“And to what do I owe the pleasure, oh dark one?” The Storm King asked from atop his throne. As usual, the fortress in which he sat was being bombarded with wind, rain and lightning, as it was almost every day. What was not so usual, was his company.
While his Commander, dressed in her full uniform, and smelling ever so faintly of blood, was not an unusual sight in his throne room, the tall, graceful creature standing before him was most certainly an unusual sight. It’s slender, many pronged antlers, and thick, tawny brown and white fur marked it as a creature from the far north, but it did not seem particularly bothered by the warmer climate of the southernmost part of the continent, and the island upon which it now stood.
Yes, while cold to him, and to many others, this place was practically tropical for a reindeer from the frozen wastelands beyond the storms. She stood with a smirk on her face, her shadow dancing and flickering, despite being stood in an unmoving source of light.
Gaul, for that was the King’s true name, could tell that this creature unnerved his commander. Since his little…..lesson not two weeks ago, she had been despondent and had hardly said a word to anyone. But now she was sat bolt upright, muscles locked into a stiff posture that screamed out a desire to flee.
He’d punish her if she did, and she knew that.
Gaul had met this creature, this ...demon, before, and knew that it loved to play games, and pull strings. On many an occasion, it had whispered to him of ways he could acquire artifacts of power, or where a particular group of lowlife rebels were hiding. Yes, it had its uses, this dark creature, but it also concerned him.
He knew it was powerful. Just the fact that it had waltzed so easily into his fortress when they had first met proved that. But that was what worried him.
Because he knew she served someone else.
“I have a request to make of you, oh great King.” Came the sibilant, seductive voice. “And a gift, should you agree to my proposal.”
Once again, Gaul found himself intrigued. This creature delighted in stroking his ego, and he knew that she knew he knew that.
“Is Gale around?” The creature, who often went by the name, Serana, asked. “I’d like to visit my favourite mutt while I’m here.”
Commander Tempest shuddered at the mention of the name.
“Commander Gale is currently busy elsewhere, I’m afraid. Now what was this proposal of yours?” Gaul replied, cautiously. There was no sense in lying to her. Gale was busy in Abyssinia, dealing with the Emporer’s rotten little hellspawn he called a son.
“A pity.” Serana purred. “Oh well. I shall have to schedule a playdate with him some other time.” She flicked her head to one side, casting her gaze to the north. “I know of your current plans for expansion into the Northern regions. It just so happens that I have a venture there myself, and I could use your help.”
“What kind of venture? And what help would you be asking of me?” Gaul asked, eyes narrowed.
“Why, the destruction of a particular city, nothing more. Something you and your lovely toys can manage far more easily than I.” Serana grinned, her bizarre fangs gleaming. “This particular city houses an artifact that is keeping me from being able to locate something that belongs to my master. Destroy it, and I can locate and retrieve my master’s relic.”
“And why should I do this for you?”
“It is a city you will want to destroy anyway, so I thought I’d simply encourage you to carry out your plan. With a little ...addition.” The Reindeer’s antlers glowed...or, rather, they didn’t. It would be more accurate to say that shadows curled about them like smoke, and a wrapped parcel appeared in the air between the Reindeer and the King of the Jotuns.
It was long, and thin, though one side seemed to have a wider end than the other.
“Go ahead, your majesty. This is the gift I offer, in exchange for your services.” Serana purred again.
Gaul cautiously reached out for the package, only for a hoof to stop him. “My king, please, it could be a trick. Allow me.”
Gaul raised an eyebrow at his Commander’s brave accusation of deception. Serana, however, merely chuckled. “I like this one, your majesty. I might just steal her for myself, one day.”
Gaul ignored that remark. He was instead focused on the package as Tempest began to unravel the string holding it shut. The parcel was wrapped in a thick, supple material, not too dissimilar from waxed canvas, and tied up with pure white strings.
The knots came open easily, and Tempest slowly unwrapped the object within.
When the paper came free, Tempest gasped, pulling her hooves away in shock.
The object that tumbled from her grasp was a gnarled wooden staff, wrought of blue dyed wood and capped with a sapphire that glowed of its own volition. And the whole room could feel the thrum of magic that washed out from it, despite it being in the middle of a palace built out of magic nullifying stone, sat atop of an island of the same.
Tempest offered a quick, murmured apology for her clumsiness, and picked up the staff again, before offering it to the King.
His claws closed around it, and he felt something he had longed to feel for a very long time, indeed. His eyes shimmered, going from their normal white, blue and black, to nearly pure blue orbs, with a single, darker blue iris staring out from each one.
And the king began to laugh, for he could feel the magic, after so long.
While here it was muted, he could sense it, it seemed like his newfound awareness reached all over the world, and even revealed what little rested inside him. The magic of the staff was eager to respond to his call, the crystal tip suddenly aglow with power that crackled as a bolt of lightning, coiling and arcing up and down the staff’s length.
“It will absorb the magic of powerful beings, should you catch them.” Serana spoke, a cruel smile splitting her muzzle almost in two. “Drain the most powerful creatures you can find, and this gift will only grow stronger.”
Grinning, and feeling very agreeable, Gaul turned to face Serana. “Just tell me the name of the city, and I’ll erase it from the map!”
Serana grinned back, her sharp teeth and her now glowing white eyes the only thing that could be seen amid the inky black mass that was swallowing her whole.
“Destroy the Crystal Empire, your Majesty, and my master will reward you even further!”
The reindeer and the shadow that had seemingly devoured her vanished, dissipating into thin air and leaving no trace of their passing as they did.
Gaul looked down at the staff in his hands, and then turned to Tempest. “Muster our forces, Commander. I want them armed, and ready for war in five days.”
“But, my lord, the storms will be too dangerous to traverse before Summer! To fly through them in Spring would-” Tempest was suddenly flung across the room by a bolt of lightning, where she slammed into the wall, before falling to the floor and lying there, twitching in pain.
“By Spring, Commander!! And anyone else who objects receives the same punishment!” Gaul roared, pointing the staff at his officer, snarling. “We will fly come Spring! And Equestria will fall before us!” The king swept the staff in a broad arc as he turned to the nearest window, grinning eagerly at the prospect of conquest.
He did not see the Unicorn’s look of fear…..and hatred.
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Our heroes will return, in:
The Empire of Storms