Guardian

CHAPTER 21 – AWAKENING

Resounding violently across the destroyed buildings and landscape of Canterlot, Eiza's blade and Terror's claws clashed with explosive force. Matching the specter blow-for-blow, Eiza's stamina did not fade. His eyes continued to glow an interminable blue, adding to his demonic visage as he continued to lash out at the specter.

“You are the weakest swordsman I have faced to date, Borealis.” Terror dodged one of Eiza's swift slices, lashing out and slicing three trenched gashes across Eiza's chest, cleaving away his armor and kimono. Startled by the attack, Eiza took a step backwards to balance himself as his chestplate and kimono fell away, then smiled again and surged forth with a roar, swinging his greatsword with a single hand.

“Your actions are futile, Eiza. I can read your every move.” Terror sliced Eiza across the chest again, this time not phasing the man in the slightest as he continued to flip and spin and slice at the shadow. “Why will you not fall?” Terror punched at Eiza, who blocked with his sword, spinning around the blade and kicking Terror in the stomach.

Catching himself after being sent through the air a short distance, the specter steadied himself and looked up as Eiza's blade cleaved through the air. Moving out of the way just in time, Terror was left with a deep cut from his shoulder to his waist rather than being bisected. “I've not felt pain like this in a long time...” Terror held his hand over his wound, bringing it to his face a short while after and gazing upon the blood there. Eiza rushed forward and attempted another slice before Terror gripped him by the head and lifted him into the air.

Struggling violently, Eiza grabbed the talons around his head and squirmed furiously to get away. Glaring at the specter, he was met by the glowing gaze of Terror, which pierced his mind.

A vision of the man in orange casting him through the portal. Then, the man in orange reaching into the air and seeming to pull a massive meteor from the sky, which collided with Monaris on a magnitude unlike any other event before it. The world was left dead and barren, all because Eiza failed to stop the man.

Eiza snapped out of the mental assault and gripped Terror's arm violently. Surprised at the resilience of the man, Terror failed to react in time before the berserk Emata tore two large hunks of bloody flesh from his arm. Terror released his grip in a cry of pain, dropping the silver-haired man on the ground.

“Impressive, Eiza... You broke my attack just four seconds in...” Eiza jumped forth with maniacal laughter, lashing out at Terror with his blade again. The shadow blocked the attacks with his razor-sharp claws, backing up as the assault continued. “Your energy knows no bounds, it seems.”

This was true, something that Terror noted of Eiza. Each strike from the man before him seemed to become more powerful rather than weaken, the muscles on his body appearing to bulge and grow with each strike. At the rate that Eiza was enhancing his strength through rage and Psi, Terror was uncertain if he would hold out for much longer.

“Cease your madness, ape!” Terror parried a lash from the greatsword and gripped Eiza's face again, piercing his mind a second time.

Eiza found himself exiting the cave of Balsanel just as he had done so long ago, but this time earlier than before. Screams of the city's people rang out as he rushed into the town square. There, the man that had destroyed the city before, his golden saber in hand, mercilessly cleaved through the people like butter. The man looked back at him and smiled, holding his hand out to him in a silent request for him to join. Rather than attacking him as he had done before, Eiza joined the attacker in the violent genocide of the citizens of Balsanel, their pleading voices meaning nothing to him as he struck them all down...

Eiza roared again and kicked Terror away. The shadow caught himself and looked upon Eiza. That assault had visibly affected the man, for now he stood uncertain. His eyes held a hint of fear.

“It took you fifteen seconds to break that one. Getting weaker?”

The berserker responded with a howl and charge towards Terror. The two began exchanging blows once more.

“You are making this much more difficult than it needs to be. Do you have any idea how hard it is to use Biokinesis in the midst of battle?” Terror struck Eiza's chest with his palm, delivering a massive shock to his body that sent him flying back. He wiggled his talons as electricity danced from them for a second afterward. “It's hard to be a self-sufficient being. I haven't had enough practice yet.”

Blind and deaf with fury, Eiza jumped forth through the air at Terror, who caught him by the neck and slammed him into the ground with enough force to shatter the rock. The berserk man squirmed and struggled furiously as he was held down. Terror's gaze pierced him again.

Three children, a young boy with black hair and two twin girls, younger than the boy, stood around a dead woman lying in a bed. As they wept, the boy looked back and up to Eiza.

“Daddy... You'll take care of us, right?”

A wave of yellow Psi surged from Eiza, throwing Terror high into the air. The specter landed on his feet a distance away as the man stood up, his rage waning and his thoughts becoming his enemy.

“That one appeared to have made you quite frantic, Eiza. You struggled to get out of that one as soon as you could.”

“Shut... Up...” Eiza's breathing became harder. He realized at that moment that he had already completely exhausted the energy gained from the dragon meat, and had probably used up a substantial amount of autophagy at that point as well.

“No more rage?” Eiza collapsed to one knee, his breathing still harsh. “I told you that you could not win. I am a God. You are still just a naïve Emata.”

“If naivety means being a good person, one who dies for a just cause... Then yeah. I'm a naïve Emata.” Eiza looked up at Terror, defiance and fire in his eyes as he forced his trembling, weak body to stand up, “But I'm still a better being than you'll ever be.”

“You are so arrogant that it's painful for me to even be near you.”

“Says the guy calling himself a God.”

“The right to be a God goes to those who have the ability to be one. That right is now mine.”

“No one as foul as you deserves such power.”

“I'm done listening to you. You can hardly stand.” Terror looked at the Emata before him who shook violently as his muscles began to fail him. “You are no longer relevant here.” The specter approached Eiza, who was unable to move due to his muscles being locked.

Looks like I'm done, then. This time's for real. I'm sorry, everyone... I'm so, so sorry...

“What are you doing, moron?” Eiza opened his eyes and found himself inside of the gray room, facing Mokushiroku as he hovered over the black pit. “This is why I told you to leave it be.”

“I never was good at following orders.”

“This much is obvious.”

Eiza smiled at Mokushiroku. “Well... Since I'm here...” The silhouette smiled at Eiza as the man stood up in front of him. “I have a favor to ask of you.”

The silhouette's smile grew at Eiza, for he knew the request that would follow all too well.

“Say it.”

Eiza became filled with rage, hatred towards the shadow that he saw in the scrying pool above, hatred towards the man that had caused so much pain and agony for the creatures of Equestria. He cried aloud and let his voice ring through his subconscious. “Kill him, Mokushiroku...” He growled in enmity towards Terror, “Kill him! I want him dead!”

The silhouette smiled devilishly and sunk into the pit slowly. “IF THAT IS WHAT YOU WISH...”

A moment passed, one of pure silence... Then, a massive wave of black tar erupted from the pit and surged upward through the scrying pool as an unrelenting reversed waterfall. Every drop of the liquid filled Eiza with dread and despair. Dread that was the knowledge that he had been forced to use the monster to win the battle. He prayed that the ponies would not fear him afterward.

Terror stopped a few feet from Eiza as the flame stripes on the man's face began to glow a virulent red. His shadow began to boil as a liquid, enveloping his legs and slowly seeping upward, coating his body slowly as he growled.

“What...” Terror watched curiously as the liquid coated Eiza's body entirely and changed him into a black silhouette of what he once was. After a moment, the new form began to shudder, a set of jagged quills erupting from his left forearm, then his right. Terror stepped back a few paces as the event continued.

The figure's legs warped, taking lizard-like shapes as the toes rearranged into four massive claws. Upon the larger knee of each leg, a fanged mouth tore open and revealed a reptilian eye that glared at Terror with rage. Eiza's tassets became skeletal, resembling demonic skulls as the fluid took shape over them.

Arching its back, the spine of the figure pulled and tore itself from the body and extended like a lengthy spiked tail attached at the base to the being's shoulder blades. The shoulder blades themselves sprouted a pair of spikes on each side, the outermost spikes both erupting outward further as a pair of large batlike wings.

The creature's abdomen sunk in, the ribs erupting from the flesh and becoming jagged as the sunken stomach grew jagged fangs along the edge, shaping it into a large mouth. The creature's shoulders sprouted spines and spikes that added to the already formidable size of the being. Another reptilian eye opened upon the creature's chest and gazed out at the area, scanning wildly.

Finally, the head warped and elongated outward, three large spikes in the back which began a series of quills that continued into the flowing tail-like spine. The head became tri-sectioned, a pitch-black gap on each side of the head took the place of where the eyes would be. The sections seemed to be latched together with numerous fangs. After these formed, a long, curved horn sprouted from each side of the beast's face and framed the length of both sides.

After the transformation completed, the creature stood quietly, hunched over and in a completely static, statuesque manner.

Twilight's eyes opened slowly as she regained consciousness next to a large shrub. She raised her head slowly and glanced around, noting where everyone was. She looked up and out to Terror... Then suddenly became filled with complete shock and horror. The being from her nightmare the night prior stood before her.

A dream unlike any she had had before, odd, but never had anything been so terrifying to her. The world of Equestria, the entire planet in space, with no other bodies around it. In place of the stars that she would have expected, the world seemed to glow a gentle green. A figure faded into view behind it – the same creature that now stood before the specter – and took the world into a single claw, crushing it. She had no method of explaining it, thinking it to be nothing special, but now for that creature to be here... She feared the world was in danger.

As Twilight continued to shake from afar, unable to move, Terror stood silently before the monster. After a minute of examination, he finally spoke up.

“What are you, Borealis?” The creature turned it's head suddenly, two glowing red orbs erupting into existence from within the pits of its head. It took a step forward, the sections of its head opening to reveal a mass of wriggling tendrils as it let out a roar the tore the land asunder and blew Terror backwards. The specter landed a far distance from the monster, caught highly off-guard by the immense release of energy, and braced himself as the beast continued its deafening howl.

After the monster ceased its initial battle cry, all of the ponies but Fluttershy awoke in a start. The monster extended his right claw to the side, reaching in the general direction of Eiza's discarded greatsword. The large sword lifted from the ground and shot forth to its hand, and the beast caught it, then swung outward again, causing an enormous amount of earth to be shattered and destroyed by wind pressure alone as the blade exploded, its form being replaced by yellow energy.

“What is that thing?” Applejack cried out to the others as the wind surged past them.

“I never thought that I would see anything creepier than Terror...” Rainbow Dash shuddered at the sight of the spine wiggling freely from the monster's back.

“It's... It's...” Twilight struggled to speak, overcome by fear, “It's Eiza...”

“What?” Rarity exclaimed, “That can't be Eiza!”

“He said he was a dangerous person...” Twilight felt tears well up in her eyes, completely overwhelmed by the horror she felt, “He didn't lie... He didn't lie about being invincible... He just never elaborated...” Twilight held her head and began crying. “Terror wasn't the danger to Equestria that I had predicted in my dream... Eiza was... Eiza's going to destroy the world...”

“This form of yours means nothing! Nothing! I'll crush you all the same!” Terror shot a massive bolt of lightning at the creature, who did not flinch as the electricity surged through it. The monster began taking steps towards Terror. “Don't come near me! Die! Die, I say! Die!” Terror launched volley after volley or electricity and Psi attacks at the monster, all to no avail. The beast continued to walk casually towards the shadow, gurgling passively as it took each step.

Each footstep became louder and louder, Terror's focus zeroing in on the action as it continued to quicken. Thud... thud... thud, thud, thud, thud, thud-thud-thud-thud-thudthudthudthud... then Terror realized after noting the sound being out of sync with the footsteps of the monster... The sound was that of his own heart.

Fear? He had thought himself to be incapable of it. After two thousand years, Terror had thought himself to have mastered it. To be invincible. In the face of this creature, he found himself completely overtaken, paralyzed, by his own namesake.

“No... No... No! I will not accept it!” The shadow forced his body to move, rushing forward at the monster, “I claimed my name because I am the Master of Fear! I am Terror, the God of this world! You cannot scare me!” The shadow stopped before the monster, which stared at him blankly, and gripped the beast's face in his talon. He pierced the monster's soul with his glowing red gaze. “FEAR ME, EIZA BOREALIS! FEAR ME!”

After a moment of nothing occurring, the monster suddenly gripped Terror by the face and peeled him away, holding him into the air off of the ground as the shadow struggled. The monster's eyes suddenly flashed brightly as it pierced Terror's soul, forcing him to relive a memory he had long forgotten.