//------------------------------// // Chapter 25: The Cavern // Story: The Ultimate Sacrifice // by DarkWolf //------------------------------// Chapter 25: The Cavern Flickers of light shone through the curtains of the room as Sandman creaked open his eyes. At first, his memory was hazy regarding the details of the previous day, and the fact that he didn’t know where he was at that moment wasn’t helping jog his memory. He looked around slowly, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the light. The room he was in was white and clean, and he was lying in a neatly made bed. His ears began to pick up a faint noise, a quiet, repetitive beeping could be heard nearby. He looked to his left to see a heart monitor sitting next to his bed along with a few medical IV’s leading to his left arm, which he could see was bandaged up in many places. “A hospital…?” He thought to himself. “Why am I in a….” And all of it suddenly came back to him in one giant, crashing wave. … “Who are you?” “Who I am doesn’t matter. What DOES matter is the fact that the altar sees you two as element bearers. So, you must tell me. What element do you represent?” “Element bearers? What the hell are you talking about? Who are you?!” “Oh… so you don’t know… Oh well, it doesn’t matter. Makes things easier for me.” … In an instant, a nagging and all-encompassing panic began to take hold as Sandman attempted to get out of the bed. He needed to get out of here! He needed to find his squad! However, he didn’t make it very far. The instant he tried to sit up, a shot of pain went through his entire body, forcing him back down on the bed. He attempted to slide out of the bed again, but with the same result. His ears picked up faint talking emanating from outside his door, and a silhouette appeared below the door frame. Suddenly, the door opened. A Unicorn dressed in a nurse’s outfit walked into the room, a clipboard held in her magical grasp. She looked up to see Sandman staring back at her, which appeared to startle her as she almost dropped the clipboard from her magical grasp. “Oh goodness, you’re awake! This is excellent news! The others were quite worried about you.” She said in an almost patronizing way. Sandman tried to speak, but his voice was hoarse and his throat was extremely dry. Seeing how he was struggling to speak, the nurse floated a jug of water from across the room over to her, poured some in a glass, and levitated it back to Sandman. He took it with his right arm, which seemed to be okay overall, and downed it vigorously. After two more glasses, he began to speak more clearly. “Where am I?” Sandman croaked out, cutting straight to the chase. “You’re in Canterlot Hospital. You were seriously injured when we…” “How long was I out?” Sandman interrupted. “Um… you were unconscious for a day and a half. The injuries you sustained were…” “Where is my squad?” Sandman interrupted yet again, flustering the mare. “They are outside, if you would like me to bring them in.” She finished quickly. “Yes, I need to speak to them immediately.” “Very well, but I must inform you that your injuries were very severe. We had to bandage most of your body, and you had a few broken bones. To be honest, it was a miracle you made it back here. Even the fact that we managed to get a grasp of your physiology was astonishing.” She said, the last part a bit of a mumble, as if it was too herself. Regardless, the mare continued, reading off her clipboard the list of injuries. “Two broken ribs, a fractured arm, multiple third degree burns, multiple lacerations…” “Ok, I understand, I am in extremely poor physical condition and may not be leaving this bed for quite some time.” Sandman responded coldly, yet summing the conversation yet to be in one sentence. “Now, I understand that you are trying to do your job, but I need to speak with my squad… and the Princesses if at all possible.” With a silent nod, the mare trotted out of the room and shut the door behind her. The room was once again engulfed in complete silence except for the faint beeping of the heart monitor. Sandman sat in the silence, attempting to rearrange and prioritize the information that was jumbling around his head. Before he knew it, the door opened once again. He looked up to see Grinch and Truck walking in, followed by Princess Celestia and Andrei. The two former made a quick beeline for the bed. “About damn time you woke up!” Grinch announced, giving Sandman a firm hand-grasp. “How you feeling?” Truck asked. “About as good as I look.” Sandman responded with a forced chuckle. “It is good to see you are recovering.” Princess Celestia chimed in from behind the group in a very calm and caring voice. All of them turned towards her at the sound of her speaking. “Although it pains me to do so, I must inquire as to what happened during your mission resulting in… well… this.” She paused, as if contemplating something. “If you feel as though you need time, I will let you recuperate…” “No, I… I can tell you now.” Sandman mumbled, barely audible to those in the room. The whole room seemed to grow somber and dark as Sandman thought back to the castle. “Boss…” Truck interrupted. Sandman slowly turned towards him. “When you got back, we started searching the train for Frost but…” He began, but trailed off. “We couldn’t find him…” Grinch finished for him. “Do you know where he is?” He asked, although Sandman could easily see what they were all thinking. “He’s dead.” Sandman whispered, hanging his head low. Silence filled the air for a brief moment, although it seemed to last for an eternity. “What happened?” Celestia asked again. The caring and compassionate voice she used when she entered had disappeared, instead replaced by what seemed like a cocktail of anger, sorrow, and curiosity. Sandman had to sit for a bit and collect himself before he could manage a response. “Everything went as planned at first. We got off the train in Ponyville and headed into the woods. We didn’t have many problems in there besides it being dark as hell and running into a few manticores, but everyone got out fine. We managed to find the castle easily enough. So, we searched it and found nothing. That’s when we found what looked like catacombs. We… we went inside…” Sandman paused. “… and that’s when everything went to shit.” ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Oh… so you don’t know… Oh well, it doesn’t matter. Makes things easier for me.” “I don’t like the sound of that…” Frost whispered to Sandman. Something caught Sandman’s attention as he looked down at the book that the human was clutching. “Is that…?” Sandman thought, wondering how he could have gotten his hands on it. It took him somewhat by surprise when the other human dropped the book unceremoniously to the ground and kicked it off to the side of the room. That’s when something VERY unexpected happened. The human had raised his hand, and there was a ball of fire forming in his palm. “What the fu…?” Frost began, but was cut off as a fireball flew from the human’s hand straight at the group. The all dived out of the way, barely missing them as it hit the back wall, shaking the cavern slightly. In an instant, both Frost and Sandman were up, letting rounds fly at their assailant. The other unicorns behind them began firing different spells at him as well. To their dismay each and every one passed through him or deflected off of him, leaving him standing there without a scratch. More of the fireballs began to form in his hands, resulting in mass panic. “Cover!” Sandman called as he and Frost backed up and dived over a fallen pillar. The others did the same as two more fireballs passed by, hitting rock and causing the cavern to shake yet again. “What do we do?!” Someone called from nearby. The unicorns began firing at him again, but it was a worthless endeavor. More of the fireballs came whizzing by and hitting their cover and the wall near them, showering them in hot, shattered fragments… fragments that should be in the wall holding up this four millennia old cavern that could collapse at a moment’s notice. Some of the unicorns took it upon themselves to cast shields and barriers around them and their squad mates. Unfortunately, there were only three of them, and they could only do so much. Chaos spread through the group, as many began shouting in panic or locked up in fear behind their cover. “Boss, how are we supposed to fight this?” Frost asked worriedly. Sandman couldn’t come up with an answer. A quick glance to his left saw that two of the ponies, Night Weave and the Pegasus Royal Guard, were rushing out of their cover towards the human. He turned swiftly, firing one fireball straight into the face of the Royal Guard, who screamed out in agony as he fell over on the ground flailing wildly. His second missed Night Weave as he approached and dived, sword drawn and in stabbing position, straight at him. The sword suddenly caught flame when he was no more than a few feet from his target, burning his hooves and forcing him to drop it mid-flight. The human moved out of the way with incredible speed as Night Weave crashed into the ground. The guard who had got hit earlier was no longer moving, but one of the unicorns was levitating him over to cover regardless. The Earth Pony guard jumped out, followed by Shadow Prowler, Wise Free, and one of the other unicorn Royal Guards. The unicorn and Wise Free created a shield around the two encroaching ponies in front of them. The human turned and began firing his fireballs at it, sending visible shockwaves through it. Cracks could be seen forming as well, although they were slowing repairing themselves. “Frost, go get the book!” Sandman half yelled, half whispered as he stood up and began firing at the human again, trying to distract him, but to no avail. When the group got close enough, the human stopped firing his gouts of fire. Instead, his left hand began shimmering a deep red, engulfing the entire hand up to the forearm. He raised it, rushed towards the shield, and slammed his fist into it. The resulting hit shattered the once blue shield into an off-purple explosion that sent both unicorns in the ground in pain as they clutched their heads and horns. The Royal Guard and Shadow Prowler rushed forward in two different directions the second the shield fell, swords raised and ready to strike. The human, with his fist still glowing its devilish red, turned and sent an absolutely violent punch straight into Shadow Prowler’s side. Bones could be audibly heard breaking as he was flung a good few feet from the blow. The Royal Guard got up to him and landed a swift slice on the humans exposed left arm with his sword, but the steel blade literally shattered in pieces the second it touched him. The human turned and sent a horrific uppercut to the guard, sending his neck in a way that it wasn’t supposed to go as he fell to the ground lifeless. Frost made his way unseen to the other side of the chamber where the book lay untouched. He swiftly grabbed it and turned away, only to see a flaming ball coming straight towards him. He ducked and it slammed into the wall. He dived behind another pillar and readied his weapon, even though he feared it would do him no good. Off to his side, he could see Night Weave slowly rising to his hooves behind the human. Once he regained his bearings, he rushed forward unarmed in a blind rage and attempted to tackle the attacker. Sandman looked over to see the other unicorn casting a shield over his two fallen squad mates while O’Tipsey, Storm Breaker, and Haybrun were furiously beating on one of the few standing pillars. It was noticeably giving way, and if it were to fall, it would fall directly on top of the fire-wielding human. He was currently distracted with Night Weave’s blind rush. He turned at the last second with his fist and sent it straight into the top of his head, crushing it into the ground with a sickening noise. Just as he turned back towards the remainder, the pillar collapsed from its perch and fell right towards the human. He deftly stepped out of the way as it crashed harmlessly in front of him, but he did appear to be somewhat stunned by the force of it hitting the ground so close to him. By this point, the entire cavern was shaking violently as visible chunks were falling from the ceiling. The room could not take much more of this abuse. Frost made a mad dash for the group and slid his way behind cover next to Sandman, book in hand. “Let’s get the hell out of here!” Sandman shouted to the rest of the group, as those that were alive started to funnel towards the exit while the three unicorns shot beams and placed shields for them. Swift Wind and Storm Breaker flew out towards the human and flew circles above his head, keeping him occupied. “O’Tipsey, Wise Free…” Sandman counted as they funneled through the opening. A wild bolt of flame hit Storm Breaker in his left wing as he tumbled to the ground, his wing on fire as he went, with a loud thud. Before he could even manage to get back up, another one came and hit him in the chest, setting the rest of him on fire. He let out a bloodcurdling scream as he tried to douse the flames, but to no avail. The screaming subsided as he fell to the ground unmoving. “Is this truly the best you can offer?” The human said in an extremely deep voice, much different than the voice he had when they first met. He turned to see the rest of the group diving through the collapsing opening of the cavern. Sandman took a quick glance back to see that the human was looking at the roof of the cavern with a look of fear plastered on his face. A large sizeable chunk broke lose that fell straight on top of the center pillar. “NOOOO!” The human yelled as the boulder smashed onto it, shattering it into hundreds of pieces. However, the second it split apart, it let out a large red explosion that engulfed the room in a vibrant light. Swift Wind dived into the exit just as the rock that had previously smashed the pillar exploded into thousands of tiny, red hot shards throughout the room. Sandman and Frost, the last two, both dived in at the last second as the exit collapsed, trapping the other human inside. “Goddammit!” Frost yelled out, causing Sandman to turn and see an extremely large gash leading up Frost’s left leg. About half way up, there was a sizeable chunk of rock sticking inside of it. “Oh shit, stay still!” Sandman said as he rolled Frost over onto his side and examined the damage. “Is everyone else alright?” He called out, receiving a few responses, but not many. The rest seemed shell-shocked, staring into nothingness or crying, and he didn’t blame them. None of them looked too messed up physically, but many were cut up from the flying rock and burned from the fireballs. The rock had embedded itself in his leg deep by at least a few inches. Taking it out was going to be one hell of a task, one that they didn’t have time for sitting in this still unstable cave. He looked over to see the book sitting next to Frost on the ground. It was torn in some places and an edge was a little charred, but nothing serious. “Ok, everyone get up and get out of this damn cave as fast as you can. Meet back up in the field.” He called out. The group gathered their gear and made their way back up top as Sandman grabbed Frost by the shoulder and lifted him up. Sandman picked up the book and they began hobbling their way out of the cave. “Well, this was one big clusterfuck…” Frost whispered, letting out a small chuckle. “You can say that again.” Sandman responded with not much emotion. “How are we gonna explain this?” “I don’t know… I guess the…” Sandman began, but he and Frost were thrown off balance as the once collapsed entrance was thrown open violently. In the dust, they could see the human walking out of the now gaping hole with one of the swords that the recruits had brought in clutched in his hand as the remainder of the cave began shaking violently. Sandman turned and raised his ACR and let rounds fly, but yet another flaming ball flew from the human’s free hand and hit Frost square in the chest as he turned. Before Sandman could react, another one came and hit him in his left arm. He screamed out in pain as he was forced to drop the book that was clutched in that hand. Before he knew it, the human was right in front of him, his sword raised in the air and glowing red hot, preparing to strike him down. Sandman raised his ACR in front of him to defend, and it served its purpose, but at the cost of the blade coming down and slicing halfway through the weapon. Sandman stumbled backwards, falling to the ground and landing on hard, jagged stone that dug into his back, even though his uniform. He could hear yelling and shouting coming from the exit and sounds of the others running back through towards them. The human raised his hand and let fly another fireball that struck the nearest pony turning the corner, which was one of the unicorn guards. He was hit in the neck and fell to the ground in agony. The rest quickly stopped and backed up behind the corner, the other unicorns pulling their fallen comrade back into safety. Frost wearily pulled out his M9 and shot the entire magazine in quick succession at the assailant. He turned towards the downed soldier, raised his sword, and stabbed it straight through Frost’s chest. Frost made a loud grunt as the blade entered him. Blood began to pool in his mouth as his M9 fell from his hands. Frost went limp on the floor as the human retracted the blade and turned towards the other soldier. Before Sandman’s mind could catch up with what he had just witnessed, he was heaved off the floor and violently thrown into the nearest wall. He could hear and feel his ribs crack at the sudden abuse. The human was staring at him, holding him a few feet off the ground. “Pathetic…” He said in his deep voice as he pushed harder against Sandman’s chest. The group began to shoot beams of magic towards the human in an effort to save Sandman, but he merely raised his hand, which now turned a deep blue, and pointed it towards the group. A blue aura engulfed the exit and solidified into a wall of magic, sealing the group on the other side. “Know that you have failed, and that your failure will bring about the destruction of this world, with or without the altar.” The human raised the sword into a stabbing position aimed directly at Sandman’s chest. “Now die.” A faint clinking was heard behind the two of them. Sandman looked over the humans shoulder to see Frost holding a flashbang in his hand, pinned pulled. He tossed it over towards the two weakly, and then fell limp again. It landed directly beneath the two humans, one of which was staring directly at it. Sandman attempted to turn his head the other way and close his eyes in a meek attempt to shield himself from what was to come, but he was not quick enough. BANG