//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: Her Silent Guardian // by Not so New Brony //------------------------------//           Days had passed since he first awakened and in that time, he had been receiving counseling every day. Crystal told him that these sessions were to help ease him into his new role in the Eternal Legion while also serving as a way to evaluate his mental and emotional health. Crystal further explained that the evaluations were there to single out shades that were mentally unsound due to an incident recorded over a century ago. According to the archives, several shade knights suddenly went mad on the battlefield and went on a psychotic rampage. In their maddened state, the shade knights no longer differentiated between friend or foe as they killed both templar and crusaders alike, sowing chaos amongst the crusaders. By the time the crazed knights were finally put down, the Holy Navy was forced to retreat as a result of the losses they suffered. This defeat cost the Vatican control over that world. Upon receiving news of the incident, the heads of the Five Orders were outraged and promptly launched an investigation to discover who or what caused the shades to rampage in the first place. When the investigation ended and the report was given to the heads of the Orders to review. During the investigation, a senior mage and their apprentices were detained when it was discovered that they had been subjecting the shades under the apprentice’ care to inequine experiments to further their research. Unfortunately, the investigators couldn’t get personal testimonies from the victimized shades as they were among the ones that had gone mad. What was worse was any pleas from the shades for help were scoffed at by the other mages, dismissing it as a poor attempt to besmirch their reputation. Suffice to say, the council members were shocked and disgusted by this act of cruelty           Isolation, neglect and experimentation were among many other injustices the shades had suffered at their supposed caretakers’ hooves. Despite all the service and sacrifice the shades had made to the Vatican, they were treated no better than tools that were to be used and discarded afterwards. Given what they went through, it was no wonder the shades went mad. Despite this, the shades still fought for the Vatican and only because of their loyalty to their goddess though even that couldn’t withstand the torture they suffered.           The thought of anypony, let alone a shade being treated like that made him angry. He already felt less of a pony as he was but he couldn’t imagine how he could endure even half of what his predecessors had and still remain sane. He was so angry at the time that he remembered his body trembling. Thankfully Crystal was there to calm him down before telling him what happened next.           In the aftermath of the investigation, the mage responsible for the experiments that caused the shades to go mad was tried and executed while her apprentices were excommunicated. Not many survived for very long outside the safety of Vatican space. As for the other mages, while they didn’t have a hoof in the incident, they still allowed this to happen on their watch so they were publicly reprimanded for their neglect. He thought the other mages got off easy with such a light punishment though Crystal assured him that it carried more weight than he thought within the mages’ Order. Afterwards, the Eternal Legion initiated a series of reforms to repair the damage caused by the mages. The first act of the reform was to remove the mages from their roles as caretaker and pass the duty onto the acolytes with the mages acting as overseers. It was believed that the acolytes would make better caretakers as they had more to gain from the shade’s proper care than the mages did. To better equip the acolytes for their new duties, they were given access to knowledge and magic formerly reserved for mages. Shades who had been veteran Knights or Crusaders in life were given some authority within the Eternal Legion so they could monitor the mages and acolytes to ensure the fair treatment of their fellow shades. Other changes from the reform included visitations from a shade’s loved ones, which made their unlife more bearable. Consequently, the shade’s combat performance rose significantly following the reform, prompting more changes. However, while the reform improved the Eternal Legion overall, the heads of the Five Orders were still wary of another incident as not all of the shades that went mad were subjected to experimentation. As a precaution, they implemented mandatory counseling to verify a shade’s mental stability. Out of curiousity, he asked Crystal what happened to those who were deemed unstable but Crystal told him that she didn’t know. While acolytes like her had access to the archives, only high-ranking members of the Order were privy to such matters. All she knew that any shades deemed unstable were taken away to an undisclosed location. As for what they did to the souls there, she could only speculate. This worried him but Crystal assured him that there was nothing to worry about. The last known case of a shade going mad happened over half a century ago and thanks to the efforts of her predecessors, there hasn’t been one ever since. Due to the lack of an incident in recent times, the counseling sessions, while still mandatory, were now seen more as a formality than a necessity. The only reason the practice is still maintained was to placate the Five Order’s fears. Regardless of the purpose behind the sessions, he enjoyed the time he spent with Crystal. He had sessions with some of the other acolytes before and while most of them were pleasant enough, some of them were rather conceited, a trait that was not uncommon among those with ‘lineage’ within the Order of the Arcane. The manner in which they spoke to him, regardless of what they said, just rubbed him the wrong way. Thankfully, he rarely had sessions with these acolytes and couldn’t care less about them as he preferred Crystal for company. Unlike the former, Crystal and other like-minded acolytes genuinely cared about his wellbeing and that of the other shades. Thanks to them, he was slowly coming to terms with his new lot in life, or unlife as the case may be. However, despite how much he enjoyed speaking with Crystal, she still had other obligations as did the other acolytes. While the capsule ensured his comfort and safety, there was nothing inside to occupy his time with between counseling sessions. As he laid there on the capsule floor, he looked around for something to occupy his time. In the time since he awakened, the nearby capsules had filled with the same ethereal mist that his body was composed off, indicating that more crusaders have fallen in battle. Unfortunately, he couldn’t speak to them as none of them have awakened from their ‘coma’ yet. He thought about shouting to the other awakened shades in the capsules further away from his. Then he remembered how Crystal admonished him for disturbing the others so he went back to looking for something else to occupy himself. As he looked at the capsules, he idly wondered if some of his former squad mates were among the new arrivals. It would be interesting to know what had happened on Zhakul after he was killed, and learn if the Vatican have claimed the world by now or if it was still in the hooves of the heretics. He shook his head vigorously in dismissal at the rather thought. While he was curious about the events on the frontlines, he didn’t want them to be dead just so he could satisfy his curiosity. He wished he could talk to Crystal right now, or anypony for that matter, so he could alleviate him of the crushing boredom. With nothing else to do, he wondered if he should just lay down his head and go to sleep, though according to Crystal Clear, it wasn’t technically sleeping. During one of their earlier sessions, he asked Crystal why he still needed to sleep even though he was a ghost now. The mare happily obliged him as she gave him what she considered a simple answer to his question.           Unfortunately, the initial explanation she gave him completely went over his head due to his lack of an education in the field of magic when he was alive. Crystal was in the middle of a lecture on the various complex enchantments and alchemical compounds that went into the capsules’ construction before she finally noticed the blank look on his face. He chuckled as he recalled the expression on Crystal’s face as she apologized to him for her inconsideration.           After a quick apology, she gave him a far more simplified explanation but even then he had trouble wrapping his mind around it. From what he understood, what he referred to as sleep was a state of dormancy. In this state, he would passively gather ambient magic from his surroundings to help maintain his form. Apparently, the spell that brings the shades back drains them of most of their energy to the point that they forcefully enter the dormant state to stay stable, hence why they’re comatose upon being brought back. They would remain in this state until they gathered enough to stabilize themselves and awake. However, they would be incredibly weak so they needed to enter this dormant state frequently until their strength fully returned. While the sensations experienced while he was in this state were similar to sleep, there were some notable differences.           The first was the ability to sense their surroundings even when they were in their dormant state though he wasn’t capable of that yet. Another difference was that shades could store the excess magic they gathered, which allows them to stay active for up to several days without needing to enter their dormant state. Due to these traits and others like it, the Order of the Arcane considered it to be something different from sleep.           He told Crystal of the dreams he had while he had been dormant and asked if what he experienced wasn’t sleeping, then how he was able to dream. Crystal said that she was aware of the dreams as there were reports of other shades dreaming in the archives though she was unable to answer him since there was no answer. Many scholars within the Order have tried to research the matter over the course of many years but all their results were inconclusive.           Not satisfied with the answer, he asked Crystal to forget the reports and to give him her views on the matter. He was amused when Crystal looked around the chamber, wary that somepony else might be hiding nearby before she cleared her throat and said that she’d tell him only if he promised not to laugh. He swore on his honor before she answered him.           Crystal told him that she believed the dreams to be a gift, a gift from their goddess to be exact. She had grown up on her grandmare’s stories of how Celestia often bestowed gifts to those who serve her so it wasn’t impossible that the dreams were her way of showing the shades her gratitude for their service and sacrifice. To his shame, he broke his promised and laughed, not because he found it funny but rather that he was skeptical of it.           The idea that their goddess would even deign to grant a soldier with an abysmally short-lived military career such a gift, was laughable. Still, being able to see his ‘Precious Flower’ whenever he closed his eyes certainly felt like a gift, one he would eternally be grateful for. Of course he didn’t tell Crystal that after he apologized for breaking his promise. With nothing else to do, he decided that he might was well go to ‘sleep’ and see his beloved again. After all, who was he to decline a gift from their goddess? Just as he was about to close his eyes and drift off to the land of dreams, he heard the doors to the chamber creaking open, followed by the sound multiple hooves stepping inside. Thinking it might be some of the acolytes doing routine checkups, he opened his eyes but was surprised to see dozens of acolytes entering the chamber, more than he ever saw in the chamber before. Whatever was happening seemed important since he saw a number of adept mages, as signified by the silver trims of their robes, among the acolytes. The mages gave out instructions to the acolytes, telling them to be quick about it and he saw the acolytes rushing about the chamber. He spotted Crystal Clear heading towards him and asked her what was going on. She was about to tell him when the mages called out that it was almost time for the transfer, making him wonder what they meant by that, before they told the acolytes to leave. With little time to explain, all Crystal could tell him was that no matter what happens later, he should stay calm and everything will be fine. He was confused by her words but nodded his head anyway. Crystal assured him that they’ll see each other after this before she and the other acolytes cleared out the chamber, leaving them alone with the mages. He watched the mages spread out across the edges of the chamber and just stand there. That is until he noticed the faint glow of magic underneath their hoods. The runes within his capsule as well as the other capsules suddenly lit up all at once, bathing the entire floor of the chamber in a bright light. After his eyes adjusted to the brightness, he looked around and saw that the chamber floor was covered in glowing runes as well. This made him feel uneasy for some reason and he wasn’t alone as more than a few of the shades were just as uneasy at this as well. He then recalled Crystal’s advice so he closed his eyes and calmed himself down. Despite the initial unease, he soon grew… tolerant of the glowing at least though he wished he knew what the mages were doing. Since he didn’t know much about magic, he decided to just wait and let the mages cast their magic in peace. Suddenly, he was startled by a scream nearby but it was silenced just as soon as he heard it. He looked at the other shades and they were just as disturbed by the scream as he was though he noticed that the mages remained where they were, still casting their magic as if nothing was wrong. He wondered if it was nothing to worry about until he heard more screaming, which were silenced just as quickly as the first. He looked around for the source of the screams but found nothing except for the shades and some empty capsules. He was going to keep looking until he realized something was off and stared at the empty capsules. He knew for a fact that they were supposed to be occupied and yet there was no sign of the shades inside the capsules whatsoever. It was as if they had just vanished into thin air. Thinking the mages might know what happened, he called out to them but became confused when found that he was unable to speak as sound came out his mouth, just like when he first woke up. His confusion soon turn into anger when he realized that they had taken his voice away. However, his anger soon gave way to dread when he felt an eerily familiar sensation pulling at him. He turned his head and his pupils shrunk to the size of pinpricks when he saw his tail was gone as the last of it dissipated into mist, which vanished into the glowing runes. All the fear he felt back in the void flooded back as he broke down into a panic. He started pounding away at the glass and, despite the loss of his voice, called out for help.           In the midst of his panic, he saw the other shades were suffering the same as parts of their bodies dissipated. Some of them had already lost bits of themselves like a hoof or an ear while others were missing far more than that. One poor soul lost his head, literally, while what was left of his body kept moving on its own for a few more seconds before it completely dissipated.           Despite his, admittedly futile efforts, most of his body was gone by now with the only parts of him left were the wispy stump of his left foreleg and the rapidly fading parts of his chest and head. He wanted to scream but even if his voice hadn’t been robbed from him, his muzzle was long gone by now, as was the majority of his head. The only thing he could do was helplessly watch what was left of himself fade right before his eye, which he screwed shut before everything went dark.           His eyes shot wide open and gasped as he jolted upright and was immediately relieved and yet confused to find himself still in one piece, tail and all. Though that wasn’t the only surprise he saw nothing but empty darkness all around him before he realized that he was back in the void once more. He looked around to see if he could find something, anything that could tell him why he was back here again. He soon received his answer when he heard screaming           He turned to where the screams were coming from and froze at what he saw. In the far distance, he saw a sphere of light, pulsing ever so slightly in the darkness. It reminded him of the light he first encountered in the void though it didn’t bother to hide its sinister nature as it glowed while tendrils seemingly made of light writhed around it in a disturbing manner. Then he heard another scream and turned his attention towards some ponies near the light. He recognized them as the same shades that had vanished from the chamber. He was relieved that he wasn’t alone in the void but that changed when he saw that they were doing whatever they could to get away from the tendrils. His attention was drawn to one of the shades, a pegasus mare, who was pumping her wings furiously as she bobbed and weaved between the tendrils, narrowly avoiding the tendrils’ grasp more than once. The pegasus’ aerial acrobatics helped her put a fair bit of distance between her and the tendrils. Just as it seemed she would escape, another shade suddenly crossed her path and the two collided into each other. The tendrils quickly moved in and wrapped themselves around the dazed shades. The mare recovered just in time to scream as the tendrils reeled her in towards the light.           He watched on in morbid curiosity as the mare screamed and cried for help but no one came. The pegasus and the other shade soon reached the light where, to his horror, they were pulled into the light, as if they were sinking into it. The pegasus screamed hysterically as the tendrils pulled her in while the other barely had time to register what was happening before they were vanished into the light without a trace.           Witnessing such a scene had left him shaking with fear as he floated there in the void while trying to comprehend what he just saw. Unfortunately, he had neither the time nor the luxury to dwell on it for long when he saw some tendrils spiraling towards him. Knowing what would happen to him if the tendrils caught him, he quickly turned around and fled. However, since his only means to move in the void was ‘swimming’, he didn’t get very far when the first tendril caught him as it coiled itself tightly around one of his hind legs. Even though the tendrils looked to be on fire, they didn’t burn him as he thought they would. The tendrils felt more akin to the grip from a unicorn’s telekinesis. Regardless of which, his body from the neck down was soon bound tight in tendrils.           He twisted and turned his body in every imaginable way to free himself but the tendrils tightened their hold on him response, restricting his movements even further. He was somewhat thankful that he wasn’t alive as he was more than certain that he would have been crushed to death by now if he was still alive. He kept fighting against the tendrils as he pushed and pulled at them, even biting them in a desperate bid for freedom.           His efforts were seemingly rewarded when he freed one of his forelegs but his victory was short lived when he realized that he was mere inches away from the light. Spurred on by fear, he immediately redoubled his efforts to free himself. However, his efforts were made in vain as he felt his hind leg touch the surface of the light; It felt cold and unnatural, which gave him even more reason to get away from it. Unfortunately, he was already sinking into the light and all his struggling only seemed to delay the inevitable. Realizing he couldn’t escape on his own, he looked at the remaining shades in the distance and cried out to them desperately for help. None of them showed any sign of hearing him so he kept calling out to them as he was pulled further into the light. As the light reached his shoulders, he lifted his foreleg up in the small hope that somepony would come and save him. Sadly, he’d never find out if anypony came for him or not as his head sank beneath the light and everything around him faded into white.