Chapter 9: Endgame
We have traveled so far and I've learned so many things from following in your shadow.
But now I realize that I am the only one who can seize my fate.
And believe me, when I look at it from where you told me to look, it's like a second sun shining in the sky.
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"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME?!!?" the sanguine behemoth bellowed, his voice brimming with insanity and hate. The hybrid had successfully fired a bolt of magic directly into his opponents eye socket from a point blank range, turning the soft jelly into a burnt wound that wept blood. In return, he was launched further down the coliseum by a powerful bash from the behemoth's tail. Thankfully, he missed hitting him with the spikes, and only left him with a rather painful bruise on his chest.
"I gave you a blind spot," the hybrid whispered, standing taller than before. He had taken a beating, but returned it whenever he had the chance. Given the fact that the behemoth had gotten rather irritated with battling a pony and having to deal with a smaller target, he was wearing himself out too quickly. It had become easier to dodge his attacks, and the hybrid was relentless in his own offensives.
Squeezing his injured eye closed, the bleeding behemoth charged, teeth bared and claws ready to kill. His scowl alone could break a mountain in half.
The hybrid worked his magic deep underneath a small area in front of himself. He thought back to what the mare had said, and how the coliseum used to be a volcano. Where there was a volcano, there could be a source of lava nearby.
The behemoth was closing in, his pace slow but steady. Many drops of blood escaped his closed eye, making a breadcrumb trail of gore behind him as he began to move faster, spreading his wings to make himself appear a larger threat than he actually was. It was an old trick used to scare off troublesome predators that had the unfortunate luck to stumble into the cavern, not knowing what was inside. Predators like bears, manticores, or timberwolves were of no interest to dragons, so they simply scared the creatures away, rather than brutally destroying them.
The hybrid was unfazed by this, and felt rather empowered by the fact that the behemoth felt the need to do such a thing. Was it fear, that fed him such an idea? Or was it the ever present hatred the behemoth had for him? He was sure he would never discover, and he didn't care.
Then, the behemoth did something he did not suspect; he paralleled his chest to the dirt, staying above it by only a claws length, and flapped his wings with an extreme amount of force, lunging his body forward at the hybrid, sending a cloud of dust into the air.
Rocketing towards him, the behemoth readied his claws to sink into a soft, fleshy hide and add the blood of this soon-to-be victim to his sanguine scales.
The hybrids' luck shone through at that moment as a small stream of bright orange lava erupted through the dirt, showering him in solidified sparks. His horn flared with a combustive overglow, displacing the air with small heat waves as something awoke inside his heart. Something powerful and confident.
Dragons were not affected by lava, and the hybrid knew this. But it did do something: it blinded the behemoth, only temporarily, though. But that's all he needed.
Unable to stop himself on such a quick notice, he flew right into the stream of lava and continued through it. Leaping skywards, the hybrid aimed his horn, still ablaze with a golden glow, downwards towards the blinded dragon.
Snickering, the hybrid fired seven volleys of magic into the back of the behemoth's head. The first four cracked scales, the next one pierced the thick hide underneath those scales, and the final two fractured his unbelievably stubborn skull.
The lava had stiffened over his face, making speech almost impossible. Instead, a guttural roar shook the earth asunder as every magical bolt drilled itself into his body.
Landing next to his fallen form, the hybrid braced for another sudden attack; he had no more tricks to use, so he'd have to keep dodging and unloading short barrages of magic.
The behemoth lay still.
Every dragon in the coliseum held their breath, the air ominously still from the lack of movement.
The hybrid moved close to the fallen form of the behemoth, not forgetting the fact he may not be dead, and simply luring him in.
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The demon saw the forms of a hundred dragons all sitting around a crater. She was confused through and through of why, until the hosts' draconic mind had remembered the sight from ages past.
Of course, this was their leadership games, she thought.
She soared higher, catching a thermal on her wings, pushing her far closer to the coliseum much faster than before.
Glancing her cold six-eyed gaze downwards, she saw the form of a dragon laying down, most likely injured or dead. But what confused her was the lack of a competitor; she couldn't see the other dragon anywhere on the field.
So, she dived as fast as she could at the sanguine body, claws at the ready to sever any ties with the world of the living that someone who would oppose her still had.
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The behemoth grinned.
The hybrid didn't see this notion, for he was at the front of his maw: right within range.
Snapping open his jaws, the behemoth lunged for the surprised hybrid. Time slowed to crawl, and he watched rather sharp teeth advance towards his entirety.
The mare up on the rim shouted something, but he didn't hear it.
There wasn't any time to dodge.
KERRACK!!
And then there wasn't a need to.
A hushed breath forced itself from the behemoth's mouth, blowing a musky, death-like scent into the hybrids face. He took a few steps back, pebbles cracking under his hooves.
It took him a second to realize what he was seeing.
A shadowy spear had pierced clean through the behemoth's brain; forehead to neck.
"The time has arrived," said the figure with a sultry voice that dripped with darkness and malcontent.
He reeled back, not believing what his eyes were seeing. It just wasn't possible.
The spear was pulled out of the dead dragon, and retracted back to the tip of the newcomers tail as the dark figure turned around, the body below it crunching with the sound of bones turning into dust with each step. It's wings were wrapped around it's body, hiding it's head inside their cover.
Tentacles sprouted out of the being, two rooting themselves in front of the awestruck hybrid, sending him back even further.
The others drilled themselves deep into the dead behemoth's back, and then they began to pulse with a purple light. Then, the body began to sag, it's blood being drained away by the tentacles.
The being chose now to reel her head, hissing with delight as the dragons in the stadium gasped.
The hybrid felt his pulse quicken.
"You."
She faced him, all six eyes studying his form, trying to read what he would say next from his body language.
"You are the one from the scrolls. You are the star queen," he said, finding confidence in his knowledge as it all came flooding back to him. "From the great zebra sky-fall, you were the one who fell."
She sneered. It was strange how she could smell so much fear from the dragons, yet none from this pony. No, that wasn't quite right. He wasn't just equine. There was something else about his scent she couldn't quite place.
"Such a clever one, you are, aren't you? Yes, I am the one the zebras wrote of. What of it?"
He laughed.
Curious, she stopped pumping the blood from the body below her; it was nearly empty anyway. Retracting her tentacles she walked off the husk, grabbed it's head in her serrated claws, and flung it to the far opposite end of the coliseum.
"Did I say something HUMOROUS?"
"No, but the fact you aren't dead is rather funny though," he countered, still chuckling with delight.
Oh, you'll die now, she thought to herself.
The tentacles lunged again, except this time they wouldn't miss their target.
"NO. YOU. DON'T."
A shield flickered to life in front of the hybrid right before the tentacles found their way to his neck. A strong magical field disrupted the wake of shadow that made up the extra appendages, shattering them.
"Don't you DARE," the mare enforced.
"TOUCH."
Her horn overcharged, displacing the darkness with light.
"HIM."
The ground erupted around the mare as she let loose a full barrage of magical spears, each shining with the intensity of a pure white supernova, shattering against the endless dark that made up the demons' form. They exploded as they met her skin, battering away the shadow that tangled itself around her body like a spiders web.
When the attack ended, the mare knelt on one knee, exhausted from expending so much energy in one go. The hybrid ran up to her, bracing himself against her side for support.
"That was amazing," he stated.
"Don't...get too...excited... Typherias still lives," she stammered.
Managing a look to where the demon stood, he saw a figure that was something that could be described nothing more than raw nightmare fuel.
There she stood, bleeding a purple ooze from the gaps in her stolen Draconic hide. She was missing an entire arm, save for the skeletal one that remained in place, held there by tiny bright purple rings that encased every joint. Slowly, the darkness seeped back to fill in the gaps where she was injured and regenerated herself.
"Do you think..."
She cracked her neck.
"That will be enough to stop me?"
The mare rose off her knee, composing herself. Now was not the time to show a weakness. Her horn began to charge again, preparing another barrage.
The hybrid stepped in front of her and shook his head.
"Leave this to me."
She went to object, but he had already began moving towards Typherias at a brisk pace. A powerful surge of heat washed over her, making her mane ripple.
The hybrid punctuated each step with a stomp as his hooves began to make the ground emit smoke, leaving prints in the dirt behind him as he neared what seemed like death given physical form. Typherias craned her neck to stare him down as he neared her, unwavering and confident.
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The Draconic ghost stayed at the hybrids back, watching over him when the others could not. He felt a bit of anger wash over him when he discovered he didn't kill Typherias outright, but only stunted her inevitable growth by seven years.
But now he had a chance at redemption.
Little did the hybrid know, that when he needed it most, an unbelievable power could be unleashed with the ghost's help. A power so strong that not even the Constellation Demon would be able to withstand it.
Together, they would be able to vanquish her for a very long time.
United, they could secure a peaceful future for all sentient beings that had once lived in fear of the Constellation Demon known as Typherias.
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The sky had darkened, stained by the luminance of the moon passing in front of the sun. It was times like these in which magical phenomenon occurred. Some say the souls of those who were murdered come back to haunt their murderers. Others say that natural magic energies become multiplied tenfold.
A pulse resonated from the spherical object in the mares saddlebag, and she felt it beat against her side. Opening the bag, she levitated out the crystalline orb. Inside, a small red ball pulsed in tandem with the hybrids heartbeat, displacing the light around it with it's own incandescent illumination.
Her red Draconic companion landed beside her, smiling proudly at the hybrid that glanced back ever so slightly to receive the praise. The mare gave the orb to him, and he threw it to the hybrid.
Catching it in a levitation field, he studied it, feeling a trickle of energy flow through his output of magic and into the tip of his horn. Turning it about, the red light inside began to pulse faster...
A cool wind rippled through his mane.
...faster...
The breeze felt familiar, like a bit of himself was in it's wake.
Click. Ignition.
The orb exploded into what felt like a localized heat wave, igniting the air around the hybrid. Flames danced and pushed against the earth, writhing around in the dirt.
Typherias had become very vexed with the continued existence of the hybrid, and reached out a serrated claw to sever his neck. Unfortunately for her, the energies that surrounded him weren't having any of that. A serpentine flame slashed at the claw, sending her back and giving the hybrid more breathing room.
The fires that danced around him began to take shape, becoming less feral and more contained. He closed his eyes and accepted the newfound strength pounding through his veins.
A torso formed above the hybrid.
Distinct laugh echoed through the coliseum, reawakening old memories the mare had forgotten about.
Wings sprouted out of the back of the fire-creature.
"It seems I didn't get to take you to Hell with me, DEMON."
A head and arms sprouted forth from the body, their wild fiery state being honed into a well-known being of stature and nobility.
"But I can not fail now."
In unison, the hybrid and the blazing Draconic ghost opened their eyes, and a pure golden-yellow light poured from them, bathing their bodies in the glow.
"NO! This cannot be! You died seven years ago!" Typherias shouted at the ghost, a scared look in her eyes.
"I can say the same for you," it rumbled.
She reared her head back, released a fearsome growl, and charged at them, arms outstretched.
Laughing heartily, they moved to the side and she passed them. The ghost reached out a blazing claw and gripped her nightingale head with superior strength. They leaned forward, and it slammed her head into the dirt, showering the broken earth with sparks and bits of fire shaken loose from it's body.
Planting her arms next to her head, she pushed with all her might, and slowly began to move against the downward force the ghost was putting on her head. Knowing it wouldn't be enough, she kicked her lower body skywards and twisted out of the hold.
The ghost turned to face her as she propelled herself into the air upside down, then righted herself and beat her wings, flying higher.
"You won't get away that easily," the hybrid whispered.
Spreading it's wings, the ghost took flight, never losing it's position above the hybrid by extending it's torso to be longer and more snake-like.
Typherias dove down slightly to get equal with the ghost, then she charged it, claws first. The ghost got as close as it could to her without getting in range of her claws, and shot above her, biting one of her wings at the joint where it connected to her back, and firmly grasping the other wing in the same spot with a claw.
It's teeth didn't pierce her scales, but they burnt her very badly. Smoke poured from where the teeth connected with the wing joint, and it obscured her vision.
Placing a claw onto the center of her back, the ghost began to push her away, trying to rip the wings right off her back. She was clearly in pain, but did a good job of hiding it. Wrapping her tail around the ghosts body she hoped to cut it off from the source. Using the razor-like spikes on her tail, she quickly sawed through the connection the ghost had to the hybrid, and the flames dispersed instantly.
Flexing her wings, she dive-bombed the hybrid, hoping to finish the battle once and for all.
"THIS IS THE END FOR YOU!!"
Typherias was literally mere seconds from devouring the hybrid.
Suddenly, the blazing ghost reformed in an explosion of sparks and motes of yellow light and bashed her down into the dirt with an open palm delivered to the back of her head.
"We will not be extinguished that easily, Demon," the hybrid and the ghost said in tandem.
Infuriated, she rose from the cracked ground and leapt away from them. Planting her feet firmly in the dirt, she began to charge her energy into a cobalt ball.
"It is time to finish that battle we started seven years ago, Alpha!" she shouted at the ghost.
"Very well. Although I've lost my Balefire, I will not lose!"
Opening it's maw, it unleashed a cascade of pure golden light that displaced the dirt below it, sending clouds of dust into the air. The shockwave alone was earth-shattering.
Typherias launched her cobalt beam of energy that then collided with the lightwave.
Time seemed to stop as all noise was expunged from the entire coliseum. Then, it started again as an explosive thunderclap roared through all the land.
The already broken earth erupted into an ocean of huge chunks of rock and magma. The molten rock flowed between the cracks, threatening to devour the last bits of solid ground.
Neither titans faltered in their battle. Both waves of energy played a volatile game of tug of war, eradicating bits of pyre shot upwards. Plates of stone shifted towards the outer walls as pressure amassed below the colliding energies.
"DO IT!!" the hybrid bellowed, his voice almost unheard on the mare's ears.
"BANISH HER, DAMNIT!" he cried again, the strain of sustaining the ghost finally showing through his amazing power.
Leaping over the chinks in the ground, she let her magic flow freely and went over the spell in her head. The heat was unbearable, but she endured. She had to.
Coming to a halt a pony's length away from Typherias, a voice that wasn't her own pounded in her head.
"Join meeeeeeee..." it screeched.
Shaking off the intrusion, the mare ignored Typherias's mind games and unleashed her spell.
The spell was never tested. It was one that the mare had created if Typherias awoke once again. It was supposed to force the demon back into her place in the starry sky. She had only told the hybrid of it's existence, and after he failed to successfully learn it, they had both decided it was probably for the best if she was the only one who could cast it.
A quick magical discharge flashed between the mare and Typherias, and the sky lurched above her.
Aiming carefully, the mare directed the nighttime sky down and around the demon, it's water-like surface rippling as it fell like a meteor to grab hold of it's rogue shard.
When it touched the demon, she lost her dark purple sheen and it was replaced with the beautiful shade of black that was the night itself. Her cobalt wave of energy was reduced to nothing as the night absorbed the bulk of her body.
"It wasn't a question," the voice reverberated again.
Shifting as much as she could, she moved a shoulder that had already been absorbed into the path of the oncoming lightwave. The light collided, then was squelched into nothingness. Such an attack was useless against darkness itself, and served as a shield for Typherias.
Reaching out with a free claw that had not been absorbed by the night, she grabbed the mare around the neck, barely squeezing enough to choke her.
Just then, the hybrids power ran dry, and the ghost collapsed into itself in a shower of sparks, released from it's fiery hold. Already tired, the hybrid began sprinting at Typherias to free the mare so she could finish the banishment spell.
Typherias had no intentions of being trapped in the stars for another eternity.
She tossed the mare into the wake of the night. When she hit the blackness, she didn't bounce off; she stuck. It was pulling her in as well.
Despair fell across the hybrids' face as he witnessed the only mother figure in his life get stolen from him. He ran at the Demon faster, not sure what he would do to free the mare.
Typherias laughed as the mare cried out in pain as the night flash froze her body as more and more of it was absorbed. It felt like a thousand tiny knives were being dug through her chest, clamping around her heart and freezing that, too.
The hybrid lunged at the Demon, hatred replacing all other emotions.
She flung what was left of herself into the blackness of the night.
He collided with it headfirst, and was absorbed almost instantly.
It's purpose complete, the nighttime imploded back into it's old position, taking the three victims with it.
That was the time when Typherias reigned victorious.
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The two ponies stirred from a silent unconsciousness in an unfamiliar place.
"What is this place?"
"I'd say Hell, but it's far too dark to be sure."
Chains rattled in the distance.
"This is where I spent an eternity, before the spell-mistress here, summoned me."
A small yellow glow was emitted from across what seemed like an antechamber, shining some light on the cold ground they all were chained to.
"I was too dangerous and too volatile, they told me. Can you believe that? Me! Volatile!"
A slight shifting sound of metal against metal echoed up into the large ceiling.
"Demon, we are sic-"
"Please, dearest, call me by my proper name. We have much time to spend together, so we might as well be candid, hm?"
Inhaling quickly, the mare started again. "Typherias, whatever trick this is, we will break out of it and stop you," she spoke.
"This is no trick of mine. I told you. This is where I was locked up before you summoned me down to that damn rock you call 'home'."
"Then who put us here," the hybrid asked, his stress level increasing steadily.
"My brothers and sisters, of course. You didn't think I was the only one of my kind, did you, HYBRID?"
Typherias lunged at him, her chains pulling taut and stopping her right before she could open her huge maw and bite him in half.
She had changed again, her form looking like it did when the mare first saw her. The only difference being that her chin jutted outwards more, and the three prominent spikes on her head were longer. The two outer spikes almost made up her brow. She still retained her six eyes, all of which casting plenty of light on the room around them.
"That spell you cast was disrupted when I stole you two away. So, hopefully, these chains will wither enough so I can leave and-who knows? Terrorize what's left of the place you called home? Kill the ancestors of the ones you hold dear?"
The hybrid leaned to the mare as Typherias curled up across the room, finding it hard to get comfortable because of all the chains restraining her.
"How long will we be trapped here?"
The silence roared like a waterfall.
"I don't kn-"
"One star year, I'd say."
How much is th-"
"Two-thousand and seven years of your time. Oh, but don't worry. You won't age, deteriorate, or break as older equine's often do. Here, we are suspended in mortality. The chains will keep you alive."
She paused for a second and thought, swishing her tail against the cool floor.
"And sane."
The hybrid doubted his sanity could be saved while in the presence of a beast of such darknesses.
The mare looked to her companion and saw the hopelessness in his eyes. She felt compelled to hold him; ease his heavy heart.
So she hugged him, and whispered something in his ear, just quiet enough so Typherias could not hear it.
"We will wait, and we will endure."
He nodded, and hugged her back. When the mare finally let go and retreated to her spot on the floor, the hybrid laid down, slowly drifting into sleep.
"And when we are released, Typherias..." the demon grinned, knowing what he was going to say. "I am going to be angry."
"And I will be looking for you."
Those were the last things he and the mare said for the next two-thousand and seven years.
To be continued...
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I want to thank EVERYONE who read this. Although it's only a handful of people, I still can't help but be thankful. This isn't the end of the Hybrid's saga though. He's still got two more instalments. Maybe more. I also have to thank all of those who made music for this Fic. We've come a long way since then, and I still don't feel like I've expressed my gratitude enough. All criticism is appreciated. I want to do something with my skill in writing, and I need all the experience I can get.
Burn bright everyone.