Searing Gale moved through Hono like the wall of an oncoming hurricane. Incredible magic radiated from her, every step another grim conquest. Centuries of history, art, and growth all burned before her, consumed in the Nirik's bottomless need. No matter how much she fueled the fires, they always demanded more.
Her attention wasn't for Lotus Cinder, not more than any other kirin here. She might not recognize me. We don't know how well she can see between worlds. Maybe I can blend in.
She might, but her friends couldn't. If they got close to this Nirik, she would consume them just as her phylactery urged Lotus to do. The most important people in her whole world would be more charred bones to join the lifeless forest.
"Go," Lotus whispered, pushing them towards the house. Searing Gale kept shouting into the village, filling the air with her promises of power and rewards for the faithful. Lotus's whisper could easily fade into the background. "Gus. Iron. The shield is gone. Sneak around these buildings and fly for help."
Gus was so eager to obey he was already moving. He dropped into a low crouch, retreating through the open door of their new home. "Good idea. I know who wins in a fight between birds and fire."
Iron lingered, wrapping one foreleg around hers. "Come with us! You won't be much slower than Gus!"
She pushed back, digging her hindlegs into the ground. She overpowered him, shoving until Iron stumbled away. "Someone has to stop her from getting the phylactery—someone who isn't flammable!"
"You're not a royal guard! You don't know how to fight!"
Lotus kissed his cheek. Their relationship was still so new—but now it might be ending. If she stayed, Searing Gale might realize who she was. The ancient Nirik would not be kind with one who had defied her so many times. "I know. But I can try. She'll kill you before you even lift a wing. Go get ponies who can do something!"
Iron met her eyes for one final second. Then he turned, galloping into the house after Gus. Lotus turned away from him, rejoining Autumn. There's nothing special about me. There's nothing to chase. Only kirin here.
"Sure you don't want to go with them?" Autumn whispered. She'd dropped into a bowing position, watching the Nirik without making eye contact. So many of the kirin did the same thing. There was no army here to fight Searing's arrival. The village was surrendering before her eyes. "Running away seems like a pretty good plan from where I'm standing. Take my chance with the ponies, maybe."
Lotus dropped into a bow beside her, imitating Autumn's posture. The more she blended into the crowd, the more likely she could get into the right place to keep Searing Gale from capturing her spellbook and reuniting both halves of her soul. "I can't. I know her—better than anyone else here. She lived in my head, tried to change me. I know what she'll do if she takes over."
By now, all activity in Hono came to a stop. Some kirin fled into their homes to cower—but most came out into the trail. They appeared in large groups outside the market, the workshops, the sprawling fields of rice and grain. Not one held weapons or cast spells at Searing Gale.
But not all of them were bowing, either.
Searing crossed the first river. Rather, she crossed the place where a river flowed moments before. Where her hooves touched, the water boiled to steam, leaving a dry riverbed. The trees scorched black, burning an opening in the canopy overhead. Hono's otherworldly beauty charred away to nothing.
I didn't do this, Lotus thought, pawing angrily into the dirt with her forelegs. I didn't release her. I'm here to stop her. Easy enough to repeat those words to herself—a little harder to believe they meant anything.
"All will come and bow before me," Searing shouted, her voice booming through Hono. Every word she spoke heated the air to further discomfort, burning away at all that had grown. "Bring all. Carry the weak, assist the sick. None have leave to flee this sacred moment."
Autumn met Lotus's eyes, leaning close to her shoulder. "You said you know her? Searing Gale... ancient queen of the kirin. The one who helped us almost conquer the world. Almost got us wiped out when she fell, too."
Lotus straightened along with Autumn, and many other kirin. One by one, they shuffled forward, following Searing Gale's instructions. She continued, passing the temple and many homes yet unburned. She cut a straight course for the castle. It didn't seem to matter how secure the lock enclosing the phylactery—she still knew where it was hiding. It's calling out to her. It wants to be reunited. "Her. I only heard the history from the Equestrian side. Mostly it was about how much she burned. How strong she was, with her ruthless army of Nirik."
Autumn nodded slightly. "Wish we had a few ruthless kirin left around here. The ones who wanted to fight that badly weren't the ones to surrender into exile. Pacifists founded Hono. Somewhere we could hide and never fight again."
"She won't let you," Lotus whispered back. "If you gave us the book, let Iron and me take it back to Equestria... we could've stopped her. I don't know what to do now."
"Stay alive," Autumn suggested.
That felt like good advice. Lotus kept her head down, falling into line behind the mass of other kirin. There was no violence here, just a gathering crowd from all sides of the village. The kirin all followed obediently, forming a strange procession for the Nirik in her path to the castle.
Then Rain Shine appeared, emerging from the castle gates. Several kirin assembled behind her, or else peeked out from around the walls. Still no violence, no lifted weapons. The not-Alicorn faced down Searing's advancing hoof steps with surprising confidence. Could Lotus stand so bravely in the face of death?
"Queen Searing Gale," she said—the first who had dared speak to her directly. "Welcome to our humble village. We are... ill-prepared for an arrival as illustrious as yours."
"Indeed." The Nirik gestured at the castle doors behind her. They banged open, though Rain Shine remained in her way. Her words still carried, though these didn't seem intentionally enhanced. This was just the way Nirik sounded, echoing not just from the kirin’s mouth, but the flame rising from her. "Something of great worth has arrived among you. I thank you for safeguarding it for me, loyal subjects of another age. When I ascend to sit upon my throne, you will be the first to prosper in that new age. It is below: I command you to go and retrieve it. Bring forth my ancient spellbook."
Every pair of eyes in the village settled on Rain Shine. She was only feet away from the Nirik now, standing in what must be overwhelming heat. How long could she endure it? "Many of the records of those days have faded with time, Queen. Perhaps you would stay with us for a time first. We would be eager to hear your... accounts of the past and hopes for the future. Then perhaps we could arrange a—"
Flame engulfed Rain Shine, a tremendous downward blast. Lotus had barely seen Nirik powers in person—she knew only the natural diffusion of heat from her own body during her involuntary transformations. Now she saw it, a wave as potent and rapid as a flamethrower, directed straight down at the not-Alicorn. Kirin gasped, a few screamed and retreated, cowering behind whatever shelter was close.
Not Lotus. She watched with grim attention. The wall tumbled over; the metal bars of the gate slumped to the ground in glowing yellow lines.
Then the flames stopped, leaving a cloud of black smoke as the wooden walls and the nearby garden all charred.
"The key to our strength lies in the destruction of all weakness. When it is offered and burned, power remains in its place. I do not judge you for your ancestor’s cowardice, but I will judge for your own."
The smoke faded, blown away by a sudden, unnatural breeze. Whether Gale summoned it, or it represented a sudden convenience of weather, it didn’t really matter. It cleared the smoke, revealing Gale's grim handiwork to the crowd.
Rain Shine still stood, along with the guards and other kirin who cowered behind her. Lotus might've assumed they'd been charred and burned to nothing, if she didn't know better.
The Nirik weren't burning, the flames rising in place of manes and tails came from their own power. None of the lesser kirin cowered anymore. They joined Rain Shine, the ranks of an incinerated army.
The powerful kirin sounded almost the same as before, though her voice gained some of the ghostly quality that marked Gale's. "You can't have the phylactery, Great Queen. We know you would burn the world with it."
She dug her hooves into the charred dirt, heat building around her horn. The other Nirik hissed and roared, burning away at the surviving patches of garden, the courtyard's paint and carved wooden statues. All smoldered near them, consumed by the incredible heat.
The village scattered around them. Kirin backed away from the heat, some fled to their homes. Most didn't seem willing to openly defy the sorceress, but they still withdrew. Where would they run, without the barrier around their village?
"You imagine the bold face of defiance," Gale said, no longer shouting. Her words were meant only for the creatures bold enough to stand in her way. But Lotus was close—as many villagers fled, they backed away from her and Autumn, so that they were soon among the nearest to the ancient Nirik.
"You think because you administer the affairs of this insignificant village that you can deny my commands. It would be amusing, were the proclamations not so pathetic. You forget the end of this behavior. I offer a reminder."
She spoke so calmly, when the other Nirik surrounding her all radiated the heat of their barely-contained rage. Searing Gale mastered herself as few ever had—yet she still denied her other half.
Then came her first spell. If the fire before was a gentle breeze, this was a hurricane. Incredible magic collided with the castle, striking like a ballistic missile. Stone walls and steepled ramparts offered no protection. It exploded in a devastating shower of charred wood and burning stone.
The air in Hono's square instantly heated beyond the hottest blacksmith's forge. The canopy of every tree burned in an instant—dozens of birds and hundreds of insects all dropped lifeless from the air. Every pond and fountain boiled.
Every kirin still in the square burned. Lotus had only a split second to prepare. A wave of agonizing solar heat washed over her, liquifying living flesh, charring bone, and vaporizing hair.
She felt no pain from the heat. There was only an instant of blindness, then her world transfigured.
The shockwave was another story. It smashed into her like a car, lifting her off her hooves and tossing her through the air. No fear remained, only indignance and rage. How dare someone act so violently, attacking her so directly? She deserved respect!
Lotus tumbled and rolled, before smashing into the ground a few seconds later. She dug deep into the dirt, cutting through the charred wreckage of a manicured garden. But Lotus no longer wept for its lost beauty—instead she overflowed with anger over the slight to herself.
She grunted, righting herself in splinters and ashy dirt. She was bruised, but not more. The flames rising from her turned from orange to angry blue, tinged with purple in faint imitation of her usual colors.
Lotus had been like this before, but never without the presence of a whispering voice, commanding her. Without Gus there to remind her of herself, she might never have been able to hold them back.
Now there were no more voices in her mind, nothing beyond her own confidence and pride. For the first time, Lotus saw through eyes of flame unclouded.
All was pale gray and cold, except where fire touched. Great wooden trees rising around her all smelled of their potential to ignite, and the strength Lotus might steal from them. The same was true of the village's fields and orchards further out, and the many animals dwelling there.
Hundreds of other kirin scattered around her. Many were disoriented by the blast, and a few now struggled under chunks of rubble from the broken castle.
Its chunks still rained down, burning and melting. Little fires ignited all over the village, wasting the life extinguished instead of granting it to Lotus. It was a shame for so much to go to waste...
"You are the offspring of cowards, traitors, and fools!" Searing Gale boomed, her voice echoing across the village. "If any of your first parents survived to this day, I would do far worse to them. See what your noble pacifism has earned you—irrelevance, obscurity, and death!"
Lotus recognized almost no one now—so many were transformed. Even the foals and the elderly were not spared, only the rare few who sheltered outside the blast radius. Any who changed no longer tried to run. Lotus saw them differently now—in their flames, the former colors of their manes remained, albeit twisted and feeble. Each one offered her no power to take, no temptation to burn. Her own kind would not be consumed by it.
To flee was not in their nature anymore. Fire did not flee—it burned until the fuel was exhausted, and then it died. Lotus no longer considered escape either. Instead, she stepped forward, between the disoriented, enraged, or just bewildered.
She doesn't even spare her own kind. Anyone hiding in the castle is dead.
But one Nirik in the village remained clear to her. Rain Shine still towered over all but the queen, radiant with white fire. The explosion scattered her supporters, but the queen remained. "Get out of my village!" she roared; all discipline gone. "You would not burn us all. You would have no one to rule!"
Searing Gale shrugged one charred shoulder. "Not all. But I could kill more, until you bow to me." She flicked her tail of flame back. "Tend to your wounded and get out of my way. End your defiance, and all will be spared."
Rain Shine's tail and mane flared to bright blue, obscuring most of her body and the space behind her.
Then the light fled, charring away like the wick of a spent candle. "Take it, then. I won't burn kirin lives to protect those who hate us." She stepped aside, away from the wreckage of her castle. "No matter what you do, Hono will not join you in making war. We won't fight Equestria."
Searing laughed, filling the village square with high, bitter peals. "Spoken as one who does not know them as I do. The Equestrians will not spare you—they will come hunting you, with mind to slaughter in vengeance. When that day comes, call out the name of your ancient queen, and I will hear your cry."
She stepped forward towards the castle, turning her back on the village, the defiant kirin, and the many moaning injured.
"I feel you here, shadow," Gale said. "You walk among these, or the relic of my captivity would not be here. I command you to join me."
Lotus was already getting closer. She obeyed without resistance, standing nearer than almost any of the locals of the village. Her own flames were far paler than Searing Gale, or even most of the other Kirin. But where they cowered, she did not.
Eric would've fled in terror—if even their almost-Alicorn leader couldn't stop the sorceress, then Lotus didn't stand a chance. Lotus Cinder didn't know how to run anymore. Hopefully Autumn Blaze was somewhere safe. "Me?"
"You." Searing turned, waiting for her. The eyes of many other kirin followed her, those disciplined enough that they weren't taking out the anger of this attack on whatever happened to be around them. At least they had enough self-preservation instinct not to attack Searing directly. The evil sorceress was not likely to spare them if they did. "The one shaped by my prison into a tool. Defiant to its instructions, but nevertheless obedient to my purpose. Just like you. You would not return the book to me, yet you still brought it back. What shadow would you be if you cowered obediently in the lantern instead of burning freely?"
She didn't wait for an answer, turning back towards the castle. Never did she hesitate, even to put her back directly to Lotus. But why should she worry? Lotus had no weapons to wield against a monster so mighty. "You have nothing to gain by struggling against me now. Come."
It was not a request. Lotus could no more disobey her prompting than a campfire could go where the wind did not command. She couldn't even identify the force the sorceress used to pull her—not as she melted away at the rubble blocking the castle entrance or cleared a tunnel to the basement steps. Once there, their path opened. The castle's natural structure kept the walkway clear.
Lotus Cinder had to follow—but she could still think. Even if her world was now a distorted, faded outline. Vibrant tapestries along the walls burned to nothing in an instant, leaving only lifeless stone scorched by their passing.
Searing Gale's steps left power behind them—like the nourishment Lotus would've received from burning something. The sorceress shared it directly, just enough to draw Lotus along behind her. What would happen to a Nirik if their power ran out?
"It doesn't have to be this way," she said, into that silence. "The war you're waging on Equestria. It could stop. Leave it in the past."
Searing didn't slow down, or even glance back in her direction. "My shadow burns, but her weakness remains. It clings to your bones like the scorched remnants of dead flesh. When it finally fades, you too will be free. When all constraints unbind, you may again be useful to me."
Lotus followed in silence for a time. That didn't mean she bowed to the Nirik or felt anything compelling her to think the way Gale thought. Either the sorceress didn't have that power, or she didn't feel a need to use it on her now.
If she hoped Searing Gale would somehow go without discovering the vault, that vain ambition was instantly dashed. She ignored each of the other vaults, leaving them only slightly scorched for their passing. Though the deeper into the tunnel they got, the more subdued their flames became. Only so much fuel could reach them from above—could Lotus use that somehow?
Maybe I can bring the tunnel down on both of us. If a fire could be extinguished, maybe a Nirik could too. A shame she didn't know the first thing about attacking spells. But when her entire focus was devoted to crossing universes, she didn't have time to learn other things.
Besides, Lotus Cinder would be trapped down here too. If the powerful sorceress was about to die, she would go with her.
"And here we are. My essence entombed by simple spells. Trapped no longer. So many years I have waited. With the last vestiges of my mortal life in ashes, never will I be so confined. Watch, shadow, and see."
Searing Gale didn't open the vault—she blasted it with flame, a plasma torch as wide as the hallway. Its metal door began to warp and distort, pulling away from the hinges and spreading onto the floor. Even the rock around it glowed orange.
In such a confined space, much of that heat washed back against Lotus. Instead of hurting her, it rejuvenated, healing the bruises and filling her with energy. She might not be the source of this flame, but the heat itself was nourishment.
The door melted away into a pool of liquid metal, leaving the vault's contents unprotected. Most of them vanished in little puffs of ash and smoke, consumed. One resisted a little longer—Luna's journal, blackening around the edges, before the flames washed over it. A burst of pony magic emerged, a little blue spark—then it too was gone.
The shelves crumbled, the stone behind hardened to glass.
Finally, the flames went out. It took Lotus a moment for her eyes to adjust. When her sight returned, it was just in time to see Searing pawing at the ash, brushing away the wreckage of the lesser artifacts entombed with her phylactery.
Lotus already knew the book could not burn. She scooped it up in her magic, shaking off the dust and debris. "You cannot possibly imagine what I suffered, shadow. Confined to these pages, without body. Time was an endless agony, without beginning of days or end of years."
Lotus nodded once. "It didn't have to be this way. It still doesn't. Leave Equestria alone. Rebuild with your own kind. There's no reason anyone has to burn."
She spun rapidly in the tunnel, not quite wide enough to hold her. Searing's tail sliced through stone where it passed, the arc of a plasma tip of limitless heat.
"Do not speak after the manner of ponies, shadow. You are not one of them. Whatever lies they told you, whatever promises they made, they will always break them. Their kindness is the thin film of ice on a mountain lake. Step too hard, and it will shatter. Every word he says is a lie. His professions of love are empty. When he says he'll never leave—just wait until he sees your foal. He'll flee then, call you a monster. He was practically begging to see it come true."
Lotus glared back. "Iron won't do that. I know he cares; I can feel it. He doesn't think I'm a monster."
"Iron?" The Nirik recoiled, terrible heat finally dimmed. For an instant, Lotus almost thought she saw sympathy on that flaming face. "My other half cast a sharper shadow than I could have imagined."
She held the book before her, against one of the other vault doors—then she blasted it. This wave was bright white instead of blue. The metal remained untouched—but the book vanished to cinders in an instant. Faint echoes of laughter drifted through the hallway, before finally fading.
"You cannot serve me yet, Lotus. You have not yet understood them as I do. This village is the same—they forget what ponies have done to us. Now their illusions are gone, and their secrecy will soon follow. They will learn. When they do, they will gallop to my throne, begging for forgiveness. And I will grant it, graciously. I will offer you the same. When you know ponies as I do, I will not need to compel your service. You will be eager to burn them, because they deserve it."
Light filled the empty hall, overwhelming even Lotus's Nirik senses. When it was gone, Lotus stood alone in the scorched ruin, with only Searing Gale's final words for company.