Few more teasers, just a few months late. XS · 6:31pm Sep 2nd, 2018
I know I promised this back in July but, well, if you saw my blog from there, things have continued to be rough in real life. Thankfully it looks like that may at last be changing so I've found the vigor to get back to writing again.
Admittedly I've hit another stumbling block about trying to coordinate the final events of Lordran, seeing as everyone needs to settle their individual affairs, then it comes down to who gets to brave New Londo to reach Kaathe (and exactly what's going to happen to them to make that possible) and who gets to go to Oolacile for the big meet and greet with Kalameet and co.
I should be able to work something out eventually but for now, here's some appetite whetters!
Slowly, Discord rotated his tea cup with his eagle talon, while his lion’s paw idly drummed upon the arm of the huge mahogany chair he’d conjured for himself beside the bonfire.
“So… when your mom, this Witch of Izalith, tried to duplicate ‘the First Flame,’ whatever that may be, the resulting disaster turned her into part of a giant tree monster, your brother into a mess of lava, and you into… this?” He asked of the quivering spider lady before him. “I don’t suppose there was anyone around who recorded that, did they? The movie rights to such a wonderful mess would make you a fortune!”
The white haired arachnoid limply cocked her head forward.
“Queelag… is something the matter? Your voice… so warped and unlike how I remember.”
Discord rolled his eyes and shrugged.
“I think that may have more to do with your hearing, dear. You certainly aren’t looking well.”
He raised his lion’s paw and waved it in front of her face. When that produced no reaction, he snapped his fingers and tsked as the spider woman failed to respond to that too.
“Yes, clearly such a flawed attempt at harnessing that which made me the handsome stud I am today is doing you no favors. A shame, really, as the rest of you is, frankly, majestic!”
He summoned a giant golden frame and set it around the Fair Lady, then sat back down again to sip his tea and admire her like a work of art.
“Hmm… does seem like there’s something missing, though...” Discord noted after a moment. He looked around the room, and smiled as his eyes fell on Eingyi.
“Of course! What noble maiden of a tapestry is complete without her faithful subject?”
In a flash, the mountain of diseased egg sacs and human limbs found himself being cradled in the Fair Lady’s arms. Both held their very abrupt posing for a second, just long enough for Discord to then whip out a camera and capture them on film, before Eingyi found himself being clumsily dropped onto the floor due to his weight being greater than what his lady’s weakened arms could support.
“Dear me… honeyed as your words are, strange one, mind how you ply these tricks of yours. Your fellow soul has helped ease my lady’s suffering to a degree, but she is still too enfeebled for such reckless japes.” The mutant human scolded as he pushed himself upright.
“Yes, so I see, which begs the question of how can you expect her to possibly get any better in a place that… well, admittedly this is very scenic, but the sulphur smell and the heat can’t possibly be good for curing your ills!” Discord sighed as he looked around the egg filled chamber.
Eingyi gave a dismissive grunt as he crawled back to his post by the chamber door.
“The Fair Lady has me to tend to her, and she draws strength from those who serve her cause.” He retorted. Discord looked even less convinced by this.
“Well I can certainly see she has plenty to serve her cause here. Indeed, perhaps I should move, lest I crowd out the great masses of faithful subjects waiting on this poor girl!”
The chaos god stood up and made a grand show of pushing his way through an enormous throng of non-existent folk. Eingyi was suitably not amused.
“Mock us if you must. All but a few faithful other souls in this land have.” He grumbled. Discord stopped with his antics and crossed his arms.
***
Across the depths of the Abyss more incredible happenings were taking place. A throng of humanity phantoms were drawn to a strange light shining almost as bright as Gwyn’s sun in the distant darkness, though in the next instant they were given cause to immediately regret doing so as the light then stretched itself toward them, forming into a crackling spear of lightning that pierced the form of the closest phantom and vaporized it on the spot. The remainder halted, and promptly tried to retreat, only for more lightning spears to split the darkness like a sheet and incinerate them like moths who had ventured too close to a flame.
“Exceptionally fine aim, my princess. Perhaps one more?” Solaire applauded as Celestia stepped forth. The silk talisman clutched in her hoof crackled with the energy of her newly learned ability, and the light mingled with that of the sunlight medal that now hung from a silken ribbon around her neck. Zeroing in on another of the fleeing humanity phantoms, Celestia crafted a lightning spear and hurled it like a javelin. She was rewarded with the faintest ember of satisfaction in her bosom as the spear skewered its target and reduced the ghostly black figure to nothingness.
“Yes, I’d say you’ve got this down quite well.” Solaire complimented as Celestia approached the site of her latest kills. Two small humanity sprites flickered where the phantoms had fallen, a paltry reward for such precise spell casting, but right now, Celestia was happy for any additional aid she could get.
“Well it does strangely feel almost like second nature. Indeed, I’d almost liken it to my solar flare spell, except it requires a separate apparatus rather than the use of my horn.”
Celestia looked to the talisman in her hoof, snorting in concern as she handed it back to Solaire.
“What worries me is your statement that it’s the most basic spell among the Warriors of Sunlight arsenal. I know there’s not really time for you to teach me more, but do you really believe this will be enough for us to stand against Kalameet and Manus together?” The sun princess asked as she morosely scooped up the humanity sprites and stored them in her saddle bags. “I hit Manus with multiple lightning charged arrows during his attack on the Crystal Palace and they only barely managed to slow him down.”
Solaire idly contemplated his talisman before storing it back on his belt.
“I understand your concern, noble princess. Indeed I share it. But you must have faith, not to mention patience.” The knight soothed while patting Celestia on the shoulder. “The more you tell me of what has transpired in your realm during my captivity here, the more I am given pause to consider this may not turn out the way I feared. To be sure, however, I cannot risk you destroying yourself in a mad rush to harness the full powers of our covenant.”
***
Twilight let out a much needed exhale as she came to the end of the chapter. She took a moment to shake off the impact of the writing’s morbid musings and turned to her teacher.
“Seath, you wrote this? You knew about all this?” She asked.
The great white dragon folded his arms.
“I hath cause to suspect, from sources most reliable. T’is what maketh Logan’s madness all the more tragic. He read of these words, understood them in ways few others could, yet like so many before him, mine teachings only turned him against everyone.”
Seath turned again to the fountain in the room.
“Sadder still is the truth lay mere feet away from him, yet he saw it not.”
Twilight narrowed her eyes as she trotted over to the fountain and rose so she could peer over the edge of the basin into the waters.
“Well, right now that’s still a useful asset should we need it.” She said, before furrowing her brow at an obvious question. “But… why didn’t you share this with everyone?”
Seath’s head frills wilted with his wings under fresh disbelief.
“And what benefit wouldst such an act bestow to this accursed land? These waters can no more banish the Darksign than they can provide a solution to avert the fading of the flames! A relic art they, of a time now lost and of no further worth. To reveal their attributes wouldst invoke worse outrage against mine being. An insult to spit in the face of the fire that did bless the gods with their power, and I with mine sorceries and fragment of a Lord Soul!” He declared with heavy scorn. Twilight blinked and stared in quiet defiance up at her teacher.
“Yet you still recreated them.” She stated plainly, with only a mild lacing of accusation. It did the trick of deflating Seath.
“They preserved the wellbeing of Verdite’s Golden Kings through their hardships. Thought, I did, that they may see me through the fall of Lordran and the coming of the next cycle. Only too late did I then learn that the Primordial Crystal was mine one hope of attaining true Undead status. Hope that now layeth shattered.” Seath sighed.
Twilight shook her head and turned back to the fountain.
“Hope is never shattered, so long as you still have something to direct that hope at. You said yourself that’s what helps keep one from going hollow, and right now I have more to hope for than I ever have in my entire life.”
Twilight perched her front hooves on the lip of the basin and peered down into the fountain’s water.
“So this thing acts sort of like a movie screen. It lets you view stuff that’s been recorded previously.” Twilight thought for a moment and lit up her horn. “Okay, so what if I try the spell I read about in one of the books Princess Celestia lent me...”
Magical energy flowed from Twilight’s horn down into the water, causing ripples to cascade across the surface as it impacted and churned the enchanted tides. Twilight peered closer as the water began to distort, strange blurry shapes slowly materialising within its glassy surfaces.
“Yeah, just focus, study… and pray this isn’t going to be like when Pinkie used the Mirror Pool.” Twilight whispered to herself as she tuned her magic, tightening the beam emanating from her horn into a narrow thread of sparkling lavender. It did the trick of bringing the images into sharper clarity… if only to reveal they told a story quite different to what the alicorn had been expecting.
You incorrigible tease.
I've read these all twice now.