A Hero Returns

A long time ago, in a land alien to our own, was a world ruled by apes that walked up right on their hind legs. They had a lack of fur covering their bodies, tiny noses and had no magical properties. They had no hooves, horns, claws, fangs ,wings; they were completely unremarkable, but that did not stop them. Their strength was in their brains, they conquered their world with it, creating massive cities and buildings that seemed to scrape the sky. They weren't without fault of course, in many ways they were much more barbaric than ourselves. They would fight and bicker over small things like reputation and pride when with that time they could have saved lives. They have killed and hated each other over something as simple as their skin color. They had weapons capable of destroying their planet a hundred times over, and they would have if it wasn't for one man.

There is a legend of a great being who, through trial after trial, rose to a place of power and with this power he carved a place for his people to follow his example. He was said to very virtuous, strong of will, mind as sharp as any knife, his strength was said to match a raging manticore, and, if I'm not mistaken, very handsome among his species. He would sing songs of loyalty, honosty, kindness, generosity, and laughter to his people so as to follow in his footsteps, but he sang one song in particular, one thing that made the other leaders of the world skepticle in joining him, it was that there was magic in the world and that all they needed to do was to find it.

In his search for magic many years had passed and he had aged into an older man, he still found no sign of magic in his world and his own people even began to doubt him, however this would soon change. On one expedition into a great jungle pyramid he discovered a lost chamber within. As he peered inside he saw, with great awe and excitement, a fount of luminescent blazing blue energy. He strode into the ancient foyer and walked up to the energy, he noticed writing carved into the stone surrounding the wonder, it was an ancient dead language, dead to all, however fortunately he had learned the language for the people who built the temple were his ancestors and to honor them he had learned their tongue. The ancient words read:

"Who so ever touches the flames of Xiuhticuhtli will become a champion of the gods and the spirits, they will wield the power to adapt to any situation, as well as the ability to bequeath power to those they deem as worthy. The power of the great God Xiuhticuhtli eldest God and God of fire, the ability to communicate with the spirits and all life that they share the world with, and finally the touch of time will never scar him nor those he is joined with in love. This spark once activated will reopen all the wells of strength and will circulate around the world giving chosen individuals whose ideals mirror the wakener's own, power to help in the progress of the world. However this power will come at a price, their body will, as well as become youthful again, change to match the spirit that guards them, alienating them from the rest of man-kind so long until a time comes that the magics are to leave the body either in death or misuse. There will also come a time of great darkness and they will rise to face it no matter the cost to them, but remember, darkness, no matter the numbers, will meet against just as numerous lights to illuminate the path to salvation"

He was astonished by the words he read. He pondered the words for only a moment before reaching out too touch the blue flame, when his companions saw this they tried to stop him but it was to late. When his hand touched the energy it flowed into his body in an instant he was rejuvenated with the strength of his youth. His friends stood in awe at the transformation, as was he; however this was short lived as soon an unbearable pain overtook him as his body started to change into his final transformation. Dark blue scales started to grow over his skin, beautiful feathered wings burst from his back, his face elongated to form a powerful looking snout filled with rows of razor sharp teeth, on the top of the snout colorful feathers sprouted, his hair became hardened bristles that were soft to the touch and were just as colorful as his feathers, his pupils became slitted like a snake's, his left eye, scarred and grey, became a startling blood red, a long feathered serpentine tail sprouted and tore from his clothing, a crown of brightly colored feathers sprouted from his head lining his head like a headpiece worn by his people's chiefs, finally a long red archaic design spread over his body glowing with raw magical energy.

He gazed upon his new body and was amazed at the power he felt. He gave a mighty roar that shook the entire temple, azure fire burst forth from his open maw and scorched the ceiling black. When he looked at his friends that happiness quickly dissipated, they were terrified at his new form, he realized this and tried to show them that this was something to embrace, that he was still himself but their fear overwhelmed them and, wielding weapons at their sides, they attacked him he raised his hands to protect himself but soon realized the weapons could not hurt him. He tried once again to show them he was their friend that they remembered. At last they realized it was him, he showed them the inscription and what it meant.

Eventually they left the temple and revealed to the world the existence of magic and while at first apprehensive they soon embraced this new energy and it brought the world into a golden age without end, or so they thought. While this power was given to those with the ideals similar to the hero of their world this power corrupted all who he gave it to and made them desire to collect as much power as they could eventually they left him to build their own empires and promised to surpass and even destroy what he had built, the hero was hurt at his friends betrayal and the realization that what the inscription spoke of was true. Those that believed and agreed with the heroes former friends quickly joined their growing empires which ultimately led to a full scale war between these nations. This fragmentation of people would cause the downfall of their world.

Soon at the height of their conflicts arrived the great darkness that the temple spoke of, an army of twisted horrors and warped evil that sought the destruction of all life that would not bow before them. They would attack and destroy or corrupt all the nations that were separate from the hero's own, twisting them into their own terrifying image. The heroes friends who had turned against him, quickly sided with the invaders, as did their followers. The invaders, in return, gave them, unimaginable power. Eventually the traitors united to destroy the great hero, their battle raged for a full week, a day for every traitor the hero slew in a rage over the betrayal of those that he deemed worthy to protect the planet. Those he saw as family, those that he had loved, he killed every last one of them.

When it was over, so much magical energy had been expelled that the entirety of the planet was starting to change, even to the point that the planet's own laws of reality started to unravel. Pure chaos engulfed the land, and the invaders reveled in it, these monsters cared not for other life other than their own, they loved chaos and discord and wished only for this paradise to continue and grow. The hero however chose to stand against them and deny them this, and the hero was adamant in his decision. By this time all the uncorrupted survivors of the planet were within his borders, he looked to them and told them that the world was no longer fit for them to live on and said he had found a new world for them to live and prosper in a different dimension and that he had ships to carry them there, the people rejoiced and got on the ships anticipating a new life to live. Although he told them that it was a dangerous trip and that the invaders would be trying to prevent them from reaching their new home. Some still wanted to stay and fight, they didn't want the invaders to have their once great planet, the hero assured them that the monsters would never have their old world. The hero showed them to machines that would keep them asleep until they reached their new home. When they were ready the ships launched...without the hero on board. He had explained to them that if he went with them there was a chance that one of the ships could be shot down, they all said that he was worth sacrificing millions of lives for all that he had done and all he persevered, he told the them this,

"I'm just a man, one life, and I'm not worth anything more than any other person, now goodbye and I hope you all live a happy and long life" and with a heavy heart he left them and went to confront the enemy that he was born to face.

The legend says that the battle was colossal in scope and in such a short amount of time, the sky was said to be lit with ethereal flame, explosions rocked all creation and even the spirits themselves reared back in amazement at this one beings ability to protect all that he loved. In the end he had allowed his people to escape and had insured the survival of his planet, however it was not without consequence.

The battle had drained his energy and left him mortally injured. The magic that once was a part of him had left, he was but a shadow of his former self, the form of the great fiery winged serpent that he was given by the spirits had abandoned him in his state of exhaustion, his injuries were severe and he was sure that he would die, but as he was about to resign himself to his fate, he felt a flicker of darkness and knew immediately that his duty was not over. He tried to crawl his way to a safe haven but he could not do so alone, however this was where the hero received some much needed help. A little pony, injured and exhausted, limped its way over to him and offered him its help, the hero was surprised that such a small creature would show such bravery and come to his aid, he gratefully accepted.

It took hours for the two unlikely partners to traverse such a war torn landscape but eventually they made it to their destination. It was the remnants of the old temple that had started the whole ordeal. The hero stood from his makeshift steed, he turned and proclaimed proudly that he would return to the world once the planet needed his strength once more, then he limped off into the temple never to be seen again but not before thanking the courageous pony by Patting its flank and using some of the minuscule magical energy that was left in his body to heal the brave Equus. This was the end of the greatest hero this world had ever known or ever will know.