The Displaced Brothersby Erik_The_ShitposterChaptersPrologue : The Con (Edited by Space-Timecontinuum)Chapter 2: Magic Control 101, The Fruit of The Devils and Hope. (Edited by Space-Timecontinuum)Chapter 4 : Spell Research, Making a Deal and A New Party Member.Chapter 5: Steady Start, First Encounter and Tree of Harmony.Chapter 6: Making Spells, Doing Deal and Creating Plans.Chapter 7 : Messing With the Princess, Invading a Dream and an Uneventful Walk Through the Memory Lane.Chapter 8: Dungeon Crawling, Looting and Magic WeaponA Fight(?), More Looting, and Descent Deeper into the DungeonChapter 1: A New Beginning, Some Background Story and a Changeling? (Edited by Space-Timecontinuum)Chapter 3 : A New Point of View, Short History, and New Allies. (Edited by Space-Timecontinuum)Prologue : The Con (Edited by Space-Timecontinuum)I look around the packed convention, many people dressed as their favorite video game or cartoon character, other just walking around browsing merchandise on the marketplace, taking photos with cosplayer or ogling Trace’s thick butt. I’m one of the cosplayers along with my brothers Let me introduce myself, my name is Erik Ricki-voc but you can call me Erik the youngest of the bunch. Currently, I’m wearing a yellow jacket with a white shirt underneath it, a black bowtie on my neck and black pants, shoes, and gloves, and an eye patch By now most of you can guess what I am cosplaying as, that’s right the one and only Bill Cipher self-proclaim dream demon and master of minds from Gravity Fall, the human version of it of course not the yellow Dorito one I bought the costume at Amazon but for some reason, the seller forgot to add the cane, so here I am at the con with 300 bucks in my pocket looking for someone who sells the missing piece for my costume I felt someone nudge my shoulder, turning around I see my older brother Charlie dressed as Asriel Dreemurr the god of Hyperdeath from the game Undertale, his outstretched hand pointed at one of the stall selling all kind of merchandise “Hey bro I’m going to browser some stuff, might find something cool. You wanna come with?” “Yeah, sure might as well buy a cane for myself” “Hey wait up, I promised mom to keep an eye on you two” said someone cosplaying as Noximilien the strongest Xelor and the main villain in Wakfu series. “can’t have two troublemakers wandering all by themselves do we?” his voice is almost the same as the English dubbed Nox thanks to a voice changer on his mask David is the oldest of us three, he always kept us in check and if we ever get in trouble he can bail us one way or another, even if he has to outrun the police. We walked toward the vendors that lined up perfectly. Different stands sell differently themed of merchandise ranging from animes, cartoons, video games, and many more. One of them is selling mercs from that show literally getting swarmed by a bunch of dudes wearing shirts with a pastel colored pony After a half of hours of wandering around later, we came across a stand that has the perfect cane for my costume, so I walk there. My brothers look like something caught their eyes from the same stand so we march toward it “Greeting traveler, how may I help you?” the Merchant said, I called him Merchant because he’s wearing the same merchant costume from Resident Evil 4 I look around the stall, there’s a lot of stuff from different shows and video game but the one that I was looking for is Bill Cipher’s cane, but something caught my attention. A thick red book with golden hand and the number ‘3’ imprinted on it “How much for the cane and the journal?” I asked, pulling out my wallet “And the souls?” Charlie asked pointing at seven glass jars that lined up that contain different colored heart shaped object. “And the Eliacube plus that sword?” David asked, pointing at a glowing blue cube that has darker blue spiral as patterns and what looks like a sword-shaped as a clock dial “For a group like you all, I’ll sell those for 150,” the Merchant said Hearing that I almost dropped my wallet, a cane with quality like that must be worth more than my weekly salary. But not only that the ‘souls’ should cost 50 bucks each. The blue glowing cube and the clock dial sword also must be higher than the price the Merchant said. Wait a minute I think I’ve seen this, or rather read this somewhere. someone going to a con buys something cheap but has high quality from a creepy dude and gets sent to that show universe and either lose their memories, petrified in stone, doing some villain-y stuff or going insane and have the power from the character that he or she cosplayed as If I did get sent to the pony land I’ll have an unlimited power and can rule the entire galaxy or even the whole dimension! unless I followed the rule from the show Bill came from, can only contact other being trough mindscape and unable to walk freely in the real world unless I use someone as a puppet or open up a portal Charlie will have the power of 7 humans souls plus a monster boss soul and become the God of Hyperdeath that can mess around with time it using the SAVE and LOAD abilities and being invincible to other attacks, so that's pretty cool While David has the power to manipulate time as he wishes, unlike Charlie’s that can only be used to reset time to a certain point and drain other people energy or Wakfu in the original show, but at the price of losing his sanity over a lost family Basically, if we’re out of control and sent to pony land in our ‘original’ mind the creatures that live there will be royally fucked I fish out a 100 and 50 from my wallet and slowly slide it across the counter while looking at the Merchant with suspicious looks, “On a completely unrelated topic, are you The Merchant?” The guy froze his hand that was going for the money completely stopped. He let out a long sighed before asking “You got me, I’m The Merchant that abduct people and send them to Equestria, what are you going to do about it?” We stood around like statue, looking at the Merchant with an unamused face. The tension is so thick you can cut it with a butter knife “Are you all going to stand there and not screamed your heads off?” The Merchant asked Suddenly my oldest brother shouted “Huddle time!” and we gather around him like a soccer team discussing a strategy, arms warped around other’s shoulders “So are we going to take the offer or no?” I asked “I would say no but I think this is once in a lifetime chance” Charlie spoke “Yeah, I read one of those Displaced fic and the guy lost his sanity and got petrified as a stone” David said “So is it a no?” “We still haven’t agreed on that yet, Erik. Can we go back here if we sent to Equestria?” David asked “I’m not sure, there’s story that the Displaced can go back to earth with a certain way” I answered “Well you’re a master of chaos that can bend reality at your will, heck in the show Bill can make a portal to the real world” “He can't make a portal with a snap of a finger, someone has to build a portal gateway from the real world that allows Bill to invade them” I argued “Wait, I once read someone dressed up as a Big Daddy and he literary became one, does that mean we’ll be like him, thinking that we are actually our character?” Charlie asked after me and my oldest brother little debate “I don’t know, we’re pretty powerful figures there’s a high chance that we lose our mind especially me since I have the power of chaos” “How about me? I’m basically the God of Death” “The God of HYPERDeath with seven different souls, I think it’s safe to say that your mind will be fine, I’m not sure about David though, Nox is driven to madness by the loss of his family,” I said “I won’t lose my mind as long I have you two around,” David said, hugging us a little closer “Yeah, so you guys have made up your mind?” I asked “I say…yes if we got to keep our minds,” Charlie said “Me too but I would like to leave a goodbye message for our parents, we don’t need them to worry about us,” David said We broke out from our little huddle, The Merchant tapping his finger on the counter impatiently, the items that we bought is piled up beside him “So what did you guys talking about? Calling the police I assume?” he said, the last part referring to David who’s typing on his phone “Pfft, you’re afraid of the police? Dude you’re like a dimensional being, I bet you can send them to a random universe on a drop of a hat” I said fishing out the rest of my money “three tickets to Equestria with our minds intact please” “Wait you guys actually considering leaving your home world?” “Meh, big bro already write a goodbye message for our parents, and those extra 150 are for our minds since some of the Displaced got their minds scrambled until imprison by the Elements” The Merchant stare at my hand that holding the paper before chuckling “Never in a thousand year I’ve seen a group like you all, so as saying thank you I let you guys choose what kind of Equestria that you want and when” We huddle one more time discussing what kind of Equestria we want. We settled on the original one, a couple years before Sombra conquer the Crystal Empires We told Merchant about it and he pulls out a list of universes “Like to stick with the original one huh? Sure grab your stuff and I’ll send you all in no time” “Sweet!” we exclaimed grabbing our stuff, a smooth cane and Journal 3 for me, blue cube and clock dial sword for David or Noximilien and souls for Asriel Dreemurr, former Christ, we decided to keep our last name to show that we’re brothers “Wait!” I shouted interrupting The Merchant that about to snap his fingers “is there any way for us to get back home? To earth I mean”? “Well the Equestria I’m about to send you guys to is going to be aired on a different earth, so there’s a way for you to go there, maybe” The Merchant answered “Does that mean that the shows that were originally from are going to be aired as well?” Nox asked “Perhaps,” The Merchant said “Meh, we’ll figure that out later when we’re able to go to the other earth, say do you have something for us to access the internet?” Asriel asked, holding out his wallet “I can make your phone or laptop to gain internet connection from the other earth, but that will cost an extra 50,” Merchant said holding out his hand. goat bro gave him a 100 “Make it a fast one,” he said, grinning After a little bit of talk and greeting we’re ready to be sent to Equestria but not before forming a plan “So here’s the plan” I said “Sun Butt will notice the energy spike that caused by us, since I have Chaos Magic and Asriel has 7 different souls, so we’ll head to the Everfree forest if we landed anywhere but there, the wild magic there will disguise our power. From there we’ll lay low and train our skill if she going to hunt us down, then reveal ourselves after the mane 6 got the Elements hopefully” The two agreed, I gave the ‘go ahead’ gesture to The Merchant, in turn, he opens up a portal under our feet and pull us in, we waved at The Merchant before we the portal closed Have you ever feel down to a rainbow colored tube while your body feels like its burning? Yeah me neither At least I’m not cosplaying as Asriel cus he just straight up melted, his bones rearranged themselves- ouch his horn just sprouted from his head and his muzzle is slowly forming And there goes my left eye, great now I only have one good eye… After Erik and co disappear<<< The Merchant on his stall floor, breathing heavily “Damn” he gasped “Sending the three of them there sure is a hard work” he stood up and look toward the floor where he has sent Erik and his brothers “I feel like I’m forgetting something” then it clicked. The Merchant immediately write a short message on a small piece of paper and sent it through a smaller portal Author's Note Well there it is, I don't know if its good or not but I'll let you guys decide think I might need an Editor in the future Chapter 2: Magic Control 101, The Fruit of The Devils and Hope. (Edited by Space-Timecontinuum)The night is still young and two of my brother are asleep, the dimly lit fireplace giving me enough light to read the journal. I've decided to stay up all night reading even though we agree to take turns to watch our surrounding. Not only to lower the chance the Royal Sister find us out via Dreamscape but also discover secrets that Equestria has. The journal doesn't contain much but whatever, I’ll take what I can get. And those blank pages I mention before? Well one of them is now filled with info about Chrysalis, from what’s her species is, what kind of changeling she is and what her kind eats. I guess being a part of our families deserve you to have your own page, but I think that’s not the reason. The journal said that she is a proto-queen, means in the next five hundred years she will become a queen just like in the show. Guess that’s why she got her own page. Not only the journal contain stuff from Equestria, there are also things from where our original body came from. For example there is a whole chapter about a creature named Shushu, they’re basically demons that wants nothing more that to destroy and wreak havoc. They came from a place hellish place ruled by someone named King Rushu, King of all Shushu. Some Shushus that somehow crossed over into Equestria are usually roaming around the land in a pack but mostly are sealed within objects and overseen by a knightly order known as the Guardians of Shushus, created by the princesses since the Demon War ended. I was curious about what the Demon War is. Turns out when Tirek invaded Equestria he had a whole army of Shushu with him. All other nations around the world had to unite in order on fend off Tirek’s forces, the Alicorn of Day and Night fought and sealed the demon centaur in the depth of Tartarus. The aftermath of that war caused the Badlands the way it is today. A plain desert as far as the eyes can see. the journal doesn’t says whether or not he summon them nor made a portal where Shushu came from but if he did the latter, only gods know what will happen in the future. I heard a cute yawn from my lap, moving away the book from my face I stare down at the young changeling who’s stretching like a cat on my lap. “Uuuuhh, Chrysalis,” I said using her name instead of nickname “weren’t you going to sleep with Nox?” “Yeah I was,” she yawned “but he knocked me off.” I look toward the Xelor who's asleep in a odd position, face down ass up beside the log where he was sleeping. I guess I was that deep in the journal I didn't even realized that Nox rolled off. snorted in amusement, I heard the changeling asking “What are you reading Uncle Bill?” “Oh this?” I said gesturing to the journal I was reading “just some old journal that I bought from a merchant.” “oh- oh I wanna read it!” she said, holding up her forehoof trying to grab it from my hand. How can you say no to a face like that? I gave her the journal which immediately snatched by her before I can let go of it, letting out an ‘ahh’ ‘ohh’ or ‘cool’ each time she flips it. “Wow there so many creatures here!“ Chrysalis exclaimed. I just chuckled, ’kind of remind me of the purple egghead’ I was about to grab my bag that have my laptop only to realize ‘WHERE THE FRICK IS MY BAG?!?!’ I calmed myself down before thinking where the hell did that thing go. After a few minutes or so I face palmed hard, remembered that I have chaos magic. I was about to snap my fingers before a thought crossed my head. Grabbing my hat off from my head and reaching inside of it with the other hand, I was expecting to hit the bottom of the hat only to find more space in it, heck I can even stick my whole arm in here. Reaching for anything that I can grab I came across a smooth surface, the more I feel it the more familiar it get, it was thin, smooth and rectangle with a few holes on the sides. I immediately pulled it out and lo and behold it’s a laptop. The laptop is colored yellow with black outlines that in a brick patterns, the apple logo is replaced with Bill’s -or rather my- summoning circle. Sighing in relief as it turn it on. I wasn’t expecting it to immediately lights up to the desktop screen, my laptop usually takes up to 5 minutes to start up because how much crap I installed. Imagine my surprise when I found out that not only did the Earth time is dating back to 2010, January 1st to be precise, but also froze or moving really slow, I've been staring at the clock for 5 minutes and not a single digit has change . 'Well there goes my plan to cheat on CoD,' I though sadly 'I guess multiplayer games are out, at least I still have something that I can kill time with.' "Gum-gum Pistol!" The certain pirate's arm stretches and collided with several people wearing white uniforms and suits, but there's still thousands more blocking the way toward a huge white and green building in the end of an island. Said island is sustained on top of an abyss by a single connecting land that grown from another bigger island on the edge of the giant hole. "Hold on Robin! We're going to save you!" Before any of you say something, yes I am an otaku or weeaboo whatever fits you. I wonder if I could join the Straw Hat pirates in their adventures, it would be an awesome thing to have, portrayed as one of the Straw Hat pirates crew would be an honor for someone that has been watching that for a long time. If only I could open a portal to their universe. Oh wait I probably can since Chaos Magic can say 'fuck you' to physic and magic rule, if I can’t find a way I can make my own way. Sadly my day dream, or is it night dream, ruined by the sudden appearance of a ball of flaming gas. The sun rapidly rise toward the center of the sky, the moon following the suit by drooping to the opposite detection, all of that happen in a matter of second as if someone flip a switch. The good thing is that Sun Butt and Moon Booty still have the control over the celestial bodies, the bad thing is I'll never get used to that. Turning my laptop off, I look toward where Chrysalis were only to see an adorable sight. The little changeling is asleep hugging the journal like a teddy bear, drooling a little. I swipe my phone out and capture the precious moment with it, saving it in a folder labeled as ‘Diabetes Inducing’. I heard someone yawned, it was a high pinched like those belong to a child. Looking toward where it came from I met another adorable sight. Asriel, the once fearful Boss Monster is now a young 5 years old anthro goat child wearing green long,long-sleeved shirt with yellow stripes and black pants, stretching his arms upward and sprawling his legs, the sound of joints popping can be heard. Meanwhile Nox is nowhere to be seen, must be taking care of his routine. And one thing came across my mind when I see Asriel ‘OHMYGODHE’SADORABLE!!!’. Let me tell you something, I've seen many fanart of him a most of them are cute but when you finally get to see him in the real life you'd probably ended up having a heart attack. It’s even giving me a hard time to not cuddle the incredibly soft looking goat child. He looks toward me, sending a wave toward me "Morning Bill" he said in his childish voice, I couldn't help but smile at him. “Morning Azzy! How’s your sleep?” I ask, trying to keep myself composed. “Like a rock, It's been a long time since I got a full sleep, probably the best I've ever had!” he exclaimed with a smile. My god if he keep acting like thing I might die of either diabetes or heart attack, possibly both of them. He tilted his head with a confused face “Hey Bill, did you somehow got bigger? I swear last time you aren’t that big” “I don’t know what you’re talking about, the only thing here that changed is you, my cute little goat brother” I said with a smirk. “Little? hey you're the youngest one here, beside Chrysalis!" he said pointing at me "even if you can mess up with reality doesn't mean I cant...kick..your...” he trailed off, realizing that he has been changed into a child “AAAHHHH WHAT THE FUDGE IS WRONG WITH ME?!?!” Fudge? now that’s a cute choose of cuss word. “Wait…fudge?...f-f-f-fudge oh come on! I can’t even cuss?! This is horse crap!” he shouted in disbelieve "Bill what did you do?!?!" I burst out laughing, not only did he turned into a child he also got speech censored! “Hahaha oh man this is too great! wait until Nox see this.” “Bill didn't you hear me?!” he snapped "WHAT. DID. YOU DO?!?!" “Bro chill out, I didn't do anything” I chuckled "I think that you somehow transform to that when you're sleep." "Wait, I can do that? I thought having seven souls will keep me in adult form." "Not exactly, I think that you're suppressing your power to the point it start affecting your physical form, trying drawing out some of your power." "How?" Before I can answered, I heard someone, or rather someling grumbled "Uuuugh what is with all the noise?!" "Sorry Chrissy, Asriel is having a...small problem" I said "Hey who'd you calling small?!" he protested the young voice caught Chrysalis’s attention They stare at each other for a few minutes before the changeling vanished from my sight and Asriel getting tackled by a black figure. “Oh Celestia he’s so cute and fluffy!” squeed Chrysalis, nuzzlings the monster’s face with glee, the monster in the other hand is suffocating due to being hugged too hard. I whipped out my phone to save the moment forever. Asriel cached a glimpse of me with my phone, I could practically feels death from his eyes, deciding enough is enough I told Chrysalis to stop hugging him. “Chrissy, could you stop it? I think Azzy is turning a little bit blue.” I told her, holding my laugh Chrysalis snapped her eyes open, Asriel is on half way to passing out due to the lack of oxygen if his blue fur meaning anything. She gasped and dropped him on his butt, the monster taking a huge amount of air before coughing. “I-I’m so sorry” Chrysalis apologized, backing away from the monster child and stared at the ground in shame. “Its f-fine” he gasped “just warn me next time if you’re going to do it again.” That doesn’t help Chrysalis state, she looks like in the edge on tears seeing how watery her eyes are. I gave Asriel a look that basically say 'u don fuk up and send a mental command to comfort her which he accepted, walking toward the sad changeling and comforting her. I smiled at the heart melting sight, another picture taken. ... ... I think it’s enough for the sappy stuff. I clap my hand startling the two youngsters "Alright, now everything is fine and dandy, I do believe if Azzy here wan't to return back to his original body, yes?" I said, teleporting the journal that was 5 feet away from me because I'm too lazy to pick it up. "Okay Bill, I'll bite it" said Asriel "so what do you want me to do?" Flipping the pages in a fast rate, I stopped at the 'Spell Casting' chapter "it says here that you need to reach deep within your heart and 'feel' the magic streams that spread all over your body," I said "after that you want to control how much magic do you want to use, just imagine a dam and the water is your magic, you have to control how much water you flown. just don't open it up all the way or otherwise you will go boom." "Wait, boom as in ka-boom?!" Asriel ask fearfully. "Nah, boom as in your magical signature can be sense all the way to the other side of the world, so just keep it low unless you want the Royal Sister is coming after us." "That’s good thing to know" he sighed in relief "so how do I start?" "Try taking a deep breath and clear your mind. Then reach deep into your heart or wherever your magic core, or cores are.” “Wait, cores? I thought every living creature only have one!” said Chrysalis, sitting on my lap once again. “Well not for Asriel, he is...different. he has seven different souls, eight if you count his monster soul, therefore allowing him to have more magic core than any other creature” I explained “didn’t you read the journal? We have our own page here, you know?” “I haven’t reached that part yet” she said sheepishly I just shrugged, “Eh, you can read it later after we figure out how to control our magic, the stuff here is a lot different than we use back at home.” not to mention there weren’t any magic to begin with. "Different how?" she asked. “Where do I begin, for starter magic back in the World of Twelve, our homeworld, is commonly known as wakfu or life force, it basically has the same principle as magic but the thing is this world’s magic is much stronger than wakfu. Nox usually have to use almost all of his wakfu to slow down time but here he can absorb the ambient magic and that is enough to slow time down to the point it stopped. “I’m not sure if the same can be said about me and Asriel since his souls acted as a power source.” I explained, mixing up some knowledge I gained from watching the Wakfu series I was going to explain deeper about what wakfu is but suddenly there’s a strong wind tries to blow us away, if not for my quick reflex to conjure something to grab on me and Chrysalis would slam in to one of the tree. Looking where it came from I see Asriel in his adult form floating above the ground shining like a goddamn star mixed with rainbow. Around him there is this rainbow aurora trail thing he left behind when moving around like in the game, behind him there is a huge see-through sheep skull with jagged mouth. A beacon of rainbow colored light shoot up in to the sky, penetrating the clouds like those pillar of light things from movie, I hope that thing doesn't attract any unwanted attention. If he decided to go full on 'Angel of Death' might as well send him to Discord's place. Two things that I worried about this development, A) I once read something about his fight against Frisk, the fallen human, takes place between the timelines and B) the goat skull behind is an attack named 'Hyper Goner', basically sucks up the whole timeline and destroying it. if neither of those thing happen I swear he'll mess up the whole timeline of this Equestria. "OI ASRIEL!!! CAN YOU LOWER YOUR OUTPUT FOR FUCK SAKE!!!" I yelled through the winds, Chrysalis holding on to my jacket for dear life. (Meanwhile on another part of the forest) Two pairs of hoof steps can be heard along with the rustling of bushes that caused by someone, or rather two certain ponies that recently crowned as the princess of Equestria. If anyone came across them they would questioning themselves why did the princesses' is in the wild untamed Everfree forest, not doing their job as a ruler and spend the tax money efficiently. Equipped only with a full body of worn out armor that has their cutie mark respectively on their chest, with Luna's being night themed armor while Celestia's being the opposite. The both of them looks like just went through a nest of hydras or confronted Discord for the tenth times. Not once they got away without a scratch, this one is the worst. They decided enough is enough so if talk things out with him out isn't going to work they have to force him out. Gearing up with the same set they use to in Demon War and fight Tirek. decked with a full set of armor that had layer of enchantments and special weapon that designed to be use for themselves. A double handled scythe with sharp blade made out of Nith, a metal that can disable any form of magic, thus making a enchanted armors render useless for Luna. While her sister, Celestia, has a massive board sword made out of a the same materials, forged with a magical furnace to strengthened it, both weapons and armors are enchanted by Starswirl himself. Accompanied by a full enchanted Royal Guards, both Night Guards and Solar Guards, and the best Guardian of Shushus’ to fights off Discord’s minion, they march toward the palace on the side of Mountain Canterhorn. Surely Discord didn't stand a chance against this right, right? Deadass wrong. The army did their job of cleaning the way to the palace allowing their princesses to defeat Discord, but they couldn’t believe what happened next. Celestia and Luna couldn't even land a hit on him, it’s like trying to kill a full grown dragon with a sword, blocking all their attack with no effort. Long story short, Discord whooped their asses so hard they went flying all the way from Canterlot mountain to Everfree forest. So here they are in the middle of the most dangerous forest known to pony kind with nothing more than a scrap of armor, a small amount of leftover magic and each other’s company. The Royal Sister decided to return to their camp which is in the edge of Everfree forest. Somehow somewhat Discord’s magic can’t affect this place making it the ONLY, and I mean ONLY, safe place to hide from his Chaos Magic. Trudging through the deadly forest and overcome every obstacle they came across they made their way to the camp to bring back the bad news. Their weapons that claimed to be the strongest in the whole world destroyed, the armors that can withstand the most powerful attack is nothing more than a scrap of metal, all hopes are lost and the end of Equestria is near. Or so they thought. A gigantic wave of magic washed over them almost knocking them off their hooves due to the sheer amount of power they felt. Celestia is the first came back to her sense while her sister in the state of shock, she wanted to know what kind of thing that has such power and use it to defeat Discord and save her subjects from being his play things. Jumping from branch to branch using her wings to give her a little boost, she finally made to the top of the forest. Not far away from here the source of that power appears to be at the bottom of a rainbow light that reaches toward the sky and heaven above, a sign of great power to those who wield it. A moment later the light went out leaving a clearing behind. One thing that crossed the Princess of The Sun ‘…hope…’ (Back to our little group) “I told you, Asriel. Just a little bit and increase it from there not giving it all you got, heck you almost went full power back there! The whole time line could be ripped apart?” “Why does ‘ripping the whole time line’ thing has to do with this?!?” I stare at him with a deadpan expression. Snapping my fingers, a scroll appeared in front of me and unrolled itself showing a crap tons of list that reaches the edge of the clearing “Hmm, where do I start.” “Aright, alright don’t need to brag about it” Asriel said. “Just remember, we have the power capable to destroy the world, even if we did a tiny mistake it could cause a huge impact on the world,” I said with a sigh “I swear it’s like I’m older than you.” Yeah, after Asriel showing off his power and possibly alerting the Royal Sister, Discord and the whole world about a powerful being, I’m milking him for what’s it worth, scolding him like a certain purple pony if she finds out someone damaged one of her books. It’s a rare chance to rub the mistake that your older brother made on his face. “Well putting the lectures aside, do you know where Nox is?” I asked. “Don’t ask me, you’re the one who stay up all night watching porns.” Asriel grumbled, looking pretty salty after I gave him a one hour lecture about magic safety. “Asriel!” I fake gasped, covering both Chrysalis’s ears much to her confusion “There’s children nearby, how could you say such a thing?! It’s too early for her to learn that, what would Nox do if he know his daughter know things that isn’t appropriate for foals her age?” He was about to protest but a sudden movement of the bushes cause us to snap on our guard. Asriel summoned Chaos Saber on each hands and a couple of fireballs above him, ready to strike at any his command. I snapped my fingers and conjured a shit tons of guns, from pistols to all sort of riffles, all point toward the bushes with red laser. Meanwhile Chrysalis jump over the log where Nox was sleeping and hide behind it, avoiding getting caught in the crossfire. Me and Asriel stand our ground, ready to strike at any given moment. The bushes shaking harder making me wonder what is our opponent this time, is it another Manticore? A pack of Timberwolf? Or maybe even a Hydra! The possibilities make my heart beats faster, pumping adrenaline through out my veins. Imagine how close it is for us to kill our own brother, Asriel was thisclose from separating Nox's head from his body, his blade is touching the Xelor's neck. Me on the other hand got lucky, if my fingers wasn't sweaty, Nox is probably filled with led by now. "Uuuhhh...lovely weather today huh?" Nox said causally. Asriel and I visibly slumped down, "What the hell Nox?!" we snapped at the same time. all of us are pretty mad at him for trying to give us a heart attack. Well not all of us, there is a certain changeling that threw herself on Nox's face with a war cry of 'DAD!' “Jeez what makes you guys so worked up?” he said after managing to remove the face hugger. “Well Azzy here decided to test out his new power and as a result it kind of went off the handle for a sec” I said “I was afraid that he might attract some of the wildlife’s attention, or maybe worst.” He sigh in relief “I think something like that wouldn’t happen, I came across few animals running away from the opposite direction. Thanks for keeping my girl save by the way.” Nox said, scratching Chrysalis’s ear like a cat, she let a happy purr in return. “Well she’s a part from our family now, and as a family we have to take care of each other, right?” Asriel said gaining an agreement from us. Not much later after Nox gave Asriel a quick talk, we made our way toward to the village near the edge of the forest on a small dirt pathway, said village is on the other side of the Everfree. ‘Oh boy, a six day journey of nothing but walking. Sigh I hope there’s something to do before I die of boredom’ We made a little chat along the way, kind saying here wise saying there, sharing our life story some of which are made up. Chrysalis is on top of her dad’s head reading the journal from where she left off, while my brothers and I are testing our power but only a small bit, don’t want any hostile creature to feel our presence. Nox is giving Asriel some pointer in sword fighting, despite using a long sword, which is different from Asriel’s Chaos Saber, he seems to know how to use it like a pro. At first Nox just teaching Asriel how to use them properly and then they started sparing, not wanting them to hurt each other with real weapons, I conjured two pairs of wooden blades similar like Asriel’s for them to spar with. I on the other hand am wearing a changeling as a hat that has my top hat on her head, having 3 eyes to keep our surrounding save is pretty useful. "Uncle Bill, there is something over there." Chrysalis said pointing her hooves to the trees around a T junction in front of us, taking a closer look I can see some sketchy figures lurking in the shadow of the trees. Giving a quick thanks to the changeling, I turned toward my brothers "Guys we got company up ahead, keep your eyes peeled and guards up." "Little bit busy here, Bill." said Asriel, dodging Nox's attack "Are you sure you can't handle them?" "Yeah," Nox added, parrying a strike from the monster "aren't you supposed to be a reality warper demon, I'm sure a bandit or two won't be that much of a problem." "Of course I can handle them," I huffed "I'm worried that Celestia might sense me and accuse me as an associate to Discord." "Seriously Bill, you're worried about that?" the Xelor said, drooping his stance "When would you stop worrying about that, as you know they haven't discover the Elements of Harmony so we don't have to worry about a thing" "Yeah" Asriel agreed "even if they decide to mess with us, we can beat em' up to next week. Just think about it Bill, two ponies that can control celestial object against the strongest time wizard, a being that can control time, space, and matter plus an Angel of Death, we can beat them by a landslide." "I know bro, but what if she has another trick up her sleeve? I read a Bill displaced fanfic and he is sealed inside a book, I'm worried that I would end up like him" I said, uncertainty but I cover it with a smirk "beside since when did you get demoted to Angel of Death?" "Well, the title 'God of Hyperdeath' might seems a bit much for me." the demoted god let out a chuckle "Jokes aside, you don't have to worry about such a thing, that someone is alone and you got all of us. If you got trapped in some kind of hickey-doopy spell we just break you out of it." "Yeah Uncle Bill," said the Chrysalis "just like Uncle Asriel says, as a family we got each other back!" I gave the little changeling a pat on the head "Thanks guys, I wouldn't know what will I do without you all." "Uuummm Uncle Bill, whats are the Elements of Harmony?" We all snap our attention to Chrysalis, except me since she is on top of me. "Nox, you deal with her since she is your daughter and you're the one who mention the Elements" I said. He sighed "I suppose, it is my fault anyway" he removes Chrysalis from my head and cradle her like a baby, despite her protest not to treat her like that "well let me tell you a story, my little changeling..." Hopefully he can made up some kind of legend saying some powerful artifacts are destined to defeat evil or something like that. It would be bad if someone other than us knowing such thing existed, there's no telling what would happen if those fall to the wrong hand. Eh, who am I kidding, the only one who can claim the Elements are those who are chosen or some ancient prophecy crap or something like that. But if someone knew a way to harvest the Tree of Harmony's power like Nox's abilities, it could be a real trouble. Sucks for Tirek for not knowing that tree. “If it’s make you better I, too, worried.” he said, noticing how distressed I am. “About the Elements?” “No, I’m worried about the time line." fucker "Just the appearance of us in this world can make drastic changes, there’s a possibility that the show won’t be the same like we know. Not only that but the knowledge we have about the future might be useless and the big events like Nightmare Moon, return of Discord, the Crystal Empire might be changed.” “Yeah, I know what you mean and I think we just changed the future…” I trailed off, looking toward Chrysalis that’s at the mercy of Nox’s tickle attack. “The Wedding incident, yes?” I gave a nod at that. “Oh well, but I think we should keep the changes as small as possible. Beside, The Merchant said that we’re going to be on air, maybe we can be a part of the show?” “Yes we can, but in my opinion we should stay away from it.” “Why? being a character on a popular show is pretty sweet, right?” “Yeah, but it’s about the internet. I mean, you know...” “Oh” “….” “….” “…” “Rule 34?” "Rule 34" And we made a silent deal to not talk about that again. As we taking a turn at the T junction, the figures jump out from the tree and surrounding us at any direction. Two minotaurs and four griffins, all of them had weapons on their hand. The first minotaur holding a double handle boardsword while the other one holds a mace. Both griffins had a dagger on each talons, the third one equipped with a short bow. The last one has a staff that has a dimly glowing green crystal on the tip of it. Each of them are wearing leather armors with a little bits of irons here and there. The most eye catching part of the armor is the breastplate, each of them have a orange colored symbol of two talons crossed each other with a sideways griffin head on top of it, both of them have this fire-like-patterns. I bet 10 bucks these guys are forest bandits. "Look what do we have here, a changeling, hairless ape, goat and...whatever that guy is." one of dagger wielding griffin, possibly the leader, said “Give us all of your valuables and we might not kill you for that, or else.” No surprise there. I just rolled my eye at the threat, I cleared my throat gaining my brother’s attention “Oh my, looks like we’re in a little bit of a pickle, dear brother. May I take care of these barbarians?” I said with a pompous tone that noble or rich people have. “By all mean, but don’t hurt them too much. We don’t want bad blood on our hands do we?” he said. “Yes it would be quite terrible if I ruin these new clothes that I just bought, blood stains are quite difficult to wash off you know.” I said, slipping my hand to my jacket pocket and pulled a weird looking fruit. A pink heart shaped fruit that has swirly patterns all over it. Asriel hummed “Hmm, quite a unique fruit you got there, Bill. Correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t that the legendary Devil Fruit?” “Yes you are correct, my dear brother. This is in fact a Devil Fruit, but not just some good ol' Devil Fruit, it’s the Ope Ope no Mi or surgeon fruit. Not only that this fruit can give you a really powerful ability but this is a Ultimate Devil Fruit which can grant anybody who eats it eternal youth.” this fact catches the bandits interest, a fruit that can grant immortality are nothing but bunch of rumors and myth. "I-is that true?" ask the staff wielding griffin, by the voice and the body posture look, I can tell that griffin is definitely a chick. "Why yes my dear, in fact I could just show you just a tip of the power" I said, twirling my cane and stab it on the ground. "Room" A see through blue dome expanded from my cupped hands, covering us and the land around. Not skipping a beat I unsheathe the blade that disguised as my golden cane. I’m surprised that actually work the same way as my hat, just I just imagine things and add a little bit of magic and anything could be possible. I guess Chaos Magic is limited only by the user imagination. I strike the air around me at a fast rate, carefully not to hit my brothers and Chrysalis. After the final slash I sheathed the cane blade back with a loud click. Suddenly all the bandits are nothing but a pile of body pieces save for the griffoness . Screams of terrors filled my ear while she looks toward the pile of body parts that once her comrades with shock, fear, and disgust. “Everything inside this dome is in my domain.” I said to the female griffin. She only stood there before collapsing to her haunches with wide open eyes and mouth. “But that’s only the beginning” “Takt” With a flick of my fingers, every body pieces floats up in to the air, circling around me as I move my hands in a circular motion and laughing like a maniac. I move the other five bandits head on front of me like a totem of heads, they still let out those screams of terror. The griffoness can only stare at the screaming head of her comrades and…oh dear, I may have scared her too much. A growing yellow puddle formed underneath her. “But I think that’s enough of this demonstration.” I move the heads to their respective pieces and stick them back together like a puzzle “Now I still have a few tricks in my sleeves, any of you would kindly enough to be volunteered?” Once my word reached their ears, the bandits immediately grab their weapon and run away with their tail between their legs, screaming bloody murder along the way. Pulling my cane from the ground, twirling it as I spun on my heel to face my brothers and my niece “So what do you guys think?” I asked with a cheeky smile. “THAT WAS AWESOME!” Chrysalis exclaimed, her eyes had this sparkling effect “How did you do that? What’s a Devil Fruit? Where did you get that? How many of those cool power did you have?” “Chrysalis sweetie, one question at the time please.” Said Nox softly, a quiet ‘sorry’ comes from his daughter “I think it’s a wonderful presentation, Bill.” “Yeah, I’m surprised that you don’t have to hurt any of them.” Said Asriel “But I think you just scar the poor griffin life with that.” He added, pointing at something behind me. I turn around and locked my gaze with the griffin’s eyes, those green eyes of her are filled with fears. I made my way toward her and she didn’t even move an inch, probably too scared to move. I crouch down so we’re eye-on-eye level and spoke one word. “Hello” And she fainted. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head and slumped forward, if not for me she would be swimming in her own piss. Holding it with both of my hand on her armpits, or is it talon pits? I finally can take a good look on her, well the part that isn’t covered with armors that is. She had light brown fur on her face, white dots on her cheeks like a freckles, her wings has a brown feathers while the tip is colored cream and the rest of it is a basic lion parts. She is kind of cute actually. Snapping my fingers to clean up the mess she made, I pick her up in bridal style and bring her to my brothers, her staff floated near me “So what are we going to do with here?” I asked. “I don’t know, its your problem not mine. Try figure something out” Asriel said. “Hmm, I wonder what this symbol means.” Nox says to himself “Hey Chrysie, do you know what this is?” She climbs up on her dad’s head and takes a good look of it, after a moment she gasped “This is the Flaming Talons guilds mark!” “Do you know them?” “Well not much, but I heard that is a guild full of criminals, they usually raid small towns or hijacking merchants’ caravans. The princesses are having a hard time tracking them down because their base is hidden deep in the Everfree forest.” “So do we turn her in?” I asked. “To where? We know that the nearest town is on the other side the forest” Asriel said. “Yes I know, I was thinking that we should carry her there.” “Ah ah ah, ‘We’ as in ‘You’, you’re the one who cause it and you have to carry her” he said with a smirk. I rolled my eye “Ugh fine.” Carefully maneuvering her around my body to my back, I position the griffoness on my back so I can carry her like a backpack “Okay, all set, lets get a move on.” And we picked up where we left our journey. Little do we know, a certain pair of sister are watching us. “Dad, there’s something over there.” Or not. We all snap our attention to where the changeling pointing, two horns and two pair of wings sticking out from one of the many bushes. One is blue and one is white. One thing that crossed our minds that day. ‘Shit’ Author's Note I was going to update this once a month with more than 5K words but it seems it would take longer than that. Anyway, just keep a look out for any misspelling or grammar error so I can fix it. See ya in the next chapter, maybe, I don't know. Chapter 4 : Spell Research, Making a Deal and A New Party Member.Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.Chapter 5: Steady Start, First Encounter and Tree of Harmony.“On that topic, would you mind grabbing my lower body up there for me?” “Lower body!? You pervert!!” "I'm not a pervert, I'm a zombie!" And that was a short conversation between a zombie and a butt naked Magiclad girl in the cemetery before I had to hold down my laughter so I don’t wake up the others that are sleeping. After I made a little deal with the griffoness that is sleeping in my lap named Gerindha there is a couple of hours before the sun rises or rather Celestia raise the sun. How did I know this you may ask, when I fiddling on my phone I found out that I can set the time and date as Equestria time zone. I won’t go into detail of it because I don’t know how the hell my phone did it, all I did was set the time into local time zone and boom, it happens. Its four hours away from when the sun supposes to be raised, if the time here goes the same way like the one on earth, Celly and Luny have to wake up at six to set the celestial object in place. So I thought to myself ‘Why not watch some anime?’ I had more anime in my laptop than you can count, well maybe that’s not true but you get the point. I know that I still have a connection to the internet but last time I checked Boku no Hero Academia season 3 wasn’t released until 2018, and given the fact that not only we got flunked to another dimension but also back in time, both earth and Equestria, I still had to wait eighteen years before the first episode released. It broke me inside just a tiny bit. But not to worry I still had a lot more in my laptop, other than the hundreds and hundreds of megabytes of anime, there is still a bunch of other stuff like fanfics that I saved, games, movies and a suspicious folder that named ‘P’. Definitely not filled with Japanese porn because that stuff is started with the letter H Anyway, as I’m figuring out how I am going to watch some 2D girls while a griffon is sleeping in my lap, Gerindha shivers every time a cold wind blows. I was about to levitate the discarded blanket from earlier but an idea pop up inside my head, and for some reason, a light bulb appears above my head. Using her as a table so I can watch without hurting my neck, I set the laptop on top of her. The device will provide her with heat that can keep her warm and not freezing in the middle of the night. I snap my fingers to get rid of the pillow and blanket, at the same time I conjured a wireless headphone so no one can get bothered by the sound. I don’t know how long did I watch anime but when I did the sun is more than happy to tell me what time is it by blinding my one and only good eye. "Gah god dammit!" I cried out loud, covering my eye with the right arm. Thankfully I didn't react too badly so that I don't accidentally throw the sleeping griffoness and my laptop off from my lap. After I regain my eyesight, I look toward where Celestia is because she is the one who controlled the sun only to find out an empty spot. Off to the side I can see both of the royal sisters stood where they lower the sun and moon earlier at night, Luna had her head lower, still sucking on that pacifier, and Cel’s raised as the sun rapidly climb toward the center of the sky and I swear she had a freaking smirk on her face. No, wait, she is smirking or more of a smug smile. If look could kill, she would be a pile of ashes with how hard I glared at her. I grab one of the many pebbles around me and chuck it toward Celestia, hitting her right at the base of her horn which gained an ‘ouch’. “Next time you raise the sun, make sure to tell someone,” I said which she responded with a huff. Her sister in the other hand didn’t seem to care about our little bickering, probably still half asleep with how her head dipped every now and then. They walk toward to the still-lit fire pit, probably Asriel’s fire made out of magic or I accidentally make an ever-lasting firewood, and lie down like a dog where they slept before. Luna is still in a half-sleep state while her sister glared at me with little power she had. I shut down my laptop and store it away in my hammerspace via a tear on the reality that I somehow made right beside me. Don’t ask how I did it, I just think about something, giving it a little ‘push’ with my Chaos Magic and tada, it happens. I look toward to my brothers, which they already waking up. Chrysalis hopped down from Nox and stretched like a cat, while her dad stretches his arms upward making a popping sound from his joint and slapping his own face to get rid of the sleep behind. Asriel, the cute, cuddly, fluffy goat bro, already up and ready, whipping away the crusts that formed at the edge of his eyes. I guess it is too early for him to turn back to his adult form because he just sat down near the flame, not bothered that he is back to his child form. The only one that still sleeping is the griffoness who still nesting on my lap, I gave her a couple of nudges and said “Hey Gerindha wakey-wakey, the sun is up and I’m starting to get leg cramps.” “No, don’t wanna.” “Alright, don’t complain if you didn’t get your breakfast.” At the mention of breakfast, her eyes fluttered open and her head rises like a hen in the morning. Yawning as if she was roaring on top of her lungs, stretching her talons and hind paws like a stiff board on my lap before jumping off, she sat right between me and Asriel. I was about to ask how everybody sleeping but a growl, much like a manticore, cut me off before I could speak. I was expecting Celestia or Luna make that kind of sound but surprise-surprise it was Gerindha the red face griffin, making the rest of us chuckled. “So breakfast anyone?”I asked. “Yeah, I could go for some of those” Asriel said, “Though come to think of it we haven’t eaten anything for the past 2 days and I still don’t feel like starving.” “Me neither.” Nox agreed, petting the small changeling on his lap while she sucks up a violet mist thing, probably love, from his chest “But it was expected from me because I can survive with magic alone magic. ” It is true, in the Wakfu series at the end of the last episode of season 1 you can see whats left of Nox, just a mask on a pile of dust. As a Xelor, he can stop his aging process as long as he has wakfu/magic to keep it at bay thus letting him live for more than 200 years. By using the last drop of his wakfu to teleport to his family tombs, his age rapidly caught on to him and instantly turning him into a pile of dust. “Well, I’m in the mood for pancake, anyone care for some?” I asked. “It’s been like…like, forever since we had a pancake for breakfast, I'll take three layers with maple syrup, please!” Goat bro said with such an enthusiasm that makes me think that he is really a child. “Sure thing Azzy, how about you Gerindha, you up for some pancakes?” too tired to speak, she just gave me a nod “M’kay, how about you two?” I ask the princesses. “I never heard of this ‘pancake’ but if it’s suitable for breakfast then very well I shall try tasting it, however, if you have any funny idea, Demon. Don’t you dare.” Celestia said with a harsh tone, I guess Tirek did something more than stole all magic to make her hate demon creatures that bad. I guess it's my fault to use the same title as Bill. “What do you think am I, a cunning demon that uses dirty tricks? I’m anything but that, thank you very much.” I retorted “Now then if you’re done worrying about me killing you and your sister and destroy the whole word like any other demon lord, I suggest you fix that attitude before I do something that we all might regret.” I’m really tired with her, it's still early in the morning and she already acted like a brat, welp I can’t really blame her, seems like her teen hormones are acting up. Hopefully, Luna’s emo phase won’t be any time soon, we still need to defeat Sombra after all. I felt something hit the side of my head, looking to where it came from, I see Nox has his right arm outstretched, palm pointed toward me and the blue circle on his hand glowed dimly. “What the heck was that for Nox?” I asked “Do I have to remind you not to cause trouble?” he asked back, even if his mask is blocking the expression on his face I can tell he is ticked off by the glare of his eyes. “Pfft don’t be so serious, it's not like I’m going to kill them or pillage their land, enslave their subject and become the king of Equestria." I said with as much sarcasm I could muster but that doesn't seem to penetrate Celestia's thick skull because she immediately took an aggressive stance. Her wings flared out, hooves dug into the ground and her horn pointed toward me so that she can cast any sort of offensive spell at the moment. On the other hand, Luna already falls asleep again, an expected thing to happen for the Princess of the Night despite the sun is brightly shining. "I'll not allow you to do as you please with this world, Demon!" she threatens, you can even taste the venom contains in each of her words "I swear by my mother name I'll strike you down!" I just stare at her with a bored expression, not a single fear came out inside of me, I was thinking that she is joking with me but the determination in her eyes is saying otherwise. Chrysalis is hiding behind Nox, no doubt that she isn't too keen on finding out how it feels to suffer Celestia wrath, and Gerindha followed the changeling nymph example by hiding behind me. Asriel is nowhere to be seen, probably doing his routi- oh nope there he is, hiding behind the Xelor beside Chrysalis, his tiny tail is poking out. “Bill, that’s enough!” Nox bellowed, his palms are glow with blue light, ready to shoot a ball of magic to me. “We’re here to live out our life as a new leaf so you better not causing something that you can’t take responsibly for, so knock it off you two.” “Pfft, relax Nox, I’m just telling a joke. It's her fault for cant even take a joke.” I said. “Bill, you and I both know that Discord is spreading chaos all over Equestria and she has done all she could do to stop it. Just think about how stressed she is, not to mention being lost in the middle of Everfree forest and you’re not helping one bit.” After a pregnant pause, I let out a sigh with a roll of an eye and said “Fine, whatever you say Nox.” “Good.” He lowered his hand “And I do believe that you owe an apology?” “Tch, okay.” I sighed, looking toward Celestia with the same bored look “I’m sorry, for making a joke like that.” It took her a second before she hesitantly lifts her head up, “Very well, Demon. I accept your apology.” She said while glaring a dagger at me. “Now if all is fine and dandy, may we continue with our breakfast? I’m sure that griffon is starving with how loud her stomach can rumble.” Nox suggested as the three that hides behind use are slowly came out. Gerindha’s face is red beet because of her embarrassment. “Yeah, yeah I gocha’.” I snap my fingers to make the ingredients to make the pancakes. Asriel stared worriedly at the stuff I conjured “Bill, didn’t you say that consuming anything that you conjured was a bad idea?” he asked. “We’ll be fine as long we’re in the Everfree forest. It's basically a giant magic suppressor so the Chaos Magic will disappear as soon I use them.” I answered, “Nox can check it if there is any Chaos Magic left behind.” I move a bag of flour with a flick of my fingers in front of the Xelor. He hover one of his hand on top of the bag, glowing dimly with blue light that was over the bag, after a few second Nox said that it's safe to use, we repeat this motion several times with the rest of the ingredients plus an extra bag of coffee for us to start off the day. I began mixing the flour, milk, sugar, and eggs with my telekinesis rather than using a bowl like the ol’ way, waving my hand back and forth as if I was a water bender. The pancake batter is swimming in the air following my hands' movement like it was tied with invisible strings, doing little tricks to entertain the audiences that are watching. Except for Luna, she is snoozing away throughout the show. After I mix the batter perfectly, I conjured a frying pan. Placing it on top of the fire pit, right beside the pot of water mixed with ground up coffee that I make out of thin air somewhere in the middle of making the batter. After cooking the batter, tuning that white gooey substance to a perfect golden brown thick pancake, I conjured seven plates with the exact amount of knives and forks, along with a maple syrup. I gave everyone here four layers of pancakes and a mug of coffee for the adults, not counting Asriel not that he needs one anyway so I gave him and Chrysalis a glass of orange juice. "Well, dig up everyone!" I said as I cut a piece of my pancake and ate it. Asriel did so and stuff his face with a big piece, letting out a long moan, everyone saw this and intrigued by how my pancake taste. Everyone, except for Nox and Luna, the latter is currently chugging down the cup of coffee, followed goat bro's example taking a bite of their breakfast. Nox just stares at the plate and mug I gave him, probably thinking how can he ate with the mask on. As far as my knowledge on the Wakfu series, I've never seen Nox without his mask, except for the time when he is still a watchmaker and not a Xelor yet, but who knows, maybe he can remove it. He hesitantly grabs the side of his mask, a series of mechanical clicks and clacks came from the mask as it hisses a high-pressure air, the eyes of the mask glowed dimly before the blue lights went dark. I was expecting something like a dried up corpse when he pulled his mask off, what I was not expecting was a perfect smooth face with deathly pale skin without any trace of malnourished or decay like the original Nox’s story said, a silky white long hair that reaches his shoulder gently flowing with the morning breeze. He opens his eyelids to reveal a pair of light blue colored eyes, it has the same color with his mask eyes. To simply said, we had all our jaw dropped. "What, is there something on my face?" Instead of answering, I conjured a small mirror for him to look at his own face. I had to slap him on the face to stop admiring himself. After we ate our breakfast, we're preparing to hit the road again. I and Asriel are making some food for the trip which consisted of pies, pies and more pies, I don't know where does he learn how to make pies but I suspected that there is some memory from the original Asriel. The Royal Sister are cleaning each other on the other side of the pillar, no they do not lick each other clean like their animal counterpart. At first, I thought they use some sort of spell to summon water from god knows where but taking a closer look they actually use a spell that gathers the vapor in the surrounding area and make them bubbly like soap water and wash each other, speaking of bath we haven't bathed in like two days. Its either find a nearby stream or find out what spell they use. Nox, who put his mask back on, had his Eliacube transformed into a mechanical owl that flies around him. The little changeling is staring at it in awe before the owl landed on her mane, she giggled when the owl made a little nest on her head. Meanwhile, Gerindha is silently preening her wings, plucking every feather that seems out of place so there is some space for the other to grow. After that she donned her armors, taking a minute to stare at the Flaming Talons guild mark on her breastplate before slipping it on. “So Bill…” Chibi Asriel started as he cut off his flow of fire magic to bake another batch of pies ‘It’s nice to know that he can use his magic in that form.’ “…I notice that there is a suspicious scent I pick up from you.” “What do you mean by that?” I asked, cleaning up the leftover ingredients with a snap of my fingers before walking toward to the Xelor and the changeling “Can you really smell things like dogs? Last time I checked you’re a part goat, not puppy.” “Well yeah, my senses are sharper than before and probably I can talk to animals if the whisper from earlier isn’t from my imagination.” He said, storing the freshly baked pies into his inventory that he discovers a few minutes ago “Anyway no changing topic, I can smell that griffoness scent from you, especially from around your crotch. Care you enlighten me on with what did you two did last night?” I paused my walking cycle to look at the goat child behind me, my sight is greeted with that smug smile of his. Last night Gerindha sleeps on my lap so no wonder she left a strong cent there. I was about to protest but someone beat me to it. “What is this about Bill and that griffon?” Nox asked, clearly overheard our conversation. “Its noth –“ “I asked him why he has her scent on him.” Asriel cut me off. Nox stare at me with a bewildered expression, I could hear the gears grinding in his head “Her?” “Yeah her, that griffon over there,” he said, pointing at Gerindha “You know he is been carrying her the whole time since we got here right?” Nox asked, clearly confused. “Yeah I know, but he was carrying her on his back right?” Nox nodded “Well there is also some of it that stick on his crotch.” After a minute of processing the news, Nox slowly turns his head to me with a clear unamused eyes “Bill, I know you’re a fan of that show but you didn’t do it, did you?” “What? No, of course not, I didn’t do the deed! Besides, where did you get that idea anyway?” I retorted. “Well…” Asriel began “I notice that last night you’re calming her down with her nightmare, let her sleep on your lap, and now you have her smell around your willy- wait seriously? I can’t even say peepee? Agh whatever, so putting the two and two together and…” ‘No, I use her as a table for my laptop.’ is what I was going to say but I don’t want to make my brothers misunderstood and suspecting me for treating her like an object “H-hey, she only uses my leg as a pillow, there is nothing wrong with that right?” “From your point of view, I can say that there is nothing wrong with that.” Nox said, “Do you know her name by any chance?” “Yeah, her name is Gerindha.” I said without skipping a beat. “And how do you know her name?” Asriel asked. “She told me when we made a deal last night.” I said “It’s a simple deal actually, she promised to give me the common knowledge of this world, in return, she got to join our little party/family and travel all around the world. A pretty simple deal right?” “Do you really think that it was a wise choice?” the Xelor asked. “How about her comrades from earlier, are they won’t be looking for her?” “To be honest I’m not really sure about it Nox” I said uncertainly “When we make the deal she seems really desperate for a way out so I gave him one.” ‘And not to mention she doesn’t really want to spend her time in prison, I mean who wouldn’t?’ “Besides I can’t leave a cute griffon all by herself in the middle of Everfree forest” It took me a moment to realize what did I just say, I was about to correct it but Asriel cut me off “Oh my gosh, you have a crush on her!” he exclaimed, I could practically see the mischief behind those eyes green eyes of his. And as expected from a child, he sang the kissing song. “Gerindha and Bill sitting in the tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G First comes love. Then comes marriage. Then comes baby in the baby carriage.” I just stare at him with a deadpanned expression, well at least Gerindha didn’t- and she blushed, clearly hearing Asriel’s little song, great now she thinks that I got a crush on her. Awesome, not even midday and we’re off to a great start, can’t this day get any worse? Unfortunately, I just tempted fate because Chrysalis and Luna join in while Celestia just stares at me with a smug smile, basking in the embarrassment of mine. *** After the tenth time, they sang that extremely childish song, we’re back hitting the road toward our destination. Celestia was kind enough to inform us that there is a newly built settlement near the brand new castle that was recently built after Discord takes over the one on the Canterhorn Mountain. ‘Huh, so the Royal Flank’s castle has been always that physic defying castle, the more you know.’ The scenery around us changes with every step we took, the leaves become thicker and the trees are bigger than before. The sunlight is completely blocked by how dense the leaves are but we still can see the pathway thanks to colorful glowing mushrooms and fireflies. To be honest, it almost took my breath away with how beautiful it is, it looks like one of those scenes from a fantasy movie. Too bad those mushrooms and fireflies don't cover a lot of distance so we use Nox's eyes as flashlights to see where's the roadway is heading much to his annoyance, at least his daughter is having fun chasing the glowing bugs. On the right side behind the Xelor, Asriel has reverted back to his adult form, after being squeezed to death by the princess of the night because of fluffy fur and the cuteness he has, another day another clip for 'Woona' folder, summoned a couple of fireballs that, somehow, floats above his head and lights the surrounding area. Don't even ask me why the heck damn things still haven't burn any tree we're passing. As for the Royal Sisters, they insisted to stay on the back of the line and 'guard our flank' as they put it, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that they don't trust us even though we slept on the same pillar. Gerindha being the weakest of us all, besides Chrysalis, and being watched by the Royals like a hawk had no choice other than walking in between me and Asriel, much to the Monster amusement. I told him that if he teases me about my little slip up earlier I would cast a silencing spell for the rest of the day, thankfully she's being quiet since we hit the road. Silently staring at the ground all the time without seeing where she is heading. But I could have sworn I saw her staring at me with those big eyes of her. I on meantime decided to look up for more spell, recently I just found out that this journal also has a page dedicated for making a spell, I might be able to recreate some cool attack from other show like the Ninjutsu from Naruto, Devil Fruit powered attack from One Piece, or make something invisible to protect me like a Stand. Not that I can’t do it with my Chaos Magic, of course, I just want to use my power without putting those around me in danger, that is until I have full control over my magic. As always, the journey is gone swell with the sound silence, no one has even spoken a word since we entered the dark part of the forest. Call it a hunch but I feel something is watching us from the shadow. I can cast‘Sonar’to reveal everything around us but that spell has a downside, it will give out the caster position because the spell released a loud sound that alert other creatures nearby, doesn’t work well in mid-combat and often uses to map out dungeons and temples. It basically copies how bat sees things with their voice. I heard Asriel released a rather loud ‘hhmmm’, I look to the side to see him getting ready to summon his Chaos Saber at a moment. One of his hands raised to threw the floating fireballs. “Asriel, did you see something?” I asked. He took a moment to look for something among the trees, before dropping his guard down “…Never mind, I thought there is something moving.” He answered “It must be my imagina- OH SHIT! BILL, GET DOWN!” I immediately dropped to all four, fireballs soared above me followed by the sound of wood breaking and something yelped in pain. Turning my head to see what was that, I was greeted by the sight of a burning Timberwolf towered over me. No, I wasn’t saying that the thing is looming over me because I was crouching, no, if you thought those wooden wolves has the size of a full-grown adult pony this motherfucker is bigger than that. This isn’t your average everyday Timberwolf, this is advance Timberwolf. I wasn’t quite sure how big the Timberwolf is but with the help of the fire that’s burning half of it face off I can say if I’m standing on my feet it would be an eye-to-snout experience. The wood constructing its body is arranged to look like a genuine skin rather than different size wood chunks being stuck together, sickly green colored grass and leaves acting for the fur, there is nothing that sticking out of the place like the other Timberwolves I’ve seen in the show. In a pickle, I feel my heart beats faster as the adrenaline surge my veins, acting on instinct I casted ‘Wind Gust’ to push him back. I point my right hand toward him and mentally imagine the runes in order to cast it, from my palm a pale green magic circle appeared with the same runes that I’m thinking. And to activate it with the only way I could think of right now, I shouted on top of my lungs “Wind Gust.” The effect is more than I was expecting, a strong burst of wind blasted from my open palm, hitting the Timberwolf square on the face, not only did it send the wooden wolf crashing back to a tree in a blink of an eye but also pushed me back. Thankfully my adrenaline is still pumping so I was able to balance back on my feet with a bit of a back roll. I charge up ‘Ice Spears’ on the same hand and holding my unsheathed cane sword with the other. The other had their guards up and ready to strike any moment, we made a circle to cover each other back with Chrysalis and Gerindha in the middle, both of them are clinging to each other for dear life. “Over there!” Asriel shouted as he threw a fireball toward a shadow as big as the Timberwolf before, said shadow jumps just in time before the fireball hit it. Nox shot a beam of magic from his sword at a moving shadow only to hit a tree that is blocking his line of fire. Suddenly another appears from his blind spot and pounces toward him but a dark blue barrier stopped the Timberwolf’s jaw from nailing him followed by a bright yellow beam that hit the wooden wolf right on its cheek, it yelped in pain and retreated back to the shadow. This is repeated several times, one would be a distraction while another swooped in for the kill. “This is getting us nowhere!” Nox said as he swung his sword side way to parry a paw “I can’t land a single hit, we need to lure them to an opening!” “Our magic is not as good as before, the forest is making us weaker.” Luna grunted, hitting a Timberwolf that was about to bite down on her sister “Demon, do you have something to deal with these creatures?” “Sorry Moon Booty, I don’t have something for them. EarthWall!” A line of rocks rises from the ground, knocking off a Timberwolf that was having a standoff with the Monster prince “Not that I can’t finish them off with one shot but I rather not attract any other monster. We have already enough problem on our plate, Asriel you got any idea?” “Other than burn down the whole area and getting us caught in the flame? Yes.” He took a moment to summon a couple fireballs and threw them toward a nearby Timberwolf, a few hit the spot and set the wolf on fire while those that missed extinguished upon contact so that it doesn’t start a forest fire. “I saw sunlight up ahead, there might be an opening we could use!” “Alright, on my mark everyone, run as fast as you can toward the light. Chrysalis grab on to my back, I’m going to stop the time for a couple of minutes so hold on tightly.” The little changeling did what his dad told her. After his daughter have a good grip on his neck Nox put his hand together in a praying pose, charged up his magic on both of his hand, the circle on his palms glowed brightly catching the Timberwolves attention, making him their primary target. Multiple wooden wolf jump in for the kill but Nox release his charge up magic by making a pair of rings with his thumb and index finger before they could get him, a blue wave washed over the surrounding area. As if time has halted, everything that was moving before stopped mid in air, including the Timberwolves that are inches away from hitting their target. Most of the Equestrians stare in awe at the sight before snapping back in reality with a shout of ‘NOW!’ from the time wizard. We immediately book it and make the run toward the light, I look back toward where the frozen Timberwolves are but there is something that wasn't supposed to be there. Gerindha is still there. With a face of pure horror, she sat in the middle of where we were, gazing at the sight of the incoming Timberwolves. She is so scared that her body wouldn’t budge an inch. Fortunately, she is still in the range of my magic so I pulled her back with a simple telekinesis spell, just in time before Nox’s spell ended. Catching her with both of my arms so that she didn’t slam into me, earning an adorable ‘eep’ sound from her, I use the momentum to turnaround and hauled my as off, I carried the griffoness in a bridal style and catches up with the others. She was lighter than I thought so it doesn’t take long to reach the light. I could hear the sound of the wooden wolves catching up to me and feel them breathe down my neck, ‘Couple of minutes my ass, that was only half a minutes!’ After getting through the last thorny bush that fenced the clearing, I felt something coursing down my veins, it wasn’t another pump of adrenaline because I ran out of it somewhere in the middle of the fight. It was something more than a simple boost, something that was supposed to be there at the start and something has held it back since. I could feel like I can run around the world a thousand times, swim across the ocean, reap every innocent soul in an instant, destroy the very planet I’m standing on and conquer the whole universe heck even the multiverse! Maybe I won’t do the last three things but that just a way to express myself how powerful I felt. The open area is cornered by a high ground, a cliff wall with a cave on it. I saw Nox put the changeling nymph in between the rocks that seem has fallen down from the cliff wall to keep her away from the danger that we’re up against, I did the same with Gerindha, telling her to keep her distance away from us. Leaving the flushed griffoness behind, I charged up another ‘Wind Gust’ on my right hand and ‘Barrier’ with the other. Nox already has his sword out and charged to its fullness, the Eliacube is floating above his left hand absorbing the ambient magic nearby so that he could charge his power. Asriel surprised me with a combination between his Chaos Saber and fire magic, both his arms and blades are covered in orange flames. There are a couple fireballs floating above him, a little bit bigger than before I might say. Despite the fact that they’re low on magic, both Luna and Celestia stand tall on their ground. Face full of determination plastered on their face, horn brightly glowed with little magic they had. Wings extended to their fullness to show their dominance on the battlefield. Nox, Asriel, me, Celestia and Luna stares at the rustling bushes for the giant wooden wolf to pop out, ready to strike as soon as they appear. 10 Advance Timberwolves jump out from said bushes, their sickly green salvias dripping down from their jaw, bearing their razor-sharp fangs in a threatening manner. They spread out evenly on the field, blocking out all of the escape routes. I took the first move, casting the charged up wind spell at the middle of their group, aiming the one who looks like the alpha of the group. “Wind Gust!” The magic circle glowed a lot more brightly than before and expanded twice the size of it before shooting out a visible compressed wind toward them, and unlike before it doesn’t push me back. The effect was more than I imagine, rather than pushing back the Timberwolf I was aiming for like before the spell obliterate it in an instant as if being shot by a high pressured air cannon the wooden wolves shredded into thousands of pieces of wood. Not only that but the spell also takes out the ones that standing on both side of the alpha and made a huge trail toward the dark forest, as if a meteor just landed. Talk about a major upgrade. This doesn’t affect the Advance Timberwolves one bit, in fact, they just get angrier. We all snapped out from our shock state and prepared for battle once again. Nox took the next move by blasting the nearest wooden wolf with the charge up shot resulting in it to explode in blue smoke, tiny pieces start falling down from the sky. Suddenly, another Timberwolf jumps out from the blue colored smoke and tried to catch Nox off guard. Keyword tried. With a lightning-fast reaction he switches to the Eliacube by throwing his Clock Dial Sword upward, he charges it up and releases another blue wave, everything around him has stopped yet again. He raises his right hand to catch the falling sword without even looking and made a downward strike, even though the tip of the sword barely touch the wolf muzzle a thick blue wave cut through the wooden wolf in half. The sound of something hitting against wood draw my attention away from the Xelor, I see Asriel skillfully handle three Timberwolves at the same time with his flaming Chaos Saber. Despite being surrounded in all side he kept dodging or block every attack they gave and countered with his own. Every time his sword hit a part of the wooden wolves it would either take a chunk of wood or leave a deep gash and set it on fire. Soon the wolves had enough with his dodgin’ and weavin’, they all jump at him at the same time and dog, or wolf pilled him. I was about to cast another ‘Wind Gust’ but a smoke rise from the middle of the pile of woods followed by a burst of flame that instantly turns them into a pile of ash. Standing in the middle of it is Asriel with a cocky smile on his face. I look to the side where the Royal Sisters are and seems like they finished off the last two Timberwolves, covered in scratch wounds and running low on magic. With the last glow of her horn, Celestia finished the struggling wolf in her magical grasp by slamming it to the ground, scattering it to thousands of pieces. With the last of them is killed I threw my hand upward and yelled “Whooo! We won!” “Hold your tongue, Demon!” Luna gasped “These vile creatures will not fall down that easily!” I was wondering why she said something about that until I recalled those parts I read something in a couple of fanfics where it included the protagonist fighting against Timberwolves. There are two things that commonly happen in those moments; neither have they had a fast healing rate by absorbing nearby branches and other wood stuff or combined into one giant Timberwolf after they’re perished to make a comeback. Judging by how they didn’t have a single scratch, even though Asriel clearly set few of them on fire a couple of times plus some of them got stabbed by a chunk of ice, and the leftover pieces of their once great pack are drawn into where their leader is. Which is somewhere down the gaping trail of trees and earth, probably the floating green glowing thing that is dragging a bunch of woods stuff. I can say that both things about Timberwolves are correct. There goes another jinx. We just silently staring at the constructing hunkering giant giant Timberwolf that we’re going up against, not only it dragged the pieces of what left of its comrades and the broken down trees from my attack earlier, the force is strong enough to uproot a whole damn tree off from the ground. When it’s done building itself, the green light orb from earlier now resides in the heart of the, what I called, Timberwolf King. I call it a ‘King’ because of the sheer size of the wolf, it easily towered the Iron Giant by a head, give or take a few inches when it sat on its rump. The King’s legs are made out of freshly picked thick trees and the roots are modeled for claws and paw. Its whole body is covered in grasses and leaves that swayed back and forth following the direction of the wind, the tail is also made out of entirely by the same things as the fur. A set of strong jaws can easily crush boulders into dust fully equipped with big yet sharp fangs. Pair of yellow eyes filled with barely contained primal rage stares forward into the empty space. With the last piece of wood to complete the giant creature in place, the glowing part of its chest let out a beat that lights up the strands of tendrils-like-veins connected to it. The second time the ‘heart’ beat, the gigantic Timberwolf let out an eardrum-busting roar. Even if the distance between it and us is pretty far away, the wind from the roar slaps us right in our faces. It was strong enough to blow Asriel’s fur backward. I look to the side where the Royals are, I was expecting them preparing some sort of spell to destroy the King Timberwolf but loo and behold they’re crying into each other shoulder, or wither whatever those things are, saying that they love each other forever. Not that I blame them for that with how battered their bodies are, I’m not surprised if they run out of magic by this point. Nox lean toward me “I hope you have something up your sleeve because we’re going to need something big to take that thing down.” “You’re talking to a supreme being that can rule over the whole universe.” I said, giving him a deadpanned look “And you’re asking him if he can destroy a pile of moving sticks?” He simply stared at me with those blue blank eyes and said “Yes.” “There is approximately more than 2000 ways I can destroy that thing, from beating it to death to dropping a meteor with the size of the moon on top of it.” I listed with the same look before swiping it off with a huge grin “But I’d like to try out this new spell I just learned.” I point my right hand toward the lumbering Timberwolf, said wolf is making its way toward us with ground shaking steps. Picturing the runes for the last spell offensive spell I know in my mind while muttering some random ‘ancient words’ under my breath. A glowing orange red-ish magic circle appeared on my palm. “Spark burst!” Thousands tiny glowing yellow dots came out from the circle and sped toward the approaching King Timberwolf, the sparks circling it like a firefly making the giant wooden wolf staggered in place. It tries to swipe away the glowing dots with its paw but they keep coming back. “Is that what you’re planning Bill?” Asriel asked, “Keeping it at bay with some two bits cheap illusion trick?” “No, but this is, Detonate!” I said the last part with a snap of my fingers. The journal said those sparks explode to a small blast that has the same power as a firecracker, but with how powerful I am, and can turn a simple wind push into high pressured air cannon that can make a gaping canyon, those pitiful sparks now has a blast radius equaled to a Mini Nuke. Imagine thousands of those things going off at the same time. The once great mighty King Timberwolf reduced to mere pieces of wood that scattered all around the area, a mushroom cloud stood before where the gigantic wooden wolf was. Nox cast a blue barrier that has moving gears pastern to protect us from the shockwave of the explosion. I recalled back my cane like Kratos did with his Leviathan Axe, once it’s in my grasp I gave it a few twirls before leaning on it. “Now THAT is what I called an explosion.” I said, “See, it’s not a big of a deal, it takes more than a pile of twigs to keep me down.” “No, it's not over yet.” Nox informed, “I can feel that thing is still alive.” I look toward the sea of dust, near where the King Timberwolf was there is a faint green light coming from an orb. I realize that it was the ‘heart’ of the King, once the dust is cleared I can see that it was gathering back the pieces of its body. I was about to cast “Ice Spears” but a beam of rainbow light beat me to it, my blood runs cold just by watching the rainbow completely obliterated the constructing Timberwolf. As fast as a bullet I turn my head toward where it came from, there is no way the Royals already got their hooves on the Elements of Harmony. I sighed in relief, turns out it wasn’t the Elements that destroyed the Timberwolf it was Asriel, he somehow figured out how to summon and use the Chaos Buster. His whole right arm is replaced with a cannon that has a glass plane for the middle part and some unique pattern on the base of it, the tip of it has a cone that can be opened to fires the charged rainbow beam. What got me confused is back in the game Asriel fires nine waves of bullets before he blasted the player with the charged up rainbow beam but I guess now he can use it whenever he can. The cannon rapidly blurred out of the existence and Asriel’s arm appears the same way his Chaos Buster disappeared. We stood motionless for a few minutes staring at the pile of wood when nothing seems to be moving we let out a long sigh. Asriel threw his hand upwards and shouted “Whoooohoo!!!” at the top of his lungs before changing to his child form and began to roll on top of the lush green grass ground. Chrysalis came out from her hiding spot and gave the Xelor a surprise bear hug, she then went off and talking her mouth off about how awesome he is fighting the Timberwolves, going as far as trying to reenact the fighting scene. I, having nothing better to do, check on the Royal Sisters where they lay unconscious in near the cave mouth, must be knocked off somewhere in the middle of our one-sided fights. Gerindah is already near them, and probably the one who dragged them there, casting a healing spell on the both of them with her staff. Their bodies are encased with the same green aura as the griffoness’ staff, little by little their wounds are closing up but still leave a few scars behind. I went over there with a simple teleportation, reappearing right beside Gerindha making her jump in surprise. “Oh…um, sorry,” I said sheepishly “I didn’t mean to scare you like that.” She just stared at me, a little bit longer I might say, before healing back the two alicorns again. “Are they going to be alright?” I ask as I move closer to get a better look. “Y-yes, th-they only have some scratches and small wounds. I-I can heal them with a light healing spell b-but they still need some rest t-to recover from magical exhaustion.” She said with a bit of stuttering as she finished healing the alicorns. Damn did I scare her that much? That or another factor that has something to do with Asriel’s little song earlier that morning. “Hey, relax I’m not going to hurt you.” I said as I pulled her into a one arm hug, she let out an ‘eep’ in return “We already make a deal and I did say to treat you well.” I guess this is a bad move because how red her face is, I slowly let go and scoot away from her. Dammit me and my lack of social skill. I heard her says something but it was way too quiet for me to hear “What was that?” “Thank you…” “Thank you? Thanks for what?” “For earlier, w-with the Timberwolves I mean. I-I was so s-scare at the time and c-couldn’t move. I-I-I w-wouldn’t b-be here i-if y-yo-” Oh dear, she start tearing up, I don’t know if my heart can take a view like that. “Shhh…” I shushed her with a finger on her beak. “Hey, look at me.” She did so, slowly turning her head to me so I could stare her right to her eyes. Her brown eyes fit perfectly with the freckle on her face but tears are ruining it, I fish out a handkerchief from my inner pocket to wipe away her tears. “Listen, I did say I’ll treat you like a family.” ‘C’mon cheesy dialog from a fanfiction I read, don’t fail me now’ “And I mean I would protect you, and not trying to make you as my slave like any other demon. So don’t worry about it and don’t cry.” ‘Because my heart can't take it!’ She sniffed and nodded, I got lost in her pretty eyes and start leaning closer to her face. I guess that she didn’t mind it at all and the blush is returning back to her cheek as she leans in closer, I could feel her hot breath as our lip- “If you two Lovebirds are done smoochin’ each other faces, could you- I don’t know- give us a hand?” A childish voice snaps us back to the real world from our little fantasy. We both turn our head toward where it came from, Nox, Chrysalis and chibi Asriel are staring at us, each of them holding a handful of wooden chucks that left behind by the Timberwolves. We turn our attention back at each other and realized how close our faces are. Gerindah immediately squeaked and jump back a couple feet away from me, at the same I blinked away from her and reappeared right beside Asriel. ‘Well…That happens.’ “So, having fun talking with your girlfriend?” the Monster child asked with a smug filled smile “Its about time for you to- OUCH!” before he can finish bonked him on the head with my cane. “Shut up Asriel.” I said to the Monster who is nursing his sore head, “By the way, what's with the woods?” “Dad said it will get dark pretty soon so these are for the firewood.” Chrysalis answered “Oh and uh could you bring the rest over here Uncle Bill? I don’t think we have enough wood to last us for the night.” “Sure thing Chrisy.” I said, making a ‘come forth’ gesture with my hand and the pile of wood floats toward us. “I think this is enough, we should get back with the other,” I walk toward where my brothers setting up the fireplace, leaving the slack-jawed changeling nymph behind. I drop the woods near the fireplace with a ‘thud’ making Asriel jumped at the sound, “We don’t need that much wood Bill!” He protested “Now what are we going to do with all of this?” “Relax, I was thinking about using these as targets for testing the spell from the journal,” I said before smirking “Unless you want to be a test subject, there is a gender-bending spell that I want to try.” He winched at the thought of that “No thanks, but I think your girlfriend might be happy to help you.” “Asriel, shut up before I cast it on you.” “Yes, sir.” Rolling my eyes at his childish behavior, I pull out my phone to check what time it is. I was surprised to find out that it was already past 6, huh time sure fly when you’re fighting Timberwolves. The sun should be lowered by now but with both Alicorns out cold from the magical exhaustion, I figured that I might try lowering the celestial object. I point my right hand toward the blazing sun and the other toward the horizon where the moon would show up. I imagine having an invisible pole connecting between both of them and slowly move it. The sun followed my hand movement and slowly descending from the sky, a giant white rock replacing its place as the ball of gas disappears to the horizon. Of course, we’re left with a pinch blank sky with no stars decorating it. As if I have a hand full of stars I spread it across the sky and colorful dots began to shine all one by one. I tried my best to make it as beautiful as I could, adding a few stars constellations like Scorpion, Centaur, and others to decorate it. As a result, it’s not bad if I say so myself. I gave it a last nod before joining the other near the fireplace, today dinner menu is a hot steaming pie with a glass of orange juice, I know it's not something you ate for dinner but hey its food and I can’t complain. And I must say, Asriel can make one hell of a mean pie. During our dinner, I was curious enough about the cave right beside us, Nox said that we can explore it tomorrow but I want to map it out first before we enter it. Using 'Sonar' and a simple illusion spell I was able to create a 3D map of the caves, a lot of tunnels leads to different places and direction but what got our attention was there is a single thing that shouldn't be inside deep within a cave. A leafless tree. A damn tree in the deepest chamber of the cave, our first guess that it was obviously the Tree of Harmony but it could be just a random stalagmite that somehow takes shape of a dead tree. To make sure what I just detected we sent a Noxin, a firefly-like machine drone that Nox made, he can see what it sees. It took him a couple of hours to reach it and he confirms that it was the Tree of Harmony. I could use this to make a deal with the Royals as a bargaining chip and avoid getting stoned like most of Displaced stories. Soon, everyone hit the hay and drive off to the dreamland. Gerindha decided to use my thighs as a pillow but hey I’m not complaining, it made my nerve calm just by seeing her asleep with a cute smile on her beak and scratching her like a cat. Hopefully, Asriel won’t find out about this. I did try a couple of Lifestyle Magic, for example 'Reshape', its a low to mid transfiguration spell that change the shape of a material based on the caster mental image, I was planning to make a miniature Midoria statue but because I had no control over my power I ended up changing the whole pile into Midorias. This could be a trouble when I'm in combat, I could have hit my comrades if I am not careful enough. For now, I put a magic seal on myself that limit my power, I took the time to make it looks like a pair of blue shackles on my wrist and feet and gave it a little bit of illusion magic so it only appears when I reach the limit. After that done I went back to fill my daily anime dose, this time I choose one of the greatest anime dub of all time, Ghost Stories. “Not because you’re a rabbit but because you’re black!” Truly a golden show. Author's Note Hi, everyone sorry for being late again. Here is the longest chapter I've written yet as an apology. Point out the things that I should be fixing if there any grammar error, typos and other things. Tell me your opinion about my first fighting scene. Chapter 6: Making Spells, Doing Deal and Creating Plans.'So if I take this and connect it with this then...perfect!' Looking back to the Journal to choose another rune to complete the spell, I pick one that looks like a leaf with some swirly patterns on its tip and adds it to the unfinished spell. Just I expected the leaf like rune connects with the rest without a hitch. ‘Huh that was easier than I thought, now just to test it.’ Flipping through the Journal pages, I found a spell that is simple enough to test it with. Mentally picturing the spell runes I just created together with the one on the Journal I quietly cast it. “Twin Magic: Illuminate!” From the palm of my hand, two orbs of yellow light appeared with the size of a golf ball, it was bright as a lamp and slowly gaining height before it vanished among the dark clouds blocking the moonlight. ‘Successes!’ I mentally cheered. After couple hours of watching Ghost Stories, I got bored with it before finishing it so switched to Overlord, an anime similar to Log Horizon but only the main character gets transported to another world as one of the highest undead creature, an Overlord, along with his guild base. Not only I like it because the 'isekai' genre but also the mechanic behind the magic of that world, other than the 10 tiers of magic, and including the Super-Tier magic, there is something called ‘spell modifier’ that raise the spell effectiveness by increasing its power, widening its area of effect, extending the period of time it remains active or even adding another same object when the spell is casted. Then I think to myself ‘Why not make it into a real thing?’ of course, it would be a massive help for me since I can only access 10% of my power so that I don’t accidentally destroy the whole world with it. With the help of the Journal's ‘The Guide to Creating Spell’ page, I was able to make it. So far I am able to recreate ‘Boosted Magic’, ‘Widen Magic’, and ‘Twin Magic’ the names are basically self explanatory. ‘Boosted Magic’ makes the spell more powerful than before, and have a little chance of turning into a more powerful version of the used spell. For example, if I use ‘Boosted Magic’ with ‘Ice Spears’ it'll turns into something similar to ‘Ice Lance’. The differences between those two spells are the quantity and quality of the object it summoned, while the ‘Ice Lance’ can only produce one object per spell, the modified ‘Ice Spears’ can create up to 3 objects, though it's much smaller than the lance. Of course, it has a drawback, with my current spell making skill it ended up costing a good chunk of mana depending on what spell it modified. Not that it would bother me cus' I got an unlimited amount of mana, I can only access a tiny bit of it. Next up is ‘Widen Magic’, it basically increased the area of damage of a spell or turns it into an AOE type spell, I made so that it would be very useful to use it along with a support/buffing spell. From what I know, or acording by the Journal, in this world a buffing spell can only focus on a single individual, be it the caster themselves of another person, so if someone needs to buff an entire party they would be doing it one by one and it would be time and mana consuming. If I were to use ‘Widen Magic’ I can buff all of my party members with a single spell at the same time, not to mention it only cost a little bit of mana, it also could be casted multiple times before it runs out. I felt like I’ve created a cheat spell. But the same can’t be said if it’s used by an offense or defense spells, once used, it has to be cast again unlike when it used with a support spell, so there's that. And the last one I made is ‘Twin Magic’, instead of creating one object, or a single magic circle, with a spell, with this spell modifier a single spell is able to create the same object twice without casting it again. For instance, if I cast a ‘Twin Magic: Sparks Burst’ it’ll make the same exact copy magic circle. I was about to make the other spell modifiers to complete the new chapter that just writes itself on the journal when I successfully made the first spell, but a groan reached my ear. Looking to the side from where it came from I see Celestia slowly awake from her slumber, Gerindha said that an average unicorn would take a full day rest if they ever get magical exhaustion but I guess Alicorns have greater mana, or magic, regeneration than any other creatures. “Ugh, what just happen?” she asked. “You passed out, nuff’ said," I plainly said, tucking away the Jurnal to my inner pocket which turns out is another gateway to my personal hammerspace "I thought you alicorns would be more than enough to deal a couple of Timberwolves but I guess they’re too much for you to handle,” I said as if I'm talking about the weather, anyone can defeat a pile of moving sticks but not as big as the one we’re fighting earlier. “Wha…Timberwolves?” As if a switch just flipped in her mind, she instantly snapped and frantically search around “W-where are they? Are they gone? Gasp, oh no…are we…are we dead?” Snorting in amusement, I gave out a low chuckle “I can’t believe, the co-princess of Equestria, the ruler of the sun, easily frightened by a couple of moving sticks.” I mocked “Don’t worry, unlike you, they’re nothing but a bunch of small fries compared to us.” “…is that so…” is all she says before giving me a silent treatment. I was about to start up a conversation but with how intense she is staring at the burning pile of wood, I better approach it carefully. “So, how does it feel to taste defeat?” Nail it. “Must be pretty harsh for someone who has control over the sun, no one dares to threaten you without the consequences of getting burnt to death, all creatures fear the power you hold, feeling all invincible and stuff,” I said. “Then some guy came in, kicked you out from your castle, took over the throne an-“ “SILENCE!!!” ‘That wasn’t unexpected’ Thankfully she didn’t go all royal capslock but it was enough to make Asriel twitches, Gerindha on the other hand, or talon in her case, started to stir up from her sleep but nothing like a good ol’ neck scratching can put her back to sleep. We stared at each other eyes, Celestia is glaring a dagger on me while I answered back with a shit-eating grin. Maybe I can use this to make strike a deal and put her to a debt. All I need is to escort her to the Tree of Harmony that my brothers and I just recently discover, which is in the deepest part of the caverns that filled with countless monsters, possibly undead and Rushu, and if we follow some cliché story plot there should be something guarding the tree, maybe a golem or two. “Jeez, don’t be so mad about it,” I said “Tell you what how about I lend you something to deal with that guy, what’s his name again? Ah, Discord, and take back the throne. Of course, it won’t be free, every power comes with a price as always.” She slowly turns her head back to the burning wood, brow wrinkled and eyes seem deep in thought. Of course, anyone would think twice before accepting a devil deal, unless if you have a harry triple chin, fat body living inside a trailer shack and willingly trade your soul for a bottle of beer. Or if you have a miserable life. “I’ll listen to what you have to over, Demon,” Celestia said bitterly. “Great, it is all I need.” I said with a smile, I hope my acting was good enough to imitate the real Bill Cipher “First, I need to know what kind of power you desire. Since you already controlled the hottest thing know to Equss and can be used to destroy an entire country or a continent, I was thinking of giving you something to vaporize your enemy. Even that spirit of chaos guy can’t es-“ “NO!...I mean I don’t need something that powerful.” She suddenly said, cutting me off ‘How rude.’ Well, she wanted power more than what she already has but it doesn’t explain why she didn’t want it. “I…is there any way to…capture him?” ‘Why? Shouldn’t it be easier to get rid of him instead?’ I know that he is sort of important in the future but from my knowledge of fantasy world, everything that has something to do with being a spirit can be brought back if he/she has enough power. And a thousand of years is long enough for a spirit to gather magical power to ‘reborn’. Though I never think about it, if a whole body is basically made out of magic, can it be easily defeated with ‘Universal Dispell’?. Come to think of it, isn't Bill some kind of spirit? He can only exist in the mindscape, after all, there is a possibility that he is a ghost, without a body to posses he can’t go to the real world or third dimension as the show put it. I'll find out about that later if I have the time or motivation to do it. Putting a hand on my chin as a thinking person would, I made a humming noise “Hmm, something to restrain eh? Well, I might have a few binding and sealing spells or talisman under my sleeve but isn’t that the same by killing him?” “W-what? What does that even mean?” she asked “Well, he is a spirit of chaos, if a spirit were to seal under any circumstances and unable to gain any magical power, it will slowly shirk, finally it went poof” I emphasize the point with a hand gestured, throwing a handful of glitter that I sort of 'willed' to appear on my hand. Naturally, that thing only happens to a lesser spirit, something like a simple ghost or weak forest spirits AKA newborn dryads, according to what's written in the Journal. Greater spirits, like Discord or Ursa Major, known to have a magical core just like any being that has a physical body, even if it's sealed it will generate magical power to maintain its form. There is something in Celestia’s eyes when she heard what I sa- wait, is that tear? Why would she cry over someone that just kicked her out from her castle? Well whatever it is, none of it is my business. “I..is there any way to contain him without…you know…” She slowly said, ears sprawling back. ‘Geez, what is he to you, your husband?’ actually, that would be a great plot twist later in the future…on second thought, no that would be a terrible idea, please tell me that isn’t true. “I could ask Nox to build something to constantly drain his power so that he can’t cause any trouble, probably something like a giant silo for storing magic or something,” Celestia’s ears perked up, her eyes filled with hope and something along that line “but, why bother doing that when there is already something that can defeat and capture him.” "Huh?" "My power is beyond your world's league, waaaay beyond you mortals can comprehend and if I were to capture Discord it would be the same as killing him. I still need some time adjusting this world's standard level of magic so that I wouldn't destroy this world by accident." 'Not really, I just don't know how to control my own strength.' "Then why not use something that was created to be this world most 'powerful' weapon to defeat him." “Is such a thing existed?” “Yup, in fact, there are probably a thousand items and artifacts that can do such a thing scatter across the world. If I'm correct, as usual, there are exactly 6 items that have the capability to do that and when you use it together it can even seal the greatest evil ever, or so the legend said, of course, such item can’t be posses by the same individual because how powerful it is,” ‘Lies.’ “It’s not like the Infinity Gauntlet that can erase half of the universe, it’s more of sealing tools than a weapon actually.” ‘Even more lies.’ “H-half of the universe? S-such power…” “Well, that will be a story for a different time. Now, care to make a deal? I’ll help you claim those 6 artifacts, in return, you can do something for us in the future!” I happily said with a bright smile, extended my hand, and lights it in blue fire. She stares skeptically at my flaming hand “First, let's talk about this ‘favor’ you speak of. I’m not some naïve pony that would give away everything I have on a drop of a crown.” Eh, fair enough. No one would have done that without knowing what both ends of the rope are hanging on from making this deal. Unless if you’re a white midget with huge puffy hair that can be mistaken as a second head or a tumor who accept a deal without a second thought. “Heh heh, it seems you have dealt with some demon or devil in your past life, seeing the way you talk to me I guess you have some grudge against demonic creatures,” I said, the fire on my hand extinguished as if it was blown by a wind. “Since we’re making a deal around 6 certain items, I guess I could change it a little bit. How about we make it a trade? Items for items if you can’t fulfill my favor.” Celestia thinks about it for a moment before nodding “Very well demon, as long your favor is within my capabilities I will do it. But remember if you don’t hold on to your words I will make sure you regret it. It is correct that you’re not the first demon I met and won’t be the last.” ‘I’ve read too many fictions where Sun Flank backstabbed her allies, if things happen to go that way, knowing her she would call the deal off or trying something to get rid of my brothers and me, better have something to stop that.’ “The same goes for you, just remember my type of deal isn’t something like a contract you could just sweep it under a rug.” I said back, some BS started assembling to make a bigger BS, “My deal is something called Soul Contract, it bounds me to do my part of the deal whether I like it or not, the same goes with you. And if you planning to double-cross me the contract will affect the very thing that makes you…well, you, at least your soul that is. Or just end your miserable little life in the most painful way, I don’t know which but it would be one of the two.” ‘I hope that was enough to shake her boots, as far as I know, Bill never has been double-crossed. I don’t even know what will happen.’ Seeing how troubled Celestia is, she probably thinking what will she choose, either let Discord run amok in the kingdom and toying with her subjects or made a deal with a demon to obtain great magical artifacts that can seal the Chaos Spirit. “Very well I accept your offer.” She said with determination in her eyes. I smirked, glad to know she is willing to cooperate “So here is what I have to offer, I will help you acquire the artifacts to seal the ‘Spirit of Chaos’ in return you will not use those artifacts to seal any of us, provide us with the most recent updated map and do not stand in our way because we’re planning on going adventure,” seeing how Celestia raise an eyebrow I added “don’t worry we aren’t planning on ruling over the world or destroying it. Because it’s way too interesting to cast it aside with how much secrets this world holds. So how’s that sound, deal?” I said and a blue flame engulfed my hand once again. She stares at my appendage, probably wondering why it hasn’t burned yet. She hesitantly lifts her hoof and I grab it, she filched probably expecting pain from the fire but nope, this thing is only an illusion, princess. I gave a firm shake and release her hoof, “The contract has been made, and you should rest for the night because we will be busy tomorrow.” She said nothing and lied back down, staring at the starry sky as if he tried to figure something out. “Did Luna already raise the moon?” Celestia asked. “Nah, she couldn’t lower the sun anyway, sides’ she is out cold since the Timberwolves attacked,” I said simply. “Then wh-“ “I took the liberty to do your and your sister’s jobs, I’ll expect some payments in the future.” What? I don’t do this kind of stuff for free you know? She immediately sat up and stares at me with wide eyes, mouth open, and all. “What? Do you think you’re the only one who can control the sun or moon? There is still much bigger fish out there you know?” Well, Discord can also control the celestial objects but I think he is not strong enough, seeing how both objects are still in the Royal Sister’s control. She decided that today enough is enough and lie back down without uttering one word. “Good night.” I simply said she didn’t answer back. Now I can check ‘making a deal with the princesses’ off from my bucket list if I had any. ‘Well then, now where did I leave it off…oh right, Silent Magic is the next one.’ At first, I was thinking that it was useless because unicorns can cast a spell with a swish of their horn. I’m not too sure about other creatures, seeing that griffons don’t have any natural limbs to control their magic, though they can stand on clouds like pegasis do but they can’t control the weather and the fact that Gerindha using her staff to heal the Royal Flanks cemented my theory. In order to cast a spell, any creature that doesn’t have necessary limbs to control magic must use a magic item that allows them to gather and use magic like so, be it a wand or staff like Gerindha’s. I never see her cast a spell, does she have to chant the spell similar like in anime? Something close to ‘mother nature lends me your power…bla...bla…bla’? A couple of anime implement that method of casting and some of it has a ridiculously long sentence. Commonly they also stick with the ‘long sentence has more power’ rule, just take a look at Megumin from KonoSuba, her spell has one minute worth of incantation but takes a look at the size of her Explosion! Imagine if she can instant-cast it. That is if she has enough mana to cast it multiple times. But then again it might not be so useless, a unicorn might use it to cast a spell without charging their horn. Unless you’re Celestia, she can turn whoever opposes her to a pile of ash in a matter of seconds, hopefully, this world Celestia doesn’t turn into a tyrant so I don’t have to beat the crap out of her. The idea of creating Silent Magic is to allow a magic caster to cast any kind of spell without chanting or charging it, the hard part is how am I suppose to create it? The previous 3 Spell Modifier is really easy to create and basically, I just repeat some of its runes to a certain extent but also design it to use the smallest amount of mana as possible. But Silent Magic is a bit trickier than the others, that is, to put it mildly, there must be a way to cast a spell without doing the necessary chant to turn raw magic into what the spell requires or speed…up…the…process… I slap myself in the face, if the original Bill were to see me he would definitely be disappointed. One problem out of the way, now just to figure out how to ‘ignite’ the spell, I was thinking about overload the spell enough so it would explode and activate itself but it would be mana consuming, plus it doesn't take a half of a brain cell to understand by overloading a spell can make it uncontrollable and perhaps blow up. For me, I just shout the spell name and it somehow triggers the spell similar to some anime or TV shows but I don’t think that kind of logic would work with this world inhabitant. Even though this world is a TV show, or it would be. I had to find a way like Asriel or Nox’s activate their spell without doing an attack 'call out', when we're fighting the Giant Timberwolves they didn’t call out their attack and simply just did it, though the Xelor had to make a specific shape with his fingers to control the Wakfu, or magic, he is using similar to Doctor Strange. Maybe I can ask them when they wake up, speaking of which if I remember, since when did Nox have to sleep? He is basically just an armored mummy powered by Wakfu, or the equivalent of magic by World of Twelve standards since both things had more or less the same principal. Then again, the Xelor that is my brother isn’t the same as the one in the show and somehow had regained his human form, or close to it anyway, back, not whatever left of Noximilien Coxen the watchmaker which is a dried husk that resembles a human. Speaking of Nox- “Did you really think making a deal with her is a wise choice?” -a metallic voice rang out, he might have woken up sometimes in the middle of making the deal, or did he never falls asleep in the first place? Releasing a sigh, I flip a page of my Journal to get a better grasp on how to activate magic without chanting it or call out the name. Casting a glance to the sleeping griffoness and a pair of alicorns, I cast a “Mute.” To block off any sound from the conversation I’m about to have with my brother so they won’t know, shouldn’t know, our secrets. A grey magic circle lights up the ground between me and my eldest brother, a see-through dome expanded from the middle and covered us, blocking the noises from escaping or entering, the same can be said with Gerindha, a similar dome covered her head. “Honestly, I just want to have a string on her so she can’t get in our way, or worst imprison us with the Elements.” “Not even a week and you already making deals, is this one of the side effects you speak of?” “Probably yes, but Bill has a reason, he is determined to escape the second dimension.” I said, remembering the time where he desperate for a way out from the ‘flat world’ dimension “How about you? I never see you as a father figure but you suddenly take her as your daughter.” I said, looking at the changeling nymph sleeping on his chest. “No offense but I’m not sure if you’re old enough or have the material to be a father.” “…I guess you could say its Nox’s side of me made me do it as if there is a hole inside of me where his late family supposes to be,” he said, gently maneuvering Chrysalis to his lap to sit up “what I’m trying to say is something inside urging me to take her as my daughter, and after that, the hole is sort of…filled up.” Makes sense, in Nox’s past life, as Noximilien the watchmaker, he is married to a woman and has 3 children, one of them is a little girl the rest are boys, and they live a happy life despite the debts they got. But because his obsession studying the Eliacube they eventually left him and got killed in a flood on another village, learning their death is leading the watchmaker to become Nox that almost killed the entire Sadida race. I guess he adopted Chrysalis to mend the wounds, though I do wonder if he will marry someone or adopt someone to replace 'his' wife and the other two children. Maybe I shouldn’t use the word ‘replace’ as if I was speaking about an object. “I hope you know what you're doing, Nox, she isn’t just something you can pick up on the side of the road,” I know he can handle both me and Asriel, but we can take care of our self, we’re not toddlers anymore, besides he is only 3 and 5 years older than the monster prince and me respectively. Instantly temperature got knock down a few pegs, even with the heat from the fire I couldn't help but feel the cold shiver down my spine. "Are you implying that I would throw her away like yesterday garbage?" even if his tone is subtle, I have no doubt that he is threatening me. Turning my head to look at his masked face, I frantically wave my hand, "Wha- No, I'm not! What I meant to say was are you sure with this responsibility? I know that you're great at taking care of things but she is just a child you know, a scared one at that,” I reasoned “I know you intended to adopt her, heck if you didn’t one of us will. It's just this is too sudden of a major development like this, we’ve been in this world like what, 2 or 3 days? And things start changing way too fast for me as if it starts changing you, I mean us. What if we truly turned into who we actually are? What if there is a dormant soul that’s waiting for the perfect moment to take over our body? What it we-" "Bill, breath in." It was a very simple command but it was enough to snap me back to reality. “You shouldn’t have to worry about something like that this early, all of us actually. It’s not like we would snap back to our original body behavior in just a snap” “Yeah, but th-“ “You’re overreacting again, Bill,” he released a sigh “you forgot that we have each other, you’re not alone in this, none of us are.” It was my turn to release a sigh "I guess you're right, I do tend to overreact to things.” It put my mind at ease, even if it's just a little bit, knowing that I wouldn't immediately be possessed by this body. Still, there is a small chance it'll happen which will lead to the whole 'petrification' thing that happens in most Displaced story timeline. Though we could prevent that from happening or avoid it completely, Nox can absorb the Elements' power, Asriel is basically an 'invincible being' if his status from the game is somehow applied to his body, and I can basically snap a finger to alter reality. Speaking of the future, I wonder what will change with us being transported here, the Butterfly effect is something that isn't to be taken lightly. There are many possibilities for things that should and shouldn't happen. Well whatever, those are problems for future Bill to solve it, not me. Shaking my head to discard that thought, I look toward the sky I decorated, even if I know the fact I'm the one who actually did it I have a hard time believing I could make something so beautiful. "So what happens next?" I asked. The armored mummy laugh "Next? I certainly won't know until it happens, but I was thinking about following your plan," he said, patting his stirring daughter's head to put her back to the dreamland, "this is clearly not the Equestria that we know, a completely different dimension or perhaps timeline, something might be entirely different or maybe not. Besides, the knowledge we have are mainly focused on this country and the ones surrounding it." "Well it's not a complete plan but I have the basics," I raise my right hand with the index finger extended "first we need to help Celly and Luny get the Elements to get things rolling," middle finger "second, go to the nearest settlement or town so we can figure out what's what, if there is a library we can gather some general information there," ring finger "third, earn some money, we can't actually go around with empty pocket," pinkie, the finger, not the pink party-loving pony, "fourth, if we have enough money we can rent an inn so we don't have to sleep outside like a hobo, if not well I guess we can make ourselves a house," lastly the thumb "finally, this last part isn't actually part of the plan but whatever, we can choose whether or not we will be staying still or doing some adventure." Nox hummed, rubbing his metallic chin "I can agree on a plan like that, however..." his glowing blue eyes fall to the sleeping changeling nymph on his lap "now I have her under my care I was thinking of settling down and having a normal life like any family would but with how things are still complicated I'll put that on hold." "Having a 'normal' live as a Xelor that can control time? Good luck doing that, your power bound to attract unwanted attention be it good or bad. If someone wants it for themselves and will do anything to get it, you might risk her life in danger." I reasoned, after reading many light novels, manga and fanfics I can tell it'll happen sooner or later, not to mention if we manage to attract some figures with high political power we might start a war against an entire nation. "Who knows what will happen, heck I was starting to get feelings that the princesses will try to get one of us on their hands, or hooves." "You're just paranoid, Bill," Nox said with a blank face, or mask. Well, actually it was more of a 'are you kidding' expression. "Being paranoid doesn't get you killed!" I shot back with a huff. He shook his head with a sigh, "anyway its already past midnight so you probably should get some sleep," I was about to retort but he cut me off "before you play that 'I don't need sleep' card, I know you can but it doesn't hurt to try right? Tomorrow we will get the Elements and I want you to be in top shape so there won't be any trouble." "...fine" I answered with a grumble, guess I should do the rest of the spell modifier later on if I have time. The Xelor lie back down, moving Chrysalis to his chest "night Bill." "Night Nox." I said back as I dismiss the magic noise canceling dome with a "Universal Dispel." Lying back down, I pulled a pillow from my hat, hey I don't want to use Chaos Magic every time I summon something small. Giving the top hat a quick flick, it suddenly changes into a yellow colored nightcap. Extending my legs to avoid getting it cramped, I prepared to be whisked away to the dreamland- But then suddenly Luna. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY DOMAIN?!?!" And snaps my eye open with how loud it was. Automatically covered my ears so it won't get more painful than it already is. "God freaking dammit, Luna! What is wrong...with...you?" Only to see her floating on the middle of nowhere, well, actually both of us are floating with nothing beneath us, just endless void of nothing with floating colorful bubbles scattered everywhere. Turns out I just got whisked away to the dreamland. Literally. Author's Note Well, here you go. Another chapter of The Displaced Brother. It took way longer than I actually thought but I still have a reason for it! School. Yeah I know, its not actually a reason but hear me out! Last week the written exams are over so next week it'll be the practical exams turn so I have to prepare for it. Anyway, I will be taking turns on working both of my stories so don't expect me to update this one before the other. As always, keep on the lookout for typos, grammar error (I've been using Grammarly, thx for recommending) and tell me what do you think of this chapter! Thank you for reading and I'll see you guys in the next chapter! Chapter 7 : Messing With the Princess, Invading a Dream and an Uneventful Walk Through the Memory Lane.'Well, this is...an interesting development.' That was my first thought when I 'wake up' to this white realm full of colorful floating bubbles. I didn't know just by going to sleep my consciousness would get whisked away to the Dreamland, with a capital D. I thought it would 'detach' itself out form the body and I can fly away like Peter Pan but instead of flying toward the moon and somehow teleported to Neverland I can invade other people's mind. But nope, somehow, against my expectation, I ended up inside Moon Booty's domain which turns out to be an endless void of white-ness filled with colorful bubbles. I guess taking the title 'Self Proclaimed Dream Demon' has some unlisted benefit. At first, I thought it was just for telling people that I can do whatever I want like a lucid dreamer, 'making dream come true' as it were. I didn't think it would gain me access to the Dreamland, or whatever this place called. To be fair I might already be able to enter this place without the title in the first place and I just don't know about it. I already knew I can enter other people's minds and have a peek on their memories, just need to figure out the way to enter their mindscape. "Well? I am waiting for an answer, Demon." Oh and Luna is here, she's probably on dream patrol, dispelling nightmares and warding off that shapeshifting, nightmares inducing creatures, what was its name anyway? I vaguely remember its name, something like tanabalus or tanbarus. Meh, it's not that big of a deal anyway. Probably I got something on those creatures in one of the episodes I downloaded. Then again I probably deleted those episodes to make room for more games, whoops. Eh, might as well enjoy the timeline like a video game, no video game is fun if you already know the story. "Oh ho ho, the little pony princess is wondering why there's someone other than her self in her domain?" I ask back with a smirk, flowing on the empty air as if it was filled with water, it was surprisingly easy how it is to move around in whatever this place name is. "I, for one, take the enjoyment of searching...shall we say 'interesting' stuff and this place certainly fits the list." I'm curious if I can do what Bill did in the Mindscape, shapeshifting and alter whatever ground he's on, like that one time he tries tricking Dipper to strike a deal with him on the rooftops, altering gravity and conjuring a screaming head. The word 'dreamscape' has the word 'dream' in it so how hard can it be for a reality-warping second-dimension-imported-to-third-dimension demon to take advantage of it? She huffed, horn threateningly pointed at my chest with little sparks flashing from it, "We have dealt with your kin countless time, demon. What makes you think we won't stay silent and let you freely walk on our land, much less in my domain?" Oh right, she got her light knocked out when Celestia and I were making a deal, I thought she would inform her own sister about our deal but I don't think she can hop around the dreamscape like Luna, yet. "'I think'? heh hah hah! Oh no, Luny, I don't think, I know you wouldn't let me out of your sight," my voice dropped a few octaves lower for the emphasis, smirk turns into a wide grin as I stared down on her from where I'm 'standing' "you see, you and your sister presence alone is an obstacle in my long term plan so I need to get rid of you both as quickly as possible without any consequences." I think that set her off somehow, her horns went from sparkling to a full-blown firecracker in an instant and shot a laser-like beam. Seeing where the beam is aimed at I can tell where it would hit, right in the middle of my chest, just a bit left of the heart. A normal person will acknowledge the danger they're in and tried to dodge, or at least block it, but to me, it feels like it's too much of a hustle to move. In some way, I knew something with that size and power wouldn't do anything much, nevermind putting a hole in my chest, that beam couldn't even put a scratch on my suit. This is an opportunity to test how durable this new body is, though it would be pointless if my body is entirely made out of magic. Actually I never know if my body is either made from magic or flesh and bon- *Shluk* *drip* *drip* Oh, that answered the question then... Luna looked at my gaping wound with a half proud half smug look on her face, "hmm, you fail to remember that you're in my realm, demon. Everything in here is under my command, which includes you as well." I completely ignore what she said in favor of figuring out how the hell I didn’t feel any pain from the gaping hole on my chest, I thought it happen so fast my nerve system couldn’t keep up and send the pain to my brain but I discard because we’re in Dreamscape, duh, and you can’t feel pain, or anything other than sight and hearing I guess, in dreams. With a sigh, I decided it was my turn to take things under control and simply make a gesture with my hand by simply rotating my finger counterclockwise, the wound closes itself like in a time-lapse. Even without looking I knew what’s going to happen, the ribcages reform themselves back, organs regenerated and flesh grew back, closing the hole. The disgust and horror on Luna’s face clearly showed how gruesome the process is, even if it was just a few seconds the sound of it enough to make me squirmed. After the skin part is done, I willed my suit to patch itself up, the threads began to extend and weave as if it was a living organism. A few seconds later my suit back to its pristine condition without a mark of being blasted by a magic laser. Upon seeing the disbelieved face of Luna I simply raised an eyebrow while suppressing the urge to cackle. "And you failed to remember that I am a Dream Demon meaning-" I simply 'teleport' right in front of her while bending down so I can see eye-to-eye on her, I donned a big grin on my face "you're not the only one who is special around here princess. Observer!" Before she could react or utter a single word, I lightly flick her snout. It's just a regular flick, there's no explosion that blown her head clean off of her 'shoulder', no sudden charge of electricity surge to her nerve and friend the brain to crisp or anything that can potentially injure her. Luna did nothing more than flinched and goes cross-eyed then at my still smiling face, hers went deadpanned. "Is that the best you ca-WHAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaa..." And there she goes, blown away like a cannonball, disappeared into the seemingly endless white void, she wouldn't be coming back for a while now unless she can instantly teleport back. It was surprisingly easy to control my power here rather than in the real world if I do it there Luna's head would be blown to bits, probably. Oh well best not to think about 'what if's, it is not the time for it yet, there is a whole place to explore, albeit said world is full of whiteness and colorful bubble. Time to invade others' dreams. 2 particular bubbles catch my eye, one of them is a grey colored bubble connected to another 7 more colorful bubbles by thin silver lines, the other is a bright blue bubble that emits a faint 'tic-toc' sound, 2 guesses who's those are. I floated to Nox's, once I got near it the surface become see trough and I can see what inside of it, it was more like a crystal bowl fortune teller use than a solid bubble now. It depicts the scenery of a rocky beach, a small group of five people and a Bow Wow, a creature similar to dogs, can be seen on the coast, the three of them are children, one of them apparently collecting seashell while the other two are playing with the Bow Wow. The one collecting seashell is the sole female child, she's wearing a simple plain white dress and a pair of purple boots, her chocolate hair is tied to a pigtail and a little red hairpin is attached to it so that the hair doesn't cover her eye. One of the boys playing with the dog, the smallest and youngest one, is wearing a similar outfit of his sister, plain white clothing that extended down to his knee, however, the most eye-catching is the half watermelon shell he wore as a helmet and has a single eyehole carved to it, a little bit of his blond hair can be seen sticking out from under it, a wooden sword toy is slung over his chest from a strap on the neck. The oldest and tallest of them is wearing a black overall with a single strap over his shoulder to keep it in place. With him a Bow Wow closely resembles a dog of chihuahua corgi mix is playing fetch, the dog has 2 different fur patterns, a body of dark fur with cream dots of various size all over it and a clean plain cream fur on the head, I cant see where both patterns met but it is somewhere under its collar. I remember their names are like it was yesterday, the little girl is Aiguille, Pulsar the youngest child, and the eldest is Quartz, their pet is named Igôle the Bow Wow. moving on to the adults, one of them is a well-build man wearing a plain sleeveless shirt and black pants, he has healthy brown skin, the same can be said about the rest of the family's skin, and yellowish blond hair, long enough to reach the shoulder. It was easy to tell who is that man is, Noximilien Coxen before he became a Xelor. Behind him is a woman named Galanthe, his wife, and now I can understand why Nox is so desperate to go back in the to his family because holy Chaos words can't even describe the beauty that women held. An hourglass figure with modest chest and face so attractive many men would be instantly charmed by her smile alone, and let's not go to her lower part because I want to keep this T-rating, let's just say she has nice childbearing hips and leave it at that, her hair is white-colored and long enough to reach her back. She wore a green tunic top and black pants that hugged her legs rather tightly. Curiously I poke the bubble, it feels like poking a dense body of water, it sure rippled like one. Feeling a bit more daring I put a whole hand into it, I can feel it trying to pull me in but it wasn't strong enough so I put my whole arm in it, I immediately got yanked. Entering someone's dream could be an odd experience, one moment you're observing the dream from outside and when you touch it the next thing you know there's a white flash and you're 'falling' headfirst, even though I'm still in the white void I can feel winds blowing against my face. Oh wait, theses are clouds so I'm really falling. ... Should I be worried? I can already see the ground but my mind is registering this as a regular thing that happens, might be because of the whole 'getting shot on the chest' thing and understand this whole thing is a dream. I hold on to my hat and did a mid-air flip, no one with a right mind would land headfirst and I definitely not looking forward to knowing how it feels like, I willed a powerful gust of wind to slow my descent. Upon stepping on the sandy ground I took a deep breath and noted how the air smelled like, it was the smell of salt. I was curious about how my sense of smell is able to work in a dream but I save that question for another day. I landed on the upper part of the beach, just a couple steps and a jump away from Nox's, or rather Millien's, family. "It was a simpler and happy time for him, a family with three children and a loving wive." A familiar voice said. I tilt my head to the right, at the corner of my sight Xelor Nox wearing his trademarked dark blue sleeveless hooded coat complete with the symbol imprinted on the front. Wait how come there are two of them? 'Probably this is his memory.' I thought to myself self "Don't you mean a simpler time for you?" He shook his head "No, this isn't my memory, I still remember our time on earth but this is an entirely different memory that belongs to someone else." "That's weird." I muttered I didn't receive a spec of Bill's memories when I came into this world, I'm not sure about Asriel though, "I'm assuming you have the original Nox's memories, does it include the 200 years of collecting wakfu?" "Sadly no, there are only snippets of it, most of it is when he gathered a large quantity in a short amount of time and some of his more recent memory," he answered "But enough about me, why and how did you get here Bill?" I shrugged "To be honest, dear brother, I do not know either. You told me to get some sleep so I did, the next thing I know I am in the Dreamscape, it does not help when the supposedly 'guardian' of that place do not take kindly to visitors." I could feel him raising an eyebrow "I suppose you did not talk your way out with her, yes?" "Bah, that hothead never uses words to solve things, always prefer using her fis- er, hoof, but I would blame the teenage hormone, you know how it is with them. " "Ho, so are you not one of them anymore Bill? Despite the fact you have obtained another body, your mind is still the same as before." "Tch, are you not the one to talk, father. Suddenly feeling capable of taking care of a child, you and I both know we already have this conversation but I am still not convinced." Nox sighed "As I told you before, you are overthinking, or are you telling me you actually turning into the original Bill." "Perhaps you are right but perhaps you are wrong, there is still a possibility." "Hah, what am I going to do with you, brother," he sighed "Anyway how long are you going to act 'high and mighty' along with that arrogant tone? It is unbecoming of you." "Whoops, looks like I just getting a bit too into it," I said with a chuckle, by the time I realize it I've been standing straight up with my chest puffed up and head slightly raised like a pompous noble, I sat down with my legs dangling down and motioned Nox to sit beside me. "You still haven't answered my question," he said, taking a seat beside me. "I'm just curious and poke your dream bubble a bit, never would've thought it allows me to enter your mind," in the show the only way Bill can enter someone's mind is through a deal, prime example Gideon and Stanley, and to appear in dreams the victim must read some ancient incantations, this one being Standford, "To be honest I didn't expect I'd be ended up here, this should be a dream and not a memory. Say, did you have the same kind of dream last time you sleep?" "Yes, but last time it wasn't like this, its only snippets of a bunch of different memories," he answered, right hand scraping against the rough surface of the rock, "At first I was confused why everything feels so...real. Every surface I touch, every scent I smell, and every pain I felt, I experienced it like I was there, and I would see things that I haven't seen before." "Yeah...probably those were the original Nox's memories," I said as I observe Millien and his family, now that I think about it, isn't this the memories where he first found the Eliacube? I don't see a black box containing the flying clock anywhere. "Say, wanna explore the rest of his memories?" "What'd you mea-oh I see, are you trying to do that thing with the doors that lead to a memory?" "Well yeah, that's the only way I could think of. I could try and make it like a file of videos but with the way you talk I don't think you're too keen about having your mind open like a book." "And what makes you think people would be fine having their minds open to other people?" Nox said with a hint of displeasure, "I understand this memory is not mine to have but it is my mind that's keeping it, and with how you handle that gigantic Timberwolf I am not sur- BILL NO!" "Too late, a simple yes or no would have been enough," And with that, I clapped my hands twice. Then everything collapsed. "You should really know that no means no, not the opposite." "Well you're the one who makes things long and winding, I'm not gonna sit through your whole speech." "At least have a bit of patience." "Eh, I would've still done it even if you disagree." We're sitting on a bench under a streetlight on a pavement, gone was the beach scenery and replaced with an urban view, albeit it was more on the quieter part of the city, rows upon rows of houses that looks perfectly the same, it was the textbook version of suburbia, the roof shapes are the same, the lawn flawlessly identical, heck there isn't a single thing different. Though the lamps on the nearby houses are lighted up, it was eerie with how quiet it is, there's no sound of car engines or horns, the lack of bustling people on the street is uncanny, if only the weather is foggy this could be the set of a horror movie. Not to mention we're the only one that has colors, everything else is in monochrome. Among the duplicate houses stood a 2 stories house, while the lower part consists of mostly concrete based materials, the upper part uses wood as the building main materials, it looks like someone just put a cabin on top of a cubic shaped concrete house. The whole thing just looks bizarre. But the most unusual thing is not the building itself but rather the gigantic clock construct, the inner machinery which consisted of giant gears can be seen through the gaps and side, the glow of Noxins' eye can be seen on the Romans numerals on the dials. the Giant Clock Fortress stands with its insect-like legs right above the house, pair of an arm with needles posing menacingly. I never really understood the scale of Nox's Giant Clock Fortress compared to a normal human being, the word 'giant' on the name emphasize the size of the construct, it might not be as tall as the Colossal Titans but the weaponry inside it does not make it less threatening. Nox wordlessly stood up and move toward the house, I followed him closely, up to the front porch and opened the door we're greeted by the sight of a maze of hallways, almost every surface of it covered with doors, each one is different models made out of different materials, trapdoors in case of the floor, heck some of them just straight up floating. The whole thing just seems like it was ripped from a page of The Twilight Zone. We began exploring the maze simply just to explore this apparently endless maze, every turn we took leads us into more hallways with more doors, some of it even branched to all direction, by all direction I don't mean a four-way junction, there's a bottomless pit right in the middle of it and where the roof should be is a hole that goes beyond our sight. I deliberately push my brother down the hole as a joke, besides, we're in the mind, even if we got ourselves severely injured we'll be right as rain the next second. Not a moment later he came back, not from below but rather from above, falling with grace and the speed of a feather, arms crossed as face clearly displayed his feeling. Needless to say, Nox wasn't amused. We continue to explore, after earning myself a chop on the noggin, as we go deeper into the maze the wall and floor began to change, from a mix of concrete and wood to brass and some other type of metals. The scenery is no longer disorderly, gone were the floating and jumbled mess of doors, organized hallways with symmetrically placed doors has taken its place. The whole place felt like it was some kind of facility or a prison, everything screamed 'perfection' unlike before. Tracing my hand across the wall it felt very smooth and cold to the touch, not a single bump or uneven surface. Definitely something that supposes to be in a facility or a prison, or even a holding cell for test subjects in a lab facility. The doors, which is made out of the same material as the floor, seems like it was a part of a vault of some sort, a square heavy-duty door big enough for an adult to fit in with two thick cylinder bars across it, cogs and gears can be seen sticking out at the sides and a single valve on the center. Nox approaches one of the doors and twisted the valve in a clockwise direction, the door rumbled as the cogs and gears start to turn, hot white steam hisses from the crack between it as the bars slide retracted into the walls. We step back from the door as it opens itself outward. An unmistakable light of the sun can be seen seeping from the opening and pouring into the hallway once the door is fully open, there's a gentle breeze carrying the scent of water and something salty, 'wait a minute, don't tell me...' I followed Nox entering the memory door if it can be called that, and step on a sandy surface, a familiar scenery of a beach greeted my sight. 'Siriously? After all of that, we're back here?' I let out a sigh, 'well at least I got something from that trip.' I look back toward the door, it's sticking out like a sore thumb, a vault door on the side of a cliff is not something you see every day. With a shrug, I walk to my brother and sat where we were sitting before. We just in silence, it wasn't awkward at all but rather comfortable, with the sight of the sea and the sound of the waves it really put my mind in peace. "You just lead us in a circle just to avoid opening up other memories." I began. "What sane man would let their mind open like a book to others, I just being cautious. Even though you're my little brother that does not mean you could take a peek at it." "Fine, fine keep your bloody secret, neither of us wanted to see you strangeling your chicken at some questionable website anyway." "Strange, I assume you can know whatever behind those doors just by looking at it, guess I overestimated you." I shrugged, "The show never actually made it clear just how 'all-seeing' Bill is. I know he is capable of foreseeing possible future events and understand something almost instantly, but I guess with how he never takes things seriously is the reason the twins flopped his plans," Both abilities sounds like it would be really useful, to understand anything in an instant and see into the future, especially the former, I was itching to get my hand on it. "I'm not surprised, with how big his ego is I can see how he got defeated by a couple of teenagers," He agrees my reasoning, "If only he didn't underestimate them in their first meeting, the show would've ended a lot sooner. I trusted you wouldn't make the same mistake." "pffft, what, me? Making the same mistake as every other two-bit villain? Perish the thought. If I'm going to war or at least a fight with someone, I would use all of my strength and cunning moves," I said, many antagonist characters I've seen always, if not often, look down the main character, though nowadays it's a rather rare thing to come across, only dumb main character with average villains, "Huh I just realized it was an ironic thing to say, considering I limit my power to a tiny portion." "I think its the best thing to do since you have almost no control over your Chaos, your case is different with Asriel and mine, after all. As long as he doesn't go all out and collapse the whole timeline we should be fine," He said, lifting up his right hand with the palm facing up, there's a sudden dim flash and the Eliacube appeared, "As far as I know, both from Nox's memories and my own, this cube primary function is to act as a battery, with nigh limitless capacity, it also amplifies my abilities greatly. I still haven't understood its full potential, much less how it works, but I will be studying it to avoid any unwanted scenario from happening." Now that I think about it, the Eliacube is without a doubt one of the most powerful items in the Wakfu series alongside the Eliatrope Dofus, the original six dragon eggs laid by the Great Dragon, the incarnation of Statis, the energy of destruction, after... 'reuniting' with Eliatrope, the goddess of the race not the race itself. Despite being design as a power source and fuel for a space ship, when it fell into the hand of a certain Xelor, it can bring chaos to the Krozmo, the equivalent of the universe but in the form of an egg. There is a reason why the universe is an egg but I'm not here to reiterate on the Big Bang of Wakfu universe, that would be another time, so let's focus on the present. As far as I know, the Eliacube is created by Qilby, one of the Firstborn Eliatropes and a member of the Eliatropes Council, using the heart of Orgonax, a member of the Mechasm people that have yet to be explained by the creator of the Wakfu series. Needless to say, the Mechasm does not take kindly to it and thus war ensued between them and the Eliatrope. Despite being a direct descendant of 2 beings that can be classified as god and goddess and have advanced knowledge in both magic and technology they're driven to the brink of extinction and have to flee to the World of Twelve. It is unclear how powerful is the Mechasm is but being able to almost completely erase the descendant of gods off from the Krozmo I can say they are somewhere up the list. I can only guess that the Mechasm outnumbered them in terms of manpower, or should I say machinepower. From the pieces I gather from the show they're a race of machine people, something that can be built, rebuilt, and put in service right out from the oven. Orgonax is no different and since he is one of the youngest, therefore the lastest and more advance compared to others, sprinkle some revenge for motivation and they got themselves a war machine, he then became a prominent figure leading the war against the Eliatropes. I pat Nox's back, "Did you forget? We're immortal, well at least I think we're, so we have all the time we needed," I reasoned, "As long as you have enough magic, you're good to go, remember that your body is over two hundred years old so what a few centuries mean to you, well aside of mental degradation like most mortal-made-immortal being." "True, true, nevertheless it will take some time to get used to being an Immortal. I will begin my study once we set a proper base, though it would be nice to have something to work with," he said, staring at the cube with interest, said cube pulsed with bright blue light occasionally, similar to a heartbeat when I think about what it actually made out of, "While I do have some knowledge on what wakfu is it isn't the same as the magic of this world." "Why don't you find something you can use while we're exploring this world? There are a crap ton of magic type here, not to mention they act differently with different races," The ponies certainly at their peak of learning on the capability and what actually magic is, considering the pony version of Gandalf or Dumbledore is still alive, "You can start by gathering data on the Tree of Harmony, or maybe the creatures residing inside the cave, perhaps after all of this you can ask the Twins to browse their royal library." "That certainly not a bad idea, it seems the Merchants has modified my mask so that it has some other functions other than letting me see through the Noxins' eye, I think there is something similar to a scanner," He nodded, there's a series of clicking noise from his mask, "I must say, this is certainly an interesting experience, but I think its time to end it here." Suddenly there's an earth-shaking rumble and everything starts to collapse once again, but this time it started from the 'edges' of the land. First, the sea began to drain itself, all of the body water rushes away from the shore, leaving fishes to flop around the seabed, at a distance I can see the ocean floor crumble down to the familiar white void, it was as if we're on a floating island and it began to fall into pieces. As the land breaks apart, cracks begin to form on the sky, as if it was made out of glass the cracks begin to resemble spider web in a matter of seconds, forming a dome around us. Similar to the ground it shatters into thousands of pieces, revealing the same white void behind it. 'Huh, Nox must be waking up, I wonder if this is how dreams ended, was expecting more of an instant boot out from his dream, to be honest. Not long after the ground around us collapsed, taking Nox along down the blank void with a "see you in the real world" as a parting word, leaving me sitting on empty air, maybe 'empty air' wasn't the right word but the point is I can still feel my butt sitting on something invisible. There was a loud POP I assume it was the dream bubble...well, popped and I am back to where the white void with dream bubbles was, but now there's less bubble so probably the others already wok-OHSHITDODGE!!! Despite my brain cries for getting the heck out of the way my body, or more specifically my head, tilt itself to the right just enough to avoid getting disintegrated by a dark beam from a certain alicorn which is hovering a good distance with an enraged face, I put on my best shit-eating grin, basically saying 'is that all you got?'. And it's probably not a good thing to do since she got even more furious. Luna snarled, something that doesn't fit right with her flat teeth, and started to charge up her horn, it the tip of it began to get brighter and brighter until it can be mistaken as a star. Rather than getting away from her like any other sane person I was curious about how big the beam will be. Even if I stand in front of the equivalent of a giant laser of death canon the feeling of 'I can take it on' from before came back, I somehow realize whatever she's charging cant inflict a single scratch, but after the last stunt I figure it would be difficult to regenerate my whole body from ashes. Thousands of ways to counter her attack ran through my mind, from simply dodging it, taking it head-on with some sort of protection or shield, or just outright disable her magic, though the last one might be out of the picture since there is no 'magic' here. Everything that happens here is because someone made it to happen, like a lucid dream if I had to guess. FWOOOOOM Huh, it's bigger than what I thought it would be, I might be in a pinch. Alright, no dilly dally, think Bill think. I could summon Room and switch my place with her but it wouldn't be fast enough, the distance between me and her is too far for the Room to reach in time, I could summon something to completely block it like a Legendary Shield or something. Or do something absurd and just 'eat', or at least absorb it. Oh well doing such flashy, and probably useless, grand magic spell would take too much time to cast it, better keep it simple and quick. As I slip my hand to my inner pocket, I imagine a thin rectangle object small enough to be fitted inside a wallet, I felt my fingers brush against its edges and grab it between the index and middle fingers, with a fluid movement I pulled it out, curled it until the other end touched my wrist and threw it toward the oncoming beam. As it spins out from my fingers I caught a glimpse of one of its surface, a pair of white arrows pointing in the opposite direction on a green background. "Card Magic: Complete Reverse!" And the giant laser beam did a 180. Yeah, that's right, I just made the pettiest and wittiest comeback, 'No U', into a spell strong enough to deflect an attack nothing short of an orbital cannon, what'chu gonna do 'bout it? As if the small UNO card is a giant mirror, the beam reflected back to Luna like a scene from a cartoon, I manage to snap a picture of her panicked face and a fleeting moment trying to escape before she got absolutely decimated, leaving almost nothing but a few feathers behind. As for the card it got flash burned and turn into ashes. I for one do not feel any shred of regret or guilt, probably because this isn't real life and her body is completely untouched, rather it felt like I just killed a random player in a game who decided to pick on me, a reasonable cause to kill someone for self-defense. I smiled to my self, feeling a little proud of what I just did. But there is another problem, how do I get out from here? I just blasted, actually, she did it her self, possibly the only one who knows how the Dreamscape work, there is Celestia but I doubt she has much knowledge about it. I can't just tap my feet thrice and think 'there is no place like home' and suddenly woke up, right? Right? ... Ah right, Chaos Magic bullshit. Well, whatever, as if I'm going to do it, it is so unoriginal and to top it off I there are no magical shoes I can wear, though I can conjure one with ease but every time I think about 'magical shoes' my mind instantly latched on the picture of shoes that would knock some points off from my manly aspect. Probably because the word 'magical' I often hear is in the sentence 'magical girl', the olden types that would transform with a shitload of sparkle and glitter, wearing over the top frilly dresses while slaying evil with the power of love & friendship, and saving the day, yay~! That naive personality of theirs, I hate it with passion. Although my view of what magical girl is already completely wrecked and entirely rewritten by the more modern, and darker versions of it, both still wear frilly dresses. No matter how dark they show gets or ridiculous they portrayed, they still have one thing in common to the point my brain way of thinking always believes all magical girls wore clothes that are excessively... well, girly, and don't get me started with how much pink one can be. 'Gah, focus Bill, This is no time for ranting! Still have to find a way to get out of here...' I could probably summon a door to my mind but that would leave the risk of creating a direct way every one who can enter Dreamscape can use so that idea can go take a dive right out of the window. How about imagining something that 'link' me back to my body? Something that would yank me back on command, yeah that could work. I closed my eye, imagining myself floating in a dark place, a link of chains somehow attached on my back leading to the darker part of the place, at the other end of the chain I picture a bigger me, or just the chest and head part, the rest of BigMe is obscured by black mist. There is a hole big enough to fit a grown man right in the middle of BigMe chest where the chain disappeared inside. I imagine the chain got pulled by something inside BigMe, dragging the SmallMe toward the hole on the chest, once the SmallMe's feet entered the hole closed up with a meaty WHACK!, as if it was a giant mouth. Then I let out a burst of Chaos Magic. I woke up. And I'm using that sentence lightly, more like 'I blinked' rather than waking up from a night of sleep, it felt like I've woken up the whole time. My body didn't feel any different, there's no feeling of leftover tired I always got, my eyesight isn't bleary and my joint is perfectly fine even though I sleep on the ground. The sun already up high, the birds are chirping and the smell of fresh air with a hint of the wetness morning dew signing the beginning of a new day. Author's Note Just to get this out of the way, I am a lazy person. ...Huh, when you admit stuff on the internet, it's really easy to let it out. So a chapter per year huh? I was planning to update it once a week, a month at the latest, guess reality often disappointed. Before the whole COVID-19 situation began I had a reason to put this in hiatus, the school began to ramp up and take almost half of the day off and even if I had a free time it would be working on homework. But since school is out during lockdown I have all the time I need to finish this. I'm a bit unsatisfied with how I write, especially how Bill's callout attack, I was going to make it simple and leave it in bold format but with spell modifier comes in I was going to make it like this : "'Spell Modifier : Attack/Support/Defensive Spell!" But if you guys have any suggestions let me hear it! Oh and I read the previous chapter and realized a big mistake, I write Chrysalis last name as Millien, not Coxen so I did a dum-dum and only now realize it, sorry! And if there is time I would revisit the latest chapter and giving it a few polish Anyway, I hope you guys stay healthy and stay at home until this lockdown is over. As always, keep on the lookout for typos, grammar error, and tell me what do you think of this chapter! Again, thank you all for reading and I hope you enjoy if you don't then don't be afraid to criticize it, I still have a long way to go! Chapter 8: Dungeon Crawling, Looting and Magic Weapon"Pies for breakfast? You could've asked me to conjure something to cook." "The princesses are getting impatient about getting the elements, said they need it before Discord organize his forces to counter-attack," Asriel said, taking a bite of his pie as if it was a hamburger, "that is if he has an army, to begin with, but they don't want to take any chances." "Probably he just animates some rocks to make a golem army or combine different creatures to make chimeras, who knows" I shrugged, bitting my own pie. "speaking of which, Moon Booty, did you get a hai- er manecut while we sleep? I have to say it doesn't suit well with your image of a princess unless you're going for a tomboyish look." If looks can kill I would be dead several times over with how hard she glared at me but could she blame me? Well aside from being the one who gave her a 'mane cut'. Her mane is...how do I put this, the only way I can describe it is ragged, there are strands of her mane poking out here and there like bed hair but the tips of it are black, covered in soot black. There are traces of being burnt here in there on her coat, though with her dark color fur it's not that noticeable. "Do not be so full of yourself, Demon," she sneered, not that I can take it seriously with that pie crust covered muzzle, seriously you have a universal stick lodged on your skull, use it to clean your mouth "I assure you it will be the last time you step on my domain." I snorted, "as if you have complete control over the dreamscape, flash news princess, you're not the only one who can manipulate dreams," while I don't know how exactly I transport my consciousness to the dreamscape, it seems I have some sort of control over a dream, still need more research, probably the Journal has something on it, "if I remember there is a ritual to enter someone mind and since dreams are formed in mind it can be entered with the same ritual, albeit modified a bit." While I don't know in-depth how the ritual actually works, I knew it can enter someone's mind but the show only limits it to the memory banks part of the mind. If I had to guess that part can be used as a medium to connect the mindscape to the dreamscape...realm or whatever Luna calls that place, I need something consistent regarding that place. Anyway, why the heck is sheohhellno- "You can worry about that later, I'm the only one who knows how to do it so stop pointing your horn at me," should've shut my mouth about that ritual thing, I'm not too keen on finding out if my regeneration ability carries over to the real world. Of course, being hotheaded she didn't heed my call until I pulled something rectangular from my inner pocket and flash her a challenging smirk, she reluctantly backed down and goes back to munching her pie but still glaring at me. I noticed Nox glanced at me and shook his head in what seems to be a disappointment, "what am I going to do with you, Bill," he muttered. "She attacked me first, it's only fair I defend myself," I said, stuffing the green card back, though I'm sure it's just a regular card, "sides' it was in the dreamscape so there's no harm at all, besides the obvious." He doesn't look convinced and give me that 'we'll talk later' look, I rolled my eyes and went back to eating. We spent the remaining breakfast in silence. "Huddle time everyone!" Without a word, we, as in me and Asriel, dump the tinfoil warping to the still-lit, magic probably, fireplace and gather toward the chronomancer with the princesses and Gerindha following behind. Our little group formed a small circle, the displaced, except Chrysalis who perch on top of Nox's shoulder, on one side, and the locals on the other. Without a word, I cast an illusion of a 3D cave map, colored accordingly depend on the depth. It was way different from the show where it's a straightforward way leading to the tree but when I cast 'Sonar' last night there is a whole maze underground, countless twists and turns, most can't be reached without climbing tools, a lot of branching paths and dead ends, not to mention the almost uncountable string thin ones littered along the way. All and all the whole place looks like an ant colony nest on steroids. While the way to the tree itself is a straight way, there's something blocking the way, a wide square chamber that's definitely wasn't formed naturally, there's something on the center of it but I'm not sure what it is, all my spell caught is a pile of something with jagged tip. From my experience playing tons of games, that room just screamed 'boss area' to me. While I can see the reason behind putting a boss room to guard the tree and put only one way to go in and out of the chamber, I think whoever design it forgot to reinforce the room containing the tree, there are at least five almost paper-thin ways connecting the tree room with the rest of the cavern system, probably that's how Nox's little machine able to take a look at the tree. Now that I think about it, we could hypothetical, dig our self a hole leading straight to the Tree of Harmony, if we can avoid causing a cave-in. "That's larger than I expected," said Asriel now in adult form, "and complicated too, its gonna be a hassle walking down there." Nox chuckled, "trust me, walking is going to be the least problem here," with several beep-beep noises from his mask, he projected a round screen from his palm, it shows a small bipedal creature the size of a child holding a makeshift club, it has green skin and the only garb it wore is a small patch of dirty brown cloth covering its crotch. While it's hard to make out the detail of the creature's face I can clearly see its pointed ears and a pair of fangs jutting out from its mouth. 'It's a goblin,' I concluded, scratching my chin, while it's common to see the small green creature appears in fantasy stories, I wasn't expecting them to exist in this world, the only creatures resembling humanoid are the minotaurs, 'but how can they be here? The show didn't have any clue or sign about the-' My thought was cut as a section of the ground in front of the goblin opens up and a fucking spider the size of a car comes out, one of its legs lash out and pierce the goblin's gut with ease, the green creature let out a gurgle of blood before getting dragged down the hole. There's a moment of silence, most of our group stared at the screen with a mix of horror, the locals, bewilderment, clearly seen on Asriel's face, and surprised, though that last one is mostly mine. I lean toward the goat monster and whisper "Think you can light the whole cave on fire?" He gives me a deadpan stare, "If I can the whole place would've been on fire already." "There are other creatures than giant spider and goblin in that cave, slimes, golems, giant bats, and insects, just to name a few. And if I'm not wrong one of those chambers is a hydra nest" Nox listed, dispelling the screen. "The deeper we go the more dangerous it will be, I can search for a safer route it will take some time." "...a Dungeon," someone muttered beside me. I took a glance, it was Gerindah, her eyes glued to the illusion I cast. A dungeon? Like one of those areas filled with monsters and loot? Huh, this is getting way different than an ordinary Equestria, probably something that was affected by us being here. Didn't the Wakfu animated series base on an RPG game with the same name? Probably that explains the existence of dungeon but it still doesn't explain why such creatures would exist here, well there are some monsters that resemble slimes, golems, and insects, but goblins? The closest World of Twelve has to them is Ogrest but he is more close to Ogre both in name and appearance. But why asking a question to myself? I made a deal with Gerindha after all, it would be a waste not to use it. "A dungeon?" I asked, "mind telling use non-local what actually it is? I had a feeling we're not talking about the same thing" She startled at the sudden attention, "I-its an u-underground area with a core that attracts m-monster, it takes s-some of their magic and p-provide anything they n-need to build nest and b-breed. S-s-sometimes certain plants and m-mineral can only be f-found inside it." "So the whole place is basically a monster nest," Asriel concluded. "Aren't you a monster yourself?" The sun princess asked with genuine confusion, "you claim to be the prince of monsters, such knowledge should be common amongst your kin." The Monster shook his head, "nope, like dungeons, our definition of monsters is different from yours, to us Monster is just the name of a species, like ponies and dragons, rather than the bloodthirsty beasts you seems to be familiar with." he clarifies, "say, when you killed a monster what happens to the body?" "It would rot like any others," she answered, "it would decay much faster if their magic core is taken." Magic core? Maybe the journal has something on them, there might be a bestiary section I haven't look into. "That's another difference, us Monster is similar to spirits, both of us are made out of magic except we Monster is more 'solid' than them. If I were to be killed, my body would turn into ashes, and rather than this 'magic core' we have souls to keep us together." "Speaking of monster," I suddenly cut in, "Nox, are you sure there isn't any other way to the Tree without running into them?" "That's impossible, the whole place is crawling with them," he sighed and shrugged, "There are tunnels all around the cave but it only fit enough for my Noxin to move around, other than that I can look for a safer way with less monster." "That is unacceptable," Luna butted in, her horn flashes once and my hologram now has a purple color on one of the more direct ways toward the Tree, "if the demon words are to be trusted, these artifacts could stop Discord before his power corrupt more of our land, we could not waste any more time." "While I see your reasoning, the way you choose is the 'main road' of the Dungeon, the monster there is more powerful than any other area and also higher in quantity." his hand once more projected a screen now showing a cave swarming with monsters, from oversized bugs to more 'common' type of monster in a fantasy world like orcs and...'is that a hydra?', "while I have no doubt about your skill, there are some of us that are less than capable of handling our self," no doubt referring to his daughter and the griffoness. "Splinting up is out of the question," I added, gesturing to the wide crater I made yesterday, "there's a chance our scuffle attracts some bigger monster, who knows what will comes after us." "Bill, don't you have any spell for a barrier or something?" Asriel asked. "I can cast Bubble Shield and Barrier but I'm not sure that would be enough. Sun Butt, Moon Booty, got any defensive spell?" "Why You-" "Yes, I am quite proficient on that," Celestia cut her sister off, sending her a look, "as you said it your self, Luna, we can't afford to waste any more time so I suggest we listen to him." Huh never thought she would take my side, I guess Discord is being more of a trouble than I expected, or maybe Luna told her what happens in the dreamscape, either way, works for me. "Excellent then, Celly you're on guard duty, I trust you can protect both Chrysalis and Gerindha?" she nodded in response, "good, now I have a rough plan so if you got a complaint then speak up, so everyone pays attention," they did so, Nox dispelled his screen once more and backed off, giving me a little bit of breathing room. With a hand gesture, the map replaced by 7 color-coded dots, 5 of them formed a circular shape while the rest is in the middle, "since I assume you princesses don't trust us enough to watch your back I'll put you both on the back, all you got to do is make sure the monster doesn't flank us, understand?" They both nodded, I let out a low sigh, glad both of them cooperating, I half expected Luna to complain about why am I the one giving out orders but I guess she can read the situation. "Now for the three of us, we're going with the usual three-member party strat," my brothers' perks up at the familiar term, "Nox, seeing you can form a strong barrier you'll be Tanker, Asriel you're on DPS role, I'll cast some buff spells and support from behind." The time wizard nodded while the Monster raises a hand, I made a 'go on' gesture for him to speak up, "why aren't you the attacker, wouldn't it be much faster if you throw some spells from afar?" I point a thumb toward the crater and raised an eyebrow. "...right, forget I asked that." I rolled my eye, "Anyway, now on to Chrysalis, since you're still a nymph," I ignored a shout of 'hey! ' "and I doubt you have any combat experience, you'll be sticking with Gerindah in the middle and sit tight, got it?" she pouted but nodded nonetheless. My eyes then landed on our newest party member, "I assume you can at least defend yourself?" "Y-yes, I can cast a few s-spells." "That's good enough I guess, now let's decide which route we're going to take, in favor of taking the shorter route say 'aye', if not say 'nay'." As expected Luna voted with 'aye' without hesitation followed by Celestia shortly. My brothers and Gerindha voted with 'nay' which earned them an ire look from the night princess. "Two against three, we're taking the more saver route," I said with a tone of finality, "Nox, how much time do you need to scout around for another way?" "Perhaps five to ten minutes," the Xelor answered." "Alright you heard the man, everyone gets prepare we're leaving at a moment's notice." With the strategy meeting done, I dispelled the illusion and everyone dispersed to make themselves ready. Since I can't throw spells carelessly without causing a cave-in, I focussed on some more defensive and support spells, maybe practice on how to control my magic output while I'm at it. Hopefully, everything is going smoothly. "Ew, this place stinks." "We're in a monster nest, Chrissy, being messy is normal for them." "Ahem." "Well, present company excluded." A quick glance to the ground illuminated by orbs of light circling our group, I could understand why the Changeling nymph couldn't handle the smell, aside from the wet, damp, and dank usual characteristic of an ordinary cave, a good portion of it is littered with bones and rotting carcasses of different size creatures, though I suspect those aren't the reason why the whole cave smell like a sewer. When we entered a rather large part of the cave, the ground here is a little bit...brown and wetter, I thought it was normal but that was before the smell hit us. Turns out the tunnel Nox choose is a dumping ground of some sort and not just 'leftover prey' or trash type of dump. 'It's shit.' There's no other way to put it, the ground is simply a layer of monster droppings mixed with other types of excrement, I wasn't expecting my first dungeon-crawling experience to be walking knee-deep in monster dung. In most comic and manga I've read, every place that fit the description of 'dungeon' has this picture of a normal cave filled with monsters, while there are some bones scattered around but it wasn't this bad. This poses no problem for 3 of our member that has wings, though Chrysalis is too young to use her wing however she's light enough to be carried by Gerindha without too much trouble, and could easily fly with how tall the ceiling is. As for the rest? We have to improvise. Nox clearly has the ability to fly as seen in the show when he fought Grougaloragran, an ancient dragon from another planet, but I guess he hasn't figured out how yet. As for Asriel? The only time he ever 'flies' is on the final battle and that is questionable since the whole stage is taken place in 'between the timelines' which is an endless black void with no hard ground. For me, I can easily 'willed' myself to fly by using Chaos Magic or cast 'Flight' but without any prior training, I'm not too keen on slamming my face against the wall or crashlanded face-first on the dung covered ground. So instead of flying over it, I made a small moving hexagonal platform for us to stand on by using 'Barrier' spell and command it to go forward. Unfortunately, while I maintaining the movement of both the see-through platform and the light orbs, I can't cast another spell without breaking my concentration, fortunately, we haven't encountered any monster yet. "Be on your guard," Nox alerted, his sword pointed at something far ahead in the darkness, "five goblins ahead, none of them has ranged weapons." Whoops, jinxed it. With a wave of my finger, I sent one of the orbs down the dark cavern lighting up the way ahead. Not far ahead a group of green-skinned creatures crouched around a half-eaten rib of...something, all gnawing on it like a pack of hyena. Before they could react to the sudden change of brightness, Asriel summoned his Chaos Sabers and flung them toward the goblins, the sabers then dissolves into multiples sparks, raining down on the monster. You know, the game never actually shows how the attack damaged the player other than lowering the player's health and the usual 5-second-invincibility-blink, there's no blood or gruesome animation since the whole battle part has only shown the player's 'soul', but here? Those 'sparks' aren't just 2-dimensional sprites pictured on a screen. Like a bullet, the sparks tore the goblins apart as if they were made of wet paper, chunks of flesh here, dismemberment there. It was as if someone fires a machine gun with mini saw blades as ammunition. The green-skinned creatures died in an instant, their body seems like they just got put through a grinder. "Bullseye!" Asriel exclaimed with a fist pump. I have to admit, with this much distance hitting those goblins would be hard, then again most of those sparks did miss the target. "That was awesome uncle Asriel!" a childish voice cheered, I took a glance behind and saw the changeling's eyes sparkled in awe, her ride, however, has a different thought with how green she's, thankfully she didn't falter. 'Strange, shouldn't the griffins be considered predators? A little bit of blood shouldn't bother her that much right?' I mentally shrugged, disregarding the thought. While it seems gross I don't actually feel anything other than a slight discomfort, similar to when one would find a squished bug under their hand. Probably some side effect of being displaced I guess. "Stop," Nox said suddenly, his hand pointing to a hole in the wall surrounded by stalactites, if he didn't point it out I would've missed it, "through here, there are a few monsters so be careful." Finally some action, I thought we'll be just walking around avoiding monsters. Nox pulled his Dial Clock Sword from his back, testing it with a few swings, and summoned the Eliacube in the other hand. Fireballs popped out of thin air and circled around Asriel, a pair of freshly conjured Chaos Saber in his hands. As for me, I open the Journal right at the beginning of the support spell section, note to myself, look for another weapon aside from a cane-sword, maybe a staff or wand. Before I can send in an orb of light in, the clock wizard jumped off and landed on the hard, definitely not dung, ground, and stabbed his sword down, he brought both of his hands forward and charged the Cube, both hands made an upside-down 'ok' symbol with both the tip of the thumb and index fingers connected causing a wave of blue light washed the surrounding, in the shadow I can briefly see silhouettes of various monsters. With a simple hand wave, I sent down a few light orbs to illuminate the area, a hand full of goblins, some of them are tall as a human adult, hob-goblin I remembered, standing still mid-motion as if time has frozen surrounded the chronomancer. While it seems it would be an easy group of mobs to deal with, these goblins and hobgoblins are more equipped although judging by their condition I guess they scavenged it from some sort of ruin. Most of them wore some kind of resemblance of armor made out of leather and metal, half of a shoulder pauldron here, a chest plate full of cracks there. Their weapon also looks like they could break at any moment, broken swords, dull axes, chipped blades, half of a spear, and other types of weapon in severe lack of maintenance. Asriel waste no time jumping off from the platform and began cutting down the green-skins, his moves are mostly erratic and half the time he swings blindly but with the monster stood still there's no need to dodge or deflect, added the fact his sabers sharpness is out of this world, any kind of protection the monster have means nothing. Nox followed soon after and unlike Asriel, the Xelor swings his sword without any excessive movement, each time he swung it cut clean through the goblins as if they were made out of paper. I, as a support mage, stayed back on the platform, watching my brothers made short work out of the monster. To be honest I would rather jump in and take part in the action but with how little control I have over my power, I cant cast offensive spells without putting others in danger, even with these inhibitors. Taking a look at the journal, I idly skimmed through the pages, finding a suitable support spell to use, just as I was about to cast 'Haste' Gerinda landed beside me with a squawk, her brow is dotted with sweat tears, as her passenger is buzzing her wings in sheer joy, or at least that's what I thought with how sparkly her eyes are. Should I be worried about her in awe of how good Nox is at killing? ...Nah, that's Nox's problem, if she grew up to be a tyrant that's on him. Besides, this world isn't the same as in the show, as far as I know, this place is where life can be taken easily with all the monsters roaming around so there's no harm teaching her how to defend herself. Not every problem can be solved with the power of friendship and rainbows with crap tons of glitter. While on that topic I wonder how Gerindha handles herself in combat, as a griffon I assume she can handle close quarter combat but with her only weapon is a staff I guess she's more adept in magic unless she has a hidden knife tucked somewhere under her feather since I found nothing of sort when I strip her off. That came out a bit weird, which is out of context since I use magic to remove her things. She's clearly proficient enough to cast some healing spell making her a White Mage but her species as a predator that relies more on their physical traits would make her a Brawler Mage, a type of mage that can enhance their strength and favor hand to hand combat rather than cast spells. I take a glance at Gerindha, looking for any sign of muscle on her rather thin body for a griffon which is hard to do because most part of her body is covered in fur and feathers. The only part I can clearly see is her front legs, there is certainly a small amount of muscle but- oh who am I kidding, those are chicken legs, no other way to put it. "You, alright?" I asked the griffons. She nodded, "y-yes, a little bit tired, but I-I can manage," she said, gasping for air in between sentences. "Listen, if you need to rest, tell us ok?" I told her, "it would be bothersome if you got caught by an ambush, you're carrying a VIP here." There was a snort as Luna landed near us, "and here I thought you have some shred of empathy but you just acted in your own interest, typical of you demons." "Oh really? And who suggested us to take the most dangerous way, knowing we have a non-combatant in our group?" I shot back with a light glare, "and I have a name you know, use it, meatbag." Huh, I just realized, I never address someone as 'meatbag' since I got transported, but I got to say it rolled off the tongue rather easily. Luna glares back and I return it twice as hard, if this was caught on camera there would be one of those lightning effects between us. "KIIIIEEEEEK!!!" A loud shriek broke our staring contest, I look past the pile of bodies littering the cave just in time as the last hobgoblin hit the ground, his arm followed shortly after a couple of feet away, the green-skin tries to crawl away with its remaining arm but a blade through its chest puts an end to it. "That's the last of them," Nox stated, pulling his sword from the hobgoblin and giving it a swing to flick the blood away, "hopefully that won't attract any more monster, Asriel, any trouble with yours?" The Monster in question stepped away from the recently beheaded goblin, avoiding the bloody fountain spray, and dismissed his Chaos Saber in a blur, "against these guys? Nah, they aren't that much of a challenge," he lightly kicks one of the still intact corpses aside, "besides, these guys are mob monster, canon fodders at best, there's no way something like this I can't handle." With the area cleared of monsters, save for one, the rest of us entered the hole. I jump down, dispelled the translucent platform once I touched the ground, and inspect one of the goblin's corpses, there's a huge gash on its chest and which has stopped bleeding. Picking up one of the many blades on the ground, I poke and prod the wound, trying to find where its magic core is, once I hit the spot where its heart should be I felt something hard, a bit of wiggling and prying the mysterious object popped out from the monster's chest. It was a round thing no bigger than a marble and looks similar to gemstone or crystals with its rough edges, the surface shines as it emits a soft white blueish glow. Picking it up I can feel something radiating from it, there's warmth but it wasn't just that, there is something I can't quite describe, probably magic. If this were a common Isekai manga, this would be an equivalent of a power source used for different purposes depending on how much magical power it contains, ranging from common AA batteries to nuclear power plants. Though that might be a stretch, however, there are some mangas that have beings with the title like 'Eater of World' or 'World Destroyer' so who knows, I might be right. In any case, I can see this can be useful in the near future, whether it be a power source for a tool or sell it for bits, heck maybe I can use it for others things. Now that I mention it, I could probably make some sort of staff that use these cores rather than my own magic to keep the spell from overcharging and possibly misfired, but then again there might be something that can use as a filter or power adjustment more efficient and easier to use compared to my shackles. So much to do with so little time and this is not the right place to do it, right now I should focus on getting as much magic core as I can. I snap a finger, conjuring a rather sharp but simple dagger the size of a kitchen knife and a brown pouch. Placing the magic core inside the pouch, I walk toward the other goblin corpse, this one missing its head, with the dagger tip resting on its chest I began to cut it open, tearing away the flesh as if it was wet paper. Or at least that's what suppose to happen before a single thought passed my mind. 'Why should I do it?' Well I mean besides the obvious, but why should I do the physical work of gutting it open and collect the magic core from the still-warm corpse. Sure, I can snap my finger to cut it open with magic and clean the core but I think this isn't just a one-time thing, who knows what happens if I left behind a body that has been exposed to Chaos Magic. Plus, the thought of getting blood on my clothes doesn't sit well with me. I open the Journal, hoping to find some sort of spell that can automatically process the goblin's corpse. If this was one of those 'a main character transported to another world as a Gamer' stories there would be a skill or ability named 'Dismantle' or something like that to somehow able to skin, butcher, and debone whatever animal or monster they killed. Then again, it could be the author decided it wasn't worth the time to put the whole scene in. Before I knew it, I had reached the end of the Journal spell part, and not once I found a spell that can be used, well there are some spells to cut things like 'Wind Slash' or 'Aqua Disk', I was tempted to just cast it and see if that would work but with my current condition, this place would be one big grave for us all. I could ask one of my brothers to do it for me like, you know, a little brother would do, they don't seem to mind the blood while they're chopping the monster left and right but since they're our main frontline I don't think it would be a wise to leave a hole in our formation. The same thing goes for the princesses though I suspect they wouldn't even consider getting their hooves dirty with blood, although judging from the way they carried themself I guess they aren't stranger to roughhousing. So that leaves me with the griffoness, which is actually a reasonable thing since she's a former bandit and a predator so it would make sense if she can skin and process her prey with just her claws alone. Besides, I got her under a deal so I might be able to change it up a bit, I'm sure she wouldn't mind a few extra works. "Oi, Gerindha!" Five minutes later all of the corpses are missing their core and she didn't even use the knife I gave her. Dungeon crawl, a term that usually used to describe when a fantasy-themed roleplaying game has a scenario where the player is exploring a labyrinth or some kind of ancient ruin most often than not underground with monsters lurking and crawling on every corner, avoiding hidden traps which can end someone in a painful way and most importantly- "Dad, Dad, look! There a lot of shiny gems in here!" Plundering whatever treasure or valuable object inside the dungeon. Not far from our last encounter we came across whats looks like a large open space with what seems to be a small encampment, makeshift tents made out of pelts from various different creatures are set up around a giant fireplace. There wasn't much interesting stuff at first glance, a few drying racks with questionable meats hanging off of them, a pile of weapons and armors in poor condition, and discarded bones littered the ground. The princesses suspected it might be a post of some kind that was used by the goblins, which turns out to be a pretty common thing in a Dungeon with multiple species of monster considering most of them are pretty territorial and it is clear that we're in their territory. Nox suggested we use this for a temporary resting place, which after a thorough searched by the princesses using a rather useful spell to detect any form of lifeform, we all agree on. While Asriel and the princess duo gather anything that looks flammable and start a fire, Nox, Crysalis, Gerindha, and I began searching the tents for something useful which isn't much, so far we only found some tools made out of bones and rock, a couple of black rocks which turns out to be flint, a rack full of dried herbs and makeshift ropes. That is until we look inside the biggest tent. The first thing that catches our eyes is a throne made out of bones and skulls, it might be more imposing if it isn't the size of a kiddie stool, besides it is rather large, compared to the bone throne, wooden chest with a metal frame and locking mechanism securing the loot inside it. I was going to search for a spell to open it but Nox beat me to it, a jab and a twist, the wooden container showed us its content. True to the young changeling's words it's filled with precious gems such rubies, emeralds, diamonds, topazes, and other shiny gems that I couldn't remember the name, not only that, there's a good amount of gold coins, or should I say bits, sprinkled among the shiny rocks This, of course, raised more questions regarding this world, where do the goblins obtain this? Why did they collect them? Is there some sort of economic value to them? Maybe they use this as some sort of currency? But that would mean there's some sort of civilization down here. "This doesn't make any sense," I muttered to myself but still loud enough for others to hear. "What was that uncle Bill?" asked the little changeling. I wave my hand in a dismissive gesture, "don't worry about it, I was just talking to myself," picking up one of the gold coins, I inspect it closer, "I was wondering why monsters had these, I suspected it holds some kind of value to them but from what I see, they're as smart as animals." Taking a closer look, these coins couldn't be possibly made by these goblins, it is way too detailed for a creature like them to make, on one side there's a carving depicting a side-way view of Celestia with her cutie mark, the same goes for the other side but with Luna. "..uh..um..." Gerindha began shakily, "I-its just a theory, b-b-but there are scholars that speculate it was a-a sign of s-s-strength, s-similar to that of d-dragons." Despite her stuttering almost made it hard to understand, it actually made sense why the monster hoarding things like dragons. If I remember what the Journal said about those fire-breathing winged lizards, one way to gauge how strong a dragon is is to simply look at its hoard, the bigger the pile means the more powerful the dragon is. But that leaves another question behind, are dragons considered to be monsters or it's simply the monsters who imitate dragons' behavior? If I had to guess its probably the latter, the Journal stated the dragons are sentient creature so that removed them from the 'dumb beasts' group. As for where they got the coins? Well, let's just say we're not the first who explore this cave and leave it at that. "Hmm, we should take this with us," Nox suggested, closing the chest with a loud clack, "it might be worth some money if we're planning to go to a town, Bill can you carry it?" I stared at him with a raised eyebrow, after pocketing the gold coin I snapped my fingers, and immediately the ground under the chest began to ripple and began to rapidly sink as if the wet dirt has been replaced by a patch of quicksand. "You do realize I have something similar to an 'Inventory' right?" I asked dryly. "I think a hammerspace would be more fitting since none of us have the system," he answers back dismissively and stood up, "if you aren't done taking everything that isn't nailed down, I'll be waiting with the other. Come on Chrysalis, I think Asriel is preparing those pies if my nose isn't wrong." She let out a little cheer, following her father closely with a skip on her step, "oh, oh, can I have the blueberry one? Princess Luna took all of them before I tried it." Whatever Nox's answer goes unheard as his voice grew faint, still I could help but felt ticked off hearing his little jab, I'm not going to take everything I can from this dump, most of it is considered trash in my book, sure I might take a few things that seem useful but I'm not going to take a whole pile of flint rock, I'm not a hoarder for Chaos sake. Letting out a huff of air, I look around the tent once more and the only thing that worth noting is a short, single-edged sword resting on a meat rack off to the side, actually calling it a sword might be inaccurate, a machete is more fitting. I pick it up by its leather handle and immediately felt there's it is something more than a 'rusted piece of metal'. Looking closer at the rust and dried blood-covered blade, there are vague traces of lines near the blunt side, grabbing a nearby rock I began to scrub the filth off so I can take a better look. At first, I thought it was some kind of decorative carving but what stuck out the most is how diverse the patterns are and each of them is separated by symbols of some sort. For all I know, this carving could be a script of some sort, written in a different language I haven't see. I was about to open the Journal and crossreference it but another thought crossed my mind. "Oi Gerindha, c'mere for a sec, got something to show you," with a squeak, she walked toward me and glancing toward the machete I'm holding with warry, her big eyes make it easy to read her. I offered her the rusty weapon handle first, "there's something on its side, got any idea what it is?" The griffoness carefully takes the machete, but once her talons touch its handle she let out a small gasp and suddenly yanked it out of my grasp. Gone was the timid eyes look, replaced by sharp-edged observing pupils, inspecting every single inch of the blade. She ran a talon over the carving and picking off any filth covering it. I look over her...erm where the shoulder should be to get a better look at what she is doing, "so?" I question her. Without taking her eyes off the machete, she replies "I'm not sure what it says, I've never seen writings such as these before but some of these, I recognize it. See this one here," she taps one particular 8-pointed star symbol, "it means 'magic' in unicorns tongue, and this one," this time she circles her talons around the chicken scratch pattern part, "is a statement written in my language, that is the griffins language, which says 'to cut'." While her explanation gave me a rough clue to what the machete actually is, the only thing that came across my mind is, 'who is this and what did you do to Gerindha?' It was as if a switch has been flipped in her mind, there isn't even a trace of the timid and meek griffoness, even her speech is different, don't get me wrong, its a good thing since I don't have to decipher whatever coming out of her mouth with all of the stutterings. Still a bit unnerving in my opinion. Anyway, back to the machete, based on what she's saying I guess it's some sort of magic weapon, enchanted with some kind of spell to cut everything. However, I had a feeling there's something more than that, there are more patterns, which are actually letters in another language, etched on it. "So it's an enchanted weapon," I voiced my thought, "got any idea on what it actually does other that, y'know, cut things like an ordinary machete?" She let out a hum and flip it around, looking at it from every angle, "there's more enchantment written in different languages," she answered, confirming my doubt, "usually something like this requires more power than the ambient magic alone to activate it, be it from the one who wields it or, ah here it is," at the bottom of the pommel is a hole big enough for my pinkie finger to fit inside. "Or a magic core," I finished, pulling out the brown pouch containing the cores from earlier out of my inner pocket. Taking a core out, I handed it to the griffoness which in turn insert it into the slot, with a click the core fit perfectly inside. There was a faint humming sound as the writing began to glow a soft bright yellow-ish light, shortly after that the weapon began to vibrate. Gerindha let out a gasp of surprise and drop the machete as it began to shakes harder, imagine our surprise seeing the rust and blood-covered blade sink half of its length into the dirt. Then as if the rust was somehow magically changed to water it began to 'trickle' down the blade. The both of was silent trough out the whole process, after a minute or two it gave a final shudder as the last speck of rust falls off, seeing the griffoness stares at the machete as if it would suddenly bite her I simply went and pulled it-"whoa!" Turns out, it didn't take much to pull it off. Thankfully I didn't fall on my butt like an idiot and managed to get my balance on my feet. The once filth-covered blade is now clean without a single stain on it, not only that it looks like it was freshly polished with how shiny it is, I can even look at my reflection on it. Giving it a few test swings, I can tell it's properly balanced and the leather grip is quite comfortable. As for how sharp it is, I test it against the meat rack and it felt like I just take a swipe at the air, granted it was made out of wood, and in bad condition, so I couldn't actually tell how effective it will be in combat. Oh well, I could just test it on some unfortunate monster that we'll meet later, for now, I think Asriel finished heating up the pies. With Gerindha in tow, we walk back to the center of the camp where I could hear the fire crackling, she seems interested in the magic weapon so I might lend it to her later. During the break, there wasn't anything much to talk about other than Luna occasionally jabs at me with her sharp tongue which I responded back kindly with my own and my brothers asking me what did I found. I showed the machete and pass it around our little group, bar Chrysalis which made her pout, so everyone can take a closer look, I asked Celestia if she can read the writing on it, and surprise-surprise, she could. Probably the perks of being royalty I guess. Turns out it was written in 4 different languages which are griffon, minotaur, unicorn, and surprisingly, dragon languages. Each language gives a different kind of enchantments on it, with the exception of unicorn's. I'm sure there's a proper noun for each language but at the time I was too busy stuffing my self so I only heard the snippet of her explanation. The first enchantment was written in minotaurs which roughly translated to 'return to the origin', Celestia explained it was an archaic version of a self-repair enchantment but an effective one, the next is in griffons language which is a sharpening enchantment hence 'to cut' statement. Those first two are fairly common enchantments found in weapons, the ability to keep it tip-top shape is more than useful and cost-effective since it doesn't need much maintenance, but the last one? Completely out of the picture. Turns out there are only a handful of spells and enchantments wrote using dragon language because who needs it when you can crush an entire building, have the ability to fly, and breathe fire. And because it was created using their language, whoever created it assumes only their kin would use it because it consumes a lot of magic, something other races are lacking, thus no one has ever used it, well aside from the winged lizard themself. Fortunately, the enchantment that was written on the machete was on the low tiered side so it only needs a small amount of magic to activate it, said enchantment was roughly translated to 'set aflame'. In short, I now have a flaming machete, pretty cool huh? As for the unicorn language, it doesn't have any notable effect on the surface but it acts as a universal adaptor for each language so the three enchantment works as intended. After an hour or so of break, we continued going in deeper this time a little bit more on edge than before, with the knowledge we're deep in goblin territory everyone didn't utter a single word or make idle conversation ever since we left the camp. Nox told us we're past the halfway mark and should reach our destination in another hour or two if we didn't encounter any more monsters. We had all of our eyes wide open in case any goblin tried to ambush us, Nox has a firm grip on his Dial Sword and Asriel has summoned both of his Chaos Saber and a couple of fireballs. I had my left-hand thumb marked the support spell section of the Journal and the enchanted machete on my right hand. The locals were also on alert, both princesses had their horns charged up ready to fire spells at a moment's notice and Gerindha flapped her wings once in a while, favoring flight rather than fight since having a passenger would weigh her down when fighting. So far we hadn't seen a single goblin or any other monster but I had this feeling in my gut that we're being watched, that feeling became tenfold as the ground around us begin to quake. I unconsciously stepped back as the shakes began to pick up the pace. Seeing the ceiling can collapse on us any second, I used the machete as an impromptu wand and rais it up, "Barier!" a hexagonal translucent wall protected us just in time before any of us got crushed. This continued for a few minutes, fortunately, whatever causing the shakes stopped before we got buried alive. "What the hell was that?" asked Asriel, breaking the silence, "Nox, you sure there isn't anything above or below us? Don't tell me we're right under a hydra nest." The time mage shook his head in a negative way, "no, I don't think so" he answered, summoning the Eliacube with one hand, "I think we should move quickly, whatever it was could come again so-" *C-c-crack* We all snapped our attention toward the source of the sharp sound, a part of the cave ground in front of us cracked as if something is forcing its way into the tunnel, I can sense everyone are holding their breath as the ground split open and five black tentacles arose, whipping back and forth as if looking for something, turns out that 'something' is us as the tentacle stop and 'stare' at us. Then the quakes began again, this time stronger and closer, the ground around the tentacles began to bulges as if something big is coming, and with a loud thump it erupted, sending dust and rocks up that fills up the cave. Thankfully we're far enough so the bigger debris didn't hit us but the dust dampened our vision a bit, Asriel doubled the number of his fireballs and held one of his sabers backward. Nox holstered the Dial Sword in favor of using the Eliacube, both of his hands already in a gesture, ready to halt time at a moment's notice. I simply flicked the Journal open, Haste, Penetration, Streght, and Sharp Reflex buff spell are wide open to read and cast. As the dust settles, we can see something moving, slithering to be more accurate, up from the hole. The first thing that came up to my mind was it was big, actually calling it big would be an understatement, it might take four or five adults to completely encircle it with their arms. The second thing is it was covered in brown scales but not completely as there are some pink spots missing its cover, the most prominent is a giant gash mark on its side. I followed the wall of scales up, and up and up, until I had to bend backward to see its head. I have to say, I think we're getting either a juiced-up version of creatures from the show or a completely different package of monster, no it wasn't some kind of land serpent, a hybrid of dragon and snake or god forbid giant basilisk with petrifying gaze because we would be statues the moment we stare at its six eyes, each filled with hunger predatory intent. No, wait, five eyes since one of them has a cut mark across it. Still didn't make it any less frightening as the tatzlwurm bare its tripartite jaws, showing rows upon rows of fangs ready to shred any unfortunate prey it manages to catch. The dark scales covering the head are also battered up similar to the rest of its body showing how many battles it has been through, and probably won, the same thing can be said for its grey mane. None of us or the giant monster worm moved an inch or make any sound, other than the dripping saliva, the tension in the air is so thick you could cut it and serve it as a meal. As if there's an unseen sign for us, the tatzlwurm reared its ugly head back and let out an ear-piercing screech, it's five tentacle-tongue whipping back and forth like they're possessed. With its jaws wide open, the huge worm lunges with an intent to swallow us whole. Author's Note So it's been more than a year hasn't it? So I wasn't lying this story would be updated at least once a year, I know it's a long time to wait for a chapter but at least it's consistent. Other than Covid, I had loads of reasons why I dipped off the radar without any notice and put my stories on hiatus, mainly because was accepted as an intern, a paid intern mind you. So for the past 6 and a half months, I work as an assistant in an IT company, though it was mainly due to school having this 'field test' sorta thing, documenting whatever the hell I did there, there's a term for it but I don't know how to translate it. That was the first real-life related reason, the second was I was busy moving to another house so I won't have to walk my ass miles to where I 'work', I know everyone is working from home with the lockdown is in effect but the place where I'm staying had this rule that allows you to work at the workplace if your home at a certain distance. I did try to work from home in a manga translator group but it got flopped since there's no one that can read Japanese in our group and relies heavily on machines. Next up is the internet-related reasons, well it's more like excuses rather than reasons. Ever since I fall down the V-tuber rabbit hole, specifically Hololive, my productivity has been down the drain, and when they announced the branch members, HoloID gen 1 & 2, HoloMyth, and the recently debuted EN V-Singer, whatever left of my motivation just got dumped to the sea and never to be seen again until it washed up ashore like 2 weeks ago. Not to mention Coco's graduation just kicked me to Depression Ville. So yeah, I've been working my ass off to make it up for the past 12 months in a span of 2 weeks, which is too long in my own opinion. I won't be updating this story before the other one so go check it out and whatnot. As always, keep on the lookout for typos, grammar errors, and tell me what do you think of this chapter! Again, thank you all for reading and I hope you enjoy it if you don't then don't be afraid to criticize it, I still have a long way to go! A Fight(?), More Looting, and Descent Deeper into the DungeonBefore the tatzlwurm could swallow us whole, Nox made his move and released a blue wave, halting the beast movement. I waste no time casting a spell, still using the machete as a wand, I point it toward the ground, "[Widden Magic : Penetration, Haste, Strength, Magic Boost]!" A large pure white-colored magic circle with multiple layers appears beneath us, each layer has a different set of runes matching the spell I cast. One by one they light up in sequence and cover us in a thin layer of magic before dissipating. The spell took effect in an instant as I could feel Asriel's fireballs doubled in size and burned twice as bright. Noticing this, the Monster Prince sent his flame down the worm's mouth, wasting no moment he summoned his fire once more and coated both of his Chaos Saber. And then he moves. Faster than my eye can see, he disappears, leaving behind a cloud of dust, a second later he reappears right underneath the worm, both of his sabers buried deep inside it. I let out a hum, is this the effect of 'Haste'? The Journal did say it was to accelerate movement but I didn't expect it to be this much. With a roar, Asriel dragged his sabers further down the tatzlwurm body, leaving a trail of fire in his wake. Not wanting to be outdone I brandished my own weapon and charge. Since the bottom part is already taken care of I opted to attack the top part, with 'Strength' buff spell in effect I easily jump on its head. Using the momentum and 'Penetration' spell in effect, the machete sinks through its scaled body and flesh as if it was made out of butter. Thinking back to Celestia's explanation about the draconic enchantment about it requiring a small amount of magic, for dragon standard, I pumped a good chunk of magic down my hand, which the machete greedily sucked all of it up and instantly burst into flames. Despite the putrid smell of burning flesh and the darkish fire licking my hand, I felt no pain from the flame, only a soft warm feeling at the handle. Probably a part of the enchantment to protect the wielder? Focusing back, I began to run along its body leaving behind a large gash and burnt flesh, unlike my brother I didn't leave behind fire trails. As I dragged my machete, there was a slight movement from the giant worm, it was small but gradually became more notable, I realized Nox's magic began to lose its effect. Not wanting to be tossed around like a lump of dead meat, I pushed my legs to their limit. Just when the magic was about to lose its effect, I jumped off the beast and cast a "[Barrier]", creating a platform to land on. I was ready to cast another spell but something bright caught my eye. At the other end of the tatzlwurm, Celestia's horn glowing brightly, a trio of stalagmites floats in the air suspended by her magic, pointed tip first directly toward its head. There was a flash of dark blue light from her sister and the rock sharpened in an instant. Sensing the danger, and the magic restricting its movement wore off, the worm beast reared its head back and let out a screech of a mix between panic and pain, no doubt its brain finally registered the damage. Realizing that it has been severely beaten in a short time, the worm began retreating back down where it came from but Celestia put a stop to that. Aiming the sharpened rocks at an angle, Celestia hurled them right at its head with all of her might and with a distance that short all of them strike true, not only that, she even managed to nail the beast on the roof of the cave. Much to my surprise, it didn't kill the worm completely, I couldn't see clearly where she actually hit it but I assume she missed the vital spots. However, it didn't deter the giant worm's attempt to retreat, in fact, it became more emboldened to get the hell out of here. Letting out another ear-piercing screech, this time notably wetter, and began to wiggle around in an attempt to release itself, due to its large body, each movement shook the whole cave and threatened to bury us alive. There was another blue flash, this time more on the lighter shade, and the worm promptly went silent. I thought Nox cast another time-stopping spell but once the worm's body suddenly drops down and leaves the head still nailed on the roof, I realized he just straight up decapitated it in one swing. Huh, I knew Nox is strong enough to take on a full-grown dragon but I didn't think he could be this strong from the get-go. And just like that, our 'fight' is over "It would be nice if they last more than a minute," I told myself. Don't get me wrong, it's great when they die in just one shot but it would be boring if this keeps happening, not to mention would end up biting us in the long run. Relying on pure power to overwhelm an opponent could only get you so far. Asriel let out a scoff, "We've only been in this world for less than a week and you are already looking forward toe to toe with some kind of demon lord?" He shook his head at the thought, "I know you have some reality-bending power but don't get that into your head, Bill." No matter how tempting it is to test my power against someone like Tirek, one of the most powerful beings in this world that I know of, it would be stupid to release him this early, not to mention the scar from Demon War still fresh since it ended not too long ago. Although, since there are some elements from our original bodies' world present here on Equis, there's a possibility that a much stronger foe could appear in this world. Take Shushu for example, at first glance they're nothing more than your usual demons roaming around the world but their existence alone only suggests their lord, King Rushu, exists somewhere out there. It might sound like an average demon lord that fated to be defeated by some hero but King Rushu is not someone that can be defeated by a 'hero'. To put it simply he's a Demon God, the strongest one at that since he managed to defeat any other demon in his generation, it took a literal honest to god...well God of War to push him back to his realm. Who knows, maybe we will come across him in the future. "You and I both know we lack fighting experience, taking on something like him would be a death sentence," I answered, "Besides why bother breaking into a literal hell when there are dragons roaming around the world?" That seems to shut him off, however, there's some uncertainty in his eyes. In a way, I understand his concern, a dragon isn't a common mob monster anyone can beat with swords, bows, and magic. If the Journal is correct, those flying lizards are basically flying tanks with enough strength to destroy a decent sized village or town. With high physical strength, thick scales, and natural resistance to magic, they're the apex predator on both land and air. Taking down just a single dragon would need some serious force, a kingdom could possibly do it if they use every single one of their soldiers, not to mention how big the casualty would be. Despite that, some might say the sacrifice outweighs the result, the materials gathered from a dragon's corpse are highly sought after, for example, their scale is commonly used to create armor that can brush off both physical and magical attacks, the organs can be used as a potent alchemy ingredients, bones and fangs can be forge to create nigh unbreakable weapons. However, there is one thing that caught my eye, a small note at the bottom of the page told a short rumor of old, supposedly a master of alchemy manage to make some sort of potion of immortality from an Elder Dragon's heart called 'Blood of God', a name given after its crimson red color. Speaking of materials, I ran my hand across the tatzlwurm's scaly body as I walked, wondering if its body could be used for anything. The scales might be used to create armor, it might not be as strong as dragons but at least it's stronger than leather. And as for the core, I don't know where exactly it is but searching through its several meters long body would be a hassle, not to mention how bloody it would be, it would be a waste to just leave it here and I am rather curious how big the core is. "-nd they were like whoos, shing and then you are like Wapow! And cut its heads off!" My train of thought was broken by Chrysalis talking animatedly to Nox like some kind of kid after watching their favorite action show, "That was awesome!" It was amusing seeing her like that, talking as if nothing ever happened, I was sure she might get some kind of mental scar after almost being swallowed. "You guys alright?" I asked, making sure everyone got away with nothing more than a bruise. "Yes, we are fine," Said Celestia, using her magic to dust off some dirt on her white fur, "Honestly, it took me by surprise, I have never seen someone use Time Magic to that extent." I shrugged in response, not seeing how big of a deal it was, "He's a Xelor, time is basically his plaything." Taking a look at the rest of our party, they came out unscathed with Luna and Gerindha both staring at the headless body of the worm, though the latter was clearly shaken by the brief encounter, even as I got close to her, she still stares at it as if it'll come back to life. "Hey, you alright?" I asked, breaking her stupor by poking her 'shoulder'. With a jolt and a sharp inhale, she answered "Y-yes, I'm f-f-fine." Ah, there's her stutter, to be honest, a small part of me thinks it was cute. Making sure she told me the truth, I examined her up and down, looking for any sign of injury. I could just cast a healing spell on her, pretty sure the Journal has one or two, but I rather not risk tainting her with Chaos. True to her words, other than a few ruffled feathers, I don't see any injury on her. I shrugged in an 'if you say so' gesture, "Alrighty then, if no one is injured, we should get a move on, we're burning daylight. I'm starting to get sick of this cave." "The Demon is right," surprisingly it was Luna who agreed, "we are still in the goblin's territory, this disturbance would attract them here, we better hurry up before they come." While a single goblin sounds non-threatening, an adult person could defeat one or two with nothing but a hoe, a whole horde of them could spell disaster even for a well-fortified city and that's not counting the other types of goblins. And since we're smack-dab in the middle of their territory, for all we know there's already a horde of them on our tail. Fighting them is out of the question since we have a non-combatant and a miss fired spell could cast a disaster, pun not intended. "Unfortunately we have to take another route," Nox butted in, his hand pointed toward further down the cave outside my light orbs range. I was about to send one of my orbs but something beat me to it and lit the path ahead, like a flying flashlight, the Noxin which my brother sent ahead of us lit up the cave ahead with its singular lense. Turns out, whether it was before or during our battle, the giant worm had caused a cave-in. Lucky it wasn't on top of us, unlucky our current path is now blocked by a pile of rocks. While it put a damper on our rather straightforward plan, it posed nothing more than a small obstacle in our way, however, the steady stream of water flowing down between the rock from above made me think otherwise. Asriel let out a sigh, "great, now we have to backtrack our way," I silently agree with him, although there's a chance we encounter a band of monsters investigating our little scuffle. A small part of me was looking forward, and a bit eager, to getting a scrap with the green skins. Even with a superior number, I get the feeling they wouldn't be much of a problem and this place is perfect to set up a choke point, only one way they came but unfortunately no way out for us. It might be best to dig to another part of the cave for retreat, even if it might become another way for the monster to attack us, but I think my brother could keep the way clear. "Oi Royal Flanks," that got me a glare from the youngest sister, "you got anything to dig us out of here? I would do it myself but I don't think an early grave sounds nice." While Luna let out a huff and not much else, her sister was about to reply but Nox beat her to it, "I think that wouldn't be necessary, Bill, can you bring up the map?" I raised an eyebrow at his request but nonetheless I brought it up with a swish of my 'wand'. Strangely, I still remember every branching pathway, dead ends, and other nooks and crannies like the back of my hand, I was half expecting the map would be an unrecognized jumble of mess by this time but it seems I have a clear memory of it as if it was burned into my memory. 7 colorful dots representing us were on a rather straightforward section of the cave leading to the Tree of Harmony, however, with the recent event, the way forward was cut off and replaced by a dead end. Taking a look at where we are, I can see why Nox would be against digging our way to another part of the cave as where we currently are is rather isolated from the other cave system, the nearest one being right on top of us which is a huge chamber half-filled with water, given how there are multiple huge snake-like monsters poking out of the water surface it doesn't take a genius what kind of place that is. At least we know where the water is coming from. "So what cha' got for us, Nox? Between you and me, and probably everybody else, an early watery grave right in the middle of a snake den doesn't sit well with me," I said, raising an eyebrow to the Xelor. In response, he 'draw' a line with his own magic with his fingertip near where we are, "as we can see, we cannot risk another cave-in, therefore we cannot afford to damage the surrounding cave structure, that means we will not dig our way out of here and steer clear of any fight to avoid collateral damage." Even wearing a mask, I got the feeling he took a glance at me when he said the last part. "However that doesn't mean we do not have a way out of here," he said, referring to the line he drew which is right near where we are, it took me a moment to realize which way he's referring to. "Pardon me for interrupting, Mister Nox, but the passage you're suggesting is in fact made by a foul monster, for all we know it could lead to its nest." butted Celestia, she then nudged her head toward the headless tatzlwurm corpse, "and it's still inhabited by its late digger, I am ashamed to admit it but our magic is still weak so we cannot help, furthermore this Elder Tatzlwurm has a high magic resistance even after death." Elder Tatzlwurm? Is that a souped-up version of monster? It does make sense, according to my meta knowledge at least, I was expecting it to be something like 'Alpha' or 'Greater' but that is common in isekai troupe. "I was expecting you to say that, however, we wouldn't be needing your help," Nox said in understanding, and like any older brother would do he turned his attention to me, even with his face covered I already knew what he's going to say, "dear little brother if you would be so kind." I rolled my singular eye and let out a scoff, nevertheless, I complied, "Whatever you say, dear brother." With a single snap, the giant corpse vanished from existence similar to how the chest earlier sunk into the ground and to my 'inventory', the same can't be said for its head since I don't want to have something that messy inside my hammerspace. Ignoring the dumbfounded look the locals give me, except Chrysalis who is in awe, I nudge Nox with my elbow, "c'mon we're wasting time, since it was your idea you go first." "Hmm, I suppose you're right, we do not want to end in an early grave now do we?" he jabbed in a humorous tone to which I clicked my tongue but grinned nonetheless. The xelor's mask flashes and a 'beep-beep' noise is made, on the other end of the cave I can see the Noxin circling the hole before diving in, presumably scouting ahead in case we end up in the monster's nest as Celestia said. A couple of seconds later we got the all-clear from Nox, telling us the way ahead is devoid of any monster and traversable. With that tidbit of information, we continued our walk. For a tunnel created by a monster worm, it was surprisingly clean, well clean as in there's no excrements or 'leftover' from its prey but that doesn't mean it was easier to walk on. The ground was covered by debris from the collapsed wall and ceiling, while the locals had little to no difficulty walking on their four legs, or in Gerindha case claws and paws, we bipedal had to watch where we were stepping so we didn't trip or fall. Add in the fact water decided to follow us makes it even harder not to slip. While the rough terrain did hamper us a little bit, the tunnels were high enough for us to walk up straight without our heads touching the ceiling, the same can't be said about the width so we're forced to walk on a single row, while I believe Nox can handle the front side I still had my doubt on the princesses. They might be all-powerful Alicorns but from what I've seen I think they aren't as strong as how the show portrays them to be, so far they haven't thrown a single earth-cracking-weather-changing-eyes-blinding spell, the most impressive I've seen was when we're 'fighting' the giant worm earlier but it was nothing but a simple application of 'Reshape' and telekinesis to throw the sharpened rocks. It might have something to do with the Everfree Forest's natural magic inhibition, but I doubt the forest's natural magical dampener can reach this far underground, or they're not that powerful yet, whatever the reason is I expect them to be more than just meat shields. Speaking of magic, I'm still finding a way to add a 'filter' function on my shackles, currently, it can only limit how much Chaos Magic I can use, any more than a certain amount it would activate its function and completely block my magic. To put it simply, it's nothing more than a magical circuit breaker. It does absolutely nothing to counter the Chaos Magic residue other than limiting how much I can exert in a single spell, which means it is absolutely useless if I were to cast multiple spells. Bit by bit is going to be a mountain eventually. There are a few ways of getting around this problem however only 2 were the most commonly used, at least according to the Journal. The first one is to separate the raw magic from Chaos Magic, which is harder than it sounds, one would meditate for a very long time, it could take months or even years, aside from that there are also other additional steps that are also time-consuming. I might do that if I can figure out how the original Bill manipulated time or created a pocket dimension but for now that would be on the backburner. The second one, which is easier and faster, is to use an enchanted artifact that could turn one type of magic into another and enhance it, like a staff that can increase the potency of a fire elemental spell even if the user is not adept at pyromancy. On paper, I could make an enchantment specifically to separate raw magic from Chaos Magic and apply it on a staff or gloves, the problem is I have no idea how to make an enchantment or enchant something. Moments like this make me wish I had Bill's innate capability and understand anything right off the bat. There might be a guide on enchanting in the Journal but this isn't the right time nor place to do it, best to do it in a safe environment and away from any living creatures in case my Chaos Magic goes awry. For now, focus on getting the Elements. The sooner we get our hands on them, the sooner I can do experiments with my newly gained power. Actually I could use one of my favors to ask the royal princesses to make me my own staff, with their status I have no doubt they can order someone top of the line enchanter or staff maker to make a high quality filter staff. My train of thought was interrupted as Asriel nudged my ribs with his elbow, "got something on your mind?" He asked, looking at me over his shoulder, "I haven't seen you think that deeply since the last time you took the exams." I shrugged in response, "nothing to worry about, just thinking about my magic that's all. Still looking for a way to use them safely." He hummed, turning back his head forward, "aren't those shackles good enough? So far you haven't buried us alive yet so that's a good thing." I shook my head, “they are only good for limiting how much I could use so the spell I cast doesn't overload,” I lifted my right hand up and ‘willed’ the shackle to appear, “the residue is still there so it might corrupt other living beings." Now that I think about it, I wonder what would happen to the crater I made yesterday, no doubt it's a ground zero for Chaos Magic but I think the Everfree natural magic inhibitor could take care of it. I dismissed the shackle with a thought, "how bout you, got any problem with your magic?" Asriel let out a hum, "not really, in fact it was easier than I expected. I don't know how to explain it but everytime I use magic my body just knows what to do as if it was muscle memory." Interesting, while I haven't experienced something like that, I might have an idea why it happened. Amongst the three of us, Asriel was the only one who came from a game so there’s a chance he got some kind of game mechanic, and since his attacks have names, there might be a ‘moves’ function similar to Pokemon game. However, is it only limited to that? While Undertale can be completed without killing a single monster, the system is similar to most RPG games, kill monsters, gain experiences and Ilevel up, the usual stuff. From what I’ve read from various media, whoever possesses this system could hypothetically become an ever evolving organism that gets stronger the more they kill with no limit. But since we're talking about Asriel here, I think it wasted on him being the end game boss with infinite health point, defense and attack. The only thing that could be of use is the inventory function. I could ask him to bring out the status window, to see if he has the gamer system but this isn't the place or time to ask it, yet another thing to add to the backburner. “That's a deep hole.” We reached the end of the worm-made tunnel, well actually the rest of the tunnel is on the other side of a gaping hole big enough for a 4-seater car to fall in. It was easy enough to cross the hole, a single cast of ‘Barrier’ for a bridge is enough, however Nox had other ideas as to why he brought me in front of the group. “Bill, do you have anything to help us go down?” I raised an eyebrow at his question, but nonetheless I shrugged, “I can make a moving platform like earlier but…” glancing at the hole, I can't help but ask, “do we really have to go down there?” “It’s the fastest way and I already have my Noxin scouted ahead, there’s nothing down there,” he patted my back in a reassuring manner ,“so don’t worry about it.” I let out a snort, “don’t blame me for being paranoid, for all I know there could be one of those spider traps down there.” A single hexagonal shaped barrier later, we all began moving down the gaping hole, albeit rather slowly. I might be able to move it faster but with how terrible my magic control is and not a clear ground to land on, I rather not. As we descended down the hole, I sat down cross legged right in the middle of the platform and…well there isn’t much to do other than keeping the platform moving. Seeing the other is keeping eyes from any surprises from above and holes on the wall. With the exception of Gerindha and Chrysalis to which I motion both to sit by patting an empty spot beside me. Surprisingly, the little bug jumped on my lap and settled down like a common house cat. I'd be lying if I didn’t find it cute so I let it pass, Gerindha seems perplexed but nonetheless sat near me. We sat in an awkward silence, occasionally broken by the little changeling letting out a satisfied hum as I pet her, hey if she’s behaving like a cat might as well treat her like one. However, the silence is starting to get on my nerves so I decided to have a little chat with the griffoness. “Sooo…” I began, purposely drawing out the ‘o’ to catch the griffoness’ attention, “any reason why are you using a staff? Besides the obvious of course, I was assuming you griffons prefer something like a sword or spear.” “...I…I am not g-good at all u-using weapons or f-fighting…” I had to strain my ear to pick up what she said, “t-the only thing I-I can do is use m-magic, but I-I can only cast m-minor spells s-so I use it to a-amplify my s-spells.” I let out a hum, still finding it weird why a griffin like her would rather prefer using magic, even if she claims to be bad at using weapons, her talon is sharp enough to deal some damage. “So are you any good at casting your spell?” I asked, trying to get more information on how magic works, who knows maybe I’ll get an explanation the Journal doesn’t have. “I-I think so, b-but most spells I know is only the basic, so I still have to study more,” she answered, her left middle claw idly tracing the Barrier surface, “i-it’s the reason why I t-travel here to E-Equestria, to study more m-magic.” Well it's not much of a surprise when I heard the lands of ponies is the ideal place to study magic, with how one-third of its inhabitants had a wand literally grown on their skull and cast magic spells with a flick of their head. What surprised me was her reasoning, sure griffins are able to use their magic similar to pegasus, push clouds, stand on it, etc, but casting spells like unicorns? I’ll admit it does sound interesting to learn how she did it. “And what, a lowly bandit like you, will use our magic knowledge for, to raid another village perhaps?” It wasn’t a surprise when Luna decided to put her two cents in with some heat behind it. Clearly shocked at the sudden accusation, Gerindha rapidly shook her head, “No, I would never do something like that!” With a snort, the moon princess began to walk toward the griffin, “bah likely story, as if your guild action hasn’t caused more trouble than they already are.” Before she could size up to the shrinking griffon, I stood up and blocked her way with an arm “knock it off Moon Booty, beside what’s your problem with her?” That might be a bad move considering now I’m the target of her ire “the fact that she belongs to a guild that has repeatedly attacked merchants leaving villages without food or medicine? Or maybe the numerous times they raid settlements and kill all of the inhabitants? Or perhaps the countless lives of our loyal soldiers THEY'VE ENDED?!" With each accusation her voice became louder and the wings flared in a sign of dominance. She would've looked threatening if not for the height difference, though her horn is dangerously close to my eye. “Um, guys?” I let out a sigh at her little rage, “let me make that clear so your small brain can understand,” I shot back, “what is your problem with her? All the crap you said was about the Flaming Claw-” “It’s Flaming Talon, Uncle Bill!” “Thank you Chrisy, anyway what you just said is what Flaming Talon did, even if she’s a member of a bandit guild that doesn’t mean you should treat her like one.” “Guys…” “Bah, what do you know about them, demons? As you said it yourself, you and your cohorts are new to this realm, I wouldn't doubt your realm is nothing more than a barbaric land if letting criminals go is completely normal.” “Guys!” “I assure you, where we are from is much more civilized than your kingdom, it's not a high bar to reach compared to a kingdom ruled by animals.” That jab might hit a nerve with how her horn starts sparking and the face adopts a fierce borderline feral look. Even when the sparks almost hit my only eye, I can't help but feel…satisfaction? Glee? Joy? Whatever it is, it brought a wide smile on my face. “Why you-!” “GUYS!” Both of us turned toward the source of the yell, while I only raised an eyebrow toward Asriel, Luna was rather vocal with her opinion and yelled back. “WHAT?!” The monster prince flinched at the shout but still held ground, “do I need to remind you we’re in the middle of a goblin's nest?!” He whisper-yelled, “I swear to god if we’re getting swarmed by those green skin, it's both of your fault.” I let out a scoff, “hey, don't blame me, I was just having a small talk with our tour guide here," I then pointed a thumb toward the moon princess, "if its anyone fault, its hers." "I said both of you, I don't care who started it first but we're knee deep in shit right now. At least wait it out until we're clear from here so shut it!" With his piece said leaving no space for me to retort, Asriel went back to keeping eyes on the surrounding wall. I glanced at Luna, she sent a 'we'll finish this later' glare before stomping away to her sister's side. I let out a hum at the situation and went back sitting next to the now semi-curled Gerindha. "...s-sorry," the griffoness said meekly, with how big her eyes are, it was easy to tell she's almost burst a tear duct, "f-for troubling you,I s-shouldn't t-t-talk too m-much, I-I k-kn-" Aaand she's back to her stuttering mess, great. Not wanting to waste another second trying to understand her I place my hand on top of her head and give it a little pat. "Relax, it wasn't your fault," I said, trying to console the griffoness, "beside, she's the one that butt in so don't worry about it." "B-but you d-didn't ha-" "Don't forget we have a deal, if I remember correctly we, or at least I, would keep you away from any dungeon or jail in return you give us your knowledge about these lands, so don't worry about the princesses hounding you." For a moment I thought she's going to bawl her eyes out but instead she gave a silent nod and sat close to me, perhaps a little too close with how she put her head on my lap, not that I'm complaining. I felt a nudge on my free arm, from the corner of my eye I could see Chrysalis staring at me, her eyes gesturing to the oversize winged cat I'm petting. Without uttering a single word I placed my other hand on her head and earned a happy squeak. And the rest of the trip is spent in silence. "Well this is it, if my map is correct, which so far has been true, all we have to do is open this gate and go to the other side of this room." We all gathered in front of a giant metal double door, big enough to fit a whole tanker, its surface covered with runes from top to bottom. If I had to guess what their purpose is it might be to strengthen the doors and other security measures. The way here is surprisingly smooth with no traps, no ambushes around the corner and sudden 'mini-boss' encounters like tatzlwurm from before. Though technically there were traps but not as in pressure tile triggered arrow, poison gas or trapdoor with spikes at the bottom. The trap I'm talking about was the big-ass spider Nox's Noxin saw earlier in the day, according to Gherinda they're called Giant Trap Spider, which is pretty self explanatory, they're giant spider that primary hunting method using traps similar to their earth counterpart the Australian trapdoor spider. While they don’t shoot acid spit or have highly toxic deadly venom, they make up for it in the brain department, they're smart enough to create more elaborate traps and other trapping equipment such as nets, ropes and strings. From a simple web trap, trapdoor ambush, booby trap, to more complex string triggered traps that can launch nets, lift you up by the foot or simply drop a pile of rock held by a net right on top of you. And why does this become relevant? Turns out the hole we're descending through leads to their territory. Not only they're smart enough to set up traps and ambushes they're also equally smart at hiding, by weaving the surrounding material with their string to their body almost similar to ghillie suit, they're able to camouflage themselves with the environments. So when we got to the ground level at first glance there's nothing but a straight path toward the Tree of Harmony without any sign of those 8 legged freaks. Only because of Gerindha's sharp eyesight stopped me from dispelling the barrier and dropping our party right to a grinder. Somehow her eyes caught a sliver of almost invisible thin string amongst the darkness which led to a seemingly innocent yet odd pile of rock on the ceiling that is actually a cleverly disguised giant spider using loose rocks to hide itself. A fireball courtesy of Asriel took care of it, a direct hit set the hiding spider ablaze and immediately killed it. However that single fireball had unintentionally hit other almost invisible strings. Unlike their counterparts on earth their silk doesn't 'melt away' when exposed to fire, the strings burn quite well, almost like a rope soaked in gasoline. Not long after that a total of 7 giant spiders dropped from their hiding spot with a squeal as their camouflage caught on fire. Sensing the danger they're in, the other giant spiders abandoned their hiding spot and began skittering away from us. However their effort is for naught as Asriel began throwing fireball after fireball, setting the whole cave on fire just like he said he would. The rest of our party didn't just sit and watch, the sisters cast fire-based spells with deadly precision and forcefully pull out the ones hiding underground, while Nox kept any giant spider that’s brave enough to get close with his sword. As for me, Chrysalis, and Gerindha? We're on the clean up duty, the little changeling told me the Giant Trap Spider silk is a rare commodity and many tailor would pay a hefty sum for it, and so with a little telekinesis magic I was collecting the silks that spared from the fierily onslaught while the griffoness collect magic cores from the spider's corpses. Not long after that whole burning cave fiasco we finally arrive at the metal doors. "But how do we open it up?" asked Asriel, "there's no handle, keyhole or anything and pushing it is definitely impossible." I let out a hum and combed through the journal for any sort of clue but, "nope, all of these runes don’t match up with what I got. Oi, princesses got any clue what we're dealing with?" Luna is more than content on ignoring me, Celestia on the other hand, or hoof, had her eyes on part of the runes around where the keyhole should be, not long after that she let out a gasp. "No,but…perhaps?...it could be" she muttered to herself. Nox raised an eyebrow at her reaction, "care to share your findings, princess?" "I am not certain but," she trailed off, her head turning toward her sister, "Luna, do you perhaps recognize these runes?" It took the moon themed princess a single glance to be equally interested, she let out a gasp, her eyes widened, "this…this is the same rune we used on our doors when we were little!" "So I assume you're familiar with it?" I asked, to which Celestia nodded "Yes, these are the same rune mother put on our room door to protect us," in a split second her eyes had a longing look but disappears a moment later, "It is a simple yet effective lock enchantment that can only open by certain set of runes that act as a 'key' or specific magic signature" "Well that's troubling, suppose you have whatever this 'key' is?" She shook her head "no, but this is almost identical to the one when we were fillies, we can try to open it with our magic." "By all means, go ahead," with that, the rest of our party stepped away from the metal doors letting the princesses do their thing. It didn't take long for the magic to happen, once both of them touched their horns on the doors the runes on the door began to glow like a Christmas tree and a loud thunk-thunk sound of the lock mechanism undoing itself reverberated through the cave. The doors began to slowly open inward, its hinges groaning in protest. Despite the size and the force needed to open it, not a single rock falls from their place nor there's any crack on the wall. With the last thunk the door lay silent and the runes began to dim, it didn't open fully but enough for us to enter one by one. We all looked at each other, including the princesses, despite none of us uttering a word the question of 'who goes first?' was asked. I felt someone shoved my shoulder, turning around to see the culprit. I met with Asriel, his head gestured toward the opening. 'You go first.' I sent him a deadpan look, an eyebrow raised. 'Why should I?' He pointed a finger at me. 'It was your idea.' Letting out a low sigh, I mentally prepared myself to enter the giant room. Even if my map show's there's nothing but a pile of something in the middle of the room, stepping inside felt like swimming in an open ocean, there's no telling what else is hiding in the darkness. "[Twin Magic:Light Orb]!" Two glowing white orbs the size of basketball appeared from a magic circle in front of me, I mentally commanded them to enter the gap and go in the opposite direction of each other, not long after that I followed. The first thing that came to my mind when describing this room would be 'boss room', a giant spacious room with almost nothing to hide behind. And when I say giant I mean 'enough to fit a whole baseball stadium with enough space for the parking lot' giant, can't even see the ceiling. Even my light orbs which glow like an industrial grade floodlight can't illuminate the whole place, thankfully those aren’t the only light source in the room. Remember the pile of something with a jagged tip in the middle of the room? Turns out it was a mountain of purple pink-ish glowing crystals in various sizes, in the middle the mountain is a huge crystal almost as tall as a two story building. Turning around I see my party member slipped inside one by one, each one wearing the same weary look pointed to the mountain of crystal dead ahead, especially for the princesses, their wings would twitch every so often as if sensing an unseen dan- CLANG I think my heart skipped a beat when the door suddenly closed after Gerindha entered with Chrysalis on her back, safe to say I wasn't the only one surprised. All of us pointed our weapon, or horn for the Alicorns, at the metal door. After a silent moment, I realize the pair of inanimate objects wouldn't pose much of a threat to us, other than closing out the only way out, I lower my machete with a silent curse and a sigh. "I was expecting you to know this would happen, Bill," Asriel grumbled, in response I just raised an eyebrow, "after all, a boss room at the end of a dungeon is a standard thing in RPG, you of all people should know." "While I do not know what an 'aar pee jee' is, what you just describe is a common knowledge regarding dungeons," Celestia said, "when the Dungeon has grown to a certain size, it will call upon the strongest monster that reside in it to act as a guard to protect its core, it will then construct a room best suited for the monster combat ability." "Wait a second, did you just say 'grown', does that mean the Dungeon is alive?" I asked, confused at her choice of words, "Also you said it 'constructs' a room, does the Dungeon have control of the monsters living inside it?" "Yes, the dungeon is alive though to some degree, it simply grows along with the creatures that take residence inside it, the more monsters there are the bigger the Dungeon is." Celestia explained, "As for your second question, the Dungeon relies heavily on the monster to expand, however there has been evidence that the Dungeon is capable of creating a room all by itself amongst other things, however there is no such thing as Dungeon controlled monsters." So basically we're inside a giant living organism? Well that's nice to know…when we're inside of it. From what I know from Celly's explanation the Dungeon acts like a symbiosis organism, it takes magic from the creature inside in return it gives them food and shelter. Thankfully the Dungeon only has a limited, almost primal level of intelligence and the monsters inside of it act with their own free will. If it had control over the monster we would have to fight through hordes of monsters the moment we step in. "If I may have a say on this," Nox interjected, "while it is nice to have more information about this world, I have to say this discussion should be continued when we're in a safe place, wouldn't you agree?" We all voiced our agreement, 'right this isn't a place to dilly dally,' I thought to myself. I began walking toward the other set of doors at the end of the room and kept my distance from the crystal mountain. I don’t know why but a voice at the back of my head and my gut told me to stay away from it. There's isn't a single sign of whatever the boss monster is but if there's nothing between us and our prize then I wouldn't be compl- C-C-CRACK I stop dead in my tracks as the sound of something cracking reaches my ear, my eye shoot downward fearing the floor is going to break, I let out a sigh of relief as the ground is still intact. C-C-CRACK The sound echoed through the empty room once again, this time my eye darted toward the mountain of crystal in the center. My blood runs cold at the sight of a couple of loose crystals falls down with a faint tink-tink noise. C-C-CRACK With the purple pink-ish light glowing from the mountain of crystals I could see a hand full of crystals burst from the ground adding more to the pile C-C-CRACK C-C-CRACK C-C-CRACK More and more crystals join in, some even growing between the other crystals and climbing higher and higher. C-C-CRACK C-C-CRACK C-C-CRACKC-C-CRACK C-C-CRACK C-C-CRACK Not only the amount of it grown in a single burst increased but the size also kept getting bigger. More and more and even more crystal grows and climbs even higher until the giant crystal is covered by its smaller brethren. C-C-CRACK C-C-CRACK C-C-CRACKC-C-CRACK C-C-CRACK C-C-CRACKC-C-CRACK C-C-CRACK C-C-CRACK Then it began to take shape, first a crude imitation of a torso, and then two pillars of crystal made up the arms, after that a skull-like structure with a sharp jagged jaw for the head. CRACK With the last burst on top of the 'head', the crystal statue lying still unmoving and silent, I realized I was unconsciously clutching the machete tightly, my palm turned white and opened the Journal, the word 'Explosion' written on the top of the page. My stomach dropped as the eyeholes of the statue lit up in a deep purple bathing us in its glow, then it began to move, bending down to see us, from where we're standing the now-golem crystal statue looks like it's glaring at us. It opens its jaw and, despite not having anything that can be a voice box, lets out an earth shaking roar. GRRRRRAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!! The golem raises both of its arms, even if the distance between it and our party is too far for it to reach us, my gut tells me to move away, something that I am more than happy to share with the other. "Oh shit, SCATTER!" We all jumped just in time as the golem smashed its arms down and sharp crystals burst from the ground in a straight line, we all would've been skewered if we didn't dodge. And thus our fight began. Author's Note ...I wasn't kidding when I said this would likely be updated once a year. So, it has been a long time since the last time I updated this, to be honest I kinda forgot it exists every now and then, lets get trough the excuse I have this time. The first thing that halted me on working this is college, for the past few months I've been working my ass off to get into a good university unfortunately it wasn't enough, thus I had to switch to another, less known university and manage to get accepted. Second, I manage to find and secure a job that I can do while attending lesson and continue writing my stories. Third, writer's block, I'm still not sure where to take this story, I have some snippets of situation I can write but that's about it, there's no major conflict, clever plot-twist or anything I have in store, without a conflict this story would be stale. I was thinking about taking the brothers to another world, be it from existing show/manga/story or completely create one from scratch, after a certain point in the timeline but before that I have no idea. And the pacing, its been 9 chapter in and we're still in the Everfree Forest, it would take forever for the brothers can finally be able to jump to another world so I might speed it up a little. I would gladly accept suggestion. Well that's about it for real life excuses now on the internet stuff (you can skip this one). For those who's still living under a rock, a Vtuber agency by the name of Hololive has announced several new group members, that being the Council (EN Gen 2), Holox (JP Gen 6), HoloH3ro (ID Gen 3), and the more recently debuted HoloStar TEMPUS (EN Gen 1). Naturally every time a new member debuted my motivation goes down the drain and will crawl back in a month or two. However with every good that happen in the world, something bad must happen to balance it out. In the span of less than a year Hololive has lost 2 of its talents, Uruha Rushia and Tsukumo Sana, from JP and EN respectively. Rushia's 'graduation' hit me the most, not only she's one of the first Vtuber I watched, alongside that damn rabbit, but her clips are iconic, especially where she said the gamer word. The nature of her 'graduation' also played apart though I wouldn't get into detail, that's a can of worm I refuse to open. As for Sana, while it is sadden to lose another talent, I can understand why it has to be done due to her physical health, the only thing I can do is hope she's doing well wherever she is now. Well that's enough of me talking about a moving anime girl picture playing game. As always, keep on the lookout for typos, grammar errors, and tell me what do you think of this chapter! Thanks for reading! Chapter 1: A New Beginning, Some Background Story and a Changeling? (Edited by Space-Timecontinuum)We landed on a sandy surface, and by landed I mean we fall face-first on top each other, Nox being at the bottom and me at the very top “Aagh for the loves of god get off of me!” Nox shouted, I jump off from the pile and dragged Asriel off from him I helped Nox get up and look around us, seems like we’re in a desert in the middle of nowhere. Sea of sand stretches as far as the eyes can see “So where are we?” I heard someone voice asked, I turned to see who was that “I don’t know Asriel, but if my memory is doesn’t fail me I think we’re in the Badland since it’s the only place that has sand this much unless we landed somewhere around Saddle Arabia,” I said to the God of Hyperdeath “Really? Saddle Arabia?” “Hey we’re in a little girl show, or will be in a thousand years, so get used to the overrated puns” “So much for the hope to land near the forest,” Nox said, holding out his Eliacube, the sword is on his back I’m curious about how I look after being displaced, I look to my open palm trying to figure out how to use my power. "Eh to heck with it" I muttered, imagining a full body mirror I snapped my fingers *Poof* The said mirror appeared out of thin air in front of me. I walk toward it and examine my reflection Sweet, I'm still in my human form, I thought I was going to be a talking Dorito for the rest of my life. I don’t know why my cane turns to gold but I’ll take it anyway. I snap my fingers once more making the mirror disappeared “So where to Nox?” I asked my older brother who is busy typing on his phone, probably surfing the internet “Don’t ask me I know nothing about the show, you’re the one who watches it the most than the rest of us,” he said Rolling my eyes, I fish out my phone from my back pocket. A piece of paper with something scribbled on it slipped out when I pull my phone, it has The Merchant name at the bottom of it ‘Hey kids it seems that I made a small mistake. I kind of overshot and sent you guys to different Equestria rather than the one I was aiming for, however it still has the ’leaks’ from your character universe and will be aired to another earth. the problem is that I sent you guys so far away from the other Displaces Equestria universe, that means the chances for any of you came across another Displacer token is a snowball in hell. don’t worry you guys can summon each other – The Merchant’ “Well shit” “What is it, Bill?” Asriel asked “We’re far away from any other Displaced Universe, so the chance we came across other Displaced tokens is pretty small, but we still can make token to summon each other,” I said, unlocking my phone, just like The Merchant’s words we actually have an internet connection if the full wifi symbol indicates anything, the battery has an infinity symbol on it. I search for the map of the Equestria, it turns out the show hasn’t even made yet which made sense since we’re so far behind from the main timeline. I hope my memory doesn’t fail me this time, so I open up a drawing app and drawing a map “Hey guys its Nox here and welcome to my first vlog video on Equestria, currently we’re in the middle of nowhere as you can see there are sands everywhere an-“ “Really Nox? Really? Not even a day we got here and you already start to vlog?” Asriel said with a deadpan look. do I ever mention that my oldest brother has a youtube channel that dedicated to vlogging, he basically record his whole day and upload it even though it barely gets any view. “At least can you wait until the show aired?” I said, “We don’t want to spoil the fun for people on earth right?” “Fine, but I still record it for the future” “If you have something that can store a thousand years worth of videos” I snorted, still drawing a map “just record when the good stuff happens, like when we’re fighting Sombra or The Royal Sister” …aaand done, a pretty good map if I do say so myself. With a snap of my fingers, a compass floated beside me “Alright, now if my map is correct there should be a forest northeast from here, so if north is that way,” I point to said direction, “Then the forest should be there. now come we must make haste before the Royal Flank found us” I said with a slight tone of humor And thus our journey began ***Time Skip*** We’ve been walking toward the northeast for about five hours, we also got the hang of our power and train a bit if we came across any hostile creature I’ve been reading the Journal that I bought from the merchant, it turns out it wasn’t the same one in the show. It has all sorts of Equestria’s magical creatures and other things such as spells, runes, and powerful artifacts. There is also a page that focused on us, even though it explained our ‘original’ history with mine explaining that I am a self-proclaimed master of minds and dream demon It also included the how-to summon Bill step by step… Asriel’s page says that he’s the son of Asgore and Toriel, the king and queen to the Monster of the Underground World respectively, and the absolute GOD of Hyperdeath with the power he gained by absorbing the seven human souls. A short history of Monsters that ended with the human sealed them in the Underground world, and a brief explanation of the human’s and Monster’s souls, While Nox’s explained what a Xelor is with their abilities to manipulate time around them and sketches of the bug-bot that the original Nox use to gather magic or Wakfu, there also other machinery that he made even a blueprint or two Other than that there also a page about Tirek, Discord, The Royal Sister, The Crystal Empire, the Gate of Tartarus and other things that I don’t care about There also some blank pages that I’m guessing I’ll fill it up along the way on the way toward the forest, my brothers and I has been messing around with our power. Asriel figure out how to use ‘Fire Magic’, as the name said he can cast a powerful fire-based spell, he also can summon a pair of blades for each hand that launches sparks when it disappears, this attack called ‘Chaos Saber’, Meanwhile, Nox figured out how to drain magic from his surrounding and blast it from his palm that traveled in an instant which exploded on contact. he can slow down time around him for a minute or two. he also trained a bit with his sword if he ran out of magic, I think he gained the original Nox’s swordsmanship because not even an hour he seems to master his swordsman skill Me on the other hand not doing that much training since Bill is not that much of a fighter since he can snap his problem away, plus we won’t be planning to meet up with the princesses anytime soon ‘Well after we settle down in the forest and train for the battle against Sombra and possibly the Royal Flanks, followed by Luna’s banishment, then what? I don’t think we can wait for a thousand-year until Luna return, then again we can’t risk changing the timeline too much, it could cause a big impact on th-‘ “Hey guys look over there I think it's the forest!” Asriel’s voice broke my train of thought, true to his word I can see the edges of the Everfree forest “Last one there is a rotten egg!” Nox exclaimed as he runs toward the forest Sometimes I wondered if he’s the oldest of us ***Time Skip Again*** We soon made in the forest breathing heavily, Asriel instantly collapsed and rolling around the grass muttering something about ice cream, I guess walking in the desert for 5 hours can make you thirsty “So now what?” Nox said, sitting under a tree, his sweat pooled around him But before I could answer that we heard a roar followed by someone screaming, I think it’s a girl by the voice “Do you guys hear that?” I asked Asriel stop rolling and stare at the direction the roar came from, not long later the same roar went off only this time is a little bit louder so is the girlish scream “AAAAAAAAHHHHH!” “Shit, someone in danger, we must save her now!” Asriel shouted as he began running and summon his ‘Chaos Saber’, me and Nox, who had his sword, followed closely We came across a clearing, broken trees all over the place and a manticore, big ass lion creature that has bat wings and scorpion tails, in the middle of it, one of it paws raised ready to crush a black blob with blue insect wings on the back of it Without warning, Asriel cast out a spell that sent out a stream of fire to the creature’s back making it roar, instantly he got it attention. The beast charged toward us, I snap my fingers to make a boulder out of a thin air and drop it on the manticore’s head only to stagger it a bit Nox readied his sword and dashed forward, the dial sword glowed with blue light. Nox raised his sword intended to slash the manticore on the face only to be swiped away with a paw, sending him crashing to a tree. “NOX!” Asriel is about to charge in but a flash of blue light beat him to it, looking toward where it came from we see Nox in front of the manticore. the beast was about to strike him with the stinger but Nox disappears in a flash of light, appear on top of the lion creature’s head with his sword pointing toward it The sword glowed brightly before shooting out a blue beam on the manticore’s head who in turn roared in pain, this continued for about 10 seconds before the beam ceased. Nox float down gently, the manticore toppled down to the side with a huge hole on the head I walk toward the manticore corpse and inspect the hole, “Damn that’s deep, you probably turn the brain into ashes” “I never knew Nox is that powerful,” Asriel said, “You sure he’s not the God of Time, Bill?” “Yeah, Nox is just a Xelor or a time mage but he can drain other’s power, heck even he can stand against a dragon!” I said to my older brother, “Hey Nox can you…wait where is he?” “There!” Asriel said, pointing his finger to where Nox is, he stood still a few feet from the black-winged glob, we dash toward him and asked, “Uumm Bill, what is that?” Now I can see whats the black blob is, turns out it’s another creature, a changeling. From the size of it I guess it was still a child or a filly, curled up and covered in scratches, some of them are worse than the others like the gash on the right hind leg but what really caught my eyes is the 2 extra things that not every changeling has, a blue mane and tail. The first thing that pops up in my head is a certain Queen “It’s a changeling” I whispered to the Monster “A species that can shapeshift and feed on love or other positive emotion” “So it’s basically a succubus?” that earns him a smack on the back of the head “No, those guys, or gals, feed on lifelines or lust and extract it from your dick” I point toward the changeling “does that looks like succubus for you” “Guys, no time for arguing” Nox shouted/whispered, he knelt down to the small changeling and pat its head making it squeak in surprise “Hey it’s alright now, the manticore is gone” “P-please don’t hurt me, I don’t want to die!” it, or I guess she judging by the voice, begged I look toward her wounds once more, ‘Shit she’s losing so much blood, we don’t act now she’s going to die for sure’ I look toward Asriel and said, “Hey Azzy, can you cast a healing spell on her?” Asriel look toward his hand (paw?), then to the wounded changeling “I...think so” he knelt down and hover his hand/paw over her, light green aura coming from his hand, bathing the young changeling with it, her wounds are slowly being healed and eventually, it closed with no sign of scar, then the aura dispersed like a cloud of smoke in the air After a moment of silence, Nox spoke “Hey now are you alright?” The changeling lifts her head up and checking her body “What did you do?” “It wasn’t me who healed you, it was him,” the Xelor said pointing toward Asriel She looks at her healer for a moment before asking “why?” “Why what?” Asriel said with a confused face “Why did you heal me?! I am a changeling a monster that feeds on love! Every other species were either fear or hate us! Why did you help me anyway I was going…to…die... anyway” To everyone's surprise, I laughed “You a monster?! HAHAHAHA that’s rich!” “What, its true! I mean look at me, how can anyone say that I’m not a monster?!” “You aren’t a monster,” we 3 said simultaneously “What?” “The only monster here is Asriel,” I said pointing at the said monster, “He’s basically the Prince of Monster” “FORMER Prince of Monster because I don’t know where the underground Monster Kingdom is,” Asriel said “I don’t even know if the kingdom is in this world” The young changeling stood there slack-jawed and wide eyes. I would probably do the same if I met a Monster Prince “Anyway can you tell us why you’re all alone in the forest if you don’t mind?” Nox asked The changeling looks down at the ground, tears dropped from her eyes “I was exiled from the hive because I was too weak and small to be a part of them so they kick me out” she then let out a stream of tears “And you said you’re going to die? I don’t see any more injury on you” “Without love, I would die from starvation and the critters that live in the forest only gave out fear and hate because of what am I besides, I’m not old enough to gather love by myself, I’d be lucky if I survive for two days” she sobbed “So you only need love to survive?” “Love, joy, happiness, and other positive emotion, why are you asking this any-EEP” suddenly Nox hugged her, caching the changeling by surprise “There there no need to worry,” Nox told her “I’m going to take care of you and I’ll be your dad” “EEEHHH?” Asriel and I shouted Well that's escalated quickly “But why? Why do you car-“ “There’s no point arguing with him, trust me I tried” I cut her off with a monotone voice. Brain, could you reboot, please? I don’t know how long I spaced out when I snap back to reality I see a heartwarming event. The changeling cried softly, burying her head to Nox's chest repeatedly saying 'thank you' Before anyone could say anything I spoke, “It sound like a little bit awkward but we never introduce us right?” Nox rub the back of his head “Ah yeah I forgot about that, as a father I can’t have my daughter not knowing what my name is” he said to his newly adopted daughter “my name is Nox, Noximilien, the strongest Xelor in the whole Equestria” that’s true actually since he’s the only Xelor in the world “These two are my younger brother, this is Asriel Dreemurr supposedly the prince of Monster of the underground world and the God of Hyperdeath” that actually got an unexpected reaction from the changeling which is awe and admiration. “And this is my youngest brother, Bill Cipher the master of minds and self-proclaimed dream demon” Nox finished “so what do you think?” The changeling went silent for a moment before shouting “This. Is. Awesome!” “Wait, aren’t you going to freak out that you found out I am a Monster?” Asriel asked The changeling shook her head “Nu uh, if you’re a monster you would kill me and ate me rather than heal me from my injuries” “Well yeah, Monster is what my species is, it’s like the same for me to call you a changeling” “So what’s your name, I can't keep calling you ‘the changeling’ in my head right?” I ask The shapeshifter (hah) look saddened by this “I…don’t have any name, the drones in the hive only have number series but mother never gave me one since I was too small and weak” Nox put a finger on his chin “Well…you look like someone I know from my homeworld, she is really strong and everybody love her because of her kindness, she is really cute just like you,” he bopped her on her snout “so I’ll be naming you Chrysalis, Chrysalis Coxen, do you like it?” The now named Chrysalis nods her head “Yes I’ll be strong just like her and loved by everypony so I wouldn’t be starving anymore!” “But I’ll call you Chrissy for the heck of it” I chimed, that made her pouted and my brothers snickered And I must say THAT’S FREAKING ADORABLE After a small talk and other things, we decided to visit a town for a map and food supplies. Even if I can conjure stuff with my chaos magic, I’m not pretty sure if it safe to eat things that made out of Chaos Magic cus it caused corruptions and all that jazz, so to play it safe we agree to not eat anything that I made with magic We ask Chrissy if she knows the nearest settlement, she said there’s a village near the border of the forest which is on the other side of the forest that worth five days on foot. I was about to snap a car for us to ride but seeing how thick the forest is it’s impossible for us to travel by that We walked side by side through the ‘creepy’ forest, Chrissy suggested that we take the safer path outside the forest which is doubled the distance rather than cutting walking through it. I shit you not her face when we said that we’ll take the shortest way is priceless She argued about how dangerous it is and ended with Nox putting him on his head with her hind legs dangling down his shoulder and forelegs propped on top of his head, he promised that nothing would harm him I mean who would stupid be enough to attack a time mage, a god, and a being with immense power that protecting a young changeling? “So how did you guys ended up here?” Chrysalis asked “…uh what do you mean?” I asked back “Well dad said that uncle Asriel is a prince, so how did you end up here, shouldn’t you be like…you know…in your kingdom?” Asriel went silent before answering “I…died” “What?” “I was killed by humans” “why?” He then told her how he died, basically, he told the story from the game. So for any of you that doesn’t know about it, I’ll tell you, be aware spoilers ahead A long time ago a human child falls down and injured, Asriel the King’s son heard the sound and brought the human to the castle, the King and Queen treat the human similar their own child, as the time went by the human became a part of their family Until one day the human fallen ill, the human only wish is to see the golden flower on her village again, when the human died Asriel absorb the soul, with the power of human and Monster soul he crossed the barrier that sealed the Monster race underground Asriel carried the human body toward the center of the village where he laid the human on top of a golden flowers bed, the villager thought that he killed the human child so they attack them with everything they got Asriel knew that he has the power to wipe them out but instead, he chooses to walk away, blow after blow he takes not once he defend nor attack them, when he got back to the underground the King and Queen saw that their child is covered in wounds, they tried to help him but it was futile as the prince turned in to dust that scattered across the garden That day the kingdom has fallen into despair the King and Queen have lost two of their children in one night, the King swore to kill any human that falls into the underground world and use their soul to break the barrier and wage a war to the humans while the Queen ran away from the kingdom and never to be seen again “…after countless years I spent in the void I was resurrected to another world and became his brother” Asriel finished with a lie, pointing at Nox Chrissy sniffed “That’s so sad, why did the human hate Monster so much?” completely missing out the part that he’s from another world “They saw us as a threat seeing how we control magic so easily,” he said as he plays around with a fireball that he made, “So war broke between human and Monster race, the human became victorious and seal us underground, the only way to break it is to use seven human souls I have,” he sighed, “Unfortunately I don’t know where my kingdom is.” “Is there any way to return to your home? I would like to see how your castle looks like is” “I don’t know even if I ever come back I doubt that anyone would recognize me, it’s been a long time since I died” “Oh, it must be sad that nopony remember you,” Chrissy said sadly, “So how about you Uncle Bill?” “Me? Well…basically…I am a being from the second dimension” I said “I was trapped in a decaying dimension for trillions of years” “So how did you ended up with dad?” “I did something foolish, when I was trapped in my dimension I discovered another one and something inside me just wanted to rule it over, call it insanity or something like that, so I took my time to manipulate people from that world to make a portal so I can cross the dimensional barrier” “What’s a dimensional barrier? Is it like the one that sealed the Monster?” “Well yes and no, yes it’s keeping other separated, and no the one that Asriel has just separated others that live in the same world. The dimensional barrier works like that but its separate another world from one another, now do you understand Chrissy?” “Yes…sorta and don’t call me by that name!” she huffed with tinted cheek “Ah yes sure, remind me in the future” I snickered ”so where was I? ah yes I manipulate people to make a portal gateway, one of the many ways that allow you to cross the dimensional barrier. I contact them through their dreams or the mindscape, I promise to grant anything they desire, be it money, power, fame anything they like in exchange to follow my instructions to build a portal. Countless people feel for my scheme but none of them manage to build a working portal, I was on the edge of giving up but a man found my scripted spell that allowed me to contact them better and taking control of the caster body’s when she or he asleep “He and I made a deal, he wanted me to help him solve the mystery of Gravity Fall, the place that has been influenced by my power, Chaos” “CHAOS?!?!” Chrysalis shrieked, wrapping Nox’s head in with her legs and trembled “Augh don’t scream near my ear” Nox complained “Sorry…dad it’s just since Discord has overthrown the princesses and made the palace the Capital of Chaos, everypony has been living on the edge. We, Changeling, are lucky enough to hide from him in the desert” she said, still trembling “y-you’re not working with Discord are you?” When I said before Sombra enslaved that doesn’t mean send us way back in the past, Merchant. Well, at least I can test my power against the spirit of Chaos. “Pfft, Discord the spirit of Chaos? Kiddo, I can beat him with my eye closed. All it takes is a single snap of my fingers and he’ll go bye-bye” I said “B-b-but he can defeat the princesses multiple times when they try to retake the throne! You can’t be possibly that powerful!” “Just let me finish my story and you’ll see, besides I know my brother won’t appreciate it if we ended being a public enemy” I continued my story, yeah I know its Bill’s story but whatever. From how Gideon summon me to how I invade Gravity Fall and caused Weirdmageddon “…after I made a deal with Stanford I entered his mind. Little do I know I’ve been tricked, the Ford I was invading is actually his twin brother Stanley, they switched their clothes and disguised as one another while I was chasing Dipper and Mabel. When I found out about it, it was too late, Ford erased his brother mind with me in it, but I have enough time to swear on a power being “I swore in the name AXLOTL to come back in a different time and body to have my revenge, unfortunately, I didn’t know if I would be in a different world as his brother” I finished pointing at the Xelor “It’s a rough start with him, he always rambles about getting revenge to those Pines and rules the entire dimension, so I use one of my devices to keep him on a leash” Nox informed “as a Xelor I require a great amount of power, since he’s a being from the second dimension that can warp reality at his whim he’s basically a god, so I can drain him constantly as his punishment without making him exhausted” I snorted at that, turning my attention to the slack-jawed changeling “A-are you really that powerful?!?!” she shrieked, making Nox flicked at how loud that is “Well, I AM a Dream Demon, a demon that has power only limited to the imagination since dreams are imagination. Thus allowing me to take control of space, matter and time itself” I said proudly “So how about you, dad?” The changeling asked “Uncle Bill and Uncle Asriel already told their stories and said that they became your adopted brothers, so is there a reason?” Nox laughed “For a changeling that young you sure are smart” giving her mane a rustle “well where do I start. Oh, I know….” Now it is his turn to tell his story. Once upon a time before he was a Xelor, Noximilien Coxen is an inventor and Horologist who had a wife and three children whom he loved dearly. They also had a pet dog named Igole One day when he showing off his latest invention –a portable clock that can fly- to his family on a beach, the invention becomes erratic and flies off while Igole chase after it. Noximilien runs after them and stumbles upon a cave which holds the Eliacube, he witnesses its amazing power when it fixes his invention, against his wife’s advice, Noximilien takes the Eliacube back to his workshop to study. Little did he know the cube seems to affect those who come into contact with it, both Noximilien and Igole become obsessed by the Eliacube to the point where they barely eat or sleep and no longer see their family Over time, his body becomes malnourished and decayed just the way he is now. When he finally decided to leave his workshop, he discovered his house to be abandoned and finds a note written by his wife telling him that she and the children decided to stay with her sister and he is welcome to rejoin them once he has given up the Eliacube. Just as he is about to go and rejoin the, his landlord brings him the tragic news that his wife and children were killed in a flood. Noximilien lost his sanity by grief and rage. In his madness he hears the Eliacube ‘talking’ to him, telling that he can fix ‘his life’s clock’ by harnessing the power of the Eliacube to reverse time if he has enough wakfu. Over 200 years later Nox has been collecting enough wakfu from all living things he can find during this time Nox has created of an army of machine to drain wakfu and becomes a Xelor, a time wizard, learning their magic so that he can try and reverse time with the power of the Eliacube After many years Nox has been gathering wakfu from place to place and finally, he has enough to travel back in time, he is certain that with all of the power that he combined, it can bring him back 200 years to the past and reunite with his family… …but the Eliacube brings him back 20 minutes to the past He was devastated, he claims the Cube has promised him that he can meet and rejoin his family but Yugo, an Eliatrope the people who created the Eliacube, told him that he was imagining things and the cube can affect those who came contact with it There in the battlefield, he has lost all hope, all that hard work, all that fights, all that battle was for nothing, he knelt down before the Eliatrope Cube on top of a scrap of metal that once his greatest invention ‘Giant Clock Fortress’, shedding the last tear before teleporting away, biding Yugo the last farewell “…that night after I visit my family tomb I came upon a shooting star, I wish that I have a family again and I’ll treasure it like my greatest possession,” Nox said “in the morning these two appear out of nowhere and as the time went by they became my brothers” “Wow, did you really drain the Tree of Life?” Chrysalis asked “Yeah but I travel back in time so it doesn’t matter since it restores itself,” he said, ended the conversation The rest of the trip went silent, the young changeling asked a question or two to break the ice, at least we made some small talk. The sun above suddenly move from the center of the sky toward the horizon and being replaced by the moon I’ve never realized it about how different from the show until I look to the stars above, it’s really beautiful than the one back home. The stars shined brightly yet gently in the sky, the wind blowing cold air making our little group sighed softly in satisfaction Asriel yawned loudly, stretching his arms above. “I think we should camp for tonight,” I suggested Nox nodded carefully not to disturb the sleeping changeling on top of his head “Sure” “You guys prepare the place I’ll light up the fire,” Asriel said and gathering dried branches around him Not long later we sit down near the burning wood, we take turns to watch our surrounding in case some wild animals or bandits or even the Royal Sister tried to kill us Chapter 3 : A New Point of View, Short History, and New Allies. (Edited by Space-Timecontinuum)Author's Note This is my first attempt to write another person point of view (Note : Sorry if I don’t stick with the Old English speech) Chapter 3 : A New Point of View, Short History, and New Allies. (Edited by Space-Timecontinuum) The sound of branches broken by the princesses’ magic can be heard as they ran with little energy they had. Luna, Princess of the Night, ruler of the moon and star, the youngest of the Royal Sister, following behind her older sister Celestia, Princess of the Day and the ruler of the sun above. “Sister, did you know what caused that powerful magic wave?” the younger sister asked. “Yes I do believe so, I saw a massive rainbow light from the clearing up ahead. I believe whatever causes it, it must be the source of that power.” Celestia answered, “I never witness that much power since…” “…mother” Luna finished, a single tear rolled down her cheek. Celestia’s mind showed a quick memory about their last time to see mother and the damned creature that caused their mother to be trapped in the Astral Plane. Mother had sacrificed herself to protect them and their world from the clutch of the evilest being ever known to ponykind, Grogar. In order to banish the wicked goat from their world, Mother had to use the most forbidden spell that created by herself, but the spell required a huge amount of power in order to cast it, a regular unicorn can't perform this because it will drain the caster magic dry and kill them in an instant. As a last resort, Mother has to use it to seal Grogar in the Shadow Realm alongside with Tambelon, the city that Grogar rules. the spell has drained all of Mother’s magic to the point it completely depleted her magic reserve, despite being an alicorn the spell left her with a tiny amount of magic, just enough for saying goodbye to her daughter before moving on to the next world. Not wanting to lose her mother forever, Celestia and Luna begged their mother to not leave them alone, she is the only family they had beside him. It breaks their mother’s heart to see them crying in front of her, she told them that there is a way to save their mother by sending her to the Astral Plane, a place full of magic. Unfortunately, one does not simply leave the Astral Plane, the Royal Sister was devastated when they learn that there is no way to pull back their mother from there but she had promised to return when she found a way back to Eques. Mother said that there is a way to contact her again but the gate closed before Mother finished the sentence, the only thing they got is a set of words. ‘Go find the Tree of-‘ The Tree of what? Life? Death? Power? There are not many trees that they know. Whatever it is, it must be something that connects directly to her mother or has some sort of power that is strong enough to bypass the world barrier. Maybe the power that she felt was coming from whatever tree that her mother mentioned. Discarding the sad memory from her mind, Celestia keeps running toward where the rainbow light come from, using what left of her magic to cut any branches that blocking their way. At last, she break through the final branch and step into the clearing, she could feel the mysterious power residue all around the clearing with a couple of broken trees that have been uprooted. But no tree. Disappointed that she did not find whatever tree her mother mentioned but keep a determined expression to find whatever caused the magical spikes. There is so much magical residue as if someone cast a powerful spell that equaled to at least 20 unicorns in order to perform it. Celestia confused, there’s nothing that could be the source of the power. She expected to see something other than a simple clearing that looks like someone has been camping. She scans the area for any clue what caused the power. At first, she can only feel the residue the unknown power leaves behind, but under those layers of magical residue there is something different hidden and she knew it is in an instant. It was Chaos Magic. Celestia thought Discord already picked up whatever caused the rainbow light she saw earlier but taking a closer look the Chaos Magic here is far different from what he uses. Yes, it is the same type of magic but this is far different from Discord’s Chaos Magic, this one is far more unstable and powerful. Compared to this, Discord has nothing to it and this just a small portion from whatever caused this Chaos Magic. Celestia feared that there might be another chaos user other than the self proclaims God of Chaos, Discord and more powerful than him but she keep a positive mind and thinking that maybe the Everfree Forest is tampering with his power. She was about to give up to find out whatever caused the magical rainbow light, clearly, Discord already got his paw and claw on whatever that was, but she picked up a trail of the mysterious magic toward a pathway, even though it’s a bit weaker than before. “Sister, I found a trail of the power! Come quickly we must follow it, it might not be far away!” Celestia said. “Are you certain sister? I fear whatever it is, it's heading toward deeper into the forest.” “Yes, I am certain. It may be the only way for us to stand against Discord. We must find out whatever it is and use it to defeat him and retake the throne.” So they followed the cookie crumbs that the demoted God of Hyperdeath left behind. *** The two sisters followed the trail for a few minutes until their ear catches a sound of wood hitting against wood, being an alicorn mean they had all traits from the other pony tribes, thus allowing them to hear as good as a pegasis, only better. Down the road ahead they could see 3 bipedal creatures walking away from them, having pegasis traits not only they could hear things better but also see more clearly even if the object is in a distance. 2 of the creatures are sparing against each other using a wooden blade on each hand, one of them resembles the goat race that inhabiting the mountains on the northern side of Equestria along with the Yaks. Judging by the shape of the snout it is safe to say that he is a male, a pair of horns colored the same as his fur which is white, he wore a dark robe with white sleeve that has a symbol on the front, with a large collar and shoulder pads. The being that the goat-like creature fighting is a masked creature that closes to resemble a minotaur, without the furry part. Celestia has met an ambassador from the minos before and if the body shape said anything, she would have guessed that the not-a-minotaur creature is also a male. He wore a square mask, the eye holes are glowing with blue light. Worn out bandages warped around his body acting like a piece of clothes other than the long loincloth that has a picture of an arrow pointing downward. He also wore a pair of shin armors that has a blue circle that glowed like his mask. The most eye-catching is the large glowing circle on his chest, Celestia wondered what are those circle for. The last creature who walked at the front is almost the same as the masked one only skinnier, he has something on his head, some sort of black blob with insect-like wings, it took Celestia a minute for her to realize that it was a changeling nymph sitting on the creature's head. the creature wore a yellow jacket with brick patterns, black sleeve and gloves covering the entire arm, the same thing goes for the legs, covered with black pants and shoes. The right hand of the creature is holding a golden cane. Celestia could feel that one of them is emitting the unknown power that she had been following, determined to save her subjects, and curiosity, she followed the small party. They seem to be walking toward the deeper part of the forest where all sort of hostile animals such as Timberwolves, Hydras, Manticores and others resided. She must make haste before they could go any deeper. Celestia was about to gallop away to them but stopped when she senses another magic coming from one of them, it was the same Chaos Magic from before. Such powerful, wild and untamed magic that even put Discord's power to shame, no doubt that it would cause anypony to go insane at the matter of second if they get a hold of it, but yet this creature just walking calmly like a normal pony. Luna had suggested trying more cautious approach by using an invisibility spell and hide among the bushes to avoid any sort of violence from the newly discovered chaos user, she and Celestia know that they shouldn't pick on a Chaos Magic user from past experience. Not to mention that this chaos user is far more powerful than the one they already fought. Slithering around the bushes like a slithery snake, they made their way to the 3 mysterious creature, feeling the mysterious power and Chaos Magic getting stronger each time she took a step. The two had already stopped their sparring match and talking to each other. Their sharp hearing allowing them to pick up words that they said. "...on’t be the same like we know. Not only that but the knowledge we have about the future might be useless and the big events like Nightmare Moon, return of Discord, the Crystal Empire might be changed.” the goat one said. What is this, knowledge about the future? Nightmare Moon? And most importantly the return of Discord? Celestia's mind is trying to wrap around the topics that the strange being are talking about. “Yeah, I know what you mean and I think we just changed the future…” the yellow one said. Change the future? What on Equestria are they talking about? are those creatures is some kind of time traveler that came from the future? There are only a few spells that can affect time itself, and not one could bring the caster back in time, it is plain impossible, casting one of the time warping spells should have required a huge amount of power that not even Celestia herself could have. She had to remind her self that one of them is a chaos user that she's thinking about so there could be a possibility that the beings are from the future. The next thing they are talking about is something involving 'The Wedding Incident', 'The Merchant', some sort of a show and rule number 34, whatever those mean, but Celestia's mind is wandering back to the part where the goat one said that Discord will return. Did she actually defeat him and freed her subjects? Her train of thought derailed by a soft nudge from her younger sister. "What is it Luna?" she whispers asked. Her sister just pointed toward the creatures who surrounded by the member of an infamous guild, Flaming Talons guild. Months after months she had been sending royal guards to find the guilds base, the rumors said that it is hidden in the deepest part of the Everfree, only to return empty hoofed. She had to calm herself to not revealed her position and sit back to watch what will happen to them. At first the beings are talking to each other on who should deal with them and the yellow one, named Bill, stepped up and offered his help to get rid of the bandits. With a help of some kind of fruit called an 'Ope Ope no Mi Devil Fruit' that can grant whoever eats it a unique abilities, Celestia thought it’s just one of those 'all barks but no bites' stuff but when he showed just a tip of its power, both her and Luna are left speechless, completely blown out of their mind. They're too stunned to even realize that the 3 creatures are staring at them. We stood still for what feels like an hours-long but in reality, it’s only been 5 minutes. Me, Nox and Asriel stared at the not-so-well-hidden alicorns in the bushes. Said alicorns seems doesn't even try to hide, every now and then they would be leaning to each other as if they were talking, making the bushes rustled and alerting their presence to anyone near them. I gave Asriel an unamused glare and whispered: "Gee, thanks Azzy for inviting the royals to our little party." "Hey I say I was sorry didn't I?" he whispered back. If not for the griffoness on my back I would be smacking the shit out of him, instead I just mentally commanded the green staff to bonk him on the back of his head, resulting an 'ouch' from him and a glare. "Dad, what did you see?" asked Chrysalis. "Chrissy, tell me what do you see over there, in those bushes I mean." Nox said instead of answering the changeling's question. "I have a feeling that there is something or rather somepony hiding over there." he said, making sure to emphasise the word 'somepony', making the alicorns flinched. They both sank back so that their horns and wings are covered by the leaves and actually hiding rather than sticking out for everybody else to see. "No, I don't see anything there. Though I would be guessing that it was some critters but if somepony is hiding there I can sense their emotions" I don't know if a changeling's eyes are different from ours or Chrysalis's eyes are having some sort of problem because how the frick can someone don't see those long horns and big wings. Asriel moves his hands behind him and conjures a fireball on each of them "So you think that nobody is there, not even the princesses?" he asked with a smirk. 'pls bro don't do anything stupid' I silently prayed but also holding a chuckle back. Chrysalis gave the monster a confused look "Well yeah, probably there is somepony hiding but I don't think the princesses are enough to fit in there. I never saw them but the spy drones said they are bigger than average ponies" "So it doesn't really matter if I do...THIS!" he threw the fireballs to the bushes, a moment later both princesses jump out with both of their tails and mane caught on fire, running around like a headless chicken while chanting 'water'. Asriel laughing his ass off and rolling on the ground and if not the griffin riding my back I would be following him laughing, instead, I just let out a chuckle. Nox in the other doesn't seem amused a bit, you could say that he was disappointed, and Chrysalis has a shocked expression on her face. "Bill, can you extinguish the fire?" asked Nox. "Sure buddy, it'll be done in a jiffy." I snapped my fingers making a certain large bipedal turtle with two canons on top of its shell appear beside of me. "Blastoise use Hydro Cannon!" I pointed toward the burning ponies. "Blastoise!" it roared, sending a powerful stream of water to the Royal Sister, not only did that attack put out the flame but also slams them to a tree. Asriel laughs even harder than before and I could feel Nox's glare bore on the side of my head. "Erm...too much?" I hesitantly asked. "Yes Bill, I think that you're overdoing it." Nox said clearly unamused "Just stop before any of them gets hurt." "Yes, of course," I said with a nervous chuckle, I told Blastoid to stop and snap my fingers once again to make it disappeared. The two sisters are panting heavily, coughing out water that they accidentally swallowed. Nox just shook his head “Asriel, get a hold to yourself. Looks like there has been a plan changer.” He said to the still laughing angel of death “Come on, you both have to ask an apology to them.” “Alright, alright ju-just give some time to breathe.” Asriel chuckled, holding on to his aching stomach. Nox and I walk toward the moping wet alicorns, Asriel following behind us closely. “Erm... are you two alright?” I asked. “Y-yes, we are fine.” Celestia coughed. “Could somepony tell me what just happen?” “Well, you kinda spying on us and Asriel here…thought that you’re a part of those bandits and set you two on fire.” I answered with a lie. “Don’t worry I put it out for you, don’t need to thank me.” That earns me a slap on the back of my head and a snicker from Asriel, “Apology for my brothers’ action but we appreciate it if the both of you stop spyon us.” “How…” a quite reply came from the soaked Princess of the Night. “How what?” I asked. “How did you see us?” “Well for starter your horn and wings are sticking out from the bushes, second the both of you doesn’t seem to have any sort of effort to hide, third you move too much and we can hear it clear as a day.” I simply answered as-matter-of-factly. “Impossible! we cast a high tier invisibility spell on ourselves! Nopony let alone a creature like you would even notice it!” she exclaimed, oh so that’s the reason Chrysalis couldn’t see them. "Oh really? Well, I was thinking otherwise, both of you hardly have any magic, to begin with." Nox said, making the princess of the night flick back, not expecting him to see through her lies. "Probably she was using a low tier spell if a changeling nymph can detect them." Asriel added. "Not very impressive for a princess." I quipped "Not to mention their armor are shits ranked." this seems to strike a nerve on the Princess of the Night. "How dare you insult the-" "Yada-yada-yada, its a shit armor that probably fall apart if you punch it." I cut her with a bored tone. "Why you..." She growled. “What? It's true! Did you pick that up from a dumpster?” I asked with a smirk, earning me a weak magic blast from her that doesn’t even scratch my skin, I chuckled at that “Aw don’t be mad, Moon Booty. I’m just poking you for fun, no need for violence. Here let me help you with your wet mane problem.” With a snap, both princesses are dried up, their mane flowing on a non existed wind and boy doesn’t that look majestic as fuck. Celestia’s mane and looks like a pale rainbow flowing in the sky, gently shimmering under her own sun while Luna’s is as beautiful as her night with twinkling stars shining all across her mane and tail. Though it’s a lot shorter than the one in the show but that doesn’t affect the beauty that they radiated. What? Don’t judge me for admiring them, at least you can shame me if they’re anthro and have those huge, out of portion, fun bags. Not saying that I’m a clopper but have you seen how big those stuff are on the internet? I think my virgin brain isn’t ready for that yet. “Thank you for that, having a wet fur would be quite a problem.” Celestia thanked “Let me introduce myself, I am are Princess Celestia, ruler of the sun and the co-ruler of Equestria.” “And we are Princess Luna, ruler of the moon and co-ruler of Equestria.” she said proudly “And you must address me as such.” I guess Luna is the one who is using the royal 'we' thing. “Greetings princesses, I am Noximilien Coxen the strongest Xelor in the world but please call me Nox. And this bundle of joy and cuteness is my daughter Chrysalis Coxen.” He said pointing at the changeling on top of his head who gave the princesses a tiny wave. “I am Asriel Dreemurr, Prince of Monster of the Underground world.” This set off many alarms in the princesses mind with how wide their eyes are, not wanting to cause a misunderstood Asriel quickly added: “I assure you that I mean no harm.” “You forgot to mention that you’re a God of Hyperdeath, Asriel” I joked “I told you Bill that title is too much for me.” He huffed “Yeah yeah, I’ll remember it, Angel of Death, got it,” I said. Turning my attention toward the two stunned alicorns, I introduced myself “And I’m Bill Cipher, the self-proclaimed Dream Demon and the Master of Chaos!” this made the two of them paled, even Celestia who has white coat lose some of it color. “Oh don’t be like that, I’m not going to take over your kingdom or anything, besides conquering stuff isn’t my style.” I waited for their response but the two are just too scared to even talk, they just stare at me with those wide pinpricks eyes while their jaws are touching the ground, even their manes and tails stopped flowing on the non-existed winds. “I think just broke them.” “No shit Sherlock,” Asriel added which earn him a smack on the back of his head from Nox. “No cursing anywhere nears my daughter.” “So are we going to leave them here?”I asked. “Well I don’t know, with armors like that and no weapons there’s no way that they could get out from this forest without a scratch, but on the other hand their magic is higher than average ponies, so they should be fine. Besides they’re princesses, which means they must know a lot of spell right?” Nox said. “Meh lets ditch them, they aren’t that useful without their magic so let’s go,” said Asriel before walking away. I followed him and same goes for Nox although he seems to be hesitated to leave the princesses behind. C’mon bruh they are alicorns who is powerful enough to raise both sun and moon, a Timberwolf or two won’t be much of a trouble. Soon Nox walked behind us, he gently taps my shoulder causing me to turn around “See, that wasn’t so bad meeting them.” he said “You’re just paranoid, Bill. It’s not like they will blast you with the Elements in sight.” “Erm, Nox what did you say to Chrysalis about the Elements?” I asked, worried that Nox might give away the fact that we have the knowledge about the future. “Well I told her about this prophecy I found one day while I was exploring an ancient temple, it says something about The Elements of Harmony. Legend said that it is a powerful artifact that created by the god, capable of banishing all sort of evil away from the land.” Nox said, giving me a wink “But those artifacts are rumored to be lost in time and nothing more than a myth.” I was about to say something but a shout of ‘Wait!’ behind us beat me to it, we turn around to see both of the princesses are galloping to us before stopping. “Yes, may I help you with something, madam?” I said, refusing to use their title because I can. “Where are you going?” Celestia asked. “We’re on our way to the village near the border of the Everfree,” Asriel said beating me to it. “But why are you heading toward to the center of the forest, everypony know that there are dangerous animals in there. Shouldn’t it be saver to go around it?” “Yeah but that takes 12 days to get there, we like to keep our time short so we’re taking the shortest route thus cutting straight through it is the best option we have. Besides, why do you want to know?” Both ponies fidgeted in their place, glancing at each other for an answer. Celestia let out a long sigh before saying “Well…the truth is we’re…” she trailed off. “You two are lost aren’t you?” I butted in. They both softly nodded their head while staring at the ground ashamed. I look toward my brothers who both gave me an approving nod without asking the question, “Meh sure, you can stick with us for a while I guess, but keep an eye on our back ok?” They both bright up and nodded, slowing trotting behind us while we keep walking forward. For a quick laugh, I snapped my fingers to make a blue box pop up on top of us. Celestia and Luna have joined the party! ***Time Skip Again*** After a few minutes of walking, we enter the deeper part of the forest, the trees here are thicker than the one before and only a small portion of the sunlight pierced the leaves. We have yet to encounter any hostile creature, though we heard a howl in a distance that possibly came from a Timberwolf. Not to mention with the griffin that I'm carrying is starting to hurt my back. On our way toward the village, Celestia steals a glance at me every now and then, I don’t know if she is staring at me or the grifffoness on my back, and whisper to Luna, I can't hear a word of what they are saying but I heard my name being mentioned. The journey is deathly quiet save for the rustling of the wind, Royal Sister whispering and me humming a tune. Having enough of the silent treatment I decided to break the ice by trying to have a conversation with Celestia in order to gain her trust. “So Celly, what it’s like to be a princess?” this caused the younger princess to laugh and the older one to choke on air. “Excuse me, why did you call me Celly?” she asked back. “Yeah, Celestia is just a mouth full name so I shorten it to Celly.” I said, getting an unamused stare from her. “What, you don’t like it or you do prefer Tia instead?” Celestia didn’t answer, she just turns her head with an ‘hump’ while supporting a small blush on her cheek. Luna in the other hand is having a time of her life, rolling on the ground laughing her ass off while holding on to her stomach. Tears of joy can be seen on the corner of her eyes, this goes on for a couple of minutes before she realizes everyone is staring at her and me holding out my phone that set on recording. She quickly stands up and brushed the dust off from her fur before coughing to her hoof, turning her head away to avoid the look that we gave her while also hiding the same blush as Celestia only a bit darker. Celestia and I let out a chuckle before staring at each other eyes, I gave her a little smile which she returned with her own “Quite a lively sister you got there.” I said. “Yes, she is, but I never see she act like this since…a long time” she said with a hint of sadness. Hearing that piece of information set off many alarms in my head, Nightmare Moon appearance shouldn't be this early in the timeline, it would be a major problem if she appears before Discord is sealed and probably affect the Crystal Empire disappearance too. "Well whatever is troubling her, you should solve it as fast as you can." I told her "There is no telling what will happen if she is depressed." Celestia went silent for a few moments before saying "You know, for a self-proclaimed Dream Demon and a chaos user, you're quite a nice stallion." "Not all chaos user is a bad guy, they just need a right guide to the right way if not, well you could see what happen to Discord." I said. "And next time try to address me as a 'man' rather than stallion, same goes for my brothers." She was going to say something but a tap from her sister drew her attention away, "Sister, its time to lower the sun." Luna said. "I know sister but there is just one small problem..." "You guys don't have enough magic?" I asked Celestia shook her head "Nay, we hardly use magic to move the sun and moon, both object is tied to our mark thus letting us move it without magic but we have to see it in order to move it. As you can see we barely can see them with all of the leaves blocking our sight." I gave her a smirk and says "Say no more, m'lady." with a tip of my hat "Hey guys, these two said they're going to lower the sun we should camp here for the night!" I shouted "What about the creature that lives in here Uncle Bill? won't they be attacking us at night?" Chrysalis said fearfully. "Don't worry Chrisy, I already have a plan for that." I snap my fingers to conjure a stack of wood surrounded by a circle of rocks "Everyone huddle up." Everyone did so and sit near the unlit bonfire except me who still standing. "Seriously, is this your plan?" Asriel asked, "You know it takes much more than a small fire to keep a manticore away right?" "Yes, I am aware of that dear brother." I said, twirling my cane "I was going to make it safer by doing THIS." I gave the ground a tap with my cane and it starts shaking, everyone asking what the heck am I doing but I ignore it. Suddenly the ground shoots up toward the sky like a pillar that grows from the earth, breaking through the tree branches and leaves, and stopped when we're at the surface of the sea of leaves. "There, now nothing can reach us right?" I asked to no one in particular. Asriel swiftly grab me by my shirt collar and shake me like a doll "ARE YOU TRYING TO GIVE ME A HEART ATTACK?" After I apologized to everyone for scaring them down to their bones, I sat down near the bonfire watching the two sisters doing their work. Celestia standing on the west side while her sister is on the other side, both of their horn gently glowing. The sun moves as Princess of the Day slowly lower her head, Luna following the same but her head slowly rises alongside with her moon. Truly a magnificent few. Not long after the moon set in the center of the sky, the stars gently shining one by one, decorating the sky like a sea full of precious rocks. Luna swishes her head back and forth making even more star to shine in the dark night, using the sky as a canvas for her painting. Luna gave a satisfied nod at her work, she turns around to sit down with us but giggled instead, must be because she sees our awestruck faces. Snapping back to reality, I decided to give her a compliment "That was truly an astonishing performance, my dear. This world sky is definitely more beautiful than the one back home." She blushed but something in her mind cached up to what I just said "Hold your tongue, are you claiming that you're from another world?" she asked in disbelief. "Why of course, my brother and I hailed from the world called The World of 12, it’s pretty much like this world only a couple of different." "So why are you here? take over our world?" "Oh, heavens no. We are here to start a new life, and possibly find a way to planet Earth." "And what is this 'Earth' you are talking about?" Luna asked, showing some interest. "I'm afraid that is a story for another time, I don’t want to disturb anyone from their sleep." I said, pointing toward the sleeping changeling in Nox's lap "Asriel can you start up the fire?" He did what I just said, with a fireball he set the pile of wood on fire, illuminating the grassy ground we are sitting on. Bonfire Lit "Well, goodnight everyone." I said "The same thing goes for you too, Lulu." She was about to say something but I shushed her with a finger on her lips "Shush, your sister already got a pet name, it’s only fair to have one of your own." I heard a giggle from my right, Celestia is covering her mouth with a hoof, trying to not to laugh "Looks like I'm not the only one who agrees." Luna huffed, walking toward her sister and lie beside her, grumbling all the way. I shook my head at her behavior, slowing drop the griffoness of my back and lie her down beside me, her head is resting on my thigh. I was about to pull out the journal from my jacket but the griffon start turning in her sleep, probably a nightmare or the armor that making her uncomfortable, I snap my fingers to strip the armor from her and neatly place it beside her but she still moving in her sleep, her face was something that pictured pain and fear. I did the only thing that I could think of and start scratching her neck like a cat, she immediately relaxed and let out a satisfied sigh, her face was like someone that experiencing a pure bliss, a small smile adorned on her beak. I never knew beaks are that flexible. I pull out the journal from my jacket and continued my research, I feel like searching up a couple of spells, might be some of them might be useful in our journey toward the village. With the soft cold wind blowing from the north, I relaxed my mind and began reading. That is until a loud snore from the Princess of the Night. I snap my fingers to conjured a night-themed pacifier and stick it in her mouth and she greedily sucks on it like a baby would, I gave out a snicker before taking a picture with my phone and name it 'Woona'
Prologue : The Con (Edited by Space-Timecontinuum)I look around the packed convention, many people dressed as their favorite video game or cartoon character, other just walking around browsing merchandise on the marketplace, taking photos with cosplayer or ogling Trace’s thick butt. I’m one of the cosplayers along with my brothers Let me introduce myself, my name is Erik Ricki-voc but you can call me Erik the youngest of the bunch. Currently, I’m wearing a yellow jacket with a white shirt underneath it, a black bowtie on my neck and black pants, shoes, and gloves, and an eye patch By now most of you can guess what I am cosplaying as, that’s right the one and only Bill Cipher self-proclaim dream demon and master of minds from Gravity Fall, the human version of it of course not the yellow Dorito one I bought the costume at Amazon but for some reason, the seller forgot to add the cane, so here I am at the con with 300 bucks in my pocket looking for someone who sells the missing piece for my costume I felt someone nudge my shoulder, turning around I see my older brother Charlie dressed as Asriel Dreemurr the god of Hyperdeath from the game Undertale, his outstretched hand pointed at one of the stall selling all kind of merchandise “Hey bro I’m going to browser some stuff, might find something cool. You wanna come with?” “Yeah, sure might as well buy a cane for myself” “Hey wait up, I promised mom to keep an eye on you two” said someone cosplaying as Noximilien the strongest Xelor and the main villain in Wakfu series. “can’t have two troublemakers wandering all by themselves do we?” his voice is almost the same as the English dubbed Nox thanks to a voice changer on his mask David is the oldest of us three, he always kept us in check and if we ever get in trouble he can bail us one way or another, even if he has to outrun the police. We walked toward the vendors that lined up perfectly. Different stands sell differently themed of merchandise ranging from animes, cartoons, video games, and many more. One of them is selling mercs from that show literally getting swarmed by a bunch of dudes wearing shirts with a pastel colored pony After a half of hours of wandering around later, we came across a stand that has the perfect cane for my costume, so I walk there. My brothers look like something caught their eyes from the same stand so we march toward it “Greeting traveler, how may I help you?” the Merchant said, I called him Merchant because he’s wearing the same merchant costume from Resident Evil 4 I look around the stall, there’s a lot of stuff from different shows and video game but the one that I was looking for is Bill Cipher’s cane, but something caught my attention. A thick red book with golden hand and the number ‘3’ imprinted on it “How much for the cane and the journal?” I asked, pulling out my wallet “And the souls?” Charlie asked pointing at seven glass jars that lined up that contain different colored heart shaped object. “And the Eliacube plus that sword?” David asked, pointing at a glowing blue cube that has darker blue spiral as patterns and what looks like a sword-shaped as a clock dial “For a group like you all, I’ll sell those for 150,” the Merchant said Hearing that I almost dropped my wallet, a cane with quality like that must be worth more than my weekly salary. But not only that the ‘souls’ should cost 50 bucks each. The blue glowing cube and the clock dial sword also must be higher than the price the Merchant said. Wait a minute I think I’ve seen this, or rather read this somewhere. someone going to a con buys something cheap but has high quality from a creepy dude and gets sent to that show universe and either lose their memories, petrified in stone, doing some villain-y stuff or going insane and have the power from the character that he or she cosplayed as If I did get sent to the pony land I’ll have an unlimited power and can rule the entire galaxy or even the whole dimension! unless I followed the rule from the show Bill came from, can only contact other being trough mindscape and unable to walk freely in the real world unless I use someone as a puppet or open up a portal Charlie will have the power of 7 humans souls plus a monster boss soul and become the God of Hyperdeath that can mess around with time it using the SAVE and LOAD abilities and being invincible to other attacks, so that's pretty cool While David has the power to manipulate time as he wishes, unlike Charlie’s that can only be used to reset time to a certain point and drain other people energy or Wakfu in the original show, but at the price of losing his sanity over a lost family Basically, if we’re out of control and sent to pony land in our ‘original’ mind the creatures that live there will be royally fucked I fish out a 100 and 50 from my wallet and slowly slide it across the counter while looking at the Merchant with suspicious looks, “On a completely unrelated topic, are you The Merchant?” The guy froze his hand that was going for the money completely stopped. He let out a long sighed before asking “You got me, I’m The Merchant that abduct people and send them to Equestria, what are you going to do about it?” We stood around like statue, looking at the Merchant with an unamused face. The tension is so thick you can cut it with a butter knife “Are you all going to stand there and not screamed your heads off?” The Merchant asked Suddenly my oldest brother shouted “Huddle time!” and we gather around him like a soccer team discussing a strategy, arms warped around other’s shoulders “So are we going to take the offer or no?” I asked “I would say no but I think this is once in a lifetime chance” Charlie spoke “Yeah, I read one of those Displaced fic and the guy lost his sanity and got petrified as a stone” David said “So is it a no?” “We still haven’t agreed on that yet, Erik. Can we go back here if we sent to Equestria?” David asked “I’m not sure, there’s story that the Displaced can go back to earth with a certain way” I answered “Well you’re a master of chaos that can bend reality at your will, heck in the show Bill can make a portal to the real world” “He can't make a portal with a snap of a finger, someone has to build a portal gateway from the real world that allows Bill to invade them” I argued “Wait, I once read someone dressed up as a Big Daddy and he literary became one, does that mean we’ll be like him, thinking that we are actually our character?” Charlie asked after me and my oldest brother little debate “I don’t know, we’re pretty powerful figures there’s a high chance that we lose our mind especially me since I have the power of chaos” “How about me? I’m basically the God of Death” “The God of HYPERDeath with seven different souls, I think it’s safe to say that your mind will be fine, I’m not sure about David though, Nox is driven to madness by the loss of his family,” I said “I won’t lose my mind as long I have you two around,” David said, hugging us a little closer “Yeah, so you guys have made up your mind?” I asked “I say…yes if we got to keep our minds,” Charlie said “Me too but I would like to leave a goodbye message for our parents, we don’t need them to worry about us,” David said We broke out from our little huddle, The Merchant tapping his finger on the counter impatiently, the items that we bought is piled up beside him “So what did you guys talking about? Calling the police I assume?” he said, the last part referring to David who’s typing on his phone “Pfft, you’re afraid of the police? Dude you’re like a dimensional being, I bet you can send them to a random universe on a drop of a hat” I said fishing out the rest of my money “three tickets to Equestria with our minds intact please” “Wait you guys actually considering leaving your home world?” “Meh, big bro already write a goodbye message for our parents, and those extra 150 are for our minds since some of the Displaced got their minds scrambled until imprison by the Elements” The Merchant stare at my hand that holding the paper before chuckling “Never in a thousand year I’ve seen a group like you all, so as saying thank you I let you guys choose what kind of Equestria that you want and when” We huddle one more time discussing what kind of Equestria we want. We settled on the original one, a couple years before Sombra conquer the Crystal Empires We told Merchant about it and he pulls out a list of universes “Like to stick with the original one huh? Sure grab your stuff and I’ll send you all in no time” “Sweet!” we exclaimed grabbing our stuff, a smooth cane and Journal 3 for me, blue cube and clock dial sword for David or Noximilien and souls for Asriel Dreemurr, former Christ, we decided to keep our last name to show that we’re brothers “Wait!” I shouted interrupting The Merchant that about to snap his fingers “is there any way for us to get back home? To earth I mean”? “Well the Equestria I’m about to send you guys to is going to be aired on a different earth, so there’s a way for you to go there, maybe” The Merchant answered “Does that mean that the shows that were originally from are going to be aired as well?” Nox asked “Perhaps,” The Merchant said “Meh, we’ll figure that out later when we’re able to go to the other earth, say do you have something for us to access the internet?” Asriel asked, holding out his wallet “I can make your phone or laptop to gain internet connection from the other earth, but that will cost an extra 50,” Merchant said holding out his hand. goat bro gave him a 100 “Make it a fast one,” he said, grinning After a little bit of talk and greeting we’re ready to be sent to Equestria but not before forming a plan “So here’s the plan” I said “Sun Butt will notice the energy spike that caused by us, since I have Chaos Magic and Asriel has 7 different souls, so we’ll head to the Everfree forest if we landed anywhere but there, the wild magic there will disguise our power. From there we’ll lay low and train our skill if she going to hunt us down, then reveal ourselves after the mane 6 got the Elements hopefully” The two agreed, I gave the ‘go ahead’ gesture to The Merchant, in turn, he opens up a portal under our feet and pull us in, we waved at The Merchant before we the portal closed Have you ever feel down to a rainbow colored tube while your body feels like its burning? Yeah me neither At least I’m not cosplaying as Asriel cus he just straight up melted, his bones rearranged themselves- ouch his horn just sprouted from his head and his muzzle is slowly forming And there goes my left eye, great now I only have one good eye… After Erik and co disappear<<< The Merchant on his stall floor, breathing heavily “Damn” he gasped “Sending the three of them there sure is a hard work” he stood up and look toward the floor where he has sent Erik and his brothers “I feel like I’m forgetting something” then it clicked. The Merchant immediately write a short message on a small piece of paper and sent it through a smaller portal Author's Note Well there it is, I don't know if its good or not but I'll let you guys decide think I might need an Editor in the future
Chapter 2: Magic Control 101, The Fruit of The Devils and Hope. (Edited by Space-Timecontinuum)The night is still young and two of my brother are asleep, the dimly lit fireplace giving me enough light to read the journal. I've decided to stay up all night reading even though we agree to take turns to watch our surrounding. Not only to lower the chance the Royal Sister find us out via Dreamscape but also discover secrets that Equestria has. The journal doesn't contain much but whatever, I’ll take what I can get. And those blank pages I mention before? Well one of them is now filled with info about Chrysalis, from what’s her species is, what kind of changeling she is and what her kind eats. I guess being a part of our families deserve you to have your own page, but I think that’s not the reason. The journal said that she is a proto-queen, means in the next five hundred years she will become a queen just like in the show. Guess that’s why she got her own page. Not only the journal contain stuff from Equestria, there are also things from where our original body came from. For example there is a whole chapter about a creature named Shushu, they’re basically demons that wants nothing more that to destroy and wreak havoc. They came from a place hellish place ruled by someone named King Rushu, King of all Shushu. Some Shushus that somehow crossed over into Equestria are usually roaming around the land in a pack but mostly are sealed within objects and overseen by a knightly order known as the Guardians of Shushus, created by the princesses since the Demon War ended. I was curious about what the Demon War is. Turns out when Tirek invaded Equestria he had a whole army of Shushu with him. All other nations around the world had to unite in order on fend off Tirek’s forces, the Alicorn of Day and Night fought and sealed the demon centaur in the depth of Tartarus. The aftermath of that war caused the Badlands the way it is today. A plain desert as far as the eyes can see. the journal doesn’t says whether or not he summon them nor made a portal where Shushu came from but if he did the latter, only gods know what will happen in the future. I heard a cute yawn from my lap, moving away the book from my face I stare down at the young changeling who’s stretching like a cat on my lap. “Uuuuhh, Chrysalis,” I said using her name instead of nickname “weren’t you going to sleep with Nox?” “Yeah I was,” she yawned “but he knocked me off.” I look toward the Xelor who's asleep in a odd position, face down ass up beside the log where he was sleeping. I guess I was that deep in the journal I didn't even realized that Nox rolled off. snorted in amusement, I heard the changeling asking “What are you reading Uncle Bill?” “Oh this?” I said gesturing to the journal I was reading “just some old journal that I bought from a merchant.” “oh- oh I wanna read it!” she said, holding up her forehoof trying to grab it from my hand. How can you say no to a face like that? I gave her the journal which immediately snatched by her before I can let go of it, letting out an ‘ahh’ ‘ohh’ or ‘cool’ each time she flips it. “Wow there so many creatures here!“ Chrysalis exclaimed. I just chuckled, ’kind of remind me of the purple egghead’ I was about to grab my bag that have my laptop only to realize ‘WHERE THE FRICK IS MY BAG?!?!’ I calmed myself down before thinking where the hell did that thing go. After a few minutes or so I face palmed hard, remembered that I have chaos magic. I was about to snap my fingers before a thought crossed my head. Grabbing my hat off from my head and reaching inside of it with the other hand, I was expecting to hit the bottom of the hat only to find more space in it, heck I can even stick my whole arm in here. Reaching for anything that I can grab I came across a smooth surface, the more I feel it the more familiar it get, it was thin, smooth and rectangle with a few holes on the sides. I immediately pulled it out and lo and behold it’s a laptop. The laptop is colored yellow with black outlines that in a brick patterns, the apple logo is replaced with Bill’s -or rather my- summoning circle. Sighing in relief as it turn it on. I wasn’t expecting it to immediately lights up to the desktop screen, my laptop usually takes up to 5 minutes to start up because how much crap I installed. Imagine my surprise when I found out that not only did the Earth time is dating back to 2010, January 1st to be precise, but also froze or moving really slow, I've been staring at the clock for 5 minutes and not a single digit has change . 'Well there goes my plan to cheat on CoD,' I though sadly 'I guess multiplayer games are out, at least I still have something that I can kill time with.' "Gum-gum Pistol!" The certain pirate's arm stretches and collided with several people wearing white uniforms and suits, but there's still thousands more blocking the way toward a huge white and green building in the end of an island. Said island is sustained on top of an abyss by a single connecting land that grown from another bigger island on the edge of the giant hole. "Hold on Robin! We're going to save you!" Before any of you say something, yes I am an otaku or weeaboo whatever fits you. I wonder if I could join the Straw Hat pirates in their adventures, it would be an awesome thing to have, portrayed as one of the Straw Hat pirates crew would be an honor for someone that has been watching that for a long time. If only I could open a portal to their universe. Oh wait I probably can since Chaos Magic can say 'fuck you' to physic and magic rule, if I can’t find a way I can make my own way. Sadly my day dream, or is it night dream, ruined by the sudden appearance of a ball of flaming gas. The sun rapidly rise toward the center of the sky, the moon following the suit by drooping to the opposite detection, all of that happen in a matter of second as if someone flip a switch. The good thing is that Sun Butt and Moon Booty still have the control over the celestial bodies, the bad thing is I'll never get used to that. Turning my laptop off, I look toward where Chrysalis were only to see an adorable sight. The little changeling is asleep hugging the journal like a teddy bear, drooling a little. I swipe my phone out and capture the precious moment with it, saving it in a folder labeled as ‘Diabetes Inducing’. I heard someone yawned, it was a high pinched like those belong to a child. Looking toward where it came from I met another adorable sight. Asriel, the once fearful Boss Monster is now a young 5 years old anthro goat child wearing green long,long-sleeved shirt with yellow stripes and black pants, stretching his arms upward and sprawling his legs, the sound of joints popping can be heard. Meanwhile Nox is nowhere to be seen, must be taking care of his routine. And one thing came across my mind when I see Asriel ‘OHMYGODHE’SADORABLE!!!’. Let me tell you something, I've seen many fanart of him a most of them are cute but when you finally get to see him in the real life you'd probably ended up having a heart attack. It’s even giving me a hard time to not cuddle the incredibly soft looking goat child. He looks toward me, sending a wave toward me "Morning Bill" he said in his childish voice, I couldn't help but smile at him. “Morning Azzy! How’s your sleep?” I ask, trying to keep myself composed. “Like a rock, It's been a long time since I got a full sleep, probably the best I've ever had!” he exclaimed with a smile. My god if he keep acting like thing I might die of either diabetes or heart attack, possibly both of them. He tilted his head with a confused face “Hey Bill, did you somehow got bigger? I swear last time you aren’t that big” “I don’t know what you’re talking about, the only thing here that changed is you, my cute little goat brother” I said with a smirk. “Little? hey you're the youngest one here, beside Chrysalis!" he said pointing at me "even if you can mess up with reality doesn't mean I cant...kick..your...” he trailed off, realizing that he has been changed into a child “AAAHHHH WHAT THE FUDGE IS WRONG WITH ME?!?!” Fudge? now that’s a cute choose of cuss word. “Wait…fudge?...f-f-f-fudge oh come on! I can’t even cuss?! This is horse crap!” he shouted in disbelieve "Bill what did you do?!?!" I burst out laughing, not only did he turned into a child he also got speech censored! “Hahaha oh man this is too great! wait until Nox see this.” “Bill didn't you hear me?!” he snapped "WHAT. DID. YOU DO?!?!" “Bro chill out, I didn't do anything” I chuckled "I think that you somehow transform to that when you're sleep." "Wait, I can do that? I thought having seven souls will keep me in adult form." "Not exactly, I think that you're suppressing your power to the point it start affecting your physical form, trying drawing out some of your power." "How?" Before I can answered, I heard someone, or rather someling grumbled "Uuuugh what is with all the noise?!" "Sorry Chrissy, Asriel is having a...small problem" I said "Hey who'd you calling small?!" he protested the young voice caught Chrysalis’s attention They stare at each other for a few minutes before the changeling vanished from my sight and Asriel getting tackled by a black figure. “Oh Celestia he’s so cute and fluffy!” squeed Chrysalis, nuzzlings the monster’s face with glee, the monster in the other hand is suffocating due to being hugged too hard. I whipped out my phone to save the moment forever. Asriel cached a glimpse of me with my phone, I could practically feels death from his eyes, deciding enough is enough I told Chrysalis to stop hugging him. “Chrissy, could you stop it? I think Azzy is turning a little bit blue.” I told her, holding my laugh Chrysalis snapped her eyes open, Asriel is on half way to passing out due to the lack of oxygen if his blue fur meaning anything. She gasped and dropped him on his butt, the monster taking a huge amount of air before coughing. “I-I’m so sorry” Chrysalis apologized, backing away from the monster child and stared at the ground in shame. “Its f-fine” he gasped “just warn me next time if you’re going to do it again.” That doesn’t help Chrysalis state, she looks like in the edge on tears seeing how watery her eyes are. I gave Asriel a look that basically say 'u don fuk up and send a mental command to comfort her which he accepted, walking toward the sad changeling and comforting her. I smiled at the heart melting sight, another picture taken. ... ... I think it’s enough for the sappy stuff. I clap my hand startling the two youngsters "Alright, now everything is fine and dandy, I do believe if Azzy here wan't to return back to his original body, yes?" I said, teleporting the journal that was 5 feet away from me because I'm too lazy to pick it up. "Okay Bill, I'll bite it" said Asriel "so what do you want me to do?" Flipping the pages in a fast rate, I stopped at the 'Spell Casting' chapter "it says here that you need to reach deep within your heart and 'feel' the magic streams that spread all over your body," I said "after that you want to control how much magic do you want to use, just imagine a dam and the water is your magic, you have to control how much water you flown. just don't open it up all the way or otherwise you will go boom." "Wait, boom as in ka-boom?!" Asriel ask fearfully. "Nah, boom as in your magical signature can be sense all the way to the other side of the world, so just keep it low unless you want the Royal Sister is coming after us." "That’s good thing to know" he sighed in relief "so how do I start?" "Try taking a deep breath and clear your mind. Then reach deep into your heart or wherever your magic core, or cores are.” “Wait, cores? I thought every living creature only have one!” said Chrysalis, sitting on my lap once again. “Well not for Asriel, he is...different. he has seven different souls, eight if you count his monster soul, therefore allowing him to have more magic core than any other creature” I explained “didn’t you read the journal? We have our own page here, you know?” “I haven’t reached that part yet” she said sheepishly I just shrugged, “Eh, you can read it later after we figure out how to control our magic, the stuff here is a lot different than we use back at home.” not to mention there weren’t any magic to begin with. "Different how?" she asked. “Where do I begin, for starter magic back in the World of Twelve, our homeworld, is commonly known as wakfu or life force, it basically has the same principle as magic but the thing is this world’s magic is much stronger than wakfu. Nox usually have to use almost all of his wakfu to slow down time but here he can absorb the ambient magic and that is enough to slow time down to the point it stopped. “I’m not sure if the same can be said about me and Asriel since his souls acted as a power source.” I explained, mixing up some knowledge I gained from watching the Wakfu series I was going to explain deeper about what wakfu is but suddenly there’s a strong wind tries to blow us away, if not for my quick reflex to conjure something to grab on me and Chrysalis would slam in to one of the tree. Looking where it came from I see Asriel in his adult form floating above the ground shining like a goddamn star mixed with rainbow. Around him there is this rainbow aurora trail thing he left behind when moving around like in the game, behind him there is a huge see-through sheep skull with jagged mouth. A beacon of rainbow colored light shoot up in to the sky, penetrating the clouds like those pillar of light things from movie, I hope that thing doesn't attract any unwanted attention. If he decided to go full on 'Angel of Death' might as well send him to Discord's place. Two things that I worried about this development, A) I once read something about his fight against Frisk, the fallen human, takes place between the timelines and B) the goat skull behind is an attack named 'Hyper Goner', basically sucks up the whole timeline and destroying it. if neither of those thing happen I swear he'll mess up the whole timeline of this Equestria. "OI ASRIEL!!! CAN YOU LOWER YOUR OUTPUT FOR FUCK SAKE!!!" I yelled through the winds, Chrysalis holding on to my jacket for dear life. (Meanwhile on another part of the forest) Two pairs of hoof steps can be heard along with the rustling of bushes that caused by someone, or rather two certain ponies that recently crowned as the princess of Equestria. If anyone came across them they would questioning themselves why did the princesses' is in the wild untamed Everfree forest, not doing their job as a ruler and spend the tax money efficiently. Equipped only with a full body of worn out armor that has their cutie mark respectively on their chest, with Luna's being night themed armor while Celestia's being the opposite. The both of them looks like just went through a nest of hydras or confronted Discord for the tenth times. Not once they got away without a scratch, this one is the worst. They decided enough is enough so if talk things out with him out isn't going to work they have to force him out. Gearing up with the same set they use to in Demon War and fight Tirek. decked with a full set of armor that had layer of enchantments and special weapon that designed to be use for themselves. A double handled scythe with sharp blade made out of Nith, a metal that can disable any form of magic, thus making a enchanted armors render useless for Luna. While her sister, Celestia, has a massive board sword made out of a the same materials, forged with a magical furnace to strengthened it, both weapons and armors are enchanted by Starswirl himself. Accompanied by a full enchanted Royal Guards, both Night Guards and Solar Guards, and the best Guardian of Shushus’ to fights off Discord’s minion, they march toward the palace on the side of Mountain Canterhorn. Surely Discord didn't stand a chance against this right, right? Deadass wrong. The army did their job of cleaning the way to the palace allowing their princesses to defeat Discord, but they couldn’t believe what happened next. Celestia and Luna couldn't even land a hit on him, it’s like trying to kill a full grown dragon with a sword, blocking all their attack with no effort. Long story short, Discord whooped their asses so hard they went flying all the way from Canterlot mountain to Everfree forest. So here they are in the middle of the most dangerous forest known to pony kind with nothing more than a scrap of armor, a small amount of leftover magic and each other’s company. The Royal Sister decided to return to their camp which is in the edge of Everfree forest. Somehow somewhat Discord’s magic can’t affect this place making it the ONLY, and I mean ONLY, safe place to hide from his Chaos Magic. Trudging through the deadly forest and overcome every obstacle they came across they made their way to the camp to bring back the bad news. Their weapons that claimed to be the strongest in the whole world destroyed, the armors that can withstand the most powerful attack is nothing more than a scrap of metal, all hopes are lost and the end of Equestria is near. Or so they thought. A gigantic wave of magic washed over them almost knocking them off their hooves due to the sheer amount of power they felt. Celestia is the first came back to her sense while her sister in the state of shock, she wanted to know what kind of thing that has such power and use it to defeat Discord and save her subjects from being his play things. Jumping from branch to branch using her wings to give her a little boost, she finally made to the top of the forest. Not far away from here the source of that power appears to be at the bottom of a rainbow light that reaches toward the sky and heaven above, a sign of great power to those who wield it. A moment later the light went out leaving a clearing behind. One thing that crossed the Princess of The Sun ‘…hope…’ (Back to our little group) “I told you, Asriel. Just a little bit and increase it from there not giving it all you got, heck you almost went full power back there! The whole time line could be ripped apart?” “Why does ‘ripping the whole time line’ thing has to do with this?!?” I stare at him with a deadpan expression. Snapping my fingers, a scroll appeared in front of me and unrolled itself showing a crap tons of list that reaches the edge of the clearing “Hmm, where do I start.” “Aright, alright don’t need to brag about it” Asriel said. “Just remember, we have the power capable to destroy the world, even if we did a tiny mistake it could cause a huge impact on the world,” I said with a sigh “I swear it’s like I’m older than you.” Yeah, after Asriel showing off his power and possibly alerting the Royal Sister, Discord and the whole world about a powerful being, I’m milking him for what’s it worth, scolding him like a certain purple pony if she finds out someone damaged one of her books. It’s a rare chance to rub the mistake that your older brother made on his face. “Well putting the lectures aside, do you know where Nox is?” I asked. “Don’t ask me, you’re the one who stay up all night watching porns.” Asriel grumbled, looking pretty salty after I gave him a one hour lecture about magic safety. “Asriel!” I fake gasped, covering both Chrysalis’s ears much to her confusion “There’s children nearby, how could you say such a thing?! It’s too early for her to learn that, what would Nox do if he know his daughter know things that isn’t appropriate for foals her age?” He was about to protest but a sudden movement of the bushes cause us to snap on our guard. Asriel summoned Chaos Saber on each hands and a couple of fireballs above him, ready to strike at any his command. I snapped my fingers and conjured a shit tons of guns, from pistols to all sort of riffles, all point toward the bushes with red laser. Meanwhile Chrysalis jump over the log where Nox was sleeping and hide behind it, avoiding getting caught in the crossfire. Me and Asriel stand our ground, ready to strike at any given moment. The bushes shaking harder making me wonder what is our opponent this time, is it another Manticore? A pack of Timberwolf? Or maybe even a Hydra! The possibilities make my heart beats faster, pumping adrenaline through out my veins. Imagine how close it is for us to kill our own brother, Asriel was thisclose from separating Nox's head from his body, his blade is touching the Xelor's neck. Me on the other hand got lucky, if my fingers wasn't sweaty, Nox is probably filled with led by now. "Uuuhhh...lovely weather today huh?" Nox said causally. Asriel and I visibly slumped down, "What the hell Nox?!" we snapped at the same time. all of us are pretty mad at him for trying to give us a heart attack. Well not all of us, there is a certain changeling that threw herself on Nox's face with a war cry of 'DAD!' “Jeez what makes you guys so worked up?” he said after managing to remove the face hugger. “Well Azzy here decided to test out his new power and as a result it kind of went off the handle for a sec” I said “I was afraid that he might attract some of the wildlife’s attention, or maybe worst.” He sigh in relief “I think something like that wouldn’t happen, I came across few animals running away from the opposite direction. Thanks for keeping my girl save by the way.” Nox said, scratching Chrysalis’s ear like a cat, she let a happy purr in return. “Well she’s a part from our family now, and as a family we have to take care of each other, right?” Asriel said gaining an agreement from us. Not much later after Nox gave Asriel a quick talk, we made our way toward to the village near the edge of the forest on a small dirt pathway, said village is on the other side of the Everfree. ‘Oh boy, a six day journey of nothing but walking. Sigh I hope there’s something to do before I die of boredom’ We made a little chat along the way, kind saying here wise saying there, sharing our life story some of which are made up. Chrysalis is on top of her dad’s head reading the journal from where she left off, while my brothers and I are testing our power but only a small bit, don’t want any hostile creature to feel our presence. Nox is giving Asriel some pointer in sword fighting, despite using a long sword, which is different from Asriel’s Chaos Saber, he seems to know how to use it like a pro. At first Nox just teaching Asriel how to use them properly and then they started sparing, not wanting them to hurt each other with real weapons, I conjured two pairs of wooden blades similar like Asriel’s for them to spar with. I on the other hand am wearing a changeling as a hat that has my top hat on her head, having 3 eyes to keep our surrounding save is pretty useful. "Uncle Bill, there is something over there." Chrysalis said pointing her hooves to the trees around a T junction in front of us, taking a closer look I can see some sketchy figures lurking in the shadow of the trees. Giving a quick thanks to the changeling, I turned toward my brothers "Guys we got company up ahead, keep your eyes peeled and guards up." "Little bit busy here, Bill." said Asriel, dodging Nox's attack "Are you sure you can't handle them?" "Yeah," Nox added, parrying a strike from the monster "aren't you supposed to be a reality warper demon, I'm sure a bandit or two won't be that much of a problem." "Of course I can handle them," I huffed "I'm worried that Celestia might sense me and accuse me as an associate to Discord." "Seriously Bill, you're worried about that?" the Xelor said, drooping his stance "When would you stop worrying about that, as you know they haven't discover the Elements of Harmony so we don't have to worry about a thing" "Yeah" Asriel agreed "even if they decide to mess with us, we can beat em' up to next week. Just think about it Bill, two ponies that can control celestial object against the strongest time wizard, a being that can control time, space, and matter plus an Angel of Death, we can beat them by a landslide." "I know bro, but what if she has another trick up her sleeve? I read a Bill displaced fanfic and he is sealed inside a book, I'm worried that I would end up like him" I said, uncertainty but I cover it with a smirk "beside since when did you get demoted to Angel of Death?" "Well, the title 'God of Hyperdeath' might seems a bit much for me." the demoted god let out a chuckle "Jokes aside, you don't have to worry about such a thing, that someone is alone and you got all of us. If you got trapped in some kind of hickey-doopy spell we just break you out of it." "Yeah Uncle Bill," said the Chrysalis "just like Uncle Asriel says, as a family we got each other back!" I gave the little changeling a pat on the head "Thanks guys, I wouldn't know what will I do without you all." "Uuummm Uncle Bill, whats are the Elements of Harmony?" We all snap our attention to Chrysalis, except me since she is on top of me. "Nox, you deal with her since she is your daughter and you're the one who mention the Elements" I said. He sighed "I suppose, it is my fault anyway" he removes Chrysalis from my head and cradle her like a baby, despite her protest not to treat her like that "well let me tell you a story, my little changeling..." Hopefully he can made up some kind of legend saying some powerful artifacts are destined to defeat evil or something like that. It would be bad if someone other than us knowing such thing existed, there's no telling what would happen if those fall to the wrong hand. Eh, who am I kidding, the only one who can claim the Elements are those who are chosen or some ancient prophecy crap or something like that. But if someone knew a way to harvest the Tree of Harmony's power like Nox's abilities, it could be a real trouble. Sucks for Tirek for not knowing that tree. “If it’s make you better I, too, worried.” he said, noticing how distressed I am. “About the Elements?” “No, I’m worried about the time line." fucker "Just the appearance of us in this world can make drastic changes, there’s a possibility that the show won’t be the same like we know. Not only that but the knowledge we have about the future might be useless and the big events like Nightmare Moon, return of Discord, the Crystal Empire might be changed.” “Yeah, I know what you mean and I think we just changed the future…” I trailed off, looking toward Chrysalis that’s at the mercy of Nox’s tickle attack. “The Wedding incident, yes?” I gave a nod at that. “Oh well, but I think we should keep the changes as small as possible. Beside, The Merchant said that we’re going to be on air, maybe we can be a part of the show?” “Yes we can, but in my opinion we should stay away from it.” “Why? being a character on a popular show is pretty sweet, right?” “Yeah, but it’s about the internet. I mean, you know...” “Oh” “….” “….” “…” “Rule 34?” "Rule 34" And we made a silent deal to not talk about that again. As we taking a turn at the T junction, the figures jump out from the tree and surrounding us at any direction. Two minotaurs and four griffins, all of them had weapons on their hand. The first minotaur holding a double handle boardsword while the other one holds a mace. Both griffins had a dagger on each talons, the third one equipped with a short bow. The last one has a staff that has a dimly glowing green crystal on the tip of it. Each of them are wearing leather armors with a little bits of irons here and there. The most eye catching part of the armor is the breastplate, each of them have a orange colored symbol of two talons crossed each other with a sideways griffin head on top of it, both of them have this fire-like-patterns. I bet 10 bucks these guys are forest bandits. "Look what do we have here, a changeling, hairless ape, goat and...whatever that guy is." one of dagger wielding griffin, possibly the leader, said “Give us all of your valuables and we might not kill you for that, or else.” No surprise there. I just rolled my eye at the threat, I cleared my throat gaining my brother’s attention “Oh my, looks like we’re in a little bit of a pickle, dear brother. May I take care of these barbarians?” I said with a pompous tone that noble or rich people have. “By all mean, but don’t hurt them too much. We don’t want bad blood on our hands do we?” he said. “Yes it would be quite terrible if I ruin these new clothes that I just bought, blood stains are quite difficult to wash off you know.” I said, slipping my hand to my jacket pocket and pulled a weird looking fruit. A pink heart shaped fruit that has swirly patterns all over it. Asriel hummed “Hmm, quite a unique fruit you got there, Bill. Correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t that the legendary Devil Fruit?” “Yes you are correct, my dear brother. This is in fact a Devil Fruit, but not just some good ol' Devil Fruit, it’s the Ope Ope no Mi or surgeon fruit. Not only that this fruit can give you a really powerful ability but this is a Ultimate Devil Fruit which can grant anybody who eats it eternal youth.” this fact catches the bandits interest, a fruit that can grant immortality are nothing but bunch of rumors and myth. "I-is that true?" ask the staff wielding griffin, by the voice and the body posture look, I can tell that griffin is definitely a chick. "Why yes my dear, in fact I could just show you just a tip of the power" I said, twirling my cane and stab it on the ground. "Room" A see through blue dome expanded from my cupped hands, covering us and the land around. Not skipping a beat I unsheathe the blade that disguised as my golden cane. I’m surprised that actually work the same way as my hat, just I just imagine things and add a little bit of magic and anything could be possible. I guess Chaos Magic is limited only by the user imagination. I strike the air around me at a fast rate, carefully not to hit my brothers and Chrysalis. After the final slash I sheathed the cane blade back with a loud click. Suddenly all the bandits are nothing but a pile of body pieces save for the griffoness . Screams of terrors filled my ear while she looks toward the pile of body parts that once her comrades with shock, fear, and disgust. “Everything inside this dome is in my domain.” I said to the female griffin. She only stood there before collapsing to her haunches with wide open eyes and mouth. “But that’s only the beginning” “Takt” With a flick of my fingers, every body pieces floats up in to the air, circling around me as I move my hands in a circular motion and laughing like a maniac. I move the other five bandits head on front of me like a totem of heads, they still let out those screams of terror. The griffoness can only stare at the screaming head of her comrades and…oh dear, I may have scared her too much. A growing yellow puddle formed underneath her. “But I think that’s enough of this demonstration.” I move the heads to their respective pieces and stick them back together like a puzzle “Now I still have a few tricks in my sleeves, any of you would kindly enough to be volunteered?” Once my word reached their ears, the bandits immediately grab their weapon and run away with their tail between their legs, screaming bloody murder along the way. Pulling my cane from the ground, twirling it as I spun on my heel to face my brothers and my niece “So what do you guys think?” I asked with a cheeky smile. “THAT WAS AWESOME!” Chrysalis exclaimed, her eyes had this sparkling effect “How did you do that? What’s a Devil Fruit? Where did you get that? How many of those cool power did you have?” “Chrysalis sweetie, one question at the time please.” Said Nox softly, a quiet ‘sorry’ comes from his daughter “I think it’s a wonderful presentation, Bill.” “Yeah, I’m surprised that you don’t have to hurt any of them.” Said Asriel “But I think you just scar the poor griffin life with that.” He added, pointing at something behind me. I turn around and locked my gaze with the griffin’s eyes, those green eyes of her are filled with fears. I made my way toward her and she didn’t even move an inch, probably too scared to move. I crouch down so we’re eye-on-eye level and spoke one word. “Hello” And she fainted. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head and slumped forward, if not for me she would be swimming in her own piss. Holding it with both of my hand on her armpits, or is it talon pits? I finally can take a good look on her, well the part that isn’t covered with armors that is. She had light brown fur on her face, white dots on her cheeks like a freckles, her wings has a brown feathers while the tip is colored cream and the rest of it is a basic lion parts. She is kind of cute actually. Snapping my fingers to clean up the mess she made, I pick her up in bridal style and bring her to my brothers, her staff floated near me “So what are we going to do with here?” I asked. “I don’t know, its your problem not mine. Try figure something out” Asriel said. “Hmm, I wonder what this symbol means.” Nox says to himself “Hey Chrysie, do you know what this is?” She climbs up on her dad’s head and takes a good look of it, after a moment she gasped “This is the Flaming Talons guilds mark!” “Do you know them?” “Well not much, but I heard that is a guild full of criminals, they usually raid small towns or hijacking merchants’ caravans. The princesses are having a hard time tracking them down because their base is hidden deep in the Everfree forest.” “So do we turn her in?” I asked. “To where? We know that the nearest town is on the other side the forest” Asriel said. “Yes I know, I was thinking that we should carry her there.” “Ah ah ah, ‘We’ as in ‘You’, you’re the one who cause it and you have to carry her” he said with a smirk. I rolled my eye “Ugh fine.” Carefully maneuvering her around my body to my back, I position the griffoness on my back so I can carry her like a backpack “Okay, all set, lets get a move on.” And we picked up where we left our journey. Little do we know, a certain pair of sister are watching us. “Dad, there’s something over there.” Or not. We all snap our attention to where the changeling pointing, two horns and two pair of wings sticking out from one of the many bushes. One is blue and one is white. One thing that crossed our minds that day. ‘Shit’ Author's Note I was going to update this once a month with more than 5K words but it seems it would take longer than that. Anyway, just keep a look out for any misspelling or grammar error so I can fix it. See ya in the next chapter, maybe, I don't know.
Chapter 4 : Spell Research, Making a Deal and A New Party Member.Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.
Chapter 5: Steady Start, First Encounter and Tree of Harmony.“On that topic, would you mind grabbing my lower body up there for me?” “Lower body!? You pervert!!” "I'm not a pervert, I'm a zombie!" And that was a short conversation between a zombie and a butt naked Magiclad girl in the cemetery before I had to hold down my laughter so I don’t wake up the others that are sleeping. After I made a little deal with the griffoness that is sleeping in my lap named Gerindha there is a couple of hours before the sun rises or rather Celestia raise the sun. How did I know this you may ask, when I fiddling on my phone I found out that I can set the time and date as Equestria time zone. I won’t go into detail of it because I don’t know how the hell my phone did it, all I did was set the time into local time zone and boom, it happens. Its four hours away from when the sun supposes to be raised, if the time here goes the same way like the one on earth, Celly and Luny have to wake up at six to set the celestial object in place. So I thought to myself ‘Why not watch some anime?’ I had more anime in my laptop than you can count, well maybe that’s not true but you get the point. I know that I still have a connection to the internet but last time I checked Boku no Hero Academia season 3 wasn’t released until 2018, and given the fact that not only we got flunked to another dimension but also back in time, both earth and Equestria, I still had to wait eighteen years before the first episode released. It broke me inside just a tiny bit. But not to worry I still had a lot more in my laptop, other than the hundreds and hundreds of megabytes of anime, there is still a bunch of other stuff like fanfics that I saved, games, movies and a suspicious folder that named ‘P’. Definitely not filled with Japanese porn because that stuff is started with the letter H Anyway, as I’m figuring out how I am going to watch some 2D girls while a griffon is sleeping in my lap, Gerindha shivers every time a cold wind blows. I was about to levitate the discarded blanket from earlier but an idea pop up inside my head, and for some reason, a light bulb appears above my head. Using her as a table so I can watch without hurting my neck, I set the laptop on top of her. The device will provide her with heat that can keep her warm and not freezing in the middle of the night. I snap my fingers to get rid of the pillow and blanket, at the same time I conjured a wireless headphone so no one can get bothered by the sound. I don’t know how long did I watch anime but when I did the sun is more than happy to tell me what time is it by blinding my one and only good eye. "Gah god dammit!" I cried out loud, covering my eye with the right arm. Thankfully I didn't react too badly so that I don't accidentally throw the sleeping griffoness and my laptop off from my lap. After I regain my eyesight, I look toward where Celestia is because she is the one who controlled the sun only to find out an empty spot. Off to the side I can see both of the royal sisters stood where they lower the sun and moon earlier at night, Luna had her head lower, still sucking on that pacifier, and Cel’s raised as the sun rapidly climb toward the center of the sky and I swear she had a freaking smirk on her face. No, wait, she is smirking or more of a smug smile. If look could kill, she would be a pile of ashes with how hard I glared at her. I grab one of the many pebbles around me and chuck it toward Celestia, hitting her right at the base of her horn which gained an ‘ouch’. “Next time you raise the sun, make sure to tell someone,” I said which she responded with a huff. Her sister in the other hand didn’t seem to care about our little bickering, probably still half asleep with how her head dipped every now and then. They walk toward to the still-lit fire pit, probably Asriel’s fire made out of magic or I accidentally make an ever-lasting firewood, and lie down like a dog where they slept before. Luna is still in a half-sleep state while her sister glared at me with little power she had. I shut down my laptop and store it away in my hammerspace via a tear on the reality that I somehow made right beside me. Don’t ask how I did it, I just think about something, giving it a little ‘push’ with my Chaos Magic and tada, it happens. I look toward to my brothers, which they already waking up. Chrysalis hopped down from Nox and stretched like a cat, while her dad stretches his arms upward making a popping sound from his joint and slapping his own face to get rid of the sleep behind. Asriel, the cute, cuddly, fluffy goat bro, already up and ready, whipping away the crusts that formed at the edge of his eyes. I guess it is too early for him to turn back to his adult form because he just sat down near the flame, not bothered that he is back to his child form. The only one that still sleeping is the griffoness who still nesting on my lap, I gave her a couple of nudges and said “Hey Gerindha wakey-wakey, the sun is up and I’m starting to get leg cramps.” “No, don’t wanna.” “Alright, don’t complain if you didn’t get your breakfast.” At the mention of breakfast, her eyes fluttered open and her head rises like a hen in the morning. Yawning as if she was roaring on top of her lungs, stretching her talons and hind paws like a stiff board on my lap before jumping off, she sat right between me and Asriel. I was about to ask how everybody sleeping but a growl, much like a manticore, cut me off before I could speak. I was expecting Celestia or Luna make that kind of sound but surprise-surprise it was Gerindha the red face griffin, making the rest of us chuckled. “So breakfast anyone?”I asked. “Yeah, I could go for some of those” Asriel said, “Though come to think of it we haven’t eaten anything for the past 2 days and I still don’t feel like starving.” “Me neither.” Nox agreed, petting the small changeling on his lap while she sucks up a violet mist thing, probably love, from his chest “But it was expected from me because I can survive with magic alone magic. ” It is true, in the Wakfu series at the end of the last episode of season 1 you can see whats left of Nox, just a mask on a pile of dust. As a Xelor, he can stop his aging process as long as he has wakfu/magic to keep it at bay thus letting him live for more than 200 years. By using the last drop of his wakfu to teleport to his family tombs, his age rapidly caught on to him and instantly turning him into a pile of dust. “Well, I’m in the mood for pancake, anyone care for some?” I asked. “It’s been like…like, forever since we had a pancake for breakfast, I'll take three layers with maple syrup, please!” Goat bro said with such an enthusiasm that makes me think that he is really a child. “Sure thing Azzy, how about you Gerindha, you up for some pancakes?” too tired to speak, she just gave me a nod “M’kay, how about you two?” I ask the princesses. “I never heard of this ‘pancake’ but if it’s suitable for breakfast then very well I shall try tasting it, however, if you have any funny idea, Demon. Don’t you dare.” Celestia said with a harsh tone, I guess Tirek did something more than stole all magic to make her hate demon creatures that bad. I guess it's my fault to use the same title as Bill. “What do you think am I, a cunning demon that uses dirty tricks? I’m anything but that, thank you very much.” I retorted “Now then if you’re done worrying about me killing you and your sister and destroy the whole word like any other demon lord, I suggest you fix that attitude before I do something that we all might regret.” I’m really tired with her, it's still early in the morning and she already acted like a brat, welp I can’t really blame her, seems like her teen hormones are acting up. Hopefully, Luna’s emo phase won’t be any time soon, we still need to defeat Sombra after all. I felt something hit the side of my head, looking to where it came from, I see Nox has his right arm outstretched, palm pointed toward me and the blue circle on his hand glowed dimly. “What the heck was that for Nox?” I asked “Do I have to remind you not to cause trouble?” he asked back, even if his mask is blocking the expression on his face I can tell he is ticked off by the glare of his eyes. “Pfft don’t be so serious, it's not like I’m going to kill them or pillage their land, enslave their subject and become the king of Equestria." I said with as much sarcasm I could muster but that doesn't seem to penetrate Celestia's thick skull because she immediately took an aggressive stance. Her wings flared out, hooves dug into the ground and her horn pointed toward me so that she can cast any sort of offensive spell at the moment. On the other hand, Luna already falls asleep again, an expected thing to happen for the Princess of the Night despite the sun is brightly shining. "I'll not allow you to do as you please with this world, Demon!" she threatens, you can even taste the venom contains in each of her words "I swear by my mother name I'll strike you down!" I just stare at her with a bored expression, not a single fear came out inside of me, I was thinking that she is joking with me but the determination in her eyes is saying otherwise. Chrysalis is hiding behind Nox, no doubt that she isn't too keen on finding out how it feels to suffer Celestia wrath, and Gerindha followed the changeling nymph example by hiding behind me. Asriel is nowhere to be seen, probably doing his routi- oh nope there he is, hiding behind the Xelor beside Chrysalis, his tiny tail is poking out. “Bill, that’s enough!” Nox bellowed, his palms are glow with blue light, ready to shoot a ball of magic to me. “We’re here to live out our life as a new leaf so you better not causing something that you can’t take responsibly for, so knock it off you two.” “Pfft, relax Nox, I’m just telling a joke. It's her fault for cant even take a joke.” I said. “Bill, you and I both know that Discord is spreading chaos all over Equestria and she has done all she could do to stop it. Just think about how stressed she is, not to mention being lost in the middle of Everfree forest and you’re not helping one bit.” After a pregnant pause, I let out a sigh with a roll of an eye and said “Fine, whatever you say Nox.” “Good.” He lowered his hand “And I do believe that you owe an apology?” “Tch, okay.” I sighed, looking toward Celestia with the same bored look “I’m sorry, for making a joke like that.” It took her a second before she hesitantly lifts her head up, “Very well, Demon. I accept your apology.” She said while glaring a dagger at me. “Now if all is fine and dandy, may we continue with our breakfast? I’m sure that griffon is starving with how loud her stomach can rumble.” Nox suggested as the three that hides behind use are slowly came out. Gerindha’s face is red beet because of her embarrassment. “Yeah, yeah I gocha’.” I snap my fingers to make the ingredients to make the pancakes. Asriel stared worriedly at the stuff I conjured “Bill, didn’t you say that consuming anything that you conjured was a bad idea?” he asked. “We’ll be fine as long we’re in the Everfree forest. It's basically a giant magic suppressor so the Chaos Magic will disappear as soon I use them.” I answered, “Nox can check it if there is any Chaos Magic left behind.” I move a bag of flour with a flick of my fingers in front of the Xelor. He hover one of his hand on top of the bag, glowing dimly with blue light that was over the bag, after a few second Nox said that it's safe to use, we repeat this motion several times with the rest of the ingredients plus an extra bag of coffee for us to start off the day. I began mixing the flour, milk, sugar, and eggs with my telekinesis rather than using a bowl like the ol’ way, waving my hand back and forth as if I was a water bender. The pancake batter is swimming in the air following my hands' movement like it was tied with invisible strings, doing little tricks to entertain the audiences that are watching. Except for Luna, she is snoozing away throughout the show. After I mix the batter perfectly, I conjured a frying pan. Placing it on top of the fire pit, right beside the pot of water mixed with ground up coffee that I make out of thin air somewhere in the middle of making the batter. After cooking the batter, tuning that white gooey substance to a perfect golden brown thick pancake, I conjured seven plates with the exact amount of knives and forks, along with a maple syrup. I gave everyone here four layers of pancakes and a mug of coffee for the adults, not counting Asriel not that he needs one anyway so I gave him and Chrysalis a glass of orange juice. "Well, dig up everyone!" I said as I cut a piece of my pancake and ate it. Asriel did so and stuff his face with a big piece, letting out a long moan, everyone saw this and intrigued by how my pancake taste. Everyone, except for Nox and Luna, the latter is currently chugging down the cup of coffee, followed goat bro's example taking a bite of their breakfast. Nox just stares at the plate and mug I gave him, probably thinking how can he ate with the mask on. As far as my knowledge on the Wakfu series, I've never seen Nox without his mask, except for the time when he is still a watchmaker and not a Xelor yet, but who knows, maybe he can remove it. He hesitantly grabs the side of his mask, a series of mechanical clicks and clacks came from the mask as it hisses a high-pressure air, the eyes of the mask glowed dimly before the blue lights went dark. I was expecting something like a dried up corpse when he pulled his mask off, what I was not expecting was a perfect smooth face with deathly pale skin without any trace of malnourished or decay like the original Nox’s story said, a silky white long hair that reaches his shoulder gently flowing with the morning breeze. He opens his eyelids to reveal a pair of light blue colored eyes, it has the same color with his mask eyes. To simply said, we had all our jaw dropped. "What, is there something on my face?" Instead of answering, I conjured a small mirror for him to look at his own face. I had to slap him on the face to stop admiring himself. After we ate our breakfast, we're preparing to hit the road again. I and Asriel are making some food for the trip which consisted of pies, pies and more pies, I don't know where does he learn how to make pies but I suspected that there is some memory from the original Asriel. The Royal Sister are cleaning each other on the other side of the pillar, no they do not lick each other clean like their animal counterpart. At first, I thought they use some sort of spell to summon water from god knows where but taking a closer look they actually use a spell that gathers the vapor in the surrounding area and make them bubbly like soap water and wash each other, speaking of bath we haven't bathed in like two days. Its either find a nearby stream or find out what spell they use. Nox, who put his mask back on, had his Eliacube transformed into a mechanical owl that flies around him. The little changeling is staring at it in awe before the owl landed on her mane, she giggled when the owl made a little nest on her head. Meanwhile, Gerindha is silently preening her wings, plucking every feather that seems out of place so there is some space for the other to grow. After that she donned her armors, taking a minute to stare at the Flaming Talons guild mark on her breastplate before slipping it on. “So Bill…” Chibi Asriel started as he cut off his flow of fire magic to bake another batch of pies ‘It’s nice to know that he can use his magic in that form.’ “…I notice that there is a suspicious scent I pick up from you.” “What do you mean by that?” I asked, cleaning up the leftover ingredients with a snap of my fingers before walking toward to the Xelor and the changeling “Can you really smell things like dogs? Last time I checked you’re a part goat, not puppy.” “Well yeah, my senses are sharper than before and probably I can talk to animals if the whisper from earlier isn’t from my imagination.” He said, storing the freshly baked pies into his inventory that he discovers a few minutes ago “Anyway no changing topic, I can smell that griffoness scent from you, especially from around your crotch. Care you enlighten me on with what did you two did last night?” I paused my walking cycle to look at the goat child behind me, my sight is greeted with that smug smile of his. Last night Gerindha sleeps on my lap so no wonder she left a strong cent there. I was about to protest but someone beat me to it. “What is this about Bill and that griffon?” Nox asked, clearly overheard our conversation. “Its noth –“ “I asked him why he has her scent on him.” Asriel cut me off. Nox stare at me with a bewildered expression, I could hear the gears grinding in his head “Her?” “Yeah her, that griffon over there,” he said, pointing at Gerindha “You know he is been carrying her the whole time since we got here right?” Nox asked, clearly confused. “Yeah I know, but he was carrying her on his back right?” Nox nodded “Well there is also some of it that stick on his crotch.” After a minute of processing the news, Nox slowly turns his head to me with a clear unamused eyes “Bill, I know you’re a fan of that show but you didn’t do it, did you?” “What? No, of course not, I didn’t do the deed! Besides, where did you get that idea anyway?” I retorted. “Well…” Asriel began “I notice that last night you’re calming her down with her nightmare, let her sleep on your lap, and now you have her smell around your willy- wait seriously? I can’t even say peepee? Agh whatever, so putting the two and two together and…” ‘No, I use her as a table for my laptop.’ is what I was going to say but I don’t want to make my brothers misunderstood and suspecting me for treating her like an object “H-hey, she only uses my leg as a pillow, there is nothing wrong with that right?” “From your point of view, I can say that there is nothing wrong with that.” Nox said, “Do you know her name by any chance?” “Yeah, her name is Gerindha.” I said without skipping a beat. “And how do you know her name?” Asriel asked. “She told me when we made a deal last night.” I said “It’s a simple deal actually, she promised to give me the common knowledge of this world, in return, she got to join our little party/family and travel all around the world. A pretty simple deal right?” “Do you really think that it was a wise choice?” the Xelor asked. “How about her comrades from earlier, are they won’t be looking for her?” “To be honest I’m not really sure about it Nox” I said uncertainly “When we make the deal she seems really desperate for a way out so I gave him one.” ‘And not to mention she doesn’t really want to spend her time in prison, I mean who wouldn’t?’ “Besides I can’t leave a cute griffon all by herself in the middle of Everfree forest” It took me a moment to realize what did I just say, I was about to correct it but Asriel cut me off “Oh my gosh, you have a crush on her!” he exclaimed, I could practically see the mischief behind those eyes green eyes of his. And as expected from a child, he sang the kissing song. “Gerindha and Bill sitting in the tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G First comes love. Then comes marriage. Then comes baby in the baby carriage.” I just stare at him with a deadpanned expression, well at least Gerindha didn’t- and she blushed, clearly hearing Asriel’s little song, great now she thinks that I got a crush on her. Awesome, not even midday and we’re off to a great start, can’t this day get any worse? Unfortunately, I just tempted fate because Chrysalis and Luna join in while Celestia just stares at me with a smug smile, basking in the embarrassment of mine. *** After the tenth time, they sang that extremely childish song, we’re back hitting the road toward our destination. Celestia was kind enough to inform us that there is a newly built settlement near the brand new castle that was recently built after Discord takes over the one on the Canterhorn Mountain. ‘Huh, so the Royal Flank’s castle has been always that physic defying castle, the more you know.’ The scenery around us changes with every step we took, the leaves become thicker and the trees are bigger than before. The sunlight is completely blocked by how dense the leaves are but we still can see the pathway thanks to colorful glowing mushrooms and fireflies. To be honest, it almost took my breath away with how beautiful it is, it looks like one of those scenes from a fantasy movie. Too bad those mushrooms and fireflies don't cover a lot of distance so we use Nox's eyes as flashlights to see where's the roadway is heading much to his annoyance, at least his daughter is having fun chasing the glowing bugs. On the right side behind the Xelor, Asriel has reverted back to his adult form, after being squeezed to death by the princess of the night because of fluffy fur and the cuteness he has, another day another clip for 'Woona' folder, summoned a couple of fireballs that, somehow, floats above his head and lights the surrounding area. Don't even ask me why the heck damn things still haven't burn any tree we're passing. As for the Royal Sisters, they insisted to stay on the back of the line and 'guard our flank' as they put it, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that they don't trust us even though we slept on the same pillar. Gerindha being the weakest of us all, besides Chrysalis, and being watched by the Royals like a hawk had no choice other than walking in between me and Asriel, much to the Monster amusement. I told him that if he teases me about my little slip up earlier I would cast a silencing spell for the rest of the day, thankfully she's being quiet since we hit the road. Silently staring at the ground all the time without seeing where she is heading. But I could have sworn I saw her staring at me with those big eyes of her. I on meantime decided to look up for more spell, recently I just found out that this journal also has a page dedicated for making a spell, I might be able to recreate some cool attack from other show like the Ninjutsu from Naruto, Devil Fruit powered attack from One Piece, or make something invisible to protect me like a Stand. Not that I can’t do it with my Chaos Magic, of course, I just want to use my power without putting those around me in danger, that is until I have full control over my magic. As always, the journey is gone swell with the sound silence, no one has even spoken a word since we entered the dark part of the forest. Call it a hunch but I feel something is watching us from the shadow. I can cast‘Sonar’to reveal everything around us but that spell has a downside, it will give out the caster position because the spell released a loud sound that alert other creatures nearby, doesn’t work well in mid-combat and often uses to map out dungeons and temples. It basically copies how bat sees things with their voice. I heard Asriel released a rather loud ‘hhmmm’, I look to the side to see him getting ready to summon his Chaos Saber at a moment. One of his hands raised to threw the floating fireballs. “Asriel, did you see something?” I asked. He took a moment to look for something among the trees, before dropping his guard down “…Never mind, I thought there is something moving.” He answered “It must be my imagina- OH SHIT! BILL, GET DOWN!” I immediately dropped to all four, fireballs soared above me followed by the sound of wood breaking and something yelped in pain. Turning my head to see what was that, I was greeted by the sight of a burning Timberwolf towered over me. No, I wasn’t saying that the thing is looming over me because I was crouching, no, if you thought those wooden wolves has the size of a full-grown adult pony this motherfucker is bigger than that. This isn’t your average everyday Timberwolf, this is advance Timberwolf. I wasn’t quite sure how big the Timberwolf is but with the help of the fire that’s burning half of it face off I can say if I’m standing on my feet it would be an eye-to-snout experience. The wood constructing its body is arranged to look like a genuine skin rather than different size wood chunks being stuck together, sickly green colored grass and leaves acting for the fur, there is nothing that sticking out of the place like the other Timberwolves I’ve seen in the show. In a pickle, I feel my heart beats faster as the adrenaline surge my veins, acting on instinct I casted ‘Wind Gust’ to push him back. I point my right hand toward him and mentally imagine the runes in order to cast it, from my palm a pale green magic circle appeared with the same runes that I’m thinking. And to activate it with the only way I could think of right now, I shouted on top of my lungs “Wind Gust.” The effect is more than I was expecting, a strong burst of wind blasted from my open palm, hitting the Timberwolf square on the face, not only did it send the wooden wolf crashing back to a tree in a blink of an eye but also pushed me back. Thankfully my adrenaline is still pumping so I was able to balance back on my feet with a bit of a back roll. I charge up ‘Ice Spears’ on the same hand and holding my unsheathed cane sword with the other. The other had their guards up and ready to strike any moment, we made a circle to cover each other back with Chrysalis and Gerindha in the middle, both of them are clinging to each other for dear life. “Over there!” Asriel shouted as he threw a fireball toward a shadow as big as the Timberwolf before, said shadow jumps just in time before the fireball hit it. Nox shot a beam of magic from his sword at a moving shadow only to hit a tree that is blocking his line of fire. Suddenly another appears from his blind spot and pounces toward him but a dark blue barrier stopped the Timberwolf’s jaw from nailing him followed by a bright yellow beam that hit the wooden wolf right on its cheek, it yelped in pain and retreated back to the shadow. This is repeated several times, one would be a distraction while another swooped in for the kill. “This is getting us nowhere!” Nox said as he swung his sword side way to parry a paw “I can’t land a single hit, we need to lure them to an opening!” “Our magic is not as good as before, the forest is making us weaker.” Luna grunted, hitting a Timberwolf that was about to bite down on her sister “Demon, do you have something to deal with these creatures?” “Sorry Moon Booty, I don’t have something for them. EarthWall!” A line of rocks rises from the ground, knocking off a Timberwolf that was having a standoff with the Monster prince “Not that I can’t finish them off with one shot but I rather not attract any other monster. We have already enough problem on our plate, Asriel you got any idea?” “Other than burn down the whole area and getting us caught in the flame? Yes.” He took a moment to summon a couple fireballs and threw them toward a nearby Timberwolf, a few hit the spot and set the wolf on fire while those that missed extinguished upon contact so that it doesn’t start a forest fire. “I saw sunlight up ahead, there might be an opening we could use!” “Alright, on my mark everyone, run as fast as you can toward the light. Chrysalis grab on to my back, I’m going to stop the time for a couple of minutes so hold on tightly.” The little changeling did what his dad told her. After his daughter have a good grip on his neck Nox put his hand together in a praying pose, charged up his magic on both of his hand, the circle on his palms glowed brightly catching the Timberwolves attention, making him their primary target. Multiple wooden wolf jump in for the kill but Nox release his charge up magic by making a pair of rings with his thumb and index finger before they could get him, a blue wave washed over the surrounding area. As if time has halted, everything that was moving before stopped mid in air, including the Timberwolves that are inches away from hitting their target. Most of the Equestrians stare in awe at the sight before snapping back in reality with a shout of ‘NOW!’ from the time wizard. We immediately book it and make the run toward the light, I look back toward where the frozen Timberwolves are but there is something that wasn't supposed to be there. Gerindha is still there. With a face of pure horror, she sat in the middle of where we were, gazing at the sight of the incoming Timberwolves. She is so scared that her body wouldn’t budge an inch. Fortunately, she is still in the range of my magic so I pulled her back with a simple telekinesis spell, just in time before Nox’s spell ended. Catching her with both of my arms so that she didn’t slam into me, earning an adorable ‘eep’ sound from her, I use the momentum to turnaround and hauled my as off, I carried the griffoness in a bridal style and catches up with the others. She was lighter than I thought so it doesn’t take long to reach the light. I could hear the sound of the wooden wolves catching up to me and feel them breathe down my neck, ‘Couple of minutes my ass, that was only half a minutes!’ After getting through the last thorny bush that fenced the clearing, I felt something coursing down my veins, it wasn’t another pump of adrenaline because I ran out of it somewhere in the middle of the fight. It was something more than a simple boost, something that was supposed to be there at the start and something has held it back since. I could feel like I can run around the world a thousand times, swim across the ocean, reap every innocent soul in an instant, destroy the very planet I’m standing on and conquer the whole universe heck even the multiverse! Maybe I won’t do the last three things but that just a way to express myself how powerful I felt. The open area is cornered by a high ground, a cliff wall with a cave on it. I saw Nox put the changeling nymph in between the rocks that seem has fallen down from the cliff wall to keep her away from the danger that we’re up against, I did the same with Gerindha, telling her to keep her distance away from us. Leaving the flushed griffoness behind, I charged up another ‘Wind Gust’ on my right hand and ‘Barrier’ with the other. Nox already has his sword out and charged to its fullness, the Eliacube is floating above his left hand absorbing the ambient magic nearby so that he could charge his power. Asriel surprised me with a combination between his Chaos Saber and fire magic, both his arms and blades are covered in orange flames. There are a couple fireballs floating above him, a little bit bigger than before I might say. Despite the fact that they’re low on magic, both Luna and Celestia stand tall on their ground. Face full of determination plastered on their face, horn brightly glowed with little magic they had. Wings extended to their fullness to show their dominance on the battlefield. Nox, Asriel, me, Celestia and Luna stares at the rustling bushes for the giant wooden wolf to pop out, ready to strike as soon as they appear. 10 Advance Timberwolves jump out from said bushes, their sickly green salvias dripping down from their jaw, bearing their razor-sharp fangs in a threatening manner. They spread out evenly on the field, blocking out all of the escape routes. I took the first move, casting the charged up wind spell at the middle of their group, aiming the one who looks like the alpha of the group. “Wind Gust!” The magic circle glowed a lot more brightly than before and expanded twice the size of it before shooting out a visible compressed wind toward them, and unlike before it doesn’t push me back. The effect was more than I imagine, rather than pushing back the Timberwolf I was aiming for like before the spell obliterate it in an instant as if being shot by a high pressured air cannon the wooden wolves shredded into thousands of pieces of wood. Not only that but the spell also takes out the ones that standing on both side of the alpha and made a huge trail toward the dark forest, as if a meteor just landed. Talk about a major upgrade. This doesn’t affect the Advance Timberwolves one bit, in fact, they just get angrier. We all snapped out from our shock state and prepared for battle once again. Nox took the next move by blasting the nearest wooden wolf with the charge up shot resulting in it to explode in blue smoke, tiny pieces start falling down from the sky. Suddenly, another Timberwolf jumps out from the blue colored smoke and tried to catch Nox off guard. Keyword tried. With a lightning-fast reaction he switches to the Eliacube by throwing his Clock Dial Sword upward, he charges it up and releases another blue wave, everything around him has stopped yet again. He raises his right hand to catch the falling sword without even looking and made a downward strike, even though the tip of the sword barely touch the wolf muzzle a thick blue wave cut through the wooden wolf in half. The sound of something hitting against wood draw my attention away from the Xelor, I see Asriel skillfully handle three Timberwolves at the same time with his flaming Chaos Saber. Despite being surrounded in all side he kept dodging or block every attack they gave and countered with his own. Every time his sword hit a part of the wooden wolves it would either take a chunk of wood or leave a deep gash and set it on fire. Soon the wolves had enough with his dodgin’ and weavin’, they all jump at him at the same time and dog, or wolf pilled him. I was about to cast another ‘Wind Gust’ but a smoke rise from the middle of the pile of woods followed by a burst of flame that instantly turns them into a pile of ash. Standing in the middle of it is Asriel with a cocky smile on his face. I look to the side where the Royal Sisters are and seems like they finished off the last two Timberwolves, covered in scratch wounds and running low on magic. With the last glow of her horn, Celestia finished the struggling wolf in her magical grasp by slamming it to the ground, scattering it to thousands of pieces. With the last of them is killed I threw my hand upward and yelled “Whooo! We won!” “Hold your tongue, Demon!” Luna gasped “These vile creatures will not fall down that easily!” I was wondering why she said something about that until I recalled those parts I read something in a couple of fanfics where it included the protagonist fighting against Timberwolves. There are two things that commonly happen in those moments; neither have they had a fast healing rate by absorbing nearby branches and other wood stuff or combined into one giant Timberwolf after they’re perished to make a comeback. Judging by how they didn’t have a single scratch, even though Asriel clearly set few of them on fire a couple of times plus some of them got stabbed by a chunk of ice, and the leftover pieces of their once great pack are drawn into where their leader is. Which is somewhere down the gaping trail of trees and earth, probably the floating green glowing thing that is dragging a bunch of woods stuff. I can say that both things about Timberwolves are correct. There goes another jinx. We just silently staring at the constructing hunkering giant giant Timberwolf that we’re going up against, not only it dragged the pieces of what left of its comrades and the broken down trees from my attack earlier, the force is strong enough to uproot a whole damn tree off from the ground. When it’s done building itself, the green light orb from earlier now resides in the heart of the, what I called, Timberwolf King. I call it a ‘King’ because of the sheer size of the wolf, it easily towered the Iron Giant by a head, give or take a few inches when it sat on its rump. The King’s legs are made out of freshly picked thick trees and the roots are modeled for claws and paw. Its whole body is covered in grasses and leaves that swayed back and forth following the direction of the wind, the tail is also made out of entirely by the same things as the fur. A set of strong jaws can easily crush boulders into dust fully equipped with big yet sharp fangs. Pair of yellow eyes filled with barely contained primal rage stares forward into the empty space. With the last piece of wood to complete the giant creature in place, the glowing part of its chest let out a beat that lights up the strands of tendrils-like-veins connected to it. The second time the ‘heart’ beat, the gigantic Timberwolf let out an eardrum-busting roar. Even if the distance between it and us is pretty far away, the wind from the roar slaps us right in our faces. It was strong enough to blow Asriel’s fur backward. I look to the side where the Royals are, I was expecting them preparing some sort of spell to destroy the King Timberwolf but loo and behold they’re crying into each other shoulder, or wither whatever those things are, saying that they love each other forever. Not that I blame them for that with how battered their bodies are, I’m not surprised if they run out of magic by this point. Nox lean toward me “I hope you have something up your sleeve because we’re going to need something big to take that thing down.” “You’re talking to a supreme being that can rule over the whole universe.” I said, giving him a deadpanned look “And you’re asking him if he can destroy a pile of moving sticks?” He simply stared at me with those blue blank eyes and said “Yes.” “There is approximately more than 2000 ways I can destroy that thing, from beating it to death to dropping a meteor with the size of the moon on top of it.” I listed with the same look before swiping it off with a huge grin “But I’d like to try out this new spell I just learned.” I point my right hand toward the lumbering Timberwolf, said wolf is making its way toward us with ground shaking steps. Picturing the runes for the last spell offensive spell I know in my mind while muttering some random ‘ancient words’ under my breath. A glowing orange red-ish magic circle appeared on my palm. “Spark burst!” Thousands tiny glowing yellow dots came out from the circle and sped toward the approaching King Timberwolf, the sparks circling it like a firefly making the giant wooden wolf staggered in place. It tries to swipe away the glowing dots with its paw but they keep coming back. “Is that what you’re planning Bill?” Asriel asked, “Keeping it at bay with some two bits cheap illusion trick?” “No, but this is, Detonate!” I said the last part with a snap of my fingers. The journal said those sparks explode to a small blast that has the same power as a firecracker, but with how powerful I am, and can turn a simple wind push into high pressured air cannon that can make a gaping canyon, those pitiful sparks now has a blast radius equaled to a Mini Nuke. Imagine thousands of those things going off at the same time. The once great mighty King Timberwolf reduced to mere pieces of wood that scattered all around the area, a mushroom cloud stood before where the gigantic wooden wolf was. Nox cast a blue barrier that has moving gears pastern to protect us from the shockwave of the explosion. I recalled back my cane like Kratos did with his Leviathan Axe, once it’s in my grasp I gave it a few twirls before leaning on it. “Now THAT is what I called an explosion.” I said, “See, it’s not a big of a deal, it takes more than a pile of twigs to keep me down.” “No, it's not over yet.” Nox informed, “I can feel that thing is still alive.” I look toward the sea of dust, near where the King Timberwolf was there is a faint green light coming from an orb. I realize that it was the ‘heart’ of the King, once the dust is cleared I can see that it was gathering back the pieces of its body. I was about to cast “Ice Spears” but a beam of rainbow light beat me to it, my blood runs cold just by watching the rainbow completely obliterated the constructing Timberwolf. As fast as a bullet I turn my head toward where it came from, there is no way the Royals already got their hooves on the Elements of Harmony. I sighed in relief, turns out it wasn’t the Elements that destroyed the Timberwolf it was Asriel, he somehow figured out how to summon and use the Chaos Buster. His whole right arm is replaced with a cannon that has a glass plane for the middle part and some unique pattern on the base of it, the tip of it has a cone that can be opened to fires the charged rainbow beam. What got me confused is back in the game Asriel fires nine waves of bullets before he blasted the player with the charged up rainbow beam but I guess now he can use it whenever he can. The cannon rapidly blurred out of the existence and Asriel’s arm appears the same way his Chaos Buster disappeared. We stood motionless for a few minutes staring at the pile of wood when nothing seems to be moving we let out a long sigh. Asriel threw his hand upwards and shouted “Whoooohoo!!!” at the top of his lungs before changing to his child form and began to roll on top of the lush green grass ground. Chrysalis came out from her hiding spot and gave the Xelor a surprise bear hug, she then went off and talking her mouth off about how awesome he is fighting the Timberwolves, going as far as trying to reenact the fighting scene. I, having nothing better to do, check on the Royal Sisters where they lay unconscious in near the cave mouth, must be knocked off somewhere in the middle of our one-sided fights. Gerindah is already near them, and probably the one who dragged them there, casting a healing spell on the both of them with her staff. Their bodies are encased with the same green aura as the griffoness’ staff, little by little their wounds are closing up but still leave a few scars behind. I went over there with a simple teleportation, reappearing right beside Gerindha making her jump in surprise. “Oh…um, sorry,” I said sheepishly “I didn’t mean to scare you like that.” She just stared at me, a little bit longer I might say, before healing back the two alicorns again. “Are they going to be alright?” I ask as I move closer to get a better look. “Y-yes, th-they only have some scratches and small wounds. I-I can heal them with a light healing spell b-but they still need some rest t-to recover from magical exhaustion.” She said with a bit of stuttering as she finished healing the alicorns. Damn did I scare her that much? That or another factor that has something to do with Asriel’s little song earlier that morning. “Hey, relax I’m not going to hurt you.” I said as I pulled her into a one arm hug, she let out an ‘eep’ in return “We already make a deal and I did say to treat you well.” I guess this is a bad move because how red her face is, I slowly let go and scoot away from her. Dammit me and my lack of social skill. I heard her says something but it was way too quiet for me to hear “What was that?” “Thank you…” “Thank you? Thanks for what?” “For earlier, w-with the Timberwolves I mean. I-I was so s-scare at the time and c-couldn’t move. I-I-I w-wouldn’t b-be here i-if y-yo-” Oh dear, she start tearing up, I don’t know if my heart can take a view like that. “Shhh…” I shushed her with a finger on her beak. “Hey, look at me.” She did so, slowly turning her head to me so I could stare her right to her eyes. Her brown eyes fit perfectly with the freckle on her face but tears are ruining it, I fish out a handkerchief from my inner pocket to wipe away her tears. “Listen, I did say I’ll treat you like a family.” ‘C’mon cheesy dialog from a fanfiction I read, don’t fail me now’ “And I mean I would protect you, and not trying to make you as my slave like any other demon. So don’t worry about it and don’t cry.” ‘Because my heart can't take it!’ She sniffed and nodded, I got lost in her pretty eyes and start leaning closer to her face. I guess that she didn’t mind it at all and the blush is returning back to her cheek as she leans in closer, I could feel her hot breath as our lip- “If you two Lovebirds are done smoochin’ each other faces, could you- I don’t know- give us a hand?” A childish voice snaps us back to the real world from our little fantasy. We both turn our head toward where it came from, Nox, Chrysalis and chibi Asriel are staring at us, each of them holding a handful of wooden chucks that left behind by the Timberwolves. We turn our attention back at each other and realized how close our faces are. Gerindah immediately squeaked and jump back a couple feet away from me, at the same I blinked away from her and reappeared right beside Asriel. ‘Well…That happens.’ “So, having fun talking with your girlfriend?” the Monster child asked with a smug filled smile “Its about time for you to- OUCH!” before he can finish bonked him on the head with my cane. “Shut up Asriel.” I said to the Monster who is nursing his sore head, “By the way, what's with the woods?” “Dad said it will get dark pretty soon so these are for the firewood.” Chrysalis answered “Oh and uh could you bring the rest over here Uncle Bill? I don’t think we have enough wood to last us for the night.” “Sure thing Chrisy.” I said, making a ‘come forth’ gesture with my hand and the pile of wood floats toward us. “I think this is enough, we should get back with the other,” I walk toward where my brothers setting up the fireplace, leaving the slack-jawed changeling nymph behind. I drop the woods near the fireplace with a ‘thud’ making Asriel jumped at the sound, “We don’t need that much wood Bill!” He protested “Now what are we going to do with all of this?” “Relax, I was thinking about using these as targets for testing the spell from the journal,” I said before smirking “Unless you want to be a test subject, there is a gender-bending spell that I want to try.” He winched at the thought of that “No thanks, but I think your girlfriend might be happy to help you.” “Asriel, shut up before I cast it on you.” “Yes, sir.” Rolling my eyes at his childish behavior, I pull out my phone to check what time it is. I was surprised to find out that it was already past 6, huh time sure fly when you’re fighting Timberwolves. The sun should be lowered by now but with both Alicorns out cold from the magical exhaustion, I figured that I might try lowering the celestial object. I point my right hand toward the blazing sun and the other toward the horizon where the moon would show up. I imagine having an invisible pole connecting between both of them and slowly move it. The sun followed my hand movement and slowly descending from the sky, a giant white rock replacing its place as the ball of gas disappears to the horizon. Of course, we’re left with a pinch blank sky with no stars decorating it. As if I have a hand full of stars I spread it across the sky and colorful dots began to shine all one by one. I tried my best to make it as beautiful as I could, adding a few stars constellations like Scorpion, Centaur, and others to decorate it. As a result, it’s not bad if I say so myself. I gave it a last nod before joining the other near the fireplace, today dinner menu is a hot steaming pie with a glass of orange juice, I know it's not something you ate for dinner but hey its food and I can’t complain. And I must say, Asriel can make one hell of a mean pie. During our dinner, I was curious enough about the cave right beside us, Nox said that we can explore it tomorrow but I want to map it out first before we enter it. Using 'Sonar' and a simple illusion spell I was able to create a 3D map of the caves, a lot of tunnels leads to different places and direction but what got our attention was there is a single thing that shouldn't be inside deep within a cave. A leafless tree. A damn tree in the deepest chamber of the cave, our first guess that it was obviously the Tree of Harmony but it could be just a random stalagmite that somehow takes shape of a dead tree. To make sure what I just detected we sent a Noxin, a firefly-like machine drone that Nox made, he can see what it sees. It took him a couple of hours to reach it and he confirms that it was the Tree of Harmony. I could use this to make a deal with the Royals as a bargaining chip and avoid getting stoned like most of Displaced stories. Soon, everyone hit the hay and drive off to the dreamland. Gerindha decided to use my thighs as a pillow but hey I’m not complaining, it made my nerve calm just by seeing her asleep with a cute smile on her beak and scratching her like a cat. Hopefully, Asriel won’t find out about this. I did try a couple of Lifestyle Magic, for example 'Reshape', its a low to mid transfiguration spell that change the shape of a material based on the caster mental image, I was planning to make a miniature Midoria statue but because I had no control over my power I ended up changing the whole pile into Midorias. This could be a trouble when I'm in combat, I could have hit my comrades if I am not careful enough. For now, I put a magic seal on myself that limit my power, I took the time to make it looks like a pair of blue shackles on my wrist and feet and gave it a little bit of illusion magic so it only appears when I reach the limit. After that done I went back to fill my daily anime dose, this time I choose one of the greatest anime dub of all time, Ghost Stories. “Not because you’re a rabbit but because you’re black!” Truly a golden show. Author's Note Hi, everyone sorry for being late again. Here is the longest chapter I've written yet as an apology. Point out the things that I should be fixing if there any grammar error, typos and other things. Tell me your opinion about my first fighting scene.
Chapter 6: Making Spells, Doing Deal and Creating Plans.'So if I take this and connect it with this then...perfect!' Looking back to the Journal to choose another rune to complete the spell, I pick one that looks like a leaf with some swirly patterns on its tip and adds it to the unfinished spell. Just I expected the leaf like rune connects with the rest without a hitch. ‘Huh that was easier than I thought, now just to test it.’ Flipping through the Journal pages, I found a spell that is simple enough to test it with. Mentally picturing the spell runes I just created together with the one on the Journal I quietly cast it. “Twin Magic: Illuminate!” From the palm of my hand, two orbs of yellow light appeared with the size of a golf ball, it was bright as a lamp and slowly gaining height before it vanished among the dark clouds blocking the moonlight. ‘Successes!’ I mentally cheered. After couple hours of watching Ghost Stories, I got bored with it before finishing it so switched to Overlord, an anime similar to Log Horizon but only the main character gets transported to another world as one of the highest undead creature, an Overlord, along with his guild base. Not only I like it because the 'isekai' genre but also the mechanic behind the magic of that world, other than the 10 tiers of magic, and including the Super-Tier magic, there is something called ‘spell modifier’ that raise the spell effectiveness by increasing its power, widening its area of effect, extending the period of time it remains active or even adding another same object when the spell is casted. Then I think to myself ‘Why not make it into a real thing?’ of course, it would be a massive help for me since I can only access 10% of my power so that I don’t accidentally destroy the whole world with it. With the help of the Journal's ‘The Guide to Creating Spell’ page, I was able to make it. So far I am able to recreate ‘Boosted Magic’, ‘Widen Magic’, and ‘Twin Magic’ the names are basically self explanatory. ‘Boosted Magic’ makes the spell more powerful than before, and have a little chance of turning into a more powerful version of the used spell. For example, if I use ‘Boosted Magic’ with ‘Ice Spears’ it'll turns into something similar to ‘Ice Lance’. The differences between those two spells are the quantity and quality of the object it summoned, while the ‘Ice Lance’ can only produce one object per spell, the modified ‘Ice Spears’ can create up to 3 objects, though it's much smaller than the lance. Of course, it has a drawback, with my current spell making skill it ended up costing a good chunk of mana depending on what spell it modified. Not that it would bother me cus' I got an unlimited amount of mana, I can only access a tiny bit of it. Next up is ‘Widen Magic’, it basically increased the area of damage of a spell or turns it into an AOE type spell, I made so that it would be very useful to use it along with a support/buffing spell. From what I know, or acording by the Journal, in this world a buffing spell can only focus on a single individual, be it the caster themselves of another person, so if someone needs to buff an entire party they would be doing it one by one and it would be time and mana consuming. If I were to use ‘Widen Magic’ I can buff all of my party members with a single spell at the same time, not to mention it only cost a little bit of mana, it also could be casted multiple times before it runs out. I felt like I’ve created a cheat spell. But the same can’t be said if it’s used by an offense or defense spells, once used, it has to be cast again unlike when it used with a support spell, so there's that. And the last one I made is ‘Twin Magic’, instead of creating one object, or a single magic circle, with a spell, with this spell modifier a single spell is able to create the same object twice without casting it again. For instance, if I cast a ‘Twin Magic: Sparks Burst’ it’ll make the same exact copy magic circle. I was about to make the other spell modifiers to complete the new chapter that just writes itself on the journal when I successfully made the first spell, but a groan reached my ear. Looking to the side from where it came from I see Celestia slowly awake from her slumber, Gerindha said that an average unicorn would take a full day rest if they ever get magical exhaustion but I guess Alicorns have greater mana, or magic, regeneration than any other creatures. “Ugh, what just happen?” she asked. “You passed out, nuff’ said," I plainly said, tucking away the Jurnal to my inner pocket which turns out is another gateway to my personal hammerspace "I thought you alicorns would be more than enough to deal a couple of Timberwolves but I guess they’re too much for you to handle,” I said as if I'm talking about the weather, anyone can defeat a pile of moving sticks but not as big as the one we’re fighting earlier. “Wha…Timberwolves?” As if a switch just flipped in her mind, she instantly snapped and frantically search around “W-where are they? Are they gone? Gasp, oh no…are we…are we dead?” Snorting in amusement, I gave out a low chuckle “I can’t believe, the co-princess of Equestria, the ruler of the sun, easily frightened by a couple of moving sticks.” I mocked “Don’t worry, unlike you, they’re nothing but a bunch of small fries compared to us.” “…is that so…” is all she says before giving me a silent treatment. I was about to start up a conversation but with how intense she is staring at the burning pile of wood, I better approach it carefully. “So, how does it feel to taste defeat?” Nail it. “Must be pretty harsh for someone who has control over the sun, no one dares to threaten you without the consequences of getting burnt to death, all creatures fear the power you hold, feeling all invincible and stuff,” I said. “Then some guy came in, kicked you out from your castle, took over the throne an-“ “SILENCE!!!” ‘That wasn’t unexpected’ Thankfully she didn’t go all royal capslock but it was enough to make Asriel twitches, Gerindha on the other hand, or talon in her case, started to stir up from her sleep but nothing like a good ol’ neck scratching can put her back to sleep. We stared at each other eyes, Celestia is glaring a dagger on me while I answered back with a shit-eating grin. Maybe I can use this to make strike a deal and put her to a debt. All I need is to escort her to the Tree of Harmony that my brothers and I just recently discover, which is in the deepest part of the caverns that filled with countless monsters, possibly undead and Rushu, and if we follow some cliché story plot there should be something guarding the tree, maybe a golem or two. “Jeez, don’t be so mad about it,” I said “Tell you what how about I lend you something to deal with that guy, what’s his name again? Ah, Discord, and take back the throne. Of course, it won’t be free, every power comes with a price as always.” She slowly turns her head back to the burning wood, brow wrinkled and eyes seem deep in thought. Of course, anyone would think twice before accepting a devil deal, unless if you have a harry triple chin, fat body living inside a trailer shack and willingly trade your soul for a bottle of beer. Or if you have a miserable life. “I’ll listen to what you have to over, Demon,” Celestia said bitterly. “Great, it is all I need.” I said with a smile, I hope my acting was good enough to imitate the real Bill Cipher “First, I need to know what kind of power you desire. Since you already controlled the hottest thing know to Equss and can be used to destroy an entire country or a continent, I was thinking of giving you something to vaporize your enemy. Even that spirit of chaos guy can’t es-“ “NO!...I mean I don’t need something that powerful.” She suddenly said, cutting me off ‘How rude.’ Well, she wanted power more than what she already has but it doesn’t explain why she didn’t want it. “I…is there any way to…capture him?” ‘Why? Shouldn’t it be easier to get rid of him instead?’ I know that he is sort of important in the future but from my knowledge of fantasy world, everything that has something to do with being a spirit can be brought back if he/she has enough power. And a thousand of years is long enough for a spirit to gather magical power to ‘reborn’. Though I never think about it, if a whole body is basically made out of magic, can it be easily defeated with ‘Universal Dispell’?. Come to think of it, isn't Bill some kind of spirit? He can only exist in the mindscape, after all, there is a possibility that he is a ghost, without a body to posses he can’t go to the real world or third dimension as the show put it. I'll find out about that later if I have the time or motivation to do it. Putting a hand on my chin as a thinking person would, I made a humming noise “Hmm, something to restrain eh? Well, I might have a few binding and sealing spells or talisman under my sleeve but isn’t that the same by killing him?” “W-what? What does that even mean?” she asked “Well, he is a spirit of chaos, if a spirit were to seal under any circumstances and unable to gain any magical power, it will slowly shirk, finally it went poof” I emphasize the point with a hand gestured, throwing a handful of glitter that I sort of 'willed' to appear on my hand. Naturally, that thing only happens to a lesser spirit, something like a simple ghost or weak forest spirits AKA newborn dryads, according to what's written in the Journal. Greater spirits, like Discord or Ursa Major, known to have a magical core just like any being that has a physical body, even if it's sealed it will generate magical power to maintain its form. There is something in Celestia’s eyes when she heard what I sa- wait, is that tear? Why would she cry over someone that just kicked her out from her castle? Well whatever it is, none of it is my business. “I..is there any way to contain him without…you know…” She slowly said, ears sprawling back. ‘Geez, what is he to you, your husband?’ actually, that would be a great plot twist later in the future…on second thought, no that would be a terrible idea, please tell me that isn’t true. “I could ask Nox to build something to constantly drain his power so that he can’t cause any trouble, probably something like a giant silo for storing magic or something,” Celestia’s ears perked up, her eyes filled with hope and something along that line “but, why bother doing that when there is already something that can defeat and capture him.” "Huh?" "My power is beyond your world's league, waaaay beyond you mortals can comprehend and if I were to capture Discord it would be the same as killing him. I still need some time adjusting this world's standard level of magic so that I wouldn't destroy this world by accident." 'Not really, I just don't know how to control my own strength.' "Then why not use something that was created to be this world most 'powerful' weapon to defeat him." “Is such a thing existed?” “Yup, in fact, there are probably a thousand items and artifacts that can do such a thing scatter across the world. If I'm correct, as usual, there are exactly 6 items that have the capability to do that and when you use it together it can even seal the greatest evil ever, or so the legend said, of course, such item can’t be posses by the same individual because how powerful it is,” ‘Lies.’ “It’s not like the Infinity Gauntlet that can erase half of the universe, it’s more of sealing tools than a weapon actually.” ‘Even more lies.’ “H-half of the universe? S-such power…” “Well, that will be a story for a different time. Now, care to make a deal? I’ll help you claim those 6 artifacts, in return, you can do something for us in the future!” I happily said with a bright smile, extended my hand, and lights it in blue fire. She stares skeptically at my flaming hand “First, let's talk about this ‘favor’ you speak of. I’m not some naïve pony that would give away everything I have on a drop of a crown.” Eh, fair enough. No one would have done that without knowing what both ends of the rope are hanging on from making this deal. Unless if you’re a white midget with huge puffy hair that can be mistaken as a second head or a tumor who accept a deal without a second thought. “Heh heh, it seems you have dealt with some demon or devil in your past life, seeing the way you talk to me I guess you have some grudge against demonic creatures,” I said, the fire on my hand extinguished as if it was blown by a wind. “Since we’re making a deal around 6 certain items, I guess I could change it a little bit. How about we make it a trade? Items for items if you can’t fulfill my favor.” Celestia thinks about it for a moment before nodding “Very well demon, as long your favor is within my capabilities I will do it. But remember if you don’t hold on to your words I will make sure you regret it. It is correct that you’re not the first demon I met and won’t be the last.” ‘I’ve read too many fictions where Sun Flank backstabbed her allies, if things happen to go that way, knowing her she would call the deal off or trying something to get rid of my brothers and me, better have something to stop that.’ “The same goes for you, just remember my type of deal isn’t something like a contract you could just sweep it under a rug.” I said back, some BS started assembling to make a bigger BS, “My deal is something called Soul Contract, it bounds me to do my part of the deal whether I like it or not, the same goes with you. And if you planning to double-cross me the contract will affect the very thing that makes you…well, you, at least your soul that is. Or just end your miserable little life in the most painful way, I don’t know which but it would be one of the two.” ‘I hope that was enough to shake her boots, as far as I know, Bill never has been double-crossed. I don’t even know what will happen.’ Seeing how troubled Celestia is, she probably thinking what will she choose, either let Discord run amok in the kingdom and toying with her subjects or made a deal with a demon to obtain great magical artifacts that can seal the Chaos Spirit. “Very well I accept your offer.” She said with determination in her eyes. I smirked, glad to know she is willing to cooperate “So here is what I have to offer, I will help you acquire the artifacts to seal the ‘Spirit of Chaos’ in return you will not use those artifacts to seal any of us, provide us with the most recent updated map and do not stand in our way because we’re planning on going adventure,” seeing how Celestia raise an eyebrow I added “don’t worry we aren’t planning on ruling over the world or destroying it. Because it’s way too interesting to cast it aside with how much secrets this world holds. So how’s that sound, deal?” I said and a blue flame engulfed my hand once again. She stares at my appendage, probably wondering why it hasn’t burned yet. She hesitantly lifts her hoof and I grab it, she filched probably expecting pain from the fire but nope, this thing is only an illusion, princess. I gave a firm shake and release her hoof, “The contract has been made, and you should rest for the night because we will be busy tomorrow.” She said nothing and lied back down, staring at the starry sky as if he tried to figure something out. “Did Luna already raise the moon?” Celestia asked. “Nah, she couldn’t lower the sun anyway, sides’ she is out cold since the Timberwolves attacked,” I said simply. “Then wh-“ “I took the liberty to do your and your sister’s jobs, I’ll expect some payments in the future.” What? I don’t do this kind of stuff for free you know? She immediately sat up and stares at me with wide eyes, mouth open, and all. “What? Do you think you’re the only one who can control the sun or moon? There is still much bigger fish out there you know?” Well, Discord can also control the celestial objects but I think he is not strong enough, seeing how both objects are still in the Royal Sister’s control. She decided that today enough is enough and lie back down without uttering one word. “Good night.” I simply said she didn’t answer back. Now I can check ‘making a deal with the princesses’ off from my bucket list if I had any. ‘Well then, now where did I leave it off…oh right, Silent Magic is the next one.’ At first, I was thinking that it was useless because unicorns can cast a spell with a swish of their horn. I’m not too sure about other creatures, seeing that griffons don’t have any natural limbs to control their magic, though they can stand on clouds like pegasis do but they can’t control the weather and the fact that Gerindha using her staff to heal the Royal Flanks cemented my theory. In order to cast a spell, any creature that doesn’t have necessary limbs to control magic must use a magic item that allows them to gather and use magic like so, be it a wand or staff like Gerindha’s. I never see her cast a spell, does she have to chant the spell similar like in anime? Something close to ‘mother nature lends me your power…bla...bla…bla’? A couple of anime implement that method of casting and some of it has a ridiculously long sentence. Commonly they also stick with the ‘long sentence has more power’ rule, just take a look at Megumin from KonoSuba, her spell has one minute worth of incantation but takes a look at the size of her Explosion! Imagine if she can instant-cast it. That is if she has enough mana to cast it multiple times. But then again it might not be so useless, a unicorn might use it to cast a spell without charging their horn. Unless you’re Celestia, she can turn whoever opposes her to a pile of ash in a matter of seconds, hopefully, this world Celestia doesn’t turn into a tyrant so I don’t have to beat the crap out of her. The idea of creating Silent Magic is to allow a magic caster to cast any kind of spell without chanting or charging it, the hard part is how am I suppose to create it? The previous 3 Spell Modifier is really easy to create and basically, I just repeat some of its runes to a certain extent but also design it to use the smallest amount of mana as possible. But Silent Magic is a bit trickier than the others, that is, to put it mildly, there must be a way to cast a spell without doing the necessary chant to turn raw magic into what the spell requires or speed…up…the…process… I slap myself in the face, if the original Bill were to see me he would definitely be disappointed. One problem out of the way, now just to figure out how to ‘ignite’ the spell, I was thinking about overload the spell enough so it would explode and activate itself but it would be mana consuming, plus it doesn't take a half of a brain cell to understand by overloading a spell can make it uncontrollable and perhaps blow up. For me, I just shout the spell name and it somehow triggers the spell similar to some anime or TV shows but I don’t think that kind of logic would work with this world inhabitant. Even though this world is a TV show, or it would be. I had to find a way like Asriel or Nox’s activate their spell without doing an attack 'call out', when we're fighting the Giant Timberwolves they didn’t call out their attack and simply just did it, though the Xelor had to make a specific shape with his fingers to control the Wakfu, or magic, he is using similar to Doctor Strange. Maybe I can ask them when they wake up, speaking of which if I remember, since when did Nox have to sleep? He is basically just an armored mummy powered by Wakfu, or the equivalent of magic by World of Twelve standards since both things had more or less the same principal. Then again, the Xelor that is my brother isn’t the same as the one in the show and somehow had regained his human form, or close to it anyway, back, not whatever left of Noximilien Coxen the watchmaker which is a dried husk that resembles a human. Speaking of Nox- “Did you really think making a deal with her is a wise choice?” -a metallic voice rang out, he might have woken up sometimes in the middle of making the deal, or did he never falls asleep in the first place? Releasing a sigh, I flip a page of my Journal to get a better grasp on how to activate magic without chanting it or call out the name. Casting a glance to the sleeping griffoness and a pair of alicorns, I cast a “Mute.” To block off any sound from the conversation I’m about to have with my brother so they won’t know, shouldn’t know, our secrets. A grey magic circle lights up the ground between me and my eldest brother, a see-through dome expanded from the middle and covered us, blocking the noises from escaping or entering, the same can be said with Gerindha, a similar dome covered her head. “Honestly, I just want to have a string on her so she can’t get in our way, or worst imprison us with the Elements.” “Not even a week and you already making deals, is this one of the side effects you speak of?” “Probably yes, but Bill has a reason, he is determined to escape the second dimension.” I said, remembering the time where he desperate for a way out from the ‘flat world’ dimension “How about you? I never see you as a father figure but you suddenly take her as your daughter.” I said, looking at the changeling nymph sleeping on his chest. “No offense but I’m not sure if you’re old enough or have the material to be a father.” “…I guess you could say its Nox’s side of me made me do it as if there is a hole inside of me where his late family supposes to be,” he said, gently maneuvering Chrysalis to his lap to sit up “what I’m trying to say is something inside urging me to take her as my daughter, and after that, the hole is sort of…filled up.” Makes sense, in Nox’s past life, as Noximilien the watchmaker, he is married to a woman and has 3 children, one of them is a little girl the rest are boys, and they live a happy life despite the debts they got. But because his obsession studying the Eliacube they eventually left him and got killed in a flood on another village, learning their death is leading the watchmaker to become Nox that almost killed the entire Sadida race. I guess he adopted Chrysalis to mend the wounds, though I do wonder if he will marry someone or adopt someone to replace 'his' wife and the other two children. Maybe I shouldn’t use the word ‘replace’ as if I was speaking about an object. “I hope you know what you're doing, Nox, she isn’t just something you can pick up on the side of the road,” I know he can handle both me and Asriel, but we can take care of our self, we’re not toddlers anymore, besides he is only 3 and 5 years older than the monster prince and me respectively. Instantly temperature got knock down a few pegs, even with the heat from the fire I couldn't help but feel the cold shiver down my spine. "Are you implying that I would throw her away like yesterday garbage?" even if his tone is subtle, I have no doubt that he is threatening me. Turning my head to look at his masked face, I frantically wave my hand, "Wha- No, I'm not! What I meant to say was are you sure with this responsibility? I know that you're great at taking care of things but she is just a child you know, a scared one at that,” I reasoned “I know you intended to adopt her, heck if you didn’t one of us will. It's just this is too sudden of a major development like this, we’ve been in this world like what, 2 or 3 days? And things start changing way too fast for me as if it starts changing you, I mean us. What if we truly turned into who we actually are? What if there is a dormant soul that’s waiting for the perfect moment to take over our body? What it we-" "Bill, breath in." It was a very simple command but it was enough to snap me back to reality. “You shouldn’t have to worry about something like that this early, all of us actually. It’s not like we would snap back to our original body behavior in just a snap” “Yeah, but th-“ “You’re overreacting again, Bill,” he released a sigh “you forgot that we have each other, you’re not alone in this, none of us are.” It was my turn to release a sigh "I guess you're right, I do tend to overreact to things.” It put my mind at ease, even if it's just a little bit, knowing that I wouldn't immediately be possessed by this body. Still, there is a small chance it'll happen which will lead to the whole 'petrification' thing that happens in most Displaced story timeline. Though we could prevent that from happening or avoid it completely, Nox can absorb the Elements' power, Asriel is basically an 'invincible being' if his status from the game is somehow applied to his body, and I can basically snap a finger to alter reality. Speaking of the future, I wonder what will change with us being transported here, the Butterfly effect is something that isn't to be taken lightly. There are many possibilities for things that should and shouldn't happen. Well whatever, those are problems for future Bill to solve it, not me. Shaking my head to discard that thought, I look toward the sky I decorated, even if I know the fact I'm the one who actually did it I have a hard time believing I could make something so beautiful. "So what happens next?" I asked. The armored mummy laugh "Next? I certainly won't know until it happens, but I was thinking about following your plan," he said, patting his stirring daughter's head to put her back to the dreamland, "this is clearly not the Equestria that we know, a completely different dimension or perhaps timeline, something might be entirely different or maybe not. Besides, the knowledge we have are mainly focused on this country and the ones surrounding it." "Well it's not a complete plan but I have the basics," I raise my right hand with the index finger extended "first we need to help Celly and Luny get the Elements to get things rolling," middle finger "second, go to the nearest settlement or town so we can figure out what's what, if there is a library we can gather some general information there," ring finger "third, earn some money, we can't actually go around with empty pocket," pinkie, the finger, not the pink party-loving pony, "fourth, if we have enough money we can rent an inn so we don't have to sleep outside like a hobo, if not well I guess we can make ourselves a house," lastly the thumb "finally, this last part isn't actually part of the plan but whatever, we can choose whether or not we will be staying still or doing some adventure." Nox hummed, rubbing his metallic chin "I can agree on a plan like that, however..." his glowing blue eyes fall to the sleeping changeling nymph on his lap "now I have her under my care I was thinking of settling down and having a normal life like any family would but with how things are still complicated I'll put that on hold." "Having a 'normal' live as a Xelor that can control time? Good luck doing that, your power bound to attract unwanted attention be it good or bad. If someone wants it for themselves and will do anything to get it, you might risk her life in danger." I reasoned, after reading many light novels, manga and fanfics I can tell it'll happen sooner or later, not to mention if we manage to attract some figures with high political power we might start a war against an entire nation. "Who knows what will happen, heck I was starting to get feelings that the princesses will try to get one of us on their hands, or hooves." "You're just paranoid, Bill," Nox said with a blank face, or mask. Well, actually it was more of a 'are you kidding' expression. "Being paranoid doesn't get you killed!" I shot back with a huff. He shook his head with a sigh, "anyway its already past midnight so you probably should get some sleep," I was about to retort but he cut me off "before you play that 'I don't need sleep' card, I know you can but it doesn't hurt to try right? Tomorrow we will get the Elements and I want you to be in top shape so there won't be any trouble." "...fine" I answered with a grumble, guess I should do the rest of the spell modifier later on if I have time. The Xelor lie back down, moving Chrysalis to his chest "night Bill." "Night Nox." I said back as I dismiss the magic noise canceling dome with a "Universal Dispel." Lying back down, I pulled a pillow from my hat, hey I don't want to use Chaos Magic every time I summon something small. Giving the top hat a quick flick, it suddenly changes into a yellow colored nightcap. Extending my legs to avoid getting it cramped, I prepared to be whisked away to the dreamland- But then suddenly Luna. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY DOMAIN?!?!" And snaps my eye open with how loud it was. Automatically covered my ears so it won't get more painful than it already is. "God freaking dammit, Luna! What is wrong...with...you?" Only to see her floating on the middle of nowhere, well, actually both of us are floating with nothing beneath us, just endless void of nothing with floating colorful bubbles scattered everywhere. Turns out I just got whisked away to the dreamland. Literally. Author's Note Well, here you go. Another chapter of The Displaced Brother. It took way longer than I actually thought but I still have a reason for it! School. Yeah I know, its not actually a reason but hear me out! Last week the written exams are over so next week it'll be the practical exams turn so I have to prepare for it. Anyway, I will be taking turns on working both of my stories so don't expect me to update this one before the other. As always, keep on the lookout for typos, grammar error (I've been using Grammarly, thx for recommending) and tell me what do you think of this chapter! Thank you for reading and I'll see you guys in the next chapter!
Chapter 7 : Messing With the Princess, Invading a Dream and an Uneventful Walk Through the Memory Lane.'Well, this is...an interesting development.' That was my first thought when I 'wake up' to this white realm full of colorful floating bubbles. I didn't know just by going to sleep my consciousness would get whisked away to the Dreamland, with a capital D. I thought it would 'detach' itself out form the body and I can fly away like Peter Pan but instead of flying toward the moon and somehow teleported to Neverland I can invade other people's mind. But nope, somehow, against my expectation, I ended up inside Moon Booty's domain which turns out to be an endless void of white-ness filled with colorful bubbles. I guess taking the title 'Self Proclaimed Dream Demon' has some unlisted benefit. At first, I thought it was just for telling people that I can do whatever I want like a lucid dreamer, 'making dream come true' as it were. I didn't think it would gain me access to the Dreamland, or whatever this place called. To be fair I might already be able to enter this place without the title in the first place and I just don't know about it. I already knew I can enter other people's minds and have a peek on their memories, just need to figure out the way to enter their mindscape. "Well? I am waiting for an answer, Demon." Oh and Luna is here, she's probably on dream patrol, dispelling nightmares and warding off that shapeshifting, nightmares inducing creatures, what was its name anyway? I vaguely remember its name, something like tanabalus or tanbarus. Meh, it's not that big of a deal anyway. Probably I got something on those creatures in one of the episodes I downloaded. Then again I probably deleted those episodes to make room for more games, whoops. Eh, might as well enjoy the timeline like a video game, no video game is fun if you already know the story. "Oh ho ho, the little pony princess is wondering why there's someone other than her self in her domain?" I ask back with a smirk, flowing on the empty air as if it was filled with water, it was surprisingly easy how it is to move around in whatever this place name is. "I, for one, take the enjoyment of searching...shall we say 'interesting' stuff and this place certainly fits the list." I'm curious if I can do what Bill did in the Mindscape, shapeshifting and alter whatever ground he's on, like that one time he tries tricking Dipper to strike a deal with him on the rooftops, altering gravity and conjuring a screaming head. The word 'dreamscape' has the word 'dream' in it so how hard can it be for a reality-warping second-dimension-imported-to-third-dimension demon to take advantage of it? She huffed, horn threateningly pointed at my chest with little sparks flashing from it, "We have dealt with your kin countless time, demon. What makes you think we won't stay silent and let you freely walk on our land, much less in my domain?" Oh right, she got her light knocked out when Celestia and I were making a deal, I thought she would inform her own sister about our deal but I don't think she can hop around the dreamscape like Luna, yet. "'I think'? heh hah hah! Oh no, Luny, I don't think, I know you wouldn't let me out of your sight," my voice dropped a few octaves lower for the emphasis, smirk turns into a wide grin as I stared down on her from where I'm 'standing' "you see, you and your sister presence alone is an obstacle in my long term plan so I need to get rid of you both as quickly as possible without any consequences." I think that set her off somehow, her horns went from sparkling to a full-blown firecracker in an instant and shot a laser-like beam. Seeing where the beam is aimed at I can tell where it would hit, right in the middle of my chest, just a bit left of the heart. A normal person will acknowledge the danger they're in and tried to dodge, or at least block it, but to me, it feels like it's too much of a hustle to move. In some way, I knew something with that size and power wouldn't do anything much, nevermind putting a hole in my chest, that beam couldn't even put a scratch on my suit. This is an opportunity to test how durable this new body is, though it would be pointless if my body is entirely made out of magic. Actually I never know if my body is either made from magic or flesh and bon- *Shluk* *drip* *drip* Oh, that answered the question then... Luna looked at my gaping wound with a half proud half smug look on her face, "hmm, you fail to remember that you're in my realm, demon. Everything in here is under my command, which includes you as well." I completely ignore what she said in favor of figuring out how the hell I didn’t feel any pain from the gaping hole on my chest, I thought it happen so fast my nerve system couldn’t keep up and send the pain to my brain but I discard because we’re in Dreamscape, duh, and you can’t feel pain, or anything other than sight and hearing I guess, in dreams. With a sigh, I decided it was my turn to take things under control and simply make a gesture with my hand by simply rotating my finger counterclockwise, the wound closes itself like in a time-lapse. Even without looking I knew what’s going to happen, the ribcages reform themselves back, organs regenerated and flesh grew back, closing the hole. The disgust and horror on Luna’s face clearly showed how gruesome the process is, even if it was just a few seconds the sound of it enough to make me squirmed. After the skin part is done, I willed my suit to patch itself up, the threads began to extend and weave as if it was a living organism. A few seconds later my suit back to its pristine condition without a mark of being blasted by a magic laser. Upon seeing the disbelieved face of Luna I simply raised an eyebrow while suppressing the urge to cackle. "And you failed to remember that I am a Dream Demon meaning-" I simply 'teleport' right in front of her while bending down so I can see eye-to-eye on her, I donned a big grin on my face "you're not the only one who is special around here princess. Observer!" Before she could react or utter a single word, I lightly flick her snout. It's just a regular flick, there's no explosion that blown her head clean off of her 'shoulder', no sudden charge of electricity surge to her nerve and friend the brain to crisp or anything that can potentially injure her. Luna did nothing more than flinched and goes cross-eyed then at my still smiling face, hers went deadpanned. "Is that the best you ca-WHAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaa..." And there she goes, blown away like a cannonball, disappeared into the seemingly endless white void, she wouldn't be coming back for a while now unless she can instantly teleport back. It was surprisingly easy to control my power here rather than in the real world if I do it there Luna's head would be blown to bits, probably. Oh well best not to think about 'what if's, it is not the time for it yet, there is a whole place to explore, albeit said world is full of whiteness and colorful bubble. Time to invade others' dreams. 2 particular bubbles catch my eye, one of them is a grey colored bubble connected to another 7 more colorful bubbles by thin silver lines, the other is a bright blue bubble that emits a faint 'tic-toc' sound, 2 guesses who's those are. I floated to Nox's, once I got near it the surface become see trough and I can see what inside of it, it was more like a crystal bowl fortune teller use than a solid bubble now. It depicts the scenery of a rocky beach, a small group of five people and a Bow Wow, a creature similar to dogs, can be seen on the coast, the three of them are children, one of them apparently collecting seashell while the other two are playing with the Bow Wow. The one collecting seashell is the sole female child, she's wearing a simple plain white dress and a pair of purple boots, her chocolate hair is tied to a pigtail and a little red hairpin is attached to it so that the hair doesn't cover her eye. One of the boys playing with the dog, the smallest and youngest one, is wearing a similar outfit of his sister, plain white clothing that extended down to his knee, however, the most eye-catching is the half watermelon shell he wore as a helmet and has a single eyehole carved to it, a little bit of his blond hair can be seen sticking out from under it, a wooden sword toy is slung over his chest from a strap on the neck. The oldest and tallest of them is wearing a black overall with a single strap over his shoulder to keep it in place. With him a Bow Wow closely resembles a dog of chihuahua corgi mix is playing fetch, the dog has 2 different fur patterns, a body of dark fur with cream dots of various size all over it and a clean plain cream fur on the head, I cant see where both patterns met but it is somewhere under its collar. I remember their names are like it was yesterday, the little girl is Aiguille, Pulsar the youngest child, and the eldest is Quartz, their pet is named Igôle the Bow Wow. moving on to the adults, one of them is a well-build man wearing a plain sleeveless shirt and black pants, he has healthy brown skin, the same can be said about the rest of the family's skin, and yellowish blond hair, long enough to reach the shoulder. It was easy to tell who is that man is, Noximilien Coxen before he became a Xelor. Behind him is a woman named Galanthe, his wife, and now I can understand why Nox is so desperate to go back in the to his family because holy Chaos words can't even describe the beauty that women held. An hourglass figure with modest chest and face so attractive many men would be instantly charmed by her smile alone, and let's not go to her lower part because I want to keep this T-rating, let's just say she has nice childbearing hips and leave it at that, her hair is white-colored and long enough to reach her back. She wore a green tunic top and black pants that hugged her legs rather tightly. Curiously I poke the bubble, it feels like poking a dense body of water, it sure rippled like one. Feeling a bit more daring I put a whole hand into it, I can feel it trying to pull me in but it wasn't strong enough so I put my whole arm in it, I immediately got yanked. Entering someone's dream could be an odd experience, one moment you're observing the dream from outside and when you touch it the next thing you know there's a white flash and you're 'falling' headfirst, even though I'm still in the white void I can feel winds blowing against my face. Oh wait, theses are clouds so I'm really falling. ... Should I be worried? I can already see the ground but my mind is registering this as a regular thing that happens, might be because of the whole 'getting shot on the chest' thing and understand this whole thing is a dream. I hold on to my hat and did a mid-air flip, no one with a right mind would land headfirst and I definitely not looking forward to knowing how it feels like, I willed a powerful gust of wind to slow my descent. Upon stepping on the sandy ground I took a deep breath and noted how the air smelled like, it was the smell of salt. I was curious about how my sense of smell is able to work in a dream but I save that question for another day. I landed on the upper part of the beach, just a couple steps and a jump away from Nox's, or rather Millien's, family. "It was a simpler and happy time for him, a family with three children and a loving wive." A familiar voice said. I tilt my head to the right, at the corner of my sight Xelor Nox wearing his trademarked dark blue sleeveless hooded coat complete with the symbol imprinted on the front. Wait how come there are two of them? 'Probably this is his memory.' I thought to myself self "Don't you mean a simpler time for you?" He shook his head "No, this isn't my memory, I still remember our time on earth but this is an entirely different memory that belongs to someone else." "That's weird." I muttered I didn't receive a spec of Bill's memories when I came into this world, I'm not sure about Asriel though, "I'm assuming you have the original Nox's memories, does it include the 200 years of collecting wakfu?" "Sadly no, there are only snippets of it, most of it is when he gathered a large quantity in a short amount of time and some of his more recent memory," he answered "But enough about me, why and how did you get here Bill?" I shrugged "To be honest, dear brother, I do not know either. You told me to get some sleep so I did, the next thing I know I am in the Dreamscape, it does not help when the supposedly 'guardian' of that place do not take kindly to visitors." I could feel him raising an eyebrow "I suppose you did not talk your way out with her, yes?" "Bah, that hothead never uses words to solve things, always prefer using her fis- er, hoof, but I would blame the teenage hormone, you know how it is with them. " "Ho, so are you not one of them anymore Bill? Despite the fact you have obtained another body, your mind is still the same as before." "Tch, are you not the one to talk, father. Suddenly feeling capable of taking care of a child, you and I both know we already have this conversation but I am still not convinced." Nox sighed "As I told you before, you are overthinking, or are you telling me you actually turning into the original Bill." "Perhaps you are right but perhaps you are wrong, there is still a possibility." "Hah, what am I going to do with you, brother," he sighed "Anyway how long are you going to act 'high and mighty' along with that arrogant tone? It is unbecoming of you." "Whoops, looks like I just getting a bit too into it," I said with a chuckle, by the time I realize it I've been standing straight up with my chest puffed up and head slightly raised like a pompous noble, I sat down with my legs dangling down and motioned Nox to sit beside me. "You still haven't answered my question," he said, taking a seat beside me. "I'm just curious and poke your dream bubble a bit, never would've thought it allows me to enter your mind," in the show the only way Bill can enter someone's mind is through a deal, prime example Gideon and Stanley, and to appear in dreams the victim must read some ancient incantations, this one being Standford, "To be honest I didn't expect I'd be ended up here, this should be a dream and not a memory. Say, did you have the same kind of dream last time you sleep?" "Yes, but last time it wasn't like this, its only snippets of a bunch of different memories," he answered, right hand scraping against the rough surface of the rock, "At first I was confused why everything feels so...real. Every surface I touch, every scent I smell, and every pain I felt, I experienced it like I was there, and I would see things that I haven't seen before." "Yeah...probably those were the original Nox's memories," I said as I observe Millien and his family, now that I think about it, isn't this the memories where he first found the Eliacube? I don't see a black box containing the flying clock anywhere. "Say, wanna explore the rest of his memories?" "What'd you mea-oh I see, are you trying to do that thing with the doors that lead to a memory?" "Well yeah, that's the only way I could think of. I could try and make it like a file of videos but with the way you talk I don't think you're too keen about having your mind open like a book." "And what makes you think people would be fine having their minds open to other people?" Nox said with a hint of displeasure, "I understand this memory is not mine to have but it is my mind that's keeping it, and with how you handle that gigantic Timberwolf I am not sur- BILL NO!" "Too late, a simple yes or no would have been enough," And with that, I clapped my hands twice. Then everything collapsed. "You should really know that no means no, not the opposite." "Well you're the one who makes things long and winding, I'm not gonna sit through your whole speech." "At least have a bit of patience." "Eh, I would've still done it even if you disagree." We're sitting on a bench under a streetlight on a pavement, gone was the beach scenery and replaced with an urban view, albeit it was more on the quieter part of the city, rows upon rows of houses that looks perfectly the same, it was the textbook version of suburbia, the roof shapes are the same, the lawn flawlessly identical, heck there isn't a single thing different. Though the lamps on the nearby houses are lighted up, it was eerie with how quiet it is, there's no sound of car engines or horns, the lack of bustling people on the street is uncanny, if only the weather is foggy this could be the set of a horror movie. Not to mention we're the only one that has colors, everything else is in monochrome. Among the duplicate houses stood a 2 stories house, while the lower part consists of mostly concrete based materials, the upper part uses wood as the building main materials, it looks like someone just put a cabin on top of a cubic shaped concrete house. The whole thing just looks bizarre. But the most unusual thing is not the building itself but rather the gigantic clock construct, the inner machinery which consisted of giant gears can be seen through the gaps and side, the glow of Noxins' eye can be seen on the Romans numerals on the dials. the Giant Clock Fortress stands with its insect-like legs right above the house, pair of an arm with needles posing menacingly. I never really understood the scale of Nox's Giant Clock Fortress compared to a normal human being, the word 'giant' on the name emphasize the size of the construct, it might not be as tall as the Colossal Titans but the weaponry inside it does not make it less threatening. Nox wordlessly stood up and move toward the house, I followed him closely, up to the front porch and opened the door we're greeted by the sight of a maze of hallways, almost every surface of it covered with doors, each one is different models made out of different materials, trapdoors in case of the floor, heck some of them just straight up floating. The whole thing just seems like it was ripped from a page of The Twilight Zone. We began exploring the maze simply just to explore this apparently endless maze, every turn we took leads us into more hallways with more doors, some of it even branched to all direction, by all direction I don't mean a four-way junction, there's a bottomless pit right in the middle of it and where the roof should be is a hole that goes beyond our sight. I deliberately push my brother down the hole as a joke, besides, we're in the mind, even if we got ourselves severely injured we'll be right as rain the next second. Not a moment later he came back, not from below but rather from above, falling with grace and the speed of a feather, arms crossed as face clearly displayed his feeling. Needless to say, Nox wasn't amused. We continue to explore, after earning myself a chop on the noggin, as we go deeper into the maze the wall and floor began to change, from a mix of concrete and wood to brass and some other type of metals. The scenery is no longer disorderly, gone were the floating and jumbled mess of doors, organized hallways with symmetrically placed doors has taken its place. The whole place felt like it was some kind of facility or a prison, everything screamed 'perfection' unlike before. Tracing my hand across the wall it felt very smooth and cold to the touch, not a single bump or uneven surface. Definitely something that supposes to be in a facility or a prison, or even a holding cell for test subjects in a lab facility. The doors, which is made out of the same material as the floor, seems like it was a part of a vault of some sort, a square heavy-duty door big enough for an adult to fit in with two thick cylinder bars across it, cogs and gears can be seen sticking out at the sides and a single valve on the center. Nox approaches one of the doors and twisted the valve in a clockwise direction, the door rumbled as the cogs and gears start to turn, hot white steam hisses from the crack between it as the bars slide retracted into the walls. We step back from the door as it opens itself outward. An unmistakable light of the sun can be seen seeping from the opening and pouring into the hallway once the door is fully open, there's a gentle breeze carrying the scent of water and something salty, 'wait a minute, don't tell me...' I followed Nox entering the memory door if it can be called that, and step on a sandy surface, a familiar scenery of a beach greeted my sight. 'Siriously? After all of that, we're back here?' I let out a sigh, 'well at least I got something from that trip.' I look back toward the door, it's sticking out like a sore thumb, a vault door on the side of a cliff is not something you see every day. With a shrug, I walk to my brother and sat where we were sitting before. We just in silence, it wasn't awkward at all but rather comfortable, with the sight of the sea and the sound of the waves it really put my mind in peace. "You just lead us in a circle just to avoid opening up other memories." I began. "What sane man would let their mind open like a book to others, I just being cautious. Even though you're my little brother that does not mean you could take a peek at it." "Fine, fine keep your bloody secret, neither of us wanted to see you strangeling your chicken at some questionable website anyway." "Strange, I assume you can know whatever behind those doors just by looking at it, guess I overestimated you." I shrugged, "The show never actually made it clear just how 'all-seeing' Bill is. I know he is capable of foreseeing possible future events and understand something almost instantly, but I guess with how he never takes things seriously is the reason the twins flopped his plans," Both abilities sounds like it would be really useful, to understand anything in an instant and see into the future, especially the former, I was itching to get my hand on it. "I'm not surprised, with how big his ego is I can see how he got defeated by a couple of teenagers," He agrees my reasoning, "If only he didn't underestimate them in their first meeting, the show would've ended a lot sooner. I trusted you wouldn't make the same mistake." "pffft, what, me? Making the same mistake as every other two-bit villain? Perish the thought. If I'm going to war or at least a fight with someone, I would use all of my strength and cunning moves," I said, many antagonist characters I've seen always, if not often, look down the main character, though nowadays it's a rather rare thing to come across, only dumb main character with average villains, "Huh I just realized it was an ironic thing to say, considering I limit my power to a tiny portion." "I think its the best thing to do since you have almost no control over your Chaos, your case is different with Asriel and mine, after all. As long as he doesn't go all out and collapse the whole timeline we should be fine," He said, lifting up his right hand with the palm facing up, there's a sudden dim flash and the Eliacube appeared, "As far as I know, both from Nox's memories and my own, this cube primary function is to act as a battery, with nigh limitless capacity, it also amplifies my abilities greatly. I still haven't understood its full potential, much less how it works, but I will be studying it to avoid any unwanted scenario from happening." Now that I think about it, the Eliacube is without a doubt one of the most powerful items in the Wakfu series alongside the Eliatrope Dofus, the original six dragon eggs laid by the Great Dragon, the incarnation of Statis, the energy of destruction, after... 'reuniting' with Eliatrope, the goddess of the race not the race itself. Despite being design as a power source and fuel for a space ship, when it fell into the hand of a certain Xelor, it can bring chaos to the Krozmo, the equivalent of the universe but in the form of an egg. There is a reason why the universe is an egg but I'm not here to reiterate on the Big Bang of Wakfu universe, that would be another time, so let's focus on the present. As far as I know, the Eliacube is created by Qilby, one of the Firstborn Eliatropes and a member of the Eliatropes Council, using the heart of Orgonax, a member of the Mechasm people that have yet to be explained by the creator of the Wakfu series. Needless to say, the Mechasm does not take kindly to it and thus war ensued between them and the Eliatrope. Despite being a direct descendant of 2 beings that can be classified as god and goddess and have advanced knowledge in both magic and technology they're driven to the brink of extinction and have to flee to the World of Twelve. It is unclear how powerful is the Mechasm is but being able to almost completely erase the descendant of gods off from the Krozmo I can say they are somewhere up the list. I can only guess that the Mechasm outnumbered them in terms of manpower, or should I say machinepower. From the pieces I gather from the show they're a race of machine people, something that can be built, rebuilt, and put in service right out from the oven. Orgonax is no different and since he is one of the youngest, therefore the lastest and more advance compared to others, sprinkle some revenge for motivation and they got themselves a war machine, he then became a prominent figure leading the war against the Eliatropes. I pat Nox's back, "Did you forget? We're immortal, well at least I think we're, so we have all the time we needed," I reasoned, "As long as you have enough magic, you're good to go, remember that your body is over two hundred years old so what a few centuries mean to you, well aside of mental degradation like most mortal-made-immortal being." "True, true, nevertheless it will take some time to get used to being an Immortal. I will begin my study once we set a proper base, though it would be nice to have something to work with," he said, staring at the cube with interest, said cube pulsed with bright blue light occasionally, similar to a heartbeat when I think about what it actually made out of, "While I do have some knowledge on what wakfu is it isn't the same as the magic of this world." "Why don't you find something you can use while we're exploring this world? There are a crap ton of magic type here, not to mention they act differently with different races," The ponies certainly at their peak of learning on the capability and what actually magic is, considering the pony version of Gandalf or Dumbledore is still alive, "You can start by gathering data on the Tree of Harmony, or maybe the creatures residing inside the cave, perhaps after all of this you can ask the Twins to browse their royal library." "That certainly not a bad idea, it seems the Merchants has modified my mask so that it has some other functions other than letting me see through the Noxins' eye, I think there is something similar to a scanner," He nodded, there's a series of clicking noise from his mask, "I must say, this is certainly an interesting experience, but I think its time to end it here." Suddenly there's an earth-shaking rumble and everything starts to collapse once again, but this time it started from the 'edges' of the land. First, the sea began to drain itself, all of the body water rushes away from the shore, leaving fishes to flop around the seabed, at a distance I can see the ocean floor crumble down to the familiar white void, it was as if we're on a floating island and it began to fall into pieces. As the land breaks apart, cracks begin to form on the sky, as if it was made out of glass the cracks begin to resemble spider web in a matter of seconds, forming a dome around us. Similar to the ground it shatters into thousands of pieces, revealing the same white void behind it. 'Huh, Nox must be waking up, I wonder if this is how dreams ended, was expecting more of an instant boot out from his dream, to be honest. Not long after the ground around us collapsed, taking Nox along down the blank void with a "see you in the real world" as a parting word, leaving me sitting on empty air, maybe 'empty air' wasn't the right word but the point is I can still feel my butt sitting on something invisible. There was a loud POP I assume it was the dream bubble...well, popped and I am back to where the white void with dream bubbles was, but now there's less bubble so probably the others already wok-OHSHITDODGE!!! Despite my brain cries for getting the heck out of the way my body, or more specifically my head, tilt itself to the right just enough to avoid getting disintegrated by a dark beam from a certain alicorn which is hovering a good distance with an enraged face, I put on my best shit-eating grin, basically saying 'is that all you got?'. And it's probably not a good thing to do since she got even more furious. Luna snarled, something that doesn't fit right with her flat teeth, and started to charge up her horn, it the tip of it began to get brighter and brighter until it can be mistaken as a star. Rather than getting away from her like any other sane person I was curious about how big the beam will be. Even if I stand in front of the equivalent of a giant laser of death canon the feeling of 'I can take it on' from before came back, I somehow realize whatever she's charging cant inflict a single scratch, but after the last stunt I figure it would be difficult to regenerate my whole body from ashes. Thousands of ways to counter her attack ran through my mind, from simply dodging it, taking it head-on with some sort of protection or shield, or just outright disable her magic, though the last one might be out of the picture since there is no 'magic' here. Everything that happens here is because someone made it to happen, like a lucid dream if I had to guess. FWOOOOOM Huh, it's bigger than what I thought it would be, I might be in a pinch. Alright, no dilly dally, think Bill think. I could summon Room and switch my place with her but it wouldn't be fast enough, the distance between me and her is too far for the Room to reach in time, I could summon something to completely block it like a Legendary Shield or something. Or do something absurd and just 'eat', or at least absorb it. Oh well doing such flashy, and probably useless, grand magic spell would take too much time to cast it, better keep it simple and quick. As I slip my hand to my inner pocket, I imagine a thin rectangle object small enough to be fitted inside a wallet, I felt my fingers brush against its edges and grab it between the index and middle fingers, with a fluid movement I pulled it out, curled it until the other end touched my wrist and threw it toward the oncoming beam. As it spins out from my fingers I caught a glimpse of one of its surface, a pair of white arrows pointing in the opposite direction on a green background. "Card Magic: Complete Reverse!" And the giant laser beam did a 180. Yeah, that's right, I just made the pettiest and wittiest comeback, 'No U', into a spell strong enough to deflect an attack nothing short of an orbital cannon, what'chu gonna do 'bout it? As if the small UNO card is a giant mirror, the beam reflected back to Luna like a scene from a cartoon, I manage to snap a picture of her panicked face and a fleeting moment trying to escape before she got absolutely decimated, leaving almost nothing but a few feathers behind. As for the card it got flash burned and turn into ashes. I for one do not feel any shred of regret or guilt, probably because this isn't real life and her body is completely untouched, rather it felt like I just killed a random player in a game who decided to pick on me, a reasonable cause to kill someone for self-defense. I smiled to my self, feeling a little proud of what I just did. But there is another problem, how do I get out from here? I just blasted, actually, she did it her self, possibly the only one who knows how the Dreamscape work, there is Celestia but I doubt she has much knowledge about it. I can't just tap my feet thrice and think 'there is no place like home' and suddenly woke up, right? Right? ... Ah right, Chaos Magic bullshit. Well, whatever, as if I'm going to do it, it is so unoriginal and to top it off I there are no magical shoes I can wear, though I can conjure one with ease but every time I think about 'magical shoes' my mind instantly latched on the picture of shoes that would knock some points off from my manly aspect. Probably because the word 'magical' I often hear is in the sentence 'magical girl', the olden types that would transform with a shitload of sparkle and glitter, wearing over the top frilly dresses while slaying evil with the power of love & friendship, and saving the day, yay~! That naive personality of theirs, I hate it with passion. Although my view of what magical girl is already completely wrecked and entirely rewritten by the more modern, and darker versions of it, both still wear frilly dresses. No matter how dark they show gets or ridiculous they portrayed, they still have one thing in common to the point my brain way of thinking always believes all magical girls wore clothes that are excessively... well, girly, and don't get me started with how much pink one can be. 'Gah, focus Bill, This is no time for ranting! Still have to find a way to get out of here...' I could probably summon a door to my mind but that would leave the risk of creating a direct way every one who can enter Dreamscape can use so that idea can go take a dive right out of the window. How about imagining something that 'link' me back to my body? Something that would yank me back on command, yeah that could work. I closed my eye, imagining myself floating in a dark place, a link of chains somehow attached on my back leading to the darker part of the place, at the other end of the chain I picture a bigger me, or just the chest and head part, the rest of BigMe is obscured by black mist. There is a hole big enough to fit a grown man right in the middle of BigMe chest where the chain disappeared inside. I imagine the chain got pulled by something inside BigMe, dragging the SmallMe toward the hole on the chest, once the SmallMe's feet entered the hole closed up with a meaty WHACK!, as if it was a giant mouth. Then I let out a burst of Chaos Magic. I woke up. And I'm using that sentence lightly, more like 'I blinked' rather than waking up from a night of sleep, it felt like I've woken up the whole time. My body didn't feel any different, there's no feeling of leftover tired I always got, my eyesight isn't bleary and my joint is perfectly fine even though I sleep on the ground. The sun already up high, the birds are chirping and the smell of fresh air with a hint of the wetness morning dew signing the beginning of a new day. Author's Note Just to get this out of the way, I am a lazy person. ...Huh, when you admit stuff on the internet, it's really easy to let it out. So a chapter per year huh? I was planning to update it once a week, a month at the latest, guess reality often disappointed. Before the whole COVID-19 situation began I had a reason to put this in hiatus, the school began to ramp up and take almost half of the day off and even if I had a free time it would be working on homework. But since school is out during lockdown I have all the time I need to finish this. I'm a bit unsatisfied with how I write, especially how Bill's callout attack, I was going to make it simple and leave it in bold format but with spell modifier comes in I was going to make it like this : "'Spell Modifier : Attack/Support/Defensive Spell!" But if you guys have any suggestions let me hear it! Oh and I read the previous chapter and realized a big mistake, I write Chrysalis last name as Millien, not Coxen so I did a dum-dum and only now realize it, sorry! And if there is time I would revisit the latest chapter and giving it a few polish Anyway, I hope you guys stay healthy and stay at home until this lockdown is over. As always, keep on the lookout for typos, grammar error, and tell me what do you think of this chapter! Again, thank you all for reading and I hope you enjoy if you don't then don't be afraid to criticize it, I still have a long way to go!
Chapter 8: Dungeon Crawling, Looting and Magic Weapon"Pies for breakfast? You could've asked me to conjure something to cook." "The princesses are getting impatient about getting the elements, said they need it before Discord organize his forces to counter-attack," Asriel said, taking a bite of his pie as if it was a hamburger, "that is if he has an army, to begin with, but they don't want to take any chances." "Probably he just animates some rocks to make a golem army or combine different creatures to make chimeras, who knows" I shrugged, bitting my own pie. "speaking of which, Moon Booty, did you get a hai- er manecut while we sleep? I have to say it doesn't suit well with your image of a princess unless you're going for a tomboyish look." If looks can kill I would be dead several times over with how hard she glared at me but could she blame me? Well aside from being the one who gave her a 'mane cut'. Her mane is...how do I put this, the only way I can describe it is ragged, there are strands of her mane poking out here and there like bed hair but the tips of it are black, covered in soot black. There are traces of being burnt here in there on her coat, though with her dark color fur it's not that noticeable. "Do not be so full of yourself, Demon," she sneered, not that I can take it seriously with that pie crust covered muzzle, seriously you have a universal stick lodged on your skull, use it to clean your mouth "I assure you it will be the last time you step on my domain." I snorted, "as if you have complete control over the dreamscape, flash news princess, you're not the only one who can manipulate dreams," while I don't know how exactly I transport my consciousness to the dreamscape, it seems I have some sort of control over a dream, still need more research, probably the Journal has something on it, "if I remember there is a ritual to enter someone mind and since dreams are formed in mind it can be entered with the same ritual, albeit modified a bit." While I don't know in-depth how the ritual actually works, I knew it can enter someone's mind but the show only limits it to the memory banks part of the mind. If I had to guess that part can be used as a medium to connect the mindscape to the dreamscape...realm or whatever Luna calls that place, I need something consistent regarding that place. Anyway, why the heck is sheohhellno- "You can worry about that later, I'm the only one who knows how to do it so stop pointing your horn at me," should've shut my mouth about that ritual thing, I'm not too keen on finding out if my regeneration ability carries over to the real world. Of course, being hotheaded she didn't heed my call until I pulled something rectangular from my inner pocket and flash her a challenging smirk, she reluctantly backed down and goes back to munching her pie but still glaring at me. I noticed Nox glanced at me and shook his head in what seems to be a disappointment, "what am I going to do with you, Bill," he muttered. "She attacked me first, it's only fair I defend myself," I said, stuffing the green card back, though I'm sure it's just a regular card, "sides' it was in the dreamscape so there's no harm at all, besides the obvious." He doesn't look convinced and give me that 'we'll talk later' look, I rolled my eyes and went back to eating. We spent the remaining breakfast in silence. "Huddle time everyone!" Without a word, we, as in me and Asriel, dump the tinfoil warping to the still-lit, magic probably, fireplace and gather toward the chronomancer with the princesses and Gerindha following behind. Our little group formed a small circle, the displaced, except Chrysalis who perch on top of Nox's shoulder, on one side, and the locals on the other. Without a word, I cast an illusion of a 3D cave map, colored accordingly depend on the depth. It was way different from the show where it's a straightforward way leading to the tree but when I cast 'Sonar' last night there is a whole maze underground, countless twists and turns, most can't be reached without climbing tools, a lot of branching paths and dead ends, not to mention the almost uncountable string thin ones littered along the way. All and all the whole place looks like an ant colony nest on steroids. While the way to the tree itself is a straight way, there's something blocking the way, a wide square chamber that's definitely wasn't formed naturally, there's something on the center of it but I'm not sure what it is, all my spell caught is a pile of something with jagged tip. From my experience playing tons of games, that room just screamed 'boss area' to me. While I can see the reason behind putting a boss room to guard the tree and put only one way to go in and out of the chamber, I think whoever design it forgot to reinforce the room containing the tree, there are at least five almost paper-thin ways connecting the tree room with the rest of the cavern system, probably that's how Nox's little machine able to take a look at the tree. Now that I think about it, we could hypothetical, dig our self a hole leading straight to the Tree of Harmony, if we can avoid causing a cave-in. "That's larger than I expected," said Asriel now in adult form, "and complicated too, its gonna be a hassle walking down there." Nox chuckled, "trust me, walking is going to be the least problem here," with several beep-beep noises from his mask, he projected a round screen from his palm, it shows a small bipedal creature the size of a child holding a makeshift club, it has green skin and the only garb it wore is a small patch of dirty brown cloth covering its crotch. While it's hard to make out the detail of the creature's face I can clearly see its pointed ears and a pair of fangs jutting out from its mouth. 'It's a goblin,' I concluded, scratching my chin, while it's common to see the small green creature appears in fantasy stories, I wasn't expecting them to exist in this world, the only creatures resembling humanoid are the minotaurs, 'but how can they be here? The show didn't have any clue or sign about the-' My thought was cut as a section of the ground in front of the goblin opens up and a fucking spider the size of a car comes out, one of its legs lash out and pierce the goblin's gut with ease, the green creature let out a gurgle of blood before getting dragged down the hole. There's a moment of silence, most of our group stared at the screen with a mix of horror, the locals, bewilderment, clearly seen on Asriel's face, and surprised, though that last one is mostly mine. I lean toward the goat monster and whisper "Think you can light the whole cave on fire?" He gives me a deadpan stare, "If I can the whole place would've been on fire already." "There are other creatures than giant spider and goblin in that cave, slimes, golems, giant bats, and insects, just to name a few. And if I'm not wrong one of those chambers is a hydra nest" Nox listed, dispelling the screen. "The deeper we go the more dangerous it will be, I can search for a safer route it will take some time." "...a Dungeon," someone muttered beside me. I took a glance, it was Gerindah, her eyes glued to the illusion I cast. A dungeon? Like one of those areas filled with monsters and loot? Huh, this is getting way different than an ordinary Equestria, probably something that was affected by us being here. Didn't the Wakfu animated series base on an RPG game with the same name? Probably that explains the existence of dungeon but it still doesn't explain why such creatures would exist here, well there are some monsters that resemble slimes, golems, and insects, but goblins? The closest World of Twelve has to them is Ogrest but he is more close to Ogre both in name and appearance. But why asking a question to myself? I made a deal with Gerindha after all, it would be a waste not to use it. "A dungeon?" I asked, "mind telling use non-local what actually it is? I had a feeling we're not talking about the same thing" She startled at the sudden attention, "I-its an u-underground area with a core that attracts m-monster, it takes s-some of their magic and p-provide anything they n-need to build nest and b-breed. S-s-sometimes certain plants and m-mineral can only be f-found inside it." "So the whole place is basically a monster nest," Asriel concluded. "Aren't you a monster yourself?" The sun princess asked with genuine confusion, "you claim to be the prince of monsters, such knowledge should be common amongst your kin." The Monster shook his head, "nope, like dungeons, our definition of monsters is different from yours, to us Monster is just the name of a species, like ponies and dragons, rather than the bloodthirsty beasts you seems to be familiar with." he clarifies, "say, when you killed a monster what happens to the body?" "It would rot like any others," she answered, "it would decay much faster if their magic core is taken." Magic core? Maybe the journal has something on them, there might be a bestiary section I haven't look into. "That's another difference, us Monster is similar to spirits, both of us are made out of magic except we Monster is more 'solid' than them. If I were to be killed, my body would turn into ashes, and rather than this 'magic core' we have souls to keep us together." "Speaking of monster," I suddenly cut in, "Nox, are you sure there isn't any other way to the Tree without running into them?" "That's impossible, the whole place is crawling with them," he sighed and shrugged, "There are tunnels all around the cave but it only fit enough for my Noxin to move around, other than that I can look for a safer way with less monster." "That is unacceptable," Luna butted in, her horn flashes once and my hologram now has a purple color on one of the more direct ways toward the Tree, "if the demon words are to be trusted, these artifacts could stop Discord before his power corrupt more of our land, we could not waste any more time." "While I see your reasoning, the way you choose is the 'main road' of the Dungeon, the monster there is more powerful than any other area and also higher in quantity." his hand once more projected a screen now showing a cave swarming with monsters, from oversized bugs to more 'common' type of monster in a fantasy world like orcs and...'is that a hydra?', "while I have no doubt about your skill, there are some of us that are less than capable of handling our self," no doubt referring to his daughter and the griffoness. "Splinting up is out of the question," I added, gesturing to the wide crater I made yesterday, "there's a chance our scuffle attracts some bigger monster, who knows what will comes after us." "Bill, don't you have any spell for a barrier or something?" Asriel asked. "I can cast Bubble Shield and Barrier but I'm not sure that would be enough. Sun Butt, Moon Booty, got any defensive spell?" "Why You-" "Yes, I am quite proficient on that," Celestia cut her sister off, sending her a look, "as you said it your self, Luna, we can't afford to waste any more time so I suggest we listen to him." Huh never thought she would take my side, I guess Discord is being more of a trouble than I expected, or maybe Luna told her what happens in the dreamscape, either way, works for me. "Excellent then, Celly you're on guard duty, I trust you can protect both Chrysalis and Gerindha?" she nodded in response, "good, now I have a rough plan so if you got a complaint then speak up, so everyone pays attention," they did so, Nox dispelled his screen once more and backed off, giving me a little bit of breathing room. With a hand gesture, the map replaced by 7 color-coded dots, 5 of them formed a circular shape while the rest is in the middle, "since I assume you princesses don't trust us enough to watch your back I'll put you both on the back, all you got to do is make sure the monster doesn't flank us, understand?" They both nodded, I let out a low sigh, glad both of them cooperating, I half expected Luna to complain about why am I the one giving out orders but I guess she can read the situation. "Now for the three of us, we're going with the usual three-member party strat," my brothers' perks up at the familiar term, "Nox, seeing you can form a strong barrier you'll be Tanker, Asriel you're on DPS role, I'll cast some buff spells and support from behind." The time wizard nodded while the Monster raises a hand, I made a 'go on' gesture for him to speak up, "why aren't you the attacker, wouldn't it be much faster if you throw some spells from afar?" I point a thumb toward the crater and raised an eyebrow. "...right, forget I asked that." I rolled my eye, "Anyway, now on to Chrysalis, since you're still a nymph," I ignored a shout of 'hey! ' "and I doubt you have any combat experience, you'll be sticking with Gerindah in the middle and sit tight, got it?" she pouted but nodded nonetheless. My eyes then landed on our newest party member, "I assume you can at least defend yourself?" "Y-yes, I can cast a few s-spells." "That's good enough I guess, now let's decide which route we're going to take, in favor of taking the shorter route say 'aye', if not say 'nay'." As expected Luna voted with 'aye' without hesitation followed by Celestia shortly. My brothers and Gerindha voted with 'nay' which earned them an ire look from the night princess. "Two against three, we're taking the more saver route," I said with a tone of finality, "Nox, how much time do you need to scout around for another way?" "Perhaps five to ten minutes," the Xelor answered." "Alright you heard the man, everyone gets prepare we're leaving at a moment's notice." With the strategy meeting done, I dispelled the illusion and everyone dispersed to make themselves ready. Since I can't throw spells carelessly without causing a cave-in, I focussed on some more defensive and support spells, maybe practice on how to control my magic output while I'm at it. Hopefully, everything is going smoothly. "Ew, this place stinks." "We're in a monster nest, Chrissy, being messy is normal for them." "Ahem." "Well, present company excluded." A quick glance to the ground illuminated by orbs of light circling our group, I could understand why the Changeling nymph couldn't handle the smell, aside from the wet, damp, and dank usual characteristic of an ordinary cave, a good portion of it is littered with bones and rotting carcasses of different size creatures, though I suspect those aren't the reason why the whole cave smell like a sewer. When we entered a rather large part of the cave, the ground here is a little bit...brown and wetter, I thought it was normal but that was before the smell hit us. Turns out the tunnel Nox choose is a dumping ground of some sort and not just 'leftover prey' or trash type of dump. 'It's shit.' There's no other way to put it, the ground is simply a layer of monster droppings mixed with other types of excrement, I wasn't expecting my first dungeon-crawling experience to be walking knee-deep in monster dung. In most comic and manga I've read, every place that fit the description of 'dungeon' has this picture of a normal cave filled with monsters, while there are some bones scattered around but it wasn't this bad. This poses no problem for 3 of our member that has wings, though Chrysalis is too young to use her wing however she's light enough to be carried by Gerindha without too much trouble, and could easily fly with how tall the ceiling is. As for the rest? We have to improvise. Nox clearly has the ability to fly as seen in the show when he fought Grougaloragran, an ancient dragon from another planet, but I guess he hasn't figured out how yet. As for Asriel? The only time he ever 'flies' is on the final battle and that is questionable since the whole stage is taken place in 'between the timelines' which is an endless black void with no hard ground. For me, I can easily 'willed' myself to fly by using Chaos Magic or cast 'Flight' but without any prior training, I'm not too keen on slamming my face against the wall or crashlanded face-first on the dung covered ground. So instead of flying over it, I made a small moving hexagonal platform for us to stand on by using 'Barrier' spell and command it to go forward. Unfortunately, while I maintaining the movement of both the see-through platform and the light orbs, I can't cast another spell without breaking my concentration, fortunately, we haven't encountered any monster yet. "Be on your guard," Nox alerted, his sword pointed at something far ahead in the darkness, "five goblins ahead, none of them has ranged weapons." Whoops, jinxed it. With a wave of my finger, I sent one of the orbs down the dark cavern lighting up the way ahead. Not far ahead a group of green-skinned creatures crouched around a half-eaten rib of...something, all gnawing on it like a pack of hyena. Before they could react to the sudden change of brightness, Asriel summoned his Chaos Sabers and flung them toward the goblins, the sabers then dissolves into multiples sparks, raining down on the monster. You know, the game never actually shows how the attack damaged the player other than lowering the player's health and the usual 5-second-invincibility-blink, there's no blood or gruesome animation since the whole battle part has only shown the player's 'soul', but here? Those 'sparks' aren't just 2-dimensional sprites pictured on a screen. Like a bullet, the sparks tore the goblins apart as if they were made of wet paper, chunks of flesh here, dismemberment there. It was as if someone fires a machine gun with mini saw blades as ammunition. The green-skinned creatures died in an instant, their body seems like they just got put through a grinder. "Bullseye!" Asriel exclaimed with a fist pump. I have to admit, with this much distance hitting those goblins would be hard, then again most of those sparks did miss the target. "That was awesome uncle Asriel!" a childish voice cheered, I took a glance behind and saw the changeling's eyes sparkled in awe, her ride, however, has a different thought with how green she's, thankfully she didn't falter. 'Strange, shouldn't the griffins be considered predators? A little bit of blood shouldn't bother her that much right?' I mentally shrugged, disregarding the thought. While it seems gross I don't actually feel anything other than a slight discomfort, similar to when one would find a squished bug under their hand. Probably some side effect of being displaced I guess. "Stop," Nox said suddenly, his hand pointing to a hole in the wall surrounded by stalactites, if he didn't point it out I would've missed it, "through here, there are a few monsters so be careful." Finally some action, I thought we'll be just walking around avoiding monsters. Nox pulled his Dial Clock Sword from his back, testing it with a few swings, and summoned the Eliacube in the other hand. Fireballs popped out of thin air and circled around Asriel, a pair of freshly conjured Chaos Saber in his hands. As for me, I open the Journal right at the beginning of the support spell section, note to myself, look for another weapon aside from a cane-sword, maybe a staff or wand. Before I can send in an orb of light in, the clock wizard jumped off and landed on the hard, definitely not dung, ground, and stabbed his sword down, he brought both of his hands forward and charged the Cube, both hands made an upside-down 'ok' symbol with both the tip of the thumb and index fingers connected causing a wave of blue light washed the surrounding, in the shadow I can briefly see silhouettes of various monsters. With a simple hand wave, I sent down a few light orbs to illuminate the area, a hand full of goblins, some of them are tall as a human adult, hob-goblin I remembered, standing still mid-motion as if time has frozen surrounded the chronomancer. While it seems it would be an easy group of mobs to deal with, these goblins and hobgoblins are more equipped although judging by their condition I guess they scavenged it from some sort of ruin. Most of them wore some kind of resemblance of armor made out of leather and metal, half of a shoulder pauldron here, a chest plate full of cracks there. Their weapon also looks like they could break at any moment, broken swords, dull axes, chipped blades, half of a spear, and other types of weapon in severe lack of maintenance. Asriel waste no time jumping off from the platform and began cutting down the green-skins, his moves are mostly erratic and half the time he swings blindly but with the monster stood still there's no need to dodge or deflect, added the fact his sabers sharpness is out of this world, any kind of protection the monster have means nothing. Nox followed soon after and unlike Asriel, the Xelor swings his sword without any excessive movement, each time he swung it cut clean through the goblins as if they were made out of paper. I, as a support mage, stayed back on the platform, watching my brothers made short work out of the monster. To be honest I would rather jump in and take part in the action but with how little control I have over my power, I cant cast offensive spells without putting others in danger, even with these inhibitors. Taking a look at the journal, I idly skimmed through the pages, finding a suitable support spell to use, just as I was about to cast 'Haste' Gerinda landed beside me with a squawk, her brow is dotted with sweat tears, as her passenger is buzzing her wings in sheer joy, or at least that's what I thought with how sparkly her eyes are. Should I be worried about her in awe of how good Nox is at killing? ...Nah, that's Nox's problem, if she grew up to be a tyrant that's on him. Besides, this world isn't the same as in the show, as far as I know, this place is where life can be taken easily with all the monsters roaming around so there's no harm teaching her how to defend herself. Not every problem can be solved with the power of friendship and rainbows with crap tons of glitter. While on that topic I wonder how Gerindha handles herself in combat, as a griffon I assume she can handle close quarter combat but with her only weapon is a staff I guess she's more adept in magic unless she has a hidden knife tucked somewhere under her feather since I found nothing of sort when I strip her off. That came out a bit weird, which is out of context since I use magic to remove her things. She's clearly proficient enough to cast some healing spell making her a White Mage but her species as a predator that relies more on their physical traits would make her a Brawler Mage, a type of mage that can enhance their strength and favor hand to hand combat rather than cast spells. I take a glance at Gerindha, looking for any sign of muscle on her rather thin body for a griffon which is hard to do because most part of her body is covered in fur and feathers. The only part I can clearly see is her front legs, there is certainly a small amount of muscle but- oh who am I kidding, those are chicken legs, no other way to put it. "You, alright?" I asked the griffons. She nodded, "y-yes, a little bit tired, but I-I can manage," she said, gasping for air in between sentences. "Listen, if you need to rest, tell us ok?" I told her, "it would be bothersome if you got caught by an ambush, you're carrying a VIP here." There was a snort as Luna landed near us, "and here I thought you have some shred of empathy but you just acted in your own interest, typical of you demons." "Oh really? And who suggested us to take the most dangerous way, knowing we have a non-combatant in our group?" I shot back with a light glare, "and I have a name you know, use it, meatbag." Huh, I just realized, I never address someone as 'meatbag' since I got transported, but I got to say it rolled off the tongue rather easily. Luna glares back and I return it twice as hard, if this was caught on camera there would be one of those lightning effects between us. "KIIIIEEEEEK!!!" A loud shriek broke our staring contest, I look past the pile of bodies littering the cave just in time as the last hobgoblin hit the ground, his arm followed shortly after a couple of feet away, the green-skin tries to crawl away with its remaining arm but a blade through its chest puts an end to it. "That's the last of them," Nox stated, pulling his sword from the hobgoblin and giving it a swing to flick the blood away, "hopefully that won't attract any more monster, Asriel, any trouble with yours?" The Monster in question stepped away from the recently beheaded goblin, avoiding the bloody fountain spray, and dismissed his Chaos Saber in a blur, "against these guys? Nah, they aren't that much of a challenge," he lightly kicks one of the still intact corpses aside, "besides, these guys are mob monster, canon fodders at best, there's no way something like this I can't handle." With the area cleared of monsters, save for one, the rest of us entered the hole. I jump down, dispelled the translucent platform once I touched the ground, and inspect one of the goblin's corpses, there's a huge gash on its chest and which has stopped bleeding. Picking up one of the many blades on the ground, I poke and prod the wound, trying to find where its magic core is, once I hit the spot where its heart should be I felt something hard, a bit of wiggling and prying the mysterious object popped out from the monster's chest. It was a round thing no bigger than a marble and looks similar to gemstone or crystals with its rough edges, the surface shines as it emits a soft white blueish glow. Picking it up I can feel something radiating from it, there's warmth but it wasn't just that, there is something I can't quite describe, probably magic. If this were a common Isekai manga, this would be an equivalent of a power source used for different purposes depending on how much magical power it contains, ranging from common AA batteries to nuclear power plants. Though that might be a stretch, however, there are some mangas that have beings with the title like 'Eater of World' or 'World Destroyer' so who knows, I might be right. In any case, I can see this can be useful in the near future, whether it be a power source for a tool or sell it for bits, heck maybe I can use it for others things. Now that I mention it, I could probably make some sort of staff that use these cores rather than my own magic to keep the spell from overcharging and possibly misfired, but then again there might be something that can use as a filter or power adjustment more efficient and easier to use compared to my shackles. So much to do with so little time and this is not the right place to do it, right now I should focus on getting as much magic core as I can. I snap a finger, conjuring a rather sharp but simple dagger the size of a kitchen knife and a brown pouch. Placing the magic core inside the pouch, I walk toward the other goblin corpse, this one missing its head, with the dagger tip resting on its chest I began to cut it open, tearing away the flesh as if it was wet paper. Or at least that's what suppose to happen before a single thought passed my mind. 'Why should I do it?' Well I mean besides the obvious, but why should I do the physical work of gutting it open and collect the magic core from the still-warm corpse. Sure, I can snap my finger to cut it open with magic and clean the core but I think this isn't just a one-time thing, who knows what happens if I left behind a body that has been exposed to Chaos Magic. Plus, the thought of getting blood on my clothes doesn't sit well with me. I open the Journal, hoping to find some sort of spell that can automatically process the goblin's corpse. If this was one of those 'a main character transported to another world as a Gamer' stories there would be a skill or ability named 'Dismantle' or something like that to somehow able to skin, butcher, and debone whatever animal or monster they killed. Then again, it could be the author decided it wasn't worth the time to put the whole scene in. Before I knew it, I had reached the end of the Journal spell part, and not once I found a spell that can be used, well there are some spells to cut things like 'Wind Slash' or 'Aqua Disk', I was tempted to just cast it and see if that would work but with my current condition, this place would be one big grave for us all. I could ask one of my brothers to do it for me like, you know, a little brother would do, they don't seem to mind the blood while they're chopping the monster left and right but since they're our main frontline I don't think it would be a wise to leave a hole in our formation. The same thing goes for the princesses though I suspect they wouldn't even consider getting their hooves dirty with blood, although judging from the way they carried themself I guess they aren't stranger to roughhousing. So that leaves me with the griffoness, which is actually a reasonable thing since she's a former bandit and a predator so it would make sense if she can skin and process her prey with just her claws alone. Besides, I got her under a deal so I might be able to change it up a bit, I'm sure she wouldn't mind a few extra works. "Oi, Gerindha!" Five minutes later all of the corpses are missing their core and she didn't even use the knife I gave her. Dungeon crawl, a term that usually used to describe when a fantasy-themed roleplaying game has a scenario where the player is exploring a labyrinth or some kind of ancient ruin most often than not underground with monsters lurking and crawling on every corner, avoiding hidden traps which can end someone in a painful way and most importantly- "Dad, Dad, look! There a lot of shiny gems in here!" Plundering whatever treasure or valuable object inside the dungeon. Not far from our last encounter we came across whats looks like a large open space with what seems to be a small encampment, makeshift tents made out of pelts from various different creatures are set up around a giant fireplace. There wasn't much interesting stuff at first glance, a few drying racks with questionable meats hanging off of them, a pile of weapons and armors in poor condition, and discarded bones littered the ground. The princesses suspected it might be a post of some kind that was used by the goblins, which turns out to be a pretty common thing in a Dungeon with multiple species of monster considering most of them are pretty territorial and it is clear that we're in their territory. Nox suggested we use this for a temporary resting place, which after a thorough searched by the princesses using a rather useful spell to detect any form of lifeform, we all agree on. While Asriel and the princess duo gather anything that looks flammable and start a fire, Nox, Crysalis, Gerindha, and I began searching the tents for something useful which isn't much, so far we only found some tools made out of bones and rock, a couple of black rocks which turns out to be flint, a rack full of dried herbs and makeshift ropes. That is until we look inside the biggest tent. The first thing that catches our eyes is a throne made out of bones and skulls, it might be more imposing if it isn't the size of a kiddie stool, besides it is rather large, compared to the bone throne, wooden chest with a metal frame and locking mechanism securing the loot inside it. I was going to search for a spell to open it but Nox beat me to it, a jab and a twist, the wooden container showed us its content. True to the young changeling's words it's filled with precious gems such rubies, emeralds, diamonds, topazes, and other shiny gems that I couldn't remember the name, not only that, there's a good amount of gold coins, or should I say bits, sprinkled among the shiny rocks This, of course, raised more questions regarding this world, where do the goblins obtain this? Why did they collect them? Is there some sort of economic value to them? Maybe they use this as some sort of currency? But that would mean there's some sort of civilization down here. "This doesn't make any sense," I muttered to myself but still loud enough for others to hear. "What was that uncle Bill?" asked the little changeling. I wave my hand in a dismissive gesture, "don't worry about it, I was just talking to myself," picking up one of the gold coins, I inspect it closer, "I was wondering why monsters had these, I suspected it holds some kind of value to them but from what I see, they're as smart as animals." Taking a closer look, these coins couldn't be possibly made by these goblins, it is way too detailed for a creature like them to make, on one side there's a carving depicting a side-way view of Celestia with her cutie mark, the same goes for the other side but with Luna. "..uh..um..." Gerindha began shakily, "I-its just a theory, b-b-but there are scholars that speculate it was a-a sign of s-s-strength, s-similar to that of d-dragons." Despite her stuttering almost made it hard to understand, it actually made sense why the monster hoarding things like dragons. If I remember what the Journal said about those fire-breathing winged lizards, one way to gauge how strong a dragon is is to simply look at its hoard, the bigger the pile means the more powerful the dragon is. But that leaves another question behind, are dragons considered to be monsters or it's simply the monsters who imitate dragons' behavior? If I had to guess its probably the latter, the Journal stated the dragons are sentient creature so that removed them from the 'dumb beasts' group. As for where they got the coins? Well, let's just say we're not the first who explore this cave and leave it at that. "Hmm, we should take this with us," Nox suggested, closing the chest with a loud clack, "it might be worth some money if we're planning to go to a town, Bill can you carry it?" I stared at him with a raised eyebrow, after pocketing the gold coin I snapped my fingers, and immediately the ground under the chest began to ripple and began to rapidly sink as if the wet dirt has been replaced by a patch of quicksand. "You do realize I have something similar to an 'Inventory' right?" I asked dryly. "I think a hammerspace would be more fitting since none of us have the system," he answers back dismissively and stood up, "if you aren't done taking everything that isn't nailed down, I'll be waiting with the other. Come on Chrysalis, I think Asriel is preparing those pies if my nose isn't wrong." She let out a little cheer, following her father closely with a skip on her step, "oh, oh, can I have the blueberry one? Princess Luna took all of them before I tried it." Whatever Nox's answer goes unheard as his voice grew faint, still I could help but felt ticked off hearing his little jab, I'm not going to take everything I can from this dump, most of it is considered trash in my book, sure I might take a few things that seem useful but I'm not going to take a whole pile of flint rock, I'm not a hoarder for Chaos sake. Letting out a huff of air, I look around the tent once more and the only thing that worth noting is a short, single-edged sword resting on a meat rack off to the side, actually calling it a sword might be inaccurate, a machete is more fitting. I pick it up by its leather handle and immediately felt there's it is something more than a 'rusted piece of metal'. Looking closer at the rust and dried blood-covered blade, there are vague traces of lines near the blunt side, grabbing a nearby rock I began to scrub the filth off so I can take a better look. At first, I thought it was some kind of decorative carving but what stuck out the most is how diverse the patterns are and each of them is separated by symbols of some sort. For all I know, this carving could be a script of some sort, written in a different language I haven't see. I was about to open the Journal and crossreference it but another thought crossed my mind. "Oi Gerindha, c'mere for a sec, got something to show you," with a squeak, she walked toward me and glancing toward the machete I'm holding with warry, her big eyes make it easy to read her. I offered her the rusty weapon handle first, "there's something on its side, got any idea what it is?" The griffoness carefully takes the machete, but once her talons touch its handle she let out a small gasp and suddenly yanked it out of my grasp. Gone was the timid eyes look, replaced by sharp-edged observing pupils, inspecting every single inch of the blade. She ran a talon over the carving and picking off any filth covering it. I look over her...erm where the shoulder should be to get a better look at what she is doing, "so?" I question her. Without taking her eyes off the machete, she replies "I'm not sure what it says, I've never seen writings such as these before but some of these, I recognize it. See this one here," she taps one particular 8-pointed star symbol, "it means 'magic' in unicorns tongue, and this one," this time she circles her talons around the chicken scratch pattern part, "is a statement written in my language, that is the griffins language, which says 'to cut'." While her explanation gave me a rough clue to what the machete actually is, the only thing that came across my mind is, 'who is this and what did you do to Gerindha?' It was as if a switch has been flipped in her mind, there isn't even a trace of the timid and meek griffoness, even her speech is different, don't get me wrong, its a good thing since I don't have to decipher whatever coming out of her mouth with all of the stutterings. Still a bit unnerving in my opinion. Anyway, back to the machete, based on what she's saying I guess it's some sort of magic weapon, enchanted with some kind of spell to cut everything. However, I had a feeling there's something more than that, there are more patterns, which are actually letters in another language, etched on it. "So it's an enchanted weapon," I voiced my thought, "got any idea on what it actually does other that, y'know, cut things like an ordinary machete?" She let out a hum and flip it around, looking at it from every angle, "there's more enchantment written in different languages," she answered, confirming my doubt, "usually something like this requires more power than the ambient magic alone to activate it, be it from the one who wields it or, ah here it is," at the bottom of the pommel is a hole big enough for my pinkie finger to fit inside. "Or a magic core," I finished, pulling out the brown pouch containing the cores from earlier out of my inner pocket. Taking a core out, I handed it to the griffoness which in turn insert it into the slot, with a click the core fit perfectly inside. There was a faint humming sound as the writing began to glow a soft bright yellow-ish light, shortly after that the weapon began to vibrate. Gerindha let out a gasp of surprise and drop the machete as it began to shakes harder, imagine our surprise seeing the rust and blood-covered blade sink half of its length into the dirt. Then as if the rust was somehow magically changed to water it began to 'trickle' down the blade. The both of was silent trough out the whole process, after a minute or two it gave a final shudder as the last speck of rust falls off, seeing the griffoness stares at the machete as if it would suddenly bite her I simply went and pulled it-"whoa!" Turns out, it didn't take much to pull it off. Thankfully I didn't fall on my butt like an idiot and managed to get my balance on my feet. The once filth-covered blade is now clean without a single stain on it, not only that it looks like it was freshly polished with how shiny it is, I can even look at my reflection on it. Giving it a few test swings, I can tell it's properly balanced and the leather grip is quite comfortable. As for how sharp it is, I test it against the meat rack and it felt like I just take a swipe at the air, granted it was made out of wood, and in bad condition, so I couldn't actually tell how effective it will be in combat. Oh well, I could just test it on some unfortunate monster that we'll meet later, for now, I think Asriel finished heating up the pies. With Gerindha in tow, we walk back to the center of the camp where I could hear the fire crackling, she seems interested in the magic weapon so I might lend it to her later. During the break, there wasn't anything much to talk about other than Luna occasionally jabs at me with her sharp tongue which I responded back kindly with my own and my brothers asking me what did I found. I showed the machete and pass it around our little group, bar Chrysalis which made her pout, so everyone can take a closer look, I asked Celestia if she can read the writing on it, and surprise-surprise, she could. Probably the perks of being royalty I guess. Turns out it was written in 4 different languages which are griffon, minotaur, unicorn, and surprisingly, dragon languages. Each language gives a different kind of enchantments on it, with the exception of unicorn's. I'm sure there's a proper noun for each language but at the time I was too busy stuffing my self so I only heard the snippet of her explanation. The first enchantment was written in minotaurs which roughly translated to 'return to the origin', Celestia explained it was an archaic version of a self-repair enchantment but an effective one, the next is in griffons language which is a sharpening enchantment hence 'to cut' statement. Those first two are fairly common enchantments found in weapons, the ability to keep it tip-top shape is more than useful and cost-effective since it doesn't need much maintenance, but the last one? Completely out of the picture. Turns out there are only a handful of spells and enchantments wrote using dragon language because who needs it when you can crush an entire building, have the ability to fly, and breathe fire. And because it was created using their language, whoever created it assumes only their kin would use it because it consumes a lot of magic, something other races are lacking, thus no one has ever used it, well aside from the winged lizard themself. Fortunately, the enchantment that was written on the machete was on the low tiered side so it only needs a small amount of magic to activate it, said enchantment was roughly translated to 'set aflame'. In short, I now have a flaming machete, pretty cool huh? As for the unicorn language, it doesn't have any notable effect on the surface but it acts as a universal adaptor for each language so the three enchantment works as intended. After an hour or so of break, we continued going in deeper this time a little bit more on edge than before, with the knowledge we're deep in goblin territory everyone didn't utter a single word or make idle conversation ever since we left the camp. Nox told us we're past the halfway mark and should reach our destination in another hour or two if we didn't encounter any more monsters. We had all of our eyes wide open in case any goblin tried to ambush us, Nox has a firm grip on his Dial Sword and Asriel has summoned both of his Chaos Saber and a couple of fireballs. I had my left-hand thumb marked the support spell section of the Journal and the enchanted machete on my right hand. The locals were also on alert, both princesses had their horns charged up ready to fire spells at a moment's notice and Gerindha flapped her wings once in a while, favoring flight rather than fight since having a passenger would weigh her down when fighting. So far we hadn't seen a single goblin or any other monster but I had this feeling in my gut that we're being watched, that feeling became tenfold as the ground around us begin to quake. I unconsciously stepped back as the shakes began to pick up the pace. Seeing the ceiling can collapse on us any second, I used the machete as an impromptu wand and rais it up, "Barier!" a hexagonal translucent wall protected us just in time before any of us got crushed. This continued for a few minutes, fortunately, whatever causing the shakes stopped before we got buried alive. "What the hell was that?" asked Asriel, breaking the silence, "Nox, you sure there isn't anything above or below us? Don't tell me we're right under a hydra nest." The time mage shook his head in a negative way, "no, I don't think so" he answered, summoning the Eliacube with one hand, "I think we should move quickly, whatever it was could come again so-" *C-c-crack* We all snapped our attention toward the source of the sharp sound, a part of the cave ground in front of us cracked as if something is forcing its way into the tunnel, I can sense everyone are holding their breath as the ground split open and five black tentacles arose, whipping back and forth as if looking for something, turns out that 'something' is us as the tentacle stop and 'stare' at us. Then the quakes began again, this time stronger and closer, the ground around the tentacles began to bulges as if something big is coming, and with a loud thump it erupted, sending dust and rocks up that fills up the cave. Thankfully we're far enough so the bigger debris didn't hit us but the dust dampened our vision a bit, Asriel doubled the number of his fireballs and held one of his sabers backward. Nox holstered the Dial Sword in favor of using the Eliacube, both of his hands already in a gesture, ready to halt time at a moment's notice. I simply flicked the Journal open, Haste, Penetration, Streght, and Sharp Reflex buff spell are wide open to read and cast. As the dust settles, we can see something moving, slithering to be more accurate, up from the hole. The first thing that came up to my mind was it was big, actually calling it big would be an understatement, it might take four or five adults to completely encircle it with their arms. The second thing is it was covered in brown scales but not completely as there are some pink spots missing its cover, the most prominent is a giant gash mark on its side. I followed the wall of scales up, and up and up, until I had to bend backward to see its head. I have to say, I think we're getting either a juiced-up version of creatures from the show or a completely different package of monster, no it wasn't some kind of land serpent, a hybrid of dragon and snake or god forbid giant basilisk with petrifying gaze because we would be statues the moment we stare at its six eyes, each filled with hunger predatory intent. No, wait, five eyes since one of them has a cut mark across it. Still didn't make it any less frightening as the tatzlwurm bare its tripartite jaws, showing rows upon rows of fangs ready to shred any unfortunate prey it manages to catch. The dark scales covering the head are also battered up similar to the rest of its body showing how many battles it has been through, and probably won, the same thing can be said for its grey mane. None of us or the giant monster worm moved an inch or make any sound, other than the dripping saliva, the tension in the air is so thick you could cut it and serve it as a meal. As if there's an unseen sign for us, the tatzlwurm reared its ugly head back and let out an ear-piercing screech, it's five tentacle-tongue whipping back and forth like they're possessed. With its jaws wide open, the huge worm lunges with an intent to swallow us whole. Author's Note So it's been more than a year hasn't it? So I wasn't lying this story would be updated at least once a year, I know it's a long time to wait for a chapter but at least it's consistent. Other than Covid, I had loads of reasons why I dipped off the radar without any notice and put my stories on hiatus, mainly because was accepted as an intern, a paid intern mind you. So for the past 6 and a half months, I work as an assistant in an IT company, though it was mainly due to school having this 'field test' sorta thing, documenting whatever the hell I did there, there's a term for it but I don't know how to translate it. That was the first real-life related reason, the second was I was busy moving to another house so I won't have to walk my ass miles to where I 'work', I know everyone is working from home with the lockdown is in effect but the place where I'm staying had this rule that allows you to work at the workplace if your home at a certain distance. I did try to work from home in a manga translator group but it got flopped since there's no one that can read Japanese in our group and relies heavily on machines. Next up is the internet-related reasons, well it's more like excuses rather than reasons. Ever since I fall down the V-tuber rabbit hole, specifically Hololive, my productivity has been down the drain, and when they announced the branch members, HoloID gen 1 & 2, HoloMyth, and the recently debuted EN V-Singer, whatever left of my motivation just got dumped to the sea and never to be seen again until it washed up ashore like 2 weeks ago. Not to mention Coco's graduation just kicked me to Depression Ville. So yeah, I've been working my ass off to make it up for the past 12 months in a span of 2 weeks, which is too long in my own opinion. I won't be updating this story before the other one so go check it out and whatnot. As always, keep on the lookout for typos, grammar errors, and tell me what do you think of this chapter! Again, thank you all for reading and I hope you enjoy it if you don't then don't be afraid to criticize it, I still have a long way to go!
A Fight(?), More Looting, and Descent Deeper into the DungeonBefore the tatzlwurm could swallow us whole, Nox made his move and released a blue wave, halting the beast movement. I waste no time casting a spell, still using the machete as a wand, I point it toward the ground, "[Widden Magic : Penetration, Haste, Strength, Magic Boost]!" A large pure white-colored magic circle with multiple layers appears beneath us, each layer has a different set of runes matching the spell I cast. One by one they light up in sequence and cover us in a thin layer of magic before dissipating. The spell took effect in an instant as I could feel Asriel's fireballs doubled in size and burned twice as bright. Noticing this, the Monster Prince sent his flame down the worm's mouth, wasting no moment he summoned his fire once more and coated both of his Chaos Saber. And then he moves. Faster than my eye can see, he disappears, leaving behind a cloud of dust, a second later he reappears right underneath the worm, both of his sabers buried deep inside it. I let out a hum, is this the effect of 'Haste'? The Journal did say it was to accelerate movement but I didn't expect it to be this much. With a roar, Asriel dragged his sabers further down the tatzlwurm body, leaving a trail of fire in his wake. Not wanting to be outdone I brandished my own weapon and charge. Since the bottom part is already taken care of I opted to attack the top part, with 'Strength' buff spell in effect I easily jump on its head. Using the momentum and 'Penetration' spell in effect, the machete sinks through its scaled body and flesh as if it was made out of butter. Thinking back to Celestia's explanation about the draconic enchantment about it requiring a small amount of magic, for dragon standard, I pumped a good chunk of magic down my hand, which the machete greedily sucked all of it up and instantly burst into flames. Despite the putrid smell of burning flesh and the darkish fire licking my hand, I felt no pain from the flame, only a soft warm feeling at the handle. Probably a part of the enchantment to protect the wielder? Focusing back, I began to run along its body leaving behind a large gash and burnt flesh, unlike my brother I didn't leave behind fire trails. As I dragged my machete, there was a slight movement from the giant worm, it was small but gradually became more notable, I realized Nox's magic began to lose its effect. Not wanting to be tossed around like a lump of dead meat, I pushed my legs to their limit. Just when the magic was about to lose its effect, I jumped off the beast and cast a "[Barrier]", creating a platform to land on. I was ready to cast another spell but something bright caught my eye. At the other end of the tatzlwurm, Celestia's horn glowing brightly, a trio of stalagmites floats in the air suspended by her magic, pointed tip first directly toward its head. There was a flash of dark blue light from her sister and the rock sharpened in an instant. Sensing the danger, and the magic restricting its movement wore off, the worm beast reared its head back and let out a screech of a mix between panic and pain, no doubt its brain finally registered the damage. Realizing that it has been severely beaten in a short time, the worm began retreating back down where it came from but Celestia put a stop to that. Aiming the sharpened rocks at an angle, Celestia hurled them right at its head with all of her might and with a distance that short all of them strike true, not only that, she even managed to nail the beast on the roof of the cave. Much to my surprise, it didn't kill the worm completely, I couldn't see clearly where she actually hit it but I assume she missed the vital spots. However, it didn't deter the giant worm's attempt to retreat, in fact, it became more emboldened to get the hell out of here. Letting out another ear-piercing screech, this time notably wetter, and began to wiggle around in an attempt to release itself, due to its large body, each movement shook the whole cave and threatened to bury us alive. There was another blue flash, this time more on the lighter shade, and the worm promptly went silent. I thought Nox cast another time-stopping spell but once the worm's body suddenly drops down and leaves the head still nailed on the roof, I realized he just straight up decapitated it in one swing. Huh, I knew Nox is strong enough to take on a full-grown dragon but I didn't think he could be this strong from the get-go. And just like that, our 'fight' is over "It would be nice if they last more than a minute," I told myself. Don't get me wrong, it's great when they die in just one shot but it would be boring if this keeps happening, not to mention would end up biting us in the long run. Relying on pure power to overwhelm an opponent could only get you so far. Asriel let out a scoff, "We've only been in this world for less than a week and you are already looking forward toe to toe with some kind of demon lord?" He shook his head at the thought, "I know you have some reality-bending power but don't get that into your head, Bill." No matter how tempting it is to test my power against someone like Tirek, one of the most powerful beings in this world that I know of, it would be stupid to release him this early, not to mention the scar from Demon War still fresh since it ended not too long ago. Although, since there are some elements from our original bodies' world present here on Equis, there's a possibility that a much stronger foe could appear in this world. Take Shushu for example, at first glance they're nothing more than your usual demons roaming around the world but their existence alone only suggests their lord, King Rushu, exists somewhere out there. It might sound like an average demon lord that fated to be defeated by some hero but King Rushu is not someone that can be defeated by a 'hero'. To put it simply he's a Demon God, the strongest one at that since he managed to defeat any other demon in his generation, it took a literal honest to god...well God of War to push him back to his realm. Who knows, maybe we will come across him in the future. "You and I both know we lack fighting experience, taking on something like him would be a death sentence," I answered, "Besides why bother breaking into a literal hell when there are dragons roaming around the world?" That seems to shut him off, however, there's some uncertainty in his eyes. In a way, I understand his concern, a dragon isn't a common mob monster anyone can beat with swords, bows, and magic. If the Journal is correct, those flying lizards are basically flying tanks with enough strength to destroy a decent sized village or town. With high physical strength, thick scales, and natural resistance to magic, they're the apex predator on both land and air. Taking down just a single dragon would need some serious force, a kingdom could possibly do it if they use every single one of their soldiers, not to mention how big the casualty would be. Despite that, some might say the sacrifice outweighs the result, the materials gathered from a dragon's corpse are highly sought after, for example, their scale is commonly used to create armor that can brush off both physical and magical attacks, the organs can be used as a potent alchemy ingredients, bones and fangs can be forge to create nigh unbreakable weapons. However, there is one thing that caught my eye, a small note at the bottom of the page told a short rumor of old, supposedly a master of alchemy manage to make some sort of potion of immortality from an Elder Dragon's heart called 'Blood of God', a name given after its crimson red color. Speaking of materials, I ran my hand across the tatzlwurm's scaly body as I walked, wondering if its body could be used for anything. The scales might be used to create armor, it might not be as strong as dragons but at least it's stronger than leather. And as for the core, I don't know where exactly it is but searching through its several meters long body would be a hassle, not to mention how bloody it would be, it would be a waste to just leave it here and I am rather curious how big the core is. "-nd they were like whoos, shing and then you are like Wapow! And cut its heads off!" My train of thought was broken by Chrysalis talking animatedly to Nox like some kind of kid after watching their favorite action show, "That was awesome!" It was amusing seeing her like that, talking as if nothing ever happened, I was sure she might get some kind of mental scar after almost being swallowed. "You guys alright?" I asked, making sure everyone got away with nothing more than a bruise. "Yes, we are fine," Said Celestia, using her magic to dust off some dirt on her white fur, "Honestly, it took me by surprise, I have never seen someone use Time Magic to that extent." I shrugged in response, not seeing how big of a deal it was, "He's a Xelor, time is basically his plaything." Taking a look at the rest of our party, they came out unscathed with Luna and Gerindha both staring at the headless body of the worm, though the latter was clearly shaken by the brief encounter, even as I got close to her, she still stares at it as if it'll come back to life. "Hey, you alright?" I asked, breaking her stupor by poking her 'shoulder'. With a jolt and a sharp inhale, she answered "Y-yes, I'm f-f-fine." Ah, there's her stutter, to be honest, a small part of me thinks it was cute. Making sure she told me the truth, I examined her up and down, looking for any sign of injury. I could just cast a healing spell on her, pretty sure the Journal has one or two, but I rather not risk tainting her with Chaos. True to her words, other than a few ruffled feathers, I don't see any injury on her. I shrugged in an 'if you say so' gesture, "Alrighty then, if no one is injured, we should get a move on, we're burning daylight. I'm starting to get sick of this cave." "The Demon is right," surprisingly it was Luna who agreed, "we are still in the goblin's territory, this disturbance would attract them here, we better hurry up before they come." While a single goblin sounds non-threatening, an adult person could defeat one or two with nothing but a hoe, a whole horde of them could spell disaster even for a well-fortified city and that's not counting the other types of goblins. And since we're smack-dab in the middle of their territory, for all we know there's already a horde of them on our tail. Fighting them is out of the question since we have a non-combatant and a miss fired spell could cast a disaster, pun not intended. "Unfortunately we have to take another route," Nox butted in, his hand pointed toward further down the cave outside my light orbs range. I was about to send one of my orbs but something beat me to it and lit the path ahead, like a flying flashlight, the Noxin which my brother sent ahead of us lit up the cave ahead with its singular lense. Turns out, whether it was before or during our battle, the giant worm had caused a cave-in. Lucky it wasn't on top of us, unlucky our current path is now blocked by a pile of rocks. While it put a damper on our rather straightforward plan, it posed nothing more than a small obstacle in our way, however, the steady stream of water flowing down between the rock from above made me think otherwise. Asriel let out a sigh, "great, now we have to backtrack our way," I silently agree with him, although there's a chance we encounter a band of monsters investigating our little scuffle. A small part of me was looking forward, and a bit eager, to getting a scrap with the green skins. Even with a superior number, I get the feeling they wouldn't be much of a problem and this place is perfect to set up a choke point, only one way they came but unfortunately no way out for us. It might be best to dig to another part of the cave for retreat, even if it might become another way for the monster to attack us, but I think my brother could keep the way clear. "Oi Royal Flanks," that got me a glare from the youngest sister, "you got anything to dig us out of here? I would do it myself but I don't think an early grave sounds nice." While Luna let out a huff and not much else, her sister was about to reply but Nox beat her to it, "I think that wouldn't be necessary, Bill, can you bring up the map?" I raised an eyebrow at his request but nonetheless I brought it up with a swish of my 'wand'. Strangely, I still remember every branching pathway, dead ends, and other nooks and crannies like the back of my hand, I was half expecting the map would be an unrecognized jumble of mess by this time but it seems I have a clear memory of it as if it was burned into my memory. 7 colorful dots representing us were on a rather straightforward section of the cave leading to the Tree of Harmony, however, with the recent event, the way forward was cut off and replaced by a dead end. Taking a look at where we are, I can see why Nox would be against digging our way to another part of the cave as where we currently are is rather isolated from the other cave system, the nearest one being right on top of us which is a huge chamber half-filled with water, given how there are multiple huge snake-like monsters poking out of the water surface it doesn't take a genius what kind of place that is. At least we know where the water is coming from. "So what cha' got for us, Nox? Between you and me, and probably everybody else, an early watery grave right in the middle of a snake den doesn't sit well with me," I said, raising an eyebrow to the Xelor. In response, he 'draw' a line with his own magic with his fingertip near where we are, "as we can see, we cannot risk another cave-in, therefore we cannot afford to damage the surrounding cave structure, that means we will not dig our way out of here and steer clear of any fight to avoid collateral damage." Even wearing a mask, I got the feeling he took a glance at me when he said the last part. "However that doesn't mean we do not have a way out of here," he said, referring to the line he drew which is right near where we are, it took me a moment to realize which way he's referring to. "Pardon me for interrupting, Mister Nox, but the passage you're suggesting is in fact made by a foul monster, for all we know it could lead to its nest." butted Celestia, she then nudged her head toward the headless tatzlwurm corpse, "and it's still inhabited by its late digger, I am ashamed to admit it but our magic is still weak so we cannot help, furthermore this Elder Tatzlwurm has a high magic resistance even after death." Elder Tatzlwurm? Is that a souped-up version of monster? It does make sense, according to my meta knowledge at least, I was expecting it to be something like 'Alpha' or 'Greater' but that is common in isekai troupe. "I was expecting you to say that, however, we wouldn't be needing your help," Nox said in understanding, and like any older brother would do he turned his attention to me, even with his face covered I already knew what he's going to say, "dear little brother if you would be so kind." I rolled my singular eye and let out a scoff, nevertheless, I complied, "Whatever you say, dear brother." With a single snap, the giant corpse vanished from existence similar to how the chest earlier sunk into the ground and to my 'inventory', the same can't be said for its head since I don't want to have something that messy inside my hammerspace. Ignoring the dumbfounded look the locals give me, except Chrysalis who is in awe, I nudge Nox with my elbow, "c'mon we're wasting time, since it was your idea you go first." "Hmm, I suppose you're right, we do not want to end in an early grave now do we?" he jabbed in a humorous tone to which I clicked my tongue but grinned nonetheless. The xelor's mask flashes and a 'beep-beep' noise is made, on the other end of the cave I can see the Noxin circling the hole before diving in, presumably scouting ahead in case we end up in the monster's nest as Celestia said. A couple of seconds later we got the all-clear from Nox, telling us the way ahead is devoid of any monster and traversable. With that tidbit of information, we continued our walk. For a tunnel created by a monster worm, it was surprisingly clean, well clean as in there's no excrements or 'leftover' from its prey but that doesn't mean it was easier to walk on. The ground was covered by debris from the collapsed wall and ceiling, while the locals had little to no difficulty walking on their four legs, or in Gerindha case claws and paws, we bipedal had to watch where we were stepping so we didn't trip or fall. Add in the fact water decided to follow us makes it even harder not to slip. While the rough terrain did hamper us a little bit, the tunnels were high enough for us to walk up straight without our heads touching the ceiling, the same can't be said about the width so we're forced to walk on a single row, while I believe Nox can handle the front side I still had my doubt on the princesses. They might be all-powerful Alicorns but from what I've seen I think they aren't as strong as how the show portrays them to be, so far they haven't thrown a single earth-cracking-weather-changing-eyes-blinding spell, the most impressive I've seen was when we're 'fighting' the giant worm earlier but it was nothing but a simple application of 'Reshape' and telekinesis to throw the sharpened rocks. It might have something to do with the Everfree Forest's natural magic inhibition, but I doubt the forest's natural magical dampener can reach this far underground, or they're not that powerful yet, whatever the reason is I expect them to be more than just meat shields. Speaking of magic, I'm still finding a way to add a 'filter' function on my shackles, currently, it can only limit how much Chaos Magic I can use, any more than a certain amount it would activate its function and completely block my magic. To put it simply, it's nothing more than a magical circuit breaker. It does absolutely nothing to counter the Chaos Magic residue other than limiting how much I can exert in a single spell, which means it is absolutely useless if I were to cast multiple spells. Bit by bit is going to be a mountain eventually. There are a few ways of getting around this problem however only 2 were the most commonly used, at least according to the Journal. The first one is to separate the raw magic from Chaos Magic, which is harder than it sounds, one would meditate for a very long time, it could take months or even years, aside from that there are also other additional steps that are also time-consuming. I might do that if I can figure out how the original Bill manipulated time or created a pocket dimension but for now that would be on the backburner. The second one, which is easier and faster, is to use an enchanted artifact that could turn one type of magic into another and enhance it, like a staff that can increase the potency of a fire elemental spell even if the user is not adept at pyromancy. On paper, I could make an enchantment specifically to separate raw magic from Chaos Magic and apply it on a staff or gloves, the problem is I have no idea how to make an enchantment or enchant something. Moments like this make me wish I had Bill's innate capability and understand anything right off the bat. There might be a guide on enchanting in the Journal but this isn't the right time nor place to do it, best to do it in a safe environment and away from any living creatures in case my Chaos Magic goes awry. For now, focus on getting the Elements. The sooner we get our hands on them, the sooner I can do experiments with my newly gained power. Actually I could use one of my favors to ask the royal princesses to make me my own staff, with their status I have no doubt they can order someone top of the line enchanter or staff maker to make a high quality filter staff. My train of thought was interrupted as Asriel nudged my ribs with his elbow, "got something on your mind?" He asked, looking at me over his shoulder, "I haven't seen you think that deeply since the last time you took the exams." I shrugged in response, "nothing to worry about, just thinking about my magic that's all. Still looking for a way to use them safely." He hummed, turning back his head forward, "aren't those shackles good enough? So far you haven't buried us alive yet so that's a good thing." I shook my head, “they are only good for limiting how much I could use so the spell I cast doesn't overload,” I lifted my right hand up and ‘willed’ the shackle to appear, “the residue is still there so it might corrupt other living beings." Now that I think about it, I wonder what would happen to the crater I made yesterday, no doubt it's a ground zero for Chaos Magic but I think the Everfree natural magic inhibitor could take care of it. I dismissed the shackle with a thought, "how bout you, got any problem with your magic?" Asriel let out a hum, "not really, in fact it was easier than I expected. I don't know how to explain it but everytime I use magic my body just knows what to do as if it was muscle memory." Interesting, while I haven't experienced something like that, I might have an idea why it happened. Amongst the three of us, Asriel was the only one who came from a game so there’s a chance he got some kind of game mechanic, and since his attacks have names, there might be a ‘moves’ function similar to Pokemon game. However, is it only limited to that? While Undertale can be completed without killing a single monster, the system is similar to most RPG games, kill monsters, gain experiences and Ilevel up, the usual stuff. From what I’ve read from various media, whoever possesses this system could hypothetically become an ever evolving organism that gets stronger the more they kill with no limit. But since we're talking about Asriel here, I think it wasted on him being the end game boss with infinite health point, defense and attack. The only thing that could be of use is the inventory function. I could ask him to bring out the status window, to see if he has the gamer system but this isn't the place or time to ask it, yet another thing to add to the backburner. “That's a deep hole.” We reached the end of the worm-made tunnel, well actually the rest of the tunnel is on the other side of a gaping hole big enough for a 4-seater car to fall in. It was easy enough to cross the hole, a single cast of ‘Barrier’ for a bridge is enough, however Nox had other ideas as to why he brought me in front of the group. “Bill, do you have anything to help us go down?” I raised an eyebrow at his question, but nonetheless I shrugged, “I can make a moving platform like earlier but…” glancing at the hole, I can't help but ask, “do we really have to go down there?” “It’s the fastest way and I already have my Noxin scouted ahead, there’s nothing down there,” he patted my back in a reassuring manner ,“so don’t worry about it.” I let out a snort, “don’t blame me for being paranoid, for all I know there could be one of those spider traps down there.” A single hexagonal shaped barrier later, we all began moving down the gaping hole, albeit rather slowly. I might be able to move it faster but with how terrible my magic control is and not a clear ground to land on, I rather not. As we descended down the hole, I sat down cross legged right in the middle of the platform and…well there isn’t much to do other than keeping the platform moving. Seeing the other is keeping eyes from any surprises from above and holes on the wall. With the exception of Gerindha and Chrysalis to which I motion both to sit by patting an empty spot beside me. Surprisingly, the little bug jumped on my lap and settled down like a common house cat. I'd be lying if I didn’t find it cute so I let it pass, Gerindha seems perplexed but nonetheless sat near me. We sat in an awkward silence, occasionally broken by the little changeling letting out a satisfied hum as I pet her, hey if she’s behaving like a cat might as well treat her like one. However, the silence is starting to get on my nerves so I decided to have a little chat with the griffoness. “Sooo…” I began, purposely drawing out the ‘o’ to catch the griffoness’ attention, “any reason why are you using a staff? Besides the obvious of course, I was assuming you griffons prefer something like a sword or spear.” “...I…I am not g-good at all u-using weapons or f-fighting…” I had to strain my ear to pick up what she said, “t-the only thing I-I can do is use m-magic, but I-I can only cast m-minor spells s-so I use it to a-amplify my s-spells.” I let out a hum, still finding it weird why a griffin like her would rather prefer using magic, even if she claims to be bad at using weapons, her talon is sharp enough to deal some damage. “So are you any good at casting your spell?” I asked, trying to get more information on how magic works, who knows maybe I’ll get an explanation the Journal doesn’t have. “I-I think so, b-but most spells I know is only the basic, so I still have to study more,” she answered, her left middle claw idly tracing the Barrier surface, “i-it’s the reason why I t-travel here to E-Equestria, to study more m-magic.” Well it's not much of a surprise when I heard the lands of ponies is the ideal place to study magic, with how one-third of its inhabitants had a wand literally grown on their skull and cast magic spells with a flick of their head. What surprised me was her reasoning, sure griffins are able to use their magic similar to pegasus, push clouds, stand on it, etc, but casting spells like unicorns? I’ll admit it does sound interesting to learn how she did it. “And what, a lowly bandit like you, will use our magic knowledge for, to raid another village perhaps?” It wasn’t a surprise when Luna decided to put her two cents in with some heat behind it. Clearly shocked at the sudden accusation, Gerindha rapidly shook her head, “No, I would never do something like that!” With a snort, the moon princess began to walk toward the griffin, “bah likely story, as if your guild action hasn’t caused more trouble than they already are.” Before she could size up to the shrinking griffon, I stood up and blocked her way with an arm “knock it off Moon Booty, beside what’s your problem with her?” That might be a bad move considering now I’m the target of her ire “the fact that she belongs to a guild that has repeatedly attacked merchants leaving villages without food or medicine? Or maybe the numerous times they raid settlements and kill all of the inhabitants? Or perhaps the countless lives of our loyal soldiers THEY'VE ENDED?!" With each accusation her voice became louder and the wings flared in a sign of dominance. She would've looked threatening if not for the height difference, though her horn is dangerously close to my eye. “Um, guys?” I let out a sigh at her little rage, “let me make that clear so your small brain can understand,” I shot back, “what is your problem with her? All the crap you said was about the Flaming Claw-” “It’s Flaming Talon, Uncle Bill!” “Thank you Chrisy, anyway what you just said is what Flaming Talon did, even if she’s a member of a bandit guild that doesn’t mean you should treat her like one.” “Guys…” “Bah, what do you know about them, demons? As you said it yourself, you and your cohorts are new to this realm, I wouldn't doubt your realm is nothing more than a barbaric land if letting criminals go is completely normal.” “Guys!” “I assure you, where we are from is much more civilized than your kingdom, it's not a high bar to reach compared to a kingdom ruled by animals.” That jab might hit a nerve with how her horn starts sparking and the face adopts a fierce borderline feral look. Even when the sparks almost hit my only eye, I can't help but feel…satisfaction? Glee? Joy? Whatever it is, it brought a wide smile on my face. “Why you-!” “GUYS!” Both of us turned toward the source of the yell, while I only raised an eyebrow toward Asriel, Luna was rather vocal with her opinion and yelled back. “WHAT?!” The monster prince flinched at the shout but still held ground, “do I need to remind you we’re in the middle of a goblin's nest?!” He whisper-yelled, “I swear to god if we’re getting swarmed by those green skin, it's both of your fault.” I let out a scoff, “hey, don't blame me, I was just having a small talk with our tour guide here," I then pointed a thumb toward the moon princess, "if its anyone fault, its hers." "I said both of you, I don't care who started it first but we're knee deep in shit right now. At least wait it out until we're clear from here so shut it!" With his piece said leaving no space for me to retort, Asriel went back to keeping eyes on the surrounding wall. I glanced at Luna, she sent a 'we'll finish this later' glare before stomping away to her sister's side. I let out a hum at the situation and went back sitting next to the now semi-curled Gerindha. "...s-sorry," the griffoness said meekly, with how big her eyes are, it was easy to tell she's almost burst a tear duct, "f-for troubling you,I s-shouldn't t-t-talk too m-much, I-I k-kn-" Aaand she's back to her stuttering mess, great. Not wanting to waste another second trying to understand her I place my hand on top of her head and give it a little pat. "Relax, it wasn't your fault," I said, trying to console the griffoness, "beside, she's the one that butt in so don't worry about it." "B-but you d-didn't ha-" "Don't forget we have a deal, if I remember correctly we, or at least I, would keep you away from any dungeon or jail in return you give us your knowledge about these lands, so don't worry about the princesses hounding you." For a moment I thought she's going to bawl her eyes out but instead she gave a silent nod and sat close to me, perhaps a little too close with how she put her head on my lap, not that I'm complaining. I felt a nudge on my free arm, from the corner of my eye I could see Chrysalis staring at me, her eyes gesturing to the oversize winged cat I'm petting. Without uttering a single word I placed my other hand on her head and earned a happy squeak. And the rest of the trip is spent in silence. "Well this is it, if my map is correct, which so far has been true, all we have to do is open this gate and go to the other side of this room." We all gathered in front of a giant metal double door, big enough to fit a whole tanker, its surface covered with runes from top to bottom. If I had to guess what their purpose is it might be to strengthen the doors and other security measures. The way here is surprisingly smooth with no traps, no ambushes around the corner and sudden 'mini-boss' encounters like tatzlwurm from before. Though technically there were traps but not as in pressure tile triggered arrow, poison gas or trapdoor with spikes at the bottom. The trap I'm talking about was the big-ass spider Nox's Noxin saw earlier in the day, according to Gherinda they're called Giant Trap Spider, which is pretty self explanatory, they're giant spider that primary hunting method using traps similar to their earth counterpart the Australian trapdoor spider. While they don’t shoot acid spit or have highly toxic deadly venom, they make up for it in the brain department, they're smart enough to create more elaborate traps and other trapping equipment such as nets, ropes and strings. From a simple web trap, trapdoor ambush, booby trap, to more complex string triggered traps that can launch nets, lift you up by the foot or simply drop a pile of rock held by a net right on top of you. And why does this become relevant? Turns out the hole we're descending through leads to their territory. Not only they're smart enough to set up traps and ambushes they're also equally smart at hiding, by weaving the surrounding material with their string to their body almost similar to ghillie suit, they're able to camouflage themselves with the environments. So when we got to the ground level at first glance there's nothing but a straight path toward the Tree of Harmony without any sign of those 8 legged freaks. Only because of Gerindha's sharp eyesight stopped me from dispelling the barrier and dropping our party right to a grinder. Somehow her eyes caught a sliver of almost invisible thin string amongst the darkness which led to a seemingly innocent yet odd pile of rock on the ceiling that is actually a cleverly disguised giant spider using loose rocks to hide itself. A fireball courtesy of Asriel took care of it, a direct hit set the hiding spider ablaze and immediately killed it. However that single fireball had unintentionally hit other almost invisible strings. Unlike their counterparts on earth their silk doesn't 'melt away' when exposed to fire, the strings burn quite well, almost like a rope soaked in gasoline. Not long after that a total of 7 giant spiders dropped from their hiding spot with a squeal as their camouflage caught on fire. Sensing the danger they're in, the other giant spiders abandoned their hiding spot and began skittering away from us. However their effort is for naught as Asriel began throwing fireball after fireball, setting the whole cave on fire just like he said he would. The rest of our party didn't just sit and watch, the sisters cast fire-based spells with deadly precision and forcefully pull out the ones hiding underground, while Nox kept any giant spider that’s brave enough to get close with his sword. As for me, Chrysalis, and Gerindha? We're on the clean up duty, the little changeling told me the Giant Trap Spider silk is a rare commodity and many tailor would pay a hefty sum for it, and so with a little telekinesis magic I was collecting the silks that spared from the fierily onslaught while the griffoness collect magic cores from the spider's corpses. Not long after that whole burning cave fiasco we finally arrive at the metal doors. "But how do we open it up?" asked Asriel, "there's no handle, keyhole or anything and pushing it is definitely impossible." I let out a hum and combed through the journal for any sort of clue but, "nope, all of these runes don’t match up with what I got. Oi, princesses got any clue what we're dealing with?" Luna is more than content on ignoring me, Celestia on the other hand, or hoof, had her eyes on part of the runes around where the keyhole should be, not long after that she let out a gasp. "No,but…perhaps?...it could be" she muttered to herself. Nox raised an eyebrow at her reaction, "care to share your findings, princess?" "I am not certain but," she trailed off, her head turning toward her sister, "Luna, do you perhaps recognize these runes?" It took the moon themed princess a single glance to be equally interested, she let out a gasp, her eyes widened, "this…this is the same rune we used on our doors when we were little!" "So I assume you're familiar with it?" I asked, to which Celestia nodded "Yes, these are the same rune mother put on our room door to protect us," in a split second her eyes had a longing look but disappears a moment later, "It is a simple yet effective lock enchantment that can only open by certain set of runes that act as a 'key' or specific magic signature" "Well that's troubling, suppose you have whatever this 'key' is?" She shook her head "no, but this is almost identical to the one when we were fillies, we can try to open it with our magic." "By all means, go ahead," with that, the rest of our party stepped away from the metal doors letting the princesses do their thing. It didn't take long for the magic to happen, once both of them touched their horns on the doors the runes on the door began to glow like a Christmas tree and a loud thunk-thunk sound of the lock mechanism undoing itself reverberated through the cave. The doors began to slowly open inward, its hinges groaning in protest. Despite the size and the force needed to open it, not a single rock falls from their place nor there's any crack on the wall. With the last thunk the door lay silent and the runes began to dim, it didn't open fully but enough for us to enter one by one. We all looked at each other, including the princesses, despite none of us uttering a word the question of 'who goes first?' was asked. I felt someone shoved my shoulder, turning around to see the culprit. I met with Asriel, his head gestured toward the opening. 'You go first.' I sent him a deadpan look, an eyebrow raised. 'Why should I?' He pointed a finger at me. 'It was your idea.' Letting out a low sigh, I mentally prepared myself to enter the giant room. Even if my map show's there's nothing but a pile of something in the middle of the room, stepping inside felt like swimming in an open ocean, there's no telling what else is hiding in the darkness. "[Twin Magic:Light Orb]!" Two glowing white orbs the size of basketball appeared from a magic circle in front of me, I mentally commanded them to enter the gap and go in the opposite direction of each other, not long after that I followed. The first thing that came to my mind when describing this room would be 'boss room', a giant spacious room with almost nothing to hide behind. And when I say giant I mean 'enough to fit a whole baseball stadium with enough space for the parking lot' giant, can't even see the ceiling. Even my light orbs which glow like an industrial grade floodlight can't illuminate the whole place, thankfully those aren’t the only light source in the room. Remember the pile of something with a jagged tip in the middle of the room? Turns out it was a mountain of purple pink-ish glowing crystals in various sizes, in the middle the mountain is a huge crystal almost as tall as a two story building. Turning around I see my party member slipped inside one by one, each one wearing the same weary look pointed to the mountain of crystal dead ahead, especially for the princesses, their wings would twitch every so often as if sensing an unseen dan- CLANG I think my heart skipped a beat when the door suddenly closed after Gerindha entered with Chrysalis on her back, safe to say I wasn't the only one surprised. All of us pointed our weapon, or horn for the Alicorns, at the metal door. After a silent moment, I realize the pair of inanimate objects wouldn't pose much of a threat to us, other than closing out the only way out, I lower my machete with a silent curse and a sigh. "I was expecting you to know this would happen, Bill," Asriel grumbled, in response I just raised an eyebrow, "after all, a boss room at the end of a dungeon is a standard thing in RPG, you of all people should know." "While I do not know what an 'aar pee jee' is, what you just describe is a common knowledge regarding dungeons," Celestia said, "when the Dungeon has grown to a certain size, it will call upon the strongest monster that reside in it to act as a guard to protect its core, it will then construct a room best suited for the monster combat ability." "Wait a second, did you just say 'grown', does that mean the Dungeon is alive?" I asked, confused at her choice of words, "Also you said it 'constructs' a room, does the Dungeon have control of the monsters living inside it?" "Yes, the dungeon is alive though to some degree, it simply grows along with the creatures that take residence inside it, the more monsters there are the bigger the Dungeon is." Celestia explained, "As for your second question, the Dungeon relies heavily on the monster to expand, however there has been evidence that the Dungeon is capable of creating a room all by itself amongst other things, however there is no such thing as Dungeon controlled monsters." So basically we're inside a giant living organism? Well that's nice to know…when we're inside of it. From what I know from Celly's explanation the Dungeon acts like a symbiosis organism, it takes magic from the creature inside in return it gives them food and shelter. Thankfully the Dungeon only has a limited, almost primal level of intelligence and the monsters inside of it act with their own free will. If it had control over the monster we would have to fight through hordes of monsters the moment we step in. "If I may have a say on this," Nox interjected, "while it is nice to have more information about this world, I have to say this discussion should be continued when we're in a safe place, wouldn't you agree?" We all voiced our agreement, 'right this isn't a place to dilly dally,' I thought to myself. I began walking toward the other set of doors at the end of the room and kept my distance from the crystal mountain. I don’t know why but a voice at the back of my head and my gut told me to stay away from it. There's isn't a single sign of whatever the boss monster is but if there's nothing between us and our prize then I wouldn't be compl- C-C-CRACK I stop dead in my tracks as the sound of something cracking reaches my ear, my eye shoot downward fearing the floor is going to break, I let out a sigh of relief as the ground is still intact. C-C-CRACK The sound echoed through the empty room once again, this time my eye darted toward the mountain of crystal in the center. My blood runs cold at the sight of a couple of loose crystals falls down with a faint tink-tink noise. C-C-CRACK With the purple pink-ish light glowing from the mountain of crystals I could see a hand full of crystals burst from the ground adding more to the pile C-C-CRACK C-C-CRACK C-C-CRACK More and more crystals join in, some even growing between the other crystals and climbing higher and higher. C-C-CRACK C-C-CRACK C-C-CRACKC-C-CRACK C-C-CRACK C-C-CRACK Not only the amount of it grown in a single burst increased but the size also kept getting bigger. More and more and even more crystal grows and climbs even higher until the giant crystal is covered by its smaller brethren. C-C-CRACK C-C-CRACK C-C-CRACKC-C-CRACK C-C-CRACK C-C-CRACKC-C-CRACK C-C-CRACK C-C-CRACK Then it began to take shape, first a crude imitation of a torso, and then two pillars of crystal made up the arms, after that a skull-like structure with a sharp jagged jaw for the head. CRACK With the last burst on top of the 'head', the crystal statue lying still unmoving and silent, I realized I was unconsciously clutching the machete tightly, my palm turned white and opened the Journal, the word 'Explosion' written on the top of the page. My stomach dropped as the eyeholes of the statue lit up in a deep purple bathing us in its glow, then it began to move, bending down to see us, from where we're standing the now-golem crystal statue looks like it's glaring at us. It opens its jaw and, despite not having anything that can be a voice box, lets out an earth shaking roar. GRRRRRAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!! The golem raises both of its arms, even if the distance between it and our party is too far for it to reach us, my gut tells me to move away, something that I am more than happy to share with the other. "Oh shit, SCATTER!" We all jumped just in time as the golem smashed its arms down and sharp crystals burst from the ground in a straight line, we all would've been skewered if we didn't dodge. And thus our fight began. Author's Note ...I wasn't kidding when I said this would likely be updated once a year. So, it has been a long time since the last time I updated this, to be honest I kinda forgot it exists every now and then, lets get trough the excuse I have this time. The first thing that halted me on working this is college, for the past few months I've been working my ass off to get into a good university unfortunately it wasn't enough, thus I had to switch to another, less known university and manage to get accepted. Second, I manage to find and secure a job that I can do while attending lesson and continue writing my stories. Third, writer's block, I'm still not sure where to take this story, I have some snippets of situation I can write but that's about it, there's no major conflict, clever plot-twist or anything I have in store, without a conflict this story would be stale. I was thinking about taking the brothers to another world, be it from existing show/manga/story or completely create one from scratch, after a certain point in the timeline but before that I have no idea. And the pacing, its been 9 chapter in and we're still in the Everfree Forest, it would take forever for the brothers can finally be able to jump to another world so I might speed it up a little. I would gladly accept suggestion. Well that's about it for real life excuses now on the internet stuff (you can skip this one). For those who's still living under a rock, a Vtuber agency by the name of Hololive has announced several new group members, that being the Council (EN Gen 2), Holox (JP Gen 6), HoloH3ro (ID Gen 3), and the more recently debuted HoloStar TEMPUS (EN Gen 1). Naturally every time a new member debuted my motivation goes down the drain and will crawl back in a month or two. However with every good that happen in the world, something bad must happen to balance it out. In the span of less than a year Hololive has lost 2 of its talents, Uruha Rushia and Tsukumo Sana, from JP and EN respectively. Rushia's 'graduation' hit me the most, not only she's one of the first Vtuber I watched, alongside that damn rabbit, but her clips are iconic, especially where she said the gamer word. The nature of her 'graduation' also played apart though I wouldn't get into detail, that's a can of worm I refuse to open. As for Sana, while it is sadden to lose another talent, I can understand why it has to be done due to her physical health, the only thing I can do is hope she's doing well wherever she is now. Well that's enough of me talking about a moving anime girl picture playing game. As always, keep on the lookout for typos, grammar errors, and tell me what do you think of this chapter! Thanks for reading!
Chapter 1: A New Beginning, Some Background Story and a Changeling? (Edited by Space-Timecontinuum)We landed on a sandy surface, and by landed I mean we fall face-first on top each other, Nox being at the bottom and me at the very top “Aagh for the loves of god get off of me!” Nox shouted, I jump off from the pile and dragged Asriel off from him I helped Nox get up and look around us, seems like we’re in a desert in the middle of nowhere. Sea of sand stretches as far as the eyes can see “So where are we?” I heard someone voice asked, I turned to see who was that “I don’t know Asriel, but if my memory is doesn’t fail me I think we’re in the Badland since it’s the only place that has sand this much unless we landed somewhere around Saddle Arabia,” I said to the God of Hyperdeath “Really? Saddle Arabia?” “Hey we’re in a little girl show, or will be in a thousand years, so get used to the overrated puns” “So much for the hope to land near the forest,” Nox said, holding out his Eliacube, the sword is on his back I’m curious about how I look after being displaced, I look to my open palm trying to figure out how to use my power. "Eh to heck with it" I muttered, imagining a full body mirror I snapped my fingers *Poof* The said mirror appeared out of thin air in front of me. I walk toward it and examine my reflection Sweet, I'm still in my human form, I thought I was going to be a talking Dorito for the rest of my life. I don’t know why my cane turns to gold but I’ll take it anyway. I snap my fingers once more making the mirror disappeared “So where to Nox?” I asked my older brother who is busy typing on his phone, probably surfing the internet “Don’t ask me I know nothing about the show, you’re the one who watches it the most than the rest of us,” he said Rolling my eyes, I fish out my phone from my back pocket. A piece of paper with something scribbled on it slipped out when I pull my phone, it has The Merchant name at the bottom of it ‘Hey kids it seems that I made a small mistake. I kind of overshot and sent you guys to different Equestria rather than the one I was aiming for, however it still has the ’leaks’ from your character universe and will be aired to another earth. the problem is that I sent you guys so far away from the other Displaces Equestria universe, that means the chances for any of you came across another Displacer token is a snowball in hell. don’t worry you guys can summon each other – The Merchant’ “Well shit” “What is it, Bill?” Asriel asked “We’re far away from any other Displaced Universe, so the chance we came across other Displaced tokens is pretty small, but we still can make token to summon each other,” I said, unlocking my phone, just like The Merchant’s words we actually have an internet connection if the full wifi symbol indicates anything, the battery has an infinity symbol on it. I search for the map of the Equestria, it turns out the show hasn’t even made yet which made sense since we’re so far behind from the main timeline. I hope my memory doesn’t fail me this time, so I open up a drawing app and drawing a map “Hey guys its Nox here and welcome to my first vlog video on Equestria, currently we’re in the middle of nowhere as you can see there are sands everywhere an-“ “Really Nox? Really? Not even a day we got here and you already start to vlog?” Asriel said with a deadpan look. do I ever mention that my oldest brother has a youtube channel that dedicated to vlogging, he basically record his whole day and upload it even though it barely gets any view. “At least can you wait until the show aired?” I said, “We don’t want to spoil the fun for people on earth right?” “Fine, but I still record it for the future” “If you have something that can store a thousand years worth of videos” I snorted, still drawing a map “just record when the good stuff happens, like when we’re fighting Sombra or The Royal Sister” …aaand done, a pretty good map if I do say so myself. With a snap of my fingers, a compass floated beside me “Alright, now if my map is correct there should be a forest northeast from here, so if north is that way,” I point to said direction, “Then the forest should be there. now come we must make haste before the Royal Flank found us” I said with a slight tone of humor And thus our journey began ***Time Skip*** We’ve been walking toward the northeast for about five hours, we also got the hang of our power and train a bit if we came across any hostile creature I’ve been reading the Journal that I bought from the merchant, it turns out it wasn’t the same one in the show. It has all sorts of Equestria’s magical creatures and other things such as spells, runes, and powerful artifacts. There is also a page that focused on us, even though it explained our ‘original’ history with mine explaining that I am a self-proclaimed master of minds and dream demon It also included the how-to summon Bill step by step… Asriel’s page says that he’s the son of Asgore and Toriel, the king and queen to the Monster of the Underground World respectively, and the absolute GOD of Hyperdeath with the power he gained by absorbing the seven human souls. A short history of Monsters that ended with the human sealed them in the Underground world, and a brief explanation of the human’s and Monster’s souls, While Nox’s explained what a Xelor is with their abilities to manipulate time around them and sketches of the bug-bot that the original Nox use to gather magic or Wakfu, there also other machinery that he made even a blueprint or two Other than that there also a page about Tirek, Discord, The Royal Sister, The Crystal Empire, the Gate of Tartarus and other things that I don’t care about There also some blank pages that I’m guessing I’ll fill it up along the way on the way toward the forest, my brothers and I has been messing around with our power. Asriel figure out how to use ‘Fire Magic’, as the name said he can cast a powerful fire-based spell, he also can summon a pair of blades for each hand that launches sparks when it disappears, this attack called ‘Chaos Saber’, Meanwhile, Nox figured out how to drain magic from his surrounding and blast it from his palm that traveled in an instant which exploded on contact. he can slow down time around him for a minute or two. he also trained a bit with his sword if he ran out of magic, I think he gained the original Nox’s swordsmanship because not even an hour he seems to master his swordsman skill Me on the other hand not doing that much training since Bill is not that much of a fighter since he can snap his problem away, plus we won’t be planning to meet up with the princesses anytime soon ‘Well after we settle down in the forest and train for the battle against Sombra and possibly the Royal Flanks, followed by Luna’s banishment, then what? I don’t think we can wait for a thousand-year until Luna return, then again we can’t risk changing the timeline too much, it could cause a big impact on th-‘ “Hey guys look over there I think it's the forest!” Asriel’s voice broke my train of thought, true to his word I can see the edges of the Everfree forest “Last one there is a rotten egg!” Nox exclaimed as he runs toward the forest Sometimes I wondered if he’s the oldest of us ***Time Skip Again*** We soon made in the forest breathing heavily, Asriel instantly collapsed and rolling around the grass muttering something about ice cream, I guess walking in the desert for 5 hours can make you thirsty “So now what?” Nox said, sitting under a tree, his sweat pooled around him But before I could answer that we heard a roar followed by someone screaming, I think it’s a girl by the voice “Do you guys hear that?” I asked Asriel stop rolling and stare at the direction the roar came from, not long later the same roar went off only this time is a little bit louder so is the girlish scream “AAAAAAAAHHHHH!” “Shit, someone in danger, we must save her now!” Asriel shouted as he began running and summon his ‘Chaos Saber’, me and Nox, who had his sword, followed closely We came across a clearing, broken trees all over the place and a manticore, big ass lion creature that has bat wings and scorpion tails, in the middle of it, one of it paws raised ready to crush a black blob with blue insect wings on the back of it Without warning, Asriel cast out a spell that sent out a stream of fire to the creature’s back making it roar, instantly he got it attention. The beast charged toward us, I snap my fingers to make a boulder out of a thin air and drop it on the manticore’s head only to stagger it a bit Nox readied his sword and dashed forward, the dial sword glowed with blue light. Nox raised his sword intended to slash the manticore on the face only to be swiped away with a paw, sending him crashing to a tree. “NOX!” Asriel is about to charge in but a flash of blue light beat him to it, looking toward where it came from we see Nox in front of the manticore. the beast was about to strike him with the stinger but Nox disappears in a flash of light, appear on top of the lion creature’s head with his sword pointing toward it The sword glowed brightly before shooting out a blue beam on the manticore’s head who in turn roared in pain, this continued for about 10 seconds before the beam ceased. Nox float down gently, the manticore toppled down to the side with a huge hole on the head I walk toward the manticore corpse and inspect the hole, “Damn that’s deep, you probably turn the brain into ashes” “I never knew Nox is that powerful,” Asriel said, “You sure he’s not the God of Time, Bill?” “Yeah, Nox is just a Xelor or a time mage but he can drain other’s power, heck even he can stand against a dragon!” I said to my older brother, “Hey Nox can you…wait where is he?” “There!” Asriel said, pointing his finger to where Nox is, he stood still a few feet from the black-winged glob, we dash toward him and asked, “Uumm Bill, what is that?” Now I can see whats the black blob is, turns out it’s another creature, a changeling. From the size of it I guess it was still a child or a filly, curled up and covered in scratches, some of them are worse than the others like the gash on the right hind leg but what really caught my eyes is the 2 extra things that not every changeling has, a blue mane and tail. The first thing that pops up in my head is a certain Queen “It’s a changeling” I whispered to the Monster “A species that can shapeshift and feed on love or other positive emotion” “So it’s basically a succubus?” that earns him a smack on the back of the head “No, those guys, or gals, feed on lifelines or lust and extract it from your dick” I point toward the changeling “does that looks like succubus for you” “Guys, no time for arguing” Nox shouted/whispered, he knelt down to the small changeling and pat its head making it squeak in surprise “Hey it’s alright now, the manticore is gone” “P-please don’t hurt me, I don’t want to die!” it, or I guess she judging by the voice, begged I look toward her wounds once more, ‘Shit she’s losing so much blood, we don’t act now she’s going to die for sure’ I look toward Asriel and said, “Hey Azzy, can you cast a healing spell on her?” Asriel look toward his hand (paw?), then to the wounded changeling “I...think so” he knelt down and hover his hand/paw over her, light green aura coming from his hand, bathing the young changeling with it, her wounds are slowly being healed and eventually, it closed with no sign of scar, then the aura dispersed like a cloud of smoke in the air After a moment of silence, Nox spoke “Hey now are you alright?” The changeling lifts her head up and checking her body “What did you do?” “It wasn’t me who healed you, it was him,” the Xelor said pointing toward Asriel She looks at her healer for a moment before asking “why?” “Why what?” Asriel said with a confused face “Why did you heal me?! I am a changeling a monster that feeds on love! Every other species were either fear or hate us! Why did you help me anyway I was going…to…die... anyway” To everyone's surprise, I laughed “You a monster?! HAHAHAHA that’s rich!” “What, its true! I mean look at me, how can anyone say that I’m not a monster?!” “You aren’t a monster,” we 3 said simultaneously “What?” “The only monster here is Asriel,” I said pointing at the said monster, “He’s basically the Prince of Monster” “FORMER Prince of Monster because I don’t know where the underground Monster Kingdom is,” Asriel said “I don’t even know if the kingdom is in this world” The young changeling stood there slack-jawed and wide eyes. I would probably do the same if I met a Monster Prince “Anyway can you tell us why you’re all alone in the forest if you don’t mind?” Nox asked The changeling looks down at the ground, tears dropped from her eyes “I was exiled from the hive because I was too weak and small to be a part of them so they kick me out” she then let out a stream of tears “And you said you’re going to die? I don’t see any more injury on you” “Without love, I would die from starvation and the critters that live in the forest only gave out fear and hate because of what am I besides, I’m not old enough to gather love by myself, I’d be lucky if I survive for two days” she sobbed “So you only need love to survive?” “Love, joy, happiness, and other positive emotion, why are you asking this any-EEP” suddenly Nox hugged her, caching the changeling by surprise “There there no need to worry,” Nox told her “I’m going to take care of you and I’ll be your dad” “EEEHHH?” Asriel and I shouted Well that's escalated quickly “But why? Why do you car-“ “There’s no point arguing with him, trust me I tried” I cut her off with a monotone voice. Brain, could you reboot, please? I don’t know how long I spaced out when I snap back to reality I see a heartwarming event. The changeling cried softly, burying her head to Nox's chest repeatedly saying 'thank you' Before anyone could say anything I spoke, “It sound like a little bit awkward but we never introduce us right?” Nox rub the back of his head “Ah yeah I forgot about that, as a father I can’t have my daughter not knowing what my name is” he said to his newly adopted daughter “my name is Nox, Noximilien, the strongest Xelor in the whole Equestria” that’s true actually since he’s the only Xelor in the world “These two are my younger brother, this is Asriel Dreemurr supposedly the prince of Monster of the underground world and the God of Hyperdeath” that actually got an unexpected reaction from the changeling which is awe and admiration. “And this is my youngest brother, Bill Cipher the master of minds and self-proclaimed dream demon” Nox finished “so what do you think?” The changeling went silent for a moment before shouting “This. Is. Awesome!” “Wait, aren’t you going to freak out that you found out I am a Monster?” Asriel asked The changeling shook her head “Nu uh, if you’re a monster you would kill me and ate me rather than heal me from my injuries” “Well yeah, Monster is what my species is, it’s like the same for me to call you a changeling” “So what’s your name, I can't keep calling you ‘the changeling’ in my head right?” I ask The shapeshifter (hah) look saddened by this “I…don’t have any name, the drones in the hive only have number series but mother never gave me one since I was too small and weak” Nox put a finger on his chin “Well…you look like someone I know from my homeworld, she is really strong and everybody love her because of her kindness, she is really cute just like you,” he bopped her on her snout “so I’ll be naming you Chrysalis, Chrysalis Coxen, do you like it?” The now named Chrysalis nods her head “Yes I’ll be strong just like her and loved by everypony so I wouldn’t be starving anymore!” “But I’ll call you Chrissy for the heck of it” I chimed, that made her pouted and my brothers snickered And I must say THAT’S FREAKING ADORABLE After a small talk and other things, we decided to visit a town for a map and food supplies. Even if I can conjure stuff with my chaos magic, I’m not pretty sure if it safe to eat things that made out of Chaos Magic cus it caused corruptions and all that jazz, so to play it safe we agree to not eat anything that I made with magic We ask Chrissy if she knows the nearest settlement, she said there’s a village near the border of the forest which is on the other side of the forest that worth five days on foot. I was about to snap a car for us to ride but seeing how thick the forest is it’s impossible for us to travel by that We walked side by side through the ‘creepy’ forest, Chrissy suggested that we take the safer path outside the forest which is doubled the distance rather than cutting walking through it. I shit you not her face when we said that we’ll take the shortest way is priceless She argued about how dangerous it is and ended with Nox putting him on his head with her hind legs dangling down his shoulder and forelegs propped on top of his head, he promised that nothing would harm him I mean who would stupid be enough to attack a time mage, a god, and a being with immense power that protecting a young changeling? “So how did you guys ended up here?” Chrysalis asked “…uh what do you mean?” I asked back “Well dad said that uncle Asriel is a prince, so how did you end up here, shouldn’t you be like…you know…in your kingdom?” Asriel went silent before answering “I…died” “What?” “I was killed by humans” “why?” He then told her how he died, basically, he told the story from the game. So for any of you that doesn’t know about it, I’ll tell you, be aware spoilers ahead A long time ago a human child falls down and injured, Asriel the King’s son heard the sound and brought the human to the castle, the King and Queen treat the human similar their own child, as the time went by the human became a part of their family Until one day the human fallen ill, the human only wish is to see the golden flower on her village again, when the human died Asriel absorb the soul, with the power of human and Monster soul he crossed the barrier that sealed the Monster race underground Asriel carried the human body toward the center of the village where he laid the human on top of a golden flowers bed, the villager thought that he killed the human child so they attack them with everything they got Asriel knew that he has the power to wipe them out but instead, he chooses to walk away, blow after blow he takes not once he defend nor attack them, when he got back to the underground the King and Queen saw that their child is covered in wounds, they tried to help him but it was futile as the prince turned in to dust that scattered across the garden That day the kingdom has fallen into despair the King and Queen have lost two of their children in one night, the King swore to kill any human that falls into the underground world and use their soul to break the barrier and wage a war to the humans while the Queen ran away from the kingdom and never to be seen again “…after countless years I spent in the void I was resurrected to another world and became his brother” Asriel finished with a lie, pointing at Nox Chrissy sniffed “That’s so sad, why did the human hate Monster so much?” completely missing out the part that he’s from another world “They saw us as a threat seeing how we control magic so easily,” he said as he plays around with a fireball that he made, “So war broke between human and Monster race, the human became victorious and seal us underground, the only way to break it is to use seven human souls I have,” he sighed, “Unfortunately I don’t know where my kingdom is.” “Is there any way to return to your home? I would like to see how your castle looks like is” “I don’t know even if I ever come back I doubt that anyone would recognize me, it’s been a long time since I died” “Oh, it must be sad that nopony remember you,” Chrissy said sadly, “So how about you Uncle Bill?” “Me? Well…basically…I am a being from the second dimension” I said “I was trapped in a decaying dimension for trillions of years” “So how did you ended up with dad?” “I did something foolish, when I was trapped in my dimension I discovered another one and something inside me just wanted to rule it over, call it insanity or something like that, so I took my time to manipulate people from that world to make a portal so I can cross the dimensional barrier” “What’s a dimensional barrier? Is it like the one that sealed the Monster?” “Well yes and no, yes it’s keeping other separated, and no the one that Asriel has just separated others that live in the same world. The dimensional barrier works like that but its separate another world from one another, now do you understand Chrissy?” “Yes…sorta and don’t call me by that name!” she huffed with tinted cheek “Ah yes sure, remind me in the future” I snickered ”so where was I? ah yes I manipulate people to make a portal gateway, one of the many ways that allow you to cross the dimensional barrier. I contact them through their dreams or the mindscape, I promise to grant anything they desire, be it money, power, fame anything they like in exchange to follow my instructions to build a portal. Countless people feel for my scheme but none of them manage to build a working portal, I was on the edge of giving up but a man found my scripted spell that allowed me to contact them better and taking control of the caster body’s when she or he asleep “He and I made a deal, he wanted me to help him solve the mystery of Gravity Fall, the place that has been influenced by my power, Chaos” “CHAOS?!?!” Chrysalis shrieked, wrapping Nox’s head in with her legs and trembled “Augh don’t scream near my ear” Nox complained “Sorry…dad it’s just since Discord has overthrown the princesses and made the palace the Capital of Chaos, everypony has been living on the edge. We, Changeling, are lucky enough to hide from him in the desert” she said, still trembling “y-you’re not working with Discord are you?” When I said before Sombra enslaved that doesn’t mean send us way back in the past, Merchant. Well, at least I can test my power against the spirit of Chaos. “Pfft, Discord the spirit of Chaos? Kiddo, I can beat him with my eye closed. All it takes is a single snap of my fingers and he’ll go bye-bye” I said “B-b-but he can defeat the princesses multiple times when they try to retake the throne! You can’t be possibly that powerful!” “Just let me finish my story and you’ll see, besides I know my brother won’t appreciate it if we ended being a public enemy” I continued my story, yeah I know its Bill’s story but whatever. From how Gideon summon me to how I invade Gravity Fall and caused Weirdmageddon “…after I made a deal with Stanford I entered his mind. Little do I know I’ve been tricked, the Ford I was invading is actually his twin brother Stanley, they switched their clothes and disguised as one another while I was chasing Dipper and Mabel. When I found out about it, it was too late, Ford erased his brother mind with me in it, but I have enough time to swear on a power being “I swore in the name AXLOTL to come back in a different time and body to have my revenge, unfortunately, I didn’t know if I would be in a different world as his brother” I finished pointing at the Xelor “It’s a rough start with him, he always rambles about getting revenge to those Pines and rules the entire dimension, so I use one of my devices to keep him on a leash” Nox informed “as a Xelor I require a great amount of power, since he’s a being from the second dimension that can warp reality at his whim he’s basically a god, so I can drain him constantly as his punishment without making him exhausted” I snorted at that, turning my attention to the slack-jawed changeling “A-are you really that powerful?!?!” she shrieked, making Nox flicked at how loud that is “Well, I AM a Dream Demon, a demon that has power only limited to the imagination since dreams are imagination. Thus allowing me to take control of space, matter and time itself” I said proudly “So how about you, dad?” The changeling asked “Uncle Bill and Uncle Asriel already told their stories and said that they became your adopted brothers, so is there a reason?” Nox laughed “For a changeling that young you sure are smart” giving her mane a rustle “well where do I start. Oh, I know….” Now it is his turn to tell his story. Once upon a time before he was a Xelor, Noximilien Coxen is an inventor and Horologist who had a wife and three children whom he loved dearly. They also had a pet dog named Igole One day when he showing off his latest invention –a portable clock that can fly- to his family on a beach, the invention becomes erratic and flies off while Igole chase after it. Noximilien runs after them and stumbles upon a cave which holds the Eliacube, he witnesses its amazing power when it fixes his invention, against his wife’s advice, Noximilien takes the Eliacube back to his workshop to study. Little did he know the cube seems to affect those who come into contact with it, both Noximilien and Igole become obsessed by the Eliacube to the point where they barely eat or sleep and no longer see their family Over time, his body becomes malnourished and decayed just the way he is now. When he finally decided to leave his workshop, he discovered his house to be abandoned and finds a note written by his wife telling him that she and the children decided to stay with her sister and he is welcome to rejoin them once he has given up the Eliacube. Just as he is about to go and rejoin the, his landlord brings him the tragic news that his wife and children were killed in a flood. Noximilien lost his sanity by grief and rage. In his madness he hears the Eliacube ‘talking’ to him, telling that he can fix ‘his life’s clock’ by harnessing the power of the Eliacube to reverse time if he has enough wakfu. Over 200 years later Nox has been collecting enough wakfu from all living things he can find during this time Nox has created of an army of machine to drain wakfu and becomes a Xelor, a time wizard, learning their magic so that he can try and reverse time with the power of the Eliacube After many years Nox has been gathering wakfu from place to place and finally, he has enough to travel back in time, he is certain that with all of the power that he combined, it can bring him back 200 years to the past and reunite with his family… …but the Eliacube brings him back 20 minutes to the past He was devastated, he claims the Cube has promised him that he can meet and rejoin his family but Yugo, an Eliatrope the people who created the Eliacube, told him that he was imagining things and the cube can affect those who came contact with it There in the battlefield, he has lost all hope, all that hard work, all that fights, all that battle was for nothing, he knelt down before the Eliatrope Cube on top of a scrap of metal that once his greatest invention ‘Giant Clock Fortress’, shedding the last tear before teleporting away, biding Yugo the last farewell “…that night after I visit my family tomb I came upon a shooting star, I wish that I have a family again and I’ll treasure it like my greatest possession,” Nox said “in the morning these two appear out of nowhere and as the time went by they became my brothers” “Wow, did you really drain the Tree of Life?” Chrysalis asked “Yeah but I travel back in time so it doesn’t matter since it restores itself,” he said, ended the conversation The rest of the trip went silent, the young changeling asked a question or two to break the ice, at least we made some small talk. The sun above suddenly move from the center of the sky toward the horizon and being replaced by the moon I’ve never realized it about how different from the show until I look to the stars above, it’s really beautiful than the one back home. The stars shined brightly yet gently in the sky, the wind blowing cold air making our little group sighed softly in satisfaction Asriel yawned loudly, stretching his arms above. “I think we should camp for tonight,” I suggested Nox nodded carefully not to disturb the sleeping changeling on top of his head “Sure” “You guys prepare the place I’ll light up the fire,” Asriel said and gathering dried branches around him Not long later we sit down near the burning wood, we take turns to watch our surrounding in case some wild animals or bandits or even the Royal Sister tried to kill us
Chapter 3 : A New Point of View, Short History, and New Allies. (Edited by Space-Timecontinuum)Author's Note This is my first attempt to write another person point of view (Note : Sorry if I don’t stick with the Old English speech) Chapter 3 : A New Point of View, Short History, and New Allies. (Edited by Space-Timecontinuum) The sound of branches broken by the princesses’ magic can be heard as they ran with little energy they had. Luna, Princess of the Night, ruler of the moon and star, the youngest of the Royal Sister, following behind her older sister Celestia, Princess of the Day and the ruler of the sun above. “Sister, did you know what caused that powerful magic wave?” the younger sister asked. “Yes I do believe so, I saw a massive rainbow light from the clearing up ahead. I believe whatever causes it, it must be the source of that power.” Celestia answered, “I never witness that much power since…” “…mother” Luna finished, a single tear rolled down her cheek. Celestia’s mind showed a quick memory about their last time to see mother and the damned creature that caused their mother to be trapped in the Astral Plane. Mother had sacrificed herself to protect them and their world from the clutch of the evilest being ever known to ponykind, Grogar. In order to banish the wicked goat from their world, Mother had to use the most forbidden spell that created by herself, but the spell required a huge amount of power in order to cast it, a regular unicorn can't perform this because it will drain the caster magic dry and kill them in an instant. As a last resort, Mother has to use it to seal Grogar in the Shadow Realm alongside with Tambelon, the city that Grogar rules. the spell has drained all of Mother’s magic to the point it completely depleted her magic reserve, despite being an alicorn the spell left her with a tiny amount of magic, just enough for saying goodbye to her daughter before moving on to the next world. Not wanting to lose her mother forever, Celestia and Luna begged their mother to not leave them alone, she is the only family they had beside him. It breaks their mother’s heart to see them crying in front of her, she told them that there is a way to save their mother by sending her to the Astral Plane, a place full of magic. Unfortunately, one does not simply leave the Astral Plane, the Royal Sister was devastated when they learn that there is no way to pull back their mother from there but she had promised to return when she found a way back to Eques. Mother said that there is a way to contact her again but the gate closed before Mother finished the sentence, the only thing they got is a set of words. ‘Go find the Tree of-‘ The Tree of what? Life? Death? Power? There are not many trees that they know. Whatever it is, it must be something that connects directly to her mother or has some sort of power that is strong enough to bypass the world barrier. Maybe the power that she felt was coming from whatever tree that her mother mentioned. Discarding the sad memory from her mind, Celestia keeps running toward where the rainbow light come from, using what left of her magic to cut any branches that blocking their way. At last, she break through the final branch and step into the clearing, she could feel the mysterious power residue all around the clearing with a couple of broken trees that have been uprooted. But no tree. Disappointed that she did not find whatever tree her mother mentioned but keep a determined expression to find whatever caused the magical spikes. There is so much magical residue as if someone cast a powerful spell that equaled to at least 20 unicorns in order to perform it. Celestia confused, there’s nothing that could be the source of the power. She expected to see something other than a simple clearing that looks like someone has been camping. She scans the area for any clue what caused the power. At first, she can only feel the residue the unknown power leaves behind, but under those layers of magical residue there is something different hidden and she knew it is in an instant. It was Chaos Magic. Celestia thought Discord already picked up whatever caused the rainbow light she saw earlier but taking a closer look the Chaos Magic here is far different from what he uses. Yes, it is the same type of magic but this is far different from Discord’s Chaos Magic, this one is far more unstable and powerful. Compared to this, Discord has nothing to it and this just a small portion from whatever caused this Chaos Magic. Celestia feared that there might be another chaos user other than the self proclaims God of Chaos, Discord and more powerful than him but she keep a positive mind and thinking that maybe the Everfree Forest is tampering with his power. She was about to give up to find out whatever caused the magical rainbow light, clearly, Discord already got his paw and claw on whatever that was, but she picked up a trail of the mysterious magic toward a pathway, even though it’s a bit weaker than before. “Sister, I found a trail of the power! Come quickly we must follow it, it might not be far away!” Celestia said. “Are you certain sister? I fear whatever it is, it's heading toward deeper into the forest.” “Yes, I am certain. It may be the only way for us to stand against Discord. We must find out whatever it is and use it to defeat him and retake the throne.” So they followed the cookie crumbs that the demoted God of Hyperdeath left behind. *** The two sisters followed the trail for a few minutes until their ear catches a sound of wood hitting against wood, being an alicorn mean they had all traits from the other pony tribes, thus allowing them to hear as good as a pegasis, only better. Down the road ahead they could see 3 bipedal creatures walking away from them, having pegasis traits not only they could hear things better but also see more clearly even if the object is in a distance. 2 of the creatures are sparing against each other using a wooden blade on each hand, one of them resembles the goat race that inhabiting the mountains on the northern side of Equestria along with the Yaks. Judging by the shape of the snout it is safe to say that he is a male, a pair of horns colored the same as his fur which is white, he wore a dark robe with white sleeve that has a symbol on the front, with a large collar and shoulder pads. The being that the goat-like creature fighting is a masked creature that closes to resemble a minotaur, without the furry part. Celestia has met an ambassador from the minos before and if the body shape said anything, she would have guessed that the not-a-minotaur creature is also a male. He wore a square mask, the eye holes are glowing with blue light. Worn out bandages warped around his body acting like a piece of clothes other than the long loincloth that has a picture of an arrow pointing downward. He also wore a pair of shin armors that has a blue circle that glowed like his mask. The most eye-catching is the large glowing circle on his chest, Celestia wondered what are those circle for. The last creature who walked at the front is almost the same as the masked one only skinnier, he has something on his head, some sort of black blob with insect-like wings, it took Celestia a minute for her to realize that it was a changeling nymph sitting on the creature's head. the creature wore a yellow jacket with brick patterns, black sleeve and gloves covering the entire arm, the same thing goes for the legs, covered with black pants and shoes. The right hand of the creature is holding a golden cane. Celestia could feel that one of them is emitting the unknown power that she had been following, determined to save her subjects, and curiosity, she followed the small party. They seem to be walking toward the deeper part of the forest where all sort of hostile animals such as Timberwolves, Hydras, Manticores and others resided. She must make haste before they could go any deeper. Celestia was about to gallop away to them but stopped when she senses another magic coming from one of them, it was the same Chaos Magic from before. Such powerful, wild and untamed magic that even put Discord's power to shame, no doubt that it would cause anypony to go insane at the matter of second if they get a hold of it, but yet this creature just walking calmly like a normal pony. Luna had suggested trying more cautious approach by using an invisibility spell and hide among the bushes to avoid any sort of violence from the newly discovered chaos user, she and Celestia know that they shouldn't pick on a Chaos Magic user from past experience. Not to mention that this chaos user is far more powerful than the one they already fought. Slithering around the bushes like a slithery snake, they made their way to the 3 mysterious creature, feeling the mysterious power and Chaos Magic getting stronger each time she took a step. The two had already stopped their sparring match and talking to each other. Their sharp hearing allowing them to pick up words that they said. "...on’t be the same like we know. Not only that but the knowledge we have about the future might be useless and the big events like Nightmare Moon, return of Discord, the Crystal Empire might be changed.” the goat one said. What is this, knowledge about the future? Nightmare Moon? And most importantly the return of Discord? Celestia's mind is trying to wrap around the topics that the strange being are talking about. “Yeah, I know what you mean and I think we just changed the future…” the yellow one said. Change the future? What on Equestria are they talking about? are those creatures is some kind of time traveler that came from the future? There are only a few spells that can affect time itself, and not one could bring the caster back in time, it is plain impossible, casting one of the time warping spells should have required a huge amount of power that not even Celestia herself could have. She had to remind her self that one of them is a chaos user that she's thinking about so there could be a possibility that the beings are from the future. The next thing they are talking about is something involving 'The Wedding Incident', 'The Merchant', some sort of a show and rule number 34, whatever those mean, but Celestia's mind is wandering back to the part where the goat one said that Discord will return. Did she actually defeat him and freed her subjects? Her train of thought derailed by a soft nudge from her younger sister. "What is it Luna?" she whispers asked. Her sister just pointed toward the creatures who surrounded by the member of an infamous guild, Flaming Talons guild. Months after months she had been sending royal guards to find the guilds base, the rumors said that it is hidden in the deepest part of the Everfree, only to return empty hoofed. She had to calm herself to not revealed her position and sit back to watch what will happen to them. At first the beings are talking to each other on who should deal with them and the yellow one, named Bill, stepped up and offered his help to get rid of the bandits. With a help of some kind of fruit called an 'Ope Ope no Mi Devil Fruit' that can grant whoever eats it a unique abilities, Celestia thought it’s just one of those 'all barks but no bites' stuff but when he showed just a tip of its power, both her and Luna are left speechless, completely blown out of their mind. They're too stunned to even realize that the 3 creatures are staring at them. We stood still for what feels like an hours-long but in reality, it’s only been 5 minutes. Me, Nox and Asriel stared at the not-so-well-hidden alicorns in the bushes. Said alicorns seems doesn't even try to hide, every now and then they would be leaning to each other as if they were talking, making the bushes rustled and alerting their presence to anyone near them. I gave Asriel an unamused glare and whispered: "Gee, thanks Azzy for inviting the royals to our little party." "Hey I say I was sorry didn't I?" he whispered back. If not for the griffoness on my back I would be smacking the shit out of him, instead I just mentally commanded the green staff to bonk him on the back of his head, resulting an 'ouch' from him and a glare. "Dad, what did you see?" asked Chrysalis. "Chrissy, tell me what do you see over there, in those bushes I mean." Nox said instead of answering the changeling's question. "I have a feeling that there is something or rather somepony hiding over there." he said, making sure to emphasise the word 'somepony', making the alicorns flinched. They both sank back so that their horns and wings are covered by the leaves and actually hiding rather than sticking out for everybody else to see. "No, I don't see anything there. Though I would be guessing that it was some critters but if somepony is hiding there I can sense their emotions" I don't know if a changeling's eyes are different from ours or Chrysalis's eyes are having some sort of problem because how the frick can someone don't see those long horns and big wings. Asriel moves his hands behind him and conjures a fireball on each of them "So you think that nobody is there, not even the princesses?" he asked with a smirk. 'pls bro don't do anything stupid' I silently prayed but also holding a chuckle back. Chrysalis gave the monster a confused look "Well yeah, probably there is somepony hiding but I don't think the princesses are enough to fit in there. I never saw them but the spy drones said they are bigger than average ponies" "So it doesn't really matter if I do...THIS!" he threw the fireballs to the bushes, a moment later both princesses jump out with both of their tails and mane caught on fire, running around like a headless chicken while chanting 'water'. Asriel laughing his ass off and rolling on the ground and if not the griffin riding my back I would be following him laughing, instead, I just let out a chuckle. Nox in the other doesn't seem amused a bit, you could say that he was disappointed, and Chrysalis has a shocked expression on her face. "Bill, can you extinguish the fire?" asked Nox. "Sure buddy, it'll be done in a jiffy." I snapped my fingers making a certain large bipedal turtle with two canons on top of its shell appear beside of me. "Blastoise use Hydro Cannon!" I pointed toward the burning ponies. "Blastoise!" it roared, sending a powerful stream of water to the Royal Sister, not only did that attack put out the flame but also slams them to a tree. Asriel laughs even harder than before and I could feel Nox's glare bore on the side of my head. "Erm...too much?" I hesitantly asked. "Yes Bill, I think that you're overdoing it." Nox said clearly unamused "Just stop before any of them gets hurt." "Yes, of course," I said with a nervous chuckle, I told Blastoid to stop and snap my fingers once again to make it disappeared. The two sisters are panting heavily, coughing out water that they accidentally swallowed. Nox just shook his head “Asriel, get a hold to yourself. Looks like there has been a plan changer.” He said to the still laughing angel of death “Come on, you both have to ask an apology to them.” “Alright, alright ju-just give some time to breathe.” Asriel chuckled, holding on to his aching stomach. Nox and I walk toward the moping wet alicorns, Asriel following behind us closely. “Erm... are you two alright?” I asked. “Y-yes, we are fine.” Celestia coughed. “Could somepony tell me what just happen?” “Well, you kinda spying on us and Asriel here…thought that you’re a part of those bandits and set you two on fire.” I answered with a lie. “Don’t worry I put it out for you, don’t need to thank me.” That earns me a slap on the back of my head and a snicker from Asriel, “Apology for my brothers’ action but we appreciate it if the both of you stop spyon us.” “How…” a quite reply came from the soaked Princess of the Night. “How what?” I asked. “How did you see us?” “Well for starter your horn and wings are sticking out from the bushes, second the both of you doesn’t seem to have any sort of effort to hide, third you move too much and we can hear it clear as a day.” I simply answered as-matter-of-factly. “Impossible! we cast a high tier invisibility spell on ourselves! Nopony let alone a creature like you would even notice it!” she exclaimed, oh so that’s the reason Chrysalis couldn’t see them. "Oh really? Well, I was thinking otherwise, both of you hardly have any magic, to begin with." Nox said, making the princess of the night flick back, not expecting him to see through her lies. "Probably she was using a low tier spell if a changeling nymph can detect them." Asriel added. "Not very impressive for a princess." I quipped "Not to mention their armor are shits ranked." this seems to strike a nerve on the Princess of the Night. "How dare you insult the-" "Yada-yada-yada, its a shit armor that probably fall apart if you punch it." I cut her with a bored tone. "Why you..." She growled. “What? It's true! Did you pick that up from a dumpster?” I asked with a smirk, earning me a weak magic blast from her that doesn’t even scratch my skin, I chuckled at that “Aw don’t be mad, Moon Booty. I’m just poking you for fun, no need for violence. Here let me help you with your wet mane problem.” With a snap, both princesses are dried up, their mane flowing on a non existed wind and boy doesn’t that look majestic as fuck. Celestia’s mane and looks like a pale rainbow flowing in the sky, gently shimmering under her own sun while Luna’s is as beautiful as her night with twinkling stars shining all across her mane and tail. Though it’s a lot shorter than the one in the show but that doesn’t affect the beauty that they radiated. What? Don’t judge me for admiring them, at least you can shame me if they’re anthro and have those huge, out of portion, fun bags. Not saying that I’m a clopper but have you seen how big those stuff are on the internet? I think my virgin brain isn’t ready for that yet. “Thank you for that, having a wet fur would be quite a problem.” Celestia thanked “Let me introduce myself, I am are Princess Celestia, ruler of the sun and the co-ruler of Equestria.” “And we are Princess Luna, ruler of the moon and co-ruler of Equestria.” she said proudly “And you must address me as such.” I guess Luna is the one who is using the royal 'we' thing. “Greetings princesses, I am Noximilien Coxen the strongest Xelor in the world but please call me Nox. And this bundle of joy and cuteness is my daughter Chrysalis Coxen.” He said pointing at the changeling on top of his head who gave the princesses a tiny wave. “I am Asriel Dreemurr, Prince of Monster of the Underground world.” This set off many alarms in the princesses mind with how wide their eyes are, not wanting to cause a misunderstood Asriel quickly added: “I assure you that I mean no harm.” “You forgot to mention that you’re a God of Hyperdeath, Asriel” I joked “I told you Bill that title is too much for me.” He huffed “Yeah yeah, I’ll remember it, Angel of Death, got it,” I said. Turning my attention toward the two stunned alicorns, I introduced myself “And I’m Bill Cipher, the self-proclaimed Dream Demon and the Master of Chaos!” this made the two of them paled, even Celestia who has white coat lose some of it color. “Oh don’t be like that, I’m not going to take over your kingdom or anything, besides conquering stuff isn’t my style.” I waited for their response but the two are just too scared to even talk, they just stare at me with those wide pinpricks eyes while their jaws are touching the ground, even their manes and tails stopped flowing on the non-existed winds. “I think just broke them.” “No shit Sherlock,” Asriel added which earn him a smack on the back of his head from Nox. “No cursing anywhere nears my daughter.” “So are we going to leave them here?”I asked. “Well I don’t know, with armors like that and no weapons there’s no way that they could get out from this forest without a scratch, but on the other hand their magic is higher than average ponies, so they should be fine. Besides they’re princesses, which means they must know a lot of spell right?” Nox said. “Meh lets ditch them, they aren’t that useful without their magic so let’s go,” said Asriel before walking away. I followed him and same goes for Nox although he seems to be hesitated to leave the princesses behind. C’mon bruh they are alicorns who is powerful enough to raise both sun and moon, a Timberwolf or two won’t be much of a trouble. Soon Nox walked behind us, he gently taps my shoulder causing me to turn around “See, that wasn’t so bad meeting them.” he said “You’re just paranoid, Bill. It’s not like they will blast you with the Elements in sight.” “Erm, Nox what did you say to Chrysalis about the Elements?” I asked, worried that Nox might give away the fact that we have the knowledge about the future. “Well I told her about this prophecy I found one day while I was exploring an ancient temple, it says something about The Elements of Harmony. Legend said that it is a powerful artifact that created by the god, capable of banishing all sort of evil away from the land.” Nox said, giving me a wink “But those artifacts are rumored to be lost in time and nothing more than a myth.” I was about to say something but a shout of ‘Wait!’ behind us beat me to it, we turn around to see both of the princesses are galloping to us before stopping. “Yes, may I help you with something, madam?” I said, refusing to use their title because I can. “Where are you going?” Celestia asked. “We’re on our way to the village near the border of the Everfree,” Asriel said beating me to it. “But why are you heading toward to the center of the forest, everypony know that there are dangerous animals in there. Shouldn’t it be saver to go around it?” “Yeah but that takes 12 days to get there, we like to keep our time short so we’re taking the shortest route thus cutting straight through it is the best option we have. Besides, why do you want to know?” Both ponies fidgeted in their place, glancing at each other for an answer. Celestia let out a long sigh before saying “Well…the truth is we’re…” she trailed off. “You two are lost aren’t you?” I butted in. They both softly nodded their head while staring at the ground ashamed. I look toward my brothers who both gave me an approving nod without asking the question, “Meh sure, you can stick with us for a while I guess, but keep an eye on our back ok?” They both bright up and nodded, slowing trotting behind us while we keep walking forward. For a quick laugh, I snapped my fingers to make a blue box pop up on top of us. Celestia and Luna have joined the party! ***Time Skip Again*** After a few minutes of walking, we enter the deeper part of the forest, the trees here are thicker than the one before and only a small portion of the sunlight pierced the leaves. We have yet to encounter any hostile creature, though we heard a howl in a distance that possibly came from a Timberwolf. Not to mention with the griffin that I'm carrying is starting to hurt my back. On our way toward the village, Celestia steals a glance at me every now and then, I don’t know if she is staring at me or the grifffoness on my back, and whisper to Luna, I can't hear a word of what they are saying but I heard my name being mentioned. The journey is deathly quiet save for the rustling of the wind, Royal Sister whispering and me humming a tune. Having enough of the silent treatment I decided to break the ice by trying to have a conversation with Celestia in order to gain her trust. “So Celly, what it’s like to be a princess?” this caused the younger princess to laugh and the older one to choke on air. “Excuse me, why did you call me Celly?” she asked back. “Yeah, Celestia is just a mouth full name so I shorten it to Celly.” I said, getting an unamused stare from her. “What, you don’t like it or you do prefer Tia instead?” Celestia didn’t answer, she just turns her head with an ‘hump’ while supporting a small blush on her cheek. Luna in the other hand is having a time of her life, rolling on the ground laughing her ass off while holding on to her stomach. Tears of joy can be seen on the corner of her eyes, this goes on for a couple of minutes before she realizes everyone is staring at her and me holding out my phone that set on recording. She quickly stands up and brushed the dust off from her fur before coughing to her hoof, turning her head away to avoid the look that we gave her while also hiding the same blush as Celestia only a bit darker. Celestia and I let out a chuckle before staring at each other eyes, I gave her a little smile which she returned with her own “Quite a lively sister you got there.” I said. “Yes, she is, but I never see she act like this since…a long time” she said with a hint of sadness. Hearing that piece of information set off many alarms in my head, Nightmare Moon appearance shouldn't be this early in the timeline, it would be a major problem if she appears before Discord is sealed and probably affect the Crystal Empire disappearance too. "Well whatever is troubling her, you should solve it as fast as you can." I told her "There is no telling what will happen if she is depressed." Celestia went silent for a few moments before saying "You know, for a self-proclaimed Dream Demon and a chaos user, you're quite a nice stallion." "Not all chaos user is a bad guy, they just need a right guide to the right way if not, well you could see what happen to Discord." I said. "And next time try to address me as a 'man' rather than stallion, same goes for my brothers." She was going to say something but a tap from her sister drew her attention away, "Sister, its time to lower the sun." Luna said. "I know sister but there is just one small problem..." "You guys don't have enough magic?" I asked Celestia shook her head "Nay, we hardly use magic to move the sun and moon, both object is tied to our mark thus letting us move it without magic but we have to see it in order to move it. As you can see we barely can see them with all of the leaves blocking our sight." I gave her a smirk and says "Say no more, m'lady." with a tip of my hat "Hey guys, these two said they're going to lower the sun we should camp here for the night!" I shouted "What about the creature that lives in here Uncle Bill? won't they be attacking us at night?" Chrysalis said fearfully. "Don't worry Chrisy, I already have a plan for that." I snap my fingers to conjure a stack of wood surrounded by a circle of rocks "Everyone huddle up." Everyone did so and sit near the unlit bonfire except me who still standing. "Seriously, is this your plan?" Asriel asked, "You know it takes much more than a small fire to keep a manticore away right?" "Yes, I am aware of that dear brother." I said, twirling my cane "I was going to make it safer by doing THIS." I gave the ground a tap with my cane and it starts shaking, everyone asking what the heck am I doing but I ignore it. Suddenly the ground shoots up toward the sky like a pillar that grows from the earth, breaking through the tree branches and leaves, and stopped when we're at the surface of the sea of leaves. "There, now nothing can reach us right?" I asked to no one in particular. Asriel swiftly grab me by my shirt collar and shake me like a doll "ARE YOU TRYING TO GIVE ME A HEART ATTACK?" After I apologized to everyone for scaring them down to their bones, I sat down near the bonfire watching the two sisters doing their work. Celestia standing on the west side while her sister is on the other side, both of their horn gently glowing. The sun moves as Princess of the Day slowly lower her head, Luna following the same but her head slowly rises alongside with her moon. Truly a magnificent few. Not long after the moon set in the center of the sky, the stars gently shining one by one, decorating the sky like a sea full of precious rocks. Luna swishes her head back and forth making even more star to shine in the dark night, using the sky as a canvas for her painting. Luna gave a satisfied nod at her work, she turns around to sit down with us but giggled instead, must be because she sees our awestruck faces. Snapping back to reality, I decided to give her a compliment "That was truly an astonishing performance, my dear. This world sky is definitely more beautiful than the one back home." She blushed but something in her mind cached up to what I just said "Hold your tongue, are you claiming that you're from another world?" she asked in disbelief. "Why of course, my brother and I hailed from the world called The World of 12, it’s pretty much like this world only a couple of different." "So why are you here? take over our world?" "Oh, heavens no. We are here to start a new life, and possibly find a way to planet Earth." "And what is this 'Earth' you are talking about?" Luna asked, showing some interest. "I'm afraid that is a story for another time, I don’t want to disturb anyone from their sleep." I said, pointing toward the sleeping changeling in Nox's lap "Asriel can you start up the fire?" He did what I just said, with a fireball he set the pile of wood on fire, illuminating the grassy ground we are sitting on. Bonfire Lit "Well, goodnight everyone." I said "The same thing goes for you too, Lulu." She was about to say something but I shushed her with a finger on her lips "Shush, your sister already got a pet name, it’s only fair to have one of your own." I heard a giggle from my right, Celestia is covering her mouth with a hoof, trying to not to laugh "Looks like I'm not the only one who agrees." Luna huffed, walking toward her sister and lie beside her, grumbling all the way. I shook my head at her behavior, slowing drop the griffoness of my back and lie her down beside me, her head is resting on my thigh. I was about to pull out the journal from my jacket but the griffon start turning in her sleep, probably a nightmare or the armor that making her uncomfortable, I snap my fingers to strip the armor from her and neatly place it beside her but she still moving in her sleep, her face was something that pictured pain and fear. I did the only thing that I could think of and start scratching her neck like a cat, she immediately relaxed and let out a satisfied sigh, her face was like someone that experiencing a pure bliss, a small smile adorned on her beak. I never knew beaks are that flexible. I pull out the journal from my jacket and continued my research, I feel like searching up a couple of spells, might be some of them might be useful in our journey toward the village. With the soft cold wind blowing from the north, I relaxed my mind and began reading. That is until a loud snore from the Princess of the Night. I snap my fingers to conjured a night-themed pacifier and stick it in her mouth and she greedily sucks on it like a baby would, I gave out a snicker before taking a picture with my phone and name it 'Woona'
