Solaris, Mundus, Auream and Platina were dragged by their father to the throne room, who lined them up in front of him and sat down on his throne. It was a large room, decorated with copper doors, silver floor tiles, and golden statues. A massive skylight took up the room's entire ceiling blasting sunlight directly into the reflective metal room, making the room hurt the eyes.
Aeterunum clapped his hooves together several times, causing the room to quickly fill with alicorn guards, who took up flanking positions next to the many statues that lined the walls. After all else was said and done, Aternum took a moment to breathe before he got to work.
"My children, since you are all of you prince and princess alike, it is important for you to be there for these kinds of meetings," Aeternum said, gesturing for them to take their places by his side. "Now then, Solaris, since you are the most trained in this, you are the one I will be quizzing on this, everypony else, pay attention to his answers."
The alicorns quickly, and rather awkwardly, took positions flanking their father's throne. Mundus and Solaris on one side, and Auream and Platina on the other.
"Now then, Solaris, what are the three major powers of the modern era?" Aeternum said, sitting back with a smile. Platina furrowed his brow slightly, evidently, he was starting easy.
"Easy father, The Kingdom of Epona, The Kingdom of Theispas, and the Platinum Empire," Solaris responded, a notably smug smile growing on his face.
"And what are the relations between those three powers?" Aeternum questioned, turning to his son.
"Poor, father. Religious differences keep all three nations at each other's throats. Though Epona and the Platinum Empire have the poorest of relations with frequent border skirmishes and slave raids-" Platina grimaced slightly when he noticed everyone in the room was staring at him. "- Theispas sees itself as a third side in the conflict that is above direct intervention. Many in Epona and the Platinum Empire feel that they think that they can play both sides."
Aeternum suddenly laughed. "Well, at least, they used to. My children, you will be receiving a new brother today." He suddenly said, sitting up. Instantly, both Auream and Platina turned to look at each other, with raised eyebrows.
"F-father?" Solaris asked, raising an eyebrow.
"King Yeghnik has reached out to me, and asked me to take on his son as my ward for the next five years. Should I raise him... well, then an alliance between Epona and Theispas is guaranteed. With our nations united..." Aeternum's smile widened deeply as he leaned back in his chair, tapping the tips of his forehooves together.
"Then the Platinum Empire's days are numbered!" Solaris cried out, his lips splitting into a darkened smile.
"Precisely," Aeternum said turning to his eldest. "Now then, be ready children, he should be here in but a moment."
As if on queue, the throne room slammed open, and a single deer wearing ornate silver armor marched into the room, with a straight back and head held high. Platina blinked twice at the sight. That was certainly a creature he had never seen before in his life...
The deer turned to the side as, held up in a ball of lightning, a parchment of paper floated into the room, resting at eye level for the deer. "Announcing the arrival of his majesty, Prince Jelen of Theispas, Son of King Yeghnik, Grandson of King Szarvas, Great-grandson of King Cerb, Heir of Theispas, youngest scion of Armazd, he who created the world's creators, and inheritor of the light of creation."
Aeternum kept his head held high, bowing it slightly when the deer had finished speaking. Platina, empath that he was, could feel the pungent feelings of annoyance and disgust wafting off him like a stench. Platina sighed, lowering his head slightly. He kept his stare ahead at the door as slowly, a double line of deer guards marched into the room. Both of the rows turned face to stare at one another, then in unison stepped back, forming a part that gave Platina sight of a certain deer.
Instantly, Platina straightened up slightly, his eyes widening. He took a sudden inhale, his cheeks warming up as a deer slowly walked forwards through the guards, his head held low. The deer was wearing a pure silver circlet, which wrapped around his forehead. He wore a deep blue unbuttoned overcoat over a black suit that had lightning bolt-like stripes of white snaking across it. A similarly blue capelet hung from his left shoulder, attached to his body by a silver chain. His fur coat was luxuriously pressed and exceptionally clean. For a moment, the deer's eyes locked with Platina's. His deep green irises staring into his own white eyes... it almost made the changeling-turned-alicorn shudder.
The only thing breaking the illusion of Jelen being perfect were the two bags under his eyes, and the extreme hunch in his walk. While the other deer rather smugly stared down their noses at the alicorns, the Prince kept his head lowered glumly.
A grey and white-winged wolf happily trotted next to him, head held high and tongue lulled out as it looked around the exceptionally shiny room with wonder and joy. It was actually rather endearing to watch.
Platina raised an eyebrow he looked around the room for a moment, all eyes were on the deer, giving him a moment to act. Discretely, he activated his horn, extending his own emotional aura, to perhaps tap into Jelen's. It made sense to him, to understand the emotions of the deer in front of him, if they were to be brothers after all. The instant he did, however, Platina was suddenly struck by a wave of sorrow that burned its way into his brain like wildfire. Caught off guard, Platina took a step back, his eyes instantly tearing up. Platina grunted, bringing up a hoof to wipe away the steaks of water now pouring out of the corners of his eyes.
"Platina!" Aeternum whisper yelled, turning his eyes to stare down at him with gritted teeth.
Auream took a step away from him as Platina turned to look at his father. "M-my apologies, I j-just have something in my eyes." he lied.
Aeternum snarled, discretely shaking his head. Instantly, two alicorn guards approached Platina, grabbing him from behind by the shoulders and dragging him towards the closest exit to the room. "We will talk about this later." Aeternum hissed.
Auream opened his mouth for a moment to speak, but quickly shut up, turning away from his adopted brother.
Johan let out a sigh as he rolled over in his new bed. He blinked several times, looking around his dark bedroom. The only source of light he had was from a window that shined moonlight down onto the bare wooden floors of the room. The deer couldn't help but grimace slightly. Yeah, he liked the new home, and it was a terrible idea to look a gift horse - pun unintended - in the mouth, but he'd definitely take some time to get used to all this.
Ever since he arrived in Equestria, he'd been sharing a room with Derek. Now, sleeping without someone in the room was actually rather disconcerting. For a moment, he shivered, throwing his gaze over to the window as he felt waves of discomfort travel up and down his spine. He threw a glance down towards Aralez - still using his placeholder name - asleep in the corner. Then he looked over at his nightstand, one of the few pieces of furniture he had in his new house. Resting on top was the green mandible-antler-thingie that had belonged to that... Tza'ak character. The platinum guard who had almost killed Derek just a couple of days prior...
Johan quickly sat up in bed, reaching out to pick up the chitinous object. He held it up for a moment, looking at it this way and that. What if another one of those things came after him... how many did U'val have? And why did he want him, or rather Jelen, as much as he did? These questions and more burned through Johan's head, before he quickly stood up out of bed, tossing the blankets aside.
The dog in the corner quickly raised its head, before cocking it in confusion at his strange behavior. The dog made to follow after him as he trudged across the floor of the room. His master suddenly stopped, frowning at him which quickly brought his movements to a stop.
"Stay," Johan said, pointing over at Aralez, before pressing forwards, slamming open the door to his bedroom, and entering the rest of his house. He closed the door behind him gently. He found himself in a hallway that was rather bare, only featuring a door on his left which was the bathroom, his bedroom behind him, and a set of stairs ahead of him.
He rolled his shoulders and gulped, quickly rushing down the stairs to the ground floor. It too was similarly bare, featuring only an open kitchen, an empty dining room, and an empty living room. No furniture at all besides a fridge and oven. The kitchen featured several counters and an island, alongside several raised cupboards though they were all completely empty.
He and Spike had earlier written up plans to fix that, but that would wait for later.
Johan quickly rushed forwards to the front door, making doubly sure it was locked. When it was, he quickly turned, rushing to double-check the windows as well.
"Relax," Johan let out a squeel at the sudden voice that entered his mind, almost falling over and shooting a bolt of lightning from his antlers. Thankfully, it merely flashed through the air of the room, dissipating before it could start any fires. It did, however, leave behind an extremely unpleasant smell of ozone.
"If a platinum guard was after you right now, wooden doors and glass windows aren't going to slow them down, locked or not. You're just stressing yourself out over nothing," The voice continued. Johan looked around in a panic for a moment, before coming to the realization that it was Jelen talking to him.
The deer shuddered, grimacing as he did. "S... sorry. Stressing myself out is something I'm really good at..." Johan said, rubbing his face with a hoof. He needed to deflect, quick. "How are you?"
"You're the one freaking out right now, seems to me like you are the one who needs to answer that, not me," Jelen said rather sternly.
Johan went quiet for a moment, shaking his head. The deer took in a deep inhale before walking over to the kitchen and sitting down, leaning against one of the counters, bringing a hoof to his chest. His breathing was heavy and his heart was beating like a jackhammer but other than that...
"I'm sorry..." he started, gulping. "It's just... you know..."
"You're scared, it's understandable. When I was your age, platinum guards were a source of extreme fear to me as well. I've killed dozens of them, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't still apprehensive over them," Jelen replied.
"Dozens of them?" Johan asked, raising his eyebrows slightly. "You mean-"
"All will be answered in time," Jelen replied.
"You know, that kind of mysterious shit really gets on my nerves," Johan sighed, sitting down, back pressed against the counter. He cleared his dry throat.
"God... It's only been three days," he said, shivering as he did. "I guess with Derek around I could repress it but..." He shook his head.
"Why was he after you?" he said, looking up to the ceiling. He couldn't stare Jelen in the eyes, so that was probably the closest he could get.
"Tza'ak's master and I have-" the disembodied voice trailed off for a moment. "-history. In fact, I knew Tza'ak personally long ago."
"You did?"
"Yes, though he was rather boring. Keep in mind, most platinum guards were brainwashed from near birth to stop seeing themselves as people, and instead as living shields for their master. Most of them still maintained some semblance of a personality, but Tza'ak, he was just an empty shell," Jelen explained. The subject manner he was speaking of did not fit the casual tone of his voice.
"I... see," Johan replied with a mumble.
Silence reigned for a moment. Johan broke it by speaking up again. "What kind of history."
Jelen stayed quiet.
Johan frowned sitting up. "Jelen, I need to know this."
Still nothing.
Johan suddenly snarled, quickly standing up. "Answer me!" He roared at the ceiling.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Jelen responded, but not with an answer.
"May I show you something?"
"That's not an-" Johan stammered, but Jelen cut him off.
"It's related," The older deer said, prompting him to shut up. "Now, step outside, this will be quick, then you can go back to locking all your windows, or trying to sleep or whatever it is you were trying to do."
Johan glared around him for a second, his antlers flashing with lightning until finally he merely sighed and lowered his head. "Fine."
Jelen's gaze followed the light blue alicorn for a moment as he was led out of the room, before turning his gaze back to the much larger equine on his throne. He merely stared up at the alicorn, locking eyes with him. He could tell enough about the creature just from looking into his eyes. Clearly, he thought himself superior to him.
"Welcome, Prince Jelen. I happily welcome you to my castle, I hope with time you will come to see me as a second father," Aeternum regally expunged with a smile, crossing his hooves over his heart.
It took every inch of Jelen's willpower to not scoff at the alicorn. "Of course sir, I hope these next few years go as you plan," those were his father's, his real father's, words he had just regurgitated. Not his own.
A smug smile split across Aeternum's lips. The alicorn nodded, sitting up. "Excellent."
Then the king launched himself into a diatribe of political nonsense, which only prompted Jelen to tune him out, his mind returning to the thoughts of home... or rather...
Jelen lowered his eyes to the ground, the blood... the sound of the stag's head hitting the ground. The crowd cheering at the death of his love... Jelen's breathing became heavy for a moment, stopped only when one of the guards next to him cleared his throat. The deer straightened up slightly. Turning to look at the deer guard, the two locked eyes. Then the guard did something strange.
He gestured with his eyes toward the ground. Following the other stag's gaze, he saw a folded piece of paper at his hooves. The guard must have dropped it while no one was looking, and slid it toward him. Jelen's eyes widened for but a moment before he returned his gaze.
"Thank you," he silently mouthed before he quickly moved his hoof, covering the paper to prevent any of the other guards from seeing it.
The guard merely gave him a hollow smile, before straightening back up to look at the alicorn king, who was now standing up from his throne.
"Now then, if all is said and done, I think it is time for you to dismiss your guards, I would like to lead you to your new room. You must be tired from your travel over the Temple Mountains, and I see it only fitting to allow you to sleep it off." He laughed, approaching him with a smile. To anyone else, it would appear warm and real, but Jelen could tell it was a hollow gesture. Aeternum saw him as a diplomatic tool, nothing more.
Jelen nodded as the Theispas guards, in unison, turned and began the march out of the room. "Of course, my king. Please lead on," He said, eye twitching slightly.
Aeternum smiled and turned his back to him. Jelen took this as an opportunity to discretely pick up the note and stuff it in the front pocket of his undershirt before he quickly followed after the alicorn in front of him.
"Come Arman," he said to the winged wolf next to him, who let out a quick bark before prancing after him.
Johan was quiet as he stepped out into the dark of the night. "So, how far away is what you wanted to show me?" he sighed.
"Not far at all, just look up," Jelen responded. Johan grimaced and did as he was told. "What do you see?"
"The moon?" Johan sighed.
"No, past that." Jelen sighed.
"What? The stars?" Johan raised an eyebrow.
"Yes," Jelen responded, his voice perking up slightly.
Johan went silent for a moment, honestly, he had never just taken a moment to observe them since he got to Equestria. Not really anyway. One of the first things he noticed after turning his eyes to the sky was how similar it looked to the stars back home. In fact, after but a couple of moments of looking he found the big dipper of all things!
He smiled to himself ever so slightly, the sight of the stars, stars he recognized... it was enough to make his eyes water.
"You want answers, I will give you some," Jelen said with a sigh. "Piecemeal however, trust me there is so much I want you to know, but I can't give you the full story yet, I need you and the alicorns to trust me."
"Why wouldn't they?" Johan asked.
"I think I might start with teaching you about your heritage then," Jelen said, instantly changing topics. "You and I are probably the last deer on the planet. Sentient deer that is."
Admittedly that was a topic Johan indeed was interested in, so he decided not to pursue that for now, though it did fire more than a couple of red flags in his head.
"Why is that anyway?" Johan asked, following the tail of the big dipper to the north star. "Did something happen that turned all the deer into animals or suck out their intelligence or something?"
"No, quite the opposite actually. Our people have a legend, which you already know that most legends have some relevance to history, that we were actually raised from the animalistic deer into intelligence. Changelings, gryphons, and ponies especially were created or evolved to attain intelligence, but we are notably artificial in that regard." Jelen explained.
This made Johan raise an eyebrow. "And who raised us then?"
"Armazd. He's a... complex fellow." Jelen chuckled slightly.
"Yeah, I heard you use his name a lot before. Who is he anyway?" Johan asked, sitting down. He really wished he could have a face-to-face conversation right about now...
"Armazd has several titles amongst my people, his most notable is the creator of creators," Jelen explained. "There is some history to it, but basically 4 entities created this world to be a balancing scale between themselves, and he created them. Really you would need to ask your pony friends about that, namely the alicorns. The four are the gods of their pantheon after all... though considering how much history has been lost since then, they might have forgotten their religion. It happens."
Johan scratched his chin with one of his forehooves. "I see... the title of creator of creators seems rather interesting honestly. By any chance, is Armazd also the Kes'kel'kes?"
Johan suddenly got a splitting headache, one of the worst he had ever experienced in his life. It was like there was a thunderstorm going off inside his head!
"Zinvats, heretikosov!" Jelen suddenly roared. "The only thing keeping me from exploding your head from the inside out is that I live in here!"
"Ow!" Johan cried, grabbing the sides of his head. "Ok, ok! I'm sorry! I didn't know!"
The storm calmed with a loud sigh.
"It is fine... I cannot fault you for connecting those two in your head. Just know that if you had made that kind of connection in my time, you would have been killed where you stood." Jelen stated, his voice notably grim.
"I know I might regret this but... why?" he couldn't help but ask.
"Kes is the ancient changeling word for god," Jelen growled. "To the changelings of my day, a 'god' was merely a powerful changeling who had attained immortality. They had dozens of gods, each one feeding on the worship of slaves like a drug, driving themselves to grander and grander acts of self-indulgence and debauchery. That was the Platinum Empire, Johan."
Johan grimaced. "Is that what that U'val guy is trying to bring back? He's one of these Kes right?"
"For both of our sakes, I sincerely hope not," Jelen sighed. Silence reigned for but a moment before Jelen grabbed the reigns of the conversation again.
"There is a reason I wanted you to see the stars before I told you about Armazd my friend," he said. "He lives up there, just beyond them in fact. I know in your world the stars are apparently burning balls of gas billions and billions of miles away, but in ours, the stars are actually holes."
"Huh?" Johan asked, frowning slightly.
"Yes, when they created this plane of existence, the four creators made the void to serve as a wall between our world and the cosmic forces that they were formed from. When the world was new, the night sky was pure black, dominated only by the moon. Then Armazd created us deer and blessed us with a fraction of his own power of creation, which is the lightning we control. He also blessed our souls. When one of us dies, our souls ascend, to the edge of the void, where they punch a hole clear through it, reentering his domain, where they live alongside him for the rest of time. Every star in the sky is one of our people."
"And... you didn't get the chance to join them, did you?" Johan interrupted. He suddenly heard Jelen hiss through clenched teeth, but not out of anger.
"I... I did not." Jelen exhaled after a moment of silence. "And... and that hurts me on a level you wouldn't be able to comprehend."
"I think I do Jelen... I think I do," Johan replied.
Johan turned his gaze back to the sky, eyes closed and breath even. The cold air of the night brushed against his fur in a pleasant wind as he thought for a moment. Maybe he was important after all, if his race was created by, for all intents and purposes, the world's grandfather. And now, all of the former deer of the world were up there, staring down at him, wanting to see him succeed.
He smiled slightly. Yeah... that sounded nice.
Suddenly his eyes shot open.
"Hold up a second, that's just the Lion King!"
The last words written on the note were the ones that burned into Jelen's soul the hardest.
There isn't a single thing I would change, thank you for the time we spent together, however short it was.
He stared down at it feeling the knot in his chest grow ever worse and worse until he suddenly keeled over his new desk sobbing slightly.
Arman suddenly let out a whimper, cocking it's head to the side. Slowly, the deer turned to stare over at it, his eyes watering. The aralez was sitting on the edge of his new bed, the one he would be stuck in for the next five years. The room was bare, consisting of stone block walls, a glass window, a fireplace and the desk he was currently sitting at.
Jelen's breathing suddenly became uneven. He started panting, looking around the room until his eyes settled on the window, and the snow falling outside of it. Jelen hung his head for a moment, closing his eyes. He tried to calm his breathing, his thoughts going to the place he found comfort in before. His lover's face, smiling up at him as the two embraced. The way he always delicately cupped Jelen's chin before the two kissed.
It was only then that Jelen noticed the lightning burning through the room, giving it an ominous blue glow. Arman stared up at it with growing unease, even as electricity harmlessly struck his fur. Jelen suddenly slammed a hoof on the desk, balling the note slightly as he did. Instantly the lightning stopped, but the loud noise of hoof striking wood instantly made the aralez on the bed jump.
Turning, Jelen stood up from his chair and started towards the door, slamming it open and entering the hallway. Arman made to jump out of bed to follow after him, but Jelen merely slammed the door in the wolf's face and turned to stomp down the empty stone hallway. He ignored the frantic scratching at the door and screaming of his companion, a deepening frown growing across his face.
"Who does he think he is," Jelen hissed, eye twitching yet again. "Who does he think he is that allows him to kill everything I love and just expect me to live with it."
"Damned if I become your perfect son father, and damned if I live with these alicorns just so you can brainwash me into being who you want me to be," His voice became more and more manic as he ripped the crown from his head, tossing it aside like trash. "I am a prince and a prince is not mocked! I'll spit your 'kindness' right back in your face!"
Soon he arrived at a doorway, which he quickly slammed open as well, entering a stairwell that lead upwards. He didn't daddle or waste time, instantly beginning his ascent. A sudden thought ripped into his mind, causing him to stop in his tracks, halfway up the second flight.
He closed his eyes, taking in a deep inhale. "It... it should have been me," He said shaking his head. "He was perfect, father. He was the brightest light I had in my life... and you took him from me. It should have been me!"
Jelen screamed into the dark, lightning shooting around the room. Jelen buckled over slightly, staring at the ground with hollow eyes. "Instead you forced me to live. In my own personal hell."
He continued on. He stayed silent the rest of the way, stewing in his thoughts which rapidly drifted apart, ripping into his mind like knives.
Soon enough he arrived at the top of the stairway, which concluded at another door. Once again he passed through the doorway, slamming it behind him. He was instantly met with a blast of cold wind which caused his overcoat to dance behind him.
It was night, the only thing out here to greet him was the frigid air and wind, and the falling snow. And yet, he wasn't cold.
He turned his eyes to the dark sky above him. The clouds were blotting out the stars, ripping away his one lifeline in this moment. He needed to see it, he needed to see the new star in the sky. The one his love had made. And yet they were blotted out, in a final act of spite towards him.
He stumbled over to the edge of the parapet, collapsing onto the edge of the crenelations. Only then did the water trapped in his eyes start to flow as tears poured down his face, almost instantly freezing on his cheeks.
"Why... why are you doing this to me..." He cried, turning his gaze back upwards, in a vain attempt to stare past the stars themselves. "I was a loyal follower. I worshipped you with every drop of my heart Armazd. And you turned on me. Why?"
He started hyperventilating as he pulled himself up, staring into the distance. He was greeted with frozen mountains covered in pine trees and snow. Jelen lowered his head slightly, staring at those mountains with pure hatred.
"Answer me..." he growled, eye twitching at he did. No response.
"Answer me!" He screamed into the dark, throwing his head back as lightning shot out in every direction, the crack of thunder ripping through the air, causing avalanches in the far distance. He heard screaming behind him as suddenly the castle sprang to life, lights coming on inside as alicorn guards were awoken.
And still there was no response.
Jelen merely closed his eyes and inhaled before stepping up onto the castle parapet, turning around and leaning backward. He opened his eyes just as he felt gravity take over, tearing him towards the ground many hundreds of meters below, just as the door he had previously exited opened and the light blue alicorn he had seen in the court stepped out. The two locked eyes for the briefest of moments before Jelen's gaze was ripped toward the sky.