There, waiting for me, were the denizens of the earth; wretched souls cursed to satiate their eternal hunger for stones of various colors. They attacked with such ferocity to rival the best competitors known to mortals. I, a mere weakling, a worm with no place under the sun, was chained and forced to become a slave, grinding the earth for useless pebbles.

It took a significant amount of time for me to understand everything. This punishment was meant to reveal my nature to this forgotten world. Such was the plan of the Great Lake.

I raised my voice enough to be heard in the whole underworld. The wretched souls brought me to their masters, who ordered the initiation of festivities in the form of combat. The winner was the one who spilled the blood of the other, proving once and for all that they are the top predator.

My first fight was with a nameless soul. Tiny, insecure, imprisoned. Just like me. But unlike me, it had four legs. The ones in power gave the order. Our fight had begun.

It was an easy victory. The branded was trembling, terrorized by my presence. I could see it. Not one of these mortals ever saw a creature like me. Their eyes gave it away.

I lunged at the tiny soul, throwing it at the ground with strength I was sure I never had before. It begged me to spare its life. The blood refused to return to the Great lake. Selfish blood.

So I tore its throat open with my teeth.

The joy returned once more, filling every vein of my body with warmth, knowing that I had fulfilled my duty once more. The wretched gem hunters barked at my victory, some in genuine dissappointment, others in true happiness. To me, this simply meant that I already acquired loyal followers, or, at least, adulants.

My second fight proved to be more challenging, as it was meant to be. This time, it was a daughter of the skies, able to not only fly, but walk as well. It was different than I remembered. No hatchling should have four legs. And yet, there it was, countering my own knowledge of the world around me.

Such brutal fight was never seen before. The daughter of the skies flew above me, opening a wound with every opportunity she got. It became so bad that my faith in the Great Lake was nearly shattered. This proved to be the turning point, as the daughter became more confident. Much confident.

She swooped down, aiming to deliver one final strike. At that moment, I pulled out my knife and stabbed it right between her eyes, ending the duel.

But something felt wrong.

My hands began shaking, my mind conspiring against me. How could such a thing even be possible? There was no reason for me to be so powerful and so thirsty. I looked around myself. The gem hunters began praising me, adoring me. How absurd, I thought. Before, nothing but a slave. Now, I became an idol in their eyes, deserved to be worshipped. Some higher powers were definitely at work, and their aim was my ascension.

Their praises reached my ears. My soul was crying in joy. Finally someone who recognized its efforts and strenghts, its significance in the great scheme of things. Not insulted, not berated, not chained. Worshipped.

I could feel something changing within me. My heart began beating faster and faster. My blood was boiling. My hands ready to spill more blood, to give new offerings.

"Who shall prove their might against me, Salzar, the chosen of the Great Lake?" I bellowed to the crowd. The heathens looked at me and began laughing, especially the ones in power.

"Prove to us that you are the chosen one." They taunted. "Fight against our champion, Rufus!"

And so it happened. Out of the shadows came Rufus, the champion of these gem hunters. What a magnificent creature, truly worthy to be my opponent. Every gem hunter suddenly became quiet at the sight of the beast. Just then, the feeling I received was slowly escaping from my grasp. I had to judge them all.

"Why are you so faithless? Why did you stop singing my name? Come! Start chanting! Scream in joy! Your savior is here! The one that will set you free has finally come! Watch, as I smite the heathen in front of me!"

"I do not know you, creature." Rufus said. "Who are you to oppose me and my masters?"

"I am the truthbringer! I am the god you all desired for so long! The one who returned from the dead to judge the living and show them the error of their ways! The ignorant shall perish while the worthy will march on the streets built from the tombstones of the wicked, singing songs of the kingdom that has to come! Fear me, for I am Salzar, the Dead God!"

My words warmed the hearts of many souls. The very instant I stopped talking, they began showering me with even more praise than before. Rufus, along with the ones in power, became scared, knowing that they already lost their war against me.

But Rufus was stubborn. He refused every chance I gave him to surrender. He was a warrior, and perished as such.

It went like this: Rufus barked as he lunged at me with all his might. Our power struggle scared even the most brave gem hunters. The enlightened ones started chanting in unison. Some started praying. Just then, I felt the familiar power rush back to my body and I easily overwhelmed Rufus. After he fell before me, I used my knife to cut off his head. A sign of my godhood.

The public was euphoric, recognizing their savior. Some of them brought to me the heathens and the ones in power. We celebrated that day by slicing their throats, gathering their blood in large buckets and decorating the walls with psalms and prayers I carefully created for them to use in their time of need, which can be seen to this day. Disciples responsible are: Fender, son of Bronson; Dynamo, son of Crumpet, Stinker, son of Sage and Roscoe, son of Argus.

Celestia cringed in disgust. The horrors described in the book were clearly ramblings of a madpony. What sane mind could willingly spill blood of the innocent? Just thinking about it made her head hurt. She was benevolent and kind, but also just. Criminals who wished nothing but trouble had to be defeated, for the sake of every living being on Equus.

Nevertheless, she wanted to know more. There were many secrets surrounding the strange cult and she needed to know them all. So she flipped several pages forward and began reading a new chapter.

Shortly after the Dead God's victory, Brutus, son of Scamper, son of Citron, fell in front of Salzar and spoke up: "Great Salzar, we are running out of gems to feed our families. For generations we were digging the earth in search of its treasures. But now, it is slowly turning on us, leaving us with empty stomachs. Help us!" And Salzar answered: "Stand up! I, Salzar, the Dead God, had chosen you as my people! As long as you are loyal to me, your families will never lack the material possessions they so desire. Bring here everyone!" Brutus did as ordered. The Dead God stood up from his throne, raised his hands in the air above his disciples and said: "From now on, anyone who believes in me shall never be abandoned! I, Salzar, the Dead God, decided to give you a blessing. Let your hunger for worthless gems and thirst for water away! Throw them out! Despise them! Your new bodies now require meat and blood! But prove it to me that you are worthy of this gift." And he threw at them a piece of raw meat. They wasted no time and immediately tore it into chunks. Satisfied, they praised Salzar even more.

But Brutus asked: "Forgive my foolishness, oh great Dead God, but how are we going to acquire more meat and blood? Where can we find those in the middle of this wasteland?" And Salzar replied: "Your bodies are gifted! Go, go outside, hunt down every creature that dares to stand in your way. Eat their flesh and drink their blood. But beware to not hurt your own brothers and sisters, for all of you are bound by blood. And your blood belongs to me."

Then Brutus gathered a few individuals and went outside when look! there was a pony caravan travelling through the desert. Brutus sneaked up on the caravan and killed every heathen he could find. Five ponies died that day. That is why that place is called Shrog'Danar.

And the enlightened celebrated that day in the glory of the Dead God, whom joined the feast.

"Princess Celestia! Princess Celestia!" A guardpony yelled as he banged on the door.

"Come in!"

The guardpony opened the door and ran up to the princess. He bowed his head.

"Princess, the Ancients attacked once more!"

She sighed worriedly.

"We lost five brave guardponies. Two unicorns and three earth ponies. Three more had been possessed and escaped with the enemy. We were unable to track them down in time to catch them."

Celestia stood up. "My little pony, please be so kind and guard this book while I go outside. You are forbidden to read its contents. Do not allow for it to fall in other hooves. Can I trust you with such a task?"

The guardpony saluted. "Ma'am, I swear on my honor I will follow your orders."

She nodded and went out of the room.

He sighed as he sat down, next to the book. Everything was quiet. Quiet and boring. But he was a member of the Royal Guard. His duty was to protect the Princess as well as every living pony with his life. There was no better job than his.

Fifteen minutes passed after the Princess rushed outside. As expected, not one single pony came to visit him, which actually made his job easier, albeit more boring than ever. Soon he found himself checking out the whole room of the solar diarch. The key word was looking, for he didn't dare to touch anything of hers.

He was busy inspecting intricate decorations on a vase when he heard whispers.

"Who is there?!" He turned around. "Show yourself!"

There was no response. Instead, the whispers seemed to grow slightly in volume, despite being barely audible, even for a pony like him, who mastered the ability to pick up sounds that others couldn't.

"If I find you, I swear to the Maker..." He muttered as he slowly circled around the room.

At one point, the whispers became more pronounced. He was able to hear them clearly, even if there was not one single pony in the room with him. In the end, he sighed and went towards the center of the room.

And that was where the book started acting weird.

As soon as he lay down near it, deciding to rationalize the whispers as a result of stress, he was absolutely sure that the book moved on its own. It was brief, barely noticeable to the common eye, yet his eyes didn't betray him, even if it happened at the corner of his vision.

Ah, but maybe he was tired, he thought, maybe his mind really did play pranks on him. He, like everypony else, was in a time of war. A time that may as well mean the turning point of whole Equus, where every move could have significant impact on the future and-

There! It happened again! This time there was no excuse available, no way to deceive himself. The book moved just as the whispers became slightly louder than before, as if they begged him to open its pages, to discover its secrets, to...

"No! Get out of my mind!" He screamed loudly, smacking himself with his hooves. Carelessly, his right hoof slapped the book, throwing it away. It fell down on the floor, pages flipping before finally stopping at some random passage.

He gasped. The book! He was supposed to protect it, not destroy it! Oh Maker, what had he done?!

Rushing towards the book, the guardpony noticed how the whispers stopped abruptly, He was unsure why, but it was an improvement he welcomed with open arms. Intending to grab the book with his mouth, as he was an earth pony, his eyes casually glanced at one of the opened pages.

"What the..." He muttered, the page catching his full attention. "A song? What?"

Finally giving in to his curiosity, he allowed himself to read a verse.

Just one verse. Nothing more.

Author's Note

Here is the second chapter of the story, like promised. As you noticed, I placed the texts regarding the book in italics. That is because I thought it would be easier for the reader to follow when there are two/more plots going on (the book and the "real time"). However, should I in future write chapters where there is only the plot of the book, I will write it normally, since there is no reason to use italics.

Anyways, I would like to thank you all for reading, reviewing and liking the story! It really helps my creativity. Also, be sure to share it with others! More people equals more fun!