Beneath the fields of heaven.

by TheGreekDollmaker

Chapters

Chapter 1.1: Abandon Hope
Chapter 1.2: Burning the Ashes
Chapter 1.3: Cold Fear and Abyss

Chapter 1.1: Abandon Hope

Chapter 1:

Bringer of Destruction

Beneath the fields of heaven

-.The final death of the universe.-

TheGreekDollmaker

I was thinking...

The one thing that I could have been sure of back then was that I was thinking.

That meant that I existed, in some sense of the word.

Yet my senses seemed to have been paralysed.

I could not see, smell, feel or hear anything.

It’s as if not only the concepts of time and space were absent, but the systems which contain them seemed to be missing.

Or maybe I am missing from them.

Observe and deduct. I could only do that with my senses.

Without them I did not have the power to even understand what was happening around me.

The only thing I could have been sure of was that existed.

I kept thinking, not caring ofwhat crossed my mind so long as my mind was processing thoughts, realising that once thought was taken from me i would cease to exist.

Although my senses may have been paralysed, nothing could make me doubt that I was at least aware of myself, even if this was the state of death.

I started counting numbers. One, two, three... so on, just so I could be aware of my existence.

Until I could not count, nor think, anymore.

It was one of those snowstorms whose cold dug so deep into your bones. You would have fallen dead after five minutes, had you not payed enough attention. And to be fair, I was no exception. Left alone with inadequate clothing, I would have frozen to death before I could have even known that I was supposed to get out of there. Had I not dug my self into the cramped and freezing gorge, I would have had to go against an equally cramped and freezing snowstorm. In the end I still managed to pull it through. Even if the air inside the small gorge was still ice cold without any signs of warming up, I knew that if I had any illusions of not freezing to death, my best chance was to rub my body parts against each other and to hope for the best.

It is not as if I could have foreknown what would have happened to me, neither could I decipher why I find my self here. I only had memories of the void of time and space and then being thrust into the middle of a snow storm like a climber that has gone too far just so he can awe at the prospect of the dangerous. I was directionless, stripped of even the most barest of senses, not able to see, feel or hear anything. I was on my knees, having no idea of what was going on.

And in a single moment they all came back to me. The tools which I experienced the world with were creeping on me all at once. The surge and numbness I felt from the senses swarming my body was agonising. I could feel the blood cycling through my veins, the air blowing against my hair and exposed body, feeling every gust of it and hearing every piercing shriek it gave. Seeing the cold mist surrounding me and being terrified when I realised I was in the middle of a snowstorm. Feeling like I was a junkie getting his fix. Never in my short memory span had I felt more alive then at that moment.

I fell face down into the snow. The first sense I regained was the sense of balance. With that also came the sense of temperature. Feeling the unbearable cold creeping into skin, my clothes totally useless against such freezing degrees of cold, I knew I had to do something about it. Picking myself up, I let out an instinctive panicked scream.

“AAAAARGHHH!”

I tried to take a step forward, panicking since I could not find a way to protect my self. The snow was thick, and each step produced a big hole in the cold powder that covered the ground. I was so desperate that I started using my hands to dig a hole into the ground, but the numbness of my returning senses prevented me from making progress. Both my body and the pain refused to allow me to save my self. The weight of the situation was settling and I did not known what to do. But, even with my blurry vision I still managed to spot something on the ground.

Shovel.

It was a shovel.

In an instant I realized what I could do. I picked up the shovel and immediately started digging a hole in the snow. At first, it looked like a hopeless last ditch attempt that was too late to accomplish anything. My hands were stiff and senseless due to the cold. The jacket I was wearing wasn’t warming me. My hands were skinny and powerless. The same sensation of life that I was feeling a minute ago was being drained with each second I spent out in the cold. Even when I tried to dig through the snow, I was so powerless that for a moment I was thinking of just lying down and letting my body be blown away by the wind.

Yet I did not give up. I cannot explain how broken, yet determined I felt at that moment. Pain became my fuel and I burned every ounce of energy I could muster. Maybe this illuminated feeling came from the adrenaline, perhaps it was simply my will, but I finally started making progress.

I was digging a hole where I could fit myself. Like a small cave to be exact. I knew I did not have enough time regardless of how much my almost superhuman will to live was. I was still bound by the laws of reality. If my actions were not quick, my internal systems would start shutting down, and lead to my eventual death.

With this fact urging me on, my work sped up, the cave taking shape as I put more effort into it. I was removing shovelfuls of snow, and the results looked promising. Taking a moment to inspect my work, I realised that the hole I dug was big enough for me to fit inside. Barely.

But I did not waste anymore time with it. Once it was big enough, I threw my body inside the small cave, covering the entrance with snow so I could finally feel the freezing air stopping. And while the weight of the cold weather did not diminish and the air was still freezing cold, I still felt some warmth inside of me. I had managed to save my guts despite the fact that I shouldn’t be able too. This sensation that I felt was more warm to me then the heat my body felt.This sensation that I felt was more warm to me then the heat my body felt. It was the warmth that the elements got collected in, the warmth that is achieved only by pushing yourself to limits unknown.

It was at this time that I again felt how good it was to be alive.

But while I was stumbling around in the cold, darkness all around me, placid, quiet. I felt that sense of achievement leave as soon as it came. My body was wrecked, pure and simple. My senses were returning fully, making the consequences of my actions known. I was shaking in pain, letting out small shouts of agony, while trying to stay as still as i could.

I could only wait, as slowly the air around me started to warm up. In time, the cold dead weight of the snowstorm retreated, the clothes I was wearing finally providing some protection against the cold. And as i was waiting there, shaking in shock, finally letting my mind work again.

The hyperactive processing that turned on once my instincts took over, was finally dying down. No longer on overdrive, I let out an agonising sigh before letting my senses take over.

In the darkness of my shelter, I realised I could now think.

***

Sitting there, stuck in a small uncomfortable hole, I started recollecting what just happened in the last twenty minutes or so. I managed to cramp my self in the cave I dug, before of which I was on my knees with all of my sense paralysed in the middle of a snowstorm. Not only that, but in a convenient fashion, I could not think of any clear memories of anything before the experience with the void. I begun fearing the worst about what had happened.

It wasn’t that I was a wuss or anything, but the thought of wanting to be disposed by somebody gave me the chills. Maybe I was part of something bigger, an important person, wanted dead by somebody, captured and thrown in the middle of a snowstorm to freeze to death. Being direct and killing me may have been too much of a risk. I was feeling compelled to let that awful thought out of my mind, and maybe I should have. It was bringing a fear to myself that I did not want to experience right now. My mind got preoccupied searching for what the biggest and most common fear was in people like me. Maybe it was the thought of being wanted dead by everyone, maybe it its the fear of everything being hopeless, going against something and then learning you cannot fight or defeat it.

“Yet again, maybe this is all just a joke.” I said to my self.

Maybe a joke played on me by somebody. Maybe it was a joke I was playing on my self.

I took my mind off of all of this. It was straining my head just simply thinking about it, especially after being paralyzed of all of my senses. The good thing was, though, that the numbness of my senses had almost retreated completely. I could even feel the moisture in my mouth.

Taking the time to find a more comfortable position I felt an obstruction on my back. It didn’t dawn on me that i had been wearing anything other then a jacket and some pants. Thankfully light was still radiating from the entrance, just enough for me too check what I was equipped with.

I saw the handles of a bag pressing against my chest. On the handles were 4 other bags, while in the middle a strap was connecting the two handles. Taking off the strap I removed my bag which turned out to be a backpack with a rifle strapped on. I couldn't identify what kind of rifle it was, neither did i have such worries. I would check it when the snow storm died down.

I set the backpack down and lay my head on it. Within fake thoughts and illusions of happiness, I had let a small thought escaped my mouth before been taken in by sleep.

“Why have have I befallen with such terrible fate.”

Outside the hushed wind was blowing, increasing its fury so slowly.

***

The sound of the wind has calmed down, almost to a small tremor. Light shining from the entrance; it has become apparent that I fell asleep for far too long. I knew that when I woke up half and hour ago, and I haven’t moved a centimeter since then. The air inside the tiny hole had circulated long enough to make me start sweating. Every time I closed my eyes I could feel each drop of sweat rolling down my skin.

I’ve had been sitting there, in the uncomfortable hole, like a child refusing to get up after its mother informs him that its time for school. I wasn’t feeling tired, neither was I injured. It was simply cowardice on my part to face the real world, pending instead to be howled at in my only shelter.

I attributed this cowardliness to my fear of the unknown. I would have to face reality and whoever or whatever wanted me here. I remember coming to conclusions my self yesterday about the nature of my circumstances. I wasn’t robbed of my weapon and equipment. I was robbed of my memories and experiences. Remembering what i said to my self before falling asleep last night.

“Why have have i befallen with such terrible fate?“

But who has time for tears?

I crawled out of my shelter, taking whatever I had with me, ready to face the unruly beast that was mother nature. Freeing the entrance and letting my eyes adjust to the morning sun, I stand up, taking a good look of my environment. I should have been more shocked by what I had seen.

The sun rays hit my eyes drawing my attention to the dawn of the new day. The morning sun piercing the morning sky and the light covering around the mountains in the distance. My consciousness escaped me for one moment as it perceived this to be a product of dreams. I couldn’t blame my self for thinking this was an illusion, my whole body was screaming that this was a delusion. I even went so far as to slap my self, just in case I had accidentally fallen asleep again in the hole.

Surrounding me were mountains from which the likes I had never seen. They were like stone giants. They looked like they had a life of their own, alive and breathing. The snow covered behemoths, towered over me, some shooting upwards higher then clouds. Snow lay everywhere, with the exceptions of a few stones and boulders that stood clean.

After the initial reaction, I finally heard my mind’s complains and noticed that there was indeed something wrong with the whole picture. As much as I found it aesthetically pleasing, there was a certain property of the sun that I could not pin point, that made my mind screamed foul merely a couple of seconds after witnessing it.

The cold night time air was finally retreating, being replaced by a cool hush wind that was perfect for traveling. I had not forgotten about the bags, so I settled down near a rock to try and find anything of use.

All in all I had a five bags on in all, four of them near my chest holding magazines for the rifle, with a backpack. Removing the black and grey backpack and opening it I find that I was dropped here prepared. I had medical supplies, MREs, some leather gloves, a holstered knife and a wallet.

“Wait, a wallet?“

I rushed to open it in hopes of finding anything that can give me information. But no, cruel is such a fate that has befallen upon me. There’s no money or credit cards. Damn. The wallet, instead, contained some kind of ID card with only a picture of a man, no older then twenty. The rest of the information left blank or scribbled out with a marker.

The person in the question was a long haired pretty boy with a dumb grin on his face. He had brown eyes, one or two zits on his face, and he was shaved, all in all unremarkable, yet familiar. More so then mere familiarity, it was a face I I had known for a long time. He had the same characteristics as me, minus the dumb grin on my face.

“Must be me. God do I look like a dork with that grin.“ I thought.

I took the knife out and check remove it from the holster. Its surprisingly sharper then I thought. On the handle there are 3 letters engraved on it

“ END“ it spelled out. “How meaningful.”

After holstering and strapping my knife to my jacket there was only one last thing for me to check on. The rifle. I hadn’t gotten a good look the first time time but now I could see what kind it was. The gun was, as I were familiar with, a “naked” M4. I called it naked because it had been stripped of the receiver, the sight had been broken and the stock was pretty beaten up. The magazines, I observed, were also in a worn state too and I doubted that the strap would hold up for much longer.

I had nothing else to do now. Taking another look at the distance I let the cool air blow against my face. A fresh breeze hits my face, letting some cold wash my body, while I stand there, motionless.

Once the moment was over, I took a look at the nearest mountain peak within walking distance. I noticed a small mountain top, perfect for me to inspect from higher ground. I strapped on my backpack and took off.

***

I had been walking for about 3 hours. My jacket was holding back well against the cold and the leather gloves kept my hands cold for the time being. I was on lower ground where I appeared from so my first goal to get to a high enough place to spot any roads or signs of civilization.

“Great, I am almost there.”

I take the final tiring steps before taking a turn near a boulder. I wasn’t shocked when I saw that there was only snowy mountains.

“ Fuck my life this is going to be hard, the mountains just continue going on forever! How the hell am I going t- ”

At that point things started to go downhill, both metaphorically and literally. Off in the sky two brown dots were approaching from one of the mountain sides. At first I thought they were birds but they were bigger then that, and sun light reflected off their bodies. I feared for the worst and I panicked, trying to run for cover. One of the brown dots stopped to inspect the area before both of them heading off to my exact position. As they landed I took good look at them.

“ This... cannot be the same planet as the one I know and love. “

There a couple of feet away are two humongous half-lion, half eagle... what was the name again, Griffins? Wearing armor, no less. I was at a shock, like this was either the best joke played on anyone or a nightmare coming true in real life. I even thought for a second to give my self in so I could be filled in the situation and then a good laugh. They wore gold-plated armor, they had huge claws as big as my both of my hands combined, they had human like emotions for the love of god. I was not prepared back then for something as absurd as that.

“Και την στον διάολο είναι τόσο σημαντικό Αρίστη?”exclaimed the first griffin.

“Φωρτεα! Σου είπα είδα ένα πλάσμα από τους μύθους μας!”remarked the second one with an angered tone.

And now they were looking around for me.

This was no joke. Either stories came back to life or I was sucked into one of them. I thought hard on my next move. I wasn’t dealing with scraps of rug here, I was dealing with two, angry sounding, armor wearing myths. They looked like they could rip my body in half with a single swipe from their claws.

“Κοίτα πίσω από τις πέτρες, θέλω να το πιάσουμε σήμερα.”that sounded, like the second one.

Not good.

One of them was getting closer from what I could hear. It was also at that point that my instincts took off.

As if the world it self had stopped I was standing behind a boulder, motionless.

In the midst of the unknown and despite my intentions, my body was overtaken by fear.

Fear of the unknown, fear of what could be dangerous.

Like all humans I was an animal. Left to my own accord with no discipline I acted like one.

The griffins were closing in one, of the letting out an intimidating slow taunt.

“Aποκάλυψε τον εαυτό σου θηρίο, θέλω να δω τη γεύση έχεις!”the one closer to me daringly exclaimed with a commanding voice.

My body was in a state of panic. I had regarded the confrontation with the same fear and anger I comforted monsters. The griffin’s taunts only helped to reinforce that. I knew that my could have been intentions could have been more rational. But as time time seemed to slow down to me, while I was trying to find a way to scare them off, the illusions of this having a possible happy outcome was tiny at best.

Sweating like hell, yet remaining motionless I took note of my weapon. The griffin’s steps could be heard from here. He was probably a couple of meters away from the boulder. I was no wolf, so in an attempt to scare them off I took my rifle of my back, readied it, and set it to burst fire.

*Chink*

“Κάτσε, το άκουσες αυτό!“ said the nearby predator cautiously.

I pulled the trigger, three rounds escaping the chamber, hitting the snow were the Griffin was approaching. Warning shots, I had thought to my self.

The griffins had been puzzled and at guard, I knew that from the silence that overtook for a couple of seconds. They did not know what sorcery was this, neither did they want to risk learning it the hard way. Those warning shots did not seem to scare them off so I resorted in a more intimidating solution. I continuously started shouting at them in my language.

“COME ON, AND I WILL RIP AND TEAR YOUR GUTS OUT!“.I shouted with the most intimidating voice i could muster.

I reasoned that when comforted with unknown danger the beasts would choose to flee.

Big mistake.

From above i noticed a shadow looming over me. I had forgotten that they had wings.

I quickly tried to point the gun on the incoming griffin, but I was unsuccessful as the beast pounded me to the ground. I felt every bump in the ground, trying to avoid hitting my head as much as I could. The beast was holding my body down, and i waited for the agonising blow that would drain me of my life.

A new wound digging it self atop of my body.

In my mind, a single thought topping all others over my soul. One that was flowing through

every living being including them. I wanted to live.

Silence.

Nothing came. Nothing.

It didn’t take the time too kill me. It simply stared, with those eyes that spoke of more then puzzlement and confusion. It was a look that he could not fantom my existence. He got a good glance at me before it spoke

“Έ...Ένας... Άνθρωπος!?” it exclaimed, with a tone of immense fear and bewilderment.

I ignored him. The thought was now materialising, and I would not waste any chances of getting cut in pieces by them.

I might have been powerless and at the mercy of the predator for a moment but I found my chance in his silence. I freed one of my hands before removing my knife off my holster. Faster than the griffin could anticipate I pulled the knife before stabbing him in one of its wings. It screamed, but its screams were muted by my boot colliding with his face, kicking him a couple of meters away from me. Quickly, I picked my self off the ground, adrenaline flowing through my system. But I did not forget about the other griffin.

Like the first one the second griffin immediately rushed to pound me, but he noticed me raising the rifle. Pulling the trigger he heard the same three sounds he remembered before, coupled by the three holes in the snow. It took a step back, wary of what his next actions should be. Seems that the realisation stroke him that I can harm him with the black object.

It now observes.

“Ο, πόσο θα ήθελα να σου κόψω τα πόδια σου.”the beast exclaims in its language after seeing his comrade down, rage filling his voice.

I hadn’t noticed in the heat of the moment, but they spoke a different language than mine. They weren’t mere beasts, they were intelligent. Of course they were, it was obvious. They wore armor and they had the same emotions like me. If I were to trust my judgement, they were warriors, and if they are warriors, their blood is boiling for vengeance right now.

“I need to get the fuck out of here.“ I concluded.

A couple of meters away a injured griffin shouts of pain started increasing. Both from the physical pain and the realisation that his wings had been injured. The second griffin was smart. He realised that I could seriously hurt him with the rifle so he changed his priorities. Taking a couple of steps at first near his fallen pal, all the while cautiously watching my next act. I didn’t move. I was no sadist nor psychopath neither did I want to kill anyone, so I took a step back. Then another step and then another one, all the while facing them, before fleeing down the side of the snowy mountain.

As I was leaving the area I heard behind me the Griffin talking to the injured with a reassuring voice.

“Ηρέμησε Φωρτέα ! Όλα θα πάνε καλά“

He must have noticed the knife jammed into his wing, because the last thing I heard from them had the voice that betrayed of horror and rage. The short of voice which is heard in the presence of fear and death.

It was one solitary word...

“Οχι...“

***

Off in the distance I escaped the scene of the battle.

I was shaking, and not so much because of the pain, the cold or the fading adrenaline, but because of the consequences of my actions. I wasn’t merely dealing with mythological creatures anymore, I was dealing now with warriors, that have their own armor and weapons and possibly their own society. I assumed that they had such concepts of vengeance, their faces betraying a plethora of emotions. They will try hunt me down, they will try to put down the monster that crippled one of their members.

Realising that and I begun to slow down. Thoughts were cycling my mind.

“You could have not fucked this up!“ one thought popped in.

“All conflict is based on fear and miscommunication.“ another one tumbling over the last one.

Where I liked it or not I had doomed my self in a fate where I only have two solutions. I could either give my self in and hope for mercy on the part of my captors or flee as far away as I could possibly could. Thankfully, In a couple of hours the sun would settle down and I will be have plenty of time to think.

Taking a look behind me I see small brown dot in the sky, fleeing from the direction of the battle. On a closer look, I observed that the unharmed griffin was carrying the injured one on on its haunch. They take care of the injured, meaning that they have surgeons, or at least some kind of healer. Which in turn means they have some kind of society and I wouldn’t be far off saying that they will probably try to inform of everyone in a twenty mile radius of my existance.

“Things keep getting better and better it seems.” I sarcastically note.

Taking a mental note of where they were going and looking at the position of the sun I concluded that the current course that the griffins headed of in is in the East. Logic dictates that I shouldn't try to go that way, so I wouldn't. But I came from the West and the altitude was only higher there. This conflict of experience and information baffled me. One thing that was clear through was that I was on high ground, and while it had a great view, the environment was practically dead.

Coming to a stop, I remembered back at the mountain top that, there were only mountains, as far as I could see. I put my mind to process any other details and I remembered seeing a small structure North of here, before spotting the griffins. I didn't really kno what to do anyways, so I holstered my rifle took off to the North.

Better buckle up because this will be a bumpy ride.

***

Elsewhere

“Aristi!! What happened to Fortea!?"

“Prometheus you will no believe what I saw! a human, the one from the ancient myths. He stabbed my brother with a dagger before using some kind of enchanted cylinder to scare us off.“

“A human, an Anthropos? Is this one of your old jokes that you are playing on me Aristi!?” he cannot believe what has escaped from his own son’s mouth.

“No, this is no joke father, I saw him heading off to the East to the Abandoned Dens. My brother is now being threated by the surgeons, I am going to visit him “

The unbelievable had happened and he could not take it. He sat down on one of his bedsteads, trying to contemplate on what to do. The nature of the issue at hand was too much for him to bear, but he must deal with it.

In the end though...

“By the Wrath of the Gods, if they were not my sons I would not have listened. But try as I can, I am unable to disbelieve what misfortune has befallen amongst us. ORTHEA!! “

A messenger appeared near him.

“Orthea, you are the fastest of messengers I have in my disposal, having transversed distances at speeds that would rival that of Heroes. Inform of the king in the capital that a human, a creature from the tales has entered our kingdom.”He exclaims, despite how much this weights on him.

“I will request that the best of our warriors, the Palatics, be sent to deal with this human. Sent warnings to the furthest reaches of our kingdom that this is a time of great peril. Tell them that this is the time for heroes to rise and combat an evil that is only spoken upon in myths and folklore. Do not waste a single second, do not stop at any obstacle, even if your last breath will be in the giving of the message to the king. Now go Orthea, the sooner you get there, the sooner we can avert this great danger.”

“I will my lord”

And with that the messenger left.

***

Author’s notes: First fan fiction and to be honest i don’t even know how to describe how i feel about this. i mean, English is not my first language and all but still, this could be perceived very negatively. i am willing to take criticism as i am not willing to be a douche or too stuck up my ass.

Small notes, the griffins are speaking Greek and most of the things here have meaning.

(1): Radio. Whats wrong with that radio. ( Yes, i am making fun of my own fanfic.)

Revision Notes 01: I have completely rewritten the first chapter of my fan fic.

Special thanks to Vanner from Ponychan for tearing my first chapter apart, providing some great constructive criticism ( and for the record, I apologise for what you had to suffer through the first time. I hope this one makes up for that. )

Revision Notes 02: Revisioned it again. This time credit goes Trots McClure for going into further detail on about my grammar and clarifying some points to me about it.

Now I just need to learn how to make this feel like Equestria and not “Griffins in buttfuck nowhere.”

Chapter 2 revision coming soon too.

Copyright: I do not own MLP or any intellectual property of Hasbro. This is purely a fanmade work.

Chapter 1.2: Burning the Ashes

Chapter 1: Part 2

Burning The Ashes

Oh sweet mother nature, what do you behold that I cannot be aware of yet.

Why do I have to suffer for you enjoyment, left alone, robbed of everything but knowledge, to fend off children of the earth and sky whose existence were all thought to be in man’s dreams.

Not even having full control of myself.

How pitiful.

I guess this is a little game for you, to break whatever rational I have engraved on my mind.

I am not stupid. I will outrun whatever you sent after me. I will outsmart every plan you think off.

It has always been like this after all.

***

I sat in the snow watching them and I wonder if things could have gone differently.

riends, maybe I just could have stopped and have them detain me. I wouldn’t have made such a big of a scene and things would not have turned out for shit. But no, instead I didn’t control my instincts and the worst had now come.

“Δεν είναι εδώ πέρα, καλύτερα να προχωρήσουμε με τους άλλους! ΓΡΗΓΩΡΑ !”

Great, they are leaving the area.

I watched as the griffins took flight to scan another sector, totally unaware that I was under their nos- eh... beaks or whatever. No sooner then three hours after our little incident and they’d already went full metal on me, sending packs of twenty at a time to hunt me down.

Once they left, I picked myself off the snow. I was surprised how burying myself in the snow worked so well.

Stop talking, keep moving.

I cleared the snow off myself and tried to make out were I was supposed to go. This was the third patrol by the griffins and the cold now was getting unbearable. Snow must gotten beneath my clothes as I was shivering like hell. I tried as much as I could to remove as much snow as I could but try as I could, there was always a tiny amount that nugged me. I thought that I could withstand the pain, but it would take a toll on me.

I began heading off to the north, but each encounter with the patrols was making me go slower and slower. I had the energy to go on, but my left leg was killing me. I figured that if I move around blood would circulate faster and stop the pain, but it was just getting worse and worse.

I just need to get there as fast as I can. I won’tlet this happen to me, damn it!”

I was fearing necrosis, but there wasn’t a lot I could do. Starting a fire was out of the question, and even if I could start one it would give away my position. Desperation quickly settled in my mind.

What if I don’t get there fast enough to diagnose it? What if they got there first or if it'snow a griffin stronghold? And what if I had to...amputate the...no, I still have time to treatit.

Seeing the structure off in the distance, dead concrete and marble mocking me as I gazed from afar, infuriated me. Horrible relic of time it seemed. It was also hanging by the side of the mountain so I figured maybe I could make a hole in the snow with the shovel and treat the leg there. But damn it, the structure was only an hour’s trek if I took the highway. With that, through, comes the chance that I could be seen by one of the packs. But again if I moved down a lower level it would take more time-

And you know what, I don’t even care anymore. My left leg hurts like hell and I am not moving until I diagnose it.

I prepare myself, taking out my shovel, as I move down the dreaded mountain top in search of a new shelter.

***

Come on, almost done... there...

Checking my work for the last time, I realized that I had enough space for me to fit in comfortably. The other hole I made was so rushed, I don’t even want to know how I managed to fit in there. Regardless, my left leg was still in pain, so I set to check on that.

I sealed the entrance with some snow, enough to not be seen from the outside but not so much that it blocked all incoming light. After all, I still had a couple of hours till the sun set in.

Removing the boot and my sock, I take a look at my foot. It looked discolored and swollen, probably because I had let so much snow into the boot.

I swear, next time I’lljust hide behind a rock instead of bothering with this shit.

Removing the backpack I pulled out the medical supplies, which I observed were not much. A first aid kit for treating wounds or burns, a cream for the skin and some medical alcohol. Standard stuff. Figuring I couldn’t do anything better, I used some of my cream and put the socks and boot back on. I was thinking of moving out, but I didn’t want to strain the leg. After all, it would be a shame to let this little shelter go unused.

Speaking of which, I’mhungry...

***

Here I was, cramped in my shelter, eating military rations from a place long gone, enjoying the year old food as I tried to keep my thoughts coherent. Yet, I could not hold back it back any more. There were questions, and I wanted the answers. Finishing off the leftovers, I stored the empty packages in the backpack before laying down to think. I didn’t realise it before, but I kinda liked this moment. The moment where I was philosophizing about the nature of reality, there was this certain appeal of being alone with my mind, asking myself questions I could not hope to answer.

Mythical beasts whose existence I am sure are diminished as a work of fiction. No clue if there are humans around here.” My thoughts wandered off “No memories; either I lost them, or they were taken away from me. CanI even be sure that I am on the same planet as...

I hadn’t realised it before, but some very important questions needed answering. Questions I had asked myself but had taken very little in mind of their implications.

“Maybe, just maybe this is all unreal. My mind screams “foul” every time it sees stuff like these, telling me that thisis not happening. There, something’s inside me screaming that griffins don’t exist, that everything I’m seeing and experiencing is wrong. Maybe this is simply the product of my mind. The manifestation of my knowledge into a living realityinside my head... but I still feel pain, I still feel the cold air breathing and blowing against me. Can I even trust my senses? How can I attain knowledge when I cannot be sure of the realityof the world.“

It seemed that the nature of my rational made me form some startling ideas. I knew I was in trouble when I reached the point where I began questioning the tools at my disposal for experiencing the world. I thought I was being deceived, that my senses had been disturbed and my mind hacked. I mean, who could blame me; I was an amnesiac all alone in the middle of nowhere with griffins running around for my blood.

“And yet, I must be willing to accept the possibility of this reality. Crap, maybe this is real. Maybe I am just lying in what obviously Is what I am experiencing, yet I deny it because... I don’t know.” And that was the point it pained me to admit.

I did not know anything.

I was alone, with no memories, cursing at who could have done this to me.

The only thing I could safely conclude at the moment was that there is at least an objective reality where all of this is happening. Whether or not that reality was a product of my mind or was a separate entity I could not be sure off, and if this reality was subjectively affected by my actions and I was affected by it. The idea of maybe some kind of projection of my inner senses unconsciously impacting my collective experiences was also a possibility...

But...

You know what, I have nothing to lose.

Even if I think that I am being deceived, I still feel pain, I still can be hurt, and I still can be killed... And now thinking about it, I won’t prove anything worthwhile by proving if this is real or not. It doesn’t affect me right now, so I should be fine.

Frustration builds as more questions pile up, questions I could not answer.

“I just appeared in the middle of nowhere, not even with any clue as to where I came from. Hold on, does it matter where I come from, as opposed to why I am here.” I muttered to myself.

“Which, wait, why the hell am I even here, why? I have no objective, no purpose. It's obvious that I have some military background, evident from the equipment I am carrying.“I was getting more enthralled with this.

“This couldn’t have been an assassination. No assassin would throw his victim into his death with the tools to escape from it. The thoughts of an experiment also crossed my mind but got quickly dismissed. I would have been armed to the teeth if that was the case...”

More thoughts, more conclusions. It was dawning on me that this search for who did it was futile. A single question topping all others in the end...

Are there any other people like me in this place... Or am I alone?

My thoughts wandered off again. This was getting my mind tired. As fascinating as it was to think about the possibilities, the pain on my leg coupled by the warm air circulating inside the hole was making me pretty sleepy. It took me another five minutes before I drifted off to sleep.

***

*shunn*

...

*shunn*

The flying hell... oh man, is it mor-

*Shunn*

Oh shit, footsteps

*Shunn*

*chick chink*

Ok, rifle’s ready, please be an animal.

*Shunn*

Please don’t be a griffin, I don’t want to murder anyone.

…

Just leave...

Damn it, don’t be stu-

“ Ποιος...?”

“ FUCK! “

The nighttime peace was shattered by the shrieking of three bangs.

***

“DAMN IT, Fucking safety was off.“

I was standing in the middle of the night, standing above the dead body of a griffin. Just... standing there. I panicked, I didn’t know what to do, not wanting to kill him but not wanting to give away my position. I didn’t check the rifle, I could have... I should have...

I...

“Damn it, just... ”

He was still wearing his helmet. It was gold, the reflection of my face looking back at me. One of the bullets pierced him right inside of his chest, at the middle covert. It shattered the coracoid as it passed through the air sac, creating a hole into Its lungs for blood to fill in. The bullet finally stopped as it hit the spinal nerve lines, rendering him incapable of moving. One of the blood vessels was also hit near the lungs and, so as he opened his mouth to scream he realised he couldn’t as he spit out blood. His cranial thoracic was filled with blood and he had chocked to death. Blood was still running through his brain before he died. Still conscious. Witnessing every second of it. Removing the helmet, I inspected his face. It had an expression that spoke of horror. One of his eyes open, the other closed. I took my eyes off him, the unfairness of his death too much for me too bear.

As I took my eyes off the dead griffin and looked up, I was awestruck by the beauty of the night time sky.Millions of stars littered outer space, illuminating their brilliance for all to see. Then I took a look at the moon.

Almost instantly my mind screamed to me, again, that this was not real. The moon was the size of a small planet taking so much of the night sky that I could see it’s craters with exquisite detail. It's so big it almost seems like...

“Holy hell, It's brighter then I thought. I think I can travel safely here. I mean, It's nowhere near the brightness of the sun, but I wont get lost.”

Taking a look around me I take notice of as a couple of seemingly brown dots in the sky close in, probably trying to find the source of the bangs.

With no time to spare I took the body and tried to stuff it in the cave, shedding a small “I’m sorry“ before stoically taking his body and shoving it in the snow cave I dug. It was a lot to take in but I had grieved enough for my fallen enemy as I loaded up on equipment, taking only one of the bags the griffin was carrying. I took a wild guess and thought that the griffins probably form their society rules like a warrior culture. I didn’t know much but a small nag on my head said it could be disrespectful to take any of the armor or weapons.

After that I wasted no time as I covered the entrance with snow and started heading out for the structure in the North.

***

“Damnit, another patrol up ahead.“

I cursed once more, as another pack of griffins passed through. They were now scanning and flying lower due to the night time. It won’t be long before some of them notice me.

“Camo’s great for night time at least. Won’t have to bury myself in snow just to avoid detention.“

Off in the distance a pack of griffins all hopelessly tried to find their target. They got closer to the mountain tops, but to no avail. I was simply too well camouflaged and hidden that, even with the light emitting from the moon, their search was fruitless. They got the idea that I had outrun them and tried heading off for the structure.

“Crap, they are heading where I am heading too.“

The pack had changed direction, flying to the same destination as I was going.

“This is going to be hard.“

***

Discipline

That’s what I need, It's discipline.

To control my emotions, my body, not to act like a beast who can use firearms.

I made this mental note to myself because I find myself in a real hazy situation.

It's been one hour since the last patrol and the griffins had proven themselves smarter than I had initially suspected. I noticed this first when I took a downwards path down to a small canyon between the mountains. The structure, of course, had an unguarded entrance in the bottom level with the other one, higher on the structure under too heavy of a patrol to evade.

When I got there I realised why they stopped the patrols one hour ago. They had placed a line of griffins on foot, searching and stabbing every inch of the snow with their swords. Behind them stood a line of archers. I also noticed that they wore differently colored plate armor. Those were silver and had a small fancy pattern on the helms from what I could tell. If I were closer I would inspect them since they seem to be taking their time with the search.

“Clever thinking, their numbers reach at about twenty from what I see,“ I muttered.

I begun thinking of what to do. I was military, so my mind would pick on something strategic. Lets see, I couldn’t evade them since they spent so much time just searching the snow for me, I couldn’t kill them all since by the time I take them out with the rifle the other patrols would have picked up on me, making this even a bigger of a clusterfuck so...

“Warfare is based on deception. Shock and awe are my tools.“

I knew exactly what to do.

***

On the other side ...

“Indeed, they found Polynice’s carcass in a hole. If it was burial, it was a poor one, more of disposal. Thankfully, the beast didn’t loot his arms or armor,”conversed Theseus.

“At least he died a hero hunting down a beast. You know how much this will anger his mother Argea?”continued Ageleia.

“It's a shame too, he had some unpaid debts he was going to repay me.” ends Theseus.

We continued on, speaking of the fallen Polynice, whose time had come to early, hunting down a beast of legends. Steadily but slowly, the line moved, no inch of snow left unchecked. We had been informed that we were dealing with a ground target but the air patrols had come up unfruitful in the last twelve hours.

Now here we were, in the middle of the night, trying avenge the death of one of their closest and youngest soldier. A snowstorm was picking up but we were not worried about, We had supplies and had dealt with far worse situations before. Exhaustion was what we were trying to hide, to tell and self deceive our bodies that we could do this.

“At this rate reaching the point of Polynice’s burial will take ‘till morning. We won’t be able to even fly by that time. I need to speed this up.”I muttered

“THESEUS!”

“Yes, commander?“replied Theseus.

“Inform both sides of the line to speed up the progress. We can save more time and energy while we are at it.“

“I will, commander.”

With that Theseus took off to inform both sides to speed up the searching.

As he left I, Apotheus, took time to think of the news. A human, one of those myths from the folklore, had come from Western Oroi and gravely injured one of the King’s sons, Fortea. Or so claimed Aristi, the other son present at the event. Knowing them, he would assume that they were probably cracking one of their old jokes, for they were known for their tricksterous and aggressive behavior. But the death of Polynices, one of the scouts responsible for tracking down the beast seems to tell otherwise. I myself saw the body wounds as I had been trained under Asclepius’s Sanctuary to diagnose causes of death. From initial inspection it seemed that he was stabbed by a small circular dagger or spear, but the shattered colaroid suggested something far more sinister. Seemed to me that the beast had used a magic projectile, so powerful that it penetrated his flesh all the way to the spinal cord.

I would have most certainly had stayed in the company of the surgeons to get more opinions on the diagnosis. But we could not have spent any second more. The beast was still on the run and we were right behind its track. And while the diligent Tholos and his brave Lerotes may try to hunt their target by flight, he had other ideas. Inexperience is a bad treasure, and a bad trait to those who possess it. Being far from that, I put my mind to work. The son’s report was that he was a earth creature, incapable of flight. More than that, we found Polynice’s body stuffed into a gorge, not a natural one, but one made of tools. He could hide very well in the snow and we would have never realized it.

Taking this into account I set my swordsgriffins and archers into two separate lines, the archers on the back while the swordsgriffins on the front, and ordered them to scout the area starting from the abandoned den, all the way to Polynice’s grave. After all, the beast was said to be travelling North and the only subject of interest to him would be the abandoned den, and such is our luck that the only viable entry for him is through an area big enough that we could monitor.

We had made good process in the hour, even if the snowstorm was picking up. Searching back and fourth we had not left any inch of space go unmonitored, though in my defense, I thought it would have be viable to sacrifice some of the searching in order to save time. I had, after all, a steady streak of victories behind my name, and some times I had to cut corners. Wonder what kind of recognition I will get for getting this beast tamed. The thought of becoming a myth intrigued me, I would get statues and works of art made in my name for ages, along side heroes such as Agape and Minos.

But that thought got derailed. I couldn’t believe how sudden the shift felt from my thoughts into the battlefield. Had I known what was to come I would have flown away as far as I could with my soldiers.

We heard a loud boom off into the direction of the picking snowstorm.

At the same time one of the front swordsgriffins, Demetrius, fell down before letting out a gut wrenching scream. We stood there, totally baffled as to what had happened. Our, blood run cold on those few seconds of silence, our minds trying to understand what was happening.

Almost as suddenly, another similar sound is heard.

No time was wasted after that. Archers readied their arrows and fired wherever they thought the sound is coming. The loud breeze and the picking snowstorm made it hard to hear from where It was coming from but we were no cowards. Some swordsgriffins tried to crouch and protect themself, others with a spirit of aggression charged in in the middle of the picking snowstorm despite their drained bodies.

I was a little further behind of the line when this happened. As I neared in, three more bangs were heard. Three more echos, three charging swordsgriffins falling down, their screams joining with the others.

From the sides, a panicked Theseus appeared.

“COMMANDER! We are taking heavy casualties, what should we do!” hescreamed Theseus.

“I... we need to... the... “

Few times I had found my self into a situation like this. All of those instances had the same characteristics. Loud noises, confusion and deceptive tactics used by the enemy. I had known myself as a hardened veteran, but even I had some of the initial shock left on me.

But the spirit of the commander had returned again. I stopped. Time slowed, thinking. The target attacked from a distance, pretty good shot, probably a sorcerer, taking flight not a good idea, covering fire, shields, get the injured...

“...Go tell the Archers to focus on one location at a time and to cover my the swordsgriffins. After that tell the swordsgriffins to focus on getting the survivors and to use shields. Stay low and to bring the injured behind the archers! NOW GO! ”I screamed, watching Theseus take flight to go inform the troops.

I watched as he took off to inform the sides of my orders. I, too, had been screaming for the more risky of swordsgriffins to take cover and stay low. Once informed, the griffins in the front stayed low and covered themself with shields before attempting to rescue the wounded. The screams of the wounded were now louder then ever with the adrenaline wearing off, as some of them reached out into their bags for any herbs to ease out the pain. Archers tried to cover them, firing arrows, from wherever they can.

I couldn’t have known if it was a complete success. We still got hit but thankfully the shields holded up. Even with that, there were still one or two lucky shots that missed the shields and instead hit the swordsgriffins behind. It was complete disarray and we would have had more casualties had it not been for one moment.

For a moment, the bangs stopped.

It was the perfect opportunity, almost like a wish from the Gods getting fulfilled. Had luck stricken us again and one of the arrows hit the demon? We paid little attention to that as we took this time and bring the injured back from treating. I inspected some of the

Setting my ears free, I noticed the lack of noise. It was silence. And this silence was terrifying. We had no incentive here. Standing behind the shields and of my comrades, unsure of what to do. I was wise enough not to tread right into dead man’s land. Forgetting the years and the sadness of what lead out there, our fear felt manifested through the nature around us. Dead cold air breezing around, the white powder we were standing on gold as ever, a small fire of hope still burning, hoping to the gods for this to be over.

The archers stopped firing, but had readied their arrows, some shaking from the cold or the fear. Some of them took this time to calm themselfs and to rest.

I seems that my plan had worked. One of the arrows must have gotten the beast. Or has it decided to flee? Maybe it was taking its time, powering up to cleanse of his problems. It was hard to see within the picking snowstorm. Even more so with the lack of energy. Had it been earlier this day, we would have had perfect vision. But in the chaotic and brutal nature of a snowstorm, little could be said and done. If it wasn’t for Theseus’s determination to relay on orders, I would have still been shouting orders at my soldiers..

“Did we get him?!”asked one of the archers, Myros if memory served me correct.

As soon as that sentence was uttered, we heard a scream. This one had been different, it sounded different then anything that I had heard before. It was absorbed in it’s own unknown language and it sounded brass and bold.

Bangs now were filling the night time air, getting louder and louder ever second, most of them missing, two of them hitting two of my soldiers. Panic was now settling deep within us as terror and agony had made us forget about the snowstorm. Not only had the Archers failed to hit their target but now whatever had been out there was getting closer. I ordered the archers to fire more shots, but some of them had run out of arrows in the last five minutes.

We fired whatever remaining arrows we had, unsuccessfully to where we thought It had been coming from. The remaining Archers readied their daggers, just in case they have to get close and dirty, while the swordsgriffins moved whatever was left of the injured in the midst of the chaos.

Then we saw it.

The human beast, running towards us with Its two legs, fire coming out of ts hands. Its silhouette painted against the snow in the distance. The archers struggled and tried to flee out of It's way as it fired more bolts at them. The swordsgriffins didn’t even try to face it in the snowstorm, instead taking the injured on their backs and taking flight to the nearest patrol camp. At that moment our heroism had failed. We had reached the situation of being besieged.

It was getting closer. Not wasting any time I withdrew my sword out of it’s holster. The beast can seize its power and bathe in its glory of wild ravenings. He can faint and stray my comrades, killing them in the process. He cannot kill me. He couldn’t kill the Great Apotheus. I will cast his body into the earth and it will become his prison but it will n- Where in the gods was it going?

The beast surprised me when it run past the line, dashing to the directions of the den.

“ COMMANDER, IT'S GETTING AWAY ”screamed one of the griffins.

“ No it isn’t !“ I told him before rushing to hunt the demon down.

He can run like the Equestrian colt all he wanted, but it would not get him far. I spread my wings and took flight, with one goal in mind. As I charged in for a blow, the beast took a look behind him, only to see a rage filled griffin heading his way at tremendous speeds.

I tried to strike him from the front, but just before I could swipe my sword the human jumped rolled sideways out of his way. I had to admit, I was amazed at Its agility. Striking the ground I turned to face my opponent only for the face of my enemy to be revealed...

...and that sight was truly incomprehensible to me.

The human beast was unlike anything I had ever seen and I had seen plenty of horrors in his life. It's skin, or was that fur, was a mismatch of weird grey and dark colors blending with the environment, it had weird long hair coming from the top of It's head, while It's face was flat, no muzzle or anything. In its pale face engraved the feeling of determination. It had Griffin emotions by the wrath of gods! It truly looked like a demon from the ancient books.

The demon was unimpressed. It quickly pulled a shovel out of its back and with a swipe, stroked it right in my head, making me fall flat on my face. Still in shock from the sight, I picked my face off the ground and tried to face it, only to realise that It was fleeing again.

I wanted to take flight again and pound him from behind. I wanted to rip its nerves from the back of its neck before ramming my knife right into its Nape. If it had any toes, I wanted to cut them up and then shove them right back through its eyes. These were curses I had muttered before at my enemies but never had I said them with such vile hate. I had standards but at that moment my I felt immense hate for bruising my reputation, kicking me in the face and then running away from me. I wanted to get up but I feared of getting injured in the middle of the picking snowstorm with nobody to watch my back. And even then, the beast was not here to pick a fight. It was just merely going on a killing spree and wrecking everybody in the group and then running off like a coward.

Before I could make my decision through, a familiar face caught my attention.

“SIR! It's too dangerous go against him, we need you back at the camp to threat the survivors!”

It was Theseus.

He had been injured. A small hole in his chest armor, just below his jugulum with blood dripping from the inside.

“THESEUS, are you alright?!”I posed concerned.

“I’m fine, Commander. Ageleia and the others are moving survivors to the camp. The other patrols noticed us and they will send some of them to hunt the demon dow- ”

“NO!” I interrupted “We will not send anyone against him, especially if he is heading to the abandoned dens. We were lucky enough that he did not try to actively hunt us down. The Palatics will deal with this abomination themselves after we inform them on how he looks and what he is capable of. Now let’sgo. ”

“ ...Ok, Commander. ”

With that, the last of the us left the battlefield.

***

“Holy hell, that went better than I had expected”

I was shaking like hell and sweating waterfalls, but I honestly was satisfied that I pulled that off.

That was just...wow. Just wow.

I did hope thought that I didn’t fatally injure anyone. That would not help me with my already shattered image. Now that I put more thought into it maybe firing wildly while charging at a platoon full of enemy griffins wasn’t the most brightest idea today.

But it had worked. And there was a chance it was non-fatal. As long as any of the bullets didn’t hit their arteries they should be f-

“Wow, it looks bigger then I thought.“

Interrupting my own thoughts and taking a look at the structure I was amazed at how big this thing was. It was a huge tower that was connected with the mountain. I was in the lowest level and I could honestly say that this thing must had been at least as tall as the mountain which probably, from here to there is about three hundred meters.

Hell the gate itself was probably twenty meters big. Thankfully It was open so I wouldn’t have to break in through another entrance.

“I should move in quick, you never know if they decide to sent another angry pack of griffins against you.”

I headed off to the gate before suddenly remembering something I should have checked in before.

“Oh crap, forgot to reload.”

Yeah, I had blown through the whole magazine while displaying how to do a surprise attack correctly. I still could not comprehend how I had managed to make myself stand and actually run through twenty something armored Griffins. Last time I had tried, I nearly killed one of them. Then again maybe my natural instinct might had been to not, in fact, try and take thirty something griffins at the same time. Plus with that snow storm and their hazy aim at best, I didn’t think they would have gotten me.

Taking a note of the incoming area I noticed that there were a lot of decomposed skeletons under the snow. Clearing it I noticed that It was rusted armor on... was that a horse’s skull?

Was it?

I took a look around me and I realised that the whole place was filled with horse and griffin bones, as well as some other species I could not classify.

I mean, I highly doubt that griffins needed that kind of transportation, and I highly doubt that they just came upon a strained herd and decided to have a snack. The horses wearing bronze plated armor for earth’s sake. I couldn’t even wear it, since It was so rusted up It was useless.

More things I noticed were the fact that there was also a lot of wood, most of it through decomposed. It looked like it was used for a catapult but most of it was so broken, I could not be sure about it.

I still cannot get over this

The horses in this world can’t be intelligent like the griffins?

Right?

Right, maybe my next stop should be horse country.

***

Complete darkness.

That was the first thing I noticed when I took a look inside the tower. It was kinda hard not to miss it, being a twenty meter high open entrance. I hastily made a torch out of the wood that wasn't rotten and some cloth that had not decompose. The cold had preserved a lot of items here, exempt arms and armor, which were unfortunately rusted. I didn’t have any animal skin or fat, so I used some medical alcohol on the torch to make it last.

Now I just had to find a way to light the torch.

So I sat there again, trying to find a way to light my way through the crumbling abandoned den. My mind raced again to find a way to solve this problem, using whatever tools I had. The unknown knowledge was being revealed to me. When ever I put my mind through strain or serious thought I started remembering Information I could use. I could not use the rifle, since I had no light source and It was the middle of the night. Hold on, I better start from the beginning.

“Fire, chemical reaction. Needs three things. Oxygen, Fuel, Ignition. Got the first two.

Need something to ignite it. Maybe if I find two object to bang against each other “

I checked the griffin’s bag but I didn’t find anything I could use. It had some bandages and some other stuff but nothing I could use for now.

snowstorm was picking up, and at this rate, my clothes would be totally useless against the cold, Plus my left leg was starting to hurt again.

“Ah, to hell with it, I’ll find something flammable inside the building.”

I set foot inside the den, my only light source being the illuminating night light and my unconscious shattered feeling of hope...

-Down the Madman goes-

TheGreekDollmaker

***

“...after that Theseus and the last of my soldiers, including me, left the scene before returning back at camp. “ explained a tired and worn Apotheus.

“And you say that your Archers couldn’t lay a hit on him, even at times, running out of arrows?”

“Yes my lord, through in my defense it was due to stress and exhaustion. We have been searching the beast since the first warnings arrived.” muttered Prometheus.

“All is understood Prometheus, I hold no grudge against you for not risking your life comforting such a fierce foe. But, tell me, he had no interest in killing you, if I am understood? and in fact, laid his interest in reaching the abandoned dens. “

“Unfortunately, it seems so Prometheus. But tell me, what is that which makes you worry that the beast will find in the abandoned dens? Last time I checked those, haven’t those been not in use for at least a couple of centuries?”

“It is not so much about what the dens contains, but where they lead. I cannot tell you more Apotheus, for this knowledge has been trusted by the King himself. It is not within my power to tell you.”

“...I understand, my lord. ”

“Go rest, Apotheus. The sun doesn’t rise until a few hours. I will learn of the injured in the morning myself. ”

As Apotheus left, Prometheus could not believe how this situation had played out. It's been twelve hours since the hunt started and already one Scout is dead and about a dozen of swordsgriffins and Archers are being treated by Healers and Surgeons. The human had proven himself to be more capable that he had imagined. Shortly after the hunt began he had hoped that the myths which described the acts of the humans were simply exaggerations, a product of their time.

But it could not be that way. The human had access to magic and he was heading to the one place he had hoped he would not go.

His two sons were still at the Hospitium. The surgeons removed the dagger and informed him that the damage is temporary. Still, the thought that the human may had crippled his son’s ability to fly angered him. He still remembered what they do to griffins that lose the ability to fly.

“ ITHICUS! “

“My lord, are you suggesting we bring her? “

“Ithicus, tell him that we may need Phonitheia on this.“

Author notes: Part 1.2 of Beneath the fields of heaven is done, and let me tell you this one took some time to think up. It's mostly because of the names, but also because i am trying to tie everything together.

Im still trying to make sense of the Internal conflict my character goes through but it is honestly a very hard thing to do so. I need to keep track of a lot of things and i will admit that the one thing i have not represented well enough is the internal conflict and struggle Ethos has through out the story, about keeping his emotions at bay and not letting his instincts take over. I will try to fix this in future chapters through.

What else... oh yeah i was genuinely surprised when i found that i had gotten 200+ views and half a dozen of comments in Fimchan. Thanks guys, and if you could , lay out some constructive criticism.

Chapter 3 Link coming soon.

(1) Meaningful name and mention. Cookies if you get the reference and the similarities.

(2) It looks bigger then I thought. : Thats what she said. ZING

(3) Phonitheia: Roughly translates to “Godkiller”.

21/1/12 Revision 1: Rewrote Chapter 1.2 and made it a little bigger. Also I now start keeping dates of my revisions.

Not a lot to say, other then the fact that I need to buy more toilet paper. Some guy called “Satan” crushed into my house last night before blowing through the last role.

Other names for the Chapter: “The Griffons that got shot by a M4: A bard’s tale”

26/1/12 Revision 2: OK, hopefully this will be the last revision. I already have called two reviewers in total to proof read the story as a whole. Two mostly for the grammar and I hope the other reviewer I called coughVimbertcough will mostly focus on any plot related problems, instead of focusing on my grammar.

I hope...

Copyright: I do not own MLP or any intellectual property of Hasbro. This is purely a fanmade work.

Chapter 3 link https://docs.google.com/document/d/15sk2MThbp-j8PM1o9_662ALFqWhT5nMUYp1bwabkFWg/edit

Chapter 1.3: Cold Fear and Abyss

If you are wondering why this is reposted, please consult the author notes at the bottom of this page.

Apologies to everyone for my mistake.

***

-The Light Ahead-

TheGreekDollmaker

Chapter 1: Part 3

Cold Fear and Abyss

“What the hell?”

Said the killer to the wind.

A blinding white light separated as it shined through out the empty shackles within the cursed structure. It was a vast and endless hall that crumbled in its isolation, a impenetrable blackness sheltering it from the rays of the sun. The walls stretched up twenty meters high, mostly bare rock or concrete of some kind. Little could I see through it, but the stagnant remains of carcasses, rusted metal following at hand and finally a heavy coat of dust that gave away how long they have been kept untouched.

The white light was coming from an square entrance, one that had insensibly appeared our of nowhere, bouncing off the walls as it made quite an impression on me. I was confused. The light wasn’t there a couple of minutes ago; Why did it appear now; Has somebody already taken shelter here;

I was getting quite nervous, made clear by my shaking hands. Or maybe that was the cold; This was quite discouraging for me. The inside of the structure looked already occupied thus trespassing territory here could end me in a lot of trouble. Worst of all, they could be Griffins, searching for me. That wouldn’t be a problem see, but I had quite a tired and fragrant mind. I didn’t want to kill again. Further more the whiteness of the light was unnatural to my tainted eyesight. It did not have the color of any kind of fire, or lamb of any shorts. It looked magical, almost cultivating. It gave me an inner graving to set foot inside the structure just so I can see it for myself. Catching to the eye, as they say.

But I wouldn’t let the best have of himself. As pleasant as the sensation was I wouldn’t let get distracted from what was at matter.

Where was the light coming from;

My nervous stance had disappeared, now replaced by that of curiousness as I took a couple of steps near the colossi entrance. I couldn’t let myself get to excited through, so each effort to get near the blinding light was made with caution.

I took another look at the source of the blinding light as I tried to move silently through the bones and dust. Despite my best efforts through, I still made quite a racket as I unintentionally stepped on crackling bones, not helped by them echoed throughout the structure. Who ever was casting that light was going to be aware of my presence. Yet as I clinged close to the wall, hoping that the darkness concealed me, nothing showed up. I got closer to the platform, taking note of the higher ground that the light was coming from, yet even with this amount of racket caused by me, nothing showed up. That was good, since nothing would come out of the savory entrance.

As I neared the threshold, I barely made out a concrete staircase underneath it, covered knee deep in dust of course.

Just what I need.

I walked up the staircase averting whatever fears I had by readying up my rifle and preparing to take a look at the blasted source of the light. On the way I kept my back against the dusty wall, hoping that whatever was behind this had not heard me. Maybe If I was lucky it wouldn’t be a Griffin. Hopefully.

I pause my breathing for a second, trying to pick up any sound clues in the air. I was met with complete silence, only a small, almost undetectable buzzing sound being barely heard. This was for the better, for this meant that who ever was behind this had not been alerted of my presence.

I gripped my tighter due to my shaking hands, trying to suppress the distress inside of me. This was quite stressful and intense.

Maybe I should just do this without wasting any time I thought to my self.

My mind was like a closed system at this point. If I had left it long enough it was bound to corrupt it self.

My muscles tensed as I took walked into the blinding light. My mind was shrieking for me to go back, but there go no point on doing such a thing right now. I passed into the white barrier separating myself from the darkness, rifle raised to my shoulders to defend myself if the case may be.

Suddenly I stopped dead in my tracks an unexpected, an utterly simple question topping my mind.

Why is there nothing here.

I couldn’t fucking believe it.

The light had faded out of existence only to be replaced by darkness that filled the hallway, leaving me standing there like an idiot. The hallway, of course, was just a barren and deserted as the entrance. Knee deep in dust and littered with garbage or debris.

But I still couldn’t get the over this. The light had disappeared without a trace. I could not even find a source where the light shined from. The walls were bare, dirty and stripped off any color but there wasn’t anything there to suggest such a thing was ever here. I scanned the hallway one more time just to be sure.

Somebody is playing tricks with my psyche. What else lies ahead waiting to fool me?

Thankfully the hallway had at least a slightly slickly look to it, architecturally speaking that is. The stones were actually made out of stone, one that was of higher quality than that the outside, through not by much. There were even small remnants of nails, suggesting that fabric was hanged from it. The fabric, of course, having decayed into nothingness ages ago.

Yet as I took stand observing that wretched thought came back at me, hitting me like a bullet.

“Somebody is trying to fool me,” I calmly reminded myself

Ugh, I was not in the mood to have this conversation with my mind again. I would not let my mind rot as it sat there utterly baffled by what was going on around me. I had to deal with it and move on. Intellectually I understood that but emotionally I hadn’t copped with it. I must not let that happen again.

No time for tears, no time for fears, no time for thought. I needed to act and explore, the sooner I took all of this in, the sooner I would begin to understand this.

As I escaped from the chains of scrutiny and took another look on the hall way. I realised that it was, understandably dark, but there was this small faint glow that made things at least navigable. I didn’t know what it was, maybe the moonlight here reflected out of someplace, maybe its a lure to trap me in but I digressed. There’s no point trying to understand this world anymore. Everything seemed to be beyond insanity.

I mustered the courage and walked through the dead cold hallway with my hands gripped on the rifle. On the other end there was some kind of staircase, again filled with dust and crap on it. I sweeped a look for anything of value as I walked up the stairs, but I came up empty handed. Most of the stuff here had been looted or were decayed and rusted beyond relief.

Just how old was this place?

I reached the first floor, and to be truthful I was not impressed the least. Before me was another hallway, smaller in size which diverted into different rooms. The opposite side seemed like a dead end. I could barely make out anything with this darkness, neither did I care. It was still an old barren dump, devoid of interest or of anything I could use. The tricksters through, was probably hiding behind those rooms. Or was he? I truly did not know, but it seemed that he was waiting for me to make my move instead.

I escalated into another floor, only to be met by the same spectacle. Gray, dusty, deserted, ruined, the best words to describe the rooms. Then I ascended into another floor, and another one, and another one, finally stopping at the fifth floor.

This one was different. There wasn’t as much garbage in the ground and the smelly air full of dust was less dense. I also noticed between steps an ornate door in the distance, above it a symbol unknown to me but interesting enough to catch my attention.

Painted above the door was a clawed talon, a Griffin’s obviously, but behind it there was some short of trapezoid scroll with writing unintelligible and obscure . It had also remarkably, survived the test of time for there was little that was missing from the piece and it even had a hint of gold texture on it. I couldn’t be entirely sure about it with the darkness and all but it caught my attention.

In front of the claw it spelled “Νεαπολη”

“Must be important to have that up there.” Oh, this was getting good.

I begun taking quiet steps through the hallway, already on my way to the door. Whatever anger or prejudice I had about this place had disappeared, replaced now by some excitement. After all this place was cleaner than the rest of the floors, there had to be something of use in here.

My train of thought got derailed for a moment. I hadn’t realised it but I was sweating quite a lot, the heat probably from my clothes.

Weird, I don’t feel the coldness in the air anymore. I thought to my self.

I was beginning to feel a little dizzy too, no idea why though. I stopped halfway through the hallway and took a couple of breaths. Exhaustion was creeping now on me too. I could feel by the pain and strain my muscles were under.

While I sat there I took a look at one of the rooms, just to be sure that I was not missing anything. Inside the room, dust and concrete was laid out, shredded in darkness with the exception of a single wooden table in the middle with bottles on top of it, just barely out of my vision. Actually they looked more like vases made of clay, with grey painted patterns, square in nature.

I took another breath as I rubbed my eyes due to the pain. Taking a look back, it seemed that even my senses were beginning to mock me. I couldn’t even focus on the bottles without having my eyes strained. I even thought that some of the disappeared into the darkness. I wouldn’t be surprised through, It was probably my mind doing it deliberately, to keep me at distance from insanity. This state of borderline exhaustion was sapping out whatever energy I had. Then again, this may be the consequence from the encounter I had an hour ago.

I headed to the door next to this one. I stood still and gazed at the dark gray door for a moment before rising my hand to push it open. The feel of the door was strange and grotesque. There was nothing aesthetically wooden about the door, only signs of its decomposing. The door opened and made a small grudging sound. The inside, of course, was unimpressive. Again, there was dust, debris and the skeletons of the dead, through here they looked in better condition. Not sure if the armor is that rusted or not, but I was not relying on those.

Shifting my view to the rest of the room I noticed some short of desk with objects made of metal on top of it. I moved closer and got a better look at the metal. I was beheld with armor that was rusted beyond relief from an age long ago.

Damn, I hope there’s some better stuff on the other room.

I hoped so.

I mean, I didn’t exactly have any other plans other than to stay in this place for the night and not die. At the very least I could prepare a fire with the torch from before, maybe find something flammable and keep out any animals out of my reach. It would be risky but who the hell would notice it. The Griffins were probably still scared shirtless from my last encounter. Thinking about that I felt amused, even through I knew deep down that it wrung my heart.

I also noticed a bookshelf, cleverly hidden in the shadows in the east side of the room. It looked filthy and there was a lot of dust in the selves, along with a couple of rotting books, some in better conditions than others. I moved closer to inspect, only to be confused when I noticed a specific book. It was infinitely better in terms of condition, that was undeniable. In fact, it looked like it had not been here for a long time. That was beyond strange. What misfortune soul would leave such a perfectly fine book here? or was this place more recent than I could fathom.

Picking it up, I took a look at its cover. It was a hard leather cover, that was for sure. It felt fresh compared to the other books in the shelf. It really was recent. The cover also depicted a Griffin, sitting on the capital of a column, its head lowered and looking down while its claws covered up its face. It was painted magnificently and looked quite melancholic.

On top of the Griffin was the title

“Δια πυρος και σιδηρου”

Couldn’t understand what it meant, but it looked quite fascinating. I took out my backpack and put it in. I’ll give it a look just before sleep. Scanning the shelf once more, I found nothing of interest. Most of the other books had vastly decomposed and the pages were too filthy for the contents to be read.

I retreated from back to where I came from, this time heading for the “golden door” as I liked to call it and opened it. No doubts, no hesitations this time. There was no point in delaying this any more.

As I pushed the door open I was slightly relieved to see a room not choke full with dust and littered corpses. The room was circular in nature, a few barren walls with some sort of worn and discolored fabric, hung and forgotten by time. There were desks littered around in the middle and there were bookcases on the west and east ends of the room. There was even a carpet or two littered around the floor. Thank goodness for that, I could use those for sleep.

Taking a complete view of the circular room, I also noticed that there was a enormous crack on the wall, no doubt those catapults that I theorised. It was catching to the eye since moonlight illuminated from there, sparing me of the greyness of the place with its dark blue undertone. This was also a perfect place to sleep for the night since the air was cleaner with the connection outside.

I moved towards one of the desks to check for anything useful. I took everything in mind.

Lets see, a broken quill, dust, some burned out paper, dust, decomposed bones, broken vase, dus- wait? Whats this?

I picked up a small sheet of paper, a little burned off and liquid spilled on one side. It also had traces of blood on it, along with a weird texture to it giving away how old this thing was. But there was something interesting written on it. It brought a smile to my face to say the least.

This will make things just a little bit easier.

Le map

***

Jackpot!

How fucking great is that; A perfectly preserved map, found beneath a mountain of dust. Its a miracle this thing hasn’t dissolved into nothingness.

I can’t really understand the language but at least this gives me a clear view of where I can go and what I can do. Now, I have a tactical advantaged over the over sized turkeys.HA!

Oh, how good does this feel. I feeling like I’m Inside a furnace, but damn does this thing bring a smile to my face.

Ugh, pain, so excruciating , yet wonderful. I’m just going to put my rifle down and enjoy the pain. What a thrill, Ha ha ha...

What is madness. What does it seek. The opiate of my foolish mind is madness. How lovely. It is incomprehensible to those that do not experience it, or that do not know about insanity. They are weak spirited. For if you keep telling them that they are insane and at one point they will start thinking they are. Aren’t they?AREN’T THEY?**

They are...

They....

Don’t wait.

Destroy.

Destroy the gods.

Destroy them.

They are escaping.

The children are dying

Crucified on the balconies.

Colorful Very

red blood good

DON’T WAIT.

Sing the song that will end the earth

Sing the song that will free his hollow soul

Sing it with your hands

Friend of despair and sorrow.

Mourn your sickness.

Child of luck and punishment.

He is dead.

He is

Fuck....

WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING. Have a gone insane? I am raving on an on about nothing. I need to lie down yet... yet... Maybe I’ve gone under, or my mind has finally broken... Something influencing me to be like this. Maybe that’s why this place is left like this.

Oh fuck, I never knew of this. Its coming back again. I can hear the words after midnight. It never crossed my mind.

Never should have gone into this place... Oh, it hurts... Forgive them...

The patriots who breath half air half ether.

Above the remains of those that let you breath.

Those will still remain to see.

Within their expressions of

solace and shrieks of torture

Those will still remember

as they rise to their slow

movements of repulsion

They will scream

you will hear a voice wet

to the bone.

Cease like the others before you.

Time to die.

***

He sits on the edge, glancing around the room, then bringing the rifle near his chest. He is deep inside the structure, hidden away under a desk, trying to keep his lunatic thoughts under control. He has realised, late as it is, that he is in deep danger. Now, something is coming from him from the halls. He couldn’t hear or see it. The only thing he heard was the fearful screams of children. Off in the distance, unhuman footsteps, slow and methodical, each step making his ears hurt.

He rose his head and he tried to focus on the entrance. He couldn’t for his sense had been disturbed, thus making everything he saw appear disturbed too. Objects changing in size, things appearing and disappearing. He rolled his eyes rolled back in his head while a single image of a faceless figure looked at him, holding the skinless body of a woman.

The image persisted even as he closed his eyes. He couldn’t remove it from his mind. He couldn’t even feel his body anymore, only seing that faceless anthopomoid twisted figure looking at him. Even with no features it felt like it had eyes. Even with no mouth it felt like it was smiling. And smiling. And looking.

He opened his mouth but no sound came out of it. He looked behind the figure and saw a playground, off in the distance a huge shadow of an object outside his view was cast.

The figure opened his mouth and the ground shoke.

The playground vanished into oblivion.

The woman had degraded into nothingness

The voice of that with no soul spoke

“ ι wιll ςεε you ιn τhε roαd of ςongs jυsτ βεforε dαwnυnτιl τhεn ι wιll βυry τhε dεαd who yoυ hεvε gorgεd wιτh woυndςι will gιvε a βlαnκετ τo τhoςε thαt yoυ hαvε glαncεd ovεr

αwαιτ for mε ατ mιdnιghτι wιll ςεnd yoυ τo τhe ιnfinιτε ρlαnε whεrε τhε clocκς αlwαyς ςhow mιdnιghτ

mιdnιghτ

τhις pιllow of mεmory wιll only αwαkεn α τhousαnd ςταrvιng ςouls

τhεy wιll βe αwαkεn ιn the mornιng

ι wιll βε onε of τhεm

wε hυngεr”

Only the sound of Ecstasy was heard.

When it stopped so did his rumbling thoughts. His eyes went back to normal and he noticed everything was silent. The almost undetectable buzzing had stopped, no steps in the distance, no children screaming, no everything. Everything was quiet now. That thing had disappeared. Now he could see the dusty room around him as he sat under the desk with his hands clutched around his face. He was sane again.

Or so he thought.

Something was in the air. Again, he could not hear or see it, but he could feel it. It was creeping around him, just waiting to devour him. He didn’t hesitate and pulled out his rifle, emptying a couple of bullets around the room in a vain attempt to kill it. It was fruitless. Whatever is out there could not be touched by material goods.

He felt it move around the room towards the moonlight shining from the crack. It danced in the light as it changed form into something that could be seen. Slowly it enveloped the light coming from the crack and manifested it into some kind of black hole as the human stared dreamily into it.

He tried to get up and run, but the black hole moved faster than any object he had never seen and entered his body through every hole in his skull.

He grinned, his body becoming immobilised as his facial features got planted behind his skin, becoming featureless. He didn’t tremble like before, he didn’t shake. His body started being stripped of flesh, muscle and sinew before turning pitch black, blending with the darkness. It dug inside him, right down to his bones turning them into liquid. It filled his veins and turned all of his blood into vomit as his heart pumped it throughout his body. His organs burned into crisp and they exploded. He felt all life drained from him as he stood there.

He opened one of his seven mouths and screamed.

***

“SPIRIT OF UNREST AND SUFFERING, LEAVE THIS WALL OF FLESH AND BOW BEFORE ME. NO MORE WILL YOU FLOW UNDISTURBED THROUGH THE CONFINE OF THIS STONY GRAVE. I AM TERROR. I AM DECEPTION. I AM DEATH.

I WILL BURY YOU WITHIN THE FRUITFUL BLOOMS OF THIS EARTH

I WILL LABOUR FOR THE END OF THIS UGLY TRIFLE YOU CALL EXISTENCE.

I WILL DEMOLISH YOUR VERY FABRIC OF EXISTENCE OUT OF THIS EARTH SO THAT YOU WILL NO LONGER GRAZE THIS PLANE WITH YOUR PRESENCE. YOU ARE ALONE AND I AM YOUR END.”

Don’t enter your grave yet...

“YOU ARE A POISON THAT IS KILLING THIS HAPLESS EARTH. YOU ARE A DISASTER AMIDST THE CLASH OF TWO WORLDS. A MISFORTUNE TO THE LIVING AND THE DEAD. YOU HAVE NEITHER A MIND, NOR A HEART. YOU ARE LOATHED BEYOND THE AFFINITY OF EVERY LIVING CREATURE THAT IS INHERITING THIS EARTH. YOUR EXHAUSTED FORM IS NOTHING COMPARED TO THE FUMING LEGION THAT IS MY DOMAIN. I AM WITHIN EVERYWHERE AND EVERYONE. EVERYTHING LIVING HERE WILL BE AND IS MINE. EVERY GRIFFIN, EVERY DRAGON, EVERY EQUESTRIAN. FROM THE SMALLEST BUG TO THE COLOSSI TERRORS. ACTION AGAINST ONE OF US IS ACTION AGAINST EVERYONE OF US.”

It is still too early...

“BUT FEAR NOT. I HAVE SEEN THE SHACKLES OF YOUR INSANITY. YOU HAVE BEEN STUCK IN THE HAVANA OF YOUR IGNORANCE. THE REALITY WHICH YOU OCCUPY IS NOT THE REAL REALITY AND YOUR HOUR HAS COME. I WILL BRING YOU THE GIFT THAT WILL RID YOU OF YOUR DESOLATION. YOUR BITTER HOUR HAS COME. YOU WILL ASK FOR NOTHING MORE THAN TO FILL YOU WITH THE ECSTASY OF PAIN, AS IT CURES YOU, AS IT BECOMES YOUR ESSENCE AND YOU ARE ONCE ERADICATED FROM THIS WORLD.

COME AND I WILL SEND YOU TO THE HILLS OF ETERNITY.

COME AND THE DISEASE THAT IS YOUR WEIGHT UPON THIS EARTH WILL BE CLEANSED.

COME AND I WILL DROWN YOU IN THE SEA OF BLOOD THAT ENCOMPASSES THE OTHER WORLD.”

Stay just for a little bit...

“ONCE YOU ARE RID OF LIFE AND ALL OF YOU HAS BEEN DRAINED, YOU WILL REACH THE CAVERN OF SOULS WHERE YOU WILL BE HUMILIATED AND STRIPPED OF EVERYTHING. YOU WILL WANDER IN THE PLANES OF THE UNKNOWN BEFORE WALKING THE PATH OF FLESH AND BLOOD, THE HIDDEN LORES, OCEANS OF ABYSSES THAT DWELL INTO THE PILLAR THAT HOLDS THE VERY ESSENCE OF NOTHINGNESS. YOU WILL CLIMB THE STAIRCASE TO INFINITY WITH HATE AND EVERLASTING PAIN AS YOUR FUEL.”

Gaze at what I have become...

“AND JUST BEFORE YOUR FRAGMENT OF CONSCIOUSNESS IS LAPSED AND DEVOURED INTO REALMS OF UNENDING BLACK, YOU WILL GLIMPSE INTO EXISTENCE. YOU WILL WITNESS THE LAWS OF YOUR WORLD BEING SHUTTERED AS YOU LOOK INTO THE GREAT BEYOND, WHOSE POWER SPANS OVER ALL OF TIME AND SPACE. THEN AS YOUR STRIFE IS ENDING AND YOU BECOME A DEATHLESS SOUL, I WILL BE THERE WATCHING. I WILL BE THERE AFTER YOU ARE A LONG GONE MEMORY. I WILL BE THERE AT THE DEATH OF THIS WORLD AND BEYOND THAT. I AM EVERYWHERE. I AM REALITY. YOU ARE ALONE. YOU ARE FLAWED. YOU ARE NON-EXISTENT.”

I... no...

I have control...

No more...

The black humanoid form straggled and thrusted himself on the desk, violently sliding off the dusty surface and falling down on his sides.

***

There, where people used to be born and they died

There, where the young learned about love

There, in the abyss where they learned about life

There, where they looked up and they only saw concrete.

Concrete. I was looking at concrete.

I felt like I had a fever and my flesh was burning, like it had been thrown into fire, roasting. I could not hear anything less of pain and gurgled nothingness. My body suffered, like if I had shit out my internal organs and my blood had been sucked out with a straw. What had happened? I now lie face down with one eye open, staring at concrete. I made no attempts to move, for I feared the worst. My body had degraded into nothing more than dust. I was practically dead.

It took me a couple of seconds to realise that I still was alive and a glimmer of hope sparked through my ephemeral mind. All trains of thoughts stopped at that moment as I used my hands to get up despite the excruciating pain my muscles were under. I could hear the hollow shells of my bones crackling around as if they had been broken, the muscles of my legs burning as if I hit them with a butcher knife and set wild dogs to chew on them, my whole body growing distant from my mind as instinct took over. All thoughts became secondary as I unhesitatingly sprinted like a shadowy injured beast towards the exit.

I passed the golden door as thoughts of violence and oppression filled my mind, when I heard a terrified call from behind me.

“NO, WAIT”

I did not wait, I run over the halls while setting my rifle to automatic. Just when I reached the staircase, I abruptly stopped and looked behind me while readying my rifle to lay waste to whatever foul... thing, was trying to get me.

When I turned around I saw the figure of a griffin, its body black, floating in the air near the golden door. I didn’t get a good look at it from that distance but I heard it say something.

“Please, I need your help”

I did not hesitate for a fucking moment and I immediately fired half a dozen of rounds directed at it. They passed right threw him and hit the door behind. I could tell from the wood shrapnel that fell into the ground.

“No...”

I put my rifle away and I scrambled to descent down the stairs, hearing the griffins shrieks fill the air. It let out cries, calling out to me to get back. What did this creature think; that I was such a gigantic fool to get near what nearly make me a monstrosity; HA! It was over for him, I would leave this place and seek out someplace else.

“Please don’t leave me here...”

Its cries were getting more desperate now. I had sprinted down to the second flour and I was about to descent down to another one but then I had an epiphany.

Logic set in as my pace slowed down. I felt this was the worst time to actually start thinking about the situation. I should do that after I am out of danger.

But I could not help my self. The amount of bullshit that was surrounding this was to much. This was vastly absurd in nature.

A light disappeared, I went insane, I saw fucking some dip shit with no face, I went “Oh god, its full of stars” and some black turd turned me into a fucking inconceivable abomination for a moment. This is beyond madness! this has absolutely nothing to do with reality!

“Come back! I need you...”

Each call was getting louder and louder in between. I had reached the concrete staircase where the connection with the outside was. It was nearly pitch dark up to this point but now thankfully I could see the moonlight bouncing off in the snow. I was descending the stairs, contemplating whether or not to simply jump down to save me some time.

I could not help it anymore through, questions started filling my mind about... everything. This was so absurd and of need of some much analysing that I just started dumping down questions for my mind to answer.

What the hell happened; why the hell did it happened; why is this place like this? why is there a spirit griffin calling out for my help, right after he tried to do whatever it tried to do; did he cause the images and the disturbance of my sense; if so than why; why did he not finish me when he had the chance to do so; how did I manage to survive, yet alone escape from the spirit.

“Please, don’t leave me alone...”

That last call hit me hard. Each shriek that the spirit made was full of anguish and despair, calling out to me with great pain in its hard. It confused me as to why this was. Was this even the same thing that manipulated my senses?

How did I survive? Did that spirit help me against the black manifestation?

“Please...”

That broken voice made me stop. I had a lot filled into my mind, a lot of uncertainty. If I wanted to find the truth under the mountain of data then I would have to be careful and bold.

I had stopped beneath the staircase. If I desired I could just leave this rat infested place and take my chances with the flesh and blood griffins. There was no reason for me to risk entering the domain of what was not even alive.

Yet... I don’t know how I felt about this. Everything screamed at me to just leave, yet... the map. It shows a couple of exits. Maybe I could use those to leave the place.

“No...”

The griffin... he speaks my tongue?

I glanced over the fact before in my sprint towards the exit. This one spoke my language. I could negotiate with him, hell, he may even help me out by explaining this bullcrap.

I had to be careful through. I may not have been fully aware of its intentions, but its calling was full grief, almost human in nature. I did not know if it was a trap or not but it sure as hell put up a good show. If it had put up the act before trying to probe my mind I might have been an easier target. Why was it doing it anyways? If it wanted me dead it would have done so already. If it wanted me to get out why is it calling my name?

I ascended the stairs once again only to hear nothing in return. I prepared my rifle once again as I approached the entrance to the hall way.

“He, Déjà vu”

I took a peak at the hallway. I could not see anyone so I slowly moved in through it. I felt rugged and tired, the only thing keeping me from falling down was the adrenaline and willpower. Those wouldn’t last long and the pain would start again. My inside still felt like a sack of rotten potatoes and my skin felt broken and burned off.

As I moved in I noticed something creep off by the edge of the stairs. I took this opportunity and shouted.

“FREEZE” I instinctively called.

I was met with silence. Agitated, I moved closer to the stairs despite my body’s protest. I swear if this went on for any longer I would collapse right there.

Thankfully my endeavour was cut short. Turning a corner I was beheld by the presence of the black, now a little transparent, griffin. It looked at me, its facial expressions giving away the emotion of shock, sitting on all four on top of the stair case. I wasted no time and raised the rifle once again despite the weight, and begun shouting.

***

“STAY WHERE YOU ARE AND DON’T SPEAK.”I need to drop the shouting. My throat already feels like it was forced to eat broken glass.

“You came b-”

“NO, SHUT THE FUCK UP AND LISTEN TO ME, you will listen to my word as if it is the word of a divine creator,at.all.time. You will only speak when spoken to and you will continuedoing so until I see fit. If at any point you do as much as fucking annoy me, I will depart and you will NEVER see me again, is that fucking understood!?” the human roared.

It took him a couple of seconds before he replied back.

“...yes...” answered the spirit. He was obviously taken back by the violent outburst of the human.

“Good... I will ask you questions. I demand answers. First off, who and what are you.?”

“I am Hector, leader of the once great Levéntes, and I am a dead Griffin.” he told him

“Wait, you are dead? How the hell are you still here then?” said the puzzled human.

Hector looked away to hide his distress but turned back to tell him.

“It is a long and eventful tale. It is also the reason why I am here and why I seeked to enter your mind. It is the bane of my existence and I feel terrible for what I have done.” Sorrow seemed to encamp his voice, evident as he had dropped the tone and volume of his voice significantly.

“Shall I tell the tale of my imprisonment?” asked Hector.

“No” the human remarked.

“But I beg of you.” he insisted.

“Remember, If you annoy me I leave. Besides I have other things in mind.”

The human took a big breath and exhaled. Taking this moment he thought something to himself before starting.

“I do not have time for old tales and false prophets for I am tired and broken. I have transversed great distances in the span of days and it has taken a toll on me, both physically and emotionally. I have met many obstacles and hardships, even been driven to kill somebody at the brink of fucking ignorance. You have played tricks on me and have altered my senses, all for a cause I do not know. So now, I must ask, what is that cause; why is it so great that you have nearly killed me;” he spoke in an attempt to mimic the way the spirit talked.

The Griffin looked away again, this time a face of terror and disgust. He turned to the human and exclaimed.

“It was not my intention for things to end up as they ended. I could not foresee what you were made off, that vile and horrible incomprehensive abyss that reduced thought to nothing more than insane atrocities. It was not in my claw, that you have to believe me.

“You still haven’t answered the primary question Hector.” he remarked

“I want to leave this place” he told him

“Why don’t you do so?”

" I can’t” he cried out “You have to believe me when I tell you that I can’t. I have been trapped for over three centuries, left to wander the confines of this prison until some merciful soul finally releases me. For three centuries I have filled my mind with profane thoughts to stave off insanity, to prevent that harsh pain from overtaking my spirit, never sleeping, never eating. I have tried to sway explorers and thrill seekers in order to do my bid, trying to lure them in with tricks and mind plays, the only real power that I have over this earth. When that failed, I fell down to my beak and begged for them to do something, anything. Most of those that passed knew of my deeds, knew of history and either refused to do so or were slain by those that did. I have led many of my kind to death and I am the sole reason for the abandonment of this den. All that, just so one day I will meet some soul that will finally give me my resting place.” he tried to form some tears in his despair but his effort was futile. He may never feel how it is to cry again.

That explained the disappearing light; And this place is a den?

“About that, I experienced a lot of things back on the fifth floor, a lot of insane and absurd things. Help me out on this, and lets take this from the start. Did you try to enter my mind?” asked the human.

“That is true, I did try to enter your mind.” the spirit said as the human shoot an angry look at him ”In fact it is the reason that I can now speak your, albeit strange, Equestrian Dialect. I have learned about your actions, from the early struggle at the mountain top down at the valley of death, and felt what you went through. Thus, an apology on my part is necessary.”

Equestrian Dialect? The flying fuck, I didn’t know they spoke English in this world.

“More then an apology will be necessary. But if it was so that you entered my mind and learned everything that you could of me, why couldn’t you control me. You were able to alter the means which I experience the world, yet not control me?” he continued on with the questions.

“This is what I could not foresee. If you were anything more than another one of my kind, I would have easily taken over your mind, save for a few individuals with training, such as the Palatics. What shocked me was in what a state your mind was. Words cannot describe what resides in that wall of flesh, neither can it be written down. I am appalled as to what I saw when I tried to take over your body. It was as if I had woken up a sleeping giant that violated everything I ever knew about this reality, even beyond the scopes of my frail mind.” His voice getting louder by the minute.

“If that is so than does that mean you cannot tell me of my past; nor can you tell me of what I am capable off?

“That is not within my goals, neither is it feasible. That part of your brain is simply blocked off. Everything that you have not experienced directly I could not learn off. I could learn of your dialect and your past, beyond that I could do nothing more.”

“Is that the cause; Is that what happened up there? You tried to alter my senses. Why?” he was going on the offensive now.

“I apologise for that, I merely tried to soften my entrance by influencing your environment and sense. It was a way for me to test that you could be “played” with.” he joked

The human had now eased up considerably, enough for the adrenaline to decrease but not enough to holster his rifle.

“So, the big flying turd was you then?” he asked.

“Indeed, it was the manifestation of my powers. I tried to enter and control your body through that. I apologise for that too. in my hurry to finally escape from this place I thought it was necessary for me to take over your body. A grave mistake, as it turned out. When you spent three centuries staving off boredom through, you are driven to such mistakes.” his voice was getting calmer now, no longer filled with cries of despair.

Three centuries...

“OK, Hector, lets get into the meat of the matter. I felt my body been overtaken by you and life drained out of me. I lost all control, and became merely a shadow of my former self.” he paused and takes a moment to think while Hector watches patiently. He knew what was coming next.

“What happened? That was not me and it certainly wasn’t you. The only thing I heard was that cosmic destroying poison of a speech. While I felt my inside melt and the outside cease to exist, I still heard that voice. All the terrors and monstrosities of this earth paled in comparison to that single beast. It devoured my heart and spit it out, degrading me while it does it. What have you startled Hector? What have you seen?” he said with effort

“I don’t know. I beg for forgiveness for the vile act I have committed but what I witnessed is something no living creature should ever be aware of, let alone house such a thing. I do not know what it is, the only thing I know is that something is beyond the reaches of this mortal world, something that should not be tempered. I do not know what it was that I startled, but I can tell you that you were under the influence of something else, a thing of worship or spite.”

So that explains it. I may not be the master of my body after all

Silence overtook again as both human and spirit look at each other, both engulfed on their own train of thought.

Without a moment too waste, Hector spoke

“Human...”

The fuck? He knows what I am?

“I know such a request is a heavy one and I risk losing all of your trust or respect, but I need to you to do something for me. I am fed up with this existence. Three centuries ago I committed a grave mistake, the reason why I am still chained to this rocky prison. I have spent three centuries waiting for the day that my chapter of life is finally closed, once and for all. I yearn that day more then ever, even with the new shredded light which you have provided me with.” he paused to take a breath, watching the reaction of the human. He was paying attention to him.

“The act which I do not have time to explain has left my body unburied, one of the great breakings of the unwritten laws. My soul cannot rest until my body is finally put to rest, when the final ritual is done and my ashes have been buried. I ask you stranger, please spare me of this curse, I beg that from the depths of my chained heart.” the spirit looked like it was about to cry.

The human trailed into his own thoughts before coming up with a response.

A lot to take in.

Must not act foolish here, danger could be everywhere...

…

The human looked lost as he thought of what to do as the spirit looked attentively from on top of the stairs, praying that he would feel compassion for his mischief.

He heard his voice talking to him

“Spirit of spite and suffering, what have you asked me for is not viable. For the actions of the past overweight the actions of the present. You have lured me into the halls of this den to exploit me and to use me. You have disturbed my senses and my train of thought just so that you can test if I was a good enough target, and then tried to take my body over just so that you can further your own goals and ambitions. You were caught into an abyss of ignorance and you have caused me great suffering. After all that you have the gull, to ask me to waste my time so that you escape your grave prison? I have no reason to obey justice, no reason to follow the rules. It would neither prove or accomplish anything from my side.” shit, I didn’t know I was quite a speaker.

The griffin hanged his head in shame and retreated. The words hit hard, for this was the last chance he had in a long time to pursue redemption.

With those words hitting him harder then an arrow he turned to the human and starts talking.

“...I ... I have brought this upon my self. In my hurry to finally escape and find peace with my self I have bought you suffering and hardship... I have caused you terror and unfairly entered your mind without permission. I never wanted to do this, I just only wanted to finally end the nights of grieving and and emotional pain, end the long stretches of depression, end all of it. To finally live with harmony in my heart and peace in my mind, to find rest. I have caused to much destruction to fully deserve such a th-” he got interrupted.

“I’ll do it”

Silence overtook.

“...P...Pardon me? Hector asked.

“Didn’t you hear me? I will do it. I am not a sadist to watch other people suffer for something that probably does not warrant three centuries of imprisonment.”

Hector looks at the human, his eyes growing larger from the amazement.

“But it will cost you something...”

Hector could not believe it. Had he somehow made the creature of legends pity him? That famed for its putrid nature and barbaric actions? Or is he about to ask for impossible demands?

“Yes, Of course, anything in exchange, but what do I have to offer to you? Everything that I once hold dear is long gone.” the spirit cried out.

“You have more then enough, you have knowledge. I need you to tell me how to get the griffins off my back and find me anything valuable that I can use in my journey.”

“Where do you plan to go?” asked a puzzled hector

“Anywhere but here.”

“I will help you in any way my form enables me too.” he answered back.

“Good... You will tell your tale in the morning. I have more things to say about that too...”

Just as he said that, the human collapsed to the ground. Hector flied over to him in his pitch black form, to see if he is OK.

“Your spells have drained me of all of my energy or some shit like that. Didn't you hear me? I am tired and worn out... I... I just need sleep on the room with the crack. Better air... you see, plus it has the rugs.” He managed to get off the ground and to stay on balance.

The spirit was relieved. Finally, after all those years he had the chance to rest. Waiting for a few nights would be nothing he could not take.

“Think I can reach the fifth flour without falling asleep?” the human joked.

“I cast my doubts”

“Ha...”

“My king, are you sure that we need her?” asked the concerned Ithicus.

The king looked back at the messenger and sighed.

“To misfortune’s end, yes I do, for I trust Prometheus’s judgement more than any other dominus in the kingdom. I have learned over the years to hear his pleads more than any other of my close advisers. If he think that this is a matter for her I can do nothing more than to believe him, even if he is simply enraged over the suffering of one of his own sons. Now Ithicus, leave me alone to reconcile my thoughts. This is no easy task.”answered King Hesiod.

Ever since he got informed of the legendary creature wandering around the backbone of the kingdom, King Hesiod has been worried. He has studied Law and Ancient Mythology very well to know of the true horrors and pandemonium these creatures have caused over the course of history. To have one near the grounds of that unburied traitor, Hector, who nearly brought the kingdom to its knees three centuries ago; This was no laughing matter.

It is why he is about to ask the most capable of the Heroes to get involved.

It is way past midnight. A couple of hours ago there was a symposium, to honor those that would be sent to hunt down the creature all over the land, a ritual seldom hold before the hunting. Almost always they hold it after the hunt is over, for those that have build posthumous fame. But as the messages started piling that half of Prometheus’s guard was taken out by surprise, tired as they may had been, it was decided by the king himself to hold the ritual before the hunt.

He was standing on the balcony of his room, looking down on the sleeping capital, Minerva, built on the mountains of Mytikus. The moon of the Equestrian goddess shined down and reflected on the marble. It glowed as it was hit by moonlight, an old trick used by the ancient Architects when building this city.

Over in the distance, King Hesiod was focusing on the temple of Phonitheia, build many years ago for her acts that saved the Kingdom. It was build on the second highest peak, one that had been unoccupied for it was thought that no temple or theatre should even come close to the Parthenon. Her actions broke that prejudice, thus a temple was built on the second highest peak.

He took flight as archers took notice from their watch towers, making sure nothing was going wrong. King Hesiod’s Personal guard, the Palatics, were resting after the symposium, for they would be sent out tomorrow to help with the hunting.

He reached the temple and moved closer to the entrance, passing by the Menervian Columns that were half a plethron tall, whose architectural wonders impressed even the Equestrian Goddess, that he was sent to design their capital city, Canterlot, two decades ago.

Entering the temple he found it empty, save for a couple of female muses that were residing inside the temple. They slept, lived and guarded the temples after all.He searched for Phonitheia being careful not to wake up any of the muses.

His search was fruitless it seemed, as she was not residing with the muses. He slowly made his way to the back of the temple where Phonitheia was said to reside. The temple was also the living quarters for heroes. She was bound to be here, after all he was informed that she had not been taken to sleep.

He walked through the hallways and reached one of the gathering rooms, through more of a huge balcony that had an incredible view of the city below. She found Phonitheia resting on top of a pillowed couch, watching down on the city as she ate grapes brought from the southern fields of Gryphonia.

He took a minute to recollect his thoughts before taking a few steps into the balcony. As Phonitheia looked back, noticing him, King Hesiod started his talk.

“O, great Phonitheia, great warrior of midnight who you have graced us with your beauty and strength, watching our city like a watchdog not at rest, whose deeds include that of halting assassins at the burden of the kill, to taking down the king of lizards, the Basilisk, to countering the powers of a demi-god exiled from the heavens above. Your feathers have been thought to bring good luck, you are a flower in the middle of a rock with journeys bigger the-” he got interrupted

“Your words are soothing, well-beloved King Hesiod, but spare me the praise. For I know those words come forth with persuasion in mind by an anxious heart. I am honored by your words King Hesiod, but with what rites; what is such deed that need to presented with kind and mild words?” she told him leisurely as she ate grapes, watching the midnight sky.

King Hesiod felt overwhelmed for a moment before continuing

“Well” he started “The sort of deed that needs that aid of the most virtuous to be completed of course. I have not taken this decision lightly O, great Phonitheia, for the sake of whole kingdom may be at stake here. You surely have heard, through rumors and small talk that a creature from ages long ago has breached out sovereignty. As it is the case for the symposium, to honor those that would inevitably fall during the quest” he said.

“Your worries are understandable, King Hesiod, but it is no matter for me to dispel my Oath of peace just so that I get involved with childish footings. Plead all you want, I do not take down myths, I take down gods.” she replied with a clam voice as she took another grape and put it in her beak.

“Indeed, such a matter does not warrant me trying to seduce you to what amounts as a hunt. I would certainly just have send the Palatics, whose shift and brutal nature always solves any wrong doing.”

She glanced at him.

There is more to this?” she was taken by surprise.

“Indeed. My worries were set when I received news of the human heading off to the Abandoned Dens on Northern Gryphonia. I have the worst in mind.”

Phonitheia was now on alert. She was no longer sitting on the pillowed couch and had moved close to the king.

She opened her beak but nothing came out, all but a shore throat it seemed. She took left and right before finally looking back at her King.

“Grant, O King Hesiod, you are startling me, all for a cause that may force me to break the Oath of Peace. There is a reason why I have taken up such an oath, one that I have been keeping for six years. I plead that this task is really as grave as you mention. I do not want to risk death for such an unworthy cause, especially when I have bared the pains of birth” she was getting serious now.

“I know of your pains Great Phonitheia, and I don’t make them lightly. It would be degradeful and depressing if such a thing were to happen “ he told her with an understanding voice.

“Then tell me, are you afraid that the myth will do what you think he will do?”

King Hesiod took a big breath and sighed.

“I received a message from the Dominus Prometheus, the one that you have fought with all those years ago, of an incident involving his guard.”

“I have heard of the bad ill that has befallen upon his sons. My condolences to him.” she informed him

“Tis a shame, indeed, but a more grave and utterly startling incident took place a couple of hours ago. It started when the carcase of a scout from Apotheus’s Guard, Polynices, was found buried beneath snow. In a mad gamble, Prometheus ordered all guards to scout the nearby areas.”

“So, did they find him heading off to the dens” asked a puzzled Phonitheia

“Not at first. It wasn’t until Apotheus’s Guard got taken by a surprise attack by the creature. and was forced to retreat due to the amount of casualties. Prometheus has not as of now deterred me for the reason of his retreat but a arbitrary fact startled me. The myth was not interested in inflicting harm to the Gaurd.” he told her

“He was heading off to the dens, If I may interrupt.”

“Indeed, I fear it may be so.”

Phonitheia took this moment and sighed. Taking a look on the ground, totally engulfed in her own thoughts as King Hesiod watched patiently. She was getting quite stressed from the dilemma, yet remained stoic during the whole time.

Finally

“King Hesiod” she spoke as King Hesiod stood there.

“Whatever good that may come out of this will be strained in mystery. If such a creature is looking to resurrect the traitor Hector through unborn blood, then so be it. I will hunt it down and I will put it to rest. My oath of Peace has ceased.” she told him.

The two exchanged glances before the King finally answered back.

“I understand... I will prepare the best of the Palatics to take you to Northern Gryphonia at morning. I will inform the people of your departure.” the king remarked and was about to take off when he heard Polytheia talk to back to him.

“If I am struck down, King Hesiod, tell my children of everything I have done. Let my omen be good and not an unhallowed and pointless sacrifice. Raise them with the same mercy and craft as I have tried to do.” she told King Hesiod.

King Hesiod nodded and took off.

-Portrait of a God killer -

TheGreekDollmaker

Author Notes 2/28/12: It took me some time to finish this. Got accepted into Preparations for fine arts, thus I have very little time to work on fan fictions. On the other hand I am getting better with my artistic abilities.

Thats all folks.

Derp.

Author Notes 3/3/12: I depred.

No really, that is the reason why I took down the third chapter. I posted the “uncut version” as I like to call it without taking a look if it was the correct one. I keep different files for different revisions, just in case I do something retarded.

I essentially posted an uneditted, unrefined monstrosity due to mistake.

Thankfully, I have posted the correct version this time, edited for your enjoyment.

Apologies for everyone that was actually looking forth to reading this.