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// Chapter II: Tambelon 
// Story: The Ancient Arcanist 
// by Histy 
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There are many things which can cause sadness. The death of a family member or pet, the tone of A song, the suffering of others, and a good person falling out of grace.

Losing your home can also count as one of those causes.

Tambelon, or whatever was left of it, was now just a land with stones scattered around, dotting the otherwise flat landscape. These were the only signs left that the city even existed at all, no buildings, no foundations, not even the small plateau it was built on remained. Tambelon was thoroughly left to rot after the fall of the Emperor, it would seem.

In hindsight, I shouldn't have been surprised at this development. As I said before, several years is quite a long time, and anything could have happened during this period, such as Gusty's Pony Confederacy collapsing due to infighting, leading to the inevitable rebirth of the three Pony tribes who then proceed to war over petty disagreements. If so, it would seem that the once great City of Darkness, as the Emperor called it, has been forgotten by history, and left to decay to the state which it was now.

But what did this all mean to me personally? To me, this had been the place I called home for years, I'd even dare say my entire life. I experimented here, slept there, conversed with others over there. All of this now but a distant memory in my brain, never to be experienced again.

Sighing, I sat on one of the many stones that littered the land. Using my staff, I created a mirror image. As I expected, the reflection that stared back at me was myself, wearing the same black and white gothic dress. The same orange scarf wrapped around my neck to compliment it. The same black beret with the same red accents, with the same ribbons attached on it, also with the same black-white pattern. The same young, childish face. The same orange eyes, eyes which, to a casual observer, seem filled with life and color. And lastly, the same short white hair adorned my head, which had not even grown during my time in Tartarus, remaining at shoulder length.

Overall, it looked like I hadn't aged a day, unlike this place. Willing the mirror to disappear, I began to think over my next options on what to do.

But what was there  for me to do? Sure, explore the world, but in which direction would I go exactly? North? South? East? West? There were many options that could lead me to civilization, but there are some which might lead me to an expansive ocean, a barren desert, a lifeless jungle, and at worst, the Frozen North. Just imagining myself in that tundric wasteland of nothingness already brought shivers to my body.

That was when a faint sound reached my ears. A distant whistle of something echoed from somewhere beyond my sight. I was immediately curious as to the origins of this noise, and stood up from the rock I sat on and began to investigate.

Now, the first thing that came to finding a sound is figuring out the direction it was coming from. That was easy, considering I had been hearing the sound from my right ear since it started. So I went right. The second step was to actually find it, which was far harder, considering the fact that my staff's age disabled many of the spells it could have done before, like making me able to fly. This made the task of finding the source far more irritating, as I couldn't simply go up into the sky and identify what the noise was.

"I knew I should've added time distortion to the pocket dimension!" I thought as I trekked my way through the grass. "It would've made all of this shit I want to do so much easier!" But alas, when I created it, I thought the time distortion was unnecessary, as I didn't know I would be imprisoned in Tartarus for an unknown number of years. How stupid of me to not think that such a thing would happen!

Now I had to find another solution to this problem, which came to me rather quickly; teleportation.

Theoretically, this could work, as teleporting from one location to another in quick succession could be equated as a mode of transportation. But I feared the current state of my staff wouldn't be able to handle it due to its years of neglect. It could cease the ability of teleporting, or worse, cease functioning altogether. It was in my best interests to keep that from happening, lest I be doomed to only basic magic use for the rest of my days.

…But I easily got impatient from walking. So I teleported anyway.

It took a relatively short amount of time to finally find the source of the noise that had caught my interests. And, if I were being honest, what I saw wasn't quite what I was expecting.

"Holy shit… that's a train!"

Indeed, there it was, the famous multi-cart locomotive, moving along its tracks at break-neck speed, all the while wailing its powerful horn. By the looks of it, there were no windows in any of the other cars, meaning that this particular train was meant for the transport of materials rather than people. That meant that I could sneak into one of the boxcars and have it ride my way to civilization.

Wasting no time, I quickly used my staff to teleport me beside the train. I quickly grabbed onto the door lock of a boxcar, which had the side effect of making the train yank me along for the ride.

With phase one completed I moved on to the next phase; getting inside the boxcar. Fortunately, this was as easy as dismantling the lock to the door. Using my staff, I sawed the lock horizontally, eventually breaking it. Without its lock to keep it closed, the boxcar door slid wide open at lightning speed, almost causing me to lose my grip and falling to the ground. Or worse, to my demise.

Now that the boxcar was opened, I carefully inserted myself inside, delicately making sure that I don't misstep or lose balance. When both of my feet were in, I finally gained enough confidence to let go of the door.

Now inside, I looked at what kind of cargo this cart was carrying. There were a variety of crates possibly containing food and the like. And the possibility of food was enough for my curiosity to overcome me. Using my trusty staff, I opened one of the crates and looked inside. To my greatest of luck, I found it full of fresh apples. Wasting no time, I swooped one into my hands and began to bite into it.

And oh boy, was it refreshing to eat something after who-knows-how-long I was in Tartarus. In that short period of time, I felt as though I were in heaven. The juiciness, the burst of flavor, my dry mouth became completely rejuvenated and brought back to the world of food. Of course, the magic soon wore off and the apple began to taste as bland as ever. I continued to eat it as, with a quick check of the contents of the other crates, apples were the only thing on the menu.

Taking another bite out of my apple, I turned back to the open door of the boxcar. Outside, wide plains passed by. There were several mountains in the distance, each as tall as the next, with ice and snow-covered tops. A quick glance to the side also revealed the ruins of Tambelon slowly fading as the train moved away from it. And to be honest, seeing my old home in ruins, and leaving it for what will likely be indefinitely, is kind of heartbreaking.

But I quickly buried those thoughts down. I was in a new era. The train I stood on proved that much. How long it has been since I was imprisoned I have yet to figure out, but it was likely for a very long time. This could mean a multitude of things I theorized could be correct, such as Gusty being dead, as well as everyone who supported her. Unfortunately, the same could be said about everyone else involved with the Emperor's quest for absolute domination. With the very real possibility they were also dead, it would mean that I was the only one left alive from that point in history.

The only one left. I felt some pride in my perceived uniqueness. In being the only remnant of a possibly long-forgotten history, it's likely that no one will know who I am or where I came from. That would inevitably make lying low much easier to accomplish, which in turn ensured that I'd get the privacy I value so much. And with everyone gone, it also meant there was no one to control me other than myself. With there being no Emperor to monitor my every move, I could take any action I want with no interruption, and without the fear of one day being imprisoned (or worse, executed) for disloyalty.

A slight smile came to my lips after that thought. I was free. Free to do what I wished. No authority to reign me in or control me. Nothing. It was the perfect scenario I never knew I wanted.

Taking one last bite out of the apple, I carelessly threw it outside the boxcar and began to think over my future moves. It was a foregone conclusion that I would remain onboard this train until it reached civilization, at which point I'll ditch it and begin my journey into this new world I found myself in. But after that came the real question; what will I do afterwards?

"Kill everyone, obviously," I blurted out to no one in particular, chuckling. Admittedly it was an easy answer, at least if I want to be noticed early on. While being in the spotlight was quite enticing, I also loathed being the center of attention, especially if it's negative. It always made me feel somewhat insecure about myself, having others throw insults and question my morals. I also would probably have to hide quite often in order to avoid capture, and with how much I valued my current freedom, I wanted to avoid that possibility as much as possible. So I decided to shoot down that option.

"Maybe I could disguise myself and acquire political power?" This choice had some similarities with the first, such as being in the spotlight. But as opposed to killing everyone I came across, gaining political power gave me valuable allies, at the expense also of giving me indestructible enemies. And on top of that, management of that magnitude would become an absolute bane to my existence, and the paperwork that came with it would undoubtedly prevent me from pursuing my passions was the cherry on the cake. So I tossed away that option, too.

"Maybe I could live as a nomad…" ooh! Now there's an idea. Being a nomad offered many things I saw as positives; independence, privacy, exploration, being a nomad granted me the ability to do all of those things. The only major issue would be the gathering of food. There were numerous ways to circumvent that issue, most obvious of which was stealing them from the markets. Or pickpocketing other people so that I'll be able to spend the amount needed to purchase them myself. Hunting was another idea, but the thought of waiting for an ungodly amount of time only to be rewarded with a small amount of food in return didn't seem like a good investment to me. So it would seem my best option was stealing from others as I travel across the new era I found myself in.

Having finally made up my mind on what I was going to do in the coming days, I turned back and stared inside the boxcar once more. Making my way to one of the crates, I sat on it, leaning against another crate, and set my staff beside me. It wasn't comfortable in the slightest, but with my long walk out of Tartarus, and the lengths I went to get on this train, I was willing to accept anything which helped me rest and relax.

Once again, I found myself looking at the passing scenery of grass, mountains, clouds, and so on. Judging by how there was no villages or towns in the distance, we were still a ways off from civilization, ranging from a few hours to perhaps even a few days.

That's fine. I have the largest supply of apples one could hope for, not that I needed it. But eating them could help me think over the final details of my future nomadic lifestyle. Speaking of thinking, I still can use my imagination to pass the time when necessary.

After all, I used it to pass time on Tartarus for God-knows how long, and seeing the amount of time a simple trip like this could take, this would be child's play.