//------------------------------//
// 2:3- Voices in the Dark 
// Story: Part I: Precursors 
// by Auryx Saturnius 
//------------------------------//

	“Princess? Princess, wake up...”
“Rise and shine sleeping beauty: the sun’s beating you...”
“Tia! Wake up!”
“Your Highness if you don’t wake up, I’ll hit you again...”
Celestia’s eyes fluttered, moving her in and out of consciousness until the bright sun assaulted her into reality. Her vision was blurry at first, but as seconds passed, she was able to focus on the three heads above her: her brother, Twilight Sparkle, and the Didact. Of them, only the Didact was human, Twilight having switched back to her violet unicorn form. There was a look of worry on her face and on Vulcan’s, but the Didact only stared at her with what she assumed was disappointment.
Then she remembered what happened, and extended her hand out and slapped him in the face. “You bastard!”
Twilight gasped quietly. “Princess, why did you do that?”
“No!” the Didact shouted, “There’s no need to get alarmed by this! I deserved this...”
“Damn right you deserved this,” the princess ranted, “You decided to bring your boot across my neck and knocked me out!”
“In my defense,” he said, raising a finger, “You were about to dare me to...”
Celestia got back to her feet and brushed off her dress. The movements seemed natural and fluid, which surprised her for a moment. It felt as if this body was always meant to be hers...
“I’ll give you that,” she said. Quietly, she inched closer to him and lowered her voice to a whisper. “But if you weren’t so intelligent and necessary, I would have you imprisoned...”
“Then I’m glad that I am necessary,” he whispered back. “So, shall we get to work?”
Twilight tilted her head. “Get to work with what?”
“With the truth, dear unicorn.” The Didact’s voice returned to it normal, commanding tone. “The Church wants to steal the keys of the royal family, then I’m going to find out why.”
He began to walk towards the castle, leaving the other three behind. “If you three want answers, you got to keep up with my fast pace...”
The two Galaxia’s and the unicorn looked among themselves before leaving to try and keep up with the Didact’s quick stride.
“Princess Celestia,” he continued, “what’s the status of the deacon we captured?”
“He’s still locked up in the dungeon. We left him there since our last visit. Even with the shadow magic he’s been trying to use to escape, we’ve got him locked up tight.”
“Good, because I need to see him. You’re coming with me.”
Celestia nodded silently and the Didact continued his commands as they walked up to the pillars that marked the entrance to the castle. “This is where we part ways. Celestia and I will be going down the dungeon and continuing the search there. Twilight, I need you to spread the genomorphic spell I taught you to all of your friends and to the remaining royal family members when they arrive. You and Vulcan will try and continue to search with what you know here in Canterlot. It doesn’t take a deductive mind to figure out that Celestia told you information involving all of this.”
The princess and Twilight looked at him profoundly. “As I said, it doesn’t take a deductive mind. You were on the fritz yesterday: all riled up and worried about something. It was obvious that something very important was preoccupying your thoughts.
“That said, I expect you to know what to do with that information when the time comes.” He turned to her and rustled her mane, like what a father would have done to a son or daughter. “You might not have known me long enough to have learned my methods and philosophy, but when this is all over, I’m sure you could become a great student...”
Twilight smiled proudly as he nodded to her to continue on. With a pat of a hoof to his shoulder, Vulcan began to follow her down the hall to the rest of the ponies. The Didact turned to another hallway and began to walk towards the dungeon, like he said. “Come along, your Highness.”
Celestia was reluctant, but eventually began to follow at an equal stride of the Didact. Her quiet steps were drowned out by the loud pounding of the Didact’s boots against the marble floor. As she gazed down at the reflection, even his form dominated over hers.
“I’m sorry if I offended you.” His surprising remark brought her attention back to him. “You’re not the only one who sees she is capable of so much more...”
“For all her life, I have taught her and cared for her. I love her like a daughter, but I also recognize that she is smart enough to make her own choices. That said, it doesn’t matter whether you’re a better magician, or a better tactician or a better fighter: if you hurt her, in any way, I will hunt you down and murder you in your sleep.”
“I know...” He cleared his throat as they approached the door leading down into the dungeon. Two guards stood beside it, making sure nopony went down without permission. As they drew near, the guards stood straighter and extended their wings to block the path. Celestia rose her hand kindly towards them and, after a short explanation, had let them clear the two of them to enter the dungeon. The door opened and Celestia and the Didact made there way down the staircase. The magically lit torches began to thin out in number until they reached the corridor from before. The darkness was all consuming and made seeing the walls a couple feet in impossible. The Didact’s eyebrow twitched.
“I’ve had enough of this darkness,” he said. With a flick of his wrist, the Didact extended his hand out and released a magical burst. “Lumen de lumine.”
The magical burst flashed outward and dispelled the prism spell that covered the walls and air. The corridor brightened and it became easy to see around. “Now,” he said, “he won’t have any advantage on us as we approach him.”
The two of them walked down the corridor, the absence of the prism spell allowing for the two of them to reach the dungeon door quickly. With a powerful shove, the Didact opened the door, the bright light failing in its assault to impede him. He entered the room and looked down at the meditating deacon, who refused to look up even with the loud noises.
“Surprise motherfucker...”
Its eyes slowly opened and it looked up at the Didact and the human Celestia, a smile forming on his lips. “So, have you two returned to try and interrogate me again?”
“That would be a negatory... Archdeacon Abelyne...”
The deacon’s eyes widened in shock at the mention of his name by the stranger from before. He swallowed as he realized that that “stranger” had finally remembered who he was.
His tone was with confidence, but it was no longer bold and brazen. “Lord Didact...”
“Shut the hell up you sniveling weasel.” He grabbed the deacon by the neck and lifted him up, pressing him against the wall he was chained to. “Where’s your previous gall now? You were big and brave yesterday when I had your spell affecting my memories.”
Archdeacon Abelyne chuckled. “You figured that out?”
“It smelled of you and your psychomancy...” The Didact let him go and the cleric dropped to his feet. “But that is beside the point now... The point now, dear archdeacon, is that I need your help.”
The cleric scoffed. “Please. I may be a sniveling, unambitious creep, but that doesn’t mean I’d help you willingly. I am loyal to the Prophetess of Gratitude and the Prophet of Doubt, and they are loyal to the cause of the Prophet of Truth.”
The Didact flicked his arm at his side, and a blade of sizzling plasma energy burst to life in his hand. Slowly, he rose it to meet the archdeacon’s neck and cleared his throat. “Are you convicted enough to die a slow and painful dismemberment?”
“You’re bluffing.”
“And you know I’m not.” The Didact gave a sadistic smile: one that sent shivers down even Celestia’s spine. “Surely you remember the stories of the exploits of the mighty Didact: the Valeyard, the Champion of Risa, the Conqueror of Axio, the Quietus Star...”
“Alright,” the archdeacon growled, “I’ll do it...”
Sword still drawn, the Didact stepped back from the cleric and nodded towards Celestia. The princess charged her magic and dissipated the chains around the cleric’s arms, before remaking them as a set of handcuffs.
“So tell us, how did the Church of Unitology find out about these keys?”
Archdeacon Abelyne paused for a moment, before growling with frustration. “An infantry squad for the Coalition was scouting out a planet on the rim. There they discovered something...”
“What?”
The deacon stared down at him. “A cephalowalker. The Church decided to get involved and interrogated it: tortured it. Eventually, it told the Prophet of Truth about a universe where the ruling class had weapon that could bring limitless power to the Church.” He paused and looked at Celestia. “Your universe...
“So here we are now.”
“Your Church tortured a creature of an already tortured species?” The Didact was furious, but the deacon bore no apology.
“There’s more.” He continued, “Clerics have discovered that there is another cephalowalker here on this planet... they’re...”
He rose his sword again. “Don’t be bashful, share...”
Abelyne growled furious again. “They’re searching for him right now.”
The Didact took a step closer. “Where?”

***************

Within the Everfree Forest rests a ten to twelve acre grove of trees. Much like its surrounding brethren, ponies instinctively knew to simply avoid it. Nonetheless, there were always the exceptions that would find their whereabouts entering the forest for things like exploration, discovery or boredom. This wasn’t the case with this part however. This particular grove was naturally avoided at all times: no exception. This particular grove was believed to have that ability to play with ponies’ minds, and with good reason too.
Within the boundaries of this grove, trees grew with withered trunks and twisted limbs; a powerful facade that covered their actual strength and health. Resting lazily above layers of detritus and leaves, is a thick mist that hangs in the air: impairing vision to only a couple meters and which sapped any color shone by the sun. Absolutely no fauna and only very little flora (mainly, the trees) could be found within this space and a strong magical field weakens spellcasting, giving a haunted feeling to this region.
Many ponies have entered, only to never return again...
This place, the Garden of Silence, sprawled before the Didact, Princess Celestia and Archdeacon Abelyne with an ominous and eerie sense of command. At its boundary, the fog seemingly hugged an invisible line, never really crossing into the open air around it. The forest itself maintained some of its vivid colors and life that would denote a forest, but it was certainly weaker here than anywhere else.
Celestia flexed her fingers cautiously. “My magic feels all muddled standing here. It’s as if something is stretching my aura in multiple directions...”
“I feel it too,” the Didact confirmed. “There must be an intersection of ley lines here or of a similar magnitude.” He suddenly took a long, deep breath, followed by a noticeable pause.
The archdeacon rolled his eyes, his bio-armor pulsing on the inside with his nerves. “So are we going to stand here, or will we actually do what we came here to do?”
Still handcuffed and chained at the ankle with magical bonds, the archdeacon shuffled his way across the detritus of leaves towards the closest of trees, the fog greying his appearance. He paused and turned back to them. “I’m not about to let you leave me to enter this Marker-forsaken place alone...”
The Didact nodded and took to the rear, sword drawn. Celestia walked in front of him, her flowing dress changed to a t-shirt and jeans that the Didact conjured up for her. He told her she was approximately his sister’s size, so he was able to magically produce a set of clothing for Celestia using said sister as the frame. She found it convenient that everything fit her, though slightly loose around the chest. In front of Celestia, at as fast of a pace he could safely keep, was the archdeacon. 
Kysos Abelyne was no coward, though he’d admit he wouldn’t have done half the things he did during his first interrogation if the Didact had his memories and, thus, his powers. Of course, he was instrumental in the Didact losing his memories. As archdeacon of the Cathedral of the Prophetess of Gratitude, he had special ties to the hierarchy of the Church of Unitology, which meant that the Prophet of Truth had for a long time known of the psychomancer abilities Kysos had mastered on Kalgan. That meant that Truth would have asked him to work when they managed to capture the Didact, and one does not simply deny what the Prophet of Truth asks of you and see the light of tomorrow.
Now, all he could do to pass the traveling time was reflect on these facts. He was infuriated with himself at the fact he let himself commit the same folly as that idiot priest, Kaius, and charged, only to be captured and imprisoned by the enemy. He was infuriated that he had to cooperate with the Didact himself: the Destroyer of Worlds and the holder of the Quietus Star himself. It angered him to no end.
“What even is a cephalowalker anyways?” The deacon rolled his eyes and growled quietly at the question. HER VOICE! It made him want to jam a dagger into his mouth to end it all. What was worse was that the question was obviously pointed at him, so he had to reply.
“It is an ancient being,” he replied with a snarl. “There aren’t many left anywhere in the known omniverse, and the fact that they’re solitary creatures makes them hard to find. But it can be worth it if you know what you’re doing: cephalowalkers are wise and intelligent creatures.”
“They’re also a form of angel called a cherubim,” the Didact added as he scouted around the misted forest. “That basically means they’re warriors from before Time. They are very aggressive, and like to play tricks on the minds of their prey or on those who hunt them- like now...”
Both Celestia and the archdeacon stopped in their tracks and turned to look at the Didact, who stood calmly behind them.
The archdeacon wasn’t pleased. “What are you babbling about human?”
“Isn’t it obvious? This whole grove is a part of the illusion. The energy around here creates senses of dread, fear, hopelessness and jitteriness. It’s all apart of its mind games: to put you on the edge of worry and anxiety... to make you afraid... then it kills you.”
Celestia shook her head, “Except that’s not ha-”
Something off in the distance broke a twig, the snap of dried wood echoing across the fog breaking Celestia’s train of thought and prompting her to jump around to find its source. The archdeacon was also startled, though he moved slower than the princess.
“See what I mean?”
The archdeacon growled, “The problem with that logic is that this fear is warranted. There are Coalition infantry squads roaming these regions and I can assure you that when they find you, they will kill you. Plus, there is the cephalowalker that lives here.”
The Didact ran his fingers against the bark of a tree. “Your optimism is duly noted, archdeacon.”
Kysos growled with anger, before another twig snapping shifted his attention back out into the ominous forest, prompting him to growl with anger once more.
“I grow tired of this forest!” The archdeacon rambled about, his chains echoing against the fallen branches and dead leaves. “We’ve been walking here for over an hour, and for what? I’d rather fight! I’d rather die!”
He continued his rant a couple meters away from Celestia and the Didact, who had decided among themselves to rest against a tree as the archdeacon vented his frustration. Celestia turned to the Didact with doubt.
“I’m beginning to contemplate that the archdeacon is starting to become more of a liability. If he’s right about the infantry squads, then his constant shouting might put us in danger.”
“You’re right, but I’ve worked with Unitologist clerics before, and they rarely ever give all of the information they know at once. I adamantly believe he is still keeping secrets from us: secrets we need to know, and that he knows we need to know.”
He turned to look away from the archdeacon, out to the mist of the forest, with Celestia doing the same. “But you’re right about the infantry squads. We need to keep an eye out for them...” He paused. “Celestia?”
“Hmm?”
“Who’s watching the archdeacon?”
The two of them turned back to where the archdeacon had last stood, but were shocked to find him several inches off the ground. His armored frame was dwarfed by the massive creature that held him. It hung balanced in the trees by several white tentacles, the other three coiled around the archdeacon like a snake and its prey. Largely, it appeared humanoid, pale colored with shoulders that held two sets of tentacles that shifted into an abdomen that held four more sets. Where its head rested was a complexion of emptiness. There was no face, only a blank white canvas that seemed to still be able to pierce into one’s soul.
The Didact cleared his throat, obviously perturbed by the sight. “Well, it appears we’ve found our cephalowalker.”
With a good tensing of the creature’s muscles, the two of them heard it break every single bone in the archdeacon’s body with the most sickening sound. Then, though the concept of how eluded them, it’s head opened up into a gaping maw of oozing black slime, where it then proceeded to consume the archdeacon whole.
Celestia recoiled back, the primal instinct to run filling every fiber of her being, but the Didact extended his hand and wrapped hers in his firm grip.
The Didact stared down this creature with a firm gaze, refusing even to blink as his artificial eye rotated with the tiny gears on the inside to focus. “Slenderman...”
“Diiiiieee-daaact...” It spoke with a scratchy and guttural screeching, low in tone but still like nails to a chalkboard. As it spoke, they could see the form of the archdeacon pulsing in the creature’s abdomen, slowly being digested.
“You know who I am?”
“Yessssssss. Even heeeere, your exploits are notorioussssss.”
“Then you are aware of the fact that the Inferi are currently searching for you.”
“Yessssssss.” The creature shifted its balance in the trees, more tentacles letting go of the branches and instead supporting it on the ground. “Alasssssss, it is my time to diiiiie. I have been waitiiiiing for this moment for a long, long, tiiiiiime.”
The Didact nodded, understanding that the cherubim had been waiting for the moment when he could be killed, so he could finally rest. “The archdeacon told us that you knew something about what they were after: something that could give the Church limitless power.”
The creature nodded. “Yessssssss.”
It let go completely of the trees it was holding onto and lowered itself to ground-level. It became less foreboding, though it still dwarfed the two of them height-wise. the two sets of tentacles on from its shoulders congealed into one pair, while its lower tentacles did the same, making it look more humanoid.
“As this marks my final hour,” it said calmly, “I trust you two with the secret that I have bore for many thousands of generations.”
Celestia and the Didact both nodded towards it, so it continued.
“There is no proper translation of the name it had been given, but the closest is Leviathan. It was created long ago, by the original masters, and for many eons, they watched over it and cared for it: making sure it did not fall into the wrong hands. Eventually, there was conflict, and a new species became the masters. Rather than care for it, they decided to leave the Leviathan to deteriorate and become apart of this world. But it didn’t, and eventually, a new sentience came and took care of it. They locked it away and separated the keys so that unlocking it would be a challenge that outweighed the benefit.”
Celestia perked up at the creature’s story, recognizing instantly what he was talking about, and that the Didact no doubt knew as well. “You’re talking about the Tempest...”
“Yessssssss.”
“I’m sorry, o’ wise creature, but I’m afraid that the Inferi have possession of four of the six keys...”
“Soooooooo, it appears they are searching for it after all.” The creature strided around the small clearing, deep in thought. “There is still a chance, to stop the keys from turning. The Leviathan, must still be fooouuund. In exception to the Caretakers, it has been hidden away, only to be located by the Settlements, which should have all crumbled away by now. You can still stop them.”
“But how do we get the keys back?” the Didact asked, “And what does the Leviathan even do that makes it so damn important?”
“When the time is right... the answers will come to you, Didaaaccct. Now, I’m afraid there is no more time...”
The three of them perked up at the sound of several twigs snapping. The sound wasn’t as ominous as before, but felt more like a physical presence. Slowly, the sound of voices began to manifest, growing louder with each passing second. Celestia and the Didact realized what it was.
“They’re coming.”
The creature looked out in the mist towards the growing voices. “Then, you must hurry. Leave quickly... I will try and slow them down...”
Celestia looked back at the creature, worried. “What about you?”
“All things must come to an end... eventually. Mine has been overdue...”
The Didact nodded and dragged the princess behind him, her hand firmly grasped in his own. The two of them ran as fast as they could from where they were, heading in the opposite direction of the voices. The Didact doubted the cherubim would cooperate with the soldiers, in which they would try to promptly kill him, and would eventually succeed. They needed to get out of the Garden of Silence, and they needed to get out immediately.
Every tree looked the same, and the mist made it arduous to try and find anything helpful to their cause. The two of them were lost- that part was evident- but the Didact kept dragging Celestia along with him in the only direction they knew: away from the coming, hostile voices.
Celestia caught a dim sound coming from somewhere else. She slowed down, trying to make out what the sound even was, and it ceased. She turned back... and found herself collapsing to the ground, a powerful and unseen force shoving her down in a disorienting spin.
She didn’t even feel it hit her, but the force that the projectile held as it twisted its way out of her shoulder sent the nerves in her torso to scream at the slightest disturbance. The Didact felt her body dropping to the ground as he turned around to face the assailant. Sure enough, it was a Coalition Stealth Infantryman, and he was carrying an Inferi-made, short magazine, Mk IV Plasma Rifle. As he laid eyes on the weapon, a switch flipped on in his head and the soldier inside of him sprung to life.
As quickly as possible, he crossed the space between him and the soldier. The soldier was incompetent to reload fast enough, as the Didact sidestepped around the barrel, smacked it aside and went to work on the unfortunate infantryman that shot at his party. The Didact was keen to rip the rifle out of his assailant’s hands, then quickly made two jabs at his throat, crushing his airway and ending the fight. As the Didact picked up the rifle and flung it over his shoulder for later use, the infantryman couldn’t do anything to help him as he suffocated and dropped to the ground.
Celestia passed in and out of consciousness through the whole thing, only to find her shoulder buzzing with pain as the Didact lifted her up and carried her in his arms, moving as quickly as he could. 
The breeze had died down, as if to mourn, and the Garden of Silence never held up to its namesake better than it did now.