Chapter 1: Welcome to the Institute of War
Lyra opened her eyes slowly, the light of the place she was in blinded her momentarily making her nothing more but blurs and shadows. Her vision returned bit by bit as she tried to get up.
“Nnnghh!” she cried in pain “W-what happened?” she asked herself before noticing some leaves resting over her injured side “How did I….Of course…..the golem” Lyra tried to move again, this time slowly, managing to rest sideways over her left side, finally noticing her surroundings “W-where am I?”
Looking around she could see she was in some kind of room, she saw weapons such as swords, axes and mostly spears in the other side of the room, as well as shields hanging over the walls and a lot of the leaves she had on her right side hanging from the ceiling.
Lyra tried to get up from where she was resting but failed, the pain was simply too intense to move, deciding to explore with her eyes a bit more she saw there was a passage almost at the end of the room, next to where the weapons were, also she could smell something.
“Mmmm, food, haven’t eaten since…..well, hours maybe?” Lyra tried to figure out how much time had been unconscious but failed, at least she knew it hadn’t been for long, the pain told her the wound was still very new. Suddenly she heard something walking towards her, if the sounds the creature made were anything to go by it was a bipedal creature.
Lyra gulped nervously before a tall being dressed in tight muscular red armor, long red greaves on its hind legs and short ones on its forelegs “no, on its…….ARMS!” she thought taking the full scene before her completely. The creature was also wearing a brown skirt, with his arms he was holding a bowl of clay finally, the being was wearing a silver-like helmet over its head also portraying a red mane above it.
Lyra also noticed the texture and form of its exposed parts, the skin had no fur and was colored by a light brown color, she couldn’t see its face but she could see two penetrating red eyes, the same eyes she saw before fainting. Out of pure emotion, she jumped out of where she was resting but only managed to hit the ground harshly.
Lyra cursed and grunted due to the pain it brought her, the shadow of the creature stood before her, looking she could see those glowing red eyes looking down at her with no emotion at all, to say she was hypnotized by them would be an understatement. Lyra felt completely and utterly sad looking at him, she could feel, almost even seeing, the pain and agony those eyes caged inside of their owner, it was her talent with the lyre, to be able to see the inner feelings of others through their eyes, she felt pity for the creature.
The creature kneeled down offering a hand to—
“A HAND!!!!” Lyra shouted, taking the hand with her forehoofs to examine it “hard and strong, seemingly fragile but full of dexterity, four long fingers on the upper end while a fifth finger, the thumb, acts as the main power source from grabbing, gripping and manipulating objects! The hand of a human!” looking up at the creature again, her smile full of joy and excitement, she couldn’t help but notice how the human was looking at her un-amuse “oh….sorry, is that YOU are a human, A HUMAN! I’ve been searching for a long time! You have no idea how happy I am” small tears of joy began to form in her eyes “I always knew you were real! I knew it! OUCH!” Lyra exclaimed grabbing her right side, she had forgotten about the pain momentarily but now it was back in full force.
“………” the human didn’t say anything but instead carried Lyra back to where she was resting.
“Thanks,” Lyra said, humming softly at the ease of her pain “and thanks for saving me from those monsters, mister human.” she smiled at the human softly “My name is Lyra Heartstrings and I am a-“
“A pony,” the human said, his voice rough yet gentle at the same time “I know what you are.”
“You can TALK!? Then why didn’t you say so earlier!”
“You didn’t give me the chance,” picking up the bowl he was carrying he turned to her. “You are very lucky I was near the rift when you were attacked by the monsters, pony,” he sat next to her. “Stay still, this may sting a little.”
Taking the leaves out of the way Lyra could see a nasty wound as well as a deep purple bruise, barely visible through her green mint coat. The human picked the bowl up and then poured down a red liquid over the wound, Lyra muffled a scream of pain before relaxing, it was already starting to feel nice.
“You will be fine in a couple of hours,” the human said. “Now answer me, what were you doing out there on the rift, pony?”
“Hey, my name is Lyra, not pony”
“Answer my question.” The human glared at her.
Lyra huffed. “You are very rude, you know that?” the human glared her further. “Fine, fine, I was looking for some ruins or anything that could help me find traces of what happened to the humans, I didn’t expect to find one though! Now everypony will know you are real and that my father was right all along!”
“What else.”
“What else? Should I even want anything else!? YOU are real, you are ALIVE! Which means humans did exist and now that I know I have to find what happened to them!” Lyra saw the human was not looking at her, but rather at the ceiling “Mister human? Are you alright?”
“Po---Lyra, was it?” Lyra nodded “Do you know where you are?”
“Somewhere in the unknown parts of the Everfree Forest… I think”
“What are……humans for your race?”
“Well, until now, just myths and fairytales, hey now that I think of it, how did you know I am a pony?”
“You aren’t the first one to come, but you are the first to survive”
“S-survive?”
“Remember the golem and the lizards? The entire jungle is filled with those and other more deadly creatures, you were very lucky to get here alive.” Lyra suddenly felt cold inside of her, his eyes were full of truth.
“W-well, that doesn’t matter now!” she said smiling at him “now that I am here, alive and well, I can ask you everything I always wanted to know!”
“What would that be?”
“About humans, their diet, the anatomy, EVERYTHING, but most of all their history, so I can understand and unveil the mystery of our own history!” Lyra smiled sweetly at him, making a squee noise.
“..." The human let out a strained chuckle. "You remind me of Hecarim mixed in with the cheerfulness Lux. That's actually really, really adorable,” he murmured to himself. “Are you certain it is all you want? Nothing more?”
“Of course silly! What else could I want?”
Pantheon looked at her for a moment before sighing “Very well then,” he said standing up. “I will tell you what you want to know if I see fit to answer your questions.” Lyra smiled dumbly. “But be aware of something, if you are lying to me, I will kill you.” Lyra stopped and looked at him in surprise.
“K-k-kill me? But why!?”
“If you prove you are worthy of my entire trust, then I will tell you, I’m already putting too much confidence in you as it is.”
“Then why are you trusting me so easily now?”
“Because I just want someone to talk to.”
“Why?”
“It doesn’t matter,” the human turned around and began to walk to the exit. “You should rest now, Lyra, the truth searcher, I will return in a few hours.” the human stopped just before he was about to leave the room and looked back at her “Welcome to my home, The Institute of War.”
Then he left, leaving a puzzled, confused, scared and eager Lyra alone in her room.
Chapter 1 end.