To Forge a Legend

Relax…Sleep…Dream…  These were the only words the mystical voice had whispered within my mind as I attempted to fend off the dreariness from both working and putting energy into the pot before me and Patrick.  Try as I might, my body had failed me and I fell unconscious, however.  This was not the first time I had fallen asleep during a spell, but this was the first time I had failed to keep myself from giving into the fatigue of spell casting.  I will not lie; I am a bit embarrassed for personal reasons.

But what I felt was not a dream.  It was more along the lines of, the falling sensation you get when you were falling asleep.  I remember I was simply falling, or maybe floating, through limbo, my eyes closed and the sound of battle ringing all around me as I attempted to awaken myself with no avail.  The smell of sweat and sulfur tickled my nose as the constant sound of metal clashing against metal and incoherent words rang within my ears.  A battle was happening, and I couldn’t do anything to defend Patrick, nor myself.  I was beginning to feel uneasy, helpless…useless.

My concerns were all but lifted by the gentle touch of a slender and soft hand upon my forehead.  A warm sensation washed over my body slowly before the hand left its place and a pinch of sadness replaced it.  I don’t know why, but I wanted that hand to be with me, to stay on me longer, to wash away the worry that was slowly returning.  My eyes still would not open, nor would my mouth respond to my commands ether.  My heart told me I wasn’t really dreaming.

The voice that spoke by my side echoed within my mind, returning the warm sensation as her voice spoke gently yet with a tinge of regret.  “I am sorry, young one.  But you have not yet awoken to your true purpose yet, power still sleeps deep within you and remains untouched.  As you are now, you would be recklessly risking your life and stand no chance against the forces of evil that threaten our world.  But fear not.” I felt the voice’s hope flow through me as well, a faint glowing energy engulfing my being as it continued.

“Others have answered the call and are fighting.  It is uncertain whether they will be able to fend of the great evil alone, but at the moment, you have time to awaken, to grow stronger.  I will send you to your friend and together, you may both awaken to your true potential and possibly find the cure to both of your suffering.”  Suffering?  What could she be talking about?  Before I could attempt to get my body to respond, the pleasant sensation faded along with the sounds and smell of battle and I eventually found myself lying down upon a wet grass.

Now, when I attempted to open my eyes, I succeeded in seeing a canopy of leaves overhead absorbing moonlight.  The thick scent of wild flowers and fungus filled the humid air thickly as the sensation of wet grass tickled past my back.  The eerie silence deafened my ears as I slowly sat up, wincing at the incredibly tender and soar sensations of my muscles.  “Yep, still alive and without a doubt, just finished astral traveling.” My voice was raspy and parched and my head was still greatly foggy, as if I just woke up from an hour nap after staying up for forty-eight hours.  Something not common after astral traveling.

It had taken several minutes for my eyes to adjust to the thick darkness that surrounded me, tress of unknown origin surrounding me on all sides and wild flowers and fungi decorated the bottom of the forest floor.  But it wasn’t the exotic flowers that caught my attention, nor the cartoonish design of my surroundings.  What drew my attention was the pair of deep glowing eyes staring at me from within the veil of shadows.  I felt my stomach tighten at the terrifying and unusual sight, my thoughts still too clouded to be able to search my memory for any reference as to if glowing green eyes were hostile or not.

I wouldn’t need to use my memory, however, because the figure revealed itself and stepped forward from the black blanket that hid its defining features.  I was both amazed and confused at the wooden wolf-like figure before me, leaves protruding from random spots and still green with life.  The fear only grew when I heard a very familiar growl from the creature and I knew if I wasn’t petrified with fear at that moment, I would be giddy with finding a magical wood golem made in the likeness of a wolf.

I remembered my mother’s words about wolves and their territorial nature and how to avoid getting mauled and turned into its meal.  Attempting to steel my nerves and began to slowly raise my hands without breaking eye contact with the predator.  I didn’t try to make myself appear threating, nor did I try to make myself appear as prey.  If my assumption worked, then it would give me a rough estimate on where to go without wandering further into the wolf’s den.

Thank the gods it worked.

When I spoke to it in a soft and gentle voice, the Wolf Golem ceased snarling for a moment as I began to slowly step backwards.  I continued this, my bare feet feeling the uneven forest floor underneath thick underbrush as the Golem remained in its defensive stance, its ears perking up slightly as I continued my retreat.  Eventually the green eyes were swallowed up by the darkness and I stood straight up again, turning to see where I was going.

I had spent what felt like approximately an hour or two walking in what I hoped was a straight line before my body’s fatigue finally forced me to stop, making me lean on a tree for rest.  My head changed from feeling foggy and clogged to a pounding headache and my throat began to hurt greatly instead of feeling dry.  Not to mention my entire body felt as though I was microwaved; freezing cold on the outside and burning hot on the inside.  Even my vision began to blur, making it hard to discern my direction by sight.  But this wasn’t a sickness I was feeling, at least not a normal one that I knew of.

After I had attempted to steel myself as much as possible, I continued to trudge forward, having barely enough strength to make it to the next tree before falling onto the floor with a pained grunt.  The strength within me finally reduced to nothing, my breathing had become shallow and weak and my body only continued to grow in pain.  I didn’t have my pentagram necklace to ward off the negative energy just a bit more, nor did I have any herbs to subdue the symptoms.  All of my teachings, all of my knowledge and willpower that I had and was so proud of achieving, had become nothing but useless.

“Can’t…Give up…Yet…” I found speaking or thinking to cause only to increase the unbearable pain I was feeling.  Darkness slowly began to creep around the edges of my vision, despite my best efforts to fight it off.  I suddenly began to hear the sound of footsteps approaching my downed figure and my already nauseated stomach twisted in the thought that it was the Golem I had met previously, come to now feast upon my body.  My pride, anger, fear and stubbornness granted my body just a sliver of power, enough to lift my body up to observe the one who was approaching me.  My vision was too blurry to discern any characteristics, however, and I quickly felt the darkness numb my body and force me into an unconscious stupor.

I felt nothing.  No sense of falling, no anger, no unease, no pain, no joy, nothing.  The black veil that concealed my surroundings from me allowed me to see nothing, but I was not scared.  I remained suspended in the shadows for an unknown amount of time simply there and doing nothing.  Eventually, the veil was pushed back by a white force, granting me my senses once again, or what little there was.  I felt my feet touch down upon an invisible surface below me as the darkness was suppressed into a pinpoint behind me, before being obliterated.  I felt my emotions return, though heavily dulled, and my memory explain to me where I was; the lake I was meant to visit before visiting the Celtic Dragons.

A sense of minor bewilderment poked at the back of my head as I realized that I could normally only enter this place after meditating for some time and coming here via astral travel.  I tried to recall what had last happened to me and remembered what had happened; my body had given out and I passed out.  Could it of been possible for me to of entered this place of tranquility subconscious for some reason?  Did I wish to speak to my dragons without knowing it?

My thoughts were pushed aside when I spotted a figure standing upon the red wooden bridge that sat over the lake where one would toss away their worries of mortal life before meeting with his or her dragons.  I was bewildered to see a rather cartoonish horse staring down from over the railing at the fish that inhabited the lake, a small, comfortable expression upon its face.  This only caused even further bewilderment and confusion, due to the fact that normal horses were unable to have such expressions; granted normal horses didn’t have a flowing prismatic mane or tail, snow white fur and a tattoo of what appeared to be a sun upon their flank ether.  Nor did they have horns or wings and wore golden jewelry fit for royalty upon their hooves and head.

Before realizing what I was doing, I had already made my way to the bridge and taking my first hollow step, alerting the winged unicorn to my presence.  It was when her light violet eyes connected with my own dull blues when the memory calmly returned; this was none other than Princess Celestia, the wielder of the sun in Patrick’s beloved show.  Her expression remained as gentle as eve when she turned to face me, only changing to one of minor surprise when I knelled before her, the knuckles of my right hand lightly touching the ground in front of my thigh while my left arm was held to my chest, my elbow resting upon my knee as I lowered my head in respect.

Reflex, really.  Royalty was rare but to those who were of true importance, this was the greeting I was taught to give and it didn’t take a genius to know the title Princess was a mark of true importance if there ever was one.  A moment of silence hung in the air before the Princess giggled gently, causing me to look up to her with confusion.  The gentle look on her face only served to increase my sense of serenity and peace as she looked down to me and bowed her head politely, her voice as soothing as the lake water below.  "Oh my, you do not have to act so formal around me."

Nodding slowly, I began to stand up and look out upon the lake, watching the fish within the water swim around freely.  The water was clean and pure, despite the constant negative energy that was tossed into it whenever one came to visit their dragons.  Celestia and I remained in peaceful quite for a few minutes, enjoying the calming way that flowed so freely around the two of us until she asked "What is this place?"  I couldn't help but find myself smiling a bit at her question, though the answer she desired was a bit more difficult than it normally should of been.

"This place does not have a name." I began, my eyes never leaving the water and followed a yellow koi fish that lazily drifted with the stagnant water.  "It is where those who practice Celtic meditation come to dispose of their negative thoughts and emotions before greeting their dragons.  The waters remain pure and calm; a symbol of the purity of the ultimate energy that surrounds all of existence."  I lightly scratched the back of my head as I thought of a more fitting answer, pausing to think.  "Though if I would have to give it a name I guess it would have to be... The Lake of Tranquility .”

My eyes spotted Celestia nodding slowly as she spoke.  “A fitting name if ever there was one for a place like this.”  I saw her slowly turn towards me, her hooves making little-to-no sound against the wooden floor.  Turning to face her, my eyes locked upon the Princess’s as she continued, her voice holding a hint of concern.  “But why are you here, dose something trouble you?”

“To be honest, Princess Celestia, I am not entirely sure myself why I was called here.  Nor am I certain why you are here as well, I was lead to believe it was Princess Luna, your sister, who held the power to visit dreams.” As I spoke, I pondered if meditation could actually be called a dream at all.  It did hold similar characteristics and was only obtainable after a set period of relaxation.  Another question to point out is why Celestia is not alarmed by the fact that I knew her name, yet we have never met.  How was I even able to speak with her; she was a cartoon character!

My thoughts had been abruptly cut off when I heard the sound of hooves stepping upon the wooden planks of the bridge from behind me.  I slowly turned to spot a slightly shorter mare, her coat a flawless dark blue with black marking on her flank which allowed the waxing moon on it to pop out.  Her tail and mane flowed similar to Celestia’s, but instead of being plentiful in colors, it shared similarities with the night sky, stars twinkling in her mane as she furrowed her brow, an unamused look on her face.

“You can thank us for bringing our sister here to this unusual place.”  The horned Pegasus answered in a powerful voice which seemed to be swallowed by the calming air.  The way she spoke, the sound of her voice, the way the pony looked, it had all lead me to the same conclusion; this was indeed Princess Luna, Celestia’s sister and the wielder of the moon.  My reflexes had quickly taken effect and I bowed in the same fashion to Luna as I had to Celestia not so long ago, which earned me a stifled giggle from the bearer of the sun.

As I slowly rose with a slight knot of nervousness in my gut, Celestia drew my attention as she spoke.  “Yes, my sister did bring me here with her to see if you were alright.  My student, Princess Twilight Sparkle, should have located you by now where ever your body is in the real world.”  She paused for a moment as I raised an eyebrow at her, unaware she knew the question that was on my mind at the moment.  “You radiate quite a large amount of magic, just like your friend, Patrick.”

“P-Patrick!” I shouted as realization don on me.  I was in so much pain; so much disarray in the physical world that he had completely slipped my mind, as well as the encounter with the Timberwolf had just scared the life out of me.  The lake’s mystical effects began to slowly push my panic aside, though it was still very strong at the moment.  “Where is he?  Is he safe?  Did anything bad happen to him?”

My train of thought had been derailed when Princess Celestia raised her hoof to stop me as Princess Luna stepped to her sister’s side and the effects of the lake washed away the last of my concern.  “Your friend is fine, Wayward.  He had appeared in my throne room a day before you and was in quite better condition than you were when he awoke.”  She giggled a bit more before continuing with a bit of a larger smile on her face at the memory.  “He was so excited to see us that we feared he may have been slightly crazy.  But after he explained how he knew us and our history, he realized that you were nowhere to be found and began to panic, much like you had begun to do just a moment ago.”

“Forgive Patrick and my rudeness, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.”  I paused to bow respectively, dipping my entire upper body forward and straight as I continued.  “Our bond is strong, not much dissimilar than a brotherly bond.  We are friends who seek to protect each other till the end of days.”  Patrick and I had only known each other for a short six years, but those six years were years that revealed an unbreakable bond between the two of us.  I kept my bow for several moments before returning to my usual posture and waited for the Princesses to respond.

After exchanging glances to one another, the Princesses looked to me and both gave a slow yet firm nod.  Luna was the first to speak, her face showing no emotional expression as she said with a slightly quieter voice “We understand your concern, Wayward.  You have nothing to fear, we take no offense to you or your friend’s actions.”  Celestia chimed in after hearing her sister’s words and said “We actually find it quite refreshing to know we are so well known outside of our own world.  To think that my student had attracted so much attention and admiration from an entire world, it is rather flattering, actually.”

Our conversation was cut short when I felt a familiar sensation wash over my body slowly.  With a concerned look to the two Princesses, who spotted the look on my face, I said “I dislike ending conversations prematurely, but I am certain I am being pulled away from my meditation.  I believe your student has found me…” I paused for a minute to consider any other possible option and spoke out with a hint amusement in my voice “Or I could be a pack of Timberwolves dinner, which is a viable option as well.”

Celestia gave me a smile while her sister did not find the joke quiet as funny.  “That jest is in poor taste, Wayward.  You would be wise as to avoid jokes like that again while in Equestria.”  I bowed slightly to Luna, though I mentally shrugged; I thought it was a decent joke, considering everything.  “I apologize, Princess Luna.  I will keep your advice in mind during my stay.”

They remained quiet as the sensation of being pulled from my meditation grew even stronger.  The reason for the silence was made apparent when I straightened myself once again; they had left.  A rather abrupt departure, but at least now they wouldn’t be at risk of being kept within this land if I had awoken.

Breathing a sigh of relief, I turned and began to walk back from where I had come from, watching as the darkness appeared in the shape of a minuscule dot.  As my feet lead me closer to the darkness, it began to quickly overtake the white area around me and I felt my feet begin to feel sluggish before the sensation of falling overtook my senses.  With a deep breath, I closed my eyes, and prepared myself for whatever the world had in store for me.