The Citadel

by Rametep

Rating: teen
Tags: Adventure, Violence, Anthro, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Flurry Heart, Thriller
Length: 31613

Waking up in a dark unfamiliar place, Flurry Heart must figure out a way to get home again.

The last thing Flurry Heart remembers is sitting in her room in the crystal palace. Now she has awoken in a dark and strange place that she do not recognize with no clue on how she got there. To find her way home again she must rely on her skills and wit to face a world full of horrors and danger.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hi, this is my first fic and the first real thing I have written since my school days so I hope you find it interesting.

Also here is some music to set the mood https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C75z9avAKjY

Published 2024-10-26 19:40:00 UTC
Last updated 2024-11-05 18:06:31 UTC

The distant goal

Panting and sweating Flurry Heart leaned against a wall holding a hand on her wounded stomach, it wasn't to deep fortunately but it was bleeding a fair amount. She had plenty of other cuts too especially on her arms and legs and all of them hurt but this one was the worst. They had made some distance between themselves and the mirror room running trough a few corridors and up a flight of stairs. At the moment they had stopped just before a bridge that lead over a huge chasm.

She lifted her hand to look at the extent of her injury and winced, her hand was red with blood as too was her clothes. Flurry carefully moved some of her ruined clothing out of the way to better see the wound itself. There was a long gash that stretched itself from just above her bellybutton and off to the side of her abdomen.

"You look horrible, will you be able to carry on?" Zyzix said as she hovered just in front of her.

"I'm fine." she lied. "I just need to get these wounds tended to."

"Then you are more persistent then I thought you where princess." Zyzix laughed.

Flurry just grunted in response wanting to instead focus on patching herself up as best she could. She didn't know any healing spells as they where way to complex for her but she did know a spell thought to the soldiers that could stop the bleeding at least. She took a few deep breaths and concentrated and igniting her horn with magic. Focusing on her worst injuries she moved her magic aura over the wounds one at a time inhaling sharply at the stinging pain. Once she was done she had a quick overview to make sure she didn't bleed anymore and thankfully she didn't. To make sure the wounds would not reopen right away Flurry Heart ripped of the sleeve from her shirt to bind the gash on her stomach. She also ripped a few pieces of cloth from her tattered skirt to patch some of her other wounds, her clothes where beyond saving anyway.

Having finished her self treatment she tried to dry of some of the blood on her hand on her skirt before walking over to Zyzix who was floating over by the bridge.

"Still clinging to life I see." Zyzix said.

"Yes for now anyway." Flurry replied while leaning on the railing.

"Let us hope it remains that way, it would be a shame to lose such a useful ally." the wisp snickered.

Flurry Heart raised an eyebrow and at that comment but decided to let it slide, there where more important things to do then to fuss about words.

"Let us be on our way, we are closing in on our goal."

Limping slightly because of the wounds on her leg she followed her companion over the bridge. She was determent to make it home again whatever it took. Thinking about home once more she moved her hand to fiddle with her necklace while she looked at her surroundings. Glancing over the railing she thought it was crazy that there excited a pit this large and deep within the citadel itself. She could see neither the roof or the bottom but she could see plenty of bridges snaking there way across the gap like branches of a tree. About halfway over the bridge Flurry decided to ask her partner something that had been bugging her for a while.

"Hey Zyzix."

"Yes?"

"How come I haven't seen any kitchens, bedrooms or dining halls in this castle?" Flurry questioned.

Zyzix laughed like she had said something stupid which caused her to frown a bit.

"Ah princess the reason why you have not seen any of that is simply because this citadel is not meant to be lived in like that."

"What do you mean?" she asked confused.

"This entire structure is a monolith, a conduit for astral powers to be gathered and funneled into storage." Zyzix explained like it was obvious.

"Do you really need such a big place just for that?" Flurry replied in deadpan tone.

"When we are talking about this kind of magic then yes."

"Sounds stupid to me." Flurry mumbled and looked the other way.

Glancing over the railing again as she walked she noticed movement on one of the bridges down below which caused her to look down. A few bridges below them she could see the souleater that she fought outside the main gate slowly moving across one of the bridges. Flurry Heart didn't know how it made it here but she had no desire to encounter that creature again if she could help it.

"It would seem our friend has found a way inside, we should make haste before it catches up with us." Zyzix said having also noticed it.

Flurry thought that was an excellent idea and nodded in agreement as the two increase there pace to hopefully avoid the souleater.

~~~~~~

After a while of uneventful traveling they came across another giant room, this citadel had plenty of those it would seem. This room however looked more cavelike tough with its rough cut walls and uneven floor. There was also a strange ambient lighting of turquoise throughout the place that Flurry could not pinpoint where it came from. At the center room however was a huge blob of black sludge that looked eerily familiar to the sludge that eye monster came out of. There where also several rocks of various sizes floating in the air slowly rotating, if this hadn't been such a horrible place then this room could almost have been tranquil.

"Be on guard princess, there might be enemies around." Zyzix suddenly warned in a low voice.

Flurry Heart stopped walking and quickly began to scan the area while slowly drawing her sword from its scabbard.

"I don't see anyone so how can you tell?." she asked.

"The energy of the room feels strange." Zyzix said.

They continued to move forward carefully keeping close to the wall doing there best to remain undetected. Hearing a faint rustling sound from somewhere Flurry once again stopped to have a look around. She couldn't see anything moving in room at all which made her nervous, she decided to have a glance at the ceiling as well just to make sure no monsters where crawling around up there. But again she saw nothing which was good in a way since she'd prefer not seeing a monster hanging from the ceiling. They where almost at the other end of the room anyway so maybe this time they where lucky enough to avoid combat.

Just as she was about to start walking again something grabbed her by her legs and tail and violently yanked her backwards towards the ground. Barely did she have time to react to as she manage twist herself to catch a groove on the floor with a hand preventing herself from being dragged further. Quickly turning her head to see what was attacking her only see a pair of gray arms with long clawed fingers coming from a shadowy pool on the floor. While trying to kick herself free from her assailants grasp she called out to her companion.

"ZYZIX WHAT IS THAT?!"

"I have no idea but do not let it drag you down into its shadow." the wisp said.

Failing to to kick the thing off her legs Flurry Heart swung her sword at it and succeeded to cut it across the back of its hand. With a growl the thing quickly retracted its arms back into the circular shadow on the ground giving Flurry the chance to get up on her hoofs again.

"Let us be on our way before it decides to try again." Zyzix said.

"Yeah." Flurry agreed.

Pointing the sword in the direction of the shadow she carefully walked backwards towards the exit. Believing she was in the clear she turned around and increased her walking pace to get out of there faster. But of course things where never that easy, she didn't even manage to take ten steps before another shadowy pool opened up on the wall this time. She dodged the first swipe of the clawed hand by just a hair by ducking under it, but the second one hit her in the shoulder causing her to fall. She drew in air trough her teeth holding a hand over the wound on her stomach in pain as she climbed back on to her hoofs. Looking towards the wall Flurry gasped at the creature crawling out, it was tall and slender with two long arms and a snakelike lower body. The head however was just a drooling mouth pretty much with wolf like teeth, it had no eyes for it was missing the entire upper part of the head. Still it felt like it was watching her like a predator as it slowly moved closer and growling menacingly.

"It would seem like this creature won't let us leave without a fight." Zyzix said

"Hope you are up to the challenge, it would be a shame for you to come so far only to fail now." her companions words almost sounded threatening.

The monster let out a roar and launched at her, she manage to block its assault with a shield spell. Enraged by this the creature slashed at the magical barrier like a rabid animal but Flurry Heart was steadfast in her defense. Observing her foe from behind her shield as it continued its frenzied attack on it she waited for an opportunity to counterattack. After seeing an opening Flurry dropped the barrier and swiftly went on the offence and stabbed the creature in its belly. It let out a loud howl of pain before spinning around and hitting Flurry with its tail sending her flying before landing on her back a few meters away. The monster then opened up a shadow pool on the floor to crawl into and escape. Flurry Heart let out a groan and a cough as she picked herself up off the ground for what felt like the hundredth time now. She scanned the room looking for the creature but she could not see it which she both liked and didn't like at the same time.

"It seems like you have driven it off for now, we should take this opportunity to leave before it comes back." Zyzix said.

Flurry Heart nodded in agreement and hurried towards the exit but still keeping an eye out for any suspicious looking shadows. Leaving the room behind they entered into another dark corridor, she kept the sword in her hand just in case the thing decided to attack again. They continued to move at a steady pace and eventually came to a large circular room with a dome ceiling full of strange symbols. There where many doorways lining the walls and the air in room had a slight burnt smell to it.

"You do know which way to go right?" Flurry asked.

"Do not worry princess I know which way is the right one." Zyzix said calmly.

Putting her trust in her ally's words she followed the wisp trough one of the openings and after a short path entered a smaller round room. There was only one thing of note in there and it made Flurry Heart very uneasy, for in the middle of the room was another twisted obelisk very similar to the one she had used to exit the dungeon.

"You are not suggesting that we use that thing I hope." Flurry said worried pointing at the stone structure.

"It is the only way to get to where we need to go so I do suggest we use it." Zyzix said.

"I was nearly killed by one of those things before, I don't think they are safe." she argued while keeping her distance from it.

"Clearly you where using it wrong then." Zyzix snickered and flew over the the obelisk.

"Let me show you how to operate it."

Nervously Flurry Heart walked closer, she really didn't want to relive the horrible experience of getting drained of magic a second time.

"You see there is a rune of power in front of the door, from this rune you can grab a thread of magic that flows throughout the planet."

"When you have it lift it up to the door and connect it so the gate can draw the power it needs to open."

As Zyzix spoke she started to glow slightly brighter and a thin red glowing smoke strand arose from under her and moved slowly towards the obelisk. When it touched the stone door it immediately started flowing more rapidly as a dull hum filled the air and the runes on its surface lit up one by one in a red glow. A few seconds passed and the door slowly opened and the magic flowing into it stopped and everything went quiet again.

"Shall we continue?" Zyzix laughed mockingly.

Flurry frowned at her companions dismissing of her traumatic experience, she thought that she could show a little sympathy at least. But regardless of her feelings the door was open and she took great care to not touch anything as she made her way trough for fear of the obelisk starting to drain her.

The dungeon

Hard, cold, dark, the rough stone floor greeted Flurry Heart as she slowly woke up from her sleep. Tired and a little confused she opened her eyes, only to realize she was not in her chambers in the crystal palace.

"Where am I?" She mumbled tiredly to herself as she sat up rubbing her eyes. Taking a look around she found herself in a fairly large dusky cavelike room carved out of some dark stone.

"That´s weird" she thought, the last thing Flurry remembered was sitting in her room reading a book until she probably fell asleep.

There seemed to be only one way out but it was covered by bars made from the same type of rock as the rest of the room.

"Did I teleport myself to the palace dungeon in my sleep?" Scratching her head and taking a second look around she concluded that was probably not be the case. The palace dungeon was crafted from the same crystals as the rest of the palace and was well lit, this place was to dark and the architecture looked like a mine shaft. Also the dungeon back home had bunks and windows in there cells, this one had nothing but hard rock.

"Did someone kidnap me?" A hint of worry entered her mind as Flurry's eyes went wide and she had a quick look over herself. She was still dressed in a purple tunic with a medium sized skirt and some black pants under it like she had before she fell asleep. After standing up and flexing her wings seeing that she is not bound gave her a little peace of mind. Lastly Flurry Heart put her hand on her horn to see if there was any magic inhibitor placed on her, but she found none there. Taking a deep breath and letting out a big sigh. Clearly if someone did kidnap her they where either ignorant or stupid to not tie her down or block her from using magic if they wanted her to stay put, they didn't even take her silver necklace. But the strangest thing to her was that someone would want to kidnap the heir to the Crystal empire and leave her in a random cave. She could not think of anyone or any group that might have a grudge against her or the empire enough to want to do that. The cave made her think maybe diamond dogs but that seemed very unlikely, they mostly kept to themselves in there separate clans caring little for others outside it. Anyway it did not matter because she was getting out of here, she had no intention on staying around to meet whoever put her in this cell.

Walking up to the bared opening and looking out made Flurry gasp out loud. Outside the bars was a massive cave with giant pillars made from the same dark rock her cell was made out of. They reached up to a ceiling she could not see and down to the dark abyss below. Inside of the pillars she could see more prison cells like hers but no pathway to any of them, there didn't seem to be any pathways at all from what she could see. And then there was the darkness and the silence, it felt unnatural for a space this huge to feel so oppressive. Clearly she was underground and whoever built this place probably had the ability to fly. For a moment she felt a little apprehensive to leave her cell but she knew that she could not stay here, no she needed to leave now since she could not see any guards.

Steadying her nerves Flurry Heart took a step back to get some room to work with. Even if she didn't expect to just open a door and walk out, this cell didn't seem to even have one. Unless there was a hidden trapdoor somewhere in here she could not see. But that didn't matter because she had an amazing aunt who had taught her the power of teleportation magic. Now granted she was no master when it came to advanced magic but she managed well enough for some short distance teleports. Just a flash and a bang and she could be out of there and on her way home, piece of cake.
Closing her eyes flurry gathered the magic needed around her horn and released it vanishing in a bust of light only to appear again on the other side of the bars. Quickly she opened her wing to stop herself from falling as the sound of her spell echoed into the darkness. Acting swiftly Flurry flapped her wings to gain some height and distance from there in case someone had heard her little magic trick and came to have a look.

Finding a small ledge to land on a couple of meters up she hid herself as best she could, holding her breath and listening closely for any sound that would indicate anyone heard her teleport. For several seconds Flurry Heart sat still as a statue only to be greeted by total silence. Slowly releasing the breath she was holding figuring she was safe for the time being Flurry lit up her horn to get some light around herself.

"Okay" she whispered to herself "time to find an exit."

Jumping of the ledge and spreading her wings once again Flurry Heart flew a few laps around the huge rock pillar she was just sitting on trying to spot some sort of hint of where to go. A bit frustrated of finding only more pillars and darkness she shot of in a random direction hoping to bump into a wall or something she could follow.

~~~~~~

"Really how big is this place?!" She vented after several minutes of flying in a strait line, and all she got out of it was more darkness and stone pillars all with prison cells in them. A bit of fear had started to creep back into her thoughts, the feeling of being lost and alone in the dark made her feel claustrophobic even in such a big open space. Oh how she wished to just be home again in her room where there was light, birdsong and colours, NOT this endless prison cave filled with nothing but silence and darkness.

"I wonder how long I have been gone for?" she thought to herself, she never went anywhere without telling someone.

"They must have noticed that I'm missing back home by now right?"

"Mom and dad must be really worried, and knowing dad he must have sent the entire army out to find me." Flurry let out a tiny bittersweet chuckle at the thought, her parents had always been a bit overprotective, especially her father.

Needing to take a moment to rest her wings and not finding a suitable ledge to land on Flurry Heart swooped in towards the closest prison cell. First checking to see if it was empty witch it was except for what looked like bones in a corner. Frowning a bit at the thought of ending up like that did not help her mood any. Carefully she grabbed a hold of the bars and set her hoofs down on what little space there was as she let her wings rest a bit. While hanging there she thought that maybe she had underestimated her captors. Sure she had access to her wings and magic but she didn't seem to be getting any closer to be out of here now then back in her cell. Was that there plan, to just have her blindly fly around in this cave forever. If so then it might have been less evil to just chain her to the wall in her cell then to let her have the illusion that she could escape. She looked back to the pile of bones, even though she could not make out what creature it once belonged to she was determent to not share in its fate.

Having rested for long enough Flurry figured she would try a different direction to break up the monotony and since trying to go straight had yielded nothing. She wasn't to keen on going downwards so that left up as the only real option. Flying upwards was a little more taxing but fortunately due to her petite physique she was a pretty nibble flier and didn't need to spend to much more energy. And there was always the option to find a place to rest again if it got to hard on her. With a new direction set she leapt into the air once again and flapped her wings quickly gaining both speed a height.

~~~~~~

Something Flurry Heart had noticed while flying around in this maze was that even if she had not seen any form of light source except her horn, all the rocks seem to have this faint shine on them as if there was a light. She did not mind that because it made it easier to navigate and not crash into anything but it was still odd. Another thing was that she had not come across anyone at all, there had been no one guarding her cell and no one had come to check out the noise after she teleported. There weren't even any other prisoners, with all these prison cells she figured that her captors where not the original owners and that this place must have been long abandoned. Flurry was actually a little offended that she had just been left in the dark like this with not even one guard to watch her, it was like they didn't take her seriously. She was a princess after all and if they where gonna kidnap her at least they could do it properly and lock her up in a tower so a dashing knight could come and save her. Instead she was stuck flying around in this never ending good for nothing dungeon for who knows how long now. Flurry Heart huffed "I do have standards" she thought.

Her internal rant was halted by a small light of to her side not much bigger then a dot but still clearly visible against the dark surroundings. Stopping to hover in place Flurry turned to take a second look at the tiny speck light of in the distance. It was to far away to clearly see what it could be but a spark of hope lit up in her heart, did she dare to believe she found an exit at last. With renewed vigor she flapped her wings as she made her way towards it wanting to get out of here sooner rather the later. It seemed to be some distance away still but at least she had something to aim for now and that alone was a big boost of morale. Feeling like she could afford it Flurry Heart increased her speed as she put more energy into each flap of her wings. The closer she got towards the light the more the stone pillars where beginning to lose there symmetrical placement bending and warping as they also started to appear diagonally. Getting closer now she could start to make out the source of the light and it looked like a small floating platform of some kind.

Like a moth to the flame Flurry eagerly went in for a quick landing not even looking around for danger as she came down on the thing with a soft thud. The platform itself wasn't very big just a couple of meters across with a single stone structure in the middle of it. A little disappointed by this since she had hoped for a door or something. But unwilling to give up yet, this might still give her a clue on how to get out of the place. Flurry began to inspect the structure at the center which took up most of the space and looked like an obelisk until about halfway up when it started to twist like a corkscrew. It also looked like there was petrified tree roots all over it and strange runes and symbols carved into it as well. And at the very top it glowed with an eerie white light that had guided her to it. Trying to read anything on it proved useless since the runes didn't resemble anything she had ever seen before, it looked more like the scribbles a child would make when pretending to write.

Walking around to check the other side she did find something that looked like a door on the obelisk, it was slim and tall and it reached up to the halfway point. Placing one hand on it she noted that the rock was quite warm and there seemed to be a crack going the length of the door. Maybe there was something here after all a portal or a gateway of some kind perhaps. Now placing both hands on the obelisk Flurry Heart started pushing trying to get it open but it would not budge, she took a step back and hit it a few times with her shoulder.

"Maybe it's a pull door" she thought as stepped back rubbing her upper arm. But since the door was mostly just a big stone slab there where no way for her to get a grip. Luckily for her she didn't have to use her hands she had magic as an option. Stepping back a few steps more and placing her hoofs firmly on the ground and lit up her horn with a magical energy she reached out and took a hold on the door with it. Flurry closed her eyes to concentrate and was just about to begin when a low humming sound came from the obelisk, this startled her as she quickly opened her eyes again. The entire thing had begun vibrate ever so slightly making dust fly everywhere as the volume of the humming slowly increased. When the light at the top shifted to a deep red colour Flurry Heart feared that she might have made a big mistake and swiftly stopped casting her magic. But that was perhaps an even greater mistake for as soon as her magic stopped there was a tug on her horn as if someone had grabbed a hold of it. She tried to move to get out of there but her body did not respond, it was like she was frozen in place. Now starting to panicking she could feel her horn light up again on its own and magic starting to stream from it to the looming structure before her. The sound got even louder the more of her magic was stolen away from her into the obelisk and the rate in which it was drained only increased.

Now in full out panic Flurry struggled to free herself before this thing drained her of her life but to no avail. Her body did not obey her, she tried to scream but nothing came out. She slumped down on her hands and knees as her energy was literally sucked away, her vision started to blurred and it was getting harder to breathe. The entire platform was shaking now and the symbols on the obelisk lit up with an angry red colour. Tears was now running down her cheeks, she couldn't scream she couldn't move and she hurt all over, it felt like she was being squeezed. Terror griped her heart as the thought that this might be how it all ended for her entered her mind.

Then it all suddenly stopped and she fell face first on to the ground like a rag doll coughing and gasping for air. The grinding of moving stone could be heard as a warmer light lit up the ground around her. She lifted her head slightly her vision was still blurry but she could see the door was now open and what looked like evening sunlight spilling out. Not having many thoughts in her head right now feeling quite drained from the ordeal she got up on her hands and knees and crawled trough the opened door.

The wasteland

Groaning slightly Flurry Heart awoke for the second time today on a hard stone floor "Ugh, I miss my bed." she mumbled as she put her head in her hands.

After crawling trough the doorway she had apparently passed out right there on the spot. She had no idea for how long she'd been out but it looked like there was still light outside, so probably not to long. Rising up into a sitting position she could have a good look at her surroundings now that her vision wasn't to blurry anymore and not laying face down on the ground like a drunk. The room was made of black stone and was quite big with a high domed ceiling, the walls were smooth except for having those same petrified root patterns here and there. There were no windows but In front of her was a set of stairs which led up to where the light was coming from. Behind her was an obelisk just like the one she had found down in the dungeon. The door on it was closed so she figured that what ever happened that opened it had run its course and shut itself again. Flurry got goosebumps just seeing it but was relived that she had been conscious enough to get trough before it closed. She stood up and stared at the intimidating structure looming before her as if half expecting it to come alive and attack her. Thinking back to what happened with the other obelisk made her stomach hurt. The terror and panic she felt was pretty traumatizing and she hoped dearly she never had to experience that again.

Turning to leave Flurry just realized something, what if that thing had drained her of all her magic and she couldn't use it anymore. Just the thought made her eyes go wide and sent a chill down her spine, she had to do a test, NOW. Going for the illumination spell which was the simplest spell that she knew she tried to charged up her horn. Her head hurt a little which was a common sign of magic overuse, but that was unimportant to her right now because she needed to know if she could use it at all. It took a little more effort then normal and a few retries but soon her surroundings was lit up by the familiar light blue glow of her magic. Furry Heart let out a sigh of relief that she had not lost her ability to cast spells entirely. A sharp spike of pain behind her horn made her release the spell before her headache got worse. She made a rude gesture towards the obelisk before leaving.

The stairs where large it took Flurry Heart two steps of her own for every one step of the stairs and the height of the steps made her almost have to jump up which gave her quite the workout. But seeing the end of the tunnel gave her the motivation she needed to keep up a good speed, and she was glad she still hadn't run into anyone hostile yet. Flurry could hear the wind now, just a few more steps and then she could get away from this place. But there was something in her gut that told her it might not be that easy.

When she finally reached the top and got outside Flurry's heart sank and she could only stop and stare in shock at what she saw. She had expected to see mountains bathed in the warm glow of a sunset or something similar, but the hellscape that greeted her almost made her faint. Standing on a high point gave her a great view of the wasteland before her which looked like something straight out of a nightmare. The entire world looked like it had been scorched by fire, there where no greenery at all only ruins, dust and sharp rocks as far as the eyes could see. The sky was filled with dark thick clouds that moved with the winds who's sound just made everything feel hollow and empty. She could also see several floating rocks and structures just hanging in the air. The warm light that had given her hope while climbing the stairs just moments ago did not feel so welcoming anymore as it painted the landscape in dusty redish colour. But the most prominent feature before her was gigantic castle like structure rising up like a mountain, with its blackened stone and many sharp towers giving it a very ominous presence.

Flurry Heart's mind was in full chaos, she couldn't believe what she was seeing. This could not possibly be Equestria or anywhere else she knew, she wasn't even sure this was her world. The air felt strange even if she was no expert Flurry could sense magic in the wind. But it was really weird it's like it was there yet hidden at the same time, what ever it was it was ancient powerful and alien. She knew there existed documents of other worlds in the royal library in Canterlot, Twilight had told her this in one of her magic lectures. A lump formed in her throat and tears threatened to fill her eyes as her emotions bubbled over, a single weak "no" was all the escaped her lips. How was she supposed to get home now? Was it even possible? She felt her body going limp as she slowly slumped down on her knees just stareing blankly forward.

After a moment sitting there between tears and her thoughts spinning in her head. Flurry manage to get control back over her emotions and pulled herself together. She knew she had to try something to get home she couldn't just give up, her parents wouldn't give up so why should she? Drying her eyes with the back of her hand she stood up and let out a sigh. If she had gotten here somehow then there was a way to get out of here too she reasoned, and she was gonna find it. Setting her eyes on the massive fortress in the distance again she figured she might as well start looking for clues there. Not finding an obvious way down from where she was except for what looked like a collapsed stone bridge, it was up to her wings again to get her moving.

~~~~~~

Flying in windy conditions was nothing new to her but all the dust and sand the wind threw at her made it an absolute pain. Doing the best she could to cover her face with her sleeve she really wished for some googles and a scarf right now. All this crap hitting her in the face and eyes was getting quite annoying and making it very hard to see. She hadn't reached the castle yet but she had covered some distance now so maybe she could land and walk for a bit and if lucky the winds would die down. Flurry swooped down among the ruins below and landed in a semi open space. The ground was mostly just solid rock with sand pilling up against the crumbling black walls of the ruins, she could also see a small pool of a black tar like sludge. While dusting herself off some of the sand that had stuck to her during her flight she took note of the architecture surrounding her. Tall old ruined structures surrounded her in various states of decay. Everything seemed to be made from the same black stone as the prison and in her opinion it was ugly and depressing. But whoever built it must have been quite tall judging by the size of everything. Luckily no one seemed to be home, she was in no hurry to meet whoever lived here. Having now gotten most dirt out of her eyes ears and hair Flurry Heart saw several paths flanked by huge walls on both sides leading further in to this dilapidated city. She started walking carefully down a one of them and it made her feel smaller then she already did. Seeing it up close now, the stone the walls was built from looked very similar to lava rocks with a slight red tint to it. One thing that started to worry her while she walked was food and water, it wasn't a problem yet but it would be if she didn't find anything to eat or drink at all. So far she had seen no plants at all and she very much doubted she would find food in any of the buildings either. She might have greater luck with water if only she could find a well or a spring.

After walking for a while and having seen no sign of it at all Flurry had pretty much given up on finding anything living here, and that meant not worrying to much about bumping into anyone hostile at least. She could defend herself if the need arose, her father had instructed her in both basic offensive and defensive combat, she just never thought that she would ever have to use those lessons. There was a problem though, she had no weapon since her sword was back home in her room and she had found nothing but sharp rocks and misery here. Sure she still had her magic, her aunt had shown her various tricks and spells, but she was still recovering from the obelisk draining her so she didn't know how effective that would be right now. It might be for the best that she was alone here, she had no desire bump in to some creepy creature in these shadowy corridors anyway.

Turning a corner the path opened up again into a large open space with rocks and debris scattered about the area. She could barely see the sky from here since giant jagged rocks blocked most of it like a patched roof making the area dimly lit. In the middle was a big domed building, it looked more important from the other structures she had seen around here. It was more red in colour and seemed to be in a lot better condition then most of the other ruins here too. It was decorated with carvings of lines and what looked like a big star chart all over, she couldn't figure out what they where depicting tho.

"Maybe it's a temple of sort" Flurry Heart wondered as she moved closer to it.

Walking up to what she assumed to be the entrance she could see that whoever built doors in this world did not believe in door handles. She didn't want to risk using her magic on it either, she had bad experience casting spells on doors here. No she'd much rather find an other way inside. She looked around and started walking along the wall of the building in search of something that might let her in. It didn't take her long to find what she was looking for as huge boulder had fallen and punched a big hole in the side of the structure. Approaching carefully to not hurt herself on the debris Flurry took a peek into the opening in wall. The inside was just one big circular room with pillar about half way in holding up the roof, the room itself was fairly well lit by several metallic orbs floating in the air. And whatever magic she had sensed before felt slightly stronger here. If she was lucky then maybe there was something here to help her get home.

Flurry Heart's survey was interrupted by a sudden uneasy feeling, like she was being watched by someone. Turning her head to look around she froze her eyes went wide and she had to stop herself from screaming. There by the wall on the opposite side of the area stood a tall and gaunt creature motionless just quietly observing her. Even if most of its body was hidden by a black robe that swayed slightly in the wind she could still see some details. It appeared to have a set of four arms that hung by its side and a rusted metallic mask that covered its face. Terrified by its sudden appearance Flurry ducked down behind some rocks to hide but never taking her eyes of the mysterious figure. For several long minutes the thing just stood there still as a statue. She could feel her heart beat in her chest, her breaths where short and rapid as she stared back at it not knowing if it was friendly or not. When the thing finally did move it made her flinch a little as she was ready to dash if it approached her. But instead it just turned and vanished down a dark alleyway, its movement was very alien, like a ghost it almost floated over the ground without a sound. Flurry Heart stayed quivering behind the rocks not daring to move just yet in case the creature returned. After several more minutes with only the sound of the wind as her company she felt confident enough that she was alone again. She slowly got up from behind the rock still looking at the alley it disappeared in hoping that was the last she ever saw of that thing.

Still wanting to explore the inside of the building for anything that might help her in her quest to get home Flurry had climbed trough the hole as quietly as she could. The room itself was rather spacious and mostly empty except for a stone tablet of to one side of the room. Moving closer but still keeping close to the wall as it felt safer somehow she could see that it was more of those runes etched into its surface. She still could not read any of it but something else caught her eye, in the middle of the tablet was a golden disc. Without thinking Flurry reached up to touch it only for it to come lose and fall to the floor with loud bang echoing around the room. Quickly jumping back fearing the sound might attract the creature from before or maybe something worse.

As she was debating to just fly out of there before anything showed up, Flurry saw the floor in the middle of the room open up with a low rumble to reveal a hidden path going down under the building. This gave her pause, as much as she wanted to just leave she was also curious to what might be down there. After hesitating a little curiosity won out and she slowly approached the newly opened way. The floor had conveniently formed a set of stairs for her, and as she looked down she could see a light at the bottom. Which was good for she had little desire to wander around in the dark if there where monsters like the creature she saw outside lurking there.

As she made her way down more features of the chamber below came into view. The light came from a blue flame inside of what looked like a small lantern made of stone sitting on a pedestal in the middle of the room surrounded by water. There was also a giant sword stuck in one of the walls, the hilt alone was almost as big as she was. It seemed to have been there for quite some time though so she didn't think she had to worry that the owner would come looking for it any time soon. While having a closer look at the massive weapon Flurry almost jumped out of her skin when a feminine voice suddenly appeared behind her.

"Oh? a visitor, what a pleasant surprise."

The wisp

Flurry Heart quickly turned around looking everywhere trying to locate where the mysterious voice came from. Backing up against the wall she took a defensive stance limiting where an potential attack could come from.

"Hello." she tried to not let her voice shake as she spoke.

"Well hello to you too little one." came the reply back. "You know it's adorable how you try to look so fierce." The voice said with a small chuckle.

The mocking comment was coming from somewhere right in front of her but she still couldn't see anyone. Flurry took a defiant step forward trying her best to not show fear "show yourself!"

"Oh but you can already see me." The response confused her as she shifted her eyes around the room until finally locking on the blue flame in front of her. Relaxing her guard slightly she slowly moved a little closer to it in the center of the room.

"Is this you?" she asked.

"Yes it is." The flame flickered a little with the reply.

Unsure of what to do next she had never heard of a talking fire before maybe it was some sort of sentient elemental. She could feel a powerful magic energy radiate from it, even if it was very little of it. Somehow it could also speak her language which was a bit odd but maybe she could get some information from it since it didn't appear hostile, at least not right now. Flurry moved forward until she was standing next to the small pond surrounding the rock lantern still ready to defend herself if need be.

"So, who are you?" she asked carefully.

"I am just a fellow prisoner just like you." The fire answered nonchalantly.

"Why do you assume that I am a prisoner?" Flurry Heart said while crossing her arms a little disappointed with the reply she got.

"You may not be locked in a cage but everyone in this world is a prisoner." The voice stated.

Flurry did not like the implications of that statement as it strengthen the theory that she may not be in her own world anymore.

"But" the voice continued "since you took the time to come all the way here to visit little old me, may I ask who you are?" The voice put on a more friendly tone as if trying to soothe her, and it worked as Flurry relaxed a little. And because of her royal upbringing she did not think twice before jumping into her formal introduction that she used for diplomats and other important people. "I am princess Flurry Heart of the crystal empire and heir to the crystal throne." She spoke with confidence and finished with a small curtsy.

The flame was quiet for a second before letting out a small chuckle making it flicker again. "Well that is bold of you, giving me both your full name and title."

Flurry was a little perplexed by that response and she got the feeling that the small blue fire was grinning at her.

"But since you have been so courteous to me you may call me Zyzix." It said gleefully.

There was a moment of silence between the two of them before Flurry Heart spoke up again.

"you said that everyone here is a prisoner, what did you mean by that?"

"Do you know where you are?" The flame asked, Flurry shook her head slowly. "well then princess let me tell you that you are very far away from home." it said matter of factly.

Her heart sank and her frown deepened as that was one of the last things Flurry wanted to hear.

"I can see it on your face that you are troubled by that information." Zyzix said softly.

"But know that every prison can be escaped from no matter how impossible it might seem." It continued in a smug tone like she knew exactly what Flurry wanted to hear.

That sentence sure enough got Flurry's attention "Are you saying that you know how to get out of here?!" she exclaimed with hope in here eyes.

"I do, yes." came the short answer.

Flurry Heart was almost about to jump with joy when a thought hit her. "Wait a minute, if you know how to escape then why haven't you done so already?"

The flame flickered again before answering "I did say I know of a way yes, but it's not an easy one and it is impossible for me to do alone."

"Why is that?" Flurry asked.

"Simply put princess, I am currently to weak and I am locked in a cage." The reply was as dry as the sand outside almost making Flurry blush from how silly that last question was.

There was a moment of awkward silence between the two before Zyzix spoke again. "Anyway, if you are willing to help me then I can show you how to leave this world."

The offer was very tempting and she was leaning towards accepting it. But she didn't know if this fire creature could be trusted yet, it could all be a lie to trick her into releasing it. It might be dangerous and attack her or escape on its own and just leave her here. Then again this could also be her only ticket home and she didn't want to risk losing that, she needed to be sure.

Crossing her arms and looking directly at the flame she spoke "How do I know you are not lying to me?"

Zyzix let out a small laugh "I like your scepticism, it's a good trait for a royal to have."

"Of course you should not trust me on one promise alone, but if you are willing to hear my story then maybe I can convince you."

"Fine." Flurry said after thinking about it for a second.

"Excellent!" the blue flame said in an excited manner.

"You see I am a primordial energy birthed at the beginning of everything in the deep void of space."
"For eons I drifted trough the cosmos until a consciousness formed within me and I awoke as a being."
"Now with a mind of my own my travels was not aimless anymore, so I set out to discover what the universe had to offer."
"And I found many unique and interesting things." Zyzix's voice almost sounded nostalgic.
"I have visited countless worlds each more spectacular then the next with creatures you could never even imagine."
"I have also witnessed the raw power of the universe and learned to wield it as my own."
"With this power I could travel to other realities and different dimensions giving me even more to explore, experience and learn from."
"That is how I eventually found this world."
"When I first arrived on this planet it was nothing like what it is now, it had oceans, jungles and was full of life, but that was not what drew me here."
"The inhabitants here where highly potent magic users and the powers they wielded was very similar to my own."
"I was intrigued by this, never in all the eons of my existence had I seen anything like it."
"I wanted to explore closer so I assumed a physical form and eventually made contact with the natives."
"They where primitive and believed me to be a god which I at the time thought very amusing so I decided to humor them and play the part of there deity."
"For many generations I stayed among them sharing my knowledge and watching there civilization grow and prosper."
"I helped them conquer there enemies and in return they constructed a grand citadel for me to use."

Flurry Heart stood silently with her arms still crossed listening to what was being said by the blue flame, much of it sounded way to fantastical for her to believe but then again it had been a pretty strange day today. But there was one thing that she had a hard time figuring out and needed answered.

"Excuse me" She interrupted "but if you are so old and powerful as you make it sound, then how did you get locked up in a place like this and why can't you escape?"

Zyzix let out a small laugh. "Ah yes my imprisonment, I was getting to that rather embarrassing part of the story."
"like I said before I shared my powers with the inhabitants of this world, I let them taste the endless magic of the universe without thinking what it might do to mortal beings."
"At first there was nothing special happening other then there magical abilities increasing, but some of them wanted more and I gave it to them."
"Eventually a sort of priest class grew from the descendants of these very powerful magic users and every generation asked for more, and I continued to give without thinking about it."
"You see with such vast power comes hubris and even an eternal being such as myself is not immune to it, so I thought myself untouchable and did not see the plot to trap me and steal all my power."
"Since I am basically just energy they manage to create a seal that locked me out of my own magic more or less crippling me."
"After that it was easy for them to imprison me down here and drain me of almost all the magical power I had, leaving me but a whisper of what I used to be."

Zyzix paused there was a sadness in her voice almost like she was feeling sorry for her jailers instead of anger.

"What happened next?" Flurry asked.

"Greed." came the reply in a somber tone. "Greed and delusions of grandeur, the priest lords that took most of my power wanted more, there thirst was unquenchable."
"With all of there newfound magic they started experimenting, warping both things and creatures around them into monstrous magical abominations, they even started to enhance themselves."
"But there blind pursuit for more magic was ultimately what destroyed them in the end when they began to open portals into other realities."
"You see they already controlled all magic on the planet but they wanted more so the plan was to drag powerful magical creatures and artifacts trough these portals and absorb them."
"They created a huge prison within the planet to keep and drain them of there power, and it worked for a time."
"Understand this princess they could only absorb so much magic at a time any excess magic was stored within the planet itself, like a giant sponge."
" And when that sponge eventually overflowed it caused a enormous magical storm that washed over this world burning everything it touched with magical fire before casting itself into a space between realities killing almost everything."
"The once that where not killed became horribly mutated by the arcane winds."
"Ironically I survived because of my imprisonment here."

Flurry Heart's mind was racing with thoughts after hearing all of this, it felt like she had a million questions and yet could hardly think of any to ask, it all sounded so alien to her it was hard to believe. She tilted her head down as she rubbed her forehead trying her best to process all the information. As far as she understood it she was for some reason on a world cast into some sort of pocket dimension by a cataclysmic magical event caused by the reckless natives and now she was talking to there trapped deity.

"Woah..." was all she manged to say at first before looking back up at the blue fire. "You sure know how to tell a story."

"I'm just happy that you where willing to hear it princess."

"Although I do have some questions." Flurry stated.

"I will answer them as best as I can." Zyzix replied.

"Do you know how I got here?" Flurry's first question was straight to the point, she had wondered this ever since she woke up here.

"Ah that is an easy one, you see some of the portals they opened here are still active and are maintained by a construct, and sometimes things with great magical power gets pulled trough."

"Do they just bring things trough at random?" Flurry asked with a puzzled look.

"Pretty much yes, you see the portal acts like a searchlight scanning multiple dimensions at once and when it finds something of interest it tries to drag it here."
"If successful whatever is pulled trough will end up in one of the vault prisons, but as you are here with me you must have managed to escape it, you are a crafty one ain't you." Zyzix ended with a snicker.

If what the fire before her was saying was true then that was one mystery solved at least, but she wanted some more questions answered before she decided what to do next.

"How can you know all of this if you have been locked up in here for so long? and how is it that you can speak my language?" Flurry Heart was sure she would know if Zyzix was lying with these questions.

"Technically I am not speaking, I am manipulating a small stream of magic towards you and your mind is interpreting it as me speaking."
"As for the other question, my energy is spread all over this world and that enables me to sense what it happening out there even if I can not interact with it."

Like before Zyzix's answered without a stutter or hesitation making it more likely that she was telling the truth in Flurry's opinion. And if that is the case then it would also mean that her talking about knowing a way home for her must also be true. Helping this being might be her best chance to get home again and so far she had not gotten any real reason to distrust the flame. It appeared to be mostly friendly at least so maybe it would be foolish to decline the help it was offering. After having a small debate with herself she looked back to the cage in which the blue fire was flickering silently awaiting more questions.

"If I release you can I be sure you won't attack me?" Flurry was a little nervous on what the answer would be.

Zyzix let out a small laugh making the flame flicker before replying "If you help me out I give you my word that I will not do anything to hurt you, and before you ask yes I will show you how to get home."

Flurry Heart let out a sigh figuring that this was as good as it was gonna get. "Alright, how do I let you out then? I don´t see any way to open it anywhere."

"Do you see that sword behind you?"

Flurry turned her head "Yes, what about it?"

"That used to be my weapon, I am giving it to you now and we will use it to get me out."

She blinked a few times looking at the massive sword before turning back towards Zyzix. "How am I supposed to use that, its like five times my size." She stated.

"Put out your hand for me please."

Flurry did not question it and stretched out her hand towards the cage. The fire started to glow slightly brighter as Zyzix began to mumble in a strange language. A tiny ember floated from the cage and landed in her hand making her pull it back as it burned her.

"Ouch! What did you do that for?" She said with a scowl.

"Sorry about that princess but it was necessary, now try touching the blade."

Flurry rubbed her hand and walked over to the oversized weapon and placed a hand on its hilt. In a matter of seconds the thing shrunk down to the size of an arming sword both the grip and weight felt tailor made for her use. Moving it around in her hand she could feel the excellent balance in it while marveling at the craftsmanship put into it. The blade was made from some sort of dark crystal very akin to obsidian while the hilt had a more bronze colouring to it with a red gem in the middle.

Zyzix's voice brought her back from admiring the weapon. "Beautiful is it not, now bring the blade over to me and I will do the rest." She said with excitement.

Still a little nervous of what would happen Flurry steeled herself as she approached and carefully extended the sword over the water towards the cage. As the edge of the blade moved past the bars of the cage and touched the flame Zyzix again uttered a few strange words and as she did the blue fire started to flowed into the weapon. The room got noticeable dimmer as the light got absorbed into the sword until it was all gone. When the flame went out Flurry Heart slowly pulled her arm back, holding the sword in front of her face she could see the blue fire swirl around inside the crystal blade.

"Excellent work princess." Came Zyzix's gleeful voice again this time from the sword. "My sincerest thanks to you."

"I didn't do much but you are welcome I guess." Flurry said while scratching the back of her head. "Why are you inside the sword anyway, I thought you wanted to get out."

"To put it simply, I am to weak and needed something to anchor myself to and this blade was the perfect vessel for me to do so."

"Right so." Flurry continued "are you gonna show me how to get home now?"

"Yes of course I will, but not here." Zyzix said, the fire still dancing around in the blade as if trying to get comfortable.

"why not?" Flurry questioned.

"Because interdimensional portal magic is very complex and I am not powerful enough in this form to do so, but don't worry for I have a solution." Zyzix explained.

"Do you remember the portals I mentioned before?"

"Yes, but how is that relevant?" Flurry got the feeling that there might be some time yet before she could go home.

"You see my dear, if you can bring me to where one of them are I will be able to use it to power up enough to create a portal of my own back to the place where they took you from." Zyzix explained in a way that made it sound so simple.

"But I don't know where they are or where to look for them." Flurry complained.

"Do not worry little princess, I will guide you to the right place." Zyzix chuckled.

Flurry sighed and lowered the sword as she headed towards the stairs. "I sure hope so..." she grumbled.

The eye

Ascending the stairs back to the top holding her new weapon in her right hand, Flurry's mind was buzzing with thoughts. A lot had happened in a fairly short amount of time. She had gotten a impromptu history lesson on this world, a new sword and a travel companion who had also promised to help her get home. Flurry Heart still wasn't sure if releasing Zyzix was the best thing to do. But what was her other options just wander this world for the rest of her days in a vague hope that she found an other way back to her world or that someone found and rescued her. No, she had to put her trust in that her new ally kept her word and help her get home safely. She appeared friendly enough and hadn't given her any real reason distrust her really.

Flurry's hooffalls echoed as she once more found herself in the big circular room from before, not wanting to waste time she headed straight towards the hole in the wall that she entered from earlier. when she was outside Zyzix decided to speak once more "Ah fresh air, isn't it lovely princess." She took a mock breath to emphasize.

Flurry glanced at the sword in her hand "You call this fresh air?"

"If you have been locked up in a cave as long as I have then yes." Zyzix said in a pleased tone.

She couldn't really argue with that she thought as climbed over a rock, she couldn't even imagine herself imprisoned like that.

"Oh by the way princess, I do hope you can handle yourself in a fight should the need arise."

Flurry instantly stopped and pulled the sword up to her face eyeing it nervously. "What do you mean by that?"

Zyzix replied in a calm voice "Just that there might be creatures that seek to harm us lurking here, and I just want to know if you have any combat experience."

"I can defend myself well enough." She said in a defiant tone, lowering the weapon again. She may have put on a brave face to not appear weak but on the inside she was quite anxious. She was already a little jumpy after seeing that nightmarish entity that had been stareing at her before. It wasn't aggressive then but there might be scarier and more hostile creatures lurking here too. If she knew she had her magic at full capacity she might have been calmer but right now she still felt a little drained and had a slight headache. But at least she had a sword now so if anything was to attack she could use that.

"Then I will put my trust in your abilities." came the reply in the same calm tone of voice.

"Just know that in my weakened state I may not be much help in combat."

Feeling the weight of the sword in her hand and wanting to get her mind of the current topic she asked "By the way, does this thing have a scabbard or something or do I have to carry it the entire way?"

"Yes of course, just put the sword against your belt and I will help you with that." Zyzix replied.

Flurry moved the blade over to left side of her hip, and once she did a scabbard made from black scales and leather materialized and fastened itself to her belt. Now with both hands free she could focus on getting out of here, looking forward her eyes immediately locked on the murky alley in front of her. The wind whistled eerily from the narrow corridor, knowing what could be down that path made her really not want to go that way.

"So eh... Zyzix was it?" Flurry started glancing down to her left where the sword now was. "What way should we go to find this portal?"

There was a slight blue glow coming from the scabbard but before Flurry could react to it a small wisplike orb floated up from it.

"There much better." Zyzix said with relief. "And don't worry I am still anchored to the blade so I wont run away from you, I just made myself a form more practical for travel." she snickered.

Flurry didn't say anything and just looked at wisp floating around her.

"Anyway, we need to go to the top of the citadel and the fastest way there is the path straight ahead."

Unfortunately for Flurry Heart this was the path she really didn't want to go down. But the citadel and by extension her way home was that way so she swallowed her fear and started walking. She slowly approached the alley looking down that murky corridor hoping dearly there was nothing in there. Her fight or flight senses was on high alert eyes darting from every rock and shadow looking for movement, not seeing any she took a deep breath and entered.

~~~~~~~~

After sneaking around in the gloomy maze of corridors for a while Flurry Heart emerged in an decent sized room. She carefully scanned the area from the doorway before entering, there where three more entrances to the room one in each direction. The walls was lined with cloaked and hooded statues with wings and in the middle of the room was a stone sculpture that may at one point have been a fountain but was now filled with black sludge. Looking up Flurry could see the clouded sky and the dark citadel with it's many spires looming just ahead, it was close now. Her companion who had been mostly quiet for a while now except for giving directions decided to break the silence. "Beautiful isn't it?"

Flurry gave her a skeptical side glance "Beautiful? looks more like a nightmare castle to me."

"Well beauty is subjective." Zyzix said dismissive. "You want to take the path to the left by the way."

Flurry rolled her eyes before taking a quick second scan of the room, figuring it was safe enough she entered. She looked at one of the statues as she walked past it. Cracks and missing pieces could clearly be seen in the blacked stone from which it was made, time had clearly taken it's toll on it. Yet the uncanny form of the sculpture was still there, silently watching her from its small opening in the wall giving her an eerie feeling. She averted her gaze from it as she past by the fountain in the middle of the room. Flurry could now smell the black sludge that oozed from it and it was a foul stench, the only way she could describe it was that it had a thick burnt odor to it.

"What is this stuff?" she asked while scrunching her nose and waving a hand in front of her face.

"My guess would be coagulated magic." Zyzix said in a pondering tone.

"Magic can do that?" Flurry questioned a little surprised glancing at the wisp above her.

"Normally no but there was a lot of strange and powerful magic mixing during the calamity that destroyed this world so who knows what strange things it created, I wouldn't touch it though."

Flurry Heart had no intention to touch it anyway and just started walking again. But after only a few steps she turned her head back towards the sludge after hearing a gurgling sound. Her breath got caught in her throat as her eyes went wide and she got chills all over her body at the at the horror that rose from the black mass. A giant lidless gray eyeball was slowly emerging from the fountain with dark fleshy tendrils hanging from bellow and its glowing yellow iris fixed on her. She started to move backwards away from it but like a predator stalking its pray it followed her every move with its piercing gaze.

"Oh that is interesting, something was living in that pool of black stuff." Zyzix exclaimed in an excited manner.

"That's not funny." Flurry hissed trough clenched teeth.

"It dose not seem to be that powerful though, just dispatch it quickly so we can move on." the wisp said in a dismissive tone.

Flurry didn't want to fighting this thing if she didn't have to so she started to look around for an escape. But unfortunately for her it seemed like this creature was a lot bigger then it first looked. As more of its fleshy tendrils had started to creep out like vines from cracks in the walls and floor, even blocking of the way she wanted to go.

"Shit!" she thought to herself as she put her hand on the hilt of her sword. She heard a rustle from her right and when she glanced that way she saw one of the tendrils swipe at her, she narrowly dodged it by diving to the left. Now prone on the floor she heard more rustling all around her and with a quick roll to the side that was more instinct then a conscious move she avoided two more tendrils. These two however seemed to have barbed spikes at the tips as they had tried to spear her while she was down.

"What are you doing? why are you not attacking?" Zyzix's voice sounded frustrated.

Flurry Heart didn't have time to reply to that right now as she got up in to a squat position. The eye was still fixed on her as more tendrils emerged around the room, there must have been at least twenty of them now. This wasn't good she could not dodge these things forever, she needed to either escape or attack. She calmed her breathing and drew her sword, she then took a stance like her combat training had instructed her to do.

An other swipe again from the left tried to knock her down, she steeled her nerves and in a fluid motion she spun out of the way while cutting the attacking limb severing it. The creature didn't make a sound but it did flinch interrupting any followup attacks it was planing. Flurry took a defensive stance ready to strike if the thing came at her again. But her opponent didn't attack right away instead the eye started to pulsate and its tendrils all began to vibrate. After just a few seconds she could see the creature growing in size, and as its limbs thickened she could clearly hear liquid being pumped into them. She had no idea what it was planing but it was probably nothing good, plus it was really creepy and she didn't like it. while it was occupied Flurry took the opportunity to look for a way to escape because she still didn't quite have the courage to get close enough to attack it. All the doors was still blocked by this thing so those options where no good but then it hit her that the room had an open roof. She looked up to see the red cloudy sky above her, she could just fly out of there and leave this monster to have fun on its own.

But her happiness was short lived for just then she could hear the creature move again, and just as she looked down several now much larger limbs came rushing towards her. Flurry Heart just about manage to jump out of the way before they crashed into the wall behind her sending rocks and dust flying. The thing had gotten really aggressive all of a sudden as its tendrils kept on flailing wildly forcing Flurry to jump duck and roll all over the place giving her little room to counter attack.

"I thought you said that you could defend yourself." Zyzix sounded very unimpressed as she too made sure to avoid getting hit by the frenzied monster.

"SHUT UP!" Flurry Heart screamed in a mix fear and adrenaline.

So far she had manage to dodge every attack thanks to her speed and nimble body but it was only a matter of time before her luck ran out. She was starting to get quite a bit winded now and she could feel the strikes getting closer and faster the longer this took. She needed to try something different before it was to late. Making a sharp turn to the right avoiding yet another swipe Flurry jumped and kicked of the wall to get a small boost of speed as she opened her wings to try to fly out of there. Her move got her out of range from most of the incoming attacks but there was still some that she needed to dodge as she was gaining height. Just as she thought she was in the clear she got struck hard in her side causing her to tumble and crash down on the floor. Coughing and gasping for air Flurry now found herself right next to the giant eyeball who's intense gaze was locked on her. Terrified she felt like time had slowed down as the inevitable attack could come at any second and end her right there. Without thinking she fired a bolt of magic right at it's center stunning it, seeing this opening she quickly grabbed the sword and swung it at her enemy. The blade sliced clean through cutting it in half splattering its dark blood on the floor. The thing slumped down in the black sludge from which emerged from and slowly disappeared from view.

The ruined city

Flurry Heart leaned back with a heavy sigh while rubbing some sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand. She was sore all over not only from the crash but also from the impromptu workout she had gotten from all the running and dodging. The right side of her waist where she was struck was especially painful, she was lucky that she was not seriously hurt and only got a little bruised.

"Well princess that was messy but I suppose you got the job done none the less." Zyzix stated plainly as she floated in front Flurry's face.

"I don't see why you did not just incinerate it with a fire spell."

She glanced up at the blue wisp wanting to argue but decided against it "I don't know any fire spells." She replied simply."
She stood up and began dusting herself off, she was glad that she at least didn't get any blood or slime on herself. The sword on the other hand was covered in the stuff so she held it away from her body.

"Oh do not be grumpy now princess, you defeated your enemy even if it was not the most effective way to do it you should still savor your victory." Zyzix voice was a little more bubbly now.

Flurry Heart dried off the blood from her sword on one of the many tendrils that was now laying all over floor before putting it back in its scabbard on her hip.

"You sound like you are enjoying the fact that we where attacked and almost killed." she said in an irritated tone.

Zyzix let out a small laugh "We where never in any real danger with a creature as weak as that one, plus your footwork is very impressive, you are quite the little acrobat you."

"You are not taking this very seriously are you?" Flurry looked at the wisp with a raised eyebrow.

"Just let me enjoy myself a little princess, I have not had any action in eons." Zyzix voice had gone from bubbly to teasingly.

Flurry Heart didn't really have a comeback to that so she just let out a small sigh and let her win this little back and forth.

"Anyway, shall we continue?" The wisp asked.

Looking towards the pathway she had been told to take earlier and seeing it was no longer blocked she answered with a short "Yeah."

~~~~~~

After wandering the dark maze of corridors for a while Zyzix decided to break the silence. "Say princess I have been meaning to ask you, what is your world like?"

Flurry was a bit startled by the sudden voice of her companion, she looked up at the wisp who was floating on her right side. Unsure if she wanted to say anything in case someone or something would hear her but decided that it was probably fine as long as she spoke quietly. She did sound genuinely curious and it could be nice to just have a normal conversation.

"Well" she started "for one thing it's a lot brighter and livelier."

"We have forests, oceans, flowers, a beautiful sky and lots of cute animals."

"And in the crystal empire where I live we have lots of snow, I love snow..." She said the last part mostly to herself as talking about it reminded her of how homesick she really was.

"Crystal empire you say, I guess your father is the emperor then?"

"No he's not the emperor." Flurry had a hard time trying not to laugh at the thought.

"Oh? so your mother is the empress then?" Zyzix asked a little confused.

Flurry Heart was strangely enjoying her otherwise composed companions puzzlement, bringing a small smile to her face for the first time today.

"My mom is the ruling princess of the empire and my dad is prince-consort and captain of the royal guard." she explained.

"So both you and your mother has the title of princess, but she is the ruler?"

"Yes."

"Well you sure have a confusing way of doing things where you are from." Zyzix sighed.

Flurry Heart didn't think it was very confusing but then again she had grown up with it always being that way so maybe it was a little strange to someone who was not used to it. But thinking about her parents again made her moved her hand towards the necklace she was wearing and held it hoping she would see them soon. She squeezed her eyes shut hoping that all of this was still just a really bad dream and when she opened her eyes again she would wake up in her room. But no such luck as her companions voice brought her back to the crocked corridor she was currently in.

"What are you doing? why did you stop?"

"It's nothing." Flurry sighed and let go of the necklace.

"I suppose that trinket has great value to you." Zyzix said softly seeing the jewelry around her neck.

Flurry Heart was quietly looking down at the ground without answering.

"Do you want to tell me about it?" the wisp asked in the same soft voice.

Taking it in her hand again to look at it she sighed "It's a snowflake in the shape of a heart and I got it from mom and dad when I was ten."

"Oh I see its a gift from your parents, it is quite precious to you then?" Zyzix was bobbing up and down as if nodding.

"Yes..." she said quietly.

"Well then princess let us continue our journey and make sure your parents gets there daughter back."

Flurry looked up at the wisp "Why do keep calling me princess anyway?"

Zyzix laughed a little "It is your title is it not? so why not use it."

"Anyway let us not linger, we are almost at the citadel now."

~~~~~~

They continued there journey trough the gloomy corridors, as Flurry rounded a corner she could see some strange shapes on one of the walls up ahead. Putting a hand on the sword hilt just to be ready to draw it she carefully moved closer. When she got close enough to see them properly she got chills, on the wall was faces twisted and contorted in various expressions of fear and anguish.

"It would seem that some of the people here got fused to the wall when the cataclysm hit." Zyzix said.

"Are they dead?" Flurry asked horrified.

"Who knows." Zyzix said nonchalantly "But let us not linger here and worry about the fate princess."

Flurry quietly started walking again but she could not take her eyes of the faces on the wall, there must have been a few hundred of them at least. She was sure this would comeback and haunt her nightmares for a long time.

After some more walking they finally emerged from the maze of dark paths and corridors into a more open area. There was still plenty of ruined buildings and rubble of different sizes scattered around the rocky terrain. Pits and cracks in the ground emitting an eerie red glow making the landscape look even more hostile. And then towering before her like a sleeping colossus was the citadel, its spires reaching high into the sky and partly disappearing among the clouds. And at its base was a large bridge over a huge gorge that looked like it opened up tartarus itself.

"And there it is, is it not marvelous." Zyzix was almost bursting with joy at seeing the structure.

"You have an awful taste." Flurry said in a deadpan tone, but she had to admit that the size of the thing was impressive.

Zyzix ignored her snide remark "Now we just need to enter and work our way to the top."

"I guess it won't be that easy, right?" Flurry asked.

"No it will not, this tower acts like a beacon with all the magic that is gathered under it manifesting all kinds of things." Her companion sounded really excited about it.

She shrugged and started walking down the path towards the intimidating building but still keeping a lookout for anything that might be dangerous. While climbing over the rubble of a collapsed building she noticed something moving in the corner of her eye. When she turned to look she let out a gasp and quickly hid herself behind a broken wall. There in the window of one of the ruined buildings was the same lanky figure that she saw before. She was unsure if it had spotted her as it just stood there, its tattered robes waving in the wind.

"Oh that is not good." Zyzix said also having seen the figure.

"Do you know what that thing is?" Flurry asked while taking a small peek to see if it was still there.

"That is a souleater, a creature born from the void who hunts and consumes magic, I had hoped that they where all destroyed." Zyzix explained in a serious tone.

"I saw one before and it looked right at me, why didn't it attack me then?" she was glad it hadn't attacked but still thought it was a little strange.

"They hunt by seeing your magical aura but I have noticed that yours is quite weak for some reason so it must not have thought of you as a target."

"But I do wonder, I can sense that your magic should be way more potent then it currently is may I ask what happened?" Zyzix floated up so she was in front of her face.

"I had an incident when I escaped the dungeon and it almost killed me." Flurry said shuddering a little from the memory.

"Ah I see." Zyzix responded knowingly "We will have to fix that for you, can not have you running around here without magic now can we."

"Fix how?" Flurry asked.

"I will show you soon but first we need to go around the souleater, follow me." Zyzix then floated away trough a crack in the wall.

Flurry Heart took a final peek around the corner to see if the thing was still there, which it was thankfully. She let out a small sigh of relief before she followed her companion and crawled trough the crack.

~~~~~~

After crawling and climbing inside the ruined buildings for a few minutes they entered a room that was mostly intact. Like all the other ruins she had seen here there wasn't much in the room, just empty stone walls and sand. She got up and dusted herself of as best she could but some of the dirt still remained which irritated her a bit since she didn't like being dirty. Zyzix who had been flying around the room as if she was inspecting it drifted back towards Flurry.

"We should be far enough away now." she stated.

"Follow my instructions carefully and you should have your magic restored in no time."

Flurry Heart wasn't sure of what the wisp had planed but if it meant that her slight headache would go away and she got full use of her magic again then she was all for it.

"I need you to draw me a glyph in the sand, just follow me with a finger and I will guide you." Zyzix instructed.

Flurry just nodded her head and did as she was told, she carefully followed after the glowing ball with her hand as it slowly floated over the sand. And after they where done Zyzix inspected the lines and circles they made for any mistakes.

"This should work fine, excellent job princess." Zyzix said pleased.

"Now stand back and let me do the rest."

Flurry did as told and took a few steps back, and as she did her companion began flying in a circle over the glyph with a low humming sound like she was chanting. Not long after that the markings in the sand started to glow in the same blue colour as the wisp and a small twig slowly sprouted from its middle. It was dark purple in colour and continued to grow steadily as Zyzix flew in a circle above it. Eventually it stopped growing and a single fruit formed at the tip of the plant, it was shaped like a teardrop and looked to be made of glass. Zyzix stopped her spell and floated over to Flurry Heart before addressing her.

"That was more taxing then I expected it to be, but it should do the trick." Zyzix said a little winded.

"So... what is that?" Flurry asked eyeing the slightly glowing fruit with suspicion.

"You could call it a manafruit if you will, I created it by drawing from the magic swirling around inside the planet."

"So you want me to eat it?" Flurry glanced at the wisp floating above her head.

"Yes, and do not worry it should be safe for you to consume it." Zyzix chuckled.

"Right..." Flurry said in a dry tone as she approached the fruit.

Picking up the fruit it was warm to the touch and she could practically feel the energy radiating from it. She held it in her hand and looking at its glass like surface, it was kind of pretty and wouldn't look out of place in and art museum. Her stomach growled slightly making her realize that she might be more hungry then she first thought. Flurry Heart closed her eyes and took a big bite from the fruit, it didn't have any taste but it was warm, juicy and kind of spicy. With every bite she took she could feel her energy return to her. Any pain or fatigue she felt before was gone and by the time she finished the fruit she was feeling very restored.

"Thanks for the meal Zyzix, that was just what I needed." she said turning towards her companion after letting out a small burp.

"You are welcome princess, I need you at full strength for when we enter the citadel." the wisp replied.

"Can you make more of these fruits in case we need them later?" Flurry asked.

"Like I told you before, my magic is limited because of my weakened form so I rater not use to much of it." Zyzix explained.

"Oh right, sorry." she said scratching herself on the head.

"Now let us leave this place before anything dangerous finds us." Zyzix urged.

The door

They had left the room and was now once again out in the open making there way down a path towards there destination. The rocky terrain and ruined structures made for some minor obstacles every now and then but at least they where protected from most of the harsh winds that howled above them. Flurry Heart was also feeling a lot more confident now after having her magic restored and with the bridge within sight she had a feeling that things might work out fine. They continued forward at a steady pace but still keeping an eye out for danger. Soon enough the pair arrived at the bridge making them leave the cover the ruins of the city provided against the strong gusts of wind. Flurry had to put a hand up to keep sand and dust from hitting her face while Zyzix looked mostly unfazed. The bridge itself was wide and perhaps a hundred meters long, it was made of stone with twisted and gnarled statues lining the edges. It was hard to make out any real details on them since they had likely been sandblasted of long ago.

Not wanting to waste time she began to cross the bridge, walking along the railing to try to keep out of the wind as much as possible she couldn't help her curiosity to look over the edge. It was hard to describe what was down there other then a giant swirling red vortex with bolts of lightning jumping across it every now and then. And all the different amounts of magical energies that radiated from that chaos almost caused her pain, it was like holding a hand over hot coals. She pulled her head back over the railing and continued forward and eventually reaching the other side.

She passed under a huge arch opening and entered a courtyard of sort surrounded by high walls sheltering it from most of the winds. The ground was all solid rock with eight large obelisks made from the blackest stone Flurry had ever seen. They silently levitated in two rows leading up to a giant metal doors full of carved figures that could only be the entrance to the citadel. As she made her way towards the door her eyes drifted upwards following the massive structure as it rose into the sky with dark red clouds circling around its many towers.

"We are making good progress princess." Zyzix said pleased.

"That's good to know, but how do we get in?" Flurry replied looking at the massive metal doors before them.

"There is no need for you to worry about it, leave that to me." the wisp replied and flew of to one of the obelisks.

Flurry Heart stayed by the door and let Zyzix do her work, she started to look around a bit and eventually her gaze moved upwards again and started thinking.

"Hey Zyzix, you said that the portal thingy was at the top of the tower right?" she called out to orb flying around the floating stones.

"Indeed I did." the response sounded like her companion was right next to her which took her a little off guard.

"Then why don't we just fly up there?"

Flurry figured that they could save a lot of time that way and wondered why they hadn't done so in the first place. Sure it might be a little rough flying in those harsh winds but she could manage that.

"I would advise against flying so close to the citadel princess." Zyzix stated calmly.

"Why is that?" it was a bit frustrating that her suggestion was dismissed so quickly.

"It is dangerous." came the short answer.

She huffed in annoyance crossed her arms and turned towards the door again, and with nothing else to do but wait her eyes started to wander. She had a glance over her clothes and fur and really noticed how dirty she had become and with some minor rips and tears on her skirt and shirt. She hated being dirty so she tried to dust herself off as best she could but some of the grime stubbornly remained. Having lost the battle against the dirt Flurry Heart decided to see if her partner was any closer to opening the door. She could see the little orb flying circles around the obelisks causing strange symbols to appear when she touch them and the disappear when she goes away. Flurry was just about to call out to her partner when her eyes notices something moving on the bridge. Turning her head towards it to have a better look her heart skipped a beat, making its way across was the hooded creature from before its robe flailing wildly in the wind.

Swallowing hard Flurry drew her sword and gathered all the courage she could muster and mentally prepared to defend herself if it attacked.

"Hey, We got company!" she shouted out alerting her companion.

Zyzix stopped what she was doing and quickly noticed the creature entering the courtyard. "Curses, it must have sensed the shift in magic when I began unlocking the door." she grumbled irritated before flying over to where Flurry Heart stood.

"Are you certain you want to battle the souleater?" the wisp questioned when she saw Flurry's defensive stance.

"No, but I have to try." she replied in a shaky voice.

"Then be very careful, I would prefer to not be consumed." Zyzix voice was serious and almost a little threatening, she then flew into the sword probably for safety.

The thing was only a few meters away now and close enough for Flurry to really see its features. Dry gray leathery skin covered its long skinny arms which ended in large bony hands with clawlike fingers. The rest of its body was covered in tattered robes and a metal mask over its face with gashes in it that revealed a single red glow which Flurry figured must be the creatures eye. As the tall imposing figure moved closer still Flurry began to walk backwards in a circle to keep it out of reach, she kept her guard up and eyes locked on it and made sure to not back into a corner. Like a hungry wolf the thing continued to move against her but she kept it at a distance with her backwards walking and sword pointing forward. For several minutes this little dance went on, only interrupted when the souleater stopped moving for a second before it tried to get closer again. A bead of cold sweat ran down Flurry's face, all she really wanted to do was to get as far away from this nightmare as she could but if she turned to run this thing would surely attack her in the back.

Suddenly the creature stopped and just regarded her it didn't move even if she did, almost as if it was trying to figure out a new tactic. It was eerie how it just stood there quietly looking at her even as she took a few steeps back. Flurry let out a breath that she was holding and just as she did the thing lunged at her like a snake. She manage to dodge it by just a hair and barely had she landed before the next attack came and this time it manage to tear a piece from her skirt. Flurry Heart was really scared by now but when the third attack came she swung her weapon while avoiding the charge and succeeded in cutting two fingers of one of its hands. This gave her time to regain her footing and catch her breath as the souleater inspected the damage.

"What are you waiting for? destroy it before it comes again!" Zyzix shouted.

Flurry Heart didn't reply but did as instructed and moved in for an attack, she trusted her sword forward aiming for the center of its body. Just as the blade was going to connect it moved with unnatural speed grabbing her sword arm and lifting her into the air. Pain ran trough her arm as it was squeezed hard but thinking fast she casts a short range teleport and manage to escape its hold on her arm. She flapped her wings as she appeared behind its head and swiftly made a swing with her weapon trying to decapitate it. But the souleater quickly turned its head her way causing her to hit the metal mask leaving a long scratch on it. Cursing a little for missing her mark she proceeded to flap her wings in order to gain some momentum and attack from a different angle. The enemy was tough and fast but with adrenaline running high Flurry Heart started to believe that she had a chance at winning. She had manage to connect a few strikes already so as long as she didn't get hit in return she would be fine.

She made a dive towards her opponents back trying to get a good hit in. But the creature was ready for her as it turned around and summoned forth a huge two handed sword that looked like it was made of bone and swung it at her. Not having time to dodge it incoming attack she just barely manage to create a protective bubble around herself with her magic. As the large weapon made contact with a loud crack it knocked her out of the air and rolled several meters over the floor. Dazed and in pain Flurry got up to her hoofs as fast as she could and assumed a defensive stance again. That strike had so much strength behind it and had she not gotten her shield up she would with out a doubt been in two pieces now.

"You seem to have angered it, do you still believe that you can beat this foe?" Zyzix said in a concerned voice.

"I don't know, maybe." Flurry panted.

"perhaps a change of tactics." the wisp continued.

"Any suggestions?" she asked as she took to the air again to stay out of range from the approaching enemy.

"Try attacking it at range with magic, I am sure you got some spells you can use."

Flurry Heart didn't have a lot of options when it came to offensive magic but attacking from a distance would reduce the chance of her getting cut in half by that huge sword. She flew around at a decent speed trying to keep her movements hard to read before swooping in and shooting a magic blast from her horn. The light blue projectile hit her opponent right in the face only for it to barley react to the assault.

"You will have to do better then a concussive spell against a foe like that princess." Zyzix remarked dryly.

Flurry frowned at her companions comment as she rose a bit higher into the air to avoid getting to close to the enemy. Having failed her first spell and pretty much exhausted her arsenal of projectile magic she needed to improvise. Thinking quickly she flew down closer to the ground and gathered some good sized rocks with her magic grip levitating them behind her as she went in for an other attack. As she approached her target she launched the rocks at the creature who swiftly put up its sword to block them like she hoped it would. Flurry did a flying roll over its guard and struck it in the head with her own weapon, there was a loud clang as she once again hit the metal face mask. A small smirk grazed her lips when she looked back and saw the souleater wobble slightly from her attack.

But her joy was yet again short lived as when she was about to go for another strike the creatures hands lit up with a crimson glow. A second later it trusted its hands forward and several bolts blood red lightning shot forth and just barley missing her. Trying not to panic as she dodged and weaved to avoid all the lightning the thing shot at her, dust and pebbles flew all over the place as every missed strike carved grooves in the ground and walls.

"This is getting to dangerous we should fall back!" Zyzix shouted.

"I won't argue against that!" Flurry shouted back in half panicked tone.

She did a sharp turn and flapped her wings hard as she flew straight up at high speed readying herself for the strong winds that would hit her as soon as she got over the wall. Flurry didn't stop her ascent even after the attacks stopped and the gusts increased she kept on rising higher.

"We should land before we get noticed." Zyzix warned.

"Noticed by what?" Flurry shouted over the wind.

Just then a deafening howl that sounded like warped whale song came from behind them.

"That." Zyzix's voice was very calm despite the terrible sound.

Flurry Heart turned her head to see only for her eyes to almost pop out of her skull at sight of the massive maw that emerged from the clouds.

The entering

"SHIT SHIT SHIT!" was all that Flurry could say and think as she raced trough the air as fast as she could. Chasing after her was a titanic snake like creature with its mouth open ready to swallow her whole. The maw itself was big enough to fit the crystal empires throne room in it and full of dark teeth. The rest of it was hard to see but it didn't seem to have scales but instead had a mostly smooth dark blue body.

"WHAT THE CRAP IS THAT THING!?" Flurry Heart shouted while pumping her wings as hard as she was able. Her courage had failed with fear and panic taking its place and the loud wailing cries of the monster sent chills down to her very core. Every time she snapped her head back to look at it the creature appeared to be getting closer causing her to flap her wings even more in a desperate attempt to out fly it.

"That is the sky guardian, it protects the air around the citadel from intruders." Zyzix explained but sounding quite nervous.

"This is why I said it was dangerous to fly around here, so I do hope you are able to get us to safety I would prefer to not be eaten."

Flurry really didn't want to be eaten either so she needed to escape this thing before that happened and sooner rather then later. It was still gaining on her so outrunning it wasn't an option because eventually it would catch up to her and devour her, no she needed to evade it in another way. She threw a quick glance back over her shoulder only to realize that she was pretty much looking down the gullet of the monster with seemingly endless rows of sharp teeth. The serpent was a lot closer then she thought, at any moment now it could bite down and end her. Fighting back her panic she did a hard turn to the side, she grazed her leg against a tooth as she made her way out of the side of its mouth. Now flying against the wind it got even harder for her already tired wings so she made a dive towards the citadel again to try and find somewhere to enter.

Having eluded the sky guardian for a moment Flurry Heart worked as fast as she could to look for a window or balcony to get inside. There where things that looked like windows on the wall but to her dismay they where only shallow grooves in the stone. Feeling very stressed over the whole situation she continued her search until suddenly Zyzix called out to her.

"WATCH OUT, TO YOUR LEFT!"

It was the first time Zyzix had raised her voice like that so she got Flurry's attention immediately and she turned her head in the mentioned direction. The gigantic snake monster had found her again and was charging straight towards her with its mouth wide open. The speed of the creature and with her so close to the wall gave her no chance to fly away so almost like a reflex she teleported herself to relative safety. She appeared right above it just as the behemoth crashed into the side of the citadel where she was just a second ago sending rocks and debris flying everywhere. The sky guardian trashed and twisted itself like a fish on land as it howled in displeasure. The chaotic movements caused it to hit Flurry hard enough to send her flying into the wall and tumble down a sloped part of it until she came to a stop against a gargoyle like ornament. With another deafening howl the monster ripped itself free from the wall and leaving a giant hole, seeing her chance Flurry leaped into the air and made her way into the citadel at last.

Stale and heavy air met her as she past through the hole and entered a great hallway with long thick pillars standing in rows stretching from floor to ceiling. The lighting was poor making the whole place kind of gloomy, and then there was a slight haze cowering the floor making the entire thing look haunted.

"You are one interesting individual princess, not only did you survive an encounter with a souleater but you also manage to escape the sky guardian with barely a scratch on you." Zyzix said in a tone that was hard to read, it sounded both impressed and contemplative.

"I do not know if it was just luck or something else but I am impressed."

"Yeah..." Flurry Heart's reply was as empty as her gaze, the adrenaline high she had been on for the last couple of minutes when fighting for her life was slowly subsiding leaving her tired and in pain. She could still hear the monsters wailing howls from outside echoing around her and she wasn't sure it wouldn't try to chase her in here too. So she kept on flying a bit further until she came to a wall and decided to land. Touching down on the stone floor her legs almost couldn't hold her weight so she had to put a hand against the wall just to remain standing. There was a clang as she dropped her sword on the ground that she'd been holding until now, and looking down at it she noticed whole body was shaking slightly even though she wasn't cold. She could feel wetness on her cheeks and only when she brought a shaky hand up brush it of did she realize that she was crying. Her breaths became ragged as her shaking became worse, she could hear Zyzix talk to her but could not make out any words she was saying. And then the dam burst and she slumped down against the wall crying and wailing uncontrollably like she hadn't done in many years.

Flurry Heart had manage to keep her emotions mostly in check up until now when everything came back all at once. All the fear and hopelessness she had encountered all the pain and tiredness she was feeling was to much and had broken her. But the worst thing of all was the homesickness and the uncertainty of her making it home at all terrified her so much it almost hurt. For a long time she just lay there by the wall in a fetal position crying her eyes out unaware of anything around herself until she eventually cried herself to sleep.

~~~~~~

Flurry awoke in a daze several hour later, her eyes felt really dry and even after sleeping she still was mentally exhausted. Sitting herself up she was a little confused at first on where she was but before long she remembered where she was and how she got there.

"Ah, I see that you have awoken princess." The wisp was hovering above her head slowly pulsating a soft light around them.

"I am not sure what happened to you, but when I could not make contact with you I had to put up a illusion spell to camouflage us from enemies that could be lurking here." Zyzix explained.

Flurry Heart looked down at the ground and sniffed before rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand.

"I'm sorry, I think I had a mental breakdown of sorts." she said quietly.

"...I see." came the reply with a short pause.

"Are you still able to continue?"

"Yeah I guess, just give me a minute or two." Flurry answered still in a quiet tone of voice.

She continued to sniff a little every now and then while sitting there hugging her legs and sorting her thoughts. She felt so empty inside, like all of her emotions had been drained. But at the moment that might be a good thing so she didn't have another breakdown. She brushed a hand over a small cut she found on her leg with some dried blood around it, her guess was that she got it while escaping the sky guardian. She also had several other sore spots and bruises all over her body that she didn't notice at the time but now she could feel them ache. Luckily for her it was nothing major so it probably wouldn't hinder her movements any. To be honest it could have been so much worse considering what she had encountered. After sitting down twiddling with her tail for a short while she let out a sigh and reached for the sword that lay beside her, she then got up and put the weapon back in its scabbard.

"Have you taken the time you need?" Zyzix asked noticing her movements.

Flurry took a look around at the huge gloomy room she was in thinking to herself that she was so done with this place.

"Yes, lets get out of this shit hole." she said in a grumpy voice.

"Splendid, we may have manage to enter the citadel but there is still some way to go yet so I hope you are prepared." her companion spoke joyfully seeming to ignore Flurry's sour mood.

"And with so much ancient magical energy around there is no telling what kind of creatures that could be lurking in here, so be on your guard." Zyzix warned.

"Now follow me princess, there should be a stairway not far from here."

Flurry Heart just nodded and let the wisp lead the way without saying anything. At the moment she was glad she had chosen to free Zyzix from her prison at least she wasn't entirely alone and that gave her some much needed comfort. And who knows where she would be without her guidance, she could have been lost forever or even dead. She tried to not entertain those dark thoughts and instead focus on her goal which was to get home to her parents and friends.

After a few minutes of walking trough the giant empty room they came upon a huge opening in the wall. On the other side was deep chasm, there was a draft coming from the darkness down below playing a haunting melody as it traveled upwards. A set of stairs circling around a thick pillar that looked like a spine going down the center of the room with a bridge leading over the pit to access the stairs.

"Here it is, and now we climb, or rather you climb." Zyzix laughed bouncing slightly.

"That's a lot of stairs." Flurry stated while carefully looking both up and down from the bridge.

"Will they take us all the way to the top?" she asked looking towards her companion.

"No, but they will get us a good deal closer."

Flurry took a look up again already feeling the strain in her legs, she let out a sigh and started to make her way up the stairs. Even though the stairway was wide she opted to walk close to the central pillar feeling like she made faster progress that way, and also avoiding most of the gusts. Not long into there journey upwards Zyzix started up a conversation again.

"Say princess you have a very interesting way of fighting is that common where you are from?"

"Interesting how?" she asked glancing at the wisp floating above her.

"You use a lot of movement for example and you are not utilizing nearly as many combat spell as I would have imagine you would." Zyzix explained.

Flurry Heart pondered a bit on what she should answer to that. "Well you see we don't have that many combat spells, most of our magic is manipulation magic."

"And not everyone can use that kind of magic anyway only the unicorns and alicorns can, the pegasi and earth ponies have more of an internal magic." she finished.

She looked up at her companion again who was silent almost like she was thinking over the information Flurry had given her.

"How does that affect the power structure in your world, my guess is that you had plenty of wars."

"We haven't had a real war in over a thousand years." Flurry said with a small smirk.

"Really now, fascinating." Zyzix sounded genuinely surprised by that.

"But won't the lack of conflict dull the blades so to say of your military?"

"I don't think so, we might not have a massive army but they are all well trained and disciplined, quality over quantity you know." she defended.

Flurry had seen them train many times over the years and even trained with them a few times so she knew they where capable. She had full confidence in the soldiers ability to handle any crisis and she did not want anyone to doubt that fact.

"I'm sure they are all fine soldiers princess." Zyzix said with a small laugh.

Flurry Heart ignored her partners snide remark she had come to expect that from her at this point, instead she choose focus on climbing the stairs.

"I hope you are not to tired, it is just a little further now." The wisp teased noticing the heavy breathing from Flurry.

Clearly her partner was in a pretty good mood for some reason, she didn't know why or how one could find any happiness in this tomb but it was better then the opposite she supposed. She looked at the little orb gently floating above her thinking to herself that she didn't really know her new friend to well.

"Can I ask you a question Zyzix?" she asked.

"Of course you can little one." came the reply joyfully.

"You said that you could travel between realities, what's that like?"

"Think of it as a book with an infinite amount of stories, if you tire of one you can just turn the page to find a new one to explore."

"When you think you have learned all there is to learn or seen all there is to see something new always finds me eventually." Zyzix explained in a very passionate way.

"Are there more like you out there, do you have friends or family?" Flurry asked.

"Family no, there is a possibility there could exist more beings like me out there but I have yet to encounter one."

"I do make friends from time to time, but they never last." she let out a small chuckle.

"Why?" Flurry questioned looking at Zyzix.

"Simply put, I am an ageless entity so I tend to out live everything." she said nonchalantly.

"Oh..." Flurry said looking down scratching her neck awkwardly.

There was a brief moment of silence between the two of them before she spoke again.

"I have been wondering something, when you where locked up why couldn't you use your power escape?"

Zyzix got unusually quiet before she eventually answered in a serious tone of voice.

"I will tell you this as a favor because you have been very helpful towards me."

"Do you know about the power of names?" she inquired.

"No." Flurry shock her head slightly.

"Well it is a form of binding magic where as you weave essences into spells, when you do this the spell will be tailored towards whatever the essence was taken from." Zyzix explained.

"This magic can be used to bind items to yourself like a sword or a trinket so only you can truly use it."

"It can also be used to bind living things to places and items essentially imprisoning them."

"It was with this magic my captors manage to create a powerful seal with my own essence, making it impossible for me to break it."

Flurry listened closely to her companions explanation, it reminded her of one of Twilight's magic lectures she wondered if she knew anything about this kind of magic.

"What is essence and why is it called the power of names?" She asked.

"Essence can be something like blood for example, and why it is called power of names is because items are usually given a name when bound." the wisp replied.

"Anyway princess this is our floor, now let us make haste." Zyzix shifted to a more joyful tone again as if she really wanted to change the subject.

Flurry didn't want to push Zyzix by asking more questions so she just nodded and exited the stairway over a bridge similar to the one they entered on.

The mirror

Having left the stairs the duo had now entered a long dark corridor, the walls looked like petrified flesh and sinews with pillars resembling ribs that meet in the ceiling. A small constant breeze came from somewhere down the dark passage making another eerie melody as it passed. Flurry Heart got cold chills and decided to rest one hand on the sword hilt for some comfort as she made her way forward. She really hated this place, the uneven surface of the wall causing her to imagine movements in her peripheral vision as the shadows shifted along it.

"Are you sure this is the right way?" she questioned her partner who floated quietly above her.

"You sound nervous princess, afraid of the dark?" Zyzix chuckled.

"I'm not afraid of the dark, I'm worried about what might be in the dark." she said flatly.

"Well do not worry, this is the right way and if something is hiding in the dark we would know about it." Zyzix answered.

"Great." Flurry sighed.

They continued walking down the twisting corridor with only the wind and Flurry's echoing hoofsteps making any sound. After several minutes she could see a light piercing the darkness signaling a possible end to the tunnel. And not a moment to soon in her opinion, having to wander through this murky passage had kept her on edge. It didn't take them to long to exit the corridor and enter into a grand hall. The room looked like nothing Flurry Heart had seen anywhere else in this world, the walls and floor was not made with black stone for once but a more brounish yellow. The room itself was in fairly good condition and well lit by glowing metal spheres hanging from the ceiling almost making the space feel lived in. At the opposite end of the room Flurry could see several doorways and something that looked like a pool of mercury but it was on the wall which puzzled her some.

"What is that?"

Zyzix looked at where Flurry was pointing "Ah that is an arcane mirror, it is used to enhance summoning rituals."

"A mirror huh." Flurry said as she moved in for a closer look.

"be careful not to touch it, you never know what enchantments one could trigger." Zyzix warned.

Getting close enough she almost got a chock at what was reflected back at her from the mirror. Her hair was a mess her clothes was way dirtier then she first thought and they had plenty of tears and holes in them. She herself didn't fair much better, she had plenty of small scratches and cuts especially on her arms and legs.

"I look like a wreck." she said upset while touching her hair and face.

"Ah come now princess, it's not that bad." Zyzix snickered while watching Flurry's fussing.

"Not that bad!?" she turned around

"I am royalty, I have a standard to uphold." she exclaimed.

Flurry Heart huffed and turned back to make a desperate attempt to tame the beast that now lived on her head. It would be difficult to do without a shower and a brush however. Barely had she begun to fiddle with her hair before she noticed that something was off, the reflection in the mirror wasn't following her movements correctly. Slowly she extended an arm outwards to the side, she watched her mirror image closely. It did the same at first only to then suddenly twitch and snap its head ninety degrees to the side. Flurry jumped back at this and put her hand on her sword ready to draw it as she kept her eyes locked on the thing in the mirror.

"It looks like you might have activated some dormant magic in that mirror." Zyzix stated when she noticed what was going on.

"I can't even fix my hair in peace in this stupid place." Flurry grumbled while drawing her sword as her reflection started to climb out of the mirror.

It was a strange feeling seeing a clone of herself even if it wasn't a perfect clone as it too drew its sword. Its movements where stiff and jerky and its features where just off making it kind of uncanny, like a picture that had been smeared. More angry then scared Flurry went on the attack launching a couple of swift strikes at her opponent which it deflected before making its own attack. She parried them in turn and then made some space by jumping back a little, she adjusted her stance and charged again.

After trading a few blows Flurry noticed that it wasn't just the looks that where a little off. Even if the copy mimicked her fighting style it was sloppy and unbalanced and she could use that to her advantage. She swung her blade low and just as she expected the clone went to parry it, with a smirk Flurry shifted the angle of her attack and struck her adversary in the head. With a loud crash it shattered like glass and her enemy collapsed on the floor and slowly melted down into the same mercury like liquid the mirror was made of. Standing victorious Flurry Heart couldn't help but to feel smug over such a quick and easy victory. All those sparing sessions with commander Bastion and her father had really paid of, they would have been proud.

"Masterfully done princess, not to rain on your parade but you are not done yet." Zyzix said.

"What do you mean?" Flurry questioned before turning her head towards the mirror only to see three more clones had emerged from it.

She hung her head and let out a very undignified sound of frustration and brought up her guard again. Seeing these twisted versions of herself might have been disturbing on a normal day but now they where no more terrifying then a badly made puppet. She didn't know why but she just felt jaded from all the strange and scary sights she had witnessed since arriving here, all this emotional turmoil had taken its toll and it made her feel kind of numb. There was a coldness in her eyes as she engaged her enemies quickly beheading one of them using the same weakness she discovered on the first one. After parrying the attacks from the other two clones she manage to cripple one of them by slashing it in the leg almost cutting it clean off.

"There are more on the way princess, do you think you can handle them?" Zyzix said from above her.

Throwing a quick glance towards the mirror she could see the clones practically marching out of it now, there were at least ten or twelve advancing towards her.

"What do we do?" she asked her companion.

"I can't fight them forever." she finished off the one she was currently fighting and then made some distance between herself and the horde.

"We need to either drain the mirror of magic or dispell the enchantment on it." Zyzix explained.

"Can you do that?" Flurry asked.

"I shall see what I can do, you try to stay alive." Zyzix said and flew over to the mirror.

Scanning over the small army walking towards her, she needed to spread them out so she didn't have to fight them all at once. Thinking of a strategy Flurry Heart took a deep breath to make herself focus, maybe she could blast some of them away with magic to reduce there numbers. Deciding it was worth a try she charged up her horn and released a blast of energy against her foes. But instead of sending them flying her spell bounced right off and flew straight back at her. Having no time to react the bolt of energy struck her right in the chest causing her to drop her sword and sending her tumbling across the floor. Coughing and wheezing she tried to stand up only to fall over again gasping for air, she felt like she had been gut punched by a yak. She could see shapes approaching through her blurred vision and with a bit of effort she manage to throw up a shield spell just in time avoid getting impaled by the clones.

Getting her breathing under control was difficult with several enemies banging on her magic shield with there weapons. However she couldn't stay under her protective barrier forever she needed to try to get out of there. Still a little winded Flurry expanded her shield bubble slightly to get more room to move, seeing her attackers get pushed back as it grew gave her an idea. Getting up on her hoofs again she once again charged her horn up but this time instead of shooting it out as a bolt of energy she instead super charged her shield doubling its size in a blink of an eye. The rapid expansion of the barrier sent plenty of her opponents flying in every direction. Not wanting to waste this opportunity she dropped the spell and took flight to try and locate her sword.

Finding the sword wasn't difficult but retrieving it might be since it was surrounded by the mirror clones making it hard to grab even with magic. She swooped in to try and get it but quickly flew up again when she almost got her hand cut off by one of the clones. She hoovered out of reach from there attacks trying instead to use her magic to get a hold of the blade,
after a few tries she finally manage to fish it up from the crowd. The happiness from having her sword back was short lived as not long after she got it back in her hand she could see some of the clones had figured out that they too had wings and came flying towards her.

Watching there slow clumsy movements was almost insulting to her, she narrowed her eyes thinking it was time she taught them a lesson in aerial combat. With a dash and several swift strikes she shattered the skull of two of them and
cutting the wings of a third sending them crashing back to the ground. She couldn't help but to feel smug as she outclassed her enemies in everything but numbers. With a smirk she once again went on the attack dodging enemy strikes as she delivered her own more precise once vanquishing them one by one. Her overconfidence grew with every minute that passed and she started to do bolder and more risky attacks like engaging multiple foes at once. In the air she was the ruler and she would let none of these fakes dethrone her.

She pierced the chest of one of them with her sword and was about move on to the next target when she was grabbed around her ankle stopping her mid flight. Looking down she could see one of the mirror clones had manage to catch her and was about to swing its weapon, acting fast she tried to block it with her own sword but the awkward angle made it hard. She manage to deflect the blow away from her torso but got hit in her thigh instead leaving a deep gash. Crying out in pain she succeeded in kicking herself free from the grip only to be grappled from behind by another enemy. She struggled to escape but to late did Flurry Heart realize that she had gotten herself surrounded. Her opponents didn't waste any time and began there assault slashing and stabbing at her, even held in place she did avoid most attacks but not all of them as she was cut across the stomach quite badly and her upper arm. Desperate to escape before any of them could land a fatal blow on her. She manage to struggled enough to give her an opening for her to teleport herself a few meters away. Barely had she reappeared before she was violently tackled in the side crashing down to the ground. She manage to cast a shield around herself just before she hit the floor, reducing most of the damage but it still hurt quite a bit.

Despite the pain she was feeling she forced herself up as quickly as she could, for it did not take long before she was swarmed by enemies again. With attacks coming from every direction Flurry had no choice but to block dodge and parry to the limit of her abilities lest she be cut down. She had been fighting this horde of puppets for several minutes now and she wasn't sure how much longer she could last, just one mistake and that would be it. Sweat poured down her face as she felt her muscles ache and her stamina slowly drained. Even when she manage to strike one of her opponents down another one was ready to take its place right away.

Suddenly there was a loud rumbling sound and just a moment later a blast of cold air hit her making her stumble a little. She quickly regained her footing ready to keep defending herself only to realize that all the clones had stopped moving, confused she looked around when Zyzix called out to her.

"Princess I have managed to halt the spell for the time being, we should leave now while we can!"

Not needing to be asked twice Flurry Heart made her way over to Zyzix as quickly as she could and they both left trough one of the doorways behind the mirror.

The top of 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.

The end

"Excellent work princess, now with that dealt with we can focus on our true goal." Zyzix said joyfully swaying from side to side.

Flurry Heart was limping back to the stairs, her whole body hurt and she was bleeding slightly from her leg again but didn't feel like fixing it. She sat down on the stairs and let out a heavy sigh ignoring what the wisp said, Zyzix's happy attitude was annoying her.

"Can you just let me rest for a minute please, I almost died again." she said in a tired tone.

"Alright, but do not rest for to long I am eager to get to the end of our journey." Zyzix replied.

Flurry leaned back and closed her eyes for a moment just trying to not think about anything and calming herself down. She put her hand on her necklace and gripping it tightly focusing on home and how close she was to it. There was just one more hurdle she had to overcome to reach it. She hoped that whatever awaited her at the top of these stairs was less stressful then anything she had encountered so far. Flurry Heart lay there for a few minutes dreaming of home cocked meals warm beds and a shower. Oh how she longed for a shower, she would almost give her right wing for one right now, with a sigh she opened her eyes and sat up.

"Are you ready now princess?" Zyzix asked.

Looking at her companion floating above her she nodded slightly "As ready as I will ever get I suppose." she said with a sigh.

"Splendid, then let us make haste."

Flurry Heart got up on her hoofs and started to climb the stairs, walking was still a bit painful so she took it slow.

~~~~~~

The stairs where long so she had to take a break every now and then in order for her leg to not hurt much more then necessary. But they where almost at the top now, she could hear the winds blowing as well as an odd rumbling sound. Zyzix seemed to be more and more excited the higher they got and had urged her to move faster whenever she had slowed down to rest her leg.

When they finally reached the top Flurry was stunned by what she saw, she didn't know what she was expecting but it certainly wasn't this. The room was big and round in shape with large black pillars along the wall but that wasn't what stunned her. No the crazy part was that the room had no ceiling and you could see the sky which meant that they where clearly above all the thick clouds now. But sky might have been the wrong way to describe it for it looked more like space, and high above was something that looked like a black hole.

Flurry stood with her mouth open looking up at the very intimidating sight above her with both awe and a bit of fear. Never in her life had she felt so small as she was feeling right now. Zyzix's voice brought her out of her daze that she found herself in.

"That is the portal where everything that comes here is brought through, and it will serve as our exit."

"How do we do that?" Flurry asked.

"Do you see the crystal in the middle of the room." Zyzix said.

Bringing her gaze down she saw the dark red crystal levitating over a pedestal. "Yes I see it." she said.

"That is the construct and I need to get inside it."

"How?" Flurry turned her towards her companion.

"I will enter your sword and then I need you to pierce the crystal with it, and when you do I will handle the rest." Zyzix explained.

"I guess it won't be that simple will it?" Flurry said with a tired sigh.

Zyzix laughed a little "No the crystal will most likely summon some form of guardian to defend itself with."

"And I will not be able to aid you once I enter your sword so you must get me inside the crystal everything else is secondary, do not fail me on this." the seriousness in her voice made Flurry a little uneasy.

"Now lets not waste any more time, bring out your weapon so we can get started." Zyzix said.

Flurry held out her sword in front of herself without saying anything, the wisp quickly flew down and disappeared inside the weapon. She then looked towards the crystal silently floating in the center of the room, she took a deep breath and started walking. Getting closer to the thing she could hear a low hum coming from it, she lifted the sword and trusted it forward. But before it made contact she was blasted back by a shockwave coming from the crystal, she landed on her butt a few meters away. The push she received had caught her by surprise but at least she wasn't hurt more then she already was. She heard a rumbling sound and looked back up and saw the crystal lit up in a deep red colour and began to vibrate. Flurry Heart got up and took a defensive stand as the crystal started to grow several fleshy tendrils. It was both horrifying and disgusting, instinct told her to run but she stood her ground. The tendrils continued to rapidly grow all over the crystal quickly covering most of it in its gray mass. It then began to merge together forming arms and legs as well as bones. Flurry nervously took a couple of steps back as the lump of flesh grew in size.

After a few seconds the thing stopped growing and turned around to face her. The thing was almost five times the size of Flurry it had two large arms that ended with clawed hands. She could see the crystal in its torso behind a ribcage of blacked bone, the skull it had for a head seemed to gaze straight into her soul with its empty eye sockets. It was hideous and almost made Flurry want to flee. But she knew that she had to defeat this monster or she would never see her home again. The hulking beast let out a dreadful howl and began to move towards her, not wanting to get crushed Flurry jumped into the air. Not trusting her leg to hold up in a prolonged fight on the ground she decided to attack from the air since she would be more nimble there. She flew in a circle around the monster to see how it moved so she could figure out the best way to attack it without putting herself at to great a risk.

The creature seemed sluggish but it was following her with its gaze as she flew. Suddenly it opened its mouth and half a second later a white hot beam shot out, Flurry just barely dodged it with a roll. It chased her with the beam forcing her to make all kinds of evasive maneuvers to not get burned to a crisp. She could feel the heat from it as she did her best to avoid it. Eventually it stopped and let out another howl as if angry it didn't hit her. Slowing down a little to not exhaust herself to quickly, she could feel the smell of burnt hair, looking behind she saw that the beam had scorched her tail. Both angry that her beautiful curls where burnt and a bit jittery at how close it had been to hit the rest of her. Throwing a defiant glare against the big lump of flesh, Flurry Heart then went on the offensive before the brute could fire its beam thing again. She made a bold dash towards the enemy, it tried to grab her as she got close but Flurry quickly dodged the massive hand. And with a precise strike with her sword she severed the arm at the elbow causing the monster to recoil in pain. Flurry made a quick turn to attack again, she came in low to try to avoid detection aiming for the crystal within its chest. When she got close enough she trusted her sword forward but unfortunately her strike glanced of the creatures rips as it moved it body.

"Damn it." she cursed as she flew up in the air again to look for another opening.

Looking over her shoulder at her enemy as she rose into the air her eyes went wide and she had to quickly make a dive as the creatures severed arm came flying towards her. The limb just about missed her as it flew past her and into the wall, she did a little tumble in the air before regaining control. Flurry had not expected the thing to throw its own arm at her like that, who knew what else it might try to do. The monstrous beast let out another ear shattering howl as it shambled in Flurry's direction. Not wanting this thing to dictate the pace of the battle she flapped her wings and went for another attack. As she approached her opponent it once again opened its mouth to fire its beam attack, Flurry had to make a sharp turn to the side to dodge it. She could feel the heat from the beam as it chased her yet again, she pumped her wings hard to stay ahead and avoid a fiery end. She could feel her stamina draining faster then she had hoped as she flew in a big circle around the room. On top of that all her injuries hurt especially the one on her stomach whenever she twisted her body. Flurry Heart knew that a she was not in the best shape for a prolonged battle at the moment, and the longer this took the higher the chance was it would end badly.

She needed to stop this thing from shooting it fire beam at her somehow and get the upper hand again. Brainstorming for ideas she came up with a plan that might work, without delay she set out to execute said plan. She charged her horn with magic and made a sharp turn up into a half loop over the beam and going the other way. The monster barely had time to react before Flurry shot of a magic bolt and hitting it right in the face and interrupting the fire beam. A smile appeared on her lips as her plan seemed to have worked. Not wanting to waste her chance she turned to fly towards the large abomination while she fired of a few more magic bolts in quick succession. The magic attacks didn't seem to hurt the thing but it did seem to distract it enough for Flurry to get close. With a scream and a trust she sunk her sword deep into skull of the beast with a loud crack. Black sludge oozed from the gash she made, she ripped out her sword and stabbed it in again making more sludge come out. The creature let out a low groaning sound before collapsing on its back, Flurry Heart landed beside it with heavy breathing.

"Did I kill it?" she asked herself in a quiet tone not really dareing to believe it.

Beside some odd twitching it sure looked dead, a rush of happiness hit her like a train at the realization that she should be able to go home now. Unable to contain herself she began to jump around and cheer, the relief she was feeling at this time was euphoric. She danced around for a minute before she remembered that she had to stab the crystal with the sword. Quickly she scrambled up on top of the large body of the beast until she stood on the ribcage looking down at the red crystal within. She took the sword in both hands and trusted it downwards, she didn't manage to pierce it, the thing was clearly harder then it looked. But a small crack could be seen on its surface so she just had to give it another go or two. Flurry raised her sword again and was just about to make another stab when she was violently hit from behind sending her rolling several meters on the floor.

As she came to a stop coughing and gasping for air and with pain all over her body and confused to what just happen. She could taste blood in her mouth and there was a sharp pain in her right wing which made her really worried. A rumble could be heard and a moment later a loud howling roar like something was very very angry. Looking up from where she lay on the floor her heart sank, the hulking monster was clearly not dead as it rose to its feet again. Ignoring the pain in her body she got up as quickly as she could. Her opponent wasted no time and slammed its hand into the ground with a loud bang, it then lifted a chunk of the floor and thew it at her. Thinking fast Flurry Heart caught it in her magic, it took a lot of effort to slow it down to a stop. Once she did however she used her magic to launch it right back at the enemy with as much force as she could manage. The creature probably didn't expect that to happen since it didn't try to block or avoid the incoming projectile and instead got hit in its upper body making it stumble. The thing quickly recovered though and started advancing towards Flurry with an angry growl.

Not wanting to get caught Flurry Heart spread her wings intending to leap into the air again, but as soon as she moved her right wing she was hit by an excruciating amount of pain. Her eyes went wide and filled with tears as she let out a loud gasp at the pain. She swiftly folded her wings back to escape the agony, but she could not fold the right one all the way back so just kind of hung there. The pain was still there just not as intense, but a terrifying thought entered her mind which made her blood run cold. She might actually have broken her wing, her greatest advantage was her speed and nimbleness in the air. This was bad really bad, she began hyperventilating as panic started to set in but a loud howl brought her back before she got a full panic attack.

Looking back up she saw the monsters raised arm coming down with the intent to crush her where she stood. Almost on instinct she teleported a few meters to the side just as the blow hit the ground where she just was with a powerful crack.
Realizing that she almost got herself crushed because she had panicked for a second made her a little shaken. But it also reminded her that she had more important things to deal with right now. She still had her sword and magic at her disposal, she could worry about her wing later.

She tightened her grip on the sword and ran as best she could towards her enemy, of course it noticed her right away and swiped at her with its arm. Flurry had anticipated an attack like that and quickly ducked to slide under the massive limb, she then quickly got up again and slashed the creature in the leg. This caused it to topple down on its knees with a pained growl, Flurry leaped up and grabbed the ribcage and started stabbing at the crystal inside. She only got a few stabs in but failed to penetrate the crystal once again. She couldn't get enough strength behind her strikes because on the movements of the monster and her need to hold on and not fall off. She could see the hand of the thing moving in to grab her frustrated she teleported herself away before the beast could get a hold of her.

Flurry reappeared a good distance away to get some breathing room and to think of a new plan of attack. The monster rose up clearly irritated with just how slippery she was even without her ability to fly. It let out another roaring howl and then it bent forward and started to vomit black sludge. Flurry Heart was taken aback by this, she didn't expect it to do something like that and had no idea what it wanted to gain by doing it. But she got her answer soon enough when small black winged creatures that kind of looked like rays emerged from of the puddle of sludge. They started to fly in circles around her like an angry swarm of bees. It was hard to count how many of them there where since they all blended together in a blur. Suddenly one of them broke formation and dove towards her, reacting quickly Flurry sliced it in half with her sword. When cut the thing turned back into black sludge and splattered on her chest, she barely had time to be disgusted before more of them attacked. She manage to cut two of them down before one got past her defenses and sunk its sharp fangs into the side of her thigh. She screamed in pain before blasting the creature of her with magic making it pop like a water balloon. The other winged monsters took this opportunity to attack knocking her to the ground by how many they where. Flurry Heart was screaming and kicking and flailing her sword around in a desperate attempt to fend them of as she was bitten all over. Overwhelmed she released a burst of magic sending all her attackers flying before putting up a magic shield around herself.

Flurry Heart lay there on the floor looking up into the sky panting heavily, she was bleeding from several bite wounds on her body. She felt so tired both physically and mentally, she needed to get up and fight but her body felt like it weighed a ton. Just then the huge hand of the monster came into view and grabbed her shield bubble and lifted it into the air. She could see the face of the creature observing her inside her shield before applying pressure on it. Flurry fought back by strengthening her shield with more magic, her enemy growled irritated by her defiance. The battle between magical and physical might continued but unlike Flurry Heart the monster didn't show any sign of fatigue. She knew that she couldn't win this in the long run and needed to think of something before it was to late. Looking around a bit she saw the crystal in the creatures chest which gave her an idea, it was a risky one but it was all she could come up with at the moment.

Flurry split her focus and took a hold of the sword with her magic while still maintaining the shield around herself as best she could. She breathed sharply trough her teeth as she lowered the weapon out of her bubble and aimed it towards the crystal. As Flurry couldn't give her shield her full attention a cracking sound could be heard as it started to give way, it made her nervous but she carried on regardless. Like a bullet she shot the sword forward with as much force as she could manage and with a loud shattering sound she pierced the crystal. With a howl the monster dropped Flurry who fell back to the ground and landed painfully on her side without her shield spell. She got up on her hoofs as fast as she could and made some distance between herself and the monster who was gripping its chest and howling.

Flurry Heart turned around to see what was happening once she felt like she was far enough away. She wasn't sure what was happening but she had done what she was instructed to do. There where beams of blue light coming out from the cracks in the crystal as well as blue flames bursting out all over the creatures body. Flurry could feel the ancient magic of this place moving towards it as the fire grew more intense and consumed more and more of it. Suddenly a bright pillar of light shot out of the crystal high up in to the sky and the air started to be sucked towards it. She had to shield her eyes from the brightness of it as well as trying to not fall over from the strong winds. Eventually things calmed down and Flurry could open her eyes again, before her was a giant blue fireball hovering above the charred remains of the monster.

She could hear Zyzix laughter echoing around her, it sounded a lot more powerful now and perhaps more sinister.

"Well done princess, you have performed your part most excellent." Zyzix voice boomed.

Flurry Heart was exhausted she was in pain and bleeding, she didn't care about any praise the now giant wisp gave her, there was only one thing that she wanted right now.

"Can I go home now?" she almost pleaded.

"Your parents must be really worried, I will make sure that they get there daughter back." Zyzix laughed again.

She didn't really like the way Zyzix said that but she did say that she would get her home and that was all that mattered to her at the moment.

"So how do we do this?" Flurry asked taking a few steps forward.

"Oh just leave it to me princess, I just need a moment to prepare."

The giant ball of fire began to spin in place creating a pillar of flames, warm gusts hit Flurry as she stood there watching it spin. Soon enough a small smokey tendril extended from the rotating fire and moved towards Flurry Heart. Unsure of what it was she tried to move out of its way but it followed her like a snake, nervously she looked towards Zyzix for an answer.

"Excuse me but I need to borrow something from you." Zyzix's voice boomed

Before she could respond the tendril shot forward and hit her in the chest, this made Flurry gasp as a tingly feeling spread around her body. A few seconds later the thing pulled away from her and returned to where it came from, Flurry felt strangely cold as she put a hand on her chest.

"What was that for?!" she questioned angrily.

She did not get an answer and was about to ask again when the fire suddenly shrunk down and vanished leaving a very familiar figure standing with its back towards her. Flurry's jaw dropped when she saw the figure standing there slowly inspecting its hands. It was a perfect copy of her but without any of her injuries and her clothes where undamaged.

"W-w-what gives?" she could hardly believe what she was seeing.

Her doppelganger turned around with the most sinister looking smirk on her face, she then spoke in her voice.

"You seem a little distressed princess." the mocking tone of her voice was think enough to be cut with a knife.

"But I must thank you for all the help you have provided me with, you have even given me a body, you are a most capable minion."

Flurry Heart was at a loss for words, her mind was racing to grasp what was happening.

Zyzix extended an arm summoning the sword that had been stuck in the charred remains of the monster to her hand. She then looked it over with a smile before glancing towards Flurry who was still stunned and very confused on what was going on.

"B-but you are still gonna help me get home right?" she said finally finding her voice again.

"I have said a lot of things not all of them true, unfortunately for you that was not one of them." Zyzix said nonchalantly.

"You lied to me, why?" the feeling of betrayal stung, never in her life had she felt so deceived and used.

"I just did what I had to do in order to be free again."

Zyzix then turned around and pointed the sword forward, she mumbled something Flurry could not hear and a black swirling mass appeared a couple of meters away.

"As a token of my gratitude I will not kill you but instead gift you this wonderful world to rule over princess." Zyzix said.

"But for me I think its time to go home to mom and dad." she looked at Flurry with an evil grin.

Hearing this something burst within Flurry Heart and with a scream of fury she teleported herself on top of Zyzix and began punching her relentlessly to little effect.

"YOU EVIL LYING MONSTER, I WILL NEVER LET YOU NEAR MY PARENTS!" she shouted in rage.

Zyzix raised one hand and grabbed her in a strong magical grip, she was held in the air in front of her. "Do not do that again." she warned before tossing her aside like a rag doll.

Flurry Heart landed roughly on her side a few steps away, ignoring the warning she got up once more determined to stop this demon pretending to be her. Zyzix had her back towards Flurry as she walked towards the portal she had created. Quickly she gathered a couple of decent sized rocks with her magic and launched them at her former ally. They hit there target in the back of the head hard enough to make them shatter, Zyzix stopped and turned around with a very angry look on her face.

"I warned you." she said darkly before once again extending a hand to grab Flurry in her magic. She struggled to no avail as she was lifted into the air. She expected to be thrown again but instead she was violently slammed in to the ground. The pain and shock of the impact made her loose her breath, barely had her mind registered what happened when she was lifted again. She was slammed into the hard stone floor a second time, again pain surged trough her body especially her head. Stars flashed in her vision and her ears where ringing from the impact. When she was lifted into the air for the third time she gasped for air and she could clearly see blood splattered on the stones beneath her even if her vision was shaky.

A million thoughts raced trough Flurry's mind but one thought was louder then the other, "she is killing me!". She was then smashed into the floor one final time and this time harder then the previous two. She heard a loud cracking sound something clearly broke inside her, but she was in so much pain that she couldn't feel where. She coughed up a bit of blood as she struggled to breath. She felt the magic grip disappear and heard hoofsteps approaching, glancing up weakly she could see herself looking down with an unsympathetic expression.

"The next time you interfere I will revoke my mercy of not killing you." Zyzix said coldly, she then turned and began walking towards the portal again.

"N-no." Flurry managed to say weakly extending a shaky arm towards Zyzix who simply ignored her.

Physically broken and barely conscious she watched as her only chance to go home fading before her unless she could quickly figure out a way to stop Zyzix. Frantically she tried to come up with something but the pain and stress made it hard. If only she could stop Zyzix from leaving and keep her here somehow. Just then an idea came to her it was a long shot but she got nothing else and time was running out. Sitting up Flurry put a hand on her necklace and lit up her horn with magic and began chanting. At first nothing seemed to happen but she continued anyway. Zyzix was almost at the portal when magic began to softly swirl around her, she immediately turned her head towards Flurry and seeing the same glow around her.

"What are you doing, stop that!" she said angrily.

Getting that reaction gave Flurry hope and she proceeded to chant faster then before, enraged Zyzix walked towards her with the sword ready to strike. Flurry Heart was betting everything on this plan working it was do or die and really hoped that it wasn't the latter. As soon as Zyzix was close enough she trusted the sword forward aiming for Flurry's heart. At the same time Flurry tilted herself to the side making the strike mostly miss it still graced her shoulder leaving another cut on her. When Zyzix pulled back to stab at her again Flurry ripped the necklace of herself and punched her assailant in the chest with it.

"ER'AXXI YTZI RIZZIA MERR!" she shouted at the top of her lungs.

Zyzix's eyes went wide as she became unable to move her body, Flurry continued to shout the incantation while still pressing the necklace into Zyzix's chest. Ethereal chains appeared on her arms and legs dragging her down to her knees and a red magical glow surrounded the necklace. Zyzix screamed and tried to free herself with both force and magic but it was in vain she was trapped. Flurry now done with her spell fell back on the floor and started breathing heavily, she looked up at Zyzix struggling against the chains.

"You impudent worm, what have you done!?" Zyzix half shouted, her voice now a mix of Flurry's and her own.

Flurry didn't respond right away, instead she worked herself up onto her hoofs again before looking down at her former companion.

"I used your binding spell and the magical energies here to make my own magical seal for you."

"And since you are me at the moment my blood worked as the essence." she said.

Zyzix was quietly glaring at her for a bit with her blackened eyes before she started to chuckle darkly to herself which made Flurry a little nervous.

"Fine you have beaten me princess, clearly I underestimated your craftiness." she said after a while.

"Take the sword it will allow you to use the portal I have created to get home, I suppose you have earned that." Zyzix said with a grin on her face.

Flurry said nothing unsure if she should believe her or not, deciding to try anyway she levitated the sword to her hand since it was to painful to bend her body to pick it up. She then began to hobble over to the dark swirling mass that was the portal, her right wing sagging as she walked. Every breath she took hurt and every step was a challenge, her vision was blurry and she was bleeding from her head and nose and several other places. She was in so much pain that she almost collapsed a few times, but sheer willpower kept her going. As she approached the portal her breathing was labored she felt cold but was still sweating,
she could hear Zyzix call out to her from behind.

"Do not think this seal of yours will hold me forever princess, I will be free eventually." she said before laughing.

Flurry took a quick glance back at her before stepping into the portal. At first nothing seemed to happen except for being surrounded by pitch black darkness, then everything started spinning it felt like she was falling. It was very disorienting and it made her feel nauseous, it felt like an eternity but it was probably just a minute before a light appeared in front of her. It approached quickly and before long she was standing in her bedroom in the crystal palace, it was nighttime and everything was dark and quiet. She could hardly believe that the nightmare was over and she was home again, tears of joy started to form in her eyes. When she relaxed she realized just how tired she was, as she took a step towards her bed she noticed a figure standing by the window.

"Dad?" she asked weakly.

The figure flinched at her voice before swiftly turning around revealing itself as her father, he looked like he hadn't slept in a week.

"Flurry!?" he questioned.

He rushed towards her looking extremely worried, she wanted to run and meet him but instead she collapsed on the floor her energy finally running out. She could feel her father holding and calling her, she wanted to answer but nothing came out. The last thing she heard before she passed out was him calling for the guards to fetch a doctor and his wife.

The epilogue

Flurry Heart was sitting in her bed and looking out of the window at the snow gently falling. It had been a few weeks since she came home and collapsed on the floor. She didn't remember what happened after that but she was told that she had been rushed to the hospital to get her injuries treated. Unsurprisingly she had been in a pretty bad shape and would most likely not have made it if she was left without medical care. Apparently she had a broken wing, three broken ribs a fracture in her leg a minor internal bleeding several wounds that needed stitching and a concussion. Plus several other minor cuts and bruises. With a list like that one could think that she had been run over by a train. But that was just her physical injuries, her mental trauma was an other story. She had trouble sleeping and often woke up covered in sweat from a nightmare. During daytime she preferred to not be alone and had either her mother of father keeping her company whenever they where free. But still she couldn't shake the feeling that she had lost some part of herself in the other world.

Flurry lay her head back down on her pillow with a soft sigh, her parents had been really worried about her disappearance. Apparently she had been gone for over three weeks which didn't make sense to her, she couldn't have been over there for more then two days tops. Time must have been moving differently in that hellhole it was the only explanation she had. The entire city had been on lockdown once her absence was known and multiple search parties had been sent out into the wilderness to look for her. After two weeks of searching with nothing to show for it even outside the empire they had started to fear the worst. She turned her head to look back out of the window, focusing on the snowflakes gave her a little peace of mind. Security had been heavily increased around her, but who could blame her parents for that after what she had told them what happened to her. Wards had been placed on the castle for magical protection and there where always at least two guards near her at any given time.

There was a soft knock on the door which brought her mind back to the present, the door slowly opened revealing her mother holding a trey with some soup and bread.

"Are you awake sweetheart, I brought you some lunch." she said carefully as she entered.

"Yes I'm awake" Flurry said giving her mother a small smile.

Cadance walked up to the bed and set the trey down on a table next to it before sitting herself in a chair.

"So how are you feeling today, any pain?" she asked.

"Mostly just tired." she replied.

"Still having nightmares?"

"Sometimes, but mostly I'm just scared that whenever I go to sleep I will wake up in that world again." Flurry said as she sat up to get some food.

Cadance helped her to sit up even if she didn't need to but Flurry let her do it anyway because it was nice to be taken care of.

"Your father has been exchanging letters with Twilight to figure out how this all happened in the first place, and see if we can prevent it from happening again." her mother said as she lifted a spoon of soup towards Flurry.

"If anyone could figure it out its her, I know she will stop at nothing before she finds an answer." she continued.

Flurry swallowed the soup before answering "Yes she always manage to find a solution to problems somehow." she let out a small laugh.

"But I'm just happy to be home again." she said looking at her mother with a smile.

"And so am I sweetheart." Cadance returned the smile.

"I love you mom."

"I love you too Flurry Heart."

The end.

Author's Note

Well that was that, I want to thank everyone that took the time to read my fic and I hope you enjoyed it.

Here is some more music to end it with https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UviAw7x5xqc