The Citadel

Stepping trough the obelisk was as easy as going trough a door, but to Flurry Heart it was just as terrifying as if she was walking under a guillotine that could fall on top of her at any moment. But she made it trough regardless and if she ever saw one of these obelisks again it would be to soon. The door soon closed itself behind her as she took a look around the new room she was in. It was just another large circular stone room with a set of stairs right in front of her, it was a bit more red in colour but unremarkable otherwise.

"Before we go any further princess there something we need to do." Zyzix said

A little puzzled Flurry turned towards the wisp " What do you mean?"

"Since we are almost at our destination we need to do some preparations, you remember that we talked about the power of names yes?" Zyzix asked.

"Yes." she replied nodding slowly not sure where the conversation was going.

"Good good, I am going to show you how to bind the sword to yourself so you can use its true potential."

"Am I not already doing that?" Flurry asked a little confused.

"No, the blade is still bound to me I have only just allowed you to use it, but now I will release my ownership of the weapon so you may lay claim to it."

"Why didn't we do this from the beginning then, it could have been helpful." Flurry questioned in a grumpy tone.

"Well princess if we had done so and then you would have perished, then I would lose access to the sword and then surely expire myself and I did not want to take that risk." Zyzix explained.

"So why now?"

"We are about to face a very dangerous foe and to increase our chances for success you should have the swords full power available to you."

Flurry Heart had a feeling that there might be something she had to fight at the top of the tower but she had hoped that she would have been wrong there.

"Well enough talk let us get this done, take the sword out and lay it on the ground." Zyzix sounded very eager to move things along.

She did as instructed and placed the weapon down in front of herself and took a few steps back.

"Excellent, this will only take a moment." Zyzix said with glee.

The wisp then hovered over the sword mumbling some strange words while glowing slightly brighter. The blade began to emit a similar glow of its own and after a few seconds it faded again.

"It is done, I have severed my bond to this weapon now it is your turn to make a new one." Zyzix said.

Flurry scratched her cheek looking at the sword on the ground "So what do I do then?" she asked.

"First of all we need some of your essence to coat the weapon in," Zyzix explained.

"But I do not think that will be a problem seeing that you have plenty of blood on you." she teased which made Flurry frown a bit.

"Secondly you need a name for it to bind the spell with." Zyzix continued.

"I used to call it void if it is of any help."

Flurry thought for a second " How about black sword since it's black and a sword." she said pleased.

"... That is true I suppose." Zyzix said a bit taken aback after a long pause. "Anyway if you have decided on that name then let us continue."

"To make the bond you need to channel your magic into the sword while repeating these words until the spell is complete, er'axxi ytzi rizzia merr."

"Say what?" Flurry asked confused.

"Er'axxi ytzi rizzia merr." Zyzix repeated "Practice if you have to because the spell will not work if you say it wrong."

Flurry Heart took a few minutes to walk around repeating these strange words to herself to make sure she got it right. Her companion waited patiently for her to finish her little rehearsal. She had no idea what these words meant nor did she really care it was just another step for her to get home again. She had very little experience with casting verbal magic, she knew it existed but it was very rarely used so this would be a first for her. After a little while she was feeling confident enough to try the spell, she walked up to Zyzix and nodded indicating that she was ready.

"You can start whenever you wish, should you by chance fail the spell will just fizzle out so do not worry about that." Zyzix said.

"How will I know when it's done?" she asked.

"Trust me you will know." the wisp chuckled lightly.

Flurry Heart bent down in front of the sword she then took a hand and put it over her stomach wound coating it in blood. Most of if had dried but there was still some patches that where still wet. She then moved her hand over to the weapon and smeared the blood over the surface of the blade. She threw a glance at Zyzix to see if it was enough who bobbed slightly as if nodding in approval. Flurry then closed her eyes to concentrate, she took a deep breath and reached out with her magic towards the sword and started chanting those strange words. At fist nothing seemed to happen and she started to wonder if she was doing it right. But then she began to feel a slight tugging and a warmth in front of her, still chanting she opened her eyes. There was a fire the same colour as her magic surrounding the sword and the bloodstains bubbled as they where slowly being absorbed into it. Flurry suddenly got a really strong urge to extend her arm and grab the weapon, she had to fight back the feeling while still maintaining the spell.

"Do not fight it princess." Zyzix said from behind her noticing her struggle.

Hearing this she relaxed her body and let herself reach for the sword, the flames around it didn't burn her but instead moved away from her hand. She took a firm grip on the hilt and in that instant the fire was sucked into the sword and a shockwave ran up her arm and into her body making her gasp.

"Excellent done princess you manage to cast the spell on your first try, I am impressed." her companion praised.

Flurry Heart was to stunned by what just happened to answer, she was sitting on the floor wide eyed and panting holding the sword in one hand. If the blade felt powerful before it paled in comparison to now it practically radiated it like a furnace, honestly it was a little scary. She stood up and made a few practice swings, it still felt like the perfect sword regarding its weight and balance. But now it also left a light trail the same colour as her own magic aura after itself when swung, like if she was waving a glowstick around.

"Neat." she said while trying to write her own name in the air.

"I can see that you are enjoying your new empowered sword princess but we should be on our way, we are almost there." Zyzix cut in while she was having a bit of fun.

"Yeah I guess you are right." she said with a sigh.

~~~~~~

Having left the small room and ascended the stairs they emerged into a large chamber with arches as far as the eye could see. They where made of some sort of grey stone and was cowered in lots of intricate details. Flurry was perplexed how all these enormous rooms and long corridors could all fit inside this citadel. The only answer she could think of was that the structure itself was somehow magically larger on the inside. They kept walking deeper into the seemingly endless room if Zyzix hadn't been here to guide her she would have been lost in no time at all since it all looked the same to her. Flurry Hearts hoofs echoed with every step she took emphasizing the vast emptiness of the space, there was also a very peculiar smell here that she could only describe as ancient.

Rounding a huge stone pillar Flurry noticed a shadowy figure in corner of her eye, she quickly turned towards it and drew her sword ready to defend herself. There where seven bipedal shapes slowly moving in opposite direction, they had no features as they seemed to be made up of smoke and shadows. Flurry got chills watching them fade from sight, she swiftly turned her head in every direction trying in vain to find them again.

"Calm yourself princess, those things will not attack us." Zyzix said calmly.

"W-what was that?" Flurry asked in a shaky voice still trying to locate them.

"Whispers of life before the calamity that claimed this world they are everywhere, but the reason you can see them now because the magic is so strong here."

"You mean like ghosts?" she got more chills just thinking that this horrible place might also be haunted.

"Call them ghosts specters or phantoms it is all the same just ignore them, they are not worthy of our attention." Zyzix said dismissively.

She kept her sword in her hand just in case it felt safer that way as she continued to follow her companion looking around nervously. Knowing they where there made her notice them more and every once in a while she spotted them, it didn't get easier the more of them she saw it was just as creepy every time. After a while of wandering trough the endless arches of the room Zyzix spoke up.

"There it is, our destination."

Flurry looked ahead and saw a giant spiral staircase going up to the ceiling.

"Is it up there we will find the portal?" she asked.

"Yes, and the construct maintaining it." Zyzix replied.

It was hard to believe that this nightmare could be over soon. All the horrible things she had experienced all the pain and suffering she had to endure to get here. And now the goal was within reach she just needed to push herself a little further and she could be home again, that thought alone gave her a massive boost in morale. With her hope reignited she approached the stairs with a bit more speed stopping just in front of the first step to gather herself before going up.

"Curses!" Zyzix growled.

The wisps sudden outburst made Flurry jump a little, her mind then began to fear that there was something wrong. Perhaps this was the wrong place or maybe they where lost after all, or worst of all that there was no way home. With a concerned look she quickly turned her head towards her ally floating beside her.

"It found us." Zyzix said in a displeased tone.

Hearing this she turned around only for her to heart drop, behind them she could see the souleater swiftly approaching them with its weird flowing movements.

"What do we do?" she asked nervously.

"I had hoped to be done here before it caught up to us but I suppose we need to adjust our plan a bit."

"We can not have this thing around when we head up the stairs so you need to dispatch it." Zyzix said.

"ARE YOU CRAZY!?" Flurry blurted out. "That thing almost killed me last time."

"You held your own well enough and now you have full access to the swords power I have faith in you."

Flurry was shacking a bit as she nervously watched the souleater bringing forth its bone sword as it was getting closer.

Zyzix floated down to her ear and spoke in a whispering manner. "You want to go home correct, and right now this creature is preventing that from happening."

Damn it she thought as she got ready for round two.

It was to late to try and run away anyway as the souleater raised its weapon clearly aiming to cut her in half. As the blow fell time seemed to slow down, Flurry quickly sidestepped the incomming attack making it hit the floor with enough force to cut a deep groove in it. The attacks didn't stop however as it ripped the sword from the ground and made a horizontal swing towards her. Flurry Heart teleported out of the way and reappearing behind her enemy giving it a swipe of her own sword. Unfortunately she only manage to cut the robes the thing, it swiftly turned around and tried to cleave her again. Once more she dodged but this time the creature surprised her by lunging forward and manage to grab her leg mid dodge. The souleater lifted her into the air while squeezing her leg quite hard making her cry out in pain.

"Remember princess failure is not an option!" Zyzix called out from the stairs.

Flurry teleported again to get out of the grip this time reappearing a bit further away to get some breathing room. One of the wounds on leg had reopened from the squeeze and it was hard to put any weight on it at the moment. But her enemy did not allow her to rest for long as it quickly found her again and attacked. Caught off guard she didn't have time to avoid the strike, her eyes went wide as she saw the blade coming for her. On pure reflex she raised her own sword to parry the incoming attack even though it was larger then her. As the blades meet something unexpected happened, instead of just cutting her in half her own sword shattered the enemies weapon on contact. The resulting shock wave sending the enemy back a bit, both of them just stood there regarding each other for a few seconds in confusion.

"Now is your chance, destroy it!" Zyzix shouted.

Raising her sword again and keeping her eyes on her opponent she took a tentative step forward towards the souleater who in turn took one step back. Noticing this Flurry took another step forward only for the souleater to again take one back. A small smirk emerged on her lips thinking that she finally had some luck on her side, and she was going to take full advantage of it. Using her wings she launched herself towards the enemy with a battlecry. The roles where now reversed, now Flurry Heart was the offensive one and the souleater was the one dodging attacks. Even with her injuries Flurry was still faster then her larger opponent who had trouble avoiding all of the incoming strikes.

Already starting to get kind of winded from the battle Flurry knew that she needed to end the fight before she made a mistake and paid for it. Changing up her strategy a little she went for a strike at the head but when the souleater dodged like she expected it to do she teleported. Catching it by surprise by appearing right next to it she struck the creature right in the metal mask it was wearing. Before her attack would just have bounced of but now with her empowered sword she cut the thing in half and sending it flying. She had expected to see some sort of face under the mask but was instead greeted by just a large mouth with lots of jagged teeth. Seeing this made her drop her guard for a second and that was all the time her enemy needed to swat her out of the air with one of its hands. Rolling painfully on the floor she came to a stop against one of the many pillars, groaning she raised her head to look at the souleater. Having its mask removed seemed to have angered the thing as its hand began to glow in a red magical light. Flurry's eyes went wide when she realized what it was about to do and swiftly put up a magical shield just in time to deflect a bolt of red lightning. Several more bolts where fired at her in quick succession making her grit her teeth as the shield was bombarded. Each strike on it felt like a blow to her head but she still managed to hold the shield up.

There was a brief pause in the assault which gave her a chance to get up on her hoofs again, but just as she stood up her shield was broken and she was grabbed lifted and pressed against the pillar behind her. The souleater had once again caught her off guard and was now holding her in a tight grip making it hard to breathe. Flurry struggled to free herself but to no avail both of her arms where stuck as was most of her upper body. The thing then opened its mouth to reveal a bright glow coming from its throat. She started to panic as it opened its jaw wider and moved in closer as if it was trying to eat her. Frantically tying to escape before the thing would bite her head off, she tried to teleport but the magic was blocked somehow almost as if it was sucked away as soon as she summoned it. With a desperate attempt she managed to wiggle her sword arm free and without thinking swung it at her enemy cleaving its head in two all the way down to its chest.

There was a brief pause, everything was still except for Flurry Hearts heavy breathing. The grip holding her loosened as the souleater collapsed and its body slowly crumbled and turned to sand.