Lightseeker: A Flame of Disparity Story

Chapters

Chapter 1: Yakhub Bay
Chapter 2: Theiros, City of the Lost
Chapter 3: Thieves' Passage
Epilogue: Fyrlon - The Light Shines

Chapter 1: Yakhub Bay

It had felt like hours since Rainbow Dash last moved from her hiding spot. She had been crouched down in the darkness, with dust and debris raining down on her head and shoulders from above as the Mad Horde stomped about above her, killing any soul they found that had yet to be taken by the disease.

They had staged a coup just four hours ago, wresting control from the royal family and executing them immediately, their minds taken over by the madness that was spreading from across the sea. Rainbow shook her head and sighed. She was supposed to leave Canterim today to journey to the faraway land of Veorea in search of a mythical light source, but here she was now, hiding for her life.

Her ship was supposed to leave at dawn, but here she was, stuck under the thundering boots of the Mad Horde. There had to be something she could do to get out of this predicament…

“Duh, of course…” she hissed and hit her forehead with two fingers. “I’m Rainbow ‘Danger’ Dash. I can do this. I just need to be fast as I always am and Veorea, here I come.”

With the destination of the harbour in mind, Rainbow crept out of her hiding spot and carefully took each step to ensure she didn’t crunch on any fallen debris as she went on. She had her two trusty shortswords strapped to her sides, in case things went out of hand, but she was hoping to make it well away from here before anything happened.

Under the cover of the night sky, Rainbow clambered out of the ruined house that was once hers, getting back onto ground level from a hole in the ceiling. The Mad Horde had ventured further now and she could see them marching on, their robed forms lit under the light from their torches. She didn't know how many still roamed the city, but she hoped it wouldn't be too many now.

It had been a problem for far too long now, with people all over Canterim going mad from some kind of disease. Her elders had said it was because of the spread of the Abyss on Veorea. Rainbow didn’t know, but whatever it was, Light could be a way to combat that sickness, and that was one of her reasons for wanting her own personal light source. If she could save her land, why not, right? Plus, she’d be hailed as a hero, which wasn’t too bad either.

Rainbow dashed away from her street, her feet barely pattering against the cobbled floor. After she rounded the corner around another ruined house, she came face to face with a mad bandit, clad in her robes and carrying an axe and torch.

The bandit groaned and approached, axe lifted high to strike. Rainbow removed her shortswords from her sides and rolled under the mad bandit’s first strike, then spun on her heel and slashed out, catching her across the back and tearing through both cloth and flesh. The mad bandit stumbled forward and turned, attempting another strike with her axe. Rainbow raised one sword and blocked the blow, stepping to the side at the same time to dodge it. She cut the bandit across the left thigh, then as she fell, she brought her sword down against the bandit’s back, finishing her off.

Spinning both swords to clean them of blood droplets, Rainbow ran on, keeping an eye around each corner. She could see it now, the open ocean at the bottom of a slope of burning buildings. All she had to do was make it there alive and all would be well.

As life would have it, before she could even get to the fish markets, two more mad bandits appeared from one of the destroyed buildings, this time one sporting a club. They approached her without a word, their madness driving them to attack anyone still alive.

Rainbow employed her same method and rolled away from the first one’s strike. As she spun to attack, the second one with the axe slashed horizontally at her, forcing her to block with one sword as she cut out with the other, catching the first bandit across the right arm. Both groaned at her and pressed their attack, trading blows with her as they fought on both her left and right. Rainbow exchanged blows with one of them, gutting him across the neck as his club crashed down into her side. Rainbow felt something give way and she was sure a rib had punctured a lung.

The first mad bandit went down, and as Rainbow dropped to a knee, the second one advanced, leaping high, his axe raised to kill. With all her strength, Rainbow rolled to the side, just barely missing an axe to her face. As the bandit landed down beside her, she spun one sword around and thrust it back as hard as she could without looking back. She felt the weapon pierce right through the bandit and she pushed harder, removing her sword only once she felt his weight drop against her.

Rainbow grabbed her side, panting and wincing as every breath drew sharp stings through her chest. Reaching into her pack, the rainbow haired girl produced a shiny glowing stone the size of her palm and crushed it. Warm light poured over her and she closed her eyes and breathed in. As time passed, she could feel her body slowly mend itself, allowing her to feel a somewhat sense of comfort once again.

Rainbow sighed. It was no bonfire, but at least it helped relieve her injuries.

Lifegems were valuable healing items one could create from amassing souls. They weren’t as effective as something like a flask of estus, but those were short on hand these days and finding someone with a flask was at least one in a thousand here on Canterim. Lifegems would have to do.

Getting up, Rainbow sheathed her blades and first searched the bodies of her attackers. So found a single firebomb and another lifegem, so at least the fight wasn’t completely useless.

Continuing on to the harbour, Rainbow spotted another three mad ones guarding the main road ahead. She didn’t fancy another fight just yet, so she slid herself into one of the derelict houses and snuck out the window in the back. This led her down an alley, where she continued on in a crouch to avoid detection. She weaved through another building before emerging out in a smaller street, this one sporting a flaming pyre where she spotted some poor soul, charred to black, hanging at the top of it. The smell of burnt flesh filled her nostrils and Rainbow turned her head away and placed one hand over her nose and mouth. These mad ones really were mad.

“Hello...?” a voice suddenly called from behind.

Rainbow turned, one hand already on one sword’s grip when she realized who it was. It was Fluttershy, that weird girl who lived away from town in some cottage in the woods.

“What are you doing here?” Rainbow hissed. “You picked a bad time to come to town.”

The pink haired girl began pulling at her hair nervously. Rainbow scoffed internally. She was such a weirdo. She didn’t know how she would even last against the Mad Horde.

“I-I’m actually here to escape. I heard there was a ship leaving…” she said slowly. “Ma-maybe we could… go together?”

Rainbow’s eyes widened. She was getting on that ship to Veorea too. She sighed. She didn’t want someone like Fluttershy running alongside her. She was such a nervous wreck. All it took was for someone to approach her and she would just stiffen up and become a clumsy lump of flesh. It made sense that she lived away from them, but it didn’t make sense she would want to escape with them.

“You’re only going to slow me down.” Rainbow pointed to the burnt person. “I don’t want to end up like them.”

“We-well, me nei-neither…”

Rainbow slapped a hand to her forehead. “Look, all you’re going to do is get me killed, okay? That’s the truth! I mean, what can you even do? Can you even fight?”

“I ha-have a bow…” The girl removed a shortbow from her back.

“Ugh…” Rainbow looked towards the harbour. It was still clear of the Mad Horde. “Just don’t expect me to save your or anything.”

The meek girl nodded slowly.

Rainbow Dash proceeded on, not ever stopping to make sure Fluttershy was behind her. Getting out of here in one piece was hard enough without having to look after someone who was essentially the village loser.

As if to make matters worse, two mad ones appeared out from behind a wrecked wagon, pulling along an ogre in chains. Rainbow grimaced. She hated fighting ogres. Sure, they give her a lot of souls, but they are incredibly resilient to death.

The ogre was the first to spot her with its single eye. It bellowed and shook its pale blue meaty body, knocking the two mad ones off its chains and sending them spiralling into one of the buildings, breaking the already failing wood and sending the roof crashing down on them.

The ogre first swung its right arm at Rainbow, who swiftly dodged to the side, then she dropped back into a roll again as its left arm came from the other side. The ogre spun around and she slashed at its legs, but then she realized it was now tilting back, standing only on one leg. Her eyes widened in surprise and she ran back just as the ogre fell on the spot she had just been standing at. That would’ve outright crushed her, but now, the ogre had left itself open.

Running back in, Rainbow slashed away at its head, cutting gashes across its hide and even slicing off its short horn. The ogre grunted and stood back up as arrows thudded into its chest from behind Rainbow.

She turned and spotted Fluttershy readying another arrow before launching it right into the ogre’s eye, blinding it. The creature grabbed its face and fell against the wagon, crushing it. Rainbow took this chance to rush it, slashing in a spin against its left leg, then she kicked off its knee and stabbed her shortswords into the ogre’s butt as she began making her way up, using her swords to get herself higher up the creature.

The ogre swung its arms around blindly, smashing apart another building and spraying splinters across the street, but it was unable to reach Rainbow.

The noise it was creating wasn’t likely to go unnoticed. She knew they had to make quick work of the ogre before the Mad Horde returned.

Spinning herself on one sword, Rainbow angled her legs above and somersaulted on top of the Ogre’s shoulders. With both weapons, she jabbed them through the monster’s already injured eye, digging her blades in deep until she felt something squelch and burst.

The ogre stopped flailing about and stood there for a whole second before falling forward, its body already fading into ashes.

Rainbow leapt from its shoulders and dusted her hands as Fluttershy ran over to join her.

“That was amazing,” the girl said with a small smile.

“Of course it was. Don’t you know who I am? I’m Rainbow Dash. You’re just a nobody, so I wouldn’t expect you to ever accomplish a feat like that.”

“Oh.” The girl’s smile was quick to fade off her face.

Light made itself known past the horizon, signalling that dawn would soon be upon them.

“Nevermind…” Rainbow shook her head. “We need to hurry. The Mad Horde would have heard the commotion.”

With the harbour of Yakhub Bay now within sight, Rainbow raced down the street, abandoning all forms of stealth. There was no time to take it slow and quiet anymore. They needed to get to that ship.

Passing along crates and barrels, Rainbow and Fluttershy traveled down a stony stairway, where the floor soon turned into planks, leading up to the main docking area, where she could already see a crowd of people gathered.

“Almost there…” she breathed to herself. A sense of hope rose in her chest. She was going to make it away and she was going to find the Sunlight Maggot that she had longed for for years now, and she was going to bring light back to her people and her land.

As she got closer to the group of people, Rainbow considered calling out to them, but something else tugged at the back of her mind. The people there were standing absolutely still next to a burning fire, and they didn’t seem to be preparing the ship at the dock whatsoever. Were they already done? What was going on?

Rainbow’s hope immediately deflated once she realized who those people were. They were more people from the Mad Horde and they were standing around a fire where someone was being roasted over. She recognized him as Gallant Sail, the captain who was supposed to take her across the sea. If they got the captain, then surely the rest of the crew were gone as well.

She wanted to stop now. She wanted to just give up and go home, but then she didn’t have a home to go back to anymore. These people had taken everything she knew already. She had to keep going if she wanted to return things to normal.

“With the power of our father, Pain! Or some say Painr… We give up these souls to you!” One of them cried out in a voice that sounded almost like every breath was killing his throat. He had a hood over his head and a white mask over the top half of his head that was shaped like a beaver. “You have shown us the way! The only way we may all live is through the dark! And so we burn these naysayers to you that you may receive their souls!”

“These people are cr-cr-crazy…” Fluttershy whimpered next to Rainbow, clutching her bow tightly.

Rainbow wanted to tell her how weird she was herself, but now wasn’t the time.

“I… Gorges, the Mad Herald, will bring all people to be yours, O’ Pain!” The man continued to plead to the sky. “Accept our offering and may we soon join you in Veorea!”

Rainbow’s eyes went wide. They were heading there as well. She couldn’t let them get there alive.

“We’ll need to take them out,” she told Fluttershy. Truth be told, she would probably be faster without the other girl, but some help was better than none. “Fluttershy, go left and distract them. We need to get that ship away from them and we need to take down their leader.”

“B-But what will you do…?” She anxiously grasped her bow.

“Just quit sniveling and go.” Rainbow pushed her. “If they leave here, they’re going to get to Veorea. That’s where I need to be and that’s where I don’t need them to be. Just do it.”

Fluttershy didn’t utter another word and scurried over to the side where a row of crates blocked the Mad Horde’s view of her. Rainbow Dash breathed and waited, taking out both swords in hand and getting into the right stance. She signalled to Fluttershy to fire, but the girl had no idea what she was trying to say.

Ugh, why am I even putting up with her…

Rainbow imitated firing an arrow from a bow and then pointed to the Mad Horde.

Fluttershy nodded with understanding and drew an arrow from her quiver.

Took her long enough.

Rainbow waited for the right opportunity. As soon as an arrow flew out from her left and sailed into one of the mad ones ahead. The man crumpled into the fire and Gorges and the rest started for the direction the arrow came from.

Perfect chance. I guess even weirdos have their use…

Rainbow charged out from where she was hiding, immediately getting behind one of the mad ones before they could turn around. She twisted both swords through the back of the closest mad one, lifting it up before planting its feet back on the ground and ripping her weapons out, taking it down instantly.

The other members of the Mad Horde only became aware of her presence after she eliminated another one with a backstab, but as they now faced her, Fluttershy began shooting more arrows from her corner, nailing another mad one through the back of the skull.

“Destroy them!” Gorges yelled and pointed a long spear at Rainbow.

The Mad Horde descended on Rainbow in a flash of steel and wood, but the rainbow haired girl rolled through all of them, slashing at one with both swords as she leapt to her feet. Another attacked her with her axe, but Rainbow parried it, then sliced her twice across the chest and once in the back, downing her.

She sidestepped another and slashed with her swords in an ‘X’ across one mad one’s face, but then another cut her across the left calf, sending her down on one knee.

Rainbow gasped in pain and blocked another mad one’s strike with a club, but that just jarred her arm and made her drop her weapon.

“Another one to fall needlessly. A shame.” Gorges approached her with his spear raised, its tip aimed for her neck.

The remaining mad ones went after Fluttershy, who vaulted over her crates and made a run for it, with them chasing her.

Rainbow Dash swung her remaining weapon at Gorges, who easily deflected it with his spear, but the girl took that delay to kick off with her one good leg and roll aside, a lifegem already being crushed in her hand. As life began to fill her, she got back on both feet, throwing a knife at one of the two last mad ones with Gorges, just as the Mad Herald swung his spear back and stabbed it into the wooden floor, just missing her.

The girl dropped into a roll and grabbed one of her shortswords as the other mad one reached her, swinging his club down at her. Rainbow’s feet touched the floor at the end of her roll and she speared her sword up, catching the mad one in the chest just as his club was about to hit her. He fell without a sound and stopped moving.

“Just you and me, Gorges.” Rainbow Dash pointed her weapon at the masked man.

“You do not know what is coming!” He spun his spear and held it in both hands. “Soon, all the world will be his! This is but the first step of man to ascend!”

“Uh, right.” Rainbow picked up her second shortsword and got into her stance, one sword held parallel to her body, the other pointed at the man. “You first. I’ve still got things to do.”

Gorges raised his spear to the sky and an orb of darkness shot out and hovered in the air above and between the two combatants. Dark beads, like hailstones, began to rain down in Rainbow’s direction.

Rainbow rolled away as the dark hail blasted holes into the ground. Gorges took the chance to lower his spear and charge at Rainbow, trying to run her through. Rainbow saw the spear coming and slashed one of her swords at it, the metal sparking as she pushed the spearhead out of the way, where it dug into the ground.

Gorges pulled the spear free, but Rainbow was already behind him. She stabbed at Gorges’ exposed back, her blade piercing through his robe quite easily. Gorges yanked his weapon from the ground and swung the spear around, clocking Rainbow Dash on the arm and making her stumble. She flipped herself on her back and kicked away from him as his spear unleashed a flurry of thrusts towards her, each one almost striking true as Rainbow twisted and turned on the ground, until she could finally get back on her feet. She planted a foot against the spear as it came again, then kicked off of it and jumped up over Gorges. With a spin, she slashed across the mad one’s hood, shredding it to bits and cutting gashes across his bald head, before landing behind him and performing a cross cut on his back, splashing blood across her chest and face.

Gorges stumbled forward and propped himself up with the shaft of his spear. Looking down at his hands, they began to flake away into ash, slowly floating away into the air.

“Pain…” His beaver mask fell off, revealing his decaying grey face. “I am called by your Abyss, and I answer…”

And then he was gone, leaving behind only his spear, which toppled into the fire they had started.

“Phew, easy for someone like me…” Rainbow pushed her fringe from her face and consumed a lifegem to give herself some relief.

She quickly looked around, noting that the remaining members of the Mad Horde here were either dead or chasing after Fluttershy somewhere. Rainbow looked to the ship she was supposed to depart in. It was a small one, likely only able to carry a handful of survivors to the land of Veorea. On the upside, at least that meant she could probably operate the ship herself.

Rainbow Dash looked around for Fluttershy. That weirdo was still out there somewhere, dead, alive, still fighting, she didn’t know, but she knew she was still around. Thoughts to find her crossed her mind, but Rainbow shook her head. She didn’t know Fluttershy enough, plus, did she really want to have someone tagging along with her on the whole ride to Veorea?

“Yeah, no.”

She climbed up the ladder for the ship and got about lowering the sails to ready her departure. She needed to make it to Veorea one way or another. The Sunlight Maggot awaited her. She was going to get there and she was going to get it.

The wind was blowing in a favorable direction, and Rainbow was certain that once she raised the anchor, she would be on a swift course to her destination. Come to think of it, which was the right way to Veorea? It couldn’t be a straight line, could it?

Speaking of the anchor…

Rainbow went over to the anchor winch and pushed at it, but the gears seemed to be stuck. The rest of the ship seemed in good condition, so perhaps they weren’t stuck, but just that she wasn’t strong enough. If she could just have one more pair of hands.

“Um, hello?” Came a soft, familiar voice.

Rainbow turned around. Fluttershy was there, climbing up onto the ship’s deck, looking a little the worse for wear.

“You again?” Rainbow groaned. “What are you doing here? It’s dangerous.”

“I’m-I’m coming… To Veorea. That’s where you’re h-headed, right?”

Rainbow grumbled, but then again, a second person would help with the anchor and the sailing, so perhaps it was a good idea to have her around. For now.

“Just help me out with the anchor.” Rainbow placed her hands on one of the handles and together, they pushed against the anchor’s capstan, steadily bringing the ship’s anchor out from the deep. As soon as it was high enough, the wind carried the ship away from Yakhub Bay and off to open water.

Rainbow Dash ran to the front and stood on the bow. They had made it. They were leaving the ravaged Canterim behind and were finally on their way to the land of Veorea, the land where the First Flame originated from and the light of the fabled Sunlight Maggot. Rainbow knew it. She was going to find it one day and this was a mission she was going to accomplish.

Author's Note

And so begins our first chapter of a Flame spin off story. I do hope this will be able to live up to what Flame had. As always, thank you for reading. I hope you found this entertaining.

If there are any questions, do let me know! Cheers!

Chapter 2: Theiros, City of the Lost

The journey to Veorea had been long and quite boring, with Rainbow constantly on the move around the ship, trying to find something to do. She got Fluttershy to steer the ship most of the time, but even if she was a strange one, she still needed her rest too, so Rainbow took over a little while Fluttershy got some sleep.

They hadn’t really spoken since leaving Canterim, except when Rainbow told Fluttershy what to do. She didn’t really know what to say to that girl, plus she didn’t know what kind of weird answers she might get, so she just let her be.

After a few days, as their food began to run out, Rainbow had finally spotted land from the crow’s nest at the top and signalled down to Fluttershy where to go.

Their destination was a dark and quite rundown city, its architecture looking like that of a graveyard. According to the map she had, this was Theiros, City of the Lost. It too had once been a thriving city, just like Yakhub Bay back at Canterim, but madness had taken over it and now people wandered the streets in search of flame.

“Wh-what do you think made all these people crazy?” Fluttershy gulped as Rainbow dropped the anchor, bringing their small ship to a halt.

The sky was a deep orange and the air around them smelled like burnt skin. That couldn’t be good. To add on to that already uneasy feeling, a shriek erupted from somewhere over the skyline, startling a flock of birds into the air and scaring Fluttershy so bad that she ducked to the lower decks of the ship in a flash.

Rainbow shook her head as she tied up the sails. No one ever said this journey was going to be easy. If she wanted her own light, she needed to be ready to undertake the tasks and she was ready. She couldn’t say the same thing about Fluttershy.

“Hey you.” Rainbow hopped over to the steps leading down to the lower deck. “Since we’ve arrived I’m going to head out. You do what you want now, yeah?”

“C-Can I come with you?” Fluttershy’s head ducked out from behind a barrel.

The last thing she wanted was to have that girl following her around again.

“I’d rather not. Why don’t you just go do what you want. Just don’t involve me, okay? Be seeing ya!”

Rainbow quickly left the ship and ran across the docks before Fluttershy could protest. Fluttershy needed to find her own way, whatever it is she came here to find. It would be easier for both of them.

The walk across the street towards the city was quiet and desolate, with not even a single person out and about. The Abyss had really taken its toll on the world since emerging from the Throne of Flames, now known as the Throne of the Fallen Hearth.

Rainbow found a trio of dead people, almost torn to shreds, with one of them missing most of his waist. It looked like bite marks and Rainbow shuddered to think of what would have done that.

A shriek rose up from the skyline again, it sounded like laughter this time. Scary laughter.

“Nothing to fear. Just keep going.” Rainbow unsheathed her shortswords and got ready for anything.

And it was a good thing she did. From one of the houses came a rather disfigured man. By the looks of it, he had already gone hollow a long time ago, now shuffling towards her with a cleaver in hand.

“Flame… dear flame…” he muttered.

“If anyone’s finding a flame, it’s going to be me!” Rainbow planted a kick into the hollow’s sternum, stumbling him back a step.

With a spin, Rainbow brought both swords across the hollow’s chest, cutting two clean wounds across it, then before he could react, she stabbed both weapons through his chest. The hollow dropped his cleaver, the fell beside it once Rainbow removed her weapons from his chest.

“Quite the joke, aren’t you?”

Rainbow kept herself low as she went up the street past the house the man had come from. The roads here were all cobbled as well, but trash littered the sides as though it hadn’t been cleaned in years. A pile of burning bodies sat on one side of the entrance to a park of sorts, while desolate wagons and carriages dotted the streets, long abandoned.

It looked like they were doing the same thing here too, killing others in their madness. Perhaps this darkness had already reached the four corners of the world. Rainbow shook her head. Now more than ever, they needed the Flames of Life to return to quell the Abyss before it was too late.

Rainbow Dash took a short flight of steps up a level and walked along a row of houses, some of them sporting claw marks across their doors. She shuddered to think what might have caused them.

The people here were mad, more so than the ones back at Canterim. At least back home, it was about ideologies. These ones seemed to turn into something worse, she didn’t know just what yet, but she really didn’t want to know just how far a hollow went hollow here. This seemed to be a type of hollow beyond anything she’d ever encountered before.

Without warning, something sharp slammed down into her shoulder and Rainbow fell to a knee with a gasp, turning to see a hollow with a beard, holding an axe that was now embedded in her shoulder.

Twisting her swords around, Rainbow stabbed them both back, spearing the hollow through the chest. He fell back without a word, and the girl quickly dislodged the axe and let out a cry of pain. She crushed a lifegem in her hand and the pain began to soothe slowly, but more hollows were already upon her. One was a woman with a spearhook in her hands and the other was another bearded man, this time wielding a wooden shield and a flaming torch.

Rainbow twisted her body around the spear as the woman thrust it forward, then she kicked off of it and slashed at the man with the shield, throwing splinters up into the air before she had to jump away from him. The woman with the spear came back, but Rainbow sidestepped her next attack and cut the weapon in two at the shaft, then kicked the woman down. The man came back and swung his torch around, trying to burn her, but Rainbow rolled past him and as she arrived behind him, she stabbed one sword into his back, then ripped it out and slashed his head off. The woman, now weaponless, was easily dispatched with a slash across her chest.

Taking some time to rest, Rainbow checked the wound on her shoulder to find it had already closed. She really liked lifegems. They were a little slow in fixing her up, but at least they gradually made you feel better.

Before she could wait long, there was a crashing of wood to her left and she found three more hollows with pitchforks falling over the abandoned wagon, with more following behind, like a mob of the Mad Horde back home. She had to move or they would surely overwhelm her.

Sheathing her weapons, Rainbow broke into a run and found her way up a short flight of steps to a row of houses on her right. She heard the mob’s weapons clanking against the railings at the staircase, but she didn’t stop to find out how fast they could run.

All of a sudden, there was a growling coming from somewhere within the mob. Rainbow remembered the claw marks on the doors and she shuddered to think what was now after her. Screams of the mob could be heard as something began tearing into them, screams that made her hair stand.

At the end of her path was a solid gate and no matter how much Rainbow pushed against it, it wouldn’t budge. She was trapped here.

Turning around, she could see what was left of the mob, lying across the cobbled floor, some of them in more than one piece. A werewolf stood above their bodies, still holding the upper half of a hollow’s torso in its hands, its claws red and bloody. It eyed Rainbow, then tossed the carcass aside.

There was no way around this. Rainbow unsheathed her shortswords and got into a combat stance. She had to fight this werewolf creature here.

On cue, the werewolf ran at her on all fours, its claws scratching up sparks into the air as it ran, digging new grooves across the cobbled path, saliva flying from its opened mouth filled with razor sharp fangs. Rainbow rolled to the left as it swung one arm at her, its claws raking over the gate behind her and leaving deep grooves across it. As she got back on her feet, Rainbow Dash slashed at the beast’s hindlegs repeatedly, rolling again when it turned around and tried to grab her.

She sliced at its fingers and she managed to shear one off, but then it barreled past her and knocked her over. It spun around and tried to bite her head off, but Rainbow stabbed up with one sword and it went through the roof of the werewolf’s jaws and emerged out its snout. The beast clawed at her, but Rainbow jumped back and rolled away, standing at a safe distance until the werewolf tired itself out and stopped moving. Its body slumped over one of the railings and blood ran down its snout to the floor below.

“Cool. That wasn’t too bad.” Rainbow planted a hand under the werewolf’s jaws and lifted it so she could retrieve her shortsword.

With a sickening squelch, her sword was out of its snout and she let go, allowing the dead werewolf to limply droop back over the railing.

She eyed the gate the werewolf had scratched earlier. Its claws were powerful, carving huge gashes across the heavy metal. Even her shortswords couldn’t have done damage like that.

Pushing against it, she found the gate’s integrity had weakened and with a few solid kicks, it gave way and broke off, creating a small hole Rainbow could fit through. And she had to hurry. Surely her kicks would have been heard across the city.

Climbing through the hole in the gate, Rainbow kept her weapons and ran along the next area as quietly as she could, not wanting to attract extra attention. Her first goal was to get someplace safe so that she could plot out her next move and to glean out some information on where the sunlight maggot could be found. At the moment, that was all that mattered.

She wondered how Fluttershy was doing, but she was probably fine. She did have some skill with the bow, whether she was annoying or not. Perhaps she was already holed up in one of the buildings, waiting out the mob’s prowl. Perhaps that was a plan, but Rainbow shook her head. There were better places to hide in than a high building. She had a different place in mind.

Arriving at a square with a fountain in the middle, Rainbow slinked over to the side of the area and peered over a ledge. To her glee, she spotted a sewer entrance just under a bridge to the north of her position.

Exactly what I’m looking for.

No one would think to look down there.

Tossing herself over a railing, Rainbow landed on the ground below in a roll. All that was left standing between her and the sewer entrance was a long road that led up to the junction that would bring her to the bridge. The road was desolate, save for a few dead bodies of hollows and one dog. All the buildings on the sides had their lanterns out in front of their doors, and every door was shut, likely civilians waiting out the mob’s hunt.

With nothing obstructing her way to the bridge, Rainbow ran down the cobbled path, hoping to get out of sight before another mob could show up. To her disbelief, there was the sound of something cracking above, followed by debris raining down to her left. It was pieces of a roof.

Looking up, she saw a large beast with long flowing black hair and a deer-shaped head with horns leap from the top of a building, landing before her on the street, blocking her path to the bridge. It had long arms extending past its bent knees, ending in curled claws that seemed to have at least three segments per finger. Its mouth was lined with dagger-like fangs, dripping blood and saliva, and its body was cloaked in bloody white tatters, likely what remained of the clothes it had on.

“Bloood… Waaant bloood…” a low voice exited its mouth. “Anaya will get… what she waaantsss…”

Rainbow wanted to turn and run the other way, to find a way around the beast, but when she tried to do so, she found a giant wall of fog blocking the entire back half of the street and no matter what she did, she could not pass it. It was the same on the other end, past the beast.

She was trapped.

“One way or another, I’m getting out of here and I’m going to find my light.” Rainbow unsheathed her shortswords and got into her stance, one blade held parallel to her body and the other pointed at the creature. “Come on, you beast!”

The creature known as Anaya lumbered forward, its elongated arms supporting its body up as it charged. Rainbow ran for its legs, seeing as its arms were so long, it would likely have difficulty reaching her if she stood under it.

She slid under the first arm, which swept over her head, one claw shredding off a few hairs off her head. The second one came from the other side, but Rainbow rolled past it, cutting back against the back of Anaya’s hand as it went by, drawing a spray of dark blood. Arriving at its feet, Rainbow wasted no time in spinning around with a few slashes to its toes and all the way up to its bent knees, feeling her blades lodge themselves into the beast’s bones as she kept up her work.

Keeping an eye out for Anaya’s arms, Rainbow spun around its right knee as one arm tried to grab for her, but her assessment had been right and its arms were just too long to reach her if she got it into the right angles. Spinning her swords into reverse grip, Rainbow jammed them into the lower back of the creature and began climbing up its back, repeatedly stabbing her blades in when she got to the meaty areas where its vital organs should be.

Anaya screeched into the night sky, its voice so loud that Rainbow felt as though the ground was shaking or her mind was spinning. Without warning, it jumped back very quickly and Rainbow only had a fraction of a second to dislodge herself from the beast’s back as it slammed into one of the buildings, raining concrete down around them. A man inside screamed, still seated on a couch, but Anaya reached in and grabbed him, before tossing him into its mouth, crunching down on bone and meat and spilling blood all over the street.

“Sorry, dude, but thanks.” Rainbow used this distraction to run along a raised piece of debris, using it to leap high into Anaya’s chest, thrusting both shortswords into its skin and using her weight to pull herself down.

With a shriek, the beast managed to get one hand over to Rainbow and clawed at her back, shredding through cloth, leather and flesh. Rainbow yelled in pain and fell off, her swords still in Anaya’s chest. One of the claws had went right through her left lung and she was having difficulty breathing and keeping up. Reaching into her pouch, Rainbow crushed a lifegem just as Anaya swept an arm at her, knocking her clean off her feet and into a fence at the side, denting it. Rainbow gasped as all the air in her damaged lungs was knocked right out of her chest, but it was nothing another lifegem couldn’t fix, though she needed time to recover.

Time wasn’t something she had as Anaya leapt for her, both arms raised high, its fists clenched and ready to smash down upon her.

Rainbow crushed a third lifegem, then rolled out of the attack, the impact launching her further forward, but at least she missed the full brunt of it. As she moved away from the monster, she began to feel her wounds close up and her bones mend themselves. She managed to recover enough just in time to slide under another slash of its arm, running to her swords in Anaya’s chest.

Anaya screeched and leapt high into the air. Rainbow kept her eyes up and her feet at the ready and when the beast came back down with its fists aimed for her again, Rainbow rolled away at the last second. Rubble flew up into the air around her as Anaya’s fists crashed into the cobbled ground just where she had been standing. Making a u-turn immediately as she got up from her roll, Rainbow Dash kicked off the creature’s clawed hands, then grabbed her swords which were still stuck in its chest. With a yell, the girl kicked off and yanked her swords out, then before she could fall, she dug them deep into Anaya’s chest again, this time higher than before.

Rainbow twisted her blades and cut out from the center, staining the beast’s tattered clothes with more blood. Anaya howled once more, then wobbled on its feet as Rainbow somersaulted away from its chest. It fell before the rainbow haired girl, only to begin fading away like a pile of cinders.

“Took you long enough…” Rainbow sighed with relief, then spun her shortswords before slamming them back in her sheaths. That had been one tough fight, but nothing she couldn’t handle. “I’m just that awesome.”

She crushed another lifegem to remove her aches and pains, then realized she only had nine left. She had to get more if a shop still existed in this land. These nine lifegems definitely weren’t going to last her whole journey.

With her path to the underside of the bridge now clear, Rainbow slinked over to the stairs leading down to the water, keeping an eye out for more hollows or creatures. There was another shriek across the city skyline, this one sounding more feral and feline than Anaya, but it sounded far, which was a very good thing.

Hiding in the shadows of the bridge, Rainbow stared into the gaping hole of the sewer entrance and took a sniff. It smelt terrible, but it was likely the mobs of hollows wouldn’t come down here. Steadying herself, Rainbow headed in for the dark unknown, not knowing where this would lead exactly, but at the moment, anywhere was better than above ground in this lost city.

Author's Note

Achievement unlocked:
Anaya, Beast of Want - You defeated Anaya, Beast of Want

Well, that's another chapter out, and we're back in Theiros, the start of Sunset's journey in the first story too. Just a reminder, this story's gonna be short. Probably less than five chapters, but we'll see. I think I should release some lore and bios of the bosses of Flame of Disparity too, so stay tuned for those over on the Bloodlines Continuity group page!

Cheers!

Chapter 3: Thieves' Passage

Rainbow Dash stuck her tongue out as she hesitantly peeled another wad of long hair off the bottom of one boot and tossed it into the passage behind her. Not only did it smell bad, but the texture of someone or something else’s hair between her fingers was enough to make her throw up a little in her mouth.

Disgusting… Rainbow groaned internally. She would have to brave this to get out of this city, but she wondered if she could take it if more hair appeared beneath her feet.

The end of the tunnel brought Rainbow to a drop off into murky grey water below, which wasn’t all that appealing to have a swim in. Two wooden platforms were built to the left and right of the tunnel ahead, but they were just too far for her to leap to.

She stuck her head out of the tunnel to look around it, but there didn’t seem to be anywhere to go. Again, Rainbow looked down to the uninviting water, flowing down a tunnel that probably led out to the sea. Perhaps she could find a way across from the water, but she really didn’t want to swim in that. The sewers already smelt bad enough.

And then she spotted something. There were planks to the side of her tunnel entrance. Perhaps one of them could help get her across to one of the wooden platforms. Bending down, Rainbow Dash gripped the sides of one plank, then plucked it off the floor, walking over to the edge of the tunnel. She stretched it out over the chasm between her and the wooden platform on the right. Once she was sure it was sturdy enough, the rainbow haired girl carefully crept across it, one foot at a time, careful to maintain her balance or risk falling into the disgusting water below.

As she got closer to the platform, the board began to crack and splinter beneath her weight and Rainbow only had a second to get as far as she could before it snapped at the center. She tossed herself into the air as the boards fell to the water below, managing to get onto the platform on the right. Unfortunately, she couldn’t stop herself in time and she collided with the wall, knocking stars into her eyes. She stumbled forward and tipped over the edge of the platform, but her instincts kicked in and Rainbow grabbed on with one hand, swinging herself just enough over another alcove just above the water on the right. With enough speed, she tossed herself off and just barely landed on the stony ground below.

“Man, that was close…” She leaned against the wall and rubbed at her sore face. There was a lump forming just above her right eyebrow, but at least it wasn’t anything serious. She took some time to rest, trying to shake the vertigo away before continuing. At least she had arrived on land, even if she wasn’t up where the platform was anymore.

She cracked open an eye and surveyed her surroundings. She was on a stone platform that ran alongside the water now, curving right and leading down a short flight of steps to another level. She could see more water flowing from up here, but another water flow just meant there might be another exit that way, which was good.

Once she was ready to continue, she proceeded down the stone staircase, wishing she had a source of light to navigate the darkness. It was a little hard to see ahead, but at least it wasn’t completely dark. There was light coming from somewhere above, but she couldn’t pinpoint the exact spots where they came from.

She was paying so much attention above her that she failed to see a furry shape scurry towards her. It was only because of the sound of its squeaks that Rainbow looked down and rolled to the left just as a rat the size of her arm jumped past, its fangs stained with rot and blood.

She drew one shortsword and stood, facing the huge rat as it turned itself to face her. It approached her slowly, almost warily, but getting close was its mistake. As soon as it was near enough, Rainbow took a step forward and sliced horizontally twice. The first one caught the rat across the snout, raising it up on its hindlegs, allowing her second slash to gut the rat’s throat, spewing fresh blood across the sewer floor. The creature screeched and clawed at the air, then went still and fell into the flowing greywater, sailing slowly down with the flow.

“As if the water wasn’t nasty enough.” Rainbow kept her weapon and went on.

The path ahead curved again, this time leading in an arc around an imaginary circle, growing darker as she proceeded deeper, the lights from above disappearing behind her. Rainbow Dash’s foot kicked into something and she looked down. Under her feet were piles of broken wood, which gave her an idea. Picking one up, the girl tied some spare bandages she had around its tip, then picked out another item from her pack. This one was a glass bottle with a stopper at the top. Within it was a small red butterfly and it began to glow as Rainbow uncorked the bottle. With a flick, the butterfly ignited itself and Rainbow placed her makeshift torch against it, setting its tip ablaze with light, illuminating the tunnel ahead of her.

“Much better.” She smiled and stood.

Now that she could see, she proceeded on more quickly than before, following the flow of greywater down a slope and around another bend. Another rat slid into view, this one having a bloody bone in its mouth, still chewing it as it eyed Rainbow’s legs.

With a squeak, it suddenly zig-zagged its way towards Rainbow, who quickly brought up her torch and swung it down against the rat’s head as it got close enough. Wood connected with bone and the rat flew against the wall, fire spreading across the fur on its head. Even then, it didn’t give up and tried to attack Rainbow again, but the girl simply planted a foot against its face as it reared up and she shoved it off the side, watching as the water swept it down away from her. These rats were big, but they still behaved like any other rat, and their size just made it easier to deal with them now.

At least rats are easier to deal with than werewolves or the like…

Eventually, her winding tunnel brought her upon a short slight up steps, leading up to a rusty old gate at the top. Rainbow tried to shove it open, and though old and weathered, it held strong, locked in place by a similarly rusty lock.

“Time to get out the old handy dandy picks.” Rainbow placed her torch by the side of the door and whipped out a worn leathery pouch which housed her lockpicking equipment. She hadn’t used these in a while, but it always came back to her like riding a cart.

Sticking the two pieces of metal into the lock, she twisted them around and kept one ear close to the keyhole, listening intently as the mechanisms within it began to click from her twisting.

One, two, three… Click. The lock swung down and she smiled to herself. Still a piece of cake. I could go for some cake now, actually.

She hadn’t eaten anything in a while, but then again, it was more of a want than a need right now. What she needed was to find her way out of the city so that she could plan her next step towards finding the legendary Sunlight Maggot.

She had heard of the tales long ago when she was but a wee girl, still training her sword skills. They are said to have originated from the Throne of Flames just like humans, undead and everything else, but long after the Throne had fallen to the Abyss. They could emanate light that was said to rival the light of Flames and Rainbow knew that only a power light source now would save Canterim from the encroaching darkness of the Abyss’ corruption.

Continuing on, the passageway yawned open in front of her like the mouth of some beast. Rainbow Dash cautiously tiptoed down the tunnel. She could feel the air on her face; it was less stagnant and more… salty?

A faint glow lit the end of the tunnel and suddenly it opened out into a massive cavern. There were torches sparsely placed all about, dotting wooden platforms and scaffolding that was built all around the edges of the hollow. There was another opening in the cavern, with a jetty or wharf built around it. Water from the ocean outside spilled inside to meet the disgusting sewer water, and there were a handful of small boats tied around some of the wooden platforms with rope.

A sign against a nearby pole read Thieves’ Passage.

“Looks promising.” Rainbow looked out around the area.

There were a few hollows shifting barrels off two of the boats, one of them sporting a pirate hat, but they shouldn’t pose much of a problem. Rushing from behind a stalagmite, the girl threw her torch at the nearest thief hollow, then drew both her swords in a flash.

The thief she threw her torch at reeled from the strike as the torch bounced off and fell into the water below, and Rainbow took this opportunity to strike him first, delivering a fast and deadly stab through his neck. She didn’t stop there and used her embedded sword to swing his dying body at the next hollow before kicking him off her weapon. The two hollows collided with a crate and smashed it to pieces, releasing a swarm of tiny red crabs, who fled back towards the water.

The third hollow, the one with the captain’s hat approached Rainbow and drew a curved sword. His other hand was a hook that looked like a bird’s talon, which was probably equally as dangerous. The second thief got up and drew two bandit daggers and Rainbow fell back to a defensive position so that they would both be in front of her. She didn’t come all this way only to get stabbed in the back now.

“Come on,” Rainbow said, her eyes darting from one opponent to the other. “Have a go if you think you’re tough enough.”

The hollow wearing the captain’s hat broke into a run, holding his cutlass high for a diagonal swing. Rainbow sidestepped the attack and stuck out her leg, tripping the hollow over. The second one came spinning with his daggers and Rainbow ducked under two slashes, then twisted herself around a third one and came up behind him. Grabbing ahold of his shoulder, Rainbow pulled it back and thrust one sword through his back, watching it come out through his front. She removed her sword and stepped away as the body fell backwards onto the deck.

The hollow that Rainbow had tripped was trying to get up, but then she cut its head off before it could properly recover. Dark blood dripped from her weapons as she pulled them back out. Rainbow Dash smiled to herself and looked around. The docks didn’t lead anywhere, but there was a stoney stairway leading up the side of a cliff, going towards wooden structures all the way to the top. She figured these must be houses, but perhaps there was another way out somewhere above.

Within the houses on the ground level, the girl spied clusters of sleeping hollows. She didn’t know why hollows needed their rest, seeing as they were already dead, but she didn’t really care to know what the reason was, so she kept going, heading up the stone steps to a second row of houses. One had pots of all shapes and sizes inside, while the other only had a single table with more sleeping hollows among it.

Around the next corner was a small alcove that Rainbow almost missed. The only reason she spotted it was because a female hollow thief leapt out of it, trying to ambush her with her bandit dagger. Rainbow spun around the attack and grabbed the hollow’s wrist. She spun her body around again and wrapped her left leg around the hollow’s neck and pulled her down to the ground. With a quick twist of her thigh, Rainbow snapped the thief’s neck and left her body as she proceeded further up the stairs.

There was a hiss from above and looking up, Rainbow spotted a grotesque figure with an enlarged head full of eyes descending the stairway, heading right for her.

“What are you?” Rainbow flinched in disgust.

As her eyes met its multitude, visions of destruction flashed through her mind. Rainbow could see ruins all across the lands, with fire dying out and darkness taking over. She could see light being quenched by the spreading Abyss and even that of the Sunlight Maggot would do no good. Then she saw herself, driving a dagger through her own chest and tearing out her heart, crying out in pain.

“No, stop!” Rainbow held her head and shut her eyes. It was all too much to comprehend. As soon as she stopped looking, the visions faded and the pain was gone. “So that’s how it is…”

She picked up her shortswords again and as she and the creature approached each other, she kept her eyes averted from its head and sidestepped as one of its long arms tried to grab her. She spun around and cut up and down along its arm, tearing skin apart and digging new grooves along bone. The creature spewed out a noxious fume, but Rainbow pressed on and cut down, sending it down on one knee. It reached behind itself to slash at her, but Rainbow was faster and dug her sword through its lower back, twisting it to detach its spine. The creature’s arms went limp at its sides and slid down the steps once Rainbow kicked it off her weapon, landing at the bottom in a crumpled mess beside the captain hollow.

There was another of those eyeball creatures when Rainbow reached the top of the stairway, but she spotted a black barrel beside it and she got an idea. Lighting another nearby piece of wood with a flame butterfly, Rainbow tossed it to the barrel and watched as its contents mixed with her torch and went up in flames, engulfing the creature as well. As it flailed and hissed in pain, the girl took her chance to run by it, now heading along a cliffside towards more wooden houses built along its walls.

Two more hollow thieves emerged from one of the houses, each of them holding two curved swords, but Rainbow maneuvered around the first one’s back as it tried to slash her. She kicked the second one off the cliff as it tried to attack and then with a quick counter, the first one’s second attack was repelled and she delivered a cross slash on its midsection, spraying blood up into the air. The hollow went down with a low moan.

“Don’t mess with Rainbow ‘Danger’ Dash.” She smiled to herself and carried on.

The cliff wasn’t that narrow and Rainbow had no trouble navigating it to the other side. She could see more of those weird creatures behind her now, but they shrank back from the fire she had set. It seemed she had inadvertently created an obstacle for them. That was good. It just meant they weren’t going to come after her any time soon.

Near the end of the cliff, after another flight of steps, Rainbow found a lone wooden house with another gate barring her way forward. It proved to be of only a small inconvenience, something her lockpicks could easily handle. Once the lock was off, Rainbow pushed with all her might to get it open. Once she did so, she slinked through the gate and shut it behind her. She didn’t want those creatures following in behind her.

The next area was but a single rocky pathway leading to a brick wall with large steel doors almost triple her height.

“Now what do we have here?” Rainbow placed her hands against them and pushed, feeling them move just very slightly. At least they weren’t locked or anything.

Rainbow Dash put all of her strength into her arms and shoulders as she forced the two doors apart, gritting her teeth together as steel scraped against stone. It was a hard fight, but soon, the doors opened just enough for her to squeeze through and she decided to do just that. She didn’t see any point in struggling to get the doors opened all the way.

Past the door, there was a somewhat squarish tunnel leading to a large room ahead. There were lit torches lining the sides of the tunnel, each of them attached to rungs built in tiny alcoves. It was quick work to traverse the tunnel, but Rainbow stopped past the entrance to the room to inspect it. There were chests of all sizes materials lining the sides of the room and the walls were lined with more torches, illuminating the room. She figured this was likely where all the thieves brought their treasure, but then what were they going to do with all this? With the world falling to the Abyss, there wasn’t much point of gold or coins anymore.

As she was busy sifting through the treasures, Rainbow almost missed the sound of the faintest scrape of wood somewhere behind her. Almost. Flipping around, her eyes were drawn up to a crouched figure on the rafters above and he leapt down, forcing Rainbow to roll out of the way and draw her swords.

The man was clad in a dark coat and cape and his face was partially concealed by a bandana and a scarf, leaving only his menacing yellow eyes staring back out at her. He flicked his cloak aside and drew two daggers from his sides, both of them thin and black, just like a scorpion’s stinger. Rainbow recognized those weapons. Tales of this man were spread wide. His name had been long forgotten, but his deeds and infamy had earned him the title of ‘King of Thieves’.

“So this is your hideout,” Rainbow said to him. “No wonder we’ve never been able to find you.”

He’d ever been to Canterim, stealing a shipment of oil from Yakhub Bay. They never did end up catching him, but today, she was going to deliver justice to him.

Without a word, the King of Thieves ran to her, spinning in circles with his twin daggers. Rainbow ducked under his blows and then between his feet, cutting at his right thigh as she did so. The King of Thieves simply lifted his leg and swung it sideways, knocking the rainbow haired girl to the ground before flipping around and unleashing a flurry of slashes at her.

Rainbow Dash felt one tear into her right shoulder, but she managed to evade the rest by rolling a good distance away, though the King kept pushing forward with his offensive, still getting closer and closer, not giving her any time to use a lifegem just yet.

Rainbow’s opponent thrust at her with his daggers, but she backstepped and readied her own two blades. She swung at the King of Thieves, one diagonal upwards facing cut, then another slice aimed at his knees. The King dodged the first strike and leaped away from the second, but at least Rainbow Dash had room to breathe. She crushed a lifegem just as the King of Thieves jumped up in an arc, intent on impaling Rainbow from above.

Rainbow rolled away, and the King’s feet crashed down where she had been standing, shattering a hole in the wooden boards that had been used to cover the rough floor of the cave.

Rainbow Dash was running out of room to evade, so she rolled forwards, mindless of the nails that scraped against her back armor. She recovered behind the King and stabbed him in the back, but the injuries were not life-threatening. Instead the King of Thieves spun around and cut Rainbow across the shoulder, the left one this time.

A thin line of blood clung to the King of Thieves’ dagger as he brought it up to his eyes, examining it. Rainbow’s eyes narrowed in anger and she let out a shout, rushing at the King with her short swords held high. Her foe stepped backwards to avoid the attack, but Rainbow would not be denied. After missing with her close-range attack, she raised her left hand and hurled her sword at the King, where it stabbed into his shoulder. It drew blood and the King of Thieves seemed thrown by the sudden change in tactics.

But not for long. With only one sword left, Rainbow could put a lot more force into her swings, but now she could only attack from one position, the King of Thieves would no doubt be watching her weapon more now.

The King of Thieves lashed out at Rainbow, with lightning speed. It missed, but Rainbow’s feet caught on the broken wooden floor and she stumbled and fell over. The King loomed over her, and Rainbow was forced to block with her remaining weapon.

The two were in the bind for a scant few moments, but Rainbow’s position was less tenable and she lost the contest of strength. Her sword was pushed aside, and the King’s daggers descended for the kill.

But at the very last moment, Rainbow rolled aside and allowed the King of Thieves to stab both his weapons into the place she had just been lying in. She stabbed her sword into the King’s other shoulder, making him fall flat onto the floor. For a moment both fighters were prone, but then Rainbow snatched up a broken wooden plank off the floor and swung it hard at her enemy’s head before he could recover. The nails in the board might have been rusty, but they were still plenty sharp and there was a squelch as the board made contact with the back of his skull.

The King of Thieves fell face first onto the ground and did not get up again. Rainbow dropped her makeshift club as his body began to flake away, watching them go until his entire body was gone, leaving behind her shortswords on the floor.

“Well, he won’t be bothering anyone anymore…” Rainbow sheathed her weapons and sighed. That had been one tough fight, but at least she’d made it through with relatively minor injuries. Nothing a lifegem couldn’t heal, though she was almost out now.

The other end of the room had another tunnel leading further on, and seeing as there was no other way to go and she didn’t have any reason to stick around here, Rainbow dusted her hands off and proceeded to the tunnel, wondering just where this would lead.

Author's Note

Achievement unlocked:
King of Thieves - You defeated the King of Thieves

Well, here we are again in Thieves' Passage. The idea here was that Rainbow had gone through her own Thieves' Passage before Sunset did and just like being summoned in Dark Souls or Bloodborne, your world remains unchanged and your bosses still remain, haha, though in our dream world, it's kinda the same world for everyone.

Also, one of us will be adding Flame boss bios to the Bloodlines Group from time to time, so stay tuned for those for more lore on the dream world.

I hoped you enjoyed this story, though it's a really short one. Stay tuned for the epilogue. Cheers!

Epilogue: Fyrlon - The Light Shines

Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and breathed in as warm sunlight bounced off her face from across the sea.

The girl was now standing on a cliffside, listening to the crashing waves below her and enjoying the warmth of the sun. When she had left the tunnel, she hadn’t expected this, that was for sure. She didn’t know what she had been expecting, but it certainly wasn’t anything nice like this. The salty smell of the sea reminded her of home, back on Canterim. It had already felt like days since she had set sail for Veorea. It was nice, being back out in an open area, and there was not an enemy in sight.

Rainbow Dash followed the only pathway down a slope along the cliff. Grass crept over long forgotten stone steps of an ancient kingdom, leading her over to a broken wooden archway between two large rocks. Beyond that was a small town, composed of various worn out buildings of wood or stone. Grass had grown over most of the place, likely long abandoned, except Rainbow could see a single figure standing by a ring of boulders near the cliff, gazing out at the sea and beyond.

Not sure what else she could do, she approached the figure, her footsteps crunching on the long grass.

The figure noticed her when she got closer, but she made no move to back away or initiate combat. That was a good sign.

“Welcome to Fyrlon, traveler,” she said. Her head was covered by a blue cloak. “You have traveled far to reach Veorea. Do you seek the Flame to restore this land?”

“Well, I guess so.” Rainbow scratched her head. “I’m looking for the Sunlight Maggot.”

“Ah, you seek Light.” She nodded and turned around to face her. “I am Firekeeper Twilight Sparkle. I guide all who come to seek the Flames. Long ago, four received the Flames of Death from the emergence of the Abyss. They have long since distanced themselves from the Throne of the Fallen Hearth in their own lairs. Should you bring their Flames back here, you will open a way to the Throne to stop the Abyss.”

Rainbow stared at her for a few seconds. Stop the Abyss? Was this firekeeper mad? There was no way she could do all that. And to stop a Flame of Death? That was madness beyond mad. There was no way she could do that without a Flame of her own.

“I… I just want the Sunlight Maggot,” she finally said. “I do not have any Flame to face the four Flames of Death.”

Twilight nodded again. “Yes, it is a difficult task ahead, one few have attempted. Alas, all who leave for Drawgren’s Keep of Glass have never returned.

“Should you be seeking the Sunlight Maggot, however, be warned, they only thrive near sources of Flame themselves and they must fester on the bodies of these Flames, specifically, Doland, Light of the Sky, leader of his Church of the Deep. To find one, you would need to-”

“I need to face a Flame of Death?” Rainbow said those words as though each one was a knife to the gut. “There has to be another way.”

Twilight shook her head. “I am afraid if there is one, I am not aware. I am sorry.”

Rainbow slumped against one of the boulders in defeat. She didn’t come all the way here and brave through all those monsters just to be told she couldn’t do it. There just had to be a way. There had to be.

“So you’re saying that only someone who has a Flame has a chance of getting to the Sunlight Maggot?” Rainbow Dash clarified.

“That is correct,” the firekeeper said.

“So if someone were to come along who had such a Flame, it would be possible for me to get to my goal?”

The firekeeper nodded her head.

“Then it’s settled. I’ll stay here and pledge my help to the next person who comes along with a Flame on them,” Rainbow decided. “Guess that means I’m here to stay.”

Twilight Sparkle reached into her robes and brought out a small object. It was shaped like a wedge and had a strip of faded golden cloth wrapped around its top.

“You will need this to help you on your quest,” the firekeeper held the object out for Rainbow to take. “It is a white sign soapstone. The flow of time in this land is convoluted, but this soapstone will allow others to call you into their world to aid them.”

“How odd, but alright.” Rainbow pocketed the object.

She looked around town. It was a nice place, yes, but there wasn’t anything to gain just by waiting here. She wanted to make every second count, so in the end, Rainbow ventured back towards Thieves’ Passage, this time with more confidence. There was going to be someone that could help her get to the Sunlight Maggot. All she had to do was wait and get anything she could find to get to Doland. Her resolved had fallen drastically after her talk with Twilight, but it was back now, stronger than ever. There was a chance and though it was a slim one, she was willing to wait for it to come.

“Just you wait, Sunlight Maggot.” Rainbow pumped her fists together. “I’ll find you. I’ll bring that Light back to my home and I’ll end this scourge of madness. I’m Rainbow ‘Danger’ Dash and I’m awesome.”

Author's Note

Thank you for getting to the end of Lightseeker. I hope you enjoyed it, should you have read it. Will there be more Flame of Disparity content in the future? Well, yes, so far there's one more coming, but we'll just have to wait and see, won't we...?

Cheers, everyone and stay safe during these trying times!