//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1: Exile 
// Story: Of Light And Darkness 
// by BarthoBalchi 
//------------------------------//

Of Light and Darkness

Chapter 1: Exile

There I lay, my whole body feeling completely sore, like my entire body was torn to shreds then put back together again. I try to open my eyes but all I see is black. I then try to listen for anything but do not hear a sound. I try to get up but have difficulty doing so. It is then I decide to just wait and try to figure out what I should do next.

Soon after I feel a warm and cold essence around my body that felt relaxing at first but then began to hurt. It felt like my entire body was on fire, but then the pain was focused on my ears. After a few seconds I could hear myself screaming and grunting at the irritation my ears where having. Then the agony was focused on my eyes, in which it felt like brands where being pressed onto my pupils. In the midst of the torment I heard a female voice “were almost finished”. I didn’t know if I should trust this person but something told me I could trust her, for now at least.

After a few more minutes, which felt like hours they were finally done and I opened my eyes and immediately dropped my jaw to the ground. I was standing in front of a white unicorn with wings and a mane that was green, purple, blue and pink. She also had a golden crown on her head with a violet gem in the center and a necklace with the same design as the crown. There beside her was another unicorn with wings. This one was dark blue and had a mane that looked like the night sky. She also had a black necklace with a crescent moon on it.

“Greetings” the white one said. I gasp at the fact that they can talk and I can understand what they are saying. She then lowers her head a little while saying in a sincere tone “I’m sorry that you had to endure such pain, but it seemed like you couldn’t hear or see anything when we found you so me and my sister decided to try and fix that with our magic. I am princess Celestia, ruler of Equestria and this is my sister Luna” Celestia explained then giving a little bow. 

“We managed to restore your hearing but we only managed to fix one of your eyes” Luna said in an apologizing tone.

It was then I noticed that she was right, I could only see with my right eye while the other eye I could feel open but all I could see was black. “Great this is going to take a long time to get used to” I thought to myself having to move my head back and forth constantly to get an overview of where I was.

It was a sparkling white marble room with a lush red carpet on the floor and a huge window that had shown miles of the realm I now reside in. Out the window I could see a bright sun shining over a city made of ivory and had golden roofs at the top of each building. 

“So may I ask what your name is good sir”? Celestia asked.

“I am Bartho Balchi” I said in a blank tone. “

So where do you come from”? Luna asked in a curious tone.

“I'm a human that has come from the holy realm of celestia which is coincidently named the same as you” I said looking at the white princess. 

“So how did you get here”? Celestia asked.

My head began to ache as I recalled everything that happened prior to coming here. I thought about not saying anything but I figured that letting them know what happened was the only way they would even consider the idea of taking me home so I nodded in agreement.

It all started yesterday, I woke up with a scared look after dreaming of a shadowy dragon looking upon me with deadly intent. “Had another bad dream big brother”? My little brother Ramza asked as he popped his head from the top of our crystal bunk bed. I nodded and gave a groggy sigh then got out of bed to get ready for the day. 

I get up an hour before everyone else dose to avoid any complications, since 99% of the people here are terrified of me. This is due to the reputation i have, here I’m known as the Red Reaper. Which is most likely because every time I get back from a mission my hands are still covered in the blood of those I killed which for some reason, I can never remember killing. Every time I engaged the enemy I would black out at the first sight of blood or a burst of negative emotions such as sadness, anger or stress and when I came back to reality I would find all of my enemies dead and my body covered in a coat of red. I never really understood why this happened, and always had a hard time washing the liquid death off my body.

After freshening up I have a nice breakfast with my little brother. I then walk down to the throne room of one of the rulers of celesita, the god of all good dragons, Bahamut. I enter and kneel in respect to my king who was looking down at me with his right eye which was a cat eye with a deep blue, and the other being a frosty indigo. 

“Cornelius will be giving you your next assignment” the dragon said in a gentle yet wise voice. An angel with gray wings and cloak then entered the room from one of the side doors of the throne room. 

“Thank you my lord” said the gray angel as he approached me. “Now Bartho, you have shown us a great deal of strength and loyalty over the years that you have been with us, and now the council thinks it’s time that you ascended into a celestial, a being of true majesty” Cornelius said in a rather happy tone.

My face which was normally emotionless lit up with joy and I even feel a tear go down my face.

“Now before you may ascend you must prove to us that you are worthy of the powers of the heavens that the gods bestow upon us”. “There are a group of dragon cultists using a mysterious orb to summon Tyranus, the dragon of pestilence from his sleep”. “If you destroy the orb and stop the cultists from summoning Tyranus we will let you ascend”. There was a moment of silence until he decided to continue. “However, if you fail this there will be dire punishment” he said in a serious tone. “Now are you ready for such a task”? He finally asked. 

“I am” I said without any hesitation. 

“Excellent” he said with a pleased smile on his face. 

“Then get ready for the task at hand, Cornelius shall teleport you to your destination in one hour” Bahamat stated in what seem to give off a sad and disappointed vibe. 

I then gave my lord Bahamat a quick bow then left to prepare for my objective. 

“You worry about the boy too much my lord; he will do just fine” Cornelius said trying to put the dragon at ease. 

“I hope your right; then again you have been my advisor for many years now so I don’t doubt your judgment Cornelius” said the dragon in a more positive tone.

I head straight to my room to grab the provisions I will need for the trip. I get some artifacts, potions, rations, and clothing and put in my bag of backpack sized bag of holding, which holds 20 times more than a normal book bag and fits everything with ease.

I then went to say goodbye to my little brother who had a sour attitude, which he normally did every time I left for a mission, since he didn’t like to see me go out and risk my life like I do. I told him “I’ll be back soon” giving him a sincere smile. 

He then went and opened his chest containing all of his prize possessions and came back to me with a glowing jar. “This jar contains a couple of lunarflies, I want you to have it big brother so you can always have light in darkness”.

I gave my brother a hug and said “thank you Ramza, I will treasure them always”. I put the jar in my bag of holding and began to make my way to the library where Cornelius was awaiting me.

Cornelius was drawing out a circle and writing the coordinates to my destination as I entered. I walked up to say hello and the gray angel jumped up a bit in surprise. “You’re a little early” Cornelius said in a surprised voice. 

“Yes, I am eager for my test” I stated in my normal emotionless tone. 

“Well I’m almost done, give me a minute and I’ll be ready” he said in an impressed manner. After a few minutes of waiting the circle was done and began to give a white glow. I stepped in the center of the circle and he started to cast the spell. I could then feel my body being pulled through the circle and felt like I was being stretched a little. Moments later the whole room lit up and I couldn’t see anything, but I could hear a voice tell me something. “Good luck” stated the voice which I knew to be Cornelius.

When the light faded I was in front of a cave that was on the edge of what seemed to be a rotting mountain. I took a few deep breaths and ventured in the cave. It smelled of rotten flesh and throw up. After almost vomiting myself I saw a group of cultists all in black and orange robes circling around a blood covered alter with a glowing orb floating in the middle.

Then without warning a blade cut across my back and I began to bleed profusely. As I turned around to notice the guard in bronze amour and a big steel sword I blacked out. When I came to I noticed everyone around me dead in a pool of blood. The room smelling three times worse than it did when I entered. Some had big gaping holes in their torso, some where decapitated, and some had their limbs torn from their sockets.

I walked around and noticed the orb was shattered, scattered into a thousand pieces.  A few minutes later I notice parts of the ceiling falling down as the cave was on the verge of collapse. 

A gray light then floats in front of me and materializes into Cornelius. “Hold on boy” he shouted as he grabbed my hand and began to glow again. The light grew brighter and brighter till I could no longer see.

Soon after the light began to fade and we were in my lord’s throne room again. I walk a little closer to my king and knell in respect. Cornelius walks behind me and gives me a small round of applause with a big smile on his face. “Excellent work my boy, you have done well in stopping Tyranus from waking up from his slumber. I would say you pass, wouldn’t you agree my lord?” 

“NO” was the only response the dragon god had given. 

Both I and Cornelius both had very shocked faces. “But my lord he did what you asked of him I don’t understand the pro-”. 

“SILENCE” shouted the great dragon interrupting the gray angel’s argument. “Bartho, you may have stopped that cursed beast from rising, but you have also slaughtered the lives of many innocent people, including the prisoners.” 

Finally I decided to speak on my own behalf. “My lord please forgive me, I blacked out an-.”  

“I SAID SILENCE” the god shouted, this time it was so loud I could no longer hear myself talk. “Bartho Balchi, as punishment for your crime of murder and the failure of your ascension trial, I hereby sentence you to exile.” This time he spoke to me in my head. “I hereby strip you of your power and title of crusader and expel you from this realm.” As Bahamat was saying this I felt like my body was being ripped and I was consumed by a burning light. The last thing I saw was a tear running down my lord’s face which was looking down, almost touching the ground.

“Now I’m here” I say finishing my story. “So, how long was I out for?” I asked. 

“Well you were out cold for two days, and you were in a very unstable condition when we found you” answered Luna.

“Ok, this is really bugging me and I want to know, how the hell I can talk to you two. In my realm we don’t have talking unicorns” I asked once again. 

“Well that’s because you a pony yourself” Celestia answered.

“That can’t be right I’m a human, not some little horse” I respond. She then points her horn to a mirror around her size and with her magic floats the mirror to me. I just stare at myself in shock, I’m now a pony with a jet-black coat and mane, my right eye is a pure white while my left eye was a pitch black and i had the yin-yang symbol on both sides of my rump. My irises shrink to the size of fruit flies and I scream at the top of my lungs. ‘AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH”.