//------------------------------// // Chapter 11 // Story: Seraphim // by Salacar //------------------------------// Seraphim Chapter 11     The dark narrow tunnels inside Deepglimmer, the walls just barely illuminated by the weak light granted by my lantern, brought with them a strange fear I had previously been unaccustomed to, claustrophobia if I had to take a guess. This was only the second time in my memory that I had been wandering such a confine, the first being the mines of Old Stable’s quarry, yet at that time I had had a purpose capable of dispelling my fears. Being an Ascended brought with it a great sense of freedom, and the longer I stayed inside Deepglimmer’s depths, the greater my fears of eventually being swallowed up by the mountain became.   Indeed, inside Deepglimmer I had not the same determination as when I had previously hunted the Fiends; the only company inside those wretched tunnels were the flickering shadows, the pits of darkness my light could not penetrate, and thankfully, my unicorn companion, Crystal Heart. Her presence was the true light that brought me comfort, for each time I thought of her, each time I looked at her, I was reminded that I did have a purpose, a mission, to get her safely through the mountains and back to her home.   It brought me some level of solace, yet it did not take more than an unknown sound coming from inside some dark passage for my heart to start pounding again, and there were plenty of such dreaded passages, filled with unknown fears and dark shadowy creatures just out of my field of vision. The entire mountain complex turned out to be a large system of tunnels, if they were natural or not I could not be sure, but the further in we walked the more the entire thing started to remind me of some large ant hive. It could be that they were actually mines, long since abandoned and lost to time, or it might still house burrowing creatures, just biding their time to swarm us and carry us away to an uncertain doom.   The dark thoughts were dispelled from my mind as I once more looked down at the white and pink filly at my side. It was odd, ever since entering this place she had actually seemed more at ease, as if she found some sort of familiar comfort in those desolate gloomy tunnels and passageways. For whatever reason, her cheerful demeanour made me slightly more comfortable with the situation.   Then there were the earth pony spirits within my being, they were still excited about our course of action, actively guiding us through the network of tunnels. A good thing too, considering that I had absolutely no idea which way we were supposed to go. I was more than happy to let the souls show us the way to their perceived destination, wherever that might be.   In any case we made progress, continuing ever deeper inside the mountain if my fears were to be believed, every time I seemed to hesitate or falter Crystal would nudge my leg and give me a reassuring smile, and each time without fail I would regain my composure and continue onwards. I hadn’t been lying when I had spoken to her outside in the valley; I really was lucky to have met her.   I couldn’t be sure of how much time passed, an hour perhaps, maybe two, but at some point the tunnels started to look like actual worked mines, the walls showing increasingly growing proof that they had been mined and reinforced, the same odd stone pillars we had discovered outside showing up more and more often, and at the same time I was certain that the alien sounds were becoming more frequent. Crystal seemed to notice as well, as her pace had become less bouncy and more careful; slowing down ever so slightly as she cautiously looked down each new passage we came across. Unless ponies had better vision in the dark than myself, I was sure that she couldn’t actually see anything through the openings, but each time she would nod in satisfaction after peering down the tunnel, as if reassuring herself that there wasn’t actually anything there.   Regardless of her ability to perceive anything in the darkness better than I, it did not take long for both of us to agree that we weren’t alone in those tunnels. It started as the sound of something scratching against stone, sounding almost like claws raking the earth in order to dig through it, and then we started hearing low footsteps echoing softly from the various passages. At that point I had already decreased the light of my lantern, both of us moving as silently as we possibly could without stopping our advance entirely.   Our first encounter with the subterranean creatures was heralded only by the low scratching noise coming from a passage in front of us, and in an instant I had spirited Crystal into one of the narrow side passages, turning off the light of my lantern entirely as we kept still and the creatures approached ever closer through the tunnel we had just left. It was completely dark; the creatures didn’t bring any source of light with them, which meant that they were quite capable of seeing in the darkness. It also meant that the only thing I was capable of observing when they passed us, just narrowly avoiding their notice, was that their bipedal shapes weren’t very big, perhaps at the height of a full grown pony and just as broad. They would have reminded me a little of Imps, if not for their obvious lack of wings and Fiendish aura. Shifting my sight into my Soul Sense also did not reveal much, the two creatures were obviously young, as well as native to Equestria if I had to wager a guess, but their souls were both marred with the ugly deep purple of sadistic evil.   A minute went by as their footsteps disappeared down the tunnel, and I eventually let out a sigh I did not realise I had been holding, cautiously returning the glow to my lantern and illuminating our surroundings yet again. I glanced down at Crystal who looked just as nervous as myself, before bending down to pat her on the head and catch her attention, giving her a reassuring smile before motioning back to the tunnel we had come from. She gave me a nod in acknowledgement as we moved around the corner, continuing on our way towards our unknown destination.   Another handful of minutes later our surroundings started changing again, where before there had been no sources of light at all, at some point clear green crystals started poking out of the walls, giving off a dim greenish light which brought some measure of illumination to the tunnels. I had initially been confused about them, considering that the creatures clearly didn’t need them to navigate in the dark, yet after a few more minutes of silently walking through the tunnels we discovered their purpose. We were warned of their approach by the jingling of chains, and just as we took cover we saw them cross through a nearby tunnel.   Ponies, at least five in total, each of them chained with a collar around their neck, connected to the pony behind them by a rusty old chain, they were all dirty and obviously malnourished. There were stallions and mares, young colts and fillies, three of them were earth ponies and the other two were pegasi, and they all looked absolutely miserable.   I gritted my teeth at the sight in front of me; it was obviously some sort of forced labor, they were all carrying saddlebags filled to the brim with gems and crystals, each of the ponies sagging under the weight of their burden, and behind them, keeping the ponies moving, were their enslavers. A duo of bipedal reptilian humanoid creatures, their scales the color of dirty brown, they had short tails, with long crocodilian snouts and deep red eyes. In their clawed hands they carried short spears with jagged tips, and they spoke with clear agitation at the ponies in an almost yapping language. Everything about the situation made my blood boil, and when one of them stabbed at the pony furthest back, a grey and blue pegasus mare, it was only Crystal’s hoof at my side and a sad shake of her head which stopped me from jumping at them then and there.   Calming myself down as they passed out of sight I slid down onto the ground with a sigh, looking at Crystal for some sort of idea on how to proceed. She for one simply stared into the ground, a hoof under her chin in contemplation. After a while she returned her gaze to me, doubt and a hint of fear evident on her features, her voice almost shaky as she spoke in a low voice.   “There’s a dragon here…” At the silent question on my face she continued, her eyes scouting down the tunnel we had seen the group disappear into. “Those were kobolds, small draconic creatures that gather in tribes around a dragon in order to worship it, that’s why they’re collecting those gems.”   I nodded my head, pondering the new information. “It doesn’t matter what they are, if they’re taking innocent ponies as slaves we can’t just let it go.”   Crystal glanced up at me with a look which clearly showed that she had expected my answer, sighing lightly before motioning with a hoof towards the tunnel. “I know it’s the right thing to do, but we don’t know how many kobolds are in there,” another sigh. “and if there really is a dragon I don’t see how we’re going to free the ponies anyway.” At this point her eyes had started getting slightly teary. “I don’t want to lose you, I know you’re strong and everything, but you’d die if you tried fighting a dragon.”   With a smile I reached down, picking up a surprised Crystal before depositing her on my lap, running my hand through her unkempt pink mane, dirty after several days of walking without a chance for a bath. She gave me a short look of desperation, knowing full well what I was going to say, before sighing and finally looking at me with sad acceptance.   “I’m sorry, Crystal, but you know I have to do this. I don’t want to break my promise to you about getting you home, but even more so I don’t want you to live in a world where something like this can happen.” I gave her another smile, continuing my petting. “If I simply left these ponies here I’d never be able to forgive myself. I told you in Old Stable that I wouldn’t lie to you anymore, so I’ll just come out and say this.”   I looked down at her; she was laying spread out on her stomach, clearly enjoying the attention I was giving her tired body. The filly glanced back up at me with a single eye, giving me a sad hum, telling me to go on.   “I might not return, it’s possible that I might even die, or I could succeed and return the ponies to their freedom. Either way, I want you to know that I love you very much, and nothing is more important to me than your safe wellbeing. You’re the first real friend I’ve ever had, and you’re the entire reason I’ve even gotten this far, the entire reason I’ve been able to overcome the obstacles I’ve encountered during my time in Equestria.”   Crystal looked up at me with an odd mix of sadness and joy, tears starting to well up in her eyes despite my best attempts at comforting her, and without another word I bent my head down, kissing her gently on the forehead at the base of her horn, ignoring the chilling coldness that ran through my entire being. I’m not sure why I did so, the gesture was unknown to me, yet it seemed the right thing to do in the situation, and Crystal seemed to appreciate it as she pressed the side of her head to my stomach, nuzzling me affectionately.   We stayed like that for the longest time, me petting her and she enjoying every moment of it, just finding joy and warmth in each other’s company, the entire world reduced to just the two of us as everything else was shut out. Every worry and fear, every thought of the uncertain future and what it would bring, forgotten in that moment of love and friendship. I could feel our heartbeats fall into a synchronous beat, a warm sensation of strength seeping into my body as Crystal started shivering slightly on my lap, only causing me to move my right arm around to wrap her in a tighter embrace, ignoring the ever diminishing pain as it shot through my still damaged limb.   Minutes passed and eventually I felt Crystal fall asleep in my arms, clearly exhausted after everything that had happened that day, and with a thankful smile to my unicorn companion I placed her inside a small crevice nearby together with our bags, making sure to wrap her in the warm blanket and place a few rocks near the opening to act as camouflage.   ‘Stay safe, Crystal.’   After making sure that she would be secure I started removing the damaged cast around my right arm, ignoring the dull pain still coursing through the limb. As the last of the cast fell to the ground I opened and closed my hand testingly, finding to my great joy that my arm seemed functional at least, thankful that it had finally healed enough for me to make use of it. If I was going to free the ponies I’d need every advantage I could get. With a thought I summoned the energies needed to conjure my sword, grasping the familiar hilt in my right hand, focusing power into the limb in order to strengthen the formerly fractured bones the best I could.   Without hesitation I set forth down the corridor, following the trail of the group I had seen pass by earlier, each of my steps silent and steadfast as I let my determination lead me along, the souls I carried eagerly feeding me energy, and eventually the tracks lead me to a larger opening, leading into a big room with only one other exit, large cages standing adjacent to the walls, chains and collars hanging from hooks on the walls and the various pillars adorning the room. Inside the room were at least half a dozen of the reptilian monsters, and each of the five cages could easily house a dozen ponies, with most of them already occupied by prisoners. From what I could tell there were at least twenty ponies in the room, both earth ponies as well as pegasi and unicorns, young or old, male or female didn’t seem to matter to the kobolds, obviously happy to take whoever they could get.   With a silent sigh I brought forth my lantern, feeling stronger than ever since I’d arrived in Equestria, the pony souls resonating with my just purpose and what I was going to do. Focusing my newfound power I started weaving a Miracle, sensing the familiar energy enveloping and strengthening my form as I managed to shape and cast a Miracle to enhance my strength and speed. Dismissing the lantern shortly after, I took one last deep breath before turning the corner with great speed, entering the room and making it to the closest kobold before they could even react to my presence. The kobold didn’t even get a chance to turn around as his draconic kin started yapping, his head cleaved cleanly from his shoulders before the others managed to produce their own weapons, the short spears I had seen earlier.   They hesitated, and a split second of pause was all I needed, quickly stepping forward in a flurry of sword slashes, each of the deadly attacks striking true, the next kobold fell dead to the ground clutching the stump where its arm used to be, yelping in pain. I didn’t even bother finishing it off, adrenaline and righteous wrath fueling my actions as the blade of my sword started glowing, each swing of the weapon sending blood spraying or downing another of my smaller and lesser skilled adversaries. It wasn’t even a fight, more of a massacre as I nimbly stepped around the attacks of a pair of kobolds that had tried flanking me, knocking one of the spears away with my left arm as I opened the throat of the other assailant, quickly spinning around to grant the other kobold a similar fate, both of them falling to the ground hopelessly clutching at their throats in a bid to keep their lifeblood from pouring out. I felt no pity, no remorse.   A frightened desperate yelp warned me of an attack from behind, whirling around just in time to deflect the stab of a spear with the almost burning blade of my sword, and as the kobold tried to spin around and run away I ended its miserable existence with a stab clean through its neck. Another loud yapping told me that more kobolds had entered the prison, and as I turned to the door I saw a dozen more stream into the room, surging towards me with readied spears. With a roar I charged towards them, turning aside their clumsy attacks with blade and vambrace, even in such a large group they were obviously uncoordinated, used to simply overwhelming their opponents with sheer numbers. That strategy wasn’t going to work on me; I had trained for centuries, being taught to effectively counter the swarm tactic common to Imps. These kobolds were much the same, but they weren’t nearly as deadly as the winged Fiends.   Shock and awe, make sure to always move around, give them no chance to flank or attack as a group. Those were the fundamentals, and as I tumbled through their ranks, nimbly sidestepping the awkward thrusts of their spears at such close range while killing or wounding a kobold with every slash, those fundamentals became a coordinated dance. With my enhanced speed and senses I dodged every blow, found every opening in their defenses, and soon enough the kobolds started to panic, yapping loudly in their ugly language as they pushed aside their fellows in an effort to get away. I wasn’t going to let them.   With another roar I leapt forward, cutting down every fleeing kobold I could get into reach of, feeling grim satisfaction in removing the evil ilk from the world. It wasn’t long before the entire room was empty of any living kobolds, the bodies of at least a dozen lying around on the floor, their collective blood painting the earth crimson. I took heavy breaths of air, feeling exhaustion slowly creep into my body. The power I had used had made me strong, but I still wasn’t anywhere near my top condition, and the expenditure of energy had started taking its toll on me.   Intent on getting the ponies free I glanced around for the keys, spotting a bundle hanging from one of the nearby pillars. With quick steps I made my way towards it, reaching out with my hand to grasp it just as a sleek dagger buried itself into the back of my hand. I gave a scream of pain, pulling the dagger free and throwing it to the ground, spinning around to find my new opponent. Not far from the door a pair of kobolds was crouching low, having entered the room silently enough for me not to notice them. They both carried light leather armor, a wicked scimitar in the right hand and one of them a dagger in the other, his partner having used his own already. I narrowed my eyes at them, taking a step forward just as they went into motion, quickly making their way towards me in a practiced synchronised movement, still low to the ground. These two were obviously much better trained than their kin, their glowing red eyes shining with feral hunger as they closed in on me.   They both came at me with scimitars swinging, and I just barely managed to get my own blade up to block their combined attack, narrowly pushing a sudden thrust with a dagger aside with my other hand before forcing them back, whirling around to deliver a slash with my sword which one of them deflected with its scimitar as the other closed in on me, slashing wildly in their perceived opening. I quickly proved that notion wrong as I swiftly backstepped, bringing my left arm up to parry aside the attack with a fluid motion, delivering a swift kick to the kobold’s face as a follow up, sending him sliding across the floor just as his friend came back to attack my side. I managed to get my blade back to parry the attack, the kobold hissing at me in annoyance. Unwilling to wait until the other kobold got back on his feet, I pressed my advantage on the foe in front of me, calling upon even more of my dwindling power to fuel my strength and attacks, and the kobold didn’t even have time to counter my barrage of attacks, having to spend all of his focus on simply staying alive.   Just as I managed to disarm the reptile, leaving him with just the dagger, I felt a searing pain run through my back, glancing around to find another dagger lodged firmly beneath the reinforced part of my shoulder, the other kobold giving me a smug grin from the ten feet away where he had thrown the bladed weapon from. That was all the distraction his friend needed as he came back at me from the front, stabbing forward with the dagger which I promptly parried, but which allowed him to sink his sharp teeth into my left arm, causing me to yelp in pain once more. With a great surge of strength I grasped the creature with my wounded arm, spinning around and sending him flying through the room at his friend. Or at least where his friend had previously been. Barely had he hit the cage on the far end of the room before I heard movement from the other direction, turning back just in time to notice another pair of armored kobolds coming into the room, joining my other adversary and yapping victoriously as they produced a bound struggling form.   I froze as I noticed their burden; in their arms was a bruised Crystal Heart, her eyes filled with tears and her hooves bound by rope, desperation, fear and pain evident on her features. As she noticed me standing there, wounded and tired myself, her eyes only filled with even more tears, struggling feebly against her captors.   “Lysander!” She screamed as green energy started forming around her horn before my previous enemy ran a claw along the length of her horn, causing her to yell out in pain and the energy to fizzle.   “Crystal!” I roared as I went to charge forward, only to find the strength leaving my body and an excruciatingly sharp pain run through my abdomen, as I glanced down, my vision starting to fog over, I noticed the hilt of a dagger sticking out through my stomach, red blood starting to taint the white and blue robes, pain flaring with every breath, every movement.   I turned around feebly, noticing the sadistically grinning kobold behind me, just seconds before he thrust the pommel of his scimitar into my face. The last thing I remembered before unconsciousness took me was Crystal’s distant fearful screams.       “Help me!       Lysander!”