"What in the world..." Celestia murmured to herself as she watched the large doors with curiosity. Until a moment ago, everything had been quiet. But shortly after the purveyor and Twilight Sparkle had left, commotion had broken out inside. It sounded like all of the deities were quarreling at the top of their voices about something, although Celestia failed to make out what it was about.
It seemed that even her sister was taking part in the fray, her royal voice making the doors vibrate from time to time. Celestia could already see Nithhogr holding his belly with laughter. It troubled her greatly to think what pacts the old dragon had with the purveyor.
Celestia was about to take a look inside the chamber, but instead the door was pushed open from the inside and a figure she recognized as Fin'gre shot out; hastily slamming the door shut behind him and immediately placing a small seed on the floor in front of it. Before Celestia's surprised eyes, the seed brought forth a sapling... which grew into a tree in a matter of seconds, blocking the doors to the chamber with its thick roots as someone started to furiously pound on it from the other side.
Fin'gre let out a deep breath, "That should keep 'em busy for a while..." he turned around and spotted Celestia, "Hi."
"May I ask, Fin'gre..." Celestia raised an eyebrow as the satyr tried to look innocent, "What it is you are doing?"
"Me? Oh... you know, princess Celestia... going to stretch my legs, getting a break for some fresh air..." he cringed as more pounding could be heard from the door.
"And the tree sapling?" Celestia asked with a dry voice.
Fin'gre started to play with one of his horns, "That? Heh, must have dropped it by accident..." he chuckled, "You wouldn't have happened to see the big shadowy guy around?"
"You mean the Dorchadas?" Celestia asked with the slightest tint of amusement as she understood what was going on. No matter how troubling the current developments were, the sound of the griffon deity's angered shouts through the doors was indeed very amusing.
Her face became serious again as she recalled Fin'gre's young age, "He will return shortly, I am sure. However, take a word of advice, if you will." Fin'gre gave her a surprised look, "Be careful of what pacts you make. I know that you are ambitious, but whatever you think you can gain from him... remember that he has his own goals too. I advise caution."
Fin'gre smiled softly, "Thank you, princess. But your concerns are unjustified, if certainly appreciated though. I merely wish to meet my new neighbor." he bowed his head before her as the doors behind him started to bulge and creak, "After all, I'm always keen to make new friends."
Celestia sighed, "I somehow doubt that the deities behind those doors would agree... and I know for certain that he will. He is not here to make friends, Fin'gre. He is here to make a claim for himself... and nothing else."
"I know, I know... But I can try, can't I?" Fin'gre chuckled and failed to notice Celestia's worried expression in his excitement, "So... where is he?"
"Who is that?" a feminine voice asked behind him.
Fin'gre turned around in time to see the purveyor approach with a purple alicorn next to him. For a moment his gaze darted over the black mask of the purveyor, but then his eyes turned to Twilight Sparkle and he put on a happy smile, "Greetings..." he bowed before her, "I am Fin'gre, protector of the Firelight Woods."
"The Firelight Woods?" Twilight raised an eyebrow as the pounding on the doors continued unhindered, "I didn't know they had a deity..."
"They don't." Zaeres commented next to her, his impassive voice making the satyr cringe, "Fin'gre has been appointed a representative by the three main tribes ruling the woods, but has yet to be recognized fully as a deity by the council." he paused and went to inspect the roots covering the trembling door, "And he was only appointed a representative because the three tribes could not settle on sending one of their own leaders... This is his second council."
"He really knows his stuff, doesn't he?" Fin'gre tried to jest.
"You don't even know half of it..." Twilight mumbled to herself before giving him a questioning gaze, "So you're not a deity?"
"Not in the classical sense..." the purveyor answered her question, "But they tend to grow very old." He traced a finger over the roots, a quick analysis of the flow making him smirk under his mask. Zaeres had yet to check more thoroughly, but he was already certain that this could prove useful. This council was indeed coming to be more promising than he had expected.
An explosion of wood interrupted his thoughts as a clawed paw shot through the door and a fuming Anathis appeared behind it, "Wait till I get my claws on you, I'll..." she stopped dead in her tracks, her claws only inches away from the unmoving mask of the purveyor.
"Yes, Anathis?" his voice was cold, "What is it you plan on doing with me?" behind Anathis, the other deities quickly withdrew from the broken door as they realized who was behind it.
Next to a chuckling Fin'gre, Twilight looked around herself in confusion, "Where is Spike?"
---
Spike gave a groan of annoyance as he continued to search through the archives of the council. Here, within a huge chamber of countless shelves and under the dust of centuries lay the records of attendance and protocols of the council meetings for thousands of years.
The young dragon didn't know yet what he was looking for, but somehow he wagered that there should be something useful here. The name the Dorchadas had given him though, Nithhogr... who was he? Spike had never heard the name before, and from the records it seemed that he only very rarely attended the council meetings, as seldom as they were held. Still, if he was actually sitting at the top of the chamber, then he had to be someone important.
At the same time, Spike couldn't help but shudder when he remembered his talk with the black figure of shadows. Who was he really? What lay behind that strange mask... and if he had really met Rarity, why had she never talked about him? And why did it seem that Twilight and princess Celestia knew him as well? Why did he always feel like he was missing something, as if everyone was keeping secrets from him? Didn't they trust him?
Spike shook his head and returned his attention to the records, at the same time wondering what it was he hoped to achieve here.
He stopped as one of his claws traced over an old-looking record, and his expression froze as he inspected the list of attendance.
Neither princess Celestia's nor princess Luna's names could be found on the list, meaning that it had to be very old. The records weren't dated, but numbered instead. Sadly, as the councils were held at irregular intervals, there was no telling how old this particular one really was. The attendances were however, listed from top to bottom in accordance to the seating of the deities.
On the ancient piece of paper and written in fading ink he saw Nithhogr's name... and directly next to him, another name was written that was missing on all records kept after this one;
Sirrush, the Wingless.
---
The Firelight Woods were quiet this late in the night, the only thing disrupting the illusion of tranquility being the flash of light shining like a beacon as Fin'gre appeared in a small clearing. Teleportation, even if it was a courtesy of the alicorn sisters had never been one of his favorite means of transport.
As the light faded again the satyr deity took a short look around and started to head for the edge of the clearing, a small smile on his face, "You know you didn't have to wait for me to come back, mother Lupora."
The great wolf slowly detached itself from the cover of the forest, her huge, black body dwarfing his own, "The wolf clan is always eager to know what news the councils bring... and what changes we must prepare ourselves for."
Fin'gre patted her side as he walked past the old wolf, his own head coming to end just a bit beneath her shoulder, "Talking of change..." he spoke as she started to follow him through the forest, "Your clan has been around for the longest, hasn't it?"
"We are the eldest clan hunting in these woods." Lupora answered next to him, "And this forest has stood longer than any of the deities can remember."
Fin'gre scratched one of his small horns, "Have you ever heard of someone called Dorchadas?" he continued to walk while he asked the question, but soon realized that the great dire wolf wasn't following him any more. The satyr stopped and turned around to look at Lupora, who was staring at him with unmoving eyes and slightly standing hairs on her back, "So you know him?"
"Be careful of that name, Fin'gre." she spoke with a stern voice, "The Dorchadas is a figure of dragon mythology far older than you can imagine and the stories of our clan know it by a different name; Sralum."
Fin'gre raised an eyebrow, "The Eyeless?"
"Faceless." Lupora corrected him, "We use the cover of the night for our hunts, but even we fear what lies in the impenetrable darkness."
"So you know of the void? I heard of it for the first time myself today..." he gave her a questioning look, "Why have I never heard you talked about that?"
"Because it is not something to talk about." the wolf interrupted him, "There are many stories to what the great darkness is, and it carries many names and even more legends... but all of them end in disaster and death. We do not talk of it, for we fear that it may hear our whispers and come to swallow us." she gave him a hard look, "Why would this be a topic at the council? This is very dangerous talk. Who told you of this name?"
"He himself." Fin'gre chuckled, "He appeared at the council today and introduced himself. You should have seen the griffon's face! Priceless, I tell you!"
A soft growl escaped Lupora, "Don't be a fool, Fin'gre! This is not something to make jokes about!"
"I'm not joking, mother Lupora." Fin'gre expression became serious, "The void itself appeared at the council and took a seat above Nithhogr. The old dragon even conceded with his claim to the Barrier... It was quite interesting."
The mother of the wolf clan stared at him with unbelieving eyes, trying hard to search his face for any signs of a lie. "Tell me exactly what happened." she spoke with a strained voice, "Everything."
Fin'gre shrugged, "That's actually more or less what happened... I'll tell you and the other clans all the details once we get them together." he started to walk again, "That, and I invited him for a visit to our forest. He'll come and visit us next week."
"You... You what?!" Lupora stared at his back in utter shock, "Why would you do something like that?! Have you gone mad?!"
Fin'gre didn't stop but instead continued walking, "I have the feeling that something big is about to happen, mother Lupora. Something that we'll be a part of even if we don't want to." he turned his head to give her a small smirk, "So why not take part in it and see where it takes us?" He headed deeper into the endless expanses of the Firelight Woods, "Besides, you're always supposed to get along with new neighbors..." especially the ones that could make gods shudder in their seats.