Chapter 16: Evermore Beckons
The world seemed to slow around Kai and Twilight, As their six foes shot through the air, reaching for their exposed bodies. At the very last second, however, Twilight slid out of the way, and Kai ducked into a roll, causing their aggressors to miss. The two regrouped in the opposite corner, watching as their armored foes clumsily stood up, a bit dazed from their collision. Braeburn was the first up, and he rushed at his quarry, jumping into the air for Twilight. Luckily, he never reached her, receiving the powerful back legs of Akaitora in a crushing blow to the chest. Twilight could have sworn that she had hear a crack as his head collapsed to the ground, following his body. She didn't have time to worry, though, as the rest of the armored legion was once more after them, Fluttershy leading the pack.
"Go!" shouted Akaitora, pulling Pinkie Pie off of Twilight's leg. "Run back to the library, and find out if there's a way to stop them!"
"No chance!" Shouted Twilight right back, kicking Nick's knee, knocking him over. "I'm not leaving you here to become on of them!" She bucked Fluttershy off, then swung a hoof at her, missing by a longshot.
"That wasn't a suggestion, Twilight!" Akaitora wrapped Twilight in his aura, and teleported her to the gate; as near as he could to the library.
He turned to the group now slowly standing back up, a fair bit of blood dripping from a few of them in various areas. "You're such a foal," said the legion of is acquaintances. "Such nobility is prideful, and incredibly stupid. Now, you're pitted, alone, against all of your friends, and your parents. What's worse is that because of your actions, not only will she have to fight us alone, she'll also have to fight you. You could just die now, and be done with it, but I'll leave that up to you."
"To think that I would submit to defeat is appalling," chided Akaitora. "Besides, I know that Twilight will return shortly, with a means of your defeat."
"I think not," the collective voices all rang out. "Because the more you fight, the weaker your friends become. But they'll never stop attacking, because they will forever remain under my spell, and no field that you can cast will change that. Continuing the fight will either kill them, or it will kill you. Choose: Whose life is more important?"
Twilight shook her head. She felt incredibly dizzy and disoriented. As soon as her vision cleared, she ran full sped through the gate, and back along the pathway to the Arcanum, all the while cursing Akaitora's name, tears of anger welling up in her eyes and slowly dripping, one by one, down her chin.
She burst through the door, startling Trixie in such a way that she fell backward off her chair. Twilight took no notice, however, her mind trained on the bookshelves in front of her. She struggled to concentrate on casting the synapse spell, and holding it in effect. Time was of the essence, none cold be spent on trifling matters, like finding the correct book.
"Where is it, where is it, where is it!?" she shouted, the spell flickering on and off, giving anyone else in the room a headache, had there been anyone else in the room. Trixie, who had followed, after standing back up and dusting herself off, saw the spectacle before her eyes, decided to give her assistance, honoring her vow to respect all in the group. She cast the spell around herself, and Twilight, in a more powerful variation, having practiced the spell several times.
"What book are you looking for?" she asked, galloping up to Twilight, leaving a cloud of dust in her wake that wouldn't catch up to her for a few minutes. Her sudden outburst caused Twilight to jump, and spin around. Gravity was still working fine, but since time perception was slow, Twilight hung in the air, floating in a surprized Jump.
"Oh, it's you, Trixie," Twilight heaved a sigh of relief, bringing her legs into a standing position. They didn't quite touch the floor. "I don't have much time. I need information on the Gauntlet of Galaris."
Trixie gave Twilight a skeptical look, then pulled a large magenta tome down from the top shelf. "Shouldn't you have studied this before going in there?" she chided. "And what'd you do with Akaitora?"
Akaitora coughed a few times, then spat two bloody teeth onto the floor. "This is quickly becoming a problem, " he chuckled, pulling the focus of his vision up to face his foes. "At this rate, you won't have a chance of recruiting me. I'm afraid you're well on your way to losing a valuable team member."
"Oh, don't be silly," said the legion, picking themselves up off the ground. "You're worth more to me dead than alive, anyway. I don't own your soul if you're using it."
"That won't work, either. You see, due to my position, I'm worth nothing to you dead. I'm trading my soul for a new invention for those who still live."
"Of the Arcanum, are we? I had almost hoped as much," chuckled the legion. "Now, I have no qualms about tearing you to bits!"
Twilight had all of the required information about Galaris' gauntlet, and was heading back into the figrealm.
"Do you still need Trixie to hold the door?" asked Trixie, watching as Twilight disappeared into the magenta mist. Twilight hadn't said a word since Trixie had brought the book down. She had just skimmed over it and took off, clutching the book to her chest as she ran off. "She'll take that as a yes..."
Twilight bolted past the fields, watching in her periphery the dark shadows moving from place to place. A quick note was jotted down in the back of her mind to find out exactly what they were doing, and why. But that would have to wait for another time, when things weren't quite so... difficult. She also took note of the field with the billowing silver pillars, and jotted down a note similar to the last, right next to it, to find more information on their purpose, and meaning.
It only took her about a minute to run through the entire figrealm, back to the temple, but it felt like fifteen. This was partly because of the synapses running ten times normal speed, and partly due to her worrying. 'Maybe you're worrying about nothing,' she thought to herself. 'After all, you've done that before, several times actually. You got there and back faster than Rainbow Dash. What could have possible happened in that time?' Her thoughts were interrupted by a powerful crash that shook the door in front of her.
Kai picked himself up off the ground. "Is that all you've got?" he mocked, struggling to keep his balance. "I can easily take more." It wasn't quite a lie. It was true that he had faced greater challenges before, but none so taxing as this one. He was faltering, he could feel it. 'Where is Twilight with that book?'
As if his thoughts were actually part of a cheesy monologue on a children's cartoon, Twilight Suddenly appeared in front of him, standing between him and the army of armored foes.
"Back for more?" laughed the small group. "Or did you mayhap come to save his life?" Fluttershy pointed at Kai, barely staying up. "Either way, we are pleased. A new captive is always welcome."
Twilight's eyes narrowed. Teeth clenched, she focused all of her effort into the spell she had just begun to cast, drawing on the remainder of her energy. She took aim, and just as a black metal hand wrapped itself around her face, she released the spell, which flew right into Nick's face, knocking him onto his back. The armor crumbled, and the gauntlet slid off, dragging itself of its own volition across the floor. All the other ponies armor crumbled to dust as well. Twilight breathed a heavy sigh, before she let her next words slip out, along with her consciousness. "Boom, headshot."
Nick opened his eyes. He was lying on his back, and the ceiling was now clouds. As a matter of fact, where were the walls? He sat upright, a sharp pain in his forehead. He was sitting on a circular platform, a large glyph running the entire length of the area.
"Morning," said a voice behind him. He turned, and a large black-cloaked figure stood behind him. "I hear you've been looking for me."
Nick nodded. "You're Galaris?"
Galaris nodded in turn. "Tis unfortunate that I find myself in this state. I used to have power over the entire figrealm. But the last few months have been..." he turned the other direction. "Tell me, Nick. What do you think of death?"
The question caught Nick off-guard. Was Galaris not the bringer and keeper of death? "I find that it's inevitable, and typically unexpected. What do you want me to say?"
Galaris chuckled. "Do you know why it's unexpected?"
"Well, we have a saying, 'silent as death himself,' because our interpretation of the reaper--"
"Looks just like me, and never makes himself known," he sighed. "It turns out that I'm only the keeper of accidental death. All murders go directly to my elder brother, Sithis. You may know him as the dread father, patron of a silly cult that also worships a being that I had given them. But alas, none worship me. I am a shame to all nine other lesser gods. This used to not bother me, but recently..." he inhaled deeply, then turned around to face Nick. "In the past two years, I have only collected twenty-seven souls."
It took a few minutes for the entire message to sink in, but eventually, "So, of all of the deaths in the past two years, only a handful were not murders?"
"Precisely. And that's not just your world, but here in Equestria as well, and all of the other planes as well. Do you know what this means?"
"No idea. I'm new to these planes. I haven't had time to study any philosophy that worked quite like this. I vaguely remember this one kid from my school that had a religion something like this, but that's about as far as that goes."
"It means that Sithis is gaining power. And that brings me to my next piece: When you see Yalort, and you will, with my blessing, Tell him that his creation has grown too powerful, and is impeding me, and mayhap a few of the others. Please tell him to hear us."
"You have my word," said Nick, extending his arm, and tucking it into his waist in the form of a bow. "But first, I need the gauntlet, in a form that won't try to kill me."