//------------------------------// // Chapter IX - Talks of the Past // Story: Revelations of the Past // by Mr101 //------------------------------// Revelations of the past Chapter IX: Talks of the Past Turil sat at the desk and sighed; he put down the quill in its pot and rubbed his eyes roughly before letting out a loud yawn. He was sitting in a fairly dim lit room that had several bookcases around it, each one almost bursting with old books and tomes. On the desk in front of him was a few more books as well as what appeared to be maps of the land, the one directly in front of him had scribbles all over with circles and crosses dotting it. Turil pushed back from the desk, the chair making an echo as it scrapped along the stone floor and rubbed his eyes once more. “This is bloody hopeless…” He muttered. “What is?” A voice replied. Turil looked to the door way and saw another man with long brown hair and a matching beard leaning on the frame; he smiled and shook his head. “It’s nothing Grendel, just the tiredness settling in that’s all.” Turil said. “Don’t give me that, you’ve spent the last four days during private study doing well….Varlos knows what.” Grendel said as he came into the room. “I mean it…it’s nothing.” Turil insisted trying to hide the maps. Grendel quickly grabbed one of the maps and scanned it over, he raised his eyebrow and sighed handing it back to Turil. “Turil…I know it’s important to you but…you have to face facts, Malaskaar is dead.” “I know what the reports say Grendel, we were there when it happened…but I can still sense his energy.” Grendel sighed and sat in the chair opposite; pulling out a pipe from a pouch in his belt he placed some brown leaves into it before igniting the tip of his finger and lighting the pipe. He took a few puffs and blew out some smoke before speaking. “Alright…I’ll humour you, what’ve you got this time?” Grendel smirked. “I went to the Cliffside last week, to check for magical residual energy.” Turil started taking a seat. “Take a guess at what I found.” “Nothing?” Grendel asked blowing out smoke. Turil smirked and pulled out a shard from this robe, Grendel’s eyes widened and nearly dropped the pipe from his mouth. “No…is that…what I think it is?” He asked in a whisper. “A Void shard…yes.” Turil replied. “Incredible…” Grendel muttered. “It gets better…and worse.” “How so?” “It’s been nearly emptied of its magical reserve…” Turil said passing the shard to Grendel. Grendel picked up the shard and closed his eyes; he could feel the faint energy of what was left in the shard, as well as another energy. One he hadn’t felt in a long time. “He used it didn’t he…he went into the void to J’skaar.” Grendel asked handing him the shard back. “Yes…Malaskaar is dead in this world, but alive somewhere else. And I intend to find out where he is and finish him…” “No it’s too dangerous Turil; you need to tell the council this.” Grendel protested. “I can’t Grendel you know why!” Turil barked standing up. “But trying that kind of level of magic is forbidden!” Grendel argued. Turil gritted his teeth and clenched his fists, suddenly an idea came to his mind and he unclenched his fists. “Fine…your right, I’ll talk to the council in the morning.” Turil said. “Alright…” Grendel replied somewhat suspicious. “Let’s go see if we can grab some mead and dinner before we head off to bed.” Turil nodded and the two packed up before heading out of the room and down the long halls towards the food hall. ----------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------- As the twin moons of Cyrium shone down on the land, all was quiet in the temple as most of the mages slept with the odd one or two still up and about studying. Grendel rolled in his bed a soft snore leaving his lips as he slept, across from him in the opposite bed was Turil who lay on his back. Turil opened his eyes slowly and peered over to where Grendel lay, after waiting in silence for a few minutes and being satisfied that he was asleep. Turil sat up and carefully made his way out of the room, taking a glance back at Grendel. “Forgive me my friend…I need to do this.” He said softly before leaving. Turil silently walked the halls of the temple; his hood over his head as he made his way to the far end of the temple, walking past the many torches still lit that shone onto the tapestries that hung from the walls depicting moments of the history of Cyrium and of the council. He kept walking progressing further and further down the hallways till he was somewhere he knew there would be no one to disturb him. The shrine to Varlos. Looking around one last time to make sure no one was around, he pushed the large wooden doors open, eliciting a low groan as they opened. Stepping inside he lowered his hood and bowed, as was customary to do so when entering the shrine, the shrine was made up of two large twin torches that stood in front of a large statue of Varlos. In front of the statue was a small altar with a few books, some plants and an incense stick. As he slowly approached the shrine he could feel the air change slightly, kneeling in front of the statue he pulled out the shard, levitating it in front of him. He focused all of his power into the shard to draw out its remaining energy, grunting in slight pain he closed his eyes. When he reopened his eyes, the entire room was completely light. Turil could feel the sheer magical energy flowing around him; he looked around before placing the shard back into his pouch and standing up. He began to walk forwards, his footsteps echoing with each step. “So this is the void…” he muttered to himself. “Kinda figured it would be…darker.” “Yes…I’ve heard that one before.” A booming voice said behind him. Turil spun on the spot, alarmed at the booming voice and his eyes widened at who he saw, standing in front of him was a tall man wearing grey robes and had a long beard. Varlos himself. “M-my lord…” Turil stuttered before bowing as low as he could. Varlos chuckled before lifting Turil’s chin up, the God smiled down at him with his old eyes and lifted his arm up pointing behind him and began to walk. Turil watched him for a moment before realising what he meant and quickly strode up beside him and walked alongside Varlos, for a while the two walked in utter silence, their footsteps being the only sound made. “Why did you come here Turil Tailclaw?” Varlos said breaking the silence. “To…to find Malaskaar and-“ “Please boy, don’t lie to me.” Varlos interrupted. “But I’m not-“ “Turil…” Varlos stopped and turned his gaze upwards. “You can’t lie to a God…now…the reason?” Turil was silent for a while; his mind was racing trying to find an excuse, any excuse, to tell Varlos. He knew though he wouldn’t be able to and finally let out a loud sigh. “Because I have to fix the mistake I made…I have to destroy Malaskaar…because he’s my responsibility…” Turil said. Varlos smiled and placed a hand on his shoulder, causing Turil to look up at the God. “Turil Tailclaw, are you willing to do whatever it takes? Willing to do whatever I say to achieve that goal?” Varlos asked him. “I’m willing to sacrifice myself to save the lives of thousands if it means destroying that monster.” Turil replied without missing a beat. “Then…Turil Tailclaw…I have an important quest for you…” ----------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------- “Master Tailclaw?” Krustallos said. Turil snapped out of his trance and blinked a couple of times; he was sitting around a large table along with Princess Celestia and Luna, Emperor Krustallos and Empress Amemond and both Captains of the guard as well as Ink Quill. On the table was a large map that covered the entire Empire as well as the Mountain Kingdom, on the map were several ‘markers’ indicating the locations of each kingdoms forces, although the majority of the markers although that markers for Sombra’s forces weren’t accurately placed as they had no idea if he was in his own Kingdom or in a camp somewhere. Scouts had been dispatched to try and locate them and they were still waiting for the response, so the meeting was mainly about possible tactics to be used on Sombra and tactics Sombra might use. “Hmm? Oh sorry was miles away, you were saying your highness?” Turil said looking up. “I wanted to asked your opinion on what we should do, seeing as you seem to know this Malaskaar.” Krustallos replied. “Know him?” Turil chuckled. “Oh I know him…and what he’s done.” “What do you mean?” Luna asked him. “I’ve fought battles against him before.” He replied. “So what do we do?” Amemond said. Turil pulled out a pipe from his pouch; he placed some form of brown leaf into it before igniting the top of his right index finger and lighting the pipe, taking a few puffs from it he leant back into his chair, blowing large smoke rings upwards as he continued “Well…if Malaskaar was as depleted as you make him out he was, he won’t be able to fight for at least a day. Maybe two.” “Then surely this is our chance to strike back? Take the fight to Sombra.” Steel Hoof suggested. “At the moment that isn’t a wise idea, we have no idea where his forces are exactly and we still need to come up with a full proof strategy that won’t get us routed.” Celestia replied. “Not to mention knowing Malaskaar, he probably has backup plans in place for moments such as these…and the last thing we need to do is trigger one of them.” Turil sighed. “Speaking from experience Master Tailclaw?” Ink Quill asked him. “Aye…it was about two years ago, we had finally managed to route the majority of the Black Knight’s forces during the War between the Templars and the Black Knights. Malaskaar had joined them under the instructions of J’skaar and had led a large portion of the army into battle, but he was defeated at the walls of Ordiria near the Dwarven kingdom of Belagrim by forces led by myself, and my friend Grendel Emeric.” Turil paused as memories of that battle came back into his mind and chuckled. “Malaskaar never saw that one coming.” “What do you mean by that?” Silver Wing said. “Well…it wasn’t the greatest strategy we had at the time.” Turil admitted. “We knew Malaskaar planned on attacking the White Tower in order to reach the temple where the Elder Council resided.” “Who are the Elder Council?” Celestia asked. “They’re the leaders of the council of mages, individuals like myself who want to learn the art of magic.” Turil replied. “Sadly…not all mages are good, Malaskaar is such an example.” Celestia nodded, she was getting more and more interested in Turil’s world and was dying to ask him questions about Cyrium. However she knew she would have to wait until another time, she mentally noted to ask him later on. “Anyway, at the time the Dwarves had refused to take part in the war but allowed us to set up a campsite in the mountains overlooking the plain that led to the ocean. It wasn’t long before Malaskaar arrived with fewer forces then we had originally expected, so…Grendel and I decided to act as a decoy and draw their fire to allow our forces to flank them.” Turil explained. “At the time we didn’t pay attention to it, but Malaskaar was acting different.” “In what way?” Luna asked. “Well…in previous battles he was usually leading the charge or at least providing support, in this battle he sort of did nothing…when our main bulk suddenly attacked his he seemed to panic and fled.” “Coward.” Krustallos scoffed with a smirk. “That’s what we thought at first.” Turil said. “However, recently I learned why he ran.” Turil paused to blow some more smoke from his pipe, he thanked a servant who placed a goblet on the table for him and he took sip of it before continuing. “He was protecting this.” He pulled out form his robes the void shard; the others stared at it with confusion and curiosity. Luna levitated it towards her using her magic and examined it. “What is it?” Ink Quill asked. “A Void shard.” Turil replied. “Void Shard?” Amemond said. “Aye, an ancient and rare magical artefact said to be from the shield of Xerillien the creator. It’s a tool used by the first mages to travel to and from the Void plains to speak with the Gods, but after the War of the Gods they seemed to disappear form existence…until now.” “So…is this how Malaskaar got here?” Amemond asked him. “Aye…when we cornered Malaskaar at the cliffs of Baladour not to far from where the battle had happened, we attacked him and sent him falling over the edge to his death. Only, we never found the body.” “Well he clearly was alive.” Krustallos snorted. “Indeed, however at the time we merely agreed he had been swept under the waves and drowned. But when I found the shard…it confirmed my feelings of him being alive.” Turil said. “So…when he fell of the Cliffside, he used the shard and teleported himself into the void?” Celestia asked. Turil nodded in reply. “I see…” Celestia murmured. The room was quiet for a while, no one speaking up. Turil looked at the faces of everyone at the table, then noticed Luna being poured a drink into a goblet and an idea formed in his head. “I must say though…” Turil chuckled. “When Varlos sent me here…wasn’t expecting to a world ruled by ponies.” “Is that a problem?” Luna asked. “Course not; it’s rather interesting to be honest.” Turil gave a mischievous smirk. Luna raised an eyebrow suspiciously before levitating her goblet up to her lips; Turil grinned and pointed his finger at her goblet. The water suddenly burst from it like a hose drenching her face and mane. Luna gave a shriek in surprise, falling of her chair with a clatter. Steel Hoof’s jaw dropped as Krustallos’s eyes widened, Amemond rolled her eyes as did Silver Wing. Celestia tried her best to stifle her giggles as Turil smirked; Luna got up and glared at Turil. “DO YOU THINK THIS IS FUNNY?!” she bellowed. “Well…yes.” Turil snickered. “THIS IS NO TIME FOR GAMES TAILCLAW!” Luna shrieked. “WHY I-“ “Please Lu-Lu…calm yourself.” Celestia interrupted. “But Tia!” Luna whined. “Now now Lu-Lu.” Turil said. “You can get me back later on.” Luna scowled at him as Celestia tried not to giggle again, Krustallos sighed and rubbed his head in frustration. “Can you please take this seriously Master Tailclaw?” He asked. “I am your highness.” Turil replied. “So why the games then?” Krustallos asked him. Turil leant back and looked up a frown on his face. “I learned long ago…if you can’t have a laugh every now and again…there isn’t much to life.” He said. Celestia could sense that there was more to what he said then he was letting on, she could feel some hidden pain behind it but wasn’t sure if she should press him as to what. “Interesting philosophy that may be, but can you please focus on the problem at hoof?” Krustallos asked. Turil nodded and took another sip from his goblet. “Very well, do you have any suggestions then Master Tailclaw?” Turil stroked his chin for a moment in thought, his eyes scanned over the map as he calculated different ideas in his head. “Well…for the time being there isn’t much we can do, not until we get the reports back from the scouts.” He replied. “I agree.” Steel Hoof said. “Without those reports we would be flying blind.” “Then might I suggest we break until then? And have our forces rest up before reading ourselves either for advancing or an attack?” Amemond suggested. “Agreed.” Celestia said nodding her head. Luna, Turil, Krustallos and the two Captains all nodded in agreement. They all got up from the table and headed towards the exit, just as Turil was about to leave Celestia placed a hoof on his shoulder. “Turil…may I speak with you in private?” She asked him. “Of course your majesty.” “Please, call me Celestia.” She smiled at him. The two headed towards the balcony as Luna watched Turil, a mischievous grin forming on her face as she quickly galloped away, a soft chuckle leaving her lips. ----------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------- The two stood in silence as they overlooked the city, the fires had all been put out by this time and only the faint rising smoke that drifted into the air was what remained of them. The civilians were still inside the caverns and all they could see was the forces of Equestria and the Empire sorting out the dead and the wounded, Turil was the one who broke the silence. “It’s a beautiful place this…” He said. “It’s a shame Grendel isn’t here to help, he would if he could.” “Tell me about him.” Celestia smiled. “Grendel’s my best friend, more like a brother to me. We joined the council of mages together and were paired up with the same Master, Master Ballarus.” Turil chuckled to himself. “We used to wind him up so much…poor old bastard, probably wasn’t nice of the Elders to pair a four hundred year old mage with two twenty year old students.” Celestia’s eyes widened at the mention of how old Ballarus was; only the Alicorns and the Draconequuses could live to such ages in Equestria. “Do all of your kind live to that age?” She asked. “No, only the Elves, Dwarves, and the Dragore can really, they can live for a thousand years or so. I don’t know how it works in your world, but in Cyrium anyone can use magic. However it takes literally years to fully master and perfect it, so long in fact that the first Elder council were granted the longevity spell by Varlos to cast on anyone who was truly devoted to the study of magic. That’s how mages live for as long as they do.” Turil sighed softly. “Sadly though, J’skaar does the same for his followers…that’s why you can have evil mages who are very old.” Celestia nodded as she quietly listened as Turil carried on. “But anyway, Grendel and I are inseparable.” He paused and chuckled realising what he just said. “Well not so much at the moment but you get the idea.” Celestia giggled as he carried on, he talked about what he looked like and what they got up to on their adventures during their studies. He took great pleasure in talking about how one time, whilst out camping in a forest to study certain elements of earth magic. He and Grendel had drunk a few pints to much mead and in order to extinguish the camps fire, Grendel had cast a high level wind spell on it which nearly drained his energy. Celestia and Turil laughed for a few minutes at that story before quietening down and looking over the city again, for a while they remained in silence till Celestia broke it. “Why?” She asked. “Why what?” “Why are you helping us?” She said turning to look at him. Turil kept his gaze on the city and shrugged his shoulders. “Because I’ve fought Malaskaar before and-“ “Please Turil…you can trust me.” Celestia interrupted with a hoof on his shoulder. Turil looked at her and met her eyes, she smiled at him reassuringly and he sighed, leaning on the edge of the balcony looking over the city again. “Because…he wasn’t always evil…before that he was…” Turil paused for a brief moment, as if he was holding something back. “He was one of my best friends.” Celestia’s eyes widened as she looked at him, Turil sighed and continued. “He joined the council a few years after me and Grendel did, he was assigned to our Master and we all soon became firm friends. He was a great man you know? Always up for a prank and could drink so much he could put a dwarf to shame.” Turil chuckled. He looked up at the sun in the sky and sighed softly. “But then it all changed…during an ambush by the Black Knights. We were heading to the Atheleon forest when we were jumped by a squad of Black Knights, Master Ballarus had ordered us not to go to the forest but we disobeyed and went anyway. We fled deeper into the forest, but we were ambushed again by another squad that was waiting for us. We fought bravely but during the battle, I was nearly killed…and Malaskaar…well.” Turil let out another sigh, clenching his fists as he closed his eyes tightly. Celestia placed her hoof on his shoulder again reassuringly. “He used a forbidden art of magic…soul magic…in order to save me.” Turil continued. “Soul magic is forbidden because it falls directly into J’skaar’s domain…after he wiped out the Knights…he began to change ever so slightly afterwards. Me and Grendel never said anything to our Master until it was too late, one night Malaskaar just left the temple and we didn’t see him again till the war broke out…with Malaskaar as one of the commanders…but he had also changed, he was no longer my friend…just a monster.” Celestia gave Turil’s head gently nuzzle of affection as Turil felt his eyes become watery, the two stood in silence again before Turil stood fully upright and bowed to her. “Thank you Tia…it felt good to get that off my chest.” “Not a problem Turil…thank you for trusting me enough to share it.” Celestia replied before leaning to his ear. “And don’t let Luna catch you calling me Tia, she will be livid.” “Tough, old Lu-Lu will have to learn to share that name.” Turil chuckled. Celestia giggled as Turil entered the room from earlier as Celestia continued to look over the city, suddenly there was a loud crash and she heard Turil cry out in alarm. She quickly rushed in to find Turil on the floor with a bucket on his head and his upper body drenched, Luna was giggling madly as she pointed a hoof at Turil. “REVENGE IS SWEET IS IT NOT TAILCLAW?!” She shouted. “Oh…it’s on.” Turil grinned. Celestia sighed but smiled as Turil chased the giggling Luna out of the room and down the hallways, confusing many of the guards and servants who were around them. ‘I think those two will get along fine…if they don’t kill each other first.’ Celestia thought.