The Warlock

Once upon a time, in a land that was once called Antera, there lived a nation. This nation was a land of mystery, technology, and forbidden secrets. The citizens were just as secretive as their hidden cities and marvels of technology. The humans. They inhabited the land, yet they were unknown to the rest of the continent, the mountainous land shrouding them from the outside world. For thousands of years, the land remained shrouded in mystery. It was in the year 5323 P.N. that the ancient zebras managed to climb the mountains of Antera. Finding a society they had no idea existed, the zebras reported back to their elders, and went to war.

To the humans credit, they managed to avoid any unnecessary deaths. They would fight for eight years, yet only lost a few hundred warriors on either side. The humans and zebras came to a lasting peace in the year 5315 P.N.

The peace lasted for nearly four thousand years, the longest time of peace in recorded history The humans and zebras, as well as the ponies and the Minotaurs, all came under one flag for the first time in recorded history. This was a golden age for the entire continent. Technological wonders that many could not even fathom The average lifespan of all creatures extended by sometimes up to 30 years. There was even talk of attempting a space flight to the moon. For the first time, all was good.

But as they say, all good things must come to an end.

The sound of the thumper hammering away at the stone floor was constant. The thumper looked like an overgrown refrigerator with two handles on each side for operators to hold on to. On the bottom was a large pin used to punch holes in the bedrock the size of a fist. On the top was a cable that connected the thumper to the excavations lay line tap (1).

With a great cracking sound, the thumper, along with all eight of its operators, fell into the ground. This would happen on occasion, what with the crystal caverns appearing after around 10km deep (2). The jump jets on the feet of the operators kicked in, and they gently floated up.

“Tha was close” the foreman, a sturdy looking Minotaur panted. “Get a salvage crew down 'ere to get the thumpa' back, the're expensive and I don't wanna replace it.”

The salvage team came. The term 'team' can be used lightly, as there was only one person. A single human, who if you read his name tag, went by the name of Z'ant. Z'ant was dressed normally for a retrieval job, he was in overalls with his tool belt and tools. In his left hand was a multitool (3), and in his right was a datapad. Adorning his head was a dual layer watch cap filled with a hyper reactive non-Newtonian fluid to protect him from falling objects. He was also vulgar, foul tempered, and drunk on the local hay vodka.

All in all, he was an archetypal retrieval crew.

“Alright, what fell this time, Iron Fist?” The human questioned the foreman with a slight hiccup.

“A thumpa', musta hit a crystal cavern or summat'.”

Looking down, Z'ant shined a light into the 2 meter hole the thumper created and was immediately assaulted with a dazzling display that only a room full of reflective surfaces can create. “Yeah, no shit.” He was stunned by the shear magnitude of the size of the crystals in the cavern. Most of the crystals were at least half a meter in diameter, and up to 9 in some cases. The crystals alone could fund the entire dig and the next to come. “Alright, I'll be back in a few, don't leave right away, I need someone to send the line back down after I get the thumper.”

Z'ant attached a small pad to the ceiling using his jump jets to reach it. The pad adhered with a super strong contact adhesive. It was connected to a miniature tow line on the back of Z'ant's belt. Testing it carefully, he yanked on it a couple of times. After it was deemed a “meh, whatever”, he descended slowly into the pit.

After a few seconds, he dropped an IR emitter and flipped on his IR goggles, as a flashlight would have blinded him with the crystals reflections. The world immediately changed to a monochromatic one. He was about 15 meters from the bottom of the cavern when he saw the thumper. It had survived somewhat intact. Only superficial dents to the outer casing. It was laying on a pile of shattered crystals.

He fumbled with the tube of adhesive for a moment or two, finally managing to get it on the side of the thumper's chassis, he thumbed the button to send it up. Unfortunately, the thumper was over 6000 kilos, and the thing was slow as it was with only his 80. It would take about half an hour to lift up.

Sitting on one of the ruined crystal stumps, Z'ant waited. He pulled off his IR goggles to wipe off his face. And he noticed something in the absolute pitch black.

There was a light.

Not a very bright one, but a light none the less. It was uncommon for any creatures to survive down in these caves, let alone one that develops bioluminescence. But the ones that did usually were not the most friendly of creatures.

Immediately curious, Z'ant stands up and activates his multitool. It extended out half a meter from the handle, and bloomed out at the tip, forming a club about a meter in length.

Whatever it was, it was about to face the drunken wrath of Z'ant.

It was roughly 50 meters away from where the thumper broke through, and took some navigating to get there, but Z'ant was managing quite well for how hard he had been hitting the flask an hour earlier.

When he was 10 meters away, he entered a clearing in the jagged forest of crystal. Sitting in the middle of it, was a stout crystal, only a meter high and a quarter around. Flanking it were other crystals, these only 10cm around, and came out of the ground at a 45 degree angle, but were bent 90 degrees in the middle, making the whole thing look like a crystal spider. Around the spider were five smaller crystals, only a few centimeters off of the ground. These crystals were the ones emitting the light.

Z'ant, not being in the safest of mindsets, slowly approached the spider, club raised. When he was only centimeters away from it, he could make out a small, dark shape in crystal.

Something came over Z'ant that had never come over the man before. Rage and Greed. Not even knowing what it was, he saw it and would stop at nothing to posses it. He scrabbled at the crystal in desperation to reach his treasure. When the crystal would not release his object to him, he became enraged, no incensed. 'The damned crystal wants to keep my precious from me?!' He screamed to himself. 'Never!' With that last declaration, he swung his club at the spider.

The effect was immediate, the top of the body of the spider was spiderwebed with cracks. Swinging again rendered much the same result. After a few swings, the top shattered.

Z'ant picked up his treasure with glee. He had won, he was better than some stupid spider thing. Looking at it brought him only confusion.

It was a book. A small, 12X10 cm, thin paged book. Z'ant was confused to say the least.

'The fuck?' He mouthed to himself, immediately feeling like a moron. His confusion was swiftly replaced with intrigue. The book had unusual title.

Krivbeknih

Having no idea what it meant, he pocketed it for later.

Back home, Z'ant set his tools down on his desk, and pulled out the book. It was bound in a tough, yet soft, brown material. The only thing on the cover was Krivbeknih. As he was opening the cover, he stopped and began to question what he was doing.

'This thing was sealed up in crystal, and the report said that the cavern had been cut off from the surface for thousands of years. Why was it in the crystal, and why is the book open?' It had seemed as though the book opened on its own, or he did it subconsciously. Whatever it was, he did not know. Gathering his courage, he looked down.

Blank.

The pages were blank. All of them. He wasted his time, and destroyed a perfectly good crystal for a blank book. He was kicking himself for his drunken rage as he stared at the pages.

“What the fuck am I supposed to do with this?” He murmured to himself.

'Sacrifice'

The voice was impossibly deep and unfathomably ancient. Z'ant felt the word, more than hearing it. As if the one word had managed to slither in his ears and burrow into his very soul. Suppressing the a shudder, he looked around his room. He was alone. “Who said that?! I know someone's here!” He commanded, no longer comfortably buzzed.

'Sacrifice, and the knowledge I hold will belong to you.'

Z'ant did shudder this time. “What do you mean a sacrifice?” He was internally pancaking, this was a cursed item. He should bring it to the mage guild right away.

' All I require is a blood sacrifice, and yours will do. Just a drop.'

Z'ant stopped. He could turn the book in, and get a 'thank you' from the guild. Or, he could-

“Aah!” He yelped. Something cut his finger. Jerking his hand away from the source of the pain, he glanced at what cut him. All he saw was his knife in his right hand and his left hand smearing his bloody fingertip on the first page of the book.

He yanked his hand away from the book, but already, he could feel something creeping into his mind and soul.

'Free at last! I am the Krivbeknih. Thank you for freeing me from the binding spell. It has been Eons since I last roamed the Earth. Come, let us begin.'

Z'ant tried to panic and run, but his body wouldn't respond. It was like he was a prisoner in his own body. He was trapped.

Then, his body stood up. Without Z'ant's input on the matter.

“Thank you Z'ant. As a reward, I will kill you quickly.” The spirit of the Krivbeknih spoke from Z'ant's mouth.

Before Z'ant could contemplate what his body just said, his world dissolved into pain. The seconds he was in agony, his everything simply dissolving. He was the first thing to die, his personality, his emotions, his identity. The last thing to be destroyed was his memories, birthdays, friends, his graduation, his family, his wife and children's funeral. With the last and most important parts of Z'ant to be destroyed, he finally died.

Z'ant's soul was no more. Converted into pure magical energy.

His body however, simply laughed and picked up the Krivbeknih.

“With the power of this soul, I hereby condemn the souls of all humans on this world to eternally strive for evil, and be cursed with an insatiable lust for power. I claim lordship over all of humanity, and command them with everything I am. I AM THE KRIVBEKNIH! MOST ANCIENT AND FOUL OF ALL DEMONS! SO MOTE IT BE!” The demon screamed this as he released the soul energy from Z'ant in a wave that pulsed out from his body in all directions.

It was from this point that humans gained the reputation that they did. The moment the pulse passed over a human, it infected them. They would go from the kind caretakers of the world, to the ruthless and cruel monsters. They were infected via their connection to the magic of the world. No other creatures were effected other than the humans.

For the next thousand years, the world was at war with the humans. The humans, led by Z'ant, and employed the most foul of dark magics. Soul magic. To use the soul of another sapient creature to power an item was to kill the very thing that made them them. The magic had been sealed in the Krivbeknih for eons, until it was released upon an unsuspecting world. The humans terrorized the world for eight hundred years.

Until two very special sisters were brought into the world.

Born to a Unicorn and a Pegasus, who both had one Earth Pony parent, the two sisters were gifted with attributes with all three, and the intellect of an average human. The Alicorn sisters quickly became the faces of resistance to the humans. After it was discovered that they had both stopped aging at the same time, they were put into positions of power. The eldest sister was often seen at the front line of most battles with humans, and was a force to be reckoned with. The younger sister stayed behind, often dealing with angry nobles, diplomatic matters, and politics in general.

With the two sisters in command, the war started to turn in their favor. For eight hundred years, the ponies had lost more and more support from the other races, but with the younger sister handling politics better than any of her predecessors, and the older sister boosting the morale and kill count higher in one year than any year previous, the allies of old slowly started to rejoin the ponies. For the first time, the humans were loosing ground. They were loosing.

Until they created a super weapon.

Born of mutilated body parts of fallen enemies, foul dark magic, and a million damned souls, the monster that terrorized ponies long after the humans were pushed back to the Echo was born. He was a being of pure malice, rage, and chaos. Almost indestructible, and utterly loyal to the humans, he would utilize his unnatural magics to kill, dismember, and decimate pony forces. As hard as they tried to kill him, he was simply too powerful to die, and could not be captured. The creature has had many names over the years, most of them long forgotten, but one remains.

Discord.

He would terrorize the ponies for hundreds of years. Long after the humans left, he was there, he was always there. The entire continent was under his control. The ponies however, ended his reign with a secret weapon. The Elements of Harmony. Discovered by the elder sister, and utilized by both sisters, they trapped Discord in enchanted stone for over a thousand years. Unbreakable, unmoving, and unyielding, the sisters trapped him atop the largest mountain in all of Equestria. And built a truly impressive fortress designed solely to watch over him. The fortress would go through many redesigns over a thousand years, and would finally settle on what is now the royal palace in Canterlot.

The humans had been pushed all the way back to the border of the Echo, a desolate, ever changing wasteland. The humans utilized the terrain to their advantage. Guerrilla tactics and sabotage held the ponies for 50 years in their position. They were stuck for the first time in hundreds of years.

The elder sister made a discovery in the year 58P.N. That the corruption that turned the humans was in their link to magic. That if a human linked to magic in a different way, they could avoid the evil. In one of the human cities they sacked, she discovered a sarcophagus in the lowest level, under a stasis field for what looked like two hundred years. Inside the sarcophagus was the key to winning the war.

The Warlock.

Because of a rare genetic mutation, the human's connection to magic was vastly different to that of any other being on the planet. Only able to learn a very limited number of spells, and unable to teach the spells, he was limited in what he was capable of. But with a specialized connection to magic, he could draw directly from the environment, instead of internalizing magic for a short time before it could be used. He was sealed away when it was discovered what he could do, and that he was not interested in helping the humans.

When the elder sister uncovered him, she tried to kill him. When it failed, he healed her wounds from the numerous battles she took part in. He eventually took up arms against the rest of human kind, and joined the ponies.

The Warlock fought the humans for three years, killing more and more every day. He managed to kill the current king of the humans, Ga'tara'kai, and was about to strike down Z'ant, when he himself was struck down. With his final breath, he sealed Z'ant away in a pillar of diamond, and the Krivbeknih in a sphere of pure steel. The humans had been drive far into the Echo, and the twin pillars were sealed away for eternity in a secret vault. The ponies had won the war. But at the cost of a dear ally.

The Warlock died in the hooves of the elder sister that day, in 55P.N.

The elder sister, not wanting future generations to think of the humans as anything less than evil, transformed the Warlock's body into that of an elderly stallion's. The Warlock was immortalized under an assumed name.

Starswirl the Bearded.

Whilst the rest of the world was celebrating the end of the war, the elder sister was greaving over the loss of her best friend, the Warlock.

Humans have not been seen on this world for over one thousand years. And for the first time in a few thousand, the world was at peace.

In the end, all we have is change. Allies become enemies. Enemies become monsters. Monsters become legend. Legend becomes myth. And myth becomes campfire stories. The only ones who truly remember the monsters, are the two sisters, and they will never forget the horror.

So ends the prehistory of the land that would become Equestria, Gryphos, The Hive, and Minos. But out story is not over just yet. For you see, sometimes campfire stories, become reality. And sometimes nobody's, become heroes.