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// Chapter 19 - Going Right 
// Story: Once a Necromancer Always a Necromancer 
// by ThatOneLittleBoy 
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Twilight and Sapphire both walked down a long and desolate hallway together in silence. The initial excitement of entering the Labbrinthium has faded, leaving only worry and nervousness behind. 

They continued until they came to a fork in their path. 

Sapphire walked forward and looked both ways. Both sides had what seemed like hundreds of forks and paths branching off in all directions, even up and down. 

Sapphire looked back and forth with a look of indecisiveness on her face. "Which way should we go, Twilight?" 

Twilight walked up behind Sapphire and to her side. "I don't know," she looked around, trying to decide, but then something in front of her took her eye "What's that?"

She walked up in front of her and found a metal plate engraved into the wall. 

On the top of the plate read a language Twilight couldn't read but did recognized, the same language that inscribed her sword, the language of the necromancers. Twilight sighed and looked further down the metal plaque. Just below the foreign language there was another block of text, this time in Ponish.
Here you are at a crossroads. Go left and you will find the journey to be long and tedious but also relatively easy and safe. Go right and the difficulty will be high but your journey will take much less of your precious time. Good luck and may god bless you.


"Sapphire, you should see this" Twilight said looking back at Sapphire.

Sapphire walked up and read the plate. "Hmm, I think we should go right. That way we can get out of here faster," she looked at Twilight and smiled "There is a lot of stuff I want to show you around the city once we get out." Sapphire looked around at the empty hallways around then and shivered "And this place gives me the creeps."

Twilight looked at Sapphire, then the plaque, then back at Sapphire "I don't know if that is a good idea. It said that going right will be more difficult, probably meaning more dangerous. Maybe left would be a better idea."

"Come on Twilight. Even if it is more dangerous we'll get out of here faster. And who knows maybe it'll be fun!" 

Twilight looked at her and sighed "Fine, you win," she turned right and looked back at Sapphire "But if one of us gets hurt it's on you!" 

Sapphire chuckled "Okay, fair enough." 

They continued down the hallway, turning every so often in the direction of "forward". Eventually they came to a big open courtyard. On the opposite side of the courtyard was a large castle with two massive wooden gates at the entrance, they both stood wide open. 

"Well," Sapphire began "I don't expect to find a whole castle down here."

Twilight looked around and nodded "Me either." 

They began to walk forward and got about halfway across the yard until they were stopped by a massive boom. "What the hel-" Sapphire stopped when on either side of the two mares the walls went down and opened up two gaping holes into the courtyard walls. 

"This isn't good," Twilight said nervously. Her eyes darted from left to right looking for trouble. 

Sapphire drew her sword and Twilight did the same. Then out of each hole came ten skeletons. The skeletons had chainmail armor and each had a broadsword or a spear.

Twilight began to shake "Maybe going right wasn't a good idea." 

Then the twenty skeletons charged the two mares, coming from two directions at once, and the mares were right in the middle. Twilight and Sapphire stood flank to flank with their swords ready to swing at anything that came close. 

Twilight swung her sword in a wide arc at the skeletons, it cut cleanly through the four undead in front of her. Twilight took a second and examined the sword with a shocked expression on her face. 'How did it do that? Cut cleanly through five skeletons wearing armor like it was nothing? What is this thing made of?'

Twilight was snapped out of it by a wave of pain originating from her thigh. She screamed and jumped back, almost jumping into Sapphire. She blindly swung her sword and, by blind luck alone, cut the skeleton's head in half. 

She looked back and saw the massive gash in her thigh. It was bleeding profusely and running down her leg into a growing puddle of blood. 

Sapphire yelled back at Twilight "Are you okay!?" 

Twilight hissed between her teeth and responded "I'm fine!"

She lifted her sword and swung at another skeleton's head as it mindlessly charge at her, its head was cut in two. 'These skeletons may have numbers on their side but not smarts,' Twilight thought.

A skeleton charged Twilight and swung its sword at her, she rose her sword and blocked the incoming blow. She looked behind her and saw a skeleton running up with its sword swinging wildly.  As quickly as she could she shoved the skeleton in front of her away and turned to meet the other skeleton. She wasn't fast enough though and the skeleton swung its sword and dug deep into Twilight's shoulder.

Twilight howled in pain as she swung her sword through the skeleton right up the spine, spitting its body into two halves. 

Sapphire looked back and her eyes widened In horror as she looked at her injured friend behind her. She looked at the castle and it's opened gates and yelled back at Twilight "Get to the Castle! If we stay out here you'll get hurt more!" 

Twilight yelled through the pain "Okay, let's go!" She turned towards the castle and was face to face with another skeleton. She quickly stabbed it with her sword. She then realized that, well, stabbing a skeleton, where most of it was air in-between bones, isn't the most effective way of killing said skeleton.

The skeleton she tried to stab then stabbed Twilight, doing a lot more damage to her. Twilight swing her sword upright, killing the skeleton. But even as the skeleton fell its sword stayed up, embedded into Twilight's chest. She looked down, barely even able to comprehend what she was seeing. "I think that going right was a very bad idea," she said weakly as she began to sway from side to side. 

Sapphire began to turn around "Twilight this is not the time for talk-" she then turned fully around and stood there like a statue as she looked at Twilight. A sword coming out of her chest and het sword levitating next to her. Twilight began to fall.

"Twilight!" Sapphire screamed, rushing forward and grabbing Twilight in her magic as she fell. Sapphire lifted her up and onto her back. Somehow Twilight was still levitating her sword and swinging it at enemies.

"I don't feel so good," Twilight said with a frail voice.

"Just stay in there okay!" Sapphire yelled up at her as she rushed past the skeletons and towards the castle. She run up to the doors of the castle and turned around, looking at the courtyard. More and more skeletons were filling the confined space. If they didn't decide to leave they would have been surrounded and both of them would have died.

"Twilight, just hold on!" Sapphire yelled up to the still somewhat conscious Twilight Sparkle. They ran inside the castle and Sapphire slammed the doors shut. Sapphire then found a lock and locked the door. As soon as the door shut she felt Twilight go limp and her sword fell to the ground.

Sapphire laid Twilight down on the ground and pulled out some bandages and began to wrap Twilight in them. Tears fell down Sapphire's face as she tried to stop the bleeding. 

"Please don't die!" She said over and over again "Please." She then pulled the sword out and got a needle and some string. She stitched up the massive wound and for good measure she wrapped it in bandages. 

She put her ear up to Twilight's chest, hoping to hear a heartbeat. As the seconds ticked on without any sound Sapphire began to lose hope. 

"No," she said, tears falling down her face and a sob escaping from the confines of her mouth. She was about to pull away when she heard it. The soft beating of a drum inside if Twilight chest. It was faint but there.

Sapphire instantly let out a sigh of relief. She laid there for hours, waiting for Twilight to wake up. And every few minutes she put her ear to Twilight's chest, just to make sure.