Shattered Souls

Shattered Souls
Ch. 3 Scarred Souls

Opal's heart froze. Her eyes widened, transfixed with fear as the bizarre, unnatural creature met her stare. The creature's mouth parted, opening as if tearing a seam in its ashy semblance, exposing a small amber glow within. The glow grew in intensity and flared into a bright yellow glare. Opal's body twitched with an almost painful speed as she threw herself to the ground behind the corner of the house. Plowing back up from the earth, her hooves pounded at the ground beneath her as she sped back to the window from which she had crawled out into the night.

She leapt back over the sill, hoping that the was no more than another nightmare; hoping it was no more than an irrational fear spiraled out of control in her mind. She swung the slatted window shut as fast as she could, sliding the bolt into place with her nose. She leaned against the windows, trying to catch her breath.

She paused, trying in vain to control her breathing. She leaned her ear against the windows slats, trying to hear what she could through the sound of her heart pounding in her head.

Moments passed. Then seconds. Breath caught in her throat as her pulse calmed a little.

Maybe it was nothing but a delusion, she thought to herself.

She stepped back from the door to lower herself back into the cot. She froze again, unsure, looking back over her shoulder. A faint whisper brushed itself by the shutter.

Suddenly, a blast of heat rushed through the air around her. The air wavered at its own heat, and squeezed at her from every angle. Her voice choked as she tried to scream. No sound came, and her lungs burned in the agonizing confusion as the air they held could not escape.

Sweat beaded down from her mane she collapsed to the ground where she stood. Her body began to shudder, feeling as though she was being crushed by the very air itself.

She grew numb, and gray seeped in at the edges of her vision.

And then, relief.

The heat drew back from her, and the light came back to her eyes. She coughed in great convulsing spasms as she tried to regain her breath. The air was cold and stinging to her beaten lungs.

Still gasping, she looked up to see Hammerspark stumbling towards her. His eyes stared beyond her, bearing a hard determination she had never seen in him before.

She turned to look behind her, not standing up, to see the strange creature that had followed her into Hammerspark's home.

The same creature that had chased her down and tortured her breath now suffered the same fate.

The creature writhed in panic, it's smoky vapor wrapping around itself, unable to move. The formless mass undulated back out the now opened window.

The creature screamed in pain, sending an earsplitting wail through Opal's skull. She flinched, setting her forehooves over her ears to try and dampen the cry, but it was to no avail.

The sundering cry intensified, as the harsh glare from the inside of the creature became smothered with cinder and ash from the creatures own body.

The scream faded into a faint whistle as the light dissipated completely, leaving only a small cloud of ash to be carried away by the wind.

Opal's gaze lingered out the window, unsure of what to think about what had just happened. She glanced back at Hammerspark, just as he began to stumble again. His collapsed forward as his strength failed him and his forelegs buckled from exertion.

She stepped forward to catch him, struggling with his heavier frame to walk him forward into his cot.

* * * * * *

Hammerspark twitched in his sleep.

His vision swam with images of storms, and stark white horses, built like no other, galloping through the winds of a howling gale. Frigid winds and ice whipped around him, chilling him through to his core. He tried to move, but was stuck in place, staring in shock at the ghostly specters, throwing sheets of pale blue ice behind them in their wake.

He shut his eyes, trying to dismiss the cold, lonely fear of his dreams.

Through the darkness under his lids, the sound of the harsh winds seemed to fade. The winds slowed and died against his coat, and a strange warm passed over him.

A distant staggered chocking sound echoed in his ears, as if through a great distance.

His eyes snapped open in realization.

Opal was collapsed on the raised floor in front of him, convulsing, struggling for air.

He stood up, his legs groaning in complaint, pained from days of use. Heat, something he knew well as a smith. He focused, his horn glowing a faint gray glow emanating from his horn. A barely visible sheet moved through the air, wrapping Opal with a cool gray air. Sweat beaded down his brow, sliding from his mane.

Opal stopped shaking, and took in deep breaths, but her eyes were still wide with fear.

The air around her beyond the small field still shimmered, a faint orange glow lighting the room.

Hammerspark looked up, not losing his focus on his magic.

A face of of ash hovered behind her, it's features glowing with a molten glow, betraying a wicked pleasure in the pain it dealt out.

Hammerspark's eyes hardened in a cold glare, fixating on the creature behind Opal. His horn glowed brighter with effort, as he stepped forward slowly. His body shook with effort, but he did not lose sight of the monster. The field around opal grew and spread, still transparent, but cutting a swathe through the wavering air, forcing the heat out into the night.

The creature's eyes widened in shock, its ashen falling into a silent scream. The creature backed out the window, but Hammerspark pressed forward, closing the distance with his field. Smoke washed around the creature as it tried in vain to fell the shield. It’s eyes eyes slammed shut in a wild panic.

A high pitched echo sounded within his head, tempting him to break focus, but he held through. Through the pain, he focused his field around the creature tightening the cold, unseen vise around it's glow.

The scream intensified, but it was too late, the creature began to writhe in pain as a cold and defeated smoke swirled around it, suffocating it inside the shrinking field.

The scream died, and he broke his concentration, letting the now barely heated smoke whisper into the cold night air outside. His head throbbed in pain as his sight blurred with exhaustion. His legs gave way, the agony of his weight disappearing as he faded into the darkness of sleep.

* * * * * *

Opal lowered Hammerspark's unconscious form down into his bed. She looked back outside. What had just happened was still lingering in her mind. Hammerspark had been merciless in destroying, whatever that was. But then, it had been trying to kill her as well.

Now, though, her nightmares did not seem so irrational.

She looked out the window, still panting. She leaned on the sill of the window, peering outside. Panic overtook her again. An orange glow came from further in town.

She had to warn somebody, to at least give them time to run. Sucking in another breath, she began to leave, this time out through the large barn styled doors in the front. She lingered a moment in the doorway. She did not want to leave him by himself in his current state. Especially with something so dangerous wandering the town.

I'll come back for him, she thought to herself, throwing a regretful look back at him.

She lowered her head, and set off towards the center of town at a full gallop.

* * * * * *

Duurt woke up with a shake. There was some sort of screaming and shouting outside.

“Damn these ponies an' their din,” He mumbled to himself, pulling himself off of his bed.

Even though his bedroom was below ground, his more sensitive ears could easily hear the racket. He was easily roused from sleep because he had already been up most of the night, something was wrong with one of the coffee broilers.

Its temperature had been shifting in unusual fluctuations.

He drug his feet up the stairs and out through the front door, rubbing his eyes groggily.

“Wah' in the nam' o' . . .” He saw Opal standing next to the well. A crowd of other ponies and valley dogs came stumbling out of their houses, all tired as well.

“There be'er be a good reason for this, Opal,” He said looking at Opal expectantly. He did not like being woken up in the middle of the night very much, but he knew Opal, and she was not the kind of pony to bring attention to herself for no reason.

“The. . .,” She gasped out, choking on her air, “Thing!”

He shook his head, looking down and rubbing his temples.

“Jus' spi' it out lass!” He urged, accompanied with a wave of his hand.

She stumbled over to the well, leaning on its side. She sucked in a breath to talk again, hopefully more intelligible this time.

Suddenly, a loud crack sounded down the path away from the well. An eerie wail sounded out from the distance, penetrating the night.

An orange glow spread to the top over the roof of a small house across the road, erupting into a dull orange blaze, fed by the thatched roof. Somepony screamed, tearing out of the house at terrifying speed as the town stirred into action.

Before he could act, Opal whipped her head around, staring back away from the fire, towards Hammerspark's house; mumbling something under her breath before setting into a reckless gallop.

“Ponies and their damned fires!,” He shouted to himself, muttering as he broke and ran back into his shop. The boilers in the kitchen were already dangerously hot. The last thing Duurt needed was an explosion.

* * * * * *

Opal stood there, leaning on the town well. Normally, her knees would be shaking with apprehension, but right now she did not care. She had to warn everypony.

Somebody said something, but she could not hear. Her heart was pounding in her ears. She tried to talk, but the words caught in her throat. She panted, sucking in air. Her panicked shouting earlier must not have been very easy to understand.

A loud crack sundered the night air, and a bright orange glow started grew across the ground from behind her. She could hear the crackle of fire behind her.

The sound, though, had come back from where she had come from.

“Hammerspark, “She muttered to herself, snapping her head around behind her.

She sucked in a quick breath, pushing against the ground with all four hooves. She flew ahead, then sent her legs pounding against the earth, each step plowing her further towards his house. The cool air whipped through her mane, stinging at her eyes, but she continued on.

She arrived at his house, slowing down to a trot. She took a few deap gulps of air, letting herself relax or a moment.

She glanced back over her shoulder, blowing a strand of her now wild mane out of her eyes.

She stared in shock. Over the roofs of the town hovered three of these monsters, one of which was larger even than the houses below it. She staggered backwards, keeping herself from running.

No, she thought, I cannot save them, but I must save Hammerspark at the least.

* * * * * *

Duurt rummaged quickly through his cupboards, searching for his tools. The boilers whistled in strain. The heat inside them had gone well beyond any ideas of safety.

He paused for a moment. A loud groan resonated through the room, followed by several heavy, dull clunks.

He turned back to the machines; there was no time for tools. He needed to get this fixed before things got out of hand.

“Wha' am I thinking,” He grumbled to himself, Things are already out of hand!”

He took a moment to see what was wrong with them, searching the pipes underneath them. He chose quickly, his strong hands grasping a knob tightly. He twisted with all his strength, but it would not turn.

He gave up, letting his hands drop for a moment. He took a deep breath in preparation for what he was about to do. This was going to hurt.

Suddenly, he shoved both of his hands onto the hot pipes. Steam poured up from his hands as the hot metal scorched his hands. He grunted in pain as he pressed is weight heavily into the pipe.

The pipe screeched in complaint, bending back towards the wall. He squinted his eyes, clenching his jaws through the pain. He shoved forward with a final surge of strength.

The pipes relented at first, giving a high pitched squeal, but snapped back into the wall with a heavy Thud.

He shot forward into the space directly underneath the vat, just as a threatening click, sounded from the pipe to his right. He tried to push himself up back from the wall, but he was too late.

A jet of boiling hot water erupted from the pipe, striking him hard in the face. He screamed in agony as the searing fluid burned the skin off his right jowl, leaving the bare pink flesh to burn and warp, burning off his whiskers.

He scrambled back from the boiling water, his arms and legs slipping as he managed to get back against the wall.

He winced as he pulled himself up from the counter top, the fresh blisters on the palms of his hands stinging. He stumbled back towards the boiler, turning the knob easily this time. The water slowed to a drip. He leaned his wait onto his arm, his hand against the wall as he took a moment to recover.

He looked up for a moment in exasperation. Ans ominous clicking sounded from the boiler's furnace.

* * * * * *

Opal struggled with Hammerspark's weight. Her teeth clenched around the blanket that she had wrapped around him. Barely conscious, his hind legs shuffled forward slowly, but only his left foreleg hopped along barely carrying him while the other dragged the ground uselessly.

She had wrapped the blanket around his chest and pulled him close, so that he leaned onto her shoulder. It helped in actually getting him up in his exhaustion, but that was as far as it went. The going was slow, and even slower now as they walked through the tall grass into a shallow dip between two knolls.

It was deep into the night, but the flames of the houses behind them lit the darkness.

The subtle crackle of the flames was interrupted by a sudden explosion of sound; a distant boom shattered the silence of the night. Opal could not turn her head to look back, but she could see a bright flash out of the corner of her eye, lighting up the sky behind her.

She laid him down in a particularly tall patch of grass letting him fall back to sleep. He definitely needed his rest. As far as she knew, it could be days before he recovered, as she had no experience with magic.

She drew the blanket over him with her teeth, knowing that this was going to be a cold night. She lay down beside him, leaning on him, staring out into where she had lived.

She laid her head down, wishing for sleep to come, as a single, cold tear rolled down her cheek.