“No… no, no please!” Ciaran pleaded as she ran to her impaled friend. Gough grunted softly as he shifted his body enough to break the arrow free from where it had sunk into the wall behind him, letting him slump to the ground as his blood flowed around his own projectile.
“Gough! Speak to me!” Ciaran cried. The giant let out another grunt, followed by a gentle chuckle.
“Heh heh… true indeed was this shot. Loosed as fairly from mine bow as it was returned. Ho ho, what a twisted yet justly ironic end!” He exhaled.
Ciaran frantically gauged the severity of the arrow wound. The giant projectile was in almost to the fletchings, and from the hole in the wall, it was clear it had penetrated Gough completely. The testament of how much strength Kalameet had to possess, not only to catch the arrow, but throw it back with the same force it had been launched (if not more) was terrifying.
“Gough… stay with me. I… I’m not sure how I can get this out of you… but if I break off the shaft, and then try to cauterize the wound...” Ciaran said, reaching for the exposed part of the arrow.
Gough snorted and pushed her hand away.
“No… it is of no worth, my friend. This… heh… while I would not wish my end to be so nigh, there are worse ways to go. Ngh… with my last act, I faced my foe head on, and now shall I perish with honor intact, and my service to the Great Lord Gwyn complete. Neither humans, nor the Abyss, shalt take my life. Only the foe whom I could consider most worthy!”
Ciaran gaped behind her mask, her eyes tearing up as yet another of her friends, and comrade in arms stood on the brink of dying before her eyes.
“Gough… please...” She begged. The giant gently held her hand.
“No… do not grieve for me. Few could hope to have lived and died as well as I. For now, thou must concern thyself with the wellbeing of those who remain.” Gough sighed sadly as the forest shook with the ongoing battle between Celestia and Kalameet. “Rarely am I wrong, but now, ‘twould seem to be such a time. T’is not only the Abyss that threatens this land, nor t’is only this land that is threatened. Thou must strive to see so many have not perished in vain. Be done with Oolacile, go to aid they who matter most...”
The giant paused as he sensed a fresh presence climbing up to his little area, accompanied by the jingling of bells.
“And they who now cometh to plead for thine aid, it seems...” He mused as Pinkie Pie clambered up onto the parapet, panting as if she’d just run the annual Equestrian Marathon twice.
“Okay, made it! Got Vamos where he needs to be, Trixie is doing her thing, Twilight and co. can hold their own for a few more minutes, so now I just need...”
The pink mare broke off as she beheld Gough and Ciaran, and the slowly growing pool of blood around them.
“Oh no… dammit, I’m too late!” She cried, running over to the wounded giant.
Gough laughed, then coughed as blood began to trickle from his helmet.
“Fret not. Thine haste has bought thee time enough.” He chuckled. “I go to join my kindred… but thee… thee may see that my friend will yet serve out her role.”
Pinkie nodded as she looked at Ciaran.
“Well yeah, I knew I had to come here to get… uh… someone… But this, this isn’t supposed to happen! Unless...”
Pinkie’s mane deflated again as her danced in frantic contemplation. Gritting her teeth she smashed both hooves into her head.
“Faust be damned… why did I not see it before? Oh right, cause the stupid balloon head was the one in control! Gahh, Faust be damned indeed!” She snarled, then whipped her head around at the sound of conflict. Her face slowly steamed in fiery loathing as Celestia burst out from the treeline, followed by Kalameet.
“Oh, and of course she has to be here, too… just to make things even more complicated. Ugh… okay...”
Pinkie pointed a hoof at Ciaran.
“You… uh… wait...”
She looked down at a spot just above Ciaran’s feet.
“No health bar or name? Dammit, you’re one of the friendly NPCs aren’t you? Gah, of all the things they didn’t think to patch!”
Ciaran cocked her head as Pinkie shook her own.
“Look, I don’t have time to check the game files to confirm who you are! Just, if you’re who I suspect, then yes, you need to come with me!” She said.
Ciaran took a cautious step back, her hand reaching for her own bow.
“And for what reason should I obey, when I have one in desperate need of medical attention?” She demanded.
Pinkie looked at Gough as if to gauge whether his friend was that hard of hearing, or that slow on the uptake.
“Well, first off, he’s given his final wish to die with dignity, and while I normally don’t give a buck about that… lately I’ve started to get a sense of why the balloon head keeps vying about respecting folk and being nice whenever possible.” Pinkie grumbled. “So, in 25 words or less: Aurelia’s caught up with my friends in some bad juju at Seath’s Archives. Actually, wait...”
Pinkie held up her front hooves and started counting off imaginary fingers.
“Yes, that was less than 25 words.” She sighed “Help me help my friends, and we’ll be able to come back here in force to save Celestia from her own impulsiveness and stupidity!”
Ciaran’s hand halted.
“Aurelia? She’s...” The assassin’s voice froze in her throat. Pinkie nodded frantically.
“Her and Sif… yeah, this situation’s so screwed up, that’s actually happened!” Pinkie sighed. “Guh, hey, balloon head, can you please talk to this girl? I’m about to do some very unkind things to her if she keeps stalling!”
Pinkie promptly twisted her neck hard enough and far enough it seemed she’d snap her own spine. Indeed there was an extremely painful sounding ‘CRACK!’, followed by more jingling of f the bells on Pinkie’s jester hat, yet all it did was inflate her mane again and dash the craziness from her eyes.
“AAAAH! Oooh… oh crud! Oh I am so sorry!” The mare said in a much kinder and bubbly voice. “She… I don’t know. It’s like she actually is trying to see my side of things, but hates letting me get a word in edgeways...”
Pinkie cringed as Kalameet let fly with another gust of his black flaming breath on an obvious target.
“Anyway, yes, please, help my friends, help Aurelia, and I’ll see to it that your friend is avenged for… that.” Pinkie cringed harder as she gestured to Gough’s wound. The giant laughed weakly, and handed Pinkie his greatbow.
“Then take this. I shan’t need it again. I know not if another could operate it… but thine need outweighs mine now.” He said. Pinkie nodded and grabbed the massive weapon, hefting it and dropping it into her mane with only a moderate amount of difficulty.
“I’ll see that it goes to the right soul at the right time!” She declared.
“And I...” Ciaran broke off as she felt the soul of Artorias burning restlessly in her pack. Even in death, her friend, and lover, still demanded he be allowed to do his duty, even if via the hands of others.
“I’ll go with you, strange equine… only I know not how you intend to take me to Aurelia with no means of transportation, save for our own feet and hooves.”
Pinkie smiled and promptly turned to present her back to the assassin.
“Then saddle up, and prepare to be amazed! Also, please try not to lose your mind as I reveal what else I’ve discovered on the way here!” She said.
***
Summoning all of her remaining energy, Celestia dove at Kalameet. She’d expended a lot dodging and deflecting that black breath of his, but Gough had finally given her the opening she needed, even if it had come at a terrible cost.
Stamping down on her feelings of remorse, telling herself there’d be time to mourn later, the sun princess flew straight and true as Kalameet charged another breath attack.
The Royal Woods swayed and shuddered from the sonic boom of two all powerful combatants tearing through the skies, intent on finally ending their face off.
And then, as soon as she spied Kalameet rearing his head back, Celestia halted her flight and threw herself straight down towards the trees. Kalameet’s breath incinerated the air in her wake, flying wildly in all directions as the black dragon frantically tried to alter his lock.
Celestia saw that he never got the chance. From her horn, a beam of pure, devastating sunlight split the heavens to strike the dragon on his chest wound, blasting him a mile or so towards the horizon.
Far across Oolacile, the great beast fell. His momentum brought his wings to be clipped by the forest trees, his spines to shatter the walls of the coliseum, his horns to carve deep gouges in the valley beyond, until his body crashed into the clearing he’d originally risen from.
Gasping desperately for air, Celestia pursued her opponent, finding him lying in a twitching, pain wracked heap at the base of a great waterfall pouring into the clearing.
Though her body likewise ached from her exertion and the blows she hadn’t been able to repel, Equestria’s diarch steeled herself for battle.
It was only after a good five to ten minutes of tense silence had passed without issue that she finally let herself entertain the possibility that Kalameet was down for the count.
“Well, that’s handy to know. Even if you seem to have armored yourself for every other possible type of attack, you still share Manus’ weakness to the sheer lightning like power of the sun.” She commented while touching down on the ground. Her legs buckled as they took her weight, though her wings showed their thanks at no longer having to keep her airborne by throbbing with slightly diminished pain.
“From… ggrgh… one age to another… forsooth the gods mock what those gents maketh.” Kalameet seethed. Even as Celestia stumbled and opened herself up for the perfect attack, he was in no shape to continue their fight.
Silently, the dragon soothed the scalding agony in his chest with thoughts of how he could still use this to his advantage.
“And now what wilt the lady who proclaims herself a just ruler do? Wilt the lady act as to her subjects, or as fate hath to Melanat, Lordran, and so many ages beyond?” He challenged, turning to stare at Celestia with his glowing red gaze.
Celestia sensibly halted in her tracks, staring back into that bizarre oculus burning in the center of the dragon’s head.
“That depends… will you finally tell me what this is all about? Maybe entertain the notion that I might show some understanding once I know your justifications for causing all this?”
The red glare intensified. Celestia duly lowered her head and primed her horn again.
“Or will this have to be like the time I wiped out those hordes of caribou that came onto Equestria’s shores to rape and pillage? There is value to be had in just exterminating a threat, and letting the mystery of what they hoped to accomplish be poured over for years thereafter.” She intoned, trying to not let too much of her scorn seep through her teeth.
Kalameet raised a hand, and Celestia in turn raised her horn. The dragon wisely then put his hand back down, showing he was only trying to prop himself up.
“Terrible is mine rage. Worse indeed than any dragons. Mayhaps in this instance, it did blind me to truth, as with mine brother.” He intoned, feeling his pain abate as Celestia raised an eyebrow in confusion.
“Thee asketh what mine goals art. Whither mine interest in thy dominion lies. Truthfully, I suspect so much, yet knoweth so little of what binds our fates together. I can only desire the answers wilt reveal themselves once I am amidst your lands; in the kingdom made for we who were wrongly toppled from our place on high, and are at last returned with the gifts that the gods did likewise squander!”
Now Celestia just looked at Kalameet like she would look at a recently admitted mental patient. Kalameet snorted in agonised mirth.
“Ah, but mayhaps there is one better suited to answer what thine soul throbs to know. Yea, he who likewise visited thine dominion, and thus made possible these plans of mine!” The dragon grinned.
Celestia’s features twisted as she tried to make sense of this.
“Come, thou cans’t say thou knows not of whom I speak. A far longer time would I have been forced to take, if one of Gwyn’s kin did not seek to fling forth a light of warning, to prepare the sun he so feverently seeketh, so that he might one day praise it anew!” Kalameet declared.
The suspicion slowly melted from Celestia’s features, burned away by sudden realisation.
“To praise… the… sun?” She whispered, then stumbled back as Kalameet leaned towards her.
“He awaits thee here, Celestia. Far below in the Abyss, he hath clung to the one small ember of hope that his errors may yet bear fruit. That he may yet find his sun.”
The black dragon paused to contemplate.
“T’is possible that fate brought thee here to show he was not wrong? Hmmm, indeed, t’is possible. Might I bring thee to him, and thus know for sure?”
Celestia shook off her shock and blasted Kalameet’s snout of her face with a low powered beam of sunlight. The black dragon growled in painful loathing as he clutched his burning scales.
“Neither you nor I are going anywhere until you make a very important decision.” Celestia ordered, then added with a touch of venom. “Or should I do the sensible thing and make this clearing your grave?”
Kalameet’s fiery gaze bore down on the alicorn, even as she charged her horn with all her remaining power.
“Nay, equine. Mine decision hath been made. As hath yours.” He intoned. “Even if thou still possess the strength to slay me, fate shalt see thou shalt not get the chance.”
Celestia grit her teeth.
“And what makes you so sure of that?” She demanded.
The response was surprising. Not least because it came not from Kalameet mouth, but from a disturbance behind her. Between the constant crash of the waterfall drowning out most other sounds, and her having to watch Kalameet to ensure he didn’t try to pull a fast one, Celestia had let her awareness of her surroundings falter.
She was made to regret that first by something long and punishingly sharp lodging itself through her barrel. Then when she turned, her punishment was compounded by several poisoned daggers to her neck.
Blinded by pain, and the quick acting effects of the rotten pine resin coating the daggers, Celestia stumbled about, trying to find her attacker, yet only seeing a blurry mess of the waterfall and the clearing.
Kalameet helped to triple the cost of her error by raising his hand again, and this time slamming it down on top of Celestia.
“Foolish thou art to think I woulds’t tell thee of my intentions in full, nor prepare for all possible outcomes at this most critical junction.” The dragon seethed as a nearly invisible ninja stepped away from the current of the waterfall, followed by a familiar being dressed in Eastern armor hopping down from above.
“Two for two. Not only do I at last find that which I’ve so yearned for, but my other wares still find use!” Sheeva said in delight as he approached Kalameet. “Truly, the gods misjudged the Everlasting Dragons, if this is what comes of allying with them!”
Kalameet grumbled as he slowly pushed himself upright again, while making sure to keep Celestia pinned.
“Fault and prejudice hath been the way of the gods since time began. Bless thee, Shiva, for doing as only one soul so wilfully sought to do before thee.” The dragon said, adding in a darker tone. “Pray may thee not be judged and split as was he.”
Shiva looked down at the badly bleeding Celestia. The bright, shimmering red of her blood seem to make him quiver in excitement as he drew his chaos blade.
“Let them judge. I know now the virtue of betrayal. Just like Seath, it is proven that treachery brings greater reward than loyalty!” He declared.
Kalameet snorted and shook his head.
“Pray thou dost not become drunk on thine fortune either.” He growled coldly. It did the job of snapping Shiva out of his momentary elation as he stiffened and looked up at the great black dragon.
“Yes… erm… sorry. What do you wish done with this poor excuse of a ruler?” He asked while reaching to grab the shaft of the demon’s spear and ripping it out of Celestia’s side. “A word of advice your highness: next time, look skyward! Hee hee hee!”
Kalameet closed his fingers around the twitching alicorn. Despite her wounds, she was fighting the poison off with all her might. A very strong soul indeed burned beneath her tarnished white coat.
A familiar soul, perhaps...
“Shall I see if the majesty of my blade cuts through her neck as easily as it has the many others I’ve been testing it on?” Shiva asked with renewed glee.
Kalameet stared at Celestia in indecision, his fingers curling around her like black serpents.
“Take her life, and the flames will only give it back. Yet, I cannot afford to err in my judgement now...”
Wisps of black fire rose from the dragon’s mouth as he debated. Finally, he closed his eyes and held Celestia against the ground again.
“Let her fate be judged by he that claimeth to know her true worth. Then may we both at last know what we seek!”
The dragon lowered his head down for Shiva and his bodyguard to climb on.
“Come, if Manus be any soul worthy of his station, he hath made the final preparations already!”
***
Back in the Abyss, Vamos the skeleton blacksmith was groggily shaking the cobwebs from his head and his mind. Pinkie’s impromptu snatch and carry along had thrown him for quite a loop, and the subsequent dropping him off, saying she needed to take care of something else, had sent him for a second turn in said loop.
Rapping his hand upon his own dusty skull, the blacksmith looked around the expanse of darkness.
“Nrgh… well, that’s a new one for the books. Never knew any of the magical disciplines could enable a soul to do… whatever the heck that crazed mare just did.” He huffed while standing up. “Seriously, what just happened here? Where the heck IS here?”
He looked around the darkness, cocking his skull to one side as he spied movement, and shapes… some indistinct disturbance amidst the static pitch black.
“This… oh darn it… this isn’t the Gravelord’s domain any more, is it?” He groaned as eyes blinked open in the darkness. Slowly they encroached upon him, revealing their swirling black bodies enveloped in an outline of white. Vamos was briefly reminded of a humanity sprite, except humanity sprites were a lot smaller… and lacked faces… as well as the ability to move on their own.
“Okay, so now I’m not only going to be late on my smithing projects, but I’ve also got more unwanted company to deal with.” He muttered while closing both hands around his hammer. “So… are we going to have the usual problems here? You want me to die, and the flames will see that you get unlimited chances to accomplish that goal?” He seethed.
The humanity sprites halted before him. Their eyes looked him up and down, as if the sight of his dusty bones reminded them of something.
To Vamos’ increasing confusion, the humanity sprites parted before him, creating a path further into the depths of the Abyss.
“Eh?” He queried after several seconds.
The sprites just remained floating in place.
“So… no?”
The sprites continued their stationary stare.
“You’re not going to attack me… you just want me to… follow your lead?” He asked.
There was no response beyond the sprites continuing to just silently indicate the way Vamos was to proceed.
“Hmmm… well, this better lead me to wherever the end of all things is to commence. Going to be damn peeved if I helped those two ponies through the dangers of the tombs for no reward.” Vamos sighed as he headed through the sprites. They lead him across narrow bridges and through tight passages in the rock, down the collapsed column that the Chosen Undead had traversed before, and through to where the ominous fog gate swirled in welcome to all who were brave enough… and also foolish enough to venture further.
Vamos cocked his head again as he heard voices beyond the fog. A harmony of many conversing with one of pure chaos, and a third that understandably sounded utterly terrified.
“Thus from this plane of distortion thou was banished to, thou hast seen all that must be done for the sake of ages to come?”
“Y-Yes… my lord. Even as I dread… and fear this beast that hast beset and snatched me from mine home… from its acts, my senses have been dashed across many an age. These visions I hath shown thee, the… the escalating chaos that hath been unleashed here… I fear them even more!”
With his confusion and curiosity growing even stronger, Vamos steeled himself and forded through the fog. He emerged on a cliff overlooking a dimly lit circular area… in which stood the Gravelord Nito himself, a bizarre and truly terrifying warped abomination, and an elegantly attired human princess.
“Thus, why dost thou reveal this unto us? What drives thee to aid he who removed you from your home, and thus from death’s dominion?” Nito queried. Dusk clenched her hands as she looked at Manus, not in anger, nor hatred. Indeed, her softe features seemed pained as if she pitied the horrendous abomination.
“My faculties are far from lucid… but, I hath seen what this beast endures from the evil that holds his rein. With each torture and demand, such clear emotions I did sense. A wrenching nostalgia, a lost joy, an object of obsession, and a sincere hope to reclaim it. By and by… I cannot help but ponder if it be a beast at all that stands before me...”
Manus turned his gaze away from the princess, raking his giant scarred hand across the ground in some evident want for something.
“From this and the visions I hath seen… I desire now to know the truth. There is more to our world, and the worlds to come than we know. More than e’en the loving Elizabeth can tell me. A terrible wrath hath been loosed upon us… and the means to stop it is more terrible still.” She lamented.
Nito looked at the horn in his hand. To release one from death’s hold was unthinkable… yet if the tradeoff was thousands would die as a result...
Nito’s fingers curled in anger. This was greedy, it went completely against the rule that death would always be fair!
Yet… did he even have a choice here? If he refused, then he’d no doubt be forced to do as Manus had asked, and if he cooperated, then....
Dust showered from Nito’s many skulls as they were twisted by indecision. By all accounts, he had no option here. Much like when he’d first claimed his Lord Soul, his destiny was as obvious as the Great Lord’s sun in the sky.
And yet… here he stood, in blatant disregard of that destiny. Death had died and been resurrected. Fate had spat upon its own laid plans so that Nito could perform one final service. A service that would cost future generations dearly, but would also see that the abomination that had violated his station could not do the same to others.
“Death performs this duty… and swear both of thee do, that sanctity shalt be restored? What is to come, terrible as it is, shalt only serve to finally shatter the curse of the Darksign, to end the cycle of light and dark?”
Dusk looked to Manus, clenching her fists tighter as the abyssal monstrosity shook, then smashed his fist on the ground.
“Can… Can… not… promise… GRAAARGH… only know that… ARGAGH… if death refuses… NRRRGH… matters will be worse. GRGH… Kalameet… GROOOWR!... knows not what kay… nRGH… kay-chaos he weaves… GRRRGH… with his plans… NRGH… with his desperation...” Manus moaned as his eyes wildly blinked.
Nito turned back to Dusk, who was tactfully stepping away from her captor.
“I fear, in this state of affairs, I cannot argue. Oolacile shall be reduced to ashes, but the plague that hath been spawned here will still spread, along with the Abyss. Naught can be done to spare this age from its fate… only to ease the suffering that shalt follow with the next age and the next cycle of flame.”
Nito speared his greatsword in the ground and leaned heavily on it as he continued to stare at Sombra’s horn.
“Thus as when death first accepted its station, so we once more are tasked to act in blind faith of uncertain prophecy.” The gravelord laughed grimly. “If this duty we must perform, then this duty we shall perform.”
Sombra’s horn slowly began to rise from Nito’s hand as an aura of flame formed around it. Nito slowly waved his hand in a clockwise motion, fanning the flame more and more into a brilliant blaze.
“Whatever domain of death that thou hast made thine home, take leave of it now! Leave, and never look back!” The gravelord ordered as the flames flowed off the horn, slowly forming into the vague shape of a very large and muscular equine creature.
With a soul shattering scream, Nito slammed his hand down on the flaming apparition, sending it crashing into the ground where it exploded in a blinding flurry of light.
“Return to us, oh most powerful entity!” The gravelord commanded as the flames died down, slowly changing color into a more ominous purple tone, the same tone as Sombra’s magic.
Out of the flaming crater, a hoof draped in a coat of sinister black emerged. It rested itself on the edge as a second rose to gain additional leverage.
“And with this deed, may death reveal the truth of the sordid affairs that plague us.” Nito swore as King Sombra pulled his freshly resurrected self out of the crater.