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// My path forward was made clear to me... 
// Story: It Sleeps Beneath Foal Mountain 
// by the7Saviors 
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I felt free in a way—liberated, released from shackles I hadn't even known I'd been wearing. Maybe what I'd done had broken me, maybe I'd finally given in and accepted my role in this tragedy, whatever that exact role may have been. Perhaps it was simply relief in the knowledge that I would finally be granted some semblance of the truth behind my misfortune... or it could be that I was just pleased to be alive.  

Whatever the case may have been, I chose not to dwell on Daring Do's fate as I let my memories guide me to that place of worship that I saw through the eyes of another. I was still unsure of whether or not this 'Sight' was meant to be something literal, spiritual, metaphysical, or something else entirely, but in the literal sense at least, the black corridor Daring and I had been traveling was far clearer in my eyes now than it had been by mage light. Everything in my vision had gained an unearthly luminescence; the obsidian-like walls had a pale glow about them and though the foul stench of death and decay still filled the air, the constant foreboding that clung to my mind had faded to the point where it could be easily ignored.

The creeping shadows had taken Daring and retreated to the depths from whence they'd come, leaving me to make my way to my destination in peace. I was left alone with my thoughts—forced to endure a maelstrom of mixed emotions on my own, but I knew that was exactly how it had to be, and so endure it I did. Thankfully my grim ruminations were short-lived, as it wasn't long before yet another ancient structure came into view. After what I surmised to be half an hour or so more of travel, and descending one final flight of stairs, I finally arrived at the very depths of the ruins—the lowest level of the temple meant only for the eyes of the truly 'faithful', or so I guessed. 

Upon reaching the bottom of the steps I saw that I had come to another corridor, though it was less like the cavern-like halls from before and more like the actual temple above. There was only a single corridor stretching roughly a dozen or so yards across; The walls were still made of that strange black stone, but far flatter and smoother, as if sculpted by a professional mason. Lining either side of the hall were pillars built using the same stone, and at the end of the corridor was a large doorway through which lay my final destination. Cautiously I made my way across the hall, finding no reason to be afraid but feeling tense all the same. Within moments I stood before the colossal doors, stopping just short to look them over in awe. 

The doorway itself wasn't completely free of debris and the area around it showed clear signs of a violent break-in. Two halves of what was once a massive pair of double doors lay broken into large chunks on the ground. From the looks of them, they'd been made of the same black stone as the rest of the interior and, contrary to my expectations, were unadorned with any kind of symbolic design, or indeed any kind of design at all. They'd been massive in scale and featureless but even reduced to simple debris, the fallen doors somehow still managed to instill intimidation and even a kind of reverence within me. 

It was sad in a way, to see something that was once so grand defiled like this, and for what? What had transpired here in this place and the temple above? Some kind of raid? An overly violent attempt to stop some heinous rite enacted by nameless cultists? That seemed to be the most likely answer given what Daring and I had seen throughout this expedition, but then who were these knights? And what of the cultists? Were they the 'Hidden Ones' mentioned in the message I wrote within my journal? What rite were they trying to enact? If my dream was anything to go by, they'd been trying to call something, sacrificing some poor mare to bring forth something from somewhere... but what? And from where? Surely it couldn't have been that monstrous beast from my vision? The questions continued to pile atop one another as I stood there, but the answers would continue to elude me if I didn't move forward, and so I did.

There was a moment of hesitation before I tentatively stepped through the doorway, over the shattered stone doors, and into the large 'cathedral'. It was almost exactly as I remembered it from before; a massive circular chamber whose ceiling was so high above me that it was rendered completely hidden in the shadows, hidden even from my twisted sight. Bearing witness to this place outside of a dream somehow made the experience even more surreal, and I found myself wondering if there was even a ceiling at all or if the chamber was simply built beneath a gateway into some empty starless void. The thought of such a thing made me shudder involuntarily and I averted my gaze away from the 'ceiling' to take in the rest of the room. 

What should have been an empty room devoid of all but a few very important details, now looked like some ancient battlefield. Like the temple above, countless pieces of rusted barding, blades, ritual knives and torn and tattered black cloth littered the blood-spattered cobbled stone floor as well as the steps leading up to the raised platform near the back of the chamber. Unlike the temple above, however, there were no corpses to be seen within or among the rusted, worn, and bloodied armor and cloth—no flesh withered and dried with age, no bones bleached by time, nothing save for the dried and blackened blood etched so permanently into the floors and walls that it all may as well have been part of the chamber itself.  

If I hadn't known any better, I would have believed all the creatures here spirited away by some unknown force... but that wasn't the case. The victims of this tragedy, whatever it may have been, had all most likely met the same fate as Daring Do. Whether or not it had been before or after they'd slain one another, or even during all that chaos, I wasn't sure. All I knew was that those winged, gluttonous beasts had eaten their fill here in this sacred chamber, devouring the many knights and cultists not fortunate enough to escape in time.  It was all a sickening sight to behold, and I now understood why I hadn't seen any remains on the last couple of floors, but even this gruesome display wasn't enough to completely distract me from what lay at the top of the steps on the raised platform. 

There, fallen on its side at one end of the platform was a bronze bell far too large for any one pony to carry. It was a bell I recognized all too well, it was the object that stuck out most in my mind from that dream—one bell of a set of three whose ominous yet irresistible sounds together would herald a great change that would doubtless shake the very foundation of our existence. Before I was even aware of it, I'd made my way up the steps and onto the stone platform, my eyes having never left the bell. As I moved to get a better look, I stumbled, barely catching myself in the process. I looked down to see the ground rendered cracked in some places. I followed the cracks in the floor to the altar where the mare had been sacrificed.

Much of the altar had been smashed to rubble along with much of the floor beneath it. Looking back towards the bell, then to the great stone arch above me, I realized the bell had fallen and impacted the altar before rolling to a stop where it now lay. Both the other bells remained suspended high above, silent and unmoving but even so, carrying that same enthralling aura about them. I thought back to my dream and understood that whatever ritual had taken place had failed most likely due to the untimely assault of these knights and the fall of one of the ritual bells. It all clicked together in my head, but there were still yet more questions to be answered. Namely, what was I meant to do here? I'd seen the bells with my own eyes—the 'three instruments that must always remain hidden in Its shadow'—but I felt these weren't what I was meant to see, at least this wasn't all.

There was something else, something I was missing, some piece of the puzzle that was still hidden from me. I furrowed my brow in thought as I pulled my journal, a quill, and some ink from my saddlebags. In the overbearing silence and overwhelming gloom of the 'cathedral', I documented all of my experiences since mine and Daring's departure from Dammare. It took the better part of an hour, and once I'd pinned everything down I rose from my haunches, resigning myself to search the chamber for whatever I was missing. The moment I stood up, however, something dragged my attention to the altar. It was a sensation not unlike that of the foul aura the tome emitted. Wary, I rose from my haunches and prepared to investigate when a sudden voice rang out from the darkness around me, its deep timbre pleasant, welcoming, and terribly out of place.

"You seem rather lost for somepony who's finally found their way... unsure despite the conviction you displayed mere moments ago... perhaps I can be of some assistance in that regard... if you'll have me that is..."

I recognized the voice, and as the owner of said voice stepped out of seemingly nowhere and trotted calmly, almost leisurely into my field of vision smiling his affable smile, I felt a horrible mix of dread and confusion. There, standing before me and giving a slight yet courteous bow, was none other than Sound Mind, looking just as dapper and friendly as I remembered with his perfectly cropped mane and old-fashion black tailcoat. Dumbfounded, I could only stare at him as he looked back at me, his gaze piercing through the very depths of my being despite his calm smile and the fact that I couldn't see the eyes hidden those dark circular glasses. Possibly realizing that I was at a loss for words, the stallion spoke again, his smile widening just a touch.

"An absolute pleasure to see you once more, Twilight Sparkle. I did tell you we'd meet again, did I not? And now here we both are in this ancient tomb, two souls trotting down a certain path not because we want to, but because it is necessary... you've made your decision... you've cast aside most of your doubts... and now I am here to help you along that path. It will not a pleasant journey going forward, Miss Sparkle; you will lose much, but gain even more in return... and I will be here not just as a guide, but as a friend—somepony you can rely on in these trying times that await you.

"Your recent experiences have opened your eyes to what lies 'beyond', but everything you've seen up until now has only been a mere glimpse of the truth you seek. You once denied the path set before you, and I can see that in some ways you still do... but once all is laid bare for you to see with your own eyes, you will realize that there is no escaping what's to come... so please, allow me to accompany you on this path we both travel and I can guarantee you'll reach your destination a much wiser mare than when you first began... and if you still have doubts... I bring you a gift—the 'missing piece of the puzzle' if you will..." 

With these words spoken, the stallion reached into his coat and from it pulled a book, a tome not dissimilar from the one I held within my saddlebags. He held it out to me, urging me to take it, and I did so almost involuntarily, my curiosity once again overwhelming my caution and pushing me to do so. Unlike the tome in my bag, this book's cover was unadorned with any kind of esoteric markings whatsoever, leaving the front completely black save for the title, and in remarkably good condition compared to the tattered state of the book I'd taken from Daring Do. 

The title itself was engraved in silver and written in a language entirely unfamiliar to me. It wasn't the same as that eldritch and arcane lexicon I'd become accustomed to, but even as the actual words continued to confound my eyes, their meaning slowly but surely came to me and the title, translated into Ponish, escaped my lips in a soft whisper before I could stop myself...

'The Book of Iod'.

A vision suddenly came to me then, an image taken straight from my dream. I saw the familiar scene of a cloaked pony-like creature, his face hidden beneath the shadow of his hood. He stood tall and proud atop a stone platform, speaking to the fellow worshippers that had gathered below him. His speech was passionate and full of zeal; words full of nothing but love and praise for their unholy and vaunted 'God of Death'. In one twisted hoof, he held aloft a book, the Book of Iod—a mysterious text whose pages contained both horrors and wisdom beyond measure; the 'bible' from which the hooded pony read aloud the unholy 'scripture', the truth to end all lies, the truth to end all truths. 

Yes... this was that book, I realized, and with that realization came a question, one that I wasn't sure I wanted to be answered. Nevertheless, I turned my disbelieving gaze from the book to stare at Sound Mind, that question spoken only through my expression. The stallion seemed to understand, as his smile grew just a bit more mysterious, but he did not give a vocal answer to my unasked question. I searched his face, looking for any deceit, but finding none. I didn't trust his motives, but it seemed he truly did want to help me find my answers, and he was right. 

There was no going back after what I'd allow to happen to Daring Do. I had come this far and though I hadn't checked recently, I was certain my affliction had only gotten worse. I was marked, cursed both physically and mentally; Had I quit my journey here, there would be no fixing me, and my friends and family would ask questions—questions which I'd have no answers to... but this stallion, Sound Mind... he was clearly not a normal pony, but perhaps that was exactly what I needed. Somepony who was mired in the same madness that continued to hound me may have been just what I needed to understand that madness. Perhaps I could use him to gain the knowledge I sought, perhaps he'd be using me, but either way I began to doubt I would make it much further on my own, and that it would be much more difficult to face those I still needed to talk to by myself.

It took another few moments to come to a decision, during which Sound Mind waited patiently for my answer, but eventually—grudgingly—I elected to allow the stallion to guide me down this supposedly necessary path. In the end, it was not a path I wanted to travel alone, and back then, I still believed I could diverge if I so wanted... but I was wrong, and Equus paid the price.