Chapter 14: "Whispers."
I’ve always been cautious by nature. Never going into most things, without fully thinking it all through.
I would play the scenario in my mind, going over every detail in sync with how I predicted it would play out. This way, I could at least find some solace in the fact that, having analyzed the situation, any surprises would be definite surprises.
But not this time. My mind was far too flustered to bother with anything like that at this point.
As we made our way under the large stone archways, slowly descending further and further into the temple that now clearly made up the environment, I found it suddenly very comforting that I wasn’t by myself down here. Gold Digger was still very much on edge, if not more so. She trotted closely behind, making sure that she was right behind me at all times.
We came into a massive room, a corridor meant for a giant, that stretched forward for what seemed like miles. But I could make out the exit on the other side. Huge unidentifiable statues stood like rows of soldiers along the path to the other side of the room. They were tall hooded figures with their long arms raised up in front of them, as if offering something out. I looked to see that disturbingly, they had no hooves, but long gangling appendages that curled up like snakes. It was unsettling to say the least.
I heard Gold Digger groan rather loudly behind me. “Ohhh...I’m not sure how much more I can take. All this walking is bad for my complexion!” she moaned.
I laughed. “Actually, walking is good for you. Keeps the body from producing lactic acids that make you lethargic....and overweight.”
I heard her verbally gasp at the notion that she could ever possibly be overweight. But as I laughed, I heard it. Subtle and quiet, hidden just underneath Gold Digger’s voice and my own. But it was still there.
Whispering. A low guttural rasp that shook me to my core. I knew that I wasn’t hearing things, as Gold Digger suddenly looked around and asked me If I could hear that. And indeed I could.
I looked all around the room, but as chilling as it sounded, we were completely alone in a room that suddenly had more than a thousand ghostly voices all whispering like they were right in my ears.
It was a whisper, but it was also something like a song, too. It was like all the pain and sorrow in the world was being dredged up from the bottom of the earth and was twisting itself into a horrible silent melody.
We stopped walking, suddenly quivering with fear. I tried my hardest to block it out, but as strange as it sounds, the whispering grew louder. Not in tone, but it quickly became the only sound we could hear.
“I-I...I don’t like this, Meir.” Gold Digger said, her face turned pale. “not one bit.”
I had to give her credit for putting it so mildly. Sometimes ponies you think you know well can still surprise you. She was being brave. Or, at least, she was trying.
I wasn’t sure if I was capable of the same. Everything in my body was telling me to run away. Back up to the cathedral, back to the hotel. Back to Equestria, even.
But when I turned around, I now saw that there was no way back. The entryway we had come through was now a series of hallways, all forking out in several unfamiliar directions. Some force wanted us to pick one in hopes it would lead us back to the cathedral.
I had a feeling none of them would. In all those stories you read by the campfire, or during a huge thunderstorm, when a dark force wants you to do something that badly, it’s best to do exactly the opposite.
I looked ahead. The light from the exit now seemed a million miles away, shooting out into the room like a golden knife. We had to keep going. It was the only way out.
“Come on,” I said.
Gold Digger looked at me like I had lost my mind. But when I took a step forward to show her it was possible, she knew I was right.
“Come On,” I repeated, firmer this time. I took another step. Then Gold Digger took one, too, still shaking. We moved slowly across the room, and as we got closer the whispering reshaped itself into something else: A scratchy, violent squall so loud that my whole skull vibrated from the force of it. My senses were knocked out of me as everything in me could only process the horribleness of that screaming.
We both doubled over as it hit us, covering our ears in pain. It was inside my brain rattling my very sanity apart. I felt that this was it. I had come all this way, only to lose it all to a room full of weird statues....
Wait.
The Statues...
As horrible as the sound was, I heard something else within it. A small voice, still whispered a few mere words, that somehow reached my brain.
It said: “Seeing Is Hearing.”
At first this could not have made less sense to me. But seeing as how I was going to die in a few minutes anyway, I decided to put all my brain power into processing this one small clue, thrown out to us. A small message of hope. A way to save ourselves.
Then I looked over and saw through tears that the statues were all the same: Blind. They could not see though the cloaks covering their heads. Seeing Is Hearing. So if you don’t see...then.
“Digger, close your eyes now!” I yelled, my voice just barely reaching over top of the screaming.
Gold Digger didn’t say anything, but I knew she had heard me. She shut her eyes tightly, and so did I.
And then...nothing.
Not a single sound. No screaming. No whispering. Only the sound of my heart beating out of my chest, and Gold Digger’s stifled sobs.
“Lets...Lets go. Take my hoof.” I said out loud, offering my hoof to Gold Digger behind me, who instantly latched onto it, like a terrified child to their mothers arm. She said nothing as she squeezed it tightly. But I still heard a few short breaths and sobs between moments of silence. I had to get us out of here. Now.
Seeing nothing but the inside of my eyelids, I slowly made my way forward, reaching out in front of me, feeling for anything that may get in the way. My rational mind had given up at this point. All that was left was to keep going forward.
It felt like hours. Moving slowly through this evil place, not being able to even open our eyes to see where we were going. It was terrifying. More than that, was it really Gold Digger who had grabbed my hoof just now?
But I kept going, and then I heard the doors close behind us. I dared myself to open my eyes, and in doing so, saw that we were now in an entirely different room. And judging by the horrific splendor of the place, it was the last room in the temple.
Ritual Altar Room, Unknown Time, Unknown Place
We stood in a massive rotunda that seemed to float on an endless murky sea, covered in fog. I saw past the many stone pillars that held the roof of the rotunda up, that there was seemingly no wall to signal where the mysterious out of place ocean ended. It seemed to go on and on without end.
A massive statue of some horrific abomination I couldn't even try to describe stood in the center of the place. A disturbing, horrific mistake of some unknown force that simply cobbled together whatever limbs and body parts it had on hand. Its appendages all spread out each holding something in its grasp. I couldn't see what they were, but they seemed to be various idols of some sort, with startling grotesque faces all carved into them.
It was then that I realized to my horror, that they were not idols. But heads. Not living heads of course, but they were still meant to resemble the heads of living creatures.
And then I noticed something else. There was somepony kneeling in front of the statue. A tall dark ,cloaked figure that I instantly recognized as The Grand Master.
I wasn't completely sure what I was about to say. Would I confront them? Demand to know whats going? Or maybe I should simply throw tactical thinking out the window and just try to jump them, hoping to catch them off guard and subdue them before any of this madness happens.
Unfortunately I didn't get the opportunity to do any of these, because as soon as we had noticed The Grand Master kneeling before the statue, we were jumped from behind. My hooves were pinned behind me so quickly I had no time to react. Gold Digger was far too occupied with the fact the Grand Master now stood before us to even try fighting back.
They towered over us, as they peered their head down and I heard what I could swear was a cold chuckle. As if the fact we were now at their mercy brought The Grand Master some measure of amusement. Which it no doubt did.
Almost immediately, Gold Digger began to beg for her life, clearly scared out of her mind. "Grand Master, please! I-I...I brought her here to you! I've been working against her this whole time! I- "
"Be silent."
And she was. The Grand Master's voice was as cold and foreboding as I had last heard it. If not more so in this place. He had no need of some supernatural power to shut Gold Digger up. She was scared enough already.
The Grand Master moved towards us. A towering black shadow that clearly had ill intentions for us.
Or more specifically: for me.
I struggled and squirmed as hard as I could but the thug's grip was surprisingly strong even for a pony of his size. "Whatever you're planning, just leave Digger out of it. She has nothing to do with any of this!" I sounded braver than I felt. If not for my sake then at least for Gold Digger's.
I knew she was just saying what she thought she had to. If she was going to betray me, she would've done so back when that Hashashin tried to kill me. But she stopped him. She clearly had intentions of her own, and she didn't want me dead for it.
The Grand Master didn't lean in, but curved down, as if he had no way to kneel down at all. I felt a cold smile beneath the hood, as he curved down to meet my face. "There is no need to worry, miss Morning Meir. You are indeed the one I'm the most interested in."
"So...what are you going to do to me then? You got me. Just get on with it." I was of course scared out of my wits, but I wasn't about to give him the satisfaction of seeing me afraid. I'm sure he got more than his fill of ponies being afraid of him.
The Grand Master turned away. "First, a question for you: What do you believe really happened to miss De'belle Divine when she came down here? Get it right, and perhaps I'll let you live."
"What??"
"Answer quickly."
What game was he playing now? It was obvious that De'belle had disappeared in these caves. But...she was never found. And the rest of her sister's journal was blank. I had no way of knowing what had happened to her. So, this meant he wanted me to guess. He wanted me to get it wrong. That was his game.
I decided to give it a try. After all, all I had to lose at this point was my life. (No pressure.)
Strategic Hypothesis
What did I know so far?
15 years ago, Do'welle and De'belle Divine went missing in this mysterious temple that was found underneath the Mareposa Cathedral.
De'belle had known Mr. Regal and had taken a photo with him.
The image of the photo once again surfaced in my mind as clear as if I had just saw it. There was Mr. Regal smiling and standing next to the beautiful movie starlet that was De'belle Divine. It was the same scene as I had ever saw it, and yet...something else now caught my attention.
A change was now visible in the photo, one that up until now had been all but invisible to me: A hoof on Mr Regal's left hoof shoulder. Somepony else was in this picture. Somepony was standing next to Mr. Regal, hoof on his shoulder and was posing for a picture with him and De'belle.
But who? Who could it be??
Then...I had it. I not only knew the answer to his question.
I now knew the true identity of The Grand Master.
"I know what happened to her." I heard myself say out loud, before I was fully aware.
He was in my face before I could even react. "Is that so?? Then by all means....indulge me."
He was trying to scare me. He was trying to intimidate me. But I knew the truth now. I knew who he was.
Or rather....who she was.
"You're her aren't you? You tried to find your sister down here, but instead you found something else. A mysterious power you couldn't explain, that you didn't understand, but you were drawn to it anyway. Perhaps you thought it would help you find her."
I narrowed my eyes at The Grand Master. "But you didn't find her. Not because you weren't looking hard enough. But because you stopped caring. This new power changed you, took control of you. And now it hungers for more...so you intend to satiate it by taking over the world. And you're getting terrified bureaucrats and ponies of influence to do it for you. And, of course, anypony who says no or tries to stop you must be dealt with. That's why you had Mr. Regal killed. And Argyle. And...why you want me dead."
I waited for her to say something. To confess to all of it. For her to at least take off that ridiculous cloak. But she just stood there.
I was getting impatient. I just wanted her to admit to all of this. "Am I wrong, Do'welle!?" I demanded.
Gold Digger looked over at me. I couldn't tell if she was either amazed or horrified by what I had said. But I didn't care. I had to hear Do'welle say something here. I waited....
And then.....I heard a chuckle from beneath the cloak's hood. Low, cruel and deep as a bottomless pit. The Grand Master was chuckling. And it built quite quickly into nearly hysterical laughter. The room echoed with it to such a degree, that I swore I heard other voices laughing along with her.
"W-Why are you laughing? Explain dammit!" I demanded. My ears stung at the curse, but I was in no mood for games. I had been through too much. Just what in Equestria was so funny now!?
"Oh, Meir....You really are a smart one aren't you? A mare fit for her title as "The Smartest Pony In The World." she said, her voice though was still as deep and ominous as ever.
She looked up and I saw the red hot glowing coals that were now her eyes, and below them...a terrifying sharp toothed smile. "Thing is...you're only half right!"
She tore the cloak from her body and I watched as it fizzled out into nothingness in her hooves. Then she looked up at me.
I froze on the spot. It wasn't Do'welle.
She took a step forward and threw back her golden mane, which was still as perfect as it had looked in the picture. Her gleaming green eyes still shined as they ever had, and she was even wearing the same soft smile as she wore in the photo.
I had no words, as she took a step towards me." De'belle Divine...charmed I'm sure." she said politely in a soft and gentle voice that came off as a relaxing summer breeze.
She tilted her head to the side and smiled sweetly. "Welcome to my little party, Miss Morning Meir. I've been waiting for a good while now, but I suppose now that your here...
Her pupils suddenly shrunk as a very evil, manic smile spread across her perfect face. "We can finally begin."