Travis takes a stroll in the park. He finds himself somewhere different entirely.
(All Special Thanks and information are included in the Preface. Please be reminded this story is NOT in the "Chess Game of the Gods" universe.)
Enter Fatum Fortis Vocat Redux.
While taking a casual hike in a nearby park, Travis soon finds himself lost. What happens next will not only change his entire idea of reality, but quite possibly make him the last hope for two worlds...
Special thanks to blawrg for his inspirational idea that sparked this journey, special thanks to Avorin for his valuable friendship and commitment at keeping me writing, special thanks to Petro! for his awesome contributions and being an awesome friend, special thanks to Werewolf435 for coming to my aid and helping me understand what I was lacking, and finally to all my fans and readers who stuck by me when hard times hit and kept me going. Thank you all!
Additional Special Thanks To:
A very heartfelt special thanks goes out to Io who originally had done the cover image for Fatum Fortis Vocat. I’m going to be using the cover image again, just because it was the best darn image I ever paid for. Thank you Io, your work is still awesome!
And to you Clayton. A very special thank you to you for your humor and your cheer. It means a lot to me and it has given me plenty of laughs. I don't think without its humble reminder of cheerfulness I'd would never have gone this far.
A Special Request to All Readers:
Hey guys and gals, it’s Travis here! Please feel free to leave a comment, whether you downvote or upvote. It’ll do me a boatload of good if you could. That way I can actually see your thoughts and opinions on the matter. If those downvotes out there keep hiding behind the red, how else am I supposed to know they’re are not jealous of my jelly if they don’t tell me otherwise?
Seriously, think about it. My statement of ignoring commentless downvotes aside, I really need people to tell me why they don't like it, so that way I can learn what to change and what not to. Either way, I appreciate and wish blessings upon all of you even if this does not happen!
Additionally, it would do everyone a great good to get to know the background plot going on in the story by reading Pro Temerarus es Fautor. Just sayin, cause you might get a better understanding of what’s going on.
Preface
Three months ago I was in the midst of an incredibly journey. I had, through the grand inspirations provided by Rusts “A Ballad of Echo the Diamond Dog” and Blackwings “Griffin the Griffin”, started my own take on their world (with permission) and dared to place my vision on their chess board. I gave it a name: Fatum Fortis Vocat. I had originally believed it to mean “Fate Favors the Bold”, but found out later it didn’t translate well to that. Either way, my story of Travis the Kobold and his wandering adventures in a mystical land became a big hit. I was happy.
Then, over the course of several weeks, my personal life became a lot more harder to deal with. People started getting sick, hospital visits became often and eventually I just couldn’t take it anymore. I went, for the lack of a better word, crazy. So I left FIMFiction, forgetting the fame and glory and my commitment to my story (and, to my regret, my fans and readers) and subsequently deleted my stories and my youtube account. I had left the internet for a time, which I believe was at least two to three months, and didn’t feel like coming back. I had a lot of issues to sort out, both spiritual and physical, and the internet unfortunately got in the way.
All was not lost, however. Despite my absence, I had one stalwart friend who stuck by me like a stubborn mule (no offense). Avorin, previously a simple Editor I found by chance, had become a great friend prior to my temporary leave of absence. We literally came into contact by chance, I looking at the list of proofreaders and selecting multiple names to contact. Avorin just happened to be the first to contact me back. From that point on, we literally just struck it off as two like minded individuals. He always encouraged me, always stood by me and, eventually, encouraged me during the waning days of my absence to try again.
With Avorins encouragement, I took a day to collect myself and eventually came back on FIMfiction. I changed my name, I redid my favorites, I restructured my watch list and eventually I became something more than a mindless addition to a series. Avorin further encouraged me to look into my story again and see what potential it had, constantly reminding me of its greatness. I honestly didn’t believe him until I suddenly saw several of my prior fans, those who stuck around, contact me and ask me when I was going to write again. It was in total just only about four to five readers, sure, but their encouragement meant the world to me. It literally sparked something inside me to life again.
Thanks to them and Avorin, I started Pro Temerarus es Fautor. Soon, one of my readers/fans even got on board to help me edit. You and I know him as Petro!. He became an extremely valuable asset in the later stages of Pro Temerarus and became a swift friend, helping me not only zoom past huge obstacles in Avorins absence but literally helping me finish the story. After that, the skies cleared, the doubt that filled my mind left, and I soon realized that I still had it in me to actually write something I could like again.
So here we are, dear reader. Several months after my initial leave of absence and several weeks after me returning. With the help of you (those of my readers/fans that stuck by me) and my friends, this journey can begin again. This time, it will be finished. This story, unlike its last incarnation, will not be for me. It will be for you, dedicated to you, molded so you can enjoy it. Even if there are only five or six or maybe even seven of you who constantly read my word, you mean the world to me and this story, this Redux of the story you once loved, is specially crafted for your enjoyment. It will contain some similar characters and situations, things I hope you’ll enjoy again, and probably contain a lot of laughs.
At the end of the day, though, it is for you guys. You helped me get back on my feet, encouraged me to write again, and even now support me to keep going. Take this story as my personal thank you, because I’m going to take my time on it and not speed through it so you can enjoy it. Unlike Pro Temerarus es Fautor which was meant to be finished quickly, Fatum Fortis Vocat Redux is not. It’s meant to be finished only when it needs to be, so it could easily take a long time to complete. I want this to be an adventure, between you and I, so that in the end, when that tag finally reads “Complete”, I know I’ve done right by all of you by finishing it.
Thank you all so much for your support. You are the most wonderful people I have ever had the pleasure of encountering. To my friends and close friends, your words of encouragement and your constant bugging of me to write again helped get me here once more. God Bless you all, and I mean it. You guys and gals are a special lot.
I hope you all enjoy reading this as much as I will definitely enjoy writing it.
The explosion resonated within my ears as I came to my senses. I took in a very deep gasp of air, feeling as if I had just burst through water after holding my breath. My eyes swiftly opened, my lungs greedily taking in further deep gulps of refreshing oxygen as my chest heaved. A torrent of monsoon-like rain fell all around me. Heavy droplets of water impacted on my person, causing me to involuntarily shiver and spasm as the icy-cold droplets careened down my exposed skin. I looked around me; my surroundings hidden behind the inescapable wall of water. I felt cold, so very cold. I had the sudden urge to find shelter, my mind knowing I did not have long before I succumbed to the elements.
My fingers clenched into the watery mud beneath me, I groaning in agony as my muscles resisted my commands to move. Shelter had to be my priority right now. Regardless of whether I knew where I was, or how I got here, I would be doomed should I linger. I had to move, I had to. I grunted heavily, feeling myself awkwardly snort in a fashion I’d never experienced before. Slowly I came to my knees, bringing my hands up to my face to feel for the obstruction on my nose. My hand stopped several inches from where my brain knew there was open space.
“Wh-..Huh?” My fingers slid across the foreign object on my face, making a scritch sound each time they slid further down. I felt the scritches, as if a cat were gently sliding its claws along my skin. My eyes focused further, noticing then the shape of my hands and of the object within the inward sides of my vision. All I could muster was a quiet “What?”.
I didn’t have time for this, I was in danger of catching hypothermia at this rate. My body was already shivering and I believed firmly I was hallucinating. I had to be, because when I walked on the trail before I definitely did not have a reptilian snout protruding from my face and I most definitely did not have claws. I reasoned I must have stumbled sometime back and passed out and now I was recovering, the rain causing my mind to jumpstart myself and, not having enough time to comprehend the situation, made me see things. Yeah, I thought reassuringly to myself, this makes sense.
I chose to ignore the edges of the snout within my vision for the time being, concentrating on finding a way out of this unnaturally cold rain. I felt myself stand, grumbling as I nearly stumbled forward. I had felt like I had tripped on something. Looking down, I quickly noted that there was some sort of odd branch resting against my....
“Digitigrade feet?!” I screamed, feeling my eyes widening as shock overtook me. I moved my legs around a bit. The skin on them was most assuredly not human. It was scaly, looking almost like an alligator's hide. From my knee down my leg did a backward V shape, ending with my clawed feet providing my walking ability. I felt a lurch from behind me, twisting my waist so I could glimpse and see a- “Tail?!”
My mind was careening out of control at this point. It just simply couldn’t comprehend why one moment I had been a living, breathing human being and now, at that very second, I looked like a lizard man. Granted, some part of me didn’t see it as too bad, but the conscious and clearly homo sapien side of me was shitting bricks. I did the only thing I could do to bring my attention back to the fore. I simply, with a quick intake of breath, let out a long sigh and pushed the discovery to the back of my mind. I did not have time for bullshit at this very moment, survival was to be key. So I moved forward.
And then fell flat on my face into the mud.
“RRRaarrrrgghh!” I screamed in frustration, coming out as a roar. “This is absolute, total horse shit!” My fists slammed into puddles of muddy water, splashing their contents on me as I forced myself back to my feet. It took a few more attempts, but I eventually got the gist of using the extra bounce in my legs. A sudden chill down my body reminded me that more important matters required attention, I groaning as I tried to move again. It felt like I was learning to walk again. Very carefully, each step was made with a successful gain of balance. I move forward, the rain never stopping its continuous downpour, giving me the extra motivation to press myself onward.
I felt different, very different, walking like this. Eventually, however, I felt myself adjust to the new style of locomotion. The tail behind me seemed to wave this way and that on its own accord, automatically balancing my body as each step was taken. I took a few slow breaths, careful not to let the previous state of shock overtake me again, then concentrated forward of myself. I saw, very briefly through a sudden clash of lightning, what appeared to be a building. I moved onward, trying to run as I awkwardly stumbled a few times. My body started to shiver involuntarily, my muscles aching terribly. This was no normal rain.
Finally after several long and grueling minutes of battling my legs, I came upon a building. Through the wall of rain, I made out a lit window. It was all I could see until another bolt of lightning revealed the building for a brief instant, I just glimpsing a set of stairs and a porch. The rain started to come down harder, the droplets suddenly becomingl knives against my body. “Oh God!” I cried in pain, several painful impacts hitting against my head and back. It felt like someone was throwing baseballs against me. “Help me!” I continued to shout, feeling another object slam against my head.
The ground met my face again.
* * *
“This isn’t a part of the trail.”
I had followed the path when it had suddenly shifted in coloration as I rounded a hill, pine trees dotting the landscape around me. To the left of the trail, the Cornwall River flowed, its presence the only thing I recognized at this point. Somehow, I had become lost a few yards back. I thought the prospect impossible since I had traveled this area many times over the years. I knew Sweetmaker Park like the back of my hand and, quite frankly, getting lost in a relatively small area somewhat irked me.
“Hmm,” I looked to my map of the trail. When I looked up again, the river was gone and I was standing in the middle of an endless grassland. Carefully, I folded the map, replacing it in my pants pocket. “This is definitely not part of the trail.”
I heard a loud crack of thunder above me. I looked up just in time to see a bolt of light zig-zagging its way down to me. Then everything went black.
* * *
I felt warm. The feeling of covers over my body relaxing me as I rolled onto my side. My mind was slowly waking from its slumber, I realized then that I was in my bed. It had all been some crazy dream. I yawned softly, stretching ever so slowly as I felt my feet gently touch a bed post. My arm stopped mid stretch in the air, my toes making a click sound as I fell against the wood frame. Something was not right here. I rolled onto my back, only to have an intense pain shoot through my spine as I bent something attached to my tailbone.
“Gah!” I cried, my eyes shooting open as I tried to sit up. I only succeeded in causing the pain to intensify, causing my body to spasm as I suddenly rolled off the side of the bed and thudded against the wooden floor. “Oof!” I loudly exhaled, blinking as my hands righted me into a sitting position. The pain had stopped, but the shock did not wear off. I was looking down at my lap, seeing instead of boxers or brief a naked hide of underbelly scales.
I stayed in that position for what felt like forever. My brain was trying to catch up, failing miserably. My eyes acted on their own accord as they scanned over my legs and feet. I had claws at the end of my toes and my feet were still had multiple joints. My hand slid across the floor to touch the one thing that confirmed my worst fears. A tail, which by its mere existence along with what I was seeing suggested strongly I was having the weirdest dream of my life.
“You’re awake!”
The sudden appearance of a voice towards my right caused me to jump. I looked up towards the source, half expecting to see some person there. Instead, I was met with the gaze of an impossible, improbable creature. My jaw slowly lowered, my body starting to tremble. “You’re a-a-a-” I started, moving ever so slightly back towards the bed as I felt the my back touch against the mattress. I couldn’t finish, I was too deep in a state of something between disbelief and horrible realization.
“An Earth Pony?” The light ambered colored pony said with a tilt of its head. “Why yes, yes I am. I take it you’re not from around here, hmm?”
I could only shake my head. This was really too much for me to process. I was at the brink of insanity and total loss of mental and emotional capabilities. My body was shaking and I felt a slight moisture collect itself over my eyes. I could not be seeing what I was seeing. This was impossible. My eyes darted from the ponies dark amber colored mane down to where I could barely make out something on its flank resembling a....hourglass?
“Doctor Whooves?” I said in disbelief, my shaking stopping all at once. The pony had a brief expression of surprise, before lowering its head and tilting it so one azure eye was looking at me. “Perhaps,” he replied slowly, “but almost everypony knows me as Time Turner. Tell me, lizard man, how do you know that name?”
“Because you’re from a kids show,” I replied, blinking.
Time Turners eyes opened wide, his pupils widening. I could clearly see a smirk appear on his muzzle. “Really now?” he said.
Before I could emit a reply, my eyes rolled in the back of my head. My mind had clearly had enough of this nonsense. Trying to process extra appendages and a what appeared to be a new bodily structure was only the first nail in the coffin. Seeing a creature, a pony, standing right before me and acknowledging a given fan-name had been the last. Sensory overload mixed with an extra dose of what-the-fuck had done the rest. I could clearly remember making one last, comical observation of my condition before my vision turned white.
This had to be the first time I’ve ever passed out from shock.
I saw green eyes for a brief moment, then my eyelids fluttered closed again. I felt weak, like the strength had been drained from me. I couldn’t feel my body, I couldn’t feel hardly anything but that damning lack of strength. I opened them again, briefly, seeing the two sets of green closer to me now. I couldn’t make out a form, only darkness. A brief glint of white shined from what I thought to be a mouth, the eyes coming closer to me. I tried to move, I tried to do something, but all my body did was briefly wobble. Seeing this, the white glean seemed to grow larger and I could clearly make out rows of razor sharp teeth. The fear I felt was intense, and I shut my eyes in response to it.
I was breathing quickly, the fear striking to my very core. I could barely feel how tight my eyes were shut; the strain my eyelids were enduring intense. I felt something touch me, the feeling in my shoulder suddenly alive as I felt a cold metallic surface rub across it. My breathing became quicker, I feeling like helpless prey to some unknown predator. Something warm and wet- a tongue perhaps -slid across my cheek briefly. At the same time I felt the intense warmth of soft air striking my skin. I could then feel my body shaking, I on the verge of losing all sanity and control of myself. Just as quickly as the the warmth, the tongue had slid against my skin it then disappeared. In its place the wetness remained, intensifying the heat of the unknown source of air striking it periodically.
“You’re not like the other ones,” spoke the predator haunting me. It’s voice coming out in snarls and hisses. “So different, so delicious. I’m going to enjoy ripping your flesh from your bones.”
I could feel death gripping me as the pressure on my shoulder intensified. My eyes shot open, seeing clearly the wide open maw of the beast above me. It was slowly lowering, ready to take a bite into my flesh and conquer me as its prey. The shaking in my body stopped as something inside, deep within the core of my being, snapped. Immediately my body went from near numb to electrified, every inch of skin, every heartbeat intensified two hundred fold. I knew everything I needed to do, I saw how I needed to do it. I did not resist whatever had possessed me, allowing the feeling of life to take hold as I rolled across the surface of the bed I layed upon, avoiding the creatures quick downward bite. It glared at me, half confused and half really pissed off.
I raised myself partially on the bed with my arm closest to the surface, sitting myself up just enough so my free hand shot forward and gripped the zagging horn of the creature. Its face contorted into pain as the muscles in my arm bulged, I growling deeply as the strength going to my arm grew. In a swift, clean movement I snapped the horn off, sliding back to move my lower body to face the creature. Both of my legs were brought back, my knees touching my chest, before I released the incredible tension stored in them in one powerful, combined kick. The creature hissed an otherworldly scream, flying back into the wall. I once again retracted my legs, then kicked upward and used the momentum to deliver myself to my feet. My tail thudded to the floor, only briefly, a reminder of the form I was now in.
I disregarded this, the shock of previous revelations forced back into my mind. I raised the broken horn in my hand, allowing it to flip briefly before I grasped the larger end of its structure having the point facing down. I moved forward, a speed at which I never knew I was capable of, watching as the green eyes of the monster just then sliding onto the floor glared up to me in horror. In a quick movement, I raised my arm with the horn, bringing the pointed it down directly on the creatures skull. I twisted the horn, watching as its face contorted once again. In a silent belch of air, it gagged up blood, then fell limp to the floor as I released the horn.
“Doctor!” I cried aloud, remembering where I was. The creature could have caught him, or worse. Knowing someone was in danger, my strength intensified, overpowering almost all of my conscious actions. I quickly darted towards the exit to the room, moving swiftly through the small cabin home as I saw no sign of the amber-colored stallion. “Hooves!” I cried again, my voice coming out in a desperate roar. I heard something gag from outside, almost faint, I looking towards the open door and not wasting a second. My legs were no longer my own, driving against the floor with overpowering thuds as I headed outside. There I beheld Time Turner, being quickly overwhelmed by seven similar creatures. My eyes darted to the ground just before the Doctor, seeing a shovel on the muddy ground.
I took flight, my vision turning from colorful to an intense shade of red. I let out a bellowing roar of anger, the heads of all of the monsters turning to me. Several more leapt from the shadows as I surged forward, bypassing the stairs and leaping to the ground. I rolled forward quickly, feeling my claws clench around the shovels handle. As I felt my feet touch the ground, my legs thrust my body back upward. Both of my hands gripped the handle of the shovel, my legs extended as my eyes stared deep into the first monster in my way. It let out a feeble cry as I came downward with the shovel, hitting the top of the monsters head with a sickening crack of both bone and wood. The metal shovel split from the wooden handle, flying off into the distance from the incredible momentum it had gained. I turned to my next victim, handling the long piece of wood as I would a sword as I began battering it against the monsters face and skull.
I roared in pain as I felt several bites along the side of my body, the shade of red consuming my vision turning crimson. I raised the wooden handle up, quickly impaling it in the monster before me as I flung my arms around and bashed the face of another who had clamped its jaws down on my torso. The impact caused the beast to lose its grip, tearing flesh and muscle away as it fell to the ground. I ignored the pain caused by the open wound, instead grabbing the horn of another attacker and easily breaking it off from its base. With a quick movement, I impaled the skull of the same attacker, furthering the movement by driving out the horn and repeating the process with another. I felt the beasts bite loosen, falling limp, my mind now concentrating on the remaining two. The pain intensified from where they clenched their jaws down on my scales, I felt a further surge of ungodly strength as I raised both arms in the air and clenched my fists. I quickly dropped them on the two predators heads, hearing a loud cra-squish as bone and brain matter splattered from where I impacted them on the sides of their skulls.
The two would-be flesh eaters fell to the ground in a heap on top of eachother, I glaring up to notice a wall of dark chitin hide blocking my path. They had surrounded me during the time it took for me to disperse of most of the Doctors assailants. The remainder of those who had been on top of the Doctor had wisely retreated to the strength of the others. Dozens of glowing green, demonic eyes stared back at me. Their lizard-like pupils staring into mine, telling me of their anger at watching their own kin die. I replied with a mighty roar, louder than before, lurching forward and splaying my arms threateningly. The wall of nightmarish beasts retreated a few steps, only to move forward again as they realized their numerical advantage.
A hint of conscious thought returned to me, turning my head to look at the stallion on the ground. He was shivering, eyes wide in fear. For a moment, I thought he was afraid of the beasts around us. Yet as I continued to stare, I realized what he was afraid of was me. I felt myself swallow hard, my snout opening and closing as my heavy breathing became apparent to me. I turned away, looking at all the creatures, my hand clenching my side suddenly as my expression became strained. I felt the warmth of blood flow across my clawed fingers, I gazing down at my open wound. I was badly bleeding, not only from there as I soon realized, but also from other spots across my sides and torso. I could feel, ever so slowly, the strength beginning to diminish.
Carefully, I backed up, watching the green eyes follow me from all sides. The crimson hue in my vision began to fade as concern for the Doctor and my health returned to the forefront of my mind. I looked down at him as I neared, kneeling on one knee. “Are you alright?” I asked, scanning his form and finding nothing but a few scratches. I was not expecting what came next.
“Who are you?” He asked, pupils shrinking in his eyes as he stared at me. “What are you?!”
I scanned around me again, realizing with some form of numb comfort that the beasts had yet to converge on us. They seemed to be standing perfectly still, observing me. Maybe they were waiting for me to bleed to death. My eyes returned to the Doctors. “Someone that’s trying to save you,” I replied calmly, clenching my side again as the pain intensified. I saw a brief flutter of what appeared to be insect-wings, turning quickly on my heels to slam my fist directly into the eye of another monster. It screamed in agony as its eye busted like a water balloon, then fell limp as the voice emanating from its throat gurgled. I retracted my hand, watching with satisfaction as the circle of creatures took another step back. Retracting my fist from the creature's skull, I examined it briefly. A memory of a show crossing my mind.
“Changelings?” I breathed in disbelief, looking back to the Doctor. “What are they doing here?”
“Now probably isn’t the time for that,” he said quickly, eyes darting around him as he recovered from his quivering. He slowly got on all four hooves, I keeping silent my comeback concerning his previous question and gave a nod in response. I stood, trying to ignore the surge of pain coursing through my body, hearing the stallion beside me gulp audibly. “They’re not changelings,” he said, gazing around at the circle of predatory gazes. “Not anymore.”
“I figured that once they started biting me,” I grunted in reply. “So how do we get out of this?”
The only response he gave was to look upward. I looked towards him, confused at first until I noticed that every changeling around us was doing the same thing. They also seemed to be scampering backward rather quickly. I followed with my eyes to heavens, noticing for the first time that there was an ominous overlay of dark clouds. I could briefly make out sunlight through a few, subtle patches. It was the only sign that told me it was daytime. Other than the clouds, I saw nothing else, looking back to the Doctor. “What is everyone looking a-”
Before I could finish, a deafening roar pierced the heavens. I jumped, startled by the intensity of it, looking skyward again as I saw a shape descend from the cover of the clouds. It moved fast, flying directly towards our location. I barely made out wings flapping once before it entered a dive. It turned sharply, gigantic wings splaying outward as the air caught against the membrane patching its wings. Then, with a gigantic THUD against the ground that rocked me and everything else off balance, it landed just feet from us. My eyes grew wide as I beheld the dragon before me, its neck craning as it slowly stood up on all fours. It briefly looked my way, grunting deeply, then released another earth shattering roar as it opened its massive jaws and released a torrent of liquid napalm onto the changelings before it.
The changelings began to scatter, I losing not a second of our miraculous distraction to literally lift the Doctor up with both arms around his form and running through an opening in the chitin forms. Behind me, the roaring continued, along with the sickening sound of screams and burning hide. The treeline welcomed me as I darted past obstacles, knowing only that to get away now would be the best option. I didn’t know how I fought so many changelings, but I was damn sure with my current state of health I wouldn’t be able to fight a dragon.
Then everything became silent. I stopped in the middle of an opening in the forest, panting heavily as Whooves wiggled free of my grip and plopped down on all fours. He gave me a detestable glare before snorting and looking around at our new location. I simply looked up, arms going limp at my sides and jaw opening wide in disbelief. With an equal quake on the earth, the same dragon landed before us. I would have cursed our luck had it not been for my state of shock. The dragons massive wings slowly folded against its form, its head lowering as I made note of its elongated ebony horns on its skull. They seemed to gleam impossibly with each hint of sunlight passing through the dark overcast. Its snout stopped, inches before my form, I fearing the worst.
“I am Lazarus,” It greeted me, its voice deeply guttural. It motioned its head to its side, away from where the changelings had previously been. “You shall follow me,” the dragon continued. “The alternative is death by nightmares.”
It occurred to me then that three mindfucks had taken place since my awakening here. One had been waking up in a lizard-like body. The second had been seeing a pony from a cartoon show, which nearly killed me from the realization alone. The last and probably biggest was seeing the living, breathing incarnation of a fictional character from my mind. What the hell was something from my mind doing in this place? Maybe it was just an exact copy of it, a fluke. I still hadn’t come to terms with what was happening, after all. The Doctor broke me from my thoughts as he spoke.
“Is there going to be food?” The Doctor asked from my side. I looked down at him in disbelief, he simply shrugging up at me innocently. “What? I’m starving!”
I wanted to facepalm so hard then. No, this wasn’t a dream, this was a nightmare. I swore the next thing that would happen is that some tentacle monster would come out and try to molest me. I quietly waited for that to happen. I quietly breathed a sigh of relief when it did not come to pass..
“Come,” the dragon ordered with a grunt, “There is little time.”
It then turned and began walking into the forest, weaving dexterously between the large trees. After being quickly reminded of the pain in my side, I followed. The amber-colored stallion trotting happily beside me, as if nothing ever happened. I merely shook my head, my gaze returning to the dragon as he continued forward ahead of us.
“This can’t be real,” I whispered to myself. Another jolt of pain told me otherwise. I cursed under my breath, feeling gravely weaker than before. I kept a hand on my open wound, hoping to God that wherever we were going they had morphine.
I was struggling to walk. The wound at my side causing me excruciating pain. Every step caused me to groan, neither Whooves nor Lazarus seemed to take an interest. They kept walking forward, weaving through the dense treeline and seemingly caught up with a conversation of their own. They ignored me, I started to limp in my steps as I felt my hand start to slip from my wound. I could feel myself weakening. Everything around me became surreal, vivid. My hearing diminished to the sound of my heartbeats. I was alone, falling behind the duo as they kept moving onward. My head lowered, my neck feeling too weak to keep it up.
Was I even real? Was any of this real?
These two questions came to the forefront of my mind. Before me were two entities I had firmly believed existed only in fantasy. One was a character from a cartoon show, the other from the core of my thoughts and imagination. I knew the first only in the sense of how I saw him on television, of the stories written by fans and interpretations by many others. It was easy for me to believe that seeing Doctor Whooves was a manifestation of my dreams, but the pain at my side and the experience I was enduring told me otherwise. I felt the claws at the end of my toes scrape against the ground, every step taxing my strength. Perhaps I was not dreaming.
Then the second of these entities brought its attention to my belief. If I was truly not dreaming, then how could a manifestation of a species from my own mind be present here? I knew Lazarus like the back of my hand, like a father would know his son. Every thought, every action that had dictated his life was known to me. Then again, perhaps this dragon, however similar in design to my own thoughts, was not the Lazarus I had created but rather something completely different. Yet still, none of this, however relevant, explained why he exists here. Therefore, this was either a dream or I was dead.
I felt myself stumble forward, falling to my knees as my head slipped back and gazed towards the heavens. My vision was blurry. I could make out the tree tops above me, through which a bright orb of light shined. I felt warmth course through my cold frame. My jaw slipped open slightly, I feeling my breathing becoming slow and ragged. I felt myself wobble slowly from side to side on my knees. My eyes closed half-way as I admired the light. It felt welcoming, beckoning me to close my eyes fully and allow its brilliance to spirit me away. I couldn’t resist.
Maybe I was dead, and Heavens light was shining down on me to take me home? Yea, that seemed about right. It was the only explanation. I released one last, long breath from my body. My eyes closed fully, I feeling myself tilt forward.
My last thought was of not being ready to go.
* * *
I heard the sound of my heater in the corner of my room. My eyes opened, taking a sharp breath in as I rolled onto my back. I was in my bed, back in my room. My comforter was over me, providing me with further warmth. The room was dark. It was just a dream, all just a dream. I closed my eyes briefly, taking in a breath as I stretched and yawned. I rolled onto my other side, my arm outstretching for my phone. Fingers around it, I brought it to me as I opened my eyes again. My breathing steady as I read the time as two in the morning. It was Sunday, my only day off.
I replaced the phone back on my nightstand, ignoring the dim red light of my heater in the far corner as I tucked myself back under the covers. It was all just a dream. I felt myself start to drift off again, feeling relaxed and comfortable in the knowledge of my returning sanity. I felt goose bumps on my body; a cold chill erupting across my form suddenly. Alarms went off in the back of my mind. That instinctive feeling of being watched sending my stomach into a churn. Reaction took hold, I rolling quickly to grasp my knife on my nightstand. I barely felt the handle before my body froze in place. Fear gripped me as I realized I couldn’t move.
“Calm yourself,” an ethereal voice spoke from behind me, “I am not here to hurt you.”
My body was released from its temporary paralysis. I felt myself sweating. That voice was entirely too familiar. Slowly, my arm lowered from reaching for my knife, my body turning so I could view the source of the speech. I then jumped two feet in the air from my bed and landed against the wall of my room. I was trying to grip the wall, the blood disappearing from my extremities as my face and body became white. I shouted the only thing that properly relayed what I saw.
“WHAT. THE. FUCK.”
On the other side of my room stood two beings that, once again, defied all understanding of reality. One of these beings illuminated my room with a dark blue light. My body was trembling as I was on the verge of tears, my mind having a field day trying to decipher the logic in what my eyes were seeing. I felt incredibly dizzy, I realized then that I was on the verge of passing out. I tried to stand, only to stumble forward, falling flat on my face. I brought myself up again with my arms, feeling a sudden weight to my backside. Through the blue hue of light, I made out that my arms were not those of a human. They were eerily familiar to the reptilian skin of the body I had in my dream. My eyes squinted, gazing up at the two once more.
“You’re not real,” I said calmly to Princess Luna. I then pointed a claw to the second entity. “And you, you’re supposed to be in my mind. What are you doing here? Get back in my mind!”
“No,” Melkos stated defiantly.
I then burst out in a fit of insane laughter, feeling my grip on sanity finally releasing as I fell forward on my face again.
***
“Are you sure this was a good idea?” Luna asked, looking to Melkos.
“It did seem like it at the time,” Melkos replied, red eyes squinting as he looked down at the laughing Kobold on the floor. He blinked, the light from my eyes briefly cutting off before glowing again. Slowly, he looked to his side at the Lunar Diarch. “I do believe we broke him.”
Calmly Luna raised an eyebrow, before shaking her head and rolling her eyes simultaneously. “I do not think that the word ‘we’ applies here, Unchanos.”
The Dark Master sighed, his breath emitting as chilled vapor from his skeletal jaws. He raised his hand, the mist of darkness surrounding his form coalescing at the end of his open palm into an orb. With a swift, downward motion of his hand he brought the illusion surrounding them to an end. In its place was a clearing of bare dirt and grass. He gazed briefly to either side of the clearing, then turned his attention down to the limp body of the Kobold a few feet ahead of him.
“He should be safe here,” Melkos said as he turned to leave. “We should go before the Queen realizes our presence.”
Luna hesitated. “Who will find him?”
Melkos turned his head slightly, looking to the Princess. “I do not know.”
The alicorn gave a bewildered look to the dark entity, quickly looking from the Kobold to him. With another brief moment of hesitation, she snorted before flaring her wings wide and quickly galloping forward. Once she had enough lift, she beat her wings against the calm morning air before taking off and angling past the treeline.
Melkos Unchanos took one last look to the Kobold before his form began to dissipate into a cloud of mist. His head turned towards the left, watching as a form emerged from the darkness of the woods. His eyes then fell on the Kobold again.
“Save us,” he whispered silently.
Then he was gone.
***
“Wake up.”
I grunted, feeling myself being pushed by someone on my shoulder. I opened my eyes, groaning as the daylight bore into my vision and blinded me momentarily. I shielded my face with my hand, sighing heavily as I rolled onto my back. A sharp pain tore through my senses as I yelped and quickly found myself on my feet holding onto my tail. “Fuck,” I rubbed my claw down to the base and back before hissing, “forgot about that.”
“What are you, creature?”
I blinked. My head turned to my fore to see the one responsible for waking me. I nearly did a double take. Kneeling in front of me was a man adorned in a full set of light armor. His face partially hidden behind a norman helmet, simple in design and black in coloration. The color scheme extended to the remainder of his outfit, from his chainmail to his leather gauntlets and greaves. On his chest and extending down was a long tunic with a flag adorning the center. A short sword was also sheathed to his belt. After a moment of my quiet examination, the man tilted his head slightly towards me. “Do you understand me, lizard?” He asked, his words coming out slower than before.
“Yes,” I replied. I noticed a momentary expression of shock on the man's face before he responded. “Good,” he said, extending his arm towards me. “Do you require assistance to your feet?”
I responded by grasping the mans arm by the wrist, he quickly lifting me to my feet as I released my hold. He dusted off his knees, which I quickly noted had leather protecting them as well, before giving me a robust smile. “It is quite refreshing stumbling upon something that speaks neither in hisses nor growls,” the armored man said as he looked off somewhere behind me, eyes growing distant. He quickly shook his head, gazing back at me. “Anyway, what is your name creature?”
“Travis,” I replied. “And yours?”
“Lord Emperor Havok Agamemnon,” he responded, standing proudly. “On another quest of adventure and intrigue, slaying beasts and crusading for my Dark Lord and Master.”
I squinted my eyes at him, “What did you say your name was again?”
Havok looked somewhat irritated. “Lord Empero-” he began, I cutting him off with a quick wave of my clawed hand. “No I know that,” I said, “I meant your name, not title.”
“Oh!” He resumed his proud stance, “Havok Agamemnon! Have you heard of me, even in this foul place?”
“You can say that,” I replied. A cold chill shot down my spine, sending me into a brief shiver. Havok didn’t notice, nodding with a silent “humm” of satisfaction.
“Then surely you know of Melkos Unchanos,” Havok said with a warm smile.
My eye twitched. “Yes, I do.”
“Excellent!” He said, nodding again. “You are one less lizard I need to slay! Come, let us not tarry any further. Do you know how to fight?”
He was straight-forward, just like I imagined him to be originally. Though this stereotypical “heroic knight” attitude was not. I held back my expression and onto whatever shattered sanity I had left by nodding. Havok gave a hard pat to my shoulder, causing me to cringe slightly from the pain. “Excellent again!” He said, then motioned ahead of him.
I turned to look, my attitude of life suddenly diminishing to zero. “Fuck,” I groaned. A few yards ahead of us were two very large, very angry changelings with very red eyes. They seemed to be foaming at the mouths. I observed that their stares were trained intently on Havok.
“Fuck?” Havok asked, looking at me with a raised eyebrow. “Not quite, my new reptilian friend.” He then quickly drew his sword, “Fight!”
Havok then lowered his sword slightly, leaning to whisper, “You did mean fucking as fighting, right? Because I do not believe you are a female...”
The ground shook violently under us, stopping us in our tracks. Large chunks of earth split upwards and crumbled to the side; a nightmarish form of demonic origin emerging from the pits of hell itself. From behind the two larger changelings, four green reptilian eyes converged on Havok, then myself. As the dust cleared, a serpentine body was revealed by the light of the sun above; the sudden burst of the mammoth beast having cleared the skies. I could clearly made out its draconic head, the four hellish eyes gazing at me with two at each side of its head. Its entire body was as dark as the abyss of space, paying homage to its obvious changeling origins. It was twisted, spines sprouting along its back and body; its large bat-like wings spreading to block out the sunlight as it dragged itself to its feet.
“You’ll need this,” Havok said from beside me. I glanced at him, taking the offered shortsword. I felt myself trembling involuntarily. Havok shot me a reassuring smile and nodded. “Fear not,” he said as he gazed onward to the enemy, “we shall not die this day. Charge!”
How is charging a monster as big as an apartment building not going to kill us? Because fuck logic. That went out the window an hour ago.
I embraced the sudden surge of purpose filling my body with strength. I watched briefly as Havok charged forward, shouting “Caex!” as an ethereal longsword manifested near his palm. He gripped the hilt firmly with both hands as he swung it, a trail of dark mist following in its wake, he let loose a thunderous battle cry as he neared the two large changelings that seemed intent on eradicating all evidence of Havok’s existence, meaning they were focused completely on him, leaving me standing as the lone target for the mammoth changeling now glaring at me. I raised my shortsword, charging forth and bellowing my own roar of conquest, and the towering demon rushing towards me.
Each step of the titan violently shook the ground, threatening to make me fall as it rushed forward, leaping over Havok and its two brethren. My vision quickly turned red, but I ignored it, trying to outmaneuver my enemy was far more important. I quickly rolled forward, nearly being crushed by the titan’s forefoot as it stomped the ground where I had been. I glanced up briefly, noting it easily reached four stories tall. Its length equaled, in my mind, to at least forty feet or more from its elongated neck to tail. I found my fear vanishing..I was thrilled to see this beast as my enemy. Something inside me yearned for this looming battle. It wanted it.
As the titan turned its gigantic form, neck ushering its reptilian head towards mine, I had every intent of obliging my desire for bloodshed.
“Raaaaah!” I roared, swinging down with my sword on the titans snout. It jerked back with a echoing hiss, swinging its tail towards me as its body twisted appropriately. I quickly jumped back, the tip of its tail impacting my side and sending me careening across the ground. I rolled for several yards coming to a stop on my back. my gaze fixed upward, seeing the titan’s open maw dropping down towards me. I barely had enough time to react, trying to twist myself to a knee and roll away; feeling instead something grip down hard on my leg. I cried out in pain as I felt myself lifted several feet above the ground, the pressure on my leg releasing as I saw my world spinning. Then, with a loud CRACK of the sound barrier, an immense force of natural plated armor and bone smacked into my form and sent me flying towards the ground.
The impact came, I felt every bone in my body breaking. I lay in a heap, gazing upward, with a blurry view of reality. I tried to groan in pain, but the sound never came, nor did my attempted breath. My eyelids fluttered; I barely felt my death grip on my sword handle. I saw briefly a blotch of darkness against the sun, coming down towards me. As it approached, I started hearing soft cracks resounding in my broken form. I felt the pressure on my chest lighten, I took in a sharp breath as my eyes opened widely. I had a clear view of the titans clawed foot above me, the red in my vision instantly darkening to a crimson. I felt a surge of impossible energy manifesting through my form.
Then the creatures forefoot slammed into me. I felt nothing but the intense pressure of the earth on my back, feeling it break and crumble under my form. The creatures forefoot started to raise, but not by its own will. I realized the pressure against my arms, had somehow managed to force themselves upward. The trembling muscle and armor above me told me of the titans struggle to keep its foot down; something inside me had enough power of its own. The impossibility of my current feat was lost to the undying rage swelling inside my heart. I felt my arms tremble, the forefoot jolting lower towards my form as I struggled to raise it. Whatever was granting me this strength was losing this struggle.
“Jedark!” I heard Havok cry from somewhere away, noticing instantly the sudden loss of weight being exerted onto my arms from the forefoot. I roared, my face straining as I gave everything I had, slowly raising the forefoot up enough to allow me to my knees. “Jedark!” cried Havok again, and once again the creature faltered. I pushed harder, my face contorted and my snout clenched shut; eyes shut with my efforts and blood oozing from between my teeth. I managed to bring one foot firmly against the ground, then with another push I brought the other. Slowly, my body shaking with fatigue, I stood straight with my arms outstretched and holding the titans forefoot above me.
The roar of victory I gave emerged from deep within. My eyes shooting open to clearly view Havok standing not too far from me, viewing his gawking expression with a snarl of my own as a response. He acted quickly, raising his hand upwards and shouting again. The creature finally released the crushing weight on my frame, I swiftly knelt to take hold of the sword I had lost earlier. With a swift upward arch of my arms, I sliced off the titans larger clawed toe, hearing it cry in pain. But I wasn’t done yet. As the creature tilted on its other three legs, I leapt upward and firmly impaled my sword in between the sections of its natural armor. Again it roared, but I ignored it, raising myself so as to begin to crawl up its foreleg, taking out my sword and placing it firmly in my jaws as I gazed upward towards my goal.
“Ixen!” shouted Havok, I witnessed a fireball crossing my field of vision and impacting the side of the titans head. It twisted and writhed violently, losing its balance and falling onto its side. Its weight crushed one of its own wings in the process with a sickeningly loud sound. It thrashed against the ground, nearly making me lose my grip as I stood and ran up its leg then across its back as it came against the ground, feeling my toe claws taking any grip they could find to thrust me ever closer to my objective. I reached its neck, watching as the creatures two eyes from the side of its head turned to glare at me. I bellowed another roar, spittle and blood shooting out as I maintained my momentum and speed up the neck. It started to raise its head, I recognizing my opportune moment. I leapt upwards, having reached just beyond the middle of the neck and shot forward in the air as I raised my sword. Both clawed hands firmly gripping the handle, turning it so the tip was pointing down..
The creatures head met the end of my blade as I lowered it mid-strike, sinking deep just behind the dual eye sockets of the titans skull. My body impacted the head next, I gave off a resounding “Oof!” as I held firmly to the blade. Once again, the titan thrashed, head slamming against the ground as its body flailed in a vain attempt to dislodge the sword. My toeclaws were thrust forward, sinking deep between the armored plates into muscle beneath, holding me steady as I withdrew the sword. I quickly impaled it again, and again, gripping the sword for support as the creature thrashed opposite of my preferred angle of balance and striking each time it moved to support it. The titans writhing became weaker and weaker, a clearly open gash spewing forth the beast’s greenish blood. I struck one last time, hearing a sickening SKRUNCH as something gave.
The titan lay still, head going limp against the ground, its eyes still open as the glow quickly faded with its final breath. I panted heavily from my endeavor; feeling my body suddenly weaken from its exertion, I releasing the hold from my sword to lean forward on my knees. My arms crossed forward, my head resting between them, my breathing heavy.
What the hell had I just done?
I raised myself on my knees, my hands resting on my scaled thighs. I looked to the heavens, seeing a clear blue sky meeting my gaze. What I had just accomplished was impossible. I should be dead from being crushed. I closed my eyes slowly, taking in long, refreshing breaths. I had felt so alive. So very, very alive. Yet I knew, deep down, that by killing this titan I had somehow unlocked something primal inside me. Something I may not want. I brought a claw to the top of my elongated head, scratching against my head scales slowly as I let loose a drawn out sigh.
* * *
The sun had long set as Havok and I enjoyed a well deserved respite. The prior events had caused me to think hard on my current situation. The thoughts on the ramifications of my insane display of strength had rocked me to my very core, causing me to fear my own capabilities. Not only that, but I witnessed first hand Drekamythian Sorcery. The display had broken my understanding of what the core of my reality should be. It had brought forth the disturbing truth that I had witnessed something crafted from my mind molded into an actual, physical manifestation of magic. It was, as my mind believed, entirely impossible.
Then again, waking up in my bed and seeing a character from my imagination next to Princess Luna was also impossible. I sighed, chewing on the meat of one of the fallen changelings. Havok was a surprisingly good cook for someone who had used a campfire and makeshift oven of rocks.
“Do tell Travis,” Havok said after he swallowed a bite, “from whence did thou come if not here?”
I had explained previously to the warrior of my otherworldly origin. I left out the details of seeing a world from a television show and entities created from my mind, for obvious reasons. All Havok knew was that I had appeared here from a similar realm to his.
“From a land called America,” I responded as I took another bite of my portion of meat. I was becoming slowly used to using my jaws to tear the flesh and swallow it whole, rather than chew. My previous attempt at such elicited a laughing fit from Havok to my embarrassment. “I lived a normal life there, until I ended up here.”
Havok nodded, “A place full of your kind, I presume?”
“Not exactly. I was human once.”
The warrior raised an eyebrow, “Oh? So this form-” he made a gesture towards me “-is not that which you originally took? Is your realm full of shapeshifters then?”
I chuckled, “No, nothing like that. I was there, then in a flash of light I was here in this body. I can’t explain it.”
“Ahf,” Havok said as he spoke with a mouthful, “Mafif!”
“Say what?”
He swallowed. “Magic,” he said more clearly.
I shrugged, “Maybe.”
The campfire to our side quickly became our sole source of illumination as the night took over our surroundings. The yellow light played across Havok’s features, I glanced towards him for a few moments. I still could not get over how he appeared. I had imagined Agamemnon to be a character with a strong personality and will that resembled, oddly enough, one of my all time favorite actors. It was an innocent manifestation of my imagination, allowing me to properly convey his actions in the stories I wrote. Now it seemed like someone was playing an almost hilarious joke on me. Just seeing Vin Diesel speak and act in Havok’s shoes made me want to break out into laughing fits.
Though, as I thought back, using the movie Pitch Black as inspiration for Havok wasn’t so much of a horrible idea; he did kind of look badass while fighting.
“I’ve battled these creatures before,” Havok said breaking my train of thought. His manner of speech was more formal, darker. “They invaded our Anagonian brothers to the north, coming south for us. They were known as Nightmares.”
I blinked. Did he just say Anagonia? I stayed quiet as he continued, his gaze going downward as he wiped his hands on his tunic.
“If it was not for the power of our Sorcery, I a doubtful the Imperial Empire would have survived the first wave. My guard had known for some time the plight of our Anagonian brethren. My people seeing the footage on newscasts and feeling their pain as our own. In the beginning, we sent our assistance to them in the form of our modern military. Yet, just as the Confederacy had suffered losses with their own, so did we. They seemed to spawn from everywhere, erupting from pits of green hellfire and consuming every living creature in their path. It was only when the Imperial Church realized the Nightmares use of magic that we took alternative measures.
“So we sent out our most powerful Battlemages, hoping that with their addition in with the standard forces we would gain an advantage. By that time, however, it was too late. Anagonia had fallen, every city consumed by the plague of darkness. We barely had time to recall our forces before the Nightmares loomed over Drekamythian borders.”
A moment of silence loomed for a brief moment before Havok sighed heavily. “I was at the Tardaskian Plains preparing for battle when I was taken here.”
It took me a moment to remember the location from the map I had drawn long ago, but I quickly understood the significance. The Tardaskian Plains was a location just south of the Anagonian State of Lexington. If the Nightmares had gone that far, then that meant the natural barriers of the Lexington Mountains were useless and Drekamythia would all but be open to them. I cringed at the thought. Thousands, hundreds of thousands of changelings consuming everything in their path. Though something poked at my memory of what I understood changelings were capable of. “What do you mean ‘consumed’, Havok?”
“Hmm?” he responded, looking up to me. “Oh, eating flesh, killing everything. They showed no mercy.”
“Eating flesh?” I said, my eyes going distant. “That’s impossible....changelings only consume emotions.”
“Changelings? What are these changelings?” Havok sounded suspicious.
I sighed. My mind would have eventually betrayed me at some point. “What you call Nightmares are actually called Changelings. They’re shapeshifters, consuming emotions.”
Havoks leaned forward, glaring at me sternly. “You know this how?”
Here it goes. “Because where I’m from, everything here, or what’s supposed to be here, isn’t real. It’s fictional, a part of a show. A kids show, to be exact. Changelings like the ones you faced are not supposed to be trying to consume flesh.”
He looked at me a moment longer. “You’re mad.”
I huffed, “I wish I was. Seeing you already told me I’m beyond insane.”
Havok stood, “Is that an insult?!”
I stood as well, meeting his gaze. “No, it’s fact. You know what, fuck it. I wasn’t about to explain the shit I’ve gone through seeing you and that other dragon here. I mean, sure, I can slightly deal with a fucking talking pony from a cartoon show, but you?!” I took a step forward, Havok going tense. “You’re not supposed to exist! You’re a damn character form a fucking story I wrote! You and everything you described are things that belong in a book, not in reality!”
I saw Havok breathe heavily for a moment, his fists clenching and relaxing. He had a stern expression, one partially filled with anger and something else. I quickly realized that something else was pity. “I’ve seen my own, most trusted, most capable soldiers lose their mind.” Havok said, “But only after so many battles, so many warriors. Never before have I seen someone, some creature loose theirs after one.”
“You’re father was a dragon,” I stated in as calm as fashion as possible. “Your birth was not supposed to happen. An accident of magic. You were then explained away as an excuse to usher in an age of peace and cooperation from the true Drekamythians, allowing your people to continue to inhabit their lands.”
I watched him stagger back a step, glaring at me with wide eyes. “No one knows that,” he said, then his expression hardened as he growled, “expect for a Nightmare. That’s it, isn’t it. This is some game, some trick! Taking me away from my people when they needed me the most! Caex!” He then rushed forward, his dark longsword manifesting in his grip as he took a wide swing down toward me.
I had only a second to react.
I shifted on my axis, tilting to my side and rolling on the ground towards where my shortsword lay. I grabbed it quickly, coming to my knees and parrying a second strike from Havok’s weapon. I quickly stood, thankful for my experience with swords as I used the motions to the best of my ability to combat the new threat. I tried to remain concentrated on not entering a rage, thoughts from the previous encounter with the changelings coming to mind. If I lost myself here, I might kill Havok and my only link to any explanation for why I was here. It was a slim possibility, but it existed nonetheless.
With a twirl, I brought the blunt side of my sword to a strike against Havok’s grip on his sword. My lack of experience in combat showed as I missed by miles, instead continuing with the momentum of my swing to swing around and surprise Havok by striking him in his back. I barely had a chance to regain my footing from my mistake as the warrior bellowed a warcry, swinging his sword again to try to slice down upon my neck. I found myself rolling forward on the ground, jumping to my feet to miss another strike as it impacted the ground just inches from my snout. I cursed myself as the red hue started to enter my vision.
“I’m not your enemy!” I shouted, our swords meeting as Havoks face contorted in seething rage. He seemed to ignore my words, pressing down against my sword. His strength surprised me, bringing me to my knee as my arms struggled to support my defense. The red hue was starting to consume the entirety of my sight, I closing my eyes as I tried my best to ward off the looming desire for bloodlust. “Please,” I said between clenched teeth, “You were a mistake, but you become something far greater!” I felt the pressure on my sword lighten somewhat, I continuing. “Your father forsook you, but your mother did not. She taught you in the ways of chivalry and leadership, your entire life an excellent example of what a true Drekamythian should be. Yet you were something more, something greater, not only to yourself, but also to me.”
I raised my head, eyes opening and looking into his. “You became my inspiration to live, Havok. Your ideals, how I created you became that beacon of light that led me through a very dark time in my life.”
Slowly, cautiously, the pressure against my sword lessened. As it did so, I breathed a silent sigh of relief as I felt my anger beginning to subside. I saw in Havoks expression then something that hit me to my core. Reverence. He took a step back, his sword disappearing into a poof of dark mist, looking at me as if he had just seen a ghost. “Melkos?” he said silently. I could see the beginning of fear striking him, his knees beginning to buckle.
I took the initiative, releasing my sword to the ground and bridging the gap in two steps. My hands found themselves supporting his frame as he slowly came to his knees, looking at me with a perplexed expression. “I don’t understand,” he said. It took me a moment to catch my breath, having just recovered from my near miss with my rage. I shook my head then. “No,” I replied finally. “I’m not Melkos and I am definitely not a Nightmare.”
He looked away, his expression maintained as he tried to grasp the meaning of what I said. He shook his head slowly, “Then who are you?” He asked, looking back to me as I helped him to his feet. “No soul other than my parents know of my birth. None know. How could you?”
“I’m just someone who needed a hero,” I said with a smile. It was a difficult effort considering my facial structure, but I achieved it nonetheless. “On that dark day, years ago, you became that hero to me. That’s how I know.”
“Touching moment isn’t it?”
Both of our heads turned to the new voice, my expression lightning as I saw Time Turner again. The brown stallion of time was standing proudly, a wide smirk on his face as he looked from Havok then to me. He gave me a wink, “You seem to have kept yourself alive.”
“Heh, that I did.” I took a step back from Havok, rubbing the back of my neck. “Though I can’t say it hasn’t been without its fill of surprises.”
The Doctor nodded sagely, “Understandable. I apologize for not arriving sooner, we kind of lost track of you in the forest. You just...disappeared!” He gave a chuckle.
“A talking horse?” Havok whispered in astonishment.
“Yeah, I kind of passed out from my wounds.” I said
“No, that’s a pony...” Havok whispered again.
“Ah,” Whooves replied, “I was sure you’d make it back to the camp. We had a few interesting ponies I thought you’d like to meet.”
“It’s talking...” Havok then looked to me, literally screaming “It’s a talking horse!”
Both the Doctor and myself quickly looked to the Lord Emperor. “Yea, so what?” we both said in unison.
Havok’s eye twitched, going into a full spasm as Lazarus landed beside the earth pony. I carefully observed the human, watching as his astonished expression turned neutral. He looked from Whooves then to the Dragon, then to me. “I understand now,” he said with a slow nod to me, “I’m dreaming.”
The galaxy was in full view in the night sky. I lay there, looking upward to it, in awe at the wonders of what God had created. It had been two days spent in this strange world, trying to adapt to my conditions and wondering if what I was experiencing was real. I had come to the conclusion through the climactic battle previously that I had not, in fact, gone insane. I had yet to decipher whether this revelation bode good or ill, but I had once again found the spark of faith in me and had silently prayed for the will of my Creator to be done. I was feeling considerably better than before, knowing that whatever lay ahead now had been placed on the shoulders of something far greater and more capable than myself.
Despite this, my mind continued to drift to the events I had endured. What had become of me to turn into a monster blinded by rage? I recalled briefly a story told by my father about how when I had become so angry when I was four, I had ran after my sister with a knife. This had sparked his never ending tutoring of me gaining control of my emotions. He constantly hammered it in to me that I was fully capable of harming someone else, even killing them. This fact, of course, had led me to wisely heed his words and I eventually tampered my anger. It had cost me dearly during my school years, always being the one to be punched and kicked for the amusement of others, but I always tried my best to stay away from fighting. In fact, I never recalled a time when I did fight. My father was the greatest mentor I could have and my respect for him conquered my natural desire to defend myself.
Eventually, of course, he encouraged me to do so. Still, I resisted, always fearing that one fact of what I could possibly do.
Now, however, I felt nothing but shame. I had allowed myself to go beyond the limits of my control. The memory of my father was strong in me, I briefly recalling many conversations we had talked about, but the only comfort was the fact I didn’t see him looking down at me in disappointment. Rather, as I gazed to the stars above, I felt something else. I felt like, despite what my mind wanted to tell me, I had done something I needed to do. I kept wanting to chide myself, to make myself believe that by unleashing the pent up anger from many years of pain and death, I had somehow dishonored the memory of my deceased father. Yet, like the comforting embrace of a mother to a child, I kept feeling a great warmth fill me that seemed to tell me otherwise. I had done right by allowing myself to let go, to release my anger at the right time. I had allowed my frustration and rage to come out for a rightful cause, not one meant to harm another for no reason.
I silently whispered thanks to my Creator for this comfort, adding a ‘thank you’ to my father for all he had taught me. He had been a good father, a good teacher. It was only right, I thought to myself, that I should question my actions. In that way, I could improve. Realizing now that I was capable of feats of strength not even I dreamed of, I knew now that I would have to control it. The brief skirmish with Havok had been a victory for me in taking control of my actions. Still, I had almost lost it, so I would have to meditate and gain a complete understanding of what I could do. I had done it before during my youth, I could do it again.
“Thank you Dad,” I whispered to the stars.
Any doubt left in my mind lifted. I could do this, I had to do it and I would. God allowed me a great struggle in my youth and only now did I connected only the smallest of dots to the situation I was thinking on now. I had chosen the path of avoiding harming others, at the cost of my own health. Now, with these strange new enemies around and new faces I had to acquaint myself with, that strength I had hidden for so many years would definitely need to come to play. It could not, it wouldnot, be used wrongfully. I had conquered my disability then, I would conquer my new strength now. I smiled, opening my eyes to the full view of what my mind assumed was the Milky Way. I felt the faith I had once held strongly rekindling inside me. I knew this would prove to be my rock and foundation.
I heard a rustling beside me, my thoughts drifting away as I heard the soft clop of hooves against the ground. My head turned, the night having cast its wonderful shadow over everything, only the adjustment of my eyesight allowing me the briefest of glimpses to the shape of a pony. “Doctor Whooves?” I asked in a whisper.
“Aye,” came the response. Then, in a flash of light that momentarily lit up the Doctors form, the campfire rekindled. Flames erupted, soft popping sounds emanating as it started to once again consume its wooden fuel source. I saw Whooves look to me, “It seems we are at a crossroads my dear chap.”
I sat up slowly, trying to cross my legs at first, but failing and allowing them to spread. I used my tail to push myself off the ground. “What do you mean?” I asked.
“I mean that a decision needs to be made by someone in our new party of wayward souls,” the Doctor responded. “That someone is not me, nor the dragon, nor the Emperor. That only leaves you.”
My mind attempted to rationalize what he was trying to say, failing miserably. “I don’t understand,” I said.
“Come now,” the Doctor said, “do you really think someone like you has any business in a place like this?”
My eyes widened. “Well... No” I responded, my voice faint. Whooves nodded slowly, “Then you also know that with you being here, you’ve changed everything.” His expression grew dark, his eyes boring into mine. “I know who you are, Travis. I know where you come from. I know that everything happening to Equestria now is all because of you.”
“I’m sorry!” I said quickly, “I didn’t mean for any of this!” The calmness I once felt before I now left me, in its place a fear striking into my core. I had guessed previously that my presence here had an impact on events, this proving true when I encountered the changelings. Had I caused all of thi-
“Yes you did,” Whooves said, his voice grim. He somehow had read my mind. “I had come here after my change, Travis. This was supposed to be my afterlife, my land of milk and honey. Instead, through the reckless imaginings of an inferior mind, my world was turned upside down.”
I watched as he stood on his hooves, approaching me slowly. His head was lowered, his lips a scowl, baring some of his teeth. This was completely unlike the Doctor I knew, or thought I knew. In my brief instant of fright, I felt myself crawl back involuntarily. My gaze shifted around me for a moment, seeing the large dragon and the warrior emperor still asleep on the other side of the campfire. I wanted to shout, to alert them, but something caught in my throat. It came out in a gasp, I looked back to see Whooves nearly on top of me, my jaw trembling at the expression of pure hatred on his face.
“You turn to your gods and your beliefs,” the Doctor continued, spitting his words, “You make yourself believe you’ve done right by what you were taught. You humans are all the same, always picking away the pieces of the universe with your imagination, then when everything comes tumbling down around you, you make excuses to feel better!” He stomped his forehoof against the ground, pressing his head against my own. My snout was pressed down by the ridge of his snout, his eyes glaring into my own. There was a fire in them, something akin to hatred. “And now, I’m going to show you everything!”
“Doctor, wai-!”
I couldn’t even finish my sentence, my words cut off as his forehoof slammed into the side of my skull and pressed my head down against the ground. “Witness the destruction you’ve wrought!” he proclaimed, my body forced into an awkward pose with a mixture of pain and twitching, my eyes were flooded with swirls of colors. I felt my body briefly spasm, then I felt weightless. My consciousness was dragged out of my mind, into the swirling vortex of colors and thrown deep in the shades of purple and red. I tried screaming, tried anything, but only the intense feeling of falling welcomed me. I felt a great pressure against myself, trying my best to close my eyes but never truly recognizing how. Then the swirling stopped, my vision forced to look at a world much like earth.
This earth, however, was far different. Only half was lit by the lone sun in the distance, but from what I could see a large continent I had never seen before spanned across most of the surface that the light revealed. For the first brief moments of my glimpse at this foreign world, I felt peace. I felt like this was as things should be. My vision drifted to the corner of the world, the light creating a wonderful array of midnight colorations across the atmosphere as the dark side embraced the barrier. Slowly, the form of a planetoid rose, half of its surface lit by the same sun. It reminded me much of Earth's moon, though this one seemed..off. I could feel dismay as I recognized what was different. Across its surface, jagged lines of molten red began to erupt and tear the moon to pieces. As the breaking form of the lunar body rose higher above its mother world, its pieces began falling towards it.
The perfect world below turned into hellfire. Across its surface, large chunks of the moon impacted far faster than naturally possible. The dark side of the world lit up with eruptions of crust and magma caused by the impacts. The light side fared no better, becoming consumed by the oncoming wave of armageddon. In a flash, the planet began ripping itself apart. The entire surface of the world erupted in a greenish hellfire, consuming the red hues of magma and flames on the surface. In a quick flash of the same color, the entire world imploded on itself, and for a brief instant all was quiet. Then, with a flash of intense light that blinded me temporarily, I watched in horror as the anomaly of rock and debris exploded outward into the cosmos.
In its place sat a single, large chunk of earth. I could clearly see a green light, very bright, emanating from its surface.
“That was you!” the Doctors voice called out to me accusingly. “You did this! You’ve doomed this world! You’ve doomed all reality to the Queen of Nightmares!”
I felt my body once more, the involuntarily shaking of my limbs and chest as I sobbed heavily. The Doctors hoof had left my face, he stood over me as I looked up to him through watery eyes. I was a mess beneath him, my faith shattered and my resolve destroyed all through a single vision of death and destruction. Everything I had built up to make me strong in my previous thoughts, to make me believe that I was something more than a hateful beast of destruction, had been proven wrong. My tears blurred my vision completely as I felt a hand, a human hand, grip my reptilian one. “But it doesn’t have to be this way,” the Doctor said softly, caring to me.
The hand became my anchor was it pulled me to my feet, another wiping a cloth across my eyes as my sobbing subsided. “I-It doesn’t?” I asked, stuttering my words before I gasped. Before me, I saw David Tennant, the real incarnation of the Tenth Doctor. He had his trademark blue, two-piece four-buttoned suit on with the red tie. His air was a mess, as usual, and I noticed that one hand was firmly gripping my own where he had pulled me to my feet. The other was just now lowering with a white cloth, replacing it in his pocket. He slowly released his grip on my hand, and I released mine. “Y-you’re...” I tried to begin, but words failed me.
The Doctor smiled, “Yes. I’m the Doctor, the real Doctor. I don’t really like doing all this bipedal walking in a quadruped world.” He smirked, “Might scare the locals, right?”
I surprised myself by chuckling. “Yeah,” I said, “Kind of makes sense.” Then something dawned on me. “Is that wh-” I was stopped when the Doctor raised a finger, waving it. “Ah-ah-ah! Mustn't reveal too much just yet,” he said. “I’ve already, probably, maybe, slightly, quite possibly said and did too much, so let’s try not go down that path shall we?”
I simply nodded, feeling the rogue emotions from before diminishing inside me. The Doctor smiled in return. “Good,” he then motioned around him, “Now about all this hubbub, hmm? Quite the problem we have ourselves in don’t we?”
“I guess so,” I responded, looking around. I gazed at the sleeping Lazarus and Havok momentarily, looking back to the Doctor. “Kind of shocked me my mind came to life. Really shocked me to be here, too.”
“Right,” the Doctor said, clasping his hands as he looked unsure for a second, “About that, right? You see, what I said earlier was true. I kinda sorta, maybe lied a teensy weensy bit when I said that only humanity does this sort of thing, but hey! You guys really imagine some really, really, really weird stuff that kinda, somehow gets forced into the timestream.” He looked at me, his expression dead serious. Noticing my surprised expression, he continued with a smile. “Anyway, so as I was saying, things happen and sometimes ones imagination may see into another world. It just so happens yours did, but-” he quickly raised a hand to silence me before I could speak “-something went wrong with yours.
“You see, sometimes, when a universe loves another universe, they tend to get very...mmm, what's the word? Sensual?” He placed a finger on his chin, looking up briefly before quickly reverting back to look at me. “Anyway, things happen and momma and pappa universe create a baby universe. Well, sometimes, this baby universe spawns some general demonic horde that somehow appears in every reality I’ve visited, and generally the outcome can either be good or bad. Normally bad. In this case, very bad, but not as bad as bad wolf. I think that was the baddest of the bad.”
Oh my God, this man was worse than Pinkie Pie. I was simply dumbstruck at his explanation by this point. I helplessly listened as he continued on with his banter.
“Anyway, as I was saying, this world spawned some really nasty hordes that were apparently defeated by the magic of love! Ahh, so romantic-” he briefly cringed “-but also so cliche. Never seen a demonic horde defeated by love, first time for everything I suppose! Like I was saying...” He then blinked, looking around him. “I keep losing my train of thought. Anywho, this event somehow managed to shoot this demonic horde across the multiverse, right into the world you somehow peered into and BAM, here we are! No, wait, here we aren’t. There’s something else....”
I watched as the Doctor began to pace back and forth. My eyes simply followed, my mind too far gone by this point to even attempt to register or even rationalize anything he had said. I knew from watching Doctor Who this was something I was supposed to expect, but the Doctor never went on an unending banter of talking unless something was really amiss. Then again, in the state of this world as it was now, things could very well be amiss. I mean, heck, changelings eating flesh? Yeah, that counts.
“Ah!” the Doctor turned on his heel, looking at me again. “I remembered. Your world, that world you wrote about and all that? What was its name?”
“Anagonia?” I answered, unsure.
“Right, Anagonia!” he snapped his fingers as he smiled widely, “That world, and everything in it, wasn’t really something you created. You see, it’s like-” I then raised my hand, watching as the Doctor fell silent and raised an eyebrow. I took a deep breath and exhaling slowly. “Listen, Mr. Who, or Whooves, whichever. I really, really don’t follow you. I mean, I understood parts of that, but you have to help me out here.”
“Oh,” the Doctor responded, standing straight as he crossed one arm to an elbow, his finger briefly tapping his chin. “What don’t you understand?”
“Almost all of it,” I said watching as his expression turned to surprise, I quickly added, “though it did make some sort of sense. Listen, what does Anagonia have to do with any of this? I mean I thought this world up when I was fourteen. It’s just....something from an overactive imagination!”
“Yes and overactive imaginations tend to break the barriers of reality,” the Doctor quickly stated, then he pointed a finger at me. “You, somehow, broke that barrier. I don’t know how, but you did. You also implanted a piece of yourself in that world. That piece of you drastically altered the natural course of history for Anagonia forever. You named it-”
We then turned our heads as the dragon grumbled. His head was slowly rising from being curled on the other side of his form. When I looked back to the Doctor, he was Time Turner again. “Wha-Ho-” I started.
“Not enough time!” Whooves seethed silently through clenched teeth. Before I could ask more, he quickly rose himself up, swiftly delivering a punch to the side of my head with his forehoof.
I awoke feeling a calm breeze wash over my bare scales. The tickle of wheat grass against my lower legs brought a smile to my face; a memory of my childhood briefly flashing across my minds eye. I opened my eyes, slowly, taking in a deep breath as I saw an endless landscape of wheat. They moved like the ocean tide, ever flowing as the wind cast its hypnotic dance over their stalks. I watched my surroundings for what felt like an eternity, feeling an all consuming calm flow over my soul. My eyes drifted forward; my expression grim as the light of an eternal hellfire played across my form as the scenery changed abruptly..
I saw before me now the raging inferno consuming several cities. I was standing on a cliff, overlooking the landscape below, yet the light from these flames reached me without difficulty. I recognized the landscape, my own mind having formed it long ago for my imagined world. In the distance was the Tiberium Mountains, its twin peaks reaching high into the atmosphere. Before them, in the expanse of hills, forests and flat terrain were the seven cities that made up central portion of Anagonia. What was once lush and green had now turned into darkness and destruction; the flames consuming the cities even reaching the many forests beyond.
I felt a deep, twisting pain in my heart. I fell to my knees, my emotions having already been abused enough that my grim expression remained. This was my world, my land. Not a single hint of life was to be seen, only the inferno of fire and crumbling buildings and the scorched landscape beyond. I didn’t know what to think, I couldn’t even fathom how to comprehend what I was witnessing. Had this been the end result of the Changeling invasion, as Havok had hinted? Was this all that was left of my dream? How many countless lives had been lost? The entirety of the situation was lost to me; I feeling my heart breaking from the devastating in view and the ramifications of it.
The breeze returned, briefly, the direction making it flow towards me. My jaw clenched as I smelled the scent of burning homes, landscape and....flesh. As if on cue, the breeze intensified to a gale, the flames in the distance visibly turning in my direction as the scent of burning flesh intensified. I coughed, gagged, falling forward as my hands reached out and supported me against the ground. My head sagged, my mental state cracked and a flood of emotions washed over me. My eyes burned as tears streamed down my snout, falling as droplets onto the grass below me. The stinging caused my eyelids to shut tightly, quiet sobs emitting from my form as it heaved and I struggled for breath.
All gone.
I could literally feel the agony around me, as if my soul was directly connected to whatever suffering had taken place. I knew it was all lost, I knew that not a single person was left alive. I finally fell to my side, curling into a fetal position as my sobs intensified. Everything I had dreamed, everything I had written, all gone. Undone by the changeling horde, eradicated by their cursed desire for power and blood. The clear evidence of their destructive capability had been mine to see, and mine alone to see the end result of.
With the change of direction in the wind, the putrid smell of death lingered only shortly before disappearing. I cried myself to sleep on the ground, feeling the tendrils of rage begin to grasp my heart.
* * *
For the second time, I awoke from my slumber. I was cautious at first, not wanting to open my eyes for fear I had entered yet another lucid vision of death. The smell of grass beneath my nostrils quelled the fear, giving me the courage to slowly open my eyes to view the source of the scent. I realized then I was laying on my stomach against the grass, the morning light having just arrived to bring clarity to the world around me. I then smelled the dirt, soft and easily disturbed. I had a view of my clawed hand against the grass, just inches before my snout, clenching my fingers slowly as the claws dug into the soft dirt. I took a slow breath in, allowing myself to fully embrace the feel of the dirt; its wet texture crumbling easily against my fingers as it was forced into clumps.
It felt....real.
I exhaled, seeing a few blades of grass sway from my breath. I released my hold on the dirt, gently sliding my palm against the grass to cleanse my skin of it. Something rumbled close to me. A deep and soothing rumble, coming from within a massive body. I rolled onto my side, then pushed myself up into a sitting position. I looked from my left, then right, seeing nothing but the bland texture of the forest around me. I noted how dead it seemed, how the very life and vibrancy from its form was taken away; a thing I had not noticed until now. I shuddered involuntarily, a glimpse from the apocalyptic vision from before flashing before my minds eye.
The rumble occurred again, thankfully shaking me from the view of fire that consumed my thoughts. I turned my head to the side, the eye on the side of my head allowing me to view behind me as the other closed. I saw, laying but feet away, the slow rise and fall of a reptilian body. Massive wings lay curled against its side; a green coloration flowing across the membranes. My eye trailed along the body, noting the further continuation of green across the scales that made up its form. This extended to the small ridge scales along a path down its spine. I was viewing the back of a dragon’s body, I realized.. A dragon that I, specifically, had once dreamed up. Yet here, as if seeing things for the first time, it looked completely real. Every texture, every break in the scales, every spot of dirt and discoloration was seen. The imperfections that one shies away from in their imaginations was clearly present.
My body turned, allowing my head to move enough to where both of my eyes could take view of the draconic form. “Lazarus,” I silently breathed in astonishment. My eyes widened at the implications. Before, I had assumed it all a dream, something to disregard and simply take light recognition of. Now, with the form of a creature that clearly belonged elsewhere, I was forced to understand that with its existance I no longer had the excuse of dreaming. I started to stand, trying to make my movements as slow as possible as to not wake the slumbering giant. Against my better judgement, I moved forward, my expression still one of awe.
As I neared Lazarus’ form, I reached my hand out. Gently I began to touch back of the creature, looking in wonderment as my imagination became reality to my sense of touch. The scales were smooth. Like my hand was gliding across the surface of polished marble. They also connected perfectly, like a form of skin. I could literally feel muscle beneath them. I stopped briefly as Lazarus’ breathing shuddered suddenly, then resumed when it continued in what I believed to be a normal pattern. My hand continued its journey, caressing across the back, over hard yet bending ridge spines, then up to the large muscular wing joint. There, my hand stopped, feeling beneath the bone and brief spasm of a muscle there.
“You’re more beautiful than I could have ever imagined,” I said softly, my thoughts coming out in audible words. It was true, for I had imagined Lazarus to have a thicker hide and a more cartoonish texture. Not this real, living creature before me. Not this moving flesh and bone. No, what lay before me was something completely different than anything I could have ever formed into words. Yet, instinctively, I knew it as if it was a part of myself. Like I had seen it before. I had, truly. Though the mind was a horrible translator for reality, apparently.
“Your compliment is duly noted.”
I was shaken from my awestruck thoughts as I looked up and to the left, seeing two reptilian eyes glare down at me from a draconic skull. My hand began to fall to my side as I was once again stricken with wonder, viewing Lazarus’ head as if it were completely alien to me. The contour of his skull, the way the scaled flesh molded with bone, was beyond any detail I had ever placed into his description. I gazed further, noting the beginning of his ebony horns against the sides of his skull, how they reached further back like spears towards the morning sky. How every tooth along his jawline seemed to mold firmly along the lines where his lower jaw met his upper. How the ridge spines began at the fore of his elongated snout and progressed further back in height. Even how the permanent expression forced upon his face held a wise and elder demeanour.
It was, in a way, extremely breathtaking. For me, at least; for Lazarus, I quickly noted, it seemed quite disturbing to have oneself being looked at in such a way. “Are you well?” he asked, his voice a guttural rumble, similar to the sound of his breathing before. I could only nod, feeling myself take a step back as his head lowered to meet mine. I absently noted how flexible his neck truly was, being twisted in such a fashion. It looked natural and very alien at the same time. My eyes met his, able to see for the first time the reddish hue of his irises, almost smirking as I saw how the cat-like pupils dilated. It reminded me very much of a curious kitten.
“Why do you look upon me so?” Lazarus asked, his body lifting slightly so as to bring himself upon his stomach. His fore and hind legs curling under his form as his wings briefly fluttered back into a rest against his body. “Are you fascinated with dragons?”
“I-” words failed me then. I felt my jaw remain open despite my mental commands to speak. He was real. Everything I had seen was real. Not some lucid dream, not something fabricated from a tired mind, but real. How was I to take this but to be wordless and dumbstruck? I took in a breath and gulped down the lingering saliva in my mouth, feeling myself regain some composure over my voice.
“You’re real,” I said. Well, that was genius.
I swear I saw Lazarus eye ridge raise. How it was possible, I didn’t know. “Yes,” he said. “I am as real as you, lizard creature. Does this confuse you?”
“Very much so,” I replied. Lazarus head tilted lower, his snout just below mine but a few feet away. His eyes gazed upwards to me, then around me as he seemed to be examining something. Then, in a swift movement, his neck raised as his head followed, once again looking down at me. He seemed to ponder at me for a few moments, the brief silence filled with his slow rumbling breaths. Then he quickly snapped his jaws, emitting a loud clicking noise as I heard a slow chuckling noise emit from his throat.
“What’s so funny?”
“You,” Lazarus replied. “You are funny.”
“Why am I funny?” My head tilted. Oh God, I was starting to emulate him.
He chuckled again, “Because you are. You have amused me, something which you should be proud of.”
I squinted my eyes. “Why?” Lazarus then rumbled a laugh, mouth opening slightly as he did so. “Because those that do,” he said after his laughter subsided, “are not considered food!”
“I am not a pet,” I said after a moments pause.
The dragons head tilted, tongue flickering out briefly across his snout. “That you are not, moxt ir.”
The language transition caused me to do a double take. “What does that mean?” I asked. I watched as the curves on his cheeks folded slightly upward, giving the appearance of a smirk. “It means ‘little one’,” he translated. “For you are little, and you are but one.”
Great! I’ve manifested an asshole in the form a nine foot tall, forty feet long pile of scales and claws. If I didn’t have half a mind, I’d believe my subconscious was punishing me for something. I grunted in reply, receiving another chuckle from the dragon. He then proceeded to lower his head so as his snout was touching mine, my eyes forced to gaze into his as his pupils became slits. His voice emitted with a dark hiss.
“Should you ever touch me as you did again, moxt ir, you will be food.”
I gulped, “Understood.”
“Ilieh! Now I may resume my slumber, unmolested.” He snarled at me, quickling rolling onto his side again and curling back into his previous position. The rumbling of his breathing once again presided over my surroundings, I left a shaking wreck. I did an about-face, trying to walk as fast as possible away from my probable source of doom. In the distance I quickly made note of the form of the Time Turner and Havok, speaking with each other as they seemed oblivious to my encounter.. My walk became a run, having learned a very valuable lesson this day.
Touching a dragon was bad, Mmkay?
“Ah there you are!” the Doctor proclaimed as I came to a stop near him. I was panting, a crazed look on my face. “Are you alright?” he asked.
“Sure thing, boss.” My reply was instinctive. I was still coming to terms with how close I had been to being eaten alive.
“O...kay?” the Doctor blinked, briefly tilting his head at me before looking back to Havok. “Anyway, the Lord Emperor and I were just discussing our next plan of action.”
“Indeed my good equine brethren,” Havok confirmed, then looking at me he added,“Though I am quite curious as to why you decided to sleep near the Drekamythian.”
“Oh no reason,” I said, the panic subsiding somewhat as I resumed a proper, somewhat less scared shitless posture. “Just, you know, had a vision of hellfire and brimstone and BAM, there I was!”
Both the Doctor and Havok gave me a worried expression. Then briefly looked to each other, then back at me. “Right,” Havok said first before looking down at the Doctor. “Mister Turner, are you sure he is not insane?”
“Nope!” Whooves said with an all too happy grin. “Now where were we...oh yes! We were going to tell you our plan of action!”
I heard Havok mumble something as he rubbed a hand across his forehead. He took a deep breath in, letting it go as he shook whatever had ailed him off. “Right,” Havok said as he cleared his throat, looking towards me. “Mister Turner has informed me of finding a camp just to the north. From what the Drekamythian has revealed to me, it is not our intended destination. I desire your opinion on the matter.”
“My opinion?” I asked, somewhat confused. Wasn’t he the Lord Emperor? Wait a minute, we had a destination? Why am I saying we?! Oh bother, I’m beginning to feel like I’m tipping over into insanity again. “Quite so,” Havok replied. I simply gave a shrug.
“Sounds.....okay? I guess?”
Havok shrugged, looking to the Doctor. “The Drekamythian does not seem to mind and neither does the lizard man. Does this satisfy you?”
“Not in the slightest,” Whooves said flatly. “I told you we should go around it!”
“I am terribly sorry,” Havok said as he raised an eyebrow at the earth pony, “I was assuming you wanted to investigate.”
“Oh alright,” Whooves said with a roll of his eyes, “You’ve convinced me. We’ll investigate.” He then proceeded to head away, straight towards the forest. Havok was left speechless for a moment, looking towards me, then back towards the earth pony. “But I didn’t-” he started, then groaned as he shook his head and followed.
It was the most amusing sight I had seen all day. Well, next to the dragon. Then again that had turned out to be the most frightening. Taking one last look towards the still slumbering Lazarus, I followed the duo into the forest. Behind me I heard a loud snarl and some grumbling words, then a heavy flap of wings against the wind. Stopping to look back, I noticed that Lazarus was no longer there. I took a quick glance around and above me. Seeing no sign of the dragon, I resumed my path, doing a jog to catch up with Havok and the Doctor.
It didn’t help that I had a very real sense of danger lurking in the pit of my stomach. We entered the forest proper, the grass shifting underneath us for the rough dirt and clumps of leaves and sticks as we crested the boundary. It was a sudden change, one I was not accustomed to. I then heard a inhuman screech to my right, twisting on my axis to see something out of the corner of my vision. Another screech filled my hearing, extremely close. I gazed upward.
My breath nearly caught as I saw a blur of darkness and green lunge towards me from the tree canopy above.
The mass of green and black hit the ground before me with a great thud. I felt myself taking a few steps back, my posture in the defensive as I beheld the creature rise up from a bulbous darkness to reveal its full form. In a swift movement, it extended four mantis-like arms and rose up its elongated chest. I made quick note of how its chitin-like exoskeleton covered its body like a knight of old; the edges of each piece of natural armor revealing a thin strip of green skin that seemed to stretch and retract with each movement it made.
Its two digigrade legs, widened by the girth of its muscles flexing underneath its natural ebony armor, were held firm by four massive claws stretching from each toe. On the fifth, I noted, was a curved claw much like a raptors that dug firmly into the ground for support. Behind it a tail waved, looking like a portion of a spine in the manner it was made. My eyes lifted upwards, seeing for the first time its head as it extended from its body, its four overlapping jaws on its elongated head widening as it bellowed a massive roar.
“I am Kha’zix! In the name of my fallen, I shall destroy you!”
With a sickening SHHLICK the ends of its four arms transformed into curved scythes; a greenish glow emitting from within their boned structures. I saw a glint of light from their edges as it rose all four deadly weapons into the air, quickly thrusting them downward in a converging pattern where I stood. I felt the thudding beat of my heart as instinct took over, propelling me backward in a roll just seconds before the four natural blades impacted the ground. The earth shook as the surface buckled then gave way, collapsing into an outward explosion of rock and chunks of dirt. When I managed to regain my footing, I saw the beast raise up as it released a threatening snarl. From its back emerged four insect wings with a similar tint of green as the blades. They started to thrum against the air faster than I could follow, suddenly propelling the new threat straight towards me.
I found myself once again lacking time to react. I stood there, dumbfounded by just how massive the bulk of this beast was as its body impacted straight into mine. I felt the sudden surge of air against my back as my surroundings became a blur, trees zooming past faster than I could comprehend. The next feeling that struck me was the solid surface of a rock. Instead of stopping, I felt its surface crack and crumble beneath the momentum that delivered me to it. I heard the bones in my body give way as they cracked in several places, my limp form darting against the ground and rolling a few paces. The ground thudded, my eyes forced upwards into the green hellfire that looked into me. I saw the slitted pupils of the monster's eyes, the glint at the edges signaling he saw an easy feast. The pain from my crippled form became absent as a sudden rage overtook me.
My vision turned red as I felt my body piecing itself back together. Bones found their rightful places with sickening pops as muscles, previously dormant, bulged into existence. As the changelings head lowered to finish its kill, I watched as my body moved on its own accord upward as I rolled away then kicked myself from the ground to my feet. This seemed to surprise the beast, giving me enough time for a counter attack as I brought back my left hand into a fist and propelled it forward with inhuman speed. The knuckle met the lower left mandible of the monster’s head, breaking it from its socket and continuing forward into the roof of its mouth. I watched with a twisted sense of pride as the creature began to twirl opposite of its intended direction, flying backward and slamming into the ground.
I stood there, panting, watching the limp form of the changeling as I snarled. I felt drool slide down from the ridges of my open jaws, my tongue caressing the line of my upper teeth as I regained my breath. Somewhere, in the back of my mind, I tasted blood. All I knew was that I needed more, wanted more, and this creature would have plenty to sate my thirst. I grunted with dismay as I observed a movement from the heap of exoskeleton, my mouth emitting a threatening snarl as it began to raise up on its legs. Its eyes met mine and for the first time in a rage, I felt intimidated. It then bellowed an unearthly laugh.
“It is true, the rumor of your strength then Kobold!” The creature then stanced in a very unchangeling-like fashion, bringing two of its scythed arms forward in a defensive fashion while the opposite two were brought back as if ready to strike. “Very good. Now the fun begins!”
I did a double-take despite my current state of mind. Did he just call me a Kobold? The momentary lapse of my observation allowed the monster to charge forward and swing the blunt edges of its two scythes against my form. I let loose an “OOF!” as I was propelled into the air. Before I had to react, I saw a greenish blur dart past me, feeling the pain of two more blunt edges impacting my back. The ground encompassed my vision all too quickly; my body impacting the ground at a high velocity. I heard the ground crack beneath me, feeling an intense weight upon my back as the creature finished its counter attack by forcing me further into the ground. The weight lifted and with it a cackling laugh echoed into my hearing.
“Pathetic!”
For some reason, I began to laugh. It started out as a soft chuckle, then as I began to crawl from the rubble around me I burst into uncontrolled laughter. I could feel tears brimming the edge of my eyes as I comprehended the absurdity of the situation. His voice reminded me greatly of the battle announcer from Mortal Kombat, and this entire skirmish seemed to be set in that very world. As my laughter subsided, I lifted myself up from the crater I had been pummeled into, throwing off chunks of earth as stood. I rolled my shoulders, feeling my left arm return to his socket. Twisting my neck, I felt my spine realign itself. My gaze lifted slightly to stare at the creature as it stood menacingly.
“Kha’zix, right?” I asked, I moving forward slowly with careful steps. The nightmarish freak snarled. “That is correct mortal.”
“Good,” I replied, “because for a moment there I thought you were serious.”
“Intimidating words from a whelp Kobold,” Kha’zix replied. He stood his ground as I approached him, eyes following my movements as I stopped a feet away. “The only reason you still stand is by your magics,” he said as his eyes narrowed. “While others would surely flee from such a feat, I know your weakness.”
“Oh really?”
His reply came in the form a swift movement from one of his arms. It seemed to stretch forward, the scythe slicing downward as it lopped off my right arm. I stood there for a brief moment, eyes wide in shock at what had just occurred. “Fuck!” I cried as realization hit me, my left arm raising as blood gushed from the stump. My claws curled around the open wound, falling to one knee as I hissed in pain. I felt the rage subside from me, as if the stream of red flowing from the wound drained my strength. My eyes glared down at arm on the ground; my breathing quickened as I felt extremely vulnerable for the first time. Slowly, my gaze drifted upward, body shaking as I observed the twisted snarl present on the monsters mandibles.
“Pity you did not last longer,” Kha’zix said as he lowered himself to one knee, bringing the sharp edge of one of his scythes to me neck. I felt the prick of its serrated edge against my scales. “I had hoped you would have lasted longer. If only to pass a little more time.”
The tremble in my jaw continued as my lowered my gaze from his. I felt the scythe press forward into my neck slightly, cringing as I held back a yelp of pain. Without my anger, without that sudden burst of incoherent rage, I felt useless. I realized then it had been the only factor that kept me from fearing the unknown. Now that it had been abruptly taken from me, I was little more than a pile of scales and bones, useless and right damn near to my death. I could feel another scythe press itself against my side, then two more meeting to hold me firmly against the ground. I felt the heat of the creatures breath wash over me from above, a few droplets of its saliva hitting my forehead as it prepared to finish me.
Was this it? Was I going to die now? Was I just going to give up?
“No,” I said suddenly. My head raised, eyes meeting the beasts own. “I’m not going to die like this.”
“You speak as if you have a choice,” Kha’zix said with a snarl. “Be a good fleshling and shut uuuUUUUUUUAAAAAAAAA!”
My jaw had found its home, clenched tightly on the scythe on my neck. I disregarded the obviously possibility of decapitation for a last ditch effort to survive. My teeth broke into the boned structure of the scythe, tasting a foul goo as I emitted a ravenous snarl. I could feel Kha’zix’ grip on my body release quickly, realizing then that I had bitten into an extremely sensitive part of his form. My jaw bit down tighter, I hearing the crack of bone and something else as the creatures scream of surprise turned into one of pain and agony. I released my claws grip on the stump of my arm, propping it on the ground as I leaned forward slightly. Using this as leverage, I quickly snapped back my head and completely tore off the scythe from the arm.
The high pitched scream that emitted from the changeling pierced the heavens. It stumbled back a few paces, a look of complete horror in its eyes as it gazed from the spot where its scythe once was, then to its scythe in my jaws. I began to stand, my vision clearing as I beheld my surroundings with clarity. I saw around me a horde of changelings, twenty or more, rushing past Kha’zix to two figures in the distance. Both Havok and Whooves were struggling to maintain the upper hand in the battle; bodies of broken changelings flying in all directions as Havok heaved his ethereal sword to and fro. The only thing standing between me and saving them was the Kha’zix.
The changeling rushed forward, stumbling a step as it tried to lift a scythe for a strike. I spit out the scythe in my maw, rushing forward to meet the beast head on. The edges of my vision were blurring between purple and red; the colors I was seeing intensified to a magnitude I could not comprehend. All I saw was the enemy before me, all I knew was that I needed to defeat him. I let my rage overtake me as I emitted an earsplitting roar, leaping into the air and rearing back my arm. The stump on my other side clearly in view as trails of blood continued to pour from it. I ignored the pain, I ignoring every ounce of logic screaming at me that this would not work. My eyes went wide, my expression of pure bloodlust as trails of blood and saliva left my open maw.
I would not be defeated, I would not die, I would slay this beast and save my friends.
The tension in my retracted arm was released as my fist shot forth, meeting the swiping scythe of the changeling head on. I felt a stinging as the edge of the scythe pierced into my skin, a brief instant of worry filling my mind. Then I felt the blade crack, my bodies momentum adding to the weight of my fist as it finally shattered the scythe. My fist continued downward, trailing the edge of the monsters arm as it neared its head. Its eyes glared at me with fright, focusing on the fist as it impacted directly into its forehead. It staggered back briefly, I starting to retract my fist. An unearthly roar left my throat as I felt a surge of strength fill my broken form. As the lower half of my body leaned towards the creatures own, my clawed feet gripped onto the exoskeleton of the beast. The lost momentum from my leap started to lessen my leverage on the changelings form, my arm fully brought back as I quickly released it forward to smash against the monsters face again.
This time, the skull cracked.
I began to repeatedly pound against the creatures head, using my tail and legs as leverage. Brains, blood and skull matter began flying in every conceivable direction. My fist became a blur, my vision red as a burning flame. I felt the beast begin to topple backwards, smashing my fist one last time through its skull and completely decapitating what was left of it from its body. Kha’zix was dead, but my bloodlust had not yet been sated. My gaze then turned towards the horde of changelings surrounding my comrades, I releasing another unearthly roar of vengeance for their plight. I then leapt from the corpse of the changeling beneath me, my legs impacting the ground as I ran towards the nearest changeling. They were smaller than the last, more familiar to what I had seen when I first encountered them.
Lucky me.
Without much ceremony, my arm shot forward and gripped the changelings horn. In a quick movement I twisted my arm and cracked the horn from its head, watching as the changeling began screaming in agony. I firmly planted a clawed foot down its throat, silencing it for good as its jaw split off from its skull. I rushed forward, impaling the nearest changeling in the eye then lifting its dying corpse to hurl it at another. I turned around, slammed my fist into the skull of one too unlucky to be charging me, feeling my fist fly through its exoskeleton to the other side. Lifting my hand, I twirled and slammed its body against the ground to free my arm from its mushy interior. Reaching to break the horn from its skull, I leapt into the air and twirled using the momentum from my tail to hurl the horn at a changeling near Havok. As it toppled over, both the Doctor and the Lord Emperor gazed my way.
My reply was simply to grunt.
They quickly continued their battle for survival, I becoming occupied as two changelings charged me at once. I roared in defiance, lowering myself to allow the two changelings to collide, then quickly rolling forward to stand and turn around. Once the two bodies had hit the ground, I brought down my fist onto the head of the first one cracking it instantly. In another fluid motion, I used my tail to lift the lower half of my body upward. My leg raised, then as I finished my spiral to the ground it collided with the body of the second changeling. Straddling the changeling, I gripped around its head and began to pull until its head ripped from its lower body. I unceremoniously tossed it to the ground, lifting myself from the corpse to try to find another changeling to kill. To my dismay, there was none.
I stood for a moment, panting and growling as my rage began to subside. I cautiously looked to my left, then to my right. Dark corpses littered the ground, their blood staining the dirt beneath. I snorted, unhappy with not having another life to take for my bloodlust. I looked behind me noticing a clear trail of blood from the point where I stood, back to where Kha’xiz lay. I turned my gaze forward again as Havok approached me.
“Stay away!” I commanded in a roar.
I couldn’t see what happened next. I felt myself blink, but my vision had simply blurred. I felt my body wobble as I remembered the fact that I was missing an arm. I groaned, staggering forward a few steps as I coughed up blood onto the ground. The pain of my injuries had caught up with me. An intense headache overtook my every thought. I felt my eyes roll into the back of my head as I toppled over onto the ground. With a final huff of air, my chest lay still and my vision went to black.
~*~*~*~
“First Boss”
=AUTHORS NOTE=
Wow, don’t think I have ever done an “Authors Note” before! Anyway, the title to the chapter is purposely left untranslated in the beginning so as to not give away what will happen. This also took place in the prologue, but....I’ve forgotten what “Ineo” translates to so we’ll just...disregard...that...
Anyway, wow, Travis sure does get into a lot of fights! There actually is a purpose for this, one similar to the previous storyline of the original Fatum Fortis Vocat. Avid readers of the previous incarnation shall be (I hope) delighted to see a return of his barbarian rage capabilities. But this story is about so much more and I encourage newer readers to give an opinion (as well as my fans and readers!).
Remember guys and gals, this story is for you. I’m just bringing back stuff I figure you’d love to see again. If ya don’t, let me know!
-Travis
P.S. The reason why "Two Steps from Hell - Invincible" keeps popping up as battle music is because it was the original song used in the original Fatum Fortis Vocat when Travis went into a rage for the first time. Because of this, it's being brought back as his theme song when he truly enters a state of undying rage. If only for nostalgia's sake, of course.
