Chapter 15: The Ritual

Sandova and the detectives were lead somewhere underground. After several minutes of getting pushed trough torch-lit tunnels did Sandova realize that their adversary was far more influential than he initially thought. It must have cost years and a considerable amount of money to have such a complex constructed without anyone noticing.

Sandova looked around when he noticed that they had stopped moving. They were standing in front of an enormous double door, easily twice their height. The door was made of wood and iron, and it looked like it could withstand an orcish battering ram with ease. One of the guards stepped forward and opened the door with his magic. Behind the door was only darkness, as if the doorway sucked in all the surrounding light.

"More guests? Excellent, bring them in."

The voice was rich and deep, and Sandova knew that it could only belong to Abyss. They got shoved roughly into the room before somepony slammed the doors shut with a resounding crash. In the room, absolute darkness reigned, but Sandova could hear frightened gasps coming from somewhere in front of him.

"Are you girls okay? Don't worry, I'll get you out of here."

Before any of his friends could answer Sandova got struck by some sickly green ray. Agony coursed through him, and he bit back a scream.

"Bold words mister Mirell, but empty ones. All you will do here is die in fear, after you answered my questions, of course."

Sandova shakily got to his hooves and snorted contemptuously.

"As if I will tell you anything. You said it yourself, we're going to die anyway, so why should I bother answer you?"

Someone stepped very close, and Sandova could feel the presence of Abyss in front of him.

"Because you will be begging for death after I am done with you, mister Mirell. And I will be happy to oblige, after you tell me what I want to know."

Right then the doors opened again. Sandova whirled around to see a furious Silent Whisper standing in the doorway. She moved towards him and lifted a knife, but was stopped by Abyss.

"My dear Silent Whisper, I would rather not have you mutilate our captives, yet. We could still use them."

She stopped, knife inches from Sandova's throat, and nodded.

"I apologize, my temper got the better of me."

She stepped back and the doors closed behind her. The room went dark again, but Sandova could now see faint glowing lines all over the room. As he looked, the lines got brighter, revealing themselves to be runes. Eventually they glowed bright enough for Sandova to see his surroundings. The room was massive, about the size of a ballroom. Along the walls hung various sinister-looking weapons and artifacts, and those glowing runes covered most of the space between them. In front of Sandova stood a jet black unicorn with an even darker mane, his red eyes burning with malice. Behind Abyss was a pedestal made of grey stone, and on top of it lay something long and pointed. The object's tip was a dark red, and it faded to gray towards its base. Sandova found that it looked disturbingly similar to a unicorn's horn. There was a groove in the ground that lead from the pedestal to a stone table. On top of the table lay seven familiar mares.

"Sandova! What's going on?"

Abyss chuckled and moved towards the table, horn glowing and chanting in a dark tongue. Sandova recognized it as Abyssal, the language of Demons.

"Dark lords of Tartarus, great beings of terrible power. I bring you these sacrifices, so that my ancestor may rise again. Heed my words, taste the fear of my captives and slake your thirst on their blood. Tonight, ten mortals will perish so that one may walk this world again."

A soft, low chanting followed suit, and Sandova saw a group of robed unicorns were sitting at the edge of the runed floor. All of the unicorns had their horns alight, and the air filled with ambient magic. Abyss had stopped his chant and was advancing upon the bound mares, a wicked dagger held in his telekinetic grip. The panicked crying of his friends snapped Sandova out of his observations. He gathered as much negative energy in his hoof as he could, but was struck down by Silent Whisper before he had taken two steps.

"Tsk, tsk, can't have you interrupt the ceremony, now can we?"

Sandova struggled furiously, but the pegasus was far stronger then she looked. He heard Hard Facts curse and saw that she and Cold Case had been restrained as well. Abyss ignored all of this, and swept his dagger across the bound mares in rapid succession. Sandova's furious roar died in his throat when he saw that Abyss had made only shallow cuts, barely drawing blood. Abyss turned around and gave Sandova a wicked smile.

"Protective of our friends, aren't we? You will tell me who you are and why you are here, or else I will make their deaths as prolonged as possible."

He swept the dagger across the mares' bodies again, this time drawing more blood and making the mares cry out in pain. Sandova felt icy rage flow through him, and he met Abyss' gaze with a glare of his own. Before he could speak up he saw that Cold Case had somehow subdued his captor and was now galloping towards Abyss.

"You will do no such thing you sadistic bastard, not while I still draw breath!"

Moving faster than Sandova thought possible, Silent Whisper sprang forward and rammed Cold Case's head into the ground. Before the unicorn had recovered his wits she lifted his head by his horn. The look on her face could only be described as sadistic glee, and with a swift motion she broke his horn off his head. Cold Case's anguished cry hurt Sandova's ears by its intensity, and he felt himself retch from the sheer cruelty of the act. Abyss, however, trotted close to the screaming detective, a cruel sneer on his face,

"Not when you still draw breath, you say? You're making this too easy."

Silent Whisper lifted the still screaming unicorn up a bit, and Abyss rammed the dagger into his heart. The screams abruptly stopped, and Sandova saw the detective spit in Abyss' face before slumping down in a lifeless heap. Time seemed to stand still for a moment, and Sandova thought he could hear someone screaming. He saw Hard Facts throw off her captor and charged the killers of her partner. He saw Abyss fire a lance of pure fire through her shoulder, and he saw Silent Whisper grab the stumbling pegasus and break one of her wings. He saw his friends crying in horror, and he felt a rage he hadn't felt since Havndir. Pure, icy hatred welled up from his very soul, and Sandova felt his very being cry out for vengeance. Abyss noticed him advance, and laughed mockingly.

"Are you going to charge into your death as well? You, a third-rate necromancer that fancies himself a hero? Don't make me laugh."

Abyss fired another lance of fire, this one piercing through Sandova's left lung, but not before severing a particular golden chain. Sandova focused his hatred on the pony in front of him, and spat out his next sentence along with the blood from his lung.

"Allow me to show you why they call me a dread necromancer."

There was the ringing sound of metal hitting the floor, and Abyss looked confused at the golden amulet rolling across the floor. There was a blinding flash, followed by the sound of warping flesh. Where once stood a wounded unicorn now towered a tall cloaked figure, blonde hair whipping around his slender face by some unseen force. Silent Whisper was the first to recover from her surprise and turned to the unicorns fueling the ritual.

"Don't just stand there, kill it!"

The figure lunged at one of the unicorns and grabbed his head, his hand glowing with alabaster energies. The unicorn's scream turned into a cough when a puncture wound appeared on his torso. The energies surrounding the figure's hand turned black, and the unicorn's gurgled scream became muffled by the black haze surrounding his head. When the figure opened his hand again, all that remained of his victim was a shriveled husk.

The other ponies screamed and scrambled for the door, but got caught up in a mass of black tentacles that erupted from the floor. They were quickly crushed to a bloody pulp while the figure moved its hands and chanted darkly. Black smoke seeped from each dying pony's eyes and mouth, flowing towards the figure. It turned around to find Silent Whisper charging at it. The figure caught her with ease and flung her into a wall, and a sickening crack emitted from one of her wings. The figure turned towards her, its voice as cold as an arctic gale, and just as threatening.

"Pathetic vermin, do you really hold me below you? Allow me to educate you on your misgivings. I am Asphyxious, queller of hearts, stealer of breath. The living tremble in my presence, and the dead bow at my command. I am fear incarnate, terror personified, and I will see you broken. Make peace with your gods, for I will break you, mind, body and soul."

Asphyxious spat out an incantation and waved his hand at Silent Whisper. The wounded pegasus looked in horror at what stood before her and tried her best to get away from it. She could only watch helplessly as it surged forward and pounced on her. Her terrified screams echoed around the room, and when her voice gave out she collapsed, trembling. A shadow fell over her, and she looked up at the smiling face of Asphyxious.

"Surviving phantasmal killer? I'm impressed. Now that fear has been taken care of, let me introduce you to pain."

He grabbed the traumatized pegasus by the throat and lifted her high, letting her flail feebly before breaking her other wing with a casual flick of the wrist. A sharp pain suddenly flared through Asphyxious, and he noticed that Abyss had attacked him with his dagger. After transferring the wound to his captive and throwing her across the room he turned to face his new adversary. Abyss was standing behind Hard Facts, using her as a shield.

"Stand back, creature! Or the good detective will breathe through her neck!"

Asphyxious smiled, then laughed at Abyss. He made a gesture and the mare stiffened.

"Foolish vermin, you have nothing!"

Asphyxious drew a wicked-looking saber from the all and advanced on Abyss. The black unicorn looked at Hard Facts in shock before giving Asphyxious a thin smile.

"Finally, somepony that knows when to cut losses. A shame that I have to kill you."

The smile disappeared when Asphyxious swatted the dagger out of the air with a contemptuous swat of his saber, braking the smaller weapon apart like it was nothing. Abyss charged another flaming lance, but Asphyxious grabbed his horn, breaking his concentration. He lifted Abyss like he weighted nothing and held the unicorn in front of his face.

"You told me you wanted to see me die in fear, I suppose it is fitting you shall do so in my stead. When I am finished with you, you will beg for the sweet release of death. Unfortunately, I will not grant that mercy."

He lifted his hand again when a soft voice spoke up.

"Sandova, stop"

Twilight Sparkle looked at Sandova Asphyxious Mirell with a weary expression. Sandova was speechless. The one that suffered at the hooves of this monster actually wanted to offer him mercy? It was incomprehensible, Asphyxious could not, would not, understand. But Sandova could

"Twilight, this piece of filth just murdered somepony in front of our eyes, and you want me to show mercy?"

Sandova shook Abyss for emphasis, sending negative energy through his horn as he did so. Twilight nodded, tears streaming down her face.

"I-I don't want to see my friend corrupt himself just to give that monster what he deserves. N-nopony should hurt himself like that. I-I've heard you s-scream at night, you are haunted by your past, aren't you? So please, don't do that to yourself anymore."

Liquid ice seemed to soak Sandova, it had been a long time indeed since those words were spoken to him. Not since Hanvdir.

"You knew?"

She nodded, a sad smile on her face. Fluttershy nodded as well.

"We wanted to ask about it after the trip, if that's alright with you."

Sandova felt numb, but a small part of him, an old part of him, felt relieved. As Abyss slipped through his numb fingers, Sandova had only eyes for his firends, his real, actual friends.

Abyss seemed unresponsive, so Sandova paid him no mind as he moved to free the seven mares, who dogpiled him as soon as the last rope hit the floor. Sandova lost his balance, but could not fight his smile.

"Don't worry girls, you're safe now."

After what seemed an eternity, Sandova disentangled himself from his friends to check up on Hard Facts. He made it all of two steps when the air erupted in fire. Through the flames, Sandova saw Abyss weakly rising to his hooves, a contempteous sneer on his lips.

"Pathetic, one little speech and you forget your true colors. All it did was make my victory a fact."

Abyss wasted no time on to gloat furhter and plunged one of the shards of his dagger in Trixie's torso. The blue mare managed a gurgled cry and spat up blood. Sandova heard the cry, but the fire had damaged his eyes. He grasped around blindly, feeling the fire eat through the stolen life that surrounded him. His hand found something long and smooth, and he grabbed it. Just when the fire started to devour his flesh he lunged forward, making a wild stab at Abyss. Abyss whirled around in shock, not expecting the human to be still alive. With a piercing battle cry, Sandova drove the sharp end of the horn into Abyss' heart. The flames died immediately, leaving the necromancer in oily black smoke. The last thing Sandova heard was his friends rushing towards him, crying out his name.

"Don't worry, I got him."

He fell to his knees, then collapsed on the ground with a smile on his charred lips.

Author's Note

Aah, the arc's getting to a close. The 'roller coaster' has reached the bottom, and now y'all have to wait until ya reach the starting point. But don't worry, the story is FAR from over. Hope that his chapter is satisfactory, I have already re-written it once, and don't feel like doing it again.

Special mention to Novexx, who is now my official proofreader.

*Edit* So, after a little over two years, I have resurrected.....somewhat. At least I fixed the extremely clunky ending. Let's hope this new surge of drive and inspiration holds. - 03/11/2016