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// Chapter Four: Erebus 
// Story: Darklight 
// by snoninja7 
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Twilight made a slow, arduous journey back into consciousness.  She was laying on a bed next to a blazing cobblestone and wood fireplace, wrapped in a crude but comfortable homespun blanket on a straw-stuffed mattress.  The smells of unfamiliar medicines mingled with the aromas of hot vegetable soup and fresh baked bread.  She opened her eyes and realized that she was in a cave, but one that was purposely fashioned into it's present form.  A large opening to the right of the fireplace lead to a spacious room that looked like it might be an antechamber, to the left was a small room that probably served as a kitchen.  The furniture and decorations were simple, but clean and well cared for.  Though Twilight had never been there before, it was a welcome sight.
"I'm glad you're awake." said an unfamiliar voice. "You were asleep for three days.  I have to apologize for not reaching you sooner, the earth golem frequently walks around at night for no apparent reason, so I didn't know that it was targeting somepony until it started firing it's beam weapon."
The voice was deep and soothing, but with a boyish quality as well. "You have a concussion, so it was good that you've had as much rest as you have.  I did the best I could to help you heal, but I'm afraid I am little more than a medic.  Anyway, you're probably very hungry after all this time, I'll have some food ready for you in a minute."
Twilight was having trouble locating the source of the voice.  She thought it was coming from a shadow in one of the far corners of the room. "I can't see you," she croaked, "Could you come a little closer?"
The voice was silent for a few seconds before it responded. "You don't have to be afraid."
The shadow itself moved towards her, and Twilight shrank back in fear from the apparition before her.  His entire body was covered in the most profound darkness that she had ever seen.  The darkness flickered and danced like a fire that was consuming him.  With some difficulty at first, she was able to discern the horn, wings, and slender but powerful form of an alicorn stallion, or at least what she suspected was an alicorn.  The only distinct feature that she could see at first was an enormous red gemstone in a gold setting on his breast, attached to a gold chain around his neck.  Besides all this, there was also an almost tangible sense of foreboding that seemed to radiate from him.
"It's okay, I'm used to it," said the shadow. "When I came here to continue my training, the golem was attacking one of the villages.  I was able to drive it north to this region, but many of the villagers were pretty scared of me.  I remember one foal in particular, she asked me if they would have to sell their souls to me as payment for saving them.  I told her that they didn't owe me anything, that I just wanted to help them out.  They've warmed up to me since then, but I'm still mostly considered an outsider."
Twilight noticed his deep blue eyes, the only other part of him that held a distinct shape.  His eyes seemed sad and lonely, and she felt bad about how she acted. "I'm sorry."
There was an awkward silence, as they both struggled to think of something to say that would lighten the mood.  They didn't have to, as the silence was broken by Twilight's long and embarrassingly loud belly groan of hunger.
They both laughed, and he started filling a bowl with steaming hot soup. "By the way, my name is Darklight."
"I'm... Twilight Sparkle."
"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you Twilight.  Hope you like the soup"  
It was a little too spicy, it didn't have very many of her favorite vegetables, and the texture was a little strange.  It was the best bowl of soup she had ever tasted.  She was grateful to be alive, and in good company.

****

The next few days were incredibly boring for Twilight.  Darklight did little to answer her many questions about the earth golem, "I know you have a lot of questions right now, but deep thinking is not the best thing to do right after a concussion.  I promise that I will tell you everything I know about it when you feel better, but for now you need to focus on healing." At first this seemed impossible for a pony who planned every detail of her day to the minute to maximize her productivity.  More importantly, she was anxious to get home to her friends, and to do so she would have to do something about the golem.  Her own fatigue won out though, and she spent most of the next few days resting.
Darklight kept very busy during this time.  His hoofsteps were remarkable quiet, and it was easy to miss his frequent movements between rooms if she was not paying attention.  Fortunately, his as yet unidentified commitments did not prevent him from being a thoughtful and attentive caregiver to Twilight during her convalescence.  He quickly learned her preferences and tastes, often anticipating her needs before she had to ask.
After two days, she was well enough to do a more thorough exploration of Darklight's home.  The antechamber next to the main bedroom had a series of wide tunnels of varying lengths leading to other rooms, which consisted of two guest bedrooms (one of which Darklight was now using himself), a bathroom, a storage room, a large workshop, and a laboratory.  There was also a long staircase leading upwards. "The mountain is solid granite, " he explained, "But I figured out a way to modify my horn blast so I can carve out rooms and ventilation shafts.  It's a lot of work though.  Father told me to have guest rooms ready, but I only finished them a few weeks ago.  I wasn't really expecting anypony to actually stay here with me."
It was in the workshop that Darklight had spent most of his time during the previous few days.  One side of the room was dedicated to glass blowing, with two kilns, a stone cut table, and a wide assortment of blowpipes, blocks, tongs, and shaping tools.  The other side was for blacksmithing, with a forge, anvil, and its own array of tools. "Fire magic has always been easy for me, and the flames don't hurt me if I’m the one creating them, so it seemed natural to focus on activities that involve a lot of heat.  I doubt I will ever be as good as Father, but I can use my skills to make things that I can trade for food and supplies.  The Barbaroi like a lot of my inventions and artwork, but they are still unimpressed with my swordsmithing (it's hard to catch up when they are the best in the world)."
"You must be an elemental-type pony if you can use fire magic like that!” said Twilight “That is very rare!"
"Actually, I'm not a pony, I’m a... Heh, imagine that"
The laboratory also occupied a lot of his time.  It was a smaller room, filled with glassware of his own making. "I use it to make medicines for trading.  Plus, I'm working on making the magic-infused dyes commonly used by the Barbaroi more thermally stable so they can be used in glass and fired ceramics."
Twilight noticed the lack of books, thinking that he preferred hooves-on activities over theory and book learning, but she was mistaken. "I love reading, but I couldn't bring any books with me when I came here, so I've had to rely on my own memory.  It's taking me a long time to learn to read and write in the Barbaroi language (it has close to ten thousand characters), and they won't even tell me where the Library of Truth is located until I improve my hoof-writing."
While Darklight worked on some of his glass blowing projects, Twilight found herself quizzing and lecturing him on physics and chemistry.  He answered her questions evenly while working, levitating a variety of tools while turning the blowpipe.  Darklight occasionally interrupted her barrage, even making her giggle with delight, when he blew flames out of his mouth and used it as a blowtorch on the molten glass. 
Darklight also told her more details about his history since coming to the lands of the Barbaroi, and about the earth golem. "The golem first appeared a few days before I arrived, far in the south near the Village of Fire.  Then it walked by each of the other six villages in a northerly direction until it reached the Village of the Moon, in which region we are now.  It didn't attack at first, but it did drain mana from the farms around the villages, so much that their crops were devastated that year and only their extensive food storage kept them from starving to death.  I arrived the same day that it reached the Village of the Moon, which was also the day that it started attacking.  It smashed through the lower defensive wall and several buildings before I could drive it away.  Luckily, no pony was killed, but many were seriously injured."  
"Then the Barbaroi captured me and put me on trial before the Grand Council on charges of trespassing, which is punishable by death... sorry, you don't have to worry about yourself and I will explain why in a minute.  Prism Heart proposed that I would be allowed to stay if I would claim sole responsibility for fighting and defeating the golem.  Raven's Wind and Eagle's Talon thought this was cowardly, but Prism Heart pointed out that they lacked the attack magic to fight it themselves, and they would need every pony they had to work just to recover from the attack, so they agreed to his proposal.  Raven's Wind gave her approval only on condition that I would be allowed to be trained, and that any of my guests would also be allowed to stay as well.  I still don't understand why she insisted on that last provision, but I'm glad now that you are here."
There were some rocky moments.  She asked about the amulet he wore, but he seemed very uncomfortable talking about it. "It's something that Father made me wear when he found me.  It keeps me from becoming what I used to be."
Two minor points also puzzled her about Darklight.  Why did he first address her in Equestrian, even before she had spoken herself, since none of the nations on the Mist continent spoke it as their native language?  For that matter, how was it that he spoke with a Canterlot accent?
From the start, asking questions about their pasts before arriving in their present circumstances seemed to be an unspoken taboo.  Twilight never told him that she was from Equestria, and Darklight never asked.  For some reason that she would have been hard pressed to explain, she didn't trust him enough to tell.