Brothers till the End Episode 1: The Dark Crusade

Chapter 1: Crystal Paradise

Cold. That was the first thing that came to mind as I started to wake up. “Serves me right to not bring an extra shirt,” I thought angrily to myself.

There was a groan to both my left and right as I began to stand up, while opening my eyes led me to a bizarre sight.

Jack, Adam, and I were stranded in the middle of a snowy wasteland. The winds were blistering cold to us at first, but then it was replaced with a soothing cold feeling deep within my body. It seemed like Adam got the same treatment, because he had a relaxed look on his...pale cracked face?

“What is going on here,”I said to myself. As we were discussing what exactly happened, we were interrupted by the sounds of battle beyond the nearby peak. It sounded like whoever was fighting was losing badly. We eventually decided to see what was going on, when the battle noises started getting closer.

The peak wasn’t easy to climb with all the loose boulders cracking off the cliffs from the snow and frozen air. Just before we reached the top, Jack suddenly clenched his head in pain. Screaming and writhing in pain, we rushed to help him...Only to find that he stopped. He stood there with a blank look on his face, staring off into the distance, all while mumbling about someone named ‘The Ripper’.

“Adam, stay with him,” I told the Alucard lookalike. “I’ll go investigate the battle.”

Making my way down the other side of the peak, I came across a bizarre and terrifying site. A giant monster made of jet black crystal was attacking what looked like humanoid ponies with golden armor, horns on their heads or wings on their back or neither, and armed with spears/swords. It seemed that the crystal golem was having no trouble brutalizing the armored ponies with its razor sharp claws, as evidenced from the wasted delicious blood still dripping from its claws.

“Woah. Where did that come from?”

Shaking my head to clear it from the thought of blood, I weighed my options. I wanted to run from the gruesome fight, but something deep inside told me to destroy the beast. With a new determination burning in my eyes, I ran towards the monster, unleashing the Combat Cross from my cloak with a flourish that broke off a chunk of its leg. Turning its version of a head, that looked like a sickening monster that was half-n-half of a dragon and a wolf, it let out a bone chilling roar that shook the battlefield.

Boss#1: Crystal Golem

Striking it with quick flicks of the whip, I settled with dodging its heavy attacks towards my position. All that seemed to do was make it pissed off at me even more. It was smarter than I hoped, because its next attack cut off my dodging. Obviously caught in its trap, I prayed that the Combat Cross could be used to parry its next move. With a satisfying clang, the golem’s strike was shattered, giving me the perfect moment to counter.

After taking out a huge chunk of its health, the beast changed tactics. It tensed up for a second, then charged straight towards me, intent on smashing me against the snow covered peak. Suddenly, instinct took over, and I soon found myself dashing out of the charging beast’s way.

It missed, and crashed into the side of the mountain. With all the newfound strength I could muster, I slashed at the beast with every attack I knew, even attempting moves from the game. But then I stopped.

“Wait a minute,” the inner me said. “That’s it! We've been transported to a world where all the abilities from the games have found themselves into our being. That’s why Adam looks like he’s lived for hundreds of years!”

Taking a break from the beating was all the golem needed to land a sucker punch right where I was standing. I’ll spare you the details, but it hurt like hell. Getting back up, I tried to summon the Void Sword to bring me back to full health. For a moment nothing happened at first, then there was a deathly chill in my right hand. Extending from my hand like a lightsaber, the Void Sword came into existence.

It glowed and shimmered with an unnatural beauty. Twirling it around like I've wielded it hundreds of times, I prepared for the monster’s next move. It swung its left claw with enough force to rocket me to the center of the world, but luckily I dodged at the last possible second. The monster wasn't that smart to realize its attack left its claw stuck in the snow covered ground. Seeing the opportunity, I slashed the paralyzed arm with the bone chilling blade. I then felt the strangest sensation; all my fatigue that came over me when the beast did damage disappeared.

The beast did not like my barrage of slices one bit, as it settled on ripping out its entire left arm out of its socket. The arm left in the snow dispersed into a cloud of black smoke that fled the scene. I had no time to think, as the beast tried to burn me alive with emerald green fire shooting out of its disfigured maw.

Dashing to get out of the way, I settled on wanting to finish this creature once and for all. Reaching deep within my soul, I called upon the chaotic forces of the Chaos Claws. Within a minute, both my arms were shot with the most painful burning sensation ever. I then concentrated that pain into the fists and claws of my new-found weapons. Punch after slash was met with howling screeches from the beast as its crystal-like body started melting from the searing heat.

Getting desperate for the pain to stop, it lashed out its good arm at where I once stood, implanting its fist into the frozen ground. Using all the strength I could muster, I ripped the arm out of its socket, causing the beast to shout a pain-filled roar out into the blizzard air. Tossing the arm aside, I made to finish off the creature, when it captured me in its path of fire. I had never felt such a pain before, as it seemed to tear at my very soul.

Coursing every ounce of strength I had left, I concentrated the power held in the fire to my left hand, which I morphed into the Shadow Whip. The dark energy behind the golem’s blaze caused the whip to transform into a dragon sized snake that I launched straight towards where the beast’s heart should have been. It connected, and with a mighty pull I ejected the heart out of the beast, with it still beating an unnatural heartbeat.

The beast looked down at its heartless chest, and let out one last pitiful roar before it crumbled into dust. As for the emerald heart, which still gave out a few weak beats, started to lose its ethereal glow. With a mighty crack, the crystal exploded into large chunks of dull emerald, until only one shining spot remained. A shard of the emerald heart still had some life in it. Not wanting to let it go to waste, I kept it safe in my cloak.

After dusting myself off, one of the ponies guards walked up to me and said, “By Celestia’s mane. Who art thou?”

Taking a moment to respond with a dramatic effect, I replied, “I am the Prince of Darkness, the Dragon. I. Am...Dracula! And I’m in need of your help.”

King Sombra looked upon the reflection of the battlefield from his place in the war-room. To say that he was displeased was the understatement of the entire war. He fumed with anger after watching his prized golem crumble to dust under the ruse of the so called "Prince of Darkness".

With a hate-filled flick of the hand, he whisked away the image of the Ice Peaks, and spoke aloud, "Mark my words 'Dracula.' You will regret crossing my path. I don't know where you come from, but I do know you just made the biggest mistake of your LIFE!"

With his anger somewhat resided, he returned his attention to the war effort. He would have his revenge, against both him and the two Alicorn Sisters that denied his right to rule.