Chapters I had been sleeping in my mother's bed for what I assume had been just a few hours when I heard what sounded like the ice cap of the northern lakes creaking and groaning in the winter. The noise was loud, making my sensitive ears beg me to shield them. When the noise had seemingly stopped, it rang out again. The horrible sound was coming from outside. As I made my way outside, I shuddered to imagine what could have been making such a horrible sound. Traveling with my father, I had seen many creatures and lands far from our little piece of the woods. The sound that kept resonating through our home shook with each impact. I had seen leviathans before, creatures so massive that they could level a whole city with little to no effort, but I threw out that idea when I realized that there were no leviathans for miles of our home. The closest one was a massive sea creature at the bottom of the Elven Gulf that could drink the sea itself and swallow ships whole. Doing my best to cover my ears, I fumbled groggily over to the living room where I assumed my parents were. There was no way they couldn't hear this racket, right? As I passed the kitchen, I caught at the edge of my peripheral vision, my mom. I stopped and back-peddled towards her. She had been holding a glass of what I think was a glass of milk, her eyes darting about, scanning the roof in a vain attempt to find the cause of the repetitive impacts.
"Mom! What's going on!?"
I shouted, hoping she would take notice. Fortunately for me, she did. She looked at me with a look of dread that shook me to the bone. She wasn't answering me...
"MOM!"
I tried again, hoping to get a response. The response I got was her pointing to a window behind me. I turned around and walked over to the window and what I saw next confused me as much as it amazed me. I could see the barrier being struck by what looked like... Falling stars? No... They were spheres of magic. Small ones arced over the treeline where I knew the barrier ended and fell on the shield harmlessly. Ripples, much like when you toss a stone into a lake, spread out over the barrier before dissipating. Then, from a barely visible pillar of smoke I hadn't noticed earlier, a much larger orb of fire shot into the air and exploded when it smashed into the barrier. The impact made the dreaded noise that I had thought belonged to a leviathan, cracks spider-webbed across the area of impact before slowly reverting back to their epicenter and disappearing from the barrier. As this happened I heard the front door burst open with a bang and before I could register it, my mom was taking a defensive stance in front of me and the hallway that led to the main entrance. As my dad rounded the corner, I noticed his clothing was covered in dirt and his hands and face were drenched in blood. He was breathing as if he had been running after a boar, but the look on his face didn't imply that he'd been chasing after something. He was surrounded by the stench of decay and I raised my arm in hopes that it would mitigate the smell. It didn't.
"Azazel, go to your room and hide as we've practiced."
He ordered as calmly as he could between breaths.
"Bu-"
"NOW!"
He yelled. Dad had never yelled at me for anything particularly important, an example of that would have been my mother's garden. But this... This was bad. He didn't even finish barking his order before I began scrambling for my room, my wings knocking over anything hanging on the walls of my path for my room. I went inside and locked the door. When mom and dad made our house, they had passages that led out of the main structure built into each room in case something like this happened. He also made me a bottomless bag with an assortment of tools and things I would need to survive in the wild. I pulled it from under my bed and left it near the center of my room. It was no bigger than a watermelon, but it weighed as much as my dad. To be fair, I am quite strong. Mom always said that I needed to learn my strengths and how to harness them, so I did my fair share of exercise. I was used to pulling my dad's cart filled with supplies whenever we headed to some trading post on our way to the black mountain or went through the outskirts of Moonshine. I never bothered to check the contents, I always thought dad was a little too paranoid and that I'd never use it. I would be proven wrong as the impacts suddenly stopped, and a ghastly silence filled my home. Not even the insects of the forest dared make noise, a weak breeze flowing in through my window was the only sound I could hear for what felt like a few minutes. I walked over to my window and saw what looked like a focused beam of sky blue energy tear through the shield, releasing a sound akin to a thousand baby wyverns roaring all at once in my ears. The barrier shattered with a blast of wind that shook most of the leaves of the nearest trees and combined with the awful cacophony, I fell on my back in agony, doing my best to dull the sound by placing my clawed gauntlet and free hand over my ears. Once the ringing in my ears stopped, I got to my feet, wrapped my quiver around my waist and began filling it to the brim with arrows from my small reservoir in my weapons chest. When I was going to head over to the window and are if I could spot our assailants so I could fill them with arrows, I heard a voice I didn't recognize, or rather I didn't recognize as friendly.
"ASTOSHAN!!! COME OUT AND SURRENDER THE DEMONS YOU'RE CONSPIRING WITH YOU FILTHY HEATHEN!"
The voice was distinctly masculine, deep and gruffed. Whoever this was, they were mad, and worst of all, they knew my father's name. I knew that other races didn't like demons, but People could get hurt needlessly, particularly my family over this incoherent stupidity. I looked over to the window tentatively before opting to take the smarter spot. I wrapped the bag of tools around my waist letting it rest next to my quiver and opened one of the floorboards that acted as a trap door to a passage that led to the cellar, and out towards the back of the house. Before I heading out, I needed to know who these people were. I walked to the wall between me and the outside world and pulled on a loose stone brick. Freeing the brick from its spot, I could safely see what was going on. I peered through the rectangular hole and immediately spotted several humans clad in silver armor. Most of them held spears, the rest held either crossbows or some strange weapon I hadn't ever seen. It had a hilt, much like a sword, but where the blade should be was a long chain with what looked like a small sphere with spikes on it at the end of the chain. Their shields branded a tapestry of runes with a backdrop of a night sky, and an ornate moon adorning the shield
"Surround the building, make sure nothing gets in or out."
One of the armored humans ordered in a whisper that I nearly missed. Seventeen of the thirty or so warriors I could see began spreading out and disappeared out of my limited sight. I heard the front door of the house open, and my father came out with a very familiar elven woman by his side. Shapeshifting is an ability the demon lords of the nine hells passed on to my mom. I only inherited my mother's look and ability to breathe fire. My affinity for necromancy, my desire to learn, and my relatively cheesy/morbid sense of humor come from my dad.
"What brings the astral guard to my corner of the woods?"
My father asked with a hint of venom to his words. One of the soldiers stepped forward, I assumed he was the one in charge due to the black cape with white dots draped over his shoulder spoke up in the same booming voice I had heard earlier.
"I, Deus Vult, Captain of the Astral guard am placing you under arrest by decree of Queen Elizabeth Solaris the first!"
He barked. I could feel the necrotic energy within my dad begin to seep into the ground as he tried to keep himself calm.
"On what charges!? The sun goddess agreed to leave me alone if I routed the orc marauders that were invading your Capitol a few months ago! I held my end of the deal! What makes you think you can just waltz in here and threaten me and my family!!!"
My dad shouted, the soldiers standing behind Deus lowered their spears and aimed their crossbows at my mom and dad. I felt my slit pupils narrow, and it took every last ounce of will power to keep me from tearing down the wall and ripping their heads up. I could hear the voices of the souls of bandits and thieves that had tried to kill me and my father on our supply runs howl and scream for bloodshed. Dad told me to consume those I killed, not their flesh, their souls. They would allow me to access more and more power from my inner well of necrotic power. As I stood there, trying to silence the souls within me, I did my best to hear the conversation outside.
"While it is true that our Queen made a deal with you. That does not absolve you of your crimes of hiding a demon from Queen Solaris' judgment and creating an aberration against nature itself. Not to mention your extensive list of times you've used the dark arts to maim and desecrate the bodies of Solarian citizens and guards alike."
Deus growled, he drew from a sheath that hidden under his cape a sword with a flame engulfed in a fire that alternated between orange, yellow, and white. It radiated holy light that was blinding to my eyes.
"AZAZEL!"
I heard my parents shout over the roar of the flames.
"AZAZEL! USE THE WARP STONE IN YOUR BAG!!!"
My father ordered, struggling along with my mother to hold the barrier. I blinked as it donned on me what I had to do. A warp stone could teleport me anywhere I wanted along with what I had on me and two other willing beings. My hand dug into the bag and blindly rummaged around the slue of things I couldn't identify for something spherical and made of glass. The shield was beginning to crack and groan like the barrier that used to protect our home.
"AZAZEL!!! HURRY!!!"
My mother pleaded through her strained breathing. I panicked at her cry and the fear I had been repressing with my rage enveloped me as I desperately searched through the impossibly deep bag. When the barrier finally broke, I found what I was looking for. I pulled out a tangerine-sized sphere that glowed with a faint white light and felt like polished glass in my clawed gauntlet. As I looked up from the orb in my hand, I saw Deus Vult aiming his blade right at my face a few feet away from me and my parents, who had fallen to their knees. The flames the engulfed his sword turned sky blue and I had a vague idea of what would ensue after his blade finished charging up.
"Any last words wretch?"
He stated. I was scared beyond belief. Then, time slowed down to a near halt. There was no sound, only my own breathing and my heart thumping away in my chest. I felt my mother's hand on my chest, my father's hand on the sphere in my hand. They were looking at me with a face of tender love and... Are they crying?!
"Be strong Azazel, remember to fight for what's right, to live, and love like only you can..."
My mother spoke in what seemed like a whisper. My mind was racing, I couldn't make sense of what was happening.
"W-what!? What's going on!?"
I managed to say. It was impossible to move any faster than that of a snail's pace.
"We've taken you this far... Now you have to carry on without us... Try to not make enemies, and stay away from sun goddesses, ok?..."
My dad's voice was as quiet, I could tell he was holding back tears as well. Before I could make another question, I felt my mom pour into me as much of her life force as she could. I felt stronger than I had ever been, but that wasn't my priority at the moment. They sounded like they were... No...
"I wish we had more time..." My mom whispered tears were now running down her cheeks. Before I could regain my bearings, my dad poured power into the warp stone, which began to shine and glow in a rainbow of colors that didn't seem natural but had I been in another circumstance, I would've found it to be beautiful.
"We love you..."
They spoke in unison. That was the last thing I heard them say before I heard the sound of glass shattering along with a sound similar to lightning, and time sped up to its normal speed. I felt the power of a star slam into my chest as my ears pick up Deus shouting something along the lines of 'sidus igne maxima' before the roar of the holy fire rammed into me and disintegrated my parents. I expected to hit the ground very quickly and die burning alive, but what happened next confused me as much as the holy flames burned against my chest. I was sent flying through what seemed like broken glass, as I went through the hole the cold night air hit my wings and I began to fall. The only thing that kept me from trying to correct my course through the air was the insistent stream of holy fire that pushed me through the air like those powder-filled tubes the dwarves have in their kingdom. "Fireworks" is what I think they called them. As I was dragged farther from the hole ripped in the sky, it began to close back up like the cracks of my father's barrier. When the hole was no more I slammed into something hard, what I would later discover to be the side of a mountain. The impact shook said mountain and left me winded. when the stream of holy fire ended its assault on my chest, gravity peeled me off the mountain and I began to fall straight down. I don't remember much of what happened in those few seconds I was falling. What I do remember was the pain and my entire body yearning for the sweet release of death. When I hit the ground, everything fell to darkness. And I found it near impossible to take a breath. The last thing that I remember going through my mind as I felt the life seep out of me, was my parent's last words.
"We love you..."
/////////////PrincessLuna///////////////
I had just raised the moon and finished painting the beautiful tapestry of the night sky when something caught my eye. In the distance, high up over the Everfree forest, magic swirled with bolts of electricity leaping between the clouds of wild magic before exploding outward towards Canterlot in a spray if what seemed like ethereal glass. From the epicenter of the broken magic, something flew through the air like a crazed bolt of stray magic towards the base of our mountainside city, leaving a trail of light blue flames in its path. The object crashed into the mountain, shaking the castle and the entire city with a thunderous boom. When the earth stopped shaking and the city showed no signs of collapsing or falling of Mount Canterlot, I used a teleportation spell to travel to my sister's room. She had been startled awake, her rainbow mane was suffering from the worst case of bed mane I had seen in years.
"Sister! Something has slammed into the mountain!"
I exclaimed using the Canterlot voice to inform my dear sister of the urgency I carried in my words. Tia was still trying to get a hold over what was happening.
"What?.."
She groggily asked, trying to rub the sleep from her eyes.
"Sister, we are under attack!"
I managed to say in a stern, yet quieter in tone. My sister finally wrapped her head around what I was saying.
"What?! By who?! Is it the changelings?!"
She asked in rapid succession with worry in her tone. Getting off the bed, her mane flared up like a raging fire before calming down as I answered her question with the details of what I had just seen. She listened at the edge of her proverbial seat as I explained. And her face went from a concerned and frightened mare to that of the brave and focused leader I knew my big sister to be.
"We'll go together to see what the damage is. Guards!"
The moment she called for her solar guard, a golden clad stallion and mare rushed through the door and stood at attention a few hooves away from either of us.
"Alert the rest of the guard. Get everypony to safety, that is your number one priority. Once everypony is safely out of the castle, meet us at the base of Mount Canterlot."
She ordered. The guards saluted and left as quickly as their hooves would allow them. Tia used her magic to levitate her regalia and crown on and looked at me with an icy glare that reminds me of the times we headed out to face monsters that threatened our little ponies in centuries past.
"Let's go."
I stated. And with that, we flew out through my sister's balcony overlooking the land of Equestria as we flew to make sure the city would not fall. Whatever had slammed onto the mountain, it missed the city and it's pillars completely and simply hit the magically strengthened stone with little to no damage. My eyes are much better at seeing in the dark than my sister's and at the foot of the mountain I spotted a small crater with a small plume of blue flame and smoke, what I assumed was what hit the mountain.
"Luna! There!"
Tia exclaimed, pointing at the smoldering crater. As we flew down near the crater, the wind of wings extinguished the flames. Through the smoke, a very faint crimson light shined at the bottom. We got close, horns at the ready to either teleport or blast whatever this thing was straight to Tartarus. With another round of wing flaps, the smoke cleared to reveal a creature unlike any we had ever seen. At first, I thought it to be a dragon, but its wings looked too heavy and unnatural to achieve flight. The blood red glow from before was a portion of its chest that was reduced to a bloody crater that was slowly healing itself. The creature had clawed feet with three toes on the front and one on the back. The bulk of its broad torso was a creamy white. Its limbs seemed to be covered with hard red scales. It had a long tail with the same coloration as his other limbs and a spear like a barb at its end. The creature's head was stranger, it looked to have the same type of creamy white flesh over its face with a long brown mane that reached down to its chest and its back. Its face was flat, with the exception of its nose, and had no fur anywhere aside from its long mane. Jutting from the creature's forehead were two dark red horns that curved up and over it's head before following it's long mane down before curbing back up. smaller spine like protrusions rose from the top of both horns in a descending pattern of size before ceasing half way along the horns. It wore a battered belt with metal trinkets dangling from small chains across its waist with what looked like the remains of a quiver, a small white satchel with a strange black rune, and worn black drapes covered its thighs and what remained of a melted gauntlet that covered its forearm and its clawed hand with five digits. It was barely breathing, and covered in what I hoped was its own blood.
"Luna?.."
Tia looked at me both bewildered and concerned.
"I'm just as lost for words as you are Tia.."
My sister's gaze returned to the creature. We simply stared at it, the hole in its chest healing completely and chest rising and falling as it breathed weakly.
"Princesses!"
A pegasus stallion clad in armor called as he descended with four other guards in tow. He landed behind us and led the small march towards us.
"The last of the ponies in the castle and the city are being mobilized into the shelters as you requested, what are your orders?"
He asked, standing at attention. As he spoke, more and more pegasi landed behind them. Shortly after, a large group of unicorns and earth ponies either teleported or ran towards the princesses as quickly as they could. Once they reach the Diarchs, everypony stood at attention, silently waiting for their princess to give them their next orders. Whatever the creature me and Tia were looking at was, it was intelligent and was wounded. We turned to look at each other and with a simple glance, we confirmed that our thoughts were on the same page.
"Bring a team of paramedics and carriage used to carry luggage."
I stated turning to face the unconscious creature.
"We're having a guest tonight at the palace."
Tia said with a smile before doing the same as me and waiting for the paramedics.
Author's Note
The next chapter should come along soon. Have merry Christmas everyone!
Chap. 1 A monster in the halls
//////////Princess Celestia////////////
I must admit. The events of last night prevented me from getting any sort of rest. Being woken up to the sound of a massive explosion and then Canterlot shaking with an earthquake that threatened to split the mountain on which our home resides was alarming enough. Then to learn that the cause of this was an unknown creature that slammed into the mountain like a runaway freight train added a whole other level of confusion that I was not ready to handle in the middle of the night. Fortunately, my sister's vigilance over the night kept us safe and informed over what was happening. If she was still banished on the moon, I don't know what might have happened. Assuring our little ponies of the Court of the Sun that everything would be alright was no easy feet, explaining to them what had happened seemed to be enough. Though there were many protests after revealing that the cause for the earthquake was to stay in the castle until we could determine with certainty what to do with it. Fortunately, Lulu was able to give a... persuasive speech, that was enough to qualm the uncertainty of the court. When the end of the night came, Lulu lowered the moon, and I raised the sun to start a new day for Equestria. Luna came by my room shortly after, she looked more exhausted than usual as she walked through my door. Every time I've seen her like that, she tells me that she had to deal with a particularly troublesome nightmare in the dream realm.
"Good morning Lulu. Did you sleep well?"
I asked more as a courtesy. I knew exactly how she slept, though I didn't know why. Besides, I would much rather be kind to my sister for her sake rather than my own.
"No Tia... And that's exactly why we must speak with you."
She croaked before clearing her throat. I used my magic to serve her a cool glass of water from a pitcher my maids bring me every morning. Luna gave me a tired smile and took the glass from my magic. She drank it down as greedily as etiquette would allow and rubbed her throat with a forehoof before speaking.
"Thank you, sister..."
She said before walking over to me. Her tone... It was sadness, not weariness.
"Luna is everything alright? You don't look well."
I asked as gently as I could, wrapping a wing around her as she sat next to me in my near the balcony of my room. We were looking out towards the city of Canterlot, the Everfree that loomed in the distance, and Ponyville just behind it. Luna remained silent for a moment.
"Sister... We're... I'm conflicted."
She started, struggling to find the words. I did my best to let her know I was listening.
"About?"
I asked.
"Azazel..."
She said with a hint of pity and remorse in her voice. I blinked in confusion.
"I'm sorry, Luna... What?"
I asked, trying to be as respectful as possible.
"The creature that we brought into the castle last night... His name is Azazel Astoshan Lilith."
I had an idea of where Luna was going, but I let her continue by nodding in understanding before she continued.
"This creature is not of our world. I know not where it comes from, and it is a formidable force to be reckoned with."
This was worrying indeed. But what puzzled me more was the fact that Luna felt "conflicted", as she put it.
"I have seen his memories. For one barely exiting his adolescence, he is not afraid to take the lives of those that would dare harm him or those he cares for... He is the only son of a demon and a necromancer that is referred to as a God of death... But..."
Luna stopped, unable to find the right words. My impatience was getting to me, so for now, I decided to nudge her only a little to help her get the thought through.
"But?"
I asked.
"I have seen five of the elements of harmony in some shape or form manifested in his life out of his own volition. Kindness. Generosity. Honesty. Loyalty. And laughter. But just as I have seen the elements, I have also seen him perform merciless brutality, bring death, instill fear and very recently... suffering born from loss."
I will admit the first three of the last list didn't surprise me much. But that last one...
"Loss?.."
I asked tentatively. Luna simply nodded. She must have read my pleading eyes because she continued after taking a glance at me.
"He and his family have been persecuted by a kingdom that mirrors our own in many ways for him and his family's practice of black magics... His arrival to Equestria was the result of his parents sacrificing their lives to save their son's life."
My heart sunk as I heard this. I have no love for necromancers. They are monsters in pony form who exist with the sole purpose of causing mass death and destruction wherever they go. But I knew for a fact that Luna's control over dreams was beyond question.
"What do you think we should do Luna?"
I asked my sister as calmly as I could manage after a bit of thinking. The amount of information that had just been laid on my hooves was too much to make the decision on my own. Luna was taken aback by this. But she recovered just as quickly before giving me a concerned reply.
"Part of me wants to imprison him in stone as we did for Discord. But I know that won't work in the long run, and it would not be just after all he's been through... I... Hmmm..."
She chose her next words as carefully as she could manage considering the pressure she had on her shoulders.
"Do you think that Princess Twilight and her friends could help him? Twilight and her friends were able to reform discord and save me from myself.. He's nowhere near as powerful as Discord, should he turn on them they should be able to defeat him with the elements."
I can't even begin to express how proud I am to be Luna's sister, especially when she says things like this. I had been holding back tears that began to flow down my cheeks as I hugged my sister and began to laugh out of pure joy. Luna was first startled, but quickly realized I meant well and joined into my embrace. We let go of each other and made up our minds.
"Then it is settled."
I mused.
"We should make ourselves known, he's already awake, and I don't know if he'll be alright with being chained to his bed."
Luna stated. My eyes went wide at this before I sighed in acceptance.
"I forgot about that. It's ok. It will be fine, everything will work out."
I repeated to myself in my head like a mantra as we headed towards the infirmary.
//////////////Azazel//////////////////
When I came to, two things were immediately clear. One, I wasn't home. The room I was in had white marble walls and tall ceilings. A single window that let in the sunlight illuminated the room. It had nothing other than the bed I was on. Two, wherever I was, I was chained by my wrists and legs with enough leeway to allow for me to sit. Upon noticing this, I began to pull and strain my bonds. The groaned and whined as I pulled with the little strength I had after waking up, but the chains wouldn't break. I could feel magic on the golden cuffs that bound my wrists. They were engraved with many small runes, draining me of my magic and feeding the chain to repair and reinforce my bonds. It quickly became apparent that brute force wouldn't. I sat there in silence for a way to free myself And then I remembered something, I could breathe hellfire. The hellish flames destroyed anything and everything it touched, save for the scales on my arms, legs, and wings. So I brought the cuffs to my face and let out a weak stream of black and red flames from my mouth. Slowly, but surely I could feel the golden cuffs lose their magical runes as they were deformed by the intense heat. I did the same for the other, and once I finished, I waited for my magic to return so I could strengthen myself enough to break free. As I sat there, I began to feel my strength slowly coming back. I estimated that my strength should return to its full swing in about five minutes. I waited patiently for the minutes to pass, and as I waited my senses began to wander. I could sense life forms outside my room. I couldn't tell what they were but I knew they were very small, they would reach to my stomach if I stood next to them.
"Goblins?... No... They're too dumb to make a place as elegant as this... maybe dwarves..."
I mused to myself as the five-minute mark passed. When I finished counting I held the chains taught and gave them a hard pull. They snapped much easier than I expected. They were mostly made of some brittle metal, though he struggled to find a logical reason as to why there were magic draining runes on the weak golden cuffs if dwarves we're such good craftsmen. He could think about that later, now he would have to find a way out. As the chains fell to the floor with a loud clatter, what sounded like small hooves hitting a hard floor caught me off guards as I eyed the wooden door that led outside.
"What was that?"
A male voice spoke from behind the door in a language the same as my own.
"That thing is probably moving in its sleep again. It's fine, nothing can break those cuffs. They were made to hold monsters like Tirek by Princess Celestia herself. It's not going anywhere."
Another voice stated matter-of-factly, this one female yet gruffy and stern. Princess Celestia? Tirek? Where in the nine hells did my parents send me!? If I wanted answers, I would have to leave the room to find out. I got off the bed as quietly as I could and once I cleared the bed, I stretched my wings, flapping them a little. I took the opportunity to stretch and pop my joints. As I did, several resounding cracks and pops left my joints, especially in my back as I stretched. I let out a sigh, feeling refreshed. I walked over to the window to get an idea of where I am, and if needed, possible escape routes. When I did, I saw a beautiful city even more so than Moonshine. It was easily twice as colorful. Rainbows arched over the tops of buildings and beyond the city was a beautiful expanse of green fields with a forest near by. I could've stayed there for hours, until I noticed movement in the streets below. I used my magic to enhance my vision to see what the colorful dots moving below were. To my utter bewilderment, I saw small horses in every color imaginable. They wore clothing that reminded me of the wealthy nobles that traveled by carriage to and from Moonshine. these creatures had very short heads with BIG eyes. they looked like caricatures from my dad's story books. I could see no people other than the pastel horses. I stepped back and stood there trying to make sense of what I had just seen. As my mind raced to find a way to justify what I had just witnessed, the sound of a locked door being opened snapped me out of my thoughts. Out of reflex, I cast an invisibility spell on myself and turned around just before the door opened. What I saw next left me flabbergasted. Two small, colorful horses entered the room, they were clad in golden armor that looked like it would be heavy to carry. One was slightly larger and bulkier than the other. The former had a mint cream coat and a brown mane, the latter was a pastel pink with orange hair. The smaller one had a small horn jutting from the top of it's head and I instantly recognized it as a unicorn, causing me to blink in amazement. Their eyes opened wide and their huge irises shrunk to pin pricks as they stared at the empty bed with horror.
"ITS GONE!!! How did it escape!?"
The stallion cried out in despair. It was almost funny to watch, but considering my circumstance, it was in my best interests to not laugh and be quiet. That and the fact THAT I WAS LOOKING AT A TALKING MULTICHROMATIC HORSE THE SIZE OF AN UNDERFED DEER HAD ME QUITE SHOCKED.
Before the smaller one could answer, two gasps were heard outside, and I couldn't help but wonder if there were more small talking horses outside.
"LOCKDOWN THE CASTLE. NO PONY GETS IN OR OUT UNTIL THE CREATURE IS FOUND!"
A feminine voice that reminded me too much of my mother ordered in a voice that must have been amplified with magic to cause the door and bed to shake. Also, "no pony?" This day was getting stranger and stranger by the minute. The two armored horses, or... ponies? left the room with the door wide open. The sound of many hooves clip clopping away into the distance let me know it was safe to breathe again. I had to drop the invisibility spell as I was getting light headed. I decided to wait for my magic reserves to refill before I dared make a run for it. As I walked over behind the door and sat down as close to the wall as my wings would allow me, I noticed I was missing my gauntlet and bag of belongings. I didn't know exactly what was in it, but I trusted my dad with my life. So if the bag was made with the intent of granting me survival, then I would look for it. Fortunately, I knew just the spell for the job. However, a divination spell required for me to concentrate. It would take time, and I couldn't use other spells as it would drain me too much. I would have to use it once, memorize my target's location, and make my way with the remaining magic in me to defend myself. It was a long shot, but I couldn't think of anything better. So I sat there for a bit, letting my magic build up. When I was confident I had enough, I focused and uttered the incantation.
"Encontrarium... Satchel"
I was detatched from my body and my sight zigzagged through the halls, passing over more armoured ponies of various colors, until it flew through a closed door and into a table where his satchel laid next to several of the mementoes that should've been hanging from my sash. The spell ended and I was shot back, taking the same route but in reverse towards me and when I opened my eyes I looked down to see that the medallions and other knickknacks that I had collected in my travels with dad were missing. this angered me, but at least I knew they hadn't thrown them away, as all of the missing trinkets were on the table I saw.
"Right, left, left, right, down the stairs, right and second door to the left..."
I repeated the directions twice more before steeling my nerves for what was about to come. When I was sure nothing was in my immediate vacinity, I bolted out of the room and followed the path I had memorized. My heavy footsteps echoed across the halls as my claws tried to dig into the polished marble floor with the hope of getting better traction. This only resulted in my footsteps being louder as they shrieked when I drifted right on the first turn. I nearly slammed into the wall, but I regained my footing and kept running. Upon getting a clear view of the hallway I saw two more of those little horses running in my direction, presumably to see what the noise was. What I can guarantee they weren't expecting, was me. As I ran at them at full speed, their eyes shot open and they ducked out of my way to save their skins as the big bad monster charged at them to eat them. I don't think that's they're thought process, but it helps me not panic at the thought of how ridiculous the whole situation was. I ran passed them and took a left at the next intersection much the same way I did in the last hallway with the next few turns. Guards were in the way and I did my best to avoid them while going at a full sprint. The miniature pegasi I encountered we're easy enough to dodge, and the brave one that tried to follow me I juked into a wall as I used the pillars of the well decorated stared to swing down to the floor below as the distracted pagasus slammed face first into a wall. There was one of them that was right in my path and I couldn't dodge in the second to last turn, so I picked up the mare instead of ramming into her and as she screamed for dear life I slowed down, using the sharp talons on my legs and left arm to grind to a halt. I set the shivering guard on the floor and bolted off to my destination. When I found the door, I ripped it clean off it's hinges and laid eyes on my prize. I walked inside and paid no mind to the terrified horse that shimmied flat against the wall around me and left the room screaming "MONSTEEEEEERRRRRR!!!!"
The first thing I grabbed was what remained of my gauntlet, so I ripped off the melted pauldron and kept the forearm and the clawed glove. As I inspected each medallion, wyvern tooth and key I began to clip them back onto my belt. Whatever these creatures were, they didn't damage my things, and for that I was grateful. As I grabbed my satchel, I opened it and began to rummage around for anything to defend myself. as my hand scoured the insides of the bag I found something I recognized, a hilt. Perfect! However, just as I grabbed onto the hilt, I heard a voice call out to me from outside the room.
"STOP!"
The voice was unmistakeably feminine, so like a child with it's hand caught in the proverbial cookie jar, I looked over my shoulder, using my wings to hide my arms. I saw two normal sized horses, one was a alabastor with Golden regalia with a sun on it's chest plate while the other was slightly shorter and was a deep blue with jet black regalia and a crescent moon on the other. These were larger and had both pegasus wings and unicorn horns, but what startled me was the way their hair flowed in a non-existent breeze. Their horns were surrounded by a haze of magical aura that I didn't like at all. Unicorns, as I knew them, had magical properties in their blood, but they could not cast magic like I did. The three of us simply stared at each other for what felt like an eternity. Then, the white one spoke with the voice that resembled my mother.
"Turn around. Slowly."
Resistance meant I'd have to deal with two opponents I knew nothing of while weakened. Compliance was my best bet. But before I did anything I decided to make a question of my own. I channeled magic into my vocal chords and spoke with two voices at once. One was my own, while the other was MUCH deeper and barely intelligable. This would increase my chances of not seeming to be at their mercy and would buy me time to think of an escape plan should things go south.
"Where am I?"
My voice chilled the air, and my assailants flinched at the sound I produced. They didn't answer, so I drew the blade from the satchel and slid it into my belt.
"I'll ask again, Where. Am. I?"
In retrospect, I think I poured a little too much dramatic effect, so I dialed down the level of magic in my voice as I slowly turned around.
"I mean you no harm, please tell me where I am."
Getting a better view of each other, I noticed their stances had changed. A few moments ago, these pagasus/unicorn... things were standing ready to charge and impale me with their horns. Now their stance was a bit more relaxed, though their horns still shimmered with magic. I clutched the satchel closer to my chest as we stared at each other like startled Caribous. After what felt like an eternity, the blue one spoke.
"You are in our castle. You crashed into it last night. We found you unconscious outside and brought you in here to question you when you woke up."
The white one looked at their companion for a bit before refocussing on me. This was a castle. It certainly fit the regal bit, and if the crowns on their flowing manes were anything to go about, they must be the owners if this castle. There was only one way to know for sure.
"Who are you?"
I retracted my magic completely. My singular voice sounding a lot less intimidating. I lowered my voice to a near whisper as I sat down with my legs crossed. This surprised the two equines, but they too relaxed and the magic in their horns disappeared.
"I am princess Luna, ruler of the night. I am responsible for crafting the star-filled night, guarding over the dreams of those that sleep, and moving the moon across the sky."
The blue one stated.
"And I am her older sister, Princess Celestia, ruler of the day. I am responsible for raising and setting the sun, handling diplomatic and internal affairs over the land of Equestria, and I am a mentor to the Princess of Friendship."
When I heard "ruler of the day", I felt a wave of rage directed at Queen Solaris and any like her. My slit pupils narrowed, showing my blood red Iris amidst the darkness of my eyes. I said nothing for a while, doing my best to keep my breathing as level as I could. Luna seemed to pick up on my sudden change of mood, and tried to remedy the harm done.
"You needn't worry Azazel. Tia and I do not wish to harm you."
They knew my name. That could not be overlooked. my subconscious pumped magic into my vocal chords again as I stood up and flared my wings out of reflex.
"How do you know my name!?"
My sudden outburst caused them both to flinch. Celestia turned to her sister with concern. Luna looked at her sister and they both too several steps back before speaking.
"We did not mean to scare you. As I told you before, I am the guardian of dreams. When you slumbered I saw your dreams and your nightmares. They told me the story of your life, what brought you here... and the pain you carry in your heart."
She said sincerely, bowing apologetically. They seemed genuine. But I would have to be certain. On my belt, I took one of the medallions that my father had gifted me. It was shaped like a star and held the sigil my mother made for me. According to her, it's my name in her native tongue, Abyssal. I've learned enough to read it and somewhat understand it when spoken, but I can't speak it fluently myself. I unclipped the medallion from my belt and grasped it firmly for them to see. When I did, my sigil began to glow and the princesses' horns began to glow again with their magic.
"This medallion was given to me as a gift on my fifteenth birthday. It can sense lies. No matter how small. So if you speak truthfully and answer my questions, you will have gained my trust."
I offered, doing my best to act like my father whenever he was trying to strike a deal with some merchant, or trying to convince a traveller he meant no harm. The two looked at me with unease in their expression.
"What do you wish to know?"
Luna asked. I pondered for a moment what to ask, and then settled on something simple, yet risky.
"Are you familiar with my kind?"
I asked, the effect on my voice was still present. The two simply shook their head, and the medallion remained inert in my hand. They were speaking the truth. I need more answers.
"What is the name of this place? I've never seen creatures like you."
I asked. Celestia spoke up to reply, never taking her eyes off me.
"You are in the land of Equestria."
The medallion was still Inert, no lies there either. Now for the real question I wanted answers to.
"What do you plan on doing with me?"
The two sisters looked at each other, then back at me. Luna was the one to reply now.
"Upon seeing your memories, we wish to give you a chance to start a new life here in Equestria. And teach you of the power of friendship. As it was shown to us."
This was making no sense to me. If I had been home I could've sworn that anyone offering me this would've been lying. But here stood two goddesses that were actually concerned with my well being. A demon, no less. I lowered the medallion and clipped it back into my belt as it dangled limply from my waist of a short chain. If this was my mom and dad's doing, then I would go along with it.
"Very well. I will do as you wish."
I said with a bit of hesitation. Celestia and Luna seemed content to find a middle ground. They led me out and of the room and told me of the history of the land, as it was depicted in beautiful murals on stained glass windows that lined the throne room. They told me of the Elements of Harmony and their bearers. They told me of their triumphs and their effect on those that allowed Friendship to heal and mend the wounds inflicted to them in the past. To me, it sounded like a fairy tale my mother would've told me when I was little. I had to confer with my medallion every now and again. The part I really struggled to believe was the rehabilitation of a God of Chaos. That I would have to see for myself. When Celestia was telling me of her student's newest victory against a pony that threatened to mess with time itself, a parchment materialized from a green flame that appeared without notice. When Celestia opened it, her smile widened considerably.
"What is it?"
I asked her. She looked at me with an excited smile that made me somewhat uneasy.
"It would seem that my student caught wind of your... spectacular entrance to our world, and wishes to meet you. She'll be coming tomorrow with her friends."
She said with motherly love that hurt a little to listen to. This goddess of the sun reminded me too much of my mother. Though I was intrigued with these Elements of Harmony. They were said to hold the strongest type of magic in this realm. If my father was still alive... he'd want to learn how to harness it and write a whole book about it for me to read. I looked into Celestia's and Luna's eyes for reassurance. I found it at an alarmingly quick rate. I think for the first time in my life, I felt safe without my parents... I gave out a quiet chuckle before musing to myself.
"Maybe I could get use to this."
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Chapter 2. Necromancy, pancakes, a pompous prince, and dreams
//////////////Azazel////////////////
The rest of my day was relatively uneventful. The Princesses gave me a tour of Canterlot Castle. Fortunately, my abrupt arrival did not hurt anyone, though I did cause a bit of panic when I collided with the mountain. The guards that moved through the castle on patrols and standing guard at every major room in the castle were visibly startled by my presence. apparently dashing through the castle like a crazed banshee left quite the impression, and the guard I had scooped up during my jaunt through the halls was taking the day off to recuperate. I would have to apologize for that, and I voiced my concern to Celestia. When I told her she was taken aback by my request.
"Forgive me, I just didn't expect kindness from a necromancer."
She stated, with a hint of guilt in her voice. I would've felt offended by this, but I was being offered courtesies that could be in jeopardy if I ran my mouth as I pleased.
"It is not wise to base other's intent on their set of skills or gifts, your highness."
I stated. It was as close to a verbal jab as I was willing to take with the sun goddess. She nodded sagely before continuing our conversation as we headed to what I assumed would be a dining room.
"You're right, and again, We are sorry if I may sound rude or say something to offend you. I really don't mean to..."
Luna added. They looked like they wanted to ask more questions, but their desire to not be invasive was stopping them. I must admit, I don't think I had ever had a conversation like this. Most of the interactions I've had with travelers were short and even then they were pretty rare. I remembered my father's warning, "stay away from sun goddesses" but I knew that I had nothing to fear from Celestia. She possessed a motherly demeanor, not unlike my mom. And Luna was very welcoming and kind. They wanted answers, and I saw no reason to deny them.
"Princesses, is there more you wish to ask?"
If she wanted answers, now was the time. Luna hesitated a bit before speaking.
"Necromancers study dark arts, poised with an insatiable hunger for wreaking death and destruction wherever they go. Your soul should be tainted with the vilest darkness, yet the only times that you've taken life was to feed and protect your family. Not once did you revel in causing death. I want to know how and why?"
She asked. Her question was loaded, but I figured that I'd give her the same explanation my father gave me when I asked the same question.
"Necromancy is one of, if not the most powerful school of magic. It is the study of how magic intertwines life and death in a natural balance, a balance that can be harnessed. To understand it, you must first recognize that there are five aspects to necromancy, flesh, bone, blood, soul, and life force, or how my father called it, spirit. When most people think of necromancy, they think of rending flesh, breaking bones, consuming blood, enslaving souls and snuffing out the life force of others. While those are all things that I as a necromancer can do, they only represent a small fraction of what I can do. I have the power to heal grievous wounds, restore missing limbs, and save others from the clutches of death. Not only that, I can create a bridge between the dead and the living. granting a few moments the living with the power to speak to those that have long since passed. As for why I have not fallen to an insatiable bloodlust, we must return to the concept of balance. There can be no death without life, and life without death is meaningless in the long run. Knowing that life has value, has made me lose my taste for taking it without a valid reaso. However, that is not to say that I am discouraged by this to take the lives of those that cause pain, misery, and suffering to others without a good reason. They are the one's who's flesh I tear asunder, whose bones I shatter, who's blood I take, who's souls I devour and who's life force I take from them. Their souls are fused with mine and become part of the collective that is me. They hold no power over me and they will remain my slaves until the day I die."
I explained as we walked into a large room with colorful windows and a long table filled with an assortment of fruits and other things that I did not recognize.
"I had breakfast prepared for us. If there is anything in particular you would like, I can have the cooks prepare it for you."
Celestia kindly offered. I was unable to answer as my nostrils were being assaulted by an assortment of sweet scents that were new to me. I picked up the small of fruits and warm milk, but there was another scent I could sense that was devilishly enticing. I had picked up the scent once before that one time we entered Moonshine City, but it was nowhere near this strong. I didn't reply to Celestia as my body moved on its own, closing the distance between me and the table of strange delicacies. I sniffed the air over several of the plates and trays on the table and was astonished to find that scent came from small, disk-shaped, bread-like pastries that were adorned with some sort of white foam and strawberries in the shape of a smiling face. I tilted my head in confusion. Next to the stack of sweet-smelling pastries was a bottle with a red cap and what seemed to be a brown, viscous, semi-transparent fluid that smelled faintly of honey, but its scent was sweet and easy on my nose. The collection of aromas was intoxicating and I began to salivate at the thought of what they would taste like.
"Is everything alright Azazel?"
Celestia asked, her voice was mirroring my mother's again, and I was almost inclined to call her that. Were it not for my late parents' sacrifice. I wheeled around to look at them, Luna was looking at me with curiosity, while her sister was giving me that motherly look that would make my heart sink just that little bit more.
"What is this? Its scent is incredible!"
I exclaimed, pointing at the plateful of sweet-smelling foodstuffs. Celestia gave a warm smile and chuckled lightly into her forehoof.
"Those are called pancakes. Would you like to try them?"
She asked coming to take a seat at one end of the table. Luna simply shook her head at this with a smile of her own before going to the other end of the long rectangular table. I nodded before eagerly sitting down on a large pillow laying on the floor, my wings fidgeting in anticipation. Celestia sat down and used her magic to levitate one of the plates with a stack of four of the pastries she called pancakes. She also levitated the bottle of brown liquid towards me.
"This is called syrup, you can add it to your pancakes to sweeten them."
I took the bottle in my hand as I eyed the thick fluid. I looked at celestial raise a fork and small round-tipped knife with her magic and cut out a stack of four triangles before carrying them to her mouth and eating them whole. I decided to follow her example and did the same, except I used my hands. The cutlery was a little small for me, but I managed to cut out the triangles and skewer them with my fork. I carried the food into my mouth as the sun goddess did and my eyes rolled back into my skull as I melted when the soft and sweet pancakes hit my tongue. As I chewed a moan that could've been confused for a manticore's purr escaped my lips as my wings went limp and drooped to the floor.
"Oh my stars...~"
I couldn't help myself. I had never had something that tasted so good in my life. It had a perfect mixture between sweet and salty, neither taste overpowering the other, and the sliced strawberries added a whole other texture that made the experience just amazing. Celestia had been watching my reaction and was barely containing her laughter, while Luna watched with wry smile, shaking her head.
"Try using the syrup."
Celestia suggested, covering her grin with a forehoof. She didn't need to tell me twice. I opened the bottle and poured some of the syrup on my next forkful of pancakes. And immediately shoved it into my mouth. My mind shut down with the overwhelmingly good taste. I threw all notions of etiquette out the proverbial window as I craved for more. While I cannot shapeshift completely like my mother, my body can assume minor changes. In this instance, my mouth sprouted rows upon rows of teeth as my lower jaw split down the middle with the sound of breaking bones and shifting flesh so I could devour the pancakes whole. Although it was normal for me when I got excited to use shapeshifting to let my parents know of how I felt, Celestia and Luna seemed very disturbed at my transformation. After I finished, my forked tongue lapped up the remaining nectar of the goddesses from my three pairs of lips. As my jaw shifted back to it's usual shape I have out a content sigh before noticing the faces of horror the princesses were making.
"What?"
I deadpanned. The princesses were about to say something, but before they could get their next thought out the doors to the dining hall were thrown open. I turned around on the seat to see a visibility upset unicorn storm in. It was slightly taller than all the other ponies I had seen before, but no where near Celestia or Luna's height. It seemed to be wearing a white suit over it's alabastor coat, but I couldn't tell if that was the case with the collar of said suit seamlessly integrated into it's figure. It had a sky blue tie that matched his eyes and a mate golden mane that draped over his eye. It made a beeline for Celestia and when it got near her.
"Auntie Celestia, we have to speak immediately! Why was I not informed that the creature was in the castle!? What in Equestria made you think bringing a monster into the castle was a good idea!? Why-"
His barrage of questions was cut short by Celestia's hoof being firmly planted parallel to his mouth. He was clearly a stallion. His voice, sounded similar to the teenagers that would come near our forest, distinctly masculine, but carrying no real authority. His posh accent made me cringe as it reminded me of the nobility that would send the Astral Guard chasing after me and my father if we were ever caught near Moonshine after our little... incident there.
"Good morning dear nephew, thank you for asking if I slept well. I rested well, how about you?"
Celestia replied with profane levels of profanity I thought only my mother was capable of. The stallion seemed to short circuit, as he backed away a few steps before trying again without so much aggression, but making it clear that he was still upset.
"Good morning auntie, I slept well. You too aunt Lu-"
He froze and opened his eyes so much I though his skull would break the moment he laid eyes on me. He clearly wasn't expecting me, and I decided to capitalize on the opportunity to teach this petulant noble just who in the nine hells he's talking to. I channeled magic into my vocal chords and let my demonic voice and appearance do the rest.
"For someone so small, you've got a really big mouth. Wouldn't you agree Princess Luna?"
Luna caught wind of what I was doing, and played along while trying to keep her giggling to a minimum.
"Oh I do agree Azazel. Our nephew Blueblood has a tendency to forget that he would benefit from keeping his thoughts to himself most of the time."
She stated deviously. Blueblood's eyes shrunk to near pin pricks as I stood to my full height and made a show making my footsteps loud and intimidating as my wings flared out. I made a point of covering his only exit with my body. He scurried backwards into Celestia's side and made himself as small as he could as I closed the gap between us. I craned my face near his and gave my little speech.
"Hmmm, Blueblood. You know, where I'm from. The blood of unicorns resembles a glowing, white milky substance that is worth a lot of coin if you know who to sell it to. But I wonder... W̷̙̑h̴̘͑ȃ̵̟t̸̺́ ̴̗̒p̶͇͛r̶͙̀o̴̮͌p̸̛̯e̴͇͐r̶͍͌t̵̺̂ḯ̸̬ë̴̼́s̸̠̋ ̵̘͛ď̵ͅo̴͚̅e̷̗̔s̶͉̄ ̸̥͛t̷͖̓h̷̺͆ẽ̶͇ ̴̝̂b̸̙͒l̴̤̏õ̸̼ó̶̞d̶̰͘ ̶̝͆ỏ̷̲f̴̪͐ ̷̭̕p̷̹̿o̷̡͆n̸̠͝ḯ̴̭ȅ̸̖s̴̠͝ ̷̩͋h̴̛̗a̴̰̅v̴͍̕e̵̟̎ ̶͈͒t̴̺̍o̴̢͆ ̶̝̔o̴̰̿f̶͔̓f̷̼̃è̶̮ṙ̷̢?̴̮̑ ̷̘̽E̴͕͘s̴̭̈́p̵̫̾e̸̕͜c̴͍̓i̴̬̽ä̶͇́l̶̤̽l̸͙͝y̷̘̽ ̷͎̍â̸̺ ̷͎̊u̸̪͛n̵͍̏ì̵̗c̷̪͗ò̴̡r̸̨̀ń̶̪ ̶̼̔s̸̮̃u̵̪̎č̴͙h̷̢̾ ̵͉͝a̶͉̓š̸̲ ̵͚̈́y̵̩͑o̷̙̿u̵̠͛r̶̘̋ś̵͓ë̷̡́l̵̲͌f̷̤̿.̴͚̌.̶͙̌.̵͉̅ ̴͈̎s̶̳͊ö̶̦ ̶̥͂t̴͎͂e̷̞̽l̶̤͆l̴̜̚ ̵͛͜ṃ̶̓e̸̪̓,̷̠́ ̷̑ͅB̸̯́L̴͖̚U̴͕̓E̵͖̒B̴͉̑Ľ̵̰Ǫ̷͠Ö̵̱́D̸̞̊.̵̨̓ ̸̤͆C̴̨̏A̴̮͊R̵̤̓Ẻ̴̦ ̴̲͘T̶͈̀Ȯ̸͕ ̵̰̓H̷̪̒E̷͇̚L̷̳̈́P̴̨͊ ̶̪̈M̴̨̀E̷̢͌ ̶͈̽T̵͎͆Ė̷̖S̸̽͜Ţ̵̏ ̷̹́M̸͈͆Y̴̫͊ ̷̟͊T̴͖͐H̷͌͜Ë̸̮O̷̲͆Ṙ̴̪Ỳ̷̢!̷͓̐?̵͖͝!̸̧̋?̶͆ͅ
I poured too much magic into the last part of my statement, as it was nigh unintelligible. Fortunately, my message got across. The main indicator was the shivering unicorn silently weeping in terror as he held onto his aunt for dear life. Celestia looked at me with concern. So I took a chance and looked straight into her eyes as I gave her a wink and a mischievous smile. She gave me the "are you kidding me!?" look before rolling her eyes and sighing.
"Blueblood, I'm trying to make a good impression on our guest. Come see me later in the evening, ok?"
Celestia said softly to her nephew. To this he nodded and bolted under my legs, and before I could even turn around to watch the coward flee he was gone. The clip clop of hooves off into the distance made me giggle manically to myself. Content, I turned back to Celestia, who was none too pleased with my behavior.
"For what it's worth, I simply wanted to show your wonderful nephew some demonic hospitality."
I stated with the most innocent smile I could manage, but I knew that it was coming off as a shit eating grin. Celestia was staring daggers at me, and just before she could say anything, Luna burst into a manic laughter she had been stifling ever since I got up from my chair. We both turned to look at Luna with shock as she had been laughing so hard she had fallen off her chair, and even as she hit the ground she kept laughing hysterically. After a few seconds of watching Luna laugh herself to death I began to laugh myself as Celestia simply rolled her eyes as she shook her head in disapproval and went back to her pancakes.
Once everyone finished eating, I was taken to my quarters. It was the room that I had been imprisoned in the night prior. The guards took the bonds off my bed and after wishing me a good night's sleep, Celestia and Luna left me in my room by myself. I locked the door to my room and got in bed. As I began to think about the following day, I began to drift into sleep. I was very intrigued and excited to meet the famed Elements of Harmony. Celestia and Luna spoke very highly of them, and I was particularly interested in the element of magic. Maybe they could teach me of magic that I am not familiar with like my... my father. I hadn't thought much about what happened the night prior. What had happened to my parents. It just felt so... unreal. It felt like a dream that started out as a nightmare that devolved into something good and pleasant. For now, I'd just have to go to sleep and make sure that I was dreaming. Make sure that when I woke up, I'd be in my bedroom snoring my body's exhaustion away. However, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't fall asleep. I could hear my parent's voices. They were screaming when they were holding up the barrier that protected us from the Astral Guard's holy embers. I began to cry at the memory. The pain in my mother's eyes. The regret in my father's. As I cried, the stress I didn't even know I was holding began to melt away, only to be replaced by a burning rage. If I ever found my way home, I would rain down on the Astral Guard and this Queen Solaris with the power I would gain in this world. I swore on my parents death that they would know despair. I swore they would feel my pain a thousand times over. I wanted their screams for mercy to be heard by all, and helped by none as tortured their souls for what they took from me. When sleep finally found me. I dreamed I was standing in our forest, near the edge of the treeline that had a clear view of Moonshine city. From what my father had told me, The city had been named that way in honor of Queen Solaris' late sister. Princess Umbra, who had died fighting valiantly to defend her country against the Elven Kingdom a few decades ago. I've never seen Solaris in person, but my mother and father knew her. They disliked her, and I never understood why my father would make a deal with a traitorous whore like her. I was raptured from my thoughts as I heard
"No more they kill, no more they mame, no more they terrorize. The spawn of hell
The men sang in unison with glee, one of them playing the tune on what looked to be a flute of some sort. To me it didn't matter, they were going to die for this mockery. As the last few soldiers marched past me, necrotic energy flowed through my hands. I dropped from the trees and snuck my way behind them, holding an invisibility spell. I walked behind the two guards that walked in the rear of their formation and grabbed their necks from behind. I drove my necrotic energy through them and they died in my hands before they even knew what was happening. I pumped magic into their bodies and whispered the curse of undeath along with the touch of death hex.
"Ego mortem dominating... ad tactu mortem..."
The corpses then convulsed for bit and I let go of them. I retreated behind a nearby tree to watch the madness unfold.
"kill the humans, and disarm Deus."
The corpses, ignoring all pain and exhaustion, lunged onto their friends and tore the few that wouldn't succumb to undeath limb from limb. Deus tried to fight them off, but being outnumbered thirty to one made it near impossible to hold his ground. My corpses distracted him long enough for me to get from behind, and using my brute strength i grabbed Deus' sword arm and tore it right off. When he fell to the ground, screaming agony at the loss of his limb, I took his holy weapon and walked toward him.
"H̸m̶m̶m̵.̸.̸.̵ ̴y̵o̶u̸ ̷k̸n̴o̷w̷,̸ ̷i̷t̶'̷s̶ ̶f̴u̵n̸n̵y̴.̵ ̷t̸o̷ ̷t̶h̸i̶n̶k̸ ̷t̶h̴a̷t̴ ̶o̸n̷l̸y̵ ̴a̴ ̶d̵a̶y̴ ̵a̴g̶o̴,̸ ̷I̸ ̴w̶a̴s̵ ̸w̶e̴r̵e̵ ̵y̸o̶u̵ ̴w̶e̵r̸e̸.̶ ̷a̷t̸ ̸t̴h̵e̸ ̶m̶e̶r̸c̶y̴ ̸o̶f̷ ̶a̶n̴o̸t̴h̵e̶r̸.̶ ̵h̵u̴n̵t̴e̶d̴ ̸b̷y̴ ̷s̴o̴m̸e̸o̷n̸e̷ ̵t̷h̴a̶t̵ ̸d̸e̶t̶e̷s̵t̵s̷ ̷y̸o̶u̸ ̵f̵o̶r̸ ̴e̵v̵e̴n̸ ̷e̸x̶i̷s̶t̶i̸n̵g̷.̷ ̶w̶h̷a̵t̸ ̶w̴a̸s̵ ̸i̶t̷ ̷t̸h̶a̸t̷ ̴y̷o̵u̴ ̷s̴a̶i̸d̸ ̴t̶o̷ ̷m̶e̸ ̸b̸e̶f̴o̸r̸e̶ ̷y̶o̸u̶ ̵t̷r̸i̷e̸d̶ ̸t̶o̴ ̴k̵i̷l̵l̵ ̶m̴e̵?̷"
My words held nothing but distain for this vile human that was looking up at me with sheer terror.
"I-I... I Killed you!!! I Killed Astoshan and that witch! How are you alive!?"
He spat out blood as he protested in disbelief.
"D̸o̴n̵'̴t̷ ̴h̸u̴r̴t̸ ̸w̵h̸a̵t̴ ̶y̸o̶u̴ ̴c̵a̴n̵'̵t̸ ̶k̷i̵l̴l̷.̵.̷.̵ ̴N̷o̵w̸.̴.̴.̵"
I raised the blade over my head with the intent of bringing it down with enough force to cleave a mountain.
"Ą̷̞̤͇̈́̑Ņ̶̻̹̪̒͌̍̀̕Ý̴͕̰ ̷̲͖̮̳̃̅͘͠͠Ĺ̷̹̯͚̇͐͆̄Ä̵͖́̕S̷̲̯̦̀Ṯ̴̖̩͒͋̀ ̵̳̜̫̺̫̾̋̓̀W̵͍̟̗̑͐̑͠͝O̷̢̢̮͙͐̄̏͘R̸͖͉̬̒̽́̚D̵̛͎̹͐Ŝ̸̝̤͖̪̮̀̄̈́!̶̫͔̓̃̀̀͘?̶̹̗̍̎̅͌!̵͓̓̄̆̓?̷̢̙̹̩͋"
I brought down the sword with all my hatred onto this bastard, but just before I could see his skull open, the world seemingly slowed down to a halt. I couldn't move, all I could do was try and look around me. There was nothing, no sound other than my own thoughts and breathing, and that's when I heard the sound of hooves trotting behind me. To my surprise, Luna walked around me and stood just behind Deus' frozen form.
"Azazel? Is this truly what you want?"
I couldn't answer her, I couldn't move.
"Is the death of this creature the only thing you can do to avenge your parents?"
I really wanted to say something, but no matter how much I willed myself to move, I couldn't. The, the world faded to black, only Luna's glowing horn was visible in the void. I was released from whatever she was holding me in, and I noticed that the sword I had in my hands was gone.
"You..."
I growled before continuing.
"HOW DARE YOU PRETEND TO KNOW WHAT MY PARENTS WANTED!? YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT THEM OR ME!!!"
Luna simply looked at me with unwavering resolve. Her horn glowed again and we were sent an area in front of my house. the place where my parents died. I could see my mother and my father from the side creating a barrier, along with another me, with his arm elbow deep into an all too familiar bag. It was the night my parents died. Deus was blasting a stream of holy fire at us while mom and dad were creating a dome of raw magic to block out the flames. Then, I saw the scene I was all too familiar with play out before me.
"Be strong Azazel, remember to fight for what is right, to live and live like only you can..."
My mother's whisper was a cacophony of echos that no matter how much I covered my ears, the sound would not be lessened. It was too much to bear. I began to sob as my ears burned and my heart could take no more.
"STOP! PLEASE MAKE IT STOOOOOOP!!!"
As if on command, the echos stopped. My mother, my father, and my double vanished along with the dreadful noise. I could hear the crickets chirping and the gentle breeze rustling the trees around us. The peaceful environment did nothing to take away the pain. I lay broken on my knees crying like a baby that wants his mother. I felt alone. I didn't even notice that Luna had moved next to me as I lay there on my knees, covering my face with my hands and hiding behind my hair.
"Azazel... This path that you're choosing to walk. I know it far too well to allow you to repeat the mistake I nearly made. You will find no peace this way. I nearly lost everything that mattered to me. What your mother and father did was for you to have a chance to live a life that is worth living."
Luna's gentle tone was soul nourishing to say the least. She placed a hoof on my shoulder and began to stroke my back. I finally began to relax, but I still was far from ok.
"I... I feel lost... Mom and dad always knew what to do.... they... they always knew what to say.. they were the only people that... that..."
I was struggling to get the words out as it was, and before I could finish, I broke again into another fit of uncontrollable sobs. Luna moved her hoof onto my arm, and pulled on it for me to face her. As she gently tugged my hand off my face and gave me a hug that I didn't know I needed as badly as I did. She caressed my hair with her hoof as she let me cry out my frustration and grief. We stayed there for what felt like an eternity as she whispered assurances that everything would be alright and strokes my hair. I felt exhausted. After I calmed down enough to stop crying we broke the hug and sat under the night sky to watch the stars. I wanted her to keep holding me, but i didn't want it to get awkward between us so I simply stayed out and kept my hands to myself.
"Thank you... I... I needed this... Thank you."
I said to her, looking at her beautiful dark blue eyes. She smiled at me and silently laid her head on my shoulder as we resumed to watch the stars. Was this what Luna and her sister meant by the magic of friendship? I could nearly wound or sickness of the body, but a magic that could heal wounds of the heart and soul? This is something I wanted to harness. With a power like that I could honor my mom and dad's wishes. I swore it on their graves that I would fight for what is right, to live and love as I only I can. For my mom and dad. I will harness the magic of friendship!
Author's Note
I've decided to color Azazel's demon voice in red for future chapters to avoided dwelling on it for too long as he will be using it for the following chapter. if you guys have any suggestions be sure to let me know in the comments. Have a merry Christmas!!!
Chapter 3. Common ground with old friends
///////////Twilight////////////
Everything had been going great until we heard a loud explosion that sounded almost like a blast of electric magic in the direction of Canterlot. I had been sitting with the girls on my balcony during our sleepover at my castle when we saw the sky over the Everfree shatter like glass and saw something crash into Canterlot mountain. At first, I wanted to go immediately and see what was going on. But the girls had insisted we enjoy our night and deal with it later. I was quite annoyed over this, but this night was important. We had all just returned from Starlight's first friendship lesson with Sunburst in the Crystal Empire and the Royal Crystalling. I invited the girls and with some help from Pinkie, we were celebrating Starlight's success. After the party ended, I couldn't sleep knowing that there was something that demanded to be researched near the foot of Canterlot Mountain. As the girls slept in my room, I jutted down a letter to Princess Celestia. I let her know that I really wanted her to take whatever it was that hit the mountain and keep it safe so I could study it. I left the letter near my bed so Spike could send it to the princess in the morning. After that, I got in bed and fell asleep a little more at peace. I woke up to the scent of breakfast wafting its way to my bedroom from the kitchen. I woke up and freshened up before heading down to eat. When I reached the throne room, I found the girls eating pancakes while intently looking at the map. Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, and even Starlight were silently watching the map with confusion, wonder, and bewilderment. the only one not looking at it was Pinkie Pie, who was gingerly eating her pancakes with a large smile as she chewed on the sweet goodness of Spike's pancakes. When I closed the distance and sat down, I decided to break the silence that was invading the room.
"Morning girls. What's wro-"
I followed their eyes along the Cutie Map and saw all of our cutie marks hovering over the map, specifically, over Canterlot. Another few minutes of silence passed and Rainbow Dash let out a groan of discomfort.
"Can we go just one week without being sent off to who knows where to solve some friendship problem!?"
Everyone simply looked at her with blank expressions. It was only then that I had noticed that our cutie marks were shining like they usually do whenever the map sends us on missions.
"Oh, I don't think so darling."
Rarity answered coyly.
"Am I the only one who thinks that whatever that thing that we saw fly right into Canterlot is related to the friendship problem?"
Applejack asked. This made us all look at each other for some hope of finding the answers written on our faces. Unfortunately, there were no answers to be had on our faces.
"How long ago did the map show our cutie marks?"
I asked, now my priorities shifting from getting food in my stomach to satiating my curiosity. Pinkie Pie had finished her pancakes and had been sitting quietly, listening to the conversation.
"The map lit up just before you came here, actually. Also, I made you pancakes."
Spike said, appearing from behind my chair with a stack of his trademark pancakes on a plate with utensils in one claw and a bottle of syrup in the other. He set the plate in front of me and sat down beside me. I looked down at the stack of pancakes and then back up at my friends.
"Girls, can you be ready tomorrow to go to Canterlot?"
I asked them. Rarity and Rainbow Dash nodded, Applejack looked directly at me along with Fluttershy and Rarity. Pinkie Pie was smiling, a lot wider than normal. She was also very quiet. she was rubbing her hooves together as if scheming something.
"O' course Twi. I'll just let Granny Smith know so she can tell Big Mac and Applebloom to cover for me."
She stated with a gentle smile.
"I would have to go home and let my animals know that I'd be gone for a bit... but I can go if I'm needed."
Fluttershy said with a mixture of nervousness and kindness in her voice.
"I'll tell Sweetie Bell to stay with Applebloom at Sweet Apple Acres while we're in Canterlot. If we're going to Canterlot, I'll need time to have my things in order to meet our soon to be friend. One must always look at the very least presentable to make friends darling!"
Rarity chimed in. Rainbow Dash sighed shortly after.
"Welp, I really wasn't planning on doing much on my day off anyway, so I'll go."
Rainbow Dash's answer had its annoyed tone turned into a more relaxed and cheeky one. I nodded before speaking.
"Then it's settled. Tomorrow we'll take the train to Canterlot together at 10 am."
The girls nodded happily and everyone went down on their breakfast, every now and again stopping to talk about the events of the Crystalling. When everypony finished, Applejack spoke up as she got up to leave.
"Alright, I'm off to go tell Granny Smith of where we're goin' tomorrow. Take care girls!"
In the same fashion, the girls left one by one until only spike and Starlight remained with me in the castle.
"Twilight?" Starlight asked, who'd finished her pancakes a while ago, was walking next to me as we headed out to walk towards my study.
"Yes?" I responded.
"Is this how you girls normally do things? Like going on friendship missions, I mean."
She asked with curiosity much like my own.
"Yes, though there have been times when the map calls us when we're out of the castle. As for friendship missions, the map tends to only call one or two ponies at a time. The last time the map called all of us was for something bi- OH MY GOSH THE MAP CALLED YOU FOR YOUR FIRST FRIENDSHIP MISSION!!!"
I nearly screamed in excitement as realization flushed over me. I hugged Starlight filled with joy. Moments like these were the ones that give me insight if how pinkie pie lives every day. We broke the hug and Starlight, though a bit shaken, was taking it well.
"I wonder what it could be..."
My pupil mused to herself.
"What do you mean Starlight?"
I asked. I already knew where she was going, but I wanted her to feel safe telling me what was on her mind.
"Well, You've told me that the Cutie Map sends you and the Elements on friendship missions. And Applejack thinks that it has to do with whatever that thing was that flew straight into Canterlot. For all we know, the chance of it being something ponies are fighting over is just as likely of it being sompony that needs to learn about friendship. What I guess I'm trying to say is that, as far as I know, there's no way to know what the friendship problem actually is until we get there, is there?"
She explained. I had stopped my questions earlier that morning and realized that I hadn't considered any of that. I nodded to her explanation before answering, which took me a few seconds.
"That's true. However, the map has never failed to know who to send, when to send them and where. And If it called us all, then it probably means it will take all of us to solve the problem."
Content with my answer, she smiled in satisfaction and we stayed quiet for the rest of the walk. We parted ways and headed to our respective rooms to pack for tomorrow. Entering my room, I saw the letter from last night that I wanted to send to Princess Celestia. I took it in my magic and read it over before crumpling it and getting a new parchment of paper to rewrite my letter.
Dear Princess Celestia,
//////////////Azazel/////////////////
I woke up from my restless dream feeling weary. I wasn't sleepy, I just felt drained. I sat up on my bed and yawned as I shook the sleepiness off me. It was still dark out. There wasn't a clock in my room so I had no way of telling the time. I looked to my right and saw my bag, carefully seated against my bed on the floor. I picked it up and put it on my lap as I crossed my legs. I opened it and began to inspect the contents. The first thing I pulled out took me a bit to identify, but then I noticed it is a human femur bone. My eyes widened at this and I began to dig again. More and more bones came from within, along with a few colorful skulls. Upon closer inspection, I noticed something odd about the skulls. they had been engraved with writing in abyssal. I dug into the bag again and pulled out a somewhat large tome. I set it aside and for the first time, I peered straight into the bag. Dad told me that if I did, I'd see nothing. The runes that lined the inside of the bag would send the contents into a pocket dimension he made for that specific usage. Don't ask me how dad never explained it to me so I'm clueless. surely enough, I saw nothing. Confused, I took another look at the skulls, and I recognized the names engraved on their sides.
"Mia, Trephor, Avalon, Anvari..."
I read the four names aloud and my eyes began to water with tears of joy. These skulls belonged to the first few skeletons I ever raised from the dead. They had been my only friends in my younger years. To be fair, all undead I raise become an extension of what makes me, me. They were all me, in a way, yet they are their own creatures in my eyes, seeing as how they act with a relatively free will I grant them. The thing about the undead is that they require a supply of necrotic energy to keep them up and about like the living need food. What I would normally do would be to draw magic from the environment and use it to replenish my magical reserves while giving them a constant stream of energy if they stayed near me from said magical reserves. As I grew older, I got tired of constantly having to feed them my power, since ambient magic in our part of the woods was used to fuel the barrier that kept us safe. Even then there wasn't enough for me to keep them up and about for more than a few days at a time. But this world was rich in ambient magic, it was only at that moment that I realized the boost in power I got, compared to what I had at my disposal back at home at least. Normally, it would take me a full day to replenish the strength, considering I used magic along with my hellfire to break off my bonds earlier. So I got an idea. I got off my bed and put all the bones on it on the floor. then I flipped my bag upside down and out came the noisy clattering of many small and large bones. I immediately recognized who's bones belonged to who, as I would paint their bones so I could tell them apart when I was younger. Mia had many little yellow and blue flowers on her shoulder blades, arms, and legs. I painted Trephor completely green, every last digit was a grassy green with the exception of his jaw, I painted that brown. I remember I painted him like that because when I was first learning how to hunt with mom, I wanted him to accompany me, so I painted him green and brown so he could be "camouflaged". Avalon was painted a jet black with Red accents in his joints, shoulder blades, and teeth with the hope of making him look like a wraith. Dad didn't like it, but mom was thrilled to learn that I used hellfire to blacken the bones with soot. I made him so I could scare my dad while he was studying, and I got in trouble quite a few times because of it. Anvari was the smallest of the group, she had been a teenage she dwarf in life who died of physical abuse. My dad found her outside of Moonshine city, crying under a bridge with nothing but a blood-soaked rag on her. He put her out her misery when she told him that her mom and dad had abandoned her. I will never forget the way he looked at me when he gave me her cleaned remains.
"Let it be a lesson to you Azazel. Your magic, your race, or how many things you may have don't define you. It is what you do with the power you have that defines you. And the ones responsible for this are the real monsters of this world. And I want this to stick with you for as long as you live. The day you do that to one of your kids or any innocent person for that matter, will be the day you just how cruel I can be. Understood?"
He made me promise him I'd take care of her, so I have always made a point of protecting her above all my undead. She's the only one I gave a proper burial when I got tired of keeping her around. I also kept some clothes for her and the rest of my friends, though i lost track of where they went after the last time they were raised from their "eternal" slumber. Surely enough, they were in my bag and had flopped in a messy stack that lay next to the pile of bones. I closed my bag set it on the bed, silently thanking my dad for his foresight. It was still a bit heavy, so there were still more things in there. That would have to wait, I was going to get my childhood friends back. I stood to my feet and focused my power onto my right hand. It was enveloped in a combination of black and red flames that condensed into a sphere of necrotic energy just a few centimeters above my palm. When I felt I had enough of it pent up, I released the necrotic energy from my hand in a small explosion that made a noise similar to the movement of ghosts. When the blast of energy struck the bones, the dark flames were absorbed with a gentle swooshing sound. The bones shuddered for a bit before they rolled, tumbled and connected over each other into four complete humanoid skeletons. With a sound similar to a muffled bell, their eye sockets lit up with small wisps of a flame of a crimson hue.
"Rise friends... and live once more!"
With that, they rose and shook their heads, snapping out of some sort of daze.
"Let's see if I can still do this..."
I muttered to myself. I closed my eyes and began to focus on my creations. Soon enough, I could control the skeletons and ordered them to get dressed. All they had were similar white shirts with loose black pants with a rope belt that would go just over their pelvises. It took me a while to get hang of it again. I hadn't raised the dead in a while, much less controlled multiple bodies all at once. Several hours past and I was able to not only make the move somewhat realistically, but I had also managed to make them talk. I started with vowel sounds and moved to full words which then shifted into nonsensical "conversations." It wasn't easy, I had only done it once before and I had been practicing the spell for weeks so I could have them sing for mom on her 40,000ish birthday. I don't know how old she was exactly, but I do know she's somewhere around that number. When the sun rose, I managed to move from harmonizing with one skeleton at a time, to all of them with myself adding to the melody of a song I hum to myself whenever I worked or was studying. I made up the melody ages ago, but I've never been able to write lyrics for it. I had heard the guards outside my door commenting with fear over the singing, everyone and again I would stop the skeletons' performance to hear them shivering in their armor and repeating to themselves that they were getting paid triple for standing there and doing nothing. I also heard one utter something akin a prayer to Celestia, but I paid no mind to it and got back to work. The ambient magic in this world was enough for me to feed my creations without expending my own magic or strength. It was a skill I had perfected while, but I was a bit out of practice. I knew I would get my power back into full with enough practice, but one thing at a time for now. Now was the time for my undead quartet to perform for real. Just before I could command my skeletons to do anything, my door's lock clicked open and the door was flung open. The thing that caught me completely off guard wasn't the fact that my skeletons nearly trampled each other to get behind me and cower under my bed and behind me as I sat on the bed. It was Princess Luna with tired eyes and a WIDE grin on her face as she led her sister into my room. They sat down just shy of a few feet away from me and with her magic, Celestia shut the door behind her. Luna was looking like she about to explode with giddy anticipation.
"Sister! This is what I told you about the singing undead!"
Luna exclaimed cheerfully. Celestia was not at all impressed. As for me, there was a lot of internal screaming along with me trying to put the most neutral face possible. Celestia simply cocked her head to the side as she tried to look at Anvari, it was only then that I noticed that they were moving of their own volition. She was hiding behind my left-wing in an attempt to shield herself from the Alicorn's gaze. "Azazel, what are those things?" Celestia asked with a tone that implied that she already knew the answer and was asking out of courtesy. I swallowed before steeling my nerves and answering her. "Friends of mine." I wasn't lying. They were my only real companions for as long as I can remember. The only reason that I didn't have them these last few years was because of the lack of new things to do with them. Luna's smile shrunk, but only a little.
"And who is that, if we may ask?"
She asked, pointing a hoof at the skeleton standing behind me. I immediately commanded it in my mind to come before me, but it didn't move. I furled my eyebrows at this before standing up and turning around to see why Anvari wasn't obeying. She was slowly backing away, her ribs and jaw we're clattering together with what I could only describe as fear. It took me a bit to realize why she was doing that. The skeletons were controlled by my thoughts, which left emotional imprints on their bodies. Anvari was particularly receptive to my fear. And thus she trembled in fear while I simply stared in confusion. "It's ok, they're not gonna hurt you. Not while I'm here." I whispered to the scared skeleton. She looked at me with her red glowing "eyes". She hesitantly walked towards me and I picked her up like my mother would've picked me up when I was small. Turning around, the rest of my skeletons come out from under the bed. These took Celestia and Luna by surprise. Luna simply looked on in awe as the skeletons sat beside and behind me on the bed. Celestia looked at all of them. I can tell from her face that she wasn't expecting them to look the way they did. Even if she didn't know what species they belonged to, I could see she was caught off guard by their color schemes. She then focused on me, and the look she gave me said exactly I thought she thought with what I heard her say next.
"I assume you killed these poor creatures and used their bodies to indulge in your musical performances?"
Her tone was very passive-aggressive. I had never heard anyone speak to me or another like that, but I had read enough books and spoken with enough strangers to know that her accusation was something she condemned me of preemptively. I could tell she didn't trust me, and the kindness she had shown me the day before had occurred because she doubted I was even capable of what I claimed. This world seemed to have a lot of negative stigma towards necromancers, much like my old homeland. I sighed at the thought of explaining to her that I wasn't a genocidal monster. Unfortunately, I forgot what happens when you're magically linked to four undead skeletons who can speak one's thoughts involuntary.
"He didn't kill us you uncultured swine!"
Trephor spoke with a voice similar to my own, but with a posh accent. My eyes went wide at this as I froze in utter panic. Celestia and Luna were taken aback from this. Luna was just not expecting one of my skeletons to speak up, but Celestia's shock turned into a furious gaze. I had to remedy this NOW or I would not live to see another day.
"Forgive me, your majesty! I can't control what they say or think!"
I spat out as quickly and as respectfully as I could manage, shielding Trephor from Celestia's angry eyes with my wings. Luna picked up on what was happening and cut in to soothe her sister's rage. "Sister. Let him explain himself. I wish to know more about our guest before we make any hasty decisions." Luna implored her sister placing a hoof on her sister's shoulder. Celestia was staring daggers at me while she let out a frustrated sigh.
"Very well. Explain to us why there are undead in our castle, how they came here and what you plan on doing with them."
She spoke with raw mirth in her tone. Giving her an honest answer was the best option, but I wasn't going to let her off easy. I was a necromancer, yes, but so was my father. He never used his power to enslave and oppress others. his powers to obtain knowledge, punish those who abused their power and help those he cared about, his family. And I refused to be verbally beaten into fear.
"The skeletons you see are a gift from my father. They are the bodies of murderers, thieves, and an abused child left to die...."
I caressed Anvari's skull as she further buried herself in my arms. this gave me the strength to say more, and more I spoke.
"I told you before. I don't have a taste for killing needlessly. Their souls and bodies are being put to better use than the one they had in life. I found their bones in my bag and wished to do something for me to remember my parents by. Something they loved."
I never raised my voice, but I was very Stern with what I said. Celestia's anger had dwindled but her resolve remained strong.
"And what gives you the right to determine whether or not the souls of others should be judged by you? That is a perversion of nature itself!"
She declares believing she had cornered me.
"And what gives you the right to determine what is natural and what is not? Especially in regards to life and death? Last I checked, you're a sun goddess. And every time the gods intervene in matters that don't concern their domain, Innocents and the really unlucky ones die."
I countered with the same calmness as before. I was keeping my own anger in check, but skeletons' flaming dots were growing in intensity as I grew angrier at Celestia's ignorance. Celestia was livid, her elegant mane that once danced in a non-existent breeze, now flickered in what seemed to be rainbow-colored flames. Luna got in front of her sister, no longer able to sit idly by and watch us bicker.
"Sister, Azazel speaks true. We cannot judge him like this. It is unfair and against everything this kingdom stands for."
Luna objected to my defense. I was relieved to see that someone would listen to reason. What happened next caught me off guard and shook my very being. Celestia's furious stare shifted over to Luna. I could feel the betrayal she felt in her just by looking at the tears that were welling up in her eyes as she clenched her teeth in a vain attempt to keep herself under control.
"Need I remind you that it was a necromancer who killed our parents!? A necromancer who threatened to destroy everything our father and mother had built! After we let him stay with us in OUR OWN HOME! I WON'T LET HISTORY REPEAT ITSELF! I REFUSE TO LOSE ANYONE ELSE TO A MONSTER THAT INDULGES IN BLACK MAGIC!!!"
Celestia had lost all semblance of control, and her horn flared with magic, readying herself to attack. Her adrenaline-fueled rage was the only thing keeping her from breaking down into a chasm I was all too familiar with. Loss. I could see it in her eyes as I watched the argument unfold. Luna got in between the both of us, and thanked her internally for saving from another blast of what I assumed would more holy fire to the face.
"Celestia! Azazel is not like the monster that took our mother and father from us! He spoke truly when he said he does not take pleasure in taking the lives of Innocents! He's like us, Tia! That is why we must help him!"
Luna protested gently but firmly placing her hoof on her sister's chest. After Luna set her hoof down without fear of the raging sun goddess, I had moved Anvari behind me and commanded my skeletons to be ready should I need a distraction to escape.
"HELP HIM!? HOW COULD HE POSSIBLY KNOW WHAT WE'VE BEEN THROUGH!? WHAT I'VE BEEN THROUGH!?"
Celestia cried as her wings flared outwards in a knee jerk reaction. I had to act fast, or this would escalate out of control. I won't lie, I was getting mad at something that I was all to familiar with. I have tried before to make strangers not fear me. But whether it's my dominion over undeath, or my demonic heritage, no one listens. They jump to conclusions and chalk up everything I say to nothing more than lies. My anger was slowly superceding my fear, and once I noticed it. I decided to use it how my mom and dad taught me to when these situations happened. Beat it into them with the cold truth, and if that doesn't work, abort.
"Because my parents were killed by someone just like you."
I said calmly. Celestia, though still distressed, was confused and slightly offended by my statement and pressed for answers with poison in her voice.
"What are you talking about!?"
She asked.
"M̴y̶ ̸m̸o̵t̵h̷e̴r̵ ̵a̴n̶d̶ ̵f̷a̴t̸h̶e̴r̸ ̶d̷i̷e̷d̷ ̵t̴o̶ ̵s̴a̸v̶e̷ ̷m̵e̶ ̷f̸r̶o̶m̵ ̸a̸ ̶s̴u̸n̵ ̵g̶o̸d̵d̸e̶s̵s̷ ̴w̵h̵o̴ ̴s̵e̷n̴t̴ ̷s̶o̵l̸d̴i̶e̵r̴s̷ ̶t̷o̷ ̶m̴y̴ ̴h̸o̷m̵e̷ ̸w̶i̶t̷h̷ ̶t̸h̵e̴ ̵i̸n̴t̴e̸n̷t̷ ̷o̷f̴ ̴k̸i̵l̷l̶i̵n̷g̴ ̶m̷e̸ ̸a̶n̴d̷ ̶m̶y̶ ̶f̴a̶m̸i̶l̷y̵.̴ ̵T̷h̷e̴y̸ ̷a̴r̵e̸ ̵d̵e̸a̶d̴ ̴b̴e̶c̷a̷u̷s̶e̴ ̷o̴f̷ ̴s̶o̴m̴e̵o̸n̵e̷ ̵l̶i̸k̶e̶ ̷y̶o̷u̸.̶"
I stood up from the bed as I let my displeasure seep into my words. Luna backed away, ready to defend her sister should she need it, but willing to let me make my case unobstructed. I walked over to Celestia and stood right in her face, I didn't bother crouching to her level. I simply looked down at her with my fists clenched as I tried my best to stay calm enough to not tear her throat out.
"I know the pain you feel. To lose those that you love the most... You can call me a monster all you like, but you are insulting my family and the magic they used to protect me. You don't know what I can do, and that scares you. Well let me tell you what I am not. W̸e̷l̶l̵ ̶l̸e̴t̵ ̶m̵e̸ ̷t̶e̵l̸l̵ ̸y̴o̶u̸ ̷w̸h̷a̸t̶ ̴I̶ ̸a̸m̷ ̶n̴o̵t̸.̷ I̸̟͑̆ͅ ̴̈́̿͒͜ą̶̣̀m̷̮̓͌̃ ̶̫͓͔͝͝n̶̨̓o̷̝͆ẗ̵̥̫̘́͌ ̸̦͈̑̀s̷̼̟̃o̸̡͕̿̈m̶̩̥̙͛e̵͔̕͠ ̷̧͎̤̆i̴̢̼͓̓n̵̗̈͠s̸̩̈́a̴̭̿͊͝n̵̡̢͝e̵͚̗̯͊̌̚,̴̟̈́ ̶̧̌̓g̶̯̉̾̀ẽ̸͔̯̦n̸̤̂o̴̢̜͈͊͐c̵̞̠̉i̸͇̒̀̃d̸͚̙̮̏a̴͎͕̰͋̒l̸̥̯͘ ̸̱̱͗̽̐m̶̪̑̑͆ạ̸̀n̵̗̲̈́ï̴̗̺̜̊̇ǎ̵͔̫c̶̪̪̮͊͗.̸͕̒ͅ ̴̪͆̑Ỉ̶̼͑͜ ̸̧͍͎̓ȧ̷̼m̶͎̹͔̋̒̅ ̶͙̓ṱ̵̝͘h̶̲̉̐ę̶͚̬͊͝ ̸̢͕͎͗̈́s̷͈͐̏o̵̲̒͐͆n̸͔̔ ̴̮̳̹̿õ̸͉f̶̡̠̦̆̎̕ ̷̼̂D̷̡̫͋̅ě̵̮̞a̶̰͚͉͌͠t̵͖̥͠h̷̡̪͠ ̵̢̚ą̸̳̍͐̂n̶̞̏͂͗d̵̼̈̅̚ ̸͈̓͊t̷͍̊͝h̴̖͑̀͘ȇ̸̠͍͈̐ ̵̗̫͒f̶̙̱̭̂̕o̷̭͘ŗ̸͛m̶͖̘̈́ę̵̩̯̌͊͝r̷͇̃ ̵̻͔̔Q̵̢̟͌͝u̶̡̹͋̉͂e̶̼̗͛e̸̼̓n̵̰̘̊͌̏ ̷̢͈̊o̶̯̓̏̽f̶̞̜̟̐̔ ̶̦̗̅t̶̢͘h̵̲̒͝ȩ̸̛̥̗͛͝ ̷̩̰͒n̴͈̆ï̷͓̳̞n̴̼̱̏̕e̴̗̓ͅ ̵̱̽ḫ̴̓̕͝e̸͚̝͈̿̒̿l̴̢̯̱̈l̸̗̽̕ŝ̷͉.̶̛̫̻͑͆ ̶͓̙̀̎Í̸͕͓f̴̧̄͋͝ ̶̢̭̟̆̚͠I̵̮͙͐̆͘ ̸͎͈̟̈́ŵ̶̢̱͔̽a̷͕̓̀̈́n̶͈̖̽̀t̷̠̔e̵̮͙̩͌̆̐d̸̜͉͖͐ ̵̻̰̘̈̒y̶͙̆ó̴̞̚u̶̟̅͐͗ ̶̹̍ǫ̷̮͠ŕ̷̞̂͠ ̴̢͎̌͐̚͜y̵̹̓͝ǫ̸̳̰͋ú̷̧̘̥r̴̳̚ ̴̠̈́̓i̴̪̼͖̔̀l̴̨̑k̴͖̣͓̕ ̵̛͈͇̣͘d̴̺̰̭̈́̅e̶̼̹̅͋͘a̵̯̦͐̎d̵̹͇́,̸̤̪̽́̀ ̵̮͕̀̓Ĭ̵̫̇͝ ̶̠̮̾͆̌ẅ̷̥́̌̈́o̷̤̹͌̿u̸̦͚͗͝l̸͉͘d̶̙̅͐͋'̸͓̣͑̆v̵̳̈́̊̔e̴̟̝̾̎ ̶̖̲̗̀͘a̵̝̒̂͛ľ̸̨͓̄̕͜r̶̟̪̦̿͋e̶͇̝͂̆́a̴̮͛ḍ̸͆̚y̵̱͝ ̷̳̘̓̀͋d̴̝̀o̸͎̰͚͋̈́n̸͎̖͌̕͝e̷̺̳͌͂ ̸̡͎͊̕ś̸̲̎o̷̡͇̽͒.̵̡̯̭̓̓͠ But I haven't, not because I believe it's a mercy I grant you, but because without a valid reason, I could not live with myself knowing I took the lives of the innocent."
As I spoke, Celestia's anger was soon replaced with horror at the realization of what I was saying and what that implied for her. She looked down to the floor and silently shed painful tears as I stepped back and sat down on the bed. I drove in the final knife with a vengeance. Feeling the need for retribution being sated at the sight of her tears.
"I won't let my anger consume me as it has you. B̸e̵c̵a̵u̴s̷e̵ ̶i̵f̵ ̴I̷ ̴d̶o̵,̴ ̷t̵h̸e̵ ̵m̸o̵n̷s̸t̵e̸r̷ ̶y̴o̵u̴'̵r̵e̸ ̵s̶o̷ ̵a̷f̵r̵a̴i̸d̴ ̷o̶f̵ ̷w̵i̵l̷l̴ ̸d̵o̴ ̷e̸x̵a̶c̵t̷l̵y̵ ̸w̵h̴a̸t̷ ̶y̶o̴u̸ ̴t̵h̸i̶n̶k̷ ̴i̴t̸̴w̷i̴l̷l̵. D̵̝̜̈̊e̷̠̼̓s̸̢̺̊̔̀t̴̖̻̯͆̔r̸̥͒ǫ̴̺̙͐̂̏y̶̧̮̅i̸͚̬̔̎n̸̫͛͗̌g̸̮͉̃ ̶͙̊͗̌e̷͍͗ṽ̷̮̠͎̂è̸̳̓ͅr̴̭̝̄͂y̶̛̥͎̏t̴̛͇͚̆h̸̛͇̗̾̐i̸̟͇̕n̷̛̜͕͆̐ġ̸̨̺̉ ̷̯̲͖̒̚y̶̟̒̂̽ő̴͕̯̟̀û̵̱͖̺̓̔ ̷̝̈́́͜͝l̶̜͇̈́̐o̵̖͓͇͂̋̌v̷̹̟͇̅̓̌ẽ̴͙͓̀.̸̺̭͚̈́͝.̸̺̬̱̕.̷͖̟͗̓ ̶̮̞́ a̸n̴d̷ ̶t̶h̸e̶ ̷o̶n̷l̶y̴ ̸p̵e̴r̸s̵o̵n̴ ̸I̸'̸v̵e̴ ̷e̸v̴e̸r̴ ̷c̵o̴n̶s̸i̶d̴e̵r̸e̶d̸ ̷t̷o̵ ̵b̴e̴ ̶a̶ ̶t̷r̸u̶e̸ ̵f̷r̵i̷e̸n̵d̴.̴.̷.̶ Leave me be. I want no part with a deluded monarch who thinks they can tell me what I am or am not much less with anyone that thinks like you."
With that, I got up again and went for my things. I took the tome I had taken out earlier and placed it in my bag, and I commanded my skeletons to follow me and with that, I walked around Celestia and Luna, who had been holding her sister close to ease her quiet sobs. My heart sunk at the sight. Arguing with my parents, and dealing with those who would have my head and that of my family had taught me to defend myself verbally and to not be afraid of confrontation. Luna looked over to me with sadness in her eyes, she was pleading for forgiveness with her gaze. I gave her a kind smile before take a glance at her sister. Celestia's form shuddered as I could tell her sobs we're becoming more and more difficult to restrain, while Lunna repayed my smile with one of her own and quickly returned to soothing her sister's crying. I left and began searching for a way out of the castle that didn't mean smashing through a window with my entourage. I would have to find the place where their dead would be buried, after that, I'd head to fields at the foot of the mountain and pick a direction from there.
Author's Note
I want to thank those in the comments for your thoughts, particularly with me over doing the descriptive paragraphs. You're helping me write better and frankly it's been fun writing this. Sidenote: one of you guys noticed the reference to All Things DnD. I love his content and I aspire to be as good as he is at writing fiction. Anyway, keep giving me feedback if you find anything you think I should work on and have a merry Christmas!
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Chapter 4. The past comes to haunt or heal us all
////////////////Starlight Glimmer///////////////////
We had all packed our things and met at Ponyville's train station by 10. We arrived at Canterlot after a quick train ride, and by noon we made it to the palace. We even made bets during the ride as to what the problem could be about. As we were escorted to our rooms, we spoke with some of the guards and confirmed our initial suspicions. What slammed into Canterlot was, in fact, a living being. What really startled us was its physical description. It didn't sound like anything any of us had ever heard of. Before we could get more out of him, we reached the throne room. The doors were opened by guards who then stood at attention waiting for us to go in. The princesses were on their thrones. Luna smiled at us in her relaxed and caring manner; but despite her warm smile, Celestia seemed tired. This worried me a bit.
"Thank you for coming girls."
Celestia spoke in her distinctive maternal tone. She rose from her throne along with Luna and came down to greet us. I was the only one that really bowed out of respect for the diarchs, and since nopony paid any mind, I stood back on my hooves and simply let Twilight deal with the situation. Celestia had received Twilight with a warm hug using their wings. Once they parted, their exchange began.
"Princess Celestia, did you read my letter?"
Twilight asked, there was worry in her voice, but not enough to warrant panic. Celestia gave her a weary smile before answering her question.
"I did Twilight. And... I think I know what your friendship problem is..."
As she spoke, she looked down and away from us with guilt in her voice. Luna, who had been silently listening in to the conversation decided to speak up. She explained everything that had happened earlier that and the night prior. I have to admit, I was shocked to learn the creature had gone through so much in so little time and welcomed Luna's kindness willingly. and that's not even taking into account the fact that he is a necromancer. However, all of that paled in comparison to what happened earlier this morning. It seemed absurd that a monster that practices the dark arts of magic would handle the situation so calmly. The girls were tearing up at Luna's account of the creature and Celestia's discussion, but what made the dam of self-control keeping Celestia together was shattered when Luna spoke his last words to them.
"...after that, he left the castle without incident. We figured that trying to make him stay would worsen the situation. We've had the guards monitor his every move and keep a distance to not provoke him. Everypony in Canterlot has been ordered to stay indoors until we can be certain he won't do anything."
Luna finished as she stroked her older sister's back with her forehoof, who had calmed down enough to stop crying. The girls had were all reeling from the information they had just been given. Applejack, Rarity, and Twilight were all silently mauling through their minds trying to find the appropriate response. Fluttershy was still wiping her tears and sniffling every now and again from the sad story Luna told. Pinkie Pie was looking thoughtful, but if Rainbowdash has taught me anything is that one does not question Pinkie and not think too hard. Speaking of which, Rainbowdash looked livid.
"When I see him. I'm gonna buck his butt all the way to Phillydelfia."
She said through gritted teeth. The girls were all pulled from their respective trances and locked eyes with Rainbow.
"WHAT!?"
Twilight nearly shouted, horror visible on her face.
"Who does he think he is!? Talking to the princesses like that, hm? It doesn't matter what he says he's been through! Nopony talks to the princess like that! Much less make her cry!"
Rainbowdash valiantly expressed her indignation. Before Twilight could counter, Celestia raised a hoof to silence them and spoke up.
"Girls, please. I... I need your help. I've made a terrible mistake. I've been burying my pain for so long, that seeing someone like him made me push away a potential friend away. Not only that, but I've forgotten what the elements of Harmony and this kingdom stand for..."
Celestia stated dejectedly, tears beginning to well up in her eyes again. At this point, we had all moved closer to Celestia and the girls have her reassuring smiles. I just stood there in silence, watching every subtle movement the princesses and the girls made, taking mental notes of everything they did.
"I know what I have to do but... I don't know if I have the strength to do it..."
She confessed.
"Princess, you won't do it alone. We will always stand with you when you need us. Friendship or not, we will always be willing to help you. Just as you helped me find my friends and guided me to do what is right."
Twilight reassured her with a hug. The girls all did the same, understanding what the princess needed. Her words filled me with a warmth I haven't felt in a long, long while. Seeing others you care about taking steps to better themselves. If this is what Twilight felt like when she helped me, I am going to really enjoy being her student, more than I already do, mind you.
"Eeeyup!"
Applejack chided.
"Indeed!"
Rarity chimed in. Pinkie and Fluttershy nodded, Pinkie doing so with greater intensity while giggling happily.
"Group hugs are the best!!!"
Pinkie gleefully added. Rainbowdash wore a determined look on her face and nodded in agreement.
"We'll always stand by the princesses and for our friends!"
She Proclaimed. To this Princess Celestia's grimace turned into a smile of pure joy. She guffawed a genuine laugh as she wrapped her wings around the girls and gave into their affection. Wiping the last of her tears, she chuckled a bit before letting us go.
"Thank you girls, I'm really thankful for all of yo-"
The tenderness of the moment was cut short as the doors to the throne room opened and an earth pony guard with a grey coat and a mint green mane came in with a hurried gallop. When he reached us, he bowed and awaited for acknowledgment from the princesses.
"Ah, Lieutenant Trust. What are the whereabouts of our most recent guest?"
Luna asked the guard.
"The creature is currently making a slow beeline for Canterlot's mausoleum, just as you predicted. The skeletons that travel with him have not caused any damage, though they have caused the civilians in their homes to become distressed, your majesty."
He answered her with the reverence and firmness of a loyal soldier. I hadn't really seen the royal guard up until I went to the Crystal Empire with the girls to see Sunburst, but the ones in Canterlot seemed a lot more... rigid than the ones in the Crystal Empire. Must have something to do with the different chain of command.
"Good. Keep an eye on him and do not provoke him."
She told the guard as he saluted and left us alone once again. Then I realized the implications of what that guard had just said.
"A mausoleum!? You don't suppose he's going to raise an army of skeletons to attack Canterlot, is he!?"
I pleaded, hoping for all that was good that she'd say no. To everypony's surprise, Luna laughed at my inquiry, and once she calmed down answered my question.
"No, dear Starlight. Though I do think we should all go to see what he'll do. I don't believe I could give an explanation that gives a satisfactory description as to what he's capable of."
She said with a giddy smile. To this, Celestia was taken aback, and that had us all somewhat concerned. With that, we made our way to Canterlot's "cemetery". Twilight explained that since Canterlot is the place where all the rich ponies of Equestria live, they don't bury their deceased in graves, instead, they are laid to rest in a beautiful mausoleum. When we got there, I was sure I would've marveled at the structure's beautiful architecture were it not for the ghastly sight of several not so dead skeletons of well-dressed ponies alongside bipedal skeletons of creatures I didn't recognize standing near the entrance. We stood just a few yards away from the main archway into the building's small front garden, simply watching the skeletons walk about and interact with each other as if they were still alive. What caught me off guard was that the bipedal ones were TALKING and some we're even SINGING with the pony ones in a melody I didn't recognize. It was as unnatural as it was bewitching to look at, and try as I might, I couldn't pry my eyes off the reanimated corpses. When I finally snapped out of my trance, I found Luna looking at the skeletons, as if assessing the situation with a fascinated gaze. Celestia looked uncomfortable and nervous, but I don't think it was the skeletons that were making her feel that way. The girls all had different reactions. Twilight was staring at them with morbid curiosity. She was also writing furiously on a sheet of parchment she must've carried in her saddlebags. Applejack was visibly disturbed, but she stood her ground. Fluttershy was shaking like a leaf behind Rainbowdash. Rainbowdash looked like she was about ready to obey her fight or flight instinct, she was on the ground in a fighting stance using her wings to further protect her friends. Pinkie Pie was giving me the impression that she wanted to run-up to the skeletons and give them a welcoming party or something of that nature. It took me a bit to find Rarity among the group, considering she had fainted at the sight of the walking dead and laid on the floor with a hoof dramatically over her eyes. When I turned my gaze back to the mausoleum, I froze at the sight of the thirty-ish skeletons looking right at us. The crimson spheres of fire that acted as pupils let us know what they were looking at. There was a silence that filled the air, even Twilight's quill writing against the parchment had stopped. It was then cut off by footsteps, powerful and heavy. I saw it walk out the mausoleum with another bipedal skeleton that was much smaller than the others that were already outside by its claw. The creature I had heard about only moments ago. It stood on its long hind dragon-like legs that had an old and worn out jet black robe, which held on to its waist with a metallic belt and many small, objects I couldn't make out due to our distance dangled from its waist along with what seemed to be a strange brown bag. It had a long red tail with a spear like Barb that vaguely reminded of Spike's tail. If you didn't count the anatomical mess that was its wings, it was easily a few hooves taller than Celestia. It's muscular arms and legs were covered in thick red scales. Its claws had five long digits that looked like they could tear through stone like it was nothing with brute force alone. The scales that covered the arms and legs ended just shy of its broad shoulders. Its torso was a pale creamy color with no discernable fur. It had scars all across its chiseled chest. My eyes moved to inspect its face, and I was perplexed with its features. Its face was flat, save for its small, pointy nose. It had no fur just like the rest of his body, save for the long and thick mane of dark brown hair it had that draped over its shoulders and down to its chest. It's two dark rad horns jutted upwards from it's forehead and curved back behind it's head to, only rise once more and add to it's impressive height. Its eyes... its eyes were a black so dark that seemed to drain all light that came near them. It had glowing red irises that cut through the black and slit reptilian pupils. Its face had a neutral expression as it walked out of the mausoleum with only a few steps and it began to look in our direction. At first, it seemed confused, but then it's eyes locked with Princess Celestia's and they narrowed. It looked at us with the gaze of a predator sizing up its prey. The skeletons that were on their haunches looking at us rose to their hooves and marched near the creature as if to defend it by forming a semicircular wall. I turned to look at the girls, and they were all as taken aback as they were scared. To say that I wasn't afraid would be an absolute lie. I turned in the other direction to see Luna walking towards the creature. I wanted to stop her, but my fear of the undead horde she was walking towards was keeping me rooted to my spot. She stopped just under the archway and began to speak.
"Azazel, we mean you no harm. Please, tell the undead to stand down."
She asked. The creature stayed quiet for a bit, its eyes darting onto all of us for a brief moment before answering in a voice that was deep and distinctly masculine.
"I̷ ̸p̸r̵e̷s̵u̸m̵e̶ ̷t̴h̴e̸y̴ ̸a̷r̸e̴ ̷t̶h̸e̴ ̶E̸l̷e̵m̸e̵n̸t̶s̸ ̶o̶f̶ ̶H̵a̶r̵m̷o̵n̴y̵.̶ ̶T̸h̸e̶ ̶p̸r̸o̶t̶e̶c̶t̶o̸r̷s̴ ̵a̵n̶d̸ ̴h̴e̸r̵o̸e̸s̵ ̸o̸f̴ ̴t̷h̶i̶s̴ ̴l̶a̵n̸d̴.̸ ̵C̶o̴r̵r̵e̸c̴t̵?̴"
Its voice was... off somehow. Its tone was firm, with distrust in it's voice it.
"Yes, but they are not here to harm you. And neither are we."
Luna said as she took several steps closer. The wall of undead reacted and huddled closer together, letting us know that Luna was not allowed to get any closer.
"P̷r̷i̵n̷c̴e̷s̵s̸,̴ ̴I̷ ̵h̴a̶v̷e̷ ̵s̵e̵e̷n̴ ̴y̴o̴u̸r̶ ̴s̷o̴u̴l̶ ̶l̴a̸i̶d̴ ̵b̸a̸r̸e̷ ̵a̸n̵d̶ ̵y̶o̵u̸'̶v̷e̵ ̸p̴r̶o̸v̷e̵n̷ ̴t̴o̶ ̷b̵a̵r̷e̴ ̷m̶e̶ ̵n̵o̶ ̸i̸l̶l̸ ̵w̷i̸l̶l̵.̴ ̷I̵ ̵t̶r̴u̸s̶t̵ ̶y̴o̶u̶ ̴w̶i̵t̸h̶ ̴m̵y̴ ̸t̶h̸o̷u̵g̷h̸t̵s̶ ̶a̵n̶d̷ ̴m̶e̶m̸o̸r̵i̷e̴s̵.̶ ̵Y̸o̸u̴'̴v̷e̴ ̵s̵h̸o̵w̸n̵ ̵m̵e̶ ̸k̴i̵n̴d̵n̴e̵s̸s̵ ̵t̶h̷a̵t̸ ̸I̵ ̷h̷a̸v̶e̷ ̶n̸o̷ ̸w̵a̶y̴ ̸t̴o̵ ̷r̴e̴p̴a̴y̵,̷ ̵a̶n̷d̷ ̶f̶o̸r̵ ̵t̶h̷a̷t̶,̵ ̷I̸'̶m̷ ̶g̶r̴a̷t̸e̶f̶u̵l̵ ̵b̸e̷y̴o̶n̴d̴ ̷w̸h̷a̶t̶ ̸I̴'̶m̴ ̸c̴a̷p̴a̶b̵l̵e̵ ̵o̵f̶ ̵p̸u̵t̴t̴i̶n̸g̵ ̷i̴n̷t̷o̸ ̶w̷o̸r̵d̴s̶.̵ ̶B̶u̵t̷ ̶a̸f̵t̵e̷r̵ ̵w̶h̷a̴t̵ ̸h̴a̷p̷p̷e̸n̵e̶d̵ ̷t̴h̶i̵s̵ ̵m̴o̸r̷n̶i̴n̸g̸ ̸a̵n̵d̵ ̷t̴h̵e̷s̵e̸ ̸l̴a̵s̵t̸ ̵t̸w̶o̶ ̶d̵a̴y̵s̵ ̷I̸ ̵d̶o̶n̴'̶t̶ ̴t̵h̴i̶n̴k̸ ̵I̶ ̶c̶a̸n̶ ̴t̷r̷u̵s̸t̷ ̴y̷o̴u̷r̴ ̴s̶i̸s̸t̴e̸r̴ ̷o̶r̴ ̶t̵h̷o̵s̵e̷ ̴t̴h̶a̵t̶ ̷s̶e̴r̸v̶e̶ ̶u̸n̵d̴e̷r̸ ̷h̴e̴r̵.̴"
He said, picking up the smaller skeleton next to him, which proceeded to nuzzle its skull under his chin. It would've been endearing in its own creepy... undead way, were it not for the circumstances we were in. Celestia had been steeling herself while all of this was happening and after the creature's last comment, she walked beside her sister with a determined look on her face. The creature visibly tensed at this, baring its sharp dagger-like teeth wrapping its claws in a defensive manner around the little skeleton in its arms and spreading it's strange, inverted, draconic wings to make itself look bigger. It's small skeletal army stomped their feet in unison as they prepared for what they expected was a battle. Celestia noticed this and took a small step back in apprehension. Luna looked at her sister with a look that said: "You've got this!" The Solar Diarch took a deep breath before speaking.
"Azazel, I was wrong. I was wrong for comparing you to the monsters of our world. I made the mistake of hurting you out of misplaced fear and ignorance. I didn't take the chance to befriend you and instead have driven you away because I've been too self-absorbed to see that I still have flaws I need to fix. In the millennia I've lived, I've learned much; yet I still have much to learn. And right now, I want to make up for my mistakes. I wish to start again with you. To show you the power of friendship and the wonders it has done for my little ponies. And hopefully, I wish to heal alongside you the wounds that others have inflicted on us."
Celestia's small speech had made all fear within me vanish as I was filled with a mixture of excitement, energy, and joy. I was finally going to see the result of my first friendship mission unfold before me! Unfortunately, my excitement was snuffed out as another obscenely long moment of silence passed. Then the army of skeletons parted and made a path between it and Celestia. It set the little skeleton down on the ground and pointed at one of the bipedal ones with it's claw, one who I had just noticed had little flowers drawn onto its bones, and the little undead walked over to the flower-themed one and was picked up by it. The creature walked up to Celestia, never taking it's black and red eyes off of her as his unyielding focus. It got close enough to hunch down to her eye level. It then spoke in a whisper that I almost didn't catch, were it not for its ghastly voice.
"I̵̛̘ ̶̾ͅw̵͖̐i̶͠ͅl̷͚̈l̵͙̈́ ̷̬̓g̸̢̑i̴̛͍v̵͔̾e̶̥͐ ̴̤͝ỵ̶͂o̸̳͗ṵ̴̐ ̷͖̚t̴̜͝ȟ̷̟è̷̺ ̵̼̊c̷̝̏h̷̗͊a̶̛̮n̴̡̈c̴͕̓ȅ̸͎ ̶̧͆t̵̰͛o̵͓̓ ̴̪̽p̸̧͗r̶̰̚ő̸̥v̶̦̽e̵̙̋ ̸̫̆ť̶̬h̷͇̎a̷̮͝t̴͇͝ ̶̘̌ÿ̸̥́o̴̟̕ù̴͔r̶̟͊ ̶̭͝f̸̤̐ŗ̴̏i̷̦̅ẽ̸͜ṋ̶̀ḍ̸́s̵̺̈h̸̯̀ị̵̇p̶͈̐ ̶̠̄i̶̻͂s̴̎͜ ̶̠̾w̸͍͐ò̵̧r̸͕̀t̸̨͐h̸̯͐ ̴̡̽t̵͈̃h̵͎͋ě̷̘ ̵̥̂r̴̛̫ȉ̸͔s̷͓͋k̴͖̈ŝ̷͓ ̷̟̈́İ̸ͅ'̸̓͜m̴͇̈́ ̵̢̄t̴̖͠a̷̺͝k̸͈̀i̸͒ͅn̸̢͊g̸͇̕,̷̫̆ ̸̻̒ạ̶̏g̷̺̅à̸̖ǐ̸̡n̴̙̈s̸̗̀t̶̢̓ ̵͔̅m̶̢̆y̷̔ͅ ̷̰͋b̷̹̾ė̸̻ṭ̶͠t̴͎͌ë̵͙r̸͙̽ ̷͓̈́j̵̩͠ů̸͚d̷̤͑g̸͙̃m̶̲͑ę̵̔n̷͉͆t̸̹̋ ̵͉̔a̵̡̓n̶̹͑ḓ̶̄ ̸̼͌m̵̮̚y̷̛̹ ̸̧̛f̴͎̔a̷̜̓ţ̴̄h̵͕̚e̷̟̎r̶̰̋'̷͉̓s̵͖̒ ̴̫͗w̶̭̃i̵̛̲s̴̰̃ĥ̸ͅe̴͈͑ş̵͘.̸̹̈́ ̴̪̕D̴̲͊ơ̷̱ṋ̵͝'̷̺͠t̷͍̽ ̷͕͝ȇ̵͔v̶̘͑e̵̝͑r̷̝̂ ̵̗͝m̴͌ͅa̵͚͘k̶̬͗e̷̗͗ ̶͙̓m̷̞̈́ě̸͙ ̸̝̀r̵̭͆e̶̩̎g̵͕̓r̸̡͠e̸̻͐t̴̳͗ ̷̡̀t̶̜͑h̴̑ͅí̷͔ṣ̸̀ ̸̡̄d̶̙͒e̴̬͒c̴͈̉i̴͚̎s̴͉̅i̶̺̓o̷̠͌n̵͕͋,̷͙͑ ̷̱͝C̵̖̆e̵̖̋l̸̤̏ȩ̵̓ś̷̤t̷̫̐ĭ̶͇a̸̖͠.̶̞̾ ̶̠͋B̵͖̀ḛ̴̄c̵̫͂a̸͈̅u̵̹͆s̴͚͂e̸͙͌ ̸̞͊i̷̲͠f̷̫͝ ̶̼͝t̵͇͐h̸̰̋i̶̹̅s̵͖͌ ̵̫͊i̴͈͗s̷̫̽ ̶͎̎s̸̛͎o̴͔͗m̶̟͗e̸̹̚ ̴̙̓t̶̰́r̶̰͒i̷͚̇c̵̟̀k̶͔̏ ̸̯́f̸̟͠ŏ̶͕r̸̘̾ ̶̬̔y̴̧͛o̴̜̓ü̶̞ ̵͖͠t̴͖̓ô̸͍ ̶̥͌l̸̛͖ă̵̗ṱ̴̍e̶̤͛ṙ̴͍ ̴̳̉k̵̪̃ḭ̴͘ľ̶̩l̸̡̓ ̷͍̓m̷͎̌ê̸̱ ̷͕̀á̴̜n̸͈͘d̶̦̍ ̵̛̬I̷̢͠ ̵̠̄s̷̛͎ǘ̴̫r̵̩̈́v̷̰̑í̶̠v̴̼̄e̴̼͆,̶͍̉ ̸͈̉ṅ̶̮o̴̺̾t̸̘͗ ̵̬͘é̶̬v̸̞̀e̴̚ͅn̶̳̍ ̷̱̾ȳ̷̨o̵̧̊u̴̠̾r̷̳͑ ̸͓̋ṡ̶̝i̶͍̋ś̷̱t̵͗ͅé̶̘r̷̳̄ ̷̧̇w̷̙̆i̴̯̅l̸̲͝l̴̠̑ ̷̧̆b̷͕͑e̴̞̓ ̵̳̕ș̸͒p̵̛ͅa̸̻̍r̸̳̒e̵̙͝d̸͕̍ ̶͇́f̵̝̈r̵͙̒ọ̷̀m̸̲͆ ̶̞̊m̸͎̊y̷̖͌ ̷̻͂w̶͉͊ṛ̴̾a̵͔̅t̶̮̆h̵̳́,̷͓̈́ ̶͓̇a̷̧̐n̸̝̅d̶͚͘ ̸̺͂ÿ̴̱́ō̷̩u̶̞͝ ̸̬̉w̸͓̒i̵̞̒l̸͆͜l̷͓̂ ̴͕̑ș̴̈́ṷ̶̕f̵̖̔f̵̮͠ȅ̴̢r̸̰̍ ̷̨̚m̸̳̾ȍ̶̮r̸̜̆ē̶̲ ̵̲̈́ț̸̄h̷̗̉a̴̲͌ñ̴̟ ̴̖̍a̴̧̐ṇ̴͐y̴̦͒o̴͛ͅṋ̸̈ē̷̲.̸͍͘ ̶͚͒Ị̸̓ ̵͔̅w̴͙͋ĭ̴̩l̵̡̉l̵͚̑ ̴̯͝r̶̼̀e̵͈̚d̴̪͋ų̴̂c̵̾͜e̵̬̓ ̶̝̈́ŷ̶̹ǫ̵̍u̶̲̎r̴̬̐ ̸̪̍ṋ̶̄a̵̱͐t̷̳̒ȉ̴̝o̴̧̅n̷̜̿ ̴̗̈t̴̪͌o̴̭̒ ̶̠͠a̸̙͒s̴̕ͅh̵͍͂,̴̳͛ ̶̜͊å̸͉ņ̴̅d̷̪͐ ̸̺̒k̷̥͝ȅ̷̥e̸͉̅p̷̛͍ ̷͙̃y̴̭͘o̶͖̕u̶̡̾ ̵̨̾a̴̫̐l̴̹͆ị̵̏v̴̭̓e̷̩͆ ̶̪̂l̴̮̀o̵̯͌n̴̺̍ǵ̵͇ ̵͔̕ḙ̵̐n̸̩̍o̵̗̐u̸͚͑g̶̝͂h̸̙̾ ̵̡̌t̶̙̿o̷̗̒ ̵̤̂h̷͇̏ë̶̟́a̷͔̔r̷̹̈́ ̶̙̅t̷͕̚h̵̥̐e̴̪͘ ̵̯̒c̸̭̒r̵̘̔į̸͗ȇ̴͉s̷͔̎ ̶͖͘ọ̶̓f̴̺̀ ̸̬̊y̶̰̕ǫ̷̒u̷̯̍r̶͉͂ ̵̝̆s̷̤͗ú̸͖b̴̫͒j̴̝̎ĕ̸̘č̸̮t̴̝͂s̶̥͝ ̷̘͋f̵̯̈́ō̵͜ṙ̴̝ ̵̥͑h̸̳̿e̶̫̓l̵̨̾p̶͉͘ ̸̹́b̵̭̊ȅ̴̪ ̶̳̑h̴̬̊e̷̗̾à̷͜r̷͙͐d̴̤͑ ̶͙̆b̶̘̊ỳ̸͓ ̶̤̍a̵̰̒l̴͖̋ľ̵̤ ̴̤̃a̷̲͗n̷̹̒d̶̻̐ ̷͙̋s̵̢͆a̴̟̿v̵̪͛e̵̲̅ḏ̵̅ ̸͔̊b̶͇̈́y̴̩̿ ̸̯̿n̴̪̍ŏ̷͓ ̸̧̛o̸͓͐n̴̨̈e̸̹͋.̴͙̈́"
Celestia's resolve didn't falter, but this creature's threat was making me shake like a leaf in fear as he seemed more than willing to make good on his word. When it finished talking, Celestia nodded. Luna then placed a hoof on Celestia's shoulder before speaking up.
"She won't fail, my sister is more than capable of atoning for her mistakes."
She gave him a friendly smile. To this, he looked at Celestia, then at us.
"For her sake... I hope you're right."
He said, pressing his longest digit against his shortest and then applying enough force to cause them to slide off each other; the latter hitting his palm with a snapping sound. The miniature army of undead regrouped and marched forward, stopping just behind him.
"I believe introductions are in order."
It said to Luna, pointing at us with his claw. She gave him a kind smile and walked over to us with him in tow.
//////////////Azazel///////////////
I can't say that meeting the heroes of this colorful world was totally unpleasant, though I do wish that pink menace would keep her distance from me. Her soul is a blinding well of raw emotional energy that makes my head hurt. Levels of joy should not exist at such an extreme. There's something odd about all of them, each having some distinct trait in their souls. I couldn't put my finger on it, but for now, those are questions I could dig into later; considering I was being offered my old stead back if I cooperated. I'll have to find some way of repaying the princess of the moon. After I was introduced to them, we began our trek back to the palace of the of the princesses. Celestia didn't speak to me the entirety of the way, and honestly, I think it was for the best. I wasn't feeling very talkative with her anyway. The lavender pony, the alleged princess of friendship surprised me with her curiosity. Most of her questions had to do with my magical skills. I lied to her and told her that the army I had raised was the extent of my power, though I have raised an entire town's worth of dead before. It was mostly to provide me and dad an escape from an angry mob of lizardfolk. A story I was in no mood to talk about.
"So... where are you from?"
She asked.
"I do not come from this world. I use to live in the Ursan forest, West of Moonshine city in the Solarian Empire. With my mother and father..."
I replied, always looking forward. Fortunately, she picked up on my discomfort of the topic and stayed quiet. I noticed out of the corner of my eye that the sky blue pegasus mare with the rainbow mane was... apprehensive to say the least. She was clearly upset at something, and judging by the way her soul burned with mild anger I knew she didn't like me. I really didn't care then, nor do I now what she thought of me. So long as she kept to herself, I would not bother her. The pink one had tried to get Anvari's attention for about twenty minutes, and had only succeeded in overwhelming her instead.
"Is your little skeleton afraid of me? Does it have a name? Does it like balloons? What about cupcakes? Can it eat them without a stomach?"
Those were only some of the questions I could make out from it's rapid-fire barrage of questions, all while completely oblivious to my increasing annoyance.
"Anvari, much like the rest of my creations, are manifestations of my emotions, given sentience. She's easily startled. Try being quiet and let her come to you."
I said in hopes of making her obnoxiously loud and cheerful voice be silent, if only for a few moments. I gently set Anvari down on the ground and made her walk between me and the pink pony. Anvari was mortified at first,but after a bit of walking and the pink pony being a little less overwhelming, she mustered the strength to give her a hug, and rode on the pink equine for the remainder of the trip. Seeing as the pink one spoke to Anvari in a much quieter to r to not scare her, I let out a sigh in relief and kept walking. The orange one with a farmer's hat broke the beautiful silence that all to little.
"Ah must say, yer not at all what I was expecting."
She said, sounding like the farmer she claimed to be. This bothered me a bit, but instead of throwing a fit like a child, I decided to use my words.
"And what exactly you were expecting? Applejack, was it?"
I asked with that tinge of discomfort I felt earlier as I slowed my pace to walk beside her.
"Ah don't mean to be rude, Azah-zel. Ah was half expecting you to be cranky and unreasonable with what had happened between you and the princess this mornin'. Ah'm mighty sorry for bein' so judgy."
Her words weren't the only thing that surprised me. For starters, my name sounded strange to me with her accent. Second, she spoke with a bit of guilt and an oddly, friendly tone, she also held a small smile as she spoke to me. What really caught me off guard was her soul energy. When I first saw her, I was confused as to why her soul was obscured by foreign soul energy, and now I realized that it's source was her hat. There was something surrounding her form like a shield. It was only then that I realized, I had stopped dead in my tracks as I was fixated on her hat. As I pried my eyes off her, I saw everyone had stopped and were now looking at me. We had finally reached the castle, and the guards standing watch at the main entrance were giving me those looks of forced resolve and fear I was getting accustomed to seeing.
"Apology accepted. Remind me to ask you something later... When there are less eyes staring at us."
I stated, walking past the bewildered mare and around the princesses. The guards were too terrified to open the twin doors for me and my army of the undead, so I got on one knee and opened my bag. I searched inside for a bit and pulled a brown jar with my sigil on it. I opened it to find it was pitch black inside and got an idea. I whistled a comand for my army to get inside, and surely enough my troops obeyed. The skeletons were engulfed in black and red flames before collecting as a massive swirling vortex of fire that was promptly sucked into the jar. The only ones I left outside were Anvari, Trephor, Avalon, and Mia; half of which walked over to me and stood as my bodyguards. Anvari remained on Pinkie's back, and Mia stood besides Luna. When my display of magic ended, I absent-mindedly close the jar, put it back into my bag, opened the large doors myself and began retracing my steps back to my quarters; leaving a pair of princesses and seven mares wide eyed and dumbfounded behind me. As I entered the room I gazed through Mia's eyes to see what was the status of the mares that didn't immediately follow me.
"Wh-... What... just happened?"
A confused alabaster unicorn with a pristine purple mane asked at her friends. As I made my way through the halls, I sense Mia turn to the shocked mares and speak in her gentle, feminine voice.
"A desintigration spell on the skeletons to move and fit them into a soul jar, clever. Wouldn't you agree?"
She finished. Luna looked at her in milder confusion than before, though the same could not be said for the rest. Mia looked at the ponies staring at her and shrugged.
"Just me then? Alright, let's go inside. Azazel must already be waiting for us at his room, should you still wish to speak with him."
And with that, Mia began her casual stroll back into the castle and following my steps back to the room I had slept in the night before. Pinkie Pie, with Anvari riding her like a knight charging into battle, raced after Mia and the "Mane 6", as Twilight called her group of friends followed my skeletal friend. Upon reaching my room, The girls found me sitting on my bed, arms resting on my thighs, fingers intertwining my hands looking at the floor. I had been preparing responses for whatever else they wanted to ask of me, though I was hoping they would just leave me be for the evening. I heard a knock on my door and I motion Avalon to open. He walked to the door and opened it slightly to find Anvari on Pinki Pie's Applejack and the rainbow maned pony who's name I can't remember standing at the door. Avalon opened up the door completely and let the bouncing pink menace in with Anvari giggling happily. Anvari was the quietest of my skeletons. She rarely spoke or made any form of noise, and hearing her be happy like that made me reconsider how I viewed the pink personification of euphoric innocence. She set Anvari down in front of me with a gentle hug.
"If you ever come to Ponyville, I'll throw you a party with all the balloons you want! Ok Vari?"
She asked my small friend. Anvari simply nodded excitedly and wrapped her boney arms around Pinkie in another hug. Upon letting go, she smiled at me with an infectious grin. I'll be damned, she truly is the element of laughter. As this happened, Applejack entered the room and waited patiently with her cranky companion sitting impatiently as Pinkie gave her thanks and left in the same joyful leaps and bounds with which she came in. Before The farmer could speak, the cyan one bolted and stopped right in my face. Her huge magenta eyes and her warm breath were the only thing she was letting me take in as she began her threat.
"Ok, listen up buster! I don't know who you are, much less do I care what you say you've been through, but I'm going to make this crystal clear for you! I don't like the way you talked to the princess! And if you even think of laying a hoof on the princess or on my friends, You're gonna be in for a world of hurt! Ya got that?!"
She was borderline screaming at my face, and it took every last ounce of willpower to tear her apart right then and there. The thing that really angered me, was Anvari's fear. When this blue imbecile began her pathetic rambling, she startled Anvari so much that she was whimpering in my arms and shaking like a leaf. I could ignore her staring daggers at me, I could even handle her threat without incident. But scaring the undeath out of my father's most precious gift to me... No, for this... She would know the true meaning of fear. I stared back at her, letting her know I was not afraid. I let Anvari go and she promptly ran to Trephor, who had been sitting behind me in silence.
"I̷'̷l̸l̷ ̷p̴r̶e̴t̷e̵n̷d̸ ̶y̶o̶u̸ ̷d̵i̷d̴n̵'̸t̶ ̶j̶u̵s̶t̸ ̷t̷h̸r̶e̴a̶t̶e̸n̷ ̶m̵e̷ ̵a̷n̷d̵ ̷g̸i̶v̸e̴ ̶a̵ ̶w̶a̴r̷n̵i̷n̵g̶ ̶o̸f̸ ̸m̷y̸ ̸o̴w̴n̵.̸.̴.̶"
I stood up, flared my wings, and grabbed her by her neck. I stared into her with all the hatred I had buried whithin me. The hate for Deus Vult, the hate for Solaris, the hate for her. Without even thinking about it consciously, I cast formidinis aura, a fear spell to make it as clear as possible that I was not going to take anyone's bullshit. Now now.
"Į̵͊ ̵͓͝ŵ̴͓i̷̞͗l̷̫̊ḽ̷̍ ̸͉̍e̴̢̓x̵̢͘c̶͍̔ṷ̴̈́s̴̝̓ẻ̴̝ ̴̩̊y̵̔͜ö̵̬́ǔ̴̩ ̸̜̚t̴̯̂h̶͈͆i̴̺̕ṡ̶͕ ̵͜͝o̴̩͛n̷̙͂c̶̻̋e̶̥͆ ̸̣̌f̸̮͊o̵̥̊r̷͇͗ ̶̹̚ṯ̴̽h̵̥̔e̷̬̿ ̷̙̉s̸̈͜á̷̻k̸̦͝e̷̯͛ ̸͕̽ȏ̷ͅf̵̳̏ ̶̲̀m̵̝͐ḁ̵͂i̸͍͂n̷̪̎t̶̜͝a̸̪͗i̷͍̒n̷̲̏i̷̝͋n̶̞͘g̷̥̈́ ̴͙͐m̸̛͚y̵͇̕ ̷͍͘f̶̖͐r̵͖͌i̶͚̕e̵̪̓n̸̩͝d̴͈̈́s̴͎͋ȟ̴̤i̸̪̽p̵̡̈ ̸̲̎w̸̫̋ì̵̜ṯ̸̃ḧ̵́͜ ̷̬̐t̷͚̐h̴͈̆e̴̗̅ ̷̯́p̸̱̍r̴̗̋i̴͉͛n̶̲̓c̵̢̎e̸̪̐s̸͙͝s̵͉̊è̴̻s̵̳͂.̸̹̈́.̴̦̎.̵̣͛ ̷̞̏B̵̭̾u̷͍̿t̴͔̽ ̶̞̂m̸̢̓a̷̻͐r̸̜͠k̴̼̿ ̸̧̎m̶͉̉y̶̆ͅ ̸̡͝ẃ̸̖ö̶͍́r̷̖͛d̴͉͑ŝ̴͎ ̵̫̀y̸̰̅o̴̺͒u̴̪̓ ̵̹̈P̵̻͊A̴͙̋T̵͇̒H̴͉̎Ė̷̡T̸͚̈I̸̝̅C̴͎̎ ̸̻́è̴̼x̸̙͋c̸̹̈ṵ̶͋s̶̘̄e̵̦͠ ̴͎͂f̵͖͐o̸͇͛ṙ̷̟ ̵̬͒à̷̹ ̴̫̚p̴̩̏ē̴͕g̶͉̎a̸̮͗s̵̘͒ų̸͝s̵̢͘.̵̠͝.̷̤̄.̷̠͘ ̴͈̿T̶̞̒h̴̞͠ṙ̵̬ë̵͖́a̶̠͠t̸͙͗e̷̓ͅn̸̠͠ ̶̭͠m̴͉̊ě̸̝ ̵̞̑ą̸͝g̸̪̐a̵̬̍i̵͕͗n̸͈̕,̴̖͑ ̶͍̽ä̷̢́n̸̼̑d̵̗͝ ̴̠̔Ì̷͎ ̴̣̅s̶͙͝ẁ̷͈e̷̪͊a̶̖̾r̴͇͘ ̶͇̆ṱ̷͝o̴̲̾ ̴̣̽ỷ̸͈o̵̥͒ù̶͈ ̷̪̅o̷̠͆n̴͕͛ ̶̗́m̴̥͋y̷͉̿ ̷̦̏m̵͆ͅo̴͉͠t̵̬̿h̸͓́ė̵ͅr̸͙̾ ̶̭̓a̸̤͘ṋ̶̈́d̸͕̎ ̴̜̒F̵͕̃ä̷̯́t̸̨̊h̸͍̎e̶̜͂r̶̻̋'̴̲̚s̸̭̉ ̶̟̅l̷̡̕i̸̹͒v̶͖̈́e̸̺͘s̷͖̉ T̸̤̗̾̑͋Ḩ̶̰̖͍̋̏Ǎ̸̘͚̃̈́T̷̬̠͂̊̎̄ ̵̬͍͙̈I̴̧͚̹̲͊̉͛͝ ̵̐̒̑͜W̶̢̞͌͛͂͝ͅI̴̛̼̓L̶̅ͅL̷͚͂́̌̀ ̸̠͍̳̇͝R̴͖͖͉͇̒̅̑Ó̸̢̦̼B̶̛͓̓̓ ̷̯̳̩͛̑͐̕͜Y̵̨̤̥͙͌O̴̬̼̠̒͛́Ṷ̴̟͒̃͊̀ ̸̡̌̀̈́̍ͅǏ̷̤F̵̮͋̇̀ ̷̯͍͆E̷̬̳̓V̸͇̌̽̊͝E̶̺͒̾͘̚ͅR̷͉̲̯̭̀Y̷̛̺̹͘T̵͍͆̅̎H̷̡̹͌I̴̱͌̒̋͝N̸̯͓̯̂̽̕G̴̮͑͘ ̸͎̤͍͇̾Y̷̧̽̚͜O̶̱͆͝U̷̩̹̗̿͋͝͝ ̴̟̝͌͗͜͠L̶̡̛̺̃͗͜͝O̷͖̦͊͠V̷̥̲̻͒͜͝Ȩ̸̙̙͈̈́̂́͘ ̵̯̙̕A̵͇̲͆̽̌ͅN̶̮̹͖͊͗̉̓Ḏ̸̯̈ ̸̠̯̗̍͒̎͛M̴̖̀̋A̸͍̓͆̕͝K̴̛̠͙͠Ẹ̴̭͋ ̸̼̱͇̭̓̐̍Y̴͇͆O̷͈̓̇̀̌͜Ǔ̷̗̋̃ ̷̢̗̙̼͒B̸͈́̀̿̀E̵̛̘͍͔͇Ĝ̴̯ ̵̛̠̜̦͝F̷̬̗͗̈́̕Ờ̴̢̹̓R̴̰͙̒̀͠ ̴̖͓̉̎D̶̰̳̱̾̊͋̋E̵̪͗A̸̢̿̚T̷̹̝́̔̚Ḧ̵̠̟̽ͅ!̴̙̠̌!̶͙͓͌!̸̨̪̰̀̂͂"
I was struggling to keep myself from crushing her neck. When I finished, I finally calmed down enough to notice that she was crying from the lack of oxygen and absolute terror. I let her go the moment I noticed this and simply stared daggers at her shivering form. If this is what dad had to deal with when he went out alone, it's no wonder he only took me out when the number of people we would interact with would be close to nothing. Dealing with ignorant creatures sucks to no end, especially when you can't just kill those that infuriate you. Applejack, who had been scared half to death for her friend, gently pulled her away from me by biting down on the multicoloured tail of her catatonic friend after I let her shivering body fall on the floor.
"Rainbow, can ya give me a minute with... uh..."
She looked at me with a look that took me a bit to register. She was confused as to what my name was, but was scared of making me angrier than what I already was.
"Ȃ̷̫z̴̡̏å̷̙z̵͔̽è̸̲l̸̼͝"
I finished for her, albeit with the anger that I was trying suppress.
"R-right, Uh-zay-zel..."
She pronounced my name funny, but I wasn't about to correct her when she was being so compliant and helpful in removing the source of my hate fueled anger from the room. Avalon had opened the door and had dragged the object of my ire clear of the entrance before closing the door a little too hard.
"Ya wanted to talk to me Azazel?..."
She spoke in a nervous tone. I assumed it was the fact that her friend had been removed from the room in the manner that she had been. This land and it's culture revolved solely around friendship and harmony, so individual creatures must feel vulnerable and defenseless when presented with something threatening such as myself. I took a moment to take deep breaths and calm myself toa more agreeable level before replying. I looked at her with the most relaxed look I could manage to counteract my hostile appearance.
"Applejack... I know we've only known each other for about an hour, but I wish to ask you a few things before the you head back to your friends."
I explained, my voice finally returning to normal.
"Well, ah don't see why not. Ah am a little curious as to why you'd want to talk to meh privately."
She replied, her nerves lessened slightly as Avalon walked back into view. I silently ordered him to lie down on the bed behind me while I picked up Anvari and sat her down on my lap. It took me a bit to answer her, mainly because I had to reassure myself that she wasn't a threat.
"I was a little skeptical when I was introduced to you and your friends. I don't have a pleasant history with the heroes of my land and I still have my doubts now with you and your princess of the sun. However that may be, that is not why I asked for you to speak with me in private."
I stopped for a moment to think of how to best explain it to her. The "dark" arts aren't welcome in this land if Celestia's outburst this morning was anything to go by. I sighed and decided to voice my theory as it was, along with a question.
"Are you familiar with soul magic? Or necromancy for that matter?"
I asked her. To this she shook her head with a resounding:
"Nnnope."
I nodded in understanding, and began my little lecture.
"In short, Soul magic is an extension of Necromancy. The school of magic that blurs the line between life and death, and bends the souls of the living and dead alike to the whims of the caster. I have studied this art under my father's guidance for as long as I can remember. I can sense the life force of beings and manipulate it accordingly. Through necromancy, I am skilled in staving off death as I am bringing it upon others. Soul magic is the specialized manipulation of said souls. As for why any of this matters, I must ask you something. However, because of the nature of my question you may feel free to simply not answer."
As I spoke, Applejack sat on her haunches looking at me with her head tilted slightly to the side in confusion, her fear now gone completely. It was almost as if my tantrum from before had never happened.
"Alright? What exactly is it that y'all want to know."
She asked.
"Where did you get that hat?"
I bluntly asked. She took her hat off and eyed it for a moment before speaking.
"This here hat was my dad's. He gave it to meh some time before he and mom..."
She couldn't finish her sentence. Pain that had been long since buried was starting to resurface. I look down, knowing that the attention on her was not helping.
"They're... dead. aren't they?"
I hesitantly finished her sentence. I heard a slight sniffle, and when I looked up, I found Applejack teary eyed and looking mournful. Hopefully, my suspicions would be correct. Meaning that I could maybe give her some closure.
"Applejack. I'm sorry... for your loss. I don't wish to be intrusive, but I must ask, may I hold your hat for a moment?"
I asked, extending an arm and placing my hand on her shoulder. Her sad eyes shifted between me and the hat, her grief being replaced with a mild confusion as she moved my hand off her and put the hat on my hand. I decided to get to work so I could give her her heirloom back. The first thing I noticed when I picked up the hat was that it vaguely resembled a soul tether. Soul tethers are, in essence, a downgraded phylactery. It keeps the soul of any creature you desire anchored to a desired object, but couldn't bring you back to life like a phylactery. Speaking of which, I had to make my own. I had thought about it before, but now the necessity for one was becoming less and less. Still, wouldn't hurt to have a plan B. I closed my eyes and focused on a divination spell I vaguely remember my mother teaching me.
"Revelio..."
I whispered to myself and my hand was wreathed in a ghastly greens mist that danced around the hat and spiraled down my shoulder, around my arm and down to the hat. I sensed not one, but two souls tethered to the hat. What I found to be incredibly interesting was that the souls weren't tethered to the hat with any spell I was familiar with. They were being sustained by what I could only describe as... love... A pure bond of love connected the souls that resided in the hat protected Applejack, but I wanted to know just how good was this protection. When the spell was complete, I handed her back her hat. She placed it on her head and looked at me with a longing look. She wanted answers, I would give them to her. Though not with words. I focused another spell into my hand. One that would cause damage, but not kill her.
"Tactu Dolorem..."
My hand became wreathed in a familiar black and red smog. Applejack was looking at me with fear, but I think it was the look of curiosity in my face that stopped her from bolting out the door. I extended my hand and tried to touch her with one of my fingers, but the moment my hand got close I felt my finger press again what I knew was a magical barrier. It had remained invisible to the naked eye, but the moment I made contact it began to strain and crackle as it unravelled the spell on my hand before my finger touched her. Applejack's concern shifted into curious awe as my hand enveloped by darkness poked her chest gently and the darkness surrounding it would vanish when it got close. When I had felt I had seen enough, I pulled away and dispelled the Tactus Mortem spell from my hand.
"Hmm..."
It was all I could mutter as I looked at her with fascination and a warmth in my heart that felt... right, somehow.
"What is it?"
She asked, finally snapping out of her confused trance. I gave her a gentle smile before answering her question.
"It would seem that your father gave you something very special. Something I've never seen before, and I don't think your parents knew about it until their... passing as well."
I stated, albeit a little reluctantly.
"W-what do you mean?"
She asked, her eyes scanning me over in disbelief and her soul was glowing with hope at the sight of my mind racing with ideas. My father, in one of his many lessons, had taught me how to briefly bring the souls of the dead to the living plane to speak to the living. I had never performed the ritual, but I knew it could be done. The tome in my bag didn't have any labels, but the way it was structured gave me the impression that dad left it there for me to relearn things he either already taught me or, and I was really hoping was the case, contained new spells and other important information, along with the ritual I was thinking of. However, it would be best not to get ahead of myself and tell her of the nature of her hat. For now, that would be enough.
"Well, it seems that your parents are still with you Applejack. Their love for you seems to have tethered their souls to this hat. The spell I just used is a spell used to inflict pain, but your hat generated a barrier to protect you from harm. Though I think it's more accurate to say that your parents were the ones keeping you safe."
As I finished my explination, Applejack had a smile growing on her face along with a viable struggle to keep herself from crying. She then proceeded to leap Forward and wrap her forehooves around my neck and over my shoulders as she let out tears of joy that flowed down my shoulder. I would've shied away from her if it weren't for the raw joy and... gratefulness?... that radiated off her. After a bit of hesitation, I reciprocated the show of affection. This... this felt good. That hug felt like it lasted forever, and I had no reason or desire to complain about it. My mind flashed to my parents and the night they died... their sacrifice. Their last words. Remember to fight for what is right, to live and love as only I can. This... this moment, I felt their love. That same love that they had the moment I came into their lives and had no right to have was the same that made them sacrifice their lives for me. An undeserving child that could never repay the love he was being given. That exact same love was the love that I felt. That was the love that radiated off Applejack.
"Thank you..."
My train of thought was cut short with Applejack's voice and her breaking the hug. Part of me wanted it to go on for a bit more, but I knew that it would just be awkward, so I let her climb off me and look at me instead. Her huge, green eyes sparkled and that only made me smile in turn.
"No, thank you."
I replied, enjoying the tenderness of the moment simply looking into her eyes. Applejack's orange cheeks turned a light pink as she averted her eyes and looked down for a bit. She looked back at me after a bit and gave me an awkward laugh while smiling.
"Uhm... I should get going. I don't want the girls to get worried. Do you want them to come in and speak to you?"
She stated, the light blush she had never really going away. To this I chuckled before answering.
"Thank you, but I think I need some time to myself. Tell the girls and the princesses to ask whatever questions they may have to Mia, she will stay with you for as long as you desire."
Applejack tipped her hat off to me before turning around and taking her leave. I was left alone in the room with my skeletons in silence. The warm sensation in my chest had returned, and soothed me to my core.
"Master?"
I recognized Avalon's deep voice cut the silence.
"Yes?"
I asked, turning to see him standing by my bedside at attention like a loyal soldier.
"Should I go get Mia? She hasn't come in yet."
He asked.
"No. She's currently entertaining the princesses and their subjects."
I sighed and opened the bag that laid near the foot of my bed. I rummaged around for a bit and found what I was looking for. I pulled out the tome I was looking for and set it on my lap.
"Go outside and keep watch. I don't want to be disturbed while I read."
I ordered, and my creations obeyed with nods. Anvari had crawled into my bed and laid down with her head on my left thigh. I smiled at this and caressed her skull as I opened the book and read the handwritten message. It was my father's hand writing...
Azazel,
I was holding back tears as I read my father's message, only to then see my mother's beautiful cursive writing below it.
𝓜𝔂 𝓭𝓮𝓪𝓻 𝓼𝓸𝓷,
As I read her message, cold tears began to fall down my cheeks and onto the first page of yet another gift from my parents that I could not repay. I raised the book to my lips and softly kissed the page. The memory of my mom's 40 thousand-ish birthday came to mind and through my pained sobs, I began to sing part of the song I had tried to harmonize before the sun rose on that day. Taking comfort in the memory.
"...fate... is kind... she brings... to those that love... the sweet fulfilment of.... their secret longings..."
As I neared what would have been the crescendo, I subverted it into a decrescendo as Anvari got up and pulled my arm for me to lie down. I hadn't noticed it then, but looking back on it, I almost could've sworn I could hear a chorus of angelic voices lulling me to sleep as I finished the lyric.
"Like a bolt... out of the blue... fate steps in... and sees you through... When you wish... upon a star... your dreams... come... true..."
Author's Note
I would like to thank my readers for sticking with me this long, I honestly wasn't expecting a good reception. Fortunately, I was proven wrong. Anywho, I wanted to apologise for this chapter's length but events that transpired here will have repurcusions later on in the story. this I something I want to finish properly, so as usual if you have any observations or things you'd like me to incorporate or fix, lemme know in the comments as that helps me improve and I wish you all a happy holidays and I'll see you guys in 2020! Enjoy!
Chapter 5. A job well done/Sun goddess
//////////////Twilight Sparkle///////////////
It was incredibly interesting to talk to Azazel's skeleton, Mia. We were waiting outside Azazel's room so he and Applejack could talk by themselves while we sat just outside. We were all scared at first, but Mia assured us that Applejack would be safe. Rainbow Dash, being who she is, decided she was going in with Applejack to make sure she was safe. Mia had relented and told her that if she was to do so, to not do anything rash, though I had a feeling she would do just that. Just after Pinki Pie came out without Anvari on her back, Mia told us stories of things she did in life and what it was like being undead. She had been a rogue thief along side her husband, the green skeleton with the brown jaw, that tried to kill Azazel's father the first time Azazel ever went out of their secluded home. I learned much of Azazel's world through her. Apparently, the undead retain some of their own core traits from when they were alive, yet they all had some trait inherited from the caster. In her case, Azazel. She is a personification of his more curious and compassionate side combined with her own rambunctiousness added to the mix. Her "husband" was the son of a noble that was destitute from his family and became a bounty hunter just like Mia when she fell in love with him. Unsurprisingly, Rarity had woken up from her unconscious stupor and was asking her questions for her latest romantic novel.
"Hold on just one second! You mean to tell me you two aren't married!? But you've been calling him your husband for over an hour!"
Rarity gasped in shock. Mia turned to her before answering.
"We will be! He just... doesn't know that yet is all..."
She trailed off, looking to the side. I didn't think it was possible for something without a face to look flustered, but somehow, Mia pulled that off. It was mostly her eyes. It seemed their default color is the same as Azazel's magic, a deep crimson hue. However, different emotional cues would trigger the flames to change color. During her telling of her past life, her more fond memories were accentuated by her eyes turning into a leafy green. The sadder, more tragic events being shown by her eyes turning a light blue and the flame of her eyes dying down a bit. Whenever she spoke of Trephor, her eyes would change to a light pink and then return to red once she stopped. For the hour that she spoke, I had been taking notes, and everypony had been listening intently. That is of course until Princess Luna raised a question of her own that cut Mia off before she could say another word.
"Wait a moment. There's something that doesn't quite make sense with all that you've told us."
She stated, raising a hoof to get Mia's attention. To this, she cocked her head to the side in what seemed to be mild confusion.
"And what's that Princess?"
She asked.
"Azazel told us earlier today that the souls of you and your companions were being tortured. However, you don't seem like you are under any form of torment. What did he mean by that?"
Luna asked. At the mention of souls being tortured, all of us went wide eyed; our gazed going from Mia to Luna, then back at Mia.
"Oh, well the answer to that is quite simple.-"
She stated with a tinge of glee that felt... off. Regardless of our shock, she continued.
"I am not the same being that owned this body while she was alive, and neither are my husband or the rest of us. The soul of the Elf that tried to rob Azazel and his father while on a supply run, was consumed by Azazel years ago. The aspects of my former self that still clung to me manifest as parts of my modern personality when Azazel gave me sentience and over time formed me into the person I am now."
She finished. At this point, I chastised myself for not writing it down on the spot, so I got to compensating for it by writing it from what I picked up. Before the conversation could go on, I heard yelling followed by the unmistakeable sound of a door being forcefully slammed. Me and the girls leaned to look behind Mia to find Rainbow Dash shivering on the ground in a fetal position. She looked to be on the verge of tears, and her face showed the unmistakeable traces of a pony that had just stared death in the face and promptly soiled themselves. I hadn't even noticed that my jaw was hanging open in shock until a very amused looking Mia gently shut my mouth by pushing my jaw up with her skeletal finger.
"Rainbow Dash! What happened?!"
Rarity asked with worry in her voice.
"It looks like Rainbow butt over here pissed off my master."
Mia deadpanned. To this, Luna and Celestia rose from their haunches and looked ready to charge into Azazel's room. As a response, Mia rose with them and raised her arms and hands as if to stop them from reacting violently.
"Princesses, Applejack and Rainbow Dash have not been harmed! Please calm down."
She said, trying to difuse the situation. Begrudgingly, they sat back down again. Luna doing so with more ease than Celestia. They didn't look angry, they were worried.
"I promise you that Applejack is unharmed."
Mia spoke, kneeling back down to her original position.
"How can you be so certain!?"
Rarity shouted next to my ear in a mixture of horror, anger, and mistrust.
"Because if she wasn't, Azazel wouldn't have spared Rainbow Dash."
Mia replied indignantly, pointing at Rainbow Dash, who had been holding onto Fluttershy for dear life. She had her back turned to us and wasn't making a sound, but we could tell she was crying. Meanwhile, Fluttershy had been trying to calm her down to no avail.
"Spared!? Rainbow is shaking like a leaf because of him! For all we know she could be suffering from something permanent!"
Celestia exclaimed, unable to keep her thoughts to herself anymore. Rolled her eyes before speaking.
"Azazel isn't one to do something without reason. If this happened, she must've done something stupid enough to make him angry. He most likely used a fear aura spell to get whatever point it was that he wanted to get across. And even then-"
Mia's retort was cut off by the sound of Azazel's door opening. We all shifted our attention to the door, and a wave of relief washed over me as I saw Applejack walk out in one piece. The thing that really caught me off guard was her smile. She seemed to be lost in thought as she trotted towards us with a warm smile that I only barely noticed after she stopped looking down at her hooves.
"Like I said. unharmed."
Mia deadpanned as moved out of Applejack's way. Applejack's smile vanished when she looked up at us.
"Uh... What did ah miss?"
She asked, looking confused over our own bewilderment. There was a brief silence that was invaded by Pinkie's sudden appearance from Celestia knows where.
"Well, You really didn't miss much. What happened was that after you went in with Rainbow Dash and I dropped off little Vari with Azazel, Mia began telling stories about her past life and hersuperdupercoolninjatheifjobthatshehadbeforeshemetAzazel'sdadandAzazelsowhatendeduphapoeningwasthat..."
Pinkie Pie, lost in the euphoria of retelling everything that had just happened sped up her speech so much that it became an indistinguishable babbling that only made sense to her. We were all looking at her dumbfounded for what felt like an eternity. After I was able to tune out Pinkie, I noticed Mia had lost interest halfway through Pinkie Pie's overly long, overly cheerful and overly fast explanation and joined the other two bipedal skeletons that had just walked out of the room and were standing guard outside the door. They seemed to be talking discreetly to themselves. I can't say that I wasn't curious as to what it was. So I used a focused hearing amplification spell to... discreetly join into the conversation as a passive participant. Totally not eavesdropping. Slowly, but surely, their voices became audible.
"...you're not kidding are you?"
Mia asked, to which the two skeleton shook their heads.
"I'm not gonna lie, it caught me off guard. especially when miss Applejack got all lovey dovey with masGAH!"
Trephor's remark was cut off by the tall black skeleton slapping the back of Trephor's skull. Avalon, I think is his name. Or at least I know it's a he by his burly voice.
"Can you please take this seriously? We need to be focused on the task at hand."
He stated before returning to his silent vigilance.
"Party pooper, no cake for you."
Trephor shot back while rubbing the back of his skull and pretending to pout. I had to keep myself from laughing at the exchange. To this, Mia simply sighed and shook her head.
"Can one of you two just tell me what Azazel wants us to do for now? I've been answering questions for what feels like forever and my jaw hurts from talking so much."
She stated, rubbing at her jaw bone.
Avalon looked at Mia with a steely gaze that rivaled even that of Shining Armor's best soldiers.
"He wants to be left undisturbed while he reads. Me and Trephor are to keep watch here while you entertain the Princesses and their subjects."
He stated. This made her groan in annoyance.
"Honestly, Azazel shouldn't isolate himself like this! Yes, Astoshan and Lilith are gone, but there's nothing he can do about it! There are-"
Mia's rather loud rant was cut off by a glare from Avalon and a hand from a worried looking Trephor.
"Mia. Don't. Not now."
Trephor said with a stern tone I didn't think he could pull off. He took his hand off of her and looked straight at me. I immediately cut off the spell and looked away. It was only then that I noticed that everypony was now looking at the skeletons with curiosity more than anything. I also noticed that Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were missing. Mia chuckled nervously before speaking.
"Is there anything else you'd like to know?"
We all glanced at each other for a few awkward moments before Starlight broke the silence.
"Hey... Where's Rainbow Dash? And where's Fluttershy for that matter?"
She asked, scanning the hallway we were all in.
"Oh. Fluttershy took Rainbow Dash to her room while Pinkie Pie was giving Applejack a summary of what she missed. That's right around the time these two came out."
Mia explained pointing behind her at the two skeletons.
"Oh Yes, yes, that's all very fascinating but can we please go back to the juicy romance between you and tre-MPH!!!"
Rarity's comment was harshly silenced by Mia wrapping her hand around her muzzle and giving a nervous yelp. I didn't think it was possible, but she was actually BLUSHING! Her cheek bones were bathed in a pink light as the pinprick sized orbs of fire that were her eyes shined with a pinkish hue. This made Princess Luna, Princess Celestia, and the rest of us to burst into laughter as the two skeletons behind her cocked their heads to the side in confusion. It took us a bit to see it, but our cutie marks had begun to pulse with magic, letting us know that our friendship mission was complete.
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////
A convoy carrying precious cargo was escorted by knights that marched through the city of Tamriel in silver armor, covering them from head to toe. The city's inhabitants cheered as their heroes and protectors triumphantly marched to the alabastor castle of their ruler after their most recent success. The leader of the knights, who's armor was only slightly different from that of his men, headed inside with four soldiers holding a cylindrical container about three feet long and one foot in diameter. The "ends" of the cylinder were round and it had a golden ring with glowing blue runes going around the middle of it's length. The object was filled with a semi transparent white fluid with a rainbow of color refracting from it. The container was suspended by four rods with hooks connected to the ring that were held at a distance from the nervous knights in shining armor. Their boots hit the floor in unison as the servants and guards of the beautiful palace made way for the entourage of armor clad soldiers. They walked through the halls, leading to large twin doors, one bearing an intricate tapestry of the night sky with glimmering stars shaped from diamonds, while the other branded an elegant sun who's flaming rays illuminated a city formed from a mosaic of many precious stones. The leader ordered the rest to wait outside for a moment. The doors were opened to reveal a large throne room with a celestial being on it's throne. The room had a very high ceiling with marble pillars that held up the dome shaped roof. The relatively modest throne was elevated on a set of stairs that raised it a small distance from the rest of the room at it's furthest wall. The goddess of the sun, the youngest practitioner of astral magics and the current queen of the Solarian empire, Queen Elizabeth Solaris the first, sat on her mighty throne. She was a tall creature, even by the aasimar's standards and easily towered over her subjects. She wore a white, sleeveless dress accentuated with a menagerie of rings and bracelets of gold that accentuated her heavenly body showing off her form without showing too much skin. Her large bird like wings were white with several shimering golden feathers. She was receiving news from a dignitary of her land on how things were going on the remodeling of the royal archives with a bored expression on her face when the captain of her Astral Guard came into the room. She waved off the noble rambling off over whether to use dark oak or spruce wood for the archive's shelving. The noble promptly shut up, and with a dejected huff, they left the room. Leaving the Sun Goddess alone with her guard.
"Your Radiance."
The armored leader acknowledged his monarch while he prostrated himself. She smiled at her captain before speaking.
"Deus Vult, you may rise."
Her ethereal voice commanded. Deus obeyed the command, rose to his feet and took off his helmet, revealing the face of a human. His sculpted features were well pronounced and a small, vertical scar grazed the right side of his lips. His ebony skin color was only accentuated by his black hair that was perfectly groomed and the few white strands that littered his head of hair showed his advancing age. She approached him and planted a soft kiss on his forehead. He smiles before speaking.
"My queen. I am pleased to say that our mission was a success. The necromancer was hiding exactly where you predicted his hideout would be, and I defeated him myself. He was no match for the gift you bestowed upon me."
As he says this, he squeezes the hilt of the blade sheathed on his belt. Queen Solaris walks away and heads back to her throne. She sits down and crosses her legs, taking a relaxed position. Deus' cocky tone faded into a solemn one when he remembered the events of a few nights ago.
"Though I do wish to commemorate twelve of my men that fell in the scuffle."
To this report, the gentle smile she had slowly turned into a scowl of disappointment and mild anger.
"How in the blue blazes did your men perish? You said yourself that Astoshan shouldn't have stood a chance against the Axelion!"
She questioned now sitting at the edge of her throne, her golden wings flared as a response to her fury.
"He didn't your majesty."
Deus stated with a facade of focus that hid the memories being summoned from the hole he'd buried them in at the back of his mind. He knew well that he had to be careful not to anger his Queen. It had been nine months since she had inherited the throne after her elder sister, the late Queen Morgana Solaris laid down her life for her empire. Morgana had fought by Deus' side in many battles, and she had been a good ruler to her people. He still remembered the day that the report arrived when she died in the battle of the southern orcs. She had recruited Astoshan, a powerful necromancer, along with a group of adventurers to aid her drive off a near endless horde of orc marauders off to the south. He and Elizabeth had warned her not to deal with a necromancer, much less a lich. The one time she didn't heed their advice, the price for her mistake was paid with her blood. The decisive battle was one and the war was ended, but only Astoshan returned alive. If one could call his undeath life, that is. He had brought her to the city along with all the fallen soldiers that she brought with her, as undead mind you. He said that he did so so they could be properly buried. Suffice to say that Deus didn't believe him, and to spare Elizabeth the pain of seeing her sister like that, he kept the report to himself. Unfortunately, that would not be enough. Elizabeth was fifteen when she saw the company of armored soldiers being led by what she thought was her sister back into the city. The scream of horror she let out still reverberated throughout Deus' head and shook him to his core. She had changed that day, something inside her that shouldn't have been there was planted. The seeds of hatred...
"THEN HOW DID ASTOSHAN MANAGE TO KILL TWELVE MEN IF YOU DESTROYED HIM!? YOU TOLD ME THAT NO ONE WOULD BE HARMED BY HIM!!!"
She screamed with unadulterated wrath, breaking Deus from his thoughts as she walked towards him. He hadn't even registered her moving back over to him. She was crying as she spoke, and Deus couldn't blame her even if he wanted to. He had assured her that death would not fall on her soldiers. She had gotten to know those men several days before he and his men were tasked with capturing the necromancer and destroying anything he had created. Research, undead, living creatures taken hostage, it didn't matter. They were all to be destroyed, and Astoshan was to be taken prisoner.
"YOU TOLD ME THAT YOUR PLAN WOULD NOT FAIL! WHAT AM I SUPPOSE TO SAY TO THEIR WIVES!? WHAT AM I GOING TO SAY TO THEIR SONS AND DAUGHTERS!?I'M NOT MY SISTER! I CAN'T DO THIS DEUS! I'M not... I... I don't know what I am supposed to do..."
She finished weakly as she fell to her knees, crying. She had been holding his shoulders as she yelled at him. Despite her size and adult appearance, Solaris was only sixteen years old. And Deus knew that the pressure of becoming a ruler in so little time and the blood of the men he'd taken to go capture Astoshan we're taking a serious toll on her. Deus could only stand there in shock, watching the young queen vent her pain to him. After a lot of mental debate, he looked down at her and wiped a tear from her perfectly smooth cheeks. She looked up at him with pleading eyes, only now being able to calm down enough to stop sobbing. Deus gave her a look of reassurance, got her to her feet and proceeded to take her hand. The two walked over to her throne and he sat her down. Giving her hand a gentle squeeze, he looked to the door.
"ASTRAL GUARD! COME BEFORE YOUR QUEEN!"
He ordered loud enough to be heard outside the throne room. Shortly after his men came in with their precious cargo, Elizabeth's sadness was slowly washed away by curiousity as she eyed the pill shaped container. The soldiers stopped at a distance from the elevated throne.
"My queen..."
Deus began as he walked over to the container.
"Before heading out for my mission, I had the scribes of the royal archives do some research on everything that we have on Astoshan. And on previous sorcerers that became undead, as he is. Mainly to find a weakness we could exploit."
To the visible shock of his soldiers, he unhooked the container from the poles the guards were using. He held the container with both hands. To Solaris' further bewilderment, it seemed rather light despite it's size.
"According to the official records, Astoshan, like many others before him became a Lich. He performed a ritual that bonded his soul to an object known as a phylactery. It would allow him to come back from death if his body died as an undead. Or to create a new one if his old body was completely destroyed."
He explained, looking at the flowing white liquid and the diamond shaped silouhette in the center. He turned around and slowly walked back to his ruler as he continued, now with an even more serious tone.
"Astoshan did not kill the brave men that staked their lives for our empire. When I tried to arrest him, a large, humanoid demon burst out of the abandoned outpost he had refitted as a makeshift home. The demon killed my men before I could step in and try to kill it with the Axelion."
He stood before her and gave the rest of his story, while the queen stared in both horror and awe at the tale she was hearing. However, her face contorted into one of confusion at his last sentence.
"Tried?"
She asked. To this, Deus nodded before giving her the rest of the story.
"Just as I was about to incinerate it straight to hell, Astoshan and an elf that was with him protected the creature and died in it's place for the demon to escape using some sort of portal."
He finished looking away from his queen and down at the container in his hands. Elizabeth was still trying to make sense of why the necromancer would risk his life and freedom for a monster.
"...why would he do that?"
She asked, searching Deus' face as if the answer was written somewhere on it. He extended the container so she could hold it, and as she took it, she suddenly felt cold. There was something powerful in the container, and the object was being held in check only barely as it's dark magic would leak out in small traces that would send a strange cold sensation through Elizabeth's hands and up to her elbows.
"I think he could give you a better answer than I ever could."
As realization slammed into Solaris like a runaway cockatrice, she looked down at the container and noticed the four-sided diamond silouhette looking back at her through the viscous, murk of white fluid in the cylinder.
"Astoshan..."
She whispered to herself in shock, and as if on cue, the silouhette pulsed like a beating heart with a sickly green light. At the center of the light, she saw an emblem she knew far too well. A right hand print with a small heart in it's palm, the small heart having small demon horns. The sight of it made Elizabeth's mind to go into overdrive as her subconscious began to pelt her with flashes of her memory. First, the emblem on a book she had read long ago from her old teacher. The second, an image of human skeletons carrying the flag through the city of Tamriel that brandished the same emblem. The third, the emblem painted on the side of an ancient mural with more emblems by it's side. And lastly, her sister's corpse, walking in front of a battalion of soldiers that she had met and knew that fought besides Morgana as her undead body carried a piece of cloth in her bloodied hand bearing the same symbol. The world itself seemed to hold still as the only things she could focus on, was the object in her hands and the beating of her heart. The pulsing of her heart synced up with that of the pulsing green gem inside the cylinder, and that is when she knew exactly what she needed to do. Her shoulders sagged down as she sighed in contentment, and a small smile that freaked Deus out, sprawled across her face.
"...perfect..."
Author's Note
I want to apologise for the lack of editing on my last chapter, I kinda rushed it and didn't bother to edit. Regardless, thanks for pointing out my grammatical horrors in the comments. I've made sure to keep an eye out for them and properly check for my spelling and overall coherence. Anywho, thanks for sticking around. I've gotten around to getting the plot of this beautiful shitshow in an outline so it should be smooth sailing from here on out Here's to my first fanfiction and to all of you who are reading this! thank you!
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Chapter 6 Low blow/Chapter7 Eye Opener pt. 1
//////////////Azazel//////////////////
It's been three days since the elements of Harmony arrived to Canterlot. While the vast majority of them left to their homes by the dawn of the second day, Twilight Sparkle and Starlight Glimmer decided to stay for a while longer so I could be formally interviewed by the princess of friendship. Rainbow Dash was going to go see a doctor after our little... discussion. Rarity had to go back to her "boutique", whatever that is. Pinkie Pie had to go plan a "Welcome to Equestria" party, which I must admit, sounds interesting. Fluttershy had to go take care of her pets, and Applejack had to go back to her family's farm. The day we met, I had locked myself in my room after my conversation with Applejack and refused to speak with anyone after I discovered the tome my parents left me. After seeing their written goodbyes, I fell into an uneasy "sleep" that didn't last very long. I woke up shortly after and dedicated myself to reading the book for the following days without pause. Trephor or Mia would bring me whatever food Luna would have her cooks prepare me. I was delighted to find that Luna was sending me raw meat. Must have something to do with her seeing my memories. I was initially tempted to get out of my room and ask, but I thought it best to make those questions at a later time. I ordered my skeletons to keep Twilight and Starlight company while I studied. I had ordered Avalon to keep Celestia and her guards away from my room. I didn't see Luna during those three days, all I knew was that she was asking Mia to make sure I got some sleep. I appreciated the concern, but I had more pressing matters to attend to. I had Mia relay a message to Princess Twilight, promising that once I finished the first chapter of the tome, I'd come out and talk with her about it and any other questions she might have. Mia told me that she agreed, albeit begrudgingly. I finished rereading the first ten chapters for the fifth time by midday of the third day, and for the first time in three days, I got out of bed for something other than using the lavatory. Those first ten chapters talked about my go-to spells and enchantments. Tactus Mortem, Tactus Dolorem, Encontrarium, Revelio, Aura di terror, and Resurectum Inmortous all described in detail along with the spells variants and a list of other spells I couldn't recognize that apparently use them as their groundwork. I also found a ritual similar to the Encontrarium spell that would allow me to cast an astral projection of myself that could interact with it's surroundings in a limited capacity with a considerable range. After digesting all the new information and making a mental note of studying the ritual further to experiment with it. I put the tome inside my bag and walked outside. Seeing Avalon standing outside by himself, I looked around to look for my other skeletons.
"Report."
I ordered, rubbing my tired eyes.
"Sir, the guards have been keeping their distance from this hallway. Only Princess Luna has passed through here. She's been changing the flowers on the halls every night. She came to me last night to ask if you were sleeping. I told her that you were reading, and she left without making a fuzz"
He explained. I stopped swiveling my head around in search for my other skeletons before speaking.
"I'm sorry Avalon, but where are Trephor and Mia?"
I asked.
"Trephor has been taking notes on the surrounding area and is in the library making a list for possible sites to build a more permanent stronghold with the resources available on this world with Starlight Glimmer. Mia is with Princess Twilight Sparkle in the royal dining room having lunch."
He replied after shutting his eyes for a moment and opening them up again. Just as I was about to ask for Anvari, I turned around to see she was sleeping on my bed. It was only then that I realized she had slept through those three days with me by her side. I felt a small smile form at the sight before looking back at him.
"Perfect. Alright, keep watch over this room and don't let anyone other than Mia, Trephor, or myself inside. Anvari is sleeping, if she needs anything, tend to her and keep her safe in my absence. I'm going to honor my promise to Twilight. I'll send Mia over to stay with Anvari. When she gets here, call Trephor and tell him to meet me at room at dusk to discuss his findings and our next move."
I commanded. Avalon gave me a nod, and with that, I began my short walk over to the dining room. As I walked through the halls, I passed by the throne room. From what Mia told me, Celestia held a "day court" at this hour up until sundown. A time where her dignitaries and subjects could schedule a meeting with her to talk about whatever they wanted from her. My appearance was something that unsettled the servants and guards as I passed by. They still feared me, though not as much as they did when they first saw me. For now, that would be good. I didn't want them getting any ideas. As I walked close to the intersection between the dining room and the throne room, the doors to the throne room opened to reveal the diarch of the sun exiting with three more of her subjects that I didn't recognize. Three unicorns clad in purple armor to be exact. If I had to judge their gender, I'd say two of them were mares and the third a stallion. My assumption was based on their overall size and build. Stallions seem to have larger, more defined muzzles, while mares are overall smaller and have round muzzles. I stopped and decided to wait till they passed so I could go on without having to talk with Celestia. However, fate seemed to be feeling sadistic today. The group turned in my direction and noticed me. The two mares' faces were easy enough to read, controlled panic washing over them as their big eyes shrunk to pinpricks. Their apparent leader was a white unicorn stallion with an azure mane and light blue streaks running down it. He looked at me with a glare that reminded me a little too much of a certain human I despise. When no one moved to try to kill me, I relaxed and resumed walking towards my destination. The unicorns huddled around their ruler as she stood there like an unmoving pillar waiting for a tidal wave that would never come. I sighed, slowed down my pace and was stopped a small distance from her when she spoke up.
"Good morning Azazel. I presume you were able to read to your heart's content?"
She politely asked.
"Yes, that is correct."
Not in the mood for small talk, I began to walk away; the not so subtle soldiers would go around Celestia at much the same speed to keep me in their line of sight and making a meat shield to protect their ruler. As I was about to make my way inside the dining room, those guards from before got infront of me and forced me to stop. I was getting very annoyed with Celestia and her lackeys.
"Move. Now."
I ordered. The two soldiers that stood behind their leader flinched at the sound of my voice. Their leader stood unfazed.
"Not until I'm certain you won't be a problem."
He stated defiantly. I would have been impressed if he didn't remind me so much of that bastard Deus Vult with his arrogant attitude. I took several deep breaths to keep myself from unleashing my pent up aggression on this foolish little horse.
"I̵f̴ ̸I̴ ̴w̷a̴n̷t̸e̶d̶ ̵y̶o̴u̶ ̴d̷e̶a̴d̷,̴ ̵y̵o̵u̵ ̷a̴l̴r̸e̶a̵d̸y̴ ̵w̵o̷u̴l̴d̴ ̵b̴e̶.̶ ̵I̵ ̶t̷h̴i̴n̵k̸ ̶t̸h̴a̸t̷ ̷s̸h̸o̶u̴l̷d̸ ̵b̸e̸ ̴p̸r̴o̵o̶f̷ ̷e̸n̴o̸u̴g̸h̶ ̵t̴h̶a̴t̴ ̸I̷'̷m̴ ̴n̷o̶t̵ ̶g̵o̷i̸n̷g̴ ̶t̶o̷ ̶c̷a̶u̸s̴e̵ ̷p̶r̴o̶b̸l̴e̷m̸s̷.̵ ̴N̸o̴w̸ ̷g̵e̵t̷ ̸o̵u̶t̸ ̷o̵f̷ ̷m̵y̸ ̵w̷a̷y̷.̶"̷
I ordered with a little too much venom in my tone.
"My sister's in that room, and unless you've got a good reason to be there, I don't want you anywhere near her."
He stated stoically, poking my chest with his hoof. I swat it away and cast fear aura before speaking again. Now thoroughly pissed off.
"Ị̷̌ ̵̜̈́k̶̻͝n̴̢̕ö̴́͜ẉ̵́ ̷̍ͅn̵̥̊o̴͒ͅt̶̛̮ ̵͛͜ẃ̵͔h̸̹͝o̷̝͆ ̵̳̃y̵͛ͅö̶̼́u̶̳͊r̷̨̐ ̴̣̑s̴̻̀i̶̮̓ś̸͙ť̴̫e̵͚̋ṙ̴̫ ̴̰̋ì̷͜s̴̨̀,̷͔̑ ̶̡̚ň̵͕o̷̩̎r̷͔͗ ̶̳̍d̵̼̊ò̷̰ ̷͓̂I̷̢̔ ̸̼͑c̵̺͝ä̶͓r̵̫̽è̸̪.̴͗ͅ ̷̢̎I̸͖̽'̴̠̍m̶̟̎ ̷̞͑n̵̗̈́e̷̠̎ë̷̜́d̶̺͌ ̷̱͠t̴̊ͅǒ̸̙ ̵̞̎s̸̪̈́p̴͎͑e̸̜̿à̸̗k̶̺̈́ ̶̨̓w̴͔͋i̷͗ͅt̵̤́ḧ̸̦́ ̷̘̇t̸̝̕ḥ̴̀e̴͈͗ ̵̙̃P̸̙̔r̴͙̀i̸̺͂n̵̨̛c̸̰̋ĕ̸̠s̶̬̊s̶̮͝ ̸̡̈ö̷̧f̶̖̆ ̵̳̇F̸̙̈ṙ̶̺į̷̓ė̷̥n̶̡͝ḑ̵̈́s̸͉͐h̶̝̉i̶̳͠p̸̳̚.̸͚̈ ̶̪͗G̶̝͘e̴̙̎t̷̤͌ ̷̖̃o̴̯͆û̸͎t̴͓͝ ̶͍̌ȯ̴̤f̵̬̋ ̷̗͌m̸̨̊y̷̬̋ ̸̳̋w̴͈̋a̷̠͆y̶̺͝,̷̩̌ ̵̲̏n̵̩͑o̸̹͗w̴̛̘!̸̛̮"̴̯̀
I yelled at him. The stallion flinched when I got in his face, but he held his composure. I could tell he was struggling to keep it together, he was sweating profusely and his legs were starting to falter.
"Shining Armor, stand down and let him pa-"
That's as far as I heard Celestia speak before I noticed out of the corner of my eye one of the mares to my left charge a spell in her magic. I barely had enough time to see the ball of magical fire shoot from her horn and hit my stomach. The spell hit me with very little force, but it burned my skin and sent my body into overdrive as the pain triggered an explosion of adrenaline to surge through me. I covered the damaged area with my hands as a reflex, and the moment I saw the small, bloody crater, I lost all semblance of self control. I let out a primal roar as I began charging necrotic energy into my hands, resulting them to be engulfed in a black and red flame. Just as I was about to grab my assailant with Tactus Mortem and rip my attackers asunder, I was enveloped in a golden magical aura. I didn't have time to react as I was violently hurled backwards. I landed on my back and rebounded, flipping and skidding across the polished floor before friction stopped me. My horns shielded my head from getting a concussion, but they hurt from the collision nonetheless. When the world stopped spinning, I was enveloped in that aura again and forced onto my knees, my back was held straight and my wings were pressed back against my body. With my arms pressed firmly against my sides, I quickly took stock of the situation. The mare that had just shot me was looking like a scared dog as her apparent leader ran to her. The stallion that threatened me began angrily yelling at the mare that attacked me. For as mad as he may have been, he had nothing on Celestia. She looked like dad did the first time someone threatened me. My eyes were locked with hers, and I saw nothing but anger. I had to get free from her grip or she would get a shot off while I was restrained. I began to charge necrotic energy whithin me to set myself free.
"Azazel, stop this! Don't make me-"
That's as far as she got before I released the pent up magic across my body and the golden aura around me shattered. I barely registered Celestia stagger from the magical backlash of having her telekinetic grip broken off me before I rose to my feet and began charging a blast of hellfire in my throat. Celestia was able to get her bearings just in time to see me open my jaw and the red hot glow of my throat to know what I would do next. Celestia quickly cast a concave shield to protect herself from the incoming attack. I fired the stream of black and red flames from my mouth and kept the pressure until I was certain there was enough smoke for me to safely bolt it out of there. I knew, even in my adrenaline fueled rage, I stood no chance against Celestia with my current exhaustion. Not listening to Luna's advice to rest was taking a toll on my mind, making it difficult to think, and the sudden usage of so much magic to heal my wound and keep the torrent of hellfire going was making my body shake and scream for me to stop. Keeping up the flames wasn't easy, and I was getting light headed. Fortunately, my plan worked. My flames crashing against Celestia's shield had generated a rather thick smog. I stopped my onslaught and began a breathless sprint in the opposite direction, towards my room. I was going to get my things, and take flight. I'd deal with where I'd go when I got there. Avalon, had been waiting by the door dutifully when I turned onto the corner of the hallway where my quarters were. Avalon didn't even flinch when I rammed through the door, tearing off the door's lock. I had startled Anvari so much she had fallen off the bed when I barged in. I paid little mind to it as I grabbed my bag and opened it.
"GET IN! WE'RE LEAVING!"
I commanded. Immediately, Anvari scurried over to me and climbed inside the bottomless bag. I tied it around my waist tightly before turning around and seeing Avalon on the inside of my room, holding the door shut with his body.
"Sir, we're trapped! What are your orders!?"
Avalon shouted as I noticed him struggling to hold the door shut. I took a moment to look around and when I saw the window, I made a hasty plan.
"Jump! I'll catch you!"
I instructed. Avalon simply nodded before letting go of the door and sprinting towards the window. Just as his body smashed through the glass and began falling, the door to my room swung open to reveal several golden clad ponies. Seeing this, I took three long strides as I dove out the window. I began to fall and easily spotted Avalon's black form rapidly falling towards the contrastingly colorful streets below. I stretched out my wings and used the magic I had left within me to propel myself towards him. As he neared the ground, Avalon began to panic, his arms and legs flailing around in a desperate attempt to grab something. With the sound of the wind rushing past me, I reached out with my hand and caught Avalon by his spine just in the nick of time. I flew parallel to the road and struggled gain altitude, all while flying faster than a falling star. Nobles and travelers alike had to duck and jump out of the way lest they be rammed by three hundred and fifty pounds of teifling muscle flying through the city's main road with the speed of the falling star. I cleared the city's wall by a few feet and only when I looked down to see Avalon, barely holding onto my arm; I remembered that Mia and Trephor were still in the castle. I began circling back around the mountain while I released a high pitched roar my skeletons would recognize as a command to come find me immediately once I lapped around the mountain. While this happened, Anvari opened my satchel for Avalon to climb in. Because I was pressed for time I shoved him in head first, the wind pressure from the speed I was traveling at pushed him the rest of the way inside and Anvari closed the bag from the inside like gnome closing the hatch to their underground home under some comically large tree. I knew I couldn't head back into the city, so I took a quick glance at the area surrounding the mountain. I could see a massive expanse of dark green forest past the lime green pastures that surrounded the mountain where the castle was, so I began to descend towards a clearing near the forest's edge. As I did my best to slow my descent, I braced myself for another less than perfect landing. I wasn't able to slow down enough to land quietly, causing a shockwave of wind and dust to surround the area of impact. Hearing the blaring of what I believe to have been sirens in the direction of Canterlot, I began to run into the forest. Running away from my the only family I had left, away from those that feared me, and away from the one my father had warned me about.
/////////////Trephor/////////////
~Sometime before sunrise~
Azazel ordered me and Avalon to stand guard by his door a few days ago. After standing there not doing much other than staring at the opposite wall to me for Two nights and two days, I got bored. The first night I had been standing guard with tall, dark, and grouchy Avalon. Princess Luna decided to come by and do some gardening in the halls, so there's that. After a while, I began my second most favorite activity, pestering Avalon.
~Two Hours Later~
"Avi?"
I asked for the gazilianth time. To this, Avalon gritted his teeth before answering.
"My name is Avalon. How many times must I say it?"
He griped.
"As many times as it takes for you to answer my question."
I replied. Avalon groaned to this as he clawed his non-existent face off.
"For the last time, I can't tell you what to do because I have no idea as to what we SHOULD do! CAN YOU PLEASE JUST... SHUT! UP!"
He argued. I looked away from him, raised my hand to my chin and stroked my imaginary handle bar mustache and goatee respectively.
"Hmm... You know Avipoo. Come to think of it, I don't think master Azazel is very happy here..."
I stated squinting my eyes in mock contemplation before continuing.
"Twilight Sparkle seems to be very smart, and the lavander pony that follows her seems to be quite knowledgeable too... I wonder if this castle has a study or library of some sort..."
As I knew it would, Avalon's poorly wired skull began to stink of bacon as his proverbial brain threatened to combust from the strain of holding a line of thought that didn't involve Azazel's last command to him.
"You're not suggesting that we relocate somewhere else do you?"
He asked with a genuinely confused look on his face.
"Ding! ding! ding! Ladies and gentle creatures we have a winneeeeerrrrrr!"
I celebrated by gesturing at him with my best jester impression. To this, he would have scowled if he could.
"Oh, lighten up Aragon."
I chastised.
"Don't get off topic! Why do you think we should move elsewhere?"
He inquired.
"I don't think we should move just yet. I'm suggesting that we should have a contingency plan should Princess Sunbutt decide she wants to have an Azazel flambe."
I clarified. Avalon seemed lost in thought. Probably looking for a fault in my suggestion or a way to say the same thing differently.
"If there's a library in this castle, Princess Twilight must know. From what I'm able to pickup, Mia has been conversing with Twilight on a lot of subjects ranging from technology, medicine, and the history of our land. So comparing Mia's knowledge on the subjects with what they have available has been a regular occurrence."
He explained. It amazes me that despite being the only one of us that can communicate with Azazel and us telepathically, he's still dumber than a brick. Eh, guess it comes with the perks of being able to bench press a full grown bear.
"Avathong?"
I asked, barely keeping my manic giggling in check. Avalon, as expected, was not pleased.
"*sighs* What is it Trephor?"
He stated as the despair of thinking I'd never leave him be began settling in. Hanging his head in defeat.
"Can you tell me where Mia is? I feel like doing some research of my own would be productive."
His eyes ignited with renewed excitement at the prospect of me leaving him alone. I couldn't help but laugh at his display.
"She should be outside Princess Twilight and Starlight Glimmer's quarters getting ready for the day."
He stated with a joy that he didn't have a few a seconds ago. My laughter at his sudden mood swing died down the moment I realized that I had no idea where that was.
"Riiiiiiight... Could you point me in the right direction?"
As I stated this, I began to get a little dizzy. My sudden dizziness was the result of Avalon using his telepathic bond with me to send me the layout of the castle based on Mia's and Azazel's memories. I shook my head to clear my thoughts and on command, they did.
"Ok. I'm gonna go over to Mia. With any luck, I can get you an idea of where we could set up shop with whatever this world has to offer us."
I explained, to which, Avalon nodded.
"Hold down the fort for me Aragon. I'll be back."
I told the now grumbling skeleton standing watch by our master's door on his lonesome. I began my trek through the halls with a small bounce in my strides as I began reminiscing on memories of simpler times. I remembered my first few days after being "resurrected." Azazel had given all of us a custom paintjob and his mother Lilith gave us a gift to use with our sentience. Mia had been given the skill and mind of an architect and indoor stylist along with a universally good fashion sense. She's the reason Azazel's room back on our homeworld wasn't a rat infested cesspit, she taught him how to organize and clean after himself. Avalon, being the most loyal, was given telepathy so Azazel could keep track of us. Your's truly, being the most smartest, most handsome, and wittiest, was given the ability to understand, speak, read and/or write in any language I come across. Little Anvari frightens me a little with her gift. (DONT TELL AVALON) She has the ability to channel small amounts of magic for her to cast weak spells. The reason this scares the living daylights out of me is becau- Hey! Its Mia. The poor girl had been sitting there all night by herself. I approached the door and sat down next to Mia.
"Morning Mia."
I smiled with the friendliest smile I could offer. Mia looked tired, despite us skeletons not being able to feel physical exhaustion. She yawned before answering.
"Morning Trephor. How were things on your end?"
She asked, looking at me.
"Oh, not much. I just annoyed our dark knight for about four hours after standing in a hallway for nearly three days with nothing to do."
I complained. Mia began chuckling at this and scooted a little closer. Seeing this, my chivalrousnessness came shining through and gesture for her to get closer. She did so and rested her head on my shoulder. We stayed there for a while, not really doing much as I simply watched the sun's rays crawl up a wall through a window while it slowly rose. I never really understood why, Mia liked laying her head on my shoulder. I can say from personal experience that hard bones are NOT very comfortable. Unfortunately for my current train of thought, the door to the suite opened to reveal a very happy looking Twilight and a very tired looking Starlight.
"Good morning Princess. You too Starlight."
I addressed them. The girls perked up and looked at me with a bit of surprise.
"Oh, hello again Trephor. Is Azazel ready for his interview?"
Twilight asked like an excited scholar, dying to get more knowledge. Me being the all time champion of the disappointment Olympics, decided to give her the best customer service smile possible along with her answer.
"Sorry, Azazel is still going over the information. If it's any consolation, the conversation you're gonna get out of him is gonna be juicy."
I explained. I expected disappointment, not intrigue.
"What do you mean?"
She asked, her eyes shimmering with the spark of curiosity.
"Well... My guess is that the book he has is a sort of condensed compendium of all things necromancy. A necronomicon, if you will."
I explained. Twilight summoned a parchment with a feather pen and an ink well with a smile that rivaled that of the ponified hurricane, Pinkie Pie. I immediately understood why Mia was so tired, and took the best course of action accordingly. Mia, who had been peacefully sleeping on my shoulder, was now being shaken awake by yours truly.
"Hey Mia! I was just talking to Twilight about what a necronomicon is and all that it entails. I thought you could give her a much better explanation than me. Seeing as how you're much more knowledgeable than myself with this stuff."
I stated, standing her and myself to our feet and politely escorting the sleepy she-elf towards pony princess with a ravenous hunger for knowledge. Mia, was visibly miffed at my display, but she didn't say anything.
"Ok-"
She began with a sigh, rubbing the sleep off her non-existent eyelids and focusing on Twilight
"A necronomicon is, in essence, a collection of rituals, spells, cantrips, enchantments and hexes that revolve around the direct manipulation of..."
She explained to Twilight as they walked off into the distance and out of earshot while rounding a corner. When they left my field of hearing I let out a chuckle I'd been holding. I nodded to myself as the two left, and looked over to a very disappointed looking Starlight.
"What?"
I asked.
"You're Trephor?"
She replied with a question of her own. it confused me at why she would ask that, and so, I tilted my head to show it as I don't have eye brows to raise.
"Yes, I am. I presume you're Starlight Glimmer, correct?"
I countered. Our duel of inquiry would only have one outcome. A victory for me. MUAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
"That wasn't very nice of you. Especially with how well she talks about you."
She stated, her drowsiness replaced with a defensive tone. This stumped me. I mean, Mia of all people, spreading a good word about me? It had to be sarcasm. Right?
"What do you mean?"
Curiousity overriding my pride.
"Well, she told us she really likes you."
She stated matter-of-factly. I knew then this was a joke, and as such I couldn't help but laugh. When I finally got my bearings, I noticed she wasn't laughing with me. She looked like she was both seriously worried and really upset.
"What's wrong with you!? I just told you she likes you and you treat it like a joke!?"
She asked indignantly. Seeing as how she wasn't joking, my fit of laughter subsided and I began to stand up straight.
"Starlight, I'm sorry. I- heh heheheheh I just find it so outlandish that out of every one she could like. She likes me- hehehehehehahahaha... "
I confessed, letting my fit of giggling subside completely before I continued.
"Look at it this way. What could she possibly like about a bag of bad jokes, cheesy puns, lame references, and poorly camouflaged bones such as myself?"
I explained. I'll admit, it sounded funnier in my head. Now I just sounded depressed. Starlight on the other hand, looked a lot less upset, and a lot more concerned.
"I'm sorry I lashed out at you like that. Look, why don't we go grab breakfast with Twilight and we can talk about it later with a full stomach, ok?"
She offered, trying to lighten up the sour mood. Fortunately for us both, it did, as I was suddenly struck in the face with a way I could kill two birds with one stone.
"You know, I think that would be a good idea. Although I don't think food would be good for me. Everything I eat has a way of going right through me."
I explained, waving my hand over the are my stomach would be if I had one. This caught her off guard and she let out a hardy chuckle.
"Well, is there anything else I can help you with?"
She offered. TARGET ACQUIRED.
"Well, I actually came here to ask if you could point me in the direction of the nearest library."
I explained. She raised an eyebrow at this.
"Uh.. Sure, I can take you to Canterlot's public library, but what are you looking for?"
She asked.
"I want to see if I can find a map to get a sense of where we are and just somewhere I can get a general understanding of what Equestria has to offer."
This caused her to tense. I stretched out my arms and let my jaw hang from my left hinge. I made the flames of my eye grow and they turned green with amusement.
"I will learn from your land so that my Master's undead horde may eat whole cities of pony braaaiiiiinnnsss!"
I spoke with the best zombie voice I could manage. Starlight backed away with a horrified expression that was too funny for me to not laugh. I was promptly konked on the head with a hoof for that.
"Worth it..."
I stated, rubbing the area of impact. Once I got back to my feet I noticed Starlight was looking at me with an annoyed expression.
"Ok. ok. I won't joke around with that again."
I conceded. Starlight rolled her eyes at this and began her walk to the dining room to enjoy a nice breakfast.
"Good, now let's go get me something to eat. The library should open by the time we're done getting breakfast."
She explained. I sheepishly nodded and followed her. Twilight and Mia were at the table, Mia talking and Twilight multitasking between eating her cereal and taking detailed notes on everything Mia was talking about. As I waited for Starlight to finish her breakfast I began to maul over what she said about Mia liking me. The more I thought about it, the more it made sense. I am fully aware that I can be an insufferable pain in the ass when I want to be, and despite this, not once has she complained. She's given me advice and helped me to plan out situations where Azazel has needed of me without ever complaining about my humor or choice of words. The more I thought about it, the worse I felt. I began to connect the dots with her behavior as well. All the nights she would become mentally exhausted, she would come to sleep with me or simply to vent how she was feeling. As far as I know, I'm the only one she-
"Ok, I'm done. Let's get going."
Starlight said happily, derailing my train of thought.
"Y-yeah."
View Online
Chapter 7 Eye opener part 2/ Chapter 8 Run like Hell
////////////////Trephor//////////////////
After Starlight finished eating, she walked over to Mia and Twilight.
"So Azazel's magic doesn't use a spell matrix? Then how does he even use magic? Without something to focus his magic through, casting a spell should be impossible."
Twilight asked.
"Well... in a way he does, but not in the way you'd expect. You see, magic on our world resembles yours in the sense that it can be found anywhere and everywhere that there's life. The thing is that Azazel uses what's known as Argent energy, which is more commonly known as "demonic" magic. It functions differently from your "basic" magic since it comes from a completely different plane of existence, meaning that it abides by different rules than that of your magic and in turn, is focused differently."
Mia explained, holding her head in her right hand and applying air quotes with her left when needed. She was sitting besides Twilight on the long, rectangular table.
"Then how does it work? Is it some biological mechanism he has like how unicorns have horns, pegasi wings, or earth ponies with their hooves?"
Twilight asked with a mouthful of cereal while throwing up her hooves in exasperation. After realizing that all of us were staring at her hilarious show, she swallowed and gave an embarrassed chuckle.
"I'll be taking Trephor to Canterlot's public library so he can read up on some things he wanted to know."
Starlight expressed hesitantly. Twilight immediately perked up.
"Is there anything I can help with?"
She offered. I took one long look at Mia's dejected form before answering.
"Actually, yes. Can I take Mia with me? I don't want to be rude, I just... want to do some research with her is all. She's my go-to study buddy. And I work better when I have someone to keep me from going off topic."
I explained, giving Starlight a wink in hopes that she'd help me out. Mia, who hadn't been moving much, froze in her position before turning slowly to look at me.
"But I still have so many questions!"
Twilight pouted in a manner that made her unnervingly adorable.
"And she will answer them all in due time. But now, we have to get GOING, don't we Trephor?"
Starlight urged, wordlessly motioning for Mia to hurry up and move before Twilight could do anything about it. The three of us exchanged knowing looks before we bolted off to the library.
Once we got the all clear from Starlight that we wouldn't be followed, our little trio exited the palace and began walking through the beautiful streets of Equestria's capitol. Starlight took the lead with the two of us in tow.
"Mia?.."
I asked reluctantly as I walked along by her side.
"Yeah?"
She replied.
"I'm sorry for throwing you under the carriage earlier. That was... wrong on my part."
I apologized. My unease to her potentially aggressive reaction was made mute when I noticed her eyes turn pinkish in color as she gave me a nervous laugh.
"It's fine. If I had been in your shoes, I'd probably do the same."
She answered, still looking away. I was shocked, she didn't want to throw my head half way across the city. However, I didn't feel the unease leave me. It was getting worse, yet it didn't feel wrong... It was so strange.
Normally situations like this make me feel like my rib cage is going to implode, but instead I feel full of... butterflies? I feel all warm inside just thinking about how nice she's been to me and- WHAT THE FUCK AM I SAYING!? WHAT DID STARLIGHT DO TO ME!? WHY IS SHE LOOKING AT ME LIKE THA-
"You Ok there Trephor?"
She asked with a tone that I didn't like. She knew more than she was letting on.
"What do you mean?"
I asked as calmly as I could manage.
"You've been staring blankly at empty space for the entire walk, you haven't made a single comment or joke and your eyes are glowing pink."
I did my best to process the information Starlight spoon-fed my irresponsive body, and even then it took me a bit to understand why my eyes would be glowing pink. I was blushing. The realization made the fire of my eyes flare and the more I looked away to try and hide it the stronger the flames got.
Starlight let out a muffled giggle at my current predicament and it made me mad enough to force my eyes back to their original color and intensity.
"Are we there yet?"
I asked, now miffed myself. Gods, now I know how Avalon feels too. How positively enthralling. Starlight stopped at the door of a massive three story tall building.
"Mhmm"
She answered innocently along with a nod.
"Perfect. Then, let's get going."
I ushered them in as passive aggressively as etiquette would allow while also opening the door for them, gaining another bout of giggles from Starlight and- wait... MIA'S BLUSHING TOO! GREAT! NOW IM BLUSHING AGAIN! Ok, ok, deep breaths. Ok, we're good.
I let go of the door and head inside behind the girls. The librarian, a pale orange unicorn that looked considerably older than Starlight, took one long look at us before she could say "hello" and looked over to the sandwich she had suspended in her magic. She promptly threw it in a nearby trash bin and let herself out.
"I think it's time to retire."
She "calmly" repeated to herself as she walked out of the library. For some reason, Starlight and Mia paid no mind to this as they had already found a table to sit down. I blinked in confusion for a bit, finding it to be the only indicator that I was still same myself after the levels of nonsensical behavior I was witnessing. Snapping out of my confused stuper, I made my way to them.
After having Mia "reserve" our table in the mostly empty library. Starlight and I got a sizeable amount of books detailing geography, history, and culture. I'm thankful to Astoshan for experimenting with my gift. Now, I don't have to necessarily read a book to absorb it's information. Simply having an unobstructed view of the text for a few seconds is enough for me to record the information. It's a little more taxing on my mind, but I can get a lot more research done, much quicker than I would have without the pertinent modifications.
Apparently it has to do with the runes carved into my eye sockets. I don't think Azazel knows, considering that the last time I had been alive, it had been Astoshan who brought me back and Azazel hadn't asked about it. He took me with him during one of his excursions to find new types of magic, along with researching on another Lich.
I wouldn't bet my skull on it, but I think that he was doing research on some old mentor or friend of his that went missing. When I asked about their current state, he told me that they were "traveling". I didn't get much out of him though. I was too busy testing my upgrade on some arcane tomes from gods know how long ago. I think, that was about a year ago, but I couldn't be certain. I'm getting sidetracked again, aren't I? Probably.
I had just finished a book that mentioned a place called the Crystal Empire when I heard it. The the sound of the sonic barrier being broken and the call of my master. It was a high pitched wailing that, if I had ears, they be in pain. Azazel programmed us to respond to certain roars or loud sounds he could make as a last resort of communication. That specific one meant "Find me, I'm in trouble."
Mia looked up from the book on pony architecture to meet my concerned gaze and we immediately knew what we had to do. We dropped everything we had and made a run for the castle. Starlight struggled to keep up, but she eventually caught up with us.
"What's wrong!? What was that!?"
She exclaimed out of breath. We were still running towards the castle.
"Azazel is in trouble!"
I explained. Not having the need to breathe was a serious boon, I could run indefinitely without getting tired. Damnit! I'm getting sidetracked again! Focus!
We made it back to the castle only to be surrounded by ponies guards. They were aiming their Spears at us, and for the first time in my life, I was truly afraid. These guys, they meant business.
"DOWN ON THE GROUND NOW!!!"
One of the armor clad ponies shouted.
"LAY FLAT AGAINST THE GROUND AND DO NOT RESIST OR WE WILL USE FORCE!!!"
Another shouted, this one a mare with a gruffy voice. After the three of us looked at each other in shock, we quickly complied.
Shackles that were a little too big for me bound my arms behind my back. After I was restrained I turned my head to see Mia and Starlight had been cuffed and were laying flat on the stone road. Starlight had dark streaks running down her furred cheeks and her eyes were wet with tears. She was a afraid.
Mia... She doesn't have much to read in the facial expressions department, but her eyes... they were blue dots, lost in the emptiness of her hollow eye sockets.
"ON YOUR FEET!!!"
The first pony shouted. We complied, mainly out of fear we would get stabbed by their spears.
While it is very difficult to stab a skeleton due to our relatively small bones, a good hit to the head would be enough to permanently kill us. A shattered skull of an undead can't be repaired and brought back. Only living bone and flesh could be healed.
We were escorted into the castle. After walking through the castle's winding halls made it to the dungeons and placed inside separate cells. Mia and I shared a cell, while Starlight sat in a cell besides our own. I could hear Starlight's sobs echo through the dimly lit dungeons. This place was an empty hole, meant to instill a sentiment of isolation. There were very few ponies here. Two guards, one pony in a cell by herself, and two skeletons.
After inspecting the dusty cell we were in, I took stock of Mia. She had reached her breaking point. She hated this place. Not this specific cell, but prison in general. She had told me of the time her old self had been imprisoned years ago. She had been caught stealing from a noble in the outskirts of the elven kingdom and fled to the Solarian empire, where she eventually met my old self. We weren't them, but we had their memories, their experiences, their... lives in a way.
Mia had been captured by a bounty hunter and was sentenced to be hanged. She waited for four days in a dusty cell like the one we were in now before a window to escape presented itself. The sensation of impotency and the dread of not knowing if one is about to die... She tried for hours to find the right words to describe it. She cried for hours as I listened.
I wish I had known it then, how she felt about me. I wish I hadn't been such a dense prick. But no more. I liked to make jokes, and in turn make those around me smile. I wouldn't make her feel like the punchline anymore to the cruel joke that life was playing on us.
She was sitting against the wall, with an empty gaze looking outwards. Small blue embers fell from her eyes and hit the floor before snuffing out in the cool air of this godforsaken place. I sat down beside her and placed my hand on her's.
"That's life... that's what all the people say..."
She sung to herself in near whisper. I loved that song. It was ironic. From what Lilith told me, she'd come up with it when she gave birth to Azazel. She knew that her ex-husband would've killed her and her newborn child, and sang it to herself during her darkest hours. Sitting in a cell with someone she loved awaiting execution.
"And as funny as it may seem... some people get their kicks..."
But in that darkest hour, someone who loved her came. They literally went to hell and back for the mother of his child. And the story I had heard so many times before, now held a new meaning to me.
"Stomping on your dreams... but I don't... let it get me down..."
I didn't know what to do, but I'd find a way to get us back to Azazel safely. I now understood how Mia felt for me. And now I wanted to follow Astoshan's example.
"Cause this fine ol' world it keeps spinning around..."
Mia's fingers became intertwined with mine as she leaned her head onto my shoulder. I rested my head on hers and in that dusty cell filled with despair, I knew love as much as I knew fear.
My eyes felt heavy, as the stress of the last hour caught up with me. I looked down to see Mia's eyes were extinguished, meaning she had fallen asleep. Seeing as how I didn't see us going anywhere anytime soon, I closed my eyes, and drifted off to sleep.
//////////Avalon////////////
My master had been running for approximately four hours when I felt gravity shift to the surprisingly spacious walls of the bag I was in while hearing the muffled sound of someone gasping for air. It took me a bit to realize what had happened through my light daze, and I became very concerned in a very short lapse of time.
"Master!? Permission to come out!?"
I asked more afraid than anything. For an insufferably long period, there was nothing but silence with the exception of Azazel's tired panting.
"Master!?"
I called out again. As a response, I saw the opening of the bag part slightly and saw Azazel's fingers begin to open them before sliding back out. Taking this as an affirmation to my request, I further opened the rest of the bag's opening and crawled out. I came out to find myself in a patch of woods with large trees separated with ample room to walk around. The massive trees had their foliage intertwined and collectively covered the sky above us, with only some of the sun's rays poking through the leaves.
I turned around to find Azazel, drenched in sweat and dirtied with muck, laying down in exhausted defeat. I knelt down besides him and placed a hand on his shoulder. His wild eyes opened to look at me. I saw anger, betrayal, and hatred. I'd never seen him like this, and it frightened me.
"Master... what do I do?"
I asked in a hushed voice. Now being able to breathe a little easier, he answered me.
"Find... shelter..."
He managed as he tried to get up. His arms shook and buckled before he could raise himself to his feet. I knew Azazel was too weak to move, so I began to search for a way to get him moving. My eyes settled on a dead tree whose only remnant was a greyish trunk with some branches protruding at odd angles.
I began to think of a way to form it into a stretcher for my master, but then I realized the implications of time and effort needed to carve out a rough shape, not to mention the fact that it would have to be hollowed out enough to not be overly heavy. I began pacing around, before I heard an unsettling roar. It was loud and bestial, kind of like... That's as far as I got in thought when I was struck by something and sent flying into a nearby tree.
Having stronger bones than that of my fellow undead meant that the impact against the hardy bark of the tree I slammed into did little to my overall well being. When I rose to my feet, I saw my assailant. It was a chimera with a lion's body, bat like wings, and a scorpion's tail with a powerful stinger.
I'd seen my fare share of manticore while I was alive, but I had never had to face one in single combat. Azazel must have entered it's territory without knowing, and now the creature was defending it. I am strong, but a fully grown chimera like this one could kill me easily. I was a bit stunned to notice it hadn't immediately gone for the kill. It was looking at me angrily, and I knew I would have to fight it to keep it from trying to make my master it's next meal.
My mind raced with possible ways to put down the manticore. Unfortunately, my train of thought was cut off when it charged me. I rolled out of its way just as it knocked down a relatively thin tree by ramming straight into it. The manticore let out a roar of fury as it clambered back to it's feet and tried to attack me again.
This time I was ready for it. I sidestepped it's blind lunge and ducked under an incoming paw swipe. The creature was using it's instinct to fight, there was no thought behind it. Good, it wasn't sapient, or at the very least, intelligent. I continued to dodge it's attacks, letting it knock down more trees and letting the beast tire itself out.
After several minutes of back stepping swipes from it's powerful claws, bites from it's jaw and jabs from it's stinger, I lured it towards the dead tree. The beast jabbed it's tail angrily at me before impaling it on the dead tree. The manticore, now trying to free it's stuck tail, was now at my mercy.
I used my pointy fingers like daggers as I drove my hands through the manticore's neck in a flurry of quick jabs that punctured it's neck. The creature soon choked on its blood and lay dead at my feet. Making my way back to my master, I saw him resting with his back propped against a tree. He had watched my duel and was now eyeing my kill.
"Master?"
I asked, his eyes now locked with mine.
"Did you break any of it's bones?"
He asked with an amused expression.
"I don't think so, sir. If I may know, why do you ask?"
I inquired. I trusted my master. Astoshan had ordered us long ago to follow his orders unquestioningly. Although I didn't always understand his reasoning, I would follow his orders.
"Bring that creature over to me."
He ordered uninterestedly. He seemed to be lost in thought. I obeyed, and with much effort, I managed to bring the body to my master. The tail had lodged itself so firmly into the tree that when I began to pull onthe tail to try and get it to come loose, The hollow tree trunk was broken in half, the stinger still stuck.
I looked over to my master with embarrassment. Azazel on the other hand, was unfazed by this and simply waved for me to bring the corpse. Now dragging much more weight than I had initially expected, I dragged the body by the manticore's paw and let go of it when it was within arms reach of my master.
Azazel took a deep breath, extended his hand outward with his palm facing skywards and began to charge a magical sphere of what I recognized as necrotic energy that hovered over his hand.
"Resurectum Inmortous..."
He whispered. The orb then exploded outward with a sound similar to the wind combined with the distant, unintelligible screaming of souls. The magic that came out of the explosion was absorbed by the manticore's body. Azazel let his hand fall to his side while breathing heavily again.
"M-master, perhaps you shouldn't-"
My stammered suggestion was cut short when the manticore rose it's feet. It's slit pupils were now surrounded by a dark red Iris instead of a yellowish brown one. The beast looked down at Azazel and sat down, resting it's head between his legs. It let out a loud purr as my master ran his hand through it's mane.
"Good boy..."
He whispered to the beast before looking at me.
"Where are Mia and Trephor?"
He asked, his tone tired yet firm. Having received my orders, I shut my eyes and began to search for them with my mind's eye. I kept my eyes shut so that I could further concentrate on sifting through their memories. As the images, sounds, and sensations that they lived flashed through me, I gained an understanding of what had happened since we had escaped Canterlot.
"They are being held captive by Celestia. They have not been harmed, though I fear that may not last."
I explained, opening my eyes. I turned to look at Azazel. He had a look I knew all to well. Azazel, being part demon, had trouble controlling his temper. He could yell, and insult others when annoyed, but the look he had now was one of silent ire. He was quietly sitting on the ground, his fear aura activating without him even realizing.
"We need to find shelter so we can focus on finding a way to save them."
He states grimly. If I had a throat I would've gulped, and much to my surprise I subconsciously tried to perform the action and the sound of a lump going down a non-existent throat came from below my jaw. Azazel opened his bag, exposing Anvari's head just under the leathery fabric. She poked her head out completely to see Azazel looking down at her.
"Come out little one, I need your help."
He commanded in the most calm tone he could manage. Not oblivious to my master's ire she climbed out with some help from him. He turned to face me after setting Anvari down and prompting the undead manticore to sit on it's haunches.
"Help me stand."
He ordered. I reluctantly obeyed and helped him stand.
"Master, I do think you should stay put and rest. You still have to recover the rest of your strength-"
I pleaded. Azazel shot me with a glare and I immediately stopped talking.
"This beast was only the first. Scavengers will follow it's scent to us. We have to stay moving or we will die come nightfall."
He explained to me before turning to look at Anvari who was caressing the now docile chimera.
"Anvari, I need you to summon the horde."
He ordained. Anvari looked over to Azazel's discarded bag and extended her hands towards it. She shut her eyes and began to focus. Her skeletal hands were soon wreathed in the familiar crimson fire of Azazel's demonic magic and she began to charge a sphere of the necrotic energy in her hand. When fully charged I nearly missed her whisper the incantation.
"Resurectum Inmortous..."
The sphere exploded into a torrent of necrotic energy that snaked its way inside of the bag in smoking tendrils. After the last plumes vanished into the bag, there was an eerie silence before the bag began to rustle and convulse violently. I turned to look at Azazel, who was now branding a malevolent grin on his face.
"Rise before me... and serve."
He demanded, and on command, a tornado of ash and soot rose from within the satchel. It shot tendrils between us to points behind us, feeding the masses of dust behind us. They began to take and equine form, standing on four hooves. some branded skeletal wings while others had long, pointed horns juting from their foreheads.
After the stygian skeletons formed, the clothing they wore to their graves began to materialize with a different color palette than before. The once chromatic suits and dresses they wore were now all a uniform black with red accents. The only thing that remained the same was the buttons and long dead flowers that once decorated their impressive attire.
I heard Azazel chuckle, before tearing my eyes off the almost complete group of undead before us to points at my master.
"It is refreshing to see someone still pays attention to details. Especially at a time like this."
He mused. Anvari giggled nervously as the magic surrounding her arms faded and with a cacophony akin to the sound of muffled bells, I was made aware of our small legion's awakening into undeath.
Facing the thirty-ish skeletons standing at attention, I heard a unicorn stallion speak in a posh and cultured accent.
"My Lord, what would you have us do?"
He asked meekly with a small bow. Now looking at Azazel, his evil grin died down to an angry scowl.
"M̶y̶ ̶h̵o̴r̶d̷e̶,̵ ̷C̶e̶l̸e̴s̶t̵i̵a̸ ̸h̵a̶s̸ ̴b̵e̴t̸r̶a̷y̶e̵d̶ ̷m̶e̵.̸.̸.̶ ̴a̸n̷d̷ ̶a̵s̴ ̸m̴y̷ ̶c̶r̴e̵a̵t̷i̸o̴n̸s̷,̵ ̴s̷h̸e̵ ̸h̴a̶s̷ ̸b̴e̵t̵r̷a̶y̴e̵d̴ ̵y̴o̴u̴.̴ ̶N̷o̴t̷ ̵o̶n̴l̶y̶ ̸t̸h̷a̵t̸,̶ ̸s̵h̵e̸ ̸h̸a̸s̸ ̸t̷h̷e̶ ̸a̶u̸d̴a̷c̴i̵t̸y̸ ̸o̵f̶ ̵h̵o̸l̵d̵i̵n̵g̶ ̷h̸o̴s̷t̷a̸g̸e̵ ̴y̷o̷u̸r̴ ̷b̸r̶e̷t̶h̶r̶e̶n̵.̸ ̷M̷y̷ ̴c̷a̸r̸e̴t̵a̷k̵e̵r̵s̸ ̷a̶n̵d̴ ̵f̵r̴i̴e̴n̶d̶s̷,̴ ̴M̴i̵a̸ ̵a̴n̶d̷ ̶T̴r̵e̵p̶h̵o̷r̸ ̵a̷r̴e̶ ̷c̴u̴r̷r̴e̵n̴t̶l̸y̷ ̸i̷m̷p̴r̶i̶s̶o̸n̶e̷d̷ ̷i̴n̸ ̸h̵e̷r̴ ̸c̷a̵s̷t̶l̶e̵.̵ ̷A̶s̵ ̴w̷e̵ ̶a̴r̶e̵,̴ ̷w̴e̵ ̵s̵t̸a̴n̶d̷ ̴n̴o̷ ̸c̷h̴a̴n̴c̸e̸ ̵a̵g̴a̶i̸n̸s̷t̷ ̸t̶h̴e̵ ̵d̸i̷a̵r̴c̴h̷s̴ ̴o̶f̷ ̴t̷h̶e̶ ̶s̸u̷n̷ ̷a̴n̶d̵ ̷m̴o̶o̵n̸.̴"
He addressed the horde before looking directly at me with a powerful determination before continuing.
"Avalon is my second in command, an order from him is to be treated as one from myself. He will guide us to a suitable shelter where we can conjure a plan to rescue Mia and Trephor. Does anyone have any questions?"
He asked. The pony skeletons looked among themselves for a while before one rose it's hoof into the air. It was another unicorn, except this one was a mare.
"If I may ask, where exactly are we?"
She asked. I knew my master knew not where we were, but thanks to Trephor's prudence, I now knew where we stood and where to go.
"I can confirm that we are in the Everfree forest, south of Canterlot. I also understand that there are ruins of an ancient castle in these woods southward. Trephor's memory yielded a rough idea of where it lies."
I explained, the last part directed at Azazel. He nodded in approval before the sound of howling wolves began to cry out somewhere to the east.
"T-t-timber wolves!!!"
"We will be torn apart!!!"
"We're going to die!!"
Several skeletons exclaimed, causing the rest to panic.
"E̶͉͂N̵̻͉͊̇́Ô̶̧̺U̴̞̪̇Ģ̶̛̺͐H̶̨̯̄!̷̲̒!̴̡̰͙͗̿̌!̴̡͕̰̾̇̋"
Azazel roared before continuing, causing them all to shut up and stand at attention again.
"We need to move and leave the manticore here. Avalon lead the-"
My master was cut short by Anvari pulling on his arm. She was currently sitting on the inside of the concave tree bark the manticore still had attached to it's tail.
"But why can't we take him?.."
She asked sadly. Whatever rage Azazel had been harboring was dispelled by her plea. He looked between her and the beast for a while before letting out a sigh in defeat. He turned to look at me with the same look he gave me just before I threw myself out of a window back at the castle.
"Avalon, If I lose consciousness, you'll have to drag me to wherever those ruins you mentioned earlier are. I'm counting on you, understood!?"
He hurriedly ordered, holding my shoulders in his hands as he spoke. Not knowing what else to say, I nodded. Azazel took a deep breath before his forearms and hands were engulfed in his magic. Letting out a strained roar, I witnessed him plant his hands on the manticore's back.
The beast did not flinch as my master incinerated it's flesh. It's body was engulfed in fire and it's internal organs poured out onto the grassy floor in a gelatinous mass from the beast's abdomen in a disgusting display of gore. My master was sweating profusely from the exertion of his magic, the flames of a sable scarlet that perverted the lush green of the woods surrounding us.
When the dark flames dissipated, only an onyx skeleton of feline build remained. The tail was freed from the bark as the manticore rose to it's full height with the bark withering away around the stinger. My master spent the last of his magic on this feat and collapsed on his side.
I quickly kneeled by his side and placed a boney finger on his chest. His heart was pounding hard and he was still breathing, but only barely. I rose to my feet and looked at the horrified faces of the skeletons, the indicator of their horror being their eyes. Small, glowing dots of blue fire.
Taking stock of my surroundings, I laid eyes on Anvari standing on the half cylinder of tree bark, the pony skeletons, and four pairs of green eyes looking menacingly at us from a dis-... Wait. From behind the trees, I saw four bizzare creatures looking at us hungrily. They looked like walking masses of leaves and wood in the shape of wolves. They stalked us from afar and once they noticed I saw them, they began to charge at us.
My mind flew into overdrive as I hoisted Azazel up with all my might and dropped his limp form onto the concave bark. Anvari had moved just in time to avoid getting crushed, and when she saw why I had done this, she grabbed Azazel's bag from the floor and leapt on. I jumped on myself and wedged my feet between two convenient branches on either side of the makeshift sled. I grabbed onto the manticore's tail and shouted the only word I could think of.
"RUUUUUNNN!!!"
I screamed at the manticore, and after rising to it's hind legs and releasing a primal roar, the beast charged forward. The creatures I assumed the ponies meant by "timber wolves" fell upon my skeletal brethren before they could react.
The timber wolves slashed with their strong paws and chomped down on the skeletal ponies. They were killed relatively quickly, to die as an undead is painless so I didn't concern myself too much with those that did. As their old bones snapped and their skulls were pulverized, the necrotic energy that kept them alive snaked out of their bodies in tendrils of opaque fumes that flew back towards Anvari's form.
The one's closer to us began to run besides the odd carriage being towed by an undead manticore, with the exception of the five pegasi who flew a short distance away from us. The beast was smart enough to weave through the trees, and being undead allowed it to run without tiring, even with the added weight.
Just as I thought we were safe from the timber wolves, one of the pegasi that was flying nearby was snatched out of the air and torn in half. It's upper body slammed into a tree and exploded in a flurry of broken bones and necrotic energy. The one responsible for this was gaining on us with it's three companions. I felt my grip for only a moment on the manticore's tail slip and immediately adjusted to avoid losing it completely.
When I finally got my bearings, I sense behind me something... familiar... I felt pain. Nothing physical. Hell, it wasn't even my own. It radiated from Anvari like a whirlwind. I turned to see the last tendrils of necrotic energy be absorbed into her arms. Taking one look at her eyes made the world slow down to a near halt. She was crying in a prone position looking at her creations.
Glowing embers were trailing down her cheek bones and along the rim of her jaw before being swept away in the wind. However, these embers were not the color of sadness. They were that of rage. As the world resumed moving at it's normal speed, I saw Anvari's eyes ignite with a demonic hatred that would frighten even the most stone cold veterans of wars long since past. Seeing her creations be butchered had brought out Anvari's gift. While yes, it was a gift in an of itself for an undead to cast magical spells, the extent of her power mirrored Azazel's.
As the timber wolves closed in to destroy the skeletons forming a wall between the wolves and us, Anvari stood to her feet and glare at them with what I assumed was hell's fury. Focusing back in front of me, I noticed we were reaching a large river that flowed with a violent maelstrom of water. I immediately knew what needed to be done. I turned to face the ponies running by our sides and gave my first order.
"CLIMB ON!!!"
I shouted. To this the ponies nodded and jumped on, the pegasi doing so much quicker than the unicorns and earth ponies. Though being relatively light in weight, the sudden increment in weight began to slow down the manticore's pace. Though it did not tire, the creature was now struggling to keep up it's pace. I looked over at Anvari who was charging what I knew to be two powerful jets of hellfire.
"HOLD HER!!!"
I roared my second command, to which the skeletons obeyed. They locked themselves and formed a "web" to hold Anvari and Azazel pinned to the makeshift sled. I could hear the timber wolves snarling and barking hungrily as they drew nearer.
The manticore saw the river and thought about stopping it's pace, sensing it's thought, I overrode it and forced it to push forward and await for my signal. As we got dangerously close to the river, I could sense Anvari was primed and ready to release her anger on these bloodthirsty beasts. Fortunately for her, I was all too eager to oblige her.
"ANVARI!!! MAKE THEM BURN!!!"
She didn't even need my word to know what needed to be done.
"INFERNUM INCENDIO MAXIMA!!!"
She tried to out roar her spell, unleashing the fury of hell itself on the timber wolves she hated so. From her extended arms, two spiraling jets of black and red flame incinerated anything they grazed and propelled us forward with the speed of a falling star.
"JUMP!!!"
I tried to instruct the manticore over the roar of Anvari's rage fueled flames. Fortunately, my connection to its mind allowed it to know what I had been thinking before the command ever escaped my mouth. With a powerful leap from the manticore and Anvari's wrath unleashed we soared above the river and soared through the air. After we cleared the river and gained a considerable altitude Anvari could hold the flames no longer.
She lost consciousness and remained on our airborne carriage thanks to the hooves holding her in place. As if on cue, the pegasi who had stationed themselves on the corners of the large log clasped on to whatever they could to hold it aloft while being pulled by the manticore, who had also taken flight and pulled us forward through the air. We flew for what felt like an half an hour, crossing over a part of the forest that looked more ominous than the rest of the treeline. Once we passed it I spotted our destination.
"Over there! We'll land there!"
I exclaimed, rather relieved that this ordeal was nearly over. The pegasi and the manticore did their best to land as gently as possible, but the landing was still rough enough to result in the destruction of one more pegasus.
When we touched down, the poor creature thought it prudent to let go of the only thing giving it the ability to halt it's momentum. It slammed into an old stone pillar that broke over the skeleton and crushed it. When the dust settled, I let go of the manticore's tail and rolled out like a nauseous drunkard.
"Is everyone alright?"
I asked, falling on my pelvis and resigning to simply sit for a while on the dirt floor with my head hung in defeat, a sensation I was neither familiar or fond of.
"I believe so, sir. Though, I cannot say the same for... the others."
One of the three remaining pegasi, a stallion asserted. I looked up to see him and the other skeletons clammering out of our impromptu flying carriage.
"Are we all that is left?..."
A scared earth pony mare asked. I was slowly begining to understand just how bad of a predicament we were in. I was stranded in a section of dangerous woods I knew nothing of with three pegasi, four unicorns, and one earth pony. I shut my eyes and began to run my right hand over my skull, out of habit than anything, stroking a head of hair that wasn't there. I began rummaging through my head as for how Mia or Trephor would handle situations like this.
"Uhm... Tell me, what are your names?"
I asked, deciding it would be best to get their minds off what just happened for a bit. The ponies looked at me, then at each other quizzically before a unicorn mare with a dress that resembled an odd combination of a formal suit with a beautiful skirt that, with it's changed color pallet, shone like a murky night sky with stars dotting it.
"Well, if you must know, I am dutchess Spectre of the house of Luamoon. My family has had a long lineage of talented ponies that specialize in illusion magic."
She stated proudly in her comically snobby accent. This prompted another unicorn to speak up, a rather large stallion with a deep voice and very pronounced jaw.
"I am Blazing Shot. I was part of Celestia's personal guard in life, like my father before me and his father before him. I hope that my daughter has grown well and raised the next generation of royal guards."
He stated, standing at attention with his chest as puffed up as his new anatomy (or lack thereof) would allow. His statement annoyed me, considering what had gotten us in this predicament, but he paid no mind to it. Following Blazing Shot, the rest began to introduce themselves.
In summary, I was surrounded by a unicorn illusionist, a deceased unicorn soldier that died protecting the princess of the sun from a rioter, a unicorn archivist, three royal "charioteers" that were pegasi, and an earth pony . Their names were Spectre Luamoon, Blazing Shot, Savant Dancer, Silver Lining, Cherry Wing, Scarlet Stream, and Honey Blossom respectively.
"Well, now that we are all aquainted, what exactly are we going to do?"
The illusionist mare asked me. I looked behind them to see that the sun was now setting and quickly looked around my environment. Infront of me was an old rickety bridge that connected two patches of the forest, separated by a large crevice whose bottom was obscured by fog and the skeletons looking at me expectantly. To our sides were pillars of stone and fallen archways of what used to be a rather large complex and a certain fallen pillar that now served as a resting place for one of the late pegasi.
Anvari and Azazel lay unconscious on the tree trunk with the undead manticore sitting near it. The manticore would occasionally look over the side of the half tree trunk to check on Anvari. Wheeling my torso around on my spine, I saw behind us the large castle that lay in ruins.
From Trephor's memory of his research, this was the castle of the two sisters that ruled over Equestria many many years ago. The castle itself had been touched only by the passage of time, and looked about as decent as any thousand year old ruins could possibly look like. Seeing that the structure still had a roof I deemed it decent enough to serve as a shelter for the time being. Completing a full rotation of my torso I looked at my charge of undead.
"We will stay the night in that castle and nurse Master Azazel back to health. Until then, that is our priority. Find a suitable place inside for our master to rest. We'll set up shop there."
They looked at each other, then at the ruins behind me, and finally over to me. Some of them gulped audibly before complying, the one called Honey Blossom being the most frightened of the bunch. I stood up and walked over to the skeletal manticore. The creature did not seem to like me, as it growled angrily once I approached.
"You attacked me first, so I retaliated. You died fair and square, suck it up and help me move them inside."
I complained at the creature. While it lived, I could guarantee that talking to the chimera would result in me getting mauled to death. Now that it was undead, it obeyed my master, and it would obey me by extension.
As expected, the manticore let out an upset huff before it tried to obey the command. Without something to tether it to the tree, it didn't know how to move it other than pushing it from behind, which proved fruitless. I looked around for a way to help it out. After a bit, I noticed that there were some thick vines growing down the side of a broken pillar. I began to gather as many of them as I could and began to braid them into a makeshift rope.
Once I was confident it wouldn't break from the stress, I tore a sizeable branch off a tree before heading back to the "sled". The manticore tilted it's head in confusion upon seeing me.
"C'mere."
I ordered casually. As I closed the distance, the manticore looked quizzically at the items in my hand. Once I was besides the "vehicle", I began to tie the rope I had created to the corners of the trunk. I then tied loops around the sides of the branch.
Feeling confident it would work, I motioned for the chimera to come with my hand. The beast silently obeyed, and after passing under the rope and me gesturing for it to bite down on the branch, it was now towing the trunk with greater ease. Nodding to myself in approval, I walked beside the creature and closed the gap between us and the castle.
I placed my thumb and ring finger in my mouth and blew as hard as I could. A loud whistling sound came out, and as I had wanted, my entourage came out and gathered around me
"Report."
I commanded. Blazing Shot took a step forward and spoke up.
"Sir, Most of the structure has been destroyed due to the passage of time. The throne room is relatively undamaged, save for the massive hole in the roof. The only other section of the castle that isn't completely destroyed or covered in plant life is the library of this castle."
He stated matter-of-factly. The Dutchess from before walked past him and got closer to me. When she was directly in front of me, she motioned for me to get close, as what she wanted to say was for my proverbial ears alone.
"I believe I may have found something that would be of interest to your... friend.-"
She stated, gesturing discreetly with her eyes.
"Though I do not think it would be wise to show rest. It is... unsettling."
She explained in a conspiratorial tone. I nodded and opted to give this mare a private audience later. For now, Azazel was my priority.
"How bad is the damage to the library?"
I asked the undead soldier.
"Quite surprisingly, it is relatively untouched, save for a few broken tables and the obscene amount of dust. The windows are very thick, so they haven't been broken. It only has one entrance and it could be converted into sleeping quarters for all of us and still have ample room."
He explained. Savant Dancer seemed excited, his eyes glowing slightly brighter than his fellow undead. Noticing this, I then believed it best to ask for what was on rather than prod around in his head. Mainly because I was getting tired, and I needed to be awake to keep watch over my master.
Undead don't really need to sleep, but overusage of our gifts can tire us down and force us to fall into a form of hibernation. During these periods we remain "alive" but act as if dead until we are well rested.
"Savant Dancer? Is something the matter?"
I immediately regretted my decision when he rambled off on something about all of the books here that were in prestine condition given their circumstance. As he continued to drone off and miss me disappearing, I pulled the Dutchess outside of the library to speak with her privately. Though I had mostly wanted to get away from the rambling if the studious stallion. Having to experience the hell Mia went through with Princess Twilight was not something I was willing to endure again.
"Alright. Now that we're alone, tell me of what you found."
I ordered. She nodded before turning tail and guiding me to what seemed to be another room on one of the ruin's remaining towers. We approached an empty corridor that was cold and damp with a large wooden door coming to stop a few meters away.
I would've chalked it up to the cool temperatures of the night, were it not for what I recognized to be the signs of magic with my telepathy. Whatever was casting it was old, very old. Not only that, it was sentient.
"Do you feel it?..."
She asked in hushed and frightful tone. Her pompous facade now falling apart that we were alone. I stood there with her by my side, waiting for something other than the pressure of very old, very powerful magic. Surely enough, the sounds of the nocturnal forest outside the castle went silent.
I could no longer hear the faint chirping and scuttling insects in the night. All I could hear was the deafened silence. My mind began to play tricks on me, and I felt like j was hearing unintelligible whispering from the other side of the door. I took a deep, shaky breath before looking down at the equally perturbed mare by my side.
"I'll make sure Master Azazel looks into it when he wakes up. For now, I think we can both agree that it would be best to ignore it and lock ourselves in the library."
I explained as passive aggressively as I could to accentuate how uncomfortable I was feeling all of a sudden. With a hasty nod, she complied. The two of us walked back to the library.
I had the skeletons help me make Azazel a makeshift bed out of our impromptu carriage with dirt and moss I had the pegasi retrieve to make it a bit more comfortable. Blazing Shot even went out of his was to go to the throne room and bring back a large enough banner to act as a sheet.
Within the hour, my master was resting away his exhaustion and on a bed with Anvari by his side on a bed of dead wood, moss, and dirt with a posse of undead ponies, Human, dwarf and a manticore. I had placed Azazel and Anvari's "bed" on the far side of the library with the manticore sleeping nearby it.
I don't exactly understand why, but I noticed that it has a particular propensity to care for Anvari. It would only ever get up to stretch or to see if she was sleeping soundly. They others didn't like the idea of staying in the same room with the undead beast, but refusing to take any chances I managed convinced them that it was safe to have it around so long as it kept some distance from them.
I had got up to check up on Azazel after the manticore's tenth inspection of the sleeping undead dwarf. Azazel was looking in much better shape than before. He smelled awful, but I decided to wait until morning to go searching for a clean water supply to for him to drink and bathe.
Other than his smell, he was fine. He had bags under his eyes, showing the lack of sleep, but otherwise; he was sleeping like a log. Content with how well things had turned out, I walked back to the group of ponies gathered around a small bonfire made from books too damaged for Savant to read or broken furniture.
"Did you open the windows on the roof to let the smoke out?"
Asked Cherry Wing to Scarlet Wing as she descended from the roof.
"Of course. Though I would like to point out that those windows are extraordinarily dirty. How I managed to stay clean was beyond me."
Scarlet replied, looking over her form.
"Probably because you don't have any fur to get dirty with. One of the many things that you'll need to get to know now that you are undead."
I chimed in, coming back from having checked on my master. I dedicated the rest of the night to explaining to them our story of how we got to this world, where we came from and what it is like being undead. I got to know the skeletons I would be working with for the foreseeable future and after a VERY LONG DAY. I finally had a moment to catch my breath and relax.
Chapter 9. Dead Creatures Tell No Tales
////////Azazel////////
I was in a void. I had no shape or form. I simply... was. In this void, there were voices. Voices I've known for ages. The souls damned to serve me for all of eternity. The souls I had consumed.
They know not who they once were, not anymore; but I do. Thieves, murderers, and misguided fools who had attempted to kill me. I still remember it, the first time I killed. I was only twelve when it happened. The world around me shifted and without me noticing at first, I began to relive my past.
I was traveling with my father when that stupid trio of thieves surrounded us as we walked our way back home through the dirt road that connects the cities of Moonshine and Tamriel. My home was in a section near the center of the Ursan forest which divided the two cities. My father had been teaching me how to cast one of the most basic offensive spells in the school of necromancy, Tactus Dolorem. The spell of pain.
There were three thieves, and my father had used an invisibility spell to make himself scarce. I was still unaware of the danger that untrained magic casters pose on others. The three thieves had no idea that it is not wise to provoke a greater Incubi, even if they're a half-blood and a novice spell caster.
The combination of having my father "abandon" me while also getting attacked by three armed strangers in the middle of nowhere made me very irritable to say the least. In a violent explosion of energy, I cast the spell I had learned only a few hours prior. The grass and trees near my immediate area barely moved from the ethereal blast of magic, but my assailants did not share the same fate.
I had used so much magic in the spell that I sent them into shock. And as they lay there, twitching on the ground, my dad emerged from the darkness.
"Good. Now, you will take their pain away."
He stated with an unsettling amount of calmness.
"H-how?"
I stammered, unable to tear my eyes off of the convulsing thugs.
"You will focus your power onto your hands, and say these words. 'Tactus Mortem'. Then release your magic, understand?"
He ordered, placing his hand on my shoulder. This snapped me out of my dazed stuper and made me look up at him. I knew that this was his way of teaching. Cold hearted, but effective.
Ironically, I think it was in those moments that we were the closest. He was passing down his knowledge onto me. The knowledge that would grant mastery of life and death. I looked back down to see the fruits of my outburst. They had attempted to kill me. And father was standing close by. He would've kept me safe. I now knew that they could not hurt me, but their attempt on my life would not be ignored.
It was in that moment that all hesitation in my mind was washed away, and I knew with absolute certainty what I wanted to do. I raised my then scrawny arms and opened my hands.
"Tactus Mortem..."
They died in agony, and they would only be the first. As I reveled on the screams of those moronic rats, my mind drifted and came to contemplate my reasons for being out on that fateful day. The spells of death and pain were not the only thing I learned that day. My father had left out home along with me to a remote village near the base of the Black Mountain of the East.
He disguised us to travel relatively unnoticed using an illusion spell of my mother's arsenal of spells she's crafted over her long life on us. He used the alias of Elijah Gustav, a wandering human healer of Ahr City that traveled with his adoptive son, Fentazan being my own alias. The first spells I learned were spells of healing and restoration. And my father would use these visits to the village under the Black Mountain's shadow to teach me, as much as he would use them to trade and earn coin for services or materials.
The village, though still apprehensive about me, did not want to slit my throat every time I went there after putting my gifts to good use. I healed the sick and mended the injured with magic. Argent energy allowed me to save those on the brink of death, and in one occasion allow those that were too far gone enough time for them to say their goodbyes.
I only did that once... and I don't know if I'll ever do that again. Holding someone's soul in a body that's begging for death's release... It felt... wrong... As the memories now formed part of my train of thought, they too materialized and began to happen before me like a play.
"How in the nine hells can you be a necromancer and not know how to cast a simple healing spell!?"
I heard my father's voice echo through my mind as the pleasant memory soon faded away and bled into the night of my parent's murder. The world began to take shape around me as familiar sights and sounds began to materialize. A beautiful night sky with a full moon and a masterful tapestry of stars and constellations. They painted the sky and illuminated the small clearing I like to go to so I could stargaze. The sound of the gentle breeze caressing the trees and ruffling their leaves accompanied by the gentle chirping of crickets and other insects played nature's ballad. A song of birth, life, and death.
I would sit by myself or with my mother and enjoy the stillness. As the world finished taking shape, I too wanted to have form. However, something was restraining me, I couldn't take shape. I began to focus harder on my body, and visualized my appearance. Magic was trying to stop me, and when I realized it, I became frustrated. That frustration soon turned into anger. And that anger gave me the strength I needed to form my body.
I began with a humanoid build. A torso, a head, two arms, and two legs enveloped in a bright red on their knees. As I tried to assume my more demonic features, I felt the magical force trying to restrain me grow stronger. It was crushing me from all sides with the weight of an elder dragon. The pain that coursed through my body was not enough to incapacitate me, it only fed my growing fury.
I forced myself into existence with every last ounce of will power I had, eventually overcoming the force enough to finish forming my rough shape. My inverted wings, my tail and horns shot out from my radiant frame as crude silouhettes of hellfire that contrasted the rest of my luminous figure. The magic quintupled in strength, now having eyes of my own, I saw a golden aura that I recognized all too well.
The mere thought of Celestia sent me into a frenzy of hate fueled rage that forced my body to take it's usual appearance after shattering the magical grip that bound my body with a blast of argent energy that erupted from my fully formed form in every which way. Once free, I began to look around in a wild attempt to find something or, preferably, someone to take out my anger on. After wheeling around, I saw the whore of the sun standing there with a stoic face that simply demanded I burn it off.
Focusing my pent up aggression into an unholy jet of hellfire on the object of my ire, I let loose a torrent on the traitorous bitch until I could no longer hold my flames. She did not attack or try to defend herself, she only closed her eyes and let herself be destroyed. To be honest, I could not have been more ecstatic over burning something if I wanted to. As a final show of strength I let out a roar of demonic fury that would've made my mother proud.
"A demon's roar is their testament to the world. You have power, and you are not afraid to use it. If you're going to roar, whether it be to blow off steam or to show off, let those who hear you cower by it's power!"
My mother's words reverberated in my head as I let out my primal war cry. As the smoke and dust cleared from the targeted area of my flames, I saw an equine form, albeit smaller than Celestia. I stood there, waiting expectantly to see her charred remains. As hellfire destroys the soul of those burnt by it, it can sometimes result in the hollow shell of the victim being left frozen in their place as a statue. However this only happens with beings of great magical power. Weaker life forms tend to be completely obliterated by my fire.
To my horror, before me stood a living being. Unscathed by my fury, stood the princess of the night where her sister should have been. Her eyes were closed and her horn was glowing with a powerful azure light. My confusion as to how she survived the attack was only doubled when I saw the grass beneath her hooves.
Her immediate area was left untouched, a green circular patch of still living grass in a larger, cone shaped stretch of dead flora. Her magic dropped and she began to walk towards me.
"Azazel. Please do not-"
She tried to ask in a polite, yet firm tone. She didn't get very far as I had already charged another stream of hellfire.
"T̸̻̃R̵̭͠A̵͈̓Ạ̷͛A̵͓͊Ȁ̶̖Ȁ̷͕A̷͖͆I̵̻̐Ḭ̴̌Ị̸͂Ǐ̴̬I̵̗̊Ì̴̠Ì̷͍Ȉ̷̫Į̸̕Ṭ̸͆Ö̵̺O̸͔̎O̶̤͋Ö̸̬́Ô̴͚R̷̘͒R̴̦̀R̴̖̚R̸͕̍R̸͓͘Ȑ̶̩!̶̝̄!̵̧̏!̶̥̈́!̴͉̍!̵̹̈́"
I tried my best to out roar the torrent of pure malice leaving my throat. Now having my full attention, she raised a shield that encompassed her body and she walked through my flames like a breakwater parting an onslaught of waves from the Western Sea. My disbelief of the scene before me only enraged me further. My flames grew in power, and the fire being deflected by her magic began to destroy the trees and subsequent forest around me. Soon, the once beautiful land around me resembled the charred wastelands my mother once called her home. The sky above us was obscured by the ash and smoke that rose from the blazing inferno I had created. When the princess stood two or three meters in front of me, she unleashed her own magic against me. She fired a blast of magic at my face, and a muzzle made of a silver metal that burned to the touch materialized onto me. Distracted by this, she enveloped me in a cool indigo magic. I was hoisted onto the air, forced onto a position on my knees with my arms and wings pressed firmly against my torso and roughly lowered down to the ground. When I caught my bearings I saw her, looming over me with a silent glare that reminded me of my father.
"Do not make us do something we will regret Azazel. Still your anger or we will use force. Please... we simply wish to know what happened."
To say I was furious would have been an understatement. For the second time in one day I had been prostrated and treated li- Wait. This place... We were in my head again. I must've fallen unconscious after ridding the manticore of it's flesh or having completely exhausted myself running from whatever atta-
"...do we have a parlay?"
She was standing before me with a look of apprehension seeping through the cracks in her mask of stoicism. I remained restrained, but the spell binding my mouth shut faded away to nothing in a matter of seconds. Whatever she had said beforehand I did not hear. Frankly, I was too irritable to care either, so if she wanted to talk, she would get little out of me. After some time of me trying to kill her with my glare alone, I thought it best for it me to stall for time so I could free myself and break her neck later.
"W̶̫͌h̷̤͑a̸̩͠t̸͉͊ ̸̝̑d̵̞͋ó̸̦ ̸̪͂y̷̺̌o̵̠͑ú̸̜ ̷͔͌w̵̼͛ą̷͆n̸͙̓t̷̥̄?̸̧̀"
I asked, pouring as much malice as I could muster into those four words.
"We want to know what happened from your point of view."
She stated. Try as I might, I sensed no malice in her. For all I knew, this dream world could have been interfering with my senses. She had not lied to me yet, but my trust in these sentient, chromatic horses was non existent. I was in no mood to confide anything with her, much less be polite.
"A̴n̴d̷ ̶w̶h̵y̶ ̸w̸o̵u̸l̷d̶ ̵y̶o̵u̴ ̶c̶a̸r̷e̸?̸"
I asked skeptical of her intent. Seeing that I was not immediately attempting to maul her to pieces she relaxed and assumed a posture befitting royalty.
"Because our sister told us you attacked her without reason."
She explained. The anger that one sentence produced in me gave me the will to ignore my magic bonds. As I rose to my feet, I could feel the familiar heat of hellfire charging within me. I was tempted to open fire on her again, but this time I would test her shields ability to withstand my grip as I strangled the life out of her. Luna's eyes went wide at the sight of me standing up. I felt her magic trying to force me back down to my knees, but after hearing of Celestia's continous acts of treason, I would not be subdued so easily.
"W̷̮̿ï̸͚̦t̵̲̺̊̆h̵̛̞͎o̴̪̐ủ̷̡̂t̴͎͒ ̷̠̰̌r̸̢͈̐ẽ̶̞ͅa̷̛͎̍ṣ̸͘ơ̵̙̭̇n̷̜̈́!̶̙̗͐̓?̵̤̈͆ ̴̹̤͠T̶͓͍̎͝H̴̪͗Á̸̩Ť̶̜̬ ̶̳̬̋͒L̷̝̑͗͜Y̶̲̔̕I̷͋͜Ṇ̵̓̈G̴͍̿̉͜ ̵̥͕̓͝W̶̮̳͒̓Ṛ̸͖̆Ê̷̥͒T̸͖̮̚̚C̶̪̀̊H̶̫̩̃͠ ̶̫͛T̴͖̖̅R̵͚̀̂I̶͛̅͜E̶̫̍D̵̖̎ ̷̼̑̽T̶͕̫̽Ỏ̴̗̒ ̷̲̌K̷͍̈́Í̵̯̓L̶̗͈̎̉L̸̢̜̆́ ̷̗̑M̴̰̈E̸͇͑̓!̸̡͖̒!̸̲͎̓̀!̴̝̅̑"
I roared furiously as I directed my magic onto my hands. Luna tried to back away, but I was already upon her. Just as I was about to wrap my claws around Luna's neck, I felt something cold clamp down on my wrists.
//////////Luna////////////
It was foolish of us to think that Azazel would be willing to speak just after fleeing for his life. It took us little time to find his mind in the dream realm. It was clouded by anger and tormented by fear.
If he were a pony, he would be having nightmares that would scar even the most battle hardened creatures. But Azazel... He was a creature that grew stronger from feeding on fear and suffering. Granted, the fear and suffering of despicable souls, but still.
Just as his claws were about come down on us, he stopped. The magical flame that surrounded his hands discipated as his arms were being held back by something. We moved back in shock to find shackles of ice and metal. Electrical bolts of teal, cyan, and electric blue magic coursed through the chains with a vicious crackling sound.
Azazel noticed the shackles too late, and before he could react, the bolts of unstable magic ravaged his body. He screamed in agony as his body tensed and convulsed, his bones were visible for as the energy seeped deep inside and revealed his skeleton for brief moments in flashes of blue and white light. After a few seconds of this, the energy ceased it's onslaught of the half demon's body. He fell backwards, and when he did, I received an unobstructed view of who was responsible.
A bipedal figure dressed in black and face identical to Azazel's that seemed to be made of polished marble was looking right at us. It's glowing turquoise eyes scrutinized my very soul. I froze under it's gaze, but not because of it's sudden appearance, but rather because who this creature was to me...
It raised it's hand and pointed at me with one of it's ice covered fingers. With a flick of it's finger and the pulling of it's outstretched arm, I was raised from the ground in an invisible aura of magic and was levitated towards the creature. Once we were close enough that our muzzle was within it's reach, we took a better look at it's face.
It's "face" was actually a mask, the furless flesh around it's small eyes was visible through it's cracked and splintered eyeholes. It wore a crown with shimmering white runes bound tightly around it's hooded head. The creatures "jaw" moved separate from the top of it's flat face for a bit as if stretching after not being used in Faust knows how long.
"Mother..."
It spoke in a near whisper, their voice reverberating unnaturally so. We... I had not made the connection until it spoke. I know this creature, one I raised as my own in secret and saw die... it... no, He... He was my son... but how was he her-
"Forgive us..."
He whispered, wiping tears that were streaming down my face. I didn't know when I started to cry, but I could not restrain myself. My train of thought was abruptly stopped as I was hurled backwards at breakneck speed. In the few seconds I had a clear view of my son's apparition, he shot bolts of lightning that impacted Azazel's prone form.
As I sailed through the air, I saw Azazel begin to glow and then light up in a bright flash that put my sister's sun to shame. I heard a deafening explosion as I was surrounded by a swirling mass of black and red smoke with bolts of azure lightning, forcing me back to the land of the living.
I awoke screaming and drenched in sweat. Our thestrals barged in, spears at the ready to defend us. We were taking shaking lungfuls of air as we tried our best to not break into tears before them. The captain of my guard, a young and dedicated thestral mare named Silent Breeze came closer to us and looked us over.
"Princess, are you alright? Is there anything we can do to help?"
She asked in a concerned tone.
"We are fine... P-please leave the room.. We... We need a moment."
We managed to say. Silent Breeze nodded and ushered the rest of my night guard out. Once my door was closed, welet out the painful tears we had been holding in. There is no way or reason for my son to have appeared in the dream realm, much less Azazel's dream unless he were alive... If our son still lives... Then our dearest sister has a great many things to answer for...
//////Azazel//////
Fear... I have experienced it before, just like anyone else. But it was at that moment that I felt true fear. Very rarely do I have nightmares. Seeing the planes of hell at a young age and the never ending torture of souls and the monsters that lived there while traveling with my father and mother had desensitized me to many things others would find horrifying. However, this was different.
The fear I felt... it was... familiar somehow... As my mind raced to find out why I was so scared, I remembered the day my mother taught me how to cast Aura di terror, a fear spell. Whatever did this was enough to apparently scare Luna half to death. I would need to find a way to isolate it.
"People have a tendency to project a false sense of superiority when they don't know where they are on the food chain. It is our job as the architects of fear, to show mortals that do not know their place. While a mirror can show you what you look like on the outside, fear allows us to see the souls of those we terrify for who they are."
My mother's voice resonated in my head as I was now in another void. Simply existing, the only sound being that of an incoherent whispering. Not unlike a soul driven to madness... I've heard of their kind, and had the chance to encounter one.
As my mind began to recollect the memory, the void around me was replaced with a medium sized hut. I saw my younger self inside a bed room. It was the soul of a human... the orphaned son of a mother who was dying. I had to keep her soul tethered to her body while numbing her body enough for her to say her goodbyes to her son without going into shock...
"I love you... I always have... and I always will... I'll... always... be with you..."
She spoke, taking weak and shaky breaths. Those were her last words as I could no longer sustain her body. The woman's soul travelled to my hand as it condensed into a sphere of white light that almost resembled to be made of silk. I found myself captivated by it's beauty. And to this day, I have yet to see another soul so pure as that human mother.
My trance was broken by the muffled sobs of her son. He was crying into her chest as he held onto her lifeless form. Seeing his soul... it made me feel awful. The soul of any one creature will manifest in one of two ways. It will either encompass the owner in the color of their aura, or it will condense into a sphere made of "silk" somewhere in their body and resemble a bright star. The boy's soul, it encompassed his body... but it was broken.
Through the cracks in his silouhette I saw his life force leave him like a glowing mist and cover his mother's lifeless body. I didn't understand why that was happening then, but I know better now. He wanted his mother back more than anything in the world. The strain he was placing on his soul to try and wish her back to life was breaking him, the life force that once dwelled within him was being transferred to the body.
Unbeknownst to him, it is possible to die of a broken heart and a deficiency in life force. He was going to die of grief and I could do nothing about it. A fracture so deep into his being that no godly amount of magic could put the pieces back together again. The loss of one's parents... I understand it.
The human woman, who appeared to be in a peaceful sleep, had nothing on her but her clothes and an earing. I saw a smaller version of myself with shorter hair and a robe that covered my body. My wings, horns, and tail were all still there, though to the unaided eye, one could say I looked about as normal as any other human, save for my legs of course. My younger self could only shed tears at the sight while my father stood behind me with a calm and solemn expression.
He took the soul from my hand, and walked over to the boy. He then gently pressed the mother's soul through the boy's back. The child's pained sobs begin to die down as the mother's soul fused with her son's. The cracked and splintered soul began to repair itself, and the boy, now with a face of serenity, fell into a deep sleep. My father turned to face my younger self.
"Stay here. I'll let the village elder know so we can bury her."
He ordered. Wiping his tears, my past self nodded and watched my father leave. I had been so fixated on this small exchange that I didn't notice my body was given form. When my father closed the door to leave, I stood there, silently mulling over the things I witnessed. I had no concept of time, so to say that I was there for a few minutes could be equally valid as saying that I stayed there looking at the wooden door, frame and wall of the small, empty room I was in for hours.
As I stood there, I could vaguely pick up the sound of... whispers... Familiar, but not quite. It wasn't the souls within me. The incoherent whispers came from one voice alone... a voice that was behind me. I turned around to see the source of the sound was casually sitting on the bed where the mother and child should have been. It seemed to be a human of average height and judging by it's relatively flat chest and broader shoulders, it was a male.
Dressed in a dark blue shirt with a white design in it's center, vaguely resembling the sun with it's center being a crescent moon. It had black trousers that I only noticed because the worn onyx cloak that he wore over his shirt parted enough for me to see it. The human was wearing crude sandals made of wood and fabric that wrapped around his feet, ankles and disappeared further up his calves.
His hood hid most of head from view, and the cracked porcelain like mask he wore obscured his face, only his cream colored neck with mild stuble on the underside of his jaw was visible. His turquoise eyes glowed with more power than I sensed he possessed. Noticing this, I looked him over to find his soul, and sure enough it was a splintered orb resting just above his heart. Were his soul intact, I would have been VERY afraid, but seeing as how broken souls are not very pow-
"You elude us..."
He spoke, his voice a echoing unnatural around me in a posh, and cultured baritone. Not enough for it to be annoying, but clearly there. His sudden comment caught me off guard, and he noticed.
"You are a being that thrives off the suffering of the souls you consume... And yet... when you see innocents in pain... you shed tears... Hmm. We mean you no harm creature. There is no need for violence here."
He explained, cocking his head to the side. He was making no attempt against my life, but I would have to make sure if his words could be trusted. Grasping the medallion that senses lies in my hand, I made my question.
"Who are you?"
I asked.
"Who? Who is but the form, followed by the function of "what?". And what I am, is a creature in a mask."
He knew what I was doing, and by avoiding mentioning of his name, made me wary of him.
"I can see that creature. Tell me your name."
I deadpanned. He didn't even flinch, simply looking at me with those eyes... He was casting Aura di terror. He was trying to intimida-
"Of course you can, but we are not questioning your powers of observation. We are simply contemplating your reasoning for trying to ask the paradoxical question to a masked creature, who he is."
He answered quickly. I must think fast lest he try to confuse me further. I squinted my eyes at his proposition, which made enough sense for me to keep my composure.
"Riiiiight..."
I muttered, more to myself than anything. He then stood up, brushing non-existent dust off of his cloak.
"And on this auspicious circumstance that we find ourselves, we ask that you allow us to answer your query regarding my name with a tale of who we once were and how we came to be what we are now."
He explained with a small bow. In any other situation I would've found this amusing, but frankly I was not feeling sociable. However, my current understanding of my situation was very limited, and this human was my only good lead. With a heavy sigh, I looked him in the eye and nodded.
He raised his hands together and clapped his hands twice. Only now did I realize that he had wrappings of a strange blue fabric that bore stars and constellations that shimmered with the same turquoise light of his eyes. As the figure clapped his hands, the world around us exploded outwards and left us standing in a forest. Unlike the Everfree or the Ursan forest that surrounded my family's plot of land, this one was much more inviting.
There was no sense of dread or danger to be felt, it was peaceful. It was early in the morning, the sun had risen high enough to let me know it was around seven in the morning. The cool breeze of the night resisted the morning sun's warm rays, but that would not last. Birds we chirping and off in the distance, through the trees I spotted something.
It looked a navy blue wagon with no horses or a place to tie them on. The human walked towards the vehicle and I followed behind him. As we drew closer, I could make out it's streamlined shape, it's glass windows, the metal hull that looked to have been crafted by the gods themselves. The sides of the carriage had written text on a language I did not understand. It had wheels with ridges for a better grip and it was made of an unfamiliar material that seemed to bend and flex to provide better stability.
The front and back of the vehicle had black ridges that shielded the metallic sheen that the alien wagon was made of. I circled towards the front of the strange carriage and found it had a grate with more of the strange writing from before. On either side of the grate, were strange objects that vaguely resembled eyes protected by a transparent shield made of something that felt like glass.
Walking around to the middle, I took in the inside of the carriage through the window of what I would later find out to be a door to then find two leather chairs, buttons, levers, a whole menagerie of strange contraptions that I did not understand. Walking towards the rear, I gazed upon the box shaped area that seemed to be used for carrying cargo.
It was large enough to fit me and two more people comfortably and seemed to be carved out of rock into small grooves and patterns that allowed for a relatively decent grip on whatever was placed inside it. On the walls to the sides of the vehicle were two large bumps the formed part of the space where the wheels on the rear were.
"You are looking at the cargo bed of a Toyota Tacoma 2017 pick-up truck. An invention by a nation from our world known as the USA. Vehicles like this were the kind our father adored, and as such bought one like this. This machine can carry the driver and approximately five more people if you count the cargo bed. It can travel for hundreds of miles before it needs to be refueled. It's... one of the few things we remember from our old home..."
He explained. As he began talking, I wheeled around to find him standing behind me, running his hand along the metallic machine until it came to a stop on a handle of the same blue coloration as the rest of the strange machine. He pulled on the handle and with a muffled click, the door to the side of the vehicle opened.
He looked over to me for a moment before shutting himself inside. I looked down at this "cargo bed" and hesitantly clambered on. The carriage dipped down and bounced a bit as it suddenly accepted my weight without breaking. Whatever this thing was, it was sturdy. As I settled down and coiled my tail around my crossed legs, I folded my wings as closely as I could. I looked over at the figure inside the azure contraption I was on through darkened glass. The wide window on the back of the box where he sat had an opened, rectangular space in the middle.
"Are you comfortable back there?"
He asked, turning around to look at me. I was more confused than anything, but seeing as how this person was not hell-bent on killing me or treating me in any disrespectful manner, I nodded.
"Good, now do not be alarmed. What you are going to hear is the sound of the engine. We would appreciate you don't destroy our truck, it takes a while to create them from scratch... even in here."
He explained, turning back around and inserting a strange metallic rod into an unseen orifice underneath a ring held my a "mast" with levers. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion only to then have them be raised as a sound unlike anything I had ever heard caused the vehicle to vibrate and shake with life. I gripped on firmly into the sides, digging my clawed fingers into the metal for better support lest the thing decide to throw me off.
The loud roar that came from the machine's front died down and settled down on a low rumble. I turned my focus onto the figure who was now working a lever onto a labeled glyph. The lever slid down with two heavy clicks and the machine's rumbling slowed down considerably.
He pushed another lever directly next to his chair before the machine rumbled loudly and we suddenly lurched forward, beginning our traversal over to a dirt road not so far ahead. Once we were out on the dirt road, the figure gave me a sideways glance before focusing back on piloting the odd vehicle.
"If you would be so kind as to give us your name, we would gladly give you ours."
He explained. Weighing my options for a few moments, I relented.
"My name is Azazel. What is yours?"
I stated. He stayed silent for a moment before answering.
"You may refer to us as Saros Cycle. Now-"
He started, throwing his right arm onto the head rest of his neighboring chair while his left hand steered the helm of the self propelled carriage.
"Time for a story."
Chap. 10 Time for a story! part 1
////////Azazel////////
"Time for a story."
The figure that called himself, "Saros Cycle" stated. As we silently traversed through the woods on a dirt road, Saros spoke again.
"Once upon a time, there was young boy who had a family. This boy came from a family of four. He came from a world devoid of magic and monsters."
He explained. As I listened to the beginning of his tale, I noticed something was following us. It was another vehicle much like the one I was riding on. He slowed down the machine to ride side by side the identical truck.
"He had a father, a mother, and their two sons."
When he spoke, I could make out the humans inside the vehicles darkly tinted windows. A human male of caucasian skin color with short blonde hair and blue eyes sat in the same chair as Saros and drove the identical vehicle in the same position as he did. Their right arm on the head rest of their neighboring chair and their left on the helm.
On said neighboring chair, sat a human female with a muddy brown color of skin, jet black hair and green eyes. My eyes nearly popped out of my skull in surprise when I saw two children bearing a vague resemblance to their parents sitting across from each other in the back. One brother was slightly bigger than the other, and the smaller one had a slightly lighter creamy brown skin, long, dark, wavy hair, and brown eyes.
He had a navy blue shirt and trousers made of a tough, sky blue fabric. The larger of the two wore glasses made of a glass like material and was dressed in a shirt with floral patterns and pants made out of the same tough looking fabric.
The boys in the cargo bed were seated in between large bags. A box like wagon that was chained and towed by the larger blue vehicle I had not seen before caught my eye.
"While they had their good and bad moments alike, the boy did not complain, as he was content with the family he had. His life was simple and he cherished that."
As the masked narrator told his story, the truck besides us picked up speed and left us in the dust. Soon after, we were once again alone on the dirt path.
"His family would go on camping trips every year on the day of the older sibling's birth. They would go to a place in the far north and camp at the foot of a large hill that oversaw a sizeable lake born from a nearby river."
The sun had gone down only a bit and once we cleared the forest, the dirt transformed into a flat road paved out of some form of volcanic rock. We were riding along the side of a mountain, as I could see we were at a very high altitude.
In the distance, I could see mountain tops blanketed with snow. I could see an endless expanse of trees, and at the center of it all, was a lake of irregular shape, easily a mile wide and three miles long. On the far side of it I could make out the small river that fed the lake with another on its opposite side draining it.
I could only admire nature's beauty and scale with a slacked jaw that only accentuated how small I felt. Paying no mind to this, Saros continued.
"Little did the boy know that this camping trip would be his last. His family arrived by noon at their preferred camping grounds and set everything in order and had a wonderful day."
He stated. My remarkable view of the landscape before me was suddenly obscured with a grey stone wall and darkness as I failed to realize were had driven straight into a tunnel. The vehicle we were on shot from two cones of light that illuminated the otherwise pitch black abyss were in from the glass covered "eyes".
"After having everything in order, the father and older son would go to catch fish by the lake while the mother and younger son went looking for something to capture in the form of a painting. The mother would bring her brushes and paints along with a canvas to paint and teach the younger son how to make art with a few buckets of paint and a brush."
As we traversed through the winding tunnel, the air got noticably colder. Not enough for it to warrant serious concern, but enough to unsettle me. Some time later, we came out of the tunnel to find that the sun was setting at an alarming rate. We drove in silence for a while longer before reaching a clearing.
The blue truck from before was there, though the contents in the back were gone. Saros drove the strange wagon besides it's doppelganger, and after pulling a few levers and twisting something beneath the helm, the engine ceased it's rumbling. The machine stood deathly still until Saros opened the door from before and stepped out, causing it to sway and jerk slightly when he shut the door.
I shifted uncomfortably, as not knowing what he would do or say next had me on edge. He walked for a few more steps before stopping. He stayed motionless for a few seconds before turning in my direction.
"Come."
He ordered in a soft, yet firm tone. I hesitated, but after a few moments of indecision I climbed off the cargo bed and stood before him. We walked for a bit, seemingly with no specific destination.
However, that theory was proven to be false as we soon came upon a pair of strange looking tents and a bonfire. I stopped to take in the sight before me. The father and older son were cooking fish over the gentle embers on a metallic skillet.
The display made my heart sink as I was reminded of the fact that something like this would never happen to me. Saros, who had been standing nearby, tugged on my arm with hands that were as cold as ice.
"Come. We will only show you this once."
He said in a voice that projected indifference, but turning to see his soul, I saw pain that's been buried for a very long time.
"Show me what?"
I asked, my face contorting in accordance with my growing confusion as to what could possibly be the reason for showing me whatever would happen next only once.
"The moment the boy died... And we were born..."
He said, his voice a near whisper. My face relaxed and then showed the embarrassment I felt for being so blunt. It didn't take much for me to realize it would be better if I simply let him show me, than to prod for more verbally.
I nodded and with that we walked out of the small encampment and headed eastward. Silence took over as we reached the foot of a steep hill. It loomed at much the same height as the rest of the mighty pine trees.
Saros took to the air without so much as a simple gesture of his hands. The star filled wrappings around his arms glowed and shimmered with arcane power. He floated several meters off the ground before gesturing for me to follow with his hand.
I've flown before, but I had never attempted to hover in place. Nodding, I stretched my wings and and pulled in the surrounding air with my magic. After a minute or two, a swirling vortex of leaves, dust, and odd pine cones began to swirl around my body as I was slowly lifted off the ground by the wind.
With much effort I followed him up the steep incline and reached the top. As I released the air holding me aloft, I fell only a foot or two on my feet with a muffled thud. Saros who had already made it to the top, was standing a small ways away with his back turned to me.
Now that I stood at an altitude, I immediately assessed my surroundings. The oddly steep hill had a beautiful vantage point that allowed one to see the expanse of trees without feeling overly distant. The mountains in the distance looked larger and much more imposing than before as their darkened forms cut into the beautiful sky just before nightfall. The orange-yellow sky surrounding the crimson sphere of the sun was layered with tones of red, periwinkle, lilac, and muave that accentuated the dark greenery of trees that surrounded us as of we were one of these of these peaceful giants.
I walked over to Saros and in front of him, was a small boy of creamy brown skin color, and black wavy hair with his back turned to us trying his best to recreate nature's masterpiece on the canvas. Behind the boy, stood his mother, the human female from before.
"The boy did not know chaos had other plans... plans of nonsensical insanity for his amusement."
Saros explained, sounding weary and bitter. He struggled to make himself seem indifferent to this story, but I could bet my life on the chance that under his mask he was shedding tears. Just as I was about to see if my theory was correct, I felt something that made every part of my body collectively scream "DANGER!!!".
A few meters away from us, the fabric of reality was torn, and simply looking at the portal that was created from that tear gave me a migraine that forced me to take a knee.
"MOM!?"
I heard the voice of a worried child say before I felt a telekinetic grip clutch my torso. I was then knocked off my feet and was pulled towards the portal.
Acting on instinct alone I buried my talons into the ground. Saros, grabbed onto my arms without saying a word and held fast. The pulling on my body was getting stronger and stronger, and eventually the ground beneath my feet gave way. I was suspended in the air, holding on only by Saros' hands on mine.
I struggled to hold onto Saros' hands, and I nearly lost my grip when I saw that the mother was standing a few feet away from my anchor. They were standing in the exact same manner and she moved exactly the same way he did. The boy was holding onto his mother for all he was worth and was screaming his head off out of fear.
"MOM!!! PLEASE!!! DON'T LET GO OF ME!!! MOM!!!"
The boy cried as his hands began to falter. After a few seconds of the magical grip tugging harder and harder, I knew I would not be able to hold on for much longer. The moment I lost my grip, so did the boy.
"MATTHEW NOOOOOOO!!!"
The mother screamed as she lost her footing and fell on her back. Saros mimicked the motion as I lost my grip.
"MOOOOOM!!!"
The boy's screams were the last thing I heard before I was hurled through the portal with the boy not so far behind. As I sailed through the edges of two planes of existence, I lost all notion of time, direction and nearly lost consciousness from the overwhelming of my senses when I made it through to the other side.
I sailed through the air for a bit more and crashed into something hard. When I stopped feeling queasy, i looked up to behold a creature that forced me to question the odds of me hitting my head so heard and not feeling pain. It was... a living miscellany of animal parts.
It had the head and neck of a goat, yellow eyes with red irises, and mismatched horns. It had a long, snake like body covered in fur and seemed to be standing upright. It's right... paw resembled that of a mountain lion while it's left... appendage was more of a chicken leg.
It's right leg was much like my own legs, with the exceptions of it being covered in green scales and being much smaller. It's left leg resembled that of a ram or a mountain goat. It's tail was by far the oddest of it's limbs. It looked to be that of a velvet dragon tail, but it had a rather large tuft of white-ish hair.
It was levitating a few feet off the ground with the boy suspended just in front of it.
"Hmmm, that's odd... I could've sworn I was summoning an Eldritch horror from Lovecraft's world. Not... whatever this monkey thing is."
It... no, HE said with a haughty chuckle.
"Oh well, when life gives you lemons-"
He started, charging up his magic into his arms.
"You turn those lemons into an eldritch lemonade!"
He stated with an evil grin plastered on his face. The living hodgepodge unleashed bolts of white magic onto the boy which made me wince away. I felt power in this creature. Power that felt akin to that of argent energy, but... much more refined.
As the creature was unleashing it's magic on the now convulsing boy, I saw two blurs, one of dark blue and another of white land before me. Shakily rising to my feet, I found myself standing behind Princess Luna and Princess Celestia.
Luna was clad in silver boots and armor that surrounded her barrel while also allowing her to use her wings. Celestia wore a similar suit of armor but made of the same golden metal as that of the guards in her palace instead.
"Discord! You're reign of terror ends tod-"
Celestia began before being interrupted by the creature letting out loud groan of annoyance.
"Oh Celestia. I really do enjoy watching you take yourself so seriously, but now I'm a little preoccupied. Can we reschedule our weekly confrontation for next Tuesday?"
The strange creature who was apparently named Discord, explained as he dropped the now conscious boy to the ground. He seemed to manifest a small journal, an inkwell, and strange multicolored feather that was far to big to be practical along with a pair of comically small glasses with a magical "poof" out of nowhere.
"His body aching with pain and his mind plague by fear, the boy took the opportunity he had to flee, and ran for his life."
From my right a familiar voice appeared. I turned to my right and saw Saros standing beside me. As the princesses dueled the strange creature with magic, the boy scurried to his feet and ran into the trees until he disappeared from sight. Saros suddenly bolted after the him, and not long after did I do the same.
Following Saros, I ran for what felt like an hour, all while the sound of explosions and magic were errupting behind us. Once I gained enough distance that the sound of magical warfare could not be heard, Saros stopped a small ways away from the boy who had apparently fallen and had the wind knocked out of him.
Halting besides my masked tour guide, I tried to catch my breath. When I could finally breathe normally, I saw the boy get up, rub his head and begin to look around for something. The boy's eyes now glowed with an unnatural turquoise glow that seemed out of place and unsurprisingly, very familiar.
"The boy was alone, scared and transformed. Not knowing what to do, he picked a random direction, and began to walk."
Saros explained, the boy doing exactly as he had foretold.
"He wondered the wilderness for days, surviving off whatever fruits he could find. He hid in the trees and stayed out of sight. Lest he be devoured by wolves of tinder and chased by a mighty manticore."
What felt like whole weeks going by flashed before my eyes as the world sped up to ludicrous speeds around us. We followed him through the forest and I saw him take refuge in the branches of a large oak tree. As the days went on, the boy got thinner and more malnourished. He seemed tired and when the world returned to it's normal speed, he spent most of his time, resting against the tree's root.
"Then one day, a familiar creature came by and instead of death, offered her friendship."
As he spoke an apparition of Luna walked right through my back and out my chest towards the boy. The boy then grew fearful, but remained still on the ground.
Luna simply looked at him with an expression of pity on her face. She then proceeded to offer her hoof with a friendly smile. The boy hesitated, but he weakly clambered to his feet and hobbled over to the princess of the night. The two then walked away, leaving me alone with Saros.
"The creature that saved him from death by starvation was a dreamwalker, a slayer of nightmares, and the mistress of the night."
He explained, his turquoise eyes fixated on me.
"She nursed him back to health in secret and raised him as her own foal after he told her everything. As the days turned to weeks, which then turned to months, and then to years, the boy came to regard the princess like a mother. The best he could ever ask for in a world that was not his own..."
Saros' gaze did not break away from me as he clapped his hands. I felt a wave of vertigo come and go as we were teleported into a large building made of stone and hidden in a deeper part of the same forest. Luna was sitting on the ground, now watching a slightly older version of the boy try to recreate the beautiful tapestry of stars and constellations the was above him. She seemed happy.
"Deep in the heart of the Everfree, the princess of the night had somepony that admired her and loved her night. This kept the resentment towards the subjects that neglected her and her beautiful night at bay."
Saros continued, turning to look at Luna with longing in his eyes.
"As time went on, the boy's power grew unstable. Fortunately, with the help of Star Swirl the Bearded, the boy learned to hone his power and became the most powerful stormcaller in Equestria."
Before I could even register it, Saros clapped his hands again. The same disorienting sensation came and went in an instant. As the world stopped spinning, I realized we were standing in a closed stone arena about sixty feet in diameter with a dirt floor.
The boy, now clad in light armor, was dueling Star Swirl. The boy would bob and weave around Star Swirl's blasts of magic. Ducking under one blast of Star Swirl's, the boy extended his hand, releasing an arc of sustained lightning from his finger tips slammed into a shield Star Swirl was able to conjure up at the last possible second.
The arching bolts of raw electrical magic crackled and screamed with power as they struck the translucent, alabastor dome of magic that protected Star Swirl. After the boy stopped the pattern of dodging magic bolts and waiting for an opening resumed and repeated itself two more times before I noticed Princess Luna was sitting nearby, watching the boy fight.
I missed the moment the boy was caught off guard, as I heard the boy yelp in pain before hitting the ground with a resounding thud. I turned to find him on his knees, clutching his abdomen.
"Ow..."
The boy groaned.
"You've improved young prince, but you need more practice."
Star Swirl stated, walking over to him and offering him a hoof. Taking it, the boy rose to his feet and looked in my direction. It caught me a bit off guard, but not as much as Luna's form phasing through me to walk over to him.
"Thou ar't doing well, son. We are very pleased to see you come so far."
She proclaimed lovingly, nuzzling her head under his chin. The boy, who stood at much the same height as Luna, wrapped his arms around her and embraced her.
"I should get going. I have finish preparing a certain lesson I have for you and your sister your majesty."
Star Swirl explained with a warm smile and small bow. Luna nodded and with the boy and the wisened pony wizard in tow, they left the arena as a wall seemingly made of solid bricks began to disassemble itself to reveal a passage way. I was left alone with Saros looking out at empty space. He did not move at all and the silence that filled the now baren arena was making me very uncomfortable.
"Saros?..."
I hesitantly asked. Saros said nothing as he slowly raised his hands and clapped twice. After one more nauseating teleportation, we stood in a bed room that housed a single bed, a desk with packed bookshelves lining the walls and what I assumed to be a walk-in wardrobe. The room was vacant, only me and Saros were in the room and I began to look around. The near endless supply of book on the shelves had writing on their spines in a language I did not recognize, most likely the common written language of Equestria.
I then walked over to the desk and found the same mask Saros was wearing, but in a much better condition. The mask was of a pure white, the eyeholes were not cracked or splintered, and the floral patterns around the edges were still unpainted. Besides the mask, an inkwell, and the odd paint brush, there were scrolls of varying sizes. I tried to grab one of the larger ones and to my delight, it was tangible. Unrolling the parchment I found it to be a map of constellations. Before I could investigate further, the door leading outside the room opened with a very irate looking human on the other side.
The boy stormed in, his turquoise eyes flickered with the wrath of a god of thunder that froze me to my core. I moved out of his way, "allowing" him to sit down on his desk and begin to ventilate his frustrations by slamming his fists onto the desk and unceremoniously sweeping everything that was on it to the floor.
As he breathed heavily through his nose and stared at the wall emptily I heard the sound of hoof steps drawing nearer. Shortly, Luna appeared through the door.
"It is all right my son. It does not matter if Tia does not wish for an equally divided day and night cycle. It matters little to us."
Luna explained. I could tell by the look on her face that she was lying, and so did the boy, despite having his back turned to her.
"YES IT DOES!!!"
The boy angrily shouted. There was silence for a moment, before I heard the pitter pattering sound of tears hitting a wooden surface. The boy turned to look at the diarch of the night with tears flowing down his cheeks.
"Mother... Why can't you see that Celestia is using you?..."
He began, visibly straining to keep his sobs in check.
"Celestia is adored by all of her subjects while you receive nothing when you have to face things that are deadlier a hundredfold! She does not values the hard work you put in to make a unique design of stars EVERY NIGHT! It is a miracle she spared our life when she discovered you and Star Swirl were raising and training us. She treats me like a weapon without a heart that can be broken and a mind that can't be scarred! Celestia wants us dead and to be stripped away from you... I know the horrible nightmares you have to fight every single night by yourself for ponies that take you for granted... I... I can't bear to live like this anymore... I can't bear see them treat you like this... I can't lose you... I..."
Falling to his knees in defeat, the damn of pain he had been repressing with his anger finally broke as he wept openly. Luna, who had been trying to keep her composure as well, sat besides the boy, wrapping a wing around him.
The boy instantaneously latched onto her barrel for dear life and drenched her coat with fresh tears. If Luna noticed, she did not care. She held him close and whispered sweet nothings into his ear to ease the burden they shared. The sight of those two forced me to my knees.
It took me a bit to realize that I too was crying at the display of affection before me. Before me was a child, feeling impotent to help the one and only person he cares about while she holds him in a loving embrace...
"You have made our life so rich in happiness. Know that you are loved, and nothing will ever separate us. We promise you this."
Luna stated, while tears flowed from her eyes, they were not of pain. They were tears of joy. She kiss her son's forehead and with a flash of blue magic from her horn, the two now held a serene expression on their faces.
"On that fateful evening, the mistress of the night taught the boy how to dominate the dreamscape as she did. For countless nights thereafter, the boy would be by his mother's side. Fighting the nightmares of Equestria's ponies. Day in... Day out..."
Turning to look at Saros, he was sitting on the bed looking at the pair. His mask continued to obscure his face, but his soul... it was slowly cracking and splintering at the apparitions before it.
"The ponies of Equestria would soon call the boy by a new name, the Nightmare's Bane. Once this new title was given to nightmare slaying dreamwalker and the diarchs presented him to the public. One diarch was excited for this, the other was not. Celestia's most loyal instilled fear into the hearts of ponies, and soon, the sweet promise of a life out of the shadows, revealed themselves to be naught but ash..."
Saros spoke in a quiet tone, shame and melancholy present in his voice. I got up and stood beside him. I placed a hand on his shoulder, as it was the only thing I could think of doing.
Chap. 11 Time for a story! part 2
/////////////Azazel//////////////
To my unpleasant surprise, Saros shrugged off my hand and rose to his feet. He turned to look at me, his body now surrounded by a swirling mass of frost. The air around us began to grow colder as we stared at each other in silence. The wind around him began to grow in intensity, and soon, I was blinded by the freezing fog that enveloped us both.
I wrapped my wings around myself in a vain attempt to shield my bare chest from the freezing air. When the magical haze dissipated, my wings parted to reveal we were left standing on a slope surrounded by what seemed to be a barren wasteland, shrouded by dark clouds. There was a strong, dry wind throwing up dust and dead twigs into the air.
I looked around and saw nothing other than myself, the odd dead tree scattered about the barren wasteland and Saros, who was seemingly unaffected by the sudden change in scenery and temperature.
"Where are we!?"
I asked, using my arms to shield my face from the dust pelting it.
"We are standing on the outskirts of the crystal empire."
He stated, turning face and walking up the slope. Before I could ask what the "crystal empire" was, a loud explosion that shook the earth beneath my feet resonated from somewhere behind the hill. Squinting my eyes in skepticism, I made my up way to the cold "peak".
Saros had already reached the top, and I was not prepared for what I saw next. As I walked towards the summit, I could see a massive crystalline tower looming in the distance. Drawing nearer towards Saros' side, I could hear the sound of... wait... Is that screaming!?
I quickened my pace and once I stood beside my masked companion, I gazed upon a raging battlefield. Ponies clad in armor similar to that of Celestia's royal guard clashed with even more diminutive, multichromatic horses that wore a strange black and red armor with menacing helmets covering their faces.
Unicorns engaged in duels of magic. Pegasi soared above and around us like a wyvern scuffle, but a lot less... vicious. And earth ponies brawled, pushing their superior strength to the limits.
"Five years after the events that you've witnessed, a pony who's heart was consumed by greed and a lust for power waged war on Equestria. A monster who's very name represented the darkness that corrupted his soul. A monster we inadvertently created... The self proclaimed ruler of the Crystal Empire, King Sombra."
Saros explained, pointing a finger somewhere off to his left. Following his finger, I saw a grey unicorn wearing black armor, a crown with three large spines and a red cape standing a short distance away from the slope we were on.
He had slitted eyes with red irises that were indicative that he was the supposed evil tyrant my masked narrator was talking about. Because anything that resembles dragons or demons is evil by default in this realm. Fantastic... More prejudice to deal with....
The ashen unicorn trotted forward with an unamused expression and a confident stride. As he walked, golden clad ponies from all sides tried to rush him. Just as I believed they would dogpile him, He rose a considerable distance on a rapidly ascending pedestal of mulberry colored crystals. The ponies that rushed him were promptly thrown back from the small shockwave of magic, effectively avoiding certain impalement.
"When Sombra's forces were driven to their capitol city, a decisive battle for the crystal empire took place. Sombra fought by his soldiers, the inhabitants of the crystal empire who had been turned into mindless slaves through enchanted helmets that controlled their minds."
As Saros spoke, the army of soldier's belonging to Sombra began to disengage from their current opponents and began stampeding towards my right side. Following their trajectory, I spotted the diarchs of Equestria and a near identical replica of Saros fighting an incoming horde of ponies.
"The boy had given Sombra far too many chances to change his ways in the dream realm, but his friend was long gone. Amiable Dusk was gone... and only Sombra remained... If Sombra wanted war, he would get it. After many months of bloodshed and a lot of convincing, Celestia allowed the boy to fight for his home. The boy told himself that his would be the day he would make his mother and her kingdom proud. No longer would the ponies mistreat him and ignore his mother. They would revere both him and his mother like they so rightfully deserved."
Celestia and Luna fought in perfect harmony, protecting each other above actually killing those that would harm them. Meanwhile, the other Saros would use blasts of thunder magic to repel attackers from the rear. The diarchs of the sun and moon would send waves of the horde flying into the air with a flaming golden halberd and a silver sickle that radiated astral power.
As the soon to be dead forces of the crystal empire swarmed the trio from all angles, threatening to overwhelm them, I learned why the boy was called a "stormcaller". He raised his hands and yelled something I didn't quite understand over the roar of the battlefield. The dark clouds of ash and smoke looming over the hellscape we were standing on began to spiral above him and my skin began to tingle.
An unexpected and unnerving silence drowned the area surrounding us for a second before powerful bolts of lightning discharged energy into the human. I reflexively wrapped my wings around my body and hunkered down to protect myself. Once it stopped, my wings parted for me to see Saros' apparition standing in the center of an awe struck crowd of baffled warriors and two very startled looking princesses.
With bolts of raw energy coarsing through his arms and chest, I could see the two star like eyeballs scanning the crowd before him. He extended his arms forward, and the entire field became a light show of blue, teal, and turquoise lightning that leapt from pony to pony in a fraction of a second. Followed by a deafening thunderclap, a blast of wind knocked me off my feet and I rolled down the slope. I fail to understand how within a dream one can experience pain. Then again, I was at the mercy of a dreamwalker.
After the painfully loud crackle of lightning stopped, I rose to my feet and walked back towards the summit.
"Damn..."
I muttered to myself in morbid awe as I saw the charred bodies of hundreds... no... thousands of ponies. Both sides had been struck down by a fury akin to that of a god, A carpet of gold and black corpses lay dead around the princess of the sun and moon. The king of the crystal empire could only watch in horror and awe at the massacre that had just transpired.
"Y-you... I WILL DESTROY YOU YOU TRAITOROUS MONSTER!!! I WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO DESTROY MY KINGDOM!!!"
Sombra shouted, summoning a growing sphere of magic just above his horn and levitating off of his crystalline pedestal. He hovered there, charging up a spell of dark magic while surrounded by a black aura that surged with purple and green bolts of malicious energy.
The princesses, who had finally come to their senses, focused their magic and cast a domed shield. With a warcry of pure hatred, Sombra unleashed a gargantuant beam of magic on his enemies. The bodies that were in the spells path were immediately desintegrated, while those nearby were cooked and singed to the point where my nose could pick up the stench of fur and metal being subjected to... necrotic energy?..
My eyes widened in shock at the prospect of the princesses facing a necromancer, especially a competent one. Time suddenly slowed down and came to a complete stop with the exception of me and, as I would find out in a few seconds, Saros.
"You seem distracted."
He stated, cutting through the deafening silence. I snapped out of my stuper and looked over to see him looking at me. I couldn't see his face, but his eyes spoke volumes.
"The smell. It reeks of necromancy. The aftermath of a putrification spell to be precise."
I explained. Saros' unamused gaze turned to one of disbelief and... horror?
"Necromancy? But that is not possible. The dark arts were outlawed centuries before the..."
He stopped mid-explanation wide eyed as he seemed to have discovered something he hadn't thought of before. He then looked towards the unicorn tyrant, frozen in time.
"Saros?.."
I asked, now a bit concerned. He said nothing for a long before slowly raising his right hand, snapping his fingers. Right on cue, time resumed once more.
The spell Sombra had charged slammed against the shield and assaulted it relentlessly. The shield cast by the princesses held, but it was beginning to splinter and crack under the pressure. Celestia and Luna poured everything they had into the shield, but it was evident it would not be enough.
"The evil of Sombra could only be vanquished through team work. Putting aside their differences, if only for a few moments, the diarchs and the boy fought Sombra in a duel for the fate of the Crystal Empire."
Saros' doppelganger placed his hands on Celestia and Luna's shoulders and began to pour magic into them. The rulers of the sun and moon's bodies began to surge with electricity while the masked human's celestial wraps burned with purple, blue, and white magic. The princesses eyes, along with the human's glowed like stars as the shield folded out and in on itself to then produce a beam of equally destructive energy.
The streams of magic collided and destroyed everything in the near vacinity with a massive shockwave. Refusing to be hurdled off the slope again, I crouched and hunkered down with my wings wrapped around me.
With my talons firmly buried into the ground, I braced for impact. Surely enough, there was a very large and powerful blast of magic and wind that made the air get noticeably ho- wait... WHY IS THE AIR SO COLD ALL OF A SUDDEN?!
"The battle between Sombra and the Diarchs of Equestria drained the verdant valley that surrounded the Crystal Empire of all it's ambient magic, forever condemning it to the wasteland of ice and snow that exists north of Canterlot..."
Saro's stated just after my ears stopped ringing. I unfurled my wings and looked towards the aftermath of the magical duel. Luna, Celestia, and the other Saros lay on the ground to my right, while Sombra was shakily getting up on my left. A smoldering crater and a pillar of slowly dissipating ash and debris.
"Sombra, nearly depleted of all of his magic and at the end of his time as king, let his pride guide his actions to the very end. Sealing his fate... and that of the Crystal Empire..."
Saros stated coldly. His hood now removed by the wind, allowed me to see his head. Something about him caught my eye, his hair was a snow white, while the one the was now struggling to get on his knees beside an unconscious Luna and an exhausted Celestia who clambered almost drunkardly to her hooves had jet black hair.
The odd detail perplexed me until Saros suddenly move towards me. I took a step back in apprehension, but he was already upon me. His arms crackled with magical electricity as his hands latched firmly onto my horns. Before I could even react, I was overwhelmed by pain as he electrocuted me.
"AAAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHHHH!!!"
I roared in agony as bolts of magical energy ran through my entire body. When the pain finally stopped, I opened my eyes to find I was standing just behind Luna and Celestia. I tried to open my eyes further in confusion, but they would not obey.
I was instead a passenger in my own body, or rather, the boy's body. I knew as much because he looked down at his arms and saw that the constellation ridden wrappings around his arms had been burned and heavily damaged, exposing his singed and bleeding arms.
"The Stellaris, wrappings made from a living tapestry of stars , was a weapon created by Starswirl the bearded. A gift that would grant the boy the power to save his beloved mother."
I heard Saros' voice reverberate in my head as Celestia hurried to Luna's side. She was unconscious, mostly likely driven to it by fatigue.
"Seeing her sister laid low made something within the princess of the sun snap. A monster of hatred that burned as hot as the sun was breaking free of it's chains within her. The boy... knew not what was happening to her, but soon he would."
As my guide spoke, I saw Celestia's eyes turn a dark amber brown and her pupils become sharp slits out the corner of my eye. My sight shifted towards Sombra, he was looking at us with an angry weariness that made me admire his persistence.
"You have lost Sombra! Surrender and we will show you mercy!"
Celestia proclaimed, though I, like Sombra, could tell she was lying. She sounded mildly annoyed, but the anger with which she seethed was felt like the sun at high noon on the hottest day of the year.
"Never! I am the rightful ruler of the Crystal Empire! NOT THAT USURPER AMORE!!!"
He exclaimed angrily. The boy looked down at his arms and shut his eyes. I felt a strange tingling in my arms before my eyes opened again. The boy's arms had been completely healed, only the blood that stained his damaged wrappings remained.
"You will release her from the stone you are holding her in and surrender! You are outnumbered and outmatched! Do not force us to destroy you Som-"
The boy was cut off as Sombra fired a blast of magic his way. He outstretched his hand, and formed a crude shield that barely held against the vicious attack.
"ENOOOOOUUUUUGH!!!"
Celestia roared as from her mouth, came a focused blast of fire, not unlike a fire drake. Sombra cast an opaque mulberry shield of magic that crackled with dark magic. The boy lowered his shield and could only stare at the display in shock.
When Celestia could no longer hold the flames, she fell to her knees and coughed up smoke from her cindering maw. When Sombra dropped his shield, the boy ran and got between the rulers of Equestria, and the dark sorcerer. Seeing this, Sombra let out a growl of frustration.
"If I cannot rule the Crystal Empire! NO PONY WILL!!!"
He proclaimed, transforming into a looming pillar of darkness with vibrant green eyes and red irises that radiated purple malice. The pillar bolted into the air and headed towards the massive tower of crystal.
The boy turned around to find Celestia with her ears pressed against Luna's side. He then, ran towards her and knelt down. He ran his fingers through her hair moved his left hand just shy of her nose. I felt warm air hit the back of it, and I felt a wave of relief wash over the boy.
"She is still breathing, stay here so that I can-"
She began before the boy interjected while standing back up.
"No. You and mother are in no condition to be fighting."
Celestia flinched as if hurt, her eyes now having reverted to their original state.
"You seriously cannot expect me to-!"
She tried before getting cut off again.
"To protect your sister!? Yes! Don't be foolish. Now get her to the barracks so you two can receive medical attention! I will stop Sombra."
The boy stated in a very annoyed tone. Celestia looked absolutely livid, and her hair began to writhe like fire as her eyes began to retake their malevolent appearance.
"I will not be insulted by a snob nosed child at a time like thi-!"
She exclaimed indignantly, rising to her hooves and her horn flaring up with flame like magic. The boy, refusing to be intimidated, got in her face, the area around his eyes being enveloped in a blue haze and my loaned ears could pick up an electric buzzing and crackling.
"AND WE WILL NOT LOSE HER BECAUSE OF YOUR DAMNED PRIDE!!!"
He roared angrily before continuing. Celestia's anger turned to fear the instant he started screaming, her eyes turning back to their normal appearance.
"We will stop Sombra. And if our mother is not getting any treatment when we get back..."
He stated with an unnerving calmness as he glared at her with murderous intent. He let his words hang in the air before turning around and walking towards the crystalline monolith.
"I will have your head."
He stated darkly, giving her a sideways glance before disappearing in a powerful lightning strike. As he soared off into the distance, I felt a mind-splitting migraine take over me as my world turned to white. I was then granted control over my body as I fell on my back.
When I could finally think coherently and my body stopped aching, I realized I was in my own body; exactly where I had last left it. Looking myself over, I reached up to see if my horns were intact. Fortunately, they were; though they were very sensitive to the touch.
Saros, who now loomed over me, stretched out his hand for me to take. After being subjected to that obscene amount of pain, the word "apprehensive" would've been a gross understatement for how I was feeling.
"Forgive us. But we had to show you... You needed to see it through our eyes."
He stated, gesturing for me to take his hand. My eyes went from his hand and back for a bit before I made up my mind and decided to trust him. He hoisted me up and helped me to my feet.
"See what?..."
I asked hesitantly.
"The darkness in Celestia's heart. That was the only first time it has manifested physically..."
He answered, looking at me with his pleading, turquoise eyes. He wanted me to believe him, and frankly, I did. Not Because I wanted to, but rather because it made sense.
Every pony I had met up to this point was, by my world's standards, worthy of entry to the heavens. But Celestia and her guard? She had noble intentions for sure, but... I knew there was darkness in her. From the first time I saw her soul, to the last where she...
"The darkness... is it Sombra's doing? Can necromancy truly corrupt the soul of an alicorn?"
He asked. I could tell he was scared of the notion. I am well versed in the art of necromancy to the point where I know enough to know that I know close to nothing of it's true extent. However, I do know that souls could not be corrupted in the manner Celestia was.
I began to dig around my mind for an answer, and then I remembered something Celestia said a while back...
"...it was A NECROMANCER WHO ROBBED US OF OUR PARENTS! I REFUSE TO LET HISTORY REPEAT ITSELF WITH HIM!"
The alicorn's voice reverberated like a faint echo in the distance growing louder and louder until it eventually could be heard by my physical ears.
Saros, who had left wanting an answer, took a step back in shock. Not being able to see his face did not impede me from reading his body language. To say he was horrified... would be accurate...
"She attacked you... didn't she?..."
Saros asked in a conspiratorial manner. He sounded... hurt? No, it sounded more like indignation. It took me a bit to speak, but eventually I did.
"Yes. That is why I am in the Everfree forest. I was running from her."
I stopped myself from asking anything else to ponder something that popped into my mind. How was this human even in my mind in the first place?
"Where is my body now?"
I asked firmly. Saros seemed irritated, but answered my question in a sullen, yet polite manner.
"You are in the ruins of what use to be my mother's and Celestia's home. Did she attack you?"
He pressed. The memory of the attack came to mind, and my own anger began to rise.
"One of her soldiers tried to kill me. When I attempted to defend myself she prostrated me. I broke free from her magic and caused a diversion for me to escape. However, she has captured my... caretakers, and I know not what has become of them."
I explained. Saros looked away from me and towards the large crystalline city the lay in the distance. He seemed to be mulling over what I'd told him, but before I could ask anymore questions, he raised his hands and clapped them twice.
The now familiar sensation of vertigo came and left in an instant as we now stood on the roof of a building just shy of the massive crystalline castle. On the streets just infront of the monolithic castle at the city's center, Saros' younger doppelganger was fighting Sombra in a duel that resembled his training with Starswirl.
"We could have ruled together you and I! We could have made the Crystal Empire a land where every creature could live freely! AND INSTEAD OF A PARADISE, YOU CHOOSE A PRISON!?!?"
Sombra roared as he fired bolts of magic at the nimble human, sidestepping and leaping over the unicorn's attacks.
"A kingdom ruled through cruelty and callousness?! That is not a paradise Amiable!"
The human countered verbally and physically when an opening presented itself. Firing lightning from his outstretched hands. The human's attack was caught in the telekinetic grip of the evil king and promptly deflected to the side.
"THAT NAME... MEANS NOTHING TO ME ANYMORE!!!"
He retorted furiously, casting a continuous beam of dark magic the flared with green and a deep purple fire. Saros' dopple rolled out the way just in time to avoid the incoming beam, which then cleave through one of the pillars holding the massive structure up. The castle shook and debris fell from the roof and a small rock about the size of my fist hit the other Saros on the head.
He tumbled to the ground and skidded to a halt, a small amount of blood began pouring through his right eyehole from the impact. Sombra then turned his attention to a heart shaped jewel that radiated with magical energy hovering in the center of the large area underneath the elevated castle.
"If you and the princesses refuse to make this kingdom a place worth living in, THEN I WILL DESTROY IT!!!"
He exclaimed firing a spell of dark magic into the crystalline heart. The injured lookalike saw this and immediately got to his feet.
"NOOOO!!"
He yelled, firing a hasty blast of raw electricity at Sombra. The ruler of the Crystal Empire was struck by the bolt and hurdled across the air while convulsing in a pain I was all too familiar with. The boy ran towards the rapidly spinning heart and looked at it in horror.
"Sombra had infected the Crystal Heart, a construct of crystalline love, with hate. With the Stellaris damaged, he could not purge it from the darkness in time. It would rupture and decimate the entire kingdom... That is, of course, until the boy got an idea..."
As Saros spoke, the boy charged his arms with a magic, but instead of lightning, it was a turquoise, purple, and teal magic like that of a pony's. He then poured magic into the heart.
"The boy thought of his mother... He though of the happiness she brought him and the love he had for her. That love gave him the power to change the fate of the Crystal Empire... forever."
Saros explained with a serenity that pulled at my heartstrings like an angel to their lyre. It was then that I saw Sombra stand up and try to approach the Saros' dopple, but something was wrong.
The intense light from the crystal heart was burning Sombra like the sun burned vampires. I could see him struggle to keep his form as the light grew stronger. The dark crystals that had grown everywhere around the city began to disintegrate as the radiant light of the Crystal Heart burned away the impurities in the Crystal Empire.
"NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!"
Sombra wailed at the top of his lungs as he was evaporated like water over a raging fire as the light consumed everything in sight. I shielded my eyes as a magical hum soon overpowered my ears and I was forced to cover them.
When the humming stopped, the ground below me suddenly vanished and I began to fall. My instinct took over and I hurriedly tried to gather wind pressure onto my wings and take flight. Much to my horror, there was nothing for me to take, as all the air around me was gone as well which made it impossible to even breathe.
I fell in dead silence for about five seconds before a powerful gust of air slammed into me and made me spin uncontrollably. I fell for about ten more seconds before I hit the ground, hard. My entire body was in pain, and I genuinely wished I was dead.
When the pain seceded enough for me to lift my head up from the sandy ground below me I saw I was inside a massive crater that went on for miles. I could only look in horror as I weakly clambered onto my haunches and remained seated.
"The boy had altered the spell to transport the crystal empire into the aether rather than to destroy it. Magic born from love would give the crystal empire another chance to return and rebuild itself. Unfortunately... Celestia did not see it that way."
Saros stated, appearing seated besides me seemingly out of nowhere. Before I could ask for what he meant, five shadows flew over us and landed a short ways away, raising a small torrent of debris. When the ashen dust settled, I saw Celestia without her battle armor and bandages wrapped around her barrel and forelegs with an entourage of pegasi clad in golden body armor and saddlebags.
As I gawked at the ponies before me, Saros stood up and dusted himself off.
"Come, the final chapter of our tale is about to unfold."
The masked man stated with an outstretched hands. Taking it, I rose to my feet and hobbled behind him as he followed the diarch of the sun down towards the center of the crater.
After walking for a few minutes, the dust filled air had finally settled to reveal the sky above us. The clouds overhead were that of stormclouds, an omen of the fate that would await this wasteland.
We all came to halt a small distance away from Saros' double, who stood at the epicenter of the massive crater with his back turned to us. He had his right arm out stretched with his palm held skywards, as if waiting for something to fall into his palm.
His hood was removed, and the snow white hair on his head mirrored identically the masked story teller. My guide and I circled around the group and stood so that the double would be to our right, and Celestia would be to our left.
"The ruler of the sun approached the boy when he was weak, and let her fear dictate her actions. The boy knew this betrayal would come sooner or later, but a punishment so cruel... he did not expect."
Saros stated as Celestia drew six gems that glowed with power from the saddlebags of her escort. The gems began orbiting her with the exception of the largest one, seeming to be an amethyst, star shaped focusing matrix.
Her eyes had transformed into their malevolent form and for the briefest moment I could've sworn her mane and tail were made of fire. As the spell charged, the boy turned around to see his assailant all too late. The boy was then enveloped in a rainbow of power which blinded me for a few seconds.
"NOOOOOO!!!!"
The doppleganger screamed before he was drowned out by the deafening humming of the spell being cast on him. When the spell ceased, I lowered my hands from my face and saw the boy had been turned into a statue that displayed fear...
Celestia fell to the ground along with the gemstones, that were now slightly dulled in color. As I stared in disbelief at what I had seen, Celestia's guard helped her to her hooves. They hoisted the petrified boy in a mint green magic and began to walk away with him. Saros and I were left alone
"This act of treason would weaken Celestia and the Elements of Harmony, Equestria's most powerful weapon, forever... The Elements would only be used once more by Celestia, before rendering them useless in her hooves as the darkness within her would deharmonize her connection to them."
Saros stated while he clapped his hand, and we were transported into what seemed to be a massive vault or storage room. As expected, I was assaulted by a wave of vertigo, only now I barely recognized it even happened. I looked around and found the room barren, with the exception of a stone pedestal that rose up to my knees.
"The boy would be deep inside the castle of the two sisters, imprisoned inside his own body for over a thousand years... Never to see his mother again... Never to see her beautiful night..."
Saros stated from my left, walking slowly towards the statue. He then turned to look at me while hovering onto the pedestal.
"We have been trapped here for so long... We believed that all was lost when mother... was consumed by the Nightmare... A new city was built years later... and this castle was abandoned. We believed we would remain here alone... forever... Then... you come into what remains of our abandoned prison. You can set us free... You can help us set things right!"
He proclaimed with a hopeful joy that concerned me greatly. A soul enduring the things this human has would have driven him to insanity. Not to mention that there is a risk that everything that I've seen from him is a lie.
If I was to get answers, I'd have to interrogate him while free of this dream. I'd use my amulet of lies to determine whether he could be trusted or not.
"Let us suppose that I trust you. How exactly do I benefit from this?"
I asked firmly.
"I have seen your memories, demon! I know of the cruelty you've shown those who would harm you."
He stated with an accusatory finger pointed right at me. I did not welcome his implicit hostility, and I reciprocated it with a low growl and by bearing my teeth.
"I also know that you show a ferocious loyalty to those you care about. Celestia has imprisoned your caretakers, and will likely use them to draw you put of hiding."
He continued. If he was afraid, he did not show it, but he did become much more... polite in tone.
"If you set us free, we will help you save them. We will give you a chance to have that which you've been denied of since you came to this world."
I squinted my eyes at his offer. He is the second creature to have delved into my mind. I'd have to look into how to shield it in the future.
"And pray tell, what would that be?"
I asked skeptically.
"You want to keep your family safe. Those that you care about were taken from you... We cannot undo that which has been done... but we can help you start anew..."
As Saros spoke, memories of the night my parents died flashed before my eyes. I felt nothing... nothing but rage as the bastard that killed them came to mind.
"Free us... And we will help you save your family..."
He promised in an ominous sounding whisper as he took a familiarly frightened stance and slowly turned to stone. I was left standing in that room with sinister whispers whispering sinister sounding nonsense into my ears.
I covered my ears to make them go away, but they just got louder and louder until my hands could no longer stifle their incoherent ranting. As I became disoriented by the loud and painful ringing in my ears, I found it difficult to stand.
I staggered and fell to my knees from the fever rising in me. I collapsed onto my back and shivered in agony as the throbbing pain in my head ravaged me. I felt... cold.
Chap. 12 Ticking Time Bomb
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Chapter 15. Broken minds crush a broken heart.
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Chapter 21. A Bond Restored, Another Defiled
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Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter. Prologue part 1 (Revised)
There were certain benefits to being the Son of a Former Hell Queen and a Powerful Lich. One such benefit was my extensive knowledge pertaining to the Dark Arts—I have crafted a spell or two over my long existence. Can’t exactly call myself ’alive’ so I simply exist, similar to others with demonic bloodlines. The main drawback was that we were despised by most other for our demonic bloodline and necromantic power respectively.
My mother, Lilith... yes that Lilith, met my father during one of his escapades into Hell to satiate his undying thirst for knowledge. Power alone wasn’t enough to satisfy him, he sought knowledge from other entities. SOMEHOW he managed to woo her and begat little old me into existence. Contrary to popular belief, Mephistopheles the King of the nine circles of hell was very protective when it came to his wife. So upon learning his wife (my Mother if you couldn’t guess) was banging another man. A human no less.
He was absolutely livid, most say Hell has never burned hotter than during that outrage. My father being as smart as he was managed to place his souls in a phylactery before his first death. Several days after my birth he discovered that the demon he fucked gave birth to his child. To say Father was determined as Hell to be with my mother would’ve been an understatement, he managed to get down to the Nine Circle of Hell and free my mother with a newborn me in tow.
Note to even get to Mephistopheles' Fortress in the deepest layer: he needed to cross several rivers of molten lava, battle nigh endless hordes, demons ranging from little insects to towering giants, and all while battling the soul sucking despair permeating in Hell’s atmosphere. Love pushed him past his mortal limits greatly that day to which I am still impressed by. Father managed to live a decent life with my mother raising me.
Near the City of Tamriel in the dense woods’ deepest parts, south of the Black Mountain. My childhood was about as normal as you could get considering my parents. Father taught me the basics of Necromancy and Soul Magics. Only my mother could teach me about my demonic heritage, despite Father’s best intentions he was only mortal in the end. She taught me everything he couldn’t, yet made sure I knew both sides of my bloodline.
Even after so long I don’t know if he was the luckiest dumbass to ever live or the unluckiest genius I knew. Either way he was ridiculously thorough with keeping the secret to his longer than normal lifespan. You can only be resurrected so many times without inflicting lasting damage to your soul...
I still remember the first lessons he taught me, the first time I raised an undead from the ethereal hold of the afterlife. It was a dog which I hadn’t learned how to control yet. So the mad mongrel attacked father and killed him, after he resurrected himself he grounded me until I learned how to control my creations. Like any parent he sent me to my room, only he locked me in with a human skeleton. A spell he used on my bedroom door prevented anything other than an undead from unlocking it.
Demons, including half demons, didn’t count since we were never alive in the first place. At first I thought he was a monster for doing this to me, but the sort of tactic made me learn something that could save my life. He loved using these learn it yourself tactics much through my youth. Many hours were spent going through trial and error until I was able to get the skeleton to follow my instructions.
Upon getting out of my room, I was so tired from not eating that I felt like so could eat an entire cow whole. My youth was overall pretty peaceful and full of happy moments.
That is, of course, until the day after I had just turned eighteen years of age... I still remember it clear as crystal when it all changed. It was the silent night after raining the whole day, the night had just cleared to showcase the beautiful star-filled sky. Father was out of the small stronghold my parents built as a home. Meanwhile, Mother was teaching me how to fly as a birthday gift which I had eagerly waited for many years to learn.
Demon wings physically weren’t supposed to allow for flight; for one thing, unlike the forest birds’ wings that I was so used to seeing. My wings were upside down and covered with hardened scales that serve as a natural shield if I wrap myself in them. They were too large to repeatedly flap them like insects, yet were also too bulky to carry me up in big wing flaps like birds. My mother, however, made it fun for her amusement by giving me enough information to reach my own conclusions. Instead of actually telling what to do! Isn't that a bitch!?
/̸̥̉̂͋̚/̸̦̰̬̺̈́/̶̟̗̭͈͉̃̆͊̑͛/̸̢̯̻̃͌͑̓͜͠/̵͙͉͆̈̆̚/̴̡̔̐̀̍ͅ/̴̫̱̫̘̇͛͊̀/̸̛̦̲̭̎̏̒/̷͎̋͛́/̵̡̛͍̤͊̑̄͗/̸̫̜̘̥̓͆̈́͋|̸̛͕͕̇̚*̴̱̍̾͒*̴̫͌͛̆͘*̸͇̖̼̩̪̿̾͒*̴̢̗͕̫̒̃̚͝͝*̸̳̤̯̲̆̆̂͂̍|̶̡͉̮̼̼̃͑̏\̷͇̍̕\̵̱͍͎͑̎̋̂\̶̢̳̾̎̓͘͝\̶̥̜̼̜͘͜\̵̫̯̩̒\̵̧̫̲̽̐̽̋̊\̵̨̬̳̠͙͛̓\̷̟̹̑͗̇\̶̭̀͂̔̊̂\̶̧͚̳̥̿͛̇̃\̷̙̙̤͙̝̀̌͌̓͝
”Mother, how am I supposed to fly if my wings aren’t made for it?” I asked letting my wings slump to the forest ground, ”I have been flapping my wings like a drunk turkey for the last thirty minutes, yet every way I can think of has failed! What am I doing wrong?!”
Desperation laced my voice as I looked into the black spheres that were her eyes, the only way I could have known she was looking at me was by her orange Irises. Both glowed with motherly love at the level of our home’s fireplace. This way of letting me figured it out on my own was causing frustration to cloud my mind.
”Azazel... you are not a harpy, so you can’t fly like a bird. You are far too heavy to fly like a beetle, so you cannot use an insect's way of doing this. What other creature do you know that is able to fly?” she answered with her own question. A devious smile spread across her face while mine tensed in deep thought as I tried to solve the mystery. I began thinking back to my lessons Father taught me when we traveled to the Black Mountain. An ancient creature attacked... then I remembered a certain creature, I would have slapped myself for not thinking of it sooner.
”Father always gripes about how dragons shouldn’t be able to fly...” I muttered to myself. Her smile turned into a shit-eating grin that was only rivaled by my father’s whenever he told a lame joke. Their sheer stupidity was what made her burst out laughing. In this case, it was her way of letting me know that I had gotten closer to the solution.
”Hmmm... Dragons are too weighed down to achieve flight like a bird, much less so at the speeds they can reach... but, how?” I asked my mother, stumped at this point. She didn’t say a word, instead, she opened her jaw to let small tongues of fire creep past her lips. Her mouth closed with a resounding snap as she exhaled small smoke plumes through her nose. It suddenly clicked at what she was trying to get me to understand.
”Magic! Dragons use magic! To ignite the air the exhale, to harden their scales, to strengthen their muscles, and–” I started.
”They use their magic to fly like the wind!” Mother finished cutting me off. Her wings fluttered in excitement as I figured out the first step to flying. They were like mine albeit considerably smaller to fit her feminine build.
”So, how is it done? Do they use a spell to make their entire bodies lighter, just their wings, or... is it something else?” I asked thankful to finally be getting somewhere. My mother lightly chuckled before pulling me close, a kiss was planted on my cheek. I felt her warm breath near my ear to which she whispered the answer I so desperately sought in an almost seductive manner.
Obviously, my mother didn't intend to do the deed with a minor, much less her own son. This was most likely a tone out of habit, considering she was a somewhat sexual deviant. ”Demons, much like dragons, create powerful gusts of wind that propel them into the skies. Our wings are used as an anchor point for those wind currents, let me show you~”
My eyes widened upon hearing this since I had never seen my mother fly. I knew she could from what Father told me in his own words, it looked incredible as her wings sliced through the air. No matter how much I asked her before to show me she would never do so, not even giving me a small jump. That was until this point as I looked at her eyes still wide yet disbelief showed on my face. She seemed a bit embarrassed, but when she saw me, her expression returned to its usual cool-minded demeanor.
A small smile was flashed in my direction while she stood a few yards away. I stared at her in awe as my tail swished from side to side in anticipation. Mother spread her large wings and did something I wasn’t expecting, they folded back to their normal resting position. Suddenly, she sprinted toward my direction at her fastest speed. I thought she was going to ram into me until I heard a sound. The trees began shaking as wind rushed from under my feet in a violent torrent that nearly knocked me over.
Her wings opened wide, they were positioned toward her rear end. Mother leaped into the air followed by a sound resembling a hurricane—she took flight.
The clear sky allowed for no clouds to block my view, the full moon enabled me to see her silhouette. I took in every detail I could of her form as she flew like a crazed banshee with wind raising around her. While working in perfect unison both wings flapped in a large oval-like pattern. The tips reached from her waist down to her above her knee caps. I surmised that was her wing reach and continued watching how she moved in several laps above the forest.
Whenever moving forward her body was flat as a plank enabling wind to pass down her back. Switching an angled vertical ascent her body was never fully facing upward unless she wanted to go straight up. Mother made sharp and rounded turns to show me how to successfully attempt them. The former required using larger flaps in her wings alongside leaning her torso in that direction.
She did this all using powerful grace, I hoped to follow suit as soon as I possibly could. Upon finishing her final lap she fell towards me like a shooting star. This created a wind blast strong enough to knock me off my feet. I rolled onto my stomach which wasn’t painful per se the momentum just caught me off guard. As I laid there face down, I heard Mother walking up to me along with Father exiting the house. To no doubt see what was going on.
It simply took seeing me and the crater my mother created to clue him into what occurred. He let out a disappointed sigh.
”You went for a late-night flight and didn’t tell me?” he asked, sarcasm dripping in his every word. My mother simply looked him straight in the eyes before rolling them.
”I was just showing our son how we demons fly, ” she replied. Father walked over while she was talking proceeding to plant a soft kiss on her lips. His hands came to a rest on her curvaceous hips.
”Well, you can take me sky-high in bed tonight to make up for it~, ” he said with a lewd smile adorning his face. Mother’s resolve could not withstand the obscene levels of cheese. She roared with laughter at his joking request proceeding to wrap her arms over his shoulders. A human’s stature often came short when compared to a demon’s after all.
”We shall see about that my little hu–”
”Mother, Father! Please cease that, I’m right here!” I protested cutting my mother off, staggering to my feet I was unable to bear their sappy love banter. Although hearing it from anyone made me sick to my stomach, I hoped to one day engage in it with my special someone. If I had one. Options were quite slim considering I was only a half-blooded demon. They took full bloodlines seriously, and I doubted any humans apart from Father would fall for a demon of any kind. My parents laughed at my discomfort, kissing as they parted.
”I’ll see to dinner, ” my father told Mother.
”You’re the best~” she replied smiling. Her tail swaying from side to side like an excited dog.
”I know, ” he added, his trademark shit-eating grin formed. My mother groaned in a mixture if disappointment with a small giggle fit escaping her mouth.
”Oh, why do I put up with you?” she sighed, his grin remained unwavering.
”I don’t know... you tell me~” he countered. This made Mother turn him around with her long, prehensile tail, she pushed him back into the house.
”Go make dinner, and remember to cook your meat not ours, ” she ordered, ”we don’t want another soul burning incident.”
”Yes, ma’am!” he barked out while saluting, I recognized this impersonation, one of those human soldiers who walked the roads on the forest edge. Father disappeared behind the door and went to make our dinner. My mother chuckled to herself before walking back over to me.
”Alright, Azazel, now that you’ve seen me flying, its time for you to learn, ” she said. I screamed internally in excitement while the flames in my body heated up, I couldn’t stop a fanged smile from creeping onto my face.
\̵̧̖̗̣̯̂̿̓͛\̸̢̡̒̕\̵͈͉̩̱̲͊̄\̵̦͚̹̙́͛\̷̠̫͚͘\̶̨̮͌̑̿\̵̧̳͓̖̌̓ͅ\̵̼̳́̚\̷̛̯͐͊̽\̷̜̭̼̜́̔̓̚͝\̷͍̣̲̌̽̈́̕͘ͅ|̶̜̜̺͐-̵̦̓̓͂-̴͓̓͐͒̊̕-̸̣́̑̈̀͘-̴̨͒̔͘͠͝-̸̯͕̩͐̀̆́|̴̩̯̒̋̋ͅ/̵̢̡͖̬͈̍́/̵͙̮̬̫̈/̷̠̈́̄̚/̵̝̍͂͂̚̚/̴̱̀̓̚̚/̴̢̧̱͍̈́̀̚͜͠/̴͈̯̲͐/̸͇̲͐̉̈́̈́/̵͈̻̀̏̎/̴̗̚/̶̣̣̿͛̋̑̿
After several grueling hours of me jumping and falling that on my face, I was able to muster enough wind pressure to keep myself airborne for a few seconds. Of course... I ended up falling on my face again when the wind ceased. I had been annoyed at not being able to achieve anything in all this time, yet that last attempt renewed my burning enthusiasm. This motivated me to practice even after Mother told me to go inside to eat. Managing to finally get it after a full night of practice.
I was able to fly until I promptly passed out at three in the morning, Mother dragged me inside the house. She dumped my unconscious body onto my bed to which I slept for nine hours. It hit noon as a sunray hit my face through a window, making me wake up. My stomach growled in protest to going the entire night without eating. I wanted to test my newfound mobility so I decide to go hunting. We still had food from the night before, but I felt like challenging myself.
That would require me to travel a ways away since my parents had placed a mile wide diameter barrier around our little plot. It warded off unwanted visitors, including dangerous animals by turning them in the opposite direction without them noticing.
Father designed the barrier to allow things like rabbits, boars, deer, and caribous to pass through. If you didn’t count us, then our home was a predator-free zone where they could feel safe in. Safe enough to breed and give birth to on our land—although most just stayed to rest. Mother tried to teach me how to use a bow which started horribly due to my clumsy hands. Trying to hit bulls-eye targets father made for us that day ended with me being shot.
When I fired the arrow, it ricocheted off a nearby wall embedding itself through a slim crack in my wrapped wing shield. How I managed to hit a sewing needle-sized space still confounds me. Anyway... I asked Father to make me some armor for when I go hunting after I recovered. He appeased my paranoia by doing two things: one, he taught me how to use telekinesis to control and direct the arrows rather than shooting from a bow. This happened two days ago on my actual birthday, he bought me an armored full arm gauntlet which I engraved my initials into the pauldron.
I carefully strapped it on making sure it didn't make noise while I moved. I took a black metal arrow from my room and left out my window onto the ground. Taking in the clear blue sky combined with the Black Mountain pouring over the east treetops, I ran through the clearing where my home was. Upon getting far enough away, I shot off into the skies with a loud blast of wind. Almost immediately did I notice it was much easier to fly during the day then at night.
It wasn’t till this moment that I realized how fast I was capable of flying, I grew nauseous so I slowed down settling on a low glide. I took in my surroundings and noticed I was nearing the barrier’s edge. As much as I wanted to fly further, I couldn’t go through it without either of my parents opening a hole for us to head out. They would never tell me why, but I suppose it made sense. I have only ever been to a city once accompanied by Father on a supply run.
At the time I was too young to understand why I needed to hide my horns, wings, and tail from others. Different races hated me for a reason I thought was stupidly selective. Yes, I was different. Yet to an elf, a dwarf was as different to them as a full human was to me. Father was a mortal human while Mother was an immortal demon Hell Queen. If they could get along well enough to have me, then why couldn’t everyone else?
I assumed for the longest time the barrier was to just keep bad beings that would be mean to Mother and I for being different. Before that dragon encounter on Black Mountain, I thought they would get along with something like me. We both could breathe flames, had scales, and leathery wings. They weren’t as intelligent as I thought they were... not to mention loud.
As I saw that I was getting quite close to the barrier, I began reducing my altitude in an attempt to replicate Mother’s spectacular landing. While it was spectacular I didn’t exactly... land like mother did. More like I crashed into the ground somewhat less hard than my first flight attempts. Once I shook off the dust from my fallen form, I checked for anything broken or sprained. Minor bruising was the only thing present which would heal in a few hours.
I began searching for signs of game like Mother taught me to. She told me to use my heightened senses, my nose wasn’t just for show. Closing my eyes to concentrate, I slowly breathed in large breaths trying to find anything that smelled different from plant life. Minutes passed until I caught a whiff of dung off in the distance. I followed it, my hand near the arrows tied around my waist should I need one. When I reached my target, I took a mental note pertaining to the excrement pile.
”Still fresh... Where are you little piggie?” I muttered to myself as I looked around for signs of my prey. An obvious sign would be disturbed grass from its hoofprints. After several minutes, I saw fresh footprints like I was searching for, but they didn’t belong to the boar I was expecting. In fact, it was something I would never expect this time of the year.
”What’s a Caribou doing down here?” I questioned confused, ”they should be in the Northern Plains since it's summer. So, why...?”
I mulled over what could possibly drive one down here, but just sitting in the woods got me nowhere. I was going to hunt it, bring it back home to skin it, and ask Father why it was down here. He knew more about the wildlife of the forest than I did so he would have some type of answer. By following down quietly, I managed to catch up to the confused Caribou. It stood out like a sore tail ligament against the lush green plants. I could tell due to its antlers it wasn’t just another deer. Luckily for me, the Caribou was facing the opposite I was following it from.
This one was circling near the ravine that sprouts from the Black Mountain and carved through our land before leading deeper into the forest. As I got closer to the ravine, I saw my target casually trotting along the barrier edge. It practically screamed odd since Caribou’s were more cautious than deer. I decided to follow it to investigate its strange behavior up close. Where it was going seemed to relieve it or something was happening to keep this one as calm as it appeared.
While following it I picked up the vague smell of rotting that was getting stronger as we neared the ravine. I assumed it must have been some large carcass nearby, the wind carrying its smell. Ignoring this scent, I continued stalking the Caribou pulling an arrow free from the lasso. My magic held it hovering above my shoulder I kept my target in my crosshairs at all times. Due to my size being a bit large, one wrong move could easily alert it to my presence.
I closely tuck in my large wings as I walked and paid close attention to where my clawed feet went. Keeping my distance by hiding behind the trees I never took my eyes off the large Caribou. When it reached the ravine, it stopped near the edge seemingly frozen in place. I waited a few minutes in which it did not move a muscle so I went to get a closer look. The tree line only stretched a certain length as I now had to rely on my keen eyes. One detail I could make out about the Caribou was that something was wrong with it.
This weird one wasn’t just halting all motion, I could see its chest remain completely still... it wasn’t breathing at all. My revelation freaked me out to the point any anxiety I had quintupled. I shifted my weight to get closer to it and snapped a dead twig under my foot. The Caribou’s ear perked up, time seemed to slow down as it turned to look in my direction. What I saw looking at me made my heart skip a beat, the top part of it’s muzzle was fully rotted down to the bone.
That thing’s eyes... they were pale and utterly empty like when a creature had died. It was like I was staring at a walking corpse that moved on its own, I felt sick to my stomach seeing the state it was in.
Yes, I have performed Necromancy—which involved reanimated corpses, but they were always just the clean boney white skeletons. This thing felt like it was uprooting the life inside me from a single glance. It didn’t just look wrong. It was wrong, so very very wrong. I was snapped out of these disturbed thoughts as it turned its body around facing my direction. In order to keep myself from screaming out of the panic washing over me, I had to put my hand over my mouth to muffle my mouth should I slip and scream. Not daring to move a muscle I also held my breath.
The arrow in held my magic was primed and read to fire at the slightest movement from either of us. Fortunately, this thing didn’t seem interested in me since it turned its attention back to the ravine. A few seconds of standing still while holding my breath got to the point where I thought I was going to pass out. That was when the undead Caribou walked forward, it careened off the edge. I could hear its body hitting the walls of the deep chasm as it fell each bone in the decaying mass shattered on impact.
Then, I heard a final thumping splash as it fell onto the human ankle-deep water pool, I let go of the breath I was holding. Several deep breaths followed in order to calm myself down. Once I had collected myself, I walked towards the ravine to ensure that whatever thing it was would STAY dead. This led me to walk next to the edge of deep terra crack which I immediately regretted.
When I peered over the edge, I now understood why the smell of death was getting stronger the closer you got. The Caribou that just ended itself had company at the bottom. At least thirty caribous, deer, and even a few boars with varying degrees of decay were spread around. By the smell alone I could tell they had been there for a while. My fight-or-flight instinct kicked in, driving me to blast off out of there back to the house.
I have only ever flown as fast as I did then twice, let’s say that I landed as gracefully as my last landing. If not so much worse because I landed in my mother’s garden. Father had been teaching her how to grow spices so she could have them to cook with, saving him time from always going out to buy them. He came out of the house to investigate the noise as I pulled clumps of moist soil and broken ceramic pieces from my hair.
”Azazel, are you o-” he stopped dead in his tracks upon seeing the destroyed ceramic with smothered plants under me. A dark aura rose from behind him, “your mother is going to kill you!!! Why did you-?!”
“Father, we have a serious problem!” I shouted cutting him off. What halted his rant wasn’t the fact I cut him off, it was the fear still present on my face. Father had never been the most effective at reading others yet I was easy to read as a children’s book to him. He knew something was clearly wrong, and by the look on my face he knew it was worse than Mother’s fury over the spices.
”What happened?” he asked me, helping me to my feet. Without my horns, we were about the same height give or take an inch.
”I-I went hunting when I woke up to test my new mobility. I flew near the barrier edge, and spotted Caribou tracks on the ground. I follo–”
”A Caribou? Down here in the summer?” he interrupted with disbelief in his questions. My eyes were glued to his.
”That’s what I thought at first too, when... I finished telling him what had happened. From me following the rotting Caribou, to the smell of death that surrounded the ravine, to the corpse mounds at the bottom. While I spoke, my father was growing more uneasy with every word I said.
”Are you sure that’s what you saw?” he asked, his tone implied that he was hoping I would say it was all false. But, I know what I saw.
”Father, I swear to you it’s the truth! I...” halfway through my statement, he hugged me and began rubbing my lower back.
”It’s okay, go get clean yourself up then stay inside. I’ll go check this out. Stay near your mother. Tell her why you broke some of her plants, hopefully she won't skin you for it.” that last part snapped me out if my old panic right into a new one. It donned on me that I had slammed straight into my mother’s little project. I shook my head of those thoughts before nodding to Father. I did what he asked as he left in the direction of the ravine. By using the cleaning pool in our ’basement’, I washed the sweat and dirt off my body.
I went up to my mother’s room after I was mostly dry. I found her lying face down, resting on her "day off" no doubt. Flopping next to her I gave a defeated sigh.
”What’s on your mind, Honey?” she asked raising her head a bit.
I sighed again before explaining everything to her, she stayed quiet throughout my whole explanation. Once I finished speaking she began stretching the make of my neck. My worries began melting away as we stayed like this for a while, I fell asleep by her side.
Author's Note
Big thanks to Gazing the Stars for editing this. I'm aware that you guys have been asking for me to get an editor, and one of you pulled through! They did a really good job, so give their page a look when you're done here. Catch you guys later! 😁😁😁
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