (and later demons) had died protecting was destroying itself with raw, tainted magic. She suspected that the ancient humans had built Eden to control the raw magic, but there was no way to tell what the reason of this taint really was, as the land corrupted by the taint became too unstable to travel through. It would take months to figure out the reason and how to stop it, but the land and nature denied the access to the source itself, with winds and storms disobeying her ponies as they ravaged the dying lands.

Shaking her head, she turned away as she took flight, flying towards the nearest town settlement that her ponies had started building when the war was still going. As she continued to fly, her eyes wandered the forest below as the forest slowly repaired the damage done by the horrible war. Her ponies had assisted the nature to repair the damage, but now that the lands no longer obeyed the magic of her ponies, it continued to grow naturally.

It would take decades, even centuries (which the land didn’t have, thanks to the dark taint that was spreading) before it would have naturally repaired the damage done by her ponies and their allies.

She shook her head as she banished the dark thoughts, not willing to be tortured by them right now. Her own dreams we’re haunted by the horrors of her actions, so it was better when she distracted herself from her own deeds in these…forbidden lands.

Celestia’s flight took few hours, even in max speed that she was unconsciously flying in to escape the darkness her thoughts filled her mind with. Had she been focusing however, she would have seen the raven flying few hundred meters behind her, its eyes glowing red as the tainted magic was spread along its body.

There were hundreds of them all around the world by now, keeping an eye on important things that the mages of demons and humans kept constant watch over, keeping the tap on current events for their leaders as they helped their people over the hardship of getting back together (well, Rei-Skalen was mostly with Sharon, her sister Ner’Shal and Lilith taking turns of watching the little Elizabeth while they worked).

As Celestia arrived at the settlement, she slowed down before landing, her breathing heavy when her mind finally started to realize how exhausted she was after flying so long at top speed. She took deep breath to calm herself as she looked around, seeing the ponies quickly continuing whatever they were doing before she had landed.

The settlement was in progress of being taken down, as the ponies didn’t wish to wait for the taint to reach them and take it down by force. It would simply be easier to move back to Equestria, where they could live peacefully without a worry about the land around them dying and not obeying their commands, leaving earth ponies unavailable to grow anything and Pegasus unavailable to change the weather.

As Celestia took a look around the settlement (or what wasn’t yet taken down), on other parts of the world a group of minotaurs were gathering in a recently build church, wearing white robes as the amulets under the robes glowed red, although it wasn’t visible to outside.

“Report” the leader of the group, wearing white robes with red and golden runes and symbols on them, making him visually much more important than the rest. Unlike the others, He wasn’t wearing an amulet under his robes however, only a golden ring with in his left hand, with gem on it giving the familiar sick green glow.

“The preparations are complete. We are ready to start the first phase, though it’s highly likely that we will receive much hatred among the others at first. Second phase is being prepared, but it will take longer to complete, with requiring a few thousand followers and a great amount of resources” one of the Minotaurs, his fur brow, reported.

The leader nodded in satisfaction as the others gave more detailed reports on their specific tasks, before he turned to the last one, who had entered the room only few minutes ago, wearing a red robes “What’s the situation with packages? Are they ready for transfer?”  The leader asked, with Minotaur in red nodding as she answered “The packages are ready, as per instructed. The farms nearby are producing the most of what is needed, leaving themselves enough to keep themselves and their businesses up. The town nearby has been hired to start the mining of the resources in nearby location, with most of the town people under our command, as are the farmers” The female reported as she too held the golden ring with green gem on her finger.

The Priest (leader of the group) nodded as he answered “Go get the Rune Master from his quarters and return here. As for the rest of you, return to your work. We will initialize the first phase tomorrow” The priest finished giving orders as the rest bowed and moved out, leaving him alone in the room.

Finally alone, he turned around as he watched the statue that towered over him, the creature wearing an armor with wings on its back outstretched, standing still as one hand held a sword while the other was held high, with a construct in its grasp. The statue itself was black and made of stone, while the construct was added to it later.

The construct in question was a cube with gold corners, with length (from one side to other) being 30 centimeters. The sides of it (which were being held together by golden corners) were made of pure, see-through crystal, with the cube itself being willed with blue liquid of unknown origins.

The most noticeable thing however, was the red liquid within, forming a ball of 15 centimeters in diameter as its core was black. The liquid had a black spot on its surface, making it look like an eye as the red liquid acted like an iris, with black spot taking the role of pupil.

The strangest thing however, was that it acted like an eye, following the movement of everyone within its sight unless it found something else to look at. The eye dilation and constriction reacted like a normal eye, making it unnerving to watch as it looked right back at you, with the dark core being the only thing within.

Those who were close to the statue could hear faint whispering of unknown language, but it was clear to everyone who had seen it just who had created it. Unknown to them however, the eye possessed the soul of ancient mage, who had taken his duties to serve his majesties very seriously, going so far as to dump his old body (it was already 98 years old) to continue his service in his now immortal home.

It took 20 minutes for the Minotaur in red to return with Rune Master (who was wearing blue robes willed with runes), who nervously glanced at the eye, feeling like it was judging him as it stared deeply at him. Turning his gaze from the fear spreading eye, he bowed deeply to the Priest in front of him “What is it that you need, my lord? The seducer didn’t inform me what you wanted, only that you summoned me here” He asked in intrigued tone, wondering what the leader wanted.

Turning around, the Priest held a smile on his lips as he looked at the young Minotaur in front of him “I summoned you here to inform you that we will be starting phase one tomorrow. I want those golems you and your followers have been preparing to be ready in case of…some unwanted attention from people who will no doubt dislike our believes” He said in tired tone, his age already at 60, while the Seducer and Rune Master were in their early twenties.

“They are ready to deploy by tonight. Was there something else, or shall I return to my work?” the Rune Master asked, patiently waiting for the Priest to answer. He held high respect for the Minotaur in front of him, as did the rest of Inner Circle of Crimson Eye.

“I need you also to start researching more into technology. The masters want it to be more developed without the usage of magic or runes, so your duties are to focus on them after the Golems are deployed. However, take your time with the project, because masters are expecting it to take centuries before the technology will be high enough to perform the same tasks as the magic and runes” The Priest instructed, before motioning his hand towards Rune Master, who took his leave.

Turning to Seducer, Priest gave her a warm smile and loving look “Now, go ahead and give your father a hug. I haven’t had free time with you in weeks, daughter” he said as the young female eagerly embraced her father, who chuckled in response.

The start of something beautiful and sinister was starting to come closer with each day….