//------------------------------// // And the Daring Adventure. // Story: The Warlock // by JediWyrm //------------------------------// Hearts Shadow leisurely walked through a forest. He was on his way to an old temple. There was a wellspring of magical energy which occurs there once every 300 years that he had need of. Well, 283 years but it's just easier to round to 300. As he made his way through the thick undergrowth a sound caught his attention. Putting up a shield in time stopped a pegasus with a gray-scale mane from jumping him. Once she landed and got a look at him she paused. "Sorry, I thought you were somepony else." She said. "That's all right. Probably not too many ponies out here. I am Hearts Shadow." He stated. "Daring Do, and just what are you doing out here?" She asked. "There's a temple..." The warlock paused briefly before pointing in a direction he was roughly heading towards, "that way that I need to visit for a project I am working on. How about yourself?" "Actually I'm heading to that temple as well. So are you an archaeologist?" The mare questioned. "Thaumaturgical researcher. My studies have shown that the temple channels some energy surge every so often and I would like to study it." He answered. "Well, maybe you could help me. Ahuizotl, a creature I have defeated before plans on using the temple for some sort of ritual. I plan to stop him." Daring Do stated. "As long as it doesn't interfere with my project, I'll gladly offer what assistance I can." The warlock said, nodding at the mare. They moved off together heading towards the temple. A fairly uneventful hike later brought them to the entrance of the temple. They studied the door to figure out the trick to enter. "These symbols here symbolize the phases of the moon, while the ones on the other side represent the constellations. So, we need to rotate the center plate to be able to open the door." Daring said, staring at the plate to figure out which pattern would be needed. Hearts Shadow stared at the door for a moment before using his magic to take the plate. The dark yellow glow around the plate caused it to spin so that the door match proper night sky. The door slowly opened once the plate had been set. The mare gave him a look. "There were only so many ways to move it, and that was the only pattern that matched the night sky." He stated. She rolled her eyes and moved into the temple. They moved down the main passageway until they got to a branching path. However, looking down one of them it was clear that it had collapsed so they proceeded down the intact hallway. After moving a ways down it Daring stopped short of a change in the tiling on the floor. Staring at it suspiciously, she grabbed a stone and tossed it down the hallway. When it landed several darts shot out of the wall from hidden traps. "We'll need to be careful. Don't want to end up as pincushions." She said, crouching down to look at the tiles to figure out a safe path. She jumped when Hearts Shadow walked past her. As she went to stop him a shield appeared around both of them. "Hurry along, unless you really want to waste time figuring out the trap." He said a bit smugly as multiple darts hit his shield and fell harmlessly to the ground. It wasn't much longer before they reached the well chamber. As they entered a bunch of cats jumped them. Daring Do fought off several while the warlock hit others with stun spells. Noticing that the cats were more focused on Daring and that a creature was standing off to one side commanding them, he decided to slip away from combat himself. "You won't be able to stop me this time Daring." The creature shouted before laughing evilly. Hearts Shadow determined that this was likely Ahuizotl. He blasted a few more cats with stun spells to help Daring get away so she can face off with her foe. Once they were both distracted he moved over to the well and floated his saddlebags off his back. He began taking out several candles, comparing them before choosing the ones he would use. When he had 8 good ones, the warlock began placing them around the well in specific places, though not equidistant. "Hey, Hearts Shadow. Little help over here." Daring Do shouted as he placed the fifth candle. "Wait... did you just call him Hearts Shadow." Ahuizotl said, surprised. The warlock had placed the sixth and was moving to place the seventh. "Yes." She said tentatively as her foe had stepped back. "As in the Warlock of the High Order. He whose name is spoken in fear by denizens of the lower planes?" The dog-like creature said, fear beginning to creep into his voice. "Yup, that's me." Hearts Shadow stated, nudging the seventh candle minutely. "Wait, you're a warlock?! What do you plan on doing here?" Daring asked, taking a fighting stance. "Well, there's this really powerful demon who was sealed a few thousand years ago." He started, moving around to place the final candle. "You aren't going to release it on my watch." She stated, launching into the air. "Not exactly." The warlock said, setting the eighth candle down, then igniting all of them. As the flames sprung to life, a surge of magic cause multiple circles to appear over the well. "I'm actually using the energy of the wellspring during the surge to strengthen the prison. You see, it would've been able to free itself a few hundred years ago. However, during my time, a group of warlocks wanted to use this place to free it. I stopped them and reversed their spell. Added a few centuries to the sentence." Hearts Shadow explained. "Now, by my guess, we probably have another 180 years before the demon would be able to free itself, but with this it should hold for another 500. After the next surge I should only have to do this every other time." He finished. Ahuizotl Looked between the two ponies. "Well, my plan was foiled. Curse you Daring Do, I'll get you next time." He said before fleeing. "So what now?" Daring asked, hovering in the air. "We could study the architecture of this temple. I have nothing to do for the rest of the day." Hearts Shadow offered. "Sure." She said, landing on the ground.