//------------------------------// // Obsession // Story: The Journal of Sombra Lucent // by JitterbugJive //------------------------------// Entry 8 I must say my further readings were unsatisfying. The ‘Otherworld’ magic had so much potential, and it seemed enough to counter the tyrannical rule of Discord, but before it could be used another energy was discovered. ‘The Elements of Harmony’, wielded through chosen avatars filled with the raw six magical compounds. Before he even had a chance, all of the unicorn scholar’s efforts were put to waste. The loss of his comrades, his diminishing energy, his research… He was so close to discovering something big, but it all stopped before he could reach that point. After Discord’s rule had been lifted, his notes became more frantic. It seemed the sudden re-activation of true magic in the land caused a dangerous imbalance inside him that destroyed his magical focus completely. Surely, had he been exposed to both magics simultaneously such a state would not have occurred. Balance is the key. I just know it. The book became a riddle of notes and cryptic messages and spell theories that are difficult to decipher. I know if I take the time, I can unlock the true source of this magic. With my own magic keeping me at my top condition, I should be able to do what he could not! The book called to me. I see it now. This was meant for me to discover! Entry 9 I don’t understand it! Again and again I’ve read the book, pages upon pages of scrambled notes. Obsidian. Crystals. Glass. The sun and the moon. Constantly repeated, and those blueprints. Pieces of a puzzle, and I just can’t fathom what it all means! I must be missing something. I’m using the magic a little easier now, in small bursts. It’s tiring, but the power it holds is so invigorating. I must learn to use it without ill effect, I can practically taste the raw potential of it. Imagine, magic no longer needing to rely on the life blood of the crystal, or on petty emotions, or on whatever energies it uses that links all unicorns in one source. This new yet ancient magic is individual, if one loses it another can use it. There is no single source to be canceled out. As far as I can tell, the only magic capable of canceling out the Other magic is our own magic, which undoubtedly has a connection to the Crystal…! I just know it! Why else would Equestria’s entire foundation be built on the state of it? Why else would such a seemingly small and mundane object hold the fate of an entire continent? If only I could study it, but they only bring it out during the Crystal Fair… Do those fools really need their Crystal? What were to happen if they no longer had it? If it was destroyed? Would they open their eyes, or would they fall? Perhaps worse still, what if their lives are so interwoven with it that they would die without it? What of its state? Is it able to be altered? Obsidian, black glass, a dark Crystal. Perhaps Obsidian is the key. I will have to study the element, as I realize this volcanic rock is nowhere to be found in the Crystal Empire… Suspicious… Entry 10 Research is fruitful. I managed to obtain some good obsidian blocks through outside trade, and while it seems ordinary it is not so when the Otherworld magic is used in its presence. It resonates with a brilliant shine and amazingly enough it GROWS when the magic is used with it! It spreads so violently fast in the presence of the Otherworld magic that I had to cease using it before it overtook my study. The walls are covered in black crystals, so dark yet so beautiful… Some got on my hooves, but I managed to scrape it off without any damage. I do feel rather tired though, such progress does take one’s energy. If so much love and joy is needed consistently to power the Crystal, then what power would be needed to keep the obsidian stable? So tired, yet I can’t stop thinking. I musn’t over exert myself. Entry 11 The puzzle is coming together. The more I use the magic, the more I can see. It speaks to me, resonates through me. Something is tinting the pigment of my skin and changing my fur, like black in my very cells. I keep scraping off the obsidian crystals that are constantly trying to grow on my body like parasites, or more rather like growths. As tired as I am, the book constantly calls me. The magic is so powerful. I am meant to use it, I am meant to bring some meaning to this puzzle! The blueprints seem nearly obvious now, towering structures in what seems to be an alchemical circle of massive size. It was used in a smaller scale in the ruins of the temple, which explains the magical energy I’d sensed when I discovered it. If I am correct in my theory, should this thing be created in the size it was meant to be, the whole of Equestria could have an entirely new magical source! But it all leads back to that crystal heart. I can’t stop thinking about it. What is its purpose? Why is it there? Why does it change our bodies and why is it the source? Entry 12 At the next Crystal Fair I will find a way to take the Heart. No one will stop me, I must have it. For research, for progress. It will be mine.