Tales of Arcania

Chapter 5: His Hero

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Cut scene 5: Saved by your slave

Dirge works at healing Retro's wounds for some time as Hopeless Abandon looks at him, but Dirge doesn't look back.

Dirge picks Retro up with telekinesis and tries to carry him on his back. After a losing battle of attempting to carry Retro physically, he decides to give up and carry Retro out of the cave magically.

On the way out, Dirge donks Retro's head on a stalactite and drops him. Noticing this, he walks hurriedly to Retro, brushes him off, checks for any further injury, and continues carrying him out of the cave. They pass the fruit stand again and leave the barricaded area. Its still mostly dark out when Retro wakes up again.

Play

"Ugh... oh purity what happened?" I mumble

"Retro!" A worried voice beside me says. I turn to face it, and I'm happy to see that Dirge is the source.

I say "Oh hey Dirge, why does my whole body ache?" and he answers me by explaining the situation.

"You really flipped his pancakes!" Dirge says happily

'Flipped his pancakes'... That is about the silliest, and the cutest way of putting it. I couldn't help but laugh. It hurt to laugh with my broken rib.

"Aahha-owww... Would you mind if we made our way home? This hurts, and Id like to get it properly healed, not that you did a bad job of course. It feels much better than earlier" I say.

"I don't know where 'home' is master" he answers me.

"Oh right. Gimme a second." I tell him.

Hmm, how do I open that map? OH! Wait! My AI! Ha ha, yes! I forgot about it. Now how do I...

I press a button and a command screen pops up. Ah there we go! Type in the AI command and... Ooo, look at that. Shes a pretty mare. Her mane, coat, and eyes are all sapphire blue. Oh well, my favorite color.

"Good morning sir, my name is Holly-Gram, how may I assist you?" she says.

"OK so, one, your pretty, and two, Varo told me you didn't have a name, so I thought about it, and I'm naming you Butter Muffin! Go ahead and forget Holly-Gram." I say with a smile.

I glance over to Dirge, and the clueless look on his face says that he doesn't have the faintest clue as to whats going on. Guess he doesn't know much about tech.

She draws my attention back to her by saying. "Well there goes two days worth of planning my name just to have it dashed by you. OK, fine, I get to re-name you Glass Cannon then."

"Why glass cannon?" I ask.

"Why Butter Muffin?" she asks in return.

And after I realize that I dont have an answer for her question, she sticks her tongue out at me.

I glare at her and tell her that shes "gonna get it."

She responds by getting close to me and saying "You wont do anything."

I go to push her back a little to find that my hoof goes straight through her.

"Oh, I get it, 'Holly-gram' ha." I say.

She seems entertained by my just catching on to her word play.

"Muffs, pull up the Arcanian map." I command, and she obeys.

A hologram of Arcania is set out on the ground before me. Well, the blankness of Arcania anyways.

"Hey Muffs? Whats with the serious lack of area on this map?" I ask.

She tells me "It has only recorded the areas that you've already been to."

Oh. I guess that makes sense. Well home is on the map at least.

"Close map Butt Muff." I tell her.

She follows her order and does as I say. I look over to see Dirge is ready to set out to my house. And it seems Muffs is just waiting on more orders. I tell them both that we're leaving if they're ready. They both nod. I turn to face home's direction, and start trotting away happily as they follow behind me.

Flash Forward

After a few hours of walking, and me chasing a butterfly around, I'm not trotting so happily anymore. As a matter of fact, I'm practically dragging myself along. Dirge is carrying half my weight with his telekinesis, and boy don't I feel like a hindrance to him.

"Hey... Hey guys, can I catch my breath for a little bit? Please?" I ask them.

Butt Muff rolls her eyes, but Dirge smiles and nods at the idea. But they both agree to it, thankfully.

Muffs looks to me and says "Next time you want to chase a 'floating magical orb' through the forest, think about the consequences."

Geez.

"Its not my fault that I thought I might learn a new spell if I caught it."

I respond to her. "It was a butterfly, cannon. A normal, unimportant butterfly."

I guess she was right...

Dirge cuts into our argument "I hear something." He says.

I stop talking, and my ears perk up as I hear some voices. "I hear it too. You two stay here, it could be griders." I say.

Both of them look at me confused.

"What?" I ask.

Butt Muff tells me that "It would be much more strategical to have one of us go instead. I don't have any physical mass, so I cant technically make sound."

Dirge cuts in "And I'm very, very light on my hooves."

Muffs finishes for him "And you aren't. As a matter of fact, you kind of suck at the sneaking thing."

I get disappointing at how much sense they were making. I sit back on my haunches and tell Dirge to investigate the voices. He nods and seemingly disappears in the shadow of a tree.

After a few minutes of boredom, I see him coming towards us from where we heard the voices.

"So?" I ask.

"... A moth gave me directions to a big tree." He says looking straight forward.

"Um... Dirge... Is that supposed to be code for something?" I ask him, confused.

"Nuh uh. It is exactly what I said. A moth gave me directions to a particularly large tree." He answers me again.

Butt Muff interrupts and lays out the holo-map. "Show us where it said the tree was."

Dirge thinks for a moment and starts to point to a spot on the map, but he brings his hoof back, second guessing himself. And a few moments after that, he points to a spot on the map a few miles away from our location.

"Are you sure?" Butt Muff asks.

"I am." Dirge answers. "She marks the location as 'Big Tree' and closes the map.

"So can we go?" I ask somewhat excited.

Butt Muff dashes my hopes when she tells me "no" firmly, and explains that we have to get back home before night-fall. Knowing she has a point, I don't argue with her. I get up, having my energy back, and start going towards home once again.

As I walk behind the two through the forest, the sound of the birds catch my attention. Their song is pretty. So pretty that it makes me stop and take in my surroundings.

"Wow", I say to myself, "the forest is actually quite beautiful."

The birds singing in harmony. The little family of rodents nestling in the bush. The lone sky blue flower...

That repulsive smell, followed by the glowing green eyes in that shady spot over there... Wait...

I lean in closer to try and get a better look at what it is, when a wolf made of wood lunges out with the intention to eat me. I dodge it, but only barely. I quickly look to where my friends were, just to realize they didn't notice that I had stopped. I was alone with this wooden creature.

It just stood there, observing me. And I looked around trying to find a way out of this. I see the old, husk of a tree towering above us.

"That should do nicely." I say aloud, and it starts to charge me.

I run away from it, and while fleeing, I notice a nice stick that could be used as a good club. Still galloping away, I grab it with my telekinesis and swing it around. Eventually, It meets with the wolves face, and the creature stops in place. Perfect, I bought some time for myself. I turn and gallop past it as I continue to beat its face with my stick.

I make it back to the dead tree and start to pull it down with telekinesis when the wolf catches me off guard, sinking its teeth into my lower back. It drags me to the ground with it. I grasp around with my telekinesis for my stick, and once I find it, I swing it at the wolves snout. The wolf let go and cried out in pain as the stick collided with its snout. The collision with the wolf's snout drove its teeth deeper into my back, but it quickly let go afterwards.

As its shaking the pain off, I get up and start to pull at the tree again. I can feel it beginning to give, but the wolf seems to be recovering now and I dont have the time to let it give. I need it now! The wolf growls, and lunges at me again. Out of panic, I fall back, and try to use my telekinesis to push it away. I hear a "ptch" sound when I try, and notice the wolf being forced to the ground.

"That wasn't telekinesis was it?" I ask myself.

Well, whatever it was, it saved my life. No time to think of that now though, back to the tree. I start to pull on it again when I think about using that telekinesis spell on the tree. I look up to the tree and start to concentrate, when a burst of energy strikes the top of the tree. The top makes a loud "crack" sound before giving in to the force, and comes plummeting down towards me and the wolf. I smile, hit the wolf again with my new spell, knocking it down, and leaving it to the mercy of gravity.

I try to get out of the way, but when I attempt to lunge, pain shoots through my rib and I collapse next to the wolf. Quickly thinking, I roll to the left. And when I do, I feel the tree bark scratch my back.

I barely dodge it but, It crashes down loudly onto the wolf behind me. The wolf lets out a very brief and loud yelp of pain. Then there is only silence. But after so long, the birds continue their melody. Its a nice change from the 'Ima murder you and eat your body' that I assume the wolf was saying.

I hear my friends call out for me.

I yell out "I'm okay." and start to head towards the sound of their voices, when I notice the club I was using next to the fallen tree. I smile and pick it up.

"I'm gonna name you Trauma." I say to it before de-atomizing it into my inventory and continuing. The holo-screen designates it "Trauma" and places it in the "weapons" category of my inventory.

Update:
New spell learned - Force Push: You can now have your telekinesis collide with anything physical, knocking it off balance and dealing 1d6 damage.

New weapon gained - Trauma: You have found one of the unique weapons of Arcania. This particular one cannot lose durability and deals 1d8 damage

Continue

"I'm sorry, I got distracted and attacked by a wolf made of wood." I say as we approach Varo's lab.

Butt Muff tells me "Alright, I accept your apology, but no more distractions without us there. And the thing you fought was a timber wolf, your lucky it wasn't with its pack."

I stop walking and think of how that would have went if it had been. I cringe at the thought, and then the realization hit me.

"Timber wolf?! Pffft! 'Timber', as in wood! Ha! I have to shake the hoof of the pony that thought that one up." I say before laughing for a few minutes, and falling to my side from the pain in my rib.

Butt Muff looks at me, smiling like she is amused by my pain. Dirge on the other hoof, doesn't seem to get the humor.

After that ordeal we continue into Varo's lab.

I notice him across the lab, working frantically on something. He looks back at us and disappears in a white light. He reappears in front of me, and grabs me, bringing me with him when he teleports again. We end up on the side of the room that he was working at moments ago and he starts talking quickly.

"Blaze has been captured by the king Blood-lust. He'll be eaten soon, and its your fault for deserting him Retro. Take this potion, if you can get there in time, it could help you stop Blood-lust if you can get him to ingest it. At least you'll be able to stop him from eating anyone else" he says as I interrupt.

"Slow down! I didn't leave Blaze, we just didn't go the same path. And why the hell am I going after a blood hungry king? And how did you just teleport, your an earth pony."

He picks back up with his quick talking. "You left him, he messaged me through the device on his neck. Your going after Blood-lust because if you had been there in the first place, Blaze wouldn't have been captured, and ergo, not going to be eaten. And to answer your last question, I have a displacer button, it lets me teleport."

"Well... why cant I use the displacer button to get there now instead of later?" I ask.

He pauses for a moment before looking at me with a smile.

"I hadn't thought of it." He says as he boops buttons and then tells me "I've put in the coordinates to get there and then back. Don't screw up."

Then he hits the button...

Moments later I find myself standing next to an in-operable fountain, the center-piece has crumbled, and the part that is meant to hold the water is fractured from the top of the wall, down. I take a brief look around and notice that the streets are strangely quiet, and empty. Though thankfully, I ended up roughly a block away from a castle. Thats where they'll be.

I mean, I hope they will.

With no thought in my mind other than to save my brother, I start a full gallop towards the castle. I look to the sky to notice that its a red-orange color as the sun goes down.

And as I run up the many steps towards the large gold-plated doors, I slip on one of them and I slam the bridge of my nose on the corner piece of another step. I cry out in pain and put pressure on it with my hoof, hoping to make it hurt less. Then I remember that I had never actually taken the magical bandage off of my head from when Equinox healed me. I thank lady luck for my forgetfulness, and start to wrap myself up with it.

As I lay the bandage over the new wound, I can feel it start to hurt less and seal up the skin. After so long, I found a way to wrap it without covering either of my eyes; I feel like i'm wearing a scarf, I like it, and I didn't notice how much colder it got with the sun going down. I thank the bandage for its bonus warmth as well.

I continue and reach the golden doors. This is it Retro, you can beat a pony named Blood-lust. Doesn't sound too difficult, I say to myself as I struggle to force the huge doors open. And when I finally do open them to a long room with four columns to each side and a long red carpet leading up to a red and golden throne with a rather large pony in it...

`OK, so that may have been an understatement, this pony was more than large. Bigger than Hopeless Abandon even. I look next to the throne to notice that Blaze is lying there, tied up.

A deep voice comes from the large pony "Good evening Retro, how good of you to join us for dinner. Your brother here was certain you would come for him before it turned night, and here you are."

I cant get over how large this pony is... Just... Wow...

I should probably say something though. "I... uh... um..." I clear my throat "I'm here to get my brother from you Blood-lust! Let him go, and let us walk away, and we... No... I wont have to hurt you!" I say bravely.

He starts to laugh, get up, and walk towards me. By the time he reaches me, his laughing dies down. He is standing two and a half feet above me, and looking at me with a smile. I observe him and notice his sharp teeth, white coat, black mane, and various red stripes around his body. One red stripe going down each of his eyes, and one going down either of his sides from his chest to his flanks. He hasn't got a cutie mark either.

I wonder if -BAM- He hit me where I had previously slammed my nose against the steps. I fight trying not to cry out in pain as he strikes me again and again. His laughing picks back up as he knocks me down. He goes to step on me when I force push his hoof upward to knock him off balance. It looks like it works, and I roll away.

He came back down quicker than I thought, and pain shoots through the left side of my body as the right side is forced violently against the marble floor when he brings his force down onto me. I feel my rib break under his strength, and two more join it...

I think to myself 'did I even stand a chance?'... Everything is fading to black now... I guess its -BAM- He hit me especially hard this time, bringing me out of the darkness with a new-found pain. I fly about four feet before hitting the ground and rolling another foot.

He just stands there looking at me as I try to get up.

"Why are you able to stand? I'm sure I broke one of your bones just now." He states with a slight grin.

I say "Three ribs" I cough and finish "and fractured my skull. But that wont stop a demi-god. I just want my brother..."

He raises an eyebrow and slowly walks to me again. I try to summon the strength to attack him, but its all going into holding myself up, and even that is starting to fail me. I glance behind him to notice Blaze has untied himself and is using his crimson colored magic on something. But before I can see what it is, I get back-hooved to the ground once more. He licks his lips, and I get a glimpse of his unnaturally sharp teeth.

I think he wants to eat me... What a terrifying thought...

I stare up at him, and see that a shadow has enveloped him. By the expression on his face, I was guessing he noticed it too. He quickly looked up as the throne he was sitting on dropped onto him. It hits him directly in head, and he threw it off of him. He looks to Blaze and starts to stumble towards him. Lying on the ground, I pull open my inventory screen and choose trauma.

I say "I'm your enemy asshole, not him." and as he turns to face me, I swing trauma with my telekinesis to meet his face. It drops him to the ground with a loud thud.

Blaze rushes out of the room and into some other room, leaving me there on the ground... broken, and bleeding. The pain starts to fade away as the room goes black around me.

Some time later, I open my eyes and search my surroundings. I see Blaze and two other ponies. One of them is a unicorn male, and the other is an earth pony female. Blaze is talking to the unicorn while the earth pony tends to my cuts and bruises.

"Shes awake." The earth pony says.

There is no way in hell I look that much like a mare! Blaze laughs and walks up to me.

"Good morning little lady." He says.

I respond with "Fuck you."

He just keeps laughing at me. The unicorn male trots up to me and starts talking.

"Thank you for incapacitating lord Blood-lust, now we can execute the tyrant while hes still asleep."

He says. I cut in quickly, hoping to save the king "Wait, don't kill him. I was supposed to give him this um, potion to make him better."

I stumble with my words as I have a very difficult and painful walk over to his unconscious body. I tell the dazzle device around my neck to give me the potion...

Nothing happens. I tell it a few more times, and wonder if its broken, or if Butt Muffs is okay. No time to worry now though, I press the inventory screen open and tap the 'expellment potion' icon. It materializes in front of me, I put trauma away, and I quickly administer it to him.

His eyes shoot open at the taste. He starts gagging and eventually pukes... a lot. Its a pitch black color with the texture of tar... Or maybe syrup? Oh Purity do I hate syrup. He continues until he starts dry heaving and then slumps to his side again when he finishes.

I turn to the group and say "Thank purity, I thought it would never end." with a smile.

Their eyes widen when they hear me say that. I would have said something else, except for the fact I could hear something behind me. I turn to face it, just to be greeted by the sight of the syrupy liquid changing, and taking form.

The form it takes is that of a nightmare. Its skin is black with purple detailing, and has seemed to have hardened. It doesn't have a coat or mane. It has a jagged horn, and its ears seem like they could tear flesh. It looks as if its smiling, but only because it doesn't have any real skin covering what I assume to be the skull. I think this because of the teeth being completely visible from their roots to their sharp points. Its black bones stick out in various areas. The most noticeable area is the spinal column. The spine sticks out from the base of the skull to its flank, exiting the body and forming a rigid tail. Its chest looks reinforced with some more bone. There's one hole near the bottom of each leg, and hook-like spots at the tips of both front legs. And finally it's wings look like scythes with holes in them, making them rigid as well.

I back away from it slowly and bump into the earth pony mare. She seems to studying the creature, but the unicorn looks terrified of it. Blaze gets in a battle stance, ready for anything.

As it looks at me with its pitch black eyes, it starts to form into the goo again, then the goo starts oozing towards us. I hit it with my new force push spell and it stops momentarily. Then it gets in a stance similar to a snake ready to strike, lets out a shriek that chills me to the core, and comes at us in the form of large spikes.

Oh Fuck! The first thought in my head was to use myself as a body shield for the mare. Blaze's first thought was to slam a telekinetic shield spell down in front of himself to stay safe.

I notice as it got close to me and Blaze it was forced to the side, as if something was in its way. Thankfully, Blaze, the mare, and I were completely safe. The unicorn though... He wasn't so lucky...

The creature went straight through him as it flew out the door. I chased after it as it flew off.

"Wings!" I yelled at my dazzle device. "Pegasus!" I kept yelling at it. "Turn me into a Pegasus dammit! We cant let that thing free!"

The dazzler didn't listen of course, but I can say I tried. I hear the screams of the unicorn behind me inside the castle so I galloped back to check on him. He had three holes through him. The first one went through his right shoulder and continued on through the right flank. The second went straight through the center of his chest, I could see right through him... That's just wrong. The third hole was the worst. It went through his skull right above his left eye, and through the back of his head.

I could see a blackness in each hole that resembled the color of that thing. The blackness seemed to be spreading... Crystallizing inside of him. He thrashed about and screamed out of pure fear.

He broke free from blaze holding him down and ran towards the room Blaze had gone into earlier, only to be stopped to the now conscious, but swaying Blood-lust.

Blood-lust had caught him off guard and slammed him to the ground.

"Be quiet! I have a headache and you are not helping!" He says angrily

He then placed his hoof onto the unicorn's head, and applied pressure until the skull gave in. Blood-lust's hoof meets the floor again as the unicorn's head turns it into a bloody mess of thick goop across the marble floor. I tried to gallop after him before that could happen, but I just couldn't with my injuries.

"There we go, one less carrier. And as a plus, peace and quiet!" Blood-lust said happily.

"What the fuck Blood-lust?!" I yelled at him.

He walks towards me and asks "What?" like he hadn't done anything wrong. My anger towards him turns to fear as he gets closer to me, and I remember just how I got into this state.

I back away but I continue to shout at him. "You cant just kill what you want you dick!"

He looks at me, surprised I was reprimanding him. "Even after your so badly injured, and I'm in mint condition, you still shout at me?" He starts laughing again in that deep voice of his and says "Ha ha! I cant even take you seriously right now! I respect your bravery to face impossible odds, but come on, do you really think Ill listen to you?! Your a pathetic runt!"

Out of anger, I force push punch him in the face and he laughs a bit more.

"Alright fine, let me explain. That is the first stage in becoming a grider, and also the most violent way to become a grider, so I spared him from it. Its better to die than be a grider, or I think that at least.

I think for a moment before I calm down from what he says.

"Oh." I say

"That explains a bit. And I guess the-"

He interrupts me "I should also thank you for getting rid of wrath for me. You saved my life, and the lives of hundreds. You'll always have a place in my kingdom hero. But I think I'll be going to bed now. Id like another chance to fight you some other time, so don't die." He finishes his sentence as he walks out of the room.

"ehm, excuse me ma'a- erm,... sir." The earth pony behind me begins to say as I turn to face her. "I apologize for calling you a mare earlier, I hadn't realized that you were a stallion. Id also like to say thank you for saving me twice in one day." She says in a classy, class filled voice, full of class.

"Of course! Who wouldn't want to save a mare like you?" I respond.

She smiles and continues "And I suppose your a hero, so if you find yourself back at Predicipal anytime soon, please look me up. My name is Harmonic Melody, and I work in the music industry. I should be easy to locate, so it shouldn't be too much trouble for a hero like yourself."

"Of course not. My name is Retro." I say.

"Well I should go now. My friends are probably wondering where I am and if I'm safe. Goodbye Blaze, and thank you Retro, It was good to meet the two of you, even if under these circumstances." She says before trotting out of the golden doors.

I smile, and feel the familiar darkness creeping up to take me. I collapse, unconscious... Again...

Level Up
Level 3:
Exploit Gained: Fast casting - Spells now take one less combat turn to perform.
15 skill points added

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