Equestrian Souls: Fires of War

EQUSTRIAN SOULS
Written by: TheCrimsonDM
Chapter Four: Lost

I was thankful for not suffering any of the poisonous effects from the corrupted Altar. Although I was now very interested in why I was the only one who was immune to it. I really wished that there was a memory locked away inside my head that could explain all of this, but hopefully it would wait until I was somewhere safe.

It was dark down here with no natural lighting, and although there existed sconces on the walls where torches would go, most of them contained no torch, and none of them were lit. I decided after only a few seconds after seeing the second unlit torch that I would pick it up. I lit the torch with my magic, and then I got a clearer picture of how alone I really was down here.

The halls I walked down twisted left and right. The twisting hallways had an effect of causing one to feel lost, confused, and even more alone then they probably were. There was good news however, there had not been any crossroads ever since my last encounter with hollows. Many alcoves were built into the sides of the walls, where anything could easily hide in ambush. I needed to keep my eyes open, and my guard up.

I finally arrived at the end of the twisting halls, where I found a wooden door built into the wall at the end of the hallway, and a staircase leading down to another door this one being made of iron. There were also two hollows standing guard at the wooden door, each holding a broken sword hilt in their mouths. I wondered why they would continue using a broken sword like that. Maybe these were the weapons they had used in life, creating some kind of connection between the undead hollow and their broken sword.

Although I could probably take them out with my sword easily enough, I went with caution, and drew my crossbow. I walked a little closer keeping my hooves low trying not to make a splash. Taking aim carefully sighting down my crossbow, I took the time to set up the perfect shot.

With sudden force I felt something ram into my right side, along with a burning line of pain dance down my side. Quickly I look to my right to see the hollow that had pushed me and cut into me with his blade. I pulled my sword free from its sheath with my telekinesis, and I stabbed the hollow in the chest. My sword glanced off of this hollows broken armor, sending the blade upwards into its throat. The hollow began making some horrible gurgling sound before he fell limp.

I took a step forward wincing at the flaming pain in my side. Taking a quick look at the wounded area I found a gash running down my side. Blood was running down my side dripping into water and pooling into the water around me.

I noticed then that the hollows standing guard at the door had began walking towards me with violent intent. Worse yet I noticed only than the group of hollows that had began filling the hallway behind me. That was the same direction as Storm Feather and Moon Shadow; I really hoped that they were okay. I couldn’t focus on that right now though. Because I was in trouble right now and I had to get moving.

I charged at the two nearest the door, and the ones behind me began galloping. My open wound felt like it had been set on fire, and the pain was hindering my ability to run. I could move barely faster than a trot. The splashing of hooves behind me was quickly catching up. Looking behind me I saw one had gotten close enough for an attack. I rolled away from one of his attack dodging underneath his blade just in time. The water splashed into my wound causing the burning sensation to intensify with its contact.

I swing my sword at the one behind me bringing the blade across his chest, the chest cavity crunches beneath the blade as it tore through the hollow. Two more attacked me in tandem. I tried to roll out of the way of their attacks, but was too slow. The two managed to cut lines down my back. Pain streaked down my back causing me to scream. I was now sure that their weapons had been soaked in the filthy water from down here. The broken swords probably had disease covering them. Praise Celestia if I don’t end up sick from all this exposer.

I turn to face the two who had been guarding the door swinging my sword as I did. The blade tearing open one hollows back, and ripping open the others side in the process. The two were hindered for a second but continued assaulting me as though nothing had happened. Even more hollows were filling the tunnel. I parried the attack of one of the hollows I was engaged with. I managed with my second swing to cut the head off of one of them. The other one took another swing at me, forcing me to take a step backwards to avoid being hit. With another attack I successfully rend his head from his body. Wounds to the head, neck, and chest areas seemed like the most effective way of killing them.

The hallway just behind me was now filled with hollows at least a dozen had now arrived. Several hollows had gotten really close, and although they had numbers in their favor, I still had a trick up my sleeve. Pouring all my pain and anger into an explosive fireball, I send it at the mess of hollows. The explosion knocked the ones up front backwards into the ones behind.

With their advance was temporally halted it was my time to escape. I half trotted half limped toward the wooden door. With ever step my wounds would surge with new fiery pain. When I got to the door I pushed it open with my hooves while turning the handle with my magic. I slipped inside just in time to shut it behind me as my pursuers began recomposing themselves.

I now found myself in a narrow hallway, but unlike the others this place dry. There was a dark brown light being emitted from the room at the end of the hall. Painfully I limped toward the light; my own blood had coated my sides in crimson. The pain was intensifying. The closer I got to the dark light the heavier the air felt, and the more painful my injuries became. If I had not been scared before, I was surely terrified now.

The room at the end of the hallway was a small circular chamber with a door at the end of it. There was small mound of brown sludge, the sludge was coming out of the top of this thing and dripping down the sides. The mound was giving off a dark brown light. The shape of the mound was a little bit off, it looked like there may be something sticking out of the ground underneath it. This room felt heavy, and my open wounds burning grew more painful as I approached. I suddenly began to feel sick, I wanted to vomit, and my head began aching. This brown goopy thing had to be the corrupted Altar.

I looked at the Altar and concentraited on it, I used every ounce of focus I had. I could feel the Altar, it was almost like a person was there only hiding from me. I reached out further with my magic searching for the Altar. After a few more seconds of looking I managed to find it, and with some focus I managed to connect with the Altar. It was strange though, this time I felt like there was a person their instead of an Altar. I then heard a mare say very quietly the words. “Thank you.

The Altar then lit on fire burning brightly for a few seconds as it destroyed the brown sludge that had coated it before. When the fire died down I saw the familiar looking Sword sitting before me. The heavy feeling was gone replaced by the warm feeling of healing energy. My injuries knit themselves back together again, and all burning sensation extinguished. I lay there next to the Altar’s warm healthy fire with my eyes closed for a good few minutes, simply recovering from the exertion of battling hollows.

Laying there on my belly I couldn’t help but to allow my thoughts to creep into more depressing territory. That horde of hollows had nearly killed me, their weapons were covered in sewer water, which had a burning effect that I could only assume was due to a rapidly spreading infection. Thankfully the Altar could heal my wounds and the infection caused by the hollows. Even had their weapons not been infectious I could still have easily bleed to death if not for the Altar here.

The Altar would keep the hollows away from me while I rest, but what about the other monsters down here. I no longer believed this too be a good idea, it was time to leave here. Maybe after we regrouped we could go back up to the surface, get some better equipment, and some more allies. When we were prepared we could come back down here, and try again. I wanted to find Reed, and figure out why I have amnesia, and why I woke up inside Asylum of all places, but all of that would have to wait. I let out a depressed sigh at these thoughts. Well the others would be arriving soon to alleviate myself from loneliness.

That’s when it hit me like a wrecking ball. Those hollows that had attacked me came from behind me. I didn’t notice any particularly good hiding places for them, and even with how long I have walked I didn’t see any other tunnels they could have come from. So that means they had to of come from the tunnels near my friends. My friends may be in trouble, and I was the only one who could help them. I stood up with new found determination, I was going to get to my friends, and together we would get out of here.

The hollows outside the door were simply standing there looking at me when I opened it. I expected them to jump me all at once, not stand there like brain dead...zombies. I guessed it was the Altar’s effect was keeping them at bay. I couldn’t reach my crossbow, even with my telekinesis. So it was time to practice my fire magic. I stood out of both their, and my own fireball’s range, while lobbing said fireball’s at the hollows. After five fireballs they were all on the ground dead, some of them had exploded into pasty bits.

I felt light headed after that much magic use though, and noticed my nose had began to bleed a little bit. Using my greater judgment I went back, and allowed the Altar to heal me for a few moments before continuing onward in search of my friends.

I found my crossbow laying inside the water on the way out, and searched the dead hollows for anything useful. Unfortunately these hollows had nothing of any real use. Aside from there broken sword, they had tattered pieces of rags that might have once been part of their armor.

I retraced my steps back to where my friends had been waiting for me after that. However they were not there when I returned, and that worried me because I did not remember the layout of this place at all. I took in a deep breath and decided I would try to follow them anyway.

It took an entire five minutes before I found myself completely lost in the maze of stone work tunnels. On more than one occasion I was forced to go back looking for another way due to dead ends, and various holes in the floor. There was also this rat, I know that it had to be the same rat too, but this rat was following me. I tried following it once, and nearly fell into a deep hole, I think it was trying to trap me.

I began to feel really lonely after this, and something felt off about this whole area. The place was designed like a maze, and the giant rats were not attacking me, not to mention the fact that I hadn’t seen any hollows in a while. I knew that something was going to find me soon, and it was going to be terrible. I kept moving forward regardless, I had to find my friends.

I continued walking down one of the tunnels, and began hearing the horrible creaking sound of splintering wood. I stopped dead in my tracks, looking both ways down and up the tunnel. There was no sign of what was making the sound though. Then I heard the sound again. I took another step forward cautiously, and then I heard the creaking again, only louder. A sickening feeling spread through me as I realized I was standing on a wooden floor covered in inch thick deep water. Before I could do anything else the floor beneath me collapsed, and I fell down the dark shaft beneath.

I landed on my hind quarters in a pile of mud. Thankfully it broke my fall but now I was looking at a whole new set of tunnels. With a portcullis blocking one of the tunnels I had only two options as to where to go, left or right. I began heading to my right before I heard an un-equine sound from that direction. I watched in horror as a pony walked out from around the corner, his fur was gone, and his skin was cracked with glowing blue lines. His eyes were all white, and his mane was matched. The pony thing snorted out some blue gray smoke as it looked right at me. That was all I needed to see before I took off in a full on gallop in the opposite direction.

The tunnels turned, and twisted, but eventually I found a staircase and hauled flank up them. At the top I found a large flat tunnel that was mostly dry save for the two water runoffs that lead downwards even deeper into the sewers. There was a single pony wearing mahogany robes sitting against the wall at the end of the tunnel. He sat next to a blanket rolled out with an assortment of different items lying about.

I walked up closer to him warily, I couldn’t tell if he was a hollow or not. I examined the items on the blanket though. Most of them looked like useless junk to me, but there were a few things that caught my eyes. Such as the set of throwing knives, with black handles.

“See anything interesting” the robed stallion said with a horse voice.

I guess he wasn’t undead after all, that was good at least. “Yeah, uh how much for the knives?” I asked him.

He gave a small chuckle before saying. “Ten bits.”
I may not know how much the currency was worth here, but that did not seem like a high enough price. “Only ten bits?” I asked curiously.

He chuckled again. “Yes, only ten. Chances are that I will be getting them back soon enough anyway.”

I did not like the way he said that. “Why do you say that?” I asked feeling a little worried.

His face was obscured by the rags wrapped around his muzzle but his eyes looked tired. He explained. “Most ponies come down here and die. I make a simple living by repossessing their things. Bob has killed most of the ponies, and it’s hard to get things from him.”

“Who is Bob?” I asked cautiously.

“He is a giant rat you will know him when you see him. He still has my old axe” he explained.

I found it hard to believe that a giant rat would have use for a weapon, but I just saw something much weirder. A giant rat using melee weapons would be a kindness at this point.

I had some other questions for this pony though, as my curiosity grew. So I asked him. “Why are you down here?”

He looked to a barred door to his right saying. “Some ponies like me can’t live on the surface very well. So we find the dark places to take us in. I am also known as the Junk Collector. As you can see I wear that title well.” He said the last part while gesturing to his junk collection.

He did seem to have a lot of junk here for sale. “I suppose that if I find any junk out there you would be interested in it.”

He nodded. I smiled, even if this pony was a little more than just creepy it was nice to have Somepony to talk to. It was lonely down here. “Do you know anything about the Mire?” I asked him.

He sighed and said disappointedly. “I have seen far too many ponies come down here with the intent on going there. Too many ponies have died trying just to get there, but the few that do don’t return. If I was you, I would try to make my way up and leave here.”

I shook my head saying. “I plan on doing that, but first I need to find my friends.”

“I don’t blame you. I hope you find them soon. Being alone is a curse worse than death itself.” The Junk Collector said all too knowingly.

I gave out ten bits and found myself with a new set of ten throwing daggers. I was pretty good at shooting things. These should be a breeze to use as well. Maybe these would be helpful for when I ran out of crossbow bolts, those of which I was running awfully low on. After thanking me the stallion gave out a chilling low chuckle, needless to say I left as quickly as I could.

I found some stairs that lead back up to the tunnels I had fallen down from, and I continued moving forward. Finally I found a large tunnel opening. I walked into it looking down the tunnel. At the end was a staircase leading up to a metal door, hopefully it would lead to a dry place with hard ground. The water in this tunnel was only a few inches deep thankfully. I walked forward a few steps before noticing that there was a warm breeze behind me, and it smelled horrid. The breeze stopped, then continued, then stopped, it was almost like breathing.

I looked behind me feeling a little scared. Behind me I found myself staring into a milky white eye that was the size of me. The eye belonged to a giant rat, actually the word giant didn’t cut it here. It was a humongous rat! Its disease ridden fur was in no better condition than its brethren. Seeing the open sores on its large body was making me feel sick. Its teeth were chipped and cracked, but it could still crush pony bones I imagined. Finally there was a battle axe embedded into its left eye socket. This giant rat must have been Bob.

I took off in a full gallop towards the metal door. I did not wish to fight this giant thing. The huge monstrous rat was at my tail while I ran. He was fast for being so huge. I ran up the stairs, and tried to open the door with my magic, but it was locked. “CRAP!” I yelled as the Rat hissed at me.

The Rat stood on its hind legs, and clawed at me with his giant sharp claws. I ducked in time to be missed by a hair. I now knew that it would not be possible to run away from him, so that left only one option.

I jumped off to the side of the beast, and jabbed my sword into its soft side. I wrapped my hooves around the blade trying to get a grip on it as Bob thrashed wildly. I lost my grip though, and went sailing in the air away from it. I landed in a roll covering myself in the disgusting water.

The monster rolled over on top of my blade in an attempt to get it out of him. He only pushed it in deeper, before the blade snapped in two. I quickly whipped out my crossbow, and fired a bolt into the rat. Bob did not even notice the bolt now sticking out of his side. It then looked at me with a glare of pure rage, and charged at me. I knew my knives would be completely useless against him, but what about my magic. I sent a fireball at the rat, the ball exploded on its fur causing some minor damage to the rat but also lighting the patch of fur on fire. The rat paid no attention to the attack though.

When he got within range he opened his giant mouth, and attempted to swallow me whole! I couldn’t dodge his mouth. As I was swooped into his mouth, I stuck my legs upwards. Now lying on my back on the creatures wet slimy tongue he tries to close his mouth on me. I was not sliding down any further, but he was trying to crush me with his mouth. I pushed with all of my strength against the top of his mouth with my hooves.

I felt my hooves being forced downward. I wasn’t strong enough to keep his mouth from closing for long. I had to do something right now. There was only one thing left to do. I started screaming as I forced my anger, rage, and fear into a ball of fire. I sent the fireball down the rats throat. I didn’t hear the explosion so much as felt it, but I wasn’t going to give it a second chance to eat me. I sent another fireball down as well.

I was sent flying with the explosion backwards while turning end over end. I landed on my side, and slid a few feet before coming to a stop. My ears were ringing, and my entire body hurt like Tartarus. So I just laid there for a few moments waiting for the pain to subside.

After my head stopped ringing, I took out my healing flask and took a drink from it. I felt much better after the healing effects kicked in. I was covered in red blood, and meaty rat chunks. My mane was stained a solid red, you would never know that my hair was mostly purple now. I really didn’t want to see what I looked like in the mirror. Looking at where the huge rat had once been I saw the huge chunks of him all over the tunnel, and a lot of little chunks everywhere.

I stood up, and walked around looking through the gore for a few minutes hoping to find my equipment. Finally I found both my crossbow and my broken sword. The blade had almost entirely been broken off, and only a few inches of it had been left attached to the handle. Before I could put it away the swords blade exploded. I don’t know how that happened, but it did, and I could only wonder if the rest of the sword exploded inside the rat as well. That could explain why there was pieces of Bob everywhere.

Now that I was left with only a sword handle, and a crossbow I could be in trouble if I got in trouble. I found my torch lying down near the metal door, and decided that it would serve as an acceptable club. Despite nearly being killed by the giant monster I felt strong, energetic, and simply awesome. I felt like I could take on the whole wide world and win right now.

After walking up the stairs again and breaking open the metal door by shooting a fireball at the handle I found myself inside the same hallway from earlier, the one where the hollows had swarmed me. The dead hollows still lined the tunnel, or at least pieces of them lined the tunnels. Inside the Altar room I heard both Storm Feather, and Moon Shadow talking.

“We need to find her, she could be in trouble.” Storm Feather said with worry and the slightest hint of anger in his voice.

“If we leave this location, she will not know where to find us. And then she would be stuck looking around even longer for us. That would put her in far more danger. Besides I have seen her fight, when she wants too she can be the most ferocious warrior I have ever seen.” Moon Shadow explained. “I am sure she is fine.”

I walked in after that saying. “Hey guys.”

The two of them looked at me, and both of them wore a shocked expression on their faces. I smiled at them while fighting back tears, I greeted them by saying. “I guess wearing the blood of the monsters you kill is new fashion statement.”

For a few moments the two of them were completely silent, than they looked at one another and burst out laughing. I was so happy that they were laughing; I had been alone in this dangerous place, fighting monsters and getting hurt. And then I almost got eaten, and I was covered in gore. And I was lonely.

They had stopped laughing now they’re happy expressions replaced by worry. That’s when I realized that I was now crying. I ran to Storm Feather, and wrapped my forelegs around him, crying blood soaked tears into his armored chest. He held me in an embrace while I cried for the next while. When I finally pulled away his armor was covered in blood from where my face had been.

I hated this. It felt like all I did was fight, kill, and cry. After we find Reed I was going to stop all of this adventuring, and find a quiet place to live with him. That should be more then possible especially if he already finished his mission.

I let Moon Shadow lead us through the sewer system for the time being. I was still feeling upset. Although on the plus side I had managed to stop crying. Storm Feather explained to me that the reason that we were separated was due to the fact that the hollows had attacked in massive numbers. They were forced down another path, and nearly got lost. But thanks to me lighting the Altar they were able to get healed in a safe place. They had barely gotten there in time though Moon Shadow was in really rough shape before they managed to get there.

At least I did do something good for once. Maybe I wasn’t so useless after all, and that realization made me feel good. Finally we arrived to a large iron gate, the door of which had been missing for a long time now. The doors metal frame was bent, as though some powerful force ripped the door off its frame. Just beyond the gate we could see a dark cavern wall, and a river flowing by the gate. There was a walkway leading to the left.

Moon Shadow stopped in front of the gate, and sighed saying darkly while mocking a tourist guide. “Welcome to the Malignant Mire where horrors await in the hundreds, we hope you enjoy your stay.”