A True Person

"So, it really has been destroyed," muttered Alexei, casting a glance over the empty crater where the tree once stood. "I should get back to searching for the vault."

Scratching his head, he turned and headed thoughtfully back toward the castle. After walking a few steps, Alexei suddenly nodded, as if he had made a decision, and quickened his pace, breaking into a run.

His face remained calm, but inside, Alexei was tense, alert to every sensation. A thought pulsed in his mind like a warning signal: “Who took the tree?” He was sure it had survived the ritual. “Is Discord already here? Is Sombra still alive? Or is it a third party? Griffons?”

Aside from Equestria, the griffons were the closest to the Crystal Empire, so their interference was quite possible. The miasma had almost completely dispersed, and now, with minimal protection, one could enter this place without much trouble. But what worried him most was the thought that whoever took the tree might be watching him right now.

Rushing into the castle, Alexei navigated by memory to a room with magically reinforced walls—likely a place for important guests in the past. He slipped inside and shut the door behind him. The room went silent, the only sound a faint echo of his footsteps disturbing the stillness.

Without wasting time, Alexei began quickly tapping the air in front of him. Each touch sent faint, transparent ripples, as if an invisible surface under his fingers were liquid. Unfortunately, his luck seemed to have run out—each layer of the Depths he touched was unsuitable for crossing.

Alexei continued his attempts methodically, creating waves in the space each time. But with each try, he either sensed the presence of dangerous creatures near a potential passage or found that the environment on the other side was too extreme. Still, he didn’t stop and kept searching.

After forty minutes of relentless effort, Alexei finally sensed he had found a suitable spot. Fixing his finger in place, he released gray smoke and pressed against the invisible boundary. A soft crackle sounded, and a rift opened in front of him, yawning with familiar darkness. Alexei exhaled in relief—finding it had taken so long that he had nearly exhausted his energy.

Suddenly, a magical pulse surged through the castle, and the air trembled under its pressure—the alicorns, it seemed, were not in a good mood. The rift quivered, its edges distorting as if about to collapse.

Alexei’s gaze wavered. Without hesitation, he sacrificed his tendrils, turning them into gray smoke that rushed toward the rift, stabilizing it. The pressure in the air gradually lessened, and Alexei managed to keep the rift from closing. Pressing his bleeding nose, he quickly scanned the room to ensure he left no trace. Then, without hesitation, he jumped into the rift. It was time to say goodbye to the Crystal Empire.

In the next instant, Alexei dropped from a five-meter height onto soft ground, covered in silky grass and scattered with flowers of every color in the rainbow. Unfortunately, he couldn’t enjoy their scent—his nose was full of blood. Spitting out bits of grass and dirt, he slowly got up, squinted, and looked around.

An endless sea of green stretched around him. The landscape seemed perfect, but the lack of any creatures unsettled Alexei. He would have preferred a scene of utter chaos: a bloody battlefield, a fight for survival. But here—silence, which could mean only one thing…

“Something here ate everything,” thought Alexei, carefully surveying the surroundings.

The vast, open plain stretched for miles, with no visible threat in sight. But that didn’t calm him—his encounter with that tiny “fairy” that devoured monsters the size of thirty-story buildings was still fresh in his mind.

With a sigh, Alexei lay down on the soft grass and closed his eyes. His body slowly began to recover, and his mind to relax. Even if a hungry monster roamed this world, Alexei couldn’t move on just yet. His energy was nearly drained, and he could feel the overload setting in. His core was unstable, and without meditation techniques to support it, it could explode at any moment. Facing either a local monster or the explosion of his own core—neither outcome would be survivable.

Lying on the soft grass, Alexei could feel the energy of the Depths slowly but steadily seeping into his body, striving to assimilate his being.

Judging its effects, Alexei roughly estimated he could last here about four days. If he didn’t leave by then, the Depths would bind him to themselves, and escaping would become extremely difficult. Like the local creatures, he would need outside help from the beings of Equus—rituals, sacrifices, and other complex procedures to return to the world. And considering that almost no one knew of his existence, there was little hope for summoning rituals.

The thought of being summoned as a sort of demon brought a smirk to Alexei’s face. With each passing second, he felt himself drifting further from his former human life.

“Speaking of which,” he suddenly thought, “What if I were summoned? Then I could choose my entry point instead of randomly popping up.”

All he had to do was create a cult, gather followers, and develop the proper rituals. With a sigh, Alexei returned to resting.

After lying for about an hour, he felt his strength gradually returning, filling every cell of his body. His mind cleared, and taking a deep breath, he stood up, ready to open another rift. He didn’t want to stay here a moment longer.

Focusing intently on the space around him, he sought the right point, catching the faintest tremors of Depth energy. This time, it took him only about fifteen minutes to find it. The rift opened softly and with little resistance, and Alexei promptly slipped into it, leaving the Depths behind.

The rift closed silently as if it had never been there, and only a light breeze stirred the tall grass, covering the recent traces of his presence. Everything returned to silence, with only the soft rustling of the grass breaking this illusion of peace.

A few minutes later, near the spot where Alexei was resting, a muffled snort was followed by a piercing, disgruntled screech that echoed across the entire layer.

Alexei, having emerged from the rift, stood on the edge of a sand dune overlooking an endless ocean of sand. The desert stretched to the horizon, with only sparse dunes breaking up the monotony of the landscape. The dry air was thick with warmth, promising a hot day.

Alexei glanced up at the morning sun, steadily rising above the horizon, and quickly put two and two together. It was already evening in the Crystal Empire—meaning he was on the Western continent.

He couldn’t help but marvel at this ability—teleporting over such vast distances with minimal energy cost! Although, of course, it wasn’t true teleportation. He was simply using the Depths as a shortcut between two points in space. The only issue was that he never knew exactly where he would end up. He could only vaguely sense the general features of the surroundings. It was risky, but at this moment, he felt almost content.

Standing atop the dune, Alexei noticed a herd of strange creatures moving slowly along the sandy hills in the distance. They resembled gazelles or antelopes, but with long, curved horns that shimmered with a faint silvery light. Their bodies glistened with green and blue hues, as if covered in scales, and instead of hooves, they seemed to tread on wide paws with soft pads. Long tails trailed behind them like silken ribbons, and a powerful aura radiated from their majestic movements.

Even from here, Alexei could sense that each of these creatures was at the third rank or higher. This herd could easily dispatch him, a weakened Sombra, or even the Elements if they found themselves here.

Fortunately, they were moving in the opposite direction, and Alexei watched this stunning sight with interest.

Suddenly, a giant sandworm burst from the sand near the herd, emitting an oppressive aura as it effortlessly swallowed two of the gazelle-like creatures. Blood sprayed into the air along with pieces of flesh, staining the yellow sands a vivid red. The worm appeared to have not only excellent camouflage but also powerful, saw-like teeth that tore through its prey in an instant.

At the sight, the remaining gazelle-like creatures immediately scattered, their sleek bodies maintaining grace as they seemed to dissolve into the sea of sand. The worm lazily but swiftly dove back into the sand, dragging its massive body behind.

Everything fell silent, as if nothing had happened. Alexei, frowning slightly, looked down at his feet.

Just in case, he scanned the area with his senses, cautiously extending a thin tendril and sinking it into the sand.

A few moments later, he pulled out a small scorpion. It wriggled, trying to sting the tendril, but Alexei held it firmly, watching as it flailed its legs and curved its sharp stinger toward him.

Now it was time for the final test he hadn’t yet had a chance to perform.

Taking out a chalice, Alexei placed the scorpion inside and began observing. The small creature scurried around in confusion. Alexei waited a few minutes and, satisfied that the chalice’s interior was suitable for living creatures, retrieved the scorpion.

Afterward, he ate his catch, dug a small pit nearby, and placed the chalice inside, carefully burying it beneath a layer of loose sand. Once he finished, he stepped inside the spatial artifact.

Standing on the path, Alexei looked around at the chalice’s inner world with interest. The landscape was modest, if not monotonous: grass everywhere, three black trees, and a few simple tables. In a distant corner lay all the loot he had managed to gather in the Crystal Empire, though even that treasure paled compared to the chalice itself. Only books containing ancient knowledge and forbidden spells could rival it in value.

“Isn’t this perfect?” Alexei said with a smile, spreading his arms as if to embrace the scene before him. “This isn’t just a spatial artifact. This thing could completely change my life!”

Even in him, always calm and rational, a nagging thought began to grow—could this good fortune be the harbinger of something terrible? But even this thought couldn’t spoil his mood.

The ability to house living creatures here changed everything for him. While in the Depths, he existed in a parallel world, almost undetectable among millions of layers. And within the chalice, he was in an isolated space, detached from Equus, with the chalice itself possessing concealing properties—he wouldn’t have realized it was an artifact until he touched it.

If Alexei continued moving between the Depths and the chalice, wouldn’t he become nearly undetectable?

There was only one moment when he could be found: upon returning to Equus. But if he was careful, it should go smoothly. Of course, there was always the chance that things wouldn’t go as planned.

Unable to wait any longer, Alexei plunged into the pile of books, eagerly scanning their contents for anything that might give him even the slightest clue on topics of interest.

Soon, a stack of selected books began to grow beside him, their titles speaking for themselves. He picked one up with particular interest: a massive tome with a scratched cover titled Dark Magic and Advanced Techniques of Meditative Fusion.

Without delay, Alexei lay on the ground and immersed himself in the text from the very first word.

There were books on mental meditation techniques, whereas dark magic was entirely unsuitable for him. However, he decided to start with indirect methods—none of the techniques in these books would suit him anyway. But the knowledge might prove useful, even if only for basic comparisons.

He read with a speed that his former self would have found incredible: page after page flicked by, and the rustle of paper filled the air. It only took him a few seconds per page, and if not for the help of telekinesis, he might have torn the book apart in his impatience.

After twenty minutes, Alexei closed the book and relaxed, closing his eyes to focus on the new information. With his body filled with mental energy, his mind had become sharper than ever. Even his memory had improved—now he could retrieve any detail he had ever known.

Meditation techniques in the magical world were divided into two main types: external and internal. It all depended on the sources of power the mage tapped into while practicing.

For example, dark magic was closely tied to emotions, and many of its techniques required the mage to manipulate these emotions for success. Some of the methods Alexei found in the book could be considered rather disturbing.

One of the most powerful techniques described in this book required the following: to begin using this technique, one first had to make someone fall in love with them, then convince the victim that their family and friends had betrayed them. Any method could be used, but one could not control the target's mind directly. By fostering despair and hatred in the victim, they were to be driven to the point where they would eliminate those they once loved with their own hands. Following this, the victim would receive a final betrayal—a knife in the back from the one they considered everything in their life—and their emotions would be carefully gathered. Only then could one proudly call themselves a dark mage.

This meditation technique required the emotions of others and thus fell into the "external" category.

Both external and internal techniques had their advantages and disadvantages: external techniques allowed for rapid development but depended on specific resources—certain emotions, conditions, rare materials, or energies that weren’t always easy to obtain.

Internal techniques, by contrast, developed slowly but steadily; the result depended entirely on personal effort and persistence, allowing the mage to progress without relying on circumstances.

He delved into the books, one after another, studying theories of meditation related to dark magic, blood magic, universal unicorn magic, and mental magic.

Why were meditation techniques so closely tied to specific schools of magic and elements? The answer was simple: each technique was specifically adapted to its magical direction, strengthening the particular energy it was associated with.

Of course, there were also neutral or basic techniques designed purely for core stabilization without enhancing energy or gaining special abilities. For example, his recent trick with the energy rings stabilizing the nightmare could be considered a basic technique.

However, choosing the right technique was a step toward power. Pegasi, for example, who used wind magic, would prefer a technique related to wind to further enhance their abilities.

It was certainly possible to study magic accessible to all creatures, such as mental, dark, necromancy, or blood magic. But why learn blood magic and memorize spells if nature had granted a talent for wind control, allowing one to intuitively use elemental magic? Developing one’s innate power had always been more appealing.

Among all the magical races, perhaps only zebras were an exception—they had no specific attribute like unicorns but possessed natural sensitivity to all energies. Among them were a diverse mix of mages practicing all kinds of magic available to all races.

In a book on mental magic, Alexei stumbled upon one high-level technique that he found particularly intriguing. It developed the mage’s evil thoughts, and although it didn’t require external sources, it altered the practitioner’s personality.

The technique provided the ability to penetrate others' thoughts, feel their emotions, and improve the quality of mental energy, allowing for influence over minds and even objects. The prospects were tempting, but the price—distorting his own personality—dampened his enthusiasm.

Besides, Alexei had no intention of using it anyway: possessing the attribute of deceit, he knew he needed a technique capable of fully unlocking his potential, and he wouldn’t settle for less. He just found this technique somewhat interesting.

Since he didn’t find anything similar in the books, he would have to create his own technique, carefully studying the philosophy and principles of existing practices.

Pondering this, Alexei wondered: what is deceit? What did he want to put into his technique? The obvious path lay through an external technique dependent on deceiving others, but this idea didn’t sit right with him. The speed of such a path could be illusory, and relying on others seemed like a weakness. So, what would be the essence of his technique?

His thoughts were interrupted by a sharp pain in his temples, as if something had squeezed his head in a vise. Alexei grimaced, set the book aside, and lay down directly on the grass, closing his eyes. He hadn’t had a chance to rest, yet he was already absorbing information in massive amounts—and now here was the result.

The best way to recover now was obvious—sleep. Luna certainly wouldn’t rush into the Dream Realm immediately after breaking free, which gave him a sense of security. With his mental abilities, falling asleep was effortless, and all his dreams were now lucid. In a moment, he was already drifting off, sinking smoothly into the dark void where his mind would restore itself, traveling through absolute darkness.

Meanwhile, beyond his senses, in the depths of the dream, a figure of a gray unicorn appeared. His red eyes watched Alexei intently as thin threads began to appear around him, slowly and inexorably connecting the unicorn to his surroundings.

He lowered his gaze to his hoof, where the knots and streams of energy extended from him to the surrounding space. The unicorn could only sigh mentally: this was why he had wanted to be "killed" by the alicorns or Twilight—the third resurrection method had its own peculiarities.

Darkness enveloped the Realm of Shadow, transforming it into an eerie reflection of the deepest, unseen fears. Between thin flickers of ghostly light, barely penetrating the dense gloom, shadowy figures emerged, wavering as if they were living beings, born from the very ground, reaching out for any glimpse of light only to vanish back into the black depths. This world existed in the space between waking and dreaming, like shadows that dwell between light and darkness. Everything here felt fragile, as if one careless move could disrupt the balance and trap one forever in its darkness.

In the center of a forest clearing, surrounded by thick, oppressive silence, stood a massive black tree. Its twisted branches reached toward the sky like giant claws, eager to grasp anything that entered their shadow.

Around its roots lay the bodies of crystal ponies—thousands of lifeless forms, arranged in an unnatural order. The air was heavy with the scent of blood, thick and metallic, disturbingly strong yet somehow enticing, drawing more ponies to the tree, their eyes empty and glassy. Silently, as if in a trance, they bent toward its roots, twisting their necks before falling, adding to the bloody carpet surrounding the tree.

Stepping back a few paces, a white unicorn looked over his creation with satisfaction. The dark cracks in the tree's bark had already begun to heal, and its dry flesh was slowly reviving, filling with new sap. Its roots stirred, writhing like living serpents as they pierced the remains of the ponies, feeding on their essence. With each new body, the tree grew stronger, and with it, the unicorn’s power increased.

Sombra felt almost fond toward this tree—for, after all, it had been his refuge, his second mother, for the past thousand years. Not to mention its importance to the grand plan. What were the lives of these ponies if the sacrifice of just a few tens of thousands could be the key to greatness? Only a handful of them had returned to Equus—in the Realm of Shadow, millions remained.

With a flick of his horn, Sombra summoned a soft armchair from the void, resembling a thick cushion, and settled into it, observing the endless procession of ponies heading toward the tree. He had much to ponder.

It all began one thousand and seventy years ago, when his experiments with the tree first began to bear fruit. Back then, he left his old body behind and, implanting a shard of his soul with altered memories into it, merged with the tree, starting a long process of metamorphosis.

Since then, he had grown in this body, nourished by the energies of ancient roots, while his clone wandered, believing himself to be the real Sombra. And now, the whole world thought he was dead, while his plan entered its decisive phase.

The clone had lived, thinking himself to be Sombra, even conversing with the tree, believing it was gaining consciousness. Little did he know that he was, in fact, speaking to his creator, who had fused with the wood’s flesh. The clone thought the main goal of the ritual was to weaken the Tree of Harmony, but that was only a secondary task—a trial before the grand design.

"As if it were that simple," Sombra sighed, realizing that the Tree of Harmony, the guardian of Equus created by powerful entities, was nearly invulnerable.

Its power extended across all of Equus, like magic itself, bestowing life and fate on all living things. To challenge the Tree of Harmony was akin to fighting the very source of his existence, like a river trying to flow against its source. A single blow from the Tree would be enough to end Sombra’s existence.

But he already had a plan to avoid such a fate. Sombra knew how to temporarily weaken the Tree to create an opening for himself. He had spent a thousand years merging with the tree, absorbing its strength to create his opportunity when the time came.

This tree was connected to the one who had grown it, so Sombra allowed this being—a human—to take the saplings, even leaving him some useful items. All for the sake of an experiment.

Was this human truly a creature from another universe? What would happen if he grew his own tree? Could it surpass what Sombra had created? Despite his strength, even after absorbing a fraction of the Tree of Harmony’s authority, Sombra didn’t know if his plan would work. So he certainly wouldn’t refuse a backup option.

There were other candidates, like the creatures from the Depths, but… they were too difficult to control, and mind control left magical traces, rendering the experiment pointless.

As for controlling this human, Sombra was not concerned in the least: his clone had an excellent resurrection method, triggered by his killer—the Imperfection ability from which his horn had been crafted. The moment the human killed the clone, his fate was sealed. Even the mighty alicorns and the Elements of Harmony were powerless against the shield crafted from the remains of such a being, so what could a mere human do? Inevitably, he would grow the saplings and fulfill his role, and afterward, he wouldn’t even notice that his body no longer belonged to him.

But there was one thought Sombra couldn’t shake. His clone believed the ritual had ended in total failure, but that wasn’t true. Still, at the end, strange disturbances had indeed arisen. Could he have miscalculated somewhere? Or perhaps…

“Did Discord betray me?” Sombra murmured thoughtfully, opening his eyes. “No, he couldn’t have. Unless… that’s not Discord anymore.”