A Hardened Warrior

These next two chapters are going to be shorter chapters, sorry.

502 errors are annoying...

Chapter 16 - Death’s Door

Coming up on the border of the griffin dominion, was a bipedal beast slathered in metal.

’Somehow, you managed to pass the entire kingdom without so much as a single encounter.’

‘It’s strange, I run into everything, then nothing on the way back through.’

’Quite’

‘What other countries are there?’

’The only race that doesn’t hate you for sure, are the zebras... They’re directly south... You could, however, steal a ship and sail directly north. This world is nothing more than a large island.’

‘I just might do that...’

He turned right, with the sun to his left, and ran north. At speeds that would leave a cheetah bewildered.

It didn’t take him long to start tripping on the vegetation. close to about zero seconds, after he took off, he went flying into a tree head first.

’...’

Leaving the hole he just created in the tree was his first priority, then, restarting his adventure again.

Using what left of his arms’ freedom, he wedged himself out, wiggling, and pulling at the same time. Until he realized there was something behind him. Which he found out by placing his foot on what he could only guess was it’s head.

He gave it a nasty kick, which put him in the same position he was in before, but further in. He kept pushing, until he fell head first into the dirt below. He continued on his downward trip, placing his back on the ground next.

What stood over him, with a boot-shaped bruise covering its face, was a manticore. Twice the size that Fluttershy had helped when Nightmare Moon invaded. Perhaps three times... It was hard to tell with it in his face.

‘That thing is huge...’

’Might I suggest running?’

‘Noted...’

Before the manticore could do any harm to the stunned tin can, it punched the manticore in the nose, and bolted. Carefully enough to trip on only a ’few’ vines and what not. Tearing right through them with five hundred pounds of force was beneficial. Until he came to a cliff. Then, he wasn’t moving forward anymore. But up...

‘Is gravity broken?’

’No... You’re not going to like what you’re going to see...’

‘Worse than a dragon?’

’Much more so...’

What he found at the end of his strange journey, flying above the forest he was in, was a spirit. He’d seen it before, in a similar state...

‘Nibel...’

’The goddess you spoke of? this is her?’

“Indeed.” The spirit spoke, in a lush, and sweet voice. “Hello, Roderick.”

Bending over to do a full bow, like one would to a king, he stooped at her ‘feet’.

“You may rise, knight.”

And he did so. “What do you command of me?”

“That you remain true to your path. My intentions will become clear to you further along.” Was all she said, before disappearing.

’And here I was... thinking you were going to get eaten by the unnameable beast...’

‘What?’

’Nothing.’

‘Anyhow... Is the sun setting or rising?’

’Setting, mid day has passed.’

Without another word, he set off to what he hoped Nightmare correctly assumed was south. For hours, nothing happened, and he’d thought Nibel had blessed him with protection. But that wasn’t true.

Before him, stood a massive cave, rising from the ground... engulfing him in it’s gape.

No matter how resilient he was, he is not impervious, and as such, he fell into death’s grip as he fell for countless minutes, crashing with a sickening thud.

Only to be release yet again. In complete darkness.

’Allow me to help you...’

His eyes adjusted to the darkness. Adding a vibrant blue-green tint to his vision. And all he saw, were burnt corpses.

’Speak of the demon...’

‘What?’

’The unnameable beast... it burns it’s victims and drains them of their life force... We... are an infinite supply. I feel I should also mention that I cannot use magic in this form.’

‘In that case...’

’What? What are yo-’

Before she could even finish the last thought, the surrounding area became colder, and colder, and colder. Unbeknownst to Nightmare, Roderick knew more than just holy magic. He knew Ice and Earth as well...

He cast ‘blizzard’.

It was then, that a gargantuan eye opened up. Surrounded by thousands more in the darkness. It’s veil much like that of death itself.

How convenient. A scythe was on the ground right in front of him. With a label on it reading ‘property of grim’.