It was the worst kind of déjà vu, at least for Sunset, who had already walked through the narrow corridor that made the aqueduct such a horrible place for anyone that suffered claustrophobia. The water, up to her ankles, made her robes slosh around the murky water and the moss ridden walls of the still serviceable tunnel made the redheaded undead cringe.
It was damp and dark, with only distant echoes of creatures roaming around the aqueduct and water being moved by this old testament of living beings once calling the city their own. It was bizarre for Sunset to have to withstand so much silence. She, who not only had lived on the most important city of Equestria, but also a hub of human civilization on the other side of the mirror, was used to constant movement, the sounds of places where either ponies or human constantly traversed. Now, this world seemed as empty of life as her own body and it was maddening.
Sunset understood that there were many dangers beyond the normal undead beings and hollows, but she didn’t need to go very far to finally meet crazy and horrendous creatures. Just a couple of feet from both warriors there was a rat the size of a calf; its dirty fur reflected the small amount of light present in the catacombs and Sunset had to fight back the urge she had of hurling back her stomach acid.
Madeleine took Sunset by the arm and guided her away from the rat, who was feasting on a very decrepit corpse. It was clear how long these tunnels had been used by the looks of the pest that roamed the burg. Not too far away the two women reached the beginnings of a staircase and cleaner air and sunlight could be felt by both.
Sunset was amazed that her senses seemed as sharp as before since she became an undead. She was sure that the fact that she didn’t need to breathe -even though she did so by reflex- also meant that other things had been changed in her body, like the need to eat since her stomach hadn’t even growled during Madeleine’s three day training. Not even once had she felt the very natural need of sustainment. Looking at the times Madeleine took a break to ingest a small amount of what seemed like jerky and bread never made her stomach growl to give her the clear message of being hungry. Not having to eat, drink or breathe were clear signs of how far removed from humans or Ponykind she was now.
Shaking her head to rid herself of those feelings - she would surely have more time to think about the mysteries and repercussions of what she had turned into later on - both Sunset and Madeleine quietly began to ascend the stone staircase before reaching a small open area that Sunset recognized as the entrance of the Undead Burg. The decrepit houses with windows that showed the empty interior of those made her feel lonely and gave her a small pang of sadness, though she couldn’t understand why she felt like that. Maybe it was because there used to be people in this city that had either succumbed to the Darksign or died at the hand of those who had it?
Once she wouldn’t have cared, but it was clear that her brief experience with the elements of harmony had left a mark on her, one that had changed her as deep as the Darksign. Well, maybe not that much. After all, the latter only changed her body, while the former was the cause of her being sent to this nightmarish world. So much for being the greatest power of harmony from Equestria.
Sunset looked at the empty buildings and columns of smoke rising on the distance before her companion walked at her side. Pulling back the hood of her white long coat Sunset finally got a good luck at the woman that had taken under her wing.
The hair was black as the night, short but obviously for practical reasons than for a fashion statement. It was wild and spiky, but still fit the woman perfectly. She looked older than Sunset. How old? Who knows, but it was clear that the woman had seen her share of battle and loss because she was looking at the city with a grim face, as if she was looking a familiar sight.
“Coin for your thoughts Sunset?” Madeleine asked her as her eyes behind the masquerade mask were now focused on the redhead. The only other sounds on the now dead city were the crackling of ignited pyres and the distant shuffling of more undead lost to the Darksign.
“How can a place be… well, like this? It’s so surreal.”
“I know what you mean, not even my own home has been free of the ravages of the Darksign. It is always hard to see places that used to be full of people and noises; of carriages and peddlers selling their produce. It hurts, because there is not much that we can do for those that lost their home,” the woman said, sighing at the view of the Undead Burg. For her part, Sunset felt sadness at the now husk; it was one more place that showed the imminent destiny of a dying world.
Both warriors continued walking through the lonely segment of the Burg as they once more walked through rock stairs and into the section of the burg where Sunset had fell once more to her death. The redhead took a quick look at the open space and her eyes opened up at what was obviously patrolling the open corridor.
“Well, seems that things are getting a little more exciting,” Madeleine said with a huge grin on her face while Sunset could only watch in shock at how happy the older woman looked.
“Please, explain why would you say something as crazy as that? There are minimum five undead waiting for us!” Sunset was almost hysterical right now because so far the enemies that she had met were lightly armed and armored. This looked almost like a platoon. Instead of answering Madeleine took out something from the inside of her coat, something that Sunset was not expecting. “Where did you get those binoculars?”
“Fun fact, there is a cemetery next to the Firelink Shrine if you go down some stairs. There was a body with these around its neck and well, why waste good tools?” she said with a smirk that looked so cocky that Sunset remembered when she used that same smirk on the past. “And there are some good news and some bad news. There are five undead yes, but all of them light armored and no shields. The problem is that one of them has a crossbow,” Madeleine said while Sunset only sighed.
“Of course one would have crossbow, because why not? When has this whole adventure ever been easy?” Sunset raised her shield, Madeleine did the same and both warriors once again jumped into the fray, right into the heart of the Undead Burg.