Spirits of Light And Dark

Chapter 5:

“You sure do hit hard when you want Beatrix, I’ll give you that.” Midnight said while rubbing his head. The mare simply rolled her eyes.

“Well, you can’t blame me for that bump on your head. I explicitly warned you to not say it, yet here we are.” Beatrix replied. By now her neck felt as good as ever while Midnight’s wing was nearly healed. However, the sounds from outside still surrounded them, which began to get on her nerves.

“Are we going to continue our conversation?” Midnight asked. Even though he felt bad about what happened to her world, he nevertheless was interested in hearing more of her story. The unicorn shook her head though.

“Nah. I have something else in mind.” Beatrix stated as she looked towards the wall. Realizing what she was planning, Midnight immediately got up and placed a hand on her shoulder.

“I already told you, that’s a really bad idea. Do you want to get us killed?” The blue pegasus asked, only to be surprised when she brushed his hand off her shoulder and walked towards the center of their box.

“Then tell me how long this night is going to last Midnight.” The purple unicorn asked as she went into her inventory before forming a workbench. She smiled as she began to work on something, and soon a bow appeared in her hand. “Huh. A ‘Powerful Bow’. +25% Damage, -10% Speed, +1% Critical Strike Chance.” Beatrix stated before continuing her work.

“This is a really bad idea.” Midnight said as he shook his head before looking into his inventory. Pulling out the snowballs they had been throwing earlier that day, he examined their stats to see if they had any use. “Do you know snowballs deal 4 damage?” The Mentor questioned, causing Beatrix’s ears to stand up. “To use a bow you need arrows. I have some in my inventory, but we could always pelt them with snowballs.” Midnight said before letting out a laugh. Realizing that he wasn’t going to help her, Beatrix turned around and began to walk towards Midnight with a neutral gaze. The stallion slowly began to nervously laugh as the mare got closer to her. “What are you doing?” Midnight asked as the mare pulled out her snow from her inventory before giving them a tight squeeze.

“Hey Midnight, can I please have your stack of arrows?” Beatrix asked with a seemingly innocent voice, but based on the way she held her snowball, Midnight realized that he would soon be pelted with them if he didn’t comply. The stallion let out a groan before fishing into his inventory and pulling out a stack of arrows. “Thank you.” The mare said before walking back to her workbench and began to craft something else.

“What are you crafting this time?” Midnight asked as he saw Beatrix taking out his stack of arrows and her pile of torches. A bright light suddenly filled the room before slowly fading away, and to the stallion’s surprise, there in Beatrix’s hands was a Flaming Arrow. The mare simply smirked at his expression.

“Like what you see?” Beatrix asked as she began to divide the Flaming Arrow Stack in two. Midnight simply blinked.

“I don’t think I remembered teaching you that. I only taught you wood-related items, not arrow or torch-related items.” Midnight stated. The mare shrugged before throwing him his stack of Flaming Arrows. He could feel the heat and power running through them.

“Well, I guess you could say I’m a quick learner,” Beatrix said as she walked towards the wall, pickaxe in hand. “Now let’s break ourselves out.” The mare exclaimed before raising her pickaxe. With one simple swing, she bashed through the wall, causing the wooden defense to come crashing down and revealing the night sky…

… Along with all the night creatures who began their assault.

Snapping out of his shock, Midnight immediately noticed something circular in the air coming down towards them. Rushing towards Beatrix he knocked both of them out of the box just when a bloody floating eye smashed into the box they were just in, rebounding inside it dozens of times before bouncing itself out.

The two of them fell onto the grassy ground, both letting out an ‘oof!’ before slowly getting themselves up. Beatrix frowned as she turned around to face Midnight.

“A little warning wouldn’t hurt.” The unicorn said before loading a Flaming Arrow into her bow. At that moment a zombie started to appear in her vision and letting go of the arrow, it struck the zombie and started to ignite it on fire. Turning around she noticed another zombie trying to close in from behind, but another shot caused it to burst into flames. The two zombies were still walking towards her, but she had clearly dealt more damage than her wooden sword would be capable of.

“A little help wouldn’t hurt either!” Beatrix yelled as she tried to snap Midnight out of his frightened trance. Finally getting a grip on himself and feeling a bit safe knowing that these arrows could actually do some damage, Midnight began to fire, cleaning up the encroaching zombies while making sure to spot any that tried to surprise them.

“H-Honestly I thought this would be the end for us, but things are going better than I expected!” The stallion exclaimed as he and Beatrix ended up being back to back, firing their loads into the zombie hoard while swatting away any Demon Eyes that tried to attack from the sky. The mare simply smirked at him.

“Well, we could’ve been doing this a few hours ago and would’ve been at home by now when I tried to break the wall the first time!” Beatrix stated with a smile. “But hey, better late than never right?”

“I guess so. Just remember that you can’t always keep doing this. There will always be a monster that’s stronger than the equipment you have!” Midnight said before glancing towards the direction they came from a few hours ago. “Now let’s make a break towards home!” The stallion yelled as he began to fire the zombies that were blocking their way. The pair began to power through the horde, running through the forest and the desert while fighting their way through the mass of monsters. With so many falling behind them, they somehow ended up encountering fewer and fewer monsters ahead of them.

“Hey, you’d expect that a second horde would be coming this way right? Why not?” Beatrix asked as she burnt another zombie to crisp, picking up something that fell from its remains. She quickly examined the item. “Huh. ‘Menacing Shackle’. 1 Defense, +4% Damage. Let me see how I can equip this.” Beatrix said as she inserted it around her wrist, feeling a bit more protected after doing so. Midnight smiled at her new item.

“Oh! You found a shackle! Those are pretty useful early on. They drop from zombies and give you a defense point along with any modifier they might have. You’ll probably end up replacing it later, but hey, at least you’re harder to kill! And I guess we’re just lucky a second horde isn’t cutting us off. The Zombies in Expert or even Normal Mode have the habit of intercepting you when you try to jump over them.” Midnight stated as he killed another zombie. “Hey! I can see the house over here!” The blue pegasus exclaimed. Beatrix smiled before shooting another zombie.

Eventually, the pair reached the door and closed it behind them. The stallion immediately let out a sigh of relief as he sat down and reclined on one of the chairs, with Beatrix sitting in front of him.

“Ah… safe and sound! Now I don’t know about you but I think I want to stay here for a while.” Midnight stated as he closed his eyes and tried to sleep only to begin the sound of birds singing in the background. He immediately groaned. “Come on! I was up all night and now it’s morning!? Morning!?”

Beatrix simply let out a chuckle at his outburst.

“It’s fine, you can rest here, I’ll just explore outside now that it’s safe.” The mare said as she walked towards the door on the other side and began to open it. The stallion was just ready to doze off when he heard her say that and he immediately stood up, a bit too fast though as he fell off the chair.

“Ow! Well… the Corruption ain’t safe. We practically explored nearly all of the right side of the world and now you’re telling me you want to explore the left side too?! That’s a guaranteed Corruption encounter and a guaranteed death sentence!” Midnight exclaimed as he tried to pick himself up. Beatrix simply sighed, knowing that he was right, but she felt like it was necessary to still explore.

“I’m going to be fine. Being on the run is something I’m used to. If I spot something odd I’ll immediately run back, alright? See ya!” And with that, she went outside before shutting the door behind her.

Now running towards the left, Beatrix resumed her adventure, ducking under branches and killing any slime that got in her way with the combination of her wooden sword and flaming arrow combo. Vaguely aware of entering the desert, the mare now returned began to walk through the sandy terrain as she began to think to herself.

“Was it a good idea to explore alone though? I know I want to explore and have another grand adventure like I did when I was younger, but perhaps staying would’ve been better?” Beatrix asked herself as she waded through a small pool of water before entering another forest biome. “Like sure these flaming arrows pack a serious punch, but my defense though…” The mare simply gazed at her wooden armor + shackle combo. Together they amounted to just 4 Defense, and considering how a zombie was able to nearly kill her in three hits, she doubted she’d last one hit against a Corruption Monster.

“Yeah, I’m going to have to get a new set of armor eventually. Platinum would be a good fit for me.” Beatrix thought to herself as she began to climb a cliff, forming wooden platforms under her as a safety measure. “If this wooden bow + flaming arrow deals a lot of damage, imagine how much a platinum bow would deal!” The mare stated as she finished climbing the mountain before feeling something off about the air. Gripping her wooden bow she was about to walk forward when suddenly a horrific monster flew from a crevice and tried to nab her with its large pincers. Taking a step back Beatrix began to fire her flaming arrows, and to her surprise, they actually dealt a considerable amount of damage. The flying corruption monster, unable to get close enough to deal any damage, burst into pieces, leaving behind a Rotten Chunk of Flesh.

“Uhm… well… that was pathetic.” The mare said as she kicked the Rotten Chunk and caused it to fall into the same small opening that the creature came from. Somehow her mind told her that it was called a ‘Eater of Souls’, a being born from the Corruption, its sole instincts are to…

“...pursue, punish, and kill,” Beatrix whispered out loud before blinking to herself. “Where in the world did I suddenly get that information?” The purple unicorn asked to herself, scratching her head. A small image of a book filled her mind, but in the end, she shrugged it off. “Whatever, it still did a bad job. As long as I don’t let it get near me I should be fine.” The mare said as she looked into the small opening before jumping into it. Lightning up the small cavern with torches she ended up finding some pots which she smashed open, filling her inventory with some coins, two lesser healing potions, and eleven corrupt torches.

“Yeah, I’m seriously in the corruption biome,” Beatrix said to herself as she exited the cavern through the other side. Immediately she noticed the odd terrain in front of her. The trees were now sickly purple, the grass was purple, everything was purple, almost similar to her fur color. Of course, it was just a coincidence, but it nevertheless creeped her out a bit.

Suddenly an Eater of Souls rushed from above, opening its mouth and trying to swallow her whole. Ducking under it, Beatrix rolled to the side before pelting it with her collection of flaming arrows, causing it to burst into flames before exploding into pieces, leaving another rotten chunk for her to pick up (or in this case kick).

“Yeah! Don’t think you can try and sneak up on me” Beatrix yelled to the chunk she kicked away. Filled with more determination she continued to walk ahead. Noticing a particularly dark material on the ground, the mare tried to mine it, however, it would not break. Again, her mind told her it was ‘Ebonstone’, and that she would need a much stronger pickaxe to mine it. Walking a bit forward, she found a ravine that seemed to have no end. Beatrix felt compelled to explore inside, yet at the same time, she felt like she was pushing her luck. She was about to leave when she noticed a chest, and soon she found herself in the ravine, trying to find a way to get to the chest and pots.

More Eater of Souls tried to attack her, but they were blocked by the left wall of the ravine, allowing Beatrix to spend enough time figuring her way into the crevice. Smashing the pots that were scattered around the chest, her eyes sparkled when she found a ‘Recall Potion’. Just the name alone gave her an idea of what it could do.

“Perfect. If anything bad happens, I’ll use this now.” Beatrix stated as she sorted her inventory a bit, placing her Recall Potions next to her Lesser Healing Potions, both potions appearing on the side of her belt. Finally opening the chest, she began to grab everything inside of it while examining each thing.

“Alright, now I have six recall potions, a shine potion, 21 silver coins, 27 arrows, 3 tin bars, and a blowpipe? I guess everything has its use, but I’ll be sticking to my bow for ranged attacks.” Beatrix stated before closing the chest. Mining it up and putting it in her inventory, she left the cavern where the chest was in and continued to explore, feeling more secure about her position.

This time four Eater of Souls encountered her, each one charging at her at a different time. Dodging and ducking under their large bodies while shooting at them, Beatrix managed to kill all four of them after a quick battle, all without a scratch. Yet with how close they had been to her, the mare shivered just a bit as she traveled down the ravine, recall potion ready in case things went south.

As she tried to climb down by sticking to the side of the ravine, two Eater of Souls suddenly approached from below. Even as she fired her flaming arrows to meet them, she realized that there was no point in trying to fight with how close they ended up. Jumping up as one of the Eaters charged at where she was, Beatrix started to drink the Recall Potion just when the other one began to clamp her from the waist down.

Letting out a muffled scream, Beatrix somehow managed to force the rest of the liquid inside of her while the Eater of Souls began to tear her flesh apart. Disappearing in a spark of light blue, Beatrix found herself in front of the house. As she fumbled for her Healing Potions, the mare noticed the silhouette of two people, one being Midnight and the other being somebody she didn’t know. Once Midnight’s figure turned around to face her she could hear him gasp. Immediately the blue pegasus ran into her view before kneeling down towards her.

“Oh my gods Beatrix! Not again!” Midnight yelled as he looked at her in panic. Beatrix hissed in pain as she finally took out the red potion from her inventory. Coughing up some blood, the mare finally began to drink the substance, her eyes opening as she felt all the pain disappearing in an instant.

“I’m fine… I’m fine… I just had a stumble in the Corruption that’s all.” The platinum unicorn said as she slowly picked herself up. Midnight nearly went ballistic upon hearing that.

“The Corruption? The Corruption!? Beatrix, that's literally the most dangerous place you could’ve gone into! What were you thinking!?” The stallion roared. Beatrix simply began to wipe the dust and blood off her body.

“Again I’m fine! The fun fact is that those things, Eater of Souls, were absolutely demolished by my Flaming Arrows. They just got me because I traveled down a tight ravine and they cornered me there. I just need to upgrade my defense and then I can travel safely down there.” The mare said. Even though her body still ached she was still proud of herself. Midnight simply shook his head.

“One day Beatrix you’ll get yourself killed. Don’t you fear death?” The blue pegasus asked out loud. Beatrix simply shrugged.

“I guess I don’t fear it as much as I should. Hey, who's that guy?” The platinum-maned unicorn asked. Midnight immediately began to motion the newcomer to arrive and it was at that moment where Beatrix realized that the house looked longer than normal.

“While you were away I decided to add more rooms to this place, and as I said before, the more rooms you have the more people can join. Meet the Merchant.” Midnight said as he gestured to the figure. Standing in front of Beatrix was an orange Abyssian cat dressed in a brown coat. His green eyes studied her, noticing the pool of blood around her and the tears in her clothing. To her surprise, he scoffed.

“I hope a scrawny kid like you isn't all that is standing between us and Cthulhu's Eye… The name’s Capper, how could I help you?” The cat said with a smirk.