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That single word could describe so many things in existence. However, in his mind, there were only very few things that held meaning anymore after centuries of living in the wasteland. As he watched around where he stood, he could see the endless desert wastelands surround him as the sandstorms were everywhere, the wind blowing through the flat land at great speed.
It was so many years ago when he last saw the blue skies and bright sunlight on the green landscape, but now all he could see was darkened skies and clouds surrounding the planet, never letting any sunlight through the merciless layers of clouds. The only thing that allowed him to see in this darkened surface of dead world was his magic, which was almost no use to him anymore in this nightmare world.
Every day for last 6000 years, he cursed the names of forgotten gods, the same corrupt tyrants that turned their world from beautiful paradise into endless wasteland. These corrupt beings had held the control of the world for centuries, until he had personally gathered humans, dwarfs, elves, demons, angels and countless other races of the world under one banner, uniting the world to stand against these corrupt gods.
For this, the gods cursed him with immortal life, which he used against them as he marched his armies against the dark gods. They held themselves so high above the mortal creatures, only to realize too late just how much of a threat he was. The gods had tried everything they could after the first of them fell to his blade, only to fail time and time again as they died one by one.
It was in the last battle that the three most powerful gods gathered their entire strength and pulled down the stars above their world, dooming the world to die as the stars crashed and burned the surface of the world.
The rage he had within was more than enough to make the most powerful gods in existence whimper in fear and cry for mercy, to beg for sweet touch of death only to suffer for centuries under his punishment before he allowed them to finally die.
While some would consider it impossible to life centuries alone without going mad, the truth was he was never alone. For exchange of their loyalty, the Queen of Demons, Lilith, and the Princess of gorgons, Medusa, demanded that their souls would be bound to his in case of their sudden death.
This proved a wise choice for him to accept, because while he was in control of his own body, now the souls of his “Wives” resided within his mind, keeping him company in this endless wasteland after he had dealt with the gods who he had punished in his rage.
While some would question why Lilith and Medusa were his “wives”, the answer to that question was very simple. The ritual that bound their souls to his was ancient magic, which in every culture held a meaning of being married, so that in case one died, the other would always carry his or her partner with him/her to their grave, where they would be united in afterlife.
Of course this also meant that there was few ways to resurrect them, but it would need a large amount of time, resources and magic to do so. The first and last were already in his command, but the resources were impossible to gather in dead world, which was barely a shadow of its former self.
The ritual was also useless to them anyway, since there was no live on world, other than the immortal warrior cursed to wander for all eternity, until the void itself devours the broken and empty universe. It would be countless millenniums before this would happen, leaving the last three souls of this dead world to wait until time itself ceased to exist.
“Or until you find a way to either resurrect this dead rock or somehow manage to die” the hissing female voice whispered in his mind as the other, more darker female’s laugh echoed in his mind, drawing an angry hiss from female who had spoken a moments ago.
“What is so funny, Lilith?” Rei-Skalen asked aloud as he picked out a blackened rock from a ground and looked at it, examining it as his vision changed colors, looking for any sign of resources he needs or any signs of life “the way she thinks there’s a change for us. We are now and forever will be alone in this damned rock, wandering around until the sun itself dies away ” Lilith answered in amused tone, her voice carrying seductive tone as always.
“ At least I’m not trying to force his head full of my own memories of fucking every creature that lived, unlike you ” Medusa hissed angrily, drawing a huff from Lilith “ those are not memories, merely fantasies that will never be true. And you’re fully aware that if either of us had even touched a male before, we could not bind our souls with Rei-Skalen. You’re just angry that you can’t have bodily pleasures…..not that I’m not upset about it either ”
Rei-Skalen growled as the two females began to argue within his mind, throwing insults and extremely dirty thoughts to each other, causing his anger to rise as he crushed the solid rock in his hand to dust “If you don’t stop, I will make sure both of you will regret it” he hissed angrily as the two females within his mind went silent.
After a moment of silence, Rei-Skalen started walking in random direction. They both knew full well not to make him angry, since the last time they did, he sat down on the ground and given them dirty thoughts of him fucking them both for 4 decades until he had finally decided it was enough for them.
It was an experience neither of them wanted to experience again….well, at least within his head. If they had their own bodies that would be entirely another story, since they were now bound to him, so he could fuck them all he wanted and they would still be bound to him.
Rei-Skalen could feel a shiver go up his spine as both of the females though the same thing same time. And he had to admit, it would be great experience to fuck them both for decades. Shame the gods had ended the world before he could enjoy the retirement with both of them in private place with all the time in the world.
Since he was immortal, it would have been a very easy to gather enough magic and resources to create them both immortal bodies, even though it would have taken centuries to do so. That was second in the list of what he wanted after the old gods were dead….after taking his place as supreme ruler of whole planet.
Rei-Skalen was snapped out of his thoughts when he felt a powerful pulse of magic just few feet behind him. In blink of an eye he had turned around, standing with his weapon drawn for any hostile actions from the source of this powerful magic. What he saw was something he was not expecting however.
A tear into the void itself had formed there, sucking everything it could inside as the magic held it steady. Before he could react however, he felt himself pulled to it by the sheer force, sending him into blackness screaming as the two females in his mind feared for their fate....
The night world of Equis was quite silent. The stars glowed in the sky as they stood against the blackness of night, giving their light to the world below.
A figure standing on a balcony of royal palace let out a sigh as he looked at the landscape in the moonlight. He could see the ponies in town surrounding the palace making sure everything was locked and secure in case one of the foreign nations decided it was good time to attack.
The troubles with other nations had started 6 years ago, when the dragon was killed by his subjects within borders of dragon country. These troublemakers had not stopped there, as they had almost assassinated the princess of griffins, destroyed important and ancient statue of Minotaur goddess and burned one of main changeling hives.
While these vandals were captured and executed, it had sparked the beginning of politic conflict between these five species. He knew that the war was on the horizon, waiting to see which species would be the first to cause the war between all of them.
He let out a sigh as he lowered his head, his mane hanging loosely, its golden color glowing in the moonlight. He was an Alicorn, one of the last, which meant he was more like a horse than a pony with his wings and horn. His mane, fur and tail were all golden, giving his royal heritage away while his wife was completely opposite of him, having completely black mane, tail and fur.
He was snapped out of his troubled thoughts when the sound of something like glass breaking reached his ears, making him turn his head towards the source. There, above the forest in edge of the city, was a spiraling portal to void itself as the dangerous magic pulsed around it, keeping it steady. It only lasted no more than a half a minute, but before it completely closed, he saw a streak of light come through and land in the forest.....
Pain
It was the first thing Rei-Skalen felt as he started to return into world of consciousness, his body aching from his head to his toes. He let out a pained groan as he opened his eyes; his vision was blurring as he was lying on the hard ground, feeling that even slight movement hurt his body.
As his vision started to focus, what he saw was something he had seen 6000 years ago, before the world was turned into dead wasteland by the old gods.
Hundreds of stars shining in the night sky, looking down on the planet below as the moon showered the landscape with its pale light, shoving his surroundings as the trees of forest almost glowed in the white light. As he breathed painfully, he could smell the fresh air and almost taste the smells of fresh forest around him.
“Enjoyed your little nap? ” Lilith asked within his head, making him groan in discomfort as he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, which caused him to go into coughing fit because of the pain in his chest.
“It would be better if you let him gather himself after being violently torn from our world to this….whatever this place is ” Medusa hissed, clearly annoyed of Lilith’s sarcastic questioning “And besides, that magical anomaly might have been a blessing in disguise, because there might be some form of intelligent life on this world. And if there isn’t….well, we’ll just strip this world clean of any resources and transfer them back to our home world, even if we have to tear the planet apart while doing so ” she finished in pleased tone.
“Will you two shut up? Six thousand years of having you both in my head is more than enough to make me want to force some sort of sapient life into this world just to have some company that isn’t you two” Rei-Skalen said aloud as he recovered from his coughing fit.
“Well, our combined magic will not be useful here at the moment, because the magic of this world keeps it locked away until your body is used to it ” Lilith said in annoyed tone, which made Rei-Skalen let out frustrated sigh as he opened his eyes and moved his hands to his side, slowly pushing himself into sitting position while his body felt like he should be screaming in pain
However, that did not happen. Instead he let out a hiss as he finally managed to raise himself into sitting position and looked around. The forest was very dark, but he could see it fine in the moonlight while his magically modified eyes gave him a clear view of his surrounding areas.
As he continued to look around, he could hear Medusa comment their surroundings "Interesting....it appears that it is either end of spring or middle of summer from the looks of it. Now, could you show the state of your body? The wild magic might have done some damage to it " she commented as Rei-Skalen turned his attention to his own body.
From the looks of it, there were no wounds on his body, nor were there any damage to the armor he was wearing. However, from the burned grass around him and slight downward curve of ground forming circle around him gave them a clear picture why his body ached so hard. Apparently the other end of portal had been either in middle of air or the force of him entering this world had been enough to slam him into ground hard.
"Or both, we can't be sure because none of us was awake when it happened " Lilith answered in serious tone "However, we should find a safe place in case some wild life decides you would make a fine meal....it would be a pain to watch your body become a infinite food source to some beast while your in weak state " she continued as Rei-Skalen shakily raised himself into standing position, almost falling over before he steadied himself.
"It's also possible that whatever sapient life is here could have spotted the portal and would be heading this way right now to check it out. There isn't a way to tell if they are hostile or not right now, so it would be best if we hide in case there is someone coming to our direction " Medusa said in concerned voice. She had no desire to have Rei-Skalen become a prisoner or experiment to be cut open and researched.
"Good idea" Rei-Skalen answered as he slowly started moving in random direction, before realizing that he had somehow managed to keep his hold on his blade without realizing it. As he put it into sheath, the flash of light on corner of his eye caught his attention. He took quick cover behind thick tree, staying silent as he peeked around to see into direction of light.
While the source of light was too far to be seen, he could sense presence of at least 3 magic users, as well as 6 more creatures walking, coming to his direction. They would pass him by 20 to 40 meters, but it was possible that they would sense his presence as well or detect him by change.
He cursed as he heard voice speaking, putting his hand on his blade while other hand was against the tree, unconsciously draining it's life source and healing his aching body faster....
5 minutes earlier, royal palace -
"Attention soldiers" A powerful and commanding voice gained the attention of everyone in barracks, making them turn to the door where an Alicorn stallion with golden fur,mane and tail stood, wearing the crown and necklace with the word "ROYAL" almost screaming from his aura, was standing.
"Your Majesty!" one of the soldiers yelled as he took stood straight and saluted, others following him "Moments ago, there was a magical anomaly above the forest in the west, lasting only a little while. However, it is clear that something came through either intentionally or accidentally, so i need a group of soldiers to head towards there and check it out" he ordered as group of 9 soldiers (3 of each pony race) came forward and saluted "At you command,your highness. Anything else before we head out?" the leader of this group asked.
"If whatever came through is a threat, it is to be either captured or eliminated. However, if it's not a threat, it is to be escorted here to be questioned" he said as the group of soldiers saluted and rushed past him to follow their orders while the Alicorn standing there turned back to rest "As for the rest of you, return to your duties" he said as he turned around and walked out, heading towards the throne room....
In middle of the forest, present -
As the group walked closer, Rei-Skalen could hear them talk in very familiar language "So where is the place?" one of them,male from the sounds of it, asked in curious tone "We should be there in few minutes. And talk silently, we don't know if there are any threats out here" Female, clearly experienced commanding voice ordered as the group stopped.
"What is it,soldier?" the same female voice asked, sounding cautious as he heard few of the guards shift,most likely looking around "I cannot sense any other lifeforms near us,nor in the direction of the site. Whatever came through that anomaly, it is possible it might not be alive or it's powerful enough to keep it's presence hidden" the second male said in curious tone "A scholar possible? " Medusa suggested as Rei-Skalen heard the female sigh.
"Or it's possible that whatever came through is far enough or it's a flyer. In later option,the 3 pegasus in the air should spot it easily" as soon as the female said that, Rei-Skalen started scanning the skies for anyone flying around while staying hidden behind the tree.
"Wait, did she say pegasus? " Lilith asked, making Rei-Skalen stop looking at the night sky as he slowly leaned to peek from behind the tree,making sure he didn't make any sounds. What he saw made all 3 of them silent.
Ponies. There was 6 ponies standing there, one of them carrying a torch with his magic, all of them dressed in golden armor. As he shifted his attention to their details, Rei-Skalen saw that 3 of them had horns on their head, one of them being the one who's horn glowed and was carrying the torch.
The other 3 didn't have horns, so he suspected that these "pegasus" that were flying around would have wings instead of horns "Well,this is interesting. A prey animals being sapient " Lilith commented as Medusa hissed within his mind "Yes,this is quite interesting. I wonder if they would allow you to cut one of them down to be your food " Medusa said in hungry tone.
"How have they not managed to sense me? i am close enough for even a novice to sense my presence with ease " Rei-Skalen wondered, before hearing Medusa chuckle at him "What's funny? " he questioned her within his head, almost feeling her smirk.
"Because your drawing the tree's life force,which i'm using to keep us hidden from these pests. And besides,their using harmony based magic,which i think wouldn't detect our presence even if we were standing right behind them " she said in amused voice as Rei-Skalen's eyes widened and he turned to look at his hand that was still against the tree he was hiding behind.
As he looked at it, he could see green light vines coming from the tree and into his hand, barely glowing as he felt the tree's life force pulse in his veins and making him almost transparent. Of course he could still see himself, but only because it was natural for magic user to see whatever it was making invisible while other's couldn't spot it even if they were standing centimeter away from it.
He narrowed his eyes as he turned back to look at the group who started moving again, walking towards the direction he had woken up "You said we couldn't use our magic until my body got used to this world's magic " he said angrily to 2 females,who he felt shift in his mind.
"Technically your not using our magic,but the tree's so it's possible to use it to fuel our spells " Lilith said nervously, before Medusa continued "However,we can't use it too long or we'll accidentally make our presence known to them " she said with nervous laugh as Rei-Skalen took his hand away from the tree, becoming visible again as he could see the group of ponies walking away from him.
Big mistake. As soon as his presence became visible again, one of the unicorns turned around and send a ball of light towards him at fast speed. His eyes widening, Rei-Skalen dodged it by jumping to left, alerting the group of his presence "Whoever you are,stop right there or we are going to have to use force to detain you" The same female voice from before ordered as the group began walking back to his direction, their weapons ready.
"Fight,run or surrender?" he questioned the two souls within him as the group of ponies came closer and closer, almost within range for their torchlight to show him fully. They could only see him shape in the moonlight,but from looks of their expressions they have never seen a human before.
"Stay still and question them of their intentions. If what i can sense is correct, they are very weak creatures. Even the infant has more magical power than those unicorns " Lilith said Rei-Skalen slowly stood up, keeping his eyes on them as his hand stayed against the hilt of his sword.
As they walked closer to the creature, first thing they noticed was that it was armored bipedal. It was clear from it's stance and footing that it was an experienced warrior, it's small eyes shifting a little to scan them. As it was fully in the torchlight, they could see that it's claw was resting lightly on the blade on his side,ready to use if necessary.
After that they focused more to it's details. It was similar to other bipedal species, but it was clear that it wasn't a diamond dog or a minotaur. It had similar features to apes, but it was clear it was something more than a ape,so it would be offending to call it an ape before learning it's species. It had white skin and no visible fur,only a very short mane in top of it's head and flat face.
As the other soldiers looked at it cautiously, captain Moonshine stepped forward, the creature's gaze moving to her quickly "Tell me creature, what are you and what is your purpose here?" she asked in calm tone as her eyes shifted a little to look past the creature's head, seeing 3 of the pegasus hovering few meters behind it silently, ready to strike if needed.
The creature narrowed it's eyes as it spoke in cold voice "my species is called humans, and for reason of being here is because i was accidentally dragged to this world because of magical anomaly appearing right behind me randomly. Now,tell me, what are your intentions with me and where am i?" it asked,making the guards more cautious as it shifted it's head to right,spotting the pegasus behind it before turning it's head back towards captain Moonshine.
"Our orders were to find whatever came through the anomaly you spoke of and bring it back to questioning. Will you return with us willingly or do we have to force you to?" Moonshine questioned as the creature moved it's right claw to hilt of it's blade,taking grip but not drawing it as the guards stood ready to attack.
"Questioning,torture or experimentation?" the human before them asked,it's voice cold as it narrowed it's eyes, the unicorns taking a step back because it was letting them know it's magic was far more stronger than theirs,even though other's couldn't feel the waves of magic pulse around him,concealing most of it's true strenght.
"Simply questioning, torture if you are a threat send by other nations of this world" Moonshine said as they stood in silence for what felt like an eternity to rest of the soldiers, ready to attack at slightest movement.
"Go with them. they can't be classified at a threat unless in very,very large numbers " Lilith said within his mind as Medusa mentally nodded with her,agreeing her statement. Even if they couldn't use their magic yet, the power difference and lack of knowing better made the unicorns very nervous, if their step back and look on their faces was anything to say about.
Rei-Skalen chuckled as he slowly took his hand from the blade, the mare in front of him relaxing a little but still ready in case he attacked "If you turn hostile, know that i could easily take you all down. Even the pegasus standing behind me" he said as he nodded behind him,hearing them land few meters away from him.
"That won't happen as long as you don't try anything funny" the mare answered,staying silent a while before continuing "My name is Miss Moonshine, the Captain of royal guard. And you are....?" she waited him to answer.
"We shouldn't tell them our true names. It would be best if we made a new name for ourselves in this new world " Lilith said as Rei-Skalen smiled at the idea,making the two females speak with him, using his body to speak the exactly the same words as his eyes glowed blue "We are Legion. We are the slayer of gods and wanderers of dead world of Earth
Silence
That was the first thing Rei-Skalen realized when he came back to consciousness. Keeping his breath even as he listened his surroundings and searched the area for any signs of life, he finally realized he was alone. He let out a sigh as he opened his eyes and looked around, seeing that he was in prison cell. The walls, ceiling and floor were made from grey stone, without any windows and only 1 door. Looking around the room, he could see that there wasn't any furniture, just him hanging from the ceiling and facing the door.
As he began to inspect himself, he could see that his armor and weapons had been removed, leaving him in shirt and pants. However, further inspection made it clear that they had been removed at one point, which he was grateful because his captures had apparently cleaned him. 6000 years is long time without a bath you know, so right now to him he smelled sweet, just like everything else in the room.
However, he could see that his legs were encased in solid metal,keeping his legs together below the knees. He could see a line on both sides and small bolts that held it together, so that they could be removed when needed to. As he looked up, he could see his arms in similar situation, the metal casing ending at his elbows. Only difference was that on tip of casing, right between his hands, was a hole where he was being connected to ceiling by thick chains.
Smile came to his lips as he recalled the events of how he managed to get here. The ponies had panicked when they had heard his magically altered voice, which he had used earlier in his life for intimidation, screaming something about him being possessed before attacking. They had been surprisingly fast, but he had managed to wound at least 7 of them, 2 of the pegasus having their wings cut off completely by carefully placed blow from his blade.
It had only been lucky shot from the unicorn that they managed to take him, though he was still unsure where exactly he was. "We are most likely at their dungeons or some special place, since there are no sounds around us " Medusa answered his question as Rei-Skalen changed his attention to the door.
"Well, we wouldn't be here if you two hadn't been wrong about them being weaklings " He answered to her in his mind, hearing Lilith's mental yawn "Well, i wasn't aware that they could do that. I though they were quite similar to ponies of our world, so i wasn't thinking them as a threat. It's not my fault that they didn't follow the rules of our world. And besides, those limbs of theirs moved like there wasn't bones in there, so as far as i know, they don't have any " Lilith said in annoyed tone as Rei-Skalen let out a laugh for the situation and how ridiculous it was.
After he finished laughing, he turned his attention back to his cell as his vision shifted to blue, with orange pulses on the walls of his cell and the door in deep red. He smiles as he realized that these ponies were smarter than he had originally though, turning his attention to his metal casings and seeing them glow red as well. After that, his vision changed few times as he looked around him few times, looking for any weaknesses on his prison.
It was when his vision turned orange that he saw black cracks on the walls and ceiling, which made him smile. These ponies held so much potential with their magic, yet they were naive and simple minded. The room had not aged well, so push one spot with enough strength and it would break.
"So,which one of you wants to start singing? " he asked as he heard both females huff at his question, annoyed that he was suggesting them to sing children's song. With quick check around him, he started to move his body forward and backward, slowly starting to swing between the door and wall behind him. He could hear the small cracking from the ceiling as the stone started to slowly give away, loosening the metal loop on the ceiling as it came closer and closer to falling off.
A smile came to his lips as Rei-Skalen started singing an old song he remembered hearing when he was leading armies of soldiers to battle. The song had originally been a children' song, but when the few soldiers had started singing the abridged version of it on assault of sun goddess Xatel-Ekwa's Citadel, it had spread like wildfire on thick forest
The golden gate is falling down,
Falling down, falling down,
The golden gate is falling down,
My fair lady
Build it up with wood and stone,
Wood and stone, wood and stone,
Build it up with wood and stone,
My fair lady
The wood and stone will burn and break
Burn and break, burn and break,
The wood and stone will burn and break,
My fair lady
Build it up with stone and steel,
Stone and steel, stone and steel,
Build it up with stone and steel,
My fair lady
The stone and steel will break and bend,
Break and bend, break and bend,
The stone and steel will break and bend,
My fair lady
Build it up with steel and gold,
Steel and gold, steel and gold
Build it up with steel and gold,
My fair lady
The steel and gold will melt away,
Melt away, melt away,
The steel and gold will melt away,
My fair lady
Set the soldiers guard all night,
Guard all night, guard all night,
Set the soldiers guard all night,
My fair lady
The soldiers will fight and die,
Fight and die, fight and die,
The soldiers will fight and die,
My fair lady
Today is your turn to burn and die,
Burn and die, burn and die
Today is your turn to burn and die,
My fair lady
Rei-Skalen finished singing just as the stone holding the metal loop on ceiling gave away, launching him feet first towards the door with speed and force. However, his luck ran out as the door opened and one of the guards was opening his mouth to yell at him, only to feel the impact of metal on his face as the metal casing hit the guard on the face, sending him flying as his skull broke.
As Rei-Skalen landed on his back just outside his cell, other guard looked at him with shocked expression. Taking his change, Rei-Skalen quickly whipped the metal loop still connected to his chains towards the guard, which wrapped around his neck as he pulled it towards him, sending the guard quickly to ground before he could react.
With quick motion, Rei-Skalen moved on top of the guard and started choking the guard with his chains, watching as the young earth pony below him tried helplessly to defend himself. The guard's eyes rolled back of his head as he fell unconscious, which Rei-Skalen took as his sign to release him.
Unwrapping the chain from around the guard's neck, Rei-Skalen took quick look around him before starting to move down the corridor before him. His cell was apparently in end of dungeon corridor, with more cells on both sides, left ones with door while on the right simply metal bars. The hallway and rest of the cells were made from same grey stone, with torches on the walls lighting the dark hallway.
As he continued to hopping down the hallway, he could see the prisoners on his right look at him with shocked expressions. He smiled to himself as ponies, griffins, minotaurs and bug ponies started cheering for him. Apparently this world had more mythological creatures as sentient species than he could have guessed, since he saw humanoid dog creatures and some humanoid wyrm creatures that were almost as tall as he cheering to him as well.
just as he arrived at the corner of the cell block, one of the guards walked around it to check what prisoners were being so cheerful about, only to meet the floor face first as metal casing around Rei-Skalen's arms came down to his head, knocking him unconscious.
Unfortunately for Rei-Skalen however, the guard wasn't alone as unicorn threw a quick spell at him before starting shouting about prisoner escaping. Rei-Skalen moved quickly, dodging the spell and hitting the side of guard's face with his chains, which knocked him against the iron bars of cell next to him. The minotaur prisoner inside quickly decided to aid as he wrapped his hand around guard's throat and raised him up, watching as the guard started uselessly to fight back.
Rei-Skalen ignored this however as he continued hopping down the hallway, knowing that there would be more guards there soon. He let out a laugh as he took down the guards that came to stop his escape, most of them normal ponies. He decided to start singing once again, the song being picked up by other prisoners as they started singing in rhythm.
The golden gate is falling down,
Falling down, falling down,
The golden gate is falling down,
My fair lady
Build it up with wood and stone,
Wood and stone, wood and stone,
Build it up with wood and stone,
My fair lady
The wood and stone will burn and break
Burn and break, burn and break,
The wood and stone will burn and break,
My fair lady
Build it up with stone and steel,
Stone and steel, stone and steel,
Build it up with stone and steel,
My fair lady
The stone and steel will break and bend,
Break and bend, break and bend,
The stone and steel will break and bend,
My fair lady
Build it up with steel and gold,
Steel and gold, steel and gold
Build it up with steel and gold,
My fair lady
The steel and gold will melt away,
Melt away, melt away,
The steel and gold will melt away,
My fair lady
Set the soldiers guard all night,
Guard all night, guard all night,
Set the soldiers guard all night,
My fair lady
The soldiers will fight and die,
Fight and die, fight and die,
The soldiers will fight and die,
My fair lady
Today is your turn to burn and die,
Burn and die, burn and die
Today is your turn to burn and die,
My fair lady
Rei-Skalen could hear the few prison doors opening behind him, with prisoners opening the cells with keys stolen from guards that had landed close enough to the cells. As Rei-Skalen reached the end of hallway, he threw the door open, smile on his lips as he looked down white marble hallway, sun shining through the windows and reflecting...from...golden armor of lines of unicron waiting as their horns were glowing.
Rei-Skalen didn't have time to even blink as they fired, sending him flying back into dark hallway, hitting the minotaur behind him right on the chest. The minotaur landed on his back with Rei-Skalen lying on top of him, his vision having black spots as burning sensation came from his chest. He barely noticed the minotaur push him from top of him as the creature rose of up and took the blade that he had stolen from one of the guards and charged.
Rei-Skalen's vision blurred as he heard the sound of fighting and saw colorful flashes of light cross above him. He noticed that gold armored ponies pass him as they continued fight the escaped prisoners, unicorns shooting their magic as they calmly walked past him. He continued to lay there as he saw golden horse shaped figure standing over him, tilting it's head before it's horn flashed and his world went into black.
Rei-Skalen let out a groan as he started waking up, feeling so tired. However, unlike before, he was aware that he wasn't alone when he heard someone shift in their armor and another take deep breath. Opening his eyes, his vision was blurry at first, but as his vision focused he saw that he was hanging in a familiar cell, with his back against the stone wall opposite of the door.
There was two guards standing in golden armor next to the door, both glaring at him. He ignored them and looked around, seeing no one important around. "We'll find out later whoever is in charge. Though your previous escape attempt was good, apparently these ponies had been prepared for such attempts " Medusa said as Rei-Skalen turned his attention to the chain still connected to his arm casing, only to see that the end of it was secured to the wall his back was against with improvised means, if the shortened chains and metal loop connecting to the wall was anything to say.
As he turned his attention down, he noticed heavy chains wrapped around his middle and connecting to the walls on both sides, making his raise a eyebrow. Apparently these ponies were smarter than they look "Really? as if we didn't figure that out the first time we met them " Lilith said sarcastically in his mind, causing him to chuckle aloud as guards looked at him with angry expressions.
"What's so damn funny?" The mare guard on the left of the door asked angrily, glaring at the human in front of her. Rei-Skalen threw his head back and started laughing, his mind having gone little insane in his time of wandering the dead planet, even with Medusa and Lilith within his body. The mare took his laughter as an insult, glaring at him as she step forward before being stopped by the other guard next to her, shaking his head to her as she glared at the human hanging from the wall.
After he finished his little insanity laughter, Rei-Skalen turned his attention to the mare, smile on his lips as he spoke in humorous tone "So, what are you two children doing here? i though that this was place for criminals, not kids who act like adults" He spoke with clear insults hanging from his words, the mare's horn (the mare is unicorn, other is earth pony) lighting up as streak of electricity struck him, spreading through his body as it burned more of his clothes and blackened his skin.
Normally, a person would normally scream in pain when this happened, but Rei-Skalen had more than enough experience with very painful treatments, so this was like someone stroking his body with feather compared to the more....painful experiences in hands of gods after his immortality kicked in.
The electricity quickly stopped as the stallion jumped on top of the mare, forcing her to stop her spell unless she hurt her partner. As she lied on the floor breathing heavily, the stallion decided to voice his opinion of her actions "You idiot! We're here to guard him, not kill him! Just look at the damage that you caused to...his.....body....." the stallion went awestruck as he had one hoof pointing at Rei-Skalen, having turned his head to look at the damage caused by the mare below him.
The mare herself blinked in confusion as she turned her head towards the prisoner, only to have her eyes widen in awe and fear as she saw him still hanging there, smile on his face as the burned and blackened flesh healed itself rapidly, leaving no other marks of electricity other than burned clothes he was still wearing.
"So. Which one of you wants to tell your...King, that you have been bodily harming me without reason? because i'm sure that whatever King you have, he wont be happy to hear about this
As the two guards looked at him in fear, his smile spread as in his skin appeared blue lines "Fine, i'll tell him myself
As he heard heard the cell door open, he crapped the chains still hanging on the side walls, ripping them off as the first guard came through the door. The first 3 guards were foolish enough to enter his cell and challenge him, but the rest did the smart thing and locked the door, so he couldn't escape. After a few tries to break the door, he threw the chains aside as he turned his attention to the guards laying in his cell floor.
"You know " Lilith started as a dark idea came to her "if you can't use your own magic, but can use the life-force of the nature to fuel your spells....what's the difference between a tree and a pony? " she questioned in amused tone as Medusa laughed at the dark idea, smile spreading in Rei-Skalen's face even more as he knelt down to the nearest guard, chuckle leaving his lips as his hand touched the unconscious guard, the red lines of magic coming from the guard and entering his body.
The guard himself started to look much older, his body draining slowly until the only empty, lifeless husk remained, which resembled a mummified corpse. "one down, four to go" Rei-Skalen said as he looked at the other guards with sadistic thoughts and dark intentions.....
2 hours before Rei-Skalen wakes up -
Solvarias held his hoof against his head as he felt the headache growing every second he had to listen his wife tearing into the council what she though about possible children right now. The alicorns usually lived only 150 years, so since he and his wife were barely at their twenties it was more understandable why the question had raised ire of Galaxias against the council.
His thoughts drifted as he continued to listen his wife tear the council a new one, his thoughts going to the question the minister had asked. What would they be? would they be colt or filly? how many would they have? These thoughts went on and on as he realized that it would be more or less than 50 years before his wife couldn't have foals anymore.
His thoughts were broken when his wife finally stopped her angry speech and ended the meeting, with ministers quickly leaving the room before they angered her even more. His wife let out tired sigh, visibly tired as the doors closed behind the leaving ministers. He wrapped his hoof around Galaxias, who in return gave him tired smile, her eyes almost glowing with the love she felt for him (which he returned fully).
They had planned quiet life for the next few decades while they prepared to become king and queen, only to have that hope crushed as after few months they got married, his father suddenly passed away and threw the full weight of throne into their backs in very difficult time, leaving both him and Galaxias ill-prepared to take the responsibility. His wife had taken habit of drinking to sooth her nerves, as while she appeared strong in front of their subjects, she was terrified that she would do something wrong and cause their subjects to hate them. He too shared this concern, but right now they would focus on living one day at the time.
" I am not sure how long i can deal with this. The expectations they have of us are much higher than normally, and it doesn't help that they are concerned about the future line of the throne" Galaxias said as she rose from her throne and started walking towards the door, Solvarias following behind her. There wouldn't be anything else they had to do today, so they could retire to their room earlier than usually.
"Do not worry my love, we will get through this together. No matter what they say or expect of us, we will make sure that we will do our best to rule, just as my parents once did" Solvarias said in comforting voice as they opened the doors and started walking towards their quarters, guards at the door bowing their heads in respect with "your majesties" coming from their lips.
"I know. But right now, the situation with other countries is bad because of those fools who caused all those incidents years ago. I just wish i could hang them myself" Galaxias said as both she and Solvarias were in bad situation in world politics. It was clear that the war was coming, but it would be the time that showed which species attacked the other first.
They continued to talk as they walked towards their quarters, finally having the time to speak without others watching and looking for any weaknesses. Their chat continued even after they entered their quarters, closing the doors behind them as they took their position near the windows to watch the sun on low horizon.
As they continue to watch the sunset together, they were blissfully unaware of what would soon happen....
"Alright, ready yourselves" the officer commanded as the unicorns kept an eye on the door, their horns glowing as the two guards started to open the lock of the door. There were about 20 of the guards in the tight corridor, with unicorns staying back so that they couldn't all be taken out in instance.
As the guard slowly started to turn the final key (door had 3 locks), both of the ones stationed to open the door were going to experience a whole new level of pain (to them at least) as the final lock loudly snapped open. No sooner than that, the door went flying, taking one of the guards with it while knocking the other to the ground. As the guard regained his vision, the last thing he saw was the red beam of magic heading his way before his head was blown to pieces.
The insane laughter echoed through the room as the human jumped out of the cell, his hands glowing with red magic as he sent a blast from both hands towards the advancing guards, sending them flying as they were heavily injured by the blasts. The unicorns acted quickly, sending their attacks towards the escaping prisoner, only to have their spells hit the crimson shield that formed around Rei-Skalen.
His eyes were glowing red as mad laughter echoed in the hallway, making the ponies fearful as the human quickly grabbed the fallen blades, one in each hand as he attacked the unicorns while they were focusing their magic on his shield. With agility and speed superior to ponies, he quickly took them down just before the shield fell, taking a quick look around as he finished off the ones that were still alive.
He could hear the prisoners shouting something to him, but Rei-Skalen ignored them as he continued to ran down the hallway, his blades ready to soak them on the blood of anyone who dared to step in his way. The guards tried desperately to stop his escape, but their training didn't include trying to stop an immortal warrior with skill, speed, agility and intellect much higher than their own and was carrying a set of blades and using magic to kill the ones that offered some resistance.
Both Medusa and Lilith could feel the primal side of predator taking over as they watched through the eyes of their husband, who was killing the ponies who had captured them left and right. However, if they were once again recaptured, they both knew that they would have a lot of explaining to do to whoever was the ruler of this place, though their excuses were already set in place.
This opportunity however came sooner than they realized as Rei-Skalen turned around the familiar corner, quickly stopping as he came face to face with two very angry looking alicorns, both of their horns glowing as they pulsed with magic stronger than most demigods they had met, and in their current state, Rei-Skalen couldn't take down even an Arch-mage, less more likely being able to take two high-leveled demigods.
"Oh shit" The words left his lips as both of the ponies fired their magic, which hit the shield Rei-Skalen rapidly but up....
...only to have the blasts break the shield like hammer breaking glass as he was sent flying backwards to the wall. It was painful experience for him, as the blasts REALLY hurt, making him bite his teeth down just to keep the scream of pain coming out. As the he started falling to the floor, he was suddenly wrapped in golden magic field as the black fields pulled the blades away from him by force, with golden field painfully forcing him against the wall.
He could only swallow as the two alicorns walked to him, their expressions furious "you have some explaining to do, creature" The golden one said in angry tone as the black one powered her horn for another blast, just in case it was needed.
So, it was another of those days? yeah, start out bad, end up worse.....
Truthfully? It was quite fun for Rei-Skalen to see two demigods glaring at him in anger, standing in front of him while he was being chained to the metal chair with anti-magic runes carved on the floor around him, forming a circle in which he was in middle of it. Medusa and Lilith both were laughing hard inside Rei-Skalen's head as the ponies finished setting everything up, their weapons pointing towards him while the unicorns made sure he couldn't escape. He had been moved from his worthless prison cell to large room, with other furniture having been moved out so they could chain him in middle of windowless room, which had smooth surfaces made from granite.
It was clear that this room was most likely a guest room, which had been transformed into a makeshift prison/interrogation room, until they finished building or preparing him a better prison. However, while the situation earlier with running into the rulers was more serious, currently it was starting to look more funny as the time went by due to the fact that two Alicorns were glaring at him, which looked ridiculous, especially when the golden one was in fact a stallion.
Anyway, ignoring the hilarious situation he was in (once you live six thousand years in empty planet, with two females inside your head, your standards of amusement get quite low), he knew he was in some serious trouble due to the fact that he had killed few of the 'guards' that had been both inside and outside of his prison cell (dungeon, prison? there were so many words for the same place, that it didn't matter anymore if he switched between them).
So then, it seemed like it was time to get serious, as the golden Alicorn stepped forward and spoke in royal, arrogant tone " Now then, we have yet to introduce ourselves to each other. I am King Solvarias, the co-ruler of Alicornious" He said as the black Alicorn stepped next to him "And I am Queen Galaxias, the co-ruler of Alicornous and wife of Solvarias. Now, I demand that you reveal your name, creature, before explaining why you have intruded our lands and killed our ponies" She said in bitter tone, almost like it was an insult towards Rei-Skalen.
"You may call me....Rei-Skalen, your Highnesses" Rei-Skalen answered, deciding that using the name 'legion' was worthless at this point "And I did not intrude your lands willingly, I was forced into them by the rip in the void that stole me from my world and send me here. As for your precious foals....I mean soldiers" he corrected himself as he saw the glare of the Queen, knowing that the insult hit home as it was intended "They attacked me first when I was introducing myself to them and about to ask where I was. When I woke in your dungeon, I presumed that you hostile towards those that you did not like and decided that my stay here would be damaging to my health. The deaths of your ponies were unfortunate side-effect of my attempts to escape" Rei-Skalen finished his little story as the two royals shared the look of understanding about his explanation.
Too bad neither of them knew he was lying through his teeth, and the deaths of those guards were simply for his own amusement. He could have easily stayed silent and waited to explain his situation, before convincing into being released. But where would the fun be in the easy, non-violent path?
"Of course, I apology for the hard treatment of my soldiers, but the tensions have been high with the other countries for several years, so it wasn't a complete surprise that they acted as such. However, while there has been a clear misunderstanding between us, the death of our guards is still an issue that needs to be solved, as well as what to do with your presence in this world. However, as for now, the knowledge of your presence has spread across the city thanks to the careless guards, which has caused some concern among the nobles -" Rei-Skalen decided to interrupt the golden faggotry in front of him "And now you need to calm them down, which means you either have to have me killed, or under control, am I correct?" he asked, receiving a nod from the dark queen.
"You are correct, which leaves us two possible choices. Either we declare you a public threat and execute you, or we will have to come to an agreement on how you will repay the deaths of our guards and the injuries you made to some, as well as the release of other prisoners. The first option is much easier to take, but the second is morally right one, due to the unfortunate events that has led us to this point" Galaxias finished speaking as she kept close eye on the 'human' still strapped on the chair.
It wasn't like she didn't believe him, since his explanation was matching pretty much to what the guards had reported, though their report of the human being possessed by some foul demon was false, as both the unicorn veterans and herself (with her husband of course) had checked him completely. There hadn't been any signs of foul magics or demonic possessions, even though he used different type of magic. And yet, she still had the feeling that he wasn't telling everything....
Rei-Skalen though about the offer for a moment, thinking any way he could repay them that wouldn't leave him as either a slave or an experiment. Of course, with two other beings inside your head, that job is easy, but to find the fun way to do it is little more complicated.
"Offer immortality? " Medusa suggested, her voice hinting amusement at possible outcomes of such offer. Of course, the ponies couldn't kill Rei-Skalen even if they tried, since the gods of their homeworld had taken extra care to make sure he wouldn't lose his immortality....too bad it came back to haunt them.
"No, such an offer is far too important to waste in a small thing like this....maybe we should offer our services as an warrior or adviser, since we have more experience than they. After that, we can slowly climb up the ladder of success and reach the position where we can get the resources needed for our new bodies, with more than enough authority to send those who wish to stop us crying away " Lilith said with satisfied voice.
"well then, your royal highnesses" Rei-Skalen said aloud, disrupting the small chat the two royals were having about which choice to pick "I believe what I have to offer could please both you and the nobles that you need to please" He said as he started explaining 'his' offer of becoming either a warrior or adviser under them.....
"Finally, some free movement" Rei-Skalen said to himself as he rubbed his arms, the guards around him glaring at him, even as they moved through the hallways behind the sergeant, heading towards the temporal quarters of his before the more permanent ones could be arranged. The royals had made a hard bargain, as twenty years in the military would wipe out his deeds from the eyes of the public. There were other conditions and agreements of course, but those were just about specific facts about his services under the two royal alicorns.
As they walked through the hallways in slow pace, Rei-Skalen decided to take in the sights they passed. The glorious looking hallway, the paintings on the wall, the beautiful landscape of the night below moonlight....It was beautiful, reminding him the old days of his home. He could feel the ache in his chest as the feelings began to surface, though he held them down as he continued to take in everything he could see with best poker face he could hold.
Not so big surprise, both Medusa and Lilith decided to remain silent as their own thoughts were in turmoil, both missing the old days. Six thousand years was a long time to wander an empty rock, and even though they could mask their feelings perfectly, the sight of real life almost made them cry. No more empty wasteland, no more depressing, lifeless skies or hard, cold wind, no more utter darkness....it was enough to make the feelings rise to the surface, as they had only now risen to the surface, buried deep within themselves.
As they finally arrived at the door of his temporal quarters, the sergeant turned towards Rei-Skalen, looking at him a while before slowly opening the final chains around his waist. As the guards continued to glare at him, Rei-Skalen turned towards the door (which was guarded by 4 guards), before opening it and entering his temporal quarters without a word being said to the sergeant.
The room was quite small, clearly a private bedroom for possible diplomats that were bipedal, as the bed was bigger than what he had seen earlier. There was also a table on the side, though the rest of the room had been emptied with exception of the nice rug on the floor. Turning towards the the guards outside, he told them to have a great night before closing the door, hearing the small snap of the lock as it snapped locked.
Turning around, he looked at the room once again, small frown on his face as he noticed there wasn't any windows on the room. Not that he would attempt to escape, it was just that he enjoyed the night sky much more than the glare of the sun in the day. Letting out a sight, he slowly took of his clothes and folded them, leaving him in his underwear as he set the folded clothes on the table (so that they would be repaired later) before making himself comfortable at the smooth, soft bed with velvet coverings and fluffy pillows, which was surprisingly warm (not from the body heat of other people, just generally warm).
He was quite soon asleep, as sleeping in his armor in rock surface for last six thousand years was pure hell......It was good to have a nice, warm bed again.....
The royal palace was quite the sight as the sun rose from the horizon, it's morning light reflecting from the white walls and golden towers, standing over the city proudly. The city around it was quite a sight as well, as the rich manors surrounded the palace, those of closest being the oldest noble houses. The city was of circle shape, with richest living near the middle and poorest on outskirts of the city, next to the wall surrounding the proud city.
At this time in the morning, ponies started waking up as the ones who had risen up early started their business, with shops opening their doors, smiths of different kind starting their forge fires and restaurants started readying the kitchen's up. The ponies and few other creatures,who had claimed the capital city of pony country their home, started slowly coming out of their houses as they started their morning routines and tasks of the day.
The guards moved to their positions on the streets, watching for criminals and enemies of the crown as the night guards went to get their rest after long night of watching over the sleeping city. The younger guards lazily rubbed their eyes as they took their positions in street corners and outer wall, still unused to waking up so early. The first thing they heard on duty was not problems of civilians, but rumors of unknown creature taken prisoner after last night's magical anomaly.
As the rumor slowly spread, it also started spreading among the civilian population thanks to few ponies eavesdropping the chat between guards. The rumor changed into different shapes as it spread, some versions telling of evil creature that was there to spy and corrupt them, while some spoke of innocent and confused creature being brutally assaulted by guards and taken to experimentation.
However, as the news of the guards in the hospital spread out from lips of gossiping nurses, the rumors took much darker nature as the slow panic started to creep in ranks of both military and civilian, with talks of creature who in some rumors ate ponies and drank their blood while on other rumors teared apart ponies with insane smile on his face and mad laughter coming from it's none existing mouth for the fun of it.
However, the rumors were being fueled by few of the nobles who wished to expand their reach and motives, some claiming that this creature was escaped experiment of unicorns while some claimed it was summoned by royals to purge those who stood in their way.
King Solvarias let our a sigh as another noble left his throne room, with his wife taking deep breath to calm herself as she rubbed her head with her hoof. She had nearly thrown everything within reach with her magic at the noble when he had questioned the truth of rumors that the creature captured was royal origins. However, after careful reassurance of noble and calming his wife down, he had defused the situation before it had exploded on their hooves.
With quick glance at the clock, he could see that it was almost time for the council meeting. With quick kiss to his wife and promise to see her in the meeting, he rose from the throne and walked out of the throne room, turning right as he started walking down the corridors, heading towards his specific goal.
Turning his head to the his left, he could see the city below as the sun shined on the sky. He could still not believe that barely a year ago, this glorious city he had grown up had become his when his father had finally passed away from old age. The only alicorns now in the city were he and his wife, with rest 5 of them scattered around the country in their own private parts of the world.
He let out a sigh as he turned his attention back to hallway he was walking down, seeing a group of unicorns standing in front of prison doors, with pony guards standing behind them. "Is everything alright, my subjects?" he questioned as one of the guards turned to him, saluting "The prisoners are trying to escape. We're waiting for them to reach the door, so that we can take them on without them ambushing us" he said as he took a quick glance towards the door, with sound of....singing coming out of the dungeons?
Before he could open his mouth to question just what was happening, the door suddenly flung open as the creature 'human' they had captured earlier came through, smile on his lips even though he was still on his metal claw and leg holdings, the chain with metal loop hanging out from the claw casing.
His smile disappeared very quickly as the unicorns threw a spell on him, sending him flying back into dark hallway behind him. The guards rushed in, with unicorns following as they started taking down the prisoners, knocking them unconscious. As they managed to move deeper into prison hallways, he entered through the door and walked to the creature lying on his back, with clear burn mark on his chest as the clothing on it's upper body had circle hole, with edges of it smoking.
He stopped on next to it, tilting his head as he saw the burned flesh suddenly heal in blink of an eye. He looked at the creature's eyes, seeing them with hazy look. With quick spell, the creature fell asleep as Solvarias looked around and frowned. The prisoners were laying left and right on the dungeon floor, some of them having been armed with stolen guard weapons.
As he turned his attention back to the reason he came down to dungeons, he could see that the metal loop on end of creature's chains still held small amount of stone, with bolts still in place. He would have to repair the dungeon and upgrade it into more...modern style if this was what happened when they were left as they were, even with enchantments that were made to preserve them.
With heavy sigh, he looked up from the human as the guards started putting the prisoners back into their cells and taking care of the wounded one. He as he saw one of the unicorns carry a guard with most of his face bloody and head in quite worse shape. He moved himself out of the way along with the human as the unicorn went pass him in fast pace, most likely heading towards the infirmary to save the guard's life.
With quick orders of making sure that the human was watched all times by at least 5 guards and dungeon security increased, he turned around and started walking back towards the hallway, shaking his head as he headed back to the throne room. His wife and the council members would not be happy to hear about the prisoners trying to break out, so this day just got quite harder than he had initially though.
As he continued to walk calmly towards the throne room, he was passed by 2 more unicorns, who took more injured guards to the infirmary. It was a sad sight to see ones of more experience fall down so easily to one creature, but there wasn't anything he could do to it right now. He'll have to deal with it after the council meeting was over....maybe even have guards take extra training just in case something like this happens again.
His line of though was broken as he walked through the throne room doors, taking a look around which of council members had arrived before his return. The minister of science affairs and minister of defense were already sitting on their chairs, talking to each other while his wife was talking to a servant.
"Of course, Queen Galaxias" servant said as she bowed and hurried away, passing Solvarias on the way out of throne room. Gakaxias let out a tired sigh as she rubbed her head again, watching her husband raise a eyebrow as he walked up to the thrones and took his seat. She gave him a warm smile and her word that she was okay when the look of concern passed his features and he had mouth open to question if she was okay.
Satisfied with her answer to question he didn't get to answer, Solvarias turned his attention back to the doors as rest of 5 council members walked in and took their seats, with guards closing the doors as they left the room, already knowing that in council meetings only ones in the room would be the royals and council members.
As the doors closed, King Solvarias stood from his throne and spoke in clear voice "Welcome, dear council members, to the monthly meeting. It's good to see that everyone is healthy and available to join us, so let us begin the meeting" Solvarias finished as he sat back down and motioned his wife to start the first subject, change of laws.
As the hours went by, subject after subject seem to raise by as the council members discussed and argued numerous times about new laws and changing the old ones, taxing, migration, trade agreements, political issues with another countries, the ridiculous proposals of nobles...the list went on and on, so it was no surprise to others when servant came by few times to refill the Queen's glass of wine.
While some would question why would The Queen be drunk on important meeting, one would answer the question along the lines of 'She doesn't get drunk easily thanks to her experience with more heavy drinks' . which meant it was quite normal sight to see her taking a drink now and then in middle of a day. Besides, alicorn biology runs the alcohol through the system and suppresses the effects and shortens their effect time quite a lot.
Queen Galaxias took a deep breath as Solvarias rubbed his head, swearing that he had gained a killer headache simply listening the whole meeting "Alright, Is there anything else we need to discuss or shall we end the meeting for today?" he questioned as he took quick glance at the clock, seeing that it had already been almost 5 hours since the meeting began.
"There is only one remaining issue that hasn't been discussed, your highness. The future of royal family and possible children between you and Queen Galaxias" Minister of politics boldly answered, causing the queen in question to start to choke on her drink. She awkwardly coughed few times as the gathered her breath, swallowing the remaining liquid from her mouth as she yelled a single word
"WHAT?!?!"
