Twisted Fate

Chapter Four – The Grand Library

“In this building there is the world’s largest secrets”

“What do you mean you’ve seen this before?” I turned and asked Faith. She levitated the golden bug into her saddle bags, closing the buckle of the bags with an audible click; she finally turned to face me.

“Listen to me on this Destiny,” Faith paused, as if telling me what she was about to was weighing heavily on her mind.

“There’s a door, sealed and unable to be opened on the lower levels of the library. It contained some sort of ornate carvings, and no pony has been able to decipher them or knock the door down. Even the walls seem to be harder than what the library was made out of. The library itself has existed for over a thousand years, so I guess it just became engraved in the minds of ponies visiting down there that it’s just always been like that. But it hasn’t. I know that bug, it’s shaped exactly like the seal on the door in the library.”

Okay, let me go over that again in my head. So the Ka sent us down into the catacombs to find the golden scarab, got that. But, he really wanted whatever was behind the door in the library? What could be so important in basement of the library? Then it hit me.

“Faith,” I said, “You said you remembered there being two artifacts you could name off of the top of your head that Alexmanedria legends spoke of. What was the second one?”

“The Infinite Hourglass, why?” She asked, clearly not seeing the metaphorical gears whirling inside my head as I pieced the puzzle together.

“Because,” I replied, “because that’s what the Ka really wants, he wants the Hourglass. Gods only know what he wants it for.”

Faith and I peeked our heads past the doorway at the base of the lighthouse, suddenly wary to watch for any of the Ka’s guards to be patrolling the area. I checked left and right, scanning even the rooftops of nearby clay buildings for someone tracking our position. When I was satisfied that we weren’t being watched, I signaled to Faith to follow me as we went towards the library, slipping in between crowds.

I tried my hard to avoid bumping sides with anypony in the crowd, the last thing we need is a random civilian to get a cut from my wing and suddenly all eyes are on us. Thankfully the crowds were thin today as we moved through the streets and towards the library. Along the way I could still make out conversations about how the Ka asked some random pony to enter the catacombs, completely unaware of who was walking beside them.

We finally arrived at the library after a few minute trot, the sun setting in the background. We had been in the lighthouse catacomb for an entire day, but at the sudden revelation that we might be handing over something incredibly powerful and dangerous to the leader of a nation without knowing why he wanted it banished any thoughts for sleep. We moved into the library, Faith opening the door with her magic. Instantly we were greeted by an overly joyous and active mare at the front desk.

“Headmare!” Sun Spark called out, “and, Destiny? Where have you guys been all day?”

“It’s a long story,” I said, not wanting to go into details about almost dying to traps and stone minotaurs.

“I’m glad to see that you’re out of bed though,” Faith commented, clearly putting on a disguise of happiness in an attempt to not worry her student.

“I’ve been up all day, studying for the next expedition! When can we go?” Sun Spark asked.

“Soon,” was Faith’s only reply, “I promise.”

I continued to follow Faith, assuming we were heading down into the depths of the library, unsure of what to make of her mood. I waited until we were out of earshot of Sun Spark to finally speak up.

“Something on your mind?” I inquired to my newfound companion.

“Just this whole thing,” she sighed before continuing, “I don’t know what to make of it. Earlier today if you told me the legend of a ridiculously strong magical artifact was buried underneath Alexmanedria I’d look at you funny; if you told me it was under my library I’d toss you out. All I wanted was a little excitement, some adventure by exploring a new crypt, maybe discover some cool fossils, instead I end up on the wrong end of a treasure hunt.”

I could sympathize with her. I mean, I was basically thrown out of my home and country for sticking up for a friend, and suddenly found myself on the wrong side of something, only looking for a little excitement. Still, a part of me was a little miffed that she was making a big deal out of all of this, not knowing exactly what the Ka’s intentions are.

“You know you don’t have to come with me on this,” I said to Faith, causing her to look up from the floor. “As far as the Ka knows you have nothing to do with my mission into the crypt. You leave this now and you get off free.”

“Oh, well I couldn’t do that now,” she perked up a bit, “I want to see this through. It may throw my entire lifes work away up to this point to get on the wrong side of the Ka, but all of it for a chance to have my name immortalized in history as the mare who discovered one of the most sought after magical artifacts of all time, how could I resist.”

She forced a smile back at me. I knew internally Faith was conflicted, making such a huge decision that could affect the rest of her life was weighing heavily in her mind, but I had no idea on how to comfort her on it. Okay, I had a few ideas, but we’re trying to keep it clean here. I guess our best bet was to push on and do exactly what she wanted to do, see it through.

“Fine then,” I smiled back, little gestures to help lift her spirit and remind her she wasn’t alone, that I was on her side. “Show me to this door, let’s see this thing through.”

We continued moving down a row of bookshelves lined with tomes from throughout the ages. I read a few of them as we trotted onwards, some of the titles catching my eye. ‘Places of Power: Legend or Fact?’ was a peculiar one I might want to take a crack at some day. If everything worked out, maybe Faith and I could even get our names in the next edition as discovering an artifact of magical power, who knows?

Eventually we were met with a staircase, and a quick peek over the wooden railing showed three lower floors, all seemingly teeming with books. Add this to the two additional floors above the ground one, and the library easily held over a million pieces of knowledge; it could be understandable why Faith was apprehensive on giving it all up for a name in a textbook.

We descended quickly, silence falling between us as thoughts bounced around both of our heads. Faith’s of her impending decision regarding tossing her life away and mine of what life lay ahead of me. If Faith was right, and the Ka’s intentions were malicious and bent on abusing the artifact to his own benefit, there’s no way I’d let him have it. But then, that would alienate me from this country too. Heliopolis and Vaporia were extremely close together, the nearest nation being another canine ruled island called Hosstralia, the Ka still having influence there. That only leaves the nations in the Celestine Empire, sworn enemies to the outer kingdoms. Could I really live the rest of my days in enemy territory?

Sooner or later we came up to the door, a large circular stone door covered in ornate carvings, only some of which I could actually make out. One of them looked to be a jackal using the Infinite Hourglass to stop an invading army; it took prominence over the others due to being the centerpiece, directly above a hole in the door.

The impression in the center was shaped exactly like the Golden Scarab artifact we had recovered earlier that day.

“So, ready to do this?” I broke the silence and asked Faith, the back of my mind worrying about her mental stability. She replied in a calm and collected manner.

“Out of the frying pan, and into the oven, as the saying goes,” she smirked as she turned her head to reply to me, “Let’s do this, again.” Again. I realized then that this was the second time I had descended into the unknown with Faith, and we were becoming an increasingly skilled duo team. I realized that I could really count on her to be there to help me through the challenges that lay ahead.

I realized I had made a friend.

Faith moved towards the door, unlocking her saddle bag with her magic and levitating out the Golden Scarab with her blue magical aura. She pressed it into the depression in the door, moving it until an audible click was heard. She quickly released the bug from her grasp, the artifact continuing to stick into the depression as the door moved slightly, rolling away just a few inches to the right.

The bug dropped to the ground, a loud clang rang throughout the room as the gold smacked the stone floor. The door rolled abruptly to the right, completely opening up the lower section of the library to us. An area that had been sealed for millennia, and we were going in head first.

“Get down!” I screamed and ducked as an arrow came shooting out of a hole lighting fast, aiming straight for my head. I didn’t even hear anything trigger that trap, no trip wire being broken, no stone being moved from being stepped on. Things were getting deadlier, and that only spurred me on.

We had been exploring the upper section of the secret library for the better part of an hour, taking in all of the unknown tomes and information at our disposal. I took the time to grab a copy of the secret libraries ‘Atlas of Artifacts’ from the shelves and stuff it into my saddle bag, deciding that it could come in handy later.

The library itself was as you would expect it to be, long bookshelves with a moderate amount of space in between them made many small halls for ponies and the like to peruse through the collection when the ancient wonder was open to the public thousands of years ago. Thankfully this area was devoid of skeletons, making me think the traps were put in as the library was being sealed up, to make sure that no one would ever come to steal the knowledge held within. That didn’t stop me from taking a book, though.

In between the two sides of the room, a sort of four way walkway allowed those without wings to cross the gap that lie in the middle of the floor, showing how deep the library really extended. Pillars supported the underground structure here, and each of the round pillars was adorned with a glowing crystal that bathed the entire floor in a surprisingly bright light. It didn’t compare to the desert sun but it was certainly brighter than the previous catacomb we had been in.

Faith and I were really exploring the floor looking for some sort of clue pointing to the location of the hourglass, unsure of where to look in the enormous building. We checked up and down through the various shelves of books, looking for something out of place. That was until we ran into one of our first traps.

“You alright there, Destiny?” Faith asked me.

“I’ll hang in there,” I replied. “I don’t think we’re going to find anything up here, we need to head down.”

“I see that it’s not an issue with you,” Faith shot back, finally getting used to the idea that I’m a pegasus, “But how do you plan to fly me down to the lower levels? There could be more traps in the air; I doubt your maneuverability is the same carrying a passenger.”

“I’ll scout ahead, see if there is anything trying to kill me,” I replied, “Once everything that wants to spray my guts over the wall is taken care of I’ll grab you.”

“Fair enough,” Faith continued looking through the shelves, occasionally gushing over a tome or two that was once considered lost to time. I took off, flying down to the floor below, a nearly identical copy of the top floor greeting me, all the way down to the same walkway between the gaps in the floor.

I landed on the walkway, turning my head around to check for any traps. It seemed like everything was safe, or at least nothing in the air wanted to kill me.

“We’re good!” I called back to Faith, “I’m going to grab you and bring you down.” I took back off, flying back up and grabbing Faith at the waist, eliciting an ‘Eep’ from her as I dragged her down to the lower floors with me.

Wow.

What. Was. This?

Faith and I stood before a giant three dimensional holographic globe, the various countries labeled with extremely accurate borders. How the globe managed to stay up to date with the rise and fall of nations throughout however long it has been here was a mystery, but I had no time to ponder that as Faith grabbed me by the hoof and dragged me in to get a closer look at the globe.

“This is amazing!” Faith gasped, “Oh if only I had a way to move this, what a wonderful centerpiece for the entrance to the library this would make! The knowledge it could hold…” Faith trailed off. I chuckled a bit, thinking of how cute it was that she could lose herself in some new way to learn new things.

Faith stepped forward until she was right in front of the globe, jumping as all of a sudden the light from the hologram flared out in a bright burst. We both stared for a minute at the brighter globe, unable to move as we were captivated by it.

I took a closer look at the globe, noting how it visibly showed major ley lines throughout the entire world, including unmarked land beyond the ley gates, a massive square of ley lines cutting of the known world from the rest of the planet, the rest of it only being known as the lost world and the echo. I could visible see the shapes of continents, but detailed information like that provided by the globe on other known nations like Vaporia and Equestria. The globe contained detailed information on government officials, leaders, cities and more, all the way down to patrol schedules for personal security agencies, all at the touch of a hoof.

“This has information on everything,” I breathed, still unsure of how to react on the current situation unfolding before my eyes. “I mean, there are all kinds of things in here, it flashed through my mind, Faith. It spoke to me, showed me just enough to entice me, but fleeting enough to lack any real information. We have to access this Faith, we could find out where the artifact is. Hell, we could even find out what the Ka wants with it.”

“Amazing,” was the only response I got out of Faith, her eyes still staring at the globe, possibly the world’s largest informational database, containing the information of a thousand grand libraries, always up to date, on demand.

‘Hello,’ a robotic voice said in time with the pulsing of light from the globe. ‘I am the Geographical Location and Indexing System, or G.L.I.S., what information would you like to access at this time?’

“Oh,” I commented, “It talks, sweet. Alright, Faith,” I said as I turned towards her, “What do we ask it?”

Faith floated out a map of the world and a pencil towards me, “Take notes,” she said. “Hello, Glis. You can show me virtually anything, yes?”

‘Yes,’ the machine responded, the voice continuing to sound alien and foreign to my ears.

“Then tell me the legend of the library.”

“The legend of the library?” I asked.

“There’s a rumor about this library, the details were lost a long time ago. I want to see how much this thing knows.”

‘The legend of the Alexmanedria library says that in this building lie the world’s largest secrets, and from these secrets the truth will set you free.’

What was that supposed to mean? I had no idea what this system thing was talking about, spouting off rumors and legends, with little evidence of hard fact. I needed to get a definite answer. I needed to ask it a direct question, demand with a direct statement.

“Show me all rumored artifacts of power related to the Infinite Hourglass.”

A series of lights and blips popped up on the slowly rotating globe, several catching my eye. One in Alexmanedria, labeled as the hourglass, among others. ‘The Time Piece’ was in Aurora, ‘The Frozen Heart’ in the middle of nowhere on the continent of Frigus, a seed of life in Concordia, a Solar and Lunar soul in Canterlot, the list went on. Every artifact had a purpose, and they all had a designated user passed down through blood. Most of the blood lines were lost, even to the seemingly endless wealth of information this piece of technology held. I marked them all down.

“This is really, really helpful,” I commented to Faith.

“We still don’t know where in the library the hourglass is though,” Faith retorted.

‘The Infinite Hourglass is located on the first floor, guarded by the spirit of knowledge,’ G.L.I.S. replied.

“The spirit of knowledge?” I asked.

“A guardian owl,” Faith answered for the globe.

“So we just hit the bottom of this library and take care of the spirit to get the hourglass? Sounds easy enough,” I stated.

‘Access to the maneframe is being shut down. Reason: Time allotted used up.’ The globe died down its glow, once again becoming the stagnant, slowly rotating hologram of the world it was when we first dropped down here.

I picked up the map in my mouth and stashed it in my saddle bags, securing all of the locations of artifacts of power. I grabbed Faith by the waist once again and dragged her down, determined to get to the bottom of this, figuratively and literally.

“This is it huh?” I asked out loud. “I don’t know; I just expected more, or something, anything.”

“You really just can’t be satisfied with non-decrepitly getting anything can you?” Faith said flatly.

“What can I say, I live for the excitement.” I smirked at her stoic expression. We had landed on the bottom floor a few minutes ago, doing a brief scouting trip as we tried to locate any threat we could see. Once we determined that the area was clear, I proceeded to examine what was in front of my face.

It was a stone owl statue, virtually identical to the one found in the lighthouse catacombs, only with a few minor differences. This one had its wings out, one folded to hold a small glass hourglass on it, the other flared out to its side as if the owl was attempting to ward off enemies. The room we were in scared me a little bit, small holes in the walls poured a seemingly endless supply of sand into grates that probably recycled the sand; consistently flowing for entirety, much like time itself. It was a chilling metaphor to say the least. I followed the gaze of the giant owl, looking to the wall where a prophecy seemed to be depicted through hieroglyphics. The first was a group of ponies, followed by a sun, an hourglass, a full moon, a crown, a stake, a symbol of fire, a symbol of air, one of water, a giant tree, a castle, and finally finishing it up with a cloud and what looked to be the moon crossing in front of the sun, a solar eclipse.

“What do you think this means?” I asked Faith. If anyone were to know something about mysterious hieroglyphic prophecies like this, it would probably be the head of the Alexmanedria archeological institute.

“I have no idea; it looks to be depicting something meaningful, as if it’s trying to tell a story long since passed, or a story that hasn’t been told yet,” Faith said mysteriously.

It was definitely a chilling prophecy to say the least, even if I didn’t know what it meant. I took another quick glance around the room, the calming sounds of consistently falling sand helping to quell any nervous tensions I may have.

“We should take the hourglass,” I said suddenly.

“Really?” Faith asked back, “Don’t you think that would set off some kind of, I don’t know, trap?”

“So what? We didn’t die to the last trap, we need to get this hourglass, and if push comes to shove I can snag you and fly us out of here.”

“That plan sounds riddled with holes, Destiny,” Faith chided.

“Trust me on this, okay? It worked with the owl last time, I just go with these feelings and they seem to usually work out. The only time we’ve been attacked was when you told me to grab that book,” I shot back.

“Yes, well I-” Faith sighed, defeated. “Fine,” she said, “But if we die it’s on your head.”

“Fine, my conscious will be weeping over your dead body if we both die, now get ready,” I replied.

I carefully inched towards the hourglass, sweat beading on my forehead as I nervously nudged my hoof towards the hourglass. I swiped it off with a swift wave of my forehoof and clenched my eyes in anticipation as I waited for something to happen. I opened them and stared at the artifact in my hooves, feeling a sense of pride as nothing bad happened.

“See Faith,” I turned back to her, “Nothing went wrong.” I stopped in my tracks as I saw the color drain from her face as she stared directly at me. “Uhh, Faith? What’s up?”

She gulped before speaking, “That,” she said, not taking her eyes off of me.

I turned around slowly, attempting to mentally prepare myself for whatever ended up behind me. In retrospect it was a dumb idea, I knew nothing would prepare me for the creature behind me, but I turned around anyways to get a glimpse at it.

“Hello,” it said. Where there was once a statue now stood a gigantic owl, full of life all the way down to its razor sharp beak and claw like talons. “May I ask what you are doing here?”

“This looks bad doesn’t it?” I asked to no one in particular.

“It does indeed, little pony. For you see, I am Wong Shei Tuong, and this is my library; my domain. And you, little pony, are stealing from it. Do you know what I do to thieves?”

“Look,” I had to think on my hooves, “I know this looks bad, but I wasn’t stealing anything from your library, I was just, um, borrowing it?”

“If you’re going to lie to ancient spirit,” the owl chided, “you should at least put some effort into it.”

“I’m not lying! My good friend Faith here will back me up,” I grabbed Faith and pulled her closer to me, “She’s the head of the Alexmanedria Archeological Institue!”

“Faith,” I nudged her as I whispered, “Back me up here.”

“Oh, Great Spirit,” Faith started, “We really need this hourglass, because, well. We need it for the prophecy!”

The owl turned his head at that statement, “You know of the prophecy? Perhaps you are more learned then you look. Tell me then, unicorn, if you got into my library you must already own one of the artifacts of power, the Golden Scarab. Show me.”

Faith perked up, suddenly confident at the prospect of convincing the spirit to part with the hourglass. Her horn glowed as she floated out the golden bug recovered from deep beneath the lighthouse.

“Here,” she said, “I have the scarab here, as proof that we entered your library legitimately.”

“I see,” the owl replied. “Well I suppose it’s only fair then you know the details of the prophecy before I kill you for thievery.” The owl glared daggers at me, still holding the hourglass. I knew I would never escape and outfly an ancient spirit of knowledge. It probably was as up to date as that globe on all the latest flying moves.

“The prophecy speaks of three ponies, one scholar, one loner, one exile, who are united against a common foe. Together they seek out the elements of destruction, counterparts to the elements of harmony and long since sealed away from mortal grasp,” the spirit paused before continuing, “An ancient group of delinquents known officially as the ‘Elemental Hammer’ have been seeking out the elements and the long term direct descendants of the original wielders who are able to use the pieces of power. They are the only ones, besides the chosen three. I’m sure you two are already fully aware of the locations of these artifacts.” Again with the glaring daggers; I honestly didn’t expect the effect of an ancient spirits malefic gaze to wear off that quickly, but honestly this Wong Shei Tuong just seemed like the angriest owl to have ever lived.

“Wait did you say the Elemental Hammer?” Faith interrupted the spirit. “I overheard some guards saying that the royal advisor for the Ka is part of some group called the Elemental Hammer, maybe that’s why the Ka wants us to get the artifact.”

“The Elemental Hammer is in the city above?” The spirit turned his head again in curiosity, “How, interesting. If only the chosen three were here, they would crush them.”

“If you let us take the hourglass I’m sure we could see what we could do,” I reasoned. Bartering our way out of here was our best bet at the moment. Mainly because I was skeptical Faith and I could kill an immortal spirit whom I guessed was a couple thousand years old. “I’m fairly armed, and Faith has more than a number of spells to help take them down. We’ll find out if the Ka is involved and dish out justice accordingly, but we need the hourglass.”

“You wish to take the hourglass? Fine, but know that I will be watching, and if it is found you betray me, I will kill you,” the owl said flatly. “Now go, fly away little pony, and take your friend with you. Put a stop to the deeds of the Elemental Hammer. Good luck.”

I flew upwards with Faith safely in tow. She was musing over our next course of action to take. Obviously we didn’t want to upset a powerful and ancient spirit of knowledge and intellect, but taking down a corrupt organization embedded deep within the governmental infrastructure of a country, possible going all the way up to the Ka himself, was no easy task either.

“What exactly is priority number one?” I asked, snapping Faith out of her trance and causing her to blink in confusion.

“What? Oh, right. I guess priority number one is play along, hand over the hourglass then strike,” she replied.

“Easier said than done. I guess we could play it like that, know any invisibility spells to get you in the palace?”

“Just one, though it only lasts for about a minute. How do you want to play this, Destiny?” Faith asked back.

“You’re better at coming up with tactical plans then I expected. I’d play it the same way, get you into the throne room and charge up some knock out spells. Personally, if this doesn’t have anything to do with the Ka and the advisor is pulling all the strings I want to avoid a blood bath,” I stated.

“Good point, let’s get out of the library though,” she paused. “What is it?”

“Nothing,” I said back lazily, “Just never expected you to say that is all.”

She only giggled.

“Easy, easy,” I said annoyed as a guard frisked me down for any concealed weapons. “You can see anything I’m carrying, I’m not a unicorn.” The earth pony guard kept patting random parts of my body as if I could conceal an invisible pistol and somehow fire it despite my lack of talons or magic. His hooves kept moving lower and lower and Hello! Okay I’m done with this weapons check. He’s lucky I don’t knock out his teeth.

I pushed past the guards and walked slowly through the courtyard, checking rooftops of the buildings of the palace, possible escape routes. I was a bit nervous on the whole issue, even more so not knowing if Faith was going to be there to back me up or bail me out. I trusted that mare, she proved that she could face the flames and walk away without a burn but the going was getting tough now and some ponies couldn’t take the pressure.

I pushed past the thoughts of abandonment and decided to trust in my friend. I walked silently down the main hall and towards the throne room, the small trickling beads of sweat beginning to form as I readied myself for a much tougher opponent.

No amount of preparation can prepare you for battle, and the calm before the storm puts a lump in your throat. I might not have taken my first life until not more than two days before but I learned quickly that attempting to mentally prepare yourself to take out a room of hostile enemies by walking straight into them with your only backup being a book worm unicorn is not exactly the easiest task. I pushed the doors open with a hoof, and walked straight into the middle of the throne room, the hourglass stuffed safely in my saddle bag.

“Hello again.”

New Item: Infinite Hourglass: This artifact has the ability to slow, speed up, and stop time temporarily.