The soft thrumming of unearthly ambience filled my senses and soothed my restless spirit as I drifted in a fathomless void that wasn’t exactly empty of anything, much to my confusion. Puzzlement led to remembrance, and I tried to call to mind what it was that I was doing before I ended up wherever I was now, but the fuzzy fragments of memory weren’t arriving at the station properly. All I could piece together was that I had patiently bided my time somewhere else besides my original starting point. I vaguely recalled it being a scenery change brought on by an object of mine that had never appeared out of the ordinary when I had first used it. And then out of the blue it suddenly acted up and dragged me along on an extraordinary trip betwixt worlds. While it definitely satisfied that inner part of me that was enslaved to a yearning of wanderlust, it also irritated that individualistic part of me that insisted that it should have been on my terms.
The rapidly coalescing, splintered memories carried with them several resounding motes of emotions that echoed in my heart like memories on replay. They ranged from triumph, anxiety, uncertainty, but led to an ultimate sense of homesickness that actually felt as though it weighed down on me, despite the lack of gravity in the pseudo vacuum. Almost as soon as they came, the emotions evaporated from my heart and all was made tranquil again, though I couldn’t have been sure if it was due to any action my part, or if there was an outside influence acting on me. A soft breeze from nowhere and everywhere at once washed over me like the calming whisper of a mother, assuring me that all was well and ending my habitual overzealous introspection. The stress from all of the craziness I left behind me was oddly lifted from my shoulders, and the emotional burden that kept my mind harried was subsequently reduced to negligible levels. Sufficiently mollified, I couldn’t help but fall into a dreamless sleep, barely detecting the phantasmagorical happenings around me picking up in activity. Nearly imperceptible and intangible tendrils from the building current enwrapped themselves around my being and ferried me adrift off towards some distant destination for some unknown purpose.
I ‘awoke’ from my dormancy, still floating in that incomprehensible, interminable immensity that stretched beyond all borders, physical or otherwise. Finally, after an interval of inactivity that could have lasted anywhere between an instant and an eternity, it appeared that something was transpiring in the blank expanse that wasn’t quite as blank as it seemed to be. The canvas of faux nothingness sparked into life as my surroundings took on an outline and gradually a form around me, likely animated by the same benevolent power that had lulled me into some much needed rest for my fitful soul. As my feet touched down on a solid surface and my senses returned to their full capacity, I saw in front of me an ornate arch of outstanding craftsmanship erected atop a platform that was itself standing above a massive spire of two toned black and white rock that towered over the encompassing landscape by an unsurpassable degree. However the image wasn’t perfectly distinct and was truthfully rather cloudy, like I wasn’t really there in the flesh and genuine crystal clarity was just out of reach. Though this handicap honestly underscored how breathtaking the view taking shape to the fore of me must have been in real life.
Inexplicably, I instinctively knew (or was feasibly instilled with the knowledge) that this enigmatic structure was named the Heavensgate. The title seemed to befit it, as the arched platform offered any observer that was perched on it an unparalleled view of the supernal, starry Heavens above, as well as the verdant earth below that was blooming with verdure and life. There were exceedingly few things that I had witnessed in my lifetime that equaled the sight that met my eyes now as I stood on the edge of the precipice. This was the kind of view that one would expect eccentric sages would happily exile themselves to (though most would feign resigned acceptance to maintain that overly righteous, abnegating image) for meditation and self reflection on the greater mysteries of existence.
“Nice view, no doubt about it…” I commented to nobody in particular, hardly aware of the wispy quality that my voice had taken on, “Doesn’t explain what I’m doing here though” I said, gazing up at the endless sky in search of answers that were unlikely to come.
As if cued by my vocalization (or perhaps my cynicism), twin lights of disparate nature manifested out of the cosmic curtain before me and sent me reeling back with a forearm raised in front of my face to shield my eyes. The overwhelming glare from the lights eventually died down, as though in response to my discomfort, which allowed me a mostly unfettered look at the latest phenomenon to appear to me. The ivory light concealed a tall, nondescript being clothed in a garb that was nigh indistinguishable from its surrounding brightness, while the other shorter being was shrouded in a mix of milky moonlight and starlight. Even though I had strong suspicions as to who these people were, my uncanny sixth sense for exceptionally powerful auras was not going off, which meant one of two things. It either meant that the figures staring me in the face were merely simulacrums, or that my abilities were being suppressed, which wasn’t likely since I could still feel the magic stirring inside of me like a font of energy, waiting to be used at a moment’s notice.
With my self inspection put aside, I returned to the beings that were all but holograms in name and were gracing me with their presence. One was brilliant and bright as the warmth of the Sun, shining like an inexorable beacon of goodness for all under its care. The other was cool and calm as the caressing touch of the Moon, carrying with it the solemn promise of security and a good night’s sleep. More features concerning these entities revealed themselves to me as I beheld the luminous effigies. At their innermost centers I could only just make out hints of a feminine outline that I would recognize anywhere by this point, thereby confirming my suspicions as to their identities. But this only made my hunger for answers that would shed some light on my reason for being here all the more ravenous.
Breaking into my rumination, I felt a subtle shift in the atmosphere that told me that I was no longer ‘alone’.
“You desire answers? A clarification of what you have been chosen for? You will find it in the distant past” A choir of harmonious voices spoke to me, “Seek them out…” The melodic voices implicitly indicated the figures swathed in heavenly light by dimming all other luminescence around their general outlines, “…and all will become clear in time” The mysterious chorus explained as the radiance given off by the two figures multiplied exponentially in intensity. The light continued to wax until everything in my line of sight went white. I felt that same power from the un-void send me hurdling backwards until I thumped against what felt like mossy earth, simultaneously knocking my ‘lights’ out and putting me back under.
I dreamt of home, like I had on so many occasions before.
⁂
I awoke with a sharp intake of breath as my eyes snapped open. Acting on all but instinct, I sprung from the spongy ground onto my feet Kung Fu style like Bruce Lee and promptly went into a guarded observation mode, with a hand held in close contact with the smooth hilt of my blade in case there was danger nearby. It might seem a bit paranoid of me to an outside observer, but this was my natural reaction whenever I found myself deep into unknown territory, even before my life took a turn for the fantastical. Though… to the extent that unfamiliar locales went, I could have wound up in far less scenic places than where I currently was.
Once I reckoned to myself that the coast was clear, I placed a free hand on my head and shook it, “Strange dream” I murmured, “One that I don’t remember falling asleep for” I was unsure just how much of that dream regarding the archway and the transfigured forms of the Princesses was prophetic, but I still retained a healthy skepticism about more than a few details. There was a chance that the vision was to be taken literally, but I had no way of knowing beyond the shadow of a doubt. That was one quirk I always hated about visions. They were generous on suggestions, and infuriatingly cheap on specifics.
With my mental faculties no longer solely devoted to the cause of self protection, I allowed myself to fully appreciate the scenery of the forest whose bosom I was firmly nestled in.
The bryophyte bed of moss I was previously laying on was only one of many patches that were interspersed along the forest floor, soaking up what scant sunlight managed to pierce through the coniferous canopy above me. Massive trees with trunks of great girth and dark green foliage towered overhead like otherworldly variations of the sequoias that I had seen in my youth. An almost delicious scent of wood wafted past my nostrils and stimulated my sense of smell, likely emanating from a chemical emitted by the bark on the trees that kept them resistant to rot and fire. I was no dendrologist, but I did remember learning that much from my family’s trip to see the redwood forests up north. Save for a few chirping birds nesting in the tree branches without a care in the world, there was no other visible wildlife in my vicinity, which would have been odd, had I not accounted for the fact that my sudden appearance would undoubtedly frighten off any twitchy critters. I didn’t exactly exude Fluttershy’s gentle demeanor based on first glance, which is why I was slightly caught off guard by how tolerant the animals in her direct care were of me. Oft times I wondered if their inherent gentleness rubbed off on her, or if it was the other way around.
I gave myself a once over, checking every article on my person from my clothing, to my accoutrements, and finally my armaments. Satisfied, I gave a curt nod, “Everything seems to be in order. Now to get my bearings” I muttered to myself, before recalling the reason why I needed to do so to begin with.
Deftly drawing out my Tantō, I glowered at it in agitation, noticing that the emblem on the pommel was glowing tellingly, “Damn it, you brigand of a blade! Where have you spirited me away to this time around?” I demanded of the largely inanimate object that I held responsible for the unplanned traversing of worlds that I had been roped into.
As if in mocking reply, the glimmering triangle on the pommel gradually lost brightness until it went out with a flickering sputter, seemingly as though it enjoyed taunting me. If it were living and possessed a tongue, I fancied that it would have blown a cheeky raspberry at me in parting. Realizing that I wasn’t going to be receiving any useful answers from the likes of my weapon, I sheathed the bothersome blade and set off in a random direction to find them for myself. I would have flown out of the forest for a superior vantage point, but I wanted to keep my visibility to a minimum, as I hadn’t ruled out the chance that I was in dangerous lands. For all I knew, I could be snatched up in the fangs of a Dragon the moment I cleared the canopy. So with a priority established on caution, I deigned to exercise the usage of my own two feet and go for a walk in the woods like a normal person.
Along the way, I made numerous more meticulous observations of my environment as I stuck to the winding, naturally forged trail that passed between the trees, stepping over thick roots that protruded many inches above the soil. The air was fairly nippy and each of my breaths departed from my mouth in murky vapors, so wherever I was, it was close to or in the midst of fall or early winter. But that couldn’t have been right, for none of the deciduous tree life I could make out was barren of its leaves or even in the midst of shedding them. With no obvious explanation for this coming to mind, I filed it under my ‘mysteries to be solved for later’ tab. Perhaps the chiefest of my discoveries was that the ambient magic suffusing out of the leylines in the world felt intimately familiar in the essentiality of its ‘vibe’, which was a huge relief, as it meant that I was truly back in Arcania.
I trudged through that ostensibly ceaseless forest for what must have been hours, adding I don’t know how many miles to my personal odometer. Not that my efforts were for naught. The undergrowth beneath my boots progressively changed inch by inch from the lush greenery that was reminiscent to the Sea of Trees I started out with, to brown, loamy pathways that were not adequately trodden to have been expressly reliable signs of society close by, but it was a start. It was early morning when I ventured out to navigate the flattish woodlands, and there wasn’t a thing beyond the scarcely worn forest highway that deviated enough from the norm to catch my evaluative attention.
Based on the directness of the sunlight shining downwards it had to have been near noon now, making it at least six hours of fruitless wandering amongst the underbrush, with only the cheerful tweeting of birds and the rustling of spooked wildlife to keep me company. While I was not deterred by the lack of civilization thus far, I couldn’t help but find it odd how sparsely populated this part of Arcania must have been. Mayhap I was lost in the forests of Vanclover? But how come there weren’t any woodsmen around to harvest such magnificent stocks of trees? It was difficult to say for certain. Surely I would have spotted a cabin or some traces of reclusive wood folk by now. Sans myself, these woodlands were devoid of human life.
Feeling weary and more than a little lazy, I stopped for a break near two smaller trees that were close enough together that the gap amid them would only be the tiniest bit wider than I was tall. Inspired by their proximity and my newfound weariness, I summoned my magic to strip the nearby ferns and bushes of their fronds until I had enough stringy plant fibers to fashion together a homespun hammock that I reinforced with several knots and weaved layers that would support my weight (Not that I was excessively heavy). I nailed it high into the two trees with anchoring stakes that I crudely cut from fallen branches using the ever-sharp edge of my Tantō. I figured that with no one around watching me, it didn’t really matter that I was utilizing both my magic and my wings to get stuff done. Once I was finished with my rudimentary work and successful testing of the hammock’s sturdiness, I settled back for a nice catnap with a drawn out yawn, content to find my way back to civilization sometime later.
I was able to get maybe an hour or two of some shuteye before my acute hearing picked up on distant hoofbeats not a three minutes sprint (at my speed anyhow) away from my elevated position. I cupped my lower lip and employed its angle to direct my breath upwards (a throwback habit from back when I used to wear prescription lenses that would accumulate dust particles over the course of my day) to dislodge some stray pine leaves that had drifted onto my face. I really didn’t want to bother getting up for this right now, since the air felt comfortingly crisp on my skin and the mild, crackling white noise of the trees as they swayed in the wind calmed my bedraggled mind. But I knew that convenient happenings like this wouldn’t just come to me regularly. Subconsciously and illogically flying in the face of the facts I had gathered, I fleetingly feared another repeat of what I would be referring to as the ‘Crystal City Incident’, but the tempo of the gallop was off. It did not take on the brisk rapidity that the short legged ponies were known to me for. Interesting as my time there was, I much preferred the brand of spontaneous strangeness that I had grown accustomed to in Arcania.
Cracking an eyelid open and moaning to myself at the brevity of my nap, I attempted to sit up steadily before the uneven shifting of my weight caused me to embarrassingly roll out of the hammock and plummet towards the ground at an alarming rate. Stifling a loud curse, I flared out my wings to slow my descent to more manageable levels until I made contact with the ground the not painful way. Now completely lucid and with a blisteringly fast pulse pounding inside of my chest, I quickly chastised myself for a sluggish mental processing speed upon waking from a disturbed nap and concentrated on the prospective visitors that were heading my way. I took a few deep breaths along the path to return to an even temperament as I ambled in the direction that the increasing sounds of the hoofbeats were coming from. It was definitely past noon by the time I was jolted out of my sleepiness, but there was a faint fog ahead of me that seemed more fitting to an earlier time of day. It was yet another oddity that I would have to disregard for now, for the hoofbeats (audibly more than one set, now that I could analyze them) were drawing within visual distance.
Dozens of meters off and emerging from the white screen of hazy fog like a rider in the night was a cloaked horseman, no… cloaked horsemen. There was a slightly smaller human shaped bulge protuberating from the main rider’s back, their same colored cloaks blending in seamlessly to create a single mass. It was a facet that was easy to overlook on a first glance, but there isn’t much that eludes me when it gets down to particulars. This indicated to me that there was a concealed passenger who was along for the ride. The raised black hood of the main rider hid the person’s face from me, and his (based on his discernably more rugged bodily structure) passenger was too well covered up by their cloak for likewise scrutiny. Though they were notably listing to the side, making me suspect that they were either asleep or otherwise not amply coherent to right themselves.
Interestingly, the fog bank seemed to be ensuing in the wake of the rider, seemingly manifesting itself out of thin air. The glowing bulb at the end of a smooth, wooden, black walnut staff held in the rider’s free hand hinted to me that he was conjuring it (Which would be a great feat of Stellar Mage magic, as only Valkyrians could ordinarily manipulate the weather with such practiced ease). For whatever reason, the rider felt it necessary to keep both himself and his companion out of sight, which spelled out that there was peril following them to their rears. Whoever this man and his plus one were… they were coming in hot, as if the devil himself was nipping at their heels.
Their steed had clearly seen better days, and was bleeding from multiple arrow wounds that had punctured its flanks and barrel. The damage suffered by the poor, bewildered animal looked recent, and the horse was haltingly being sapped of its ability to gallop, its strength bleeding away just like its crimson lifeblood. Despite the visual obscurity that the magically conjured fog afforded them, I heard a ‘thwip!’ as another arrow soared diagonally out of the mist, finding its mark in the crippled steed’s neck. The already wounded creature uttered a gurgled shriek of pain before collapsing mid gallop in a cloud of dirt and dust, launching the passengers from its bareback saddle and onto the forest floor.
The rising and falling of the horse’s blood streaked barrel became weaker and weaker before it let out a heart-wrenching whimper of a whinny and gave up the ghost. With the man’s spell abruptly disrupted, the mist leisurely broke apart to reveal over a dozen more riders cloaked in grey in pursuit of their hapless quarry. They slowed to a total halt just shy of the downed duo, giving off the impression of a pack of wolves appraising their helpless prey before going in for the kill. Very much aware of the dangerous nature of the situation, I turned side face and observed from behind a tree trunk not far from the lot of them, inhaling and exhaling through my nostrils to reduce the telling vapor signature. Not that these precautions seemed necessary, with how distractedly fixed the belligerents were on the man and his companion.
‘Well, that’s just wonderful. Even when I don’t go looking for trouble… and Lord knows I don’t, trouble somehow finds me anyway’ I momentarily groused before activating my True Sight, intangibly reaching out with it and tagging each of the armed riders that were hunting whoever these individuals were. The spell painted their outlines appropriately; adumbrating them in gray as dangerous hostiles and even allowing me to see them past the solid material of the tree I was using to eclipse myself from being spotted. It was the closest analogy to Eagle Vision I could compare it to, but without the need for precursor DNA in my genes.
A few of their number subconsciously twitched when I affixed a ‘locator’ to their magical signatures, which was a sure sign that there were Stellar Magi in their ranks. They would not be able to diametrically perceive that it was me covertly casting a spell on them, since that would be the equivalent of discerning the origin point of a natural breeze (or an artificially blown one, in regards to my spell) with your eyes blindfolded. This revelation as to their clan type, when paired with everything else I’ve encountered up to this point, only made the abstruseness of my circumstances more convoluted with every passing moment.
Three of the hostile horsemen to the fore of the gathering were carrying crossbows, sitting up proudly on their saddles as they gazed upon their apprehended marks. They were undeniably the ones who so mercilessly bled and slayed the steed conveying the man and his partner. Don’t get me wrong, I do not have a singular soft spot for animals in distress, but it was clear to me from their lethal accuracy earlier that these crossbowmen were simply toying with their soon-to-be victims. That kind of wanton maliciousness absolutely disgusted me, and my desire to see it put to an end burned in my chest, frenetically clawing to get out.
The rest of the company were packing with them an assortment of Kopis style curved swords, one handed axes, truncated Pilum like spears, and one or two that were even unarmed (But by no means disarmed). True Sight couldn’t tell me anything else about their physical characteristics through the cloaks without further scanning, but there wasn’t any time for that. The black cloaked figure they were chasing got to his feet with a groan and visually checked to see if his companion was all right. Whoever they were, they were laying quite still. But they seemed to be alive, if the cloaked man’s relieved reaction was any indication. He then twisted to face his aggressors, staying close to his unconscious companion and hovering over them protectively.
“You’ve made for some enjoyable sport over the previous week, wizard” One of the bellicose horsemen ‘complimented’ his quarry, “But we’ve been made wise to all of your tactics, all of your itinerant habits, and all of your tricks. It’s how we were able to track you down and brush away your attempts to ward us off in Kellian’s Pass. Looks like it’s the end of the road for you… both of you” He gestured to the slumped figure next to the obscured man with a crooked finger. My brow furrowed in thought. I had never read about such a pass mentioned on any of Arcania’s maps.
“Please, you must listen to me! All of you!” The black cloaked man pleaded futilely in a desperate yet still venerable voice that was strained by fatigue, “My quest to find the chosen heroines that will unite our lands and bring peace is of the utmost impor-”
“Shut up” A burly looking horseman who had removed his hood rudely cut him off, “There’s no hope in delaying the inevitable. Our Lord of Chaos will unite these lands under his rule. Not some prophesized wenches cooked up from some decrepit, ancient hags’ fever dreams” His meaty hand gravitated over the weapon resting on his belt in a minatory manner, “We’re here to ensure that your quest reaches its end here and now” He menacingly declared, baring his poorly maintained, rotting teeth.
‘Lord of Chaos? Now who do I know of that fits that description?’ I mused, speculating on the authenticity of the bizarrely dressed bureaucrat’s ‘reformed’ status.
I had heard enough to act on with that one statement. Knowing that the man and his companion’s chances of coming out of this encounter alive were dwelling somewhere in the single digits without some outside assistance, I decided to intervene. Even if it meant putting myself in harm’s way, I had sworn to use my power to protect the virtuous from evil. Presumptuous as it was of me to assume the hunted party’s innocence, they resembled the ‘good guys’ more so than the other people here in their actions. If nothing else, I knew who my enemies were. And… maybe there was the teensiest bit of a hero’s complex having a hand in my choice of playing in the role of a defender.
Drawing the beaked hood of my robes over my head and masking my face in shadow, I stepped out from behind the tree and calmly approached the collective group, “Is there some problem here?” I rhetorically asked, splitting the armed men’s attention off the wizard and placing it on me.
The cornered man received my appearance with mild panic, “Are you mad, boy!?” Were the wizard’s first, wobbly words to me, “This matter does not concern you! Run, before you go and get yourself killed!” He directed in an authoritative tone that was clearly cultivated from instructing on a regular basis.
In spite of the wizard’s warning, the men on horseback had other plans for dealing with me.
“Cross wants no witnesses” The presumable leader of the group spoke up with his gravelly voice, lazily taking notice of my presence and thoroughly dismissing the true threat that I represented to his gang, “Dispose of this interloper as well as the wizard’s bitch, but bring the crafty man in alive and as… unspoiled as possible. Our Herald of Chaos desires to catch up on old times with his aged mentor himself” He bid his subordinates with a wave of his moleskin gloved hand. I sent a dry look the wizard’s way (not that he could see it beyond the hood) as a way of saying ‘Looks like it’s my business now’.
“You heard the boss! No loose ends!” Announced a lieutenant as the men drew their weapons in affirmation. The ones carrying close combat weapons dismounted from their steeds, likely to make good on taking whoever the ‘old man’ was in alive. Concurrently, the mounted crossbowmen rose their primitive looking, pull lever action weapons and took aim at me.
The man they hunted regarded me with resentful acceptance, “Do you know how to fight!?” The exhausted old man questioned me, sounding like he considered me another person he would have to look out for. In his defense, he struck me as being legitimately worried for my sake, designating him as a true friendly in my book.
“Were things about to get ugly for you?” I questioned in return, to which he nodded begrudgingly, “Then they are about to get significantly less ugly” I grinned at him, flourishing the hilt of my Mage-blade and causing his exhausted eyes to widen in surprise as the fragments assembled themselves from out of my robe tassels before affixing themselves to the hilt.
The shock made for less of a stunning impression on our mutual enemies however, and the crossbowmen promptly let fly. With lightning fast reflexes honed from hours of practicing for scenarios like these, I used the flat of my blade to deflect the projectiles away from myself with a trio of outward pushing motions. It wasn’t as elegantly done as if I was a practitioner of Form Three Soresu, but my primitive attempt to emulate the style was sufficient enough. Taking me more seriously, the leader made an aggressive signal with his hand and pointed it at me. A modest number of his troop dismounted and charged towards me with their weapons brandished.
An axe wielder actually hurled his weapon at me like a tomahawk before any of his fellow thugs could close the gap separating us. I tossed my Mage-blade into the air and pulled what I called a Malthael on him, redirecting the force of the projectile by inserting my hand between the beard of the blade and the shaft, spinning with the weapon to impart some extra centrifugal force on it, and forwarding it back to the thrower’s direction where it landed with a wet splattering noise. I deftly caught my Mage-blade in my left hand as my defeated opponent sank to his knees and keeled over, his own weapon buried deep into his chest.
My training sessions with the shadow puppets were extensive to the degree that I had been prepared for most incursion scenarios, I even got creative with some countering techniques, like I had just shown. I hardly even registered the fact that I had killed once again, not really perceiving my enemies as men, but fleshy forms of the same shadow puppets I had crossed blades with on countless occasions. My audience wasn’t as amused at my display of skill though, and I was soon enveloped in a live fire test of how many weapons I could parry at once. Fending them off was effortless for me, since my instincts were developed to be all but second nature as I parried, exercised some footwork to prevent the need to fight on two fronts, and repeated.
One of the biggest advantages to using True Sight was that people I had tagged did not have to be in my line of sight in order for me to be aware of their position in space relative to myself. In demonstration, I blocked a sword swing from behind me without even batting an eye at the perpetrator. Thrusting out an uninhibited kick to my rear like a donkey, I shattered the man’s knee and sent him falling back onto the earth with a throaty cry of pain. A sideways somersault coupled with a midair dip of the tip of my blade into his heart put him out of the fight for good. Their second casualty sustained before even a minute had elapsed, the medieval era dressed highwaymen were beginning to realize that I was no ordinary passerby. The leader on horseback barked out some additional orders and sent the rest of his cronies to take me down.
The next man to reach me swung vertically and I moved to block his axe by the iron encased haft. His strike had ample power behind it to budge me from my flexibly firm stance, which told me that he must have possessed the strength of an Agrarian. A hidden blade to his exposed heart coupled with a Spartan kick to his groin proved plenty lethal for him to kindly get out of my way so I could greet his buddies in a similar manner. The next idiot to try his luck found it wanting as I locked blades with him, used his own momentum against him, and pulled back as I let him fall onto my sword. I would have made a joke about his brutish behavior being his own downfall, but I doubted the others would see the humor in it. I dislodged my sword and rolled away just as another axe user created a slit in the earthen floor where my head was only milliseconds prior. I hacked at his vulnerable left leg and lopped it off just under the kneecap, sending him tumbling down to meet my hidden blade in the side of his throat. I was rapidly thinning their numbers, but there were yet scads of them left for me to kill.
The fighting prowess of these apparently Arcanian men was nothing special in my eyes, maybe equivalent to lower mid level settings whenever I practiced with Smoky’s semisolid illusions. They employed elementary maneuvers, had poor coordination, and resorted to generic attacks patterns when I repeatedly thwarted them. All of which were a sign that these enemies were not battle hardened, and therefore could not cope with foes that could repulse them through force of arms, let alone versus a Trifect like myself. A parry followed up with a staggering strike to a vital area was usually sufficient to debilitate them, and two or three would tear the leather armor enshrouded underneath their cloaks asunder and kill them. Many times I would swing forcefully enough to cleave men in twain outright, which had something of a fear inducing effect on their friends, making it easier to predict their disorderly, scattered movements and dance around them while imprinting bloody messages in their backsides.
The initially confident expressions on their faces fell as their once imposing numbers were thinned one by one. I vaguely heard one of them mutter that I fought like a demon unchained from Tartarus, which I found to be somewhat cute, at least before I exploited an opening in his defenses and beheaded him with a diagonal slash. A nimble spearman who had managed to outlast most of his friends vainly thrust his weapon at my midsection several times before swinging at me horizontally, wildly hoping to catch me unawares and knock me down. I corrected his faulty rationale by stopping his weapon by the shaft with a free hand and breaking it in two with a chop of Dichotomy. I pivoted with the sharpened half of the broken weapon in hand and jammed it thoroughly between my opponent’s ribs, putting him down like I had done to so many of his fallen comrades.
The crossbowmen had reloaded their clunky weapons and were zeroing in on me again, so I smashed through the guard of that stout fellow with the rotten teeth from earlier and stunned him with an upward pommel strike to his chin before grabbing him, forcibly rotating his bulk in their direction as they loosed their payloads, and using his generous mass as a meat shield for the crossbolts coming my way. The crossbowmen that were still perched atop their horses must have been especially heartless, since they didn’t even care that they had just turned their compatriot into a human pincushion. Instead they busied themselves with another reload while nervously cocking their bowstrings back with some kind of hand operated cranking device. I punished them by shattering my Mage-blade and sending a wave of its fragments speeding towards them like a shotgun’s flechette round, introducing multiple new breathing holes for them to enjoy as they limply slid off of their oddly unfrightened steeds. The animals must have been very well trained, as all of this bloodshed hardly seemed to affect them.
I spared a glance at the wizard to see how he was holding up. The staff wielding man was no longer cloaked from head to toe (‘He can’t be wearing what I think he’s wearing, can he?’) and was doing his best to trade magical blasts with the duo of unarmed belligerents I saw earlier, who were counteracting his spells with the same ease that he was counteracting theirs. Unfortunately, the volume of fire he was receiving was minutely lopsided in the enemy’s favor, and he was being beaten back by moderate degrees. Further jeopardizing his perpetually precarious position, he sacrificed his own safety to throw up barrier spells around his female companion to ward her against the relentless barrage aimed at taking her out. I remedied this by reassembling my Mage-blade and making a mad dash towards his attackers.
The warlocks noticed my approach and were forced to divide their fire, not that I couldn’t block any of the malignant magic missiles coming my way with the ever useful magic nullifying edge of my trusty weapon. One of the wizard’s retaliatory stunning blasts struck the auspiciously preoccupied man I was charging at and he fell to one knee, struggling to rise up and defend himself against me. His hands wavered as he endeavored to collect his wits to cast one final, vengeful spell towards the wizard’s prone companion, a scenario I could not allow. I solemnly verged upon him like the Grim Reaper itself, where I positioned Dichotomy against where the Adam’s apple of his neck would be in an almost delicate fashion.
A faint, emotionally charged period of hesitation passed before I roughly yanked his head against the everlastingly whetted edge in a coup de grâce, cutting deep enough to sever his carotid arteries and water the earth with his blood. He slumped to his side and unsuccessfully tried to stem the blood loss with his palm as he peered up at me, his hood peeling in recession to reveal his wrinkled face. It was a face that would not be unsuitable for that of a venerated Stellar Mage grandfather, not like the featureless apparitions that I dueled with on the training grounds and was equating these men to. I stared into his fearful eyes as the life faded out of them with every beat of his heart, before it ceased altogether. I felt nothing at the poignant, abrupt ending of his life. No regrets, no vacillation over choosing a more peaceful solution, not even angst about what I had become without my ken.
Not a damned thing.
‘My God… what is wrong with me?’ I brooded, wondering just how inhuman my absence of compassion made me. I always knew that I had sociopathic tendencies, but this opened my eyes to how far gone I was.
One of the other mages got in a cheap shot while I was turning in place, striking me in the shoulder with a magical blast that stung like the dickens and made my muscles there twitch (think white hot needles from the nematocysts of a jellyfish’s sting for comparison), but did not impose any physical damage from what I could tell. Thanks to Twilight’s propensity for using a sundry assortment of various, usually harmless spells on her friends for both testing and teasing purposes (this included me, somewhat to my chagrin), I had determined that I had a passive resistance to all foreign spells that were cast on me without consent, though that didn’t guarantee that they wouldn’t cause me pain if they were intended to harm. I figured that the mage hit me with a stunning spell that was meant for the wizard in his sheer desperation to bring me down. My inmost turmoil forgotten, I glared balefully at the offending Stellar Mage and encompassed him in my magic with an outstretched hand. He tried to rebuff my intangible influence with his own magic, but it was no more to me than the flailing of a salmon trapped in a bear’s securely locked maw. My magic tightened around his neck like a noose as I slowly strangled the life out of him.
His pathetic coughing and sputtering sounds unexpectedly garnered the wizard’s mercy, and he laid a hand on my shoulder as he stood beside me, “Don’t give into such reckless hate” He begged in a supplicating tone, “Permit him a swift, painless end. Please” He appealed to me, petitioning clemency for a man who was attacking him not ten seconds past.
“Fine” I agreed, channeling my inner Darth and clenching my hand into a fist, snapping his neck and granting him an all expense paid trip to whatever afterlife awaited him. The visible wince from the wizard as I did so hinted to me that he was not accustomed to such senseless violence.
“We have other pressing matters on our hands, at any rate. There’s still one more of them left to deal with, in case you didn’t notice” I pointed out to my hat donning, undeclared ally.
Speaking of whom, the lonesome leader was already beginning to gallop towards us on horseback, clamping his curved sword in a white knuckle grip and sporting a mien of shocked outrage and disbelief in his yellow eyes that betrayed his apprehension at how his comrades were so handily dispatched, as if they were merely chaff to be blown away in the afternoon breeze. I pulled out my Tantō with my right hand after switching Dichotomy to my left in response to the rabid rush. I don’t know what possessed me to do it, but I kissed the flat of the shorter blade before I sent it magically sailing deep into his steed’s skull, piercing its brain and killing it instantly. The slain creature tumbled down appropriately and the leader of the gang was cast at my feet in a heap.
Before he could scramble onto his feet and try anything stupid, I gave his sword wielding appendage an expeditious kick for good measure, disarming him and probably fracturing a few bones in his hand while I was at it. The now familiar wizard held out his staff to obstruct me before I could reasonably follow up on ensuring his demise. Satisfied that I was holding myself in check, he crouched down to the defeated man’s level and conversed with him.
“There’s no need for you to join your men in the shadow-lands” The wizard said simply, “Go back to your master and tell him to call off the hunt. I won’t be as forgiving the next time he attempts to subvert my aspirations to see our despondent people united under a harmonious reign” He evenly stated his terms as he bopped the cerulean haired man on the head with his lambent staff, making it clear that he meant every word.
The fuming leader grit his teeth and snarled at us, “I spit on your mercy, wizard! Cross will have your head for this, all of your heads!” He spitefully vowed before getting to his feet and running off to mount a fresh horse that one of his associates no longer had any use for. With a last venomous glare at us (myself to be specific), he beat a hasty retreat, disappearing into the leftover fog that had lingered from the wizard’s nifty spell. My True Sight ‘locater tag’ on him was active for a handful of meters before shorting out, lastly notifying me that he was heading northbound.
I watched him leave with a conflicted contortion on my face, privately knowing that he would represent a problem in the future. I wanted to do the same to that bastard as he tried to do to me to mitigate the premonition churning in my gut, but my tense body language was easily read, and a warning glance from the wizard told me to leave him in peace. Not wanting to get on anyone’s bad side before I could get a head start on wherever I needed to go, I regretfully obliged. I pacified myself with the fact that I could always kill him later if he was unwise enough to show his recognizable face to me again.
That didn’t mean I wasn’t going to chew the wizard out though, “Why did you let him go?” I queried with a frown as I retrieved my Tantō from the recently departed equine’s skull, mouthing a wordless apology for having to take its life, “Don’t you know that he’ll only report back to his bloodthirsty boss, be killed for his failure, or be sent back out with even more men? Either way… your mercy is going to come back to bite you in the ass” I criticized while wiping the bloodied blade on the coat of the dead creature and putting it away when it was clean. After that was done, I broke apart and sheathed the blade fragments of Dichotomy into the specially sewn pockets of my robe tassels where they came from and hooked the hilt for it onto my belt.
The wizard coolly dismissed my cynicism, “There are other alternatives to fighting, young man. Therewithal… if he does return looking for us, I’ll be well aware of it. As well as of his origin” His staff briefly glowed in emphasis and I finally understood what he did to him when he touched him with it.
“A tracking spell?” Despite my efforts, a grin appeared unbidden on my lips, “I must hand it to you, old man. You’re not as naïve as I thought”
“And you are a mite more observant than half of the students I’ve trained in the past ten years” The man replied in good humor, “You have my gratitude for appearing when you did. As you could likely tell, Tough Cookie and I were in a bit of a bind before you came along. Though it was very foolhardy of you to so recklessly endanger yourself for the sake of a stranger and his traveling companion” He lightly lambasted me, albeit the indebted expression on his face was an obvious tell that my help was all but a godsend to him.
“I have a weakness for aiding those in need, and the world could do with less of their kind to plague society” I unabashedly admitted with a shrug, apathetically referencing the deceased thugs whose bodies were beginning to cool, “You’re lucky I was around when you two ran into trouble. These brigands weren’t highly trained by my standards, but they weren’t pushovers either. Your companion could have been killed, and a worse fate would have awaited you in the grips of their grimy hands” I halfheartedly bragged while multitasking by sifting through the belongings of the dead men littered about the ground. Video games had the practical concept of looting the corpses of those I’ve killed automatically drilled into me by now.
“I’ve no doubt about that. You cut them all down as though they were no more than young saplings” The wizard observed with awe and a faint trace of cautious fear in his voice, “Your alacrity with a blade is astounding! I would deem it almost unfair to fight against an opponent of your caliber one on one”
“Quick tip for you, old man” I commented as I rummaged through some more possessions and collected what I deemed useful, “If you ever find yourself in a fair fight… it’s because you did something foolishly honorable, or because something has gone terribly wrong. Both are resultant of your own mistakes and faulty foresight” I wittily quipped, though it held a grain of truth to me.
“An interesting, if not sardonic viewpoint” The wizard considered, “But while I express allayment at your expedient interference, I find your unbridled ferocity in combat to be rather unsettling” He glanced about at the carnage, particularly shying his eyes away from the bisected bodies of the men I had carved a bloody swath through.
“In a kill or be killed situation, I find it best to kill with extreme prejudice. It sends a resounding message that I am not to be trifled with. Though I doubt the man you just spared will be all that honest with what he saw in his report” I replied, scoring a medium sized tanned leather purse filled with thick coins that had square punched holes in the center. I added it next to my munny pouch since the local currency could possibly come in handy later, “Besides, it’s nothing that my conscious can’t handle at this point in time” I facetiously mentioned, my jadedness returning to the forefront of my mind.
He clutched his staff in both hands and leaned against it, “Then I worry for you… my newly made acquaintance. But I shall not judge you beyond that, thanks to the selflessness you have displayed this day” He shook his head, the bells of varying composition on the edge of his hat jingling with the motion.
Meanwhile I had scrounged up what little I could find, feeling a slight sense of bitterness that there were no scrolls or documents of sorts on any of the bodies that could tell me who attacked us or what their endgame was. With that stewing in the backroom of my mind, I stood up straight and gave the wizard my full attention. He backpedaled marginally as he beheld me; my towering height made apparent to him not that our lives weren’t presently on the line. As a prudent afterthought, I decreased the obscurity that my semi enchanted hood lent my countenance, so that I would not appear as some shadowy specter in robes that had a sinister aura about him, but without revealing that I could cast magic without a focal gem.
“Your name is Starswirl, I presume” I faked having an inkling to his identity, though I knew this legendary historical figure more than I let on to the man himself.
The legendary wizard who was destined to mentor Celestia and Luna and groom them for actualizing their full potential was more or less exactly as I figured he’d be, with some negligible differences. His beard wasn’t the same pristine white that I had espied in numerous portraits of him back in Concordia’s Castle hallways, but there were small telltale strips of silver strands in his greyish beard that informed me that he was gradually getting to that stage of senescence (Though both Celestia and Luna maintained to me that he only got more powerful with age, in mental acumen and arcane might). I’d estimate his years to be in the late forties to early fifties. He had an analytical face that was in the early phases of wrinkling, though his laugh lines were a prominent feature that indicated that he enjoyed seeing the brighter things in life. There was a spark in his eyes that was difficult to pin down, but it articulated about an inner integrity that was not afraid of doing the right thing.
His iconic wizard’s hat lacked a few of the pattern embellishments that Twilight’s prized replica exhibited and even displayed original designs, such as the disparate bell metals and a swirling pattern of stars on the topmost and bottommost portion of the brim. This meant that his current hat was a precursor to a latter one, or that certain specificities were lost to time (In Twilight’s defense, it was pretty much almost exactly alike).
While he did not possess an impressive stature, there was something about the masterful bearing of this man that engendered respect and deferential admiration, even when he was laden with enervation. Of course, my impression of him might have been tainted by reading about his many exploits in the history books coupled with the reverential way that Twilight spoke of him as one of her foundational role figures. On his forehead was the most curiously shaped focal gem I had ever seen, with it taking on the form of an argent spiral galaxy. On an unrelated note… he reminded me of a carbon copy of Gandalf (or Olórin, if you want to get feisty about pertinent correctness), and I just couldn’t shake the resemblance no matter how hard I tried. There was some Dumbledore thrown in too, if one counted his aversion to using lethal force to achieve one’s ends.
His brow furrowed as he regarded me with hidden shock, “How did you deduce my identity so quickly?”
I flicked a finger in the direction of his head, “That bell strung, pointy hat is a dead giveaway” I dryly indicated, “That… and you just confirmed it for me anyhow”
I saw him fluster as he pulled the brim of his hat over his eyes, “Erhmm…” He cleared his throat in embarrassment, “Well then, who are you? And why did you aid Tough Cookie and myself? Beyond your noble notion of altruism, that is?” He dubiously expressed, as if he suspected me of fostering an ulterior reason for me being there.
“Would you believe me if I told you that I was simply a roving traveler, and that our meeting was most likely just a coincidence?” I posed innocently.
His eyes narrowed, “Hrmmf! I do not place much stock in random coincidences, especially these days. But since you’ve aided us in our hour of need, I’ll trust that you mean us no harm” He said with a forbearing harrumph, “Fine. You can keep the reason for your fortuitous presence here to yourself, but may I at least have the privilege of knowing your name, since you overtly know mine?” He politely requested.
“Call me Zenith. Arbitrary Adventurer Extraordinaire!” I borrowed a line from Daring’s book, extending my arms outward like an overly proud peacock
He scoffed at my hammy self flaunting, “Adventures are not what they once were, though I admit that I am on a quest myself” He laid a hand against his chest.
“So I’ve heard. What is your objective specifically?” I inquired out of sincere interest.
“You ask some dangerous questions for one who claims that ours is a chance meeting” He swerved from the subject, his observing eyes scanning me for telltale signs of duplicity.
“I’m an inquisitive guy” I shrugged unapologetically, “And I never directly claimed that I believed random chance dictated the terms of our tumultuous first meeting, now did I?” I smirked at him.
“Hmmf!” He huffed again, shaking off his tattered (likely damaged in the spell-fire exchange) black cloak, with dark blue robes transferring in their place, “You remind me of one of my more headstrong apprentices now serving in the Royal Court of the Stellarian Kingdom. Clover always did have an inclination to firing off droll comebacks” He grumbled crankily.
“I’ll take that as a compliment?” I demurred, not strictly knowing what he meant by that. It was then that I noticed a crimson stain on his right sleeve and other parts of his garments, “Are you hurt? There’s blood on you” I gestured to the reddish flecks soiling his robes.
Starswirl glanced back at his companion in dismay, “It’s not my blood” He confuted gravely, before making his way to their side.
He pulled back the hood on his companion’s cloak to reveal an auburn haired woman with freckles bestrewn over her elevated, rosy cheeks. She bit down a hiss of unease as Starswirl sat her up beside the dead carcass of their deceased steed, which permitted me an optimal perspective to scrutinize her physique more in depth. Her robust, steel cable like musculature and the glaringly obvious lack of a focal gem on her noggin made the conjecture that she was an Agrarian a safe bet. She had a delicate face, with high cheekbones, organically pouty lips, and an abnormally pale complexion (Though that last feature didn’t look to be naturally occurring). Even though they were a dime a dozen to me at this point, she would be considered a looker in most people’s books none the less, minus the nigh albino like lactescent quality of her skin.
“Your Tough Cookie is a woman? Starswirl, you absolute rogue” I complimented in a coy tone, teasing the old man for his exquisite taste in traveling partners.
He was not in the mood for it, “We have not the time for casual banter, my wiseacre of a savior. I’ve sealed most of Cookie’s external injuries, but she had sustained an arrow wound in her right arm from one of those reprehensible crossbowmen laying in wait for us at the last hamlet we were passing through. She needs the ministrations of a real healer, one who knows his medical craft” He animatedly advocated. I couldn’t see the wounded area with her heavy cloak in the way, but I had faith that Starswirl’s healing magic did the trick of stemming blood loss.
He pointed in the beeline that the two of them were making before their unfortunate assailment, “There should be another town four leagues from here, if my studies of one of the more recent Valkyrian maps were precise. I did not particularly enjoy the lengths I had to go through to obtain one such map, but the Skyborn’s bird’s eye view make them excellent cartographers” He acknowledged without concession. It wasn’t surprising that the wizard had a more tolerant view of a contending clan and saw their expertise.
“Not out of the woods yet, as it were?” I rhetorically questioned, unable to resist inserting that piece of wry wit into the conversation.
He nodded, “Indeed” He agreed, before turning to his companion, who had awakened some time during our discourse, “Can you still ride, my dearest friend?” He gingerly asked in a kind voice.
“Shucks. Don’cha worry about me none, ol’ man” Tough Cookie replied with a warm smile, though I could tell that she was suppressing a pained wince, “Ah didn’t lose too much blood in that last scuffle, and I gave as good as ah got. I reckon ah can hold on a mite longer. Fraid mah writin’ arm is gonna be useless to ya though” She weakly chuckled to make light of her situation, somehow injecting some mirth into it despite the moderate severity of her injury.
‘Goodness, it’s like Applejack dyed her hair and put on a few pounds’ I physically compared the two. Not that this woman was fat, just shapely.
He shook his head forgivingly, ringing the bells of his hat softly, “Your health takes precedence over the chronicling of my travels, Tough Cookie” He told her reassuringly, before his head twisted slightly in my direction, “And I do believe that I can convince our new friend here to lend this ‘old man’ some of his time. You will be compensated for it, of course” He declared resolutely with a sidelong glimpse at me.
“I don’t have need of nor do I want your coin, Starswirl, notably so after harvesting the copious amount of currency that our ‘mutual friends’ provided us with” I callously gestured with a thumb back to the cooling corpses that would be worm food before long, “I have nothing to otherwise occupy my time, so I figure that aiding you in whatever you’re searching for won’t be going out of my way. If I can be of assistance in any way on this valiant quest of yours, then you shall have my sword” I pledged to him with a courteous bow, racking up some chivalry points.
“How unexpectedly noble you continue to be” He repeated with his brow furrowed in rumination, “It’s certainly the first time I’ve seen a broken sword be used so effectively in combat before” He remarked with a morbid sense of comicality.
I grinned at him, “It certainly won’t be the last, given what’s hunting you. Still, I’m confident that our mutual chances of survival are quite high with us united rather than divided” I predicted optimistically, in stark contrast to my usual pessimism.
He let out a long suffering sigh, “If only those people in positions of authority shared your opinion and stopped squabbling amongst themselves like ornery children” He bemoaned.
“Don’t you fret at ‘tall, Starswirl. My sis’ will see to it that she serves alongside a competent leader for a change, one that will support our dream of unity betwixt the clans” Tough Cookie comforted him verbally, before unleashing a hacking cough that did not sound healthy at all.
Starswirl fretted regardless, though not over politics, “Why do we linger here discussing statecraft!?” He demanded aloud, “Each moment lost imperils Tough Cookie’s somatic condition!” He exclaimed, demonstrating his erudite vocabulary.
I examined her in the blink of an eye (which was clandestinely a low tier diagnostic spell augmenting my vision), “Her flesh is ghastly pallid, her muscles are losing vigor, and her body temperature is decreasing. She’s been poisoned… likely by one of those arrow tips you said she took” I noted with equal concern saturating my tone.
“All the more reason for us to depart immediately!” Starswirl shouted, “Get her onto a horse and convey her safely to the town. I will ride ahead and alert them to our predicament so they can prepare a place to treat her” He explained, walking speedily towards a master-less mare. I was honored that he trusted me with the life of his companion, but also nervous about carrying her there before whatever taint the poison afflicted her with ate away her remaining vitality.
“Wait up! I don’t know where this town is!” I called out after him. My internal compass was too useless for me to rely on to deliver Tough Cookie to safety by myself.
“Just follow the silver stream!” He exclaimed back to me, mounting one of the loitering horses and uttering something to it that made it dart away as if its tail had been set on fire. His staff flashed once and a glittering trail of silver sparkles was left in his wake. I wanted to laugh at the absurdity of it, but this was hardly an occasion for joking.
I leaned down to scoop up Tough Cookie, who mumbled something I couldn’t audibly hear half deliriously as I carried her bridal style to the closest horse to us. The aforementioned animal being a midnight black stallion whose coat had a bright, well groomed sheen. With a gentle heave, I tenderly lifted her onto the saddle and pushed at her backside to orient her so she would be upright. Thankfully she retained the lucidity necessary to not instantaneously fall off the horse and render my efforts in vain. Even though we couldn’t afford to dawdle, I found myself dithering as I debated in my head how I would accomplish this.
“Sumthin the matter, sugarcube?” Crooned Tough Cookie’s enervated voice, the woman lazily twisting her head at me in question at the holdup.
“What did you just sa-” I balked at the prominently familiar term of endearment, before getting my rear in gear, “Never you mind. It’s nothing, except that I’ve never ridden a horse before” I confessed to her.
‘Must be a common Agrarian sobriquet’ I thought in the meantime. The only other explanation was one that she was Applejack’s distant ancestor or something… and that would be too uncanny.
She guffawed merrily, much to my chagrin, only for it to be cut off by another cough, “A-a h-handsome feller who dresses like you do? Never having ridden a horse in his life? You give snobby, high born Stellar Mages a bad name” She poked fun at me, provoking me to roll my eyes at her playfulness. Laughter may have been the best medicine, but I wasn’t under the impression that it had anti-poison properties. I was then hit with a terrible presentiment.
‘Egad… what if she’s Pinkie Pie’s ancestor too?’ I recalled the loftily spirited baker once making mention of a possible blood relation that the rooted Pie and Apple families shared, but I just couldn’t see its plausibility. This girl however… was dangerously close to getting me to review that likelihood.
I brought myself out of it, “There’s more to me than meets the eye, Miss Tough Cookie” I replied, “Leave the presumptive wisecracks to your sister” I murmured that part under my breath, putting one foot in the stirrup and hauling myself up so I could drape my other leg over the horse’s barrel. I surrounded the succumbing woman in my arms, who settled back with an exhausted exhalation as I took the reins in my hands.
Testing my primitive linguistic affinity with animals once again, I spoke to the creature, “What are you called, horse? I get the feeling that we’ll be spending a fair amount of time together, so you better have a moniker that will stick to you like glue”
The ears of the Arabian (I had no idea what they were called here) perked up in surprise before he nickered something that somehow translated into my brain as a name.
“Your name is Night Wind, huh? Very well… then show me how you earned your name, Night Wind” I instructed in a tone that brooked no contention, “Hyah!” The horse whinnied at my beckoning, reared back marginally, and set off in a blazing quick gallop, eager to please his new owner. I figured that the other horses would be okay on their own. They seemed smart enough to stay in a herd and find their way back to morally superior people who would be their caretakers.
My first experience of riding a horse was… bumpy, to say the least. The plush padding in the saddle’s seat and the smooth material in my leggings sheltered me from chafing, but the sensation of bouncing up and down with every gait was somewhat jarring for me and my goodies. I wanted to rise in the stirrups so that the natural suspension in my bending knees would act as shock absorbers, but Tough Cookie’s frame kind of prevented me from doing that (Not that she was pudgy!). Speaking of whom, the woman was sitting limply in my embrace, struggling to stay awake. She was languidly surrendering the energy to hold herself rigid and was incrementally sinking back into my breast with the passing of each minute.
‘She’s fading fast’ I thought with distress, before coming up with a workable solution to ward her against falling into a sleep from which she would not awaken, “Hey. Try and stay conscious for me, alright Tough Cookie?” I urged her with a shake, “Tell me more about yourself, or about your family. I’d like to hear about that” I asked her, shouting over the gusting air from Night Wind’s brisk pace.
“Erhmmm…” She moaned out a yawn, “What is there ta say ‘bout me? I’m jus’ a farmer turned amateur chronicler livin’ in the shadow of her big sister, is all” She meekly degraded herself, consciously or subconsciously snuggling herself into my chest for a sense of security. Her voice was subdued to being barely above a whisper, but my acute Valkyrian senses accounted for that.
I kept my discomfort at her inordinately intimate contact a secret, “Don’t be so modest Tough Cookie. I imagine that being the chronicler to the great wizard Starswirl is a feat that only a privileged few can lay claim to” I attempted to cheer her up, with the duel motive of distracting myself from the chocolaty scent of her hair drifting into my nose.
“Jus’ how ignorant are ya of the contention between our clans, again?” She remarked disbelievingly, “If mah folks back home heard ‘bout me gallivantin’ around with Stellaria’s most controversial mage, I’d be ousted from the homestead!” She exclaimed, before being racked with another series of coughs.
“Try not to overexert yourself, Cookie” I squeezed her a little with the crooks of my arms, rethinking my decision to get her conversing with me, “We’re making good time to that town Starswirl talked about thanks to Night Wind here, where you’ll be fixed up like new” I assured her.
“Awful sweet of ya to care, sugarcube. Given how you and I jus’ met an’ all” She said before yawning, “If’n ya don’t mind, I’m gonna close mah eyes for a spell now” Before I could open my mouth and protest to that, I could sense that she was already under the influence of sleep.
Muttering a suppressed curse, I spoke to Night Wind, “I know that we aren’t fully acquainted yet, but can you hoof it any faster? I fear for this woman’s life!” I pleaded with our galloping ride. Ugh… I still had some leftover pun in me from the Crystal City Incident.
Night Wind snorted through his nostrils and complied, increasing our pace to a degree that was right under what had to be a full blown sprint for him. The shrill rush of air flowing into my ears became a screaming whistle as we rocketed towards our rendezvous location with Starswirl.
I followed that glittering stream of particles just as Starswirl instructed me to do. The wavering grains of silvery light were intangible, so Night Wind passed right through them as I steered him where we needed to go. I liked the resilient animal himself so far. He was going as fast as he could while wisely maintaining his endurance so he that would not burn himself out before we had arrived in time to save Cookie. I made an offhand mental note to get him a nice treat as a token of thanks for his efforts. Starswirl must have made a similar request of the steed transporting him, as I couldn’t see hide nor hair of him despite Night Wind’s quickened strides.
Within a quarter of an hour, the thick tree line melted away to reveal an average sized settlement in the distance, housing maybe eight hundred to a thousand people at maximum capacity. The lands surrounding the village were moderately flat, so determining the makeup of the landscape was nigh impossible without taking to the sky to see it from above; an option that was currently unavailable to me. The only land markers that were of interest were the snow capped mountains in the background only scant leagues afar.
Magiville must have been a town that honored the traditions of the past, because the stone buildings here also incorporated its signature thatch weaving into their roofs. Chimneys belched smoke as stoves or other forms of combustion devices devoured chopped logs that were doubtlessly supplied by the forest behind me to act as internal heating and cooking for the very much medieval style town. From this range, the town’s activity was in mid swing, with drab looking villagers going about their duties and bringing crops hauled on shoddy carts in from the fields to the west of the settlement. This was confusing, since a typical harvest season for the lentils, peas, oats, and barley they were collecting normally took place in the spring months.
The light drizzle-mist falling from the clouds did nothing to aid my befuddlement. What was up with the wacky weather here? It was a shame that there were no Valkyrians present to straighten things out in that department. I wondered if clan political tensions really were as sorry as Cookie implied them to be. It could… complicate my sojourn here. I tightened my grip on the reins and tugged back on them gingerly to get Night Wind to decelerate, ushering us into the town without arousing undue attention.
I would celebrate Starswirl’s fortunate success on finding the town where Cookie could be treated, but that would have been hasty of me. We were literally out of the woods now, but that still left the metaphorical interpretation for Cookie’s state of health ambiguous. I didn’t know her personally, but she seemed like an amiable gal, and I would hate to see her die simply because one of those scumbags managed to get a lucky shot on her. Secretly, I prayed that she was AJ’s or Pinkie’s ancestor or the forbear of both, since that would almost guarantee her odds of living a long and fruitful life. Then again… what if my presence here meant that history was malleable? I had no idea how my trip to a bygone era was even possible, as Twilight had explained to me that time travel spells were not only high tier, they were (ironically) only temporary. But here I was, and sufficient time had elapsed that if this was the feat of a time travel spell, it would have set some serious records that the bookworm would fawn over.
The magical waypoint dissipated just as we made our entrance into the outskirts of the village, passing by a few residents who glanced at us in curiosity and some guarded suspicion as to who we were and the nature of our business there. This was an overwhelmingly Agrarian settlement, as not one of the poorly dressed villagers (most of whom wore thick woolen cloaks of brownish coloration to fend off the chill) displayed telling focal gems on their foreheads, nor did I see any Skyborn patrolling the air and tending to the weather, which was heavily overcast. The mood of the town was kind of dreary to be honest, with the absence of sunlight giving one a hopeless sensation of destitution and hardship. I spotted the horse that Starswirl used to get here hitched to a post next to a two story building. Hanging over the doorway was a wooden sign that depicted an unusual Rod of Asclepius, with the serpent having two heads as opposed to one. The first tasted the air with its forked tongue at the top of the staff, while the second one where its tail should have been had its fangs bared as if it was poised to devour the lower end of the staff.
Night Wind intuitively understood my cueing with the reins and made for the spot where the snow white mare acting as Starswirl’s mount was tied to the post, swishing her tail to keep the insects at bay. The ground of the village wasn’t the best quality, with cobblestone pavement only being an amenity of the newer parts of town. The rest was a combination of dirt and mud that seemed frozen over from previous winters, resulting in a dry, clay like mixture that had been compacted to maximum density by footwork. I stopped Night Wind at the post and dismounted carefully, ensuring that Tough Cookie would not slip off the horse. I held her so that she lay securely on the saddle and manipulated the peculiarly adjustable reins so that I could tie Night Wind down while still granting him freedom of cranial movement. The aforementioned creature was breathing laboriously, petered out from his breakneck toiling.
I rubbed at his muzzle with a free hand in appreciation, “Superb job, Night Wind. I couldn’t ask for a finer steed” I praised him for his swiftness.
The tired equine raised his curvy neck and tail proudly and whinnied enthusiastically, happy to serve. There was a trough of water placed underneath the wide beam post, for the equestrian traveler’s convenience I assumed. Night Wind availed himself of it to quench his parched throat as I removed Tough Cookie from her perch and carried the stricken woman into the Elizabethan clinic. The interior of the clinic wasn’t proofed against the elements, and there was a chilly draft that seeped in through cracks in the walls to torment the building’s inhabitants. Bunches of herbs and other strange medicinal materials were suspended from supporting crossbeams in the first floor ceiling, giving off fetid smells that almost enough to make me nauseous, making me pity the sick or injured that were forced to recuperate here.
Beds with coarse linen sheets lined the walls, providentially with few patients occupying their mattresses. Nurses dressed in blue habits with white aprons that had squarish hoods did menial tasks such as spoon feeding their patients soups, fluffing their pillows, or washing them in round wooden tubs that did not make use of curtains to give the bather privacy. One area where the technology of Arcania had made significant advancements in were definitely the fields of medicine and bedside manner, as evidenced by what I was seeing now.
In the middle of this building was Starswirl, who was speaking to a man who was garbed like a monk that dabbled in an apothecary’s arts in his spare time. The monkish man was old; in his seventies I’d estimate, having a bald dome with thinning, whitish hair on the sides. A chain forged with metals that were of all polygonal shapes was draped around his neck. In all honesty, he rather reminded me of one Maester Luwin from a television series that I enjoyed watching prior to all of this. The two of them were facing opposite of us and the nurses were busy, so no one had noticed our ingress.
“They’ll be here at any moment, Vitalitus! Do the symptoms I’ve described to you match any poisons that you’ve treated for in the past?” He asked him, and the man (who was crushing together ingredients with a mortar and pestle) stared upward in deep meditation. I briefly mulled over whether Starswirl knew this man from before, or if he pressed for names off the bat.
“I recall more than one affliction that produced such symptoms, but I’ll need to see her for myself in order to narrow the list down” He replied in a dry yet wizened voice.
“You won’t have to wait long. We’re here” I announced, finding an empty bed nearest to the healer and laying her on it. Starswirl flanked me as we mutually worried for our companion.
“So you are” Vitalitus observed, “Let me appraise her condition and determine what assails her health” He steadily rose from his stool seat and walked with it over to the other side of her bed, his muted footfalls and his all enveloping garb giving him the impression of floating to her like a legless ghost. As he started his procedure he deftly stripped her of her cloak and the simple yellow and brown garments underneath, unveiling the bare flesh of her upper torso (Concurrently allowing me a peek at her alluring mammaries). I turned my head away out of respect, an action that the wizard gave me a funny glance for.
It was an opinion that the healer apparently shared, “What’s the matter boy? Never seen a woman’s teats who wasn’t your mother before?” He jabbed at me in vague amusement.
“For your information I have (‘Twice in recent memory’). But I was raised to respect a woman’s modesty” I responded somewhat crossly. Did they have different views on that subject back in the day? Disregarding this for now, I focused on Tough Cookie once Vitalitus had wrapped up her bosom with clean dressings.
Tough Cookie certainly lived up to her name. Her mostly naked upper body was marked with bruises, lacerations, and even signs of burn damage. Most prominent of all was the ugly, diagonal scar that extended bilaterally through both muscles of her right arm. The poisoned crossbolt had pierced both the triceps and biceps section, but had missed shattering bone by what had to be mere centimeters. I was dumbstruck by how calm she acted to me when she was concealing this the whole time I was with her. Starswirl’s magic had indeed sealed most of the wounds from bleeding perpetually, but did squat to keep them from getting infected. Angry red spots dotted much of her body, and if they weren’t treated soon they would likely develop into nasty, pus discharging wounds. The Agrarian woman did not possess my advanced healing factor, so the scars she would accumulate would be more or less permanent, whereas any that I might incur would disappear in short order. I anxiously wished that I could lend some of my strength to her, but there were too many issues with that longing. Moreover, my intuition told me that I did need to be strong for her, but not in the way that I was contemplating.
“Jeez… Starswirl” I spoke in astonishment, “I thought Tough Cookie was your chronicler, not your test subject for how much damage the human body can absorb before giving out” I criticized, averse to how the wizard let his assistant experience so much pain.
“You think I haven’t tried stopping her from putting herself in harm’s way for my sake!?” The wizard shot back harshly, “I warn people that associating themselves with me is a dangerous proposition, but they hardly ever listen. Do not hold me accountable for their reckless choices” He admonished me.
I lifted my hands in a placating gesture, “I apologize if I’ve broached upon a sensitive topic, Starswirl. Maybe this will be the blessed occasion when she realizes that trouble and you are bedfellows and heeds that warning” I reasoned.
“You clearly know nothing of the boar headed stubbornness of Agrarians” He retorted sourly, his hand wringing around his staff audibly.
“Perhaps not, but I do know that they’re a hardy stock. I have faith in her recovery now that Vitalitus here is attending to her” I declared confidently.
“I’m touched by your faith in me, but do not give yourself false hope before I make my diagnosis” The healer cautioned me, going through the motions of checking for her pulse by pressing a duo of fingers on the arteries in her neck, “She’s alive, but only just” He concluded on that front, before searching for broken bones that needed to be set.
Vitalitus was thorough in his physical examination, but did some things that did not make much sense to me. For instance, he tapped at various pressure points on her arm and hummed in thought at some mysterious finding that eluded us, along with rubbing a foamy salve on her cuts, presumably to disinfect them. He then proceeded to swab her mouth for saliva and dropped the damp cotton ball into a flask of clear solution that was contained in a medicinal drawer next to the bed. I watched with undisguised interest as the color of the fluid shifted from clear to a light purple with disturbing threads of black before turning clear again and suddenly evaporating in the flask. Starswirl must have instinctively known what it meant, because I could virtually hear the man grinding his teeth into dust out of displeasure.
‘At least the doctors here aren’t medieval morons who believe that bloodletting is effective for anything other than hypertension’ I mused, gladdened to see that this man used a form of the scientific method to identify maladies.
Almost in response to my thoughts, the healer took a sharp, scalpel like curved blade and began scraping at the scar where Cookie had suffered an arrow wound. His scratching of the scar agitated it and let blackish blood dribble out, which he collected in a glass phial. Afterwards, he called out for one of the nurses to bring him Essence of Dragonweed. A matronly looking woman complied and handed him another equal sized phial of orange liquid. In a small bowl, he poured in the substance of both phials and watched for a reaction. It came when the heterogeneous mixture bubbled violently before its volume decreased by half, leaving only Cookie’s poisoned blood remaining in the container.
“It is more dire than even I could have predicted” The healer said gravely, “I have only heard about this brand of poison from hearsay and rumor, and from the reports it is a sinister one indeed…” He uttered ominously.
When he paused, I got antsy, “Well don’t keep us in suspense! What is it?” I blurted out, gaining an admonishing thwack of a staff to my shin for my impatience.
The balding healer sniffed in mild irritation and made a raspy noise with his throat, “It is called Hartsbane, and this poison is particularly infamous for causing one of the most gruesome cascading sequences of death known to medicine” He explained, “It works by deliberately consuming the magic inside of whatever poor creature it is inflicted on in the slowest possible manner until there is nothing left to consume except the magic upholding vital functions, which are already extremely overtaxed and will be prone to subsequent failure. The poison will ensure that the odds of surviving the sudden deprivation of her body’s magic will be alarmingly fatal. The overall result is an agonizingly prolonged demise” He explicated in distressing depth.
‘That is absolutely atrocious’ I thought, morbidly resentful that I did away with those damned crossbowmen so quickly, otherwise I’d find a way to bring them back just so I could tear them a new one.
He sighed, “She is stable, but comatose I am afraid. Trapped in a subconsciously self induced sleep to conserve her bodily reserves of magic against the poison. But I estimate only a day or so before her sleep becomes eternal” He grimly assessed the number on the afflicted woman’s countdown.
“Is there a cure!?” I demanded to know, getting another reproachful thwack from the wizard simply for showing concern for the lady.
“…There is no cure that is known to me firsthand” He answered dolefully, before amending his statement while pensively stroking at his whiskery chin, “Though that does not necessarily mean that there isn’t a way to save her. But it will require the two of you to put yourselves in grave danger” He stipulated, giving us fair warning.
“I accept the risks involved, even if it means a miniscule chance of saving her life” Starswirl nodded, agreeing to undertake the unstated challenge immediately, “Albeit I cannot give permission for my unsmiling friend here t-”
“I’m in” I interrupted without waver (or waiver, for that matter), “Tell us what we have to do to nurse Tough Cookie back to health” I peremptorily adjured the healer.
Vitalitus smiled and looked at the wizard, “Where did you find this noble, hooded soul Starswirl? If I didn’t know any better, I’d postulate that he harbors certain… sentiments towards this young woman” He wryly observed, simultaneously hinting to me that he and Starswirl had some history with each other from the casual way he addressed him.
I shook my head disapprovingly at the implication, “Not for the reasons you assume, I assure you. Our nascent relationship is purely platonic” I refuted him candidly. If she was truly an ancestor of the women I was friends with in the future, then her continued survival was of the utmost priority to me.
“Make sure it stays as such” Starswirl protectively notified me with a grunt, “I am not the only one here that danger seems attracted to” He asserted, still wary of me. Not that I could blame him, a healthy amount of paranoia can keep you on your toes and therefore mostly immune to surprises.
He had raised a pertinent point though. Would people get hurt if they affiliated themselves with me? In the beginning I wouldn’t have given this moral quandary a second thought. But now that I had forged relationships with some amazing people that I implicitly valued in the highest, I could not help but ponder if I was unknowingly endangering those bonds with my ‘so called’ destiny. No… I would not fall into the trap of believing that I would be cursed with heartbreak if I got close to anyone again. My relationships were a huge reason why I would not hesitate to fight in order to protect this world from any and all evils. I shall not shy away from those who wish to know me better, nor will I break ties with those who formerly have so that I can deceive myself with the idea that I would be protecting them from myself.
“The treatment that I have devised in my head is not guaranteed to work, mind you” Vitalitus made clear, “And it will be risky to implement itself in the off chance that you both succeed in your individual tasks. Oh yes…” He mentioned as he noticed the shared sidelong glance between the wizard and myself at the keyword, “…you will each be on your own when you depart this house of healing to gather the ingredients I’ll need to craft a remedial antidote to remedy the effects of the poison burning inside Cookie’s veins. There is no time for you to accompany each other for this” He sternly evoked the sobering reminder of Tough Cookie’s limited time.
‘So it’s a race against the clock then. No pressure’ I psyched myself up for the trial ahead.
He pointed to Starswirl first, “You must travel to the marshes southeast of the Towerwoods that you have emerged from. In its waters live a special breed of leech that secrete an enzyme that has potent antivenin properties whenever they feed, a natural defensive measure against prey that have been poisoned. Bring as many back with you as you are able to do so. I would also like for you to collect a handful of caltrop barbs from the Finrush plants that flourish there” He listed his requirements.
Starswirl’s brow furrowed, “What will these caltrop barbs do for Tough Cookie?” He inquired.
He crooked his head, “Hmm? Oh, why nothing! My stocks have recently run out, and since you’ll be in the area…” Vitalitus purposely trailed off.
The wizard sighed and pinched at the bridge of his nose to mitigate an oncoming headache, “If it pleases you, I suppose I can lower myself to it” He gruffly grumbled in acceptance.
“Don’t give me that look” The healer replied, sounding slightly snubbed, “Consider it a favor, from one old friend to another” He turned to me, “As for you… your task will be an especially precarious one, but you are young. You can handle it” He averred, “Half a day’s ride to the west of this town on a path that cuts through the fringes of the Towerwoods will lead you to the hilly regions of the nearest neighboring town of Fogmount. However, your objective does not exist within the town itself, but in the monumental cave network that is burrowed into the hills themselves. Growing deep in these interconnected caves are orange colored mushrooms that have tendrils protruding out of their margins. Harvest about three or four of them, their stems and caps intact. They will revitalize this woman’s internal magic, so that her Agrarian strength does not diminish after the toxins in her blood are hopefully neutralized”
“Orange mushrooms with tendrils… got it” I confirmed, jotting it down on the mental to do list.
“I would be more cautious about this undertaking if I were you. They say a monstrous Starbeast resides in the hollows beneath the earth, and many brave fools who venture into those caves… do not come out” He monotoned forebodingly.
“Then it’s a good thing that I am only one of those qualities” Was my rejoinder.
My response elicited a chuckle from the aged healer, “I am rapidly developing a fondness for this one, Starswirl. He can maintain a sense of humor even in these troubling days”
“Yes…” The wizard tentatively agreed, “I’ve yet to decide whether his aberrant attitude is worrisome, or a breath of fresh air” He opined, not knowing what to make of me so far.
“There is something else I must tell you before you go” The healer abruptly interjected, “All the reports I have heard about the deleterious effects of Hartsbane, come from far to the north over the mountains… from our people’s ancestral homeland, the Dreamy Vale”
I only barely caught it, but Starswirl’s face screwed itself up in alarmed frustration for a fraction of a second before that blank, perceptive stare took its place once more. Whatever this Dreamy Vale place was to Starswirl, it portended something meaningful to the wizard. The revelation that this poison had originated there spelled trouble in capital lettering.
“I wish you two the best of luck. Please avail yourself of whatever the town of Mirrimare has to offer, as to prepare yourselves before you set off. If any of the locals give you problems, just tell them that Pestle Plague assigned you an important mission” Vitalitus enjoined us.
“Pestle Plague?” I couldn’t resist expressing my confusion.
“My preordained name, before I took on the moniker that you know as Vitalitus. The townsfolk here do not care for titles of achievement” Pestle explained absently, rising to return to what he was doing before I had arrived with Cookie.
“About your paymen-” Starswirl began, before the healer waved his hand dismissively.
“Deem the testing of my experimental treatment for this Hartsbane poison as my payment. It’s not everyday that I see patients afflicted with a magic consuming illness after all” He commented, taking the namesake pestle in his hand and resuming where he left off.
“Come, Zenith” The wizard bid me as he turned on his heels and began moving, his staff making thumping sounds on the floorboards, “Our business here is done for now”
I leaned over to Cookie’s side and whispered in her ear, not caring whether or not she could hear me, “Hang tight Cookie, we’ll be back before you know it” I promised her, hoping to ease whatever restless dreams plagued her mind as she held out against the poison in her body.
I rejoined Starswirl outside, who was occupying himself by digging through the saddlebags that his mare came with, his staff reclining on the mare’s point of hip. Night Wind had slimmer bags on his rump, presumably to keep him lightweight as an interceptor for his previous masters. Starswirl made an “Ah ha!” expression of discovery as he withdrew a tiny scroll with a broken wax seal. He unfurled it and his eyes scanned its contents, the skin of his brow gained a few lines as he perused through the last of the letter before he muttered a curse and lit the letter alight with his magic. He then tossed it into the water trough, where the flames choked out with a sizzle.
“This is disconcerting news. What I’ve read corroborates what Vitalitus told us. These Acolytes of Chaos are operating out of a hidden location somewhere in the Dreamy Vale” He informed me when he saw the inquisitive look I was sending him.
“Okay. And what makes this relevant?” I asked, idly scratching behind Night Wind’s ears. His consequential leaning into me enlightened me that his sensitive spot was right at their base.
“My quest’s ultimate destination is the Dreamy Vale” He clarified pointedly, “There are two women up there who are making a name for themselves, praised far and wide as being champions of the people, likely in opposition to those very acolytes” He surmised, stroking at his beard.
He placed his hands on his hips and rocked to the side, “At first I believed them to be a fluke, a random coincidence. Disregarded them as being merely… simple heroines from a simple land, but the more I hear about their exploits, the more irrefutable their connection to the prophecy of unity becomes. A prophecy that Cross is determined to subvert” He growled in frustration.
“Who is this Cross? From what I’ve gathered from that hunting party, whoever he is, he seems to know you personally” I inferred aloud.
“Double Cross was among one of my many students from back when I was still mentoring the youthful heirs of Stellaria’s aristocracy in the ways of magic” Starswirl answered, without elucidating further, “All you need to know is that he’s dangerous” He imparted, passing by me and motioning with his staff for me to tag with him.
‘Double Cross huh? He doesn’t leave much of his personality up to imagination with a name like that’ I mused.
Before I shadowed the tightlipped wizard, I spoke to Night Wind, “Which are you more partial to, bud? Apples or Carrots?”
His response was a blowing of air through his nose preceded by a nicker and a clacking of teeth. I hummed in cogitation before walking to the wizard, my normal brisk pace allowing me to overtake him easily. Carrots it was.
“Do you still have that bag of coins that you… appropriated after the incident in the Towerwoods?” Starswirl falteringly wanted to know, once I caught up to him.
“Of course I do! The man I got it from didn’t need it anymore” I replied cheerfully, largely to amuse myself with his unsettled reaction at my casual tone, as though it did not come at the cost of life.
“Right… of course you still have it” He looked to the side uncomfortably, “May I request that you spare a few coins to this destitute wizard?” He pleaded, shamefaced that he was soliciting me for what he probably defined as blood money. Which was a silly sentiment, since the man I took it from was nice enough not to bleed all over the purse.
“Oh, you don’t want to go down that road with me, old man” I grinningly vocalized, “I loan shark like crazy” I advised him half jokingly. It came with the territory of being tight fisted.
“Blast it, Zenith! I need to buy bait for the leeches!” He exclaimed, drawing a few puzzled stares from the locals with his outburst. One withering glare from the wizard later and they wisely went back to minding their own business.
“Hey, it’s not my fault you’re short on coin. Who in their right mind goes traveling without money in their pockets anyway?” I snidely shot back.
“Oh… I’m unsure” He held a hand to his chin in false recollection, “Perhaps a man who hardly had the time to pack his personal effects and belongings before being ambushed at an inn that was previously marked as a secure place to stay the night!” He angrily retorted to me, “Tough Cookie and I had to fight tooth and nail every step of the way to the stables before we could make our escape!”
“That would explain why the horse you two were riding didn’t even have on a bridle” I said to myself, “Fine, I’ll lend you half of my share of the spoils” I unstrung the purse and scooped up a hearty serving of the square punched coins before greasing Starswirl’s palms with them.
“Thank you. And fear not… for a wizard always pays his debts” He vowed, taking the coins and adding them to an inner pocket that was concealed by his robes.
“I thought only Lannisters did that” I referenced humorously, even though no one would get it.
“You mystify me, Zenith” Starswirl muttered, “But I do not have the time to inquire about your peculiar sayings. We must secure ample provisions for ourselves and for the journey ahead. I’ve innovated spells for the filtration of water, but foodstuffs are a different story. We should visit the local markets here and see if they have any wrapped up salt cured meat that we can supply ourselves with. It would not be amiss of you to purchase hardtack either” He added in afterthought.
“Never imagined that adventuring mandated grocery shopping” I jocosely quipped to nobody in particular.
“Needless to say, it does” He responded to me never the less, “You cannot expect to have a successful quest without factoring in essential requirements such as logistics. One can’t adventure for long on an empty stomach, naturally” He dryly demonstrated his sense of humor to me as we gravitated towards the part of town with the highest concentration of activity.
We went where the masses of villagers congregated to exchange goods, intent on making a few prudent purchases. The markets of Mirrimare were similar to those I had descried in Magiville, with each shop owner setting up their wares on top of a stand or even operating out of a storefront. Listening in on the chatter, I picked up on useful pieces of information such as what the money here was called, which was Bobs. I wasn’t sure if they had a derivative relationship to the shilling when it came to value, but a palm full of the coins could net you half a bushel worth of carrots, based on the witnessing of one such transaction. They roughly equated to Bits in my mind, although the coins weren’t gold, nor were they stamped out of any kind of precious metal (They were iron casted coinage).
All the while, folks were giving us stink eyes or eyeballing us with mistrust as we passed, poorly hidden disdain evident in their gazes. I comprehended that we were overtly apparent as outsiders, but I was not expecting this brand of cold reception. I was innately ill disposed to having so much attention focused on me, and my fancy clothing and lofty height made it difficult for me to blend in, so I was at a lost for how to shake off the rebuffing atmosphere pressing in on me. Starswirl must have been used to being regularly received with contempt, because if this negative welcoming bothered him, he showed no sign of it.
Our presence did not disturb the flow of the micronized economy though, and the market was alive with the advertising verbalizations of mercantilism. From what I had heard in the first few minutes, some of it was less than scrupulous.
“Have a look at Tepid Tincture’s wares! Suffering from gout, goiter, or general soreness in your achy limbs? Got plenty of cure-alls for all that ails ya!” A ratty looking man with whiskers in desperate need of trimming peddled his wares, holding up a vial of snake oil in one hand while pushing his cart in the other. There weren’t many takers, but the rat faced man grinned happily whenever he swapped vials for coins.
“Are there people around here who are really so gullible that they would part with their meager earnings to buy into that farce? A visit to Vitalitus is the smarter choice” I gave voice to my thoughts.
Starswirl perceived my point and offered his insight, “You’d be surprised with how popular false remedies are in these lands. I remember that there were several back in my castle-town of Starwick who swore by its curative effects, strangely enough” He spoke in an incredulous tone, hardly believing it himself.
“The placebo effect is the true acting force behind that” I corrected him, “But it’s still shameful that men will say whatever people want to hear just so they can get them to untie the drawstrings of their purses” I scowled at the con man peddling vials that would have the restorative powers of donkey piss.
“People must put food on their tables, Zenith, and not only for themselves. While I share your opinion on using trickery to profit one’s self as being undesirable, I also understand that it is either that or the alternative of starving for many people. I do not condone it by any means, but I understand” He commented compassionately, sounding appalled at the lackluster conditions of life for the Agrarian people living here.
“If you ask me, that one looks too sketchy to have a family that doesn’t entertain the same opinions about him” I denigrated the salesman. I could only see in him a rat that had swindled somebody of their money dishonestly.
Starswirl sighed sadly, “You must have been a very sheltered soul if you’re learning about this just now”
“In a manner of speaking, you’re right about that. But I’m not blind to injustices when I see them” Was my rebuttal.
“Then by all means, go ahead and expose him for all to see” He gestured with an outstretched hand to the rat man, who was busy sniggering as he counted the coins in his hands.
I gave him a flat look, “I may be rather idealistic at times, but I wasn’t born yesterday, Starswirl. Even if I did that, I would only make more enemies than friends with this biased audience watching. Sometimes I’m forced to put these issues to the side and deal with what I can. It’s not a blind eye by any means, but it’s the next worse thing”
“Then you know what it is like to live as myself, promulgating a cause that scant few can see the merit in, with even fewer to stand by me” He related somewhat despondently, before perking up, “But those who do give me the strength to see our shared dream come to actualization… and those women in the north are key to those aspirations” He repeated, starting to diverge his path from mine, “But that is for later. We are needed in the here and now. Both of us must obtain our provisions and be off posthaste. Each moment that we delay hastens Tough Cookie’s doom, and I will not have any more friends die on my watch while there is still something I can do about it” He stressed emphatically, “Buy only what you need and do not tarry! Cookie’s life is at stake” Starswirl shouted back to me as he melded into the masses before finally disappearing.
That left me to my own devices. I reviewed in my head what I would need for my trip besides the obligatory provisions for traveling long distances. I checked my depleted bag of local coins and assessed how much buying power it had, estimating it as more than sufficient for my nourishment needs with just enough leftover to spoil myself a tad. The empty weight of my belt suddenly popped into the forefront of my mind and got me thinking. If I inevitably ran into more of those chaos revering goons in the future, I would like a silent means of dispatching them without having to resort to using my Mage-blade to slice them into bloody chunks. Rarity commissioned my belt so that it included multi purpose sheathes for such weapons as throwing knives (Which was very mature of someone who considered fighting to be the ‘ghastly conduct of uncouth ruffians’). I had never trained with throwing knives before, but I could catch on quick, and having magic to guide them onto target decreased the learning curve significantly for me.
Before I could drop what I was doing and go visit the town blacksmith however, it would be remiss of me to ignore the market when I was right there. Choosing a random stand that had what I needed, I adjusted my heading and approached the counter, where a common man wearing a pointy hat reminiscent of a Robin Hood movie awaited me.
“What are the prices for your carrots?” I inquired of him, making him narrow his eyes and engender an annoyed expression on his face.
He looked me over and scoffed, having determined my archetype, “For a Rock Head like you? Twenty Bob per bunch” He all but spat at me, in a stereotypically cockney accent no less.
“That is an exorbitant amount for carrots” I indicated in monotone, not amused in the least by his blatant racism. It was also more than what I had in my despoiled coin purse.
“You look like you can afford it… Rock Head” He sneered, unmoved by my reasoning.
I pulled back my hood, and the man’s self righteous expression fell once he noticed the lack of a Focal Gem on my forehead, “Next time, think about who you might be talking to before you alienate their potential business” I rebuked him, before walking towards another stand that offered some carotene.
“No, wait a tick!” He called out, causing me to pause, “My sincerest apologies mister, I mistook you for one of those cursed Rock Heads, what with your fancy outfit and all. You can have a quarter bushel of carrots for four Bob as my way of saying sorry for being an arrogant ass” He proffered, trying to make amends to this insulted customer.
I stared emotionlessly at him for a few moments, making him fidget in place, “Throw in a burlap sack to carry them with, and I’ll accept that apology” I eventually uttered, unashamedly haggling like a boss.
“Of course, of course!” He simpered nervously as he scuttled to bag up my purchase, “Do you mind if I ask a question though?”
“Go ahead” I permitted, taking out the coins and laying them on the table, which the man swept up happily in one hand while handling my vegetables with the other. I had to give him credit; he sure could multitask.
“How are you dressed like a Rock Head? Richest Agrarian I’d ever seen was a representative of the Combine, and he didn’t look half as spiffy as you do” He noted, shoveling pound after pound of carrots into the complimentary sack.
‘The Combine? Must be the closest thing to a government that the Agrarian clan has’ I thought, as I hypothesized what government type they were. I would approve a democracy, but with the settlements so scattered around, it must have been challenging to coordinate with the will of the people if they did.
“I had a good seamstress make it for me by hand for an inexpensive fee. I’m also fairly sure that there’s love embroidered into these robes with every stitch” I jestingly answered with a curtailed laugh. Though it might have been closer to the truth than I was downplaying for kicks, with how fawning Rarity was with me at times.
“Wow,” The vegetable selling man marveled, “how can a woman like that keep her business afloat?”
I chuckled, “You know, I asked her the same thing myself once. She told me that she manages, but I’ve come to suspect that she secretly runs a racketeering ring on the side to drum up some extra coin to maintain her expensive tastes” I pulled his leg, but he took me at my words literally.
His eyes corkscrewed as he tried to comprehend my meaning, “She sounds like quite a woman, wished my Petunia was as so- sophis- sophisticated” He enunciated with a little difficulty.
“Cherish her regardless of that” I advised him as I took the bag of carrots in my hands, “The people that we love and who love us in return are one of the few bright spots we have in this taxing life”
“You have a way with words brother” He lauded me, “Take care now! And don’t let any Featherbrains or Rock Heads give you any grief!” He bid me farewell. Ignoring the acidic, almost canting contempt that he reserved for people he thought weren’t Agrarians; he seemed a downright neighborly chap.
From there I moved on to a nearby stand that sold paper encased salt cured pork. Virtually like a switch had been flipped by the revelation that I was not (solely) a Stellar Mage, people became a hell of a lot friendlier to me. While their deep seated antipathy towards the other two clans was worrisome, their sense of kinship within their own clan even with strangers was… refreshing. It also saved me a few coins thanks to deals that were easily driven. The only downside was that these villagers were nosy as all get-out, practically interrogating me about my well heeled state of attire, what village I came from, why I kept company with a wizard, and what I was doing to resist the oppression of ‘those who dwelled above’, which inclusively referred to the mountain favoring Stellar Mages and the cloud inhabiting Skyborn. As was the norm for me, I fabricated vague background stories on the fly that adequately put those questions to rest, while additionally being difficult to prove invalid if someone discerned discrepancies.
The history books in Twilight’s library were unforthcoming on just how badly the three clans hated each other prior to their unification under the banner of Arcania. The usual reasons that the Agrarians had to fork up a share of their crops for weather tending and the ensured rising of the sun and moon on time was still material, but was not the sole reason for what amounted to extortion of the Agrarian people. I heard plenty of sob stories from chatty locals who moved to this town to get away from raids by the Valkyrians, who offered their ‘protection’ from the Stellar Magi in exchange for monthly tributes of food, totaling up to two fifths of each harvest. This was barely enough for most villages to feed themselves and stay alive, let alone prosper in their individual trades. The towns that understandably refused had the entirety of their food taken from them by force and were condemned to go hungry.
While the Agrarians may have had the advantage in raw muscle and durability, the Skyborn employed the use of effective tactics in combat such as dividing and flanking around battle formations to harass them and keep them off balance. They were also equipped with the lightning forged steel weaponry necessary to beat down any opposition in a close in fight, which outclassed the predominantly iron forged weaponry that the Agrarians could fashion for themselves. The enchanted steel tipped broadheads that the Skyborn rained down from above could effortlessly penetrate through the wooden shields and chain mailed armor that an Agrarian man at arms typically bore when he was on the battlefield. Stellar Magi were also reviled and feared, making similar offers of protection from the Skyborn in return for edible tribute. I was especially disconcerted to hear about what they did to those who refused them, using their powerful magic to subject them to torturous pain and render them unable to fight back. Those engagements that did occur among Agrarian and Stellar Mage forces were generally lopsided, with three Agrarian men falling for each battle mage taken out.
From the looks of it, the Stellar Magi and Valkyrians were locked in some kind of fierce contest for supremacy, both in terms of territorial influence and one upmanship of the other clan. It dawned on me that the Agrarians were caught in the middle of this heated competition and were being exploited by both of the other clans, who deviously kept them under their boots to prevent them from consolidating their slightly higher numbers (which was about the only real advantage the Agrarians had that couldn’t be countered) and becoming a problem. It was nearly enough to make me feel ashamed of the wings and magic that I adored so much, but that did not mean that I disregarded my Agrarian aspect in the slightest.
It was obvious to me then and there why Starswirl sought unification for all three clans instead of abiding the grisly division that split the people apart. He may not have given me all the specifics of his quest yet, but I could tell that I was going to be a part of something game changing for this country whose name I do not know. Even though I would often label them as such, I no longer believed in coincidences. My presence here was not the product of random chance, nor was my meeting with the soon to be legendary Starswirl the Bearded. He would need someone he could trust to watch his back while he searched for these northern sisters (‘I wonder what they looked like back now?’) who were prophesized to bring an end to the bloodshed between the clans, and that person would happen to have my capable skillset.
‘Not to mention dashingly handsome looks’ My prideful side spoke out of turn.
‘Shut up brain’ I shushed it, juggling internal bickering while managing quaint outside socializing.
My shopping spree reached its terminus when one of those many people nettling me with inane questions kindly pointed me to where I could find the blacksmith. I had depleted the money in my inventory by stocking up on veggies, preserved meats, and dry biscuits for the road, but there were still some coins left for indulging on filling up my open weapon slots. Even if Agrarian weapons weren’t the best quality when compared to those made by the warrior smiths of the Skyborn, they would suit me better than nothing. The blacksmith’s shop looked no different than the majority of the stone constructed buildings in the town, though it did have a tiled roof and two chimneys of differing sizes and smoke output. The sign over the door was a generic hammer and anvil that was fading with age, so whoever operated this place must have been in the business for a healthy length of time.
I pushed the wooden door open and immediately felt a wave of heat wash over me, coupled with the smell of coals being burned. The interior of the blacksmith’s shop was spartan in decoration, but practical in its layout. Near the entrance of the building was a wooden selling counter with instrument racks behind it. The racks weren’t overflowing with weaponry, but there were a few dozen swords and axes sprinkled here and there. The rest of the implements were plow heads, trowels, sickles, and other tools of the agricultural trade. There were barrels that could be found around the shop, some filled with water for tempering, some with raw slabs of metal, and others filled with finished works. The floors of the smithy were not wooden, as those posed a fire hazard when working with heated metals. Instead they were plain dirt flooring, with footprints marring their surface from repeated treading.
The telltale sounds of labor came in the form of somebody utilizing a bellows to raise the heat of the forge’s fire. The man wasn’t as old as I initially presumed from the aged state of the sign out front, being only in his forties. He was dressed in a blacksmithing outfit that consisted of an extensive, protective apron that covered most of his long sleeved garment (Which was rolled up as to not impede the man). Unsurprisingly, years of blacksmithing work had made the red headed man fairly buff, with muscles on his arms that rippled whenever he flexed them. He was drenched in sweat, which was understandable with how well insolated his closed window shop was to the outside elements and the intense heat radiating from his forge. As an extra benefit for the blacksmith, it probably felt relieving on his clammy flesh to step into the nippy air after a good workout.
With a pair of tongs, he gripped a shortened slab of metal and partially inserted it into the roaring flame of the furnace. Using those same tongs, he withdrew a molten slab that had already been sitting pretty for some time and laid the luminously glowing bar of metal on the pointy end of his anvil. With hammer in hand, he began banging it against the anvil’s beak and bending the heated half into a U shape, occasionally laying it on the anvil to flatten it again. It was only when he began using a spike to hammer holes into the curved piece of metal that I realized that he was making horseshoes. His deft movements were quick, precise, and struck with great impetus. If his work ethic wasn’t evidence enough that I came to the right establishment, I didn’t know what was.
I was so absorbed by watching this man toil that it almost didn’t register with me that he was singing as he did so. The rhythmic pounding of his hammer was like a metronome as he completed each verse in a rich, baritone voice that bordered on bass. It was a rather melancholic song, and I idly wondered if he was singing about himself and his checkered past, or if all blacksmith’s sang to the same tune as they worked. From the way his posture sagged at the song’s ending, it was likely the former. With the heated part of the horseshoe shaped and hammered, he inserted the unfolded portion into the flame and wiped away a bead of sweat that had formed on his brow. He noticed me mid wipe and set aside his tongs, taking off his gloves and speaking to me, his voice carrying across the smithy with minimal effort.
“Are ye here to make a commission? I might not be able to get started on it until I have Mister Potato Salad’s plowshare refitted” His voice was smooth, sounding as refined as some of the metals he put through the heat of the furnace. It was also spoken with a vaguely Irish brogue, but I could have been wrong about that.
“That song you were just singing… what were those lyrics about?” I asked him, tilting my head to the side in curiosity.
He coughed into his forearm nervously, “Heard that, did ye? It’s nothing, young master. I fancy singin’ while I forge sometimes, I like to think that it imbues me metal with purpose, to give it strength” He cleared his throat, “So did you stop by to ask me about me singin’ habits? Or is there more?”
I crooked my head forward in a dip, “I’m on an errand of sorts. I was sent by Pestle Plague” I invoked the respected healing man’s name to see what kind of reaction it would get.
“The town’s foremost healer?” He expressed with puzzlement, “Why would he require me services? Especially when he thinks so lowly of me for my past actions?” His forehead creased with incomprehension.
“I sense a story there” I prodded for an explanation.
He sighed hopelessly, “I can tell that yer of the questioning variety, so I might as well get ye to hate me too” He took a deep breath, as if to steady himself and blurted, “I worked as a blacksmith for the Stellar Magi for the better half of me life!” He then braced himself, expecting a negative response that must have been customary for him by now.
A moment of silence passed before I broke it. “So?” Was my monosyllabic reply.
He gawked at me, “Bu-! Don’t ye get it, lad? I collaborated with the enemy!” He exclaimed, dumbfounded by the lukewarm reception, “I was only begrudgin’ly accepted here because I’m the only competent blacksmith this town has got otherwise!” He threw his arms out in frustration.
“Were you given a choice in the matter?” I inquired, before I passed any uninformed judgments.
“Well… no” He admitted, “But that don’ excuse what I did!” He insisted, “I enabled our clan’s enemies by fittin’ ‘em with armor and weapons!”
‘Charming how people here are automatically inclined to presume that I’m one of them simply because there isn’t a Focal Gem on my forehead. How do they tell the Valkyrians apart from themselves?’ Perhaps it was logical, since the insular Skyborn of this tumultuous period did not normally bother with settlements this far removed from the center of the clan conflict. They were soldiers, not infiltrators after all.
“Did they at least pay you well for the fruits of your labor?” I pried further, drawing closer to the man so that he did not feel the need to shout.
“My ‘payment’ was the continued survival of me wife and two daughters. If I didn’t obey… their lives were forfeit” He told me, unadulterated anguish in his eyes as my question brought up hard memories. I could only surmise what their fate was…
“Oh… I’m so sorr-” I tried apologizing, but he cut me off.
He shook his head, “They’re not dead, boyo. But I bet they wish I was. When my wife found out I was supplying the Stellar Magi with the same weapons they were usin’ to oppress our village, she nearly strangled the life out of me” He rubbed at his neck subconsciously. His wife must have been a tough woman if she could even attempt to throttle the life out of a thickset man like her husband… or were they as legally separated as they were by distance too?
“I fended her off, but she cast me out and bid me to never return” Another sigh, seeming capitulating, “I mustered up all the coin I saved at me old forge and started a new life here. The locals were friendly enough, though they stopped bein’ as sociable once they found out why I was livin’ among them. I dinnae even know if me family is still alive, or if the Stellar Magi followed up on their dastardly threat” He concluded bitterly, “Does that satisfy yer curiosity now?”
“It does” I averred, “Thank you for sharing. And don’t fall under the impression that I would hold you in ill regard. You were under pressure from despicable men who would stoop to threatening your own flesh and blood just to keep you wrapped around their finger. You have my condolences that life dealt you the bad hand that it did” I sympathized, wanting to treat this man as equitably as possible.
He pushed a palm against his face and groaned, “Save me yer pity, lad. What are ye here for? Other than openin’ old wounds, that is?” He sarcastically quipped. He was hurting, so I wouldn’t take offense at his lashing out.
I got straight to the point, “I need to plumb the depths of the hills near the town of Fogmount. There’s an ingredient hidden there in the form of mushrooms with tendrils that I need to gather so that a friend of mine can get better when she wakes up” I explained to him, “I’m not defenseless by any means, but I’d like to know if you sell any throwing knives, in case I need them” I patted my belt, particularly the concealed sheathes where throwing knives could go. My mission was of less vital importance than Starswirl’s, but mine was essential if Tough Cookie didn’t want to live as a magically deprived invalid, so I wanted to be decently equipped for it.
“Throwin’ knives, ye say?” He gazed at the rafters of his ceiling, searching his memory banks, “Aye, I had finished with a special set for a rather finicky Stellar Mage noble the very night me wife found me treachery out. It’s one of the few things from home that I took with me when I found refuge here”
He moved to the counter and sifted through its shelves underneath before pulling out an unassuming wooden box and setting it on the table. He popped the lid and revealed the six beauties that were encased inside. This man must have been working with higher quality materials wherever he came from, because the slender blades in the box were constructed out of a light grey metal that would have been identical next to my world’s modernistic knives if they were compared. They had minutely curved handles and looked to be just the perfect length for my diagonal belt sheathes at six inches. They were double edged, tapering down to a razor thin point that looked durable enough for heavy usage. Their classy grips had rubberized grooves on them for improved control and rounded ridges for an ergonomic placement of the fingers. I couldn’t be sure without holding them for myself, but I would reckon that they were center balanced and just the right weight for stability in flight. I reached out to do so, but the man slammed the box shut and kept it out of my grasp.
“Not so fast, boyo!” The smith denied me, “What makes ye think I would part with these mementos?”
“Well why else would you tell me about them and take them out if they weren’t for sale?” I reasoned, with some agitation in my voice.
He grinned, “Yer right about that, laddie. But the price tag on these blades cannae be removed by mere coins”
“Then what can it be removed with?” I took the bait, my eyes narrowing.
“Ye said that you were goin’ to see those hollows near Fogmount yeah?” I bobbed my head affirmatively, “Then since ye will be there anyway, perhaps ye could retrieve somethin’ for me?”
“What could possibly be in those hollows besides fungus and bats that would interest you?” I was at a lost for what the blacksmith wanted in the caves that were worth going out of my way for.
“Gems… boyo” He disclosed, an odd glint in his brown eyes, “Dragon hoard gems”
“A Dragon? I was apprised that I might encounter a Starbeast in the tunnels. Not an overgrown reptile” I was almost disappointed. Dragons I had seen before (a little too closely for my liking), but the Starbeasts were a phenomenon that few had laid eyes on and lived to write down what they witnessed for posterity. They were not only rare, but reclusive creatures that were made of pure magic.
He chuckled, “Oh, if yer unlucky enough, ye just might. But the Dragon’s hoard I speak of is no longer guarded by its owner, since that Starbeast is what killed it” He informed me, “Traders from Fogmount told me all about it over a pint of ale at the local tavern. They talked about how the Dragon used to be a blight upon the land, and that the Starbeast was an acceptable substitution. The two tremendous creature’s fight caused tremors that rocked the very earth itself, sure, but the scaly beasty surely lost out and became the other one’s dinner. They know this because since then, it stopped ransacking and terrorizing the region. I know for a fact that every mature Dragon creates a horde of riches to go along with its nest, so I’m askin’ you to bring back as many gemstones or other valuables as ye can find for me. Do that, and ye can have these knives of mine” He elaborated, an almost pleading timbre tinting his tone.
“What do you need these valuables for?” I naturally inquired, “I can deduce that it’s not simply for elevating the status of your wealth. You seem too humble for that” I inferred, glancing about at his unembellished, purely practical surroundings.
“Yer a keen lad, I’ll give ye that” He complimented, “I dinnae possess the means to check in on me family and see if they’re alive and well, but if they are, I’d like to get in touch with ‘em once more. Even if me wife wants nothin’ to do with me, I want our children to be happy. If I can send ‘em resources they could use to support themselves better, then I would be in yer eternal debt for it” He bowed his head to me.
He was entreating me to figuratively scratch his back in exchange for those throwing knives, but it was for a good cause, so I would agree to the terms. It wasn’t like it was out of the way for me.
‘Looks like Starswirl isn’t the only one with a side quest’ I observed humorously.
“You have yourself a deal Mister…?” I fished for a name as I held out my unburdened hand.
He took it with a firm grasp and shook it, “Rust, it’s a pleasure to formally make yer acquaintance Master…?” He fished in return.
“Zenith… and I’m not your master” I added in afterthought.
“Pardon, lad. Jus’ another habit I retained from dealing with High Born Rock Heads” He excused himself, “That, and you dress an awful lot like ‘em” He commented as an aside.
“You can thank my couturier for that” I shrugged my shoulders.
“Are ye per chance interested in anythin’ else I’ve made?” Rust gesticulate towards the racks that did display weapons, “This town is in a secure enough location that I seldom get weapon orders, but I still make a few in case of emergencies”
“No thank you, I have my own equipment on hand” I declined his alternative offer.
“I cannae in good conscious let ye leave me smithy empty handed. Here,” He reached under his counter again and extracted a pile of cubit sized sticks with ends wrapped in rope, “take these torches with ye when you go prowlin’ about in the dark. They’re soaked in a special type of beeswax that enable ‘em to burn more protractedly and brighter than most other torches” There was flint and a striker stuffed inside of the coils of one, though I would not require it to ignite them.
“How much?” I asked him, probing into my coin purse with the hand that wasn’t holding my groceries.
He waved a hand dismissively, “Take ‘em with ye for free, lad. Consider it me way of showin’ gratitude for yer graciousness and refusal to brand me a traitor, even if I rightly deserve the scorn” He insisted on being the village outcast.
“You shouldn’t be so hard on yourself, but thanks for your thoughtful contribution” I praised him as I scooped up the torches and held them in my arm.
He smiled for once, “Think nothing of it, boyo. I cannae have me one hope of reconciliation with the family wander aimlessly in the fathomless earth without a candle to guide his way, ye know!” He chortled mirthfully.
“Goodbye, Rust” I issued him my valedictory two fingered salute, “If all goes smoothly, you’ll see me again by dawn’s first light” I speculated when I’d return as I exited his shop, the cool air greeting my face indeed felt colder after spending time near the heat of the forge.
I walked at my brisk pace through the town and back to the house of healing where Night Wind, and apparently Starswirl’s horse, were still hitched to the post. Night Wind heard me coming as his ears perked up and he raised his head from the water trough to hail me with a quiet whicker. His eyes drifted to the bag held in my hand and nudged his nose against me, hungry for those carrots he enlightened me were his favorites.
“Patience, Night Wind. Let me put this other stuff away first” I stuffed the torches and foodstuffs into the slim saddlebags that lined Night Wind’s rump and took out a sizable helping of the many carrots I now had.
I offered them to my ride one at a time and he devoured them happily, petiole and everything. The mare noticed this and raised a fuss, yanking her head against the detachable reins that kept her hitched, flicking her tail, and snorting impatiently. She wanted to be fed as well.
I indulged her once Night Wind had his fill of carotene. I grabbed another helping of the thankfully prewashed carrots and came up to the mare’s side. I didn’t know what was keeping Starswirl so long, but he needed to hurry up if we were going to bring our mutual person of interest back to the world of the living.
“Hello beautiful…” I addressed the immaculately groomed mare, running my hand along her fur. Her white coat was spotless and pleasing to the touch, “What’s your name?”
Her answer was a brief horse like grunt and shaking of her silvery mane, “Daybreak huh? That’s a fitting name for you, I think” I couldn’t help but find irony in the opposite contrast between the wizard’s steed and mine, “Have some carrots. I’m not sure if Starswirl has your dietary needs recorded on his priority list, and I don’t want you collapsing from hunger simply because he was too preoccupied with buying bait for the leeches that he forgot about that” I scratched behind her ears as I delivered each individual carrot into her maw. She wasn’t as susceptible to it as Night Wind was, but I could tell that I was scratching an itch that she couldn’t reach, evidenced by the contented flopping of her ears.
The mare made a confused noise punctuated by the crunching of carrots, “You heard me, Daybreak. You two are going marsh hopping to the southeast of Mirrimare. Hope you like mud!” I wasn’t sure if it was a trick of the light, but I could have sworn I saw the mare roll her eyes.
When the last carrot was eaten, Daybreak nuzzled gratefully into my hand and nickered, her warm breath flowing over my skin, “It was my pleasure, Daybreak. Though I’m mostly trying to curry favor with my inner Fluttershy” I jested to the majestic creature, albeit she would not understand who that was.
With my business in the town temporarily concluded, I untied Night Wind from the post and mounted him. The equine was a lot more vocal about his thoughts once he discovered I was akin to a horse whisperer, wanting to know what our next destination was.
“It’s a bit far off…” I told him, “Half a day’s ride to the west, according to Vitalitus. You and I need to pay a visit to the hilly region surrounding the town of Fogmount. Do you happen to know where that is?” I inquired, and Night Wind neighed affirmatively.
I had him trot us out of the town, since there were probably restrictions on going full gallop before clearing the edge of town. Folks who knew me from the market genially waved to me as I left, seeing in me one of their own. I didn’t straighten out their misconceptions, since it was more beneficial to lie in this situation than be forthright, (Applejack would give me the stink eye if she knew about it) and returned their farewells when I could, but focused my mind of the trial ahead. I only had fairly ambiguous information to go on regarding these caves. And the main danger awaiting me was just a Starbeast… that had an earth quaking tussle with a Dragon and won handily. It had to be a big monster if it could do that. Right, so it was in my best interests to maintain a healthy proximity from the creature, my safety took precedence over my curiosity.
Once we had put Mirrimare in the metaphorical rearview, Night Wind made hoof shaped prints in the dirt as he took to the three meter wide, leaf covered, beaten trail that would take me to the neighboring town if I pursued it in its entirety. I didn’t take a genius to figure out that Night Wind’s former masters must have conducted activities in this region often if he instinctually knew where to go. I was gladdened that Night Wind’s loyalty wasn’t solely pledged to any one man or organization, but it was undoubtedly a two way street in that manner. If I were to be replaced in the same way that I replaced the man who had ridden this steed before, Night Wind plausibly wouldn’t be able to tell the difference or care. This is what mainly separated him from the little ponies that I expended a week of my life with in my eyes. Regardless of this, he was a fine horse, and I knew that he would serve me well in the days ahead.
But for now, we had to get through this day first. Night Wind sustained a gallop at three quarters of his sprinting speed and slowed to a canter every twenty miles or so. The trail we were using didn’t deviate much from its terrain features, with the gigantic trees of the Towerwoods occupying most of the scenery. The shifting sunlight shining through the canopy painted the earth in a variety of colors. Eight hours and over one hundred and fifty miles later, the sun had sunken below the horizon and the moon had risen to taken its place. Our progress was made evident by roads that were losing their flat characteristics and beginning to exhibit steepness. Despite my insistence that we stop to make camp and rest, Night Wind powered forth, like there was an unstoppable resolve to take me where I needed to go gripping him. I had no clue how he was able to see through the dimness of the evening, until I realized that he had memorized this route by heart. Why would his prior masters need to go this route so regularly?
Since Night Wind was especially determined to live up to his name, I augmented my vision to help me see in this moonlit environment. The spell worked by collecting what small amounts of light were present (the moon provided a generous portion) and using it to enhance what I could see, allowing me to spot crepuscular deer wandering in the woods three hundred yards away. This fittingly led to seeing everything with a greenish tint, just like with night vision goggles. Another hour of galloping in the night later, my steed and I had emerged from the Towerwoods and were traversing up and around rocky hills that were pockmarked with entrances into the earth. Their apertures weren’t very wide though, and Night Wind soundly ignored them as we passed on by. My night vision couldn’t portray it fully, but the landscape kind of reminded me of Rohan, with grassy expanses that were hemmed in by hills.
Before long, Night Wind had stopped in front of a monumental hill (shy of being a midget mountain really) that had a sufficiently large cave entrance for some spelunking. The entrance of the cave was not flat, having a downward slope that conducted one into the bowels of the planet. The opening to the cave was excessively bright though, and when I cancelled the spell augmenting my vision, I ascertained that the interior of the cave was lit! My far seeing Valkyrian eyes and acute hearing could make out the signs of human activity within, albeit not to numerous levels. I had a hunch that Night Wind’s erstwhile masters also had ongoing business in these caves that I knew nothing about.
But I intended to find out.
I had Night Wind park himself a safe distance away and dismounted to do some investigating up close. I had nothing to hitch him to, so the tired yet still zealous equine tried following me.
I turned around and laid a hand on his muzzle, “Caves are no place for a horse. You need to wait out here, pal” I commanded in a tone that had no room for argument.
He snorted in the contrary and stamped his front hooves on the ground, motioning with his head to the tunnels, eager to accompany me anywhere. Like I had opined before, what a loyal steed this horse was.
“While I would appreciate the companionship, Night Wind, I need to brave the darkness alone. When I emerge though, it might not be the same way I came in, so I will require you to be hanging around and at the ready to pick me up” I told him, habitually planning for contingencies. I took out the torches that Rust had given me, in case I needed them, and stuffed the four of them in-between my belt at each side.
He nickered and blew air through his teeth.
I quirked an eyebrow, “You want me to whistle for you? All right. Will this do?” I emulated the musical whistle that Gandalf used to summon Shadowfax in the movies, augmenting it with magic so that it would ring clearly over any noise in a broad radius, but not loud enough to be heard by whomever was in the caves.
His ears flickered at the high pitched sound as he memorized it and wordlessly nodded his head. He gave me a farewell nuzzle and disappeared into the night.
Unattended and with no one to worry about, I pulled my hood back over my head and crept towards the cave entrance, sticking to the shadows along the outer perimeter of the hill. As I got adjacent to the entrance, I could faintly hear voices discussing something. There was too much background noise of objects being shifted and solid materials being flung into containers for me to distinguish the words. Wanting to listen in on it, I took a steeling breath, initiated my active camouflage spell, and snuck past two armed men who were posted at the entry. They were armored in chainmail and carried spears, though they did not possess sensitivity for recently activated magic, so I could safely assume that they were not Stellar Mages. They did not appear to be that attentive, halfway to nodding off, so it was apparent that they did not expect any complications. That might be their undoing.
The interior of the cave was renovated so that the middle of stalagmite littered cave was free of obstructions. Occupying it was a wooden flatbed cart that was loaded with open crates that were filled to the brim with gemstones and the occasional chunk of gold. Every so often, a man would manifest out from further into the cave carrying with him a small fortune’s worth of wealth in a sack, which he would proceed to deposit in the cart straightaway. It wasn’t much of a stretch to deduce that the people running this operation here knew about the Dragon hoard that Rust relayed the story of to me about, plumbed the caves and found it, and were raking in the profits. Approximate to the laden cart that had oxen hitched to it was a table that had papers and scrolls cluttering its surface. Two men were conversing with each other next to it. One looked like a messenger, and the other looked like an overseer. There were plenty of tall stalagmites lining the sides of the cave, so I took cover behind them to do some eavesdropping.
“When will this next shipment be ready?” The messenger inquired, “Our Herald of Chaos mandated these assets be delivered a fortnight ago!” He impatiently expressed his liege’s displeasure.
‘These guys again? I best be ready for a fight’ I wouldn’t make a move yet, but I would go into lethal killing machine mode if it came to it.
“Our Herald of Chaos needs to learn some patience” The dirt and grime sullied overseer calmly replied, “Extracting the wealth that we’ve recovered takes time when the cave network here is infested with meddlesome Grimwort raids that constantly disrupt us. Not to mention that the Starbeast is an inconsistent sleeper. I lost an entire team last month because one of them was idiotic enough to wake it with his bumbling. That’s fifteen men! Gone!” The overseer snapped his fingers in dramatic emphasis.
“Cross doesn’t want your meager excuses… he wants results!” The casually garbed messenger spat, “This load had better be on its way by morning, or it will be on your head, Rock!” The diminutive but harsh spoken man made for a pen where his horse was being kept. He mounted it and departed the cave forthwith.
“Ass kissing, worm ridden piece of filth” The overseer unkindly grumbled to himself once the messenger was out of hearing range, “Unlike that snotty excuse of a man, I’m actually promoting our cause with more than just words! But since when did anyone ever appreciate my toiling in this forsaken cave? Glistering lard samples I’m undervalued!” He exhaled in frustration, rubbing his bald head and taking a seat at the table. He uncorked a stashed bottle of alcohol, which he took a swig of to alleviate his stress.
‘And I thought I was predisposed to complain to myself’ I mentally rolled my eyes. What a whiner.
I was about to contemplate my next course of action, when I just about had it chosen for me. A man materialized from the depths, running fast enough that he could have participated in the relay event at the Athletic Games and won third place easily. The winded man approached the imbibing overseer and paused to recuperate his breath before reporting in.
“Overseer Bottom!” The man exclaimed with some panic, “We’re under attack by the Grimworts!”
“Flaming tits of Tartarus” The overseer cursed sourly, “Will this night’s ineptitude never cease!?” He twisted his head angrily at the man, “Who was stupid enough to disturb their dens this time?” He demanded to know.
“That’s the thing, Overseer Bottom. They’re attacking without provocation this time! I think they may be after the hoard’s treasure too!” The man hypothesized, “There’s dozens of them and they just keep coming!” He voiced his fear.
“Well isn’t that just wonderful? Get your useless ass back there and help cut them down!” The overseer acerbically jeeringly instructed, and the man hesitantly obeyed. The rancorous overseer stood up and barked out more orders to the men at the front, “We’ve got trouble boys. Go lend a hand before we have to rot here waiting for another replacement team… again” He callously described how he would react to his men’s demise.
The lookouts nodded and jogged into the abyssal fathoms of the cave. Which left the overseer and me alone, really. This timely opportunity rendered my reliance on stealth mode unnecessary. Turning my emotions (and my camo spell) off and breaking from cover, I came up to the inattentive man and tapped him gently on the shoulder to politely get his attention.
He whirled around, “What!? Didn’t I tell you slugs t-…” He froze up in complete incomprehension when he saw it was not one of his men. His dithering reaction time in reaching for the dagger on his belt would lead to his ruination.
“Don’t take this personally, but…” I sank a hidden blade into his chest and removed it; puncturing through his sternum and into his aortic arteries like they were damp cardboard, “…die”
“K-knew I should n-never have taken t-this job…” He sputtered weakly as he staggered back limply, futilely clutching at his chest in an attempt to slow the bleeding before keeling over. I used my Tantō to trace a red line along his neck and ease his passage from this life, before wiping it clean on his leggings and saving a moment to meditate on my methods.
I took no pleasure in his death, but I couldn’t allow this operation to go on funding whatever misdeeds these Acolytes of Chaos would misuse it for. I could have knocked him out. But when he awoke again he would undoubtedly report my intrusion to his superiors, and I wanted to keep my profile as off the grid as possible. It still bugged me how I could kill so unfalteringly and dismiss the action that clinically afterwards, but it wasn’t a demon I could wrestle with right now.
I relieved the dead man of his valuables (including another pouch of coins to replace my depleted one) and scanned the desk for enlightening information that concerned his operation. Based on the shipping manifest, these Acolytes had already carted six shipments worth of gems and gold to their secluded base in the Dreamy Vale over the past two months since they had uncovered the hoard. Vexingly, the records did not specifically state the location of this base. These Acolytes must have known that someone would eventually stumble upon this place, so they took no chances. All the info I found only listed the estimated worth of the shipments (upwards of twenty thousand Bob) and comments about the hazardous conditions of accumulating this wealth. Rock Bottom was just as churlish in his reports as he was in life, and he repeatedly asked for more soldiers to empty the caves of whatever these Grimworts were so that their operation here would not be continuously harassed. This Herald of Chaos must not have valued his resource gatherers very well, since he never did send any muscle to provide security.
The far off noises of weapons clashing against metal incrementally grew increasingly frequent as I concluded collating with my findings and gleaning what I could from them. Additionally sabotaging the operation, I unlatched the gate to the pen where two other horses were kept and had them vacate the cave by giving them a firm slap to their rears (I almost had to jump out of the way to avoid a startled buck from one of the equines). Next, I negotiated with the stubborn oxen, both of whom knew where the town of Mirrimare was, to take the cart there in exchange for the guarantee of good grazing and less whip crazy masters. Pocketing Rust’s share of the valuables, I overlaid the crates with a silk sheet and attached a note to the wagon ordering the authorities of Mirrimare to prudently make use of the riches to benefit the impoverished town. I then set off into the cave’s interior to put down the other Acolytes and pick me some mushrooms.
‘Video Games have irreparably desensitized me, haven’t they?’ I brooded, thinking about how standard these things had become to me.
Torch sconces that were hammered into the walls only modestly lit the cave, so my eyes had to adjust to the dim conditions the farther I ventured into it. The narrow, burrow like tunnel opened up to reveal an enormous, open aired cavern that smelled musty and dank, and not in the cool way. There was a jagged path that guided those who took it to the vast floor of the cavern, which was decorated by stalagmites, stalactites, and columns that combined the two. Lamps that glowed blue and were hung on posts vaguely illuminated the winding path downwards. A battle of sorts was taking place at the bottom of the cavern, with the two spearmen from earlier fighting their way through a horde of four and a half foot wretched appearing creatures that looked like anemic goblins. These… Grimworts had pale skin from the absence of sunlight, cuspidated hairy ears, and black eyes that lacked pupils. They also seemed to be partially civilized (though I use this term rather loosely), arming themselves with jagged blades that were carved from stone and clothing their modesty with ratty loincloths.
They made atrocious shrieks and squawks as they charged at the duo of spearmen, who to their credit, were doing an excellent job of plowing through the oncoming waves of Grimworts. The reckless creatures threw themselves at them like rain on a rock and were swept aside with horizontal swipes that brushed their thin, emaciated frames aside. Whatever Grimworts got past their defenses to score a jab discovered that they couldn’t pierce their chainmail armor, which comfortably resisted the crude stone daggers and other stabbing implements they were using. Thirty meters of Grimwort filled space ahead of them was a half circle of fourteen men who were holding off the brunt of the main force. If they were one man short of a complete team, then the reporting man that the overseer sent back must have foolishly fallen to the goblinish creatures trying to rejoin his comrades. Behind them was a mammoth mound of gems and golden trinkets that must have been the Dragon’s hoard. It was of such size that it could have readily topped off several carts worth of shipments.
The chamber bore the signs of a great struggle that this battle had nothing to do with. Columns were tumbled over and cleaved from their foundation, scorch marks blackened the portions of the cave that were illuminated, and there were gashes raked into the earth that were wide enough to park an SUV on them with some room to spare. The Dragon that once resided here must have been ambushed in its own home, and fought wildly to stay alive and defend its nest. It failed though, as abreast of the hoard were the crushed remains of that Dragon’s skeleton, its semi truck sized skull staring forlornly at the mound that it spent much of its life stockpiling. It was depressing in a way, and the bloodshed that was taking place over its grave now did nothing to soften the disheartening impression.
The report of dozens of attacking Grimworts was a conservative and hasty estimate by my standards. The influx of the vicious creatures pouring out of the darkness and into the light of the retrieval team’s torches must have been shy of a hundred, with more of them turning up every second. The retrieval team itself was only marginally armed with one handed swords and the men composing it had nothing to defend themselves with if those did not avail them. Slowly but steadily, the men in the defensive circle were getting overwhelmed, and each of them were being slain one at a time as three or more of the Grimworts tackled them to the floor and bled them dry with their weapons. Somewhat morbidly, I was content with this development, as I didn’t need to wet my blades with acolyte blood a second time today.
On the other hand, an altercation with these Grimworts was unavoidable. As I reached the floor of the cavern, a trio that were probing the tiring spearmen’s defenses saw fit to try their luck with me. Assembling Dichotomy in the span of a second, I deflected a feeble diagonal slash (shattering the Grimwort’s weapon in the process) and deprived the offending creature of its forearm. It emitted a shrill yowl of agony before I silenced it by lopping off its head and stomping my boot into its chest to send it flying backwards. The other two were intimidated by this and turned tail to retreat, only to receive Mage-blade shards in their spinal columns for disrespectfully showing their backs to me. My face contorted into a moue of disgust as I advanced. These wretches were positively filthy. Their pint sized bodies were riddled (relatively aptly) with warts and pustules that gave off foul smells that made me nauseous.
‘And now I’m beginning to sound like Rarity’ I thought self deprecatingly, ‘Someone ought to light a match in here to banish that appalling stench’ I settled for igniting the conducive portion of my blade with magic and brandishing it at the numerous other savage Grimworts that aimed to introduce me to their roughly hewn weapons.
These creatures retained a primal fear of fire being used against them, and the two Grimworts who were within swinging range could attest to their brethren that I was neither in the mood for their hostility, nor would I tolerate it without dispatching them with extreme prejudice. Their bisected and cauterized corpses lying at my feet, the rest of the horde coming at me thought better of their attack and timorously pulled back to outside the light radius of my burning blade. Those Grimworts at the vanguard who were occupied with their foray against the defensive circle had achieved victory, as the last of the retrieval team had been ganged up on and suffered a violent, ignoble demise at the end of their serrated stone weapons. The two spearmen who were meant to reinforce them also succumbed to their mortality as the sheer force of numbers bypassed their chainmail armor, lacerated their exposed vital spots, and brought them low. The ostensibly triumphant horde attempted to smother the lamps that encapsulated the monolithic mound of treasure by kicking over the stands and stamping at the candles inside the glass.
Confident as I was that I could take these Grimworts on with the potent magical firepower that I had at the tips of my fingers. I didn’t have time to waste on them. However, if they succeeded in plunging the cavern into utter darkness, it would embolden them to assail me as the last non Grimwort combatant, and I would be unable to see them without limiting myself to equipping and holding one of the torches in my inventory and fighting with one foot in a bucket. To prevent this undesired scenario from happening, I proactively carved my way through the horde and to the mound where the creatures were bootlessly tugging at the grounded posts. I wordlessly marveled at how much wealth the Dragon had accrued before its unfortunate tangle with the Starbeast. The unarmed Grimworts (they had tossed their weapons to the floor to unburden themselves for their task) proved to be no challenge as they startled and scrambled for cover while I reduced their number of friends in this world. I rekindled the extinguished lamps and righted them with my magic, meanwhile pointing my blazing blade at them in a gesture that demanded they stand down or be annihilated.
I (all but unexpectedly) got my wish, as I heard a grating voice scream over the aggressive grunts and growls of the horde. They backed away a few steps and the mass of their bulk parted to allow someone through. This someone had to be their leader, as it had on a headdress made of fishbone, stood straighter, and was moderately cleaner than its kinsmen. I remained on my guard though, as their display of a ceasefire could have been a feint to surprise me, and I didn’t do surprises (Much to Pinkie’s dismay). The leader of the drastically diminished horde came to within a few meters of me before stopping and speaking in a wheezy voice that must have been a product of age.
“Why does the Fire Lord wielding the sword of flame oppose Grimworts? Why does he kill us?” It inquired in a falsely neutral, genderless tone that betrayed the authority figure of the horde’s fear of me.
‘Fire Lord? Don’t tell me they think I’m some kind of deity?’ I didn’t exclusively channel fire after all. It was just a preferred spell of mine. Still, I should take advantage of this.
“Your underlings attack me, and you have the gall to ask me that? I should burn you all to ashes for your insolence” There was a dangerous edge in my voice, and the leader stifled a shiver before composing itself.
“My den apologizes if we have offended you, Oh fearsome Fire Lord” It bowed and scraped the floor, a obeisant gesture that the rest of the horde copied after a moment of seeing their leader’s example, “Your swift and terrible wrath reminded us why we are to respect the power of the revered ones”
It rose and meshed its three fingered claws together, “Though we despise the garish sting they have on our eyes, we will keep the light bringers lit in your honor” It turned to its kinsmen, “You hear us!? Chieftain decrees that the lights go un-doused!” It proclaimed, and the horde murmured its obedience.
“And this treasure trove behind me?” I gesticulated back with a thumb.
“What does Fire Lord want with such petty baubles and shinies?” It was confused, “My den mates desire the shinies, to show the other rival dens that we are superior!” It beat a hand against its chest, making the bones in its headdress rattle.
“I do not want the shinies, I was just curious as to why you had slain those men for it” I spared a glance to the recently deceased, some of whom the Grimworts were already dragging to their hole in the ground, possibly for consumption. I internally frowned at the unceremonious defilement of their bodies, but I wasn’t willing to fight them for it, not when peace could be achieved.
The Chieftain hissed, “Foul man flesh desecrated our home, killed many younglings. We wanted them dead… the shinies are a divine reward for our troubles and grief” It grinned widely as it interpreted the mound as a beatific sign, showing off its crooked, piranha like teeth.
“Fair enough” I shrugged, apathetic either way, “Howbeit, I do desire something…” I tested the waters to see if I could lessen my own troubles.
“Name it, Oh Great and Powerful Fire Lord, and the Glowworm Pack will do its best to appease you” The Chieftain readily offered its group’s support. It was a strange designation… though it made sense if they lived near glowworms.
“Are your kindred by any chance familiar with a special type of mushroom growing in these caves?” I posed my simple question to them.
“Mushrooms? Of course we are, Fire Lord! There’s Hobnob, Julesthorpe, Uzfets. Oh, they are so tasty for us to eats!” It spouted gleefully. Its ability to replicate humanlike emotions was unsettling.
“Yes, yes, so you know your mushrooms!” I brusquely cut it off, “But do you know where I can find the orange mushrooms that have tendrils extending out of their caps?” I clawed a hand and brought it to my chin to illustrate what I meant.
The Chieftain cringed and looked to the side, “Those were our favorites… until the Starry Mountain made the chambers where they grew its den. What does Fire Lord want with them?” It indulged its own curiosity.
“My business in these caves does not concern you” I sternly evaded the inquiry, “But if one of your kindred were to… guide me to where I could find this Starry Mountain and the mushrooms. I would be most grateful” My tone made it clear that this was not a request they could refuse without dire consequences. Heck, I was so proficient at this threatening stance that even I didn’t know if I really intended to dice them to bits if they were uncooperative.
“If Fire Lord wants a guide to the Starry Mountain, Fire Lord will get one” The Chieftain put two of its clawed fingers to its mouth and whistled, before waving one of its kinsmen over, “Take him to see the Starry Mountain, and be quick about it!” It commanded an especially short lackey, who crawled on all fours like a certain pasty skinned character these Grimworts sort of reminded me of as a whole.
The lackey nodded and motioned for me to shadow it, “This way precious! This way!” He (this one approximately sounded male) encouraged me, crawling past the sparkling mound with a three beat gait and waited for me to tail behind.
“Follow the leader eh? Fine. I’ll play your game. But move wrong, and I’ll kill you” My eyes involuntarily flashed with a surge of magic to unintentionally reinforce this ‘Fire Lord’ image that the Grimworts associated me with. With how the gaggle of Grimworts gasped and cowered back, it was an efficacious tactic of intimidation.
“As you should, if we besmirch you with such imprudence. As you should” The Chieftain repeated and bowed again, “This humble den will spread word of your greatness to the other dens, lest they too bear witness to your destructive power and be wiped out”
“Do as you will. I must depart” I pivoted on my heels and followed the runt of the litter as I ventured into the heart of the cave network. The whooping shouts of Grimworts showering themselves with gems and gold echoed in the expanse behind me. It seemed a shame to let the majority of that fortune go to the Grimworts, but my pressing circumstances dictated that it out of my hands now.
Since the rest of the tunnels connecting each of the respective caverns weren’t explored by the Acolytes and therefore unlit, I extracted a torch from my belt and ignited it with magic instead of the flint and striker, mindful of my image before the crawling Grimwort that would occasionally sneak peeks at me when he thought I wasn’t looking. I automatically suspected treachery to ensue at any given moment, but these Grimworts honorably stayed true to their agreements. There were no ambushes that I had to violently abort, nor other implications of trickery. I kept Dichotomy in hand and at the ready anyway, since Grimworts were the least hazardous things I might encounter in these caves.
It was difficult to tell the passage of time when I was immersed in total darkness, but if I had to reckon a guess, I’d say that it was a more than a middling number of hours of pseudo clambering over slippery rock formations before my ‘tour guide’ told me that we were getting close. I could guesstimate the time with relative accuracy because the torches that Rust supplied me with lasted about two hours each, the burning beeswax purified the air by producing cleansing negative ions as an extra benefit. Dark and dank as these caves were, they were not without their beauty. On the way to the mushrooms I espied opalescent pools of sludge, pillar sized selenite crystals jutting out of the walls in special chambers, and bioluminescent glowworms dangling from the ceiling much like the Arachnocampa luminosa that were native to New Zealand caves, only these glowworms gave off a reddish hue in place of a blue one.
I would have enjoyed it more had it not been for the nosiness of my guide, who asked me the most inane questions about things that wouldn’t even apply to me, such as which den I came from and whether I liked my fish raw… or wriggling. For some reason he kept referring to me as ‘precious’ and to himself in third person. Yeah, he was definitely not doing a bang up job of rectifying the notion of what I was mentally comparing him to. But he seemed to know where he was going, so I could overlook how queasy staring at his feculent back made me.
The hopping creature stopped short of the opening into another cavern and timidly maintained his proximity to the exit in the opposite direction. His head rotated back and forth fearfully as he looked between myself and the chamber where my goal was waiting for me.
“This is as far as we takes you, precious. Starry Mountain slumbers in the chambers where Chieftain’s favorite mushrooms grow. We are unworthy to even be in your presence, Oh mighty and statuesque Fire Lord, but we would advise our fellow Grimwort to be chary of waking it” He held a claw to his lips and blew air past his blackish lips in a shushing gesture.
“I’ll keep that in mind” I dryly acknowledged the obviousness of his counsel, “Thank you for showing me the way, Grimwort” I expressed my gratitude, and the small not-goblin puffed himself up with pride, “One last thing before you and I part ways permanently” I got his attention before he could scamper on home.
“Yes, precious!” He bobbed his head up and down energetically, “What is it? What’s it want of us?” He flashed me a smile that was sorely lacking on a complete set of teeth.
“I don’t plan on backtracking through this maze of caves. Is there a route to the surface that you know of?” I questioned him, not meaning to come back the way I came.
He held a claw to his chin in recollection, “As a rule, us Grimworts do not approve of roving up to the over-world,” He crept closer and looked upwards to me, “but we can tell you that there is a tunnel we know that leads up that is on the other side of the Starry Mountain’s chamber” He disclosed in a controversial tone of voice, “We likes to go up there sometimes to gaze at stars that won’t try to gobble us up” He shyly admitted to stargazing, “It reminds us of the times when brood mother would sing to us with the Glowworms glimmering above… we Grimworts are mesmerized by singing… so nice on our ears it is, yes precious!”
‘How touching’ These Grimworts weren’t the barbaric savages I thought they were. I didn’t know whether to be comforted or distraught by this bombshell.
“Adventurous for a Grimwort, aren’t you?” I offhandedly remarked, considerately holding the torch behind me so that the light wouldn’t grate on his eyes. He wouldn’t be much use as a guide if I blinded him after all.
“Please don’t tell Chieftain about this!” He implored me, this fact apparently being a well kept secret for him, “We likes being fed and not picked on by bigger den mates!” He was pathetic enough that he garnered my sympathy, even if I had already explained that I wasn’t coming back.
“I won’t tell a soul” I promised, grinning rakishly, “Now get out of my sight” I compelled him, holding the torch ahead of me and sending him scrabbling back to his den with a yip.
I contemplated extinguishing my only source of light so I would minimize the risk of waking the slumbering Starbeast, but decided against it when I remembered that I wouldn’t be able to see a damn thing without it. I guessed that I had little choice but to risk it and be speedy about my mushroom extracting. Egressing from the tunnel and into the main chamber where I would find my mushrooms, I attempted to scan the environment of the earthen cavity, but I found that it was simply too immense to do so with the levels of light that the torch was radiating. It was odd though. My torch diffused golden light, but the area of the chamber where I stood vigilant was illumed with a vermillion tinge. My grasp on my sword and torch instinctively tightened into a vice like grip once I realized that my lighting equipment was not responsible for this.
The tip of its translucent nose resting less than sixty feet away, there was an absolutely colossal beast the likes of which I had never witnessed before, except on television (And it was a poor representation at that). Its outline could be confused for that of a bear to one with faulty eyesight, though the general shape was about the only thing that this behemoth had with that animal, with it being hundreds of times more massive in scale. I could not accentuate just how mountainous this Starbeast was, my first comparison being that it would take up all the space of a blimp hangar if it were in the fetal position. Stretched out like this, I’d have to upgrade that blimp hangar to one that housed Zeppelins. Its body was a dull shade of red that was dotted with specks of light that resembled stars suspended in a liquid solution. There was a symbol on its head that depicted a white, eight pointed starburst. There was no mistaking it. I had happened upon a snoozing Ursa Major.
The most astounding feature about this Starbeast though was that it was semi tangible, with the majority of its gigantic bulk lying on top of the usual stalagmites and flowstones without compacting them into a fine powder. My mind struggled to comprehend how this was possible, as the breaths that it inhaled and exhaled in releases that would have the force of tiny gales had I stood in the way clearly demonstrated that it did physically interact with the world. Eventually the answer came down to a simple, if not infuriatingly non specific answer… magic: the means that made impossible things viable. It would explain how it managed to attack the Dragon in its chambers, when its bulk would have otherwise been stuck in the relatively Lilliputian tunnels getting there. How it could control this exotic ability while asleep was not for me to know.
The ambient reddish glow that this majestic creature gave off was sufficient enough that my torches would impede me more than they would support me, so I snuffed the flame by projecting a magical force field around the flame to choke it out of oxygen and put the stick down noiselessly instead of just recklessly throwing it away. The walls and upper ledges of this cavern were bedecked in the orange mushrooms that I sought, though how they grew in such unfavorable conditions was beyond me (Though fungi were hardy eukaryotic organisms). To my exasperation, the ones that I could see were all out of my unaided reach. There was stumpy evidence on the ground level that this Starbeast snacked on these mushrooms, sucking them into its gullet much like a whale would feast on microscopic krill.
In the interest of relocating onto one of those high up ledges where the hidden mushrooms were, I would have to engage the use of my wings, which was risky because my wings gave off a modicum of light much like this creature’s semi palpable hide did. I would have to hope that the similar hue that this creature shared with my wings was such that it wouldn’t notice a difference. Sneaking around it was out of the question, because it was fat enough that I would walk right into its selectively tangible, folded forearms. Keeping my distance, I summoned my wings and pumped them four times to ascend to the lowest of the ledges where the mushrooms were. The tendril mushrooms that would resuscitate Tough Cookie’s ailing magic reserves grew in bevies of five or more, extending out of the stony interior and growing abundantly despite the odds stacked against them.
I poked the cap of one with my finger and immediately withdrew it when it came away sticky. I then felt my affected extremity exude magic that was not characterized by my personal signature and mentally worked out what the cause of this was. I inferred that these mushrooms excreted some type of odorless ooze that was charged with energy, which was confirmed by scanning it with my metaphysical senses. I plucked a few of them as planned and stowed them in a free pouch on my belt. I was able to fit many into the cramped space due to their conveniently minuscule dimensions, being about the size of your typical, garden variety mushroom. The steady breathing of the Starbeast was the only noise in the cavern, since I was as silent as a church mouse as I worked. I really didn’t want to piss this thing off by interrupting its sleep.
Nodding to myself at achieving my main objective, I made to spread my wings and float to the bottom to make good on my exit… only for that sludge the mushrooms were secreting long before I had arrived to induce me to slip as my boots lost their purchase. I stifled a curse as I fell off the ledge face first and stumbled down onto the body of Ursa Major, rebounding off its hide as I did so. The ‘flesh’ of the Starbeast felt strange beyond words, like bouncing off of nothingness that was both unbearably warm and bone chillingly cold all the same. As a repeated testament to its size, it took me half a minute to arrive at the bottom, where I landed with a disgruntled ‘oomph!’ as I caromed off the tip of its snout.
My heartbeat was pounding in my chest like a drum as I bemoaned some of the harrowing situations that my life foisted on me. I quickly got to my feet as the Ursa Major inhaled sharply, its slumber cut into by my unfortunate slip up. The lungpower this thing possessed was like a cyclone, and I had to stab into the ground with my Tantō and hang on for dear life just to keep from being absorbed into its nostrils. Two mural sized eyelids opened sleepily to reveal yellow sclera with red irises that blazed like supernatural lighthouse beacons. Seeing no other options, I righted myself, sheathed my weapon, and cast my active camouflage spell, hoping against hope that it would be ignorant to that which it couldn’t see with its eyes, disregard my intrusion, and return to the dream world. My hopes promptly evaporated as it sniffed the air where I was twice and growled once it detected my foreign scent, the threatening sound reverberating in the cavern like an avalanche of doom.
Very much intimidated by something whose front incisors were taller than my cloud house, I beat a hasty retreat towards the tunnel I needed to use to escape to the surface. The Ursa Major must have heard my footsteps and figured out my plan, for one monolithic, clawed paw slammed into the earth in front of the exit tunnel with enough force that the shock would be classified as a four and a half on the Richter scale if it were to be measured. Its ground pound jarred me out of my camo spell and swept me off my feet, leaving me vulnerable for a few scant seconds. The Ursa Major knew this as well as I did, and slowly dragged its paw along the ground to smear me into a red streak on the floor. Cursing loudly, I pushed myself up and utilized my wings to just narrowly fly above its attack, simultaneously assembling Dichotomy in my hands and stabbing downwards as I descended. Aided by gravity, coupled with the impetus that my wing flaps imparted on me, I struck true like a rod from God.
It was then that I discovered that the nullifying edge of my Mage-blade had the most horrific effect upon contact with Starbeasts, which were more or less composed solely out of magic. As I impaled my sword into its forearm, I sliced through it like it was no more than a particularly thick fog, sloughing the starry flesh in two like a pair of shears. The edge of my blade necrotized the affected flesh in a disturbing fashion, engendering it to melt like wax and emanate a pungent odor not unlike ozone. Interestingly, there was no blood coursing through this creature’s veins (presuming it had them), so I was not soaked with any fluids. In spite of the damage that my vitiating retaliation produced, the Starbeast emitted no howls of pain nor other signs that it even registered the injury, its minor wounds only provoking it to more anger as it roared thunderously. If I weren’t made out of tougher stuff, I dare say that my eardrums would have burst entirely, instead of ringing like I had attended a rock concert session right in front of the speakers.
I was in a bit of a bind for this situation. I couldn’t take the exit tunnel and make an egress now, or the semi solid creature would just pursue me to the surface using its unique trans-phasic properties. But I would be ill advised to stay locked in mortal combat with this mindless monster that had effortlessly rent a fire breathing Dragon in twain just to muscle in on its territory. In the meantime, I was distracted with swooping and zipping around swipes of its hulking arms that made me feel like those girthy trees in the Towerwoods were being batted at me. I floated gracefully like a butterfly, circumventing its lumbering, rather predictable attacks and stung like a bee with Dichotomy whenever I could manage a clean strike. Even with how deadly the Arcanium metal was against the Starbeast, I just wasn’t doing enough damage to even incapacitate the ginormous thing. It would be like that bee inflicting a fatal sting to a person in one go, which was technically possible if that person had severe allergies, so maybe that wasn’t the most accurate analogy.
The solution to my dilemma dawned on me as I peered into its menacing glare prior to another attack. If I could take out its eyes, I would significantly improve my chances of making an unimpeded getaway. Drunken with hatred towards the annoying nuisance of a speck that it couldn’t squash like a bug, the Ursa Major thrust its left claw forward into the air to flatten me with the width of its paw. I squeezed through a gap in its claws with a midair gyration (idly noting how the tips of my incorporeal wings actually brushed against the talons) and glissaded down its limb by using my weapon to control my slide earthward while additionally doing more damage. As the Ursa Major bellowed in a mix of consternation and pain, evening its appendage to prepare for another swat, I sprinted along its forearm and charged up the conductive part of my blade to detonate a flare of light that would blind its other eye for a time. Leaping off of its arm with my wings and vocalizing a hoarse war cry, I planted Dichotomy into its eyeball like a fork into an electrical socket and let my spell activate, synchronously polarizing my own vision to avoid blinding myself. Multitasking with spells in the heat of things meant the difference between life and death in the outcome of a fight for a magic user.
The effect was exactly what I was hoping for. The Ursa Major howled wholly in pain as I rendered its left eye useless while concurrently disabling its other eye with an overwhelming explosion of light, like that of a small nova. The Starbeast frenetically thrashed its head side to side, striving to hurl me off its face. Granting its wish, I pushed against the ‘nothingness’ of its rotting sclera and alighted to the ground before it brought its mostly uninjured right forearm to wipe against its eyes as it slammed its head into the roof in recoil from the debilitating blow. I had to roll out of the way so a dislodged stalactite wouldn’t skewer me as the Ursa Major flailed about the cavern, failingly trying to kill me without its most vital senses. With the Starbeast preoccupied dealing with its newfound blindness, I booked it through the tunnel and prayed that the diminutive Grimwort from earlier wasn’t lying to me as I flew furiously through the narrowing passage. I snuck a glance behind me and punctually redoubled my efforts when I saw the Ursa Major’s phantom limbs selectively phasing through the environment as it ghosted its way in pursuit of me, likely tracking me via scent.
I was never so happy that the light at the end of the tunnel took on a literal meaning for me as I shot out the entrance of another cave with an oil tanker sized magical beast on my tail. It was early morning by my reckoning, so the sun was barely over the horizon to the east. There was a heavy fogbank that rolled in over the night that hadn’t fully dissipated though, so I had to get some altitude in order to tell that. Turning tangible behind me, the Ursa Major drastically expanded the aperture of the cave entrance as it erupted out of the hill and onto the rolling scenery characterizing the region near Fogmount. Its eyes (the good one anyway) were feral, but focused on me, so I knew that it was no longer sightless. Even though I was multiple dozens of meters into the air, the Starbeast reduced the space between us by standing on its hind legs, the tip of its head grazing the Heavens like a living skyscraper.
‘Where’s Godzilla when you need him?’ I lamented, gaping slightly at the sheer size of the Ursa Major now that there were some distinct landmarks to use as a reference.
Just when I thought I was going to have a dance of death with this thing for a second occasion, something unexpected transpired. The Ursa Major plodded forward and into a section of the fog that was thinned out by the dawning sunlight. The moment the light shone upon the Starbeast’s shoulder, it yelped in an undignified fashion and fell backwards on the rocky soil, causing another minute earthquake that shifted our surroundings where it landed. The air was saturated with that ozoney smell and I suddenly knew what this beasty’s major weakness was. It would certainly explain why Starbeasts were only ever seen outside at night.
It clutched at the scorched portion of its flesh and that rage in its eyes became combined with instinctive, self preserving fear. Grinning fiercely, I put Rainbow’s lessons to work as I manipulated the weather, dispersing and scattering large billows of fog with my wings. The Sun became my weapon against the Starbeast, inflicting burn damage on its whole body as I flitted throughout the sky exercising my Valkyrian aspect and opening up patches of fog for the sunlight to stream through. With the Starbeast lit at all angles and unable to withstand the barrage of solar rays, it was forced to crawl back into the hole from whence it came. It let out a pained whimper that was unbefitting a beast of its bulk as it shrunk into the blackness to lick its wounds.
I came to a landing safely outside the chasmal scar in the earth and shook my fist at it boisterously, “There’s plenty more where that came from! Look me up in the phonebook if you’re ever in the mood to get your star spangled, furry ass kicked a second time!” I gloated in a rare display of blatant hubris. I had just beaten a creature that was hundreds of times my size by the skin of my teeth while suffering nary a scratch. Can you blame me?
Once the adrenaline rush wore off, I checked my inventory to ensure that everything was still in place. Confirming that it was and that the mushrooms were fine (if not a tad squashed in the bag), I climbed up the nearest hill to best project my call over the landscape and whistled in two tones. One was long and sharp, like a bird’s chirp, while the second reverberated melodiously. Within ten seconds, I heard an enthusiastic neigh answer my call. I looked over my shoulder to see Night Wind bounding over the crest of a hill to my right, and I couldn’t help but wonder how he had been so close by. I shook my head and disregarded it. I knew better than to question timely blessings.
The jet black horse slowed his gallop to a trot before coming to a complete stop in front of me. He gave me a nuzzle that basically said ‘Hello again!’ and asked me if my errand was done with a faintly amused whicker.
I smiled imperceptibly and stroked along his lustrous mane, “Sure did, pal. I trust that you had some fun topside while I was stumbling about in the caverns?” I grabbed at the pommel and cantle of the saddle and lifted myself on top of it, “I’ve got the mushrooms that Tough Cookie needs to convalesce her magic pool. All that remains for us to do is get it back to Vitalitus so he can make something useful with them. Ready to ride, my steed?” I took the reins in my hands as he waggled his head affirmatively and turned him east, “Then let’s skedaddle. Hyah!” I whipped the reins and Night Wind stretched his legs, making tracks in the dirt.
Despite the time spent traversing the cave network, I hadn’t meandered that far from where I began. We skimmed along the edges of the tremendous forest until we found the same path that brought us to this neck of the woods. I never enjoyed backtracking for any reason, but I was willing to ignore that selfish inclination for a noble cause. Since daybreak had occurred in the previous hour or so, I calculated that we would return to Mirrimare by the afternoon. I could not sing the praises of Night Wind’s athletic capability enough, and I felt that he whisked across the earth as if he had wings (Alas, he could not fly for real).
Along that same vein, I suppose I could have flown back now that I knew where to go, but Night Wind had earned my companionship with his unswerving eagerness to serve, plus I was feeling understandably lazy after my tangle with the Ursa Major. I had grown fatigued from all the exertion over the past day, what with fighting for my life no less than three times. I know I had complained about the constant up and down bouncing that horseback riding entailed, but I noticed that it had odd sleep enticing qualities in its rhythm that when paired with a comforting breeze on my face, was nigh impossible to discount. I closed my eyes for a nap and entrusted Night Wind to handle things without me jerking at his reins.
⁂
I blinked my eyes when a bump in the ride jostled me from my sleep, triggering me to snort and shake my head to clear it of those fuzzy after-wake thoughts. I leaned up in the saddle and looked skyward to see the smoke trails of the town’s chimneys poking over the diminishing tree line. The sun was almost midway across the sky, so I was roughly precise with my prediction. Night Wind’s speed was at jogging level for a horse, so I knew that he had been conserving energy for the lengthy trip. We broke through the perimeter of the forest and onto the roads next to the fields that the Agrarian folks were still harvesting.
I hadn’t paid much attention to it before today, but the farmlands encompassing the town of Mirrimare must have been well over a hundred square acres worth of property. The numerous segments of fields, coupled with the Agrarian farming techniques of rotating crops to reduce the transmission of crop diseases and micro managed grazing of open pasture livestock meant that food was abundant here. I only prayed that it wouldn’t make them a target to the same exploitation that many of the town’s citizens had resettled here for. What was unusual to me was that the townsfolk collectively reaped the field’s benefits. There were farmhouses outside of the main body of buildings that conceivably housed farming families, but those were few and far between. Some of the workers looked up from their toiling and recognized me from the market, waving to me and commenting on how briefly I was away from town, or what excitement I must have experienced out in the world. If only they knew how correct they were…
Night Wind and I turned up at the town’s house of healing in time to discover that Starswirl had not yet returned himself, as the hitching post was absent of one Daybreak. I hopped off the saddle and fed Night Wind the rest of the carrots as a reward for his service, anchoring him to the post even though I knew he was not liable to wander off. I passed over the threshold of the doors and was unsurprised to find that the place hadn’t changed at all in the time that I was gone. A helpful nurse anticipated my purpose there (or was informed of it) and pointed me to the second floor, where I would find Pestle Plague. Tough Cookie was not in the same bed that I had deposited her, so I deduced that she must have been moved there.
I jogged up the stairs and learned that the second floor was closer to a hospital’s intensive patient unit than the rudimentary recovery beds downstairs, with twice the medicine cabinets and the reserved ministrations of the building’s primary healer. Tough Cookie was the sole occupant here, and was resting in a much nicer bed (She wasn’t in good shape though, just shy of being corpse like). It warmed my heart to see Vitalitus at her side and monitoring her vitals, relating a trivial story to her about the time he mixed rat’s root and wormwood together and had his eyebrows singed off, even though he knew she couldn’t hear it.
For a senior citizen, his hearing was quite functional, “Hrmm… I expected Starswirl to return hours before you would” He muttered as he twisted in his chair to face me, “No matter… did you retrieve the Weeping Willow mushrooms as I instructed?”
“You bet I did. On an offhand note, I suddenly have a new appreciation for the mosquito’s plight” I hinted about the troubles I experienced in collecting them. Allusions were wasted on this man though.
I pulled the bag off my belt and gave it to him for his inspection, “You collected more than was necessary, but this is most fortunate for you and your friend” He announced.
I quirked a brow, “How so?”
“With the amount you brought back, I can craft additional potion vials and imbue them with extra strength” He removed all of the slimy mushrooms and took out a corked tube that had violet colored fluid in it. Putting the mushrooms in a bowl, he popped the cork and poured the liquid into the bowl to make a solution. The orange mushrooms effervesced and dissolved as it reacted with the fluid, resulting in a maroon tinted elixir that smelled of potent magic.
“If you don’t mind me asking, how do you and the wizard know each other?” I indulged my curiosity from yesterday, watching him funnel the fluid into fresh vials that could come in handy.
The healer’s eyebrows rose as he regarded me, “How do I know Starswirl, you say? Well… he came to me many years ago to try his hand at being an apothecary” Vitalitus chuckled low as he remembered a memory that amused him, “He never could get his ingredient measurements and proper proportions right, but you need a special sense for these things. Not that he could ever accept that without grumbling about ‘predestined Mana Marks’ impeding him again”
I craned my neck, intrigued by this, “So he was a student of yours?”
Vitalitus shook his head, “Heavens no! Not openly, anyways. You see… Starswirl is a welcome anomaly in a long line of Stellar Magi who saw us valley folk as having no more worth than the dirt we farmed upon” He looked at the ceiling as he thought about the mishaps that the younger Stellar Mage went through, “Although he was the first born son of his House and therefore expected to retain the same attitudes as the other High Lords of the mountain ranges, he thumbed his nose at the status quo and sought to reform his people’s conceited way of thinking. Sadly, his father disinherited him in favor of his younger brother to prevent further shaming the family, and ousted him from the home. He was in his sixth year of exile when he came to learn under me”
“So why is he a devoted mage instead of a potion maker?” I inquired, wanting to know more of this hidden history.
“Magic is his true calling, Zenith” The healer used my name for the first time, “He has an affinity for the Arcane arts that make him so adept with it that he would be like a mountain, while his kin would be like the valleys in comparison. I know precious little of the magic that the Stellar Magi are so proud of flaunting, but I do know that Starswirl is a prodigy when it comes to its usage”
“He’s certainly capable with it” I remarked, recalling the fog cloud that he conjured in the forest. I would never have considered using active magic to manipulate weather processes before witnessing his flashy example. Then again… I didn’t need to.
“Indeed” Vitalitus nodded, “And the fact that he taught himself in the art of casting magic only reinforces that notion. Word soon spread about his skill and eventually climbed to the heights of his local hometown, where he was tentatively invited back into the fold to tutor privileged youths, in spite of his political aspirations having grown all the more ardent in his absence. They had firm reasoning for changing their minds, and I also suspect that it was to keep his rousing political vocalizations to the populace down to a minimum with mentoring. While the average Stellar Mage can competently evoke to mind five to eight spells corresponding to their marks… Starswirl could evoke over fifty, and those were just the ones that I knew of”
I was about to say something supplementary to contribute to the conversation, but the creaking of someone coming up the steps snagged both of our immediate attentions. Sure enough, Starswirl was in the house, carrying with him a wooden bucket that presumably had the leeches inside. His robes were damp and there was some leftover marsh on his sleeves. The state of his clothing and the sour expression on his countenance would have gotten me to chortle, were it not so inappropriate for a somber mood like this.
I pulled my hood over my head to preserve my Stellar Mage image to the wizard (this quirkiness did not escape the notice of the healer, who otherwise said nothing about the peculiar action), “You’re late” I opined blandly, crossing my arms together, “Vitalitus and I were just speaking of you to pass the time”
“A wizard is never late, nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to” Starswirl coarsely countered (eliciting a grin out of me for his choice of expression), setting the bucket on an adjacent table.
Inside the bucket was a bloody chunk of raw bovine meat that was riddled with small, segmented leeches that pulsed as they fed on the leaking blood of the bait. Next to that he unloaded a batch of the Finrush caltrops (comically plucking them from his robes, where they stubbornly clung to him) that Vitalitus had him obtain on the side. The barbs didn’t seem like anything out of the ordinary, being spikier versions of the burs that one would find on some plant breeds.
“Perhaps you should have meant to arrive sooner” Vitalitus criticized this time, getting the normally composed wizard to flinch, “Your friend is treading on a rapidly thinning boundary separating this mortal coil from its opposite as it is. An hour later and your striving would have been for naught” He rose from his chair to examine the black striped leeches, “Regardless, you both have succeeded in your tasks. Now stand back and watch me accomplish mine” He shooed us to the sidelines.
With a pair of tweezers, Vitalitus tenderly extracted the leeches from their meal and placed them one at a time on Tough Cookie’s body, taking great care to position them over circulatory veins for the optimal transmission of their reputed poison eliminating enzymes. I only knew from my high school and college biology courses that this class of Annelid excreted some kind of anticoagulant when they fed to keep the blood from clotting. But in a magical world, ordinary things had a penchant for becoming extraordinary.
Tough Cookie’s body had an almost spontaneous reaction to the enzymes of the leeches, and she started convulsing violently on the bed. Vitalitus barked at us to help restrain her and we obeyed (even half dead she was strong), holding her down for the better part of an hour as Tough Cookie’s shuddering gradually calmed down and her struggling ceased to an occasional twitch.
Vitalitus was unsure about whether or not this was a positive sign, but went ahead with the rest of his experimental procedure. With a vintage style brass and glass syringe, he filled it with two doses of the mushroom based solution that he had made and injected it into Tough Cookie’s jugular. Starswirl and I collectively held our breath as we waited to see what would occur.
The affected spot incrementally regained some of its original, healthy color as Cookie’s somatic cells were given a supercharged dosage of magic. It summarily spread to the rest of her body as her hopefully purified blood channeled it where it was needed. Cookie’s labored breathing picked up in pace and became audible to all of us, her chest waxing and waning reassuringly. Vitalitus pulled open a drawer and sifted through it until he found a trumpet shaped instrument of bone that I realized was a primitive stethoscope. He pushed it into the salved flesh over her heart and listened for the rhythm of her pulse. He recorded the beats per minute on a piece of vellum that had columns scratched in to account for any changes in her heart rate.
He hummed thoughtfully, “She appears to be on the mend” He removed his ivory stethoscope from her chest, “Howbeit, I’ll need to keep her under observation for a few days until I can confirm that she’s in the clear. But I sincerely believe that she is through the worst of it” The healer asserted with confidence.
He clapped his hands and rubbed them together, “Congratulations gentlemen! We are the first to combat the Hartsbane poison and win. This would be a historic day for the field of medicine if the old Academic Arbor was still in operation, but we’ll just have to recognize this achievement for ourselves”
“Academic Arbor?” I questioned distractedly, gladdened that Tough Cookie’s life was safeguarded against a premature expiration.
“Learned and freethinking men from each clan, like Vitalitus, sometimes convened in the valley to discuss the advancement of common science and magical theory. The locations of these ‘meetings of the minds’ varied for security reasons, but the name stayed constant. Without the exchanging of knowledge, we would be scarcely more than uncultured savages scratching a living off rocks. Their meetings are what advanced us as a whole, and they inspire me to see those days again” Starswirl educated me, “This was all before the meddling of the Stellar Magi and the Valkyrians relegated it to obscurity. Now our peoples are at each others throats instead of standing united, as it always should have been” He wrung his hands, missing the weight of his staff in his grip.
“You speak as if you were there, Starswirl” Vitalitus shot him an aside glance, “And you speak far too highly of it. In my opinion, each of the clans’ representatives were full of themselves, even back when we weren’t fighting ourselves for ultimate supremacy” He sighed melancholically, “But yes… I do indeed pine for the days when I could compare notes with my dear Skyborn friend Tempestus, cranky ol’ bat that he was” He laughed nostalgically before addressing us, “Now that the worst of it is over. How were each of your travels? Starswirl…?” He verbally prodded the wizard for information.
The wizard paid it little mind, “Nothing worth speaking of. I soiled my robes in those damnable marshes and nearly became leech bait myself, were it not for the protective screening spell I shielded my skin with. What about you Zenith? Run into any Starbeasts?” He asked with a knowing expression on his face.
“Not quite…” I fibbed, falsely tapping at my chin, “but I did run into more of those Acolytes of Chaos” I disclosed, with the wizard’s smug expression evaporating and being replaced by shock.
“You did? What were they doing there? Did they attack you?” He exclaimed in succession, worry in his eyes for my sake. Doesn’t that just warm the cockles of your heart?
I whipped an index finger in his direction, “I’ll tell you the answers to those in order. They were occupied with heaping up the rumored Dragon’s hoard, and no, since they were kind of busy getting slaughtered by a boatload of Grimworts, who were accommodating enough to show me where the mushrooms I was seeking were” I scratched at the back of my head, “Is it odd that Ursa Majors snack on magical mushrooms?” I posed it pseudo theoretically, “I find that to be pretty weird”
Starswirl’s jaw unhinged as he processed this, “Incredible… you must be the second hero mentioned in the prophecy. There are far too many correlations for it to be mere coincidence” He murmured to himself, which I still caught because Valkyrian ears are naturally designed for eavesdropping.
He continued to speak, “What inexplicable timing. Come… you and I must talk candidly about my quest, and your reformed role in it” The wizard turned to Vitalitus, “While it pains me to do this, I cannot linger here until Tough Cookie comes around. When she does awaken, inform her that I’ve found the second and am on my way to seek out the heroines. She will understand”
“Very well. I shall relay the message to her when she wakes” He bowed his head in a gesture of goodwill, which the wizard copied, “Farewell Starswirl. May our paths cross again, under less stressful circumstances preferably” He humorously cracked.
“I’m sure they will” Starswirl agreed, urging me to follow him with a curling gesticulation of his fingers.
I did not want to leave Tough Cookie all to her lonesome, but Starswirl seemed intent on resuming his business in the Dreamy Vale and Vitalitus was watching over her, so I scribbled on a scrap of parchment a private message that was for her eyes only (‘Frigging quills’), stuffing it under her pillow and illuminating Vitalitus to this fact. On my out, the healer entreated me to take the four surplus vials of that maroon colored mojo juice, mysteriously commenting that he felt I might need it. I thanked him a last time for his kindliness and was out the door. I must admit that I was eager to sally forth too, as I had a feeling in my gut that my ticket home was somewhere in that valley.
Starswirl and I reconvened outside by the hitch where Night Wind and Daybreak were resting after so much traveling in such a short period, “Alright Starswirl, it’s time you clarified to me just what the heck is up with you and this vague quest of yours” I pressed the wizard, giving him my full attention.
The wizard turned his back to me and contemplated about how to best lay it on me, “Are you familiar with the Sisters of Fate? The one whose veiled tower is smack dab in the unpopulated craggy highlands in the center of the map and has more concerted security than most castles?” He responded with a question.
“I have heard of them in passing” I replied with nonspecific honesty, my mind pulling up mental images of the beautiful stained glass window that exalted their legacy as soothsayers.
“They are yet another example of what our people could achieve if they worked together in unison. Their protectors are a small but well trained mix of soldiers from all three clans, each resultant from a following that all three of the foreseers garnered individually. Combined, they make up a manifold assortment of crack troops” He pinched the bridge of his nose, “But I’m digressing here. If you know of the Sisters of Fate, then you must also know about their prophecies concerning future events that will happen both near and afar. One of these prophecies was disseminated many moons ago and reached my ears through a trustworthy source. When it did, I kept alert, for I knew in my heart of hearts that it addressed my dream to see our people ruled under a single, all inclusive banner resembling none of those being flown today. This is why I seek these fair maidens out. For even the most wisest among us cannot see all ends… but the Sisters are gifted with preternatural foresight, which for all intents and purposes is the next best thing. It is imperative that I find the heroines of the prophecy” He explained to me in monologue, to which I listened to with rapt attention. There was something almost hypnotic about how this aged but venerable man told his tale.
“And what was this mysterious prophecy?” I investigated, still wary about the one concerning myself.
Starswirl inhaled deeply before telling me, “Two heroines will rule them all, two heroes will find them. A darkness most vile will obstruct them with hate, but in doing so shall be bound by fate. Twin lights shall emerge from the Heavens to bring them all and in Harmony, unite them” He glanced at me meaningfully, “Each third of that prophecy was issued by one of the foreseers… and their auguries rarely align with such coherent consistency” He pointed an index finger at me, “I believe you to be the second hero. Not Tough Cookie, as I originally presumed and admittedly even hoped for”
“Not that I’m contradicting you… but please enlighten me. What makes you jump to this conclusion?” I controverted, more or less in agreement with him on most of his points.
He bobbed his head, “Gladly. Your coming to our aid in the Towerwoods right as the Acolytes were about to deal a lethal blow to my plans was plenty hinting. But foiling the Acolytes’ schemes a second time? Your peaceful dealings with the Grimworts, who have only ever attacked the men who venture into their dwellings with single mindedness? Getting close enough to the Starbeast to confirm it as an Ursa Major and surviving? One unlikely act is a coincidence… four of them in such a short span of time is nothing short of supernal providence. You are the one fated to assist me in finding the heroines, you must be” He insisted, partly to convince himself that it was the truth.
‘If one can call almost being reduced into crimson paste on a cave wall more than once surviving… then sure, I can see his point’ I mused.
I exhaled an incredulous scoff, “Even if I’m not. I’ll help you find these heroines none the less, so long as I get to thwart these Acolytes of Chaos some more” I held out my hand in a gesture of cooperation, “Deal?”
He did not hesitate, clasping hands with me and shaking on it with a smile, “You certainly strike bargains with less ferocity than you do blows. It’s a deal. We should be ready to depart soon. If you have any business in the town that is unresolved, I suggest you conclude it forthwith” He advised me.
“I do, in fact, need to have a few words with the town’s blacksmith. Where shall I meet you when I’m finished making his day?” I asked him.
Starswirl reached into the pocket of space separating Daybreak’s right saddlebag and her rump and withdrew his staff, “I must see a man about some enchanting crystals. If we do not serendipitously converge after that, then we will rendezvous back here with the horses”
From there we split up to conduct the remainder of our business. I found Rust’s smithy within five minutes of walking and made my way inside. I descried the man languishing behind his counter with a bored expression on his face. Business was booming, no doubt.
He perked up when he saw me, “Master Zenith, yer back!”
“What did I tell you about calling me your master?” I cautioned, frowning a bit at him.
“Apologies… Zenith” He bowed humbly, “I take it ye were successful on yer errand? If not… there’s no shame in backin’ out of a life threatenin’ situation”
I shoved a hand into my pockets and clenched a handful of roughly cut gemstones and silver coins, “I don’t know. What does this pile of gems and coins say about my resolve?” I impassively wisecracked to him.
Rust’s eyes widened so much that I momentarily thought his eyelids would forever retract behind his eyeballs, “Y-ye, y-ye did it? Ye actually did it! Hot damn! Ha ha ha!” He whooped with glee, jerking the hinging flap joining the two tabletops and trapping me in a clammy, perspiration marked hug. Rust was one of those few people closer to my imposing height, so it wasn’t an entirely awkward embrace. It was just a mostly awkward one.
He detached himself from me and I could spot a joyful glint in his eyes, “Oh ye have no idea how much this means to me, lad”
I inclined my head forward, “I’m happy that you’re happy” I cleared my throat, “But as you might recall, I didn’t do it solely to lighten your mood… that’s just an added benefit” I reminded him, slightly narrowing my eyes in emphasis. I like to think that I am for the most part selfless, but I’m not a charity worker.
“Of course. The throwin’ knives!” He almost frantically pulled the box out of the desk shelf and practically shoved it into my arms, “They’re yers! May they serve ye well!”
“Thanks…” I communicated my appreciation, “Best of luck reconnecting with your family, okay Rust?”
He chuckled, “Even if they don’t accept me back, I now have the means to show ‘em that I still care. And I wouldn’t have been able to do it without ye, boyo” He was so giddy that he jumped into the air and heel clicked, “Oh, I must get started sending out messengers to my hometown right away! I’m closin’ up me shop for the day” He grabbed me by the shoulders, spun me in place, and urged me out the door, “Thank ye again, Zenith” He bid me farewell, shutting and locking the door behind himself before booking it to whatever constituted the postal service building in this joint.
Unlatching the case, I held the newly acquired throwing knives in my hands to get a feel for their weight and sheathed them into the available slots in my belts once I was satisfied, tossing the box into a contiguous rubbish bin (‘So many modern conveniences for a medieval-ish society’). With no way to reliably track Starswirl down, I made for our agreed upon rendezvous point by the horses. I was perhaps three quarters of the way there when I espied two men on horseback by the hitching post who were discussing something unknown with Starswirl, who did not look pleased by their presence. I sauntered closer to get within hearing range.
“-…derstand why you embarked on this aimless quest of yours, Starswirl. Your absence in the capital has left a notable vacuum among the learned magic instructors, one which requires filling before… unpalatable events occur” The one wearing a blue fancy noble’s outfit mentioned.
“I embarked on this quest for a reason, Midnight Twinkle, one that I was distinctly vocal about. If anyone had bothered to stop and listen for a change, they wouldn’t have sent you to scrape at my boots and beg my return” Starswirl all but sneered at him.
“Careful now, wizard! Careful!” The one in purple dress warned, “The Royal family might owe you a debt of gratitude for your many years of service. But they can just as easily brand you an enemy of the state if you refuse their wishes with such disrespect”
“Is that so, Silver Sleight?” The wizard gave him a dry, askance gander, “Has the Royal family really sunken so low that they would resort to petty threats in order to see me back to the court? If things have really degenerated to this degree, then my quest has become doubly necessary it seems” He indirectly criticized his technical rulers, causing both men’s faces to turn red with barely suppressed anger.
“Is there a problem here?” I intervened before they caused any more of a scene in full view of the gathering bystanders.
“Who is this filthy commoner?” Silver spoke out of turn, hardly sparing me a receptive glimpse, “Tell him to keep his mouth shut before I weld it shut with a zip lip charm”
‘Okay… this one needs to be taught a lesson in humility’ I thought with aggravation, this Silver Sleight reminding me too much of pre-reformed Blueblood.
I stood up straight and engaged my hammy ‘English’ accent, “How dare you address me with such unwarranted distaste, you arrogant buffoon! I demand satisfaction!” If I had on gloves, I would remove one, throw it down, and then slap him in the face with it (After weighting it with some lead, of course).
Silver Sleight regarded me thoroughly and paled when he saw how well equipped I was to destroy him (He was mainly fixated on the knife handles sticking out of my belt), “I beg your pardon for besmirching you, sir. I had no idea you weren’t one of this filthy rabble”
I wanted to mash his face into the earth so he would be as dirty as the people he treated with contempt, but he had apologized and was presenting a less violent way to work things out, “I’ll accept your pardon, Silver Sleight. But if you dishonor me again, you’ll sorely wish you hadn’t” I made him squirm in his saddle with my offsetting gaze, “Now why do you bother my traveling companion?”
“You’ve taken on others to follow you on this ridiculous quest, Starswirl?” Midnight Twinkle rocked the metaphorical boat before treating with me, “We simply desire to make our bleeding heart of a magic instructor see reason, my good sir. His people back home miss him terribly you see, and the ailing health of our King and Queen are not helping matters in the least. His people need him”
“My people do need me” Starswirl concurred emphatically, “They need me to put an end to this pointless bloodshed and oppression that are seeping the land in hate. If the coldness in our clans’ hearts begins to extend into the physical world… all will suffer for it” He grimly predicted the coming of the Windigos. I could feel for him. He was someone who could see the writing on the wall, and yet no one paid him his due heed.
Midnight Twinkle pressed a glove to his face and sighed, “It is abundantly overt that you cannot be persuaded to abandon this folly, so we shall waste no more of our time in this far flung hole in the mud” He pulled at the reins of his horse and turned it sideways to us, “But know this, Starswirl. We aren’t the only ones looking for you, but we are the only ones who will ask nicely. You’re out of your league, my once respected mentor” He insulted him.
Starswirl bristled at this, “Do not take me for some conjuror of cheap tricks! I have woven together and committed to paper more spells than the combined lot of you sycophantic doters will cast in the entirety of your vapid, bon vivant lives!” He raged, the atmosphere around him darkening with each lambasting word. Boy, did he tell them what for.
Midnight was unmoved by this display, having seen it before no doubt. He gave the town one last lookover and shivered, “Come Silver… this despicable carbuncle of hovels is giving me the hives” He commanded, kicking his heels into his ride and galloping away.
Silver Sleight delayed to have the last word, “Your stubbornness will reflect poorly on your House, Starswirl. Remember that we know where your family lives” He subtly threatened.
“It’s a small town, Silver. Everyone knows where everyone else lives” He replied evenly. His staff glowed and Silver’s horse reared up in surprise, unbalancing Silver Sleight and tossing him off his ride to wallow in the muck.
Onlookers saw this and laughed merrily, delighted to see a Stellar Mage justly humiliated. As he got his feet, Silver had a freak-out that I imagined would be reminiscent of pre-reformed Blueblood’s when Rarity showered him with frosting for embarrassing her at the Joyous Jumping Jubilee. That was a funny story actually (not that either of them would agree), though both had very different viewpoints on what really transpired at the ball.
“About time you got knocked off your high horse” I couldn’t help but quip at his misfortune.
Silver either ignored me or didn’t hear me. He was too busy glaring at Starswirl for his defiance, before mounting his horse to run away with his tail between his legs. The spectators mocked and jeered at him the whole way out, adding insult to injury.
“How did they even find you, Starswirl? Isn’t this town supposed to be a backwater settlement?” I questioned the wizard as they disappeared.
He clicked his tongue, “Luck, Zenith… and perhaps a scrying spell linked to the connection that we established between mentor and student over multiple months of apprenticeship”
“Connection?” I snorted at the positive connotation, “They showed you the same respect that a wolf shows a honey badger. They feared you too much to take you in by force, so they resorted to underhanded threats to goad you into returning instead”
“The connection does not have to be emotional to be traced” Starswirl educated me, “Spend enough time around somebody and they become intangibly linked to you through bonds of magic, which is the ambient energy’s way of encouraging Harmony through close association” He plunked his staff against the ground, “Their presence tells me that we must reach the Dreamy Vale soon, before others try to stop us” Wasting no more words, he walked towards the direction of our horses and I shadowed him.
Dramatic events had a bizarre sense of timing in this world. Because before we could mount up and ride out, we heard the uproarious noises of clangor and commotion happening inside the town and out in the fields. Twinkle’s warning about other people searching for Starswirl was more pertinent than even he knew, as airborne warriors dressed in outfits resembling Roman foot soldiers descended from the clouds in droves. They flew in V shaped formations of five and began encapsulating the town in a loose but well armed perimeter. I couldn’t be certain, but I would estimate their numbers at somewhere lower than two hundred men. A quarter of their forces seemed to be dedicated to pacifying the farmhands in the field. The people laboring in the fields were rounded up by the soldiers and ordered into resuming their work under new management. The men who voiced their objections were given a forceful smack across the face with the flat of their Xiphos style swords in rebuttal.
The townsfolk of Mirrimare regarded the intruders with unconcealed disgust, but weren’t armed, and therefore could not resist the unexpected and sudden occupation. The women and children outside cried out in terrorized fear as they were urged into their homes by the spear wielding Valkyrians, who pried their husbands and fathers away from them. The men were kept isolated to encourage cooperation through implied threatening of their families. I didn’t understand what the point of this was (intimidation?), but the troops randomly trashed the place, turning over carts, smashing windows, demolishing market stands, and wreaking general wanton destruction. With my farsighted vision, I could see special carts made out of conjoined clouds and wood being loaded with fresh vegetables and fruits that the Skyborn didn’t grow themselves. There was no mistaking it; this was an example of those infamous raids that many people moved here to get away from. That hope was dashed on the floor along with some poor merchant’s produce. Starswirl and I recognized the danger and stuck close to the walls with thatched roofing shading them for maximum stealth against the vision of overhead Skyborn.
“Is everyone flocking to Mirrimare today!?” I exclaimed to myself, before speaking to the wizard beside me, “How are we supposed to leave for the Dreamy Vale now? I doubt they’ll let us go on our merry way”
Starswirl scowled at me with vague annoyance, “I am more worried for the townsfolk, as well as Tough Cookie. We must drive them out somehow” He advocated, “Their closest outpost is over a dozen leagues from here, and I somehow find it difficult that they could stage a raid like this from there. It is unlikely that they will be able to engage in another attempt to despoil this place for weeks, if they are expelled” He reasoned.
My shoulders slumped in dismay, “You’re kidding me, right? We’re not only outnumbered… we’re surrounded on every side, old man. We could deal with one disadvantage… but combating both is bound to get us captured or worse. Be practical about this” I pleaded, my analytical mind already formulating possible solutions.
“What would you suggest we do then, Zenith?” The wizard countered coolly, “I cannot let this town become yet another ‘protectorate’ in the Valkyrian Provinces. It would make all my preaching about ending the oppression betwixt the clans a farce” He made it obvious that he would do something brave, but unwise about this, with or without me.
“These men must have a leader coordinating them” I postulated, “And you can almost always tell who that is by their authoritative armor design. If we can find them and nab their attention, we could split their forces into chasing us as a diversion. I know that Rust’s smithy has a few weapons in storage. We should also arm any Agrarians willing to fight for their freedom to cause extra havoc and break their newly established foothold before it solidifies into a stranglehold”
Starswirl considered this strategy pensively, “Your logic is sound, Zenith. You prove that you have a better mind for tense situations such as these with every occurrence” He complimented me with an approving expression.
“It’s not that impressive. Besides… I’d be dead several times over if I couldn’t think on my feet” I deadpanned, “We’ll have to be sneaky though, the Skyborn already have patrols making sure the streets have been emptied”
Starswirl stroked his beard in thought, “Perhaps a perception charm?” He proposed, his staff’s crystal glimmering in what was probably a pre casting mode.
I shook my head in the negative, “That wouldn’t work. These men are scouring the town for anyone who hasn’t been herded inside or is under watch. Perception filters are only effective against passive notice, not active”
“I have been experimenting lately with an invisibility spell that could get us pass those patrols, though it does have its… kinks, shall we say” He admitted, his tone suggesting that there would be unwanted side effects if we used it.
“Really? What a coincidence!” I fake smiled to him, “I know such a spell as well… though mine doesn’t have as many caveats” I bragge-… I mean, enlightened him to the superiority of my spell over his.
“A spell to assemble metal shards into a sword, and now an invisibility spell? Which of us is renowned for their aptitude with magic again?” Starswirl once again demonstrated his wry sense of humor, “Will it perfectly mask us from undue eyes?” He followed up in seriousness.
“It’s not true invisibility” I told him, “But it bends and refracts the light around our bodies so that it would appear to an observer that we would be see through. It isn’t foolproof though. If we move, our outlines will be apparent to anyone with a brain. We can’t look anybody in the eyes either, those don’t get the refracting treatment”
“Impressive…” Starswirl flattered me, “And you devised this spell by yourself?”
“Kind of…” I ambivalently responded, “Let’s say that I was inspired to refine my own version of it”
“Then let us dawdle no longer. Cast it on us both” He instructed, “I will adjust my amulet so it will not interfere with your spell” He inserted his hand into his left robe sleeve and rotated the aforementioned object.
“Gladly” I brought my internal stores of magic to the fore and let the magic wash over us, our forms wavering until only our outlines were visible to meticulous scrutiny, “That should last you as long as you continue to feed it magic. Follow me” I tugged at his robes, “I’ll take you to the smithy where the weapons are kept” I stated, training one eye on the sky and the other on the ground.
These Valkyrians knew how to lock a town down. Patrol routes crisscrossed every street from above and below in half minute intervals. Many times I would have to signal to Starswirl to halt so that we would not be detected, one patrol getting so close to us that I could smell the sweat on them. They must have flown far to get here, even if they hid their fatigue behind the stoic masks of ideal soldiers. They weren’t terribly talkative either. So I couldn’t pick up on any useful information other than the terse, unforthcoming reports that the grunts gave to their superiors concerning food stores and the odd Agrarian who decided that a pitchfork could compete with a spear. The officers wore the crested helmets that wouldn’t go out of style for centuries to come, while the common soldiers had helmets with curved T shaped visors that sacrificed some peripheral visibility for protection.
Each Valkyrian soldier was garbed in thick leather armor with segmented chest plates and greaves that were thicker than the rest of their ensemble. They mainly carried spears as their primary armaments with secondary Xiphos swords at their hips, though the men soaring overhead did have crossbows. I finally got to see this vaunted ‘Lightning Forged Steel’ up close when I crept by an officer brandishing his sword, and noticed that it had a zigzagging rippling pattern on the flat most part of the blade that fittingly resembled lightning. Interesting to note was that there was the occasional woman in their ranks, though they were no less formidable in appearance. I remember reading that the warrior culture of the ancient Valkyrians did not discriminate based on sex, only what they could contribute to the clan. Men were traditionally favored for their general hardiness, but it was not unheard of to have a female commander of legions, such as Commander Gale Force of the second century post unification era of Arcania.
We passed by several locations where Agrarian men were on their knees with guards posted over them, glowering spitefully at their captors. They came across as being eager for a scrap, which fit into our plans quite fortuitously. Luckily… the Valkyrians hadn’t been here enough time to check Rust’s shop for the weapons that would soon be used against them. It was a low profile building, so that oversight could be forgiven. Still, we’d need to hurry before they skimmed this place too.
We de-cloaked outside of Rust’s shop, where I stopped Starswirl just short of the smithy to request something that he would undoubtedly be opposed to, “I trust that you know a spell that can pick an unenchanted lock?” I rhetorically inquired, idly hoping that the accented blacksmith was unharmed. I’d bet he was cursing his miserable luck right about now.
He was unamused, “What sort of wizard is trumped by a simple lock? Yes, I can pick it with magic. Why do you ask me this?” He returned the question.
“I’ll leave it up to you to see the weapons inside delivered to eager hands willing to swing them” I tapped a finger to my chest, “I’m going to go find their leader and initiate that diversion we talked about. If I can, I’ll additionally send any Agrarians I can free your way so you can issue them some blades. When the troops in town are blindsided and in disarray, we’ll make for this Dreamy Vale we need to get to so badly”
“What!? Absolutely not!” He harshly whispered in disapproval, “It’s dangerous to go alone!”
I smirked at his words, “Relax, old man. I’m packing significantly more firepower than the Master Sword could afford me” I boldly declared. He made it too easy to bounce these things off of him.
His brow furrowed in confusion, “This is another one of those enigmatic references of yours, isn’t it?” He deduced flatly.
My smirk grew, “You’ve figured it out” I camo’d up again and left the wizard to carry out his end of the plan.
I didn’t have too many grievances at leaving him behind, since I moved more effectively on my own. Well that, and I didn’t want to explain to Starswirl that I could mute my footsteps with magic either, he might have felt inadequate. I found my first prisoner area in a small square with a stony water well in the center. Four unflinching Valkyrian soldiers guarded fifteen Agrarian men who were bunched into a tight knit circle. The townsfolk could effortlessly overwhelm them with numbers, but the self preservation instinct was puissant in these men, and they stayed compliant and docile, though not without a bitter gnashing of the teeth. This was one of those infrequent occasions where I was stumped by the moral greyness of the situation. I didn’t want to solve this through lethal means, since these men were Valkyrians, not scummy Acolytes of Chaos. The Skyborn weren’t exactly innocent, given how they were pillaging this town of its food, but they did not deserve to die by my hand simply for stealing. I would need to be decisively swift about this.
Emerging from the shadows behind the most oblivious of the guards, I tapped him on the shoulder. He lazily twisted around to see whom it was and got slugged in the face for his trouble, knocking him out cold. The other three bristled in reaction, but three magically guided throwing knife handles struck their helmets with enough kinetic energy to dent the helms and render them equally unconscious. I waggled my hand up and down to mitigate the compression sensation of colliding my fist with a stiff metal helmet as I thought of a witty one liner to utter to the Agrarian men who were gaping at me in awe.
“I heard that the Skyborn enjoyed receiving tributes of food” I grinned, “So I contributed a knuckle sandwich” I wisecracked. My hands glowed briefly as I retrieved my throwing knives and sheathed them on my belt. No one laughed, but it more for my amusement than theirs, so nuts to them.
One of their more cynical members saw this and raised a fuss, “So we’ve been liberated from our Valkyrian overlords, only to be enslaved by a Stellar Mage” He spat into the dirt contemptuously.
The man next to him was more sensible and smacked him in the back of his head, “Shut it, Corky! This tall stranger just freed us. Show some gratitude” He reprimanded his neighbor before regarding me, “Thank you kindly, Mister. How can we repay you for this?”
I swiveled my head in the negative, “No repayment necessary. But if you would like to feel the weight of a weapon in your hand and kick these tossers out of your town, head to Rust’s smithy and talk to Starswirl. He’ll organize you against these winged trespassers” I notified them.
Corky heard the name and immediately was averse, “The Stellar Mage loving blacksmith?” He sneered, “How do we know that he isn’t consorting with the invaders right now? In fact, how do we even know that we can trust you for that matter!?” He turned to his kinsmen, “I say it’s a trap, a trick to catch us unawares!” He spouted his paranoia laced conclusions.
The reasonable man slapped a palm to his face at the sheer stupidity of such a statement, “Corky you moron… we were already caught! It seems a bit repetitive to go through the inconvenience of freeing us just to capture us a second time, doesn’t it?” The rest of the congregation processed this and murmured their mutual agreement, “Don’t know ‘bout you, but I’m all too happy to split some skulls” He walked over to an unconscious soldier and looted one of his weapons and some of the protective armor that could fit him, which seven others copied, “It’s been a while since I’ve gripped a sword, but I can recall enough that I still know my way around one. We’ll do as you’ve told us and converse with this Starswirl character. The enemy of my enemy is a friend of mine” He recited the adage, giving the sword a test swing.
“I like your temerity, Mister. In case we don’t meet again, I’m Zenith” I extended my hand for him to grasp.
He took my hand in a firm grip and shook it, “I’m Hoedown. We’re proud to fight alongside you, Zenith”
“As am I” I dispensed with the niceties, “Though if possible, try not to spill any Skyborn blood with fatal intent” I appealed to them, baffling some and allaying others.
“Do you see this!?” Corky just couldn’t learn to keep quiet, “He even wants us to spare them! How can you witless fools not realize that he is with the enemy!?” He demanded of his clansmen, pointing accusingly at me.
“Your blood pressure must be through the roof right now” I dryly quipped, before correcting him for his erroneous delusions, “I only ask this because if you start killing Skyborn, then what’s to stop them from returning the favor on your families still indoors?” I frowned, “Bloodshed begets bloodshed, like the vicious cycle that it is”
“How do we know they won’t kill them once we start rebelling anyway?” One of the men in the crowd understandably voiced his concerns. I was expecting him to point out how the Valkyrians wouldn’t fight with the same inhibitions, but he and his brethren were more of the selfless types.
I leveled with them, “If the Skyborn wanted to kill your families, they would have already done so by now. They aren’t interested in a drawn out fight, and most of the ones I’ve seen up till now are still weary from the flight here. This can be resolved without mortal conflict” I looked down at the benumbed soldiers, drawing a line in the proverbial sand, “This world of ours has excessive ill will in it as it is. Please keep the proliferation of bloodshed to a minimum”
Not answering me verbally, the men in the crowd began to bind the arms and legs of the senseless Skyborn with nearby rope instead of introducing new breathing holes in them. I was charmed to discover that these Agrarians, many of whom were indubitably abused by the other clans in the past, were still capable of listening to reason. They stuffed the napping Valkyrians into the stockroom of a shop that one of their number owned and ten of them made for Rust’s smithy, with the remainder of the less fit Agrarians laying low. Not surprisingly, Corky decided to stay indoors and away from the fighting, content with resisting the Skyborn with words and not actions. Well… maybe I was being somewhat harsh on him. He seemed like the drained type who had bore witness to too much abuse from the clans to be able to trust ostensible members of those clans. Still, having an extra sword or axe in the fight would have been nice.
The first step of Operation Valkyrie (it was a working title) was underway. I’d need to free the other captives throughout town before the patrols noticed that something was amiss and retaliated unfavorably. So I climbed onto the thatched roofs of the housing and ran along their wooden ridges in search of other captive holding zones, taking care to remain still when an airborne patrol got too close for comfort. Just to be extra prepared, I engaged True Sight and tagged as many Skyborn as I could, highlighting their forms with magical silhouettes in my vision. An unexpected side effect of their lightning forged weapons and armor was that they was significantly harder to cast magic on, even indirectly. So the best I got was a bunch of human shaped shades that were missing torsos and shins.
It was sufficient for my purposes though, and it made dodging surprise backtracking patrols a hell of a lot easier. I managed to free a total of three more groups of Agrarians in similar ways to the first, convincing most of them to converge at Rust’s smithy while not committing murder on their incapacitated opponents (Encouraging them to exercise the precautions of putting their bruised bodies out of sight). I was immensely relieved that these people were just as susceptible to moral reasoning as their descendants would be. It made my job less involved that way. I trusted that Starswirl could competently coordinate the resistance against the Skyborn as I sent them on their way. With a grand total of forty four men willing to cause a ruckus, we had just the right number to unshackle Mirrimare and dislodge the Skyborn presence here. The increased activity of frenetic Skyborn patrols told me that the jig was up though, so it was time for me to locate and uproot their leadership.
To do this, I logically gravitated to the center of town, which was the spot with the most concentration of Skyborn on the ground. It took longer than I would have preferred, as the crossbow wielding Valkyrians were occupying the rooftops in the area, and non-lethally taking them out was out of the question with their buddies not five steps away from them. Shifting position back onto the ground (which was cobbled in this richer section), I rounded multiple corners as noiselessly as a specter. Climbing up a ladder into an unoccupied bell tower and de-cloaking, I observed the happenings in a town square that was in front of an official looking building that must have been where the local government officials convened.
I dimmed my other senses with magic and focused solely on my vision and my hearing. Standing in two formations of ten men facing each other, I tagged the security detail and waited for something interesting to occur. I didn’t have to wait long, as the doors to the government building burst open and a moderately well clothed official was cast head over heels into the street. Behind him materialized a furious looking Skyborn officer who was one rebellious remark away from trashing all notions of a peaceful resolution and letting heads roll. He walked over to the disgruntled elderly man and placed his boot on his back to keep him from getting up.
“Your stubbornness is beginning to wear on my patience, dirt dweller” He said in a minatory voice, “Don’t make me stomp on your neck”
“You airheaded brigands are already plundering our fields with impunity” The grounded man coughed out his reply, “What more do you want of us!?”
The officer pressed his boot into his spine, eliciting a pained groan from him, “I know your kind aren’t the brightest tools in the shed, but don’t play stupid with me. Where is the wizard!?” He barked, “Our scouts spotted him entering this town yesterday, so if he isn’t here… then you can tell us where he is going. Can’t you? I’d hate to have to start making examples of what happens to those who defy the almighty Provinces of Valkyria” He maliciously twisted his foot into his back, causing the downed man extreme discomfort, “It tends to get… messy”
“SQAUDRON OFFICER NIMBOSTRATUS! CEASE YOUR ACTIONS AT ONCE!” A stentorian, female voice boomed from above like thunder. Whoever it was possessed some powerful lungs, with her shout being just shy of the Royal Caps Lock voice. I adjusted my vantage point to get a better look at the newcomer, seeing a woman in highly ornate golden armor with a black and red crested helmet that didn’t restrict her vision descend from the sky with her entourage slash escort in tow.
The Squadron Leader reacted immediately, removing his boot from the beaten man in an almost panicked fashion and hastily getting in a crouched position with his right fist to the cobblestone and his head bowed in a gesture of deferential obeisance. The superior officer touched down with fluidic poise and strode towards her subordinate with an unreadable expression on her countenance. Her brisk, rigid pace indicated that she was far from pleased, however.
“Wing Leader Maelstrom, Ma’am” Nimbostratus said, “I was not expecting you to grace us with your presence so soo-” He was interrupted by Maelstrom’s foot forcibly pushing him onto the floor.
“Nimbostratus, you utter imbecile” The Wing Leader growled, “What were my orders to you!?” She grilled him.
“T-to negotiate w-with the town leadership f-for the location of the w-wizard, W-wing Leader!” The once intimidating officer was reduced to a stuttering wreck of a man in the looming shadow of this woman.
She pointed to the abused Agrarian, “And does this look like negotiating to you?” She rhetorically asked her underling in a chilly voice, “You shame the good name of the Skyborn, Squadron Officer. Present yourself to the wagon pullers and offer to take one of their place, on the double” She compelled him with a venomous glare.
“Yes ma’am!” He groveled without hesitation, taking to the sky to get his punishment detail over with. He was deathly afraid of this dominating woman, and I was beginning to see why.
Maelstrom gesticulated with her fingers to the fallen Agrarian, “Get him on his feet. I have to mitigate whatever damage he caused to this town and to our reputation” She sighed tiredly, disappointed by the atrocious behavior of those under her command.
The men following her obeyed, hoisting him onto his toes and holding him there since he looked about ready to keel over again the moment they let go. The Flight Leader (it was the same title to me, as far as I was concerned) unstrapped and removed her crimson crested helmet and a cascade of shoulder length tri-toned hair spilled out, showcasing her red, green, and blue striped locks. Her steely, magenta eyes were sharp and focused, like that of a bird of prey. The Flight Leader’s athletic build was characterized by lean, taut muscling that was ready to spring into action at a moment’s notice. Her lithe form was ideal for aerodynamic efficiency and sudden death defying turns at breakneck speeds. If anything, the commander of the Skyborn reminded me of a time displaced Rainbow Dash, minus some hues in her hair.
I blinked, ‘It couldn’t be… could it? Nah… probably just another coincidence’ There was no way I could be meeting the possible ancestors of my friends in such short order.
Maelstrom held the helmet in the crook of her arm and addressed the brutalized man, “On behalf of the Provinces of Valkyria, I apologize for the mistreatment you’ve received at our hands” She formally expressed remorse for what the unruly Skyborn did to Mirrimare.
“Young lady” The elder official began, “A hundred years of apologizing would not be enough to absolve the things the Skyborn running amok in this town have done, let alone the mistreatment that your clan has inflicted on mine. Save your apologies for someone naïve enough to believe them” He rebuffed her attempts at meager atonement.
Maelstrom showed no sign of being angered or shamed by his retort, “Is this about the fields? We’ll only collect two fifths of your farms’ monthly yields, and in return we will become your protectors and tend to the weather for the optimal growth of your crops” She tendered the notorious arrangement that so many Agrarians despised.
The official snorted, “Protection?” He spat out the word, “Who will protect us from you!? You who beat us!? Starve us!? Exploit us to satisfy your own ends!? Damn you and your clan!” He hawked a gob of saliva in Maelstrom’s face. Her men moved to punish the man for his insolence, but the unruffled Wing Leader stilled them with a hand signal.
She wiped her face and leaned closer to the man, “I don’t know what miserable excuse of a Skyborn reneged on these valid promises to you in the past… but I am a woman of my word, and will stay loyal to the tenets of the Skyborn” She pulled back, “As a token of good faith, we will only load up three carts worth of crops to bring back with us” She announced for all in the square to hear. Meanwhile in the bell tower, I was having difficulty getting a fastidious read on this woman, who seemed honorable, but at the same time was the one in charge of these rampant troublemakers.
“But Flight Leader Maelstrom!” One of her men spoke up, “Senator Storm explicitly asked us to bring back twelve shipments on our deployment!” He protested, not doing the image of the Skyborn any favors.
“I am quite aware of that Lieutenant!” She snapped in reply, “But that’s not our primary purpose for being here? Is it?” She countered sternly.
“No ma’am” He stood stiff and straight, “I humbly beg your pardon for speaking out of turn”
“Granted” She nodded affirmatively, “Though I do appreciate not being surrounded entirely by yes men, speak to me of your concerns in private. I don’t enjoy being second guessed in front of our hosts” She returned her attention to the official, “As Squadron Officer Nimbostratus may have told you, our primary purpose for being this far north is to track down a target that the Senator who bid us here has taken an interest in. A certain wizard from the Kingdom of Stellaria who is regarded as somewhat of an enigma by his own clan, if I recall correctly. If you have any information on the whereabouts of this man, it would expedite the process of us vacating this town” She listed the attractive incentive of collaborating with them to the official.
‘Does Starswirl have an advertising billboard rotating over his head? Why are so many people hell-bent on getting their hands on him!?’ I mused in aggravation.
Before the official could say anything, a familiar voice erupted from inside the building, “Don’t listen to their honeyed lies! I know firsthand how the other clans treat those who work with them! Tell these feathered fiends nothing!” A barely restrained Rust tried moving into the open, briefly showing himself by the doorway. It required three Skyborn to keep him subdued, yanking him back inside with an indignant yowl from him.
The official exhaled dejectedly, seeing no alternative but to cooperate, “That blacksmith would know a thing or two about collaborating with the enemy” He shook his head sadly, “The town healer made mention of your wizard, but divulged nothing about how long he would stay here or where he and his companion were going. That’s all I know of the matter… now take your ill gotten gains and leave us in peace, please!” He supplicated.
“A companion you say? I was not made aware of the fact that the wizard wouldn’t be traveling alone” She stroked at her chin, “Did this healer say anything about who he or she was?” She inquired. And I instinctively thought about the recovering Tough Cookie being used against Starswirl as a hostage, which I would not allow. It was time for me to stop surveilling and act.
The man was about to answer (it didn’t matter if he didn’t know. They would go to Vitalitus in the house of healing to interrogate him and endanger Tough Cookie in that manner) when I leapt from the bell tower and slid down the roof tiles of the structure next to it. I landed on the ground and softened the sudden stop with an inertial dampening spell. The men in formation had quick reaction times, and surrounded their leader in a protective circle with practiced motions. The official was promptly dragged inside the government building and had the doors shut behind him to wait out the rest of this confrontation with Rust. I strolled up to the Skyborn until I was within figurative spitting distance. Maelstrom regarded me with interest, though she disguised it under the professional mask on an officer.
She clapped her hands together slowly, “Well, well, well… I’m going to risk a wild guess here and presume that you are the companion of the wizard?” She engaged in discourse with me, secretly commanding her men to be ready to rush me.
I scowled at her detached labeling of my companion, “Starswirl… His name is Starswirl” I clarified for her.
She imperceptibly crooked her head, “Is that what his name is? You will have to forgive me. Senator Storm was awfully skimpy with the details when we were deployed north to bring him in. Who are you? And why do you keep the company of the wizard?” She changed the subject.
“And you’ll have to forgive me when I refuse you the knowledge of my name” I mirrored her words with minor puckishness.
“Rock Head scum!” The lieutenant from earlier speculated my clan identity and derided me with disdain, “Do you not know to whom you speak?” He gestured to her, “This is Wing Leader Maelstrom! Battle Brother to the renowned Captain Hurricane and Daughter of Over-Commander Typhoon! You will show her your respect!” He dictated to me, his men clenching their weapons tightly in unanimous concurrence. Maelstrom herself scowled at this. There was something about her heritage being invoked that bothered her.
Meanwhile my True Sight was picking up on some shades shifting and fluctuating frantically in both eastern and western directions, with some of them even brought low. The insurrection was in full swing now, as the Agrarians I spent the better half of an hour freeing and arming made their move. One flank was collapsing perilously fast, and I knew that Starswirl was directly spearheading that one. Luckily (or perhaps the wizard knew I was in the midst of carrying our the second phase of the plan somehow), that front was heading this way and going at maximum steam. All I would have to do to keep the Skyborn off balance without firm leadership was to keep stalling.
“Huh. I wasn’t of the opinion that I was among the rank and file of such a prestigious persona” I remarked distractedly, approximating their time of arrival at three minutes, “What does your Senator want with Starswirl anyway?”
Her eyebrows quirked, “Bold of you to have the gall to deny me and yet ask questions of me all the same, but I’ll humor you. Senator Storm received an anonymous message from one of his contacts groundside informing him that the wizard Starswirl was on a mission that if he were to succeed in it, he would crumble the very foundations of our Capital City Olympia. Being the insecure crow that he is, he requested that a detachment be sent out to bring the wizard in and ascertain the validity of this claim” She rolled her eyes, “And while I abhor being an errand girl for the Senate, my father owed Senator Storm a favor, so here we are”
“I’ll save you the trouble of wasting your time and elucidate to you that Starswirl’s quest involves all three clans, not just the Valkyrians in your precious Olympia” I enunciated crisply, “He seeks to unite all people under Harmony. And I believe that to be a noble goal, which is why I support him”
“And who would lead us into this Golden Age of Harmony? The Stellar Magi? The Agrarians? Or the Valkyrians?” Maelstrom was skeptical to the idea of unity.
“All of them! And yet none of them” I sagaciously answered in reference to the trinity of the Trifect, ignoring the pertinent fact that I would have to lead too, someday.
She chuckled as she dismissed my spiel, “Quaint as that idea is, the Senate has never been one to change the status quo… and I need to bring your Starswirl in, preferably alive, if I’m to prove myself in the field to my father”
‘She has issues with daddy’s expectations, eh? Where have I seen this before in my past?’ The cycle of repeating themes was uncanny.
“The one who bore you must have been refractory up the wazoo if you’re so obstinate to the truth when you hear it from the proverbial horse’s mouth” I stealthily lambasted her.
Maelstrom’s expression turned steely, and I knew that I hit a sensitive spot, “I grow sick of your nonsense. As this wizard’s companion, you should prove valuable as a bartering chip to get him to surrender quietly and docilely” She made a fist and leveled it at me, “Seize him!”
My hearing picked up on two men swooping down from above to surprise me with a sneak attack. I dodged and rolled out of the way as they slammed into the spot where I was just standing a second ago. They were a tag team of assailants who were equipped with some kind of cestus meant to punch hard and knock out whatever poor sap it was used on. With the ingrained techniques instilled in me from utilizing the muscle memory spell and pairing it with watching hours of martial arts videos, I sidestepped a blitz of a haymaker and landed two pulled punches on the man’s exposed armpit region before grappling him and tossing him into the wall with the momentum of a spin. He was momentarily disoriented, but bounced back and endeavored multiple times to land a punch using a boxing style that involved hooks, jabs, and feints that were too slow for someone like me to be fooled by. Countering his boxing style, I slapped and deflected the force of his blows with Wing Chun motions and maneuvers that Ip Man himself would approve of (Except for not rolling up my sleeves, but that was not a luxury I could afford right now). My attackers were still in armor though, so I had to wear them down by jamming the movement of their limbs and striking at their arms and uncovered bodily regions. I didn’t magically blunt the force of my strikes, but I never retaliated hard enough to cause any lasting damage.
I countered another clumsy attempt at a haymaker by seizing the offending arm and using the man’s impetus against him by flinging him into the air. I ducked under a punch from his comrade and swept him off his feet with a backwards sweeping kick. While he was down, I grabbed his arm and applied the right amount of pressure to his elbow to snap it like a twig. He cried out in pain and clutched at the dislocated limb, disabled and effectively out of the immediate fight. I tried to pull away when the second man closed the gap between us and nabbed me in a constricting hug. I smashed my head back into his helmet (good thing I’m hardheaded) to discombobulate him and coiled around him like a snake when he let go. I folded my arms around his lower waist and slammed him by his spine and neck into the cobblestone street with a German suplex. Stunned by the countermove, he proved easy pickings for a kick to the helmet that put him under.
Feeling confident, I faced the Wing Leader’s troops, “Who’s next? I’ll handle you one at a time or all at once. Makes no difference to me!” I boasted, adrenaline coursing through my veins and hazardously making me feel like I could take on the world.
Maelstrom was fuming at how handily her men were dispatched, and my gloating set her off, “MEN! This one needs to be taught a lesson in humility. Bring him before me with every bone in his body broken in two!” She screeched, glaring at me with the potency of a fusion bomb.
Her soldiers looked all too happy to oblige, and they began to march forth in a single phalanx like unit that wasn’t susceptible to wrestling moves. I reckoned that I could send them flying apart like bowling pins with an applied wave of force spell, but that would akin to removing the kiddie gloves and using lethal force, which was simply not an option I was willing to resort to.
That left me with one option, really.
‘Uh oh’ Simpering coyly, I blew a kiss to the raging Maelstrom and turned on my heels, breaking into a sprint to where Starswirl’s band of rebels were duking it out with Skyborn perimeter troops. I whistled sharply to the wizard (who had acquired a one and a half handed sword with a relatively narrow blade at some point to duel with the Valkyrians along with his staff), and motioned for him to trail me.
I didn’t have to look behind me to see that Maelstrom and her men had went airborne in pursuit of me, all I had to do was listen to the outraged commands that she was issuing to her troops as they dealt with this unexpected uprising. The Agrarians, despite being heavily outnumbered and out-equipped, were putting up a shockingly effective resistance. With their home field advantage and fervor to drive the Skyborn out, they fought like madmen, kicking, punching, clashing, cursing, and in most cases causing the normally composed Skyborn troops to retreat and regroup in the air. While I had seen no corpses from either side, the crossbowmen were not afraid to take potshots at the rebels, who either took to cover, or took a bolt to the shoulder. Some of them employed crude wooden shields that absorbed their fire, and used them to defend their brothers in arms. The Agrarians were more resourceful than I imagined, and returned fire with rocks hurled from slings. The town was in uproar, and soon others from inside were inspired to empty out onto the streets to reinforce their neighbors and join in the gestalt defense of their home. It was clear to anyone with eyes that the town of Mirrimare would not tolerate the presence of the Skyborn any longer. The whole scene was chaotic, but oddly thrilling to be a part of at the exact same time.
The wizard spared a glance behind us and yelped as a bolt nearly nailed his hat off, “They look positively livid! What did you do!?” Starswirl demanded to know as we ran for the horses still hitched at the house of healing.
“It amuses me that you instantly think that has something to do with me” I quipped as we turned a corner, only for Starswirl to roughly whack the back of my spine with his staff, “Okay fine! You assumed correctly. I’m pretty sure I subtly insulted the leader’s mother… only she had enough of a wit inside of that fiery head of hers to figure out my meaning. She took umbrage to this of course and sicced her men on me just as the rebellion broke loose. You know the rest” I summarized, casually juking a crossbolt personally shot from Maelstrom.
He threw his arms up in exasperation, “Ancestors preserve me! Is there no limit to your impulsiveness!?” He shouted at me, a spark of anger in his tone.
“Technically, it will be the future generations that will preserve your memory. Some of whom will even draw inspiration from it” I facetiously mentioned offhand, reminiscing of Twilight’s hidden stash of Starswirl the Bearded memorabilia. And I thought Dash was a hardcore fan girl.
“And how are you so sure of this?” He asked with intense, sarcastic skepticism.
“Call it a hunch” I replied, unaffected by his acerbic attitude.
We made it to the horses and Starswirl put up a barrier spell that ricocheted every shot from the irate Valkryians, but Starswirl notified me that it wouldn’t keep people out and wasn’t permanent. They would surround us if we didn’t make haste, so I untied both Night Wind and Daybreak so we could mount up. I urged my steed to gallop like he’d never galloped before as Starswirl took the lead. We rocketed through the riotous streets and out of the town as we hoofed it in the direction of the northern mountains, with vast clearings of wild grass and intermittent copses of trees ahead of us. I noted with approval the panicked looks on the Skyborn out in the farm fields as a mob of incensed Agrarians closed in on them, pressuring them to abandon the mostly filled carts or be overrun.
“Where are we going?” I shouted over the howl of the passing wind as we took a dirt path that nature was gradually reclaiming.
“To an abandoned mine beneath the Frost Teeth Pinnacles!” Starswirl called back, his horse proving to be the faster of the two, “It’s the only place we’ll lose our pursuers!” An arrowed zipped past the space separating us, as if to punctuate his point.
‘It’s situations like this that I regret not having a weapon suited for long range combat. I wouldn’t be able to use it here even if I did… but still. I’ll have to fix that’ I bemoaned to myself as streams of crossbolts just narrowly missed us. Often times by mere inches.
There were at least thirty Skyborn chasing us, and their furious leader was at the fore of the flock, issuing orders for her men to execute. Our horses were fast, and the Skyborn would be faster if they weren’t lugging around cumbersome armor and gear, but we weren’t going to lose them if we relied on speed. Undeterred by their encumbered weight, they were able to swoop down at us, and tried to knock both Starswirl and myself off of our rides several times. Starswirl would bat them away with swipes of his staff that cast minor repulse spells that would cause any Valkyrian who was hit with it to plow into the earth, while I would run interference on the crossbowmen by zigzagging in their line of fire to draw them off Starswirl. I would block particularly accurate crossbolts delivered with love from Maelstrom by rapid casting spells of deflection with my Tantō.
We kept up this song and dance for a good ten minutes until we were in the shadow of the mountains, looming overhead like snowy titans of rock and earth. Before long I spotted the abandoned mine entrance, a half hexagon arch of rotted, frozen over wood that didn’t look outstandingly stable. Maelstrom discerned our plan and threw caution to the wind; ordering her soldiers to loose their arrows with the full intent to kill, content to bring back a dead body rather than no body at all. A screen of crossbolts screamed at us as her men complied. If it weren’t for the fact that I was packing significant reserves of magic to deflect them with, I would have been skewered several times over. Starswirl was not so fortunate with his defensive spell though, and Daybreak took a trio of arrows to the flank that elicited an agonized whinny from her. Unable to gallop with the searing pain in her rump, she tumbled forward and Starswirl was ejected from his horse a second occasion.
I stifled a curse as Night Wind and I overtook them. Realizing that this quest would be for naught if Starswirl got caught, I eliminated all pretenses of publicly pretending to be a Stellar Mage and spread my wings in preparation to fly. Verbally bidding Night Wind to enter the mine without me on his back, I flapped my wings and flew back to retrieve Starswirl myself. The pursuing Valkyrian closest to me was perceptively stunned by the revelation that I was airborne before I literally stunned him with the flat of Dichotomy (which I assembled in midair) to his face, which I had to repeat with many other Skyborn that were obstructing me from my companion. I alighted to the ground next to Starswirl and swatted away another crossbolt from Maelstrom, who had recovered from her shock faster than her stupefied men. Grabbing the dazed wizard, I mouthed an apology to Daybreak, who I’d have to leave behind (I couldn’t practically carry a horse with me, now could I?) and zoomed to the mine entrance with the feather weighted wizard on one arm. He gave me a bewildered gaze the entire flight there, but knew better than to confront me about it now.
“The support columns” The wizard wheezed, still winded from the fall, “Destroy the columns and collapse the entrance” He pleaded, unable to do it himself at the moment.
Depositing him by the wall, relinquishing my sword, and hurriedly taking his staff in my hands (even disoriented he clutched to that thing like it was a part of him. Which I suppose it was), I set about demolishing the already weakened wooded support columns at the entrance and pounding at the roof. I discovered that the staff had the same useful quality as my Tantō in that it decreased the pause before a spell could be casted exponentially, allowing me to shoot off several force spells that crushed the columns until they gave out under the weight of the rocky roof they were holding up. I jumped out of the way of a man sized boulder as the roof fractured and folded in on itself. The dubious integrity of the entrance was abundantly overt as it showered the entrance with rocky debris, until the light from outside was smothered out and we were submerged in complete darkness.
I coughed to vacate my throat of particulate matter as the dust finished settling and tranquility was restored. The amount of debris blocking the entrance was so thick that even Maelstrom’s orotund voice would be muted as she doubtlessly exploded at her underlings on the other end. I grinned as I imagined how she must have been burning red with anger at this setback. Not only did she not capture Starswirl, she had lost control of the town of Mirrimare to a rabble of farmers that weren’t even trained to fight! I continued smirking to myself at how we made the Skyborn look flat footed in the span of an hour as I picked myself up and dusted myself off. The elated feeling of victory wore off with the passage of time and the sobering realization that we were trapped in this dark and dreary mine with no way out that was currently apparent. I felt someone snatch the staff out of my hands with an indignant huff as Starswirl regained his breath.
“We have but one choice now” Starswirl announced with a begrudging rumble of his voice, tapping his staff against the ground thrice and lighting the crystal affixed to the tip with increasing brightness, “We must brave the long dark of these dreadful mountains. Be on your guard” He warned me, “It’ll be a two day journey to the other side by the shortest route, and it will be fraught with peril. But we must go ahead if we intend to shake off our relentless pursuers from cutting us off at the other end. We must be silent and swift, for there are older and much fouler things dwelling in the deep places of the world, and our provisions have been drastically reduced by the loss of our steeds” He assessed the situation grimly.
“Night Wind isn’t lost” I confuted him, “He should be deeper in the tunnel waiting for us” I picked up my blade and disassembled it.
“Night Wind?” He raised an inquisitive brow, “Don’t tell me you named your horse?”
“I didn’t… that’s his birth name” I retorted.
“And how would you know that?” He prodded me with his staff, not believing me. That’s going to be an annoying habit of his, isn’t it?
I crossed my arms together, “Uhh… I asked him” I replied with a heaping hint of sarcasm.
“It’s ultimately irrelevant to me how you know his name” He shook his head and jingled his hat bells, “If we can find him, then our chances of surviving these tunnels won’t be so dismal”
“Age before beauty” I gestured with my arm for him to guide the way.
“You and Clover would get along famously” He muttered to himself, obliging me as we moseyed down the tunnel to rejoin Night Wind and burrow under the mountains in our journey to reach the Dreamy Vale.
We found the equine with some difficulty (midnight black coats tend to blend in seamlessly with the darkness) shivering at the limit of the tunnel that opened into a cavern with steep slopes that went straight down into inky blackness that seemed bottomless. I mollified the frightened creature with my voice and assured him that everything would be all right, with a perplexed Starswirl watching our interaction with veiled intrigue. I suppose I would be puzzled too if I watched someone perform as a temporally displaced stand in for Fluttershy. It was ironic that Night Wind was afraid of the darkness, but I wasn’t going to judge him for his fear, since this underground setting was thoroughly creepy to me as well.
Night Wind’s echoing hoof steps were the only noise that marked our coming and going as Starswirl used a path finding spell that probed all possible routes that would conduct us out to the opposite side of the mountain most efficiently. With the results inconclusive so far, we had to tread the approximate route to the nearest exit. To be honest, the first twelve hours or so (again, time is hard to tell when you are literally being kept in the dark) of traversing the underground caverns in the belly of the mountains were terribly boring. The abandoned mining equipment strewn throughout the mine was of passing interest to me, but there were no veins of priceless Mithril that reflected silvery light when the crystal on Starswirl’s staff would shine on them, just run of the mill copper and iron veins. I wanted to ask why the mines here were ditched in what looked to be a harrowed hurry, but Starswirl was uncharacteristically quiet the whole time, likely deep in thought over something.
We stopped by a cranny in the downward sloped cavern wall to rest much later, having walked the seemingly never ending pathways until our feet were sore. I had scavenged some of the wood from the collapsed entrance to use as wood for a campfire and flayed it into ignitable strips. It was slightly frozen, but had thawed enough that it would burn and provide warmth in the chilly, stagnant air of the cave. Starswirl pragmatically fashioned a frosted cup from the ice in the walls and melted small chunks of them to use his purification spell on. He sipped at the icy cup to test the water and deemed it adequate, drinking his fill before refilling it and sharing it with me (I felt static when he handed the cup to me, but paid it no mind). I dug into Night Wind’s saddlebags and extracted the salted meats and hardtack for consumption, feeding the organic veggies to him first. Hardtack wasn’t as bad as I’d presumed it would be, although turning it into a pork sandwich did wonders to nullify the dry, stale taste of the biscuit.
When we had settled in around the fire as comfortably as being isolated under a mountain could get, Starswirl initiated a conversation, “I believe it is time for us to speak candidly with each other”
“And what if I am too exhausted to maintain a coherent discussion?” Was my crotchety response. I was not in the mood for the twenty questions game he had been delaying for some time now.
“Then I would suggest getting a second wind” Starswirl riposted, “Let’s say that I put a spell on you, Zenith, Adventurer Extraordinaire. And that whenever you told me a falsehood, a Hex would give you a nasty zap” He waved a hand reassuringly, “It would be nothing debilitating, I promise you. Though it would encourage you not to lie to me” He said in a voice more serious than any I’d heard from him yet. He suspected me of mischief, and desired to understand it before making judgments.
I was not moved, “Well it’s a good thing that this spell is a hypothetical one then” I noted, struggling to find a non jagged surface to lay back upon.
“It is not suppositional” Starswirl declared with certainty, “Pay attention to your elders and stop being so damned disrespectful” He chided me, using magic to pull me upright by the hood.
“Why Starswirl, you insult me! Though your lingering suspicion is well placed, I’ll grant you. You haven’t a thing to fear from me” I crooned in mock offense, simultaneously testing this hex of his.
When nothing befell me, Starswirl grumbled something and spoke, “If that’s true, then you won’t mind indulging some curiosities that have been eating at me since you and I started working together then, won’t you friend?”
“Ask away, friend” I couldn’t help but snark, “Though it’s only fair that we swap inquiries while we’re at it. How about it? You ask me a question that I’ll do my best to answer, and you satisfy my own curiosities then, hmm?” I sensibly proposed.
“Very well” He tentatively agreed, “What were you really doing in that forest before you happened upon Cookie and I in our most dire moment?” He initiated the exchange with the circumstances of our first meeting.
I shrugged to him, “Walking in the woods” It wasn’t a lie. But it wasn’t comprehensive enough to be considered worthy of Applejack’s standards either. The wizard murmured under his breath about my disappointingly barebones answer, but did not protest.
My turn, “If I’m not mistaken, the Stellar Magi and the Agrarians aren’t on the best of terms, preferring to seclude themselves from one another until they have necessary dealings with the other clan. So why was the distinctly Agrarian Tough Cookie with you as your chronicler? Such partnerships are considered taboo, no?” Tough Cookie even admitted that her folks would virtually disown her for her friendship with the wizard.
Starswirl hummed as he pondered how to properly explain this, “Because neither of us believe in something so petty as clan traits dividing us as a true people” He answered as he took a thawed log and fed it to the fire to keep it alive, “Tough Cookie and I are members of a secret, unofficial organization calling itself the Triumvirate. It consists of all those who believe that unity is what’s best for all of us, and we have many prominent members in the upper echelons of their respective societies. I myself am the highest ranked representative of the Stellar Mage branch. Once every few months, our council members convene and share the news of the affairs arising in their territories, often recommending counteracting courses of actions to prevent negative events from transpiring and agitating the enmity between the clans further. We hope to someday maneuver our governments so that our peoples will see past their differences and unite under a single banner, instead of three. Tough Cookie’s sister Smart Cookie will prove a vital informant should the Chancellor candidate Puddinghead be elected to lead the Combine”
‘It’s a shame that won’t go according to plan’ It was reputed once that Puddinghead had jello for brains, and was elected only because the idiocy of the previous chancellor made a changing of the guard an appealing option to the masses. Politics… where a person strictly named Smart Cookie would be relegated to the assistant of someone named Puddinghead. Some things never change, no matter where or when you are.
It was his turn to question me, “Where do you hail from, Zenith? And how are you capable of casting magic and demonstrating the ability of flight? I’ve never heard of such a thing being possible” He was so amazed by this that he bent the rules of our conversational engagement.
I wiggled a reproachful finger at him, “That’s two questions, Starswirl. Though to answer the first, I hail from a land colloquially known as Orange County” I looked to the side, “The second is… complicated. You see… I’m one of a kind in this time period” I danced around the subject.
He scratched at his scraggly chin, “I can’t say I’ve ever heard of that place. Though it sounds like a designation that the Agrarians would give to one of their regions. And what do you mean by time period? Speak sense!” He gruffly demanded of me.
I contemplated how best to answer that without revealing too much, but couldn’t figure fibbing anything that wouldn’t be outright lying to him. I didn’t place too much stock in his Hex having a severe effect on me, but I supposed that he deserved to know the truth if this partnership was to prosper.
“What I’m about to confide in you does not leave these mountains. Ever. Am I understood, Starswirl?” I stipulated to him in a tone that brooked no contention.
He nodded his acceptance, “You have my word that I will be the ideal confidant. I will repeat nothing of what I hear from you to anyone else. I swear this ’pon my honor, and on my magic” As if to confirm this, his staff pulsed brightly, holding him to his word on pain of losing his magic. I blinked at this. I didn’t know that was a legit thing here.
I nodded as well, satisfied with his binding oath. I clasped at the edges of my hood and pulled it back, revealing my face in full clarity to the wizard. His eyes widened and his jaw began to sink as he beheld my forehead, “N-no Focal Gem? How is it possible for you to be casting such potent magic without one?” He was flabbergasted.
My shoulder rose and fell, “I have no idea” I then held an index finger and thumb to my chin in rumination, “Though I think that my eyes act as a kind of substitute, since they glimmer whenever I Will them to or after casting some powerful spells in quick succession”
“But every Mage earns their Mana Mark before they are able to cast with such competency!” He protested, not believing that someone like me could deviate from the rules simply because I was different.
“That’s the thing” I said, painstakingly rolling up the left sleeve of my robes until my shoulder was bare. “I don’t hav-…” I paused and blinked repeatedly at the Mana Mark that was present on my flesh, wondering to myself if I was seeing things. It was the same Mana Mark that I gave my pony illusion back in Crystal City, down to the Omega symbol and enclosed Star, “Huh… that wasn’t there before” I tediously rolled up my right sleeve and found that shoulder to be unmarked, “Weird…” I remarked with indifference. As long as half of me was unmarked, I was okay with this.
‘The Mana Mark Maidens will freak if they find out about this’ How would they even react to the discovery that you could earn and yet not earn your Mana Mark? I don’t think I was going to risk them ever uncovering this. And I’m not just deciding this because I’d no longer be eligible to join their adorable little organization.
Starswirl’s confusion only increased with this, “You are a man of many contradictions, Zenith” He opined as he rubbed at his creased forehead, “I don’t even know which of the clans you would belong to even if that lack of a Focal Gem on your forehead was not the case”
“Whichever one is the most American” I joked, before returning my jocose tone to earnestness, “I don’t belong to any one clan, though I am a fusion of all three. I am the embodiment of the unity that you yearn for so badly, Starswirl. It’s fitting that I should be the one accompanying you, isn’t it?”
Starswirl received these bombshells relatively well. I think the shock of so many surprises bombarding him at once meant that they were losing their influence on him, “What are those like you called?” He investigated, after taking a second to collect himself.
“Trifect. You’re staring at a Trifect” I succinctly replied, before realizing that I had just coined the term. Only time travel would present me the unparalleled opportunity of being both the coiner and the learner of the prestigious clan classification for the Princesses… and me, I guess. I wasn’t ready to become a Prince just yet.
“Trifects” He tested each syllable of the word on his tongue with an approving expression, “Are there more of these… Trifects?” He asked, a definite glint in his eyes that indicated to me that he was mulling over the possibility of recruiting more of them to his cause.
My brow furrowed, “It is doubtful that there are others currently like me. I wouldn’t be surprised if I was the only one in this time period” The two heroines of Starswirl’s paramount prophecy had to be Celestia and Luna. But were those two admirable women Trifects for all of their lives? Or did they become them? They did use the word ‘ascension’ to imply on certain occasions that they were not always the Princesses that their subjects venerated in the highest (particularly Cadence), but I did not know if that was meant in a poetic or exact sense. Ironically… only time would clarify that for me.
“You keep saying that. But you’ve been dodgy about enlightening me to your meaning” Starswirl remonstrated me, “Care to explain?” He verbally prodded, abandoning the concept of a fair exchange of inquiries.
“Honestly, Starswirl? I don’t belong here” My tone was solemn, “You’re going to have to keep a pretty open mind about this, but I’m actually from a time period about a millennium removed from now… give or take a few decades” I left out the minor detail that I wasn’t originally from this world, since I had no clue how I would authenticate that claim to him, “A powerful magic that I do not understand is responsible for my arrival here, and I’m essentially lost”
“A spell to let one travel through time? How utterly fascinating!” He treated the notion with riveted appeal, his astute mind figuring how to formulate the mental spell matrix necessary to accomplish such a deed.
‘And now I’ve awakened his motivated desire to innovate the famous time blink spell. Perhaps this world’s history isn’t as malleable as I thought if I’m acting as the inspirational push for one of its most famous figures’ I cogitated with faint amusement.
He stammered as he remembered the most pertinent ramifications of sharing room with a time traveller, “Look at me obsessing over a flashy spell like one of my star struck students, when I should be asking what is the future like! Do we succeed in uniting the clans!?” He beseeched me for the answer to this one, looking desperate to know how history would remember his deeds.
My lip curled upwards at him, “Relax Starswirl. Everything will work itself out just fine” I ambiguously assured him, not risking upsetting the flow of events that led to the wondrous Arcania that I had grown fond of.
“But surely you can tell me more!?” He pressed, his voice distraught.
“I can… but I won’t” I shook my head, “As an intellectual, you must realize that divulging information about the events of the future can change things for better… or for worse. I will not take liberties with my displacement in time, and you will ask me nothing else on the subject” I would not be dissuaded from this opinion, either.
He sighed in resigned concurrence and leaned back, “You’re right. I must not discard the faith that has driven me this far. I will be content with your assertion that all will be well. But I have other curiosities that must be satisfied. For instance, how did you find yourself lost in time and space?”
“By following the whims of the unseen” I dryly quipped, “It feels like it’s been a veritable eternity since I stepped through a mirror that doubled as a portal. It was an intentional decision, as I would lose something irreplaceable to me if I didn’t. I was…” I trailed off, neutrally recalling the Crystal City Incident (That time I ate at In & Oat Burger still makes me weep metaphorical tears of blood whenever I think about it), “…elsewhere for a time, striving to unlock the means to return. The way back to where I came from was available again after impressing some four leggers with some awesome rock music… it’s not a story worth hearing. And now in spite of all that effort, I’m stuck in the wrong era, adrift in the sea of time. I was wandering that forest in search of a way back to familiarity when our paths met up”
“I see…” Starswirl processed this, “And how will you return home?” He posed to me the one question that I didn’t have the answer to.
“I don’t know” I confessed somberly, “As I’ve said, I’m stuck. In the last instance, the portal that conveyed me elsewhere was apparent to me, but I woke up in those woods. I have no way of knowing where the portal will be this round” I groused, cynically considering that I might become an unwilling time traveller.
“Someone who lives an extraordinary life such as yours does not stay stuck for long” Starswirl sagaciously stated, “Especially not when they’re the second hero of the prophecy. You will find a way back to whenever you come from” He affirmed with confidence, “But in the meantime, you have a purpose here to fulfill”
“How can I not feel emboldened with verve when you put it that way?” I chuckled, “You know I’ll stand by you as we seek out these enigmatic maidens of yours, make no doubt of that” I stopped my laughter, “But while I’ve come clean to you, I must request the same of you to me”
“What would you have of me?” He rumbled out a yawn, beginning to feel the effect of weariness wear on him. He was spry for his age, but he did not possess unlimited reserves of energy.
“I need to know more about these Acolytes of Chaos, and their Herald… Cross” I would no demur on this. I’d need to know more about the men who were still after Starswirl, and therefore would be after me by extension.
Starswirl inhaled sharply, yanked back from the brink of nodding off at the mere mention of Cross, “You truly do not know about the heinous infamy of Double Cross? Fine… but I will not be held responsible for any nightmares you may receive upon hearing how he extinguished his own family like they meant less than nothing to him” He growled, revulsion saturating each of his words.
“He… murdered his own family?” I was aghast at this, “Why? For what possible reason would he commit such an atrocity?” Such an act was nearly unthinkable.
“When they found him bathing in their blood and beaming like a madman, I couldn’t believe it” The wizard swiveled his head in non acceptance, “He was an exceptional student in magic, memorized his studies and performed intricate spells with the mastery of an expert. He was among the initial selection that would be evaluated for their worthiness to become my personal apprentice. He could be charming, well spoken, and had a charismatic charm to him that persuaded many to endear themselves to him. But there was always something off about him whenever you’d look him in the eye, which should have been our first hint that he was a wolf in sheep’s clothing”
His staff glowed and the fireplace flickered before taking on a definition in which images and faces could be seen from someone’s point of view. The wizard was using the campfire to project his memories with, “When they brought him before the council of justice, he had taken leave of his senses, raving about how some dissonant god promised him power beyond power to enhance himself above his position as the second son of his house, which was unfavorable to his ambitions. He desecrated his own flesh and blood, painting the queerest symbols and marks on the walls with their vital fluids… on the false promises of his own fragmented conscious” Memories were flashed up of a Great Hall of some noble house, whose stone walls were almost entirely defaced with ominous looking circular patterns drawn with blood that had long since dried.
“How is he even still alive then?” I balked incredulously, “You figure that a gruesome kin slaying like that would be punished with a death penalty”
Starswirl looked ashamed, turning away slightly, “I may have had an influence on the trial. When I was called to witness for the behavior of Double Cross in the weeks preceding the murders, I told them only what I had seen. Cross had behaved no more differently than he usually did, continuing to honor his house with the incredible advances in his studies. When the council made their decision with what to do with him, they had voted on removing his magic and banishing him from Stellaria permanently”
“Remove his connection to magic?” I parroted, “How does that work?”
Starswirl grimaced, “It is… not a pleasant process, and in some cases would be an ever worse fate than death for many a Stellar Mage. Doubly so for Cross” Starswirl said, perhaps unaware of the pun he had made, “He was brought before six members of the Stellar Council; an assortment of the most powerful and experienced mages in the kingdom, men and women who routinely moved the Sun and Moon across the firmament in concert. With their magic working together, they delved into his body’s innate ties with magic and severed them, shattering Cross’s Focal Gem and causing him unimaginable agony. This punishment rendered him forever unable to cast magic for the remainder of his life”
“He should have factored that into his decision making before murdering his family in cold blood” I uttered spitefully. He’d get no pity from me, no one so fixated on their lust for power could ever justify slaying their own kin.
With my own weariness loosening some of my verbal inhibitions, I continued with my berating of his character, “Don’t you find it ironic that a former pupil named Double Cross… betrayed everything that you and the Stellar Magi considered sacrosanct?” I scoffed derisively as I took a sip of water from the ice cup (Which was enchanted to not melt until the charm had worn off), “It’s a pity you didn’t say something that would kill him when you had the chance”
“Pity?” He stared incredulously at me, “It was pity that stayed my tongue. I once saw that there was goodness in him, and it pains my heart greatly to know that he has fallen so deeply into shadow. But I feel that he has a part to play in forthcoming events that I do not yet understand, whether it be for good or ill purposes equally eludes me. There are many that live who deserve death, and there are some that die who deserve life. Can you give it to them?” He brought up a difficult conundrum, giving me pause. It was something that he did not hesitate to capitalize on, “Do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment. There is quite enough of it going around in these tempestuous times”
“I respect your wisdom, Starswirl” I inclined my head to him, “But to me there is only one reliable way to effectively cope with remorseless evil like that. If I ever come across this man or any of his murdering ilk again… I will be dealing out plenty of death and judgment” I pledged, clenching my hands until the whites of my knuckles were showing.
“Be wary that in fighting this evil… you do not become like it, Zenith” There was something in Starswirl’s warning that had an odd quality to it, and I was compelled to unclench my fists and gaze at the imbrued hands that had already spilled so much blood. Was I so vindictive that I was emulating the evil that I found so repugnant in order to combat it?
“Let’s change the subject” I punctually spoke up, feeling uncomfortable with this train of thought, “I’ve heard enough about the reprehensible Double Cross”
“Of course” Starswirl was sympathetic to the cognitive dissonance that he had engendered in me, “What else would you like to know about?”
“Tell me about yourself” I requested in a cordial tone, “We’ve been so preoccupied with saving Tough Cookie’s life and chasing after these heroines that I haven’t gotten the chance to know more about you as a person”
Starswirl hummed, “And they haven’t written about me in the history books?” He subtly fished for info on how he would be remembered. It wasn’t dangerous knowledge, so I could let him have that at least.
“Of course they have!” I exclaimed, “Your name is all but synonymous with the field of magic and spell innovation. You’re seen as a role model for many a talented mage, some of whom I’m well acquainted with (‘Perhaps too well acquainted with, in fact. Twilight did practically interface with my soul’)” I related, “History will remember you in an immensely positive light”
The wizard smiled, the expression suiting his slightly wrinkled face, “You have haven’t the faintest idea how much it warms my heart to hear such news”
“Don’t tell me the great Starswirl the Bearded was never anything other than absolutely sure of himself. That would be preposterous!” I teased him in a jolly tone, lifting the mood a tad in these drab caverns. Despite being meant as a joke, Starswirl’s Hex gave me an insignificant zap that sent a tingling sensation up and down my spine, “Hmmf! Your Hexes are tame, Starswirl” I raspberried at him like a juvenile.
His smile morphed into a grin, “Wiseacre. You might be even more cheeky than my clever student Clover”
The remainder of the night was spent learning about Starswirl’s origins. Vitalitus had told me only exiguous bits about his upbringing that left me hungry for more, so it was satisfying for the wizard himself to recount how he was born to the Noble House Galaxy in the lofty town of Starwick. His hometown was like most Stellar Mage settlements, erecting intimidating battlements and durability enchanted stonewalls that made each town an effective stronghold. Their natural position in the mountains meant that high winds discouraged attacks from the air by the Skyborn as well. The Stellar Magi constructed their cities and towns like this out of fear of reprisal from the Agrarians below, who they commonly lorded themselves over and generally treated like serfs and servants. Starswirl’s own distaste for the current system in place regarding the treatment of non Stellar Mage clans started when he witnessed his mother Andromeda treating one of their Agrarian maids like she was less than trash when he was a boy.
However, as the first born son of his House, Starswirl was groomed by his parents to one day become the Lord of House Galaxy; which was well known for its expertise in astronomy, and even advised the Stellar Council on how to best maintain the firmament on several occasions. He considered his father Starbright to be an honorable man, though one that was constricted by that same honor to follow the traditions of condescension for the ‘lesser clans’ as the Stellar Magi scornfully referred to them. His father would openly copy the example of his kith and kin, but would privately treat his fellow being with dignity. Starswirl vowed at an early age to be a hundred percent different, and it showed over the years as he grew older and wiser. He practiced civil disobedience by behaving towards his Agrarian servants with respect and even taking over their duties when they were unable due to various reasons that were commonplace in a simpler time, despite being a lordling. His parents noticed this and tried to wean him off of it (his mother did anyhow), educating him that the prerogative of the Stellar Magi was to dominate the lower clans. They moved the very bodies of the Heavens after all. Why shouldn’t they be the ones to rule over lowly dirt farmers and brutish featherbrains?
Unsurprisingly, their lessons bounced and Starswirl only became more vocal with his radical ideals, earning him the disfavor of his community despite how he was the first in all of his classes when it came to magic and other scholastic studies. One day, the then young teenager preached to the wrong crowd and earned the personal disfavor of House Galaxy’s liege lords, House Unicum. The apoplectic lord dragged Starswirl through the streets and back to his house by his ears before he tossed him before his father in his own home. He was angrily accused of harboring ‘Anti Stellarian’ sentiments for the lesser clans, which would deem him as a traitor to his Kingdom. The understandably distraught Starbright was faced with two decisions. He could falsely admit to instilling these heretic principles in his son and let himself and his House take the heat, or disavow him as the heir to his household in favor of his kid brother, Starstreak. Being the ‘honorable’ man that he was, Starbright chose to strip Starswirl of his rights of inheritance and exile him from his home. Undeterred, the nescient Starswirl went down among the Agrarians and mingled with them, learning their customs, how they tilled and sowed the soil, and their overall way of life. Starswirl’s pained expression and implicit undertones during one part of the story alluded to the fact that he may have even found love once, but one that was simply not meant to be.
Starswirl did not just have a merry way of things merely because he was an aberration among the Stellar Magi. Many Agrarians fostering bitter resentment towards all of the Stellar Mage clan harassed and ostracized the youthful wizard, accusing him of horrible things like spying, brainwashing, and even raping a tavern wench that he made grateful comments to on a regular basis for her heedfulness. It did not take long for the condemnatory community to oust him from their midst and harshly remind him that he was an exile to more than just his own people. Dusting himself off and putting one foot in front of the other, Starswirl traveled from town to town, many of them owned in all but name by the Stellar Magi or the Valkyrians; and none of them gave him a particularly amiable welcome. The wizard was a vagabond during this phase, never staying anywhere for a duration longer than three months. He performed entertaining tricks and did menial jobs whenever he could to keep himself fed, but conceded that he missed his old life of living in the lap of luxury.
These trials did serve their purpose though, and Starswirl’s aptitude with magic increased exponentially as the months that imperceptibly turned into years went by. A tough life of never living in one place and roaming dangerous roads inculcated a habit of molding his magic to whatever need suited him whenever he required it most. His reputation also began to remove the tarnish that it had incurred through his charitable work and speeches that the clans did not have to be divided, and that all could share in prosperity, if they so chose it. Humble audiences of one or two incrementally amplified into throngs of dozens as people flocked to him, if only to see the novelty of a Stellar Mage that was so against his own clan’s highborn attitudes. Dishearteningly, these speeches netted all accolades and little action on the parts of the Agrarians, who had been under the thumb of the other two clans for too long. Their learned hopelessness vexed Starswirl, but he realized that he wasn’t going to change things with words alone.
There was a recurring theme that I had noticed in Starswirl’s life. There was a lack of solid friends to stand by him during good and bad times, to laugh with him during his triumphs, and to comfort and weep with him when nothing seemed to be going right. I recall the Princesses remarking how Starswirl could have been even more powerful in magic if he embraced friendship the way that Twilight and her friends did. While I could partially agree with that assessment, there was more to it than that to me. In him I saw a fellow spirit of rugged individuality, one that wanted to change the world for the better, but did not strictly rely on friends to see them through the day. Though the comparisons broke down in that Starswirl’s individuality was ingrained in him by a life of solitude, whereas mine was an intrinsic preference. At the very least, I could claim that I had a friendship with this man, even if it was one forged under the fires of hardship.
Perhaps by chance or by fate, Starswirl was contacted by a member of a burgeoning movement that was calling itself the Triumvirate, which had been observing him for some time in one of the densely populated, Combine governed Agrarian towns. They recognized in him the same spirit of spit and fire that motivated them and soon inducted him into their ranks, exposing him to a whole strata of politics and political maneuvering that he had never known before. Starswirl adapted expeditiously, and joined his brothers and sisters of the Triumvirate in enacting real change through small victories, such as diverting attention away from a village that the Skyborn or Stellar Magi had their greedy eyes on, or through encouraging a sense of community among the isolated Agrarian towns so that they would stand united against their oppressors. Being a secretive organization that knew how to mask its fingerprints, the Triumvirate was in no danger of discovery by any of the clans as being a guiding hand that empowered both the individual and collective populace.
But as fulfilling as these minor victories were, they were insufficient in enacting wide scale reform in Starswirl’s opinion. The opportunity to rectify that came when Starswirl’s prestige with magic had garnered him the attention of the Stellarian noble families through hearsay. They overlooked his status as a shamed exile when they heard about how this man could reputedly cast spells that were equal tier to some of those cast by their Stellar Council, and at more than half their age! They were careful about it though, and offered Starswirl a modest position as a personal tutor of magic and other studies to their offspring. His new job paid well and allowed Starswirl to indirectly influence the future by imprinting his connate principles upon his students (Though in a twist of irony some of it would bounce off in much the same way his parent’s ‘lessons’ would bounce on him).
Starswirl was a patient man, who would wait years and sift through several pupils of prestigious families before he had enough sway to become a direct player in Stellarian politics. He initiated the first step of his grand scheme by reconnecting with his younger brother, whom he had not seen for over a decade and had become the new lord of House Galaxy after their father had passed away. Touchingly, their reunion was heartfelt and tearful, as Starstreak had always looked up to his maverick of an elder brother. Starswirl confessed that it was probably for the best that he did not become the lord of the House, as Starstreak had done an impeccable job of furthering the influence and honor of their House. This put them almost on par with their liege lords, who had fallen into shame after a scandal involving one of their daughters consorting romantically with a servant boy. That boy was executed, while the girl comparatively got a slap on the wrist. This event incensed Starswirl and served as fuel for his righteous crusade against the injustices that the Stellarian Kingdom had committed.
Starswirl kept in close contact with his allies in the Triumvirate, and was instrumental in keeping them updated on salient developments before they fermented into events that would inflict unwarranted suffering on the innocent. It was through that organization that Starswirl found a rare friend in Tough Cookie, a girl of modest upbringing in the Agrarian community whose sister was strategically placed in the Combine to work her way up the greasy rungs of the ladder to become an aide to the Chancellor, who was the de facto ruler of the Agrarians and a King in all but title and power to enact certain laws (Though the Combine was less than a third as influential as the Provinces of Valkyria or the Kingdom of Stellaria. But at least they were pro democracy!). Tough Cookie was officially his chronicler, but was unofficially his diplomat when it came to negotiating with rogue Agrarian settlements that needed to be brought into the fold before they could be exploited by either clan for ownership of their fields. He interrupted his tale to pointedly tell me that I was going to be taking over her duties in that regard, since the insular Agrarians in the Dreamy Vale were known for having no love for anyone who was not like them.
Starswirl wrapped up his recounting of his life’s work with the same thing he had told me before. The Prophecy of the Sisters of Fate that alluded to complete unification under Harmony was too tempting for him to pass up on. This, coupled with the reports of a duo of women’s heroic achievements in the far north, was the crack that split the dam of reserved action and let forth the waters of hope filled resolution. Starswirl publicly announced that he was taking an extended leave of absence and that he did not know when he was coming back. This of course elicited a negative response from the nobles and even the King’s family (who had all benefited from his skill with magic), who went so far as to forbid his departure under insinuated threats of dishonor. Starswirl, being the rogue he is, virtually flipped them the bird, mounted a horse, invited Cookie along, and set off in search of the heroines we were currently after.
The wizard kind of skimmed over the Acolytes of Chaos though, labeling them only as crazed fanatics of the Agrarians and Stellar Magi that were corrupted into following their magic deprived leader Double Cross, who pretentiously named himself their Herald of Chaos. From what Starswirl could discern from his unpleasant encounters with them, they worshipped an obscure being that was claimed to have been capable of anything and everything. They believed that by worshiping this being and following its self proclaimed Herald, it would unite the clans under their backwards concept of disharmony. I frowned at this explanation, not being a fan of religious fanatics myself. They were a recently created faction, and Starswirl had no doubt that the Triumvirate was already counteracting them in the south. But it was their apparent base of operations in the Dreamy Vale that had Starswirl most concerned. If the wizard had figured out the meaning of the prophecy, then so too would his power craving, once a pupil in magic fellow exile. And he had the advantage of a head start. I did not share his fears, for I had the utmost faith in these heroines if they genuinely were who I suspected they might be.
I was so riveted by his in depth story that an hour must have faded away as surely as the campfire was losing its flame. I let out a yawn that proved contagious as the wizard and I exchanged wishes of good nights and of restful sleep. Night Wind sensed that we were on the brink of sleep and lay down beside me by folding in his legs, nickering his horsey version of ‘Sleep tight!’. We would need our energy for the rest of the journey through the bowels of the mountain… and things would only get harder for us as we went.
I dreamt of the women I loved, and how much I missed each of them.
⁂
Starswirl was one of those few people whose body clock could trump mine. He woke me with his habitual prodding of the staff, urging me to awake and alerting me to the welcome news that his path finding spell, which had been working nonstop throughout the night, had found a way out of these accursed mountains that was only a four hour’s walk away! I roused Night Wind from his slumber and imparted the same news to him, which he received with a relieved whicker. We skipped out on breakfast since the leftover hardtack by itself would be like eating stale cereal without any milk to wash it down with. Starswirl took point as we left behind our campsite, not bothering to snuff the glowing embers of the campfire since they would die down with our nonattendance. It came as no surprise, but the pathways of the mountain did not become drastically different for the first three and three quarters of an hour of repetitive walking. That’s the only thing I was not a fan of about adventures… they entailed too much freaking trudging onwards.
To better pass the time and to tune out the grumbling of my mouth and stomach, Starswirl flung me a map that he had kept in his robes that illustrated the continent we were on, instructing me to educate myself and quit my bellyaching. I discovered with slight dismay that I was indeed not in an ancient version of Arcania. Everything was new, from the names of the mountain ranges, to the valleys below, and the cloud based city-states in the sky. There was no official name for the continent itself that the three clans could agree upon (each having their own self glorifying label), so I gave it one of my own: Precania. The map was incredibly detailed, and even had markers for the kind of topography and wind conditions one could expect in the legend. The map only covered most of the continent though, and was ambiguous on what we could expect once we had entered into the Dreamy Vale, which had been largely forgotten. I did see hints of an unexplored land bridge heading to the east that just screamed ‘colonization route’ to me.
Starswirl was visibly on edge as we drew nearer to his exit, and sniffed at the acrid air repeatedly. I noticed bizarre features in my peripherals myself as I half scrutinized the neatly sketched parchment paper. The terrain was beginning to look less naturally occurring and more… carved, though with some horrific craftsmanship that only the oblivious would not be able to tell the difference. The path downward was starting to take on features more like those of a rudimentary stairway than that of a steep slope, and Night Wind’s ears never once stilled themselves, flicking in every direction constantly. He moved closer to me and expressed his concern for predators lurking in the shadows as I rolled up the map and stored it in my robes. I was not a fool. I knew what these signs meant all too well.
I whispered as much to the wizard, “We’re being watched”
Starswirl hummed grimly, “You sense it too? And that musky scent in the air… this part of the mountain is inhabited, likely by the same creatures that caused the mine to be abandoned” He postulated.
“There is no mistaking that awful stench” I agreed, my nose wrinkling, “It’s Grimworts… and there’s bound to be hundreds, if not several hundreds of them close by”
Starswirl hummed again, this time sounding entertained, “It’s beneficial that you have negotiated with their kind for safe passage before then, hmm?” He reasoned.
I sent him an unamused stare, “That was with the Glowworm Pack, and I had to cut down over a quarter of their number with my blade set ablaze before they yielded to me. Intuition tells me that attempting that tactic here would be tantamount to suicide” I shuddered, with no small amount of seriousness.
By this point, the sloped pathw- stairs… had bottomed out and flattened into an open expanse that the dim light of the wizard’s staff could not penetrate far enough to see what was on the other side. “Let me risk a little more light” He murmured to himself and his staff increased in luminescence, revealing that the open expanse wasn’t as open as I presumed. Stone columns dotted the way ahead of us in intermittent intervals, in their structure were bored in hollows that were wide enough to fit a small person inside of. The pattering of clawed hands and feet escaped us as whatever was responsible for them melted into the shadows. This place reminded me of a twisted parody of the halls of Khazad-dûm, and its inhabitants were plausibly just as ornery.
Hushed chatter came from the margins all around us, none of it giving off a particularly friendly feeling. I cast that night vision spell that would utilize Starswirl’s light on my eyes and resisted a shiver at what I saw. There were thousands of beady black eyes, staring at us in the dark with a hungry vibe to them, despite their lack of pupils. We hadn’t just stumbled into a nest of Grimworts… we had walked right into a hive of them. They were everywhere, crawling up and down jagged stone foundations that acted as pillars, fighting amongst themselves for the best allotment of cavefish they had caught, or bickering over who got to play with bones that worryingly resembled those one would find in humans. Even with all this hidden activity, they were so quiet that even my keenly receptive ears struggled to pick up on the muted noises of their chattering. They were superiorly armed compared to the Grimworts of the Glowworm Pack, sporting rusty iron blades and crude bows and arrows. And perhaps most importantly, they were much, much more numerous.
“Starswirl…” I did my damnedest to keep the disquieted unease out of my voice, “…how much further is it to this exit you mentioned earlier?” My tone was wooden and deadpan, as a furtive implication that all was not well with our situation.
He conveyed himself normally, “My path finding spell signifies to me that it should be on the opposite side of this capacious chamber” He looked at me strangely, “Is there something I should know about?” He whispered in question, catching on quick to the threatened meaning behind my stiff posture.
“Take the highest number of Grimworts you thought we’d find down here… and quintuple it” I sibilated bitingly, hating the idea of getting ourselves surrounded simply because the wizard carelessly insisted on a faster way out. Night Wind made no effort to hide his discomfort, and I could feel the anxious fidgeting of his head in the reins I was holding.
Starswirl’s face paled, “That is… indeed an obstacle. Should we utilize that invisibility spell of yours again and double back?” He suggested to me, his head swiveling to watch for any sudden dangers. At a minimum he could concede that this was a bad call, but we couldn’t back out now.
I rumbled in the negative, “We’re too far in already, they’ve cut off our escape back the route we entered. Besides… Night Wind is too nervous to move with absolute stillness… we must find another way”
“I’m open to alternative suggestions, my coolly composed companion” He retorted, clenching his staff in his hands and at the hilt of the sword sheathed at his side.
“We’re not going to fight our way out of this one, Starswirl…” A metaphorical light bulb switched on above my head, “but we might be able to smash and dash our way out. Dim the light of your staff, if you would” I adjured him.
“Are you mad!?” He hissed, “We want them to keep their distance! Not invite them closer!” He argued, not yet seeing the main gist of my plan.
“They’re armed with arrows, Starswirl” I contradicted him, “It doesn’t matter what distance they keep, they could put holes in us all the same. Grimworts hate light… right? So what would happen if you were to overwhelm them with an explosion of it?” I hypothetically posed the question to him.
“They would be blinded, and unable to react to much of anything for a time” Starswirl answered, “But they would kill us the moment they saw us plotting against them!” Despite his objections, he had bedimmed his staff.
“You let me handle that part” I grinned confidently at him, “How long would it take for you to charge up the flashiest spell you’ve got?”
Starswirl glanced at the darkened crystal of his staff, “No more than a minute’s worth of time, I promise you. But my illumination spell will cease functioning for the entirety of that minute” He forewarned. The Grimworts were edging closer with each second, and they looked ravenous for some meat. Once they were well within my usual aural range, I could clearly make out their voices.
“Intruders! Kill them! Kill them all!”
“Strip the flesh, salt the wound!”
“Oh they look so tasty! We hasn’t had man flesh in forever!”
“Man flesh? What about horse flesh!? There is so much meat to be had on that one!” Snickered another Grimwort, licking his lips and brandishing his dagger in preparation for some knife work.
My face contorted in aversion, “Mount up then, and be ready to ride hard for this exit of yours” I didn’t wait for him to respond as I leaned towards Night Wind, “Hey pal, we’re almost there. Close your eyes and trust my friend Starswirl here to guide you, okay?” The frightened equine did as he was bidden, causing me to smile bittersweetly at how much faith he had in us.
With Starswirl in the saddle and the crystal of his staff turning off completely, I walked ahead of the two and prayed that the Grimwort who told me a weakness of their kind wasn’t lying. I opened my mouth and began to sing a profound melody that popped into my mind.
“Home is behind… the world ahead. And there are many paths to tread~”
My crooning voice captured the attention of the Grimworts with almost immediate effect, and they halted in place, glancing at each other in confusion that gradually gave way to ensorcelled enthrallment.
“Through shadow… to the edge of night. Until the Stars are all alight~”
The lyrics to the song echoed faintly in the underground chamber, the words bouncing around and back to me with a ghostly quality that made it even more eerie than I remembered. Some of the less than hypnotized Grimworts tried to snap their kin out of their trance and were met with the agitated gnashing of jaws for disturbing them. They were able to extract some of their buddies from their hypnosis though, and pointed their clawed appendages accusingly at me.
“Mist and shadow… Cloud and shade. All shall fade…~” I realized that my stalling tactic was beginning to falter as more of the musically resistant Grimworts informed their brothers to the trick that was about to be played on them. I backed up so I was close to my companions.
“All shall fade… all… shall…~” Over the alarming sounds of bow strings being pulled back and ready to let fly, I heard the crackling energy building up on Starswirl’s staff notify me that his spell was ready to unleash and closed my eyes, “…fade~”
A blazing light that my flash bang canisters wouldn’t have been able to hold a candela to detonated in the chambers, searing whiteness into my retinas for a duration of five seconds. The Grimworts screeched as their eyesight was ripped from them, some of them recoiling and loosing their arrows in the wrong direction, accidentally committing fratricide. Starswirl’s hand grabbed me by the nape of my neck, and with the momentum of Night Wind’s sudden sprint forward, hoisted me up onto the saddle behind him. His staff was still pulsating with waves of light, but one ray was brighter and any other as we blitzed into the encirclement of dumbfounded Grimworts, scattering them and sending all in the cavern into a panicked frenzy. The beam of light changed orientation as we zigged and zagged around the stone columns, broadcasting the heading we needed to go to leave the mountain. We hightailed it as fast as Night Wind could go, bowling over several Grimworts who weren’t close enough to be fazed by the flash and attempted to stop us.
The din in the cavern grew cacophonous as the enraged Grimworts tried to chase their food down. Archers stationed on rolling ledges fired potshots at us that missed by country miles, since Applejack wasn’t here to use that expression. I assembled Dichotomy in my hands and helped to thin their numbers as we charged ever onward. The edge of the Mage-blade reaped the Grimworts like they were a field of wheat. Moldy, nasty smelling wheat that was in dire need of a shower and some tic-tacs. They disregarded their own health and attacked from above too, dropping down from the columns as they tried to knock us off our ride and render us easy pickings for the ensuing horde. A prominent example of a rolling ledge neared us and the archers posted there took aim, intending to pincushion us as we passed alongside.
Counteracting this outcome, I shouted to Starswirl, “Take him left!”
Starswirl acquiesced and yanked the reins to direct Night Wind leftwards and up the ramp of the ledge, galloping chest first into many archers and throwing them off of it. One poor sap was directly trampled under my steed’s hoof, his skull squishing with a wet crunch as Night Wind stamped his life out with extreme prejudice. The end of the ledge terminated into a steep drop that would have been the death of us, so Night Wind took the initiative and leaped across the gap separating it from another ledge, where we plowed into yet more Grimworts with a clopping of hooves. Starswirl’s irregular noises of nausea indicated to me that he wasn’t big on heights, and even less thrilled by vaulting over them. This was incongruous, as Starswirl was born in a mountain town. Though he did spend much of his life groundside, so maybe it was an acquired distaste.
“Bebother and confusticate me! How are we not dead yet!?” The wizard exclaimed wildly, not believing how auspicious our flight through the enemy infested cavern was so far.
“Your story won’t end here, Starswirl, and neither will mine for that matter!” I declared in answer, channeling flame into my weapon and slashing an unfortunate Grimwort across the face, spontaneously setting his corpse on fire as an example to his bloodthirsty kin.
“How is it that you’re always so confident about our odds of survival!?” He blurted almost accusatorially.
“Just a hunch” I said to him, ‘And nothing to do with that portrait of older you that I saw, or what the Princess told me about the unresolved state of your fate’
“That’s going to be your go-to excuse whenever I inquire, isn’t it?” He groaned in exasperation.
“You’ve figured it out, have you?” I reiterated and grinned momentarily in response, before refocusing on the delicate matter at hand, “Are we getting closer to the exit? I doubt our luck here will hold up forever!”
“Over there!” He hollered, as he directed my attention in front of us, where our means of a safe getaway was located.
Ahead of us was a narrow, precariously constructed wooden roped bridge suspended over a seemingly bottomless black chasm. It was approximately fifty feet in length and looked rather rickety, but it was either risk falling to our doom or getting torn apart by indignant Grimworts. To make the idea of crossing this bridge even less palatable, there were no ropes to act as railing, meaning that excessive swaying of the bridge could go over rather badly for us. The Grimworts there anticipated our intentions and raised their weapons to cut at the ropes anchoring it on the first side. I split up Dichotomy and shot-gunned them with the shards, tearing them limb from limb and stopping them from concluding this adventure of ours prematurely. I recombined my blade and spread my wings to fly beyond our advance, landing on the other side to expediently deal with the Grimworts there with whirling slashes and sword strokes that put them on the floor.
As Night Wind and Starswirl traveled the gap, I pulled out my Tantō with my free hand and insta-prepped a spell that would turn the flammable bridge conflagrant, ensuring that any who attempted to chase us down would regret it. Once they were across, I let loose with it, igniting that side of the bridge and letting it spread to the other side, fraying at the ropes suspending it. A trio of Grimworts midway across saw this and halted in their tracks, only for the ignorant members behind them to collide with them and knock them off the edge, where they screamed all the way to their demise. The fast burning fire where the spell made first contact did its job and reduced the anchoring ropes to zero integrity, resulting in them snapping and sending a couple dozen Grimworts down to join the hapless trio.
‘You shall not pass!’ I shamelessly referenced in my head. Satisfied with foiling the Grimwort’s lunch plans; I turned tail, spread my wings, and flew off in pursuit of the wizard and my steed.
The exit itself was nothing special, just a massive crevice in the mountains that opened out into a stunning sight of the Dreamy Vale. The landscape was like something out of Skyrim, with the mountainous plateau offering an unparalleled view of a grassy green valley overflowing with greenery and life. Thickets of Pine trees were sprinkled against the rims of the mountains and thinned out as they reached the bottom. In the valley below us were fields of flowers of lovely blue and violet hues that probably smelled fragrant. The brumous air was crisp and fresh, a welcome change from the staggering stench of the Grimwort hive. There was evidence outside that the Grimworts used the semi plateau we were on as a hunting camp, with wooden racks mounted over stone campfire to roast game for consumption. It was daylight, so the rays of the sun assured me that no more Grimworts would be bothering us for the remainder of our trip.
I walked up to the wizard and Night Wind, who were standing on a rocky shelf that jutted outwards and pointed at the Vale. Together we stared at the location where our search for the foretold heroines could begin in earnest. While Starswirl was preoccupied with appreciating the valley, I kept an eye trained on the skies, in case Maelstrom and her men were desperate enough to brave the turbulent winds of the mountain range in order to hunt us down. The airways in the immediate vicinity were clear, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t be keeping watch for any scouts.
“So this is the Dreamy Vale of old…” He observed, wordlessly putting the events of the cavern behind him, “It’s beautiful, to be sure, but I can see why our ancestors weren’t hesitant to find prosperity elsewhere” A distant column of smoke to the northwest from what had to be the nearest village caught his eye and he indicated towards it, “We should start our search there, in that town” He lent me his hand and offered to pull me up, which I accepted.
Night Wind may have lacked cloven hooves for traction, but he did a decent job of scaling the mountain in reverse until we found a dirt road that looked traveled. We cantered along that path for ten minutes before that column of smoke started to look less like the kind coming from chimneys and more like the kind coming from smoldering ruins. Starswirl saw this and urged Night Wind into a gallop. As we drew closer, our worst fears were realized as it was confirmed that the village was burned. Blackened husks of wooden support columns protruded from the ground like ebony fingers. Stone structures were baked to the point where their bricks cracked and crumbled, shattering under their own weight. The air was thick with the fetor of char and ashes, and Starswirl held a robed sleeve to his nose as a makeshift mask. I was more proactive and channeled a filtering spell on my nostrils so the smoke wouldn’t become overpowering.
I dismounted and Starswirl joined me in ferreting around for signs of survivors or what could have caused this destruction. A cynical part of my mind assumed that it must have been vengeful Valkyrians taking out their defeat at Mirrimare on this town, but my rational side silenced it by pointing out how razing entire villages and their farming fields to the ground was not their style. We scanned amongst the burnt out wreckage at the fringes of the village for bodies, but they were mysteriously empty. I attempted to use True Sight to paint indicators on living beings in the vicinity, but only one blip popped up on the proverbial radar.
It was a tiny signature that was shivering at the bottom of a nearby well, hanging onto the rope for dear life.
“Starswirl!” I barked to get his notice, “There’s one at the bottom of that well” I called attention to the aforementioned water well.
We rushed over and started pulling at the rope, hauling up its precious cargo. The crank mechanism was broken, but the crossbeam holding up the rope was intact. Whoever was at the bottom panicked and the line began to tremor frantically. “It’s all right! We’re friends! You’re safe now!” I tried to reassure the person whose village had been turned to a crisp. The struggling on the line lessened, but didn’t cease completely. When the rope terminated, a young girl of seven or eight was revealed to us. The first thing she did the moment she saw us was jump into my arms, weeping hysterically.
Even though I wasn’t the greatest with kids, I folded my arms around the coarse fabric of her damp clothes and kneeled so that we would be level with the earth, “Hey, hey. Shh… shh… It’s okay. You’re fine now. We won’t let anyone hurt you” I said to her in the most comforting voice I could muster. Her flesh was like a prune from being immersed in the water for an extended period of time, but she was otherwise healthy and alive.
After she had cried her eyes out (an affair lasting ten agonizing minutes), she had recovered the strength to find her voice.
“Where is my mum? My da?” She asked in a weak, innocent voice.
“I don’t know, young one” I wasn’t going to lie to her, even if a lie would be gentler to take than the truth, “Can you tell us your name?”
She sniffled and pulled out of our embrace, “Sweet Pea… but everyone in the village liked to call me Hemlock, cause I liked playing in the woods where the Hemlock groves were”
“Okay, Sweet Pea. And can you tell us what happened here?” I felt Starswirl’s staff smack me in the back for grilling a child for information, but wouldn’t be dissuaded from getting to the bottom of this until the reason for why the village was burned was apparent to us.
“It happened so fast… I was playing with my friends Hazelblossom and Nettlekiss when I heard an adult screaming” She wiped at her green eyes, which were saturated with moisture from crying, “Men with grey cloaks rode into town, demanding that everybody crowd together in the square by the statue of the brave women who did our village a great deed that made the elders happy” Her lips trembled as she remembered something scarring, “T-they… they started hurting anyone who didn’t listen to them!”
‘Grey cloaks? The Acolytes were responsible for this?’ Why would they attack a village though? What did they expect to gain?
I could tell that this was a bit much for her to handle, “It’s okay if you don’t want to talk about it anymore, Sweet Pea. I can’t even begin to imagine how much horror you experienced, let alone witnessed” I sympathized.
“No… You need to know what happened…” She protested between sniffling breaths, “…so you can tell the heroines who did this! Some of the bad men had magic, and they used their magic on those who stood up to them until they were on their knees… and then hurt others just because they had disobeyed!” She was angry, “I remember that I used to listen to mama’s wonderful stories about those who could cast spectacular magic… but now I know that it’s evil! I hate magic!” She clapped her hands against her head and shut her eyes tightly, shaking her head back and forth. I couldn’t fault her for the juvenile mistake of associating the means of hurting her friends and neighbors with evilness.
Though the wizard did correct her, “Sweet Pea” Starswirl spoke to her this time, “Magic itself isn’t evil… it’s a faceless force of change that doesn’t have the capacity to be evil. But the people who are gifted with it can be evil. Tell us child… how did you come to be at the bottom of that well?” I wanted to criticize Starswirl for hypocrisy, but knew that it would have been petty of me.
“Okay…” She tried to be strong as she related to us her story, “While the bad men were herding us into the square like pigs into a pen, my mother pushed me through an opening in the bad men’s ranks and told me to find a place to hide where they could never find me… so I picked the well by my house. I’m small… so it wasn’t that cramped for me… but it was so dark… I was scared! I was a coward! I should have gone back to help my mum and dad!” She exclaimed, beating herself up for events that were out of her control.
She looked positively miserable, so I wrapped my arms around her a second time and provided her with the warmth of a hug, while secretly drying her clothes with my magic, “Sweet Pea. You are not a coward” I contradicted her, “You had the strength to run and hide from the bad men, and the brains to pick an inconspicuous spot to do it (‘Not to mention one that was mostly fireproof’). You’re being strong now, too… most adults in your situation would have been reduced to blubbering wrecks… but you’re holding firm” I looked her in the eyes, “Never let go of that strength, Sweet Pea”
She rubbed an arm against her runny nose, “You really think so, Mister?” She asked me in a vulnerable voice.
I smiled at her, “I know so, Sweet Pea. We’re going to take you someplace safe, where no one can ever hurt you like this again. But umm…” I purposely demurred and scratched bashfully at the nub of my nose, “My friend and I are new to this region, so we’re a little lost on where the closest town is. Can you tell us if you know the way there?”
She nodded, “Uh huh… my dad used to take me on boring cart rides to trade the carrots that we grew for oats and barley in the next town using the northwest road. But can you find my parents for me? I’m too scared to look for them myself. The bad men might come back” She clutched at me a tad harder, emphasizing how much these men had frightened her.
“If they do Sweet Pea. I’ll give them a stern talking to” I asserted in a neutral tone, carefully sidestepping her first request. Talking being a euphemism for lopping heads off and feeding the decapitated bodies to the wolves for them to gnaw on, “My friend Starswirl here is going to introduce you to another friend of mine named Night Wind. He loves carrots, so I know he’ll love you too… if only by mental association” I heard Starswirl grumble under his breath about me passing the emotionally scarred kid off to him, but he did not protest to obliging me beyond that.
Her forehead creased at my confusing wording, “Okay Mister… but can I know your name?” She indulged her curiosity for the one who was going to avenge her obliterated village.
“You can call me Zenith, dear child” I formally introduced myself.
She bumped her forehead into mine, “Thank you for being kind to me, Zenith” She expressed her gratitude, giving me a peck on the cheek that must have been a common tradition for the Agrarians in these parts. She then offered herself to Starswirl with an open armed gesture, and he carried her on top of his shoulders, where she played with the bells of his hat.
Once they were occupied with Night Wind, I decided to investigate the town square where Sweet Pea’s family, friends, and neighbors were held when this all went down. I mentally steeled myself for the worst as I walked among the ruins, stepping over rubble from collapsed buildings as I ambled towards the square. From multiple wooden signs and placard like carvings that were only somewhat scorched, I learned that the name of this village was Duskdale (Or Duskdale Haven. I wasn’t quite sure on that). I arrived at the square to witness the aftermath of a horrific scene. Bodies… so many blackened, shriveled bodies. They were orderly dispersed about the square around a statue of two women that was so defaced that they could be mistaken for female ogres. They consisted of men, women, and… even children. The fire wasn’t what killed them though… they were dead long before the flames that consumed this village got to them. Each of their throats was slit and their blood used to paint a mystifying pattern that I had to perch myself on top of a still standing stone wall of a building that must have been the village’s town hall. Despite the fires that had raged in this village, the pattern of the spilled blood was unaffected as if it had dried only hours ago.
Looking upon the carnage, I felt that cold spark of fury within me kindle and increase in intensity until my whole body was burning with barely suppressed anger. My hair burst into a magical fire that did no damage, but made me grossly incandescent. I knew that the Acolytes of Chaos were bad men, but to stoop so low that they would slaughter innocents like cattle? There were no words to adequately describe the wrongness affiliated with this iniquity. This profane breach of morality that registered them on the ‘annihilate with overwhelming might’ mental hit list. There was no justice in the world that could make this right… but vengeance would do just fine.
“They’ll pay for this…” I whispered in a low, emotionless voice as the magical flames engulfing my body slowly diminished and my body returned to normality, “Each and every last monstrous one of them”
“Zenith!” Starswirl called to me, emerging from the demolished woodwork to find me, “We must take Sweet Pea to the neighboring town of Oxfort. Why are you lingering her-…” His voice trailed off and his eyes widened at the grisly scene before him.
I walked past him on the way to my steed, coldly commenting to the wizard in passing, “Do you still have doubts about dealing out death and judgment to the ones who did this?”
⁂
The ride to Oxfort took most of the day. Not due to the distance between the two towns, no, but because Night Wind was pooped from exerting himself so much in the caverns with two grown men on his back (To his credit, we weren’t liable to have gotten out of that mess if he wasn’t the athletic machine that he was). The idea of carrying even a lightweight child on his back was enough that he stubbornly refused to go anywhere unless one of us walked instead of rode. Being the young man and not the scarred village girl or the aging wizard, the logical choice was me, which I accepted without much complaint. Even with my brisk walking pace, we only made it to the town of Oxfort as the Sun was beginning to set, with the Moon slated to take its place.
Our arrival was received with more attention than I would have guessed, as armed guards stopped us by the gate and demanded what our intentions were. Sweet Pea recognized one of the guards and called him by name, granting us swift entry without so much as a password (Changelings weren’t an issue, evidently). We brought the news about what happened to Duskdale to the town’s elected officials and they helpfully offered to take Sweet Pea under their care (the young girl asking them if they could help find her parents as she was taken away by the authorities to begin her new life of being an orphan. Good God, that is depressing). The townsfolk were weary of Starswirl on account of him not being Agrarian, but would tolerate him since he saved one of their own. They talked to me without notable hesitance though, and helpfully pointed us to the nearest tavern and lodge where we could find a warm bed and a fortifying drink: The Ox’s Brew.
The local tavern was your average medieval style bar, with mahogany tables, a bar counter with a built in distillery, and kegs of alcohol that were tapped to fill up pitchers that the tavern owner’s homely daughters carried to the customers to pour into their flagons with. The place was packed to medium density, and its inhabitants were cut from many cloths. There were farmers just getting a drink to steady the nerves, merchants who had traveled a ways and wanted to sleep in a real bed for a change, and even off duty guards still clad in their armor. A wooden, chandelier with spokes provided the room illumination through candlelight, and there was an iron insignia of an Ox plowing a field above the roaring fireplace. Night Wind was hitched outside in a local stable, its attendants’ services provided free of charge by the authorities. Starswirl must have been accustomed to locales like this, since he did not shy away from approaching the barkeep with a cool expression and letting it be known that he was whetting his whistle.
“I’ll have two of your best brew, please” He ordered for the both of us, slapping down the leftover Bob that I had given him. The tavern owner slash barkeep was either oblivious to his telling outfit and Focal Gem, or overlooked it in favor of making a profit. He loaded up two flagons with the requested fluids and set them on the counter, where the wizard and I took our seats.
“What are you doing, Starswirl?” I inquired; glancing confusedly at the alcohol like the time Daring and I had our first Harmonious Sync Event at the Gemmed Tankard in the Krystal Kingdom.
“This is me repaying my debt to you, Zenith. To your health and to the inevitable success of our mutual endeavor!” He announced, toasting me with the flagon, “Go on… drink up” He encouraged me, ignorant to how immune I was to peer pressure.
I humored him, “Repaying a life and loan debt by buying me a drink with my own money? Starswirl you absolute cheapskate” I teased him in a serious voice, lessening his jovial spirit, “However… since the creditor has the power of forgiving debts, I’ll be magnanimous to you this time around” I replied with a grin.
“I am in awe of your graciousness” He monotoned, before he leaned towards me and spoke in a vaguely conspiratorial voice, “Tonight, my good lad. I am going to teach you a thing or two about the art of eavesdropping”
I stared at him blankly for a full three seconds, “I’m pretty sure I’m well versed in this skill already” I told him in a deadpan tone, taking a sip of my honey mead and finding the taste to be alright, but nothing to write home about.
His bushy eyebrows shot up in slight surprise, “Oh… well in that case we shall be honing your skill with it then!” He lamely tried to save face.
“If you say so” I idly droned, my ears already in the process of sifting through the various conversations going on throughout the tavern. It might prove informative, it might not, but it couldn’t hurt to try though.
“So I finally got Rose Berry to take a roll in the hay with me!”
‘No’
“Congratulations brother! So when are you going to marry her?”
‘No… but his lack of a response is kinda hilarious’
“Hey, can you take a look at this corn on my foot? I think it’s turning a shade of green”
‘No… also gross’
“Any of you lot been keeping up with the latest deeds of the lionized heroines Celeste and Selene?”
‘No… wait, what?’ I focused on that conversation in particular, the similar and yet unfamiliar names of the heroines piquing my interest.
The off duty guard resumed his monologue at indoor voice volume, “Last I heard, the two sisters had brokered a peace between the rival hamlets of Redmeadow and Hedgecrest, putting an end to decades worth of enmity. Those are the kind of people we need to restore the Dreamy Vale back to its time of greatness, you’ll see” He pounded back his beer, disclosing no more info on the subject.
“Zenith? Are you even paying attention to me?” Starswirl’s agitated voice broke me out of my pseudo trance, “I was wondering if you were listening to my advice on how to spot the most likely unknowing informants… and if you were going to finish your drink” He added with cheek.
‘Why are so many of my companions such flagrant alcoholics? Do I look like I would make a great drinking buddy?’ I mused in minor aggravation.
I slid it over to him, “Knock yourself out. I happen to know where we need to go in order to follow in the footsteps of these maidens you seek” I said in a low voice, so that the bartender couldn’t hear us. Their type’s loyalty when it came to keeping secrets could be bought, so they were not trustworthy. Paranoid of me, yes, but I never saw anything wrong with being tightlipped.
“You’ve overheard it already? Clearly there is little that I can teach you in the ways of craftiness” He complimented me, polishing off his flagon of mead and starting to work on emptying my container, “So where can we find the heroines?” He followed up, droplets of mead beading in the strands of his beard.
I held up two fingers and counted down, “We have two options… Redmeadow, or Hedgecrest. I’m assuming that they’re neighboring hamlets… so we can always just talk to the other, should one hamlet prove unforthcoming”
“We’ll set out for Redmeadow in the morning” Starswirl made his decision after chugging the last of my drink, “Get us a room. I’ll join you shortly… as soon as I get a refill!” He slapped down another handful of coins on the counter and the barkeep happily acquiesced, keeping the golden brew a’flowin.
I sighed and put my face in my palms. It was going to be a long search for these maidens… I didn’t need any Sisters of Fate to foresee that.
⁂
I was right about my presumption… albeit not to the degree that I was pessimistically thinking. We followed the hearsay east to the twin hamlets of Redmeadow and Hedgecrest and questioned the residents of both hamlets who had seen the heroines with their own eyes. Celeste and Selene were unquestionably the future Princesses of the Sun and Moon, and their disparate yet familiar physical descriptors in this time period did not convince me otherwise. Celeste was an Agrarian woman with flowing, pink hair, and was reputed to exude a radiance that felt like sunshine itself. She was wise for her age and possessed a cunning that allowed her to… influence (I won’t label it as manipulate) people who were in disagreement to see the greater good, and stimulated harmonious relations wherever she went, even between people who had blood feuds that went back decades. Her glaucous haired sister, Selene, was also an Agrarian and the feistier of the two siblings. She dealt with their more dangerous problems typically by hacking into them with her sword whenever her sister’s skillful diplomacy failed. Together they were the one two punch that effected change throughout the entirety of the Dreamy Vale. Lately, they had been contesting the aims of the Acolytes of Chaos, who had been using the wealth they had acquired from the deceased Dragon’s hoard to fund insurrectionist movements that threatened to tear apart the majority of Celeste’s and Selene’s work.
My own work in disabling their money accumulating operation in the caves near Fogmount seemed to have had a debilitating effect on their operation in the Dreamy Vale, and their movement was beginning to lose most of its steam as the insurrections flopped without further funding and monetary support from the Acolytes. Once I heard of that, I promptly stopped regretting permitting the Glowworm Pack to increase their stockpiles of bling. Being recognized as a Fire Lord had its hidden perks, apparently. Thwarting their plans to cause chaos through rebellion, I had incited them to begin directly attacking undefended towns and settlements, where they performed similar bloodletting rituals like the kind we had seen in Duskdale. Our presence here was also overt after the first week of poking about in the affairs of the heroines, and we began reencountering the Acolytes through unwitting proxies that were hired to capture us or kill us. Fortunately, Starswirl and I proved to be more than competent in dispatching the pawns of the Acolytes (and lifting their coin purses while we were at it), and I could hear their proverbial teeth grinding in frustration as the incidents multiplied in frequency. We stayed mobile as we toured much of the Dreamy Vale, seeing many marvelous sights (trees whose leaves shifted color during the course of the day, fields of dandelions whose seed heads were bioluminescent that lit up the night sky like miniature stars after a gust of wind, rivers with opaline rocks sparkling on the river bottom, etcetera) that made all the effort of tracking the maidens worthwhile.
No one we asked knew a thing about the specific origins of the heroines, though many surmised that they were once average Agrarian commoners themselves, until they decided to go out into the world and be the change they wanted to see. They were probably from an ancient village, since they still spoke with an olden dialect that only the most aged of the settlements in the Dreamy Vale still communicated with. This cleared up the most nagging question in my mind concerning how eloquent people in this time were, instead of imitating Luna’s quaint speech habits that she often regressed into when she was angered or puzzled.
Some of the exploits of the two sisters were run of the mill, such as solving the mystery to why one town’s crops were dying more than usual (the explanation being pests that were breeding unchecked due to the town’s policy on limiting frogs that were the pests’ prime predator), to beast slaying of various mythological creatures like rampant manticores, cockatrices, its bigger cousin the basilisk, and chimeras. Heck, the Princesses sounded like regular, idealistic adventurers with hearts of gold the more I learned about their escapades. Mostly the two sisters in arms were about keeping the peace and inspiring love and unity between the Agrarians living in the Vale. Profoundly thinking, the Dreamy Vale was like the precursor to the kind of values and duties that the Princesses would one day uphold in Arcania.
Starswirl and I continued to strengthen our bonds of friendship as we traveled from destination to destination in the Dreamy Vale. I lessened some of the restrictions I had about telling of my life and even openly compared him to another pointy hat wearing wizard to his face, which he took as something of a challenge. I could judge with relative accuracy that Starswirl’s personality was a mixture of Twilight’s bookishness and Pinkie’s enthusiasm. He was very much an intellectual man, and delighted in how he could discuss complex topics with me that his mentally rigid pupils back in Stellaria never could grasp well enough for his liking. He also had a positive attitude that became incrementally more noticeable as we drew closer to finding the maidens and imparting to them their role in the Prophecy of Unification. He would joke, laugh, and smile even when one of our leads would turn out to be a dead end that mandated that we backtrack or wait for more info on the whereabouts of the maidens to pop up.
Those Skyborn I swore I would remain vigilant for hadn’t dropped out of the picture, and I spotted their scouts scanning the roadways on several occasions, still scouring the land for Starswirl and myself. They weren’t here to repeat what they did in Mirrimare, since there was no news about Skyborn raiding villages for food. Whenever a scout would manifest in the sky while we were on the road, Starswirl and I would engage our individual spells of concealment and wait until the scout had disappeared (The side effects of Starswirl’s was that it left him with an awesome shadowy haze trailing him when he moved). Their prolonged presence in the Dreamy Vale bothered me though, and they would not stop looking for us. They were worse than the Acolytes in this fashion, and had caused us many delays that allowed the heroines to slip from our fingers in the span of mere hours at times.
After two weeks, we had run up the latest of our leads and were taking temporary residence at the Squawking Bee Inn and Tavern, which was run by a woman who was easy on the eyes named Dew Drop. I had just finished relating one of Pinkie Pie’s oatmeal anecdotes to get in friendly with a table of chaps that had more juicy information on Celeste and Selene that garnered lots of laughs (Even though I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what was so funny about it. Though when I think on it, the anecdote makes an alarming amount of sense that was atypical of the baker). We caught a lucky break, and one of the men had overheard that the heroines would be returning in our direction via the Rugdale road, which bypassed a forest of ironbark trees colloquially known as the Bloodgrove; on account of its crimson leaves never changing their color, and how people had a tendency of disappearing permanently whenever they ventured inside to save on time by cutting to the other side.
I thanked the men for sharing what they knew and rewarded them by paying for their next round of drinks. One of the great things about this particular tavern, other than its convenient location as a crossroads in the middle of five different major Agrarian towns, was that it offered complementary hot water baths to anyone renting a room, as well as a ridged washboard with soapy solution to lather and rinse my robes with. As one might imagine, wearing the same robes for an extended period of time without having many opportunities to wash it meant that I wasn’t exactly aromatic.
Starswirl saw me about to climb the stairs for our separate rooms (sharing the same bed with an older man was not something I was okay with, even if we were friends) and stopped me by the stairwell.
“Where are you off to, Zenith? What about the hearsay we’ve collected? We need to discuss what you’ve heard and its ramifications on our quest straightaway!” He protested.
I sighed and pinched at the bridge of my nose in exasperation, “Listen Starswirl. I’ve been stuck in this outfit without bathing for far longer than I’m comfortable with. I’ve fought in it, I’ve traveled in it, and I’ve slept in it. So if you don’t mind… I’m going to wash out the caked on blood, grease, and grime off myself so I can feel clean again!”
Starswirl paused, realizing my point, “Very well. Take your bath. But come to me as soon as you’re finished. We need to talk about this!”
‘Geez, does he remind me of Twilight sometimes… with a bit of Pinkie Pie’s fervor sprinkled in for good measure’ I thought to myself as I climbed the stairs up to the hallway.
I opened the door to my room with the key loaned to me by Miss Dew Drop and pushed it open. Inside was your average Inn room, with a single bed, a rounded tub to bathe in, and a wooden footlocker at the base of the bed. Bathrooms in Precania were as primitive as I feared, being a commode with a wooden bucket to literally take the crap. You would take the bucket of waste and dispose of it by utilizing the stream of water outside. I made a mental note not to stop for water anywhere downstream of an Inn slash lodge. I disrobed (taking care to disarm myself as well) and went to work washing my robes on the washboard, using my magic to dry the fabrics when I was done. With that task finished, I settled back into the tub to cleanse myself and unwind, letting the stress melt away as ten minutes became an hour. Something in my gut was off though, and as hard as I tried to relax, I simply couldn’t manage it. It wasn’t an alien feeling though, being another of those premonitions that I would get right before the shit hit the fan.
Not about to disappoint me, the door to my room was summarily busted open and a trio of grey cloaked figures barged into my room, violent intent radiating in their eyes. Springing to my feet and with water cascading off my bare body in rivulets, I evaded a knife to my stomach and slapped the offending tool away with a knuckled fist. I elbowed the shocked assailant in the face before grappling his outstretched arm with that same motion and pushing on his back to introduce his face to my knee, bloodying his nose. I jumped out of the way as another assailant brandished a one handed sword in wide sweeping arcs that forced me to back up in the limited space of the room. I backpedaled until my back was against the wall.
With no more space to maneuver, I scooped under and kicked a replacement bucket (only seeing the situational irony of this later) for the commode into the air with my foot and grabbed it so I could block what would have been a fatal slash to my vital organs. With the blade of the sword wedged into the sturdy wood, I forcefully twisted the bucket in my hands to deprive the man of his sword before smacking him across the face with it and sending him careening into the third assailant, who was wielding a crossbow that fired just before they collided. I craned my neck to the side and avoid being shot in the face as the bolt buried itself into the wall and picked up the man’s sword before running the previous owner through with it. With one man down, the other two tried to rush me with their daggers and attacked me above and below the belt line.
Again, the space issue resulted in several near hits that left shallow cuts on my body. Using the man assaulting my junk’s noggin as a springboard, I launched into the air with a flip to the other side of the room and unsheathed two throwing knives from my belt. There was no time to guide them with magic so I naturally hurled them at my would be murderers. Frequent practice with these knives over the last two weeks meant that my unassisted aim went from terrible to mediocre to acceptable, as evidenced by one of the men clutching at his skewered heart and slowly bleeding out on the floor. Desperate to kill me, the final assailant launched a flurry of swipes and stabs at me that were easy to parry with my Tantō. I cheated and used a minor force spell to slam him into the wall and daze him before I dragged him by the nape of his neck to my bathtub and submerged his head into the soiled water.
As to be expected from a man who had his air passages immersed in water, he thrashed and pushed against the rim of the tub to gain some oxygen. But my vice like grip was unyielding, and his struggling gradually weakened as his own grip on consciousness began to fade. Before I could totally drown him though, I pulled him out at the last second and smashed his head against the rim, knocking him out… but more importantly, keeping him alive for later ‘questioning’. With the danger having passed, I collected my weapons, sealed my cuts with magic, and hissed at how disproportionately painful it was.
“Zenith!” Starswirl’s voice called out as he made his ingress into the room, “We’ve been targeted by assassins! Are you in need of-… Sweet Stars above!” He recoiled at my nakedness, “You’re not dressed!” He stated the obvious.
“Indeed” I agreed, rifling through their possessions and grinning once I found yet another bag filled with Precanian silver coins, along with a strange metal emblem that must have been the badge of identification for a higher up. Thorough examination of the corpses revealed a familiar face of the leader that Starswirl allowed to go free in the Towerwoods, “Though that didn’t stop these arseholes from attempting to install some structurally superfluous new breathing holes in me. One of them had the gall to go for low blows in some sensitive regions…” I shrugged with a flippant attitude as I stood up, “But he simply didn’t have the heart to do it” I shamelessly one liner-ed.
My morbid sense of humor had no visible impact on the wizard, who continued to stare appalled at my nakedness, making me imperceptibly self conscious.
“Could you not look at me, like that? I might get the wrong ideas about you” I hid my discomfort with a quip, and my modesty with a towel from an undisturbed rack.
This shook Starswirl out of his stupor, and his face burned red with embarrassment for my sake, “Oh, right! The Acolytes of Chaos tried surprising us in our rooms, as you no doubt have figured out. I sensed the presence of my beacon spell in the back of my mind, but dismissed the sensation as being a figment resultant from Dew Drop’s delectable supply of lager”
‘And here I was hoping that he would be sober enough for his tracking spell to be of some usefulness’ I lamented.
“That reminds me…” I said aloud as I got dressed again, “Only one other person in this establishment knows which rooms were assigned and reassigned to us by our request” I stated, deducing the Innkeeper as an accessory to the Acolytes. We employed this tactic at all the places we stayed, to preserve our low profile and to discourage stuff like this. But if the Innkeeper was compromised, then that just made my evening a little more complicated.
“Dew Drop could be an unwilling accomplice to these Acolytes, Zenith” Starswirl brought up a good point, “Don’t do anything hasty”
“It’s not from her that I’ll be receiving my desired answers” I countered as I affixed my hidden blades to my wrists, “But she and I do need to have a short chat” I commented as I strolled out the door and down the stairs.
I found the woman cleaning flagons with a ragged cloth and looking perfectly innocent, which was a pretty obvious indicator that she was in bed with the Acolytes of Chaos. She saw me approaching with an unamused expression on my face and recoiled backwards with a shriek. She drew a tiny knife from her apron and held it out towards me like it would ward me off, taking a few swings at me even though I was out of range of the glorified butter knife. She backed herself up until her spine was kissing the wall, in a manner most reminiscent of mine not five minutes ago. She dropped her knife, where it fell to the floor with a clatter, and whimpered at the thought of what I might do to her for selling out her transient tenants.
I pressed my palm against the panel of the wall next to her head and my hidden blade extended, digging into the wall like it was nothing. I leaned in real close to her face and smiled toothily at her (which likely made me look like a batshit crazy basket case, now that I think on it) before speaking conversationally to her, “My companion and I had some unexpected company and made a bit of a mess in our rooms. If you don’t mind, love, could you get to tidying them up as soon as you can? I did my best to clean up the bloodstains, but you know how hard those are to wash out sometimes” I rolled my eyes at her, subtly implying that I knew of these things from gruesome firsthand experience, “Oh… and don’t ever become a sellout whore for the Acolytes of Chaos ever again, okay Sweetie? I’d hate for you to see my ugly side. (‘Like that cloaked man next to my bathtub will soon see himself’) Am I understood?” I scolded her in my ‘cross me again and die screaming’ tone.
She nodded frenetically and whimpered out a response that was too incoherent to make sense of. I retracted my hidden blade from the wall and returned to my room, leaving behind a woman who was beside herself with fear, and I wouldn’t be surprised if she wet her bed in terror whenever she would have nightmares about me. It was propitious that everyone had gone to sleep by now, or they would have seen her having an emotional break down on the floor of her Inn. She’d get no pity from me. Anyone who’d serve the Acolytes like that was making a poor life’s decision.
In my absence, Starswirl had been checking the vitals of the man I had ‘spared’, “This one will be awake before long. What do you intend to do with him?” Based on the tone of his voice, he was actually concerned for the man who had just tried to kill me.
“I’m going to sit him down for a talk” I answered ambiguously, “The Innkeeper’s going straight, by the way… I wouldn’t worry about her” I waved my hand in the air dismissively.
“What are you going to talk to him about?” Starswirl pressed, unconvinced by my assurance (‘Smart man’), “I doubt that you’re just going to have a cup a tea and biscuits with him and comment on the weather”
I hummed affirmatively, “You are correct in that assumption. I’m going to be asking him some very specific questions concerning his organization’s base of operations in the Vale… along with what they’re planning for the long haul. That is… if this worm even comprehends what he has gotten himself into” I nudged his body with my foot derisively.
“And you expect him to just reveal the secrets of the Acolytes?” The wizard was skeptical, “I don’t think asking nicely will get us anywhere with these Acolytes”
“I can be most persuasive” I retorted with an unsettling smirk.
“Will you harm him much?” The old man naïvely inquired, like he still retained the innocence of a child in some regards.
“That depends on how cooperative he is” I tersely snapped at him, “Why are you sympathizing with him? Have you forgotten Duskdale? This turd was probably there himself!” I leveled a condemnatory finger at the unconscious Acolyte.
“We don’t know that. He might have just been recently recruited!” Starswirl weakly repudiated my point, grasping at straws in defense of this scumbag’s life.
“Yet there was no innermost doubt of his cause or what they’ve been doing in his eyes as he rushed to stab me in the kidney” I calmly countered, “He’s made his bed in life… and now he has to lay in it, Starswirl”
He stood to his feet, “What about you! How much blood must be spilled before your thirst for vengeance is sated!?” He demanded to know.
My jaw set, “Until every single person who has been a gear in the Acolytes of Chaos’ machinations is either dead or locked away in some pit where they can never do to anyone what they did to Sweet Pea’s kith and kin ever again” I responded, remembering the indescribable pain in that little girl’s eyes that told me that she knew in her heart of hearts that her life as she knew it, was over.
Starswirl saw the futility of trying to convince me otherwise, “I will not stand in your way… but I worry for your soul, Zenith. Your desire for vengeance is dark… and darkness cannot be used to serve the light, never fully” He left me with that nugget of wisdom as he departed the room.
That left me with roughly an hour to prepare my lodgings and transform it into an interrogation chamber. I initiated the change by dragging the corpses into the hallway for Dew Drop to dispose of on her maid run and rearranging the furniture to give me stalking room. Using some hand tools in a shed that Dew Drop granted me access to (well… more like squeaked in terror and threw the keys at me, begging me to stay away from her), I constructed blocks to tie the man’s hands to that would be nailed into the table and allow me full access to. The wooden chair I left unchanged, since the man would be hard pressed to make any moves that would have a semblance of an escape with me in the room. I hoisted the unconscious man onto the chair and removed all of his possessions, even his cloak. Without it, he looked like a normal Agrarian man, with flaxen hair that had a sandy sheen to it. On his person were written kill orders for Starswirl’s head and mine, and even listed that we would be at the Squawking Bee. I would admit that the Acolytes had a better network of spies than I would have given them credit for, if they had that pivotal knowledge ahead of time. Lighting effects were central, and I doused all of the candles in the room except for the one I kept at the table. I tied him in place with knots that provided maximum restriction of movement, not bothering to ensure that he was comfy.
After I had proofed the room against any… undue noises leaking out with magic, it was a waiting game. To pass the time, I picked some of the gunk that had gotten into my nails with one of my throwing knives and wiping the grit away on the man’s shoulder. It would be another thirty minutes before he awoke at least, which gave me plenty of time to plot what I could do with him if he was a hardcore devotee to his ‘lord of chaos’. The restrained man stirred awake as he groaned in soreness from getting his ass justly kicked. His eyes opened and he blinked as he saw my expressionless face leaning in from across the opposite end of the table. He tried to shift in place, but discovered that he was a bit tied up at the moment. His breathing rate increased as he began to hyperventilate in a panic. Panic gave way to fear, which gave way to anger. I watched with a mildly fascinated expression as he cycled through these emotions within the course of a dozen seconds.
“Hi there! Hope your rest was… well, restful” I momentarily faltered before getting serious, “I’ll keep my demands simple. Tell me what I want to know, before I pry it from your mind and leave you a blubbering husk reduced to quivering on the floor” I threatened him. I could carry through with that threat too, but it wouldn’t be as satisfying as obtaining it the hard way.
“Then why don’t you!? I think you’re bluffing! Unenlightened trash!” He hawked a gob of spit at me, earning himself a smack across the face with the flat of my hand.
I wiped away his discharge, “I haven’t done so because unlike many in my position, I give my enemies a chance to come clean of their own volition. But if you prove to be excessively stubborn, I will. And you don’t want me to do that to you, trust me” I smiled cordially at him and magically flashed my crimson irises for maximum unsettling effect. My intimidation methods seemed to be taking their toll, and the man shrank back as far as he could and avoided my gaze.
“Where is your base of operations in this region?” I started out with a simple, straightforward question.
This one was given away easily, “It’s nestled in the bog-woods between Kathorn’s Rest and Gaia’s Gulch. Our fortress is garrisoned by hundreds of men; it’s proofed against attacks by air and by land. You and any attacking force would be cut down before you got within fifty feet of the place!” He shouted with pride.
I mulled over the minutiae of this information. That location would be a prime spot to construct a hidden base of operations. It was treacherous enough to get to that no one ordinary would stumble upon it by chance, but it was still close enough to civilization for its occupants to ride out and conduct their obligations of spreading chaos in what ways they could to glorify their leader and their god.
I smacked him across the face a second time, “Thank you for obliging me, but please don’t speak out of turn again” I casually warned him, “How would one bypass these defenses and sneak into this fort?” I asked hypothetically, circling him like a vulture circles a creature about to become carrion meat.
He became costive, “No… no more! They’ll kill me if I tell you” He tried to avoid divulging any more in some vain hope that I would just let him go and remain ignorant and empty handed. ‘Wouldn’t he just love that?’
“And you’ll wish I killed you if you don’t” I retorted, my red eyes flickering dangerously, “Now I suggest spilling the beans. If I like what I hear, I might consider setting you free” I enticed him with some ‘mercy’.
He perked up once I mentioned the possibility of him walking away. He glanced side to side in indecision, internally weighing the benefits of compliance and the penalties for intransigence. I’m a patient interrogator when I want to be, so I gave him some breathing room to think his decision through. Besides, it gave me a chance to innovate some new ‘convincing’ techniques in the probable event that he resists me.
Eventually he spoke, “When prompted by the men on guard duty, they will call out to you: ‘In the name of Chaos, who goes there?’ and you must respond with, ‘Woe be to those who tread behind me’ and they’ll open their gates for you” He revealed, though there was something about the code phrase and the unreserved way he so readily leaked it to me that reeked of a lie.
I decided to test the validity of his claim, “Hmm… I see. Only… there’s one problem with that” I snatched and wrenched four of his left hand fingers until they bent all the way back, dislocating them with a pop and causing him to yowl in intense pain, “You think me stupid enough that I wouldn’t recognize a compromised countersign when I heard one!?” I hissed angrily, “Tell me what the real access phrase is, or I’ll hurt you far worse than this” I seethed at him.
“You motherless bastard” He whimpered in insult, “I won’t betray my brothers in chaos… I won’t” He pledged.
“And is that your final answer?” I asked him in an equable voice, to which he responded to with silence, “I warned you about the consequences of denying me” I replied with a whisper, backing off in a show of disappointment.
Making sure it was within his view, I floated over a crude stone hammer with a wooden handle, along with a wedge. Prying open his right hand fist and pushing it against the table surface, I levitated the wedge over the nail of his pinkie and placed it firmly over the cuticle at an angle. Taking the hammer, I began lightly tapping at the wedge, gradually increasing the force of each tap until I was causing some actual damage. Each blow elicited a howl of pain as the nail was slowly separated from his finger. Despite his insistence on not being forthcoming, I had to hand it to him; he made it all the way to his thumb before he gave out.
“ARGHH!!! All right, all right! I’ll talk! I’ll ta-ha-ha-alk!” He blubbered, tears and snot coming out of his orifices in sheening rills.
“Glad you see it my way” I remarked with a lilt, “It gives me no pleasure to do this to you, I’ll have you know” My sadistic side disagreed, but I shut it up by sending it to the cordoned off ‘Rainbow and Butterflies’ section where all rebellious emotions go when they misbehave.
I won’t go into more explicit detail concerning what I did to that Acolyte, but I urged him to reveal everything he had on his organization. I got lucky, since he was higher up than an initiate, but not high enough to be anything superior to a lieutenant. I cross examined his responses and frowned when I uncovered inconsistencies between them. Unsheathing my Tantō and pulling his chair back to expose his leg, I cast a spell that would allow me to see his anatomy like an X ray and began to compose a symphony of wails and screams as I brushed the tip of my blade against the nerve endings in his leg like a bow string. I knew just when to stop, since I couldn’t have him bleeding or blacking out before he told me all that he knew about his organization’s procedures. He screamed at the top of his lungs until his throat was raw, and the only sounds that came out of him afterwards were hoarse wheezes like that of a broken squeeze toy. Since he could no longer speak, I passed to him a piece of parchment paper to write down the rest. His trembling fingers clutched at the quill and jotted down the remainder of his knowledge. Drops of blood from his torn fingernails mixed with the ink.
Within a few minutes, he had committed to paper an impressive fact sheet that could unravel the threads holding the Acolytes together if they were in the right hands at the right time. When all was said and done, he scrawled out one last thing: That’s everything I know. I swear it! Will you set me free?
I read his request and nodded, “Aye… I’ll set you free” He broke down and sobbed happily for a few seconds before I slammed his head into the table hard enough to splinter the wood and crack his Agrarian skill in twain, which put him back under. With my Tantō in hand, I ended his life by freeing his head from his miserable shoulders, my blade slicing through meat and bone with practically no effort on my part. I put the severed head in a sackcloth bag that I had acquired from Dew Drop’s shed, washed my hands and my blade of his lifeblood, and carried the head with me as I egressed from my room. I rolled my eyes as I saw Starswirl waiting outside my door in the hallway, like he had been listening.
“You and that man must have had voices that would make church mice jealous” He quipped, leaning over to peer into the room, “Where is he?”
“Right here” I patted the bag swaying at my hip, where a melon sized bulge could be seen saturating the bag with blood, “I’m keeping him close to me. Didn’t want him getting ahead of himself, now did I?” I uttered more morbid humor, my sociopathic side coming to the fore.
“You’ve killed him…” He trailed off, “Did you get him to expose the location of the Acolyte’s base?” His tone was neutral, and was neither condemning nor condoning of my actions.
“I did. And his head will serve me well for sneaking into their fortress, along with his cloak, and his organization’s official seal” I checked off the necessary items on the list for infiltration.
He sighed, “I cannot follow you this time, Zenith. And I hope that I can somehow convince you not to do this either. Killing the Acolytes in their base won’t bring back all of the people they’ve killed”
It wasn’t like I didn’t know that, “No… but I can rest peacefully knowing that their murders were avenged” I stated without regret, “And I won’t be in need of your help or intervention on this one… just your hat” I gestured to the iconic headwear that the wizard rarely removed.
Shockingly, he gave it up without a fuss, “Take it. Just promise me that you will come back as the Zenith I’ve come to know… the one who didn’t fixate himself on needless revenge. I’ll be busy here self chronicling my travels. But do not tarry for long, as the heroines remain our top priority” He left me to my own devices, closing the door behind him and locking it against intrusion. Shrugging to myself, I unlocked an unoccupied room across from my own and slept in there so that the smell of blood wouldn’t clog my nostrils with its fumes.
I didn’t dream that night.
When it was morning, I gathered all of my required materials, stowed them someplace obscure, and stepped outside. Ensuring that no one was watching, I spread my wings and took off in search of more of those Valkyrian scouts patrolling above the roadways with annoying regularity. Their routine patrolling proved to be helpful for a change, since I discovered a lone scout just an hour in. Climbing above the clouds, I shadowed him throughout the entirety of his patrol and back to the Skyborn’s base of operations here in the Dreamy Vale. Their base was more of an outpost, and looked recently constructed, with buildings for the housing of troops and Sky-wagons loaded with their provisions. They hunted the wildlife to refill their stores of meat as evidenced by the racks of venison some men were hauling on their shoulders from the ground, and their veggies looked to be the same that they managed to loot from Mirrimare. Still, the outpost was swarming with Skyborn like bees swarmed around their hive. Going full camo, I snuck past their perimeter sentinels and landed on the fluffy texture of the cloud based mega structure. Cloudcrete must have either not been invented yet or was difficult to produce outside of their cities, because nothing on this outpost was solid.
The Skyborn’s numbers had dwindled since Mirrimare, and there couldn’t have been more than one hundred and fifty men under Maelstrom’s command in this region. Speaking of the woman, she was standing outside of a cloud shaped barracks and was personally receiving the scout’s report of the activity on the roadways. Flight Leader Maelstrom’s face was set in an unyielding frown, likely having been chewed out by her superiors for the catastrophe in Mirrimare. I eavesdropped on how the scout reported in on the movement of the ‘grey cloaks’ as they had taken to calling them, and how they looked to be preparing for another culling of a town. This intrigued me almost as much as it did Maelstrom. It would seem that the Skyborn were keeping tabs on the Acolytes, and were even going so far as to stop them from carrying out some of their dastardly schemes whenever they caught wind of them. Perhaps my aspirations for an alliance would be easier for me to actualize than I thought.
“Flight Leader Maelstrom!” I announced my presence, uncloaking myself in broad daylight, “I wish to humbly request an audience with you” I showed no fear, even as her guards immediately surrounded me with their spears. I held up my arms in composed surrender as two of their number seized me and brought me before the Flight Leader at her behest.
If Maelstrom’s glare could kill… I would have been vaporized an exponential number of times. Even angry as all hell, she had a fierce beauty about her that made her alluring in that regard. I realized that I was projecting my affection for both Rainbow’s and Daring’s best qualities onto this woman, who may or may not be the distant ancestor of one or two of them. I would keep that tidbit to myself… no one needed to know that I liked decisiveness in a woman.
“You! You were Valkyrian this whole time!?” She shrieked, bringing up my winged stunt before the mountains. She came up to me and slapped me across the face, glaring balefully at me, “How dare you shame our kind by ignoring our mandates and associating with that wizard! He’s a threat to all of the Provinces!”
“How presumptuous. And I’ll associate myself with whomever I please, I think” I replied, smacking my lips together to negate the stinging sensation on my cheek.
Maelstrom grit her teeth at me, “You and that wizard Starswirl were the ones responsible for inciting the Agrarians in Mirrimare to revolt, weren’t you? You were clever, distracting me like that as your men isolated mine and drove them out” She looked upwards in fake recollection, “And I don’t remember ever getting an apology for making me look a fool. So how about it? Can you say: I’m sorry?”
Oh, she left me wide open for this jewel, “I’m s-… I’m sor-…” I pretended to verbally fumble, “I’m so… incredibly handsome. Nope! Can’t”
She let out that frustrated womanly sound, “I don’t have the patience for this nuisance. Skyborn who don’t fly with the flock have their wings clipped” She made a chopping motion across her throat, “Break his shoulders and toss him overboard” She commanded as she showed her back to me. Her soldiers moved to obey her, and I had to nab her interest before I went skydiving one final, harrowing time.
I spoke up before her men could make good on that order, “Do that and you’ll be missing out on a once in a lifetime chance for honor and glory!” I shouted in a piercing voice, stilling all those who were present.
She turned around and crooked her head sideways. Good, I had seized her curiosity, “What do you mean? Explain yourself!” She barked at me.
“What if I told you that I had learned the location of the Acolytes of Chaos’ main base of operations in this valley?” I posed hypothetically.
“I’d ask you to verify your claim, in case you were a coward who would say anything to avoid becoming a bloody smear on the ground” She dryly retorted, earning a few chuckles of amusement from her men.
“You honestly think I’d show up here just for the pleasure of your company?” I sarcastically shot back, “You’ve got a pretty face, sunshine, but that’s not reason enough for me to risk my skin coming here when I could be doing my own thing”
The man restraining me on my left socked me in the gut for my insolence, causing me to grunt. It hurt, but no Valkyrian around here had the strength to really knock the wind out of me. At least they weren’t wearing spiked gauntlets.
“My name is not Sunshine, arrogant fool. So mind your tongue before I have it removed with hot pincers… and stop dancing around the question!” She moodily demanded of me.
I shifted in the loose (relative to my physical, unassuming forte) grip of her soldiers, “Since you won’t let me do it myself, you’ll need to reach between my belt for the truth” I stipulated with a dead serious face.
Maelstrom sent a disgusted look my way to show me what she thought of that, “Not what you’re thinking!” I groaned with exasperation and just a hint of saddened rejection, “Just do it! You’ll see that I’m telling the truth” I assured her.
She begrudgingly ambled over and searched me, taking extra measures to make sure I didn’t enjoy her touch.
“Oye!” I yelped as she unabashedly pressed against some sensitive zones, “No need to be frisky! It should be right behind the triangular symbol on my belt, there’s a small recess there that works great for storing vials” Which reminded me that I should find a use for the ones Vitalitus gave me in the future, I never knew when I might need them.
She pulled out the seal of the Acolytes and examined it, “And why should I be impressed by this?” She asked, not seeing what was so special about the object.
“The Acolytes of Chaos use that seal as a badge of their authority. And I obtained that one from the highest ranking Acolytes I’ve yet to come across. If you present that to their gatekeepers and speak a passphrase, they’ll grant you passage into their base” I explained to the Flight Leader.
“Neat. What does this have to do with us?” She followed up, not showing any signs of what she was thinking. Wow, it was so easy to respect and hate this woman for that quality. Was that how people felt about my reticent personality?
“Their fortress is guarded against air assaults by way of ballistae loaded with nets and fragmenting projectiles. You can’t risk an open attack on it from the sky without suffering inordinate casualties… but you could lie in wait for someone to sneak in and make sure the main gate stays open” I hinted at the knowledge I possessed of how to accomplish that.
“All right. Let’s say I believe you… which I by no means do” She made clear, “Why should I risk the lives of my men based on the information that one of those cronies ratted out to you? How do I even know that it’s reliable?” She brought up a legitimate concern.
“Because I sat that crony down and talked to him about it for three hours” I answered with a slight sneer, “By the end of that time, he had lost the use of five of his ten fingers… and that was after I de-nailed him using a wooden wedge and a hammer. Trust me… When I tell you that he spilled his guts for me, I mean that in both ways”
She stared at me for few moments, before a sick grin replaced the hard line on her lips, “Huh… you’re not as much of a pansy as that pathetic excuse for a soldier my brother keeps at his side for some asinine reason. Very well,” She nodded, “I’ll consider it. But my honor remains sullied, and for that I must have satisfaction”
“And how shall I satisfy you, my lady?” I snidely remarked. Man, I could be cocksure sometimes.
She sniffed at the implied suggestion, “Don’t give me any ideas that you’ll regret. If you can best three of my men in unarmed combat without using magic and prove that you’re not just some hotshot mage with false wings, I’ll aid you in putting down those chaos worshipping freaks… fail, and you go for one last flight” She euphemized the idea of killing me.
“But I know where their fortress is! Off me and you’ll be left in the dark without their whereabouts” I protested, not seeing the point of this entire ‘honor satisfying’ business.
She shrugged apathetically, “So what if it takes us a few more weeks? There’s only so many places they can hide, and my men are combing the land for all of their possible hideout locations”
‘That’ll take a huge ass comb. She’s pretty brutal, but I suppose that I can expect nothing less from a strict woman like her’ Secretly, I agreed with her policies.
“Fine” I growled.
Maelstrom motioned for her men to let go of me and back up into a fight circle. Three of the most burly and intimidating soldiers unequipped their weapons and stepped into the ring of honor. Maelstrom really must have wanted to send me on my way down, because instead of attacking one at a time, they charged me all at the same time. I skipped to the right and grappled one of the men, using his momentum to fling him away from his comrades and into the arms of his comrades, who stumbled back to receive him before urging him back into the ring. The two that were supporting each other sent with a flurry of punches, jabs, and kicks that were easy to slap down or grapple with Wing Chun style martial arts. Speedy strikes, coupled with my Trifect strength meant that I had an unfair advantage in a close quarters match even when I was attacked on all sides.
I wanted to use True Sight to enhance my fighting capability even further, but that would have been voiding the rules, and I was only void of honor when it suited my purpose better than honor did. Lucky hits from the Skyborn that got past my defenses felt like the stray flailing and thrashing of a toddler, since only the strongest of Agrarians could strike me with enough force to stun me for a significant amount of time. The three men had formed up again and launched a simultaneous, coordinated assault on me, kicking and punching at my torso in unison. I deflected the majority of their strikes until I spotted my chance to turn the tides of this tussle when all three of their fists were level. I let their attack collide with my chest and sandwiched their combined fists between my arms before I lashed out with kicks to their exposed legs, causing them to buckle and the Skyborn to lose their footing. I seized the head of one of the downed men and struck repeatedly at his face until his nose was bloody and he was rendered unable to fight. With one less combatant to worry about, dispatching the other two was a matter of blocking and striking at the neck to cut of their air supply before flipping them over my shoulder and onto the soft ‘matting’ of the cloud. My defeating three of their best soldiers had the ring of men on edge, and many began pointing their weapons at me again.
“That’s enough! Stand down!” Maelstrom commanded her men to break it up, “He’s proven himself enough to warrant our backing… even if he’s some kind of magic wielding, Skyborn mutant” She mumbled her own opinion.
“Huzzah!” I copied Luna’s common expression of triumph or excitement, “When can we get started with dismantling the Acolytes of Chaos?”
“As soon as you tell us where their base is and when night falls” Maelstrom answered, “But one last thing” She walked up to me and smacked me across the face (no need to turn the other cheek mandatory) with a potency that her best soldiers couldn’t muster in the ring, before grabbing me by the neck and forcing me to her level, “That’s for insulting my mother. Do it again and I’ll make you wish you were never born” She snarled at me.
I held up my hands in a placating gesture and smiled sheepishly, “Acknowledged” I simpered, both of my cheeks having been slapped in the span of one morning, “So was there an actual point to this exercise? Or do you just enjoy watching me kick ass?” I gestured to the disgruntled men who were getting a helping hand from their comrades onto their feet. The woman didn’t dignify my sarcastic question with a reply. And I could have been imagining it, but I would swear that I spied a flickering ghost of a smile manifest on the austere Flight Leader’s lips.
Maelstrom invited me into her headquarter building (which had furnishing! Though it was spartan décor and only intended to be practical with its usage) where we were to begin planning for the attack on the Acolytes’ fortress. She scowled and fumed angrily when she heard about its location between Kathorn’s Rest and Gaia’s Gulch, which was a brumous bog that made scouting overhead for their base like searching for a straw of hay in a needle stack. Maelstrom had only one hundred and thirty five men divided into five groups with her on their expedition to the Dreamy Vale, since some of them were allocated back to the Provinces as a result of her embarrassing fumble with Mirrimare. Oddly enough, she held no personal resentment towards Starswirl and I’s actions in rousing the town into open rebellion. She didn’t agree with how the Skyborn dishonored their own tenants by exploiting helpless Agrarian settlements in their bid to one up the Stellar Magi, but she was duty bound to serve at the bidding of her father and the Senate.
In private, Maelstrom wasn’t quite as dour, and answered many of my questions about the Provinces and her military rooted family, especially after I gave her the privilege of knowing my ‘name’. As the Over-Commander of the Skyborn military, Maelstrom’s father Typhoon had absolute power during times of crisis or full on war, but since the contest with the Stellar Magi was more of a cold conflict, the Senate had most of the guiding hand in matters of government. Once composed of elected officials that merited their station, the Senate of the Skyborn had since devolved into inherited positions of power for the wealthy and connected citizens who didn’t want to commit to the five years of military service required of all adult male civilians, and had the pedigree to exploit a loophole in the system. Maelstrom had known many senators in her seven years of leadership, and couldn’t recall a single one that wasn’t a stuck up milksop who bashed on all the ground dwellers, as was popular among the Valkyrians.
Maelstrom’s older brother was the poster child of the Skyborn. He was raised practically from birth by his father to one day take over as Over-Commander, and by his meteoric rise through the ranks and victories scored against the Stellar Magi, it certainly seemed like he was meant to. Maelstrom by comparison, voluntarily joined the military to garner the approval of her father, whom she suspected of privately wanting a second son to groom for leadership. Her mother died when she was very young, but she had fond memories of her that never failed to cheer her up on a bad day. She and her brother were never close as children, as he was too full of hot air for her to tolerate his overbearing presence. And her relationship with her father was tense at best, and icy at the worst. Nothing she seemed to do pleased her father, and I think she was starting to realize that she was unlikely to ever do so. Half of the reason that Maelstrom went through with pursuing Starswirl and I into the Dreamy Vale was because she refused to return to her father a disgrace. But it was the atrocities of the Acolytes that convinced her to stay.
Maelstrom and I scrutinized a map of the Dreamy Vale that her cartographer scouts crafted after a week of observing the land from above. Her outpost was located immediately north of the mountains and below the center of the valley. To the west was the Inn where Starswirl and I were staying, and northwest of that was the expansive and largely unmapped Bloodgrove, whose neighboring road was the pathway that the maidens were slated to be returning on. Starswirl and I had agreed beforehand that we would meet them halfway on that road, so we would be removed from any untrustworthy ears when we informed them about their destiny to become more than just the local heroes of one lone valley. Dotting the map at random intervals were hamlets and villages that the Acolytes of Chaos had culled, and they were marked with red X’s that served as a harsh reminder of what could happen when unity was nonexistent and evil went about its business unchecked.
I thanked Maelstrom for agreeing to lend me the support of herself and her men before I briefed the Flight Leader on what she should expect. She brushed off my gratitude with the excuse that her soldiers were chomping at the bit for a good scrap anyway. She was rightfully authorized to engage the Acolytes since they were legally deemed an enemy of the Provinces for their massacring of ‘settlements of interest’ which was Skyborn legal jargon for the Acolytes deleting potential sources for their exploitation.
“From what the man I interrogated divulged to me, the fortress has a garrison that will at minimum be double that of those you have at your command and triple that number at maximum” I explained to the woman, “Force of arms won’t win the day on this one, so we’ll have to resort to sneakier methods of undermining the fortress”
“I think you underestimate the resolve of my soldiers against superior numbers” Maelstrom wryly remarked, but listened, “What’s the layout of the fortress? You told me that it was fortified against air attacks, but nothing about what its walls were composed of or its weakest points”
“Hand me something to write with, please” I adjured her. I held up my hand and curled it in a ‘gimme’ gesture. The woman sighed and gave me a luxurious feather quill that was pre dipped for me.
I illustrated the dimensions of the fort on Maelstrom’s spare parchment paper, sketching a standard four sided square of wooden palisades and picket posts in the first layer that functioned as perimeter lookout. The second layer of defenses were the main gates of the square stone fortress itself, where I would present myself to gatekeepers and utter the line ‘May the Lord of Chaos, warp us, change us, and make us perfectly imperfect in the cleansing flames of havoc’ when prompted. To be additionally sure they let me in, I would present them the head of the dead Acolyte and claim it to be that of the wizard’s companion with his own voice, using a vocal emulation spell. The official seal was a backup badge of identification, and wasn’t liable to be demanded of me to show.
There was a small interruption in our planning phase as one of Maelstrom’s scouts reported in on a secret path enshrouded by the foliage of the bog-woods that presumably led to the fortress. The scout had espied a ranging party of grey cloaks that were unquestionably members of the Acolytes, thus conveniently corroborating my info as a fact to the Skyborn commander. Maelstrom thanked him for his report and ordered him to brief the men in turn to prepare for the melee that would transpire this night.
Once I was inside, I could either keep up the charade for a time or avail myself of my maximum potential as a Trifect, unlock the gate, and obliterate my way to the winching rooms to raise the secondary portcullis gates around the fortress permanently. If I could, I would also demolish any of the ballistae and anti Valkyrian defenses they had on the walls. Skyborn strategy heavily mimicked blitzkrieg tactics to overwhelm the enemy with speed and numbers before they could react and properly mount a counteroffensive, so the element of surprise had to be augmented with that of speed. Maelstrom’s men would converge on the castle from all sides, by land and by air.
To deal with the outer defenses, the Skyborn above would use a tactic favored for its shock and awe factor, and would set fire to the rain by infusing clouds with oil and making them precipitate before igniting them with a match or other striking implement. The outer palisade defenses would either panic or be set alight, become cooked in their armor, and become easy kills for the men on the ground. The Acolytes were all about chaos, so why not make the scene of their last stand as chaotic as possible? As a statement of how the Acolytes were in for a nasty surprise, I took my Tantō and stabbed it into the map where the fortress could be found.
The hours passed speedily as Maelstrom and her men armored up and got ready to make war. When the time came, I returned to the Squawking Bee, collected my essential materials, and appropriated one of the horses that the late assassins’ used to travel here from their fortress, since I wouldn’t want to risk Night Wind’s life in the battle to ensue there. Even if he wouldn’t have a problem with it, I would… that horse had grown on me, and even Starswirl took a liking to him after we switched turns riding and walking beside him on the roadways. I wasn’t very communicative with my latest steed, a brown coated stallion who was even less friendly to me in return, which helped me to stay emotionally detached.
He was still useful to me though, and recognized the route that would take me to the concealed fortress in the bog-woods, galloping on it with mechanical, memorized movements. Glints of light from above notified me that Maelstrom’s Skyborn were following my lead (Though they answered solely to their Flight Leader). I had donned a mostly bloodstain free cloak provided to us by our would be killers and drew the hood over my head, so that none of them would recognize that I wasn’t one of their own. On the way, I practiced with my voice emulation spell; attempting to match the pitch and tone of the man I had interrogated… and then killed in cold blood. Perhaps Starswirl was right… maybe I was transforming into a monster that relished in destroying other monsters without my notice. I groaned to myself and shook my head vigorously to derail that train of thought, for this was not an appropriate time to be self reflecting on the kind of person I was becoming.
The bog-woods were east of the Bloodgrove by several leagues, and nestled into the metaphorical heart of the Dreamy Vale. It bothered me how these Acolytes had gone unnoticed for such a period of time, as the bog-woods were in a prime location to spread out their influence and let it fester in the neighboring towns that were akin to minor kingdoms in the Vale. The woods themselves were self explanatory based on the title. They were a combination of a gnarled forest that had wide patches of bogs that would deter any armies that tried to move their troops into the woods in a wide scale incursion. The foggy air was boggy and saturated with rot, which reminded me far too much of the hostile portions of the Neverfree at times. The path that my steed knew by heart terminated when the wet marshes became solider ground that was impaled with twelve foot tall wooden logs that were so well planted that they must have been hammered into the earth with tools, or magic.
“Halt!” A staunch voice called out from behind the palisade as my horse’s footfalls became audible, “Who goes there? Be you friend or foe?”
I got the seal ready in my hands in case it was needed and spoke, “Only a disciple of our glorious Herald of Chaos!” I put some gusto in my modified voice. Officers of the Acolytes were considered to be personal apprentices of Double Cross, while initiates like this toady were subservient servants of chaos.
I heard a chuckle and a guard fully garbed in embossed plate armor stepped out from behind the palisade, “Boulder, is that you?” He addressed me with familiarity, which could complicate things if I didn’t handle this right, “You back from hunting down that meddlesome wizard and his pesky friend? You were expected hours ago!” He exclaimed before his brow furrowed, “Didn’t others go with you, Boulder?”
“The others… fell during the struggle” I trailed sadly, “But they died fighting for a cause worth snuffing out the lives of those arrogant fools who would dare oppose us!”
“They bit the dust, eh?” The guard scratched at his chin, “Real shame… one of ‘em owed me fifteen Bob. Won’t be getting that money back, now will I?” He chortled again, not really caring that his comrades were dead, “Anywho… I’ve held you up long enough. Did you bring back your quarries’ heads as instructed?” He indulged his curiosity.
I gestured at the bag swinging at my hip with a sideways twitch of my head and grinned at him (Even though he couldn’t see it), “Just the one… I’m afraid. But our Herald will be pleased to know that there’s one less thorn in his side” I flicked the reins and my steed progressed past the guard and through fifty feet of mysteriously unoccupied campgrounds. The campgrounds were extensive enough that they could have supported a small army. So where was their main force?
My steed came to an automatic halt ten feet outside of the swinging arc of the gate. Sentries on the crenelated battlements saw me and one of their number addressed me formally, “In the name of Chaos, who goes there!?”
‘I imagine if I was a renegade, I would utter the compromised passphrase and use the chaos to slip past their defenses and kill their leader myself’ I ideated, but I was a better man than that.
“May the Lord of Chaos, warp us, change us, and make us perfectly imperfect in the cleansing flames of havoc” I responded with not much fervor. The lord of chaos that I knew was nothing more than a bureaucratic headache, and even he abhorred the idea of death, which was a short term gain, long term loss concept to him. So these Acolytes weren’t even being faithful to their lord’s ideals.
“I’ve a token for our Herald!” I proclaimed, holding up the bloody sack, “The head of one of the fools who deemed it wise to oppose his and our lord’s plans for this world!”
The men on the walls glanced at each other and pulled out of sight. For a moment I was worried that I had been discovered somehow, but the rumbling sound of the main iron constructed gate being pushed open erased any chances of that being a reality. My horse lazily strode inside to the stables and I dismounted from him as he continued on his merry way, having a look around as I did so. The interior of the fortress was standard for a four sided fort, with a barracks for the inner garrison, an armory for their weapons, and a boxy keep where all the valuable loot could be pillaged. Torches and lanterns provided illumination throughout the simplistic complex, though there was more of that symbol I saw in Duskdale painted everywhere. It was on the banners, on the signs of the buildings, even on the doors leading to the privies! There were Acolytes aplenty too, but not as many as I would have speculated prior to seeing it for myself. There couldn’t have been more than two hundred and fifty men manning the fort, and only a couple dozen men patrolling along the lengths of the palisades outside.
I was about to explore the place when an official looking character with a goatee that was flanked by four metal plated guards approached me. His arms were folded against themselves and tucked into his yellow robes, which were ornately decorated and designed to look regal. They also religiously displayed that symbol which must have been the official insignia of the Acolytes. He had the classic appearance of being the guy in charge around here when the boss was out on business.
“You’ve returned to us, I see. And you’ve brought us a head. Excellent” Despite his praise, his tone indicated that his commending was meant sardonically.
I kept up my false identity, “Eeyup… one head from the Squawking Bee, right here” I held out the bag for him to hold, mindful of keeping the bells snuggled against my backside from jingling. Starswirl’s hat wasn’t meant for these Acolytes, but would make a decent peace offering to Maelstrom after we had wiped this scum from the face of the Earth.
The official frowned and tsk’ed his tongue as he felt the weight of the severed head, “Only one head, Boulder. You were commanded by our Herald himself to bring back two heads, or not to come back at all” He gazed at me menacingly, “You know the penalty for failure, Boulder… and yet you came back to us regardless. Perhaps you were smart enough to realize that it did not matter where you would run to, for we would hunt you down and mete out your punishment anyway. Either that, or you must have a death wish… you’re doomed Boulder” His fingers pulled at the strings of the bag to scrutinize the head’s identity and I knew that my hand would be forced here.
‘And of course their chain of command doesn’t tolerate failure without the penalty of death’ I mentally grumbled. So much for exploring this place without a fight.
“Out of my way, you worm” My voice became more heated and less false as I resolved to fight my way up to the wall and accomplish my objectives. Maelstrom and I had not agreed upon an established signal that would relay to the observing Skyborn that I had done my part, but she and her men were flexible enough to perceive anything out of the ordinary as a sign that they should commence with the assault.
The Acolyte Castellan of the fort yawned in unthreatened boredom, “Bare your teeth as much as you wish, Boulder… you were never as tough as you portrayed yourself to b- huerk!” He dropped the sack and clutched at his throat as one my throwing knives found purchase in his Adam’s apple with the guidance of magic. I threw off the cloak and repeated the same thing to the commander’s shocked subordinates, the blades digging into the gaps between their helmets and otherwise impervious chest plates and tasting their blood. As they sank to the dirt and bled out, I grasped at my bona fide hood and drew it over my head like a lethal fashion statement.
Knowing that the men on the wall would have detected the noisome disturbance, I retrieved my throwing knives and moved swiftly and mercilessly forward as I advanced towards and up the steps, cleaving any man that would have the gall to stand in my way in two with Dichotomy. The Mage-blade did not care how much armor they were sporting; their iron skins only mildly slowed the inexorable edge of my implacable blade as they were hewn down one at a time. Crossbowmen responded to the threat in their midst by launching their loaded weapons at me. I cast a barrier spell around myself at the last moment that caused their bolts to bounce off the shield with a glimmering effect.
With the crossbowmen on the wall occupied with reloading their weapons for another volley, I rushed forward with my glowing sword in hand and chopped them into bloody bits as I zigged and zagged my way between them on the walkway. The ballistae that were the most hazardous to my Skyborn allies were my first target, and I knew of a way to turn them to my purposes as well. Channeling flame into Dichotomy, I hacked away at the oversized crossbows and ignited their fragile components. They took to burning and soon became signal fires that alerted the Skyborn overhead to initiate their own firestorm. The fortress was in a confused state of alarm, and men scrambled back and forth without any idea of what they were to do without their castellan to give them orders. Many of them marveled as they gazed at the skies over the fortress, which turned from a dark grey to an angry red and orange as flaming droplets of combustion rained down on the palisades and set them on fire. I heard the shouts of men and the clashing of blades just beyond the wall as Maelstrom personally lead the charge on the main gate.
Remembering that this assault would fail without the main gate pried open, I left my work with the ballistae on the walls half finished as I leapt off the wall and swooped towards the gate, cutting down extra Acolytes as I flew. I landed hard and drew my Tantō with my free to prep an overwhelming force spell that would take a generous chunk out of my mana reserves, but would be worth it. The very air distorted and rippled as I watched the screen of force slam into the metal gate and shear it off of its hinges, tumbling to the ground with a rumble of iron. My magic was still underdeveloped compared to that of the future Princesses of Arcania, but it had enough raw power behind it that I could engender every Stellar Mage who witnessed the effects of my mojo firsthand to faint from an overdose of radicalness (As so eloquently defined by the illustrious Rainbow Dash). With the main entrance accessible and half of the ballistae on the wall rendered effectively inoperable, Skyborn flooded in through the main gateway and engaged with the fort’s defenders, who had finally gotten their act together and fought the intruders in a lined formation.
The Skyborn here had a notable advantage when it came to armaments, which inflicted damage that even the well armored defenders staggered from, many of whom hadn’t even the time to put on most of their accoutrements. My allies were still at a big disadvantage number wise, so I joined into the fray with a piercing battle cry that rallied the Skyborn around me and instilled them with fervor for the fight as we hacked and slashed away at our mutual enemy in the Acolytes. The portcullis gates were not necessary at this point, as so many of Maelstrom’s men had breached the walls that it would have been a waste of energy. The ballistae that had not been destroyed by me were in the process of being cranked around and turned on the men in the courtyard of the fort. Even though their own troops were on the field, the men manning the ballistae fired their deadly splitting projectiles that critically wounded to outright skewered over two dozen men from both parties. Seeing for myself the threat that these artillery emplacements represented, I parried a spear strike and lopped off the offending man’s head with a lazy swing of Dichotomy, before taking flight towards the ballistae to finish what I started and put them out of commission.
The men reloading the ballistae shrieked as I came down on them with the intensity of a tornado. I shattered my Mage-blade and swirled the shards around me in a telekinetic storm that dismembered anyone unlucky enough to be situated in its radius. Ten seconds of this and the remainder of the ballistae were put out of action. Briefly, I watched the men in the courtyard duking it out with each other, the noises of their blades making contact with steel, flesh, and bone was like a cacophonous symphony of battle, which could even be likened to the music of war. I was decidedly neutral about how I felt about this. I despised war… and everything negative that it wrought upon the people and the planet, but I wasn’t so naïve that I deemed it as something that served no purpose. I was an avid watcher of war flicks and documentaries before I came here, and my keen eyes could make out the shape of the Skyborn formation on the ground. It was a V styled spearhead that gradually pushed against its opposition with increasing gains. It certainly helped that we had air support from airborne crossbowmen who picked off the Acolytes’ field sergeants and prevented them from organizing a stalwart defense. Flight Leader Maelstrom was at the fore of the Valkyrians and was living up to her name, whirling, spinning, and sculpting a bloody trail of death to leave in her wake with her blade. Not wanting her to have all of the fun, I flew above the thickest concentration of Acolytes and sent shockwaves through their ranks with a ground pound.
The battle incrementally wore down over the course of an hour that felt like an eternity with all the adrenaline flowing through my veins. The Acolytes on the field had been painstakingly vanquished and put to the sword. Their dead lay piled onto the field by the droves, and were already beginning to reek of death. Valkyrian bodies dotted the field too, and my heart went out to the families of those valiant men. Funny, how only scant weeks ago I regarded them as little more than winged thieves, but personal experience with the demonized Skyborn taught me to understand that they were people too… and future Arcanians at that.
The last remnants of the Acolytes had holed themselves up in the keep, and were taking potshots at us through the building’s embrasures. Thankfully, the least exhausted of Maelstrom’s men had found a six-man, handheld battering ram in the armory that would prove to be most helpful in breaking down the doors and ending those scum too. I walked about the field as men held their deceased brothers in their arms and sobbed openly, their friends and even family members having been lost to them forevermore. The fortress’s interior was in ruins, the barracks were burnt down, the stables were smashed (I was really glad that I didn’t bring Night Wind along), and the men in the keep were in for a calamity. I found the Flight Leader speaking to one of the lieutenants under her command and receiving the casualty report. Our casualties weren’t horrific, numbering only at twenty eight men injured and twenty one that had been slain, compared to the hundreds of Acolytes that we had bushwhacked in their own home.
The Flight Leader hid it well, but these losses weighed heavily on her conscious. Her body wasn’t in peak condition after the battle either. Her once immaculate golden armor was sullied by the blood of her slain enemies, and her eyes were strained with exhaustion and veiled sadness. She had sustained light injuries on her arms and thighs that bled slightly, but she ignored them, going so far as waiting until her field medics were finished treating the last of her wounded men before tending to her. Even in this scratched and battered state, she was no less dazzling to behold.
“You have my condolences for the loss of your men” I offered her my sympathies, “I wish that it hadn’t come to th-…”
She held up an interrupting hand and looked at me with a pained smile, “I appreciate your sympathy, Zenith. Though they could have been worse had you not been such a terror on the battlefield. You did a superb job softening up their defenses and securing our entry into the fort. I’m not sure whether to be surprised at your brutal efficiency or gladdened that it was not used against me in Mirrimare” She flattered me, “You’d slain at least three quarters of a hundred men, according to some of the troops who fought beside you. You are full of surprises… both astonishing and pleasant”
I smirked, “Speak for yourself, Flight Leader. You more than pulled your own weight. You excelled by an impressive degree out there; our left flank wouldn’t have managed to stay rigid had you not attended to it in person. There’s no doubt in my eyes that you’re more than worthy of your father’s mantle, equally if not more so than your brother” I spoke the sincere truth.
She sighed in forbearance, “I’ve come to accept that I’ll never be able to live up to my father’s expectations, if only because he’ll keep adjusting them to be just shy of perfection. But I didn’t do this to honor my father or even to honor the might of the Provinces. I did it because these men needed to be stopped” She asserted, solidifying my admiration for her.
I frowned when I recalled the emptied campgrounds outside the walls, “And so they have… in no small part due to you and your men’s efforts here tonight” I kept that observation to myself. Maelstrom had sacrificed enough on this. Starswirl and I would just have to deal with Double Cross by ourselves.
Maelstrom inhaled and stood straight, “I need to get the funeral pyres prepared. You might be ignorant to this, newfeather, but Valkyrians cremate their dead on the site where they fought and died. Please excuse me” She gave orders to her men to find all the unspent wood that they could and to pile their fallen onto it.
Meanwhile, I aided the fresh Skyborn troops in clearing out the keep, putting up a barrier spell in front of them to deflect the crossbolt rounds that were ready and waiting for them. Skyborn rarely carried shields larger than bucklers, since those were tools that did not fit their fight and flight combat style, so my defensive magical spells were a lifesaver for the men behind me. The mages were the only real threats left, but their magic missiles could not overpower my shield, and a sharp retort with my throwing knives through selective gaps in my shield neutralized them. Perhaps I earned their respect by being in the thickest part of the fighting, but the men to my rear cheered my name as I took point in exterminating the last of the Acolytes as we moved from floor to floor and room to room. Some of them even had the chutzpah to beg for mercy. I coldly retorted by referring to the same mercy shown to Duskdale before I impaled them through the throat with Dichotomy.
With the keep emptied of hostiles, I was free to search around the five story structure for anything that would enlighten me to Double Cross’s scheming plans. There was a treasury vault that was stocked with whatever leftover gold the Acolytes had left. It wasn’t overflowing, but there was enough wealth remaining that Maelstrom and her men could return home with a soldier’s wages complemented by the spoils of war. The real treasure in my opinion though was Double Cross’s personal quarters at the top of the keep. The lavish décor said a lot about his personality, that he was a Stellar Mage that thought highly of himself and wanted everyone else to know that his superiority deserved its due.
His journal entries however, were the most telling indicators about his state of mind (How arrogant of this man to hide them so poorly and not protect them with traps. Not that any of those measures would have stopped me from reading them). I expeditiously scanned through them with the aid of a rapid study spell that Twilight had shown me and discovered that Cross was sane, though there was a hunger to his words about momentarily serving a nameless, dissonant deity that whispered to him in his dreams in order to become a divine being himself that were cause for concern.
With the intermittent guidance of this nameless deity, he had used his snowballing influence after his banishment from Stellaria to infiltrate an unknown group of individuals that worshiped a being that was the living avatar of chaos, and were devout enough to serve his foul purposes should he gain control of them. He became their Herald through dark prophecies of his own that were supplied by this deity that would come true with macabre effect. He preyed on the weaknesses of the Acolytes by promising them that with himself at the wheel, he would unite all of the clans under their rule and the rule of their chaotic overlord. His master was indeed aware of the Prophecy of the Sisters of Fate regarding the Heroines and saw them as a threat to himself (and his mouthpiece Cross by extension) that needed to be erased.
It was this enigmatic deity that revealed to him the location of the deceased Dragon’s hoard, and bid him to use that wealth as a means of spreading his influence north, eventually culminating in the fortress that I was standing in currently. Cross had never disobeyed the instructions of the dissonant being, but once asked what the being’s motives were and why he should serve it. His journal entry ended there… and the next entry was a note to himself never to question his dark master again under pain of a thousand excruciating deaths looped in his mind instead of ten (At least until he was powerful enough to challenge this being anyway).
This was disturbing news to me. Double Cross may have been acting of his own volition, but he was clearly just a pawn for something far more evil. The blood rituals that Cross had been personally performing in too many of the hamlets and villages were to feed this dissonant entity death… while also siphoning a minuscule fraction of the extinguished life energies to empower himself. He still couldn’t use magic, but these rituals had given him powers that were indifferent to the scarred hole on his forehead. His entries were vague on the nature of these powers, but he enjoyed using them to intimidate his political foes and unruly subordinates into submission.
Cross was wary of his former mentor in magic, and knew that Starswirl would stop at nothing to find the heroines that were destined to unite the clans under Harmony. To counteract this scenario, he sent hunting parties to apprehend him, spread rumors of his quest threatening to destabilize the Valkyrian Provinces to bait the Skyborn into chasing him, and admitted to looking forward to being able to torture the wizard himself for his role in getting him ousted from Stellaria’s grace if none of those things halted him. The last entry was of his frustration about how these heroines simply refused to die no matter what he threw at them and his decision to personally kill them. He would bring along half of his forces in the Vale to support him as an added assurance that they would succumb. He had heard the hearsay that they would return along the road abreast of the fringes of the Bloodgrove, and his spies in the town they were visiting had sent messenger birds to confirm this. According to the date on the entry, they had left this night, and would be anticipating them along several points in ambush as they traveled back in the morning. This meant that I had a limited timeframe to get back to Starswirl and warn him of the imminent danger that the heroines faced come the sunrise.
I egressed from the keep to see the Flight Leader presiding over the crackling funerals of her deceased soldiers as their bodies were cremated side by side on a lengthy makeshift pyre composed of debris, and was in the middle of eulogizing them.
“…Officer Nimbostratus, Bronze Shield, Hazy Spark, and Windstorm. Each and every one of these brave men were a paragon of what the Skyborn strive to be, and they bring honor to themselves and their families. The Provinces of Valkyria have lost some of its best. We will miss them” She bowed her head, and the men under her command removed their helmets in unison out of courteousness for their fallen brothers, “We Valkyrians are the children of the sky, and so we consecrate the ashes of our fallen to the breeze. To float forevermore amongst the blue yonder that calls each of us home” As she concluded her eulogy, the men in the gathering spread their wings and beat them forward as one, issuing forth a wave of air that scattered the ashes onwards and upwards into the night sky.
I witnessed their funeral rites with rapt fascination, and murmured a short prayer for them as well. I felt guilt about involving them in this sordid affair, but knew that they were men of action that comprehended what perilous things were required of them. Even Squadron Officer Nimbostratus had redeemed himself in my eyes, in spite of his disdain toward the other clans, he had fought to defend them… even if it was indirect and likely unintentional.
With her deceased men given a proper sendoff, Maelstrom noticed me solemnly standing to the side and motioned for me to speak with her in private. I obliged and we walked to the top of the wall over the main gate of the fort, overlooking the still blazing palisades. She and I watched the flames consume their fuel source for a while before she spoke her peace.
“I cannot return to the Provinces without the Wizard, Zenith” She regretfully apprised me that she could not go home empty handed, “I’m treading on thin cloud as it is, what with my failure to contain Mirrimare and embarrassing the Provinces on a state level”
“Were your mission parameters strictly confined to capturing him?” I questioned, quirking a brow.
She nodded, “Yes… failing that, I was to execute him as a threat to Olympia. I should be grateful that I wasn’t ordered to capture you” She jested, trying to lighten the mood. I wasn’t as receptive to it as she might have preferred, but scoffed playfully to cheer her up.
“What if you couldn’t bring back a body as proof of his death? But had one of his personal effects to show to the Senator that bid you here?” I posed to her with a sly tone.
She looked at me curiously, before grinning, “I sense that you have a solution here that will satisfy both of us”
“I always plan for contingencies. Never hurts to be prepared for even unlikely circumstances” I stated, pulling the squished hat out from my back and dusting it off, causing the bells to jingle, “Present this hat to your superiors, and tell them that you were unable to nab your prize, but were able to guarantee that he won’t be a threat to Olympia in the future. The wizard self immolated to avoid capture, which is why you couldn’t bring back a body. This hat was the only thing left of him that was intact” I fabricated a story for her to tell, “Starswirl isn’t likely to be found down south again until he concludes his business here… which could take time” I hinted at the period he would spend molding the future Princesses for ruling their kingdom.
“It’s not exactly a lie, so I will agree to this arrangement” Maelstrom consented in her professional tone while relieving me of the hat, before altering it with a curious one, “Does he really seek to join the clans under a banner of Harmony?”
I glanced at her sidelong, “No… that’s just a ploy to divert undue attention away from himself so he can advertise the greatness of the flying spaghetti monster unmolested” I deadpanned, “Of course he wants to unite the clans! This animosity between the Skyborn, Stellar Magi, and the Agrarians must be put to an end”
Maelstrom scowled at my sarcasm, but still had other points to raise, “If I wanted to say… get in contact with him, how would I do this? It’s not to go back on our deal, I give you my word” She pledged.
I shook my head, “I never had a doubt that you honor your promises, Maelstrom. Starswirl will contact you through proxies… be on the lookout for anyone who introduces themselves as a member of the Triumvirate” I instructed her, “Are you having second thoughts about your loyalty to your father and government?” I quizzed her in return.
“My loyalty… is to the tenets of the Skyborn. Not my father… and certainly not the Senate” She gruffly replied.
I chuckled, “I’m charmed that you’re beginning to prioritize your moral values over your duties to your government. Every single person makes a difference in bringing about positive change” I told her, staring past the inferno and out to the milky horizon illuminated by the cool rays of the moon.
“I know that expression” Maelstrom commented, “This is where we part ways, isn’t it?”
“Afraid so, my dear. Why?” I rakishly grinned at the woman, “You aren’t seriously going to miss me, are you?”
Maelstrom failed to see the humor in it, “At first you were no more to me than some nuisance who had a smart mouth in need of boiled tar. But you’ve earned my respect, and even some of my esteem, which isn’t given out lightly” She sighed and rubbed at her face before looking at me strangely, “I’ve never excelled at this sentimentality concept, but will I ever see you again?”
I gazed into her beautiful magenta eyes that searched for something in mine that I couldn’t possibly give her. Friendship, camaraderie, or even outright affection. It didn’t matter, for I couldn’t persist here.
I wouldn’t lie to her. She deserved better than that, “This will be the last time you see me, Maelstrom (‘Though a part of you will live on in future generations’)” I held out my hand to her, “It’s been a joy to know you, Flight Leader, even in the short time that we’ve shared. Goodbye”
She took my offered hand and shook it, struggling to maintain a straight face as I brought her knuckles to my lips for a gentle kiss, “Likewise. Farewell Zenith, and may the indomitable spirit that thrives inside all of the Skyborn guide you in all that you do” She wished me good luck in a dejected voice that was close to faltering. Surprising her, I gave her a brief hug that turned her posture rigid until she relaxed.
Delaying no more, I spread my wings and flapped them once to flip over the wall and touch down on the soil in front of the gate. Stepping over the toppled gates and the dead body of the sentry man who had greeted me earlier, I ambled through the campgrounds and past the burning wrecks of the palisades. Feeling jovial for reasons I could not explain, I began to whistle to the tune of ‘Do you believe in magic?’ as one of the stakes gave way and tumbled downwards behind me in a fiery display of destruction as I vanished into the darkness.
⁂
Sunlight that was tinted crimson streamed in through the reddish canopy of the Ironbark forest known as the Bloodgrove as a hatless Starswirl (the wizard almost wasn’t himself without it on his cranium to me) and I tracked down the maidens by using my intrinsic connection with them to scry for their general position. I had returned to the Squawking Bee after midnight to find Starswirl sound asleep in his magically sealed room after dismantling the wards and sneaking in, unable to be roused awake no matter how hard I shook him. Since I couldn’t pursue and warn the maidens without him, I had to wait and catnap until an hour before first light for him to return from dreamland. His weariness had disappeared quickly once I revealed to him that his heroines were under the direct threat of Double Cross and half of his forces in the Dreamy Vale.
We had taken spare horses to ride out and meet them using a byway that Starswirl’s path elucidating spell highlighted, allowing us to bypass Cross’s forces in the woods, but discovered no trace of them save for the bodies of dead Acolytes at the first of the chokepoints Cross had written about. We examined the scene and deduced that the heroines must have retreated into the forest for safety, with the ambushing Acolytes giving chase. The attacking party wouldn’t be foolish enough to take them on by themselves without alerting their leader first, and the horse tracks that led away from the scene to notify the rest of Cross’s cronies were evidence for that.
The tree line was too thick with foliage and brush for our horses to even entertain the thought of us urging them inside, so we had little choice but to dismount and follow the trail of crossbolts and blast marks from mages that were casting with the sole intention of killing. For a pair of Agrarians, Celeste and Selene must have been agile indeed to stave off their pursuers so well. Starswirl was beside himself with anxiety as he discerned how much danger the women central to the prophecy that was so integral to his dreams were in. He entreated me to find them by scrying for their locations, explaining that if I knew them as well as I purported, they would show on my mental radar (My words, not his).
It was fortunate that scrying spells worked on someone even if you wouldn’t technically know them until many, many years into the future. But I guess that magic was flexible like that, or Celestia and Luna hadn’t changed much personality wise in the last (or ensuing? I’m not decided on that point) millennium or so. The scrying spell that Starswirl instructed me in casting was simple but effective. I had to use my intimate connection with them to envision their presence as lights in the darkness, which manifested themselves in my mind’s eye. Metaphors were often used by Stellar Magi to make complicated spell casting a straightforward process. I sometimes deferred to this strategy myself, but mine was conducted largely by willing it and expending the mana necessary to fuel the spell. Their lights were a decent distance off from us, so we had a lot of ground to cover before we could catch up. Every so often their lights would dance from side to side or stop and engage one of the men tailing them. I urged Starswirl to pick up the pace lest I leave him in the dust, causing him to grumble about the inconsiderate rudeness of youths to the athletic shortcomings of their elders.
The lights of the maidens made their stand on flat ground of some type as they fought off their hunters. They moved with a precise coordination that I didn’t think would be possible without a psychic connection, and seemed to be holding their own against the Acolytes. The ruckus their fighting must have generated provoked something massive that lived in these woods, as their lights inexplicable went flying in opposite directions like they had been swatted by the invisible limb of a gigantic ghost. Their lights wavered in brightness, but had recovered sufficiently to engage whatever it was that was the bigger threat to them. We were close enough at this time to hear the bestial roars of not one, but what sounded like four creatures. But how could that be? The movement of the lights around the enemy indicated that the sisters were duking it out with one entity. I sped up the pace of my stride and Starswirl lagged behind in protest. The women that would become the Princesses that I held in high regard were in peril, and I wasn’t going to wait until Starswirl found his second wind. Increasing my jog into a sprint, I dashed towards the endangered lights.
I emerged into a moderately flattish clearing where the forest wasn’t as abundant, with bodies of Acolytes bestrewn in the expanse. In the center of this clearing was an assortment of blanched stone ruins that were unlike any other kind of architecture that I had seen in Precania so far. To the northeast of these ruins were overturned and uprooted trees that were knocked aside by a sizable beastie as it converged on the ruins. The four heads of this beast rose above the ruins as I spotted a figure with familiar light blue hair run along a catwalk of these crumbled ruins, she deftly avoided its snapping jaws and leapt off the catwalk to strike at the last head, which was not paying attention to its surroundings. The sword she was wielding wasn’t Blue Moon, but must have had a special enchantment on it that multiplied its sharpness, because she sliced through its neck with close to the same amount of ease had she been wielding it. The wound of the quarter decapitated Hydra spurted steaming hot blood that covered its own wound in the blackish fluid before the flesh started foaming and bubbling, the neck splitting back slightly to make room for some new additions. Two scaled skulls violently burst forth from the wound and coalesced their cranial flesh. The newly born heads bared their shiny teeth at Lun-… Selene, who stared back dispiritedly as her attack had the opposite of her intended result.
She rolled out of the way as both of those heads smashed into the ground where she was standing only scant seconds prior, the force of the shockwave sending her flying into a pillar and knocking the wind out of her, rendering her unconscious. Her bow wielding sister came into sight as she concernedly knelt by her sister’s side to check her for injuries. The Hydra that was attacking them stood to its full height of an intimidating thirty five feet, though it was just a midget in comparison to the Ursa Major I had fought a while back. Its scales were a reddish brown that blended in well with the forest around it. Its slitted eyes seemed to glow a venomous green as forked tongues slithered out of its maws, tasting the air. The creature wasn’t particularly intelligent even with the extra brains, as two of the heads were lazily waving in the air and observing the view, like they weren’t currently engaged in combat. The other three heads were focused though, and reared back to strike a devastating blow on the heroines. My wings shot out of their own accord and propelled me forward at speeds that would rival Rainbow Dash during her daily flight practice routine. Channeling extreme heat into the conductive blade of the assembled Dichotomy, I spun headfirst in midair as I spiraled head over heels towards the three heads.
The distracted two heads saw this and got the attention of their ‘brethren’ who hesitated in their attack to get a sideways look at the newcomer. This proved to be to their disadvantage, as I buzz sawed through all three of them like a hot knife through butter, cauterizing the cuts closed as a result of my superheated blade. The no longer distracted heads roared in pain since their brothers couldn’t, and glared at me. I landed in a part of the ruins that obscured me from the sight of the sisters, but was in plain view of the Hydra, which decided that they were not worthy of further interest to it as it devoted its energy to ending me instead. It trudged towards me with stomping steps that caused the dust covering the ruins to shift and suffuse into the air. Knowing that fighting this thing on ground level was unwise, I flapped my wings again to gain some altitude. The Hydra did not give me the luxury of a breather, as its two heads snapped towards me with alarming speed, forcing me to dodge and weave with aerial maneuvers that I hadn’t got much practice in with all of my time spent toiling on the ground. One of the heads was so close to nailing me that the after wash from its attack was enough to throw me off course, and I skidded into the floor of the ruins with a skipping roll, letting out an indignant ‘oomph!’ with each bounce.
The Hydra had to take a few seconds to reorient its bulk in my direction as its powerful tail knocked over some more ruins. One of the Acolytes who was still alive launched a crossbolt round from a catwalk that pierced one of its eyes, stunning it momentarily before an uninjured head gobbled him up with an expeditious chomp of its jaws. I didn’t mourn the fellow’s demise, but at least his last act in life bought me the time to get to my feet and leap out of the way of its stomping foot, which crashed into the stone floor with great force. My wings were engaged, so the shockwave couldn’t destabilize me as I swooped through some columns and spiraled above the Hydra to begin hacking away at the remaining heads, which I believed would be enough to kill it. Two swooping slashes with a super heated Dichotomy later and those heads were resting on the ruin floors. The main body of the Hydra took a few confused, directionless steps and gave off the impression that it was going to keel over. To my dismay, this did not occur. The body began to shed off the necks of the severed heads until only the base of the torso was showing. From this writhing form of flesh sprouted four new heads, and the cycle had started anew.
‘Shit! How am I supposed to kill this thing!?’ I thought, daunted by the resilience of this beast. It was then that I was struck by an idea that was so crazy that it might work… or it might kill me.
I ascended to the peak of a tall pillar and presented myself to the creature, “Hey ugly! You want a piece of this? Come get some!” I taunted it, purposefully pissing it off (Which implied that this thing was partially sentient).
The heads hissed menacingly and lumbered over to me, the middlemost head on the right being particularly angry. I cast a spell over myself that would shield me against what I could expect in the next few seconds if I timed this right. The maw of the angriest head opened wide as it prepared to bite down on me. Anticipating its lunge, I rocketed into its mouth before it snapped shut and down its slimy gullet. The neck of the head recoiled in what must have been shock and made the slide downwards curvy. I’ll spare you the details concerning the guts of a Hydra. All you need to know it that it is not a pleasant place… and has an appallingly terrible stench. I didn’t allow the beast to swallow me without difficulty though, and my blade lacerated its throat like I was a jagged Dorito. I was eventually chambered into its stomach in complete darkness, splashing into its digestive fluids, which would have started dissolving me had I not cast a selectively permeable membrane spell over my flesh to ward off caustic damage.
With the Hydra unable to do anything against me now that I was inside of its own body, I hovered in place and went crazy with a disassembled Dichotomy, whose flames illuminated my foul environment. I swirled the shards around me in a tornado of metal that augmented its radius and perforated and gashed the stomach of the beast, releasing its caustic fluids into its unprotected organs, which were also fair game for my Mage-blade. The muted, agonized roaring of the beast indicated that I was on the right track, and I continued this until the beast had fallen over and the rumbling pulse of its heart gradually ceased beating. Not satisfied, I ensured that it was dead by eviscerating its insides, completely destroying each organ that was still intact. Given how it made no noise in response, it was safe for me assume that the beast was finally dead.
Wanting out of this disgusting creature, I brandished an assembled Dichotomy and effortlessly pierced the stomach lining and scales of the Hydra, cutting upwards until I had a slit wide enough for me to exit the tour of its bowels. Some of its bodily fluids had lingered on my shoulder and I casually brushed them off in front of an awe struck, winded Starswirl, who had arrived late to the party.
“Cut off the head of a Hydra and two more will simply take its place” I quoted to the wizard with the dropped jaw as I stepped into the opening, “But rip through its guts and it’s up a creek with no paddle… and there’s a waterfall with sharp rocks at the end of that creek” I amended with a grin.
Starswirl opened his mouth to reply, but closed it and thought better of it, “Come… the heroines are still out of reach” He bid me to follow him.
“What?” I was confused, “But they were just here! I saw them fight the Hydra!” I motioned behind me with a thumb.
“Were they?” He questioned, “When I came here, there was no one else besides you in the belly of that beast” He reported to me, “It’s definitely the first time I’ve seen a beast make such an expression of indigestion”
I used my scrying spell to detect them and was dumbfounded when they were elsewhere… in a place that was both close by and extremely faraway at the same time. I showed Starswirl where I had seen them before tussling with the Hydra and he examined the scene with some kind of spell that retraced their steps after I had intervened. Hologram like projections of the Princesses appeared in their place and reenacted their actions leading up to their sudden relocation. It was odd to see the Princesses not in their usual outfits, instead donning a standard adventurer’s tunic like garb that incorporated pieces of armor for protection. Celestia (or Celeste) had frantically urged her sister to regain consciousness and for them to flee from the site while the Hydra was preoccupied.
The sister was acting strangely after she awoke though, and pointed a phenomenon out to her sister that they both examined. The thing in question was a faded mural that depicted the actions of two characters who looked remarkably like the two heroines. It was eerie, but the second to last scene was of them climbing to the summit of a spire, and the scene after that was where they were bathed in a stream of light from the Heavens. Luna (or Selene) noticed something known only to her again and tapped her sister on the shoulder to point again towards an unassuming space between two columns that were unaffected by the ravages of time, unlike every other structure in these ruins. Celeste didn’t understand her meaning until Selene passed through the columns and her form dematerialized. The simulacrum of Celeste gasped and rushed into the space after her sister, disappearing along with her. The spell faded out from there.
“It cannot be…” Starswirl muttered, “…that spire matches the description of the Apex of Apotheosis. The stream of light from the Heavens only corroborates this”
“The what?” I blurted, not comprehending what any of this meant.
“Every child hears stories about the heroic actions of heroes from times long since passed. Some bedtime stories speak of a place where the greatest of heroes are fated to go and become like the stars themselves, solidifying their legacy forevermore in the sky. It was called the Apex of Apotheosis, where a gate leading to the Heavens themselves existed” He explained to me in voice that suggested that even he didn’t quite believe what he was saying, “But I deemed them to be only stories! How can this possibly be true?” He was utterly dumbfounded by the implications of this finding.
I stifled a chuckle, “Of all the things you must’ve seen in your years on this Earth, the idea of a gateway that allows heroes to ascend into the very firmament and be permanently memorialized is too much for you?”
His forehead creased at me, “Of course not! I know there might exist such places in the world where the carapace of magic separating divergent planes of reality is especially thin. They’re only spoken about amongst an esoteric few back in Stellaria’s mage guilds, and even they pass them off as myths from an older time” He brought a hand to his head and rubbed at his exposed hair, “To think that they might really exist…”
I was about to speak, but the sounds of men in armor marching right at the edge of my hearing alerted me that Cross’s army was concentering itself on this position. I don’t know how they found us, but Starswirl’s expression turned sour, and he began walking towards where the heroines disappeared. He experimentally tested the portal by pushing his hand into it, where it caused something to ripple as his hand materialized on the other side.
He looked back at me, noticing that I refused to budge, “Are you coming? I doubt Cross’s men will take kindly to our constant interfering, and even less so to yours, if your story about annihilating their fortress was accurate”
I shifted uncomfortably in place, “I… ermm… I don’t trust portals much these days” I demurred, irrationally fearing another Crystal City Incident.
Starswirl shrugged, “Suit yourself” And without another word, crossed the threshold of the portal, his form vanishing from view entirely.
The sounds of metal encased feet tramping on grass steadily grew louder, “Damn it old man…” I grumbled, before taking the metaphorical plunge into the unknown myself.
Unlike the first instance of stepping into a portal, this one didn’t suck me into a colorful and yet colorless abyss where illogical things assaulted your mind if you weren’t careful. Instead it was like stepping through a screen door from one backyard into another. Laid in front of me was another forest of trees that were nothing special in comparison to the red leaved ironbarks, but gave off an incredibly peaceful vibe. Behind me was a stone hill, with an archway carved from the stone itself. The pathway ahead was trimmed with a silvery light that undulated invitingly, as if it wanted us to follow down it. My mental radar blipped again with the presence of the heroines. They weren’t far off, but their pace was brisk. Starswirl was waiting for me to the side with a pleased upward curl to his lips.
He tapped his staff against the ground once, “You got over your fear of portals quickly, Zenith” He teased me as he spun around and started down the illuminated pathway, “Come… destiny awaits us” He announced.
“I’m always wary whenever someone brings up that word. It never seems to contain any positive connotations for me” I bitterly muttered to myself low enough that the wizard couldn’t pick up on it.
We jogged down the path and into the depths of this new forest. Starswirl tried using his one of his locater spells, only for it to spark and fail. He explained that this meant that wherever we were now, it had to have been an island or landmass of some kind that was cut off from Precania. Wanting to get a better idea of where we were to confirm this hypothesis, he bid me to get a view from above. I obliged him, if only because I wanted to see for myself if we were where I suspected we were. I shot out of the canopy and observed our heavily forested surroundings, and I sighed expectantly as I descried a humongous white and black rocky spire that extended into the air by several hundred feet. I alighted and reported my findings to the wizard, who mumbled his lingering disbelief that the Apex of Apotheosis was real.
Nothing of interest happened as we treaded down the path, which was a welcome relief. However, a suspicious glance behind me coupled with a narrowing of my keen eyes validated my gut feeling that we weren’t out of the woods yet. Cross and his Acolytes had inevitably discovered the means by which we had eluded them and were still in pursuit. I notified Starswirl to this and he uttered a curse at the persistence of his former student, before giving all he had into a sprint that would have been impressive, if this were a turkey trot. I sighed and scooped him up in my arms, ferrying him to our destination and increasing the extent of our head start on the Acolytes. The heroines had reached the spire by now and were climbing up its helical path. Before we could do the same, we had to cross a gaping chasm that made the one under the mountains look like a kiddie ride if they were next to each other. There was a stone bridge that was closer to the one that might find in Moria, only wider and far lengthier. Getting tired of heaving the wizard like cargo, I dropped him halfway over the bridge and made him work his legs for the remainder of the way.
Even after I did most of the work, Starswirl was running low on breath from all of the hurrying he had to do in such a transient period. He made it to the other end, but was forced to gather his breath before he could go any further. I was tempted to leave him behind and see the heroines by myself, but that would be in poor taste, doubly so after all of the events we had seen through to the end together. That didn’t mean his agedness slowing him down didn’t agitate the hell out of me though. On the other side, the leftover Acolytes had begun amassing their forces on the opposing side of the gap. There were easily over a hundred of them, and there were more manifesting from the woods behind them with every passing minute. I couldn’t make out any one person who was leading them, but knew that he couldn’t have been far behind his pawns.
I turned to the wizard, who had convalesced enough to sternly glare at our enemy, “Remember what I told you about on the road? About that other wizard’s famous quote about bridges and passing them? I want you to share it with them” I pointed across the gorge to our pursuers.
He looked at me funny, “Why would you have me declare my intent to delay them? I’m certain they know as much”
“Just say it. Trust me, you’ll feel very much empowered” I encouraged him. And if he wasn’t, then at least I’d get my referential entertainment.
He griped about something under his breath before complying, “You cannot pass!” He declared, and created a burst of light from his staff to dazzle them.
The dreaded disciples of Discord stood still on the other end of the bottomless gorge, and a dread silence fell over the pass. “I am a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the flame of Anor. You cannot pass. Dark magic will not avail you, flames of chaos! Go back to the Shadow! YOU… SHALL NOT… PASS!” He struck his staff upon the ground with great force, sending a wave of faint vibrations in all directions. My inner fan boy gave him two thumbs up for his masterful imitation of Gandalf and improvised altering of some lines, but had to subtract points of the missing hat. It just wasn’t the same without it.
At first nothing happened, and the men at the other side seemed to snort to themselves in minor amusement before advancing menacingly across the sizable gap with their armaments brandished and ready for usage. Starswirl’s magic was beginning to seem impotent when the Earthen bridge let out a great rumble in protest before giving and cracking apart in large chunks before altogether disintegrating, taking a notable chunk of the enemy down with it. The men stranded on the other side cursed and shouted in fury, but Starswirl and I were already ascending up the steep path of the pseudo cliffside.
I peered over the jagged edge as we climbed, “Those fools should’ve flown. Too bad the Acolytes couldn’t recruit from the Valkyrians, otherwise we’d be in trouble” Almost immediately after I said that, I saw the Mages in their ranks beginning to ferry their grounded brethren one at a time across the gap with their concentrated magic, some of them having to strip their armor off to ease their burden before making the crossing.
“We have merely delayed our enemy. We must be swift… this journey isn’t over yet” The wizard replied sagaciously, not looking back and focusing himself on the task ahead, “Though I did indeed feel empowered by that display. Thank you, my friend” He acknowledged my advice with a nod. Bully for him.
We had advanced halfway up the two toned spire when the telltale signs of armed men not far to our rear and catching up prompted me to use the widened pathway at this point to bottleneck and funnel my enemies into coming at me one at a time, which meant I couldn’t take down more of their number without risking my own health much. Without announcing my intent, I drew Dichotomy out and faced in the direction that my enemies would come from. I still had enough magic to channel some seriously dangerous spells of destruction that I was eager to give a live fire test to.
Starswirl noticed that my footfalls were not accompanying his, “Zenith? Why are you stopping? We’re so close!”
“Your chance to deny them passage has come and gone, Starswirl. It’s my turn to give it a go” I retorted with a grin, “Don’t worry about me. I don’t do insurmountable last stands. Say hello to the maidens for me”
He looked conflicted, before realizing that there was nothing he could do to dissuade me, “You can tell them yourself” He responded, clasping my shoulder, “See you at the top” He twisted around and began running, inspired by my resolve.
With one less person for me to worry about, I broke Dichotomy into its separate halves, which I gave aspectual names to. Nirvana for the white blade in my left hand, and Oblivion for the black blade in my right. Augmenting this disparity some more, I channeled fire into Oblivion and ice into Nirvana. Tactically, only the fire would super effective against my fleshy enemies, though if they were still wearing armor or were carrying shields, my ice blade would weaken their defensive tools and make them vulnerable to shattering. The first wave of men turned the corner with their weapons at the ready, they saw me standing there with a tranquil expression on my face and charged forwards. I deflected the sword of the first man to reach me with Nirvana and lacerated his unprotected chest with Oblivion. The second was parried with Oblivion, followed up by me pivoting around him and skewering him through the back with Nirvana. The third man locked his axe with me in a clash of weapons that was broken when I back flipped, kicked him in the jaw, and spilled his guts with a scissoring swipe of both blades. I ducked and weaved around the attacks from a stream of men pouring around the corner, slashing wherever my blades could bite into flesh and felling many men. I let that combat trance overtake me and became one with the fight, controlling the flow of battle with precision and skill that was reserved for those with absolute resolution in their hearts.
Five minutes and dozens upon dozens of corpses stacked on top of each other later, I called upon my magic to decimate the rest of the first wave’s forces by utilizing ‘a minor disintegration’ spell that Luna once bedazzled me with. A beam of bright red concentrated energy issued forth from my clenched hands and vaporized any Acolyte unlucky enough to be caught in the blast. The results of such concentrated magical power were startling, the forms of the men it annihilated became black lines that were erased as if I had taken an eraser to them. The beam struck the wall of the spire and dislodged some of the rock composing it, engendering it to fall upon the pathway and obstruct it. I blinked as my spell (and the majority of my mana) faded out. This unintentional benefit should delay the Acolytes near indefinitely, since their mages were unable to cross the gap, and it would take more men than the Acolytes likely had left to remove the rocks in the way. Taking a moment to inhale and exhale, I combined my blades and sheathed them in my robe tassels; feeling satisfied with the number of chaos worshipping madmen I had personally put an end to.
My timing was auspicious, as the heroines had done something at the top that had caused the skies to gain ribbons of aurora that beamed overhead in a magnificent array of colors. I used my wings to fly to the top of the spire, which granted me a breathtaking view. The Sun and the Moon stood on opposite ends of the sky, leaving a patch of twilight in the middle of it in which the stars could visually be seen. Starswirl was standing behind that archway which I knew was the Heavensgate and gazing awestruck at the heroines suspended within. Their eyes were shut and their arms outstretched in a pose reminiscent of the one that Celestia had shown me when she gave me a private viewing of her sun raising magic. Their faces hadn’t aged a day, their beauty having been preserved with their transfiguration. Speaking of which, their bodies began to morph into those matching the ones that I knew from the future. Celeste’s pink hair became the multi chromatic, billowing mass that blew in a seemingly invisible breeze. She was immersed in a golden light like sunshine. Selene’s hair shifted, darkened and became star like. Her aura took on a milky whiteness that a well lit night was known for. The Sun and the Moon observed their changes like it was a rite of ascension before the latter of which sank beneath the horizon and the Sun dominated the sky again.
I imagined that the Stellar Magi in their Kingdom were freaking out about how the thing they were all about manipulating was momentarily beyond their control. The lights surrounding the floating heroines diminished after a time and the newly born Trifects gently descended to the ground, slumping slightly against the stone floor ahead of the Heavensgate like they were only half awake.
“Huh… I never got treated to a light show like that” I pettily groused, mildly jealous of the Princess’s imbued radiance.
“Zenith!?” Starswirl balked at my appearance, which he had failed to notice with his jaw scraping the floor, “You’re here!” He embraced me with a jolly laugh.
I awkwardly hugged him back, “I’m like a bad case of a song stuck in your head. I always come back to haunt you” I joked.
“Urrgh…” Were Selen-… Luna’s elegant first words as a Trifect, “Sister, didst thou behold what I did?” She asked of her elder sibling.
Celestia groaned and tried to sit up as she ran a hand through her flowing hair, “I did, dearest sister. It wouldst appear that we art meant for greater deeds, beyond the borders of the Dreamy Vale we hast called home for much of our lives. We art charged with unifying the clans in the name of Harmony. We were told that the wizard would clarify things in time, once we have achieved mastery of our bestowed might”
“That is not something myself or my master can allow” A foreign voice interrupted from behind us, and an aura of darkness befell the air were the Princesses were sitting. Being physically enfeebled from their ascension process, they were unable to resist as they were encapsulated and held in place, obscuring them from view.
Starswirl spun in place, recognizing that voice, “Cross… let go of them! You know not what you are interfering in!” He warned him, his staff glowing as he prepared for a fight.
I got a good look at this Double Cross character, who wore a pleased smile on his face, like everything was going according to his plan. He was a spindly fellow dressed all in black robes, like he was either hardcore gothic or just a fan of the necromancer’s plain, yet simple fashion statement. His hood was drawn over his head, which obscured the hole that was reputed to be in his forehead. His golden, half lidded eyes scrutinized us equally and locked with mine. I wasn’t wrong about him from reading his journals. There was an intense wrongness in his stare that would unsettle the uninitiated, and made me narrow my eyes. He held out one of his hands, which was pulsing with a bizarre aura that absorbed all light shone on it like a living shadow. He was flanked by his dozens of his bodyguard, all of whom were winded from removing the obstruction that was supposed to delay them for much longer and getting the drop on us.
“Now why would I do that, my old mentor?” Cross calmly replied to the wizard, “I need them to become more than you could ever evolve into in ten of your lifetimes!” His grin was sickly, and I had to resist charging at him and cutting him in half right now.
“I don’t seek to better only myself!” Starswirl retorted, “I seek to better the world!”
“Ugh… that breed of selfless, self righteous idealism always grated on my ears” Cross made a disgusted face, “Don’t you know that the only cause worth pursuing is self betterment?”
“Not at the cost of other people’s lives!” Starswirl roared, “What could possess you to murder your own family? Was it all for the sake of power?” He demanded to know, his voice becoming emotionally tense.
Cross shrugged, “Not just power… but also to prove that I could. That nothing would hold me back from becoming all powerful… not even my own kin. All of my life I’ve been expected to follow someone else’s lead… to serve them. My father, my firstborn brother, my mentor in magic” He stared hard at the wizard, “You were a first born weren’t you? How could you give up all that prestige simply to preach about morals and ideals regarding the other clans that no one besides you cared about? You even let yourself be exiled from Starwick without so much as a fuss!”
“I left without a fuss because there was a better path for waiting me among the other clans. I saw that they were worth being considered our brothers and sisters… for we are one people” Starswirl answered, his hard expression softening a tad.
“You wasted your inheritance, is more like it” He spat, “Instead of using it to enhance yourself and promote your agenda that way. I frown upon such weakness, and I refuse to let any opportunities for power to slip from my finger” He made a motion with his finger and the overshadowed forms of the Princesses began writhing in pain as their respective light seeped from their forms and flowed into Double Cross, who smiled in ecstasy at the power they had for him to consume.
I saw this and became enraged, “Release them this instant, you filth! Lest I turn you into bloody ribbons!” I demanded, holding Dichotomy out and at the ready.
Double Cross appraised me, not even blinking at my very real threat, “Ah yes, the wizard’s enigmatic companion. You’re powerful… it’s clear to anyone with eyes to see the carnage you left behind” Cross complimented me without any sincerity, “Had I not the means to counter this, I would tremble at your apparent might”
He passed by one of his followers and withdrew a razor sharp knife from a sheath in his chest, patting him on the cheek in an almost fatherly manner as he did so. Quick as a wink, he slashed the knife across his throat, opening a slit from which blood spewed forth as the shocked man gurgled and fell to his knees, dumbstruck by his Herald’s actions. Cross incanted something in a tongue I couldn’t make out as the blood from the dying man began to effervesce and rise in strings of crimson haze, all of which began flowing into Cross and feeding him power.
His other followers looked at him in a mix of surprise, fear, and anger as their master showed them how much he valued their lives in the long run. One of them actually drew his dagger and made to throw it at him when Cross lazily lifted his hand and twisted it. All of his men fell to the floor screaming bloody murder as clouds of blackness enveloped them. Jet black auras that seemed to devour the surrounding light began gradually squeezing them like an Anaconda as the pressure became too much and started snapping bones, crushing organs, and generally resulting in painful deaths. I wasn’t sorry in the least to see them go, but I wondered at just how self destructive evil truly was, and how heartless Cross had to be if he could sacrifice his own men like they meant less than nothing to him.
The aforementioned man actually spoke as he extinguished the lives of his own men, their red hazes being devoured into his body, “You want to know something funny about all this time spent pretending to be some Herald of Chaos? It’s not actually a lie!” He laughed cruelly, “I’ve been touting Discord’s name for so long that my master has informed me that he’ll be making a grand appearance here himself in not even a year! You’ll get to see your precious dream of unity be achieved Starswirl! But it won’t be under the banner of your pathetic Harmony!” He found the situation so incredibly funny as the last streams were sucked into his body.
The wizard was aghast, “You monster!” Starswirl proclaimed the obvious, “Why did I ever agree with the council’s decision to let you be set free? You should have been put down like the mad dog that you are!” He cast a powerful ball of magical energy at Cross, who nonchalantly held up a hand to absorb the energy of the blast and contained it in his palm. I’d never witnessed this kind of magical abnegating power before, and I didn’t like the idea of this man having it. It couldn’t have been magic based, since Cross was crippled in that aspect. And even so, that would be like loading a fire extinguisher with fire and expecting it to douse flames.
Cross yawned in boredom, “You’re right, as always Starswirl… but you didn’t. Now I am the master… and you are the slave” He made an ugly symbol with his hands and Starswirl was swept off his feet with an invisible energy. Cross chanted again and Starswirl began to holler in intense agony, his magic being pried from his body in a string of navy blue.
I was about to move myself when I found that my feet were glued in place, “Uh uh uh!” Cross scolded me, “It’s not fair for you to have that marvelous sword of yours while I have nothing of my own, so I’ll just end this match before it begins”
He clenched a fist and my world became pure pain. It felt like every fiber of my body had been set alight before being ripped in twain. I imagined that even self immolation wouldn’t entail pain this exquisite in its scope as I wailed like a siren. I collapsed to my knees and lost my grip on my sword, with it clattering to the floor uselessly. Cross ambled over and picked up my weapon, though he dropped it with a hiss, like it was poisoned. He remarked to himself how odd that was as he turned his back to me, but the taste of my magic was enough to sate himself. Even anguished as I was, my mind tried working out how I’d get out of this mess… and dishearteningly came up with zilch. I couldn’t do anything with every pain receptor in my body going off like I had won the grand prize lotto in suffering.
Then inexplicably… the pain ceased, and left my body free to move again. I spared a glance to the side and saw that Starswirl and the Princesses were still very much overcome with agony, and their screams masked the fact that I had stopped yowling myself. I tried to reach out to my magic… only to discover that it was gone. I tried to summon my wings… only to get the same result. Even my usual strength seemed to have left me. Cross’s power had denuded me of all my magic… reducing me to the normality I had before waking up in the Krystal Kingdom.
This made me understandably furious.
Fighting to get to my feet and shaking off the lightheadedness that being immediately deprived of my magic afflicted me with. I unsheathed my Tantō and approached the distracted Double Cross… who was busy talking to himself as he plotted what he was going to do with so much raw mana. There was no hesitation in my movements as I seized Cross, folded my left arm around his neck to keep him from pulling away and perforating his backside with the blade. He shrieked in pain as my blade entered and exited his body multiple times. I brutalized him… and when my arms barely had the strength to hold onto the weapon anymore, he was bleeding out on the floor of the platform from countless stab holes, his blood staining the immaculate stone. My vicious attack had disrupted whatever process he was enacting to drain Starswirl and the Princesses of their magic, and they stopped screaming their lungs out, the forms of the women going limp on the floor as they fainted. I stood wobbling from side to side as I fought to remain standing.
Remembering an important item in my inventory, I reached into my belt space to extract those vials of magic restoring mushroom juice that Vitalitus had bid me to take on my journey. He was wiser than he looked if he somehow foresaw a scenario like this transpiring. I popped the cork to one and downed the gnarly fluid, grimacing at the taste and wishing that one of my mother’s green shakes had been substituted instead. And I hated the liquefied salad drinks that my mom forced on me. The effects of the potion took a minute to take effect, but when they did it was like stepping in from a blizzard into a warm shower. Energy flooded back into me and revitalized my movements. I looked to the side and smiled when I saw that my wings weren’t as clipped as I feared they might have been. I rushed over to Starswirl’s side and poured the vial down his throat, and he sputtered and coughed at the flavor before he too relaxed and was made whole again.
“Zenith?” He was perplexed, “What happened? All I can remember is attempting to stop Cross before everything went hazy with torment” He smacked his tongue against the roof of his mouth, “And what was that atrocious drink!? Cat piss would have been more refreshing!”
“He was leeching you of your magic, Starswirl. He was doing the same to the heroines and even myself. I lost my magic… but I was no longer being restrained by his powers. So I introduced a few additional breathing holes in his back” I elucidated, “And that cat piss is the reason you don’t feel like complete shit… be grateful” I chided him.
Starswirl got his feet and gripped his staff and sword in his hands, “Cross!” He spouted in indignation, striding towards him with what I hoped was lethal intent, “Return the magic you stole from the heroines! It is not yours to abuse!”
The man was regrettably still alive, and was attempting to crawl away like the worm he was, “I’ve drained enough that they’re in critical condition without it. If I go, they’ll die with me! If you let me live, they’ll die! You’ve failed wizard… the prophecy is undone” The broken man hoarsely spat with the utmost hatred as he tried to squirm away from the vengeful man.
“You did not kill me, and you will not kill them!” Starswirl pushed his staff forward, forcing Cross back into the stone, “You’ve disgraced every moral value I’ve taught you!” Starswirl reprimanded him harshly, slamming his head into the earth with a flick of his staff, “You’ve murdered innumerable innocents, slain your own men for the sake of power, and threatened to undo everything I’ve believed in!”
The wizard unexpectedly let up in his tirade, sighing in disappointment, “What happened to you, Cross? What happened to the eager student who was proud to serve his family’s house? Who always kept his fellow student’s spirits high right before I gave you all the most grueling exams in your lives? You’re less than a shadow of what that charming young man once was”
Cross chuckled mirthlessly, “I was shown… another path… in a vision. One whose allure was just too tempting to pass up on. One where I could surpass my insignificant goals of being the head of my house and become head of the world… if I could harness the magic in their blood…” He tried twisting his neck towards where the Sisters were still recovering from magical deprivation, “…I could become a God!”
Starswirl grunted in abhorrence and none too gently struck him on the forehead with the butt end of his staff. It wasn’t enough to put him under, but that did not seem to be his intent. He turned to me, that same look in his eye that I saw when we first came upon the slaughtered village of Duskdale and when we departed, “I’m suspending what I told you before. Do with him as you will. He deserves it” He said as he passed by me to tend to the sisters. A smile came to my face unbidden, and I grinned toothily at the wretched man with aspirations denied to mortals, who glared at me in turn.
“How were you strong enough to thwart me without your magic?” He wanted to know, before he met his end, “The shock from magical deprivation alone is enough to incapacitate most men for days afterwards! I would know! I couldn’t even take a piss without someone holding my schlong out for me!”
“It’s a sensation that I’ve lived with for over twenty years” I answered in an emotionless tone, “I’m not suddenly going to be debilitated by it when there’s someone in need of a hearty dose of stabbing” He gawked at my explanation, not understanding what it meant.
He then bared his teeth at me in a sneer, “Do to me as you will. It won’t save them. You’ve wasted your time for nothing”
I held up the vials of supercharged magic in a glass for him to see, “These phials are contrary to that opinion, Cross. Chew on that as you lie there bleeding” I rubbed it in his face… well, not literally. He might do something like bite the phials or otherwise spill their contents. I whistled to Starswirl and tossed them to him, which he caught with his magic and began nursing the unconscious Princesses to health with them. They stirred as the fluid began to take effect.
Cross grew nervous as his plans were being foiled right in front of him, “It doesn’t have to be this way… Zenith” He had overheard my name, “I could make you even more powerful than you can possibly imagine… if you but join me and turn on this filth that you keep company. I can see that you’re rewarded copiously by my master!”
“You have the gall to beg mercy of me? After slaughtering whole villages in accordance to your unholy, heathen doctrine!? I ought to crucify you!” I glowered heatedly at the merciless man, “But Death is too good for you” I seethed, “And you’ve a significant blood debt to pay” I bit down on the skin of my thumb to draw the blood necessary for what I was about to do to this man, “I bite my thumb at you, foul villain” I stated in a sarcastically mocking, Shakespearean tone. I brought him closer to me and seized him by his face, removing his hood, “Suffer me now!” Intrinsically knowing how to punish this man, I took my bloody thumb and traced a circle with eight perpendicular lines on his forehead and around the pit where his Focal Gem once was. I then brought forth all of my magic and focused it on the uneven, circular rune that proceeded to burn itself into Cross’s forehead like acid, causing him to grunt in pain.
That was but a taste of what he had in store for him. It was about to get much, much worse. Somewhere within the depths of my mind, I recalled a poem that the glowing inscription seared into his flesh reminded me of. Speaking with a voice that rumbled with power, I recited it in black speech.
Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul,
ash nazg thrakatulûk agh burzum-ishi krimpatul.
I dictated the terms of his ‘redemption’ in the same voice that overflowed with righteous anger, drowning out the grating sound of his animalistic screaming, “Your life is forfeit, Cross. But until the time comes when you’ve atoned for your grievous sins, one way or another… you will know nothing but the very agony you’ve sown. Nothing will be able to relieve your torment. No magic, no rituals, not even death will lay a finger on you so long as the mark upon your forehead burns bright and the debt remains unpaid. And should you so much as think of seeking revenge, it will be as if your very soul was split in twain. You’re damned, Cross, and that mark upon your forehead is so you’ll remember it”
Testing the power of the malediction myself, I lifted him with my magic and slammed him a half dozen times into the platform by his neck. The curse held up and though his neck was snapped, he was refused the sweet release of death. The mark on his forehead was so luminous that he could use it as a flashlight in the dark. Without a second thought for his safety, I tossed him over the side of the spire with a mighty heave of magic, catapulting him out of our mutual lives to live out the rest of his undeath in atonement for what he had done, if he knew what was good for him. I picked up my Mage-blade and hefted it in my hands. Cross had been repulsed by the innate connection that the weapon and I shared. Dichotomy was an extension of myself, and I would be damned before I allowed someone else to steal that from me.
Starswirl hadn’t even noticed what I’d done to his former student, nor do I think he cared. He held Luna in his arms and stroked at her forehead as he waited for her to awake. I crouched down beside Celestia and also held her in my arms, crooning softly, “You are my sunshine, my only sunshine~” And caressing her cheek. All of this time spent away from the people I cared about made me feel sappier than was typical. I guess absence does make the heart grow fonder.
Starswirl spoke, his voice strained, “Cross mentioned that Discord would arrive in less than a year… to unite the clans under chaos. Were you lying about that to me, Zenith? Has my quest been for naught?”
“I wasn’t lying when I disclosed to you that these two women would achieve your dream of unity, Starswirl… but it will not be an easy road to get there. Frost will come first… and then… there will be only chaos” I simplified history for the dispirited wizard.
“So much adversity” Starswirl lamented, “Can they prevail against it? I don’t want to be the one to lead these fair women astray to their doom”
“Have faith that things will work out, Starswirl” I looked down to the woman I held, “And have faith in them”
A thrumming in the atmosphere grabbed our attention as I glanced behind me to the Heavensgate. The vacuity inside the arch began to warp and distort, before an ovular shape ignited inside it and invitingly pulsed with power. I don’t know why, but I was compelled to let go of the Princess in my arms and inch closer to the portal that was more than a portal. I heard Starswirl vocalize what could have been a warning, but I had gravitated into the gateway before he could finish verbalizing. My vision was overwhelmed with whiteness and my ears droned with a ringing tone like I had a severe case of tinnitus.
I was in space… I think. Nebula like gases surrounded me as I hovered in a void illuminated by the light of the stars. I glanced behind me to see that the portal back had vanished, so I was stuck here until further notice. That was just wonderful. I was somehow corporeal and yet ethereal all the same. A nagging feeling in my gut told me that this place was familiar, and it was only after I had bashed my head against my fist that I recalled where I had seen it before. I also remembered what events occurred in that memory.
“I swear to the Lord Almighty, if someone starts singing to me, I am going to rage quit my life” I mumbled to no one in particular.
“My, my, this one certainly retains an unorthodox sense of humor” One of the dots in the left of vision flashed as a voice quipped.
“Who’s there? Where am I?” I spoke up, instantly on my guard.
“The answers to both questions are interrelated, which would you like to hear first?” The same voice retorted in an aggravatingly cocksure tone.
“In order, please” I sniped back, not in the mood for this.
“We are the Constellar Congress, and this is our realm, where we convene” Came dozens of voices from all around me, causing me to stiffen and look around at the multiple blinking pinpricks of light.
“Great” I groused to myself, “There are more of you”
“Never you mind Dawn Seeker. He can still be quite abrasive to visitors, being one of the younger members of our esteemed cadre” Came a refined womanly voice somewhere above me.
“Quit lordin’ your age over me, Aurora” Dawn Seeker countered, “He was making it too easy for me not to get some jabs in”
“He is our guest, Dawn. Not your plaything” She gently reprimanded him.
I scowled as I came to a crazy conclusion, “Wait, are you… people? Because there’s no way I can be talking to the Stars themselves right now”
“We were. In life, we were great champions of goodness and Harmony the world over. The stories that most history records regrettably relegate to the children’s books. After passing on, or passing into the Heavensgate, we were given the choice of whether or not we wished to continue our vigil over the lands of our birth” Aurora answered, “As you can see, all of us present chose just that. And now we have taken our place amongst the Stars, watching over the Earth below. Fitting, don’t you agree?”
“Are ya shure we shud be layin' all of this on the wee laddie? Woodn’t want a repeat a’ve the las’ time now wood we?” Said a heavily accented voice to my rig-. You know what, I’m tired of saying where they are when the place I’m in is metaphysical in nature.
“He’s certainly taking it better than our last two visitors, Armstrong. Perhaps you stoic types can handle your astonishment with more grace” A gentlemanly chap acknowledged.
I shook my head, “This is hardly the strangest thing I’ve borne witness to” I challenged.
“Oh? It’s not often that we hear such a claim, made in our own midst no less! Pray tell… just what takes precedence over this?” He asked, somehow indicating to me the ethereal realm I now stood in.
I scratched at my chin with an index finger, “Well there was that one time that Pinkie showed me what was beyon-”
“Say no more!” He expressed with a tone that clearly meant he caught on, “That woman is one of the most confounding anomalies we’ve ever had the oddest pleasure of interacting with. But she has Happiness and Harmony in her heart, and lots of it. She will be a light in the dark, when most other lights go out” He prophesied in a strange tone.
“I’m going to take a stab in the dark here and presume that you are the mysterious entities responsible for bringing me into Arcania, yes?” I deduced.
“Correct” The responded in unison.
“Do you people have any idea how much I miss my home?” I weakly let out, “I miss the feeling of the ocean breeze rustling through my hair, the smell of sea-spray in the air, the sound of the waves crashing against the sandbar. It wasn’t perfect, but that was home for me. That was my life” I recounted to them, my voice clogged with rare, unsuppressed emotion.
“A life which you yourself believed was lackluster, in spite of those cherished memories” One of their number stated without any hint of condescension. Regardless, I could feel my blood boil as my incipient anger built up.
I was too angry to care about the truthfulness of that point, “IT WAS STILL MY LIFE!” I roared into starry abyss, my voice echoing despite there being no solid surfaces for the metaphysical sound to bounce off of, “What right did you have to pluck me from my home, my family, my planet!” I seethed, emotions that I had repressed seeping into every word with vigor.
“Our directive” They answered in unison once more, each voice distinct and yet blending together simultaneously in a vocalized example of harmony.
“We are charged by the highest power with maintaining the balance of the world you now inhabit” Said one member.
“To prevent the forces of evil from tilting the scale and disrupting the equilibrium that keeps Harmony in effect” Stated another.
“And that gives you the authority to pluck a person from their bed so they can carry out this purpose for you?” I questioned bitterly.
“Yes… though only in excruciatingly dire circumstances” Dawn filled me in, taking this seriously, “We don’t make it a habit of recruiting potential heroes from beyond the cosmic veil of this realm, exorbitant travel expenses you know?” He went right back to being jocose, lightening the mood despite my efforts to remain sour.
“We’ve seen the turmoil raging on in your heart, exacerbated by the possibility of ever finding a way of going home. This fixated yearning is keeping you from acting as a whole. There can be no room for tergiversation or vacillation in the days ahead. Our Champion must have a clear head on his shoulders, for his task is both arduous and treacherous in its enormity” They hit the nail on the head as one.
“So… we present to you a choice, like the kind you’ve resented us for not giving you. We can amass our power to send you home, or we can send you back to the present time. But know that choosing one, will forever doom the other” An elder’s voice stipulated.
“Why would you even send me through the portal to Crystal City? What was the purpose of that?” I asked them.
“We know not of this Crystal City you refer to, though perhaps the magic governing the portal decided that you would be of some use there somehow?” An intellectual sounding voice postulated, “Usually your path would be diverted if there was an issue that needed correcting”
So what? Did the magic of friendship decide that repairing the friendships of the equine version of Silver, Ardent, and Pierce was essential? Whatever. What’s done is done.
“Who would you find in my stead, should I choose to go home?” I wanted to know what poor sap would get stuck with my doubtlessly unenviable task.
“We bent the rules as it was by bringing you here, expending much of our power in the process. If we send you back, there will be no one to take your place” They dropped a bombshell on me.
This Congress never ceased to confound me. There was no pleading in their voices, just simple facts.
“What about the Princesses?” I countered, “They’re strong! Or will be strong, relatively speaking. They’ve lived long enough and put an end to the conflict that kept the three clans divided. They’re up to the challenge as surely as I am!” I asserted.
“They have devoted their vigil solely to their own borders. We did not choose you to simply represent the Arcanian people and defend them… we choose you to represent all people. Is that not what America is, in its essence?” The intellectual replied, knowing just where to push my sentimental buttons.
“That’s the ideal” I agreed, “But it’s an ideal that fosters indecision as a whole on so many matters. We say that we are united… but it’s not in the strictest sense” I confessed, my idealism meeting realism and shaking hands.
“Then perhaps it is fortunate that establishing your own country is not among your priorities” Dawn wisecracked.
“If you meant for me to unify the people’s of this world, then why did send me to Arcania in the transfer? Or make me a Trifect for that matter? How does that serve you?” I inquired, questions that I had long staved off on asking flowing from my mouth like a fountain.
“They are the best chance this world has for preserving the delicate Harmony that we cherish and uphold. Though you must understand that the process of pulling someone from another world into this one isn’t exact, otherwise you would have been delivered straight to the Princesses… as for your transformation, how would you expect to effect change in the world if we didn’t alter your body? We would not go through the lengths of heralding a champion only to immerse their magic less body in a realm saturated with it. The passive energy inherent to this world would have considered your old form a space devoid of all magic and rushed in to fill it, and like a hypotonic cell, you would burst” They enlightened me on that would with a disturbing mental image.
“And while we appreciate your wit, we fear that wit alone will not be enough to keep safe the balance. Mind and Matter must be hitched to the cart in order to best avail us all” The intellectual used an analogy to stress my need for oneness.
I scratched at my semi physical chin, “I suppose you have a point, and nothing beats the unparalleled freedom of flight, but why a Trifect specifically? Why combine in me the three primary aspects of Arcania’s people?”
“The Trifect is a syncretism of the three Arcanian clans, yes, but the sum of the whole is far greater than those of the individual parts. You represent all three. Your desire for freedom and the speed with which you would rush to protect it, aligns with the fierce nature of the Valkyrians. Your creativity and relentless quest to know more about the world you live in, yet balancing it with moderating wisdom mirrors that of the Stellar Magi. And your insistence on humility despite the reality of your newfound power, matches the down to earth attitude of the Agrarians” The intellectual covered this one as well.
They knew an awful lot about my personality for being that which personified the stars.
“And how are you aware of all these happenings going on below from your starry perch?” I asked with my usual sarcastic bite.
“This realm is timeless. Echoes of the past, reverberations from the present, whispers about the future. We are receptive to all of these things. Sometimes we even allow others to listen in to the prognostications, three in particular were renowned for it, others foresaw but glimpses and committed them to paper” They chorused.
They were referring to Sombra’s codex entry about myself, I just knew it.
“We were also able to observe directly, in your case. Even lend you strength when you needed it most” Visions flashed in my mind’s eye, dancing with fire in a train car filled with explosives, feeling a sudden burst of energy needed to deflect a death blow and strike true, saving a stadium from a falling iceberg.
“You were with me the entire time, weren’t you” I said as more of a statement than an inquiry. The Tantō still on my back buzzed, as if it was a ringer and I had guessed the million dollar question.
“And we always will be” They chorused, this time with more emotion.
“Heh… that makes you guys my guardian angels in a way” I observed, to which they remained silent, “But my methods… they don’t reflect those of a hero, do they? I’m ruthless, and relentless when dealing with conveyers of evil” I slumped, feeling vaguely ashamed of my vindictiveness.
“When we brought over a champion to defend the life and light of this world, we did not expect a being so bright that his radiance would eclipse both of those with his purity. In other words… we aren’t asking you to be perfect, only that you defend goodness… in whatever way you can. So long as you never lose track of doing the right thing. I’d say you’ve done a good job so far” Aurora brushed away my doubts there, while also managing to be witty.
“I’ll humor you then. Why am I here, specifically? How do I propitiate you?” I inquired, wishing there was an itch on the back of my head so I could scratch it.
“The answer to that may require some context into this world’s history” Aurora commented.
“This place is timeless right? Lay it on me” I crossed my arms together and laid back.
They obliged me, storytelling as one, “Long ago… far removed from the days that even the eldest of our number struggle to recall, the newly created world was in its infancy. Freshly sung into existence by a higher power, it was beautiful beyond measure. On it there was one people given stewardship of the Earth. Life, Love, and Harmony for all was the overarching motif of this idyllic macrocosm. But in the shadows unseen, there lurked an entity that was born from the antithesis of these values. Death, Hate, and Disharmony… That was all this entity knew, and so it came forth from the foul abyss where it spawned and added its own dissonant voice to the ongoing song, sowing destruction, distrust, and despair into the hearts of all. Whispering lies in the right ears and stoking the fears of those that could oppose its vile schemes, it divided one people into many that fought amongst themselves and against each other. The Paradise that the world was shaping out to be… was lost. And yet this was not enough for the entity, which was deemed the ‘Great Dissonance’ for its perversion of the song of creation. Consolidating its power, it took on a material form and personally struck a blow against life itself. Countless people perished and the lands were ravaged from a potent fury that was too horrendous to fully commit to memory”
“Where’s the part of this story where good rises up against this evil and strikes it down?” I asked impatiently, despite having a faint idea of how it was subdued.
They resumed their tale, “So terrible was the entity’s influence on the world that the same power that charged us with guardianship over the world intervened, sealing the Great Dissonance away in its prison and shattering it into multiple pieces. Six shards in all, each containing a malevolent aspect of the greater whole. Poetically, six objects of wondrous power, each representing an aspect of Harmonious Goodness, were crafted and given to the free peoples of the Earth. You know these as the Elements of Harmony. Those worthy of wielding them would have the power to subdue any and all evils of the same ilk”
I thought at much.
“And now, in your present time, each of the shards are awakening in the distant corners of the lands… the entity has been gathering its strength and setting the stage for its return. It has perceived that its time has come again” There was a dread silence that settled upon the assembly before the intellectual spoke again, “You must make obtaining these shards your utmost priority. Their awakening is no doubt attracting those to them with dark ambitions in their hearts, the entity knows this and will deceive them into believing that possession of all fragments of the containment crystal will ensure them power beyond their wildest fantasies. If the fragments were to fall into the wrong hands, the consequences would be detrimental!”
“But these shards have a corruptive influence that affects everyone around them. It even brutally kills them after prolonged exposure!” I pointed out, remembering Celestia’s report on the subject. And she had sent Dee after them!
“We have a solution for that. You must enwrap the shards in fresh sheets of living moss” Said a softer feminine voice, almost like Fluttershy’s.
I quirked a brow that I wasn’t sure I still possessed, “Moss? You’re telling me that the antidote to the negative effects of these ominous crystal shards… is simple moss?”
“This entity sustains itself on death, only life may counteract it” Aurora explained, disregarding my skepticism.
My brow furrowed, “Okay. But what about the Elements? If this entity were to somehow gain material form again, could they not put an end to it?” I brought up.
“The Elements of Harmony are a potent force indeed” The intellectual acknowledged, “But they lack the means to put down this Great Dissonance for good. Their sole purpose is to cleanse their mark of Evil and restore Harmony, but if their target is a being of pure Evil itself, then they will be ineffective by themselves” He explained, “No, the Elements alone will not be enough”
“Then what would constitute enough?” I cautiously asked.
“…” They did not answer at first. I felt a wave of something approaching careful deliberation among them, almost like they were whispering amongst themselves to confirm that whatever they were about to do was the right action. Whatever course of action they were debating, I felt little in the way of dissent against it.
“We cannot directly interfere in the world of the living” They reached a general consensus, “However, you can. We will give you the means of dispatching the Great Dissonance… should the worst come to pass”
I sighed gratefully, “Oh, well that’s a relief. I was worried that I’d have to figure out a way myself”
“We would not be charged with watching over the world if we did not have every tool in our disposal for protecting it” They almost sounded unamused by my lack of faith in them.
“I’m not one of those tools, am I?” I asked dryly.
“Of course not!” Dawn assured me, “Tools don’t get to have free will and sentience”
“We bequeathed the Sisters power over the Sun and Moon. Now we offer you a similar mantle, though one far more immense and wide-reaching in its scope” They chorused carefully, “But by accepting this power, you also agree to stay in this world and become its protector” They made clear.
I thought about it long and hard. On one hand, they were giving me a way out of this mess, but doing so could endanger countless lives to this ‘Great Dissonance’ thing whose only desire was to destroy. And on the other hand, I was being given the metaphorical keys to the Saleen, while Celestia and Luna received plain Mustangs. It was a lot to take in… but at least I knew where I stood now in this world. Besides, I can’t declare with justification that I didn’t benefit from this as a person. I had made friends with some pretty incredible women, and was already in a position that suited my cravings for a meaningful purpose.
“Yours is the power that keeps my wifi active right?” I asked, out of the blue.
“We’re glad you’ve noticed that. Maintaining an information highway across realms is no easy feat” The intellectual wryly observed, “What makes you ask this?”
“Can I request a favor?” I felt a general wave of approval, “May I compose one last message to my family? You’ve blocked it so I can’t get in touch with them that way”
“Granted” They accepted quickly, “Though we will edit it if it reveals anything that is not to leave this realm”
I shook my head, “I won’t apprise them as to what I’ve been up to… I just want the chance to say goodbye, and to tell them that I love them”
“We understand. Do you accept our boon?” The chorused with enthusiasm.
“I accept” I nodded, “From this point onwards, I am your champion. I can’t promise that I won’t make mistakes along the way, but I can promise that I will always strive to live up to what is required of me to protect this world” I solemnly vowed, taking a knee and bowing my head formally.
I felt something surge within me, something that was intentionally buried deep down to prevent me from accidentally accessing it when it was not needed. It felt immensely powerful though… being the equivalent of a serious level up in my books.
“We have granted you power beyond power given to that of any other. You’ll know what to do with it when the time comes” Aurora counseled me, “But be warned, while you now possess the means to save this world, you also have the same power to destroy it and render it lifeless until the end of time. You must only use this power in the utmost dire of circumstances, and never for long even then”
Images were projected into my mind detailing just how perilous the misuse of this new ability I now bore was. I could now take the life energies of the Earth itself and convert it into raw magical power to fuel any spell I could conceive. I let the implications of that slowly sink into my psyche. I had essentially been given a double edged sword, and even that expression did not do it justice. For every minute that I channeled the energies within the planet, square miles of landscape would go barren and stay lifeless for years onwards. But in exchange, I would have more magical power than I would know what to do with. This power was not for me to misuse… I could not stress that to myself enough.
“To whom much is entrusted, much is also expected” They chorused, their perfectly in tandem voices instilling a sense of singular duty in me.
“No pressure then…” I trailed off, “So now what?” I inquired of the Constellar Congress.
“Now you must return to Arcania the way you left” Aurora answered, “We will contact you in the same way Luna can contact you in dreams. After all, that’s one of the perks that we bequeathed to her on the side as the Princess of the Night. It’s also how we led her and her sister to us… and by extension you, as well”
“Fare thee well… Zenith” They pronounced my moniker in such a way that implied that they knew my real name, but would honor my wishes to retain an Arcanian identity on the side.
I felt a suctioning force behind me draw me back through the portal of the Heavensgate. My vision went blurry again until it was suddenly clear again with stunning clarity. My body was suspended in the middle of the arch and I was bathed in light that was tinted crimson that I was jealous of the Princesses for having earlier. When I floated down and my feet touched to stone though, my light did not cease glowing or recede into my body. My hair wasn’t wavy of anything (Thank the Lord), but moved like there was a breeze blowing through it. My skin was pleasantly tingly all over, and I could tell that my body was adjusting to being able to call upon the might of all magic on Earth at my beckoning. I was honored that those charged with indirectly maintaining the balance would give me stewardship over the balance itself. I would do everything I could to live up to that trust, come hell or high water. I turned in place to see Starswirl and the awoken Princesses gazing at me with the same look that a child witnessing something that evoked sentiments of awe would. I gave myself a once over and realized that I wasn’t just bathed in supernal light; I was the one radiating it this time.
I hummed thoughtfully over this, “Let’s hope that isn’t a permanent feature. I’m shining like a present tree over here” My voice was overlapped over itself, giving it an echoing, mysterious quality that I enjoyed.
I turned to the wizard, “This is where we part ways Starswirl. You were a good friend, and it’s been a blast adventuring alongside you. Remember that these lovely ladies will be in need of your guidance over the following years. I have no doubts whatsoever that you’ll mold them into the greatness that they’re destined for” He couldn’t muster a reply with his mouth, so he settled for a curt nod.
“Wait!” Celestia called out to me, “Who art thou? We owe thee our lives!” She beseeched me for my name.
I smiled at her and spoke, “You’ll know me Celestia… I’ll introduce myself as the Starwalker” With my peace said, I faced the portal whose aperture returned to a familiar room in the Krystal Kingdom that I was dying to get back to.
One crossing of the threshold and I was back to the future in a flash.