I read once that death by cold was supposed to be peaceful, as if you were going into deep sleep; from which you would never wake up. The end is just as they described it, I’ll give them that. Everything leading up to death is the worst imaginable pain you could imagine, first your limbs start to freeze. Let me tell you that that is something I would never wish upon anyone, it feels like a frozen flame that does not leave your body. It enhances every pain receptor in your body, the snow feels like needles puncturing my hooves every time I take a step.
Sleep was a mercy. Death I accepted gladly, I had completed my mission. The monster was distracted and the city should have been able to evacuate. I still can believe that the king was defeated so easily, the captains didn’t fare much better to be honest. The amalgamation of creatures killed them all, it raged as if we wronged it somehow. If we did, if we created it, then we deserve what we got. The power it radiated was a perversion to the laws of magic; it left a wile taste in my mouth even standing next to it.
But the people DID NOT deserve its ire. Innocent children, of all races, fell beneath its… whichever animal its feet were from. I couldn’t take it, I became the great arch mage and scholar because I hated pain. I admit I am a coward. No reason to deny it. My brother, the general of lightning kingdoms army, is the brave one; albeit a bit brutish and headstrong at times. While I just experimented and wrote theories. Many spells and new findings came out as a result, which later got me a high place at court, as well as the recognition of great scholars and the king himself.
A lot of good that is now. If my brother was in my place the whole forest would be bowing to him right now. Instead here I am, in a frozen forest in the midst of a snow storm. My horn was broken and so was my left wing, or ripped to shreds, I can’t tell I’ve most likely lost it to frostbite now. My hooves were also frostbitten, the pain has started to fade away now.
If anyone survives they will probably think I was brave and courageous. Leading that thing away from the fleeting civilians, giving them enough time to escape. They may even hail me as a hero and write songs in my honour. I can see it now, the great hero who fought the abomination with all kinds of spells and hexes. I just hope they don’t mention I only managed to take out one of its fangs. Pathetic I know.
I found a cave later, it was as cold as the outside. I knew I was going to die, the only lament I had was the hope it would be painless. So I sat there, my back to there with my back to the rough wall. Awaiting my death, as my eyelids became heavier and heavier. The darkness started to consume me.
Light assaulted my eyes. Groaning I opened them. I was confused. Disorientated. I felt warm. It was wrong. There was no pain. Is this death. Feels like it. Tired. So tired. Need sleep.
The next time I woke it was not the paradise I was hoping for. If anything, it was a Tartarus made just for me. There was no river of souls or the ferry to carry me across it. Instead I got IT again, smiling at me with that awful face, now missing a fang. It wasn’t a feral grin, there was not a glint of malice in his eyes; only a terrifying curiosity was radiating off of him.
I was terrified, but too tired to fight back for some reason. Even if I could do anything was there any real reason to do it? Last time I used all I had and all it did was brake his fang off. There was no hope in stopping him, even my brother and the king fell.
“So you are finally awake?” It spoke in a disturbingly nice sounding voice. “Good. I have to say I am quite impressed with you.” He chuckled darkly and dropped me on a pile of cushions. I hadn’t even realized that I was being held.
Snapping his talons a chair materialised behind him. He sat and continued. “I heard a lot about you from my mother.” he said mother with such loathing,” You see she hated you oh so much. Ranting all the time about how you got into the position you were just because of your brother.” He sighed as if remembering fond memories, but I could not shake the feeling that they weren’t nice in any way. Then he materialized a glass of wine and drank the glass, and I mean drank the glass. Not the wine, that still hovered in the same place, but the actual glass. “By the way she was talking about you someone would think that she liked you or something – she ranted quite often about the ‘unfairness of it all’.” he air-quoted the last part, “Instead she had this infatuation with your brother. It went as far as a shrine with candles, flowers, ragdolls, sculptures and a big portrait in the centre. Quite creepy if you ask me.” He shivered” Don’t get me wrong, she hated your guts and kept saying the only reason…” Then he abruptly stopped and looked at me. “Didn’t I already say that part?”
I managed a weak nod.
He cleared his throat. “Alright then, my apologies. As I was saying, she hated you and the attention you got from everyone. Mother thought you weren’t as smart or powerful as everyone thought, she would always bring me as an example of her genius.” There was a long pause where he just watched me for a long period of time. I didn’t do anything, I couldn’t move really, I just stood there silently looking back. Suddenly he resumed his speech as if we hadn’t just spent two minutes watching me. “Now that I actually fought you in person her claims don’t seem to hold any water. Don’t think that I had high expectation about you, I practically grew up listening how bad you were. Now I know how it must sound, I came and killed all those people just because of you. That’s where you would be wrong, you came to me, I wasn’t even aware that was where you lived; mother forgot to teach me many important things. Anything besides magic, theory and the arts is probably wrong.”
There was probably no point to his ranting, besides finally having someone to confide to. I did not want to be the psychotherapist for this monster. He killed my brother, the king, destroyed the kingdom and my laboratory with it, not to mention he killed me. So I summoned all of my feeble strength and cut his rant short. “What… do you… want?” I managed in a barely above a whisper voice.
The monster, I would not give it the luxury of being anything but that, seemed surprised that I talked. “Well aren’t you full of surprises, I didn’t expect you to be able to do much of anything for at least a couple of more days.” He said jubilantly.” It’s quite remarkable that you are even able to speak so soon after I revived you.” He said with a grin, the same grin a little foal has when their experiment is doing well.
‘Wait revived?!’ I screamed inside of my head, because I couldn’t on the outside, even widening my eyes was too much exertion. ’Does that mean I’m a zombie?!” This was terrible, if I really died that it the only conclusion I can come up with. I never delved into necromancy that much to know if it was possible to retain conscious mind-set as a zombie. I decided to ask him, I had nothing to lose. “Am…I…Zombie?” I somehow manged to utter.
My question made it laugh, a full belly laugh that lasted for a minute. After it was finished it wiped off a fake tear from it eye. “No you are still a living alicorn. I just brought you back from the dead, which was much easier considering you froze to death. Now if you were mowed or blown to pieces that would have been really hard. I couldn’t guarantee you that your head would be in its place but you would be alive, at least.”
It got up and walked behind me. I was unable to turn my head enough to see what he was doing, but I could hear shuffling and something breaking behind me. ”Ah! There it is!” I heard it exclaim. Then there was quick shuffling of feet and I could see it again, now holding a saddlebag, more precisely my saddle bag. Before I left my lag I made sure to stuff all of my books, notes and the entirety of the royal library in them, they had an enchantment that made them bottomless. Too bad I forgot to take anything that could have saved me in that forest.
“This thing is a real piece of work.” It said with an eager expression. “I tried every single thing I could to open it and it all failed. The enchantments on it are simply amazing. Did you use runic or ritual magic?” it asked.
It was still hard to speak, I still couldn’t form complete sentences. So of course my answer were just a few words.” Blood… magic.” I managed. This was a new kind of magic. Something I have been working on for decades now. The name made people turn away just from hearing it, which is why I never mentioned it to the king and queen. It didn’t have any practical usages besides sealing and doing low level enchantments. I found out that it destroyed any previous spells and enchantments that were present on the item. So essentially it was a strange kind of magic that didn’t have many practical usages, but it was irreversible by anyone besides the blood member. It was immensely useful to me in some menial tasks, for example making most of my chemistry vial unbreakable.
“I don’t believe I’ve ever heard of that kind of magic. It must be pretty old.” It cut of my musings short with its statement. It was funny how wrong he was.
“No… my… new… invented.” I spoke in my butchered sentences.
Its mouth dropped at my statement. “You…You invented a new kind of magic!?” it exclaimed executively. It was kind of wrong. I didn’t invent a new form of magic, I simply discovered it. It, the magic, always existed in nature. I was just first to learn about it.
“Not invent…Discover.” I corrected myself. I noticed that my sentences were getting progressively better. They were still difficult and butchered, but not as much as before.
“Same difference.” It said dismissively. “Now I am quite curious as to how it works. Would you be so inclined as to share its secrets with me?” it asked, fluttering its eyelashes. Disgusting.
A normal person would agree and try to suck up to it to stay alive. In hindsight it would have benefits. It was clear that it was powerful and could defy death. Imagine what I would receive if I got on its good side. Too bad it killed my brother and friends. Too bad I am not a normal person. So naturally my reply was, “Never.” As weak as it was.
It was in utter shock. That shock turned into rage fast enough. “You might change your mind soon enough.” It growled at me, but I didn’t care. I should be dead anyway. The monster then snapped its talons and the world faded to black.
Next time I woke I was greeted with the ugliest face you could imagine. I won’t go into detail, but let’s just say that the giant nose, horns and the horrible goatee made me want to die again. I jumped back and went into a ready stance, charging my horn.
The ugly beast jumped back, scared. “What the!? That thing’s alive?!” it exclaimed in a deep voice.
A laugh came from my left. There I found it, sitting on a herd of sheep and eating their wool. “Oh yea. I probably should have warned you.” He took another bite of the wool. “Be careful, he’s pretty strong. Better not mess with him.”
The ugly one huffed in annoyance. “As if a weakling like him could harm me!” it proclaimed. Thumping his chest.
It just chuckled in response and started to run his fingers through his fangs, but stopped soon after as the missing fang was annoying him. “Trust me, he’s stronger than you think. I made the mistake of underestimating him.” He said darkly. “Don’t make the same mistake. Even I don’t know the full extent of his knowledge. I still can’t brake one of his spells.”
“Bah, ponies are weak!” The ugly one proclaimed. What were ponies anyway?
It then got up and walked towards us. “Ponies are, but you have to remember that he is not a pony.” It said, amusement in its voice. “Alicorns are fickle creatures, their power is great. Wisdom and knowledge unmatched. Why do you think I have him here? I need someone that knowledge. I wouldn’t if his bags weren’t enchanted with that damned magic!” it shouted in rage the last sentence.
I smirked. He will never be able to open the bags. The magic will last even after I die, it will be considerably weaker but I’m not going to tell him that. “I guess you still haven’t figured it out, have you?”
It growled. “No, I haven’t. Even after a century and a half. That is why he is here.” It gestured to the ugly one. “I was hoping that he would have more success. I know none of the alicorns had, so perhaps a centaur will.”
That made my smirk drop. I’ve been encased in stone for a hundred and fifty years?! I… What… How? He had other alicorns attempt to break the blood seal? “How did I sleep for that long?” I decided to voice the last question.
Much to its annoyance the ugly one answered. “You weren’t sleeping. You were petrified.” Then ugly turned its head toward it. “Where is this unbreakable spell?”
“Right here.” It said and the snapped his fingers, which made my bags appear next to him. “Give it your best shot.” It said before throwing the bags to the ugly one. They never reached him. My black lightning did.
“AAAARRRHHH!!!” Ugly screamed as his arm flew to the opposite side. I blinked my bags on my back and started to run down the hall.
I ran as fast as my body would allow me. I honestly couldn't believe that I was thankful to my brother for forcing me to do the drill exercises with him and his soldiers. I was in pretty good shape thanks to that. That and the fact that all of these dead ends weren't doing anything to stop me when I could blast trough them, meant that I was gaining some distance on those monsters. The worst part was that the halls weren't wide enough for me to fly trough. So instead I ran until I got to the end of the structure. What greeted me outside was disturbing. The land looked like a big chess board. The sky was split into day and night, with pink clouds and up-side-down tornadoes. There were even plants and animals floating around.
"Lovely, isn't it?" Asked a voice behind me.
Startled, I jumped and faced the voice. It was it. The monster must have done this. "What have you done?" I asked, my voice just above a whisper.
"I made everything fun!" It said in a cheerily. "What do you think? I personally believe that there should be more pink." It asked, not even batting an eye at the destruction it has caused.
I started charging my magic. Building it up for the strongest spell I could muster. I would take us and anything within five kilometers off of this world.
"Now, now. We can't have you doing something dangerous can we?" I heard distantly. But I was too focused on the spell to pay attention.
That was a big mistake. Because the world turned black again, and I still continued to draw power. I only hoped that I would explode at some point and take him with me.
