//------------------------------//
// Chapter 12 
// Story: Virtuous Desperado 
// by Dumakey93 
//------------------------------//

My vision was blurry as the wind tore at my clothes. I was still freezing to death, and it seemed that there was no hope for any rescue. Why would there be? After all, I was sent to kill Celestia but befriended her instead. Even so, it seemed that she didn’t trust me. Perhaps looking after Twilight could be some sort of test to see if I could be trusted. 

Whatever her motives were for trusting me with her pupil, I wondered why she didn’t tell Twilight of my arrival or what I had to do here. Then again, telling someone that an assassin would look after you would seem a bit strange, especially when my species had never existed in this world before.

Then there were the Changlings and the demons that I had fought before. I didn’t have to worry about the Changlings that much, since almost all of them had been taken out by me and Shining Armor. They were too afraid to fight against the demons, since they had no amount of mercy for anyone. The demons however, were a completely different matter.

The majority of them seemed to ignore me, but the few that took interest knew what I was capable of. I often thought of why they recruited me since I have no chains binding me to their threats. I have no family or friends to speak of since most of them are dead or would rather forget about me. I do not blame them nor do I hold a grudge against them since I chose to be an outlaw. A loner that no one would miss would be an excellent person to send to assassinate someone. After all, they would have nobody to prove that they were being blackmailed. Usually people like that are killed in prison or are labelled “insane” and spend the rest of their lives in confinement.

I kept walking into the frozen wasteland, until I came upon what looked like a city. It looked quite a bit different from the wooden shacks I had seen most of my life. The buildings reached high into the sky and they seemed to glow, which helped me get my bearings. The city seemed so far away, but I was determined to get there as fast as my arms could drag me.

After an hour my hands began to tear up as blood dripped from under my nails. I could feel my body getting colder but I was so close to my so-called “salvation”. With a big gulp of air I began to move faster through the snow, as I was within ten yards of a small “crystal” home.

Just as my hands were about to touch the large doorknob, I felt a large magical presence run through my body. I assumed the worst as I banged on the door and tried to get inside. I punched the door out of anger and it finally gave way. As I managed to hobble inside, I saw that the place was abandoned, but a fire was still lit in the chimney. Upon closer inspection I saw that the flames were not a typical yellow-orange glow, but a black aura that was on par with the demons I was so familiar with.

I tried to ignore this as I huddled close to the fire. The door slammed shut after a huge gust of wind blew through. The room became dark enough that I could barely see my hands in front of my face. I paid no mind to that as I began to smell something that worried me. I put my hands up to my face and felt that they were cold, but the smell was from my lower body. As I began to reach down my legs, they became very itchy especially my feet. I took the torn remains of my boots off and felt my feet. They seemed extremely dry and had an odd smell that I just couldn’t place.

My best bet of ensuring my survival and the usage of my hands and feet, was to lay down beside the black fire that seemed to be unaffected by the wind from outside. I didn’t eat anything in what seemed like days, but I spotted a canteen out of the corner of my eye. I didn’t bother to check if there was any water in it because I was focused on getting my body some rest. My body was stretched out on the stone floor as I closed my eyes and tried to sleep.