//------------------------------// // Confrontation // Story: Twilight? // by Lunafan1k //------------------------------// The window shattered as a massive concussive force erupted from the creature, several of the stone and wood blocks becoming dislodged in the process. Twilight was flung back against the far wall, the force of the scream pinning her in place. Steve wasted no time; he quickly re-equipped his light blue crystal armor and leapt forward, matching sword slashing through the creature. Instead of biting into flesh, the sword passed through the monster as though it were made of shadow, quickly dissipating into nothing at the sound of teleportation. Once it was out of sight the blast of energy relented, allowing Twilight to fall shakily to her hooves. She sat down as her legs gave out, Steve backing up to her defensively as the cries continued to echo around the room. There was another sound of teleportation; the black creature appeared before them. In that split second, the horrible image of the monster burned itself into Twilight’s mind. The head looked like an overlarge skull, the skin stretched taunt over it so tightly it easily revealed every bump and curve of the skull. The rest of the body was the same, arms and legs thin as twigs, and overly long and spindly. The arms ended in hands much like Steve’s, but they ended in long sharp claws that would shame a manticore’s in comparison. The supporting feet of the monster were elongated much the same way, ending in clawed, boney appendages. Over all its body, a shroud of darkness ebbed from it, concentrated in the empty eye sockets where the darkness let out its own purple glow. The monster’s mouth was horribly wide, stretching downward far longer than was natural; a blank white emptiness resided within as the sound continued unabated. Time sped up for Twilight as it lunged forward, gliding effortlessly across the distance to Steve and landed a powerful swing on him. Steve grunted as the force knocked him back several feet. He landed in a ready position, his armor taking most of the blow. The monster had teleported right after landing the blow, appearing behind Steve as he tried to get a lock onto it. The monster swung again, this time the blow threw Steve into the wall where the monster teleported in front of him with his arm raised to strike once more. Steve ducked to the side, the clawed hand missing his head by mere inches and tearing out several blocks of the wall. Steve reversed the hold on his blade and stabbed sideways as he ducked past, cutting into the monster’s leg deeply. A horrible screech of pain rumbled throughout the room, echoing further into the cavern as it teleported out of sight again. The screams turned from pained to enraged, making the horrible sounds all the more soul wrenching. Steve’s head swiveled back and forth, keeping a sharp ear out for the monster, ready to evade or lash out at a moment’s notice. His armor was beginning to show signs wear, several scratches along the surface with a small dent here and there, but it will hold for now. Twilight sat there, stunned at the ferocity of the monster as it swatted Steve around like a doll. She felt something wet drip onto her fetlock; she raised her hoof to take a look. A red splotch of blood was seeping into her fur, followed by another. She wiped her nose, more blood smearing onto her leg. She ignored it for the moment, instead taking this time to reach into her bag and remove another vial of potion. She downed it in a few sips and levitated her last one up to Steve. He smiled at her as he reached for it, but the monster teleported behind him as soon as he dropped his guard, arm already in motion. Steve wasn’t able to react in time as Twilight’s eyes widened in horror. The arm crashed down on the side of Steve’s head, he let out a pained yell as he tumbled sideways. Before he could stop his roll the monster glided across the floor and struck him dead center on the chest, sending small bits of crystal glittering through the air. The armor held, allowing Steve to grip his blade and force it upwards. He struck the monster through the chest, the sword piercing out of its back side. It screamed louder as it fought against the blow, teleporting rapidly but always appearing in the same spot with the blade through its heart. The darkness seemed to lift from its body as its struggles grew weaker, yet still it cried out. Steve twisted the blade, spurts of dark blood splashed out against his face that quickly evaporated into shadow. There was a dark flash as the darkness disappeared, the screams soon fading away as the purple in the eyes faded to darkness. Steve grunted as she shoved the corpse off of him and pulled the sword from its chest, the blood staining it evaporating quickly. The body twitched, then began to curl in on itself, coiling tightly into a ball. Dark shadows hissed from the corpse as it condensed and molded itself. Soon the process was over, the body now a small blue pearl. Steve rose to his feet and picked it up, then dropped it into his satchel. He staggered over to Twilight, she was a mess. Her nose had stopped bleeding but the blood staining her muzzle and foreleg remained. She was sobbing softly to herself, trying to make as little noise as possible as though it would bring the monster back. Steve patted her head reassuringly as he picked up the unused health potion. A few moments after downing it he was refilled with energy once more. He turned from Twilight and began to gather the dislodged blocks and set them back in their proper places. Twilight was able to pull herself together and help rebuild a section of the wall. Their job soon done Steve led her into one of the upper rooms of the mansion. There he showed her into a comfortable room with several potted plants, more bookshelves, and a bed. Twilight ignored the rest of the room and plopped herself down on the bed, quickly passing out in its soft embrace It had been three days since Twilight’s mishap with the portal, and progress with the spell has been slow but steady. “Princess,” Flicker started as they made their way down into the crystal caverns, “We have determined the exit of the waypoint, and it does lead to a land of some kind but we are unable to determine anything beyond that. However, using the rune as it was is far too unstable, so we needed to create something far stronger in order to hold it open for a solid path.” “One step closer…” The princess whispered before asking, “So how do you plan to rectify that?” Flicker smiled, “We have determined the use of magically charged blocks of cooled lava, pure obsidian. They are able to withstand the magic of the portal much better than any other substance we tried to use. We have determined that the portal should be a closed ring, and judging by the amount of power a single block can sustain we have determined the use of eighteen blocks in total.” Celestia raised an eyebrow, “That’s quite the number.” “Indeed.” Flicker nodded. “We have already begun construction.” They reached the end of the hall and walked through the door into a large antechamber, the same one that contained the waypoint spell. On the far wall large blocks of black obsidian exactly one cubic meter in size were mounted onto the wall in an odd pattern. The bottom was three blocks in width, as was the top. The outer top corner of the bottom platform was touching the bottom corner of a single block, which was touching another corner of a stack of four blocks, forming a crude octagon pattern. Several mages were looking back and forth between their paperwork and the blocks of obsidian. “Each block needs to have the exact same pattern engraved on it.” Flicker explained, “Once that’s done we can begin testing.” “Good.” Celestia nodded, “And Flicker? Do be more cautious this time.” “Of course, Your Highness.”