//------------------------------// // Challenge Accepted // Story: Macintosh of Arabia // by Crisis_Vyper //------------------------------// Silence. The sound of silence permeates around them, not knowing what to say after Amanar stopped his recollection of the past. However, the one that is affected the most by this story is the little filly herself. It tells when she stuttered halfway through the story. Nurse Redheart pulled the little filly towards her chest, calming the little filly with her warmth and touch. "Well...I think we need to get a move on. Break's over." Vinyl said. However she is never known to be a good liar, and Macintosh can see that the unicorn emotions is only kept at bay due to her focusing on lighting the dark hallway with her horn. The dim light hides her distraught expressions well. "Ah think we'll wait awhile." Macintosh answered. Nonetheless, the silence in the hallway is a stark contrast to the maelstrom outside. ********************** Zephyr soon realized that there are more being joining in the party of its battle with the bat-winged equine. Their howls are legion and it wondered if this is the dastardly plans of the thing it is fighting until it realized that it too was bracing itself. The elemental decided that even if this particular trap was not the plan of the bat-winged equine, the equine and whatever that is coming will all suffer the same fate. They will all perish. I need to be with my friends. As soon as the first owner of the howl was spotted by the tempest, it is immediately obliterates by the piece of marble thrown from within the eye of the storm and before long the razors from both the winds and the debris proceed to mutilate all those that stand in its way. Anput realized that the tempest is growing larger and even more indiscriminate, and realizes that 'it' plans to destroy everything that it deemed as an enemy to rejoin its comrades. As if to confirm its thoughts, a large bark from one of the silver trees impaled the ground in front of Anput before shattering into splinters of silver. Realizing what will happen, Anput barely dodges the swirling fragments. The razors from the sharts proceed to make the whole tempest into a silver swirling death machine and it proceeds to inhale everything in sight into its deadly embraces. The demonic canines attempted to claw themselves down to anchor themselves, but instead the ground beneath them gave way and they are absorbed into the tempest. For Anput, it managed to use its powers bestowed by its sacred duties to somewhat become incorporeal thereby allowing itself to remain on the ground while not being carried into the whirling death. It was fortunate that I am now able to focus or else..., the Sword of Asar said to himself as he sees that the storm is now mowing down the legion of demonic beings like a farmer harvesting wheat with his scythe. As more of the demonic beings came up the steps to replenish the losses that they received at the end of Zephyr, Anput reasoned to himself that this is a good thing, as it appears that whatever it is that sent those hounds are expending more resources that they expected. All the better to tire them out and allowing the last of the trials to be taken by those chosen by the Luminize. ********************** "Did you guys hear that?" Vinyl asked, but no one seem to be able to hear it. It is a haunting melody, a lullaby to be exact. The melody is getting louder and louder. It is a rather discordant sound, sounding nothing like anything she heard before. It was only moments later that it became something otherworldy for it slowly echoes into her mind with shades of colour turning sour in her mind. "How on earth am I tasting and seeing colours of sound with my ears?!?" Vinyl is visibly disturbed and freaked out by this discordant eldritch sound from another realm. Before long, Vinyl could hear the sounds of horrifying melodies of violins and flute along with the bitterness of purple in her mind. The sensation is such that she is now screaming for her sanity to return. Nurse Redheart is definitely caught by the sudden screaming of the unicorn mare and convulsions only made it worse. If her seizure continues on, she might accidentally bite on her tongue. Without any hesitation and with years of medical experience, she took one of the large wooden pins from Big Macintosh's collar and seeing the opportunity to insert the large pin into the unicorn's mouth without breaking her teeth or gums. "We need to stabilize her!" Redheart's commanding voice made the camel and the stallion to spring into action to assist her with the convulsing unicorn. After a minute or so, the unicorn's fit episode stopped and the rest breath a sigh of relief. It was then that they all heard a haunting laughter. Everyone looked around trying to find out where the sound is coming from. Amanar passes his scimitar to the nursepony while he prepares his rifle and Big Macintosh readies himself to use his hindlegs. The voice spoke to them in a rather fog-like manner, misty as it is mysterious. It is lyrically whimsical as it is bone-chillingly devoid of any sense of compassion. Its chuckles sends a cold chill down everyone's spine, like a cold bucket of water. Put down your weapons my friends, your wands, guns and swords. Your resistance is no match for my chords. "Who are ya? What have yad one to Vinyl ya fiend?" Big Macintosh retorted back, anger welling within him. The voice did not speak for a moment, but then a breath of a sigh can be heard. Good guys or bad guys, it doesn't really matter; I will sing the song that the world wants to hear. Those unworthy will fall under my hypnotic patter. While those who falter not; why are you here? "So a question about why we are here huh?" Redheart retorted back. This is something else entirely. Where is this particular threat, she asked herself. For it to take down Vinyl in such a fashion means that they are all vulnerable audibly. Indeed, you are right Redheart, for I am here, there, everywhere and nowhere. But the truth remains that they are different truths... The voice appears to move around the chamber, its presence scattered but at the same time concentrated. The voice chuckled once more, the cold sinister chuckle serves to heightened the disturbed state of mind everyone is in. Have you ever wondered about the truths that you could not see? What about the truths you are about see? Or the truth that you had already seen? Such is the trinity of truths. Three is a magic number, as one would say. Big Macintosh is no stranger to strange occurence, but what is strange is that why it decided to take down only Vinyl. With its ability it could have taken all of them down easily. But it decided to taunt them, speaking to them in riddles... Am I speaking in riddles? The truth of the matter is that you could not see the truths that are already laid before you. They are lying in plain sight, but no one chose to seek it. The voice is reading his mind, and from the looks of it it is reading everyone's minds. Biig Macintosh immediately realized that this could be the third trial of Asar to weed out the worthy. Indeed red stallion, and welcome to the last of the trials, the Weighting of Hearts. I give your my deepest respects for passing the previous challenges of the Leash of Life and the Wolds of the Words. My husk of a body is keeping all the distractions away from you all along with your elemental friend, but I must say that your tempest of a friend is also making it very hard for me to keep you safely sealed in this place. Given the situation outside, it was fortunate that the tempest decided to face my shell. "Zephyr is fighting outside? Also how are you in here if you are out there?" Fatimah asked. I am both here and there and yet nowhere- regardless of what happens- but both of myself are different truths that are equally real but can never interact with each other. Suddenly a loud thundering voice from outside can be heard and suddenly the dust from the ceiling started to fall upon everyone. It seems that whoever or whatever it is that is hunting everyone here is hellbent to get to where you are. Due to the current trials, the defenses of this place has weakened. But the trials must go on. "So what do we need to do to pass?" Fatimah asked. Simple really; the Truth. Without the truth the path to your future can not be illuminated. "Sorry weird voice from somewhere...can you speak Equestrian? It is hard on my head" The female voice immediately caught the attention of everyone, and they turned around to see Vinyl finally rising up from her state of unconsciousness. "Vinyl!" Everyone but the voice of Anput exclaimed at once. Well now, it seems that I have underestimated the mare here. Very well, the little filly and this unicorn will be the one that will undergo my trial. Suddenly the filly and the unicorn faded away, and before the others could voice their utter surprise, the voice of Anput speaks once more. It is now up to them, and as for all of you; rest. You will need it. ********************** The hooded figure at the entrance to the tomb is visibly frustrated by its attempts to overwhelm the defenses of the White Tree. The familiars that it is sending appears to be defeated faster than it could replenish them. It looks like it will need to enter into the sanctum and break the defenses itself. It walked through the barrier, and its robes burned away by the barrier revealing its true appearance. With the head of a crocodile, the torso of a wild cat, and the hindquarters of a hippopotamus, the abomination is unfazed by the magical defenses of the sanctum as it attempts to purge the unholy demon via magics of purification and the poison from the mercury lake. As if to announce its arrival, the creature gave a bone-chilling primal roar that shook the sanctum.It will not be denied its prize, it will not stop and it will hunt down what it was commanded to hunt. No one escapes the Hunter. It proceed to gallop into the sanctum, ready to face its opponent. The tempest spins towards the edges of the platform to see the owner of the primal roar, and saw the abomination galloping towards them in a way that defies all laws of nature. Zephyr proceeds to give a haunting whistling sound, to signify that the challenge of the monster was accepted by the elemental.It was then that the tempest decided that the owner of these things that it was attacking deserved to be returned to their rightful owner as a proclamation of battle. With a large gust of wind, all the demonic creature are catapulted towards the incoming monster. As the monster's minions rained upon it, it struggles to dodge every single one of them and roared even more. It looks like I will have to focus all the protective energies towards the palace. This should alert Djehuty and Horakhty about the situation at hand. Let's hope that the elemental can hold it off long enough for them to come to our aid on time... Anput decided that it will need to gamble on the tempest, as the tempest is now perhaps their best chance of defending the White Tree. ********************** "So Vinny, where are we?" Fatimah asked the elder equine. To be honest the elder equine is not certain either. Vinyl could see that they are in some dimension of sorts but it is utterly white. If it were not for her cutie mark, electric blue hair, and violet eyes and the filly's eyes, they would have been one with the whiteness of the space that they are in. "I don't know Fatimah, but if I could I would not stay in this room." Unicorn, I find it interesting that you can hear the sound of the melody. And also the fact that you are able to rise up relatively quickly from it all piques my interest. The voice of Anput speaks once more, but instead of its omnipresent nature the voice appears from behind them. Both the unicorn and the filly turned around to see an apparition of the bat-winged equine behind them. Contrary to the guise that they saw before entering the palace, the body of the equine is more fuller and much less horrifying. The features of the equine is strikingly beautiful with slightly effeminate features. It is clad in an azure blue cape and armor with matching gauntlets, and a green claw-shoulder guard, all of these worn over fitted white pants and a loose long-sleeve shirt. As the long black mane and tail flows with the winds from the flapping wings, the figure looks upon them with its feline, cyan-coloured eyes. Perhaps this form is a little better than the form that you saw a while back... The bat-winged equine coughed a little before his misty voice came out from its throat. Hearing the voice without it echoing in their minds is a little more comforting to Vinyl and Fatimah, but still they can't let down their guard. "I am sorry, I have gotten too used to speaking psychically as my voice was gone a long time ago." "But you had a voice when you were outside..." Vinyl noticed that the voice coming out from the Anput outside is very different than the one before them. She was about to ask before Anput cuts her off. "That is something I have ripped out from one of the unworthy ones and inserted into my desiccated corpse for it to be able to speak. Of course my body is still of the same construct as the others, but I chose to fuse the elements into my own body. Nothing like your own body, or at least it is when it is inside you. Forgotten how many times I switched out parts of my own body to keep it running." Vinyl barely hold a barfing reflex, while the filly is even paler than before. Noticing their disgust, Anput decided to carry on. "Thanks to the magical wards, I have essentially made myself into a Lich to protect my beloved land. The form that you see before you is what I made using my voice. My voice is the truth, and the truth can be whatever it is that I wished. But for you two, I want to know the truth of your hearts for without the truth of your hearts you will never exit here ever again. Though I doubt that you two will be able to pass this trial." Both Vinyl and Fatimah looked at each other, and with a nod they know what they have to do. Both of them stood up on their hindlegs, and leaning back to back in a rather odd stylized pose, with their hooves pointing at Anput. Anput was a little lost before speaking together in one unified voice. "We Refuse! We refuse to submit to those that think they got an absolute advantage especially when they are that condescending!" Caught by surprise, Anput looked at them as they maintained their pose for a good minute. Both the filly and the unicorn brohoofed. "AHA! GOTCHA YOU OLD LICH LECHER! I KNEW READING "JJ'S BIZARRE ADVENTURES WILL PAY OFF! AWAYS WANTED TO PULL THAT POSE OFF AND TRAINING FATIMAH IS SO WORTH IT!" VInyl exclaimed with a smug smile on her face. The filly of course have no clue what she was saying, but it was admittedly quite a move to challenge of the heroes in her nation's folklore in such a fashion. Anput whistled out loud, as this is perhaps the most interesting declaration of his challenged being accepted he had seen. "Very well then, looks like I will not go easy on you two." The stallion said with a smirk.