Adventure!(?)
"Well, I did what I could."
"And that's good enough."
"I'll be damned if I can make it any better than what my genius of son did."
"It's not that bad. At least it's usable now... at the least."
"Sorry, lad. I'd do more, if things weren't the way they are right now."
"I'm pretty sure anypony would say the same. Goodnight, Ingot."
"And to you too, Keith."
Today was the day.
There was barely any sleep the night before. The bittersweet anxiety of the days to come had made sure of that. The excitement of another adventure, mixed with the fear of death and the unknown, tainted by the stress of what I would be leaving behind. That day, I couldn't shake the cold sweat or the restlessness, and I found myself having to force down food to counter the butterflies that wanted to burst out of my gut.
This feeling was not unfamiliar, but it was far from a friend. The only other time I experienced this ambivalent anticipation was just over a year ago, and I had hoped it wouldn't be so soon before I'd feel it once more. Only this time, there was an obligation. A need -and a want- to make sure my friends were safe. I knew they would have done the same, and I owed them more than they knew. Their unexplained absence began to have an effect on the village and its residence, and it was rather daunting not having anypony really close anymore. Even though there were more ponies in town, they all felt distant due to the past events, worsening as time went by. I thought I was being rash, but if now was not the time to act, there may not be another time. So I prepared myself.
Over my time in Equestria, I learned many things that became common sense. One such thing was that, I, as a human, was the dust at the hooves of the regular equine's physical abilities. Sure, I could climb, and grab, and do many other things with the help of an opposable thumb. But I'll never be able to outrun one of them, nor kick as hard, nor jump as far. As time went on, I grew stronger. I physically adapted to the environment and the tasks that were thrown in my face when I came to Equestria, and became used to it. But If I was this weak when faced with cute and cuddly miniature cartoon horses, then how would I fare against the aggressive, agile aviators known as the griffins? The fact that they looked deadly in both mythology and cartoons just confirmed the problems I would face. I pondered over this as I trimmed my own hair in front of the mirror. It had grown too long, and hung over my eyes, forcing me to swipe it aside repeatedly. I did not permit such a little distraction to hinder me.
Brushing the loose strands of black hair from my forearms, I entered the armory. If I could rely on physical ability, I could rely on my armaments; a shortsword, a longsword and a crossbow. It wasn't much, but they were reliable enough to have saved my life before. I briskly approached the weapons rack, crafted by Ingot, to retrieve the shortsword and crossbow, both also crafted by Ingot. I weighed them thoughtfully in each hand, thinking about how I, in the day and age I was born in, found it awesome to handle my own weapons made in a different era, let alone a different universe. As I clipped both forms of medieval weaponry to my belt and scabbard, I admired the last weapon left on the otherwise empty wooden rack. A blade that I knew was much more powerful than it looked... and it already looked pretty powerful.
There, gathering dust in the center of the room, yet gleaming by the light of Celestia's setting sun was the Harmony Blade. Granted, that was not the actual name of the weapon, but it best described the six harmony stones that had been planted into the sword's golden hilt for near an eternity. The blade itself shined the same hue, with a literal silver-lining carved into its double-edges. Two 'horns' protruded from the hilt, parallel to the regal blade, and held the sword in its stand. I admitted it before, to my friends and anypony brave or desperate enough to pay me a visit. Any creature that wandered into the the small armory always asked the same questions...
"Where did you get it?"
"Did you make it?"
"How did you get it?"
And I would always respond, with a plain face and as little detail as I dared give.
"It's not mine."
I wiped the thin layer of dust off the hilt, remembering how I had chosen to keep this longsword away. It had been six months since I took it off the shelf. Even then, I only ever took it to the fields nearby to practice. Never into the town. Not since what happened with it. For there was something powerful inside it. I couldn't tell what. I couldn't really explain it to the ponies either, not even Twilight. All I knew was that I feared what I had not yet unleashed. As I slowly wrapped my fingers around the grooved handle, I felt it again. That empowering aura that extruded from the mysterious weapon. It felt good. It felt righteous without reason. I assumed it was made to feel that way.
I hitched this great load onto the scabbard as well, and let the feeling of security come over me. I allowed myself a moment to stand still, to indulge in the moment of mediocre badassery I bestowed upon myself. I felt safe from the dangers ahead, thought I knew little about them. I felt ready even though I knew I would almost surely die out there. This was something Rook told me was my strength, the same thing that Steelheart called my downfall.
I was almost ready. My mind was set, no doubt about that. I was armed, and as dangerous as I fronted I myself to be, although checking myself in the mirror brought down that little hope. I also realized how it was probably the last time I would see my face in a while, if not ever again. I glared at the man in the mirror, asking him whether he was as ready as I was. With nopony else in the house, it sounded quite absurd.
"Arrow mags?... Check... Canteen. Where's your canteen?... Oh, here it is... Got your gloves?... yeah, you're wearing them, dumbass..." I mumbled to him as I checked every last piece of equipment.
Everything seemed to be in place and ready. The backpack was filled to the brim for survival. Everything in my physical ability had been taken care of, and it was almost time to go.
But first, there was something I needed to restore. Something that would be of more use to me than anything I had readied.
I placed all my stuff by the stairwell in the foyer before I turned to inspect the only piece of decorative furniture that was in the room. A single circular metal stand stood solely, a thin incomplete pillar in the center of the house, topped by a vase of petunias that seemed to keep its optimism in the drought. Admittedly, it was a peculiar place for a decorative stand. Even then, a silver cylinder was hardly decorative. I told anypony that ever took a step into my foyer and questioned it that it was merely for eccentricity.
That was a downright lie.
Having hastily removed the flowers from its post, I wrapped my five fingers around the rim of the top of the pole. With a firm twist and a light mouse-like squeak, the rim popped up, extending to present an inner tubing through the diameter of the cylinder.
This was all planned for. The tube's holes were small enough for only fingers to poke in, and the object within the tubing could only be retrieved by prodding it from one end and reaching it with the other. As I pulled the silver key from its compartment, I pressed the lid back shut and lifted it from its position. This revealed the next part of the puzzle.
There in the floor was a little shiny panel, measuring the same circumference as the flower stand. Anypony could have mistaken it as a pipe to drainage system. But that would lead that pony to wonder why was a pipe so strangely placed, in center of a tower of a home, where water would be most unlikely to leak into. That.and why it had a tiny little keyhole in its center.
The key, designed too small to be picked up by a pony's mouth or teeth, slid perfectly into its place. I flipped back the unlocked lid to reveal not a pipe to a drain, but a handle, built into the floor. The snout of any hoofed creature would not be able to even fit in the hole, but I could surely grab the handle with fingers. I twisted the thick metal bar, hearing the satisfactory clickity-clack of a locking mechanism coming loose.
At last, I heaved the handle, along with its contents out of the hole in the ground. My gaze locked on to the only item that entire contraption held. Funny how my greatest secret lay beneath the nose of every visitor I had. I allowed myself a second to admire my own ingenuity, as overdone as it was.
Sometimes, I felt that the invisible magical resistance surrounding it, certified by Princess Celestia, seemed redundant.
There it was, stowed away for half the time since the incident, was the pendant; a lustrous gold treasure with six sparkling spikes mounted on a two-layered circular disk frame. It was only to be outdone by the six vivid gemstones that were latched into its surface, seemingly unbreakable. The Harmony Medallion, having put me through so much already, was about to carry me through a lot more.
"All that for a lousy piece of jewellery..." I grumbled at the powerful relic.
As I hovered ah and over the medallion, my heart rate shot up, higher than what my body would cause on its own. I need not touch it and it already provided adrenaline!
Was I willing to risk one of Man's most powerful unknown relic by putting it in my own hands? Not for my sake, for I saw what power the medallion contained. I was less afraid of my death than I was of losing this artifact, especially into the wrong hands.
I thought it over one last time, knowing the consequences that could come from it. After all, the only account of having used at least a fraction of its full power lead to quite a bit of physical harm.
Don't be stupid. You're doing this for your friends...
If they're still alive anyway...
With that, I clasped a hand over the medallion, letting it all happen, letting one of the greatest human phenomenons not known to man engulf me. My brain felt fuzzy, and I felt my dulled senses were being sharpened. Any weariness within me escaped with every passing breath. My vision and hearing muffled, and my heartbeat leaped into my ears as I clasped my hands together, watching as a mystic white ethereal smoke rose from them. It went up my arms, danced on my shoulders and head, squeezed out of the sleeves of my clothes and ran onto the floor before sailing upward into the air like a falling feather in reverse. A healing scar on my forearm I had acquired over the Winter disappeared, seeping back into my skin, and this was only the first of the visible scratches on my body that were permanently erased.
This instant of overwhelming adrenaline felt amazing, thought I had not grown used to it yet. I also found it out of the ordinary that, after only such a short time without exposure of the Harmony Medallion, it caused such an unexpected rush. With the temporary disorientation that followed, I reluctantly waited for one last thing, for there was one other very very strange aspect of it that I particularly enjoyed and loathed simultaneously.
"It's been a while since we've talked like this, Keith." A loud voice reverberated within my head. Something else I would be forced to adjust to.
Aura. Good to hear from you too, strange ethereal being inside me.
There was no need to catch up. To fully converse was completely unnecessary. He knew what was going on from the very beginning and he still does. It was a silent agreement as I allowed him to activate the power within humans, and as the magic flowed through my veins, I couldn't help but feel peaceful. It was as if everything was going to be okay.
Let's get some things straight again, shall we? First off: you're nameless, and I'm not calling you any of my usernames... that is really annoying.
"Fine."
Secondly, I know I'm throwing myself into an industrial grinder here. I don't need that rumbling about in my head either.
"Noted."
And lastly, you are to help me in any way possible, understand? Because if I die, you die too. Now tether up.
I whipped out my phone, allowing the conduit and converting properties of the Aura to do what still baffled me. With a little static, the screen lit up without me pushing a button, and the little microphone application popped up.
"Admit it though, you missed me." The voice that was extremely unlike Siri and very much like mine cooed.
"What? A rather uncontrollable assanine voice in my head? Hell no."
"So... you're not gonna care if you're a little rusty?" The voice of my aura fuzzed in and out as it gradually latched onto its electronic medium, "It's been six months. For all we know, we could have learned a lot more in six months."
"No thank you." I muttered, recalling for myself what had happened over the course of the year that had caused me to keep it away in the first place. It was for the safety of Ponyville that I stowed it away. These thoughts provided enough reason for the voice in my head, "We've wasted enough time. We have to get to the trains by sundown or we won't be leaving today."
With renewed energy, I kicked up my backpack effortlessly and caught it by stylishly slinging my arm through a strap. This was but a tiny example of the Aura's physical abilities. With that attitude and without a doubt in my mind at that point, I made my way out.
"Umm... not the best idea there." my Aura advised as I swung open the double doors to my home eagerly.
"God damn it, I already know that!" I retorted, locking the door to my lighthouse of a home, hoping that I would be able to return as soon as possible.
"It's not that! It's just that-"
I spun round with such enthusiasm, that I almost missed the creature that was waiting for me by the side of the door.
And the sight of him did much more than diminish my enthusiasm. Even in my accelerated state, he made the colour drain from my face. I froze, wide-eyed at the creature.
"-there's someone waiting for you... my Aura almost whimpered out, receiving my fear.
In retrospect, to call him a creature was wrong. To be a creature, one required a constant physical being, and can be seen as something very distinct from a human. But he was neither. He was not a pony. The closest thing I knew him as was human, and even that was controversial. My mind was blank when it come to finding ways to characterize him -a being consisting purely of human souls and auras, overflowing with human magic yet containing it to casually lean against frosted glass of my house- and he smiled at with a mixture of what I perceived was patronizing superiority and slyness. It had been a while since I felt such unease.
For there, though he remained unarmed and unarmoured, was Legion. The ethereal warrior of a million men and women and children. The keeper of the memories of his people and the embodiment of their last desires to find and guard what they had created. The warrior that could have -and almost- killed me when I first arrived in Equestria.
I stood there, letting cold sweat run down my neck, keeping my gaze interlocked with his, even as his white eyes pierced my very being.
Why didn't you tell me sooner!?
"You gave me no chance to!"
The unearthly being the looked down on me had to break the silence, "So, the Bearer of the Spirit of Harmony is setting out once more, on the prowl for another adventure." He shook his head condescendingly.
"Legion." I stated, not greeted. I strained to keep my voice calm, holding back the feelings of fear and injustice in his beliefs. And yet, I knew nothing about why he was here.
"I see it in you, little Earth-dweller." He went on, "You wish not for me to be here, but for me to depart so that you may be on your way. Needless to say, that little burst of our magic was what attracted me here." Legion, a man with ever-changing features, strolled out onto the meadow around my house. Somewhere on his body, a stream of the same mystic smoke rose up from him as he gazed out at the village below.
"Why are you here, Legion? Get it over with Legion, because you sure as hell aren't gonna stop me from going." I said calmly with a bitter tinge. I only spoke to him like that with the security of the oath he held to his master. Otherwise, I was certain that I would have been dead by now.
"It has been quite some time since I felt such a surge of such energy." He turned to face me, the smile turned to a grin, "And admit it: even a little time without it has lead you to be dazed, breathless by its power!"
"I'll just get used to it again." I responded plainly.
"That is far from the point. The point is that you are not ready. Unless..." the grin dropped into a sneer in an instant, "... Unless you can prove me wrong."
The next few actions were a blur, just like Legions initial movement. He faded into the air, and I watched in surprise as his being wisped to oppose me. He reappeared first by his hands, having wrapped themselves around my neck, followed by his sneering face. I struggled for a second as I was lifted off the ground by my throat. However, I released my share of human magic. This allowed my Aura to charge into his, disrupting his physical reformation before it could complete. It only caused a split second of hesitation, but it was all I needed. I kicked out at whatever physical being remained, and watched as his floating torso retreated a few meters. As soon as my feet touched the earth, I reached for a sword.
That was when I realized that the blade of Harmony was missing.
Legion reformed a few meters away, circling his target. And there, brandished in one hand, was the longsword! I reached for my alternative in panic, knowing that Legion with his original weapon was a far greater force to be reckoned with.
"Come, you little scrap! Show me what you've learned!" His voice echoed throughout the fields before he lunged at me in full physical form.
From there, we fought, striking steel against steel one after another. When he swung out, I countered. If he used his magic, I sent out mine. This cycle dragged on and on, and I realized in my decreasing stamina that there was nothing to gain from this, except for the blade in his hand, which I really required for my journey ahead. I cursed at myself for having allowed him to take it from me.
With every attack, this frustration built up. Anger increased with the unbridled and unexplained presence of the ethereal warrior. He was obviously not here to finish me. He was toying with me, draining me even before my quest could begin!
Finally, having pressed down on me with inhumane force, I felt something within me snap. Breathless and sweat-stained, I understood it more than felt it. It was not rage or insanity. On the contrary, it was something better. As Legion held me down with the blade of Harmony locked over my head, I focused; I shut my eyes and thought of it with control. Feeling the power within a human physique charge.
Before Legion could cause me to submit, I let it loose. The last thing I saw before my vision went out temporarily was the Medallion producing a piercing hue. What followed was an incredible force and a blinding light. It felt like a hammer had pummeled my torso, and I felt to my knees in exhaustion.
By the time my eyes returned to me, Legion was nowhere in sight, almost as if he were vaporized, leaving behind nothing but trails of ethereal particles.
As much as I liked to think I had won, I learnt for a fact that a being of countless souls would not be defeated that easily. This was only confirmed when he took shape one more time.
However, this time he showed no intention of attacking. He dawdled over back to the view of the village, resting his sword on his shoulder. I allowed the human magic to quickly aid me in regaining my strength, just in case he had anything else planned.
A light chuckle escaped his lips, "And to think, just this twelfth month last year, you had defeated me."
"Well... I couldn't do it alone." I wheezed, reminding the survivor of the lost civilization of his roots.
"That is true, I grant you," He turned around, showing no loss from our little skirmish. "But you don't know as much about our past as you think?"
"I'll find out eventually." I grunted, hauling myself back onto my feet.
"That you will." He regained the smile he had when he first arrived, "For not all answers shall be shown to you. I know where you have chosen to go and you shall find them yourself."
"Please tell me that is all you've come to tell me?" I almost pleaded.
Legion paused thoughtfully, then swung out the weapon of his people -not at me, but at the ground- digging its edges into the soil. At the time, I could not tell if I felt the dirt beneath me shook. He placed a hand on the upturned hilt, like one would pat the back of an old friend.
"Perhaps." He calmly replied, "But just remember this..." It was then that he began to atomize, his features turning into a bright haze that flew into the sky,
"You have Harmony. There is still Order. There is still Balance. Complete the Trinity and make us whole."
His words echoed in the wind that carried him away, leaving as if he were never there in the first place.
That encounter was the most peculiar and deadly experience I had faced yet. As I quickly recovered from him his quick appearance and disappearance, I could only add his words to my ever-growing list of mysteries. Indeed, I expected Equestria to be a very new and thus mysterious world to me, but not like this. My head spun around them while I pulled the Harmony blade from the dirt, carelessly hitching it back onto my back.
Harmony. Order. Balance.... What could he have meant by that?
Those were thoughts for later. The view of the setting sun snapped me back into the situation. There was a vital task at hand, and it was far from over. I briefly cast aside the thoughts of my enemy and friend. They would be thought of later.
But for now, I had a train to catch.