Chapter I: Escape From Tartarus
Tartarus. The infamous realm of the damned. Those who have the misfortune of being imprisoned here are doomed to suffer an eternity of isolation, where there is no magic, no room, and no escape. Some have committed heinous crimes, while others have done things I don't care to remember.
Most intelligent beings that have been imprisoned here have already gone completely and totally insane, with their total isolation making them into ruthless, thoughtless beings. The quickest one to reach the stage of insanity did so in only a few days of being here. Overall, the creatures in Tartarus were a monstrous mess that no longer had any sanity to call their own.
I am rather happy to say that I am not part of their group.
You see, during my time here, I discovered a unique, but very easy trick that prevented my mind from becoming demented in this God-forsaken place I've been imprisoned in during the past few millennia. It was thinking. Thinking about… abstract concepts, shall we say? Such as… can magic bring eternal life? What's the highest number I can count to? How large was Tartarus? And most importantly, how many escape plans can I come up with? So many questions with an equal amount of answers, or more.
I was able to count all the way up to 1,000,000 before finally abandoning that in favor of topics I found to be more intriguing, like... what was Tartarus' size? Thus, for many days (or weeks; as I'd already lost track of time by this point), I looked out into the reddish-violet landscape in a vain attempt to figure out how large this place really was. I eventually came to an estimate of about a hundred square miles, possibly larger.
Then there was the possibility of how I could escape. This was the topic I spent most of my time on, scheming and thinking of an innumerable amount of plans to bypass Cerberus and find a way to get the gate open without alerting him. Most of my plans were concerned with the three-headed hound for a good number of reasons. Most notably that I couldn't use my magic to summon my staff and defend myself.
Nonetheless, I eventually moved on from that, too. I moved onto other topics in the meantime, or made my imagination go into overdrive as though I were on some kind of drug, imagining a man turning into a fox that can breath fire, a warlord covered head to toe in golden armor brutally taking over an Empire for himself, and even me being productive for once and carving out an Empire of my own with subordinates in tow.
Sometimes, I do go back on the topic of escape, making up more plans or grooming others due to a few logical errors I had missed at the time it was made. But I never built up the courage to act on one of these plans, as my fear of imminent failure prevailed each and every time. Instead, I just went back to sleep, then on the next day continued procrastinating by daydreaming radical stories and tales.
That was until, on one particular day, the gates of Tartarus slammed open, violently awakening me from a deep slumber.
SLAM!!!
I jolted awake when that deafening sound echoed loudly across all of Tartarus, probably startling all of its inmates. Almost immediately after my sudden awakening, the most throbbing and painful headache raked my head. I couldn't focus on whatever had disturbed my sleep as the pain was too extreme to ignore. So I clutching my head with my chained hands in a vain attempt to relax my headache.
"Fuckin' hell," I muttered under my breath. "I hate it when I wake up like this…"
Eventually (I estimated around ten to twenty minutes), the headache finally subsided enough to where I could actually regard my surroundings again. Looking around, nothing seems to have changed. Same depressing colors, everyone imprisoned like they should be, and that one idiot over there was still gnawing at his cage like he was when he came in long ago. Overall, the only thing that seemed to be different was that Cerberus was nowhere to be seen, and-
My thoughts ground to a halt once I realized what those words meant. Cerberus was nowhere to be seen. He was gone. Like, gone gone. If I wanted to escape (and I did), that dumb mutt won't be anywhere to stop me from doing so. It was the perfect scenario for escape, no complex planning required, and no need to worry about being caught. And I wanted to take it.
And yet I remained hesitant to do so. After all, what if Cerberus was merely somewhere else in Tartarus? Also, my area wasn't the only one he had to watch, he just preferred to be here more than anywhere else. And even if he did leave, he always came back a few minutes later. What if he came back and saw me escaping? He'd just force me back and imprison me with brand new, unbreakable chains. Or worse, a cage.
"Even if that's true," the ambitious part of my mind butted in, "does it explain the loud sound that awakened you?"
That much was correct. What was that sound? I scanned around the desolate landscape of Tartarus to find the potential source of it, but as expected found nothing of note. However, something did ended up acquiring my attention.
Down at the bottom of one of the containment towers, were the footprints of Cerberus. It wasn't all that difficult to identify considering how he was the only one allowed to roam around Tartarus. Most of the prints were in a circular pattern, which was accurate, seeing as that mutt always liked walking in circles.
But that wasn't what actually caught my eye. What did was the fact that there were more tracks, but unlike the others, they walked in a single direction, away from the circle and into an unknown part of Tartarus. They went quite far, and I doubt that Cerberus, wherever he was, wouldn't see my escape from my tower, and if I wanted to escape, the time to do so was now.
After finally making my decision and pushing back my fear of failure, I quickly looked to the chains that held me down, finding them worn and rusty from many years of neglect. That was a good sign, it'll be easier to break them. Testing this, I gave an experimental pull to assess their strength.
Despite many years of decay, they remained strong, resisting every attempt I made to break them. After some time, I could feel them getting more loose to the ground and weakening. Desperately wanting myself to be free, I kept pulling, ignoring the massive pain and strain that was growing on my wrists, screaming at me to stop. This continued for some minutes, before a sudden snap brought me surging forward, tumbling face-first to the ground with a thud.
Quickly recovering, I looked back to where I had been chained. They were detached from the ground, officially making me free to wander Tartarus for an escape route. Despite the chains remaining locked around my still aching wrists, the only thing on my mind was the thought of finally leaving this wretched place.
"All according to plan," I joked to myself, chuckling at how stupid that sounded, considering none of this was actually planned.
Nonetheless, I wasted no time in leaving my containment tower and into the barren wasteland of Tartarus, hopefully for the last time.
"That was far easier than expected." I thought as I came to my destination.
The gate of Tartarus. A large entrance built and enchanted by the most talented of unicorns. It was made with the intent of keeping the dangerous monsters native to Tartarus from threatening the outside world. Come thousands of years later, and it soon became a place where the most dangerous individuals - from offences ranging from practicing forbidden magic, to being a threat to the entire world - would be imprisoned, starting with me. There's no doubt in my mind that if the Emperor hadn't been banished to another dimension by Gusty and her warriors, he most likely would have been imprisoned here too.
And here it now stood, wide open and practically begging me to walk through it. To leave Tartarus at last and return to the civilized world as a free man. Or woman. Specifically madwoman, but I digress.
And so I walked through the gate. It was less dramatic than I hoped it would have been, to be honest. It was but a mere step, from one side to the other. I've always read these kinds of moments to be a kind of relief, excitement, or freedom. But I felt nothing. Just the feeling of my bare feet walking on the rocky path ahead of me. A shame that it was underwhelming.
But I didn't dwell on that for too long. I kept moving along the dark pathway which led through the barren wastes of Outer-Tartarus (as I had no other name for it), moving further and further away from the gate, and the prison which had locked me away for what felt like an eternity. Unfortunately, I don't know exactly how long it was, and frankly I probably won't for quite some time.
What was also unfortunate was the fact that I was essentially powerless. As I said before, I couldn't summon my trusty staff, and with that I couldn't teleport myself out of this wasteland. This was most likely due to the land in and around Tartarus had been enchanted with a spell that prevented its inmates from using their magic to escape. If this was true, then all I had to do was get far away enough from the gate, and I should be able to use my magic again. Simple.
And so I walked as far as I could. The path which I walked down was changing ever so slightly. The air around me began to feel lighter in my lungs. And best of all, I could slowly feel my magic returning with every step I took. To test this, I attempted to practice a basic fire spell. Snapping my fingers, I continued my walk. While this was happening, I began to wonder about other things I considered important.
*Snap* "I wonder what happened to everyone else. Did Gusty kill them? Or are they all scattered across the world in hiding? It's been a long time since I've been imprisoned, and one can only play hide and seek for so long, but there's still a chance they're out there."
*Snap* "Speaking of Gusty… she could be dead by now, depending on how long it's been. No mortal could ever hope to survive a few decades, after all. And her being dead would most definitely work to my benefit, as I won't have to deal with any annoying distractions."
*Snap* "And… a lot of time has passed. I know it has. I just need to figure out how much. A lot can change in a certain amount of time. To be honest, I'm quite interested to see what has happened while I dreamed away in Tartarus."
*Snap* "There we are…"
I stared at the fire which burned on my finger. It may not seem like it at first, but I was overjoyed that my theory on why I was unable to use magic had turned out to be fully correct. Just to make sure, I blew out the fire and tried again, snapping a few times before getting the same result.
I continued this cycle for the next few hours, each time requiring less snaps than the last. I also noticed that the path in front of me began to turn into a basic dirt road. The sky was starting to brighten to its normal blue, and the clouds were starting to reappear. It was clear at that point that I was nearly home free.
But I still couldn't summon my staff, or teleport for that matter. The only magic I could do was the most basic of spells, which I practiced in order to pass the time. It made me a little worried. Had my staff been destroyed somehow? Was I doomed to basic magic?
I quickly locked away those thoughts. There was no way my staff was destroyed, with it being kept in a pocket dimension which only I knew existed. Besides, my theory on Tartarus keeping my magic at bay rang true every time I tested it. There was no need to panic over-
That's when it all came down on me. I felt as though my body was being compressed to atoms with the amount of magic flowing back into me. Head aching. Heart throbbing. Vision clouded. The pressure was insane, dropping me to my knees, clutching my head tightly in a vain attempt to lessen the pain.
And then, it was just… gone.
It was strange. One second, your entire body is screeching in agony, the next you're completely fine. Nonetheless, I let out a sigh of relief, but I didn't stand. I rested for a few moments, letting my vision recover and my heart rate return to normal. As I rested there, my mind began to think again.
"Of course that's going to be how my magic returns to me. By causing extreme pain! It could have been a gradual process, but no, it had to be done that way. Stupid spell boundary - ow!"
"Fuckin' hell…" I whispered in exasperation, clutching my head again as the headache suddenly spiked in intensity, before it eventually subsided. It was annoying, having to deal with that kind of pain. It jumbles your brain and prevents you from even thinking properly. And speaking of the spell boundary…
Quickly getting back onto my feet, I turned back to the way I came. With my curiosity taking control of me, I decided to dip my right hand past the boundary, engulfing it inside the barrier which had robbed me of my magic for millennia. Almost immediately upon doing so, my right hand felt awkward. It wasn't painful, mind you, but it didn't feel much comfortable either. It felt as though a layer of my skin was being torn away from my hand, but in the least excruciating way possible, if that made any sense. Over all, I found it a little underwhelming that having magic stripped away from your being felt like this.
Pulling my hand out of the boundary, I took notice of the chains that remained bound to my wrists. They were quickly taken care of with a snap, shattering them to many pieces. My wrists felt unnatural relief at finally being unrestrained. The area where the chains were bound were a dark purple-ish color by now, still aching, but evidently not as much as before.
With the chains now out of the way, it was finally time to get back my staff after all these years.
Reaching out my hand, I began the summoning spell. I felt the magical energy building in my palm, struggling to enact the spell after many years of being disabled and unused. Due to this, I was having more difficulty than I expected. Concentrating harder, I pushed the energy in my hand to enact the spell. It intensified in power, but it remained persistent in not completing the spell. But I remained persistent as well, continuing to put more energy into my spell. Soon enough, the energy gained the power it desperately wanted, and at last accomplished the spell.
If my perception was correct, I haven't seen my staff in about a few years, and because of that, I found great excitement and joy at seeing it again after that time, like a mother to her child she hasn't seen for decades. I always connected more to objects than I did with people, after all.
"Let's see if you still work properly after all these years," and with that, I began testing it to see what abilities it could still do, as well as could no longer do. There were a few in the latter category, most disappointing of which was weapon summoning. The ability to summon any weapon from any dimension for your personal use was amazing, especially with the limitless amount of advantages it can give you, whether it be at range, or in close-quarters combat. But now it was gone, and the only weapon of choice I had now was my staff, which, admittedly, I wasn't very skilled with.
Speaking of which, I was fortunate to find that my staff could still teleport me, if it being able to teleport me from one side of the desolate road of Outer-Tartarus to the other said anything. This was good news, as I can now go wherever I want, and not have to suffer the long week(s) of walking aimlessly down this road and hoping civilization would pop out of the ground at any moment.
To confirm this, I tested my staff's teleportation more than once, each time getting the same result as the last. Satisfied, I decided it was finally time to leave this place, and see what has happened in the world while I was imprisoned. And to start this adventure off, I teleported to the first place that came to my head. Tambelon.
And with a bright flash, I disappeared from the road I was standing on, and began my journey into a world I hadn't seen for who-knows how many years.
Author's Note
And so it begins... again. Sorry for the long wait, bit so many things kept me from finishing it for so long that it was the greatest relief to finally get this done. So I hope you enjoy it, because I'm likely not going to upload another chapter for some time.
-Historex
There are many things which can cause sadness. The death of a family member or pet, the tone of a song, the suffering of others, and a good person falling out of grace.
Losing your home can also count as one of those causes.
Tambelon, or whatever was left of it, was now just a land with stones scattered around, dotting the otherwise flat landscape. These were the only signs left that the city even existed at all, no buildings, no foundations, not even the small plateau it was built on remained. Tambelon was thoroughly left to rot after the fall of the Emperor, as it would seem.
In hindsight, I shouldn't have been surprised at this development. As I said before, several years is quite a long time, and anything could have happened during this period, such as Gusty's Pony Confederacy collapsing due to infighting, leading to the inevitable rebirth of the three Pony tribes who then proceed to war over petty disagreements, as they always do. If so, it would seem that the once great City of Darkness (as the Emperor called it) had been forgotten by history, and left to decay to the state which it was now.
But what did this all mean to me personally? You see, this had been the place I called my home for years, dare I say my entire life. I did my experiments here, slept there, and conversed with others over there. All of this now but a distant memory in my brain, never to be experienced again.
Sighing, I sat on one of the many stones that littered the land. Using my staff, I created a mirror image. As I expected, the reflection that stared back at me was myself, wearing the same elaborate black dress, with a matching skirt and shawl. The same orange highlights were scattered along all of them, outlining the texture of the clothing. The same cap with the same color scheme, with the same ornaments of which looked like ribbons, also with the same black-orange colors. The same pale, childish face. The same dark orange eyes, eyes which, to an average observer, looked dead and soulless. And lastly, the same short, messy white hair adorned my head, which had not even grown during my time in Tartarus, remaining at shoulder length.
Overall, it looked like I hadn't aged a day. Unlike this place. Willing the mirror to disappear, I began to think over my next options on what to do.
But what was there to do? Sure, explore the world, but in which direction would I go exactly? North? South? East? West? There were many options that could lead me to civilization, but there are some which might lead me to an expansive ocean, a barren desert, a lifeless jungle, and at worst, the Frozen North. Just imagining myself in that arctic wasteland of nothingness already brought shivers to my body.
That was when a faint sound reached my ears. A distant whistle of something echoed from somewhere beyond my sight. I was immediately curious as to the origins of this noise, and stood up from the rock I sat on and began to investigate.
Now, the first thing that came to finding a sound is figuring out the direction it was coming from. That was easy, considering I had been hearing the sound from my right ear since it started. So I went right. The second step was to actually find it, which was far harder, considering the fact that my staff's age disabled many of the spells it could have done before, like making me able to fly. This made the task of finding the source far more irritating, as I couldn't simply go up into the sky and identify what the noise was.
"I knew I should've added time distortion to the pocket dimension," I thought with disdain as I trekked my way through the grass. "it would've made all of this shit I want to do so much easier!" But alas, when I created it, I thought the time distortion was unnecessary, as I didn't know I would be imprisoned in Tartarus for an unknown number of years. How stupid of me to not think that such a thing would happen!
Now I had to find another solution to this problem, which came to me rather quickly; teleportation.
Theoretically, this could work, as teleporting from one location to another in quick succession could equate as a mode of transportation. But I feared my staff's durability wouldn't be able to handle it due to its years of neglect. It could cease the ability of teleporting, or worse, cease functioning altogether. It was in my best interests to keep that from happening, lest I be doomed to only basic magic use for the rest of my days.
…But I easily got impatient from walking. So I teleported anyway.
It took a relatively short amount of time to finally find the source of the noise that had caught my interests. And, if I were being honest, what I saw wasn't quite what I was expecting.
"Holy shit… that's a train!"
Indeed, there it was, the famous multi-cart locomotive, moving along its tracks at break-neck speed, all the while wailing its powerful horn. By the looks of it, there were no windows in any of the other cars, meaning that this particular train was meant for the transport of materials rather than people. That meant that I could sneak into one of the boxcars and have it ride my way to civilization.
Wasting no time, I quickly used my staff to teleport me beside the train. I quickly grabbed onto the door lock of a boxcar, which had the side effect of making the train yank me along for the ride.
With phase one completed I moved on to the next phase; getting inside the boxcar. Fortunately, this was as easy as dismantling the lock to the door. Using my staff, I sawed the lock horizontally, eventually breaking it. Without its lock to keep it closed, the boxcar door slid wide open at lightning speed, almost causing me to lose my grip and falling to the ground. Or worse, to my demise.
Now that the boxcar was opened, I carefully inserted myself inside, delicately making sure that I don't misstep or lose balance. When both of my feet were in, I finally gained enough confidence to let go of the door.
Now inside, I looked at what kind of cargo this cart was carrying. There were a variety of crates possibly containing food and the like. And the possibility of food was enough for my curiosity to overcome me. Using my trusty staff, I opened one of the crates and looked inside. To my greatest of luck, I found it full of fresh apples. Wasting no time, I swooped one into my hands and began to bite into it.
And oh boy, was it refreshing to eat something after who-knows-how-long I was in Tartarus. In that short period of time, I felt as though I were in heaven. The juiciness, the burst of flavor, my dry mouth became completely rejuvenated and brought back to the world of food. Of course, the magic soon wore off and the apple began to taste as bland as ever. I continued to eat it as, with a quick check of the contents of the other crates, apples were the only thing on the menu.
Taking another bite out of my apple, I turned back to the open door of the boxcar. Outside, wide plains passed by. There were several mountains in the distance, each as tall as the next, with ice and snow-covered tops. A quick glance to the side also revealed the ruins of Tambelon slowly fading as the train moved away from it. And to be honest, seeing my old home in ruins, and leaving it for what will likely be indefinitely, is kind of heartbreaking.
But I quickly buried those thoughts down. I was in a new era. The train I stood on proved that much. How long it has been since I was imprisoned I have yet to figure out, but it was likely for a very long time. This could mean a multitude of things I theorized could be correct, such as Gusty being dead, as well as everyone who supported her. Unfortunately, the same could be said about everyone else involved with the Emperor's quest for absolute domination. With the very real possibility they were also dead, it would mean that I was the only one left alive from that point in history.
The only one left. I felt some pride in my perceived uniqueness. In being the only remnant of a possibly long-forgotten history, it's likely that no one will know who I am or where I came from. That would inevitably make lying low much easier to accomplish, which in turn ensured that I'd get the privacy I value so much. And with everyone gone, it also meant there was no one to control me other than myself. With there being no Emperor to monitor my every move, I could take any action I want with no interruption, and without the fear of one day being imprisoned (or worse, executed) for disloyalty.
A slight smile came to my lips after that thought. I was free. Free to do what I wished. No authority to reign me in or control me. Nothing. It was the perfect scenario I never knew I wanted.
Taking one last bite out of the apple, I carelessly threw it outside the boxcar and began to think over my future moves. It was a foregone conclusion that I would remain onboard this train until it reached civilization, at which point I'll ditch it and begin my journey into this new world I found myself in. But after that came the real question; what will I do afterwards?
"Kill everyone, obviously," I blurted out to no one in particular, chuckling. Admittedly it was an easy answer, at least if I want to be noticed early on. While being in the spotlight was quite enticing, I also loathed being the center of attention, especially if it's negative. It always made me feel somewhat insecure about myself, having others throw insults and question my morals. I also would probably have to hide quite often in order to avoid capture, and with how much I valued my current freedom, I wanted to avoid that possibility as much as possible. So I decided to shoot down that option.
"Maybe I could disguise myself and acquire political power?" This choice had some similarities with the first, such as being in the spotlight. But as opposed to killing everyone I came across, gaining political power gave me valuable allies, at the expense also of giving me indestructible enemies. And on top of that, management of that magnitude would become an absolute bane to my existence, and the paperwork that came with it would undoubtedly prevent me from pursuing my passions was the cherry on the cake. So I tossed away that option, too.
"Maybe I could live as a nomad…" ooh! Now there's an idea. Being a nomad offered many things I saw as positives; independence, privacy, exploration, being a nomad granted me the ability to do all of those things. The only major issue would be the gathering of food. There were numerous ways to circumvent that issue, most obvious of which was stealing them from the markets. Or pickpocketing other people so that I'll be able to spend the amount needed to purchase them myself. Hunting was another idea, but the thought of waiting for an ungodly amount of time only to be rewarded with a small amount of food in return didn't seem like a good investment to me. So it would seem my best option was stealing from others as I travel across the new era I found myself in.
Having finally made up my mind on what I was going to do in the coming days, I turned back and stared inside the boxcar once more. Making my way to one of the crates, I sat on it, leaning against another crate behind me. It wasn't comfortable in the slightest, but with my long walk out of Tartarus, and the lengths I went to get on this train, I was willing to accept anything which helped me rest and relax.
Once again, I found myself looking at the passing scenery of grass, mountains, clouds, and so on. Judging by how there was no villages or towns in the distance, we were still a ways off from civilization, ranging from a few hours to perhaps even a few days.
That's fine. I have the largest supply of apples one could hope for, not that I needed it. But eating them could help me think over the final details of my future nomadic lifestyle. Speaking of thinking, I still can use my imagination to pass the time when necessary.
After all, I used it to pass time on Tartarus for God-knows how long, and seeing the amount of time a simple trip like this could take, this would be child's play.
