“Is that all?” Artyom’s voice echoed through the large room. At the center of the room sat Artyom, as well as the royal sisters. Both sisters took turns in asking a series of questions ranging from his awakening to his travels around the kingdom of Drangleic.

It had been more than an hour since Artyom had agreed to go with them. He did not mind their mode of transportation as he has done the same in the past, but that didn't stop the sisters from apologizing.

“Just one more question.” Luna spoke before her sister took the lead.

“Why must you wear your helmet inside?” Celestia asked the man in armor. “I can assure you that there isn't anything that could cause us any harm in this room or any other room in the palace.”

“I don't doubt your words, your majesty.” Artyom spoke his answer. “But for why I wear this, you must know that Drangleic was land filled with treacherous paths and abominations. Taking my helmet off has never occurred to me in the slightest.” Artyom explained in a brief but detailed explanation.

“I understand but we are not in Drangleic. That kingdom fell long ago and the curse was lifted long after that. Equestria still stands tall after nearly three millennia.” Celestia replied to the Bearer. Silence greeted the group as Artyom took those words to consideration before placing both hands on either side of his helmet. With a deep sigh, Artyom took off the helmet and revealed what the man looks like under his helmet.

The first noticeable thing was his raven black hair, reaching onto his shoulders and clearly unkempt for who knows how long. How Artyom was able to use the helmet with such hair is a mystery. The second most notable feature was the long scar across his face. His right eye appeared to have to no iris, only pure white while his left eye was a crystal blue color.

The sisters have seen many handsome men throughout their everlasting lives but Artyom surpasses them all and without even trying. Celestia could've sworn she felt her cheeks heat up and her heart beat.

“I don't remember the last time I have taken off my helmet.” Artyom spoke, breaking the silence between him and the sister's. His face was covered in thin layer of grime and with a wipe with his hand, Artyom became aware of it, but simply shook his head, knowing nothing he could do would clean it right then.

“I think it's time to put this meeting to a close. Artyom, I will show you to your quarters.” Said Celestia as she stood up from her seat. Luna simply vanished in a bright light.

“Very well.” Artyom replied with a simple nod and stood up before taking hold of his shield and scabbard. “Lead the way, your majesty.” Celestia nodded and led Artyom to one of the many guest rooms of the palace.

~Ω~

“And then he showed and took out the Manticore by himself. You should've seen it, it was awesome!” Exclaimed the ever enthusiastic Scootaloo.

It has been several hours since the princesses left with the unknown man that so kindly escorted the three children to their siblings. Now the group sat in the library, hearing what the girls had to say - and that included their situation at the forest.

“And he had this huuuge sword! It was even bigger than any sword I've seen!” Scootaloo said. Twilight was the only one who gave a questioning look at this statement but kept it to herself. “He and the Manticore charged towards each other but the guy was faster than the Manticore and stabber it between its eyes. It was brutal.” Scootaloo said without a hint of disgust while the group tried but failed to keep their disgust hidden.

“I think it's time to go home.” Rarity said after a brief moment of silence. “Let's go, Sweetie.” Hearing this, Sweetie Belle wasted no time in getting up and was already at the door. With a wave, Rarity gave her goodbyes before leaving the library.

The rest of the girls followed suit soon after. Rainbow Dash took Scootaloo and left without a word before Applejack did the same and left with Apple Bloom, leaving both Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie to accompany each other out the building.

“Well, today wasn't what I expected it to be.” Twilight muttered to herself as she shivered a bit. “Spike did you turn up the-” She stopped as she saw her young assistant sprawled over the guest couch. With a single snore from him, Twilight sighed before standing up and flicking her wrist, causing a lavender aura to envelope Spike before lifting him up.

“What am I going to with you?” Twilight asked no one in particular before going up the stairs, carrying Spike with her magic behind her. Once reaching Spike’s room, Twilight only opened the door before moving Spike inside and plopping him onto his own bed.

After making sure he wouldn't roll of the bed, Twilight closed the door before heading back downstairs. Once downstairs, Twilight began to think to herself.

She felt very tired all of a sudden and her body grew weak by the second. Her eyes became heavy to keep open and without any warning, her vision turned black.

With a sudden jolt, Twilight awoke in panic and sat up from whatever she was laying, to which she quickly assume was a bed of grass as the first thing she could see from her surroundings was an open field with a gazebo in the center. Wincing from a sudden ache of the head, Twilight placed a hand onto her forehead and quickly noticed the state of her arm.

Her arm took a golden ethereal form as so did her body. Fascination towards the state of her entire being was soon replaced with panic, fearing the worse for her. The loud thud of something or someone landing hard onto the surface took Twilight out of her panic state.

Looking towards the direction the sound originated from, Twilight could see that someone had appeared in the gazebo and laid on the floor with no movement whatsoever. Twilight walked closer to the downed form of a heavily clothed man, a sudden urge to get closer overtook her.

She stopped just mere inches away from the fallen man. Even with a much closer look, she saw no movement whatsoever. He was not breathing and this worried Twilight, hoping that this man would live.

Relief and surprise donned Twilight face as she saw the man place his hands firmly on the gazebo floor before pushing himself up with a grunt. As the man did this, Twilight only caught a brief glimpse of the man's cold dead pure white eyes.

The man now stood straight before walking down the gazebo and making his way down a small yet noticeable path through the thick grass. Twilight felt obligated to follow and she did.

Going through the rocky archway, the path they had walked led towards another grassy clearing. However, unlike the other, this one was littered with the skeletal remains of the unfortunate ones.

A shiver ran up Twilight’s spine at the sight as she continued to follow the unknown man. After walking through the skeleton littered field, they had rounded a corner and were both greeted by the sounds of rushing water.

Above the rushing water was an old rickety bridge, but despite its poor condition, the unknown man walked on the bridge without a care of the world. Twilight followed suit after a brief moment of thought.

Once the bridge was crossed, the sounds of laughter greeted both of them. Twilight stared at the large tree in both awe and curiosity but these feeling were soon gone as she felt odd.

Looking down at herself, she could see what was wrong. Her legs were slowly vanishing. Despite this fact, she felt no need to panic and only walked closer to the heavily clothed man as the latter opened a door on the side of a large tree. Quickly following behind as the door closed behind the man, Twilight slipped in between the closing gap.

Three elder women sat in the room in front of Twilight. One sat near the fireplace while the other two sat next to the table. Twilight had also noticed the middle-aged woman that appeared to be their housekeeper.

“An Undead has come to play. Heh heh…” The Elder Woman by the fire said without moving her gaze from the dancing flames. This was greeted with the laughter of the other two.

“They all end up here, all the ones like you.” Another said. Twilight knew these words were not directed towards herself but to the man she followed.

“You spoke to that kind old dear, didn't you?
Heh heh…” A third one said before cackling.

“You're finished.”

“You'll go Hollow.”

“Yes, you will become one of them.” These words sounded hurtful to Twilight even if they weren't directed towards her but the man stood tall and unmoving as heard the elders speak. “Hollows prey upon men, feast upon their souls.”

“This is the fate of the cursed. Heh heh heh…” The woman by the fire said with another cackle.

“All people come here for the same reason.” The woman at the side of the table said, never looking at the man. Twilight wondered what they spoke of.

“To break the curse.” Of course, Twilight didn't need to wait that long for an answer but this only left with another question.

‘What curse?’ Twilight thought

“You're no different, I should think?” Another woman said.

“Hmm… doesn't stand a chance.” Followed by another. Twilight found it difficult to know which elder spoke.

“Well, you never know!
Go through the door and trot along to the kingdom.” The woman by the fire said. “But remember, hold on to your souls.”

“They're all that keep you from going Hollow.” This time it was the woman on the end of the table who spoke to the man. The man simply took this as his queue to leave but as he passed the elder woman sitting near the burning fireplace, the latter’s hand quickly gripped onto the man's wrist.

“Oh, I'll fool you no longer…
You'll lose your souls…All of them. Over and over again.” The woman said, gripping onto the man's hand. The woman then gave the man a small effigy.

“You must go, on a journey without rest. Well…I suppose, if you find yourself at an impasse…” The woman said, her voice trailing into a few incoherent mumbles. “But if your will is yet unbroken, then you may return here.”

“To start again, with a clean slate…” The other elder by the table said before the woman next to her cackled.

“Hah hah hah…"

The hand that gripped the man's wrist let go and allowed the man to walk through the back door. Twilight followed closely behind. Once the door was opened, Twilight quickly walked out before the man closed the door behind him.

Now outside the small home, there was a sword embedded into a stone that surrounded by the skeletal remains of a man. The unknown man walked up to the sword before placing his hand on the hilt of the blade, causing the blade to be engulfed in flames.

Just as the flames lit, Twilight felt weak once again. Looking down she could see that her body was gone and only the ethereal form of her own head remain but like the moment before, she felt no need to panic and quickly sat by the fire along the man.

Her eyes grew increasingly difficult to keep open as the flames flickered. Just as she closed her eyes, the man took hold of the tattered hood that covered his face. Her eyes closed, the last thing she heard was the man taking his hood off before the roar of the flames.

Her eyes opened to the bright light of the morning sun and the sounds of people chatting outside. Twilight scanned her surroundings and found that she was back in her own home.

“It must've been a dream.” Twilight sighed as she sat up with a groan. “Why did I sleep on the floor?” She asked herself as she stretched her arms before beginning to stand up.

After dusting herself off, she took one glance at ground she slept on and found a puddle of drool. With a groan, she went to clean the mess up with a mop she had picked up from her kitchen.

‘What was that dream?’ She wondered as she began to mop up the puddle. “Maybe it wasn't a dream, a vision maybe?” She said out loud.

“What's a vision?” The voice of her adopted baby brother said as the teen in question walked into the main room. “And what's with the mop?”

“I just… spilled some water.” She lied before putting the mop away. “You know how I am in the mornings.” She said with an awkward smile.

“Right, what about the vision you said?” Spike asked with a questioning lock.

“It's nothing.” Twilight answered, this earned a frown from the younger sibling before Twilight once again. “Don't you have to help Rarity with something?” This gained a wide eyed look from Spike before he looked at the clocked beside him.

“I'm late!” Spike exclaimed before running upstairs and only minutes later he ran back down in different clothes. Without a word, he ran out through the door in breakneck speed that caused the people outside to look at the running teen.

With a sigh of relief, Twilight used her magic to close the door properly before turning to look at the kitchen. She sighed out loud.

“Whatever it was can wait, I'm hungry.” She said as entered the kitchen and opened her fridge. “Now, what can I make without burning the place down.”

~Ω~

Artyom had spent many a days traveling through the ruins of the once proud kingdom of Drangleic, without rest. Sleeping was another thing Artyom had avoided doing throughout his travels.

Waking up to sounds of blowing wind, Artyom could feel the softness of the bed that brought comfort to the man. Opening his eyes, he was greeted with the rays of sunshine that entered the room. Sitting up, Artyom looked over to where the wind was blowing and found the balcony door completely open.

Artyom stood up from the bed with a grunt before simply walking towards the balcony, passing by his discarded armor on the floor. He took hold of the door handle before gently closing the door. With a click, the door shut and left the room in silence.

Artyom scanned the room, spotting the full body mirror in between two dressers. With a sense of curiosity, Artyom walked in front of the mirror and took a look at his reflection for the first time in many years.

Scars riddled his entire body, from large scars that crossed through the entirety of his chest, to small scratched over his arms and legs. One scar though stood out from the rest, at the center of his chest was a circular scar. He never knew how he had managed to get such a scar. Shaking his head, Artyom let out a sigh as he looked over towards the door that led to a bathroom.

With what Celestia had told Artyom, one of the modern day utilities known as a shower could help clean the dirt off him. It was then that Artyom decided to enter the bathroom. If what he knew carried onto the modern day, clothing was not meant to be bathed with and it was with that though that Artyom had stripped of his only remaining clothing.

After stepping into the shower, Artyom utilized the knowledge Celestia had taught him and turned the shower handle at quarter away from the hot setting. The effect was the warm rushing water greeting Artyom's body.

With a sigh of pure relief, he felt himself relax from the warm water and began to bathe after many years.

Author's Note

Finally got this done. Hope you enjoyed.

Edited by CommanderWolffe