Braveheart: The Untold Stories Episode 18: Unknown Influence
As I walked throughout the Frozen North, the cold wind bit at my face. I pulled the scarf over my muzzle and continued on. These unforgiving and extreme conditions were what calmed me down. I had an unnatural ability to calm down in any weather, and that worked to my advantage. There was nothing but snow and ice as far as I could see, so I just kept walking. I didn’t care where I was going. I just needed to walk. I started to remember the nightmare I had.
“Fate is unchanging,” I repeated from the voice. “Fate is unforgiving. Fate will consume you. Fate will murder you. Fate has been decided. Fate has sealed your doom.” I shuddered at the thoughts. I shook my head and continued walking. I looked up to see a small stream of black smoke. It was slowly flowing through the air towards me. I reached out a hoof and touched the smoke, and immediately yanked it back. The smoke was freezing to the touch, painfully so. The smoke started to encircle me, and I stepped out of its reach. The smoke seemed to have a mind of its own, following me wherever I went. I decided to follow the smoke to its source. As I followed the smoke trail, it stopped trying to grab me. Instead, it seemed to urge me to keep going. I kept going through the Frozen North, until I saw a small slit in the snow, where the smoke was coming from. I charged up a small blast and shot at the slit. The ice started to split, and I backed up. The ice shattered and fell away, revealing a large ice cave. I jumped down and opened up my wings to ensure a safe landing. The smoke seemingly nodded and moved me along. I suddenly heard the voice again.
“Fate is unchanging,” it said. I charged up a blast and whipped around. Nopony was there. I faded the spell and lit up my horn for some light. I slid the goggles onto my forehead and the scarf around my neck. The smoke continued through the cave. I sat down for a second to rest.
“Fate is unforgiving,” the voice said.
“Who’s there?” I called through the cave. My voice echoed through the cave, but there was no response. I stood up and kept walking, following the smoke. As I continued through the cave, the ice changed to a dark, black crystal. I started to get uncomfortable. The smoke didn’t get wider, but its influence on me grew. I shook my head to clear my mind and kept walking.
“Fate will consume you,” the voice growled.
“Shut up!” I cried. My voice echoed again. My vision started to shift to a bright green tint. I gripped my head, trying to shake the smoke’s influence. The green tint in my vision faded, and I decided to sit down for a moment. I didn’t know what it was, but the smoke seemed to get more sentient as I kept going. I looked down at my shadow. It had started to spas out and grow fangs. The mane seemed to flow with a fiery movement. Purple smoke emanated from green eyes as it smiled wickedly with pointed teeth. I suddenly got a migraine, and I gripped my head in pain. When I recovered, my shadow had reverted to normal. I started to breathe rapidly.
“Fate will murder you,” the voice said. I took a few deep breaths and stood back up. The cave got larger and darker as I went on. When I got to a certain point, not even the light of my magic could light the way. I tried to intensify the light, but that effort proved pointless. I could feel the cold aura of the smoke above me, so I carefully kept going, cautiously taking one step at a time. The dark cave suddenly opened into a lit crystal chamber. The black crystals formed distorting walls, and crystal pillars held up the ceiling. It was quite fascinating. As I turned around, the exit had been sealed off by another crystal wall. I was stuck.
“Well, shit,” I muttered to myself. I looked around. While there was indeed light given out by the green fire lamps, there were no shadows. Not from me, not from the pillars, nothing. The smoke directed my attention to a small stand in the center of the room. On it was a curved broken horn. It started as a dark grey at the base, then shifted to a blood red at the tip. The black smoke radiated from the tip of the horn.
“Fate has been decided,” the voice spoke again.
“Enough!” I cried to the air. “What fate are you talking about? I don’t understand!” The smoke suddenly retreated back into the horn, and the horn crackled with purple and green static. I took a step back. The horn slowly rose into the air, and I charged up a magic blast. The horn levitated closer to me, and I took another step away from it. The smoke poured out of the horn’s base, taking the shape of a stallion. The horn rotated to a position where it looked natural on the stallion silhouette. The silhouette opened its eyes, revealing blank, green retinas with purple smoke coming from the eyes. I fired off a blast of magic, and the shot exploded. When the smoke cleared, a shattered crystal spike was jutting out of the floor in front of the stallion silhouette. The silhouette’s eyes narrowed, and it deformed into black smoke. The smoke circled around me rapidly, too fast for me to track. The smoke stopped and made a move to strike, but I jumped out of the way. I rolled backwards, hopped into the air, and landed on my hooves. The smoke rematerialized back into the silhouette. The green eyes opened up again.
“What do you want with me?” I demanded. “Who are you?”
“Fate has sealed your doom,” the silhouette hissed. In a quick movement, the smoke consumed me, and I lost consciousness.
