3.3
“You know what must be done...”
Aiden could only scarcely keep himself from the verge of panic. He quickly examined his surroundings; the sandstorm that was raging limited his vision to only a few feet. As he walked on, Aiden extended one arm to hold onto the occasional tree branch that he could find. Whenever he placed a hand on one of these dark, shriveled up plants, he noted that the wood had a texture akin to rotting foliage; much like fallen leaves that were so fragile, that they felt as though they were about to crumble to dust at Aiden’s touch.
Aiden forced himself to press onwards, past the cold wind’s merciless blows. His ragged breaths into the gas mask’s rebreather were the only thing his ears could pick up over the howling gale.
“Keep moving...” Aiden thought to himself, but not without struggle. “It’s so cold...and that godforsaken pulse is back...” Indeed, the same throbbing pulse he had encountered from Taotras was taking hold of him. He shook his head before he slammed a fist onto the top of his helmet.
“Come on, Aiden,” he encouraged himself. “Focus...” He treaded onward; what he was trying to reach, he hadn’t the slightest idea. The events that had occurred back in Taotras came back to him, like a slideshow for the mind. Most of which that stood out was that...whatever it was. Aiden knew that it wasn’t a human being, even though it looked like one. Aiden’s blood chilled even further as he remembered the way it spoke; the unnatural ring its voice made when it echoed against the chamber’s walls. The way the eyes went from glazed over to a piercing yellow the second he emerged from the light.
Vanguard, he called himself.
“The Forerunner of the Reclamation,” Aiden thought.
Aiden stared down at his feet, trying to focus on anything other than the biting cold that was somehow piercing through his clothing; he might as well have not been wearing them. Never before in his life had he experienced such an indescribable chill like this; not in the worst winter storms back in his world. He clenched his teeth and nearly fell to his knees.
“Shiiiiit...” he drew out his curse. “Come on, Aiden; you’re doing fine...” Aiden raised his head back to look ahead of him so he could see where he was going. He brought a hand up to wipe his lenses clean once again from the dust that had completely obscured his vision. While still walking forward, he felt his hand brush against something sharp on its journey back down to his side. This made him jump in both surprise and pain as he felt the object create a small cut along the skin on top of the hand. Aiden immediately brought the appendage to his lips and instinctively, only to be stopped by his mask. Aiden cursed again, and sheltered his small injury before he turned to meet the object that had caused him his injury.
It was a sizeable shard of metal that jutted out of the sand. A deep grey color that was covered with the dust and dirt being blown about by the gusts of wind. This, however, seemed to be only a piece of a somewhat larger structure. Aiden couldn’t make out a thing with the sandstorm still raging. He approached the larger structure in hopes of learning what it was.
For once, in what felt like quite a long time, his hopes were granted.
The structure was a VTOL. A derelict one, to be exact. It looked just like the ones that were used to transport soldiers and equipment back on his world. “What the hell...” Aiden’s sentence trailed off. He almost couldn’t believe it; yet here sat the wreckage of said aerial transport; the front viewport glass was shattered and the starboard engine was torn off; most likely laying in even more pieces further away.
What caught his attention the most, was the sound of moans of agony. Curious, and concerned, Aiden decided to look for the source of the noise. He turned his attention to the wide open rear door on the back of the vehicle, just under the tail. Inside the hull of the vehicle were two rows of chairs, four in each. The moaning continued from the cockpit of the VTOL. Aiden placed his left hand on the wall of the hull’s chamber, looking forward into the dark cockpit. He could, however, make out someone sitting in the pilot’s seat.
“Hello?” He whispered rather quietly; probably too quiet for the person; whoever it was; in the pilot’s seat to hear him. Aiden took in a deep breath from his mask’s oxygen filter before he pushed himself off the wall with his hand. “Hello?” He repeated in a louder tone as he approached the figure strapped in the pilot’s chair. “Who’s there?” The person did not respond.
He turned to the left to walk further to the pilot’s side. “Hey!” Aiden placed his right hand on the pilot’s shoulder and shook it slightly. The pilot’s head turned up to look straight into Aiden’s eyes. Even though his mask was on, Aiden was sure that his jaw attempted to hit the floor at the sight before him. Black hair, brown eyes, male, Hispanic. An all too familiar face for him.
“Oh my God...” Aiden drew out his sentence as his mind finished processing the person looking back up at him. “A-Alex!?” His longtime teammate and friend stared back up at him for a moment; his lips were barely parted and a very weak sign of life was in his eyes. Aiden’s attention was then drawn to Alex’s hand, which he had pressed against a wound on his stomach. A small piece of metal shrapnel was sticking out, just above Alex’s navel.
“A-Alex...” Aiden tried finding the right words to say, if there were any. He leaned in closer to examine the extent of Alex’s injury. “Oh, fucking hell...” He swore as he discovered the seriousness of the wound. Aiden placed a hand on his forehead as he frantically thought of a way to save his friend. “Alex, stay with me!” Aiden yelled as the sandstorm outside picked up once again. “I’m gonna get you out of here!” He reached for the piece of shrapnel, but stopped himself. “Fuck! What should I do!?” Aiden frantically thought.
“A pity you couldn’t save him,” an eerily familiar voice from behind said. Aiden gasped in surprise before turning to lock eyes with whoever just spoke. There, standing at the opening in the rear of the VTOL, was the creature called Vanguard. He still wore the same robes from when Aiden first encountered him in Taotras. His expression could not be more blank.
“You...” Aiden whispered.
“Take that mask off, Intervention,” Vanguard said with a disapproving look. “Have some respect for your older sibling.” Aiden slowly obeyed, trusting the shelter that the VTOL provided from the storm. “That’s better,” Vanguard said with a smile once Aiden’s mask now hung from the base of his neck. He then turned his attention to the dying man in the pilot’s seat. He chuckled softly as Alex coughed and gagged on his own blood.
“It must be such a shame having his death weighing on you...” Vanguard said as he crossed his arms. Aiden shook his head.
“What?” He stood there, pointing his left hand at the now deceased Alex, then pointing it at Vanguard, who just stood there, leaning his back against the wall. “N-no! His death was a result of the crash! The pilot was killed, and he...”
“He sealed the fates of four other souls,” Vanguard interrupted. Aiden clenched his hands over his ears, trying to block out his brother’s harsh words. “Mary Willis died in the abandoned schoolyard, Leon Caine was shot by a sniper, David Bern was surrounded and beaten to death like an animal, and lastly, Emily Benet fell to her death when she tried to see your journey to its end.” He lifted his chin up. “They trusted you to protect them; and you have failed them.”
Aiden shook his head again and clenched his eyes shut. “That’s not true!!” The sandstorm outside escalated to a new level of severity, and the wind roared above even Aiden’s thoughts, yet he still could hear Vanguard’s words, clearer than ever before.
“You have failed them, Intervention,” Vanguard began his slow approach to where Aiden stood. “You failed them, just like you have failed Mother. Just like you will fail Celestia.”
Aiden opened his eyes to see that Vanguard stood less than five feet away. “Shut the fuck up!!” He screamed as he pointed a finger at him.
Vanguard had the most hateful look on his face as he said six more words:
“Just like you will fail Lyra.”
Aiden pulled his right hand up to his cheek and clenched it into a fist. His eyes swam with anger at the mention of his friend in such a manner. “Shut your fucking mouth!!” He roared as he lunged at his nemesis. “Shut up!!!” Aiden rushed forward, and with all of his strength, he did...
...Absolutely nothing.
Vanguard seemed to evaporate into thin air, leaving a thin cloud of black, flaky material where he once stood, and Aiden lost his footing, tumbling out of the wreckage and back into the storm. Aiden helplessly fell face first into the sand, his lenses completely covered with a new coat of dust. Still breathing through clenched teeth, Aiden rose to his knees as he heard Vanguard’s voice echo in the distance.
“So...weak,” Vanguard taunted. “How far have you fallen, Brother?” This did not sound like a taunt; more like an honest question that he wanted an answer for. “Have you so easily forgotten? All of those eons that we’ve lived together, as a family; Mother, Father, and Children...has merely twenty short years in such a frail, form of flesh overturned the values you’ve held so close since Mother gave birth to you?”
Aiden stood up and regained his footing in the sand, trying his best to ignore the ancient entity’s words. He started walking. Nowhere in particular, he just wanted to get as far away from the place where he had just watched Alex die...again.
The air was freezing cold, yet the sand that was peltering the exposed back of his neck and his hands was searing hot. These two opposites came together perfectly to make Aiden’s misery complete. He felt a few flakes of burning sand enter the still bleeding cut on his left hand. Aiden brought the wound to his chest, which was now coursing with agony. “God...” He winced through clenched teeth. “...Damn it!” Now his misery was complete.
He continued walking up until the point when he felt his feet meet contact with something more stable than sand. He looked down and wiped the sand off his lenses again, with great annoyance. He was standing on a stone tiled floor. Sand whipped in and out in small sweeps at his feet. He closed his eyes, trying to either shake away or ignore the cold and the pain in his hand.
He opened his eyes.
---
Before him now, stood a large, stone castle like structure. He brought a hand to his face, to notice that his gas mask was once again missing. He placed his other hand on top of his head, to realize that his helmet was also gone. “Just some extremely vivid dream, I guess,” he thought to himself, trying to shrug off the outright weirdness of the situation. He examined his left hand however, to notice that the cut he had sustained in his dream was there. “Of course...” he groaned.
The otherworldly cold had left him, and was replaced with a more familiar kind of cold. He turned around frantically to see countless trees and overgrown bushes around him. The nature of the foliage reminded him of one place.
“The Everfree Forest...” he thought with a sigh. It was late evening it seemed, judging by the opening in the foliage above revealed a dark sky. He turned his attention to the ruined castle in front of him. It looked to be hundreds; possibly thousands of years old. The stonework bore stress marks and deep cracks seem to have accumulated due to years of negligence. Stain glass windows were shattered and missing fragments; the plant life of the forest had long ago started to overtake the entire structure, with vines and branches crawling all over its walls like a sea monster about to drag a large ship down into the deep. The whole thing reminded him of the Royal Palace in Canterlot.
“Could this place be...” Aiden whispered to himself as he let his hands return to his sides. “This is the Castle of the Royal Alicorn Sisters, isn’t it?” He asked himself, waiting for his mind to give a response. “Yeah,” he thought. “I remember reading about this place in one of the books in the Royal Library.” This castle served as the center of power in Equestria long before the Fall of Princess Luna. The two royal sisters spent their foal-hoods here, and Canterlot began construction shortly after their parents passed away. And now here it stood, abandoned and seemingly forgotten. Aiden felt quite honored to be possibly the first human to stand in what must be such a sacred place. He smiled at the thought.
That smile was replaced with a curious look when he noticed a faint, pale blue light emanating from one of the stain glass windows on one of the central towers. He began his slow approach to the stone stairs that led up to the castle’s opening chamber. As he ascended the stairs, Aiden thought to himself and questioned the safety in exploring this place. If there was one thing he learned since coming to Equestria, it was that he and the local ancient ruins did not get along. Still, Aiden sucked it up and ventured forward into the ancient castle.
The interior seemed to be holding up slightly better than the outside. The stained glass windows painted out the history, much like the ones back in the Royal Palace. He saw a surprisingly intact glass portrait of a young Celestia and what must have been Luna, side by side, accompanied by their respective celestial objects, thrown together into a symbol that beared a close resemblance to Yin and Yang from Chinese Taoism.
“Light and Darkness,” Aiden muttered softly as he continued onward, past more stained glass images and up another set of stone stairs, trying to find the source of the light. This new stairwell led him up to an exposed stone catwalk that overlooked the central courtyard. Nothing stirred in the night air. Even the owls and timberwolves were silent. All Aiden could hear over his own footsteps were his own breaths and heart beating together in rhythm.
The catwalk led into the center of the castle, which was an elongated chamber with an arched ceiling. Aiden noticed what at first looked like a fountain in the center of the room. He approached it to examine it further, and noticed that there were five perfectly spherical stones within it. Each stone had a different shape inscribed into it. Even more familiar from the night when he first met the Princess.
“And these must be the Elements of Harmony...” Aiden whispered to himself as he softly placed one of his hands on the stone with the upside down triangle on it. “Whoever these six chosen will be; this is the place where they will defeat Nightmare Moon and restore Luna to her original form.” He frowned and looked at the stones again. “But there are only five elements here...”
“Actually, none of them are here.”
Aiden nearly yelled at the suddenness of this second voice in the chamber with him. He turned his head to make eye contact with him. The man in the white suit from his dreams. He sighed in exhaustion at the sight of him. He turned back to the fountain-like structure.
“What do you mean?” Aiden asked, looking intently at the five stones. Silence dominated the room, with the only exception being the man’s footsteps as he approached him. He then leaned on the edge of the dry fountain, standing to the right of Aiden.
“These are not the fabled Elements of Harmony,” the man gestured a hand to the stones. “The true Elements are within the souls of the individuals that are chosen, not within a few unnaturally shaped rocks.”
“How original,” Aiden quietly remarked as he blew a strand of hair out of his face. “Lemme guess: do you have to believe in the power of the Elements for them to work too, like Tinkerbell?”
The man laughed softly. “But of course,” he said sarcastically. “No, it’s not quite that cliched.”
“What a relief,” Aiden said with a sigh as he left the man’s side and turned back towards the chamber’s entrance. He turned his head to look out a completely shattered window. Then he turned back to the man who was looking back at him. “You know where the source for that light is, don’t you?”
The man nodded and pointed a finger towards the end of the chamber. “Right this way,” he said as he gestured for Aiden to follow.
Aiden huffed and looked back at the entrance of the chamber. He turned his head back to the man as he continued walking forward. Back to the entrance. Back to the man. Aiden shook his head. “This better not end with me plummeting from the stratosphere again...”
---
Aiden followed the man from his previous dreams through a series of underpassages that weaved together into a small labyrinth underneath the ruined castle. Aiden panned his gaze around the arched hallways as he followed the man. “So, where exactly are we going?” He asked.
“You will see,” the man left him hanging as they reached the bottom of another staircase. “It’s just up here.” He finished with another gesture towards the arched opening at the top of the staircase. That same pale blue glow colored the threshold.
The chamber itself was rather small, and it was rectangular, with the opposite end being a triangular arch. The entire room glowed with the familiar cyan blue, the source being a small, shallow, circular pool of what seemed to be water at first glance. As the man went around to stand at the edge of the room’s arch, Aiden took a closer look at the small pool.
“Strange,” he thought to himself as he squinted at the supposed water, noting the rather silvery color to it, and the cyan blue glow at the bottom of the liquid. “It looks more like...mercury?” He looked up to see the man looking at him from the opposite end of the pool, most likely only four feet away.
“You brought me here for a reason, right?” Aiden asked.
“You will be no match against your Siblings with your current form,” the man replied.
“No fucking shit, Sherlock,” Aiden thought as he rolled his eyes. The man raised an eyebrow, as if he caught a hint of what was going through Aiden’s mind. Aiden quickly wiped the thought out of his mind and gestured for the man to continue.
“When the human race first rebelled against the Forerunners; against Mother, against...you...” he paused for a brief second. “They stood little to no chance, even with their advanced technology.” He stepped closer towards the artificial pond and gazed down into the mercury-like liquid. “Their innovation, however, allowed them to construct one of the most potent weapons in military history. This weapon was portable enough to be wielded by a single human soldier. With it in the hands of their mightiest warrior, he managed to strike down Mother and her Children. Yet the war lasted for many years, and the surface of the World was nearly inhospitable to human life. Thus, they retreated into various underground cities; like Taotras.”
Aiden held up a hand. “Okay, slow down,” he rubbed his left temple with his other hand. “So...this weapon, the humans used it to overthrow the Forerunners, but because of its use, this world was reduced to a smoldering ruin?” He shook his head. “Why does this sound familiar?”
“It is not the nuclear weapons you might be thinking of,” the man replied. “Remember; wielded by a single warrior?”
“Uh huh,” Aiden blankly stated. “And the weapon is in this room, isn’t it? I’m supposed to use it to stop the Forerunners. Am I warm?”
The man laughed. “Very; I see that for once, you wish to skip storytime for now.”
“Yeah,” Aiden tried not to laugh with the man he had become acquainted with. He failed. “I’ve had a really shitty night, man, so I’d appreciate it if we could wrap this up, quickly.”
“Fair enough,” the man responded. He pointed a finger down into the pool of liquid. “The reason you’ve been brought to this place, you need look no further than here.” Aiden’s eyes followed the man’s finger down into the pool, to focus on the cyan glow, which he had just noticed was pulsating; getting slightly brighter and dimmer at different intervals. With a curious look, he turned his gaze back up at the man. He nodded for him to go on. Slowly rolling up his left sleeve, Aiden reluctantly, and slowly dipped his arm into the liquid. The liquid, strangely felt like...nothing? It felt more like thin air than a liquid.
He quickly pulled it out to the point that only his fingertips were submerged. “Not corrosive, no flesh eating piranhas inside; well, so far this is going better than the luck I’ve been having this past week.”
He submerged his arm further; even though it didn’t seem too deep, his limb kept going, past the wrist. About seven seconds later, he had his elbow submerged and was about to roll his sleeve up further, when he noticed the cyan glow become brighter. The light seemed to gather around his elbow, and he noted the presence of something sharp pressing into his skin.
Instinctively, he pulled his arm out to the point where his wrist was still submerged, only to notice something that resembled a glowing thread of yarn had pierced the skin immediately after the elbow. The glow on this thread also pulsated like the one in the liquid. Aiden simply stared at the strange looking object for about ten seconds, before the thread seemed to dig itself further into his skin. Aiden winced slightly, but it really didn’t hurt anymore than getting an injection. Only this injection lasted for longer than a fraction of a second.
This thread slinked its way under his skin and it continued to move closer to his hand. By the time it passed his wrist, Aiden was starting to feel light headed as the pain gradually increased. He closed his eyes for the remainder of the process.
“You can open your eyes now,” he heard the man laugh, like a parent telling a child that his or her shot was over with. Aiden did so while pulling his arm out of the liquid completely. He examined the limb that had just had...something happen to it. He could see the thread give off a faint glow underneath his skin before it ceased. He examined his left arm for several moments before looking at the man, with his jaw practically on the floor.
“Okay,” Aiden began. “What. The. Fuck.” He pointed at his left forearm with his right hand. “What the fuck just happened?”
“That, my friend,” the man replied. “Is the the weapon you will need to defeat the Forerunners.” He paused and frowned. “Or more properly, the weapon you will need to just defend yourself from them; the Praemian Thorn.”
“Ooooookay,” Aiden said, more than creeped out. He waved his left forearm in front of his face one more time before rolling his sleeve back down. He shivered at the thought of this thing living underneath his skin. He shook his head, trying to get the thought out of his mind. “So, how do I use it?”
“You will learn, in time,” the man replied.
Aiden threw his hands up in the air. “Of course...”
“At the very least,” the man replied. “You will be able to live up to your title, somewhat.”
“Right,” Aiden sighed as he tucked his hands into his pockets. “I haven’t forgotten about that...the Forerunner of the Equinox.” He looked back up at him. “So...the Equinox?” Aiden questioned, hoping that for once, he could get a simple explanation.
The man sighed. “The Equinox is something that cannot be fully explained in a few sentences."
“Damn it,” Aiden thought.
“But, to give you as short a version I can think of,” the man placed a finger on his chin. “The Equinox is a place; think of it as an alternate dimension that runs parallel to this World; to many worlds, actually.”
“Is that so?”
The man nodded. “It is sort of a place where multiple realities converge.” The man smiled at his explanation. “Yes, I would say that’s a good explanation, given what little time we have left for tonight.”
“Time?” Aiden asked as he crossed his arms.
“Yes, Aiden,” the man replied as he walked towards the way they came in, again motioning for him to follow. Aiden shrugged and obeyed. “Perhaps I should’ve told you, but the Praemian Thorn was what was blocking out your presence from Vanguard...and Celestia. I hate to rush you, but you will likely have someone; or rather somepony; eagerly waiting for you at the sunrise.”
Aiden sighed at knowing that fact. The two men were silent for the remaining journey up to the ruined castle’s main chamber. Aiden shielded his eyes from the near blinding light of the rising sun on the Eastern horizon. As the two of them entered the chamber with the five Elements, a thought occurred to Aiden.
“So did I get Praline to send that letter for nothing?”
“Pretty much,” the man laughed. “Chances are, Celestia’s on her way right now, to ensure your safety, and to investigate the energy surge generated by the Thorn. But mostly the former.”
“Oh, well, that just makes my day even more fantastic...” Aiden frowned at the thought of burdening Praline with a meaningless chore that ultimately didn’t matter. He sighed, again blowing a few errant strands of hair away. He closed his eyes and basked in the sudden warmness of the sun’s light. “Still fucking cold, though,” Aiden thought. Still, he was thankful for Celestia’s warmth this morning, which felt slightly more welcoming this time. As he opened his eyes again, he spoke to the man who still stood behind him.
“Hey, before I forget,” he turned to face him. “I just wanted to ask what your na-” he paused at the realization that the man was gone. He panned his gaze to the left, then to the right; all over the chamber. He was nowhere to be seen. Aiden stood there with his mouth hanging open, looking like a complete idiot. He turned back to face the sun, shaking his head.
He muttered a simple phrase to himself, yet directed at the man:
“You mood killing son of a bitch...”
Author's Note: Well, for once I don't take a freaking month to update this story! A Christmas miracle, if I do say so myself.