Aran found himself in a battlefield, his vision was slightly blurred by a crimson fog, the ground was soaked with shades of gray and pools of red. The sky appeared to be bleeding, as a beam from the horizon enveloped the sun and moon, forcefully creating an eclipse that shun as red as the pools on the ground. Everywhere he looked, he found burnt corpses hacked into pieces. the one responsible for the hacking was no being made of flesh, but shadow. A humongous horned figure similar to that of minotaur, only twice the size of even the biggest minotaur that Aran had seen. The few things he could make out from the shape was the ram shaped horns, its overly bulky body and its fiercely glowing eyes. The shadow appeared to be hacking into the ground in some sort of mad frenzy, the signed corpse was already in two pieces, flung by the force of the striked, only for the shadow to continuingly strike that precis spot. It was truly something of a nightmare, despite this, Aran couldn't move, speak or even think, almost as if he was experiencing fear paralysis.
The shadow gave away a deafening roar that shook the very world that they were inhabiting. A roar that in comparison made Aran's most fiercest warcry sound like a butterfly's wing flapping. Thats when he turned around, the minotaur shaped being turned around, revealing clearly the axe that was its weapon. In an instant, the being flung towards the human and with a fully charged overhead strike that split the world apart.
"ARAN, STOP!!!" The voice of Anzja rang. Aran's eyes opened to see the head of his axe completely submerged under the floor made of solid stone, impaled a fraction of an inch away from Applebloom's skull, which was covered by her own hooves and shaking uncontrollably whilst on the ground.
"Wha...Wha...What the fuck?" He exhaled, almost passing out from lack of oxygen. Loosening his grip on the hilt, he collapsed from exhaustion, unable to feel his right arm. After a few moments, Aran was finally able to make out his environment more clearly. Referring the room as the aftermath of a nuclear holocaust would be a understatement. Every single piece of furniture in the room was chopped into a hundred pieces, with holes that swallowed the remains of the room. Cuts and slashes on the marble room from an axe could be found everywhere.
As everything settled down, Anzja threw herself at the petrified filly. "Applebloom, habibi, are you alright!?" She cried as she embraced the filly in her hooves. Despite the mares warm intentions, it only made the little filly crawl into a smaller ball. "ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND!?" She shouted, furious towards the dazed human. Despite her fears towards the human, her compassion made forced her to stand up towards the human.
Aran, however, did not reply. His face was that of horror, agape and shocked from his experience. After a few seconds, he closed his mouth and raised his gaze. Taking his time to rise up from the ground, he calmly walked out of the room, leaving the axe behind and the mare speechless.
***
Luna awoke from trance in the dream world out of breath in a panic, drenched in a cold sweat. She felt as if all the misery and anger during her time as Nightmare Moon washed over her in an instant.
Just before she was roused, she saw Aran standing under a red eclipsed sun, a monstrous axe and the shadow of horns that looped, similar to that of a male ram. "Was that his doing? But how? He can't use magic...Somehow I doubt that could have been him..." She said to herself, trying to make sense out of all of this. "Was this a vision of things to come? If so, what does a red eclipse have to do with Aran? More importantly, what does a red eclipse imply?" Luna quickly left her bed to do some research in the royal canterlot, after spending several hours in the Starswirl the bearded section, she found some references to Saddle Arabia were one day a sultan would be crowned with the power to make the royal family of Equestria submit to his will.
The very little they know about dragon folklore tells of the end of the age of fire, where the dark will consume the world and the dragons that shall rule in the grey twilight. Another one tells of a hawk that sacrifices its wings and claws to become a god or hand of god, she had a hard time trying to interpret the ancient text. "Fortune does not smile on me this night...What if I cannot find what I am searching for?" She asked doubtingly. Luna rarely made such a fuss about something that takes place while she walks the dream, as most of it is just troubles of the soul made real in the plane of dreams. But the magnitude of that vision was still reeling in her mind and body, never before has she felt such a force of pure hatred and fury, dwarfing the display of violence portrayed by Aran, but if this was not his doing, it was still her duty to investigate what could be a possible glimpse into the future. What if I cannot find it? She asked herself again. "Of Course, The Everfree castle!"
(several hours later)
The large doors to the throne room slammed open as a high ranked guard galloped to reach his mistress as fast as possible. "YOUR HIGHNESS!" He called out as he approached the throne, abandoning his former stoic facial expression. Celestia lowered her gaze in anticipation of her guard. "Reports from several sources have confirmed the where-about of the wanted Human and filly in question!"
Celestia's eyes widened from the sound of the news. "Tell me, what does the reports say?" She said, betraying her former calm expression.
"Ma'am, the human has been spotted in Magmar, alongside the filly. The reports go further in detail of the human becoming a gladiator and being claimed by The War-King as his personal fighter and champion in the Dragon's Horn Arena. The foal napped filly is alive and seemingly unharmed, several of the reports confirm the filly to have been seen with the human several times."
While Celestia was still slightly sceptical, a sense of hope embraced her being, this could be opportunity to rescue the filly and possible dispose of the human threat once and for all. "Send word to War-King, Dranox, tell him that I am willing to negotiate for the safe return of a certain filly and also, tell him that I am willing to pay for the life of his champion for 50.000 bits!" Celestia proclaimed.
"Yes, your majesty!" The guard replied with a salute just before he galloped out of the throne room as fast as he had arrived.
***
The sky was phasing a very dim light through the darkened cloud, it seems a large storm was on its way, yet there was no thunder to be heard, it may possibly be the start of winter weather, The winds of winter were whistling with the ferocious echo of rivaling that of a windigo's. The hornless changeling was wrapped in a thick blanket next to the fire that Shining Armor had quickly put together, trying as best as it could too not give in to its physiological weakness. The mercenaries had for the moment decided to lay low as the main road towards Magmar had a incoming patrol, to large for them to handle without creating a personal vendetta with the War-king. Dagon was a few yards from the campfire and facing away from it, sitting with his hooves crossed, barely moving an inch as he was in a deep state of meditation, holding a beads bracelet that had unique runes inscribed on each bead. Not a word was uttered, as Galia was tearing into her pray, a rabbit she had caught and was in the processes of consuming. Shining Armor took in the sights of his "traveling companions". Each one of them seemed to be a alien species in how they were coexisting during the quiet moments. Even their leader seemed secluded from the rest up on a tree, dessins of yards above his squad, he was always volunteering to be on night duty, keeping an eye, or more accurately an ear open for any threat that might sneak up on them. Now that he thought about it, he had never during their travels seen the blind pegasus sleep. "Does he even sleep?" He whispered to himself.
"A foolish question, his body and immune system would suffer catastrophic side-effects if he never recovered his strength." Locust replied with a raspy voice. The Prince didn't respond, as he was still veary of the changeling that had almost blinded him a few nights ago. Instead, he awkwardly shifted his gaze to meet that of Galia's as she tore off the head of the rabbit from its body and devoured it whole.
"Are you still pissy about what happened a few nights ago? jeesh, you need to learn how to let things go!" She said jokingly with blood still dripping from her beak.
It took a few seconds before Shining armor responded, hesitantly opening and closing his mouth without letting words escape, not knowing if he should bother. He decided he would take the gryphons advice. "I've wanted to ask this for quite some time now, but I'm wondering how a diverse and...Unique group such as yours ever came to be? I mean, a Tundra walker, a changeling, a pony and a Gryphon? Most ponies never meet someone from another species let alone ones that's in an arctic wasteland."
Galia perked up at the opportunity to share her origin, a proud gryphon such as her always loved to reminisce about her abilities and accomplishments. Tough before she spoke, a powerful low-pitched voice overshadowed the attention of everyone by the fire. "This one sees the justice of your curiosity." Dagon, slowly turned his face towards his party. "This one, not worthy of tribe, this one, the spirits reject." Dagon uttered with the most calm and delicate tone imaginable for someone with such power behinds their voice. "This one, Elders deemed weak, this one, cursed by tranquility." Dagon the menacing tower and aspect of size and brute strength gave off the gentle nature of a nurturing mother.
Shining armor was confused by the tundra walker's words, though Galia cut between before he could continue. "Hey, stop stealing the show, I'll be the one to tell him!" She spat at the giant minotaur. He merely lowered his head in a slow nod and let her continue. "Staghead over here comes from a clan of ancient shamans, who were ones the servant of some red-skinned devil by the name of...Tarbek or something, who fused their clan's warrior into channeling the rage of Tartarus, which lets them fight like crazed beast until the last drop of blood in your body is spilt. But, you can see from his adorable mug, that he hasn't got a single mean bone in his body." She spoke as her metal claws scratched the top surface of Dagon's skin, yet he didn't move a single muscle nor did his face give away any sign of frustration.
"That seems...Odd, doesn't sound like the kind of pony to be found in a mercenary band." Shining asked as he was trying to decide whether they were making fun of him or telling the truth.
Galia waved off his assumption with her iron talon. "Nah, it's not that he can't fight, he just will never be able to fight to his ultimate potential. Even without the effects of the blood rage, he is still one of the toughest things I've ever seen." Galia paused a moment before she leaned closer to the unicorn. "Truth be told, even I sometimes get scared at the thought of Dagon going Berserk, Lightbringer help us all should that day ever come." She whispered with a maddening look in her eyes as she was hoping to see such a unstoppable force in battle. The green prince leaned back as he felt a sense of relief that for whatever reason, this living weapon was a somewhat predictable character rather than a hostile maniac. Though it made him curious, who or what could stand up against him? Surely this Tundra walker could slay Aran.
***
A terrible agony befall Aran's body, the muscles in his arms, chest and back felt like they had been completely torn. Though this did not seem the case as he still retained some functionality, the sensation is that of muscle soreness though to an unimaginably aggressive degree, the pain alone discouraged the human from even clenching his hands. "-The fuck is happening to me." He whispered exhaustingly under his breath. A cold breeze befell him as Aran was still trying to make sense of what had transpired earlier. "I've had nightmares before, but nothing like this...Could it be Luna messing with my mind again?" The thought alone made him clench his fist and grit his teeth, frustration building up in his lungs, dulling the pain that would've made any man cry out. "No...I don't think even she could come up with something like this, even if she did, she shouldn't have been able to keep me in such a trance, let alone turn my room into the freaking holocaust."
The human tried his best to make sense of the situation, images of the nightmare flashing in his mind. His mind kept coming back to the image of the red sun and the demonic minotaur. Those two gave the human an unnerving feeling, it felt so real and yet it was not. Something so unnatural should not even take shape in his mind. At no point in the human's life could he recall the occurrence of a red sun or such a monstrous creature that was beyond that of anything his mind could conjure up in a stress induced nightmare. Unbeknownst to the human, the Axe that he had placed at his side gave of a weak red glow. This enhancement was fairly sheltered under the light of the dawn, hiding its glow under its pink-red rays.
In a balcony far above the human. Korvax let out a low-chuckle as he was overjoyed by what he was witnessing. "It appears your experiment was successful." A small hooded figure spoke as it approached its master from behind "I'm surprised such a small dose had such a volatile effect on him."
Korvax broke his gaze to take out something from a pouch around his neck. "That was just a fraction of what he is truly capable off." He spoke carefully stroking a vial with a green liquid swirling inside. "All the pieces in the board are soon in place." The merchant paused for a brief moment "He will be the catalyst to my plans." Korvax said, as he turned his attention to his prized possession.