//------------------------------// // Chapter 56 // Story: Friendship is Scaleless // by Limescale //------------------------------// It went without saying that one universal truth among dragons was their temper. Regardless of their size, age, type, or status, if you got on the wrong side of one you were in for a very bad time. As such, one really had only two possible excuses for ending up on said wrong side of a dragon: either there had been a terrible mistake or misunderstanding, or you were hell-bent on proving a point with no care for what it cost you. What aggravated Seath the most upon storming into his archives’ dungeon area is that he couldn’t fathom which of the above had motivated Logan to his extreme act of blatant tactlessness. The elder sorcerer immediately greeting him with a crystal soul mass to the face didn’t help either. “How now withered soul, whence grows this insolence!?” The white dragon demanded as he shook off the pain of the gem like projectiles. “For shame, thou intends to further foul the sanctity of mine haven?” Logan smiled and tsked in gleeful scorn. “No, only to finish what has been started here.” He replied before firing a second mass of crystal projectiles at the dragon. “To do what the Chosen Undead should have done, and thus prove I have transcended above even your expertise!” Seath weathered the soul masses, focusing his counter strike on the crystal sage beating down on Twilight. She’d managed to give it the slip for a few precious moments, but just as in her practices with Seath, her inexperience with his sorceries had reared their ugly head at precisely the wrong moment. In this case, it was forgetting that the ‘Hidden Body’ sorcery only obscured one from the sight of others. It did not hide any sound they made while moving around. As such, the sage had only to listen for the tell tale clop of hooves frantically trying to evade it to determine where to focus its attacks. To her credit, at least Twilight had the foresight to drop the sneaking once she realised she’d given away her position, and cowered behind another magical barrier. “Thine claims are questionable at best, nor do they excuse this!” Seath growled as he launched his own flurry of crystal soulmasses at the sage, drawing its attention away from Twilight long enough for her to run for cover. “Why dost thou wrong her that did ne’er wrong thee? Whence did she cross thee with e’en a bitter word?” Seath demanded, both to Logan and his monstrous summoned student. The sage looked to Logan, who just sighed and lead the next attack with a massive soul spear. “I’ve spent my entire life trying to measure up to you. You said yourself that you received every correspondence I sent you! And yet, rather than acknowledge talent when it’s dangled in front of your face, you not only passed it up, but did so for a soul whose very existence is an affront to both sorcery, and Lordran itself!” Seath reacted with the expected offense, and bewilderment, while Twilight had to do a massive facehoof. Once again, rather than just explain themselves, their enemies had to get all cryptic and needlessly evasive. Both reactions did their job at distracting the two long enough for Logan and the sage to blast then with several more spears. Seath was sent crashing onto the floor of the prison, while Twilight was pinned to the wall, much like Griggs. “The fact that she and her friends have been playing nice with you all this time does not forgive what they represent. What the books in your own archives foretold!” Logan continued, treasuring Twilight’s look of pained rage, and Seath’s look of just plain rage. “Did you think it was a mere twist of unfortunate chance that the Chosen Undead was able to track you down to their world in the first place?” The sorcerer demanded as Seath rose to face him. “The books of these very archives presented me with the means! A very surprising yet insightful find among the tomes, that told of other worlds, other times, and how the flames link them all together!” Seath’s rage smoldered slightly as he stared down Logan. “Many works from far away lands did my channelers bring here on my command. Thou claims to have found knowledge within their pages e’en I know not?” The dragon challenged. Logan grinned sinisterly as he heard Twilight let out a deathly cry. Both turned to see the crystal sage yanking its rapier from her barrel, leaving her to slump and succumb to her wounds once more. “I had hoped you knew every word of every book among these hallowed halls, as would be expected of a soul of your station. Tragically it seems I indeed thought too highly of you.” Logan lamented, letting out a dry chuckle as the prison cell bonfire bloomed and Twilight emerged again from its flames. “Tell me, have you ever stopped and pondered just how this one little equine has endured what has driven so many warriors, sages, monsters, and even gods to go hollow? Does her fortitude not seem beyond what should be possible by all rights?” The crystal sage turned to engage Twilight. She stared at it in grim determination, and then as it tried to again crucify her with its crystal attacks, the alicorn leaped onto the ground with a sudden strength. Her legs still buckled and her body teetered like crazy as she landed, but even in light of that, she found the energy to charge her horn and blast the sage, forcing it to again retreat into the floor. Taking advantage of this momentary relief, Twilight pushed herself over to where her latest bloodstain lay. Her hollowed body straightened and tensed as she reabsorbed her dropped energy and retrieved her catalyst. The sage then burst through the floor behind her, casting a massive homing crystal mass at the alicorn. Twilight ground her hooves and took off running towards the other side of the prison floor; to where the cage holding the resurrected pisacas sat open, and inviting. “How long did you truly spend teaching her your arts? You can’t have had that much time before we found you. Certainly not long enough time to train her in how to do...that.” Logan’s voice dropped to a harsh whisper as Twilight turned and promptly swung her catalyst as the sage. A disembodied scream, like an injured pony crying for help, echoed around the ghastly sorcerer. The pisacas promptly flooded from their cage, amassing on the sage as Twilight carefully stepped between them, still pursued by the homing crystal mass. “Or that?” Logan mused as Twilight then cast another sorcery on herself, turning herself into one of the cogs that littered the prison floor. The crystal mass slowed, as if momentarily confused by this. The Twilight cog nudged itself back, increasing the distance as the glittering, starry projectile still closed in on her. “Did you never question how she was able to pick up such advanced spells so easily?” Logan demanded. Seath just looked at the elderly sorcerer in disdain. “She is, by her word and that of her follow princesses, a soul most gifted in the realm of magic. Rough is her command of mine spells, but her aptitude...mmmm.” The dragon growled with a touch of sinister pride. “T’is no mystery that she should prove to be worthy of mine teachings.” Seath concluded. Truthfully, while he realised he should be trying to help Twilight defend herself, it was worth holding off just to see her calculated use of sorcery to keep dodging the crystal sage’s attack. It was especially satisfying that so long as she kept said attack from actually hitting her, apparently the sage was unable to teleport out from under the pile of pisacas mauling it to death. Logan soon reacted in the expected way, and his barrage of soul spears hurt like hell, but in that moment, Twilight’s actions made it all worth it for Seath. “No. NO. NO! You still don’t get it!” The sorcerer declared, no longer sounding as cocky. “She is not an apt student! She did not learn your arts just because she’s versed in magic. She’s...she’s...” Seath pushed himself off the far wall of the prison, having been driven into it by Logan’s assault. Multiple puncture wounds on his belly area quickly clotted over with crystal, leaving him to again stare at Logan in abject disappointment. “Ngh...enough talk! You wouldn’t believe me anyway! You never believed in me!” Soul masses criss crossed through the air as human and dragon were again joined in battle. Under them, the crystal sage seemed to take this as a prompt to step up its game as suddenly two additional copies of it materialized around the pisacas. Blue streams of magic were launched at the poor squid like monsters, summoning beds of likewise colored crystal spikes that skewered them like calamari and allowed the original sage to finally fight its way out from the pile. Realizing the tables had turned, Twilight dispensed with her disguise, gritting her teeth as the crystal soul mass finally found her and knocked her hooved over flank with its explosion. Fighting against the pain of her scorched flesh, Twilight stood back up. She gauged the three sages baring down on her, the pisacas lying now in a mass dead heap in their wake. She had to do something quick. Something that packed a greater punch than her pony magic in order to neutralize all three threats at once. Twilight looked at the catalyst in her mouth. The crooked blade on the end gleamed black in the light of the prison, reminding Twilight of when she’d wrestled it from the Demon Firesage. The same Demon Firesage that had severely injured both Rainbow Dash and her brother, nearly killed Seath and Celestia, and almost trapped everyone she loved in the burning inferno of Luna’s garden. A sudden heat bloomed inside Twilight, an explosion of the same emotions she’d felt when at last she had that bloated monstrosity at her whim. Emotions that had allowed her too... The sages drew their rapiers and fell upon Twilight. Closing her eyes, the alicorn focused on the heat, burying herself in the inferno of the most raw and primordial feelings a soul could summon. Sheer, unbridled, rage! Logan turned at the sound of bodies hitting the floor. To his horror he saw two of the sages down and out, with smoking holes littering the front of their robes. The middle sage clasped its hand over a similar array of small yet crippling wounds as its cohorts vanished into nothingness. The elder sorcerer looked to Twilight, his soul growing cold with hate as he saw the black wisps rising off her catalyst. Twilight aimed said catalyst at Logan, charging it with another spell to finally finish the crazed sorcerer off. Either out of loyalty to its teacher, or just being too far gone to care about it’s injuries, the crystal sage hauled itself off the floor, then threw itself in Twilight’s line of fire. The second assault of dark beads perforated the ghostly entity’s body like a swiss cheese, forcing it to summon two more clones as it fell onto its wounds again. “By Gwyn’s beard...you can’t have...” Logan bleated as Twilight spun her catalyst around, feeding the soul energy coursing through it with some of her own pony magic. The sages amassed on her, only to be hit with a wall of pitch black, toxic fog. “The sorceries of Oolacile, dreadful mockeries of our hallowed arts...and you...you...” Logan was knocked back by the impact of Seath landing. He scrambled to rise, but no sooner was he on his feet than he found himself enveloped in Seath’s crystal breath. “Aggghhh...you...you didn’t teach her those at all did you?” Logan demanded, showing an impressive amount of fortitude even as cursed crystalline formations erupted from his clothes to form an immobilising shell all the was to his head.. “Nay I did not. Though that she commandeth such raw, unstable arts amazes me little.” Seath intoned as he raised his catalyst for the finishing blow. Logan looked up at his former idol, gritting his teeth as he violently struggled against the crystal shell. Seath’s catalyst fell, and to his ire Logan was able to jerk his head back at just the right moment for the blow to hit the shell, shattering both it and most of Logan’s clothes. “And yet you remain blind to the possibility of why that is...” The elder sorcerer weakly seethed as he tumbled backwards, shaking off the crystallized remains of his robes, and leaving him in only his oversized hat and a loincloth. Seath snarled as he swiped at Logan with his claws. His rage grew every hotter as Logan managed to avoid the attack, apparently having gained a speed boost due to no longer being weighed down by his clothes. Seath chased the half-naked sorcerer as he made haste for a pile of boxes on the prison’s viewing balcony. The dragon alighted besides the phonograph player the prison guards used to summon assistance in case one of their master’s experiments escaped, then he curled his arms around himself and launched a nova blast from his glowing belly that sent Logan crashing into his intended target. The sorcerer grunted weakly as he pushed himself up, yet did not immediately get back to his feet. Instead he began searching amidst the broken crates for something. “Thout art aware mine blindness shalt endure if it be true thee don't cease with this motley-minded assault and start giving me answers!” Seath cursed as he made to bury the spiked head of his crystal coated catalyst into Logan’s brain. The dragon then cursed even louder when his strike was then halted by a scimitar Logan had apparently stashed in case of an emergency. Logan shoved his adversary’s catalyst aside, allowing him to stand up and face the dragon again. Sparks joined the flurry of soul spears flying over Twilight’s head. The alicorn silently prayed for her teacher’s well being as the black fog between her and they crystal sages dissipated. Even with the strange bird masks covering their faces and the ragged flowing robes encasing their bodies, they still betrayed evidence of sickness. The fog had done its job in weakening them, just as Twilight’s anger had wished. Now it wished for more, to let Logan and his so-called students regret their betrayal. Sweat dripped from Twilight’s face as her more rational side said this was a very dangerous path to tread. She may have previously killed in self-defence, but never before had she wanted her victims to really suffer. The sages stumbled towards her, with crystal balls held high and rapiers at the ready. The alicorn bit on her catalyst so hard she feared it’s snap in two. No, she didn’t need to make these beings suffer...she just needed to stop them. If she could snag them in her aura and levitate them off the ground then... The primary sage fired another crystal homing soul mass, checking that this time its opponent could not get out of the way. Its cohorts drew their rapiers and swung violently at Twilight, upsetting her footing and making it even more likely they’d succeed in killing her again. Twilight stumbled back, her rage fighting with her conscience as she threw up another barrier. The sages shook their heads and raised their orbs high, summoning down a rain of crystal shards. Twilight tried to adjust her barrier, but in her undead status she was a bit too late to save herself from being gored through many of her more sensitive body parts. The alicorn fell again, blood staining the crystal shards sticking out of her. She looked in angered dismay as all sages drew their rapiers and prepared to run her through. ‘NO!” The sages halted, then turned as a flurry of homing soul masses smacked into them from behind. Two of the sages went down hard, and the remainder again vanished into the floor. Behind it, Griggs gave another pained cry as he pulled himself free from the crystal pinning him to the wall. “This....has...to stop!” The heavily injured sorcerer muttered as he fell to the floor. Blood dripped from the numerous points where the crystal had torn clear through the bone, yet still Griggs found the will to get to his feet and stand ready as the sage reappeared. Smacking his catalyst on the ground, Griggs surrounded himself with a flurry of white light, heaving a relief as his bleeding stopped. “Whatever you are, and wherever Logan summoned you from, your presence here will be tolerated no longer.” Griggs affirmed as the sage raised his crystal orb and summoned another shower. Twilight violently shook herself from side to side, dislodging as many of the crystal shards as she could. Two more sages materialized to separate her from Griggs. Twilight rubbed her aching horn and bit down against the pain as the pair made to finish what their counterparts had started. Logan had to break his concentration and look over as he registered the brush of a deathly cold. An enormous sphere of black energy shot past him and vaporized the twin sages, while on the opposite side, the primary mage doubled over from a heavy soul arrow being driven into its gut. “Heh...and so at last it is clear.” The elder sorcerer sighed tiredly. “All my work, all my efforts to rise to your level...to pass on your teachings...” Twilight summoned a flurry of soul masses, launching them at the crystal sage at the same time Griggs let fly with a soul spear. “And what does fate do but spit on it all like dirt.” Logan scowled as he caught and parried Seath’s catalyst. The dragon drove him back, smashing his tails on the ground to trip his opponent up. Logan, however, proved himself amazingly sure footed as he was able to make it to the ladder leading up to the prison exit, grabbing and climbing like his life depended on it. Twilight looked to catch this sight, of the one who had betrayed her, tortured her, tried multiple times to kill her, put everyone of her friends in danger, and all to satisfy his own ego. The rage exploded with fresh heat in Twilight’s soul as she summoned another flurry of soul masses. This time, however, they began changing shape, twisting and blackening themselves as if feeding off the hatred of their caster. Two blank white eyes appeared in each of the black masses, and then all of them flew up to swarm upon Logan. He let out a deathly, pain wracked scream as he fell from the ladder, his flesh burning away by the raw black humanity. Twilight dropped her catalyst and immobilized the thrashing sorcerer with her magic, allowing Seath to finish the job by blasting Logan with more crystal breath. “Thy command of sorcery is admirable forsooth. But it would never have been able to match or exceed mine own!” Seath slammed his right tail down on the crystal covered sorcerer. “Thy useth of mine white dragon breath is proof. Thee understandeth the basics, but not the special techniques that imbue it with the ability to curse a soul!” Logan squirmed and cried in anguish as more sickly grey crystals burst through his skin. The crystal sage turned at the sound of its master’s cries, but sadly all this did was distract it long enough for Twilight and Griggs to catch it in in another simultaneous assault of their sorceries. The sage threw its head up as missiles and spears hammered it from all sides. With a garbled, agonized wail, it slumped to the floor, finally vanishing completely. A tense pause followed as both Twilight and Griggs waited to see if it would resurface. Instead a glowing blue soul materialised above the spot where the sage had fallen, a reward for dispatching another monstrosity so that it could terrorize Lordran no further. Letting out her breath, Twilight ran over and grabbed the soul, clutching it tightly to her breast as she flew over to where Seath was holding Logan down to the floor. “Seath! Are you okay?” The alicorn asked in fear. Seath looked at the crystallized wounds covering his body. “I fare better than thee, mine student.” The dragon held out his free hand, allowing Twlight to land on it and hold up the crystal sage’s soul. “It is done then?” He asked. “Yes, though I’m really going to need a rest afterwards. Errrghh, going to be having nightmares for weeks about what I had to face.” Twilight whined. Griggs fought against his injuries (those that he wasn't able to heal with his sorcery) and hastily scrambled over to his friends, shaking his head as his master’s body was slowly becoming a cursed mess of spikes. “It’s over Logan. Whatever you hoped to accomplish here, you failed.” Despite the pain of hard, sharp protrusions breaking out all over him, Logan managed to look up and give Griggs a withering stare. “Did I? This may be the end for me, but I have proven this will only be the beginning of your troubles” He turned to Seath. “Search your halls for the evidence, for the tomes that tell of what is to come. Where spiders shall lay waste to these very archives and claim it as their new kingdom. Where a king shall be consumed by the insanity of your writings.. With his breath growing weaker and weaker as crystal sprouted over his face, Logan turned to Twilight. “And at the end of it all from where this pony you teach originated....who she really is....” Twilight glared as Logan chuckled. “She doesn’t even know herself. No one does...heh...well they shall soon. Even now darkness swallows up her kingdom...damming her entire kind.” Twilight’s hooves ground against the floor as Logan fought for the breath to fling one final insult. “Damn them all...to...the flames...” Having heard enough, Seath picked up Logan’s curse ridden corpse and slammed it hard on the ground. The sensation of it shattering like so much cheap and worthless stone gave him some small satisfaction. “Who you are? Dear Princess....what could he have meant by that?” Griggs asked. Twilight hung her head and massaged her brow with a hoof. “I can only guess the answer will become clear once we’ve had time to read some of the books he mentioned. Right now though....we gotta to save our friends.”