Come Dawn or Darkness

The wizard had moved at the last second, rolling to his right just as the monstrous jaws crashed down upon where he had been crouching. He was almost to his feet again when the beast sent another strike his way, side-swiping him with on of the long, curved bones. It took his legs out from under him and then doubled back on its path to rake across his chest. This time it cut through the metallic fabric of his robes and dug into the soft flesh beneath, spilling blood onto the non-existent floor. The crimson cascade passed through as if it were not even the, falling into the depths of eternity. But something else was pouring from the wound as well, some bright green fluid, as blinding as the light that had radiated from the sorcerer's hands only moments before had been.

But the creature had little time to dwell on what this other substance might have been as the pressure it had felt upon its back quickly turned to blinding pain. Something had dug itself between the plates of armor that coved it's vulnerable body; something sharp that was currently working its way deeper and deeper inside. Whipping itself around, the monstrosity gave another great screech, tossing its massive torso to the ground so that it once more resembled a centipede rather than some sort of grotesque, armored centaur. Confusion flashed through its mind as it beheld it's would-be attacker.

Between the piercing scream of the beast and the force with which it hurled itself to the ground, Torrent had had no way to keep his grip on its smooth carapace. He was flung to the ground before it, now face to face with the creature once more. A spear of red light was protruding from the creature's back, slowly deteriorating the armor around the point of entry. Given a few more moments he would have been able to open a hole large enough to expose the thing's spinal column, the destruction of which would leave it paralyzed and helpless. Now, however, there was little chance of getting the creature to turn around far enough for him to be able to strike at the exposed nerves. The monster was already rising back to its upright position once more, the spear fading slowly as it did. He had hoped his duplicate would by him a bit more time, but the blow it had suffered was undeniably mortal. At least they had gotten this abomination's attention off the pony, it was unlikely that it would ever be able to catch up to her with the head start they had provided, even of it did slay him here and now.

The knight stretched out his right arm and grasped the air about a foot away from him. The sword's handle began to materialize within his grip, the cross-guard and blade soon following. The monster readied its bone razors once more, a downward curving one protruding from the middle of its chest while a horizontally inward curving one flanked it on each side. It spread them wide apart and released another shriek as it charged forward, closing the horizontal bones like a pincer as the vertical one slammed down from above. Torrent managed to evade the lower two and stopped the upper bone with the edge of his sword, holding it above him until he was able to slip out of its trajectory. The lower two opened once more, and slammed shut on the spot he had just been standing. This time he slashed at the one on the right, scratching deep into its ivory exterior. The abomination cried out, but not in surprise this time rather than fury; it had not anticipated the possibility that it's own weapons would fall under attack.

Back and forth they went, trading blow after blow, each consistently blocking the other's attempts to impale them. Finally, the strain of avoiding and parrying three different weapons became too much for the knight, and a single mighty, horizontal slash sent him spinning to the ground. Sparks flew as the bone careened off the plate attached to the chest of his robes. He hit the black, misty floor with such force that it took the wind right out of him. He struggled to regain his feet, but only managed to make it to one knee, almost genuflecting before the beast as it opened its gaping maw one last time. And as it did it let out one last, horrible scream, unlike any of the ones before.

Yet instead of making its move and devouring the wizard, however, the monster continued its long, quaking scream. It's three massive bones shook, opening and closing like a second mouth as it slowly lurched forward. Finally, the screams turned to gurgling choke, still horrible to behold, but far less deafening. The choking soon shifted to a moan as the creature fell forward, forcing the knight to roll to his side to avoid being crushed under its massive weight. That noise finally died as Torrent got to his feet, surveying the body and realizing just what had happened. He looked down upon the beast, now as helpless as its prey had been mere minutes earlier, and jammed the point of the large, dark sword into a space between two of the creature's plates.

As the sword drained the remainder of the lost souls from the monster's body, Torrent made his way down the length of its deteriorating form, pausing only for a moment to retrieve his long, twisted dagger from the creature's spinal cord. He moved quickly to the spot where his little savior stood attempting to awaken his unfortunate duplicate. "It's not going to get back up, I'm afraid," the wizard said, pointing to the leaking remains of his illusion. "No more than he is," this time he thrust a thumb over his shoulder, indicating the beast lying paralyzed behind him. He slid the dagger back into its sheath and kept moving forward, trying not to let the pain of his newly broken rib show upon his face.

"I am eternally grateful for what you just did here, my dear. But tell me... why did you not run when you had the chance?" The little purple creature simply looked up at him, her massive eyes still full of tears. She had thrown the dagger, of that much he was sure; the look of guilt and confusion in her gaze told him all he needed to know on that matter. The "how" aspect of it being thrown was still unclear to him, but that didn't seem nearly as important at that moment.

"You... you saved me. I c-c-couldn't just run. I-I couldn't leave you here. You were dying!" She looked down at the duplicate once more, it's broken form shuttering as it drew breath after agonized breath. "What is it?"

The wizard stood over his creation, looking at it with sad acknowledgement. "It's nothing... Just an illusion, a doppelgänger."

"I've never seen an illusion bleed before. And how was it holding your knife? Or stopping that creature's attacks?"

He could tell his usual answers were never going to be enough to throw this one off the scent. Yet the shame that would come with explaining the truth of the matter to such an innocent creature was more than he intended to bring upon himself. Instead he merely cast his hands over his "illusion" and allowed it to fade back into the Abyss, leaving not a single trace of itself behind. "It is a very powerful form of illusion," he said. "It takes on the caster's physical form s that it can assist more effectively than a simple mirage could. It's more of an ally than it is a simple distraction."

He went to one knee before the pony, meaning to address her face-to-face, and immediately regretted it as the strain of his movements jarred his injured rib. He sucked in a mouthful of air, hissing as the pain wash over his torso. "Are you alright?!" The alarm in the little creature's voice was clear as day.

"You know it's funny," he said as he searched his chest for the broken bone, " I came over here to ask you that exact same question. So, are you?" He found the spot where the fracture had occurred, placed both hands over it, and began pumping the area full of pulsing orange light. His face contorted in pain as the bone slowly reassembled itself, tiny shards and splinters fighting their way back into place. It lasted only a few seconds, but it was still a wholly unpleasant experience.

The pony seemed to be trying her best not to stare as he fought off the urge to cry out during the healing process. Instead, she answered him while looking over his shoulder at the now-transparent sword protruding from the slightly-twitching monstrosity behind him. "I... I think I'm alright. I just... well... I still don't know where I am is the problem." When she saw the light die down and his face return to normal she decided it was safe to look him in the eyes once more without appearing rude. "I don't suppose your could help me there, could you?"

Torrent returned her gaze in kind. "I can do you one better. How would you me to escort you back to where you entered this dreary place from? How about I take you home?" he had barely finished speaking when before her eyes lit up. Clearly she had not expected escaping from such a place to be such a simple endeavor. They rarely ever do... And for good reason I suppose...

"You can really take me back? Really?! Oh yes, yes, YES! Please take me home!" She looked as though she was almost about to cry again. Instead, she began giggling, hopping up and down, and quietly repeating it to herself as if she wanted to ensure that she really had said it out loud. It was not the first time he had seen this sort of reaction from one in her predicament, and it would almost certainly not be the last. "Yes, take me home, please!"

Rising to his feet, it occurred to the wizard that he still had no idea what to call his latest companion. "By the way, do you have name, miss? What should I go about calling you?" He was sure to word the question carefully, as several creatures he had rescued in the past had been left utterly bewildered by the concept of a name.

"Oh my gosh, I completely forgot. Where are my manners! My name is Twilight Sparkle, and it is a pleasure to meet you... um..." She looked at him questioningly, realizing that he had been just as bad at remembering his manners as she had been.

Not eager to get into a discussion on about his origins, the man simply responded by saying "I am called Torrent, Torrent of the Abyss. And the pleasure is all mine, I assure you. Now, how about we get you home? The walk shouldn't be too long, I can practically see where you fell through from here." And with that, the two made their way back toward the minute speck in the distance that marked the rift between worlds. In this case, it would turn out to be a recently enchanted mirror, on the wall of a dark room within a library.