The Equestrian Tales of Nathaniel Lloyd (Humanized Version)

"Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour." 1 Peter 5:8

  I wake up on my couch, feeling very groggy and with a bothersome headache, as if an arrow was shot between the cracks of my brain. I put a hand on the broad surface of my warm forehead and start to slowly rise off my back a bit. On top of my chest I see my animal biology textbook wide open on a chapter based on the body systems of certain marine species, and when I glance over to the small, glass coffee table on my left I spot several other book that I had gotten from the Charlottesville Public Library yesterday focusing on the same subject.

Great, I think to myself. I fell asleep while I was studying --- again.

  As a typical college freshman attending the University of Virginia (or UVA), I basically wake up almost every morning on the couch instead of my normal bed, after studying for many tests and quizzes during the previous night. Even though I'm an excellent student in nearly all of my classes --- receiving nothing but acceptable grades and giving up all of my attention to the proffessors and teacher who use half of their day to lecture others --- the work that I have to do is extremely overwhelming for my mind to handle that I sometimes feel as if I'm slowly infecting myself with a serious case of studyitis.

  I know that it is not a disease in real life, but if a sort of sickness did exist that would be the name I will pick for it.

  And not only is my college life very difficult, but my life involving my little job is also a calamity. After a long day at the university, I usually head over to the meat packing industry in downtown; and although I am a huge lover of meat, it is probably the worst place I have ever been to in my entire life. The air completly reeks of rotten and spoil meat and month old garbage, the interior and exterior of the bluiding is old and in a poor and weaken condition, the stuff that I have to carry feels like it weighs a ton, and the temperature is so frostbiting cold that I bring a heavy-layered coat with me because it feels like winter everyday in there.

  The only thing I am glad about my job is that I recieve a very good pay. I only have to work on the weekdays, I get paid twenty dollars for each hour I work --- which is a total five hours --- and at the end of every month I have enough money to pay for my rent, so I can keep the small apartment that I live in.

  Knowing that my day is going to be a long and busy one --- like always --- I placed the textbook on the coffee table with the others and get off the sofa with a strech and a yawn. I head over to the bathroom to brush my teeth and take a nice, quick shower to get rid of the morning odor hanging around my body, and after that I go into my bedroom and pick out a clean pair of clothes to wear; a pair of black and red sneakers, navy blue jeans, my favorite Linkin Park shirt, my black leather jacket, and finally my golden cross necklace with the verse JOHN 3:16 engraved on it.

Image of shirt

  I walk right out of my room and come back into the living room. I turn on the TV and open up the blinds of the balcony, allowing the bright yellow rays of the eastern sun to shine through the closed glass door. The beautiful sight of the illuminating sphere is enough to erase my headache and fill my soul with a hope for a bright, new day. Although I have no clue what I will expect today, I pray that it will be a good one.

  Entering the kitchen I look at the digital clock upon the wall, which tells me that the time is exactly 6:37am.

  "Ok, that's good," I say to myself with relief. "I didn't overslept that long. I still have enough time to get to the university before it's eight."

  I open the pantry door and try to find a box of cereal to have with breakfest, but when I see none inside I am reminded that I finished eating the rest of the Raisin Brand yesterday morning. Closing the pantry I go to the refrigerato, and as I stare inside the cold interior I see a carton of milk, some orange juice, a couple of microwavable meals, a half of pepperoni pizza left inside a Domino's box, and several other items of food and beverages.

  "I need to remember to go to the store after work," I say, realizing that I barely have enough food left to last the month.

  In the end I choose to have one of the microwavable meals, which is a frozen container of eggs, bacon, and sausage, and I get myself a glass of cool milk as well. After waiting for the microwave to finish heating my breakfest, I grab it and my cup and sit myself down at the couch.

  As I eat my warm, prepared meal I pick up the remote and turn on to the Station 12 News Channel. The first things that comes up is the daily weather, which says that the temperature is supposed to be very moist and that today is going to be quite foggy. After the forecast a journalist appears and talks about some new laws that the council of the city of Richmond is going to pass next week, which I don't pay much attention to. After I have eaten my breakfest, I wash down the inside of my throat with a flood of creamy, white milk and turn off the TV as I begin to leave. Before I go I get my backpack and place my books that I used to study for the test today inside, and make a quick prayer that my day would be a safe and pleasant one and that I would certainly, without a doubt, ace this test.

  I head towards the front door, open it, and walk outside onto the outer third floor balcony of the apartment. Like the news had said the air feels damp, and thick, floating layers of misty fog spread across the whole outside area of Charlottesville. From the third floor I walk down the steps onto the second floor, and from the second floor onto the bottom first. Just I come down the stairs I see the owner of the apartment complex, Mr. Albert Benson, but everyone who knows him just calls him Al for short. He's an italian man in about his late forties with a little bit of weight on him and has no hair to cover the bald spot on the top of his head.

  Although he isn't much of a bad guy, he can be really annoying at times if you don't pay rent on time, and he will contuine to bother you about it until he gets what he wants.

  Right now Al is standing outside the door of his very own apartment with his nightrobe on as he smoked a cigarette. When he notices me coming his way he looks at me with a familiar grin on his lips.

  "Good morning, Nathaniel!" Al says in his usual, deep voice. "How are you, my boy?"

  "Mornin', Al," I say as I approach him." I'm doing fine, how are you?"

  "I'm fine, son. Real fine." He places the cigar back in his mouth and when he takes it out a black puff of burning smoke explodes in my face, but I just cough it off and ignore it like it didn't bother me at all. "So, you're going to college to some good grades as always?"

  "Yeah. I have a huge test today in my animal biology class. I've been studying nearly this whole entire month on it."

  "Well, I'm pretty sure you'll do just quite fine," Al promises, giving me a rough pat on my back with his other hand. "You seem like a smart enough lad."

  "Thanks, Al," I grin as I begin to walk away. "I'll see you when I get back."

  "Have a great day!" he chuckles as he watches me exit the complex and into the outside world.

***

  By vehicle it would have taken me just ten minutes to get to the univeristy, but because I am in a very delightful mood today I decided to arrive there by taking a nice, forty minute walk through Charlottesville. Although the fog makes teh the place seem sort of haunted and ghastly, it also gives out a mysterious beauty that it possesses, like an authentic drawing made by an artist with great taste.

  To me, Charlottesville seems like a pretty nice city. It's not so overpopulated, and at the same time it's not so much barren with life. The famous Blue Ridge Mountains run right across this place, and if you lived where I lived you would know for sure that they are an attractive and incredible sight to come across.

  After several minutes of walking, I come near the street where I usually take a sidewalk that leads to the university, which is now only half a mile away. But as I move closer, I hear this loud, banging sound near the sidewalk. As I come into view I see a construction team posted on the streets, and next to them on the road is a huge cement truck. And the noise that I had heard is coming from a worker using a jackhammer against the ground of the sidewalk.

  "Well, that's just great," I say, noticing my situation.

  I look around and try to find another way to get to UVA, since the sidewalk is off limits. Eventually, I discover an alleyway between the two bluidings just infront of me. Since the path goes forward like the way the sidewalk does, I assume that it is the only shortcut I can use to get to the college on time.

  Making my decision, I walk between the two bluidings with a hope that nothing bad will come upon me. The alleyway doesn't appear to be a narrow one, instead it provides me with enough space to move. The only problem is that the wall of fog infront of me doesn't does reveal what is behind it; and with all the broken and old objects lying around every corner that I see, makes the place feel like an abandoned junkyard. The whole time I walk through the barely visible haze, a ghost of suspense chills my skin with each little step I take. It's a if I somehow know that something big is going to occur, and there's a whisper in my ear telling me that it's not going to be good.

  A distinct noise that I hear from behind causes me to stop dead in my tracks. I turn around to see what the source of the sound is, only to look at a possibly dangerous situation.

  Facing me are at least five men, each of them is wearing a dark, black cloak with a large hood that prevents me from seeing their faces underneath and a scabbard around each of their waists. They stand beside each other in a straight line, making no sounds at all and remainng as still as stone statues. As silent seconds pass away I expect something to happen very soon, because I can feel an air of great tension closing in around the alley.

  After a moment, one of the cloaked men --- the one in the middle --- steps up a few feet. Unlike the others this man is wearing a silver necklace around his neck, which is in the shape of a strange symbol with a red gemstone in the middle.

  "Is your name Nathaniel Lloyd?" the man asks in a rough, crude voice.

  "Um...," is all I say at first, as I wonder in my mind how the hell this person knows my name, especially since I have never met him or his friends before in my entire life. "Yes, it is. How do you know my name, anyway?"

  Instead of answering my question, the man raises his right arm at me with his gloved hand open, and nothing really happens. But soon... something unexplainable that I don't understand comes into effect. An electrifying aura of blood-red energy appears around the man's hand with vast brightness that its light bounces off the wall, and like a well-shot arrow the aura of energy flies off his hand and heads right towards me.

  As soon as I see the danger I am in I duck down just in time as the red jet of lightning whizzes over my head like a hummingbird --- so close that I can feel the heat radiating from it. Alert and now fully awake, I instantaneously spring up on both of my two feet and sprint towards the opposite direction of the alley.

  "Get after him!" I hear the man who had recently shot at me say. "Don't let him escape!"

  My chest pounds ravishly like a train engine as I use all my stamina and strength to get away from those men and into safety. I try not to look back for my own sake, because it will not help me at all to see if they are close to getting me. As I still run to keep my life out of harm's way another jet of red energy like before rushes past me and hits an old, broken computer screen, totally destorying it. A second red jet is thrown at me, but this one hits me directly on my left hand and I let out a yelp as I feel a wildfire of immense pain spread through every nerve and muscle in my arm; but despite that I keep going.

  I see a stack of boxes ahead of me along with a couple of trash cans, which gives me a bright idea. As soon as I get near the boxes I push them behind me to the ground in hopes to slow the men down, and I do the same to the trash cans as well --- knocking them down. I hear some loud grunt as I keep going, and I take a risky peek to see that most of the men had tumbled upon the boxes and cans. An optimistic smile finds its way on my as I think about how I now have the upper hand, and is now possibly close to escaping to freedom.

  But all that joy and hope quickly leaves me and is replaced again by fear and horror as one thing stands in my way, something that I had never expected or had considered to happen.

  And that thing is a wide, brick wall that must be over thirty feet high in the air. I stop running and frantically look around to see if there might be a door or a window or something that would be of use to me, but to no prevail my search is a failed attempt. As of right now, I'm a sitting duck about to be killed by its hunter, or hunters to be literal.

  The cloaked men eventually catch up to me after my little stunt back there, and when they notice my situation I can hear the depraved laughs and taunts coming from inside their hoods.

  "Well, this doesn't look so good for you now, does it?" the man with the silver necklace says, and I can just imagine a poisonous smirk hidden under his hood. "I promise that what we'll do to you will be quite quick --- but then again at the same time I feel like making you suffer nice and slowly, so it might not be so quick after all."

  The man reaches down to his scabbard and pulls out a sword with a large, razor sharp blade, and his followers do the exact same. All I can do is push my back against the wall as the five of them close in on me, knowing that they had me totally in their grasps. There is no way that any help will be able to come to my aid, and if I even try to scream for a rescuer I doubt that anyone will come in time to save me before I am butchered to death. A part of me inside is wishing that all of this is just a bad dream, and that I'm still back at my apartment, sleeping, but I know that I'm only lying to myself to escape the reality of what is about to occur.

  Suddenly, a huge, bright flash of teal-colored light explodes between me and the five men. I shield my eyes with my arm as the powerful blast nearly blinds me. When the quick flash is over I see in front of me a man wearing a white hooded cloack and with two scabbards on his back forming a big X. Although I can't see his nor the front of his body, the men react to his mysterious appearance in an anxious manner.

  "It's a centurion!" one of them shouts angerily. "Kill him!"

  Immediately, the so-called "centurion" raises both of his arm behind himself and pulls out the two swords from inside his scabbards. He turns to the cloaked man on the left and thrusts the blade of his right sword deep into his opponent's chest. The man lets out a painful scream in response to the attack, and then somehow, remarkably, his entire body explodes into a huge puff of black smoke --- and his cloak, sword, gloves, and boots are all that remain on the floor.

  The other cloaked man, who was next to his comrade when the centurion had killed him, lifts his sword high up and aims at his enemy's head. But before he could deliver the blow, the centurion deflects the hit by bringing his right sword close to his face, and then he stabs the man in the heart with his left sword. Like his friend earlier, this one turns to smoke as well. Two more of them charge after the centurion with their weapons prepared for bloodshed. The first one to reach him goes into a total frenzy attack, slashing his glimmering sword up and down and left and right like a wild mad man. But the centurion dances through the whole thing, swiftly dodging each assualt that his attacker throws at him. When the man swrings his sword over his head, the centurion takes advantage of the fatal mistake by ducking down, running behind the cloaked fiend, getting back up, and then stabbing him in the back with both his swords, causing him to disperse.

  The fourth man attempts to strike teh centurion from behind, but my savior notices it and turns around just in time to block the attack with his left sword, and uses his other sword to slice off his rival's hand, which falls to the ground and turns to smoke (this one isn't wearing any gloves by the way). The man clutches his wound and yells, before the centurion slits his throat and is destroyed.

  All who is left to fight is the cloaked leader with the silver necklace, who stands right infront of the murderer of his allies.

  "It's time for you to die," he threatens, taking a battle stance.

  "Bring it," I hear the centurion say for the first time.

  The leader charges at him directly and launches several deadly swings at his foe in order to cause great damage. Unlike the others, this man seems to be a master with his fighting skills and better talented, as he delivers blow after blow after blow with intense fury and anger. But the white knight survives each attack by blocking and dodging the leader's blade, and occasionally commits counter-attacks from time to time.

  The graphic brawl contuines for what feels like a minute and both fighter are still going at it like two dogs disputing over a raw piece of meat. Each of their combat styles are both powerful and swiftful in their own way, and I begin to wonder when all of this will end.

  The centurion lifts his swords up and brings them down in hopes to strike his foe. The leader, however, blocks the attack by putting his own sword up, and delivers an effective sweep kick that brings the centurion to the ground and knocks the swords out of his hands. The leader stands over the fallen warrior and is about to strike him down, possibly thinking that he has already won. But before the blade is brought down, the centurion raises his hands, and two jets of teal lightning erupt from them, hitting the leader square in the chest. When this happens the man is sent flying backwards through the air --- with the sword still somehow in his hand --- before he hits the ground below with a loud, hard thud. The leaders recovers quickly with steam rising from cloak on the area where he was shot, and, seeing how he is badly injured, runs away with a noticable limp through the fog.

  As the centurion gets up and goes for his swords, all I can do is stand where I am with my mouth open wide in awe after witnessing the incredible fight that had just transpire infront of my very own eyes. With everything that has just happened --- the chase, me nearly getting slaughtered, the cloaked men turning to smoke as they die and leaving only their clothes and weapons on the ground --- I mentally ask myself if this really is all real.

  I snap out of my train of thought when I see the centurion walking towards me. Besides his white cloak he appears to be wearing a golden set of light armor, such as his breastplate, his gauntlets, his shoulder-guards, and his greaves. Underneath his hood, I see that he has teal eyes and for some strange reason dark green hair. Also, around his waist is what looks like a scabbard belt containing another sword inside.

  "Listen," my rescuer says to me, his voice sounding very serious. "I probably don't have enough time left. That guy might be coming back with some more reinforcement, and I can't handle any more of them. So just here me out, and do what I say."

  "Who are you?" I ask. "And who were those men? Do you know why they wanted me dead?"

  "It's not important who I am," he replies. "And as for those men who tried to kill you back there... Well, let's just say it wasn't for good intentions, but it's very crucial that you remain safe and alive."

  He loosens the belt containing the sword and holds it out infront of me. "Put this on."

  "What? Why?" I ask, feeling very confused and curious.

  "Just do it!" he say, impatiently. "Geez. I just saved your life from like five bad guys, so you can at least do me a favor by doing what I tell you to do so you won't get killed."

  Reluctanlty, I do what he says and put on the belt, tightening it around my waist so that it stays there.

  "Good," the centurion says. "Now, there's only one more thing that I need to give you." He reaches inside his cloak and pulls out an old, brown, medium sized book with the symbols of a sun, a cresent moon, and a star on the cover. The title of the book is called Conscientia.

  "This book, right here, is very, very important --- just like that sword you have. You can hide the book if you find a safe place, but you must have the sword with you at all time. Never leave it alone by itself, 'cause it might save your life at the time when you least expect something to happen." He gives me the book, and with quick thought I place it inside my backpack before he asks me to.

  "I still don't understand what's going on," I say.

  The centurion contuines to speak. "I'm going to be sending you a place that's not in this world. You can't stay here because it's not safe yet. The place you're going to is a small, little town, but I forgot what it's called, though. But when you get there ask the local residents if they know where you can find a person by the name of Twilight Sparkle. When you find her, give her this book, and then follow the instructions written on the note inside. Whenever I'm able, I'll meet you there within a couple of days. Good luck."

  The things that the centurion had to me just recently make absolutely no sense at all in my mind. How are these objects that he gave me so important that I have to protect them with my life? What does he mean by that he's going to send me somewhere from not this world? And who is this Twilight Sparkle character that he wants me to find?

  Before I have even a chance to ask , the man steps back a few feet and holds out a large blue stone that he pulled out from inside his pocket. Adruptly, the stone begins to shine brightly like a morning sun, and out of nowhere this cocoon of energy wraps around my entire body, and I start to feel like I'm floating in midair and I can't do anything to stop myself. A celestial explosion blinds my vision, and I'm no longer standing in the alley.