Signal boost! Into The Dark by Corejo · 4:00am May 19th, 2016
So Corejo, the guy who wrote this and this and a buncha other stuff, is rolling out his new adventurous fic, and it's definitely worth your time. He lured me into prereading for him by truthfully telling me it's tagged Romance and features a princess, and by the time I realized which princess, it was far too late for me. But, having read ahead, it's an absolute treat, thick with atmosphere and the artistry you'd expect from this author. Based on other commenters, it carries a lot of that Dark Souls vibe of desolation, though I cannot verify these claims myself as, sadly, I am casul.
He saw nothing beyond the flagstones outside the gates. The darkness allowed nothing more.
The world above had been forever black, in the place the Elders called the sky. Here, outside the walls, it stretched its jaws around him—a void waiting to clamp down, staved off by two wrought iron lanterns strapped to his bandolier. One warm, the gentlest kiss of the sun. The other, the frost of the moon, colder than steel.
His sword and shield held closer than all else. Lose them, and the darkness would claim him.
The gates behind him shut. Massive though they were, silence was the rule of the world, lest It hear and come crawling.
He looked back at the gate towering out of sight, at the crumbling walls where the Devourer had climbed long ago. Its noises traced an icy claw up his back, impossible to forget. The screams, then the silence.
Again, he faced the dark ahead. The village’s braziers had endured countless cycles. Sun and Moon sheltered the village from the darkness; though, even stone will turn to dust and smother the flames they hold dear.
But there existed other braziers. Larger. Grander. Great enough to dispel the darkness, so wrote the Elders. The cinders still held power, and they as their subjects were sworn to preserve them, or Equestria would be lost forever.
And in that oath he had been chosen to suffer the highest honor his village could bestow: one step forward, into the dark.
Ch1 and Ch2 are up now. Give it a look-see here!
