//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: Discovery // Story: Trial by Sound // by Agrith //------------------------------// Chapter 4: Discovery “Magic? Magic?” Crystal said, shaking Magic Knowledge in an attempt to wake her up. “Ugh…what happened?” Magic asked, groggy from fainting. “You fainted when you saw our friend,” Stone said. “Friend? What friend…” Magic trailed off when she saw Derahk. She blinked a few times to make sure he was really there. “So it wasn’t a bad dream,” she said before passing out again. “Not again,” Crystal said, trying to shake Magic awake, again. Derahk sighed, at least as close to a sigh as someone could with his mouth, and banged his head against the wall a few times. The thumping noises seemed to coax Magic out of unconsciousness. “Please don’t faint again Magic,” Crystal said. “I think I’ve done enough of that for tonight,” Magic said, moving herself into a sitting position, “and I’m quite surprised you two didn’t have the same reaction.” “Maybe it was because he fell out of a tree when we first meet him,” Stone said. Derahk tried to do a sarcastic laugh, but it ended up sounding like an animal getting torn into pieces. “Okay, so he can make noises but not produce anything that sounds like language,” Magic said while walking over to Derahk, “Maybe we could try writing.” Derahk was sitting on the floor, making sure his spikes weren’t going to hit anything. Magic’s horn glowed and a table with quills and scrolls on it slid in front of him. “Do you know how to write?” Magic asked. Derahk nodded hesitantly before picking up a quill. He searched through his memories but couldn’t find anything that resembled a written language. A few things popped up, so he decided just to draw them. He moved the quill across a piece of parchment only to find no images were being produced. “You have to dip it in ink first,” Magic said while levitating an ink well in front of him. Derahk nodded in thanks and dipped the quill in the ink. He then began writing the symbols that were in his mind. At first, they made little sense; but as he continued writing, he began to associate the groups of symbols with words. When he was done, he put the quill done and slid the paper over to Magic. “Ummm, I think we might have a problem,” Magic said. Where Derahk saw words, she saw rows of circles with lines and smaller circles drawn in them. While there were consistencies that cropped up every now and then, she didn’t even know where to start with translating. The alphabet could be radically different from any known language or it could even be based on phonetics with Derahk’s limited vocals. “I don’t even have a clue what kind of language this is,” Magic said, “I’ve never seen anything that used circles before. While I have seen some alphabets use shapes to connect certain words, nothing even comes close to this. Do you know any other language?” Derahk shook his head. “Well, I guess I’ll just look for something that comes even remotely close to this and work from there,” Magic said and turned to Stone and Crystal, “Shouldn’t you two be at home?” “Our parents think we’re at slumber parties,” Crystal said. Magic raised an eyebrow at that. “Why does everypony think something weird will happen at a slumber party?” Stone asked. “Once you get a little older, you’ll understand,” Magic said, “Well, I guess you can sleep in the conference room. There are a few blankets in the closet down the hallway. Bathroom is on the other side.” “Okay,” Crystal said, “Good night Magic, good night Mister.” “Good night everypony,” Stone said. “Good night,” Magic said. Derahk made a few clicking sounds before returning to the parchment. Crystal and Stone walked down the hallway to get some sleep. Magic started looking through the books, searching for anything that could allow them to communicate with Derahk. Derahk continued looking through his memories, hoping he could find something. It was an hour before he came up with something. Instead of actively searching for a memory, he looked for certain sensations that could be attributed to writing. It was time consuming, but eventually he found something that could be useful. Trying to find instances where he wrote something, he found a memory where he was sitting down and looking at a black wall. On the black wall were a series of shapes that he was supposed to write down. Excited, he began writing all of them down on the parchment. Seeing them before him seemed to send some sort of signal through his mind and more memories of writing began to emerge. Magic, noticing he was writing again, walked over to see what he had accomplished. While it didn’t look as neat as the circles, it was definitely a different language. When Derahk had finished, he again slid the paper in front of Magic. “Interesting,” she said, “I think I may know what this is. Let me double check.” Her horn glowed as a think tome levitated down from one of the upper shelves. She put it down with an audible thump and began searching through the index. Finding what she was looking for, she opened it to a page near the middle and began comparing Derahk’s writing with the writing on the page. “Aside from a few discrepancies which I attribute to poor writing style, this is a perfect match,” Magic explained, “This language was used by a few Diamond Dog warrens up in Gem Fido. It wasn’t all that common and fell out of use in favor of a universal script. Oh, and it can be translated directly into Equestrian. Here, let me write it out for you.” Taking out a fresh sheet of parchment, Magic wrote out the alphabet Derahk had written and next to each letter, she wrote the corresponding symbol in Equestrian. “The grammar is the same so there shouldn’t be any confusion, but for now, let’s just stick with translating what you write. Is that alright?” Derahk nodded. “Good. Now let’s start with your name.” ”My name is Derahk.” “Derahk,” Magic said to herself, “Does that name have any meaning?” “Not that I am aware of.” “Okay, next question: what are you?” “I am a Rahkshi of Sonics.” “Umm…what does the ‘sonics’ mean?” “I am honestly not sure. My memories are fragmented and I only have glimpses of what my life was like before I awoke in the forest.” “So how come you know who you are?” “The majority of my memories are of what I am, not who I a. Seems strange. It feels like something is blocking me from knowing who I used to be.” “Maybe with time it will come back to you. What were you doing out in the forest?” “I have no idea. I woke up in a small clearing and ran into Stone and Crystal a few minutes later.” “Do you have any idea what you might have been doing?” “I have a nagging feeling I do, but again it feels like something is blocking it.” “Well whatever this thing is, it seems to be going to extreme lengths to keep you in the dark.” ”You can say that again. Looking through a memory only to find a gaping hole in it is almost annoying as these little indents on my head.” “Indents? What indents?” “Right at the base of my head. I only feel them when I run my hand over them. It seems like a minor annoyance but it is like a bald spot on your coat. It doesn’t do anything but you don’t want it to be there.” “May I take a look at them?” Derahk nodded and lowered his head so Magic could see. What Magic saw confused her a little. At the base of the plates that made up the top of Derahk’s head, there appeared to be what looked like runes carved into the metal. At least that’s what they appeared to be. Upon closer examination, they were the same circle language Derahk had written earlier. “They aren’t indents; they’re carvings in your circle language. Actually, they don’t even looked carved; more like-“ Derahk didn’t hear the rest she had to say. Magic had decided to prod the carvings, and the instant she did everything when dark and he lost all feeling. His consciousness floated in a void and he desperately tried to keep his mind from drifting apart. After what seemed like an eternity, Derahk had managed to stabilize everything and risked taking a look around. In what he assumed to be a void, he could see tiny specks of light floating around him. Reaching out, his mind brushed up against a few of them. …coma…..memory……life…..plug……kraata…..mission……..checks….. Memories. Fragments, but they were still memories. He looked around. All those specks, those millions of specks, were the memories he was missing. All he had to do was collect them all. But how? It would take years to gather all the specks. Wait, what the hell was he talking about? This is his mind, just will the memories to come to him. Just as he was about to do just that, all the specks vanished. He didn’t have time to panic as he felt himself being flung across the space. Next thing he next, he was staring at a wood paneled ceiling with Magic shaking his head back and forth. “Derahk? Derahk, thank Celestia you’re awake,” she said worriedly, “What happened?” Sitting back up, Derahk shook his head before writing a reply. “How long was I out and what did you do?” “You were out for only a few minutes. All I did was touch the carvings on your head.” “Whatever you did sent my mind to place that appeared to contain all the memories that seemed to be blocked. I was going to try to access them all but I was sucked back into consciousness before I could.” “So those things are blocking your memory?” “Possibly. I can’t say for sure.” “What do you want to do now?” “As much as I want to go back and get my memories, I don’t think it would be a good idea to go back so soon. I think I’ll just rest; you should too, you look like you need it.” While Magic was used to staying up until midnight, it was nearly four in the morning and Magic’s eyelids felt like lead weights. “Yeah, I think I should too,” she said with a yawn, “There’s a pantry down that way if you get hungry. I’m gonna hit the hay.” Magic walked over toward another part of the building, stumbling slightly, and entered a study that doubled as bedroom. “Goodnight,” Magic said before flicking off the lights. Derahk sat there in the dark, not feeling tired in the slightest. While some of his questions had been answered, he now had a slew of new questions. He decided it wouldn’t be worth it to continue dwelling on the mysteries surrounding, so he made himself comfortable and closed his eyes. Author's Notes: Yeah, little action in this chapter. But don't worry, there definitely will be in the next chapter.