Chapter 28: First Contact
“No plan survives first contact with the enemy” -Helmuth von Moltke
I watched with a smile as my friends quickly left to fill their respective rolls, this will do wonders with their confidence. I let my feelings of pride for my friends slowly fall away and put a sterner expression on as I turned my attention back to the Keeper. While David and Morgana had taken the time to get ready for their jobs, The Keeper had taken it upon himself to get some drinks for the two of us. I could still hear Morgana and David upstairs discussing who should bathe first (Morgana won obviously). The two of us sat in silence down in the basement, I raised the filled green bottle to my lips and tried to ignore how awkward this was then froze. I had to forcefully stop myself from retching as the taste of alcohol splashed into my mouth, at least that hasn’t changed between bodies… I still hate the taste of alcohol.
“Hah! You don’t have ta drink it boy, just wait till we’re alone… “ I felt my ears burn from embarrassment as the Keeper chuckled under his breath. I watched the auburn liquid swish around the bottle as I listened to the sounds of my two friends preparing themselves. I felt Calcifer send a brief pulse of worry at the idea of splitting the party, worry that I could only mirror. It’s not like I don’t trust David and Morgana but I can't help but feel worried that something that I could prevent might happen. I took a deep breath and refocused on Keeper as I heard the front door shut at my friends exit.
“Alright, your job might just be the most… difficult. Which I'm sorry for but out of the three of you, you’re the most likely to figure out what going on. Even if there are some… obstacles in the way” the keeper set aside his now empty bottle and steepled his hooves. The previous light atmosphere hardened as the weight of his words settled in. I felt the slightest bit of shame flow through me as I thought about my previous actions, out of the three of us I had been much more… lethal while facing other sentient creatures.
Then I felt Calcifer give me the emotional equivalent of ‘They had it coming’ and felt my guilt ebb away. I adjusted my cloak and settled into making a plan, hopefully it wouldn’t end up too elaborate.
Okay… I'm starting to regret going alone. I'm currently sitting in an alleyway a few blocks away from the lord’s manor waiting for my contact to show up. The extent of my stealth knowledge is pretty much just the mission impossible movie series and I'm sure none of that would apply here… maybe. I turned my gaze to the entrance of the alleyway where I could see the open road, there were still a few ponies left living inside the city walls and it was on those roads I caught my first look at guards. With just one look I could tell something was wrong with them, there wasn’t an overt physical difference from them and other ponies no. The problem was their eyes… It was like that spark of life had been buried deep, deep inside, it was like I was looking at a walking cadaver that had been put back together after an autopsy.
I let my repulsed shiver roll off my back and pulled my hood up higher, before I had seen those lifeless eyes I had assumed we were dealing with willful mind control of some kind but now. Now I think something really wrong is happening, something important has been taken from these ponies. Something that both ponies and humans have is being taken from these people and I'm expected to fix it somehow. I felt my heart rate speed up the more I thought about my job, Calcifer prodded my mind to get my attention. At the other end of the alleyway a shrouded pony shaped figure trotted around the bend and started to approach me. I kept a straight face and held a firm hold on my [6th Sense] just in case something was wrong.
The figure was wearing a worn unassuming black cloak that could be found on any traveler, The edge of the pony’s grey nose peeked out from under their hood. They fit the picture of mysterious contact perfectly, I bet they’re gonna start with a cryptic greeting.
“So… you’re the one?” yeah, that sounded suitably cryptic. I didn’t respond verbally, just nodding to his question. I felt a flicker of amusement from Calcifer before I refocused on my contact. I had been told by the keeper that this pony would help me with sneaking into the mansion, apparently he and a few other ‘associates’ of his have been scoping out the mansion and out of all of them only he came out the other side undiscovered. The two of us snaked through several back streets getting closer to the mansion and avoiding the slowly ramping up security. It seems the lord of this place guessed an uprising of some sort was brewing judging by the increasing number of guard patrols we keep passing by.
I could tell this town could be so much nicer if it wasn't for all of this, the very air in this place smelled wrong. Whatever that lord is doing in there is so inherently wrong that it’s changing the feeling of the ambient magic. I suppressed another shiver as my contact and I ducked past another guard patrol, this time getting way too close for comfort and I felt my disgust skyrocket at what I saw. This particular guard was worse than the others, the stallion's body was slowly decaying from the inside out. His skin hung loose on his bones, as if he was just wearing a pony costume that was a size too big. Flaps of hole ridden, moldy skin hung out of the gaps in his armor and every once in a while something would crawl under their skin. The eyes were the worst part, grey and cloudy. Already far in the decomposing process, the pupil already sliding around the eye, warping it and dripping fluid down the stallion’s face.
I had long since lost my gag reflex when it came to sights like this due to my med classes… no, what had disgusted me was what I had sensed from the walking corpse. Even though he was almost half way through the decomposition process… he was still alive! This isn’t necromancy! A corpse doesn’t interact with ambient magic the same way as a living creature, upon death the personal magic seems to pour out of the body until it equalizes with the surrounding magic levels albeit it will become a slightly different type of magic. I had seen as much back during the siege but these poor ponies are still absorbing and circulating magic like a living creature. This goes past a perversion of nature, this is downright malicious to force these ponies through this hell!
A rough shove to my shoulder broke me out of my silent seething, quickly whipping around with a scowl on my face brought me face to face with my contact. I met his quivering dark brown eyes and saw a growing fear slowly start to bloom and break his stony façade. I don’t care anymore, no more playing nice, no more fearing someone getting the wrong idea about me. I’m going to learn everything I can about magic so I can reverse abominations like this that people insist on creating. I need to get stronger, I need to learn more… I need that spirit’s help.
I stepped past my scared guide and continued on, trying to come up with ideas as to what would be a good offering. I felt Calcifer cower away from our bond slightly from my intense emotions, I felt a sliver of guilt and mentally apologized for scaring them before continuing on with my contact trailing behind. He didn’t really need to guide me anymore as now it was a straight shot to the back gate of the mansion’s grounds.
The alleyway opened up to a small cobblestone courtyard, still surrounded by buildings of course but still much more room than before. I took a breath to calm myself and stepped into the clearing… Then immediately halted in my steps as I felt the back of my neck start to prickle. A warning from [6th Sense]! I searched around the courtyard and was greeted with damp empty stone and more trash, [6th Sense] hadn’t calmed down yet…
“Hey… How were you not discovered as a spy by the lord’s guards?” I tilted my head to glance at the hooded visage of my contact as he came to a stop a few steps behind me, he let the silence stretch for a moment before responding. I mentally commanded Calcifer to be ready to deploy from the lamp in case this was going the way I thought it was.
“Oh? That was easy, I just had to oust the other spies… “ With the crackle of magic Calcifer ripped from the lantern and I whipped around to get a mana beam off at point blank, instead I was greeted to the sight of the traitor raising a hoof full of yellow powder and blowing it in my face. I tried to hold my breath but the moment the powder touched my nose it made me sneeze and breathe in. I felt my body go numb in short order, the pain of my face crashing to the ground was overcome by the feeling of all my muscles tightening at once sending me into painful convulsions. I was able to focus enough through the pain to see multiple shadows descend from above and the heart rending fear Calcifer was emanating. As darkness began to creep from the corner of my eyes I felt it… I felt my connection to Calcifer shatter as he was killed, sending a red hot burning rail of pain lancing into my brain. For the first time since my arrival in this world I was well and truly alone… and that terrified me. I heard heavy hoof steps approach my head and before I could even attempt to turn my head to look, a heavy blow crashed into my skull and I knew no more.