From Beyond the Veil

Another realm?! Holy shit! Im in another realm! My people knew another realm or realms at least existed, thanks to the Elementals. They came forth from the Primordial realm, which lays over all others like a sheet. They were always there in our world, just on a different plane so that we couldn't see them. At least until Merlin made the pact that granted us our extended lifespans. But never did our people even think to question if there were whole other realms beyond our own. But now that I think about it, they did somewhat hint at it. Saying that new lands were beyond the veil. They didn't mean the horizon. They were the founders of creation, after all. We knew well that there were other planets among the stars. But we never had a reason to go to them. We had everything we needed and more on Earth, thanks to Merlin's pact with the Elementals. Even so, due to the circumstances and culling more data from both the world and the crash logs. I can assuredly say that we crossed the veil and are now in the unknown territory of the realms.

Of course, it didn't matter much after my third day. I had lost my mind, not due to the loneliness but rather the crippling Trauma and depression that did it. I tried to suppress such emotions to figure things out at my own pace using memory and emotion-blocking spells. But my mind was the tool that created such blockers. But it was also the very thing that was the source of my torture. So after three days, all the blockers and spells failed, and I descended into a state lacking self-preservation. I overate my rations in bulk, eating days' worth of food in a few hours until I threw up. Then ate more anyway. I mainly cried, screamed, and slept. Where I then also screamed and cried due to the nightmares. I was simply broken and didn't want to live anymore. I couldn't even do simple magic. My mind was so fragmented. For an individual to even remotely cast elemental runes, they needed at least a Somewhat stable train of thought. Something that I lacked at the moment. That winged unicorn kept showing up in my dreams, and every time it did. I removed it. It was another malcontent I needed to manage along with the rest.

After the first month, the food ran out, and shortly after that, the water started to go as well. I needed to do something. I knew that. But I just didn't. Every thought, every action, every decision, just devolved into a depressive state that I didn't do anything. I couldn't just accept it, either. My family was dead, my kingdom was gone, and for all I knew. I was the only survivor, which didn't help me either. The guilt that I got away from absolute destruction but the rest of my home, no, my RACE, didn't get the second chance that I did. Made me feel even worse. It should've been anyone else. Not the failure of a general that I was that couldn't win a war fast enough to stop the extermination of my species. Hell, I was never meant to be a general in the first place. I was a prince, for fucks sake. I thought it was my duty to help our soldiers on the front line. I didn't even know the tiniest bit of what was in store for me. And yet I still was the best tactician that my people had seen. And even so, we still lost everything. I... lost everything.

I even took the liberty to make gravestones for my family. It just seemed right to give them someplace to rest. I used scrap element steel from the crash to make the crosses that marked their grave. Element steel didn't rust or decay, so they would have been memorialized till the end of time, or at least until the earth shifted enough to knock them over. I carved their names into them as well. Suppose anyone found these graves after I had passed. I wanted them to remember their names, Tyrus, Vara, and Meera. I spent a lot of time in front of those graves, crying and apologizing for being unable to save our kind. Looking back on that time now still makes me sad to this day.

One morning, I crawled out of bed and looked at Romulus's lifeless body. Still in the same position I had left him in, sitting on the floor against the wall. "What would you think of me now, old friend..." I whispered to myself. More tears streaked down my face as I plopped my head into my hands. After moments of crying, I picked my head up and looked at him again. As if gaining clarity for the first time in a lifetime. I shot up and walked to one of the walls of the aircraft that held an interior storage locker. I pressed a button along its side, and the wall spilt down the middle sideways. Two metal panels, one folding up and the other down, opened to reveal a wall with ten books hanging from it. Alternating diagonally up and down. They all looked the same, covered in element runes, and glowed with elemental energy. These were the last ten Unbound Arcanums in existence. They were books that held every piece of literature, past, present, and future, in one book. A library in one's hand. Suppose anyone wrote a book, scroll, spell, or anything. The book would detect it and catalog it with such precision and accuracy. It would appear in its table of contents. Only A hundred and twenty were made at my kingdom's founding, during the pact Merlin made with the elementals. Only those who were 'unbound' could access these books and their near-infinite knowledge. No mage alive, not even Merlin, could read the whole thing within one five-hundred-year lifespan. It was one of Merlin's greatest works, next to his puzzle box and Romulus.

My father entrusted me with them, along with several other relics of my people's history, before we fled the kingdom. His reasoning was to preserve our people's culture and wisdom after our downfall. I picked one of the books off the walls and opened it, using its built-in magic. I began a spell that would feed off the book's energy rather than my own. Mine was too unstable to keep any spell alive for longer than a few moments. I planned to separate my mind into parts, Conscious and subconscious. In my conscious mind, I would program with magic to work off of one-word phrases such as food, water, sleep, fight, etc. To keep my body alive. While my subconscious mind is where I would throw my self-awareness and try my best to process or at least manage my unfathomable depression. Or at least get it to a state where I could function without breaking down.

The spell was complex and hard to get every rune to work the way it should within the sigil. This was an entirely new spell, after all. No one had ever gotten this broken enough to butcher their own mind in such a way. But by the night's end. It worked... after I passed out.

This new situation would definitely take some getting used to. If you ever rode the passenger side in a car with someone else driving. And you just stared out the windows as the other person drove you wherever you were going. You knew where you were going and what you were feeling. But you just didn't have control? That's what it felt like. Just the windows were my body's eyes. My self-aware side of my consciousness resided in the same mind world where shards of memory floated in the air like shards of glass. Every covered in a faint green. But now, a large window showed me whatever my body looked at. I had no hands on the wheel, but my body did what the spell told it to do, survive.

Eight months have passed since that day, and things haven't gotten much better for my sanity. I knew trying to tackle whatever was going on in my head would be... difficult. But I was trying, at least. My body, however, has never looked better. It kept itself alive and then some. I've never looked so fit before. Not to mention how weird it was being a passenger in your own body. It wore armor, it bore my dad's longsword that had been passed down through Merlin's lineage of kings, and it managed to find my Hand cannon revolver both me and my father worked on in the crash wreckage. It hunted, gathered water, and fought off barkhounds and stone chickens when needed. That's what I called the wolves made of wood, barkhounds. The stone chickens were interesting, though. Their eyes had the ability to turn other living things to stone. The first time I ran into one, I happened to be wearing my pilot's helmet, so my face was completely covered. This is how I found it needed a direct line of sight to one's eyes for the turning of stone to take effect. The flash from the bird's eyes reflected off my helmet lenses and turned itself into stone. I thought it was kinda funny but also a tad bit fucked up.

My body also took the liberty to explore the forest, which I found to be somewhat alive. I mean, of course, it was a forest. They're meant to be alive. But I mean sentient in some way. It always looked different, no matter how much I backtracked. I had to use my wrist pad to pinpoint my aircraft's location since I couldn't go off of landmarks. Since everything seemed to change after I walked through it. I also tried to leave the forest on more than one occasion, I would just pick a direction and walk for hours at a time. But then I'd check my map. It looked like I'd gone in a big fucking circle. It's like it didn't want me to leave, which was spooky. My body even tried climbing one of the trees to figure out what was around us, but the leaf ceiling was surprisingly sturdy. I could break through it even by force, yet the wind could rustle the leaves like it was nothing. Once again, spooky.

At the moment, my body was hunting for food. I held a spear crafted from materials from the crash and used it as a walking stick. Finding food here wasn't easy. Most of the animals were small critters, and I didn't know fuck all about the plants and which ones were safe to eat. The most common food here was the stone chickens. And they didn't taste bad when cooked right. I hiked for a few hours before stumbling upon a second clearing instead of a crashed plane in it. There was a large dead tree in the very center of it. It looked like it had been dead for some time. No leaves dotted the branches. The leaf ceiling stretched over the tree, not even letting its dead branches break through the top. I was intrigued by the tree, but I was not in control. My body crouched down and crawled forward. Its eyes are set upon a large iguana resting on one of the large roots of the dead tree. It readied the spear, took aim, and threw it. Impaling the lizard onto the root through its midsection. The lizard spasmed for a second before going limp.

My body rushed over, removed the spear from the lizard, and picked it up by its tail before placing it in a hunting bag with a few other small critters. My body made its way to leave, having finished its hunt. But was stopped by the glowing eyes of a barkhound emerging from the woodwork. He readied his spear, waiting for it to pounce. But it only circled the edge of the tree line, staring me down. Then like moths to a flame, One after another, more hounds emerged from the woodwork. Soon there were two dozen circling me. I was screaming at my body to run, as there have never been this many grouped up like this. They only ever traveled in groups of two or three. But I was not in control. For the first time, I wished for the spell to end. But it was not my choice to make this day.

The ensuing battle was intense. My body's natural training and muscle memory from the war is the only reason it ever stood a chance. The spear was quickly made useless after one of the hounds bit it in two. So I had to rely on my sword for most of the fight. One after another, it felled hound after hound. But still, their superior numbers gave them an advantage. More than once did one pounce and bite into my armor only to be thrown across the field, along with the fact that more started emerging from the woodwork like rats drawn to cheese. It only took one, however, to cripple me. One sunk its teeth into my midsection and managed to slip its teeth in between the plating of my armor into the flesh underneath. It picked me up and trashed me around before throwing me into the dead tree, making me lose my grip on my sword as it flew, stabbing into the ground a few yards away. I could feel the pain and the blood spilling from my new wound in my midsection. The last few wolves charged me all at once. Seeing no other option, my body drew my hand cannon and fired away, felling the few remaining wolves by putting three-inch holes in them.

My body sat there, unmoving. It tried to stand up but couldn't find the strength. I could feel the weakness from the blood loss, the mix of pain and numbness from my back against the tree. Something must have been broken. My head tipped back and to the side, as it went numb. My hand relaxed, loosely dropping my hand cannon onto the roots. I screamed from within my own body to stay awake as my vision faded to black. But to no avail, as unconsciousness took hold.

I heard screaming, sounds of war, and gunfire filled my nightmares. Explosions and death, fire, and chaos, Large mechs stomped forward, firing autocannons that punched through tank armor. Missles and bombs laid waste to whole detachments of men. Smoke and ash of the fallen filled my lungs. Jets and fighters roared through the air as another battle happened in the sky. Then all as silent as a loud boom deafened all, and a rush of air swept past me. A wall of fire rushed towards me, I tried to run, but my legs would not move. I stared in fear as certain death called to me. I waited in horror as the whole battlefield was engulfed in fire.

I snapped awake in a heavy, breathing panic right as the wall fire was about to hit me in an abrupt cut. The sound of gunfire and explosions ceased, but the screaming and yelling did not. My helmet visor was turned off, most likely due to the fact I was unconscious. It probably shut itself down. I reached my hand to the side of the helmet while listening to the yelling. It was only then that I realized I was in control of my body again. The spell ceased, or was it broken? I don't know. My helmet booted to life as my full vision returned.

Did I see... horses? I blinked in confusion as I assessed my situation. I saw multiple horses, roughly eight or so. Fully dressed in golden armor with helmets with brush mohawks like the spartans of the bronze era. I looked closer and found unicorns among them, Holding spears and halberds in magical energy. Others had them strapped to their armor. Two stood out among the rest. One unicorn also had armor but was a mix of purple and gold with white fur and a cobalt blue mane. The other, also a unicorn, had no armor at all and had purple fur with a dark indigo mane with streaks of purple and pink. The purple one had an odd symbol on its flank of a twinkling star.

I was so busy observing these creatures that I failed to realize that they were under attack. It took a barkhound rushing out of the forest and sinking its teeth into one horse's neck, and dragging him off into the woods, screaming as the two unicorns I mentioned blasted energy bolts at the hound. I finally understood the seriousness of the situation. No wonder none of them were facing me. There were several bloodstains in the area, along with several hounds running wildly, trying to get close enough to sink their teeth in along with several dead hounds all over the place from both my previous battle and this one.

The white armored unicorn shouted ferociously as he blasted a hound away with a pink energy blast from his horn. "Why are there so many of these things!?"

The pink unicorn, hearing the white ones question as she also fended off her attackers. Responded, "I don't know! They never group up anywhere near this much. They normally travel in groups of two or three! They don't even attack groups of this size, for celestias sake!"

I tried to get up but was quickly reminded by the pain in my midsection and back. Instead, I pushed myself using my legs against the dead tree, trying to get them under me and using the tree as a brace. It worked, but it was gruesome and painful. I slowly got to my feet, Clutching my still bleeding wound in my stomach. What I found odd about this whole ordeal was I was unusually calm and collected. My thoughts were clear, and nothing dared disturb them even though fighting was going on. I focused a rune of fire in my hand and pressed it to my wound. I felt searing pain as I cast it, burning the wound shut. I leaned over, picked my hand cannon off the roots, and returned it to its holster.

I looked back to the horses fighting for their lives to see a hound leap and tackle the purple, un-armored unicorn to the ground. Its voice screamed as she called for help.

"TWILIGHT!" I heard the white unicorn yell. His voice was filled with concern as he charged to the unicorn's aid only to be tackled to the side by another hound.

I watched as the hound on top of the unicorn, bearing its teeth as it slobbered over the unicorn as she screamed for help. Using her hooves to keep the creature back. My gaze drifted as I saw my dad's sword sticking out of the ground, halfway between her and me. I felt a surge of adrenaline hit me as I charged forward and grabbed the blade's handle as I ran. I put it into position and plunged it into the beast's chest on top of the unicorn as the force from my charge sent it back. I tumbled over it and landed feet first on the ground, sword still in hand. I looked up to see the hounds staring at me. Suddenly I was their focus as they abandoned their hunt on the horses. I was separated from the main group of horses and was circled by half a dozen hounds. For some reason, I smiled.

"BRING IT ON!" I yelled, pointing my sword into the air, using a fire rune to set it ablaze. I lowered and spun into a whirlwind, Sending a slash of fire in all directions as it collided with the hounds. They were undeterred, charging me once they recovered. I took my stance, laying my blade flat across my left forearm and pointing the blade out over my elbow. Holding the handle with my right hand. I charged the nearest one, slashing through its side as the cracking and splintering sound of wood sounded from its midsection. These creatures were naturally weak to fire, which made them easier to slice through with my sword ablaze.

I turned on another, adrenaline fueling my strikes as I felled one after another. Each strike seared through the wooden hides of the beast. But even I got caught up in the moment. My emotions took over my will as anger fueled each strike after some time. The same emotions I've been trying to stave off for the past eight months came forth in this one battle. I had no plan anymore, just violence mixed with Nine years of war-related training and might. But it left my guard open. I slashed through another one of these hounds, wielding the sword with one hand and carrying it with my built-up momentum as I spun and drove it into the beast's head. Another hound took the opportunity to clamp down on my left arm, sinking its teeth into the plating and crushing the armor into my flesh. It reared onto its hind legs, taking me into the air as it slammed me into the ground. I lost my grip on my sword as it reared up again and began thrashing me around.

I reached my other hand and punched as hard as possible into the beast's right eye. Casting a fire spell through my fist and blowing apart its head from the inside with a firey explosion. Knocking me to the ground. I stumbled back to my feet, only to have another hound clench its teeth around my right calf, and once again, I was being thrashed around. I cursed at the hound as I threw a fireball into its face. Causing it to let go of my leg at a rather unfortunate time, launching me through the air and landing on a fall tree log. I stumbled to my feet again. My right leg was shaking violently as it tried to keep me upright, my torn calf muscles barely holding on.

I felt the pain hit for the first time during this whole fight, and I almost dropped. Gasping for air and coughing up blood violently. I grabbed at my chest with my good arm. I stared blankly at the hounds slowly approaching me. An idea suddenly popped into my head. I brought around my left arm as best as possible, opened my wrist pad, and opened the volume settings as fast as possible. I looked back to the hounds closing in and went back to the volume settings. Turning off the bass and cranking the pitch and volume to the max. The resulting high pitch noise that I could barely hear stopped the hounds in their tracks. They pawed and clawed at their heads as they whimpered and whined. Rolling into their sides, squirming in discontent.

"GO ON, GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE! ALL OF YOU!" I shouted, slowly limping towards the hound. Holding up my left arm with my right to face them as they scrambled to their paws and ran back into the forest. I looked around, and no more hounds were in sight. The sudden burst of wit just saved my own ass as I sighed in relief. A dog, no matter how flashy, will have the weaknesses of a dog.

Suddenly my crippled leg gave out from under me, and I plummeted toward the ground. However, instead of colliding with terra-firma, I instead felt something warm and fuzzy brace itself against my back. Slowly it worked its way around my back until the same white unicorn from earlier was under my shoulder, propping me upright using his lower neck. He was looking at me with his light blue eyes. He was without his purple-mohawked helmet from before. He most likely lost it when he was tackled by the hound earlier.

"Easy now, You're alright. Let's sit you down," he said, carrying me over to the nearby log I was recently thrown into. Sitting me down on it gently.

"Okay, now let's take a look at you..." He said, looking over my wounds. His horn was glowing with pink magic. I felt the pain dull as the moments dragged on.

"Please tell me you have a way out of this fucking place?" I groaned. My mind was fuzzy, Feeling the full weight of the pain as the adrenaline wore off. Aching, soreness, and screaming stings erupted all over my body.

His eyes drifted back up to me, "Yeah, don't worry. We'll get you out of here." he said, his horns magic dulling. "Alright, it's just a numbing spell to help with the pain. We gotta get you back to canterlot as quick as possible."

I chuckled. "Heh, don't worry about me. I've lived through worse." I finished, coughing slightly.

The white unicorn smiled at my remark as the purple unicorn trotted up next to it. "Canterlot? Shouldn't we take him to ponyville since it's closer? These injuries look pretty severe. I don't know if it will make it to canterlot." She questioned, worry on her breath.

The white unicorn shook his head. "Its injuries are the exact reason why we need to get it to canterlot. Ponyville is great with medicine, but I doubt they know how to treat something like this if you, with all your bookworm expertise, didn't know what it was. The best option is to take it to canterlot for magical treatment, and maybe the princesses know what it is."

"Stop calling me it, " I groaned. "Im human, and im a guy. Being called 'it' just sounds weird. Let's just get the fuck outa-" I added, trying to get to my feet before falling back onto the log.

"Hey, take it easy!" The White unicorn demanded. "You clearly can't walk with your injuries." Then said as the unicorn turned to his side. "Here, let me carry you." He added, his horn lighting up again as I was lifted into the air, surrounded by a pink aura as I sat down on the unicorn's back. I adjusted myself until I was comfortably sitting on his armor as best as I could.

"Alright, troops, fall in!" he yelled. Five other horses and unicorns joined around me and the purple one. I swear I counted eight earlier. We were about to take off when I rested my right hand on my sword scabbard, which was empty.

"WAIT!" I shouted, causing alert to all the horses around me.

"What!? What is it?" The white unicorn said, jumping alert and looking around.

"Where's my sword?" I asked, looking around franticly.

The white unicorn turned its head to look at me, almost like an owl, which freaked me out a little. "We can get you another sword! We need to get out of here!"

"No, you don't understand! That sword was the last thing my dad gave me before he-" I started breathing so heavily I couldn't finish my sentence. I couldn't finish it if I wanted to anyway. The unicorn's eyes went wide, seeming to understand the words I couldn't say, and began looking around with me. Trotting slowly around the clearing. The purple one doing the same.

"There!" I shouted, pointing to a small glimmer of white under a hunk of wood from the barkhounds. The white unicorn lifted the hunk away with his magic and levitated the sword up to me. I hastily grabbed its handle and returned the blade to its scabbard. With no more delays, our small group dashed into the forest with such speed that I had to lower myself and grab onto the unicorn's mane not to fall off. I left my wristpads sound deterrent on to keep the bark hounds away. We ran and jumped over logs and rocks through the forest for a few moments. Until I saw a break in the woodwork, and I gasped as I saw rays of sunlight breaching through the branches.

My surprise was short-lived, as I saw branches, roots, and vines start tangling together to form a wall. Preventing our escape as we approached.

"What the heck!? The forest has NEVER done that before!" The purple unicorn shouted in shock.

I called upon what little magical energy I had left, focusing it into a sigil that held five fire runes in my right hand. I held my hand and clenched it like a claw as a fireball of yellow and orange appeared, then compressed itself smaller into a bright blue fireball burning even hotter. I tensed my mind even harder, compressing it even further until it was a small of pure white fire. I looked at the vine wall. We were rapidly approaching it.

"Whatever you do, don't stop running!" I cried.

"What!? What are you doing? The white unicorn asked worriedly.

"I WILL NOT BE HELD CAPTIVE IN THIS GOD-FORSAKEN FOREST ANY LONGER!" I yelled, hurling the fireball forward as it roared ahead of us, the small ball growing in size and brightness immensely before colliding with the plant wall. Erupting in an explosion of fire as it blasted away trees and ground alike. Clearing the way as it approached. The unicorn lept through the flames to the other side. I collapsed into his mane as the exhaustion from the spell hit me like a truck. Closing my eyes and trying to catch my breath.

We went on for a few moments before I could feel us slow to a stop. I rolled onto the ground off the unicorn with a thud and opened my eyes. I gazed at a beautiful blue sky with clouds dotted about. A small flock of birds flew overhead. And among all of that was the sun. A big bright ball in the sky, giving life and warmth to all of those under its gaze. I sat up and rested on my knees. I was sitting on a hill of grass. I heard the White unicorn talking to some of the others behind me. I unbuckled my right gauntlet and rested it on the ground as my free hand dragged through the grass. I gripped a bundle of it and ripped it from the ground. Using my still-weak left hand, I unclipped my helmet and took it off, letting it roll down the hill with a few soft thumps. I felt the wind hit my face as the cool air gave me some tranquillity. I held the handful of grass up to my nose and smelled it. It had been so long since I had seen, let alone smelled, fresh grass. I dropped my hand to my side as I gazed up at the sun.

"Oh, how I missed you, old friend..." I whispered. Not caring if the sun heard me or not.

"Hey, you okay?" I heard the unicorn ask as he sat down next to me.

I dropped my gaze to face him. The shape of the sun burned into my retinas. "I haven't seen the sun in almost ten years," I said, crying with both happiness and the sting from staring at the sun. I could see the utter shock on his face before returning to look at the sun. "And it's even more beautiful than I remember..."

I felt my head grow weak as I toppled to my side. I heard the unicorn next to me yell in concern as I fell. I was out before I even hit the ground.