The Forgotten World

by KingBrony

Chapter 4

Our relationship with the Draconequus has been pretty rocky recently. In short, they've been putting pressure on the northern borders. With the way the famine's been, most of the food supply ends up going towards keeping the Draconequus away. Their chaos has been reaching various parts of our own kingdom as well. Normal excursions and scouting missions used to only serve as border protection. This time, it was different...

"We are going to make the first move." Captain Hal spoke to the Sleipnir chosen to take the journey. "The High King has given permission for us to attack near Magic Hollow. In fact, all six Kings will be overseeing this mission as well. If we succeed, there will surely be some good things in store for all of you."

I'm not sure if Magic Hollow will still be around by the time you are reading this, but you probably think the place sounds...well, nice and magical. The truth is that it is a haunted forest that runs as far north as the snowy lands and the northern border, and as far south as the deserts near the southern border. They are unclaimed by the six kingdoms, essentially becoming a free-area. There are countless tales of Sleipnir fillies and colts wandering into the dark forest and never returning, or somepony losing a lover to the darkness. Although, some of these stories were just old mare's tales to scare the young ones.

And we were going to fight the masters of chaos in it. If it were anypony else, they would have hid at home and refused to go. But we were soldiers: the Sleipnir Royal Guard. We had been drilled during training to never fear. To always be tough and loyal. Rana was not part of the group selected to go, instead being appointed on castle duty. She was disappointed, but wished me luck out there.

The fact that the High King would be coming with us as well made me even more determined to keep my loyalty. As I slowly rose up in the ranks, the High King kept his eye on me. While the other kings paid no heed to my accomplishments, however big or small, the High King always praised me. He was much kinder than the lower kings. Never putting his own needs before the needs of his kingdom, the High King was adored by everypony.

Well, almost everypony. As a member of the guard, I had the privilege of standing in the throne room during the Kings' meetings. Some days it was all economical talk: food allocation due to the famine, taxes, education, or something else that was not particularly exciting to listen to. The biggest topic was handling the sweeping famine that crushed all of the land. Ponies were starving in an effort to give our soldiers enough supplies to continue the battles. If we were to relax our borders, the Draconequus would invade our territory and make things even worse. As much as it pained me to think about that. However, most meetings were spent on border patrol, spell maintenance, disputes with griffons, or attacks on us by the Draconequus. During these meetings, the High King had a different opinion than the lower kings. Often, one of the other kings would offer an excursion to battle and destroy the griffons and Draconequus, conquering their lands and taking their resources. To gain more power and influence in the world.

The High King would always respond the same way. "You cannot hope to maintain balance by eliminating your enemies. Without them, there is no balance to be kept. Darkness is the absence of light. What would darkness be if there is no more light? What about death, if there is no more life? Without enemies, what would we have to measure our strength and willpower?"

However, when the time came, the High King would take whatever action necessary to preserve the kingdom, even if it meant fighting the Draconequus. Their chaotic ways are counter-productive to the order the Sleipnir try to uphold in the land, and it needs to be stopped. The kings have discussed multiple times what they would have to do in order to fight back the Sleipnir.

"We need more power! Our own spells alone are not enough to solve our situation." King Falchion would always bring up during a meeting. "I'm sure you've heard the rumors about Magic Hollow, about the strange occurrences that happen there. The strange magic that flows from deep within. If we can lure the Draconequus to the forest, we might be able to take advantage of that power. We might find the key to victory."

And so, that is how we ended up attacking from the Hollow. Right on the border between King Falchion's territory, Drear' territory, and the Draconequus lands, our station was set up. The guards would protect the border and clear up any surrounding chaos, while the other would venture into the forest, at Falchion's request.

Everything was quiet for the most part. Some chaos clouds would appear, which our magic users would make disappear right away. It was pretty boring at first, until the clouds began to get larger and larger. It took more and more soldiers to destroy the clouds, eventually reaching the point where we could do nothing to stop them.

It was at this point that the Draconequus appeared. I had never seen in real life before. They were weirdly-shaped creatures, with limbs from different animals. Honestly, it was disgusting. Captain Hal gave the orders, and our soldiers charged into battle.

The way we usually fought against the Draconequus would go like this: the Draconequus start by using their powers to conjure up random objects to throw around, which we would use our own spells to get rid of. We would then respond by using our weapons to attack, which they would counter by turning them into flowers or something ridiculous. We were too equal for each other to effectively crush the opposing side.

Captain Hal led the charge as we went right into battle. My own spear was turned into a flower before I was able to hit a Draconequus. He stuck his tongue out at me in response. I activated my spell to quickly push him back into a couple of his allies. A soldier from behind me used her own spell to return my spear to me.

We were soon overrun: our spells and powers were simply not enough to match the Draconequus. With just a snap of their fingers, our weapons would disappear and we would be sent flying in every direction. Captain Hal had had his share of victories and losses against the Draconequus, but even this was too much for him to handle. The adrenaline rush I usually got in battle was gone, leaving me to my own strength.

"This is bad!" I shouted after dodging a sticky cloud. "We need to get the Kings!"

"We cannot abandon our posts!" Captain Hal shouted back. He used his own powers to quickly disarm a Draconequus.

"We will lose if this goes on!"

Captain Hal hesitated for a second. "Fine! Retreat into the forest!!" We had a backup plan, in case we were outnumbered during the battle. If something bad were to happen, we would lure the enemy into the forest, letting the rumors and mysterious power of the forest do its work. In addition, we would try to not get ourselves killed in the process. Captain Hal did not believe in trickery during a battle, but in this situation, we had no choice.

The plan seemed to work. The dense forest prevented me from seeing anything else around besides Captain Hal, who was retreating deeper into the forest. If we could find the kings, this battle would be over: their combined power would surely drive the Draconequus away.

We made it to a clearing when strange things began to happen. A blue light filled the air as we moved on, with the trees and ground all lighting up in bright colors.

"Where are we?" I asked as we stopped in the middle of the clearing. The ground began to shake, leading me to think an earthquake was coming. However, the source seemed to come from the trees themselves. Captain Hal kept his spear handy in case something were to come out and attack.

"Watch out, Roddel." He said to me as we stood back-to-back. Right then, a bright white light flashed in the air, blinding the both of us.

I opened my eyes to find myself standing in a white room. There was nothing else in it except for myself and Captain Hal.

"This is..." My voice echoed, even though the room seemed endless.

"The room of creation."

The High King's voice emerged from above. I looked up to see the six kings, all formed in a circle. They all held stones in front of them, as if they were chanting some sort of spell. In the center, some kind of magical ball began to appear.

"What is this?" I asked, in awe. I had never seen something that looked so magical and real at the same time.

"This room is a representation of the Sleipnir power," Captain Hal began. "Those who are in the presence of a large amount of magic will be able to see it. To be more specific, a combination of Sleipnir power and magic must be present in order for this room to appear. They say that anything can be created in this room." The white light flashed again as I found myself back in the forest.

A great explosion hit the forest, blowing away many of the trees and knocking us up and away. I managed to grab hold of a tree branch as the shock wave attempted to pry me off. Captain Hal, however, was too distracted and flew away with the other trees. Looking up again, I could see that magical ball again. The six Kings were surrounding it, still chanting. Beams shot out of the thing, traveling in every direction. My grip on the tree eventually loosened, and I flew away.

I came to a few hours later, being found by one of the surviving soldiers. I was found under a pile of debris and uprooted trees; the area of the forest we were in was completely destroyed, leaving a huge crater that dug into the earth. We gathered ourselves before learning of the true damage that had happened.

I found the six kings soon after, still carrying those stones. "What....what happened?" I asked them.

The High King looked a little upset, but as he was about to speak, King Falchion answered first.

"We found it! We found the answer to our problems. Here. They were hanging from a tree in the Hollow, glowing as we approached." He held his stone up for me to see. There was a marking on the stone that I couldn't make out. It didn't look special at all, but I had seen the power it held.

"This is the key. When you use these stones together," King Falchion continued. "It appears to amplify the power of the wielder...It made our creation magic stronger. The Room of Creation, which an average Sleipnir may never see in his lifetime, which a king may see only once, was formed just like that. We created a magical bomb. Did you see that power!?" King Falchion looked pleased with himself, while the High King looked even more distraught. "The keys to order; that's what we should call them."

Many Draconequus and Sleipnir were killed during the explosion. While collecting the bodies, I found Captain Hal. The initial shock wave had knocked him into a tree head-first, killing him on impact. The soldiers' morale was down after learning of this great loss...a loss because of those stones. I didn't expect Captain Hal's story to end like this; I was ready to go on more missions and serve under him more. Any surviving Draconequus had fled the scene as fast as possible, leaving us to clean up the resulting mess. The Kings explained that the stones were found at the base of a giant tree. The tree itself gave off some kind of magical power, with the stones believed to have come from the tree in some way.

I...I couldn't believe it. That power was incredible, but it caused a lot of destruction. It killed our captain.

"It got the job done." King Falchion declared during the next meeting, after we had made the journey back to the castle. "The keys to order are our secret weapon against chaos. And lucky, too. This tree is one-of-a-kind, and these six stones were the only ones hanging from it." All six stones were placed on a giant table in the center of the throne room.

"I forbid it." The High King declared. "The power is too great when put together like that. Who knows what would happen if-"

"This is our ticket to winning!" King Falchion rose his voice. "True power, right under our hooves! And you wish to cast it aside? We won't get anywhere without them, and you know it!"

"Enough." The High King stayed firm. "We will keep them, but only as a means of defense. For now. Each one is bound to each of us." As he stared at his stone, it began to glow brighter. "They are not to leave this castle otherwise. Is that clear?"

Falchion scoffed and bowed. The meeting ended with high tensions between the kings as they returned to their respective kingdoms.

"The final matter to attend to...appointing a new captain." The High King said with a grim voice after the last king left. "Captain Hal was a great soldier. He served for a long time, bringing up the greatest soldiers under his tutelage."

"Who will you appoint, your highness?" I asked.

"I have already chosen." The High King responded. "You, Roddel."

Comments

[Skrive Flip]

Hmm, I will have to read this at some point.
As Someone who love Norse Mythology, I am slightly iffy, but I will be optimistic and say that you have taken good inspiration of it