//------------------------------// // Equestrian Landing // Story: Foal Necromancer // by Kytranis //------------------------------// I hover in almost total darkness, the last of my clothing nothing more than rotted black rags hanging off my starved and abused frame. I stare in wonderment, and joy at my latest creation. A modified phylactery, it is in the shape of a glass orb and glows with white light. I brush a tangled iron-grey lock of hair out of my sight, and I continue to examine the salvation the size of my thumb. During this, I barely pay any attention to my near skeletal hand that holds the orb, or my breath that comes in and out slowly, in ragged wheezes. An unnaturally long life of abuse and persecution, has long stripped me of my health. Only my natural-born magic, and sheer burning will to live has kept me alive. "Evil Wretch! We're here for your head!!" A man screams out, I take a second to press my phylactery into my forehead, and it vanishes into my skin without seams. During this movement, the base of my palm brushes against the dirty linen bound over my empty eye sockets are. All light in the room vanishes. A few moments later a small group of lights rush into the room, they spread out to give the chamber a soft red glow. I frown when an elderly man in red and cyan robes marches in, he is shortly followed by a young woman in white and yellow. A knight in platemail armour bearing a red dragon and golden lion crest charges in shortly afterwords, and I can feel that there is another slinking through the shadows. "So, four more fools seek to challenge me... at least I had a month alone this time." I say with some pain, my dry voice rattles off the walls in a bone chilling echo. "No matter what distance you hide the Holy Empire will find you! You will pay for enslaving the souls of the dead!" The knight shouts with an echoing effect, it is entirely due to his bucket helmet. I can't help but snicker a little at the sheer stupidity of the man's head wear before calmly deflecting a thrown knife. There is a skilled thief circling behind me now, but as well as he can hide his body from the sight of a human... the enchanted senses I have pick him out with the same ease as his highly visible companions "I'm tired of explaining myself to an empire of murderers and slavers. If you are to fight me than come at me! But know this fool, like so many times before, even as you take my head I shall be spirited to safety." I calmly say as I force out my magical aura to empower my spells, and hopefully scare off anyone with a sense of both magic and self-preservation. The lights in the room dim as a sheer rushing noise, detectable only in the absence it creates sweeps into the room. "We're ready for your evil! NOW!" The knight bellows, rushing forwards and pulling his sword from its sheath. As he does so I'm a little surprised to feel a rush of magic from the sword, shield and armour of the knight all at once. The blade is some form of anti shield weapon designed to execute spellcasters, the shield will drink magic, and the armour increases the knights speed to a blur. "Impressive." I admit, and calmly raise a hand then focus my will, this causes a massive blast of wind to erupt and hurl the knight backwards. I feel more magic behind me, and I now realize just how well prepared these people are. Souldrinkers are flying at me, so I shoot upwards and barely dodge a pair of knifes spinning through the air, glowing with ominous red light erupting from each. This explains their colouration choice for the room lighting. I then feel a massive burst of Necromancy shooting towards me and I raise my left hand to catch it. Before it makes contact a massive force slams against my aura so I crush the spell as it reaches my hand, and channel its energies to shatter the one attacking my aura. "Most impressive. Swords of Barrier's Death, Shields of Spell Drinking, Armour of the Hare, Daggers of Souldrinking, the Word of Death intoned without incantation and a massive Spell Shattering. You are prepared." I say with a bit of a nod, after all credit where credit's due. "We're more than prepared you Evil Bastard." The young cleric growls out, I must admit that I am shocked at the surprising use of language from the young woman. Doesn't her church have a taboo against slander? "That you are, but so am I. Crash." I command almost grinning at the thought of these idiot's panicking as the entrances and exits collapse. There is a rumbling sound, then nothing. "Oh... someone found my runes..." the old wizard grins at this. "...how entertaining..." I continue, then I flicker my will to the man behind me and the Thief begins choking. "Yet irritating." I say, and clench a fist focusing power into the movement. A crunching sound is heard from the Thief and his neck snaps, but I'm not done and his bones vanish to the aether of my aura. I sneak them towards the wizard as the Thief falls to the ground as a puddle of flesh and muscle. Mercifully dead. "You BASTARGH!" the wizard starts to shout, as I insert the Theif's bones into the outline in his aura and phase them back in. I've stabbed him in hundreds of places before fusing foreign bones to his skeleton, and destroy the joints. "...vrisin... sranor... crorrtai... essunir... jarooka..." the elderly man begins mumbling, I can't place the words before needing to dodge a lance of light from the young woman. "You Irredeemable Monster!" she screams, and dozens of blades made of only holy light and fire fill the upper part of the room. That forces me to the ground where I'm quickly hard pressed to dodge the knight "I'm the monster? You traveled across the world on a mission of murder, and grow affronted when I defend myself? What insolence!" I mock, as I try time and again to activate numerous different runes without words, to no avail. These bastards had been very thorough, but I still have a few more aces. "DIE WRETCH!" The knight bellows as he swings faster and faster at me, until I catch his sword arm and hold it steady and hard. I can only imagine this muscle head's expression, the fact that a man mostly made of bone is physically overpowering him must be galling. "You must be deafening yourself in that ridiculous excuse for a chamber pot when you shout." I note dryly, using the knight as a living shield from the infuriated cleric. "Still ask yourself something, outside of my offenses with Necromancy which I keep well away from other people, and my spat with Saint King Leonidas the First what crimes have I truly committed? Murder in self-defence? Resisting Arrest? Fleeing the border? Theft of foodstuffs and cloth? Am I really such a monster that the Assassins Guilds, the Holy Order of Blessed Knights, the Surwitch Academy of Magic and the Church of the Holy Fire would set aside their differences for?" “Keep your forked tongue behind your teeth!" The knight grits out trying to gain ground but failing. His arms are starting to shake which I find kind of funny. "How many times did you tell the assassin that?" I ask mockingly and the Knight bellows in rage. Then his strength quintuples with a rush of magic, and I'm thrown back just shy of the far wall. "What in hellfire?" I ask shocked, and a massive rush of magic from right behind me stabs me right in the head, the sheer amount of power being brought into the affect is overwhelming my magic sense. "NO!" I shout, and catch the charging knight by punching the shield the knight had been hoping to ram with so hard that it cracks. Then I grab his sword by the blade and shatter it with raw strength, before throwing the large man back. Just in time for the Souldrinking Daggers to embed themselves in my stomach and begin devouring my magic wholesale. I pull the now blood drenched daggers out of my freshly skewered stomach, just in time for a concussive wave of light and fire to cause me to stagger back to the edge of the newly formed portal. "Evil Wretch!" the knight screams out and my magic senses clear just in time to notice the shield, which knocks me backwards into the hole in space and time. "...Anuls..." the pained wizard wheezes out, and the portal shatters with no destination chosen. So I begin falling, unable to maintain my flight spell with so much magic lost to the daggers and sheer trauma. I fall downwards in the Dark Light between worlds, I feel the substance of absence surrounding me as I mentally restock on this situation. Then I start laughing. I can't stop laughing as I nearly bend in half while falling, my own insane sounding chuckles echoing back at me. "The idiots. They delivered me beyond the reach of their pathetic empire and wretched false gods. I'm glad that I finished modifying my phylactery." I mutter smiling to myself before focusing. "I'll need a realm rife with magic for the modification to work..." I mutter, as I gather what's left of my magic around myself and slam into dimensional barriers with all the force I can, killing my current body, and hurling it into a new world. There's a flash of a snow-covered castle, a city upon the side of a mountain and a small wooded area within the city before I slam into the ground. All is darkness and cold... if I die of hypothermia before I can build another phylactery then I have truly met my end. I can't wake up... I'm so cold... I can't wake up... It's so cold... Something's got me! I still can't move... I've been put on a horse and am moving fast. It's warm now. Am I safe? I can't wake up... They've put me in a bed... They've stabbed me!!! I can't wake up... I feel a spell on me... I'm falling into a deeper sleep... I fade in slowly, uncomfortably. I have a massive headache, and my back feels like I've got a knife just under each shoulder. I'm lying on my stomach and my hunger is near mind numbing. I also feel like I've fallen down the side of a mountain and bounced all the way to the base, but that's normal. There's a sound of nearby horses, and I'm in what must be the softest and warmest linens I've ever felt. My robes and eye bandages are gone... am I in a society of perverts? I try to reach out with my extra senses, but my head throbs in sheerest agony at that. "Well this is charming. Where am I?" I ask, and I push myself up to a seating position with my legs crossed, I am more than a little surprised to hear a very small child's voice. It seems I had made a few mistakes in the modification of my phylactery, I had intended to be reconstructed as an adult male of a vastly different appearance and aura to myself, so as to be hidden from my detractors. It appears that I turned out as a child instead... and it didn't regenerate my eyes either. Both annoying, but I can deal with annoying. There's the sound of a horse approaching, but I ignore it in favour of placing a hand on my head. What I feel shocks me. My limb ends in a hard stump, furthermore my head is covered in soft fur. That and I can clearly feel a few of my scars through the fur, have I not been healed of anything!? The horse is still approaching. I ignore it further, an animal cannot help me at this point. I've lost my eyes, and now my fingers and maturity as well. Survival just became a whole new level of difficult. The fur may help though, seeing as it can keep me warm. "Good morning deary how are you feeling?" a gentle and matronly voice asks and I groan a little. "I'm in pain from every limb, and I'm positive I must have grown and then broken a few more. Also terribly hungry and with an absolutely monstrous headache." I tell her trying to be polite, despite the fact that every word made me feel as if my head was used for an anvil. "Yes, I noticed how skinny you are as well. Which is why I've put you on an IV. I must ask... what happened to your eyes?" she asks sounding hesitant, the horse paces around slightly, her voice following it. Perhaps it is a centaur, or a culture that spends their lives on horses. I've heard of stranger. "A rather horrible spell was cast on them, it caused them to build up energy until they detonated which would have been fatal. So I had to tear them out myself, but was vindicated in such an act when I threw them away, and they detonated with enough force to shatter boulders." I slowly explain to her and the horse stops as if in shock. Definitely a centaur then. "You had to tear them out yourself!?" She asks her voice shaking in horror. "Well when all you have is a rusted knife, than all you have is a rusted knife my dear." I continue before mentally kicking myself. If I drop too many hints at who I am then I'm completely sunk. "A rusted knife... oh dear Celestia, what kind of monsters would do such a thing?" she asks her voice is shaking. Well would you look at that, sympathy. I haven't encountered that in a while. It must be a trick. "Sorry. I just have this wonderful talent for making sworn blood enemies, they tend to swear to hunt me until the end of time. It has made life interesting though." I admit by way of apology for her discomfort. Her breathing pattern has changed and it sounds a bit like she's in shock. Then before I have any idea what's going on I'm being levitated through the air completely exposed, and the centaur quickly dashes from one side of the bed to the other. "Oh thank goodness. I thought you had a cutie mark in such a thing, count your blessings that you're still a blankie." she says gently sounding massively relieved as my mind turns around quickly. Cutie Mark? Wait she mentioned an IV thing earlier... Well I am a child, and I sounded very young too, so time for some questions. I'll ignore the nudity for now. "Uhm? Cutie Mark? You also mention an IV thing..." I state quietly and a little shyly. I hate admitting to ignorance. "Well dearie when a young pony finds out what they're truly good at and love to do, a symbol appears on their flank to signify this revelation, and guide their life towards happiness. As for an IV, it is a needle with a hose that's connected to a bag, which doctors like me use to feed or give medicines to a patient who can't eat or take medicine normally. I've put in basic nutrition fluids, as well as some antibiotics to clear out any infection from those horrible stab wounds on your stomach." she explains, as she calmly lowered me onto the bed and the blankets were placed over me gently. "Ah, thank you for explaining." I say politely as I can as my mind turns around. 'A young pony'? So more horse than human, or horses with the intelligence of a human. It would explain my arm stump and fur... it would also explain why my rebirth was incomplete. The sheer difference between races meant that the adjustment took the energy intended for ageing and healing for the rebirth itself. Still, if there is such a massive difference and my injuries are still here, than I probably look like an abuse victim. Mix in being a child, and they will probably be treading on eggshells around me too. "Uhm excuse me little one, but may I have your name so I could maybe find your parents, or report to the royal guard?" the doctor asks and I grimace a little. This will be awkward to explain. "I... well... I don't really have a name anymore." I admit, and I can feel her incredulous and concerned look. "Well what happened was that I was constantly attacked through Naming Magic, meaning that my name was used to cut me up and pummel me. So I shattered my association with my name, now I can't remember it anymore, nor can anything remember me ever having it as my name. Whatever it was, I could have it as my name again, but... well... I can't remember it." I explain, and although I can't see her, I can tell her jaw has dropped a little. Or rather I hope it has because that would be funny. "Sweet Celestia... I've only ever heard rumours of such uses for naming spells... I use them just to keep track of patients, but to mercilessly attack a pony until they have to sever their name is just... disgusting!! What monster did that to you!?" she asks starting to sound well and truly shocked. I shrug casually before tilting my head towards her. "I don't know. It seems that morals and the law, just don't apply to my detractors when they're tying to do me harm. I never even met the pony using name magic against me." I tell her calmly, I'm being careful to watch my words and replace 'person' with 'pony'. "You poor little heart... what about your parents, or family? Surely they must have shielded you from some of this horror." she asked sounding as if she was soon to pass out. Well why not go for broke right? I've been honest so far so let's stay that way. "They tried... but then they were threatened as well... so I left hoping that my enemies would stay focused on me and me alone... most of them did, but not enough to spare them. Now all I can do is live for them, until the end of time if I must." I admit getting more personal than I intended and it's out before I can stop myself. Just perfect, I never wanted to admit that. Now she has to die. Now she is hugging me... and I appear to actually have two more limbs sticking out of my back, I can feel them being compressed slightly. It hurts a little so it's obvious my new limbs are broken. Just perfect. "Oh you poor little angel." she said nuzzling me gently and I lean into it. In my defence, it feels very nice and I'm not used to such things happening, so I relish the pleasant moments. Even if they are assassination attempts. "Now, you need to get some more rest before we can take you off the drip." she says, and I assume it's something to do with the IV thing. "I'm going to put a bit of an anesthetic into the IV to help you sleep, and don't worry. I'll be contacting the guards soon enough." she explains, and a spike of concern wells up inside me but I force it down. There is literally nothing I can do about it without digging my own grave, so I try not to worry. After all panic is the small death that brings complete destruction. There is a slight tingle of magic and for a few moments my head clears. I use the opening to cast a fourth sight spell to take a mental picture of the place. I... this is... well of course it's alien, I'm in an alternate reality. Still, I'm being held by a soft blue unicorn with a red mane and a red cross emblazoned on her rear. I'm in a very bright room with gaudy designs on the walls in the shape of what look like foals of horses, pegasi and unicorns over and over again. The bed I'm on is many times my new size, it has what looks like a down mattress. It has the whitest sheets I've ever seen with a grey cover, and huge fluffed up pillows just in front of me that look softer then the clouds themselves. As for myself, I am a tiny and almost unnaturally thin ash grey little pegasus. My hundreds of scars are still present, and my new wings are shredded. My stringy iron grey hair is now mottled brown and in clumped, filthy dreadlocks. Actually, there are also soot like stains across the bed and pillow where I had laid down on. There is a pair of bandages around my torso where the knives had embedded themselves, and I also have a small needle jammed into my arm. Attached to the needle is a hose up to a couple of clear bags of a material I've never seen before, with liquids inside them. These bags are hanging from a metal stand, with what look like black wheels of another material I've never seen before. Her horn is glowing with a pale green light, that's also around a needle with a glass chamber. There is a plunger on it, and it is inserting another liquid into the bag through a small tube connected to a chamber of the same material. Which has a mesh and banded metal coating, with the needle sticking through the mesh. My flash of image came and went, and I relished it. I was completely and irrevocably unrecognizable. I smiled in relief as I felt magic surround me, and I feel myself gently lowered onto the pillow with special care being given to the position of my wings. I felt the effects of the sleeping drug further, and I drift off after giving only a token resistance. Only one thought echoed through my mind. I am finally safe. Maybe...