Chapter 11
Sylph
Sylph was a young Highlands pixie. Her family and entire colony of pixies served the Royal House of Greywood. She found herself flying around the small valley that her family called home. She knew of all the nooks and crannies in the valley, due to her curious nature, a nature that all pixies shared. But, there as still one place in the valley that she had visited. A small temple on one of the ends of the valley.
The Temple, called by many as 'The Land of Unending.' was forbidden to be entered several decades ago, when the Greywood family was granted ownership of the valley by the Ravenwood Empire. Many of the pixies from that time had already passed into the aether, but the one that was still alive, said that there were dark forces hiding inside the temple. That there was something hiding in it that couldn't be killed. And that is why several thousand warriors had been stationed outside the temple, to prevent it from leaving.
Sylph didn't know what was in the temple, but she was always curious enough to want to find out, and that is why on that particular day, when the guards closest to the temple were changing shift for the month, that sylph was hiding on the top of the Temple, waiting for when they would not be looking. She smiled as she saw her chance, the two guards facing the temple had looked away.
Sylph blinked softly as she looked around the Temple. The main floor of the area had simply been a staircase leading down to what looked like a maze. Sylph looked around in amazement, the entire area seemed to go on forever. She smiled softly, as she slowly landed on the floor, looking around the area. The walls seemed to be several feet high, much larger then the ponies that were guarding the area now, as well the few glyphs on the walls that she could understand, described things like 'hands'. Things that ponies clearly didn't have.
As she continued wandering, she found no evidence of anyone having been inside the Temple for ages, maybe even longer then when the Greywood family, took control of the Valley. This only confused her, as that would mean that the Greywood's had been lying to the pixies, and the rest of the Valley. It was then that her wings suddenly stopped working. And the air felt much heavier.
"And what is such a little thing doing here, waking me up with their magic?"
"Look over the Crypt, there is evidence that a Soul Eater indeed did reside somewhere inside the Crypt, however... it was so long ago, that the magic should have naturally returned, as it's even older then those skeletons."
"Then, why hasn't the Residual Magic replenished naturally?" Raging asked, glancing at Luna again, as Draken Claw sighed, still looking at the Digsite. "If it really was that long ago, then why would it..."
"There must be something further down, or the Soul Eater is hiding from prying eyes somewhere near-by." Sunny said, interrupting Raging now, shaking her head again. "We need to find the edges, as the magic that Draken Claw spoke of, it leaves traces... Traces in the residual magic, which is gone."
"And that would break the enchantment."
"Exactly!" Sunny Meadow said, smiling eagerly as Raging Night, ho only sighed. "See, you're learning quickly about this stuff Raging."
"I'm not learning about anything, quickly or otherwise Sunny." Raging said, sighing once again as he looked back over to The Crypt. "If something as dangerous as a Soul Eater is living near the city, then we need to know about it, for the safety of magic users, and anything else that might be in it's path."
"So, you're familiar with them then?"
"Only in theory." Raging said softly, sighing a bit softly again, as he shook his head. "I've read about them from past reports. And each of those reports talk of the damage they do, and that there's no real counter against them."
"So, if there is a Soul Eater near here, then we'll need to abandon the dig, until it leaves." Luna said softly, shaking her head. "Then I pray that the Soul Eater that was here, had already left ages ago."
"Indeed." Sunny said, smiling softly as a young soldier approached them. "Yes? What is it?"
"Ma'am... Sir... Your Highness." He said, nodding his head to each of them, after saluting. "Raging, you and Miss Sunny Meadow presence is required at the dig site... there is... a complication."
"A complication?" Sunny asked, raising an eyebrow as she did.
"There is something preventing the diggers and the geomancers from entering The Crypt."
"There what?"
"How strange..." Sunny said, as she looked at the strange, blueish white force-field that had covered the entire wall that they had dug into to find The Crypt. "This... this is not unicorn magic." Sunny said, her horn glowing a soft red, as she tried dispelling the field. "Nor... Nor is it Alicorn magic." She said softly, shaking her head slowly. "I... I have no idea what this could be from..."
"I do, however." Luna said, approaching them from behind, a soft angry look in her eyes. "This... This is the work of a Pixie. Highland Pixie to be precise."
"High... but they went extinct centuries ago." Sunny Meadow said, a shocked look on her face. "Maybe even around the fall of the Ravenwood Empire!"
"And that was more then 20 thousand years ago." Raging said, looking at the force-field. "Placing them at before The Crypt was built."
"But... why would a Highland Pixie place such an enchantment in the area? What is in The Crypt that would cause them to seal this place off with magic that not even Luna can dispel?"