//------------------------------// // Chapter 8 - Battle to the Void Part 1: Bound by Blood till Time of Death // Story: Lost Dreamer // by Arceaion //------------------------------// 960 years BNM Chara stood on a cliff looking over castle of the Griffon Kingdom beside her on a fallen tree sat the phoenix that she had saved years ago. The two stood in silence as they watched the castle and the griffons that guarded it. "I don't like it." The phoenix said in a tired voice. "The plan is solid and I think it gives us a fair shot." Chara replied calmly. "It's too risky even if you and the Princesses get in there's no chance for you to defeat Queen Talon." He said tiredly. "I know, that's why it won't be just me." Chara said with a sighed. "Back when I was younger my body was much stronger and I'd have been able to but in the state I'm in now I'm too weak." "Then let me help." The Phoenix said as he grew in size till he returned to it's original form. "Chara you saved my life from a fate worse than death, I owe you my life. I ask, no I beg you, make a contract with me." Chara sighed and looked at the phoenix. "And what type of contract would this be, a Life Pact?" She asked. The phoenix shook his head and Chara frowned. "Something deeper." He said. Chara looked up to the sky with a sigh. "If you do this you'll loose your freedom." The Phoenix shook his head. "I won't be trapped in a cage and I can leave and return freely, I may be bound to you but I will be fine." Chara sighed before turning to him. "If your sure then we can." The Phoenix fluffed his feathers happily as Chara approached. The two stood before each other as the runes on the Phoenix began to glow brightly and Charas eyes glowed red with determination. At the camp Asriel and Grillby sat with the princesses in the command tent before they froze, a power they had not felt since before Gaster's disappearance spiked and a wave of magic shot through the camp causing the princesses to gasp in shock. Quickly the four ran out of the tent to see a pillar of red and orange magic shot into the sky. "It Chara!" Asriel yelled in panic as he ran in the direction of the pillar. "Asriel wait!" Celestia yelled as she ran after him. Luna and Grillby looked at each other before turning and running after the two. Asriel ran as fast as he could through the forest leaping over fallen trees and rocks, his sister hadn't used that much magic since Gaster had been trapped in the Void. As he leaped out onto the clearing the princesses and Grillby behind him they all froze and watched in shock at what they saw. Before them Chara and the Phoenix floated in a circle that was made from their combined magic. As they floated chains of black circled them loosely. Then they heard it, an oath that resounded with the world itself as it was recited. May we be Bound by an Oath of Blood, May we be tied by bonds of Duty, Bound by Chains of Silver, Bound by Chains of Fire, Seven Gates Lock Seven Binding Sealed Bound by strings of fate beyond reach of death Chara, I shall stay at your side forever, grant me a name so that we might be bound till time of death. Shroud, I bestow upon you the name Shroud. As Chara said the name the chains were suddenly pulled taught as they lashed out and tied the two together, the circle of magic glowing brighter as cracks appeared on Charas body and a seal appeared before shattering and the pillar collapsed in on itself the magic exploding outward in a massive wave of energy. Celestia and Luna lit their horns and Asriel's eyes flared green as they all pored their power into a massive shield to protect themselves. Once the blast passed over and the dust began to settle they lowered the shield and gasped at what they saw. From the dust stood Chara however her appearance had changed. Her white shirt was replaced with a gray turtleneck, her jacket had changed to a heavy winter coat with black fur similar to Sans's and around her neck was her gold heart necklace which was covered slightly by a long black scarf that reached past her back and fluttered in the slight breeze. Her pants had remained mostly the same except that they now had metal armor on the knees, her boots on the other hand had changed to heavy combat boots with metal plats on them. Chara calmly raised her head and opened her eyes revealing they now glowed naturally however the biggest change that now there were marking that glowed with red magic surrounding her eyes. Chara groaned and fell forward a bit before she caught her self. "Oh man, I haven't been able to use this much power since the Experiment." She said with a sigh as she streaked. "It feels so good to have full access to my magic again!" She said happily. "Such Power!" Shroud said as he streaked his wings and gave a flap. "How are you so powerful?" He asked. "I have a soul of Determination." Chara said with a smiled and summoned her soul. As she did the Phoenix saw it had changed greatly since the incident in the clearing. The Soul still appeared as a heart with half red upward and the other half white and inverted part however it was now whole with no cracks or sign of the black goop holding it together. "Charaaa!" Asriel yelled as he ran strait into her and knocked her over. "Are you okay? Did something hurt you? Are you going to die, no, you just need rest!" He said as he panicked and felt over her looking for any injuries. "Azzy I'm fine!" Chara yelled with a blush on her face as she pushed him off. Calmly Celestia and Luna approached however the look in there eyes showed just how worried they were, and how angry they were. "Young Lady, you had better have a good explanation as to what's going on here." Luna said calmly. Chara gulped as she heard her tone however Shroud stepped forward. "Greetings Princesses, if you would be so kind I shall explain." He said calmly. Luna turned to him and frowned. "Very well then, tell me phoenix, why should I not give you an early rebirth?" She asked as she narrowed her eyes. The phoenix nodded. "Given the danger of what you plan to do I requested that I bond with Chara and become her Familiar." He explained. Celestia tilted her head in confusion. "I've heard that term before, what is it?" She asked "It's an unspeakably powerful pact that two creatures make to share themselves whole with each other. Their senses, emotion, power, even their time." Chara said. "What do you mean 'their time'?" Celestia asked. "When one dies so to does the other." Shroud said. The two princesses looked at the Phoenix in shock. "That means that once Chara dies you will to, no rebirth or anything!" Celestia said in shock. The Phoenix nodded however Chara chuckled sadly. "The Pact we made is a bit more than that." She said causing the two princesses and Asriel to look at her confused. "There are four types of pacts, Temporary, General Binding, Life Pact and a Soul Binding Pact. A Temporary Pact is simply a contract is limited till the terms are met. This can be anything from full filling specific requirements to being a set amount of time. The bindings on this type of contract depend on the requirements and can be loose of strong however they only last for so long and rarely last till one dies. Then there is a General Binding is used by more experienced mages and can be temporary or life long. They are the most basic form of contract, while not as loose as a Temporary Pact it is still a very lose binding. Then there are the true Familiar bindings. The first is a Life Pact, also known as a Blood Pact. It is the second strongest form of pact as it binds the Familiar permanently to the Master. In this pact the Familiar must willingly agree to this pact as they have half of the pact while their Master has the second half of it. This pact is so strong that not even Death itself can break it, because of This when the Master dies so to shall the Familiar." "So this is the pact you made with this Phoenix?" Luna asked however Asriel shook his head. "No, she made a Soul Pact." He said as he turned to Chara. "You did didn't you?" Chara nodded and looked away. "A soul Pact is similar to a Life Pact however it is considered the most powerful type of bond that can be formed." Chara said calmly. "While a life pact is written into a single life, a Soul Pact is written in to the soul of the ones who take the oath. A single clause that makes it more than a simple life. 'Bound by strings of fate beyond reach of death.'" Shroud said calmly. "What do you mean?" Luna asked "This oath binds the souls of the Familiar to their master, this means that no matter what the master and Familiar will always be together. Nothing can separate them, not life, death or any power between. The Fates of the two oath bearers are tied forever." Chara said. The two princesses stood in shock at what they had just been told, Asriel sighed and walked over to Chara before whacking her in the back of the head. "What were you thinking?" He asked angrily. Chara rubbed the back of her head. "I honestly didn't want to do a Soul Bond but Shroud wouldn't accept anything less." She said with a sigh. Asriel looked up to the Phoenix confused. "Why?" He asked The Phoenix looked away from the group and turned to the castle. "Tell me Asriel, what would you give to someone who saved not only your life but your very soul from being obliterated?" He asked. As the Phoenix asked this everyone around froze. "Who would do such a thing?" Celestia asked in disgust. With out answering the Shroud simply raised a wing out and pointed at the castle. Celestia and Luna looked on in disgust as they realized who. "I knew that Queen Talon desired the power that we hold but to obliterate a soul is..." Luna trailed off unable to finish do to there not being a word suited for what they had learned. Chara looked confused. "Okay, my turn to ask but what's going on?" Celestia turned to Chara. "Tell me what happens when a Soul is absorbed?" She asked, Asriel and Chara looked at each other before shrugging. "If a soul is absorbed and obliterated the soul is destroyed and its traits are absorbed into the being who consumed the soul. Charas eyes widened. "Fear." She whispered in terror as realization dawned. "The most disturbing ability of the Fear trait is the fact that it can consume other souls and destroy them however that's not all it does. When the soul is destroyed its traits are absorbed into the being with the soul of Fear." She said as she trembled. Celestia turned to Chara confused. "How do you know what happe-wait did you say Fear trait?" She asked concerned as Chara paled and began to shake. "The Trait of Fear, the second Unnatural Soul Trait discovered." Chara said fear in her voice. "It was discovered prior to the Human Monster war when a bearer of the soul Bravery was consumed by fear and his soul inverted taking on the trait. It took a combined army of Humans and Monsters to defeat and kill them, by that point the bearer had killed thousands." "Why are you afraid of them?" Luna asked. "Fear destroys Determination." Asriel said as he walked over to comfort Chara who had curled up into a ball and pulled her hood over her head as she rocked back and forth. "Fear is like a poison to Determination and even a small amount of it can cause any bearer of Determination to be brought to a near death state." Celestia and Luna looked out to the castle in concern. "This just got a whole lot more dangerous." Luna said concern in her voice. The next day Chara and Asriel sat in the Command tent with the Princesses, Shroud lay calmly sleeping a short ways away and Grillby prepared the troops for combat. "You expect me to do WHAT!?" A voice yelled causing every single one of the ponies to freeze and look to the command tent. "I'M THE ONLY ONE WHO KNOWS WANT THAT THING CAN DO!" The voice said and the troops realized who was yelling, Chara. "IF YOU THINK I'M GOING TO JUST LET YOU ALL RUSH TO YOUR DEATHS THEN YOU GOT ANOTHER THING COMING CELESTIA!" The Troops looked at each other confused, what was their commander talking about? "FINE, IF YOU WANT TO DIE THAN SO BE IT!" Chara yelled before she stormed out of the tend and walked away. After a few moments Celestia and Luna walked out with Asriel and approached the troops. After a moment of standing before the troops Celestia stepped forward. "Given information we have learned the battle plans have changed slightly." She said calmly. "We believe that Queen Talon is in control of a very dangerous power that has the ability to absorb the soul of any living being and control both them and their powers." "This Power, that was identified by Commander Chara, is able to destroy beings like her completely." Luna said causing several of the guards to go wide eyed. "As such we have determined that Commander Chara will not participate in this battle and rather than have all our forces attack the castle we will be dividing into two teams. Commander Asriel, please explain the new plan." Asriel nodded and stepped forward. "As Princess Luna said the plan has been changed, originally the plan was to have our forces divide into three groups to divide the enemies. However, with Chara no longer fighting the plan has changed, The majority of the forces we have here will engage the Griffon forces and create a diversion for a small team to infiltrate and kill the Queen. This team will consist of the Princesses and myself. All acting officers will take command of the remaining forces and engage the Griffons under the command of Captain Grillby, any Questions?" Asriel asked as he finished the beefing. A guard raised his hoof and Asriel nodded to him. "Will Commander Chara be available for any form of support?" He asked. "No." Celestia said. "Commander Chara is not participate in any combat for this battle." As Celestia said this many of the soldiers looked at each other in fear. "If there is no more Questions then prepare for battle." Luna yelled and the gathered ponies quickly ran to get their armor on or collect their weapons. Mean while Chara stood and watched them gather from the shadows of her tent, with a sigh she turned away and walked over to her bed before laying down on it. "On the bright side this will give us time to strengthen our bond." Shroud said as he sat on her desk. "They have no ideas what they are facing and they won't listen." Chara grumbled. "They will die, no matter who they send they will die." "And what would you do?" Shroud asked. "Face Queen Talon and die as well?" "The only way to fight Soul Magic is with Soul Magic and Ponies can't use Soul Magic." Chara said as she turned away from Shroud. "Then what will you do?" Shroud asked. Chara didn't respond for a while. "There is only one way to defeat Queen Talon, we need the help of the one who killed the Last Soul of Fear. We need my mentor, we need Gaster." She said before she turned to Shroud. "There is a very good chance I might die doing this but we have no choice, Fear can not be allowed to persist in this world." Chara walked over to Shroud as her eyes changed to glow purple and she placed a hand on his head. "I hope you forgive me." She said and it was the last thing the Phoenix heard before darkness consumed him. Chara lay the Phoenix down as he fell asleep, once he was resting peacefully she exited the tent wand walked toward the cliffs she had been at the night before. Asriel and the princesses watched as the two armies engaged. "It's time." Celestia said as Grillby drew his sword and commanded the forces to engage. "I'm going to teleport us into the castle courtyard, once we are inside we will make our way to the throne room and defeat Queen Talon." She said as her horn glowed and with a flash they appeared within the walls of the castle and quickly ran to the massive doors. Asriel paused for a moment before kicking in the door and the group ran through the halls heading for the throne room which was at the end of the entrance hall. As they burst into the Throne room they saw the Griffon Queen sitting on her thrown a smile on her face as she watched them enter. "I figured you would be leading your forces against my griffons given the fight their putting up." She said broadly as she looked over the group. "Oh, it seems you didn't bring that child with you, what was he name? Chara, was it?" She asked as she rose and walked down the steps approaching them. Celestia and Luna charged the Queen however the Griffon simply scoffed and flicked her claw, as she did a wave of pink slammed into them and sent them flying away. "Did you honestly expect it to be that easy?" She asked calmly. Asriel eyed her and calmly summoned his sword. "They might have but I didn't." He said as magic began to gather around him. "You know Chara isn't the only one that has a final form that can cause a lot of damage." He said as Celestia and Luna looked up and gasped in surprise. "I am Asriel Dreemurr, Prince of Monster kind. My sister was the Arbiter, the Judge of Monsters however I was the Reaper, the Angel of Death." He said as the magic enveloped him and be began to change. The robes he wore changed from purple to black as they moved to cover his whole body and a cloak appeared around his form. Slowly his horns grew longer, and his teeth sharpened to fierce fangs that would be more at home on a dragon. "You made a grave mistake facing me." He said as a pair of black feathered wings ripped out of his body and a scythe as black as obsidian appeared in his hand. Asriels eyes glowed with a rainbow of colors and a faint whips of magic emanated form them as he looked down at the Griffon Queen who smiled as her form changed as well. Slowly it began to be covered in a pink liquid like substance and her eyes slitted as she looked up at the Goat with a mad smile. "I'm going to enjoy tearing you apart piece by piece!" She screamed as she launched herself at Asriel her claws outstretched. Asriel dodged her attack and slashed his scythe across the Queen cutting her in half, the Queen screeched before leaping again the two haves melding back together as she charged her claws meeting the scythe with enough force to leave sparks. The Two quickly traded blows at a blinding pace before the Queen leaped back and flicked her arm launching several globs the pink liquid at the Prince who slashed at the pieces. As he cut them apart they quickly turned to dust that floated to the floor, with a frown he raised his hand and several blasters appeared. Quickly he fired a barrage if Chaos Buster blasts which the Queen dodged and weaved through as she tried to strike him but his left eye quickly changed to green and a shield appeared before him, the queen didn't have time to change coarse and slammed directly into it as he delivering a massive Shocker Breaker at point blank sending the Queen flying backward arcs of rainbow lightning racing across her body. The Queen let out a screech and charged Asriel quickly changing her wings into scythes and spun like a top catching the Prince off guard and sending him flying back where he bounced several times before rolling to a stop. Quickly he rose however the Queen was on top of him before he regained his bearings and slashed his chest leaving several deep claw marks. Suddenly twin beams of magic hit the Queen knocking her off of him and Celestia and Luna charged forward. Luna moved quickly, her sword slicing at the Queen legs and wings while Celestia fired magic from her horn striking the Queens body. Despite the power behind the attacks they seemed to only annoy the Queen who quickly grabbed Luna and flung her strait into a blast from Celestia before grabbing her body again and chucking it at the solar diarch. "Magic wont hurt me fool." She said with a laugh before turning back to Asriel who had risen and raised his hand to the sky. "And what are you doing?" She asked with amusement as she approached. Rather than back away he smiled and dropped his and as he said to words. "Galacta Blazing." Suddenly the roof of the castle crashed down and stars fell from the sky. As they crashed to the ground they exploded into balls of rainbow light that whenever they hit the Queen sent a blast of pain through her whole body. Quickly the Queen moved to dodge the balls however Asriel raised his hand and made a fist freezing her in place and forcing her to endure the damage. Once the attack ended he raised his hand his eyes glowing brighter for a moment before he smiled and closed them. "Call of the Reaper: Angels Death" He said as waves of magic shot forward and slammed into the frozen Queen in waves each one hitting their target before a massive blaster appeared before them and unleashed a wave of rainbow magic point blank. After several seconds the blast ended and Asriel fell to the ground gasping for breath. The Queen was unfrozen and quickly jumped backwards before smiling. "Was that all you had?" She asked before laughing after she finally stopped she stepped forward her claws extending longer as she approached and she slowly raised them over her head a triumphant smile on her face as she looked down at the exhausted prince of monsters. "Now to end this." She said as she prepared to bring her claws down only for the sound of glass shattering to follow and she froze as she look up at her claws with confusion. Suddenly the sound of steps echoed through the room and the Queen turned to the entrance hall to see Chara standing in the broken down doors, her eyes glowing blue and orange. Calmly Chara walked forward, her arms behind her back and her back completely strait. The princesses groaned as she walked past them and Celestia reached out as it to pull her away but her hoof simply fell to the ground and she watched as Chara approached the Queen. Asriel looked up and saw Chara however something was wrong. Chara never walked like that, she was always relaxed and uncaring however he had seen someone walk like this, someone who no longer existed. Asriel gasped in shock as Charas form glitched and grew transforming into a tall skeleton with two cracks running down his face, seven hands burst to like around the Skeleton each one holding the color of a Soul and behind him two massive Gaster dragons with glowing purple eyes appeared. "Gaster?" He asked before he fell over and fainted. To be continued...