The scream echoed on the mountain tops, reminding me that it was no longer mine. I didn’t know what I was going to do. I had no clue where I was or what I was going to do. I knew that scream couldn’t come from a human. I was something else entirely, and it scared me. I sat on my knees trying to take in this information. Seconds soon turned into minutes. Minutes then turned into hours. The sun was on the horizon before I figured it would be best if I made it off this mountain and at least try to find some people. There were some stones jutting out the side of the mountain. It looked like stairs that have seen better days. As I stepped on the jagged stones, I was careful not to slip. I may be undead, but I was pretty sure I could still feel pain.

I reached the bottom of the sketchy looking stairs and planted my feet on solid ground. It wasn’t snowy like the caps of the mountains. There were plants and moss all around, blending in with the rock. I continued down the slope till I saw a forest. I didn’t want to sleep in the forest where there might be predators trying to eat me, but I did want to take a look at that book.

The sun was now being enveloped by the horizon and the moon was starting to peak out on the other side. I hurried to the edge of the woods and picked up the dead branches laying around. I remembered the ents of Fangorn forest and how they didn’t like their trees to be harmed. It was better to deal with a little fire versus an angry tree monster. The woods itself looked as wild as Fangorn, although a bit shorter. It was wild, green, and most of all, dark. The trees themselves were a bit spooky, but I knew I would be scarier that anything coming out of the forest.

I walked up to the slope, back to where I was going to set up camp. I honestly didn’t feel sleepy, but that didn’t surprise me. To quote Boromir “I am an evil that does not sleep”. I piled up the dead branches into a campfire, but I didn’t have anything to light it with. I looked around for some kindling. My luck must have been running out, because I didn’t find a thing. Then, I came up with an idea. It was a bit of a long shot and sounded stupid in my head, but it was worth a try. I held out my hand towards the sticks. I made sure my palm was facing the campfire.

“Ghash.” I was surprised to see a flame shoot out of my palm and into the fire pit.
The branches immediately caught fire and started to crackle. I was happy that I didn’t turn them into ash since I was starting to get use to my new found powers. It still didn’t make me feel better about getting ripped out of my home to be the reincarnation of a greatly feared evil.

With my new found light, I was able to take a look at that book. Taking another look at it showed my initial observation was correct. It was an old book, well more like ancient, with a dragon-like skull imprinted on the front cover. I sat on the ground and opened the book. A moment later, I wished I hadn’t.

There was no time to prepare myself for what happened next. My small fire erupted into an inferno. Flames started gathering above the fire and took shape of a flaming eye. The eye of Sauron.

“Lat!” My body seized up and was hoisted into the air as dark clouds swirled above the eye. Voices then started to echo in my head. It was not like before. It sounded as if there were millions of voices saying something different. My mind felt like it was on fire as flaming tendrils surrounded my head. It was as if someone cut off the top of my head and held me over a fire.

As I felt power being pushed into my being, I let out another signature scream as I was forced to absorb the power. I simply could not handle the torture I was being put through. Through my pain, I was able to hear a wispy voice, that actually spoke english.

“You! You will lead my armies.” I have heard that voice before. “War is coming.” War, what war? “Death will come to all.” Right after he finished, I was dropped onto the ground screaming in unimaginable pain. The flames swallowed themselves up in an instant, taking the pain along with them.

I no longer felt the pain of being pumped full of, what I guessed to be, power. Instead, I felt… empty. The best way I could describe it was as if someone dulled all my emotions and removed most of my memories. The memories I have lost were then replaced by another’s, probably the actual Witch King. I saw myself doing terrible things to men I didn’t know. I saw myself practicing witchcraft and I remembered all his spells. I saw myself riding on a beast above a burning white city. I knew I wasn’t any part of that, but it seemed so real.

In addition to having my memories altered, I felt as if I was given a new goal in this place. It was no longer to just survive. I was to conquer this place, but I didn’t know where to even start. Well, that’s not true. The first thing I had to do was find a place to set up my “operation.” With this goal in mind, I picked up the book and headed off into the forest. Since it was night, I felt more active and ready to go.

Celestia waited in her private quarters for her captain to enter. The city had a near panic attack after the scream ended. She first thought it could have been her sister, but the sun was still out, so she doubted that. The other thing that was bothering her was that she had just sent Twilight to Ponyville earlier that day. She kept thinking about teleporting her student back, but then Twilight wouldn’t find the elements and cleanse Luna from her jealousy.

“Princess Celestia?” The princess looked up from her thoughts to see her guard captain standing in the doorway. She almost forgot that she called for him.

“Yes, please come in.” Iron walked into the room as the guards closed the door behind him. Celestia wanted to be discreet as possible with this meeting in order not to cause any more panic. But even then, it was hard to keep something that everypony in Canterlot heard in the dark. Celestia stood up from her bed and motioned towards the balcony. Iron followed her out onto the ledge that overlooked the Canterlot and had quite a view of the mountains. “It’s so peaceful, isn’t it Captain.”

“Princess?” The captain looked up at his ruler with a confused expression.

“Equestria. isn’t it peaceful.” Celestia ignored her captain’s confusion and continued to stare out at her kingdom. “I have ruled over this land for a little over one thousand years now. One thousand years of uninterrupted peace.”

“What are you trying to say?” Iron, like everypony else in Canterlot, knew about the foul scream that echoed through the city. It was scary, yes, but he didn’t think it would interrupt Equestria’s long reign of peace. The princess didn’t even break her gaze from the world when she responded.

“That scream wasn’t just any scream. It isn’t one that could come from anything you or I know: not a pony, griffon, or any race that is commonly know. This scream inspired fear in everything it touched.” She finally looked down at the captain. “Even me.” The stallion’s eyes widened when she said this. The princess was supposed to be the most powerful being in Equestria. The fact that something scared her made him shiver. Swallowing his anxiety, he stood a little straighter.

“What can I do to help?” This was a chance to prove himself, to show her that he was fit to be captain. Celestia smiled at Iron’s brave display. Her ponies weren't so easily defeated.

“First, we need to locate the source of the scream. Then we need to capture the creature. I do not know what to do until I see the creature. Perhaps we may communicate with it and have it refrain from using its awful screech.” Iron nodded.

“And where should we start lo- WHAT IN EQUESTRIA IS THAT!” Iron pointed to a group of dark clouds, swirling above the mountains. It didn't look like anything the pegasi could do. The clouds were too dark and moving too fast. It was as if they were being generated in that very spot. Before Celestia could study the clouds any further, she heard the shriek. It was as horrible and wretched as she remembered. The princess had to pin down her ears to try and shut some of it out. Iron wasn't doing much better than her. He was actually holding his ears down with his hooves.

The scream didn’t last as long as last time, but it was no less frightening. Once the last echo of the horrible sound faded away, Celestia looked right at her captain. He cautiously lifted his hooves from his ears to make sure the sound was gone.

“I suggest starting there. Take whatever you need, just stop whatever that thing is. And please, be careful.” Iron gave a salute and galloped out the door. He wanted to get this thing defeated and in chains… if he could.

I continued to walk through the forest I dubbed, Fangorn. However, the forest itself wasn’t as wild as I thought. In fact, it looked like the same tree was placed in random patterns around the ground and called it a forest. Either way, I still had to find a cave or something. That’s when I came across some ruins.

The ruins looked as if it was once a castle. It still had most of its walls intact, but all the decorative structures were reduced to rubble. Overall, it was an okay place to start. It was old and scary looking, so it could work, but something inside myself told me this wasn’t the right place. I fought against the feeling and pressed onward to the castle. From where I stood, it looked smaller than it actually was. It was nothing the size of, say, Dol Guldur, but it was the closest thing that resembled it.

I walked up to the front of the ruins and saw a gorge separating the castle from the other side. The only thing that connected the two sides was a rickety bridge. The bridge itself has seen better days, but it looks like it could be used a few more times before it snapped.

Turning my attention back to the gate, I pushed the doors open. I was immediately greeted to a throne room. The room had arching ceilings and was very tall. There was also some kind of weird centerpiece that blocked my view ot the thrones. I walked around the centerpiece to get a better look at the thrones. They each had their own tapestry above them. The on on the right had the sun, while the one on the left had the moon. I walked up to the moon throne and took a seat.

The seat itself is wide, very wide. The back was also quite short. I doubted that this chair was made for any human or elf. A dwarf and orc stronghold would mostly be underground. These were made for something different. I wasn’t sure what, but I had a feeling I was going to find out.

“Now what is this sitting on my throne?” I didn’t dare move my body as my eyes scanned the room. There was nothing different about the room since I entered. “This thing is positively ugly. Who thought I would like this statue sitting on my throne. No. No. No. This won’t do.” The voice was a female, that was for sure. My thoughts were interrupted by a purple mist sneaking through a window to my right. The mist seemed to be condensed into a single cloud that lazily floated through the air. Once it reached in front of the thrones, the mist swirled and condensed into a… unicorn? I was confused at this dark armored unicorn that came out of no where, and the fact it also had wings. Did that make it something else? “I guess I will have to do some cleaning.”

She lowers her horn to point it right at me. I thought she was going to charge me, until her horn lit up. I had no time to react before she shot a bright bolt of magic right at my chest. The blast pushed me through the throne and stone wall, leaving me in a vast empty room. I wanted to grunt when I landed, but my new body would not allow me to show pain. As I slowly stood up, she walked through the hole I made.

“What’s this? Some sort of guardian? Or is it just some strange creature?” I stood up to my full height, letting my power flow. I actually wasn’t doing it consciously. It was as if something inside was doing it for me. “Mmmm, I can taste your fear, and it is delicious.” She licked her lips like a predator. It wasn’t my fear she was tasting. It was the fear that I inspired. She lowered her horn again to fire another bolt, but I raised my hand, anticipating the spell. As soon as it left her horn it was absorbed into my hand. If you would have asked me how I did it, I would have just said on instinct, but I think it is a little more than that.

Paying attention to the unicorn, she was in shock that I was able to stop her spell. She was definitely more surprised about what I did next. I took out my sword and gave a violent shriek. It was that moment that she realized that I wasn’t full of fear. I created it. Her eyes lit up and she started to backpedal, firing spells as she went. As she backpedaled, I raised my sword in front of my face and slowly approached her. She ended up tripping over a loose stone and hit her head against the centerpiece. I never hesitated while walking towards her. Before she looked all powerful. Now, she looked pathetic. The unicorn looked up at me then closed her eyes, thinking her fate was sealed. Instead, I reached my hand down and grabbed her by the neck, dragging her up till her hooves could no longer touch the ground.

“What are you waiting for? Do it.” Her voice was strained, due to me holding her up by her throat. While getting a better look at the creature, I decided that I could use her. She knows her way around, and I am in need of a guide. Loosening my grip, I held her by the bottom of her jaw, giving her a chance to breathe.

“You will serve me.” My voice was as cryptic as ever, and I could tell it had an effect.

“I serve no one.” She then spat on my face, or where my face would have been. I tightened my grip and drew my dagger. I then stabbed her in the chest.

“You will now serve me less you decide to become one with the shadow.” I pulled the dagger from her body and showed it to her face. She watched in horror as the blade faded into dust, sealing the damage that was done. Letting go of her throat, I let her drop to the ground. She coughed and wheezed while holding her chest. It took a few moments before the unicorn looked up at me with eyes of rage.

“What did you do to me!” I leaned down and pressed my armored thumb against the wound.

“You were poisoned by my blade. If you don’t serve me, I will let the poison take you. If you serve me, I will stay the poison, keeping you amongst the living.” I gave a quick push on the wound before standing up. She seemed to forget about the pain for a moment and thought about the choice given to her. I had to admit, she was taking this much better than I thought she would.

“I…” She let out a defeated sigh. “I will serve you.”

Author's Note

I was really tired when I wrote this, so point out anything I need to fix.