Author's Note

And here it is! the second chapter of Darkness Rises!

In this we talk of old legends, reminisce about old friends, and encounter a most peculiar individual from our Monarch's past

Praise the sun my friends! \o/

An Old Friend

"Astounding! after so long a mountain sprung up on top of the castle! My word! it must have been a million years at the least!" echoed the surprised voice of the True Monarch as he stepped into the large cave encompassing the remains of Drangleic Castle, beside him, Daring Do trotted along, wearing a modified mining lamp on her pith helmet, the pegasus rolled her eyes at the man.

"I doubt it, nopony could have survived that long in a sealed stone kiln" she said, not even mentioning that the castle would be little more than dust in the wind by that point, or long pilfered by tomb robbers or Diamond Dogs.

"This castle sat upon a cliff! Plus, I am Undead! We do not require sustenance or even rest. Admittedly though, I am surprised I lasted that long without becoming a slavering mindless Hollow. I guess I always knew I would be needed again one day, what for, however, I do not know" stated the undead Monarch, continuing to stride down the path sway from the castle.

Daring barely believed the eccentric being, but she continued to follow him, he looked like he knew the way out, but she doubted it, however, this changed when they arrived at the shrine she had recognized as the main landmark telling them they were almost out.

"The Shrine of Winter... looks like it stayed open after I opened it, ah well, no time to reminisce! I must see my sun once more! Oh if only I could be so grossly incandescent!" exclaimed the True Monarch, once more taking his yawning pose, Daring was curious as to what it meant.

"What does that pose mean? the yawning one? you've done it twice when referring to the sun" the pegasus asked her erratic companion, whom simply laughed heartily before speaking.

"That is a sign of the Heirs of Sunlight, we praise the sun, as it was given to us by our lord Gwyn, Lord of Sunlight, whom peeled apart the scales of the ancient dragons with his piercing bolts of sunlight itself, the story of Gwyn was... is... lost to most, but the Heirs handed it down, generation by generation" the True Monarch explained, a small frown sullying his jolly demeanor.

"It is said that Gwyn desired nothing more than to keep his Age of Light going, and to do so he sacrificed himself, he sacrificed the immortal soul of a Lord to prevent the Dark from rising. He failed however, his soul burned down to Cinders, and he raged on until an undead finally put the lord to rest. But much like myself, it is said that the Chosen Undead did not fight alone. He had a close ally by his side, the leader of the Warriors of Sunlight, Solaire of Astora" the True Monarch sighed once more, the two had continued to walk as he told the tale.

"Many stories told in the Heirs say that when Gwyn fell, Solaire sacrificed his radiant soul to keep his beloved sun on high. The Dark disappeared once more, Hollows once again falling into myth and legend. That is, until the Dark rose once more" he said, Daring looked down to her hooves, wondering what it would be like if life was simply intertwined in a constant loop, fated to repeat.

The True Monarch looked forwards, and he noticed something. They were at the exit. Light poured through an opening in the rocky wall, and the Monarch noticed a spot that caught his eye. He strode over to it, touching the weeds and grass that still stood after millennia. The place Benhart sat when he first encountered the desert warrior, he sighed once more before the walked towards the exit.

As he stepped outside he saw that the architecture still stood, after so many years, a forgotten land, and yet, it drew wanderers directly to it. The one place he knew there would always be a friendly face, waiting to greet him back to town. Back to Majula.

The True Monarch strode towards the small settlement that he had called 'Home' for a time. For Home is where the heart is, and his heart would always call him back here, to the few friends he had made during his travels.

He looked down the path, along a crumbling wall, where, once, Melentia, the Merchant sat, hawking her wares, he would always come to her for essentials, such as lifegems. Just past the Merchant's usual perch, was the bonfire, where Shanalotte, the Emerald Herald sat most of the time. A dull ember still burned at the bottom of the Far Fire.

The True Monarch strode up to it, and touched the enchanted blade. The flames of the bonfire came to life once more, trying to compete with the sun for superiority. Looking off to the left the True Monarch noticed a small shack, a large rock jutting out of the ground in front of it.

This was the adopted home and forge of Lenigrast the Blacksmith and his daughter, Chloanne, whom he had reunited. A warm smile came to the Monarch's face in remembrance of Lenigrast, whom had unofficially adopted the role of 'father figure' to most of the younger members of the village.

Past Lenigrast's shack were three more buildings, the one on the left was Maughlin the Armorer's shop. Maughlin was a bit of a bigot after he had gained quite a bit of business from himself, and he stopped going to the shop after a while.

On the right was the house that Sweet Shalquoir lived in. The Cat was a curious individual, obviously the first thing was that she could speak, unlike other, more common felines. other than that, she seemed to be the most 'in the know' of all the residents of the place.

She had explained many things to him, informing him of The Lost Sinner, The Rotten, The Old Iron King and the Duke's Dear Freja. And even afterwards, urging him to invade the memories of the long fallen so that he could take the throne.

Looking towards the final building in the area, the True Monarch noticed something else that was odd. the hole that led into the Gutter, the same bottomless pit that Gilligan the Laddersmith sat beside, was filled in.

Shrugging it off, he looked towards the last and largest building in the area, the Majula Mansion, inside of which was a large map showing Drangleic and many small flames that appeared when he had kindled various bonfires across the world.

"what was this place?" Daring asked from beside him. The Monarch jumped slightly, he had forgotten the mare in his reminiscence. He looked at each of the buildings once more before speaking.

"This... was Home. Or the closest thing to home vagabonds like myself and the other residents could have. We had become almost like a family before I took the throne, we had an almost typical family. The kindly grandmother, the intelligent great uncle, the insufferable brother, the gruff father figure... We had all become close over the years we lived here, even after years of death after death, it could not get any of us down" A shadow of a smile sat upon his face, and a small, salty drop landed on the ground, the Monarch lifted a hand to his face, his gauntlet coming back with drops of a clear, salty liquid upon it, Daring smiled softly.

"Sounds like the one place you could always come back to, no matter what happened" the tan pegasus commented, the Monarch laughed softly.

"To us, it was the only place any of us had any semblance of safety" he said before striding to the door of Shalquoir's house, but as he put his hand upon the door, he heard a familiar voice that he had not heard in a long time.

"My my my, such a peculiar scent, and it has been such a long, loooong time since the last I smelt it. Hee Hee Hee." came the voice. Such a flirtatious voice for such an interesting being, the Monarch pushed the door open before striding in, his eyes almost instantly settled upon the form of an old friend, the fuzzy feline sat upon the table in the middle of the one roomed house, a playful smile upon her face.

"Well well well, if it isn't the True Monarch, Hee Hee Hee, such a long time, hasn't it? Why, the only visitor I have had here in Majula since that nice white Pegacorn and her sister more than a thousand years ago, was an equine that I did not wish to talk to. Although, it seems like you brought her straight to me, Hee Hee Hee." giggled the overly flirtatious feline as she stood up from her sitting position.

"Shalquoir? how is it that you are still here? not a bit different from the last time I saw you?" the Monarch asked, this prompted the feline to answer with her signature giggle.

"Let us just say, that I have lived a very long time, and will live for even longer. Why, this is not even my true form, I adopt a different one each age, Hee Hee Hee" the cat giggled once more, before she looked at the Monarch, a serious look on her feline face.

"You must make haste however, Monarch, as a Darkness is rising off in the horizon, and if I am not mistaken, you will be the only one able to stop it, Hee Hee Hee, run along now." she said, before pouncing off the table, towards a hole in the floor, before the True Monarch or Daring could do anything, the feline was gone, but Daring noticed something on the table, behind where the cat sat was a note, with a ring weighing it down.

Daring let the Monarch know it's presence and the human strode over to read it.

My Dear Monarch,

Go to Canterlot and speak to Celestia.

Give her this ring.

She will know what it means.

Yours always, Shalquoir.

The True Monarch gripped the ring in his fingers, examining the design. It was simple, but also elaborate. Silver and gold intertwined with each other, and a stylized symbol of the sun, with a crescent moon in the middle. He replaced one of the rings upon his left hand with it, placing the Ring of Binding into his pouch.

"So... what now?" Daring asked the Monarch, the human simply turned to face the equine once more, a smile upon his face he put his mask back upon his head before speaking.

"Take me to your leader, Daring Do"