//------------------------------// // Chapter 12: Meeting Orgran's Friends and Family or A Spar with a Friend and a Stupid Mistake // Story: An Heir to Legends // by mattchilly //------------------------------// The Press conference had just ended and I had to admit… I HATED IT! So many ‘Nobles’ throwing vailed insults, trying to learn how to please me to up their status or calming that all of my accomplishments were false. It took all of my will power to continue to treat them neutrally. At least most the press had real questions for me and kept it pleasant. How backwards is that? The paparazzi know to respect boundaries but the Nobles don’t, and much to my shock Fancy Pants was one of the main Nobles trying to brown nose while Fleur de Lis was the one throwing the most insults. As we walked to a sitting room I heard. [Thrin! Buddy! Pal! PLEASE tell me you have something for me to do! Boredom is killing me!] (THANK THE ARCANE!) “Be back soon guys. Orgran is calling me.” I said before disappearing. In a flash of light I appeared and looked at Orgran with wide grin on face. “Great timing man. We just finished an announcement and interview about my Equestria's new Arch-Mage. It was so freaking boring and way to many ‘Nobles’ looking for ways to brown nose! So what’s new with you?” “Oh nothing much, except me and my wife recently had a three-way with her mom.” He said, but I couldn’t tell if he was trying to prank me or being serious. I gave a very awkward chuckle. “Sounds kinky. So who’s your wife?” “SQUISHY WIZARD!” I heard a young sounding female voice yell and from behind Orgran came charging forward someone I assumed was either his wife or daughter, with a warhammer? “OH SHIT NO! GHOST!” I yelled before becoming incorporeal. The woman stoped her swing an inch away from my ghostlike nose before dropping the hammer and falling over, laughing her ass off. “HOLY SHIT DID YOU SEE HIS FACE?! Oh god squishy wizards are always such pussies.” “...Thrin, meet my wife, Hella.” Orgran said. “...A pleasure.” I grumbled before activating my Archive magic to create a yellow holographic computer and began typing a few notes down about what I just learned of female Dwarfs from Organ’s universe. “Although I didn’t know that the Dwarven women of your world were like your wife.” “What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked. “To be fair to most you would look like a young human female at a distance. I apologies if I insulted you in any way.” I said with a small bow of his head in Hella’s direction. “I look like a what?” She asked. “Could you dumb it down a bit for the non-bookworms?” “You look like a young girl around...ten years old if I had to guess, but again that would be if someone wasn’t talking to you and saw you at a distance. Does that help?” I asked, and got the feeling I was about to be in a lot of pain. I didn’t notice Orgran backing away or Hella’s eye twitch. “You see, that’s what I thought you said… horse.” “Fizzle.” I said and an orb made of many small yellow balls appeared around her before dispersing. “Shit.” I muttered. (She’s resistant to Silence spells! Perhaps I should go with…) “No, I mean Horse.” She said picking up the hammer and slammed it down. I fell to the side holding something that just got punched by a pillar of stone. Orgran walked up to me. “Rule 1 of Dwarf Women, human women hate being called old, Dwarf women hate being called young girls.” “Duly noted.” I groaned. “Cure.” A soft white glow enveloped me as Orgran helped me up, just as the door knocks. “Oh really?! What now!” Orgran groan as he went to open it, only to be tackled by a the Elements and Princesses who were Anthro, naked and looked like they came out of someone’s wet dream, and for the first time I was glad I got used to the female Champion’s forms. For me now that I had been a woman I could now had a better understanding of what it was like. While this was happening I spammed the DQ Heal and Cure. Already used Ghost, I wanted to save the other spell slot just in case. “Ow! What?! Why?!” “Come on Orgry” Pinkie said and I couldn’t help but snicker at what that nick name could sound like if someone misheard her. Sometimes you just had to indulge yourself with a little dirty humor. “You keep putting off your welcome to ponyville party ‘cause you-say-you’re-not-living-in-ponyvillebutyoustillneedtohaveawelcometoEquestriapartysinceyou’reinEquestriaand-” Mid Pinkie rant Orgran looked over at me. Probably to see how I was doing. “Nothing spamming healing spells wouldn’t fix.” He said with a small flinch. “But I will be sore for a while.” After Orgran got Pinkie to get off him and compromising we have a small private party with just us here, he stated to introduce us. “Thrin, I would like you to meet my universe’s royalty and elements of harmony… I’m guessing part of you is curious as to what happened to have them… essentially anthropomorphic sex goddesses?” “I’m guessing you used the knowledge that the Crystals could be reprogrammed to your advantage or this is their true anthro form.” I said with a shrug and as a wide grin covered my face as I pulled a copy of the pic of my Celestia out of my cube. “I know Orgran has seen this but would the rest of you like to see my world’s Celestia after she used a Crystal?” “No!” Celestia pleaded. “Yes!” everyone else accepted. “Thrin, not now, anyways I actually got your letter at the last minute, the main part of the plan was hooking up the crystals to a spell-bomb, which may or may not have been strong enough to reach into the banished realm of a certain empire which I will not confirm or deny the existence of and that’s the end of it, so, is there anything you want me to help you with Thrin or do you want to have a bit of a spar?” “I haven’t had a chance to spar with anyone seriously since Discord left to do his job. Sounds fun.” I said putting the picture back into his cube. “And about the help?” Orgran said. “I want to get that done before putting myself in a fighting mood.” “Well I have been having a lot of problems with two of my main projects.” I said tapping my chin wondering how much detail I should go into before pulling out the Thunder Tome. “I’m trying to make a spell tome about this big, but with near infinite pages so I can place all the spells from the Fire Emblem Tomes into it. That way I don’t need to switch which one I’m using in a fight and can put the rest of the spells I know in one place. I already have the spells I want to use to place defenses on it ready but I have no idea how to get the main book done. Not even any of the Champions I am willing to turn into can help with this.” “Hmm, follow me I have something that could work.” Orgran said as he lead me down a hallway. -------------------------------------------- “Ah, here we are, my private workshop, now what you need is a Mylinian Item known as a Mana Archive.” Upon hearing this I couldn’t stop gleam of curiosity from entering my eyes. “... Stop that you look like Twilight.” “But unlike Twilight I can control myself.” I chuckled. “Yeah, just don’t start drooling when you see my library. Now, the Mana Archive is actually not of Dwarven or Even Human make in Mylinia, it was actually the Dragonkin who created such a useful utility, akin to the tablets of Earth, Mana Archives had holographic pages and near unlimited storage space to house information and even display demonstrations visually with a 3D projection more defined than video. Many great wizards used these devices to an extreme, creating artificial guides from copies of their consciousness so that they may continue to teach the next generation.” “That last part sounds like the Jedi and Sith Holo-cubes or whatever they were called.” I mused thinking back to the story mode of the Star wars Empire at War expansion pack. “Except these holograms are sentient and can choose to bar you from learning if you are unworthy, even going so far as to overload the gemstones keeping the thing together, essentially killing themselves, it’s not hard to make a normal one however, though if you want to try the guide thing you’d need some Arcanite for the brain, anyways, to make one all we need is some empty book covers, a rechargeable mana battery, and several gems to program it all.” I pulled out the book I wanted to make my spell tome. It was a custom order that Luna helped me do secretly. The book is the same color as my robes with fusion of an A, T, and Star in the center of the cover. This was to be my personal mark. It stood for Arcane, Time, and the star represents that no matter how far the goal is with enough work you can find a way to reach it. Handing the book to Orgran I said. “This is the book I wanted to enchant. I’ve kept it on me in case I made a breakthrough.” Orgran grab some gems and proceed to cannibalize the book for the cover alone, then he placed each gem in a spot and carving runes I’d never seen before into the gems and hooked it up the mana gem to be the battery and turned it on. “Spellbook please.” I started pulling all the Fire Emblem tomes I owned out of my cube and placed them on a table. Once I was finished with the books he started pulling scrolls out. “How will I add more information to it?” With that Orgran pick one of the books up. “Simple, it’s built in, you see that amber gem with the rune that looks like a claw picking up a stone? That’s the Dragonkin rune for assimilate.” Orgran tapped the book against the rune and I watched wide eyed as the gem lit up and absorbed the book into it before the flow of mana moved to the Archive gem. I don’t think any of Ryze’s runes could do that. At least not alone. “And the purple one here is Display, tap it to bring up the pages, the Control and Archive ones are automated, and to use it simply treat the screen like a tablet, to turn it off simply tap the Display gem again.” “I’ll admit this is not what I had in mind but I can work with this.” I said barely able to contain my amazement and how the Dragonkin of Orgran’s home had so easily solved most of my problem. “And this will definitely give me an edge over Bolarc and Dhoulmagus.” “Hmm, oh yeah, another thing I should mention, if you’re in a pinch simply place your hand onto the Control Gem, that’s the emerald, instead of tapping Display, then you can simply think up what you need and the Archive gem, the red, will transfer the right spell into your brain.” Orgran explained he had it assimilate the rest of the books and scrolls before passing it to me. “Orgran you literally just solved EVERY problem I had with this project!” I said unable to hide me enthusiasm. “If I make more for my Equestria I promise you’ll not only get full credit for this but most of the profits that would normally go to me for introducing it.” “Doing Dranlun’s work you are… anyway, anything else you need help with?” “Yes. Something similar to this project.” I said and pulled out the staffs from Dragon Quest and Fire Emblem and laid them out on the table. “I wanted to make a personal staff with the combined power of these seven staffs. The five you see here are from Fire Emblem and are the Healing staffs, while these two are the Rune Staff and the Staff of Antimagic from Dragon Quest. I thought i would be a good idea to have other ways of casting healing spells or Fizzle and the Rune Staff can increase my allies defenses.” “...You want just that or do you want to learn some Mylinian spells too? I mean I have been meaning to call up the Merchant for some Arcanite anyway.” “WIth everything you’re offering I feel the need to teach you more of my spells...even if most of them are from Final Fantasy, Fairy Tail and Dragon Quest.” I said sheepishly I’d have to fix that now that Orgran was helping me with two of my main projects and my Warp Gate was so close to compleation. “I’d be up for it, but really it’s going to be element-neutral spells at most, like Song or Soul magic, if you want what I can do you’ll have to have an earth aspect or get one, and I doubt you’d survive a dip in molten metal or injecting liquid rock into your bloodstream.” “What about the Champion Malphite or Skarner?” I said before I realized something and snapped my fingers. “Wait a minute! I’m forgetting the Champions here!! I have access to the entire Dalmacian Archive not to mention Ionia! Heck I’m teaching the Rainbow of my world Wuju. Who would have thought she’s a natural at being a Monk.” “Oh please, Skittles is about as subtle in martial arts as she is in hiding her massive Les-boner for Applejack.” Orgran said flatly. “The things she does with her lasso when she thinks no-pony’s looking would make Molestia blush.” “Dude she gave up on her dream of becoming a Wonderbolt for this training. The one in my world is a lot more mature than I first thought. Tell you what. I’ll make a Lacryma of the Archive magic and put a lot of the Dalmacian spells into it. Then I’ll send it to you as payment for the Mana Archive and staff. Deal?” “Sure, come on, I still need that Arcanite, and if you don’t want it, you’ll get to meet the Merchant, so either one’s good.” He said pulling out a copper statue. “It would be interesting to meet the Merchant.” I said with a shrug. I’d have to be on guard. I may have no qualms with the Merchant but that didn’t mean I trust him. “But I’ll just stay back and let you do business with him. I don’t want to risk screwing your deal up.” “Relax, the only way you’d manage that is if you thought to punch him.” Orgran then begin the summoning call, and the Merchant arrived a lot faster than I had expected.. “Ah, Orgran, my trusted supplier, to what-... who’s he?” “Another displaced, speaking of which, I need some Arcanite to use for some projects.” “Hmm… well your goods are still high quality, especially that Yveltal plush, just sold it off recently, here.” he says before passing me a generous chunk of it. Then he looks right at me with what I assumed was a not-visible-grin. I stiffened slightly, getting the feeling this Merchant knew something he shouldn’t “Say? Got any siblings or friends you’d like to meet again, I’m sure I could arrange something…” “So could Shopkeep or the other versions Arashi and Cecil.” I calmly said. “Argh.” the Merchant spat. “So you’re part of Shopkeep’s little club huh? No matter I can find other deals to make.” Then he tapped his chin. “But say, now that I look at you… you’ve already got someone out here, a sister, perhaps? What if I said I could… nudge you, in the right direction?” I looked at the Merchant for a few moments. How did he know about my sister? I swear on the Arcane if he somehow managed to screw her over! In the end I sighed and in a flat voice I said. “What do you want.” “Well it’s rather simple, I’ve been recently discovering some displaced are tampering with my spells, so my items have begun to fail 50% of the time, I can’t stop them but… they have no way of countering another displaced’s enchantments, if you accept you’ll see many of my defective props in your room, simply give it a working spell and I’ll collect it later.” “Does it matter what kind of enchantment I put on the items?” I asked, despite myself I was curious what the Merchant wanted. “Yes, it needs to be the same kind as I use, the method isn’t important, so long as it displaces the poor sap as what they dressed as to another Equus.” So it was help him Displace people to find my sister or do nothing and hope her Token came to me. I know I could ask Yukari or Shopkeep but it felt like something was holding me back. Almost as if the Void itself was saying that was a bad idea. “Is it safe to assume you’ll teach me the spell if I accept?” He laughed at that. “Please, if my kind of spells were still effective, why would I have another use them? No, I only care about the end result, I don’t care how you do so, even go to that Shopkeep and buy one of his spells for it, as long as it works I’ll be happy.”He reaches his hand out. “Do we have a deal?” I weighed my options before giving in and shaking the Merchant’s hand. “Deal.” “Excellent.” he pulled his hand away, revealing he placed a strange rune into Thrin’s palm. “That will draw your sister’s Token to you so long as you pour magic into it, and once it arrives, allow you to summon yourself to her Equestria using it instead of waiting for her to find yours… farewell.” and in a puff of smoke he was gone. I shuddered. “Can’t help but feel like I made a deal with a devil here.” “Yeah, but if anything he always keeps to his deals, so if he says it’ll work…” I shook my head. “Well as...uncomfortable as that was it’s good to know I’ll find my sister soon.” (Only problem is what she bought. I any of the characters I despise turn up…well then I get to have a little fun. Orgran clapped his hands. “So! Staff design?” “I want it to look like a simple wooden staff with a grey wolf carved at the top. In most fantasy setting the fancier the staff the stronger it is. Not many would expect a simple walking stick to be a powerful mages staff.” I said with a smile. “Should I also use the Arcanite I’m gonna put into it to make it so the head bites anyone except you trying to use it?” “Yes please but make it so if I give someone permission they can use it. That way my friends can use it in an emergency.” “Got it.” Orgran said as he begin to work. I know Poppy can count as a master smith but not even she had the same level of skill Orgran showed, he just showed how good Dwarves could truly be. “Last thing, song or soul?” “What do they do?” “Soul allows you to manipulate soul energy and turn your astral projection into a fully fledged poltergeist, good for either spying, fear tactics or it’s halloween and you need to explain what Five Nights at Freddy’s is. Song Magic is one that affects reality based on the songs played and the user’s intent with that song, for example, songs like Disturbed’s ‘indestructible’ would make you an absolutely terrifying beast on the battlefield, have you use the heavy rock to cause the earth to quake, or have the guitar riffs unleash sonic attacks, although if it’s for entertainment it will let you summon a demonic band to play alongside you or something.” “So Song would be good for Pentakill or Sona as I’m not much of a musician.” I pondered. “Soul is sounding more useful to me at the moment… I’ll go with Soul.” “... um, I was going to mention the song plays through the staff from your mind but whatever.” Ogran said. “What I mean is that I could not only attack with their normal abilities but can also use other music to disorient my foe’s and the other effects from the magic.” I explained. I mean there’s nothing stopping me from buying the Song Magic in the future. “I see.” He hammered the emblem in place then continue on with the work. “Soul is a double-edged sword, much like the crotch-plate, while useful, it’s not recommended to try and use the astral projection abilities until you’ve ensured your body’s safety, as if you don’t… well, it wouldn’t exactly be hard to off someone meditating, if you are using it, the best thing to do would be to use the soul energy around to make Poltergeist minions for those tasks.” “Thank you for the warning Orgran. I’ll keep it in mind.” I said putting everything he was telling me about Song and Soul magic into my Archive. “Gotta love the Fairy Tail Archive magic. It may not be as useful as the Mana Archive for battles and the like but it still helps in different ways.” “Speaking of battles, your staff is ready to-” *Bark* Bark? Did he just…? He looked down. “... oops…” “Did you just give my staff some form of sentience?” I asked with a raised eyebrow. “I kind of do my job too well… so now you have a pet staff.” Orgran said as he passed me the staff, the wolf head moving around as it was now alive and acting much like a curious dog. It was rather cute in away beforeit burps up a fireball. At least it aimed at the floor where nothing would be set on fire “I don’t mind my staff being alive, but where did the fireball come from? Its components were meant for support.” “Well… Arcanite is essentially a form of magic given solid form, every Mylinian has it in there blood to allow the use of magic based on their aspects, by the looks of it, your Staff is now able to use the same spells it’s user is capable of.” It barked again, then coughed a bunch of soot that got…into Orgran’s beard. Crap. “... alright I’m gonna kill it.” He exclaimed before yelling and lunging out at the wolf-staff. “Aero.” I said thinking quickly and a small ball of wind took all the soot out of Orgran’s beard and placed it in a nearby trash can, but it also knocked him away. “You ok Orgran?” “Fine, anyways, now we’re ready for Sparring, just say ‘I wanna good fight!’ and a fae golem will guide you to the arena, I’ll get the others.” Orgran says as he wanders off. My staff looked like it knew it was in trouble. Shaking my head I sigh. “Looks like I’m not the only one who needs to do a little training.” ------------------------------------------------------- And so we were at the arena, Orgran and I stood on opposite ends, his friends sat in the bleachers, cheering him on. “You go Orgran!” Pinkie yelled! “Yeah! Kick this Thrin in the Flank!” Rainbow called “...okay now this seems unfair, you mind if I try something?” Orgran asked. “Go ahead.” Thrin replied, I had pulled my hood up on the way to the arena. So now my face couldn’t be seen and I had the staff in one hand and the Mana Archive in the other. Orgran pulled out my token. “By the will of Drunlan, great spirit king of the Dwarves, grant me connection to another plane, bring me strength I had not attained before, and grace me with the power… to pull.” He said clenching his free hand. Suddenly a rift appears, dropping down my universes Mane Six, Princesses, and… Discord? Why’d it grab him? He had a job to do. “Hmmm?” Discord said looking around. “Why Thrin I didn’t know you had a vacation planned for us, but why so soon? I mean I just got back to work.” “Relax, Discord, you’ll be back the same split-second you left, I was the one to summon you through the link Thrin’s token has with your world, I’m Orgran by the way, and from Celestia’s glare I can tell you know what I’m famous for… also, cute dress Celly.” “Thank you. I admit I wasn’t a fan of this form at first but I’ve come to enjoy it.” My world’s Celestia said. For sake of my brain I gave all my friends nick-names until we were back home. Celly, Lulu, Twi, Dash, AJ, Flutter, Pinks, and Rares. They weren’t creative but it would work “But that doesn’t mean you’re getting off easy for giving Thrin those crystals.” “Please don’t, I already dealt with my Celestia going Daybreaker and nearly roasting me alive once she transformed, I don’t need another.” Celestia winced at the comment. “Not… my greatest moment.” “Who said anything about attacking you?” Celly said with a cute yet very creepy smile. “I prepared a special lecture just. For. You.” “Please, loli-lestia, you’re nowhere near as scary as my wife, so… this is the monk-style Rainbow I’ve heard about, a fresh perspective to know you and not be creeped out about what you do with AJ’s ropes.” “WHAT!?” My Rainbow and AJ said, both with incredibly red faces, except AJ was glaring at Rainbow. Dash and AJ also blushed but more out of anger than anything. “Kick his ass Thrin!” Dash yelled. “Show him the power of Equestria’s new Arch-Mage!” Lulu cheered. Orgran turned back to me. “So, how hard of an ass-beating do you want? Shall it be no holds barred or do you want me to go easy on the squishy wizard baby?” Thrin cracked his neck. (I just KNOW I’m going to regret this) “Time to let one of the Beasts out of their cage for a while. CHAMPION TRANSFORMATION! CHO’GATH!” A burst of violet light appeared and when it faded a massive creature with four arms each ending in a blade. His eyes glowed green with as sharp horns jutted out of his skull was revealed. Opening my mouth to roar revealed hundreds of razor sharp teeth. His voice was mostly the same but had an echo. “Let’s see how long I can control one of the Forbidden Champions!” Orgran let out a yawn, checked my gear, then yelled.“HELL-KNIGHT! ENSHROUD THY KING!” A demonic rift opened behind Orgran and a steam powered mech emerged as big as me slowly rose from the depths of the rift. It’s body looked like a mix of steel and magma, it’s helmet that only revealed a raging furnace, and a chainsword and shield which burned with the emberglow of its heart. It climbed out with a hiss and a groan of creaking metal as it grabbed me up and tossed me into its chest as if it ate me, then let out a roar which sent out a pillar of flame from every opening. All the ponies looked concerned or scared as they looked at each other, but out of all of them Discord was the most concerned. Discord muttered something but I was so focused on keeping control that I didn’t hear it.Orgran’s laugh echoed out the machine, the enchantments making it deeper and more sinister. “A fat lot of good Cho’Gath’s gonna do him without any minions to ‘Om Nom Nom’!” A Fae Golem showed up, glowing a pleasant green. “Fighters ready?” it says in its fluttershy level of cute voice. “Ready!” Orgran confirm. “Bring it!” I agreed my tail slamming into the ground behind me. “Then… begin!” it flew out of the way. Orgran opened the battle by trying to hit my head with his shield. I dodged to the side and brought two of his arms down to pierce the Hell-Knight’s right leg. “Unlike in the League. I have no restrictions!” (Not a total lie. While I’m nowhere near as powerful as them at 100% I don’t have any restrictions on my abilities.) “Good! Like how my mech’s not got as many as you think!” Orgran called as he used the opportunity to twist the mech’s hips a perfect 90 degrees to bring his sword down on the two exposed limbs. Seeing this I did the first thing that came to mind. “Feral Scream!” I let loose a roar that I thought could make a Kaiju proud which shook the ground, knocking Orgran’s attack’s away from the sound waves alone. His sword impaled his left arm but that didn’t stop him as he moved the right down to hook onto my arms possibly wanting to break a few bones. “Never challenge a Dwarf in Melee! That’s like challenging Robin Hood to an Archery Match!” “Yeah! Show him Orgran!” Twilight cheered. “Show that beast how a true warrior fights!” Luna exclaimed. “Holy shit! He is so hot right now!” Hella stated, well at least he knew what she liked and wasn’t afraid to show it. So far Cho’gath hadn’t put up much of a fight but as the arm came down to grab me he struck with full force. Just as I was about to lose control I yelled. “CHAMPION TRANSFORMATION! WUKONG! GHOST!” and fell unconscious. Next thing I knew I was looking at Orgran who was surrounded by hundreds of Dwarven skeletons and had the memories from Wukong shoved into my head. “I am NOT turning into any of the Forbidden Champions again for a while.” I groaned, I’m going to have a huge headache if not a migraine soon.It took me a while but I did see Orgran’s panic attack at looking at the Dwarven skeletons. “This, this can’t be right it’s impossible, I can only summon the dead of this world, how did Rustbeards form?” He said his voice full of fear as he kept turning to see more when they shifted. “There’s… there’s too… how, HOW IS THERE SO MANY OF YOU!? WHY ARE YOU ALL TRAPPED!?” He yelled panicking. “The Black-Heart can only resurrect those that refuse to leave, but this isn’t possible.” I cast a quick Cure spell on myself and moved to Orgran’s side. I wanted…no I had to try to help. Placing a hand on his shoulder I said. “Orgran.” My hood was down and tears flowed from my eyes. “I might...I might know a Champion that can help. That can send them on their way, but the choice is yours. I will not force you but I think this should mark the end of our spar. We have more important things to do now.” “You… you don’t understand, even if one clings, their families can guide them to the afterlife, the only ones that should be here are lone warriors, but no, there’s too many, too many killed too quickly to guide the lost.” I his voice was dead as sobbed and me pulled into a hug. “Why… why is there so many? What could kill so many of my kin like this? And why are they here?” “I don’t know my friend but I think this one does.” I said drawing his attention to a Dwarf wearing a Gold Studded eyepatch. “Ilnarok… I know him, that means this was my… Orgran’s original clan.” He said walking up to the undead. “Who… what did this.” I couldn’t hear what the undead said but due to Orgran’s reaction I knew it was bad. “No… he’s dead, I saw him die” The undead continued to talk, once he was finished Orgran turned to me “Thrin, help them pass on, they should not cling to this world with what they have seen.” “I do not know if this will work but I will try.” I said getting to his feet and taking a few steps towards the Dwarves and in a somber voice I said. “Champion Transformation. Soraka.” A flash of light and in my place stood a very tall purple skinned woman with cloven hooves for feet, a golden-yellow dress, long white hair, a red cape, a large horn sprouted from the center of her forehead, and in my right hand is a large golden staff with a crescent moon at the top. Holding my staff in the air I felt the words come to me, and I knew Soraka lending her aid. I’d have to find a way to talk to the Champions soon. If only to thank the ones who didn’t try to take control and ask for advice. “To you who have passed. To you who are trapped. Let me bless and guide you on your way to the afterlife. Let me help you find the peace you deserve. Let my song and dance bring you to rest.” And with that I started to sing in a language that not even I could understand and began a slow dance as he started to circle the entire Dwarven Clan. The process took some time but I never stopped his song or dance until the last of the Dwarves had moved on and their skeletons returned to the earth. Part of me wondered if this was like the Final Fantasy 10 Sending ceremonies. Even when the Dwarf with the eyepatch spirit was freed, he clung to the mortal realm for one last thing, he tapped my shoulder to get my attention, then spoke, in English.“Thank you…” his eyepatch glowed. “If you ever see that Warwick again, tell him I called him a bastard…” and with that he was gone and I fell to his knees panting heavily as the headace I felt earlier started pounding in my head as if it was a Dwarven anvil. “How...did he know Warwick?” “He doesn’t, what made him a good leader was his left eye, with it he could see an entire person’s life story, the eyepatch allowed him to control it.” “That must have been...useful.” I said before changing back normal and collapsed unconscious. Twice in one day…Yup. I’m going to keep the Forbidden ones in their cages for a long, LONG time. ------------------------------------------------------------- After the situation had calmed Orgran opened a rift and helped everyone through, stopping my and Discord who was supporting me as I still couldn’t stand properly with all the energy I used and the headache still going strong. “Guys I… I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hit you with all the heavy stuff, and I won’t force you to help me fight the Caribou or the Netherborn.” “Don’t be foolish Orgran.” I said looking him right in the eyes. “You’re my friend and I wouldn’t feel right leaving you to fight this alone. While I might not be able to help directly in fights due to my own problems with Bolard and Dhoulmagus but I can spread the word about this Demon to other Displaced I meet. Some might be able to send aid and I KNOW the other versions of me will do the same once I tell them.” “Thanks… I’m gonna need all the help I can get as well, this isn’t just the Netherborn, Dainn wishes to revive the Netherlord, he was practically unstoppable before, we only won last time because Interse… sacrificed himself to save me… I-I don’t know how we’ll manage without support.” “Arashi gave me a bag of Tokens that he said I might find useful before he left. I’ll try to contact some of them and tell them of the Netherlord. Before I was Displaced I heard of a school to teach new Displaced. I know some of the teachers were in the War of Shadows and a few might have been in the first Displaced war. The War of Understanding. Some of them might be able to help if we can find the right Tokens.” I said before shaking his head sadly. I never wanted to join a war but I knew that I would never forgive myself if I didn’t at least try to help “In the meantime I’ll try to wrap up at least one of my problems and continue training but I can’t ignore my duties as the first Arch-Mage since Starswirl.” “The problem is I’m not sure mindless destruction is what he wants anymore after seeing the goals of the Caribou…” He then caught onto something I had said. “Wait, so considering our relationship wouldn’t that make you my Arch-rival?” “If Sans was here I’m sure he’d at least chuckle at that pun, but I think we have more of a friendly rivalship going on Orgran. I am glad I was able to help your people.” I said giving a dry emotionless smile. I just didn’t have it in me to do more. “I wish you the best of luck my friend. May the Arcane guide your path and always enlighten you when you need it most.” “You’d hate me right now if you knew my human name.” “I doubt it.” I said. He smirked. “Before I was displaced my full name was Ark Kane.” Somehow I’d found enough energy to chuck even though it agitated my pounding head. “So I guess what I said is even more fitting. Never lose sight of who you are now and who you were. That is how I chose to live anyway. Who knows. Something in our pasts on earth may give us hints for the future.” He smiled. “See you later, old friend.” He ushered them through, and once they headed in he called into the portal. “And Discord! What I said to this world’s version applies to you too! Touch my beard and you’re dead!” Discord shrugged. “I wasn’t even going to do that in any case… well maybe touch it up if you asked but I know what kind of Chaos I don’t want to create. I’d be a bad balancer of the scales if I didn’t. I just wish more versions of me thought that way.” “Then you’re smarter than this one, he threatened to turn my beard into licorice if his reformation didn’t work!” “Moron.” Discord said as he helped me through the portal.