//------------------------------// // Chapter IV - His Mistake // Story: Lost // by Mr101 //------------------------------// Lost Chapter IV – His Mistake Grendel had set Fluttershy down and began to make a small camp fire; he collected a series of small stones to form a circle before placing an adequate pile of small logs within the circle. He then rubbed his hands together kneeling down as he extended his right hand over the logs and cast a small fire spell which set the logs alight, he waited for a moment to let the fire fully start to burn before setting up the bed roll next to it. He then picked Fluttershy up and placed her inside the bed rolls covers before sitting by the tree nearby her smiling. Fluttershy felt the warmth of the fire flow over her and smiled, settling into the covers to make herself comfy, she turned her head to Grendel watching him as he wrapped himself in his own cloak and she caught him smiling back at her. “So Miss Fluttershy, any more questions you wish to ask?” Fluttershy thought of a question Twilight would die to know, nodding with a smile; she shifted her body as to allow the warmth of the fire flow over her back. “I was wondering...what’s magic in your land like? I mean…how do you do it without a horn?” Grendel looked slightly puzzled at this but shrugged it off as something pony related. “Well, in my world anyone can be a magic user if they so wish, in my word magic energy is nearly everywhere although invisible to the naked eye. Much like rainwater in a cloud, you can’t physically see the water but you know it’s in there.” Fluttershy nodded softly as she listened to him making mental notes. “If someone is trained in the art, they can wield the energy and channel it through into spells using their mind, the stronger the spell, the more energy is required as well as a higher will. However, there is a slight risk when it comes to using magic, because when the energy flows through the mage, it starts to drain them of their own personal energy.” “Slight risk?” Fluttershy asked, giving him a slightly concerned look. Grendel nodded from under his hood. “Aye, if a mage burns up too much of their own energy, they can potentially pass out for many days. Or sometimes…if there unlucky…” Grendel didn’t need to finish his sentence; Fluttershy’s shocked gasp was enough to tell him she understood. Fluttershy paused for a moment before asking her next question. “If you don’t mind sharing them...what other types of spells can you do?” Grendel stroked his beard as he thought for a moment. “Well, I can cast spells that are classed as destructive such as the fireball I used to scare away those wolves, I can also use healing spells and illusion spells.” To demonstrate, he picked up a twig and muttered under his breath grasping it tightly in one hand, he then began to slowly pull the twig out. As he did, it was no longer a twig but a carrot. Fluttershy giggled as he broke the illusion reverting it back to a twig, Fluttershy began to ask him some more simpler questions about Grendel himself as was slightly startled to find out he was six hundred and twenty years old. “But you don’t look that old Mister Grendel.” Grendel chuckled; he had given up reminding Fluttershy to just call him Grendel. “That Miss Fluttershy is due to the longevity spell. It slows the aging process of a mage’s body so there appearance remains young for a long period of time.” Fluttershy nodded and yawned softly before excusing herself with a blush; Grendel smiled softly and took out a fairly long wooden pipe from his robe. “It’s getting late Miss Fluttershy and you need your sleep, with any luck we will be at the edge of the forest by midday tomorrow.” Fluttershy smiled warmly at him as she said good night and settled herself down; Grendel remained where he was keeping quiet and not moving a muscle. When he was absolutely certain Fluttershy had fallen asleep he placed some crushed brown powder into the pipe, he extended a finger and a small flame lit above his index finger. He watched it dance for a moment before poking his pipe and lighting it and quickly blowing out several quick puffs of smoke before extinguishing the flame. Wrapping the cloak around him for warmth he slowly exhaled smoke every now and again focusing on the sounds of the forest around them. ----------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------- Fluttershy woke up; she was alone again and couldn’t see Grendel anywhere. She limped down a pathway in the forest crying softly as she darted her head back and forth from the trees whimpering at any sound she heard. She had no idea why she was alone or where she was, worse still, she had no idea where Grendel was. She shivered as the cold wind of the night blew all around her, she looked for a way to go but for some reason her senses where playing tricks on her. One minute there was a clear pathway leading to the edge of the forest, and then the next minute it had changed to a pathway leading to a very dark cave. She bit her lip as her tears fell to the cold forest floor, the splash echoing around her. Suddenly the trees began to slowly circle in around her and she began to cower on the ground. “MISTER GRENDEL!” She cried for the human in vain, choking on her sobs as she franticly screamed for him to help her. Just as she was about to be crushed by the trees they stopped moving and began to move apart, she looked up fearfully to see a new pathway had opened up to her. Not hesitating for a moment that this was a pathway out of the forest, she ran, clinging onto the hope she would be free. She kept running doing her best to ignore the increasingly rising amount of pain in her hoof which hurt with every single step; she came to a screeching halt as she saw in the distance a figure coming towards her. She focused her eyes to try and see what it was and saw it resembled that of a human, excitedly; she rubbed her tears away and ran to the figure. “Mister Grendel! I was so afraid, I didn’t know where I was or how I got there-“ She stopped abruptly in mid-sentence, her pupil’s shrinking in pure fear and terror as silent tears began to roll down her face. The forest around her became deathly silent, no sound was heard, not the whistle of the wind or the rustle of the leaves. Just, one, sound… A soft giggle echoed all around Fluttershy as the figure came into view of the moonlight. It’s long ripped black cloak blew about in a non-existent breeze, Fluttershy whimpered but no sound escaped her lips. Slowly, she glanced up the figure and came to a stop as she reached its head. She could see nothing but an eerie darkness inside its hood, she heard a soft rattle of wood moving underneath its cloak and then silence once more. What seemed like an eternity passed before she heard it giggle once more before three piercing red eyes shone out of the hood, staring directly into her own. She let out a loud ear piercing scream as the creature lunged for her. The last thing she saw was its long sharp fangs…and it’s piercing, red, eyes. ----------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------- Fluttershy was screaming hysterically as tears flowed from her clenched eyes, her limbs flailing ignoring the pain searing from her wing and hoof, Grendel had heard Fluttershy murmur his name in her sleep and sensed something troubling her before the Pegasus suddenly started screaming. He immediately moved to her and pulled her into a tight embrace stroking her back softly in an effort to calm her down. “Miss Fluttershy, FLUTTERSHY!” he called out over and over. Fluttershy’s eyes shot open and she glanced around rapidly to see she was back at the small campsite. Her tears had stopped as she panted softly her eyes still wide, she looked back and then up to see Grendel looking down at her his face full or worry. “It’s ok Miss Fluttershy…it was just a bad dream…” Fluttershy tried to find the words, it felt too real to her and the creatures laugh…and its eyes were unnerving. She tried once more to get the words out but her eyes watered up as she buried her face hard into his chest crying as she clung to him desperately, Grendel tightened his embrace stroking her back to calm her as he rocked himself softly. They stayed that way for a while before Grendel stood up and went back to the tree sitting down, he arranged himself so he was still holding Fluttershy close to him and wrapped his cloak around the pair. She was still whimpering and sniffling as she kept her tight grip on him, he muttered a small spell under his breath and his eyes shone white briefly before hers did to, he watched her as she yawned and slowly fell back to sleep. ‘Hopefully that will prevent anymore nightmares tonight…’ he thought to himself. He slowly glanced up into the shadows of the forest and glared angrily at the darkness. ‘That was low….even for you….’ ----------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------- The creature silently hovered a good hundred odd metres from the small campfire; it tilted its head left before slowly tilting it right and giggled softly to itself. It had tremendous fun tormenting the little Pegasus in her dream; it was even more delighted that it had angered the mage. For the first time in years, it was truly entertained. Softly and quietly, it shot of to the right the rattling of wood softly echoing from it as it disappeared into the darkness. ----------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------- Grendel stroked Fluttershy’s mane softly as the Pegasus slept soundly his eyes darting all around him, using his magic he had carefully and quietly levitated his gear together and back into the bag. Standing up carefully as to not wake her, he threw his bag onto his shoulder carrying Fluttershy in one arm; he slowly began to make his way out of the clearing. He wasn’t taking any chances of staying in the same place for much longer. Quickly but quietly, he maneuvered his way through the trees making his way north from the abandoned camp. Looking back now and again to make sure they weren’t followed, he stopped to scan the area in front of them before he heard Fluttershy stir in her sleep and looked down at her. She blinked a couple of times and looked up at him murmuring softly, he couldn’t help but smile at her innocence. “Mister Grendel…where are we?” “North of the camp, we needed to move to a better location.” “But…why?” Fluttershy nervously looked round at her surroundings, her eyes shot open suddenly as she had a flashback from her nightmare and whimpered clinging to him. “It’s real…isn’t it…?” Grendel didn’t reply for a long time, he could feel her eyes on his face looking at him. He sighed and scanned the area, he couldn’t sense the creature anywhere near them and sat down by a tree and looked at her. “Miss Fluttershy…how long do you think I’ve been in your world?” “Uhm…I…I don’t know Mister Grendel…a couple of months?” “Twenty years Miss Fluttershy…I’ve been here twenty years.” Fluttershy gasped as her eyes widened looking up at him her mouth open. “T-twenty years?” “Aye…and all of them in this forest.” “B-but why…surely you c-could of gone to any town or-“ Grendel raised his hand quieting her as he sighed closing his eyes. “It’s because I cannot leave this place…not until Raven is dead.” Fluttershy lowered her ears at the last word and whimpered softly. “W-what do you mean…dead…who’s Raven?” she whispered. “Raven is that creature you saw in your dreams…” He sighed once more and hugged her tightly closing his eyes. “You deserve to know the truth. Twenty years ago, I finally gave into my curiosity which had been bothering me for the past five hundred or so years. You see, a dear friend of mine once came to this world back when we were both still young mages, and told me all about its wonder and its connection with magical energy. I was curious and pestered him to tell me more but he had sworn to the rulers of your world he would keep the knowledge of the gateway a secret, although disheartened by this, I none the less respected his wishes.” Fluttershy’s eyes had widened a bit hearing another human had been in Equestria. “However, as time went by my natural curiosity got the better of me and I began to research the possibility of gateways into other realms. After nearly thirty years of searching in the Council’s archives I discovered an ancient spell once used by the first Elder council to transport themselves to different realms, naturally I was thrilled. But it was short lived.” He paused for a moment as he let his head rest on the bark of the tree behind him and sighed to himself. “For I could only learn the spell after harnessing the power of a rare and powerful crystal called the Sang-gar stone, a crystal that was used by the first mages to harness the energy around them. I spent the next few hundred years on and off looking for the crystal…I would have done it sooner but the war of White Pass happened…” He stopped, closing his eyes struggling to hold back the memories of the dark and bloody war, he felt Fluttershy hug him gently. He smiled gently and hugged her back before continuing. “When the war was over, I discovered the crystal within a cave far to the north of the Empire’s border and began at once to research its true properties. My friend caught me one night studying it and asked what it was, I lied saying it was a project I was working on involving storing different elemental energy into crystals, he bought it.” He paused again seeing Fluttershy tilt her head at him. “But if you needed the crystal to come here…how come your friend didn’t know what it was? Surely he would have seen one before…” “He didn’t know what it was because when he arrived in your world, he had been summoned by your rulers. Darkness had fallen over the land to the north and he had been asked to deal with another of our kind. I didn’t need him telling me who it was…” Grendel looked up and over her head, glaring into the night a soft growl rumbling from his throat. Fluttershy flattened her ears deciding not to ask what he meant, Grendel saw she was slightly frightened and gave her a reassuring hug. “Sorry Miss Fluttershy…it’s a topic I don’t wish to discuss…or really remember…” “It’s ok Mister Grendel…I’m s-sorry I asked you can stop now…if you want to.” she whispered back to him. Grendel smiled softly and stroked her mane. “No…you need to hear the truth, when I was sure I was ready to perform the spell I cast it and I appeared….I appeared…” Grendel strained as he tried to remember where he had appeared in the forest and let out a frustrated sigh. “I can’t remember, anyway, after arriving here I spent a year exploring the forest and examining its foliage and animals. I was fascinated by the connection of magic to everything, however I after a year being here, I hadn’t run into anyone and found myself feeling lonely. I decided that I should make one of the animals my familiar.” Grendel chuckled loudly as a grin etched into his face. “That didn’t go down to well, nearly got eaten by a hydra at one point, so in the end I resolved to create a familiar from an inanimate object. I gathered some wood together as well as my old black cloak.” ----------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------- Grendel extended his hand over the amassed pile of objects he had gathered, he began to chant under his breath, his eyes shone a dull white as the assortment of objects began to hover and slowly form into a cloaked floating creature before him. As he brought the spell to a finish the creature giggled and bowed to him, smiling he bowed politely back. “I am Grendel Emeric…I am your Master now, my wooden friend.” The creature giggled and nodded happily. “Now all you need is a name, Crow? No reminds too much of Master Elroth’s familiar…Hmm ah! I know!” He looked up at the creature and grinned. “You shall be known as…Raven.” The creature nodded happily and spun in the air giggling as Grendel chuckled. “Come Raven, we have much to do.” The two headed off down a pathway with Raven floating beside him, rattling away softly behind his master. ----------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------- Fluttershy gasped as Grendel told her how Raven was created. “Y-you created him?” Grendel nodded. “W-what happened?” He sighed looking up at the tree tops. “The Everfree forest happened…” ----------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------- “Raven? Raven what’s the matter? Raven was hovering perfectly still in the middle of the path way, looking to its right not answering Grendel’s calls. “Look Raven we haven’t got time for games we need to keep moving.” Again, Raven did not respond, it turned its body to face the direction it was looking and started to back up. Grendel now looked concerned as he walked over to his familiar, he looked to where he was looking and tried to focus his eyes on anything however, he didn’t see anything and sighed. “You probably saw a rabbit, now let’s-“ Grendel felt a tremendous blast of energy slam into him, shooting him into a nearby tree yelling out in pain as he fell to the floor. He looked up to see a red glow forming around Raven who was shaking itself trying to get free. “RAVEN!” Grendel tried to stand up but was pinned to the tree by an unseen force, his eyes widened as the red energy sunk itself into the body of Raven. He suddenly realised what was happening and cursed himself for not seeing it sooner. “RAVEN NO!” His cries fell on deaf ears, he watched helplessly as his familiar began to absorb the magical energy. When the red energy had vanished Raven hovered in place, Grendel was released from his grip and ran over to the familiar. He stopped though as Raven slowly turned to face him, Grendel took a step back. Gone was the happy smiling wooden face he had enchanted on his face, in its place, was nothing but darkness. Grendel tried to speak but was silenced as three piercing red eyes shot open from within the darkness. “No…Raven what have you done…” Raven tilted his head to the left…then to the right…and giggled ----------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------- Fluttershy was deathly silent as Grendel spoke; he had not met her gaze once, instead just kept it straight ahead. She lowered her ears as he continued. “When I made Raven, I gave him the ability to use the energy around us to help him move and assist me in my studies. However, I foolishly didn’t account for any dark energy, that red energy took control of his body and he took off. I tried to chase him but was too fast for me, so I resorted to using a spell to prevent him from leaving the forest and killing someone.” He looked down at Fluttershy. “I cast a curse on the both of us…he is forbidden to leave the forest and neither am I….until one of us is dead. That's the thing about curses...they effect each side.” Fluttershy let out a soft gasp as her eyes began to water up at his tale. “Raven in retaliation, used some of his new powers to perform his own curse upon me. He took the spell I needed to travel to and from this world as well as the location where I needed to cast it and made me forget them in exchange for one of his arms. In some form of sick game I sensed he had cursed it so I would have to kill him for it to be broken. “That’s why you never left….you were trying to protect us from Raven…and find your way home…” Fluttershy whispered softly. Grendel nodded softly. “And we have been playing a game of cat and mouse for nineteen years…each one hunting the other. And each time one of us catches the other, we flee to fight another day.” Grendel sighed and closed his eyes. “He was my mistake…” Fluttershy tightly hugged him as he wrapped his arms around her burying his face into her neck. ----------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------- The alpha wolf softly snored as he and his pack slept in the cave, they had been awake for two days straight and had found themselves in a different part of the forest out of their territory. After trekking back avoiding other packs, they had safety arrived home and settled to sleep. The alpha’s eyes shot open suddenly as he growled menacingly to the mouth of the cave, soon followed by his pack. Raven hovered in front of the cave entrance and tilted his head left, and then right. This was indeed the pack from last time; he giggled rising his arm up slowly levitated the wolves up into the air. The wolves yelped in terror before howling in pain as their bodies began to be consumed in a red energy, their eyes slowly turned from their usual green to a piercing red as they were dropped to the floor. Raven then slowly pointed his arm to the forest; obediently the wolves howled and then ran out of the cave in the direction he was pointing. Raven giggled once more before slowly following them. He was going to have so much fun…