//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3 
// Story: The Mage's Jump 
// by Marvelous Cheshire 
//------------------------------//


THE MAGE’S JUMP
BY GENOSABER
CHAPTER 3


I felt weightless, like I was floating atop a calm lake. I tried to retrace my steps prior to this. Went to Canterlot, met princesses, talked to Twilight at a restaurant, came back to Ponyville, went to bed. That drew me to the obvious conclusion that I was dreaming.

I had always been a lucid dreamer, as had most of the members of my family. From what I’ve learned, it as something to do with our natural talent for divination. While most, like myself, only have a mild skill in the art, usually a random prophetic dream or spending an hour at a crystal ball. Though from time to time someone like my grandmother is born with the ability to see the future vividly. Of course, that could be because I never practice divination, I have no need for it.

Deciding I had remained in darkness long enough, and I opened my eyes to see what environment my Dreamscape has conjured now. I was greeted by an endless grey void, the appearance similar to a silver nebulous cloud. I looked down to find that I was in the same clothes I fell asleep in, no shirt, no shoes, pajama pants with a pattern similar to the traditional black mage pants. I had burned the original pair within a week of getting them, and Arcana thought it would be funny to get me a pair of pajamas designed the same way. I could still vaguely feel the sensation of Twilight's fur on my chest.

‘Might as well take a look around.’ I thought. I slowly began walking forward, not really paying any attention to the direction I was going in this void. As I walked, I began to hear sounds, mostly songs Reeve had pounded into my head, but also what I believed to be someone talking.

Making my way around a rather thick cloud-like mass, I found the source of the voices. A large mirror like screen showing my self speaking with Louis, the sight of myself in a hospital bed, wrapped all over in bandages, my left arm in a sling. I felt my hand begin to ache as I watched our conversion from eight years ago.

“What were you thinking Trace, why would you resort to using that magic?” Louis demanded.

“If I hadn’t done it, she would have died,” my past self stated. He glanced over to the bed next to him, a figure sleeping soundly under the covers.

Louis sighed, his frown never changing. “I know, but think about it, both her parents were killed by Siegfried and the Necromancer, she has no one to care for her, and because of what you did, she’ll be marked for the rest of her life, do you really know if you made the right choice?” I could feel my past self getting enraged by Louis’ words, and watched as my past self nearly jumped out of the bed and slugged Louis with his undamaged arm, knocking him down.

“Never say that!” he growled, crouching in front of Louis. “All life is precious, I swore to the Elder I would save as many as I could, the thought of letting a child die sickens me.” He got up and made his way back to the bed. “I’ve already spoken to the Elder, he said he would watch over her until she was old enough to care for herself.”

Louis remained silent for a moment before opening his mouth. “Name?” My past self stared at him. “What is her name?” 

My past self stayed silent for several minutes before answering. “Fei.” The screen faded immediately afterwards. After a few more minutes, the picture returned, but with a new scene.

This one was from a bout two years. I was once again beat all to hell, my left leg in a cast. I was sitting in the park, Reeve and some of his band members sitting around me. Reeve was holding an old acoustic guitar. I smiled a bit at this memory.

“Come on Trace, Sing it, you know you want to,” Reeve said with his usual idiotic grin. My past self sighed before nodding.


“Fine, play the damn song," he said. Reeve nodded and began to play. after a few seconds, my past self began to sing.



"About time you showed up,” a voice behind me said. I summoned a version of my knife and turned to face my “guest.”

Standing before was a magus. His trappings, an old and faded black longcoat with matching pants, torn at the end. His hat old and worn, a piece of old silver shaped into a waxing crescent sat atop it. “Took ya long enough.” The Figure said, their voice was distinctly male, despite the veil in effect.

“Just who the hell are-” I began before the magus cut me off.

“No time, I need to show you something, it will help you in what is to come,” he said as he grabbed my arm and pulled me in a random direction. I barely had time to ask what he was doing before we reached an all too familiar area of this plane.

The core, the area which which shows my soul.

“Look,” he stated as he forced my head to look at the image of my soul. It was not a pretty sight. The image looked at me, except for the endless lengths of bloodied razor wire covering much of the body. The most gruesome part was the large barbed spike jabbed into the chest. The wire tangled around the spike, keeping it in place. I fought back the urge to hurl at the sight.

“Look at what, my nightmare for the next week?” I asked the figure. He just sighed in response and pointed at the spike. It took me several seconds to realize what he was talking about.

The spike was farther out of the images chest than last time.

Last time I looked at my soul was nearly a year ago, at which point the spike was around a third to halfway in. Now, it appeared to be just over a quarter of the way in, if the stains on it were anything to go by.

I turned to the figure. “How?”

“You should know, its your soul,” he said before pausing. He seemed to be lost in thought for several moments before placing a hand on my shoulder. “Seems our time is up, I will return soon.” With that, he sent a small shock to throw me out of the dream world.

I awoke with a start, jolting upward as the familiar darkness of Twilight’s bedroom appeared before me. The feeling of someone stirring beside me drew my attention the still sleeping mare. I placed a hand on her head and ran it down her neck gently, calming her and ensuring she remained asleep. I glanced over at the window, noting it was still night, then turned to the wall mounted clock.

3:52 AM.

“Too early for this shit,” I muttered before laying back down and drifting back into my usual dreamless slumber.