Author's Note

Story Will Contain Spoilers for Bravely Default!

In case you're wondering? no, it's not my first fic, nor is it the first time i wrote one based on crystal empire. First one was league of legends fic years ago, that i deleted because i lost interest.

I decided to choose Crystal Empire long before canon, because it's less used and gives/shows more originality than modern day stories

Prologue

How precious life can be, a fact one can't appreciate properly, until they've lost a friend, family or pet companion... in her case though, the realization came from the end of her own life.

The irony of her death, is that she spend most of her work either saving or 'enhancing' the lives of others. Not as a doctor in a hospital or plastic surgeon in some private practice, no; she worked as a back-alley doctor for a local mafia. Her boss kept her close in his club, pretending she had been his girlfriend while on the club's payroll, while in the reality she worked as doctor, doing illegal surgeries or saving lives of his unlucky henchmen, who ended up on her table.

Oh, she never had sex with anyone she worked with; her boss was a gay man nearing his 50's (though he did still look sexy as hell) while her co-workers were... less than attractive, considering the occupation they worked in. Still, she spend a few hours a day just sitting next to her boss, while nosy cops with no real evidence harassed him.... really, what did they pay the cops for, if they let self-righteous jerks come and go like that?

As a back-alley doctor, some would expect her to be quite busy, but there's not as much flow of customers as hospital doctors; she had a medical degree, hell... she had even served as a doctor for two years, before her late uncle had introduced her to her current boss. Better pay, less work and she'd never have to worry about paperwork or customers or.. anything really. The henchmen sterilized the tools and took care of the cleaning and resupply: all she did was the actual work.

So how did she die? it was quite easy; she had spend the Halloween evening at the club, dressed as Airy from bravely default. White sleeveless dress with blue brooch on her chest, a long white wig, ribbon-like stocking and gloves and a pair of fake butterfly wings, white with black edges. A Halloween event at the club, no work for the day as she sat on the couch in boss' office, just watching Netflix while keeping boss company.

The evening was interrupted twice by co-workers coming to talk business and only once by the cops; a rookie white guy (who blushed at sight of her) and a black senior partner, who was a regular fool, pointlessly trying to find evidence; she had seen him plenty, investigating this and that as well as couple of questionings at the police station... she'd also seen the pics her co-workers had taken when they once ambushed him, stripped him naked and beat him black and blue... pun not intended.

Apparently, the stereotype about black guys was wrong... or at least in his case.

At any rate, their visit was short, the rookie just stealing glances at her while the senior once again tried (and failed) to intimidate her boss. In the end, as they left, she flashed a smile and a wink at the rookie, who almost stumbled as they left; it was adorable, how a young cop can be so innocent.

An hour after that, the meeting boss had been waiting for the whole night happened; the boss from rival gang and his bodyguards came over to talk about cessation of hostilities. Why? because they'd give the boss full control of the docks (which would stop both sides fucking up each other's shipments) and we'll grant them access to her medical services.

Now, you'd wonder why that happened... and the answer was simple: the rival boss got his own gang raided by cops due to a mole and as such, lost his own back-alley doctors, so when his daughter got sick and needed an organ transplant, we were the only option he had left; the hospital had a long waiting list, one he wasn't going to risk when he could just get a back-alley doctor to transplant a matching organ.

Of course, while she'd be leading the operation as chief surgeon, there were other back-alley doctors on our side that she had been teaching or vetting; one can't rely entirely on one doctor, after all. That's why she had so much free time, in fact: the boss reserved her for VIP's, while the henchmen (or freshly vetted ones) took care of the other, poorer folks who wanted cheap plastic surgeries or needed gunshots stitched up.

Some might question "what does this all have to do with your death?" and the point is; it was an explanation on her background and last day alive. Since she was dead, she didn't name anyone (including herself) as such names are literally irrelevant when you're dead. Sure, you could say "Alice just told us her background" but who talks of themselves in third person? Crazy people, that's who.

She was getting off-track; the discussion went smoothly, the rival gang left and about an hour later, she decided to retire as well for the night. A short walk to the metro station, ticket bought and just waiting for the metro to arrive. The next day, she had two surgeries planned plus prep-work for the organ harvesting, so tonight she'd enjoy a good night sleep... or at least that had been the plan.

But in a single moment, everything was taken from her, a cruel act of fate.... or maybe karma's a bitch.

She hadn't even seen the drunk behind her, only smelled the disgusting smell of alcohol just before she heard a grunt from the drunk followed by an unexpected push from behind, causing her to yelp at surprise. The drunk fool, whoever he had been, had fallen over and made her fall down as well.... right on the metro tracks.

She only had a moment to gather herself, pushing herself on the hands and knees, before she heard the metro arrive. A quick glance at her right showed the metro lights and screeching of the train, before she felt the impact and everything faded into dark with a flash of pain and echoes of witnesses screaming....

Her entire life, she had expected one of four options to stand true, when she would die. Pure non-existence, reincarnation, paradise or eternal torment... yet here she hovered, as a glowing ball of light, in an empty, dark void.

There was no sound, sight or feeling. No sense of time or gravity or direction... she wasn't sure if those even existed in this empty void. Was this what everyone experienced or just her? Did a million years pass by in the time she'd been here or did time stand still, forever stuck in the moment of her death?

.... She wished that she had spend more time experiencing things she'd never done. Exotic foods, extreme sports, travelling the world... she had always thought she'd have time for it. Guess you learn to truly appreciate things, once you lose it all....

[clip clop] [clip clop] [clip clop] [clip clop]

.... What was that sound? it sounded like... heels? No, it sounded different.... Hooves? the rhythm matched the sound she'd heard when she'd seen a cop riding a horse on the street, a synced walking of four legs. As she listened, she could tell that it was coming closer to her, though she couldn't tell which direction... or how the sound was produced, in fact. As far as she could tell, there was no ground, just empty void... or was there, with her simply being unable to move or see?

As the hoof steps came closer, her mind began to wander. Was it Death, walking on his horse? She had heard real horses walking, not those fake movie horses, so... as far as she knew about religious things or mythology through video games, Death was one of the horsemen of apocalypse, so it could be him finally coming to claim her soul.

If she still had a heart, it would probably be beating in her chest like crazy, while her ears would ring. The waiting was the worst, not knowing how long it.... wait... was the sound of hooves getting... quieter? more distant?

[clip clop] [clip clop] ...... [clip clop] [clip clop] ...... [clip clop] [clip clop] ......

Was he... was death leaving her behind? Did he intend to leave her to suffer for all eternity, or did he just not know she was here? The though of being abandoned, just as she had first real interaction with anything beyond this black, empty void... she may never encounter any being, living or dead, ever again...

She had to act, NOW!

"Hey! is anyone out there!? Here, i'm over here!" She cried out, not fully understanding how she spoke or even knowing if any sound left her... and if it did, would this stranger and his steed hear or even care of her desperate cry? As she listened, she the sense of dread creeping into her soul, as all sound disappeared.

As the silence dragged on, she yelled out once more.

"Please! I'm over here! .... Don't leave me here alone!" she begged, as the dread and anxiety began to sink deeper into her. For a soul with no body, it was surprising she could feel emotions, but her mind paid no attention as she waited for an answer from mysterious source.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the hoof steps started again, this time heading towards her as the grew closer. With each step, she felt her soul relax, dread and anxiety washing away and turning into... confusion?

Why confusion? because the sight before her was so weird and unexpected, she could not react with nothing but confusion. There was no grim reaper on his horse, only a blue goat with a beard and darker blue curved horns... no, wait, goats had different horns, which meant this thing was a ram.

Anyway, as the blue ram, with it's curved horns walked closer, she observed his illuminated form (apparently, she glowed. Who knew). The white eyebrows and hair stood out, as did the red harness with yellow bells and a d ring build into it for attaching... something, that the ram was wearing. It looked odd, since it reminded of her what she had seen reindeer wear in cartoons, yet it seemed perfectly fitted to him.

As the ram reached her, it stood still for a moment, before it's unnaturally expressive eyes narrowed as it began to circle her. She could see the white tail at the end, but other than that, the rest of the ram looked like what she expected. She also learned that she didn't have to turn, as she could apparently see 360 at the same time.... though no matter the angle, she still had no idea how the ram was walking, let alone humming to himself in this void. She wasn't sure what it meant, but the tone suggested that he found her interesting.

"...h-hello?" she said, causing the ram to stop and fully turn towards her, his red irises staring into her soul... no pun intended.

"Are.... are you Death? You don't look like how I expected" she said, before the ram shook it's head "No, old one. Though if you asked my former subjects, I might as well have been" the ram answered, surprising her with his deep voice "I am Grogar, former ruler of what's now known as Equestria, the kingdom of ponies" the ram, Grogar, introduced itself.

She looked at Grogar; an entire race of speaking animals? "You can speak English? You're sentient? I didn't know animals could speak" she asked, too dumbfounded to ask anything.

"Yes, i'm sentient" Grogar angrily replied, eyes narrowing "So do not compare me to whatever mindless beasts inhabit your home realm. As for this... English? No, i do not speak it. To you, it might sound like I am, but in reality, you're speaking soul-tongue; a language of the souls, that understand any spoken language and when spoken, all understand the words perfectly, as if fluent in their own language... or as perfectly as the speaker can talk" he finished, anger having faded from his tone.

As she now looked at Grogar, so many questions appeared in her mind... but before she fed her curiosity, she needed three questions answered "Am I really dead? Why did you call me 'old soul'? ... And where are we?" she asked, as Grogar raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

After a moment, he answered her questions "Yes, you are dead, Though it's rare to see a physical manifestation of a soul like you.... let alone here" he said, gesturing around them "This is the realm of darkness, where the souls of evil come to fade. The rest of them are neither sentient nor... physical, as you are however, they merely exist without corporeal form, waiting for reincarnation or resurrection" Grogar explained, before pausing once more.

This time, it was considerably longer before he answered "As for why I call you old soul? it is because you are one. By a mere look, I can tell that your soul is far older than mine, and i have spend a long time here, ever since that fool Gusty and her unicorns stole my bell and used their magic to banish me here" he ranted, as he started pacing at what were clearly... touchy memories.

"But... how can my soul be older? I can still remember my death like -"
"like it happened yesterday?" Grogar interrupted her "That is because in this place, neither souls nor bodies require sustenance, so the passage of time becomes unnoticeable, unless you view outside into the realms beyond. Even memories, which should fade with time, stay as fresh as if they happened mere hours ago" he carefully explained, in what seemed like bored manner.

With her immediate questions explained, she felt her curiosity rise again, so she spoke them aloud....

So, apparently Grogar was once a tyrannic leader of ponyland, who had united it all under his rule and created hordes of foulest monsters to do his bidding. There had been other sentient creatures, like deer, yaks, dragons, griffons, minotaurs and so many other species in the world, yet when the time came, the ponies rose up against him.

There were four kinds of ponies in the world, though only three existed in his time, before the re-emergence of the fourth about twenty years ago (Equestrian time). The earth ponies, the lowest class who managed the earth and were mostly farmers or other workers, the middle classed pegasi who had wings and controlled the weather and the upper class unicorns, who controlled magic with their horns.

Sure, there were also other pony races, but only the crystal ponies and thestrals were a sub-types, while shadow ponies, the seaponies and the kirin were near-pony species that often were mistaken as ponies. There were also other equine species, like zebra's, but Grogar only mentioned them in passing, deeming them as 'irrelevant'.

The most powerful of the ponies were of course Alicorns, the fourth pony kind who had all the attributes of the three other races. With their wings and horns, they stood over all others with their power, though until the appearance of Celestia and Luna (who Grogar had only seen as fillies when he had viewed the outside world), they had been mere stories of old, when there had been hundreds of them.

No one knew why they had disappeared, only ancient tales talking about an ancient threat who "devoured worlds" and had been barely killed by the combined might of the Alicorns. Some debated that the Alicorns had sacrificed themselves to protect the world, while some theorized that the fight had been so fierce, that it had split them into the three races.

Whatever the case, it was now irrelevant.

As for how Grogar had been banished into this 'Realm of darkness'? Apparently, a unicorn by the name of Gusty the Great had gathered an army of unicorns under her command and rose up to fight Grogar and his monsters. It had been during the fight, that a distracted Grogar had lost his bewitching bell, which held most of his magic. It was then that Gusty had used the bell as an anchor, using the magic of remaining unicorns, including herself, to banish Grogar from Equestria.

As the bell served as an anchor for the spell, even when Grogar finally recovered his magic, he could only watch the world outside, as every attempt to escape was rebelled by the ancient spell, one he couldn't undo without his bell... or outside help.

Which is when Grogar revealed why he had been so patient with her; he had an offer he knew she would not refuse....

The silence between herself and Grogar lasted, as she considered his offer. For a tyrant, he was surprisingly mellow... until you considered the fact that he had spend centuries here, in total darkness, only peaking into outside world once in a while with his magic... Also the fact that if he had been hostile, it was doubtful she would have even considered his offer.

"So, in exchange for giving me a physical form, giving me the basic knowledge of magic and sending me to Equestria, all I have to do is find a way to release you?" She summarized, surprised at the simple offer he had made "You're not afraid that i'll just abandon you once i'm out of here?" she asked, watching as Grogar narrowed his eyes.

"Of course not; while I could create monsters and send them outside, they serve no purpose to me, as they are mindless beasts. I require souls to give them sentience, which I don't have access to since the souls that end here are nothing but shadows, unless resurrected outside of this realm... though it would serve as a sufficient threat, to keep you from betraying me, as eventually, I will be free... and if you do betray me, you have nowhere to hide" he angrily replied, glaring at her.

Thinking about it a little, she asked the most important question "And what happens when I do release you? Will you simply dispose of me... or do I have a place in whatever new world you make for yourself?"

Grogar's glare lessened as he replied "If you stay loyal, you will have a place as my second; if you betray me and then turn back, I shall punish you, but still find a use for you. The magic to reshape and resurrect a creature is not something I waste on disposable pieces, especially when they could serve a use for me in the future" Grogar paused, glare vanishing as it was replaced with a grin "And if you stay as betrayer, then I shall simply break you, turning you into a mad monster to be held on a leash" he finished, now fully grinning, with glee on his eyes.

Well... for a ram, his villain grin seemed pretty good.

"And what happens if I stay loyal but fail? What if heroes stop me and imprison me?" she asked, watching as his grin disappeared into a flat line. After a moment of thinking, he replied "As long as you've tried your best, I shall not punish you; as long as you one day find a way to release me, It will be good enough. Even I failed once, so failure is not the end; how you deal with it determines your fate" Grogar replied, watching her carefully.

Silence once again stood between them, as her vision focused on irrelevant features on the ram in front of her while she mulled it over.

"Just curious... why don't you just use your magic to forcibly transform me? or control my mind? You certainly seem the type, so your relaxed behavior and fair deal seems odd" She asked, as Grogar let out a sigh "To forcibly transform you would leave you a wild beast; a thing of no use to me, while mind control requires a regular application, one I cannot do once you leave.... As for my 'calm behavior' ? I am not some fool, I know fully well that shouting and demanding obedience from you would only lead to rebellion on your part. Better bribe you with gifts of life and place in my new world, rather than risk disobedience" he replied in bored tone.

"Huh, a tyrant who's logical... that's rare. Well, since it's Win/Win situation for both of us, I don't see a reason to reject your offer, nor to betray you; I get a new body and a place in your future plans, while you get free from this wretched place. So, how does this work?"

Grogar grinned as he went on to explain the complicated process that would turn her from a soul into a physical, living being once more. Most of the magical process went over her head (though later, she would know what they meant), but the process was easily simplified; all she had to do was think of her new form, anything she desired, and the magical spell would do it's best to turn it into reality.

Of course, there were obvious limitations; it had to be flesh and blood, limited size and it couldn't grant you powers to bend reality to your will; at most, it could give you magical abilities of average unicorn, though she could grow more powerful by herself... like if she chose to become a dragon, she'd be reborn as newborn one, who would eventually grow to become fierce force to deal with: the magic could give the ability, but it would be up to her to grow it stronger.

While she could think of many beings she could become, including her former human body, she discarded them one by one, until she chose the most ironic one; she had died cosplaying as Airy, so that would be her new identity. When she questioned Grogar if the multiple forms were possible, he replied that it was, but it would take time for her body to adjust, to grow stronger and finish magically maturing by drawing on ambient magic.

Why did she choose to become Airy? simple; like the fictional character, she decided it would be best to take the innocent look, to trick the ponies to opening the way for her new lord, Grogar... Also, the other forms would be useful, should she need to fight. Her former human body had neither magic nor useful abilities.

She'd have the knowledge for abilities of her other forms, but she would need time to grow powerful enough to unlock them... Oh well, according to Grogar, she'd have thousands of years to do it; since the heroes seemed to prefer long punishments for villains, Grogar though it would be appropriate to give her a lifetime to fit it; it wouldn't do to have her die in couple of decades due to old age, if the heroes beat her and sealed her for a thousand years.

With agreement reached and form chosen, it was time.

As Grogar began his spell, horns glowing yellow and black, she began to draw her full attention to the mental image of Airy. The familiar voice and look, the behavior and true nature, her more sinister forms and abilities... And as her thoughts finished gathering what she needed, the spell activated.

And she screamed as pain coursed through her soul, everything fading black...

She wasn't sure how long it was, but when she came to, she felt her body ache as she lied on the cold, hard ground beneath her. Groaning, she slowly opened her eyes as she felt cold air enter her lungs.... HER LUNGS!

She gasped as her eyes opened fully, a sensation of flesh and all that came with it once again, after a long time without a body. As she greedily breathed since eons, she pushed herself on her feet, only to put her hand against her throbbing head. Her mind focused on the new, foreign knowledge, that told her everything she needed to know of her new body; How to fly, how to change forms, what her magical abilities were and how to use them...

"Well, this is unexpected" A deep voice above her interrupted her, causing her to look up... into much larger Grogar, now looking downwards at her, barely illuminated by her new glow.

He looked much more sinister now, that she was looking up at his barely illuminated face.

Refocusing back on herself, she turned to look at her hands, before she began to inspect herself; fairly normal human-like body, with white hair and pale skin. Her hair reached to her chest, silver-white looking beautiful. Her clothing was made of white, strapless dress with blue gem on her chest and bottom of the dress at mid-thighs, while her hands and legs were covered in ribbon-like gloves and stockings, gloves ending at elbows while stockings were all the way to her thighs.

Finally, as she turned her head, she could see and feel the beautiful white butterfly wings, with black edges. A few experimental flaps (a strange sensation, to know how to use new muscles, yet experiencing them for the first time) showed that they were real. As she moved her wings a little, she noted a lack of number of them; it didn't matter, as it only meant a number of worlds in the games.

A quick fixing of her hair told her that her ears were elf-like; she always found them cute.

A cough from above drew her attention away from self-examination, making her remember the situation. With an experimental flap of her wings, she took flight... and almost fell back down, before the strange new muscles corrected her flight, causing her to hover in the spot a moment, before she flew up to be on eye level with Grogar.

"Oh, thank you! I love this new body!" she spoke, her new high pitched voice causing Grogar's ears to flick "So, your malevolence; what shall we do next?" She asked, as Grogar inspected her new form with his eyes, now that she actually had one.

His reply made her feel both surprised and embarrassed.

"Getting your name would suffice, unless you prefer I keep calling you 'old soul'" Grogar sarcastically replied, causing her to stop and think about it. They had known for each other for hours, were now in a master/servant contract and yet, to her embarrassment, she had never given him her name.

"Well" she began, as she crossed one hand over her chest, while other cupped her chin "Since my old name is useless, I think i'll use the name of the fictional character this form was based on" she said, before letting her hands fall to her sides as she did a spin, before flying to hover right in front of Grogar's face "Hi, i'm Airy, the Cryst-fairy; would you like to be my friend?" She said, sounding as innocent and sincere as she could make it.

Grogar looked at her for a moment, eyes narrowing, before he laughed "Oh, that is insidious; the ponies will surely fall for it" Grogar said between laughing, which Airy joined too; their laughter echoed into the darkness, a pair of sinister laughter for none to hear but themselves.

Oh, this would be so much fun...