Prologue: A Moment of Respite and Beginning of my Tale
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From Darkness comes Light
Prologue: A Moment of Respite and Beginning of my Tale
I was thinking, looking down at the scroll before me. Correcting and repurposing the spell for my own desires was only something I would do at the side, I didn't need much attention for that, it was easy enough for me. On the other side of the room was the only individual I ever trusted with who I really was, the mismatched chimera of chaos, the self-proclaimed "Spirit of Disharmony", Discord. He, in contrast, was floating around the room, using his eyes as flashlights to scan the shelves for possibly nothing. Still couldn't believe I got him to assist me with this ludicrous idea, even though he doesn't know the full extent of my decisions. What I was about to do would change history forever, and nobody, rather almost nobody, would ever know of that.
"Hey, Discord, did I ever tell you the full story of how I came to be here? Or what happened afterwards?"
He just looked at me for a moment, his face as if trying to remember before shaking his head with enough force to get his horns tangled up in each other. "Why no, my friend, I believe you have never. Though it seems like this project of yours might take a while, and we aren't getting too much older by staying down here. So I am listening."
With a pop, and a flash, he appeared on the other side of the table, wrapped up in a blanket, ever-changing in color and texture, holding a teddy ursa major as if expecting a bed-time story. I sighed and looked over at the scroll, confirming for myself the time it will need to finish that spell before leaning back.
"Well, I am going to skip over the moment before I came here, since I doubt you would want me to tell of the recollections of almost death. So instead, my tale will start at the moment I woke up from that horrifying experience, only to find myself in complete darkness..."
I opened my eyes and took a deep breath. Though, actually opening my eyes did little to change the scenery, being surrounded in darkness and all that. I didn't know where I was though... Was I dead? I mean, we never figured out what death looks like. We always presumed that we would end up in some realm of the afterlife but it might just be that everyone who dies would be stuck in an infinite darkness with nothing but their own thoughts to distract them until they go mad. Would suck for any religious believers if they ever found out.
Though, as I would learn in a second, this was not what came after death. This was much, much more freaky than that.
"It seems you have finally awoken. Then again, I am glad you survived the trip at all. I'll be honest with you, I did not have much hope you would stay alive through this, considering the circumstances and all."
It was a deep voice, sort of smooth in the underlying tone but a bit rough around the pronunciation. Whoever that was seemed to be the cause of how I got here, wherever here was. So I had to do the obvious and ask him.
"Excuse me? I do not wish to be rude but where did you take me to? The last thing I remember was... the moment of the accident but then, nothing."
I heard him chuckle, which did absolutely nothing to calm my nerves. Was he amused? Or was he just plotting my demise right now for questioning him?
"Well, you, little soul, are here with me, far below a thick blanket of eternal ice. I have brought you here from your deceased vessel because I need your assistance in correcting a great wrong that has been brought upon me."
In all fairness, my first thought about him went to the way he talked. It seemed a bit old fashioned to me, at least in the way of his wording. But I might have been brought anywhere by now so this might just be the way people talked here, again wherever 'here' actually ends up being.
"Well, what do you need my help with? And why exactly me of all people? I mean, not that I do mind, you saved me from certain death, but I have no special or redeeming qualities, at least I do believe so. Also, I would prefer to know who I am talking to. For me, just call me Xan."
There was a flicker of light in the distance, like as if someone just ignited a candle, though the flicker was green-ish in color, which made me a bit worried about actually going there. Though, as I made my way over to the only sign of progress in this surrounding nothing, his voice got a bit louder, as if I was approaching him.
"Ah, I will answer those questions one by one. As for me, my name is Sombra. I am a king of a nation called the Crystal Empire. What I need your assistance with is reclaiming what has been unjustly taken from me. Two usurpers came from across my land and fought me. After a long and winded battle, they managed to weave a spell together to seal my very essence down below here, into the depths of the Frozen North.
As for why I chose you, I saw you in that moment. An upstanding soul, who would have had all taken away from him without a chance to change his fate. I brought you here to grant you a second chance at life. For you see, the longer I remain down here, the more my own powers wither away. It won't take long, maybe another decade or two, and I will be nothing but raw magic with no real will of its own.
I will come to the point. I wish to give you my knowledge and my powers. I want you to learn from me, so that one day we will return together to take back what is rightfully mine. Though I should tell you, I will be unable to keep a body of my own, seeing how it was destroyed by the usurpers. Which is what I need you for. While I give you advice, you will be the only one able to reclaim and secure my Crystal Empire and restore it to its former glory, save the inhabitants from the usurpers' tyranny. Only you can do it, Xan."
I stood next to the green flame and as he spoke, I began to realize. This flame was most likely all that was left of him. If I hadn't been brought here, under the usage of a decent amount of power I assumed, he would be slowly diminish until there was nothing left. But as I held the flame between my hands, I could also feel something around it. It was cold, pitch-black, as if the light of the flame was sucked away around it. I realized I was hesitating. This might be some power that would end up corrupting me. But he was right, he gave me another chance at life. He also said I would save an empire from tyranny. And honestly if I refused, I might have ended up like him, just wasting away down here and fade into nothingness. So with all my courage, I caught the flame between my hands and pulled it close to me.
"Alright Sombra, I will accept. I will take on your legacy and carry you within me to your kingdom once we are out of here. Together we will free your people. And I want to thank you for giving me another chance to live."
With that, the flame left my grasp and faded into me. And from that day on, I would become his student, learning all I would need from him while being stuck down here in imprisonment below the Frozen North, until the day more than half a millennium later, where we would be free...