The Return of the Empire
Chapter III – A promise to a God
“No no no Galaria.” Grendel sighed in frustration. “You’re supposed to cast the spell whilst channelling your magic through your fingers. Not channel, then cast.”
Grendel rubbed his head as he stood in front of the young elven girl, she was currently staring forwards with wide, slow, blinking eyes and her entire face was covered in black powder as a small pillar of smoke drifted from her face upwards. The girl had been trying to perform a simple alteration spell to cast a small ball of illuminated energy in her hands, a spell used by mages in dark places but had gotten the combination wrong and it had exploded in her face. She and Grendel were in a fairly large room that had several other people in it varying in their races, the majority of them were human save for a couple of elves and a Dragore or Dragon folk as some called them. They tittered amongst themselves as Galaria wiped her face off, muttering to herself.
“Sorry Elder Emeric…” She muttered.
“It’s alright child.” Grendel sighed placing a hand on her shoulder reassuringly. “You’ll get the hang of it one day.”
She smiled up at him as he smiled back at her, Grendel glance up to the door of the training room and saw a smirking figure leaning on the frame.
“Ok class, that’s enough for now. I want you to go and do private practice before seeing Elder Rilusou for his lessons.” He saw two of the boys, both human, grin to one another. “And I mean reading you two, no magic!”
The two young lads groaned in annoyance as the class dispersed, Grendel walked over to the figure and the two began to walk down the hallway.
“So ‘Elder’ Emeric, how’s the class going?”
“Oh shut it Turil.” Grendel grumbled.
“Oh come now, It’s a high honour to achieve the rank of Elder.” Turil teased.
“You know they only gave me the bloody title as an excuse to keep me in the temple where they can keep an eye on me.” Grendel muttered.
“Well…you did disappear for ten years, to a world I specifically remember asking you NOT to try and go to.” Turil replied back.
“I know Turil I know…but could you blame me?” Grendel asked.
The two walked past several other people of different ages and races, all dressed in robes of various colours. The hallway was littered with large hanging tapestries that displayed various events and people in Cyrium’s history, one in particular had the image of Varlos, the God of Magic teaching the first humans how to use magic, the first Elder council. On the floor in the middle of the hallway was a continuous red carpet with gold trimmings that stayed perfectly flat against the ground. The two also passed by people, who weren’t mages, some wore armour that resembled different Kingdoms as well as generic armour whilst others wore simple clothing.
Two hundred years ago the Temple had decided to allow outsiders who weren’t mage students, such as scholars, sell swords and the common man, to enter the Temple in order to use its vast library of books, tomes and maps. Most people would usually go to the Royal University in the capital of the Altori Empire, Salasen, but the Temple’s library vastly outshone any known library in all of Cyrium.
“I mean, you know how wondrous and peaceful Equestria is…” Grendel sighed.
“Aye that I do.” Turil smiled before prodding Grendel in the chest. “Which is why I wanted it to remain a secret.”
“I know I know…how many times do I have to apologise for that?” Grendel grumbled.
“And what the hell were you thinking when you created Raven? I still can’t believe you forgot to cast a spell to prevent it from being corrupted.”
“Stop reminding me.” Grendel replied.
Turil sighed and shook his head, plopped his arm around Grendel’s shoulder and chuckled softly.
“Your five years older than I am…but sometimes I feel like I’m the more mature one.” He chuckled.
“Oh mature is it? So all those pranks you played with Luna were you being mature then?” Grendel smirked.
“Hey I was ninety five back then, still young by all accounts.” Turil said in a defensive tone.
“Uhuh sure it is.” Grendel laughed.
The two laughed as they continued down the hallway, passing more mages as they exited the building and into the Temple gardens. They enjoyed coming here due to the vast size of it, everywhere you looked was filled to brim with exotic plant life from all over Cyrium. The Elders had placed an enchantment on the small garden which made it the size of a vast forest within a small area, filled with everything from basic wildlife, waterfalls, rivers and cliff sides.
Many mages would wander the gardens for hours at a time, allowing their thoughts to drift as they basked in the peacefulness and serenity the gardens brought. Turil spent much of his time here when he returned from his time in Equestria, being the only place he knew in Cyrium that held any kind of close resemblance to the peaceful serenity he felt when he was in Equestria.
Grendel also spent much of his time here when he returned; after being made to appear in front of the Elder council to explain why he had simply vanished for the past ten years Grendel had to lie as the council were suspicious he may have gone over to J’skaar’s side and became one of his followers. Grendel simply said he had travelled the known world. After much debate the council had given up and Ballarus had suggested they make him an Elder at the temple to train the younger mages, that way they would be able to keep an eye on him just in case he was in fact working for the other side, which was completely nonsense to Grendel but he begrudgingly accepted the offer.
The two spent an hour walking in the gardens before they came to the spot they both enjoyed; it was a small cliff edge that overlooked a large lake that had four rivers flowing into it. They took a seat on the edge of the cliff and pulled out their smoking pipes, after placing some thistlesung leaf into each pipe they lit them and popped them into their mouths.
“You know.” Grendel said as he blew out a smoke ring. “I’m tired of this.”
“Tired of what?” Turil asked.
“This.” Grendel replied with a sweep of his hand, indicating the area. “Of everything in Cyrium.”
Turil blew out a smoke ring that formed into a square as Grendel carried on talking.
“The constant bickering of nations, the wars, the Black Knights, the Templars, the Order of shadows…just everything.” Grendel sighed.
“I know what you mean…it does tend to get rather tiring after so many years.” Turil agreed.
“Sometimes I wonder if returning from Equestria was a good idea…when I was there it felt just…so peaceful. Even with the dangerous animals in the Everfree as well as dealing with Raven, I never once lost that feeling of true serenity that their world had.”
“Where are you going with this Grendel?” Turil asked, catching onto something in Grendel’s voice.
“Are you telling me that in the past five hundred years, you’ve never wanted to ONCE go back there yourself?” Grendel asked him.
“Of course I have…you know why I didn’t though.” Turil replied as he inhaled from his pipe.
“What’s the harm in it? They know us on that side, well, the Princesses and Fluttershy know.” Grendel asked.
“I…I don’t know Grendel.” Turil started. “I promised I’d return if Malaskaar and King Sombra returned but…I don’t want to cause any problems for them.”
“Turil…you know you wouldn’t cause them problems, when you came back all you would talk about to me was your time there and how much you loved it. I distinctly remember you saying you had left leaving Princess Luna one down on your little prank war, and she still needed to get you back.” Grendel Chuckled.
Turil chuckled along with him as they went silent for a moment and stared over the edge, Turil let his mind wander in thought as he went over what Grendel said. He longed to return to Equestria and see his friends, he gathered by now that Ink Quill would have passed away and he would like to visit his grave, to say one final goodbye to his old friend. As his mind wandered he couldn’t help but start to think the idea of returning to be a good one, but the only problem is how they could do it, they couldn’t just go into the void as that would alert the Gods to their actions and he had promised Varlos not to return until the time was ready.
They remained in silence for a bit longer; Grendel noticing that Turil was in deep thought and figured he was giving it a think over. As the two smoked and looked over the Cliffside, the wind picked up softly blowing around them, giving each of them slight chills down their spines. A low hum filled the air and the two pulled out two orbs from their side bags and held them up, inside the orb was the face of their old Master, Ballarus.
“Grendel, Turil. The council wants to see you immediately.” Ballarus said in his gruff old voice.
“What for?” Grendel asked.
“They wouldn’t say, just that it’s urgent.” Ballarus replied before vanishing.
“Better go see what the old buggers want.” Turil grumbled.
The two stood up and began to make their way back through the gardens and into the Temple building.
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Varlos walked through a long hallway that was his home, a vast temple that nearly resembled the one in Cyrium. All around him were spectral shades of mages that wandered around the halls, much like they would have done in their mortal lives. He smiled as he was greeted by several of them as they walked past, this was the place his followers went when they passed away in the mortal realm.
It was the perfect place for a mage to go, a library that had ever bit of knowledge they craved, hundreds of areas for practicing magic and the added bonus of immortality in the afterlife. No one was superior here and Varlos treated them all as his equals, as he wandered through the Temple he felt something stir within him. He stopped in his tracks and looked up to the ceiling in thought.
"Something doesn’t feel right…” He muttered.
Varlos suddenly vanished from the Temple and reappeared in a vast whiteness, the void, he quickly walked in a straight line and as he did the area warped around him. He came to a stop as a swirling portal appeared in front of him and he looked inside and gritted his teeth.
“No…not now!” He growled.
He could see the void that surrounding Equestria from the portal and inside it the gateway that lead to Equestria itself with the shield he placed over it a thousand years ago, it was severally cracked and damaged and shadows were leaking in. Varlos cursed internally and stepped through the void of Cyrium and into the void of Equestria and began to chant, determined to drive the shadows back.
Varlos suddenly cried out as a blast of energy slammed into him and sent him hurtling through the air before crashing and tumbling into a heap on the floor, grunting as he stood up he looked around trying to find where the blast had come from. He cried out again as a second blast struck him from behind sending him into the ground, shakily getting to his feet he quickly side stepped and avoided the third blast as a laugh echoed around in the void.
“You’re getting slow my old friend…”
“J’skaar…” Varlos growled.
“Ah I’m delighted that you remember my name…’brother’…” J’skaar hissed.
“You’re not my brother J’skaar, not anymore. I know what you’re trying to do and I will not allow you to destroy their world!” Varlos shouted at him
“Oh but It’s too late…I’ve been slowly removing the layers of your pathetic spell for the past two year’s brother…I’ve already started returning that fool Sombra to his world and soon my servant will be free…and there is nothing you or your precious followers can do about it.”
“You were defeated before, you will be defeated again. I won’t let you get away with this!” Varlos said as his hands burst into white flames.
“Then by all means…try and stop me.” J’skaar chuckled back
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Grendel and Turil struggled not to let out a bored yawn; they were sitting on a large round table along with the entire Elder council as well as several high ranking Masters. The ‘urgent’ thing they had been asked to attend was simply a meeting about the policy of allowing outsiders into the Temple to study, a debate that had been going on since it was introduced. As the two listened to the sides argue about why it was a bad idea and why it was good they decided to let their minds wander.
They both let their memories flow back to when they were in Equestria, Turil thought about his time in Whitewall with the Princesses and Ink Quill, as well as the other residents of the town. He smiled to himself as he remembered the pranks he and Luna got up to with one another and had to stop himself form chuckling as he remembered on prank in particular, it was late at night and the two had snuck into Celestia’s bed room and carefully using a mane changing spell had died her mane bright yellow. Although the two had to spend the majority of the following day running away from an enraged Celestia, it was worth it.
Grendel let his mind drift to the thoughts of him and Fluttershy, he sighed fondly as he thought about the tea they had shared the days leading up to his departure. He had decided to stay in Equestria for a few days but in secret and spent the evenings with Fluttershy just talking to one another about everything, he would smile as she talked for seemingly hours about her job in Ponyville and her animals and he never grew tired of it. He also remembered meeting a rabbit called Angel who at first distrusted the human and tried everything he could to evict him, but Grendel managed to convince Angel he was a good person and Angel actually grew to accept him.
“Gentlemen this debate is getting us nowhere, again.” Ballarus sighed as he stood up. “I say we call this meeting over for now and return to our duties.”
“I agree.” An old elven mage said. “I need to see where my blasted apprentice has gone off to this time anyway."
“Damon causing problems again?” Another mage chuckled.
The elven mage glared at him before storming off, cursing to himself about how the boy would turn into a skeleton from the lack of food because of how bad his memory seemed was.
“That boy will be the death of him, but that’s a story for another time.” The mage chuckled.
As the group dispersed slowly, Grendel and Turil walked over to Ballarus looking somewhat annoyed.
“So why the hell were we asked to sit in on this?” Turil asked.
“Don’t you get lippy with me boy.” Ballarus muttered. “I was just doing as the Elders asked.”
Grendel rolled his eyes as the two bickered, something that wasn’t new to him. The day progressed like it normally would and it was slow and uneventful, though for the majority of it Turil couldn’t get the possibility of returning to Equestria out of his head. As the day progressed to night and the twin moons of Cyrium rose into the sky, Turil and Grendel returned to their quarters.
As they sat in two chairs, Grendel reading a book and Turil gazing out of the window, Turil shifted in his seat.
“I’ve been thinking…” He started.
“About what I said earlier?” Grendel asked.
“Yeah…how would we do it?” Turil said.
“Well the way I went there, I used a San-gar stone. From what I learned it has a fifty-fifty chance of not passing us directly through the void.” Grendel Replied.
“Where would we get one? They’re rare.”
“I know that Ballarus has one.” Grendel shrugged. “Saw it a few years ago in his office.
Turil nodded, it was a risk as it could alert the Gods that something mortal is moving through the void plans. But he had already made his mind up by then, turning to Grendel and giving him a smirk.
“Let’s do it.”
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As the Temple slept, with some mages and travellers still roaming the vast halls, Turil and Grendel silently made their way through the building. Tucked safely in Turil’s bag was the San-gar stone, glowing a dim blue light. They had decided to perform the spell in the gardens as far away as possible, as they made their way through the Temple Turil stopped outside of two large doors and looked up at them.
“Something wrong?” Grendel asked.
“There’s something I want to do first, come on.” Turil replied.
The two entered the room which was the room that had the shrine to Varlos in it, they slowly approached the shrine and they both dropped to one knee, lowering their heads.
“My Lord Varlos…I know I promised not to return to Equestria until the time is ready but…I have to, I need to see them again.” Turil began.
“We’re tired of this world and the troubles it has and…we just want to live with peace of mind. We ask for your forgiveness Lord.” Grendel ended.
No sooner has they finished they felt a tingling feeling run over their body and they stood up, only to vanish without a trace.
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Grendel was the first to open his eyes, groaning as he stood up and held his head. He looked around and noticed he was in the Temple although it felt different, he also saw Turil by his feet and he gave him a nudge, receiving a groan from him.
Turil rose to his feet and looked around, rubbing his head. The room they were in was identical to the Temple back in Cyrium but was missing the shrine.
“Where are we?” Turil asked.
“I’m not sure…”
“You are in my home.” A booming voice said.
They turned round to see Varlos standing in front of him; he was covered in blood and was visibly worn out, gripping a staff that was holding him up.
“My Lord!” Turil cried. “Are you alright?”
“I’m fine." Varlos replied. “But that’s beside the point; I brought you here for a reason.”
Grendel and Turil listened to him, concerned for his well-being as they never had seen a God covered in blood before or looking as worn out as he did.
“Equestria is in danger; J’skaar broke my spell and forced me back into our void after I tried to stop him. He has gotten stronger since our last encounter.” Varlos sighed.
“What!?” The two mages shouted.
“We need to go now!” Grendel said to Turil who nodded
“Which is why I brought you here, I’m sending you back to Equestria. I cannot as you know fully intervene in their world but I can send you to…promise me, promise me you will do everything in your power to prevent Malaskaar and King Sombra from fulfilling J’skaar’s demand.”
“Of course my Lord, we promise.” Turil replied, as both of them bowed.
“Then go my children, the time has come…”
Varlos raised his free hand and it shone brightly, Turil and Grendel closed their eyes as they vanished form the room leaving Varlos by himself.
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As they re-opened their eyes, the saw that they were no longer in Varlos’s presence. Rather they were in a small looking town that neither of them had seen before, but the change in magical energy around them confirmed where they were.
“We’re back…we’re truly back.” Grendel said with a chuckle.
“Five hundred years it’s been…” Turil replied.
“Always trying to one up me aren’t you?” Grendel chuckled.
“Well you were here only a year ago, I had to wait five hundred years for this day!” Turil grumbled.
“STAY WHERE YOU ARE!” A voice behind them suddenly shouted.
They both turned round to see a large group of ponies, staring at them with a mixture of shock and fear. Lowering their hoods to try and look less intimidating, Grendel spotted in the crowd a familiar face and couldn’t help but smile.
“MISTER GRENDEL!” Fluttershy cried.