Chapter 7
My friends entered through the portal into Joel's living room. After I was through, the portal winked out of existence. I worked up the courage to look up at them. All of them were wearing faces of pain, anguish, and to my surprise, extreme pride. They all looked ragged, beaten, tortured, and maimed, but they all had smiles on their faces. Sophie was the first one to gallop towards me and swing her forelegs around my body in a big celebratory hug. Joel was second, followed by Sally. Not to my surprise, Salem hung back, facing away from us.
"I know you did all you could, Spell." Salem interrupted, with a hint of sadness. "For that, I thank you. But, I have lost someone dear to me, I must ponder my emotions elsewhere. If you will all excuse me." he said as he left the room into one of the bedrooms. Uncle Joel punched me in the shoulder encouragingly, "'Ey, Spell, dun feel so bad, ya did all ya could. Ya also killed a Primary by yerself. Tha's impressive. Yer daddy'd be proud." He said, winking. Sally turned to me. "Spellflash, you have done a great deed this day. Everypony is sure to shower you with their graces." Sally told me with her eyes closed and a huge smile across her face.
"So..." Sophie said, "What did you get from Malice-Bringer's stash?" she asked, with a great amount of enthusiasm. "I'll tell you guys later, I gotta sort through what I got." I told them, looking into my bags, then said, "Meanwhile, you guys should get some rest. Malice-Bringer did a number on you and you haven't look like you haven't slept in ages." They all gave me faces of agreement and disappointment. "But!" Sophie exclaimed, "I wanna see what you got from that demon!" She pouted like a filly who wanted to stay up for her Hearth's Warming Day gifts. "Now, now." I started, "Get to bed all of you, but first let me do something to help out."
Closing my eyes, I tugged at my dwindling magic reserves, willing it to send soothing rays of minty healing magic towards my friends. Peeking, I saw the mystical energy ripple out from my horn, enveloping my friends with a pale green light. On contact with their wounds, they closed slowly, as if there was an invisible needle and thread stitching up them up in front of my eyes. After all the wounds were closed, they looked at their bodies with a look of acceptance and respect.
"Not bad," Joel said with a smile. With that, Joel and Sally went to their room to take a much deserved sleep. It was bordering on evening, the sun was still shining in the sky, casting shadows low into the room. I looked outside, the crops were no longer on fire, but they wouldn't be salvageable. "Spell?" Sophie asked, "Were you going to go to bed? Because I think I'm just going to crash here on the couch." she mumbled tiredly as she laid down, yawned, then closed her eyes and started snoring softly.
"Good night Sophie," I cooed softly into her ear. It twitched for a second then she flipped over onto her back with her legs folded against her body, then flipped again, her front facing towards the back of the couch. After she had finally picked a comfortable position, I levitated the blanket that was draped over the couch and floated it gently on top of her. There was a demon corpse that I just noticed that was sprawled over the other side. Deciding to make this place not look like a war zone, I set to work cleaning up the mess.
First, I piled all the corpses outside, then picked up all the broken glass that came from the windows. Slowly, I carefully spent the better part of three hours just making the living room look livable again. The corpses were starting to smell, so I went outside and formed a circle in my mind. Inscribing the words "Eu'teno" and "Huto", I set the circle under the pile and set it off. At first, the demon bodies started to smolder, then started to slowly burn away. Instantly, I smelled the scent of burning demons, which was worse than just smelling their corpses. Quickly, I ran inside and shut the door, setting the spell to stop draining my magic, now the demons would just burn away, leaving ash and spreading it, hopefully fertilizing Joel's once beauteous garden.
After I was done cleaning, I went to my satchel and started pulling out the items I had swiped from Malice-Bringer. I pulled out one of the statues and turned it over in my hoof, studying it. It was a demon with a small flame coming from his claw. Magic power radiated from the statue. I decided to absorb it, setting a circle and quickly channeling the energy from it into my body. The usual obsidian color of the statue had disappeared, leaving it a greyish stone color. As the power flowed through my veins, my eyes rolled back into my head and I saw the familiar book flip to a new page. The word "Enchantments" was visible at the top of it.
"Enchantments imbue your weapon or item with a magical energy of your choosing." The page told me. Intrigued, I continued reading. "For example, you may take a sword, set a spell circle on the blade and chant the words of power of your choice to make the blade take on that attribute." Fascinated, I studied and memorized the words of power in order to practice my new spell. I looked around the room and saw a display sword rack which hung on the wall. I levitated the sword to me, since I wasn't tall enough to reach it, and set it on the living room table. Focusing my energy, I willed a circle in my mind, inlaying the words "Eu'teno", "Opeji'pv", and "Huto", then released the spell. My spell circle shrunk, floated to the tip of the blade then slid down to the hilt. The spell triggered a bright flash of light. The sword was flickering with magical black flame, somehow not lighting the wooden table on fire. It looked exactly as Malice-Bringer's cleaver looked after he had enchanted his. Curious, I picked up the sword in one of my hooves and gave it a practice swing.
Fire flowed from the blade, as if it was being fed a constant stream of gasoline. Deciding that this would be a good time to continue to practice my new ability, I looked around for more stuff to enchant. Feeling a little drained, I severed the link between my magic and the sword, causing the fire to slowly draw back into the hilt, then disappearing altogether. At that moment I wondered how enchanting one of my own weapons would turn out. I went to the back door and opened it slowly, making sure not to wake anypony, then closed it behind me. In the distance I could see a few training dummies set up in the middle of the field, next to where Joel's big circle was.
Trotting up to the dummies, I decided to work on my aim with my Sniper Bow. I called my power into my bracelets and said the words of power to trigger stage two of my crossbows. With the bow equipped, I willed a new magic circle over the crossbow, implanting the words "Eu'teno", "Opeji'pv", and "Uri'tm". As before, the spell circle floated to the front of the weapon, slid to the handle, and triggered a flash of light. After I unshielded my eyes, I saw that the bolt that was loaded into the bow was charged with electricity. I sighted the head of one of the dummies and held my breath, making sure I was as accurate as possible. Flicking the trigger, the bolt sped out from the bow, and hit the dummy directly in between the eyes. Then, nothing happened. Disappointed, I fed another bolt into the crossbow, then looked up. Just then, a bolt of black lightning came from the sky and connected with the bolt and caused the dummy to explode. The blast caused me to fall backwards on my plot.
"I found a new spell enchantment to use." I thought to myself, smirking. However, I supposed that it only worked outside, when there were clouds in the air. Suddenly, I felt exhausted. I had spent a ton of magic energy practicing my new ability. Satisfied with my training, I trotted back inside the house powering down my crossbow spell. When I entered I saw Sophie rubbing at her eyes. "Hey, Spell, what was that noise?" she asked tiredly. "Oh, that was my new toy." I told her, grabbing the statue which I had absorbed and showing her.
"Enchantments." I said, pausing to gauge her reaction. "I enchanted my crossbow with electricity and shot it into one of Joel's training dummies and it exploded when a bolt of lightning struck it." I said proudly. "Horseapples," Sophie swore. "Sounds awesome. I wish I saw it." "You still can, you can come outside and watch me do it again." I explained. She nodded excitedly, flopped onto her hooves and stretched. Together, we walked outside. Gesturing towards the training dummies, I directed her attention and told her to watch. I focused my energy and repeated the spell I had used before. As soon as my crossbow bolt was bursting with energy, I aimed at the head of the dummy and fired. It connected with a large enough force to whip back the head of the dummy and tear the seam and it finally settled facing downwards as if it was sad.
"Wait for it..." I said, reassuring her that what would happen would be awesome. A lightning bolt flashed in the sky and grounded itself directly into the bolt, causing the dummy to explode, just like the other one. "By Celestia's grace," She swore again. "That was amazing." Sparkles of light flashed in her eyes with amazement comparable to her amazement from when I vaporized the demons earlier while we were in the cave. I nodded proudly and stopped feeding the spell. Stumbling slightly, I forgot that most of my power was used up. "Spell! You okay?" Sophie asked worriedly. "Yeah, I'm fine, I just need to sit down for a minute. I used up a lot of my power doing that."
She patted me on the back with a hoof and we went back into the house. "Hey, let's get some food, it's almost dinnertime." I said to Sophie. "Sure." She said as her stomach growled, making her blush. We went to the fridge and made a couple salads composed of flower petals, lettuce, and carrots. We talked about what I had found in the satchel. When we had finished our meals, we went back out to the living room. I curled up on a recliner and decided to nap away the tiredness. Sophie agreed with me and laid back onto the couch. Shortly after both of us found a comfortable position, we drifted off into a good night's sleep.
"Spellflash! Wake up ya' lazy filly!" Joel said, shaking me from my dreams. "Huh? What?" I said sleepily. "We gotta go!" he said, pushing a lump of clothes into my hooves. Shrugging, I put on the garment. After my eyes adjusted to the light, I glanced down at what I was wearing. It was a black dress. Confused, I looked up at Joel. He was wearing a black suit. "What's going on?" I inquired. "Sabrina's funeral." he announced seriously. I nodded, sadly. Joel gestured and I followed him. We walked outside and I was greeted by bright sunlight. I had slept through the night.
I walked with him til we were in front of a large hole. Everypony was there. They were all wearing black clothing, with sorrowful looks on their faces. Salem looked like normal again, however, his mane had a slightly darker tint and his coat was slightly brighter. He was also fully healed. I guessed that Joel had slipped him a few healing potions before the funeral. "We put to rest Sabrina Flamebreak. A great Demon Hunter, a wonderful sister, and slayer of many demons." Salem said. We all bowed our heads. "I will now lower her into her final resting place." he said as he levitated the coffin that his sister was in, down into the hole. Sally's horn glowed with a deep brown color as the earth shifted and filled in the hole.
"Luckily for us, in the event of our death, we had the soul of the other join with the soul of it's twin." Salem explained. That explained the subtle differences in his mane and coat. I could feel the regret and sadness in his voice. We finished up the service, payed our respects, and went back inside. "Sorry for what I said last night Spell. I didn't mean to be harsh. But, now we are together once again." Salem assured me. "Oh! I almost forgot," I said as I levitated Sabrina's necklace out of my bags, then towards him. "Thanks so much, Spell. I was wondering where that was." He said as he grasped it in his hoof, then putting it on, fusing with his own. His eyes flashed white and rolled back into his head for a second as he took a deep breath and closed his eyes. When he opened his eyes again, they were back to normal, even his damaged eye, which seemed to be healed, except it was Sabrina's eye color instead. We all said our goodbyes and went our separate ways. After I bowed before the grave with respect, I turned to go back to the farmhouse. Sophie tapped me on the shoulder.
"Now that that has been dealt with, I have a task for you Spell. I know you can do it. You've proven yourself before." Sophie told me. I nodded, accepting the challenge before even hearing the request. "This request is kind of unorthodox, but you can handle it." she paused. "I need you to retrieve an item for me. It is located in Deathgrowl Cave, near the edge of the Everfree Forest. The item is a magical book that I need to research to improve my armor crafting skills, however, the creatures that are guarding the are more ferocious than any demon you've encountered so far. Here is a map, just in case you get lost. I need to wrap up with some things here, then I will be waiting for you in my hometown of Manehatten. Okay?" Sophie explained the details of the mission, I agreed to the terms, and I suited up.
It was still mid-morning by the time I left Joel's house. Sally and Joel waved farewell, taking care to make sure I was bringing all of my items with me. When I had made sure all of my gear was gathered, I headed out in the direction of the cave. I checked the map and followed the path down the road quite a ways, taking in all the sights while I walked. Everywhere I saw flowers and trees of all different shapes and sizes. The colors that blossomed forth from the flower petals was practically overwhelming. As the wind moved through the landscape of colored foliage, it formed a wave of beauty that was unparalleled to anything that I had seen in nature before.
Eventually, I found a spot next to a shady tree and decided to eat the lunch that Joel and Sally had packed for me. Peanut butter and jelly sandwich, with a side of apple slices. They really know how to please my taste buds. I looked out over the landscape once again as the sights, smells, and tastes flowed through my body as I ate. In the distance, I could hear birds chirping and other pleasant noises that all made me almost forget that I hunted demons now.
After finishing my lunch, I continued onward to the Everfree Forest. From what I had heard about the place, it was a place where ponies dared not to go. It was apparently filled with monsters and creatures of ridiculous strength. Giving me a mission to go there proved that Sophie had a lot of trust in me. I was sure I could handle whatever beasties were hiding in the shadows of the cave. Seriously, I beat a Primary Demon, what could stop me now? A sign pointing out several directions to popular cities or land marks appeared in front of me. Straight ahead was Manehatten, to the left and up, was the city of Cloudsdale, and to the right, was the Everfree Forest. Noting the direction of Manehatten, I went right towards my mission.
Over the horizon, a large forest composed of dark vines, strangely shaped trees, and ominous, glowing, yellow eyes which seemed to stare directly at me. Arriving at the entrance to the Everfree Forest, I looked around for the cave. To my left, in the base of a mountain was a cave. Upon remembering I had a map, I pulled it out of my satchel and gauged my location. This was the correct cave, according to the map. Gathering myself up, I walked off the path and into the tall grass that bordered the forest. As I arrived at the cave, I was greeted with unnerving sounds coming from inside. Gulping, I summoned light from my horn and stepped inside.
Once inside, it didn't seem so bad. I readied a magic circle in my mind, just in case of sudden attack. Pausing to look around, I surveyed the area. The walls of the cave had liquid flowing down the sides. Every now and then, the sound of water dripping into a puddle could be heard. Stalagmites and stalactites were all around the cave, forming hideous looking jaws around the walls. This cave had been here a really long time. There were even pillars where they had joined together, every couple feet, which were at least a few feet around.
Suddenly, I heard a little squeak. I looked around and saw nothing. It squeaked again, this time louder. The source of the noise seemed to be right behind me. Quickly, I turned around and unleashed the prison spell that I was holding in my mind. Inside the binding circle, I saw...a bunny. "Really Sophie? This is the big scary monster that had you worried?" I said out loud, my voice echoing off the walls. "Aww, what a cute little bunny." I said to it softly. "You're no big scary monster are you, you're just a sweet...little...bunn..." I trailed off. Above me I saw a massive group of bat-winged demons, curled up and hanging from the ceiling. Making sure not to make any sudden noises, I looked back towards the trapped bunny. What was in my circle could no longer be described as a rabbit. It had transformed into a demon, matching the demons sleeping above me.
Without warning, the demon-bat-bunny screeched, awaking the bat demons above me. Quickly, I galloped towards the exit and called my demon swords forth, also enchanting them with an unholy blaze. Taking a combat stance, I prepared myself to fight. Bat demons swooped down at me in waves. I slashed at them as they came, drawing attention to myself by flailing around uselessly. Some of the demons got close enough to me for me to connect with flesh, igniting them in unholy flame. They writhed on the ground in agony, making horrible screeching sounds until they were smoldering corpses.
There was too many of them. I needed a new tactic. Remembering my favorite enchant, I disabled my blades and brought my Sniper Bow back into action, while chanting the words, "Eu'teno", "Opeji'pv", "Uri'tm", and "Ejiu'p". My crossbow flashed for a second and became usable. I aimed towards the center of the swarm of bats and loosed my bolt. It connected with a demon's chest, causing it to rupture a bit, but not enough to kill it. Suddenly, a bolt of dark lightning came down to strike the bolt, making the bat explode into a fine mist. The mist gave the secondary part of the spell easy access. Lightning arced from the bolt, through the blood, then into all of the other bats, stunning them and cooking them in mid-air. Each of them to hit the ground, sizzling, with a dull thump and a hiss.
Carefully, I made my way past the smoking demon bat pile and re-entered the cave. Slowly, I made my way back through the winding tunnels and eventually came across a book on a podium that seemed to be made from the cave walls themselves. Looking around, I checked for traps. Seeing none, I walked closer to the book, preparing another prison spell in my mind. Sensing nothing, I took the book, put it into my satchel, and headed out of the cave to Manehatten.