Author's Note
Takes place before season 1.
Chapter 1
Cain POV
"And that makes 30." I said to myself after crafting another weapon. I live alone so no one can disturb me when I'm doing something important, well, important to me, anyone else had better have a good reason or money. When I'm not working I'm either gaming or smithing, I only make weapons if the person pays extra, otherwise they're getting a durable, but dull blade. At the beginning of this month I finished my last order of a few Warriors franchise weapons, Cao Cao and Xu Shu's were the last ones the client asked for. This month though I made a limited time offer for the Mortal Blades from Sekiro, as per usual I kept 2 for myself and sold the rest, I always keep the originals for home defense, decoration, and if I need to I'll sell it.
If it weren't for me knowing how to craft weapons and replicas I wouldn't be able to afford half the shit I've got. Minimum wage at what may as well be a dead end job likely wouldn't allow a car much less a house like mine which is far enough away from anyone that I can't get noise complaints with everything I own on top of it. If it weren't for my forge I'd still be living with my parents, don't get me wrong I love them, but we've had limited interactions for as long as I can remember, didn't help that I was always in the basement on the Xbox.
I spent a few weeks making these and I made pretty good profits from the weapons. I earn about $10.50 an hour at my job and work 7-9 hour shifts 4 days a week, 5 a week every other month. Depending on the buyer and popularity of the product to name a few variables I've sold weapons for up to $300, these Mortal Blades sold for $180 each. After getting them shipped off I went to my room and went to bed early.
Probably not my smartest decision.
I'm running, from what I don't know. All I know is that I feel the need to keep running through this forest that literally looks and smells like ash. I hear whatever is chasing me getting closer and safety has yet to enter my sights. The scenery changes, my pursuer gone, and the forest looks as good as new, like nothing ever happened to it. I stood there confused before everything around me vanished and was replaced with an empty void. I tried yelling, but nothing came out. After so long in this void I collapsed on to my back and just stared at whatever counts as up in the void until I thought I saw something. My eyes immediately locked on to it only to be filled with fear shortly after. I saw Earth and I was quickly falling towards the surface.
My eyes shot open as sweat dripped down my face. After spending a minute and a half calming myself down I noticed a few things wrong with my location and me. Stone floors or whatever, no roof, blanket, bed, 2 nodachis in red-ish and black scabbards nearby, and I'm wearing my usual clothes instead of pajamas (white shirt, black pants, black coat that reaches my ankles with grey fur lining).
'Alright, where the Hell am I? I don't remember drinking or anything that could've landed me here.' I thought to myself.
Standing up was a struggle, I noticed both swords had straps on them so I put one on and used the other for balance. Exploring my current location I've found I'm in what's likely the ruins of an old castle, though I don't remember any castles or ruins in Washington DC, then again I never paid much attention to such things. Finding the exit took much longer than I would've liked, hours passed apparently since I called it a night. It wasn't even 9 pm and now it's a few hours in the afternoon at least. Turns out that exit just lead to a courtyard, taking a seat by what was a fountain I took a minute to rest.
I blacked out for probably half an hour, the sun doesn't appear to be in a different position so it couldn't be long. I tried standing up again, but I still feel weak and had to use a sword to help me get around. I continued trying to find an exit and managed to do so after another hour of what felt like going in circles. There was a bridge that was in very poor condition over a large and deep gap and I was reminded of my fear of heights. I closed my eyes as I crossed the bridge and pushed those thoughts away. A plank broke about half way across and nearly gave me a heart attack, relief washed over me when I reached the other end, now to try my luck in an unknown forest.
I felt better after a while and no longer needed the sword as a makeshift cane, though this forest is giving me the creeps. After what felt like an hour at least I stopped because I felt something was off. No birds or bugs making any noises should have tipped me off sooner, but I wasn't paying much attention until now. I kept looking around me every so often and had my hands ready to draw the sword, I doubt I'll be able to defend myself very well thanks to how weak I feel, but a weapon should make that easier. Minutes passed and nothing changed, but I still progressed with caution.
That feeling of unease didn't fade for a while, or rather not at all and after getting annoyed with the lack of any signs of safety I took a hand off the sword to fake being off guard. Still nothing after several minutes of walking so I had thought maybe it was just me being paranoid in unknown territory. A few more minutes passed and I heard something roar in the woods ahead of me. A lion of all things jumped out so that was already a good reason to panic, especially in my condition, but there were a few things wrong with this. It's almost as big as me even on 4 legs, giant bat wings, and a scorpion tail.
"Okay this has got to be a dream. I'm nowhere near Greece or Rome or where ever manticores originate so WHAT THE FUCK??!!" My shouting caused it to start running at me and my first instinct was to draw the sword. I saw red and I think I saw a sort of red aura around the blade before I fell to the ground with an intense pain in my chest and darkness clouded my vision. I awoke in another void like place except this one was, well it's as if what I saw before was the 'dark' side and this is the 'light' side. Something or someone appeared seconds later, all I was able to see was a flash revealing a white figure with long multi colored hair before I experienced tunnel vision and saw darkness again.
I awoke in the same place I was before I fell over. The manticore backed off a little after seeing me get back up, it even looked uncertain(?), as if it's questioning the same thing as me. I grabbed the sword and it lunged at me, with reflexes and agility I don't remember having, I slid under it and it swung it's tail at me as it tried to turn around. It barely missed and I stood back up as I tried to process what just happened. It thrusted it's tail at me so I dodged to the side and moved in close, it tried to swipe at me then bite me, both times it missed. I tried to attack it, but I was forced to avoid it's claws and attempts at biting me before I was able to slice it's eye. While it was backing off from the pain, it began swinging it's tail wildly as it tried to recover. I stuck to it's new blind spot and cut off it's wing, it responded by thrusting the tail in my general direction. I caught it and redirected it over my head so I could cut the fleshy area between the segments. It pulled it's tail back, taking me along with it as it scratched my hand when I let go to land on it's back. It lifted itself up and tried to shake me off so I held on to it's mane to until I had a chance to slit it's throat.
It fell to the ground and me along with it. I quickly crawled away and turned to it, breathing rapidly. What the Hell was that? It's like my body just moved on it's own throughout that whole situation. I lifted the sword into view and saw what I thought I did earlier, a red blade with a red aura seeping off of it. I pulled out the other sword and saw a black blade with a black aura.
What the Hell is going on? Why do I have both Mortal Blades? Why can I use them? Where am I? So many questions were going through my mind and I started panicking, it wasn't long before I lost consciousness only to be awoken by pure pain in my arm and chest. I looked at the hand that was scratched and saw it was black with my arm being a dark purple. Realizing I had been poisoned I took a gamble with the manticore. I cut out one of it's claws and used it to kill myself. The same thing from before happened except this time that figure from earlier tried to say something that I couldn't make out as I was pulled back. I looked at my arm and it worked both to my dread and joy. I was alive and not poisoned, but somehow had the either the effects of the Rejuvinating Waters, the Blessing/ Curse of the Dragon's Heritage, or the Immortal Oath, or whatever it's called.
Okay think. I bled and was poisoned so the bloodline is a no, the Waters aren't as potent as the Oath if Genichiro was only able to use the Black Blade a limited number of times which I didn't seem to have trouble with, so that leaves self resurrection bullshit. Also the possibility of dying so much I give stage four cancer to everyone around me.
Where did I go wrong in my life?
Princess Celestia POV (after Cain's first death)
Has another Alicorn been made? I quickly sent my consciousness into the Astral Plane to find what that disturbance was. I only caught a glimpse of the pony in front of me. It happened so fast I couldn't tell the gender or even their attire. I didn't have enough time to learn this pony's location. Dread found it's way in my heart as the thought of a failed Ascension came to mind and the damage the last one caused. I was lucky to have found Cadence when I did or else her old home would've been nothing but ashes. I teleported out of the dining hall to my room to try and find where it happened. While it's possible this happened far away I don't intend to do nothing as my ponies could be in more danger than the guards and other teams can handle.
I saw no damage, but moments later I felt the same thing happen again, a second Ascension so soon after the first? No, this can't be a coincidence. I went back to the Astral Plane and saw the same pony again. I tried to ask what their intentions were as I tried to find their location. While I didn't get a response I did learn of this pony's location, the Everfree, near what used to be my and my sister's old castle.
Just who is this and what was going on?
Cain POV
No one said a word for the longest time, various reasons I would assume. A dead guard, an unconscious, likely soon to be dishonorably discharged guard, fear, I honestly don't care. I shifted the red Mortal Blade so it could be drawn from the side with a reverse grip and kept my hand where the pommel would be as to warn the others not to try anything. Minutes passed and the edge of the forest was in sight, another group of guards as well. I ignored them and sat against a tree as the princess did her thing. The body of that one guard apparently lived in this town initially until he enlisted, so the body was left here with his wife and children. The fool, it's amazing how often people are wrong about how to act towards others. To my experience, being the asshole gets my point across and gets better results more efficiently than being nice to everyone, I'll refer to our introductions as proof enough.
Eventually everyone started loading up into carriages and the ones with wings strapped themselves to the harnesses at the front. When they were finished, one of the guards, specifically the one who intercepted me first, walked over to me.
"We're leaving, get in." He ordered.
"The only one of you worth talking to is your princess, unless I hear it from her, I'm not doing that." I said defiantly. He glared and growled at me.
"I'm Captain of the Royal Guard, so-"
"You're a shit captain then considering how poorly you and your men handled first impressions." I interrupted as he tightened his grip on his sword. "Tell me, do your men frequently make mistakes or ignore warnings when they're out on missions? Especially when they're with you? Their princess? I have reason to believe this happens often considered the MANY red flags you all ignored. If you're losing at least one guard every time to the stupidest, most avoidable ways to die, then that speaks VERY poorly of your capability as a leader of any kind."
"Don't make m-"
"Don't make you what? Force me into a carriage? I'd like to see you try. Before you do that though, you might want to consider thinking back to the still unconscious guard and how well that ended for him. Though by all means, feel free to ignore my warnings again, though I can't promise there won't be casualties if you do." He was now clenching his fist enough to bleed. He turned away and went to the princess's carriage, she stepped out shortly after and made her way to me.
"I hear you're giving my captain trouble, Cain. May I ask what the problem is?" Celestia asked, displeased with my refusal to cooperate.
"He thinks he can order me around, I simply told him he's not worth me wasting my breath. You however, are a different story. Say the word and I'll get in." She didn't say anything for a few moments, she just stared at me, unblinking for that time frame.
"You will be riding in my carriage." She said as she turned and walked away.
'Your carriage? Hehehe, that certainly won't make anyone even a little uneasy. Okay then!' I thought to myself. I took my time, hoping someone would start trouble by the time I reached her carriage. I felt EVERYONE'S eyes on me, in the end, I was disappointed when no one did anything. Once inside, Celestia kept looking between me and the swords as if she wanted to say something, but kept silent. A few minutes after take off and nothing changed, slightly annoyed by this, I broke the silence.
"You get one question." I told her as I stared out the window.
"Pardon?" She asked.
"One question, ask." She didn't say anything for a minute, I almost zoned out as a result, but she spoke up just before I did.
"What did you mean when you said those swords can only be used by those who they were made to kill?" She asked, I can't say I'm surprised.
"Let's answer that question with another question. To those who seek it, it is a blessing, those who have it, it is a curse, what is it?"
"I'm...not sure." She responded.
"Well let me know when you figure out the answer then, because I'm not going to give you a straight answer on this topic. I'm likely the only one who can wield these, I wouldn't trust anyone with these, especially if I can't kill them with a normal blade." She looked at me as if she was taking note of my choice of words, but said nothing.
The trip was silent for a while longer, I'm not sure what to make of this world, though not much can surprise me now. Mythical creatures everywhere, sapient, humanoid animals, now they can defy physics and whatever other laws that state this should be impossible. Let's not forget the self-res immortality, two immortal killing blades, and all the physical changes like the enhanced reflexes. There had better not be any guardian/ headless apes, giant snakes, or God forbid demons. On second thought, the apes were worse than the demon, I never used firecrackers because bosses tend to be immune to crowd control effects and I didn't know headless enemies or demons counted as wraiths. Fucking misleading descriptions.
"Do you have any idea why we were in the Everfree?" Celesta asked, pulling me out of my thoughts.
"Me I'm guessing?" I asked in turn.
"You were part of it, yes. The other reason was because I sensed not one, but two ascensions. Both times, I believe I saw you in the Astral Plane, but you left before anything could happen." That's definitely worth checking out. "Ascension has only happened three times that I know of in my life with the most recent being my niece, and as rare and amazing such an event is, it's not without it's risks."
"Risks?"
"If something were to go wrong, there would have been a good chance of a magic overload which at best will fire random spells everywhere until all the magic in the pony is drained. At it's worst, there was a chance for a magic explosion. You can understand my concern when two happened in a very short time in one of the most dangerous forests in Equestria." She continued.
"I can...understand the concern then." Probably not a good idea to mention I saw something resembling her when I died, the dying part as well. "While I'm thinking about it, how is that forest, the Everfree I think it was called, why is it considered so dangerous? The only real threat was a manticore and that's because I was in a weakened state." Her eyes shot open with concern. "Before you ask, no, I didn't get stung, actually it didn't even touch me." I lied.
"The land tends to itself as does the weather and wildlife, to put it simply, it's untamed." She answered. I think I'll respond to that using Ashina as my "home".
"I'll ask about how it being untamed is a problem later." I said quietly to myself. "So basically it's like back home. If you think that forest is bad, try valleys with giant snakes with eyes almost as big as you, apes that somehow learned to dual wield swords effectively, giant man eating carps, or my personal favorite, giant centipedes that make the host damn near impossible to kill, or keep dead anyway, especially when they find themselves in creatures that are already extremely hard, if not impossible to kill." She looked at me horrified as I continued. "Have you ever seen a decapitated anything pick up it's head and scream at you while swinging a sword that's 5X your size? That is bullshit, and that's one of the reasons I have these swords, because I'm tired of dealing with everything I had a hard time killing getting back up."
"What sort of place do you come from?" She asked, afraid of the answer.
"... I don't have an answer that can accurately describe it so let's put a pin on that. When the fucked up wild life isn't trying to kill you nowadays, it's monks seeking immortality, soldiers, undead/ undying, and a few more I'd rather not think about. The only real safe place was a shrine, and the only person there eventually turned into a demon and had to be put down."
"You shouldn't have to worry about such things here." She assured me.
"I'll be the judge of that." I said as I thought of what other weapons/ tools I should get. First though, I should probably introduce these idiots to real armor and weapons, I don't care about them, but I can't have them dying without being capable meat shields first.
Author's Note
I wanted to move on to entry into Canterlot, but I couldn't really think of how to progress with this story without being any more repetitive than I have with the other stories.
Next update will probably be either The First Curses, New Life, or the mature chapters, afterward I'll be doing the KH story until I'm done with the RWBY crossover. Before that though, expect a chapter or two in the new school.
