Elements of Honor

by SpitFlame

Chapter 5: The Rune Tree

When Corvo opened his eyes, he wondered if he had, for it was just as dark when he had them closed.

His senses came back: first his legs, then arms, up to his chest, and finally, his head. His vision faded to grey, and he could make out several floating clouds of blackness—but those, too, faded, and his eyes were brightened. Colors took shapes and form, and his eyes were sharpened to normal.

He twitched both his hands, feeling the soft cloth under him. A thin white blanket draped over his lower body. He tried to rise, but a sharp pain snapped against the head of his knee.

"I would rest if I were you," came a soft yet stern voice. "Your knee is severely injured. The doctors here tried their best to heal you, but it shall take an extra day or two in bed."

Corvo rose his head. He squinted his eyes and breathed out. A tall pink alicorn stood at his side. She bore a crown, colorful mane which surprisingly comforted Corvo, and her demeanor was nothing short of caring, yet bossy.

"May you tell me where I am?" said Corvo. But before she could respond, his eyes became round. Cadence was stopped by his buzzing eyes and creased brow. "You!" cried Corvo as he shot up, but was quickly lowered down by his dull knee.

"You should really stay in bed, Corvo," said Cadence, resting a hoof on his chest.

"B-but," Corvo stammered, " I recognize you... you are from Canterlot, where that meeting was held."

"That was quite some time ago. Three weeks to be exact."

Corvo's face turned pale. His forehead became hot as his eyes looked down. "You are telling me—" he spoke but coughed. "Ahem, you are telling me that I have been in this bed for three weeks?"

"Three weeks and two days to be exact—again." Cadence then lit her horn in a mystical blue, and draping her magic round Corvo's blanket, she threw it gently to the floor. Corvo rested his elbows by his side, looking down to his knee: a metal rod of about one meter in length was bound to his right leg. He could feel the pole pushing softly against his skin. It didn't hurt, but it also wasn't very pleasant. The rod was tied by ten linen threads of pale colors. His skin, too, was a pale purple, but he could not feel it.

From the heat in his face to the sweat against his forehead—and even the cold air brushing against his cheeks—Corvo brought a hand to his face. What he felt was skin, and the itching feeling of a thin beard. His eyes looked as if they were red on its edges; his teeth lightly grinded against one another. Turning to his left, Corvo spotting his mask resting on a crystal stool.

"We had to take your mask off," said Cadence suddenly, breaking Corvo's arraying thoughts. "You were having trouble breathing, so it was to save your life."

But Corvo looked too ominous. He patted his hand on his broken leg, but felt nothing. "Would you be so nice to explain this?" he asked.

"This is a crystal kinetic metal rod," she said. "It has a high frequency in angular momentum magic, which is slowly pulling your bones into place. If it were faster, we would run the chance of snapping your leg; any slower and it wouldn't be enough to fully heal you. The doctors recommended that you stay in bed for an extra day or two. I'd say three, just to be safe."

"You sure have surety in this," said Corvo. "I am in debt for your kindness. Really, I am."

"Don't be too grateful." Cadence then wandered down to a nearby window. "It was my duty to take care of you. My husband, Shining Armor, is taking control of the Crystal Empire, your current location. Twilight and her friends are in the main room discussing plans for what to do next."

"You said that there was some kind of enigma for me to see. What is it? The point of us being here is seldom sooth for me. I must see this oddity you ponies have told me of."

Cadence lowered her eyebrows, and she looked back between Corvo and the front door. "I am sorry," she said with a sigh, "but you shall stay here for a few more days." And with that, tired as she was, Cadence began to gait down the door to the hallway. But her ears perked, and she was stopped when the sound of foot-steps were heard from behind.

"Sorry to disappoint you," said Corvo in a tireless voice, "but I am much too stubborn to lay round in a bed for an extra few days. I must see the reason we have come here."

Cadence frowned, and for a second, saw Corvo only as an obstacle. "No! You will not. The doctors said that you must lay in bed." She then rested a hoof over his shoulder, causing Corvo to lean against his left, while gripping at his right. Cadence used her magic to carry the assassin back to the edge of the bed.

"Are you honestly going to treat me like a child?" asked Corvo in an effort. "You cannot expect to stop me."

"You must be joking," said Cadence. "You can barely walk and are powerless right now. Logically, of course I can stop you, and the more you walk, the longer it will take for your leg to heal."

Eventually, Corvo gave in to the alicorn, and was set back in bed to wait. He was bored for two days straight, earning only time to talk with Princess Cadence, and the main six never showed up. Shining Armor was always too busy to talk, so he could only count the seconds.

* * *

The assassin waited impatiently on his bed. It had been just over two days since he had awoken.

Cadence returned, carrying a bowl of soup on a tray with her magic. She set the hot plate down on the stool.

"It has been well over two days," said Corvo, louder than he needed to. "I shall be getting up now!" And he reached down to his leg, ripping off the metal rod. In his grasp, Corvo was surprised as the pole felt sticky: it was attracted to his hand. He threw it aside and jumped out of bed with a grunt.

"Shouldn't you stay in bed for an extra day to be safe?" said Cadence, biting her lip.

Corvo took a few seconds to breath, and to feel his once-injured leg, which now moved extremely weightlessly as if made of feathers.

"I cannot thank you enough for your kindness, Cadence," he said. Cadence herself twisted her head. She didn't recall that he mentioned any of them by name. "But now, I will be heading downstairs. Would you mind leading me there?"

Going against everything in her conscious to keep him in for longer, Cadence sighed heavily, and led him down the hallway.

The walls were all made of hard crystal. They each jumped from vibrant colors and bright lights. Down the stairs and into another hallway, it turned darker. Corvo's vision became near-sable as he followed the pink alicorn. After several minutes of slow walking, they met a tall double door of matte crystals. Unlike the ones upstairs, these ones emitted almost no light nor color.

Lighting her horn, Cadence flung the massive entrance open. When Corvo went through, he had to lift his head, simply to witness how tall the ceiling was. He started to descry the many clear-white chandeliers which hung from the arching ceiling, and every once in a while they would make a plink! noise. But despite all the magical crystals, it was far too dark in the room. Dozens of red torches were aligned against the lower walls, spreading across in a circle, emitting a dim glow. As Corvo walked by, he noticed as his shadow wagged against the crystal walls and floor.

Cadence's face had a dark shadow over it. The light in her eyes were put out, and turned to a dun lavender.

Corvo seemed distracted by the room. All he could notice was how grim the air seemed. He was weary and hunched, and he could only notice the several still guards at each door they passed.

"There," said Cadence.

Corvo looked up ahead, narrowing his eyes, and exhaled slowly.

A thick, tall tree loomed over them. It bore many gaunt branches which stretched out, touching the arched walls round it. Its roots seemed to dig into the crystal, and a black presence lolled over it. A swirling magic of dark-green floated over the tree's body. Many dark lines of age curled up to the head. But in the very center, the midmost of the tree where all the black energy was floating towards, was a deep carving: it was shaped as a poorly-made hexagon, with uneven edges of scratches sticking from the sides. In the center of the strange carving was the Mark, carved so deep that it looked as if it were put on with black paint.

What terrified Corvo the most was how the dark tree seemed to look at him. All sounds round him were muffled as he gazed into the Mark. It was his own mark, the one on his hand. Cadence narrowed her eyes to it. She linked the two symbols while Corvo was in a trance, and it increased her suspicion of him, but it was never very adequate for her.

Corvo lowered to his rump, laying on the floor while casting a glance at the alicorn.

"If you notice, Corvo," she said, "you can see oddly placed holes at the end of some branches."

Corvo looked back, and she was right. Out of the several dozen thin branches which stuck out, about seven had round ends. Each end was about two inches deep, and were carved in more or less the same shape as the carving in the middle. A black smoke connected each branch, and Corvo began to sweat. He could recognize these shapes. He didn't want to admit it, but they looked as if they were slots for runes.

Runes were mystical artifacts Corvo found in his world. They each gave him powers to further advance the Mark on his hand. But they were few and scarce, and these slots seemed eccentric. Normally, the runes Corvo knew were quite round, bound by leather straps, and always bore a circle with strange writings on the sides. These seemed too different, but Corvo knew they were runes: the stones which created such powers.

"What can you expect from this?" said Corvo, slowly and thickly. "If we are capable of knowing what this tree is—and we must for how significant it seems—we can be well-nigh to saving this land."

Cadence tapped her hoof to her chin and pondered. Her narrowed eyes shifted from Corvo to the tree, and she hummed curiously.

But suddenly, several hoof-steps emerged from several back doors. Cadence and Corvo turned, and they saw all the ponies which needed to be there: Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and Shining Armor.

"Greetings, everypony!" beamed Cadence, though her face remained dark and tiring. First she hugged Shining Armor, who too greeted her, then bowed to Princess Celestia and Luna.

"Hey, Cadence," said Twilight. "It's been pretty crazy around here, but nothing too major."

"Crazy things like what?" asked Cadence.

"Just that this here blizzard ain't restin' too soon," replied Applejack.

"At least you girls are alright," said Celestia. "Now, where is Corvo? There is a certain artifact we must show him."

The mention of his name grew a grey shadow over few ponies' faces, mostly Rainbow Dash's.

"Ah, yes, Princess," said Rarity. "I am sure this stone we uncovered from the snow caves must be important to this tree."

"What stone?" said a voice. As the ponies turned, emerging from the shadows was Corvo. He stood up, but hunched down.

"There is a mysterious stone we have found in the snow caves of the Crystal Empire," said Luna. As she lit her horn, she levitated a rune stone from her saddlebag.

Corvo's eyes froze on the rune stone, surrounded by the midnight aurora. It was the exact same shape as the slots at the ends of those branches. On the very center, the stone bore a deep carving of his hand's mark.

"Have you ever tried to place the stone in the branches' slots?" asked Corvo

Celestia shook her head. "No, we have tried that, but there was no significant difference. We do not know what to do with it, so I'd imagine you might know. Considering it has the same mark as the one on your hand."

"Are we really going to trust him?" said Rainbow Dash as she flew by the princess. "The stone could be the cause of all these disasters, and it relates to Corvo. Isn't that a little fishy?"

There was a silence.

"Pass me the stone," said Corvo, but something seemed off about him. His voice was far beyond calm; simply upset.

Princess Luna was hesitant at first, but slowly hovered the rune stone above the room, above Corvo's palm. Once she let it go with her magic, and it fell to Corvo's grip, his vision went dim. Time seemed to freeze as a black abyss was before him. A spinning energy of light circulated the assassin, pulsing and flickering with no predictability, as he stood still. His mark burned brightly, engulfing his entire left hand in a subsumed white light.

A second later and the vision disappeared. Corvo looked down with hardened eyes to the stone in his hand. A grey shadow passed over his face as he lowered to his knees.

"Corvo?" said Twilight. "What happened? You just stood still for several seconds and now you're on the ground."

"I just had a struggle," muttered Corvo, and he panted heavily afterwards. "With some sort of... err, you need not know. Forget about it." He stood up, eyeing the stone then back to the tree.

"Wait a minute!" yelled Pinkie as she jumped in front of Corvo, prodding the stone with her hoof. "You mean to tell me this stone doesn't do anything?"

"That's the only explanation," said Rainbow Dash as she crossed her hooves and looked down.

"We cannot be sure," said Corvo. "It must do something; and all I did was touch it, so you could not have expected anything." He then walked warily to the black tree. He crouched to the left, raising the stone, hovering it above the slot.

"We have told you," said Luna. "Placing the stone in the slot won't solve anything."

"Hold on a second," said Shining Armor. "What if there's a different effect when Corvo places the stone. It could be possible seeing as how the stone matches the mark on his left hand."

All the ponies nodded in unison. They then each looked at Corvo, awaiting his move. Corvo himself was hesitant for a reason he wasn't sure of. As he slowly lowered the stone to the end-branch, a mysterious force rushed through his arm. He felt... more energetic, actually; more physically motivated.

But Corvo was day-dreaming, staring only at his arm. He shook his head and placed the stone in the slot. He then backed up, looking at the tree as a whole.

Minutes went by, and still, only silence was their response.

Eventually, Rainbow let out a groan. "See," she said, "it does absolutely nothing! Why are we even wasting our time?"

Celestia sighed. "I guess there really was no difference," she said in a low voice. "Corvo, can you please—"

A loud noise of rushing wind ran through the room. Everypony remained silent; but then, the dark room changed. It slowly started to become brighter. The glow from the red torches expanded as light illuminated the area. But before the room was fully lit, the noise stopped and the light halted. It became brighter, but only by a small amount. The walls were still sable in color, and a black shadow remained to loom over the ponies.

"It became brighter!" said Cadence, pleasantly surprised yet shocked. "It's still quite dark, but at least we got something."

"Look at the tree," said Twilight. Its roots and bark were no longer black, but a very dark ashen-grey. "The room and the tree were slightly lit up."

"Would do y'all think that means?" said Applejack.

"I might have an idea," said Corvo as he walked to the princesses. "This can be some form of a triggered connection. The tree became brighter, and light is always better than dark—for most situations, at least. Moving along, you can see that there are seven slots, and since we have placed one rune stone, the room and tree became brighter."

"What's your point in this?" asked Shining Armor.

"Yes," said Twilight. "Where are you getting at?"

"Is it not obvious?" said Corvo. Everypony raised an eyebrow, save for Celestia who was listening intently. "If we can place more of these stones, it would only make sense that the tree becomes brighter, and the more we do so, the more these disasters and problematic occurrences in Equestria will decrease. My theory is that if we can somehow manage to place a rune stone in each of these slots, Equestria will return to normal."

"Ah'm sorry," said Applejack, "but there is no way in tarnation yah can prove that, so how can yah?"

Corvo tapped a finger against his cheek, arraying his thoughts and thinking back and forth. "Well," he started, "that is a very good question. I cannot right now, but I am willing to bet that I can soon. I am aware that this is a jump in logic, but it is a possibility to rule out if untrue." He then looked over to Celestia. "Princess Celestia, is there any way for you to give me the records or news of these events?"

"There is."

"Good. Then I need you to wait several days and give me the comparisons from the magnitude of these events based on the one yesterday and the one several days from now."

"Hold it!" yelled Luna. "Who are you to give us orders? And—"

"No, no," interrupted Celestia, "he is right. I shall do that, Corvo, so I hope you really are right."

Luna lowered her ears and groaned. "Very well," she said. "But Corvo, just what are you getting at here? Can you explain?"

"Of course," said Corvo. "If the rate of these events drop by next week compared to yesterday, we can be sure that it is because of these stones."

"So you're that confident yer idea is right?" said Applejack as she stuck an eye at Corvo.

"We will only know with time," muttered Corvo.

"So... what now?" asked Fluttershy. All eyes went to her, but she slowly took cover behind Pinkie.

"Well," Twilight started, "I guess Corvo is right in waiting. We will compare the statistics from yesterday to one week from now." She paused, but shot up as she just remembered a crucial detail, one they haven't talked about. "Wait, if Corvo is right and that we need to find all these seven stones, how will we find them?"

The room once again remained silent for half a minute.

"There is one way," said Corvo. "You said that you found this first stone in some snow caves of this location. I need you to have your guards do a one-hundred percent search in those caves. Better yet: have them do a full search on all caves and all of the Crystal Empire. We might be able to find some form of pattern, seeing as how the first stone was discovered here."

"And what if we don't find anything?" asked Cadence grimly.

"I will have thought of something by then," reassured Corvo.

"Well then," said Rarity at last, "now the only thing left to do is wait. If anypony needs me, I shall be in my room."

"Rarity's right," said Twilight. "We should all get some rest. It's getting late as it is." And all ponies nodded in unison and trotted off to each of their rooms. Celestia whispered something to Luna, but it was much too low for Corvo to understand what they were saying, and then she went off to her own room. That left Luna and Corvo.

"Corvo," Luna called out, "please follow me to my room. I would very much like to discuss something with you."

The assassin mentally shrugged and followed the princess down a long hall.

* * *

Luna's room was quite a massive space of carpets and furniture. The walls were midnight-blue in color, with little white moons and stars sprayed onto them. Her bed was large, right in the middle-top, with large curtains wreathed round it from a second mattress up top, supported by marble pillars. Several arched windows were spread across two walls, and accompanied with the moon's shine, caused a dim light over the entirety of the room.

After Luna was done with raising the moon minutes earlier, she and Corvo sat down on the bed.

"Corvo," said Luna. The assassin stared hard into her eyes, concentrating on her expressions. Out of all ponies, he knew almost nothing about Princess Luna, and rarely talked to her. Whether he were to expect some form of quiet apology or a clamoring rant, he could not know. "I shall be blunt here," continued Luna. "Tell me what happened."

"Please be more specific," said Corvo.

Luna sighed. "Tell me why you came here. Remember those few months ago, you came to Equestria and you tried to kill all of us? Tell me why you did that."

Luna could not see it, but the red flickering in Corvo's eyes was vigorous. A grey shadow went over his face, and he remained silent for several seconds. But the moment she asked, he looked down with furrowed eyebrows.

"Can you please tell me," said Luna again.

"You are right," said Corvo as he looked up. "I came to Equestria nearly four months ago—to be precise—and I tried to kill some of the alicorns here."

The moment Luna caught Corvo's eyes in a stare, she gasped, for she could have sworn they were a deep crimson-red. They did not actually alter in color—much to her relief—but with such a tense suspension lolling in the air, it was as if an optical illusion caused them to glow.

"I did come here," Corvo continued, "but I hardly had any will to it."

Luna's eyes flickered with a blue light, the exact opposite of the assassin. She felt a force pulling her, pulling her away from him. On the outside, they were near opposites; but Luna did not talk, and chose to listen keenly.

"...Very well," said Corvo. "I will tell you what I know. It is quite a hazy memory, but I can remember it. You see: back in my world, nothing is exactly filled with joy. My city is corrupted by a plague, killing millions of innocents, giving a sense of insecurity to anyone with power. This caused the political system to fall apart. There were the rich people and the poor people; there was no middle class. The poor were dying of the plague, and many thieves and gangs were forming. The rich would live in large mansions and castles, killing anyone who got in their way. My old career was a bodyguard to the empress of the dying city; but she was assassinated, and the blame was put on my shoulders. Anyway, skip ahead of time by a year and I was alone. I became a wanted assassin to aid some people."

"Did you kill anyone?" asked Luna anxiously with a tint of anger.

"No... no, I did not," said Corvo slowly. "I took care of them, but I was never lethal. But that does not matter. My family was gone, I had no real friends, and the whole world was after me. But then, a deal was made, one so nonsensical I could not believe it at first: to come to your world and assassinate two alicorns here." I think.

"Who made the deal with you?"

Corvo turned aghast, and Luna noticed this and creased her brow. There was no way Corvo could tell her about the Outsider: the mythical being who granted Corvo his powers. He was the one to give Corvo the deal; and Corvo would tell her, but he felt a mental force, telling him that the mention of the Outsider would be an ill-thought idea, and it would cause too much suspicion or blow their plans to save Equestria off track. If it was that or some other ominous reason, Corvo could not mention the Outsider.

"A very powerful man," said Corvo. He calmed his breath and looked straight into her eyes. "He had control of many things, and he could have helped me."

Luna herself raised a plethora of questions, and she was bound to get through them. "But how were you planning on coming here?"

"I was able to with my power. He showed me an image of Equestria."

"How did he know about Equestria?"

"I never asked. I was only told to, and he seemed like a very mysterious person."

There was a minute-long pause.

"I shall continue," said Corvo, keeping his voice, breathing, and eye-contact with consistency. "As you knew, I came here more or less four months ago and caused much chaos. But in the end, before I could complete my mission, I was sent back. Well, everything here was returned to normal, and only the ponies who had contact with me remembered me."

"How do you know that: only the ponies who saw you remembered you? Who told you?" Luna's voice was much more threatening than before. She would need to analyse the assassin to the best of her abilities.

"It is quite obvious," said Corvo. "Those guards from before, when I first met Celestia, they had no idea who I was. Celestia also told me that no pony knew I existed, save for you few who met me down where that tree was."

Luna sighed inwardly. "Very well, you are dismissed." And with that, Corvo got up and walked down the hallway to his assigned room, and she could only watch with hard eyes as he vanished from sight.

Luna was not satisfied in any way—if anything, she was even more curious. She would never fully trust Corvo, never look at him as an honorary friend; she would remain suspicious of him and he would remain careful of her. The two would always be watching each other with detective eyes. Luna swore that she would catch him—whichever way there was—and bring him to justice. Whether he was lying or not, Luna saw the red in his eyes.

Corvo and Luna—they weren't done with each other.

Comments

[Trevor12300]

F U LUNA CORVO IS AWESOME

[Trevor12300]

[Mr Marshmallow]

You would've thought Luna would be more forgiving of one with evil in their hear seeing as she spent A THOUSAND FUCKING YEARS ON THE MOON!

[Stalwartheart14]

while he finds these runes, he should be able to access new powers or weapons

[SpitFlame]

4642970
Oh, you bet he will. The powers I'm going to give him will be completely original, and, to add more fun, I'm going to make his new powers scientific.

[Stalwartheart14]

4643151 for my personal opinion, i would recommend a power that includes throwing his sword into the ground and cause the plague in a small area (it looks awesome in my head)

[SpitFlame]

4735115
Thanks.

[HackamoreHalter]

4807860 I always loved how much Tolkien's characters ended up singing. They'd fit right in with our musical ponies. Imagine Bilbo and Pinkie belting out the old walking song as they head off on an adventure. YEEEEES.

[LoveableAkita]

Forgo is boss

[Trevor12300]

4928866 Then I would Warfstache punch her :D

[SpitFlame]

4928894
Yeah, I know. It's changed.

[Vinyl Nexus Scratch]

I thought the Outsider's thing was watching things from afar. He just gives people powers and watches them, he doesn't directly cause anything. He's indirectly responsible for all those rats I summon but it's not like he told me to do it or he gave me the power to begin with. He's an impartial observer. Amused by any result be it mass death or bloodless victory.

[josue]

4735229
https://fimfetch.net/story/136582/elements-of-harmony-fragments-of-dishonor?html#10 why was this remove i saw a lot of stories on this site that are not on your page i love these stories and wish that you have kept the here good job of this squeal love it