3/14/2058

South Palomino Desert…

10:15am…

My heart was racing with fear as the trash piles nearly toppled over behind me, when I ran from the Scrapyard. The words of that cursed Holy Codex repeated in my head over and over again like a record player from tartarus, “his green eyes the last thing they witness in this life,” I wasn’t sure what was going to happen to me, was I going to die, was this the end? It was as if I could still feel his eyes burning into me, every time I closed my lids, his eyes were there. It was like he was breathing down my neck, following me, but every time I’d turn around, they’re would be nothing there. Pins and needles spread throughout my body as ran away from my impending death, as I tried my hardest not to think about it. My mind was moving a mile a second as I entered the town limits and speed past the Church. Ponies surrounded the entrance, for by the time I got back the session had let out, and they quietly talked amongst themselves. But all mouths stopped and all eyes watched me as I frantically ran past them.

Time seemed to have slowed down as I turned my head to the group and looked at one pony in particular. The High Elder. His rustic red eyes looked back at me, wide and confused as his tattered and dust covered clothes and black mane waved in the breeze of the heat. He watched me as I ran past, his mouth opened as if to say something, but then he looked away, almost as if he couldn’t help me, or wasn’t going to.

Though the High Elder in Faith pretty much ran everything, including the guard, and our food supply, it could be worse. He got us this far with his, “wisdom,” but I’m fairly certain he’s all talk, and no bite. He just sits in his temple all day, the only times he comes out is when he needs to deal with the ponies, or somepony requests his presence, like a Tracker or the Head Guardsman. He’s usually quiet, I can only hear him when he’s holding a ceremony, other than that, his door stays shut, and the candles inside unlit.

Quickly I turned the corner of the alleyway that led to my house, the walls seemed to tower over me and look down covering me in darkness. On every reflective surface I saw him, or I thought I did anyway. And every time I thought I did see his hollow green eyes, I ran faster, I had never ran this hard in my entire life. My lungs burned, my vision shook, every part of me wanted to stop, but I couldn’t, I wouldn’t let myself. Soon the light at the end of the alley overtook me, and their in the short distance, was my safe haven, home. Almost in the blink of an eye I reached the door and nearly tore it from where it stood as I dove inside.

“Mom!” I frantically yelled, choking on my breaths. I saw her in front of me, turning around in a flash and rushing to my side.

“Azalea! What’s wrong? Are you hurt?” She frantically shouted. I lifted myself off the ground, and circled around to her flank, staring at the doorway, staring outside. Though I had found my way home, I was no longer running which means I now had given it time to catch up.

“C-close the door, please,” I said still trying to catch my breath, body still trembling. I placed a hoof on my chest trying to feel for my heartbeat, the only way I could know if I was still in the living, and not dreaming in the afterlife.

Luckily I had no trouble finding it, for it was pounding hard and fast, nearly jumping out from my chest. Mother had gone over to the door to close it, but in that time my eyes had looked around the house almost a dozen times, looking for things that we’re out of place. Every creak, every little noise the house made, could have caused me to curl into a ball and hide underneath the table, every sound made me dart my head to the source and look for those eyes. I wanted to keep running, but for some reason I couldn’t leave, or even move for that matter. It was if I was frozen, in shock.

“Azalea!” I heard mother's voice. I turned back to front and there she stood, as if she had been standing their for a while, calling me. She looked terrified, her eyes looked into mine with a sense of complete frantic confusion. The atmosphere was tense, but, seeing my mother standing their, broke the spell I was under, for I quickly jumped to her and pulled her strongly in for a well needed embrace.

“Mom, I saw something out there, outside of Faith a pony or something,” I started to say. I could feel her hoofs cross over my back, almost instantly making me feel a thousand times better, “I-I don't want to believe what I saw, but, I have to, I saw a Divine Protector, and he’s coming for me,” I said, still watching the door, my eyes unblinking, petrified.

“What? Azalea, that’s,” She stammered on her words, “no that nonsense there are no Divine Protectors,” She moved me backward a bit, so that her head and my head came to be level.

“What makes you think you saw one?” She asked her left brow cocked upward. I shook my head, if only she were there.

“Mom, trust me, it was one of them, it's eyes, they glowed green, and it looked right at me,” I said looking off, not focusing on anything in particular. Just describing him sent a heat flash over my face. A hoof came up to my snout and lifted my back to my mothers face.

“How about you start from the beginning, and calm down a bit,” She said. Calm down!? She telling me to calm down, i'm gonna die soon, I could never calm down! Although I sat down and started to breath softly on the outside, inside my body was still shaking to it’s core terrified of what going to happen to me.

“Okay I guess. Well, this morning I, went to the Scrapyard,” Before I could continue, mother's face became upset. I knew she didn't like me going to the yard, but that was unimportant now.

“Azalea, I told you not to go there multiple times, how many more times must I tell you?” She scolded me. Her words, like hoof tacs compared to my current situation.

“Mom, I know, I’m sorry, but can I continue, please,” I said back, almost impatiently. I know mom doesn’t like attitude, but right now, it again didn’t matter.

“Yes, yes, go ahead,” She mustered her response, still quite angry.

“I got to the yard and climbed a tower of junk, and when I reached the top, I found these,” Saying that I levitated the pair of binoculars from my saddlebag and rested it on the floor at mother's hoofs. She then picked it up with her magic and gave it a look over.

“Well ya see uh, on my way down, I saw something off in the distance, far outside Faith,” I began to say, lifting up my hoofs level with each other and far apart to emphasize how far away it was.

“So I looked through the binoculars and I saw it, walking towards the Red Rock Mountains off to the west. It was, just walking, it had nopony with it, just itself, alone,” I said remembering back. “It wore, green clothing, and some kind of half metal cage around its top back, and on that cage was some kind of long triangular rectangle, thing,” It was hard to describe what I saw, but I tried my best.

“It wore a helmet with a greenish brownish design, and vest with the same kind of markings underneath the cage thing. It wore, what I think we're boots with the green clothes tucked into them. He had no tail, and his mane was covered by the helmet. His mouth and snout were shielded by a tan scarf, so the only thing I could see was his upper face,”

“And, what did it look like?” Mother asked, now sitting herself.

“His eyes were pretty much closed at that moment, cause I guess the wind was blowing hard, but his coat was this, dark grey. But, that’s when he stopped and pulled down a pair of goggles from his helmet, and through the lenses I saw his eyes glow green,” I began to shake as his eyes came back to my mind, “And that’s when he looked at me, and I don’t mean a quick glance, I mean looked, at me. Right at me,” I said looking her in the eyes. She looked down at the binoculars again and walked over to a crack in the wall, and began to manipulate it in the light beam that came through.

“Well, maybe from his perspective he saw this instead of you,” Suddenly my eyes were blinded by a sharp light that seemed to come from nowhere. It was the binoculars lenses, the light was shining off of them, nearly blinding me. But I guess I saw the point, maybe he wasn’t looking at me, but the glint from my scope. That made me feel slightly better, not that much.

“Oh well, maybe, but that doesn’t matter, his eyes, they glowed!” I quickly retorted with. She smiled a warm reassuring smile and came back over to me, placing a hoof on my right shoulder.

“I’m pretty sure you saw the light from the goggles shining off the sun, creating the illusion that his eyes were glowing,” Hearing her say that, made sense to me. Like some how she was right, and what I saw was really nothing. But what if she was wrong? What if I really had been marked by death? But, if the Codex was correct, then I would have died on the trash pile instead of at home.

Now that I had time to think about the whole situation, and reflect on my actions, I had come to the conclusion that I had been over reacting this whole time. I guess what I really did see was just a pony, a traveler no less. Some questions remained unanswered but, I doubt my mom could answer them. For now I was content with myself.

“I guess you’re right, sorry for scaring you like that, and, sorry for going to the Scrapyard,” I said, sulking. Her hoof began to mat down my hair as she pulled me in for a hug.

“It’s okay, I forgive you, but, seriously I mean it, never go back there,” She said with a stern motherly tone. I nodded,

“Yes mom,”

Mother knew best I guess...

Author's Note

Sorry for the week long wait... Post comments bellow, peace out

~Calex Winteridge